The Great Malaysian Story - Azrul Mohd Khalib.

So it’s August 31 again and we are able to once more celebrate the independence of Malaya. We will go ooh and aahh at the well-oiled routine of the choreographed performances by schoolchildren and performers, the parade and fly-by of military hardware and uniformed personnel, the reading of the Rukun Negara, the procession of colourful floats and their equally colourful entourages. Another entry in the country’s proud story and history.

But for many of us, this 56th anniversary will mark a year that has been characterised by events which have rendered us either into a state of apoplexy, hysterical outrage or lobotomised apathy.

It’s a bit like the Animal Farm these days. Pigs, cows and dogs have made appearances. The sheep are ever present and can be relied upon to be compliant and blindly loyal. Indeed, this has been a year where we have rediscovered that all Malaysians are equal but there are some who are more equal than others.

I was enjoying a note written by my friend Zafirah Zeid the other day, who regaled a bit of her secondary school experience at one of the great incubators and bastions of the Malay mind, MRSM or the Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (Mara Junior Science College). My brainier cousins got into MRSM. I instead went to another public boarding school, Sekolah Menengah Sains Selangor. Go SMSS!

Anyway, Zafirah, like many others of mixed ethnicity and heritage, experienced the micro-environment of institutionalised racial supremacy which is nurtured, cultivated and is prevalent in many of the best schools in the country.

This is where you are taught early on that everyone needs to know their place in society and must be placed into a box or category which is acceptable (e.g. Melayu, Cina, India, Orang Asli dan Lain-lain), leaving people like her wondering which to tick and why it even matters. Where do you place Chindians, for example?

And then there is the indoctrination on how it is important for a certain ethnic group to be dominant in all matters, and for all others to acknowledge, respect and kowtow to that fact; how this group must defend itself from real and imagined ethnic and religious enemies; how there is nothing wrong being a racist or a bigot and one should never apologise for it; and learning that to divide is better than to add. Biro Tatanegara lite. Shaping the beliefs, mindsets and attitudes of our future leaders, thinkers and workers but also increasing the possibility of creating young Ibrahim Alis and Zulkifli Noordins of the future. Gives you a warm fuzzy feeling, doesn’t it?

This is where the trouble starts. In some of the best schools in the country. Places where we are supposed to impart knowledge, expand horizons and young minds, build bridges and friendships.

I sometimes think that instead of writing our stories and living the future, we are stuck in this time warp of yesterday. We are prisoners of our minds where some of us are still fighting for independence, finding an identity for ourselves, looking at other ethnic communities with dark suspicion or finding ghosts and enemies where there are none.

Perhaps we imagine ourselves to still be in a time when our masters were white, wore pith helmets, and ordered scotch by banging on the table and saying “Hey, boy! Kasi satu lagi, ini macam! Cepat! Bodoh!” (a line forever immortalised in a late ‘80s drama Tuan Brown).

Only when we wake up from the nightmare, do we find that our masters are now of brown skin, still drink the occasional tipple or two, hiss at things like pluralism and compete to see who is holier by persecuting people of other ethnicities and faiths, and sexual minorities. Maybe we see these masters when we look in the mirror each morning. The players have changed but the game and storyline remain the same.

Our silence allows for a minority to continue to seek and hammer their dominance over everything from national politics and governance of our country to deciding whether the air around a char siew pau seller stall is halal and safe to breathe.

I loathe loonies such as Ridhuan “I-am-so-Malay” Tee Abdullah, his pal Ibrahim “I-am-more-Malay-than-everyone-else” Ali, and old-time favourite Rais Yatim (who cautioned Malay girls against inter-racial marriages, and once stated that women wanting to go abroad should obtain permission from either their company, husband, brother or other family member to protect them from becoming drug mules) but I have to acknowledge that they too are part of the Malaysian story and the fabric of our society.

Much as we want to, we can’t write them out or ignore them. If you are not angry yet when these characters open their mouths, you should be. These are the sort of people who are writing our story. Problem is we are allowing them to.

They, and we, are responsible for the Malaysia we have today.

Tunku Abdul Rahman once recommended that we encourage interethnic marriages. I think he had the right idea. The more diversity we see around us and in our families, the less we think of the need to be racially superior or that we are special and somehow divinely chosen.

We must throw away the go-along-to-get-along mentality and realise that a new Malaysia must involve throwing off the chains of racism.

Not everyone can migrate and escape to Australia, Canada or some other country if and when things get ugly or Taliban’ised. Most of us are in this country for the long haul and we are going to be building families and communities together.

