Archive for category nation building
Selesai segera isu kaum dan agama
Posted by Kit in nation building, Pakatan Rakyat, Religion on Thursday, 30 January 2014
A Shukur Harun
The Malaysian Insider
January 30, 2014
Pelbagai pihak kini sedang memerhatikan dengan cemas segala perkembangan yang berlaku di tanah air, yang dilihat sangat membimbangkan.
Ini akibat segala isu yang berbangkit menuju ke arah maraknya api perkauman dan pertentangan agama sedang dibakar oleh pihak tertentu yang mempunyai pelbagai kepentingan dan keadaan ini sangat mencemaskan.
Isu berbangkit yang mana tidak diheret ke lembah perkauman dan pandangan agama sempit? Isu kangkung turun harga, isu kalimah Allah, GST dan keputusan PRU13 lalu di mana ada pemimpin negara menganggap sebagai ‘tsunami Cina’ berikutan kebanyakan pengundi bandar, khususnya pengundi Cina, menolak calon Barisan Nasional. Semuanya diheret menjadi isu perkauman.
Kini selepas lebih enam bulan PRU13, isu perkauman masih dimainkan dalam pelbagai variasi dan bentuk. Semuanya ini sangat membimbangkan.
Sehubungan itu, NGO Islam mengalu-alukan usaha Pakatan Rakyat untuk duduk bersama Umno/BN bagi membincangkan isu perkauman dengan segera bagi mencari formula terbaik demi memelihara kesejahteraan rakyat negara ini.
Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia no longer land of peace and tolerance, says Pakistan website
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, nation building, Religion on Thursday, 30 January 2014
by Elizabeth Zachariah
The Malaysian Insider
January 28, 2014
Malaysia’s global image as a moderate and progressive Muslim country is being tarnished by increasing racial and religious intolerance, and more recently, the attack on a church in Penang, a Pakistan online news website reported today.
Despite the millions of ringgit spent by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to promote this moderate image through his anti-extremist Global Movement of Moderates, the Allah row and incidents stemming from it show that this may not be the case anymore, Pakistan Today said.
The writer, Masood Khan, said for the rest of the Muslim world, Malaysia used to be an “island of peace and tolerance”.
“Sadly, it’s no more as an evil eye has cast its bad shadow on a moderate and progressive country,” he wrote. Read the rest of this entry »
Call on Chinese Malaysians to work hand-in-hand with Malaysians of other ethnicities to ensure a successful, progressive prosperous competitive nation where there is place for every citizen under the Malaysian sun
Posted by Kit in DAP, nation building on Wednesday, 29 January 2014
(2014 Chinese New Year message in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, 29th January 2014)
Happy Chinese Year of the Horse to all Chinese Malaysians and increasing number of Malaysians of other races who also celebrate the Chinese New Year.
This is the unique characteristic of the Malaysia Dream, where an increasing number of Malaysians participate in the different ethnic and religious festivities as they are Malaysian events although they belong to other races or religions.
This why during my Chinese New Year visit to Johor, covering all the 5 Parliamentary and 13 DAP State Assembly seats apart from Jementah (which I will make up during the Chinese New Year period), I also wished Malays and Indians “Happy New Year” and distributed oranges to them signifying that regardless of race, religion, region or political beliefs, we all belong to one Big Family – the Malaysian Family!
Malaysians should seek to establish greater Malaysian Oneness from all different ethnic and religious festivities – based on the great values and virtues taught by all the religions and races. Read the rest of this entry »
PR’s patriotic olive branch to PM and BN – to love and save Malaysia to preserve and promote unity, harmony and tolerance and ban spectre of May 13 to cobwebs of history
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, nation building, Pakatan Rakyat on Wednesday, 29 January 2014
In my first Open Letter in 2014 to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet on 8th January 2014, I urged the first Cabinet meeting to send our a clear and unmistakable message to end the national drift and loss of leadership and direction to create an united, harmonious, just, and competitive and great Malaysian nation.
