Archive for category nation building
National Day on August 31 is deadline for Najib to prove he is serious about “zero tolerance” for racism in the country, particularly by public servants
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Najib Razak, nation building on Saturday, 28 August 2010
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should have received public feedback that his declaration yesterday of a “zero tolerance” towards racism and pledge to take immediate action against those found to have made racial slurs had been received with great cynicism countrywide as another Najibism which is good for soundbites and publicity but never to be taken seriously – that it would be forgotten once delivered.
In fact, public cynicism about Najib’s political will and leadership after 16 month as Prime Minister in his various policy pronouncements because of the large gulf between proclamation and action has culminated in Merdeka month celebrations this year with the theme “1Malaysia transforms the nation” highlighting the failures of Najib’s 1Malaysia rather than celebrating the new Prime Minister’s signature nation-building programme.
The question now is whether Najib can inspire confidence in time for National Day on Tuesday, August 31st in his “zero tolerance” policy for racism by taking firm and decisive action in the next 60 hours against racists who had created inter-racial misunderstandings and tensions in the past weeks?
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Najib should walk the talk of a zero-tolerance policy for racism and religious incitement starting with Utusan Malaysia with zero-tolerance for delay in taking action
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Media, Najib Razak, nation building on Friday, 27 August 2010
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has finally broken his silence, declaring a “zero tolerance” policy towards racism and pledging immediate action against those found to have made racial slurs.
It is welcome although belated – provided it is not an empty declaration. Najib’s belated declaration raised the question whether he means what he says for two reasons:
Firstly, it has taken him two long weeks to make his first public statement since the deplorable incident at the launch of the Merdeka celebrations of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra, Kulai, where the school principal Hajah Siti Inshah binti Mansor said: “Pelajar-pelajar Cina tidak diperlukan dan boleh balik ke China ataupun Sekolah Foon Yew. Bagi pelajar India, tali sembahyang yang diikat di pergelangan tangan dan leher pelajar nampak seakan anjing dan hanya anjing akan mengikat seperti itu.”
In my statement on Tuesday 17th August, I had asked the Prime Minister and the Cabinet to put the issue on top of the Cabinet meeting the next day for two reasons: Read the rest of this entry »
Eh, Tun dah lupa?
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, nation building on Friday, 27 August 2010
By Art Harun
Every year, during the first two or three days of fasting, I suffer from headaches. That is because my blood sugar level drops. Thank God this will go away after the 3rd day of fasting.
Low blood sugar level may cause hypoglycemia. In some cases, symptoms of hypoglycemia include impaired judgment; irritability; belligerence; confusion; belligerence, combativeness and rage. Thankfully, as far as I know, I don’t have those symptoms.
When Tun DrM said yesterday that meritocracy and “meritocrats” are racists, my first reaction was one of irritation. Then I was bemused. Later I was amused. And finally today I think it must have been the fasting month and the obvious low blood sugar level which was affecting him.
Meritocracy as I understand it is the act of rewarding or awarding an individual or a body of individuals or any entity with anything based on merit. Like awarding a student who has scored 13 As in SPM a place in the university. Or awarding X Sdn Bhd a contract to maintain a submarine because X Sdn Bhd has successfully maintained 15 other submarines before this without any problem at reasonable costs as compared to any other company who were bidding for the job.
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Stand up and be counted, Malaysia
Posted by Kit in nation building on Thursday, 26 August 2010
By Azmi Sharom | Brave New World
It is strange that in the 21st century, we are still having to face the problem of institutionalised racism.
OVER the past week or so, there have been some developments in our country which are more disturbing than usual.
In particular, the two cases of alleged racist remarks by school heads; the accusations that Penang mosques have replaced the Yang di-Pertuan Agong with the Chief Minister’s name in their prayers; and the continued insistence that Article 153 of the Constitution is equal to an inalienable right that could not be questioned.
These events are interrelated and it seems to me that they indicate that there is a battle of ideology going on in the country now.
On one side is the idea that a person’s ethnicity and religion entitles him to be treated better than anyone else who is different. On the other side is the idea that equality is an aspiration that is both noble and necessary for nation building.