The concept of the nascent #SaySomethingNice 17-day campaign that was announced last week is rooted in precisely that. Recognising that there is a need for change and working towards it together. We certainly need more than 17 days but some of us need to start somewhere and this is as good a start as any.

We are now at an existential point in the country’s lifetime. We need a new narrative for Malaysia. A new story. One that is not determined on whether the writers are Malays, Chinese, Indians and Lain-lain. But writers who identify themselves as Malaysians, writing as Malaysians, for Malaysians. People who don’t give a flying cow what ethnicity a person comes from.

To quote Zafirah’s note, we can either conform or refuse.

With luck, our sons and daughters will do what she did: toss the racism and bigotry into the garbage, take the good stuff and walk forward colour blind.

Are we going to write the Great Malaysian Story? Or allow others to write it for us?

Have a great Merdeka weekend!

Uproot the core of gangsterism - B Nantha Kumar |

The police are barking up the wrong tree on issues to curtail gangsterism, says a newly formed crime watch NGO today.

V Ravindran, the pro-term committee member of Malaysia Community Crime Care Association (MCCCA) recommends that the enforcement departments should instead look into prevention of crime rather than the gangsters themselves.

MCCCA is headed by the former inspector general of police Musa Hassan.

“Gangsterism is like a tree. Thus, the police should cut the ‘taproot’ of the tree. But, currently they are cutting only the twigs,” he told FMT.

He further added that shooting or arresting hundreds of gangsters is only a temporary measure. Such actions will not end gangsterism in Malaysia.

“There is no point arresting these small timers, also known as ‘runners’ or ‘semut’, who merely took instructions from their respective leaders,” said Ravindran.

“There are many more out there who are economically deprived ready to replace these ‘runners’”.

Secret societies

According to Ravindran, secret societies have been around since the 1850s.

“There are over hundreds of secret societies or gangs in Malaysia, comprising of all races; including natives of Sabah and Sarawak. Even foreigners have their gangs,” he said.

He added that several societies are well organised with their own flag, anthem, logo and in-house rules.

“Leaders of these secret societies are well connected with politicians, police and business people. These warlords are well respected in their community,” said Ravindran.

“Some of them even carried datukship titles. They are willing to spend millions of ringgit to recruit young members into the societies.”

“If the police are really interested in gangsterism prevention, they should first go after these people,” he added.

Ravindran believes that arresting the warlords is a better option in preventing gangsterism than going after the small timers.

Nevertheless, Ravindran admits that the police do find difficulties going after the big guns.

“Too much politicking on the issue of gangsterism by both BN and the opposition has hampered police efforts at times.”

He said the BN leaders have used the police for their personal agenda while Pakatan has been too critical on the enforcement agency.

“I’m not against criticism, but it should be constructive instead of destructive,” said Ravindran.

“It would be more helpful to police when politicians come out with suggestions instead of criticism and instructions,” he added.

Police Now Can Switch off iPhone Camera and Wi-Fi

Police throughout the globe have been embarrassed to see online videos of their officers pepper spraying tied captives. In our age of mobile gadgets the pictures can be uploaded online in seconds, making supervisors to answer the questions.

But now the police may not need to fear scrutiny anymore, because Apple has recently patented a piece of technology that would allow the authorities and police to block data transmission, including video and photos, whenever they like. All they need to do is decide that a public gathering or venue is deemed “sensitive” and needs to be protected from externalities. In this case Apple will enable them to switch off all its gear. The developers insist that the affected locations are normally cinemas, theaters and concert grounds, but Apple admits it could also be used in covert police or government operations that may need complete “blackout” conditions.

In the meantime, privacy outfits point out that it could also be used to prevent such whistle blowers as Edward Snowden from shooting pictures and sharing them online. In response, Apple claimed that the wireless transmission of sensitive data to a remote source is a threat to security, with the sensitive data being anything from classified government data to answers to an exam administered in an academic setting.

Anyway, the fact is that Apple has patented the means to transmit an encoded signal to all wireless gadgets, commanding them to disable recording functions. The developers reveal that the policies would be activated by GPS, and Wi-Fi or mobile base-stations that would ring-fence around a building or a sensitive area in order to prevent mobile cameras from taking pictures or recording video.

The Sensitive Indian : We're rich enough to be Post-Materialists -

When the Seri Pristana incident irrupted, Kamalanathan the deputy education minister, rushed to the scene. He “investigated.” He held an instant press conference. He pronounced judgment. He gave a hand-out to the school to expand the canteen. He said “case closed.”

Kamala didn’t directly address the charge laid by the Indian mother of a pupil who attends the school: in Muslim-majority Malaysia, during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan, the canteen building and services were closed and Indian pupils were made to have their meal breaks in a shower room. [I’ve written about Seri Pristana here, hereand here.]

