Archive for category nation building
Getting serious on national reconciliation
Posted by Kit in Elections, Najib Razak, nation building on Sunday, 30 June 2013
Jeswan Kaur | June 30, 2013
Free Malaysia Today
Does Najib have an answer as to why a former judge and former premier can go on making not only seditious but racist remarks?
COMMENT
So much ‘pressure’ is being put by the federal government on the opposition Pakatan Rakyat pact to accept the outcome of the May 5, 2013 general election if the latter is serious about ‘national reconciliation’.
Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has even gone on to say that Pakatan’s acceptance of the 13th general election result is the ‘main premise’ for reconciliation.
In fact the premier is trying very hard to appear sincere about reinstating the heavily compromised peace, to the point of claiming that the government was planning to set up a national consultative council on unity where issues concerning race, religion and policies can be discussed.
But for that to happen, Najib wants the opposition to accept the May 5 GE result.
In other words, the prime minister is saying he would only get serious about the topic of national unity if all quarters no longer questioned ‘how’ BN won the 13th general election.
While Najib dictates terms to Pakatan and all Malaysians who are against electoral fraud, his fellow Umno sycophants are sparing no efforts in hijacking any form of ‘ceasefire’ between ruling government Barisan Nasional and Pakatan.
One was the the former Appeals Court judge Mohd Noor Abdullah who a week after the 13th GE decided to court attention by calling for the defence of Malay rights. Read the rest of this entry »
Conscientious Reconciliation
Posted by Kit in nation building, Poem on Friday, 28 June 2013
Allan CF Goh
28th June 2013
Good politics for the people,
Is good politics for the nation.
It’s not about supremacy.
It’s about exemplary notion.
For voters in democracies,
It’s about moral imperative.
Performing with moral conscience,
Government must claim superlative.
Any government becomes bad,
When it survives on wild, constant ill,
Diverting from people’s real need,
To arrogantly plunder at will.
The treasury is sacrosanct,
Meant for enhancing peoples’ living.
It is not for official squander,
Nor for anybody’s pilfering.
All those citizens who need help,
Regardless of their colour or race,
Can appeal to their government,
To provide them economic grace.
Money derived from the taxes,
Is the people’s rightful property.
It should be used with utmost care,
With proper accounting, propriety. Read the rest of this entry »
Call on Malaysians to be united by a Malaysian Dream regardless of race, religion or region, in a common national vision and destiny to build a more united, democratic, free, just, competitive and prosperous nation for all Malaysian citizens
Posted by Kit in DAP, Mahathir, nation building on Thursday, 27 June 2013
All right-thinking Malaysians find it very distressing that there was not only the most irresponsible and reckless appeals to race and religion during the general elections campaign, racism took on even worse forms after the 13th general elections results.
Even my contesting in Gelang Patah was turned into a racist issue with the former Prime Minsister Tun Dr. Mahathir who led the charge in spewing racist lines and falsehoods, alleging that I was contesting in Gelang Patah because I want:
• the Chinese in Gelang Patah and Johor to “reject working together and sharing with the Malays”;
• the Chinese in Johor “to dislike and hate the Malays” to create “conflict and antagonism between the races”;
• create “an unhealthy racial confrontation” between the Malays and Chinese in Johor, which will be “disruptive and will not be conducive to the development of Malaysia”.
Recently, in his blog on “Racial Polarisation”, Mahathir continued with his inflammatory, incendiary, seditious statements to pit one race against another, based on lies and falsehoods. Read the rest of this entry »
The issue has never been whether a Chinese can be PM but whether the country has a PM for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or socio-economic status
The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Shahidan Kassim thought he was doing the Chinese in Malaysia a great favour and service when he gratuitously advised them to break away from the “extreme racism” indoctrinated by the DAP, so that “Malaysia would one day have a Prime Minister of Chinese ethnicity”.
Shahidan could not be more wrong, as he committed two fatal errors, firstly in falsely alleging that DAP had “inculcated” the Chinese in Malaysia with “extreme racism” and secondly, the issue whether a Chinese could become a Prime Minister in Malaysia was never on the political radar of any Malaysian Chinese.
