Chua Should Keep His Word and Quit

By Kee Thuan Chye

msn.com

19.10.2013

Chua Soi Lek is being extremely unreasonable in telling his deputy, Liow Tiong Lai, to quit the leadership of the MCA before he himself will step down. And his push for an extraordinary general  meeting (EGM) to overturn the party’s resolution not to take up government positions in light of its poor performance at the last general election (GE13) is a betrayal of his pre-GE13 promise.

On these two issues alone, he has lost all dignity and should just slink into a corner and disappear. He should not be blustering like he is doing in order to try and get things his way. It only makes him appear more and more like a dictator, and an irrational one, to boot.

No wonder there are groups within the party campaigning to bring about his downfall. Like the Save Party Committee 3.0 and the ABC (Anything But Chua) movement. The latter was initiated by newly-elected central delegate Lee Hwa Beng, who was summarily sacked from the party last week at a meeting chaired by Chua, clearly to get rid of the latter’s opponents.

If Chua can’t see the writing on the wall, he must be blind or thick-headedly stubborn. If people want him to go, he should go gracefully, rather than place conditions for others to go as well. He shouldn’t be saying, “I am willing to go but Liow must leave with me because he is not the right man to lead the MCA in this challenging political situation.”

Why should Liow step down just because Chua wants him to? Liow has every right to contest for the presidency during the upcoming party elections in December. Who is Chua to tell him he should not?

The reasons Chua cites to support his contention that Liow is “not the right man” are idiosyncratic. Metaphorically speaking, they won’t hold up in a court of law. They reflect his personal opinion, which of course is vulnerable to challenge.

The reasons are that Liow is weak and indecisive, that he is not a fighter, and that he is easily influenced by people outside the party. Others – for example, Liow’s supporters – might say the opposite of him, and who’s to say which side is right?

When it comes to this, the best option then is to let the party delegates decide. It is not for Chua to assume the role of Big Brother and say who should and should not contest, who is fit or not fit to be leader. He can of course express an opinion, but he should not dictate terms.

He contends that the party should be led by younger people. But can he be absolutely sure that these people will not be as unfit as Liow? If he can’t be, then he has no business making assumptions with the hope that they will turn out true.

Obviously, Chua is pursuing a personal vendetta against Liow. He can’t stand it that Liow has stood up to him, this same Liow that he calls weak and indecisive. The resolutions of the EGM he is pushing for which will be held on October 20 include one to censure Liow for failing in his duty as chairman of the GE13 preparatory committee.

Liow, however, denies this. Instead, he argues, “The reason for our massive defeat was because we have a morally tainted president.” Might he be referring to more than just the sex scandal Chua was involved in about six years ago?

But why should the MCA censure only Liow? Chua as the head of the party should also be censured for the party’s poor performance. As the president, he should take full responsibility, instead of passing the blame solely to his deputy.

After all, didn’t the electorate reject the MCA because it was seen as being a weak partner in Barisan Nasional (BN)? So weak that it allowed Umno to overshadow it and call all the shots? So weak that it could no longer effectively represent the Chinese community which it claims to champion?

And who should be the person responsible for allowing the MCA to become like that?

Certainly, Chua cannot be blamed entirely for the state the MCA is in because his predecessors are also culpable for giving in to Umno. But after he became president, did he manage to win more respect for the MCA?

In 2010, when he called for the gradual removal of the 30 per cent Bumiputera equity, and Umno leaders like Muhyiddin Yassin whacked him hard, and groups like Perkasa and the Malay Consultative Council demanded he be detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA), how did he respond? Did he come out defiant and fighting back? No, he denied questioning the New Economic Policy (NEP) and tamely said he was merely suggesting how to improve the country’s competitiveness. And after that, he hardly said anything contentious again.

That’s not .. ahem … being a fighter, is it?

So when Chua asks how Liow can “handle the more aggressive DAP, PAS, PKR and some Umno leaders”, he also needs to ask whether he himself has proven that he can.

As for the EGM resolutions to revoke the party’s stand forbidding party members from taking Cabinet, government and state positions, Chua had pledged before GE13 that the party would not take up these positions if it did not get sufficient support at the elections. It was instead interpreted as a ploy, to persuade the Chinese to support the party. But the ploy didn’t work anyway, and the party was badly beaten at GE13.

Now, only four months after GE13, Chua is attempting to reverse that stand. But it looks bad for him and the party. If the EGM results in the party’s rescinding the original stand, it will be seen to be dishonourable. It will not be keeping its word.

It may be that Chua is banking on a turnaround to boost his own prospect of defending his presidency although he has said on May 6, the day after GE13, that he would not seek re-election. If that’s the case, it will do him more harm than good. His word will be worth as much as a bag of gas.

By right, he should stick to what he said on May 6 and leave the politicking for positions to other contenders. By right, he should not be party to an EGM calling for a revocation of the party’s pre-GE13 stand. By right, he should just step down and salvage some dignity for himself.

But then he has this illusion that he is a fighter. And if he doesn’t watch out, his illusion will destroy him. Being a fighter is good, but being a fighter of dishonourable causes is downright disgraceful.

* Kee Thuan Chye is the author of the new book The Elections Bullshit, now available in bookstores.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 19 October 2013, 9:49 am and is filed under
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Government is Playing Politics with ‘Allah’

By Kee Thuan Chye

Yahoo! News

19.10.2013

Firebombs didn’t go off in mosques. Pigs’ heads were not thrown into mosque compounds. These things did not happen after the Court of Appeal ruled against the High Court’s 2009 decision to allow the Catholic weekly newspaper The Herald to use the word ‘Allah’ in referring to God.

They did not happen despite Muslim group Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia’s adding insult to injury by telling Christians to accept the verdict or leave the country. Its president, Abdullah Zaik Abdul Rahman, said, “They can choose to move to another country if they cannot accept the supremacy of Islam and the royalty that protects the supremacy of the religion.” It was irrelevant, uncalled-for and provocative, but the community that was targeted did not retaliate with violence. This of course is to its credit.

It did, however, react angrily to the verdict. Rev Eu Hong Seng, chairman of the Christian Federation of Malaysia, declared: “This is yet another erosion and infringement of the constitutional protection to the freedom of religious communities to profess and practise their faith and to manage their own affairs. The decision might encourage and fuel further misunderstanding and mistrust between the Muslim and Christian communities which will further undermine the unity of Malaysians.”

Bishop Thomas Tsen, president of the Sabah Council of Churches, said, “It is not fair to say that using ‘Allah’ would confuse Muslim practitioners. No, we have always called our father in heaven ‘Allah Bapak’ or the Lord God ‘Tuhan Allah’… We are sad and disappointed about this current ruling … it challenges the government’s sincerity to see our people united.”

Archbishop Bolly Lapok, chairperson of the Association of Churches, Sarawak, censured chief judge Mohamed Apandi Ali for saying that the use of the word ‘Allah’ was not integral to the Christian faith. In strong terms, he said, “The church does not need an apologist from outside to decide what is integral or not integral to our faith. It is repugnant to the universal common sense.”

With justified defiance, he asserted that Christians in Sabah and Sarawak would “continue to reverently worship this ‘Allah’ till kingdom come, and we are asking the Government, ‘What are you going to do about it?’”

Bully for Bolly! That’s the attitude to strike against a government that is proving to be increasingly hostile to the minorities. That’s also the way to call a bully’s bluff. That’s what Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno did when in 2009, she was dealt a punishment of six strokes of the cane and a fine for drinking beer in a hotel bar. Instead of cowering, she stood tall and challenged the authorities to bring it on. In the end, her sentence was commuted to three weeks of community service.

Last month, when poet A. Samad Said was arrested and questioned for sedition, the NGO Gagasan Pendidikan Melayu Malaysia urged the Government to take away his Sasterawan Negara (National Laureate) title. And Culture and Multimedia Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek said it was up to the panel that awarded Samad the title to decide whether it should be revoked. But was Samad cowed by it?

No. Instead, he said, “I welcome that with open arms.” He even went further to say, obviously to satirise the recent calls made by a few ministers to revoke the citizenships of some critics of the government, “I even welcome the revocation of my citizenship if that’s what they decide.”

Since then, no further action has been taken against him.

Defiance apparently works. In the ‘Allah’ case, as the Christian community expressed its outrage at the Court of Appeal’s verdict, the Government found itself on the back foot and had to resort to damage control – because the Christian populations of Sabah and Sarawak amount to 1.6 million, and the votes from these two states have been keeping the ruling party in power, including at the recent general election.

To appease them, ministers Joseph Kurup and Maximus Ongkili came out three days after the verdict to say that the Cabinet had decided it would not restrict Sabah and Sarawak Christians from using the word ‘Allah’ in their worship and in their Bahasa Malaysia Bible, Al-Kitab. They emphasised that the Court of Appeal’s ruling was applicable only to The Herald.

But why should there be two standards for this matter? Why is ‘Allah’ all right for Sabah and Sarawak, and not all right for The Herald, based in Peninsular Malaysia?

Besides, the Government’s argument has all along been that ‘Allah’ is to be used exclusively by Muslims. So how come it’s all right for the Government to let the Sabah and Sarawak Christians use it too? This is contradictory to its stand. Obviously, then, the decision to allow for this contradiction must be political.

And since the issue is political rather than religious, Malaysians must see through this ploy of the Government’s and view the issue objectively. Instead of being charged by religious emotion, Muslims must grasp the reality that ‘Allah’ has not been exclusive to Islam even in Arab countries for more than a  thousand years. They must realise that the Government is playing with religion for its own political gain.

Former Perlis mufti Asri Zainul Abidin has argued that the word ‘Allah’ predates Islam. This was corroborated by The National, a United Arab Emirates (UAE) newspaper, which, when commenting on the verdict, wrote, “The word ‘Allah’ is never exclusive to Islam – indeed, both Christians and Jews used the word ‘Allah’ to refer to God even before the coming of Islam. When Christians across the Middle East pray to God, they use the term ‘Allah’. Walk into a church in Cairo, Baghdad or Beirut this coming Sunday and you will hear the name of ‘Allah’ invoked.”

The National, which is based in Abu Dhabi, even said that the Court of Appeal’s decision appeared to be “wrong”. How’s that, coming from a Muslim-brother nation?