According to news reports, the education ministry laterordered the school headmaster (HM) to take one week’s leave. Also according to news reports, while the HM was on leave, he entered the school and took photos of non-Muslim children in the school.

Political opportunists zoomed in on the case. Noh Omar, the Umno chieftain in the state of Selangor, visited the school and spoke to the press. Umno is the Malay-rights political party which helms the Federal government. Seri Pristana however is in Selangor, a state helmed by the opposition alliance, Pakatan.

The Umno chieftain called for the parent to be charged with sedition, i.e. taking actions which could destabilize the nation. The Umno-controlled newspaper, Utusan, claimed the Selangor State police chief threatened to investigate those who propagate photos of the school’s temporary canteen.

The Seri Pristana incident is so typical of what we see in Malaysia: hand-outs to show government patronage and magnanimity, inviolable “Malay-rights,” and threats against those who seek to influence the national agenda.

The Seri Pristana incident is so typical of what we see in Malaysia: Kamala, a leader of the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), says “it’s all a misunderstanding, we’ve solved it, let’s move on.” Then Vel Paari, MIC’s Strategic Director, says it’s not over until disciplinary action is taken against the HM.

The Seri Pristana incident is so typical of what we see in Malaysia: national leaders who are members of the ruling coalition act out of the belief that non-Malays can better themselves only by kissing the hands of Malay leaders and even garlanding them; progress not through reasoning, but through obeisance.

Enlightened Indians look at such irruptions through images such as these:

Cow-head. Home minister Hishammuddin feting cow-head toting Umno men in his ministerial office.

Hand-kissing. Kamala kissing Muhyiddin’s hand.

Garlanding. MIC garlanding Najib in Batu Caves during Thaipusam.

Bum-in-your-face gyrations by retired Malay armed forces men against Ambiga Sreenivasan, a former president of the Bar Council and currently the public face of justice in Malaysia.

Irene Fernandez. For years the state hounded Irene Fernandez of Tenaganita for her expose of dreadful conditions in refugee camps in Malaysia.

The EO6. 5 of the 6 illegally detained and interrogated members of PSM (“the EO6”) were Indians, one of them a nationally and internationally celebrated doctor who also happens to be an elected Member of Parliament. [Here is one of my articles on the EO6.]

Cynthia Gabriel. The state continues to harass Cynthia Gabriel of SUARAM for her quest to find the truth, re. Scorpene and the seemingly motive-less murder of Altantuya.

Thaipusam. The government’s collusion with the MIC, demonstrated by inaction against disruptions of public order during Thaipusam. [See my piece on Thaipusam, here.]

Enlightened Indians, after acquiring so many comforts in life, are asking “Why are there so many poor Malaysian Indians?” Enlightened Indians are moving into a post-materialist life, no longer struggling for food and shelter; they are looking instead to do good to their poor neighbours.

Enlightened Indians are noticing that the educational achievements of Malaysian Indians is dismal: according to the 2000 census, a Malaysia Indian aged 25 – 34 years is 20 % less likely than a Malay to have MCE/SPM (“O-level”) certificate. See my notice of Professor Hirschman’s findings, here.

Enlightened Indians are dismayed by the life expectancy, suicide and arrest data for Malaysian Indians:

“Indians have the lowest life expectancy amongst all major races and they  comprised the largest group of suicide victims recorded annually nationwide.

There were 21.1 suicides per 100,000 Indians, 8.6 per 100,000 Chinese and 2.6 per 100,000 Malays.

Though they form only 7.5 per cent  of the  population, a  higher  proportion of Indians were arrested for serious crime or gang­related activities.

Of the 703 suspected criminals held at the  Simpang Renggam  Rehabilitation Centre  in 2005 (as of March) under preventive detention laws, 377 or 54 per cent were Indians.”

Enlightened Indians are conscious of the low control of capital and wealth by Indians:

“More than 30 per cent of Indians do not own a house, compared to the national average of 25.2 per cent for Malays and 17.6 per cent for Chinese.

Indians collectively own only 1.5 per cent of shares in limited companies; this figure has remained stagnant for years.

Official poverty levels among Indians have remained at 1.9 per cent from 1999 to 2002, while it has decreased from 10.2 per cent to 7.3 for bumiputera and from 2.6 per cent to 1.5 per cent for the Chinese.”

Enlightened Indians know the reason there are so many poor Indians is partly structural:

The Brits kept Indians in low-paying, life-limiting jobs, under feudal structures, isolated in remote areas.

