‘Everyday Malaysians’ lend support to prominent Malays with #KamiJuga25

By Zurairi AR

The Malay Mail Online

December 18, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 18 — Another group of Malaysians have come up with an open letter in support of reasonable, rational and informed dialogue today, adding to the lively discourse following a similar message by 25 former high-ranking civil servants last week.

Calling itself #KamiJuga25, Malay for “We are 25 too”, the group aims to get “everyday Malaysians” to chip in the conversation in support of the original 25 signatories, not just from the Malay-Muslim community.

“In almost every letter we have seen distinguished recognisable names listed in as signatories. This letter is intended to allow for the everyday Malaysian to also say ‘kami juga 25’,” co-creator Azrul Mohd Khalib told Malay Mail Online.

“It is intended to complement existing efforts and to strengthen the voices which are getting louder by the day,” added Azrul, who is part of social movement called Malaysians for Malaysia.

In the letter addressed to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the group urged Malaysian leaders to deliver a country that “promotes inclusiveness and celebrates the unity of its people through diversity”.

“We also believe that it is not only Malay Muslims who have a voice and stake in this country, it is every Malaysian who believes in a common vision and shared destiny, ideals which are no different to when Malaya became independent and Malaysia was born,” the 38-year-old said.

An online copy of the letter was also uploaded online on global petition platform Change.org, and the group aims to get the public to take a photo of themselves and spread it through social media using the hashtag #KamiJuga25, in support of the campaign.

Azrul said he was inspired to draft the letter together with writer and activist Mohani Niza following the letter by those dubbed “prominent Malays”, and saw it as an opportunity to further strengthen the moderate and progressive voices.

Admitting the flurry of other open letters and petitions similarly inspired by the original 25, Azrul however applauded the positive vibe resulting from the environment.

A group called Aura Merdeka has launched a petition called “I am #26” on Monday, while a group of 93 civil societies had yesterday urged all stakeholders to start an honest discourse on the Federal Constitution and the direction in which Malaysia is headed.

“We are of the belief that it is necessary for a clear and resounding articulation of the voice of moderates and the much talked about silent majority. The more letters and articles which vocalises this, the better,” he said.

“Too long we have allowed the voices of arrogance, bigotry, ignorance and prejudice to speak for all of us. No more.”

In a strongly-worded open letter earlier this month, the group of 25 influential Malays called on the federal government to review Shariah criminal offences and assert the supremacy of the Federal Constitution over Islamic state laws in the country.

The group, dominated by some of the country’s most senior-ranking civil servants who have since retired from duty, expressed its dismay over the unresolved disputes on the position and application of Islamic laws in Malaysia, which it said reflects a “serious breakdown” of the division of powers between the federal authority and the states.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 18 December 2014, 10:57 am and is filed under
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How could an extremist with racial and religious prejudice  rise up to become Chief Justice, the top judicial officer of the land?

The question more and more lawyers and Malaysians are asking is how an extremist with  racial and religious prejudice  like Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad could rise up to become Chief Justice, the top judicial officer of the land.

Last month, Tun Hamid shocked the judicial community and Malaysians when he waded into treacherous waters and warned at the so-called National Unity Convention that Malays will become “Red Indians in their own land” if UMNO and PAS do not co-operate to defend the government from DAP and PKR.

Hamid was never interested in national unity in the sense of Malaysian unity but only in his concept of Malay unity.

He also did not explain how after 57 years of UMNO government under six UMNO Prime Ministers, Malays and Islam are under threat or whether 57 years of UMNO government under six UMNO Prime Ministers had been such dismal failures that Malays and Islam are under siege today.

Hamid, who was elevated to the highest judicial post when he was appointed Chief Justice from 2007-2008, succeeding Tun Fairuz Abdul Halim and preceding Tun Zaki Azmi, had exhibited extremist tendency even when he was a judge.

In July, in a Malaysian Insider report, retired Federal Court judge Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram revealed that Hamid had shown  extremist prejudice in a decision on a civil case which he heard as a High Court judge in the 90s.

Sri Ram had sat on a Court of Appeal bench in 1996 which came across Hamid’s decision in a civil case that belied his prejudice.

In that case, a bank had sued two business partners, a Malay and an Indian, who had stood guarantors for a loan. Both the defendants relied on the defence that their signatures were forged by a third party.

Sri Ram said Hamid, who had written the judgment in Bahasa Malaysia, accepted the claim by the Malay defendant because “as a Muslim he would not tell lies”.

He, however, did not accept the allegation of the Indian. The bank and the Indian appealed to the Court of Appeal.

The Court of Appeal, comprising Sri Ram, late Tan Sri Abdul Malek Ahmad and Tan Sri Siti Normah Yaakob,  dismissed the bank’s appeal, set aside Hamid’s judgment and ordered a trial.

Hamid should have been hauled before the judicial tribunal for such an extremist, racial and religious prejudice and not be allowed to be promoted up the judicial ladder.

Instead, he rose up  the judiciary ranks from High Court to Court of Appeal and Federal Court, and then appointed Court of Appeal President and Chief Justice of Malaysia.

There is clearly something  amiss in the appointment and promotion of judges in Malaysia where an extremist with racial and religious prejudice could rise up all the way to become Chief Justice of the country.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 18 December 2014, 4:18 pm and is filed under
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Iskandar’s plunging fortunes

Khairul Khalid

KiniBiz

December 15, 2014

This has been a year to forget for the Iskandar economic region in Johor.

After much lauded growth in the last five years, led by a robust property market, cracks began to show in Iskandar this year. Bullishness about Iskandar’s property market has been replaced with a more cautious, sometimes even bleaker outlook.

What is causing this dwindling optimism about Iskandar? For a start, the numbers don’t lie.

Alarming drop

country garden danga bay iskandar johor 2“In comparison to the first half of 2013, there was a drop of about 48% in terms of total transactions in the same period this year,” said V Sivadas, executive director of PA International Property Consultants based in Johor Bahru (JB).

That is an alarming drop in sales by any standards. The fact that it is happening just when Iskandar seems to have picked up momentum in the last few years has rattled the market.

According to Sivadas, this decline is across all sectors of the property market in Iskandar.

“Our records indicate 5,419 total transactions in the first half of this year at a value of about RM3.7 billion. In comparison with the first half of 2013, there was a drop of about 48% in terms of total transactions and about 37% drop in terms of total value of transactions in the first half of 2014,” said Sivadas who based his analysis on available records of properties sales within Iskandar Malaysia.

According to Sivadas, 2013 was the peak of the Iskandar market in terms of number of transactions (25,034 transactions) and total value of transactions (estimated RM20.3 billion — excluding the controversial RM4.5 billion land sale by the Johor Sultan to Guangzhou R&F). In comparison, there were 21,503 transactions in 2012, at a total value of about RM13.5 billion.

The 20-year project is spread across a sprawling 550,000 acres and divided into five flagship zones in Johor and has experienced exponential growth. It is designed to rejuvenate JB and position it as a major regional economic hub. It is targeting between RM20 billion to RM22 billion in investments targeted yearly until 2025.

Although Iskandar consists of several designated zones, property development has arguably fuelled its remarkable growth in recent years. Major property developers, both local and foreign, have flocked to Iskandar in the last five years to ride the wave of Iskandar’s property boom.

It’s not that the well has run dry for Iskandar. Recently, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak announced that Iskandar has attracted close to RM25 billion worth of investments this year, adding up to a total of RM156 billion investments secured for the region since its inception in 2006.

Supply outrunning demand

Country Garden Holdings Co Ltd at Danga BayFor many observers, the root cause of the slump this year has simply been supply outrunning demand in Iskandar.

Even as early as January this year, it was reported that purchase bookings of new property launches in Iskandar were already down 20% to 30%. Several other factors have contributed to the cooling down of the Iskandar property market.

Last year, the federal and state governments moved to check an overheating property market nationwide. An increase in Real Property Gains Tax (RPGT), hiking minimum property purchases of foreigners from RM500,000 to RM1 million and a property levy of 2% for foreign purchases in Johor were all implemented to clamp down on speculative buying.

All of these measures slowed down the market considerably this year, Iskandar included.

Market observers have also cautioned that the influx of big Chinese developers, such as Country Garden and Guangzhou R&F, into Iskandar could backfire. Although they have brought in much needed investments, the massive scale of their launches have analysts worried about a potential oversupply or overhang in the market.

Country Garden launched 9,000 units of the Danga Bay development in 2013, a scale that was unprecedented in the Johor market. Guangzhou R&F’s development on the 116 acres it bought from the Johor Sultan is set to dwarf Country Garden’s project.

It has also been reported that Guangzhou R&F is planning to launch a staggering 30,000 units in the next few years.

These mammoth developments and launches by the Chinese developers in Iskandar have sparked genuine fears that a severe oversupply of high-end units will drag down the Iskandar region for years to come.

“Most of Country Garden’s and Guangzhou R&F’s properties are premium priced. Very few ordinary JB residents can afford them. If the Singaporeans stop buying, they will be in deep trouble. I feel their sales are already suffering, although no official figures have been released,” said Andy Mohan, a property agent in JB.

Even major local developers have not been spared the impact of the Chinese invasion in Iskandar.

Last August, UEM Sunrise slashed its annual sales target by 40% due to poor second quarter (2Q14) results, partly due to poor take up of new its launches in Iskandar.

UEM Sunrise’s new chief executive officer Anwar Syahrin Abdul Ajib has also said that the company will “re-strategise” its position and reduce its dependency on Iskandar, where it has approximately 60% of its total land bank.

The fact that UEM Sunrise, one of the biggest developers in Malaysia and master developer of Nusajaya, one of the designated zones in Iskandar, is feeling the pinch and re-evaluating its business its Iskandar is a telling sign that all is not well in Iskandar.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 18 December 2014, 9:14 am and is filed under
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Opposing hudud does not mean opposing Islam

— Nadira Ilana

Malay Mail Online

April 23, 2014

APRIL 23 — I’m just not sure what’s a ‘nice’ way to have a conversation about a set of laws that legitimises amputations, slavery and public stoning in God’s name. There are many reasons why I think that hudud has no place in the modern world.