For the edification of Shahidan Kassim, the issue has never been whether a Chinese can be Prime Minister but whether the country has a Prime Minister for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or socio-economic status.
Furthermore, DAP had never indoctrinated or inculcated the Chinese in Malaysia with any “extreme racism” as right from our formation 46 years ago in 1966, our message to all Malaysians is to forge a Malaysian identity and consciousness, transcending racial, ethnic, cultural and regional differences – and this is why in the 46-year history of DAP, we have never called for any Chinese unity, Malay unity, Indian unity, Kadazan unity or Dayak unity, but the unity of all Malaysians regardless of race, religion or region in pursuit of a common Malaysian Dream, never a Chinese Dream, Malay Dream, Indian Dream, Kadazan Dream or Dayak Dream. Read the rest of this entry »
Lost for the last half century: Will it be the same for the next five years?
Posted by Kit in nation building on Saturday, 15 June 2013
— Ahmad Mustapha Hassan
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 13, 2013
JUNE 13 — We left a path that we had created to travel forth to achieve what we had desired when this blessed motherland of ours was freed from the colonial yoke in1957. Now in order for us presently to go forward, we need to reflect whether we had moved in the right direction or had we wandered away from what our founding fathers wanted to achieve.
As the Malay proverb goes “Sesat di hujung jalan, balek ka pangkal jalan”, meaning that if we have lost our way, then we just have to go back to where we started the journey.
But of course, we have to know whether we have indeed lost our way. We had been travelling for over half a century and we have to ascertain whether we have achieved anything at all.
In the first place, why did we clamour for independence or did we? A certain section of the people did organise themselves for that struggle but they were crippled by the British. As for the rest, they were simply caught up in the wave of nationalism that was engulfing all the countries still under colonial rule, after the Pacific war. Read the rest of this entry »
Should one cry or laugh at Mahathir’s latest and most preposterous racist fulminations about Chinese wanting to oust political power of Malays and dominate Malaysian politics?
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Elections, Mahathir, Najib Razak, nation building on Friday, 7 June 2013
Should one cry or laugh at Dr. Mahathir Mohamad’s latest racist fulminations, making the preposterous claim that the 13th General Election is proof that the Chinese in Malaysia are out to oust the political power of the Malays and to dominate Malaysian politics?
Cry because a former Prime Minister could be so racist, reckless and irresponsible as to continue to try to set the Malays against the Chinese, outdoing his preposterous claim during the 13th General Elections that I was contesting in Gelang Patah to create a “racial confrontation” and that I was inciting the Chinese to hate the Malays.
There was not an ounce of truth in Mahathir’s allegations, but what is significant is that Mahathir’s allegations failed to make any impression on the voters, particularly the Malay voters, as I could not have won Gelang Patah with a majority of over 14,000 votes without the support of the Malay voters.
Was Mahathir’s failure to make an impact on the 13GE with his racist fulminations the reason why he has upped the ante to make even more racist and most preposterous fulminations that the Chinese in Malaysia are out to oust the political power of the Malays so as to dominate Malaysian politics?
Laugh that a former Prime Minister could go to such desperate lengths because his racist message is facing a diminishing market among the Malays that he had to concoct such wild lies that the Chinese in Malaysia are out to oust the political power of the Malays so as to dominate Malaysian politics! Read the rest of this entry »
Where is the Malaysian Dream?
Posted by Kit in Articles, Education, Malaysian Dream, nation building on Wednesday, 29 May 2013
by Erna Mahyuni
The Malaysian Insider
MAY 29, 2013
“To boldly go where no man has gone before.” I still get the shivers when I hear that old Star Trek line.
Looking back, things we take for granted now like telepresence conferences, virtual reality and touch screens were mere fantasy, fancies of the imagination.
Dreams matter. But what has happened to our own abilities to dream? The problem, I think, with Malaysians and their leaders is that we set our sights too low.
