by Loh Meng Kow
Zainuddin, the Minister of (dis) Information said the government rejected the concept of democracy promoted by the West, with street demonstrations being part of the democratic process. “Have the countries with frequent street demonstrations managed to achieve the prosperity and stability that we enjoy? Most of these countries are mired in conflicts or chaos,” he stressed.
The Prime minister said that the silent majority had spoken that they were against demonstration. Yes, the people who took part in street demonstrations did not prefer to do it, if they did not consider it important that they took part to call government attention. They demonstrated because that was the only way that attention could be drawn to the wrongs perpetuated by the government. The way to stop demonstrating is to govern with fairness in the interest of the nation, and not in personal interests, so that the citizens do not find the need to demonstrate. The approach adopted in declaring street demonstrations illegal, charging participants for high crimes would see fewer demonstrations. But unless the problems which the people were calling attention are resolved, that resentment would not go away.
Countries that have frequent demonstrations could be divided in two categories. One takes heed of the demonstrations, and so government actions are guided on the path to prosperity and stability. The other tolerated demonstrations but was not prepared to take remedial actions. Malaysia considered itself capable in using bullying tactic to deny demonstration.
The government claims that it practices democracy but it chooses to ignore specific allegations that the current practice of the Election Commission does not ensure free and fair election. The government claims that it had the support of the silent majority, and it had perfected its divide and rule policies where the policies and their implementation served to ensure support of specific section of the population to return them to perpetual rule. Yet, it was afraid of free and fair competition. So it chose to frustrate the march organized by BERSIH. The silent majority would have preferred that the government accede to the request of the BERSIH group, so that there would not be a need for demonstration. But the government chose what it did, and had the audacity to claim that the majority agreed to its action.
The government thought it proper to establish national service to bring youths to three months ‘get-together’, and hopes that they would be unity among them during and after the event. BN government could not be that ignorant not to realize the cause of racial polarization lies not in the lack of contact, but elsewhere. Until the youths do not have to witness unequal opportunity at further educations, and that their parents do not have to pay more for housing to subsidize persons of another community owning similar housing units, and do not have to face a host of institutionalized discriminations under the pretext of NEP, the three-month ‘goodtime’ cannot sooth their sense of unhappiness. The beneficiaries too would find it odd that civility and fairness they learn from books are different from real life. Should the young be taught might is right at the tender age, they would certainly develop the entitlement mentality so that all they need to say is ‘do not make us angry’, and whatever they demanded could be realized. How can there be true unity and solidarity among the races in that environment?
It is uncanny that BN government almost always chose the wrong solutions to problems faced by the nation. Other examples abound. Why does the BN government choose to do the wrong things almost all the time?
#1 by dawsheng on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 1:32 am
“Why does the BN government choose to do the wrong things almost all the time?”
Because the BN govt is corrupt to the core.
#2 by sj on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 1:37 am
I would like to ask you back another question:
Why do Malaysians still vote back in power the Goverment that prefer to choose to do the wrong things most of the time?
#3 by dawsheng on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 1:55 am
Ask the lawyers, who bribe the judges? Ask the motorist, who bribe the traffic police? Ask the businessman, who bribe to get the licenses? Ask every other Malaysians, who bribe to make our country so corrupt? No lah….! We are stupid mah…!
#4 by Jong on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 2:49 am
…because we have gobloks running the country led by a rotten village idiot, blur directionless and incompetent, that’s why!
#5 by HJ Angus on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 4:43 am
Guess many of the readers will know this bit of info but perhaps one could compare the BN system with a dead clock – it tells the correct time twice during the day!
The leadership is ensconced in a time warp – the system to govern the nation has not changed in 50 years and based simply on Malay supremacy and not the best candidates.
Maybe there has been changes but mostly in the downward direction and the process of selecting the top leaders in most of the political parties is usually to prevent challenges to the leadership.
As for this former Info Minister, methinks he became affected by the crap spewed out by his former department.
http://malaysiawatch3.blogspot.com/2007/12/did-malaysiakini-record-this-correctly.html
#6 by undergrad2 on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 7:25 am
Democracy as a western concept is in complete opposition to Confucian ideology, with its emphasis on filial piety and obedience.
A Chinese exile named Liang studied the works of Hobbes, Rousseau, Locke, Hume, Bentham in the 1800s and many more western political philosophers and had their works translated into Chinese. He felt that there was no difference between the ‘individual’ interests and ‘public’ interests. According to him here was no need for ‘individual’ rights in the Western sense, whose purpose was to protect the individual from the government. Ironically Liang in trying to understand and implement democracy inadvertently set down justifications for the authoritarianism that would characterize China’s “democratic” era.
