Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Twenty-five years later, camaraderie in adversity
- Playing the religion game
- Youth and Political Awareness
- Malay behaviour: Survival replaces greed
- Is apple-polishing Zambry psychic?
- The credibility of AES
- Politicians ARE servants of people
- Much ado about hudud
- Lament of a Stressed-out Minister
| Twenty-five years later, camaraderie in adversity Posted: 26 Oct 2012 06:52 PM PDT
A quarter of a century later, as we look back at Dr Mahathir's mass detention camp of 1987 while on the cusp a possible change of government, there is a sense of poetic justice that Operation Lalang "united" Barisan Nasional's opponents and gave them a steely resolve to oppose like never before. Liew Chin Tong, The Malaysian Insider The collective adversity suffered by the DAP, PAS and civil society leaders in 1987 ironically built the steely resolve for change and the deep camaraderie to see it through. This day 25 years ago, October 27, 1987, was one of the darkest days in Malaysian history when 106 politicians and social activists were arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in Operation Lalang. Printing permits for three newspapers, namely The Star, Sinchew and Watan, were withdrawn. The security crackdown that shocked the nation and marked the end of the boisterous, often mistaken as democratic, first phase of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's leadership that began in 1981. Dr Mahathir succeeded Tun Hussein Oon with a weak base in Umno and virtually no one to trust. By pitting Musa Hitam against Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah in Umno's deputy presidential elections of 1981 and 1984, Dr Mahathir bought himself time and space. But the chickens came home to roost by 1987 when Tengku Razaleigh teamed up with Musa to challenge the Dr Mahathir-Ghafar Baba ticket. The election on April 24 saw Tengku Razaleigh losing to Dr Mahathir by a mere 43 votes, allegedly after a suspicious blackout at the vote-counting centre. Umno continued to flounder after the party polls with Dr Mahathir's legitimacy seriously dented. The purging of Team B supporters such as Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Rais Yatim, Shahrir Samad and Radzi Sheikh Ahmad from the Cabinet and government further de-stabilised the situation. While Dr Mahathir's base was weak his style was anything but consultative. Further, the various ideas that he bulldozed were more often than not half-baked, resulting in multiple and major financial scandals in just a few years of his rule. Civil society activism emerged from the more discerning and critical urban populace. The Islamic revival movement was birthed as the rallying point for those who frowned upon Umno-style get-rich-quick materialism. Further, Dr Mahathir not only pitted Umno leaders against each other, he was manipulating ethnic sentiments against each other. In October 1987, the Chinese educationist cause mobilised against a policy of placing teachers who had no proficiency in Mandarin to head Chinese schools. Umno Youth was counter-mobilised to whip up Malay sentiment. Between the April Umno election and October, the Mahathir government drifted purposelessly while his party opponents started a permanent campaign to remove Dr Mahathir in the next party election due in three years' time. The rift was felt. Mercury rose. On October 18, one Private Adam ran amok in Chow Kit with an M16 rifle as Umno Youth was mobilising for a November 1 show of force. Dr Mahathir seized the timely excuse. On October 27, Ops Lalang was launched to arrest his fiercest external critics including the then Leader of the Opposition Lim Kit Siang and 16 DAP elected reps. Not only Dr Mahathir did paralyse the opposition, he terrified the nation and, more importantly, his Umno opponents.
