The Migrant’s Eye

The World Bank 2011 Essay Competition finalist – Shaun Tan from Malaysia on brain drain.

By
Shaun Tan

‘Our young people represent the future of our country’. This phrase has been echoed by almost every politician in almost every country in modern history. However the changes instigated by the increasing ease of migration are such that not even this time-honored cliché holds the weight it once did. Young people still represent the future, but it is the future of whichever country they decide to settle in or impact, which may or may not be their country of origin. As with most changes, there are new benefits and drawbacks, and new winners and losers. Among the most pressing questions countries now face are how to prevent their young people from migrating, and how far they should go in providing for the migrants residing within their borders.

***

Exodus

Smart Indians go to med school,

Smart Chinese go to investment banks,

Smart Malaysians go to Singapore.

– Anonymous

My first brush with migration was in 2002. My father came home one day in a state of great excitement. My father is an excitable guy. He is also an alumnus of a university in New Zealand, and he had just learned that, because of this, our family was entitled to permanent residency (PR) status in New Zealand upon fulfillment of a few (relatively minor requirements). One of the requirements was that we reside in New Zealand for at least three months over the next two years. We discussed it and decided it might be fun. We packed for summer.

Within a few weeks I was bored. New Zealand was charming enough in its own way, but it didn’t have the vibrancy of my home city of Kuala Lumpur, and I couldn’t imagine us choosing to live in this land of sheep and five o’clock closing times instead. And yet I understood why my father pushed for PR status so eagerly. He remembered the Indonesian racial riots of 1998, and he kept the pulse of rising extremism in Malaysia. If violence ever broke out in Malaysia my family would have a back door, a way out.

Later on I saw that most of my Malaysian friends who could afford it went abroad for at least part of their education. Some went to boarding schools in Singapore, Australia, and the UK. When it came to university, almost all my Malaysian friends went to Australia, the UK, or the US. The reasons they (and their parents) gave for wanting a foreign education were the same: the racial quotas in Malaysian universities, the skewed syllabi, the controls on free expression, the low standard of the Malaysian education system (apart from a few private university colleges), and the relative quality and prestige of foreign schools and universities.

At university this trend continues. Many of my Malaysian friends plan to remain overseas after graduation, or to work in Singapore. ‘Everything in Malaysia is on such a small scale,’ one of them said, ‘it can’t compare with the training you get overseas’. Some of them hope to return to Malaysia later, but only in the distant future, after earning enough money and establishing themselves in their industries. I know the power of inertia, and every year that goes by makes it less and less likely that they will return.

Asian societies have very tight family bonds. Most of my friends have parents who miss them very much, and who dislike them living far away. However, far from meeting with parental opposition, these plans have full approval: the message my Malaysian friends get from their parents and relatives is, ‘Don’t come home’.

No Brain, No Gain

Malaysia faces a brain drain crisis. Recent decades have seen the migration of many ethnic Chinese (comprising 26% of Malaysia’s population)
1
 and Indians (8%)
2
, as well as considerable numbers of Malays, the majority ethnic group (53%)
3
. Shamsuddin Bardan, executive director of the Malaysian Employers Federation, reported that there are 785,000 Malaysians working overseas.
4
 Unofficially, the figure is thought to be over a million.
5
 According to the World Bank the number of Malaysian emigrants has increased almost a hundred-fold in the past fifty years, from 9,576 in 1960, to almost 1.5 million in 2005.
6
 A parliamentary report revealed that 140,000 Malaysians emigrated in 2007.
7
 According to Deputy Foreign Minister Kohilan Pillay, the figure between 2008 and 2009 was 304,000.
8
 As of 2007, 106,000 Malaysians had renounced their citizenship.
9

Many of these Malaysians go to Australia, the UK, and the US.
10
 About half of them go to Singapore,
11
 which has a GDP per capita almost four times larger than Malaysia’s
12
. The portion of the Malaysians who return is minimal (Prime Minister Najib Razak reported the figure to be less than 1%)
13
 prompting former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to suggest that other countries should pay Malaysia for having seduced them to stay ‘since by right, the graduates’ training and knowledge should be called intellectual property.’
14
. Prominent writer Mariam Mokhtar outlines the reasons given by emigrants: ‘improved employment and business prospects, higher salaries, better working environments, greater chances of promotion and a relatively superior quality of life.’
15
.

This has severely retarded Malaysia’s development. Malaysia continues to be the poor cousin of the Asian Tigers – Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. Malaysia’s growth rate dropped from 9% a year, from 1991 to 1997, to 5.5% a year, from 2000 to 2008.
16
 Stewart Forbes, the executive director of the Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce and Industry, explained that many of Malaysia’s lost investment opportunities stem from the brain drain – because international companies had trouble finding skilled employees in Malaysia.
17
 ‘People have left, growth prospects have dimmed, and then more people continue to leave,’
18
 said Danny Quah, an economics professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Council Member on Malaysia’s National Economic Advisory Council, ‘It’s a vicious cycle that the economy has had to confront for the last decade or longer.’
19
. The increasing ease of migration has produced new winners – countries like Singapore, Australia, the UK, and the US, who get to cherry-pick from a global talent pool. It has also produced new losers. Malaysia is certainly one of them.

***

The Malaysian Dilemma

As there are new winners and losers from migration, so too are there new benefits and drawbacks. A classroom discussion threw this debate into stark relief.

It was last year. The date was the 27th of September, the country was America, and I was in my International Relations class. We were discussing globalization, and having gone through some of its benefits, we moved on to its drawbacks.

‘Well,’ said one of my classmates, ‘one drawback is that it increases the brain drain effect and leads to greater inequality between countries. Developing countries lose a lot of the talent that they badly need.’. This received a general nodding of assent.

I raised my hand. ‘Actually,’ I asked, ‘is greater inequality necessarily a bad thing?’.

My class, accustomed by now to my mannerisms, still looked at me strangely.

‘I mean, it’s true that many developing countries end up losing their talent, but really, some of these countries bloody well deserve to lose them.’.

This created a small firestorm. From my classmates’ reactions you’d have thought I’d asked what was wrong with genocide. There were gasps. Before I could finish, a forest of hands shot up to respond. One of my classmates burst out angrily; ‘Now you’re just being facetious!’.

My professor moved to restore order. He was a kindly old man who usually let our discussions run their course. He did however step in whenever our discussions threatened to turn into a pseudo-intellectual brawl.

He turned to me. ‘I assume you said that to be deliberately provocative’ he said gently; a teacher reasoning with a difficult student.

‘No,’ I said, ‘not at all.’.

I looked at the rest of my class who now whispered amongst themselves and eyed me warily, apparently taken aback to see their (I hope) usually charming and amiable classmate say such callous things.

But to me my statement seemed as normal as breathing. And said to any reasonably informed Malaysians, it wouldn’t even have raised an eyebrow. I realized then that there were perspectives on this issue that are unique to Malaysians, and to those who have experienced similar circumstances.

Push and Pull

I’ve left a few unanswered questions over the course of this essay. Like why do loving parents tell their children not to come home? And why do many Malaysians think Malaysia deserves to lose its talented young people? Now at last is the time to answer them.

Malaysia has a lot going for it. It has much untapped potential. It is devoid of natural disasters and rich in natural resources. It is a country with warm weather, amazing food, and hot women. Its people are generally warm, friendly, and (with certain exceptions like yours truly) humble. Pull-factors like these would require considerable push-factors to trigger mass emigration.

But there’s a darker side. A side behind the strained tranquility and Malaysia Truly Asia adverts. Since its independence in 1957, Malaysia has been run by the Barisan National (BN) party, and its regime is an autocracy that institutionalizes racism. Non-Malays, including the ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities, are discriminated against in favor of the majority Malays, whose support BN depends on. Malaysian laws make non-Malays pay higher prices for certain goods and services, allocate them only a small percentage of places in public universities, and impose significant barriers against their advancement in the military, police force, civil service, and in government-owned companies. The BN government persecutes minority religions, and major Malay politicians often refer to Chinese and Indian Malaysians as pendatang (immigrants), of inferior status, while the current Prime Minister Najib Razak is alleged to have threatened to ‘bathe a keris dagger with Chinese blood’.

The BN government is also very protectionist, making it even more difficult for international companies to set up business there, for example, international law firms can only operate in Malaysia by acting in partnership with a local firm. Furthermore, the BN government is both grossly incompetent and highly corrupt. Billions of dollars in public funds are squandered on cronyism
20
 and ill-conceived mega-projects
21
, instead of being properly used to develop the country. The judiciary is largely comprised of underqualified yes-men, the police force is unreliable, and the public schools and universities are of low standard, such that even Malaysia’s top university, University Malaya, has dropped out of the top 200 universities in the world on all major rankings.
22

This is why loving parents tell their children not to come home. They don’t want their children to live as second-class citizens in Malaysia, where their ambitions will be limited by institutional inefficiency, where they will be passed over for promotion in favor of others, not for any lack of skill, but for the color of their skin. ‘Money does have a significant role but the most important factor…is opportunity,’ outlined Wan Saiful Wan Jan, Founding Chief Executive Member of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs, ‘Malaysia is too politicized and opportunities are not evenly available to everyone,’
23
.

This is why Malaysians flock to Singapore, not because Singapore’s government is less despotic (it is even more so), but because the Singaporean government at least prizes efficiency, and recognizes merit regardless of race. When a Malaysian renounces his citizenship, he doesn’t see it as an unpatriotic betrayal, he sees it as washing his hands off a regime that has marginalized and persecuted him. As one Malaysian, Wan Jon Yew, explained: ‘I’m not proud of being a Malaysian because I think the government doesn’t treat me as a Malaysian.’
24
. Migration is beneficial because it increases efficiency; it allows young Malaysians to move to take their best offers, to move to where their ability is truly valued. A mind is a terrible thing to waste, and migration helps to reduce this wastage.

