Not the Islam I know…

Mohamad Tajuddin Mohamad Rasdi

Malaysiakini

Jul 25, 2013

COMMENT
 The two incidents that have been the talk of the day in the Internet media that have raised concerns on the questionable tolerance and magnanimity of Islam and Muslims are the Alvivi sex blogger couple’s alleged disrespecting of Islam and the demands of right-wing groups Perkasa and Jati for the Vatican envoy to leave Malaysia over his remarks on the Allah row.

From the events that had unfolded, it does seem to be that Muslims in general – and Islam in particular – are a people and a religion that are most intolerant and do not know the meaning of forgiveness or magnanimity.

In this short essay, I will present stories and examples of Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam, teacher of all Muslims in the world and for all times, on how he exemplified the true spirit of magnanimity, forgiveness and tolerance.

In other words, I do not know who these people are who have painted Islam in such light – the Attorney-General’s Chambers officers and the judiciary who denied bail to the sex blogger couple and the three Malay-Muslim politicians (Hasan Ali, Ibrahim Ali and Zulkifli Noordin) who boisterously demand that the Vatican envoy leave this country for supporting the use of the word ‘Allah’ in the Malay Bible.

I would like to explain to my Malaysian brothers and sisters who are Muslims and non-Muslims about the true Islam as exhibited by the Prophet himself. What these Malays have shown did not definitely come from the tradition of Muhammad (peace be upon him).

I can cite many events and incidents to show that Prophet Muhammad was perhaps the epitome of tolerance, forgiveness and magnanimity, but I will just point out a few. Do not trust me on these accounts but let history be the judge.

One incident that I am about to relate is one of the most momentous events in the history of early Islam – the opening or freeing of Mecca from the polytheists Quraish, the Prophet’s own blood clan.

During the 13 years of persecution in Mecca when the Prophet was not only hurled abusive words, denied economic trade to the point of famine and almost being murdered, he returned home after 10 years as the leader of the largest army the Arabs had ever seen and march into his birthplace to destroy the idols in the Kaaba.

This was a man, from noble lineage, once respected by the polytheist Quraish as Al-Amin (the trustworthy) and who at one time, when he was prostrating to pray, was placed on his back the stomach and entrails of a dead camel. His daughter, Fatimah, had to clean his father whilst crying softly at the vile indignity of the occasion.

In another incident, the Prophet had to restrain his anger at seeing the body of his uncle Hamzah being desecrated by a hired assassin, Wahsyi, who was in the paid service of Hindun, the wife of the Meccan leader Abu Sufyan.

After all these sad and painful events of personal persecution, Allah The Most High granted Muslims the upper hand and the Prophet marched into Mecca without resistance.

Did the Prophet exact retribution?

And what did he do with the sweet taste of victory at the tip of his tongue? With a simple gesture of his staff and hand or a nod from him, heads would have rolled, limbs could be hacked and necks could be broken from a rope on high. Did the Prophet do any of these?

Did he exact retribution? Did he beat Hindun who gorged on the bloodied heart of Hamzah? Did he burn the families who put camel entrails on his back and did he string up Abu Sufyan who caused much pain to his beloved wife, Khadija, and uncle, Abu Talib, by ordering the boycott of his family?

History recorded that there was no massacre. The Prophet forgave all that had done him and his loved one harm if they asked for forgiveness. The Prophet met all the Meccan leaders who had persecuted him and his family with respect and made peace with them.

But there was only one person that the Prophet found extremely difficult to meet. That was Wahsyi, the assassin who killed and tore the heart out of Hamzah, the Prophet’s beloved uncle and protector. When Wahsyi finally came to ask forgiveness from the Prophet, the Prophet of Islam turned his face from him but gave no order of retribution.

Wahsyi went back to his own house, his life spared but his heart was in turmoil. He had not realised the deep pain that he had caused the Prophet. On that day, Wahsyi vowed to be a good Muslim and to perform a great deed to atone for his murder of Hamzah. History later recorded that it was Wahsyi who personally killed the False Prophet, Musaillamah, in a great battle.

Now the question was why had the Prophet not exacted retribution on the Meccans? Why not put them all in the bathroom? Why not tell them to get out of Mecca and never come back? Or why not throw them all in prison without bail? He was clearly following the order given by none other than the Supreme Being Himself, Allah The Most High. Allah Himself inspired the following Verses:

When comes the Help of God, and Victory,

And thou dost see the People enter God’s Religion in crowds,

Celebrate the Praises of thy Lord, and pray for His Forgiveness,

for He is Oft-Returning (In Grace and Mercy)

(from ‘Surah Nasr’, translation by Abdullah Yusof Ali)

From the tafsir and interpretation by Sayyid Qutb, the Prophet was ordered to praise Allah and ask for forgiveness on the day of his total victory in the war against the Quraish in Mecca.

There are many messages on human behaviour and spiritual heights in this very short Surah. Firstly, anyone who always patted himself or herself on the back over the successful completion of a task will grow arrogant and ultimately will fall into despair when they fail in old age or sickness or economic difficulties.

By attributing success to God’s hand, man would humble himself and be at peace whether he is successful or not in any endeavour. Another message is that the ego would inflate so much after success that it would inspire evil intentions like vengeance and retribution. The Prophet was ordered to ask forgiveness from God if he had felt egoistic and harboured evil intentions of vengeance.

The golden rule of most great religions is simple – learn to forgive your fellow man and Allah will see fit to forgive you in turn. The sociological and political ramification from this simple act of forgiveness is incredibly unimaginable. If the Prophet had exacted retribution and wiped out the Meccans with a single wave of his staff, Islam might have never ventured out of the valley of Mecca and into our homes in Malaysia.

But with a single act of magnanimity, forgiveness and tolerance, the word spread out like wildfire that the Prophet was an unusual man of high moral standards, one who represented the flowering of a new humankind.

Two recent events

Fast forward to the present, what would a true Muslim with the spirit of the Prophet Muhammad at the victory of Mecca do concerning the two events that is the talk of the day in Malaysia?

Firstly, regarding the Allah issue by the Vatican envoy, it is indeed very simple to address. Now, there are two camps amongst the Muslims concerning this issue. One group of Muslims feel that it is the Christian’s right by virtue of historical precedence to use ‘Allah’ as denoting their version of God but another group of Muslims feel that the word ‘Allah’ is copyrighted only to Muslims.

Now, if I were of the second group (and I am not), I would simply practice tolerance and register my protest in a letter and publish it in the media without calling for the envoy to leave Malaysia. Did the envoy kill anyone? Did he shout abusive words against the Prophet? Did he call Malays stupid, arrogant and ‘muka tembok’ or ‘tak tau malu’?

Though I myself might entertain the thoughts of calling some Malays those expressive words, I do not recall that the envoy doing any of these. All he did was assert an academic argument based on historical precedence and he did them in a civil manner. We can also reciprocate by being civil and kindly tell him that such effort creates deep distress among Malays in Malaysia. That should have been enough.

Now the second case: the sex bloggers, who seemingly offended Muslims in their Facebook by eating bak kut teh and wishing a happy Ramadan. My first reaction to this incident was to find out who these two young people were. When I saw the sexually explicit images, I made my opinion about the kind of people these two were.

They were exhibitionists; those who were trying to capture people’s attention and relish the fame that comes with it. My next action was to call my ‘anak angkat’, a 35-year-old Chinese man and asked him what bak kut teh was. Does the dish always come with servings of pork meat or could it also come in serving of beef or chicken sometimes?

If it can be established that bak kut teh could be from beef, chicken or pork, I therefore cannot conclude that these two naughty bloggers were being disrespectful of Islam. But according to my ‘anak angkat’, bak kut teh is popularly understood as a pork dish. So now I ventured to think of what motive that these two had in doing the deed.

Were they, (a) having harmless fun so as to become famous or (b) making a strong political statement against some Malay political group that has been verbally attacking Chinese after the GE13?

If it were (a), I would simply ask or leave the matter with responsible Chinese leaders of this country to reprimand the deed and assure the Muslims that the Chinese culture has no place for such action. Done. I would have left it at that. The duo have apologised and that is more than enough for me.

Now, of course, some ultra Malays will accuse me of ‘bagi muka’, I will simply refer them to the Prophet’s story. Please tell the Prophet that he had ‘bagi muka’ to the Meccans, I dare you!  Now, what has happened? The sex bloggers are being quietly hailed as heroes because they have been denied bail, equating what they did to murder and rape seemingly.

Next, what if the bloggers were making a political statement? Now that would open up more than a can of worms where we would have to look at the destruction of our social fabric by certain Malays who threw salvos after salvos, accusing the Chinese of no end of faults just to hide their own private agendas and weaknesses. That would be another essay altogether.

Spirit of Ramadan

Finally, I wish to say that the month of Ramadan is a Great Sale of good deeds. Only in this month that Allah says he will multiply any good deed several hundred times. So, if you donate RM1, it would be recorded as you took out several rolls of hundred ringgit bills. So if you forgive a small deed, you will be rewarded like you have forgiven a great wrongdoing to your person.

But it is strange that many Malays who fast gain more weight in Ramadan by gorging themselves during breaking fast, many more fall sick by over-indulging themselves and many become more ill-mannered and intolerant.

Fasting, in Islam, is not only about controlling the urge to eat. More importantly, it is to control the ego and selfish thinking and replace it with the divine attribute of forgiveness, tolerance and magnanimity.

Our country can go far in harmonious living if Malays were to simply look and take heed of the Prophet’s example and not care about such selfish statements by some political personalities.

PROF DR MOHAMAD TAJUDDIN MOHAMAD RASDI is a 23-year veteran academic and teaches architecture at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. He specialises in mosque and Islamic architecture particularly that which relates to Malaysia using a hadith-based and socio-cultural approach in order to create the total idea of built environment suited for a whole social structure.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 26 July 2013, 1:30 am and is filed under
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One Indian’s response to Art and Zahid

 – Rama Ramanathan

The Malaysian Insider

July 26, 2013

Two articulate writers, both lawyers, both Muslims, both patriots, have commented on the Pristina primary school incident, which I too have commented on.