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| Posted: 26 Oct 2012 12:27 PM PDT
The failure of Najib to control Chua's illogical rantings is obvious to many of the urban Malays and this gives the lie to Umno's claims as the defender of Islam. Readers can be sure that Najib will be going all out to do damage control in the forthcoming Umno annual general assembly scheduled to be held from Nov 27 to Dec 1 by whipping up fervour in regards to 'Ketuanan Melayu' or 'Malay Supremacy'. Selena Tay, Free Malaysia Today Are both Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek vying with each other to see who is the dumbest person where political strategy is concerned? This is the scenario. Chua has certainly overdone it in regards to wooing the Chinese. He has insulted Islam in the recent MCA annual general assembly held on Oct 20 and 21 by defending the claim of a MCA Wanita deputy minister who had said that PAS condones the rape of non-Muslim women who do not conform to the Islamic dress code. By this crazy bone-headed move, Chua has certainly alienated the Malay voters. And to top it all, PM Najib who has all along proclaimed that Umno champions Islam and Malays had the cheek to keep quiet at the assembly. The prime minister must have thought that as BN controls the mainstream media, Chua's antics would not reach the ears of the rural Malays. There is the power of the internet. And that is the reason why there is a lack of internet coverage in the rural areas. Nevertheless, the rural folks' children who are studying in the city have access to the internet and therefore news from the websites would also reach the rural folks when their children go back home during the national or festive holidays. Readers can be sure that Najib will be going all out to do damage control in the forthcoming Umno annual general assembly scheduled to be held from Nov 27 to Dec 1 by whipping up fervour in regards to 'Ketuanan Melayu' or 'Malay Supremacy'. The failure of Najib to control Chua's illogical rantings is obvious to many of the urban Malays and this gives the lie to Umno's claims as the defender of Islam. Chua only bothers about the survival of MCA. Therefore he goes all out for the kill in a kamikaze manner. It is Najib who is foolish for allowing Chua to dance 'Gangnam style' on his head. The urban Malays and those who are fence-sitters have now seen clearly Najib's cowardice. Kuala Krai MP, Hatta Ramli who is the PAS election director has raised the issue that more and more foreign-sounding names are appearing in the electoral roll. He has voiced out his anger and disappointment at the Election Commission (EC) for not doing anything to clean up the electoral roll. "The EC and the prime minister himself are not concerned at all about the dirty electoral roll and out of this dirty roll a dirty government will be elected," remarked Hatta. Back to the antics of MCA's Chua and PM Najib. After Chua's senseless attack on Islam, there is no way Najib can win the 13th general election in a fair fight. He had sat on the stage of the MCA general assembly keeping quiet when Chua was blazing away with the insults. Najib had allowed Chua to do so as he is desperate to obtain the Chinese votes. This is a very clear indication that Najib is still in a denial mode where Chinese votes is concerned because everyone knows that 80% of the Chinese have rejected his leadership. Chua may be dumb to insult Islam but Najib is dumber still for allowing it! From a recent ground survey conducted by this columnist who interviewed ten apolitical fence-sitters, all of them share the same view that Najib is lacking direction in his plans. It can be seen that his solutions are only piecemeal efforts and one-off measures and the fence-sitters opined that perhaps it is time that he is "one-offed on polling day". The fact that he lacked the courage to reprimand Chua has earned him widespread chastisement on Facebook. Therefore, Najib now tries to target the Indian voters. Read more at: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2012/10/27/playing-the-religion-game/
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| Posted: 26 Oct 2012 01:38 AM PDT
I polled the audience and most of them had no idea who Khairy Jamaludin is, let alone PR's Nik Nazmi. From this, I had a hunch that the youth, despite the 'noise' they seem to be making about politics, are not really that aware. Anas Zubedy I was recently invited to speak at Perdana Leadership Foundation in a forum titled, "Citizenship in the Age of the Internet: Has the Internet increased political awareness among Malaysian youth?" The other panelist were YB Dato' Saifuddin Abdullah (Deputy Minister of Education), Tricia Yeo a researcher and former assistant to the Selangor MB Khalid Ibrahim, Cheah Kar Fei a student leader, former AIESEC President of Malaysia. The session was moderated by Lim Teck Hoe. I see being a panelist in this talk as a great chance to test a hypothesis I have regarding youth and political awareness. In a previous session I delivered early this year among 200 student leaders from all over the country, I polled the audience and most of them had no idea who Khairy Jamaludin is, let alone PR's Nik Nazmi. From this, I had a hunch that the youth, despite the 'noise' they seem to be making about politics, are not really that aware. In preparation for this talk, I experimented with the hunch. A telephone/face-on-face survey of 10 questions (5 behavioural/5 knowledge-based, Question 7 and 9 being tricky on purpose) was conducted between 15 and 16 October 2012. This is to minimize any opportunity to look up the answers and to capture the most candid ones. 120 respondents between the ages of 18 to 25 were surveyed and the answers supported my initial thought. Here are the findings: Question 1: Out of 1 hour of internet time, how many % of it you spend on reading news about politics?