Hudud neglects what we know today about economics and social science. We know that robbers don’t all rob because they’re bad, it’s because they’re often poor, sick or desperate. We know that sociopathy and psychopathy are personality disorders and that people are a product of their environment therefore evil acts are not Satanic manifestations in men. In that respect, not all women and men can be judged the same.

We know that just because four men didn’t witness a rape, it doesn’t mean that a woman has committed adultery. A woman is not the proverbial tree fallen in the forest so a rape kit will do just nicely to prevent her from getting stoned. Consider that if accusations of adultery are punishable too then Mahathir should get a huge walloping for what he’s dragged Anwar through.

Another inconsistency with hudud is that in Islam you can’t amputate livestock if you want to consume their flesh because it’s inhumane but then if a man steals you can amputate his hands. I don’t see the justice here. Taking away the hands of a man who steals because he is hungry is a low blow.

We know that people are capable of reform and that humanity is largely good before it is bad. We know that people can change when they are treated with kindness and given an education or opportunities, not stoned by various sizes of rock. People can’t be ‘scared away’ from crime. Dead men don’t learn. Deterrents are what you tell children to make them finish their dinner. The human conscience should be guided by reason, not fear if you want meaningful change hence the importance of education and independent thought.

Another thing about hudud is that it deals with petty misdemeanours excessively. Theft and adultery are the things of tabloids. There are worse crimes out there with extremely lenient sentences like wildlife trafficking and animal abuse. The monstrosity of it all is that child marriage is legal in Malaysia under Islamic law. Politicians and developers get away with building dams and deforestation, capitalism and corruption. How does hudud address these bigger issues? Hudud has no place in a society whose priorities have changed. It’s perfectly medieval.

If we thought that ISA abuse was bad, hudud will be far worse because our religious authorities are government funded. Ultimately the people whose lives will be endangered the most will be Muslims themselves yet – none of us live in a bubble. We all have Muslim family members and friends. Because of certain Islamic laws in place, the number of Muslims in the country is growing artificially. No one will be unaffected by hudud. Not even non-Muslims. Hudud is not going to frighten people from committing crime. It’s just going to make people afraid of Islam. Religious freedom in Malaysia is on its death bed as it is. Should we be entertaining a debate on something that is only going to make things worse?

Even Mahathir has pointed out that the poor are the most likely to commit crime and that the majority of Malaysians living in poverty themselves are Malays, the very people whom ISMA, PAS and Perkasa are trying to defend in the first place – when they’re not fighting to implement hudud.

So no, this isn’t a discussion that needs to take place between Muslims and non-Muslims but between the proponents and opponents of hudud. For this discussion to go further, Malaysian Muslims and non-Muslims, need to be assured that opposing hudud does not mean opposing Islam.

It also helps for contemporary Muslim scholars who oppose hudud to chime in so there can be fair discussion. I understand why people might suggest that we tone down emotional language by not using words like “barbaric” or “inhumane” in discussions on hudud but I don’t think it helps to dumb a conversation down for the mere sake of diplomacy. Call a fork a fork because most of our politicians won’t and that’s why they’re wasting their breath on hudud and not education, the environment or the economy.

You know, stuff that politicians should really be talking about.

Most politicians (save for the dearly departed Karpal Singh) continue to play it safe by avoiding the topic because hardly any of them have the guts to oppose religious authorities outright for fear of seeming anti-Islam, that is, if their Islam stood for violence and vengeance.

Ask the proponents of hudud why they are not as passionate about championing education and compassion first since Islam is a religion of peace and reason, as they say. Ancient Muslims were great philosophers, scientists and thinkers. Why should modern Muslims have to go back to where others left off thousands of years ago instead of evolving themselves? Especially in an age where people are learning faster than ever.

Muslims should submit to Allah, not to self-appointed ‘religious authorities’ who want to play Qada and Qadar by speaking and acting upon others on Allah’s behalf, which is worse than any Dutch cartoon or Aronofsky movie.

People should be entitled to have an unadulterated say on the big decisions to do with religion because it affects our private lives from the birth of our children to our funerals. Especially since we live in a country that refuses to acknowledge the part of our constitution that stipulates that Malaysia is a secular state. We should definitely be included on discussions on whether Jakim officers should be given guns. I can’t believe I even have to say this out loud.

If Islam stood for good things then it should be a prerogative for Muslims to do the right thing even if that means acting contrarily to what others tell them their religion demands of them. Promote Ijtihad and reasoning. Stop dumbing people down with half truths because it’s only turning us into really polite hypocrites.

Hudud is messed up. Just say it. Why should we get caught up by people who want to fight to be the Muslimest-Muslim they can possibly be but can’t even wrap their heads around what it means to be a Muslim or even just decent people in the first place? Kindness, compassion, respect for others should be the forefront of every God fearing man. Not suspicion and moral policing. While we are on this earth, people should be entitled to learn from their own mistakes.

Ultimately we all know the answer to this debate. Instil the fear of God in people through religious authority and people won’t be able to tell the difference between the fear of God or the fear of men. At the end of the day, hudud is not a conversation about Allah’s will but the supremacy of a few men trying to play Allah because we refuse to separate religion from state. So what’s unIslamic about opposing hudud then?

*Nadira Ilana is a filmmaker and aspiring aspirer currently based in Kuala Lumpur. She makes fiction films and documentaries and wants to shoot her first feature in her home state of Sabah. You can watch her Freedom Film Fest documentary ‘The Silent Riot’ here on Youtube.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 18 December 2014, 8:42 pm and is filed under
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Why Malays should back the ‘I am #26′ petition

By Hafidz Baharom

Malaysiakini

Dec 18, 2014

I was recently roped in to support the ‘I Am #26′ petition, a subsequent reaction to the letter of the G25, a group of eminent Malays who long for thorough moderation and not just words without action.

Written by a columnist for The Malaysian Insider, it has at the time of my writing this gained 3,760 signatories in the last four days, averaging 1,000 people a day.

And quite wholly, I agree to what the petition stands for, because it is, in fact, what an Islamic society is supposed to be; thorough, enlightened and in the spirit of brotherhood or sisterhood.

Personally, the five points of the petition to the prime minister requires urgent and immediate attention, and as such, I am wondering what the hesitance is about.

Firstly, it urges a review of the Sharia Criminal Offences laws in the country, which make sinning criminal. Is it not in the best interest of the entirety of the Islamic population in Malaysia to see what sins should be criminalised?

Is it not necessary to standardise all these laws in all the states in line with the federal constitution?

For myself, it is. A review would also shed light on a lot of issues that have been plaguing the dual legal system.

The second point in the petition is a clarion call to ensure that parliamentarians and the public know the limitations to the sharia legal system as set by the federal constitution.

This is definitely needed for everyone to note, because there are limits to the state-specific religious legal system as defined by our founding laws. Perhaps this has gone forgotten for far too long, or has been left without clarification for everyone to note.

Perhaps this is the way it is out of ignorance or necessity by people with their own agendas, God only knows.

Shouldn’t we, the public at large, know what limits the religious authorities have?

And since Islam itself promotes speaking from a point of enlightenment and to share knowledge, how can we say this point is an attack on Islam?

The third point is to allow civil society to consult on Islam being used as a source of public law and public policy. Yet again, this is necessary.

As I have mentioned before, Islam has now grown to a point of multiple facets in which everything and anything can be accessed online from multiple sources.

Islam has evolved, and we should evolve with it. In addition to this, how can you do laws and policies without contribution from civil societies?

We do it for everything from economics to education to welfare. When did Islam ever tell us to avoid having intellectual discourses as a basis of law and policy?

Is that not what a syura, or a political congress or a muktamar all about?

How can you not have the same for the government?

Nobody has a monopoly

The fourth point of the “I Am #26” petition is exactly what I just said above. Islam has now evolved to be multifaceted, to the point that nobody truly has a monopoly on which or what the right Islamic laws and policies are.

What was implemented in Turkey and Arab Saudi, to exemplify, are two different brands. Commonalities are abound, true, but they are different, suiting different peoples, cultures and thus, forming different laws and policies.

Similarly, Malaysia and Malaysians should come from the same points of view, since we are equally diverse but united in worshipping one God.

So, how can we not allow the inclusion of all information through the different interpretations and juristic schools of thought?

The final point raised in the petition is leadership, or as I interpret it, a moderator who will allow the intellectual debates on Islamic jurisprudence in the establishment and review of sharia law and policies.

As I read it, we do not expect the prime minister himself to lead this move, but to appoint someone who is knowledgeable enough in both legal systems and intellectual discourse to lead it to fruition.

Is this not what we want?

For too long, Islam and the Malays have been made the boogeyman of Malaysia. We have been made scapegoats to anything and everything – from riots that would cripple the nation to even veiled threats of violence against non-Muslims.

This has never been the Islamic way.

Transparency, moderation, knowledgeable, intellectual discourse; these have been the hallmarks of the best of Islamic governance throughout history. Look at the rich history of Islam and you will find that the intellects in arithmetic and medicine were also the same intellects in philosophy and jurisprudence.

Historically the renaissance men

To be frank, Muslims were historically the renaissance men. This has been historically recognised even since the days of Kublai Khan. How can we ignore knowledge in any form?

With all this in mind, how can Malays reject a petition which truly stands for the best of what Islamic culture has offered in the past?

As such, there is nothing in this petition that is against Islam. In fact, it encourages the best qualities of our religious culture has to offer to combat ignorance and the hijacking of our religion by those who treat it as a monopoly.

These, by and large, are un-Islamic qualities that the petition wants to combat.

And thus, I urge my Muslim brothers and sisters to support it.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 18 December 2014, 9:09 pm and is filed under
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Zahid is not fit or qualified to be Co-Chairman of the Permanent Committee to act on the RCIIIS findings because of his bias and rejection of the RCIIIS finding on ‘Project IC’

When Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi made his first  visit to Sabah after the publication of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Illegal Immigrants in Sabah (RCIIIS) on December 3 and his appointment as Co-Chairman of the Permanent Committee to act on the RCIIIS findings, he insisted that there was no ‘Project IC’ responsible for the issue of tens and even hundreds of thousands of illegal or fraudulent identity cards allowing them to be registered as voters to change the political demography in Sabah.

During his visit to Sabah, Zahid outlined the terms of reference for the two committees set up to act on the findings of the RCIIIS – with Zahid, together with the Sabah Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Musa Aman as the  co-chairmen of the Permanent Committee, and Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan, as the Chairman of the Working Committee on the RCIIIS Report.

