Call for Parliamentary Select Committee to mobilise support for moderation and draft laws and measures to deal with the Islamic State threat

DAP welcomes the White Paper “Ke Arah Menangani Ancaman Kumpulan Islamic State” and the Prime Minister’s motion seeking Parliament’s support with Government’s efforts to deal with the Islamic State threat and to “
menyeru semua lapisan rakyat Malaysia mempergiatkan usaha dan komitmen mereka untuk bersama-sama menyokong Kerajaan menangani ancaman berkenaan
”.

Before I proceed further, let me state that the White Paper on the Islamic State is one of the three unfinished business which Najib should have completed in the present meeting of Parliament which ends tomorrow.

While welcoming the White Paper on Islamic State, I want to place on record the people’s disappointment and disapproval that the Prime Minister has refused to complete the other two unfinished business before Parliament adjourns tomorrow, viz:

Firstly, the Report of the Royal Commission of Illegal Immigrants in Sabah (RCIIIS), which is meant to end once-and-for-all the 40-year problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah which had multiplied 15 to 19 times in four decades from 100,000 in the seventies to 1.5 million to 1.9 million at present.

The Report of the RCIIIS was presented to the Federal Government on May 14, and the Prime Minister’s failure to present it to Parliament for more than six months and to allow for a full parliamentary debate, can  only mean one thing – the  complete absence of political will of the Barisan Nasional Federal Government and confirming that the RCI was just a Barisan Nasional ruse to secure votes from the Sabah voters for the 13GE in May last year.

The establishment of the Joseph Pairin Kitingan RCIIIS Report Review Committee – with no details as to who are its members, its terms of reference and time frame – is just the latest in a 40-year “merry-go-round” sleight-of-hand to kick the problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah into the distant and indefinite future until the population of illegal immigrants in Sabah exceed the two million mark, completely changing the political demography and socio-economic landscape, reducing native Sabahans into strangers and a minority in their own land.

Twenty-eight years ago in Parliament in 1986, I had warned that if the illegal enfranchisement of illegal immigrants in Sabah continued unimpeded, in a matter of three years, the demographic distribution of the 48 state assembly seats with 21 Kadazan majority seats, 8 Chinese majority seats and 19 Malay majority seats would be so altered and gerrymandered that it could end up as 16 Kadazan majority seats, 2 Chinese majority seats, and 30 Malay/Filipino/Indonesian seats.

The people of Sabah are entitled to know whether the political demography would be further aggravated and worsened in another electoral constituency redelineation and this is one reason why immediate publication and implementation of the Report of the RCIIIS is imperative.

Although tomorrow is the last day of the current budget meeting of Parliament, it is still possible for the Report of the RCIIIS to be presented before Parliament adjourns tomorrow as the RCIIIS Report had been submitted to the Federal Government for six-and-a-half months, and I urge the Prime Minister to issue a directive for the Report of the RCIIIS to be tabled in Parliament tomorrow, followed by a parliamentary debate.

Secondly, a Ministerial statement by the Prime Minister –cum-Finance Minister on the roiling multi-billion ringgit 1MDB scandal and assurance that he is not trying to shut down public and parliamentary query and debate on the latest financial scandal by the threat of legal suit against the DAP MP for PJ Utara, Tony Pua.

In fact, Najib should give a public undertaking that his threat of a legal suit against Tony Pua will not be used to shut down any public questioning of any aspect of 1MDB deals.

On Sunday, the Prime Minister had asked: “Where have we gone wrong?”,

This is one aspect where the Barisan Nasional Government have gone wrong.

I can still remember vividly that when Hussein Onn was the third Prime Minister, he insisted on tabling a White Paper in Parliament in 1979 on the Price Waterhouse Report on the Bank Rakyat scandal, which involved malpractices, mismanagement and misuse of public trust and funds to the tune of RM65 million.

This sum is now chickenfeed, for financial scandals are in the tens of billions of ringgit which do not cause the Prime Minister or Finance Minister (or one who is both) to bat an eyelid!

If Hussein Onn was prepared to table a White Paper on a RM65 million financial scandal, why has Najib refused to submit to parliamentary accountability and to issue a Ministerial statement on the multi-billion ringgit 1MDB scandal?

Again, it is not too late as a Ministerial statement on the 1MDB scandal could be tabled in Parliament tomorrow, and I urge Najib to do so.

Coming back to the subject at hand, the White Paper on the Islamic State threat, Najib is probably the only head of government in the world to have publicly praised the Islamic State (formerly ISIL/ISIS) terrorists, when he exhorted UMNO members on June 24 to emulate what he described as the “brave exploits” of ISIL/ISIS for UMNO to survive.

Although Najib has since denounced Islamic State unambiguously and unconditionally at the UN General Assembly on Sept. 26,  it had  not been able to completely wipe out the horror of his ill-advised initial praise of Islamic State in June.

The White Paper indicated that the authorities had been tracking the activities of Malaysians suspected of being related to Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) in 2012, and if so, Najib owes Parliament and the nation a proper explanation how he could be so badly advised as to publicly accord praise to ISIL/ISIS terrorists for their “brave exploits” five days before the declaration of the IS caliphate by its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on June 29, 2014 – showing either poor security intelligence or abysmal judgment by the Prime Minister.

However, when Najib made amends and unambiguously and unconditionally denounced Islamic State when he spoke at the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 27, 2014, I did not hesitate to immediately commend him for his speech and his call on the global community to defeat violent extremism and religious intolerance.

I had earlier urged Najib to unambiguously and unconditionally denounce Islamic State in  his United Nations General Assembly speech for three reasons:

Firstly, Najib’s laudatory first reference to ISIL/ISIS on June 24, akin to glorification, which sent out a wrong message about Malaysia’s stand against Islamic militants, extremists and terrorists. In fact, former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir was incensed by Najib’s initial praise for ISIL/ISIS, coming out with a downright condemnation of ISIS on August 16 while making  the caustic comment “I do not know if he knew what he was saying, but if Malaysia emulates Isis, this country will not be stable. Malaysia will become a very violent country.”

Secondly, the daily ISIS sadistic and horrific human rights violations, including targeted killings, trafficking, sexual abuse, abductions, forced conversions and beheadings which run contrary to the Global Movement of Moderates and Wasatiyah advocated by Najib to reject all form of violence and extremism, whether political or religious.

Thirdly, as Prime Minister of multi-religious Malaysia, with Islam as the official religion, Najib should speak loud and clear to lead the world, including Islamic nations, to condemn the terrorism and inhumanity of ISIS, not only as an affront and anathema to Islam as a religion of peace but for its crimes against humanity.

It would have been better if Najib’s unqualified condemnation of the Islamic State militants and extremists had been made very much earlier instead of waiting for the UN General Assembly on Sept. 27, some three months after his foolish and ill-advised praise for ISIL/ISIS on June 24, but it was better late than never.

A day before Najib’s speech at the UNGA, an international coalition of Muslim scholars had delivered a withering condemnation of IS by unpicking its doctrine in an open letter and declaring its existence “an offence to Islam”.

More than 120 Sunni imams and academics, including some of the Muslim world’s most respected scholars, signed the 18-page document which outlined 24 separate grounds on which the terror group violated the tenets of Islam.

The letter, addressed to the head of IS, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, was significant not only because of its signatories but also its detailed references to the Koran and other Islamic texts to counter the justifications offered by the extremists for their bloody rampage across a swathe of Syria and Iraq.

The closely-argued document singled out the murders of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and British aid worker David Haines (which have since been followed by other atrocious executions, including the French Hervé Gourdel on Sept. 24, Britisher Alan Henning on Oct 3, American Peter Kasig on Nov. 16, as well as Kurds and Syrians) by saying the men were “emissaries” and their killings as “unquestionably forbidden”.

It also took ISIS to task over its countless acts of brutality and massacres under the guise of jihad, or a holy struggle. While acknowledging to Al-Baghdadi that “you and your fighters are fearless” and ready to die for their cause, the scholars stated their actions are “not jihad at all, but rather, warmongering and criminality”.

The documents cited multiple examples of atrocities committed by IS fighters, describing the murder of hundreds of ethnic Yazidis in northern Iraq as “abominable crimes” and describes its attitudes to women and children as morally repugnant.

The letter concluded: “You have misinterpreted Islam into a religion of harshness, brutality, torture and murder. This is a great wrong and an offence to Islam, to Muslims and to the entire world.”

The letter, whose signatories come from Sudan to Iceland and include the grand mufti of Egypt, Sheikh Shawqi Allam, and the mufti of Jerusalem and All Palestine, Sheikh Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, was the latest from leading Muslims around the world condemning IS and its doctrine.

The White Paper said: “Malaysia berdiri teguh bersama masyarakat antarabangsa untuk menentang kumpulan pengganas ini kerana perjuangan IS mencermarkan nama baik Islam dan bertentangan dengan nilai kemanusiaan.”

In fact, the Global Movement of Moderates should be in the forefront of an international campaign to mobilise world opinion against the IS terrorists, as Najib had repeatedly made the clarion call in international fora, including thrice at the United Nations General Assembly, for “moderates of all countries, of all religions, to take back the centre, to reclaim the agenda for peace and pragmatism, and to marginalize the extremists”.

As Najib has repeatedly stated, “the real divide is not between East and West or between the developed and developing worlds or between Muslims, Christians and Jews; it is between moderates and extremists of all religions”.

Unfortunately, the Global Movement of Moderates initiated by Najib is unable to rise to the challenge of the times to mobilise national and international opinion against the violent extremism and religious intolerance in Syria and Iraq as it is desperately fending off attacks from extremists and intolerant right-wing groups in the country for being “seditious” as a result of a “white terror” spree by Najib’s government in the past few months through a sedition dragnet to stifle freedom of speech and legitimate criticism and dissent – which ironically granted immunity and impunity to the extremist and intolerant elements in the country for serious violations of the law.

Najib must align his domestic policies with his international pronouncements or he would forfeit all respect and credibility, whether at home or in the international arena.

Just as Islam is not under siege internationally, it is not under siege in Malaysia, and those who use the name of Islam to justify extremist and intolerant outbursts and actions must be contained, not only internationally, but also nationally.

This was why in my statement immediately after Najib’s speech at the UN General Assembly, I had made two proposals for Najib to align his domestic policies with his international pronouncements on moderation and the Global Movement of Moderates (GMM), namely :

to end the “white terror” sedition spree in the past weeks through malicious and selective prosecution and investigation under the Sedition Act, drop all Sedition charges, and empower the Global Movement of Moderates to launch national and international initiatives to promote moderation and reject all forms of violence and extremism in the face of the IS threat; and

move a motion when Parliament meets on Oct 7 to condemn in unambiguous and unconditional terms the extremism, violence and barbarism of IS.

The motion to condemn IS now before the House, but Najib has still to align his domestic policies with his international pronouncements on moderation and the establishment of GMM.