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Has Mahathir crossed the Rubicon to declare war on Najib, 1Malaysia and NEM?
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Mahathir, Najib Razak, nation building on Wednesday, 25 August 2010
Shock, outrage and consternation are understatements of the reactions to the latest outbursts by former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad when he denounced the proponents of meritocracy as “racists too” and warned the Malay community that they risk losing political control of the country if they remain disunited.
It is not just the spectacle of the former longest-serving Prime Minister of Malaysia adding oil to the cauldron of the politics of race and religion but the repudiation of the Vision 2020 and Bangsa Malaysia which he had proclaimed two decades ago.
In 1990, beginning his second decade as Prime Minister, Mahathir spelt out Vision 2020 to achieve in 30 years a fully developed Malaysian nation made up of one “Bangsa Malaysia” with a sense of common and shared destiny, distinguished by the pursuit of excellence, fully aware of all its potentials, psychologically subservient to none, and respected by the peoples of other nations.
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Last Cabinet meeting before National Day on August 31…
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, nation building on Tuesday, 24 August 2010
Tomorrow’s Cabinet meeting is the last before National Day on August 31 and its greatest challenge is to demonstrate it has the “political will and leadership to break the logjam of resistance by vested interest groups” to kickstart and stay the course of the NEM (New Economic Model) transformation process.
There can be no more useful thing for the Cabinet Ministers to do tomorrow than to revisit the New Economic Model unveiled by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak on March 30 and the dire warnings that Malaysia is “on a burning platform” and that “the status quo is not an option” as it will only put Malaysia at risk of being overtaken by other countries, just as we had overtaken others in the past.
The Cabinet should in particular revisit the frank and brutal admission by the NEM of the crucial and critical role of “unwavering political will and leadership” to break the logjam of resistance by vested interest groups and short-sighted factions and to “stay the course” when resistance is encountered.
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There is a sickness in the country which is total mockery and negation of Najib’s 1Malaysia policy
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Media, Najib Razak, nation building, UMNO on Monday, 23 August 2010
With eight days to go before the National Day proper on August 31 and 24 days before Malaysia Day on Sept. 16, Malaysians regardless of race, religion or region should be celebrating a new sense of pride and unity as Malaysians after 18 months of the 1Malaysia slogan and policy proclaimed by Datuk Seri Najib Razak after he became the sixth Prime Minister in April last year.
But every 24 hours is demonstrating the opposite.
There is a sickness in the country as illustrated by several headlines in a matter of a few hours by online media Malaysian Insider yesterday, viz:
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“Perkasa, MPM want Soi Lek arrested under ISA”
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“Pakatan wants to ‘destroy’ constitutional monarchy, claim Malay groups” (a lie)
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“Ibrahim Ali follows Tee, tells those who disagree to get out”
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“Malay groups want vernacular schools abolished”
MCCBCHST CALLS FOR A CHORUS OF DISAPPROVAL
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, nation building on Saturday, 21 August 2010
Rev. Dr. Thomas Philips
President
MCCBCHST
21 August 2010
In the light of the latest, in an increasing line of provocative racist remarks, this time by a principal of a school in the state of Johor, MCCBCHST calls upon the authorities to take prompt, and appropriate action to demonstrate that such dastardly acts and words perpetrated by government servants regardless of their rank is not and will not be tolerated in Malaysia.
The Johor school incident occurring as it did in the runup to the coming National Day celebrations casts a sombre shadow over the nation’s commitment to a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society where all citizens can be guaranteed a shared destiny in Malaysia as Malaysians based on peace and justice.
The time has passed whereby mere platitudes and words from the national leadership and enforcement authorities in themselves will be enough. The nation needs just and fair actions rather than just words. Read the rest of this entry »
Forget about Talent Corporation and other transformation initiatives of NEM and TMP if Najib cannot stop extremist forces exploiting race and religion from rearing their ugly heads
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Najib Razak, nation building on Saturday, 21 August 2010
This should be a special and unique month not only in the 53-year nation-building of Malaysia but the 18-month premiership of Datuk Seri Najib Razak as the theme of the Merdeka month celebrations from August 1 to September 16 is “1Malaysia Transforming the Nation” – first time after Najib’s full-year premiership and less than six months after the unveiling of the transformative NEM.
