Archive for category nation building
Ring out 2007 “annus horribilis” and bring in 2008 with hope and change, starting with forthcoming general election
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, nation building on Monday, 31 December 2007
2008 New Year Message
Malaysians heave a sigh of relief at the end of 2007, a year which had opened with such great promise as it is to celebrate the 50th Merdeka anniversary of the nation.
I cannot think of a better term to describe 2007 than to borrow from Queen Elizabeth II in one of her most unforgettable annual messages when she said that the year that had just ended was an “annus horribilis”.
For Malaysians, 2007 had been an “annus horribilis” (a horrible year), a year which Malaysians would not look back with undulited pleasure and pride – but with great foreboding!
This is because 2007, the 50th Merdeka anniversary costing over RM100 million of taxpayers’ money in public celebrations, should be the year where Malaysians can look with pride and confidence into the next 50 years, founded on the fulfillment of the many great pledges which Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had made on becoming Prime Minister and for which he was given the unprecedented electoral mandate of over 91 per cent of parliamentary seats in the 2004 general election.
But 2007 has proved to be one of the most divisive and troubled year in the half-a-century of Malaysia’s nationhood – with religious polarization assuming its most serious dimension in dividing Malaysians, compounding an already difficult problem of racial polarization in the nation-building process. Read the rest of this entry »
Herald controversy – Is Abdullah leader of Malaysian moderates protecting middle ground against extremists?
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, nation building, Religion on Wednesday, 26 December 2007
It is a great Christmas letdown and disappointment that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi did not assure Malaysians that he will not allow the middle ground to be intruded and encroached by extremists in Umno or the civil service by striking down unreasonable, arbitrary and unconstitutional restrictions on Herald, the Catholic weekly.
I was expecting Abdullah to put to rest the controversy over the use of ‘Allah’ by Herald in its Bahasa Malaysia section when he attended the Christmas High Tea Reception hosted by the Christian Federation of Malaysia at Bukit Nanas, Kuala Lumpur yesterday, and I dare say that my sense of disappointment was not mine alone but of the entire audience with representatives from diverse religions in the country – Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikkhism and Taoism.
In his speech, Abdullah reminded Malaysians not to allow extremist tendencies to take root and undermine interracial harmony in the country.
He said the moderates should play a role in ensuring that members of the public were not swayed by extremist propaganda which played on people’s emotions by raising sensitive religious and racial issues.
“I’m really concerned when issues involving religion are brought up from time to time and the attendant problems that all of us would need to address.
“If moderates don’t take centre stage, surely extremist elements will occupy it, making us fall for their extremist approach being touted as a religious or national approach.”
Abdullah cannot be more right that the greatest threat to inter-racial and inter-religious understanding, goodwill and harmony stem from religious extremists hiding in religious groups, political parties and the civil service who have been intruding and encroaching into the middle ground, edging out the moderates from the centre stage.
This is the main reason why religious polarization has surfaced in its most serious and dangerous form in the past four years in the 50-year history of the nation, gravely undermining national unity and the nation-building process. Read the rest of this entry »
Man may not solve man-made problems
Posted by Kit in nation building on Wednesday, 26 December 2007
I have taken the liberty to copy from the letter Remove the “national security” straightjacket! by Azly Rahman which appears in this blog, in particular the summary of the nine challenges called “The Way Forward-Vision” spoken about by TDM. That was said to be a culmination of TDM work throughout his tenure. I like to make some comments on some of the nine challenges summarized by Azly Rahman.
1. Establishing a united Malaysian nation with a sense of common and shared destiny
Any nation where the citizens enjoy equal rights would automatically wish for the well beings of the country which would determine their own destiny. Unless the government acts contrary to the equal rights expectation of the citizens, that the nationals have a common and shared destiny is given. However, when the government chooses to implement its divide and rule policies, the nationals would not share a sense of common destiny for the nation. TDM was the main actor in highlighting the differences among different ethnic groups in the country. Whatever intentions he harboured in the name of making his race dominate in political and economic life, he has set the people who benefited from his reign on the path of get-rich quick, and grounded with the mindset of entitlement and supremacy. He would not be able to return the genie into the bottle, however hard he tried, if he was sincere in seeing a united Malaysian nation with a sense of common shared destiny.
