I’m part Orang Asli and proud of it

Hindraf has to wake up. If they do not wish to work with Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat then they will have to go solo. And going solo means it is a dead end road. So Hindraf has to choose its ally. It can’t go to war with the entire world. It has to seek a friend somewhere and get this friend to support its cause.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

My grandmother on my father’s side is Tengku Badariah binti al-Marhum Sultan Ala' eddin Suleiman Shah (3 September 1896 - 11 February 1937), elder sister to HRH Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah ibni al-Marhum Sultan Ala'eddin Suleiman Shah (13 May 1898 - 1 September 1960), the Sixth Sultan of Selangor.

My great grandfather on my father’s side is HRH Sultan Ala' eddin Suleiman Shah ibni al-Marhum Raja Muda Musa, the Fifth Sultan of Selangor (1863 - 3 April 1938). And my great grandmother, the second wife of HRH Sultan Ala' eddin Suleiman Shah, is Hasnah binti Pelong, an Orang Asli.

This means the present Sultan of Selangor and I am both part Orang Asli -- and of course part Bugis. This also makes me the abang (elder) to the present Sultan. And that was why the late Sultan used to address my late father as Abang Din.

I know the Sultan is damned pissed with me. He feels I have not given him and the Perak Sultan the due respect as Sultans. Maybe the Sultan has forgotten that he is adek (younger) to me while I am the abang. His father used to call my father Abang Din. So the Sultan should call me Abang Pete. And I do not need to pay homage to him at the palace, although I used to. He should come to my house for Hari Raya instead. That is the Malay way.

No one can dispute the fact that I have Orang Asli, Bugis, Malay, and of course Welsh blood running through my veins. That makes me more Bumiputera than even Ibrahim Ali and all those activists from Perkasa. I doubt many of them can claim to have Orang Asli blood.

I suppose that is why I am what I am. A combination of Orang Asli, Bugis and Welsh blood is a very potent combination indeed. The Orang Asli, Bugis and Welsh are all very proud of their lineage. Call a Bugis person Malay and you would get a keris in your belly. They are Bugis and proud of it. Call a Welsh an Englishman and he would send you to your Maker. They are Welsh first and British second.

The Welsh Parliament even refuses to conduct its business in the English language. It is conducted in Welsh, the Brythonic branch of the Celtic language spoken only in Wales. In fact, more than 20% of the Welsh people speak Welsh and not English.

Anyway, the point to all this is that if there is one person who should be proud of his bangsa (race) then it should be me. Who can claim to be more Bumiputera than me, a person with Orang Asli blood? But I am prepared to put aside the pride of my bangsa and instead accept that I am Malaysian first and all others second. It appears, however, that many Malaysians would rather fight for their bangsa than for all Malaysians.

I remember once having a conversation with a PKR Indian leader who is also a town councillor for Kelang. He was lamenting about how Pakatan Rakyat reneged on its promises to look after Indian interests and now that it is the Selangor government the Indians are being neglected. There are not enough Indian representatives in the government, he complained. There were two or three other Indians in the group.

I asked him why he is bitching so much and whether he is Indian, to which he replied of course he is.

I told him to then go back to India and not grumble so much about the Selangor State Government.

He was shocked and for a while was speechless and did not know how to react. “How can you make such a racist statement?” he asked me.

I am not being racial, I replied. I had in fact anticipated he would say that. "You yourself said you are Indian. A person from Germany is German. A person from Italy is Italian. A person from France is French. A person from China is Chinese. So if you are Indian then you must be from India. So go back to India if you are not happy in Malaysia."

He then understood where I was coming from and quickly said that he is Malaysian, not Indian, but a Malaysian of Indian roots.

Okay, I replied, if you are Malaysian then why are you grumbling that there are not enough Indian representatives in the Selangor government. Can’t I, Raja Petra Kamarudin, a Malay, be your Indian representative?

“How can?” he said. “What if an Indian were to become the representative of the Malays? Can you accept that?”

“I can and already have,” I replied.

He looked very puzzled. He did not know what I meant. “I don’t understand,” he said.

“For 22 years we had an Indian as our Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Did you ever see me complain? Sure, I opposed Dr Mahathir. But I opposed him because of how he ran this country and not because he is Indian. In all those years that I wrote criticising Dr Mahathir I never once referred to him as Indian. I always addressed him as Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad. I never once raised his race as an issue.”

My Indian friend from PKR had nothing more to say. He said goodbye and walked off.

The Indians are too conscious of the fact that they are Indians. They want to be accorded equal treatment but refuse to also treat others as equals. They keep talking about Indian this and Indian that, never Malaysian this or Malaysian that.

I am actually quite tired of the antics of these Indian racists. There is nothing wrong in furthering the Indian cause. I am all for that and would gladly become a member of Hindraf if they would accept me. But I am not Indian. So Hindraf will not accept me. In England those in Hindraf will be sent to jail for this racial bar. In England Hindraf can’t refuse to accept me as a member just because I am not Indian.

Yes, in England Hindraf would be declared a racist organisation and their leaders would be dragged to court. Maybe I will file legal action against Hindraf in a British court just to prove my point. Hmm… I think I will contact my lawyer tomorrow and see if he can file legal action against Hindraf in a British court. That would teach them not to be too racist.

Doesn’t Hindraf see that it and Perkasa are both the same? They are just on opposite sides of the same coin.

I would love to get involved in Hindraf. I would love to join their cause. But if their cause is about Indians and by Indians only, then I am excluded from the Hindraf cause. Open your doors please, Hindraf. Invite non-Indians like me to support your cause. I am prepared to be the first non-Indian to join the ranks of Hindraf.

But before that can happen you must first not declare all non-Indians as the enemy. You are angry with Barisan Nasional. You are angry with Pakatan Rakyat. You are angry with Malays. You are angry with fellow Indians. You fight amongst yourselves. Which is the real Hindraf? There are five different Hindrafs. Will the real Hindraf please stand up!

The Hulu Selangor by-election on 25 April 2010 will be a good test of Hindraf’s sincerity. You refuse to support Barisan Nasional. You also refuse to support Pakatan Rakyat. Then who do you want as the government?

Okay, if Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat are both equally unsuitable then boycott both. Then form your own third front. And then contest the next general election as the third force. Contest all the 800 or so Parliament and State Assembly seats. Make it a three-corner fight. Let’s see how many seats you can win.

You will need at least 800 Indian candidates. Each candidate will need about RM100,000 to contest the general election. That would come to RM80 million. Even that is not enough. Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat would be spending a combined total of about RM2 billion, Barisan Nasional alone RM1.5 billion.

So how far can RM80 million take you? This is assuming you can raise RM80 million, although RM250 million would be more realistic. How many seats from those 800 can Hindraf win? If Hindraf depends on just Indian votes it will not win a single seat. There are no seats where the Indians make up more than 50% of the voters.

Hindraf will be totally wiped out and will not win a single seat if they depend on just Indian votes. They need Malay and Chinese votes as well. So Hindraf can’t just be about Indians, by Indians. Hindraf also needs the Malays and Chinese to support their cause.

Hindraf has to wake up. If they do not wish to work with Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat then they will have to go solo. And going solo means it is a dead end road. So Hindraf has to choose its ally. It can’t go to war with the entire world. It has to seek a friend somewhere and get this friend to support its cause.

I, for one, am prepared to support Hindraf’s cause. And I will send a message to Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, in the event he is chosen as the Hulu Selangor candidate, to also support Hindraf’s cause. In fact, he must also support the Orang Asli cause because I have Orang Asli blood running through my veins and the Orang Asli are worse off than the Indians.

Let the Hulu Selangor by-election be the day that Hindraf sends ‘their man’ to Parliament. And let this man be a Malaysian, not Malay, although he may be of Malay descent. Let Hindraf tell the 19% Indian voters in Hulu Selangor that they are not voting for a Malay but for a Malaysian who will ensure that their voice is heard in Parliament.

That is the only way forward for Hindraf. If not then Hindraf will flounder and eventually die. Hindraf just can’t make it without Malay and Chinese support. And 80% of the voters in Hulu Selangor are Malays, Chinese and Orang Asli. And if you don’t believe this then try and contest the Hulu Selangor by-election and see what happens to the independent Indian candidate from Hindraf. Maybe hilang deposit.

What defines race?

In this era of globalisation, that’s not an easy question to answer – nor is it a question easily ignored, of late.

CONTRADICTHEORY By DZOF AZMI, The Star

THE interesting thing about having a name like Dzof is how it confuses people about who you are.

I remember one December after introducing myself I was asked, “And will you be celebrating Christmas this year?”. I answered, “Like every good Malaysian I take every opportunity to enjoy a national public holiday when it comes along”. I think I left the poor lady a little puzzled.

I was reminded of this when the MP for Ipoh Timur challenged the Deputy Prime Minister to state that he’s a Malaysian first, and Malay second. What seemed a relatively straight-forward question produced a heated debate in the press and the blogs (tinyurl.com/ybr8otj and tinyurl.com/y6b3su8), as well as a follow-up in Parliament when the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department was asked a similar question (except substituting “Chinese” for “Malay” – see tinyurl.com/y57m677). Why is this question so difficult to answer? As far as I can tell, it was sparked by the publication of the Roadmap for the 1Malaysia Government Transformation Programme (downloadable from tinyurl.com/yad53f8). The foreword by the Prime Minister says that the GTP will ensure that Malaysians will “live in an inclusive and diverse society where they consider themselves, first and foremost, a Malaysian (ie, 1Malaysia)”. (My italics.)

