Why Teresa Kok’s video is ‘insulting to Islam’

Al Hafar

Malaysiakini

Feb 14, 2014

Before Einstein, everyone thought light travelled in a straight line, but the mad genius came up with the theory that light could actually bend.

Our ever-ingenious Umno has come up with the same reality-bending formula that explodes previous sane assumptions. And their mathematical flair explains why Teresa Kok’s innocuous Chinese New Year video is deemed insulting to the Malays, the royalty and Islam. Indeed it is. One only needs to get a crash course in Umno logic, which is far more mind-bending than anything Einstein ever thought up.

To put it simply for us simple-minded ordinary non-politician folk, Umno is the sole defender of the 3 Rs – Race, royalthy and religion. Therefore, anything that insults Umno, by mathematical equation, equals an insult to the 3 Rs. Sounds complex? Well, get a fake doctorate and study the theory of Umno relativity and you will better understand the logic.

This is why Kok’s video is deemed an insult of the highest order. It pokes fun at Umno, hence it is equivalent to poking fun at Malays and even the royalty. Even when it pokes fun at the Chinese, the targets are Umno-linked Chinese, which means they are poking fun at Umno, which means… get the hang of it?

The formula is convenient and can be applied to a myriad of circumstances. As has been demonstrated, even ridiculing a vegetable, the kangkung, can be scientifically proven to be an insult to Islam by the same theory of Umno relativity.

This is not a joke, sadly, but reality as scientifically proven by recent events and utterances of our mad geniuses in government.

The faster we learn this formula, the better it would be to avoid being charged with sedition and jailed for insulting a vegetable or a horse.

I am shocked that a learned person such as DAP leader Lim Kit Siang could not understand this important theory.

But we shouldn’t blame Kok for making such a video. She is only reflecting what we, the normal unlearned and ignorant citizens do in our every day lives.

Her jokes are nothing but plagiarism from those snipes heard in cofeeshops, markets, gatherings, taxicabs and all kinds of public spaces around the country.

For decades we have been cracking jokes about our leaders. What Kok did was nothing new or original.

But we may have to stop, because now that we have learned the formula, it makes at least 57 percent of the ordinary serfs of Malaysia liable for insulting the 3 Rs even if we dare to crack jokes about the rising price of chicken.

Perhaps they should just ban making jokes outright. That kind of law would be simpler for us simpletons to understand and follow, than the complicated mind-bending theory of Umno relativity.

Perhaps Kok should make amends for her horrific travesty by tabling a new law at the next Parliament sitting to ban humour in Malaysia.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 15 February 2014, 6:05 am and is filed under
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Call on Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Khaled Nordin to lead a study tour of all 56 Johor State Assembly members to the new island Pulau Ubah which sprung up off Tanjung Kupang in past two weeks and to understand the serious threat to the eco-system caused by mysterious massive land reclamation

The Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Khaled Nordin should lead a study tour of all 56 Johor State Assembly members to the new island, Pulau Ubah, which sprung up off Tanjong Kupang, Gelang Patah in the past two weeks and to understand the serious threat to the eco-system caused by mysterious massive land reclamation works.

Yesterday, accompanied by the DAP Johor State Assemblyman for Pengkalan Rinting, Cheo Yee How, and Pakatan Rakyat leaders from PAS and PKR, I discovered and visited a new island off Kampung Pendas (some ten minutes of speedboat trip) which is growing every day and will eventually be some 10 or 20 times bigger than its present size when the creation of the island is fully completed.

This is a man-made island and is not to be found in any of the maps in the country, and I believe even Khaled is not aware of the new island’s existence.

The island was named Pulau Uban during our visit.

The new island is the result of a major scandal of transparency, accountability and good governance in Johor State, as it is the result of a mysterious massive land-reclamation project in the past month, which had destroyed the livelihood of 250 fishermen from six Malay kampongs, caused million-ringgit losses because of the death of 10 tonnes of fish and millions of fish fries in 10 fish farms in the past 10 days; and seriously damaged the eco-system off the coast of Gelang Patah constituency.

The greatest mystery and scandal is nobody in government could throw light on the massive land reclamation project off the coast of Tanjong Kupang, raising serious questions about the efficiency and performance of the Khaled state government.

What mega projects are being undertaken to justify the mysterious massive land-reclamation projects, had an Environment Impact Assessment (EiA) been done and will the 250 fishermen (with dependents exceed a thousand people), the operators of the fish farms and the Malay villagers of the six traditional Malay kampongs which will be adversely affected by the land reclamation, be paid compensation, and what is the quantum of the compensation.

Why had the fishermen, villagers and fish farm operators not been consulted and their views sought before the mysterious massive land-reclamation works started?

The relevant departments should use these two days to brief the victims of the mysterious massive land reclamation projects what is really going on, and until this is done, Khaled should order an immediate stop work on all land reclamation works.

If no satisfactory explanation is forthcoming from the various government departments and agencies in the next two days, the victims of the mysterious massive land reclamation works destroying the eco-system and their livelihoods should go to the Johor State Assembly which is meeting on Thursday, Feb. 20 to demand a full and proper explanation from the Mentri Besar.

(Media Conference Statement in Batu Pahat on Sunday 16th February 2014)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 16 February 2014, 5:23 pm and is filed under
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DAP calls for a nation-wide “Love Malaysia, Save Malaysia” campaign to rescue the country from the nefarious and treacherous designs of a small group of anti-Malaysian elements out to foment racial and religious strife through incessant incitement of racial and religious hatred, conflict and tensions

The pattern is emerging from the events from the past few months that there is a small group of anti-Malaysia elements whose nefarious and treacherous designs are to foment racial and religious strife through incessant incitement of racial and religious hatred, conflict and tensions.

I categorise in this group of anti-Malaysia elements with nefarious and treacherous designs those responsible for the recent Molotov cocktail attack on a church in Penang, the hanging of provocative banner “Allah is Great. Jesus in the son of Allah” outside five churches in Penang without the knowledge of the church authorities and the vandalism of eight gravestones in a Christian cemetery near Kuantan.

Recently, DAP National Vice Chairperson and MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok’s “Onederful Malaysia CNY 2014” was the subject of a national frenzy that it was anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Rulers, causing a group of self-styled “Islamic NGOs” to hold a “chicken-slaughtering and blood-smearing” demonstration, including offering RM1,200 to anyone who slaps Teresa Kok – although nobody could substantiate the allegation that the video was anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Rulers in the past three weeks.

Truth becomes a victim of such a nefarious and treacherous plot for the perpetrators are not interested in facts, truth, honesty, tolerance and moderation but only in inciting racial and religious hatred to create a feverish atmosphere to force people to surrender reason and to succumb to the  basest of  emotions and irrationality.

DAP calls for a nation-wide “Love Malaysia, Save Malaysia” campaign to rescue the country from the nefarious and treacherous designs of a small group of anti-Malaysian elements out to foment racial and religious strife through incessant incitement of racial and religious hatred, conflict and tensions.

I have no doubt that the overwhelming majority of Malaysians, whether in DAP, PKR or PAS in Pakatan Rakyat or in UMNO, MCA, Gerakan, MIC and other component parties in Barisan Nasional do not want racial and religious strife in the country, as they are moderates and patriots who want the best for the country, their children and children’s children.

But they must not keep quiet and allow a small group irresponsible and reckless people out to create racial and religious strife through incessant incitement of racial and religious hatred, conflicts and tensions a field day to create chaos and destroy our beloved Malaysia.

The moderates and patriots must  speak up loud and clear to dissociate themselves and condemn the irresponsible and treacherous activities of these anti-Malaysia elements who want to create another May 13 by raising the spectre of May 13 riots, racial chaos and religious conflagration.

They must  save Malaysia to ensure that Malaysian citizens and future generations can continue to enjoy multi-racial and multi-religious peace, harmony and solidarity.

How many people, for instance, really supported the irresponsible and reckless demonstration of the self-styled Islamic NGOs who offered RM1,200 to anyone who slaps Teresa Kok and slaughtered four chickens to smear their blood on the photographs of DAP and Pakatan Rakyat leaders – alleging that Teresa Kok’s video was anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Rulers without an iota of evidence?

Are the majority of Malays and Muslims behind the action of these self-styled “Islamic NGOs”.

I do not believe so. But the silence of the moderate and patriotic Malays and Muslims allow the irresponsible and reckless  elements behind the “cash for slap” and “chicken-slaughtering and blood-smearing” demonstration to pretend that their nefarious and anti-Malaysia actions had the support of overwhelming majority of Malays and Muslims.

This is why moderate and patriotic Malaysians, regardless of race or religion, must unite to “Love Malaysia, Save Malaysia” from extremist and unpatriotic elements who want to destroy inter-racial and inter-religious harmony and peace in Malaysia  in order to serve their petty political ends.

(Media Conference Statement in Batu Pahat on Sunday, 16th February 2014 at 11 am)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 16 February 2014, 6:12 pm and is filed under
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Mahathir should apologise to all the 108 Operation Lalang detainees under the ISA as he could not shirk responsibility for the dragnet especially as he was Home Minister at the time

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad was reported in the media as denying that he was responsible for the infamous Operation Lalang in 1987 where 108 persons were detained under the draconian detention-without-trial Internal Security Act for him to consolidate political control and power in government, Umno and Barisan Nasional.

