Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Many Will Drop Out But Many More Still Will Join
- Open Letter to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI
- PAS is Trying Hard
- The Influence of US Funds for NGOs on Malaysian Politics.
- A Letter to Heaven
- Stop It, BN!
| Many Will Drop Out But Many More Still Will Join Posted: 17 Jul 2011 03:48 PM PDT By batsman Although RPK has a somewhat cynical opinion of politicians, not all politicians are cads or opportunists. The political struggle is a complex one and people need to understand some basics. I like to compare it to a journey. When people go for a tour, there is a very great likelihood that somehow quarrels, dissatisfaction and unhappiness will surface, especially if the tour consists of strangers from all sorts of backgrounds and needs. If the journey is a long one or an expedition, even more complex episodes and stories will occur and people will drop out from exhaustion, desertion, splits and quarrels, differences in timetables, resources and commitments and so on. Not all will complete the expedition from start to end. However, most journeys or expeditions still give good results. A political struggle is somewhat the same. I like to classify people into 5 categories for convenience in describing the political journey. The first category are the non-starters. They are the silly, the unconcerned, the apathetic, the overly busy, the disinterested, the cynical, the uninformed, the ignorant, the marginalized, the contented, the antagonists and the otherwise occupied, the lost and those without hope. These will only join the bandwagon when some sort of tragedy or earth shaking event knocks on their door. The next group are the crooked, the greedy, the corrupt and the opportunistic. They will also drop off quickly depending on their appetite or ambition. Most will turn into frogs very early on (the minute there is some temporary success) although some crooks can cling on to the bandwagon for quite a long length of time depending on how great their ambition is. The 3rd group are the weak, the weak-minded, the demoralized, the tired, the small minded, the small hearted, the revengeful, the manipulated, the tricked, the seduced, the satisfied and the self-interested. Most of these people get what they want from whatever small improvements that are achieved whether it is more attention, less suppression, too much pressure, enough goodies thrown their way or a big promotion and they drop out or split. The 4th group are the true nationalists and professionals. They are fed up of seeing the country racked by corruption, petty racial and religious quarrels and yearn for a truly united and successful country working as one. If they succeed, these are the people who will form the backbone of the new government and the new order, but they will not go further than working to see the country being competitive, successful and progressing fast, not pulled back by internal quarrels. Most of the strongest people in the PR will be from this group. Further when people see hope that corruption and abuse can be successfully fought, many more will join the fight. The tide will be turned. Those who were non-starters or who had no hope before will be eager to join the fight against prejudice, abuse and corruption. The last group are the idealists. They are the ones who will push to go the farthest. They have a vision for the country that goes beyond being competitive, successful, progressing fast and not pulled back by petty internal squabbles. Most of such ideals will be of a spiritual, cultural or social nature. They see it as pointless to be rich and successful but without a soul or to be surrounded by unhappiness. These people will shrink from spiritual and cultural corruption of society especially those imported from what they see as the decadence and sinfulness of the west or inherited from medieval times. Most of these people will be from PAS but will also include other types of idealists including who have no religious backgrounds as well. Some claim that DAP socialists can be included in this category, but I personally doubt very much that DAP socialists are such idealists. I may be wrong. The problem with these idealists are that they may actually drop out early in the beginning of the journey especially if they lack patience, when their idealism overrides their judgment, or if their understanding of the struggle is weak. Such people will push for the satisfaction of their ideals even before all the previous stages are achieved – even before the biggest obstacle of all to getting rid of corruption is still entrenched as absolute power in government, wielding all the power it needs to practice corruption and stamp out idealism. There are some major problems to achieving idealistic goals, whether religious, cultural or social. The understanding that idealistic goals cannot be achieved by force is badly needed. Once force is employed, idealism goes out the window. Without a good understanding and full appreciation of the difficulty, the subtlety and problems involved, there will be an underestimation of the strength and patience needed for the struggle and short cuts will be attempted. Idealism can only be achieved by respect, consensus, consultation and agreement. It cannot be achieved by trying to force beliefs and practices on lost people who lack ideals, but by example and successful projects and programmes starting