Call for special parliamentary meeting before Parliament dissolves in 70 days for general election

Every day there are new and  increasing pointers that the next general election is very close – in fact, I expect Parliament to be dissolved in less than 70 days for the 12th general election to be held.

This is the reason why the MCA President and Housing and Local Government Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting has been
appointed
Acting Health Minister after the sudden demise of the meteoric political career of Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek in the national landscape.

Is there no one in the current crop of MCA deputy ministers like Ong Tee Kiat, Donald Lim, Dr. Ng Yen Yen, Fu Ah Kiow, Wong Kam Hong, Hon Choon Kam  or Liow Tiong Lai who is qualified to be appointed Health Minister to replace Chua that the MCA President must recommend himself to the Prime Minister as the Acting Health Minister?

The ulterior objective of such a move is clear – to keep a Ministerial seat open for his brother, Ong Ka Chuan after the general election!

The timing of the very organised, orchestrated and  systematic campaign to destroy Chua’s political career in a blitzkrieg five-day operation  is also linked to the fast approach of the general election, to wipe  him  out once and for all from the political scene!

Chua knows that he had been “killed” not by the Opposition, but by his own colleagues in the MCA. Yesterday, I had  said that there could be no doubt that the “black hand” responsible for the “ninjas” who successfully carried out the political assassination of Chua could be traced or linked  to person or persons sitting in the MCA Presidential Council which had with great hypocrisy “regrettably accepted and respected” Chua’s resignation from all government and party posts!

This is the
Malaysiakini
report  this evening:

Former health minister Dr Chua Soi Lek has accused his political rivals of wanting to see him “completely destroyed” even though he has quit all posts after being embroiled in a sex scandal.

“I have been stripped bare of everything, but they (detractors) want to see me completely destroyed,” he told Malaysiakini when contacted today

He did not elaborate on his remark today as he declined making further media comment.

“I’m not meeting the press today, let things cool down first. I have been interviewed by too many media lately and (detractors) said I kept talking to the media as if I was very proud,” said Chua over the phone.

Who are these “political rivals” of Chua who want him  “completely destroyed” although he had quit all government and party posts? Clearly not DAP or any other Opposition party. I do not believe they are from UMNO or  other Barisan Nasional component parties  but are “big guns” from  the MCA!

Another pointer of the closeness of the next general election is the sudden possibility of the re-opening of the Damansara Chinese primary school in Petaling Jaya, Selangor after arbitrary and high-handed closure for seven years – a hint coming from none other than the Education Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hashim himself.

Asked by the media today whether the Damansara Chinese primary school could be re-opened this year, Hishammuddin replied that such a possibility exists.

This shows the power of an approaching general election – things which are otherwise unthinkable and impossible suddenly become thinkable and do-able!

The new year 2008 was ushered in with the strongest pointer, when the MCA President Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting announced a RM10 million “angpow” to Chinese schools nationwide at a ceremony at the MCA Headquarters, as if public funds come from the MCA coffers!

The MCA leaders are hoping that the people will not ask too many questions, for instance, objecting to the paltry sum of RM10 million when compared to the RM4.6 billion squandered away in the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) bailout scandal –  as without the PKFZ scandal, the bulk of the RM4.6 billion could be disbursed to the nation’s 1,500 Chinese primary and 60 Chinese independent  secondary schools for their development to make up for the decades of government neglect and discrimination suffered by Chinese schools!

The  MCA Central Committee is meeting on Tuesday on Chua’s resignation and I call on the MCA leaders  to  take a stand on the RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal, as it is the first mega financial scandal to involve a MCA Minister in the nation’s 50-year history.

The MCA Central Committee should direct the Transport Minister, Datuk Seri   Chan Kong Choy  to set up a public inquiry to establish his innocence of any abuse of power, misuse of public funds or any Ministerial wrongdoing in the RM4.6 billion PKFZ scandal –  failing which Chan should be instructed to emulate Chua’s example and tender his resignation as Transport Minister and from all government and party posts.

Parliament is now in adjournment and its next meeting is scheduled to begin on March 17, which will be officially opened by the Yang di Pertuan Agong for a 23-day meeting for the Dewan Rakyat till April 23, 2008.

If general election is held within the next 70 days, then the 11th Parliament will not be meeting again.

I call  on the Prime Minister to convene a  special four-day  meeting of Parliament within the next 30 days so that the Malaysian Parliament will not become a laughing-stock of the world, especially as Malaysia is to play host to Parliamentarians from Commonwealth countries for the Commonwealth Parliamentary  Association (CPA) annual conference to be held in Kuala Lumpur  in September this year.

If Parliament is dissolved without a special meeting, the work of several Parliamentary Committees would be aborted, wasting months and months of public hearings and meetings, resources and money without any result.

This is because three Parliamentary Select Committees, on National Unity and Integration, on Integrity and on a Code of Ethics for MPs, would not be able to complete their work and submit their report and recommendations to Parliament.

This would mean that the months spent by the Parliamentary Select Committees on National Unity and on Integrity, holding public hearings in various parts of the country in the past two years, would all go down the drain as their life-span automatically terminates with the dissolution of Parliament.

I will ask for a meeting with the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to suggest a special four-day  meeting of Parliament within the next 30 days to dispose of all outstanding parliamentary business so that they will not lapse when Parliament is dissolved in less than 70 days for the 12th general election.

(Speech at the DAP Bagan Solidarity Dinner in Butterworth  on Friday, 4th January 2008 at 10 pm)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 5 January 2008, 8:58 am and is filed under
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Muslim Students, Challenge Yourselves!

by
Azly Rahman

[An introduction to a speech on “student idealism” delivered at the annual gathering of the Malaysian and Indonesian Muslim students in Washington D.C., USA., December 2007. (PART 1)]

Assalamualikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

Peace and Blessings to all of you. May Allah Bless our gathering and grant us wisdom and serenity amidst this increasingly chaotic world in which the powerful amongst us continue to trample over the powerless. May we see this trend reversed, in our lifetime.

I thank you for inviting me to me speak on something which makes me feel twenty years younger – on “student idealism”, on what is it, and what to do with it. I love the word “idealism”. It brings us right to what the Greek philosopher Plato said about the difference between “forms” and “appearance”. Of what the Hindus say about “Maya” and the troubled “yuga” in which Prince Rama would come back to bring salvation. A world in which the “rapper” and the “hip hopper” would say “for real…my dude?”

Twenty year ago, when I was very young, when I was president of the Malaysian Student Association and then of the Southeast Asian Student Association in an American university in the Midwest, friends and I used to explore issues of what to do when we have ideals. Countless hours of dialogues amongst friends of all races and nationalities, coupled with our obsession with the topic of the impending collapse of the dreaded apartheid system in South Africa and the subsequent release of Nelson Mandela – hundred of hours of these — yielded in us some sense of idealism. We studied the secret mission, logic, and innerworkings of the American multinational corporations in propping up dictators around the world.

We studied what President Dwight D. Eisenhower called the “military-industrial complex”. We were passionate about all these, blending what we learned in the classroom – knowledge gained from professors of the anti-Vietnam war era – with what we can possible do as “citizens of the world” imbued with the idea of universal human rights. The Internet and the World Wide Web was beginning to take shape. As you know, both were developed out of womb of the US Military – under a project called DARPA-NET. The Internet began with 5 computers talking to each others, sharing military intelligence. That was the consequence of the evolution of Cybernetics Theory.

We read philosophy, politics, race theory, and radical sociology – to get a better grasp of what we mean by being a committed student of idealism. With two good friends of mine – one Chinese and one Indian, one a student of Engineering and the other of Philosophy and Psychology — we would have our summer midnight strolls along the man-made river across our campus – talking about issues and possible resolutions. Never had we thought that Malaysian politics would have gotten worse.

We spoke up against racial discrimination, corruption, the increasing gap between the rich and the poor. We spoke for equal opportunity and the respect for all cultures. We questioned almost everything, true to the meaning of academic freedom we were trained in.

We were in America. We had the freedom to do that – speak at forums where Malaysian officials visit to speak of this or that program the government is doing. I remember on one occasion when Datuk Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was visiting the campus as Education Minister, we had to announce our name and our Identity Card (IC) number in public if we wanted to ask questions. That was way before Malaysian students all over the world had to sign the Surat Akujanji and be in an oath-taking ceremony to pledge loyalty to whoever the leader is and however he/she conducts himself or herself as a leader. Signing it, like many of us are beginning to experience, will take away your rights to seek outside help in case your fundamental rights as a citizen, under Article 10 is violated, as in the case of the student in UPM whose laptop was taken away. He was not allowed to seek the help of a lawyer.

Have things changed these days? Especially in our public universities back home? Your guess is as good as mine. Your analyses too might be better than mine, since you are in contact with friends back home.

How privileged you are to be able to sit in classrooms in your Liberal Arts and Social Science classes at Rutgers, Syracuse, Stevens, Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, etc. wherein your professor will never call in the Special Branch or the FBI or the SWAT team or the Ninja Turtles everytime he/she hears someone badmouthing President George Bush or any of the members of his family, including his dogs.

America has its major flaws but democracy is constantly reinterpreted. We might even have the first woman president or even better, the first African American president from an Opposition party. This is something we can also look forward to in Malaysia – the radical changing of paradigms without much damage done to our national psyche. People here do not panic when there is a possible or imminent change in government. They just continue living and they cheer when a politician gets jailed for corruption and abuse of power. As long as the economy’s fine, as long as the streets are safe, and they have a job, things move on.