Nanyang Siang Pau today even quoted Mahathir as disclaiming that he was Home Minister at the time of Operation Lalang, claiming that at the time he was in China and the Home Minister was one ‘Musa”.

Mahathir was talking rubbish. He is not only guilty of selective amnesia when it suits him, as when he told the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam Videotape scandal that he could not remember anything about the incidents related to the scandal of the fixing of judicial appointments, he has now shown that he is capable of telling downright lies to disclaim responsibility for the human rights violations perpetrated during his time as Prime Minister and Home Minister.

Mahathir can tell lies without batting an eyelid about the history of his premiership but he cannot change history at his whims and fancies. It is indisputable that Mahathir was the Home Minister during the Operation Lalang crackdown in 1987 and there was no ‘Musa” at the time acting as Home Minister.

Tun Musa Hitam, who will be celebrating his 80th birthday in two months’ time, was the first Home Minister in Mahathir’s premiership, serving from 1981-1986, until he broke ranks with Mahathir resigning both as Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister.

In April 1987, Musa had teamed up with Tengku Razaleigh to challenge Mahathir-Ghafar Baba for the posts of UMNO President-Deputy President, with Razaleigh losing by a mere 43 votes after a power blackout and election hanky-panky which later resulted in UMNO being declared an unlawful political party by the courts.

As far as my memory could recall, Mahathir was never in China before the Operation Lalang crackdown. He was in Vancouver in Canada for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) before the Operation Lalang ISA mass arrests.

It is most unworthy and even cowardly of Mahathir to deny that he was responsible for the most infamous violation of human rights in the Operation Lalang ISA crackdown in 1987, made doubly worse by his attempt even to deny that he was Home Minister.

In fact after his rift with Musa Hitam, Mahathir never trusted anyone else as Home Minister for the next 14 years, keeping the reins of the Home Ministry to himself (which was the cause of the origin of the Project Mahathir where over a million illegal immigrants in Sabah were unlawfully issued citizenship or voter status, changing the course of demography and politics in Sabah and even Malaysia), until December 1999, when he appointed Abdullah Badawi as Home Minister.

Mahathir should apologise to all the 108 Operation Lalang detainees under the ISA for the Ops Lalang as he could not shirk responsibility for the dragnet especially as he was Home Minister at the time.

(Media Conference Statement in Batu Pahat on Sunday 16th February 2014 at 10 am)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 16 February 2014, 5:28 pm and is filed under
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Amid growing religious tensions, this group walks for peace in Penang

by Looi Sue-Chern

The Malaysian Insider

February 16, 2014

Hours after a mosque in mainland Penang was defiled with a slab of meat believed to be pork, a group of people visited places of worship in George Town promoting peace and love.

Dressed in purple –  the colour that signifies religious tolerance – the group carried carnations and roses, as well as purple balloons as they walked together to visit the St George’s Church, the Goddess of Mercy Temple, the Sri Mahamariaman Temple and Masjid Jamek Lebuh Acheh.

The group’s mission to promote inter-religious tolerance came some 12 hours after a mosque in Cheruk Tok Kun on mainland Penang was defiled with a slab of meat believed to be pork, which was thrown at one of its entrances.

Social activist Azrul Mohd Khalib from the group said the event, “Walk in the Park” by a loose group called Malaysians for Malaysia, is aimed at demonstrating that Malaysians are standing up for their fellow citizens, following increasing concern over tensions related to racial and religious issues.

“We reject violence, aggression, bigotry and discrimination. This is not the Malaysia we want. We can actually exist together in harmony.

“We want to speak for ourselves and stand up against groups like Perkasa and Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (ISMA) and their prejudice,” he said, addressing the people who had gathered at the Esplanade field at 5.30pm today, before setting out on their mission of peace.

Today’s outing in Penang was the second to be organised by the group after its debut event at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre about three weeks ago.

Jenny Liew and Aida Redza, who put together the event in Penang, said it is time to rekindle the Malaysian family spirit to bring harmony to the country, which needs healing and love.

“There is a lot of negativity and silence will just promote more violence and oppression,” said Aida, who is a well-known dance choreographer and social activist.

Diocese of West Malaysia Upper North Archdeaconry vicar Venerable Charles Samuel, who met the group at the Anglican church on Lebuh Farquhar, lauded the people for their display of love and unity.

“On behalf of the Christian community here, I convey our heartfelt gratitude for your wonderful expression of brotherhood and sisterhood and for also showing the love of God.

“We are all called here to live life and we should do it with humility and gentleness. Let us make every effort to keep the bond of peace among us,” he said.

Samuel said every race and religion is intrinsically entwined and though the people may be different in many ways, they also need one another in many ways.

“There are times when we are angry but we should not sin. We must keep the devil away and wipe away all forms of malice.

“May God bless the fruits of your labour,” he told the group before he himself joined them on the walk to visit the other three places of worship.

At the Hindu temple in Little India, temple management committee chairman S. Varatharajoo said he was pleasantly surprised when the group contacted him yesterday about dropping by.

He said every religion preaches love and peace and praised the group for what they were doing promote solidarity among the different faiths.

Mohammad Yahaya (centre), the representative from Masjid Jamek Acheh, chats with Venerable Charles Samuel (right) at the premises of the mosque during the event to promote and demonstrate peace and harmony. – The Malaysian Insider by Hasnoor Hussain, February 16, 2014.Mohammad Yahaya (centre), the representative from Masjid Jamek Acheh, chats with Venerable Charles Samuel (right) at the premises of the mosque during the event to promote and demonstrate peace and harmony. – The Malaysian Insider by Hasnoor Hussain, February 16, 2014.At the mosque on Lebuh Acheh, Badan Warisan Masjid Melayu chairman Mohamed Yahaya, 75, said he remembered how the community was close-knit and lived in harmony.

“Now people are living like strangers even when they live in the same neighbourhood. There is not much mutual understanding… not like how things used to be.

“We cannot live while being suspicious of one another and we cannot take peace and harmony for granted. They are very important. This is what old-timers like me think,” said the Masjid Jamek Lebuh Acheh committee member.

The group, made up of adults and children, presented a bouquet of flowers to each representative of the places of worship. Members of the group also gave out flowers to members of the public.

The group is planning to organise similar events in Ipoh, Kota Kinabalu and Klang next, but the dates of the events have yet to be decided.

As the country continues to deal with the “Allah” and bible issues, concerns about religious tensions are heightening even in Penang. The state was recently hit with controversial incidents involving places of worship.

On January 26, the Victory Lutheran Church, St John Britto Catholic Church, the Church of the Immaculate Conception and Assumption Church on the island and the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Butterworth on the mainland had banners reading “Allah is Great, Jesus is the son of Allah” hung outside their premises.

Barely 24 hours later at about 1.30am on January 27, Molotov cocktails were thrown into the Assumption Church compound.

And today at 5.30am, the deputy imam of Cherok Tokun Atas mosque in Machang Bubuk on the mainland found a slab of meat, believed to be pork, at one of the entrances of the mosque. – February 16, 2014.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 17 February 2014, 7:44 am and is filed under
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Are we heading for emergency rule?

by P Ramakrishnan

Aliran

16 February 2014

Is that why no action is taken against these trouble-makers who whip up ethno-religious sentiment – because unrest is necessary for emergency rule, wonders P Ramakrishnan.

It was reminiscent of the lawless Wild West when rough-necks went on a rampage to assert their authority over the helpless town folks. There was nobody brave enough to stand up to the mayhem they created.

There was no Sheriff, no Deputy and no hero to take on these hooligans.

That was what happened last Thursday, 6 February 2014, when troublemakers took to the streets in a frenzy of hatred to incite and provoke Malay extremists to partake in acts that would threaten our peace and harmony. It was no ordinary gathering; it was a gathering of racists and bigots out to create mischief.

In blatant defiance of the law, these members of several Muslim NGOs gathered in the afternoon near the busy Puduraya bus terminal and government offices at Jalan Tun Perak in Kuala Lumpur.

Some participants stomped on the banner bearing the faces of DAP and PKR representatives. They then slaughtered four chickens and smeared their blood on the faces of Teresa Kok, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang and Machang Bubok assembly member Lee Khai Loon (PKR) in a ritual intended to cause calamity in the country.

This bloody act was committed by these trouble-makers claiming to belong to the Council of Islamic NGOs as proclaimed in the banner to “Protest against insults of Malay leadership, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Islam and Malay dignity by a splinter of politicians, leaders and Chinese chauvinists”.

These claims are clearly far-fetched without any justification. Who in their right minds would want to insult the Yang di-Pertuan Agong? He is the national symbol of our unity. He is respected and held in high esteem.

But these mischief-makers blatantly claimed that the Yang di-Pertuan Agung was insulted. Can they provide concrete evidence when this insult was perpetrated and by whom?

Who would want to insult Islam? Malaysians are peaceful people and are sensitive to the ethos of the different communities and traditions. Who would want to court trouble consciously and disturb our harmony by being disrespectful?

What Malay leadership was insulted? Please don’t lie if you are truly a believer in the true sense of your religion.

Disagreeing with the policies and criticising leaders of the government doesn’t constitute an insult to the Malay leadership. In any case, the government may be dominated by Umno but essentially it is a coalition government albeit without MCA representation. But there are Chinese ministers and others from various communities in the cabinet which would suggest that the disagreement and criticism is not aimed solely at the Malay leadership but against the Barisan Nasional.

But these trouble-makers deliberately twisted the facts to give a racial angle to arouse the emotions of unthinking people who can be easily misled.

