Archive for category 1Malaysia
Who is the second UMNO/BN Minister who dare to publicly declare that he/she is Malaysian first and race second in keeping with Najib’s 1Malaysia policy?
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Muhyiddin Yassin, Najib Razak, nation building, UMNO on Tuesday, 21 September 2010
I am surprised that in the past 24 hours, the other Ministers have not rallied behind the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz who had courageously declared that he is Malaysian first and Malay second.
Who is the second UMNO/Barisan Nasional Minister who dare to publicly declare that he/she is Malaysian first and race second in keeping with Najib’s 1Malaysia policy?
It has taken Nazri more than six months to respond to my challenge in Parliament in March this year to all Cabinet Ministers to declare that they are Malaysian first and race second.
Surely, Malaysians do not have to wait for another six months before another Minister plucks up sufficient courage to follow Nazri to declare that he/she is Malaysian first and race second.
I have given notice to ask the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak a specific question on the commitment and loyalty of Ministers and top civil servants to his 1Malaysia concept when Parliament reconvenes for the 2011 Budget meeting beginning on Oct. 11.
My question to Najib in the first week of the Parliamentary meeting next month read:
Read the rest of this entry »
An open-and-shut case
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Najib Razak, nation building on Tuesday, 21 September 2010
Mariam Mokhtar | Sep 20, 10
Malaysiakini
During the Raya celebrations at his home in Pekan, the Prime Minister, Najib Abdul Razak, encouraged us to hold open houses and receive guests irrespective of race and religion to foster national unity based on ‘1Malaysia’. He said that an open house would be more meaningful if “we also open our hearts to our guests”.
The PM should also include an open mind. A willingness to listen to other people’s opinions should promote greater understanding and harmony.
If only Najib was aware of the level of intolerance some Malays have for non-Malays and non-Muslims. I don’t expect him to know what happens at the ground level and I doubt if his advisers and close associates tell him the truth.
Fewer Malays visit non-Malay open houses for the various festivals. The issue is not just with food. Some object to visiting places where there is a shrine. A few refuse to eat off crockery and cutlery that has ‘touched’ pork. Others worry about the content of the soap with which to wash their hands. Many Malays are oblivious to how their non-Malay colleagues go out of their way to accommodate Malay sensitivities. Sometimes, even the best efforts are in vain.
When it comes to pot-luck or giving food as presents, non-Malays express frustration that their contributions are refused, even if the non-Malay took great pains to ensure the use of halal ingredients. Rejection of their unappreciated and wasted efforts, is hard to accept.
Official functions are also dominated by Malay intolerance. Recently, the Malay organisers of a parent-teacher association dinner at a school in Malacca arranged for a restaurant which had the ‘Halal’ accreditation, to cater the function. It would have been a halal Chinese dinner. Unfortunately, the arrangement was cancelled as a few of the Malay parents and teachers objected, because the restaurant owner and his staff were Chinese. Read the rest of this entry »
National integration with constitutional integrity
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Constitution, nation building on Monday, 20 September 2010
— Azzat Kamaludin (loyarburok.com)
Malaysian Insider
September 20, 2010
SEPT 20 — Our lives, attitude and outlook are formed by the encounters we experienced. I shall begin my discussion of this subject, by sharing with you two encounters that have so shaped me.
The first occurred after I passed out from the Royal Military College, then known as the Federation Military College. It was a college set up in 1953 by the then British High Commissioner to Malaya, Sir Gerald Templar. Its Charter was and is “Preparing young Malayans (now Malaysians) to take their places as officers in the Armed Forces, in the higher divisions of the Public Services and as leaders in the professional, commercial and industrial life of the country”. It was the second full boarding school to be established in the country.
The first full boarding school established on 2 January 1905 was the Malay College Kuala Kangsar, originally known as the Malay Residential School of Kuala Kangsar, it was conceived by the then Inspector of Schools for the Federated Malay States who in a letter to the Resident-General in February 1904 wrote about “establishing at a suitable locality in the Federated Malay States a residential school for the education of Malays of good family and for the training of Malay boys for admission to certain branches of Government service.”
