The Reality In Malaysia

I have a summary of a report that was passed to me not too long. It's about the discriminatory practices meted out by the ruling majority against its own minority citizens. It's fairly accurate, so here goes nothing :

• Malaysia has all the hallmark of a racist and religious extreme state on the following foundation;
  

a) The Federal Constitution entrenched with a racist provision vide Article 153 ( Malaysian brand of apartheid)

b) The State sanctions racist and religious extreme laws and policies

c) State control of Government Administration by 1 race/religious group

d) State channel of most funds for economic/education/development programs and licenses, permits etc to 1 race

e) State control of Religious freedom to disadvantage of non-Muslims, imposition of Muslim religious laws and compelling jurisdiction of Syaria Courts on non-Muslims.

f) State sponsored violence/threat of violence both directly and outsource to other groups on objections by citizens

g) State sanction of draconian, punitive laws and the blank cheque given to Police to make arbitrary arrests on dissent.

h) State declaration that the Malays are the masters (Malay Supremacy) and sons of soil.

• Ethnic groups in Malaysia : Malay 53.3%, Chinese 26.0%, indigenous 11.8%, Indian 7.7%, others 1.2%.
• Religions: Islam (60.4%), Buddhism (19.2%), Christianity (9.1%), Hinduism (6.3%), other/none (5.0%). - US Department of State 2011

• Malaysia is a country based on a subtle, pervasive and increasingly aggressive form of racism. The conflict that lies just below this artificial calm state, is so well concealed, that to someone with just a cursory knowledge Malaysia would find it hard to believe and this is part of the problem.

• Malay supremacy or Malay dominance is the claim that the Malay Muslims are the tuan (masters) of Malaysia. The Chinese and Indians, who form a significant minority in Malaysia, are considered beholden to the Malays for granting them citizenship in return for special privileges as set out in Article 153 of the Malaysian Constitution.

• Article 153 is a deep-rooted racist provision in the Constitution which sanctions implementation of all racist policies in Malaysia to the disadvantage of the minority non-Malay/Muslim population. Questioning any matter, rights, status, privilege ect of Article 153 is considered a challenge to the Malay Supremacy, insulting the Royal Institution and Islam. It is also deemed a threat to National Security, an offence under the Internal Security Act which gives powers of arrest for unlimited period without trial and under the Sedition Act which provides for imprisonment between 3-5 years.

• Since the Democratic uprising of Hindraf in 2007 and the subsequent loss of its 2/3 Parliamentary mandate in the March 2008 elections, Government has outsourced its overt racist agenda to NGO’s in particular PERKASA. This is an NGO led by a Pro Government Parliamentarian who promotes the Malay Muslim supremacy agenda and has the explicit support of top Government leadership including the former Prime Ministers, ex Army officials and ex Inspector General of Police.

• PERKASA works intimately with a more militant group known as Pekida and another underworld Para- military group known as 3 LINE. Together they perpetuate racial hatred and cause fear among the non-Malays.

• Government budgetary allocations.

1. All Government projects are primarily given to Malay Muslim Bumiputra individuals and organizations.
2. All Government contractors have to be licensed by the Finance Ministry before being given any Government projects.
3. Malays have been promoted in the Civil service to assure that the highest policy-making positions will be filled by Malays regardless of objective performance standards.

• As of June 2005, more than 85% of the Civil Servants were Malay Muslims. This was an increase of close to 25% from 1971.

• The FELDA Scheme – Federal Land development Authority
• There is a systematic and wholesale exclusion of Non-Malays from this program. Indian plantation workers who were being actively displaced at the time of the growth of this FELDA scheme in the 1970s and 1980s were not considered part of the target group, because they were not categorized as being from the rural community. This was convenient way to exclude. An estimated 800,000 Indian plantation workers have been displaced from plantations without any alternative programs/compensation.
• FELDA, FELCRA, PERDA, KEDA, KETENGAH, KESEDAR, KEJORA and a host of other development agencies use procedural techniques of one form or another such as this to entirely exclude the deserving non-Malays.

• FELDA show a total turnover of RM 11.8 Billion. The profits before tax alone are RM804 million5.
• A RM 120 million residential school for FELDA children - a Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (MRSM) in Trolak, Perak. Compare this with the recent promise of an allocation of RM100 million by the Prime Minister for 523 Tamil schools in the country, for which there is no evidence of disbursement anyway. There are 42 MRSM schools like the one above in the country.
• In 1980, the World Bank raised concerns over the ethnic bias in FELDA settler selection by pointing out that if the government was serious “about increasing the non-Malay share in agriculture, some increase in the non-Malay share of settlers was warranted
• The Tekun Nasional scheme is a scheme to provide micro credit and to develop majority Malay Muslim entrepreneurs.
• For the year 2008 alone TEKUN Nasional has provided RM 182 million as loans to 19,000 entrepreneurs.
  
• That is close to RM1 Billion -not to mention almost all those loans went to Malay Muslim entrepreneurs. Participation in the Tekun program of Indians is miniscule - a total of 93 Indian entrepreneurs received loans amounting to RM761,000 on July 24, 2009 in a ceremony.8 That is less than 0.1% of that disbursed to the Malay Muslim entrepreneurs.
  
• The collusion of the various arms of the Government to keep dissent in check

Some of the key ones are :

1. Government Linked Companies

2. Government Investment Companies

3. Economic Planning Unit

4. The Federal Cabinet of Ministers

5. The various Ministries

6. The Royal Malaysian Police

7. The Attorney general’s Office

8. The Judiciary

9. The Government Administrative Services

10. The Government owned Banks

11. The Government controlled media

• The Government has used suppressive laws like the Internal Security Act, the Official Secrets Act, Printing Presses and Publications Act, the Seditions Act during this period to implement these terribly racially lopsided development plans while allowing the racist system to grow

• Given the need to maintain a racist regime, the Police have become a primary instrument of control for the majority Malay Muslim party in Government –UMNO. Police violence, abuse of power and human rights abuses occur very regularly. Cases of death in custody, partial handling of criminal disturbances, violent dispersal of peaceful protestors and other form of human rights violation continue. This has created a climate of impunity and normalization of violence, abuse of power and violation of human rights in Malaysia.

• More than 77% of the Government administration members are of Malay Muslim ethnicity. About 20% the Indian members and about 60% of the Chinese members of the Government administration are teachers in the Government Vernacular schools. If they are excluded from the numbers employed by the Government administration, the picture that emerges is about an overall participation of 85% Malays in the administration

• The Malay Muslim employees of the administration go through special programs of training called National Civics Bureau where they are all educated on how to keep “the wealth of the family within the family” in short how to operationalize the racist policies of the Government. This is a much criticized activity, but the Government continues with impunity as it is a key approach in recreating that racist bureaucracy.

• The Mainstream media blocks out, demonizes and distorts information of any organization that speaks out against this racist system in a coordinated fashion. The Government uses the Printing Presses and Publications Act and limiting ownership to known allies to control the Media to do this.

• There are an estimated 150,000 – 200,000 Indian children who are stateless due to the States’ reluctance to recognize them as Malaysians. This is operationalized by the racist state bureaucracy. As result they are not admitted in Schools, enjoy health care and other benefits a child enjoys.

• The racial bias in the educational system is the area where racism is most blatant – all the way from pre-school and primary education up to Tertiary levels.

• There are 42 fully residential elite Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (MRSM) (Mara junior Science College) (NST 5/4/08) with 12,440 places also in the fully residential schools (BH 21/11/09 at page 7). These schools have been almost exclusively for Malay Muslim students

• Non-Malays are also almost 100% excluded in other elite schools like the Royal Military College, Aminuddin Baki Institution, Matriculation courses and the Malay College Kuala Kangsar.

• There are two streams for entry into the Public Universities. One is through the Matriculation 12 month program specifically tailored for the Malay Muslim students and the other is through the 18 month and much more stringent STPM program

• Admissions into public Universities is more than 80% reserved for the Malays Muslims. One university with a student population of 170,000 in 2011(UiTM) is for Malay Muslims only. The other 19 public Universities with about 170,000 enrolments in all have a 60% Malay Muslim students making it 80% for Malay Muslims in all Public Universities. This does not even talk about the composition in the various courses offered.

• There are 62,000 diploma places and 60,000 degree places for 2010 at 27 Polytechnics in Malaysia. These are exclusively for the Malay Muslim students.