Those that answered “race before country” may have argued this: you can always emigrate somewhere else and change your nationality, but you are born into your race and will forever more remain so.

However, I believe that this shows a lack of understanding of what defines race, especially in the new era of globalisation.

For a start, simply categorising the races in Malaysia is a huge task.

One list I found presented: Malay, Chinese, Indian, orang asli, Kadazan/ Dusun, Melanau, Murut, Bajau, Bidayuh, Iban, Orang Ulu, mixed and other Malaysian.

A different list replaced Bidayuh and Orang Ulu with Dayak, and included Skih, Indian-Muslim, Serani, Bugis and the intriguingly labelled “Bumiputra Sabah” and “Bumiputra Sarawak”.

Even under the heading of “Malay”, you could justify enough differences to subdivide them into some of the individual states. Similarly so for Chinese and Indian.

Apart from the sheer number of races, mixed marriages also create new variations. How do you decide what race the child is? Genetically speaking, he will be as much one as the other. Attempts to formalise a method leads to arbitrary decisions that may have no basis in reality (eg, that the child follows the race of the father).

In fact, a number of prominent Malaysians are either a product of a mixed marriage or have married outside their race. For example, the Raja Muda of Perak, Raja Nazrin Shah, has a British father-in-law. Former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Badawi married Tun Jeanne Abdullah (née Danker), who comes from a Roman Catholic Portuguese-Eurasian family. Datuk Seri Hishammudin Hussein’s grandfather, the illustrious Datuk Onn Jaafar, had a mother who was born in Turkey. And Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s father was a Malayali Muslim who came from Kerala, India.

The history of Malaysia is in itself a story of racial diversity. Our heritage is intertwined. How can people be identified as being of a single race when the backgrounds are so varied?

For some insight, I look to no less august a publication than the Malaysian Federal Constitution. It states the following: “‘Malay’ means a person who professes the religion of Islam, habitually speaks the Malay language, conforms to Malay custom.”

It is interesting that three out of the four criteria used are measures of behaviour – and behaviour is something that can change in a person’s lifetime. (The fourth criteria is that they or an ancestor of theirs also must have been born in Malaysia before Merdeka Day.)

Arguably, a newborn baby could not be defined as being Malay, according to the Federal Constitution (at least not until Dewan Bahasa Pustaka adds “googoo gaga” to its dictionaries). But as he grows up immersed in Malay culture, he becomes a Malay through upbringing.

This thus makes a mockery of the idea that one’s race is intransmutable. I suspect that if a child who has no Malay parents is adopted by a Malay family, then that child would be considered to be Malay – including for the purposes of Article 153 of the Federal Constitution (which safeguards the special position of Malays and bumiputra). Whereas if you want to know if somebody is a Malaysian, all you have to do is to check their MyKad or passport.

Back to the question of whether one should be Malaysian first or Malay. The reason why it was so difficult to answer was because it was asked by one politician of another. Thus, the answer had political overtones and had to be carefully considered.

I support wholeheartedly the intent in the GTP that citizens of our country should consider themselves, above all else, Malaysians. To me, this implies that every Malaysian should have the same rights and opportunities afforded to them, regardless of race, colour or creed.

If our nation ever develops to a point that this sentiment is reflected sincerely, then I know we would have transcended the petty arguments that slow our country down, and instead be looking up towards challenging the world together. The fact that this kind of question could be asked for political capital is already a measure of how far we are along the road.

For me, the best way to answer something like this would have been to do it straight: “Actually, both – but why should it matter?”.

■ Logic is the antithesis of emotion but mathematician-turned-scriptwriter Dzof Azmi’s theory is that people need both to make of life’s vagaries and contradictions.

Hulu S’gor poll: PKR likely to field Zaid if BN names Palanivel

(Bernama) - Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) is "most likely" to field supreme council member Datuk Zaid Ibrahim in the April 25 Hulu Selangor parliamentary by-election if the Barisan Nasional names MIC deputy president Datuk G. Palanivel as its candidate, according to party insiders.

They said PKR might change its candidate at the 11th hour if the Barisan decided not to field Palanivel.

"As for now, what I heard is that Zaid Ibrahim still tops the list of being the best PKR candidate for the by-election. Zaid still carries 'national weight' despite being an outsider and is seen by PKR as the best candidate to challenge the Barisan.

"However, there could be a change (in the candidate) if Barisan decides not to field Palanivel," one party insider told Bernama.

He felt that Zaid and Palanivel would be the ideal candidates as both had served the federal government administration.

Zaid, who was expelled from Umno in December 2008, was a minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of legal affairs and judicial reform while Palanivel was the deputy minister of Women, Family and Community Development.

"It would be only appropriate if a Datuk fights a Datuk, a heavyweight fights a heavyweight," the insider said.

Another insider said fielding Zaid would be most favourable to PKR in the light of the constituency's recent voting pattern.

"Zaid is a recognisable face. Everyone knows him and he is quite popular with the non-Malays as well. Furthermore, Zaid is seen as a principled politician, since he was willing to resign as a minister. People respect him for this," he said.

Meanwhile, sources claimed that PKR's intention to field Zaid reflected the party's anticipation that the BN would field a political heavyweight.

The Hulu Selangor seat fell vacant following the death of the Member of Parliament, Datuk Dr Zainal Abidin Ahmad of PKR, on March 25.

In the 2008 general election, Dr Zainal Abidin defeated Palanivel by a 198-vote majority. Hulu Selangor has 63,593 voters.

Barisan has announced that it would nominate a candidate from the MIC to contest the seat.

The candidate is expected to be identified on April 15, two days before nomination for the by-election.
Speculation is rife that Palanivel, 61, who had been Hulu Selangor MP from 1990 to 2008, would be fielded once again as the Barisan candidate although there is some clamour for a younger candidate.

Orang Asli lebih terbela di bawah Pakatan Rakyat

(Harakahdaily) - Kerajaan Negeri Selangor amat prihatin dan memberi perhatian yang serius terhadap taraf sosioekonomi Orang Asli di negeri ini yang seolah-olahnya tidak dibela oleh kerajaan Barisan Nasional (BN) sebelum ini.

Justeru, masyarakat Orang Asli termasuk di Hulu Selangor merasakan nasib mereka lebih terbela di bawah Kerajaan Pakatan Rakyat yang memerintah negeri sekarang.

Menurut sumber, penyelesaian terhadap nasib masyarakat Orang Asli itu terkandung dalam Bajet 2010 negeri yang dibentangkan oleh Menteri Besar, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim (gambar) pada 10 November tahun lalu.

Bagi Kerajaan Selangor, isu tanah pusaka Orang Asli merupakan isu pokok kepada masyarakat yang sekian lama diketepikan oleh pentadbiran kerajaan negeri yang lalu.

Pada tahun lalu, kerajaan negeri telah menjalankan kajian secara mendalam berhubung dengan isu tanah pusaka Orang Asli dan justeru itu, pada tahun ini kerajaan negeri bersedia untuk memberi milik tanah-tanah pusaka itu kepada Orang Asli yang berhak.

Untuk itu, kerajaan negeri juga telah menubuhkan Badan Bertindak Tanah Orang Asli yang diketuai dan dianggotai oleh wakil-wakil Orang Asli mereka sendiri, iaitu suatu jawatankuasa unik dan tidak pernah ditubuhkan oleh kerajaan BN sebelum ini.

Sumber itu menyebut, objektif Badan Bertindak itu adalah untuk memastikan bahawa masalah-masalah tanah yang sedang dihadapi oleh Orang Asli dapat diselesaikan melalui perbincangan dengan kerajaan negeri.

Untuk mencapai matlamat tersebut, Kerajaan Negeri Selangor menyediakan peruntukan sebanyak RM500,000 untuk menjalankan dua projek perintis ujian bagi menaik taraf hidup kumpulan Orang Asli termiskin.

Sehingga hari ini, masih banyak terdapat kampung-kampung Orang Asli tidak mendapat bekalan elektrik, air minuman bersih, dan jalan raya di mana Jabatan Hal Ehwal Orang Asli di bawah Kerajaan Persekutuan gagal menyediakan dana sebelum ini.

Untuk itu, kerajaan negeri merancang untuk memastikan pembangunan sosial dan ekonomik yang bersepadu, melalui program-program pendidikan golongan dewasa, skim pinjaman secara kecil-kecilan, dan program membangunkan diri.

Kesemua program tersebut bermatlamatkan untuk membolehkan masyarakat Orang Asli berdikari demi menentukan masa hadapan mereka sendiri.

Call on Nazri to make ministerial statement on why Pornthip “pressured” not to testify at TBH inquest

The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz should make a ministerial statement in Parliament tomorrow on the scandalous and outrageous development in the Teoh Beng Hock inquest with the renowned Thai pathologist Dr. Pornthip Rojanasunand “pressured” not to come to Malaysia to testify.

