This history textbook seems to seek to influence the young minds of our children who come from various faiths, to follow the prophet of one particular religion. There is a detailed study of the life of the prophet Muhammad (pg 102 – 107). He is repeatedly praised throughout the chapters. Students are then repeatedly exhorted throughout the book, to emulate him as a ROLE MODEL in life (pg 106, 111, 124, 133, 137, 138).
By A Concerned Mother
When one picks up a history book, one would expect to read a fair account of events as they actually happened in the past. Definitely, one would expect the most accurate record possible of history as it unfolded through the decades, written as objectively as possible.
A most reasonable expectation indeed when the book in question is a major textbook prescribed by our Education Ministry for our students nationwide. A book that is instrumental in shaping the young minds of our future generation. The issue takes even greater prominence when the content of that book is going to decide whether our students pass or fail in a major exam on which their future hinges.
Lay hold of the Form 4 history textbook that our children are compelled to digest. Read it for yourself. Take a good hard look while the storm is brewing in the teacup. And it is brewing for good reason. Be shocked at what the syllabus writers have managed to quietly incorporate into our school syllabus just a few years ago, unnoticed by most people, even parents of affected students.
This is no typical history textbook. Simply because the syllabus writers have not confined its content to history. Instead they have extended its boundaries seemingly to push a certain agenda. In the process, our history textbooks seems to have taken on a quest of its own - to win the hearts and minds of our children for that particular agenda. We have to take note that all 4 writers of the textbook comes from only one race and religion, without representation from other faiths and races.
I write as a concerned mother who cares about what my children are being fed in school. I write as a troubled citizen who cares about the younger generation that will one day helm the nation. I write based on my own personal review of the Form
4 history textbook and this review is based on the hard facts of the content of the textbook, without any intention to offend any religion, its prophet or believers. I will leave the review on the accuracy of the history to historians, who are already speaking out on the historical errors and distortions contained.
The first fact to note is the overwhelming proportion of the Form 4 history textbook being devoted to Islamic civilization (100 PAGES) while the other religious civilizations are barely given a passing mention (460 WORDS). Out of 10 chapters, 5 bulky chapters are devoted to Islamic history and civilization, which constitutes at least half a year’s study. This certainly is a disproportionate emphasis on one religion, to the exclusion of all other religious civilizations.
Most of us would not mind our children understanding more about Islamic civilization. But it has to presented fairly accurately within a balanced perspective. Do we want to mislead our children to believe that there is only one important civilization in the entire history of the human race and the rest are insignificant? Are the other major civilizations not worth studying in equal if not greater depth?
Giving our children a correct and broad worldview can only benefit our nation in the context of a globalized world. Otherwise, our nation will be producing people with an extremely narrow worldview and an incomplete and distorted view of world history. That is to our own loss.
Secondly, this history textbook seems to seek to influence the young minds of our children who come from various faiths, to follow the prophet of one particular religion. There is a detailed study of the life of the prophet Muhammad (pg 102 – 107). He is repeatedly praised throughout the chapters. Students are then repeatedly exhorted throughout the book, to emulate him as a ROLE MODEL in life (pg 106, 111, 124, 133, 137, 138).
We respect the Muslim belief in the greatness of their prophet. However, we have to respectfully suggest (with no offence intended whatsoever to the prophet) that teachings that encourage students to follow any prophet would more properly belong to a religious class meant for students who already subscribed to that particular faith. It has no proper place in a major history textbook for students of other faiths. In a plural society like ours, the religious sensitivities of other faiths must surely be respected.
Thirdly, throughout the pages of the textbook, history seems to have been written from a religiously biased viewpoint. Other religions seems to be cast in an unfavourable light. Consider some statements found in the textbook:-
(1) Islam is described as a religion easily acceptable and not confined to any race, nation or geography (pg 185).
(2) Islam can be accepted by many people because of the purity of its teaching (pg 110).
(3) The uniqueness of Islam resulted in many people embracing the religion (pg162, 163, 185).
(4) The conversion of some Arab leaders to Islam in 629 AD is described as “an act done after rational investigation into the truth of Islam” (pg 133).
(5) Islamic social policies are described as so attractive that European Christians converted to Islam during the Byzantize era (pg 163).
(6) Islam requires rational thinking and therefore is accepted by all levels of society. (pg 185).
Sadly, biased religious viewpoints are being unfairly shoved onto our children as established facts within the framework of a narrow religious perspective.
Fourthly, the history textbook itself dwells on the teachings of the religion. Whilst the children have to study Islamic concepts (pg 185), no space is given to a balanced comparison with the teachings of other religions. Our youth are therefore taught the virtues of one religion to the exclusion of others. Why not have a balanced approach and allow our children to learn the basic tenets of all major world religions? Allow them to engage in comparative studies. Will it not be healthier to promote better understanding among the races which has positive effect on nation building?
Fifthly, the textbook also promotes Syariah law as suitable and practical for a multi racial nation. It cites the example of the success of the multi racial community in Madinah governed by the Madinah Charter. The formation of an Islamic government in Madinah is stated to thus prove that Islam can be practised in a wholesome daily living and should be emulated by the Malaysian society. Syariah law is hailed as just, complete and perfect, and can be followed by all communities (pg 128). There is mention of social justice under Islam (pg 128); equal treatment to all people under Islam (pg 110, 128); purity of the struggles of Islam (pg 112); fairness, integrity, consideration and generosity of Islamic economic principles (pg 128).
Perhaps the fifth ground raises the most questions and rings loudest the alarm bells. It makes us wonder why our school history syllabus is written in a way that seems to condition the minds of our youth to accept Syariah laws as the basis of our legal system in the future? Is there a deliberate political and/or religious agenda at play?
Our Education Minister owes us an explanation. We want to know why our school curriculum has been allowed to be written from such a religious slant by a group of writers of only one religious background. We want to know the reason for this sudden but quiet change in the school syllabus a few years ago. We want to know why our children are compelled to disproportionately focus and digest so much on one religion without a balanced perspective of others?