with small but convincing projects and exercises. If there are no successful practical models to convince people, it is pointless to force non-believers or beginners to achieve idealistic goals. However, even nationalistic governments will not tolerate things like fraud, prostitution and drug abuse. As members of government concerned not only about monetary corruption but corruption of the spirit, culture and society, idealists have the right to demand a minimum of decency in the social environment. Such a minimum is open to interpretation and will have to be negotiated with others of different faiths, culture or ideals on a progressive basis – as an when the situation improves, a new level of decency may be aimed for. Idealism is the most difficult and takes the longest to achieve because it involves changing people, their habits, their values and beliefs. Short cuts are appealing but dangerous and apt to backfire. As it stands, people have to be properly briefed, properly motivated and properly informed to get even the most simple agreements, but that is the nature of idealism. If it were not difficult to achieve, it would not be a worthwhile ideal. Not only that, successful real life achievements speak volumes for themselves. With this, many who call themselves idealists will also drop out along the way, but many more others still will join up because every new level of decency achieved will serve as encouragement for a multitude. Those who drop out however will turn into impatient cynics skilled in using the language and arguments of idealism but actually practicing short cuts and employing force to get what they want. The struggle will be complex and difficult, but there is little choice in the matter as the present abuse, sin and corruption is beyond the tolerance of even the most patient decent person and there will be no improvements at all without struggle against evil. Once the tide is turned, evil will be on the run. |
| Open Letter to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI Posted: 17 Jul 2011 01:47 PM PDT By Martin Jalleh The Star, an established (i.e., one dictated by the establishment) newspaper has described the scheduled visit as one "making waves among Roman Catholics" in Malaysia. Strangely the only "wave" still etched in the minds of many Catholics is a "political tsunami" that took place in 2008. The visit which The Star claims is "bound to make an impression especially on Catholics" was not even mentioned at Sunday Mass in Catholic churches. Further many Catholics currently wave off the PM as one who is leading the nation into abysmal political backwaters. Catholics who are against the visit, fail to understand that as a spiritual leader, your doors are open to any leader – be he honourable or hypocritical, saint or sinner, righteous or rogue and towering statesman or tyrant, though they know for sure which category their PM belongs in! It seems this 'watershed' event will lead to the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Malaysia. Still, many Catholics fail to see the difference such diplomatic ties would make on their daily lives. Will closer ties mean better times to exercise their religious rights, or will there be bolder lies? The Star also sensationally exclaims: "There cannot be a better opportunity, and at a more appropriate juncture, for the Malaysian leader to highlight the country as one that embodies the principles of inter-religious harmony and respectful co-existence." Ask anyone who does not read the mainstream press and they will tell you, Holy Father, that since Najib became the PM, Malaysia has been slowly but surely imploding as a result of unprecedented racial and religious insensitivities and intolerance brought about by Muslim zealots and bigots. In the past, Malaysia had so often been touted as a melting pot of all races and religions in Asia. It has now become a boiling pot! We were once a model, a showcase of a multi-racial-religious society. Now the Government has to put on a big show though the reality that we are so divided is showing! The truth be told, inter-religious harmony is a myth in this country. Sincere attempts at inter-religious dialogue with Muslims and earnest intellectual discussions and discourses have often been derailed by a mob adept only at displaying their ignorance and irrational arguments to justify their intimidating behavior. Myth & Mockery of Moderation The Star also quotes a senior Malaysian diplomatic official involved in the behind-the-scenes work with the Vatican as saying: "The Vatican has also been wanting to engage with Malaysia which it recognises as a moderate Muslim nation made up of various ethnic groups.'' Joceline Tan, a senior journalist of The Star at her jocular best even "canonises" the PM as such: "There is no doubt the Western world has begun to take note of Najib as a Muslim leader of reason and moderation and the visit will certainly reinforce that." If Najib was indeed "moderate" we would not have had to contend with controversial race and religious issues which are too many to list down here. Najib's heavy-handed response to the recently held Walk for Democarcy (to institutionalize clean and fair elections) made Malaysia look like a moderate Police State! Such is the "moderation" of Najib that Christians to date cannot use the word "Allah" though a High Court in 2009 had affirmed it as a constitutional right. Surely the shocked and speechless