In his first speech to the UN General Assembly on 27th Sept. 2010 when he first broached the idea of a Global Movement of Moderate (GMM), to promote international peace and harmony and counter Islamophobia which demonize Islam and offend the one and a half billion adherents of the religion, he praised the group of American Christians who had “worked tirelessly to prevent the threatened burning of the Quran with the compelling argument that it is in fact un-Christian to burn the Quran”.

Najib said at the time that this was a clear example of what can be achieved “when moderates in each faith stand up to the extremists that are trying to hijack the universal value of our religions”.

Yet, Najib was not prepared to come to the forefront to denounce Perkasa President Ibrahim Ali for his threat in January 2013 to burn the Malay-language Bible with the compelling argument that it was un-Islamic to burn the Bible or any other holy books of any religion – not to mention the double standards of his Attorney-General, refusing to prosecute Ibrahim Ali whether under the Sedition Act or other laws while sanctioning sedition prosecutions against Pakatan Rakyat leaders, activists and intellectuals like law lecturer Dr. Azmi Sharom and Ali Abdul Jalil, who had to flee Malaysia and seek asylum and protection in Sweden because of oppression from authorities and gangsters.

In his Aidiladha message, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak reiterated that he would keep faith with the “moderation” pledge he reiterated at the 69th United Nations General Assembly in September this year.

Najib should realize that his wasatiyyah (moderation) campaign of justice, balance and excellence would have no credibility whatsoever unless he is seen as upholding all these principles not only in the international arena but also in his government policies inside the country.

This is why all eyes are on the UMNO General Assembly this week, as all Malaysians, Umno and non-Umno, Malays and non-Malays, are asking the question of “Where have we gone wrong” in promoting wasatiyyah not only under the present Prime Minister but in the 57-year history of the nation that a former Chief Justice (Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad) could deliver a keynote address (ucaptama) at the National Unity Convention of Malay and Muslim NGOs on Sunday  warning that the Malays could suffer a fate similar to Red Indians in the United States unless PAS and UMNO unite to allegedly stop DAP from attaining federal power.

In the first place, DAP had never said or believed that it could attain federal power without being part of a Malay-dominated political coalition.

This is not the only falsehood or fallacy in the thesis of the  former Chief Justice, which runs counter to all the three Wasatiyyah principles of justice, balance and excellence.

Is Najib, Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy UMNO President, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and the UMNO Vice Presidents, Hishammuddin, Zahid and Shafie Apdal admitting that UMNO as a party for the Malays, had failed the Malays after ruling Malaya and then Malaysia for 57 years  under six UMNO Prime Ministers to the extent that Malays now risk suffering a fate similar to the Red Indians in the United States – and that this horrible outcome could only be averted and the Malays saved from such a fate if PAS unite with UMNO to save the Malays.

Will Najib and Hishammuddin admit that their respective fathers, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein, had been such failures as the second and third Prime Ministers as to place the Malays in Malaysia under such a risk?

The “Red Indian warning” has been a favourite ploy of Tun Dr. Mahathir. Is Mahathir admitting that he had been such a n abysmal failure as the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia for 22 years from 1981 to 2003 that he has left the Malays after over two decades of premiership risking the fate of Red Indians in the United States?

We are confronted with the challenge whether we are prepared to be moderates in our own country, which is the real test whether we can be true moderates in the world in a Global Movement of Moderates campaign to lead the battlecry to isolate and marginalize all forms of extremism, intolerance and terrorism.

After governing the nation for 57 years, UMNO should be more and more inclusive and less and less exclusive – but the reverse is taking place, becoming even more exclusive and less inclusive than in the past.

Is UMNO prepared to draw the line in the sand, and the UMNO General Assembly this week demonstrate that UMNO stands solidly for moderation to marginalize extremism, intolerance and bigotry in Malaysia”?

The motion before the House asked for support for government policies and efforts to deal with the threat from the militant Islamic State – “
menyokong Kerajaan melaksanakan dasar-dasar dan usaha-usaha yang diperkenalkan menangani ancaman kumpulan militan Islamic State; melulus dan merestui dasar-dasar dan usaha-usaha yang diperkenal oleh Kerajaan untuk menangani ancaman kumpulan militan Islamic State” and “menyeru semua lapisan rakyat Malaysia mempergiatkan usaha dan komitmen mereka untuk bersama-sama menyokong Kerajaan menangani ancaman berkenaan
”.

If the battle for moderation, the campaign of the Global Movement for Moderates, is to succeed nationally and internationally, in the face of  the threat posed by Islamic State and such-like extremist, intolerant and terrorist organizations, it must  be a national effort uniting all Malaysians of all ethnicities and faiths which transcend race, religion or politics.

For this reason, I call for a Parliamentary Select Committee to mobilise support for moderation and  draft laws to deal with the Islamic State threat, for the threat by extremist, intolerant and terrorist organizations like Islamic State cannot be countered and won unless it is an all-Malaysian, and not just UMNO or Barisan Nasional, effort – especially at a time when the UMNO/BN Government is only a minority government with minority support from the people of Malaysia.

Such a Parliamentary Select Committee to mobilise support for moderation and to draft laws and measures to deal with the Islamic State threat should be formed before Parliament adjourns till March tomorrow.

[
Speech by DAP Parliamentary Leader and MP for Gelang Patah Lim Kit Siang on the Prime Minister’s motion on the White Paper on Islamic State in Parliament on Wednesday, 26th November 2014
]

Artikel ini juga boleh didapati dalam Bahasa Malaysia di:
https://blog.limkitsiang.com/2014/11/26/seruan-supaya-sebuah-jawatankuasa-pilihan-parlimen-ditubuhkan-bagi-menggembleng-sokongan-untuk-kesederhanaan-dan-menggubal-undang-undang-untuk-menangani-ancaman-islamic-state-is/

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Seruan supaya sebuah Jawatankuasa Pilihan Parlimen ditubuhkan bagi menggembleng sokongan untuk kesederhanaan dan menggubal undang-undang untuk menangani ancaman Islamic State (IS)

DAP mengalu-alukan Kertas Putih “Ke Arah Menangani Ancaman Kumpulan Islamic State” dan usul Perdana Menteri untuk mendapatkan sokongan Parlimen ke atas usaha Kerajaan bagi menangani ancaman IS serta untuk “menyeru semua lapisan rakyat Malaysia mempergiatkan usaha dan komitmen mereka untuk bersama-sama menyokong Kerajaan menangani ancaman berkenaan”.

Sebelum saya teruskan, izinkan saya menyatakan bahawa Kertas Putih mengenai IS adalah salah satu daripada tiga urusan Najib yang belum selesai yang sepatutnya siap dalam sidang  Parlimen kali ini yang berakhir esok.

Sambil mengalu-alukan Kertas Putih mengenai IS, saya ingin merakamkan kekecewaan dan rasa tidak senang rakyat kerana Perdana Menteri telah enggan untuk menyelesaikan dua lagi urusan lain  yang belum selesai sebelum Parlimen ditangguh esok, iaitu:

Pertama, Laporan Suruhanjaya Diraja Pendatang Tanpa Izin di Sabah (RCIIIS), yang bertujuan untuk menamatkan masalah 40 tahun pendatang tanpa izin di Sabah yang telah bertambah sehingga 15 malah 19 kali ganda dalam tempoh empat dekad dari bilangan 100,000 orang pada tahun tujuh puluhan hingga 1.5 juta hingga 1.9 juta pada masa ini.

Laporan RCIIIS telah dibentangkan kepada Kerajaan Persekutuan pada 14 Mei, dan kegagalan Perdana Menteri untuk membentangkannya pula kepada Parlimen sepanjang lebih daripada enam bulan dan untuk membolehkan perbahasan penuh di parlimen, hanya boleh bermakna bahawa – Barisan Nasional dan Kerajaan Persekutuan langsung tidak mempunyai keazaman politik dan mengesahkan bahawa RCI tersebut hanyalah satu muslihat Barisan Nasional untuk mendapatkan undi daripada pengundi Sabah untuk PRU13 pada Mei tahun lepas.

Penubuhan Jawatankuasa Kajian Laporan RCIIIS Joseph Pairin Kitingan – tanpa butir-butir mengenai siapa yang menjadi ahli, bidang tugasnya dan tempoh masa yang diberikan – hanya satu lagi silap mata dan permainan dalam masa 40 tahun untuk menolak ke tepi masalah pendatang tanpa izin di Sabah ke suatu masa sehingga penduduk pendatang tanpa izin di Sabah sudah melebihi dua juta, dan benar-benar mengubah demografi politik dan suasana sosio-ekonomi, menjadikan jumlah penduduk Sabah sekadar orang asing dan minoriti di tanah mereka sendiri.

Dua puluh lapan tahun yang lalu di Parlimen pada tahun 1986, saya telah memberi amaran bahawa jika aktiviti kemasukan secara haram pendatang tanpa izin di Sabah berterusan tanpa halangan, dalam masa tiga tahun, taburan demografi 48 kerusi Dewan Undangan Negeri dengan 21 kerusi majoriti Kadazan, 8 kerusi majoriti Cina dan 19 kerusi majoriti Melayu akan diubah dan disempadan-semula sehingga menjadi 16 kerusi majoriti Kadazan, 2 kerusi majoriti Cina, dan 30 kerusi Melayu/Filipina/Indonesia.

Rakyat Sabah berhak untuk mengetahui sama ada demografi politik akan bertambah buruk di lain-lain kawasan persempadanan semula pilihan raya, justeru ini adalah salah satu sebab mengapa penerbitan segera dan pelaksanaan Laporan RCIIIS adalah penting.

Walaupun esok adalah hari terakhir sidang belanjawan Parlimen, masih lagi sempat untuk membentangkan Laporan RCIIIS sebelum Parlimen ditangguhkan esok memandangkan Laporan RCIIIS telah pun dikemukakan kepada Kerajaan Persekutuan selama enam setengah bulan. Saya juga menggesa Perdana Menteri untuk mengeluarkan arahan supaya Laporan RCIIIS dibentangkan di Parlimen esok, diikuti oleh perbahasan parlimen.

Kedua, kenyataan oleh Perdana Menteri merangkap Menteri Kewangan ke atas skandal berbilion ringgit syarikat 1MDB dan jaminan bahawa beliau tidak cuba untuk menghalang pertanyaan dan perbahasan dari kalangan awam dan ahli parlimen mengenai skandal kewangan terkini itu dengan ancaman tindakan undang-undang terhadap Ahli Parlimen DAP PJ Utara, Tony Pua.

Malah, Najib perlu memberikan aku janji awam bahawa ancaman tindakan undang-undang terhadap Tony Pua tidak akan digunakan untuk menutup soal siasat awam terhadap mana-mana aspek pengurusan dan perniagaan 1MDB.

Pada hari Ahad, Perdana Menteri telah bertanya: “Di manakah silapnya kita?”

Ini adalah salah satu aspek di mana Kerajaan Barisan Nasional telah melakukan kesalahan.

Saya masih ingat dengan jelas bahawa apabila Hussein Onn menjadi Perdana Menteri ketiga, beliau berkeras membentangkan Kertas Putih di Parlimen pada tahun 1979 mengenai Laporan Price Waterhouse berkenaan skandal Bank Rakyat, yang melibatkan penyelewengan, salah urustadbir dan pecah amanah dana awam bernilai RM65 juta.