What was said was clearly and deliberately provocative and inciting.

Zulkifly Sharif from Pertubuhan Permuafakatan Majlis Ayahanda Malaysia (Permas) told Malaysiakini that “the chicken slaughter and blood smearing ritual was a hark back to the ‘bloody’ May 13, 1969 racial riots”.

“The blood represents the May 13 incident…It should be easily understood,” he said.

In other words, he is actually threatening a repeat of the May 13 incident. This is clearly seditious; it is an incitement; it is definitely a provocation. It had the potential to spark chaos and disturb our harmony. Things could go out of hand to the detriment of the nation.

It should have been nipped in the bud. The full force of the law should have landed on them so that it would not encourage similar provocative demonstrations and protests elsewhere.

But that was not the case. Where was the AG? Where were the police, the guardians of law and order? Above all, where was the Prime Minister, the supreme leader of the nation? Why did none of them criticise this act of lawlessness? Why were these racists and bigots not condemned for their reckless irresponsibility?

It is this lack of response from the keepers of the law that encourages this unbecoming behaviour. For it can be construed with justification that they will not face the wrath of the law and that they have the implicit backing of the law enforcement agencies.

This demonstration was held apparently as a reaction to Seputeh MP Teresa Kok’s New Year video entitled ‘OnederfulMalaysia CNY 2014’.

Various claims and accusations were made in connection with this video. But what was it all about? Was there any disrespect shown to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong? Was Islam insulted in this video?

It is very disturbing for Zulkifly to state with reference to the slaughtering of the chicken, “It is symbolic of the bloody incident, – meaning May 13 – this means we are sending a serious warning to Teresa Kok not to provoke and create something that threatens the peace and feelings of the Malays.”

Was he correct in what he stated? Did Teresa “provoke and create something that threatens the peace and feelings of the Malays”?

It seems that the video was in Mandarin. Do these rabble-rousers understand Mandarin? Could it be possible that while translating misrepresentation could have occurred?

Why not broadcast this video over TV so that the truth can be unveiled and facts revealed to the entire nation before things get out of hand through misunderstanding and misrepresentation? This is what should be done if we are really interested in the truth. But would the BN dare to do this? Or will it take advantage of this mindless reaction for its own political purposes?

These mischief-makers went beyond threatening. They even offered a bounty to anyone who is willing to slap Teresa. Just like in the Wild West when rewards were offered to bring in the outlaws “dead or alive”, and bounty hunters would take up the offer and go after their quarry. Similarly, in this instance, a reward of RM500 was offered which was later increased to RM1,200.

Imagine if one stupid hothead goes up to Teresa and slaps her, what would happen? Perhaps those with her may react and assault him which could in turn lead to a racial conflict. Is this what they want to happen? Is it a ploy to create unrest and unleash an ethnic clash that would benefit the BN?

The situation was so serious and yet there was no urgency to address it. Even Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi foolishly and flippantly trivialised the whole episode by claiming that it was not a threat to Teresa and unbelievably stated that it would have amounted to nothing except if a death threat had been issued against Teresa. For a Home Minister not to see the danger in this emotionally-charged affair is mind-boggling.

Not to be outdone in foolishness, the Housing and Urban Wellbeing Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan also criticised Kok, saying that she should not play victim when threatened by Muslim groups as the DAP had “relentlessly attacked the position of Malays and Muslims…The DAP had also insulted the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Islam”.

If that was the case, how did the DAP garner so many Malay votes, make a break-through in the Umno fortress of Johor, and get its Malay members elected as members of parliament? Without Malay votes, this could not have been possible.

How ridiculous they are can be seen when Zulkifly accused the politicians whose faces adorned the banner of manipulating the price hike issue. According to him, “The increase of prices of goods has been turned into a kind of propaganda to bring down Malay leadership. They are trying to provoke hatred and belittle Malay leadership.”

The lives of Malaysians have become a nightmare because of price hikes which have made life very difficult for people. It is felt by everyone on a daily basis and their sufferings are nation-wide. It is not confined to any ethnic community.

To blame these four leaders as manipulating the price hike to bring down the Malay leadership is grossly unfair and wrong. It is utter nonsense!

The price hike demonstration organised by various NGOs in Penang effectively debunked the atrocious statements and the sweeping claims made by the trouble-makers.

More than 1,000 turned up to oppose the price hikes and the implementation of the GST. The crowd was largely Malay with good support from the Chinese and the Indians. What transpired was heart-warming and encouraging. It showed that whatever ploy that is used by Umno and its henchmen to drive a wedge between the Malays and non-Malays will not work.

The Seberang Jaya Municipal Councillor Zulkifli Saad said the gathering was a show of solidarity among Malays, Chinese and Indians.”We are not racists, this is a gathering of people.”

Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM) spokesperson Badrul Hisham Shaharin, better known as Chegubard, asked who were the Malays who felt insulted by Lee’s act of stuffing kangkung into a replica of Najib.

“Hello! Who says Malays are insulted? We are insulted because we have a PM who cannot manage the country,” he said.

He also warned groups who threatened violence and racial riots, saying that their non-Malay brothers and sisters would be protected even if “one hair of yours is disturbed”.

Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli said that anti-price hikes groups would protest in all the states, culminating in a massive protest in Kuala Lumpur on 1 May, themed Gasak Sampai Tumbang (GST).

Rafizi emphatically said, “There is also no link between race and price hikes.”

“It is just their way of putting fear in us as they are racists,” he claimed.

“If there is one Chinese youth among us who is threatened, 10 Malays among us will be there to protect him,” he assured, followed by shouts of support.

Afif Bahardin, the Seberang Jaya representative, drove home a valid point rather forcefully, “The price hike is suffered by not only DAP, PKR or Pas but by Umno members as well.”

It is this kind of solidarity building up that is worrying Umno. Their usual divide-and-rule policy is no longer working.

Race and religion can no longer be an effective campaign strategy to retain power.

So, it seems, an unrest is necessary for emergency rule and is that why no action is taken against these trouble-makers?

                This entry was posted on Monday, 17 February 2014, 8:33 am and is filed under
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Call on overwhelming majority of Malaysians, who are moderates regardless of race, religion or politics, to support the “Purple Movement” for racial and religious tolerance, peace and harmony and to reject the merchants of hate and violence in their midst

Two events yesterday are the latest signs that the merchants of racial and religious hatred are continuously upping the ante to escalate racial and religious hatred, conflict and tension in Malaysia to serve their petty political ends, viz:

— The vitriolic Mingguan Malaysia article yesterday falsely attacking non-Malays for insulting Malays, Islam and Rulers and warning them to know their “limits”; and

— The hurling of a slab of meat, believed to be pork, at a mosque at Cherok Tokun in Machang Bubuk yesterday morning.

Utusan Malaysia, UMNO’s official organ, had been enjoying immunity and impunity for its nefarious and long-standing mischief of disseminating lies and falsehoods to incite racial and religious misunderstanding, hatred, conflict and tension – as for example in its front-page lie that the DAP wanted to create a Christian Malaysia and that DAP is anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Rulers.

As Mingguan Malaysia – the Sunday edition of Utusan Malaysia – belongs to UMNO, the UMNO President and Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the UMNO Deputy President and Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, and the UMNO National Vice Presidents and UMNO Ministers must declare whether the vitriolic Mingguan Malaysia article reflects the latest thinking and position of the UMNO leadership.

Furthermore, whether the other 12 Barisan Nasional component parties including MCA, Gerakan, MIC and the Sarawak and Sabah component parties, acquiesce in the latest Umno thinking and position as reflected in the vitriolic Mingguan Malaysia article.

The article, entitled “Melayu, Islam dihina di Tanah Melayu” by the deputy editor of Mingguan Malaysia, Azman Anuar, said the “laidback, compromising” attitude of the Malays had led to non-Malays overstepping their boundaries and daring to question previously off-limit subjects.

It said: “Non-Malays have apparently forgotten that Malaysia’s majority population is Malays. They have no respect at all for the Bumiputera. Why has this happened? It is because we are too compromising, too afraid to take action against those who have insulted Malays and Islam.

“In the end, it appears as if non-Malays are the landlords and Malays are the tenants, immigrants and the minority in our own country.”

Azman, who was recently promoted to his current post in the paper, also accused the non-Malays of “playing with fire”, with the following warning:

“It is just a matter of time before the hornets who are attempting to defend their nests against intruders will retaliate.”

He said until today, “the hornets have not revealed their sting” as they are merely making noise and appearing to go on the offensive so that intruders would feel apprehensive.

“This is the actions of Malays who are still patient in the face of various provocations. But if pushed further, the hornets will not keep silent.

“If the nest is invaded and burnt just so that the honey can be taken away, Malays will not be so tolerant anymore,”

This is a most vile and  vitriolic article, as it is incendiary, inflammatory and seditious writing to incite racial and religious hatred, conflict and tension, and what is even more reprehensible, based on lies and falsehoods.

It is a complete lie for anyone to accuse  non-Malays of insulting Malays, Islam and Rulers, for the overwhelming majority of Malaysians, whether Malays or non-Malays, Muslims or non-Muslims, respect each other’s racial, religious and  cultural sensitivities and differences in our plural society.

I dare say that after 56 years of nationhood, the overwhelming majority of non-Malays and non-Muslims respect the Malay and Muslim sensitivities and differences, just as I believe that the overwhelming majority of Malays and Muslims respect the non-Malay and non-Muslim sensitivities and differences.