Messages and the spirit of Malaysian unity and inter-racial and inter-religious goodwill, harmony and solidarity should be pervading all nooks and corners of the country and infusing Malaysians with what they are saying are doing in these six weeks to put into practice and action the 1Malaysia slogan which Najib had proclaimed since becoming Prime Minister in April last year.
But the opposite had been the case as never had Malaysia been so divided, discordant and un1Malaysia in the past two decades, with persistent, irresponsible and inflammatory incitement of the politics of race and religion in recent months to stoke racial and religious animosity and hatred in plural Malaysia, going against the very grain of what 1Malaysia stands for.
Even the schools and the young generation of Malaysians are not spared, as illustrated by the cases of the racist outbursts against school children, one in the south in Kulai and the other in the north in Sungai Petani, demonstrating utter contempt and intolerance of 1Malaysia and our ethnic, religious and cultural diversity which are the country’s richest assets by school principals who should be the “role models” and standard-bearers of Najib’s 1Malaysia! Read the rest of this entry »
Racial remarks: Headmistress must be sacked
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, nation building on Friday, 20 August 2010
It is difficult to reconcile how a principal of a secondary school could be so insensitive and dumb as to utter derogatory words to denigrate students under her care. She had shown utter contempt to the Chinese and Indians in this country.
It is unbelievable that she could have said, “Chinese students…can return to China.” It is amazing that she could have likened the prayer strings worn by Indians to a dog leash.
It is difficult to believe that she is a teacher and an educator. With this warped and distorted view of the Chinese and Indians, what kind of values can she impart to her students under her care? What kind of character can she inculcate among her students? She comes across as subhuman.
How she got promoted is a mystery. How she got selected to be a teacher is a wonder. Unfortunately, there are many of her ilk in the Teaching Service doing immense damage to this nation. Two years ago, we had one dumb discipline teacher in Anderson School who ordered Hindu students to remove their religious wristband and shave off their moustache and beards, which they had allowed to grow ahead of fulfilling their vows during Thaipusam
We have this kind of people not only in schools Read the rest of this entry »
DAP supports Anwar’s call for proof of allegation of the existence of an alternate constitution to replace the current one to erase special rights of the Malays and the position of Islam as the official religion
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Constitution, DAP, Najib Razak, nation building on Thursday, 19 August 2010
DAP supports the call by Parliamentary Opposition Leader and Ketua Umum PKR Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for proof of the allegation of the existence of an alternate constitution to replace the current one to erase special rights of the Malays and the position of Islam as the official religion.
This allegation by the Perak Mufti Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria is a very serious and inflammable one and should not be made without proof.
This allegation has already been the basis of a very alarmist front-page Utusan Malaysia headline “Elak perang besar” on Tuesday and an incendiary article entitled “Benar, ‘perang besar’ boleh berlaku di Malaysia” yesterday.
DAP leaders had never heard or known of such an alternate constitution.
Any such an alleged alternative constitution could not have emanated from Pakatan Rakyat as the component parties of PKR, PAS and DAP had reaffirmed commitment to the fundamental principles of the Malaysian Constitution in a common platform last December.
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What will they do about racism now?
Posted by Kit in nation building on Thursday, 19 August 2010
COMMENT Let’s wait and see what action will be taken against Siti Inshah Mansor, the principal of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra, Kulai, for the racist remarks she allegedly made at the Merdeka celebrations in her school.
The police will be concluding their investigations soon, under Section 504 of the Penal Code. If they have a case, Siti Inshah could be charged with provocation, which carries a maximum imprisonment of two years, a fine or both.
Meanwhile, DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang has called for her to be sacked. MCA president Chua Soi Lek calls for her to be transferred to a desk job and given counselling. How generous of Chua.
If she did what she is said to have done, she should instead be drawn and quartered, like in the good old days. Or have her head put in a cangue – you know, like in the Chinese movies, where the head and hands are locked up within a square wooden contraption.