Jumlah ini kini sekadar ‘dedak ayam’, kerana skandal kewangan sekarang adalah dalam jumlah puluhan bilion ringgit yang tidak menyebabkan seseorang Perdana Menteri atau Menteri Kewangan (atau seseorang yang merupakan kedua-duanya sekali) untuk tidak rasa terkejut sedikit pun.

Jika Hussein Onn bersedia untuk membentangkan Kertas Putih mengenai skandal kewangan RM65 juta, mengapa Najib enggan tertakluk kepada akauntabiliti Parlimen dan mengeluarkan kenyataan kementerian mengenai skandal 1MDB bernilai berbilion ringgit?

Sekali lagi, adalah tidak terlalu lewat memandangkan kenyataan kementerian mengenai skandal 1MDB boleh dibentangkan di Parlimen esok, dan saya menggesa Najib untuk berbuat demikian.

Berbalik kepada tajuk kita hari ini, Kertas Putih mengenai ancaman IS, Najib mungkin satu-satunya ketua kerajaan di dunia yang secara terbuka memuji kumpulan pengganas IS (dahulunya ISIL/ISIS) apabila beliau menggesa ahli-ahli UMNO pada 24 Jun supaya mencontohi apa yang beliau sifatkan sebagai keberanian ISIL/ISIS supaya UMNO dapat terus bernyawa.

Walaupun Najib kemudiannya telah mengecam IS tanpa sebarang keraguan dan tanpa syarat dalam Perhimpunan Agung PBB pada 26 September, ia masih tidak mampu untuk menghapuskan kesan buruk pujian beliau yang tidak tepat terhadap IS pada bulan Jun.

Kertas Putih ini menunjukkan bahawa pihak berkuasa telah mengesan aktiviti rakyat Malaysia yang disyaki mempunyai kaitan dengan Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) pada tahun 2012, maka jika benar, Najib sebenarnya berhutang penjelasan sebenar kepada Parlimen dan kepada negara bagaimana beliau boleh dinasihatkan untuk memberi pujian  secara terbuka kepada pengganas ISIL/ISIS di atas ‘keberanian’ mereka hanya lima hari sebelum pengisytiharan khalifah IS oleh pemimpinnya Abu Bakar al-Baghdadi pada 29 Jun, 2014 – yang jelas menunjukkan sama ada wujud risikan keselamatan yang sangat lemah atau pertimbangan yang menyedihkan di pihak Perdana Menteri.

Walau bagaimanapun, apabila Najib membuat perubahan dan tanpa sebarang keraguan dan tanpa syarat mengecam IS ketika berucap di Perhimpunan Agung Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu pada 27 September 2014, saya tidak teragak-agak untuk segera mengucapkan syabas kepada beliau atas ucapan dan seruannya kepada masyarakat global untuk menewaskan ekstremisme ganas dan sikap tidak bertoleransi antara agama.

Saya sebelum ini telah menggesa Najib supaya secara jelas dan tanpa syarat mengecam IS di dalam ucapan Perhimpunan Agung Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu kerana tiga sebab:

Pertama, rujukan awal Najib yang bersifat pujian Najib untuk ISIL/ISIS pada 24 Jun, adalah bersamaan dengan mengagungkan, menghantar mesej yang salah mengenai pendirian Malaysia terhadap militan Islam, pelampau dan pengganas. Malah, bekas Perdana Menteri, Tun Mahathir begitu marah dengan pujian awal Najib untuk ISIL/ISIS, sambil menyertakan kutukan keras terhadap ISIS pada 16 Ogos semasa membuat komen pedas “Saya tidak tahu jika dia tahu apa yang dikatakannya, tetapi jika Malaysia mampu meniru ISIS, negara ini tidak akan stabil. Malaysia akan menjadi sebuah negara yang sangat ganas.”

Kedua, pelanggaran sadis dan ngeri ISIS terhadap hak asasi manusia setiap hari, termasuk pembunuhan, pemerdagangan manusia, penderaan seksual, penculikan, penukaran agama secara paksa dan pemenggalan kepala yang bertentangan dengan Pergerakan Kesederhanaan Global dan Wasatiyah yang diperjuangkan oleh Najib untuk menolak semua bentuk keganasan dan ekstremisme, sama ada politik atau agama.

Ketiga, sebagai Perdana Menteri sebuah negara Malaysia yang berbilang agama, dengan Islam sebagai agama rasmi, Najib seharusnya menjadi suara yang kuat dan jelas untuk memimpin dunia, termasuk negara-negara Islam, supaya mengutuk keganasan dan kekejaman ISIS, bukan sahaja sebagai satu penghinaan dan celaan terhadap Islam sebagai agama keamanan tetapi kerana jenayah terhadap kemanusiaan.

Adalah sepatutnya lebih baik jika kutukan Najib terhadap militan IS dan para pelampau telah dibuat lebih awal dan bukan menunggu Perhimpunan Agung PBB pada 27 September, kira-kira tiga bulan selepas pujiannya yang begitu dangkal terhadap ISIL/ISIS pada 24 Jun, tetapi lebih baiklah terlambat daripada langsung tidak dilakukan.

Sehari sebelum ucapan Najib di Perhimpunan Agung PBB, sebuah pakatan ulama Islam antarabangsa telah menyatakan kutukan terhadap IS dengan meleraikan doktrinnya dalam surat terbuka dan mengisytiharkan kewujudannya “suatu jenayah terhadap Islam”.

Lebih daripada 120 imam dan ahli akademik Ahli Sunnah, termasuk sebahagian ulama yang paling dihormati di dunia Muslim, menandatangani dokumen 18 muka surat yang menggariskan 24 alasan yang berasingan mengenai bagaimana kumpulan pengganas itu telahmelanggar peraturan Islam.

Surat itu, yang ditujukan kepada ketua IS, Abu Bakar Al-Baghdadi, adalah penting bukan sahaja kerana individu-individu yang menandatangan tetapi juga rujukan terperinci kepada Al-Quran dan teks-teks Islam yang lain untuk menangani justifikasi yang diberikan oleh pihak pelampau bagu tujuan amukan berdarah mereka merentasi Syria dan Iraq.

Dokumen tersebut menyebut secara khusus pembunuhan wartawan Amerika James Foley dan Steven Sotloff, dan pekerja bantuan British David Haines (yang kemudiannya diikuti oleh hukuman kejam lain, termasuk warga Perancis Hervé Gourdel pada 24 September, warganegara Inggeris Alan Henning pada 3 Oktober, warga Amerika Peter Kasig pada 16 November, serta penduduk Kurd dan Syria) dengan alasan bahawa orang-orang itu adalah “utusan” dan pembunuhan mereka adalah “dilarang tanpa sebarang keraguan”.

Ia juga mempertanggungjawabkan ISIS ke atas perbuatan keganasan yang tidak terkira banyaknya dan pembunuhan beramai-ramai di atas nama jihad, atau perjuangan suci. Walaupun mengakui kepada Al-Baghdadi bahawa “anda dan pejuang anda adalah berani” dan bersedia untuk mati demi perjuangan mereka, para ulama menyatakan tindakan mereka adalah “bukan jihad sama sekali, tetapi sebaliknya, penghasutan perang dan jenayah”.

Dokumen-dokumen memetik beberapa contoh kekejaman yang dilakukan oleh pejuang IS, menggambarkan pembunuhan beratus-ratus etnik Yazidi di utara Iraq sebagai “jenayah yang keji” dan menggambarkan sikap mereka terhadap wanita dan kanak-kanak sebagai menjijikkan dari segi moral.

Surat itu membuat kesimpulan: “Anda telah salah menafsir Islam menjadi agama kekerasan, kekejaman, penyeksaan dan pembunuhan. Ini adalah dosa besar dan jenayah terhadap Islam, kepada orang Islam dan kepada seluruh dunia.”

Surat itu, yang ditandatangani mereka yang datang dari Sudan hinggalah ke Iceland dan termasuk mufti besar Mesir, Sheikh Shawqi Allam, dan mufti Jerusalem dan seluruh Palestin, Sheikh Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, adalah kutukan yang terbaru daripada umat Islam terkemuka di seluruh dunia terhadap IS dan doktrinnya.

Kertas Putih berkata: “Malaysia berdiri teguh bersama masyarakat antarabangsa untuk menentang kumpulan pengganas ini kerana perjuangan IS mencermarkan nama baik Islam dan bertentangan dengan nilai kemanusiaan”

Malah, Pergerakan Kesederhanaan Global harus berada di barisan hadapan dalam kempen antarabangsa untuk menggerakkan pandangan dunia terhadap pengganas IS, kerana Najib telah berulang kali membuat seruan itu dalam forum antarabangsa, termasuk tiga kali pada Perhimpunan Agung Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu, supaya “para moderat daripada semua negara, semua agama, untuk mengambil kembali jalan tengah, untuk menuntut semula agenda keamanan dan pragmatisme, dan meminggirkan golongan pelampau”.

Seperti yang telah dinyatakan Najib berulang kali, “jurang sebenar bukanlah antara Timur dan Barat atau antara negara maju dan membangun atau di antara orang Islam, Kristian dan Yahudi; ia adalah antara sederhana dan ekstremis semua agama”.

Malangnya, Pergerakan Kesederhanaan Global yang dimulakan oleh Najib tidak dapat menyahut cabaran besar kali untuk menggerakkan pendapat kebangsaan dan antarabangsa terhadap ekstremisme ganas dan ketiadaan toleransi agama di Syria dan Iraq kerana ia sedang jenuh menangkis serangan puak extremis dan haluan kanan yang tidak bertoleransi di negara ini kerana “menghasut” akibat daripada pesta “white terror” kerajaan Najib dalam beberapa bulan yang lalu melalui pendakwaan pukat tunda Akta Hasutan untuk menyekat kebebasan bersuara dan kritikan serta perbezaan pendapat – yang ironinya memberikan kekebalan dan kebebasan untuk para pelampau dan anasir yang tidak toleran di negara ini untuk melanggar peraturan dan undang-undang.

Najib mesti menyelaraskan dasar-dasar domestik dengan deklarasi antarabangsa atau beliau akan kehilangan semua rasa hormat dan kredibiliti, sama ada di negara sendiri atau di arena antarabangsa.

Seperti mana Islam tidak terancam di peringkat antarabangsa, ia juga tidak terancam di Malaysia, dan mereka yang menggunakan nama Islam untuk mewajarkan ekstremisme dan ledakan tindakan tidak toleran mesti dibendung, bukan sahaja di peringkat antarabangsa, tetapi juga di peringkat nasional.

