The recent caning of three Muslim women for allegedly participating in illicit sex is the latest in a series of events flooding Malaysia in adverse worldwide spotlight inimical to our international image and competitiveness in the ten months Datuk Seri Najib Razak has taken over as Prime Minister of Malaysia.
Before I came, I googled the two words “malaysia caning” and there were 257,000 search results. I next added another word to google the three words “malaysia muslim caning” and the finds multiplied by 30 times to return 6.45 million results.
Malaysia cannot continue to be in adverse international spotlight if we are to restore our international competitiveness by regaining national and international confidence in good governance; the rule of law; a democratic, progressive and model multi-racial, multi-cultural and multi-religious modern nation to be ideal destination for FDIs, haven for tourists and hub for international students.
There had been a series of adverse publicity for Malaysia world-wide since Najib became Prime Minister negating all his efforts to project a new slogan, 1Malaysia – such as the divisive “Allah” controversy, the sacrilegious burning of churches and attacks on mosques and other places of worship; the 5-0 Federal Court judgment seeking to legalise the undemocratic and unconstitutional ouster of Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin in the Umno power grab in Perak; the mysterious death of DAP aide Teoh Beng Hock at Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission headquarters last July, the recrudescence of dangerous politics of race and religion, like the irresponsible campaign to falsely and viciously paint the Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and Penang Pakatan Rakyat state government as anti-Malay and anti-Islam etc.
We are thankful that this morning in Batu Pahat, the baby of Teoh Beng Hock has been born and both the mother and baby boy are safe. Malaysians of goodwill and good heart, regardless of race or religion, not only wish both of them well but want those responsible for Teoh Beng Hock’s death to be brought to justice without any delay.
But the question that must be uppermost in the minds of thinking Malaysians is why the new Prime Minister seems to be so helpless that he is not only incapable of checking these adverse developments for Malaysia, he could not even get Umno and Barisan Nasional solidly behind him to give unequivocal support to his 1Malaysia campaign.
The vicious campaign to falsely paint the Penang Chief Minister and Penang Pakatan Rakyat state government as anti-Malay and anti-Islam is indeed a great test for Guan Eng and the PR Penang State Government.
But what is little realized is that it is an even greater test for Najib and the Barisan Nasional – Umno, MCA, Gerakan, MIC and the Sabah and Sarawak component parties – whether they are serious about the 1Malaysia slogan and concept.
#1 by engelcox on Tuesday, 23 February 2010 - 11:02 am
With all deference, Tuan, you have failed to understand how Google works. The reason you got more results when you added the third word to your google search is because the search works on an “OR” basis. That is, in your first search, it looked for the all the pages that had “malaysia” or “caning”; the second search returned all the pages that had “malaysa” or “caning” or “muslim.” Obviously, there are a LOT of pages that have the word muslim in them. Your argument requires that the search use “AND.” To get it to do that, you have to use quote marks to group the words as a phrase.
“malaysia caning” (with the quote marks) returns 41,600 results
“malaysia muslim caning” (again, with the quote marks) returns 2 results
“muslim malaysia caning” (again, using quote marks) returns 1 result
#2 by Bigjoe on Tuesday, 23 February 2010 - 11:05 am
You really have to ask yourself, why canning women now? I buy into Dzukifly’s theory that the whole thing is a bait to get PR component party to fight. Of all the things to do even in Islamisation, this is not HIGH on the priority. Yes, we need to point out the adverse reaction internationally BUT the main focus should be that we believe that its done not for Islam but for political machining of UMNO ultras..
#3 by engelcox on Tuesday, 23 February 2010 - 11:12 am
Hmm, I did some more investigating, and Google *has* changed this somewhat. They do try to do an AND search as default, but given your search terms, I got this
malaysia caning = 232,000 results
malaysia muslim caning = 6,130,000 results
muslim malaysia caning = 251,000 results
muslim = 54,300,000 results
muslim malaysia = 5,640,000 results
muslim caning = 2,890,000 results
malaysia “muslim caning” = 119 results
I have no idea why changing the order of the words returns different results. More investigation into Google is necessary. Sorry for the first comment, which was slightly incorrect. Hopefully, this will help identify the information you are trying to obtain, though.
#4 by yhsiew on Tuesday, 23 February 2010 - 11:26 am
But what is little realized is that it is an even greater test for Najib and the Barisan Nasional……whether they are serious about the 1Malaysia slogan and concept. – Kit
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How can the rakyat accept the 1Malaysia concept when Najib did not clearly explain what 1Malaysia is?
I am sure many would want to know how 1Malaysia affects the NEP, “Ketuanan Melayu”, distribution of government scholarships/contracts etc before they buy the concept.
Najib has been too rhetorical about 1Malaysia but failed to explain what it is, its ramifications and how it is going to affect the Malays and the non-Malays.