Question 2: You get your biggest chunk of information about politics from? (e.g internet, friends, parents, TV, newspaper, etc)
Question 4: In one word how would you describe our politicians?
Question 5: Describe your trust level towards our politicians. 1) Excellent 2) Good 3) Average 4) Poor 5) Very Poor
Question 6: How many seats are there in the Malaysian Parliament?
Question 8: What is the prerequisite to amend the constitution in the Malaysian Parliament? 51% votes, 63% or 75%?
Question 9: How many federal and how many state seats does Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur has? (Note: Trick question. Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur does not hold any state seats)
Question 10: Do you know what Article 153 is about? Tell me a little about it.
In conclusion. The panellists were given a task to answer 4 questions with regards to the title. Based on the survey results, I provide conclusions as the following 1. Based on all of the above consideration, do I believe that the age of Internet has increased political awareness among Malaysian youth? My conclusion : Not particularly. 2. Do I think the Internet is being properly utilised to understand political and national issues? My conclusion : Not particularly. 3. Why is that? My conclusion : Simple, there are just too many distractions out there and politicians are not seen as cool. If the youth likes football, they'd make an effort to watch the matches. If they fancy a particular celebrity, they'd be stalking the celebrity on twitter and be reading up about him or her in all available media. Our politicians lack the cool factor and as a consequence, the youth just don't have that drive to fully use the Internet to catch up on current affairs, politics in particular. 4. Ultimately, do I think the 'Internet population' will significantly affect the outcome of the thirteenth general election? My conclusion: Not particularly. The parties are better off concentrating on their ground-level machinery, making sure their workers go all out to approach the voters, and also to curb internal sabotage to ensure UNITY IN PURPOSE. I have another hunch.. If we ask the same questions to older Malaysians, the results would not be too far off too. What do you think? | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Malay behaviour: Survival replaces greed Posted: 25 Oct 2012 08:01 PM PDT Malays continue to blame others for their failures and will not work hard to earn self-respect and the respect of others in the community. For decades, many Malaysians, both Malays and non-Malays, tried to highlight the abuse of the New Economic Policy (NEP), which has enabled Umnoputras to become millionaires overnight, whilst the majority of the rakyat suffered. Mariam Mokhtar, FMT The unprecedented outburst by a member of the Malay business community this week did not come as a surprise; but is his expression of indignation enough? Speaking at the Malay Economic Congress in Kuala Lumpur, the president of the Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia (MCCM), Syed Ali Alattas, denounced Malay leaders for their greed and corrupt practices and that their lack of a "clean heart", contributed to the failure of the Malay business community. Syed Ali did not reveal anything new; what he said has been known by most Malaysians, but ignored by Umno politicians, Umnoputras, Malays in denial and the non-Malay cronies of Umno. So, why is Syed Ali criticising the Malay leaders now? What prompted him to condemn these leaders, whom he cultivated for years? Syed Ali said that despite billions of ringgits being pumped into the Malay economy, the Malays have achieved little. He said: "What's gone wrong? That's what is being asked……There is a lot of carelessness and not enough responsibility among leaders which caused Malays to fall behind". "Corruption and greed caused the Malay agenda to fail," he added. For decades, many Malaysians, both Malays and non-Malays, tried to highlight the abuse of the New Economic Policy (NEP), which has enabled Umnoputras to become millionaires overnight, whilst the majority of the rakyat suffered. Many complained about the preferential educational opportunities, housing and job openings given to the Malays. Some of these outspoken people were detained under the ISA, considered a national threat and called public enemies. Families were broken up when parents encouraged their children to settle overseas for a brighter future. On a national level, the country lost a much valued resource – some of its best and brightest people. Whilst this was going on, was Syed Ali living off the fat of the land, enjoying the scraps thrown at him by Umno? The NEP experiment has been a failure, since its inception, so why did Syed Ali not admit this earlier? He claims that Malays are at a "crossroads" but cynics argue that it is the Malay leaders of industry and business, people like Syed Ali, and not the Malay community, who are at the "crossroads". With Umno lying in