I do not deny that there may be a handful of non-Malays and non-Muslims who do not respect the Malay and Muslim rights and sensitivities, just as there are a handful on Malays and Muslims who do not respect the non-Malay and non-Muslim rights and sensitivities.

Actions should be taken against these extremists, whether Malay and Muslim or non-Malay and non-Muslim, because a successful and sustainable plural nation like Malaysia can have no room for such extremists, whether non-Malay and non-Muslim or Malay and Muslim!

This is why I had called on moderates in Malaysia, who I believe comprise the overwhelming majority regardless of race, religion or political affiliation, to unite to save the country from the extremists whether Malay, Muslim, non-Malay, non-Muslim who only want to create racial and religious distrust, animosity, hatred, conflict and tension hoping to create another May 13 riots or bigger racial chaos and religious conflagration.

The Mingguan Malaysia article yesterday is an example of the most irresponsible, incendiary, inflammatory and seditious exhortation which warrant the immediate attention of the Police and the Attorney-General to put a halt to the further racial and religious polarization in the country through ceaseless incitement of racial and religious misunderstandings, animosities, hatred, conflict and tension.

It is also noteworthy that there had been attempts to justify the national frenzy and attacks on DAP National Vice Chairperson and MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok’s “Onederful Malaysia CNY 2014” video on the ground that it is anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Rulers, but no iota of evidence to substantiate these serious allegations had ever been forwarded in the past three weeks.

The second incident, the throwing of a slab of meat,  believed to be pork, at a mosque in Penang raises the inevitable question why the so-called anti-Malay and anti-Islam acts only happened in Pakatan Rakyat-states of Penang and Selangor?

Clearly, this is the work of very amateurish “agents provocateurs” who want to create the  impression that Malays and Muslims in Malaysia, and in particular in Penang and Selangor, are under siege – when it is completely untrue and a total concoction of anti-national and anti-Malaysia elements as part of their nefarious and treacherous plot to create racial and religious strife in the country.

Special praise must be accorded to the group, calling itself “Malaysians for Malaysia”, dressed in purple – the colour that signifies religious tolerance – who carried carnations and roses, as well as purple balloons, which visited places of worship in George Town, Penang yesterday promoting peace and love.

They walked together to visit the St George’s Church, the Goddess of Mercy Temple, the Sri Mahamariaman Temple and Masjid Jamek Lebuh Acheh hours after the defiling of a mosque in mainland Penang with a slab of meat believed to be pork.

Social activist Azrul Mohd Khalib from the group said the event, “Walk in the Park” is aimed at demonstrating that Malaysians are standing up for their fellow citizens, following increasing concern over tensions related to racial and religious issues.

He said: “We reject violence, aggression, bigotry and discrimination. This is not the Malaysia we want. We can actually exist together in harmony.

“We want to speak for ourselves and stand up against groups like Perkasa and Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (ISMA) and their prejudices.”

Yesterday’s outing in Penang was the second to be organised by the group after its debut event at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre about three weeks ago.

At a moment when Malaysians can see a pattern emerging from the recent  events of  a small group of anti-Malaysia elements with nefarious and treacherous designs to foment racial and religious strife through incessant incitement of racial and religious hatred, conflict and tensions, the overwhelming majority of Malaysians must unite to support the “Purple Movement” to reject violence, aggression, bigotry and discrimination and to support tolerance, peace and harmony in our multi-racial and multi-religious society.

I therefore call on the overwhelming majority of Malaysians, who I believe are moderates regardless of race, religion or politics, to support the “Purple Movement” for racial and religious tolerance, peace and harmony and to reject the merchants of hate  and violence in their midst.

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, 17th February 2014)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 17 February 2014, 12:28 pm and is filed under
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Lessons of faith, harmony and provocation over the weekend

BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER

February 17, 2014

Malaysians learnt a few things over a rather hot weekend, from opposition leaders who reached out to all, to ordinary Malaysians preaching harmony and the few troublemakers who appear to incite trouble.

Some might still think opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is a political chameleon but his visit to a Kajang church yesterday proved one thing – he was willing to take the bull by the horns and reach out to all Malaysians irrespective of their faith.

Perhaps he was just there for their votes, those less charitable of him would say.

But the PKR de facto leader did something that no Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders has done in a long time – meet Malaysians outside their community and be the leader of all Malaysians, not just their own race or co-religionists.

Have we seen any BN leader face a crowd of ordinary Malaysians, not from their party or race or religion, and answer their blunt questions? In most cases, it is stage-managed events filled with either a pliant media or those paid to tweet photographs of these leaders.

Anwar is not alone, of course. PAS leaders such as Khalid Abdul Samad and Mujahid Yusof Rawa have also gone to meet and reach out to people from different faiths over the years.

These men have kept their faith, and have no fear of being seen in a church with a crucifix in the background or speaking to Christians warmly and openly. But for BN leaders, most prefer the company of their own community, whose cause they champion to the detriment of the larger Malaysian dream.

One would expect Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to do the same, reach out to all. After all, he spoke of his 1Malaysia, echoing the words of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Bangsa Malaysia that was first mentioned in 1991.

But the prime minister has been silent. Instead, his Umno-owned daily, Utusan Malaysia, has taken the cudgels to fight for race and religion, with one editor warning non-Malays not to overstep limits and to know who is the country’s master race.

Add to that potent statement is the curious incidents that only happen in Pakatan Rakyat (PR) states – provocative acts that could set off a religious clash.

Which Malaysian is stupid enough to distribute Bibles outside national schools or throw a slab of pork into a mosque? And why does it only happen in Penang and not anywhere else?

This comes on the heels of provocative buntings and a Molotov cocktail attack on a church in the island state. So, who in their right frame of mind would do this in Malaysia?

These incidents only lend credence to a theory that there are groups of people out there who want to foment trouble in Malaysia, especially in PR-ruled states. Why? There are endless possibilities to that question.

Police have yet to make any headway in any of these cases but any further acts of a similar nature will only stoke the religious tension in the country for the benefit of the few.

The good news is that there are Malaysians out there who know better, such as the group that has gone from the Klang Valley to Penang over the weekend to promote peace and harmony.

It proves one thing – that there are Malaysians who ignore provocations, threats and blinkered politicians to do what they do best, give each other the warm hand of friendship and smile that has made Malaysians among the most gentle people on the planet.

Politicians should know better, that the people want a better country for all, not one divided by race, religion and class.

There will be many more weekends that will bring us joy or fill us with fear that Malaysia is tearing apart at the seams.

But the opposition have shown that they can handle hot issues of the day with the people that matter. Can BN do the same or just make motherhood statements that mean nothing to the people in the streets?

Yet, one lesson from the weekend is clear. There are more Malaysians out there who want peace and harmony than there are the few lurking around trying to provoke a fight. – February 17, 2014.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 17 February 2014, 7:36 am and is filed under
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Liow-Wee MCA leadership probably the worst in 65-year MCA history orchestrating political statements and moves even the least honorable past MCA leaders would not do

The Liow-Wee MCA leadership which had been in control of the “7-11” party for the past two months is probably the worst in terms of lack of principles and convictions in the 65-year MCA history, orchestrating political statements and moves even the least honorable past MCA leaders would not do.

Today, the MCA newspaper Star carried a big story entitled “MCA dares Kit Siang to explain fear of confronting UMNO” stating that “MCA wants DAP to publicly explain why he is afraid of directly offending UMNO” over the DAP National Vice Chairperson and MP for Teresa Kok’s controversial “Onederful Malaysia CNY 2014” video – which thanks to groups like  UMNO, MCA and Gerakan making a hue and cry has received over 650,000 hits on YouTube in less than three weeks.

Instead of personally making charges against me, the Liow-Wee leadership got a lowly flunky to issue the statement so that both Liow Tiong Lai and Wee Ka Siong  can disclaim responsibility for the lies, innuendos and insinuations in the statement.

What a pathetic Liow-Wee MCA national leadership who only dare to  throw stones from being curtain and stupid enough to believe that their involvement could be kept secret.

Why Liow or Wee dare not put their name to the MCA statement today challenging me to “explain fear of confronting UMNO”?

Because they know it is a stupid statement which could be shred into tatters for its lies and baseless innuendos and insinuations!

The statement of the lowly MCA flunkey said my “apparent fear (of UMNO) was reflected in the way he had attacked MCA over DAP’s Teresa Kok video” and that my accusation that MCA was behind UMNO’s criticism of the video was “unwarranted”, declaring: “Lim is blaming MCA out of desperation because he is afraid of UMNO”.

There was also the accusation that I had not “directly criticized UMNO” ever since the controversial video was uploaded on YouTube.

Are Liow and Wee prepared to end their political cowardice and declare that this attack on me in the name of the  lowly MCA flunkey have their full authorization and endorsement so that I could give a proper reply, as it would otherwise not worth any attention when it is a statement which the MCA President and Deputy President would not even give their public blessings.

I am fully prepared to  reply to the wild and baseless allegations, lies, innuendoes and  insinuations in the statement of the lowly MCA flunkey provided that Liow and Wee give their full endorsement to the statement.

I await response from the new Liow-Wee leadership of  the “7-11” political party in Barisan Nasional. Their silence would be a very eloquent answer indeed!