Since the issue is political, and most Malaysians don’t believe that the judiciary is independent, what should happen next? The Herald has said it would bring the case to the Federal Court, but would that be of any use? Already, before the Court of Appeal sat to hear the appeal, many of us had thought its verdict would be a foregone conclusion. So when it came out, it was not the least bit surprising. How would the Federal Court be different?

The Herald could of course challenge the Court of Appeal’s justification for its verdict, particularly its interpretation of Article 3(1) of the Federal Constitution. This interpretation assumes that the use of the word ‘Allah’ will cause unrest in society because the Muslims would be confused, and therefore to maintain “peace and harmony” as spelt out in Article 3(1), the Christian publication should not use it.

However, as has been pointed out by constitutional expert Abdul Aziz Bari and Bar Council President Christopher Leong, the meaning of “peace and harmony” pertains to the Federal Constitution’s guarantee that religions other than Islam enjoy the right to be practised freely, so the Court of Appeal is mistaken in reading it the way it did.

The wording of Article 3(1) is:
“Islam is the religion of the Federation; but other religions may be practised in peace and harmony in any part of the Federation.”
(my italics) It is clear from this that Abdul Aziz is right in saying that the “plain meaning” of Article 3(1) is “that despite the fact that Islam has been made official religion, non-Muslims may go on practising their religions freely without restriction”, and that “the court is there to protect and enhance the provisions for fundamental liberties, not to narrow them down”.

By the same token, Leong is also right in saying that “the words in their clear and ordinary meaning provide for the right of other religions to be practised unmolested and free of threats”, and that it is unreasonable for a fundamental liberty to be denied “on the basis that some people would be confused”.

Would the Federal Court agree with this and adjudge the Court of Appeal to have erred? Would it also uphold the High Court’s ruling that ‘Allah’ is not exclusive to the use of Muslims?

The answer to that might well be the same for this question: Are there at least a few good men left in the judiciary, even if there appears to be none in the Government? Well, the jury on that, as they say, is still out.

* Kee Thuan Chye is the author of the new book The Elections Bullshit, now available in bookstores.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 19 October 2013, 4:35 pm and is filed under
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Mahathir cannot be more wrong – three generations of Malaysians regardless of religion have been singing the state anthems of seven states invoking the name of Allah to bless and protect the Sultan and people

Former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir cannot be more wrong when he said that non-Muslims  insisting on the use of the word ‘Allah’ in peninsular Malaysia are disrupting what was already a working arrangement, claiming that “insisting to do so creates tensions between different religions” as non-Muslims in the peninsula do not traditionally use the word.

This is because three generations of Malaysians regardless of race or religion have been singing the state anthems of seven states, Johore, Selangor, Perak, Kedah, Pahang, Kelantan and Terengganu invoking the name of Allah to bless and protect the Sultan and people. Were they wrong?

The six-line Perak state anthem invoked Allah’s name four times, viz:

Dilanjutkan Allah usianya Sultan

Adil dan murah memerintah watan

Ditaati rakyat kiri dan kanan

Iman yang soleh Allah kurniakan

Allah berkati Perak Darul Ridzuan

Allah selamatkan Negeri dan Sultan

Allah, grant the Sultan a long life

Just and gracious, ruling the homeland

Obeyed by the people left and right

Allah endow the righteous faith

Sanctify Perak Darul Ridzuan, O Allah

Salvage the State and Sultan, O Allah

Allah’s name is invoked thrice in the Terengganu state anthem, viz:

Allah daulatkan Tuanku Sultan,

Terengganu Darul Iman,

Allah peliharakan Tuanku Sultan,

Sejahtera sepanjang zaman,

Allah rahmatkan Tuanku Sultan,

Memerintah rakyat aman.

God may his majesty remain sovereign,

Terengganu the abode of faith,

God bless his majesty,

Blissful throughout his reign,

God bestow mercy upon his majesty,

Govern the people in peace.

The Johore anthem starts with
“Allah peliharakan Sultan”
 and ends with:

Allah berkati Johor

Allah selamatkan Sultan

The Pahang anthem starts with

Ya Allah Yang Masa Kuasa,

Lanjutkan Usia Duli Yang Maha Mulia,

and ends with

Ya Allah Selamatkan Duli Tuanku Raja Kami

The name of Allah is invoked in Selangor state anthem’s
“Allah lanjutkan usia Tuanku”
, Kelantan state anthem’s
“Segala Kebesaran Allah cucurkan”
 and Kedah state anthem’s
“Allah selamat Sultan Makhota”
.

Have three generations of Malaysians, particularly non-Muslims in the seven states of Johore, Selangor, Perak, Kedah, Pahang, Kelantan and Terengganu done wrong and been offending the sensitivities of their Muslim contemporaries in using the name of Allah to bless and protect the Sultan and people when singing the respective state anthems?

Were the Muslims particularly in these seven states in the past 56 years offended that non-Muslim Malaysians were also using the word “Allah” in these state anthems?

The answer can only be a powerful “No’.

If so, why should the “Allah” controversy deteriorate to its present level as to create the worst racial and religious polarization in the country as to transform Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia Policy into a 2Malaysia Policy especially over constitutional rights of Malaysians, seriously tarnish Malaysia’s international reputation as a moderate “model” plural nation and undo all efforts to attract foreign investments by raising vexing questions including the system of justice and the independence of the judiciary in Malaysia?

The ball is in Najib’s court for him to prove that he is Prime Minister for all Malaysians and that his 1Malaysia Policy is not actually a 2Malaysia Policy!

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 19 October 2013, 11:07 am and is filed under
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Moving beyond May 5 and October 19

 – Ranjit Singh

The Malaysian Insider

October 19, 2013

The year 2013 will go down in the annals of Malaysian history for two important dates. First, May 5, when the Opposition won the popular vote in the 13th General Election, and second, October 19, when the second echelon of power in Umno will be decided.

While May 5 saw the incumbents retain power, October 19 will decide if they have enough firepower to ensure that they hold on to the power in the general election due in 2018.

The very fact that the candidates vying for the vice-presidents’ posts were not allowed to debate was a real missed opportunity for Umno members to evaluate the calibre of their future leaders.

Prime Minister Datuk Najib Razak’s seismic shift from 1Malaysia to the right, in a move seen by many as “playing to the gallery”, has actually undone all the ambitious programmes under his transformation programme and has sowed seeds of anger and distrust among the non-Malays.

The announcements of the Bumiputera Empowerment Plan on September 14, 2013 and the backlash against the Chinese after GE13 clearly showed that his position as a PM for all races is questionable.

The time to implement populist measures is over. The announcement that Putrajaya might not implement GST on October 25 is inviting further trouble. Fitch has clearly cautioned further downgrades if adequate fiscal reforms were not taken.

Projected revenue of RM208 billion for 2013 for the government will not be adequate and if there are further downgrades; cost of borrowing will rise and that will worsen the government’s economic management. As in GE13, there was much hype, but the incumbents retained power.

The same may apply to the Umno veep elections. However, the possibility of leaders that have been associated with corruption being elected is also there, and if this happens, Umno will suffer grave consequences.

Mukhriz Mahathir, given his tenure as International Trade and Industry Deputy Minister, has the background of a leader in that position, but the members who decide have to be objective about the selection.

Shafie Apdal, with only 25 divisions from his home state of Sabah will have to fight it out tooth and nail but Hishammuddin Hussein, with his handling of the Lahad Datu fiasco, has left many questions unanswered.

Meanwhile Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is expected to be “at Home” as he has been seen as making all the tough calls that Najib has been evading or avoiding of late.

Based on Shahrizat Abdul Jalil’s win, Umno seem to be a forgiving lot and the possibility of Isa Samad emerging as a winner cannot be discounted.

But I am glad that the election would be over soon, so we can look forward to next Friday, where decisions closest to our hearts, or rather, pockets, will be made. – October 19, 2013.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 19 October 2013, 3:36 pm and is filed under
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Religion In Protest

by Allan CF Goh

(A Poem)

Religion is there for mankind

To discover his soul and its kind

It’s there for his spiritual need

Be better based on enlightened deed

Religion must preach righteousness

Built up with karma of real kindness

So as to enhance his belief

To bring benign religious relief

Religion clothed in intemperance

Demeans its true holy forbearance

It demands the highest standard

Of behaviour free from the dastard

Any religion worth its fame

Must act rightly to defend its name

Adherents must rightly protest

Foul falsehood that all humans detest

To bring the truth into the light

And to make matters all clear and right

But that does not condone murder

Regardless of the hurt of the slander

The deed of crude protestation

And rude violent intimidation

That threaten death, harm to others

Dump its values down the gutter

So as not to be trivialized

Religionists must act civilized

Not be diverted with trifles

Not with insignificance ruffled

Religion needs its wholesomeness

To safeguard its sacred holiness

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 19 October 2013, 10:11 am and is filed under
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RoS: Drop EGM to censure Liow

by Adrian Lai

New Straits Times

19.10.2013

PRESERVING UNITY: Registrar urges MCA to refer him to disciplinary committee instead

KUALA LUMPUR: CONCERNED over the worsening leadership crisis plaguing MCA, the Registrar of Societies (RoS) has issued a letter to party president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, urging him to consider dropping a move to censure his estranged deputy, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, at the extraordinary general meeting (EGM) tomorrow.

RoS principal senior assistant director Desmond Das told the New Straits Times yesterday that Dr Chua’s office had received the letter on Thursday morning.

“The letter was written by RoS director-general Mohammad Razin Abdullah, in which he expressed concern about the ongoing tiff between Dr Chua and Liow.

“The letter stated that the resolution to censure Liow during MCA’s EGM should be dropped and the party should go through the proper channels (in dealing with Liow). That is our official view on the matter.”

Das said Razin had advised Dr Chua to consider referring Liow to the party’s disciplinary committee instead of holding an EGM to reprimand him.

“The MCA constitution contains provisions that enable the party to take disciplinary action against any member who fails in carrying out his duties.

“The plan to censure Liow should be shelved for the sake of preserving MCA’s unity.”

Das, however, stressed that the letter was merely an advisory, and not a direct order.

“This means Dr Chua has every right to ignore the director-general’s advice. We are not able to step in and issue an order because no one from MCA has lodged a complaint against the resolution to censure Liow.”