There are 163,779 students studying at the 19 other Public Universities nationwide at an annual expenditure cost of RM 2.6 Billion15. Our estimate is a mere 5 % of this expenditure will accrue to non-Malay students.

• RM 2.8 Billion is allocated for the 2010 National Budget for student’s assistance scholarships. Most of the funds go for scholarships to Malay Muslim Students.
  
• 1,266,671 students (estimated 90% Malay Muslims) have benefited from the government PTPTN (Government Higher Education Loan Fund) study loans till 2009. 147,441 such loans were approved at RM 17.0 Billion (UM 25/3/08 at page 31).
  
• The constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, the constitution and the government placed restrictions on this right. The constitution defines all ethnic Malays as Muslims at birth and stipulates that Islam is the "religion of the Federation."
  
• Civil courts continued to concede jurisdiction to Sharia courts on cases concerning conversion from Islam and certain areas of family law involving disputes between Muslims and non-Muslims.
  
• Forced religious conversions and religious intolerance are evidence of creeping Islamization in Malaysia. Whenever there is a conflict between Muslim and non-Muslims, the tendency is for Muslim Laws to prevail over the non-Muslim issues regardless of the merits of the case.
• The decision of the Court of Appeal on 21st August 2010 in the case of Maniam Moorthy is a disturbing trend in the role of the Judiciary which has abdicated its powers to the inferior Sharia Courts which was meant to serve the Muslims only on matters (personal) pertaining to marriage, divorce, property distribution ect.
  
• Lina Joy, 42, who was born to a Malay Muslim couple, became a Christian when she was 26.
  
• She lost her final round of appeal when the Federal Court dismissed her appeal on 30th May 2007 against a ruling that the National Registration Department was right not to allow her to remove the word "Islam" from her identity card.
  
• In August 2010 The newspaper of the Catholic Church in Malaysia, The Herald, filed a legal suit at following warnings that its permit could be revoked if it did not cease use of the word "Allah" in the Malay language section of its newspaper.

• Several Malaysian churches have been attacked and fire bombed, leaving at least one badly damaged, in an escalating dispute over the use of the word "Allah" by Christians.

• A religious edict (fatwa) by a Muslim cleric in the state of Sabah caused the Sabah state government to cancel the construction of a 108 feet Goddess of Sea Mazu statue by the Taoist in 2008.

• In August 2011 The Selangor Religious Department raided a Church dinner function organised by an NGO on allegation of Christian proselytizing campaign.
  
• According to the government, it allocated 428 million ringgit (approximately $125.9 million) to build Islamic places of worship and 8.1 million ringgit ($2.4 million) to build Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, and other minority religions' places of worship between 2005 and the end of 2008. (in answer to a Parliamentary question)
  
• Throughout the years since Malaysian independence in 1957, the government has been disregardful of the systematic destruction of Hindu places of worship, which previously stood on estates and state owned estates and land. An estimate of about 10,000 Hindu places of worship have been demolished.

• The government justifies the demolition of the places of worship on the grounds that they were illegally constructed or were occupying government land. Planning and building laws never existed at the time of the construction of these places of worships.
  
  
  
  

The full report titled, ”Institutional Racism and Religious Freedom in Malaysia” can be downloaded by clicking on the link.

Ironic

Just thought I'd share something ironic of what  I just saw. It's the biography of 2 individuals that are somewhat iconic in Malaysia, stacked side by side at the Borders bookstore.

One builds dreams and the other one destroys them with impunity. Let history be the judge.

A Typical Government Chinese Minister In Malaysia

This Is So Fucking Embarassing

"On July 9, 20,000 Malaysians gathered in Kuala Lumpur to demand more transparency in electoral laws in connection with next year's national elections.

Police unleashed tear gas and chemical-laced water on the demonstrators and temporarily detained nearly 1,700 of them. According to reports, authorities also detained six opposition activists without trial and accused them of trying to use the rally to spread communism. Police said they found T-shirts and other materials linked to communist figures.

Apparently, these measures didn't suffice for some of Malaysia's nervous ruling elite. The editors of Utusan Malaysia, owned by Prime Minister Najib Razak's United Malays National Organization ruling party (UMNO), defaulted to a time-tested maneuver: When in doubt, blame the Jews!

The Jews? Most citizens of the overwhelmingly Asian economic giant have never and will likely never meet a Jew in their lifetime. And yet the folks at Utusan Malaysia, which is influential among Muslims in rural areas who rely on government-linked media to shape their worldview, are apparently confident warnings about a "Jewish plot" would resonate in a land without Jews.

To understand why, you need only look at the track record of the man who dominated his nation for a quarter of a century, Malaysia's fourth prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad.

Mahathir was credited with engineering Malaysia's rapid modernization and spectacular economic growth. He was a dominant political figure, winning five consecutive general elections. He also used his political clout and controversial laws to detain activists and political opponents.

And Mahathir is an anti-Semite.

Back in 1970, in his treatise on Malay identity, "The Malay Dilemma," he wrote: "The Jews are not only hooked-nosed ... but understand money instinctively. ... Jewish stinginess and financial wizardry gained them the economic control of Europe and provoked antisemitism which waxed and waned throughout Europe through the ages."

In August 1984, a visit by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra was canceled when his Information Minister demanded that music by composer Ernst Bloch be deleted from the program. His crime? He was a Jew and the selection chosen was based on Hebrew melodies.

In 1986, Mahathir charged "Zionists" and Jews with attempting to destabilize the country through allegedly Jewish-controlled media. He subsequently banned The Asia Wall Street Journal for three months describing the publication as "Jewish owned." In the 1990s, Mahathir used the Malaysian news agency, Bernama, to accuse Australian Jewry of conspiring to topple him.

Mahathir, who made Islam a central component of Malaysian identity, made this chilling charge in 1997: "We are Moslems, and the Jews are not happy to see Moslems progress."

Perhaps that would help explain the resounding ovation which greeted his screed at a Islamic Leadership Conference in 2003: "The Europeans killed 6 million Jews out of 12 million ... but today, the Jews rule the world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them."

And just last year the elder statesman of anti-Semites said this at a conference: "Jews had always been a problem in European countries. They had been confined in ghettos and periodically massacred. But they still remained and still thrived and held whole governments to ransom. ... Even after their massacre by the Nazis in Germany, they survived to be a source of even greater problems to the world."

All this may help explain why Hitler's "Mein Kampf" and the infamous "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" are on prominent display at the Malaysian capital's International Airport.

But there are some signs that in 2011 not everyone is drinking Mahathir's toxic Kool-Aid. Maria Chin Abdullah, one of the organizers of the mass rally that sought to prevent electoral fraud, charged that Utusan Malaysia's warning of an alleged Jewish conspiracy was "nonsense that is being spread in very bad taste," adding, "To rely on this claim of Jewish support is to insult the people's good intentions of seeking important reforms."

Perhaps Kuala Lumpur hasn't paid much attention to the Arab Spring. Maybe its time they did, especially since it was inspired by Muslims demanding more freedom and democracy. It isn't world Jewry that is driving members of minorities to the streets of Kuala Lumpur, but the failure of a democratic government to provide equal rights and opportunities to all their citizens. It's time for Malaysian leaders to grow up. Relying on big-lie Jewish conspiracies is no substitute for honest and transparent governance".

Original post can be found here.

I hate to say this but a vast majority of Malaysians of the Muslim faith IN MALAYSIA are full blown anti-semites. I suppose it shouldn't come as a surprise with all the indoctrination they've been subjected to at their homes and/or religious schools. I think they should free their minds and get rid of the hate. Jews are the easy targets here as there are no Jews in Malaysia to defend themselves. Unfortunately, Christians are also their favourite target of discrimination. This is too damn depressing, I can't go on. Give me a holler if you want to discuss this.

A United Malaysia

It has been a long time coming and with prevalent electoral fraud, the people of Malaysia decided to do something about it. The Bersih 2.0 movement organised a peaceful rally and was met with the full force of the state machinery which was bent on stopping the rally.

All roads leading into Kuala Lumpur were blocked but as you can see thousands of Malaysians braved the odds to attend the rally.



The organizers estimate that approximately 50,000 people had participated, supporting its cause for clean and fair elections.