Ini adalah sebebnya kenapa dalam kenyataan saya serta-merta selepas ucapan Najib di Perhimpunan Agung PBB, saya telah membuat dua cadangan untuk Najib supaya menyelaraskan dasar-dasar domestik dengan deklarasi antarabangsa mengenai kesederhanaan dan Pergerakan Kesederhanaan Global (GMM), iaitu:

untuk menamatkan “white terror” Akta Hasutan sepanjang minggu-minggu sebelumnya melalui pendakwaan dan penyiasatan yang berniat jahat dan terpilih, menggugurkan semua pertuduhan hasutan, dan memberi kuasa kepada GMM untuk melancarkan inisiatif kebangsaan dan antarabangsa untuk menggalakkan kesederhanaan dan menolak semua bentuk keganasan dan ekstremisme dalam menghadapi ancaman IS; dan

membuat usul apabila Parlimen bersidang pada 7 Okt untuk mengutuk secara jelas dan tanpa syarat terhadap ekstremisme, keganasan dan kebiadaban IS.

Usul untuk mengutuk IS kini di hadapan Dewan, tetapi Najib masih perlu menyelaraskan dasar-dasar domestik dengan pengumuman antarabangsanya mengenai kesederhanaan dan penubuhan GMM.

Dalam ucapan pertamanya di Perhimpunan Agung PBB pada 27 september 2010 apabila beliau pertama kali membenihkan idea GMM, untuk menggalakkan keamanan dan keharmonian dan menangani Islamofobia yang merendahkan martabat Islam dan menyinggung satu setengah bilion penganut agama itu, beliau memuji sekumpulan Kristian Amerika yang telah “bekerja tanpa mengenal penat lelah untuk mengelakkan ugutan pembakaran al-Quran dengan hujah yang menarik bahawa ia adalah sebenarnya tidak-Kristian untuk membakar al-Quran”.

Najib berkata pada waktu itu bahawa ini adalah satu contoh yang jelas apa yang boleh dicapai “apabila moderat dalam setiap agama bersemuka dengan pelampau yang cuba untuk merampas nilai sejagat agama kita semua”.

Namun, Najib tidak bersedia untuk ke hadapan dan mengutuk Presiden Perkasa Ibrahim Ali di atas ancaman pada Januari 2013 untuk membakar Bible berbahasa Melayu dengan hujah bahawa ia adalah tindakan membakar Bible atau mana-mana kitab suci mana-mana agama adalah tidak Islamik – itu belum lagi menyebut double standard Peguam Negara yang enggan untuk mendakwa Ibrahim Ali sama ada di bawah Akta Hasutan atau undang-undang lain yang sambil membenarkan pendakwaan hasutan terhadap pemimpin Pakatan Rakyat, aktivis dan intelektual seperti pensyarah undang-undang Dr. Azmi Sharom dan Ali Abdul Jalil yang terpaksa melarikan diri dari Malaysia dan mendapatkan suaka dan perlindungan di Sweden kerana penindasan dari pihak berkuasa dan kumpulan samseng.

Dalam mesejnya pada hari Aidiladha, Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak mengulangi bahawa ia akan menepati ikrar “kesederhanaan” beliau yang diulanginya pada Perhimpunan Agung Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu ke-69 pada bulan September tahun ini.

Najib perlu sedar bahawa kempen wasatiyyah (kesederhanaan) beliau demi keadilan, keseimbangan dan kecemerlangan tidak mempunyai kredibiliti melainkan jika beliau dilihat menegakkan semua prinsip-prinsip ini bukan sahaja di arena antarabangsa tetapi juga dalam dasar-dasar kerajaan di dalam negara ini.

Ini adalah sebabnya mengapa semua mata tertuju pada Perhimpunan Agung UMNO minggu ini, semua rakyat Malaysia, Umno dan bukan Umno, orang Melayu dan bukan Melayu, bertanyakan soalan “Di manakah silapnya kita” dalam mempromosikan wasatiyyah bukan sahaja di bawah Perdana Menteri sekarang tetapi dalam sejarah 57 tahun negara sehinggakan bekas Ketua Hakim Negara (Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad) ketika menyampaikan ucaptama di Konvensyen Perpaduan Nasional NGO Melayu dan Islam pada hari Ahad boleh memberi amaran bahawa orang Melayu boleh mengalami nasib yang sama seperti Red Indian di Amerika Syarikat kecuali jika PAS dan UMNO bersatu untuk kononnya menghalang DAP dari mendapat kuasa di peringkat persekutuan.

Pertamanya, DAP tidak pernah berkata atau percaya bahawa ia boleh mencapai kuasa persekutuan tanpa menjadi sebahagian daripada gabungan politik yang dikuasai Melayu.

Ini bukan satu-satunya perkara yang salah atau kesilapan dalam tesis bekas Ketua Hakim Negara, yang bertentangan dengan ketiga-tiga prinsip Wasatiyyah keadilan, keseimbangan dan kecemerlangan.

Adakah Najib, Timbalan Perdana Menteri dan Timbalan Presiden UMNO, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin dan Naib Presiden UMNO, Hishammuddin, Zahid dan Shafie Apdal mengakui bahawa UMNO sebagai sebuah parti untuk orang Melayu, telah menggagali orang Melayu selepas memerintah Tanah Melayu dan seterusnya Malaysia untuk 57 tahun di bawah enam Perdana Menteri UMNO sehinggakan orang Melayu kini menghadapi risiko mengalami nasib yang sama seperti orang Red Indian di Amerika Syarikat – dan bahawa hasil mengerikan ini hanya dapat dielakkan, dan orang Melayu dapat diselamatkan hanya jika PAS bersatu dengan UMNO untuk menyelamatkan Melayu.

Adakah Najib dan Hishammuddin akan mengakui bahawa bapa mereka masing-masing, Tun Razak dan Tun Hussein, telah gagal sebagai Perdana Menteri kedua dan ketiga sehingga meletakkan orang Melayu di Malaysia di bawah risiko sedemikian?

Amaran ‘Red Indian’ ini adalah menjadi helah kegemaran Tun Dr. Mahathir. Apakah Mahathir mengakui bahawa beliau adalah begitu gagal sebagai Perdana Menteri keempat Malaysia selama 22 tahun dari 1981 hingga 2003 sehinggakan beliau telah meninggalkan orang Melayu selepas lebih dua dekad sebagai Perdana Menteri, mempertaruhkan nasib menjadi sepertiRed Indian di Amerika Syarikat?

Kita berhadapan dengan cabaran sama ada kita bersedia untuk menjadi sederhana di negara kita sendiri, yang merupakan ujian sebenar sama ada kita boleh menjadi benar-benar sederhana di dunia dalam satu Pergerakan Kempen Kesederhanaan Global bagi memimpin seruan untuk mengasingkan dan meminggirkan segala bentuk ekstremisme, sikap tidak bertoleransi dan keganasan.

Selepas mentadbir negara selama 57 tahun, UMNO perlu lebih  inklusif dan kurang eksklusif – malangnya, yang sebaliknya berlaku, ia menjadi lebih eksklusif dan kurang inklusif berbanding masa lalu.

Apakah UMNO bersedia untuk meletakkan garis pemisah, dan Perhimpunan Agung UMNO minggu ini dapat menunjukkan bahawa UMNO berdiri teguh untuk kesederhanaan dan meminggirkan ekstremisme, sikap tidak bertoleransi dan ketaksuban di Malaysia?

Usul di hadapan Dewan meminta sokongan bagi dasar dan usaha-usaha kerajaan untuk menangani ancaman dari militan IS – “menyokong Kerajaan melaksanakan dasar-dasar dan usaha-usaha yang diperkenalkan menangani ancaman kumpulan militan Islamic State; melulus dan merestui dasar-dasar dan usaha-usaha yang diperkenal oleh Kerajaan untuk menangani ancaman kumpulan militan Islamic State” dan “menyeru semua lapisan rakyat Malaysia mempergiatkan usaha dan komitmen mereka untuk bersama-sama menyokong Kerajaan menangani ancaman berkenaan”

Seandainya dalam pergelutan demi kesederhanaan ini, kempen Pergerakan Kesederhanaan Global mahu berjaya di peringkat nasional dan antarabangsa, dalam menghadapi ancaman yang ditimbulkan oleh IS dan pelampau sepertinya, pihak yang tidak bertoleransi dan pertubuhan-pertubuhan pengganas, ia mestilah menjadi usaha untuk penyatuan nasional bagi semua rakyat Malaysia daripada semua kaum dan agama, melangkaui bangsa, agama atau politik.

Atas sebab ini, saya memohon diadakan satu Jawatankuasa Pilihan Parlimen untuk menggembleng sokongan demi kesederhanaan dan menggubal undang-undang untuk menangani ancaman IS, kerana ancaman oleh pihak pelampau, golongan yang tidak bertoleransi dan pertubuhan-pertubuhan pengganas seperti Negara Islam tidak boleh ditentang dan memenangi melainkan jika ia adalah usaha bersama seluruh rakyat Malaysia, dan bukan hanya Umno atau Barisan Nasional – terutamanya pada ketika kerajaan UMNO/BN hanyalah sebuah kerajaan minoriti, dengan sokongan minoriti rakyat Malaysia.

Jawatankuasa Pilihan Parlimen untuk menggembleng sokongan untuk kesederhanaan dan untuk menggubal undang-undang dan langkah-langkah untuk menangani ancaman IS perlu ditubuhkan sebelum Parlimen ditangguhkan esok sehingga Mac tahun hadapan.

[
Ucapan oleh Ketua Parlimen DAP merangkap Ahli Parlimen Gelang Patah Lim Kit Siang berkenaan usul Perdana Menteri mengenai Kertas Putih Islamic State di Parlimen pada hari Rabu, 26 November4 2014
]

This article is also available in English at:
https://blog.limkitsiang.com/2014/11/26/call-for-parliamentary-select-committee-to-mobilise-support-for-moderation-and-draft-laws-and-measures-to-deal-with-the-islamic-state-threat/

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 26 November 2014, 12:28 pm and is filed under
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As Umno opening acts, analysts see wings telling stale tale with ‘regressive’ rhetorics

By Zurairi AR

The Malay Mail Online

November 27, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 27 — For all their sound and fury in opening the much-anticipated Umno general assembly, its youth and women’s wings appear to be mired in partisan and parochial issues that political analysts said is distancing the ruling party from its ambitious reform agenda.

After a full day of speeches from the wing leaders and delegates which one analyst called “regressive” rhetoric, several pundits recommended Umno work on offering fresh ideas that will bridge the divide among the different races in order to capture the attention and imagination of their countrymen for the future.

“I think Umno needs a new voice, not one that reminds us of old news… Umno leaders need to come up with extraordinary ideas, only then can they show their leadership,” Prof Dr Jayum Jawan, a political analyst with the National Professor Council, told Malay Mail Online over phone.

“We need new ideas to strengthen Umno, its unity, and the good relations between Malays and non-Malays. Coming from its important wings, this is pretty disappointing from Umno’s top leaders.”

In his winding-up speech yesterday, Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin called on Malays to rise and defend themselves from an onslaught of insults and challenges to their special position in the country, declaring that the country’s majority ethnic group has been patient enough.

The Youth and Sports Minister also warned non-Malays to do their part and honour the pledges of their ancestors when they were granted citizenship during the formation of the country.

