Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Jakim should be abolished, says ex-DPM's son
Posted on 10 November 2015 - 12:50pm newsdesk@thesundaily.com
Print KUALA LUMPUR: The eldest son of former deputy prime minister Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman said the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) should be abolished. Tawfik Ismail said Jakim seemed to serve no other purpose than to intervene in the personal lives of Malaysians, and has over the years been intruding into the private lives of Malaysian Muslims.
"I think Jakim should be abolished. I don't think Jakim should exist. What is the government afraid of? You have 13 muftis with 13 different fatwas and 13 different ways of approaching it (religion). "What is the purpose of Jakim? Halal certificates? That can go to the health ministries, trade ministry. What else does Jakim do? Print the Quran? We have a communications minister," he said during an interview with The Malaysian Insider in conjunction with the release of Drifting into Politics, a collection of his late father's writings during the nation's formative years, edited by Tawfik and academic Ooi Kee Beng.
Naysayers may argue that Jakim is needed to "protect" the sanctity of Islam, but Tawfik, 64, was quick to point out that the Agong, sultans, imams (Muslim scholars) and muftis already filled that void. "Jakim is an advisory body to the government, but constitutionally it really has no role. Islam is the province of the sultan of the state, it has nothing to do with the government."
"National integration in this country is the biggest challenge. How do you integrate the nation if you are going around this route of looking for faults among Muslims?" he asked. He said that during the time of Malaysia's first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, only a small religious department existed in the Prime Minister's Department. There was no minister of religious affairs, and no national outcry over the fact that his father, Tun Dr Ismail, owned a dog. "My dad had a Boxer, and, before that, an Alsatian," recalled Tawfik.
He said all this changed after former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad took over and his then deputy, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, tried to infuse their definition of "Islamic values" into every aspect of Malaysian life. This was done to counter the growing influence of PAS, which had never been an issue during the early years of Independence, said Tawfik. As a result, Malaysia today is now facing "Arabisation", with society eschewing its Nusantara roots in favour of appropriating the culture of the Middle East, he said. "We seem to be delighting in coming up with creative ways of 'speaking' Arabic in this country."
Tawfik said it was for this reason that Drifting Into Politics may not sit very well with Putrajaya. "Certain things my father says here are quite interesting. "For example, he said whenever Tunku had a meeting at his house with a group of people ... occasionally one or two of them would go into the kitchen and have a drink of brandy and whisky, then come back and join in.
He admits this. "Yes, it's an open secret, but it's never been in writing by a leader," chuckled Tawfik. His father died in 1973 at the age of 57, after just three years of serving as deputy prime minister. Nov 4 was his 100th birth anniversary. With such records in existence, no matter how it tried to Islamise Malaysia, Tawfik said, the government would never be able to rewrite history nor erase its roots.
[source: http://www.thesundaily.my/news/1606694
Saturday, September 12, 2015
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD)
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD)
Malaysia still does not have the moral courage or the gumption to ratify this vital international treaty to combat racism and racial discrimination and all forms of intolerance precisely because it allows racial discrimination and periodic demonstrations by racists and fascists who try to intimidate peace-loving Malaysians whenever they call for reforms and civil rights.
This is certainly not the first time that we are witnessing such expressions of such crude racism and calls for bloodletting. In the prelude to Operation Lalang, UMNO Youth organized a rally at the Jalan Raja Muda Stadium in Kuala Lumpur at which racist and fascist slogans were displayed calling for, among other things,‘SOAKING THE KERIS WITH C...... BLOOD’. This is documented in the Government White Paper on the October 1987 Affair.
By ratifying the CERD, the Malaysian government would be obliged to enact specific laws outlawing racism and racial discrimination as well as submit regular reports to the CERD Committee on how the rights are being implemented.
A Racial Discrimination or Equality Act
A Racial Discrimination or Equality Act, that exists in countries which have ratified the CERD(The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination), is aimed at ensuring that citizens of all backgrounds are treated equally and have the same opportunities regardless of race, colour, descent, national or ethnic origin, and immigration status. Such a law also outlaws racial hatred and protects anyone who is harassed because of his or her race.
Employers have a legal responsibility to take all reasonable steps to prevent racism and racial discrimination and should have policies and programs in place to prevent racial discrimination in the workplace.