Modern science and technological developments make easy changes to mountains and streams, but it is almost impossible to set right human thoughts which have gone haywire. It takes decades to develop cultured human beings who internalize the noble quality of modesty, politeness, righteousness, reasonableness, fair play and justice. These noble values are set aside when morally wrong actions are legalized, for the powerful and connected, and even for beneficiaries of state institutionalized corrupt and unfair practices, in the name of affirmative actions. The belief that moral values could be temporarily suspended to be returned later, to experiment with some social engineering work for leveling playing fields, proved futile. The temporary indulgences turned out to be permanently temporary, where the all powerful emperor TDM was not able to end NEP in 1990. Or did he choose to be politically correct, or worse, pretended that the 30% equity target were yet to be achieved. The lesser ruler PM AAB is simply gutless to examine whether the ASLI’s calculations truly confirm that the targets had already been achieved. He promised to reveal the methodology a year ago. The methodology adopted by EPU only tells half the story, the other half relates to what have and have not been correctly included in the computation of the single most important economic figures, when the results of which should have been acted upon to end the most important obstacle to returning to Malaysia a future where the people share a sense of united and common destiny.
It is the government’s active social engineering experiments which have now made the country deviating from the path where the people automatically share a sense of united and common destiny. Read the rest of this entry »
PM/IGP – heed Nazrin/Musa, respect Constitution and allow peaceful demonstrations
Posted by Kit in Human Rights, nation building on Sunday, 23 December 2007
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, all Cabinet Ministers and the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan should give serious heed to the advice by the Raja Muda of Perak, Raja Dr. Nazrin Shah that “the desire to maintain public order should not be an excuse for never allowing peaceful assemblies” as the holding of peaceful demonstrations to voice their grievances is a constitutionally-enshrined right of Malaysian citizens.
In an interview with New Sunday Times series “VOICES 08”, Raja Nazrin said:
“Freedom of expression through peaceful demonstrations is a right people can reasonably expect to enjoy in a democratic society. This right is enshrined in our Constitution.
“So people are acting within their constitutional rights in wanting to voice their grievances by holding peaceful demonstrations.
“The right to live in peace and harmony in a safe environment is also a right people can reasonably expect to enjoy in any well-run society. The government is responsible for public order.
“The right to demonstrate must always be balanced by the need to maintain public order.”
All Malaysians can accept Raja Nazrin’s formulation of the relationship between public order and the people’s constitutional right to peaceful demonstration as part of the fundamental liberties of Malaysians to freedom of expression. They also agree with Raja Nazrin that striking the balance between public freedom and public order is never an easy thing to do and that it is a judgment the authorities have to make on the available information.
The current controversy over peaceful demonstrations lies in the failure of the authorities concerned to observe the important qualification highlighted by Raja Nazrin when he stressed that “the desire to maintain public order should not be used as an excuse for never allowing peaceful assemblies” – as there is now a blanket ban by the police on all peaceful demonstrations in the country for people to express their grievances! Read the rest of this entry »
Remove the “national security” straightjacket!
Posted by Kit in Azly Rahman, Human Rights, nation building on Sunday, 23 December 2007
by Azly Rahman
“Work with me …. not for me”
— Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who ruled for 22 years, once spoke about the nine challenges called ‘The Way Forward-Vision’, said to be a culmination of his work throughout his tenure.
The document charted the challenges the nation must confront in order for it to develop on par with the advanced nations.
