Respecting our children’s freedom
Posted by Kit in Human Rights, Religion on Tuesday, 2 July 2013, 10:47 pm
Amar Singh
The Malaysian Insider
July 02, 2013
I want to thank every media or editor that has spoken up against the proposal by our government to introduce a law allowing one parent to change their children’s religion. It shows the courage of that media/editor and expresses the opinion of the majority of Malaysians. This attempt by the government to introduce such a law is a violation of the basic human rights of any individual and shows how little they respect the fundamental freedoms of our children.
The United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) has been available since 1989 and signed by our Malaysian Prime Minister in December 1994. The UNCRC outlines the basic rights that should be accorded to any child. The fact that Malaysia is signatory underlines that the government of Malaysia is committed to uphold these fundamental rights. When countries ratify the Convention, they agree to review their laws relating to children.
Article 3 of the UNCRC clearly states that the best interests of children must be the primary concern in making decisions that may affect children. And that all adults, including the governing body of the country, should do what is best for children. This clearly includes policies and laws.
Article 14 speaks about the freedom of thought, conscience and religion. To quote “Children have the right to think and believe what they want and to practise their religion, as long as they are not stopping other people from enjoying their rights. Parents should help guide their children in these matters. The Convention respects the rights and duties of parents in providing religious and moral guidance to their children. Religious groups around the world have expressed support for the Convention, which indicates that it in no way prevents parents from bringing their children up within a religious tradition. At the same time, the Convention recognises that as children mature and are able to form their own views, some may question certain religious practices or cultural traditions. The Convention supports children’s right to examine their beliefs, but it also states that their right to express their beliefs implies respect for the rights and freedoms of others.” Read the rest of this entry »
Getting us at get lost
Posted by Kit in Elections, Najib Razak, nation building on Tuesday, 2 July 2013, 7:08 pm
– Jahabar Sadiq
The Malaysian Insider
July 02, 2013
The classic cliche from Umno is this – if you don’t agree with us or criticise us, just get lost. Leave the country, now.
And they wonder why they lost the popular vote in Election 2013.
Barisan Nasional’s Kinabatangan MP Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin repeated the line today when telling off AirAsia X chief executive Azran Osman-Rani for criticising Umno newspaper Utusan Malaysia over its racially-slanted articles after the May 5 general elections.
Calling Azran “Melayu Biadap” while debating the royal address in Parliament this morning, Bung Mokhtar said Azran should move if he was not happy in Malaysia.
The same line was said by Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in May when saying those unhappy with the GE13 results can also leave the country.
Is that really a solution when the Najib administration specifically set up the Talent Corporation to bring back Malaysians who can push the country to a high-income nation by 2020? Read the rest of this entry »
Fictitious tale of DAP-funded “Red Bean Army” of 3,000 cybertroopers being kept alive testimony of power and influence of vested interests who want RM350 million allocation whether from UMNO or public funds to pay UMNO/BN cybertroopers for next five years
I am tickled no end by news report today that the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Shahidan Kassim would raise in the Cabinet on Friday the proposal for a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the allegation that DAP funded the “Red Bean Army” cybertroopers during the 13GE to demonise UMNO/BN leaders and supporters.
Shahidan revealed this at a media conference at the Parliament lobby after receiving a memorandum from 130 Malay-Muslim NGOs on the fictitious DAP-funded “Red Bean Army”, which had purportedly 300 to 3,000 cybertroopers with a budget of RM100 million to RM1 billion in the past six years to demonise and character-assassinate UMNO/BN leaders on the cyberspace, and which is credited as a major cause for the defeat of UMNO/BN in the social media war and their 13GE setbacks.
I do not believe that any UMNO/BN leader of minimum intelligence would believe in the tall tale of the DAP-funded “Red Bean Army” of 3,000 cybertroopers with a budget ranging from RM100 million to RM1 billion.