We must demand for an immediate and urgent revamp and re-writing of the entire history curriculum for our schools and universities. There should be a panel of qualified historians from all races and faiths working reviewing the syllabus. Feedback must be obtained from the public. We must insist that politics and religious indoctrination be strictly kept out of our textbooks.
History should be what it is – an objective and accurate record of past events. We must no longer allow our school syllabus to be hijacked for political and religious propoganda. Until then, it is unacceptable to even think that History should be made a compulsory pass subject in SPM.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Ketuanan Melayu: A case for UN Security Council to consider?
- Joe Fernandez
The name-calling has started again over that neo-Nazi ideology called Ketuanan Melayu (Malay Supremacy). Perkasa, the extreme Malay right-wing movement, is firing on all cylinders against PKR president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail for her take over the weekend on Umno’s “Ketuanan Melayuism”.
Congratulations to her for taking the bull by the horns in recognition of the stark reality that the urban Malays in particular accept that Ketuanan Melayuism is an elaborate cover for the ruling elite to raid the public treasury and the banks at will.
Media pictures of Perkasa leaders – many looking more Indian than Malay – vividly depict the fury on their faces, their eyes flashing as if possessed by demons on the loose.
Patently, it’s a sheer waste of time to engage with Umno poodle Perkasa or like-minded racists on their sick version of Article 153 of the Federal Constitution and the unwritten 1957 social contract, which allowed political dominance for the Malays to compensate for Chinese economic dominance.
The rhetoric, polemics and endless debates on Ketuanan Melayuism will be a dead ender and a contradiction in terms considering the mountains of sanctimonious pontification on the 1Malaysia concept.
The time has come to bring the Ketuanan Melayu issue to the United Nations Security Council. The world body must consider whether Malaysia is following in the footsteps of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and the Apartheid regime of South Africa.
Some years ago, the UN put India on notice that it must end the caste system. The Security Council even invoked the spectre of economic sanctions against it after intensive lobbying by social activists.
Ketuanan Melayuism is no different from a caste system in that it benefits a handful of leeches, parasites, bloodsuckers at the expense of the overwhelming majority through institutionalised racism. Furthermore, there are shades of Nazism, Fascism and Apartheid in Ketuanan Melayuism.
An inconvenient truth
The Umno government will not be able to explain at the UN Security Council why it has not abolished Article 153 but has instead even extended it outside its four limited areas, applying it to every aspect of life in Malaysia in a deviant, distorted form. In addition, the second prong of Article 153, which covers the legitimate aspirations of the non-Malay communities, has been ignored by Umno as an inconvenient truth.
To complete the living nightmare, the New Economic Policy (1970-1990) has been applied selectively throughout the country and institutionalised to circumvent its 20-year shelf life. This has seen, among others, the emergence of the Licence Raj, which reserves permits, quotas, concessions, licences and the like for certain people only. In short, it’s a licence for them to print money in perpetuity.
We can see the sickness that is Ketuanan Melayu from any number of angles.
Education is one field that has deeply divided the country and polarised it as never before.
Peninsular Malaysian law graduates from foreign universities are not allowed to practise their profession in the country unless they pass the Certificate in Legal Practice (CLP) examination conducted by the government.
Of the nearly 2,000 law graduates who sit for the examination every year, only 10% get the right to practise. This 10% is subject to a racial quota that remains a state secret. The unfortunate majority have to repeat the CLP, as many as 10 times or more, before they get a chance to make it, if at all. Not all have the patience to run the gauntlet; they give up after two or three attempts, depressed, traumatised and suicidal.
Subjecting a critical discipline like law to a racial quota is the height of idiocy and a refinement of Ketuanan Melayuism to a degree that has no parallel anywhere else in the world.
Medicine, another critical discipline, has likewise been taken over by the Ketuanan Melayuists. A strict racial quota regulates entry into government-owned universities for medicine. Even getting there for a shot at a medical seat is easier said than done since the race-based marking system for government-run public examinations is a closely guarded state secret.
Tip of the iceberg
There’s no escaping the government even if one attempts to get a medical degree at a foreign universities. Many foreign universities with an unusually high number of Malaysian students of Indian-origin vis-à-vis the Malays have had the recognition of their medical degrees withdrawn. This happened to the medical degrees awarded by the Crimea State University in the Ukraine after a visit by the then prime minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Like the CLP students, medical graduates who return to Malaysia with unrecognised degrees have to run the gauntlet before they can win recognition for their qualifications.
This is just the tip of the iceberg in education.
There is no 1Malaysia in administering pre-university examinations. Malay students take the easier matriculation route to enter universities while their non-Malay counterparts are bogged down by the Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM), which Wikipedia describes as the most difficult pre-university examination in the world. Yet, the matriculation and the STPM are considered as equal in standard.
Not even one of the vice-chancellors of the 20-odd state-owned universities is non-Malay.
It’s the same situation in the civil service, which is 90% dominated by one community, as is the teaching service, the police and armed forces, the judiciary, the governrment-linked companies, and the diplomatic and foreign service, among others.
In keeping with Ketuanan Melayuism, proxies of the ruling elite run Sabah and Sarawak.
In Sabah, in particular, the influx of illegal immigrants continues and they have overtaken the locals in numbers, resulting in the latter’s virtual disenfranchisement. Of the 3.2 million people in Sabah in 2005, 1.7 million were illegal immigrants. About 600,000 of them have acquired MyKads via the backdoor and been placed on the electoral rolls, according to Suhakam annual reports.
The federal civil service in Sabah and Sarawak has not been Borneonised, as pledged in the 1963 Malaysia Agreement. Instead, the Ketuanan Melayuists stepped into the vacuum created by the departing British colonial civil servants and continue to hog almost all posts.
It would be interesting to hear what the UN Security Council has to say about the manner in which Umno has been running the country since 1957. There is even a case to be taken up, as a class action suit, at the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.
