Archive for category Malaysian Dream
If Cabinet on Wednesday will not apologise for shameful abdication of responsibility in giving “green light” for divisive and racist Sept. 16 Red Shirts rally, will the Ministers step forward to tender separate individual apologies?
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Malaysian Dream, Najib Razak, nation building on Monday, 21 September 2015
A day immediately after the Sept. 16 Red Shirts Malay rally, I had asked the Prime Minister and the Cabinet to apologise to Malaysians for the most shameful abdication of responsibility in allowing Malaysia Day to be desecrated and racial harmony and social peace to be undermined by the divisive, racially-charged and provocative Red Shirts rally.
It does not appear that Najib will be ready to tender such an apology, as he had transformed his “silent blessing” before the Red Shirts rally to active endorsement after the rally, closing his eyes, ears and mind to the racist slurs, provocations and breaches of law committed by the participants of the Red Shirts rally.
If Cabinet on Wednesday are not prepared to apologise for its shameful abdication of responsibility in giving “green light” for the divisive and racist Sept. 16 Red Shirts rally, will the Ministers step forward to tender separate individual apologies?
I still hope that Najib can realise that he is Prime Minister for all Malaysians, and not just for Malays, UMNO or an UMNO faction. Read the rest of this entry »
Deepening Malay Polarization More Dangerous Than Inter-Racial Divisions
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, Bersih, Malaysian Dream, nation building on Monday, 21 September 2015
Bakri Musa
www.bakrimusa.com
21st Sept 2015
Over 46 years ago a largely Chinese group of demonstrators celebrating their party’s electoral victory triggered Malaysia’s worst race riot. Last Wednesday, September 16, 2015, an exclusively Malay rally in predominantly Chinese Petaling Street of Kuala Lumpur triggered only the riot police’s water cannons.
What flowed on Petaling Street last Wednesday was clear water, not red blood as in 1969. There was also minimal property damage (except for loss of business) and no loss of life. That is significant; that is progress.
Malaysia has come a long way since 1969, the current shrill race hysteria notwithstanding. However leaders, political and non-political, Malays as well as non-Malays, are still trapped in their time-warped racial mentality of the 1960s. They still view the nation’s race dynamics primarily as Malays versus non-Malays.
That is understandable as the horrific memories of that 1969 race tragedy, as well as the much earlier and more brutal Bintang Tiga reign of terror, had been seared into the collective Malaysian consciousness, permanently warping our national perception.
The challenge today is less the risk of inter-racial conflagration of the 1969 variety, more a Malay civil war similar to what is now happening in the Arab world and what has happened on the Korean Peninsula. Last Wednesday’s red-shirt rally illustrates this point. Read the rest of this entry »
Tolerance of racism in Malaysia
Posted by Kit in Malaysian Dream, nation building on Sunday, 20 September 2015
Julia Yeow
The Malaysian Insider
20 September 2015
Malaysia Day has come and gone, and it’s tragic that a day to celebrate unity, interdependence and diversity was instead hijacked by a street rally which achieved little but show the world that Malaysia has become a country utterly divided along racial lines.
Covering Wednesday’s protest for work created a strange disconnect for me, almost as if the words shouted and messages on the banners were meant for, and coming from, people from some foreign, far-away land.
That was until I received a message mid-way through Wednesday’s rally. It was a friend who has been working and living in Malaysia for almost a decade, someone who has grown to love this country almost as much as her country of birth.
She was shocked and angry after having just read on the news that Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali had taken to the stage at the rally and said the following words:
“Dulu kita bukan masyarakat majmuk tetapi melalui rundingan dan tolak ansur kita menerima kaum lain. Kita bagi mereka kerakyatan. Kita bagi kerakyatan, kita ingat mereka berterima kasih.”
(Once, we were not a multicultural people, but through negotiation and give-and-take, we accepted other races. We gave them citizenship. We gave them citizenship, and we thought they would be grateful.) Read the rest of this entry »
Time for the subject of “no confidence motion” against Najib as PM to be put on the table as a national agenda for discussion by MPs from both the government coalition and the Opposition as well as the Malaysian public before Parliament meets on Oct. 19
Posted by Kit in Malaysian Dream, Najib Razak, Parliament on Saturday, 19 September 2015
I congratulate DAP Kedah activist Dr. Mohd Tajuddin Shaffee, who is heading the Impian Kedah/Perlis project, as well as Dr. Tan Poh Teng and Nurul Shifa Abdul Manan in the Impian Kedah/Perlis project committee, for their hard work and success in the inaugural three-day Impian Kedah/Perlis medical camp.