An educationist told me our English syllabus is so infantile as we must “follow the standards of Malaysian students.”
We want our children to fly and yet assume that all they can do is crawl. Read the rest of this entry »
National reconciliation or retaliation?
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Elections, Najib Razak, nation building on Tuesday, 28 May 2013
Lim Ka Ea
The Malaysian Insider
May 27, 2013
Lim Ka Ea is a traveller who sees travel as the answer to all the world’s woes. Writing is a grand love. Ka Ea has had NGO and legal experience.
MAY 27 — There was no cry of jubilation. Neither were there tears of joy.
If you had been in a coma during the past few weeks and were suddenly awakened to the image of the Barisan Nasional’s victory speech on television, you would have thought that someone important had died and the whole nation had gone into mourning mode. Why wouldn’t you when Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his sidekicks looked as if the apocalypse was upon them?
Before you could even make out the hazy details that had preceded such collective sombreness, you found yourself being hit by a train of confusion. “Chinese tsunami” quickly followed by “national reconciliation” — two terms coined together only mere minutes after the announcement of the election results were enough to make me want to crawl back into that coma. Ignorance is after all bliss during moments like this.
As I begin to hear comments pouring in from different public figures and the public, of what they thought of the proposed national reconciliation, I felt sheepishly stupid. Am I the only one who doesn’t understand what it means or what it’s for?
The coma must have impaired my intellectual capacity. Full stop. Read the rest of this entry »
My dream: A united Malaysia
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, nation building on Friday, 24 May 2013
— Aruna Sena
(loyarburok.com)
The Malaysian Insider
May 24, 2013
MAY 24 — Malaysia, the land of multiethnicities, faiths and cultures, harmony and stability, not to mention the tagline “Truly Asia” But is that truly the case with the people of Malaysia? Yes and no.
Why?
Because of racism.
Yes. Racism exists in Malaysia. There’s no point beating around the bush. As much as we love to sugarcoat the image of this beautiful country, this disease called racism exists and thrives. It is something we can’t deny and it is becoming worrying of late. Politicians continue to vocally play the race card. We have mainstream media doing it, we even have everyday Joes who walk among us doing it. Honestly, at times we ourselves are guilty of it without us realising.
Many of us point fingers at the politicians for these sentiments and the media for hyping it up, especially during the recent events which unfolded after GE13. We look at the numerous race-based political parties that cater to different ethnicities. Some of us continue to support them. But I believe if we truly dream of a single united Malaysian, this manner of racial politics must come to an end. Read the rest of this entry »
The brilliance of Zahid Hamidi
Posted by Kit in Articles, Law & Order, Najib Razak, nation building, UMNO on Monday, 20 May 2013
by Aerie Rahman
The Malaysian Insider
MAY 20, 2013
Move aside Khairy Jamaluddin and Saifuddin Abdullah — we have a new poster boy for change within the Barisan National power structure. Not used to flamboyance and only recently baring the fangs of radicalism, Zahid Hamidi has sparked a debate on a new form of politics: migratory politics.
With his decree demanding that those who are unhappy with the current political system migrate to republican states, this man is a maverick. He is braving the tide by countering Najib Razak’s efforts to stem the pernicious brain drain beleaguering this nation. We need more mavericks within BN! Not mere “yes men” whose servitude are repulsive, but men with independent minds. Zahid fits the bill. This is a man to watch, Malaysia! Read the rest of this entry »
Racism and a Blueprint for Rebuilding Malaysia
Posted by Kit in Education, nation building on Sunday, 19 May 2013
by Mohamad Tajuddin Mohamad Rasdi
Although many things remain uncertain after the GE13 result, one thing is unarguably clear…Malaysia is in trouble.
Who is in trouble? Not Pakatan, not BN to my mind…we are. We…the Rakyat. Our Children is in trouble and ..yes, theirs too in the distant future if we do not stop this juggernaut called…racism.
I would like to outline my basic blueprint for rebuilding this country with the special focus of eliminating racism as its main objective.
My program may be ‘shocking’ or ‘unsusual’ but it has the virtue of never been thought of or tried.