In an exclusive interview with Malaysiakini, Pornthip said she would not appear for the Teoh Beng Hock inquest when it resumes on April 20 citing “political pressure” from the Malaysian government.

Pornthip told Malaysiakini that she was “advised” by high-ranking officials from the Thai Justice Ministry – where she is director-general of the ministry’s Central Institute of Forensic Science – not to go to Malaysia next week for the inquest.

She said the Justice Ministry had received information from the Thai Foreign Ministry that she may face problems should she go, including the possibility of being stopped from entering the country.

According to her, the Thai Foreign Ministry had received “signals” from the Malaysian government through “informal channels” suggesting that her presence at the inquest later this month would not be welcomed.

She said: “It was conveyed to me by certain senior Thai government officials that there has been political pressure from certain Malaysian government circles to block my presence in court, so much so that it might interfere with my current important forensic mission in southern Thailand.”

Pornthip, who is to testify on her findings of Teoh’s second post-mortem next Tuesday, said she was concerned that her involvement in the controversial inquest could impinge on her work in the three troubled southern Thailand provinces where thousands have died in a Muslim separatist insurgency.

Part of her on-going forensic work involved the need to go to Kelantan to investigate a case related to the killings in southern Thailand. According to Pornthip, she had tried to obtain permission to enter Kelantan in January this year but was denied entry to Malaysia on “a ’signal’ from the authorities forbidding her from crossing the Thai-Malaysian border”.

With Porthip barred from the Teoh Beng Hock inquest, public confidence in the Barisan Nasional government and MACC would plunge to a new all-time low as the overwhelming majority of Malaysians do not believe that Teoh Beng Hock committed suicide by jumping off the 14th floor of the MACC headquarters in Shah Alam on July 16 last year.

Nazri should also arrange for his ministerial statement on Pornthip barred from testifying at the Teoh Beng Hock inquest to be fully debated in Parliament.

Perkim: Converts must take care of non-Muslim family too

thestar.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR: Muslim converts are not getting the complete picture of Islamic inheritance and distribution of assets and this is an area of concern for Perkim.

Perkim secretary-general Tan Sri Dr Hamid Othman said many would-be converts were unaware that after they converted to Islam, their non-Muslim family would not inherit their assets or estate upon their death.

Therefore, he said, the time has come for Islamic departments’ religious officers to inform would-be converts of the inheritance law and discuss the fate of the non-Muslim family and advise them to distribute their assets before conversion.

Muslims are allowed to bequeath in their wasiat (will) up to one-third of their assets to whoever they want and this could include non-Muslim family members.

They can during their lifetime hibah (give) as much as they want to their non-Muslim family members, set up trust funds for their non-Muslim children or parents and make special arrangements for their pension to go to their aged non-Muslim parents.

If a convert dies without a bequest and leaves no heirs (because his family members are all non-Muslims), his assets and estate will go to Baitul Mal, the states’ religious council’s treasury body.

Dr Hamid said it was important for would-be converts to have all this information, so they could plan accordingly.

“Islam does not want a person to leave his non-Muslim offspring in limbo,” he said.

He said converting to Islam did not absolve a person from his responsibility towards his children, parents or other family members who had not converted.

“Say a child is studying overseas and dependent on the father for financial support. If the father converts, he can’t just cut off funding for his non-Muslim child or force the child to convert, too, to get his financial support. That would be unjust,” he said.

Dr Hamid, who was a former minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, said it was important for a person to leave his former religion peacefully and enter Islam peacefully.

“Islam does not want you to establish hostility towards the former religion or the non-Muslim family,” he said, stressing that religious officers should also ask the person the reason he wanted to convert and go down to the ground to talk to the person’s family.

“Right now, when a person says he wants to convert, the religious officers say ‘welcome, welcome’ but never find out if it is out of belief, due to a quarrel or because he wants to escape from his old family or marry another.”

“If you are angry with your family or if your present marriage is the main reason you want to convert to Islam, let us become the middle party to talk to your family. We want to jaga (protect) Islam.

“We want those converting to Islam to do it out of sincere reasons. We don’t want people to change religion based on hatred – that they hate their family and run to Islam to escape.”

Muhyiddin and the ethnic swing back - Malaysiakini

I'm not surprised that Kee Thuan Chye should feel he is Malaysian first. After all, his family has been here almost 200 years. We're first cousins.

Our grandfather's grandfather was an influential Province Wellesley sugar planter in the 1800s who has a 'lorong' named after him. His father - our great, great, great grandpa - was the one who sailed from China to the then British crown colony of Penang.

Unlike Kee, I'm not declaring the same sentiment. Instead, I'm asking why are we still second -class citizens after two centuries living in this land. Why is a second-generation Malaysian like Dr Mohd Khir Toyo, whose father is the Javanese immigrant Joyo Erodikromo, treated like a first-class citizen?

Here is how the sycophants of Ketuanan Melayu would answer me. Recently at a lecture, Dr Mohd Ridhuan Tee was reported as saying: 'When this country was formed, there was only one race (sic). And this fact has to be respected, you have to respect us (Malays) for that'.

Ridhuan (right) more often than not classes himself among the Malays; this is seen when he uses the word 'kita' ('us', including himself in the Muslim-Malay polity) writing his Utusan Malaysia column. If Ridhuan is a 'best model' of what it takes under the present circumstances of discrimination and deceit to attain equal citizenship, I'd rather have a gangrenous toe amputated than be anything like him.

Someone who is Ridhuan's counterpart is Dr Chandra Muzaffar, in the sense that technically, both can be Malay according to the constitution.

Chandra writes in the New Straits Times: 'Article 160(2) of the federal constitution defines a Malay as someone who professes Islam, habitually speaks Malay and conforms to Malay customs. Two of these characteristics actually define the identity of the Malaysian nation'.

He continues: 'This is why it is absurd to see Malaysian nationality as antithetical to Malay identity...On the contrary, Malaysian nationality is coterminous with Malay identity.'

Given that Chandra is also chairman of the Yayasan 1Malaysia board of trustees, what he espouses can be viewed as an academic abstract for the prime minister's public relations brainchild.

Right from the start, I've always thought that '1Malaysia' was just a lot of feel-good hot air. Lim Kit Siang pinning down Muhyiddin Yassin to his 'Malay first' admission made the (unnecessary) confirmation.

What is a M'sian race?

Kee asks: 'Why must we separate ourselves into divisive categories?'

Well, it is the federal constitution that does it. It defines Malay and not the rest of us.

But who has ever closely examined that purported race called 'Malaysian'? Go scour the anthropology or biology textbooks... see if you can find any references. The first I know of 'Bangsa Malaysia' is from Dr Mahathir Mohamad's Vision 2020. My opinion of Dr M and his slogans such as 'Bersih, Cekap, Amanah' does not vary from my opinion of Najib Abdul Razak's Apco-assisted sloganeering.

But there is that Bangsar Malaysia (pun intended). They live in the Liberal Republic of Bangsar where English is their national language.

Chandra (right), in his article defending Muhyiddin, explains what it means to be Malaysian first.

In the Chandra template, the Chinese are called upon to 'be enthusiastic about propagating Malay as the national language and strengthening the Bahasa Malaysia-based national school as the school of first choice for all Malaysians'.

'An appreciation of the role of Islam as the religion of the federation would also be part of his (the Chinese's) outlook', Chandra advocates.

I shall discuss his statement by breaking it down into three parts, in the order he lists them.

Part (a): If we follow the Chandra blueprint on national language, then those Malaysian-First folks who bash Muhyiddin should, by right, have vented in BM. If in BM, Chandra must surely hope that their pronunciation is accurate and the intonation correct.

Part (b): National school as first choice. Kee walked his talk and sent his kids to 'sekolah kebangsaan'. But let me ask, does a Chinese upon completion of primary education stand a fair chance of proceeding to the residential schools or Mara junior science colleges? To UiTM?

Part (c): The Malaysian-First cheerleading squad should thank Chandra for his reminder. The Malaysian flag which is our national symbol bears the Islamic crescent. (Side note: The flags of some European countries carry the Christian cross; Korea's has Taoist elements, India's the wheel of dharma, Israel's the Star of David, and so on.) Hence, the spiritual identity of Malaysia is Islamic. One goal for Chandra.

Next symbol, the monarchy. Items of royal regalia comprise the 'tengkolok' and this headdress is affixed with the star and crescent; the 'keris' is tucked into the 'kain samping'; the sceptre has verses from the Quran embossed on it.

Even the yellow royal umbrella sports, at its top, the star and crescent. Hence, the leitmotif of the Raja-Raja Melayu - the institution of the royal houses is not called 'Raja-Raja Malaysia', by the way - is Malay-Muslim. Another goal for Chandra.

Is Chinese-ness a sin?

Lim, Kee, my member of Parliament Tony Pua and others have avowed they are 'Malaysian first, Chinese second'.

To me, it's no big deal if Muhyiddin is Malay first. After all, it's his personal sense of self that every individual is entitled to. Why browbeat Malaysians into selecting a rigid hierarchy for self-identity? 'I am Malay' is to its speaker a positive affirmation, just as 'I am Chinese' is to me the same. And please don't quibble as to whether it should be 'Malaysian Chinese' or 'Chinese Malaysian'.

