In praise of secularism
Posted by Kit in nation building on Monday, 7 February 2011, 4:26 pm
By AB Sulaiman
In my earlier but one commentary, I stated that the Malay problem is the root cause of the nation’s problems. Soon after it was published on Jan 6, a dear friend and former office colleague sent me a note.
Ali (not his real name) agreed with my observation but disagreed strongly with my suggestion that one of the ways of solving ‘the Malay problem’ would be to secularise the Malay mind. He seemed to be saying, “Yes I agree with all your observations so long as you don’t ask the Malay to secularise his thinking”.
His reaction was all too familiar, for secularism is considered a dirty word, amounting to blasphemy and apostasy, to the Malay community – a major sin in orthodox Malay reckoning.
But Ali, and those who think like and agree with him, can be no more wrong. Here’s why:
Read the rest of this entry »
Petition to reform history education: act now
By CPI
We urge CPI readers and others to sign this important petition by a courageous parent. The petition calls on the authorities to act immediately to address the bias and shortcomings plaguing the Malaysian history syllabus and textbooks.
Our younger generation deserve a broad, impartial and fair history in their education. They do not deserve narrowly blinkered history textbooks and a syllabus that are bent on propagandizing parochial ethno-nationalist and religiously biased perspectives and knowledge.
All parents and taxpayers in the country should be concerned with the current situation of history education which is providing our children with selective and biased views and knowledge that can only further polarize and divide the communities and nation rather than serve to unify us on the basis of a fair and accurate representation of our past and that of all civilizations.
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THE PETITION Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia in the Era of Globalization #52
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, globalisation on Monday, 7 February 2011, 10:38 am
Chapter 7: Enhancing Human Capital
People are the real wealth of nations.
—UNDP Human Development Report 2001
One surprising observation following the American stock market meltdown of October 1987 was that there was very little change in the behavior of American consumers. The Dow Jones Index may have dropped by over 40 percent but stockbrokers and their clients did not jump off the skyscrapers on Wall Street. Citizens did not hoard food or withdraw their savings as they would when faced with major uncertainties. Nor did they withhold spending in anticipation of tough times. To be sure the sales of luxury cars and yachts were dampened, but by and large there were minimal changes in the economic behavior of Americans.
Citizens’ reactions in Malaysia to the much more severe economic crisis of 1997 were also similar to the Americans’. Both were in marked contrast in nearby Indonesia, where the nation was nearly ripped apart because of the economic crisis.
Read the rest of this entry »
What Mubarak must do before he resigns
By Hossam Bahgat and Soha Abdelaty
Washington Post
Saturday, February 5, 2011
CAIRO
As Egyptian citizens and human rights defenders, we have been on the streets here, including in Tahrir Square, since Jan. 25 to demand dignity and freedom for all Egyptians. There is nothing we want more than an immediate end to the Mubarak era, which has been marred by repression, abuse and injustice. We are heartened by the international community’s shift from demanding “restraint” and “responsiveness” to echoing our call for Hosni Mubarak to step down and for an immediate transition toward democracy.
But for a real transition to democracy to begin, Mubarak must not resign until he has signed decrees that, under Egypt’s constitution, only a president can issue. This is not simply a legal technicality; it is, as Nathan Brown recently blogged for ForeignPolicy.com, the only way out of our nation’s political crisis. Read the rest of this entry »
Guan Eng blames Umno for ‘misleading booklet’
Posted by Kit in Lim Guan Eng, Media, Penang Government, UMNO on Saturday, 5 February 2011, 3:51 pm
By Adib Zalkapli
The Malaysian Insider
February 05, 2011
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 5 — Lim Guan Eng denied today that his Penang administration was behind a tourism booklet which Umno claimed has challenged the early existence of the Malays in the island.
The Penang chief minister also demanded that the Pulau Betong assemblyman Muhammad Farid Saad to apologise within a week for blaming the state government had distributed the “My Balik Pulau” booklet.
“To make matter worse, the Pulau Betong assemblyman and Utusan Malaysia through its reports have attacked the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state government accusing us of publishing material containing historically misleading facts and insulting the Malays when it was Umno and the federal government that should be made responsible,” said Lim in a statement.
In an Utusan Malaysia’s report on February 1, Farid reportedly accused the Penang state government of twisting historical facts in an attempt to mislead the younger generation.
The Malay daily said that the booklet was published by the Penang Arts Education Society and sponsored by the Penang Education Council, which Utusan Malaysia claimed to be an advisory body for the DAP’s state government.