In architectural design training, the best design ideas are usually the ‘shockers’! I have been trained to understand the box but never to stay long in it and to always leave it on the front porch…well, most of the time. Read the rest of this entry »
The Men Who Made Me
Posted by Kit in nation building on Sunday, 19 May 2013
Letter
By Gunslinger
The People’s Parliament
Posted on April 26, 2013
My first exposure to politics was when , as a little girl of 5 or 6 in Ipoh, I ran out of my house to wave at the charismatic Mr.Patto of DAP, campaigning through loudspeakers on his moving open-truck. He was fiery and I thought he was so brave and clever, standing up there and speaking without any fear. My father told me that Mr. Patto urged Malaysians not to fear change, and said that every citizen should call himself a Malaysian first and foremost, and not a Malay, Chinese or Indian. I never forgot that. Ever.
I remember thinking back then that even if I had even a quarter of his courage, I would be a lucky girl indeed. Years later, as a young adult, when I read that he had passed away, I was very saddened. Not because he had died, because I knew he must have lived a full, exciting life – lived more than most would have done in their lifetimes of subservient kneeling to whomever could throw them a few scraps. I was sad because he never got a chance to make a difference to more Malaysians by being a part of the ruling party. I felt his tough resilience, his strong character and his courage of convictions would define character for a lot of young Malaysians.
My father encouraged me to read the newspapers, which I found extremely boring. For even then I thought the reporting was pretty lop-sided, with mud-slinging and name calling by BN politicians to opposition party members, reported in what I felt was salacious glee. I eventually started following the adventures of one very inspiring man who stood out again and again as a lion of courage and strength amongst most other men – Mr. Karpal Singh. He took no nonsense from silly politicians, he fought with courage against corruption, he admonished newspapermen who got their facts wrong, hell, he even took on the King. Man, did he rock my world!
I was shocked when he was sent to prison for merely voicing his opinions, under the ISA, which was meant for communists. Opposition seemed a bad word back then, but I never got it. Why was being in the Opposition negative? Even as a child of eight, I could see the logic and absolute necessity of a strong opposition, which unfortunately most adults could not and would not see. I guess the lull of complacency, of the ‘let’s not rock the boat, we are fine now, what’ was at its greatest heights then. But I was not convinced.
So, in a dark lost world, Mr.Karpal Singh became my knight in shining armour. Read the rest of this entry »
Why, Prime Minister?
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Media, Muhyiddin Yassin, Najib Razak, nation building, UMNO on Sunday, 19 May 2013
by Zaid Ibrahim
May 14, 2013
I have never seen as many vile and seditious statements invading the public sphere as I have in this past week. We’ve had Utusan Malaysia provoking the Chinese for rejecting the Barisan Nasional and UMNO leaders labeling non-UMNO Malays as greedy and easily misled. An academic suggested the abolishment of vernacular schools to encourage unity among the races and an old “historian” said that the Chinese are not actually keen on unity. To cap it off, a retired Court of Appeal judge practically made a call for “restoring” Malay rights and dignity by whatever means.
I never realised that retired judges are also involved in part-time politics, although I believe this case to be a serious aberration. In the meantime, have we heard anything from the Prime Minister expressing regret for these statements? Perhaps a promise to take some action to stop this dangerous game of provocation? None whatsoever; in fact, he defended Utusan by saying Chinese newspapers are playing the same game.
Is this the kind of Prime Minister we want? Certainly not. I have been very patient with him, as have so many Malaysians. We have always given him extra room to breathe because we thought he was surrounded by the worse ultras in UMNO. We allowed him to dabble in “double speak” because we thought it was necessary for him to maintain his equilibrium as UMNO President. But enough is enough. This man has to go. He is afraid to do the right thing for the country. His 1Malaysia is a sham. I blame him for allowing this mad, racist frenzy to pander to UMNO delegates so he can retain power at the party elections at the end of the year.
