1 Malaysia - between reality and fantasy!

By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani

KUALA LUMPUR,

I am one of the privileged few to have attended a local public university and learned the meaning of hate, thanks to the ever popular Biro Tata Negara.

All undergraduates were forced to attend this programme or else they would not be eligible for graduation.

The BTN under the Prime Minister’s Department brought in “intellectual” speakers who were supposed to enlighten the students about the meaning of being a Malaysian but instead it felt more like a communist propaganda camp brainwashing those attending about the importance of “Ketuanan Melayu”.

The camp would usually take place during the weekends. Students would have to register early in the morning and the programme would last the whole day.

The organisers were always on their guard, asking participants to show their student identification cards each time they entered the hall, fearing the presence of outsiders.

In the hall, students were asked to turn off their mobile phones.

During the lectures, questions were planted among the audience and the students were advised not ask raise any questions.

One speaker began with the history of Malaysia and how much the country had gone through, always emphasising the May 13 riots.

He stressed the point of how much the Malays had sacrificed and how the community should be united especially from outside threat — the Chinese community.

He said that the Chinese community were “the Jews of Asia ” and were just itching to take over when Malays were disunited and broken.

The speaker also revealed a greater Chinese conspiracy where the Chinese Malaysians were working together with Singapore to topple the Malay government.

“Do you want to become like the Malays in Singapore ?” he asked.

He also went so far as to criticise Malay girls for dating boys from other races.

He added that they should not be cheap and embarrass their families.

Once, a student told the speaker that as Muslims, we should also respect other races who are also Muslims.

“All Muslims are Malays so it does not matter if they are Chinese or Indians. If they are Muslims then they are Malays,” the speaker replied.

This is why I was relieved when I learned that the Selangor government had moved to ban its civil servants, employees of state subsidiaries and students at state-owned education institutions from attending any BTN courses with immediate effect.

However I believe racism in varsities does not end at BTN because classrooms have also become victims of ignorant scholars.

My friend was verbally abused during his sociology class when he did not agree with the points made by his lecturer.

“You must be DKK,” the lecturer told him.

“What is DKK?” he asked.

“You must be darah keturunan keling (descendents of Indians),” the lecturer said, pointing to his dark skin.

My Saudi friend was also shocked by the comments made by his lecturer in his Islamic civilisation class.

“We should save our Orang Asli from the Chinese people. They are like the Palestinians and the Chinese are Israel . We must fight the Jews,” the lecturer told his students.

The lecturer even failed one of his students in his oral exam when he quoted a Western scholar in his presentation.

“You should be ashamed of yourselves. You are a Muslim and should only use Islamic scholars,” he scolded the student.

I was personally saddened when my Islamic law lecturer compared Christianity to Head & Shoulder’s 3 in 1 shampoo in referring to the religion’s Holy Trinity.

I feel that racism has been institutionalised in our country and that BTN is only the tip of the iceberg.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin defended BTN yesterday and claimed that it was not racist but is line with the 1 Malaysia concept.

I have to humbly disagree and would like to suggest maybe the ministers should bring their overseas children home and let them have a taste of what BTN is.

Are the Sultans above scrutiny?

Questioning statements made by the Sultans should not be viewed as disrespectful in this day and age.

In a democracy ,all parties are subject to scrutiny. If the Sultan’s position is wrong, there must be a remedy to correct it, right? No one is above the law.

The former Lord President, Sultan Perak will surely remember the the oft-quoted aphorism "Not only must Justice be done; it must also be seen to be done."

On the same footing, Sultans must not only be fair but must be seen to be fair.They must walk the talk and be consistent in their actions. Otherwise, they would be failing in their Constitutional role.

The days of sovereign rulers are long gone. In a democracy, power lies with the Rakyat and the Sultans must remain neutral.

If a referendum is carried out, I wonder what the Rakyat's verdict  would be?It would be interesting to find out.. 

Persoalan Hudud.Bolehkah anda menjawabnya?