Art Harun’s piece
 is titled “Once we were beautiful.”

Art reminisces about his schooldays in a mixed race, English-stream primary school in the sixties. He names some of his Chinese, Indian and Malay teachers. He affectingly recalls being corrected by some of them. He notes it was then normal not to fast till year 5 and it was even normal, not disrespectful, to snack while walking about.

Art recounts his move to a “mixed” boarding school. He studied, played, ate and made mischief with friends who weren’t Malays. Inter-communal mixing was normal.

Art laments that “non-Muslims don’t send their kids to national school anymore,” preferring vernacular and private schools. He points out that now national schools require students to recite morning prayers, have walls adorned with Quranic verses and are filled with Malay/Muslim students.

Art’s point about the state of our schools today is:

“The small number of non-Malay kids also gives a sense of false superiority complex to the Malay kids as well as teachers. Thus, my race and my religion are more important than you, your religion and everything else.

Art says the superiority complex is the reason why “many national schools” close their school canteens during Ramadan, though that’s not the publicly offered reason.

Art’s view:
 Seri Pristina is only one of many national schools which close their canteens during Ramadan; canteens are closed because of a Malay superiority complex. The superiority complex arises from the “Islamization” of national schools and non-Muslims who’ve responded by sending their children to other schools. We used to be beautiful, and were journeying on a joyous path to victory. Not anymore.

Datuk Zaid Ibrahim’s piece
is titled “When will kindness prevail?”

Zaid’s first sentence is cautious. He says “if the reports . . . are correct.”

Then he marches on assuming the reports are correct. He uses words like fiasco, ugliness, marred, furore. He says he’s unsurprised at the predictable responses of Ministers. He reminds us of the 2010 incident when the Principal of a school in Johor made racist remarks against her Chinese and Indian charges. [What action was taken against her? Where is she now?]

Zaid gets to his explanation quickly. He says:

“What has happened is the result of heightened Malay-Muslim consciousness, promoted by politicians and Islamic bureaucrats who-under the cloak of race and in some cases religion or both – want to be identified as champions of their race and religion.”

Zaid shares his vision for Malaysia: a nation of equals. To this end, he encourages non-Malays and non-Muslims to stop being overly respectful of Malays and Muslims. He encourages them to stop staying “in the background” and instead stand up for their rights. The astute politician adds that he recognizes this is the rightful aspiration of the young. Then he says:

“The real culprits for the present day distortion are the Malays who always blame the Chinese for their shortcomings, and the false Muslim preachers who teach the Muslims to have an all-consuming fear of God but then conveniently forget that Allah commands us to look after our fellow beings more than ourselves.

What ails the country are these false teachings and false ideologies that are bereft of human decency and dignity, making meaningful relationships among the people of this country difficult to achieve.”

Zaid’s view:
 Seri Pristina is one of a continuing series of abuses of non-Muslim students by Malay/Muslim authorities; the root cause of the abuses is the inclination of Malay/Muslim leaders to blame “the Chinese” for weaknesses in their own communities; it’s made worse by non-Malays/Muslims resorting to submission instead of respectful challenge. Zaid wants the Prime Minister to “remove the distorting prism that guides our present actions purely on the basis of race or beliefs.”

My view

I salute Art and Zaid, both Malay/Muslims, for writing on this subject and for sharing their opinion that the root cause of this incident is an unchallenged, crude form of race/religion.

I am surprised that they both quickly assumed the worst, i.e. that only non-Muslims were required to use the shower room as a makeshift canteen. I attribute their quickness to their greater watchfulness over developments amongst Malays/Muslims.

I still maintain that everyone should be assumed innocent until proven guilty. The Head Master is as worthy of due process as the next suspect. [See my The Reason Cops Shouldn’t Abuse Suspects.]

It’s worth recalling the issues in the Seri Pristina incident, which incidentally, have not been addressed by the Deputy Prime Minister (who is also the Education Minister) and the Deputy Minister for Education: What’s the government policy with respect to operators of canteens in public schools closing for business during Ramadan? How many operators of canteens in public schools closed for business this Ramadan? What’s the government policy on where non-Muslim students may eat during school hours during the month of Ramadan? What’s the government policy on closing canteen buildings during school hours? Did the administrators of Sekolah Seri Pristina breach any established policies? Since this is now such a public incident, when will the Ministry complete the investigation and take appropriate action, if any, at Sekolah Seri Pristina? I am an Indian, though I like to think I am neighbour first.

I don’t know what right I have to speak for Indians, just as I don’t know what right Art and Zaid have to speak for Malays/Muslims. I suppose we speak because we can and because we feel it is part of our civic responsibility.

I am regarded as an Indian; I do not downplay my Indian heritage.

I am aware of the lack of credit given to my community for the growth of this nation

I am aware that public schools have done little to promote self-respect amongst Indians.

I am aware that Tamil schools have failed just as miserably.

I am aware of the bad press my community currently has in the area of armed robbery.

I am aware of frequent deaths in custody of persons from my community.

I am aware of many non-Indians who stand up for “Indians,” and vice versa.

I am also aware that many Indians use the “race/sensitivity” card. They adopt the Mahathir/Perkasa/Umno strategy and expect the same gains.

While we ask who speaks for the Malays/Muslims, let’s not fail to ask who speaks for the Indians and the Chinese. The answer, I think, is no one.

Even within communities people are not homogeneous: Christians have stopped counting the number of their denominations; Muslims disagree over who can call God “Allah.”

We have to stand up not only for “our own” rights, but also for the rights of others. At Sekolah Seri Pristina, and other schools nationwide, students and teachers should be reflecting on how they have stood up for the rights of persons who do not belong to their own communities. [Perhaps they are doing so. Isn’t this a great time to talk in schools about minority rights?]

Regardless of what actually happened in Seri Pristina – and we really do need to know – many of us, across racial divides, are sure that our nation and our schools are in bad shape because of our apathy in the face of strident, government-tolerated racism.

Can we stop ranting and braying? Can we work together to make things better? How can we oppose government-tolerated racism?

                This entry was posted on Friday, 26 July 2013, 8:40 am and is filed under
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ROS director-general’s groundless comment  clearest sign that UMN0/BN government may be preparing a Hari Raya surprise – deregistration of DAP on completely baseless and frivolous grounds

The Star report today
“Don’t harbour false hopes”
 quoting the ROS director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman is the clearest sign that the UMNO/BN government may be preparing a Hari Raya surprise – the deregistration of DAP on completely baseless and frivolous grounds.

The Star report is studded with false and groundless premises showing that the ROS director-general is acting in a completely improper, unfair and unprofessional manner not in keeping with the efficient, impartial and independent discharge of his public duties.

How can the ROS director-general comment on a completely fictitious scenario which is a total concoction or figment of imagination of the Umno/BN propagandists, cybertroopers and their agents, as if it is a fact?

The Star report headlined “Don’t harbour false hopes” states:

‘Don’t harbour false hopes’

PETALING JAYA: DAP members have been told not to harbour hopes of forming a new party if the Registrar of Societies (ROS) decides to de-register it.

ROS director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman said they would not likely entertain requests to set up a new party.

“They can apply. But the right to approve is with the ROS. We did not even entertain 29 applications to set up new parties submitted over the last five years,” he said yesterday.

He was asked to comment on the move by DAP members to look into establishing a new political party if de-registration was inevitable following complaints of election fraud in the DAP’s central executive committee (CEC) election in December.

The  notion of forming a new party if the DAP is deregistered had   never been raised or entertained by anyone in the DAP, whether leadership or membership, as there is no plausible ground for the deregistration of the DAP.

The fictitious scenario that there are DAP leaders or members who are preparing to establish a new political party allegedly “to purge political enemies” in the party is completely baseless, concocted by the UMNO/BN propagandists, cybertroopers and their agents to character-assassinate the DAP leadership.

But when such lies and falsehoods are accepted as if they are facts and truths as to warrant a comment by the ROS director-general, then the question of the independence, impartiality and professionalism of the ROS director-general immediately comes into question, raising the issue whether the ROS director-general was himself a party to the months of lies and falsehoods by Umno/BN propagandists, cybertroopers and their agents  falsely accusing the DAP of all sorts of improprieties in the party elections in the DAP national congress last December.

The ROS director-general made a cryptic remark in the Star report when he was asked “if the party should call for a fresh CEC election”, saying:

 “It is better for the party members and leaders to take the initiative to save the party rather than harbour false hopes of setting up a new one.”

Abdul Rahman should explain what he meant when referred to “the initiative to save the party” as up to now, the Party has not received any request in the past seven months for fresh CEC election. Only the Umno/BN propagandists, cybertroopers and their agents have been making noises in this regard in the past few  months.

With the approach of the Umno party elections at the end of the year, it is increasingly evident that the ROS decision on the DAP is not going to be a professional one, but a political one.

The ROS director-general and the UMNO/BN government should realise that the DAP will fight every inch of the way against any gross abuses of power affecting the future of DAP including the baseless and groundless deregistration of DAP.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 26 July 2013, 12:22 pm and is filed under
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Mahathir is trying to set the agenda for the upcoming UMNO party elections with his dangerous myth of “the Chinese dilemma” recklessly and falsely accusing the Chinese out to oust the political power of the Malays

When I contested in the Gelang Patah constituency in the 13th general election, former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad accused me of wanting to create a “racial confrontation” between the Malays and Chinese in Johore.

This was a pack of lies. In fact,  events have shown that it is Mahathir  in the past few months who has been trying to create a “racial confrontation”, particularly after the May 5 general election results, in his campaign to pit one race against another.