When asked if Dr Chua had responded to the letter, Das said: “I am not sure, but sources told me that he has chosen not to heed our advice.”

Dr Chua, who had been embroiled in a public spat with Liow over the party leadership in recent months, could end his deputy’s challenge for the top post two months before the party’s election in December.

Dr Chua’s faction, comprising at least half of the 2,400 central delegates, is expected to support a resolution to “censure” Liow for refusing to accept the party’s decisions.

This could directly dent Liow’s chances of taking on the party chief should Dr Chua renege on his decision not to defend the presidency.

The same resolution also noted that not only had Liow failed in his duties as general election preparation committee chief, but also his recent actions had caused infighting and tarnished the party’s image.

This was one of the four resolutions set out for the EGM.

The other three involved accepting government posts at various levels, overturning MCA’s earlier stand of not taking up any posts because it fared badly in the 13th General Election.

On July 20, Liow had declared that he would contest the MCA president’s post in the coming party election after Dr Chua had announced earlier that he would not seek re-election following the party’s dismal performance in the general election.

However, Dr Chua last week fired a salvo of vitriol against his deputy, calling him a “weak and indecisive” leader who was unfit to helm the party. He had also discouraged Liow from running for the party presidency during the MCA polls on Dec 21, urging him to step down and make way for younger leaders instead.

Former MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat has also expressed his intention in joining the fray after announcing that he would be contesting the MCA presidency provided there would not be a multi-cornered fight.

An aide close to Dr Chua said the party supremo had not come up with an official statement on whether to accept RoS’s advice.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 19 October 2013, 10:36 am and is filed under
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Tiga soalan “ketamadunan” untuk Naib Canselor dan Menteri

– Prof Dr. Mohamad Tajuddin Mohamad Rasdi

The Malaysian Insider

October 19, 2013

Saya ingin berkongsi suatu perkara yang penting yang telah berlaku sejurus selepas kuliah saya di UTM baru-baru ini.

Dua orang mahasiswa Melayu datang ke pejabat saya untuk bertanyakan beberapa isu. Pada kebiasaannya mahasiswa atau mahasiswi yang datang ke pejabat saya akan bertanyakan tentang soalan berkaitan senibina dan juga tugasan yang diberikan.

Tetapi, pada hari itu, kedua-dua mahasiwa ini telah bertanyakan tiga soalan yang kini seluruh negara kita sedang berhadapan tetapi tidak terjawab. Saya perturunkan tiga soalan ini dengan jawapan saya tetapi sebahagian jawapan saya adalah soalan kepada pucuk pimpinan universiti awam dan pimpinan negara. Ketiga-tiga soalan itu berkisar terhadap isu ketamadunan, perkauman dan kemanusiaan.

Soalan pertama yang telah diajukan kepada saya oleh salah seorang dari dua orang mahasiswa yang hadir ke pejabat saya di UTM adalah:

“Dewasa ini kita sering dengar banyak sekali yang diperkatakan tentang Islam oleh ustaz-ustaz dan tokoh-tokoh ugama. Tetapi yang saya pelik adalah dalam melaut perbincangan tentang ugama Islam, kenapa tahap kemanusiaan kita makin hari makin rendah?”

Sebelum saya menjawab, saya meminta penjelasan tentang contoh “tahap kemanusiaan” yang dikatakan oleh mahasiswa tersebut. Adakah ia seperti laungan membakar injil, pemenjaraan Alvivi dan rakan atas isu Bak- Kut Teh, isu kalimah Allah, isu Bawani-Sharifah, isu penangkapan Adham Adhli, kematian dalam lokap, penahanan pendemonstrasi aman dan fitnah rasisme terhadap orang-orang Cina?

Kedua-duanya sekadar mengangguk. Sebelum saya menjawab, saya telah bersyukur terlebih dahulu bahawa setelah 26 tahun berkuliah baru kini, 3 tahun sebelum saya bersara, dapat soalan yang saya kira soalan matang negarawan masa depan.

Jawapan saya sedemikian: Dari sudut pendidikan ugama, sebagai masyarakat Melayu yang kurang membaca dan lemah pemikiran kritis, kita bergantung terus kepada apa-apa saja yang dikatakan oleh golongan-golongan ustaz yang berceramah di masjid, surau, televisyen, radio, padang dan kini di Youtube.

Dari analisis beratus-ratus pita video atau cd yang saya dengar dan ceramah  “live” saya menyimpulkan golongan ustaz-ustaz ini kepada 4 kumpulan.

Kumpulan pertama adalah kumpulan yang paling ramai. Kumpulan ini saya namakan “yang tak cukup belajar”. Mereka ini bersama ustazah-ustazah hanya berpendidikan paling rendah di madrasah dan tidak pernah pun membaca buku atau memikirkan tentang isu ketamdunan manusia sejagat serta kepelbagaian ugama, budaya hidup dan kepercayaaan tetapi mereka-meraka ini seronok sangat memperkatakan tentang perihal ugama-ugama lain seperti ugama Hindu, Budha dan Kristian.

Saya selalu mengingatkan pelajar saya bahawa seorang yang cerdik pandai atau akademik akan bercakap tentang apa yang ia tahu sahaja dan tidak akan bercakap tentang apa yang ia tidak pernah pelajari secara serius. Tetapi para ustaz-ustaz kita dan ustazah seperti ustazah yang popular yang mengecam orang Keristian kerana menyambut Hari Valantine tidak tahu yang mereka tidak boleh cakap apa yang mereka tidak tahu. Bagi mereka ini semuanya mereka serba tahu maka itu lidah mereka tidak bertulang dan “main hentam sahaja”. Mentang-mentang yang berhadapan dengan mereka adalah kaca tv dan orang-orang kampung, berani sangat mereka bersuara.

Golongan yang kedua adalah para ustaz dan ustazah yang jelas sifat rasis mereka. Saya gelarkan mereka ini walaupun berpendidikan tinggi tapi “tak mahu belajar”. Sifat kemelayuan adalah terlalu tertera sehinggakan mereka cukup tidak senang melihat orang bukan Islam yang kaya dan senang dan mereka sengaja memperlekehkan ugama dan budaya orang bukan Islam.

Golongan yang ketiga adalah ustaz-ustaz dan ustazah-ustazah yang perasan diri mereka pejuang-pejuang Islam yang sentiasa “berperang” dengan orang-orang bukan Islam. Meraka ini adalah “yang tak sabar nak ajar”. Bagi mereka, mereka seperti George Bush: “You are either with us or you are with them”. Tidak ada pilihan ketiga. Bagi mereka orang-orang bukan Islam adalah musuh-musuh Islam dari dulu, kini dan selamanya.

Golongan keempat adalah golongan kaki bodek. Ustaz-ustazah ini biasanya yang cuba membodek pimpinan-pimpinan negara dengan mengiakan isu-isu dengan bersungguh-sungguh. Saya gelar mereka ini “yang tak malu serta kurang ajar”. Mereka menjual ugama untuk mendapat kenaikan pangkat atau gelaran atau sambung kontrak berkerja dengan membentangkan hujah yang memenangkan golongan pemerintah walaupun hujah-hujah mereka amat cetek sekali.

Contohnya ada mufti yang sanggup mengkafirkan sesiapa Muslim yang membenarkan orang Sabah dan Sarawak Keristian menggunakan kalimah Allah. Mengikut penjelasan Dr. Asri Zainal Abidin, tokoh ugama terkenal ketegasan dan keikhlasannya, bahawa golongan ugama sedemikian telah terkeluar dari landasan etika agama. Mereka-mereka ini sanggup mempertaruhkan nyawa anak-anak bangsa Malaysia semata-mata nak sambung kontrak, nak dapat gelaran Tan Sri, nak bertanding jawatan parti politik dan nak jadi Wakil Rakyat Melayu.

Ringkasnya, terdapat empat golongan ini, yang tak cukup belajar, yang tak mahu belajar, yang tak sabar nak ajar dan yang tak malu serta kurang ajar, maka tidak hairanlah Malaysia berada dalam keadaan kucar kacir. Saya menasihatkan para mahasiswa mendekatkan diri dengan buku Bimbingan Mukminin dan hadis-hadis Rasulullah agar dapat mengenali keempat-empat golongan ini dan jangan terpedaya dari perbuatan mereka secara sedar atau tidak sedar.

Soalan yang kedua yang diajukan kepada saya adalah: “Prof, jika kita sesama tiga kaum ini tidak dapat hidup harmoni saling menghormati dan memahami sesama sendiri, apa nasib kita dalam era globalisasi di mana kita akan menerima pelbagai kaum lain yang menetap di Wilayah Iskandar dan di tempat lain dalam negara serta bagaimana daya juang mahasiswa yang menempah nasib di negara lain?”

Sekali lagi saya amat kagum dengan soalan yang cukup matang dari mahasiswa Tahun Tiga Senibina! Saya kata, “You know VC pun mungkin tak pernah tanya secara terbuka soalan ini selama 26 tahun saya di UTM!”

Saya memberi jawapan sedemikian. Sefaham saya, kita orang Islam tersilap tafsir Ayat yang mengatakan bahawa “Allah telah menyempurnakan Islam untuk kamu”. Bila kita dengar bahwa Islam itu “sempurna” maka kita dengan bongkak sekali mengatakan bahawa ugama-ugama lain adalah haprak dan tak boleh pakai satu sen pun.

Saya berkata, pertama sekali Islam dilahirkan dalam suasana sejarah pemikiran spiritualiti yang mempunyai tali salsilah yang panjang. Islam adalah penghabisan bab atau kitab dari buku ketamadunan manusia. Maka sebagai sebuah buku kita tidak seharusnya bongkak dengan “final chapter” tetapi harus menghormati dan mengecapi juga keseluruhan buku ketamadunan manusia tersebut.

Kalau seseorang pelajar PHD membentangkan isunya tanpa “literature review” yang sempurna bagi memberi  “positioning” yang jelas untuk persoalannya, maka pelajar itu akan digagalkan serta merta. Sebatang pohon atau suatu ide akademik tidak boleh wujud tanpa ilmu pensejarahan akar tunjang dan akar umbinya.