This is the second day of the three-day Impian Kedah/Perlis medical camp, which will be in Perlis tomorrow.
The Impian Kedah/Perlis project was announced three months ago and we are now seeing the fruits of this new initiative to promote an inclusive vision to rally all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or class to unite on a common agenda of Malaysian unity, justice and prosperity.
Impian Kedah/Perlis is part of the Impian Malaysia vision and like other Impian Malaysia projects of Impian Sabah, Impian Sarawak, Impian Kelantan and the newly-announced Impian Johor, it is born out of two convictions: firstly, Malaysia cannot be progressive and prosperous if any state continue to be poor and backward in infrastructure development; and secondly, the people and the states of Kedah and Perlis are entitled to the right to development compared to other states and not to be relegated as Malaysia’s poorest states. Read the rest of this entry »
To the PM and the red-T Malays
Posted by Kit in Malaysian Dream, Najib Razak on Friday, 18 September 2015
by Azly Rahman
Malaysiakini
17 Sep 2015
In conjunction with Malaysia Day, I have these brief messages of peace to both leader and the people led.
Mr Malaysian Prime Minister,
Help all Malaysians not just Malays if you and your coalition ruling party are going to redesign strategies for peace, equality, and social justice.
We are all bumiputras now and that the generation of today’s Malaysians be they from Chinese, Indian, or Malays have been here long enough to call this land no longer Tanah Melayu but Bumi Bangsa Malaysia. We’ve toiled for the soil.
And you must remind yourself that you are prime minister for all.
Poverty now cuts across racial lines, with an increasing number of those in the middle class now falling below the poverty line.
There is no strong rationale any more, after more than 50 years of independence and being a country called Malaysia, to continue policies based along racial lines. Continuing this will guarantee another 50 years of race and class antagonism. Read the rest of this entry »
Three lessons in a national soul-searching as to what has gone wrong with over five decades of nation-building that there was a Red Shirts Malay Rally replete with racial slurs and provocations on Malaysia Day itself and with government approval
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Malaysian Dream, Najib Razak on Thursday, 17 September 2015
Malaysians must conduct a national soul-searching as to what has gone wrong with over five decades of nation-building that there was a Red Shirts Malay rally replete with racial slurs and provocations on Malaysia Day itself and with government approval.
Police estimated that some 35,000 Malays from all over the country converged in Kuala Lumpur – a few not knowing why they were being brought to the Federal capital – to uphold Malay dignity on the ground allegedly that Malay rights were under threat.
UMNO veteran and stalwart, Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah rightly said today that he did not know where the perceived threats to Malays were coming from.
He said: “You have got the government that is headed by a Malay, state governments headed by Malays with the exception of one in Penang. The civil service is mostly made up of Malays.
“The army are mostly Malays and we also have Malay rulers. I don’t know where the threats are coming from.”
Even the fourth and longest-serving Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad said that he was clueless about the objectives of the Red Shirts Malay rally, although it was meant to be a counter-demonstration against the allegedly Chinese-dominated and DAP-masterminded (completely untrue and baseless allegations) Bersih 4 overnight rally on August 29 and 30. Read the rest of this entry »
A paradigm shift in Malaysian politics?
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Malaysian Dream, Najib Razak, nation building on Tuesday, 15 September 2015
Dennis Ignatius
Malaysiakini
15th Sept 2015
COMMENT In response to the massive Bersih 4 rally last month, Umno – let’s stop pretending that it is not behind it – is planning a counter-demonstration of its own tomorrow, Sept 16, which is Malaysia Day.
Many people have expressed concern that the so-called “red shirt” demonstration might provoke racial violence, especially given the incendiary remarks of some of its leaders, the inflammatory posters that have appeared across town and the provocative choice of venue (in the heart of what’s left of Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown).
Understandably, there have been calls to ban the red shirt rally.
While the red shirts have, of course, the same rights as Bersih supporters to demonstrate, they do not have licence to threaten others. They can rally to support a morally bankrupt regime if they want, but they are not free to launch a campaign of racial intimidation.