His conduct is inexcusable. Read the rest of this entry »
Equality & Betrayal
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, nation building on Saturday, 18 May 2013
by Allan CF Goh
Are Chinese “entitled to equality”?
Is voting against the ruling party a “betrayal”?
The logic and argument of non-entitlement of equality of non-Malay citizens are groundless. As usual, when discussion of this nature begins, the race bogey is raised. May 13 is resurrected. Emotions replace reasons. Everything becomes racist.
An increasing number of educated, thinking Malaysians, cutting across the racial lines, do not accept this tunnel-vision.
The ‘Chinese’ whom some wanted to be deprived of equality are born in Malaysia, raised here, and most likely will die here. This is our country, and our home, too. Let us never doubt that. Most of the Malaysian Chinese families were here long before Malaya’s merdeka. The same applies to Sabah and Sarawak. Many families have history stretching nearly a hundred years. How many instant ‘Malays’ can honestly make that claim? Read the rest of this entry »
Let 526 DAP Gelang Patah victory thanksgiving dinner be a historic “first step in thousand-miles journey” to realize Malaysian Dream by creating a Malaysian Dream Movement for all Malaysians
Posted by Kit in Elections, Johore, nation building on Saturday, 18 May 2013
The Battle of Gelang Patah was the opening shot of the Battle of the Malaysian Dream to unite Malaysians regardless of race, religion or region in a common national vision and destiny to build a great, democratic, free, safe, green competitive and prosperous nation for all Malaysian citizens.
In my 47 years in politics, I have always regarded myself as a Malaysian first and last. I have never regarded myself purely as a Chinese, but as a Malaysian of Chinese ethnic descent whose loyalty is unswervingly to the Malaysian nation, having common cause with all Malaysians regardless of race, religion or region to build a better Malaysia for all Malaysians.
I am therefore utterly shocked to hear former Court of Appeal judge, Mohd Noor Abdullah, delivering what I have described as the most racist and seditious speech in 44 years at the forum titled “GE13 post-mortem Muslim leadership and survival” on Sunday castigating Chinese for being “Chinese first” and overriding their Malaysian identity.
Mohd Noor cannot be more wrong in taking the cue of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who claimed that the outcome of the 13GE was a “Chinese tsunami” when in fact it was a Malaysian and urban tsunami.
Read the rest of this entry »
With ‘enemies’ like this…
Posted by Kit in Articles, nation building, Politics on Saturday, 18 May 2013
There is a saying which is often at the tip of our tongue: “With friends like these, who needs enemies?” Which is to say there are times when friends do seem to behave like our worst enemies.
But at times, the reverse could be equally true: with enemies like these who needs friends!
Let me hasten to say that I don’t consider those with whom I may disagree politically as my enemies. If there are no two teams, you won’t have a football match. If there are not at least two sides, we won’t have an elections. Read the rest of this entry »
In defending his seditious speech, Mohd Noor Abdullah has proven he is racist through-and-through and raised question how a closet racist could rise to be Court of Appeal judge
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Court, Crime, Najib Razak, nation building, Police on Friday, 17 May 2013
Former Court of Appeal Judge Mohd Noor Abdullah has compounded his crime of sedition when he defended making the most racist and seditious speech in the country in the past 44 years.
On Sunday, in his speech at the forum titled “GE13 post-mortem Muslim leadership and survival” organised by UiTM Malaysia Alumni Association and Gabungan Pelajar Melayu Semanjung in Kuala Lumpur, Mohd Noor warned that the Chinese Malaysians must be prepared for a backlash from the Malay community for their “betrayal” in the recently concluded 13th general election.
He said: “The Chinese betrayal towards the Malay’s hand of friendship – that is true. Because they plotted to seize political power even though they already have economic power”.
Mohd Noor’s racist and seditious speech had been defended on the ground that it was “as a whole constructive and within the boundaries of what is in the federal constitution”, and in line with his expertise as a former judge.
Can Mohd Noor quote chapter and verse as to which article or part of the Malaysian Constitution justified his making irresponsible, fictitious, inflammatory, racist and seditious allegations that the Chinese in Malaysia “plotted to seize political power even though they already have economic power” or his criminal and gangsterish threat of a “Malay backlash” to a completely non-existent “Chinese betrayal towards the Malay’s hand of friendship” ?