Tear gas were used to disperse the peaceful rally and there were also evidence of police brutality

The following is the official statement from Steering Committee
Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0)

Bersih 2.0 is proud that in spite of all the obstacles and hindrances that we were forced to face, Malaysians of all walks of life overcame the oppressive acts of the police to come out peacefully and in incredibly large numbers to show their love for their country and for the principles of justice,” said the movement in a statement about a

We are nonetheless horrified that several hundred people have been detained, many of them without any justification whatsoever. We particularly condemn the arrests of Datuk Ambiga Sreenevesan and Maria Chin Abdullah, two members of the Bersih 2.0 Steering Committee.

The only violence witnessed was perpetrated by the police, who unleashed immense amounts of tear gas and chemical laced water on innocent members of the public. Police also baton charged those who gathered, injuring many and some very seriously.

In one of the worst acts of violence, police fired tear gas into the compound of Tung Shin Hospital, severely jeopardising the health not only of the rakyat who had sought refuge there, but the patients there as well.

This was one of only various acts of totally unwarranted violence by the police against a rakyat who had exercised their constitutional right to gather peacefully.

We are especially proud of the great discipline and peacefulness shown by all the brave Malaysian who dared to stand up today for what was right.

Today's gathering is not the end, it is but one more step in the long walk for clean and fair elections in Malaysia. The campaign continues, to work for electoral reform, the release of all detainees, and an end to harassment by the authorities. The struggle continues in the courts of law, the corridors of power, and the hearts of all the rakyat.

Althought our attempt to submit a memorandum to DYMM SPB YDP Agong did not take place today, we will make appropriate arrangements to deliver the memorandum when the police have calmed down.

In the meantime, we call on all Malaysians to continue to work to peacefully achieve clean and fair electoral process in our country. Inspired by their bravery and steadfast commitment, we will never rest in our efforts to work together as one people to bring about a better Malaysia.

The Same Bullshit Replayed (And Yes I Think We Are Sliding into Dhimmitude)

Tan Yi Min is now Eilliyah Foong Abdullah. This child is Tan Cheow Hong's daughter. She was born into the Tan family. Her grandfather belonged to the 'Tan' clan, as did her great grandfather and her great, great grandfather. Her mother Fatimah Foong Abdullah has with cold calculation misused Islam to deprive 'Eilliyah Foong Abdullah' of her birthright - the 'Tan' surname.

The Malaysiakini report said Fatimah converted Yi Min on Nov 9 at the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department. She snatched her from school on Nov 8. This time-line indicates that Fatimah converted Yi Min the very next day.

Remember that the child has lived with her father these past three years. She has never been taught Islam and knows next to nothing about the religion. Yet barely 24 hours after being snatched with the help of the police and the Islamic officials, this little girl could miraculously declare - before another different set of Islamic bureaucrats - that she wishes to embrace Islam.

“Bagaimana budak Cina tujuh tahun boleh mengucap dua kalimah syahadah?” This question was the first thing to cross the mind of Sharifuddin Abdul Latiff, administrator of the mediawatch group Hartal MSM.

You try saying this: 'ašhadu an la ilaha illa (A)llah, wa ašhadu anna Muhammada(n) rasulu (A)llah'. Now imagine a traumatised little girl who had just been kidnapped and driven pell-mell from Penang to Selangor reciting the syahadah in a language she'd never spoken a word of before; and doing it twice correctly (a procedural convention) in the presence of intimidating strangers in an alien environment a long distance from home.

When Yi Min ostensibly bore witness as a 'Muslim', she would have had no conception of who the Prophet Muhammad was. Sharifuddin further points out that when the Prophet received his calling, he was a mature man 40 years in age.

It's impossible that an immature child grasped the message of Islam in the matter of a mere 24 hours. How could the officer-in-charge then proceed to stamp approval without first ascertaining that the conditions for conversion were properly fulfilled?

Fatimah Foong holds no 'sijil perkahwinan' (Muslim marriage certificate). Yi Min was not conceived in Muslim wedlock. Yi Min's father was not present to give his consent. This makes the conversion of his daughter, a minor, against civil law.

That Fatimah's mockery of justice was entertained by ketuanan Islam is beyond a dereliction of duty; it is criminal mala fide.

If this sick, shotgun conversion is not immediately voided, Yi Min is doomed to Hotel California - you “can check out but never leave”. Like Banggarma (below), remember her? Like Revathi. Remember her too?
It's high time that Malays here do some deep soul-searching and ask yourselves what kind of saudara baru you're all acquiring in droves.

Parental duty is a shared responsibility. As a Malay man or woman, how would you feel if your estranged Malay spouse was to snatch and decide alone to convert your little boy to Hinduism in a Hindu-predominant country, or to Christianity in a Christian-predominant country?



Helen Ang
Jan 6, 2011
Malaysiakini

Effing Coppers

This is a common scene outside my apartment, fucking cops not doing their jobs and just sleeping in their patrol cars. Sometimes they will come the apartment and harass the boys working downstairs and seek bribes, their main source of income.

That's the problem isn't it, the government sweeping all these unemployables off the streets and giving them jobs irregardless of qualifications. And we wonder why the civil service sucks

Wonder no more!



Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

"If the elections happen, we will show them (the government) we are serious about Allah."

I found this article while browsing through the online version of the Boston Globe. It showcases UMNO's handiwork in decimating unity within the country. Of course UMNO's bitches (read MCA & MIC) are muted on this issue. How in the world are we to achieve this thing called Bangsa Malaysia when non-issues like this are exploited to the full by these politicians. And it doesn't help matters when there are those who feel Allah is exclusive only to their religion. (that's why it is so important to be able to read and learn a bit of history). Anyway read on

KENINGAU, Malaysia (Reuters) - Reciting the Catholic Creed, the 1,800-strong congregation attending mass at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral on Borneo island intones in Malay: "We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of Allah."

These Malaysian Catholics, like their brethren in Indonesia, have used the word "Allah" in place of "God" since converting to Christianity in the 19th century.

But now the government in this mostly Muslim Southeast Asian nation of 27 million people wants to prevent "Allah" being used by Christians, saying it is subversive and aims to convert Muslims.

Christians fear this is just the thin edge of the wedge.

"The government of West Malaysia has an infection of religious hatred. We have to fight back so it does not spread," said Bishop Cornelius Piong after Sunday Mass at the cathedral in the heart of a rice-growing district in eastern Sabah state.

Christianity is practiced by 9.1 percent of the Malaysian population, according to the 2000 census, the most recently available figures. Many of them, like Bishop Piong, come from ethnic groups such as the Kadazandusun, Dayaks, Ibans and Bidayuh who live in the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak.

"Our worship of Allah is so natural, it is part and parcel of the Kadazandusun people here," Piong said.

The row over the use of Allah to describe the Christian God feeds into a long-running feud over conversions between the government of a country where all Malays must be Muslims and other faiths, such as Hinduism and Buddhism that are practiced by ethnic Indians and Chinese.

MALAYS FRET OVER CONVERSION

It is illegal in Malaysia to convert from Islam to any other religion although conversions to Islam are allowed.

One of the biggest cases involved Lina Joy, a woman who wanted to convert to Christianity to marry her partner, who was baptized and applied to have her conversion legally recognized by the Malaysian state.

She lost a court battle two years ago to have the word "Islam" removed from her identity card. All Malaysian identity cards carry a person's race and religion.

It is cases such as these that worry Malaysian Muslim activists and officials and they see using the word Allah in Christian publications including bibles as attempts to proselytize.

Those concerns led to the ban on the Catholic Herald newspaper's use of "Allah" to denote God. The Herald is now suing the government to overturn the ruling, made after it appeared the paper would be allowed to use "Allah" provided it stamped "For Christians" on the front page of the paper.

"Allowing Christians to use the word is dangerous because it's attacking the sole religion of the Malays," said Yusri Mohamad, president of the influential Muslim Youth Movement.

"We have to question Christians' motive for wanting to use this obviously Muslim word. It appears to be for conversions. All Muslim Malays in Malaysia are against this."

Some leading Muslim scholars here say the issue is being blown out of proportion and that the risk of conversions among the 60 percent Muslim population is tiny.

They see it as an attempt by the government that has ruled Malaysia uninterrupted for 51 years since independence from Britain to hold on to power by identifying ethnicity with religion.