Making a complaint to the Equality & Human Rights Commission
Countries that are genuinely concerned about eliminating racism, racial discrimination and related intolerance would have instituted an Equality & Human Rights Commission and it would be incumbent upon the Commission to investigate any complaint by citizens and to resolve it. If the complaint is not resolved, it can be taken to the courts. The Commission undertakes a wide range of activities to build awareness about the rights and responsibilities that individuals and organisations have under the Racial Discrimination or Equality Act including national consultations, conferences, community and online forums.
Zero tolerance for racists and fascists
Apart from the appeal to international conventions against racism and racial hatred, our multi-ethnic society cannot tolerate any public expression of racial hatred or racial vilification which is likely to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate. There should be no platform for the so-called ‘Red Shirts’ September 16 rally calling for defence of “Malay dignity” and threatening the Chinese in this country with bloodletting. They cannot appeal to the democratic right to assemble and the right to freedom of expression simply because they have grossly violated the International Convention on the Eradication of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Dr Kua Kia Soong is adviser to Suaram, the human rights group.
Note: When is Malaysia going to have signed this Righteous convention: The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD). We are a multiracial and multi-religious country. Malaysia need to affirm this convention, to ensure that citizens of all backgrounds are treated equally and have the same opportunities regardless of race, colour, descent, national or ethnic origin, and immigration status. Such a law also outlaws racial hatred and protects anyone who is harassed because of his or her race.
---=---=---=---=----
[source::: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/highlight/2015/09/10/no-human-rights-for-racists-and-fascists/]
Malaysia still does not have the moral courage or the gumption to ratify this vital international treaty to combat racism and racial discrimination and all forms of intolerance precisely because it allows racial discrimination and periodic demonstrations by racists and fascists who try to intimidate peace-loving Malaysians whenever they call for reforms and civil rights.
This is certainly not the first time that we are witnessing such expressions of such crude racism and calls for bloodletting. In the prelude to Operation Lalang, UMNO Youth organized a rally at the Jalan Raja Muda Stadium in Kuala Lumpur at which racist and fascist slogans were displayed calling for, among other things,
By ratifying the CERD, the Malaysian government would be obliged to enact specific laws outlawing racism and racial discrimination as well as submit regular reports to the CERD Committee on how the rights are being implemented.
A Racial Discrimination or Equality Act
A Racial Discrimination or Equality Act, that exists in countries which have ratified the CERD(The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination), is aimed at ensuring that citizens of all backgrounds are treated equally and have the same opportunities regardless of race, colour, descent, national or ethnic origin, and immigration status. Such a law also outlaws racial hatred and protects anyone who is harassed because of his or her race.
Employers have a legal responsibility to take all reasonable steps to prevent racism and racial discrimination and should have policies and programs in place to prevent racial discrimination in the workplace.
Making a complaint to the Equality & Human Rights Commission
Countries that are genuinely concerned about eliminating racism, racial discrimination and related intolerance would have instituted an Equality & Human Rights Commission and it would be incumbent upon the Commission to investigate any complaint by citizens and to resolve it. If the complaint is not resolved, it can be taken to the courts. The Commission undertakes a wide range of activities to build awareness about the rights and responsibilities that individuals and organisations have under the Racial Discrimination or Equality Act including national consultations, conferences, community and online forums.
Zero tolerance for racists and fascists
Apart from the appeal to international conventions against racism and racial hatred, our multi-ethnic society cannot tolerate any public expression of racial hatred or racial vilification which is likely to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate. There should be no platform for the so-called ‘Red Shirts’ September 16 rally calling for defence of “Malay dignity” and threatening the Chinese in this country with bloodletting. They cannot appeal to the democratic right to assemble and the right to freedom of expression simply because they have grossly violated the International Convention on the Eradication of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Dr Kua Kia Soong is adviser to Suaram, the human rights group.
Note: When is Malaysia going to have signed this Righteous convention: The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD). We are a multiracial and multi-religious country. Malaysia need to affirm this convention, to ensure that citizens of all backgrounds are treated equally and have the same opportunities regardless of race, colour, descent, national or ethnic origin, and immigration status. Such a law also outlaws racial hatred and protects anyone who is harassed because of his or her race.