1. Kuasa untuk melaksanakan hudud sebenarnya ada ditangan UMNO(bukan PAS/PR).Selama 54 tahun UMNO memerintah tapi mereka belum bersedia untuk melaksanakanya.Kenapa?

2. UMNO selalu mengatakan bahawa Malaysia belum bersedia untuk melaksanakan hudud tetapi tiada sebarang tindakan telah diambil menyediakan rakyat untuk menerima hukum ini dimasa depan.Kenapa?

3. Raja Melayu bertanggung-jawab mengenai hal ehwal Islam tetapi berdiam diri dan tiada sebarang tindakan oleh mereka untuk melaksanakan hukum hudud.Kenapa?

4. Kerajaan negeri Kelantan dan Trenggannu telah meluluskan enakmen hudud semasa pemerintahan PAS tetapi enakmen ini tidak boleh dilaksanakan kerana tentangan dari Kerajaan Pusat,yang diterajui oleh UMNO.Kenapa?

5. Hukuman mati dan hukuman sebat oleh Makamah Sivil dapat diterima oleh rakyat tetapi rakyat dikatakan belum bersedia untuk terima hukuman hudud.Kenapa?

6. Hukum hudud tidak akan dijalankan terhadap org bukan Islam tetapi orang bukan islam dikatakan takut dengan hudud.Kenapa?

7. Org bukan islam telah hidup dalam suasana dimana Makamah Syariah menjalankan hukuman terhadap orang islam saperti kesalahan berkhalwat,mimuman keras,berjudi dsn tetapi dkatakan takut dengan hukum hudud.Kenapa?

9th JULY 2011: THE DAY FEAR DIED IN MALAYSIA

Never in the history of Malaysian politics was so much fear and pressure, exerted on the Malaysian public, to be Tak-Bersih.

The heavy hands of the authorities were used to disrupt, harass, thwart and discourage every Bersih initiative by all necessary means. Loads of rubbish was heaped on the Rakyat to ensure that they are Tak-Bersih compliant. The end justifies the means, so to speak.

 The means include the media, police, SPR, high ranking personalities and various pressure groups. Sadly, even Royalty and Armed Forces were not spared. 

A systematic diet of fear, intimidation and coercion were rolled out on a daily basis. 

Detaining citizens for wearing yellow is logical, never mind if we are the only country in the world to do so. And, wow! we made it into the Guinness Book of Records too!

90 odd Malaysian citizens were denied their right to be in Kuala Lumpur, their capital city on 9th July 2011. It’s alright to use preventive/emergency laws to curb the right to peaceful assembly, yes?The last I recalled, the Emergency rule was lifted many decades ago. 

Entry points into Kuala Lumpur were road-blocked and vehicle and commuters checked. Many train commuters were detained as soon as they got off the train. 

By the Police Chief’s standard, these detainees should be grateful for the excellent treatment accorded to them.Provided with free transport, food and lodging, it’s a small wonder why the detainees did not ask for an extended stay – a small price for loss of personal liberty, yes? 

Yet, against all odds, 60,000 people from all walks of life, many for the very first time in their lives, braved the fear and intimidation, to rally in the heart of the Capital, in clear defiance of their govt.

Among them were the 65 year old Lady of Liberty and my 62 year old lady cousin. All ages, sexes, races and creed, united as Malaysians, and speaking with one voice - one which is devoid of fear.

In the annals of modern Malaysian history, 9^th July 2011, will surely be recorded as the day Malaysians lost their fear of their own govt. Never again.

God Bless Malaysia.

Gutter Politics of Malay Malaysia

13 years ago,he was labeled a Jew Agent,a US Agent ,a Womanizer and a Sodomist .HE was a threat to  UMNO and he was jailed and put out of circulation for 5 years.

Upon his release, a political tsunami  was unleashed and the end result was that UMNO lost Selangor,Penang,Wilayah KL,Kedah ,Perak and Kelantan. It almost lost N.Sembilan .

For the damage he caused in PRU 12, Sdr Anwar Ibrahim will be jailed and put out of circulation once again.