Mahathir is again up to his mischief in his opinion piece in the New Straits Times yesterday, concocting the  dangerous and false myth of “the Chinese dilemma”  of the Chinese making a grab to oust the political power of the Malays in Malaysia –  and trying  to set the agenda for the upcoming UMNO party elections.

Mahathir should know better than anyone  that because of the political and demographic realities in Malaysia, the political power of the Malays in Malaysia have never been in danger and there is no attempt by the Chinese or any other community to oust the political power of the Malays.

What is at stake is whether UMNO and UMNO-putras can continue with their politics of race, cronyism, corruption, abuses of power and impunity or whether they have to give way to a new Malaysian politics of  multi-racialism, good governance, public integrity, freedom and justice.

The challenges before Malaysians is not whether the Malays would lose political power but whether the 13th general elections has started a new political trend of more and more Malaysians, regardless of race, taking a stand against  the politics of race in support of multi-racial politics and the pursuit of the Malaysian Dream where all her citizens are united as one people, rising above their ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic differences as the common grounds binding them as one citizenship exceed the differences that divide them because of their ethnic, religious, linguistic and cultural divisions.

The future of Malaysia will depend on whether we have increasingly more Malaysians united in pursuit of  a common Malaysian Dream, and not for a Malay Dream, Chinese Dream, Kadazan Dream or Iban Dream.

Is the  top MCA leadership in agreement with Mahathir’s dangerous and desperate racist vituperations and if not, are they prepared to publicly condemn his dangerous  and desperate racist lies and concoction of “the Chinese dilemma” of the Chinese making a grab for political power to oust the political power of the Malays?

If Mahathir does not know or understand why MCA has lost all credibility and legitimacy as a political party, the reaction of the MCA top leadership to this poser should give him the proper insight and understanding.

But Does Mahathir really believe his own racist allegations, lies and his latest  wild “Chinese dilemma” myth?

Does Mahathir expect any sane and rational Malaysian, regardless of race, to believe in his racist fulminations of “the Chinese dilemma” that the Chinese are out to oust the political power of the Malays and to dominate Malaysian politics – which are complete figments of his imagination like his earlier wild allegations that I contested in Gelang Patah to create a racial confrontation and to incite Chinese to hate the Malays?

The most dismaying development in Malaysian politics is the reckless racist fulminations of Mahathir and his ilk, but there is no need for Malaysians to despair.

It is said that “every cloud has a silver lining” and the silver lining is that Mahathir is facing a diminishing market for his racist fulminations which will foil his attempt to pit the Malays against the Chinese and destroy the pursuit of the common Malaysian Dream of all patriotic Malaysians.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 27 July 2013, 3:43 pm and is filed under
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Clueless or opportunistic defenders of TITAS

 by Dr. Lim Teck Ghee

CPI

Saturday, 27 July 2013

Commentary

As soon as one academic government yes-man appears to retire from the public scene, another all too quickly rushes to fill the vacancy. The latest academic political wannabe is Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Prof. Teo Kok Seong who has said that the course would benefit the Chinese, and that Chinese leaders should support its introduction.

Offering little in the way of empirical evidence or intellectual argument, he has provided the breathtakingly brilliant and original insight that “TITAS in private higher institution is to resolve the issue faced by citizens who do not know our history and civilisation. The ultimate purpose is to create better understanding, foster unity and inculcate the development of a national identity.”

According to Prof. Teo as reported in Utusan Malaysia (23 July 2013), the compulsory teaching of the subject is to streamline the social sciences in public and private universities and to foster humanism in the undergrads.

And to drive home the importance of the compulsory subject, he links his defence of it to the lack of understanding among private school students “of the country’s history and the basics in the country as [seen in] the sex couple Alvin Tan and Vivian Lee….”, said a Malaysiakini report headlined ‘ Titas would benefit the Chinese, says don’ (July 23).

Prof. Teo appears bent on justifying his position as Research Fellow of the Institute of the Malay World and Civilization and the conferment of a Datukship on him.

If that is his intention, he should have gone further and asked perhaps for the public flogging of the couple and the withdrawal of citizenship of those against the Ministry of Education’s effort to create better understanding and greater unity among students. An even harder line would endear him more to the higher ups and secure greater official recognition.

Rafizi and Chun Wai: TITAS supporters

Unlike the clueless Professor, MP Rafizi Ramli has come out with a more reasoned piece to explain his support for the course. The article which has appeared in Harakah has been titled, “Armed with data, Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli shoots back at critics of TITAS”.

And what was the data presented to shoot down critics?

It was a table reproducing the breakdown of TITAS’s syllabus and showing how its “Islamic content” is equivalent to the other topics on Malay, Chinese and Indian civilisations, with 14 percent weightage of the total course.

The reproduction of the official syllabus appears to be the extent of the critical inquiry and homework that the MP has done in response to the concerns of members of the public. Surely Rafizi, who is well regarded for his sharp acumen, is not buying into the official propaganda sheet and should not behave as if he was the TITAS course public relations officer.

If so, he will be joining the group editor of The Star Wong Chun Wai (left), who in an opinion editorial piece rhapsodized over the course and how it had benefitted him in his profession and illuminated him on Islamic civilization.

Chun Wai’s experience of the course goes back to 30 years ago and it was in a completely different context from the present one – a context he has conveniently omitted mentioning.

He may have his strategically-mentioned “private decent collection” of books on Islam to brag about and as a showpiece for his guests to view but he really needs to send his reporters to do serious investigative work on the teaching of TITAS – and history in schools – and their shortcomings if his op ed is not to be rubbished as another fawning pro-government piece of propaganda.

Surely the elementary course “Media 101” would have taught him that any editor worthy of the profession’s ethics would put his staff to verify and write on the complaints and concerns of the public, especially on such an important issue.

Some key issues to address

As my views on the subject are well known, I will not repeat my arguments against the course, ad infinitum. I would like though to draw the attention of Prof. Teo, the PKR Pandan Yang Berhormat and the Star editor to the concerns raised by two commentators on the issue.

The first is from a good friend to me in private e-mail communication on the topic and which he has given permission to reproduce.

        “Given that this topic is a sensitive one and the undergraduate’s study load is not particularly light these days, we need to be rigorous right from the beginning and ask whether we really need this subject and does it need to be compulsory. Rafizi Ramli argues that the government should intervene in the affairs of the public to set values. For me there is a problem with how he interprets government intervention. I would not object to the government intervening as a counterbalance against a clear negative force (e.g., the great powers of organisations that are free to pursue the goal of profit maximisation). Government intervention and value-setting needs to be justified well and be democratically sanctioned. Or else government intervention could get out of hand. And so the government’s action to introduce TITAS should be deliberated upon with more care and discernment in this spirit. Way before saying “let’s go ahead and do it”, we must thrash out questions like: (i) what is the harm here that justifies introducing a compulsory subject of this nature; (ii) would introducing a compulsory subject minimise the harm identified in (i); (iii) how exactly does Rafizi Ramli expect TITAS to affect values in a beneficial way, what are the exact mechanisms involved here?

        Myrdal had argued in ‘The Political Element in The Development of Economic Theory’ (1929) that as objectively as an economist might like to treat a research topic, personal values and the values embedded in economic theory will creep into his study. This inescapable problem of an actor having his own value positions and these influencing his actions applies in the case of a government too, which clearly have ideologies, including ideological positions that not everyone in society might agree with (e.g., Umno’s ‘Ketuanan Melayu’). So although introducing civilisational studies might sound good in principle, in reality things are a lot messier than one might think. Who prepares the syllabus, their agenda, who teaches the syllabus, the institutional setting in which a subject is taught – all of this are susceptible value biases and subtle injections of partisan ideology. Rafizi Ramli overlooks this. He listed the equal weightage given to each civilisational topic and the study duration allocated for each, but what makes him think that the notes for one civilisational topic will not be longer than another, or that the merits of one civilisation will not be hyped up compared to another, or that one civilisation be painted in less flattering light that another (or selectiveness occurs with regards to the teaching material such that some information is suppressed to downplay some civilisations and elevate others)? This sorts of things have already happened in the Islamic Civilisation studies taught in Malaysian public universities – I am aware of a case in which an ustazah had ridiculed a non-Islamic faith in her lecture. The students kept quiet, she got away with it. Lastly, the title of the subject, ‘ Islamic Civilization and Asian Civilization’ (TITAS), already hints of a certain bias. Why not ‘Civilizational Studies’?”

The second is an excerpt from a reader in a national daily. Titled, “ Call for unbiased intellectual position’, the letter to the editor states:

 “In a classroom setting, with a teacher who is biased towards one religion, and then in a position to bias debate – [the answer is] no (to the question, “wouldn’t the country move forward and Malaysians be global citizens by learning about Islamic civilization”) [….]

    Moreover, regarding the academics who have been tasked to design, teach and evaluate the soundless of the university syllabus, there should be a duty to have only academics who can demonstrate neutrality on these issues.

    Malaysia is not in a strong position to produce such scholars, given its weak standing internationally in unbiased religious studies.

    That is especially true in a nation that actually imprisons ‘heterodox’ Muslims (such as Syia) or actively persecutes others (such as Ahmadiyya). Is it reasonable to expect in a nation with a government that engages in such persecution that it will allow such instruction to be academically unbiased?

    Moreover, in a nation that (the government) defines and mandates that an ethnicity (Malay) be defined as universally adherents of a religion (Sunni Islam), that it will allow such full academic freedom?

    Indeed, in a Malaysia in which academic freedom is generally viewed by those outside as being incomplete, as well as by some within, the onus must be on such academics to conclusively show that they are free of all such bias ab initio… “

Finally, it is necessary to pay heed to the response of young Malaysians who have recently undergone the course in the public institutions. Three of these responses which have appeared in the internet media are reproduced below.