Head-butting the deputy prime minister has only created a wave of sympathy for him, not to mention alienating segments of the Malay electorate. The mobbing of Muhyiddin has come across as a negative tilt at Malay identity although this is an unintended consequence.

Isn't it more precise to convey to Muhyiddin (left) this message: 'Do you swear by your oath of office that you will put national interests, not communal interests, first?' And rather than eliciting from Najib's pink lips that he is Malaysian first, I prefer the PM to say this: 'I promise to treat all citizens fairly and equally'.

But will it happen? Consider the racial breakdown of the Malaysian civil service: Malays 78.2% and bumiputera altogether 86%; Chinese 5.8%. An overwhelming majority of the Chinese workforce employed is in the private sector. I've written before that Mandarin and the Chinese dialects are our 'cari makan' language.

For whatever reasons, 90-plus percent of Chinese parents send their children to Chinese school. In Kelantan's little lost dragons, I said the Chinese who have for many generations acculturated themselves to locals are now opting to revert to mainstream 'Chinese-ness' - a social marker of which is speaking Mandarin.

Chinese have swung back. Malays have swung to Perkasa. Dr Mahathir Mohamad - the spiritual godfather of this Malay-ultra movement - was once asked to comment on his Indian ancestry in an Al-Jazeera interview. He replied he is 'constitutionally Malay'.

True, some countries do prioritise nationality; the Americans, Australians and Singaporeans come to mind. Malaysia doesn't. Malaysia is a country that aspires to perpetuate active discrimination against one minority race and passive neglect of other minority races. 'Great' aspirations to be proud of indeed.

Yet it is the Chinese and Indians who are overly keen to declare themselves Malaysian first. The Malays are 'selamba aje' or don't show any particular eagerness. To them, their nationality is a given - their birthright. Shouldn't the rest of us accept our nationality just as naturally? After all, we were born here.

HELEN ANG used to be a journalist. In future, she would like to be a practising cartoonist. But for the present, she is in the NGO circles and settling down to more serious writing and reading of social issues.

Photos: Eye witness saw police shot dead 2 Indian youths

10/4/2010, Demo bersama P.Uthayakumar- Polis Raja Di Malaysia tembak mati 2 pemuda India di Taiping, Perak.

Funeral jam 2.00 petang, bermula berarak dari 388, Lorong Satu, Taman Permata, Aulang, Taiping, Perak.

Hubungi:-  HRP Taiping Siva- 016 5347843

                 HRP Perak Chief-  019 5235528

Hentikan pembunuhan Kejam oleh Polis.

Datang ramai-ramai & Sebarkan.

S.JAYATHAS

HRP & HINDRAF

Information Chief

HRP/HINDRAF Perak at Jabatan Forensik, Ipoh.
R.Logeswaran 34 and R.Sathitanathan 27– both brothers was shot dead like shooting dogs.

PKR might skip Sibu vote

By Adib Zalkapli - The Malaysian Insider


KUALA LUMPUR, April 10 — PKR is likely to cede to the DAP in the impending Sibu by-election, to ensure a straight fight with Barisan Nasional (BN).
“There will be no more three-cornered fight; that is the understanding, it is still too early for us to talk about the by-election, but nobody wants to upset the formula,” said PKR vice-president, Azmin Ali.
PKR lost badly in the seat during Election 2008, pulling in fewer votes than even BN’s 3,325 majority.
The party’s election director, Fuziah Salleh, said the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leadership council will make a decision on the matter.
“Pakatan leaders will decide and all parties will have to accept the decision,” said Fuziah without elaborating.
Both parties contested Sibu in the last general election, after seat allocation negotiations between Sarawak DAP and PKR collapsed due to the central leaderships’ failure to intervene.
The refusal of local leaders to work together resulted in PKR and DAP jostling each other while also facing BN in the federal constituencies of Stampin and Sibu.
Both were won by the ruling coalition.
Sibu will soon be declared vacant, after BN MP Datuk Robert Lau died yesterday, and will trigger the country’s 11th by-election since 2008.
Lau, from Sarawak BN party SUPP, beat state DAP chief Wong Ho Leng and PKR’s Lim Chin Chuang in a three-cornered fight to win his fifth term as Sibu MP.
The deputy transport minister won by a majority of 3,235 votes. He garnered 19,138 votes against Wong’s 15,903 and Lim’s 812.
The Malaysian Insider understands that PKR will choose to stay away from the Sibu polls due to its weak showing the last time out.
It also intends to build a stronger case to demand for more state seats, and to retain the seats it had contested previously, in the upcoming Sarawak state election, due no later than the middle of next year.
However, PKR and DAP are still unable to come to an agreement on the distribution of five seats where they are assured of victory.
The Malaysian Insider understands the disputed seats include Padungan, the only state constituency represented by PKR in the 71-member Sarawak assembly.
In 2006, PKR’s Dominique Ng defeated SUPP candidate Yong Lee Lee to win the Chinese constituency situated in the state capital.
State leaders from the two PR parties will head to the negotiation table for another round of talks on seat allocations next week.
Wong, when contacted, refused to say if the two parties will discuss the PR candidate for Sibu then.
“The body is still warm, let me pay my last respects first,” said Wong.

MIC No 2 pleads for 2nd chance in Hulu Selangor

By G. Manimaran - The Malaysian Insider


HULU SELANGOR, April 10 — Datuk G. Palanivel last night pleaded for another chance to serve the Hulu Selangor voters, despite talk that his candidacy looks to be increasingly in jeopardy ahead of the April 17 nomination.
“Give a second chance, try again,” the former four-term Hulu Selangor MP said during his fourth stop at the semi-rural constituency in northern Selangor.
“If not satisfied, dump in the next election in 2012,” the MIC deputy president continued when opening a women's programme in Bukit Beruntung last night.
Palanivel went on to call for support for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's government, even as he was pleading his own case to the voters.
“For a strong government, a strong Parliament, the Chinese votes are vital... we need the support of the Chinese community.
“The Chinese must support MIC, MIC will support candidates from MCA and Gerakan. I ask that, this time, the Chinese voters will back the MIC candidate," he said.
Both Barisan Nasional (BN), which has said it will put up an MIC candidate, and ruling state coalition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) have yet to announce their candidates for the April 25 by-election.

A banner with Ugadi greetings from Palanivel is seen in Hulu Selangor. — Picture by Jack Ooi

“I lost in 2008 by a difference of 0.04 per cent, not even half a per cent. So I hope I can count on your support,” Palanivel continued. In Election 2008, Palanivel fell to PKR’s Datuk Dr Zainal Abidin Ahmad by the slimmest of margins — 198 votes.
Prior to his Bukit Beruntung stop-over, Palanivel had spoken to roughly 50 Chinese voters at the Kuen Yin Kerk Temple in Kampung Assam Kumbang, Kuala Kubu Baru. There, he asked for Najib to be given a chance by the Chinese community.
The prime minister has just completed his first year in office, and had marked the event in Hulu Selangor.
“One chance, give him one chance,” said Palanivel.
The MIC man, who held Hulu Selangor from 1990 till his defeat in 2008, was not “campaigning” as the official candidate, and was instead donning the hat of Hulu Selangor parliamentary co-ordinator.
He had been appointed to the post in October last year.
With that capacity, said Palanivel, he could address the problems and needs of the locals, including securing financial allocations.
To prove his case, he then handed over partially the allocations residents had requested in January.
The meet-the-people sessions yesterday were kicked off with the handing over of three cheques, valued at RM300,000, to two Chinese associations in Kuala Kubu Baru.
This was followed by a meet-and-greet event with the Orang Asli community at Changkat Bintang, close to Slim River, and the Kampung Serigala Orang Asli settlement. The session in Bukit Beruntung was held after that.
Both Orang Asli settlements, which contribute roughly 120 votes, were considered Barisan Nasional strongholds two years ago.
However, BN also completely failed to capture the Chinese votes in Kuala Kubu Baru then.
At 10pm, Palanivel continued on to Hulu Rening, near Genting Highlands, to meet with the Malay voters there, in a day that saw him cover nearly 200km to curry favour.
There has been no official word of his candidacy, although his has been the sole name touted to the BN Supreme Council.
The leadership from both MIC and BN have declined to confirm if other names have been presented to Najib, who is also the BN chaiman.

Palanivel (left) hands over cheques worth RM300,000 to representatives of two Chinese associations.