This is the essence of American pragmatism one can learn from. As a nation being colonized by the British and as one which is founded upon the principles of a republic, Americans speak up for universal human rights as well. Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere, as many Americans now believe. Democracy here is a “lived experience” permeating even in the lives of young children in the classroom in which children are encouraged to speak up, ask questions, or even disagree with the teachers.

As students we must understand not only how fragile the world has always been but how changes happen across time and space. We are seeing exciting changes happening in Malaysia. No longer are people keeping silent — after 22 years of being silenced. The old regime is slowly crumbling, being deconstructed, making way for a newer world order in an age wherein change and complexity is the norm. Wealth and power are merely ephemeral constructs and very fragile these days. What happened to Marcos, Thaksin, the Shah of Iran, Suharto, or even John Howard of Australia can happen anywhere in the Asian state. Money and Machiavelli can’t but happiness or political stability. Ethics and spirituality can do a better job.

Never take stability for granted, nor geographical boundaries as constant. What happened to Singapore in 1965 can happen to Kelantan, Kedah, Penang, Sabah, Sarawak, or even to the tiny kingdom of Perlis in 2025. We must be ready to manage change and perhaps direct its energy to our heart’s desire, with Fate conspiring.

In this postmodern world, anything is possible – boundaries shifting, the wealthy and the powerful hunted down for corruption and finally jailed for life, campuses and classrooms becoming an arena for free-flowing exchange of ideas however radical and ridiculous these ideas may be. We might even see all forms of university programs that teach racism through indoctrination and singing outdated propaganda songs about a child playing with fire, banned.

We might even see politically-appointed educational leaders removed and replaced by those interested in freeing our universities. We might even see students of all races sit together during lunch breaks and at dinner tables, talking about how to feed to poor of all races and how best to build a future postmodern republic that is founded upon peace, anti-elitism, virtue, social justice, and deeply meaningful inter-cultural understanding.

I am a dreamer — after seeing many nightmares in broad daylight.

It seems that we are living in two worlds – one that allows us to speak out our mind in this forum and not get hunted down, and one that makes us afraid to even think of how to express our idealism. This is the world of America on the one hand, and Malaya on the other. I call it Malaya because we are still a colony – colonized by ourselves and the structures we have allowed to be installed and become institutions and ultimately institutionalized and alienate us. Malaysia declared its Independence fifty years ago – but it remains a state that merely declared its Independence. Some say that we are evolving into a ‘police state”. It is up to you to characterize what this state means.

In relation to all these then, what is an ideal Muslim student and the nature of idealism he/she embodies? How must he/she function in a world that demands not only racial and religious tolerance but a synthesis of ideas foundationed upon idealism whose flame will not be allowed die? How do we train ourselves to become what I call radical, world wise thinkers who must think like a social futurist?

We shall explore this further. At the end of this talk I am more interested in how you come up with more radical questions than the responses to the propositions I made.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 5 January 2008, 5:10 am and is filed under
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Samy Vellu anti-national, disloyal and traitor in his current trip to India?

MIC President and Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu is in India to attend the three-day conference for People of Indian Origin (PIO) and he is taking the opportunity to meet the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to explain to them the position of the Indian Malaysians in the country.

When Hindraf leaders sought to explain to Indian political leaders the plight  of the Indian Malaysians as a new underclass after long-standing political, economic, educational, social, cultural and religious marginalization, they were accused of being anti-national, disloyal and traitors of the country.

Can Samy Vellu be equally denounced now as anti-national, disloyal and traitor for involving Indian leaders in the Malaysian domestic affairs with regard to the plight of the Indian Malaysians?

Samy Vellu is organizing a mammoth 15,000-people rally at the Cheras Badminton Stadium in Kuala Lumpur on January 20 to pledge support for Barisan Nasional and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

This is to be the first in a series of rallies being organised by MIC  throughout the country.

Nobody would object to Samy Vellu organizing rallies throughout the country to pledge support to the Prime Minister and the Barisan Nasional, but he should not go against the interests of the Malaysian Indian community and in particular their belated political awakening in demanding for an end to their long-standing marginalization from being given proper  recognition as equal and rightful citizens of Malaysia.

For this reason, apart from declaring support and loyalty to Abdullah and Barisan Nasional, the  series of forthcoming MIC rallies should have another common theme – to openly acknowledge the problem of the long-standing marginalization of the Indians in Malaysia and to urge the Prime Minister to formulate and implement a New Deal for the Indians so that they could enjoy an equal place under the Malaysian sun.

Otherwise, the series of MIC rallies must be regarded as detrimental to the rights and interests of Indian Malaysians if their whole purpose is to destroy the momentum of political awakening in the Indian Malaysian community demanding  government action to end their marginalization.

[Speech (2)  at the DAP Bagan Solidarity Dinner in Butterworth on Friday, 4.1.08  at 10 pm
]

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 5 January 2008, 10:32 am and is filed under
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Chua Soi Lek faces second “conspiracy of silence” on the MCA “blackhand” who caused his downfall

Four  persons have been detained by the police in connection with the sex video of former Health Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek – a 29-year-old beauty salon owner in Taman Bukit Perdana, Batu Pahat and her assistant, a 50-year-old farmer in Batu Pahat and a 40-year-old man in a food court in Taman Sri Tebrau.

Johore Police sources have said that more arrests are expected in the coming days as police are confident of tracking down the main culprits behind the recording and distribution of the sex DVD.

Johore Police Chief Deputy Comm Datuk Hussin Ismail said that  the cases are being investigated under Section 292 of the Penal Code for distributing and having in possession material containing pornographic elements.

Unless the four  persons detained were involved in the syndicate responsible for the recording and distribution of the sex DVD, they should be released immediately if their only offence is one of possession of the Chua sex DVD and no charges should be brought against them.

The Police should also abandon the earlier plan  announced by the Muar police chief Asst Comm Mohammad Nasir Ramli   to conduct
door-to-door searches
of residents in Batu Pahat and  Muar suspected to be  possession of the Chua sex DVD as it would be a gross abuse of police powers and  an intolerable and unacceptable violation of privacy of ordinary Malaysians.

The police should first conduct house-to-house search of MCA Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries, Members of Parliament  and leaders for the Chua sex DVD before it thinks about house-to-house search of residents of Batu Pahat and Muar.

DCP Hussin said that it is an offence to keep the Chua sex DVD and those who have it should surrender it to the police or destroy it.

How many of the  MCA Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries, MPs and leaders have surrendered their copies of the Chua sex DVD to the police?

In fact, the police should state how  many copies of the Chua sex  DVD had been surrendered to it  since the  organised and systematic public distribution of the DVDs  on December 29 last year, which destroyed  the high-flying political career of possibly the next MCA President in a matter of five days?

In Muar yesterday, the MCA Secretary-General Datuk Ong Ka Chuan asked MCA members to leave it to the police to investigate the mastermind behind the DVD scandal on the ground that it was not fair to accuse anyone of being the “black hand” behind Chua’s sudden downfall.

This is a classic and cowardly “passing of the buck” by the MCA political leadership.

From Chua’s many statements, the former MCA Vice President and Health Minister cannot be clearer that his downfall was an inside MCA job.

At most, the police may be able to ferret out the operatives of the Chua sex DVD conspiracy but not the “blackhand” who masterminded it, who must occupy  very influential position in the top MCA leadership hierarchy.

Chua’s supporters in MCA in Johore and other parts of the country, as illustrated by the 3,000 MCA members who thronged to the Batu Pahat  Chinese Chamber of Commerce Hall last night to demonstrate their support  of Chua on his  return to Batu Pahat, clearly wanted the “black hand” for Chua’s downfall to be identified, exposed and punished.

However, this sentiment is not shared by the top MCA leadership, as all the  top MCA leaders starting with the two Ong brothers are engaged in “a game of pretended innocence and ignorance”, claiming that they do not know that a “blackhand” had caused the sudden crash and end of Chua’s political career and evincing no interest whatsoever to identify the “mastermind” through internal party investigations, when they know that this is a political and not a police question.

Even Ong Tee Kiat joined in this “game of pretended innocence and ignorance” when he publicly urged  Chua to substantiate and
expose the culprits
behind his downfall – forgetting that he was himself once a victim of such a MCA “blackhand” causing him to make the serious charge of “black gold politics” scandal in MCA, which he has as yet to substantiate publicly.

Chua Soi Lek is facing a  second conspiracy – the  “conspiracy of silence” of the MCA leadership over the MCA “blackhand” who had successfully carried out the first conspiracy to end his political life by recording and distributing the sex DVD.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 6 January 2008, 10:57 am and is filed under
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Mazu statue – Lim questions Yong’s stand

Daily News Express

Lim questions Yong’s stand

 Sunday 06 January 2008

Kota Kinabalu:
Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang has accused Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) President Datuk Yong Teck Lee of leading the attack on former Chief Minister Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat to oppose the Mazu project in Kudat.

He said Yong – also a former Chief Minister – and Chong should be standing united to hold the middle ground to uphold the constitutional right of Sabahans and Malaysians on the freedom of religion by continuing with the construction of the 32.9 metres (108-feet Mazu) statue.

“It is disgraceful and tragic that instead of the two former Sabah Chief Ministers standing on an united platform working for the completion of the world’s tallest Mazu statue, Yong is leading an attack on Chong to oppose the project,” Lim said in a Press statement released in Parliament Saturday.