the gutter, and their own positions looking increasingly precarious and untenable, people like Syed Ali have finally chosen to be vocal. Switching sides Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak's body language speaks of failure. In his public speeches, he no longer cries out "Who will defend Putrajaya with me?" He has stopped saying that he would "defend Putrajaya with blood, sweat and tears". In the near future, we will probably see an avalanche of Malays in positions of seniority, like Syed Ali coming forward to criticise Umno and other parts of the BN coalition. These people are cowards but sensing the failure of Umno, are cunning enough to ingratiate themselves with the rakyat and perhaps, try and align themselves with the new administration. The MCCM president admitted that less than 10% of the economy, in terms of equity, businesses and shops, is Malay owned. He declared: "I am brave enough to say that there is not one shop in the centre of Johor Baru that is owned by a Malay". Syed Ali may claim that he is "brave", but his "bravery" is just deceit. He is merely trying to ingratiate himself with the opposition. Perhaps, his open criticism is another 'play' for the benefit of the rakyat. Umno is known to be divided into many camps, so has someone needled Syed Ali to attack Najib? Last year, when Umno was in a stronger position than today, the Malay Mail carried a report, on Dec 19, 2011, in which Syed Ali demanded government projects, such as the RM3 billion Pudu Prison redevelopment, be given to bumiputera companies, "irrespective of whether they could deliver." Syed Ali told the Malay Mail, "The issue is not whether the contract should be given to a bumiputera or a non-bumiputera company. The bumiputera companies should be given such projects but we never get this kind of deals. Such projects should be given to us. Period." The link to this article, in the Malay Mail, is http://www.mmail.com.my/content/87577-only-bumi-companies-govt-projects. The article is widely cited on the internet but has since been removed from the paper. Today, Syed Ali sings a different tune. He castigates Malay leaders and asks "What's gone wrong?"
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| Is apple-polishing Zambry psychic? Posted: 25 Oct 2012 02:43 PM PDT How does Najib Tun Razak fingering '1' this and '1' that answer the fact that 12% of the Malays live below the poverty level? What Najib really is, is a master of subterfuge with an expiring shelf-life in an organisation dominated by life-time right-wingers. And Zamry in particular knows, that his leader who shouts loudly here and there, is a man shouted at, at home. Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz, FMT Some cocksure apple-polishing politician has come up with wickedly ingenuous NAJ1B – Negeri Aman Jika 1Malaysia Bersatu. Wow! Now we know the world does not revolve around Umno. It's revolves around Najib, the son of Tun Razak. It must be a sign of desperate times calling for desperate measures. The recent attempt by Perak Menteri Besar Zamry Kadir – the man who benefited from Umno's coup d'état of the legitimately elected Perak government – to canonise Najib is surely a naked unashamed display of sycophant-ism. Let us somberly remind Zamry that canonisation or the act of declaring a person as saint is done only on deceased persons. Perhaps Zamry already knows that after the 13th general election, Umno will be dead. Or maybe Zamry wishes to cement his candidacy by doing just what he knows Najib likes – to inflate the latter's ego. So, better declare Najib a saint before its too late. After all Najib has acted as Santa Claus for a number of years. At every budget, Najib has given out money to people in order to buy loyalty. Umno and Barisan Nasional has been doing that for more than 20 years in Kelantan, it hasn't succeeded. Loyalty earned from conviction and belief isn't as fragile as one earned by way of paying for it. Najib and Umno haven't learnt that. Najib and Umno haven't got what it takes to inspire loyalty. They poured tonnes of money into Bandar Tun Razak, yet the stuttering Khalid Ibrahim (Selangor MB) won handsomely. What Najib really is, is a master of subterfuge with an expiring shelf-life in an organisation dominated by life-time right-wingers. And Zamry in particular knows, that his leader who shouts loudly here and there, is a man shouted at, at home. A little panadol-like ego booster is a much needed calming remedy. Najib has to create a Kim Il Jung persona to overwhelm the right wingers in Umno. Najib, a cult figure? He is this and that without ever realising that what he is doing is mythifying impressions. How does '1′ this and '1′ that solve our economic productivity? How does '1′ this and '1′ that, answer the fact that 12% of the Malays lived below the poverty level? How does Najib fingering '1′ this and '1′ that explain that after 55 years of independence and rule by Umno, income disparity within the Malay community is greatest?