The Malaysian Insider trailed Palanivel throughout his entire run yesterday, and watched him display commitment to the cause even as rumours swirl that he may not, ultimately, contest. His assistants were seen hard at work with the preparations, updating his profile to show his achievements since first becoming a lawmaker some two decades ago.
Several of his aides also claimed Palanivel was merely fulfilling his duties as the constituency’s co-ordinator, and paid no heed to talks that efforts were underway to block his potential candidacy.
Hulu Selangor Umno also continued to press for their man to contest the seat, in blatant disregard of Najib’s statement that seat remains under MIC’s banner.
The groundwork is being done as Palanivel does not want to be caught ill-prepared in the event he is nominated.
Aside from the MIC No. 2, the party’s information chief, P. Kalamanathan, and deputy youth leader, V. Mugilan, have also been mentioned as being under consideration.
Both were also in Hulu Selangor yesterday to meet with voters.
During his speech in Kampung Serigala, Palanivel said: “This seat is extremely important to BN”.
The multipurpose hall where he delivered his speech was adorned with miniature BN flags and a portrait of Palanivel, with the words “Candidate for the Hulu Selangor Parliamentary constituency” displayed.
The Malaysian Insider understands the portrait has been there since Election 2008. Beside that was also another of former mentri besar, Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo.

Mat Taib or bust for Hulu Selangor voters

By Clara Chooi - The Malaysian Insider


HULU SELANGOR, April 10 — If there is an absolute about the coming Hulu Selangor by-election, it is this: Barisan Nasional (BN) will cruise to victory if Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib is fielded as a candidate.
The ruling federal coalition lost the seat by a mere 198 votes despite winning all three state wards in Election 2008, prompting local leaders to pitch for the popular ex-Selangor mentri besar as the candidate to claw it back from incumbent PKR.
Some quarters claim PKR is praying that this would not happen, believing it would completely strip them of their chances to secure a crucial win on the April 25 polling day, after losing five federal lawmakers, one of which has caused this by-election.
However, this is an unlikely scenario as BN chairman Datuk Seri Najib Razak had already discounted the possibility, when he announced recently that the parliamentary seat would stay with the MIC.
In fact, contest will likely see MIC deputy president, Datuk G. Palanivel, who was the constituency’s former MP, fielded once again as a candidate.
The four-term MP had failed in his bid to retain his seat during the tsunami of Election 2008 and lost to PKR’s Datuk Zainal Abidin Ahmad.

A banner calling for Muhammad’s candidacy in Hulu Selangor. — Pictures by Choo Choy May

Interviews with the locals across the constituency the size of Malacca over two days, however, showed two glaringly significant trends: that voters on both camps, BN and Pakatan Rakyat, want Muhammad —or “Mat Taib” — as their MP, and that BN may face defeat if they put up Palanivel again. While hardcore BN supporters are willing to cast a grudging vote for Palanivel if he remains their candidate, others feel their vote would certainly then go to the PKR candidate, who is expected to be Malay.
It is doubtless Mat Taib, who was once the state assemblyman for Batang Kali, one of the state seats in Hulu Selangor, had left a lasting impression on the semi-urban constituents during his tenure.
The faces of villagers lit up with smiles at the mere mention of his name, and Mat Taib’s popularity did not just end with the Malay community or the older generation of voters.
In fact, it is also clear that when it comes to Mat Taib, or “Mike Tyson” as he is also known in Umno for his rugged good looks, no one cared which symbol he represented — whether it be BN’s or any other party’s.
Hamzah Ali Bakat, 45, from Kampung Sungai Masin, who is short of hearing in one ear, said that it was Mat Taib who had helped him gain access to facilities for the underprivileged.
“It was under his rule also that I managed to get my four children to school for free,” he said.
Mat Taib, he added, was not just a leader, but a rakyat just like everyone else.
“He was so popular with everyone, everyone knew him, everyone liked him. He worked for us and that’s what we admired,” said Hamzah.

Sapuan says that even the Chinese and the Indians in Hulu Selangor love Mat Taib.

Another trader, Roshidah Mohamad, 46, agreed, saying that no problem was too small or too dirty for Mat Taib to handle. “The PKR government, they have taken over for two years now but I see no changes. The village of Kampung Sungai Masin floods every single time during a heavy downpour and they have done nothing. They come in their vehicles to look around but they never get down to see what is happening,” she said.
Cyber-cafe operator, Rozairi Mohd Zain, 31, said that he would look at the “skin colour” of the candidate before casting his vote in the coming by-election.
“In fact, I will look at the skin colour of the candidate, not the symbol. If they field Palanivel, I believe he will lose. If it is Mat Taib, the BN does not even need to campaign at all — he will win without question,” he said.
Rozairi, who resides in Rasa, admitted that the PR government had done well for the people in its two years of rule but insisted that it was Mat Taib who had truly contributed to Hulu Selangor.
“He brought so much development to the constituency — the factories mushroomed, the industries came here, the Perodua factory was built here... and the spill over effect is good. For business people like us, this is what we want to see — development,” he said.
He pointed out that the only reason why Palanivel had lost in the last election was because of “protest voters”, who were angry with the MIC man and BN, and wanted change.
“It may likely happen again. Do not forget, people these days are not so stupid anymore, they will not buy into money politics or allow themselves to be convinced to vote for someone just because the person offered them rewards,” he said.

The peaceful town of Rasa has not yet been hit by the election fever but already constituents are calling for former MB Mat Taib to contest.

Rozairi agreed that the Malaysia needed a stronger opposition voice in Parliament in order to spur the “complacent” BN politicians into action. “We want a stronger opposition in Parliament — it cannot just always be DAP’s Lim Kit Siang yelling. With a stronger opposition, the BN government has to work harder to maintain their places.
“Look at how Najib is trying to bring reform to the people now,” he said, referring to the prime minister.
Fellow cafe operator, Azlan Hassan, 31, from Kampung Sungai Kamin, said that Palanivel had caused voters like him and Rozairi to look at the candidate’s skin colour before voting.
“He (Palanivel) and the MIC did nothing here. They held on to the seat for four terms; it is too long. What have they contributed?” he said.
Meanwhile, in the BN stronghold of Sungai Tengi, more objections were also heard against Palanivel’s possible candidacy.
Sungai Tengi Umno branch chairman, Sapuan Bohari, said that the general ground sentiment, especially among the Malays, of Hulu Selangor, was the same — Palanivel had to go.
“We respect whatever decision the BN leadership makes but it is true that Palanivel has lost support. However, most of us would be willing to cast our votes based on the symbol the candidate represents and not who the candidate is.
“However, if Mat Taib is fielded, that is a different story. Even those in the opposition love him. And I am talking about even the Chinese and the Indians. When he comes for functions, they all rush out to greet him,” he said.
Branch committee member, Zainol Abidin Asngari, said that it would be a great disappointment to BN supporters and the Malay community at large if the BN leadership were to field Palanivel.
“We respect [their decision] and we will vote but we will not be happy. But if it is Mat Taib... even the fence sitters will jump off the fence for him. He is truly well-liked because he has proven himself before.
“And Sapuan is correct, it is not just the Malays who love him. The Chinese, especially the elderly ones, are all very fond of him. After all, he is a local boy,” he said.

Kampung Chuang Rasa penghulu Lim Kem Seng says that no candidate from PKR could beat Mat Taib in the election.

True enough, interviews with several Chinese locals at the town of Rasa, just outside of Kuala Kubu Baru, a state seat held by the MCA, proved that Mat Taib’s popularity indeed transcended racial boundaries. An elderly Chinese man in his 70s who would only identify himself as Kau went to great lengths to explain just how much the people adored Mat Taib in the area.
“He was not just any politician — he really respected us and he listened to us. He helped us all and brought so much development to the area,” said Kau.
He related a personal experience when he once approached Mat Taib for help in the latter’s mentri besar’s office.
“He saw me and called me to come in and tell him every single detail of the problem I was facing. And then he asked me — why aren’t all the other Chinese asking me for help, too?
“He said to tell my friends not to be afraid of him for he was a fair man to all the races, and he was right. And I told everyone about it, too,” said Kau.
Ironically, Kau, a retired soldier, was formerly a DAP loyalist.
“But Mat Taib is good,” he insisted, despite knowing the party that Mat Taib represented.
Kau explained that during his tenure as MP, Palanivel had hardly worked for his constituents.
“What did he do? I hardly saw him here,” he said.
Kau continued, saying that he had lost faith in local politics now and had become a fence-sitter, waiting for either side to offer him rewards if he voted for them.

The Chinese community of Rasa in Hulu Selangor still favours Muhammad.

Kampung Chuang Rasa penghulu Lim Kem Seng, whom the PR government had appointed to the Village Development and Security committee , was also quick to admit that no PKR candidate would stand a chance against a Mat Taib candidacy. “He was the mentri besar here before and he did a lot of hard work for the constituency. There is hardly any doubt that he would win if he were fielded.
“It does not matter if the PKR fields a big, strong candidate — Mat Taib will win. But if it is Palanivel, then I think the opposition stands a chance,” he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is expected to announce BN’s pick for Hulu Selangor on April 15 while the PKR will announce their choice two days before that.
There are 64,500 registered voters in Hulu Selangor, with 63,701 regular voters and 799 postal voters.
Of the total, the Malays make up the majority with 34,020 voters or 52.7 per cent. The next largest group is the Chinese with 16,964 voters (26.3 per cent) following by the Indians at 12,453 voters or 19.3 per cent.

Umno division rejects Palanivel, wants Mugilan

By B Nantha Kumar - Free Malaysia Today

KUALA LUMPUR: The Hulu Selangor Umno division is apparently adamant that Barisan Nasional does not field MIC deputy president G Palanivel for the upcoming by-election.

