Archive for category Malaysian Dream
Not just Low Yat Plaza but whole of Malaysia is a time bomb if race hatred, religious intolerance, breakdown of rule of law and collapse of good governance not resolved urgently
Posted by Kit in Crime, Malaysian Dream, nation building on Sunday, 19 July 2015
Utusan Malaysia today said Low Yat Plaza is a ticking “time bomb” waiting to explode.
I say it is not just Low Yat Plaza but the whole of Malaysia is a time bomb waiting to explode if race hatred, religious tolerance, breakdown of rule of law and the collapse of good governance are not resolved urgently.
I fully agree with former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah who yesterday expressed the hope that everyone would bury the hatchet to strengthen the relationship among the different races in the country.
This is why I had called for a Royal Commission of Truth and Reconciliation on the Low Yat Race Riots last Sunday to ensure that there would be no recurrence of a petty crime of theft of a mobile phone mushrooming into a race riot involving hundreds of people.
Malaysia cannot continue to adopt the “sweeping under the carpet” mentality, which was why there had been no Commission of Inquiry into the May 13, 1969 race riots to learn from the disasters of our history to ensure an united, peaceful and better future for all Malaysians. Read the rest of this entry »
Some questions about the Low Yat riots
Posted by Kit in Law & Order, Malaysian Dream, nation building, Police on Sunday, 19 July 2015
By P Gunasegaram
Malaysiakini
Jul 15, 2015
QUESTION TIME For the past few months, the country has been gripped by the 1MDB scandal and mesmerised by all the stories and the allegations made. Meantime, the self-styled strategic development fund, with accumulated debts and payables of as high as RM46 billion, shows no tangible way out of the morass it is in.
Questions were raised as to why it should raise so much of borrowed money mainly to invest in dubious portfolios which it has not properly disclosed in its accounts or anywhere else. Combined with allegations made of money being siphoned off into accounts of businessman Jho Low, which have not been properly rebutted, it provided for a series of unsettling stories.
Even rating agencies’ ratings on Malaysia had to depend on how serious the problem at 1MDB was. To help stem the long slide in the ringgit, the central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia, had to come out publicly to state, although somewhat obliquely, that 1MDB did not pose a systemic risk to Malaysian banks, although some banks’ profitability could be affected.
And then came The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) shock report alleging that US$700 million (RM2.67 billion) were moved into Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s bank accounts at AmIslamic Bank. No such allegation had ever been made against a Malaysian prime minister before.
Najib’s response was weak – the prime minister’s office only said that the prime minister has never taken any money for personal gain without specifically denying the allegations made in the journal. A letter by his lawyers to Dow Jones, the owners of the WSJ, confused rather than elucidated when it asked WSJ to clarify the report to say if it implied that the money came from 1MDB. The WSJ did not say that.
As the nation reeled from this shock announcement and the lack of zeal and specificity in refuting it, the riot at Low Yat happened. The authorities can cry out until they are blue in the face that the incident was not racial but they cannot deny in the face of video evidence that it had very strong racial overtones.
Such an incident happening in the heart of the city, the Golden Triangle area, barely a few hundred metres from the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters, is a severe indictment of the safety standards of our streets and public places which already have a bad reputation in terms of snatch and street crime.
KL residents are asking what this means for the future and what kind of precautions they should take when visiting public places while overseas visitors are querying if Kuala Lumpur is a safe place to visit. Read the rest of this entry »
In Malaysian politics, keep calm and amok on!
Posted by Kit in Law & Order, Malays, Malaysian Dream, Najib Razak, nation building on Sunday, 19 July 2015
by Sophie Lemiere, Guest Contributor
New Mandala
15 JULY 2015
In the wake of a brawl in Kuala Lumpur’s Low Yat Plaza, Sophie Lemière looks at how youth, prejudice and mob violence go hand-in-hand with politics.
The Malay word amuck or amok (rage) is the most famous Malaysian export along with palm oil (praised by Nutella lovers) and rubber (praised by everyone). Amok or to run amok has become a global concept to describe any sudden and ephemeral acts of violence to a killing rage. There is no cultural specificity here; we have sadly seen people running amok from Columbine in the USA to Paris and the beaches of Sousse (Tunisia).