Not all Malaysians mass-emigrating are Chinese and Indians. Many Malays are emigrating too. Although they do not face racial persecution, many of their reasons for doing so are the same as those of non-Malays: the corrupt and inefficient system, the lack of security and religious freedom, the quashing of free expression, human rights abuses. Furthermore, Malays face a different form of religious persecution – forced piety by the overzealous Islamic moral police. Non-Muslim Malays and Malay homosexuals are jailed or sent to ‘reeducation centers’
25
, and earlier this year 80 Malays were arrested for celebrating Valentine’s Day
26
. In light of this, Malaysia deserves to lose the talents of its young people. It doesn’t appreciate these talents; it punishes its best citizens – those brave enough to stand up for themselves, or those too principled to fake devotion to a religion they don’t believe in – and instead it rewards its worst elements – the religious extremist, the racist, the sniveling sycophant. In a sense, we as Malaysian citizens deserve to lose the benefits those talents would have brought, because through our participation or collective inaction we allow this wretched state of affairs to continue. Migration is beneficial because it allows Malaysians to leave, and to live in a country that accords them the dignity commensurate with their status as a human being.

The Open Door

The ability to migrate presents young Malaysians with an open door to the rest of the world. This is not without its drawbacks. Many of the Malaysian émigrés leave not because they are weak or cowardly, but because they are ambitious, or because they are uncompromising – they refused to take orders from those who are their inferiors, or to remain party to a system that is morally indefensible. One cannot help but imagine how much good such spirit could have done if they had no choice but to remain in Malaysia. Not necessarily by engaging in overtly political activities, but by simple apolitical acts – by living their lives in their own way, free from compromise, and refusing to curb their ambitions. As Vaclav Havel explained in his book The Power of the Powerless, such simple acts are often the most potent weapons against oppressive regimes. Thus, migration has its drawbacks – it makes it harder for Malaysia to achieve real change because it takes away some of its most spirited people.

However there are also many young Malaysians who choose to return, and who seek to bring real change to the country. People like Nathaniel Tan – a Harvard graduate, who writes books exposing the abuses of the BN regime, even if his efforts meet with harassment and detention. Or Alea Nasihin – a friend of mine, and a student at Nottingham University, who resolves to return to work as a human rights lawyer.
27
 Or myself. For us the open door is comforting. It gives us the courage to say or do things we might otherwise be wary of. Because it reminds us that there are limits to what an oppressive government can do. Because we know that even if our efforts harm our careers in Malaysia, even if the BN government hounds us and bars us from getting a job at any major company in Malaysia, there will always be many other places eager for our talents. It allows us to take more risks and dare greater things. The open door presented by migration therefore simultaneously hinders and helps the process of change in Malaysia.

***

Point of Origin

From a Malaysian perspective, good measures for broadening opportunities for young migrants in their countries of origin are relatively straightforward. The most obvious one is to increase meritocracy, to distinguish merit instead of race, religion, gender, or sexual

orientation. When each citizen is judged solely on the basis of his ability, when high standards are promoted, when the most innovative people are rewarded and encouraged, the whole country progresses and develops, creating greater opportunities for all. Nepotism and cronyism should be prohibited in all industries, so that positions and promotions go to the most able candidates. This policy should be pursued in conjunction with scholarships and financial aid for poor youths to attend schools and universities, again awarded on the basis of merit.

The other obvious measure is to liberalize. A liberal society that respects human rights provides the broadest opportunities for free expression and the free practice of religion simply because fewer things are prohibited. Laws should be enacted against the interference with an individual’s expression or religious practice, unless he harms or grossly misrepresents another person in doing so. The judiciary should be allowed to become strong and independent, so that everyone has the opportunity for a fair trial.

Meanwhile, opportunities should be given to migrants who consider returning to their country of origin. Those living overseas, but with vital skills in various fields should be invited back and offered senior positions, with PR status or citizenship offered to their families.

A fair, liberal government that rewards merit provides the broadest opportunities for its people. Measures like the Malaysian government’s Returning Export and Brain Gain Malaysia programs fail to attract young people because they make only cosmetic changes, refusing to give effect to the principles of fairness, liberalism, and meritocracy, that are the essence of true improvement of opportunity.

Destination

Good measures for broadening opportunities for young migrants in their countries of destination are relatively straightforward too. They largely consist of refraining from the policies these migrants were fleeing from in the first place. Other than some free basic language-training programs, no special privileges should be given to these immigrants, and no affirmative action policies should be implemented. Instead, these immigrants should be allowed to compete for (generally) the same opportunities as everyone else, judged on the basis of their merit, rather than race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. They should be given equal opportunity to exercise their civil rights, like the rights to free speech, association, and religious practice. Their right to marry should be recognized regardless of sexual orientation, and the continued ban on gay marriage is an instance where the US has fallen short of this standard.

However governments should be conscious of where granting formal rights in fact restricts opportunities. In Beyond Liberal Democracy, Daniel Bell contrasted Western and East Asian approaches to dealing with migrant workers. He described how migrant workers in East Asia are denied citizenship (and thus full legal protection) no matter how long they stay, while those in Western countries are able to obtain it much more easily. The result of this is that East Asian countries are able to officially admit many more temporary contract workers. Comparatively, Western countries can officially admit few migrant workers, although many more work there illegally, without any legal protections at all. ‘In the West,’ Bell explained, ‘the liberal political culture places higher priority on the justice of legal forms…In East Asia, by contrast, the authorities prefer to enact…laws that allow for large numbers of migrant domestic workers to engage temporarily in legally protected work in their territories.’
28
. Governments therefore should not dogmatically pursue form over substance, but should be pragmatic in their measures to achieve the best results for immigrants.

Ich bin ein Inmigrante

‘Once I thought to write a history of the immigrants in America. Then I discovered that immigrants

were America.’

– Oscar Handlin

America is not without shortcomings in providing for its immigrants. True equality of opportunity can only be achieved with the shattering of glass ceilings, and there are numerous social barriers that still need to be overcome. To this date, the highest office in the country, that of the President of the United States, can only be held by someone born on American soil. And yet America remains the land of opportunity for so many people. The immigrants in America are integrated far better than those in Europe, because Americans are conscious of the fact that they were all immigrants once. And America has benefitted greatly from this. It gets physics from Einstein, political theory from Arendt, movies from Ang Lee, eye-candy from Maggie Q, and literature from Junot Diaz. The fact that Irish-Catholic immigrants like the Kennedys could become America’s most prominent family, that an Austrian immigrant like Arnold Schwarzenegger could become Governor of California, and that a black man born in Hawaii and raised in Indonesia could become President, is a testament to this tradition.

I am the product of migration. It was through migration that my ancestors from Fujian province in China came to live in Malaysia. It is through migration that I have been able to grow up in Malaysia and study in Britain and America, and it is through migration that I have had the privilege of learning from people from all over the world. My accent is a bastard mix of British, American, and Malaysian. My upbringing was a schizophrenic blend of liberalism and Asian Tiger Mom style parenting. I revel in living in a mixed-up world and having a mixed-up self.
29
 I have tried to live consistently with the principles advocated in this essay. Where in my life I have failed I have accepted it and tried to learn from my mistakes. Where I have succeeded, I have taken pride in the knowledge of having done so myself, not needing any legal crutch to prop me up. The only right I have demanded is the right to a fair contest. I think that the right to fair competition is the only thing we can and should expect.

Footnote:

1
 US Department of State Background Notes: Malaysia –
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2777.htm

2
 Ibid.

3
 Ibid.

4
 Mariam Mokhtar, ‘Malaysia’s Brain Drain’, Asia Sentinel, Feb 2010 –
http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2308&Itemid=199

5
 Ibid.

6
 James Chow, ‘Malaysia Countering ‘Brain Drain’ Immigration Conflicts’, The Epoch Times, July 2010 –
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/39453/

7
 Mariam Mokhtar, ‘Malaysia’s Brain Drain’, Asia Sentinel, Feb 2010 –
http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2308&Itemid=199

8
 James Chow, ‘Malaysia Countering ‘Brain Drain’ Immigration Conflicts’, The Epoch Times, July 2010 –
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/39453/

9
 V Vasudevan, ‘106,000 give up citizenship’, New Straits Times, Nov 2007 –
http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/new-straits-times/mi_8016/is_20071122/106000-citizenship/ai_n44378958/

10
 ‘Najib kickstarts bid to reverse brain drain’, The Malaysian Insider, Oct 2010 –
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/najib-kickstarts-bid-to-reverse-brain-drain/

11
 Ibid.

12
 The CIA World Factbook: Singapore and Malaysia –
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/theworld-factbook/geos/sn.html

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/my.html

13
 Edwin Yapp, ‘The brain drain issue revisited’, The Malaysian Insider, March 2011 –
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/opinion/article/the-brain-drain-issue-revisited/

14
 Mariam Mokhtar, ‘Malaysia’s Brain Drain’, Asia Sentinel, Feb 2010 –
http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2308&Itemid=199

15
 Ibid.

16
 Liz Gooch, ‘Loss of Young Talent Thwarts Malaysia’s Growth’, The New York Times, Oct 2010 –
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/02/business/global/02brain.html?_r=1