On February 3, the Umno-owned daily carried another report calling the My Balik Pulau booklet as dangerous.
The report quoted Penang campus of Malaysian teachers institute alumni president Abdul Said Hussain who claimed that the booklet was aimed at convincing the Chinese that their ancestors were the first to settle in Balik Pulau and not the Malays.
Lim revealed today that among the sponsors for the tourism booklet were Farid’s resource centre and other Balik Pulau Umno leaders. Read the rest of this entry »
Withdraw sedition charge against Shuhaimi – first step to demonstrate Najib can learn from the lesson of Egyptian crisis
Posted by Kit in Court, Egypt, Najib Razak on Saturday, 5 February 2011, 3:38 pm
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has assured Malaysians that his administration will always put the interests of the people first, saying that the events of Egypt are a lesson for all.
He said in a democratic system “we must give priority to the people” who are empowered through globalization and ICT (information and communication technology).
Najib should show that his administration is capable of learning from the lesson of the Egyptian crisis by winding down and ending political repression in the country, starting with the withdrawal of the sedition charge against Selangor PKR Assemblyman for Sri Muda Shuhaimi Shafie, who is slated to be charged in the Shah Alam Sessions Court on Monday. Read the rest of this entry »
Pakatan wants Najib’s reply to Dr M’s Tanah Melayu remarks
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Mahathir, Najib Razak, nation building on Friday, 4 February 2011, 2:13 pm
By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal
The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 4 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) lawmakers have demanded that Datuk Seri Najib Razak respond to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s latest remarks that Malaysia belongs to the Malays and other races are expected to respect Malay sovereignity.
They want the prime minister to state his stand and views on the matter, and whether he subscribes to Dr Mahathir’s views or feels otherwise.
Opposition leaders said Dr Mahathir’s statement was a direct contradiction to Najib’s 1 Malaysia concept of equality. Read the rest of this entry »
Civil war in Egypt? Hosni’s men, foes fight for every Cairo square
Indian Express
Feb 4, 2011
Agencies
Menacing gangs backing President Hosni Mubarak attacked journalists and human rights activists on Thursday in an ugly turn in Egypt’s crisis as government opponents pushed supporters out of Cairo’s main square in the second day of battles. Organisers called for protesters trying to topple the regime to fill every square in the huge capital on Friday.
The new vice president, widely considered the first successor Mubarak has ever designated, fuelled anti-foreign sentiment by going on state television and blaming outsiders for fomenting unrest. The government has accused media outlets of being sympathetic to protesters who want the president to quit now rather than serve out his term, as he has vowed to do.
The Obama administration, meanwhile, was in talks with top Egyptian officials about the possibility of Mubarak immediately resigning and the formation of an interim government that could prepare the country for free and fair elections later this year, US officials said Thursday. The talks were first reported by The New York Times.
The creation of a military-backed caretaker government in Egypt is one of several ideas being discussed as anti-Mubarak protests escalate in the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive diplomatic talks that are continuing. Read the rest of this entry »
Tahrir Square protests: ‘For everyone here, there’s no turning back
‘Booker prize-nominated author of The Map of Love says Egypt’s anti-government protesters are proud of what they have done
by Ahdaf Soueif, Tahrir Square
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 1 February 2011
A great cry goes up from the square: “Irhal! Irhal!” (Leave! Leave!) Everybody is looking in the same direction. You follow their gaze to see a long banner unfurling, falling gracefully from the sixth-floor balcony of an art deco building. We read: “Do us a favour: leave!” Holding it from the balcony is a young woman with big hair. She is jumping up and down and holding up her hand in a victory salute. The crowd salute back: “Irhal! Irhal!”
Four generations, more than a million people (according to the army count at 2pm) are here. They are all doing what they have not been able to do for decades; each and every one is having their say in their own way and insisting on being counted. Their dominant demand, of course, is for Mubarak to step down.
In the regime’s response to this people’s revolution they have displayed the same brutality, dullness, dishonesty and predictability that have characterised their 30-year rule. They have shot and gassed their citizens, lied to them and about them, threatened them with F16s, tried to foist a “new” cabinet on them – everything except the decent thing: go. Read the rest of this entry »
Egypt protesters react angrily to Mubarak’s televised address
‘How dare he talk to us like children?’ say demonstrators. ‘If he’s here until September then so are we’
by Jack Shenker and Peter Beaumont in Cairo, and Harriet Sherwood in Alexandria
The Guardian, Wednesday 2 February 2011
The crowd had rigged up a huge screen to show al-Jazeera. Mubarak’s speech was broadcast live. As he announced that he would not be standing for another term, the rally exploded in anger.