---=---=---=---=----
[source::: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/highlight/2015/09/10/no-human-rights-for-racists-and-fascists/]
Stop saying Malay first, Tanah Melayu is no more, says Rafidah Aziz
The Malaysian Insider:
September 12, 2015.
-----=-----=-----=----=----=-----
Malays should stop identifying themselves by their race and accept that they live in a diverse nation, former Umno minister Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz said today, ahead of the September 16 "red shirt" rally organised by Malay groups.
"I know, politically, some people don't want (that). 'I'm a Malay first' (they say).
"Where is your country? Tanah Melayu is no more. It's Malaysia now," she said in her public lecture at Universiti Malaya today.
She said Tanah Melayu eventually became Malaysia because their forefathers recognised that they belonged to a nation of diverse people.
"Why do you want to emphasise your Malay-ness, Indian-ness or Chinese-ness?" she asked.
Rafidah said the country was now seeing various groups holding protests against one another because they had been taught to tolerate diversity rather than accept it.
"For as long as you guys learn to tolerate, this is what's going to happen: yellow shirts against red shirts, and very soon there will be purple against green, and what have you," she said.
She urged Malaysians to respect one another and accept that there would always be differences of opinion.
"That is what nation-building is about: Respect. Without that, there is no nation. It's just mortar and bricks and nothing in terms of spirit.
"If you look at the songs that really raise our patriotism, it doesn't say about race or creed.
"It talks about Malaysia, Malaysia, Malaysia. And yet why are we introducing these elements that divide us and cause unnecessary chasms?"
note: Malaysia is formed as a multiracial, multilingual and multi-religious nation on 16 September, 1963.
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Learning from Lee (Kaun Yew)- Jamil Nasir
source:::http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-9-311430-Learning-from-Lee
One of the case studies in the course of political economy at Columbia University during my degree programme was about the city-state of Singapore. This study primarily focused on the policies of Lee Kuan Yew, the founding leader of Singapore who breathed his last on March 23 this year at the age of 91.
According to our professor, the miraculous economic growth of Singapore was the motivating factor to include the case study in the course. During the 31 years of his premiership, Lee created immense prosperity for his people. In 1965 Singapore’s per capita income was about $500 which has now grown to $55,000.
Singapore is consistently at the top or near to top since decades in the global indicators like competitiveness, innovation, liveability or clean governance published by various international organisations. Hardly anybody can dispute the fact that the spectacular progress Singapore witnessed under Lee became possible due to his leadership and vision. What policies were adopted by Lee to make Singapore a miracle and what lessons we can learn from them is the subject of this article.
Singapore was carved out of Malaysia in 1965 in an atmosphere of vulnerability and ethnic conflict. Singapore is inhabited by three races – the Chinese, the Malay and the Indians – who now live together in perfect harmony, each trying to live up to the ideals and standards of behaviour decreed by the state. So the first lesson the Singaporean miracle offers is that in a multiethnic and multiracial country, rising standards of living are the key for stability and harmony. If people have stakes and hope in the system, then ethnic, racial, and linguistic differences do not matter much and are relegated to a secondary position. Identities of ethnicity become a source of instability and keep haunting you if the size of the cake does not increase.
Second, meritocracy and rule of law should reign supreme in all walks of life. In Lee’s Singapore, advancement is purely on merit, be it in civil service or business. You cannot grow by bending the rules. Adherence to rules and code of conduct is important. The civil service of Singapore has become a role model. Salaries and perks are equal to those offered by the private sector. “Singapore’s civil service is like a spiral staircase: on each rung, civil servants manage a different portfolio in a different agency, building a broad knowledge base and gaining firsthand experience”, Parag Khanna recently wrote in an article on Lee Kuan Yew.
There is zero tolerance for corruption, nepotism, and favouritism. The integrity of those who exercise power is ensured by the Corrupt Practices Investigations Bureau which is tasked to investigate all allegations of corruption both in the private and public sectors. Nobody enjoys immunity. When a journalist asked Lee to brush aside allegations of nepotism levelled against him in a column on his family, Lee replied, “In Singapore, allegations of favoritism and corruption are no laughing matter. Everyone knows that if you impugn our integrity, we must clear our name. How can it be otherwise?”