The name-calling has started again over that neo-Nazi ideology called Ketuanan Melayu (Malay Supremacy). Perkasa, the extreme Malay right-wing movement, is firing on all cylinders against PKR president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail for her take over the weekend on Umno’s “Ketuanan Melayuism”.
Congratulations to her for taking the bull by the horns in recognition of the stark reality that the urban Malays in particular accept that Ketuanan Melayuism is an elaborate cover for the ruling elite to raid the public treasury and the banks at will.
Media pictures of Perkasa leaders – many looking more Indian than Malay – vividly depict the fury on their faces, their eyes flashing as if possessed by demons on the loose.
Patently, it’s a sheer waste of time to engage with Umno poodle Perkasa or like-minded racists on their sick version of Article 153 of the Federal Constitution and the unwritten 1957 social contract, which allowed political dominance for the Malays to compensate for Chinese economic dominance.
The rhetoric, polemics and endless debates on Ketuanan Melayuism will be a dead ender and a contradiction in terms considering the mountains of sanctimonious pontification on the 1Malaysia concept.
The time has come to bring the Ketuanan Melayu issue to the United Nations Security Council. The world body must consider whether Malaysia is following in the footsteps of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and the Apartheid regime of South Africa.
Some years ago, the UN put India on notice that it must end the caste system. The Security Council even invoked the spectre of economic sanctions against it after intensive lobbying by social activists.
Ketuanan Melayuism is no different from a caste system in that it benefits a handful of leeches, parasites, bloodsuckers at the expense of the overwhelming majority through institutionalised racism. Furthermore, there are shades of Nazism, Fascism and Apartheid in Ketuanan Melayuism.
An inconvenient truth
The Umno government will not be able to explain at the UN Security Council why it has not abolished Article 153 but has instead even extended it outside its four limited areas, applying it to every aspect of life in Malaysia in a deviant, distorted form. In addition, the second prong of Article 153, which covers the legitimate aspirations of the non-Malay communities, has been ignored by Umno as an inconvenient truth.
To complete the living nightmare, the New Economic Policy (1970-1990) has been applied selectively throughout the country and institutionalised to circumvent its 20-year shelf life. This has seen, among others, the emergence of the Licence Raj, which reserves permits, quotas, concessions, licences and the like for certain people only. In short, it’s a licence for them to print money in perpetuity.
We can see the sickness that is Ketuanan Melayu from any number of angles.
Education is one field that has deeply divided the country and polarised it as never before.
Peninsular Malaysian law graduates from foreign universities are not allowed to practise their profession in the country unless they pass the Certificate in Legal Practice (CLP) examination conducted by the government.
Of the nearly 2,000 law graduates who sit for the examination every year, only 10% get the right to practise. This 10% is subject to a racial quota that remains a state secret. The unfortunate majority have to repeat the CLP, as many as 10 times or more, before they get a chance to make it, if at all. Not all have the patience to run the gauntlet; they give up after two or three attempts, depressed, traumatised and suicidal.
Subjecting a critical discipline like law to a racial quota is the height of idiocy and a refinement of Ketuanan Melayuism to a degree that has no parallel anywhere else in the world.
Medicine, another critical discipline, has likewise been taken over by the Ketuanan Melayuists. A strict racial quota regulates entry into government-owned universities for medicine. Even getting there for a shot at a medical seat is easier said than done since the race-based marking system for government-run public examinations is a closely guarded state secret.
Tip of the iceberg
There’s no escaping the government even if one attempts to get a medical degree at a foreign universities. Many foreign universities with an unusually high number of Malaysian students of Indian-origin vis-à-vis the Malays have had the recognition of their medical degrees withdrawn. This happened to the medical degrees awarded by the Crimea State University in the Ukraine after a visit by the then prime minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Like the CLP students, medical graduates who return to Malaysia with unrecognised degrees have to run the gauntlet before they can win recognition for their qualifications.
This is just the tip of the iceberg in education.
There is no 1Malaysia in administering pre-university examinations. Malay students take the easier matriculation route to enter universities while their non-Malay counterparts are bogged down by the Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM), which Wikipedia describes as the most difficult pre-university examination in the world. Yet, the matriculation and the STPM are considered as equal in standard.
Not even one of the vice-chancellors of the 20-odd state-owned universities is non-Malay.
It’s the same situation in the civil service, which is 90% dominated by one community, as is the teaching service, the police and armed forces, the judiciary, the governrment-linked companies, and the diplomatic and foreign service, among others.
In keeping with Ketuanan Melayuism, proxies of the ruling elite run Sabah and Sarawak.
In Sabah, in particular, the influx of illegal immigrants continues and they have overtaken the locals in numbers, resulting in the latter’s virtual disenfranchisement. Of the 3.2 million people in Sabah in 2005, 1.7 million were illegal immigrants. About 600,000 of them have acquired MyKads via the backdoor and been placed on the electoral rolls, according to Suhakam annual reports.
The federal civil service in Sabah and Sarawak has not been Borneonised, as pledged in the 1963 Malaysia Agreement. Instead, the Ketuanan Melayuists stepped into the vacuum created by the departing British colonial civil servants and continue to hog almost all posts.
It would be interesting to hear what the UN Security Council has to say about the manner in which Umno has been running the country since 1957. There is even a case to be taken up, as a class action suit, at the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Ketuanan Melayu (Malay Supremacy): A Risky Experiment
By Mariam Mokhtar
I was born Malay and was hardly conscious of my race, either at school or at home. Race hardly cropped up in conversation except when we had form-filling to do – like applying for an identity card. Religion was something sacred and the only time we’d be aware of our racial and religious differences was deciding what to wear for a wedding or whose open house to visit, during the various festivities.
Thus, the recent clamour for “ketuanan Melayu” is destructive and damaging – not just for Malaysia but more so for the Malays, the very people that the “ketuanan Melayu” concept is supposed to protect. It is wrong because “ketuanan Melayu” is a dangerous experiment in social engineering.