17
 Ibid.

18
 Ibid.

19
 Ibid.

20
 ‘MACC hauls up Khir Toyo over Mickey Mouse, Bali house’, Sin Chew Daily, Sept 2009 –
http://www.mysinchew.com/node/29264

21

http://www.petronastwintowers.com.my/internet/pett/pettweb.nsf/frm_home_hi?OpenFrameset

22
 Karen Chapman, ‘UM drops from top 200 list of world ranking’, The Star, Sept 2010 –
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/9/8/nation/6999421&sec=nation

23
 Beh Lih Yi, ‘Malaysia struggles to stem ‘brain drain’’, Agence France Presse, Dec 2010 –
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gTSUzIQFE9P3yjqnUPc1aEyEA2kA?docId=CNG.59093f18282e8696a978af9849d18ab8.3f1

24
 Ibid.

25
 Jonathan Kent, ‘Malaysian ‘convert’ claims cruelty’, BBC, July 2007 –
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asiapacific/6278568.stm

26
 ‘Malaysia Valentine’s Day raids lead to mass arrests’, BBC, Feb 2011 –
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12466875

27
 Alea Nasihin, ‘Dilemmas of a young Malaysian abroad’, The Malaysian Insider, Feb 2011 –
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/breakingviews/article/dilemmas-of-a-young-malaysian-abroad-aleanasihin-loyarburok.com/

28
 Daniel A Bell, Beyond Liberal Democracy: Political Thinking for an East Asian Context, 2006, p 17 –
http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s8305.pdf

29
 This phrase comes from Jeremy Waldron, in ‘Minority Cultures and the Cosmopolitan Alternative’, 25 University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, 751, 1992.

End

Bibliography

Alea Nasihin, ‘Dilemmas of a young Malaysian abroad’, The Malaysian Insider, Feb 2011 –
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/breakingviews/article/dilemmas-of-a-youngmalaysian-abroad-alea-nasihin-loyarburok.com/

Beh Lih Yi, ‘Malaysia struggles to stem ‘brain drain’’, Agence France Presse, Dec 2010 –
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gTSUzIQFE9P3yjqnUPc1aEyEA2kA?docId=CNG.59093f18282e8696a978af9849d18ab8.3f1

The CIA World Factbook: Singapore and Malaysia –

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sn.html

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/my.html

Daniel A Bell, Beyond Liberal Democracy: Political Thinking for an East Asian Context, 2006, p 17 –
http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s8305.pdf

Edwin Yapp, ‘The brain drain issue revisited’, The Malaysian Insider, March 2011 –
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/opinion/article/the-brain-drain-issue-revisited/

http://www.petronastwintowers.com.my/internet/pett/pettweb.nsf/frm_home_hi?OpenFrameset

James Chow, ‘Malaysia Countering ‘Brain Drain’ Immigration Conflicts’, The Epoch Times, July 2010 –
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/39453/

Jeremy Waldron, in ‘Minority Cultures and the Cosmopolitan Alternative’, 25 University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, 751, 1992.

Jonathan Kent, ‘Malaysian ‘convert’ claims cruelty’, BBC, July 2007 –
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6278568.stm

Karen Chapman, ‘UM drops from top 200 list of world ranking’, The Star, Sept 2010 –
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/9/8/nation/6999421&sec=nation

Liz Gooch, ‘Loss of Young Talent Thwarts Malaysia’s Growth’, The New York Times, Oct 2010 –
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/02/business/global/02brain.html?_r=1

‘MACC hauls up Khir Toyo over Mickey Mouse, Bali house’, Sin Chew Daily, Sept 2009 –
http://www.mysinchew.com/node/29264

‘Malaysia Valentine’s Day raids lead to mass arrests’, BBC, Feb 2011 –
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12466875

Mariam Mokhtar, ‘Malaysia’s Brain Drain’, Asia Sentinel, Feb 2010 –
http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2308&Itemid=199

‘Najib kickstarts bid to reverse brain drain’, The Malaysian Insider, Oct 2010 –
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/najib-kickstarts-bid-to-reversebrain-drain/

US Department of State Background Notes: Malaysia –
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2777.htm

V Vasudevan, ‘106,000 give up citizenship’, New Straits Times, Nov 2007 –
http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/new-straitstimes/mi_8016/is_20071122/106000-citizenship/ai_n44378958/

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 5 May 2011, 12:00 pm and is filed under
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If it was Anwar, so what?

By
P Ramakrishnan
 | Aliran’s President

The motive is to implant the impression in the minds of Malaysians that the performer in the sex tape is Anwar – to the extent that a senior police officer from Bukit Aman reportedly has been in Kelantan for several weeks meeting with principals and teachers and informing them it is Anwar who is in the tape.

Leaving aside the question if this is the paramount duty of the police in curbing violence and assuring our personal safety and security, a pertinent question to ask is, “Why is it so important for the police to implicate Anwar in this sex scandal?”

Just for argument’s sake, so what if it was Anwar? What law has he breached; what offence has he committed? Malaysians would want the police to state in clear terms what Anwar is guilty of as far as the sex tape is concerned. What section of the Penal Code is applicable to charge him for that particular offence?

Malaysians don’t want the police to go on a wild goose chase only to be told later on that there was nothing to it! Malaysians don’t want to be taken for a ride by the police. They want the police to state very clearly whether Anwar has a case to answer. They have to state this immediately to convince the Malaysian public that the police are not wasting their time on inconsequential issues. They have a duty to perform better and conduct themselves professionally.

While the police are chasing a ghost in the sex tape, why haven’t they taken any action against those people who are guilty as hell? What is holding them back? We need answers to convince us that there are no double standards!

The terrible trio have confessed to possessing the sex tape; that makes them guilty under the Penal Code. They have confessed to screening this pornographic tape to the public – albeit to a select few; that makes them guilty. What more evidence do the police need before springing into action?

Are the terrible trio any better than the peddlers of pornographic CDs who are rightly hounded by the police? In what ways are the terrible trio different in their conduct in what they did? Malaysians want to know why the police are reluctant to charge them for having committed crimes that are punishable under Malaysian law. What is holding up the police from taking action against them?

The Minister of Home Affairs who is in charge of the police owes the Malaysian public an explanation. We await his response!

                This entry was posted on Friday, 6 May 2011, 3:50 pm and is filed under
Anwar Ibrahim
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Crime
,
Police
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Syarat Kemasukkan ke Ijazah Farmasi Lepasan Diploma Farmasi

YB Lim,

Per: Syarat Kemasukkan ke Ijazah Farmasi Lepasan Diploma Farmasi

Merujuk perkara di atas, dimaklumkan bahawa saya  pelajar jurusan Diploma Farmasi semester terakhir Kolej Universiti (IPTS). Di sini saya ingin meluahkan kekecewaan terhadap sistem yang diguna pakai pada masa kini untuk pengambilan pelajar lepasan Diploma Farmasi ke peringkat IPTA atau IPTS bagi jurusan Ijazah Farmasi.

2.         Apa yang menyedihkan ialah graduan dari jurusan Diploma Farmasi wajib mendapat CGPA 3.8 ke atas untuk layak mejejak kaki menara gading untuk melanjutkan pendidikan ke peringakat Ijazah. Sebelum saya memilih jurusan Diploma Farmasi, saya pernah dimaklumkan bahawa syarat untuk melanjutkan ke peringkat Ijazah adalah CGPA 3.0 sahaja.  Tetapi kini semuanya telah berubah. Saya berasa sedih dan hala tuju saya untuk melanjutkan pelajaran ke peringkat Ijazah dalam bidang Farmasi terbantut.

3.         Mengikut Lembaga Farmasi Kebangsaan, perubahan ini telah dilakukan sejak dua tahun lalu dan pada masa itu saya menduduki semester ke 5. Kementerian Pengajian Tinggi memberi kelonggaran kepada pelajar Foundation dan STPM, iaitu dengan CGPA 3.0 boleh melanjutkan pelajaran ke peringkat Ijazah dalam bidang Farmasi.

4.         Bukanlah niat saya untuk mengeruhkan keadaan tetapi adalah atas kerana ia adalah tidak adil untuk mengetepikan graduan dari jurusan Diploma Farmasi yang mana kita semua tahu golongan ini telah banyak membantu membangunkan negara dan telah melahirkan tokoh-tokoh yang berjaya. Adakah salah untuk kami menyambung pelajaran di universiti impian kami? Dan hinakah kami sehingga kami disamakan dengan pelajar jurusan lain?

Sekian, Terima Kasih

Yang Benar,

Pelajar Diploma Farmasi

Segamat, Johor.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 6 May 2011, 5:12 pm and is filed under
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Take weeks even months to know position

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Lim Kit Siang

[Admin] LKS discharged after 4-day hospital – present PgCM LGE CKY LHS. Anwar Mansor Malek visited morng. Hourly home treatment. 2weeks off

6 May (5.08pm)

Lim Kit Siang

[Admin] After 5days “blind” left eye LKS begins 2c w +10% vision. Take weeks even months 2know how much sight recovery of dominant eye.

6 May (5.06pm)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 6 May 2011, 5:17 pm and is filed under
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The sex video comedy and the Malaysian malady

By
Kee Thuan Chye

The sex video saga is really turning out to be a farce. It’s so funny you can’t help but laugh.

First, the ‘Datuk T’ trio who brought public attention to the video have been made the butt of countless jokes. Second, the police seem to be hesitant in revealing their findings even as the video has been leaked out and posted on YouTube and Umno-friendly blogs although the only copy is supposed to be in police custody.

And now one of the trio has taken the sumpah laknat. Last week, Shazryl Eskay Abdullah swore on the Quran to make us believe he is telling the truth in saying that the man in the video is Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim. What’s going to happen next?

