Terrorism experts see long, tough battle to contain Islamic State

By Carol J. Williams

Los Angeles Times

Aug 28, 2014

Unilateral airstrikes against Islamic State targets not enough to contain the extremists, experts say

Islamic State radicals seen building momentum with atrocities, territorial conquests

‘Counter-messaging’ needed to break Islamic State’s appeal to disaffected young Muslims, terrorism experts say

While the world has recoiled in horror at the atrocities committed by Islamic State radicals, the violence has helped the militant group recruit a global force of extremists and furthered its pursuit of a fundamentalist Muslim caliphate in the heart of the Middle East, terrorism experts say.

The United States and its Western allies have responded with airstrikes on militant positions in Iraq and relief operations for the victims of the Al Qaeda splinter group’s campaign of violence.

But the air attacks on Islamic State fighters in Iraq and contemplation of similar action in war-torn Syria will do little more than temporarily curb the militants’ momentum as the international community struggles to find a long-term solution to their destabilizing threat, analysts say.

“There is no short-term fix that will completely defeat this threat, so it’s important to differentiate between stopping ISIS’ momentum and ending or defeating them as an organization,” said Janine Davidson, senior fellow for defense policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. She was referring to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, as the group called itself before proclaiming its caliphate two months ago.

Without forces in Syria and Iraq to identify targets and ensure that civilian communities aren’t vulnerable, airstrikes alone are unlikely to roll back the Islamic State militants who have seized large swaths of territory in those countries, Davidson said.

Targeted strikes can and have taken out militant positions and training camps and can undermine the group’s image as a force “screaming through Iraq with one military success after another,” Davidson said. But air power alone won’t do more than chase the militants from one stronghold to another or counter their sophisticated use of social media to recruit and raise funds, she said.

In an interview discussing Western states’ limited options for containing the militants, she said they should focus on forming regional security alliances with Iraq’s and Syria’s Middle East neighbors and on reform of the Iraqi government that so excluded and repressed Sunni Muslims that many welcomed the militants when they overran northern Iraq.

The Islamic State battlegrounds and gruesome execution of enemies have become a magnet for aspiring militants around the world, said Christopher Chivvis, a senior political scientist at Rand Corp.

Chivvis estimates the number of foreign fighters who have joined Islamic State and other militant Sunni factions at 10,000, including as many as 3,000 carrying European passports and a “not insignificant number” from the United States. On Tuesday, White House officials confirmed that a San Diego man, Douglas McAuthur McCain, had died in Syria fighting for Islamic State.

“People like to be on the winning team and right now it looks like ISIS is winning,” Chivvis said. “They have effectively challenged Al Qaeda as leader of global jihad, offering a different model for what jihad ought to look like — more violent, more locally focused, but equally extreme.”

If the United States and its allies want to combat Islamic State’s power to attract disaffected and marginalized Muslims, broad international cooperation is required in law enforcement and intelligence sharing, Chivvis said. He pointed to the U.S. turn at the U.N. Security Council presidency in September as an opportunity to galvanize coordinated efforts to counter the extremists’ message.

Like Davidson, Chivvis sees little prospect of Western states collaborating with Syrian President Bashar Assad to roll back their common enemy, Islamic State. It would be politically and operationally problematic, he said, as Assad is accused of committing war crimes against his own people.

An independent U.N. investigative commission on Wednesday issued a scathing report accusing all combatants in Syria of inflicting “immeasurable suffering” on civilians, including the Assad government’s sarin gas attacks on suburbs of Aleppo a year ago and barrel-bombing of opposition-held villages in the provinces of Idlib and Hama with chlorine gas in April.

Jeffrey Bale, a historian and scholar of political and religious extremism at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, criticized the Obama administration and its European allies for ruling out collaboration with Assad, whom he sees as the lesser of two evils.

“The regime in Syria is fighting for its own survival, using brutal methods and not concerning themselves with civilian casualties. But neither are the jihadists — they are deliberately targeting civilians and anyone they consider insufficiently Islamic,” Bale said.

“We should be collaborating with the Assad regime and with the Iranians, who already have Revolutionary Guards in Iraq, to weaken and destroy the operational capabilities of Islamic State. It’s not like we’re not doing this anywhere else in the world,” he said, pointing out U.S. alliances with authoritarian governments in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.

“We have to assess what is the No. 1 threat,” Bale said. “What would be catastrophic is if Islamic State was able to establish permanent control over the heartland of the Middle East.”

Bale also said that the United States and its allies were too timid in their initial strikes against Islamic State fighters when they were traveling on open roads in celebratory convoys after seizing the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in June.

“Whenever we observe Islamic State fighters away from heavily civilian areas we should be launching devastating attacks on them with the full panoply of weapons from aircraft,” he said.

“Obviously, once these guys are back in big urban areas surrounded by civilians, it’s much more difficult to target them from the air,” he said. “Now they are hunkered down using civilians as shields.”

                This entry was posted on Friday, 29 August 2014, 12:07 am and is filed under
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Call on Malaysians to turn the recent  unprecedented twin air disasters into a new beginning to forge national unity although country never so divided and polarised since Independence

57th Merdeka Day Message

At every annual Merdeka Day celebrations we are reminded that the country is now free from the clutches of colonialism. No longer subject to powers except those elected by us from amongst our own.

57  years since Merdeka was announced, Malaysians have undergone a number of phases, trials and tribulations that have empowered, matured and given birth to a nationwide  awareness of their rights as human beings in a plural country, with differences in race, religion and culture.

What is the meaning of the 57th Merdeka Day celebrations?

Are we truly free and independent Malaysians or are we  swayed and blinded by the illusion of independence and freedom perpetuated by government-controlled propaganda of the traditional mainstream media?

Since last week, social media especially on Twitter had been  flooded with a phenomenon sparked by netizens via the hashtag, #IfMerdekaAdsWereReal.

It saw a myriad of Malaysians expressing their frustrations towards the illusion of freedom, prosperity and harmony orchestrated via Merdeka ads on television.

The ads try to portray a false image of Malaysian life, when  in reality  we are facing an environment of fear and a sense of intolerance amongst each other due to racial, religious and cultural differences.

After 57 years, Malaysia is still struggling to build a society capable of living in harmony without regard to one’s race, creed or political leanings.

One of the tweets said “if Merdeka ads were real, the government should’nt need to waste funds on the 1Malaysia campaign”.

As of now, the 1Malaysia slogan by the Prime Minister is nothing less than a branding exercise with little or no meaning.

The  divide-and-rule of the British colonial past are still being perpetuated today.

 We are still very much polarized and far from being united.

We still have draconian laws inherited from the British in force to deny the right of speech and expression and democratic liberties such as the Sedition Act and other oppressive laws, as illustrated by the slew of selective and malicious prosecution against Pakatan Rakyat leaders in the past 10 days.

On this 57th Merdeka Day, I call on Malaysians to turn the recent unprecedented twin air disasters into a new beginning to forge national unity although the country  had never been  so divided and polarised since Independence in 1957.

This is the greatest challenge not only to all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region and politics but also to the leaders in the various spheres in the country.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 30 August 2014, 11:14 am and is filed under
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Rethinking the Malaysian community

– Prof Dr. Mohamad Tajuddin Mohamad Rasdi

The Malaysian Insider

30 August 2014

When I was invited by my colleagues to deliver a talk to a group of final year architecture students at UiTM on the subject of Community Center for Malaysia, I ended up talking about what being a Malaysian community means to me. From the reaction of the 80 strong students, no one had ever given a talk closest to the one I delivered ever since they set foot at UiTM. The following is an extraction of my power point presentation set in an essay format. I want to share these thoughts with all Malaysians, particularly with my Malay and Muslim friends, relatives and colleagues. I am sorry to say that I have the perception that of all the races in Malaysia, the Malays seem to be the least in understanding what being a Malaysian is all about.

I want to say that I can understand if a Malay says that they want to be Muslim first because God is greater than country but that does not give a blank check in being ill mannered and obnoxious and downright threatening to other religious adherents in order to get a certain point across. It also does not mean keeping in a lock-up two young teenagers just for wishing Muslims the breaking of fast by eating Bak-kut-teh. It also does not give any right for Muslims to threaten to ‘slap’ an elected female  representative or threaten to burn the holy books of the Christians. Malays and Muslims may disagree with me and  even despise me but from where I am standing the loudest and most common bigots and racists in this country are…the Malays, especially from Perkasa and Isma.

The fact that these NGOs seem to get away with their unruly conduct is gravely disturbing indeed. But, on the ground, the fact that many teachers, head teachers, university students, professors, lecturers, taxi drivers and the many “Mak Ciks and Pak Ciks”, hang on their every word is the most frightening scenario for the well-being of the people of this nation. In my book, after 57 years of singing the Negara ku and filling televisions and youtubes with a feel good merdeka commercial, our grade is an “F” for failing to live up to the visions of our founding fathers like Tunku Abdul Rahman and Onn Jaafar. Plainly speaking, we are a divided nation…by ignorance…and worse…by choice.

Thus, it is with this sad and somber introduction that I offer my thoughts on how we should rebuild this country. I do not much care about the concerns of political parties on both sides of the divide because, again from where I am sitting, the two coalitions are simply fighting over who would own Malaysia and its wealth. Neither one is actually seriously putting across a viable concept and process of how to turn around this country on the path of moralistic, spiritual and cultural prosperity. Many Malaysians do not care two hoots about these three agendas for all their concerns is simply on a big house, a big car and a nice overseas holiday with a comfortable medical insurance expense as well as a good children education fund. But because of this ignorance, all that Malaysians covet will be meaningless and ultimately loss in a raging fire of hatred, mistrusts and civil unrest. The sparks have already began to flicker into life and is simply awaiting a small can of fuel to start the raging inferno of ethnic cleansing. Too dramatic a portrayal? I think not.