Lee emphasised the eastern values and thought that culture is deep-rooted. So you need to factor in cultural values in your development model to make it a success. “If you have a culture that does not place much value in learning and scholarship and hard work and thrift and deferment of present enjoyment for future gain, the going will be slower”, Lee once told Fareed Zakaria.
A significant number of Pakistanis have migrated to countries like Canada and Australia in search of better future for their children. Many are vying for migration and many have sent their children for education to these countries. While talking about a similar situation with Fareed Zakaria, Lee said “It is not just mindsets that would have to change but value systems. Let me give an anecdotal evidence of this. Many Chinese families in Malaysia migrated in periods of stress, when there race riots in Malaysia in the 1960s and they settled in Australia and Canada. They did this for the sake of their children so that they would get a better education in the English language. The children grew up, reached their late teens and left home. And suddenly the parents discovered the emptiness of the whole exercise. They had given their children a modern education in English but in the process lost their children altogether”.
But Lee did not mean that the value system is static. What he meant was that values are important and any action, policy, or development model that is divorced from the value system of that society will not produce optimum results. Thus a well ordered society based on the principles of meritocracy and rule of law, an efficient civil service, discipline, and economic policies factoring in norms and values of said society were some of the most important elements that guaranteed progress. But this does complete the story of Lee and his Singapore.
Singapore under Lee was perhaps the only country in the world where the trickledown theory of economics seems to have worked. When Lee became prime minister, the unemployment rate was high and economic growth was sluggish. People lived in shanty dwellings and space for living was very limited. Initially he encouraged labour-intensive industries to relieve unemployment and revive economic growth. And Singapore produced goods like nails, textile, footwear and paint.
When industrial employment expanded, Singapore shifted towards more skill-intensive enterprises like chemicals, petroleum products and machinery. Lee initiated schemes like affordable public housing and robust pension systems so that the benefits of economic growth trickle down to the ordinary Singaporeans. Today, the majority of them live in government-built houses. Though inequality is high, Singaporeans born in the bottom quintile of income are twice as likely as Americans to rise to the top income quintile.
The question, however, can be raised whether the Singaporean development model can turn out to be successful in countries like Pakistan where several of its cities have more population than the whole of Singapore. The answer is simple yes. Are meritocracy and rule of law not relevant for growth? Are political stability and order in society not required for prosperity? Is a well-paid and well-trained bureaucracy not necessary to improve governance and public service delivery? Are corruption, favouritism, and nepotism not halting our advancement?
But the interesting point is: was the miraculous progress of Singapore possible without Lee? Perhaps it would not have been possible. After all it is the leadership that gives vision and rules of conduct to a nation. Lee himself led an ascetic life. Reportedly, he visited his mother only once in a year when she was alive because each visit required security police to sweep the area which Lee thought was a waste of public money. He remained distant from his brothers and sisters and did not extend favours to them. He abhorred cults of personality. “There are no statutes of Lee in Singapore, no portraits on billboards, no sycophantic paeans in the newspapers”.
Henry A Kissinger is perhaps right when he says, while writing the obituary of Lee, that great men become great through visions beyond material calculations. Leaders do not grow out of corruption. Big palatial houses, business empires and fiefdoms do not make a great leader. What matters the most are vision, integrity, competence, austerity, and selfless service to the people. Lee does not need statutes, billboards or paeans in the newspapers to become a great leader. Our leaders need to learn from him.
The writer is a graduate of Columbia University.
Email: jamilnasir1969@gmail.com Twitter: @Jamilnasir1
One of the case studies in the course of political economy at Columbia University during my degree programme was about the city-state of Singapore. This study primarily focused on the policies of Lee Kuan Yew, the founding leader of Singapore who breathed his last on March 23 this year at the age of 91.
According to our professor, the miraculous economic growth of Singapore was the motivating factor to include the case study in the course. During the 31 years of his premiership, Lee created immense prosperity for his people. In 1965 Singapore’s per capita income was about $500 which has now grown to $55,000.
