Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- GE13: ‘Victory’ at any cost?
- Malaysia has an Evil side that bears watching!
- Bukan Islam? Belum Islam?
| Posted: 24 Mar 2013 03:45 PM PDT
The DAP strategy of targeting MCA candidates could make the Chinese community the unwitting victim. Bunn Negara, The Star THE 2008 general election was significant as a "political tsunami" – the Opposition achieved its best ever gains, with the promise of an emerging two-coalition system. That election would have been even more historic had it also achieved what many thought it would: end communal politics for good. But it failed miserably, with no political party blameless. Perhaps it was too much to expect qualitative change in addition to quantitative change (seat numbers in state assemblies and Parliament). Communal politics has been a bane of this country for as long as there have been elections. That remains a fundamental reality into the foreseeable future. For Barisan Nasional (and its predecessor the Alliance) as well as the Opposition, race-based politics is practised if not always acknowledged. It takes far more to turn that around than many have imagined. Whether party membership is defined by ethnicity or not, one race or another dominates and characterises each party. Parties that are multiracial in theory are just less transparent in their ethnic politics. However, what turns an unfortunate situation tragic is when those parties most vehement about having "turned the corner" of communal politics are also doing the most to perpetuate it. PAS as the Islamist party has set new standards in trying to ram Islamist-style restrictions down the throats of all Malaysians – Muslim and non-Muslim. It now does so with more gusto and less hesitation. PKR as another Muslim and Malay-majority party chooses indifference and complacency in the face of the PAS onslaught. It has even supported the idea of turning Kelantan into an Islamic state. The DAP prefers silence and inaction amid PAS' swagger. Elsewhere it would wield its non-Muslim credentials, sometimes to the point of playing the Christian card. None of this helps to tone down Malaysia's sweltering communal politics. And since this reinforces the problem in Pakatan itself, it could prompt more of the same in Barisan as well. The DAP's latest move sees party adviser Lim Kit Siang contesting the Gelang Patah seat in Johor. It would be the latest "stop" in a long and roving parliamentary career. MCA, which has half (seven out of 15) of its parliamentary seats in the state, sees Johor as its stronghold. MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek condemned this as DAP's strategy of "Chinese killing off the Chinese". Both Chinese-based parties are natural rivals whose mutual rivalry has now reached a new high. DAP leaders may dismiss this alarm as predictable melodrama, but it contains a hard kernel of truth. The DAP's drive for power is not above pitting Chinese candidates against other Chinese candidates, which is likely to reduce further the number of ethnic minority MPs. Johor is also Umno's home state. There is virtually no prospect of the DAP snatching the state from Barisan. However, DAP efforts to unseat MCA parliamentarians in Johor could produce a strong Malay-based Umno in the state government contending with a Chinese-based DAP in the Opposition. That would be bad and dangerous for politics, race relations and the Chinese community's representation in governance. It would be a regression, precariously setting an unhealthy precedent. In recent years Malaysian political discourse became more multiracial as both Government and Opposition coalitions became more racially mixed. With both Barisan and Pakatan led by Malay-majority parties, political differences were distanced from racial differences. In the absence of thoroughly multiracial politics, that seems the next best option. The prospect of political fault lines coinciding with ethnic fault lines, raising the possibility of an ethnic conflagration as in 1969, has thus become more remote. But the risk of returning to such political volatility remains. Responsible leaders of every party need to be cognizant of these realities. Besides, the cause of shedding the racial element in party politics cannot be furthered by recourse to more racial politics. Under a veneer of multiracial rhetoric, the DAP has been known to practise communal politics in its seat choices and allocations. Lim's foray into Gelang Patah to battle the MCA incumbent there is the latest example of this approach. Instead of creating a more multiracial two-coalition system, this communal cannibalism could promote an unhealthy and perilous two-race system. Apparently, the DAP's objective is simply to unseat MCA candidates, seen as soft targets since 2008, regardless of the cost to the people. That can only come at the expense of deepening racial politics in electoral outcomes. Perhaps the DAP's Chinese candidates are thought to have better chances in challenging MCA's Chinese candidates than Umno's Malay candidates. But that is still a tricky calculation depending on the circumstances at the time. Thoughtful and responsible leaders may not consider that a risk worth taking, much less a cost worth paying.
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| Malaysia has an Evil side that bears watching! Posted: 24 Mar 2013 12:16 PM PDT
My idea is that the Indians, for starters, come together and vote against all incumbents every General Election. It remains to be seen whether the Government will fall every five years by adopting this approach in exercising X Power at the ballot box. Joe Fernandez Dr Paraman, as usual, has put together a thought-provoking piece -- Hindraf critics are demonising the victims in http://english.cpiasia.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2503&catid=219&Itemid=189 -- and no doubt with the help of subject matter experts on several related issues. No one can deny the arguments being made and which can continue to be made among others by the Indian Nation in Malaysia, the largely stateless underclass in particular. There's a hitherto hidden evil side to Malaysia. This Evil Face now lies bare, exposed warts and all, for the world to see. Consider that the Umno-appointed Director-General of the National Registration Department (NRD) has not been allowed by his political masters to use his discretionary and prerogative powers to resolve the stateless problem which plagues Indians and non-Indians alike in Malaysia. There's no need for political will on the matter. What's needed is to allow the DG to do the job for which he has been appointed. If he's a hard-core card-carrying racist member of Umno, he should be removed from the job where he's squatting on the hopes and dreams and aspirations of so many people in Malaysia.