Our neighbours were both Chinese and Indian. As children, we studied and played with each other, even hitched lifts to school when necessary, whilst the adults shared garden produce, swopped certain special dishes for the various ‘open houses’ and practiced their own version of ‘neighbourhood watch’.
Today, the Wongs are living out their twilight years away from their children, who have now settled overseas. Their children were willing to pay for them to live in a gated community, but they refused. In gated communities, they said, people hardly know one another and lives are conducted behind high walls and electric fences. The Wongs are unwilling to trade their relative freedom for living in secure isolation.
Mrs Pillai is now a widow, living on her own. Both her son and daughter have emigrated and she is loathe to leave Malaysia. She tells me, her children saw no opportunities in Malaysia. Her daughter is particularly bitter at having to leave her mother and especially angry that she was denied a place at a local college, and denied help by a local political organisation who refused to recommend her for a study loan.
Several thousand non-Malays have left, but many Malays have also gone. Families are torn apart or wrecked by a false belief in so-called superiority. Our country has not benefited from the wasted talent.
Where’s the sense of equality and justice?
When will Malays understand that the call for “ketuanan Melayu” creates antagonism at best, and violence at worst? There is open hatred toward non-Malays. The Malays have become arrogant; and non-Malays have been forced to be compliant. But for how long? Perhaps, it is the Malay who has more need of change. Where is their sense of equality and justice?
If “ketuanan Melayu” is supposed to benefit the Malays, why are the majority of Malays poor? If politicians had genuinely wanted to help Malays, the majority of Malays would now be wealthy, after 53 years of Umno rule. But this is not the case. The majority of Malays are poor.
Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad warned that the Malays will “lose their power” if Pakatan Rakyat were to come to power. He labeled Pakatan leaders as a bunch of self-serving and racist politicians.
What “power” is he referring to? Is he referring to Umno’s potential loss? Will the loss mean no
more abuse of power and enrichment of family, friends and cronies? Is he lamenting the lack of control over the media, police, judiciary and the parliamentary rights and privileges committee? Did he also mean the inability to detain those who dare speak out against injustices?
Malay extremists claim that Pakatan’s alternative call for “ketuanan rakyat” goes against the Malay rulers. However, no one objected when Mahathir clipped the wings of the royals.
Mahathir and Najib Abdul Razak have sought to suggest that Umno/BN is a caring party, but despite 1Malaysia, Malaysians probably feel less united today.
Perhaps, the Malay extremist politicians promoting “ketuanan Melayu” can rightly be called “Children of Mahathir”.
Why will the extremists not deal with the social ills that beset the Malay youth – drug abuse, abandoned babies, under-achievement, and Mat Rempit? They have been fed propaganda and expect instant rewards but soon become disillusioned. They then fall further into the trap that ‘non-Malays are robbing them of their rights’. Is it any wonder they are bitter and have little aspiration?
The same group of extremists expects other faiths to respect Islam – but they fail to reciprocate this. It is alleged that in some mosques, the sermons preach unbridled hatred.
Many loopholes and obstacles
Last Saturday, a 14-year-old girl and a 23-year-old teacher were married at a mosque in Kuala Lumpur, after a religious syariah court approved the union. The teenager said, “It has been hard trying to juggle two rôles – as a student and a wife – but I am taking it in my stride.”
Can no one else see that this is wrong? How does the state protect children from paedophilia? Has the child’s health and maturity been considered? What about her mental and maternal health, when she undergoes repeated childbearing at a young age? What about her education?
Muslim men can remarry easily. So who will support her should her marriage fail? Or if her husband leaves her for a younger woman or fails to support her when he remarries? Our syariah law and welfare system has many loopholes and obstacles. Some women claim it works against them.
Look at how Malay men perceive of their women. Despite equality in Islam, women are given short shrift. Nurul Izzah Anwar’s request for a debate with Ibrahim Ali was rejected. He called her ‘small fry’ and told her to contact the head of Wiranita, the Perkasa women’s organisation, instead. This demeaning attitude towards women is replicated in many Malay households..
When will the champions of “ketuanan Melayu” talk about success, progress, innovation, creativity, harmony, sharing and excellence instead of alluding to the “only my rights matter” mentality?
We Malays must face up to our insecurities so we can live at peace with ourselves. The non-Malay is a convenient scapegoat for our failures. We need to admit we have problems and face up to them.
Our religious leaders must make a clear stand against polygamy, paedophilia, child-snatching and intolerance of other faiths. Our Malay leaders must learn to respect other non-Malay Malaysians and treat them as equals. Only then do we have the right to ask others to respect us. We must stop the hypocrisy and madness that is called “ketuanan Melayu”.
MARIAM MOKHTAR is a non-conformist traditionalist from Perak, a bucket chemist and an armchair eco-warrior. In ‘real-speak’, this translates into that she comes from Ipoh, values change but respects culture, is a petroleum chemist and also an environmental pollution-control scientist
I was born Malay and was hardly conscious of my race, either at school or at home. Race hardly cropped up in conversation except when we had form-filling to do – like applying for an identity card. Religion was something sacred and the only time we’d be aware of our racial and religious differences was deciding what to wear for a wedding or whose open house to visit, during the various festivities.
Thus, the recent clamour for “ketuanan Melayu” is destructive and damaging – not just for Malaysia but more so for the Malays, the very people that the “ketuanan Melayu” concept is supposed to protect. It is wrong because “ketuanan Melayu” is a dangerous experiment in social engineering.
Our neighbours were both Chinese and Indian. As children, we studied and played with each other, even hitched lifts to school when necessary, whilst the adults shared garden produce, swopped certain special dishes for the various ‘open houses’ and practiced their own version of ‘neighbourhood watch’.
Today, the Wongs are living out their twilight years away from their children, who have now settled overseas. Their children were willing to pay for them to live in a gated community, but they refused. In gated communities, they said, people hardly know one another and lives are conducted behind high walls and electric fences. The Wongs are unwilling to trade their relative freedom for living in secure isolation.