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, 17th February 2014)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 17 February 2014, 6:57 pm and is filed under
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‘The Heat’ Bounces Back as the Media Takes a Beating

By Kee Thuan Chye

msn.com

15.2.2014

The Heat is back. I wouldn’t say, with a vengeance, but certainly with plenty of critical substance for the reading public to think about. And well-researched information that is essential for every citizen.

On the front page of the newsweekly’s comeback issue of February 8-14, it vows to continue to “speak up against corruption, injustice and the forces that seek to divide our nation”. And its inside pages carry enough fire to show that it has not been cowed by its seven-week-long suspension by the Home Ministry.

Indeed, one of its top articles is headlined ‘It’s time for greater freedom of the press’. Although one might quibble that the headline is not quite accurate because you can’t have greater freedom when there is no freedom to begin with, the body of the article clearly spells out where The Heat stands on this issue. And quite rightly, too, because it is this lack of freedom that caused its suspension.

The theme of freedom also rings out loud in its cover story on student activism, with sidebars on student activist Adam Adli Abdul Halim, which it calls “Malaysia’s poster boy for democracy”, and K.S. Bawani, who found fame for standing up to Sharifah Zohra Jabeen of the infamous “listen, listen, listen” harangue that was caught on video and circulated on social media.

Their struggles and those of fellow activists are presented in a positive light. “They are driven by the belief of standing up for their rights and risk being detained for going against the authorities. They believe they have a social responsibility to correct the wrong they see and come out as ‘champions’ of the people, despite being seen as ‘rebels’ by the ruling government.” In thus endorsing student activism, The Heat shows that it is firmly in tune with the current zeitgeist.

Staff writer Rita Jong deserves credit for mainlining these articles. Meanwhile, another staff writer, Pauline Wong, is back to her normal form firing double barrels at government overspending and the impact of GST (goods and services tax) on essential medicines. She also contributes an article and sidebar on the issue of PTPTN (National Higher Education Fund Corporation) loans.

Then there is the personality profile featuring Ani Arope, the man who refused to play ex-prime minister Mahathir Mohamad’s game of giving unfair concessions to independent power producers (IPPs) at the expense of Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) – and consumers. He resigned as TNB’s executive chairman in protest against signing the one-sided agreements.

The profile is particularly enlightening as a portrait of integrity and, above all, for Ani’s revelation about the Government’s role in promoting the rise of the IPPs. It gives a first-hand insight into cronyism. Ani’s reference to the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) – the body Mahathir entrusted with setting the terms of the agreement – as the “Economic Plundering Unit” is amusing but telling.

Finally, we come to the back pages of the newsweekly, to its ‘Newsmakers’ section. This is where The Heat normally injects acerbic comments targeted at personalities and groups who have been making the headlines for usually the wrong reasons. I’m happy to see that in this issue, much unlike the last one just before The Heat’s suspension, the editorial board has regained its erstwhile candour.

I love the entry that goes: “(G.) Palanivel and Adnan (Yaakob) should realise that they cannot hoodwink the people for too long. If they cannot keep their promises to the voters, perhaps they should not have taken the responsibility of becoming MP (Member of Parliament) or MB (Menteri Besar).” These are pretty strong words that the reading public would not get to see in most, if any other, news publications.

On the whole, it’s good to see that The Heat is alive and kicking ass. Goodness knows we need more of that in the print media, especially in these crazy times when so much stupidity is flying around, much of it coming from the ruling establishment and its associates.

Even the suspension of The Heat was an exercise in stupidity. We could see the lie in the Home Ministry’s statement that the newsweekly did not adhere to the conditions of its publishing licence; it was so transparent. We were well aware that the real reason for the suspension was to intimidate The Heat because it had incurred the Government’s displeasure with its critical coverage of pressing issues. The upshot of the resulting hoo-ha, however, is that more people have now become aware of the newsweekly and what it does, and this would probably drive up its circulation. And that, ironically, is not what the Government would have wanted in the first place.

It’s timely that the newsweekly made its return this week. It coincided with the release of the 2014 World Press Freedom Index which shows that Malaysia’s press freedom index has plunged to the low position of 147th out of 180 countries. This is the lowest the country has fallen to. And – would you believe it? – we are now even lower than Cambodia (132rd) and Myanmar (145th).

What’s more, cynics would say this is probably the only thing at which we are better off than Singapore, which is placed 150th.

No doubt, the suspension of The Heat would have been one of the factors that caused our drop from 145th in 2013. But now one wonders what our position will be next year since the Home Ministry has just revoked the publishing licence of FZ Daily which it had initially approved last August. This revocation happened only less than two weeks ago, and the ministry gave no reason for it.

Even radio has not been spared. Last Wednesday, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission barred the business radio BFM from broadcasting its interview with Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.

And yet the next day, the Prime Minister’s Office had the gumption to say that the media in Malaysia is “freer than it has ever been”. This is either self-denial or a downright lie or a ploy to deceive Malaysians who are poorly informed.

Whatever it is, the motive is suspect and the Government looks bad for doing what it does. Prime Minister Najib Razak can eat the words he said in September 2011 about wanting to make  Malaysia “the best democracy in the world”. The way things are going, he’s probably more adept at making it one of the worst.

* Kee Thuan Chye is the author of the book The Elections Bullshit, available in bookstores.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 17 February 2014, 7:17 am and is filed under
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IGP Khalid must heed the NUCC call for swift action against those inciting racial and religious animosities and hatred to destroy Malaysia’s inter-racial and inter-religious harmony like Utusan and  “Council of Islamic NGOs”

The Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said yesterday that the Attorney-General’s Chambers has returned the police investigation papers on DAP National Vice Chairman and Member of Parliament for Seputeh Teresa Kok’s “Onederful Malaysia CNY 2014” video to the police to refine their investigation.

What is surprising is why despite nation-wide and international criticism, the IGP still allows the police to practise double standards as no police action and investigations have yet been made against the group of self-styled “Council of Islamic NGOs” who committed a slew of offences when they staged a demonstration in Kuala Lumpur the previous Thursday on 6th February including criminal intimidation, sedition incitement of violence against a woman, incitement of violence against a Member of Parliament, incitement of another May 13 riots, when they offered RM1,200 to anyone who slaps Teresa Kok and slaughtered four chicken and smeared blood on images of DAP and Pakatan Rakyat  leaders.

How can the IGP and the police be so indifferent to the slew of crimes committed by the “Council of Islamic NGOs” if they are the true upholders of law and order and protector of public peace in Malaysia?

IGP Khalid must heed the call of the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) for swift action against those inciting racial and religious animosities and hatred to destroy Malaysia’s inter-racial and inter-religious harmony like the  “Council of Islamic NGOs” and Utusan Malaysia.

In its Sunday edition, Mingguan Malaysia carried a most vile, vitriolic,  incendiary, inflammatory and seditious article ““Melayu, Islam dihina di Tanah Melayu” by its deputy editor Azman Anuar,  which incites racial and religious animosities, hatred, conflicts and tensions.

Why has the police not  investigated this seditious article in Mingguan  Malaysia and the pile of other seditious writings published by Utusan Malaysia in the past few years inciting racial and religious animosities, hatred and conflicts, including resorting to lies and falsehoods?

The IGP and the top police leadership should study the public statement issued by the NUCC yesterday, calling on the authorities, particularly the police, to act quickly to stem provocations which incited inter-racial and inter-religious animosities, hatred, conflicts and tension.

When the NUCC urged the government to uphold the rule of law and to actively promote national unity by taking prompt action against incendiary statements and actions which are provocative and can lead to conflict and tension with serious consequences affecting peace, harmony and national unity, it is in fact an indictment on the IGP and the police for failing to carry out their primary duties in the past nine months.

One of the greatest failures of Khalid in the past nine months since his appointment as IGP on May 17, 2013 in his inability or failure  to act firmly against the hate mongers and merchants, who seemed to have got the message that they would enjoy “immunity and impunity” for their despicable and treacherous deed if they hide behind some pro-UMNO NGOs and provided the target of their  attacks are the Pakatan Rakyat parties, especially in the two states of Penang and Selangor.

The recent escalation of incitement of racial and religious hatred, conflict and tension – like the molotov cocktail attack on a church, the hanging of provocative banners outside five churches without the knowledge of the church authorities, the hurling of a slab of meat believed to be pork at a mosque (all happening in Penang) – are all the result of this police “permissiveness” for hate campaigns  under IGP Khalid.

I fully agree with the statement by Malaysian Indian Progressive Association (Mipas) secretary-general S Barathidasan blaming the police’s  double standards as  a major cause of the escalating tension as a result of the heightening of incitement of racial and religious hatred in recent months.

Barathidasan said Mipas, WargaAman and numerous other NGOS have filed a slew of police reports against Perkasa leaders Ibrahim Ali and Zulkifli Noordin as well as academician Riduan Tee Abdullah.

A report was also filed against Wanita Umno chief Sharizat Abdul Jalil over her speech that raised the spectre of the May 13, 1969 racial riots.

More recently, Barathidasan said, reports were also lodged against the NGOs that slaughtered chickens in public and smeared the blood on the images of DAP leaders.

Barathidasan rightly asked: “But why, until today, has no action been taken against the Umno/BN leaders and pro-government NGOs for provoking and stirring racial and religious tension?”

Can Khalid clear himself of the serious NUCC charge that the police had not acted promptly and swiftly to stop the campaign of hatred and incitement of racial and religious animosities, conflict and tensions in the past few months?