I zeroed in on the nation’s quintuplet of national crisis which warranted priority and immediate attention by the Cabinet – nation-building, economic, educational, security and anti-corruption.
In my second Open Letter in 2014 to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet on 22nd January, I posed the question whether the Barisan Nasional leadership is prepared to work with Pakatan Rakyat leaders to ensure that there could be no repetition of May 13 riots in Malaysia?
I lamented that the Najib administration had in the past fortnight remained
“leaderless, headless, clueless and rudderless” and the government’s “aimless drift” had worsened with “no resolution in sight for the quintuplet of five crisis”.
I am writing this third Open Letter to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet before the Cabinet meeting today to welcome the Prime Minister’s statement yesterday that he will bring Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s idea of a “national consensus” to the Cabinet. Read the rest of this entry »
Nation on fragile ground, warns Kit Siang
Posted by Kit in nation building on Tuesday, 28 January 2014
BY JENNIFER GOMEZ | The Malaysian Insider
January 28, 2014
It only takes a spark to set off another May 13, said a worried Lim Kit Siang (pic) as he called on Malaysians to quell tension plaguing the country now.
The DAP adviser said this was the reason he had asked Penang PKR assemblyman Lee Khai Loon to apologise for stuffing kangkung into an effigy of the prime minister during a flash mob in Penang two weeks ago.
He said it was also why he has been crusading for Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat to form a secretariat to discuss issues plaguing the country.
“The situation has become very unhealthy, with drawn-out stoking of religious and racial tension for the past eight months,” he told The Malaysian Insider today.
Lim, who is Gelang Patah MP, is worried that the currently escalating tension could lead to a scenario similar to the black day in Malaysian history almost 45 years ago. Read the rest of this entry »
Najib should be the first to undergo mandatory media training to prevent gaffes like the “kangkung” hullaballoo which has highlighted the “feet of clay” of the Najib administration
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Najib Razak, nation building on Sunday, 26 January 2014
The Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is reported to have directed mandatory media training for his ministers to prevent missteps that have made his administration a laughing stock among Malaysians.
Najib’s second term has been marked by “foolish” remarks from several ministers that spawned Internet memes and jokes detrimental to Putrajaya’s image.
The Malaysian Insider’s report today “To avoid more gaffes, ministers to learn to speak sensibly” quoted a source that Najib wants his ministers to undergo media training to avoid repeatedly delivering “foolish remarks”.
Specifically cited as examples of Ministerial bloopers which have spoilt Putrajaya’s image were those by the Minister for Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism Datuk Seri Hasan Malek who wanted the people to be thankful for having “sincere” leaders who “prioritise people’s needs above all else” in response to the people’s unhappiness at subsidy cuts and price hikes and the Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor who made insensitive responses to the complaints of property owners in Kuala Lumpur to the hike in assessment rates.
“You want me to revaluate your property at 0.1% for 21 years? It does not matter to me… up to you.” He had admonished the media over the issue, telling them: “I don’t know why people like to spin this issue out of control. You should tell the rakyat that this is good for them,” Adnan had said. Read the rest of this entry »
All are welcome to the Tuesday dialogue in KL on what is the most rational response to the escalation of racial and religious polarisation in Malaysia in the past eight months after the 13th General Elections so as to create another May 13
Posted by Kit in DAP, Media, nation building on Saturday, 25 January 2014
I have initially decided on a dialogue session at DAP Hqrs (4th Floor) at Jalan Yew, off Jalan Pudu Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, 28th January 2014 at 8 pm with netizens and social activists after reading a joint statement by 83 young activists and writers urging me to retract my statement asking the PKR Penang State Assemblyman for Machang Bubok Lee Khai Loon to consider apologizing for the “flash mob” demonstration where kangkung was stuffed into the mouth of a cardboard cutout of the Prime Minister as they alleged that I was bowing down to the intimidation of “racists and political hooligans”.