Or she should be given the Japanese treatment – force-fed water while someone jumps on her bloated tummy, or hung from a tree by her thumbs, and displayed publicly for all to see that this is what happens to racists.
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The racial time-bomb is ticking fast
Posted by Kit in nation building on Wednesday, 18 August 2010
by Thomas Lee
Racism continues to rear its ugly head, more than half a century after our country gained in its independence in 1957.
The latest fiasco involves the principal of a school in Johor who has been reported to have said that Chinese students can return to China, and that the prayer strings worn by the Indian students are like a dog leash.
A total of 17 police reports have been lodged by parents against the nonchalant female school head who is rumoured to have some influential political connection.
According to some parents who had lodged police reports, the school head had made the pejorative and derogative comments during the launching of the school’s Merdeka celebrations on Thursday 12 August 2010.
She was quoted as saying that “Chinese students are not needed here and can return to China or Foon Yew school. For the Indian students, the prayer string tied around their neck and wrist makes them look like dogs because only dogs are tied like that.”
Such offensive, insensitive and racist remarks can only be made by a rude and uncouth person, who is described in Bahasa Malaysia as kurang ajar. And it is simply incredible and beyond comprehension that such a shallow, insecure, and blockhead person could be appointed a school principal.
Read the rest of this entry »
If Najib’s 1Malaysia is to have real meaning, Siti Inshah should not only be removed from the education service, there should be no place in civil service for other Siti Inshahs
Posted by Kit in nation building on Tuesday, 17 August 2010
In the Permatang Pauh parliamentary by-election in August 2008, the Bukit Bendera Umno chief Datuk Ahmad Ismail referred to the Malaysian Chinese as pendatang, orang tumpang and totally untrustworthy Malaysians.
In February this year, the special officer to the Prime Minister, Datuk Nasir Safar labeled Indians and Chinese in Malaysia as “pendatang”, and added insult to injury in declaring that “Indians came to Malaysia as beggars and Chinese especially women came to sell their bodies”.
Last Thursday, at the launch of the Merdeka celebrations of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra, Kulai, the school principal Hajah Siti Inshah binti Mansor said: “Pelajar-pelajar Cina tidak diperlukan dan boleh balik ke China ataupun Sekolah Foon Yew. Bagi pelajar India, tali sembahyang yang diikat di pergelangan tangan dan leher pelajar nampak seakan anjing dan hanya anjing akan mengikat seperti itu.”
The severest disciplinary action must be taken against Siti Inshah, who is clearly unfit to be in the education service of a multi-racial society like Malaysia let alone a school principal – going against the very precepts of the 1Malaysia policy enunciated by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak since April last year.
Read the rest of this entry »
Patriotism, Mr Mayor, is not in flying a flag
Posted by Kit in nation building on Monday, 16 August 2010
By Thomas Lee
Ipoh Mayor Datuk Roshidi Hashim has issued a ruling to all shops and business premises in the city to fly the Jalur Gemilang on National Day on 31 August and the state flag during the Sultan of Perak’s birthday on 19 April if their want their business licences renewed.
Roshidi said those who failed to comply with the ruling would also be compounded or blacklisted.
According to Roshidi, the new ruling is part of the effort by the Ipoh City Council to inculcate patriotism among city folks, especially the business communities.
This is another of those nincompoop rulings by a smart-aleck Little Napoleon using blackmail arm-twisting tactics to enforce a gimmick found only in countries ruled by authoritarian dictatorial governments such as Nazi Germany or the Japanese Imperial Administration during War World Two.
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Chinese-Malaysian a ‘living treasure’ in NZ
Posted by Kit in Health, nation building on Tuesday, 10 August 2010
Introducing cells to suicide
by Jane Tolerton | NZ Listener
A breakthrough strawberry-birthmark treatment discovered by a New Zealand surgeon and his team points the way to treatments for other tumours.
Swee Tan is a master of the rhetorical question. Outlining how his research into strawberry birthmarks could lead to a new way of treating cancer, he asks: “Would that be a good thing?” Suggest he could be making big money in cosmetic surgery overseas, and he asks, ‘Would I be a happy man?”