These challenges are summarised as follows:
1. Establishing a united Malaysian nation with a sense of common and shared destiny
2. Creating a psychologically liberated, secure, and developed Malaysian society with faith and confidence in itself, justifiably proud of what it is, of what it has accomplished, robust enough to face all manner of adversity
3. Fostering and developing a mature democratic society, practising a form of mature consensual, community-oriented Malaysian democracy that can be a model for many developing countries
4. Establishing a fully moral and ethical society whose citizens are strong in religious and spiritual values and with the highest ethical standards
5. Establishing a mature, liberal and tolerant society in which Malaysians of all colours and creed are free to practise and profess their customs, cultures and religious beliefs and yet feeling that they belong to one nation
6. Establishing a scientific and progressive society, a society that is innovative and forward-looking, one that is not only a consumer of technology but also a contributor to the scientific and technological civilisation of the future
7. Establishing a fully caring society and caring culture, a social system in which society will come before the self, in which welfare of the people will revolve not around the state or the individual but around a strong and resilient family system
8. Ensuring an economically just society… in which there is a fair and equitable distribution of the wealth of the nation, in which there is full partnership in economic progress
9. Establishing a prosperous society with an economy that is fully competitive, dynamic, robust and resilient
With the Internal Security Act (ISA), how do we then meet these challenges? How is it an antithesis to what a civil society means? Do we still deserve the ISA? Read the rest of this entry »
Somnambulant Governance at work (2) – “Ban” of International Building Bridges Conference 2007 in KL
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, nation building, Religion on Friday, 21 December 2007
On Wednesday, I asked in Parliament whether the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was crafting a new form of governance – somnambulant governance. Oxford Dictionary defines “somnambulism” as “sleepwalking”.
I posed this question when Abdullah’s public response to the proposal by the Malaysian Indian Youth Council (MIYC) for the establishment of a department for Non-Muslim Affairs to handle sensitive issues pertaining to religion resulted in two extraordinary developments:
Firstly, producing three different newspaper headlines the next day – that the government was setting up such a department, to the government studying the proposal and an outright dismissal of the proposal as “not necessary”.
Secondly, his “on-the-run” Cabinet appointments of MCA President Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting as Minister for Buddhist Affairs, MIC President Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu as Minister for Hindu Affairs and President of United Pasokmomogun Murut Organisation (UPKO) as Minister for Christian Affairs – which rate as the most highly-kept secret of the Abdullah administration as it is not only the 26 million Malaysians and the various religious organizations directly involved who are not aware of such Cabinet appointments.
I had congratulated one of the Ministerial trio on Wednesday for his additional Cabinet responsibilities but he was so embarrassed as he did not know how to react to the Prime Minister’s announcement when he knew nothing about it!
I will give another example of Abdullah’s somnambulant governance which is also pertinent to the problem of increasing religious polarization in Malaysia, worst under any Prime Minister in the 50-year history of the nation. Read the rest of this entry »
Quo Vadis Malaysia
Posted by Kit in nation building on Friday, 21 December 2007
by Dr. Chen Man Hin
After 50 years of independence, Malaysia is in identity crisis.
Two main factors:
*Islamic state which casts a pall on inter-communal relationships. The divide became more and more apparent, and there is less mixing of the races.
*Umno rejection of Bangsa Malaysia and the Malay agenda. Bumiputraism became strident, and ketuanan Melayu was flaunted at Umno assembly of 2005.
Umno has subverted the constitution for their own agenda. PM Abdullah and DPM Najib declared Malaysia is not secular but is an Islamic state.
Quo vadis Malaysia?
Religious polarisation most serious in 4 yrs under Abdullah as compared to four previous Prime Ministers
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, nation building, Religion on Wednesday, 19 December 2007
“PM: Religious festivals unite all Malaysians” is the New Straits Times headline today for Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s statement yesterday at an Aidiladha ceremony, where he said:
“Malaysia can pride itself in knowing that regardless of what religious celebration it may be, its ethnic groups will come together as one to honour the event.”
This was very true in the early decades of our nationhood, but it has become less and less true as increasing religious polarization in the country is undermining and even threatening national unity.