Stateless not the only example of Umno being anti non-Malay minorities' About 350,000 Indians are stateless. This figure can be deduced from the number of stateless children not in school. There are countless thousand stateless among the Orang Asal in Sabah and Sarawak and among the Pala'u – sea gypsies – or Bajau Laut along the eastern seaboard of Sabah. There's a subtle attempt on the part of the authorities and the mad mullahs to force all these people to convert to Islam, in defiance of the Federal Constitution, in return for Malaysian personal documents. The temples and places of worship of the stateless are routinely demolished by the authorities. The Umno regime is keeping the Indian stateless in particular as a domestic source of slave labour in the twilight zone in Malaya. It also wants to keep these unfortunate people out of the schools, out of the electoral rolls, and out from the official statistics on the number of Indians and Hindus in Malaysia. The stateless are not the only example of the Government embarking on anti non-Malay minorities' administrative laws – not law at all but government policies in action – to continue its reign of terror outside the rubber stamp legislatures even as the Judiciary has been reduced to yet another Government Department composed of glorified clerks.
Multiple organ failure as the dangers of systemic risks have emerged The Umno Government has also usurped the power of the King over Article 153 of the Federal Constitution and observed it and the New Economic Policy, more often than not in the breach. It's not a pretty picture of pemimpin yang di sanjung tinggi, pemimpin yang dihormati dunia, negara yang pesat membangun, and negara yang boleh menjadi contoh kepada dunia as the TV ad commercials by the Government, on behalf of the ruling Umno regime, show night after night in the run-up to the 13th General Election. Spare us the bleeding heart music shamelessly plagiarised from Christian hymns! The Orang Asal, Sabah and Sarawak have their own stories too for the world to hear. It's all the more so in the wake of the Lahad Datu Standoff and so-called mopping up operations against terrorist blackmailers eyeing the riches of Sabah, if not Sarawak as well. Already, there's a beginning of simmering guerrilla warfare along the eastern seaboard of Sabah, and the certainty of renewed hostilities with the Philippines Government over the so-called Sabah claim, the peace process in southern Philippines and Putrajaya's ties to rebel groups in the Philippines south. It's typical of the powers that be and the vested interest groups to criminalise, demonize, dehumanise, neutralise, isolate, marginalise, eliminate, exterminate and put in a test tube those calling for dialogue, sacrifices, compromises and consensus. It's like putting the genie back in the bottle.
Longterm viability of Malaysia at stake if no changes The lack of dialogue and/or refusal of the Government to enter into a dialogue with disaffected citizens and people – whether from Malaysia, Sulu or elsewhere -- will sooner or later force them into any number of precipitate actions viz. demonstrations of public prayer, fating and candlelight vigilance; massive civil disobedience, occupy movements, taking to the streets, urban and rural guerrilla warfare and Revolution. All these approaches will place life, limb and properties in imminent danger, and compromise the security of Malaysia. Once the security situation is compromised, it will result in a loss of investor and consumer confidence in the economy. All value indicators will drop viz. shares as reflected in the stock market and elsewhere, properties and the currency as an inflationary spiral sets in. Banks will call in loans as collateral value drops below the 50 per cent level for loans issued and this will drive businesses into bankruptcy. Interest rates, given the higher risk climate, will increase for loans as they drop for deposits, insurance cover will increase on the heightened risk factors and further drive up the cost of doing business. Tax collection will decline, and further decline as taxes would have to be increased even as collections drop, and government spending on development will decline as more will have to be ploughed out for increased security spending, and downsizing of Government will lay off thousands as they are thrown into the streets.
It cannot continue to be business as usual in Malaysia after over 50 years of Evil The Brightest and Best would flee Malaysia as they are ever ready to do at a moment's notice, labour would cross border as unemployment and underemployment sets in for Malaysians in the face of increasing illegal immigrant influx offering the ever increasing cheap labour that businesses seek to survive for the moment, and there will be increased capital flight. In short, the control freaks in Putrajaya will find events taking on a life of their own and in a runaway mode which will render obsolete any idea of the Government having a sense of control of the situation in the country. My idea is that the Indians, for starters, come together and vote against all incumbents every General Election. It remains to be seen whether the Government will fall every five years by adopting this approach in exercising X Power at the ballot box. Indians, unless they want to embark on all those other options like Revolution and the like mentioned, have no choice at the moment but eschew party and coalition politics. Marginalisation and disenfranchisement of Indians by Umno, aided and abetted by MIC, have resulted in a situation where the community doesn't have even one ethnic-majority seat in Parliament or any state legislature. Their voice is not heard in Parliament on their issues although there are Indians in the legislature, but being elected by non-Indians by and large, they can only function as political mandores for their non-Indian masters. Indian has become a dirty word, not be uttered in the legislature or during any political party meeting including MIC. After more than 56 years of ketuanan melayuism (Malay political domination and supremacy) -- a sick combination based on Apartheid, Nazism, Fascism, Communism, Political Islam, and the evil anti-upward social mobility Caste System of ancient India -- it cannot continue to be business as usual.