Oddly, while the federal territories minister and the police are insisting that the red shirt will not be permitted to assemble as planned, the prime minister, the deputy prime minister (who is also home minister), and the Umno Youth chief all endorsed the Sept 16 demonstration. No surprise, therefore, that the police have now relented. Read the rest of this entry »
Saya Melayu tapi saya tolak perhimpunan baju merah
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Malaysian Dream, nation building on Tuesday, 15 September 2015
— Mohd Fitri Asmuni
The Malay Mail Online
September 15, 2015
SEPT 15 — Perhimpunan “Baju Merah” tinggal 2 hari saja lagi untuk diadakan. Tarikh yang ditetapkan untuk Perhimpunan tersebut adalah pada 16 September 2015 iaitu tarikh yang sama dengan sambutan “Hari Malaysia”.
Pada tahun 2010, kerajaan telah mengisytiharkan 16 September setiap tahun sebagai cuti umum bagi seluruh rakyat Malaysia.
Pengisytiharan 16 September sebagai cuti umum pada setiap tahun adalah satu initiatif kerajaan bagi memperingati pembentukan negara Malaysia pada 16 September 1963 yang menggabungkan Tanah Melayu, Sabah, Sarawak dan Singapura bagi membentuk sebuah persekutuan yang dinamakan Malaysia. Read the rest of this entry »
Call on all Malaysians to make a personal reaffirmation on Malaysia Day 2015 that they are not just Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans, Ibans or Orang Asli but most important of all, they are Malaysians!
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Malaysian Dream, Najib Razak, nation building on Tuesday, 15 September 2015
Malaysia Day 2015 Message by DAP Parliamentary Leader and MP for Gelang Patah Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on 15th September 2015:
Nobody would have expected that Malaysia Day 2015 would turn out to be the most critical Malaysia Day in the nation’s history, with Malaysia at the crossroads – whether for Sabahans, Sarawakians or Malayans.
In recent years, there is growing alienation and disaffection among the people in Sabah and Sarawak causing even calls for secession from Malaysia to be raised because of over half-a-century of neglect and underdevelopment of Sabah and Sarawak.
But is there full and unreserved support for the idea, concept and vision of Malaysia by the people in Peninsular Malaysia?
May be not, from the insistence of those who want to hold a “Kebangkitan Maruah Melayu” rally in Kuala Lumpur on Sept. 16, although this highly-charged and provocative racist rally threatens not only racial peace and social harmony of the country, but undermines the very idea, integrity and vision of a Malaysian nation.
But the organisers of the Red Shirts Sept. 16 “Kebangkitan Maruah Melayu” are the modern-day hijackers, which is why the former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad was spot-on when he rubbished the notion that the red shirts rallying tomorrow are defending the Malays or that Bersih 4 was racist. Read the rest of this entry »
Thoughts on National Day
Posted by Kit in Malaysian Dream on Tuesday, 15 September 2015
– Koon Yew Yin
The Malaysian Insider
14 September 2015
As we Malaysians celebrate our National Day on September 16, 2015, there is much we can be thankful for.
Sure, there is also much to be gloomy about. But let me as a senior citizen Malaysian try to put it into some perspective for the younger generation.
Firstly, we have endured as an independent nation for more than five decades.
At the time of Merdeka in 1957, there were many pessimists who felt that we could not progress without the British; and that the country would break apart quite quickly.
In fact, I remember those days very well as I was just starting on my own career journey as a young engineer. Read the rest of this entry »
If Najib could set the example of walking the talk, Malaysia will be more united, successful and win greater respect and credibility in the international arena
Posted by Kit in Malaysian Dream, Najib Razak, nation building on Monday, 14 September 2015
If the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, could set the example of walking the talk, Malaysia will be more united, successful and win greater respect and credibility in the international arena.
The latest example of Najib not walking the talk can be found in his prepared speech for the 32nd Chinese Cultural Festival in Kuantan on Saturday night, which the Prime Minister did not deem it important enough to personally attend.
In his prepared speech, Najib rightly said that the multi-racial population of Malaysia is not an obstacle but a source of strength for the country. Read the rest of this entry »
Tale of two T-shirts, two rallies and two Malaysia Day highlight the gravity of the prolonged crisis of confidence which plague Malaysia why Malaysians must think beyond race, religion, region or even politics to Save Malaysia
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Malaysian Dream, Najib Razak, Sabah, Sarawak on Sunday, 13 September 2015
The tale of two T-shirts, two rallies and two Malaysia Day highlight the gravity of the prolonged crisis of confidence which plague Malaysia and why Malaysians must think beyond race, religion, region or even politics to Save Malaysia.