During the Japanese occupation, poor Indians had no income and no families to fall back upon.

After independence, the Brits sold their large estates to land speculators. The speculators kicked out the Indian peasant labourers, subdivided the land and sold it to smallholders – who worked the land themselves.

MIC, whose “weight” came from the hundreds of thousands of poor Indian labourers in estates, utilities and infrastructure, but was lead by urban Indians, failed to stem the tide of disenfranchisement. [Yes, I am aware of the NLFCS: in my view, a failure, like many other initiatives.]

In my last post I said Indians in Malaysia have become sensitive because of decreasing ignorance about the past. I am haunted by this description in the 1957 Federation of Malaya Census Report:

“. . . [Between 1860 and 1957], much of the 1.2 million net [Indian Migrants] appear to have been wiped out by disease, snake-bites, exhaustion and malnutrition . . .”

In this post I’ve tried to show that Malaysian Indians have become sensitive because we are post-materialists. We are less concerned about ourselves (which is why we are insulted by hand-outs). We are more concerned about the racial paths of destruction our neighbours are on.

It is no accident that many names you hear in the public square are Indian. We’re gangsters. We’re failed leaders and politicians. We’re reformers. We’re humans. We’re neighbours. In our homeland.

Waytha, resign……demands zulkifly nordin.-Rajan Chakarai

it  is  a  good  idea.  after  all  waytha  is  unlikely  to  get  anywhere  with  umno.  now  that  the   election  has  been  won  and  altantuya  episode  is  over,  umno  does  not  really  need  waytha.

najib  can  replace  waytha  with  zulkifly  nordin.  zulkifly  nordin  is  more  experienced.  in  fact  he  understands  hinduism  better  than  islam.  he  can  lecture  you  on  all  the  hindu  gods  and  hindu  practices  for  hours. 

zulkifly  actually  wants  to  build  some  awesomely  huge  temples  in  shah  alam  for  indians.  he  particularly  likes  the  snake  and  monkey  gods.

 He  can  clearly  explain  why  the  indians  are  really  pendatang.  that  way  the  indians  will  accept  umno  as  their  masters.  he  can  explain  why  the  indians  must  be  actually  called  keling.  indians  must  get  used  to  being  derogatorily  called  keling.  it  is  abang  zul’s  affectionate  way  of  calling  indians  saying,  you  know.  zulkifly  nordin  loves  indians.  some  indians  would  even  kiss  him.

He  has  forgiven  the  indians  for  voting  agnist  him  in  ge13.  now  he  is  raring  to  go  all  out  and  help  them.  the  first  step  of  course  to  eliminate  the  younger  boisterous  crowd  of  indians.  they  create  too  much  distraction.  after  that  it  is  help  keling  all  the  way.  Once  all  the  pendang  keling  accept  zulkifly  nordin  as  the  boss,  he  will  lead  them  to  greater  heights.

Najib,  sack  Wtha !

Apa lagi Mahathir mahu? - by Mariam Mokhtar

If the third prime minister of Malaysia, Hussein Onn, had not nominated Mahathir Mohamad as his successor in 1981, the course of Malaysian history would have been very different.

Mahathir may have left office after 22 years in power, but today, he pops up like those annoying advertisements which appear, without warning, on your computer screen. Mahathir’s messages act in a similar way to some of those adverts; they can harm your computer with malware or other unwanted files, when they are “opened”. Perhaps, we need a spam-blocker that will work on Mahathir.

How will we ever learn from history, if we are prevented from examining what has gone badly wrong for this nation? Mahathir’s policies continue to divide the nation, but many Malays are under the illusion that he is their saviour. Sadly, after 56 years of independence, it is mostly non-Malays who are more Malaysian than the Malays.

Until we get a change in government, only one man can stop Mahathir’s deleterious effects on the nation – Najib Abdul Razak – but he either won’t or can’t bring himself to perform this saintly task. Such is the hold that Mahathir has over Najib.

Yesterday, Mahathir urged that MAS be privatised. His penchant for privatisation enables profitable companies to be annexed by his cronies or Umno Baru nominees. This practice has all but bankrupted the nation.

It is ironic that the man who once said that “Melayu mudah lupa”, should forget his role in handing the national airline carrier, on a golden platter to Tajudin Ramli. Few MAS employees will ever forget how the company’s performance plummeted with Tajudin at its helm.

Mahathir observed that Umno Baru had failed to tap into young, smart Malay professionals. He claimed that Umno Baru, unlike PAS, did not like, and possibly feared people who were smarter than its leaders. Again, Mahathir mudah lupa. He once isolated younger men in his cabinet, like Anwar Ibrahim and Musa Hitam, in an attempt to contain their political aspirations.