Umno Government cannot continue to sweep problems under the carpet The ruling elite cannot continue to fan the degenerate idea that Malays, under ketuanan melayuism, is duty-bound to twist and turn every issue into a racial and religious issue in order to scare themselves in the collective into circling the wagons and gathering under one political platform to do in others, do them harm and even destroy them. Such an evil response is at the heart of the growing National Debt Burden in Malaysia as the ruling elite continues to put a hand in the National Cookie Jar under the guise of affirmative action programmes for the Malay-speaking communities -- Bugis, Javanese, Minang, Acehnese, Arab Muslims, Indian Muslims etc -- in Malaya (a Nation without Territory) and the Orang Asal and bringing so-called development to the people. This feeds the growing corruption in the country which further drives up the cost of doing business in the country and continues to weaken the institutions of state as their integrity is compromised in the process. The Umno Government cannot continue to sweep problems under the carpet for its political expediency. The deviations and distortions in the implementation of Article 153 and the NEP, for one, must end or there will be endless trouble in Malaysia in the next half century. If it has no interest whatsoever in giving these people an identity, more than half a century after the British administration departed, it should bring together the members of this group together with the Governments of the United Kingdom, the Governments in the Indian sub-continent, the Governments in Latin America, the United Nations, and the Governments of the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to come up with a lasting and just solution.
Joe Fernandez is a mature student of law and an educationist, among others, who loves to write especially Submissions for Clients wishing to Act in Person. He feels compelled, as a semi-retired journalist, to put pen to paper -- or rather the fingers to the computer keyboard -- whenever something doesn't quite jell with his weltanschauung (worldview). He shuttles between points in the Golden Heart of Borneo formed by the Sabah west coast, Labuan, Brunei, northern Sarawak and the watershed region in Borneo where three nations meet.
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| Posted: 24 Mar 2013 11:51 AM PDT
(The Malaysian Insider) - Perkara 11 dalam Perlembagaan Persekutuan Malaysia memberi jaminan kebebasan beragama bagi penduduk "Bukan Islam" (non-Muslim) atau "Tidak Islam" (not a Muslim). Setiap individu "Bukan/Tidak Islam" itu berhak menganuti dan mengamalkan agamanya tanpa sekatan. Bagi penduduk beragama Islam pula, Perlembagaan memberi kuasa kepada Undang-undang Negeri dan Undang-undang Persekutuan bagi mengawal atau menyekat pengembangan apa-apa doktrin atau kepercayaan agama dalam kalangan orang yang menganuti agama Islam. Hal-hal ini adalah amat jelas walaupun dari semasa ke semasa, kita mendengar berita khabarnya dan kononnya ada pihak yang cuba menyebarkan agama Kristian kepada penduduk Islam. Saya bukan menuduh sesiapa tetapi sekadar menyebut apa yang sering dilaporkan di media arus perdana. Pada masa sama, apabila saya menulis cerpen dan novel yang mengangkat citra budaya kaum India di Malaysia, maka puak etnosentrik, ultra kiasu, fanatik dan rasis segera membuat kempen besar-besaran menuduh saya cuba menyebarkan agama Hindu kepada "khalayak sastera Melayu". Contoh terkini adalah berikutan penerbitan novel "Panchayat: Edisi Khas" (2012) dan kumpulan cerpen "Kisah dari Siru Kambam" (2013). Kumpulan Sasterawan Kavyan (Kavyan) berusaha menganjurkan "Konvoi Rumah Ibadat" dalam usaha memupuk perpaduan, persefahaman, saling mengenali, saling menghormati serta saling menerima perbezaan yang wujud dalam kalangan masyarakat pelbagai kaum, agama, etnik dan kepercayaan di Malaysia.
Salah satu perkara yang menjadi semacam barah dalam hati anggota masyarakat sejak beberapa tahun lalu adalah penggunaan frasa "Belum Islam" (not yet Muslim) apabila merujuk kepada golongan "Bukan Islam" (non-Muslim). Akhirnya, apa yang terbuku di hati terpaksa juga diluahkan walaupun rata-rata masyarakat "Tidak/Bukan Islam" di Malaysia sentiasa berusaha habis-habisan untuk tidak sedikit pun melukakan perasaan orang Islam. Golongan Tidak/Bukan Islam lebih rela menanggung derita daripada mengguris hati orang Islam dengan meluahkan pandangan walaupun demi hak yang sah di sisi undang-undang. Penggunaan label dan frasa "Belum Islam" mungkin seronok digunakan oleh golongan tertentu kerana ia sedikit pun tidak melibatkan diri sendiri. Samalah juga seperti dalam isu penggunaan "kasta" dan "p****" dalam novel "Interlok: Edisi Murid" (2010) terbitan Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) tidak lama dahulu. Read more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/opinion/article/bukan-islam-belum-islam/
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