Begitu juga Islam. Sebab itu Allah ingatkan kita untuk menghormati kitab-kitab sebelumnya sebagai mesej kesejagatan Islam sebagai khatam ad-din dan sebagai penutup bicara tetapi pembuka jiwa. Allah sendiri mengingatkan manusia bahawa mereka dicipta dalam pelbagai rupa, keadaan dan budaya supaya mereka saling bantu membantu bagi kejayaan bersama. Apa yang kita buat? Kita cemarkan hikmah Allah dengan menggunakan perbezaan budaya supaya kita bergaduh sesama sendiri.

Layakkah kita dipanggil waris Rasul Allah? Tetapi ada juga yang berhujah Ayat itu hanya bermakna orang-orang Islam yang dari pelbagai tempat dan budaya, tetapi saya tidak membaca tafsiran sedemikian. Saya tidak mahu “exclusivity of Islam” tetapi “inclusiveness in the human civilization”. Prof Tariq Ramadan dan Dr. Ismail Farouqi juga berhujah keserasian Islam dalam ketamadunan manusia dan bukan “exclusiveness”.

Soalan terakhir yang diucapkan oleh mahasiswa UTM adalah sedemikian: “Kalaulah apa yang Prof kata itu benar, bahawa Islam boleh hidup harmoni dan sempurna dengan ugama serta budaya lain kenapa kami tidak melihat para pensyarah memperjuangkan perkara ini di kampus UTM dan mendidik kami para pelajar untuk membina jatidiri yang kuat dan yakin bagi menempuh cabaran ketamadunan dan globalisasi?”

Saya terus berseloroh, “Alahai, sepatutnya awak yang baik jadi VC UTM!”

Saya pun terus memberi jawapan seperti berikut: Memang dalam hal ini, itu lah yang sepatutnya menjadi “raison deitre” atau “reason for being ” atau  “jiwa pangkal kewujudan” universiti… membina ketamadunan melalui perkongsian ilmu dengan mahasiswa dan komuniti di luar kampus. Tetapi malangnya, UTM dan universiti-universiti awam sedang kemaruk Ranking dunia. Semua kerja terpacak, terarus dan terarah untuk menerbitkan kajian dalam jurnal impak tinggi dalam Bahasa Inggeris. Soal nak kongsi ilmu dengan mahasiswa dan komuniti luar dianggap “low priority”. Buat juga tapi tak payah banyak.

Saya berpegang kepada falsafah universiti yang mudah sahaja. Pensyarah adalah salah seorang agen pengubah masyarakat melalui kecendekiawanannya mengkaji, menulis dan menyebarkan ilmu dengan apa cara sekalipun supaya masyarakat seluruhnya bangun bersama.

Bukan tugas utama pensyarah berlumba-lumba mencari markah tinggi untuk membantu ranking universiti. Ranking patut datang kemudian. Kalau tak ada ranking pun lantak dialah. Kita harus tahu apa yang kita kurang dalam pembinaan ketamadunan dan hanya fokus kepada objektif itu sahaja. Kesemua cabang ilmu senibina, kejuruteraan, sains, kesenian, pendidikan dan apa saja ada elemen pembangunan masyarakat keseluruhan, dan di dalam negara demokrasi, rakyat jelata adalah penentu arah negara kerana mereka yang melantik wakil rakyat ke Parlimen bagi mengubah nasib bersama.

Wakil Parlimen dan Negeri bukan Wakil Parti tetapi wakil kepada wawasan kita rakyat semua yang inginkan kehidupan sihat, kaya, kuat, harmonis dan berdekatkan diri dengan Pencipta Maha Suci. Tak payah nak ranking ranking lagi dah…Maka itu universiti menjadi tempat berforum, berbahas, bertukar fikiran dan mengasuh mahasiswa sebagai pimpinan masa depan…bukan pekerja ofis masa depan.

Begitulah pertukaran fikiran dan perkongsian pengalaman di antara saya dan dua orang mahasiswa Tahun Tiga Senibina UTM. Mereka mengajukan tiga soalan. Saya dah berikan jawapan. Mungkin kini saudara-saudari VC-VC kita bagaimana pula? Sambil-sambil itu, pak menteri-menteri kita… apa bicara tuan-tuan hamba? – 19 Oktober, 2013.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 19 October 2013, 5:18 pm and is filed under
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It’s just another ordinary Sunday as Sarawak churches sound with the echo of Allah

by Desmond Davidson

The Malaysian Insider

October 20, 2013

Christian worshippers recited the word Allah as they fulfilled their Sunday obligation across churches in Sarawak today, shrugging off a court ruling that said the Arabic word for God was not central to their faith.

At the St Columbas Anglican church in Miri this morning, the native faithful intoned the words Allah Taala in Iban, God Almighty in English, as they have been doing all their life.

Parishioners who attended the 7am Iban service were reminded during sermon that there would be no change in the way prayers are said and that the church would continue using the word Allah.

The priest, referring to the statement made by Archbishop Datuk Bolly Lapok earlier this week, said the church would “continue to reverently worship their Allah until the Kingdom comes”.

In response to the Court of Appeal ruling to ban the use of the word Allah by the Catholic weekly, Herald, last Monday, Lapok, who is also chairman of the Association of Churches in Sarawak, had said that Sabah and Sarawak churches would continue calling their God Allah and would continue to reverently worship their Allah until the Kingdom comes.

George Bennett Francis, a parishioner of St Columbas, said there was no substitute for Allah Taala in the Iban native language.

“We have been calling God, Allah Taala for hundreds of years. How are we going to change that?” he asked.

The use of the word Allah in native language services at St Columbas, located in Jalan Brighton, was repeated in all similar services in churches in Sarawak today – a week after the Court of Appeal ruling banning Christians from using the word.

“There is no change in the service,” worshipper Dorothy Gregory said of the service at the little All Saints’ Church tucked in the Dayak village of Kampung Tabuan.

“We still use the same liturgy, the liturgy we used last week, last year and for the last few years, for our prayers,” she added.

The liturgy – the booklet that sets out the fixed set of Eucharistic (mass) rites and words to be used in worship – contained no fewer than 80 instances of the words “Allah Taala”.

The words were also used in the hymns and in the sermons.

At last week’s service, the 400 or so faithful that had packed this church said the word, Allah, no fewer than 100 times.

“It hasn’t changed a thing,” Gregory added.

Similarly, there were no changes in the way services were reportedly conducted in Catholic and Sidang Injil Borneo churches in the state.

Last Monday, a three-man Court of Appeal bench unanimously overturned the 2009 Kuala Lumpur High Court ruling that allowed the Catholic Church to use the word “Allah” in the Herald.

“It is our common finding that the usage of the name ‘Allah’ is not an integral part of the faith and practice of Christianity,” Justice Datuk Seri Mohamed Apandi Ali said in the ruling.

“Such usage, if allowed, will inevitably cause confusion within the community,” he added.

The ruling has since drawn much reaction and criticism from within Malaysia and across the world, with some commentators describing the decision as an attempt to guard Malay pride. – October 20, 2013.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 20 October 2013, 5:55 pm and is filed under
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Malaysia should move forward to end the half-year of drift and even regression to forge national reconciliation to build a united, inclusive, competitive and prosperous Malaysia for all Malaysians

All eyes were on the Umno party elections yesterday for indications whether the government and country will continue to be haunted, as in the half-year since the General Elections, by the politics of hate and lies projecting the completely false image that Malays and Islam are under siege or whether the government and country will be able to set off on a new trajectory of nation building and development.

Former Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam played the race card to the hilt in the Umno party elections, continuing to indulge in Chinese-bashing for his defeat in the Malay-majority Bukit Katil parliamentary seat in Malacca, oblivious to the fact that he would not have lost in the May general elections if he had not also lost the support of the Malay voters in his constituency.

Is Ali going to blame the Chinese again for his loss in the Umno Vice President contest yesterday, where even the overwhelming majority of the Umno divisions in his Malacca state did not vote for him?

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir was equally irresponsible, ruthless and  reckless in playing the race card, reiterating the preposterous allegations and lies since his failed attempt to racialise the Gelang Patah battle in the 13th General Elections that the Chinese in Malaysia were out to oust the  political power of the Malays and dominate Malaysian politics.

But the Umno party elections yesterday is further confirmation that Mahathir’s aura and magic have been on an unchecked decline, not only among the Malaysian and Malay public from his 13th general elections campaigns in Gelang Patah, Shah Alam and Pasir Mas but also inside UMNO.

For some six months since the 13th General Elections on May 5, 2013, the government and country has been adrift, even regressing on many fronts on the various national transformation programmes pledged by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak – whether 1Malaysia Policy based on the concept of fairness to all; Government Transformation Programme to achieve an incorrupt, accountable and transparent governance; New Economic Model with a needs-and-merit based affirmative programme to uplift the quality of life of the low-income 40% of the households regardless of ethnic groups or backtracking on pledges to remove from the statute books oppressive legislation like detention-without-trial laws.

Malaysia should now move forward to end the half-year of drift and even regression from May 5 to Oct 19 to forge national reconciliation to build a united, inclusive, competitive and prosperous Malaysia for all Malaysians.

Pakatan Rakyat is prepared to fully co-operate with Najib and Barisan Nasional government in this national challenge  – but has Najib and his government the political will, capacity and power to rise up to the occasion?

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 20 October 2013, 11:54 am and is filed under
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Soaring Crime Rate Takes a Growing Malaysia by Surprise

by Thomas Fuller

New York Times

October 18, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia’s population has tripled over the past four decades. Its largest city, Kuala Lumpur, a place once so sparsely populated that it looked like a botanical garden, has exploded into a cosmopolitan metropolis of shopping malls, luxury hotels and sprawling suburbs.

But with modernity and urbanization came an unwanted corollary: a soaring crime rate that has blighted Kuala Lumpur, previously considered one of Asia’s safest cities, and other urban areas across Peninsular Malaysia. It is hard to find someone in Kuala Lumpur today who does not have a story about a purse snatching, a burglary, or worse.

“Whatever defense we put up is not enough,” said Chong Kon Wah, a British-trained engineer who was burglarized twice at his home in the Kuala Lumpur suburbs and robbed once while in his car — all within 10 days in August.

Residents in middle-class and wealthy neighborhoods have begun to gate their communities, often without local government permission. And the demand for personal guards has soared, with the number of certified security companies nationwide more than tripling over the past decade to 712 from 200, according to the Security Services Association of Malaysia, which trains guards.