Henceforth, let us all ponder on the following words that I had put together in my definition of a Malaysian community:

“A Malaysian Community is a Community that comprises of people from different ethnic groups who reveres deeply their religious and individual cultural heritage and respects reverently other ethnic groups with their own religious and cultural inheritance in a spirit of democratic and civil harmony while believing fervently that their very differences are their strength and that these differences complete their social and spiritual assets. In short, One Malaysia is truly a Many Malaysia.”

There are two separate parts to the above mentioned statement. The first part is a basic necessity; that of respecting the differences of culture and belief of each race and adherents. The second part is the ultimate condition if Malaysia is to survive the storms of racial hatred and bigotry; that we all accept our differences to be our social and even spiritual assets.

With reference to the first part, we must ask the question ourselves, do we respect one another’s belief system and cultural norms? The Malays believe that other races must be subservient to them because of their Malayness and Islam. It is for this reason that many cultural, education and political policies are twisted towards these two items. Now, before the Malays call me a traitor to my own kind, and the Muslims call for my beheading a la Isis fighters, I beg please think awhile. Where has this policy gotten us? 57 years of failure. The attempt to only allow Islam to be taught in public schools and  universities have resulted in a deep seated resentment by other religious adherents and the result is the proliferation of vernacular and Islamic religious schools that have deeply divided our society from its very core… the young.

The preference of the arts in emphasizing the dramas, poetry and songs of a single ethnic group again fuel this self-alienation. The fact that Dewan Bahasa does not publish adequate books that would bridge the cultural gap is greatly telling of the cancerous nature of our national malady. Just ask any university student a few question on cultural rituals of other races and they would fail miserably. After 57 years there is still no confidence of giving the Vice Chancellorship of a public university to a non-Malay. This is not respecting other cultures. How are we to proceed for the next 57 years if we cannot even bring ourselves to even get a passing mark in this first of all basic necessity?

Now forget about the second part of my statement. There is no way in this world that we, as a nation, would ever come close to the idea of thinking that our differences in religious beliefs, and cultural norms would be an asset and complete our earthly existence and bring us to spiritual enlightenment. Crazy, right? Especially to Muslims and Christians…I think. Both these fellows think everyone should be Christians or Muslims or else they will all go to Hell. So simplistic. So vulgar and So …arrogant. In my readings of spirituality, I studied many writings and speeches by Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and Muslim scholars, preachers and I also read Western spiritualists like Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra  and Wayne Dyer.

Sometimes it amuses me and enthral me at the same time to find out that the Western Spiritualists speaks of Loving all as the key to enlightenment whilst most Muslim Preachers call out for enmity with all non-Muslims. Deepak Chopra once observed that the institutionalisation of religion is the cause of world unrest. Eckhart Tolle maintains that once God is being compartmentalized into ‘boxes’ of Christianity, Islam and Judaism, then His Greatness and Magnanimity that crosses the boundaries of time, peoples and regions become as small and restrictive as the brains that think they understand Him. So much so that the name Allah can only be used by one group of people in one small country in this vast Universe. My own spiritual travel has led me to an understanding of Allah in Islam that loves all He created just like a father of five children who looks beyond the sullenness, the selfishness and all the negatives of the children but is still prepared to feed, clothe, nurture and be by their side in times of trouble. Why is this concept of a Beneficent Being so difficult to fathom?

Eckhart Tolle also maintains that human beings tend to create stereotype of things including people and they refuse to acknowledge that their conception and understanding is severely limited but they still go on deciding and making judgement on races, religions and events based on this very limited knowledge. Do the Malays truly understand the Chinese or the Indians and vice versa? How much knowledge do we have of one another? Is our knowledge enough to say that such and such a people are trying to do evil things to us? The truth is…We know nothing of ourselves between us the races, cultures and religious adherents. Perhaps we should exchange our university sons and let them become our foster children for a time and let one generation possess more knowledge than us so that for the next 57 years we would actually be stepping upwards towards a clear direction and not like what we are now… going in circles and being ….no where.

Thus, in this Merdeka, let us be merdeka from our bigotry and racist mindsets and set our goal to a higher calling. We should open our hearts and minds and allow our differences to settle home in our bosoms like lost children in the night. For he who shows kindness to others, truly God will show mercy and kindness to him. Happy Merdeka. – August 30, 2014.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 30 August 2014, 7:58 am and is filed under
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The Batu Sumpah Movement

(via tweet)

At the launching of Batu Sumpah movement Keningau this morning, I quoted: “The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting”.

At this morning’s annual routine ceremony for Batu Sumpah, Keningau District Office locked up its compound to prevent public access to Batu Sumpah.

At first Keningau DO gave approval for the routine ceremony. Very flattered that permission was withdrawn/compound locked when they learned that I would be here.

But there’s more than a silver lining for every cloud. The ridiculous lock-up of Keningau Batu Sumpah has inspired a Batu Sumpah movement.

Orang Asal NGOs 1st responese was to produce a replica of Batu Sumpah with the inscriptions of 3 oaths for the ritual ceremony to be performed – outsmart the lockout.

This has led to the idea to place a replica of Keningau Batu Sumpah in every Kampung in Sabah – fantastic step to spread the Batu Sumpah awareness in Sabah.

If there is a Batu Sumpah in every kampung – hundreds, thousands? – come about, must thank person who locked up the Keningau DO compound to block access to the Batu Sumpah.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 31 August 2014, 3:39 pm and is filed under
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Is Najib administration the most shambolic premiership in Malaysian history – with right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing?

Is the Najib administration not only on auto-pilot but  the most shambolic premiership in Malaysian history, with the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing?

Malaysians are entitled to ask this question following the anonymous statement from the Prime Minister’s Office yesterday, insisting that the slew of sedition  charges against Pakatan Rakyat leaders was a court matter and the government has nothing to do with it.

The anonymous Prime Minister’s Office statement said:

“Any charges under the Sedition Act are a matter for the courts. Malaysia’s judiciary is independent, as the verdicts of many cases prove.”

The PMO statement however insisted that despite the sedition charging spree, the colonial era Sedition Act will still be replaced by the National Harmony Bill.

It said: “The government welcomes feedback from all sections of society, and hopes to present the draft Bill to Parliament by the end of next year.

“Until new legislation is in place, existing cases must be tried under existing laws.”

The PMO said the drafting of the replacement Bill was taking time as it is being carried out in consultation with civil society and the public.

Acknowledging that  the recommendations of the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) for the Bill has been subjected to fierce criticism from extremist right wing groups,  the PMO statement said: “Like other countries, we are working to find the right balance between freedom of speech and national harmony in the age of the online media”.

Thinking Malaysians find  this anonymous PMO statement even more disturbing than re-assuring about what is happening in the country, in particular the Najib premiership.

Firstly, who issued the PMO statement?  Why is it anonymous? Hiding the identity of the person who issued the statement is nothing more than an admission or confession  that the  authority for making such a  statement is questionable and debatable and would not stand up to scrutiny or challenge.

Secondly, the statement not only showed the shambolic state of the Najib premiership, where the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing, but even worse, those in authority do not know what they are doing!

The PMO statement was utterly wrong when it claimed that the promise to repeal the Sedition Act  would not be affected by the slew of recent sedition charges, as  “Any charges under the Sedition Act are a matter for the courts” and that Malaysia’s judiciary is independent.

It is shocking that those responsible for the PMO statement do not seem to understand that in the dock of criticism for the slew of sedition charges is the Attorney-General and not the judiciary, and that although thd Attorney-General is vested with the discretionary powers under the Constitution to initiate any charges for any offence, he owes a duty of public accountability in a parliamentary democracy to explain that he is not guilty of selective and malicious prosecution against Pakatan Rakyat leaders in the recent slew of arrests and prosecutions.

Thirdly, the Attorney-General is the chief prosecutor of the Najib premiership and must reflect the policies pledged by the Prime Minister.

Najib has promised to make Malaysia the “best democracy of the world” but the slew of prosecutions against Pakatan Rakyat leaders for sedition offences as well as new-fangled criminal charges not done or unheard of even in the  worst era of the 22-year “Dark Age” of the Mahathir premiership is a blatant and flagrant violation of Najib’s “best democracy” pledge.

No credible Prime Minister would on the one hand promise to make Malaysia the “best democracy in the world” and yet allow his Attorney-General to launch a prosecution dragnet against opposition leaders and dissent which only happens in the “worst democracies” in the world!

Or is anyone seriously suggesting that the Attorney-General, Tan Sri Gani Patail is empowered to go against the policies and pledges of the Prime Minister without having to resign or be sacked from office?

I understand that there will be another sedition prosecution in the next few days.

Clearly, those responsible for the PMO statement yesterday know they are fighting a losing battle, as those in government who believe in  the promise of “the best democracy of the world” are being elbowed out and replaced by forces in government who are set on Malaysia joining the ranks of the “worst democracies” in the world.

Hence the advent of the New Despotism in the Najib Premiership 2.0.

(Speech at the annual ritual ceremony for Batu Sumpah Keningau in Keningau on Sunday, August 31, 2014 at 8.30 am)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 31 August 2014, 10:52 am and is filed under
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Malaysia Reborn

Allan CF Goh

Malaysia Reborn is full of charms,

With white beaches and tall swaying palms.

The redolent air is fresh and cool,

Blowing with gentle, caressing balm.

Native animals are free to roam;

Forests grow in protected freedom.