The main ruling party in Malaysia is called the United Malay National Organization, and like its allies from Chinese and Indian parties, it is ethnically based.

"It is an irrational fear (of conversions) but a very powerful one," said Osman Bakar, the deputy head of the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies Malaysia. "Now the government has moved to setting up demarcations around the national language."

SPILLING INTO POLITICS

While the Kadazandusun and other indigenous people on Borneo hold the same privileges as Malays in preferential access to areas such education, loans and housing, the resource-rich states of Sabah and Sarawak are far poorer than peninsular Malaysia.

Sabah and Sarawak have voted solidly for parties from the governing National Front coalition since the start of democratic rule in Malaysia.

That hegemony is now under threat after the opposition scored its best-ever election result in 2008 when it deprived the government of its two-thirds parliamentary majority and ended up in control of five of Malaysia's 13 states.

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is now targeting the voters of Borneo in an effort to keep up pressure on the government and the first test will come in a state assembly by-election in Sarawak in early April.

There may also be a chance for voters in a constituency near to St Francis Xavier to flex their muscles depending on a court decision on whether a move to disqualify three non-government parliamentary candidates was valid.

For the people of Bishop Piong's congregation what happens in the battle over the use of "Allah" will certainly be an issue if the election is re-run.

"If the government wants to be nasty and stop people from using Allah, it can. But it may not work here. It's God's country here," said 28-year-old Teresa Palikat, a tailor, after attending Sunday Mass in Keningau district.

"If the elections happen, we will show them (the government) we are serious about Allah."

When The Going Gets Tough...

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 23 — A prominent political blogger was jailed for two years under a strict security law that can keep him in prison indefinitely, a lawyer said today.

Online commentator Raja Petra Kamarudin, known for his anti-government views, was already in police custody and was served a detention order last night, said his lawyer Malik Imtiaz Sarwar.

Another of his lawyers, J. Chandra, confirmed that Raja Petra has been sent to Kamunting under Section 8(1) of the ISA which states that "if the Minister is satisfied that the detention of any person is necessary with a view to preventing him from acting in any manner prejudicial to the security of Malaysia or any part thereof or to the maintenance of essential services therein or the economic life thereof, he may make an order (hereinafter referred to as a detention order) directing that the person be detained for any period not exceeding two years."

The order was signed by Home Minister Datuk Syed Hamid Albar, who has said Raja Petra's writings pose a threat to national security by creating racial tension.

Raja Petra’s wife Marina Lee Abdullah said today: "The police informed me that my husband has been sent to Kamunting this morning and that he will remain there for two years with no trial. This is the worst news I can receive but we will keep fighting for his release."

"This is dirty foul play by the government as they know that we are in the process of fighting for his release in the court but I was expecting this," she said.

Raja Petra's lawyers were pushing for his release in a habeas corpus hearing today but Marina said the detention order had upset their plans. The habeas corpus hearing, meanwhile, has been postponed to Oct 28 after preliminary objections from the DPP against the defence application that with the new order under Section 8 of the ISA served on Raja Petra today, it was no longer relevant to rely on the earlier application filed under Section 73 (1).

Chandra said the defence would be filing a fresh application against the Section 8 order.

Raja Petra has increasingly infuriated authorities by publishing numerous claims about alleged wrongdoings by government leaders on his popular site, Malaysia-Today, which serves as his blog as well as a news portal. The government has denounced most of Raja Petra's allegations as lies.

Raja Petra was arrested on Sept 12 under the Internal Security Act, which allows an initial detention of two months for investigation, followed by a two-year jail period that can be renewed indefinitely.

He will be held at the Kamunting Detention Centre in Perak. The centre houses detainees held under the security law, most of whom are suspected Islamic extremists.

Raja Petra's arrest triggered widespread protests by civil society groups, lawyers and other online commentators. Along with Raja Petra, authorities also arrested an opposition lawmaker and a journalist on Sept 12, but they were released subsequently.

The ISA is a holdover from British colonial days, when it was used against communist insurgents. Independent Malaysia's post-colonial government has kept it in the statute books and has used it sparingly against political dissidents, ignoring calls from opposition groups and others to disband the law.

Those interested in signing the online petition to free Raja Petra Kamaruddin , the Hindraf 5 and others held under the Internal Security Act may do so here : http://www.petitiononline.com/isa1234/petition.html

Leader of all Malaysians? Errrr.....Ok!

Reproduced from the Malaysian Insider

The leader of all Malaysians. Once it captured the spirit of optimism that accompanied Abdullah Ahmad Badawi into office as the country's fifth prime minister.

Today, it is a reminder of what should have been; what could have been; another unfulfilled promise by a politician who promised to blur the racial and religious lines but ended up delivering an even more polarized nation five years on. The leader of all Malaysians.

Once it offered the umbrella of comfort for non-Muslims, planting hope among the 45 per cent of the country's population that the difficult issues of conversion, places of worship and freedom of religion would be tackled.Today, these five words have been buried by a community feeling increasingly despondent about their place here and the ability of important institutions to protect the rights of all Malaysians.

The numbers tell the story. A comprehensive survey on political developments since Election 2008 show that only 18 per cent of the 3,000 people polled identified Abdullah as the leader of all Malaysians, with only 7.3 per cent Chinese believing that he had done enough to deserve the moniker. Generally, more Indians and Chinese feel that he protects the interests of Malays more than he looks after the other races.

Even the anecdotal evidence suggests that the despair is coursing through the veins of many non-Muslims. Datuk A. Vaithalingam has always been a straight-talker. He never fudged or hedged when he was a top official in the golden era of the Malaysian sports scene, the days when the country's football team was a source of national pride and Isthiaq Mubarak was clearing hurdles at the Olympics.

But he outdid himself last Wednesday. Speaking as the president of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism, he gave a candid appraisal of the non-Muslim sentiment in the country to Abdullah.

"I must report to you that many non-Muslims feel marginalised in today's Malaysia. There is growing discomfort with the rapid Islamisation of our society. Universal values of ethical conduct and good governance, values which are shared by all religions, are appropriated by some to be only "Islamic", '' he said at the 25th anniversary of the council.

He cautioned the Prime Minister - the guest-of-honour - that unless concrete steps were taken to assure 45 per cent of Malaysia's population of fair treatment, the outflow of talent from the country would continue unabated.

Abdullah thanked him for his honesty and made the usual sounds on the need to be fair to all races. But even the PM knows that his government has not come close to delivering on any promises to non-Muslims since he came to power in October 2003.

Questions of body snatching or the status of burial rights for non-Muslims whose conversion to Islam was unknown to the dead person's family remain unresolved.

Abdullah promised to put in place a mechanism after the nastiness surrounding the burial of Everest hero Moorthy in 2006.

Little has changed since then. Similarly, there has been some disquiet over the plight of mothers whose husbands convert to Islam and then, avoid their commitments under the civil law to their former family. Non Muslims are unhappy that the courts are allowing one parent to convert children to Islam even if the other parent does not consent.

Vaithilingam also noted: "In schools, our children are not permitted to and do not get education in their own religion. Moral lessons are reportedly vetted by the Islamic authorities.''

His litany of complaints on Wednesday was long.

This is not the first time that the council has voiced their displeasure at the state of neglect over the interests of non-Muslims. Deep down, they know that Abdullah is not prepared to champion these issues, not when his own position in the country is precarious.

But they cannot keep the lid on the percolating discontent among the non-Muslims. That is why many of the religious groups backed the move by the Bar Council to proceed with its controversial public forum on conversion to Islam on Saturday.

The forum was eventually stopped by the organizers on the advice of police and threats by Muslim non-governmental groups.

Truth to be told, little good would have emerged from a forum not represented by major Muslim players such as Parti Islam SeMalaysia, Umno and Jakim. But in the absence of any meaningful moves by the government or political parties to resolve issues related to conversion, non-Muslims are prone to support any group willing to discussing these matters.

Abdullah and other Umno leaders have urged the Bar Council and other bodies to discuss sensitive matters behind closed doors but the Prime Minister will know from recent experience that this approach does not guarantee any progress. For example, he knows that many of his Umno colleagues in Cabinet are either against or ambivalent about promoting dialogue between Muslims and non-Muslims. That is why Datuk Shafie Apdal's proposal to have more dialogue on national unity was shot down vigorously by an Umno minister during a recent Cabinet meeting.