Last month, the United States Embassy in Kuala Lumpur sent a warning to American citizens here: “Remember to carry your backpack or purse on the shoulder AWAY from the road to prevent having it snatched by motorbikers.”

The possible reasons for a higher crime rate are a matter of debate — some say the country’s ethnic-based policies that favor majority Malays are partly to blame; others say the police force is corrupt and ineffectual. Even the extent of the crime wave in this country of 29 million people is in question.

Despite the widely held perception of a sustained crime wave, the government says that after doubling from 2000 to 2009, the number of reported cases of violent crime nationwide has declined sharply since then. Government officials say they have achieved the drop by adding police officers on the streets and security cameras and barriers along roads to deter thefts by people on motorbikes, as well as by studying policing methods in cities like New York.

But a series of high-profile crimes this year — including some against government officials or their relatives — have led the authorities to begin to acknowledge the depth of the problem. Since August, the police have arrested more than 11,000 people suspected of being gang members. And in a reversal of earlier changes meant to shed some of the country’s authoritarian legacy, the government last month passed laws that would give the police the authority to detain suspects without trial.

As worries rise, the opposition says the government is manipulating the statistics. Critics note that, after years of providing the public with data on murders, rapes, thefts and other crimes, the government has changed the way it presents crime statistics, focusing on what it calls “index crimes” rather than giving a detailed accounting. Tony Pua, an opposition member of Parliament, said he had “no confidence at all” that the figures were accurate.

The Malaysian government has also stopped providing crime statistics to the United Nations, according to Enrico Bisogno, the official responsible for compiling crime data at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

But in response to a request from The New York Times, the Malaysian police provided detailed crime statistics that show the number of homicides over the past 12 years has remained relatively unchanged at about 600 a year. The data also show wide swings in some categories of crime, including a reduction in robberies using a firearm to 17 cases in 2012, from 722 cases nationwide in 2000. Another category, gang robbery, fell to 110 cases in 2012, from a high of 1,809 in 2010.

One crime that did show a steep rise was rape, with the number of reported rapes from 2000 to 2012 doubling to 2,964 cases.

Teh Yik Koon, a criminologist at the National Defense University of Malaysia, says it is widely accepted that crime rates are higher than reported, and she says one problem is a sense of hopelessness that the police can solve crimes.

“There are a lot of people not reporting crimes,” she said, “because they feel there’s nothing the police can do.”

In a country that has long relied on foreign visitors — investors and tourists — for a good share of its economic growth, Malaysia’s paternalistic government had consistently minimized the crime problem.

“If you try to make a fuss out of one or two cases, it will only worsen the situation and create a picture that the country is not safe,” Hishammuddin Hussein, who was home minister at the time, said last year.

But in the months since Mr. Hishammuddin made those comments, the string of high-profile cases in Kuala Lumpur and other cities has brought crime to the top of the political agenda.

Close relatives of the deputy prime minister and the chief of police were burglarized in separate crimes last May. The former head of a local bank was killed in July, and a top executive of one of the country’s most successful companies, AirAsia, was killed during a robbery in August.

When the house of Khairy Jamaluddin, a prominent politician and government minister, was burglarized in June, Malaysians got the straight talk from a government official many had been hoping for.

“The burglary is a reminder to all of us that crime is a serious problem in Malaysia,” Mr. Khairy wrote on his Facebook page.

This month, the home minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, highlighted the government’s new get-tough approach in a speech in which he said it would “no longer compromise” with criminals, according to the news Web site Malaysiakini.

And in comments that drew outrage from the opposition, he said the police should “get the evidence” and “shoot first.”

Human rights groups say they are alarmed by a number of recent cases of criminal suspects who died in police custody.

Critics of the government’s approach say that amid what they call an obfuscation of crime statistics and the sudden crackdown, any real discussion of the roots of Malaysia’s crime problem is being lost.

They blame not only a police force that they view as corrupt and ineffectual, but also income inequality and the alienation of ethnic Indians who represent 7 percent of the country’s population, yet, according to the police, make up two-thirds of gang members.

Some suggest the government needs to modify the country’s seemingly inviolable preferential policies for Malays, who receive scholarships, cheaper housing and government contracts as part of a policy dating from the 1970s.

Ahmad Ghazali Abu Hassan, a professor at the National Defense University of Malaysia says the system of preferences for Malays “should be modified to address inequality within our society, without identifying race.”

Particularly in need of help, he said, were ethnic Indians. “I still believe that poverty is the root cause of this,” he said.

As the debates continue, Malaysians have begun trying to protect themselves.

Mr. Chong, the engineer who was burglarized twice, helped pay for a guard booth and two security guards for his neighborhood several years ago. Thieves stole the television inside the booth while the guards were on patrol.

“We told the police, ‘This is serious. The thieves are everywhere,’ ” he said. “ ‘Something has to be done.’ ”

A restaurant across from Kuala Lumpur’s domestic airport hired an armed security guard in May to deter would-be thieves after attacks on several restaurants in the area.

“A lot of people think it’s a gimmick,” said Terence Wong, the restaurant’s manager. “It’s too expensive to be a gimmick. And my customers say they feel more secure.”

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 20 October 2013, 6:17 pm and is filed under
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Umno can’t change, will soon be extinct, says former NST chief editor

by Jennifer Gomez

The Malaysian Insider

October 20, 2013

Umno is unable to bring change and just like the dodo bird, will soon become extinct, writes the former group chief editor of Umno-controlled New Straits Times.

The analogy of the now-extinct bird species from Mauritius is made by Datuk A. Kadir Jasin on his latest blog posting.

He writes that whether there were 2,000 or 140,000 delegates who took part in the just-concluded Umno polls, it is obvious that the party could not make the leap forward as it could not elect a fresh line-up of future leaders.

For Kadir, the only consolation in the Umno vice-presidential race is that those who accused of being involved in money politics have been rejected.

According to Kadir, while the status quo for the veep line-up was a good sign for Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the same could not be said for the party. This is because it could not vote in a new generation of leaders except for a few who made it to the supreme council.

Re-elected vice-president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s big win also puts him as the third in line to succession in Umno, after Najib and his deputy Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

As such, Kadir does not want to discount the possibility that Ahmad Zahid, who is the Home Minister, could turn from being a trusted ally to challenger for the top post.

He notes that Ahmad Zahid’s stern stance on crime and national security differs from Najib’s liberal image.

Ahmad Zahid’s approach has steered clear from Najib’s liberalism, something which Malays and Umno members shun, Kadir adds.

Kadir, a loyalist of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, then takes a swipe at Najib for abolishing preventive laws such as the Internal Security Act and Emergency Ordinance, which he says resulted in a spike in crime.

He says there is the possibility of a new alliance between Ahmad Zahid and re-elected Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin to further the former’s political ambitions.

Khairy, explains Kadir, can ensure Ahmad Zahid better support being the Youth chief, adding that votes from the Youth wing would come in handy in the future.

The alliance would also be relevant given the duo’s very different backgrounds and approaches. Ahmad Zahid could be the champion of the Malays and a local hero, while Khairy could be the savvy spokesman in the international arena.

Kadir says the fact that so many ministers and deputy ministers have been elected to the supreme council line-up means that they would not be able be speak out on behalf of the Malays.

He adds that only a handful in the line-up do not have high posts. And if these individuals could be sweet-talked, it would mean a total absence of independent voices for the Malays in the supreme council.

Kadir warns that there will now be only those who act as “yes men and women” to the party president.

He laments the lack of young blood in the party line-up, and points to the negative perception of the new generation towards Umno.

This, he writes, clearly distinguishes Umno from PKR, PAS and DAP which have many young leaders as well as a second echelon who are well-grounded in research and debate. – October 20, 2013.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 20 October 2013, 5:48 pm and is filed under
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Defence budget to come under Pakatan scrutiny

G Vinod | October 21, 2013

Free Malaysia Today

Pakatan Rakyat will only reveal details of its alternative budget later on fear that their ideas will be copied by Barisan Nasional

KUALA LUMPUR: A parliamentary select committee will scrutinise the Defence Ministry procurement to curb graft, said Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim in announcing the Pakatan Rakyat alternative budget 2014 today.

“We will also look into postponing the National Service programme for next year until a review is done by a select committee.

“The programme costs us RM800 million annually. On top of that, 22 trainees have died undergoing the programme and we have cases of female trainees giving birth during their three-month stint,” Anwar said at a press conference at the Parliament lobby.

Also present were DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, PAS’ Kamaruddin Jaafar and several Pakatan parliamentarians.

Among other proposals outlined in the alternative budget are:

•initiating the Pan Borneo highway project by 2014;

•reviewing the cabotage policy imposed on East Malaysia in order to reduce prices of goods there;

•ensuring all rural areas have electricity and water supply, including Sabah and Sarawak;

•yearly allocation of RM1,200 to assist working mothers;

•setting up the National Women Provident Fund worth RM3 billion to help women;

•expanding the Social Security Organisation Scheme (Socso) coverage for workers to 24 hours, with an additional contribution of RM1each from workers, employers and the federal government.

•building flagship vocational schools to enhance skills training programme among Malaysian youths; and

•introducing a comprehensive insurance coverage for fisherman and farmers, covering even fall of commodity prices.

GST untimely

Lim said Pakatan leaders opposed the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) because the timing was not right.

“Implementation of a new tax must reflect on the real wage increase. Since 1997, workers in Malaysia only saw a wage increase of 1.7%, after inflation is taken into account.

“So GST will only serve to burden the people. Right now, we must look into increasing the disposable income of Malaysians,” said the Penang chief minister.

Anwar said the government should improve its efforts in curbing corruption and wastage before implementing a new tax system.

He added that the income gap between the rich and poor was also worrying, claiming the gap was becoming wider.

“Every year, we lose between RM20 billion and RM30 billion through leakages. Introducing GST without addressing wastage is akin to punishing the rakyat,” said the former deputy prime minister.

Queried on when the opposition will reveal the full details of its budget, Anwar said they would do so in three days.

