Gloom, anger mars Kaamatan celebrations

Casey Lee

Free Malaysia Today

May 14, 2011

KOTA BELUD: At the foothills of the majestic Mount Kinabalu, quiet gloom sits on scenic Kampung Tambatuon.

Despite being well into the festive month of Kaamatan or harvest festival in Sabah, there is little cheer here and much of it has to do with the state government’s insidious plan to build a dam nearby.

When we decided to visit Kampung Tambatous for a festive story, we were not prepared for the air of forebrooding that assailed us entering the village from the Kota Belud-Ranau bypass.

Fresh signs and banners shouting ‘No’ and ‘Amaran!’ (Warning) littered the winding 4km drive along a narrow gravel road into the village.

It belies a suspicion rarely found in any kampong in Sabah, where one usually senses welcome and amused curiousity.

Its mid-morning in Kampung Tambatuon and as we drove into the village a middle-aged woman stared suspiciously at our vehicle while others looked at us from doorways and windows .

This is the site of the state government’s proposed Tambatuon dam.

The villagers have been up in arms against the project for two years now.

These days all strangers are suspects and we are in their crosshairs.

Suspicious community

Komisi Duraman, 51, however recognises one of us and smiled tentatively as introductions are made.

We are courteously invited to sit in a patio outside a small village shop amidst a cluster of cooking gas cylinders and a few lounging dogs.

After giving us a brief rundown about the village and its population – there are about 80 houses and between 750 to 850 people – the kindergarten teacher reveals absentmindedly that Kaamatan, the main festival of the Kadazandusun and Murut community, is far from their minds.

“The villagers have formed a committee and they have discussed this year’s Kaamatan celebration but they haven’t decided on a date yet,” she said brushing off the question whilst beckoning a friend, Luinah Sondoton, who is returning from another village shop with a packet of frozen frankfurters. It’s for the family lunch.

Then Komisi and Luinah begin interrogating us in earnest.

“Where are you from? What are you doing here? Who are you? Why are you here?”.

We explain and Luinah relaxes, but reveals a hint of suspicion and worry as she answers our questions.

It’s to be expected.

Surveyors and consultants for the dam had come unannounced before and had stealthily begun studying the site which the villagers only discovered after they left when they spotted markers at various points around the village.

Both women seem to think our questions about the village Kaamatan celebrations absurd and trivial.

Recently, the Kadamaian River flowing through the village overflowed its banks and they lost part of their paddy crop.

Adding to that small catastrophe, weighing heavily on their minds is the government’s plan to dam the river and flood the valley where the village nestles under about 100 hundred metres of water.

Against this scenario harvest festival celebrations are not a priority and hasn’t been so for two years.

Oath stone

Since 2009, the village Kaamatan celebration has not been graced by their elected representative, which had been the case until the villagers rounded on him for not fighting for them against the proposed dam.

“Last year, the director of Rukun Tetangga (Volunteer Watch) came to officiate our Kaamatan and the year before that, there was some officer from a government department. We lost our importance,” Komisi laughed.

Both she and Luinah, however, are defiant of the government’s snub. They claimed other villagers are upset too.

It’s for good reason their assemblyman, Herbert Timbon Lagadan, has chosen to stay clear of the village and not attend any celebrations with them.

He’s been pushing for the dam to be built which they said will happen only “over our dead bodies”.

They are fearful for the future that awaits them if they are displaced, after being alerted by the experience of other communities such as those affected by the Bakun dam project in Sarawak.

“There has not been one dam project in Malaysia that has meant a better life for the villagers that were relocated,” they said.

They also tell of a historical landmark that secured their land from harm and noted that life had been lost before to defend the village.

A ‘Batu Sumpah’ (oath stone) dating back to the British colonial government era was said to have been placed at the site of the old village nearby in commemoration of the ‘battle’ and as a promise that Kampung Tambatoan would be secured and those who seeked to destroy it will pay in blood as the oath was sworn in blood.

The folklore noted how four villagers were dragged around and killed by Japanese soldiers during the World War II occupation, as the village elders sought to save their homes from being burned down.

“We will fight to defend our homes, just as our forefathers sacrificed themselves to save our village during the Japanese occupation,” said 46-year-old Jahim Singkui who joined the chat.

Good life

For most of the residents of Tambatuon, leaving the village where they were raised and their ancestors have resided for 18 generations has never crossed their minds.

“Life is good here and we want to remain the way we are in the same place. We have everything we need. We have rice, fruits and rubber and we have water, electricity and telephones,” said Luinah.

“My children see the ‘Facebook’…they know how to check the news and they show us,” the 45-year-old mother said proudly when asked if she keeps in touch with the news on the internet. She repeatedly asked about when she could see this report.

Since the 1960s, the village has been self-sustaining.

The villagers live on the rice they plant on the paddy fields that are irrigated by the river.

They sell the fruits grown in their orchards and the rubber tapped from the trees cultivated on the slopes of surrounding hills at Kota Belud town about 30 km away.

Proudly speaking of the villagers’ independence, Jahim said: “We have even used our own funds to build roads and other infrastructure without government help.”

The number of vehicles, both locally made Proton Sagas as well as the larger Japanese four-wheel drives, attest to their relative prosperity and wellbeing.

The village, which now has a community hall, a church, a primary school, a kindergarten and some rest-houses that act as home-stays for tourists is growing year by year.

“Since we started our protest, our state assemblyman has not come to our village once,” said Jahim, settling himself on a broken plastic chair and launching what appeared to be his favourite topic.

“We were not told that a dam would be built until two years ago when consultants disguised as tourists came to stay in the rest-houses.

“They came and pretended to be studying birds and animals and they spoke with some of the villagers. After they left, we discovered that they have left rock markers in certain areas.

“After that, a large earth-boring machine was brought near our village and when we questioned the drivers for the reason all they could tell us was that they were told to come here. So we sent them away.

“After that, the consultants returned and showed us the plans that a dam was to be built near the village and that was when we first knew about it,” he said.

Foiled attempts

The villagers, led by Jahim’s father Singkui Tinggi, who was then the village chief launched a protest against the dam and was sacked for it by the state government.

In the meantime, opposition figures found out about the protest and a string of high-profile leaders including Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Yong Teck Lee, United Borneo Front (UBF) chairman Dr Jeffrey Kitingan have since visited the village to lend support to the residents.

Even national opposition party leaders like Lim Kit Siang spoke out against the dam which is expected to cost the government around half a billion ringgit.

Despite the embarrassing high-profile protest, numerous attempts have been made to sneak in heavy machineries through surrounding villages but all attempts were foiled.

According to Jahim, who is now the chairman of an anti-dam committee, its proposed construction would affect the livelihood of some 10 villages and thousands situated near or along the 50km long river that starts at Mount Kinabalu.

He and his committee have been too busy preparing memorandums and gathering signatures from hundreds of affected villagers to be submitted to parliament, to spare much time to plan the village Kaamatan celebration.

The memorandum has already been given to deputy chief minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan and Yong, a former chief minister, when they visited the village.

Sabah DAP chairman Jimmy Wong has also visited Kampung Tambatuon on hearing of the residents’ plight.

Marked man

Now Jahim and his committee are shrewdly deliberating ratcheting up the pressure on the government by inviting PKR de-facto leader Anwar Ibrahim to the village as a guest of honour for the yet to be decided Kaamatan celebration.

“We are planning…we believe that Wan Azizah (PKR president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail) would be around Kota Belud on the 28th but we want Anwar to come to celebrate Kaamatan with us,” said Jahim with a grin.

Knowing that he could be a marked man for saying as much, Jahim nevertheless said that Anwar’s presence would show the BN government that it could lose this constituency (N7 Kadamaian) both at the state and parliamentary (P169 Kota Belud) level in the next election.

The same unhappiness and worry is being felt in other villages in Penampang district where more dams have been proposed.

Villagers surrounding the proposed Kaiduan dam are threatened by displacement while in Tampasak, which was affected by the Babagon dam, villagers are waiting for compensation.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 15 May 2011, 8:21 am and is filed under
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Group pushes for ‘truly Malaysian’ history

By
Melissa Chi

May 15, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

PETALING JAYA, May 15 — The campaign for “A Truly Malaysian Heritage” took root today, when a group of scholars and non-governmental organisations (NGO) pushing for greater accuracy in history textbooks for secondary school students gathered for the first time.

“We need to provide the alternatives to what we think are much better balanced more truthful Malaysian history syllabus in textbooks,” said Dr Lim Teck Ghee, director of the Centre for Policy Initiatives.

Lim told reporters at the Hotel Singgahsana here that the group was formed shortly after February 10, when the online History Book Reform Signature Campaign was launched by the Plan of Action 4 Malaysia.

Aside from Lim, the group also counts professors and lecturers as among its member, along with 18 NGOs including human rights group Aliran, the All Women’s Action Society (Awan), the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH), and the National Interlok Action Team (Niat).

The group is separate from the special government committee to study the History curriculum and textbooks for secondary school.

The committee, whose members were appointed on May 3, is headed Malaysian Historical Society chairman Datuk Omar Mohd Hashim while the Dean of Universiti Teknologi Mara’s Administrative Sciences and Policy Studies Faculty Datin Paduka Prof Dr Ramlah Adam is the deputy chairperson.

“During our meeting, there was a discussion about the terms of reference by the government committee which seems to be focused on instilling patriotism… [These] terms of references should not have been accepted by the committee members if the objective is really about factual and truthful history.

“That should be way above any other objectives,” Lim said.

He added that the group will be engaging with the government as well as the committee in discussing in terms of reference to improve the current syllabus.

Lim added that one of the member NGOs has prepared a 25-page study of the existing history textbooks and the major problems. The draft is being finalised and will be shared with the public as soon as possible, he said.