According to an MIC source, attempts by several MIC leaders to coax the Umno division have not been successful.

“They refuse to listen. Now that (Prime Minister) Najib (Tun Razak) has announced that the Hulu Selangor seat is for MIC, they have backed down on their call to take the seat.

“But they will not compromise on Palanivel,” he said.

The source said the Umno division wants V Mugilan, the Hulu Selangor MIC Youth chief, to contest the seat come April 25.

Confirming this, an Umno division leader said Mugilan who was born in Ladang Kerling is well liked by the locals, including the Malays.

“He started from down the ranks. He is friendly and helpful to everyone at the grassroots level. He is very close to the Malay youths here as well,” he added.

'What has to happen will happen'

Contacted later, Mugilan refused to comment on the Hulu Selangor Umno division's proposal to field him.

As for the possibility of being nominated as the BN candidate, he said: “What has to happen will happen.”

“I am not asking to be nominated. It is not something I am focused on. No matter who the candidate is, BN must win. We in Hulu Selangor are ready to battle and win,” he said.

Mugilan also dismissed speculations that there is friction between Palanivel and him over the candidacy issue.

“Palanivel is my mentor and I will be very happy if he is nominated,” he added.

Samy thinks he'll be an Umno pawn

Meanwhile, the MIC source said party president S Samy Vellu is not keen on fielding Mugilan, fearing that he would be an Umno pawn.

The veteran politician is also livid that Umno is interfering in the choice of candidate for the by-election.

“He (Samy Vellu) refuses to consider Mugilan. He feels that since Umno likes him it would be easy for it to manipulate Mugilan,” the source said.

He added that Samy Vellu's second choice is MIC information chief P Kamalanathan, but the latter is not a local-born.

The Hulu Selangor seat fell vacant following the death of PKR MP Zainal Abidin Ahmad on March 25. In the 2008 general election, Zainal defeated Palanivel, a four-term Hulu Selangor MP, by a slim majority of 198 votes.

The Malay-majority seat also has a significant number of Chinese and Indian voters.

What you can do for the Hulu Selangor by-election

Remember, in the last General Election on 8 March 2008, the late Member of Parliament for Hulu Selangor won that seat with less than 200 votes. Therefore, every vote counts. The 30% outstation voters could determine the winner in this coming by-election. So work hard in helping them to go home to Hulu Selangor to vote.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

It is said the coming by-election in Hulu Selangor will be the litmus test for Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s 1Malaysia and NEM. How the people vote on 25th April 2010 will reflect whether Najib has the support of Malaysians and whether they believe in his 1Malaysia and NEM.

Basically, the Hulu Selangor by-election would be a vote of confidence or no confidence on Najib. That is why Barisan Nasional needs to win this by-election at all costs.

30% of the Hulu Selangor voters do not live/work in that constituency. Due to employment reasons they are spread out all over Malaysia. Our biggest task, therefore, would be to get these people to return to Hulu Selangor on Polling Day to cast their votes.

Many of you probably want to help in the by-election effort but may not know what type of assistance you can offer. So can I suggest the following?

Set up hotline centres.

Civil society movements, political activists, societies/associations, Bloggers, and even private citizens, can get together to organise the setting up of hotline centres. These hotline centres can be manned 24-7 or during ‘office hours’ only (say 8.00am to 10.00pm).

The purpose of these hotline centres is to organise transportation and to assist voters who do not have transportation but wish to return to Hulu Selangor to vote on Polling Day.

The hotline centre phone numbers can be broadcasted through the Internet and via SMS/e-mail so that voters will know where/who they can phone about their location in Malaysia (or Singapore). The hotline centres can then maintain a database of outstation voters who need transportation to return to Hulu Selangor to vote.

Those who are offering transportation to ferry the voters back to Hulu Selangor can, in turn, also phone the hotline centres to indicate which part of Malaysia (or Singapore) they are located and how many voters they are able to ferry.

Malaysians living in Penang, Kedah, Kelantan, Terennganu, Pahang, Perak, Johor, Singapore, etc., who wish to assist in the by-election effort by offering transportation services for voters who wish to return to Hulu Selangor on Polling Day will also be entered into the database. They will then be matched with the voters in their area.

If you own a car and are able to drive three or four voters home to Hulu Selangor that would be good enough. 100 cars each from Penang, Alor Setar, Taiping, Ipoh, Johor Bharu, Kota Bharu, Kuala Terengganu, Kuantan, Singapore, etc., could mean an additional 1,000 voters.

Those who do not own cars or are not able to drive to Hulu Selangor on Polling Day can arrange chartered buses to ferry these voters. Ten or twenty buses from each major town North and South of Hulu Selangor, added to the private cars, can easily ferry the 30% voters living and working outside Hulu Selangor.

You can get together with a few other friends and share the cost of the chartered buses. You then phone the hotline centres and tell them that you have a bus available, what time it is leaving on Polling Day (for example 6.00am, Komtar Penang), etc. The hotline centres will then phone the voters in their database who live around that area to inform them of the availability of these buses.

Can we start by getting a few volunteers who are prepared to help set up and man these hotline centres? Once that is done, send us your phone numbers so that they can be broadcasted far and wide.

Next, those who are offering transportation can also contact these hotline centres with the necessary details.

Basically, these hotline centres will offer a ‘matchmaking service’. Those who need transportation to go home to Hulu Selangor on Polling Day will be matched with those who are offering transportation.

Remember, in the last General Election on 8 March 2008, the late Member of Parliament for Hulu Selangor won that seat with less than 200 votes. Therefore, every vote counts. The 30% outstation voters could determine the winner in this coming by-election. So work hard in helping them to go home to Hulu Selangor to vote.

In the meantime, read the following piece by Ernest Z. Bower, the senior adviser and director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.

*************************************************

Malaysia’s Hulu Selangor By-election and Harbingers of Reform

Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak is clearly gaining momentum in areas he can control, such as economic reform and international relations. His biggest challenge, however, will likely be reform of the political culture of his ruling party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), and the coalition it leads, Barisan Nasional (BN). The party and coalition will be tested later this month in the Hulu Selangor by-election.

In truth, the stakes are not as high as with earlier by-elections. Najib has taken control of his government and has made significant headway toward economic revival with his National Economic Model (NEM), pursuing big fish in his push for greater transparency (the Malaysian Anticorruption Commission is questioning a minister in his cabinet, sending a clear message). And relations with major partners such as the United States (he is confirmed for a meeting with U.S. president Barack Obama in about a week’s time) and China are on the upswing. However, the political culture in Malaysia will be a tough challenge for the prime minister. Despite what must be a clear understanding among thoughtful UMNO leaders and strategists, there are party members that continue to try to persecute opposition leaders such as Anwar Ibrahim and others. This effort seems to be politically counterproductive as it highlights UMNO’s weakest link—the defensive status quo faction of the party.

Najib has proven that he has ideas—good ones—and that he has the political will to bring them to fruition. Why not take on the opposition in a competition of good ideas and initiatives rather than using parliamentary procedures and the courts? Wouldn’t the country be better served by political competition for ideas that would win hearts and minds? It would be refreshing to see the fight for Hulu Selangor dominated by such initiatives rather than the arcane politics of past generations.

Ernest Z. Bower is a senior adviser and director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.

Commentaries are produced by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a private, tax-exempt institution focusing on international public policy issues. Its research is nonpartisan and nonproprietary. CSIS does not take specific policy positions. Accordingly, all views, positions, and conclusions expressed in this publication should be understood to be solely those of the author(s).

© 2010 by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. All rights reserved.

http://csis.org/publication/malaysia%E2%80%99s-hulu-selangor-election-and-harbingers-reform

Lawyer-blogger HARIS IBRAHIM gives PM Najib a 1-year report card

April 3 marked the one-year anniversary of Datuk Seri Najib Razak's premiership. Since taking office, much has taken place under his watch: the propagation of the '1Malaysia' concept; the economic crisis and subsequent unveiling of the 'New Economic Model'; the rising tide of racial and religious tensions.

By Mark Teh


Has the past year been kind to Malaysia's 6th Prime Minister? Or are the odds increasingly stacked against him? What challenges and dangers lie ahead for the Najib administration, and for Malaysia? We speak with Haris Ibrahim about these matters and more: http://bit.ly/a3hGyg

Haris Ibrahim is a lawyer, blogger, social activist and coordinator of the Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia project.

Enjoy, embed, forward,

Mark Teh
PopTeeVee


--
projek:

PopIN (info network for M'sian youth)
http://www.popin.my

That Effing Show! (I am a Macha!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qJCmJPrI34

The Fairly Current Show (Ho Yuhang on 'At The End of Daybreak')
http://bit.ly/bTDlwF

Five Arts Centre
http://www.fiveartscentre.org/

THE LAW AND THE COURTS

1. I think it was the President of the Bar Council who pointed out that the law provides for a judge to accuse a person with contempt of his court and to punish him.

2. I am not disputing this legal provision. But we know of the cynical reference to some laws being an ass. In fact many lawyers would claim that the ISA which provides for detention without trial as bad law, and many have urged that the law be removed from the statute books. The reason cited is that without a hearing in a court of law, the executive has assumed the role of prosecutor, judge and executioner. In todays society this is a denial of justice.