Myriad flowers bloom in ecstasy,

Their habitats are saved by wisdom.

This country is a peaceful nation,

Where people live in real maturity.

Each respects the other’s differences,

Celebrating our diversity.

Malaysians embrace creative life;

Citizens live with true harmony.

They pursue fruitful activities,

Undisturbed by vile cacophony.

My dreamland boasts of a government,

Most answerable to the people;

Parliament ensures proper justice,

And make people’s lives rich and simple.

My country exudes inspired fairness;

True justice is the accepted norm.

Laws are applied with good clarity,

In a good legally balanced form.

The authority runs elections,

Which are really fair and transparent.

All citizens are enfranchised,

To guarantee his right inherent.

Malaysia Reborn supports fair voting,

To ensure people-power better.

Elections are for choosing good folks,

Not having rascals from the gutter.

The good educational system

Produces the best true scholarship,

In knowledge, thinking and new research.

It maintains a good, proud readership.

People in Malaysia Reborn,

Are free to pursue their potential.

There is no uncalled for obstacle;

They pursue real needs, nothing racial.

The country is full of genteel folks,

Who are learned and humbly courteous.

People know their civil liberties,

And firmly stand by what are righteous.

Malaysia Reborn, people’s dream,

Is committed to “Right is might”.

We will not allow the racists,

Nor the bigots to the country, blight.

Can Malaysia Reborn exist?

Come true? A real possibility?

Yes, if all good citizens come forth

And bear their responsibility.

The nation cannot afford at all

Selfish leaders, men incapable.

Corrupt men and prejudiced visions

Will lead the State to ends ignoble.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 31 August 2014, 9:38 am and is filed under
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The idea of Merdeka, without the sentimental flashbacks

COMMENTARY BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER

31 August 2014

Selamat Hari Merdeka! Fifty-seven years ago, Tunku Abdul Rahman declared independence for Malaya and six years later, that nation formed Malaysia with Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore.

Most Malaysians probably know the history of Merdeka, and if not, there are a slew of television commercials and newspaper articles on the August 31 independence day and about Malaysia.

And if you don’t know, there are a number of government-linked corporations and public-listed companies to give you a truncated version of the country’s history through their annual commercials for Merdeka Day.

Here’s the thing. Why do we go back to history to explain what Malaysia is? Why do either have a walk through time as sponsored by national oil firm Petronas although the video idea first came from Indonesia tobacco giant Dji Sam Soe. Or even videos of how big the Malaysian family is?

It is interesting that Malaysia is best known for the postcard view. Everything is pristine and beautiful and everyone has a smiling face.

The reality is, that doesn’t exist and that is why we keep portraying the past when people were simple and no one knew better.

What is sad is that the government and its agencies still persist with spending tons of money on special programmes and advertisements on cable television to project this postcard perfect image of Malaysia and refuses to actually take steps to ensure a return to the old days.

We rather live in the past, if the commercials are to go by, and allow a certain image of what the country is to foreigners, but not Malaysians.

We rather think of the good times in the past rather than prepare for the future where our children will inherit Malaysia.

The reality is of course, that most Malaysians have no idea of the past except through government history books or the limited release of P. Ramlee movies. The most sentimental advertisements and commercials are just an exercise in creativity for most of them.

What Malaysia needs are fresh ideas, not just for Merdeka Day, but for every day that its entrepreneurs and businessmen want to make the best out of Malaysia.

What we need is not to look into the past for clues of the future. This country needs to move forward with its citizens, not stay back to second-guess the future.

The good old days are gone and those who remember them are almost going off. What Malaysians need is a vision of the future where people are equal and ideas are worth trying.

We don’t need the past where everyone was together for Malaysia and a selfie or a hashtag. We need the future where everyone is definitely for Malaysia because the country is worth it for all Malaysians.

Selamat Hari Merdeka. Enjoy it with everyone you meet. – August 31, 2014.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 31 August 2014, 7:29 am and is filed under
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DAP launches three campaigns – Post-Malaysia Generation Movement, Batu Sumpah Awareness Campaign and Mass Signature Campaign to demand immediate publication of Royal Commission of Inquiry Report on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah

DAP launched three campaigns in Keningau yesterday, viz:

*Batu Sumpah Awareness campaign;

*Mass Signature Campaign to demand immediate publication of Royal Commission of Inquiry Report on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah; and

*Post-Malaysia Generation Movement.

1. Batu Sumpah Awareness Campaign

Czech writer Milan Kundera’s famous quote  “The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting” is good reason for the DAP launching the Batu Sumpah Awareness Campaign.

Seven months before the 13th General Elections in May 2013, I spoke at length  during  my speech on the 2013 Budget in Parliament on October 4, 2012 on the Keningau Batu Sumpah and the three commitments of “Ugama Bebas Dalam Sabah”, “Tanah Tanah dalam Sabah di kuasai oleh Kerajaan Sabah” and “Adat Istiadat anak rayat Sabah dihormatkan dan dipelihara oleh Kerajaan” engraved on the Keningau Oath Stone.

I called on all Members of Parliament, whether Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat, whether in Sabah, Sarawak or Peninsular Malaysia, to support a Royal Commission of Inquiry to assess whether the dreams and aspirations of Sabahans and Sarawakians in forming Malaysia had been fulfilled or betrayed in the past five decades.

Although my call for a Royal Commission of Inquiry stemming from Batu Sumpah Keningau fell on deaf ears in October 2012, as there was no support or response from the Barisan Nasional MPs, whether Sabah, Sarawak or Peninsular Malaysia to examine whether the terms of the oath of loyalty of the Sabahans from the interior five decades ago in exchange for support for the formation of Malaysia, as solemnly carved in perpetuity in Batu Sumpah Keningau, had been honoured, this remains a live issue and with the passage of time, an ever more focussed aspiration of the people of Sabah.

This is the rationale for the launching of a Batu Sumpah Keningau Campaign to canvas for greater awareness of the rights and expectations of the people of Sabah when Malaysia was formed 51 years ago and for support for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to assess whether the dreams and aspirations of Sabahans (and Sarawakians) in forming Malaysia had been fulfilled or betrayed in the past five decades.

I have said  Sabah students are ignorant of the three most historic events in Sabah in the past five decades as they are not in the school history books, viz:

1.20-Points and Batu Sumpah Keningau;

2.The ‘666’ tragedy of 1976 which changed the course of history, not only in Sabah but also in Malaysia; and

3.Million illegal immigrants who were unlawfully and unconstitutionally given citizenship/voter status through illegal scams like Project Mahathir, undermining Sabah and Malaysia.

The Batu Sumpah Keningau campaign will be to restore both history and memory to the people of Sabah.

Before the launching of the DAP Batu Sumpah Awareness Campaign in Keningau yesterday, there was an earlier programme for the annual ritual ceremony for Batu Sampah scheduled in the Keningau District Office compound which housed the Batu Sumpah.

But the Keningau District Office compound gates were locked, preventing public access to the Batu Sumpah and therefore annual ritual ceremony for the Batu Sumpah from being performed.

This is most unusual as permission had earlier been granted for the annual ritual ceremony for Batu Sumpah to be performed, but this permission was withdrawn when the authorities learned that I would be present.

I am flattered by such attention but regret that I had caused the annual ritual ceremony for Batu Sumpah from being performed in its proper place.

However, there is more than a silver lining for every cloud, for the outrageous lock-up of Batu Sumpah in the Keningau District Office compound inspired a most creative and innovative response from the Orang Asal NGOs slated to organise the annual ritual ceremony.

As a result of discussion and consultation with Orang Asal NGOs and elders of the community, the very creative response to the lock-up of the Batu Sumpah in the Keningau District Office compound was to produce within 24 hours a replica of Batu Sumpah with the three inscriptions so that the ritual ceremony could be performed, just outside the Keningau District Office grounds.

This has given rise to another creative and innovative idea, especially for the Batu Sumpah Awareness  Campaign – to replicate Batu Sumpah Keningau in every kampung in Sabah, which will be quite a fantastic method to spread the Batu Campaign Awareness Campaign.

If the Batu Sumpah Keningau is replicated in every kampung in Sabah, a great “thank you”  is owed to those responsible for the unfair and high-handed decision to lock up the Keningau District Office compound to prevent public access to the Batu Sumpah thinking this could sabotage the holding of the annual ritual ceremony for Batu Sumpah.

The Chairman of the DAP Batu Sumpah Awareness Campaign is Peter Saili, a former political secretary who has retired from politics for more than ten years, and other officials are Vice Chairman, Nooritha Saul and Secretary, Marius Felix.

Two Keningau Declarations were  also issued yesterday – one by by Orang Asal NGOs at the  Batu Sumpah ritual ceremony and the other  by the  DAP Batu Sumpah Awareness Movement.

The Keningau Declaration of Orang Asal NGOs expands the three basic demands in Batu Sumpah to seven, viz: Kelestarian Alam Sekitar, Pemerintahan Yang Baik, Kemajuan Ekonomi and Integriti Pendidikan.

The DAP Keningau Declaration called for a Royal Commission of Inquiry  to assess whether the dreams and aspirations of Sabahans and Sarawakians in forming Malaysia had been fulfilled or betrayed in the past five decades.

DAP MPs/SAs will articulate and highlight  the two Keningau Declarations – of the Orang Asal NGOs  and the  DAP Batu Sumpah Awareness Movement  in the Sabah State Assembly and Parliament to canvass support from all MPs/SAs for justice for Sabah.

2. Mass Signature Campaign for immediate publication of Report of  RCI on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah

The campaign for mass signatures for the immediate publication of the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Illegal Immigrants in Sabah is headed by DAP Sabah State Secretary Dr. Edwin Bosi.