Clearly, these young activists and writers signatories to the joint statement could not have read my statements in full or in detail, or had thought through the entire problem from all sides as to make such a call, and a dialogue session with them would be useful, as it is will provide an opportunity for an interaction where they could hear my views and I can benefit from hearing their standpoints.
The big issue involved however is not just about the “kangkung phenomena”, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Lee Khai Loon or about any one personality, but about the escalation of the racial and religious polarisation in Malaysia in the past eight months after the 13th General Elections, where an irresponsible and reckless group had enjoyed immunity and impunity to incite racial and religious hatred, conflict and tension so as to destabilise the country and create another May 13 racial riots to achieve their petty, selfish and even traitorous political objectives. Read the rest of this entry »
Kit Siang to meet critics over ‘kangkung’ issue
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, nation building on Saturday, 25 January 2014
Lee Way Loon
Malaysiakini
Jan 24, 2014
Under criticism from netizens and social activists, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang will be holding a dialogue session with youth in Kuala Lumpur next week to explain his suggestion that PKR’s Machang Bubuk assemblyperson Lee Khai Loon apologise.
Organised by DAP’s party organ The Rocket, the event is scheduled to be held at the party headquarters at 7 or 8pm next Tuesday.
Lim told Malaysiakini this morning that he decided to hold the event after reading a news report, in which a group of youth urged him to retract his statement last Tuesday.
“I think they probably did not look at the problem from all sides, or did not properly read the details of my statement, so I am prepared to exchange my views with them and I am prepared to listen to theirs,” he said. Read the rest of this entry »
Suggest Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat form a joint Summit secretariat comprising three representatives to decide on date, place and agenda of BN-PR Summit
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, nation building, Pakatan Rakyat on Thursday, 23 January 2014
The Barisan Nasional secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor told The Malaysian Insider that the proposal by Pakatan Rakyat leaders for a Barisan Nasional-Pakatan Rakyat Leaders’ Summit will be discussed by the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council meeting tomorrow.
I welcome the prompt response of the Barisan Nasional in convening its Supreme Council tomorrow and hope that the BN Supreme Council will give a positive response to the PR proposal for a summit of the leaders of both coalitions to assure Malaysians that there could not be another May 13 riots, although there are irresponsible and reckless elements seeking to incite racial and religious hatred, conflict and tension to create the conditions for another May 13 in the country.
The proposal by the Pakatan Rakyat leaders from PKR, PAS and DAP stem from their love and patriotism to Malaysia and I hope that the Barisan Nasional leaders could be similarly motivated by their love and patriotism to Malaysia to give a positive response to hold the first BN-PR Leaders’ Summit in the nation’s history. Read the rest of this entry »
Police and authorities must not allow the “spiral of violence” to begin and continue as this is the second stage of those who want to create the conditions for another May 13
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, nation building, Pakatan Rakyat, Penang, Police, UMNO on Thursday, 23 January 2014
Despite my Second Open Letter to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet yesterday, the third Cabinet meeting of 2014 was a great cop-out, with the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Ministers failing to fulfill their commitment and responsibility to face the quintuplet of national crisis squarely and courageously to end the government drift and the leadership, clueless and rudderless Najib administration.
Worst of all, there was no word or acknowledgement let alone leadership to end the systematic campaign by a group of irresponsible and reckless elements out to incite racial and religious hatred, conflict and tension to create another May 13 situation to destabilize the country, to achieve their petty, selfish political ends.
All right-thinking Malaysians regardless of race, religion, region or political affiliation must deplore in the strongest terms the gross abdication of responsibility of the Cabinet yesterday to put a stop to the continued incitement of racial and religious hatred, conflict and tension as well as to all the saber-rattling to create another May 13 situation.