Lim, who is DAP Member of Parliament for Ipoh Timur, quoted several reports pertaining to the Mazu project by the two former Chief Ministers in the Daily Express.

He said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had during his official visit to Sabah last weeked expressed the Government’s hope that Chong could settle the Mazu statue dispute amicably without going to court.

“Yesterday (Friday – Jan 4), Daily Express reported an attack on Chong by Yong, with the latter accusing the former of not being prudent as ‘to aggravate the situation and raise the political tension by making harsh and hostile statements,” Lim said.

Yong had in the report called on Chong to “accept in good faith” the statement by Najib to settle the matter out of court. He was commenting of Chong’s statement on Jan 1, which in response to Najib, stated that the Deputy Prime Minister was fully aware that he had exhausted all means, and that he had no choice but to institute legal proceeding.

“Is Yong with the moderates or the extremists in Sabah and Malaysia on the Kudat Mazu statue project,” Lim asked.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 6 January 2008, 7:00 pm and is filed under
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EC Chairman Rashid should implement “caretaker govt” concept to ensure free, fair, clean election

I will seek a meeting with the Chairman of the Election Commission Chairman,  Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman to discuss how the Election Commission proposes to ensure that the 12th general election is free, fair and clean, particularly whether the Election Commission proposes to apply the caretaker government concept when Parliament is dissolved.

When he became Prime Minister four years ago, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi propounded the concept of Islam Hadhari, founded on  just and trustworthy governance.

A government which genuinely believes in fair play and justice as two important ingredients of Islam Hadhari would support  the concept of a caretaker government between the dissolution of Parliament and the election of a new legislature and formation of new government.

Under this  concept, which has become commonplace in first-world developed nations,  there is only a caretaker government when Parliament stands dissolved for a general election to be held.

In a caretaker government, Cabinet Ministers should not abuse government positions, machinery, resources and funds for any electioneering purpose for a political party or candidate.

A candidate who benefits unfairly  from any “unhealthy” and dishonest practices, as campaigning assistance by the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister or Cabinet Minister through the abuse of  their government positions or misuse of public funds and resources, should be subject to disqualification.

Rashid has just had his tenure as Election Commission Chairman renewed in the most unusual circumstances, viz:

•	requiring Parliament to rush through a solitary amendment to the Constitution to extend the retirement age of the Election Commission Chairman from 65 to 66 before his retirement came due at the end of last year (Dewan Rakyat passed it on Dec. 11 while Dewan Negara adjourned on Dec. 24 – with  Dec. 25 the next day, Christmas Day, a public holiday);

•	requiring the Yang di Pertuan Agong  who returned to the country on Dec. 26  after performing the haj pilgrimage in Mecca to give his Royal Assent to the Constitution Amendment Bill 2007 on the very same day of his return as well as the publication of the government gazette of the legislation, so that the new law comes into instant effect the same day – allowing Rashid to extend his service by another year the  very next day on Dec. 27.

With these unusual efforts involving the Prime  Minister, the Cabinet, Parliament and the Yang di Pertuan Agong to act in a most  unprecedented manner to  expeditiously approve the  constitutional amendment so that Rashid could preside over preparations for the next general election, what guarantee can Rashid give that the conduct of the  12the general election would not be as disastrous and disgraceful as the 11th general election but can stand national and international scrutiny  as the most free, fair and clean in the 50-year history of Malaysia?

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 6 January 2008, 12:22 pm and is filed under
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Obama’s historic Iowa victory should spur historic role by Malaysians Indians in next general election

In the 21st century of globalization and information/communications technologies, Malaysians and their leaders cannot continue to live like frogs in the well.

When Hindraf leaders sought the understanding and support of political leaders in India about the plight of Malaysian Indians, they were labelled as anti-national, disloyal and traitors of the country.

But now, the MIC President and Works Minister, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu is on a extended trip to India on precisely the same purpose – although with very little results, but he has not been condemned as being anti-national, disloyal or traitors to  the country.

If Malaysian leaders do not want to be “frogs in the well”, they must be sensitive to the fast-changing global developments and world opinion.

The continued marginalization of the Malaysian Indians will become an international issue, even more so for the Indian diaspora with a population close to Malaysia’s population – over 20 million.

The eyes of the world are on two awakening giants and they are both in Asia – China and India. The Indian company, Tata, for instance, is poised to take control of the British icons, Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford, and within the next decade, India will become a bigger economy than the UK, the first Commonwealth country to do so.

Within about 30 years, India’s population will pass China’s. There are analysts like those in Goldman Sachs who believe that 20 years from now, India will be growing faster than China.

It is important that  Malaysians are made  fully aware that the country will only perish if we continue with the  “frog in the well” mentality and that the  country can  only prosper if it  is fully plugged into the highly-competitive international economy and environment.

In our  ever-shrinking global village, what we do in Malaysia must be able to withstand national and international scrutiny  while what is happening in any part of the world could have an impact in the country.

Yesterday, political history was made at the other side of the world when a black American, Barack Obama, created an upset and won the Iowa Democratic Presidential Caucus, demonstrating that white Americans are prepared to elect a black president.

The demographic breakdown in the United States are whites 81.7%, blacks 12.9%, Asians 4.2%, Americanindians/Alaskans 1%, native Hawaians and other Pacific Islanders 0.2%.

Obama’s  historic win in the Democratic Iowa Caucus which  raises   hopes that there can be a black American President in white-majority United States should give spur to the drive in Malaysia  for greater equality and an end to marginalization of Malaysian Indians and all other marginalized groups.

We are not talking about a Malaysian Indian becoming Prime Minister. If Obama can emerge as the first black American hopeful to  be elected President although blacks only constitute 12.9 per cent of the population, there is no reason why Malaysian Indians cannot ask why their sole Indian Cabinet Minister is stuck in the portfolio of Works or Energy for close to three decades and why other heavyweight Ministries like Education, Finance, Internal Security or Defence should not be available as well!

The marginalization of the Indians in Malaysia must not be allowed to be seen as an Indian problem. It must be regarded as a Malaysian national problem, together with the marginalization of all other marginalized groups, whether Kadazan-Dusun-Murut in Sabah, Iban and the indigenous peoples in Sarawak, Orang Asli in Peninsular Malaysia, or the poor and marginalized Malays and Chinese in the country.

In the past 50 years, the Malaysian Indian voters had been regarded as a very safe vote-bank for the Barisan Nasional, but a sea-change has taken place in Malaysian politics where the Indian voters are no more certain votes for the BN.

Just as China and India are awakening giants in the global arena, the Indian voters are awakening to play their historic role in the next general election as

 “king makers” in 50 Parliamentary and 133 State Assembly seats where they have more than 10 per cent of the electorate.

The least the Malaysian Indian voters could and should do   is to be the critical force  to ensure that the Barisan Nasional is denied its unbroken  two-thirds parliamentary majority, which will be the first step to bring the Barisan Nasional “down to earth” and usher in a genuine democratic change  never seen or experienced before in the nation’s 50-year history.

[Speech (2) at the DAP People’s  Forum on “Marginalisation of Malaysian Indians” held at Koo Tian Hall, Ayer Tawar, Perak on Saturday, 5.1.07 at 10 pm]

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 6 January 2008, 4:15 pm and is filed under
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Samy Vellu’s triple shame in Chennai – apologies from mulitiple personalities warranted

I learn from a
posting
 on my blog that the
Malaysian Nanban
 today reported on its front page that the MIC President and sole Malaysian  Indian Cabinet Minister for over 28 years,  Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu suffered grave  humiliation in Chennai when the Tamil Nadu chief Minister S. Karunanidhi refused to meet him, despite Samy Vellu waiting for an appointment for three days.

Samy Vellu had said when he arrived in Chennai on Dec. 30 that he would meet Indian leaders including Karunanidhi and the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to India to attend the three-day People of Indian Origin Conference in New Delhi starting on January 7.

He said he would
explain
 “the real situation concerning the Indian community in Malaysia” to the Indian leaders in view of the “negative publicity” from the Nov. 25 Hindraf demonstration which drew support from 30,000 Indians from all over the country.

Samy Vellu was made to cool his heels in Chennai, waiting for three days and repeatedly phoning up for an appointment with the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister but to no avail.

Nanban
 reported the displeasure of Samy Vellu at being given the cold shoulder, complaining at the ingratitude of Karunanidhi when the MIC President had treated the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister like royalty when Karunanidhi had previously visited Malaysia.

Samy Vellu has brought shame not only to himself, but to MIC, the Malaysian Indians  and the Malaysian nation.  For this he owes the Malaysian Indian community and all Malaysians a fulsome public apology.

This is the Samy Vellu’s  first shame in Chennai.

He suffered a  second shame in Chennai.

 I have just received a SMS from DAP MP for Bukit Mertajam, Chong Eng informing me that
Makkal Osai
today quoted Samy Vellu as saying that the government did not have any evidence to prove that Hindraf had connection with Tamil Tigers or terrorists when he was asked by reporters in Chennai.

If the government has no evidence that Hindraf had terrorist links with the Tamil Tigers, how can the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan, the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail and  the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi make public allegations about Hindraf’s terrorist links  and how could the five Hindraf leaders and activists, P. Uthayakumar, V. Ganabatirau, M. Manoharan, R. Kenghadharan and T. Vasantha Kumar be detained under the infamous Internal Security Act, where a person could be detained indefinitely without trial although one is innocent?