Read the rest of this entry »
Of Being Parents, Ministers and ‘Leaving Malaysia’
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, nation building on Friday, 17 May 2013
Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi
Of late, many so called ‘political leaders’ and individual Malays of questionable repute have been urging not only Chinese, but Malays, Indians, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists and other races to ‘leave Malaysia’ because of the dissatisfaction over the Election Commission failure to be an entity of integrity to be a fair referee in a political competition.
It has taken all my personal strength and professional standing as an academic and as an acting civil servant to restrain my emotion and REALLY tell these people ‘a piece of my mind’. If I were a retiree, I would really lash out at these people in my Penang colloquial style lingo!
But alas, I am a fully active civil servant and an established academic with an honest and reputable name.
I am not the like of Ibrahim Ali who shows himself to be from a poorly developed cultural upbringing that knows nothing but spout venom to achieve his own personal game. He is not interested in the well being of Malays, only himself.
I have also none the luxury of a Zulkifli Nordin who masquerade as an ‘Islamic Warrior’ using the Qur’an not to please Allah the Most Beneficient but to fulfill his own agenda of pleasing others who can give him material honor. He has forgotten or choose to forget what the Qur’an says about selling the religion for a small gain.
If these two utter such words, I would have not paid much attention for they are clearly nobodies and need to constantly shout, rant and spite in order to be noticed. But when national leaders or the equivalent thereof asks Malaysians to leave their homeland, I feel that someone must remind these leaders politely in the old Malay kiasan or sindiran manner. I will tell Malaysian how my father runs his family and how I fared with mine. Read the rest of this entry »
Fill Our Motherland with the Colours of Unity
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, nation building on Friday, 17 May 2013
“On this date, we are embarking on a move to recolour the nation’s historical canvas with colours of unity. This is our motherland. From this day on, no one can tell the Chinese to go back to China or the Indians to go back to India.”
This is the best, the most positive, people-unifying statement to come out in decades. And it did not come from a leader of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN).
It came from 20 civil society groups, led by Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM) headed by Badrul Hisham Shaharin and student group Solidariti Mahasiswa Malaysia (SMM) headed by Safwan Anang, as they marked May 13, the tragic day in 1969 when racial riots broke out and drove the races apart, with a call for an end to racism.
A teacher told me that when she read the statement reported in a newspaper, she burst into tears. It was particularly emotional for her because she had personally experienced being told to go back to China. Read the rest of this entry »
My vote, my analysis
Posted by Kit in Elections, nation building on Thursday, 16 May 2013
KJ John
Malaysiakini
May 14, 2013
In the last two general elections, I voted for Pakatan Rakyat. In fact, I campaigned privately and publicly with and for Pakatan. Nonetheless, I am not a member of any party and do not find a need to join one.
Having worked hard to influence and support the realisation of this two-party democracy in Malaysia over the last decade, I now want to move into a more neutral mode because the truth and reality of a two-party system is being evolved and can soon be realised.
Pakatan, still the so-called opposition party, achieved more than 50 percent of the popular vote. That is already an incredible and absolute victory.
If the weight of each vote was the same, in statistical terms, Pakatan would have been the government of the day. The Agong would have been inviting the leader of the ‘opposition’ to form the government.
But, alas under the cherished honour and current privilege assigned to our Agong, based on existing laws, premised upon the Commonwealth tradition of democratic governance, he has to invite the leader of the BN to form the government. I accept it but cannot even say that I congratulate them.
Therefore and nevertheless, allow me now to move towards a more neutral mode of what both sides can demonstrate about good governance. I have some advice for both sides in the Parliament, and I hope they both know how to listen.
We must grow out of cheating and lies and move to become a nation interested in truth, equality, mutual respect, and full accountability and consequent responsibility. This is our full accountability; in the here and now, and in the hereafter. Read the rest of this entry »
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