Archive for category nation building
Top Umno leaders should stop all double-talk, abandon race politics, be national leaders for all Malaysians or they should scrap and bury Najib’s seven-month-old 1Malaysia slogan and concept
Posted by Kit in nation building, UMNO on Sunday, 29 November 2009
Top Umno leaders should stop all double-talk, abandon race politics, be national leaders for all Malaysians or they should just scrap and bury Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s seven-month-old 1Malaysia slogan and concept.
Malaysians are shocked that the outrageous “defense” of divisive, racist and seditious Biro Tata Negara (BTN) courses by Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, was not the lone voice in Cabinet but represented the consensus of the top Umno leadership.
On my call for the closure of the racist BTN courses which go against everything Najib’s 1Malaysia could stand for, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said it was “just the opposition’s tactics to divert attention from their problems”.
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Call on Cabinet to set up an independent public inquiry into the BTN “brainwashing” to have public airing of its racist, anti-national and anti-1Malaysia courses over the years
Posted by Kit in nation building on Saturday, 28 November 2009
Pretender Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir hit today’s New Straits Times front-page headline: “‘Disclose BTN course syllabus’ – Perak MB: This will allay doubts about its objective”.
Zambry said it is time for the government to make public the contents of the Biro Tatanegara syllabus to dispel suspicions by certain quarters about its objective.
Claiming that he had himself attended BTN or National Civics Bureau courses, Zambry said these courses were about educating public servants, students and other participating groups on their roles and responsibilities towards the country.
Zamry is creating a red herring. The issue is not so much the BTN syllabus, but the more than ample evidence that BTN courses pump communal poison and incite hatred in plural Malaysia.
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BTN — Between true education and indoctrination
Posted by Kit in Azly Rahman, nation building on Saturday, 28 November 2009
By Azly Rahman
I agree we must give credit to those working hard to “improve the psychological well-being of the Malays” and for that matter for any race to improve its mental wellness. This is important. This is a noble act. The question is: in doing so, do we want to plant the seeds of cooperation and trust– or racial discrimination and deep hatred? Herein lies the difference between indoctrination and education. Herein lies what the work of Malaysia’s Biro Tata Negara is about.
These days, the idea of Ketuanan Melayu is going bankrupt, sinking with the bahtera merdeka. It works only for Malay robber barons who wish to plunder the nation by silencing the masses and using the ideological state apparatuses at their disposal. In the case of the BTN it is the work of controlling the minds of the youth. The work of BTN should be stopped and should not be allowed anymore in our educational institutions. It is time our universities especially are spared of counter-educational activities, especially when they yearned to be free from the shackles of domination. Look at what has happened and what is still happening to our institutions with the University and University Colleges Act and the Akujanji Pledge.
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Close down Biro Tata Negara if Najib is serious, sincere and genuine about the 1Malaysia concept
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, nation building on Friday, 27 November 2009
When he became Prime Minister seven months ago, Datuk Seri Najib Razak came out with the slogan of 1Malaysia.
It was an admission of the failure of 52-year nation-building to create a Malaysian citizenry forged by a common Malaysian consciousness and identity, transcending their ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic differences.
The Biro Tata Negara (BTN) is one important factor for this failure in Malaysian nation-building.
In Parliament in March this year, I read out an indignant email from a recent participant in BTN course, on how BTN operated as the propaganda arm of UMNO, pumping communal poison instead of spreading the message of national unity.
The complaints against the BTN included:
Their purpose is to convey THEIR Message to us but I think they are absolutely wrong. It made us more irritable towards BN government and make us more stronger to vote opposition.
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Single stream schooling: The bad and ugly side
Posted by Kit in Azly Rahman, Education, nation building on Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Written by Dr Azly Rahman
Edited by Helen Ang
for Center for Policy Initiatives
‘Ideas move nations but indoctrinations remove intelligence’.
According to government figures, only 7 percent of students in national schools are non-Malays. Parents fear sending their children from their past experience of the government indoctrinating young minds in the guise of an educational setting. Inciting racial sentiments in the classroom and boot camps (BTN, National Service, 1Malaysia) is in fact a big business nowadays.
Language issues come to mind as we speak about identity formation, befitting the notion of “language as culture,” and “culture as the habits we acquire and the tools we use in a house we inhabit in order to create our realties.”
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Test for 1Malaysia – Najib should ask Cabinet on Wednesday to revoke earlier decision to ban the use of word “Allah” for religions other than Islam
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, nation building, Religion on Monday, 2 November 2009
Malaysia is again at the centre of adverse international publicity despite our tourist promotion of Malaysia as a harmonious and model multi-religious nation and the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s new slogan of 1Malaysia.
