Malaysia an example of harmony
September 15th, 2008 by MM2H
For all the years that I live in Malaysia, I was amazed by how 3 different races just manage to co-exist peacefully next to each other. Where I come from in Europe, things are all but different.
I was very surprised to finally read news messages that one politician of the ruling party was saying sensitive things about one of the races. Sensitive because, well, all people I met found it sensitive, and I do meet people from all races and nationalities.
The smart DPM was fast enough to apologize for what was said by this politician. PM was a bit unclear asking first to apologize, than understanding the politician’s point of view and a bit later having him suspended.
Now that’s all "part of the game": things like that shouldn’t be said in the first place, or once said and some people get bad sentiments, you should explain what you were trying to say when you weren’t intending to step on anybodies toes.
As an expat, I know how easy it is to step on somebody’s toes, and how an apology keeps the door open for further negotiations or at worst for a silent business agreement that something has gone wrong and I need to improve big time to never make the same mistake again.
It’s all part of trying to live together with each other and getting things done.
But then the reporter that wrote about the above incident got arrested.
And not arrested under common law, but arrested under the ISA which can keep you without reason given for 60 days without you being able to consult your lawyers.
In other words: one second you could be doing your thing and the next second you could be sitting in jail not knowing why.
Exactly that happened with Tan Hoon Cheng : a young girl covering stories like we brush our teeth on a daily basis as part of our daily life.
Then came the "explanation" by Syed Hamid:
We arrested her for her own protection…
Where I come from, democratic governments mostly fall when politicians are using laws and police for other reasons than they were intended.
The ISA is a good measure to prevent terrorists from bombing places or killing people. And you can always discuss that a person who makes "too much noise" is undermining the security of the state. According to de facto law minister Zaid Ibrahim: the existing laws and judicial system has everything in place to make a difference between free speech and speeches undermining the state.
Therefore it is clear that you cannot use the ISA in order to protect people.
Where I come from, this kind of reasoning normally results in the Minister in charge to quit office, out of his own will, because his colleagues advice him to or because the public opinion says so.
Posted in Malaysia Newspaper | No Comments »
Are you a squatter?
September 10th, 2008 by MM2H
How to get less votes: call your voters squatters and immigrants…
Especially loose extra voters when you don’t even feel like needing to apologize for calling people names… Just makes Anwar’s job easier to make a new cabinet…
Ahmad Ismail can call himself happy to live in a country where people can get away with calling other people names, unless your name is Raja Petra, then you can’t get away with anything… even your scanner will be confiscated…
And since your party Umno doesn’t have the majority anymore, might as well do some more damage?
Melaka exists thanks to the Chinese emperor
Which is a far cry away from Ahmad Ismail calling Chinese "squatters in this country"…
Unless you can show me Malay scripts that date back further as Chinese scripts talking about the history of Malaysia I quote the following:
The destruction of Singapore by Majapahit led to the rise of Malacca (now called Melaka). At first a fishing village, occupied by ‘sea gypsies’ (aboriginal orang-laut), it attracted fugitives from Tumasik, among them its dispossessed ruler, Parameswara. The new Malay state he founded was beset with enemies, chief among whom was Siam (Thailand). Appeals to the Chinese emperor for protection resulted in the raising of the title of the Malay ruler to that of king of Malacca in 1405, and freed him from any dependence on the Siamese.
Are all Malaysians Singaporean immigrants?
Let’s quote another piece of history, explaining the above Tumasik fugitives…
Tumasik
Colonists from Palembang founded a separate island kingdom of Tumasik (Sanskrit Singapura; modern Singapore) some time between 1200 and 1300, but this, together with Palembang, Malayu, parts of Borneo, and the whole of the occupied portions of the Malay Peninsula, was overrun and destroyed between 1360 and 1365 by Majapahit, Java’s last Hindu kingdom. The Majapahit king made no attempt to occupy the Malay Peninsula after his conquest, but traces of Majapahit influence are still to be found in Kelantan and Patani.
This is SQUATTERS territory
Or like Ahmad Ismail puts it with a huge smile on his face:
Chinese were immigrants squatting in this country
In his speech, Ahmad claimed he only touched on the “Chinese migration to this country” when narrating Malaysia’s history and the social contract between the Malays and other races when the country attained independence.
Of course Ahmad Ismail says he has been misquoted, so we would be very much interested what the real wordings would be like, maybe something like…
Chinese were immigrants squatting in our country
… and then it is up to Ahmad Ismail to define who is part of "our".
And the ones not part of "our", can they just be left alone, like in:
no need to pay taxes because it is not their country.
Orang Laut and Orang Asli
If I understand history well, this country belongs to the Orang Laut and Orang Asli, so why are they the poorest of the poorest without much rights and almost all of their land taken?
And why is it that aboriginals who are historically far less immigrants than you and me are the ones saying that
they belong to the land
and not that the land is owned by anybody? Of course that wouldn’t be too practical in modern days just looking back a few decades…
Because if we really go back all the way, we read Holy Books saying God created man and woman equally to His image.
Now saying that His images look like SQuxtxrs would be an ultimate insult indeed.
Posted in Malaysia Newspaper | 1 Comment »
Najib apologizes for calling you a squatter and immigrant…
September 4th, 2008 by MM2H
Am I really in the land of Malaysia where the races live in peace and harmony amongst each other?
According to an UMNO member, it is no more a secret that his tongue speaks where his heart is by calling the Chinese squatters and immigrants…
Now if you take a persons passport, it will say Chinese, or French, or US citizen, but it doesn’t say squatter nor does it say immigrant.
To make things worse: in this country you always have to fill in forms stating you are Malay, Indian, Chinese or lain-lain which means "others". Again, there is no such possibility to tick squatters nor is there a tick for immigrants…
How many generations do you need to be in a country before people stop calling you immigrant?
Aren’t we all immigrants
in the land of the Orang Asli?
Oh yes, this is said by an UMNO member (Bukit Bendera Umno division chief Ahmad Ismail). That is: a politician of the leading political party in Malaysia who have been ruling Malaysia for 51 years.
And in all these years nobody found it necessary to start talking about Malaysians in stead of Malays, Indians and Chinese. So one wonders why suddenly there is extra talk of squatters and immigrants…
Najib has apologized for these racists remarks…
Will there be any repercussions or changes or is Najib going to apologize each and every time a Malaysian citizen insults another Malaysian citizen with racist remarks?
Posted in Malaysia Newspaper | 2 Comments »