Preacher to thePapal Household, Fr Raniero Cantalamessa, who visited East Malaysia in 2010 can fill you in on the details! The PM's political party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) has been politicising religion for its survival by creating unfounded fears and insecurities, sowing seeds of suspicion (and definitely not of "reason") amongst Muslims, and deepening their distrust for the adherents of other religions. Malays/Muslims are made to feel that they are always under siege and non-Muslims are their enemies!Yet, as the Muslims are constantly reminded, Malay/Muslim rights have been carved into and guaranteed clearly by the Federal Constitution. The only party that they have to fear most is the Umno elite and warlords! Imaginary threats and bogeymen have been created by Umno and its cohorts, such as the Christians being hell-bent on confusing and converting every Muslim and the latest being an unsubstantiated allegation of a Christian conspiracy to replace Islam as the official religion, and to pave the way for a Christian PM! At times the paranoia created has reached such a ridiculous level that the enlightened Muslim community have expressed their embarrassment and even disgus. Marina Mahathir, a truly moderate Muslim lady once highlighted the existence of a group of defenders of the Islamic faith whom she called the SS (the shallow and superficial). They are people "who have nothing better to do with their lives than look for monsters under their beds, enemies in their blankets or crosses in their buns (and) ice-cream biscuits". She also wrote about "the Simple-Minded and Stupid (SMS)…who believe every little message that comes into their hot little phones, no matter how unlikely". There are also the "Korrupt Kombative Knuckleheads (KKK) who "will do things like throw firecrackers into churchyards, destroy temples and raid married people's bedrooms". She pointed at "the supreme irony of trumpeting our religious superiority while at the same time claiming that it only takes biscuits to destroy us". Meanwhile Najib's Government through its religious departments and the Home Ministry in particular, dominates, dictates, decides, determines and even defines what non-Muslims can and cannot discuss, deliberate on, display in print, and do. Talk about moderation! In 2008, the then Home Minister, when issuing a show-cause letter and several warning letters to The Herald (the Catholic newspaper in Peninsula Malaysia) made it his implicit prerogative and position to preach to and pontificate on what Catholics should and should not believe in! Umno-owned papers, especially the Utusan Malaysia are allowed to go on a spree of spinning falsehood, spouting lies, spewing seditious articles and spreading what the Minister in the PM Department called "outdated racist propaganda" with impunity and immunity provided by the Home Minister. In June this year, the Utusan Malaysia claimed that millions of ringgit were being funneled from some 11 foreign Christian organisations to fund the Walk for Democracy . The organisers denied any links to Christian funding, saying instead that funds for the march came from local sources. Bishop Paul Tan of the Melacca-Johor diocese who is concurrently president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Malaysia, said the Malay daily "appears to have a licence to publish unsubstantiated and wild allegations aimed at fomenting discord between Christians and Muslims in Malaysia." "It appears the authorities are more interested in checking and monitoring people engaged in legitimate expression of their rights than in stopping people who spread all sorts of calumnies against individuals and groups in this country," he added. Honour or Hypocrisy? The religious freedom of Christians and other faiths tragically rests on the PM's political expediency and circumstantial goodwill conveyed during crisis moments in cordial, congenial and courteous close-door meetings together with a chosen few – and not on the constitutional guarantees of religious freedom! Muslim extremists or fanatics who have been found guilty of sedition, criminal intimidation and sacrilegious acts either go scot-free or are given light and ludicrous court sentences which make the Attorney-General's Chambers, the judiciary and the government laughable, and reduce Najib's "moderate" resolve to check extremism to mere lip service. Fanatics, extremists, or what the Minister in the PM Department calls "clowns" are given a free hand in taunting and threatening Christians and other faiths with a bloodbath and a holy war (jihad) whilst the landscape is littered with an increasing number of "Little Mullah Napoleons" running riot with their own brand of religion. What gives extremist Malay/Muslim groups the audacity to display their insolence with impunity? The moderate PM is their inspiration! During the 61st Umno Annual General Assembly, Najib moderatelyvowed to defend Umno's five-decade stranglehold on the federal government even if it meant "crushed bodies", "lost lives" and "ethnic cleansing"! After being PM for almost three years, Najib has failed to fight the fires of racial and religious fanaticism, aggressively fanned by his own party. He takes flight and hides behind his 1Malaysia slogan - a faltering façade, farce and flop which makes him look so utterly foolish! Now we have another slogan – "moderation"! According to Najib's Umno, the Malay/Muslim majority in this