In the past few days, the world media like CNN and international press have been giving extensive coverage to the government seizure of 15,000 Bibles in recent months because they refer to God as “Allah” raising concerns and fears of religious intolerance in the country.
A consignment of 10,000 copies of the Indonesian-language Bibles which feature the disputed word “Allah” was confiscated in Kuching, Sarawak in September while another consignment of 5,100 Bibles was seized in March. Read the rest of this entry »
A Malaysian Civil Service totally against 1Malaysia concept
Posted by Kit in Budget Debate, Education, nation building, Parliament, public service on Friday, 30 October 2009
To many Malaysians, the deplorable cowhead protests incited by UMNO in Shah Alam section 23 three days before National Day over the relocation of a Hindu temple was strong evidence of the lack of seriousness and commitment of the Najib administration to the “1Malaysia concept” – which put Malaysia in the dock of world opinion with adverse international media reports scaring off intending investors with the spectre that Malaysia is on the verge of greater racial and religious polarisation and intolerance.
The announcement in the budget of the award of national scholarships to 30 crème de la crème students strictly on merit for educational studies in world renowned universities is not proof of 1Malaysia – but the very reverse, of the discriminatory and divisive nature of Barisan Nasional government policies in the name of NEP when they should be based on meritocracy coupled with socio-economic need and justice.
National scholarships to 30 crème de la crème students for world renowed universities is a paltry and most ridiculous figure 52 years after Merdeka.
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Does 2010 Budget pass as a 1Malaysia Budget?
Posted by Kit in Budget Debate, nation building, Parliament on Friday, 30 October 2009
Or does Najib think that Umno/BN victory in the Bagan Pinang by-election could be used as proof of popular support for his 1Malaysia slogan?
Then, what about Umno/BN defeats in the Bukit Gantang, Bukit Selambau and Permatang Pasir by-elections, if we do not to mention Penanti by-election, where 1Malaysia theme could not ensure victory? Is this to be taken as three by-election defeats as against one victory for Najib’s 1 Malaysia since he became Prime Minister in April?
It is not wise to turn 1Malaysia into a political party issue.
I had publicly called on Najib to officially withdraw the 1Malaysia slogan from the BN Bagan Pinang by-election campaign.
Firstly, what 1Malaysia could the BN talk about when there is even no 1Umno, 1MCA, 1MIC or 1BN?
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Deepavali greetings – triumph of good over evil to ensure unity, equality, justice and harmony among Malaysians regardless of race or religion
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, nation building on Friday, 16 October 2009
Happy Deepavali to Hindu Malaysians and all Malaysians.
Deepavali is celebrated this year in the midst of the great fanfare of Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia slogan – which is in fact an admission of the failure of the 52-year nation building policy to create unity, equality, justice and harmony out of the diverse Malaysian citizenry, regardless of race, religion and culture.
This is the time for serious reflection how to go beyond sloganeering to end the disunity, discrimination and marginalization in Malaysia for the past half-century so that every Malaysian, regardless of race, religion or culture can find common pride as citizens of this country.
Makkal Sakti for the triumph of good over evil to ensure unity, equality, justice and harmony among Malaysians regardless of race, religion or culture.
Are Najib, Muhyiddin and Umno leaders prepared to pledge that they are “Malaysian first, Malay second” in keeping with the 1Malaysia slogan?
Posted by Kit in nation building, UMNO on Thursday, 15 October 2009
The 1Malaysia logo dominated the Umno General Assembly and 1Malaysia is clearly the fad of the day in the speeches of the Umno President, Umno Deputy President and the leaders of Umno Youth, Wanita Umno and Puteri Umno.
But are all the Umno leaders, including the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his deputy, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin really serious and fully committed to the 1Malaysia slogan as the overarching national philosophy in nation-building?
Without having to go into details, the first test of whether Najib, Muhyiddin and the Umno leaders are serious about 1Malaysia policy is whether they are prepared to set the example of being “Malaysian first, Malay second” for everyone to be Malaysian first and Malay, Chinese, Indian, Kadazan or Iban second?
Although the proof of the pudding is in the eating, there is no need to get to the eating stage even.
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Is Malaysia a Racist Country
Posted by Kit in Hussein Hamid, nation building on Thursday, 15 October 2009
| Is Malaysia a racist Country? | |
| YES | 455 (94%) |
| NO | 29 (5%) |
Vote on this poll
Votes so far: 484
Days left to vote: 1
With one day to go the above is the result of the Poll we had recently on steadyaku47. Number of Votes cast: 484. Of this number an overwhelming 94% were adamant that Malaysia is a racist country! Why do they think so?
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When Najib’s proposal for a “multi-racial hostel” could make front-page headline news in mainstream media
Posted by Kit in nation building on Tuesday, 29 September 2009
When Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s proposal for a multiracial hostel to foster better national integration among pupils in secondary schools under the 1Malaysia spirit could make front-page headline news in the mainstream media, it is testimony of how far Malaysian multiracial nation-building had deviated and failed in the past five decades.