1. “I was a student of UTM Skudai, and from my experience TITAS is just another religious class masked under the pretext of ’empowering students with world knowledge’. I have been in numerous arguments with my TITAS lecturers who belittled other religions at every turn. And the TAS part or Tamadun Asia Tenggara part is just a sham to touch on more Islamic civilization and administration across South East Asia. We already have 7 out of 11 topics in Form 4 Sejarah textbooks talking about Islam….”

2. “I was an undergraduate in UKM and did TITAS in 2005-2006. I have to agree …that the TITAS syllabus was heavily biased towards Islam as a religion. The author of the text book tried to justify every achievement by great Islamic scholars with quotes from Quran implying it was foretold…”

3. “One very simple solution to this issue: Remove the “Islam” word and anything in the syllabus that leans heavily towards any particular religion, and call the subject ‘Asian Civilizations’. The subject would immediately become interesting again, not a rehash of what we were forced to learn for 6 consecutive chapters in Form 4.”

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 28 July 2013, 10:52 am and is filed under
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Malaysia does not have a Chinese dilemma but a Mahathir dilemma

The author of “The Malay Dilemma” has tried to coin a new complex, “The Chinese Dilemma” which he defined as “whether the Chinese in Malaysia should make a grab for political power while dominating economic power or to adhere to the principle of sharing which has made this country what it is today”.

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad is making history in  coining a complex which exists only in his febrile imagination, as it does not afflict any single Chinese in Malaysia – whether in Pakatan Rakyat or Barisan Nasional!

I will like to know whether there is any Chinese in Malaysia who will stand up and state that Mahathir is right that there is such a “Chinese dilemma” in Malaysia!

Only an inveterate racist like Mahathir could interpret the 13th general elections as a “grab for political power” by the Malaysian Chinese, when it was in fact the historic moment when Malaysians regardless of race, religion or region rallied behind the Pakatan Rakyat parties of PKR, PAS and DAP in pursuit of a common Malaysian Dream in  an effort to bring about a change of Federal government in Putrajaya, for the first time in the nation’s 55-year history.

I had gone on public record before and during the 13th General Elections that my dream result for the 13GE was PR winning with a good and comfortable majority of at least 125 parliamentary seats – with a distribution of 45 MPs for PKR and 40 MPs each for DAP and PAS.

Let Mahathir spell out how such a “dream result” of a PR win of the Federal government in Putrajaya could  be interpreted by any stretch of imagination as a  “grab for political power” by the Chinese in Malaysia, ousting Malay political power in Malaysia.

Malay political power was never in danger in the 13GE as what was at stake was whether UMNO/BN political power and their politics of race, corruption, cronyism and abuses of power can withstand the challenge of Pakatan Rakyat and the politics of multi-racialism, good governance, public integrity, freedom and justice.

Malaysia does not have “the Chinese Dilemma” but only “the Mahathir Dilemma” – the spectacle of the 88-year-old former Prime Minister showing utter disrespect to the holy month of Ramadan in spearheading a campaign of lies and falsehoods revolving around his dangerous myth of “the Chinese Dilemma”, alleging that the Malays are facing a challenge from the Chinese who want to oust them of their political power.

Within 24 hours of Mahathir’s dangerous and provocative lies about “the Chinese Dilemma” and  the dangerous and baseless myth of a Chinese grab for political power of the Malays, Umno cybertroopers have responded with more racist, inflammatory and seditious lies on the social media, including a blog dated today (28th July 2013)  which alleged that the DAP had formed a new “army” of propagandists (over and above the earlier ludicrous allegation of DAP’s “Red Bean Army” of 3,000 cybertroopers) to promote a Malaysian republic, and to  abolish both  the system of Malay sultanate as well as the position of Islam as the official religion in the country.

What Malaysia needs today is a Malaysian statesman and not an inveterate and unrepentant Malay racialist – especially from one who was the longest-serving Prime Minister for 22 years.

This is the real dilemma for Malaysia – “the Mahathir dilemma” and not the fictitious “Chinese dilemma”.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 28 July 2013, 5:13 pm and is filed under
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BN must stay in tune with the middle class, says Musa Hitam

The Malaysian Insider

July 29, 2013

The Malaysian middle class is “no pushover”, and the Barisan Nasional (BN) must seriously address its concerns such as corruption and misuse of power, former deputy prime minister Tun Musa Hitam told The Straits Times.

“When Malaysians are critical, it shouldn’t be dismissed as them being destructive or negative. We should respect them. The middle class today thinks very differently, and the challenge for the leadership is that it should be one step ahead but it has not even kept up,” the Singapore daily quoted him as saying in the republic.

“That is the problem. We (the government) have provided education to them, but yet, we’ve become less educated and haven’t changed our mindset,” he told The Straits Times in an interview on Thursday.

Malaysians have become considerably more vocal about their social, economic and political views and their demands of the government, the daily noted.

It said their disenchantment, particularly in the cities, can be gleaned from the outcome of the general election in May – BN was able to remain in power, but a significant chunk of the urban middle-class votes went to the opposition.

The 79-year-old Musa campaigned for BN at the recent polls in his home state of Johor, as did other party veterans but the ruling coalition only managed to get 133 federal seats in Election 2013, down seven from the 140 in the 2008 polls.

He also unflinchingly said the top Umno posts should be open for contest as that was in keeping with the basic principles of democracy.

“The argument that if you contest, it will divide the party, is nonsense,” he said bluntly.

“That is merely a political argument that serves the incumbents or those who worry about their positions,” he said in response to questions about whether the top posts in Umno ought to be challenged during the much-anticipated party polls to be held in a few months time.

This year’s party polls are crucial as they will decide the future of Malaysia’s leadership. Currently at the helm is party president Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak. His deputy is Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who many perceive to be one of the challengers for Umno’s presidency, the paper said.

Musa was the country’s deputy prime minister and Umno’s deputy president between 1981 and 1986, when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was prime minister.

The articulate and generally well-liked former politician stepped down from his DPM post after a fallout with Dr Mahathir.

Except for a brief, failed attempt to return to politics shortly in a bid with Tengku Razaleigh at ousting Dr Mahathir in the 1987 Umno elections, Musa walked away from the political arena and has remained out of it. – July 29, 2013.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 29 July 2013, 9:14 am and is filed under
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Onus is on UMNO Youth and Utusan Malaysia to substantiate their allegation that “The New Village” glorified the MCP and demonised the police and soldiers

In today’s  Malaysiakini  report
“Unfair to ban ‘New Village’ on trailer alone, says Shabery”
, the Communications and Multimedia Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek said he was not surprised that the film had drawn protests from UMNO Youth and party-owned Utusan Malaysia as I too “over-reacted” to another controversial “Tanda Putera” film after the screening of its trailer.

He said it is unfair to judge ‘The New Village’ based on its trailer release along and said a “rational” decision must now be made on its fate.

I invite Shabery to specify how I had “over-reacted” to “Tanda Putera” after the screening of its trailer, as I had never seen the trailer of “Tanda Putera”.

My first statement on Tanda Putera is available on my blog, dated 4th August 2012, as follows:

Tanda Putera’s “urination” episode – downright lie and dangerous falsehood

Despite his 1Malaysia signature slogan, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is continuing to allow his UMNO/Barisan Nasional election campaign machineries to disseminate downright lies and dangerous falsehoods calculated to incite racial hatred and undermine national unity with the approach of the 55th National Day and 49th Malaysia Day celebrations.

One of these “downright lies and dangerous falsehoods” flooding the UMNO/BN social media and exploited by the 10,000 UMNO/BN cybertroopers is that I had caused the May 13 riots in 1969 through shouting the most racist slogans in the streets of Kuala Lumpur on May 11, 12 and 13, 1969.

Despite my firm denial of these wild and reckless allegations in my speech in Parliament on March 22, 2012, declaring that I was never in Kuala Lumpur on May 11, 12 and 13, 1969, these “downright lies and dangerous falsehoods” have continued to make their rounds in leaps and bounds in the cyberspace.

On 20th July 2012, Malaysiakini carried the following report
“New May 13 movie courts controversy”
:

New May 13 movie courts controversy

Tanda Putera, the latest offering from local director Shuhaimi Baba, has received flak over what some say is a skewed re-telling of what happened during the 1969 race riots.

A few film critics have accused the RM4.8 million movie of demonising early leftist movements and more hero-worship than tribute to former premier Abdul Razak Hussein, who is Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s father.

The trailer for the movie – fully funded by the National Film Development Corporation (Finas) and the Multimedia Development Corporation (Mdec) – showed scenes of Chinese mobs marching through the streets of Kuala Lumpur after the success of the opposition parties in municipal elections.

One group was depicted bearing the Labour Party flag, while that scene and others also showed Chinese Malaysians bearing banners proclaiming anti-Malay slogans.

The banners written in Chinese characters depicted slogans that translated into ‘Malays go back to the village’, ‘Malays go die’ and ‘Take revenge’.

Garnering more serious brickbats are snippets from the movie’s official Facebook page which detailed scenes apparently slated to be included in the final cut of the movie.

One apparent scene was that of DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang purportedly urinating on a flagpole in front of the then-Selangor menteri besar’s residence.

“Lim Kit Siang telah kencing di bawah tiang bendera Selangor yang terpacak di rumah menteri besar Selangor ketika itu, Harun Idris, (Lim Kit Siang had urinated at the foot of the flagpole bearing the Selangor flag at the then Selangor MB’s Harun Idris’ house)” read the caption of a photo of the actor portraying Lim being manhandled.

The photo was posted in the album titled ‘Peristiwa-peristiwa yang dimuatkan di dalam filem ini’ (Events depicted in this movie).

However, the photo and caption has since been removed from the movie’s official page, though Malaysiakini had captured a screenshot of the earlier posting.

Those in the industry who have watched the movie in a special preview on Wednesday to focus groups also said that no urinating scene was included in the preview cut.

There was also no mention of the scene in the movie’s script, a copy of which was obtained by Malaysiakini.