This act of swearing on the Quran is getting to be a trend. In 2008, Saiful Bukhari Azlan did it to attest he was sodomised by Anwar. That same year, no less than Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak himself also did it to have us believe he was never involved with Altantuya. Despite their gestures, many people are still sceptical.

In the case of Eskay, the act is hugely ironic. He would have to be a good follower of the faith to take such an oath and be believed, but has he not been tainted by his own admission that he is one of the people caught on the video? As it is, he has not come clean on why he was there. His narratives are often cloudy and enigmatic.

It’s just as well that his collaborator Rahim Thamby Chik did not swear on the Quran too. His record of allegedly having had sex with an underaged girl, an act amounting to statutory rape, would have wrecked his credibility. In fact, it’s another laughable point that Rahim is part of this trio – he, of all people, accusing another man of immorality!

Besides, what the trio has done in regard to the sex video is already immoral. And that’s not even saying they were behind the videotaping itself, which is still a mystery.

Simply using it to destroy the reputation and career of another human being is already without doubt an immoral act. How then are we to believe that by swearing on the Quran, Eskay exhibits religious conviction? Does it not more likely appear as some kind of stunt?

Does it not also appear as an attempt to win public sympathy? Or a desperate measure? After all, the day before he took the sumpah laknat, Eskay intimated to the media that he and his collaborators would soon be charged in court; although what the charge would be, he wouldn’t say.

Ignorant cops

That was actually quite a revelation, because up till that time, no one had known if the police were ever going to take any action against the trio – for possessing and exhibiting pornography.

The Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Ismail Omar had said from the outset that the case would be investigated under Section 292 of the Penal Code, which covers that offence, but along the way no action seemed to have been taken.

The Star did report on March 25 that according to Deputy Commissioner Ghazali Md Amin, three unnamed individuals had been arrested in connection with the sex video, but when the ‘Datuk T’ trio were asked if they were the ones, they said they were not.

Rahim even told the media that when the police questioned them on March 24, they did not sign any document stating they were arrested and released on bail.

Thereafter, nobody gave a straight answer when asked about the truth. Not even the cops.

In fact, on March 25, when the IGP himself was asked why Rahim and Eskay were not arrested when they went to the police headquarters for questioning, the country’s top cop actually said, “What offence (did they commit), you tell me.”

But then on the eve of his sumpah laknat, Eskay told Malaysiakini he was arrested “that day” (without specifying which) and “was bailed out with RM10,000”. Intriguing! More so when you consider that the IGP seemed ignorant of the offence when earlier he had mentioned Section 292. Did he have a lapse of memory?

Going by the events, the public perception so far is that the police are biased in their handling of the case – and that’s cause for another hoot.

There was reportedly even a police escort for the ‘Datuk T’ trio when they arrived at the mosque for the sumpah laknat ceremony. This reeks of VIP treatment. At least one of them, Eskay, wore a bulletproof vest, which he, however, claims belongs to him.

Nonetheless, do these three, who should instead be charged in court under Section 292, deserve police escort?

To reinforce the public perception of the police bias, the next day PKR alleged that a police officer with the rank of senior assistant commissioner had been giving talks to school principals and teachers in Kelantan in which he told them Anwar was the man in the sex video and a threat to national security. Whatever the truth of PKR’s allegation, it’s hard to bet now on police impartiality.

Moreover, the police still haven’t told us how the sex video in their custody managed to get into cyberspace.

More important, the central and most pressing question has not yet been answered although they have reportedly been investigating the case intensively. That question is: Who was actually behind the videotaping? Is it so difficult to find out who the culprits are? Who was the prostitute in the video? Have the police got to her? What has she revealed?

PM provides the best laugh

Are we going to get any answers at all? Or will this, like the many intriguing mysteries that have arisen in this wonderful land of ours, such as the murder of Altantuya, be swept under the carpet?

Could it be that the police are waiting for instructions from their political masters?

Are these political masters calculating when the right time would be to take action, how the case should be spun, who should be arrested, what should be done so that they can make political capital out of it?

It seems there is no going by the truth any more in Malaysia, and this sex video saga illustrates it clearly.

It is now all about twisting the truth to one’s advantage, hiding the truth, turning the truth into falsehood. And, worse, making falsehood the truth.

This, fellow citizens, is the Malaysian Malady. And the people who are suffering for it are the innocent rakyat.

Stricken with it, we have to laugh or face despair, and no amount of crying will bring us relief. On that note, perhaps the best laugh stems from Najib Tun Razak’s response when he was asked by the media if he had watched the sex video when it was uploaded on the Internet. “Apa punya soalan ini (What kind of question is this),” he said, dismissing it.

Don’t you think it’s a fair and legitimate question? But why is the PM evading it? Well, that, fellow Malaysians, is the crux of the Malaysian Malady.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 6 May 2011, 5:00 am and is filed under
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Christian leaders condemn claims trying to usurp Islam

By
Debra Chong
 | TMI

KUALA LUMPUR, May 6 — Organisers of a Christian meeting in Penang denied today allegations from pro-Umno bloggers that they were conspiring with the DAP to supplant Islam’s position as the country’s official religion in a bid to take over Putrajaya.

The heated religious rhetoric from before the April 16 Sarawak election appeared to have died down immediately after, only to flare up again this week as right-wing Malay groups sounded the alarm over the rising popularity of the Chinese-dominant DAP.

The National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF), together with partners Global Day of Prayer, Marketplace Penang and Penang Pastors Fellowship, said the claims against their community were lies and slammed the pro-Malay rights groups for driving a further wedge to create social disharmony in multicultural Malaysia apart from being seditious.

“The organiser vehemently denies such a claim as being unfounded and totally untrue aimed at creating division and social disharmony in multi-ethnic society of Malaysia and appears to be seditious,” the Christian group said in a statement this evening.

“The so-called special convention this morning was in fact an unashamedly ethical marketplace seminar organised to discuss and address the issue of bribery and corruption in the marketplace and the Christians’ contribution in addressing such issues.

“It has nothing to do with political succession,” the organisers explained.

The group added that last night’s dinner, mentioned in the blogs, was held to honour several pastors from Sarawak who were in Penang for the meeting.

“Such fellowship dinners are common amongst Christians and are part and parcel of the Christian custom of love and fellowship,” it said.

Several pro-Malay rights blogs posted today articles charging the secular party of sedition for trying to change what the bloggers believed to be the country’s laws to enable a Christian to be prime minister, pointing to a grainy photograph showing what they described to be a secret pact between the DAP and pastors at a hotel in Penang yesterday.

The Federal Constitution does not expressly specify race or religious requirements for the position of prime minister. Article 43(2)(a) of the constitution states only that the Yang diPertuan Agong shall appoint as PM a member of parliament who in his judgment is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the Dewan Rakyat

In a posting headlined “Agong under threat? DAP wants to make Christianity the official religion of Malaysia?” blogger Marahku (marahku.blogspot.com) accused DAP of trying to amend the federal constitution to allow a Christian to become prime minister.

“The whole point of changing the official religion is to allow a Christian to become prime minister of this country,” the blogger said.

“In order to change the status of Islam as the official religion of Malaysia, they would not only have to change the constitution with a two-third majority but would also have to get the consent of the Agong, as head of Islam in Malaysia to demote it to second spot behind Christianity… I think the only way DAP is going to achieve this is by putting a gun to the Agung’s head [sic],” he added.

On bigdogdotcom.wordpress.com, the writer claimed to have received a message that the DAP’s Jeff Ooi had organised a dinner for pastors from Sarawak and overseas at the Red Rock Hotel on Jalan Macalister in Penang.

“Among the activities that night included the 35 pastors taking a group oath. They formed a circle and touched each other’s shoulder and vowed in English to make Christianity the official religion of Malaysia and put a Christian Prime Minister in office,” the anonymous writer said in his blog under the headline “Making Christianity the official religion?”

He also pointed to the same grainy picture he posted at the top of his blog page, which he had captioned “Partying pastors or pastors doing the party do and vow to have a Christian as Malaysian Prime Minister”.

The blogger further alleged that the DAP had labelled the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition as an “anti-Christ agent” in the run-up to polls in Sarawak, showing the opposition party was “openly against BN on religious grounds and they are now making it their clarion call, their rabble rousing horn”.

The blogger said it was a seditious and religiously-divisive statement that was never investigated by the police “or at least they did not tell us about any investigations on the matter”.

He called on the authorities to investigate the allegations for sedition warning that if the authorities failed in their duty, the country may be “shattered again”.

At the same time, the blogger sounded the battle cry to Malay-Muslims, urging them to “make a vow to defend the position of Islam as the official religion and the position of Malays as Bumiputra in their own homeland till the last man standing”.

He said the community must stop making excuses because “as an Islamic country, Malaysia has been tolerant of all religious views as long as it does not encroach into Islam and in Sarawak where the Christian population is significantly larger than the Muslim community, there are more churches than mosques to reflect the situation”.

Ooi, the Jelutong MP named in the articles, admitted that the picture posted in the blogs were authentic, but contested that he had organised the dinner, let alone led the Christian leaders in making a pledge to make Christianity the official creed.

“I’m not a Christian,” he told The Malaysian Insider when contacted.

He said the dinner had been organised by the Christian pastors, in recognition of the DAP team who had visited them while in Sarawak for the state election and that the prayer sessions — one before dinner and one at the end — was a usual part of their worship, and not a pledge as alleged.

He added the pastors had also prayed for his safety.

Ooi said he had told Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia the same thing when they called him for a response.

