Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
| Posted: 21 Nov 2012 02:31 PM PST
The 13th general election will be historical and a pale comparison to the 1948 Emergency, Merdeka, May 13 and even the 2008 polls. It will be remembered not because it was the election that resulted in the defeat of Umno or any other political party, but for the fact that the "sleeping giant", that is the Malaysian public, had finally been awakened from its long slumber by the antics of a failed BN government. CT Ali, FMT There are not many of us left who saw the beginning of the Emergency declared in June 1948 when the Malayan Communist Party murdered those three estate managers in Perak and the end of that Emergency in 1960. A few more of us were there with Tunku Abdul Rahman in Merdeka Stadium when he declared Merdeka on Aug 31, 1957. Many of us remembered the 1962-1966 Konfrontasi with Indonesia for Sukarno's promise to "crush Malaysia" – it was a minor hiccup between old friends quickly settled. May 13, 1969, however, is too recent an event for too many of us to forget. We know now that lessons learned during those terrible times have been noted by many of us but not by our government. Then came the 12th general election just a few years ago and we thought that would have been a watershed for this Umno-led Barisan Nasional government to change and be the change that the people had demanded. But 2012 came and we now know that this BN government will not and cannot change even if their political life depended on them doing so. For those of us who saw the end of the Emergency, who were with the Tunku at the Merdeka Stadium, who endured Konfrontasi with Indonesia and lived through the horrors of May 13 and then saw the awakening of that sleeping giant – Malaysian public – at the 12th general election, let me tell you that none of what we witness thus far will compare to the 13th general election. I can tell you all that all of those times will pale in comparison against what we are to witness in this 13th general election. And many years from now, just as I am telling you all about what I have witnessed in my lifetime, you too will tell all who will listen to you that you lived through the 13th general election and you saw the people of this nation unite, became one in their desire for change and made that change happened at the 13th general election… and you lived through it all. Living in interesting times You saw the end of the BN government. You saw the best thing that has ever happened to our country, to our people and for the future of our children – the end of a corrupt, arrogant and irresponsible government. These are interesting times that we live in now. There will be some among us that will rue these last few years as the harbinger of doom for the Malays, for Islam and for a Malaysia as we know it now because the Malays deserted Umno for Pakatan Rakyat. Deserted Umno because the Malays were seduced into believing that Pakatan could lead the Malays to a greater good by giving up Ketuanan Melayu for the privilege of being one with the other people of Malaysia. If you hear them say so, then you must tell them that the Malays did not give up anything for that privilege – they earned that privilege themselves by voting for Pakatan, not Umno. Umno failed the Malays in so many ways and yet the Malays were forgiving of Umno until Najib Tun Razak allowed even the prostituting of Felda – the same Felda that his late father worked so tirelessly to make a success of. Najib used that same Felda not for the benefit of the Malays that were within Felda but for the benefits of those within Umno when he allowed the listing of Felda Global Ventures. Najib lost many Malay votes for doing so. There will be others within Umno who will blame PAS for contributing to the decline of Islam by being in a coalition with Pakatan when PAS should have stood together with Umno to defend Islam against the infidels who preached apostate to the Muslims and seek to convert them to the ways of the Christians. If you hear them speak in that manner, then you as a Muslim must tell them that Islam has never been stronger nor had it ever had a stronger presence within the Malays and in this nation as it had now. Umno has shamed Islam Islam is the religion of this nation and Islam teaches us not to be corrupt, not to be arrogant and not to pursue greed in the manner that Umno has become accustomed to. So it is Umno, not PAS or the Malays, that has shamed Islam and caused its decline. For most of us, this 13th general election will be remembered most for what it will do for the future of our nation. It will be remembered not because it was the election that resulted in the defeat of Umno or any other political party, but for the fact that the "sleeping giant", that is the Malaysian public, had finally been awakened from its long slumber by the antics of a failed BN government. Once stirred awake the Malaysian public will not rest until the BN government is made to understand that a quiet Malaysian public does not mean that it is showing respect to Umno or to its coalition partners in BN. Respect is earned.