When Mahathir was the education minister in the early 70s, he quelled student unrest with an iron fist. Did he forget that the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA), which many associate with Umno Baru, stops young adults from their right to full political expression?

Younger people find the opposition coalition more appealing and Umno Baru is aware of this. In GE13, voters at polling centres were separated into one queue for elderly people and another for young adults.

EC officials ensured that the queues for the elderly moved relatively fast, whereas queues for the young moved with laborious slowness. In many instances, young voters, simply gave up and left despite staying in line for hours. Umno Baru reasoned that young people were more impatient and impetuous, and welcomed their absence.

We are told that Najib is known as Bapak Transformasi (Father of Transformation). History will be the judge of his success at transforming both the nation, and his party, Umno Baru.

Fears of greatest treachery

Najib realises that the nation is ripe for change but he is tortured by the recalcitrance of his party members. Like them, he has only his own interests at heart, and not the interests of the rakyat who elected them to office. He has only himself to blame for the bad example he set, which strengthened the Umno Baru delegates’ resolve against reform.

Najib knows his enemies from outside the party, but he fears that the greatest treachery to befall him will come from within his own party. He knows that many within his own cabinet would not hesitate to stick a knife into his back.

The new Home Minister Zahid Hamidi is openly defying Najib’s authority and also that of his cousin, Hishamuddin Hussein, the former home minister. Recently, Zahid unearthed 260,000 hard-core criminals, whereas Hishammuddin had found none and even had the audacity to tell the rakyat that the increase in crime was just a perception.

Zahid recently found 250,000 Shiite Muslims, when Hishammuddin did not even allude to them during his tenure as home minister. These are attempts to discredit Hishammuddin, and Najib, the cousin who put him there.

These machinations are possibly designed to unseat Najib at the crux of his political career, the Umno Baru general assembly which will be held later this year.

Earlier this month, Zahid warned that if the Sedition Act 1948 was abolished, four aspects of the federal constitution, namely the special rights of the Malays, the status of Malay rulers, the status of Islam as the federal religion and the status of Malay as the national language would be affected. Putting on a defiant tone, he advocated for the Act to be retained and said that he was unwilling to compromise on this issue.

When Najib promised to repeal the Sedition Act, last year, was he using this as a carrot to trick the public into voting for Umno Baru in GE13? Did Najib have any intention of keeping this promise or was it just a ploy to get the voters to think that he was a reformist?

Perhaps, Najib will use Zahid’s interjection as a convenient excuse not to repeal the Sedition Act and so win back the support of the hardliners in Umno Baru.

Unlike Zahid, Najib is facing the most important battle in his political life. Is Zahid’s opposition to the abolition of the Act a means to present himself as the true defender of the Malays and of Islam in Malaysia?

All roads lead to Mahathir

Zahid is not acting on his own and it is glaringly evident, that all roads lead to Mahathir. The former PM has been very vocal in the past few weeks and will continue until the Umno party conference.

Mahahir will continue to instigate and foment dissent. His divisive policies are symbolic of his rule. When he left office in 2003, few outside of Umno Baru were moved when he wept as he made his resignation speech. His successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi gave us hope, but even he failed the rakyat miserably.

Mahathir claims that Umno Baru is the only party that can save the Malays. This is another of his damned lies. In truth, Umno Baru has caused the downfall of the Malays; ordinary Malays have become beggars in their own land because of his policies, and the Umno Baru elite are just pimps living off everyone else.

Today, time is running out for Malaysia, and if Najib does not act to defuse the racial and religious time-bomb set by Mahathir, it will cause untold damage to the country. Mahathir cares for nothing but the continuation of his legacy, through his son, Mukhriz. A leader who does not give a damn for the peace, prosperity and economic stability of the country, might as well be called the Father of Corruption. Apa lagi Mahathir mahu?

Can religious leaders still talk through issues anymore?

To the world, before these past few weeks, Malaysia has been a country that always at least claimed to be a model for moderate faith and prided itself on cherishing interfaith dialogue and shared space.

No one is making that claim anymore, at least no one from the top. No one there can.

Not when in the space of bare weeks, Malaysians have seen two high religious figures – one Buddhist, the other Catholic – have to issue apologies to mollify a madding crowd.

Just last week, the Buddhist Chief High Priest of Malaysia Datuk K. Sri Dhammaratana apologised for the Buddhist group that used a surau in Johor for prayers, even though that group was from Singapore.