I joined the Military College in Form 3, three years after Malaya became independent. After a few months of making friends I came to know Malays from Kota Baru, Besut and Kuala Lumpur; Chinese from Penang, Ipoh and Pontian; Indians, Sikhs and other races from Kuala Pilah, Seremban and Muar. Clearly the composition of students had been carefully constituted — there was not only geographical representation but also racial representation. I understood later that a racial quota was employed for admission to reflect the racial composition of the country then.
My two best friends when I left the College were a Chinese and a Sikh boy. As it happened, all three of us had decided to study law. We knew we could not pursue it without assistance from the State. I found that I had no problem whatsoever in obtaining a scholarship for my purpose. But it was not so for my two friends. Although there were scholarships for non-Malays, there was none for law. I tried to help them. Read the rest of this entry »
A nation of failed economic development plans
Malaysiakini
AB Sulaiman
Sep 20, 10
COMMENT
The world can be a nasty place especially in terms of planning, where your best and well intentioned plans can produce the worst unintended results. The country’s numerous development plans is a perfect example of this.
Since Independence we have always strived to be a country with strong social, economic and political credentials: a strong healthy and united people, public safety and security, great infrastructure, mature democracy, clean human rights record, good education system, governed under rule of law, and of course, a justice-minded judiciary.
To top them all off we are to enjoy a per capita income equal to the peoples in advanced economies. We wish to be an advanced country in our own right.
The current realities are anything but. The people are fragmented while some are migrating to friendlier lands, our infrastructure while adequate is wasteful, our democracy is an ugly disguise for authoritarianism, our education system produces non-thinking graduates, the rule of law has become the rule by law, and the judiciary is an international laughing stock. Read the rest of this entry »
Congrats Nazri for being the first in Cabinet to declare he is Malaysian first and race second – Ministers who refuse to make such declaration should be dropped from Cabinet
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Gerakan, MCA, Muhyiddin Yassin, Najib Razak, Sabah, Sarawak on Monday, 20 September 2010
Congrats to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz for being the first in Cabinet to declare that he is Malaysian first Malay second in his open letter in reply to Awang Selamat of Utusan Malaysia (The Malaysian Insider).
Why it has taken more than six months since my challenge to Cabinet Ministers during the debate on the Royal Address in Parliament on March 18, 2010 to declare that they are Malaysian first and race second is really beyond me, as it demonstrates their total lack of support, commitment and political will to make Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia policy work and suceeed.
I had at the time posed three simple tests of 1Malaysia to determine whether all the Cabinet Minsiters were sincerely and seriously committed to Najib’s 1Malaysia, viz:
• Whether he or she agrees to the establishment of an Opposition-headed Parliamentary Select Committee on 1Malaysia;
• Is he or she prepared to declare that the basis of 1Malaysia is “ketuanan rakyat Malaysia” and not “ketuanan Melayu”; and
• Is he or she prepared to endorse the objective of 1Malaysia as defined by the 1Malaysia Government Transformation Programme (GTP) Roadmap to create a nation where every Malaysian perceives himself or herself as Malaysian first, and by race, religion or region second.
Fill half with Sabahans: DAP
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Pakatan Rakyat, Sabah, Sarawak on Sunday, 19 September 2010
Daily Express
Published on: Sunday, September 19, 2010
Kota Kinabalu: The Federal Government should seriously implement the 20-Point Agreement on Borneonisation by setting a target to fill at least half the 59 Federal departments in Sabah with Sabahans as heads before the next Malaysia Day celebration on September 16, 2011, said DAP Adviser Lim Kit Siang.
“(Prime Minister Datuk Seri) Najib should table this target at the Cabinet meeting next Wednesday to demonstrate that his administration is serious in wanting to address the 47-year grievances, frustrations and discontent of Sabahans and Sarawakians – making the first Malaysia Day as a national public holiday really worthwhile and meaningful,” he said.
He said Sabahans are disappointed that Najib came to Sabah completely empty-handed for the first Malaysia Day national public holiday in 47 years.
Speaking at the Malam Pakatan Rakyat gathering cum dinner held in Beaufort, Thursday, Lim further contended that if not for People’s Power as represented by the emergence of Pakatan Rakyat, Malaysia Day on September 16 would not have been declared a national public holiday by the Prime Minister even after 47 years.