The screen was pelted with bottles and the cry “Irhal, irhal” went up repeatedly: “Leave, leave”. It was taken up by the hundred thousand people who thronged Tahrir Square. At one point demonstrators held up their shoes to the screen – an insulting gesture in Arab culture.
None of them were appeased by Mubarak’s announcement. If anything, they were emboldened to step up their protests and to push their demands further. Many were saying that not only must Mubarak leave immediately but that the whole of his National Democratic party regime had to go and should be put on trial.
“If he’s here until September then so are we,” said Amr Gharbeia, an activist who is camping out in the square.
“Perhaps this would have been enough to appease people a few days ago but it’s much too late now. He has to leave and he has to leave today,” added Ibraheem Kabeel, a 26-year-old physician.
“This has only made us angrier. He must leave today. He can’t wait until September. Mubarak’s plane is ready,” said Ahmed Defouki, a 30 year old pharmacist. “Everybody here has different opinions politically but on this issue we are united: Mubarak leaves today.”
A new energy infused the crowds. People seemed more excited, sensing that they could bring Mubarak down. Another protester added: “This is the Tunisian scenario, where Ben Ali promised to stand down eventually but was quickly removed.” Read the rest of this entry »
32% Chinese voter support for BN in Tenang – PR should move on to get support from all Malaysians for political change
Posted by Kit in Election, MCA, Pakatan Rakyat on Wednesday, 2 February 2011, 2:20 pm
MCA President Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek, who previously claimed that Barisan Nasional had secured 45% Chinese voter support in the Tenang by-election, has now upped the claim to 50%, quoting as authority former MCA Minister, Tan Sri Dr. Fong Chan Onn. (Guang Ming Daily)
However, the first professional analysis of the voter trend in the Tenang by-election has given a completely different picture, showing that I had erred on the conservative side when I estimated that Chinese voter support for the Pas/Pakatan Rakyat candidate was in the region of 65% when it was probably closer to 68%.
According to the analysis “Soi Lek wrong on Chinese support”by psephologist Ong Kian Ming, writing today in Malaysiakini, Barisan Nasional’s Chinese votes in the by-election on Sunday fell by 3% to 32% from 35% in the 2008 general election, while BN increased its Malay votes from 80% in 2008 to 86% in the by-election and increased its Indian votes from 74% in 2008 to 86% – based on Chinese, Malay and Indian voter turnout rates of 55%, 79% and 50% respectively.
PR should move on from Tenang to get support from all Malaysians for political change although MCA leaders are now claiming BN secured 50% Chinese voter support despite professional analysis that BN Chinese support had fallen to 32% in the by-election.
If PR is to succeed in its campaign to effect political changes, it is the responsibility of all the three component parties to ensure that we can continue to get increasing support from all the communities for the PR common policy programme for justice, freedom, democracy and change – whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans, Ibans or Orang Asli. Read the rest of this entry »
Loyalty to King and country – or to BN?
Posted by Kit in Education, Elections, nation building, public service on Wednesday, 2 February 2011, 11:29 am
By P Ramakrishnan
All citizens owe their loyalty to king and country – that includes civil servants. Civil servants are expected to serve the government of the day faithfully, irrespective of whichever party that forms the government.
They shouldn’t align themselves to any political party whether it is the ruling parties or the opposition parties. They should remain above politics and stay faithful to their vocation.
Their dedication should be to their profession and their commitment to serve and discharge their duties should not be wanting in any way.
This is how they preserve their integrity and safeguard their professionalism.
However this simple thing was not understood by the Johor State Director of Education, Markom Giran. He despicably attempted to force teachers to play a partisan political role. He was trying to corrupt the civil service. Read the rest of this entry »
Soi Lek wrong on Chinese support
Ong Kian Ming | Feb 2, 11
Malaysiakini
ANALYSIS
Right off the bat, I’d like to state that the Tenang by-election result, including who voted for whom and at what percentage, is far less important than the property damage and hardship experienced by the voters in that constituency and in other parts of Johor as a result of the devastating floods.
Having said that, I still have the responsibility of analysing the by-election results. I had earlier predicted that the BN would win the by-election with a majority of 3,200, a 700-vote increase to the majority it got at the 2008 general elections.