Two T-shirts
There is firstly the yellow Bersih 4 T-shirt, with the five objectives of:
*Free and Fair Elections.
*A Transparent Government.
*The Right to Demonstrate.
*Strengthening the Parliamentary Democracy System.
*Saving the Economy of Malaysia.
Then there is the red T-shirt screaming the slogan “Kebangkitan Maruah Melayu”, with the explicit threat of communal confrontation and if the message was not clear enough, there was also also the vivid imagery of a communal “bloodbath”. Read the rest of this entry »
Racism is the colour of Jahiliyyah Arabs
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Malaysian Dream on Tuesday, 8 September 2015
Nurul Izzah Anwar
Malaysiakini
Sept 7th, 2015
MP SPEAKS The planned Sept 16 red-shirt racially-based rally is deeply troubling, fomenting concerns of racial provocation in times when unity is sorely needed in facing Malaysia’s many adversities. It is especially disheartening to see a minister openly supporting this racist ideology. The Star Online reported Umno supreme council member Ismail Sabri Yaakob will be sending party members to join the rally in his capacity as Bera Umno division chief.
Just yesterday a police report has been lodged against this racially provocative protest. The police must immediately act to ensure such acts of provocation does not proceed with any sense of impunity. Continuing silence from the authorities is even more troubling when contrasted with the home affairs minister’s incessant urgings to hunt the few outliers who desecrated images of PAS and Umno leaders in the Bersih 4 rally.
Notwithstanding general disapproval and condemnation over such crude insults against any political leaders as well as their symbols ; the social harmony of our society necessitates priority. The police must act to stem any efforts to racialise events – as this is clearly an effort to further divide Malaysia along racial lines.
What’s worse, the posters being displayed in KL associated to the Sept 16th event is akin to inviting violence on one racial group by another. This is completely flouting existing laws and reason and cannot be allowed to continue. Read the rest of this entry »
Call on Cabinet and the UMNO Supreme Council to take a clear Malaysian stand against any rally seeking to provoke and incite tension and hatred of one race against another in Malaysia, whether Sept. 16 and Oct. 10 gatherings
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Corruption, Malaysian Dream, Najib Razak on Monday, 7 September 2015
The Cabinet and the UMNO Supreme Council meeting on Wednesday should take a clear Malaysian stand against any rally seeking to provoke and incite tension and hatred of one race against another in Malaysia, whether the proposed Sept. 16 or Oct. 10 gatherings.
The fundamental right to freedom of assembly to peacefully advocate constitutional rights and liberties of Malaysians must be defended as a basic democratic liberty and human right of Malaysians, but there can be no right whatsoever to commit heinous crimes as inciting racial or religious tension, hatred and conflict in plural Malaysia.
It is in fact the basic duty and responsibility of any government to ensure that those who want to provoke or incite racial or religious hatred to create conflict, disharmony and chaos in plural Malaysia must be stopped in their tracks, and not allowed any room whatsoever to commit the heinous crimes of inciting inter-racial or inter-religious tension and conflict.
The Sept. 16 and Oct.10 rallies were conceived as Malay counter to the purported Chinese Bersih 4 rally of August 29 and 30, alleging that Bersih 4 was a Chinese show of force against Malay political power – which is a most irresponsible allegation totally without basis, as there was not a tinge of racialism at all in the Bersih 4 rally where Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region, sex, gender or even politics converged in Kuala Lumpur, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu for a common cause for good governance and free, fair elections – issues which completely transcend race. Read the rest of this entry »
First to take the “Bina Bangsa” module should be Mahdzir himself and Malay-supremacist UMNO Ministers and leaders who continue to be racially-minded instead of trying to be Malaysian first and race second
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Bersih, Malaysian Dream on Friday, 4 September 2015
The Education Minister Datuk Mahdzir Khalid has admitted his earlier mistake and said that the new “Bina Bangsa” module, once implemented, would affect both national primary schools and vernacular schools.
DAP Parliamentary Spokesman for Education, MP for Bukit Bendera Zairil Khir Johari had yesterday questioned the need for the “Bina Bangsa” module to be introduced only in vernacular primary school when the non-Bumiputera enrolment at national schools were at an all-time low.
Zairil said that contrary to general perception, national schools are actually now more mono-ethnic in its make up as compared to vernacular schools, especially Chinese schools.
He also said it was very “mischievous” for Mahdzir to imply that vernacular schools were an obstacle to national unity as such an assertion was without basis.
Zairil stressed that what the ministry should do instead is to look into the values that are imparted as well as the quality of education available, especially in national schools.