Singapore is consistently at the top or near to top since decades in the global indicators like competitiveness, innovation, liveability or clean governance published by various international organisations. Hardly anybody can dispute the fact that the spectacular progress Singapore witnessed under Lee became possible due to his leadership and vision. What policies were adopted by Lee to make Singapore a miracle and what lessons we can learn from them is the subject of this article.
Singapore was carved out of Malaysia in 1965 in an atmosphere of vulnerability and ethnic conflict. Singapore is inhabited by three races – the Chinese, the Malay and the Indians – who now live together in perfect harmony, each trying to live up to the ideals and standards of behaviour decreed by the state. So the first lesson the Singaporean miracle offers is that in a multiethnic and multiracial country, rising standards of living are the key for stability and harmony. If people have stakes and hope in the system, then ethnic, racial, and linguistic differences do not matter much and are relegated to a secondary position. Identities of ethnicity become a source of instability and keep haunting you if the size of the cake does not increase.
Second, meritocracy and rule of law should reign supreme in all walks of life. In Lee’s Singapore, advancement is purely on merit, be it in civil service or business. You cannot grow by bending the rules. Adherence to rules and code of conduct is important. The civil service of Singapore has become a role model. Salaries and perks are equal to those offered by the private sector. “Singapore’s civil service is like a spiral staircase: on each rung, civil servants manage a different portfolio in a different agency, building a broad knowledge base and gaining firsthand experience”, Parag Khanna recently wrote in an article on Lee Kuan Yew.
There is zero tolerance for corruption, nepotism, and favouritism. The integrity of those who exercise power is ensured by the Corrupt Practices Investigations Bureau which is tasked to investigate all allegations of corruption both in the private and public sectors. Nobody enjoys immunity. When a journalist asked Lee to brush aside allegations of nepotism levelled against him in a column on his family, Lee replied, “In Singapore, allegations of favoritism and corruption are no laughing matter. Everyone knows that if you impugn our integrity, we must clear our name. How can it be otherwise?”
Lee emphasised the eastern values and thought that culture is deep-rooted. So you need to factor in cultural values in your development model to make it a success. “If you have a culture that does not place much value in learning and scholarship and hard work and thrift and deferment of present enjoyment for future gain, the going will be slower”, Lee once told Fareed Zakaria.
A significant number of Pakistanis have migrated to countries like Canada and Australia in search of better future for their children. Many are vying for migration and many have sent their children for education to these countries. While talking about a similar situation with Fareed Zakaria, Lee said “It is not just mindsets that would have to change but value systems. Let me give an anecdotal evidence of this. Many Chinese families in Malaysia migrated in periods of stress, when there race riots in Malaysia in the 1960s and they settled in Australia and Canada. They did this for the sake of their children so that they would get a better education in the English language. The children grew up, reached their late teens and left home. And suddenly the parents discovered the emptiness of the whole exercise. They had given their children a modern education in English but in the process lost their children altogether”.
But Lee did not mean that the value system is static. What he meant was that values are important and any action, policy, or development model that is divorced from the value system of that society will not produce optimum results. Thus a well ordered society based on the principles of meritocracy and rule of law, an efficient civil service, discipline, and economic policies factoring in norms and values of said society were some of the most important elements that guaranteed progress. But this does complete the story of Lee and his Singapore.
Singapore under Lee was perhaps the only country in the world where the trickledown theory of economics seems to have worked. When Lee became prime minister, the unemployment rate was high and economic growth was sluggish. People lived in shanty dwellings and space for living was very limited. Initially he encouraged labour-intensive industries to relieve unemployment and revive economic growth. And Singapore produced goods like nails, textile, footwear and paint.
When industrial employment expanded, Singapore shifted towards more skill-intensive enterprises like chemicals, petroleum products and machinery. Lee initiated schemes like affordable public housing and robust pension systems so that the benefits of economic growth trickle down to the ordinary Singaporeans. Today, the majority of them live in government-built houses. Though inequality is high, Singaporeans born in the bottom quintile of income are twice as likely as Americans to rise to the top income quintile.
The question, however, can be raised whether the Singaporean development model can turn out to be successful in countries like Pakistan where several of its cities have more population than the whole of Singapore. The answer is simple yes. Are meritocracy and rule of law not relevant for growth? Are political stability and order in society not required for prosperity? Is a well-paid and well-trained bureaucracy not necessary to improve governance and public service delivery? Are corruption, favouritism, and nepotism not halting our advancement?