Furthermore, how could Samy Vellu, who claims to represent the interests of the  Indians in  Malaysia, sit idly by and allow such gross injustice to be perpetrated on the five Hindraf leaders and activists allegedly for terrorist links – for which Samy Vellu now admits is without basis?

Samy Vellu owes the Hindraf Five, the Malaysian Indian community and all Malaysians a second public apology.  Even IGP Musa, AG Gani and Prime Minister Abdullah should publicly apologise for their baseless allegations of terrorist links which they had hurled against Hindraf.  Uthayakumar, Ganabatirau, Manoharan, Kenghadharan and Vasantha Kumar should be released immediately and unconditionally from ISA detention at Kamunting Detention Centre.

Now, to Samy Vellu’s  third shame.   This is  from the latest SMS from Chong Eng.  Appearing on
AChennai
 television, a reporter asked Samy Vellu why he  couldn’t stop the Minister from condemning Tamil Nadu Chief Minister. Samy Vellu answered that there were two or three Opposition MPs asking the Indian government to interfere in Malaysia’s Indian problems, and it was because of that the Minister responded.

This was a blatant lie by Samy Vellu.

The
AChennai
 interview was referring to the very rude retort by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz to wire reports that Karunanidhi had written to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him to take immediate and appropriate action to end the “sufferings and bad treatment” of Tamils in Malaysia.

Nazri warned Karunanidi to “lay off”, rebuking the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister for interfering when what happened in Malaysia had “nothing to do with Tamil Nadu”.

Nazri  also made the gratuitous remark that Karunanidhi should “look at his own backyard” before interfering in Malaysian affairs and that Karunanidhi’s “own state is out of control”.

This is also where Nazri unrepentantly  reiterated that he would not apologise for calling the 30,000 Indians who had supported the Hindraf rally in Kuala Lumpur on Nov. 25  as “penyangak” (crooks).  There was not a single bleat of protest from MIC leaders, whether Minister, Deputy Minister, Parliamentary Secretary or MP at such unwarranted abuse and insult.

Samy Vellu owes Parliament and the nation a full public apology for telling a lie just to defend the indefensible by Nazri, as no DAP MP (I presume Samy Vellu was  referring to e DAP MPs) had called for the intervention of the Indian Government.

If DAP MPs had ever made such a call, Parliament, the nation and whole wide world would not be allowed to forget it, for we would have been have been the target of propaganda attacks on radio and television until the next general election is over – condemning DAP MPs as disloyal, anti-national and even as traitors!

Samy Vellu is bringing shame and  dishonour to Malaysia with the  pack of lies and half-truths he is trotting out to the media in India.

I call on Samy Vellu to speak the truth and to openly admit that the Indians in Malaysia had suffered long-standing political, economic educational, social, cultural and religious polarization and that a New Deal is urgently needed to correct such historic injustices for the good of the Malaysian Indians as well as the whole Malaysian nation.

(Speech at the DAP People’s  Forum on “Marginalisation of Malaysian Indians” held at Koo Tian Hall, Ayer Tawar, Perak on Saturday, 5th January 2007 at 10 pm)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 6 January 2008, 3:04 pm and is filed under
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DAP-PKR reach agreement on allocation of seats in Penang for next polls

Democratic Action Party and Parti Keadilan Rakyat have reached agreement on the allocation of parliamentary and state assembly seats for Penang for the next general election, expected in less than 70 days.

A joint media conference by leaders of both parties will be held in Penang on Wednesday to announce the details.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 7 January 2008, 5:05 pm and is filed under
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Najib, you are wrong

by
Richard Teo

Yes the tide is turning in Kelantan but certainly not in favour of BN but for PAS. As a kelantanese I can safely tell Najib the true current political situation in Kelantan. How could Zubaidah Abu Bakar speculate in the 6th Jan.2008 NST that “there are many in Kelantan who want to see a change of government”?

        This is farthest from the truth. The Malay psyche in Kelantan is vastly different from the psyche of Malays from the other states. The Malays in Kelantan are astute when it comes to politics. That explains why it is the only Malay state where the opposition party other than UMNO has ruled for a substantial period since Merdeka.

         During BN’s tenure, pork sellers in the Chinese market were harrassed daily. They were confined to a small inconspicous space where pork could be sold hidden from public view. There was conditional and restricted time when pork could be sold. When PAS took over the government in 1990, they improved the Chinese market and pork was  sold without any restrictions. In

short they were not harrassed.

        Again, during BN’s tenure, Chinese could not buy houses built on Malay reservation land. Since most of the land come under the purview of Malay reservation, most Kelantanese Chinese could not own a home. But all these changed when PAS came to power.

     Under the able DUN of Kota Bharu, Dato Annuar Tan, 30% of houses built on Malay reservation land were allocated for sale to the Kelantan Chinese.

     Any doubts where the Chinese loyalty lies can easily be dispelled  by visiting the Chinese enclave in Jalan Kebun Sultan. Ask any Chinese business community there and they will brazenly tell you that they will vote for PAS. Yes the Chinese votes in Kelantan are solidly behind PAS.

     It is also a fact that the Chinese miniority’s vote in Kelantan are insignificant and confined to only few seats where their votes are crucial for victory or loss. But in a state where a lot of seats are won and lost by a handful of votes this becomes immensely important where in the final analysis the fate of the government could merely depend on the margin of one or two seats.

    The Malays in Kelantan were generous in giving Pak Lah a resounding victory in 2004. But this was partly due to PAS over-zealous Islamic reforms which persuaded the Malays to vote for Pak Lah’s Islam Hadhari. Further they were captivated by Pak Lah’s assurance of tackling corruption which was beginning to be rampant in all branches of the government. But alas, Pak Lah was a disappointment. Instead he took it as an opportunity for his relatives and family to plunder the nation’s wealth by giving contracts to his son and son-in law.

     There is a saying among the Malays in Kelantan that UMNO can fool the Malays in the other states with their rhetoric of ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ but they cannot fool the Malays in Kelantan. They are aware that BN has introduced many programmes and development projects.

According to Datuk Annuar Musa “RM2 billion worth of projects are flowing into the state”. But the local malays will ask you who are the beneficiaries of these projects? Yes, its the UMNO cronies and the UMNO connected politicians who will secure all the major contracts.

      Of late, the sprinkling of Indians are also behind PAS not due to Hindraf’s effort but because of the awareness that it was under PAS rule that a prominent land in Jalan Hamzah was approved for the Hindus to build a temple when the same approval was rejected by BN four times before.

      Because of centuries of close proximity of Kelantan to Thailand and the close rapport between the Chinese and the Kelantanese Malays, the local Malays are not only intelligent and well-versed in commerce but they are very conversant with local and federal politics. This perhaps explain why UMNO with their brand of politics can never fool the Kelantan Malays.

    In the coming general election BN will not only lose in Kelantan it will lose as badly as in 1990. This is not only a fact, it is a promise.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 7 January 2008, 6:06 am and is filed under
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Samy Vellu should cut short his India trip to get Hindraf 5 released from ISA since there is no evidence of their terrorist links

MIC President and Works Minister, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu should cut short his current India trip and rush back to the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday to uphold justice for the Hindraf Five  wrongly detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) since he has admitted to the Indian media that there is no evidence about Hindraf’s terrorist links.

Samy Vellu had told the Indian media in Chennai that the Malaysian government did not have any evidence that Hindraf had connection with Tamil Tigers or terrorists. He was responding to questions from reporters in Chennai.

This is the Q & A on the
NDTVG.com
where Samy Vellu admitted that there is no evidence that Hindraf has terrorist links:

NDTV: Do you have any evidence to back your government’s charge that the Hindraf has links with terrorists?

D S Vellu: Hindraf said they would fight like the Tigers, the way the Tigers are fighting in Sri Lanka. It was by Vedamurthy. After he talked like that, we did an investigation and it was felt that he may have gone there for training.

NDTV: Do you have evidence of this?

D S Vellu: No. It is our suspicion.

It was because of the alleged Hindraf’s terrorist links that the Hindraf Five, P. Uthayakumar, V. Ganabatirau, M. Manoharan, R. Kenghadharan and T. Vasantha Kumar were detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

The Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Musa Hassan had told Malaysians immediately after their ISA arrests on 14th December 2007 that the detention of the Hindraf Five was “imperative” because “they clearly have links with international terrorist organizations”.
(NST 15.12.07)

As the whole case for the invocation of the infamous ISA to detain the Hindraf leaders  was   their international terrorist links, which has  now collapsed totally  with the admission by Samy Vellu in India, the Hindraf Five, P. Uthayakumar, V. Ganabatirau, M. Manoharan, R. Kenghadharan and T. Vasantha Kumar  should be  released immediately and unconditionally from ISA detention in Kamunting detention centre.

Samy Vellu cannot do any good in India, with him being snubbed by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi despite waiting for an appointment for three days in Chennai “to clarify his government’s stand on the Malaysian Tamils issue”.

Samy Vellu had been a party to the great wrong perpetrated on the Hindraf Five in their  ISA detention and the least he should do is to rush back to the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday to ensure that justice is done to the five with their immediate and unconditional release  without a single moment’s delay.

The other reason which Musa had mentioned to justify their detention was that they were “involved in activities that amount to inciting racial hatred” does not bear scrutiny.