The two wings also defended the controversial Sedition Act 1948, with Women’s wing chief Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil proclaiming the move to be a Malaysian agenda, not just a Malay one, aimed at protecting the security, stability and harmony of the country.

“Rightly, the issues that should be discussed aggressively and progressively are the more macro issues, not just the basis of the party’s struggle,” said Prof Dr Shamsul Adabi Mamat, a political science lecturer with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

Shamsul suggested that the Umno wings would have found better resonance if they had talked about issues such as urban poverty, housing problems, rural social ills and youth unemployment instead.

“These are the issues that can give the public a perception that Umno has come out of its stereotypical frame,” added Shamsul.

Jayum, who is also a lecturer with Universiti Putra Malaysia, chastised the Umno wings for harping on the rights of the Malays, insisting that the Malays would still dominate Parliament and the prime minister post for a long time to come.

“The Malay rights would go nowhere… Instead they should show how Malays can set an example and uphold good relations with the others,”

“The prime minister would still be a Malay, the Malays would still dominate the federal government, even if Umno loses. It is impossible for an ethnic Chinese or Indian to be PM, and there is little possibility for someone from Sabah or even Sarawak.”

Prof James Chin, a director with think-tank Jeffrey Cheah Institute, however remained cynical, claiming that Umno wings’ meets have always brought up fiery and controversial rhetorics rather than broader topics.

“Umno Youth and Women act as pressure points, there is no such thing as progressive voices there. The two wings would bring out all the difficult subjects before the main assembly,” Chin told Malay Mail Online over phone.

“Basically, the message was for the non-Malays to watch out. ‘If you keep rejecting us in the general elections, Umno will look to the right, and you’ll pay a heavy price’,” the political scientist said.

Chin also suggested that the Umno wings had offered consistent points along the same lines with the Malay rights gathering National Unity Convention that was held on Sunday to send a message to Umno.

The convention, attended by over 300 Malay rights NGOs and more than 1,000 supporters, tabled a memorandum covering topics such as economy, law, education and Islam, that is expected to be delivered to Umno today.

It had also passed a declaration that, among others, sought for Bumiputera citizens to be officially recognised as “bangsa teras”, or “core group”, who “calls the shots” on national policies.

The 65th Umno general assembly runs this week till Saturday at the Putra World Trade Centre here.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 27 November 2014, 9:08 am and is filed under
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Najib buckles under pressure to renounce the repeal of Sedition Act and becomes hostage to rightists and extremists who are opposed to policy of moderation and GMM

Although the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s  buckling under pressure to renounce the repeal of the Sedition Act, which he had promised two years ago in July 2012, has not come as a total surprise to Malaysians, it is nonetheless heart-rending to see the sixth Prime Minister succumbing to threats by rightists and extremists in UMNO and UMNO-sponsored NGOs and becoming a hostage to elements which are opposed to the policy of moderation and the Global Movement of Moderates (GMM).

Now I understand why the sudden urgency for the Prime Minister to table a White Paper and move a motion in Parliament to condemn Islamic State yesterday –  which was made without any advance notice to MPs as the decision was apparently made only on Monday night: – i.e. to camouflage Najib’s betrayal of the cause of wasatiyyah and his initiative of the Global Movement of Moderates, which had been the subject of his three speeches to the United Nations General Assembly since Sept. 2010, when he delivered his UMNO Presidential Address this morning.

The rightists, extremists and the opponents of the campaign of wasatiyyah have cause to celebrate, for they have made it very clear that they will be drawing the line in the sand at the 68th UMNO General Assembly whether to tolerate or topple Najib as Prime Minister and UMNO President before his terms were up.

An ex-UMNO Minister did not mince his words when he warned a fortnight ago that Najib’s days were numbered if  he continued to disappoint the rightists and extremists, hinting at  “another candidate” already waiting on the sidelines and ready to pounce on Najib should the unacceptable happen.

Another riddle was also resolved at the opening of the UMNO General Assembly this morning. – the screening of slides of the bloody May 13 race riots, purportedly as a reminder to UMNO of the importance of national unity and the dangers of discord among the Malays, which  confirmed UMNO’s role and motive in producing the UMNO May 13 bogey film “Tanda Putera” at the cost of RM5 million public money in the run-up to the 13th General Elections in May last year.

The UMNO General Assemblies have confirmed the worst fears – that instead of becoming more inclusive and less exclusive after 57 years governing Malaysia through six UMNO Prime Ministers, UMNO leaders and delegates have become more exclusive and less exclusive.

Oxford University-educated UMNO Youth leader, Khairy Jamaluddin revealed his worries  that UMNO is fighting a lost cause in the battle for the hearts and minds of “Gen Y” when he lamented that Malay youths were joining DAP and tried to hide his fears by dismissing the DAP as a “chauvinist party”, not realising that what he said is in fact a testimony that the DAP is becoming  more inclusive and less exclusive party in contrast to UMNO and UMNO Youth undergoing the passage of becoming a more exclusive and less inclusive party.

In fact, when in his closing speech, Khairy said the Malays are under siege and the time for patience is over,  would he have also approved the MCA Youth Chief declaring that the Chinese are under siege and that the time for patience is over or the MIC Youth Chief saying that the Indians are under siege and that the time for patience is over?

It is quite obvious who is being exposed as being truly chauvinist, racialist and being more exclusive and  less inclusive in the sixth decade of nation-building.

But the dishonour of being the most irresponsible in fostering the politics of  intolerance, bigotry and hatred in the UMNO General Assemblies so far must go to the Kedah representative at the Wanita UMNO general assembly and former deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Mashitah Ibrahim who succeeded in arousing the UMNO Wanita delegates with her provocative speech alleging that the Chinese (community) in Kedah burned the Quran page by page during a prayer ritual.

The Malaysiakini report by reporter Abdul Rahman Sabri noted:

“Do you feel challenged? Sensitive? Sad? Frustrated?” she asked, prompting delegates to respond in the affirmative.

“If you feel that way, why not voice out? Don’t be quiet. Where is our voice in the media, in cyberspace? Don’t be the silent majority. (Don’t allow) the minority to talk.

“The position of Islam and the rights of Muslims are being challenged. After 57 years of independence, why is this happening?

“Is it to divide (us) or the political gimmick of certain quarters, or the revolution of ICT (information, communication and technology) or is the Islamic agenda envied in Malaysia?” she asked.

Therefore, Mashitah, who was attached with the Prime Minister’s Department, said Wanita Umno delegates and Muslims should not be the “silent majority” when their faith is challenged.

I believe I was not the only non-Malay or non-Muslim who was shocked and outraged that there was such an incident of the Chinese (community) whether in Kedah or elsewhere burning the Quran page by page during a prayer ritual, and I fully agree that such insensitive and sacrilegious incidents deserves not only the fullest public condemnation but the full weight of the law to preserve inter-racial and inter-religious goodwill, tolerance and harmony  in plural Malaysia.

But was Mashitah tell the truth, as I have not read or heard of any such outrageous incident.

Of course, there were media reports a few days ago about an incident in Alor Star where the police detained a man after pages of the Quran were found burned in a container at a food court near a market.

Kedah State police chief Zakaria Yusof had told the media that the man would be referred to the hospital for examination and treatment.

He also revealed that traders at the market often saw the man wandering in the area and burning papers near the food court.

But was Mashitah referring to this deplorable action by one man when she had blamed the Chinese community for such insensitive and sacrilegious action against the Quran,”burning page by page in a ritual prayer”.

I have contacted the two DAP Kedah State Assemblymen, Tan Kok Yew (Derga) and Teoh Boon Kok @ Teoh Kai Kok (Kota Darul Aman) and both denied that there had been any incident in Kedah of the Chinese community burning the Quran page by page during a prayer ritual, and that the particular  incident of a man detained by the police after pages of the Quran were found burned in an Alor Star market happened last Thursday (20th November) and the man concerned was a Malay and not a Chinese, who had been sent to the mental hospital for examination and treatment.

I also received a copy of the statement by the Kedah Mentri Besar, Dato’ Seri Mukhriz Tun Mahathir on 24th November on the incident, as follows:

“Saya telah menerima laporan lengkap berhubung kejadian cebisan Al-Quran yang didakwa dibakar di sebuah tokong kecil di Pasar Besar Alor Setar/Billion Supermarket, Alor Setar pada minggu lepas.

“Tiga cebisan Al-Quran itu dijumpai oleh seorang lelaki disitu pada pukul 9.20 pagi, 20 November 2014.

“Siasatan polis mendapati cebisan Al-Quran itu tidak dibakar tetapi dikoyak oleh seorang lelaki berbangsa Melayu yang tidak siuman. Lelaki itu kini ditahan di Wad Psikiatrik, Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah, Alor Star.

“Saya kesal dengan tindakan liar tiga individu yang tanpa usul periksa, telah mencederakan seorang lelaki lain, dan kes membakar beberapa buah kedai di medan selera di situ. Ingin saya tegaskan di sini bahawa ianya satu tindakan yang melanggari undang-undang.

“Saya telah mengarahkan Majlis Bandaraya Alor Setar supaya memperbaiki segera gerai-gerai yang rosak akibat perbuatan liar individu-individu berkenaan. Pihak Pejabat Penasihat Undang-Undang Negeri juga telah menyediakan dua kertas siasatan berhubung dengan dakwaan kejadian koyak Al-Quran dan kes memukul orang awam untuk diserahkan kepada Peguam Negara.

Saya berharap orang ramai tidak terpengaruh dengan khabar angin mengenai kejadian tersebut sehingga bertindak di luar batasan undang-undang.”

Is Mashitah referring to this incident by a Malay “yang tidak siuman” and blaming it on the Chinese community, or is she referring to another incident.

Mashitah and the UMNO leadership owe the whole country a proper explanation for a most irresponsible exaggeration of an incident which could provoke the most serious and dangerous consequences inimical to the preservation of inter-racial and inter-religious peace, harmony and goodwill in plural Malaysia.

The ball is in their court.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 27 November 2014, 6:46 pm and is filed under
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In Umno’s youth ‘rejuvenation’, mutton dressed as lamb?

by Joseph Sipalan

Malay Mail Online

November 28, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 28 — At 65, Umno is old, older even than Malaysia, and worryingly for the party now, its current leaders are not much younger.

As the anchor of Barisan Nasional (BN), it is the oldest and longest ruling party in the world, having governed the country since 1957. The country has need of transformation and Umno, according to its leaders, is also in dire need of reform and “rejuvenation”.

Umno knows it must ring in the new, but to ring out the old is where it is finding strong resistance. Leading up to the ongoing Umno General Assembly, party leaders have sent clearer and clearer hints, all but opening the exit door and ushering out those whom they think should leave.

The transformation is not solely about internal renewal. Umno’s top leaders have conveyed that the stakes are the party’s continued survival and, by extension, the continuity of the only ruling government that Malaysia has ever known.

In the next general election no more than four years away, there will be an estimated four million youths who will qualify as new voters, adding to the 17.8 million who may cast ballots if they all register as voters.

Magnifying the sense of urgency is the belief that Umno is progressively losing support from the rural Malays ― traditionally its core power base ― due to increasing migration to urban areas.