“I suspect the Special Branch has infiltrated the pastors… some of them didn’t want to shake my hand,” he told The Malaysian Insider, when asked how the photograph of the closed-door event made its way onto the websites.

“I’m not disturbed, I’m not concerned because bigdog didn’t call me names,” he added, when asked if he was worried it would be used against him and the DAP.

“But I think the Christians are,” he said.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 7 May 2011, 11:26 am and is filed under
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DAP girds up to penetrate S’wak’s hinterland

By
Ang Ngan Toh | Malaysiakini

May 7, 11

Interventional cardiologist Dr Tang Sie Hing has joined a growing list of professionals and educated young Sarawakians signing up as DAP members to serve in rural areas.

Tang, who celebrated his 42nd birthday on Thursday, will be helping Sarawak DAP secretary Chong Chieng Jen as special assistant, whose job specifications include serving the rural areas.

Under the five-year plan, the DAP is expanding into the state’s countryside with the main aim of spreading its influence among the Dayak community there.

The Chinese-based party has so far outshone the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) in winning urban support.

Boosted by its victories in capturing the mostly urban and Chinese majority 12 seats in the recent state elections, the party has turned its attention to the state’s hinterland to prepare the ground for the next state polls.

Turning knowledge into political weapon

It is tapping into the skills and energies of the young and educated Sarawakians to rise to another level of effort to snare more seats.

“I am glad that more young professionals have joined the party over the last two weeks,” Chong said on Thursday at a press conference to introduce Dr Tang to journalists.

He said there are piles of work waiting to be done in rural areas.

“It is better to have more assistants to provide the service, and Dr Tang will be helping our rural drive. With his medical skills and knowledge, he will be very helpful to the party, providing certain services, like free medical consultancy and treatment,” he said.

Chong, who is also the state assemblyperson for Kota Sentosa and member of parliament for Bandar Kuching, said has expressed his willingness to provide free medical consultancy and treatment.

“He is part of our plans to make in-road into rural areas. I am not saying that we will be successful, but we are trying something new.

“I don’t have much experience in the rural areas, but along the way, we can learn from each other and explore new means and methodologies to serve the people better,” he said.

Sacrificing comfort for people’s sake

Chong said Tang will be serving the people wherever his skills and knowledge are required.

Meanwhile, Tang on his part, said that his main role in the party would be to concentrate on serving the grassroots.

“Int the prime of my career and achievements, I can no longer selfishly enjoy the fruits of my labour.

“I have decided to step forward and be counted,” he said.

He said he was inspired to join the DAP by the sincere and sacrificial works of party leaders Lim Kit Siang and Karpal Singh.

However, he acknowledged that he still needed to learn more about politics and how to serve the people in that field.

“I see myself as a new kid on the block. It is important to humble yourself and learn from party leaders, how to serve,” he said.

Quoting a Chinese leader, he said: “Young people must aspire to do great things, don’t just aspire to be great leaders.”

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 7 May 2011, 2:10 pm and is filed under
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Divide and rule

By
Elijah M
 | May 07, 2011

This is Umno’s strategy to remain in power in Malaysia: make the Malays feel like the Chinese and Christian communities are threatening their hold on power and position of Islam.

They need the Malays to come out in force at the coming elections and vote for Umno candidates in a big way. But in their calculation for that to happen, they must have an imaginary enemy for the Malays/Muslims.

Given than the Chinese have generally deserted the corrupt and self-serving MCA and Gerakan and by extension, BN, they qualify as a prime bogeyman. They are portrayed as slavish supporters of Chinese-based DAP and harbour ambitions of taking over political power from the Malays.

Now the Christians following their support for Pakatan Rakyat in the Sarawak and their refusal to be submissive to a government which has molested their religious rights are also being lumped by Utusan Malaysia and pro-Umno bloggers as enemies of Islam in Malaysia.

Such is the stupidity of these guys that they portray a prayer session in Penang with a few DAP politicians as oath-taking. Just a pointer: the only oath that Christians take is to our Lord and Saviour. Therefore, we obey God and not men.

The bloggers hope to persuade Malay/Muslims that Christians are working with DAP to push for a Christian prime minister. I suppose these blinkered souls forgot about the Federal Constitution.

They also forgot to tell their readers that Chinese or Christians (who by the way are mostly non-Malay bumiputeras) are not interested in political power but are interested in good governance, fairness, integrity, rule of law and equal opportunities.

And before we believe that this strategy of divide and rule has not got the blessings of the top Umno leadership, we should think again. The policy of hammering Chinese/Christians and demonising DAP is state-sponsored.

Just listen to Muhyiddin Yassin and other Umno leaders. Of course, Najib Razak plays the good cop but he has stayed silent as Utusan Malaysia slams Chinese.

Instead of worrying what kind of a country he will lead, he has chosen to look the other way as Chinese and Christians are painted as usurpers of power.

One lesson I suppose we can take from this is that Umno does not want or need the support of Chinese or Christians. So much for the Rukun Negara or 1 Malaysia.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 7 May 2011, 2:08 pm and is filed under
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Interfaith council: No one is questioning Islam

Malaysiakini

May 6, 2011

A religious council has rubbished allegations that the position of Islam in the country is “under siege”.

Saying that they are “concerned”, the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) is amazed by the remarks made by the Coalition of Muslim Organisations (Pembela) earlier this week.

“How could lslam’s position be under siege when all public institutions and other organs of government are under the control of Muslims?” asked coalition president Reverend Dr Thomas Philips.

He quoted Kita president Zaid Ibrahim who recently said in his blog that the Malays are already in complete political control.

The party president also said that various government-linked companies such as Maybank, Petronas, Telekom Malaysia are already in the government’s hand and managed by Malay-bumiputras.

“The G-20 group of largest listed GLCs alone possesses RM353 billion (around half) of the market capitalisation of the entire Bursa Malaysia,” Zaid had said.

With that, MCCBCHST said that they are “amazed” at Pembela’s claims that a non-Muslim affairs exco position in Penang is unconstitutional and threatens Islam’s position.

“There is no prohibition anywhere in the federal constitution against the designation of a non-Muslim affairs exco. In fact, currently most states under Barisan Nasional have non-Muslim affairs committees to address religious, places of worship, burial grounds and other issues faced by the non-Muslims,” said Philips.

Pembela spokesperson Yusri Mohamad (right) had earlier said that the Penang state government’s designation of a non-Muslim affairs exco as well as the ‘pseudo-appointment’ of Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Idris Jala, a Christian, to handle issues pertaining to the Malay-language Bible as threatening Islam’s position as the official religion.

Yusri claimed there is no provision in the federal constitution for any official non-Muslim affairs body, and that making Idris the go-to minister for Christian affairs is thus unconstitutional.

The Perak state government under BN is incidentally the first to designate a non-Muslims affairs exco.

‘Cannot use Islam’s position to question other’s rights’

In a three-page-long statement by MCCBCHST quoting legal provisions, precedent cases as well as constitutional expert Shad Saleem Faruqi, the council also said that they are not aware of anyone questioning Islam’s position as enshrined in Article 3 of the federal constitution.

Shad Saleem had said that Article 3 (on lslam) does not extinguish anything else in the constitution.

“Article 3(4) provides that ‘Nothing in this Article derogates from any other provision of this constitution. This means that Articles 3 cannot be employed to challenge the validity of a drug trafficking law on the ground that some of its provisions were un-Islamic (Che Omar Che Soh (1988),” Shad was reported to have said.

“Thus, one cannot use the position of lslam as the religion of the federation to question other’s rights. lt has to be based on the provisions of the federal constitution,” said Philips.

He added that though the council reiterates and accepts unequivocally the position of lslam as the religion of the federation as provided for by Article 3, it cannot be used to challenge any other constitutional position.

“The MCCBCHST therefore calls on Yusri and the Muslim NGOs to work together with all citizens towards a harmonious, judicious and united Malaysia,” said Philips.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 7 May 2011, 1:46 pm and is filed under
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MACC assassinates Teoh’s character

By
Mariam Mokhtar
 | FMT

Even in death, the MACC will not leave Teoh Beng Hock alone. This time, they chose to sully whatever lasting memory Teoh’s poor family have of him, by claiming that Teoh committed suicide.

Are MACC lawyers poorly trained that they have to alternate from comical acts to farcical conjectures?

During the inquest into Teoh’s suspicious death, the MACC lawyer, Abdul Razak Musa grilled Dr Pornthip, the Thai pathologist, and gave the whole world a hilarious demonstration of how not to conduct a cross examination.

However, in the latest round of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI), the MACC lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah charged that Teoh ‘took his life and chose “death before dishonour” to spare the DAP from charges of corruption’.

How ludicrous is that?

Shafee told Teoh’s boss, “Looking at the complexity of the situation Teoh Beng Hock was in, he was under severe pressure because more would be uncovered, he would probably have committed suicide, as an honour suicide and to protect you and the party? As the Chinese proverb goes ‘death before dishonour’”.

The MACC’s attempt to deflect attention from itself, by putting a new spin on Teoh’s death, only shows how desperate it is.

Most lawyers deal with hard facts and evidence. The MACC lawyers seem to dwell on guesswork, speculation and conjecture.

The RCI had been previously informed that Teoh’s boss, Selangor executive councillor, Ean Yong Hian Wah, was not guilty of abusing state funds.

Acting senior superintendent Ahmad Shafik Abdul Rahman said, “Results from investigations showed there was no testimony that could link YB Ean to wrongdoing under section 18 of the MACC Act 2009.”