It is now more evident than ever that the so-called DAP-funded “Red Bean Army” is a concoction of a well-funded UMNO/BN conspiracy to demonise and destroy the DAP (the DDD Brigade) which is controlled from the inner sanctum of the 13GE Umno/BN “War Room”, and the ability to keep alive the fictitious tale of the DAP-funded “Red Bean Army” is testimony of the power and influence of vested interests who want RM350 million allocation whether from UMNO or public funds to pay for UMNO/BN cybertroopers for the next five years. Read the rest of this entry »
Democracy is dead in M’sia
Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
Jul 1, 2013
If Umno Baru have nothing to fear and the Election Commission (EC) claims that it is independent, why were they afraid to use indelible ink in previous elections?
Both Umno Baru and the EC want to bury this indelible ink story quickly. Don’t let them. The use of the indelible ink is the single, most important factor that would have ensured the defeat of Umno Baru in the polls. Effective indelible ink will prevent people from voting multiple times.
Both the EC and Umno Baru have lied; if they claim to be fair and to have done nothing wrong, they should have a re-run of the election. Who has the RM7.1 million? Did we buy some of the most expensive food colouring in the world?
Gerrymandering and the other tricks which Umno Baru and the EC employ to cheat are effective up to a point, but with indelible ink, the police, the army, the illegal immigrants, the Umno Baru agents and the pseudo foreigners holding Malaysian ICs will not be able to cast their votes several times and so ensure a win for BN. Read the rest of this entry »
How Can We Have Faith in the IGP?
Posted by Kit in Kee Thuan Chye, Police on Monday, 1 July 2013, 6:20 pm
By Kee Thuan Chye
July 1, 2013
In street parlance, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) is in deep shit.
Khalid Abu Bakar has been singled out by the judge who gave his verdict on the civil suit brought by A. Kugan’s family against him, the police force and the Government as having not told the truth about how Kugan died while in police custody four years ago.
Khalid was then Selangor police chief. In his first statement to the media at the time, he said Kugan collapsed and died after drinking water. In a subsequent statement, he said Kugan died of water in the lungs.
When an independent post-mortem initiated by human rights lawyer N. Surendran found that Kugan had suffered 45 external injuries and a wide range of internal injuries due to severe beatings, leading to his death from acute renal failure, Khalid did not clarify why its findings contradicted glaringly what he had said to the media.
Senior federal counsel Azizan Md Arshad, in the civil suit hearing, agreed with the judge that Khalid should have held a press conference to clarify the matter. “Only God knows (why this was not done),” Azizan is reported to have also said.
Indeed. There is a world of difference between dying of injuries sustained from being beaten and dying of water in the lungs. Read the rest of this entry »
For first time two months, Muhyiddin is talking like DPM for all Malaysians – but for how long will it last?
Posted by Kit in Elections, Muhyiddin Yassin on Monday, 1 July 2013, 4:03 pm
For the first time in two months after the 13th General Elections on May 5, 2013, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is talking like the Deputy Prime Minister for all Malaysians, but for how long can this last before he reverts to be DPM for only 47% of Malaysians who voted for the Barisan Nasional in the general elections?
On Saturday night, Muhyiddin urged Barisan Nasional to address the needs of the urban voters and the younger generation as they had conveyed “their message” through the the 13GE, and it was up to BN to win their trust before the next general election.
He asked: “We need to find out why many urban voters did not vote for us. Is it because we had failed to fulfil their needs?”
Speaking at a Federal Territories BN thanksgiving and appreciation ceremony, Muhyiddin said based on feedback, the issues in urban areas had affected various races and these needed prompt action.
“Their message we conveyed to us through their vote. We need to pay attention to solving these matters.” Read the rest of this entry »
Getting serious on national reconciliation
Posted by Kit in Elections, Najib Razak, nation building on Sunday, 30 June 2013, 12:15 pm
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 »
Cabinet should withdraw Section 107(b) of Administration of Religion of Islam (Federal Territories) Bill 2013 to give time for Malaysians to achieve national consensus on conversion of minor children to Islam in keeping with the Constitution and to promote family integrity, freedom of religion and national harmony
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Parliament, Religion on Sunday, 30 June 2013, 8:22 am
The Cabinet should withdraw Section 107(b) of the Administration of Religion of Islam (Federal Territories) Bill 2013 to give time for Malaysians to achieve national consensus on conversion of minor children to Islam in keeping with the constitutional scheme contained in Article 12(4) of the Federal Constitution, read with Article 160 and the Eleventh Schedule, and to promote family integrity, freedom of religion and national harmony.