Amok is surely the only Malay word the entire world uses, without even knowing its quasi-mystical origins. Anthropologists, psychiatrists and novelists have written extensively on this word, exploring the linguistic roots of amok to the intricacies of a psycho-pathological phenomenon; an unresolved intellectual quest well resumed by Yan Kon[1]. The “pengamuk”, the one who suddenly falls into a violent frenzy, was once seen as a hero: a mystical warrior getting his inner strength from god. Malay mysticism and history is filled with epic stories of such great warriors. Today, that heritage may be found in the hybrid tradition of Silat balancing an intense physical practice and mystic-religious beliefs with prayers to invulnerability charms[2]. Sadly today, for most, the pengamok has lost his nobility and is seen simply as a psycho.
This linguistic-mystic maze is now used to describe a non-event: the rowdy gathering of about 200 people at the empire of electronic goods, Low Yat Plaza in Bukit Bintang (Kuala Lumpur’s entertainment district), following the alleged theft of a mobile phone and consequent brawl. Read the rest of this entry »
Silver lining in Low Yat Plaza incident
Posted by Kit in Malaysian Dream, nation building on Saturday, 18 July 2015
By May Chee
Malaysiakini
Jul 16, 2015
Was the Low Yat incident something waiting to happen? Or did someone start a spark, hoping to engulf the whole nation in flames?
I don’t know and I don’t care. I’m just glad that it happened.
I’ve always held the belief that bad things happen for a good reason. Provided of course, we learn from them, make reparations and put in place mechanisms to avoid such untoward incidents.
It has been rather difficult for a while now to spread cheer around. However, from the Low Yat incident, in spite of the ugliness displayed by some really irresponsible quarters, others have given us much hope.
I wouldn’t know of all the angels who came to the rescue of those battered, bloodied and disillusioned but I thank you all, for saving our fellow Malaysians and most of all, showing to the whole world out there that we do look out for everyone, irrespective of creed and colour. Read the rest of this entry »
The Low Yat lesson: May 13 sequel unlikely but ethnic fault lines show risk remains
Posted by Kit in Malaysian Dream, nation building on Saturday, 18 July 2015
By Ida Lim
The Malay Mail Online
Saturday July 18, 2015
KUALA LUMPUR, July 18 — Malaysia will not likely see a repeat of the May 13, 1969 racial riots but isolated clashes like last weekend’s melee at Low Yat Plaza will not be uncommon in a society still divided along ethnic lines, regional observers said.
Although Malaysians are largely deemed a peace-loving lot, the observers cautioned that racial politics and years of race-based policies have created a lingering resentment among the country’s different ethnic groups.
In such an environment, they said economic gloom and even minor personal disputes could cause ethnic tensions to flare easily.
“So, tremors like we’ve just felt in Low Yat will doubtlessly recur—for the ethnic fault line in Malaysia is widening,” Prof William Case told Malay Mail online. Read the rest of this entry »
With Anwar in jail, is there anyone in Malaysia who could stitch together a new coalition with support from over 112 MPs to “Save Malaysia” from becoming a failed state and re-set nation-building policies?
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysian Dream, Najib Razak, nation building on Thursday, 16 July 2015
There has never been a Haji Raya Aidilfitri like this one in modern-day Malaysia, when Muslims and non-Muslims gather to celebrate the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting.
Firstly, never had Ramadan sales been so poor and dispirited, with one survey estimating a plunge in Ramadan sales of as much as 20 per cent compared with last year.
Secondly, never before have national issues been so dominant during Ramadan and in Hari Raya Aidilfitri open houses – questions galore about the catalogue of financial scandals, breakdown in law and order with Low Yat race riot the latest example less than a week from Hari Raya Aidilfitri and what the future has in store for the people and the country.
But so few answers! Read the rest of this entry »
Call for Royal Commission of Truth and Reconciliation on Low Yat Mob Incident headed by Rafidah Aziz to ensure that there will be no recurrence of race riots because of petty crimes
Posted by Kit in Crime, Malaysian Dream, nation building on Wednesday, 15 July 2015
This is the fourth day of the Low Yat Mob Incident on Sunday, July 12, 2015 and situation is returning to normal.
The term of “Low Yat Incident” which is the official terminology for the rioting on Sunday, reminds me of May 13 Incident, the race riots which took place in Kuala Lumpur after the 1969 general election where official figures put the casualties as less than 200 although different unofficial figures were much higher, even as high as suggesting four-figure numbers.