Is there any reason why the Report of the RCI cannot be made public before Malaysia Day on Sept. 16?

The Cobbold Commission on the formation of Malaysia took less than seven months in 1962 to publish its report from its first appointment in January 1962. Why is the RCI on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah taking more than two-and-a-half years from the Cabinet decision in Feb. 2012 for its establishment, and still unable to have the Report made public?

3. Movement of Post-Malaysia Generation to take over political leadership

The third campaign launched yesterday is the Post-Malaysia Generation Movement of DAP Sabah for the young generation of Sabahans born after September 16, 1963 to take over the political leadership.

The participation of the DAP candidate for the Teluk Intan by-election Dyana Sofya in the Keningau programme is symbolic of the new generation of young Malaysians who should be assuming leadership responsibilities in Sabah and Malaysia whether in politics or other spheres of activities.

According to Statistics Department, in 2014, out of a populationn of 3.54 million inn Sabah, 88% or 3.12 million were born after 1963.

This is therefore a great challenge and the chairman of the  DAP Sabah Post-Malaysia Generation Movement is outstanding Sabah social activist for over a decade Adrian Lasimbang, who will  lead the campaign.

(Media Conference Statement 2 in Kota Kinabalu on Monday, 1st September 2014 at 9.30 am)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 1 September 2014, 10:43 am and is filed under
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IGP has single-handedly  reduced to shambles in less than 24 hours Najib’s three 57th Merdeka  Day messages on unity, confidence and prosperity

31st August 2014 should go down in history as the  57th Merdeka Anniversary for the nation’s independence in 1957 when the country rose from more than a year of drift and polarisation since the 13th general elections in May last year and the unprecedented twin air disasters of MH 370 and MH 17  which claimed a total  of 527 lives from all over the world to forge greater national unity and purpose and build a model successful multi-racial and multi-religious nation which is  united, harmonious, confident, progressive, competitive and prosperous.

But this was not the case. Instead, 31st August 2014 would go down in Malaysian history as one of its “black letter” days where one man, the Inspector-General of Police, single-handedly reduced to shambles in less than 24 hours the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s three 57th Merdeka Day messages on unity, confidence and prosperity.

Najib tried to create history this Merdeka Anniversary when he broke with the tradition of pre-recorded Merdeka speeches and spoke “live” on Merdeka Eve on Saturday night to make  “eye-to-eye, heart-to-heart” connection with all Malaysians to show the spirit of patriotism.

Najib delivered three Merdeka messages for a united, competitive and prosperous Malaysia, viz:

* First Merdeka Message: Strengthen the solidarity of Malaysians, including unity in grief, in the face of challenges and tests.

* Second Merdeka Message: Cultivate confidence that we can achieve any ambitions as a nation if there is unity.

* Third Merdeka Message: Leaving behind a prosperous and peaceful Malaysia.

However, Najib’s break with tradition came to nought as his three Merdeka messages  of unity, confidence and prosperity were torn to shreds by the Inspector-General of Police the next morning when the No. 1 police officer in the land  personally directed the mass arrests of over a hundred Voluntary Patrol Unit (PPS – Pasukan Peronda Sukarela) members in Penang immediately after their participation in the Merdeka Parade in Penang.

Instead of being a day of inspiration and reaffirmation for 30 million Malaysians to ponder and digest the Prime Minister’s three 57th Merdeka Anniversary Messages of unity, confidence and prosperity, August 31, 2014 became a day of infamy for Malaysians to cry for the nation and ask what has gone wrong with nation-building in Malaysia after more than half a century where the No. 1 Police Officer in the land could show  utter contempt for the Prime Minister’s 57th Merdeka Anniversary messages of unity, confidence and prosperity as to go on a rampage on National Day to order the arrest of patriotic and  exemplary citizens who were prepared to serve society and fellow-citizens by enrolling in the PPS to contribute to neighbourhood peace, harmony and security and to help out less fortunate citizens as during disasters.

The police arrest of over a hundred PPS members after taking part in the  Merdeka parade in Penang yesterday morning for  being illegal was  a total mockery of unity message  of Merdeka anniversary this year and made the country and the Prime Minister the laughing stock of the world.

Something has gone very wrong with our nation when Good Samaritans ever-ready to give of their time, energies and service to help less fortunate citizens are  treated as common criminals.

The mark of  a “developed and civil nation” is a keen sense of right and  wrong by all in authority and  never to succumb to abuses of power.

There can be no doubt that what happened in Penang yesterday is  no credit to Malaysia or Najib as Prime Minister in the international arena, and the world will pass harsh judgment about Malaysia and the Prime Minister as a result of the PPS fiasco.

Silence, indifference or inaction by Najib about what happened  in Penang  yesterday is going to cost the country and  Najib dearly in terms of international repute and esteem.

As if the twin unprecedented air disasters of MH 370 and MH17 are not enough to soil and sully Malaysia’s international reputation, the IGP must single-handedly precipitate the mass arrests of the PPS members taking part in a Merdeka Anniversary Parade!

If there are differences of opinion as to the legality of the PPS, let the matter be resolved by the courts in accordance with the law. There should be no abuse of power as in the mass arrests of PPS members taking part in National Day Parade or humiliating patriotic and law-abiding citizens by compelling them to spend their nights in the police lock-ups.

The ball is in Najib’s court.

He did nothing to ensure that over a hundred patriotic and exemplary citizens who are PPS members do not spend a night in the police lock-ups yesterday.  Is he going to continue to be silent and  indifferent to the mass arrests of PPS members with over a hundred of them held in custody in police lock-ups?

(Media Conference Statement in Kota Kinabalu on Monday, September 1, 2014 at 9.30 am)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 1 September 2014, 10:20 am and is filed under
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Cabinet meeting tomorrow must let Malaysians know whether the Barisan Nasional  Malaysian government has gone bonkers

The top agenda for the  Cabinet meeting tomorrow should be to answer the question right-thinking Malaysians have been asking the past week whether the Malaysian government has gone bonkers.

The week leading to the 57th Merdeka Anniversary  gives new cause for concern as to the direction and future of Malaysia under the premiership of Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Of special concern are the speeches delivered at UMNO divisional meetings. I need refer only to three of them.

The first was the reckless and irresponsible speech by the Negri Sembilan Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hassan at the Rembau UMNO division meeting, concocting the lie that “three days after the opposition (Pakatan Rakyat) forms the Federal Government, it will have its first cabinet meeting, where the main agenda will be the reunion of Singapore with Malaysia” coupled with the preposterous and utterly baseless allegation that this could be done (allegedly involving an increase of 89 non-Malay parliamentary seats)  without having to amend the Federal Constitution in Parliament.

This was followed by the Minister for Agriculture and Agro-based Industry, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob whose speech to the Gopeng UMNO delegates meeting on Merdeka eve indulged in fear-mongering alleging that the Malays were “under attack” in Malaysia.

Ismail lamented  that the Malay race is divided into ‘Umno Malays’, ‘PAS Malays’, ‘PKR Malays’ and ‘DAP Malays’ when it is imperative that the Malay race should stand united as they were when the country achieved independence.

It is most shocking and just unbelievable that Ismail could give such a speech which is totally antithetical to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razaki’s 1Malaysia policy to build a Malaysian where every Malaysian regards himself or herself as Malaysian first, and race, religion, region and socio-economic status second.

Ismail has been in Najib’s Cabinet for more than five years and clearly, he is a total failure as far as passing the 1Malaysia test is concerned.

Even more shocking is that Ismail’s racist speech is totally at variance with the Merdeka Message of Najib delivered also on Merdeka Eve, in a “live” speech instead of traditionally in pre-recorded messages, to make “eye-to-eye, heart-to-heart” connection with all Malaysians about national unity and patriotism.

Didn’t the Prime Minister brief his Ministers about the  theme and thrust of his Merdeka Message so that they would not be contradicting and undermining him by saying the very opposite things?

Apparently not, for the Home Minister Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi two days after the  Prime Minister’s Merdeka Day Eve Message, hammered away at the racial message when he spoke at the Umno Segambut divisional meeting yesterday, even making the shockingly irresponsible statement that “Malays are paying the price for being kind to non-Malays”, that “non-Malays are getting increasingly arrogant and are insulting the bumiputgras, the royalty and Islam”.

He said: “We allowed them to be indebted to us without needing them to pay it back; they are now insulting Islam and the Malays under the pretence of democracy, freedom of speech and globalisation”.

Zahid’s attacks on the non-Malays is most reckless, irresponsible and unfounded, especially his reckless attempt to distort and racialise the aspirations of Malaysians for good governance, rule of law, political freedoms, human rights and economic  justice as a battle between Malays and non-Malays.

All these three UMNO divisional meeting speeches by the Negri Sembilan Mentri Besar and the two Cabinet Ministers are seditious – will the Attorney-General charge them under the Sedition Act?

What is incontrovertible  is that all these three speeches against the unity theme and thrust of the Prime Minister’s 57th Merdeka Message.

But it is not just these speeches by UMNO Ministers, Mentri Besar and leaders which are controversial,  recent government actions also raise the question whether the Barisan Nasional Malaysian government has gone bonkers.

The two most egregious examples are firstly, the mass arrests of 157 PPS members in Penang on Merdeka Day itself immediately after their participation in a Merdeka Parade, showing the Inspector-General of Police’s utter contempt not only for Merdeka Day, the Prime Minister’s Merdeka Day message of unity and patriotism but also his reckless disregard of the blemish and stain such raw abuse of power would cause to the international image and reputation of the country.

The second is the slew of sedition prosecutions against Pakatan Rakyat leaders and today, against a law professor from the leading law school in the country – Prof Azmi Sharom.