3. But the same people, who strongly object to the Internal Security Act, support the law providing for contempt of court in which the aggrieved judge becomes the prosecutor, the judge and the executioner.

4. Clearly we are seeing double standards in the implementation of justice.

5. To say that the judge knows best as to the culpability of the accused person is to once again breach the principles of justice. A judge should not know and prejudge a case. He should be quite ignorant of the case coming before him and he should allow himself to decide simply based on the evidence put before him, the words of the witnesses and the pleadings of the prosecutor and the counsel for the accused person. If a judge is also a witness to the case then he would be bias and cannot possibly do justice to the case.

6. There is certainly a need for a law against contempt of the court but it should follow the same procedures as applicable to all other cases including being heard by other than the aggrieved judge. The charge should be made properly. There should be no arbitrary arrest before a charge is made. The accused person should be given his right to hear the charge and to state his defences before a judge who is not personally involved.

7. Court procedures would take time but in the case of Matthias Chang, there was really no hurry as he was in fact given one week to pay the fine or be jailed. In fact when he turned up on the stipulated day the judge was not available and he was told to come back the next day.

8. Yet when he willingly went back the next day to surrender, he was told that his arrest would be made in the car park. I suppose this is again standard procedure but it would amount to additional punishment because it would humiliate him.

9. At the time of writing this in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, I am told he is unconscious because he had chosen to protest by fasting against the injustice of the way the law was used by the judge. The Government may not be moved by his act but if it does not than it would compare very badly indeed against the British Raj which responded humanely to the fast by Ghandi.

Call for RCI to conduct full inquiry on whether Israeli agents had infiltrated Bukit Aman

DAP calls for the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry comprising respected, eminent and independent-minded Malaysians to conduct a full inquiry on whether Israeli agents had infiltrated Bukit Aman.

It is downright ridiculous and an international joke to have four agencies probing into the same matter, as announced by the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein yesterday, namely the police, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the National Security Council and a parliamentary select committee.

I just could not believe that Hishammuddin could make such an outrageous announcement, totally lacking in seriousness about a very important national security problem.

In the first place, who would believe that the police would be able to independently and professionally investigate into this matter, when there appears to be a tradition of lack of police independence and professionalism on sensitive issues involving the highest reaches of police and the government.

A good case in point was the 1998 “black-eyes” attack on Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim by the then Inspector-General of Police in the very inner sanctum of Bukit Aman, just some fortnight after losing his high positions as Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister.

The top police leadership even got the then Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad to declare publicly that Anwar’s “black eyes” could be self-inflicted, when Anwar was nearly beaten to death by the then Inspector-General in Bukit Aman!

Finally, only an independent Royal Commission Inquiry could delve out the truth about Anwar’s “black-eyes” assault.

Similarly, there is just no public confidence that the police would conduct and report on a no-holds-barred investigation into whether Israeli agents had infiltrated Bukit Aman – and the same applies to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency, whose public stocks have fallen even lower than ever plumbed by its predecessor, the Anti-Corruption Agency and so long as the Teoh Beng Hock mysterious death remain unresolved, MACC would never regain public confidence.

As for the National Security Council probe, who will conduct it? Again, the police and Home Ministry officials? What a farce.

What is this parliamentary select committee mentioned by Hishammuddin which would conduct the fourth probe?

Would he agree and support the establishment of a Special Parliamentary Select with the specific term of reference to investigate whether there had been Israeli agent infiltration of Bukit Aman, headed by a Pakatan Rakyat Member of Parliament, with the Police and Government opening all documentation for the probe without resort to Official Secrets Act on grounds of national security?

Would Hishammuddin agree to have me or the PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang (as Parliamentary Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is an interested party, so to say) to head such a Parliamentary Select Committee?

I do not know whether the Cabinet has given its approval for the four simultaneous and parallel investigations by four agencies into one same issue – infiltration of Israeli agents into Bukit Aman – and if so, then it must stand as the most cock-eyed Cabinet decision in 53 years of the nation’s history.

Why are there more and more ridiculous and outrageous happenings under the Najib premiership, which had never happened or would have been completely unthinkable under the five previous Prime Ministers, like the Prime Minister launching a Barisan Nasional-United States (Congressional) Caucus in Washington next Thursday in the company of two so-called independent Members of Parliament?

I will propose in Parliament next week the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into Israeli agent infiltration of Bukit Aman in place of four simultenous and parallel investigations by four different agencies, with the composition of the Royal Commission of Inquiry the result of consultation with the Pakatan Rakyat parliamentary leaderswhip.

I hope that all the Barisan Nasional Ministers and MPs will give it support to this proposal in Parliament next week.

Story Of Malaysia's Battle Against Communist Insurgency To Be Heard In The U.S.

From Tham Choy Lin

WASHINGTON, April 10 (Bernama) -- The story of Malaysia's hard-fought battle against communist guerrillas will be retold before an American audience here as the United States grapples with its fight against terrorism with its military troops still in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has been invited by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) to talk not only on areas of economic cooperation but also to share Malaysia's experience in counter-insurgency, during his visit here.

Najib, who arrives Saturday for a week-long visit during which he will also attend the Nuclear Security Summit, is scheduled to speak at a forum organised by CSIS, a bipartisan foreign policy think thank, on Wednesday.

Malaysian Ambassador to the United States Datuk Seri Jamaludin Jarjis told Malaysian journalists Friday that former police chief Tun Hanif Omar and retired chief of defence forces Tan Sri Mohammed Hashim Ali have been invited as well.

Hanif and Mohammed Hashim were among the key figures in the fight against the communist insurgency, often referred to as Malaysia's second emergency, that began in 1968 and ended in 1989 with the peaceful surrender of the communist terrorists.

Hanif was Malaysia's longest serving inspector-general of police. He assumed the post in 1974, after his predecessor was killed by communist terrorists, and retired 20 years later.

Mohammed Ali was a career soldier who rose to the rank of army chief before he retired as chief of defence forces in 1992 after nearly 39 years in the military.

No Palanivel for HS = tight slap in face for MIC

by Nathaniel Tan,

So, the talk is that we’re going to get a younger MIC candidate for Hulu Selangor.

I gotta tell ya, if I was in MIC, I’d be really insulted.

Here we have Palanivel – who has been the Hulu Selangor MP for so many terms, and is no less than the Deputy President, the number 2 man handpicked by Samy himself, in the party that regards itself as the sole representatives of Malaysian Indians.

There’s every reason to choose him, but Najib seems willing to slap MIC and Samy in the face.

Tsk tsk. If I were MIC, I’d seriously think about kicking up a ruckus. Or are they just going to roll over and play the lapdog role every BN component party knows so well.

Yemeni child bride dies of internal bleeding

Sanaa, Yemen: Child brides are common in Yemen, where the UN estimates that one in three girls are married before 18.

(CNN) -- A 12-year-old Yemeni bride died of internal bleeding following intercourse three days after she was married off to an older man, the United Nations Children's Fund said.

The girl was married to a man at least twice her age, said Sigrid Kaag, UNICEF regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.

Her death is "a painful reminder of the risks girls face when they are married too soon," Kaag said Thursday.

Amal Basha, chairwoman of the Sisters Arab Forum for Human Rights, a Yemeni human rights group, identified the girl Friday as Elham Mahdi.

"Elham was married on March 29th and died three days later" and lived in Yemen's Hajjah province, Basha said.

The death is the latest in a series of child marriage cases in Yemen, where the minimum age to tie the knot is still under debate.

In September, a 12-year-old Yemeni girl forced into marriage died during childbirth. Her baby also died, according to the Seyaj Organization for the Protection of Children.

Fawziya Ammodi was in labor for three days before she died of severe bleeding, said Ahmed al-Qureshi, president of the organization.

"Although the cause of her death was lack of medical care, the real case was the lack of education in Yemen and the fact that child marriages keep happening," al-Qureshi said.

Child brides are common in Yemen, where the United Nations estimates that one in three girls are married before age 18. Most are married off to older men with more than one wife, according to a study by Sanaa University.

For the girl's parents, marriage means the daughters are no longer a financial or moral burden. Most times, parents get a promise from the husband to wait until the girl is older to consummate the marriage.

"Early marriage places girls at increased risk of dropping out of school, being exposed to violence, abuse and exploitation, and even losing their lives from pregnancy, childbirth and other complications," UNICEF said.

The issue of Yemeni child brides made headlines in 2008 when 10-year-old Nujood Ali was pulled out of school and married. Her husband beat and raped her within weeks of the ceremony.

To escape, Nujood hailed a taxi -- the first time in her life -- to get to the central courthouse where she sat on a bench and demanded to see a judge.

After a well-publicized trial, she was granted a divorce.

Agen Israel: Musa boleh rujuk hansard Parlimen

APCO: Dr Lo' Lo' buat laporan polis

'Umno-Apco' jibe 'paralyses' House

Two Indian brothers shot dead by police in Taiping last night. Call for Royal Commission of Inquiry on Police shoot to kill policy with shooting order, 95% local victims are Indians when only 8% population.