As Malaysia is internationally publicized as “Malaysia truly Asia” show-casing multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-religious and multi-lingual unity in diversity, multiracial hostels should have long become an accepted part of national life.
Instead, they seem to have become an increasingly extinct species after over five decades of nationhood to the extent that Najib’s proposal for a multiracial hostel in Kuala Lumpur appeared to be a great brain-wave of his 1Malaysia slogan.
Malaysia has traversed the road from multiracial hostels in the early decades of nationhood, celebrating Malaysia’s diversity of races, languages, cultures, religions, cuisines to increasingly mono-ethnic hostels where tolerance and acceptance of unity in diversity have assumed decreasing importance.
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How to make 1Malaysia motto a meaningful slogan instead of being the butt of ridicule, derision and contempt
Posted by Kit in nation building on Saturday, 19 September 2009
Happy Hari Raya Aidilfiltri to all Muslims in Malaysia.
As the first Hari Raya under new Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, it should be an occasion for Malaysians regardless of faith, race or political beliefs to give real meaning to his 1Malaysia slogan so that it will not be short-lived and the butt of ridicule, derision and contempt like the slogans of previous premiers.
However, Najib’s praise for Utusan Malaysia for being “the voice of the people, especially the Malay community” could not have come at a worse time with a more disastrous consequence, when Utusan Malaysia had been most guilty in fanning racial and religious ill-will and misunderstanding in recent months.
Malaysia’s international competitiveness recently came under a cloud with two adverse global rankings – falling three places from 21st to 24th ranking in the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) 2009-2010 and a drop of two places in the World Bank’s Doing Business 2010: Reforming Through Difficult Times from 21st to 23rd placing.
There can be no meaningful 1Malaysia when Malaysia Day Sept. 16 is regarded as a Sabah and Sarawak event rather than as a national celebration
Posted by Kit in nation building, Sabah, Sarawak on Wednesday, 16 September 2009
For the 46th year today, Malaysia Day is commemorated in national disunity rather than national unity.
This should not be the case as five months ago, when Datuk Seri Najib Razak become the sixth Prime Minister, he had proclaimed the new motto of “1Malaysia. People First. Performance Now”.
Najib had the opportunity to right the wrongs of the past 45 years with the people of Sabah and Sarawak marginalized from the mainstream of national development although it was the support of the people of Sabah and Sarawak in the political tsunami of the March 8, 2008 general elections which had kept the Barisan Nasional Federal Government afloat.
In the general elections last year Barisan Nasional won 140 Parliamentary seats as against the Pakatan Rakyat’s 82, but 54 of the BN parliamentary seats came from Sabah and Sarawak (Sabah 24 and Sarawak 30).
Without these 54 parliamentary seats from Sabah and Sarawak, BN would be reduced to 86 seats out of 222 MPs in Parliament, evicting the BN from Putrajaya into the Opposition and Najib today would have been Parliamentary Opposition Leader instead of Prime Minister.
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From cow-headed to level-headed education
Posted by Kit in Azly Rahman, nation building on Tuesday, 8 September 2009
By Azly Rahman
How must we re-educate those who protested in such a style against the relocation of a Hindu temple? What gross deficiencies in our educational system contributed to the creation of beings that displayed such hatred?
What then must we do to reverse the evolution of hate groups sponsored by those who wish to sustain the dying ideology of ethnic politics?
These are the difficult questions Malaysian children will inherit. In the cow-head protest there were children involved; those tender young minds who will hopefully understand what respect for race, ethnicity, and religion means. Hopefully they will be strong enough to release themselves from the shackles of hatred, after 52 years of Malaysia’s independence.
We must blame the continuing survival of communal politics for the creation of hate-based groups. Because our Independence is an illusion and Malaysia is an imagined community that is thriving on rhetoric and slogans, we have a fragile system of in-breeding of hyper-modernised politics of hate.
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Dream of a sincere merdeka
Posted by Kit in Azly Rahman, nation building on Sunday, 6 September 2009
By Azly Rahman
Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains – Jean Jacques Rousseau
There is a natural aristocracy among men. The grounds of this are virtue and talents – Thomas Jefferson
Malaysia is approaching its 52nd birthday. But it is middle age characterised by bipolarism, schizophrenia and illusions of grandeur. How did we get to this stage? And how do we de-evolve?
In essence, we are a troubled nation, hyper-modernised by half-baked sense of democracy, paying lip service to the idea of a civilised society and insincere in our pledge to create equal opportunity for all.