He said that this was why the people of Sabah and Sarawak do not want to see the declaration of Malaysia Day as a national public holiday as a mere political ploy. Read the rest of this entry »
Call for RCI into why no action had been taken on earlier police reports as far back as 2005 against the lawyer brothers linked to the mass murders of Sosilawati and 3 others
The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon said yesterday that “All quarters should work together in making the 1 Malaysia concept and the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) a success instead of creating controversial issues which will not do any good to the country’s development”. (Malaysian Insider)
He said what was more important now was for all quarters to pay attention to improve the country’s economy and offer better service to the people, both in the urban and rural areas.
“If there are views or criticisms, the criticisms should be something constructive and positive and not something that could create disharmony among the parties.
As example he cited: “For example, a crime should not be linked to a racial issue because it will not do any good to anybody.”
The Umno newspaper, Utusan Malaysia has been most guilty of being negative, destructive and even downright irresponsible, mischievous and malicious in its campaign to undermine national unity and harmony in the country.
It is most deplorable that Utusan Malaysia had tried to politicise and racialise the heinous, gruesome and despicable mass murders of Datuk Sosilawai Lawiya and three others in Banting for its ignoble objectives, publishing the defamatory insinuation and double lies on Sept. 16 that DAP was siding with the mass murderers and had been silent on the mass murders either because the “Datuk” killer was DAP member or DAP “fights for the rights of a certain race only”.
In actual fact, DAP had come out with an unreserved condemnation of the mass murders of Datuk Sosilawati and three others when such terrible crimes came to light on Sept. 12, and in my first press conference in Kota Kinabalu on Sept. 15 on my return to Malaysia from the Shanghai World Expo, I had also denounced in the strongest possible terms the heinous, gruesome crimes of the mass murders of Sosilawati and three others.
What is the use of Tsu Koon preaching about 1Malaysia when he dared not denounce the gutter journalism practised by Utusan Malaysia? Read the rest of this entry »
Najib’s failure to stand up and be counted to condemn extremism and extremists especially from his own camp will be the undoing of his 1Malaysia concept
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Economics, globalisation, nation building, NEM on Sunday, 19 September 2010
Malaysians are witnessing the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, performing one of his biggest flip-flops in his 18 months at the helm of the country’s administration.
Najib’s attempt to distance or disentangle Umno from Perkasa did not last more than a week from the announcement of the Umno Secretary-General that Perkasa was eroding non-Malay support for Barisan Nasional to Najib’s Malaysia Day message expressing sadness at the rise of extremism in his 18 months as Prime Minister.
Most ironically, Najib chose the Yayasan 1Malaysia seminar themed “Living In a Multi-Ethnic Society” in Kuala Lumpur after the Malaysia Day celebrations in Sabah to perform the flip-flop – refusing to name Perkasa as the worst culprit responsible for the rise of extremism and scaring away foreign investors.
This is now followed by Tengku Adnan’s flip-flop today denying that the Barisan Nasional parties had agreed to keep a distance from Perkasa.
If Barisan Nasional parties had never agreed top keep a distance from Perkasa, are MCA and Gerakan national leaders to “eat their words” for publicly welcoming such a decision? Read the rest of this entry »
Ku Nan now denies BN leaders snubbed Perkasa
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Najib Razak, Perkasa on Sunday, 19 September 2010
The Malaysian Insider
By Boo Su-Lyn
September 19, 2010
Kuala Lumpur – Tengku Adnan denies that his BN counterparts have agreed to distance the ruling coalition from Perkasa. – file picKUALA LUMPUR, Sept 19 — Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor has now denied that his Barisan Nasional (BN) colleagues agreed to keep the ruling coalition from Perkasa as it was eroding their support.
His denial came shortly after Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s statement yesterday that Umno did not want to stir conflict with any non-governmental organisation (NGO), despite the recent move by Umno leaders, including himself, to rebuff the Malay rights group.
“When we had a meeting with BN secretaries-general, we never talked even a little bit that we wanted to distance ourselves from anybody,” Tengku Adnan told The Malaysian Insider today.
“Our policy is to be close with everybody. We should even go and approach opposition members and explain what our policies are because they are misguided,” the BN secretary-general added.
Earlier, Tengku Adnan reportedly said his BN counterparts had agreed that distancing the ruling coalition from Perkasa was the best way forward to halt the erosion of non-Malay support for BN.
He had also told them that Umno would not back the strident Malay rights group or Ibrahim in the next general election.