Former Cabinet Minister, United Pasok Momogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) head Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said yesterday that the provision is a contradiction to the 1Malaysia concept of acceptance, inclusiveness and moderation, suggesting a full discussion by Barisan Nasional on this issue and related religious issues before proceeding with the provision in Parliament.
Dompok said that a few months ago when he was still in the Cabinet, he had asked for the withdrawal of a paper on the bill in Cabinet as he felt that an earlier Cabinet decision on the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 should be implemented instead.
Section 107(b) of the 64-page 116-section Administration of Religion of Islam (Federal Territories) Bill 2013 provides that the consent of one parent alone is sufficient for the conversion of minor children to Islam, which is not only contrary to the Constitution but contravenes the Cabinet decision announced on April 23, 2009 that a single parent cannot convert a minor. Read the rest of this entry »
Dompok says he had told Cabinet to repeal religious conversion bill
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Parliament, Religion on Sunday, 30 June 2013, 12:17 am
By Yiswaree Palansamy
The Malaysian Insider
JUN 29, 2013
A leader of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition expressed disappointment today with the Cabinet for tabling a controversial bill on unilateral conversion involving children, which he said went against the 1Malaysia concept.
United Pasok Momogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) head Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said the intention to table the bill is a contradiction to the 1Malaysia concept of acceptance, inclusiveness and moderation.
“I am surprised and disappointed that this bill was approved by Cabinet for tabling at Parliament,” he said in a statement to the media today.
Dompok said that a few months ago, he asked for the withdrawal of a paper on the bill in Cabinet as he felt that an earlier Cabinet decision on the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 should be implemented instead. Read the rest of this entry »
The King’s speech and mob judgment
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Parliament, UMNO on Saturday, 29 June 2013, 2:53 pm
– Sakmongkol
Malaysiakini
June 29, 2013
A non-issue has become a contentious point by some BN MPs. Debates and opposing views on the King’s Speech are to be treated and judged the same as the slurs made against the King outside parliament – as rebellion against the King. What is happening here?
The standards of mob or crowd judgement –hysterical, unreasonable and clueless are being adopted by mob leaders inside parliament.
The leaders are easily identified- they shout the loudest in parliament and appoint themselves as leaders and spokesmen for the mob outside.
Since Independence, Royal Addresses have always been followed up by adversarial debates.
That has been the practice of parliamentary democracy.
We come to the House to debate on issues – the agenda for ensuing debates being set down by the Royal Addresses. Read the rest of this entry »
Pakatan Rakyat governments must never commit undemocratic vengeance or vindictiveness like Jonker Walk outrage in Malacca which is nothing but national retaliation
Posted by Kit in Elections, Najib Razak, Pakatan Rakyat, UMNO on Saturday, 29 June 2013, 1:21 pm
The Jonker Walk outrage in Malacca, where the Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Idris Haron is seeking to close down the Jonker Walk night market by some 300 traders on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, by opening up the area to traffic, is among the worst examples of political vindictiveness and retaliation by the Barisan Nasional after the 13th general election.
The claim that the Jonker Walk market is among the causes of a four-hour traffic snarl that stretches up to the Ayer Kerol toll plaza is utterly baseless.
It can probably serve three petty objectives – to take vengeance against the people of Malacca for not supporting the Barisan Nasional in the 13th general election, continuation of the Chinese-bashing indulged by chauvinist UMNO elements like the irresponsible Utusan Malaysia’s “Apa Lagi Cina Mahu” rhetoric, and to make Idris Harun an instant hero and top vote-getter in the UMNO party elections at the end of the year. Read the rest of this entry »
Going bonkers over Jonker Walk
P Gunasegaram
Malaysiakini
Jun 28, 2013
QUESTION TIME The closing down of the Jonker Walk night market in Malacca’s Chinatown is yet another reflection and manifestation of the hard stand that some people within Umno are taking against the so-called ‘Chinese tsunami’ in the last general election.
While common sense may have prevailed to stop this totally short-sighted move by the new chief minister of Malacca, who is now vigorously backpedalling after his earlier outbursts and his highly irrational justification of the closure, that something like this can happen is a major cause for concern.