Can Khalid explain why in the past nine months, the police had failed to uphold the law to protect the peace and harmony of the country, and closed its eyes to the escalation of hate campaign over race and religion by the hate merchants particularly by Utusan Malaysia?

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, 18th February 2014)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 18 February 2014, 3:31 pm and is filed under
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Liow Tiong Lai vows to “bury” Anwar in Kajang – does he dare to contest in Kajang to carry out Anwar’s burial?

Yesterday the newspaper of the Malaysian “7-11” political party, MCA, launched its political offensive for the Kajang by-election and carried a report entitled “MCA dares Kit Siang to explain why he is afraid of directly offending UMNO”.

I gave a 15-paragraph reply but not a word came out in the Star today.

Instead, there was a second attack on me, entitled “Stop picking on MCA, Lim told”. Will a single word of my reply to this second attack on me appear in the newspaper of the “7-11” political party?

We will know tomorrow.

This is my reply today:

The second MCA attack on me as part of its Kajang by-election pre-campaign offensive has reinforced what I said yesterday, that the Liow-Wee MCA leadership is probably the worst in the 65-year MCA history as they orchestrate political statements and moves even the least honourable past MCA leaders would not do.

Yesterday the MCA statement attacking  me was outsourced to a lowly MCA flunkey so that Liong Tiong Lai and Wee Ka Siong could disclaim responsibility for the lies, innuendos and insinuations in the statement, but  nobody would believe that the Liow-Wee leadership was not the actual mastermind of the first statement.

Today, Liow and Wee got another MCA lackey to open fire at me, accusing me of trying to “taint” the MCA.

I want to thank Liow and Wee for the high honour which I must in all conscientiousness decline – as this is something which is completely beyond my capability.

I must plead innocence to this charge for the simple reason that I do not think it is easy to find anyone in Malaysia who could “taint” MCA any further after 65 years of disreputable and dishonourable MCA history.

Just imagine, if former MCA President, Datuk Dr. Chua Soi Lek could not  “taint” the MCA any further after  being its President for 45 months before passing the MCA “reins” of power to Liow, who else could “taint” the MCA any further?

Whether Liow can outdo Chua and “taint” MCA further, only history can tell.

On Sunday, Liow went to Kajang to launch the MCA’s election operation centre in Sungai Chua and vowed to “bury” Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in the Kajang by-election on March 23.

He said: “Since he dug a hole, we will cover (the hole), we will bury him.”

I don’t think even Datuk Chua Soi Lek, who is undoubtedly MCA President exemplar in public  chest-thumping, would even dare to make such a boast. One up for Liow!

Liow Tiong vows to “bury” Anwar in Kajang – does he dare to contest in Kajang to carry out Anwar’s burial?

For Liow to clinch some fame or notoriety  as MCA President, he must be prepared to see through his unusual boast to “bury” Anwar Ibrahim by himself contesting in Kajang to get the job done.

Dare Liow go to Kajang to “bury” Anwar or is he prescient enough to know that the person who would be “buried” in Kajang by-election is not Anwar but any MCA or Barisan Nasional candidate – including Liow himself and the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak?

The allegation by the second MCA lackey attacking me for being “afraid of Umno” over Teresa Kok’s “Onederful Malaysia CNY 2014” video controversy does not bear scrutiny.

Let me advise the Liow-Wee MCA national leadership to stop being cowards who only dare to throw stones from behind the curtain and they should not be so stupid as  to believe that their involvement could be kept secret.

Even up to now, neither Liow nor Wee dare to take a clear-cut stand in the “Major Right, Major Wrong” challenge facing the country to condemn extremists and traitors  who have been  inciting racial and religious animosities, hatred, conflict and tension in the past  nine months hoping to create another May 13 riots or bigger racial chaos and religious conflagration.

Even on Teresa Kok’s video, neither Liow nor Wee dare to openly tell UMNO Ministers that they are wrong in alleging that it is anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Rulers as there is no iota of evidence to substantiate such allegations against the video.

Why are Liow and Wee afraid to speak truth to power and tell UMNO Ministers that they are wrong to claim that Teresa’s video  is anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Rulers?

Let us wait for Liow and Wee’s reply.

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, 18th February 2014)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 18 February 2014, 3:41 pm and is filed under
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The enemy of the people

– Sakmongkol AK47

The Malaysian Insider

February 18, 2014

I will come back to the Kajang topic soon. It is now becoming more interesting as Zaid Ibrahim is entering the race.

At the moment, I want to share some thoughts on a topic that has been at the back of my mind for some time.

It is Umno’s perversion of the idea of nationalism and the “Umnonisation” of Islam. The danger is this. If left unchecked, Umno will confer upon itself the right as final arbiter on who is a Malaysian or not Malaysian and eventually who is Islamic, less Islamic and so forth. In a bizarre twist, Umno has totally outflanked PAS in portraying itself as the religious zealots bent on “talibanisation” of Muslims in Malaysia and eventually over all Malaysians.

We are all in danger. The country is crumbling under a fainéant leader. His madmen are on the loose. Umno’s nationalism.

It may have gone unnoticed, but the government’s loose categorization of all those who questioned its conduct on handling the nation’s security for instance as unpatriotic, is an expression of this high-pedestalled self-conferred stature. Tian Chua’s criticisms on the conduct of the security forces on the Lahad Datu invasion for instance, were used to brand him as a traitor.

The chief of the army, who isn’t a politician but a civil servant who swore allegiance to King and nation, joined others to brand as traitors who questioned the inept handling of the invasion. But let us question his motives over his own conduct over the whole affairs.

Why isn’t there a white paper or post-mortem analysis done on Ops Daulat? What lessons have we learnt from the invasion? How much money was spent over the operations? The chief of armed forces can easily justify purchase of military assets and consumables under the excuse of an emergency situation. He didn’t even have to go through any administrative motions. Perhaps we have heard of a bar of Cadbury chocolate costing RM80?

Those responsible for equipping our soldiers with substandard armaments and equipment are traitors of the highest order to our country. No amount of pantomimes or pretentious sympathy on those who lost lives in the invasion by a band of under-nourished sarong-clad individuals can absolve nor excuse the government over its inept handling.

Instead we must ask, with the military capabilities stationed in Sabah, why wasn’t the handling of the invasion entrusted to the field commander in Sabah? We seemed to marshal our security forces as though we were at war with the Philippines. The chaotic handling I assure you is not lost on our neighbours who are better equipped militarily. Putrajaya actually moved to Lahad Datu for a short while with two ministers were stationed there over an extended period. And to do what? To handle a band of sarong clad, slipper-wearing and under-nourished individuals?

Umno’s sponsored 1Malaysia is dead. As long as Umno divides the country into the various races, we can never achieve a Malaysian nationalism. We are moving towards an oligarchy where power seems to be divided between a select few including those entrusted to guard our nation’s external and internal security.  Umno now acts on the basis of might is right. Because it controls the federal government, it thinks it can bully everyone into submission.

It’s helped further by the legitimate coercive forces of the country- the police and the military. The military has shown it was quite inept when dealing with a mere incursion of a band of under nourished sarong clad men. The IGP and Chief of army descended on Sabah to direct operations. The defence minister as his home security colleague were there too making it out as though we were at war with another country. Surely, these are signs to shudder about the capacity of our country’s defence.

Umno has claimed absolute ownership on the concept of nationalism and how it shapes religious thinking. Umno’s Nazi-like definition of Malay means only Umno Malays are Malays. Other Malays of differing politics are apostates. There’s only Umno nationalism which crushed all other variants.

Our country continues to be divided into Umno Malays, non-Umno Malays, Chinese Indians, Melanau, Iban, Dayak, Kadazan so on and so forth. The indigenous people in Sabah and Sarawak are only Bumiputera if they are willing to give up their own ethnicity and become Melayu.  Otherwise your 10% strength serves only to add comfort to the peninsular Malays so that they can say they are 61% strong.

The fact is Malays are only 50-51% strong in Malaysia. To the Sabahans and Sarawakians, I only ask: how come when it comes to claiming to be Malays, Umno doesn’t differentiate you but when it comes to distributing gains and rewards, Umno discriminates you. And still you want to be with Umno despite the discrimination and humiliation. What is it with East Malaysians? Do they have political BDSM or what?

As long as Umno plays us off against one another along racial lines, we cannot have a Malaysian Nationalism. So Najib’s 1Malaysia is a hypocritical slogan with no real intent. It’s already dead before it can assume life and will be buried without tombstone if it’s not already buried.

A former deputy Umno president and a former deputy PM puts it laconically; Umno’s survival strategy is to show that it’s more Malay than Berjaya and more Islamic than PAS. And it cannot win in both areas by being on the same level; because in the case of Perkasa, the NGO gained the earlier ground to put up the claim;  in PAS’s case, Islam has long been the party’s raison d’être.

So its only option is to appear ultra-racist and ultra-religious. We are looking at the rise of Umno’s Reich-wing nationalism and the start of Umno’s inquisition. – sakmongkol.blogspot.com, February 18, 2014.

* Sakmongkol AK47 is the nom de guerre of Raub MP Datuk Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 18 February 2014, 9:57 pm and is filed under
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With a ‘Supporter’ Like Zaid, Pakatan Needs No Enemies

By Kee Thuan Chye

Yahoo! News

18 Feb 2014

What the hell is Zaid Ibrahim doing? He claims, in a Q&A with theSun, that he’s a Pakatan Rakyat supporter and yet he has declared his intention to stand in the upcoming Kajang by-election against Pakatan’s de facto leader, Anwar Ibrahim.