Public humiliation

How convenient for Shafee to accuse Teoh when he is unable to defend himself? If Shafee says Teoh chose death before dishonor, then what is to stop the MACC from murdering to spare the organisation from being publicly humiliated?

In any case, how can Shafee equate the taking of one’s life with honour, especially if he claims, Teoh did it to protect his party from corruption. Isn’t corruption a dishonorable act?

Moreover, why should Teoh tarnish the family name for a mere RM2,400?

By insulting Teoh, the MACC has attempted to evade the spotlight on its shady activities. Its perverse ‘damage limitation’ exercise has not succeeded. Many questions remain unanswered.

For instance, why did the MACC panic when Teoh’s body was found sprawled several floors below from where he was interviewed?

Why was there an appreciable delay in making the police report once Teoh was found?

Why did one of the MACC staff stop by his home in Puchong, to warn his wife and family of the dangers to their personal safety?

During the RCI, the MACC assistant superintendent Azeem Hafeez Jamaluddin said Hishamuddin Hashim, who was then Selangor MACC deputy director, had ordered him to testify that another graftbuster had led the probe against Ean Yong.

In an MACC meeting held after Teoh’s death, Azeem said, “The operation was led by Hishamuddin, but in the discussion, Hishamuddin asked that it be said the operation was ordered by Hairul (Ilham Hamzah)”.

Why the subterfuge?

The RCI revealed that certain people had been coached to answer the questions that might have been put to them.

Selective amnesia

Many of the officers appeared to have selective amnesia and standard operating procedures had not been adhered to. There had been no attempt by the leaders to correct several slipshod methods, like jotting down detailed observations in a notebook. The use of torture had been condoned.

DSP Kamaruddin Ismail of the Shah Alam police Criminal Investigation Department told the RCI that 20 investigation papers were opened from March 2005 to July 2009 on complaints of abuse and torture against MACC officers.

However, Kamaruddin said that identification parades only happened years later, because of the “lack of cooperation from the MACC”.

Kamaruddin said, “….from my monitoring, I find that the MACC investigators have a problem in working with the police. When they are called to the police station (for their statements to be recorded) they don’t show up and the police have to go to their office to get the statements.”

The sense of public outrage at taxpayers money funding this irresponsible, corrupt and ineffective government agency cannot be compared to the contempt the public has for the MACC trying to denigrate Teoh.

The MACC was humiliated when it was found that their officers had abused the use of their computers to download pornography during working hours. In addition, the impression is one of small cases of corruption being pursued whilst those involving several millions are not.

So why is everyone in the MACC protecting each other? The Malaysian public is being lied to because crucial, incriminating evidence in Teoh’s death has gone missing thus preventing the investigation from going any further. It is obvious there is conspiracy at work in the MACC.

As the MACC no longer serves the public, it should be disbanded.

Does the MACC really expect us to believe that everyone who falls out of an MACC window committed suicide? Can the MACC explain why their buildings seem like a magnet for potential suicides? Recently, customs officer Ahmad Sarbani fell to his death. Last October, a retired income tax officer Ho Hong Chai, 57, from Kuching, also jumped from an MACC building.

Teoh Beng Hock was Chinese and a DAP political aide when he met his untimely death. When the same fate befell a Malay civil servant, several of the bystanders, from various communities started to have doubts about how Teoh met his untimely demise. Suspicions centred on the MACC. The death of Ahmad Sarbani managed to galvanise the nation and unite it in its grief.

With two high-profile deaths, the MACC Commissioner, Abu Kassim Mohamed has no choice but to step aside to restore public confidence. He has lost our respect and he must resign.

The MACC lawyer had the audacity to charge Teoh with an “honourable” suicide to save his party from shame. Perhaps Abu Kassim might want to do the “honourable” thing and “save” the MACC’s reputation by jumping off an MACC building.

Mariam Mokhtar is a political observer and an FMT columnist.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 7 May 2011, 10:19 am and is filed under
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Out of 10 people, 11 do not believe!

By
Sakmongkol AK47

I spent a major part of the day, including some small hours into Friday prayers assessing people’s reaction of the sex video. It’s the video made in Thailand featuring a person who looked like Anwar Ibrahim. The man looked taller, sports a close cropped hair do and the lady in question looks suspiciously like a girl from China. Maybe she’s Suzie Wong. I am sure many of us remember the film no?

Here’s the deal. Out of 10 people I asked — 11 do not believe its Anwar! Perhaps it’s in the nature of the allegation. The allegation is so preposterous. Never before has any preposterous spectacle been created by so questionable a group made up of so dubious collection of characters.

As the issue of the smut video drags on, it’s becoming clear that it has also become the sword of Damocles over the head of the Umno leadership. The Umno leadership is probably wishing this sex video issue did not arise at all. At first they thought this was a fortunate gift to finish off Anwar Ibrahim. The sex video now is like the sword held at the pommel by a piece of horse’s hair hanging over the head of the Umno leadership. It now wants the sword be taken away quickly or it now wishes not to be associated at all with the sex video.

To whom is the video directed? I think it’s directed at the rural voters. The assumption is that rural folks are simple minded such that any aspersions cast on the moral attributes of Anwar Ibrahim will cause a massive swing to BN and Umno.

I think Umno should stay clear way from this moral issue. It should learn the object lessons from the raising of this moral issue by so dubious a group.

*
Sakmongkol AK47 is the nom de plume of Datuk Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz. He was Pulau Manis assemblyman (2004-2008).

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 7 May 2011, 1:08 pm and is filed under
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Post-Sarawak Elections: The Sway Of Chinese Voters – Analysis

By
Choong Pui Yee and Farish Noor

MALAYSIA’S RULING Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition won two-thirds of the seats in the 16 April 2011 state elections in Sarawak. Supported by the presence of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, the BN victory means it retained its majority in the East Malaysian state with 55 seats and was able to form the state government again. Despite the victory in this staunchly pro-BN state, which has always been perceived as the BN’s ‘fixed deposit’, the ruling coalition has suffered a significant drop in ethnic Chinese voter support.

The opposition parties acting in alliance as Pakatan Rakyat (PR) made inroads, eating into the BN’s support base. The Democratic Action Party (DAP) won 12 out of the 15 seats it contested, doubling its share of seats in Sarawak since the 2006 state elections. Another opposition party, the People’s Justice Party (PKR) won three seats, including a rural seat at Ba’Kelalan, while the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) did not win a single seat. The inroads made by the opposition alliance were mainly due to the work of the DAP. One unexpected result was the toppling of George Chan, the state’s deputy chief minister from the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP). His defeat by a political newcomer, Ling Sie Kiong, strongly manifests the intensity of Chinese voter sentiment against the BN.

Building up the Momentum

Prior to polling day, campaigning from both the BN and PR were equally heated, drawing large crowds. Apart from the traditional speeches by political leaders, local Chinese singers were roped in from BN to attract the Chinese voter crowd. Complimentary 1Malaysia T-shirts and goodie bags were given to those who attended the BN campaigns.

The opposition DAP created a hornbill mascot named ‘Ubah’ (Change) to align with their campaign tagline, ‘Vote for Change’ against the BN’s ‘Vote for Transformation’. Criticising Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s record of government and the recent impounding of Malay-language Bibles were among the tactics used as the opposition worked up the sentiments of the locals especially in the urban areas. As Christians make up almost half the population of Sarawak, harping on religious issues such as the Malay Bibles and the ‘Allah’ controversy painted the BN government as neglecting Christian minority concerns. The crowds that cheered the opposition at their rallies gave the impression of unprecedented support by Sarawak standards.

Results and Implications

While the opposition parties, notably the DAP, did manage to attract large crowds,the fact remains that the BN still managed to retain its two-thirds majority to form the government. The BN’s share of the popular vote, however, dropped from 62 to 55 percent.

The results of the Sarawak state elections highlighted the shift of Chinese votes to the DAP, paving the way for the party to have a stronger voice in Sarawak. Even though the opposition coalition is lagging behind in terms of funding, machinery and political veterans in Sarawak, they won the support of the Chinese electorate. Compounding the changing political climate is the sway of the Dayak voters towards the opposition. This is also unprecedented. Thus, Sarawak can no longer be seen as the electoral ‘fixed deposit’ of the BN that can ensure unchallenged support.

The Sarawak state electoral result illustrates the disenchantment of the ethnic Chinese community with the incumbent government. Many opposition supporters had traveled to Sarawak from Peninsular Malaysia to assist the campaigns and extend donations. The fact that a major share of the Sarawak Chinese votes had gone to the opposition suggests that Chinese political sentiment in Sarawak is largely hostile to the BN – as in Peninsular Malaysia.

Soon after the elections, DAP veteran leader Lim Kit Siang offered a merger with the Sarawak National Party (SNAP). The proposal is designed to penetrate the Malay-Melanau and Dayak-Iban seats in Sarawak. This is indeed a strategic move if it succeeds. It may even pave the way for DAP to penetrate the rural seats, leading to stronger competition with the BN in the next general election.

Greater Polarisation

One consequent of the recent elections is the hardening of ethnic differences and growing racial polarisation. The Malaysian Chinese community will be seen and labeled as pro-opposition, consciously or subconsciously, by the BN. Soon after the state elections, the weekend edition of Utusan Malaysia, an UMNO mouthpiece, bluntly called on the Sarawak government to ignore the Chinese community and limit its representation in the state cabinet. Certainly, such a call will not be welcomed by the Malaysian Chinese community and one can only foresee deeper communal politics across both West and East Malaysia.