Lim had vehemently denied that the DAP was involved in instigating the race riots of 1969, and had said that he was not in Kuala Lumpur on May 13 when the initial violence took place.

Director: Better for people to watch it first

When contacted, Tanda Putera’s director refused comment on the matter, arguing that the movie should be screened to the public first before it can be reviewed.

“I am loath to answer that question as people have not watched the film yet. It is better for them to have watched it first,” said Shuhaimi.

Scheduled for release two months from now on Sept 13, Finas has however had put off the release of the movie until a later date, yet to be announced.

While earlier it was reported that the postponement was because of the impending general election, Finas later clarified that it was because they wanted to prolong promotional activities.

Some netizens has also attacked the movie’s storyline for apparently being an attempt at brown-nosing to the powers-that-be and a propaganda piece to drum up support for the ruling coalition.

The movie has been screened to focus groups since last week, gaining brickbats from some and praise from others such as Umno-linked blogger Papagomo, who posted a glowing review of the movie after watching it with fellow bloggers.

“We who have watched the movie shed tears several times and truly I feel that the film shall touch the hearts of not only the Malays about May 13, but also all races in Malaysia,” wrote the blogger in a posting.

Shuhaimi told the media that the movie focused on what she claimed is a special relationship between Razak and his then deputy Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, both aristocrats who sacrificed a lot to work together to save Malaysia from radicals and communists.

Hence, she said, that was the message behind the title of the movie, Tanda Putera, or signs of the greatness of princes or the legacy of princes.

Speaking to the media, Shuhaimi has defended her depiction of the scenes as being from the official version of history and from interviews with personalities who were present then.

I was in Sabah on July 20 on a three-day visit with DAP MP for Segambut Lim Lip Eng. On the very same night at the DAP Inaman Sepanggar ceramah, I referred to the Malaysiakini report on the May 13 film and denied in the strongest possible terms that I had “urinated at the foot of the flagpole bearing the Selangor flag at the then Selangor MB’s Harun Idris’ house” as earlier claimed by the movie earlier Facebook page, and sparking the May 13 riots as I was simply not in Kuala Lumpur on May 11, 12 and 13 of 1969!

Even the photograph that was used in the movie’s earlier Facebook page was not a photograph taken in 1969 but was from a different incident in Sabah 15 years later in 1984!

In the past fortnight, the legion of UMNO/BN cybertroopers have escalated their campaign of downright lies and dangerous falsehoods based on the movie’s “urination” episode to incite racial hatred and undermine national unity – completely oblivious that this is the month when all Malaysians should make a special effort to come together as Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region to emphasise and underline their common identity as Malaysians.

The spokepersons of the movie have said that the film was based on a lot of research, such as studying documented materials and photographs, to make sure the scenes were backed by historical facts.

Where were the documented materials and photographs that I had urinated “at the foot of the flagpole…at the Selangor MB Harun Idris’ house” on May 11, 12 or 13, 1969 when I was never in Kuala Lumpur? For that matter, where are the documented materials or photographs to show that there was such an incident and that it was not a mere figment of the imagination?

The White Paper issued by the National Operations Council in 9th October 1969 entitled “The May 13 Tragedy” made no reference to any such urination incident.

If the movie Tanda Putraja gives a biased and unbalanced account of the May 13 tragedy in 1969, it will be the cause of grave national misunderstanding and discord on the occasion of the 55th National Day/49th Malaysia Day, making a total mockery of the 1Malaysia objective to build a united Malaysian nation!

Can Shabery point out how I had “over-reacted” to the film ‘Tanda Putera’?

In the case of ‘The New Village’, I have not seen the film but  UMNO Youth and Utusan Malaysia’s allegation that it “glorified” the Malayan Communist Party as heroes and  put the Malay Army Regiment, the police and British soldiers as “enemies and bad people”, is not substantiated by the trailer of the ‘The New Village”.

The onus is therefore on the UMNO Youth and Utusan Malaysia to substantiate their allegation that “The New Village” glorified the MCP and demonised the police and soldiers at the time.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 29 July 2013, 7:15 pm and is filed under
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Aunty Bersih, Annie Ooi

by Allan CF Goh

(Also Dedicated To Other Unsung Heroes)

Dear Aunty Bersih,

Your frail look belies your strength.

Despite being gassed, sprayed,

Your faith is firmly entrenched.

You dared the hardship

Of marching for a true cause,

Even though harassed,

Even though at a great cost.

Your constant belief

Of a better Malaysia,

Full of real justice,

Filled full of fair ambrosia,

Joins the people’s dream.

Your hope of a tomorrow,

Free of racism,

Radiates folks’ vision hallow.

You want a country

Of one-people, one-nation,

Suffused with respect,

Thriving with creative passion.

You inspire all,

To stand solid for our right,

In spite of foul threats

From sycophants of the might.

You are not afraid

Of going to the prison,

In defiance of

All the vile, racist poison.

Malaysians salute

You, deep in our mind and heart.

Together, let’s fight

Politics’ putrid black art.

United, let’s fight

Those nefarious corruption,

And cronyism,

And foul discrimination.

Through your example,

You have set the righteous tone.

Others will follow,

You will never walk alone.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 30 July 2013, 9:41 am and is filed under
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Dr M and the Malays

Mariam Mokhtar

Malaysiakini

Jul 29, 2013

If some of you think that this nation is in a mess, then blame the Malays because they are the problem. Malays know that Malaysia is not the land of gold and honey any longer.

In these difficult times, they have become more aware of their surroundings; but one other person has noticed this sea-change in the Malays.

mahathir and malay peopleHe is former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad. He knows that a thinking and independent Malay is detrimental to his legacy, his creation – Umno-Baru – and to the well-being of his family’s fortunes. Today’s self-aware Malay is Mahathir’s downfall.

Malays are in positions of power in government and the civil service. They dictate policies and run the wheels of government; but Malays are also the nation’s worst hypocrites.

They are greedy. They are happy with short-term solutions. They do not think of the consequences. They are happy to hide behind the cloak of race and religion if it will bring them some material benefit or status. The day they lose everything is probably the day they will regain their humility, values and self-respect.

With the downturn in the economy, Malays have noticed that jobs are hard to come by, that only the chosen Malays receive government tenders, and that the cost of living is increasing. Scholarships for the poor Malay child are snapped up by children of Umno Baru politicians and cronies, leaving only a few places for the needy.

Crime is rife and foreigners are a common sight in every community, schools and hospitals. The Malay market-trader has to compete with a foreigner, who is willing to work harder for less money. Children in the rural areas are disillusioned and difficult to motivate. Many drift to the cities looking for jobs, then find that there are no jobs, so they add to the Mat Rempit menace.

The most privileged section of the community also has the highest proportion of drug users. Why are Malays more prone to drug addiction? Are they trying to escape reality? People who volunteer in charitable organisations allege that Malays have the highest incidence of problems, ranging from domestic violence to sexually transmitted diseases, and sexual problems such as rape, incest and illegitimate children.

Corruption is killing the country, but Malays are quite happy with the RM50 or RM500 offered by Umno Baru. The muftis order ridiculous fatwas and Friday sermons are politicised, but few Malays voice their objections. If this were Indonesia, the Indonesians would have walked out of the mosques, in protest.

Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim nation. If Indonesian women were subjected to acts of humiliation, many Indonesian women and men would have picketed to protest and demand that stern action be taken. Malay women would rather watch the latest TV soap.

Exacting vengeance

Malays are aware that government tenders above a certain value involve bribery but will they lodge complaints? Perhaps, they are aware that nothing will be done. The people who head these anti-graft bodies are Malay.

Malays know that cheating was rife in GE13 and in the by-election in Kuala Besut on July 24. It appears that Malays were more concerned about getting in the queue for their “travel allowance”, than stopping corruption.

The hundreds of millions of ringgit should instead have been pumped into schemes to benefit the community. The scoundrels are the Election Commission (EC) chairperson and his deputy; both Malays. Men who lack principle and dignity are championed by Umno-Baru.

Umno Baru seems to be promoting the Malays, whereas Pakatan Rakyat appears to be inclusive of all Malaysians, but the irony is that the only way for Malays to prosper is to vote against Umno-Baru and ensure that Pakatan forms the next government.

Mahathir knows which buttons to push. He is good at making you react, he excels at getting your attention and is pleased when you become all worked up – his expertise is that of a master manipulator. Mahathir would have made a better psychiatrist than a general practitioner.

Those who claim that Mahathir’s policies “help” the Malays, are wrong. What he does under the pretext of helping Malays is designed to have the opposite effect. He is exacting his own vengeance on the Malays. Sadly, the Malays are too blind or stupid to notice.

When Mahathir was a child, which traumatic episode in particular made him turn against the Malays? He appears to be torn between pleasing the Malays, so that he is accepted by them, but at the same time is driven by feelings of guilt, to redeem himself for being cast as an outsider.

Was he teased in the school playground and called derogatory names pertaining to his background? Was he ashamed of being registered as an Indian at medical school in Singapore? Despite having a Malay mother, did elite Malays, royalty and the community treat Mahathir as an outsider? Did an incident deprive Mahathir of a deep emotional connection with the Malay community, which fostered a deep seated envy of the Malays?

This week, Mahathir has again tried to pit Malays against Chinese, and vice-versa; he queried whether the Chinese wanted to share, or to seize power, in Malaysia.

The non-Malay colleagues or beneficiaries of Mahathir’s largesse are silent. If they are angry with Mahathir, none would dare voice their objections publicly. Mahathir knows that patronage has its advantages, and its limits.

Poor-quality leaders

Today, we are a nation divided along racial and religious lines and all of us are to blame. From the beginning, Mahathir had a racist agenda. The Malays were mesmerised by Mahathir’s spin but then, the non-Malays are not entirely innocent.