In my first speech in Parliament in February 1971 when Parliament reconvened after a 20-month suspension, I had called for a Commission of Inquiry into the causes of the May 13 racial riots and to propose a blueprint to reconcile the different races and build a united Malaysian nation.
But this proposal was rejected and up to today, there had been conflicting, divergent and even fictitious accounts about the causes of the May 13 riots 46 years ago.
This “sweeping under the carpet” mentality is still at work, for after the refusal to have a Commission of Inquiry into the May 13, 1969 race riots, there was also no inquiry into the causes and the events of the race riots in Taman Medan 14 years ago in 2001.
This is most unsatisfactory and unacceptable. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia is going through “the worst of times”. Are there enough Malaysians to make it “the best of times”?
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Mahathir, Malaysian Dream, Najib Razak, nation building on Wednesday, 15 July 2015
Never before has Malaysia been in such a mess.
What is devastating is that there is no light at the end of the tunnel.
Malaysia’s spirit cannot soar and reach for the skies, to seek and attain an ever-higher level of national achievement and human excellence.
Instead, we are daily bogged down by the mundane and sordid details of one scandal after another, as if we need constant reminders as to how far Malaysia has fallen from grace from the era of Tunku Abdul Rahman, Razak and Hussein Onn.
Dominating the landscape of scandals is the 1MDB “mother and mother of all financial scandals”, a hydra-headed monster capable of unending combinations and permutations to unveil the gravity of the collapse of an ethical government and the principles of accountability, transparency and good governance in the country. Read the rest of this entry »
Not telling the truth is not an option, Ku Li tells those in the know of Malaysia’s problems
Posted by Kit in Malaysian Dream, nation building, Razaleigh Hamzah on Wednesday, 15 July 2015
The Malaysian Insider
14 July 2015
Knowing the facts and the problems but not telling the truth is not an option, Malaysia’s longest-serving lawmaker Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah said in his Hari Raya Aidilfitri message tonight.
The Gua Musang MP and Barisan Nasional backbencher said those in the know about the country’s problems should stand by their principles and help in resolving them.
“We earnestly hope that there is still honour left in our beloved country and that there are honourable men who have the relevant facts to put the matter to rest,” he said, in a veiled remark aimed at authorities looking into various controversies plaguing the country including, debt laden 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
“They should stand fast by their principles and take the moral high ground to assist in the resolution of the problem.
“If this was the case, surely there is no necessity for us to waste time instituting inquiries and investigations.
“Knowing the facts and the problem but not telling the truth is not an option,” he said. Read the rest of this entry »
Our rise or fall depends on moderate path ahead
Posted by Kit in Malaysian Dream, nation building on Wednesday, 15 July 2015
By Ramon Navaratnam
Malaysiakini
Jul 13, 2015
I refer to the thoughtful letter written by my former colleague Sheriff Kassim recent letter in The Star (July 7) and also in the NST (July 8) on ‘Moderation?’ Sheriff rightly concludes that “the growth of the economy and the happiness of the people depend on the country taking the moderate path, in line with the principles enshrined in the constitution and our obligations as a member of the international community”.
Sheriff indicated that there are many ‘sacred cows’ like the resistance to change, the New Economic Policy (NEP), the university entry qualifications, the Education Policy and inter alia , government procurement policies. I believe that these sacred cows have to be managed better and removed for Malaysia to progress.
I fully agree with Sheriff that the return to the moderate path in our national policies and practices will enable Malaysia to succeed and prosper and rise as a united nation in the longer term, or fall.
However, I have to confess that I fear that Malaysia will gradually decline, decay and fal, if our beloved country continues to veer from the path of moderation. Indeed Malaysia could slowly slide like Greece has if we adopt more extremist and parochial policies and tolerate narrow and polluted practices. Read the rest of this entry »
No pride in May 13, Rafidah Aziz tells young Malaysians after Low Yat fracas
Posted by Kit in Malaysian Dream, nation building on Wednesday, 15 July 2015
Malay Mail Online
July 14, 2015
KUALA LUMPUR, July 14 — Malaysia has everything to lose if it ever sees a repeat of the deadly May 13 race riots, Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz said following the unrest at Low Yat Plaza here on the weekend.
Urging the younger generation to resist dismantling the efforts to heal the nation following the 1969 riots, the former minister said all Malaysians must learn from the “dark period” of the country’s history and free their minds of prejudice, bias, and parochial tendencies.