This is downright contradictory. It also gives the impression that he might be trying to settle an old score with Anwar’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), and even Anwar himself.

Many of us would remember that in 2010, while he himself was a member of PKR, Zaid publicly criticised the party and sullied its image. He displayed his egotism by brazenly calling on Anwar to step down as PKR’s leader and offering himself as successor. “I’ll be a good leader,” he boasted. But the party didn’t entertain him and he quit, with much bile and fanfare, to start his own mosquito party, Kita (Parti Kesejahteraan Insan Tanah Air).

He didn’t last long as Kita’s chief, quitting less than two years after he had founded it. During that time, he had a falling-out with his fellow party leaders and even announced disbanding the party but later changed his mind. This prompted his party chiefs to declare that they wanted him out.

Then in January 2013, he announced that he was quitting politics to concentrate on business. This came about two months after he had offered himself to Pakatan as a candidate for the 13th general election. As it turned out, Pakatan didn’t take up his offer. Indeed, by then, he had shown he was not a team player, he couldn’t stay at something long enough, and he kept flip-flopping on his political decisions.

And now he wants to come back to politics? Should the constituents of Kajang entrust their votes to someone who has been noted to be a quitter? Someone who hasn’t shown a solid track record as a people’s representative or the ability to last the course?

More important, what is his motive for coming back? And particularly for standing in the Kajang by-election?

In his official declaration to stand, he said it was to uphold the principles of a healthy democracy and to help ensure that Khalid Ibrahim continues as Menteri Besar of Selangor instead of having Anwar replace him.

But, first, why should he be concerned about this?

Second, why is he now coming out to fight for Khalid’s preservation when on February 2, he had tweeted in Malay that “Anwar made the right decision to be MB. A tiger must face a lion, then the people will be comfortable.”?

Why has he now changed his tune and said that during his by-election campaign, he would alert Pakatan supporters of the dangers of changing the current MB? What happened to the original belief in the tiger facing the lion?

Doesn’t this seriously call into question Zaid’s consistency?

He also says that he is standing in the by-election because he wants to end primitive politics in Malaysia. During his campaign, he would address “the numerous political and economic issues the country is facing”, the ‘Allah’ controversy, the need for programmes to help the young build skills, for a federal law addressing the conversion of Muslims, for a Race Relations Act, and for a new Attorney-General.

It looks like he is still thinking like the former Cabinet minister he was – about federal issues. But then he is not standing for Parliament but for a state seat. So even if he were to win the by-election, how would he be able to bring about the realisation of those things he addresses?

He also says he would tell Muslim voters that moving the country towards a theocracy “only means another round of authoritarian rule” so we should remain “a secular democracy under the rule of law”. And he would tell Umno supporters that Prime Minister Najib Razak “is more sensible and moderate than the other leaders they have, so there is no need to oust him”. (Although when Najib was proposed as prime minister to succeed Abdullah Badawi, Zaid urged the King not to appoint him, and instead appoint someone else from Umno.)

Is he for real? Are these issues of primary concern to the state? Perhaps he should just stick to writing his blog. Some of his posts on current issues have been sensible – and welcome. They would have more credibility if he were to remain outside of politics. His readers would see him as a commentator devoid of vested political interests. He might be better thought of as a blogger than a wishy-washy politician.

Besides, how could he seriously think he can win Kajang? He couldn’t even beat the tyro P. Kamalanathan when they faced off in the Hulu Selangor by-election in 2010. Despite the seat having been a PKR seat and he was standing on a PKR ticket, backed by the Pakatan government of Selangor.

What have his achievements been? He got into politics only in 2000, joining Umno, and was elected MP for Kota Baru in 2004, when Malaysians were eager to give Badawi a strong mandate. In 2005, his party found him guilty of money politics and that eventually led to his being suspended for 18 months. He was not selected as a candidate for the following 2008 general election. Afterwards, Badawi made him a senator in order to appoint him a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department. He lasted only six months. In September 2008, he quit as minister on account of the Government’s use of the Internal Security Act (ISA) to detain three Malaysians. On top of his having been frustrated by his unsuccessful attempts to initiate reform within the Cabinet.

Imagine that: If he couldn’t bring about reform as a minister, how does he hope to do so as a state assemblyman of Selangor? And as an independent to boot, without the backing of a large political grouping?

But first, would he be a match for Anwar? He doesn’t come across as being a dynamic person. He lacks passion when he speaks in his laid-back, low-key tones. You don’t get a sense of energy about him; he seems to lack it. No wonder he admits to not liking ceramahs because after speaking for 20 minutes, he says he gets tired.

So how can he hold a candle to Anwar? Not just as a speaker or electoral opponent but, more importantly, as a mover and shaker?

Still, he might get some votes – from confused voters, from those who are foolhardy to buy into his so-called attempt to keep Khalid as MB, from those who think they are being righteous in punishing PKR for forcing the by-election by getting the incumbent assemblyman, Lee Chin Cheh, to resign in order to make way for Anwar.

The way it looks, he might just be taking away the votes that could have otherwise gone to Anwar. And if he manages to take away enough of these, Barisan Nasional might even end up the winner.

Is that what Zaid Ibrahim really wants? As a self-admitted supporter of Pakatan Rakyat?

* Kee Thuan Chye is the author of the book The Elections Bullshit, available in bookstores.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 18 February 2014, 9:30 pm and is filed under
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How pathetic, now MCA must get its candidature to be cleared not only by UMNO but even by Perkasa!

Again the MCA newspaper The Star has blacked out my second reply to the daily MCA political offensive against me in the run-up to the Kajang by-election which is still 32 days away.

On Monday, the “7-11” political party, MCA, launched its political offensive against me, using  a lowly MCA flunkey in  a report entitled “MCA dares Kit Siang to explain why he is afraid of directly offending UMNO”.

I gave a 15-paragraph reply but not a word came out in the Star.

Yesterday, another MCA lackey was used to launch a second attack on me, entitled “Stop picking on MCA, Lim told”.

I issued a 24-paragraph reply. Of course it did not see the light of day in the MCA Star.

Today, another MCA factotum was used to attack me in the report entitled “’PKR, DAP hiding dirty linen’”, accusing me of being “mute” and subservient to Anwar Ibrahim.

Basically, these are all the handiwork of the new Liow-Wee MCA leadership to protest their “innocence” and the injustice of my  trying to “taint” the MCA.

I think the two responses from members of the public  in my facebook yesterday on my reply to the MCA say it all:

“Evon Wooi What is there to taint? Also super tainted and I don’t think there is any space left to be taint”

“Hock Teck Lee Can someone teach me how to taint a black kettle”

I don’t think the top MCA leaders Datuk Seri  Liow Tiong Lai and Datuk Seri Dr.  Wee Ka Siong could even give any satisfactory reply to Evon Wooi and Hock Teck Lee – how to “taint a black kettle”!

I really feel sorry for the new Liow-Wee MCA leadership, for they should know better than anyone else how lowly the MCA has fallen from the heady days in the early Merdeka years when MCA leaders like Tun Tan Cheng Lock sat as equals with the UMNO leaders like Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Razak at any conference table.  There is actually no need to compare with Tun Tan Cheng Lock, as  the Liow-Wee MCA leadership are even light years away when compared to the Lee San Choon, Ling Liong Sik or horror of horrors the Chua Soi Lek eras!

How pathetic, now MCA must get its candidature to be cleared not only by UMNO but even by Perkasa!

This is quite evident from the statement issued by the Perkasa President Ibrahim today in his “personal capacity”, even pledging support for MCA’s likely candidate in the Kajang by-election.

This is my third reply to the third MCA political offensive against me in the Star in the run-up to the Kajang by-election.

Will it be blacked out like my first two replies?

But I am prepared to devote a few paragraphs a day for the next 32 days to regale the glory and ignominy, the heights and depths, the comedy and tragedy of 65 years of MCA history.

This of course depends on whether MCA keeps up on its daily offensive against me in the Star tomorrow.

(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday 19th February 2014)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 19 February 2014, 4:27 pm and is filed under
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On the eve of the Teachers’ Spring?

Azly Rahman

Malaysiakini

Feb 14, 2014

“School-based assessment”, “Data-driven decision-making”, “Professional Learning Communities”, “Systems-based schooling”, “Authentic-based assessment”.

All these are nice words for Malaysian schools to have but alien to teachers driven to death by administrative work to even understand let alone enculturalise scientific thinking in teaching and learning and in managing student progress.

We have a society with scientific buzz-word and sloganism governing, but not yet a society whose members value scientific and rational thinking. That is why we have tribal practices in schools, of:

*Magic pills administered for students taking tests;

    *Magic and miracle water drank to increase intelligence;

    *Strange sounding pills sold to enhance brain power;

    *Teachers punishing students to eat grass, asking them to go back to where they belong, and all kinds of methods used to punish children not skilled in memorising facts that will become obsolete.

What do the untrained teachers need?

Teachers are going into the teaching profession unprepared, ill-prepared, and not trained as an anthropologist of learning, psychologist of curious young minds, a politician able to do crowd control, and an actor able to juggle roles and interpret the script well without losing sense and sanity. Without all these they are set for failure.