In the WikiLeaks cables released in April 2013, it was revealed that the US embassy expressed surprise that Mahathir had been appointed deputy PM in 1976, but they were probably more amazed by the lack of opposition from the non-Malays despite Mahathir’s “Malay chauvinism”.

Francis T Underhill Jr, the ambassador at the time noted that “… the small, predominantly Chinese Democratic Action Party (DAP) has expressed some concern over Mahathir’s past record but has not openly opposed his selection. Other Chinese parties or politicians have either not commented or have welcomed Mahathir’s appointment in a pro forma manner”.

Malaysia does not have a Malay or a Chinese dilemma. Our only dilemma is Mahathir. His latest outburst about the Chinese seizing power is merely a side-show. He wants to deflect attention from the greatest show in Malaysia, the Umno Baru general assembly.

Behind the scenes, the Malays in Umno-Baru are positioning themselves, like pieces on a chess board. The rakyat’s problem is that we have poor quality Malay Umno Baru leaders, who only want to maintain their vested interests.

Malays are the problem of this country but they could also be the solution. Right now, any aspiring Malay who wants to be leader must listen to the needs of the lower-income groups and families with aspiration. He must address concerns of the rakyat like illegal immigration, corruption, education and rising crime.

Nothing gives Mahathir a greater sense of schadenfreude than seeing the Malays suffer, despite the Ketuanan Melayu and Umno Baru.

——————————————————————————–

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a non-conformist traditionalist from Perak, a bucket chemist and an armchair eco-warrior. In ‘real-speak’, this translates into that she comes from Ipoh, values change but respects culture, is a petroleum chemist and also an environmental pollution-control scientist.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 30 July 2013, 12:12 am and is filed under
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Malaysia’s crime situation would not have deteriorated to present depths of  Sanjeevan/Najadi shootings and recent spate of murders/attempted murders by firearms if IPCMC had been formed in past 7 years to eradicate police corruption and wrongdoings

There was little credibility when it was reported in June that an Internet survey listed Kuala Lumpur among the most dangerous cities in the world – the sixth most dangerous city in the world after San Pedro Sula in Honduras, Ciudad Huarez in Mexico, Maceio in Brazil, Acapulco in Mexico and Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt.

But there was even less credibility when the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and the Home Minister claimed for the past two years that Malaysia is the safest country in South-East Asia.

The tragedy after the 13th General Election on May 5, 2013 is that Malaysia seems set to want to prove that Malaysia is an increasingly dangerous country rather than the safest country in the region, with the police and government authorities continuing  to dismiss the feeling and conviction by the majority of Malaysians of rising crime and being unsafe in the country as  only a matter of perception not backed up by official crime statistics,  Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and National Key Results Area (NKRA) findings and reports.

The shooting and attempted assassination of whistleblower MyWatch Chairman R. Sri Sanjeevan, the shooting and killing of Arab Malaysian Bank founder Hussain Ahmad Najadi and the recent spate of murders and attempted murders by firearms have given Malaysia a bad name internationally as a country which is unsafe for her people,  visitors and investors with far-reaching effects for Malaysia’s economic future  and tourist prospects.

How did Malaysia descend to such depths of increasing criminality and deterioration of public safety despite all the hullabaloo about Government Transformation Programme and National Key Results Areas (NKRAs) which placed fighting and reducing  crime as one of its top six priorities in the past four years?

Malaysia is establishing a world record of a country where its GTPs,  NKRAs and PKIs about reducing crime have resulted in  worsening crime situation as to reach uncontrollable levels  despite beautiful charts, graphs and statistics of official reports and findings pointing to the contrary!

There can be no doubt that the crime situation had worsened after the 13th general election despite having a new Home Minister and a new Inspector-General of Police, and the public launch of a “war against crime” by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak in the middle of last month.

The official claim of success in reducing the crime index by 26.8% since the first phase of the GTP in 2009 cannot hide the fact of a growing gulf between the police’s claims and the people’s perception and fear of crime not only from their direct and indirect experience with rampant crime but the government’s inability to instill public confidence that the police can protect the safety and security of citizens, tourists and investors.

This gulf has become wider in the past three months after the general elections, with the rise of a new criminal menace after the mass armed gang robberies of customers and owners of open restaurants and eateries – the easy access to firearms and their rampant use for murders and attempted murders.

The Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, in response to his predecessor Tan Sri Musa Hassan’s suspicion that the attempt to murder Sanjeevan was linked to his recent expose on police personnel with crime syndicates links, said the police were willing to let an independent body investigate allegations of wrongdoings and corruption in the force as the police had nothing to hide.

I do not believe Malaysia’s crime situation would have deteriorated to the prevent depths as illustrated by the Sanjeevan and Najadi shootings and the  recent spate of murders/attempted murders by firearms if  the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) as proposed by the Dzaiddin Police Royal Commission of Inquiry in 2006  had been formed in past seven years to eradicate police corruption and wrongdoings.

Najib said today that he is prepared to consider “anything” the police needs to fight serious crime.

Is the Prime Minister prepared to consider “anything” the people needs to fight serious crime?

Is the Prime Minister prepared to introduce a bill to establish the long-awaited IPCMC in the September meeting of Parliament as an IPCMC will go a long way not only to restore public confidence in the efficiency, independence and professionalism of the police but will make a major contribution in the war against crime, including serious crime,  by ensuring greater police commitment and professionalism in the war against crime in the country.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 30 July 2013, 2:44 pm and is filed under
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Fitch pushes Malaysia’s credit rating outlook to negative

The Malaysian Insider

July 31, 2013

Global ratings agency Fitch Ratings has revised Malaysia’s sovereign credit rating outlook from stable to negative as the possibility of addressing public finance weaknesses has deteriorated after Election 2013.

The news comes as the Malaysian ringgit slid to three-year lows against the US dollar and 15-year lows against the Singapore dollar, making imports more expensive while exports would be cheaper although exports have slipped.

But it affirmed the country’s long-term foreign and local currency issuer default ratings at A- and A, respectively.

“Malaysia’s public finances are its key rating weakness. Federal government debt rose to 53.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) at end-2012, up from 51.6 percent at end-2011 and 39.8 percent at end-2008.

“The general government budget deficit (Fitch basis) widened to 4.7 percent of GDP in 2012 from 3.8 percent in 2011, led by a 19 percent rise in spending on public wages in a pre-election year,” it said.

But Fitch believed that it would be difficult for Putrajaya to achieve its interim 3 percent federal government deficit target for 2015 without additional consolidation measures.

“Fitch sees risks even to the achievement of the agency’s 3.5 percent deficit projection, as this already factors in one percentage point of GDP of spending cuts.

“This leaves Malaysia’s public finances more exposed to any future negative shock,” it said.

It pointed out that Putrajaya’s contingent liabilities were on the rise and its debt guaranteed rose to 15.2 percent of GDP by end-2012 from 9.0 percent at end-2008, as state-owned enterprises (SoEs) participated in a government-led investment programme.

“Also, Malaysia’s fiscal revenue base is low at 24.7 percent of GDP, against an ‘A’ range median of 32.8 percent. Fitch has long emphasised two key budgetary vulnerabilities: reliance on petroleum-derived revenues and the high and rising weight of subsidies in expenditure. Fitch estimated that petroleum-derived revenues contributed 33.7 percent of federal revenues in 2012,” the ratings agency said.

“We believe the lack of progress on structural budgetary reform could be due to the general elections, resulting in the government delaying its reform. The situation was compounded by the Umno general election that has been set on October 5.

“Indeed, the government has since put on hold its subsidies rationalisation, after it last cut its fuel subsidies in December 2010. This was made worse by fiscal transfer in 2012 and 2013 to help ease people’s financial burden,” Fitch said.

It pointed although the subsidies were projected to fall, it remained sizeable and accounts for 18 percent of the revenue in 2013 (+21.3 percent in 2012), which was still uncomfortably high.

“Way back in the early 2000s, the subsidies only accounted for 2.9-7.8 percent of revenue in 2000-2004, compared with an average of 18.0 percent a year in 2008-12.

“We expect the government to resume its fiscal reform once the Umno election is over. This may help to convince Fitch that the government is committed to bring down its budget deficit through fiscal reform including rationalisation of subsidies and implementation of the goods & services tax (GST) to broaden the government’s tax base,” it said.

But it also affirmed the Short-Term Foreign Currency IDR at F2 and the Country Ceiling at A. Despite the weaknesses, the rating house also acknowledged the strengths in the composition of Malaysia’s debt and its funding base.

“Federal Government debt is overwhelmingly denominated in local currency (97 percent at end-2012) and has a smooth maturity profile.

“Sovereign funding conditions benefit from deep domestic capital markets and from the role of the broader public sector in funnelling savings to the Government,” it stated.

Fitch also said Malaysia’s credit fundamentals were weak by a range standards, as the average income level of US$10,400 (RM33,597) in 2012 was closer to the BBB range median of US$11,300 than the A median of US$18,600.

“Its overall level of development and standards of governance are also considered weak for its A- rating. Fitch’s Banking System Indicator of bbb suggests the standalone strength of Malaysian banks does not weigh on the credit profile.

However, Malaysia’s high level of private sector leverage is a risk from a credit perspective,” it said, pointing out it reached 118 percent of GDP at end-2012, above the ‘A’ median 94 percent.

Malaysia’s household debt also rose from a low of 60.4 percent in 2008 to 81.1 percent of GDP in 2012 and further to 82.9 percent in March 2013 but RHB Research said it was set to rise further given that household loans in the banking system continued to outpace the growth of GDP currently. – July 31, 2013.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 31 July 2013, 12:30 pm and is filed under
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For Sakmongkol AK47, Malaysia’s future lies beyond just Umno

by Jennifer Gomez

The Malaysian Insider

July 31, 2013

Datuk Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz does an admirable job of selling the DAP.

He marvels at the way 38 of his party men won their parliamentary seats with sparse resources; he calls his colleagues the most well-prepared team in the House; he says that he feels nothing but comfort with this group who fight for good government and good governance.

