Archive for May 16th, 2014

You will hear me roar

— Dyana Sofya
The Malay Mail Online
May 15, 2014

MAY 15 — My mother was active in politics. As her kids, my brothers and I were exposed to politics at a very young age. We would frequently meet our politician uncles and aunts during dinners, teh tarik sessions, Hari Raya open houses and birthday parties. Some of them made it to ministerial posts in later years, while some were not as lucky.

Growing up observing my mother taught me many, many things. With the good came also the bad. I soon learned that politics was a dog eat dog world which required one to have nerves of steel and skin as thick as oak before one could even begin to participate.

My older brothers in particular saw what my mother endured. They read the books she brought home from work. They saw the dirty games and Machiavellian tactics that my mother had to put up with in the name of “perjuangan.” For the party. For the country.

They also saw how she was betrayed by her own comrades and best friends for the sake of position and power. As a result, they have sworn themselves off from the world of politics.

It all began in the late 1980s, when my mother was a UMNO worker. She had loyally served the party for years, but all her sacrifice and hard work counted for nothing when the newly constituted UMNO Baru of Dr Mahathir decided not to rehire staff that had been inclined towards the “Team B” of his opponent, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, during the 1987 UMNO election.

At the time, she was just about to return to work after maternity leave.

She had just given birth to me. Read the rest of this entry »

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Don’t bring your religious forums to East Malaysia, Sarawakian Muslim tells UiTM

by Jennifer Gomez
The Malaysian Insider
May 15, 2014

A Melanau Muslim was among several Sarawakians who lodged police reports against a religiously charged seminar organised by Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) last week, hoping that such events will not be brought to East Malaysia where the citizens have been living in harmony.

Abdul Halim Hamdian, who is self-employed, made the report at the Dalat police station last Friday and complained that the speeches made at the seminar last week had seditious tendencies.

He said that since UiTM had campuses in Sarawak and Sabah, he was concerned that these issues would spread to East Malaysia, which has historically enjoyed a high level of understanding among its people of different faiths.

“As a Muslim, my understanding is that Islam respects the rights of other faiths, as long as they do not cause provocation towards Islam in any way.

“So I felt the speakers made seditious remarks and misused the good name of Islam to create tension and fear towards other faiths, especially Christianity,” Abdul Halim wrote in his report.

Abdul Halim also said in his report that he wanted the authorities to investigate the speakers at the seminar as it could result in the oppression of other faiths, using the good name of Islam. Read the rest of this entry »

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