A cabinet minister, who declined to be identified, told the Malaysian Insider: "Shafie did not get much support.

Pak Lah did not say much and neither did Najib. It could because this is the Umno election season and nobody wants to do anything which will upset party members. But it could also be in-built mechanism against dealing with any difficult issue, whether judicial reform or other reforms.''

There is little doubt that the party grassroots is ambivalent about reform - and this is a charitable interpretation.

During recent branch meetings, Umno members were focused on Malay unity - specifically the need to stay as one and fight off demands from the increasingly vocal non-Malay population.

There was little discussion on the need to shed the party's perceived arrogance and refill the depleting bank of non-Malay support.

Against this backdrop and with the upcoming party elections in December, no national leader is going to champion the cause of non-Muslims and risk alienating the Muslim constituency.

Certainly not the man who once said that he was the leader of all Malaysians. That claim rings hollow among many non-Muslims today.

Welcome to Sin-Free City

THE city of Shah Alam, already without cinemas, night clubs or pubs, has shut the door on another form of entertainment — funfair.

That was the conclusion drawn by the councillors during the full board meeting held at Wisma MBSA on Thursday (31/07/08).The councillors have unanimously rejected the application from Green City Enterprise to operate a funfair at the Stadium Shah Alam parking area.

Shah Alam mayor Mazalan Md Noor said the decision might set new a precedent when it came to approving funfairs in the city. “Previously, we give approval for such applications at the department level. This is the first time we have brought the case to a full board for approval as we want to find out the councillors’ acceptance for such events,” he said.

Councillor Norhalim Sirome said such activity was not needed in the city as it had gaming elements.

However, he stressed that the public should understand it clearly that they did not reject all types of entertainment. “We want to make it clear that we do not reject all type of entertainment, especially when it is educational. “But this one is purely entertainment and may bring more bad than good,” he said.


Ok then, how about we put in an application to operate a family theme park. Let's see it's gotta have a lot of sand. I mean a lot of sand, the really fine type of sand, you know the type you can get from the desert. Then we have got to bring in the camels. For authenticity, we have to import the one-hump camel better known as the Dromedary camel and not the infidel Bactrian Camel or more commonly known as two-hump camel which is native to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia

Did I just say Mongolia? We definitely don't want any mention of Mongolia. The Deputy Prime Minister may not agree to officiate the opening of our theme park, but I digress.

Ok, so now we have our sand and our camels. Now we have to have pious residents for our theme park. I don't know about you but I nominate the entire Malaysian Cabinet. Since our Anti Corruption Agency can never find any dirt on them, they by my estimation have got to be the cleanest of them all. And oh the entry fees, payment can only be made with Riyals in line with our 'Look Middle-East' policy

Here We Go Again : Return of the Body Snatchers

Here we go again :

The Associated Press

An Islamic court has declared a dead man a Muslim, preventing his Hindu family from cremating his body, in the latest dispute over religious conversions in Muslim-majority Malaysia, their lawyer said Monday. A Shariah court in northern Penang state ruled Friday that B. Elangesvaran, 34, who committed suicide last month, was a Muslim and his body should be released from the hospital for Muslim burial, lawyer R. Nethaji Rayer said.

In handing down the ruling, the Shariah court upheld the local Islamic Religious Affairs Department's claim that Elangesvaran had converted to Islam before his death. A civil court — the Penang High Court — dismissed the application by Elangesvaran's family Friday to have him declared a Hindu, Nethaji said. The court later Monday also refused to grant an injunction to stop the Islamic department from taking possession of Elangesvaran's body, Nethaji said.

"The body will be buried according to Muslim rites," Nethaji said. It was not immediately clear when the department would conduct the burial.

Religious conversion disputes often erupt in Malaysia, where Muslim Malays make up 60 percent of the population and mostly non-Muslim ethnic Chinese and Indians account for a third. The cases have put pressure on the government to guarantee the rights of religious minorities who increasingly complain they lose out in disputes involving Islam.

"This is not proper at all," said Nethaji. "Generally (the civil courts) always take the stand that they cannot interfere with the Shariah court."

Malaysia has a dual court system. While Shariah courts handle civil matters for Muslims, civil courts rule on the same for non-Muslims. It is unclear which court has the final word in conversion disputes.

Ghazali Saad, an official with the Penang Islamic department, said his office had proof that Elangesvaran had converted before his death. "We have the document that he converted to Islam," he said, but declined to comment further, pending the outcome of the case.

Nethaji said the purported proof was only a scribbled note allegedly written by Elangesvaran. The note was not signed, he said. He said the family was "distraught, very disappointed, completely broken down ... They are unable to go on with their lives. It's all hanging in the balance."

Personally I don't know why this country insists on mixing religion with politics. Islam (I've been told) is pure and politics is dirty. And of course politicians are a dirty lot and we are letting them set the tone on Islam in this country? That is symptomatic of what's wrong in this country.

Oh My Allah!

The Associated Press

Some 100 Islamic groups in Malaysia called Wednesday for wider powers for Shariah courts and stricter enforcement of religious and moral doctrines ahead of general elections next month.

In a list of election demands, the groups said the government should declare Malaysia an Islamic-majority nation and reject any attempt to make it a secular state.

The demands were made by the Defenders of Islam, a loose coalition of about 100 mostly conservative Islamic organizations representing students, professionals and others.

Yusri Mohamad, president of the Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia, which leads the coalition, said recent racial and religious tensions stemmed from efforts by certain groups to challenge Islam's role in the multiracial country.

"We want to remind all Malaysians to preserve and maintain the status quo. The formula may not be perfect but it has worked reasonably well. It is acceptable and sustainable," he said.

The ruling National Front coalition, which has governed Malaysia since 1957, is led by the United Malays National Organization, which draws support from Malay Muslims and espouses a generally moderate form of Islam.

About 60 percent of Malaysia's 27 million people are ethnic Malay Muslims. The rest are Christians, Buddhists and Hindus from the Chinese and Indian communities.

The Islamic groups' demands follow a campaign by Malaysian churches urging Christians to choose candidates in the March 8 polls who champion religious freedom.

There are growing concerns among religious minorities that their rights are being eroded by a rise in Islamic fervor, which many blame on overzealous Muslim bureaucrats in Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's government.

The fears have been fueled by a recent government ban on the word "Allah" in Malay-language Christian literature, the demolition of Hindu temples, and court judgments favoring Muslims in disputes with non-Muslims.

Yusri said the Islamic demands, which will be distributed to all candidates and political parties, were aimed at highlighting Muslim needs, not countering the Christian campaign.

The groups' statement called for asserting "the significant role of Islam in the state."

It also called for the power of Islamic Shariah courts to be strengthened and new laws to block the propagation of other religions among Muslims, especially in states with large minority populations.

The groups sought more Islamic studies in schools, increased scholarships for Muslims and the implementation of Islamic practices, such as prayers during school assemblies. They also said television stations should ban Western entertainment programs such as reality shows and promote Islamic programming.

Malaysian Churches Campaign For Religious Freedom In Elections

The Associated PressPublished: February 18, 2008

Malaysia's churches are wading cautiously into politics by urging Christians to vote for candidates in next month's general elections who champion religious freedom in the Muslim-majority society.

The call illustrates growing concern among religious minorities who feel their rights are being eroded by a rise in Islamic fervor, which many blame on overzealous Muslim bureaucrats in Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's government.

Churches began handing out brochures last weekend urging Christians to examine the platforms and records of political parties on "freedom of religion, conscience and speech" before casting their ballots in March 8 national elections.

"We want to hold every politician accountable," Hermen Shastri, executive secretary of the Christian Federation of Malaysia, said Monday. "Many people may not vote for representatives who won't speak up" for religious rights, he said. The federation includes the Protestant Christian Council of Malaysia, Roman Catholics and the National Evangelical Fellowship.

Although some churches have made similar calls in the past, many Christians are particularly concerned about the outcome of these elections because of what they regard as "the trend of Islamization and how that is affecting other religious communities," Shastri said.


He stressed that churches remain nonpartisan, and that the campaign is not an endorsement of secular opposition parties, which accuse the government of allowing religious discrimination to strain decades of multiethnic harmony.