A few weeks earlier, the Vatican envoy to Malaysia Archbishop Joseph Marino apologised for his comments on the “Allah” issue after Malay rights groups kicked up a storm.

More recently, several government ministers have taken a hardline position on matters relating to faith. One deputy minister even gave the thumbs-up to an Astro disclaimer on a TV biopic of the new Pope.

Yes, Malaysia, it has come to this: someone thinks “Viewer discretion is advised” is necessary for a documentary on Pope Francis.

What impact is this climate of intolerance having on interfaith dialogue in the land whose prime ministers like Tun Abdullah Badawi and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad once said showed the world how moderate faith prevails?

Here’s the good news: thankfully – and surprisingly – little impact on the faithful.

Religious leaders say they are not ready to raise the white flag yet, insisting that interfaith dialogue is the only way to settle religious conflict.

Yes, there are serious challenges and long-standing issues, such as the conversion of minors and the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims, which remain unresolved.

Ex-Perlis mufti Datuk Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin has a thought on why such challenges even exist for interfaith dialogue. He said the lack of success in interfaith dialogue between Muslims and non-Muslims was due to the lack of understanding of what can and cannot be brought to the discussion table.

He offered that firstly, all parties should know that when Muslims come to the dialogue table, it is not to recognise the other religions as equal to Islam, but rather to recognise that Islam respects non-Muslims’ right to exist.

“Among some conservatives, they think that interfaith dialogue is about sacrificing the status of Islam. Which is why both sides of the divide should be clear about the underlying terms.

“When that is made clear, then interfaith dialogue can do a lot of good and promote better understanding on religious conflict issues,” he said.

This has worked to some extent in the Cabinet interfaith committee, notes Jagir Singh, president of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism.

He said, “Dialogue between Muslims and non-Muslims is certainly not dead. In fact, discussions among the various religious groups in the Cabinet committee has achieved some progress, although on certain complex issues, we have yet to reach a consensus.

“This is understandable because there are so many other factors involved which is beyond the committee.”

Jagir added that these factors include the stands taken by various non-governmental bodies and state religious departments.

He added that it was important for interfaith dialogue to continue so that there is a venue for different religious leaders to meet and forge understanding on various issues.

Buddhist monk Venerable Sing Kan, who was the immediate past vice-president of the interfaith council and is a current committee member, agreed with Jagir that interfaith dialogue should continue, but added that with the child conversion and “Allah” issues remaining unresolved, it appeared as though talks have reached a deadlock. The reasons for this should be addressed, she said.

Malay rights group Perkasa, on the other hand, feels there is no room for Muslims and non-Muslims to sit and debate on religion.

Its secretary-general Syed Hassan Syed Ali said that Jagir “could fantasise all he wanted about the potential fruits of interfaith dialogue.

“Let the others reach consensus with them on religious matters, but this won’t happen with Perkasa. To us, they should just accept and understand the status of Islam as laid out in the Federal Constitution.”

Clearly, Perkasa falls in the “conservative” group that Mohd Asri spoke of. How can they be managed? Mohd Asri reiterates that all dialogue between Muslim and non-Muslim parties must have the objectives clearly laid out beforehand. This, he said, will result in the talks having a better chance of achieving its aims.

“There is still hope for interfaith dialogue,” the former Perlis mufti stressed.

Venerable Sing Kan emphasises the leading role politicians need to take in setting the right spirit for religious tolerance and harmony.

On this front, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Joseph Kurup plans on setting up a new council of religious heads for the purpose of understanding each other’s faiths.

Kurup told The Malaysian Insider that he will raise the matter at the Cabinet so that a council made up of members of the various religious groups can be formed to understand each other’s stand and values of their respective faiths.

He also clarified that this is different from the existing Cabinet committee to promote Understanding and Harmony Among Religious Adherents.

“Dialogue between Muslims and non-Muslims in Malaysia can achieve results, but it needs to be fine-tuned to determine each religions’ stand and values,” Kurup said, in explaining the need for a new council.

It is a point also emphasised by the Vatican’s first envoy to Malaysia, the Archbishop Marino.

In his statement released to the media after his apology, he said that as the former Apostolic Nuncio to Bangladesh, a country whose majority population is Muslim, he “firmly believes that inter-religious dialogue is the means to promote good relations among peoples of different faiths, who can discover the beauty of each other’s belief”.

by Jennifer Gomez and Hasbullah Awang Chik

Learn to love - Elza Irdalynna

Q: How many Malaysian Muslims does it take to change a light bulb?

A: That’s sensitive.

Let me state the obvious here. The above was a joke. Perhaps the degree of effectiveness in its humour may vary from person to person, but I’m sure you can agree, that it is not meant to cause any harm or offense.