“It’s because the Barisan Nasional government will steal our ideas. It’s okay for them to take our ideas but they do it without acknowledging us,” he said.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 21 October 2013, 5:53 pm and is filed under
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Judges “misinformed”, Allah ruling tantamount to persecuting Christians – Archbishop Pakiam

BY
JENNIFER GOMEZ
 | OCTOBER 21, 2013

The Malaysian Insider

The head of the Malaysian Catholic Church today said that the decision of the Court of Appeal on the Allah issue was tantamount to persecuting Christians in Malaysia.

Archbishop Tan Sri Murphy Pakiam (pic) noted that the three judges were grossly misinformed in arriving at the decision to ban Catholic weekly Herald from using the word Allah.

He said Christians in Malaysia have been using the word peacefully for centuries and “we do not accept the statement of these judges”.

“As president of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of Malaysia, I want to say that the three judges were grossly misinformed in their finding that the word Allah is not essential or an integral part of Christianity,” said the archbishop in a statement today.

He added that the first article of faith in the creed for all Christians is “I believe in One God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth”.

“As such, any Christian who denies or modifies this statement of faith, incurs excommunication and would be considered a heretic,” he stressed, adding that Allah was the Bahasa Malaysia translation and the Arabic equivalent of “One God”.

He also pointed out that to conclude that the word was not essential to the Christian faith was a grave denial of a fundamental right of the Bahasa Malaysia-speaking Christian community, who use Allah in their worship, prayer books, the Al-Kitab and other publications.

Pakiam said there were thousands of Bahasa Malaysia-speaking Christians from Sabah and Sarawak who were in universities, the armed forces, police and in the civil and private sector in Peninsular Malaysia.

Pakiam added that half of the churches and chapels in Peninsular Malaysia currently conduct at least one worship service or catechism lesson in Bahasa Malaysia every week.

“As committed religious leaders, we have to ensure that we respectfully minister to them in the national language.

“For this reason, we do not accept the statement of these judges and stand in solidarity with other church leaders who have also voiced their objection.

“We are heartened that other religious leaders and organisations have echoed similar statements.”

He called on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to take steps to “stop the indoctrination of unwitting Malays by individuals and organisations from swinging towards a divisive radicalism”.

Pakiam also urged all Malaysians to invoke the good sense of their Malay brothers and sisters, many of whom have greatly benefitted from the education offered in mission schools, and who were familiar with Christians’ belief in God.

“We continue to pray that God will bless and enlighten all Malaysians to accept one another in unity and diversity,” said the head of the Catholic Church.

Last Monday, a three-man Court of Appeal bench ruled that the Herald was banned from using the word Allah, overturning a High Court decision in December 2009.

In the judgment, the Court of Appeal ruled the word Allah was not essential to or an integral part of Christianity. (Read the three grounds of judgment here, here and here).

Politicians and lawyers have argued that the decision is binding on all and that it also affects Christians in Sabah and Sarawak who worship in Bahasa Malaysia.

The church will file an appeal to the Federal Court. – October 21, 2013.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 21 October 2013, 3:15 pm and is filed under
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Malaysia’s Najib entrenches power as reform drive fades

By Stuart Grudgings and Niluksi Koswanage

Reuters

Oct 20 2013

KUALA LUMPUR- Internal voting for top posts in Malaysia’s ruling party at the weekend has proved Prime Minister Najib Razak to be a canny survivor – five months after a poor showing at national elections – but at a cost to his reform agenda.

In May, Najib seemed dead in the water to some observers after presiding over the long-ruling Barisan National (BN) coalition’s worst election result.

The internal United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) elections, however, confirmed Najib had seen off challenges from rival factions – including the son of influential former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Mukhriz Mahathir, 48, fell just short of snaring one of three vice president positions, all of which went to incumbents backed by Najib. Najib’s allies also retained their dominance of the 25-member UMNO Supreme Council.

Since coming to power in 2009, Najib had eased draconian security laws, and pledged to phase out privileges for majority ethnic Malays that have hurt Malaysia’s competitiveness.

Malaysia’s large ethnic Chinese minority and most urban voters largely rejected the UMNO-dominated BN coalition at the election and Najib has since reversed both policies under pressure from traditionalists.

Despite that, he has not appeased all of his conservative rivals, signaling he will remain under pressure to rein in any reformist instincts. On Friday, Mahathir, 88, launched an outspoken attacks on what he called Najib’s “bad performance”.

Among other barbs, Mahathir said maintaining the status quo in the UMNO hierarchy would hasten the party’s demise after 56 years in power. He also blamed Najib for adding to Malaysia’s debt burden with pre-election handouts, and criticized his economic development programs for lacking credibility.

“The party finds it unable to reject him simply because there are really no other candidates … the result is they continue to support him despite his poor performance,” Mahathir told Reuters in an exclusive interview.

Najib will present his government’s budget for 2014 on Friday, under pressure from ratings agencies and investors to rein in Malaysia’s high fiscal deficit and debt.

TILTING BACK TO REFORM?

Mahathir, who argues that UMNO has become too insular and needs to promote new talent, also accused Najib’s government of pandering to the opposition with liberal social reforms before the election and not making good on his latest pledges.

“Most people don’t think he is doing enough. A lot of people comment when he announces things, it is nothing new,” said Mahathir, whose often authoritarian rule spanned 1981 to 2003.

May’s election was the second straight poll in which the BN coalition saw its parliamentary majority shrink and the first in which it lost the popular vote to the opposition, led by former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim. The result exacerbated racial tensions in the Southeast Asian country as UMNO-backed media blamed “ungrateful” Chinese voters for the setback.

Saturday’s election of the three incumbent vice presidents, all of them older than 50, will intensify criticism that UMNO is out of touch with young and urban voters. Najib had tried to broaden the BN’s appeal to different races, handing out cash payments to low-income Malaysians among other policies.

In September he reversed course by announcing a raft of new measures to benefit ethnic Malays, bolstering a decades-old affirmative action policy, in a move seen as crucial to ward off any challenge for his UMNO presidency. Last month, his government pushed through a bill that brings back detention without trial, over strong criticism by civil society groups.

Najib likely isn’t “in the pocket” of conservatives and could now tilt back to a more liberal, reformist agenda having balanced the different wings of the party, said Shaun Levine, a senior Washington-based analyst with Eurasia Group.

“He has to appease the conservative base but he must also ensure that foreign investors in particular are certain that Malaysia is not going over the edge economically,” Levine said.

The UMNO internal elections were the first under a new system introduced by Najib – who has popular grassroots support – that broadened the voting base in a bid to make the process more democratic and less beholden to powerful party “warlords”.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 21 October 2013, 5:36 pm and is filed under
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Standing up for the right things, not the stable ones

NEWS ANALYSIS BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER

October 21, 2013

Time for some honesty. Twenty-five years ago when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad dismantled one of the most respected judicial institutions in the Commonwealth and destroyed the concept of separation of powers in Malaysia, how many Malaysians were truly upset with his interference?

Not disappointed or perturbed, but truly upset.

Think back to the sacking of Tun Salleh Abas in 1988 and the suspension of Tan Sri Azmi Kamaruddin, Tan Sri Eusoffe Abdoolcader, Tan Sri Wan Hamzah Mohamed Salleh, Tan Sri Wan Suleiman Pawan Teh and Datuk George Seah.

Think back to the constitutional amendments pummelled through Parliament by Dr Mahathir, changes which essentially divested the judiciary of some of its powers.

No shame in admitting that the incident called the judicial crisis of 1988 barely registered a blip on the radar of most Malaysians.

The Bar Council led the charge, often taking on the Mahathir administration single-handedly in seeking justice for the wronged justices.

Opposition veterans like Karpal Singh and Lim Kit Siang shouted themselves hoarse on the far-reaching consequences of that politically-motivated intervention by Dr Mahathir.

But few were interested in listening to them, or even reading the book by K. Das on the darkest day in the history of the judiciary.

To the average Malaysian, what was happening to Salleh Abas and friends seemed so far away, so remote, something which had little to do with their quality of life. Few thought about what would happen to this country with a compliant and lame judiciary.

Very few wondered whether years down the road they would be denied justice because of the executive’s involvement in the selection and promotion of judges.

Few even harboured the thought that the written judgments of Malaysian judges, once widely respected for clarity, competence and sense of fairness, would be caricatured as cut and paste jobs.

Perhaps, more Malaysians have been forced to finally think about the judiciary in the wake of the Court of Appeal’s decision on October 14 on the Allah issue.

Maybe now, Malaysians will understand why illustrious Malaysians like Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Mohamed Suffian Mohamed Hashim were deeply concerned about what happened back then in 1988. They understood the ripple effect it would have on society down the road. They understood how difficult it would be to repair an institution that has been dismantled and destroyed.

This is what the late Tun Suffian said many years ago. “I had predicted that our judiciary would take a whole generation to recover from the assault. Now more than 12 years have elapsed, I doubt if the judiciary would recover in a generation from today,” said the former lord president in 2000.

How prescient. Too bad only a few Malaysians were truly disturbed with what Dr Mahathir did to the judiciary in 1988. The rest of us just swallowed the spiel about stability, economic growth. – October 21, 2013.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 21 October 2013, 10:01 am and is filed under
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Why this year’s budget would be less interesting

– Muhammad Nazreen

The Malaysian Insider

October 20, 2013

In the next few weeks, everybody is anticipating the key issues that may be highlighted in the 2014 budget. Malaysia’s mounting public debt is at an alarming rate. Recurring deficits over years due to government’s overspending would be a primary reason why is this year’s budget would be less populist. The BN government managed to secure its win during the 13th general election. So, we could expect less windfall subsidies and pay-offs to be distributed. However, the deteriorating condition of Malaysia’s economy might prompt the fact that it is timely for the government to introduce stern fiscal consolidation. Austerity measures are likely the main ingredients of the upcoming budget.