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| Posted: 21 Nov 2012 11:41 AM PST
Do we only care when Muslims are attacked and not when people of other faiths face the same oppression? We should all, regardless of religion, protest at every act of aggression towards anyone because only then can we have any credibility. Marina Mahathir AS conflict once again erupts in Palestine, I am confronted with questions about our responses to the conflict. Why is it that Malaysian Muslims are always quick to condemn Israeli aggression in Palestine, especially towards Gaza and slow to condemn similar aggression elsewhere?It's a question well worth thinking about. Why have we been quick to voice loud protests about Palestine and begin fund-raising for relief work there, and so much slower to condemn the aggressors in the Syrian conflict, or in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and many other countries in the world? Do we only care when Muslims are attacked and not when people of other faiths face the same oppression? Palestine has perhaps a special place in the hearts of Muslims because of the position of Jerusalem as the third most important city for us after Mecca and Medina. It's also probably the longest ongoing conflict in the world and regularly features in the news. Whether you sympathise or not, you cannot escape news about Palestine, most of which is violent and depressing. But the most misunderstood thing about the Palestinian conflict, by both Muslims and non-Muslims, is that it is a religious war. Many people tend to forget that Palestinians are not all Muslims. About 4% of Palestinians living mostly in the West Bank and 10% of those living in Israel are Christian. They make up about 1% of the population of Gaza. The majority of Christian Palestinians, however, now live outside Palestine because, like their Muslim neighbours, they were forced to emigrate and into refugee camps when their lands were given to Israel in 1948. Many people do not realise for example, that Dr Hanan Ashrawy, the articulate spokesman for the late Yasser Arafat, is in fact a Christian. That fact, that in 1948 Palestinians were forced out of their land by an exodus of Jews from Europe, is essentially what the conflict is all about. If immigrants from elsewhere take over land from people who have lived there for thousands of years, then it is bound to create conflict. Most conflicts around the world are about land and space, rather than about faith. And when that original source of conflict is further exacerbated by more grabbing of land as well as other forms of discrimination in education, housing and jobs, then the conflict will not only continue but will escalate. When we look at things this way, then we can see the same pattern in other parts of the world. In places like Kashmir, southern Thailand, Sri Lanka, southern Philippines, the roots of conflict are similar. In Africa, colonial-era division of land cuts across traditional tribal lands, making people of the same tribes citizens of different countries. The most useful way to look at these conflicts is to view them from a human rights angle. If a wrong is perpetuated on one people, then it must also hold true for all others. Therefore, if we show support for Palestinians because their land has been taken away from them, then we must surely show support for all other people whose lands have been taken away from them. At the same time, if we show support for all other people who are subjected to violence from far superior forces, then we must surely show support for the Gazans right now, facing daily pummeling from Israeli jets and drones. And unless we truly believe that all people should face such violence by doing absolutely nothing, then we should look with some sympathy at those who throw rocks and dispatch rockets in retaliation against much superior firepower. The point is that there cannot be double standards on human rights. The support for Palestine from Muslims comes at least partly from a belief that nobody else cares about them. As the many demonstrations around the world show, this is not true. There are Israelis and non-Zionist Jews who have protested against the attacks on Gaza. But we should all, regardless of religion, protest at every act of aggression towards anyone because only then can we have any credibility. Thus while we might protest about American drones killing civilians in Afghanistan, we should also protest at the attempted murder of a teenage Pakistani girl, Malala Yousafzai, for simply wanting to go to school. What is more, we should be offering solutions for lasting peace, instead of complaining and shouting slogans that we know ultimately will do little beyond making us feel good. How does it help the Gazans if we go and burn a few foreign flags and then go off to gossip about local politics at the nearest nasi lemak stall?
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