Yet almost every single day, we receive news of offensive materials being written or uploaded in social media.

From the controversial Alvivi duo, to the dog trainer Maznah Yusof, and most recently, the Johor resort owner who allowed Singaporean Buddhist tourists to use his surau for meditation.

It seems everything is offensive now.

Each of the events above have been said to be seditious simply because it had offended some Muslims. The reason I say some, is because many more, including myself, do not take offense. It certainly did not threaten the integrity of our faith.

Sedition is simply defined as inciting or causing rebellion against the authority of the state.

Here, we need to remember that the authority of our state is not syariah law. Islam may be the official religion of Malaysia, but we govern ourselves based on common legal law, unlike actual Islamic Republics such as those in the Middle East.

Hence, the aforementioned individuals had not rebelled against the state. Neither have their actions incited rebellion.

What they did was merely offend.

Was Alvivi’s joke funny? If you were to judge it based on entertainment value alone, it merely invited a snicker. Was it insensitive? Yes, it was.

Should their insensitivity be punishable by imprisonment for up to 15 years? No. Because before a mere few months were to pass, no one would give a hoot about Alvivi. Their so called crimes do not have the same lasting effects as rape or murder.

As it stands, Malaysian prisons are too congested. Before we sentence heavy penalties for foolishness, we should consider revamping our laws and rehabilitation systems first.

The real offenders

Perhaps those who should be questioned and charged are the ones who take offense to begin with.

The individual who uploaded the video of the Buddhists meditating in the surau had malevolently titled his video “Surau dijadikan tokong?!!” (Mosque turned into a temple). It is the uploader who intends to stir trouble and incite hate.

The people who comment on the video calling for the resort owner’s head are the real offenders. They are the ones threatening harm; not the well-intended, albeit naive resort owner extending his hospitality as any true Muslim would.

Now, the surau may face demolition because its sanctity has been tarnished. Yet, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) allowed Christian travellers to use Masjid Al- Nabawi to pray when they visited Medina. Should that not be the noblest example to follow?

In Aberdeen, Scotland, a priest had opened the doors to his church to the neighbouring mosque because the Muslims had to pray in the external corridors, freezing in the cold.

If he were to possess the same sort of elitist and overly sensitive attitude of our Malaysian Muslims, some of those elderly Muslims could have died simply because they lacked the infrastructure.

What is the point of being religious and God fearing when we can’t even learn to love one another, and pardon each other’s mistakes?

What is the point of having these religious councils when they themselves react petulantly towards such minor offenses?

Why claim religious freedom in the constitution when we Muslims curb and police the practices of the non-Muslims?

This is why Malaysia needs to practice separation of secular and sacred laws. Religion and faith should be personal.

And maybe it wouldn’t hurt for Malaysian Muslims to learn to laugh and love a little.

Championing the Malay cause - Iskandar Dzulkarnain

If there are any conscientious leaders left in this country, it would be none other than Ibrahim Ali and Zulkifli Noordin of Perkasa and Chinese Muslim Ridhuan Tee. Their vast contributions towards the Malay Agenda are nothing short of exemplary.

Ibrahim and Zulkifli were once pro-opposition who turned Independent after realizing that Malay rights were being compromised under the opposition.

Turning over a new leaf, even though many insisted that they turned into frogs instead; they continued their struggle to uphold Malay rights, religion and royalty sacrificing their reputation in the process.

Revered by the BN government for their honesty and selflessness, they were handpicked to contest in the general election while other frogs were dropped like hot potatoes.

Sadly, they were ousted from the MP race, not by the non malays but by inconsiderate Malays themselves who felt ashamed of their humble struggle. Yes, it was the same Malays whom they tried to champion, who rejected them outright!

Shocked, disappointed and devastated, Ibrahim contemplated leaving politics to become a taxi driver but decided that the Malay agenda still needed his undivided attention.

Zul Noordin, like Ibrahim too was dejected by the unkind rejection much akin to the ‘Chinese Tsunami’ but he took it like a man and refused to be negative about it.

But, can we blame Zul Noordin for his fervent religious beliefs and for rejecting other faiths like Hinduism and Christianity?

How can anyone accuse him and Ali of insulting other faiths? Even the AG and the police have NFA’d (no further action) the case due to lack of supporting evidence.

It was such a great loss to the Malaysian cause when both of them failed to retain their parliamentary seats. But such is their selfless and humble sacrifice for the common good.

It would not be surprising that one fine day, they would be made senators.