Mrs Pillai is now a widow, living on her own. Both her son and daughter have emigrated and she is loathe to leave Malaysia. She tells me, her children saw no opportunities in Malaysia. Her daughter is particularly bitter at having to leave her mother and especially angry that she was denied a place at a local college, and denied help by a local political organisation who refused to recommend her for a study loan.
Several thousand non-Malays have left, but many Malays have also gone. Families are torn apart or wrecked by a false belief in so-called superiority. Our country has not benefited from the wasted talent.
Where’s the sense of equality and justice?
When will Malays understand that the call for “ketuanan Melayu” creates antagonism at best, and violence at worst? There is open hatred toward non-Malays. The Malays have become arrogant; and non-Malays have been forced to be compliant. But for how long? Perhaps, it is the Malay who has more need of change. Where is their sense of equality and justice?
If “ketuanan Melayu” is supposed to benefit the Malays, why are the majority of Malays poor? If politicians had genuinely wanted to help Malays, the majority of Malays would now be wealthy, after 53 years of Umno rule. But this is not the case. The majority of Malays are poor.
Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad warned that the Malays will “lose their power” if Pakatan Rakyat were to come to power. He labeled Pakatan leaders as a bunch of self-serving and racist politicians.
What “power” is he referring to? Is he referring to Umno’s potential loss? Will the loss mean no
more abuse of power and enrichment of family, friends and cronies? Is he lamenting the lack of control over the media, police, judiciary and the parliamentary rights and privileges committee? Did he also mean the inability to detain those who dare speak out against injustices?
Malay extremists claim that Pakatan’s alternative call for “ketuanan rakyat” goes against the Malay rulers. However, no one objected when Mahathir clipped the wings of the royals.
Mahathir and Najib Abdul Razak have sought to suggest that Umno/BN is a caring party, but despite 1Malaysia, Malaysians probably feel less united today.
Perhaps, the Malay extremist politicians promoting “ketuanan Melayu” can rightly be called “Children of Mahathir”.
Why will the extremists not deal with the social ills that beset the Malay youth – drug abuse, abandoned babies, under-achievement, and Mat Rempit? They have been fed propaganda and expect instant rewards but soon become disillusioned. They then fall further into the trap that ‘non-Malays are robbing them of their rights’. Is it any wonder they are bitter and have little aspiration?
The same group of extremists expects other faiths to respect Islam – but they fail to reciprocate this. It is alleged that in some mosques, the sermons preach unbridled hatred.
Many loopholes and obstacles
Last Saturday, a 14-year-old girl and a 23-year-old teacher were married at a mosque in Kuala Lumpur, after a religious syariah court approved the union. The teenager said, “It has been hard trying to juggle two rôles – as a student and a wife – but I am taking it in my stride.”
Can no one else see that this is wrong? How does the state protect children from paedophilia? Has the child’s health and maturity been considered? What about her mental and maternal health, when she undergoes repeated childbearing at a young age? What about her education?
Muslim men can remarry easily. So who will support her should her marriage fail? Or if her husband leaves her for a younger woman or fails to support her when he remarries? Our syariah law and welfare system has many loopholes and obstacles. Some women claim it works against them.
Look at how Malay men perceive of their women. Despite equality in Islam, women are given short shrift. Nurul Izzah Anwar’s request for a debate with Ibrahim Ali was rejected. He called her ‘small fry’ and told her to contact the head of Wiranita, the Perkasa women’s organisation, instead. This demeaning attitude towards women is replicated in many Malay households..
When will the champions of “ketuanan Melayu” talk about success, progress, innovation, creativity, harmony, sharing and excellence instead of alluding to the “only my rights matter” mentality?
We Malays must face up to our insecurities so we can live at peace with ourselves. The non-Malay is a convenient scapegoat for our failures. We need to admit we have problems and face up to them.
Our religious leaders must make a clear stand against polygamy, paedophilia, child-snatching and intolerance of other faiths. Our Malay leaders must learn to respect other non-Malay Malaysians and treat them as equals. Only then do we have the right to ask others to respect us. We must stop the hypocrisy and madness that is called “ketuanan Melayu”.
MARIAM MOKHTAR is a non-conformist traditionalist from Perak, a bucket chemist and an armchair eco-warrior. In ‘real-speak’, this translates into that she comes from Ipoh, values change but respects culture, is a petroleum chemist and also an environmental pollution-control scientist
Friday, September 17, 2010
Negara Ku ... kepala pening
Some self-appointed defenders of Islam including the chief of "1Malaysia " have insisted that Catholics should use "Tuhan" instead of "Allah" to address the Catholic or Christian God. But in the national anthem, "Tuhan" (not "Allah") bless the country (...Tuhan kurniakan...). How now ?!!!. If Malay-Muslims are that easily confused as portrayed by some politicians, they must be thinking that Malaysia is blessed by the Catholic/Christian God, and the Muslim God "Allah" is perpetually on leave.
Perhaps, this confusion may cause the government to change the national anthem by replacing "Tuhan" with "Allah". But then again, non-muslims will not be allowed to sing the national anthem. Then it would be non-muslims turn to be confused. If this issue goes to the courts, even the judges will get kepala pening.
So much for "1Malaysia "!.
Perhaps, this confusion may cause the government to change the national anthem by replacing "Tuhan" with "Allah". But then again, non-muslims will not be allowed to sing the national anthem. Then it would be non-muslims turn to be confused. If this issue goes to the courts, even the judges will get kepala pening.
So much for "1Malaysia "!.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
The Two Faces of Malaysia
Ask any foreigner what he thinks of Malaysia and he waxes lyrical about our beaches, food, adventure holidays and shopping. Malaysia is a popular tourist destination but are ‘outsiders’ aware of our darker side?
For every satisfied tourist, another would have experienced Malaysia’s other claims to shame – dirty toilets, poor taxi-service, litter or terrible driving habits.
Try and look into every facet of Malaysian life.
We want to be a global nation but we ignore the importance of English. We desire a high income economy but we import low unskilled labour.