Despite the potentially bleak outlook for Umno, however, is the party willing and able to heed president Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s call to “reinvigorate” their ranks as an “investment” for the future?

“The party won’t (change), but that’s the whole responsibility of the leadership. You are the captain. If the ship is heading in the wrong direction, you should steer the ship back on course,” Umno’s Pulai MP, Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed told Malay Mail Online when contacted.

Nur Jazlan, considered a party maverick who has no qualms going against the grain, argued that Najib has been talking about youth engagement and party renewal for years without any tangible results.

He noted that until the party president acts on his “threats” to push aside the tired methods perpetuated by the old guard, which have cost the Umno its support, in favour of “radical” approaches championed by the young, the youth agenda is unlikely to find traction.

But Najib at least has one vocal supporter, Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, who on Wednesday sought to rally his wing to “stand up” to party seniors who stand in the way of the renewal.

Speaking at the Youth wing’s assembly, Khairy pointed out that Umno was losing to its rivals in the contest for young talent, a far cry from the days when youthful leaders were commonplace within the party.

“This may be so 50 years ago, but the world and its ways have changed. And if we refuse to change, it is our place which will change through the young voters’ ballots,” he said then.

Political analyst Prof Dr Jayum A. Jawan agreed that it requires a large dose of courage from Umno’s senior leadership to forge ahead with the reform agenda, one that is certain to rile up the so-called warlords in a party that is acutely familiar with sabotage and infighting.

The Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) academic stressed that Najib, his deputy Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and the rest of the Umno supreme council must be firm, however, with the party warlords if they are serious about addressing the decline in support.

“Najib, Muhyiddin and (party) leaders must really take bold steps to rejuvenate (the party), to reach out to more educated Malays. They have to forgo these warlords and bring in new people and get new ideas from those who have been with Umno all this while,” he said.

Just letting youngsters join Umno — if they are so inclined — is only the beginning of Umno’s difficult reforms, one analyst noted. The more arduous task is to figure out how to engage and move them further up the party’s rungs.

“At the same time, they face challenges not only in rebranding. They also need to change how they work, the structures in the party to allow young people to rise up and be heard,” Ibrahim Suffian, who heads independent pollster Merdeka Center, told Malay Mail Online.

“That is the challenge, allowing young people to go in… as was seen in the past GE, a lot of the old guard didn’t want to give way because everyone wanted their turn at senior leadership,” he said.

During his speech at the Umno Youth assembly, Khairy pointed out the same issue after highlighting how he is the only party leader under 40 — and barely, at that — with a senior government position.

“This is not something that I want, and I cannot be the only person to have pulled through – even that was just recently,” said Khairy, who is youth and sports minister.

Despite the arguments against entrenched obstacles to Umno’s push for youth, Wangsa Maju division chief Datuk Shafei Abdullah noted that it is exactly this hierarchical culture that will help develop future leaders worthy of taking over the mantle of leadership in the party.

Citing his rise through the party ranks, from his beginnings as a student activist, he said often youths join the party expecting to be treated like kings despite being political novices yet to prove themselves.

Shafei stressed that it falls on the current leaders to groom their new charges to understand that Umno politics is one of service to the people and not a career path that can be pursued like what they are accustomed to as professionals.

“Even if they are CEOs in a company, when they join Umno with no position, they must act like they have no position. They can give ideas but they cannot direct people, instruct people like they are used to doing… at the end of the day politics is a game of numbers and votes,” he said.

But Shafei conceded that party’s warlords have no choice but to accept the fact that “youngsters” will determine whether or not Umno will remain relevant in future, making it all the more necessary for them to fall in line with Najib’s call to “reinvigorate” the party.

“We are getting older. Say school leavers in Form Five, in four years time they can already vote. If we reject them now, of course they will go for the opposition.”

                This entry was posted on Friday, 28 November 2014, 9:54 am and is filed under
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Khairy isn’t the problem, it is us

COMMENTARY BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER

27 November 2014

Khairy Jamaluddin reminds us of our biggest problem here in Malaysia.  But the problem is not Khairy. It is us, Malaysians.

We are too gullible; too believing; too easily duped by form over substance; too game to discard evidence and rely instead on occasional warm fuzzy rhetoric.

Khairy Jamaluddin, the Oxford-educated erudite politician, the young voice of reason who was going to pull Malaysia from the cusp of racial and extremist ruin, was a figment of our own imagination.

It was the height of stupidity and no small measure of irresponsibility to believe that one ambitious politician would enter the corrupt and extremist eco-system of Umno and would somehow, not only emerge undamaged but would be able to, turn the hordes of blinkered and self-serving individuals into a legion of progressive and moderate souls.

Would this even be possible in a Hollywood movie? Far greater men and women than Khairy Jamaluddin have talked about making change from within and failed miserably.

Why should a young politician – who knows that playing by Umno’s rules and speaking its language and doing its bidding is the only way he is going to reach the apex of Malaysian politics – even consider upsetting the status quo?

Why? No reason for him to do so. Peel away all the layers – the intelligence, the education, the Tun Abdullah Badawi connection – and what we get is this: an ambitious young politician who wants to become the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Forget all that nonsense about moderation, the occasional barbs with Perkasa and the rare conscience-attacks.

His family and friends defend him, saying that he is a politician. And they are right, as much as we are damn fools.

And so it was imperative for Khairy to talk about the need to keep the Sedition Act, tapping a popular vein in his party.

He was silent on the abuse of the Sedition Act by the Umno-controlled government – the abuse that ignited clamour for the dismantling of this piece of legislation.

Should we have expected any Umno politician to defend the rights of Dr Azmi Sharom and other academics to speak freely? Definitely not. So, why do we expect Khairy to be any different from any Umno politician?

Because over the years, we have fooled ourselves into thinking that this man with his “Oxford education” and “enlightened ideas” was somehow different than Datuk Ibrahim Ali or Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi or Datuk Ahmad Maslan.

More polished? Definitely. Different? Definitely not.

But that is not Khairy Jamaluddin’s problem. That is our problem: we duped ourselves into thinking that a politician with his eye on the big prize would be an agent of change. – November 27, 2014.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 28 November 2014, 9:29 am and is filed under
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MCA, MIC and Gerakan utterly irrelevant, but have Sarawak and Sabah also become irrelevant in BN national decision-making process on issues directly affecting the two states?

When buckling under pressure from the rightists and extremists in UMNO and UMNO-sponsored NGOs, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak not only reneged on his specific promise in July 2012 to repeal the Sedition Act, but added salt to injury by declaring that the Sedition Act would be further strengthened and become even more draconian and repressive.

MCA, MIC and Gerakan are utterly irrelevant in the UMNO-dominated Barisan Nasional scheme of things, as evident by the way the views of these three parties and their leaders were ignored and not even sought in Umno-BN’s major decision-making process.

However,  are the views and legitimate interests of Sarawak and Sabah similarly disregarded in the Umno-Barisan Nasional  national decision-making process, especially in matters directly affecting the people in the two states?

Najib announced yesterday that the Sedition Act would not only be retained, it would be fortified, so as to deal with calls for secession  of Sarawak and Sabah.

Have the Sarawak and Saban Barisan Nasional leaders been fully consulted and given their consent to the proposal to  criminalise calls for secession of Sarawak and Sabah by making them offences under the repressive Sedition Act?

DAP opposes any call for the secession of Sarawak and Sabah from Malaysia but I fully agree the Sarawak Land Development Minister Tan Sri Dr. James Masing that only a small group of people have advocated secession of Sarawak and Sabah and instead of criminalising such calls, the wisest political and nation-building response is to engage with these groups to find out what are the causes of their unhappiness. Don’t kill the messenger but miss the message!

Having tasted victory in forcing the Prime Minister to buckle under their pressures, the rightist and extremist elements are piling further pressures to put back the clock of democratisation and national transformation.

A former Court of Appeal judge, Datuk Mohd Noor Abdullah wants offenders under the Sedition Act to be punished with a jail sentence of not less than three years and not exceeding 10 years instead of the present penalty of a fine of RM5,000 or a maximum jail sentence of three years or both.

Mohd Noor  also wants the definition of sedition to be widened to any acts that caused fear to the Malays.

It is already unbelievable that a former Court of Appeal judge has so little confidence in the discretion and judgement of judges when imposing sentence that he supports the removal of such discretion to be given to judges, but what really boggles the imagination is that he could be so blinkered, biased and sectarian that he could advocate that in a plural nation like Malaysia, sedition includes any acts that caused fears to the Malays.

The Inspector-General of Police meanwhile wants the Sedition Act to be “improved” to make it easier for authorities to prosecute those who violate the law.

It is most shocking that the Prime Minister has failed to address widespread concerns about selective and malicious investigation and prosecution under the Sedition Act against Pakatan Rakyat leaders, intellectuals and activists in the recent “white terror” campaign to create a climate of fear in the country.

It would appear that even before any amendments to “fortify” the Sedition Act, there would be pressures for another dragnet of selective/malicious prosecution against PR leaders, activists and dissent.

Najib would be making a fatal mistake if he thinks that by buckling to the rightist and extremist pressures over the retention of the Sedition Act, he has consolidated his position in UMNO.

The opposite appears to be the case, as illustrated by the blog of Zainuddin Maidin,  ex-Minister who is clearly the  spokesman of the rightists and extremists in UMNO and UMNO-sponsored NGOs, who warned that “a quiet revolution is under way in Umno” and the applause Najib  received was not a show of support, but a release of pent-up emotions and a rejection of his “weak and liberal leadership”.

Zainuddin warned:  “If he hadn’t made that announcement, all the Umno members would have buried him, and his future in Umno would have been destroyed”

He added: “Najib’s respite this time, would be his last breath.”

Ominous warning from the rightists and extremists in UMNO and UMNO-sponsored NGOs indeed.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 28 November 2014, 3:58 pm and is filed under
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Najib making Umno less relevant, says columnist

The Malaysian Insider

28 November 2014

Umno is losing its appeal among more Malaysians, and its president Datuk Seri Najib Razak has been the cause of this with new approaches that pushed the party out of the political spotlight, effectively making it less relevant to the people, The Edge Review columnist, Bridget Welsh, wrote.

Among these were the “outsourcing” of Umno’s traditional role as defender of the Malays to right-wing groups like Perkasa, competing with PAS to be the defender of Islam, use of government resources and machinery to dispense patronage, and relegating the party to the sidelines in the making of government policy.

Writing in this week’s edition of the digital magazine, Welsh, a political analyst, said Najib had changed Umno’s role and in so doing, made the party “less politically relevant”.

She noted that Umno has long relied on the “racial insecurity” of Malays to maintain power but outsourcing its role as defender of the Malays to other groups had “marked the start of Umno’s slide to the sidelines”.

Although these groups received government funding and were closely linked to Umno, holding memberships in both, they had come to take over Umno’s position in spearheading calls to protect Malay interests.

The next approach, competing with PAS to “position Umno as the defender of Islam in Malaysia” effectively moved Umno further from its “moderate roots”, causing it to be perceived by the public as becoming more zealous and hardline.