Tengku Adnan however denied stating that BN had to distance itself from Perkasa. He pointed out that he merely said the Malay group has tried to undermine the coalition’s chances in the next general election by sabotaging the racial harmony between BN component parties.
“I never said we have to distance ourselves from Perkasa. I just said Perkasa is trying to jeopardise BN’s position for the next general election by destroying the racial harmonious position between my component parties,” said Tengku Adnan.
The Umno secretary-general went a step further and said that he had never asked party members to sever ties with Perkasa, accusing its president Datuk Ibrahim Ali of blowing the issue out of proportion.
“I didn’t even ask members of Umno to relinquish their relationship with Perkasa. It was totally blown out of proportion by Ibrahim Ali,” said Tengku Adnan.
Perkasa claims to have a membership base of 300,000, of whom 80 per cent are said to be Umno members.
He however, was quick to deny that his statement today was a reversal of his earlier stand against Perkasa. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia’s religious problems: The way forward
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, nation building, Religion on Sunday, 19 September 2010
by Pak Sako
Centre for Policy Initiatives
Saturday, 18 September 2010 15:06
“You are my brother and I love you. I love you worshipping in your church, kneeling in your temple, and praying in your mosque. You and I and all are children of one religion, for the varied paths of religion are but the fingers of the loving hand of the Supreme Being, extended to all, offering completeness of spirit to all, anxious to receive all.
“I love you for your Truth, derived from your knowledge; that Truth which I cannot see because of my ignorance. But I respect it as a divine thing, for it is the deed of the spirit. Your Truth shall meet my Truth in the coming world and blend together like the fragrance of flowers and becoming one whole and eternal Truth, perpetuating and living in the eternity of Love and Beauty.”
— Kahlil Gibran, A Tear And A Smile (1914)
Religious pluralism is a cornerstone for achieving harmony in societies with people of varied faiths. Yet in multi-religious Malaysia politicians shy away from discussing religious pluralism. It is difficult to get straight answers about their stand on or commitment to it.
Take for example the recently concluded panel discussion on ‘National Unity through Religion, Law and Shared Values’ at UCSI University in KL. It is unclear whether religious pluralism or religious bigotry were fruitfully discussed. The contents of the discussion are not made public enough. It can be gleaned from news reports that there were barely satisfactory answers to barely satisfactory questions.
What is conspicuous is that there is an excruciating lack of focus on the heart of the issue.
Here I refocus attention on what really matters. Read the rest of this entry »
1Malaysia not “work in progress” but “work in regress” if Najib proves to be new Mr. Flip-Flop as PM overshadowing his predecessor Abdullah
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Mahathir, Muhyiddin Yassin, Najib Razak on Saturday, 18 September 2010
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak yesterday defended his 1Malaysia concept, claiming that it had not failed but merely a “work in progress”.
He admitted that the concept could not become a “full realization” today but would do so eventually with the help of all segments of society.
Najib’s 1Malaysia concept is not “work in progress” but “work in regress”, especially if he proves to be a new Mr. Flip-Flop as Prime Minister, putting the former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to shame.
In back-pedalling from Umno’s recent decision to disentangle and distance itself from Perkasa as announced by Umno Secretary-General Datuk Sri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor only a week ago, Najib has exuded negative vibrations and sent out the negative message that he is not prepared to be the leader for all groups and component parties in Barisan Nasional let alone be the Prime Minister for all Malaysians.
Nobody is expecting the impossible of “a full realization today” of the 1Malaysia concept but it is disingenuous and even dishonest to claim that his 1Malaysia concept is “work in progress” when he himself lamented in his Malaysia Day message at the rising tide of extremism in his 18 months of premiership with unprecedented outpouring of the rhetoric of race and religion unseen in the first 18 months of all the first Prime Ministers of Malaysia – Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah!
And what has made this “rising tide of extremism” in the first 18 months of Najib’s premiership even more unhealthy and undesirable is that they emanate primarily from the ranks of Umno and allied or outsourced groups! Read the rest of this entry »
Sabah, Sarawak losing points to KL
By K Pragalath
FreeMalaysiaToday
COMMENT
Malaysia is 47 years old through the unification of Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore in 1963. (Singapore was separated from Malaysia in 1965.)
The Kuala Lumpur-Kota Kinabalu-Kuching relationship must be relooked because of the imbalance between the centre and the periphery.
Most importantly, the 20-Point Agreement has been largely ignored in making the Malaysia that we have today.