In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that religious polarization is most serious in the past four years under Abdullah as Prime Minister as compared to the four former Prime Ministers – Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein Onn and Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.
It is most unfortunate that in recent years, there have been mounting instances of disrespect and insensitivity of those in power and authority for the rights and sensitivities of non-Muslim Malaysians.
The most serious example were the recent triple insensitivities during this year’s Deepavali – the Festival of Light celebrated by Hindus.
Read the rest of this entry »
Record 68 Golds by Malaysian sportsmen and sportswomen in SEA Games – a lesson for all of us
Posted by Kit in nation building, Sports on Tuesday, 18 December 2007
by Dr. Chen Man Hin
Malaysia can stand proud because it has won 68 golds to earn second place among the nations of se asia
The sports men and women had one objective in mind – to win for the honour and glory of Malaysia.
They competed as Malaysians for the country that they love. On the track there was no distinction of bumiputras or non-bumiputras, no ketuanan Melayu or second-class citizens. Because of their unity and common brotherhood they won 68 golds.
Their success holds a lesson for the leaders of our country Malaysia. Their duty is to foster unity and treat all citizens on an equal basis.
In the face of competition in a global world, to earn an honourable place it is vital that there be unity and all citizens should have the status of only one class – MALAYSIANS. Read the rest of this entry »
Who are the opportunists?
Posted by Kit in Hindraf, Indians, nation building on Tuesday, 18 December 2007
by Richard Teo
The Council of Former People’s Representative (Mubarak) President Tan Sri Abu Zahar Ujang described the Hindraf leaders as “opportunists and traitors to their race and country.” He further added that these people were extremists and that they should rightly be detained under the ISA.
Referring to his assertion, I would like the former Mubarak to carefully reflect on past history and see who are the opportunists.
After May 1969, with the introduction of the NEP, the Malay bumiputras were the sole beneficiary of govt policies. However somewhere along the course of implementation the NEP was hijacked by the UMNO elite Malays who only seek to enrich themselves and their cronies.
Based on such factual events how could the former Mubarak President condemned the Hindraf supporters as opportunists?Rightly the real opportunists were the UMNO elite Malays. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia should consider not celebrating Merdeka Day and International New Year
Posted by Kit in Human Rights, Letters, nation building on Thursday, 13 December 2007
by Sagaladoola
I would like to refer to Malaysiakini reports : ( http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/75828 ) ” Human Rights march : 5 lawyers arrested ” and ” PM warns public safety is top priority ” ( http://www5.malaysiakini.com/news/75876 ). In the latter report, the PM apparently warned (according to Malaysiakini) “Public safety takes precedence over public freedom”.
I am not sure how our Prime Minister’s brain works but if Abdullah Ahmad Badawi thinks the International Human Rights Day celebration requires a permit and jeopardise the national safety, I would like to remind the police and him to consider banning the up-and-coming Hari Raya Haji, Christmas, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, Hari Raya Aidiladha and most important of all the 51st Merdeka Day in 2008.
Hearing so many calls from his government and himself on the possibility of using the Internal Security Act, I hope our PM is just joking to Malaysians. After all, from my understanding, less than 10 person coming together without a permit is already a gathering and if police has its way, those assembling can be under detention without trial.
International Human Rights Day is not a protest or having any intention to upset national security. It is an annual celebration to commemorate, to remind us, humans, of the freedom we are supposed to have. Similarly, Merdeka or Independence Day falling on 31st August 2008 is to remind Malaysians on the freedom that we have achieved and to commemorate the effort to gain Independence as a human right. If International Human Rights Day is considered to be unsafe, then perhaps, Merdeka Day should not be celebrated as well. There should be no marching. If 200 people walking on the street with some banners, without parang or guns for the 9th December 2007 celebration is considered not safe, it is in my opinion the 31st August celebration which has more number of people marching could be potentially dangerous to national security. Read the rest of this entry »
Terrorist links – stop demonising Hindraf leaders and two million Indians for speaking up against marginalisation
Posted by Kit in Indians, nation building on Saturday, 8 December 2007
I call on the the Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers, the Inspector-General of Police and the Attorney-General to stop treating Hindraf leaders and ordinary Malaysians who attended the Nov. 25 30,000-strong Hindraf demonstration as “terrorists” just because “somebody” had lodged a police report that Hindraf has contacts with LTTE.