country must stamp their superiority over the rest, made all the more easier by Executive Supremacy! Yet this very party that harps on supremacy (be it race or religion), claims that Muslims here can be very easily confused, convinced, controlled and converted! Perhaps the saddest outcome of today's "moderate Malaysia" is that we have accepted the distinction between "Muslim and non-Muslim dominated areas". Yet, there was a time when the citizens of diverse races and religions so successfully lived together side by side in mutual respect and admiration! Tengku Razaleigh a veteran in Umno once with dead honesty declared that ours is a "sham democracy…one which existed only in name but grievously compromised in substance, reality and fact"! According to the politician and prince, Malaysia has "a domineering style of leadership with the cult of the great leader". How can there be moderation? I hope that you will remind our PM of your wise warning in 2009 when speaking at the King Hussein bin Talal mosque in Amman, that the "manipulation of religion sometimes for political ends…is the real catalyst for tension and division and at times even violence in society…" I pray, Holy Father, that you will not allow our Prime Minister to politicize the papacy and use the visit as a political ploy and a public relations exercise with his predictable "moderate" proclamations, pious pronouncements and pretentious promises. In spite of the depressing scenario that I have so described, we are not discouraged nor do we despair. You had once declared that "interreligious and intercultural dialogue between Christians and Muslims … is a vital necessity, on which in large measure our future depends". It is this path and one towards a "more authentic mutual understanding" with our Muslim friends which many Catholics in Malaysia continue to strive towards. The divine always triumphs over evil human designs. May the heavens intervene when His Holiness meets His Hollowness! May hype give way to true hope! May honour prevail over hypocrisy! May humility be the spirit that will grace the hallowed halls ofGandolfo!
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| Posted: 17 Jul 2011 01:45 PM PDT
By batsman The recent storm in a tea cup in Kedah shows that things will not always go smoothly for the PR coalition. The last thing needed is for shallow politicians to threaten a breakup whenever small problems arise. New forms of cooperation and new devices to ensure the PR coalition remains strong have not been developed yet. Some patience and imagination is needed for things to work themselves out. Some experiments and some new forms will also need to be tried out and adopted if successful. PAS may look like it is stumbling and making mistakes even as the Bersih 2.0 wave motivates and gives fresh hope to hundreds of thousands of Malaysians if not millions looking for a way out of prejudice, corruption, abuse and sin. However, I believe that such stumbling may be necessary in order to find new mechanisms to strengthen the PR coalition. Wisdom, understanding and patience is needed. PAS's approach shows that they are trying hard and yet attentive to complaints and suggestions. The final decision of allowing legal non-Muslim non-halal establishments to operate freely but with the condition that they are not allowed to serve Muslims makes sense as a compromise. Even then, it may be that the problem may still face initial friction. These have to be ironed out whenever they appear. I am no prophet, but I foresee situations whereby non-Muslim non-halal establishments may need to hire bouncers and install CCTV to show that they have employed due diligence in keeping Muslims out of their establishments. Such practices are already common in the west where poor patrons are kept out of high class popular night clubs and other such establishments by bouncers and CCTV. Some places even install biometrics and in the very most expensive ones, regular wealthy patrons willingly inject identity chips under their skin to facilitate entry. This is to ensure that non-halal establishments are high class ones – not the type which break the law by illegally hiring GROs from China, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. Hopefully non-Muslims who regularly patronize non-halal establishments will willingly inject identity chips under their skin as well if they are so obsessed with patronizing such outlets. This is for their own convenience but UMNO will be more than happy with such hi-tech modern biometric cooperation since UMNO is also obsessed about biometrics. I am not sure about PAS. Although I make such predictions cavalierly, I hope people can see that complex problems exist in out society and shallow politicians are not equipped to solve these things. What we need are wise men and women with wisdom, good judgment and integrity. Hopefully Bapa Transformasi can succeed in transforming our politicians into such men and women. He has my gratitude and admiration if he can succeed. It is even possible that if such compromise mechanisms work well, legal non-halal establishments may never need to serve Muslims again throughout the year and not just apply the ban during the holy month of Ramadan. After all to Muslims, they must not give in to sin at all, not just ban it from their lives during the holy month of Ramadan. Giving sin a holiday 11 months of the year and banning it for only 1 month also does not make sense.