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| Posted: 25 Oct 2012 11:02 AM PDT
The PAS-backed Kempen Anti-Saman Ekor uncovered that many of the 831 locations where AES cameras would be set up were incredulous, with some of them located in the middle of the sea and jungle. Lim Sue Goan, Sin Chew Daily The drawbacks and weaknesses of the Automatic Enforcement System (AES) have been gradually revealed and if the Road Transport Department (RTD) does not make a comprehensive review, the AES might not be able to achieve the desired objectives due to the lack of credibility. The PAS-backed Kempen Anti-Saman Ekor (Kase) uncovered that many of the 831 locations where AES cameras would be set up were incredulous, with some of them located in the middle of the sea and jungle. Some Internet users teased that these AES cameras were used to capture speeding fish and beasts. If it is confirmed to be a mistake made by the RTD, it will once again expose the weakness of no proper planning for the AES. It was reported earlier that among the locations where AES cameras would be installed, five of them were located at 30km/h zones and some with inconspicuous or without a signboard to warn motorists about the cameras. Transport Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha later said that the 831 locations were only a proposal that could still be reviewed. The problem is, who had provided the information for the authority to examine and determine the locations? Was it the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS), the contracted companies or the police? The latter should be the one who knows where traffic accident black areas are located. The AES is a good plan, but it has been continuously questioned, due to a few factors. The people cannot understand why the AES is handed over to private companies, instead of having a group of experts in the Transport Ministry to manage the system. Without having a clear picture about the content of the contracts, the amount of profit earned, the background and qualification of the private companies are speculated. The credibility of the AES reduces when law enforcement is connected to business. The accuracy of the AES has also been questioned. Although Miros claimed that the AES system and instruments are complying with the Weights and Measures Act of Malaysia and all authentication procedures are based on the international standard developed by the International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML). However, has it been tested and verified by foreign experts? The AES execution is inhumane and it is not in line with the concept of people first. Motorists receiving AES summonses could only appeal to courts. The Transport Ministry should have considered that some motorists might be innocent, including those whose vehicle registered numbers are embezzled and those who have sold their cars without changing the owner's name. The RTD can actually handle such appeals immediately and it is not necessary to bring them to courts. Most crucially, not like other countries where only the rich can afford to drive, most motorists in Malaysia are middle and low-income earners due to the poor public transport infrastructure. The RM300 flat fine of the AES summonses is absolutely politically incorrect. Since there are so many doubts about the AES, I believe that some motorists will challenge the system in courts, just like some property owners have challenged the Indah Water, and eventually, many people refuse to pay the sewage charges. Since only 14 AES cameras have been installed so far, the Transport Ministry should immediate conduct a comprehensive review to avoid more mistakes when the system is fully implemented. The Transport Ministry can actually learn from the experience of other countries. For example, France stresses on both punishment and education to reduce car accident deaths. The country has installed another 1,000 radar speed detectors in highways of different levels and imposed heavier penalties for speeding. At the same time, the country also strictly enforces traffic laws and driving test, improve road infrastructure and release traffic information through electronic display signs. We can not rely only on a single method or system to reduce road accidents. The AES will not be able to change the outcome, if human factors remain unchanged. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Politicians ARE servants of people Posted: 24 Oct 2012 02:34 PM PDT Politicians who refuse to digest the truth that their bona fide political masters are the rakyat have no business calling themselves as 'wakil rakyat'. The bitter truth is that politicians like Nazri and Shahrizat very conveniently dismissed the fact that they are nothing more than servants of the rakyat; all because a red carpet is rolled out each time they attend an event does not make them important, in the true sense of the word. Jeswan Kaur, FMT Veteran politician Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz has gone on record to say that he is a very important person and is very influential, proving to the rakyat that his self-conceit has blinded him to the very essence of serving the rakyat. This "interesting" remark came about after Nazri told FMT last Friday that he had no hand in the outcome of the criminal investigation involving his son Mohamed Nedim. On March 20, Mohamed Nedim made news for the wrong reason when he allegedly assaulted a security supervisor at a luxury condominium. It, however, did not take long for the incident to die a natural death when the Home Ministry on Oct 17 declared Mohamed Nazri's son innocent, shifting the blame on Mohamed Nedim's former bodyguard instead. The Brickfields district police chief Wan Abdul Bari was then quoted as saying: "This is a minor case. We have already completed investigation. I do not know why and how another person (Mohamad Nedim) was dragged into this. It is a clear-cut case involving a bodyguard and a security guard." Mohamed Nedim was also cleared of any wrongdoing that led to the murder of one Darren Kang at the Uncle Don restaurant in Sri Hartamas in 2004. In Malaysia's "Bolehland", such verdicts no longer shock the rakyat. What, however, gets their goat is when politicians like Nazri no longer show any interest in looking after the people's welfare. Instead, Nazri's pompous claim that "I am very important person and am very influential" is a slap in the face of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak's "people first" propaganda. No politician, no matter his years of experience in politics, should have the audacity to brag of being important and influential, for doing so only reflects his insincerity in serving the rakyat. It appears that Nazri, the de facto law minister, is either ungrateful or has forgotten who his real "masters" are, that is, the people of this nation; a shame that 40 over long years in politics failed to humble him. Politicians are servants of the rakyat Had Nazri, the Padang Rengas MP, not received the rakyat's trust, would he and his family be leading the life of the rich and famous, with his son Mohamed Nedim painting the town red in his luxurious Porsche and armed with his father's business cards? Did the rakyat choose Nazri as their representative so that he could one day boast of his so-called eminence and power? If Nazri is one of the many politicians whose arrogance supersedes the original agenda of working for the people, it is time the rakyat rejected the likes of him. It is amazing how politicians of this country waste no time upon joining politics in amassing a fortune. With mansions for home and a fleet of luxury cars to boot, these politicians get busy "working" for themselves and not the rakyat. Prior to this, it was Mohamed Salleh Ismail, chairman of National Feedlot Corporation and husband of former women, family and community development minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, who allegedly misused the RM250 million government loan meant for cattle breeding to purchase upscale condominiums in the affluent Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur, and in Singapore besides buying a posh Mercedes Benz and two plots of land in Putrajaya. Shahrizat then defended herself from allegations of being an "accomplice" by virtue of her being a minister by saying that she and her family led independent lives, each having no idea what the other person was up to. Did the rakyat buy Shahrizat's feckless retort? Far from it as the public furore that ensued resulted in Shahrizat's senatorship not being renewed, forcing her on April 8 to vacant her minister's seat and trying hard to remain politically relevant as Wanita Umno chief. The bitter truth is that politicians like Nazri and Shahrizat very conveniently dismissed the fact that they are nothing more than servants of the rakyat; all because a red carpet is rolled out each time they attend an event does not make them important, in the true sense of the word. On the contrary, the red carpet and VIP treatment is simply a gesture of respect from the humble rakyat which the politicians have sadly taken for granted.