Just because “somebody” had lodged a police report making an accusation against an organization cannot be the basis for any public policy as the government, Inspector-General of Police and the Attorney-General will surely not treat UMNO and Barisan Nasional leaders and members as “terrorist” just because “somebody” has lodged an unsubstantiated police report that they have connections or links with terrorist organizations.
The Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail was the first to raise the alleged Hindraf links with terrorists when he deployed it as the “star” argument at the Shah Alam Sessions Court on Wednesday to oppose the application for bail for the 31 persons charged for the “attempted murder” of a policeman. What was the justification for the Attorney-General leading the attack on Hindraf for its alleged terrorist links?
Yesterday, Gani said his linking Hindraf to the LTTE in his argument at the Shah Alam Sessions Court on Wednesday was based on a police report.
He said: “Somebody lodged a police report that there is ground that these people have been going out to (establish) contact with this LTTE.’
Surely, this is too flimsy a ground for the Attorney-General to found his whole court strategy to virtually regard the 31 ordinary Malaysians as terrorists out to wreck the country and too dangerous to be allowed out on bail pending their trial. Read the rest of this entry »
Criticism of “ethnic cleansing” no excuse for BN disregard of cry of two million Malaysian Indians for end of marginalisation
Posted by Kit in nation building, Religion on Thursday, 6 December 2007
I had met the Prime Minister at the beginning of the new Parliament after the 2004 general election to urge him to support the adoption of the parliamentary committee system, and although three select committees had been formed so far, it is most regrettable that a full committee system where every Ministry will be shadowed by a parliamentary select committee as well as the existence of select committees on specialist subjects have not yet come into being.
For the Parliamentary Select Committee on National Unity for which a six-month extension of time is being sought — it is essential that MPs are capable of subordinating their political, party and self-interest to the larger national interest if the national unity select committee is to make any meaningful contribution to nation building.
What happened in Parliament yesterday in the debate on my motion to cut the salary of Information Minister, Zainuddin Maidin is a case in point. MPs can agree or disagree as to whether Zainuddin had succeeded or failed in his task as Information Minister but when the Minister made irrelevant and baseless charges, accusing me of challenging the dignity of the Rulers and humiliating the Muslims for supporting Hindraf, it was the height of parliamentary and ministerial irresponsibility.
I know this is playing politics, but this is playing dirty and irresponsible politics subverting the higher national interest of promoting national unity in the country.
I had made it clear that I never agreed with the Hindraf accusation about “ethnic cleansing of Indians” or genocide and what I had consistently stood for is that the 30,000-strong Hindraf demonstration on November 25 was “a cry of desperation” by the Indians in Malaysia about their long-standing marginalization which must be addressed by the Cabinet and Parliament.
We can disagree and criticize the Hindraf leaders for making the allegations about ethnic cleansing and genocide, but the government must never lose sight of the central issue of the marginalization of the Malaysian Indians which brought Indians from all over the country to support the Hindraf demonstration, as they did not congregate in Kuala Lumpur on Nov. 25 to support Hindraf on its allegations of ethnic cleansing or genocide but to make their cry for justice to end the marginalization for themselves, their children and children’s children heard loud and clear. Read the rest of this entry »
Let Us Vote this Chief Minister out
Posted by Kit in nation building, Religion on Wednesday, 5 December 2007
This piece by Richard Teo is taken down following Vehir’s post and Jee’s email that the demolition of the Sri Penyachi Amman temple in Tambak Paya, Melaka had taken place some four months ago, and not two days ago.