Initial attempts by Sabah first chief minister Fuad Stephens to do so resulted in him being made Australian High Commissioner.
As a result, there were regressions from Sabah’s 20-Point Agreement and Sarawak’s 18-Point Agreement as seen in the “Allah” controversy and the ban on the Malay language Bible. Read the rest of this entry »
Najib’s job as Prime Minister is not just to express sadness at rise of extremism but to provide leadership to stamp out racial bigotry and religious extremism especially when they come from UMNO and allied or outsourced groups
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Najib Razak, nation building, UMNO on Thursday, 16 September 2010
In his Malaysia Day message, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak expressed strong opposition at the rise of extremism which is a stumbling block in the nation’s progress.
He said he is “saddened” that despite living in an independent multi-cultural nation, there are still those who cannot tolerate, much less accept the benefits of a diverse society and reject the 1Malaysia concept and policy propounded by him since becoming Prime Minister in April last year.
Najib’s job as Prime Minister is not just to express sadness at the rise of extremism but to provide leadership to stamp out racial bigotry and religious extremism especially when they come from UMNO and allied or outsourced groups.
There can be no question that the rhetoric of race and religion had reached an unprecedented level in the past 17 months since he took over the helm of federal government, and what compounded the problem was that the racial bigotry and religious extremism were all coming from one direction – UMNO and its allied or outsourced groups, raising the fundamental question whether Najib has the political will and leadership to stand up and be counted to stamp out extremism coming from his own camps.
Read the rest of this entry »
Najib’s words, words and more words!
Fight extremism, says PM | Bernama
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 15 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today expressed strong opposition to the actions of extremist groups or individuals who believe in their radical views and actions against others.
“It saddens me that despite living in an independent multi-cultural nation for over 50 years, there are still those among us who cannot tolerate, much less accept the benefits of a [peaceful] society,” he said.
He said this in his latest entry entitled “Our Fight Against Extremism” in his blog, www.1malaysia.com.my here.
Najib said he was sad because by rejecting Malaysians’ way of life, these groups were rejecting the 1 Malaysia concept.
Read the rest of this entry »
ANALYSIS – Malaysia “top-down” reforms set to disappoint
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Economics, Najib Razak, NEM on Tuesday, 14 September 2010
By David Chance | Reuters
Malaysia’s plans to revitalise investment by backing national champions and ending race-based policies may sound ambitious, but the details are hazy and real economic reform will face formidable obstacles.
The government starts public consultations this month on a new round of reforms, but there is growing resistance from voters and disappointment from investors over measures taken so far.
A government think tank has identified a dozen growth industries such as oil and gas, biotechnology and Islamic finance to focus on in a drive to double Malaysia’s income per capita and propel it into the ranks of “developed nations” by 2020.
Prime Minister Najib Razak’s record on reform is patchy — he shied away from big subsidy cuts and reversed tack on race-based preferential equity ownership rules for the majority ethnic Malay population under pressure from activists.
Read the rest of this entry »
Will PM Najib Razak push through an effective NEM to transform a failed problem ridden Malaysia?
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Dr. Chen Man Hin, Economics, Najib Razak, NEM, NEP on Tuesday, 14 September 2010
by Dr Chen Man Hin, life adviser DAP
IT WILL TAKE A LIBERAL NEW ECONOMIC MODEL AND A STRONG PRIME MINISTER TO PUSH MUCH NEEDED REFORMS TO TRANSFORM MALAYSIA INTO A HIGH INCOME COUNTRY WITH DEMOCRACY, JUSTICE AND PROSPERITY FOR ALL REGARDLESS OF RACE OR RELIGION.
The political and economic outlook for the country is critical. We are riddled with multiple problems of corruption, lack of judicial independence, racialism, brain drain, with 40% of households living below the poverty level of RM1,500, and four out of five poor households are bumiputras.
All these things are happening even after two years of PM Najib rule since April 2008. His 1 Malaysia and mediocre attempts at reforms have failed.
WORLD RANKINGS OF MALAYSIA
The sorry state of political and economic development is reflected in the world ranking status of Malaysia on areas which indicate whether a society is honest, democratic, transparent,and just.