However, something is very amiss, as how can Zahid be the Co-Chairman of the Permanent Committee to act on RCIIIS Report findings when he is biased as he rejects the RCIIIS’ most important finding on ‘Project IC’?

Zahid insists that there had been no “Project IC” but this is not the finding of the RCIIIS.

The RCIIIS devoted 14 pages of its 368-page report to “Project IC”, wrestling with the question whether it really existed  or as it asked in the RCIIIS Report: “Was it fiction or fact?”. (p 288).

The RCIIIS Report states:

“From the evidence, it seems clear that there are two sides to the issue of whether the so-called ‘Project’ IC really existed”. (p. 297)

On one side
, there is the evidence of W201 (Hassnar Ebrahim) who testified in the Likas Election petition, whose evidence being corroborated by five ex-NRD officers who were ex-ISA detainees (W11, W12, W13, W14 and W15; in fact there was a sixth one, W10, as well):-

Haji Ramli Kamaruddin (W11) ex-Director of Sabah NRD from 1992 to 1995, was detained for alleged involvement in illegally issuing high quality Malaysian ICs to immigrants for political purposes, to vote for certain Islamic Parties. Under instruction he also issued temporary identification receipts to illegal immigrants for voting purposes at election.

Kee Dzulkifli bin Kee Abdul Jalil (W12), a registration clerk attached to the National Registration Department (NRD), Kota Kinabalu in 1994, told the RCIIIS of his involvement in issuing 600,000 dubious ICs and 200,000 late registration of birth certificates illegally to Muslim immigrants from Philippines and Indonesia.

Asli bin Sidup (W13), an assistant registration officer  and  Yakop bin Damsah (W14) head of NRD, Tamparuli district, Sabah  were sent under directive by  Datuk Abdul Rauf  Sani (W15), Director of Sabah NRD then, to KL in 1990 to process blue plastic ICs for issuance to immigrants in Sabah for political purposes. (About 40,000 such ICs processed and signed by four officers in one month, got laminated, before brought back to Sabah for collection by the intended holders.)

W15 was the Director from 1990 to 1992. He admitted having instructed W13 and W14 to carry out special task in KL relating to processing Malaysian ICs to be issued to illegal immigrants so that they could be registered as voter as in the electoral rolls, to increase the number of Muslim voters in Sabah and to defeat the PBS state government at that time.

This is the finding of RCIIIS:

“From the evidence of W11, W12, W13, W14 and W15, it is clear that there was a clandestine exercise involving senior officers in NRD Sabah who apparently acted under orders from their political superiors …….. The names mentioned by some of the above witnesses have included Tan Sri Harris Salleh, Tan Sri Aziz Shamsudin, Tun Dr. Mahathir and the late Tan Sri Megat Junid.”

On the other side
, Mahathir, Harris Salleh and Aziz Shamsudin (as Megat Junid has passed away)  denied vigorously their involvement in such clandestine exercise.

Furthermore, Special Branch officers Datuk Hj Ibrahim bin Hj Zakaria (W33) head of Special Branch, Sarawak  and DSP Badaruddin bin Ismail (W34) who interviewed respectively W15 and W11 while under Internal Security Act (ISA) detention, disclosed that the sole motive of those activities was for financial gain.

Even the RCIIIS took the testimony of the Special Branch officers with more than a pinch of salt,  as it questioned the professionalism and even integrity of the three SB officers concerned although couched in very bureaucratic language, with the  following finding/observation in the RCIIIS Report (p 298/299):

“In our view, when the testimonies of W33, W34 and W56 (Supt. Ahmad Fauzan bin Mohd) are analysed carefully, it seems obvious that their interrogations and/or assessments of the suspects did not go beyond determining the financial motive involved. They were apparently satisfied solely on the basis that the said activities were conducted for financial or monetary gain. They took the view that that would be sufficient to constitute threats to national security and therefore be subjected to arrest and detention under the ISA. They did not seem to find it necessary to go beyond the financial motive and to determine whether there were other motives involved. And even if they did, it is doubtful whether the suspects mentioned above would have revealed their clandestine involvement given its secretive nature and intentions as well as the personalities involved.”

It does not make sense and even ludicrous to dismiss the whole “Project IC” as being purely for financial gain.

Abdul Rauf (W 15) issued “6,305 ICs resulting in collection of RM167,300”, while Ramli Kamaruddin (W11) issued “16,000 IC receipts for voting only resulting in collection in excess of RM1 million”?

The average money transacted per IC is only RM28 in the case of Abdu Rauf and RM62 in the case of Ramli – a laughable figure for such a heinous crime!

Who would believe that the illegal immigrants have to pay the “Project IC” masterminds whether RM28 or RM62 each to vote for UMNO in the Sabah elections, rather than the other way round?

Ramli’s testimony shows how ridiculous is the theory that the motive for  “Project IC” was just for financial gain.

Ramli (p 51/52) told the RCIIIS that he had been transferred to Sabah as Director of NRD “in order to assist the Government that would be more Islam based”.

The RCIIIS Report gave the following summary of Ramli’s testimony:

“According to him, he was to identify the Muslim voters and to persuade them to vote for certain Islamic parties. He said that two weeks before the 1993 DUN election in Sabah, he met with the late Tan Sri Megat Junid, the then Deputy Minister of Home Affairs. He was accompanied by one Encik Asli, a colleague of his.

“They were instructed to issue JPN receipts such as JPN1/9 and JPN 1/11 to illegal immigrants so that they could be entered into the electoral rolls in certain black or grey areas in  Sabah. They would be coached on how to vote, etc. The receipts were apparently issued just for the purpose of voting and they had to be surrendered back after they had voted.

“The alleged meeting was at the Hyatt Hotel, Kota Kinabalu.  According to him, approximately 200 such receipts were issued at 5 to 10 DUN constituencies were involved.

“At the time, he also received instructions from the Deputy Director-General, NRD, to issue ICs with duplicate numbers to illegal immigrants so that they could vote at elections.

“The witness admitted that what he was doing was against the law but he did so on instructions from the late Deputy Minister of Home Affairs and the Deputy Director-General, NRD.”

Who would believe that the illegal immigrants, who had to return the fake documents after voting, had to pay the “Project IC” agents and that the whole scam was for financial gain?

Abdul Rauf’s testimony is equally shocking about the treasonous activities committed in the mass issue of fake documentation for illegal immigrants, but what is even more shocking is that this officer had not only not been penalised, but is being well looked after by the UMNO/Government, as he is now CEO of Totalisator Board of Malaysia, which is under the Ministry of Finance!

It should be noted that the RCIIIS praised Hasnar Ebrahim, putting in black and white that: “It would appear that Hassnar Ebrahim has been quite consistent in his evidence. This is reflected in his testimony in the Likas Election Petition case in 1999; then in the Parliamentary Select Committee on National Integrity in 2006 and now before the RCI.”

The RCIIIS did not have any word of praise for the consistency of political leaders like Mahathir, Harris Salleh and Aziz Shamsuddin who gave testimony for the “other side” of the story about ‘Project IC’.

In fact, the RCIIIS Report went further when found that the  five ex-NRD had “corroborated each others’ evidence in material particulars”, “collectively admitted their joint involvement in some detail” and have “made serious allegations against powerful figures”.

The RCIIIS continued:

“This must necessarily raise the question as to why they would have the audacity to do so. What was their motive?

“Second, there is evidence that in the 1990s, the population growth in Sabah rose by 78% which would have been the highest increase since Sabah become part of Malaysia. This may be regarded as confirmation of the stand taken by some witnesses as to why there was such a large influx of illegal immigrants to Sabah at that time.  That was the period when the evidence disclosed that there were significant numbers of illegal immigrants being issued with Malaysian ICs by way of statutory declaration for political purposes.”

Did ‘Project IC’ existed?

This was the RCIIIS finding on ‘Project IC: – that it is more likely to have existed:

 “There is some credibility in the evidence of the five ex-NRD officers. Because they were not cross-examined and given the denials against the allegations, we can only conclude that it was more likely than not, that Project IC did exist. In short there is a probability that such a Project did exist at all material times.”

By asserting that “Project IC” never existed, Zahid was repudiating the RCIIIS finding on one of its most important terms of reference – in which case, he has forfeited the right to be Co-chairman of the Permanent Committee to act on the findings of the RCIIIS.

Will Zahid step down as Co-Chairman of the RCIIIS Report Permanent Committee?

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 18 December 2014, 1:50 pm and is filed under
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95 NGOs back the 25 ‘Eminent Malays’

NGOs CALLING FOR RATIONAL DISCOURSE IN SUPPORT OF 25 CONCERNED CITIZENS

We, a group of Malaysian NGOs fully support  the recent open letter from a group of 25 personalities  that identified themselves as “a group of concerned citizens of Malaysia” to urge the government to hold a public discourse on Islamic law vis a vis the Federal Constitution.  The 25 individuals, who identified  themselves as “moderate Muslims”, comprised of, among others, retired civil servants, judges and ambassadors.

We applaud the courageous action of these towering figures to stand up and publicly address sensitive yet critical issues plaguing our nation. Too often in the history of nations, the extremists have triumphed not because they enjoyed majority support, but because the majority were silent and idle. Like similar minded NGOs working for the love of our nation, these 25 senior citizens chose not to be passive and have voiced their dismay and abhorrence at the current state of the nation.

We share their sentiment that “there is a real need for a consultative process that will bring together experts in various fields, including Islamic and Constitutional laws, and those affected by the application of Islamic laws in adverse ways”. We would further add that a similar process of consulting  relevant experts and stakeholders, be applied to matters related to the process of legislation of other laws too. These should be undertaken in an ambience of transparency, best practises , mutual respect and permeative consultation.

The letter raises the alarm that “the use of the Sedition Act hangs as a constant threat to silence anyone with a contrary opinion”. We couldn’t agree more with this statement. The Prime Minister has reneged on his promise to repeal the Act and announced that the Act would be further emboldened with two additional provisions. We are deeply concerned with this development.

Individuals in the group of 25 that had held high public offices previously should be proud that they have discharged their official duties justly and honourably.

These personalities in the group of 25 are exemplary citizens of Malaysia. We support them and urge other Malaysians to do the same.