“They are committed and dedicated, and I never feel infringed or overwhelmed by the Chinese nature of DAP. I feel very comfortable being in their environment and they have never stopped me from speaking out about Malay issues,” Mohd Ariff told The Malaysian Insider in an interview.

Now comes the hard part for the former Umno state assemblyman who contested and won the Raub parliamentary seat in the white of DAP: help the party officials convince more Malays across the country that the party of Lim Kit Siang, Karpal Singh, Lim Guan Eng are not the ogres or threat to their political power as sketched by Umno leaders, most recently former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“We have to destroy the myth that DAP is bad for the Malays. We are not out to grab political power despite what Mahathir is asserting.

“Even if all the Chinese were to unite under one banner, it is mathematically impossible, they would only form 24 percent, and Mahathir knows this,” said the ardent blogger who goes with the nom de guerre Sakmongkol AK47.

In an opinion piece in the New Straits Times, Dr Mahathir said that the DAP had persuaded the Chinese voters to reject the concept of power sharing and make a grab for political power. The former prime minister was slammed for his skewed view and reminded that Malays, Chinese and Indians supported Pakatan Rakyat in GE13.

Mohd Ariff recognises the scaremongering tactic and knows that it is targeted at mainly rural folk. His job was to convince Malays that reassertion of rights and privileges would not solve their poverty and economic woes, which can only be addressed by a good government with good policies.

“After 55 years of Umno rule, the Malays are still lagging behind. Compare that with the fact that almost all who hold positions of power are Malays.

“To me this shows that they are only helping the privileged Malays,” he said, adding that corruption, nepotism and cronyism, which he said was part of Umno’s political DNA, convinced him to leave Umno in January last year and become one of a sprinkling of Malays in the DAP.

He knows that persuading the Malays that the DAP is not to be feared will not be a walk in the park but facing tough challenges does not give him wobbly knees.

A one-term state assemblyman in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s constituency between 2004-2008, he spent the last few years in political wilderness.

He became a blogger and found a following with his biting commentaries on politics, especially on the shenanigans within Umno.

In late 2011, his articles caught the eye of DAP’s national organising secretary Anthony Loke. A series of meetings followed and on January 8 2012, Mohd Ariff and a fellow blogger Aspan Alias attended the DAP convention as observers.

Later that day, secretary general Lim Guan Eng told us he was going to make an announcement that we were joining the party. There were no promises of being given positions in the party or being fielded as a candidate in GE13.

But just before the elections on May 5, Mohd Ariff was given a letter, naming him as the DAP’s candidate for Raub, the seat owned by the MCA for decades.

Just a sparse letter from the party headquarters without any election funds enclosed.

“So its sendiri cari. Imagine all of us DAP candidates using our own resources to fight formidable enemies who have unlimited resources,” he recalled.

He polled 23,415 votes against the 20,601 votes obtained by Barisan Nasional’s Hoh Khai Mun.

“It was good timing for a Malay to be standing in Raub. The seat had been contested by a Chinese for over 40 years,” he said, pointing out that Malays, who make up 49 percent of voters in the constituency, wanted a Malay representative.

In the interview with The Malaysian Insider, Mohd Ariff also spoke about:

– Najib and the coming Umno elections

Najib will face his toughest challenge as a leader in the coming Umno elections.

“The ground is clamouring for an assertive leader, which Najib is not. As a person, he is decent, I have benefitted from his personal kindness. But in terms of leadership, he does not possess Mahathir’s critical thinking. Right or wrong, Mahathir decides, whereas Najib is indecisive, and reluctant to surround himself with good people,” he added.

“Najib’s philosophy is to keep close to him those who support him as Umno president, so that he can stay on as PM. This is wrong, selfish and not good for the country,” he asserted.

– On future leaders of Malaysia

Mohd Ariff added that the future of the country belonged to the likes of Umno youth chief Khairy Jamaludin, and opposition MPs such as Rafizi Ramli, Dr Ong Kian Ming, Liew Chin Tong, Tony Pua and Anthony Loke, labelling them as change agents for a better Malaysia.

He, however, cautioned that Khairy’s career in Umno politics could be shortlived, given that older politicians in Umno did not like him, because sometimes his views did not gel with those espoused by the ruling party. – July 31, 2013.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 31 July 2013, 2:41 pm and is filed under
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Muhyiddin should apologise for jumping the gun in falsely blaming non-Muslim “callousness towards Islam and Muslim sensitivities” for the latest controversial 1.44 minute video

Two days ago, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin expressed concern over racial polarisation in the country “as the trend now is as if the people are getting more hypersensitive”.

Muhyiddin is right except that he has himself been the problem instead of being the solution to the problem of racial polarisation.

This is best illustrated by Muhyiddin’s strong reaction yesterday deploring “the callousness of some towards Islam and Muslim sensitivities” which he said could spark unrest and create discord among the people.

He said he was perplexed as to why some quarters were out to undermine Islam and Muslims.

He said: “Is this a manifestation of the assumption of some quarters that we (Muslims) are weak and that they could walk all over us?  Or that we are afraid to react when others insult the sanctity of Islam?

“Could they be simply ignorant and not understand the values of faith?

“No Muslim has made fun of other faiths.”
(New Straits Times p.6 31/7/13)

Muhyiddin was referring to a 1.44 minute video which showed an individual walking three dogs near a mosque with the takbir raya playing in the background.

Muhyiddin wanted the authorities to take swift action to prevent a recurrence, saying:

“Unfortunately, it keeps happening. We hope it will not reach a stage where it can trigger chaos, as what is happening in other Muslim nations.”

Muhyiddin said Malaysia was a blessed and prosperous nation where its people were privileged to perform their daily routine in peace. The people should not take the peace and harmony for granted.

Muhyiddin should apologise for jumping the gun in falsely blaming non-Muslim “callousness towards Islam and Muslim sensitivities” for the latest controversial 1.44 minute video.

Secondly, Muhyiddin should also apologise for condemning the video without checking the facts.

The maker of the 1.44 minute video, Maznah Mohd Yusof, better known as Chetz, has come out to deny that she had meant the clip as an insult to her religion, Islam.

She said: “I have no intention to demean Islam; I had begun making the video just for fun but later decided to ‘educate’ outsiders on dogs and cleanliness.”
(The Malay Mail Online)
.

To
Malaysiakini
, she said:

“I love my religion. I think these people should learn about their religion first, and not misinterpret my video, which was made three years ago.

“My religion has taught me about the importance of cleanliness… hence this why in the video, I am cleaning myself and my dogs.”

Malaysia will be celebrating our 56th National Day in a month’s time but there will be nothing much to celebrate if  the country continues to hurtle towards greater racial and religious polarisation in the country.

All leaders, in particular the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers and leaders from all political parties, both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat, must do their part to check the slide towards greater racial and religious polarisation in the country.

Can Muhyiddin play his part in this Malaysian nation-building process?

Yes, but he must demonsrate that he is a DPM for all Malaysians and not just for UMNO – that he is Malaysian first, Malay second rather than Malay first, Malaysian second as he had declared when Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak unveiled his 1Malaysia signature policy four years ago.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 31 July 2013, 4:03 pm and is filed under
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A New Morality?

by Allan CF Goh

Listen, listen, listen,

Do not rebut at all,

In spite of the foolishness,

Despite lacking truthfulness.

When wrongs are committed,

You shall not see or hear.

Citizens may not report;

Ignore the racist import.

Just obey and follow,

Ask not, and question not.

It is the prerogative,

Care not the pejorative.

Listen everybody,

And hurt not the feeling.

It’s the new morality.

It’s the new mentality.

So loudly they ranted,

Those mad, senseless bigots:

They want the country to burn;

They wish not a better turn.

Citizens must be tamed,

Or sent to foreign land.

Nobody can ask questions.

Everything is sedition.

Only some are allowed

To talk and shout rubbish.

Don’t reply, it’s an insult,

Never mind the vile result!

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 1 August 2013, 1:00 pm and is filed under
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A victim of Muslims’ misunderstanding: The dog

— Arif Fahmi Md Yusof

The Malay Mail Online

July 31, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, July 31 — The uploading of a video of a Malay Muslim celebrating Hari Raya in the facebook with his three dogs invites voluminous responses from Malaysians especially Muslims. Most of the Muslims consider the video as insulting Islam. Many regard this video as insulting episode in the Holy month of Ramadhan for Muslims. Regrettably, in this Holy month of Ramadhan, many use a very offensive and indecent language in the social media, commenting this video.

What is insulting here? It is about the dog. Muslims generally are sensitive to dogs. For majority of Muslims particularly in Malaysia, dogs are impure. Many Muslims try to avoid contacts with dogs. The intention of the person who uploaded the video may be good, to appreciate the similarities between the creation of God and to promote kindness towards animals especially the dog. Unfortunately, the cultural perspective in Malaysia is against this idea.

Many people often adhere to an idea they heard without examining whether it is legally correct. Therefore, it is usual to find people who easily believe in erroneous ideas that may have no basis or evidence. In Islam it is pertinent to understand its teachings and observe them. The primary consideration in dealing with other beings, especially animals is promoting kindness and avoiding cruelty.

An act of kindness to the dogs is recorded in one hadith where a man gave a dog water to drink using his shoe as the vessel to contain the water. The hadith praises the man, and Allah forgives his sins as a result of his kind act of providing the dog water.

The Quran in some occasions mentions the dogs. In one of the most popular story of cave sleepers, the Quran also regards a place for a dog as similar to other humans when they were trapped in a cave. The Quran clearly mentions the position of a dog as one of the individuals that comprised in a group, doing what exactly the others are doing.

The verse clearly portrays the dog as important individual in the group and made no negative comment about its presence in the group, who are protected by Allah. The dog did not cause problem or trouble and there was no warning in the verses to keep away from the dog in the verse.