About 60 percent of Malaysia's 27 million people are ethnic Malay Muslims. The rest are mainly Christians, Buddhists and Hindus from the ethnic Chinese and Indian communities.

The Christian federation is working with its Buddhist and Hindu counterparts, which may distribute similar pamphlets at temples, Shastri said.

Minorities have been upset by recent developments such as a government ban on the word "Allah" in Malay-language Christian literature, the demolition of Hindu temples and court judgments favoring Muslims in disputes with non-Muslims.

Prime Minister Abdullah assured minorities Sunday he was "honest and fair" with all religions.

"Of course, there are minor misunderstandings," Abdullah said a speech to Chinese voters. "What is important is that we are willing to talk and solve our problems together."

Teresa Kok, a lawmaker representing the opposition Democratic Action Party, said the church initiative "will definitely help to create some political awareness," but may not swing large amounts of support to the opposition.

Many Christians, especially in urban, middle-class populations, traditionally support Abdullah's National Front coalition because they "don't want to rock the boat," Kok said.

The National Front consists of 14 parties representing various ethnic groups. The coalition, which has governed since 1957, is expected to easily retain power but with a lower parliamentary majority because of religious tensions and complaints over inflation, crime and corruption.

Is Allah A Name Or A Word? These Dumb UMNO Effers Article 2

By Farish A. Noor

At the time of writing this, I am in Cairo in the company of my Egyptian friends who are Muslims, Catholics and Copts. Eid has passed and I attended several dinners and celebrations where Muslims and Copts celebrated together, visiting each others' homes and ate til we could not eat any further.

What is worse, Christmas is upon us and so once again Muslims, Catholics and Copts will be heading for the communal table for the communal feast and there will be much licking of chops, munching of bread, gobbling of sweet deserts and drinking for everyone. It is all simply too pleasant to believe, yet it is real and this is what life is like for many in Cairo, the 'Mother of civilisation' and home to more than twenty million Egyptians from all walks of life.

What is most striking to the outside observer like me - though rather banal for the Egyptians themselves - is the fact that in all these celebrations ranging from Eid for the Muslims to Christmas for the Catholics and Copts the word 'Allah' is used to denote that supreme and singular divinity, God.

Catholics and Copts alike exclaim 'Masha-allah', 'Wallahi', 'ya-Rabbi', 'Wallah-u allam', and of course 'Allahuakbar' day in, day out, everywhere they go. The coptic taxi driver blares out 'By Allah, cant you see where you are parking??" as he dodges the obstable ahead. The Catholic shopkeeper bemoans "Ya Allah, ya Allah! You can only offer me two pounds for the scarf? Wallahi, my mother would die if she heard that! Ya-Rabbi, ya-Rabbi!"

Yet in Malaysia at the moment yet another non-issue has been brewed to a scandal for no reason: The Malaysian Catholic Herald, a publication by and for Catholics in the country, has been told that it can no longer publish its Malaysian language edition if it continues to use the word "Allah" to mean God. Worse still, the country's Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharum recently stated that "Only Muslims can use the word Allah" ostensibly on the grounds that "Allah" is a Muslim word. The mind boggles at the confounding logic of such a non-argument, which speaks volumes about the individual's own ignorance of Muslim culture, history and the fundamental tenets of Islam itself.

For a start, the word 'Allah' predates the revelation to the Prophet Muhammad and goes way back to the pre-Islamic era. Christians had been using the word long before there were any Muslims, in fact. Furthermore the word is Arabic, and is thus common to all the peoples, cultures and societies where Arabic - in all its dialects - is spoken, and is understood by millions of Arabic speakers to mean God, and little else.

One could also add that as "Allah" is an Arabic word it therefore has more to do with the development and evolution of Arabic language and culture, and less to do with Islam. It is hard to understand how any religion can have a language to call its own, for languages emerge from a societal context and not a belief system. If one were to abide by the skewered logic of the Minister concerned, then presumably the language of Christianity (if it had one) would be Aramaic, or perhaps Latin.

The Minister's remark not only demonstrated his shallow understanding of Muslim culture and the clear distinction between Arab culture and Muslim theology, but it also demonstrated his own lack of understanding of the history of the Malays, who, like many non-Arabs, only converted to Islam much later from the 13th century onwards. Among the earliest pieces of evidence to indicate Islam's arrival to the Malay archipelago are the stone inscriptions found in Malay states like Pahang where the idea of God is described in the sanskrit words 'Dewata Mulia Raya'. As no Malay spoke or even understood Arabic then, it was natural for the earliest Malay-Muslims to continue using the Sanskrit-inspired language they spoke then. Surely this does not make them lesser Muslims as a result?

The ruckus that has resulted thanks to the threat not to allow the publication of the Malaysian language edition of the Christian Herald therefore forces observers to ask the simple question: Why has this issue erupted all of a sudden, when the word Allah was used for so long with narry a protest in sight? At a time when the Malaysian government is already getting flak as a result of the protests by Malaysian Hindus who insist that they remain at the bottom of the economic ladder despite fifty years of independence, now it would appear as if the Malaysian government cannot get enough bad publicity.

The administration of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi came to power on the promise that it would promote its own brand of moderate Islam that was pluralist and respectful of other cultures and religions. But time and again the Malaysian public - first Hindus and now Christians - have felt necessary to protest over what they regard as unfair, biased treatment and the furthering of an exclusive brand of Islam that is communitarian and divisive. The latest fiasco over the non-issue that is the name of God would suggest that Prime Minister's Badawi's grand vision of a moderate Islam has hit the rocks, and is now floundering. Just how the ministers and elite of this government is to regain their course is open to question, but what is clear is that some Ministers should get their basic knowledge of their own religion in order first.

Dr. Farish A. Noor is a Malaysian political scientist and historian based at the Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin; and one of the founders of the www.othermalaysia.org research site.

Is Allah A Name Or A Word? These Dumb UMNO Effers

Asia Sentinel

On the eve of the Christmas holidays, Malaysia’s authorities mistakenly decide Allah’s name isn’t God’s

The Malaysian authorities’ refusal to renew the publication of the weekly Catholic newspaper The Herald unless it stops using the word Allah as the word for God in the Malay language is a demonstration of racism and linguistic ignorance, not religious purity.

According to Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharum, “Only Muslims can use ‘Allah’. It’s a Muslim word, you see. It’s from (the Arabic language). We cannot let other religions use it because it will confuse people,” he was reported as saying. “We cannot allow this use of ‘Allah’ in non-Muslim publications, nobody except Muslims. The word ‘Allah’ is published by the Catholics. It’s not right.”

But what Johari revealed was his ignorance of his own professed religion, of the Arabic language in which the Koran is written, and of the history and culture of Muslims throughout most of the world. God and Allah mean the same in different languages.

Muslims, like Christians do not worship a person called Allah. They worship a single supreme being which the Arabic language denotes as Allah. The very word Allah derives from the singular nature of the monotheistic deity. In the Arab world Allah has always been used by Christians (a significant minority) and Jews (a smaller but important minority until the creation of Israel) to denote the one God which the religions share. Ditto in Farsi.

In Indonesia 100 million Muslims have no problem with their Christian brothers using Allah to denote the supreme being in Bahasa Indonesia, the Indonesian version of the Malay language. So why should a United Malays National Organisation politician unless for some reason to ramp up Malay prejudice against non-Muslims and reinforce the notion that all Malays are and always will be Muslims?

Likewise among the (Roman) Catholics, the word in Latin (lingua franca of the Roman church) for God is Deus and is used without discrimination between Christians Muslims and Jews.

The Johari version of the world displays the same kind of ignorance as found among Christian fundamentalists in the United States and elsewhere who insist on saying that Muslims worship Allah rather than the God (an English word) that the two religions share. An English Koran uses the words “In the name of God the compassionate and merciful,” not “In the name of Allah the compassionate and merciful.”

If Malaysian Malays are confused about the distinction between Islam and Christianity because they use the same word to describe the one God, clearly there is a lot wrong with the educational system. But if a minister is so ignorant, how can the rakyat – Malaysia’s citizenry - be expected to know better?

For Muslims, Jesus was a prophet of Islam. For Johari on the eve of the birthday of Jesus to make this astonishing decision is an insult to his own religion as well as to the Christian one from which Islam sprang.