We abhor all forms of extremism, hate speech and violence. In the spirit of peace, muhibbah and nation building we invite all Malaysians to engage in a healthy, rational and civil discourse on pressing national issues and silence the voices of hate and extremism in our beloved nation.

Endorsees List

All Women’s Action Society (AWAM) 妇女行动组织

Alumni Association of National Taiwan University, Malaysia   國立台灣大學馬來西亞校友會

Angkatan Warga Aman Malaysia (WargaAMAN) 马来西亚和平力量组织

Asalkan Bukan Umno (ABU) 只要不是巫统

Association of Women Lawyers (AWL)女律师组织

Baramkini当今峇南

Center for Orang Asli Concerns (COAC) 关注原住民组织

ENGAGE  社区参与网络

Federation of Malaysian Indian Organisation (PRIMA) 马来西亚印裔组织联合会

Friends in Conversation 朋友对话圈

Friends of Kota Damansara (FoKD)哥打白沙罗之友

Gabungan Persatuan Nama Keluarga Cina Malaysia 马来西亚华人姓氏总会联合会

Himpunan Hijau 绿色盛会

Human Rights Organisation (HAKAM) 人权组织

Institute for Development of Alternative Living (IDEAL) 另类生活发展研究所

Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF) 回教复兴前线组织

Japan Graduates Association, Malaysia (JAGAM) 马来西亚留日同学会

Jawatankuasa Perpaduan Nasional, Huazong 华总全民团结委员会

Jihad for Justice (JforJ) 公平圣战组织

Kajian Politik untuk Perubahan (KPRU) 政改研究所

Kuala Lumpur Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH) 吉隆坡暨雪兰莪中华大会堂

Kumpulan Aktivis Mahasiswa Independen (KAMI) 独立学生份子组织

Kuen Cheng Alumni Association 坤成校友会

Leadership and Professionalism Development Society Malaysia (LEAD Malaysia) 马来西亚领导与专业发展组织

LLG Cultural Development Centre林连玉基金

Lingkaran Islam Tradisional  (LIT) 伊斯兰传统圈

Majlis Perundingan Malaysian Agama Buddha, Kristian, Hindu, Sikh, dan Tao (MCCBCHST) 五大宗教理事会

Malaysia-China Chamber of Commerce (MCCC) 马来西亚-中国总商会

Malaysia-China Friendship Association 马中友好协会

Malaysian Physicians for Social Responsibility (MPSR) 马来西亚社会责任医师

Malaysian Indians Progressive Association (MIPAS) 马来西亚印裔前进组织

Malaysian Youth Care Association (PRIHATIN) 马来西亚关怀青年组织

Malaysia Youth & Students’ Democratic Movement (DEMA) 马来西亚青年与学生运动

Merdeka University Berhad 独立大学有限公司

Muslim Professionals Forum (MPF) 穆斯林专业论坛

Nanyang University Alumni Association of Malaya (Nanda) 马来亚南洋大学校友会

National Indian Rights Action Team (NIAT) 全国印裔权益行动组织

Negeri Sembilan Chinese Assembly Hall (NSCAH) 森美兰中华大会堂

Oriental Hearts and Mind Study Institute (OHMSI)东方思想研究中心

Partners in Community Organising (Pacos Trust) 沙巴社区伙伴信托组织

Penang Chinese Town Hall (PCTH) 槟州华人大会堂

People Welfare and Rights Organisation (POWER) 人民福利及权益组织

Perak Green Pioneer (PGP) 霹雳绿色先锋

Perak Women for Women Society (PWW) 霹雳妇女协会

Persahabatan Semparuthi 大红花之友

Persatuan Akademi Sains Sosial Kuala Lumpur吉隆坡社会科学研究会

Persatuan Aliran Kesedaran Negara (Aliran) 国民醒觉运动

Persatuan Alumni Chung Ling Wilayah Tengah中马锺灵校友会

Persatuan Alumni PBTUSM KL & Selangor 雪隆理華同學會

Persatuan Bekas Siswazah Universiti dan Kolej di China, Malaysia (LiuHua) 马来西亚留华同学会

Persatuan Foochow Selangor dan Kuala Lumpur 雪隆福州會館

Persatuan Hakka WPKL dan Selangor (Hakka) 隆雪客家总会

Persatuan Kebudayaan Dan Kesenian Malaysia-China马中文化艺术协会

Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (EMPOWER)  雪兰莪社区醒觉组织

Persatuan Menyokong Polisi Satu-China大马支持一中协会

Persatuan Pengimport Ubat Arak Perubatan Dan Barang Kesihatan China Malaysia马来西亚中国医药保健商会

Persatuan San Jiang Kuala Lumpur dan Selangor (SanJiang) 隆雪三江公会

Persatuan Mahasiswa-mahasiswa Taiwan Cheng Kung Universiti, Malaysia  馬來西亞留台成功大學校友會

Persatuan Masyarakat Selangor dan Wilayah Persekutuan (PERMAS) 雪隆社区协会

Persatuan Promosi Hak Asasi Manusia (Proham) 人权促进协会

Persatuan Rapat Malaysia (RAPAT) 马来西亚快速变革组织

Persatuan Sahabat Wanita Selangor (PSWS) 雪兰莪妇女之友学会

Persekutuan Persatuan Tabib Dan Pedagang Ubat Tionghua Malaysia 马来西亚华人医药总会

Pertubuhan IKRAM Malaysia  (IKRAM) 马来西亚回教革新组织

Pertubuhan Perkembangan Keharmonian Zheng He Kuala Lumpur Dan Selangor吉隆坡及雪兰莪郑和和谐发展协会

Projek Dialog (PD) 对话论坛圈

Pusat Komunikasi Masyarakat (KOMAS) 社区传播中心

Research for Social Advancement (REFSA) 社会进步研究机构

Sabah Women’s Action Resource Group (SAWO) 沙巴妇女行动资源组织

Sarawak Access (SACCESS) 砂拉越连接组织

Save Open Spaces, Kota Kinabalu (SOS-KK) 拯救公共空間-亞庇

Save Sarawak River (SSR) 拯救砂拉越河流组织

Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia (SABM) 我是马来西亚之子

Selangor & Federal Territory Kwong Siew Association雪隆广肇会馆

Selangor and Kuala Lumpur Hokkien Association雪兰莪暨吉隆坡福建会馆

Sisters in Islam (SIS) 回教姐妹组织

Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM)人民之声

Tamil Foundation (TF) 淡米尔基金会

Tamilar Action Force (TAF)  淡米尔行动力量组织

Tan Kah Kee Foundation 马来西亚陈嘉庚基金

Teoh Beng Hock Trust for Democracy (TBFTFD) 赵明福民主基金会

The Dramatic Art Society 剧艺研究会

The Federation & Alumni Associations Taiwan University, Malaysia (FAATUM) 馬來西亞留臺校友會聯合總會

The Federation of Chinese Association Johore State (FCAJ) 柔佛州中华总会

The Selangor & Federal Territory Zhong Shan Association雪兰莪暨联邦直辖区中山同乡会

The Selangor & Kuala Lumpur Kwang Tung Association雪隆广东会馆

The United Chinese School Committees Association of Malaysia (Dong Zong) 董事联合会总会（董总）

The United Chinese School Teachers’ Association of Malaysia (Jiao Zong)

马来西亚华校教师会总会（教总）

United Chinese School Alumni Associations of Malaysia (UCSAAM) 马来西亚华校校友会联合会总会（校友联总）

We Are Malaysians (WAM) 我们是马来西亚人联络网

Women’s Aid Organisation  妇女援助机构

Women Development Organization of Malaysia, PJ  Branch马来西亚妇女发展组织机构（八打灵分会）

Women’s Centre for Change, Penang (WCC Penang) 槟城妇女改变中心

Writers Alliance for Media Independence (WAMI) 维护媒体独立撰稿人联盟

Yayasan Usman Awang乌斯曼阿旺基金

                This entry was posted on Friday, 19 December 2014, 10:19 am and is filed under
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Court ruling in Hindu mother’s case raises key concerns, say lawyers

by Pathma Subramaniam

The Malay Mail Online

December 19, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 19 ― A Court of Appeal decision this week which indicated that police may ignore orders if it involves the private rather than the public sphere of life, may drive citizens to take matters in their own hands, lawyers have warned.

On Wednesday, the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the government and rejected the Ipoh High Court’s order of mandamus to compel the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) recover M. Indira Gandhi’s six-year-old daughter citing the distinction of the role of the police in enforcing laws in the public sphere as opposed to private lives.

The mandamus order, issued in September, was essentially an instruction from the High Court to the top cop to carry out his statutory duty to find and return Indira’s six-year-old child Prasana Diksa and arrest her ex-husband Mohd Ridzuan Abdullah.

Lawyers, who had observed the matter at the appellate court, said that while the court’s ruling was specific to Indira’s case, its consequences may be far reaching.

“The court did not rule on custody but just on the way to enforce the order of custody, however, it will affect all other cases involving private remedy.

“This is dangerous because the underlying message to the public at large is that you have to find your own way to put the remedy into effect,” said Andrew Khoo, the Bar Council’s human rights committee co-chairman.

“You win a remedy but got no satisfaction from it… the court can’t just grant the remedy and not provide a way to exercise that right,” he told Malay Mail Online.

The Ipoh High Court had issued the mandamus after Mohd Ridzuan went into hiding following an arrest warrant issued by the court. However, the IGP, Datuk Seri Khalid Abu Bakar had said that the police were unable to enforce the court’s order as the authorities were caught between two conflicting jurisdictions: a custody order from the civil court which granted the custody of children to Indira, while the Shariah Court’s order which favoured Mohd Ridzuan.

Khalid, through the Attorney-General’s Chambers challenged the order of mandamus and the Court of Appeal upheld that the discretion of the top cop under the Police Act should not be enforced in such a manner.

“The order cannot be issued where only the right of an individual is taken into account,” said two of three judges, who presided over the matter yesterday, after which they said Indira court still hire a court bailiff to trace the child.

Khoo pointed out that the bailiff would also need the assistance of the police as the scope is limited including restrictions in trespassing into private property.

Lawyer Philip Koh Tong Ngee asserted  marriage, or the dissolution of marriage, is not a private matter as it has to be registered under a federal legislation.