As all the posts have also been removed, posters concerned are welcome to re-post suitably amended points-of-view on other threads.
Many thanks to Vehir and Jee. Apologies to all for this mistake.
Malaysia’s Identity Crisis
Posted by Kit in Articles, nation building on Monday, 3 December 2007
TIME
Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2007
By Hannah Beech/Kuala Lumpur
Revathi Masoosai should be the perfect embodiment of Malaysia. Her ethnic Indian parents were both born in the ancient port of Malacca in 1957, the very year the colony of Malaya gained independence from the British. Her father was Christian, her mother came from a Hindu family, but they both officially converted to Islam, the religion practiced by Malaysia’s majority Malays. Yet Revathi does not feel welcome in her ethnically and religiously diverse homeland. According to Malaysian law, Muslims can only marry other Muslims. Revathi, who was actually raised in the Hindu faith, had fallen in love with a Hindu man. But because of her parents’ earlier conversion, she was deemed a Muslim and a judge refused to change her religious status. Revathi’s marriage was never recognized by the state, nor was her daughter’s birth. Earlier this year, an Islamic Shari’a court ordered her to spend six months at a Faith Rehabilitation Center, where she had to wear a Muslim headscarf and pray five times a day. “The constitution says there’s freedom of religion in Malaysia, but I have not felt that freedom,” says the 30-year-old homemaker. “How can they force me to believe something I do not believe? What has happened to my country?”
Malaysia commemorated 50 years of independence this past summer, but the celebratory pageantry masked an underlying identity crisis. In many ways, the country is a success story, the very model of a modern Asian nation. Buoyed by oil revenue, capital Kuala Lumpur bristles with skyscrapers and industrial parks, while a massive administrative capital called Putrajaya has risen from what were palm-oil plantations two decades ago. In September, Malaysia’s first astronaut blasted into space, his flight mirroring the nation’s ambitions. Poverty has been reduced from half the population at independence to just 5% today, as an affirmative-action policy created a prosperous Malay middle class that had never before existed. In Asia, only the nations of Singapore, Japan, South Korea and Brunei rank higher than Malaysia in the U.N.’s Human Development Index. Most impressively, while other multiethnic nations like Yugoslavia, Sri Lanka and Rwanda fractured into conflict, Malaysia has largely kept peace between groups that include Muslim Malays (about 50%); Buddhist and Christian Chinese (roughly 25%); Hindu, Sikh and Muslim Indians (less than 10%); and indigenous peoples, who abide by many faiths including animism (around 10%). “Our biggest achievement is that we have not only survived but we have progressed and thrived,” Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told TIME in a written statement in August.
Yet for all these accomplishments, Malaysia is suffering from midlife anxiety. Increasingly, the nation’s diverse ethnicities live in parallel universes, all Malaysians, yes, but seldom coming together as they once did for meals or classroom discussions. Religion, too, has divided the nation, as some Malaysians assert that a conservative strain of Islam is causing a segment of the faith’s worshippers to withdraw from a multicultural society. Malaysia’s economy is being challenged by regional competitors, with many questioning the future of the affirmative-action scheme that has served as the country’s financial bedrock. At the same time, a nation that once prided itself on its robust institutions is finding these foundations eroding. Little wonder, then, that up to a million Malaysians, mostly the white-collar talent needed to keep the economy humming, have simply abandoned the country since independence; by the government’s own estimate, 70,000 Malaysians, the majority ethnic Chinese, have renounced their citizenship over the past two decades, although far more have emigrated without officially giving up their nationality. Many local companies are leaving, too, investing so much offshore that as much money now leaves Malaysia as is attracted to it. “There’s no question we accomplished a lot over the past 50 years,” says Ramon Navaratnam, president of the Malaysia office of Transparency International, the corruption watchdog. “But if we don’t face up to [our] problems, we will not be able to sustain the same level of success over the next 50 years.” Read the rest of this entry »
Hindraf demo – PM should heed “cry of desperation” of Malaysian Indians at marginalisation
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Indians, nation building on Sunday, 2 December 2007
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi flew into a royal rage yesterday at the Hindraf allegation that the Malaysian Government was carrying out “ethnic cleansing” of the Indians in Malaysia.