Furthermore, dogs are common in the time of Prophet Muhammad. They were part of daily life of people and shared the same environment.

During the Prophet’s time, the dog would enter mosques and even urinate in them. In one of the hadith, it is reported that the dogs would come and go easily into the mosque, and no one would sprinkle water on those areas of the mosque. It was also reported that a puppy once went under the Prophet’s bed.

The main sensitive issue relating to the dog is the question of purity. The four main school of laws differs on the question of purity of the dog. Some scholars mainly in Shafi’i and Hanbali schools of laws, believe that dogs are impure. Therefore, if a person touches a dog or licked by a dog, he has to wash that portion of the body or clothing before prayer.

The Maliki school of law does not consider dogs impure at all. Hanafi school of law regards the saliva of dogs to be impure. Therefore, only the part of body or clothing that the dog’s saliva touched needs to be washed and purified before prayer.

Majority of Muslims in Malaysia follow Shafi’i school of law. They may regard dog as impure or najis, which is in fact washable. At the same time, they must respect other opinions in other school of laws that consider dogs as pure.

Islam encourages its believers to learn, understand and adhere to its teaching. Differences of opinion do not permit Muslims to hate each other. It is a time for Muslims in Malaysia to appreciate the differences and diversity.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 1 August 2013, 10:49 am and is filed under
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Facebook removes Dr M’s ‘Chinese Dilemma’, cites violation of community standards

By Zurairi AR

The Malay Mail Online

August 01, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 1 — An article by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on “The Chinese Dilemma” has been removed by Facebook for allegedly violating its community standards, according to the former prime minister’s Facebook page’s administrator.

The column piece, originally published in English daily New Straits Times (NST) and then posted on Dr Mahathir’s Facebook page, painted a portrait of Chinese Malaysians in a dilemma, caught ostensibly between their thirst for political control while retaining their economic clout and the decades-old power-sharing formula.

“Today, Facebook has informed us that the article was removed for violating its supposed community standards. This means there were many who were disturbed and opposed, and complained to Facebook against what Tun wrote,” said a posting by an administrator who identified himself as “KN”. The original posting had received more than two million likes.

KN had urged fans of the page to read the online version of the article on NST’s website and decide for themselves whether the article violated Facebook’s Community Standards or was just an “unpleasant truth”, as he called it.

Facebook users can anonymously report any posts that they believe violate the social network’s community standards by clicking on a link on each post.

A post which receives enough complaints will then be investigated by Facebook’s User Operations team, and it will then be removed if the team decides that it has violated the standards.

It is believed that Dr Mahathir’s article may have been removed for promoting hate speech, which according to Facebook includes attacks on people based on their actual or perceived race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability or disease.

“We do, however, allow clear attempts at humor (sic) or satire that might otherwise be considered a possible threat or attack. This includes content that many people may find to be in bad taste,” Facebook explained in its “Help” page.

Other categories under Facebook’s Community Standards include violence and threats, self-harm, bullying and harassment, graphic content, nudity and pornography, intellectual property, and spam.

In his column, Dr Mahathir said that the Chinese community had reaped the fruits of the power-sharing formula for the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition’s race-based components, adding that the community that makes up about 30 per cent of the country’s 28 million population was better off today than before independence in 1957, when it was shackled by colonial British rule.

The majority of the hundreds of commenters on KN’s post defended Dr Mahathir for writing his column, labelling him as one of the few Malay leaders “brave enough” to criticise the Chinese community.

Many of the comments were also laced with racial slurs and name-calling towards the Chinese community, especially towards the Chinese-majority opposition party DAP, which Dr Mahathir had slammed in his column.

“To the Home Ministry and authorities, please be strict and not be afraid to punish them like Chin Peng,” said a user named Zieyla Idzam Joys, who compared the content in DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang’s blog to the long-time Malayan Communist Party leader.

“I’m a Chinese but I support Tun, I’m more willing to have Tun rule our country … Tun, please take this opportunity to rule Malaysia again. Malaysians need you,” said a comment by one Eugene Ooi, which was one of the most popular comments.

“Malays have never questioned the rights on non-Malays to build their business empires in Malaysia … Why are the non-Malays questioning the rights of Malays?” asked another popular comment by a user called Vides Espaces.

The DAP won 38 federal seats in Election 2013 while the Chinese-based party MCA won only seven. Other Chinese-majority parties in BN also suffered major losses that led the ruling coalition to win only 133 federal seats in the May 5 general election against the 140 it won in Election 2008.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 1 August 2013, 5:24 pm and is filed under
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In the dog house for being kind

– Shenaaz Khan

The Malaysian Insider

August 01, 2013

The arrest of dog trainer Maznah Mohd Yusuf is appalling and reflects the flimsy fabric of the Malaysian Muslim faith.

The contention that the act of walking a dog past a mosque and washing its paws are akin to burning the Quran is ludicrous and displays a dreadful disposition towards dogs.

The chorus of outrage led by seven NGO’s i.e. Pertubuhan Martabat Jalinan Muhibbah Malaysia (MJMM), Selangor State NGO Secretariat, Malay Army Veterans Association (PVTM), Badan Amal Tarbiah Sejagat Malaysia (BATAS), Pak Long Nusantara, Cahaya Haluan Amanah Insan Malaysia and Ikatan Rakyat Insan Muslim Malaysia (IRIMM) exhibits the abysmal ignorance of Muslim “champions” in this country.

This clan have clearly vacated their minds of knowledge and dogged it with doctrine.

Hitherto the video, these sinless soldiers have remained silent on almost all other un-Islamic practises. They appear to not be “insulted” by some Muslim men collecting wives as if they were stamps, leaving many women and children in a state of destitution.

They are certainly not “insulted” by how corporations and hotels have turned the humble act of fasting into a feasting fiesta of gluttony!  And rape and incest by their brethren is mere kitchen matter, unworthy of their divine intervention.

Yet, this harmless video has compelled them to don their guerrilla garbs and Ray bans and start their pilgrimage up the pavement of righteousness!

Believing themselves to be vastly superior to others, these virtuous vigilantes had the audacity to state that Maznah had “committed a grievous insult towards all Muslims in Malaysia”.

Well dear feckless NGO’s, I am a Malaysian Muslim and I am NOT INSULTED by Maznah’s actions. I am however insulted by extremist routinely ploughing my sensibilities with their “sensitivities”.

And I am repulsed further by how quickly the authorities went wildly out of control to persecute Maznah, yet remain apathetic to brutal animal abuses.

And why have the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry and the Department of Veterinary Services, the self proclaimed animal welfare crusaders, remained silent on this ridiculous fiasco?

While they use the new Animal Welfare Bill as a tool to publicise their efforts in combating animal cruelty, have they made it known that this new law does not preclude animals unacceptable to a faith? Should they not applaud Maznah’s treatment of animals and encourage others to do the same?

Malaysia’s legacy for animal cruelty is set to outlast the sun. Animal abusers, wildlife traffickers and repugnant zoo operators and pet breeders still evade justice and continue to roam our streets but a kind, animal-loving person like Maznah is hauled up, finger-printed, mug-shotted and chucked in jail to pander to religious zealots!

Using Section 298A of the Penal Code for causing disharmony on the grounds of religion clearly reflect the inability of the authorities to make a distinction between Islamic principles and Muslim prejudices.

And while there appears to be a crime wave in this country, animal lovers are being assailed by the authorities for promoting unity, tolerance and animal welfare!

This madness must cease. Maznah should be commended not condemned. She has committed no crime and therefore must be released.

* Shenaaz Khan is president of the Malaysian Animal Welfare Society.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 1 August 2013, 10:13 pm and is filed under
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Malaysia needs leaders to rise above partisan politics, not stoke racial conflict

The Malaysian Insider

July 31, 2013

And this is the man who craves to become the next Prime Minister of Malaysia. God help us because without divine intervention, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (pic) will lead the country speedily down the path of suspicion, anger and confrontation, pitching Muslims versus non-Muslims.

He stoked the fire sufficiently last night at a buka puasa function when he warned non-Malays against insulting Islam and creating tension, drawing attention to a video which showed a man mimicking the Muslim ablutions with dogs, to the sound of Eid prayers and a popular Hari Raya song.

There can be no justification for this smut. None whatsoever.

And if the authorities can find out who produced this video clip, they should use the full force of existing laws to send a message that in multi-racial and multi-religious Malaysia, the most serious crimes involve inciting religious and racial strife.

But at the same time, there must be fairness and honesty when a national leader touches on the sensitive topic of race and religion. And this is where the deputy prime minister and deputy president of Umno failed spectacularly.

Have the authorities established that a non-Muslim produced this video?

Or was it produced by parties that want to drive a deep and sharp wedge between the races and profit politically from the division?

Even if the video was produced by a non-Muslim, isn’t it provocative and wholly irresponsible to generalise and warn non-Muslims in Malaysia about poking fun at Islam?

National leaders may admonish from time to time with the intention of nipping in the bud anti-social and destructive behaviour. But Muhyiddin was playing to the gallery last night, perhaps auditioning for the run at the Umno president’s position in October.

He was also dishonest.

He said that Muslims in Malaysia never insulted Christians and followers of other religions. He obviously chose to block out Datuk Ibrahim Ali, Datuk Zulkifli Nordin and others from his mind.

Ibrahim Ali threatened to burn the holy book of Christians and Zulkifli mocked Hinduism. And not one charge has been brought against them. And every day that the government allows the duo and their ilk to enjoy their freedom, it condones and abets in their hurtful statements against Christians and Hindus.

So please, Muhyiddin, do not even begin to assign blame on creating tension in this country without being honest.

What Malaysians expect of the government is fairness and justice.

But what we really crave are leaders who will rise above partisan politics and keep the peace among Malaysians. – July 31, 2013.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 1 August 2013, 5:45 pm and is filed under
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