Even worse, given the burden of work, un-mentored early years in the profession, inability to master subject matter that is constantly progressing and worse still confronted with a large class of children of the new millennium smarter than the teacher at times and hungry for inspiring teaching techniques, teachers often resort to strange techniques of “disciplining and punishing” all because “fight or flight” of the “reptilian brain” govern their daily practice.

These reactions are understandable when classes are huge, workload insurmountable, salary low, and communicated goals unclear. These teachers need help. They need professional as well as emotional help because their hopes about being a good teacher might have been destroyed by the system itself that runs on auto-pilot and at times self-destructive mode.

Who loses in this game of educating? Children

The losers will be a generation of children bored and their minds unchallenged and uninspired and after a number of years in this system of survival of the fittest in this world of learning, dread, and boredom set in, and there goes the meaning of the idea of education down the drain; the meaning of the Latin word ‘educare’, i.e. to draw out (the best of human potentials constantly) That is what children are subjected to.

We must revamp teacher education entirely with new premises, new paradigm, new modus operandi, new culture breathed in, new vision of a good society of good workers and citizens, new everything —  including the very idea of “what is a teacher” itself. When can we do this before two more generations are lost?

If the teachers need to be helped as such, what then should be the role of another partner in the education of the Malaysian child?

It should be one of partnership with the school – of smart partnership

My advice to parents are  these:

 *Train your child well before sending them off to school;

    *Teach them respect, ethics, and good manners and discipline; and

    *Train their minds to be disciplined with acquiring knowledge as well.

The school is not a babysitting place you drop your children off to be disciplined by teachers. They have better things to do – teach.

If half of the time is used to discipline your child or even your youngster, half of the joy of teaching is gone, half of the battle to make your children cleverer is lost.

This is a gentle reminder: teachers are not correctional officers in a glorified prison – they are noble people who will also manage virtue.

It is all a collaborative effort – taking a village to raise a child, your child.

To the Education Ministry we should all say this:

If you can spend many millions of dollars just writing up a blueprint, spend that much money to reduce class size to 20.You cannot continue to make the lives of teachers miserable and expect miracles. Education is not an act of enslaving teachers by making them burn out from day one.

Investing in the country’s future through small learning communities – priceless.

Time after time, reform and new ideas are introduced to the school system without giving time for the old to prove their worth through long-term cumulative research findings and development of artifacts of learning and teaching to be developed and showcased.

This is a case of too many wines in too many new bottles maketh the teacher a drunken sailor.

A synthesis of workability

The best teaching techniques are the ones not necessarily transferred lock, stock, and barrel from faraway lands, just because they worked in those cultures.

The best are those in which the teachers and the techniques gradually harmonise into a synthesis of workability, of what worked best under different circumstances, with different student population, and ones that are constantly improved and refined and ultimately what the teachers have not only understood as best practice but have become one and inseparable with the teacher.

In essence, less is more, small is beautiful, one small step for a teacher is a giant step for the children.

I end my lamentation on ways to improve the state of teaching and learning entire by a reminder of the five C’s of education that need to be explored, enriched, embraced, and enculturalised by teachers with a certain level of mastery: “culture”,  “curriculum”, “classroom management”,  “communicative competence”  and lastly but most importantly, “common sense”.

There is still hope in making things better. Because education is about hope and love.

DR AZLY RAHMAN, born in Singapore and grew up in Johor Baru, holds a Columbia University (New York City) doctorate in International Education Development and Masters degrees in four areas: Education, International Affairs, Peace Studies and Communication. He has taught more than 40 courses in six different departments and has written more than 350 analyses on Malaysia. His teaching experience in Malaysia and the United States spans over a wide range of subjects, from elementary to graduate education. He has edited and authored four books; Multiethnic Malaysia: Past, Present, Future (2009), Thesis on Cyberjaya: Hegemony and Utopianism in a Southeast Asian State (2012), The Allah Controversy and Other Essays on Malaysian Hypermodernity (2013), and the latest Dark Spring: Ideological Roots of Malaysia’s GE-13 (2013). He currently resides in the United States.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 19 February 2014, 7:02 am and is filed under
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Onederfully wanton NGOs

Mariam Mokhtar

Malaysiakini

Feb 17, 2014

Ironically, Teresa Kok’s ‘Onederful Malaysia’ film, has managed to ‘unite’ Malaysians, in a perverse way. The characters in her satirical video speak Chinese, and the clip has both Chinese and English subtitles. Incredibly, non-Chinese people, ranging from the mighty Mahathir Mohamad to nondescript Malay NGOs, have watched this video. Teresa has managed to engage Malaysians, in true ‘1Malaysia’ fashion.

Credit must be given to the Malay/Muslim NGOs. They have generated interest in Teresa’s video and exposed the hidden, serious messages, to a much larger audience than if they had not publicised the video.

The Malay/Muslim NGOs know that they are above censure and can expose whomsoever they wish. No mainstream media would dare expose the profligacy of a certain spouse of a prime minister of a South-East Asian nation. The last paper to publish her alleged extravagance had its fingers singed, when the paper’s printing permit was revoked.

Abdul Rani Kulup, the chairperson of the Martabat Jalinan Muhibbah Malaysia (MJMM) is the first person to publicly state that he thinks that Mrs Jit, in Teresa’s video, is Najib Abdul Razak’s spouse, the self-styled ‘First Lady’ Rosmah Mansor. It would be interesting to learn his basis for this assumption.

Abdul Rani is either very foolish or a very brave man. Perhaps, he has a personal grudge against Najib and is providing ammunition to the faction within Umno Baru which is trying to bring Najib down.

He said, “If we see one of the characters, the woman (in the video), she looks exactly (sebiji) like Rosmah Mansor. With the style, the handbag, the rings.”

Abdul Rani need only look around him to observe, that many Malay women, from kampongs to condominiums, have a penchant for handbags and rings. Some can afford the originals whilst others buy knock-offs. A Malay woman inspecting handbags in The Globe acts no differently to the one in Galleries Lafayette; she behaves the same in Arzu as in Aspreys.

In reality, Abdul Rani is the only one who has insulted Rosmah Mansor (FLOM).

Abdul Rani also said, “That is an insult. YB Seputeh Teresa should be taken to court because (her video) had elements of mocking and insulting our leaders.”

It is good that more Malays are watching Chinese videos because these are the first baby steps towards integration.

Abdul Rani should watch the British satirical TV series called ‘Spitting Image’, in which presidents, prime ministers, the royal family, religious leaders, including the Pope are mocked. Leaders who have been ridiculed in ‘Spitting Image’, quietly admit that they are pleased to be featured because that means they remain in the public arena. No publicity is bad publicity!

In a Bernama report, former PM Mahathir Mohamad said that Teresa’s video did not contribute to harmony among the communities or peace in the country. This is most disingenuous of him.

The video highlighted issues like excessive spending and security concerns of the public. There was nothing about race or religion. It was typical of Mahathir to attack Teresa for these reasons. He sowed the seeds of disunity in 1986, when he proposed that several words, including ‘Allah’, should be banned from use by Christians. Today, the clash between Muslims and non-Muslims is like a festering wound.

The coalition of Muslim NGOs offered a reward of RM1,200 to any member of the public who would slap Teresa. It intervened because the government was “too soft” to censure Teresa.

Abdul Rani said, “If no legal action is taken against leaders insulting the sultans, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong or Malay Muslims, this will continue.”

Giving free publicity

Abdul Rani is to be praised for giving free publicity to Teresa for her video but the next step is for people like him, to actually read the English subtitles or learn Chinese, or get a friend to translate, so they can understand what is being said. There was nothing on race or religion. Teresa did not insult the Malays, the sultans or the Agong.

The truth is, Abdul Rani is an insult to the Malays because he cannot appreciate satire and does not understand English or Chinese. A little bit of humour brightens our lives. Didn’t we snigger when Rosmah said she was able to buy her rings because she had been saving since she was a teenager?

We were heartened when Abdul Taib Mahmud said his children were very intelligent and astute business people and had built up a multi-billion business empire from their pocket money.

Abdul Rani also said, “After this, there will be another. So just give one slap and they will keep quiet.”

I don’t know how old Abdul Rani is but I bet he, and most of the country, was quietly rejoicing when Mahathir emasculated the rulers in 1993.

Penang Wanita Umno chief Senator Norliza Abdul Rahim also waded in to criticise Teresa’s video, and that she said she supported the Muslim NGOs’ move to slap Teresa.

When a politician is weak, he or she can get fast-tracked to the top for the wrong reasons. Norliza appears to be one of those. She is a poor role model for women and children. They will associate the use of violence with disagreement.

Norliza censured Lim Guan Eng for ageist/sexist remarks a few months ago, but one wonders if she would have dared to demand an apology from MPs of her own party, such as Bung Moktar Radin, for their coarse, sexist remarks.

Abdul Rani, Mahathir and Norliza profess to uphold the rights of Malays, Islam and the rulers. They were silent when members of royalty received multi-billion ringgits worth of contracts. They were silent when one man, Imam Hoslan Hussein, tried to highlight the endemic corruption in mosques in his area, but was thrown into jail instead.

They remain silent when the ordinary Malay becomes the victim of corrupt Umno Baru Malay politicians and their cronies. They keep quiet when Malays who are not well-connected, become the victims of abuse and injustice.

The only criticisms to be levelled at Teresa are that ‘Onederful Malaysia’ should have Malay subtitles or dubbing, and that her team should make more videos of a similar nature. That would be most onederful.

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army and president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO).

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 19 February 2014, 6:38 am and is filed under
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