Historian Dr Ranjit Singh Malhi, one of the group’s committee member, said that the current history textbooks are not “well-balanced; they are not objective, they consist of many half-truths”

He added that two of the panel members from the government’s special committee had publicly demonstrated that they lack a sense of objectivity.

Ranjit quoted an article published by the English-language daily Malay Mail in which one of the committee’s members claimed there was nothing wrong with the current syllabus and that it is well-balanced.

“I personally believe that nothing much is going to change, I’ve been there, nothing much has been changed until this committee does something,” Ranjit said.

“We hope that the government will view us positively. We are not confrontational, we are here, we are true believers of 1 Malaysia, we would really like to assist the government in coming up with a truthful account of the syllabus. Don’t view us in a very negative light,” he continued.

Universiti Malaya law associate professor Dr Azmi Sharom pointed out that the history syllabus should be more community-based, rather than focusing only on specific individuals.

“It is very individual-based. We are only looking at individual politicians, and their contributions. I think there is a necessity to look into the contributions of communities, different communities throughout history,

Azmi also said there was a necessity to highlight the role of women and to look at the history from the perspective of Sabah and Sarawak.

“At the moment, history is very KL-centric… I think there is a need to look from the region,” he said, adding that the history of Orang Asli should also be included.

Lim said that the ultimate goal of the campaign is to come up with an ideal history textbook.

“The materials are there (it just needs to be put together) it needs a team of scholars to sit down and to make sure that this is more represented, that it is progressive, liberal, factual, truly Malaysian history.

“There’s going to be a lot of hardwork involved in there, so although it is a possible objective, it’s going to be a major challenge,” he said, adding that the book will come up well before 2013, when the history subject is made a compulsory subject for students to pass in their exams.

“We have good scholars and a good network of scholars in this committee that can undertake this work with professional expertise and credibility,” he said.

In the mean time, he said the group will be monitoring the government committee’s report as well as conducting their own independent research and studies.

“The objective though is very, very clear, that is we want to provide young Malaysians with a factual truthful and balanced history,” he said.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 15 May 2011, 9:15 pm and is filed under
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Ibrahim Ali doesn’t represent all Malays, says Hisham

By
Melissa Chi

May 15, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

SUNGAI BESAR, May 15 — UMNO Vice President Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein (picture) said today that Perkasa President Datuk Ibrahim Ali does not represent all the Malays in the country.

“I don’t think Ibrahim Ali represents all the Malays or all the Muslims. Same as Osama bin Laden, he doesn’t represent all the Muslims. There are extremists, I’m not saying Ibrahim Ali is an extremist, please don’t quote me wrongly but I’m saying that there are different levels of understanding. so let the public decide who they want to represent (them),” he said, adding that there are extremists in the Chinese community as well.

Despite police still investigating unsubstantiated reports of a move to a Christian Malaysia, the Malay rights group president threatened Christians nationwide last night that he would wage a crusade or holy war should they proceed with their agenda to usurp Islam.

The pint-sized Pasir Mas MP said that he was willing to take the fall for his statement for the sake of defending the dignity of Islam.

He also said his blood was boiling with rage and “hairs standing on end” following recent reports of a Christian conspiracy between religious leaders and opposition party politicians.

When asked if the controversial leader’s statements on racial and religious issues could have consequences as he is considered as an influential figure among the Malay community, the Home Minister said that Ibrahim is only influential if “you all” make him out to be influential.

“He can have one (holy war) but he would have to have one that is really affecting everybody, he will have to have the majority with him so you are all responsible, the fact is that if you don’t highlight the sensitivities and emotions.

“And that’s why Datuk Seri Najib said to stop … when he saw this coming in Penang, he said enough. Give it time for the temperature to go down,” he said.

“It is also the responsibility of the media to make sure the temperature goes down so that we can move forward but there are others who are going to fan the sentiments of hate and divide,” Hishammuddin said.

Ibrahim was referring to the recent row over a controversial newspaper report in Utusan Malaysia entitled “Kristian Agam Rasmi?” (Christianity the official religion?) where it was alleged that DAP leaders and Christian priests were conspiring to take over Putrajaya, abolish Islam as the religion of the federation and install a Christian prime minister.

Christian leaders and DAP members have denied the reports and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was even forced to host a meeting with the religious chiefs to solve the issue but Ibrahim insisted last night that the report was true.

For one, he pointed out that a Muslim DAP member had also lodged a report on Friday claiming to know the true story of what transpired during the meeting at a hotel in Penang recently.

Utusan Malaysia’s Christian conspiracy report is presently under police investigation.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 15 May 2011, 2:55 pm and is filed under
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Ibrahim Ali is Umno

Shamsuddin Ghani

The Malaysian Insider

May 15, 2011

MAY 15 — I think it is time we stop this charade. Ibrahim Ali says he is an Independent MP and that Perkasa has nothing to do with Umno.

But we know better than to accept this nonsense from the King of Nonsense.

He is allowed by the Najib administration to plant seditious ideas everywhere, to brandish his thuggish behaviour on the national stage and insult everything decent about being Malaysian.

The police give him a free pass even though everytime he speaks he breaks a slew of laws. How can an intellectually-disadvantaged politician with supposedly no affialiation be so privileged?

Because he has the support of Najib Razak and Umno and the protection of Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Perkasa is Umno’s alter ego and was set up to give Umno the luxury of playing the chauvinist and right wing card and yet have the luxury of deniability. So Umno could assure its BN component party members that it was middle of the road while twin Perkasa targetted the vote of the Malays.

Initially, Najib seemed against Perkasa. That is why Khairy Jamaludin/Nazri Aziz/Tengku Adnan Mansor attacked Perkasa but then Najib either got cold feet or had his chain yanked by Dr Mahathir. He did an about turn.

Since then, Umno have used Ibrahim as a proxy to attack Chinese, Christians, the DAP and anybody who promotes economic liberalisation.

Last night when Ibrahim threatened to launch his crusade against Christians, he was speaking on behalf of Umno. This so-called concept of indepedent MPs does not exists. It is a fallacy.

The likes of Ibrahim Ali, Zulkifli Noordin and Zahrain are Umno representatives. That is what we must remember.

So when Ibrahim whacks non-Malays and non-Muslims, it is Umno whacking non-Malays and non-Muslims.

It is as simple as that, isn’t it?

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 15 May 2011, 10:57 pm and is filed under
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Malays and cerita cerita hantu

By
Sakmongkol AK47

The Malaysian Insider

May 15, 2011

There has been a sudden surge in Malay preference for ghost films recently. Perhaps the implications for this preference are more serious than just the indication of productivity of the artistic creativity that produced them. Let’s see the political implications.

When DS Najib addressed the UMNO hoi poloi, the UMNO lumpen-proletariat, the UMNO murba, I was sure he wanted his message to reach a wider audience.

In particular the Malay masses who have deserted UMNO in the 2008 elections. Even more so, the 1.5 million UMNO members who did not vote for UMNO candidates for various reasons. Najib’s call for unity is not made to a vacuous audience, this he must know.

I hope he doesn’t underestimate the discerning capabilities of the rural folks and UMNO members. UMNO members can no longer be divided into old and new UMNO. By old I mean those UMNO members who desire a return to the old UMNO.

The UMNO that was founded on the principles of saving the Malay honor and wished honorable things for the Malays.

By the new UMNO I mean the UMNO people who were seduced by the seemingly robustness of Dr Mahathir. Mahathir’s UMNO is the UMNO that sees itself as the dispenser of life’s sustenance.

Mahathir’s UMNO is the UMNO that sees itself as the indispensable life giver to UMNO and Malays. In the process UMNO members and Malays in general lost their dynamism.

UMNO has become the father figure to dependent children. So what kind of audience is Najib targeting?

I am afraid, the audience that Najib is addressing is the pliant sections of the Malay community who are susceptible to horror stories that the future PM will be non-Malay and that Christians are taking over this country.

That brings me to a characterisation of the Malays referred to frequently by the Oracle of Syed Putra.

It’s the section of the Malay community that’s unfortunately the larger portion that is easily seduced by ghost stories, tales of the occult and of a world inhabited by creatures of the night and mythical beings.

Although I understand many UMNO leaders are on intimate terms with certain creatures of the night. Malays who are addicted to cerita2 hantu.

For that reason, the periodical ‘Mestika’ achieved an envious circulation of more than 400,000.

That’s more than some of the Malay newspapers and the mainstream newspapers.

So Najib is perhaps appealing to the mestika reading public- those who are addicted to cerita cerita hantu and believed in them. That reading public moreover represents the belief system of the Malays.

This portion of the Malay people is easily taken in by far-fetched takes of Christians taking over this country, tales of non-Malays taking over the premiership.

If these are the Malays DS Najib are targeting at, then Malays have not really climbed up the ladder of social consciousness from the state in which they were in when Tun Razak wanted to free them from.

Consider the philosophical and political underpinnings when Tun Razak formed Felda. The transplant of whole sections of the Malay people forming the pioneers in Felda schemes were to be that section of Malays Tun Razak wanted to free from inhibitory thinking.

The inhibitory thinking that was characterized mainly by beliefs in supernatural stories, fairy tales etc.

Razak wanted to deliver Malays from the debilitating mindset that was trapped by cerita cerita hantu.

So as what the Oracle observed, if present day Malays are still stuck in cerita cerita hantu, then they have not achieved the deliverance that was intended by Tun Razak. The people chiefly responsible for that paralysis are the UMNO leaders themselves.

Think about this.

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

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 15 May 2011, 11:44 am and is filed under
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Perkasa ready to crusade against ungrateful Christians

By
Aidila Razak

May 15, 11 | MalaysiaKini

Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali said that he is willing to wage a crusade against the Christians if the community allegedly continues to challenge Islam’s position in the country.