I agree with former MCA President Ong Tee Keat who recently warned that Malaysia will be left in tatters if the Prime Minister continues to ignore the raising issues that divide the country. Read the rest of this entry »
Second Open Letter to Najib and Cabinet – Are BN leaders prepared to work with PR leaders to ensure that there could not be another repetition of May 13 riots in Malaysia?
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Corruption, Najib Razak, nation building, Pakatan Rakyat, Police, Prices on Wednesday, 22 January 2014
For the second time this year, I am taking full advantage of the Age of Information Technology which enables the instant communication of information with information travelling at the speed of light to pen this Second Open Letter this year to the Prime Minister and all Cabinet Ministers just before their third Cabinet meeting of the New Year of 2014.
Members of the Cabinet who have not read or not informed of this Second Open Letter before the Ministers meet for their third Cabinet meeting later this morning clearly belong to the dinosaur epoch and are not fit to be in the Cabinet – and the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak would have a very strong reason to get rid of these dead-wood and half-past six Ministers in a Cabinet reshuffle.
In my first Open Letter to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet before their first Cabinet meeting on 8th January 2014, I urged the first Cabinet meeting to send our a clear and unmistakable message to end the national drift and loss of leadership and direction to create an united, harmonious, just, and competitive and great Malaysian nation.
I zeroed in on the nation’s quintuplet of crisis which warranted priority and immediate attention by the Cabinet, viz: Read the rest of this entry »
Shut the Mouths that Threaten May 13
Posted by Kit in Kee Thuan Chye, Najib Razak, nation building on Tuesday, 21 January 2014
By Kee Thuan Chye
news.malaysia.msn.com
21 Jan 2014
It’s disturbing, to say the least. Street protests staged by Umno and/or groups affiliated to or inspired by it invariably espouse the threat of violence and express racial venom. The most recent ones, held on January 18 and 19 in Penang, are further indications of this trend.
These were staged to protest against Lee Khai Loon, the PKR state assemblyman of Machang Bubok, for publicly mocking Prime Minister Najib Razak’s statement about the drop in price of kangkung. But the proceedings turned ugly when race was made into an issue when it was never one in the first place.
To begin with, Lee’s satirical flashmob on January 16, which culminated in his stuffing kangkung into the mouth of an effigy of Najib, was not a racial act. It was instead an act that summed up public disgust for the prime minister’s apparent failure to empathise with the rakyat, who are struggling with the problem of rising costs. Many Malaysians indeed blame the Government for contributing to the rise because it cut petrol and sugar subsidies and raised electricity tariffs.
On top of that, Najib made the extra howler of saying that although the price of kangkung has come down, the people do not praise the Government for it, but when prices go up, they are quick to blame the Government. For that, he was widely condemned. And on social media, he was satirised as well. Even the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) picked up the story. Read the rest of this entry »
Can Malaysia step back from the brink?
Posted by Kit in Lim Teck Ghee, Najib Razak, nation building on Tuesday, 21 January 2014
– Lim Teck Ghee
CPI/The Malaysian Insider
January 21, 2014
In early 2011, I provided a paper to the United Nations system in Malaysia on various scenarios facing the country, giving special emphasis to the impact of political and economic issues on social development. In it, I explored three scenarios:
• A best case one where the government can achieve its goals and targets as set out in various government documents,
• A midway scenario where targets are partially achieved, and
• A worst case scenario where targets are mostly not achieved and where the economic, political and social situation deteriorates significantly over the medium-term.
Unfortunately, the worst case scenario is becoming a reality. Excerpts from the report below identify the key steps and processes leading to the establishment of an autocratic ethnocracy which would be a huge step backwards for the country.
It is still not too late for the Prime Minister and other leaders, especially from the BN and Umno, to lead the country away from the worst case scenario outlined in the paper.