Consider the latest problematic phrases we are living with: The Perak Fiasco, 1BlackMalaysia, One Too Many By-elections, 100 Arrests, and A Troubled Monarchy. Then there is also the mysterious death of Teoh Beng Hock, the caning of Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, and the Ramadan drama of the cow-head protesters.
These and many other issues are unresolved. The essence of these lies in the erosion of virtue. At all levels of governance, we have lost all sense of spiritual control; our institutions eroded by our addiction to corruption.
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Holy cow! Minister defends protestors!
Posted by Kit in Kee Thuan Chye, nation building, Police, Religion on Sunday, 6 September 2009
By Kee Thuan Chye
WHAT a farce the cow-head incident is turning out to be. The handling of the case so far demonstrates clearly that all that talk about 1Malaysia is mostly cow pie.
Firstly, the police have been slow to act. They concluded their investigations last Tuesday and handed them over to the Attorney-General. Now we have to wait further for the august A-G to decide whether action will be taken. In this regard, one can’t help but be reminded that nothing has yet come out of the V.K. Lingam case – so long after the Royal Commission of Inquiry ruled that there were grounds for the A-G to take action.
Secondly, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein goes out of his way to meet with the protestors, the very people who had committed what is apparently a seditious act by bringing a cow’s head to their protest and spitting at it and kicking it. All because they didn’t want a Hindu temple to be relocated in their area of residence in Shah Alam.
Would Hishammuddin have done the same if it had been Hindus protesting against the relocation of a mosque in their housing estate? Imagine what the reaction of the authorities would have been if that had been the case. Read the rest of this entry »
Arrest and prosecute Hishammuddin for his provocative press conference statement defending the cowhead sacrilege
Posted by Kit in Crime, nation building on Saturday, 5 September 2009
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak yesterday reminded Muslims to avoid condemning or insulting other religions and the followers in their actions, but instead follow true Islamic teachings by respecting other religions.
Najib should first direct this advice and reminder to Umno Ministers and leaders at all levels as they have proved to be the greatest threats to inter-religious goodwill, harmony and understanding particularly in the five months of Najib’s premiership.
To set a good example that the Najib administration does not condone or countenance Umno Ministers or leaders setting the bad example of offending other religions and their followers, the Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein should be arrested and prosecuted for his provocative press conference defending the cowhead sacrilege on 28th August which marred the 52nd National Day celebrations three days later.
The Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has directed independent news portal Malaysiakini to remove the video footages of Hishammuddin’s media conference defending and justifying the cow-head sacrilege for being “provocative” which contain “offensive contents with the intent to annoy any person especially Indians” and liable to offences under Section 211/233 of the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998 with a penalty on conviction to a fine up to RM50,000 or a jail sentence.
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Cows galore!
Posted by Kit in nation building on Saturday, 5 September 2009
by Art Harun
Sept 4
The contents of my stomach flew out of my mouth onto the floor after reading Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein’s apparent defense of the cow-head demonstrators yesterday. Before I had finished wiping it, I was hit by another nausea inducing curve ball in the form of Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir’s statement supporting Hishamuddin’s.
Apparently now an offence should not be prosecuted if such prosecution might cause “further unrest”. Yes folk. It is the fasting month. Quite obviously, to certain Muslims, when food and drink are not consumed, blood circulation would be affected thus preventing the supply of oxygen to the brain. The result is calamitous. And not to mention rambunctiously funny.
Mukhriz must remember that when his father, Tun Mahathir Mohamad charged Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for a cooked-up offence circa 1997-98, 100,000 people came out on the street. What do you call that? Peace and tranquillity?
People resting? Or was that “unrest”? So, please answer this. Since when has an offence not become prosecutable for fear of an unrest? No wonder that guy from Penang who called the Chinese and Indians “pendatang” was not charged. That would have caused unrest too, huh? I think I should speed up my invention of a talk cock eater. Read the rest of this entry »
He looks like KPI Minister, sounds like KPI Minister but is he KPI Minister?
Posted by Kit in Muhyiddin Yassin, Najib Razak, nation building on Tuesday, 1 September 2009
In his first National Day message, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak called on Malaysians to “repair the bridges and tear down the divisive walls” that exist among the races.
Najib blamed “opportunistic people” who had exploited the friction among the people to cause the bridges, which were painstakingly built by the nation’s founding fathers, to become shaky.
Najib has hit the crisis of nation-building in Malaysia on the head, except that he is still in denial as to the “opportunists” who have been most guilty of undermining nation-building efforts – when the culprits are to be found within the Barisan Nasional and not outside.
For instance, will Umno leaders particularly Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy Umno President Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin be prepared to respond to Najib’s National Day call and apologise for erecting divisive walls and damaging bridges resulting in greater national divisions and heightened racial and religious polarization after the March 8 general elections last year and in particular in the five months of Najib premiership with its 1Malaysia slogan?
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