But the interesting point is: was the miraculous progress of Singapore possible without Lee? Perhaps it would not have been possible. After all it is the leadership that gives vision and rules of conduct to a nation. Lee himself led an ascetic life. Reportedly, he visited his mother only once in a year when she was alive because each visit required security police to sweep the area which Lee thought was a waste of public money. He remained distant from his brothers and sisters and did not extend favours to them. He abhorred cults of personality. “There are no statutes of Lee in Singapore, no portraits on billboards, no sycophantic paeans in the newspapers”.
Henry A Kissinger is perhaps right when he says, while writing the obituary of Lee, that great men become great through visions beyond material calculations. Leaders do not grow out of corruption. Big palatial houses, business empires and fiefdoms do not make a great leader. What matters the most are vision, integrity, competence, austerity, and selfless service to the people. Lee does not need statutes, billboards or paeans in the newspapers to become a great leader. Our leaders need to learn from him.
The writer is a graduate of Columbia University.
Email: jamilnasir1969@gmail.com Twitter: @Jamilnasir1
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Singapore exit allowed Malay ultras to take over Malaysia, says Zaid
KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 — Singapore’s expulsion in 1965 prevented Lee Kuan Yew from continuing to press for a “Malaysian Malaysia” and allowed Malay ultras headed by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to depose Tunku Abdul Rahman, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim asserted today.
Zaid lamented the lost opportunity for both Tunku and Lee to cooperate on transforming Malaysia into a flourishing democracy with strong rule of law. — File picture by Saw Siow Feng.
In a blog post eulogising the late Singapore founding father, the former de facto law minister lamented the lost opportunity for both Tunku and Lee to co-operate on transforming Malaysia into a flourishing democracy with strong rule of law.
“Without Singapore in the wings and without LKY articulating his mantra of ‘Malaysian Malaysia’, the ultra Malays, led by Dr Mahathir, gained huge momentum.
"They filled the vacuum with the help of a young Islamist named Anwar Ibrahim.
“They were able to push Tunku out after May 1969 and the country’s history was rewritten by the introduction of the New Economic Policy (NEP), followed by the Malay-first and Islamisation policies,” Zaid wrote on his blog today.
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, a vocal critic of Tunku, eventually became the country’s fourth and longest-serving prime minister, while Anwar later became his deputy.
The NEP is the technically-defunct race-based affirmative action that created a system of preferential treatment for the Bumiputera in jobs, housing and access to government funding.
The policy and others taking after it are blamed for Malaysia’s declining competitiveness as well as increasing discontent among non-Bumiputera communities over what is perceived to be “second-class” treatment.
Zaid said that keeping Singapore in Malaysia and Lee in the administration would have allowed Tunku to resist the push for Malay-first policies in order to make the community competitive, progressive and reasonable.
According to the former Kota Baru MP, the country’s first prime minister would also have been able to keep Islam’s focus on charity, good and ethical conduct and compassion instead of permeating into the governance of the country.
“Malaysia has come full circle: Malays have become Arabs, Malay words have changed to Arabic, and their Western education has changed to the Islamic variety. “Malaysia’s identity no longer follows Tunku’s vision.
Singapore remained true to the dreams of its founder, and very successfully as well. That’s the tale of the two leaders, in short,” he said.
Singapore founding father Lee died on March 23 after over a month on life support following complications arising from severe pneumonia. Singapore joined Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak to form the Federation of Malaysia in 1963, but was expelled two years later by an Act of Parliament following racial tensions over the republic’s insistence on equal treatment for all citizens.
source :::http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/singapore-exit-allowed-malay-ultras-to-take-over-malaysia-says-zaid#sthash.j7rSWoDg.dpuf
Zaid lamented the lost opportunity for both Tunku and Lee to cooperate on transforming Malaysia into a flourishing democracy with strong rule of law. — File picture by Saw Siow Feng.
In a blog post eulogising the late Singapore founding father, the former de facto law minister lamented the lost opportunity for both Tunku and Lee to co-operate on transforming Malaysia into a flourishing democracy with strong rule of law.