Here are some of the concerns.

a) Less people pay taxes

According to the Internal Revenue Board, only 1.8 million of 6.4 million registered individual taxpayers pay taxes. This means only 28% of individual taxpayers fulfil their obligations, while only 107,483 companies pay corporate income tax out of 508,150 registered taxpaying companies. This triggers profound concern for the government to generate extra revenue. Less enforcement from the authority contributes a significant factor.

b) Over-reliance on oil and gas industries

Major exploration of oil and gas resources helps the government to increase its revenue. Successful projects from various oil and gas sectors reduce the problem to the government from extracting sufficient revenues over decades. However, the bulk of dividends provided by the oil and gas industries particularly Petroliam Nasional (Petronas) which accounts for 35-40% of the government revenue is not resilient enough for the economy. Oil and gas is a non-renewable form of energy. Dependency on O&G industries will make the economy less healthy. Government should diversity its sources of revenue. It is timely for them to implement less regressive but progressive forms of taxation to generate extra income.

c) Wastage in government expenditure

Latest revelation from the 2012 Annual Auditor General Report have shown there were so much wastage involving small to big scale forms of procurement. One might be shocked when it unravels the fact that a clock that costs us less than RM300 per unit was paid for RM2400 for the similar type of clock. It shows rampant corruption involving rakyat’s money. Government has failed to implement strict measures to curb the wastages reflecting how unserious the government agency is in handling public procurement. It is estimated RM28 billion money was lost due to inefficiency of the government every year.

d) Fitch-ratingdownplayed Maysia’s credit performance from stable to negative

There are a few reasons that caused dwindling foreign interest in the local market. Recently, Fitch-rating agency downplayed Malaysia’s credit rating due to poor performance in the economy. One of the reasons highlighted was the persisting affirmative action introduced by the government that have largely benefitted a wrong targeted group. Since it was promulgated during 1970s, the economic disparities were still apparent and many Bumiputras are still lagging behind in terms of wealth ownership.

e) Rising house prices

I am pretty sure that many Malaysians felt the impulses due to the unforeseen circumstances. Since five years ago, house prices jumped to an irrational value. To meet the expectation, recent survey has shown that an individual with an accumulated household income RM5000/month only been able to buy a property in Klang Valley with minimum purchases of property value costs less than RM 450,000. Imagine how many houses with less than this value are currently available in Klang Valley?  The answer is none!

Furthermore, only 6.4 million from the total 11 million registered workforce in Malaysia are eligible to pay income tax, that means less than a half of Malaysian can afford to buy any property in Klang Valley.

f) Mounting public-debt

Due to government overspending every year, the current economic condition is in turmoil. With the latest calculation on the public debts each year, it could go as far as RM 500 Billion and narrowly reaching a debt ceiling. However, we are not living in the United States where every single penny counts. In order of lack of compromises from the Senate, US government has declared a shutdown. That’s the bad thing about Malaysia. We live in a cowboy state where rule of law isn’t properly applied. They can increase the debt ceiling to curb the condition without public scrutiny.

So, what are the measures that would likely to be introduced by the government? Let’s wait and see. I anticipate that this budget is a conservative one and expect a tougher challenge from the opposition part. – October 20, 2013

                This entry was posted on Monday, 21 October 2013, 12:05 am and is filed under
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Bebalisma in Malaysian society

Aerie Rahman

The Malaysian Insider

October 21, 2013

OCT 21 — The Malaysia that I know of, which has forever been under the Barisan Nasional power structure, is akin to a poorly written play.

Those in power are actors onstage while the rakyat are members of the audience.

Lights out, please!

The play would begin with members of parliament squabbling and haranguing each other. Grandstanding is the game here, gents.

Suddenly, things would come to a halt with the Auditor-General bursting into Parliament. The mood is intense. He subsequently submits his annual report.

Revelations are made that there are surfeits of wastages of taxpayer’s money by the civil service.

These are very grave accusations — well, in any Western liberal democracy, of course. Not so in a country that espouses Mahathirian Asian values.

The opposition makes a hell of a noise. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) wring their hands in despair, citing that they cannot do anything about stupidity. BN members are silent.

The audience feels cheated that the RM50 they paid to watch and be part of the play is, after all, a sham. There is no plot, no climax, and no witty dialogues — only superficial characters.

They sigh, complain and are angry. They demand blood.

You can’t defend the indefensible — well, most of the time, that is. So for those in power, keeping quiet is the best choice. Soon enough, the people will forget and everything will be normal. Give it a few months.

The other option — from a buffet of methods to control the masses — is by manufacturing a sensational situation to distract people from this pertinent issue. The mind, after all, is a fickle object.

The benefactors of this play don’t walk out in protest. They remonstrate and grumble. Yet, the next day, the play is staged to a full house.

A Never Ending Cycle

The situation above repeats itself ad nauseam every year. However, I believe that something can be done to resolve this. The first step is by interrogating the causes of these wastages.

Everybody knows that corruption is endemic in Malaysia. People are conscious of corruption. Corruption is motivated by greed and a person who indulges in it is fully aware of the evil of his actions.

What is more insidious is something that people are not fully aware of. And it is everywhere in Malaysian society. Yes, it is sitting opposite you in the LRT. Yes, it is having a roti canai in the mamak beside you. Heck, it might even be in the same office that you are in while you are reading this essay.

This scourge is bebalisma.

The Permeation of Bebalisma

Syed Hussien Alatas, who pioneered the now limp Gerakan party, authored many books. The most prestigious is The Myth of the Lazy Natives. Lesser known but to my mind equally important are Intellectuals in Developing Societies (IIDS) and A Sociology of Corruption.

Unfortunately for Syed Hussein, his books weren’t as popular as Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s The Malay Dilemma, Khalid Jafri’s 50 Dalil Mengapa Anwar Ibrahim Tidak Boleh Menjadi PM or Shanon Ahmad’s Shit. Don’t believe me? Try searching for IIDS in your local bookstore.

I myself was only able to easily locate the book in London — a poignant reminder as to how our colonial master recognises the intellectual endeavours by one of our own sons more so than our own society.

I pity the chap and empathise with his pain. Being outsold by Khalid Jafri is a bitter drop to swallow. But being sidelined by a society that rejects your overtures for improvement is just heartbreaking.

In IIDS, Syed Hussein throws us a few examples of wastages reported by the Auditor-General — quoting figures as early as in 1956! Wastages are so prevalent that it has become amalgamated with our culture.

These wastages are primarily attributed to the incompetency of members of the civil service.

Bebalisma is not just narrow minded thinking per se. It is this intransigence to open up one’s mind and ignorance of different views compounded with indolence and indifference.

Bebalians are prone to hasty generalisations. Syed Hussein gives an example of those who believe that the Malays are economically backward due to hereditary factors. These bebalians didn’t see that Sumatran Malays thrived economically.

“Bebalisma is authoritarian, non-reflexive and non-experimental… bebalisma doesn’t behave in a rational fashion and is implanted by religious ritual or external force,” writes Syed Hussein.

As you can see, bebalisma isn’t natural stupidity. It’s not inherent. It’s something that is cultivated and regenerated by the social conditions that one is in.

I refuse to believe that someone is inherently bebal. A person is bebal only relative to his function.

For example, I am a bebal when it comes to physics. I can’t explain the Higgs boson. More importantly, I am a bebal because I refuse to educate myself in it. Nonetheless, I probably am not a bebal when it comes to writing opinion pieces….

The same goes for those who are responsible for our precious finances. Wastages only serve to confirm the bebalisma that shrouds our civil service.

People are not aware that they are infected with bebalisma. In fact, they refuse to believe it if they are told so. They reject criticisms and would hide behind barriers — like labelling certain issues as “sensitive”, critics as “traitors” and telling dissenters to migrate to another country.

Bebalisma 2.0

I would like to extend Syed Hussein’s ideas further. I believe that bebalisma is able to perpetuate itself, albeit unconsciously. It is alive and worse, it breeds!

To my mind, bebalisma shouldn’t be analysed in isolation but must be situated within the social conditions that encompasses it.

Malaysia is worryingly a feudalistic society that rewards suck ups and those who are able to play their cards right in climbing the social ladder. This is especially true with the civil service.

Loyalty is given a premium over intellect and ability. This sickening system of patronage promotes unscrupulous individuals who are most probably bebal.

In Malaysia, meritocracy is shunned for one’s racial composition. Quantity is prioritised over quality. Just look at the oversaturated civil service.

People who are able to use emotionally laden buzzwords, be it religious or racial are promoted. There is a need to conform to the official narrative to progress.

Vanity projects — which reminds me of a parvenu’s inferiority complex — is infrastructure intensive and places universal tertiary education at a backseat.

Didn’t Sayyidina Ali himself beautifully say that he would prefer knowledge over wealth anytime? Wealth is a burden where we need to take care of it while knowledge would never fail to look after the self.

Dissenters are vilified. Just look at what happened to AirAsia X CEO Azhar Osman Rani when he chose to speak out against the power structure.

All this serves to reproduce the bebalisma structure debilitating Malaysia.

“Enlightenment Values” is the Solution

Syed Hussein claimed that the solution to bebalisma would be to establish an intellectual class which is able to identify problems and offer solutions. I agree.

Furthermore, I think solutions should be structural since bebalisma is something that is entrenched within the collective consciousness of our society.

The first would be a complete overhaul of our collapsing education system. Instead of rote learning, students need to be cultivated with the ability to think critically. People should not just digest what is told but be capable of excoriating and interrogating the ideas that are fed.

Secondly, enlightenment values must be appreciated and internalised by our society. Freedom of speech, thought and expression must be encouraged.

In the West, writers are venerated for their profundity. In Ireland, writers are not required to pay income taxes. In Prague, a museum is especially dedicated to Kafka. Vaclav Havel was idolised and elected to power.

Sadly in Malaysia, people who challenge the official narrative like the respectable Pak Samad are persecuted.

Thirdly, debates and discussions must be more frequent and encouraged. This is a hallmark of the Western education system. Every opinion is scrutinised and evaluated objectively. In fact, Jokowi the flamboyant and popular Jakarta mayor uses discussions as an effective instrument to achieve sustainable solutions.

Unfortunately in Malaysia, debates are viewed with disdain. One leader claimed that it isn’t part of our political culture.

Najib Razak still refuses to debate Anwar Ibrahim. This is leadership by example, methinks.

Fourthly, it is essential that the civil service be trimmed. The Malaysian way to solve unemployment is by absorbing people into the government. This is poisonous because wages are depressed to accommodate the influx. Hence, those that are meritorious would flock to greener pastures.

Moreover, red tape would be accentuated. In order to justify the existence of additional workers, more procedures need to be invented in order to keep them from twiddling their thumbs.