I am glad that the new Education Minister has taken heed of Zairil’s criticisms but there is an even more fundamental question about Mahdzir’s proposal of a “Bina Bangsa” module. Read the rest of this entry »
Singapore and Malaysia on diverging election paths
Posted by Kit in Election, Malaysian Dream, Najib Razak on Thursday, 3 September 2015
by Greg Earl
Australian Financial Review
Sep 2 2015
The idea of Singapore founder Lee Kuan Yew breaking into tears when he announced the city’s separation from Malaysia 50 years ago is now as much a part of the country’s foundation ideology as its lack of natural resources.
It has been both celebrated during this year’s 50th anniversary and disputed by those who think Lee was a cynical politician not unhappy to be carving out some space from the Malay world.
But one thing is certain as Singapore prepares for an election next week: few people are shedding any tears about being separated from the political train wreck underway across the border. Read the rest of this entry »
We are still not merdeka… from the Jews
Posted by Kit in DAP, Malays, Malaysian Dream on Tuesday, 1 September 2015
Zurairi AR
Malay Mail Online
August 30, 2015
AUGUST 30 — When artist Mun Kao included a “blame the Jews” card in his delightful card game Politiko, I wonder whether he had any idea how often the card actually gets played in actual politics.
Especially when other cards in the same category are “cash giveouts” and “phantom voters”, you have to admit that playing the “blame the Jews” card can be construed as a final act of desperation.
(In case you haven’t figured it out, Politiko is a satirical card game that takes the piss out of Malaysian politics.)
Yet, it was the exact card played by Deputy Transport Minister Aziz Kaprawi, who claimed last week that the RM2.6 billion for Prime Minister Najib Razak was made by the still unnamed Middle East donors to help Umno fight off DAP, which he claimed was backed by the Jews. Read the rest of this entry »
The colour of patriotism
Posted by Kit in Malaysian Dream on Tuesday, 1 September 2015
Kamal Amzan
Malay Mail Online
August 28, 2015
AUG 28 ― I will be wearing yellow this weekend.
And before you jump to conclusions, and it is not just because Arsenal won the FA cup in May wearing yellow, I’m wearing it for luck after a colleague showed me a news article which said (what we already know) the houses in KL are “very unaffordable.”
Do you know that the ringgit is close to RM4.3 at the moment of writing? And while mainstream media is all about “cut down on overseas travel”, “low ringgit makes our products more competitive so it’s good for the economy”, “the other countries are also facing the same problem”, they forget that a lower ringgit makes us poorer.
I wonder whether that is the same reason they stopped talking about us becoming a high income nation. Read the rest of this entry »
Post-Bersih 4: The Morning After
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Malaysian Dream on Monday, 31 August 2015
The 58th Merdeka Celebrations had been on the grandest scale ever in the nation’s history – with some 400,000 Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region, age, gender or even party politics in Kuala Lumpur, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu coming out freely and voluntarily, without any monetary inducements, in the past two days to give real and true meaning to “Merdeka”!
With today’s official Merdeka Day celebrations in the various states, let us ensure that Merdeka Celebations, like Malaysian nation-building, shall be inclusive to embrace diverse themes which make plural Malaysia full of such promise to be a great nation – whether “Sehati, Sejiwa”, “Bersih 4” or “Bersih, Cekap, Amanah”.
What lessons in Post Bersih 4 – “The Morning After”? Read the rest of this entry »
What exactly are you waiting for?
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Malaysian Dream, Najib Razak on Friday, 28 August 2015
— Kenneth Cheng
The Malay Mail Online
August 27, 2015
AUG 27 — If there is anything still worth salvaging for the ever sinking Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, It was undisputedly clear that all has been gone down the drain yesterday.
It seemed out of desperation and utter stupidity, he proclaims that Malays would be bastardised if UMNO is not ruling Malaysia anymore.
While the statement is not what the writer hopes to discuss, but he can’t help but feel amused because the Malays he has come to know in Singapore turned out just fine.
In fact the confident, faithful and gentle Malays that the author befriended in Singapore are everything that is antithesis to the term ‘bangsat’.
And every Malaysian should feel ashamed of the designation used by the unprimed-ministerial Prime Minister. Because neither any Malays nor any single human whom refuses to support his government are bastard. In fact the very word should only be confined in the realm of Game of Thrones, instead of being applied by politicians for his own political agenda. Read the rest of this entry »
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