Najib, as prime minister, allowed increased funding for Islamic institutions, Islamic-based groups, religious schools and the state’s religious apparatus, and while this impacted PAS negatively, it also strengthened the religious bureaucracy within the government service, making it even more powerful and autonomous, Welsh noted.

Equally damaging to Umno’s ability to win new support was Najib’s use of government handouts which “replaced the party as the vehicle for wooing voters”.

Of such initiatives, the 1Malaysia People’s Aid programme (BR1M) was the most visible and was used widely during elections.

This re-branding of the ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional, during election campaigns, served to take the focus off Umno and its baggage, but the party no longer became the “face of political patronage”. While loyalty to Umno was still expected, it was “less direct”, Welsh said.

Welsh used these approaches to illustrate how Umno’s decline in the public eye had come from an unlikely cause – from “within the party leadership itself”.

“In fact, one of the distinguishing features of Najib Razak’s tenure has been the displacement of Umno as a truly dominant political actor,” she wrote.

The moves to outsource Umno’s role as defender of the Malays, to appear more Islamic and to hide behind the face of government as benefactor was the party’s way of dealing with the massive loss of support in the general election of 2008, she said.

Umno then was rejected for its racial politics and corruption, and went on to lose its customary two-thirds majority in Parliament.

Welsh said Umno was unable to transform itself in response to the public’s new political awareness, and opted instead for different tactics, which only worsened its political capital.

Other approaches detrimental to the party have been in the area of party and election financing, and government engagement, Welsh added.

She said Najib had to tap from “new vehicles for election funding, including the scandal-ridden 1Malaysia Development Berhad fund, which was a departure from the past whereby Umno itself had a sufficient war chest.

“Today, other investment arms and entities have changed Umno’s dominant position. It has opened up alternative sources of funding for party leaders, but at the same time reduced the party’s role in setting the direction of financing,” she wrote.

Yet another way Najib has diminished Umno’s role was in reducing the party’s engagement in policy-making, having brought in “hired consultants” to the government, Welsh said.

“The common feature of all of these changes has been to push Umno back from the political front line,” Welsh concluded, and while this had made it “more obsessed” with clinging to power, it was ironically contributing to its own decline. – November 28, 2014.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 28 November 2014, 1:03 pm and is filed under
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Will criticising Umno now be labelled seditious?

by Sheridan Mahavera

The Malaysian Insider

28 November 2014

The hardliners in Umno have won and they want every Malaysian to know this.

Any criticism that even touches on Islam, the Malays and the rulers will be seen as an attack against Umno, and vice versa.

This is the message from the first day of the Umno assembly and the party’s conservatives have proved how influential they are as they have managed to get their president, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, to go back on his own word.

And this has serious repercussions for the man on the street, said noted political analyst Prof James Chin, as it could signal an increased clamp down on legitimate dissent.

Grassroots pressure

According to Penang Umno chief Datuk Zainal Abidin Osman, if Najib did not abandon his plans to repeal the Sedition Act, there would have been immense pressure against him.

Delegates to this year’s assembly, who are essentially spokespersons for the party’s ordinary members, would have argued for the Sedition Act to be maintained.

Zainal Abidin said almost all of the party’s over 20,000 branches had discussed the Sedition Act. The consensus was that it should be maintained.

This consensus was then brought to the divisions, to their state committees and in the end, it materialised in the debates at the general assembly.

“So when Najib said he would retain the Act, everyone changed their speeches to thank him instead of pressuring him. If not, the debates would have been more heated,” Zainal Abidin said.

“Their thinking is that the Act has kept the peace in Malaysia for 57 years. Except for that one blip in 1969, we have lived in peace and harmony. So why get rid of it?” said Zainal Abidin.

Almost all of the delegates who spoke yesterday expressed a variation of this belief.

“The Sedition Act has protected us all this while. Action can be taken against those who do not like Malays or Islam,” said Perlis Umno delegate Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin.

“We already made a mistake when we got rid of the Internal Security Act and amended the University and University Colleges Act,” said Malacca Umno delegate Mustafa Musa.

“The only people who have benefitted from the Sedition Act is the opposition,” said Mustafa.

Zainal Abidin tried to allay fears that Najib’s decision would spark a new wave of suppression against those who criticised Putrajaya and Umno.

“Najib has already made it clear, it will not be used as a political tool.”

The line between criticism and hate

Yet, the fact that many of those charged under the Sedition Act are politicians from Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and individuals who have criticised government policy was something that escaped the delegates’ attention.

Before Najib made his announcement yesterday, a short video clip was shown to delegates of postings on social media that were supposedly seditious.

They included insults towards the Malay rulers, drawings defacing Muslim symbols and the notorious Ramadan message from controversial bloggers Alvin Tan and Vivian Lee.

What was missing were the faces of PR leaders like Khalid Samad, N. Surendran or Tian Chua, academics like Professor Azmi Sharom or preachers such as Wan Ji Wan Hussin.

All of them have been charged under the act for expressing their opinions on the decisions made by Putrajaya.

Delegates did not make any distinction between criticism of policy and law, for instance on the limits of royal power, and actual hate speech.

On the contrary, it appeared Umno members would prefer if the two were conflated and taken to be the same thing.

One delegate, Datuk Jamelah A. Bakar, even proposed that any insult towards Umno leaders be considered seditious.

“We should hunt down those who flee to other countries and take away their citizenship,” said the Wanita Umno delegate.

Chin, of Monash University, said Najib’s decision reflected a worrying trend in Umno which can have dire consequences for the country as a whole.

“Najib had a strong rightwing speech. He tried to forge a middle path for the party. But everyone refused to go with him. So now he is following what Umno wants.”

Najib’s earlier promise to repeal the act was sternly opposed by the party’s conservatives such as Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“He wants to show that he is not as weak as people say he is. But with this, it means he is giving up on the moderate approach.”

Chin also felt that it is convenient for Umno to blur the lines between criticism towards them and hate speech.

“By retaining the Act, they are saying that if you criticise us, even the slightest, we will get you.” – November 28, 2014.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 28 November 2014, 9:39 am and is filed under
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Is this the party that gave us the Tunku, Dr M?

COMMENTARY BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER

29 November 2014

Umno was the party that moved for Malaya’s independence and later the formation of Malaysia together with Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore.

Back then, Umno was a party of civil servants and intellectuals that advanced the cause of the Malays.

But if after the first couple of days of the Umno general assembly, Malaysians still believe in this party that gave us giants such as Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, Tun Hussein Onn and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, they must be: a) suffering from permanent brain damage b) illiterate c) recent “citizens” d) Umno members e) all of the above.

It is not only the ridiculous fighting talk that has been nauseating, but the sheer obtuse nature of the debate and for want of a more palatable word, stupidity at display.

It is the ruling party since Merdeka, that is some 57 years ago, and yet it talks of an economic jihad for the Malays and Bumiputera as if the government it controls has done nothing.

It is the ruling party with access to all security information and yet one leader can brazenly say a Quran has been burnt in Kedah without any proof, and with a denial from no one less than the Kedah menteri besar.

It is a party obsessed with trivial issues such as the girth of its members rather than the shrinking wallets of Malaysian citizens – be it the urban worker or the smallholder facing a crunch from falling commodity prices.

It is a party that should discuss ideas for the future but yet it still wants to talk about the past or show slides of the May 13 riot.

How has this grand Malay nationalist party sunk to be a caricature of itself where intelligent debate has given way to shrill laments and calls for unity? Isn’t it ironic that these calls for unity are for a party named the United Malays National Organisation?

Dr Mahathir urged delegates to criticise the leadership for their missteps while Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi warned that laws such as Sedition Act is no guarantee to keep Umno in power forever.

Yet, was any of this discussed or debated?

Instead, it has turned into an orgy of blame against everyone but themselves over issues such as the economy and the drift of young Malays to other parties.

The reality is simple. This is Umno Baru: a pale shadow of the real Umno that had everyone’s respect and support in first few decades of Malaysia’s existence.

And in today’s Umno, jokes get recycled, and some get elected too. – November 29, 2014.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 29 November 2014, 10:53 pm and is filed under
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Triple  politics of fear, hate and lies at the UMNO General Assembly

The UMNO General Assemblies this week have been a disastrous demonstration of the triple divisive and dirty politics of fear, hate and lies.

The underlying theme of the UMNO General Assemblies was to propagate the siege mentality that  the Malays and Islam are under attack, but not to allow any critical or rational thinking and inquiry as to whether and how after 57 years of UMNO rule under six UMNO Prime Ministers, the Malays and Islam are under siege in 2014.

If Malays and Islam are indeed under siege today, then UMNO which has ruled the country for 57 years with six UMNO Prime Ministers, must bear the fullest responsibility and blame.

Are the present UMNO leaders, led by Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as UMNO President and Deputy President as well as Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister respectively, prepared to admit that the 57 years of UMNO rule and the six UMNO Prime Ministers since 1957 had been such dismal failures as to result in Malays and Islam facing unprecedented siege in the nation’s history?

If 57-year UMNO rule under six UMNO Prime Ministers have brought such disastrous results to the Malays and Islam, then the answer must be found in removing UMNO from Putrajaya and not in perpetuating UMNO rule at the national level!

The politics of fear, hate and lies at the UMNO General Assemblies with the daily diet of Chinese and non-Malay bashing are  detrimental to Malaysian nation-building.

Fortunately, they do not find support among the majority of rational Malaysians, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans or Ibans, who find what happened at the UMNO General Assemblies most shocking and outrageous.

One UMNO delegate said “We have become slaves in our own land” while another called for the use of “1 Melayu” in replacement of “1 Malaysia” slogan.

The success of  Penang were alleged to be because of illegal businesses and crimes in broad daylight committed by the Chinese in the state while the Chinese community in Kedah was accused of burning the Quran “page by page during a prayer ritual”.

The lies about the Chinese community in Kedah being guilty of having “burned the Quran page by page during a prayer ritual”, made by the former Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Mashitah Ibrahim, is the worst example of the lies and falsehoods perpetrated at the UMNO General Assemblies.

What is most outrageous is that she betrayed neither regret nor remorse when it was pointed to her that the Kedah Mentri Besar, Mukriz Mahathir had admitted that it was a mentally-ill Malay individual in Alor Setar who had been arrested for tearing the Quran and who is being detained at the psychiatric ward and that there was no burning involved.

All she could offer was the weak excuse that she had been told of a different version of the incident by the Kuala Kedah UMNO Wanita Chief.

Was it a mentally-ill Malay individual who had torn the Quran or was it the Chinese community in Kedah which burned the Quran “by by page during a prayer ritual”?

Who had told a lie – Mashitah or Mukriz Mahathir?

If DAP or any Pakatan Rakyat leader had made similar provocative and baseless speech which was made by Mashitah, which seriously undermined inter-racial and inter-religious  pace and harmony not only in Kedah but throughout the country, the police would have pounced on the DAP or PR leader, who would be in jail within 24 hours.