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| Posted: 23 Oct 2012 02:38 PM PDT Once again, hudud is becoming a hotly debated topic. But what is hudud exactly and are we ready for it? But let's make this clear: contrary to belief made popular by MCA and other uninformed members of the public, hudud is not a law meant to brutalise Muslims, it is not a tool meant to perpetuate social injustice, and it is definitely not an archaic relic from a barbaric civilisation of the past. Anisah Shukry, FMT Shrieks of women being stoned to death pierce through the air as you walk down Lorong Haji Taib. Once a red light district, tourists now flock here to get the chance to hurl rocks at the very same transgendered prostitutes who lured them into badly lit alleys five years ago. You'd like to keep your eyes firmly on the ground, but you've just had your lunch and the sight of freshly dismembered hands still writhing on the road is just a bit too much. This is the year 2015, three years after Pakatan Rakyat won the general election and began implementing hudud – the Islamic criminal law – with delirious zeal. Cinemas have been shut down, Muslim and non-Muslim women alike stay at home for fear of being raped, and Genting Highlands has been transformed into a Taliban stronghold. Or so MCA would like you to think. If you were to swallow what they have been touting for the few months (years?), hudud means The End of Malaysia As We Know it. Prevention is better than cure But let's make this clear: contrary to belief made popular by MCA and other uninformed members of the public, hudud is not a law meant to brutalise Muslims, it is not a tool meant to perpetuate social injustice, and it is definitely not an archaic relic from a barbaric civilisation of the past. In Islam, hudud is a specific set of fixed penalties laid down by Allah for specified transgressions or crimes, such as adultery, fornication, stealing, or consuming alcohol. Its purpose, simply put, is to maintain justice and to protect society. "But why is it so brutal?" you cry as you gingerly stroke your wrist and flex your beloved fingers. Oh to part with such digits! The answer is simple: because hudud works by preventing people from committing crime in the first place – through sheer fear of such brutal retaliation. Take theft as an example. After all, who wouldn't think twice about committing a theft if they risk, not a mere slap on the wrist, but a slice of it? But take heart: even if a person was found guilty of thievery under hudud, it's not a simple matter of hacking the wrongdoer's hand off and calling it a day. Instead, there are a multitude of factors that must be taken into consideration before any punishment can be meted out. In the case of theft, the court must take into account the amount of money stolen, the thief's financial situation as well as his or her mental stability before even considering the ultimate punishment of amputation. Rape = adultery? Another controversial, so-called unjust part of hudud is the fact that a rape victim must supposedly produce four male – adult, pious, credible Muslims – to testify they had witnessed her rape. If she fails to do so, she will then be charged as having committed zina (fornication or adultery); a crime against the state punishable by stoning to death. But according to a paper written by Dr Mohammad Omar Farooq, an associate professor at the Royal University for Women, Bahrain, classical Islamic jurisprudence clearly treated rape as a special case of assault, never zina. In fact, he wrote, Prophet Muhammad himself differentiated between consensual and non-consensual actions and punished individuals accordingly. An equally important note he made was that, in the case of zina, the burden of providing the four credible and pious eyewitnesses is not on the person accused of committing zina, but the accuser. Hence, because the requirement is so strict, cases of zina that emerged during the time of the Prophet were generally a result of voluntary confessions by the wrongdoers themselves, rather than gangs of vigilant peeping toms.
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| Lament of a Stressed-out Minister Posted: 22 Oct 2012 01:25 PM PDT
Every little thing only, they want to protest in the street. Kee Thuan Chye I tell you, it's tough laa being a minister these days. We have to take so much shit. From the media, from Facebook, from bloggers, from the Opposition. It was so different when Mahathir was PM. Nobody dared to question any minister then. Nobody wrote a word to criticise. But now … And it's not like we make that much money. Our salary is nothing compared to Singapore. Some more, the people don't appreciate it. They think we are getting kickbacks left, right and centre. This recent case over Musa Aman getting RM40 million … it's not him, the money was for Umno. Political donation. What's wrong with that? PM Najib already said it's proper. But people still want to make trouble and call it money laundering. Just because Michael Chia got stopped when he was bringing the money out from Hong Kong. Some more, they are saying Michael has been giving money to Musa's sons in Australia for a long time. You believe that? They just want to make him look bad laa. They say Musa hasn't said anything about the RM40 million so far, but can you blame him for keeping quiet? I think the less said the better. Nowadays, you have to be careful what you say. Hishammuddin kena after Bersih 3.0. Remember, the media asked him why police were confiscating memory cards from media cameramen and the public? He said, "SOP." After that, they hentam him kau-kau for talking rubbish. No respect laa. Nowadays, they don't show ministers respect, I tell you. We were elected, you know, and appointed by the PM. OK laa, a few were not elected, but a minister must have