“If they want a crusade, so be it. If they say that the peace that we enjoy is not good enough … we shall take up the challenge. Don’t take the silence of Muslims as a sign of fear,” he warned to cheers from about 150 people at a ceramah last night.

“Before our followers fall in this battle, (Perkasa) leaders will first lay down their lives and die sprawling in blood,” he thundered.

Speaking at a function organised by the Komuniti 1Malaysia group of Kampung Kerdas and Kampung Changkat in Gombak, Ibrahim accused the Christians of “challenging the sovereignty and dignity of Malays and Muslims.”

He was referring to the allegation that a group of pastors were plotting to make Christianity the official religion of the nation and appoint a Christian prime minister. This was reported last Saturday by Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia.

“This is an affront to the sovereignty of Muslims who are the majority… It started with race, and now it has gone to issues of religion. But when it comes to religion, it means jihad,” he said to hoots from the crowd.

According to the Pasir Mas parliamentarian, minorities are emboldened to challenge Malay and Muslim supremacy because they are encouraged by PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, who is pandering for their votes.

“Many of the Christians in Malaysia are Chinese and many of the Christians (in the world) are American. Anwar is acting as a US mole. It all fits,” he said in his trademark fiery style.

But Ibrahim got it wrong – Bumiputera Christians make up the bulk of the community in Malaysia while Mexico has the highest number of Christians in the world.

Najib has to play the numbers game

The vocal politician added that minority groups in Malaysia are further encouraged by the support from Islamic party PAS through its spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat and liberal Malays such as Bar Council constitutional law committee chief Shahredzan Johan.

“This is a matter of religion. Doesn’t he know how to protect his own religion?” he said, branding the Anwar-Nik Aziz-liberal Malay alliance as an unholy trinity of sorts.

The firebrand independent parliamentarian said that the fact that Malays are split in their political support has forced Prime Minister Najib Razak to pander to the minorities.

“He told me, ‘I understand that I have (to protect) the Malays, but I am also a politician … and BN has lost. If we don’t get at least 30 percent Chinese votes, we will lose again… The Malays are split (so) I have to play this game’,” Ibrahim said.

Ibrahim added that this shows even the PM has lost his bargaining power, and this has led to DAP, and BN partner MCA, to ply pressure on Umno on minority issues.

“We have no other alternative. For good or for bad, Umno is the only party that we have (to protect Malay interests), and we must care for the party,” he said before leading the crowd to chant ‘Hidup Melayu!’ (Long live Malays!).

The other guests of honour include Umno Gombak chief Abdul Rahman Kamaruddin, his deputy, Abdul Aziz Jantan, and division information chief Ismail Ahman.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 15 May 2011, 10:15 am and is filed under
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Police detain four DAP members in anti-Lynas protest

By
Clara Chooi

May 15, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

KUANTAN, May 15 — Police arrested four DAP members here this morning for holding a demonstration to protest the Lynas Corp rare earths refinery in Gebeng.

DAP Socialist Youth (DAPSY) chief Anthony Loke (file picture), who was present at the time, told The Malaysian Insider that the police moved in to arrest the four just as the event on was nearing its tail end.

He explained that the programme had began with the opening of the Kuantan DAP service centre on Jalan Beserah at 10am this morning before moving on to a short demonstration.

“It was just a small one… three of us gave speeches, (Triang assemblyman) Leong Ngah Ngah, (PKR’s Indera Mahkota MP) Azan Ismail and then me.

“When it was my turn to speak, the Kuantan OCPD came and told us to stop the event. I told him that we were already finishing so after a short argument, we managed to finish our demonstration and we told everyone to disperse,” he said when contacted.

Loke explained that the DAP leaders then regrouped for a short photo session with the media.

“That was when these four members laid out the anti-Lynas banner which only had a logo on it and they lay down on it for the pictures.

“Seeing this, the OCPD immediately ordered his officers to arrest them, claiming it was a provocative move,” he said.

The four are Kuantan DAPSY deputy chief Lee Chin Chen, Bentong DAP deputy chief Chow Yu Hui, Special officer to Penang Chief Minister Ting Siow Shuen and DAP’s Rocket reporter Khor Huey Ying.

Loke said the four were then brought to the Kuantan district police headquarters to have their statements taken.

When contacted, Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh, who has been leading the anti-Lynas campaign in her constituency said it was clear that the police were merely acting to assert their authority and power.

“They just wanted to show who was in charge. The even had barely started and already there was very heavy police presence in the area,” she said.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 15 May 2011, 1:59 pm and is filed under
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Sabah health services limping along

By
Michael Kaung

May 15, 2011 | Free Malaysia Today

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah DAP said that it has received scores of complaints regarding the services rendered by the Federal Health Ministry to Sabahans in terms of quality of treatment, medical supplies and equipment.

Junz Wong, state DAP assistant secretary, said that both the patients and doctors are unhappy and frustrated with the state of affairs in the medical and health services.

The party believes that Sabahans are among the most ill-cared for citizens in Malaysia due to lack of drugs and healthcare equipment.

Wong justifies his claim by pointing out that Sabah only one radiotherapy machine for the whole state.

In the past, before the Sabah Medical Centre (SMC) was bought over by government, the hospital rented the radiotherapy machine.

Now after taking over the SMC hospital, the government is still renting it.

In this regard, Wong contended Sabah is being short-changed by the federal government as far as the health services is concerned.

He accused the Health Ministry of not allocating funds to buy a new up-to-date radiotherapy machine for the cancer patients in the state.

“Now that the equipment is old and overworked all the time, it breaks down almost every three months. There is no back up machine. The nearest radiotherapy machine available for cancer patients in the state is located in Kuching, Sarawak.”

Wong said that lack of equipments has led to many specialists to look for better working conditions elsewhere.

“Our foreign-trained local specialists are keen to serve but the poor medical infrastructure, especially (lack of) equipment makes it impossible for them to provide optimum service.

“They are just ticked off by the remarks of inadequate funds and of the government’s emphasis on new buildings.”

Wong said he knows of the case of a cancer specialist who returned to Sabah after 18 years in the United Kingdom but was disappointed that after 48 years the Sabah Medical and Health Service Department does not have the environment, system and infrastructure to employ people like him for long.

Wong added that Sabah deserves better treatment from the federal government in view of the massive contribution of wealth to the national coffers by the state but in return only received less than 10% of the overall national budget.

“To illustrate the poor treatment and disparity further, Putrajaya hospital in Kuala Lumpur has three radiotherapy machines and it is not even a state,” Wong added.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 15 May 2011, 5:34 pm and is filed under
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Snap forms committee to study merger with DAP

By
Ang Ngan Toh

May 15, 11 | Malaysiakini

Sarawak National Party (Snap) has formed a four-member committee to head preliminary discussions with the DAP on the merger proposal.

Announcing this today, Snap secretary-general Stanley Jugol said the party wants to know “what the DAP actually wants” in black and white.

“The party’s central executive committee will discuss the report to be submitted by the committee later,” he told Malaysiakini when contacted today.

The CEC would then make a decision after studying the report, he added.

The committee, formed by the CEC at its meeting yesterday, is headed by the party’s vice-presidents Augustine Liom and vice-president Johnny Wong, with CEC member Johari Bujang and Youth chief Dayrell Walter Entrie as members.

Meanwhile, Snap deputy secretary-general Paul Kadang said it has been suggested that a Snap-DAP collaboration was a better option for Snap as opposed to a merger with DAP as mooted by DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang.

“The collaboration could be in the form of having an electoral pact with the DAP and other political activities,” he said.

Kadang said the CEC also discussed the possibilities of collaborating with parties not in the Opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition, especially in the Dayak-majority areas.

The CEC meeting, chaired by party president Edwin Dundang, also discussed the party’s performance in the state elections and its relationship with PKR.

Lim, soon after the April 16 state election that saw DAP win 12 out of the 15 seats it contested, had suggested that DAP and Snap merge in the interest of the Pakatan pact in Sarawak.

The veteran politician also made the assurance that such a merger would not be detrimental to either of DAP’s Pakatan partners, PAS and PKR.

If Snap leaders are against the proposal, any such discussions on the merger would be discontinued, Lim had added.

Jugol said that the views of Snap members, however, would also need to be sought first before any move to merge the party with the DAP.

“We have to get their views, as a merger means dissolution of the party,” he quoted as saying.

“Do they really want the party to be dissolved?” he asked .

Dissolve to merge

Jugol stressed that that it would be difficult for Snap to merge with the DAP for ‘historical’ reasons and the sentiments of Snap members.

“If you want to merge, both Snap and DAP have to be dissolved so we can form a new party,” he explained, and asked whether DAP members would like to see their party dissolved.

He also stated that the CEC members would have to air their views before bringing up the matter to the party members.

Jugol said if the merger proposal did not materialise, Snap was willing to work together with the DAP.

“Working together is easier done than merging,” and this could happen in many ways, he said, adding that there was nothing to stop the two parties from working together as both were in the Opposition.

Although in the recent state polls DAP and Snap did not clash in any of the seats they contested, the latter did go head-to-head against PKR in 25 seats that also saw BN and Independent candidates being fielded.

PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim (above) has stated that any move to merge Snap and DAP would have to be discussed at the level of the Pakatan Rakyat leadership council.

“We want to know the reasons for the merger as various allegations have been made against Snap during the campaigning period for the state elections,” said the Opposition leader.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 15 May 2011, 9:13 pm and is filed under
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Tahrir Square fills again as Egypt holds Mubarak’s wife for crimes against state

Jack Shenker in Cairo

guardian.co.uk

13 May 2011

Largest rally in recent weeks comes on day ousted president’s wife detained on suspicion of illegally acquiring wealth

Tens of thousands of Egyptians returned to Tahrir Square in Cairo on Friday in a show of national unity against sectarian tension, and to demonstrate their solidarity with the Palestinian people.