Abdullah was referring to a Hindraf memorandum to the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown asking for the intervention of the UK government over the “ethnic cleansing” of Indians in Malaysia.
This Hindraf memorandum to Brown was dated 15th November 2007, the same day as the demolition of the Mariaman temple in Padang Jawa, Shah Alam, Selangor.
I did not know about this Hindraf memorandum until I read about it on the blog,
http://rockybru.blogspot.com/, on Monday, 26th November 2007 and I do not agree with such an allegation. I have no doubt that the overwhelming majority of the 30,000 Indians who rallied to the Hindraf demonstration in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, 25th November 2007 were not aware of the Hindraf memorandum to the British Prime Minister and that they would not have agreed with the term.
Abdullah should not just rage over the Hindraf allegation of “ethnic cleansing” but must pay heed to the “cry of desperation” of 30,000 Indians from all over the country at last Sunday’s Hindraf demonstration over the marginalization of the Malaysian Indian community – political, economic, educational, social and cultural.
I recommend the heart-searing email by a Malaysian Indian, Ananthi, who is currently a Rhodes Scholar in Oxford University for reflection by the Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers and all Barisan Nasional leaders for them to understand why law-abiding and peaceful loving Malaysian Indians have rallied in support of the Hindraf demonstration — not over any accusation of “ethnic cleansing of Indians in Malaysia” but to call for an immediate halt to the long-standing marginalization of the Malaysians Indians which have reduced them into a new underclass in the country. Read the rest of this entry »
Are we not Indian enough?
Posted by Kit in Indians, nation building on Sunday, 2 December 2007
Shyam forwarded an email from Ananthi, a Rhodes scholar, now reading for her PhD at Oxford which eloquently articulates the Malaysian Indian dilemma which should be compulsory reading by the Prime Minister and the entire Cabinet as well as all Malaysians:
Dear friends,
I feel so outraged, angry, hurt and impotent seeing the photos of the police’s (government’s) reactions to Sunday’s rally. In Batu Caves for instance, the protesters were literally boxed into the temple grounds and had water canons and tear gas shot at them. It looks totally unprovoked, except that I suppose it contravenes the court order obtained to ban the protest. But the reaction of the police should not have been to do what they did – that was an unprovoked, unjustifiable use of force.
Somewhat paradoxically, I am very grateful that this is finally happening. That the Indians have found their voices. The temple demolitions could have been the best thing to happen for our country and community in terms of seeing a grass roots agitation to topple the clearly illegitimate status hierarchy and power differential in Malaysia. Read the rest of this entry »
Hindraf demo – Indian Parliament in uproar over Nazri’s outburst
Posted by Kit in Foreign, Human Rights, Indians, nation building on Friday, 30 November 2007
Malaysian Ministers must get rid of the “frog in coconut shell” mentality and learn the first basic rule of global society — we must accept and withstand international scrutiny of national policies in the same way Malaysian leaders castigate injustices of other countries like the Palestinian and Iraq issues.
Only yesterday, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi spoke up for the Palestinians and criticized oppressive Israeli policies — and rightly so. Similarly, with the frequent Malaysian government criticisms of United States policy in Iraq.
However, Malaysian leaders cannot demand double-standards in international society where they exercise the right to criticize unfair policies of foreign governments like the hot-button Palestinian and Iraq issues and yet claim the privilege of being spared from international scrutiny by foreign governments and leaders on Malaysian events and developments.