Koh said that the state has a vital interest in a marriage between a man and a woman and that is reason behind the legislation of the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act as well as the Child Act.

“The distinction made by the Court of Appeal may apply in theory but it is highly technical and the conclusion is perplexing given that marriage is not a private matter and given that Parliament has provided a whole framework for it,” said Koh, who held a watching brief for the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) yesterday.

Five years ago, Indira was separated from her daughter Prasana Diksa, then 11-months old toddler, when Mohd Ridzuan, who was also previously known as K. Pathmanathan, ran off with the child.

Mohd Ridzuan later unilaterally converted all their three children to Islam and obtained a custody order in the Shariah court for all three.

In the long drawn-out child custody battle, Indira won full custody of her three children in the Ipoh High Court in 2010, with the same civil court issuing a recovery order in her favour.

The High Court had also nullified the Shariah court’s custody order and subsequently issued the mandamus order compelling the IGP to act.

On May 30, the civil court also cited Mohd Ridzuan for contempt of its custody order and issued a warrant to arrest and jail him, unless he gave up the child that he had taken away in 2009.

Mohd Ridzuan’s bid to appeal against the High Court’s custody order in favour of Indira was previously dismissed in both the Court of Appeal and Federal Court.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 19 December 2014, 8:14 am and is filed under
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How could a closet racist and extremist hide his true colours as to be the Election Commission Secretary/Chairman for 25 years, responsible for six general elections and three  constituency delimitation exercises?

Yesterday, I said more and more lawyers and Malaysians are asking how an extremist with racial and religious prejudice  like Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad could rise up to become Chief Justice, the top judicial officer of the land.

Similarly, more and more Malaysians are also asking how a closet racist and extremist like Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman could hide his true  colours  to dominate the Election Commission for a quarter of a century, as he was appointed Election Commission Secretary in 1979 and was Election Commission Chairman from 2,000 to 2,008, responsible for six general elections and three constituency delimitation exercises in 1984, 1994 and 2003.

When Rashid, who is now Perkasa Vice President, first joined the extremist and racist UMNO-funded NGO  in November last year, he said his objective was to champion Malay rights and ensure Malays retain power.

He told the media at the time that as Election Commission Chairman, he knew how to keep the Malays in power.

He said three redelineation exercises of electoral boundaries which were done during his time with the Election Commission had ensured Malays remained in power.

Last week, without mincing his words at the Perkasa general meeting, Rashid told the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib to stop lying to the public about the real situation in the country.

He dismissed the UMNO leadership as “corrupt” and asserted that UMNO/BN were in their “death throes”.

He even suggested that Perkasa “fortify efforts to become a political body which will rule the country”.

However, when Home Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi retaliated asking why Rashid did not the issue when he was still serving in government, together with the cryptic allegation “He asked for something and didn’t get it”, there was no follow-up clarification either from Rashid or Zahid as to what the “thing” meant.

However, from his broadside against the Prime Minister, Rashid seemed to suggest that he is in the know about high-level corruption in UMNO top leadership.

If so, he should volunteer and help the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC)  with inside information about top-level corruption by the UMNO leadership, so that Malaysia can join China and Indonesia to nab the “tigers” and “crocodiles” in the battle against corruption, and not just confined to “ikan bilis”.

Rashid can also provide information to the MACC what was the “thing” which Zahid had referred to so as  keep his mouth shut.

It is strange that Rashid did not offer himself as a witness for the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Illegal Immigrants in Sabah (RCIIIS) as in his capacity as Election Commission Secretary and later Chairman, he should have expert knowledge on Project IC or Project Mahathir and would be able to assist the RCIIIS in its inquiry on the scam to issue blue identity cards to tens and hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants so that they could be unlawfully registered as voters on the electoral rolls in Sabah in order to change the political demography in the state.

Malaysians and Sabahans would like to know what he did as Election Commission Secretary and Chairman to preserve the integrity of the electoral roll and the electoral process.

May be Rashid would like to comment on these two issues.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 19 December 2014, 5:52 pm and is filed under
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Including both genders at work is paramount for a high income nation

— Syerleena Abdul Rashid

Malay Mail Online

December 18, 2014

DECEMBER 18 — Contrary to Isma’s beliefs, Malaysia will never achieve a high-income nation or even a developed nation status, if gender stereotypes continue to perpetuate our society, especially in matters that concerns the economy and honoring basic human rights. Their idea of solely depending on men as breadwinners and reducing women to child rearing duties is defective and discriminating to all Malaysians – regardless of gender.

The statement made by Dr Nur Farrah Nadia Najib, who heads the group’s family and society bureau, “A high income nation must not rely on women as the major contributor but rather men should lead the workforce and put their biggest effort in shaping the nation” is flawed as it demoralises the struggles Malaysian women work so hard to overcome.

Climbing the corporate ladder and pushing for equal pay has always been important issues for women’s rights advocacy and it is a continuous work in progress which needs support from the all levels of our society. There is no denying that education plays a crucial role in setting the template of success and attainment but even though, the number of women enrolled in tertiary institutions is currently higher than men, the opportunities for women to progress in the local workforce are different. To some extent, these opportunities may not even exist at all.

However, encouraging women to participate in the workforce is not enough. There must be pro-active measures by the government to guarantee that half of this country’s populations’ skills and talents are fully utilised in order to spur positive economic growth. Having more women at work can only be advantageous to our country, as differing perspectives supports diversity and innovation which are key dynamics needed to compete in an increasingly competitive globalised economy.

In 1995, Malaysia ratified the United Nations Convention On The Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) also known as Treaty for Women’s Equality, which emphasised on the importance of increasing the number of women’s participation in the workforce and to promote healthier, gender-balanced decision making. The convention presents the foundations for comprehending equality between women and men through ensuring equal opportunities in various aspects such as politics, education, health and employment.

In 2000, Malaysia joined the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a global initiative aimed to promote gender equality by the year 2015 — which is only a few weeks away. This initiative is regarded as a highly important measure to honor and celebrate the immeasurable efforts women have made in society.

Despite all of these efforts, in the 2014, the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Gender Gap report stated that Malaysia’s ranking had dropped significantly and now joins 10 other nations whose gender equality practices are amongst the lowest in the world. This is not good for the economy and definitely not good for this country’s morale.

Comparing our country with Japan, whose population is approximately 127.34 million (in 2013) is unsubstantiated. Since 1989, Japan has been experiencing a population decline due to issues and other complexities associated with modern developed and industrialisation.  For Isma to conclude that “the Japanese have illustrated to us beautifully that we can achieve the status of a high income nation and be ‘family first’ as well” is not well researched and pre-maturely analysed. Japan is a conservative nation that practices patriarchal values and systems. The nation still adheres to strict gender roles, which limits a woman’s freedom, mobility and rights. These factors may very well contribute to the low number of women in the workforce and there is nothing beautiful about that.

Most recently, re-elected Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, has pledged to actively encourage more women to participate and contribute to the workforce.  This is a sign that Japan has come to a realisation that their country needs women as much as they need men to help drive a struggling economy and it is time that Malaysians realise this too.

* Syerleena Abdul Rashid is DAPSY Bukit Bendera secretary and DAP Wanita Bukit Bendera political education director.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 19 December 2014, 12:41 pm and is filed under
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Let the police return of the 31 Christian hymnals start a virtuous cycle of inter-religious respect, tolerance and acceptance in the country for the next 12 months and end the rhetoric and politics of hate, extremism, intolerance and bigotry

The Police deserves commendation for the return of the 31 Christian hymnals to Catholic priest Father Cyril Mannayagam in Tangkak last night and an amicable settlement of the latest religious standoff in the country over the police seizure of the books which were meant for Orang Asli parishioners.

The police and various government agencies should learn from such an uncalled-for spat and be aware of their role and  duty to be extra-sensitive to promote and not to undermine inter-racial and inter-religious understanding and relations.

I fully share the sentiments of the Sabah Speaker and former Sabah Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak, who expressed dismay at the “never-ending problem” of religious controversies over the  Allah word issue, hudud and the confiscation of Bibles, hymns and other Christian literature published in Bahasa Malaysia and that “Just as one incident is solved, another one cropped up”.

Let all Malaysians hope and pray that the Sabah Speaker is not correct when he blogged that “it is beginning to look like this is going to be part of the Malaysian ‘culture’ for a long time to come”, urging that Sabah and Sarawak should not “slide down the slippery slope that some states in West Malaysia appear to be heading for” but should continue to take the lead in “maintaining the solidarity between those of different religious faiths”.

Let the police return of the 31 Christian hymnals in Johor start a virtuous cycle of inter-religious respect, tolerance and acceptance in the country for the next 12 months and end the rhetoric and politics of hate, extremism, intolerance and bigotry which had dominated and poisoned inter-racial and inter-religious relations in the country.

Let us strive to show the world that Malaysia is a model of multi-racial, multi-religious, multi-lingual and multi-cultural haven in an increasingly troubled world, instead of joining the list of basket-case countries  where diversities of race, religion, language and culture are exploited by merchants of hate and bigotry to polarize instead of building solidarity among races and religions.

Last month during his visit to Turkey, Pope Francis prayed alongside the Grand Mufti of Istanbul, Rahim Yaran, in Istanbul’s Blue Mosque – underlining their commitment to inter-faith dialogue.

We have recently lost our way in inter-faith understanding, goodwill and harmony resulting in a multitude of inter-faith disputes.

All these inter-faith disputes and controversies must stop, and all Malaysians of goodwill from all faiths should  unite to speak up for moderation and tolerance, and not allow the extremists and bigots to set the national agenda.

Let us all, regardless of religion,  return to the right path.

As citizens of a country which prides itself on our multi-racial, multi-religious, multi-lingual and multi-cultural diversity, let us turn our diversity into a national asset and  even lead the world in inter-faith dialogues and understanding instead of making frequent international headlines on “never-ending” inter-faith disputes and  controversies.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 19 December 2014, 4:13 pm and is filed under
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Portrait of a confused hero

By Mariam Mokhtar

Malaysiakini

Dec 15, 2014

We are familiar with the expression, “Behind every great man, is a woman”, but in Ibrahim Ali’s case, the expression which best fits him was said by the comedian Jim Carrey, “Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes”.