I agree, more analysis needs to be put in these solutions. And this list is not exhaustive. But it is imperative we confront bebalisma in ourselves to carve a path to enlightenment.

Oh, before I forget. The last and important recommendation would be to read works by Syed Hussein Alatas and pay homage to them.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 22 October 2013, 2:05 am and is filed under
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Malaysia: High Income Nation, but Low Income Rakyat

By Anas Alam Faizli

Oct. 22, 2013

Malaysia’s current socio economic structure can be summed up in four words, “Rich Malaysia, Poor Malaysians.” Malaysia is blessed with abundant natural resources with petroleum being the most precious. Add the land, other commodity resources, large youthful population and the country has all the essential ingredients to flourish. How then did this small nation of 30 million manage to end up with the unsolicited title of among the region’s most unequal nation between the rich and poor. What happened?

NEP: The Noble Intention, Initially

The NEP that was introduced in 1970 was the grand plan that were two things; our proactive action to begin developing the newly independent nation, and our reaction to the British Divide-and-Conquer system.

Textbooks tell us that the NEP strategy was two-pronged; eradication of poverty, and the restructuring of society. But what popular culture and the masses cannot help but to associate the NEP with is the deeply entrenched Bumiputera agenda at its core which target Bumiputeras to own 30 percent equity share in the Malaysian economy.

But “share of the economy” here apparently has broader connotations and implications. It expands from assets and equity ownership, right down to contract procurement, education quotas, and employment policies. Bumiputeras were the poorest of all ethnic groups. Thus the idea was to positively discriminate Bumiputeras, get them on their tracks, and realize a more equitable ownership of the economy. And thus we began traversing down this path of affirmative action.

As time went by and various development plans under the Malaysia Plan or Rancangan Malaysia were undertaken, tremendous improvements were made. Bumiputeras and Malaysians, in general, now own more assets than their parents. A middle class population burgeoned. Poverty rate, measured on an absolute basis, has gone from as high as 49.1 percent to 1.7 percent as reported in the latest Household Income Survey for 2012 published recently.

The Trickle-Down Disaster

Unfortunately, in the 1990s the equity target was still far off the target. Time was running out and Malaysia took a short cut with the ill-planned “trickledown” effect. Malaysia throttled down the road of enriching and empowering a few Bumiputeras who would go on to be successful entrepreneurs and asset owners and the subsequent multiplier effect will trickle down onto and propel the rest of the Bumiputera community. The philosophy was for this “trickledown” effect that surely, it was believed, would be inevitable.

The trickledown effect did not and does not work. Even the Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Abd Razak himself acknowledged this in a recent interview with Martin Soong of CNBC. In fact, it perpetuated high inequality amongst Malaysians. It became something we so desperately clung on as an economic doctrine and still believed as true.

So even before we got there, we are now taking on a new “Malaysian Dream”. Surely, it is only natural that the next course of action is aiming for a bigger middle class. Or are we really achieving it?

Yet Another Missing Target?

We say High Income Nation is the way to go and have set a new target to achieve a per capita income of US$15,000 by year 2020. It means the Gross National Income (GNI) – a measure of the country’s production adjusted with net incomes from overseas – divided by the country’s population must equal US$15,000. That target, we are told, is achievable by 2017-2018. Currently, our per capital income is $US9,970.

Never mind that many of the relatively lower income-earners find themselves in pretty much the same position on a relative basis. Never mind that Bumiputera households are still the poorest on average in the bottom 40 percent rung of Malaysian households. Never mind that even if most of this nation’s income in year 2020 accrued to say, only 100 of the richest people in the country, we can achieve that $15,000 per capita target because it is grossly divided by the whole population.

Measuring income in US dollar term is already problematic. Many in the research community and the public have expressed concern about this as the US dollar is not the currency that most Malaysians earn and transact in. So when the Ringgit was stronger than US Dollars last year, we have every reason to question whether GNI per capita measured in dollar terms, represented the true magnitude of growth per capita, and whether this target is truly achievable.

But even if we put this currency issue aside, the $US15,000 per capita income target cannot be that headline “dream” we can congratulate ourselves on when achieved.

Here are some reasons why:

Rich Malaysia, Poor Malaysians

Firstly, for majority Malaysian households, about 90 percent of their incomes are attributed to wage and salary, including self-employment. Even for those who can afford to own some assets, this is still true. What more those who do not even own assets, and thus do not have incomes from owning assets.

Note that Malaysian GDP (measured using the income method) will indicate the following breakdown: 28 percent wages and salaries, 67 percent business profits (including mixed income), and 5 percent taxes and subsidies. What does this mean? It means that out of total GDP, only 28 percent is attributable to the working Malaysian population.

For the past 15 years, the contribution of wages and salaries to Malaysian GDP has fluctuated between 26 to 32 percent and the only reason it hiked up to 32 was because of the recession in 2008 when corporate profits declined. In Singapore, this number is already as high as 42 percent in 1997.

In other developed countries such as Korea, Canada, the UK and Japan, the corresponding number is 46 percent, 51 percent, 55 percent and 52 percent, respectively. Malaysians are not getting the bulk of the country’s production into their pockets! This is set to worsen; the ETP’s document (A Roadmap for Malaysia: Chapter 2) itself indicated that forecasted wages over GDP for the NKEAs will drop to as low as 21 percent in 2020! What are we smoking and what are our priorities, really?

In fact, for the past 15 years as well, the salaries of Malaysian workers have been lagging behind our productivity. Productivity growth rates were in line with rates of growth of salary circa 1998, but it has been slowly lagging thereon. As of last year, the productivity in the manufacturing sector is 45 percent above salaries. This roughly translates into the fact that our workers are under-paid by at least 45 percent. All this illustrates how GNI per capita will not represent well the incomes that majority Malaysians will enjoy as wages and salaries.

Secondly, more than 90% of the wage-earning workforce does not even earn much. Only 11.05 percent of government income is generated from personal income tax and only 1.7 million of the 12.4 million workforce is eligible to pay tax. EPF reported that 78.6% of its contributors database earn RM3,000 monthly or less. This is another illustration of how low the majority of the Malaysian people’s incomes are at the individual level. So what is this High Income Nation we are about to achieve in a few years? A High Income Nation with a low earning population?

Thirdly, there is the grave issue of purchasing power. High income alone does not necessarily translate into better economic well-being and quality of life if that high income cannot purchase much. A simple analysis would show how a fresh graduate in 1980 could purchase more compared to today’s graduate. With an estimated pay of RM1,000 a graduate could afford an Opel Gemini costing RM12,400 or about 12 months of his salary and purchase a decent house, perhaps even in Taman Tun, costing at RM62,000 or 56 months of his salary.

Today, a graduate can have a basic pay of RM2,500 which is only 2.5 times higher than a graduate in 1980. But a comparable Mazda 6 now costs RM178,000 or about 71 months of his salary and a decent house far outside Kuala Lumpur, say in Nilai, would cost RM350,000 or 140 months of his salary. The cost of living has spiraled viciously upwards and the purchasing power of the average salary man has slumped.

Fourthly is the issue of inequality, and this is by far the most compelling argument against a headline US$15,000 High Income Nation target. There is a reason that many academics, civil society groups and the people at large have recently been blowing the inequality trumpet; Malaysia has among the highest income disparities in the region. On August 3, 2013 the Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni has also acknowledged this.

Income growth measured from 1970 have shown that the Top 20 percent households far overtake that of the Middle 40 percent and the Bottom 40 percent households, while the income gap between them on average is widening. The GINI coefficient, which measures the degree of disparity between the highest income and the lowest income, remained rather stubbornly high without any improvement around 0.43 to 0.44 across the span of the past 20 years for Malaysia.

Earning RM10,000 a month on a household basis will already put you as the top 4 percent of Malaysian households, and essentially in the same group as even tycoons like Ananda Krishnan. 73 percent of households earn less than RM5,000, with an average of 2 income earners or workers per household. This alone shows how much disparity there is. Furthermore, it renders our $15,000 High Income Nation target achievable in form, yet void in spirit and substance.

How did this high and persisting inequality happen? The failure of that very “trickledown effect” that we hoped for is a major contributor. The continuous enrichment of the select few continuously fosters this gap in a long and perpetual cycle. The inequality in our education system also contributed to the large 77 percent of Malaysian workers being only SPM qualified and below thereby commanding low salary levels.

For the sake of profits, businesses are unwilling to invest in productivity and training of locals. We appease the business community by giving way to large influx of foreign workers, especially in factories, in place of relatively more expensive locals. The myth that locals are choosy and unwilling to work in factories is then proliferated, despite locals being able to work in factories if compensated adequately. This is proven in the oil and gas industry; hard laboring welders and fitters are all local Malaysians, despite having to work under scorching heat, as the compensation is rewarding.

So What is Really the Malaysian Dream?

We do not have one! But if we plan to have one, we cannot leave the average salary man behind, the man that forms more than 80% of the Malaysian population. We need a dream that is inclusive and holistic and addresses quality livelihood for Malaysians at large, and not just a select few.

Income inequality is a very serious impediment to our hopes for a truly developed nation. It would be a great irony if the majority of Malaysians do not truly experience that high-income status, once we reach that $US15,000 mark.

How are we to declare ourselves high income when the effects of inequality such as crime, unemployment, health and social problems as well depleting social goods will be so apparent? Even if we do make that high-income bar, problems that emerge out of inequality raise serious questions about the sustainability of that high-income status.

For as long as we do not come together, commit to say no to inequality in resolute, and help alleviate the bottom 60 percent potential economic producers, this problem will not solve itself and will come back to haunt us.

Moving forward our policies should be designed and constructed based on this understanding. We would have not proposed a regressive GST to increase our source of revenue if we understood this fact.

We would have instead tried to increase revenue from other sources that will not hurt the majority of our people like the inheritance tax, progressive taxation and capital gains tax.

But that argument, is for another day.

“There should exist among the citizens neither extreme poverty nor, again, excessive wealth, for both are productive of great evil.” (Plato)

*A version of this article first appeared in The Edge on 19th October 2013
**

Anas Alam Faizli is an oil and gas professional. He is pursuing a post-graduate doctorate, co-Founder of BLINDSPOT and BANTAH TPPA and tweets at @aafaizli

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 22 October 2013, 10:37 am and is filed under
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Najib Razak
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