This is because these charges come under the Sedition Act  and the Hindraf leaders should be charged in court so that they could exercise their constitutional right to defend themselves in an open trial in accordance with the Constitutional guarantee and Rukunegara principle on the rule of law in Malaysia.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 7 January 2008, 5:01 pm and is filed under
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Sex and The Politician

by
M. Bakri Musa

Between the salacious reporting on and the holier-than-thou responses to the sexual escapade of former Health Minister Chua Soi Lek, three important points are overlooked.  In a country where an intrusive government could as a law enforcement exercise barge into people’s bedrooms (consider the many khalwat raids), these points bear pondering.

            One, what if she had not been a “personal friend” (presumably Chua also has “non-personal friends”) but a foreign intelligence agent, and he, somebody important like a Minister of Defense?  Rest assured then that she would be very smooth and sophisticated; she would not let herself be blown to pieces or let the tape be released.  It would be more valuable kept secret than exposed.

            Two, what if my wife and I had stayed in that same room a few days immediately before, when those “technicians” were having their “practice” runs, or a few days later, when their voyeuristic lust is not yet fully satisfied?  Those peeping toms could not blackmail us of course, but we would have felt violated nonetheless.  The hotel would be liable, legally and morally, for the damages suffered by us just as surely as if the management had handed to known thugs duplicate keys to our room.

            Last is the sense of perspective.  In this escapade two people had great fun, with one subsequently paying dearly with his career.  No one was killed, or potentially killed, assuming they engaged in “safe sex.”  Yet the police expended considerable resources on the case.  Meanwhile the recent brutal sex slaying of young Nurin Jazlin remains unsolved and forgotten.

An Old Reliable Tool

The use of pretty girls (and boys too!) to bring down the powerful is nothing new or particularly ingenious.  Only the scene, theme actors (and actresses) vary.  When such acts are exposed, the end results are equally predictable.  Not always, however, much depends on the prevailing norms and the personalities.

            The American Central Intelligence Agency had secret tapes of Sukarno cavorting with pretty blonds (yes, more than one at a time!) secretly taped presumably on one of his many trips to Washington, DC.  In the 1960s when he was lurching far to the left, the CIA discretely let loose those tapes in the cinema halls of Jakarta.

            The hope was that those pious Indonesians would be so repulsed as to start a revolution to topple him.  Imagine the horror of the embassy folks when the crowd instead cheered their local stud.  As one wag put it, “At least one of us got to screw them back, they have been doing it to us for centuries!”

            President Kennedy’s fondness for pretty dames was well known and equally well tolerated if not catered to.  Only when he strayed too far and shared his toys with the Mafia bosses were there dismays in the intelligence community.

            To me the greatest threat to national security is not those sexual scandals that were exposed rather those that are still secret.  They would then be a much more formidable weapon.

            When Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman signed that defense treaty with Britain following Malaysia’s independence, was that his considered choice or one that was imposed upon him?  As it turned out it was a fortuitous decision.  It spared the nation from spending heavily on the military and instead used the funds on education.

            It would however, been easy for Britain to impose that defense treaty.  During his student days there, the Tunku acquired a widely acknowledged taste for fine scotch.  Presumably he also acquired the taste for some other fine “things” the British had to offer.

            Thus whether the Tunku’s avowedly pro Western stance was the result of his personal conviction or otherwise, we will never know.

            A friend of mine was a fast rising political star in a neighboring country.  On a visit to France, he suddenly discovered the exquisite taste for French wine and other equally “fine” offerings of Paris.  His country’s leader quickly became aware of the potential danger and brusquely put an end to the young man’s political career.

            The mark of a wise leader is how well he or she recognizes and thus avoids such a trap.  In not demanding Chua’s immediate resignation, the Prime Minister failed to grasp the threat to the nation of Chua’s extracurricular adventures.

            Lee Kuan Yew in his memoir wrote contemptuously of the many joget parties hosted by the Tunku where apparently hookers were readily available.  I do not know whether Lee’s indignation arose out of his moral conviction or the fear that he and his boys could be put in potentially compromising situations.  Anyway, he was wise to be wary.

            Leaders like Sukarno and Kennedy were apparently immune to sexual scandals because everyone knew their weaknesses.  When you see a gun enthusiast openly carrying a rifle, you know he is going to the shooting range for some target practice, and nobody would blink an eye.  When you see a seemingly straitlaced guy like an Imam carrying a weapon, everyone’s eyebrows would be raised.  You know he would be up to no good, perhaps looking to shoot some wild fowls, or worse, a chicken in a farmer’s barn.

Incendiary Racial Component

This being Malaysia, the racial element is never far.  Already there are ugly racial stereotype comments and videos posted in blogs and on Youtube.  Those would have been pardonable if they were funny; but they were not even that; they were simply crude.

            Speculations were that Chua was set up by his many rivals within his party jealous or fearful of his trajectory rise.  I wish for the sake of Malaysia that that were true.  If this seems a perversion, consider the alternative, that is, this is the scheming of others within the Barisan coalition, specifically UMNO, fearful of his forceful defense of Chinese causes.

            If this were so, then I would say that those UMNO operatives were not very smart in releasing the tapes.  I would have kept the video absolutely secret, and then would support him on his leadership drive.  When he reaches the top you would have full control of him.  To put it in the vernacular, “you have him by the balls.”

            This is not far fetched, or a case of my imagination running wild.  Returning back to the Tunku, one of the inflammatory accusations leveled at him was that he was “too pro Chinese.”  He was immune to sexual scandals, so the prevailing thinking then was that the rich Chinese were providing him the necessary cash for him to indulge his expensive hobbies.

Strong Offense As A Strong Defense

            I commend Chua for coming clean so quickly and for maintaining his poise in his press conference.  He even displayed a fine sense of humor in inviting the reporters (presumably the females only) to view the tapes with him!  However, be careful what you ask for!

            Chua needs to do more.  He should hire the most skillful and vicious lawyer to sue the hotel for invasion of his privacy and breach of contract.  When you rent a hotel room there is an implied contract that you are entitled to its private use.  As those cameras were not portable, the managers should have known they were being installed and thus be liable.  I am of course assuming that Chua paid for the room.  If the room and its “services” were free (meaning, paid for by someone else) then you get what you pay for.

            Even if Chua does not prevail at least he would have the satisfaction of forcing the management to spend money on its legal defense.  It might also encourage others who where guests at the hotel, specifically those who had stayed in the same room, to join in the lawsuit.

            Chua could not possibly be further damaged by more revelations no matter how kinky.  When you have some mud on you, that would be dirt; when you are totally covered, that would be a mud bath, and could be therapeutic.  Then it would be those who touched you who would be dirtied.

            A vigorous offense is often the best defense.  By suing, Chua could hopefully discourage future voyeuristic hotel operators from indulging their fantasies.  That could only be good for our tourist industry.  Who knows it might even discourage the government, especially its religious authorities, from snooping around.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 7 January 2008, 6:14 am and is filed under
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Where is PAC report on AG’s Report 2006 before dissolution of Parliament?

I am asking for an urgent meeting with the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to propose that there should be a special four-day meeting of Parliament within the next 30 days to dispose of all outstanding parliamentary business so that they will not lapse when Parliament is dissolved in less than 70 days for the 12th general election to be held.

One important outstanding parliamentary business  is  the report of the Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC) into the 2006 Auditor-General’s Report, which had created a nation-wide furore when it was tabled in Parliament last September, exposing scandals including:

•	payment of RM224 for a RM32 set of screwdrivers;

•	paying RM1,146 for a set of pens costing RM160;

•	paying RM5,700 for a car jack worth RM50;

•	the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) paying RM5.59 million in advance to 4,183 students who did not apply for a loan; and .

•	the largest single case of misuse of funds in the Report — the RM6.75 billion scandal of six Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPV) that have either not been delivered or not operational and the increase of their contract price twice from RM4.9 billion to RM6.75 billion or 38 percent.

MPs and Malaysians were assured last September that the PAC members  would be going through the Auditor-General’s strictures of criminal breaches of trust and  financial irregularities in his 2006 Report with a fine tooth comb and would be demanding  full public accountability and responsibility.

If the 11th Parliament is now dissolved without the PAC completing and submitting its report, it will be a failure of parliamentary scrutiny and responsibility for the 11th Parliament and a terrible reflection on the record of the PAC Chairman, Datuk Shahrir Samad.

Parliament is now in adjournment and its next meeting is scheduled to begin on March 17, which will be officially opened by the Yang di Pertuan Agong for a 23-day meeting for the Dewan Rakyat till April 23, 2008.

If general election is held within the next 70 days, then the 11th Parliament will not be meeting again.

This is why the Prime Minister should  convene a special four-day meeting of Parliament within the next 30 days so that the Malaysian Parliament will not become a laughing-stock of the world with a host of uncompleted parliamentary business, especially as Malaysia is to play host to Parliamentarians from Commonwealth countries in the Commonwealth Parliament Association annual conference to be held in Kuala Lumpur in September this year.

If Parliament is dissolved without a special meeting, the work of several Parliamentary Select Committees would also be aborted, wasting months and even years  of public hearings and meetings, resources and money without any result.

The Malaysian Parliament will go into the Guinness Book of Records of setting up Parliamentary Select Committees which do not submit reports whatsoever!

This will be the case with three Parliamentary Select Committees, on National Unity and Integration, on Integrity and on a Code of Ethics for MPs, as all the three Select Committees  would not be able to complete their work and submit their report and recommendations to Parliament if Parliament is dissolved without any other meeting.

This would mean that the months and years  spent by the Parliamentary Select Committees on National Unity and on Integrity, holding public hearings in various parts of the country would all go down the drain as their life-span automatically terminates with the dissolution of Parliament.