The largest rally to be held in the Egyptian capital in recent weeks took place as Suzanne Mubarak, wife of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, was detained by investigators for 15 days on suspicion of illegally acquiring wealth.

Cheers erupted in the square as news broke of Mrs Mubarak’s incarceration. The 70-year-old former first lady now joins her husband, two sons and more than 20 other ministers and business figures from the Mubarak regime on the list of those being investigated for crimes against the state.

Last week former interior minister Habib Al-Adly was sentenced to 12 years in prison for financial fraud. He also stands accused of having ordered the killing of peaceful protesters, a charge that can carry the death penalty.

In a sign of how vibrant and fragmented Egypt’s political landscape has become since the toppling of Mubarak in February, protesters came together on Friday to support a multitude of causes from local anti-corruption campaigns to unity with Arab uprisings elsewhere in the region.

Following a week of sectarian violence in Cairo in which at least 15 people were killed in clashes at a church in the poor neighbourhood of Imbaba, many demonstrators held aloft placards depicting the Christian cross and Muslim crescent, and chanted: “We are all Egyptians.”

On Wednesday the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said he was disturbed by the religious fighting, warning that it could threaten progress towards a “more free, just and harmonious Egypt”. Egypt’s Coptic Christian community comprises about 10% of the population, and claims it has long been the target of severe discrimination in the Muslim-majority country.

“I think there are two themes playing out in Tahrir today,” said Hossam Bahgat, a human rights campaigner and director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. “One is the search for a lost moment: in every speech on the stage and on every leaflet handed out there are words to the effect of ‘do you remember [the anti-Mubarak protests in] January and February when we stood here together? What happened to that moment?’

“The second is the realisation that even if we succeed in re-creating that moment, we need to build a bridge between on the one hand that sentiment of unity which once overwhelmed Tahrir, and on the other the poorer rural and urban neighbourhoods, where it takes only the slightest thing or most absurd rumour to unleash large-scale communal violence.”

Egypt’s interim government has arrested almost 200 suspects in the aftermath of the Imbaba violence, charging 23 of them with terrorism and premeditated murder. The clashes began when Salafist Muslims marched on a church where they claimed a female Copt who had converted to Islam was being held hostage, prompting a street battle in which shots were fired and Molotov cocktails thrown.

An inquiry blamed hardline Salafists for the attacks, but hinted that elements of the old regime seeking to sow discord may also have played a part in the violence.

“The policies of the Mubarak regime did actively contribute to a rise in sectarian tension,” argued Bahgat. “But at the same time we need to acknowledge that whoever has been involved in incidents of sectarian violence over the past few weeks are the same people that have been engaging in such violence for years. They are not hired thugs, they are not organised Islamic entities, and they are not elements of the previous regime – they are us. And until we recognise that they are us, the solution will remain elusive.”

Protesters in Tahrir also hoisted aloft Palestinian flags to demonstrate their support for a recent Fatah-Hamas reconciliation agreement signed in Cairo, just two days before a planned march to the Gaza border to mark the 63rd anniversary of the “nakba” – an Arabic word meaning “catastrophe” which is used to describe the founding of Israel.

As part of a region-wide set of demonstrations in favour of Palestinian refugees being allowed to return home, protest leaders in Egypt have called for a “third intifada” to be launched on Sunday, with a mass march from Cairo to the Rafah border post.

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal has discouraged the event, arguing that in its present state of transition Egypt cannot carry the “burden” of a “direct clash with the Zionist entity”.

The Egyptian government has put all entry points to the Sinai Peninsula on high alert in an effort to stop the march. “Our chants against sectarian tension and in support of the Palestinians are not side-issues,” said Ibrahim Houdaiby, 27, a political activist who was formerly a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.

“Without solidarity between Christians and Muslims, without justice for Palestine, our revolution will die. Today you’re witnessing an attempt to keep it alive.”

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 15 May 2011, 8:01 am and is filed under
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The Ugly Chinaman

By
Mariam Mokhtar

Apr 25, 11 | Malaysiakini

It is heartbreaking for Malaysians to see that the country is more fractured and divided than at any time in its history – Malays against Chinese, east Malaysians against peninsular Malaysians, Muslims against non-Muslims, and so on.

In the aftermath of the Sarawak election, the swing of votes to the opposition alarmed BN, but instead of looking in the mirror at itself, BN has again sought to blame others for its faults.

As is the norm after any election, it is the Chinese which BN conveniently picks on to ‘explain’ its poor showing in the voting pattern.

Why should we question the loyalty of the Chinese when BN should examine its own leadership, its policies and the way its conducts itself before, during and after an election?

No one is saying that the opposition is perfect or blameless, but BN has had 54 years of governance and many of the problems that we now face, like the poverty of the indigenous population of Sarawak and Sabah, the gap between the rich and the poor, the endemic corruption, the manner in which politicians see politics as a short-cut to riches, the polarisation of the various ethnic groups, are all because of BN’s own policies.

Dictators and communists like North Korea, China or the former USSR are obsessed with controlling the press or shutting down newspapers because they do not want the truth to come out. Malaysia is the same.

Former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad does not believe that the Chinese have abandoned BN. Even the DAP and MCA are drawn into the bitter wrangle, with its leaders pitting Chinese against Chinese.

The reason for all this Chinese carping and animosity of some Malays towards the Chinese was an article by Zaini Hassan, an editorial executive at Utusan Malaysia. He penned an article after the Sarawak state election and called for a “1Melayu, 1Bumi” movement to counter what he said was Chinese political unity.

It was almost a year ago when the same author blamed the Chinese for the BN receiving less than the expected number of votes from the Chinese community after the Hulu Selangor by-election. His article was “Orang Cina Malaysia, apa lagi yang anda mahu? (Chinese of Malaysia, what more do you want?)

Utusan, the Umno mouthpiece, reasoned that it was the Chinese which caused BN’s share of the popular votes in Sarawak to slip from 63% to 55%, completely ignoring the fact that it wasn’t only the Chinese that had rejected BN, but more indigenous voters including Malays, had also crossed over from BN to the opposition camp.

Questioning Chinese ‘gratitude’

Perhaps we can examine why Utusan and Zaini feels it necessary to question Chinese ‘gratitude’ and loyalties.

Many have heard of the Ugly American or the Ugly Japanese. Whenever Zaini writes articles which are critical of the Chinese, he may be referring to the Ugly Chinaman which Bo Yang, a Chinese writer refers to in his book, ‘The Ugly Chinaman and the Crisis of Chinese Culture’.

Not everyone is an angel and Malaysia is not short of the Ugly Malay either.

Nevertheless there are many facets of Ugly Chinese culture that Malaysians of all races say are typical of the Chinese. They say that spitting, talking loudly in public, bragging, their corrupting or corruptible influence, being secretive or tight-lipped especially with information, are all cultural traits which hail from the distant feudal past.

Another feature that is commonly mentioned is “dishonesty” and this is mostly to do with business dealings. The Ugly Chinaman does not do anything if he does not gain from the transaction. This means that the “trust” factor is questionable, for without trust, neither can there be honesty and truth. Utimately, these factors all have long-term implications in business.

There is also the obsession with money and so we have “No money, no talk”, or the other scourge associated with gambling.

All cultures, be it Malay, Chinese, Indian or western, have some good and some evil in them. Perhaps, Zaini is just concentrating on all that is bad about the Chinese. Of course, that would not be a fair synopsis of the Chinese character. But who said politics is a fair undertaking?

In addition to the spitting and being loud in public, the bad manners in the shops, and the rude, pushy behaviour, most (but not all) Chinese are apt to confuse patriotism and nationalism – most Chinese (especially the older Chinese) do not agree with other Chinese speaking ill of other Chinese. This clannish behaviour is very strong in the culture and is considered part of their “roots”.

Ethics inside the house, selfishness out of it

The Chinese kinship equates to being concerned with ethics inside the house, but reverting to selfishness, once out of it. This in stark contrast to the western culture where people care about people outside the house but are very cold towards their family.

No one is trying to defend the racist rants of Zaini or Utusan, but like the Ugly Malay, the Ugly Chinese could, with better education from schools and the outside world, try to be more considerate about people around them and be aware of their surroundings.

If the Chinese abandoned the Ugly Chinaman image, the ordinary Malaysian, especially the Malay, will find it difficult to accept what racists likes Zaini, or other extremists, have to say about the Chinese.

We want future generations to view Malaysia as a united country – no racism, discrimination, and selfishness. Only then will we be more objective, more open-minded, more advanced, more willing to accept criticisms and different points of views.

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a non-conformist traditionalist from Perak, a bucket chemist and an armchair eco-warrior. In ‘real-speak’, this translates into that she comes from Ipoh, values change but respects culture, is a petroleum chemist and also an environmental pollution-control scientist.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 15 May 2011, 11:19 am and is filed under
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The Ugly Malaysian

By
Mariam Mokhtar

May 2, 11 | Malaysiakini

It was to be expected that when ‘The Ugly Chinaman’ appeared in this column last week, the Chinese ‘face’ was slighted. Many ignored the fact that the offensive bits were attributes, made by the writer Bo Yang, about his fellow Chinese.

The article also incorporated answers from a questionnaire I had circulated within a small cross-section of Malaysians (Chinese and non-Chinese), that although unscientific, gave a flavour of what people perceived of the Chinese.

For a brief moment, the normally reticent Chinese was indignant. The messenger had to be shot.

When previous articles appeared under this column, condemning the Malays, I was seen as a champion of all races and praised for ‘seeing it from the other side’.

I called the Malays “stupid and lazy”, and the readers were delighted. I called the Malays “comatose” and “being afraid of themselves”, and the readers whipped themselves into a frenzy. I admonished the Malays for picking on those who practised yoga, for whipping beer-drinkers or for treating their women worse than slaves or cattle, and the crowd bayed for more.