Go here to read more http://www.tsquare.tv/themes/essay.html
#7 by undergrad2 on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 7:28 am
Is Islamic philosophy compatible with western democracy?
#8 by liaw3003sc on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 7:40 am
WHY? To achieve the RICH-Malay supremacy under the the pretext of NEP and Ketuanan Melayu!
#9 by burn on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 7:50 am
gomen BN UMNO is not dumb, they know the solution, but prefend not to know about it! we are no longer in the 40’s, 50’s or 60’s…
one thing for sure, gomen BN UMNO love to remind others about the past, when now, people’s are no longer interested to know about it. masa dah berubah… kita karang dalam era zaman 20th century. jangan nak bezakan warna kulit orang lain. kita semanusia.
tuhan sendiri tidak mengajar kamu membezakan warna kulit. yang kita tahu, gomen BN UMNO hanya mementingkan diri sendiri.
#10 by lakshy on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 8:04 am
As they have aptly pointed out, they define democracy in their way. Similarly then they should have no qualms if someone else says there is ethnic cleansing. It’s all a matter of definition mah!
#11 by antz on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 8:19 am
then why every now and then you vote for BN,just wondering why you have things that not suppose to be at the proper place and still put it there…a land that is full of wonderful things but was being washed away by racial idealogy…i wonder why??
#12 by k1980 on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 8:34 am
The fools who voted for BN in 2004 should be hanged
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/IL18Ae02.html
Complaints of foul play have even come from within the ruling party: Then Information Minister Kadir Sheikh Fadzir claimed the 2004 general election, which swept Abdullah to power with an overwhelming majority, was the most corrupt he had witnessed in his decades-long career.
#13 by Bigjoe on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 8:45 am
I have to beg to defer on the title. More correctly it should be why to BN government choose NOT to do the right thing when it really counts almost all the time.
Well the answer is simply mediocrity.
Mediocrity is what this country is. Its not good, its not bad, its mediocre. Its a result of the so-called ‘compromise’ and ‘moderate’ formula.
Its why this most mediocre of of leaders, our PM, has been selected and continue to be in power. We are just not structurally designed for true excellence. We don’t have to. We have been blessed by luck of all sort – from natural resources, to strong colonial institutions, productive minority, high savings rate, technological waves, global economic shifts and trends etc.
To be fair, its not without designed but we could have been much worst but we also could have been much much better. The cliche, Malaysia OK lah… is what we are not Malaysia Boleh..
#14 by antz on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 9:01 am
productive minority-that spearheading the economy but why not as the whole as a nation…i think what makes you afloat is the natural resources that’s the important thing u have blessed with it…
Malaysia boleh can be Malaysia Excellence if everybody proritise first as a nation that followed by race…
An opportunity that was already seen but to them it’s still far way to be seen
and i think it’s still with the fearing of having a colonised and land lost thinking…that’s in the 1950’s but it’s already 2007..now..
#15 by Count Dracula on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 9:31 am
I don’t know about you but a Malay writing a Malay version of Singlish is just too much for me!
Don’t the Malays in S’pore know how to speak and write English?
#16 by antz on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 9:41 am
count dracula,
unable to comprehend what i have wrote above simply saying u don’t understand the simple standard of English…
my english requires thinking and if u failed to comprehend my saying that means u failed to see things in wider perspective..that’s the problem bout u…
#17 by oknyua on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 9:59 am
“Why does the BN government choose to do the wrong things almost all the time?” Mr Loh.
The PM war-cry now is, “Support me.” If you support him, he would do the right thing! Great lesson in logic.
By the way, YB Lim KS, I wonder what happen to the RM4.0m building that collapsed in Perak. The report is supposed to be out by now.
(Note: I think it was Godfather that collected the precious PM’s quotes. Don’t forget the above quote.)
#18 by cheng on soo on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 10:00 am
Yes, Msia is afloat bcos of natural resources, esp. petrol, once this decrease by say, 40%, with present govt, same policies, see no road. Real worrying lah! what yr 2020 mean for Msia!
If west democracy is no good, how come , most western countries are way ahead of the rest of the worlds in social, economic devel.mt etc. Why Japan, S. Korea,n Taiwan follow west style in govt, social, econ etc.