But time is running out. Read the rest of this entry »
Time for all Malaysians to separate patriots who want an united peaceful, harmonious and prosperous Malaysia from traitors who want to create another May 13 by inciting racial and religious hatred, tension and conflict through lies and falsehoods
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, nation building, Religion on Tuesday, 21 January 2014
Yesterday, the extremist group Perkasa claimed the “kangkung furore” can result in a repeat of the May 13 racial riots if it continues to be played up, claiming that the issue has become racial and is against Malaysia’s multi-racial society.
A Perkasa spokesman said many people are seen as disrespecting Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib on this issue.
He said: “The May 13th incident may repeat itself if people want it to happen again. If the kangkung issue goes too far, it is not impossible that it might.”
Can there be a repeat of the May 13, 1969 riots?
Yes, if extremists and intolerant groups and element are allowed to continue and even to escalate their campaign of incitement of racial and religious hatred, tension and conflict using lies and falsehoods without immediate action by the authorities to put an end to such irresponsible, inflammatory, incendiary and seditious spewing and incitement of racial and religious hatred, tension and conflict in our plural society. Read the rest of this entry »
Putrajaya imposes ‘very high’ restrictions on religion, global study finds
Posted by Kit in Constitution, nation building, Religion on Thursday, 16 January 2014
by Trinna Leong
The Malaysian Insider
January 15, 2014
Putrajaya’s restrictions on religion are among the worst in the world, revealed a study by American think tank Pew Research Centre.
The report, Restrictions on Religion, which covered 198 countries, found that Malaysia is among the 24 nations with “very high” government restrictions on religion.
It also found that the number of countries with “high or very high level of social hostilities involving religion reached a six-year-peak in 2012”.“A third (33%) of the 198 countries and territories included in the study had high religious hostilities in 2012, up from 29% in 2011 and 20% as of mid-2007,” said the report.
Placing Malaysia on par with countries like Egypt, Syria, Somalia, Russia, Sudan and Iraq, the report measured “government laws, policies and actions that restrict religious beliefs and practices” for its Government Restrictions Index (GRI).
The report, which covered more than 99.5% of the world’s population, had looked at “efforts by governments to ban particular faiths, prohibit conversions, limit preaching or give preferential treatment to one or more religious groups”. Read the rest of this entry »
Remembering my father, Tun Razak
Posted by Kit in nation building on Tuesday, 14 January 2014
by Nazir Razak
The Malaysian Insider
January 14, 2014
Thirty-eight years ago today, on January 14, 1976, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein passed away in London from complications wreaked by leukaemia.
Malaysia lost its prime minister. I lost my father. Malaysia was 19. I was nine.
The days immediately after were shrouded in personal sorrow and national mourning.
My four brothers and I sought to comfort our mother, while the public and heartfelt outpouring of grief throughout the country served as a resounding reminder that we were not alone in our time of tragedy.
I must confess that given my age and my father’s hectic schedule, I sometimes lament the fact that he gave so much to the country, leaving too little for his family.
However, I have never wavered from being enormously proud of his selfless dedication to our young nation.
I did not get the time to know him. But imprinted in me are the values he imparted, the integrity that he insisted upon, above all. Yes, above all, including his family. Read the rest of this entry »
Giving right-wingers free rein will backfire, analysts warn Umno
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, nation building, Religion, Sarawak on Tuesday, 14 January 2014
by Melissa Chi
The Malay Mail Online
January 14, 2014
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14 ― Umno’s continued silence as the voices of Malay right-wing groups grow louder by the day could end up being misconstrued as Putrajaya’s endorsement of extremism and racism, analysts have warned.
By staying passive to appease its supporters in Malay-Muslim Malaysia, Umno also risks having its own grip on power weakened in the event such groups later decide to enter the political arena as opponents, the analysts added.
Director of independent pollster Merdeka Center Ibrahim Suffian acknowledged the strategy, saying the easiest, tried and tested way to shore up support from a particular group, is to use emotive issues.
“Certainly by not curbing this, by not doing anything, (it) actually condones these kinds of statements.