An incessant fear

While Ibrahim always had this chronic fear of the Chinese taking over the country, both he and Zulkifli were privy to secret information that the Christians were out to proselytise everyone and install a Christian prime Minister.

Angry, that the non Malays were out to monopolise the “Allah” name, Ali threatened to burn any false Malay Bibles which he later claimed as grossly misquoted by the opposition media.

Totally misunderstood by a complacent public, they were crucified as religious bigots, frogs, racists and opportunists. There are also an equal number of people who knows that both men have hearts of gold and men of little words.

They are also meek, kind, friendly, courteous, honest and destined to be born leaders. If not, how did both of them go on to become the top two leaders in Perkasa?

Yes, the Malays in this country have woken up and are no longer fooled by Malay leaders in the opposition. Everyone from the cronies to the fishermen knows that only BN and Umno are the true saviours of the Malays.

PAS and PKR only knows how to talk while DAP is still playing footsies with their little Red Bean Army.

Sharing the same vision

Both Ibrahim Ali and Zul Noordin have many things in common; strong hind legs and the vision and sentiment to protect Malay rights from eroding beyond redemption. Their encompassing love for the marginalised bumiputeras knows no bounds.

Not only are they fighting for the poor in the rural heartlands but also for the middle class and the rich and influential.

There is simply too much to lose for everyone including ‘special rights’ and ‘unchallenged supremacy’, if Malay political power ever erodes.

Meanwhile, Ridhuan Tee, a bright Chinese Muslim convert has made a name for himself with his wonderful religious revelations that have confounded the nation. He is revered by Muslims as a lost soul that has found the light.

Today, his wise and unpretentious ability to identify the gross marginalisation befalling Malays and Muslims has made him a living legend of sorts. But of course, most non Muslims will fail to understand that his uncanny wisdom transcends race and religion.

A force to be reckoned with
Perkasa has against all odds, managed to rally the Malays to unite, resulting in Umno winning 88 parliament seats. What an astounding feat!

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, despite a busy schedule granted Perkasa readily an audience to voice growing worries over the deterioration of Malay rights in this country, which included meritocracy, religion, economics and education.

To Perkasa, the Malay fear syndrome is indeed very real, with many Malay leaders succumbing to mental blocks.

Competing against the non Malays on an even playing field is really frightening especially now that we are in a globalized world and a competitive business environment.

Perkasa aims to give Malays a fighting chance against encroaching competition of which they are ill-equipped to handle.

Malay rights have deteriorated since Independence and the Malays are left behind by the Chinese and the Indians.

If nothing is done to stop the rot, Malays in this country will become a minority and be slaves in their own land, according to our enlightened ex-prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

As a patron of Perkasa, Mahathir is a living legend widely respected and emulated by other Perkasa leaders.

Malays still need total protection and the ‘crutch mentality’ must continue until the Malays achieve 65% of the economic pie or in tandem with its growing population.

The Malay language is slowly losing its lustre as the lingua franca, while Islam is being ridiculed without any provocation. Umno has failed time and time again to protect the Malays, and without Perkasa the Malays are doomed to a life of misery.

Constantly under economic and political threats, it is becoming more difficult for Malays to protect their supremacy and they are now lacking behind economically, politically, morally and spiritually.

Domination by non Malays
Umno information chief Ahmad Maslan’s surprise revelation that 85% of businesses in the Klang Valley are run by non Malays is truly a cause for concern.

More so, as non Malays have been breastfed in the past and have carved out for themselves so much economic, education and social advantages, that the Malays are now falling victims to unequal distribution of the national wealth.

How can there be meritocracy as the Malay and bumiputera population continues to outpace the minority races by leaps and bounds?

It would be foolhardy to implement such a discriminating policy, as more bumiputeras would be denied their special rights by non Malays who continue to hog places in universities nationwide.

The NEP which was so successful in producing brilliant Malay entrepreneurs is also in danger of being exterminated. What will become of the Malays if the NEP goes?!

The opposition should step aside

For this reason, the opposition should stop questioning the government on closed tenders which will benefit the Malays as a whole. Please also stop revealing sensitive official secrets to the public for no apparent reason.

Stop accusing BN leaders in public of committing graft without concrete proof. Stop fanning race and religious strife to drum up support.

Stop accusing BN of corruption and stop meddling into the private affairs of BN leaders.

Sometimes, it may be good to close one eye so that the country can continue to function at optimum speed without undue pressure to slow it down.

Malaysians in general should stop condemning Perkasa and support wholeheartedly other NGO’s like Pembela and Jati in its endeavour to upgrade Malay rights.

Continue to put our trust in BN and give them our blessings to govern in truth and honesty and one day we will be justly rewarded.