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| The Influence of US Funds for NGOs on Malaysian Politics. Posted: 16 Jul 2011 07:37 PM PDT
By batsman Apparently UMNO controlled TV stations are suggesting that US funding for Bersih 2.0 is proof that Bersih is a threat to national security because it is in league with foreign interests. Thus they are now threatening to abuse their power to freeze the assets of those involved in activities against national security. This is a Catch 22 situation for Bersih 2.0. Bersih 2.0 is saying that one of the reasons elections in Malaysia are not free and fair is that UMNO controlled civil service, police, judiciary, and EC, etc., calls all the shots. UMNO is now suggesting that those involved in activities deemed a threat to national security can have their assets frozen and that those institutions which it controls can decide whether Bersih 2.0 is engaged in activities deemed a threat to national security or not. This means that electoral reforms are or can be put in abeyance by:
First it is up to those who are controlled by UMNO (according to Bersih 2.0) to decide that Bersih is an illegal organization and it is also up to those controlled by UMNO to decide that Bersih 2.0 is deemed to be engaged in activities detrimental to national security. Bersih is therefore tied, gagged and thrown into a frozen pond to freeze to death or drown – does not matter which. In fact just about anybody deemed to be engaged in activities by those institutions controlled by UMNO can be processed in a similar manner. This power is of such great consequence and so unlimited that it can also be applied to foreign investors if they are deemed to be engaged in activities detrimental to national security by those institutions controlled by UMNO. There is absolutely no checks and balances at all (sort of). Resorting to the Malaysian judicial system is expensive, time consuming and subject to control and interference by UMNO. The only difference between a foreign investor and a citizen of Malaysia is that the foreign investor is protected by his government and his wealth while the Malaysian citizen is protected by the UMNO government and the subsidies given by UMNO. I guess this is how UMNO sees the situation, but how does the US see the situation? I am no expert on this matter. I guess those experts in the US can tell better. However since they choose not to reveal their thoughts in an open and transparent way, we can only make guesses. 2 significant things come to mind.