Various quarters – and especially Umno-owned newspaper Utusan Malaysia – have systematically attempted to fan Malay hatred against the Chinese by perpetrating half-truths, portraying the swing of Chinese votes away from BN as a plot by the community to take over political power.
Although such an assertion cannot be true simply because Chinese voters only form some 28 percent of the total, and the opposition which also has Malay-based parties such as PKR and PAS for whom the Chinese voted, no major Umno leader has come out to openly condemn such blatantly racist and possibly seditious remarks aimed at inciting racial tensions. Read the rest of this entry »
Will Najib act against Home Minister and IGP? Malaysia hit by a second national haze emergency of accountability, integrity and good governance revolving around two top security officials, IGP and Home Minister
Even before the haze from the Riau and Sumatra peat fires, which have caused state of emergency to be declared and thousands of schools to be closed in various states, have been fully resolved, Malaysia has been hit by a new haze emergency – the haze of accountability, integrity and good governance revolving around two top security officials, the Inspector-General of Police and the Home Minister.
Who would have thought that in matter of 48 hours, it was possible to reduce to smithereens the credibility and authority of the country’s two topmost security officials, the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar and the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
On Wednesday, Kuala Lumpur High Court judge, Justice Datuk V.T. Singham (who turned 65 today and went on optional retirement a year before his term is up), found Khalid who was Selangor police chief at the time responsible in the death of suspected car thief A Kugan during police custody from grievous injuries at the Taipan police station on Jan 20, 2009.
In a landmark ruling which saw the family of Kugan winning RM801,700 in damages, Justice Singham found the police and the Government liable for Kugan’s death and said Khalid was liable for misfeasance of public office.
Read the rest of this entry »
Conscientious Reconciliation
Posted by Kit in nation building, Poem on Friday, 28 June 2013, 2:19 pm
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 »
The Resolutions that MCA Needs to Debate On
Koon Yew Yin
28th June 2013
Just before the elections, I predicted that the curtain was coming down on the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and warned of its demise as a force in Malaysian politics.
The elections showed that my prediction was right. The party suffered a stunning loss of support and won a dismal seven parliamentary and 11 state assembly seats. In numerical terms, the party has only 3 per cent of total parliamentarians and 2 per cent of total state assemblymen in the country’s Dewan Rakyat and state assemblies. Read the rest of this entry »
MCA with Nowhere to Go
by Kee Thuan Chye
24th June 2013
Post-GE13 (13th general election), the MCA is looking more lost than ever before. It is like the partygoer who is all dressed up with nowhere to go. Except that in its case, its dress is somewhat tattered and its face rather bruised after the beating it took at the polls. From the 15 parliamentary seats it held prior to GE13, it now has only seven – and for this poor showing, it has had to heed the call of its president, Chua Soi Lek, to refrain from taking positions in government, including the Cabinet.
Way before GE13, Chua had taken the ill-advised stand that if the MCA did not get enough voter support, it would play no part in government. He had expected then that the Chinese community the party claims to represent would largely abandon it, and in order to win them back sought to make them fear that a government without MCA representation would be disastrous.
Too bad for him and the party, the strategy didn’t work. Simply because fear-mongering and threats don’t go down well with Malaysian voters any more, especially if they can think for themselves and opt to do the right thing. Besides, the Chinese already knew that MCA participation in the government was little more than endorsing whatever big brother Umno decided, rather than fighting for the community. So they dealt the MCA its biggest blow.
Now, because of Chua’s hubris, all and sundry among the MCA leaders have to abide by his foolish stand. And, naturally, this is bound to cause disgruntlement among its ranks. And likely mutiny. Read the rest of this entry »
DAP: Umno interests milking ‘Red Bean Army’ for profit
Posted by Kit in Parliament, UMNO on Thursday, 27 June 2013, 6:20 pm
By Hazlan Zakaria | 1:37PM Jun 27, 2013
Malaysiakini
PARLIAMENT DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang today accused “vested interests” in Umno of creating the Red Bean Army story as a ploy to seek funding, supposedly for its own cyberwarriors.