  HUMAN RIGHTS PARTY MALAYSIA
NO.6, Jalan Abdullah, Off Jalan Bangsar, 59000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 
Tel: 03-2282 5241 Fax: 03-2282 5245
Website: www.humanrightspartymalaysia.com Email:info@humanrightspartymalaysia
Your Reference :
In Reply : HRP/Misc/Apr/10
Date : 9^th April 2010
YAB. Dato Seri Najib Razak
Perdana Menteri Malaysia,
Blok Utama Bangunan Perdana Putra,
Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan, Fax: 03-88883444
62502 Putrajaya E-Mail: najib@pmo.gov.my
Y.B Dato’ Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein,
Menteri Kementerian Dalam Negeri,
Kementerian Dalam Negeri,
Blok D1 & D2, Kompleks D,
Pusat Pentadbiran,
Kerajaan Persekutuan, Fax: 03-2693 3131
62546 Putrajaya E-Mail: menteri@moha.gov.my

Re: Two Indian brothers shot dead by police in Taiping last night. Call for Royal Commission of Inquiry on Police shoot to kill policy with shooting order, 95% local victims are Indians when only 8% population.
Last night at about 11.30p.m we had received telephone calls from our reliable supporters on the police shooting dead and murdering two Malaysian Indian youths in cold blood at Jalan Kamunting Gardens, Taiping, Perak. According to at least three eye witnesses the following was deduced:-
1) From 8.30 p.m onwards there was heavy police presence along Jalan Kamunting Gardens near the BP Petrol Station as if there was going to be a police “operasi”.
2) This usually busy road suddenly became quiet at about 9.00 p.m.
3) The police shot dead victims (two Malaysian Indian brothers) Wira Aeroback car was moving in the direction of Taiping to Kamunting which was a single carriage way.
4) Suddenly one police Proton Wira car emerged in the opposite direction and one Wira from the back of this victims car.
5) A Kenari pulled up from the side of the victims’ car and balaclava (face mask) clad policemen fired 15 shots at the victims and quickly left the scene. Firecrackers like sounds were heard.
6) At least three eye witnesses saw the above and/or deduced the same from the adjacent BP Petrol Station. Many other witnesses were said to also have witnessed this police operation.
We hereby call upon the Home Minister to immediately investigate and establish the truth of these aforesaid allegations.
We hereby call for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to determine and establish if this was indeed an unofficial police shoot to kill operation further to an unofficial shoot to kill order. Our eye witnesses would only testify at this Royal Commission as they cannot expect the police to investigate their own crime.
We expect the usual police announcement later today to be the routine seven (7) steps as follows:-
Step 1) Two Indian suspects were behaving suspiciously.
Step 2) Police followed them
Step 3) They saw the police and sped off.
Step 4) The police gave chase.
Step 5) The suspects shot at the police.
Step 6) Police in self defence shot back and both the suspects were instantaneously killed in the encounter.
Step 7) The suspects alleged series of previous involvement in serious crimes and/or convictions are revealed to the press which widely publicises the one sided police version.
Step The dead police murder victims are unable to defend themselves and the public perception of this the cold blooded police murder is neutralised.
Our estimate is that for the year 2009 and 2010, 95% of the Malaysian victims shot dead by the police are Malaysian Indians when they only form 8% of the Malaysian population ie disproportionate by about 1,200%.
Legal Position
The aforesaid police act has violated Article 5 of the Federal Constitution which guarantees the right to life.
Section 15(3) of the Criminal Procedure Code reads “Nothing in this section gives a right to cause death of a person who is not accused of an offence punishable with death or with imprisonment for life”.
In the time honoured legal principle and the rule of law in DPP v Woolmington Viscount Sankey L.J held that “throughout the web of the English criminal law one golden thread is always to be observed that is the duty of the prosecution to prove beyond all reasonable doubt the accused guilt.”
And the established legal principle that “a man is presumed innocent until proven guilty” is not upheld by the Malaysian police.
Having shot dead these two Indian youths how are they to defend themselves and to clear their names.
In this and the hundreds of previous such cases, the police take the law into their own hands and usurp the powers of the Judge, Jury, Prosecutor and Executioner all in one transaction.
This cannot be the law or the due administration of law and order in Malaysia or in any other part of the civil world.
In November 2009 after the public outcry in the case of the suicide of R.Seetha who had also fed poison to all her four young children (but who miraculously survived but are expected to have serious side effect health problems shortly) in protest against the police similarly shooting dead her beloved brother and four others in Klang, the police took about a five month break are now back at it again.
Vide our previous Memorandum titled “Memorandum on A trigger Happy Royal Malaysian Police Force (1.3 persons shot dead per week by the Royal Malaysian Police Force (635 from 1989-1999) The Star 11/05/99) as opposed to 18 fatal police shootings in New Zealand from 1940 to 2001 (61 years). To the honourable Deputy Prime Minister/ Home Minister Dato Seri Abdullah Bin Haji Ahmad Badawi dated 31^st October 2002” Up to 1.3 victims were shot dead by the police every week.
The police cannot take short cuts and unilaterally dispense Summary Justice especially so when they have been allocated RM1 Billion in the 2010 National Budget to increase police efficiency. Especially with this exorbitant budget, the police have to seriously investigate and if there is enough evidence, prosecute the suspects in an open court of law. If and only if the courts find the accused guilty and sentences them to death, can a man’s life be legally taken in Malaysia. This is the law in this country and not as per the aforesaid police actions.
Kindly direct the police top brass and take the appropriate action.
Kindly also revert to us accordingly .
Thank You,
Yours Faithfully,
____________________
P.Uthayakumar
Secretary General (pro tem)

10/4/2010, Demo bersama P.Uthayakumar- Polis Raja Di Malaysia tembak mati 2 pemuda India.

10/4/2010, Demo bersama P.Uthayakumar- Polis Raja Di Malaysia tembak mati 2 pemuda India di Taiping, Perak.

Funeral jam 2.00 petang, bermula berarak dari 388, Lorong Satu, Taman Permata, Aulang, Taiping, Perak.

Hubungi:-  HRP Taiping Siva- 016 5347843

                 HRP Perak Chief-  019 5235528

Hentikan pembunuhan Kejam oleh Polis.

Datang ramai-ramai & Sebarkan.

S.JAYATHAS

HRP & HINDRAF

Information Chief

Cold Blooded “Police Raja Di Malaysia” murder 2 Indian Youths in Taiping (refer Malaysiakini)

Suspected robbers shot dead in Taiping

A two-year reign of terror by an armed robbery gang which targeted goldsmith shops in several states came to an end when police shot dead two suspects in Taiping at about 10pm yesterday.

Acting on a public tip-off, a police patrol car tailed the two suspects who were driving en route to Kamunting and ordered them to stop near the Taiping Tesco supermarket.

State CID chief D’Zuraidi Ibrahim told reporters today one of the suspects instead opened fire at police personnel while at the same time reversing their car into the patrol car.

Police returned fire and killed the two suspects on the spot. They recovered a .22 pistol, six live bullets, a samurai sword, two parang and three mobile phones from the suspect’s car.

The remains of the two suspects were sent to the Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun in Ipoh for a post-mortem.

18 cases solved

Police have identified one of the two suspects as R Satchihnathan, 20, from Johor whom they claim has a police record and was released last year from the Simpang Renggam Detention Centre in Johor.

It is believed that police have also identified the other suspect but have referred his case to the Bukit Aman police headquarters in Kuala Lumpur for further action.

D’Zuraidi said the gang started activities in 2008 and their modus operandi was to wear ski- masks and enter goldsmith shops waving their swords and parang while brandishing a pistol.

He said police believe they have now solved about 18 robbery cases in Perak (nine cases), Johor (three), Penang (two) and one case each in Selangor, Kedah, Perlis and Kuala Lumpur.

Police hoped to arrest the remaining members of gang soon, he added.

‘Taking shortcuts’

In an immediate reaction Human Rights Party pro-tem secretary-general P Uthayakumar called upon the home minister to immediately investigate and establish the truth of the police shooting.

“We hereby call for a royal commission of inquiry to determine and establish if this was indeed an unofficial police shoot to kill operation further to an unofficial shoot to kill order.

“We expect the usual police announcement later today to be the routine eight steps as follows:

“Step 1. Two Indian suspects were behaving suspiciously. Step 2. Police followed them. Step 3. They saw the police and sped off. Step 4. The police gave chase. Step 5. The suspects shot at the police. Step 6. Police in self-defence shot back and both the suspects were instantly killed in the encounter. Step 7. The suspects were allegedly involved in a series of serious crimes and/or have previous convictions. Step 8. The dead police murder victims are unable to defend themselves and the public perception of this the cold-blooded police murder is neutralised.”

Uthayakumar (pix) said that having been shot dead, the two youths were unable to defend themselves and clear their names.

“The police cannot take shortcuts and unilaterally dispense summary justice. They have to seriously investigate and if there is enough evidence, prosecute the suspects in an open court of law.

“If – and only if – the courts find the accused guilty and sentences them to death, can a man’s life be taken in Malaysia. This is the law in this country and not as per the aforesaid police actions,” he said.