#5 by Dap man on Tuesday, 23 February 2010 - 11:40 am
Aiya, how else can Malaysia make it to international news?
We have no achievements to speak of. Nothing to show off in any field. Not even in sports.
No inventions and no great statesmanlike speeches, no priases from world leaders.
Gutter politicians use gutter methods.
#6 by donplaypuks on Tuesday, 23 February 2010 - 11:52 am
YB
“…like the irresponsible campaign to falsely and viciously paint the (DAP and) Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and Penang Pakatan Rakyat state government as anti-Malay and anti-Islam etc…”
This is clearly Najib and UMNO/BN/Utusan’s misguided strategy to win back Malay votes. Have no fear, they will fail misearbly as will anyone who plays and relies on the race and religious bigotry cards in our multicultural society.
Equally, Pakatan and DAP cannot afford to sit back take it easy. You must activate all available PR channels to get the message across the nation about Najib/UMNo’s scurrilous tactics and counter it with facts and figures. Start now. Don’t wait till 2013!!
They MUST NOT be allowed to continue to say without sharp retort and noisy protest that DAP is anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Royalty and that Pakatan will replace the monarchy with a Republic and Anwar will sell the nation to Uncle Sam and the Jews!!
Remember that a lie told often enough may well be believed to be true by the uneducated and ill-informed masses!!
dpp
We are all of 1 race, the Human Race
#7 by undergrad2 on Tuesday, 23 February 2010 - 12:23 pm
You call that caning?? Gimee a break!
#8 by Godfather on Tuesday, 23 February 2010 - 12:24 pm
How come the men involved were never charged with zina or khalwat ? Were they UMNOputras who are immune from prosecution ? Or maybe these 3 women were found guilty of having sex through semen DNA with no actual counterparts found.
#9 by yhsiew on Tuesday, 23 February 2010 - 1:33 pm
The recent caning of three Muslim women is a TRAP created by Najib for PR.
Presumably Najib wants to create a dispute between secular DAP and Islamic PAS.
DAP and PAS take care to not fall into Najib’s trap.
#10 by a-malaysian on Tuesday, 23 February 2010 - 2:08 pm
Using religion is umno najib’s last card after his failure to get the different races to revolt. Upfront he smile and talk good about his 1Malaysia but from behind he is playing a very dangerous game which I am sure he knows it. So the question I am putting to him is:
Najib, What Wrong Had You Done To The Chinese To Ask “Give Us A Chance”???
GE 13 – Change The Federal Government No matter what, we must ensure that racist umno bn do not regain the power like they had for over the past fifty two years.
#11 by Bigjoe on Tuesday, 23 February 2010 - 2:54 pm
Serious thought should be given to why Najib is allowing these things to happen. Is it so simple that the Islamic institutions have a life of their own or is it something more? It appear more that both Najib and his cousin are helpless against the Islamist within his party and government. Both of them think its not worth it to spend political capital to stop the Islamist because they themselves has little credentials with them.
There is a premise in Najib’s plan with the Islamist. He basically think that if the economy were doing well, no one would be arguing. Its highly flawed because the Islamist would do it whether the economy was goind well or not. Secondly to assume that non-Muslim would just sit by while their rights are trampled upon more after they have been trampled upon for years is just small minded. Its true non-Muslims have allowed their rights to be trampled on but that is because there was more rights in the first place. Everyone has a limit and the non-Muslims in this country have pretty much reached their limit. Secondly, they are also more aware of their rights being more educated then their parents were and the internet has maginified that even more.
Lastly, its the reality of economics in the forseeable future is that growth is lower. So the whole point of view of the availability of non-Muslim rights to be trampled on is MOOT.. No point even contemplating about it. You might as well assume you can’t.
In that sense, Najib got it all wrong that he can avoid not tackling the Islamist. From the start, when he decided not to throw out Badawi’s agenda and be a neo-Mahathirist, he should have found a way to deal with the religious right as well as the ultras. He should have walked away from the easy solution of using the old underhanded ways and clean house at MACC, the police and AG, judicial system and then have THEM go after the ultras and Islamist and hid behind those insitutions. That would have been a workable plan.
Instead he succumb to the temptation of political expediency and assumptions that makes an ass of him. He never had a real plan. All he had were excuses which eventually runs out and unluckily for him, and luckily for us, ran out quickly
#12 by cemerlang on Tuesday, 23 February 2010 - 9:58 pm
Muslim women are clever. In order to get some form of recognition, they resort to anything that will get them into the spotlight. May be right now, they are thinking of writing a book or two. Next reason, it is this global islamization thing. Next, this will encourage men to have more get away affairs.
#13 by Comrade on Tuesday, 23 February 2010 - 10:08 pm
The 1M concept is zealously promoted by the chief
But to the people’s disbelief
It is not supported even by his deputy
Through their actions contrary to the ideology
The actions continue, lo and behold
The dramatic climax will unfold