We want healthy citizens but place importance on medical tourism at the expense of good affordable medical care for our own people. We want to reverse the brain drain but we do not make it attractive for our skilled people to return.
We pride ourselves on our tolerance but allow extremist groups to vent their anger on the goodwill of peace-loving people by calling for certain races to ‘return where they came from’?
The constitution says everyone is free to practice the religion of his choice and yet some people violently claim ownership of one word, ‘Allah’. When a Muslim insults someone of another faith, he appears to be let off with minimum punishment, if at all.
The country is facing economic hardship and the people have been told that various items will be dearer, and yet the government has found time and resources to publish a book where Prime Minister Najib can ‘refute the various slanders’ directed at him and his administration.
The Penan have been turfed out of their ancestral homelands, but we are told to rejoice as our king will soon have a new palace built at RM800 million.
The people in Sabah and Sarawak suffer because their states lack money and yet they see their country’s resources making their ministers wealthy. These poor people are told that they need a dam but they still can’t afford electricity and drink from water that is polluted and murky from the activities of logging companies or oil palm companies.
The indigenous people are encouraged to promote traditional weaving but the state destroys the jungles in which the raw materials for their handicraft grow. They scrounge a living from government hand-outs but read of billions being siphoned by their leaders to offshore accounts.
The 1Malaysia is supposed to bind us but the deputy prime minister is not committed to this concept.
With an imminent robbery, BN politicians can summon the police immediately and have the thieves killed. When ordinary folk want a basic investigation into the murder of their father, or assault on their relative or a house burglary, they wait endlessly, without any further action.
Corruption is a cancer in our society and yet few big fish get hauled to court.
Muslims are even more confused. Polygamy is permitted under certain circumstances and yet our lawmakers break the law with impunity.
Single mothers who kill their babies now risk capital punishment. Unmarried underage teenagers who have sex must marry so their baby is not born illegitimate irrespective of whether the girl and boy are mature enough to start a family.
The international community praises our judiciary for quickly clearing the backlog of court cases and yet our views about the judiciary, such as suicide notes appearing with incredulity, are in stark contrast to this Bernama report.
Anwar Ibrahim was unsuccessful in his effort to strike out his sodomy charge, following an allegation that a member of the prosecution team had romantic relations with the complainant.
Even a casual follower of the popular TV series LA Law or Perry Mason will know that the prosecution’s integrity is compromised once it was revealed that the DPP was accused of having an affair with a complainant.
It is obvious that Anwar’s court case is on ‘autopilot’; The authorities are hell-bent on finding him guilty as charged.
But the allegation of the DPP’s sexual liaison must be true, otherwise why have her removed?
This is the Malaysian court's unique method of ascertaining proof and certainty - after the disclosure appeared on a blogsite.
However, cast your mind back to three girls who made the news, last February for having illicit sex. They were whipped, fined and had their reputations tarnished. These three girls never had a chance, as the authorities wanted to show the world that they were not afraid of whipping women.
Now if these three women were whipped and fined for having a sexual liaison, why has DPP Farah Azlina Latif not been whipped and fined as well?
Is this the kinder face of Malaysia or the hypocritical one?
* The views expressed here are those of the writer: Mariam Mokhtar
17 August 2010
For every satisfied tourist, another would have experienced Malaysia’s other claims to shame – dirty toilets, poor taxi-service, litter or terrible driving habits.
Try and look into every facet of Malaysian life.
We want to be a global nation but we ignore the importance of English. We desire a high income economy but we import low unskilled labour.
We want healthy citizens but place importance on medical tourism at the expense of good affordable medical care for our own people. We want to reverse the brain drain but we do not make it attractive for our skilled people to return.
We pride ourselves on our tolerance but allow extremist groups to vent their anger on the goodwill of peace-loving people by calling for certain races to ‘return where they came from’?
The constitution says everyone is free to practice the religion of his choice and yet some people violently claim ownership of one word, ‘Allah’. When a Muslim insults someone of another faith, he appears to be let off with minimum punishment, if at all.
The country is facing economic hardship and the people have been told that various items will be dearer, and yet the government has found time and resources to publish a book where Prime Minister Najib can ‘refute the various slanders’ directed at him and his administration.
The Penan have been turfed out of their ancestral homelands, but we are told to rejoice as our king will soon have a new palace built at RM800 million.
The people in Sabah and Sarawak suffer because their states lack money and yet they see their country’s resources making their ministers wealthy. These poor people are told that they need a dam but they still can’t afford electricity and drink from water that is polluted and murky from the activities of logging companies or oil palm companies.
The indigenous people are encouraged to promote traditional weaving but the state destroys the jungles in which the raw materials for their handicraft grow. They scrounge a living from government hand-outs but read of billions being siphoned by their leaders to offshore accounts.
The 1Malaysia is supposed to bind us but the deputy prime minister is not committed to this concept.
With an imminent robbery, BN politicians can summon the police immediately and have the thieves killed. When ordinary folk want a basic investigation into the murder of their father, or assault on their relative or a house burglary, they wait endlessly, without any further action.
Corruption is a cancer in our society and yet few big fish get hauled to court.
Muslims are even more confused. Polygamy is permitted under certain circumstances and yet our lawmakers break the law with impunity.
Single mothers who kill their babies now risk capital punishment. Unmarried underage teenagers who have sex must marry so their baby is not born illegitimate irrespective of whether the girl and boy are mature enough to start a family.
The international community praises our judiciary for quickly clearing the backlog of court cases and yet our views about the judiciary, such as suicide notes appearing with incredulity, are in stark contrast to this Bernama report.
Anwar Ibrahim was unsuccessful in his effort to strike out his sodomy charge, following an allegation that a member of the prosecution team had romantic relations with the complainant.
Even a casual follower of the popular TV series LA Law or Perry Mason will know that the prosecution’s integrity is compromised once it was revealed that the DPP was accused of having an affair with a complainant.
It is obvious that Anwar’s court case is on ‘autopilot’; The authorities are hell-bent on finding him guilty as charged.