The third Parliamentary Select Committee on Code of Ethics  for MPs, which is headed by Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, had not really started its work although the resolution establishing it was passed by the Dewan Rakyat in May last year and it had its inaugural working meeting in June.

The Parliamentary Select Committee on Code of Ethics was set up because of the “One-Eye Closed” scandal of the MP for Jasin, while the recent sex DVD scandal forcing the resignation of  Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek as the Health Minister and Labis Member of Parliament have highlighted the relevance and importance this Select Committee.  Parliament, the Select Committee on Code of Ethics for MPs and its Chairman, Najib, will all becoming laughing stocks if noting is produced by the Select Committee when Parliament is dissolved.

My office has contacted the Prime Minister’s Office to ask for an appointment for me to propose to  the Prime Minister why it is imperative to have special four-day meeting of Parliament  before any dissolution for the holding of the 12th general election – especially as the Prime Minister has expressed hopes of having a First-World Parliament.

                                                                                Lim Kit Siang

                This entry was posted on Monday, 7 January 2008, 12:11 pm and is filed under
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New method of crime by snatch thieves

Letters

by
Joyce Ho

We have been reading about snatch thieves incidents. I witnessed for myself today a new method adopted by them.

Please pass this on to friends – Alert them of this NEW METHOD adopted by snatch thieves.

I was driving along SS2/22, Petaling Jaya going towards Damansara Jaya.  This street is totally residential one street off the main road.

About 10 houses in front of me was this young lady walking by a car parked along the grass patch outside one of the terrace houses.  As she was reaching the rear end of this clean decent looking Silver Proton Waja,  I noticed the engine started and the left rear passenger doors window was being wound down.

Suddenly a man emerged out of the rear passenger doors window his entire torso! and making a grab of this ladys handbag!!!!  As this man emerged from the cars window, the Silver Proton Waja was pulling out of its parking position slowly not in a hurry with the man from within just dragging the lady and her handbag along until she gave it up!!  Then they drove off slowly no hurry!!!

All the above happened in front of my eyes in less than 30 seconds!!!!!

Her screams and cries did not help!  No one came to her rescue in fact a middle age woman ran into her house upon seeing this happening right in front of her house only to come back out to lock her gates after the car has driven away!  Do you blame her?  The thieves were so bold!!!!

By the time my car reached her, the Silver Proton Waja had turned the corner. She was very shaken but thankfully only slightly hurt her pants were torn as were her slippers bloody knees, shins, palms and elbows.  On the way to the police station, she told me that she had noticed that there were 3 men she identified them as Malay men in the car.

I could not believe my eyes when I saw what was happening thus did not have the instinct to take note of the cars registration number.  Ive always thought that would be the first thing I would look out in an incident like this but NO I was too shocked simply watching this scene being played out right in front of me!!!

So please beware when you are walking by parked cars with men inside. Pass this on to as many friends as you can to alert them.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 8 January 2008, 5:59 am and is filed under
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Stop misallocating limited resources hunting Chua Soi Lek sex DVDs when top police priority is to fight endemic crime

The Batu Pahat magistrate’s court yesterday sentenced three persons to jail and hefty fines for possessing and reproducing the sex DVD of former Health Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek, viz:

•	Tay Bee Bee, 29, owner of a beauty salon,  was jailed for five days and fined RM10,000 or default  six months’ jail for having in her possession three DVDs;

•	See Tooh Choy Yoke, 26 (Tay’s employee) and farmer Lim Poi Keong, 51, each jailed for four days and fined RM15,000 or in default seven months’ jail for making 11 copies of the DVD.

The fourth person, Tan Kim Chong, 48, has claimed trial in the Johor Baru magistrate’s court to the charge of possessing the DVD.

It is reported that two more men in Johor Baru  have been arrested for having six Chua Soi Lek sex DVDs each.

While public opinion is in general agreement that the trio had committed offences under Section 292©  of the Penal Code, it is also the general consensus that the sentences of jail and fine were excessive, unjustifiable in the public interest and therefore detrimental to the cause of justice.

Public confidence in the administration of justice and police maintenance of law and order are not served if it is perceived that the law enforcement agencies are overzealous in a case which affect a former government Minister when similar zeal has not been shown to make the streets, public places and homes safe for Malaysians, visitors, tourists and investors.

Police should stop  misallocating their limited resources to try to hunt down all who  possess the  Chua Soi Lek sex DVD when their total focus must be to make Malaysia a safe country again and to restore to Malaysians their fundamental right to be free from crime and the fear of crime.

The Police had announced that it would conduct house-to-house search in Muar and Batu Pahat for those in possession of the Chua Soi Lek sex DVD, which is a shocking misallocation of police resources, gross abuse of police powers and an intolerable and unacceptable violation of privacy of ordinary Malaysians.

Why don’t the  police start first with a  house-to-house search of MCA Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries, Members of Parliament and leaders for the Chua Soi Lek sex DVD as the police can be assured of a bountiful harvest?

That Malaysia is even more unsafe for its citizens, visitors, tourists and investors could be seen from the endemic crimes which have sadly become a common occurrence in the country.

Some of the  crimes reported in the past few days include:

•	The “terrifying” armed robbery  of a family of nine in Lucky Garden, Rasah, Seremban on Saturday night  where five men armed with machetes robbed a family of about RM100,000 in valuables, after threatening to harm the sons and rape the daughters of the family.

•	The hours of terror ride by former TV3 newscaster Wan Zaleha Wan Radzi who was assaulted, robbed and hijacked by three  men in Pusat Bandar Damansara, Kuala Lumpur last Tuesday.

•	A graphic designer with a Chinese daily who was kidnapped and gang-raped near her home in USJ6, Subang Jaya last Wednesday.

Today, I received en email about a new  crime method by snatch thieves which the public, particularly womenfolk, should be aware and be on the look out, viz:

“I was driving along SS2/22, Petaling Jaya going towards Damansara Jaya. This street is totally residential one street off the main road.

“About 10 houses in front of me was this young lady walking by a car parked along the grass patch outside one of the terrace houses. As she was reaching the rear end of this clean decent looking Silver Proton Waja, I noticed the engine started and the left rear passenger doors window was being wound down.

“Suddenly a man emerged out of the rear passenger doors window his entire torso! and making a grab of this ladys handbag!!!! As this man emerged from the cars window, the Silver Proton Waja was pulling out of its parking position slowly not in a hurry with the man from within just dragging the lady and her handbag along until she gave it up!! Then they drove off slowly no hurry!!!

“All the above happened in front of my eyes in less than 30 seconds!!!!!

“Her screams and cries did not help! No one came to her rescue in fact a middle age woman ran into her house upon seeing this happening right in front of her house only to come back out to lock her gates after the car has driven away! Do you blame her? The thieves were so bold!!!!

“By the time my car reached her, the Silver Proton Waja had turned the corner. She was very shaken but thankfully only slightly hurt her pants were torn as were her slippers bloody knees, shins, palms and elbows. On the way to the police station, she told me that she had noticed that there were 3 men she identified them as Malay men in the car.

“I could not believe my eyes when I saw what was happening thus did not have the instinct to take note of the cars registration number. Ive always thought that would be the first thing I would look out in an incident like this but NO I was too shocked simply watching this scene being played out right in front of me!!!”

The streets and public places in the major towns in Malaysia  are no more safe, with predators and criminals on the prowl for victims from  the innocent and defenceless public. Making  the towns and the country safe again should be the top priority of the police instead of the police on the prowl for the Chua Soi Lek sex DVDs as if this is its topmost concern!

Otherwise, more tragedies like the front-page report of China Press yesterday, where a  nurse locked up the iron grill of a  24-hour clinic in Johore Baru and refused to allow a very sick  37-year-old welder entry at about midnight for fear that he could be a robber, resulting in delays in sending him  to the Johor Baru Hospital and his totally avoidable death before arrival.

This is one case which highlights the breakdown in Malaysia  not only of the medical and health system but also the maintenance of law and order system – a terrible beginning for the new year of 2008.

It is therefore inexcusable and unacceptable misallocation of limited police resources to be more zealous about hunting for the Chua Soi Lek sex DVDs instead of restoring the fundamental right to personal safety for all Malaysians – particularly when there are so many serious crimes still awaiting resolution, like the brutal murder of 8-year-old Nurin Jazlin Jazimin in September last year.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 8 January 2008, 12:40 pm and is filed under
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Who is Khairy to tell everyone including Ministers to stop speculating on when the general election would be held?

Who is Khairy Jamaluddin to tell everyone, including Ministers, to
stop speculating
on when the general election would be held when he has not even been elected as Member of Parliament?

Of course, everybody knows that he is the most powerful man in the  country, presiding over the  fourth storey of  Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya and  who controls and manipulates the Prime Minister’s moves and decision-making.

But such unaccountable and even unconstitutional exercise of power should not get to his head to make him publicly rebuke Ministers for speculating when the next general election would be held, although his statement was specifically directed at the Election Commission and made no mention of Cabinet Ministers.

However, when Khairy called on all parties, including the Election Commission Chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman , to stop speculating on when the general election would be held, claiming that “it was Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s sole prerogative on when to call for the election”, it was clear that he was carrying out  an Umno proxy war and  his target was not Rashid but Cabinet Ministers like the  Home Minister and Umno Secretary-General Datuk Seri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad and Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid.