The question whether the Malaysian government has gone bonkers have become stark and brutal when we have the Prime Minister eulogising the importance of the academia on the same day when the country is faced with the worst threat to academic freedom in the nation’s history, for Azmi is the first academician to be charged with sedition in the country.

Does Najib really believe that his eulogy for academic freedom after the unprecedented prosecution of an academician for sedition would have any credibility at all?

Who will believe Najib that he and his government truly regard the scholars and intelligentsia as the country’s most important pillars, when his Attorney-General can  haul an academician to court under the Sedition Act, which had never been done by the other five Prime Ministers (not even in the 22-year Dark Age of Tun Mahathir) in the past 57 years?

And what is Azmi’s sedition offence?

He is charged with saying in a press report that what happened in Perak in the 2009 Perak constitutional crisis was legally wrong.

Have Malaysia’s academic freedom in the universities degenerated to a state where law lecturers cannot give their opinion about “right and wrong” about legal cases?

Have  we reached a stage where lawyers defending Azmi Sharon may themselves run the risk of committing sedition just by defending Azmi’s view on the Perak constitutional case?

Is this Najib’s meaning of academic freedom and the rule of law?

The Cabinet meeting tomorrow must let the Malaysian public know whether the Barisan Nasional government, starting with the Cabinet, has gone bonkers!

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 2 September 2014, 3:54 pm and is filed under
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Putrajaya’s sledgehammer strategy might blow up in its face

COMMENTARY BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER

1 September 2014

Somewhere in there, lurks a strategy to the Najib government’s decision to use the Sedition Act as a dragnet against citizens of this country.

Critics argue that it is to cower Malaysians into silence, to discourage dissent of any kind, to send a chilling message that thinking is not allowed.

Others say Putrajaya is borrowing out of the playbook of the PAP government in Singapore, a government famous for its sledgehammer approach. In fact, just recently, Umno’s main mouthpiece Utusan Malaysia even suggested that Malaysia look south.

Now here is a real danger of following Singapore’s approach in tackling dissent for a number of reasons.

One, Malaysia is not Singapore and never will be. We have always had a culture of speaking out and challenging the establishment.

This was true during the days of Tunku Abdul Rahman and during the decades of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Mahathir did not lock up individuals who called him Mahafiraun and other unsavoury names.

He may not have liked the labels but he did not reach for the sledgehammer every time he was insulted.

Second, Singapore leaders prefer to seek the protection of defamation laws. The parameters of defamation law is crystal clear as are the defences available. Fair comment. Justification. Absolute Privilege.

Third, the Singapore example is also useful to study because clearly it can have the reverse effect. Instead of creating fear and silence, it can harden hearts.

The tough action may have been useful in creating fear in the old days but not anymore.

And this change is down to a more educated population with a greater awareness of what they truly desire and with access to far more information, coupled with less unconditional admiration for those in public office.

Singaporeans turned out in great numbers in the last general election and gave their opposition parties a major lift.

A Singaporean blogger was also surprised by the response to his appeal for funds for his legal defence against a defamation suit filed by the prime minister this year.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the ground is going to be as challenging for the PAP in the coming polls with continued angst over the large number of foreigners and the high cost of living.

Perhaps, that is why the PAP has also been trying to address the underlying unhappiness among the islanders, rather than tough talk and tough action.

Maybe it also knows that relying on tough action is akin to diminishing returns. It looks good initially but the end result is far from the required outcome.

Over in Malaysia, a number of politicians have been charged with sedition and tomorrow, it is understood a university lecturer is to be charged with the same offence.

Perhaps more will face the law courts for the offence until Putrajaya puts in new harmony laws. But what effect will these cases have on Malaysians? Will it cow them or embolden them to keep pressing at the arbitrary and vague limits set by the government of the day?

What makes a comment seditious? What’s the benchmark before anyone takes offence to anything in Malaysia? And how come the bar is high for some and low for others? Who decides?

And who will take the brunt for instituting such charges in court? Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the Home Minister, has pointed fingers at the Attorney-General.

But some Umno leaders believe he is too soft.

The nett effect is simple. The ruling Barisan Nasional government and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak will be blamed for this.

As it is, the largesse of promises and law repeals offered for Election 2013 won the coalition even fewer seats.

Malaysians have expressed themselves in the past two general elections and do so daily on social media and even on the streets.

It will take more than thin-skinned authorities waving sedition charges or taking a leaf from Singapore’s playbook to stop Malaysians from taking a firm stand on issues of the day.

Putrajaya might want to rethink its strategy or risk losing even more in the next general elections. – September 1, 2014.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 2 September 2014, 11:49 am and is filed under
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After ‘attack’ on academic freedom, UM students to rally forth

The Malay Mail Online

By Ida Lim

September 3, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 3 — Angered by the sedition prosecution of their vocal law lecturer Dr Azmi Sharom, a group of University of Malaya (UM) scholars will lead a rally here next Wednesday to reclaim fully their academic freedom.

Student leader Vince Tan said the charge against Azmi over the latter’s comments on the 2009 Perak constitutional crisis, is an “attack” on institutions of higher learning, and voiced concern at the growing repression of intellectual thinking.

“We feel there is an attack on academic freedom. We have come to a level that is beyond acceptable, because academic freedom in UM and Malaysia has gone so low. (An) academic can be charged for just stating an opinion in the field of his study.

“So we are coming out with a protest together with academics in UM, September 10, 1pm to 2pm,” the secretary-general of student rights group Progressive University of Malaya told Malay Mail Online when met at the court complex here yesterday.

The protest will be held at the university’s main bus stop, which is also the old Speaker’s Corner, the fourth-year law student said.

Tan said the rally was also to show the university student body’s support for Azmi and as a platform to press the repeal of the Sedition Act 1948.

Fahmi Zainol, University of Malaya Student’s Representative Council (MPPUM) president, similarly said: “We demand that the university’s values, academic freedom be returned.”

According to Fahmi, the organisations involved in this rally include the UM Academic Staff Association, MPPUM, the student group Pro-Mahasiswa University Malaya and the Persatuan Mahasiswa Islam Universiti Malaya (PMIUM).

Azmi was charged yesterday, under Section 4(1)(b) and 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act, for uttering and publishing an allegedly seditious claim that the events during the 2009 Perak constitutional crisis was “legally wrong”

If convicted under either the first charge or alternative charge, the 45-year-old will face a maximum fine of RM5,000 or a maximum jail term of three years or both.

The associate professor, whose allegedly seditious comments were published on August 14 in a Malay Mail Online article titled “Take Perak crisis route for speedy end to Selangor impasse, Pakatan told”, was released on a bail of RM5,000.

Around 10 to 15 UM undergraduates waiting outside the courtroom for Azmi had held up slogans such as “We are all Azmi Sharom”, “Free Azmi”, “Bebaskan Universiti” (Free the university) and “#Mansuh Akta Hasutan” (Abolish Sedition Act).

According to Tan, around 20 to 30 UM students and 13 academic staff were present in court yesterday.

In elaborating on how academic freedom has been “compromised”, both Fahmi and Tan highlighted the case of UM Professor Datuk Dr Mohammad Redzuan Othman, who was purportedly asked this year to give up his position as the university’s Centre for Democracy and Elections (UMCedel) over survey results that allegedly upset Putrajaya.

Redzuan’s tenure as the dean of UM’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was also not renewed a year ahead of his retirement, purportedly to allow his successor time to acclimatise to the position.

Tan also pointed to UM’s decision to block former Malaysian Bar president and human rights activist Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan from giving a talk in the country’s oldest university earlier this year.

Chai Duwei, the UM Law Society president who was present inside the courtroom, said the student body which represents all the 400-strong students in the law faculty “will continue to stand in solidarity” with Azmi.

“It is shocking that a member of our faculty is being charged under the Sedition Act. These unprecedented charges are definitely a huge blow to academic freedom,” Chai told Malay Mail Online.

The law major confirmed that the UM Law Society will not be participating in the rally next Wednesday but will continue to support Azmi.

Azmi is the first academic to be charged with sedition, following a string of cases where opposition politicians were hauled to court in recent weeks.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 3 September 2014, 11:05 am and is filed under
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DAP not for secession

John Joseph| September 3, 2014

Free Malaysia Today

KOTA KINABALU: DAP has clarified it had never advocated the secession of Sabah and Sarawak from the Federation.

“Advocating secession is sedition under Malaysian law,” acknowledged DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang during a visit here for Merdeka.

He was commenting on a statement by Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin in Sipitang last Saturday that “Sabah belongs to Malaysia” and that action would be taken against those advocating the Borneo nation’s secession from the Federation.

Lim added that no political party, to the best of his knowledge, advocated secession from Malaysia.

What the DAP wanted to see, stressed Lim, was democratic change and reform in the country.

There were many public forums in Borneo and elsewhere since Sept 16 last year that marked the 50th year of Sabah and Sarawak’s Federation with the peninsula.

Three of those forums held in Kuala Lumpur, Melbourne and Canberra respectively, with the latest being a pre-Merdeka talk, “Malaysia at the Crossroads” in Kota Kinabalu, carried the message that it cannot be business as usual in Borneo for Putrajaya.

It is not known whether the Attorney-General will now haul the speakers at these public forums to court for “seditious” remarks and/or advocating seditious tendencies.

A 2nd People’s Petition, the first being in 1962, was also making its way around Borneo to collect 300,000 signatures for submission to the United Nations on the plight of Sabah and Sarawak in the Federation with the peninsula.

An appeal by activists is also before Queen Elizabeth for a Royal Inquiry into the exact nature and circumstances of the British departure from Borneo.