Yesterday, Ibrahim Ali of Perkasa declared himself a hero of the Malay community. He lashed out at the group of 25 former civil servants and academics who had penned an open letter to Najib Abdul Razak to halt the spread of extremism. Malaysians affectionately dubbed this influential group, the ‘Eminent 25’; however, an irate Ibrahim called them “cowards”.

For the 25 people to “come out” means that a point of no return has been breached; but let us examine the profile of Ibrahim Ali, the self-proclaimed hero.

In June 2011, Ibrahim Ali warned the Chinese community to “stock up on food” and to stay away from Bersih’s July 9 Walk for Democracy. Ibrahim said that “anything could happen on that day” and that 30 other NGOs would challenge the walk by Bersih, by staging an even bigger march. He claimed that his “patience and tolerance” had been tested.

On the eve of the counter-rally, Ibrahim said that he had been unable to secure a permit. Then, he said that his wife had not given him permission to go out that Saturday.

Finally, he told the media that he had been unwell.

A man who requires a stamp of approval from his wife to go out sounds like a hen-pecked husband, not a hero!

In 2008, the former chief of Umno Baru at Bukit Bendera, Ahmad Ismail, referred to non-Malays as pendatangs (immigrants) and Malaysian Chinese as “squatters”. The prime minister then, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, slapped him with a three-year suspension and barred him from holding any political post.

As expected, the suspension was lifted early. In 2010, his supporters proclaimed him a Malay hero and he was conferred with two heroic titles: the Wira Bangsa Melayu and Bintang Perkasa Melayu Jati. A special function, with 150 delegates from 23 branches, was held in his honour.

Just like a Malay wedding, Ahmad was received with bunga manggar and a retinue of men beating the kompang. Like the conquering hero, Ahmad was entertained by a silat performance and the obligatory sheathing and unsheathing of the keris.

What do these supposed Malay heroes have in common apart from intolerance, the spreading of fear, and the ability to divide? They also undermine national security.

In Ahmad Ismail’s case, the journalist who reported his comments was detained by the police under the Internal Security Act (ISA), ostensibly for her personal safety.

Ibrahim Ali who urged the burning of the Bibles, has escaped prosecution. He said that philandering husbands should blame their wives for neglecting their responsibilities. He has urged that history be rewritten by erasing any record of Chin Peng. In 2012, he distributed white ang pows to members of the Chinese community in a deliberate insult.

Name-calling the best form of debate?

Ibrahim attacked his critics in Umno Baru, from Khairy Jamaluddin to former Umno Baru supreme council member Saifuddin Abdullah; he termed them “bangsat”. Two weeks ago, Najib, who is also the Umno Baru president, referred to pro-Umno Baru bloggers as “bangang” (stupid).

Is name calling, the best form of debate which can be summoned by Umno Baru, Perkasa and Isma members?

Perkasa claims that it has 700,000 members in Indonesia and the United Kingdom, but omitted to say that Perkasa UK’s activities are being monitored by the Metropolitan Police.

Isma president Abdullah Zaik Abdul Rahman (right) called the ‘Eminent 25’ an “expired bunch” who were educated during the colonial era and were unaware of the importance of Islam and Islamic education.

In Zaik’s world, being a Muslim means riding roughshod over the people of other faiths and cultures. He probably believes that Muslims have the right to burn down other peoples’ houses of worship, or prevent them from reading their Holy Books.

If Ibrahim is prepared to erase Chin Peng from history, then how long will it be before all traces of other cultures are also wiped from our history books? Relics from the great ancient civilizations, like those in the Bujang Valley of Kedah have already been destroyed. In Afghanistan, the Taliban destroyed the Buddhist statues which stood for millennia in the Bamiyan Valley, all in the name of Islam.

The Islam which is practised in Malaysia involves the kidnapping of children and the snatching of dead bodies. Converts claim to have converted their elderly parents, thus depriving their other family members of their parents’ inheritance, as under syariah law, only Muslims can inherit.

The Malay community is not blind, and definitely not stupid. They can see through the sham performance, of the so called heroes like Ibrahim Ali and bigots like Abdullak Zaik.

The extremists are afraid of the power which the ‘Eminent 25’ can unleash. The good news is that the extremists are not the only ones who are afraid. The others who fear the ‘Eminent 25’ come from within Umno Baru.

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 Friday, 19 December 2014, 8:57 am and is filed under
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Protecting our children from child marriages

 – Syerleena Abdul Rashid

The Malaysian Insider

18 December 2014

Throughout the world, marriage is still regarded as a sacred union between an adult man and an adult woman.  Marriage, along with birth and death, signal key defining moments of a human being’s life – the beginning, the passage and the end. Therefore, matrimonial unions often warrant grandiose celebrations from every culture and society.

But the practice of child marriages is inexcusable and such unions do not warrant any kind of celebration.

There are several reasons why parents impose early marriage upon their children, some view marriage as a means to alleviate themselves from poverty by providing some form of brief economic relief (e.g. dowry, handing over responsibility of raising a child to someone else) but mostly, in our country’s case, it is seen as a method to protect children from immoral sexual activities.

Although proper sex education would be a better answer, bringing up such topics are still frowned upon in traditional and conservative societies. Most view child marriage as a way to preserve “honour” and protecting their children from immoral activities by legitimising a courtship. These parents may believe that they are doing the right thing, but are unconcerned about the long term implication child marriages will have on their children and society.

According to the UN, it is estimated that between 2011 and 2020, over 140 million children – mostly, girls, will become child brides.  Even though, Malaysia has adopted the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) which actively endorses to end child marriages and to protect the rights of children by honoring civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights; statistical data shows otherwise.

Since early 2014, the Malaysian Shariah Judiciary Department has approximately 600 marriage applications. Children below the ages of 16 years old will need the approval of the Shariah Court and so far, approximately 446 of these applications have been approved. Based on these figures alone it is seemingly clear that child marriage is increasing in our country and this is a major concern for everyone.

Most recently, in Johor, a 15 year old boy dropped out of school after marrying a 17 year old girl following a two month courtship. The boy proudly claimed to be ready albeit being at the age where boys are slowly discovering their bodies and gaining important life experiences that can shape them into balanced adults. Such remarks only exhibit the level of naiveté and immaturity on the boy’s part for not understanding the mental responsibilities that are associated with matrimonial unions. More questionable are the parents’ decisions to allow such unions to take place at such a crucial age of cognitive development.

Young girls who marry early expose them to the risks of pregnancy that is physically damaging and psychological harmful. Complications of pregnancy and child birth are reported to have been the leading cause of death for young women below the ages of 18. Early marriages raise the questions of proper childcare and the quality of parenthood. How can society expect children to raise children effectively and expect our society to progress?

Child marriage is a gross violation of human rights as it robs children of their adolescence and proper education. It puts both the bride and the bridegroom in situations where the level or quality of education is severely compromised, hence, directly prohibiting them from actively participating in this country’s labour force. It simply blocks any opportunity for them to gain skills, develop proficiency and mature as coherent adults in an increasingly globalized culture.

Next year will be a very important year for this country; Malaysia will take on the Asean chairmanship for a year and will sit on the non-permanent UN Security Council for the next two years – our country will be subjected to intense scrutiny by international communities. Our government has a moral obligation to ensure that the rights of its citizens, especially our children are protected – at all costs. – December 18, 2014.

* Syerleena Abdul Rashid serves as Dapsy Bukit Bendera secretary and DAP Wanita Bukit Bendera political education director.

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Zahid should stop the Federal Government  campaign to “whitewash”  an already “very white-washed” RCI Report on illegal immigrants in Sabah

Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi should stop the Federal Government campaign to “whitewash” an already “very white-washed” Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Illegal Immigrants in Sabah (RCIIIS).

Last week, Zahid said there was no “Project IC” to issue blue identity cards to tens or hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants in Sabah to change the political demography of the State.

This denial of a “Project IC” flies in the face of  the finding of the RCIIIS which concluded  “that it was more likely than not that ‘Project IC’ did exist” – or to quote the conclusion  and answer of the RCIIIS after a 14-page discussion of the question whether “Project IC” really existed:

“In short, there is a probability that such a Project  did exist  at all material times.” (p.300)

At the “closed” launch of Report of the RCIIIS in Kota Kinabalu on December 3, the Chief Secretary and the Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail also played their role in trying to “white-wash” an already “very white-washed” RCIIIS Report – which was probably why the DAP MP for Kota Kinabalu, Jimmy Wong and DAP Sabah State Assemblyman for Kepayan Edwin Bosi as well as NGO representatives were barred from the launching ceremony.

Hamsa said that the government was not involved in the “Project IC” and Gani said dubious names registered in the electoral roll had been removed.

Zahid has moved one step further from Hamsa’s statement that the government was not involved in “Project IC” to total denial of the existence of a “Project IC” to issue blue identity cards to illegal immigrants.

Would the RCIIIS Commissioners from Chairman Tan Sri Steve Shim to the other four members Tan Sri Herman Luping, Datuk Seri Dr. Kamaruzaman Hj Ampon, Datuk Henry Chin and Datuk K.Y. Mustafa publicly  endorse these three statements made by the Home Minister,  Chief Secretary and the Attorney-General as representing the findings and position of the RCIIIS?

Of course not, because Zahid, Hamsa and Gani are only trying to “whitewash” an already “very white-washed” RCIIIS Report, which never said the things the trio claimed.

In the light of these attempts to “whitewash” an already “very white-washed” RCIIIS Report, the failure to make public the 5,000 missing pages of notes of evidence, public memoranda, statutory declarations and exhibits take on a rather sinister light.

Is there nobody who could answer why the 5,000 pages are missing from the 368-page RCIIIS Report, when the  Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam Videotape Scandal comprise 2,365 pages  in four volumes: Vol 1 – 191 pages; Vol 2 Notes of Evidence 1,187 pages; Vol 3 Statutory Declarations 513 pages and Volume 4 Exhibits – 474 pages?

I would like to ask whether Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan, as Chairman of the Working Committee on the RCIIIS Report, and other members of the Working Committee have access to the 5,000 missing pages of the RCIIIS Report?

                This entry was posted on Friday, 19 December 2014, 1:34 pm and is filed under
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Ani Arope on how TNB got a raw deal from IPPs

By Stephen Ng

Malaysiakini

Oct 11, 2013

In his book published by the Fulbright Alumni Association of Malaysia, former Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) executive chairperson Ani Arope reveals how, after the landmark blackout in Peninsular Malaysia in 1992, TNB was forced to surrender the land it had acquired in Paka (Terengganu) and Pasir Gudang (Johor) to a third party for power plants.