It was only three days ago that
Azmi
 said publicly that the general election was near – and in the past ten days, Radzi had been declaring that
“It’s time for a leadership change in Perlis”
,  openly
advocating
that the current Perlis Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim should be replaced by Azmi.

However, standing in the way of Radzi and Azmi is Khairy, who is aligned with Shahidan as the Umno warlord in Perlis who could deliver what Khairy needed in Umno power stakes – to the extent that the scandals of Shahidan which Radzi had brought to the personal attention of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had been completely neutralized by Khairy.

Khairy is wrong however when he claimed that everybody should stop speculating on when the next general election would be held. This is because it is the right  and even prerogative of every  Malaysian to speculate as to when the next general election would be held, although it is the Prime Minister’s prerogative to decide when to call for the election.

The Prime Minister’s prerogative  does not extend to denying Malaysians, in whatever capacity, the right to speculate as to when the next general election  would be held.

Of course, there will be those who will argue  that this prerogative of the Prime Minister to decide when to call for election has been usurped by Khairy. Whatever the truth, there can be no doubt that next to Abdullah, Khairy would be the first to know when the next general election would be held.

Why should the date as to when Parliament would be dissolved for general election to the held be kept in such high secrecy, causing enormous inconveniences all round – when in first-world developed countries where there is more developed sense of fairplay and justice, like the United Kingdom and Australia, greater notice is given as to when a general election would be held.

Since Abdullah is a proponent of a “First-World Infrastructure, First-World Mentality” concept, is he prepared to adopt such best international practices and give proper and adequate notice to all concerned about the holding of the next general election?

Considering that the Umno general assembly could be held on Deepavali, utterly insensitive of the religious festival of the Hindus, I do not rule out Parliament being dissolved during the Chinese New Year, even before Chap Goh Mei on February 21, 2008.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 8 January 2008, 12:27 pm and is filed under
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2007 crime index crashed through 200,000 barrier – biggest failure of 4-year Abdullah premiership

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah  Ahmad Badawi’s  five-prong strategy announced yesterday  to combat the rising crime index  is not impressive at all – too little, too late and too indifferent in lacking seriousness and commitment by Abdullah to make Malaysia safe again for its citizens, visitors, tourists and investors.

Under Abdullah’s premiership, crime has reached endemic dimension with Malaysia gaining an international notoriety  as a country unsafe for her citizens, visitors, tourists and investors.

When he became Prime Minister on Oct. 31, 2003, Abdullah pledged that one of his top priorities would be to reduce crime to restore to Malaysians their fundamental right to be free from crime and the fear of crime, whether in the streets, public places or the privacy of their homes.

Today, Malaysians feel even more unsafe from crime than when he became Prime Minister.

Abdullah had raised great hopes about his commitment to create an efficient, incorruptible, professional and world-class police service to declare an all-out war against crime when he set up the Royal Police Commission which came out with 125 recommendations, the most important of which was the proposal for an  Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC).

All such high hopes of Malaysians for a world-class professional police service to keep crime index low to make the country safe for the people, visitors and foreign investors have been dashed to the ground in the past four  years.

All these high hopes have come to nought. The proposal of an effective IPCMC has been killed, replaced with a clawless and toothless Special Complaints Commission proposal.

Under Abdullah’s premiership, the police fought  a losing war against the  rising crime index, which had worsened from 156,315 cases in 2003 to 224,298 cases in 2007 – a sharp rise of  some 45% in the past four years.

The crime index crashed through the 200,000 barrier  for the first time in nation’s history with rape more than doubled from a daily average of four  women in 2003 to 8.5 women last year.

This means that under Abdullah as Prime Minister, women are even more unsafe from the crime of rape, with the risk of rape more than doubled than when Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad handed power over to him four years ago.

Abdullah’s  multi-pronged anti-crime strategy announced yesterday has fallen like a damp squid as nobody believes that it will have any effect to make Malaysia at least as safe for personal safety and property security  when he became Prime Minister four years ago.

When will Abdullah wake up to realize and admit that crime in Malaysia has become endemic under his premiership, and that the prevalent feeling of  citizens, visitors, tourists and investors  that they have lost the sense of personal safety and property security is one of the greatest failures of his  premiership?

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 9 January 2008, 3:49 pm and is filed under
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Abdullah’s anti-crime multiprong strategy – just general election gimmick?

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s expression of “worry” about the rising crime index and his announcement of  a multi-prong strategy to combat crime lack seriousness and conviction, as they appear to be just   election gimmicks to give Malaysians a false sense of security that something is being done to fight crime with the approach of the general election.

New Straits Times front-page headline yesterday, “CRIME RATE UP 13.4% – PM expresses alarm Announces remedial action” understates the gravity of the crime situation in Malaysia during the four-year Abdullah premiership.

The crime rate rose by 13.4 per cent last year but in the four years of Abdullah premiership, crime rate shot up by an even more alarming 45%.

When Abdullah became Prime Minister in October 2003, the crime situation was already out of control which was why one of his first reform promises and measures which won him all-round plaudits and support among Malaysians was the establishment of the Royal Police Commission to reduce crime to restore to Malaysians their twin  fundamental rights to be free from crime and the fear of crime, whether in the streets, public places or the privacy of their homes.

After four years, Malaysia today is even  more unsafe to its citizens, visitors, tourists or investors because of endemic crime.

In the past four years, the crime index had worsened from 156,315 cases in 2003 to 224,298 cases in 2007 – a sharp rise of  some 45% when it should have gone down as recommended by the Royal Police Commission.  For the first time in the nation’s 50-year history, the crime index last year crashed through the 200,000 psychological  barrier.  Women in Malaysia are now more unsafe today than four years ago – as the incidence of rape had  more than doubled from a daily average of four  women in 2003 to 8.5 women last year!

Is the five-prong anti-crime strategy announced by Abdullah adequate to make Malaysia a safer country  than just four years ago  before he became Prime Minister?

One of the five anti-crime strategies is to appoint civilians to administrative positions and thereby release police personnel for their main duties.

This is actually Recommendation No. 78 of the 125 recommendations of the Royal Police Commission to create an efficient, accountable, incorruptible, professional world-class police service to keep crime low, eradicate corruption and uphold human rights.

The Royal Police Commission proposed “Civilianising or outsourcing functions presently performed by uniformed personnel in PDRM, and re-deploying the uniformed personnel to core policing functions”. It said that such a move would immediately release 35,000 uniformed police personnel for core policing functions, i.e. fighting crime and catching criminals!

The Royal Police Commission provided a time-line for the implementation of this proposal – “In phases.  Completion by May 2007”

This is January 2008 and the Prime Minister is still talking about this proposal of “appointing civilians to administrative positions to release police personnel” for their core police duties to fight crime and catch criminals!  What a shame and disappointment!

DAP has decided make crime, law and order the  top national  theme in the next general election – which will be a first in the nation’s 50-year electoral history.

Today, we are here  to launch in Perak state the DAP’s “Good Cops, Safe Malaysia” campaign theme for the next general election, starting with the visit to the Kampong Simee market just now.

Together with other DAP Perak state leaders, I will take part in a  two-day whistle-stop campaign to take the DAP message of “Good Cops, Safe Malaysia” to all Malaysians as it is  the basic right and expectation of all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or political beliefs to enjoy personal safety and property security.  Among the places I will visit in the weekend  two-day whistle-stop campaign in Perak will be Ipoh, Teluk Intan, Taiping, Sungei Siput, Pantai Remis, Kampar and Bidor.

(Media Conference in Kampong Simee, Ipoh Timur, on Thursday, 10th January 2008 at 10 am)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 10 January 2008, 4:20 pm and is filed under
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Eureka! But no…

Eureka! But no…

According to legend, more than 2,000 years ago, when Archimedes got into his bath and saw it overflow, he suddenly realised he could use water displacement to work out the volume and density of the king’s crown. Archimedes not only shouted “Eureka” – I have found it – he supposedly ran home naked through the streets of Syracuse in his excitement.

I was quite at a loss and almost given up the effort to try to understand why I could not update my blog and the signs of more and more of the WordPress functions breaking down, when I remembered a query by a poster whether I had configured the blog to reject the function embolding words.  At the time, I did not really understand the query.

But this gave me a clue and I found that the use of the “bold” function in the WordPress 2.3.1 led to the rejection of the input, whether new blog or commentary.  This led to other discoveries – the fatal role of  most of the other WordPress functions in killing any update or new input.

This was why I was finally able to put  up three blog items today, the latest article by Farish Noor on “The A, B and C of God” and two pieces of my media conference in Kampong Simee, Ipoh Timur this morning to launch “crime, law and order” as among the top general election themes in Perak state.

But I have not been able to use the WordPress functions whether to edit the blog like to  “bold” or italicize passages, break up the blog, link to media reports, etc.

You will have to bear with the failure of the various  WordPress functions until the WordPress glitches could be sorted out.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 10 January 2008, 5:34 pm and is filed under
IT
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Samy Vellu should resign as Minister for continuing to work against the cause of Indians to end marginalisation

MIC President and Works Minister, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu was again snubbed by the  Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi in New Delhi while attending the “People of Indian Origin” Conference, after he had been conspicuously snubbed by the Tamil Nadu leader in Chennai last week, where  Samy Vellu waited for three days for an appointment which never came!

Samy Vellu had said he wanted to explain to Indian leaders the  “the real situation concerning the Indian community in Malaysia” but clearly the MIC President has lost all credibility in Tamil Nadu which has 70 million Tamils and no Tamil leader is prepared to lend him their ears.