The appeal refers to a similar inquiry on Hong Kong which was held in London recently.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 3 September 2014, 10:28 am and is filed under
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Najib premiership has not gone bonkers –  there is logic in the madness as ISA is not the only route to authoritarianism

Many Malaysians are asking whether the Najib administration  has gone bonkers with the political dysfunction of his five-year premiership most conspicuous  on the occasion of the 57th Merdeka Day celebrations, viz:

•	Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s break with the tradition of pre-recording and broadcast of Merdeka Day message to have “eye-to-eye, heart-to-heart” connection with all Malaysians in a “live” speech with the triple theme and thrust of unity, confidence and prosperity totally ignored by Umno Ministers and leaders who before and after Merdeka Day on August 31 continued to fan the flames of national disunity and racial discord by propagating the reckless and baseless myth that the Malay race and Islam are under attack.

•	Najib’s pledge to repeal the Sedition Act and to make Malaysia “the best democracy in the world” torn into shreds with him presiding over the most number of sedition prosecutions against Opposition  leaders and dissent under any Malaysian Prime Minister, while UMNO Ministers, leaders, UMNO cybertroopers and their front organisations allowed unchecked to spout incendiary and seditious utterances with immunity and impunity.

•	The nation’s first prosecution of an academician, University of Malaya Law Professor Azmi Sharom for sedition,  on the same day the Prime Minister cynically delivered an eulogy for academic freedom declaring he and his government’s regard for scholars and intelligentsia as the country’s most important pillars.

•	The mass arrest of 157 Penang Voluntary Patrol Unit (PPS) on Merdeka Day taking part in a Merdeka Parade, showing the Inspector-General of Police’s utter contempt not only for Merdeka Day, the Prime Minister’s Merdeka Day message for unity and utter disregard for the spirit of patriotism and community-service volunteerism of selfless Malaysians  to reduce crime and help out in disasters.

But the Najib premiership has not gone bonkers –  there is logic in the madness as the Internal Security Act (ISA) is not the only route to authoritarianism.

It is most shocking and to most Malaysians, unbelievable, that the proponent of Political Transformation as an integral part of the National Transformation Programme (NTP) is  ushering Malaysia to a new authoritarianism  – as if trying to fulfil the promise of the “best democracy of the world”  through the terrain of the “worst democracy of the world”.

The rule of law and academic freedom are under new-fangled assault. Malaysians must not succumb to a new despotism and must speak out, loud and clear, in defence of our democratic and  academic freedoms as well as the rule of law.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 3 September 2014, 2:38 pm and is filed under
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The bloodlust behind the Islamic State’s beheading of Steven Sotloff

By Terrence McCoy

Washington Post

September 3 2014

It began with a knife, an orange tunic and a name. “I am Steven Joel Sotloff,” the bedraggled journalist said. “I’m sure you know exactly who I am by now. And why I’m appearing before you.” Sotloff paused for a long moment, kneeling on the desert floor, and looked directly into the Islamic State’s camera. He neither wept nor begged. There was only resignation. “And now,” he said, “it is time for my message.”

After it was done and Sotloff was dead, the knife-wielding man who has come to be known as “Jihadi John” grabbed another Western hostage. Promising to “strike the necks” of more Americans if the United States continues airstrikes against the Islamic State, he warned, “We take this opportunity to warn those governments that enter this evil alliance of American against the Islamic State to back off and leave our people alone.”

The beheading of Sotloff, two weeks after journalist James Foley’s decapitation, is an Islamic State calling card. In the last week alone, militants decapitated a Kurdish man and then days later beheaded a Lebanese soldier in an additional video. The decapitations are brutal and terrifying. But are they politically motivated? Or do they instead betray an unhinged brand of violence that is ultimately self-defeating?

“Beheading an American hostage — and a bound, kneeling one at that — hardly seems likely to keep the United States out of the Middle East,” wrote former New York Times war correspondent Dexter Filkins in the New Yorker. “Indeed, [the Islamic State] leaders couldn’t have made the prospect of American airstrikes more likely if they had sent a video to President Obama begging him to drop more bombs. Which raises a larger question: What could these people possibly hope to gain from such an act?”

Terrorism’s objectives are usually clear. “The purpose of terrorism is to strike fear into the hearts of opponents in order to win political concession,” wrote Timothy R. Furnish in “Beheading in the Name of Islam,” published in the Middle East Quarterly.

Much of the literature on Islamic decapitations, which soared during the Iraq war under al-Qaeda strongman Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is coldly analytic. “Jihadists have employed this tactic for a range of reasons, including obtaining ransom payments, hampering foreign investment, discrediting transitional states and recruiting supporters,” according to an article in Studies in Conflict & Terrorism. “…Beheadings in Iraq were largely used to recruit future jihadists and to demonstrate jihadists’ strength to the potential support base, the global Muslim community.”

Such reasoning may not convey the complete picture. The Islamic State’s penchant for decapitation has become so pervasive — so raw — that plain bloodlust must surely be a factor. Indeed, after the release of the Sotloff video, some in Congress were calling for more military intervention in Iraq, not less. Polling by the Pew Research Center suggests a similar reaction is developing more broadly among the public, which otherwise pays little attention to foreign developments.

The beheading didn’t elicit political concession, but anger. So what was the point of Sotloff’s decapitation?

“It’s hard to watch the video of Steven Sotloff’s last moments and not to conclude … the ostensible objective of securing an Islamic state is nowhere near as important as killing people,” Filkins wrote. “For the guys who signed up for [the Islamic State] — including, especially, the masked man with the English accent who wielded the knife — killing is the real point of being there.”

The Islamic State’s foreign fighters, who operated on the fringes in their home countries, account for a substantial portion of shocking acts of violence. Some of them were reportedly just criminals found to have psychotic tendencies.

Australian Khaled Sharrouf is one such jihadist. He’s beheaded many, judging by social media. Once, he even handed a severed head to his son, who posed with it for a photograph. Sharrouf is an old hand at violence. He was busted in 2005 by Australian authorities for complicity in a terrorist plot. A subsequent psychological report found: “Mr. Sharrouf has a history of psychotic symptoms over the past few years and has been diagnosed to be suffering from schizophrenic illness.”

Peter Neumann, director of the International Center for the Study of Radicalization, told The Washington Post’s Griff Witte that foreign fighters are some of the most sadistic. “They are the most ideologically motivated,” he said. “The locals may say, ‘That’s not the kind of thing we do here.’ But the outsiders don’t know that.”

The brutality has come at a cost. Locals as well as other jihadists, according to Buzzfeed’s Mike Giglio, have recoiled at the violence. “They kill people under the name of Islam, but Islam’s not like that,” said one fighter, who at first cheered the foreign fighters but now disdains them. “…Their main victims are rebel fighters and innocent people.”

The Soufan Group, an intelligence consultantcy, reported that because the Islamic State’s grip on territorial gains remains tenuous at best, its commitment to extreme violence makes it vulnerable. Its enemies list keeps growing. “Recent videos showing the massacre of over one hundred Syrian soldiers … and the apparent beheading of a Sunni Lebanese soldier produced more negative reactions than positive,” the group’s report stated.

The consequence of unmitigated violence is a lesson Osama bin Laden himself learned. Before he was killed in 2011, his final months were reportedly filled with delusion and regret. He feared that his Muslim “brothers” had turned too many against al-Qaeda with indiscriminate brutality. He even wanted to change the name of the terrorist group to distance itself from the evils of its past. “Learn from their mistakes,” he wrote in a letter reported by CNN. “…It would lead us to winning several battles while losing the war at the end.”

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 3 September 2014, 5:01 pm and is filed under
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Call on Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region, politics, age or gender to unite to save Malaysia from the New Despotism

Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region, politics, age or gender must unite to save Malaysia from the New Despotism which showed its ugly face on the 57th Merdeka anniversary.

Who would have imagined that the 57th Merdeka anniversary would see a quintuplet assault on  Malaysian nation building, democracy, the rule of law, press freedom and  academic freedom as illustrated by the following instances:

1. Escalation of the rhetorics and politics of racist and religious extremism with UMNO Ministers, leaders and cybertroopers enjoying immunity and impunity for making the most  racist, incendiary and intolerant utterances;

2. A slew of  malicious and selective prosecution of Pakatan Rakyat Members of Parliament and State Assemblymen on sedition and other criminal charges which could lead to the most number of parliamentary and state assembly by-elections in Malaysian history, resulting from disqualification of MPs and SAs convicted of criminal offences.

3. The most number of selective and malicious prosecutions on sedition and other criminal charges aimed stifling dissent in the country.

4. Malaysiakini reporter, Susan Loone, being investigated for sedition for carrying out her journalistic duties.

5. The first academician, Prof Azmi Sharom, charged for sedition for giving his legal opinions on legal and constitutional developments in the country – which is the most serious attack on academic freedom in recent times.

Patriotic Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region, politics, age or gender must unite to save Malaysia from this New Despotism which the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, has initiated on the occasion of his sixth Merdeka Anniversary.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 4 September 2014, 8:23 am and is filed under
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112 NGOs band together to fight Sedition Act

BY JENNIFER GOMEZ | TMI

5 September 2014

A movement dubbed “Abolish the Sedition Act” (GHAH) was launched today in response to the use of the draconian law as a means of political repression and terror.

A total of 112 civil society organisations are part of this movement, which said it wants to bury the colonial-era law if Malaysia is to be a truly independent nation.

“The Sedition Act is clearly being misused to protect the government and its interests, clamp down on the opposition and dissidents, make certain issues off limits, stifle civil liberties and create a climate of fear reminiscent of the worst days under the iron-fisted Mahathir regime,” said Lawyers for Liberty executive director Eric Paulsen at a press conference today.