#19 by grace on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 10:17 am
“Why does the BN government choose to do the wrong things almost all the time?â€
Because the cabinet is made up of ministers with IQ below sea level!!! PM being one with the lowest. Any one of you would beat him in any IQ test conducted by MENSA.
People like Zam or Nazri, they talk a lot but utterly hollow upstairs. No wonder Bakri Musa rightly addresed PM as HH(hollowness) Pak Lah!!
So do expect them to do more wrongs!!!
#20 by oknyua on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 10:25 am
Beside the RM4 m building, what happen to the followings:
(1) Auditor-General report. Any new charges beside the last 8?
(2) The Port Klang RM4.6 b. What is the reply so far?
(3) The Sabah Ma Zhu’s case?
Or as, Mr Loh said, the BN government choose to do the WRONG thing again?
#21 by Count Dracula on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 10:36 am
Maybe antz has a different perspective to the following:
“The shame is that while Malays are recognized as the original inhabitants, they constantly feel marginalized by the dominant Chinese culture and policy. In addition, this group represents an unbalanced percentage of the lower-income classes, with the lowest levels of education and the highest number of criminal offenders. The government prides itself on policies to promote racial harmony but it is widely accepted that Malays occupy jobs on the low-end of the pay scale. Even in the military, while there are many Malays in the enlisted troops, there are almost none in the officer ranks.â€
http://www.frommers.com/destinations/singapore/0077020416.html
#22 by antz on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 10:45 am
reply to count dracula,
i think i need not actually explain in detailed the whole concept of what u tried to question me as i find that u have been twisting and turning the whole picture and the real meaning of meritocracy that i know u just refused to understand…here in singapore the chinese does not have any so called official privileged that u have in m’sia that is what you called bumiputera policy…and frankly speaking it’s the majority,the chinese that have been spearheading the economy…excellent in business and to make sure too that minorities in not being left out from the economic opportunities….
and also need not to actually touches on issues like jobs..or etc…or ranking that u keep pressing me…what you mean is that oh okay meritocracy why shout…!!oh no malays eh how come…oh that is what i called marganilised…this is what u are trying to say and this is what i called racial supremacy and not meritocracy u miss the point…and whatever the case is till the end of the world in singapore there will be always malays here…this is the land that we will fall together…the land that u left us in a cold and the land that we will perished together with the majority chinese and also indians…and sorry to say if m’sia happens to maybe offer me citizenship well i no need to think twice…i’ll reject it..m’sia is not the place where i want to be where things are being messed up and keep missing the point..and for 50 years of privileged u have in your so called tanah melayu…statistic still show u are still way behind in all sectors…in anonther 50 years i do not know where u will be….i doubt iam a malay and i know my race…there will always be thinking of colonolised and at the same time fearing loss of power….in u…and anyway that’s your country…you run the country…and also there is a malay fighter pilot here..and there are minorities working in the defence force and why are u so interested to know whether they are really malays…u want to really see them stepping on your soil…i think what u lack is maybe spent some time here..open your eyes wide and ask around see things in a wider perspective…u have been in the comfort zone for too long till you loses touch with reality…only ppl that have been here understand the system…and to answer your question…earlier majority of the malays here some sort share my views…i live with them here and not you…we are malays but we are different in thinking…to have the priviliged here in singapore for the malays it does not work…and in the meantime pls attend to your screaming indians and your unhappy chinese…we the singapore malays do not owe our life to you…we have better things to do here…and just look at the real statistic…and finally don’t keep blaming the singapore chinese…they accept us as citizens equally…compare to you and that’s make the whole difference…
#23 by antz on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 11:02 am
count dracula,
no use copy and paste…u shld noe the real statistic
what is 1SGD to 1RM?
and where are u and where am i?
kerna minda anda senantiasa takut dijajah dan takut untuk berdiri sendiri…champion your rights but in fact who’s contributing to your economy but has been sidelined systematically…
#24 by dawsheng on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 11:03 am
without singapore, malaysian chinese is nothing.
#25 by dawsheng on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 11:14 am
‘Ong said 99.2% of the Malaysian corporate sector was made up of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which were mostly Chinese-owned, adding that these people had been doing business even before the country’s independence.’
without chinese malaysia is nothing?