Expressing sadness over the “mob violence” that left five people injured and three more arrested, Rafidah also questioned the need to make race the focus of an issue that began over an alleged shoplifting incident.
“I have gone through that sad dark period in our nation’s socio-economic history… triggered by the May 13 1969 riots… it is NOT something to be proud of… it is something from which we need to learn valuable lessons.
“My generation of Malaysian leaders, and Malaysians, have put in much effort to heal the pain of the May 13, 1969 tragedy… to narrow the chasms that had been created, and to rebuild a strong and resilient Malaysia, forged upon the strength of unity in diversity.
“The generations ensuing must refrain from undoing what has been tirelessly forged,” she wrote on Facebook. Read the rest of this entry »
DAP’s door open to all Malays who share the Malaysian Dream of an united, inclusive, progressive, just and prosperous Malaysia for all Malaysians
Posted by Kit in DAP, Malaysian Dream on Sunday, 12 July 2015
(Scroll down for English text)
Pintu DAP terbuka untuk semua orang Melayu yang mahu kepada Impian Malaysia yang bercita-cita untuk mewujudkan Malaysia yang bersatu, inklusif, progresif, adil dan makmur untuk semua rakyat Malaysia
DAP mempunyai lebih ramai Ahli Parlimen dan Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri dari kaum India berbanding dengan MIC – sama ada pada hari ini atau pada tahun 1969 apabila DAP bertanding pilihanraya umum buat kali pertama.
Selepas PRU13, DAP mempunyai enam Ahli Parlimen dan 13 ADUN dari kaum India mewakili Pulau Pinang, Perak, Negeri Sembilan, Selangor dan Pahang.
Sebaliknya, MIC hanya mempunyai empat Ahli Parlimen dan lima ADUN walaupun tiada siapa akan tahu berapa ramai lagi Ahli Parlimen dan ADUN MIC yang akan tinggal selepas krisis dalaman yang sedang dialami oleh parti itu sekarang.
Tetapi DAP bukan parti kaum India. Read the rest of this entry »
Apology that Pakatan Rakyat is dead but vow that PR Common Policy Framework aspirations for an united, inclusive, progressive, just and prosperous Malaysia will live on and continue to be basis of DAP struggle for a new Malaysia until there is a new government in Putrajaya
Posted by Kit in Malaysian Dream, Najib Razak, Pakatan Rakyat on Saturday, 11 July 2015
I want to apologise to the people of Malaysia that after seven years, Pakatan Rakyat is dead but we vow that the Pakatan Rakyat Common Policy Framework aspirations for an united, inclusive, progressive, just and prosperous Malaysia will live on and continue to be the basis of DAP struggle for a new Malaysia until there is a new government in Putrajaya.
We in the DAP recognize the political reality that under the present circumstances, no single race or even single political party can rule multi-racial, multi-religious and multi-cultural Malaysia and that the Federal Government from Putrajaya and the various state governments will have to be formed from a coalition of political parties.
DAP is prepared to be a partner of coalition governments, but it must be a coalition of common political principles and objectives and not a coalition of self-interests and political opportunism just to cling to political offices and position.
This is why the DAP Central Executive Committee at its meeting on June 15 took two decisions:
• Recognition that the PAS top leadership had killed Pakatan Rakyat after the PAS Muktamar resolution to sever ties with DAP and repeated violation by the top PAS leadership of the PR Common Policy Framework and the PR consensus operational principle in the past one year;
• Full support to the Selangor Mentri Besar Azmin Ali to reframe the Selangor state government with a new functioning coalition based on the PR Common Policy Framework and the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat general election manifesto.
Survival, not politics or race, our concern, law grad tells DPM
Posted by Kit in Malays, Malaysian Dream on Friday, 10 July 2015
by Anisah Shukry
The Malaysian Insider
10 July 2015
A video clip of a young Malaysian speaking of the financial struggles she and her generation face to an audience who included Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is making its rounds on social media.
In the video by the Malay Economic Action Council (MTEM), the 23-year-old law graduate, who only identified herself as Zahra, told the deputy prime minister how she had grown increasingly disappointed and angry that the life she is living was not what she had envisioned as a student.
“The reality of the working world is not as beautiful as people expect it to be – on the contrary, it is torturous. Yes, I drive to the office, but the car is not mine. I am borrowing it and pay RM500 each month to my father for it.
“Usually, by the end of the month, I take the LRT to the office because my pockets are empty by that time. It has become a routine, and I am ashamed to face my parents. I should be taking care of them, not the other way around,” said Zahra, at an event organised by MTEM on June 17.