More likely, he said, the funds would be destined for private pockets.
“With regard to the Red Bean Army allegations that the DAP employs thousands of cybertroopers, they are all not true.
“DAP has never spent a single sen nor funded any Red Bean Army,” Lim (right) reiterated while debating the royal address in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He claimed there are reports that some in Umno were asking for RM250 million to fight the Red Bean Army.
“Now I know why the rumour was started by those who spread the slander as a vested interest. It is not to fight the Red Bean Army, but to enrich themselves,” Lim said.
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, 4:54 pm
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 »
National Reconciliation Requires Realisation, Non-Retaliation and Reforms
Posted by Kit in DAP, Elections, Pakatan Rakyat on Thursday, 27 June 2013, 4:33 pm
Shortly after the results of the 13th general election were announced, Prime Minister Najib promised to undertake a national reconciliation program. While the intention of that announcement may have been good, the actions and words of Prime Minister Najib and some of his cabinet ministers and Barisan Nasional leaders have been anything by reconciliatory. In fact, what we saw and what we continue to see are troubling signs that the desire is not to have national reconciliation but to have national retaliation.
This comes from a misguided and mistaken view that it was the ‘Chinese Tsunami’ that caused the BN to lose an additional 7 parliament seats and to fail to win back Selangor and Penang while in fact it was a ‘Malaysian tsunami’ that saw the opposition representation strengthened at the federal and state levels. Without this realisation, without a firm commitment towards non-retaliation and to undertake extensive reforms, Prime Minister Najib’s national reconciliation plan has died before it has even taken off.
It was not a ‘Chinese Tsunami’ that allowed Kelantan to be retained by Pakatan Rakyat. It was not a ‘Chinese Tsunami’ that almost saw Pakatan take over the state government of Terengganu where 96% of all voters are Malay. It was not a ‘Chinese Tsunami’ that allowed Pakatan to capture the 88% Malay seat of Kuala Terengganu, the 98% Malay seat of Kuala Nerus, the 96% Malay seat of Dungun, the 64% Malay seat of Temerloh, the 61% Malay seat of Alor Setar, the 57% Malay seat of Sepang and the 66% Sabah Bumiputera seat of Penampang. It was not a ‘Chinese Tsunami’ that saw PAS increase its state seats in Selangor from 8 to 17, all of them in Malay majority areas.
It was a ‘Malaysian Tsunami’ which saw all three Pakatan parties increase their share of vote in Peninsular Malaysia. It was a ‘Malaysian Tsunami’ which allowed Pakatan to win 713,000 more votes than Barisan Nasional in Peninsular Malaysia. It was a ‘Malaysian Tsunami’ which allowed Pakatan Rakyat to win 51% of popular vote in Malaysia thereby making the BN a minority supported government. It was a ‘Malaysian Tsunami’ which saw BN’s vote share in Perlis – a 85% Malay state – fall by almost 5%. It was a ‘Malaysian Tsunami’ which saw BN’s vote share in Pahang – a 70% Malay state – fall by 4.3%. It was a ‘Malaysian tsunami’ which saw BN’s vote share in Sabah – a 80% Sabah Bumiputera state – fall by almost 7%. It was a ‘Malaysian tsunami’ which saw BN’s vote share in Johor – a 53% Malay, 39% Chinese and 7% Indian state – fall by more than 10%. Read the rest of this entry »
How do we proceed from here?
– The Malaysian Insider
Jun 27, 2013
If Malaysians are to have respect for the country’s institutions, they must have respect for the men and women who staff these institutions. The minute we harbour doubts about the character and integrity of an individual leading an organisation, it only stands to reason that our view of that organisation will be down in the dumps as well.
This premise holds true for the police and the Election Commission.
Yesterday the standing of Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar’s took a big hit. He was accused by Justice Datuk VT Singham of malfeasance in the death in police custody of A. Kugan.
He was the Selangor Chief Police when there was a cover-up to hide the fact that police personnel beat the suspect to death. It is no wonder that there are calls for his resignation.
We should expect nothing less than integrity, honesty and a great respect for the rule of law from any policeman. These are minimum standards. How much more should we expect from the IGP? Read the rest of this entry »