#26 by antz on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 11:22 am
sudah letih dan lesu saya berkata-kata kpd bangsa sendiri
tetapi apakan daya,kerna orang yang berkata-kata berkhyalan sendiri
Anak melayu temasek hidup dibesarkan dan dibela dan diingatkan selalu
supaya bila jatuh bangun sendiri..inilah kata-kata yang dilaungkan daripada bapa kemerdekaan temasek…dari bukan bangsa sendiri
kami ditendang keluar dari bangsa sendiri pada masa dahulu
kini kami sudah kedepan dengan berani tanpa teduh
dan saya masih menanti bila lagi anda akan bangun sendiri??
jangan gusar bangsa melayu temasek masih terpelihara kerana mahu nama kami agung di mata dunia
and i hope u understand what i mean from the above…
i do not understand why they just unable to accept u as equal citizen…perhaps it’s maybe dimana bumi dipijak disitu langit dijunjung…i think i better withdraw myself cos if not it’s going to be racial topic again and again
Majulah untuk Malaysia
#27 by cheng on soo on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 11:46 am
antz, don’t withdraw lah, always good to hear from someone from other side of causeway. other bloggers may not agree with u, but no harm ,just discuss only lah! hope don’t make it racial lah, but talk on democracy, social, eductn, economic devlmt. clean n efficient govt, human right, unity, ASEAN etc
#28 by antz on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 11:58 am
cheng,
the problem is that what i see is always the special privileged problem…
that’s y, i know it is pain for them to realise that it is wrong to champion one’s race but sidelined the rest of the citizens…
the thing is that this ppl i mentioned just refused to accept the truth and this is ppl is of my own race…i dun understand??if since young here the chinese as the majority accept me as their citizen equally…why can’t they, as the majority accept u as equal??
here, i listened to non-bumi’s struggle every day to wake up early in the morning to work here…complain to me that they have no place in tanah melayu…how do you feel???they are sleeping soundly at 4am in the morning but you have to scramble for living….here and in this blog i gotta explain over and over to them again and again how we can lived equally among all the races here…they want singapore to be just like the way they run their country…we cannot be because here we have nothing…. no resources everyone of us have to contribute for our nation and cannot afford to be special for one’s group…
#29 by dawsheng on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 12:04 pm
Antz, only Melayu UMNO need the tongkat. I got many Malay friends who is brilliant and can match anyone in their trade, if not better, they are not UMNO.
#30 by DarkHorse on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 1:26 pm
The tongkat is good. It helps you to walk. It helps you to defend yourself when attacked. It helps you to reach out and pick stuff off the floor. It helps you give directions. It helps you open doors. It can do whatever you ask it to do!
#31 by DarkHorse on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 1:27 pm
Ask Ali. He’ll tell you!
#32 by shaolin on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 3:05 pm
If there is proper channel to voice out the Indians’
grievances, we are very sure the Hindraf will not
choose to go to the street protests…!!
Can’t the government be more open and let them
have the peaceful pickets and protest over the issues??
It is simply just a platform/channel for the protestors
to let out their cry so that the government has some
kind of feedback from the people…!! So what kind of
‘Bad Culture’ isthe government talking about??
Do they really know how to form a government and rule
the country?? We really doubt their abilities…!!
Everything the government will say is that, ‘This is Not
our culture’!! Simple ways to solve issues can lead them
to face a much more complex one becoz they complicate
the situations…!!
#33 by undergrad2 on Tuesday, 18 December 2007 - 10:21 pm
To: antz
We would like to know your response to – not what poster Dracula said (he did not say anything on the issue of marginalization) – but what he cut and pasted which is based on some report meant to be read by tourists wanting to know more about the people of Singapore.
There is nothing wrong in admitting to the fact which is that in every country which has ethnic minorities, the phenomenon or process referred to as marginalization, is almost universal. To say that Malays, being an ethnic minority in S’pore, are an exception and do not have problems rooted in their marginalization would be a gross distortion of the facts. India has them. Germany has them. France has them. The U.K. certainly has them. Japan has them. Indonesia has them. Malaysia has them, Why not Singapore?
Marginalization is not per se the issue. But the problems that give rise to marginalization are.