He said the movement was concerned with the selective prosecution under the act, adding that the Attorney-General was targeting government critics.

“Over the past month, the act has been indiscriminately used in a new wave of political repression and terror and whose targets have included elected representatives and lawyers who have a public duty to speak on matters of public interest,” Paulsen said.

The movement’s demands include the repeal of the act and for existing sedition charges to be dropped.

Paulsen also said the act was being used to strike fear in the media, as seen from the arrest of Malaysiakini journalist Susan Loone for investigations over an allegedly seditious article.

“They’re trying to create a climate of fear, but don’t worry, carry on with your job and if you get into trouble, Lawyers for Liberty will be behind you.”

When asked if GHAH would organise demonstrations, Paulsen said that it was the right of Malaysians under Article 10 of the Constitution to assemble and march peacefully.

“After the case of Nik Nazmi in the Court of Appeal, no Malaysian should be afraid to demonstrate peacefully.”

(He was referring to Selangor Deputy Speaker Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, who was charged with failure to give a 10-day notice to police for the Black Out Rally last year.)

“So certainly it is part of what we will be doing, but it is something we should not ponder upon because it is within our rights,” he said.

Suaram executive director Yap Swee Seng said the movement would support the upcoming protest in Universiti Malaya on September 10 in support of law lecturer Assoc Prof Dr Azmi Sharom, who was charged with sedition earlier this week.

Activist Hishamuddin Rais, who was also charged with sedition, said that the political situation was such now that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was using the Sedition Act to counter accusations by former prime minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad that he was a weak leader.

“This is the background of the situation we are in, Najib is trying to prove to Dr Mahathir that he is not weak and so we are the victims.

“But the bigger issue is that the Sedition Act means that we cannot speak or think,” Hishamuddin said.

Amnesty International Malaysia executive director Shamini Darshni said that the increasing use of the Sedition Act was fostering a climate of repression. The views of opposition politicians and other critical voices, as well as of ordinary individuals simply expressing their opinions, were being suppressed.

In calling for the act to be abolished, she also called on the Malaysian authorities to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and to incorporate its provisions in domestic law, policy and practice.

GHAH will be launched on September 15 and will go on a nationwide roadshow.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 5 September 2014, 5:20 pm and is filed under
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Court of Appeal reverses open verdict ruling in Teoh Beng Hock’s death

BY V. ANBALAGAN |TMI

5 September 2014

The Court of Appeal has set aside the open verdict by a coroner on the death of Teoh Beng Hock five years ago, ruling that “a person or persons were responsible for his death”.

Judges Datuk Mohamad Arif Md Yusof, Datuk Mah Weng Kwai and Datuk Hamid Sultan Abu Backer delivered separate judgments.

Mah said the coroner and the High Court erred in law in applying the wrong standard of proof.

He said it should be on the balance of probability and not beyond reasonable doubt, adding that a person or persons were responsible for his death.

This unprecedented verdict may force the police to reopen investigations into Teoh’s death.

Coroner Azmil Muntapha on January 5, 2011 returned a verdict that Teoh’s death was neither a suicide nor homicide.

The High Court on December 1, 2011 upheld that decision.

Arif, who pronounced the court’s unanimous ruling, said the bench was substituting the findings of the coroner.

He said: “The death of Teoh Beng Hock was caused by multiple injuries from a fall from the 14th floor of Plaza Mazalam, a result of which was accelerated by an unlawful act or acts of person unknown, inclusive of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission officers involved in the arrest and investigation of the deceased.”

Arif said the Inspector-General of Police must commence investigations while the Attorney-General must frame charges deemed fit.

The appeal before the Court of Appeal primarily rested on whether in an inquest, the standard of proof should be beyond reasonable doubt or on the balance of probability.

All the judges took the position that it should be on balance of probability, which now gives clear guidance to coroners conducting inquests.

Mah said all forensic pathologists concluded that Teoh had suffered from a pre-fall injury and it was absurd for the coroner to make an open verdict.

He said such a verdict was unlawful under the law.

“We have taken pains to deliberate the case due to wide publicity generated and to maintain public confidence in the judiciary,” he said.

Hamid said in an inquest, the coroner was not a magistrate to determine who was liable for a crime.

“But we have been relying on a common law principle for inquest and this brought erroneous results. This has to be corrected to bring justice to the family and the criminal justice system,” he said.

He said a coroner’s role was to determine “who was criminally concerned, not who was liable”.

Hamid said from evidence collected in this case, the MACC was criminally liable and could not be immune from prosecution.

“Teoh was under their custody because he was arrested for questioning,” he said, adding that those responsible must be charged, even with circumstantial evidence, and the court should be let to decide.

“The accused will also have the opportunity to put up his defence,” he added.

Hamid said the coroner had done a commendable job, but that he had come to a wrong finding.

Meanwhile, Arif said a coroner could arrive at an open verdict.

“Malaysia does not have a jury system in an inquest. It is for the coroner to form his opinion and arrive at a decision,” he said.

Arif said police should also probe the suicide note allegedly left by Teoh in his bag when investigators re-opened the case.

Meanwhile in Penang, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng congratulated Teoh’s family, saying he hoped Teoh and his family will finally get justice.

Chronology of events

July 15, 2009 – Teoh Beng Hock was called to the Selangor Malaysian Anti Corruption offices in Shah Alam, Selangor at about 6pm. The Selangor MACC’s offices were then on the 14th floor of Plaza Masalam.  He had gone there to give a statement in the agency’s probe into corruption allegations against his boss, Selangor exco Ean Yong Hian Wah.

July 16, 2009 – Teoh was found dead on the 5th floor landing of the building. The 30-year old had been due to register his marriage to his pregnant fiancée the same day. Pakatan Rakyat supporters mounted a protest in front of Selangor MACC offices, demanding that the agency provide answers on why and how Teoh had died while in custody.

July 17, 2009 – The government announced that an coroner’s inquest would be held into Teoh’s death.

November 18, 2010 – The Teoh Beng Hock movement gathered 100,000 signatures demanding that government set up an independent Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into his death.

January 5, 2011 – After about 18 months, coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas gave an open verdict in the inquest. He ruled that Teoh’s death was not a homicide or a suicide.

January 18, 2011 – Bowing to public anger over the coroner’s open verdict, the government agreed to set up an RCI to probe into how Teoh had plunged to his death and to look into MACC’s investigative methods.

July 21, 2011 – The RCI released a report claiming that Teoh had committed suicide after relentless questioning by MACC investigators. It named three officers as playing a role in Teoh’s death: Hishammuddin Hashim, Arman Alies and Mohd Ashraf Mohd Yunus.

September 22, 2011 – Teoh’s family applied to the Shah Alam Court to revise the coroner’s open verdict.

December 1, 2011 – The Shah Alam High Court dismissed Teoh’s family’s application for a revision of the coroner’s verdict.

February 2, 2012 – The Court of Appeal grant’s Teoh’s family leave to appeal against the Shah Alam High Court decision.

September 5, 2014 – The Court of Appeal reversed the open verdict in Teoh’s death.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 5 September 2014, 5:08 pm and is filed under
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DAP leader: Drop sedition probe on Kit Siang for Beng Hock ‘murdered’ claim

BY IDA LIM | MMO

SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

PUTRAJAYA, Sept 5 — The police should immediately drop its sedition probe of DAP veteran leader Lim Kit Siang for claiming that political aide Teoh Beng Hock was “murdered” in 2009, party leader Teo Nie Ching said today.

Teo said the Court of Appeal’s ruling today that Teoh’s death was caused by the actions of unknown persons including the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers has “proven” that Lim was correct in making his claim.

“Beng Hock did not commit suicide and it was not an accidental death, someone caused his death and therefore it is correct for Lim Kit Siang to say that Teoh Beng Hock was murdered and the investigation against him should immediately stop,” the DAP assistant publicity secretary told reporters here in an immediate response after the judgement was delivered.

On August 4, police recorded a statement from Lim over his allegedly seditious remark in a July 16 article, which was published on party portal The Rocket, regarding the unexplained death of Teoh five years ago.

The recording followed complaints of bias by several Malay Muslim groups against the police, including Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) which had demanded the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and Attorney General to explain their lack of action against non-Muslims whom they alleged had made racial and religious slurs.

On July 21, IGP Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar had said Lim would be investigated for stating that those who were behind Teoh’s death had yet to be caught.

“His words in the article could be seditious, we will investigate Kit Siang under the Sedition Act,” the IGP was quoted saying by national news agency Bernama.

“Do not try to create something which is not true but can cause the people to be angry and suspicious. A political leader should not make a statement like that,” he added.

On July 22, Lim asked how Khalid knew it was “not true” that Teoh was killed at the MACC’s Selangor office on July 16, 2009, insisting that the contents of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI)’s report on his death pointed to murder instead of suicide.

Lim also repeated his criticism of MACC’s July 15 statement that its own disciplinary board and complaints committee had cleared the three MACC officers involved in Teoh’s case of indiscipline, calling it a “great travesty of justice” and demanding a full explanation for the decision.

Today, Teo also demanded an apology from the IGP as no one has been charged to date despite police investigations.

She also said the minister in charge of anti-graft efforts Datuk Paul Low should apologise, claiming that there was a suspicion of “cover-up” within the MACC over Teoh’s death as the agency’s internal probe has cleared its officers of any wrongdoing.

The Court of Appeal overturned the decision by the Coroner’s Court in January 2011, which had delivered an open verdict, ruling that Teoh’s death was not a homicide or a suicide.