Yet at the same time, the DAP has yet to transcend its own image as a Chinese-led and dominated party lacking support from Malaysian Malay and Indian voters. This is the Achilles’ heel of the DAP. This weakness will continue to be exploited by its political opponents to paint it as a party that is based on Chinese chauvinism. There will thus be no end to the active exploitation of racial polemics and polarisation. Such communal politics is thus not likely to change in the near future.

Choong Pui Yee is a Research Analyst and Farish Noor is a Senior Fellow at the S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 7 May 2011, 7:00 am and is filed under
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RM30 million donation rejected and scholarship for the poor

By
Koon Yew Yin

1. I am not a politician. But I know politics is very important because it affects you and your children. I want to help you win the coming election. I have already donated RM100,000 during your last dinner to celebrate Lim Kit Siang’s 70th Birthday, a few months ago.
(Admin note: RM100,000 donated to DAP Perak)

I put my money where my mouth is. Many people would grumble and complain about BN government’s corruptions, abuse of power and Chinese cannot get university places and also employment in the civil services, etc but they dare not come forward to support Pakatan Rakyat to change the Government.

I hope my coming forward openly will encourage many people to show support. Your party needs money and I hope you all will donate as much as you can afford.

2. You must bear in mind that the population of the non Malays is relatively small, even all non Malays vote for the PR and without Malays winning some seats, Pakatan Ryakyat cannot control the Perak State Government or Putrajaya. After tonight’s dinner, I would like each of you to make a serious effort to make friend with at least one Malay and convince him to vote for PR.

3. I wish to remind you that in the last Gen Election, PR won control of Perak, but lost control because a few frogs jumped over to BN. On your table you will read my article ‘Restore democracy to Perak: appeal to Sultan Aslan Shah’, but the Sultan did not dissolve the State Assembly as I requested. In the next election, you must make sure we can win a lot more seats to regain control.

4. Many of you would have heard about UTAR in Kampar rejected my Rm 30 M donation offer to build hostels to help students because the MCA leaders who own the land outside the University campus do not want me to disturb their very profitable rental business. There are 12,500 students and each of them pays Rm 200 per month and the total monthly rental income is about RM2.5 million or RM30 m a year. They cannot build fast enough to cater for the yearly students increase. Remember the greedy MCA leaders will continue to suck your blood.

5. MCA has been in the BN government since Merdeka more than 54 years ago. Did MCA ever dare to criticise UMNO to protect non Malays’ interest? Now the World Bank has reported 2 days ago that a large number of non Malayshave migrated to Singapore, UK, Australia etc due to unfair treatment. 4 of my 5 children have gone out of the country to find work. I am sure some of you and your friends have children migrated overseas simply because we are called ‘PENDATAN’, visitors.

6. I have given scholarships to 80 poor students whose parents are earning less than RM2,000 per month. If you know of any poor parent who needs scholarships please contact my assistant Dr. Jeffrey Yee, 012-5286696. He graduated with a PhD from Cambridge, He will address you in Mandarin.

Thank you

Mr. Koon Yew Yin, a very successful Malaysian investor and businessman

DAP dinner speech on 30th April 2011

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 7 May 2011, 7:05 am and is filed under
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Slowing talent growth adds to brain drain woes

By
Leslie Lau

KUALA LUMPUR, May 7 — Malaysia ranked 36th out of 60 countries in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s latest Global Talent Index which saw the United States placed as the top country in producing talent, while Singapore and Nordic nations were rated stellar performers.

The Global Talent Index (GTI) report for 2011, released yesterday, also projected Malaysia’s ranking would fall marginally by three places to 39th out of 60 countries by 2015, reflecting the country’s struggle with brain drain and retaining talent.

The World Bank’s report on the country’s brain drain released last Thursday showed that the number of Malaysians with tertiary education who moved abroad tripled in the last two decades.

Two out of every 10 Malaysians with a tertiary education opted for either OECD countries or Singapore.

As of 2010, the World Bank estimated the Malaysian diaspora at about one million, of whom one-third were tertiary educated.

The talent outflow threatens to erode the country’s skills base and derail its ambition to be a developed high-income nation by 2020, more so as the loss of the nation’s “best and brightest” was not being replaced with talent inflow.

The number of expatriates in Peninsular Malaysia fell by about one-quarter between 2004 and 2010, with all the major source countries but two registering declines and in the case of advanced countries, double-digit contractions.

Malaysia’s regional rival Singapore placed fifth in the 2011 GTI and is projected to fall by just one spot in 2015.

Economists have said Malaysia needs to ensure a greater degree of meritocracy in education and employment to tackle the fundamental causes of Malaysia’s brain drain problem.

The GTI index benchmarks countries on their capacity for developing, attracting and retaining talent, both in 2011 and projected to 2015.

According to the GTI report, the foremost strengths of the US are the excellence of its universities, the high overall quality of its existing workforce and a meritocratic environment that is relatively unencumbered by restrictive labour regulation.

Denmark, Finland and Norway figure in the index top five in both 2011 and 2015, and Sweden joins them in the latter year — all thanks in part to their consistent and substantial investment in education from primary through tertiary level, the report said.

The report also said Australia and Singapore are other strong performers, the former due, among other factors, to its high-quality universities and the latter to its openness to international trade and foreign direct investment.

In its summary, the GTI report concludes that talent flourishes in, and is drawn to, developed and wealthy economies with liberal, democratic political systems.

The report states that “Asia’s performance is substantially boosted by some (although not all) of its developed countries such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. Similarly, the Middle East is bolstered by Israel.

To validate the index results, the GTI report said the final 2011 rankings were correlated against the World Economic Forum’s country competitiveness rankings.

They were also correlated against data for the percent of a country’s population with tertiary education, as well as the World Economic Forum’s “Brain drain” indicator, which seeks to evaluate the extent to which countries struggle with talent losses.

In the World Economic Forum’s competitiveness rankings last year, Malaysia placed 26th while Singapore came in third.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 7 May 2011, 1:09 pm and is filed under
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Standard of Proof Not Met in Sodomy ll

By
Singa Pura Pura

The whole of the prosecution’s evidence, taken in its entirety at this stage, would not even pass the test enunciated  in the Federal Court in Balachandran v. PP [2005] 1 CLJ 85 FC, namely, that:

“The result is that the force of the evidence adduced must be such that, if unrebutted, it is sufficient to induce the court to believe in the existence of the facts stated in the charge or to consider its existence so probable that a prudent man ought to act upon the supposition that those facts exist or did happen. In order to make a finding either way the court must, at the close of the case for the prosecution, undertake a positive [maximum] evaluation of the credibility and reliability of all the evidence.

“The test at the close of the case for the prosecution would therefore be: Is the evidence sufficient to convict the accused if he elects to remain silent? This must, as of necessity, require a consideration of the existence of any reasonable doubt in the case for the prosecution. If there is any such doubt there can be no prima facie case. As the accused can be convicted on the prima facie evidence – it [the evidence] must have reached a standard which is capable of supporting a conviction beyond reasonable doubt … The prima facie evidence which was capable of supporting a conviction beyond reasonable doubt will constitute proof beyond reasonable doubt.”

The prosecution’s evidence would also not satisfy the locus classicus formulated by His Lordship Dato’ Justice Gopal Sri Ram JCA (as his Lordship then was) at the Court of Appeal in Looi Kow Chai & Anor v. PP [2003] 1 CLJ 734 CA. The headnote to that case reads: “[3] Under s. 180 of the Criminal Procedure Code (Revised 1999), the duty of a judge, sitting alone, at the close of the case for the prosecution, is to determine, as a trier of fact, whether the prosecution has made out a prima facie case against the accused. The judge has only one exercise to undertake; he must subject the evidence of the prosecution to a maximum evaluation and then ask himself this question: If I decide to call upon the accused to enter on his defence, and he elects to remain silent, am I prepared to convict him on the totality of the evidence contained in the prosecution’s case? If the answer is in the negative, then no prima facie case has been made out, and the accused is entitled to an acquittal.”

On the totality of the evidence thus far adduced by the prosecution, no trial judge – properly directing his mind to the law, the testimony of the witnesses, and the reliability and quality of the medical, DNA, documentary and other evidence – would be prepared to convict Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim assuming he elects to remain silent. The evidence is simply not sufficient to prove each and every essential ingredient of the charge, not even on a balance of probabilities let alone the criminal standard of proof required.

The prosecution’s spread of incriminating evidence over the essential ingredients that constitute an offence is often inversely proportionate to the sufficiency, reliability and quality of the evidence itself. The more the evidence is stretched, the thinner the spread is. The thinner the spread is, the more the adversarial holes of doubt that tend to develop in the prosecution’s case.

In describing what a prima facie case means to the trial judge at the close of the case for the prosecution, Vincent Ng J (as he then was) rightly stated in PP v. Ong Cheng Heong [1998] 4 CLJ 209 HC that: “It would follow that there should be credible evidence on each and every essential ingredient of the offence. Credible evidence is evidence which has been filtered and which has gone through the process of evaluation. Any evidence which is not safe to be acted upon, should be rejected.”

Recently, and aptly, Jeffrey Tan JCA in the Court of Appeal reiterated in Roslan Abdullah v. PP [2010] 1 CLJ 685 CA that: “That uncertainty, if any, until settled by the Criminal Procedure Code (Amendment) Act 2006, was only in relation to the ‘prima facie case’. In relation to the evaluation of the prosecution evidence, it has long been settled that the evaluation could not be suspended until after the close of the entire case. That has been the law since Khoo Hi Chiang, where it was held that “the duty of the court, at the close of the case for the prosecution, is to undertake, not a minimal evaluation of the evidence tendered by the prosecution in order to determine whether or not the prosecution evidence is inherently incredible (the Haw Tua Tau test) but a maximum evaluation of such evidence, to determine whether or not the prosecution has established the charge against the accused beyond all reasonable doubt.” In Tan Boon Kean, it was held “that at the close of the case for the prosecution, the duty of the court is to carry out a maximum evaluation of the evidence.” And in Arulpragasan Sandaraju, it was held that the court before calling the accused to enter upon his defence must be satisfied that the prosecution had made out a case against the accused beyond all reasonable doubt, which would therefore call for a maximum evaluation of the evidence tendered by the prosecution. The duty of a trial court at the end of the prosecution case remains the same, despite the 1997 amendment to s. 180 of the CPC.”