‘They’ loved it when I said the Malays used religion to subjugate and control their own race. I called the ‘new’ Malay corrupt for he prayed at the ‘altar of money’.

I poured scorn on the Malay who prayed five times a day but was happy to marry a girl young enough to be his granddaughter. And I ridiculed those Malay women who refused to condemn injustices against other women.

If anyone is conscious of the Ugly Malay, I was one of them and I had never balked at acknowledging his presence.

Who’s not racist?

So whilst the faceless ‘they’ revelled in Malay bashing, especially when one Malay was vocal against another, the ugly Chinaman revealed his hypocrisy.

There was outrage when I wrote what other Malaysians had described to me was their negative observations of the Chinese. Perhaps, those who were affronted were not aware this ‘other’ Chinaman existed. Perhaps they had not looked in the mirror lately.

If we, as Malaysians, cannot accept criticism, and are too sensitive, then we are not ready for change and reform.

The Ugly Chinaman was a warning that Malay extremists were terrifying the Malay community by exaggerating the bad traits of the Chinese, whatever these were.

Education and awareness would prevent extremists from scoring successes.

We all display varying degrees of racism within us but before we can hope to change others, we have to alter our behaviour first. Despite our prejudices, most of us do get on well with people from other races.

The problem is that our politicians are the ones who bring out the race-card and together with the mainstream media, exploit it to the fullest, by bombarding us with racist messages till we believe their racist rants, and we become extremists, with uncompromising and intolerant attitudes.

Discrimination within

Generally, Malays are more homogenous and more unified in character than the other races. At least racism within the Malay race, is relatively uniform, the Javanese, Bugis, Acheh or Minangkabau Malays, possibly even Malays from Kerala, are loosely termed ‘Malay’.

But what about the intra-communal differences that separate the Chinese community? Isn’t this a form of racism? These differences in class, ideology, cultural heritage and language, have influenced how the Chinese align their political and business objectives in the country.

The Chinese community in Malaysia is composed of several culturally distinct groups from China, like the Hokkien, Hakka, and Cantonese. Despite their cultural and linguistic differences, they bond because they share the same celebrations like Chinese New Year or because of the Chinese written language.

This is where the smart Malay exploits the disunited Chinese.

The Chinese business elite, or the towkay class, have leaders who reaped considerable profits from their relations with the Malays. And it is these towkays who will presumably be the first to resist calls for the elimination of the bumiputera status.

Sadly, the poor Chinese is overlooked because many people focus on this towkay class, who flourish, who are financially secure and who can easily acquire prime real estate. It is the towkays who make up the backbone of the MCA today.

One academic who did research into Malaysian politics described how a Chinese businessman said he preferred working with the Malays over the Chinese, because the businessman thought the Chinese were “too calculative and untrustworthy”.

No community innocent

Even within the ‘Indian’ race, there are subdivisions. Those who originated from Ceylon detest the Tamils. Or the English educated Indians, who in significant numbers are Christian, abhor the Malay-speaking Hindu and vice-versa.

Whilst many Malaysians have expressed a desire to remove ethnic and bumiputera politics, enough non-Malays are wary of the consequences of taking political action. They are afraid that if they vote for the opposition, they risk losing their socio-economic positions and connections.

The leaders of MCA and MIC want to remain in power and they are prepared to betray their own kind. They have failed to uphold the rights of their people. Their silence keeps Umno in control.

But isn’t it time we went beyond race and banned all prejudice?

Must we condemn Malaysia to a future which can only be seen in terms of Malay dilemmas, the plight of the Chinese or the Indian predicament?

Shouldn’t the country be rid of communal politics? It is time the Ugly Malaysian faded away.

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a non-conformist traditionalist from Perak, a bucket chemist and an armchair eco-warrior. In ‘real-speak’, this translates into that she comes from Ipoh, values change but respects culture, is a petroleum chemist and also an environmental pollution-control scientist.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 15 May 2011, 11:21 am and is filed under
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The Ugly Muslim

By
Mariam Mokhtar

May 9, 11 | Malaysiakini

The Muslim NGO Pembela is wrong to blame Christianity for the alleged decline of Islam in Malaysia because the worst enemies of Islam, in Malaysia, are from within the ranks of the Muslims.

Islam may be a beautiful religion, but some of the Muslims in Umno, Utusan Malaysia, and the extremist groups like Perkasa and Pembela are ugly. Islam may preach love and tolerance, but Muslims in Umno, Utusan, Perkasa and Pembela are bigots who are consumed with hate.

Perhaps the so-called Muslims in these organisations, who profess to be true Muslims, are Muslim in name only. They lust after power and are aware that without the Malay vote, the activities of their party, their newspaper, their institution or their way of life (the Ketuanan Melayu lording it over other communities) will be curtailed or cease to exist altogether.

Umno has been stung by the successes of the Opposition in Sarawak. They then suffered further humiliation with PAS rejecting their overtures. So, their only recourse to remain in power, come the general election, has been to provoke and manipulate Malay/Muslim minds, especially the rural Malays.

Umno has capitalised on the power of distraction. The trick is to divert Malaysians from BN’s failure to stabilise the economy, to reinvigorate the private sector and investment, and to manage the public finances.

Instill fear in Malays, blame the others

They do this by instilling fear in the Malays and by shifting the blame onto others. This time, the hapless recipient of Umno’s degeneracy, are the Christians of Malaysia. On previous occasions, it has been the ‘ungrateful’ Chinese.

Last Saturday, Utusan Malaysia defiantly provoked Malaysians with a front-page headline claiming the DAP was in league with a group of Christian pastors to instal Christianity as the country’s official religion. The insinuation was that the act would pave the way for a Christian prime minister.

Had this been a non-BN sanctioned newspaper, the editors would have been sacked and jailed, their licence to print revoked and the paper shut down. As Utusan is owned by Umno, it was business as usual at this Malay daily.

Time and time again, Utusan has got away with seditious publications when others, like Raja Petra Kamaruddin, face arrest for publishing revealing documents. It is the same treatment meted to Clare Rewcastle-Brown, the non-Muslim founder of the online website, Sarawak Report (SR).

SR prints original documents alleging Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s corruption and illegally obtained wealth. Clare is trying to make Malaysians aware of Taib’s corruption, but very few of the Muslims in Umno have taken heed.

It is without doubt that weak leadership of the country has given rise to this dangerous state of affairs.

Najib’s pledge may prove to be just hot air

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak finally broke his silence on the Utusan article; however, his announcement that the government would ‘investigate the matter before it was blown out of proportion’ and lead to ‘serious polarisation in society’, may prove to be just more hot air.

Perhaps he should ask himself how many times Utusan has been guilty of sedition and escaped censure? Most will say far too often.

How soon, and how severely, will he clamp down on the extremist Muslim elements in Malaysia, who have fanned anger and suspicion in the community?

Perkasa has already lodged a series of police reports in every state, saying that the ‘Christian state issue’ was a threat to national security.

Pembela finds fault with the Christians, by claiming that the Christians were on a mission to convert Muslims in the country, starting with “confusing” Muslims by the use of Islamic terms, presumably like the word ‘Allah’.

Those who have lived in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s will recall that Christmas was a time when all the races and religions would mix and mingle in open houses. There was no issue with the food or drink, no issue with the religious symbols like crosses or that there was a Christmas tree and hymns and carols were sung. Those times are but a distant memory.

If it is any consolation, all these machinations by the media are an indication that the general election is near. There is nothing like a dose of fear to manipulate people to do the wrong thing.

Perhaps the best way to reason the perceived threat to Islam, in Malaysia, is in the Muslim populace. If Islam here is under siege, it is because the enemy is the ‘Ugly Muslim’.

They are the ones who crave power. They are the ones who maintain that the term ‘Allah’ cannot be used by non-Muslims in Peninsular Malaysia, but is permissible in Borneo. They are the ones who confiscated the Bible in the Malay language and held the Christians to ransom.

So, why do they keep silent on the serious issues?

If we dig deeper, who are the ones who force children to convert to Islam, if one of the parents becomes a Muslim? How about body snatching or grave robbing? What about the child in Sarawak who was whipped for eating food that had been prepared for his school break?

What about the women who are treated like cattle? Or those who are abandoned by their husbands who yearn for a younger model? What about the Muslims who are flogged for drinking beer when this should be a personal choice?

What about the moral policing which has caused several deaths? What about the endemic corruption or the public screening of sex videos? What about child marriages?

Why do the Muslims keep silent on these serious issues but harp on about a fictitious demand by the Christians for Christianity to be the official state religion?

The biggest threats to Malaysia and Islam in Malaysia are the thieving, power-grabbing Muslims in political parties, the media and the NGOs, who know the truth but prefer to manipulate it for their own selfish means. They have failed their fellow Malaysian and others of their religion. That is the profile of the Ugly Muslim.

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a non-conformist traditionalist from Perak, a bucket chemist and an armchair eco-warrior. In ‘real-speak’, this translates into that she comes from Ipoh, values change but respects culture, is a petroleum chemist and also an environmental pollution-control scientist.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 15 May 2011, 11:25 am and is filed under
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Toxic profits?

Al Jazeera – 101 East

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 15 May 2011, 3:13 pm and is filed under
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Two Pakatan leaders demand immediate action against Taib

By
Joseph Tawie

The Broken Shield

Saturday, May 14

KUCHING: Two Sarawak Pakatan leaders today (14 May) demanded an immediate investigation to be taken against Chief Minister of Sarawak Abdul Taib Mahmud following reports by Sarawak Report that the President of Swiss Federation Micheline Calmy-Rey has revealed Taib’s assets in Switzerland.