But she said she had no other choice, as her salary was not high despite years of toiling for a law degree.
Buying a house would remain a dream for years to come, she said, as even paying the RM500 monthly rent to stay in a house with seven others was a struggle.
“I know I’m not alone. Many of my friends are suffering. We don’t see a way out. My future and that of millions of other Malay youth is bleak.
“Honestly, we Malay youth don’t care about political or racial issues, because what matters to us is the issue of survival,” said Zahra. Read the rest of this entry »
Time for all progressive and patriotic political leaders to come together on a common programme to save Malaysia from becoming a failed state as a result of rampant corruption, abuses of power, socio-economic injustices and the collapse of good governance
Posted by Kit in Malaysian Dream, Najib Razak on Thursday, 9 July 2015
Malaysia is undergoing rapid and even lightning political developments and changes.
Issues and concerns which were never thought of by Malaysians for years or even decades have overnight become popular concerns.
This is best highlighted by the headlines in online media and foreign news media in the past few days like:
• Malaysia’s Najib Razak fights for political life amid 1MDB claims
• A broken prime minister?
• Is it ‘Game Over’ for Najib?
• Can Najib Razak Survive 1MDB Scandal
• Malaysian Leader Faces Risk of Criminal Charges Over Fund
• Najib Appears Out But The Kleptocrats May Win
• MP urges AG to prosecute Najib, if proof found
• No surprise if Najib hauled to court, says veteran journalist
• Can the Agong act to depose a sitting PM?
In the past few days, I myself had posed questions which I had never done before:
• Whether the Attorney-General can charge and prosecute the Prime Minister although the Attorney-General is clearly empowered by the Constitution to do so; and
• Whether the Prime Minister will sack the Attorney-General first, if there is any inkling of such a possibility?
It is most unfortunate that at this pivotal period of national development to ensure that Malaysia does not become a failed state, drowned in the morass of rampant corruption, abuses of power, socio-economic justices and collapse of good governance, the two top leaders in PAS are giving the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak the strongest defence and support. Read the rest of this entry »
Unappreciated in my own country
Posted by Kit in Malaysian Dream on Friday, 26 June 2015
Dina Zaman
The Malaysian Insider
26 June 2015
I never thought I would say this but when I arrived home from Singapore, and had a long drawn out battle with baggage delays at KLIA, and then touts at KL Sentral, I looked up to the dark evening sky and thought how Malaysia had become a third world country.
As I stood there with my bags, observing fellow Malaysians shouting at the touts, while the security guards looked away, and then seeing a poor, hapless foreign porter being heckled by a lazy plonker of a Malaysian, I said to myself, there has to be a better way of living and to live.
While I wrestled with anger and contempt at the touts, the Malay in me, the Muslim in me felt dismayed to see much older Malay men wearing the kopiahs (skullcaps) touting cab rides and swearing at those who declined their offers.
Apa dah jadi dengan orang Melayu kita ni (What’s happening to the Malays), I said to myself. Read the rest of this entry »
DAP had never aspired to be a Chinese or non-Malay party and we will double up in our resolve to be a fully Malaysian party strengthening our Malay, Dayak and Kadazandusun membership in keeping with our Malaysian ideals and aspirations
Posted by Kit in DAP, Malaysian Dream, Pakatan Rakyat on Wednesday, 24 June 2015
There are those who forecast that with the PAS Muktamar resolution to cut off relations with DAP spelling the end of the seven-year-old Pakatan Rakyat, DAP will become a narrow-minded Chinese or non-Malay political party.
They cannot be more wrong. Firstly, DAP had never aspired to be a Chinese or non-Malay party. Right from the beginning during DAP’s formation in 1966, DAP had pledged itself to pursue a Malaysian Dream, not a Chinese Dream, an Indian Dream or a Malay Dream.
This is why DAP is the first political party in the country to be Pan-Malaysian, establishing branches in Sarawak and Sabah before any other political party in the country.
All through the past five decades, DAP had been accused of being anti-Malay and anti-Islam by UMNO, because of UMNO fear that the DAP will be able to make inroads into UMNO spheres of influence with our Malaysian political appeal, transcending race, religion or region.