Abdullah Badawi's Fight Against Corruption

By Kim Quek

The country’s top law enforcement official conveniently clears up three scandals almost simultaneously

On July 27, Malaysia’s attorney general, Tan Sri Abdul Gani, simultaneously absolved both the Inspector General of Police and the former Director General of the Anti-Corruption Agency of corruption charges. Two weeks earlier, he did the same for the Deputy Minister of Internal Security, the cabinet member in charge of the police force.

And so by one stroke of the pen, the AG has miraculously rescued Prime Minister Ahmad Abdullah Badawi’s leadership from the crisis of confidence precipitated by the almost simultaneous eruption of corruption scandals (earlier this year) besieging these three top law enforcers.

Not only that, the AG also has, through absolution of these officials, turned the tables on the webmasters and bloggers who have brought to light in cyberspace these high-level scandals and allowed the leadership of the embattled United Malays National Organisation to launch a counter-offensive against the Internet trouble makers.

Having sat on these corruption reports for months for no creditable reason, the AG’s sudden burst of energy to almost simultaneously pronounce these tainted parties innocent has been met with widespread skepticism. And indeed the AG’s announcement to the press begs many more questions than it answers.

Dealing with these three cases separately:

The Inspector General of Police
Abdul Gani said that based on the Anti-Corruption Agency’s investigations, allegations of corruption against IGP Musa Hassan are groundless, as examinations of Musa’s bank account statements and properties have revealed nothing suspicious.

On the specific allegation that Musa and his officers received 2 million ringgit to free three detainees of a betting syndicate, the AG said the three were wrongfully detained on 30 March 2007 based on a fake statement bearing the forged signatures of six individuals, five of whom were in the Kluang police lockup and a sixth who was in court at the time the statement was made.

The three detainees were released on April 6 on the order of Criminal Investigation Department’s deputy director of intelligence/operations, Khalid Abu Bakar, who was instructed by Musa to probe the case. Khalid also suggested that disciplinary action be taken against police officers involved in this victimization.

My questions:
If the police officers perpetrating this victimization are guilty, why were they not charged in court?
If the three detainees are innocent, why didn’t they complain about their wrongful detention for seven days and seek compensation?
If it was a simple case of victimization, why did the Deputy Minister of Security Minister Johari Baharom, who is in charge of the police force, insist that ACA must probe the corruption allegations? Johari was reported as late as July 11 to have said that he was not satisfied with the explanations given by the police. He also said he did not get the documents he asked for following the corruption allegations in the web.
Why didn’t the AG also touch on other equally if not more important aspects of allegations in the web against Musa, such as his intimate relations with underworld kingpins whose names were clearly spelled out?
The AG said that Musa’s bank statements and properties reveal nothing suspicious. Is that the modus operandi of ACA investigations – checking the suspect’s bank statements and properties? Do criminals normally allow their illegal income be reflected in bank statements and properties?
If Musa is innocent, shouldn’t he have defended the honour of himself, the police force and the country by demanding justice from his accusers who, after all, have made specific accusations?

Director General of the Anti-Corruption Agency
On 26th February 2007, the web daily Malaysiakini revealed that then newly retired head of the Anti-Corruption Agency in Sabah, Ramli Manan, had lodged a corruption report in July 2006 against the then Director General of the ACA, Zulkipli Mat Nor, whose extended contract was due to expire at end March 2007.

Ramli claimed in the report that the ACA knew as long ago as 1997 that Zulkipli had corruptly amassed wealth and had been investigated by the police for sexual assault against a woman when he was police chief in Johor. Among Zulkipli’s alleged assets were houses and petrol stations in the name of Zulkipli’s sons and sister. Ramli’s report, copies of which were made available to the Prime Minister, the AG, the auditor general and civil service director-general, was ignored.

Following the Malaysiakini revelations, a task force led by the police was immediately formed to investigate Ramli’s allegations. Musa said in April that the police had already completed investigations and the report submitted to the AG.

After keeping quiet for more than three months, the AG suddenly announced on July 27 that Zulkipli had been cleared of Ramli’s allegations, as they were found to be only assumptions that Mohamad could not substantiate with documentary evidence. Neither could Mohamad reveal the third parties from whom Mohamad obtained his information. The AG however said that interviews with 43 witnesses including Ramli had been conducted.

My questions are:

Is it common practice to expect whistle-blowers to produce hard evidence for the prosecution?
Is it not the job of the law enforcement agency to search for the evidence since it is equipped with the legal power and resources necessary to pursue criminals?
The AG said investigations into sexual misconduct by Zulkipli conducted in 1997 were referred to the public prosecutor, and were declared dropped due to lack of evidence. This assertion is contradicted by a press report on March 1 which quoted IGP Musa as saying that the police did in fact carry out such an investigation in 1997, but after submitting the report to the AG for a decision as whether to file charges, the AG simply never responded. Musa added that the police had just submitted another report to the AG on the previous day, and was awaiting the AG’s instruction. This Musa statement clearly implied there is sufficient evidence to warrant the consideration of charges, in contrast to the AG’s claim of NFA due to lack of evidence. Will the AG please explain the contradiction?
If Ramli’s allegations were found to be completely baseless in April (or March), why didn’t the AG announce the finding there and then, thus sparing the Abdullah administration of prolonged acute embarrassment occasioned by the simultaneous assault on its reputation?
Wouldn’t a prompt announcement then be the natural choice of action by a clean AG in a clean government?
If Zulkipli is truly innocent and the investigations above board, why didn’t the government promptly charge Ramli for making such serious but baseless accusations so as to salvage the image of the government?
Similarly, shouldn’t Zulkipli have personally taken legal and disciplinary action against Ramli as self-protection for himself as well as for the entire organization?
Mind you, Ramli’s accusations were leveled in July 2006 when he was still a subordinate of Zulkipli, and such accusations were circulated to all relevant parties including the prime minister. Is the government prepared to make full disclosure of the investigations to dispel the cloud of suspicion arising from such dubious conduct over this scandal?

Deputy Minister of Internal Security
The “freedom for sale” allegation against Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharom became public knowledge on 3 March 2007 when the Star newspaper picked up information from an anonymous website called Freewebs.com, which specifically accused Johari of improperly releasing three gangster bosses operating vice syndicates in different parts of the country, for which Johari allegedly received bribes of not less than 5.5 million ringgit.

These three underworld bosses, who were named on the web site, were arrested at various times between October and December 2006 and released in mid-January 2007. The first came from Sitiawan, Perak and is the younger brother of a deputy minister who was named on the website. The second came from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, for whose release a bribe was allegedly paid. The third came from Cemor, Perak, was detained in October 2006, then placed in restricted residence in Tampin, Negeri Sembilan, and finally set free in mid-January, for “not less than 2.5 million ringgit”.

When the news broke on March 3, the Anti-Corruption Agency was already reported to have started an investigation, with the police seeking to ascertain whether these three detainees had been illegally released. Musa even recommended then that the detainees be re-arrested.

On March 8, the Star reported that two of the three detainees had already been re-arrested including the younger brother of the deputy minister. The police then said that “with these arrests, we should be able to carry out a comprehensive probe.”

On April 21, ACA acting director general Ahmad Said Hamdan was quoted in Malaysiakini as saying that investigations were completed shortly after Johari was questioned on Mar 19. He said that the investigation papers were in the hands of the AG.

Nothing was heard from the AG until July 11, when he announced that Johari had been cleared of the corruption allegations, as “the ACA was unable to find any statement to link Johari to the alleged offence.” The AG explained that “the said criminals had denied giving Johari money as a bribe,” that “related statements of accounts were scrutinized” and that “several criminals who are important witnesses could not be traced after their release.”

And why did it take the AG so long to come to this conclusion? He answers: “the ACA investigation took some time as statements of accounts had to be analyzed and statements had to be taken from relevant witnesses, and tracing witnesses also took some time.”

What a pack of lies when the ACA acting DG had confirmed that investigations were completed shortly after March 19!

As for the criminals’ denials and the lack of evidence in the relevant accounts, what do you expect – criminals admitting giving bribes and accounts showing millions of bribes? As seasoned crime busters and law enforcers, such admissions of ineptitude and criminal cover up are shameful. The AG must have taken the public for fools if he expects such lies would be well taken.

If IGP Musa could force individuals of high integrity and social standing into criminalizing an innocent deputy prime minister in open courts, I don’t see why he can’t get proper testimony from real criminals in his custody?