Calmy-Rey has forwarded the information about Taib’s assets in Switzerland to its regulatory body FINMA (the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority) for investigation.

The Swiss President said that Switzerland takes extremely seriously the concerns that have been raised internationally about Taib’s alleged profiteering from timber corruption and are unhappy that such assets may have been invested in Switzerland.

In a statement on the report, Sarawak PKR Chief Baru Bian said: “For the President of a foreign country to acknowledge that her government has begun investigation into Taib Mahmud’s assets is indeed an indictment on the credibility of the Chief Minister.

“It is also, no less, a huge blot that dents Malaysia’s image internationally which Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife, self-styled First Lady Rosmah Mansor, have been desperately trying to advance over the last year with their unending international PR exercises and tours to curry global favour.

“For months now Chief Minister has stubbornly refused to respond to the numerous reports at the whistle-blower website alleging his corruption.

“The MACC, despite receiving a profusion of reports from the public and NGOs, has not been able to give us a clear answer on what it is doing about such reports,” he said.

Bian, who is the newly elected state assemblyman for Ba’Kelalan said; “It is now clear that silence is no more an option.

“It is incumbent upon the Chief Minister to respond to these reports publicly. The MACC must also stop hedging before it loses all credibility with the public. The Prime Minister cannot anymore ignore the elephant in the room,” he said.

Sarawak Report further states that Calmy-Rey also makes clear that under international money-laundering agreements it is up to the Malaysian Government to make a request to Switzerland to freeze potentially illegal assets.

On the other hand the Swiss President specifically refers to the recent freezing of assets belonging to the leaders of Libya, Egypt and Tunisia, which have been possible under existing provisions of Swiss legislation.

“In light of this international investigation, an implicit request by the Swiss authorities to freeze Taib’s assets and an appallingly embarrassing slur on our country Malaysia, will Prime Minister finally do the right thing or will he continue to fail to act?” Bian asked.

He pointed out that the “onus is on Najib to redeem Malaysian’s tarnished image abroad and I reiterate that elegant silence on the part of Taib and MACC has ceased to be an option as Malaysia’s reputation is now in question and heavily at stake.

“The public demands answers and they demand them now. More so we the people of Sarawak,” Bian added.

Meanwhile, in a separate Press conference, Sarawak DAP demanded that Taib issue a ‘ministerial’ statement with regard to the allegations made against him by the Swiss authorities either through the newspapers or through the state assembly which will meet this June.

“These allegations by foreign authorities are very serious indeed putting Sarawak in a bad light that the chief minister is involved in corruption.

“Taib must make a stand and issue a ministerial statement either through the media or through the state assembly that will meet this June,” said Chong Chieng Jen, DAP Secretary.

This was the second allegation against Taib being involved in corruption, he said, pointing out that the first one was regarding a Japanese tax agent that was paid into a commission for the exportation of timber from Sarawak.

“But the latest one is the most serious and Taib must issue a statement to clear the air,” he said.

Chong who is the state assemblyman for Kota Sentosa said that he will raise the issue in the coming meeting of the state assembly.

“We demand Taib to answer the allegations,” he added.

Meanwhile, several Sarawakians while welcoming the report react with anger after reading it and want immediate actions to be taken against the chief Minister.

Some describe the report as the best news while others declare the revelation as a ‘Gawai’ gift for Sarawakians especially the Dayaks who celebrate gawai on June 1.

But state BN leaders when contacted refused to comment on the allegations.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 15 May 2011, 5:55 pm and is filed under
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Yemeni Opposition Says GCC-Backed Political Plan Is ‘Dead’

Bloomberg

By
Mohammed Hatem

May 15, 2011

May 15 (Bloomberg) — Yemen’s Joint Meetings Party, a coalition of six opposition groups, says a plan to end the country’s political crisis is dead following a visit by the chief envoy of Arab Gulf states seeking to broker a deal.

While the coalition is willing to meet Abdel Latif al- Zayyani, the secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, again to explore new options, the current proposal was considered “dead,” Mohammed Qahtan, spokesman for the opposition, said in a telephone interview today.

Thousands of protesters returned to the streets in Sana’a, the capital, today calling for an end to the 32-year rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Several people marched through the streets carrying a makeshift coffin with the words “GCC Initiative” written on the side.

Protests have persisted since the government and the Joint Meetings Parties failed to sign a GCC-brokered plan last month. Under the terms of the plan, Saleh would have ceded power within a month of signing the deal and would be granted immunity from prosecution. Al-Zayyani visited Sana’a yesterday to revive the group’s stalled peace initiative, the official Saba news service said.

Protests in Yemen calling for an end to Saleh’s rule are in their third month. At least 100 people have died as security forces have repeatedly fired on demonstrations that began on Feb. 11, according to the Arabic Sisters Forum for Human Rights in Sana’a.

Saleh U-Turn

In March, Saleh, 69, agreed to an opposition proposal to hand over power by the end of the year, then backtracked by saying he’d stand down only after a newly elected government was formed and power was transferred to safer hands. The agreement was brokered by ministers from the GCC, which includes the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait.

“There’s still hope that the crisis will be resolved,” Osama al-Nuggali, director of the information department at the Saudi Foreign Ministry, said in a telephone interview from Riyadh today. “A diplomatic solution, no matter how long it takes, will be less costly on Yemeni lives and on their security and stability. The alternative is scary.”

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 15 May 2011, 10:35 pm and is filed under
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‘No need for Najib to apologise’

By Tarani Palani | May 16, 2011

Free Malaysia Today

PETALING JAYA: Umno president Najib Tun Razak does not need to apologise for the latest “Christian Malaysia” report by the party’s mouthpiece, Utusan Malaysia, says political analyst Farish Noor.

Rather it is Utusan’s editor-in-chief Aziz Ishak and other editors who should be held responsible for the report.

“If one day, Utusan starts a rumour that ‘aliens are landing in Malaysia’, would Najib have to apologise for that as well”? he told FMT, adding that although Najib was the party president, the onus cannot always fall on him.

“While Najib is the prime minister and Utusan is said to be Umno’s mouthpiece, Najib is not the editor of the paper. Any apology for any perceived slight should come from those directly responsible (for the article),” he said.

“Unless you can prove conclusively (that Najib said) ‘I want this article to be written specifically in this manner’,” said Farish, who is senior fellow at Singapore’s S Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

Former Utusan senior journalist Hata Wahari told FMT, earlier this week, that top Umno leaders held weekly meetings to set the agenda for the daily.

According to Hata, Najib and deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin also attended the meetings where it was decided that the paper will run an issue for three days before dropping it completely.

General tone

However, Farish said that the meetings could be more or less to set the general tone of an issue instead of the specific details of an article.

He drew a parallel with Rupert Murdoch, the Australian-American Media tycoon who owns several media companies.

“Even in a media company owned by Murdoch, the final editorial control goes to the editor. Murdoch may say, ‘I don’t like you raising certain issues’… but the ultimate responsibility goes to the editor on the ground,” he said.

When asked to comment on the outcome of Najib’s meeting with the Christian leaders last Thursday, Farish said that it would be unfair to comment as he was not there and did not know the details of the meeting.

Najib met the Christian leaders to discuss the matter. He, however, did not offer an apology to the community but instead said that the Christian leaders had given a pledge to respect Islam as the official religion.

Farish said that the Utusan report only revealed that there were different pockets of political power instead of merely the “Number One” person.

To buttress his contention that it would be irrational for Najib to apologise, Farish cited Harakah (PAS’ mouthpiece) and Rocket (DAP’s official organ):

“Say, Harakah makes a completely wrong claim. Does Nik Aziz Nik Mat (PAS spiritual leader ) have to apologise? Or if Rocket carries a false report that the ‘government has sold Johor to Singapore’, does Lim Kit Siang (DAP adviser) has to apologise?”

‘Taiko’ mentality

Farish said that the mentality that the “Number One” should apologise or held accountable would merely perpetuate the “taiko” mentality in Malaysian politics when one should be encouraging pluralism, where there are many pockets of power instead.

“We should have intelligent discussion on the matter rather than running to Number One all the time,” he said.

Farish also said that as a political scientist he had given up trying to understand Utusan’s objectives as there seemed to be no “rhyme or reason” to their “completely irrational political behaviour”.

“A newspaper, besides its editorial, should be run as a business (concern) as well. If it shows that the dissemination of sensational news increases their sales, then perhaps that is a different case. But Utusan’s circulation has been dropping which clearly shows that its kind of news (touching on sensitive matters) is making more losses,” he said.

He drew comparison between the daily’s depleting sales and selling frog meat burgers.

“If you are selling frog meat burgers and it is clearly not selling, then why would you keep selling it? It completely baffles me.”

Utusan Malaysia’s circulation figures are steadily declining and the paper has reportedly been suffering losses of up to RM20 million since 2009. Figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulation showed that the paper’s daily sales have shrank 20% between June 2006 and June 2010.

The so-called “Christian plot” made headlines in Utusan Malaysia which claimed that the DAP government in Penang, together with Christian leaders, was conspiring to replace Islam as the official religion and to install a Christian prime minister. The Utusan report was based on two blog posts. Both the DAP and the Christian leaders have denied this.