“It also has a counter-reaction, not only espousing more extreme and conservative views by allowing more leeway for them to do whatever they want, but it might also increase the politicising among religious groups, the Christians for example, could be more politicised and resort to being extreme as well,” he told The Malay Mail Online when contacted. Read the rest of this entry »
M’sia as advanced nation: Are we ready?
Posted by Kit in Kee Thuan Chye, nation building on Monday, 13 January 2014
By Kee Thuan Chye
Free Malaysia Today
January 13, 2014
Come 2020, Najib – if he’s still PM then – might have the dubious honour of proclaiming Malaysia an advanced nation, but the reality could be far from that.
COMMENT
As we begin the new year and realise that we are only six years away from the magical 2020, when – as Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has promised – we will become an advanced nation, it might be apt to speculate whether we are ready for it.
From where we stand today, it doesn’t look likely that Malaysia can meet the per capita income and GDP criteria to be considered an advanced nation by then, but if – by some miracle – we manage to, does it mean that, economics aside, we will truly meet the grade of what being an advanced nation is?
I’m looking at it from the layman’s point of view, and what I see now doesn’t convince me that we will. Where we will fail miserably is in the socio-cultural aspect.
We are too tidak apa (in the Malay sense), too chhin chhai (in the Chinese sense), too lax. And while this may be a virtue when it comes to personal relations and avoidance of bickering over trivialities, it is a failing when it comes to performance, achievement and continued success.
We also prefer to take the easy way out, also to avoid conflict. And we generally like to lepak, some even to ponteng. Read the rest of this entry »
Gross governmental failure over religious issues
Posted by Kit in nation building on Sunday, 12 January 2014
by Tommy Thomas
Malaysiakini
Jan 10, 2014
COMMENT Last week’s raid by the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais), a government agency, on the office of the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) must be condemned in the strongest terms by all right thinking people.
Apart from being unconstitutional and in violation of the rule of law, it represents the worst kind of behaviour by government bureaucrats flexing their awesome powers over minorities. Occurring in a multi-ethnic, multi-religious society compounds the problem.
Twentieth century history across the globe is replete with examples where the safety of minorities is threatened by a majority abusing coercive state power; Nazi Germany being the most extreme.
Post-colonial developments since 1950 in Burma, British Guyana, Uganda, Fiji and Sri Lanka have illustrated the consequences of harsh treatment of minorities and the resultant irrevocable damage to the entire nation state when governments controlled by majorities abuse their power.
In other words, any historian will warn a plural society that it is a tinderbox insofar as ethnic and religious matters are concerned, and such issues must therefore be handled carefully, delicately and with sensitivity to minorities. One therefore cannot over-emphasise the responsibility of leaders to ensure fairness in such matters. Read the rest of this entry »
‘Allah’ row the product of concocted ‘siege’, observers say
Posted by Kit in nation building, UMNO on Sunday, 12 January 2014
The Malay Mail Online
January 12, 2014
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 12 — The religious tussle over “Allah” that threatens to rend apart Malaysia’s interfaith ties is a contrived issue, according to observers who pinpointed political motives for fomenting communal friction over the Arabic word for God.
Despite appearing to be theologically different to outside observers, chief executive of Global Movement for Moderates (GMM) Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah saw right-wing groups that were cultivating a mentality that Islam was “under siege” as the root of the “Allah” problem that is unique to Malaysia.
“Some sectors of the Malay population, they are acting as if Islam is under siege,” he said when appearing on Al-Jazeera’s The Stream news programme this week.
But his remark led host Femi Oke to prod him for examples of how the perceived siege on Islam was propagated.
“When people make the pronouncements that we should burn the bible if it is translated to Malay… or something like that,” he responded.
Although Saifuddin did not identify the group by name, president of Malay rights group Perkasa Datuk Ibrahim Ali made such a call in January last year, drawing outrage from Christian and civil society groups. Read the rest of this entry »
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