Obviously – one supports the other to make sure that US interests are served. The US Congress wants to make sure that good democratic principles are practiced according to how the US sees good democratic principles should be practiced while Hillary Clinton reminds the UMNO government to practice good moderate Islamic democracy. Whether the recent crackdown on peaceful protestors is seen by both the US Congress and Hillary Clinton as a good practice of Islamic democracy is anybody's guess. Sometimes US interests can be observed to compromise a little on what good democratic practices should be especially if it is practiced by what they deem to be a good moderate Islamic country. Still, what they say is that they are a bit concerned but will continue to observe and monitor. At the same time, US funding for NGOs in Malaysia seem to be a bit embarrassed by the peaceful rally and kept a low profile. The US does not seem to have come out strongly to condemn the UMNO government's handling of peaceful demonstrators. So if you ask me what the influence on Malaysian politics of US funding of Malaysian NGOs is, I would have to say – zilch, nada, zero – if anything actually anti-democratic because now they are compromising Bersih 2.0 as a tool of foreign imperialism and a threat to Malaysian national security as defined by UMNO controlled institutions. As for foreign investors, especially those from the US, I guess as long as they are protected by US power and the UMNO government is seen as a coolie sucking up to US power and wealth, their interests are not shaken in the least. Malaysian citizens, as is true and correct, should be protected by their own government, by their own policemen, their own judiciary and their own central bank. |
| Posted: 16 Jul 2011 01:42 PM PDT
By Nie Ching Dear Beng Hock, Time flies! We have not seen each other for 2 years. How have you been during these 700 +days and counting? Er Jia is already 17 months old. He is just like his peers — vivacious, cheerful, active and adorable. Xin Xin, the daughter of my eldest brother, is just 3 days older than him so I always like to compare them. Xin Xin is chubby just like me when I was her age, while Er Jia is thinner. I sometimes can't resist asking Cher Wei if she feeds him enough! Come to think of it, perhaps I should have kept quiet. Both of you are on the "lean" side so I suppose Er Jia would take after the both of you. After spending time with Cher Wei, I can see that you really "fell" for a good woman! She has tremendous inner strength. She is taciturn in front of countless well-wishers, always responding in a calm dignified manner that she is well. However, I did notice her message on Facebook the other day: "I was taking a ride in my male colleague's car to work the other day. Midway into the journey, he called home and asked, 'Have you brought our precious baby home? Is precious asleep now?' … his child is 18 months old. At that moment, I felt a surge of mixed feelings but the deep pain was unmistakable and unbearable…" I felt her pain... How could such a great loss and void in her life be erased and forgotten easily? Your mother-in-law is not doing so well health-wise. She has to go to the hospital almost on a weekly basis. Lee Lan is very worried, always telling me how she wishes you were here so Cher Wei could lean on you in trying times. She is not alone in her thoughts and Cher Wei's mum probably feels the same way. As for your sister Lee Lan, she has been running around for the past 2 years on matters pertaining to your case. She keeps taking time off work and finally decided to quit her job. Her boss values her though and has advised her to think of her own future. I also asked her what would be her ideal occupation and she replied me with an air of innocence - a homemaker! Her reply stunned me! The many years of education provided by your parents might have been flushed down the drain! If not for the fateful event of July 16 from 2 years ago, Lee Lan today might just be another carefree lass who doesn't read the news or care about what happens in this country. But of course, we can't keep harping on the "if"s in real life and she grew up overnight 2 years ago. Your eldest brother is married and he has also become a father. Your parents are so delighted! On the day of marriage, Mandy, Huan Guan and I went to Melaka for the occasion. But our happiness was tainted with a sense of sorrow, seeing as how you cannot be with us on such a momentous day... Here's a piece of good news for you! Elections for village heads are finally kicking off in Selangor on July 31, 2011! We used to talk about how to return the Third Vote to the rakyat. Now, although we are still way off target, this is a small breakthrough. If you were still Ean Yong's secretary, you would be very busy with this election now. Huan Guan recently moved house but is still unsuccessful in the "marriage department". You've got to help him out! Yoke Kong is still the idealist in DAPSY but his beloved Arsenal is anything but ideal. Dickson proposed successfully in Fandao's Mr. Fat Café and his wedding is slated for year-end. Victor is now a photographer with a newspaper. There are lots of changes in our lives but the one thing that never changes is that come Chinese New Year, no matter how busy they are, they will visit your parents in Melaka together with me. Beng Hock, they truly are your buddies. As for myself, what has changed? Upon reflection, I think I have gone "soft". A few days ago, DAP organised an experience-sharing session for participants of the Bersih rally. Many "previously-virginal" protestors came and shared their thoughts with great enthusiasm - how they overcome their own fear and the police barricades, dodging