#34 by antz on Wednesday, 19 December 2007 - 4:39 pm
undergrad,
i start the issue just want to contribute the per topic said…what i think…and some ppl just love to twist and turn the issue and sudenly come to marginalisation of the malays in singapore??may i know why are u so bothered and paranoid about us??and do you know that cutting and paste that count dracula has is not of reliable resource..
iam tired of talking time again and again how we lived here to ppl like u who wish to make an issue about all the things that is the fact but they turn it into something big and i do not know why…
No country is perfect…problems that we had here is not of your concern…your main concern is about your citizens and sorry if i sound too harsh the fact is sometimes u treat us like a kinda doll being throw around…but yet in your own backyard there are your own ppl screaming at you…finally pls i stayed the whole of the 28 years of my life here and i know what’s happening around better than you…and i said Malays are not marganilised here…so next time if u want to have a say bout us…pls open your eyes wide ask around and see things in wider perspective…enough being kicked by u back in 1965 and i do not know but your country cos i dun wish to know…and in the meantime attend to your own citizen concern…difference between u and me is that u are being provide an umbrella while iam not…and see the true statistic…what is 1RM and 1SGD??that’s it i have enough said..
#35 by antz on Wednesday, 19 December 2007 - 5:29 pm
Count dracula and undergrad,
http://app.sprinter.gov.sg/data/pr/20070902996.htm
http://app.sprinter.gov.sg/data/pr/2007081902.htm
above web address takes you to the National Day speech year 2007 by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong about the Malays in Singapore
This is what i called reliable resource…
#36 by shortie kiasu on Thursday, 20 December 2007 - 6:27 am
They did do some right things, don’t they?
#37 by DiaperHead on Thursday, 20 December 2007 - 8:12 am
Hello antz,
First I’m not Malay but I’ve lots of friends from Singapore and a few of them are Malay and I met them while doing a post grad course in UM in Kuala Lumpur.
Not only are Malays marginalised in Singapore, Indians are too.
Dracula merely pointed out a source which carries information which speaks to the contrary and did not express his own opinion; and you being a 28 year old Singaporean Malay disagree with that report about Malays being marginalized. Why should you be personal? If you say Malays are not marginalized in Singapore and you experienced no difficulties in finding jobs you want, that is your experience. Good for you!
#38 by DiaperHead on Thursday, 20 December 2007 - 8:14 am
By the way did undergrad say he’s Malay? I don’t think so.
#39 by DiaperHead on Thursday, 20 December 2007 - 8:17 am
What has the foreign exchange rate between the Sing Dollar and the Malaysian Ringgit got to do with the marginalization of Singapore’s ethnic minorities. Malays are not the only ethnic minority there.
#40 by laifoong on Thursday, 20 December 2007 - 9:04 am
aiyaah! admit it lar antz. if you’re not marginalized how come you can’t write english properly? who is going to employ you with this kind of english???
#41 by ktteokt on Thursday, 20 December 2007 - 9:39 am
It is because they have been wrong from the very first day they were in power. They had no alternative but to carry on being wrong and wrongs bring more wrongs!!
#42 by antz on Thursday, 20 December 2007 - 8:39 pm
no wonder your country falls behind in all things…and i do not wish to say more…it seems i start with a different note and end up in a different note..it’s better to be in a blog whom have ppl with better sense…and speak in much more better English than u guys…anyway what’s the standard of your English…all of u get me so wrong so sad!!next time when coming to work in Singapore stop complaining… and dun put on a sad face anyway minority here is better than u….just admit it because of us u are still staying afloat…that’s the fact…
#43 by antz on Thursday, 20 December 2007 - 9:31 pm
and ya before i withdraw from this blog…i would just like to apologize if i sound harsh in my words that i use…but it’s frustrated that i contributed that is not of a racial issue initially…and now turns into a racial issue… and an issue that is close to me and the things that is happening around me.i read a lot of things about this DAP Party, and also about Mr Lim Kit Siang…and i know bout the goal that he wanted to champion all across M’sia….
I am not personal but i do not wish to read things that are not true…and i wish to state the facts…and i do not understand why we are living side by side but it seems the understand of English varies…and our thinking differs…and by the way laifoong…am a student at Queensland Technological University…in Australia…and why u still understand to reply if u find i cannot even write proper English…that’s confusing…and puzzling…
#44 by laifoong on Friday, 21 December 2007 - 1:03 am
Ant,
I hope you’re learning only to tighten bolts and screws at the Queensland Technological University in Australia. Woe betide those who employ you because they would not be able to make head or tail of what you’d be writing and saying!
#45 by DiaperHead on Friday, 21 December 2007 - 6:59 am
Never heard of Queensland Technology! Is that a trade school for those disadvantaged in the use of English??
#46 by laifoong on Friday, 21 December 2007 - 8:14 am
antz,
you think like an ant!
#47 by DiaperHead on Saturday, 22 December 2007 - 4:59 am
Don’t look down on the ants and compare them to antz. Ants can think. Antz cannot.