Then what about the detention, release and re-arrest (and most likely re-release) of these criminal bosses? Who is at fault – Johari or the police? Was it wrongful detention or wrongful release? Since these are big-time criminals – a fact which the police have not denied – why release them in the first place? Isn’t the Emergency Ordinance created specifically to detain without trial this type of criminal? Why keep the small fry and spare the bosses?

The Attorney General
Keen observers of politics must have noticed the powerful position of the attorney general when it comes to criminal prosecution, for he has the discretion to prosecute or not to prosecute any criminal case (save Shariah cases and courts-martial). The AG’s already powerful position was further enhanced in the Mahathir era when the ACA was also required to channel their cases to the AG for prosecution (in addition to the police cases) – a move obviously designed to make AG the ultimate filter to prevent unintended big fishes from being netted in the courts. This move undoubtedly facilitated the rapid expansion of cronyism and corruption among the UMNO elites, and looks set to further serve similar pursuits of the Abdullah leadership, its continued effectiveness being so dramatically demonstrated in the current move to cover up the dirty tracks of the ruling elite.
Another useful observation is that when it comes to criminal investigations of VIPs that might embarrass the ruling power, the law enforcement agency tasked with the investigations, whether police or ACA, choose to keep silent and push the dirty investigation papers to the AG where they may sleep for an indeterminate period only to be re-activated when the occasion so suits the political masters. Thus, when it comes to high-level criminal investigations, the AG has become the escape route for law enforcement, which in turn have always served as safe harbour for the corrupt elite where their dirty linen is habitually bleached.
Perhaps the saddest part of the current AG scam is the response of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi who expressed satisfaction at the AG’s announcement and requested that the issues of corruption by Musa and Zulkipli be dropped henceforth since there was no evidence. However, when reporters raised questions about the content of the investigation reports, he snapped back: “Don’t ask me on the contents of the investigations. These are not my jobs.”
If that isn’t the prime minister’s job, then what is? Don’t forget that as internal security minister, you are also the cabinet leader to whom all these scandalized officials report directly. Don’t you realize that there has been a crisis of confidence arising from these corruption scandals, and the current sham announcement has not only failed to restore confidence but has instead caused further disillusionment with your leadership?

As prime minister, it is you – not the IGP or the ACA head – who is directly answerable to the people. So, is it too much to ask you about the substance of the investigations to allay discontent among the people? As prime minister, you have answered critical questions with “I don’t know” too many times. Don’t let the answer “This is not my job” be another trademark of your premiership.

Malaysia's Fraying Racial Compact

By Philip Bowring

The informal racial compact that has worked so well for Malaysia since the bloody riots of 1969 is unraveling under domestic and international pressure.

Two anti-government demonstrations in Kuala Lampur last month - one on Nov. 10 demanding election reform and another on Nov. 26 that drew 10,000 ethnic Indians protesting discrimination - erupted in violence and ended in arrests as protesters clashed with the police. The demonstrations, the biggest in a decade, were illegal because the authorities had not granted permission for them to take place.

The essence of the compact is that the mainstream political representatives of the non-Malay minorities - mostly Chinese and Indians - accept not merely the political supremacy and special position of the Malays, who make up three-fifths of the country's 27 million people, but also massive affirmative action programs to raise the Malays' economic and social status.

In broad terms this policy has been successful. Racial peace, if not harmony, has been maintained and the relative economic position of the Malays has risen dramatically. Formal equality targets may not have been met. But unless there is drastic scaling back of affirmative action, an intensification of racial animosities is likely, along with Malay assumptions of entitlement to a perpetual subsidy.

The Indian demonstration was significant for two reasons. First, it drew attention to the fact that Indians, not Malays, are now the most economically disadvantaged group. While Malaysia has a significant Indian professional elite, the mostly Tamil descendents of indentured workers brought in by the British as plantation laborers remain at the bottom of the ladder.

Second, the protest saw an attempt to internationalize the race issue with appeals to India and Britain - a move that angered many Malaysians.

In India, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu state demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh help the cause of Malaysian Indians. The Hindu Rights Action Force, which organized the demonstration, is also bringing a legal case against Britain, asserting that it failed to protect Indian rights at the time of independence.

Meanwhile Beijing, which has often avoided identifying with its ethnic brethren overseas, may be starting to change its stance as Chinese pride rises and its leadership comes under domestic pressure to play uncle to Chinese everywhere.

On Malaysia's domestic front things are changing too. Gradually, perhaps irreversibly, class is beginning to assume a role in political discourse long dominated entirely by race. Years of strong economic growth and the urbanization of a once largely rural Malay population mean that low-income people of all races are seeing some common interests. Low-income Malays may become more aggrieved than non-Malays if they see the benefits of affirmative action mainly going to the conspicuously consuming elite.

Even at the mundane level of trade, the issues of preferences is an obstacle to a free trade agreement with the United States and could run into difficulties within the Asean free trade area.

In practice, Malaysia has taken a very pragmatic approach to foreign investment, granting waivers in special zones and for export projects. But for non-Malay local businesses, that has merely underlined the extra burdens they face and explains the continued exodus of non-Malay private capital and talent.

Another factor that is putting pressure on informal compact is Islam, which has assumed a larger role in the Malay political consciousness than was the case in 1969. In many respects it has become more conservative. The increased identification of race with religion has added to the racial divides created by preferential policies. In the case of Indians, injury has been added to insult by the destruction of Hindu temples to make way for new development projects.

What is also beginning to trouble an often complacent, Malay-led elite that has been in power for half a century, is the surge of discontent at a time of rapid economic growth driven by the high price of Malaysia's export commodities. This should help the well-meaning but so far ineffectual prime minister, Abdullah Badawi, to a victory in the election, expected in early 2008, large enough to cement his leadership of the governing party. This would provide an opportune time to lead Malaysia away from permanent racial preferences.

Malaysian Media Told To Self-Censor Reports On Ethnic Indian Crackdown

The Associated Press

Malaysia's government has told the mainstream media not to sensationalize a crackdown on ethnic Indians following an unprecedented rally against racial discrimination in Muslim-majority Malaysia, officials said.

Che Din Yusoh, a senior official with the Internal Security Ministry, said newspaper editors had been given "verbal advice" not to highlight sensitive issues related to the Nov. 25 rally by at least 20,000 ethnic Indians that police broke up by force.

"Don't sensationalize what police are doing. Don't give a very negative picture ... We have guidelines on publication, and they have to implement (self) censorship," he told The Associated Press late Wednesday.

Malaysiakini, an independent Internet news portal, reported Wednesday that top editors of all dailies were summoned by the government for a meeting, and were told not to give prominence to Hindu Rights Action Force, or Hindraf, the group that is leading the Indian unrest.

An editor of a Tamil-language daily, catering to Indians, confirmed the meeting took place Tuesday. He told the AP that the government advised all chief editors to be "very careful" about "sharp wordings," especially in headlines. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Che said he could only confirm guidelines were issued but gave no details.

Most Malaysian newspapers and electronic media outlets are controlled by the government or political parties in the ruling coalition. They also operate with a government license, which must be renewed annually. Internet news sites do not have these restrictions.

Traditionally, Malaysia's mainstream media have been pro-government but some newspapers have become bolder in recent years and have openly discussed issues such as race relations that were previously taboo.

Newspapers gave wide coverage to the Hindraf rally and the court hearings of 31 Indians charged with attempted murder for a head injury sustained by a policeman during the demonstration. The Indians were denied bail Thursday.

Che said the media were told not to play up Hindraf's claims — debunked by most Malaysians — that Indians are victims of ethnic cleansing in Malaysia.

"Instead of trying to tarnish the image of the government ... the media should use their common sense and discretion to refute this kind of allegations," he said.

Che said his ministry monitored the media all the time to make sure their coverage did not endanger national security interests or create social unrest.

Last month's protests have shaken the government and raised fears it would destroy the fragile peace between the country's three main communities - Muslim Malays who form 60 percent of the country's 27 million people, the ethnic Chinese who are a quarter of the population and ethnic Indians who are 8 percent.

Malays control the government and the Chinese dominate the business. The Indians complain they are at the bottom of the society with little wealth, education or job opportunities because of government policies that give preferential treatment to Malays.

The Future Looks Bright

Need I say more?