But the allegation of the DPP’s sexual liaison must be true, otherwise why have her removed?
This is the Malaysian court's unique method of ascertaining proof and certainty - after the disclosure appeared on a blogsite.
However, cast your mind back to three girls who made the news, last February for having illicit sex. They were whipped, fined and had their reputations tarnished. These three girls never had a chance, as the authorities wanted to show the world that they were not afraid of whipping women.
Now if these three women were whipped and fined for having a sexual liaison, why has DPP Farah Azlina Latif not been whipped and fined as well?
Is this the kinder face of Malaysia or the hypocritical one?
* The views expressed here are those of the writer: Mariam Mokhtar
17 August 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Supposed 'hero' vs a 'true hero'
Supposed 'hero' vs a 'true hero' Mariam Mokhtar 12 August 2010
The former chief of Bukit Bendera Umno, Ahmad Ismail, was honoured with titles and proclaimed a ‘Malay hero’. He was conferred two heroic titles: the Wira Bangsa Melayu and Bintang Perkasa Melayu Jati.
After an hour long wait, typical of people who have little respect for others, the arrival of the ‘hero’ resembled a wedding procession complete with bunga manggar and the drum-beat of the kompang. The only thing that appeared to be missing was the bride.
The night’s jollity which was attended by around 150 delegates from 23 branches included a silat performance and the obligatory sheathing and unsheathing of the keris.
Boys will be boys and they will show off their weapons in an act of assumed bravado.
To the uninformed, the controversial Ahmad Ismail, our new ‘hero’, was suspended by Umno in late 2008, for three years, after he referred to non-Malays as “pendatang” (foreigners).
He described Malaysian Chinese as ‘squatters’ and cautioned them not to emulate the ‘Jews in America’. As expected, the suspension was later lifted by Umno, last December.
His racist comments aroused the memories of inter-ethnic tensions and threatened the government led by Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, at the time. Badawi suspended Ahmad and barred him from any political posts as punishment.
There were protests from members of the BN coalition who threatened to withdraw their membership. Even the armed forces chief warned that ‘stern action must be taken to prevent’ racial conflicts.
As a consequence of Ahmad Ismail’s ill-timed, ill-judged and unacceptable comments, the journalist who reported his comments was taken away by the police under the orders of the Internal Security Act ( ISA), ostensibly for her personal safety.
The supposed hero, Ahmad Ismail, managed to threaten the security of a country, challenged the authority of the Prime Minister at the time, almost wrecked the BN coalition, caused strife and anger in the Malaysian public, caused the army to be on possible alert, insulted various people (Jews, Americans, Chinese, Malays), rekindled horrific memories of racial riots, threatened the fragile peace and security of a nation, exposed the hypocrisy of the police actions and the political abuse of the use of the ISA.
Is this Bukit Bendera’s idea of a hero? Someone who divides, insults and is unapologetic in his actions? Someone who has no respect for others? Someone who was prepared to hold his leader and his country to ransom? Someone who is ignorant of history?
Please allow me to show an example of a ‘true hero’ .
My choice of a hero is Dr. Karen Woo, a British doctor who was murdered by the Taliban and the Hizb-i-Islami group last Thursday. She was killed, with eight other doctors as they returned from months working in the Nuristan region, a remote area in the north east of Afghanistan. They had gone to set up a clinic and provide free medical help to the people there. They did not have 5-star accommodation or even luxury cars. They lived a spartan life and conducted part of their journey on horseback.
Dr. Woo gave up a lucrative career in private medicine to join a humanitarian aid effort. She combined her love of travelling with her medical work. Before Afghanistan, she had also worked in hospitals in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Trinidad and Tobago.
Although she had joined the International Assistance Mission, a Christian charity, Dr. Woo found time to make a documentary about Kabul, a city which she grew to love. She even started the Bridge Afghanistan charity with Firuz Rahimi, a journalist, to improve the lives of ordinary Afghan people.
According to Dr. Woo’s family, she was “a humanist and had no religious or political agenda. Her motivation was purely humanitarian. She wanted the ordinary people of Afghanistan, especially the women and children to receive health care.”
Dr. Woo, who once dreamt of being a professional dancer, was briefly a model and even joined a flying circus performing stunts strapped to the wing of a biplane.
Encouraged by her mother, a psychiatric nurse, she turned to medicine and worked in various places around the world. She returned to London and worked as a surgeon and as a medical director in private medicine, before embarking on the humanitarian work in Afghanistan.
Her life was full of inspiration, adventure, travel and charity. She, like her other colleagues who died alongside her, were committed, caring, compassionate and courageous. She helped women and children who were in need of medical attention.
She bridged the gap between the sick and the healthy, the east and west, the criminals and caring people. Dr. Woo, who I am assuming is possibly a non-Muslim, helped the Muslim people in Badakhshan and Nuristan provinces.
In two weeks time, 36 year-old Karen Woo would have been married to her fiancé. His last act of love was to identify her body, which had been shot twice, and then to bury her.
She leaves behind her parents, an English mother and Chinese father, and her two brothers to mourn their loss, in England. A whole nation which depended on medical programs, provided by humanitarian workers like her, is in jeopardy. Thousands of people are now, unable to receive a continuation of her medical expertise.
The tragedy of this young woman was that in helping to save lives in remote, Taliban infested, Afghanistan, she made the ultimate sacrifice.
If you ask me, Dr. Karen Woo is my ‘true hero’.
* The views expressed here are those of the writer.
The former chief of Bukit Bendera Umno, Ahmad Ismail, was honoured with titles and proclaimed a ‘Malay hero’. He was conferred two heroic titles: the Wira Bangsa Melayu and Bintang Perkasa Melayu Jati.
After an hour long wait, typical of people who have little respect for others, the arrival of the ‘hero’ resembled a wedding procession complete with bunga manggar and the drum-beat of the kompang. The only thing that appeared to be missing was the bride.
The night’s jollity which was attended by around 150 delegates from 23 branches included a silat performance and the obligatory sheathing and unsheathing of the keris.