The turnout assumption among the Malay, Chinese and Indian voters were 77%, 71% and 58% respectively and the support for the BN by ethnic group were 85%, 35% and 80%.
The eventual majority was 3,700 with the BN winning 70% of the popular vote on a lower than expected turnout of 67%.
One of the points of contention with regard to the election results has been whether or not the BN’s share of the Chinese vote has increased or decreased.
The DAP has said that Pakatan Rakyat’s share of the Chinese vote has increased to 70% based on the results in the 96% Chinese-majority Bandar Labis Tengah polling station. MCA has said that the BN’s share of the Chinese vote has increased to 45% based on the fact that the BN won three out of the four Chinese-majority polling stations.
At the same time, there is broad agreement that the Malay and Indian vote did indeed swing back to the BN, which explains the 1,200 increase in BN’s winning majority.
Is the DAP or the MCA right? Does it even matter? Read the rest of this entry »
Spammed by the Prime Minister!
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Kee Thuan Chye, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 1 February 2011, 11:55 pm
By Kee Thuan Chye
Malaysian Digest
Tuesday, 01 February 2011
NO less than the Prime Minister has just spammed me! In an e-mail wishing me Happy Chinese New Year. I’m not pleased. In fact, when I got the e-mail, I freaked out. How did he get my address? I take strong umbrage against whoever gave it to him. It is an invasion of my privacy.
Najib Razak (or rather, his assistants) reportedly sent out that e-mail to 1.5 million people. The Star reported that many were happy to get it – in a report quoting only three people. And two of them had Muslim-sounding names! From the tweets I’ve seen, it seems many Muslims have been getting the e-mail too. Some tweeters considered the greeting “insincere”, some suggested reporting the matter to Cyber 999 and even the police.
Many questioned how Najib or his assistants got their e-mail addresses. There’s a theory going round that it came from the database of a media conglomerate. If this is true, the practice is, of course, not right. It contravenes the cyberworld law of data privacy. Whoever gave the data to him showed that they did not respect that privacy.
My wife got a CNY greeting from Najib too – via an SMS. Did her telco give her number to Najib and Co? Is that a proper thing to do? This episode shows that the personal details of Malaysians are not safe from prying and abuse. And that Big Brother is watching. That’s a scary prospect.
Najib’s greeting is yet another of the public relations campaigns he has been mounting for more than a year now. Those who are aware realize they are nothing more than efforts to win votes for the next general election, but there are plenty of others who are not so clued-in. Read the rest of this entry »
Creating a harmonious, just, democratic and competitive nation remains the single greatest challenge of Malaysians
Posted by Kit in nation building on Tuesday, 1 February 2011, 11:05 am
The creation of a harmonious, just, democratic and competitive nation, which is a model to the world as an united, tolerant and successful multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-cultural and multi-religious society, remains the greatest challenge of Malaysians.
Nation-building should not be a zero-sum game but must be a win-win formula for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region.
Malaysia has strayed from this formula, with a world diaspora of a million-strong Malaysians – testimony that Malaysians are helping to create the greatness of other nations instead of their own country.
Although there is belated official recognition that human capital is even more valuable than natural resources as national assets in the era of globalisation, there is still no political will to introduce nation-building policies that will develop and retain Malaysian talent as well as attract foreign talent.
Read the rest of this entry »
Why PAS lost the battle for Tenang
Posted by Kit in Election, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS on Tuesday, 1 February 2011, 11:00 am
By Kuek Ser Kuang Keng and Regina Lee | Malaysiakini
ANALYSIS Even before campaigning for the Tenang by-election started, much had been said that the Jan 30 event would serve as an important testing ground for a BN move to call for a snap general election.
It was easy to see why. With the racial breakdown of the semi-rural mixed seat being the archetype of most of the voting constituencies of Peninsular Malaysia, Tenang became a litmus test of sorts.
But is the BN victory with a 3,707-vote majority truly an indication of a return in voter sentiment and support for the ruling coalition? Well, yes and no.
The rather untimely floods and heavy rainfall – which the locals said were worse than the 2006 Great Johor Flood – had severely affected a few polling stations in the Chinese-majority areas.