“Without Singapore in the wings and without LKY articulating his mantra of ‘Malaysian Malaysia’, the ultra Malays, led by Dr Mahathir, gained huge momentum.
"They filled the vacuum with the help of a young Islamist named Anwar Ibrahim.
“They were able to push Tunku out after May 1969 and the country’s history was rewritten by the introduction of the New Economic Policy (NEP), followed by the Malay-first and Islamisation policies,” Zaid wrote on his blog today.
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, a vocal critic of Tunku, eventually became the country’s fourth and longest-serving prime minister, while Anwar later became his deputy.
The NEP is the technically-defunct race-based affirmative action that created a system of preferential treatment for the Bumiputera in jobs, housing and access to government funding.
The policy and others taking after it are blamed for Malaysia’s declining competitiveness as well as increasing discontent among non-Bumiputera communities over what is perceived to be “second-class” treatment.
Zaid said that keeping Singapore in Malaysia and Lee in the administration would have allowed Tunku to resist the push for Malay-first policies in order to make the community competitive, progressive and reasonable.
According to the former Kota Baru MP, the country’s first prime minister would also have been able to keep Islam’s focus on charity, good and ethical conduct and compassion instead of permeating into the governance of the country.
“Malaysia has come full circle: Malays have become Arabs, Malay words have changed to Arabic, and their Western education has changed to the Islamic variety. “Malaysia’s identity no longer follows Tunku’s vision.
Singapore remained true to the dreams of its founder, and very successfully as well. That’s the tale of the two leaders, in short,” he said. Singapore founding father Lee died on March 23 after over a month on life support following complications arising from severe pneumonia. Singapore joined Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak to form the Federation of Malaysia in 1963, but was expelled two years later by an Act of Parliament following racial tensions over the republic’s insistence on equal treatment for all citizens.
source :::http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/singapore-exit-allowed-malay-ultras-to-take-over-malaysia-says-zaid#sthash.j7rSWoDg.dpuf
Sunday, January 18, 2015
“Muhibah Walk- Faces Without Races”
Despite downpour, Malaysians throng unity walk to celebrate national identity
- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/despite-downpour-malaysians-throng-unity-walk-to-celebrate-national-identit?google_editors_picks=true#sthash.f82u29A9.dpufPETALING JAYA, Jan 17 ― A group of some 200 Malaysians braved the heavy downpour today to march against racism and discrimination at a “Muhibah Walk” organised at Dataran Petaling Jaya here with local activists.
The group, which included renowned rights lawyer and activist Datuk S. Ambiga and social activist Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir, appeared oblivious to the torrential downpour as they marched to commemorate what they labelled as a day to celebrate the Malaysian identity.
At the start of the “Muhibah Walk- Faces Without Races” programme, Ambiga delivered a fiery speech, congratulating the crowd for supporting the cause. “I am so proud of you… all of you. You are doing this for your future. “If the rain doesn’t stop your spirits, then nothing will,” Ambiga said to thunderous applause from the crowd.
Ambiga and Marina then joined the crowd, all clad in a blue T-shirt that read ‘Muhibah Walk ‘15- Faces Without Races’, in the two kilometer walk around the square, chanting “faces without races” and “saya anak Malaysia” as they marched.
The event participants, who carried the flags of several states, continued the march throughout the rain, singing patriotic tunes. Marina then took to the stage to deliver her speech, where she congratulated the crowd for their show of unity and spirit “I congratulate you for your spirit… for not letting anything get you down including the weather.
“As miserable as you might feel right now, at least you got dry homes to go to, so please don’t forget those in Kelantan, Terengganu and now Sabah and Sarawak. “If you want to be united, please don’t forget them,” Marina said.
She also called on the participants to think of more ways to bring those of different backgrounds together. “This is what creates unity and peace. We should commit ourselves to being the bridge builders and peace makers,” she added to loud applause and cheers from the crowd.
Event organiser Vision to Transform vice-president Cyrus Gomez said that the event was aimed at building a nation that looks past race, and one that firmly believes on celebrating unity.
- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/despite-downpour-malaysians-throng-unity-walk-to-celebrate-national-identit?google_editors_picks=true#sthash.f82u29A9.dpuf
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)