Never before in his over 28 years as the sole Malaysian  Indian Cabinet Minister has Samy Vellu brought more shame and dishonour to  the MIC, government and Malaysia.

I call on Samy Vellu to resign as Works Minister not so much for being regarded as a “persona non grata” by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and other Indian leaders, but because he has continued to work against the cause of the Malaysian Indians for justice and fair play and an end to their long-standing political, economic, educational, social, cultural and religious marginalization.

This is because Samy Vellu has continued to maintain that there had been no marginalization of the Malaysian Indians during his current visit to India – when he knows in his heart of hearts that this is untrue.

The least that Samy Vellu, as President of MIC which claims to represents the rights and interests of the two million Malaysian Indians, should so is to openly acknowledge the fact and reality of the marginalization of the Indians in Malaysia causing them to become the new underclass in the country – for it is only with the MIC ending its denial syndrome about the marginalization of the Malaysian Indians that the Barisan Nasional government could abandon its denial complex on the same issue.

Is Samy Vellu afraid of losing his Ministerial position should he speak the truth and own up to the marginalization of the Indians in Malaysia?

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 10 January 2008, 4:28 pm and is filed under
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The A, B and C of God

The A, B and C of God

By Farish A. Noor

It has been a month now since Malaysia has been gripped in one of the most obscure and arcane of controversies over the use of the word ‘Allah’ by Muslims and non-Muslims alike. This must seem odd to foreigners for elsewhere in the world Muslims (such as the Muslims of Egypt) have no problem with their Coptic friends and neighbours using the word ‘Allah’ to refer to God. Why, even during the Coptic Christmas on 7th January the

Coptic Pope delivered his Christmas sermon with phrases like ‘Bismillah’ time and again. So why are the Muslims of Malaysia so obsessed with the idea of claiming a singular word for themselves?

For those who have studied the fundamentals of rational metaphysics in Islam, one of the first themes that is covered is often that of semantics and semiotics. Odd that many courses on rational metaphysics begins with the most fundamental of subjects itself: meaning and the relationship between the Signifier and the Signified, but then again as any scholar will alert

you, one cannot even begin to embark on the social production of knowledge without the ground rules of meaning and signification established in the first place.

The startling thing that the student learns soon enough may seem commonsensical, but crucial nonetheless: That signification is a socially determined, historically conditioned, relative and subjective phenomenon. Words mean what they do simply because the rules of signification have come to be settled by convention over time. There is no essential reason why the

idea of a tree has to be referred to with the word or symbol ‘tree’; but once that association is made then the rule for that sign is set (not necessarily in stone perhaps) and we stick to it. Otherwise even the most basic of conversations beginning with the word ‘Hello’ would not get off the ground, and we wouldn’t get very far would we?

The real difficulties arise, however, when we embark on discussions on loftier, more abstract matters like virtue, aesthetics, divinity and of course God. Here is where rational metaphysics gets sticky to a point.

For hundreds of years the Muslim world has witnessed the on-going polemic and contestation between the verificationists-positivists and the nominalists: In plain English, this refers to the dispute over how one reads scripture and how the mortal human mind interprets divine revealed knowledge. On the one hand there are the positivists who insist on empirical referents to everything that is said or signified, and who hence argue that

complex concepts like virtue and beauty are, literally, meaningless. Then on the other hand there are the nominalists who take the view that words mean what they do as we intend them to, and while empirical referents are not necessarily close at hand, the words nonetheless have meaning because they

are understood in a determined social context.

The Sufis or Muslim mystical philosophers who belong to the age-old tradition of Muslim metaphysics honed this principle to a high art, and in the lyrical ruminations and speculations of Maulana Rumi and his peers, we find the concept of divinity interrogated, explored, laid bare, adorned, embellished, dissected – all for the sake of trying to get to the Truth of the matter which the human mind, with its limited faculties, cannot encompass in its entirely. That is why, as the Sufis will remind you, there are so many names of God: From ‘Allah’, to ‘Gamal’, ‘Rahim’, ‘Rahman’ and so

forth, each of which point to a singular attribute of a divinity that is infinite. Perhaps one of the most enigmatic names of God is ‘Hu’; which during the dzikrs (recitations) of some Sufi mystics such as the followers of the Naqshabandiyya order, is pronounced ‘Who’. The Naqshabandis do not merely pronounce the word Hu, they even exhale and empty their lungs completely in a rhythmic sequence, again and again, to signify that even

speaking the name of God entails totally emptying – thus negating – your human self in the process; as if to suggest that God is all and the human is nothing.

With such a rich and complex history that points to an obvious understanding that the word ‘Allah’ is merely a symbol or sign and not the thing itself, why is it that the Muslims of Malaysia still demonstrate an understanding of normative Islam that is not only shallow, but also parochial and exclusive? To suggest that the word ‘Allah’ can only be used by Muslims as some of Malaysia’s leaders have done would suggest that God requires a copyright,

and that God would not be understood if you cannot get its name right.

Yet Islam, if it is to be the universal religion that it is, does not need an official language or uniform. Nor does it need to claim copyright to universal signifiers that are, after all, part of the common currency of public language. Once again, despite claims to being a ‘moderate’ Islamic state, the Malaysian government (or rather some of its leaders) have demonstrated a third-rate understanding of the subjects they are wont to prattle about. That this doesn’t say much about their understanding of Islam, linguistics and philosophy is bad enough; but worse still is how this reflects on Malaysia’s vainglorious ambition to present itself as a model Muslim state for others to follow. Perhaps the leaders of the country should get back to the basics, and focus more on the A, B, Cs of Islam once again…

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 10 January 2008, 4:24 pm and is filed under
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Songkok made compulsory – latest in series of insensitivities usurping “middle ground”

I have today received a complaint  from a parent of a prefect in Maktab Sultan Abu Bakar (formerly English College) in Johor Bahru expressing the strongest objection to any attempt to make “songkok” part of the compulsory uniform of school prefects and students in the school.

He said his son, who is in Form Five, has been a school prefect in Maktab Sultan Abu Bakar since he was in Form Two and had always been an exemplary student, as well has won praise from many teachers for his exemplary conduct and commitment to his duties and studies. He is also a member of the ExCo of the Prefectorial Board.

The parent wrote:

“Recently, in the beginning of this year, there was an instruction from the school, which I believe came from the teacher advisor to the Prefectorial Board, that Prefects have to start wearing the Songkok as part of the official uniform. At first, the instruction was that it would only be required during ‘official functions’ like school assemblies and during interschool events or major events like sports day and speech day. However, this has now been revised to include daily prefectorial duties.

“There are reasons to believe that the practice of getting Prefects to wear the Songkok, is a prelude to getting ALL the students of the school to eventually follow suit.

“My son, after conferring with me, has decided that he will NOT wear the Songkok. He is willing to resign from the Prefectorial Board if forced to wear the Songkok.”

The parent expresses grave regret at the utter lack of sensitivity of the school authorities on this issue, stating in considerable detail his objections – as  “the songkok is an emblem of the Malay identity” and “non-Malays should not be forced to don attire which does not reflect their identity”.

I put up the parent’s letter on my blog and in a matter of less than eight  hours there had been over 80  responses –  demonstrating the strong feelings evoked by another addition to a catalogue of insensitivities recently shown by those in power or in authority in government to the legitimate rights and  sensitivities of diverse races, religions and cultures in a plural society –  aggravating racial and religious polarization instead of forging greater unity and understanding among the different races, religions and cultures in the country.

What has happened to the former English College, which has produced many prominent Malaysians, including former Deputy Prime Minister and elder ASEAN statesman, Tun Musa Hitam  – who has been described as “the best Prime Minister Malaysia never had”?

It is very sad that the 50th Merdeka anniversary had been marked by an unprecedented display of insensitivity to the diverse races, religions and cultures in Malaysia to the extent that the true meaning of the Merdeka “social contract” had been distorted and overturned.

Some of these examples of insensitivity  during the 50th Merdeka anniversary are:

•	Declaration that Malaysia is an Islamic state;

•	The keris-wielding by Umno Youth leader and Education Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein;

•	Demolition of Hindu temple on the eve of Deepavali;

•	Holding of the Umno General Assembly on Deepavali itself;

•	Public excoriation of the Indian news vendors as if they were  at fault for Deepavali being an annual press holiday, resulting in no newspapers the next day to cover the Umno Presidential speech of Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi;

•	Call by extremist UMNO MPs in Parliament for the removal of the “cross” and Christian symbols in mission schools’;

•	The ban on the use of “Allah” by Christian and Sikh religions; and

•	The revocation of approval for building the 108-ft Mazu statue in Kudat, which will be the tallest Mazu statue in the world and would also be a tourist revenue-earner  for Kudat, Sabah and Malaysia.

Recently, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi  called on moderates to take the centre stage and not to allow extremist elements to occupy it to raise  sensitive religious and racial issues detrimental to  nation-building in plural Malaysia.

Abdullah should maintain  the 50-year  status quo where the racial, religious and cultural sensitivities of all communities in plural Malaysia are given proper regard and respect and send out  clear directives to the Education Minister to nip in the bud all insensitive and divisive tendencies in all educational institutions  like the retrogressive proposal to make the songkok part of official uniform for school prefects and students in Maktab Sultan Abu Bakar, Johor Baru.

(Media Conference Statement at  DAP PJ Hqrs on Friday, 11th January 2008)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 11 January 2008, 1:16 pm and is filed under
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