Read the rest of this entry »
Enhancing Special Privileges
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, globalisation on Tuesday, 1 February 2011, 10:15 am
by Bakri Musa
Malaysia in the Era of Globalization #51
Chapter Six: Malaysia: Assets and Liabilities
Enhancing Special Privileges
To enhance the efficacy of special privileges I would first focus on the bottom 50 percent (better still, bottom 25) of Bumiputras. I agree with Grameen Bank’s Muhammad Yunus who feels that development should be defined to mean positive changes in the economic status of the bottom half of the population. Consequently I would cut off the top quartile Bumiputras (or those with certain net worth or income) from special privileges. Such a modification would effectively target special privileges on truly needy Bumiputras. At the same time it would reduce the resentment felt by non-Bumiputras. Disqualifying ministers, top leaders, royal families, and affluent Bumiputras would also have the additional salutary effect of forcing them to be self-reliant.
This “means testing” at the gross level would not entail much administrative costs or erecting another huge bureaucracy. A simple statuary declaration under sever penalty of perjury and intent to defraud the government would deterrent enough. For added weight, have those applying for benefits of special privileges submit their or their parents’ previous year’s tax returns.
For the royal class, I would eliminate many of their present tax-free privileges. Make them pay their share of income, property, road and other taxes. If Britain’s Queen Elizabeth has to pay income tax, Malaysian sultans should also do likewise. The aggregate impact of such measures on the Treasury would be minuscule, but the psychological benefits to members of the royalty would be immense. For one, they would share in the pain suffered by ordinary citizens, always a salutary experience. For another, if they had to pay their share of taxes on their luxurious toys, that would likely rein in their obscenely flamboyant lifestyles. Malaysia should not have to put up with such nonsense as when the Sultan of Kelantan drove off with his impounded luxury sports car without paying the necessary road tax.
Lastly, seeing families of leaders, royalty, and aristocrats being kicked off the dole would appease immensely the social sensibility and sense of justice of ordinary Malaysians. At the very least that would eliminate the current hypocrisy where many of these leaders would with nauseating frequency exhort the masses to be berdikari (self reliant) while they and their families are the first to hog the public trough. I am astounded at how many members of the immediate families of ministers are getting government scholarships, aids, subsidies, or otherwise dependent on public dole. They have no shame. If they cannot be independent on their ministerial income, then they have no right to lecture the masses on being berdikari. Read the rest of this entry »
Egypt’s Class Conflict
by Juan Cole
January 31, 2011
The Malaysian Insider
JAN 31 — On Sunday morning (January 30) there was some sign of the Egyptian military taking on some security duties. Soldiers started arresting suspected looters, rounding up 450 of them. The disappearance of the police from the streets had led to a threat of widespread looting is now being redressed by the regular military.
Other control methods were on display. The government definitively closed the Al Jazeera offices in Cairo and withdrew the journalists’ licence to report from there, according to tweets. The channel stopped being broadcast on Egypt’s Nilesat. (Al Jazeera had not been able to broadcast directly from Cairo even before this move.) The channel, bases in Qatar, is viewed by President Hosni Mubarak as an attempt to undermine him.
Why has the Egyptian state lost its legitimacy? Max Weber distinguished between power and authority. Power flows from the barrel of a gun, and the Egyptian state still has plenty of those. But Weber defines authority as the likelihood that a command will be obeyed. Leaders who have authority do not have to shoot people.
The Mubarak regime has had to shoot over 100 people in the past few days, and wound more. Literally hundreds of thousands of people have ignored Mubarak’s command that they observe night time curfews. He has lost his authority.
Authority is rooted in legitimacy. Leaders are acknowledged because the people agree that there is some legitimate basis for their authority and power. In democratic countries, that legitimacy comes from the ballot box. Read the rest of this entry »
MET sees non-stop rain in Johor this week
Posted by Kit in environment, Johore on Monday, 31 January 2011, 7:26 pm
By Boo Su-Lyn
The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 31 — The Malaysian Meteorological Department (MET) has forecast continuous rain in major towns in Johor throughout the week.
Unrelenting rain in the southern state has forced thousands from their homes, cutting off Segamat and threatening other towns.
“Tomorrow morning, we expect isolated rain over coastal areas,” an official from MET’s Central Forecast Office told The Malaysian Insider today.
“We expect thunderstorms in the afternoon tomorrow throughout Johor,” she added.
Heavy rain is forecast in Segamat today and all of tomorrow, while thunderstorms are expected to occur in the afternoons for the rest of the week, according to the MET website.
Segamat’s first respite from the rain is expected to come only on Saturday afternoon. Read the rest of this entry »