Police are currently investigating the matter. The home ministry also announced last Thursday that Utusan has been given a warning over the article, a move some said was too light a punishment.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 16 May 2011, 11:12 am and is filed under
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10 Days in May (11)

Tweets
@limkitsiang
:-

Hisham says newspapers should be given leeway (TMI) Hishammuddin to meet chief editors of newspapers （Malaysiakini） http://bit.ly/j09gkh

Issue not Hisham meeting editors but explanation from Hisham 4double stds/negligence/failure 2take action agnst Utusan http://bit.ly/j09gkh

If Hisham dare not discharge ministerial duty re: Utusan, he shld stop “talk big” n go catch acid splashers who have claimed 22 victims

KTK Disunity Affairs Minister. Issue is not so much IAli Utusan but Hishammuddin Najib. Is KTK taking issue 2Cabinet? http://bit.ly/lDMyTw

What credibility when nestle extremists Utusan IAli in bosom? http://bit.ly/jA4P1Y PM brings global call 2reject extremism 2Oxford (Star)

Let Najib Oxford vouch credentials as moderate. What action agnst extremists Utusan IAli over “Christian Msia” bogey? http://bit.ly/jA4P1Y

Is Najib a moderate? http://bit.ly/jA4P1Y Msians world waiting what N has 2say not abt Osama but IAli/Utusan/Umno “Christian Msia” bogey

                This entry was posted on Monday, 16 May 2011, 8:40 am and is filed under
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10 days in May (12)

Tweets
@limkitsiang
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Can PM in Oxon speech pass Najib test 4Global Movement Moderates 2″censure reject their own extremists” eg IAli/Utusan? http://bit.ly/jA4P1Y

Has Najib forgotten his UNGA speech: “real issue is not between Muslims n non-Muslims but between moderates n extremists of all religions”?

Remember Najib? “Across all religions we have inadvertently allwd ugly voices of periphery 2drown out many voices of reason n common sense.”

Purpose of Najib’s “Global Movement of the Moderates”? 2combat n marginalize extremists who have held world hostage w their bigotry n bias!

“2urgently reclaim the centre n the moral high ground that has been usurped from us” – 2″choose moderation over extremism”. Remember Najib?

Najib shld explain Y he ceded the centre in IAli/Utusan “Christian Msia” bogey. Y preach moderation int when he gave in 2extremism at home?

Let Najib take stand in Oxon speech agnst extremism ala IA/Utusan. Shocking MCA (CSL) pander 2Utusan bigotry/suggest Utusan may be right.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 16 May 2011, 5:23 pm and is filed under
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A very dirty and very dangerous game!

By
Ahmad Mustapha Hassan
 | May 16, 2011

The Malaysian Insider

MAY 16 — In sports, games can be made dirty and sometimes fatal. But they only involve the players and nobody else. But in the case of politics, when the game becomes dirty and dangerous, the country and the people will suffer. There are no gainers and even the perpetrators themselves will suffer. Their aim is to destroy their opponents with no compunction as to what happens to the country. We have to beware of such political shenanigans!

The current coalition of parties in power, especially the main player Umno, is in a state of panic. The length of time that they had been in power had made them flabby in their thinking and actions. They simply cannot comprehend that their actions and the actions of their cahoots are wrong and detrimental to the welfare of the people. Their blind support for the grave mistakes by their agents proves their inability to grasp the seriousness of these actions. They pass the blame on others for the blunders made by these agent provocateurs.

It is very easy to see how the attacks by the Barisan Nasional are done and how amateurish they are.

Umno is in the first place afraid of the growing influence of PAS and thus uses religion to attack this party. Umno accuses the party of foregoing its principles when it works with the DAP. It tries its very best to make PAS break loose from working together with the DAP. It knows that the coming together of PAS and the DAP would spell disaster for Umno. For once the country sees the working together of the rural and urban voters.

It even uses race to break this working arrangement. By co-operating with the DAP, Umno tries to portray that PAS has abandoned the welfare of the Malays and also had compromised on its Islamic principles.

The strategy however does not work.

Umno is also scared stiff of the influence and inroads made by PKR. To Umno, if they could break Anwar, PKR would be completely crippled. It was not possible to use religion or race to fight PKR and so the target has to be Anwar. Anwar has the intellectual capacity that Umno leaders are incapable of challenging. They have therefore to use other means to kill him politically. Since he has the charisma and the ability to sway crowds at all public gatherings, his image has therefore to be smeared.

Despite the misuse of power it has not dented Anwar’s image. They had to resort to sex scandals but this too has not helped. PKR is still popular and making serious inroads in Umno strongholds. Umno is now resorting to pressing the panic button. They again resorted to what they are familiar with and that is sex.

Another sex accusation was levelled at Anwar and now the case is ongoing.

The case may take some time before a verdict can be reached and in the mean time the general election is due. Desperate times need desperate means. A video purported to show an image of someone looking like Anwar having sex with a supposedly Chinese prostitute was produced to help destroy Anwar’s image. As one blogger wrote, “Out of 10 who saw the video, 11 did not believe that it was Anwar!” What a sad scheme!

Another indomitable enemy that Umno fears is the DAP which has managed to penetrate and conquer domains that used to be the political preserve of the MCA and the Gerakan.

To Umno, the MCA and Gerakan are spent forces and now it is up to Umno to tackle the threat posed by the DAP. Attacks on DAP leaders like Lim Kit Siang and Karpal Singh had no political effect. They continue to be ever so popular.

Umno is unable to inflict any major dent in the character of these two charismatic leaders. Umno is also very perturbed by the impressive progress made by the DAP-led Penang government. Stronger tactics have to be resorted to by Umno to damage the standing of the DAP and its rule in Penang.

Race issues had been tried and there is no visible effect at all. More Malays are giving support to the DAP.

Religion is now being used. A meeting of Christian priests in Penang is now being used to create tension. They are accusing them of wanting to make Christianity the official religion of the country. Umno will grab any incident and spin it to counter the challenges posed by the opposition.

Using the issue of Christianity to damage the DAP shows the kind of calibre of Umno politicians. They will stoop to any level to achieve their goals.

But Umno forgets that the people are smarter now. Their spin simply will not sway them. Their dirty tricks department has been recycling old gimmicks and failing miserably and in the process losing more ground.

Malaysians can no longer be conned that easily.

* Ahmad Mustapha Hassan is the author of “The Unmaking of Malaysia” and a former general manager of state news agency Bernama. He was also the press secretary to former Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein and then-Deputy Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 16 May 2011, 5:44 pm and is filed under
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Al-Fatihah: Aminul Rasyid Amzah

By
Khairul Idzwan
 | 16 May, 2011

LoyarBurok.com

It has been a year since Aminul Rasyid Amzah was killed by the police. Until today, there is no official apology from the police and the case is still in court, where the accused has been called to enter his defence, as a prima facie case has been established against him. But still, justice delayed is justice denied.

I was not at the scene of the incident, so I can not tell the truth behind the incident. However, I would like to give my personal opinion on the manner in which the police did the shooting.

This is not the first time the police shot suspects to death, as suspects who are under a remand order can also died in lock-ups. Remember Kugan Ananthan and Gunasegaran Rajasundram? Or should I remind you with two deaths at the premise of the police’s “brother”, the MACC? Teoh Beng Hock and Ahmad Sarbani? To make things straight, I have nothing against the police or the authorities. I know they have a huge responsibility to ensure that Malaysians live peacefully. But not everything can be settled through shooting or killing, especially when the shooting causes the death of suspects.

Source: The Malaysian Insider

In this particular incident, the reason for the police shooting is questionable. I don’t think the police needed to fire multiple shots in the first place. The boy was wrong for driving without a valid licence and snuck out from his house in the middle of the night without his parents’ permission. But can that be a justification for the shooting? Moreover, if I were in his shoes, maybe I would do the same. Just imagine, being chased by several people in motorcycles and accidentally knocking a car. Then, suddenly being chased by police patrol cars. Any “Ali, Ah Chong and Muthu” aged 15 would probably panic in such a situation.

The police had reasonable suspicion to arrest him. Section 24 of the Police Act provides that “if any police officer has reasonable grounds to suspect that a vehicle is being used in the commission of any offence, he may stop and detain the person” [Section 24(1)(b)]. Section 24(3) of the same Act further adds that “if the person fails to obey any reasonable signal of the police officer to stop the vehicle, the person is guilty of an offence and can be arrested without a warrant.”

So, in my opinion, when the car had stopped, the police should have first told the boy to surrender. In some newspapers, they reported that the police shot the boy when he tried to run over the police while reversing the car. My personal opinion is that the statement is quite absurd. Based on several photos I have found in blogs, it is impossible for the car to go forward. So, logically, the police will go to the side of the car and not to the back of the car if they wanted to check the condition of the boy.

And some newspapers reported that the police found a long parang in the car. Is it just a cover up to justify the shooting? Nobody will ever know.

Nevertheless, the mother revealed another fact to reporters. The boy had already died before the car went over the side of the road and hit a house. This means that while asking the car to stop, the police had already shot the boy to death. I think this is intolerable. The police should not start firing at the car if they know that, by shooting it, they may cause death to the persons inside the car.

According to the United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials, intentional lethal use of firearms may only be made when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life [Article 9]. Article 10 further adds that the officials must identify themselves as such and give a clear warning on their intent to use firearms, with sufficient time for the warning to be observed unless by doing so, it will unduly place the law enforcement officials at risk, or would create a risk of death or serious harm to other persons.

The point here is, the use of firearms can only be justified if it is strictly unavoidable.

Even in criminal law, the defence of self-defence can only be invoked if he is in imminent danger, with no other means to save himself from that danger. In an English case, Rashford (2005) All ER 192, the question in that case was whether the defendant feared that he was in immediate danger from which he had no other means of escape; if the violence he used was no more than appeared necessary to preserve his own life or protect himself from serious injury, he would be entitled to rely on self-defence. The keyword here, besides imminent danger, is the proportionality of the attack.

Thus, did the police fire a warning shot before firing at the boy’s car, and subsequently at the boy? Next, did the boy fire back or use other means to attack the police and put the police in imminent danger?

The police have many powers in order to prevent crimes, but that does not includes shooting a suspect to death. According to Article 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence. This means that a person should be considered innocent until it can be proven that he is guilty. If a person is accused of a crime, he should always have the right to defend himself. Nobody has the right to condemn him and punish him for something he has not done.