 This started the era of the independent power producers (IPPs) and the first was YTL Power Generation Sdn Bhd.

 This was followed by a slew of other IPPs – Powertek Bhd, Genting Sanyan Power Sdn Bhd, Segeri Energy Ventures Sdn Bhd, Malakoff Bhd, Tanjung plc, EPE Power Sabah Energy Corp, Alpha Intercount’l Bhd, Sutera Bhd, Cergas Unggul Sdn Bhd and Ekran Corp.

Although Ani, who is Malaysia’s first Fulbright scholar, had felt that the power purchase agreements with YTL for a period of 21 years – from 1994 to 2015 – were “too darn generous”, he was pressured to ink the deal, which had been drafted by the Economic Planning Unit (EPU).

 Then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad was the man who “engineered” the rise of IPPs.

 “There was no negotiation; absolutely none. Instead of talking directly with the IPPs, TNB was sitting down with the EPU. And we were harassed, humiliated and talked down every time we went there.

 “After that, my team was disappointed. The EPU just gave us the terms and asked us to agree. I said no way I would,” Ani reveals in his recently released memoirs.

 Ani, who was under a lot of pressure to sign the agreements, felt the deal was morally wrong and lopsided.

 “If it is legal and not fair, I will not do it. If it is fair and illegal, I still won’t do it. It has to be legal and fair,” he says.

Sharp hike in power tariffs

 According to Ani, TNB at that point was producing electricity at 8 sen a unit (kWh) and this could be delivered at 17 sen per unit.

 However, the IPPs were producing electricity at 23 sen per unit, therefore TNB would need to charge consumers no less than 30 sen per unit.

Now that the first agreement signed will be coming to an end in 2015, Ani said renegotiations should take the need to bring down the capacity charge into consideration.

 “Anything above the 15 percent reserve margin, we will call for bids,” he suggests.

 “The second thing is that the IPPs would have, by now, paid up their whole capital investments in their plants and it is all gravy (or profit) from now.

 “Could we not bring this down a bit? Instead of paying a small amount to (a special fund), why not increase the (payment) for future planting up? In that manner, we can control the price of electricity. Otherwise, it’s going to escalate.”

 The renegotiation, he added, should involve all major stakeholders, including TNB, the IPPs, consumers and the Energy Commission.

‘Memoirs of Tan Sri Ani Arope’ is a 143-page book that is easy to read and will be available in major bookstores nationwide soon.

 It had a soft launch during Fulbright’s 50th anniversary dinner in July this year by its president, Professor Dr Gendeh Balwant.

STEPHEN NG is a chemist by training. He dealt with printing ink, paint and emulsion polymer for 15 years before becoming a freelance writer.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 20 December 2014, 8:25 pm and is filed under
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Islam needs heroes, not zeroes who kill in its name

COMMENTARY by Jahabar Sadiq, Editor

The Malaysian Insider

17 December 2014

Yesterday, 132 schoolchildren and nine adults were mowed down by gunfire in a school in Peshawar, Pakistan. A day earlier, two hostages died as Australian police ended a siege at a Sydney chocolate shop.

The link between both? It was done by people who professed to be Muslims. It was not a matter of what sect or school of thought they belonged to, they were simply Muslims like a majority of us here in Malaysia.

The Peshawar gunmen belonged to the Tehrik-E-Taliban or Pakistan Taliban out to seek revenge against the Pakistan army for an offensive that began last summer and resulted in some 1,000 deaths.

This was an insurgency’s pure revenge and hate against the government of the day. It was also the same group that shot Pakistani schoolgirl and now Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai in 2012, purportedly because women do not need education in an Islamic caliphate or state.

In Sydney, an Iranian asylum seeker named Man Hosni Monis with a criminal past invoked his Islamic credentials when he took over the Lindt chocolate cafe that ended up in tragedy.

It really does not matter if both incidents have nothing to do with Islam as we know it. Or linked to more than a billion peace-loving Muslims across the globe. For the world, it is all done and declared in the name of Islam.

We can get angry that the Western media labels them as Muslims but the truth is, they have called themselves Muslims and pray to the direction of the Kaaba as we do.

And in our midst, we too have a fair number of young Muslims who have signed up with the militants who call themselves Islamic State in Iraq and Syria to fight fellow Muslims of the Shia persuasion. Some have been killed.

While we try to figure out new security laws to contain these militants when they return, we already have a slew of laws to regulate our lives as Muslims – just like Pakistan and the Talibans when they ran Afghanistan.

We also have an Islamist party that believes the solution to what blights modern life is a criminal law from 6th century Arabia that prescribes whippings, stoning and death by decapitation for major offences.

All in the name of Islam.

We rail against those who kill in the name of Islam but it is fine that we can exact justice using such punishment in the name of Islam?

For the Islamist parties, their brightest minds are put to the task of figuring out Islamic laws and punishment rather than working out rehabilitation, mercy and charity for all.

We Muslims seem to kill and punish in the name of Islam around the world but not quite being merciful and charitable unless in dire circumstances.

This is how the world sees us today. They see the slick videos of the Islamic State or wire reels of massacres and suicide bombings, all done in the name of Islam – against fellow Muslims and the world at large.

No one sees the mercy and charity of Muslims even when it actually happens. Perhaps because we have more loudmouths who want to go to war to defend Islam more than we have people who quietly do charity like the Kuala Lumpur soup kitchens.

See, we do have real heroes, not the zeroes who loudly proclaim they champion Islam and kill in its name.

And we really must make sure the 141 who died in Peshawar yesterday are the last such deaths by the Taliban. That the Islamic state militants are just bandits and lone wolves such as Man Hosni Monis are just criminals who belong in jail.

We need to condemn such barbaric and senseless acts of killings and those who believe punishments that involve cutting hands and feet, and decapitation will work.

Our grief for the dead must not be in vain or lead to an eye for an eye. Then we are no different from those who kill in anger and hate.

Islam does not need blood to show it is a religion of peace. Islam needs Muslims who can use science and technology; reason and intellect; mercy and charity; understanding and love; to make it a better world.

If we can’t do this in Malaysia, where else can we do it? – December 17, 2014.

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Race riots could be costly, warns Ani Arope in memoirs

By Stephen Ng

Malaysiakini

Oct 9, 2013

Collateral damage resulting from a race riot or a civil strife is too great a cost of human sufferings, the former Tenaga Nasional Bhd executive chairperson Ani Arope has warned.

“It should never be our political option,” he says in his book, ‘Memoirs of Tan Sri Ani Arope’.

 The 81-year-old outspoken Malay statesman said although the issue of special rights for Malays and other bumiputeras is and will always be a delicate issue, he hopes to see the loopholes of the New Economy Policy plugged.

 If these rights will benefit Malays and other bumiputeras who truly deserve, then Malaysians will view the whole matter in a different light,” he notes.

 “However, it appears that these rights have been skewered to benefit the privileged Malays. The rural folk and those who really need help are getting the smallest of crumbs, if at all.”

 Having grown up in the same era as the first four prime ministers, where he is critical of one of them, Ani raised a pertinent question, in the midst of today’s political scenario: ‘What’s the answer? At this challenging period, we do not need party loyalists, but people who are sensible, temperate, sober and well-judging persons to guide us through this tumultuous political time.’

The ‘darn generous’ act of Mahathir

 For him, common sense prevails at all times. Ani is better known for being the true blue TNB man who resisted former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who brought in the independent power producers (IPPs) and engineered the terms and conditions in the power purchase agreement, which Ani calls “darn generous” for the IPPs.

Years later, when he revealed the true story behind his removal as executive chairperson of TNB, one of his Facebook fans, Shahriman wrote: “We are proud you stood up for our interests and took on Dr M at a point when he was at the peak of his power.

 “You were brave to accept the consequences and this is what great men do. History will judge you well in this episode: all the current effort from the government to get a windfall tax and renegotiate with the IPPs are testament to that.”

‘Memoirs of Tan Sri Ani Arope’ is published by the Fulbright Alumni Association of Malaysia.

 The soft-launch of the 143-page memoir was done at the Fulbright’s 50th anniversary dinner in July by its president, Prof Dr Gendeh Balwant. The book is easy to read and will be available in major bookstores around the country soon.

STEPHEN NG is a chemist by training. He dealt with printing ink, paint and emulsion polymer for 15 years before becoming a freelance writer.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 20 December 2014, 7:51 pm and is filed under
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The politics of inequality

COMMENTARY BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER

20 December 2014

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad does not mince his words. Not since he started in politics and definitely not now, more than a decade after stepping down as Malaysia’s fourth prime minister.

But there are days where you wonder where is he coming from. Today, he said the Malays’ grip on politics was weak due to disunity and them having to beg from other races for support to remain in power.

“Now Umno, PKR, and PAS have to beg for support from DAP Chinese to win the general election. When we become beggars, we no longer have power,” he said in his keynote address at a youth leadership programme in Kuala Lumpur.

He added that even if the country achieved developed-nation status, the Malays might be left behind.

“This is our fate now. We plan to achieve developed-nation status by 2020. Our nation might get there. But, because of disunity, what we planned in vision 2020 for (the Malays) may not materialise,” he said, repeating his diatribe that some one million Chinese and Indians were given citizenship after Merdeka in 1957, which eventually led to the dilution of Malay power.

But this is strange, coming from the man whose The Way Forward speech in 1991 defined Malaysia’s Vision 2020 for a fully developed nation.

Then, he had called for the eventual Bangsa Malaysia, and there was hardly talk of political dominance by one race or the other.

This is what Dr Mahathir said then, “By the year 2020, Malaysia can be a united nation, with a confident Malaysian society, infused by strong moral and ethical values, living in a society that is democratic, liberal and tolerant, caring, economically just and equitable, progressive and prosperous, and in full possession of an economy that is competitive, dynamic, robust and resilient.”

“There can be no fully developed Malaysia until we have finally overcome the nine central strategic challenges that have confronted us from the moment of our birth as an independent nation.

“The first of these is the challenge of establishing a united Malaysian nation with a sense of common and shared destiny. This must be a nation at peace with itself, territorially, and ethnically integrated, living in harmony and full and fair partnership, made up of one ‘Bangsa Malaysia’ with political loyalty and dedication to the nation.