But Mashitah is confident that  like all other UMNO leaders, she enjoys immunity and impunity to make the most provocative, incendiary and seditious speeches, even when they are based on lies and falsehoods in furtherance of the UMNO politics of fear and hatein Malaysia’s plural society.

This was the reason for her arrogance and contempt at the police report which DAP wanita leaders, namely Teo Nie Ching (MP for Kulai), Kasthuri Patto (MP for Batu Kawan), Dyana Sofia Mohd Daud and Syefura Othman had lodged against her for her politics of fear, hate and lies perpetrating the falsehood that the Chinese community in Kedah had burned the Quran.

Mashitah even challenged the DAP wanita leaders to sue her.  There is no reason for the DAP  Wanita leaders to sue Mashitah, for she will stand out as another glaring example of double standards of Barisan Nasional government in enforcing the law, the reason for  the national reaction of shock and horror at Najib’s announcement that the Sedition Act will not only be retained but strengthened.

The message at the UMNO General Assemblies is that if UMNO loses in the forthcoming general elections, the Malays will be damned.

This is in fact the clearest admission by the UMNO leadership of the dismal failure of UMNO after 57 years of UMNO government through six UMNO Prime Ministers.

If UMNO had been successful in protecting the legitimate interests of the Malays and all other communities, the message it should be sending out is that whether UMNO wins or loses in the coming general elections, the rights and interests of the Malays are  assured and fully protected.

Can UMNO leaders explain why they are incapable of sending out such a message?

(Speech at a coffee-shop dialogue in Taman University, Gelang Patah on Saturday, Novembr 29, 2014 at 11 am)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 29 November 2014, 2:05 pm and is filed under
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What Umno reps need to talk about

By Azly Rahman

Malaysiakini

Nov 27, 2014

As a child growing up in the birthplace of Umno in the 60s, who saw his beloved grandfather a devoted member of this party of the 50s cry like a child in a corner by his radiogram when Abdul Razak Hussein died in the 70s, and one who has studied how this party stopped progressing by the early 80s, degenerating from a party of pride and dignity to pariah and dying with diseases of greed and gluttony by late 90s, I would like to suggest the following be discussed in order to lend the benefits of a life-support system to it.

I am also suggesting a poem be read out by the members. The following should be my humble suggestions for Umno, a party my ancestors, too, were members of, to undertake:

 *Coming up with strategies to create a better understanding between the races, since we’ve been together for centuries?

    *Designing our education system to be inclusive of all Malaysians with each race treated on equal terms,

    *Helping any group progress, regardless of race, religion or political affiliation, since we are all lawful citizens and we are not going back to “where we belong”,

    *Dismantling all systems that will perpetuate hatred amongst us and redesign our lives around celebrating our strength in diversity,

    *Find ways to unify all races as one dignified race of Malaysians united against any threats from outside (if there are any real or imagined),

    *Coming together as Malaysians to redesign our education system that will truly enhance children’s understanding of concepts, skills, attitude to become good learners, global and transcultural in outlook, and will grow up to see each other as a human race with a common humane destiny, rather than see more divisions and destructions,

    *Collaborating with all races to see how best we can help those who are marginalised regardless of race and religion, and how best we can design an economic system that will promote cooperation, collaboration, and the enculturalisation of conscience and conscientiousness amongst us, rather that perpetually create competitions that lead to hatred and warmongering,

    *Mediating the differences between Muslims of different interpretive practices, schools of thoughts, ways of leading their ‘Islamic life’ rather than create bogeymen and bogey-women for the purpose of witch-hunting and persecuting each other of the things we cannot fully understand,

    *Stopping the total closing of the Malay mind by constantly instilling fear of themselves since time immemorial, since feudal times, so that the Malays can be spared of being called stupid, weak, lazy, and dependent on Umno as savior – all these a perfect model of a Master-Slave Narrative,

    *Asking all members and members of your race-based component parties to read Thomas Kuhn’s ‘Structure of Scientific Revolutions’ and Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s ‘Social Contract’ and to be prepared to exist merely as world-class culture clubs rather than hay-wired political parties, due to the nature of changing times, paradigm shifts, and the realisation of the true meaning of ‘social contract’.

How about those suggestions above for a change and for better speeches in future?

Umno leaders and delegates can read this poem, maybe… instead of those hate-filled speeches clenching fists of fury awkwardly.

‘ode to folks of kuala lumpur city’

even if in your lifetime you will taste poverty

aplenty

live a life corrupt-free

and with highest dignity

… there is beauty in deep reverie

when others are living a life obsessed with money

i have seen friends and family fall flat on their face

for a life of greed and gluttony

never take a single cent you do not deserve out of your hard work

and reward you wait patiently

that was the constant advice given by our ancestors remembered so lovingly

how much must one accumulate in life to prepare for one’s life

in the uncertainties of eternity

the daily papers tell me how corrupt this malaysian society has chosen to be

millions and billions changing hands with people refusing to work hard like the coolie with the deepest sense of honesty

dig not your million-dollar-grave, friends and family

people these days are getting crazy

over money money money

offer me not a million a billion a trillion maybe

these have no meaning for me who prefers a life of simplicity

where i could ride the, bus, meditate on the train, or watch ships sail the seven seas

i could do these without any worry, where my next million going to crawl to me

how many souls i will need to destroy – him as utility and his entire family

in my path towards achieving the highest glory in life based on money aplenty

no, i shall not sacrifice my cave, my poetry, my love for philosophy, the arts and humanities, my love for humanity, my freedom

to take my midnight walks along highways taking me to the the sea and its serenity

a free spirit i am

blessed will be i hope all – whose life in this kuala lumpur city

is about destroying each other as taught by machiavelli

DR AZLY RAHMAN, born in Singapore and grew up in Johor Baru, holds a Columbia University (New York City) doctorate in International Education Development and Masters degrees in four areas: Education, International Affairs, Peace Studies and Communication. He has taught more than 40 courses in six different departments and has written more than 350 analyses on Malaysia. His teaching experience in Malaysia and the United States spans over a wide range of subjects, from elementary to graduate education. He has edited and authored six books; Multiethnic Malaysia: Past, Present, Future (2009), Thesis on Cyberjaya: Hegemony and Utopianism in a Southeast Asian State (2012), The Allah Controversy and Other Essays on Malaysian Hypermodernity (2013), a first Malay publication Kalimah Allah Milik Siapa?: Renungan dan Nukilan Tentang Malaysia di Era Pancaroba (2014), and Controlled Chaos: Essays on Mahathirism, Multimedia Super Corridor and Malaysia’s ‘New Politics’ (forthcoming 2014). He currently resides in the United States where he teaches courses in Philosophy, Cultural Studies, Political Science, and American Studies.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 29 November 2014, 1:22 am and is filed under
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How corruption abroad threatens U.S. national security

Doyle McManus

Los Angeles Times

Nov 29, 2014

When the militants of Islamic State swept across Iraq last June, they numbered no more than 12,000 and they faced a U.S.-trained, U.S.-equipped Iraqi army that boasted some 200,000 troops.

And yet it was the Iraqi army that collapsed.

What happened? It was more than simply incompetence among Iraqi generals and ethnic tensions among the ranks. The hidden factor that gave Islamic State its victory was Iraq’s rampant corruption. The Baghdad government’s army had 200,000 troops on paper, but many were “ghost soldiers,” fictional troops whose wages went into their officers’ pockets. The unfortunate troops who showed up often lacked equipment and ammunition because their officers had sold it on the black market.

“I told the Americans, don’t give any weapons through the army — not even one piece — because corruption is everywhere, and you will not see any of it,” Col. Shaaban al-Obeidi of Iraq’s internal security forces told The New York Times this month. “Our people will steal it.”

We often look at corruption as a secondary issue in international affairs: as a moral problem that allows Third World governments to steal from their people and gets in the way of equitable economic development.

But the lesson of the collapse of the Iraqi army, an army built with $25 billion in U.S. aid, is this: Corruption isn’t only a moral issue; it’s a national security issue, too.

That’s the message of Sarah Chayes, a former reporter for National Public Radio, who spent 10 years working on economic development projects in Afghanistan — only to find that corruption was getting in the way of nearly everything she did.

Chayes, whose writing frequently appears on these pages, has written a new book, “Thieves of State,” that makes a persuasive case that corruption harms U.S. national security interests in at least two ways: It makes it easier for insurgent movements to win support among aggrieved citizens. And it makes U.S.-friendly governments incapable of defending themselves against insurgents, criminal cartels and even foreign invaders.

In Afghanistan, for example, public opinion polls over the last decade have found that relatively few Afghans support the Taliban — and yet the insurgency has been able not only to keep fighting, but also to attract new recruits.

How? At one point, the U.S. military command in Kabul surveyed Taliban prisoners about why they had joined the insurgency. “At the top of the list of reasons cited by prisoners for joining the Taliban was not ethnic bias, or disrespect of Islam, or concern that U.S. forces might stay in their country,” Chayes reports. “At the top of the list was the perception that the Afghan government was irrevocably corrupt.”

Ordinary Afghans didn’t like the idea of Taliban rule, but at least the insurgents didn’t steal from them the way the government did. Chayes tells the story of a former policeman who, after being forced to pay too many bribes, announced that the next time he saw a police vehicle approach a Taliban bomb, “I will not warn them.”

“Afghan government corruption was manufacturing Taliban,” Chayes concludes.

And it’s not only the Taliban. Osama bin Laden listed “corruption” of Arab regimes from Saudi Arabia to Egypt as high on the list of grievances Al Qaeda intended to redress. In Syria and Iraq, Islamic State says it wants to stamp out corruption, too.

There’s an odd, distant echo of the Cold War here: In China, Vietnam and Cuba, communist revolutionaries often won support from non-communists by promising honest government in place of corrupt autocracies. The United States found itself in the uncomfortable position of supporting regimes it knew to be corrupt, because it feared the alternative.

Outside the Muslim world, corruption creates another kind of national security problem. Ukraine was incapable of resisting Russia’s stealth invasion of Crimea this year in part because corruption had deprived its army of equipment and training. Closer to home, narcotics traffickers have corrupted so many of Mexico’s local police forces that President Enrique Peña Nieto announced last week that he will attempt to put all police under federal control.

Even worse, U.S. aid has sometimes made the problem worse. In Afghanistan, at one point, the economy could efficiently absorb an estimated 44% of the international aid that was flooding in; much of the rest got siphoned off into corruption. The unintended side effect was the creation of a government-industrial complex that relied on graft.

In the end, Chayes concludes, the problem isn’t Afghan government incompetence, but rather that the government has made “siphoning riches” its top priority, and it is doing that “with admirable efficiency.”

There are no easy fixes for a problem as tangled as that, but Chayes offers a list of initial steps that could help, including banning corrupt chiefs of states from official visits to the United States, keeping corrupt leaders off the CIA payroll and delivering U.S. aid with strings that make corruption difficult.

But the first step is to think about corruption as a higher priority. It’s not only immoral, unjust and economically inefficient. Left unchecked, it can also turn into a real threat to the security of the United States — and it ought to be treated that way.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 30 November 2014, 3:18 pm and is filed under
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