No political party seeking support from all Malaysians can be anti-Malay or anti-Islam, or for that matter, anti-Chinese, anti-Indian, anti-Dayak, anti-Kadazandusun or anti-Buddhism, anti-Christianity, anti-Hindiuism or anti-Sikkhism.
The battle against such lies and falsehoods had been a particularly uphill battle for the DAP because we had to face the full onslaught of the UMNO juggernaut with its control and ownership of the mass media, particularly in the era before the advent of Internet, the Internet news portals and the social media.
However difficult the terrain, DAP had never wavered from our objectives and principles that the DAP had been formed not to fight for any one race but for all races and Malaysians in the country! Read the rest of this entry »
Prospects for coalition making, post-muktamar
Posted by Kit in Malaysian Dream, Pakatan Rakyat, Politics on Wednesday, 24 June 2015
By Steven Sim
Malaysiakini
Jun 23, 2015
MP SPEAKS Two months ago, Lim Kit Siang proposed a crazy idea; a post-BN post-Pakatan Rakyat “Save Malaysia” grand coalition. Many criticised him, including allies and supporters and even DAP members.
Lim, the DAP parliamentary leader, was inviting Malaysians, including Malaysian politicians, to “think the unthinkable”, going beyond the much cherished two-party system into something else.
What does this “something else” look like?
I was to discover part of the answer when I joined Lim on a trip to the Middle East. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia’s Long Road to Change
Posted by Kit in Malaysian Dream, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 23 June 2015
Asia Sentinel
June 20, 2015
The headline issues behind Malaysia’s current political crisis often puzzle outside observers, not just for the specific and sometimes bizarre details but for what they reveal about a system designed to maintain the status quo at all costs. Taken in the current context, it is remarkable that Prime Minister Najib Razak remains in power. In an actual democracy – instead of the kind of purpose-built one-party state in Malaysia – he would presumably be long gone and perhaps in the dock.
The 1Malaysia Development Berhad debacle, with its overtones of greed, political favoritism and inside deals is exactly the kind of sleaze that should and does bring down governments worldwide. Add to that the lingering issue of the 2006 murder of the misbegotten Mongolian party girl Altantuya Shaariibuu by bodyguards linked to Najib, the shamelessly cooked-up jailing of long-suffering opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, the poisonous stew of bitter racial politics manipulated by the ruling elite and the widespread disgust with the acquisitive ways of Najib’s wife, Rosmah Mansor, and it is a wonder that anyone can keep a straight face while claiming Malaysia’s system is anything but a thinly disguised playpen for the Barisan National and its cronies.
Still, and finally, we may be witnessing the endgame in the country’s painful transition from the 20th century politics and governance that started with the transition from British colonialism to rule by the Barisan Nasional, the race-based coalition of political parties led by the United Malays National Organization. In power since 1957, the Barisan is the world’s longest-ruling parliamentary coalition. Read the rest of this entry »
Skewered for joining ‘Chinese party’, Pak Samad laments Malaysians’ racial lens
Posted by Kit in DAP, Malaysian Dream on Tuesday, 23 June 2015
by Boo Su-Lyn,
The Malay Mail Online
June 23, 2015
KUALA LUMPUR, June 23 ― National laureate and new DAP member Datuk A. Samad Said has questioned Malaysians’ race-centric mindset that remains prevalent almost 60 years after the country achieved independence.
Commenting on reaction to his entry into the DAP, the 83-year-old bemoaned how his Muslim friends responded to the news negatively and rebuked him for joining what they described as a “Chinese party”.
“We’ve been independent for almost six decades and it’s a shame if we still think racially,” Samad told Malay Mail Online in an interview yesterday.
“I received phone calls and SMSes scolding me and asking me why I joined a Chinese party. I said, ‘Who said it’s a Chinese party? It’s a Malaysian party’,” he added.
The Malay-Muslim novelist and poet said although his wife and family members supported his decision, his friends were concerned and mistakenly thought that he had rushed into joining the secular party on June 13.
“I’ve been thinking about it for two years already. I’ve known Lim Kit Siang since the 50s. We were journalists then,” said Samad, referring to the senior DAP leader.
Samad, who has written 75 books comprising novels, short stories, dramas, essays and poems, said the DAP may have started off as a predominantly Chinese party, but pointed out that the “visionary” Lim’s “Malaysian dream” of making the party multi-racial.
“They want to be a Malaysian party. What is important is their ideal, their dream,” he said. “Because of that, I think I made the right choice in joining DAP”. Read the rest of this entry »
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