“The second is the challenge of creating a psychologically liberated, secure, and developed Malaysian Society with faith and confidence in itself, justifiably proud of hat it is, of what it has accomplished, robust enough to face all manner of adversity.

“This Malaysian Society must be distinguished by the pursuit of excellence, fully aware of all its potentials, psychologically subservient to none, and respected by the peoples of other nations.

“The third challenge we have always faced is that of fostering and developing a mature democratic society practising a form of mature consensual, community-oriented Malaysian democracy that can be a model for many developing countries.

“The fourth is the challenge of establishing a fully moral and ethical society, whose citizens are strong in religions and spiritual values and imbued with the highest of ethical standards.

“The fifth challenge that we have always faced is the challenge of establishing a mature, liberal and tolerant society in which Malaysians of all colours and creeds are free to practise and profess their customs, cultures and religious belief and yet feeling that they belong to one nation.

“The sixth is the challenge of establishing a scientific and progressive society, a society that is innovative and forward-looking, one that is not only a consumer or technology but also a contributor to the scientific and technological civilization of the future.

“The seventh challenge is the challenge of establishing a fully caring society that will put others before self, in which the welfare of the people will revolve not around the state or the individual but around a strong and resilient family.

“The eighth is the challenge of ensuring an economically-just society. This is a society in which there is a fair and equitable distribution of the wealth of the nation, in which there is full partnership in economic progress. Such a society cannot be in place so long as there is the identification of race with economic function, and the identification of economic backwardness with race.

“The ninth challenge is the challenge of establishing a prosperous society, with an economy that is fully competitive, dynamic, robust and resilient,” he had said, noting Malaysia has come a long way to fulfil the objectives.

But today, Dr Mahathir sings a different tune. Perhaps we were taken in then and did not analyse his 1991 speech that promised a Bangsa Malaysia where race and political dominance by race was not even mentioned.

Yet, his words then have stirred Malaysians to work together to overcome the nine challenges that he had identified. And in that time, economic inequalities between the races have smoothened out as much as political inequalities.

More importantly, be it from the days of Tunku Abdul Rahman to current prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak – Umno has worked with political parties that represented other races.

The party knows it cannot go it alone to govern Malaysia. And the fact that its near total dominance of the Barisan Nsaional (BN) in the past years have cost MCA and MIC, and even Gerakan and PPP, much of their state and federal seats.

No sir, the Malays do not have to beg other races to keep power anymore. We are all Malaysians, your Bangsa Malaysia, and we look beyond skin colour and ethnicity when deciding our government of the day.

What Malaysians are looking for is an honest and hardworking government that is fair to all. A government that keeps your nine challenges as a guide to a better Malaysia.

We are not a country of Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans, Murut, Iban, Orang Ulus and Orang Asals. We are a country of Malaysians, and definitely not a people who are politically weak that they have to beg to keep power.

It does not matter who leads the parties or runs the government as long as they are Malaysians who do a good job for Malaysia. – December 20, 2014.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 20 December 2014, 7:03 pm and is filed under
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The RCIIIS was a total cop-out on the fundamental question as to the number of illegal immigrants in Sabah in the electoral rolls

Sabahans and Malaysians have expected the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah (RCIIIS) to at least answer some of the fundamental questions which have haunted Sabahans for four decades, for instance on the Project IC, the number of illegal immigrants in Sabah and the number of illegal immigrants on the Sabah electoral rolls.

However, the RCIIIS Report was a total cop-out as it has virtually left all the basic issues about nightmare of four decades of illegal immigrants open-ended, providing no satisfactory answers and indulging in irresponsible evasion tactics.

Despite spending 20 months from the establishment of the RCIIIS on Sept. 6, 2012 until the completion of its report and presentation to the Yang di Pertuan Agong on May 14, 2014, with public hearings involving 211 witnesses producing 5,000 pages of testimonies, public memoranda and 177 exhibits, the five-man RCIIIS failed in its most important tasks – to provide answers to the many nagging and basic questions about the four-decade nightmare of illegal immigrants in Sabah.

I have already exposed the ongoing attempt to distort and further “white-wash” the RCIIIS Report on the issue Project IC.

Although the RCIIIS Report made it clear that “there is a possibility that such a Project did exist at all material times” (p. 300), both the Chief Secretary Tan Sri Hamsa Ali and the Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi tried to twist and distort its findings, with the former saying that the government was not involved in the Project IC (which was never the finding of the RCIIIS) and the latter going one step further denying that Project IC had ever existed

I will discuss the vexing subject of the number of illegal immigrants in Sabah tomorrow, focussing today on the basic question of the number of illegal immigrants in the Sabah electoral rolls

Again, the RCIIIS cannot come to any conclusive finding, only to say that there are illegal immigrants on the electoral rolls but it does not know the numbers or extent of the problem.

All that the RCIIIS Report could say on this issue was that “there is ample evidence to show that immigrants who were not Malaysian citizens, were issued blue ICs illegally by certain syndicates and/or individuals and who therefore registered themselves as voters in the electoral rolls on the basis of their ICs.” (p 306) and “In summary therefore, on the evidence as a whole, the answer to TOR (Terms of Reference) paragraph © is that there are non-citizens registered in the electoral rolls but their exact numbers are uncertain.” (p. 308)

It easy to understand the frustration and even exasperation of anyone reading these “non-answers” or “non-findings” with regard to basic questions about the illegal immigrant problem in Sabah – as it is open secret (which is confirmed by the RCIIIS) that illegal immigrants had been surreptiously inserted into the Sabah electoral rolls to allow them to exercise citizenship rights to vote. Nobody can blame the reader for feeling that the RCIIIS was not only an exercise of futility but a colossal waste of public funds, resources and time.

The only saving factor was that the RCIIIS Report produced loads of evidence about the 40-year nightmare of illegal immigrant problem in Sabah, but this was completely nullified when the RCIIIS Report was released with 5,000 missing pages of notes of evidence, public memorandum, statutory declarations and exhibits which are being kept under lock-and-key and not released to the public!

Clearly there are more surprises and even scandals to be found in the 5,000 missing pages of the RCIIIS and this is why they are barred from public consumption.

In Malaysia, the normal procedure is for blue ICs to be issued to citizens, but Project IC or Project Mahathir turned the whole proess upside down, by issuing blue ICs before an illegal immigrant becomes a citizen, or in fact, to provide the illegal immigrant with the alleged documentation to acquire fake citizenship!

The RCIIIS had referred to three categories of illegal immigrants who had been issued with blue ICs although they were not citizens, viz:

“The evidence of Ruslan bin Alias (W9) and Dato’ Jariah (W208) indicates that there was a total of 113,850 ICs being considered as problematic. They had divided them into 2 groups: One group was known as P1 containing full records indicating that their ICs were issued on the basis of surat sumpah or statutory declarations certifying that the applicants were born in Sabah. There were 51,300 such ICs. The second group known as P2 were ICs which did not contain full records except photocopies. There was no information as to whether Surat Akuan or birth certificates were used to support the applications. Their numbers also overlapped. There was duplication in the records, etc. There were 62,550 recorded under this P2 group.

“Apparently, there was a third group of documents P3 was indicated in the evidence of Ramli bin Kamaruddin (W11), the ex-Director of NRD, Sabah. This group comprised of temporary receipts of ICs containing 7 digits. It is to be noted that he fell foul of the law in issuing such receipts when NRD commenced centralization of the issuance of ICs and also the replacement of blue ICs with Kad Pengenalan Bermutu Tinggi (KPT) or better known as “Kad Bunga Raya” containing 12 digits. NRD found no difficulty in cancelling those falling under group P3 which amounted to 16,699. Clearly, this group P3 was issued not in accordance with the law.

“As against the official figures given on groups P1, P2 and P3 above, we have the unofficial figures given by Tan Sri Bernard Dompok (w139), a former Federal Minister, that the figures for P1 was 177,785; for P2 it was about 62,546 and for P3 it was 16,695. He however could not verify these figures. Datuk Radin Maleh (W198), a State Minister of Rural Development, Sabah has given another set of figures. According to him, the figures for P1 group was 51,300 and for P2 it was 62,575.” (pp 303 – 305).

Although even going by the lowest estimates, the two groups of illegal immigrants issued with blue ICs, 51,300 in P1 and 62,500 in P2, there had been no process to clean up the electoral rolls to remove these fake IC holders from the electoral roll as thd bulk of the P1 and P2 illegal immigrants with blue I/Cs are still Sabah voters on the rolls.

This is why the RCIIIS Report said:

“Based on their testimonies, it is quite obvious that these immigrants had not qualified as Malaysian citizens to be registered as voters. They had obtained their ICs based on false information. We understand that their names are still in the electoral rolls. If not rectified, this can have serious repercussions.” (p 307).

Two decades have since passed, and if we take into account all the illegal immigrants, including the older children without old IC numbers but in possession of dubious Bunga Raya ICs or MyKads, Dr Chong Eng Leong’s estimate is that there are now around 200,000 non-qualified voters in the current Sabah electoral rolls which have just over a million voters.

Dr. Chong, who was petitioner in the 1999 Likas election petition which led to the disqualification of SAPP President Yong Teck Lee as Likas State Assemblyman is Sabah’s home-grown authority on the problem of illegal immigrants, and has written a book specifically on the subject of Sabah’s illegal immigrants, “Lest We Forget”.

Sabahans and Malaysians must wonder what had been the use of the RCIIIS when it comes out with such a wishy-washy finding that it is likely that there are illegal immigrants on Sabah’s electoral roll, but it does not know how many, and makes no recommendation for the clean-up of the electoral roll to remove every voter who had been included in the electoral based on false and fraudulent I/Cs.

What is the Election Commission doing with regard to proactive action to rid the names of these non-citizens from the electoral rolls?

Even more important, has Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan, as Chairman of the Working Committee of the RCIIIS Report, has the power to carry out a full clean-up of the electoral roll by recalling all identity cards in Sabah and the re-registration of all identity cards in Sabah?

It is time for Joseph Pairin Kitingan speak up to let Sabahans know what he proposes to do as Chairman of the RCIIIS Report Working Committee.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 20 December 2014, 2:43 pm and is filed under
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