All three judges on the Court of Appeal panel substituted it with their verdict today, saying: “The death of Teoh Beng Hock was caused by multiple injuries from a fall from the 14th floor of Plaza Masalam as a result of or which was accelerated by the unlawful act or acts of persons or persons unknown, inclusive of MACC officers who were involved in the arrest and investigation of the deceased.”

                This entry was posted on Friday, 5 September 2014, 5:16 pm and is filed under
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Special police team to reopen investigation into Teoh Beng Hock’s death

BY LEE SHI-IAN | TMI

6 September 2014

Bukit Aman has formed a special team to reopen the investigations into the death of Teoh Beng Hock (pic), who died under mysterious circumstances in 2009.

Federal Criminal Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Mohmad Salleh told The Malaysian Insider that police would relook Teoh’s case to decide if it should be reclassified as murder.

Yesterday, the Court of Appeal set aside the open verdict by a coroner into Teoh’s death in 2009, ruling that “a person or persons were responsible” for his death.

The police’s initial findings ruled Teoh’s death as sudden death but Mohmad said more witnesses would be called if such a need arose.

“We will investigate to ascertain if there is a possibility that Teoh’s death was a result of or was accelerated by unknown individuals,” Mohmad said.

Mohmad told The Malaysian Insider that the special investigation team would be led by deputy CID director Datuk Amar Singh.

“An in-depth study will be conducted by the special team and a decision will be made later on whether the case should be reclassified as murder.”

Mohmad said it was premature at this point to draw any conclusions on Teoh’s case and asked that the team be allowed to do its work first.

After the appellate court ruled that Teoh’s death was not suicide, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) pledged to give its full cooperation.

In a short statement yesterday, the anti-graft body accepted the decision by the appellate court in setting aside the open verdict by a coroner into Teoh’s death.

“MACC leaves it to the police to conduct investigations into Teoh’s death and the Attorney-General to decide whether anyone should be prosecuted.

“MACC will give full cooperation to ensure that justice is done for Teoh,” the anti-graft body had said, adding it also wanted closure to the case.

Teoh, the former political aide of Seri Kembangan state assemblyman Ean Yong Hian Wah, had been questioned by the MACC in July 2009.

After the questioning, Teoh was found dead the next day on the rooftop adjacent to the MACC offices in Shah Alam.

Teoh was to have registered his marriage to Soh Cher Wei on that day, which raised questions over the cause of his sudden demise.

Teoh’s death brought the spotlight on interrogation tactics employed by the MACC and resulted in a Royal Commission of Inquiry.

However, the RCI focused on MACC’s interrogation procedures rather than Teoh’s death, and later concluded that the latter had not been murdered.

The RCI panel concluded that Teoh had committed suicide due to the aggressive interrogation tactics employed by three MACC officers.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 6 September 2014, 2:58 pm and is filed under
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DAP lodges 2nd police report on Beng Hock’s death

BY MUZLIZA MUSTAFA | TMI

7 September 2014

DAP lodged a police report in Puchong today as part of its nationwide move to pressure the authorities to find the culprit responsible for Teoh Beng Hock’s death following a Court of Appeal verdict on Friday.

The Court of Appeal set aside the open verdict by a coroner on Beng Hock’s death five years ago, ruling that “a person or persons were responsible for his death”.

Kinrara assemblyman Ng Sze Han said someone should be responsible for the political aide’s death as stated in the verdict by the Court of Appeal and that action should be taken against the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission officers involved in Teoh’s case in 2009.

“They should be suspended from duty immediately as they are not fit to work,” said Ng after lodging a report at the Serdang police headquarters in Puchong today.

“After five years of fight, the family finally see some hope. We applaud the court decision.”

He said this was the second police report lodged by DAP. The first was in Ipoh yesterday. More reports are expected to be lodged nationwide by DAP to put pressure against the investigators.

Ng was accompanied by Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo and other DAP members.

On July 16, 2009, Teoh was found dead on the fifth floor landing of the Selangor MACC building. The 30-year old had been due to register his marriage to his pregnant fiancée on the same day.

Teoh was called to the MACC offices in Shah Alam, Selangor, about 6pm on July 15. The Selangor MACC’s offices were then on the 14th floor of Plaza Masalam.

He had gone there to give a statement in the agency’s probe into corruption allegations against his boss, Selangor exco Ean Yong Hian Wah.

Ng said the report lodged today stressed that investigation by police should be centred on two points mentioned by the Court of Appeal judges that indicated Teoh’s death from a fall was accelerated by an unlawful act or acts of persons unknown, inclusive of MACC officers involved in the arrest and the investigation of the deceased and also investigation to be carried under charges deemed fit by police.

Judge Datuk Mohamad Arif Md Yusof, who was among three judges on the bench in the Court of Appeal on Friday, said police should also probe into the suicide note allegedly left by Teoh in his bag when investigators reopen the case.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 7 September 2014, 5:33 pm and is filed under
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What next?

By Christine Lai | TMI

September 6, 2014

“Even the Chinese like it; they buy a lot”. I looked more closely at the piece of lingerie in my hand. Yes, that’s right, lingerie or in plain English — underwear of the female kind. I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. What, now even underwear has gone racist, is it?

I wanted to ask the enthusiastic salesgirl, “So how about the Indians, they don’t like?” But I kept my peace. Who knows, if I open my big mouth and get overheard by some zealous patriot who feels insulted about their ‘rights’ to inner fashion, I might get a slew of police reports lodged against me. Which pity our men-in-blue, they may then have to waste their precious time hauling puny little me in for investigation under the Sedition or whatever Act for promoting ill-will and inciting hatred in society. Look, they already have their hands full with honourable MPs, ADUNs, oh, and don’t forget university lecturers. I should just keep my mouth shut and pray like a good Malaysian.

Which I do. Pray, I mean; though I am not too sure about the “good” Malaysian bit. Nowadays if I listen or read too much, sometimes I wonder. After all, sometime back my ‘kind’ has been called ‘pendatang’ and recently anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-bumiputra and arrogant. And if I voted opposition, for sure I am classified anti-government. That’s a lot of A’s but all not ‘good’. Despite that, I am still Malaysian, right — at least I think so. Last I checked my Kad Pengenalan, it’s still blue and the words imprinted on it.

If I were made of lesser stuff (not that I am great stuff, but just a matter of speech), I would really be very doubtful of my status as a Malaysian. I am supposed to feel good about being Malaysian, especially with all that ra ra ra parade, videos and speeches made just about a week ago, on August 31st. I anticipate being treated to a second round in about two weeks’ time come Sept 16th. More of that “How far we have come as a nation united in diversity” line, blah blah blah. Which apparently for some means that I can only be Malaysian if I do, say or think certain things a certain way, like ‘them.’

They say the older the wine, the better the flavour. Unfortunately it doesn’t apply to nations. Ok so I shouldn’t be such a negative cynic. I should lighten up, look on the bright side, we are not that bad surely. Consider America, she’s 200 over years old and racial issues are still bubbling up in her society to this day. What do you expect of ‘baby’ Malaysia; we who are not just 2-hued — either black or white — but literally a melting-pot of different coloured skins. Even our God/gods are different.

Still when push comes to shove, honestly I am tired of all the posturing and postulating. Maybe it’s the depressing politics that’s getting to me. But why do I sense that everything in Malaysia is being reduced to one of two ‘hot-buttons’, or both at the same time? I call them the 2 R’s — no brownie points for guessing what the acronym stands for. I wonder, is there nothing else we can obsess about except race and/or religion? Is that all Malaysians are about? Everyone jumps every time the buttons are pressed. We moan or shout (depending on which side you are on), “Not again!”

I walked out of the hypermart with two sets of the lingerie which apparently is a big hit with the Malays. Surely that doesn’t make me more a Malay, less a Chinese or a Malaysian Malaysian. But I couldn’t help thinking at the rate things are going, it’s going to be a long long time (another 50 years perhaps?) before we can claim to be truly 1Malaysia. Nice catchy acronyms, patriotic slogans, splashy bill-boards and repeated promises aren’t enough anymore to camouflage the ingrained prejudices lying underneath us all.

Whether or not we realize or admit it, we have them. We still stereotype different people not just by skin colour or faith; but by gender, age, social status, political affiliation, even sexual inclination. It may not be outwardly manifested, but it’s there all the same underneath the smiles and declarations of equality, freedom and tolerance for all. I’ll be the first to admit I have prejudices. There’s the prejudice of fear.

Fear that we will lose our ‘rights’ if we give in to others. Fear of being taken advantage of. Fear of being misunderstood as weak. Fear of reprisal from our own kind. Fear of offense. Fear of rejection. And on the other side of the coin, there’s the prejudice born of pride. Pride of ancestral roots. Pride of historical privilege. Pride of cultural or moral superiority. Pride of assumptions and presumptions. Pride of ‘face’.

Fear keeps us from growing up. Pride puts us on a false pedestal above ‘those others.’ The cure isn’t in a legal constitution, a social contract, street demos, NGOs or a change of government. Those may help things along the road to unity, but really at issue is the condition of our own hearts. Actually the cure is simple and complicated at the same time. It’s in a 4-letter word; and it doesn’t begin with F, but with L…. spelt L-O-V-E. It’s not that we don’t love Malaysia, the nation; I have absolutely no doubt we all do. It’s only “those other” Malaysians — her people — we have problems loving.

A quote comes to my mind: “The destiny of Man is to unite, not to divide. If you keep on dividing you end up as a collection of monkeys throwing nuts at each other out of separate trees.” Hmmm, me thinks there are a lot of monkeys in Malaysia now.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 7 September 2014, 5:39 pm and is filed under
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