Hutt Hospital’s director of surgery should be happy enough – because what began as his research into disfiguring strawberry birthmarks has just won his four-strong research team a major international science prize. The implications for cancer treatment and regenerative medicine are so valuable that news of the award has been under wraps for a couple of months while the intellectual property involved has been registered internationally.
Read the rest of this entry »
MCA, stand firm or close shop
Posted by Kit in DAP, MCA, nation building, Religion on Tuesday, 3 August 2010
By Thomas Lee
MySinChew.com
The arrogance of Deputy Prime Minister and Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in giving a stern warning on Monday 3 August 2010 to the MCA over the “Allah” issue simply cannot be stomached and tolerated.
If the MCA has any dignity and integrity, it should not allow itself to be so severely rebuked and dictated to publicly by an “equal” partner in the Barisan Nasional coalition.
The MCA is right in standing up for the right of the non-Muslim community to be allowed to freely practise and express their religious faiths using any word they deem fit in Bahasa Malaysia, which is their national language.
The MCA is absolutely right to ask the federal government, of which it is purportedly an essential component, to rescind the ban on non-Muslims using of the word “Allah”, after Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein expressed regrets over the decision to ban its use by his predecessor. Read the rest of this entry »
Najib should explain why after 16 months of his 1Malaysia slogan, Malaysians are even more divided with even the former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir declaring that he is confused and does not know the meaning of 1Malaysia?
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Mahathir, Najib Razak, nation building on Tuesday, 3 August 2010
I do not agree with the former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad who criticized the Najib administration’s 1Malaysia slogan, claiming that the concept needed further “explanation” to prevent it from interpreted differently by various races.
But Mahathir is right that Najib’s 1Malaysia slogan which he introduced after he took office in April last year had failed to unite Malaysians as a whole.
This is not because the 1Malaysia slogan is vague or Najib failed to provide an explanation or definition of what his slogan means.
An official definition of 1Malaysia was given by the 1Malaysia Government Transformation Programme Roadmap released by the government in January this year, which states:
“The goal of 1Malaysia is to make Malaysia more vibrant, more productive and more competitive – and ultimately a greater nation: a nation where, it is hoped, every Malaysian perceives himself or herself as Malaysian first, and by race, religion, geographical region or socio-economic background second and where the principles of 1Malaysia are woven into the economic, political and social fabric of society.”
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We were once ‘Malaysians’
Posted by Kit in nation building, Razaleigh Hamzah on Saturday, 31 July 2010
By Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah
The following keynote speech given by former finance minister and Gua Musang parliamentarian Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah at the 4th Annual Malaysian Student Leaders Summit (MSLS) today.
I have played some small role in the life of this nation, but having been on the wrong side of one or two political fights with the powers-that-be, I am not as close to the young people of this country as I would hope to be.
History and the 8 o’clock news are written by the victors. In recent years, the government’s monopoly of the media has been destroyed by the technology revolution.
You could say I was also a member of the United Kingdom and Eire Council for Malaysian Students (UKEC). Well, I was, except that belonged to the predecessor of the UKEC by more than 50 years, The Malayan Students Union of the UK and Eire. I led this organisation in 1958/59.
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Bolstering and Breeding Bigotry in Bolehland
Posted by Kit in Court, Martin Jalleh, nation building, Religion on Friday, 30 July 2010
By Martin Jalleh
The light, lenient, ludicrous and laughable court sentences on the cow-head protestors lends credence to the growing belief that Umno lives and lasts on bigotry
On 28 August last year, more than 50 people, shortly after their Friday prayers, marched from the Selangor state mosque in Shah Alam to the Selangor State Secretariat to protest the relocation of a 150-year old Hindu temple to their neighbourhood.
Amidst strong chants of “Allahuakbar!” they dragged and paraded the severed and bloodied head of a cow. One of their leaders shouted “I guarantee bloodshed and racial tension (if the temple relocation takes place)”.
Some of them made fiery speeches, spat on the severed cow’s head, kicked it, stomped on it, dumped it in front of the gates of the State Secretariat and proudly posed for photos, as police stood stoically, silently and submissively by.
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