respect. Otherwise, how to carry out the job properly? So now we want people to respect us more. That's why we arrested that young man for showing his backside to the PM and his wife's photos. Who would have dared to do this to Mahathir when he was PM? We must return to the way we did things, the way we controlled, during his time. I know on social media they are calling us a fascist state but let them call what they like. We have to mean business. If I were Hisham, I wouldn't want to be Home Minister. Honestly speaking. You have to take care of national security, crime and, some more, people's safety. But you just have to say people must be responsible for their own safety against crime and they come back and bash you. You just have to say PKR must realise it is taking a risk going to Johor because it is Umno territory and the online news website distorts your words. They say you said there's no need to guarantee the safety of PKR in Johor, and how can the Home Minister say that. Even Borders – Borders, you know. What is it? Only a bookstore. But it is challenging Hisham in court. It is saying he acted irresponsibly. It is saying he is not telling the truth. Over what? Over a deviant book by a Canadian Muslim that Jawi seized from the bookstore. Can you believe that? No respect, that's the problem. Poor Yen Yen. At the Himpunan Hijau Raub, some protestors whacked her poster with their shoes. They said it was the Hong Kong style. Why follow the Hong Kong style? It's not part of our culture. And poor Tiong Lai finally gave up his chance to get WWW 15 for his car number plate because they kept saying he was using RM24,200 of the people's money to make a bid for it. But he told them he was entitled to it for free. In the end, he was honourable about it, he gave it up. See? We are all not bad laa. They still think Tiong Lai is a liar after his bad experience handling the hoo-ha at Tung Shin Hospital during Bersih 2.0, but we're not always liars … wait! That didn't come out right. We don't lie. We don't lie. PM Najib said it best when he said, "The Government doesn't know how to cheat the people." The people must realise that. They must realise we always try our best. Like Rais. He's an old-timer. He has served the country so long, but still they hentam him. They made fun of him for writing the lyrics of 'Janji Ditepati'. OK lah, he's not a professional songwriter but he has good intentions. He did so much to make 'Himpunan Merdeka' a success, to unite the people in a big celebration, to set a new world record for the number of tweets, and what did they do to him on Facebook? They ran a big picture of him with the caption "The world's greatest …" I better not say laa. You see? Too much laa these people. Two years ago, he made that remark about changing his mode and they put it on youtube and made all sorts of funny comments about him. And then they even tried to spin a false story alleging that he raped his Indonesian maid. Tak habis-habis. They like all this sordid sex stuff. Shafie Apdal also they tried to dirty. Not enough they said he had a mistress. They also said he gave her RM1.5 million over three years. Remember in the '80s, there were strong rumours that a deputy minister was connected with the murder of his mistress? Nothing came out on that in the media. It was all just khabar-khabar angin. People didn't dare come out in the open then. No one was ever charged for the murder. The deputy minister even got promoted to full minister. But now even Nazri's son – apa nama? … unh, Nedim – is dragged out in public. They demand to know why no criminal case against the boy for assaulting the condo security supervisor. They said CCTV showed Nedim strangling the man and punching him on the head. But police said CCTV showed Nedim was not involved. Who should you believe? Would the police lie? No way, right? Some more, Hisham has already said the case has been amicably settled. So it's clear already lah. Then they want to know about the murder of Darren Kang in 2004. That is old story laa. Police found that Nedim was not involved. And five Thais have already been convicted for the murder. Habis cerita. Why are they still focusing on Nazri's son? No minister is safe any more laa. Even Najib. When the schoolboy asked him to give an example of Najis Mughallazah at some recent exhibition, there was a video recording of it that went viral – to show the world Najib couldn't answer. Malu la! I mean malu in that it's telling the whole world something so trivial. Some more, they played it up. Put on youtube. Said the PM didn't know shit. What for? The worst is what they are doing to the grand old man himself. Every time Mahathir says something, he's sure to kena. Shameful laa the comments they write about him on social media and online news websites. The man is 87 years old. He used to be PM. In our culture, we must respect senior people. But no. He said American mothers are whores, they hentam. A vote for Pakatan is a vote for Soros, they hentam. It's okay to give ICs to illegal immigrants in Sabah, they hentam. And because he said it is better for the people to vote for the devil they know, now people are calling us "devils". We are here to serve the people laa. We are not devils. I don't know la. If we win GE13 also, we will find it hard to govern after that. Every little thing only, they want to protest in the street. Even with PAA, they don't care. Police say no, they still come out. For the next five years, they will be fighting us, watching us like hawks. Sometimes, I feel I want to give up. * Kee Thuan Chye is the author of the bestselling book No More Bullshit, Please, We're All Malaysians, available in bookstores together with its Malay translation, Jangan Kelentong Lagi, Kita Semua Orang Malaysia. |
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