Boys will be boys and they will show off their weapons in an act of assumed bravado.
To the uninformed, the controversial Ahmad Ismail, our new ‘hero’, was suspended by Umno in late 2008, for three years, after he referred to non-Malays as “pendatang” (foreigners).
He described Malaysian Chinese as ‘squatters’ and cautioned them not to emulate the ‘Jews in America’. As expected, the suspension was later lifted by Umno, last December.
His racist comments aroused the memories of inter-ethnic tensions and threatened the government led by Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, at the time. Badawi suspended Ahmad and barred him from any political posts as punishment.
There were protests from members of the BN coalition who threatened to withdraw their membership. Even the armed forces chief warned that ‘stern action must be taken to prevent’ racial conflicts.
As a consequence of Ahmad Ismail’s ill-timed, ill-judged and unacceptable comments, the journalist who reported his comments was taken away by the police under the orders of the Internal Security Act ( ISA), ostensibly for her personal safety.
The supposed hero, Ahmad Ismail, managed to threaten the security of a country, challenged the authority of the Prime Minister at the time, almost wrecked the BN coalition, caused strife and anger in the Malaysian public, caused the army to be on possible alert, insulted various people (Jews, Americans, Chinese, Malays), rekindled horrific memories of racial riots, threatened the fragile peace and security of a nation, exposed the hypocrisy of the police actions and the political abuse of the use of the ISA.
Is this Bukit Bendera’s idea of a hero? Someone who divides, insults and is unapologetic in his actions? Someone who has no respect for others? Someone who was prepared to hold his leader and his country to ransom? Someone who is ignorant of history?
Please allow me to show an example of a ‘true hero’ .
My choice of a hero is Dr. Karen Woo, a British doctor who was murdered by the Taliban and the Hizb-i-Islami group last Thursday. She was killed, with eight other doctors as they returned from months working in the Nuristan region, a remote area in the north east of Afghanistan. They had gone to set up a clinic and provide free medical help to the people there. They did not have 5-star accommodation or even luxury cars. They lived a spartan life and conducted part of their journey on horseback.
Dr. Woo gave up a lucrative career in private medicine to join a humanitarian aid effort. She combined her love of travelling with her medical work. Before Afghanistan, she had also worked in hospitals in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Trinidad and Tobago.
Although she had joined the International Assistance Mission, a Christian charity, Dr. Woo found time to make a documentary about Kabul, a city which she grew to love. She even started the Bridge Afghanistan charity with Firuz Rahimi, a journalist, to improve the lives of ordinary Afghan people.
According to Dr. Woo’s family, she was “a humanist and had no religious or political agenda. Her motivation was purely humanitarian. She wanted the ordinary people of Afghanistan, especially the women and children to receive health care.”
Dr. Woo, who once dreamt of being a professional dancer, was briefly a model and even joined a flying circus performing stunts strapped to the wing of a biplane.
Encouraged by her mother, a psychiatric nurse, she turned to medicine and worked in various places around the world. She returned to London and worked as a surgeon and as a medical director in private medicine, before embarking on the humanitarian work in Afghanistan.
Her life was full of inspiration, adventure, travel and charity. She, like her other colleagues who died alongside her, were committed, caring, compassionate and courageous. She helped women and children who were in need of medical attention.
She bridged the gap between the sick and the healthy, the east and west, the criminals and caring people. Dr. Woo, who I am assuming is possibly a non-Muslim, helped the Muslim people in Badakhshan and Nuristan provinces.
In two weeks time, 36 year-old Karen Woo would have been married to her fiancé. His last act of love was to identify her body, which had been shot twice, and then to bury her.
She leaves behind her parents, an English mother and Chinese father, and her two brothers to mourn their loss, in England. A whole nation which depended on medical programs, provided by humanitarian workers like her, is in jeopardy. Thousands of people are now, unable to receive a continuation of her medical expertise.
The tragedy of this young woman was that in helping to save lives in remote, Taliban infested, Afghanistan, she made the ultimate sacrifice.
If you ask me, Dr. Karen Woo is my ‘true hero’.
* The views expressed here are those of the writer.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Have to pay a premium for staying in Malaysia!
What do I get for paying toll everyday?
Now I have to pay an extra RM50 for each credit card. For what?
Extra GST (goods and services tax). Again, how does that benefit me?
Look at the long list:
I have to pay for security guards because the police are hopeless.
I have to install filters because the water supply is dirty.
I have to watch satellite tv because the government broadcasts crap.
Many kids have to go for tuition or to private schools because the government schools are bad.
We have to pay IPPs (independent power providers) because the government cannot provide consistent electricity.
We have to pay Indah Water to clean up the sewers.
We have to pay tax on foreign cars because Mahathir wants to keep his dying local car industry alive. ON top of it APs cost bcoz of his cronies.
Most have to drive because the government cannot provide good public transport.
We have to pay to sustain the government's affirmative action policies.
We have to pay for private health care because the public hospitals are crowded .
All in all, we have to pay a PREMIUM to stay in this country!
1Malaysia Boleh! DAMN!
Now I have to pay an extra RM50 for each credit card. For what?
Extra GST (goods and services tax). Again, how does that benefit me?
Look at the long list:
I have to pay for security guards because the police are hopeless.
I have to install filters because the water supply is dirty.
I have to watch satellite tv because the government broadcasts crap.
Many kids have to go for tuition or to private schools because the government schools are bad.
We have to pay IPPs (independent power providers) because the government cannot provide consistent electricity.
We have to pay Indah Water to clean up the sewers.
We have to pay tax on foreign cars because Mahathir wants to keep his dying local car industry alive. ON top of it APs cost bcoz of his cronies.
Most have to drive because the government cannot provide good public transport.
We have to pay to sustain the government's affirmative action policies.
We have to pay for private health care because the public hospitals are crowded .
All in all, we have to pay a PREMIUM to stay in this country!
1Malaysia Boleh! DAMN!
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