Read the rest of this entry »
Daydreams That Turn Disastrous
By Richard Loh
What Wiki said about Daydream:
A daydream is a visionary fantasy, especially one of happy, pleasant thoughts, hopes or ambitions, imagined as coming to pass, and experienced while awake. There are many different types of daydreams, and there is no consensus definition amongst psychologists. Daydreams may involve fantasies about future scenarios or plans, or reminiscences about past experiences, and may include vivid dream-like mental images. They are often connected with some type of emotion.
While daydreaming has long been derided as a lazy, non-productive pastime, it is now commonly acknowledged that daydreaming can be constructive in some contexts.
Malaysians as well as the leaders have daydreams in the political atmosphere which we can termed it as political daydreams. In such political daydreams the constructive contexts will be different depending on which side of the divide you are aligned to.
Read the rest of this entry »
Umno and the average Malay
By Cheong Suk-Wai, Senior Writer
The Straits Times, June 1, 2010
TABLE TALK WITH MAZNAH MOHAMAD
IT USED to be that whenever it came to election time in Malaysia, the country’s ruling party Umno would gets its community development workers to fan out to all the hamlets on bicycles and on foot to take the political temperature and assure villagers that Umno was the best doctor for them, taking care of their births, deaths and everything in between. But then village youth began migrating en masse to towns from the 1980s and Umno lost these rural forts.
Malaysian sociologist Maznah Mohamad recalls Umno’s women telling her how urban folk would shoo them away and even hurl insults at them if they tried to woo them. Dr Maznah, 54, notes wryly: ‘You can’t go knocking on doors in, say, Subang Jaya. People will just chase you away. There’s no community spirit in such neighbourhoods. Anyway, they’re urbanised, so why would they need you to help them?’
Read the rest of this entry »
To Modernize, Can Malaysia Move Beyond Race?
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Najib Razak, nation building, NEM on Saturday, 11 September 2010
Time
Sunday, Sep. 05, 2010
By Michael Schuman / Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia is that rare country with an unequivocal national narrative. It goes something like this: Malaysia’s 28 million people, comprising mainly Malays, Chinese and Indians, make up a moderate and modern emerging democracy. Unlike members of other multiethnic countries, they respect one another’s beliefs and values and share a commitment to achieving prosperity. The official religion is Islam, but other faiths are freely allowed and celebrated. This is one harmonious place.
Much of that narrative is true — but not all of it. Malaysia’s economic miracle has stalled, and while the nation is, indeed, somewhat pluralistic, it is no melting pot. Indeed, it is a society where people define themselves first and foremost by race.
The country’s political leadership has in some respects reinforced those ethnic identities. For the past 40 years, policymakers have doled out special privileges — in education and business — to one community: the majority Malays. The program is one of modern history’s greatest experiments in social engineering and possibly the world’s most extensive attempt at affirmative action. But the policies have also bred resentment among minorities, distorted the economy and undermined the concept of a single Malaysian identity.
Now a movement is gaining strength to finally change the system — and it’s coming from the very top. Prime Minister Najib Razak, 57, has surprised the country by advocating a fundamental reform of the pro-Malay program first introduced, ironically, by his father, who was Malaysia’s Prime Minister in the 1970s. Though the specifics of the new policies remain hazy, Najib’s intent is not. “I want Malaysia to be globally competitive,” he told TIME in an exclusive interview. “For that, we need to get every single Malaysian to be together.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Is there any Minister concerned enough about the escalating rhetoric of race and religion to propose in Cabinet tomorrow a “Say No to Racism” nation-wide campaign
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Najib Razak, nation building on Tuesday, 7 September 2010
The common response to my suggestion yesterday that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should propose to the Cabinet meeting tomorrow a nation-wide “Say No to Racism” campaign headed by him to give flesh to his 1Malaysia slogan and policy as well as his “Zero tolerance for Racism” declaration is one of skepticism and cynicism that Najib would do any such thing.
I admit that recent developments do not indicate that Najib is capable of rising to the occasion to prove that he is Prime Minister for all Malaysians and the future of Malaysia instead of being a prisoner of Umno politics and the past.
These developments include:
-
His “Zero Tolerance to Racism” declaration lack credibility and legitimacy as it was preceded by his two-week silence on the racism and seditious outbursts of the two school principals in Johore and Kedah and followed by another two weeks of further inaction against the two errant school principals. Read the rest of this entry »
-
You are currently browsing the archives for the 1Malaysia category.