teargas, avoiding the water cannons and playing hide-and-seek with the cops. They were very courageous but I was not. I am a timid person now. Two years ago, I lost my courage to invite friends to participate in rallies. I am scared. But Beng Hock, if you were still with us, you would definitely be one of the 50,000 who turned up, wouldn't you? You would be with us together, overcoming our inner fear. I wished so badly that you could be with us that night because like me, you would be exemplified by the heroes and heroines of Bersih such as Auntie Annie, the undergraduates, the ordinary Malaysians, and see a bright future for all Malaysians. Beng Hock, you would have watched us from afar in the last 2 years. Do you think our beloved country is getting better or more chaotic? Are the people more united or more divided? How much more of this challenging journey will we as a nation have to travel? I do not know, Beng Hock, just as I do not know if I will ever find out the truth about what happened to you on that fateful 19 July, just as I do not know if justice will eventually prevail. But, what I do know and what the participants of the Bersih rally know, is that we belong to this nation, and this nation belongs to us. Dear Beng Hock, I hope you can bless and watch over Cher Wei, Er Jia, your parents, Lee Lan, and this country, from where you are now. From a friend who misses you, Nie Ching |
| Posted: 16 Jul 2011 01:35 PM PDT By Lim Guan Eng BN should stop destroying Malaysia's financial reputation with irresponsible statements like freezing the assets of those deemed risky to the nation's security because they participate in Bersih rallies calling for clean and fair elections as well as receive funding from non-profit foreign NGOs. Bersih had clarified that money the group received from two US organisations - the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and Open Society Institute (OSI) - were for other projects unrelated to the July 9 march. DAP strongly condemns Deputy Finance Minister Awang Adek Hussin's irresponsible statement that Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) can freeze the assets of those believed to be participating in activities if the police recommend so. Such actions are detrimental to Malaysia's efforts to establish itself as a safe haven for capital and investments. Awang is the same person who announced that the Federal government had approved sports betting licenses in time for the 2010 World Cup. BN was embarrassed and forced to withdraw the sports betting licenses after the Penang state government announced the ban on sports betting, thereby destroying UMNO's arguments that of gambling is part of Chinese culture. If assets can be frozen just for participating in a peaceful assembly or for receiving funds from non-profit foreign NGOs, then many innocent Malaysians and organisations will be unfairly victimised. Using this as a political weapon against opponents of BN would be a gross abuse of the provisions within the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act allowed for the central bank to not only bar access to such funds but also trace both deposits and withdrawals of the offending accounts. Would others involved in "illegal assemblies" like UMNO Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin have their assets frozen? Why then were these provisions not applied against those suspected of corruption of accumulating extraordinary wealth beyond their means? For instance no such action was taken against those suspected of secretly taking out RM 888 billion in illicit money over a 9 year period. BN government only has itself to blame for the negative image overseas, portrayed by the international news media for its harsh crackdown on the peaceful protest Bersih. So ridiculous was the crackdown that wearing yellow was sufficient cause for arrest. And yet Queen Elizabeth received the Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak in a bright yellow dress two days ago in London. The Bersih protest calling for clean and fair elections descended into chaos when the police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse protestors. The documented beatings and recorded brutal treatment on video tape was completely unprovoked and put Malaysia on the same international platform as the repressive Arab regimes in the Middle-East. The BN government should clean up Malaysia's image by owning up its mistakes such as firing tear gas into Tung Shin Hospital, insulting the Hindus and the Indian community by calling the revocation of Bersih S. Ambiga's citizenship, detaining A. Samad Said because his poems is considered a weapon and apologising for the brutal crackdown. It is good that Najib has admitted that the rally attracted 15,000 demonstrators and not the 5-6,000 demonstrators claimed by police. However this is not enough as more needs to be done such as withdrawing charges and releasing immediately all those arrested such as the PSM 6 including MP of Sungai Siput Dr Jeyakumar, for Bersih related activities. The Bersih rally was a paradigm shift or a transformational event that attracted all Malaysians. In many of the Bersih stories told by ordinary Malaysians marching on 9 July, many amongst the 30,000 crowd was so outraged by the repression of the police as well as moved by the solidarity and support shown by other Malaysians that they felt part of the nation called Malaysia. Finally every one felt 1Malaysia regardless of race or religion or even political affiliation, whether one is rich or poor, male or female, old or young. Even Marina Mahathir defiantly marched. Everyone marched because they wanted to be "Bersih!".
LIM GUAN ENG |
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