In PP v. Mohd Radzi Abu Bakar [2006] 1 CLJ 457 FC, Gopal Sri Ram JCA sitting in the Federal Court, again, propounded thus: “This requires the court to undertake a maximum evaluation of the prosecution evidence when deciding whether to call on the accused to enter upon his or her defence. It involves an assessment of the credibility of the witnesses called by the prosecution and the drawing of inferences admitted by the prosecution evidence. Thus, if the prosecution evidence admits of two or more inferences, one of which is in the accused’s favour, then it is the duty of the court to draw the inference that is favourable to the accused.”

In the present case against Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim there are not only two inferences one of which is in favour of him. The prosecution’s case admits of numerous possible inferences, and most of these possible inferences are plainly in favour of Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

“Put shortly, what the trial court is obliged to do under ss. 173(f) and 180 of the CPC is to ask itself the question: If [assuming] the accused elects to remain silent, as he is perfectly entitled to do, am I prepared to convict him on the evidence now before me?” The obvious answer to that question is ‘no’. It would be unsafe to do so. The evidence simply does not meet the standard of proof required.

[Writer’s note: The purpose of the brief opinion above is not to offer gratuitous advice to the learned judge respecting the state of our criminal procedure or the law of evidence. Rather, it is to attempt to offer the lay public a rough legal-sketch against which they may scrutinise and evaluate the legal mechanics and the decision-making process by which the court will arrive at its decision as to whether Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim should be called on to enter upon his defence to the charge under s. 377B Penal Code. The facts and evidence presented by the prosecution could easily be gleaned from the alternative media’s coverage of the trial. The Rakyat can then decide for themselves whether the decision that the court delivers on 16 May 2011 is in accord with the law of the country. No thing and no person can ever deny that the Rakyat is perfectly entitled to do that.]

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 7 May 2011, 7:10 am and is filed under
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Utusan wants to set 1 Malaysia on fire, decries Lim

By Susan Loone

May 7, 2011

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has expressed outrage over a front-page report today headlined ‘Malaysia Negara Kristian?’ (Malaysia a Christian state?) in Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia.

Lim turned his guns on the Malay daily for the false report which was based on a couple of pro-Umno blogs and accused Utusan of planning to “set 1Malaysia on fire” by playing up racial and religious sentiments.

According to Lim, the newspaper was playing a dangerous game by front-paging an article without verifying the allegations featured in anonymous blogs such as Bigdog.com and Marahku.com.

“Utusan wants to set 1Malaysia on fire… it is the most evil (jahat) and dangerous element in our country right now,” decried an angry Lim at a press conference in Penang today.

“I have asked my party leaders to lodge a police report on the matter. How can a lie be on the front page of a newspaper?”

Lim, who is DAP secretary general, was responding to the blog postings accusing the party the party of alleged alleging sedition for colluding with Christian pastors to make Christianity the country’s official religion so that a Christian can become prime minister.

Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi was named in the blog postings as the DAP leader who attended the meeting and joined the prayer session with the pastors, who were reportedly attending a mega-ceramah in Penang today.

Blogger Bigdog.com, who was a vocal critic of former Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi but a staunch supporter of Dr Mahathir Mohamad, carried a grainy photograph depicting a group of pastors standing in a circle, praying with their heads bowed.

The blogger described the action in the photo as a “secret pact between DAP and the pastors” at a hotel in Penang yesterday.

Another blogger Marahku, in a post with a screaming title ‘Agong under threat?The DAP wants to make Christianity the official religion of Malaysia?’ lambasted the party for trying to amend the federal constitution to allow a Christian to be PM.

Islam’s position not questioned

Lim said no one would believe the allegations by the bloggers as DAP had never before challenged Islam as the official religion of the state.

He added that the party had never issued calls for the official religion of the country to be changed from Islam to Buddhism, Christianity or any other religion.

“These are the political games of desperados,” said Lim, adding that “in order to fish for more votes, they (Umno) are willing to do anything”.

The Penang CM also related the many incidents where Utusan had featured reports of him supposedly challenging the position of Islam.

He reminded journalists on the controversy where he was falsely accused of butchering a cow’s head on Hari Raya Qurban – a ritual reserved only for Muslims.

Lim also recalled the time when mosques were reportedly using his name instead of the Agong’s – a controversy which he vehemently denied and had since mysteriously died down.

He accused Utusan of continuing to report that the DAP-led Penang government has been disallowing the Prophet Mohammad’s birthday procession (Malidur Rasul), when it has been celebrated with greater pomp since it took power in 2008.

“One day they will accuse me of not being a Malaysian, that I was born outside the country… just like how some have accused (US President Barack) Obama,” he quipped.

“They had even accused me of wanting to replace the Agong. How can I ever want to be the Agong… they’ve never apologised to me for all their lies,” said Lim.

Articles ‘aimed at creating division’

Meanwhile, the organisers of the meeting, the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship, together with partners Global Day of Prayer, Marketplace Penang and Penang Pastors Fellowship, have denied the claims.

In a statement issued yesterday evening, the organisations described the articles as being “unfounded and totally untrue, aimed at creating division and social disharmony in multi-ethnic society of Malaysia and appeared to be seditious.”

They said the so-called special convention was an “unashamedly ethical marketplace seminar” organised to discuss and address the issue of bribery and corruption and the Christians’ contribution in addressing such issues.

“It has nothing to do with political succession,” they explained.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 7 May 2011, 5:33 pm and is filed under
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Archbishop slams ‘irresponsible, baseless, provocative’ reporting

Malaysiakini

May 8, 11

Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, Murphy Nicholas Pakiam, has slammed reports alleging a conspiracy to turn the country into a Christian state.

Describing the reports as “irresponsible, baseless and provocative”, Pakiam demanded that the authorities take action against what it said were quarters that seek to threaten the harmonious, multi-cultural and multi-religious make-up of the country.

A “thorough investigation” into the matter should be made to determine the source of these “insidious, provocative and malicious lies” and take action against those behind it, said Pakiam in a statement.

He was responding to the blog postings, on which an Utusan Malaysia report was based, accusing DAP of colluding with Christian pastors to make Christianity the country’s official religion so that a Christian can become prime minister.

‘We’ve never been treasonous, hateful’

Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi  was named in the blog postings as the DAP leader who attended the meeting and joined the prayer session with the pastors, who were reportedly attending a mega-ceramah at the Catholic Christian Centre in Penang on Saturday.

“On behalf of the Catholic Bishops of Malaysia, I would like to categorically refute the allegation that such a meeting had taken place or will take place in a Catholic venue in Penang,

“It is clear that this reporting is baseless and highly irresponsible as the reporters and editors of the above newspaper have not taken any reasonable steps whatsoever to verify the allegations made by anonymous bloggers.

“Furthermore, this report comes after the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF), one of the organizers of the above meeting, having refuted the claims of those bloggers and the same was carried on online media.

“The NECF has further clarified that this meeting only covered the topic of ethical leadership and had no treasonous agenda as alleged by the bloggers and news report,” said Pakiam.

Pakiam said Christian authorities teach the community to be God-fearing and law-abiding citizens and conscientious decision-makers “based on justice which is reflective of moral and divine laws.”

Even in the Al-Kitab issue over which the Christian Federation of Malaysia has been in dispute with the government, Church leaders had always reiterated their commitment and readiness “to dialogue and work together with the government” and all parties for a just and reasonable solution.

“It is clear that our position has never been treasonous nor have we advocated hatred, antagonism or animosity towards any religion or groups of persons,” said Pakiam.

“I continue to call upon all Catholics, Christians and all Malaysians to pray, dialogue and work together to strengthen national unity and harmony. May God bless our leaders with a firm vision and the courage and strength to uphold and realise it.”

‘Utusan playing with fire’

Lending his voice in support of Pakiam’s remarks, PAS Youth chief Nasrudin Hassan also described the blog and Utusan reports over the alleged conspiracy as “irresponsible” and potentially destabilising.

“Other than potentially threatening the peace, such speculations are seen as a means of seeking cheap political publicity and (part of) continuous efforts to hide weaknesses and failure in protecting the sanctity of the (Islamic) religion,” said Nasrudin in a statement entitled ‘Utusan playing with fire’.

Nasrudin said it is a well-known fact that Islam is enshrined as the official religion of the federation, with Muslims making up the majority in Malaysia’s pluralistic population.

“For these reasons, Islam should not be in a position of being jeopardised and the Muslims would not allow Islam to be threatened,” he added.

If Islam is indeed perceived as getting weaker, said Nasruin, it was because of Umno’s failure to fulfil the mandate with which it had been entrusted to govern the nation, particularly in protecting religious practices and the people’s welfare.

“If Umno had taken care of (the practice of) Islam well and strengthened it, I believe and am convinced that such speculations (by Utusan) of moves to make Christianity the official religion of the nation would not have arisen.

“At the same time, Muslims would feel at peace and comfortable with practising their religion,” he added.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 8 May 2011, 3:03 pm and is filed under
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