This is why the outburst of the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz on Wednesday telling off the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi to “butt out” and not to interfere in Malaysian internal affairs for the Tamil Nadu leader’s comments on Sunday’s Hindraf demonstration is so ridiculous and out-of-place, as if the Malaysian government is insisting on the unilateral special rights of not being subject to any international scrutiny for its national policies while enjoying the liberty to speak out against international injustices like those affecting the Palestinians and Iraqis. Read the rest of this entry »
Hindraf, Communitarianism and the Made-In-Malaysia Dilemma
Posted by Kit in Farish Noor, Indians, nation building on Thursday, 29 November 2007
Well, well, well… . Now it appears as if the proverbial chickens have come home to roost. Following the less-than-welcomed but to-be-expected reaction from some Indian politicians and political parties in neighbouring India in the wake of the recent demonstration in Kuala Lumpur organised by the Malaysian Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), it would appear as if some of those who walk the corridors of power in Malaysia have gotten a little flustered and hot behind the ears. But are we really surprised by the global reaction that has come in the wake of the Hindraf rally, and should we be surprised if this spins into a regional, if not international issue that brings into the fray representative groups of the Indian global diaspora?
That the reaction of Hindu groups based in India was so fast should not be seen as novel by anyone. After all, similar reactions were seen when the Chinese minority were singled out in the bloody racial pogroms of Indonesia in 1998, when hundreds of Chinese homes and shops in cities like Jakarta were put to the torch by hordes of racist right wing Indonesians looking for a scapegoat to blame for the economic crisis on 1997-98. (The cause of which, we should remember, was the economic mismanagement and corruption of the Suharto regime between 1970 to 1998.) Then, as now, the minority that was persecuted and victimised turned to the global diaspora for help, and surely it came: Millions of Chinese from China to the United States join in a global campaign to defend the Chinese of Indonesia. Though what this did was offer only temporary respite for the victims of the race attacks then. What it really did was divide Indonesian society even further, pitting the Chinese against the indigenous Indonesians, and worse of all underlining the fiction that the Chinese were somehow a community distinct and apart that were ‘alien’ and ‘foreign’ to the norm. Sadly, what the reaction did was to add to the erasure of the long-term presence of the Chinese in the Indonesian archipelago, many of whom had been there for at least five generations and who were as Indonesian as the next person on the street…
Now to turn to what happened in Kuala Lumpur last weekend, we see some disturbing parallels at work: Read the rest of this entry »
Hindraf demo – Cabinet should offer olive branch and end all sabre-rattling
Posted by Kit in Indians, nation building on Tuesday, 27 November 2007
The Barisan Nasional leaders, led by Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, should stop their truculent and confrontational responses to the Sunday 30,000 Hindraf demonstration in Kuala Lumpur, as illustrated by the following:
- Saber-rattling and tough language like newspaper headlines, “Kerajaan tidak gentar — Perhimpunan Hindraf jelas bermotif politik — Najib” (Utusan Malaysia) and “‘WE WON’T BACK DOWN’ — We will meet the challenge — Najib” (New Straits Times);
- warning of dire action by Umno leaders including the use of Internal Security Act; and
- Condemnation by Barisan Nasional MPs like the MP for Jasin Datuk Mohd Said Yusof branding the Hindraf leaders as “kurang ajar” and demanding action to be taken against them.
Instead of threatening all sorts of dire consequences against the Hindraf organizers and supporters, the Cabinet should offer an olive branch to acknowledge the legitimacy of the long-standing grievances of the Indian community at becoming the most marginalized group after 50 years of Merdeka by taking the following measures:
- Unconditional release of all 136 Hindraf supporters arrested during Sunday’s demonstration;
- Withdraw all charges and proceedings against Hindraf organizers, including P. Uthayakumar, P. Waytha Moorthy and V. Ganabatirau.
- Establish a commission of inquiry into the police handling of the Hindraf demonstration on Sunday;
- Support the establishment of a parliamentary select committee on the marginalization of the Indian community which should be given three months to submit its first report by early March next year.
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