So, is there any proof to show that the boy is guilty? Even under Article 11 of the UDHR, he is innocent until he is proven guilty. The police must also remember that a suspect is not necessarily guilty. The word suspect itself shows that the suspect is not yet guilty but that it is just suspected that he may have committed a crime.

A fatal shot will cause death to the suspect. If the suspect is dead, how can the police tender evidence to show that he is guilty? How can the investigation continue when the suspect himself is dead?

—-

Khairul Idzwan read law in UiTM and is now chambering. He misses his law school days. He blogs at http://kairulizwan.wordpress.com.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 16 May 2011, 1:59 pm and is filed under
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Anwar accuses judge of ‘prejudging’ sodomy trial

By
Shazwan Mustafa Kamal
 | May 16, 2011

The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, May 16 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has accused trial judge Datuk Mohd Zabidin Mohd Diah of “prejudging” the Sodomy II trial with his decision today even before the opposition leader has entered his defence.

The 63-year old PKR de facto leader told reporters although he had expected such a decision, he was “shocked” by Mohd Zabidin’s decision which accepted the prosecution’s arguments wholesale, despite the defence’s objection against complainant Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan’s credibility as the star witness.

“It does not come as a surprise but what is shocking is that he (Mohd Zabidin) has prejudged the case, and extended it beyond prima facie.

“This makes the position of the defence very precarious,” Anwar said.

He maintained his innocence and argued that the case had not taken into consideration the testimonies of several important witnesses — Pusrawi Hospital’s Dr Osman Hamid and the owner of the Desa Damansara condominium unit where the alleged sodomy took place.

“I have declared my innocence… following the law this case has no basis,” stressed the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leader.

It is understood that the defence team will interview 30 witnesses before the trial starts on June 6, and among those who will be interviewed are Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, former Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan and Datuk Mumtaz Jaafar.

“We will defend our position. We will call all witnesses, including Najib, Rosmah, Musa Hassan and Mumtaz.

“It is evident in earlier testimonies Najib, Rosmah, the former IGP are involved in this case,” said Anwar.

Defence counsel Sankara Nair said they will also be bringing in other expert witnesses to testify before the trial resumes next month.

“We are disappointed with the decision to call for the defence, we feel that this should have been a case of acquittal,” he told reporters.

The lawyer confirmed that Anwar will be the first defence witness to testify.

“Anwar will be the first witness… he has to be,” said Sankara.

The trial will resume on June 6 to 30.

Anwar, the 63-year-old PKR de facto leader, is currently facing sodomy charges for the second time in his life.

He has denied the charge, describing it as “evil, frivolous lies by those in power” when the charge was read out to him. He is charged under section 377B of the Penal Code and can be sentenced to a maximum of 20 years’ jail and whipping upon conviction.

The trial began 18 months after Anwar was charged in court in August 2008.

He was charged with sodomy and corruption in 1998 after he was sacked from the Cabinet and was later convicted and jailed for both offences.

He was freed in September 2004 and later resurrected his political career by winning back his Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat in a by-election in 2008, which had been held in the interim by his wife.

He led the loose pact of PKR, DAP and PAS to a historic sweep of five states and 82 parliamentary seats in Election 2008.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 16 May 2011, 2:02 pm and is filed under
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DAP claims Umno backing Perkasa’s crusade threat against Christians

By
By Clara Chooi

 | May 16, 2011

The Malaysia Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, May 16 — The DAP rebuked the government today for refusing to punish Datuk Ibrahim Ali over his crusade threat against Christians, declaring this as proof that Umno backs the leader’s controversial Malay rights group Perkasa.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng described Perkasa as Umno’s “alter ego” while his deputy Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham said both parties were playing a game of “good cop, bad cop” to woo Malay support.

“We have always believed that Ibrahim Ali is working hand in hand with Umno. Umno is using Perkasa to stir up Malay fear to force unity and make them support Barisan Nasional (BN).
“They are trying to use this common enemy syndrome and BN hopes to use Perkasa to actually send the message that Umno has been trying to send all this while,” said Ngeh.

He also accused Ibrahim of being a bad Muslim for professing himself as a protector of Islam but at the same time inciting unrest by calling for violence against the Christians.

He charged that Ibrahim’s main agenda was to cause fear among the Muslims and fabricate a struggle between the races in order to emerge as a “hero of Islam”.

“Religion should remain pure but far too often politicians use it for their personal agenda. In my opinion, he is not practising Islam at all… by making false accusations, inciting hatred, he is not a good Muslim,” he said.

The DAP leaders also agreed that the government’s failure to punish Ibrahim for his threat, which they said was a form of “criminal intimidation”, was clearly a case of double standards by the administration.

As an example, DAP national organising secretary Teresa Kok pointed out to The Malaysian Insider that an investigation had immediately been called when an article alleging a conspiracy by the Christians to usurp Islam was published in Malay daily Utusan Malaysia.

“Why, when Utusan published a blogger’s article talking about rumours that Christians want to change the religion of the federation, which is not at all the case, the cops came out to say that they were investigating it. And so many people were called up.

“What about this one? Is this not equally as inflammatory?” she said when contacted.

Kok added that all eyes would be on the government now to see if any action would be taken against Ibrahim.

Lim said the statement by Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein yesterday in explaining the issue was unsatisfactory and only further confirms Umno’s backing of Perkasa.

When asked for his remarks yesterday, Hishammuddin appeared to brush off concerns, saying Ibrahim does not represent the sentiments of all Malays.

“I don’t think Ibrahim Ali represents all the Malays or all the Muslims. Same as Osama bin Laden, he doesn’t represent all the Muslims.

“There are extremists, I’m not saying Ibrahim Ali is an extremist, please don’t quote me wrongly but I’m saying that there are different levels of understanding so let the public decide who they want to represent (them),” he said, adding that there are extremists in the Chinese community as well.

“This is a weak excuse by Umno because if action is only taken based on the strength of your representation not the nature and ill-intent of your violence, why then act against terrorists because they also do not represent all the Malays?

“This latest justification by Hishamuddin on why no action is taken against Ibrahim only confirms that Perkasa is Umno’s alter ego,” said Lim.

He pointed out that when Ibrahim launched his crusade threat against Christians on Saturday during the ceramah organised by the Komunity 1 Malaysia group in Kampung Changkat in Gombak here, several Umno leaders were present — Gombak Umno chief Abdul Rahman Kamaruddin, his deputy Abdul Aziz Jantan and division information chief Ismail Ahman.

In his speech, Ibrahim had called for a crusade or holy war against the Christians if the community proceeds with its agenda to usurp Islam.

“Please record my words — if there is any party in Penang, especially the Christian priests who are being backed by the Penang DAP, should continue with their agenda which we already know, I would like to offer that if they want to hold a crusade, we can,” he had said.

His threat was inspired by the Utusan Malaysia article entitled “Kristian Agama Rasmi?” (Christianity the official religion?) which alleged that DAP leaders and Christian priests were conspiring to take over Putrajaya, abolish Islam as the religion of the federation, and install a Christian prime minister.

Lim said it was likely that Hishammuddin’s failure to take stern action against Utusan Malaysia for its Christian conspiracy article had emboldened “extremists like Ibrahim”, resulting in the latter’s call for war against Christians, who make up about 10 per cent of the country’s population.

In response, Gerakan president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon called for a full investigation into all of Ibrahim’s speeches made in recent days, saying the leader was “uncouth” and in clear violation of 1 Malaysia.

“I feel disgusted that he should beat his chest this way, trying to be a hero, especially after the prime minister has just met Muslim and non-Muslim leaders separately, calling for calm, understanding and mutual respect,” he said in a statement yesterday.

However, Lim said Koh’s statement was pointless and urged the unity affairs minister to raise the matter in the Cabinet instead.

“There is no point for other BN component parties such as Gerakan or MCA to make press statements only in the non-Malay media asking for action against Ibrahim Ali when they know that none will be taken.

“So far no Gerakan or MCA ministers have dared to press for a Cabinet decision insisting that Cabinet acts firmly against racists and extremists seeking to burn 1 Malaysia with this dangerous lies,” he said.

In a separate statement today,Lim Eng also called on all Malaysians to unite against such religious extremism, warning other non-Muslim communities that they could be Umno’s and Utusan Malaysia’s next target.

“The time has come for Malaysians to stand up for peace and step out with each other on the common principle that no one should be discriminated based on race or religion.

“Even though Christians and not Buddhists are targeted by Umno and Utusan Malaysia this time, what is there to stop Buddhists and Hindus from being the next targets in future,” he said.

He cited a quotation by anti-Nazi and protestant pastor Martin Niemöller to illustrate his point, “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out… because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out… because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out… because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me… and there was no one left to speak for me.”

                This entry was posted on Monday, 16 May 2011, 3:45 pm and is filed under
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Former DAP MP Chian Heng Kai dies

By
Boo Su-Lyn
 | May 16, 2011

The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, May 16 — Former DAP national vice-chairman Datuk Chian Heng Kai died from liver cancer in Muar today. He was 71.

The former Bukit Mertajam and Batu Gajah MP was detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in 1976 for four years after fighting for the right of Malaysians to be educated in their mother tongue, the DAP said in a statement today.

Chian, who joined the DAP a year after it was formally registered in 1966, won the Batu Gajah parliamentary seat in 1978 and the Bukit Mertajam seat in 1986 and 1990.
He won his seat in the 1978 general election while under ISA detention.

“Their commitment to defend the constitutional position of mother-tongue education in general, and Chinese education in particular, was strongly supported by their constituents,” said the statement, referring to Chian and another party stalwart Chan Kok Kit, who died in 2001.

Chian is survived by his wife Tan Chui Swee and three children.

His funeral is on Wednesday at the Seu Teck Sean Tong temple in Muar.

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