A new remake of the old script is being played out .Let there be no doubt that the script will end with the jailing of Sdr Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim once again. At 63 years of age ,that will surely be the end of Anwar.

Or is it?

The best of plans can end in disarray. As they say, man proposes and God disposes.

Citizens all over the world are clamoring for a new world order .Injustice and corrupt status quo are out. Transparency, equality and shared values are in. We have seen this in Tunisia Eypt,Libya. In SEA, it was  called People Power .We saw it in Philippines ,Thailand and Indonesia. Recently, it reached Singapore.

We can do the same in Malaysia. 

We can free our country from the clutches of UMNO and let our   government institutions (Police/Army/SPR/EC/Judiciary) to function  independently.

Lets make it our personal responsibility to wake up our relatives, friends and colleagues from their slumber ,induced by UMNO media and propaganda  apparatus. Get them to register as voters and lets us use people power at PRU 13 to  vote UMNO out of power.

Once, the organs of govt.  are cleansed , the gutter politics of Malay Malaysia will have no place in Malaysia and Sdr Anwar will find the justice that should have been accorded to him as a citizen of Malaysia.

UBAH SEKARANG.SELAMATKAN MALAYSIA!

De-frogging PKR

It is unfortunate that when one thinks of katak lompat,PKR comes to mind. In the past, such references are usually reserved for politicians from Sabah & Sarawak but we now have our fair share of Katak Lompats from Semenanjung as well.


Why would a politician who is elected by the Rakyat betray their trust and jump ship?

There are always " push and pull factors" involved when a Wakil rakyat jumped ship.The push factors can be generalized as unhappiness/ dissatisfaction and the pull factors are options that are viewed as better or offering better potential.

In a nutshell a potential frog exists if a Wakil Rakyat is unhappy, dissatisfied (push) or is greedy, ambitious, unscrupulous, unethical(pull).

To counter this, a good attract and retain strategy must be developed-to resource,nuture and protect our Wakil Rakyats from leaving or being lured by our competitors. This is HR (Human Resource) territory.

How do we establish a good attract and retention strategy?Start by benchmarking best practices and talking to your star performers.

In HR, we say that to eliminate theft, we should not hire thieves. So,by extension,to defrog -don't recruit frogs! A good recruitment process can help to eliminate frogs or potential frogs from being hired. Again, past performance is good indicator of future performance.

Lets start rolling and put in a good recruitment and retention system to eliminate the Kataks .The Rakyat does not expect any less.

If you are a Malaysian patriot,please stand up

If I ask this question to the 30 odd million Malaysians ,I dare bet that everyone would standup in a blink.

What would such a response show? That all of us regardless of our political affiliation ,race,religious beliefs, gender, educational background, social status etc believe that we are Malaysians and this sense of belonging unites us as one.

We see this bond especially when we meet another Malaysian outside Malaysia.Yet, within our shores ,it is a different story.

But it was not like this before. People from the time of Independence ,did feel proud to be Malaysians but this feeling has waned today.

Why? Because we are not proud of what our Malaysia has become, right?

But if we believe ourselves to be Malaysian patriots, we must restore this pride by correcting the wrongs done against our beloved Malaysia.

The people of Egypt have demonstrated that they are patriots first regardless of their political affiliation.Its noteworthy that only one flag(not political party flags) is being waved,the Egyptian flag, a symbol of their unity.

The Egyptians stood up and took back their country from a corrupt regime and today they wave the Egyptian flag with pride.People power(Kuasa Rakyat) once again reigns supreme, as it has in the past ,under different names.

We too can restore Malaysia to its former glory but we can only do this if we stand up as One People.

As we begin this journey for a better Malaysia, lets rally and unite behind the Jalur Gemilang. Lets fly our Malaysian flag,include the flag in our blogs/websites/print media  and sing the Negaraku at every opportunity.And Godwilling ,we can be like the generation before us -fiercely proud to be Malaysians.

YES,we can!

Pakatan Rakyat should announce its Shadow Cabinet NOW

Pakatan Rakyat have recently launched its Orange Book (Buku Jingga),which outlines what it will do when it comes to power.This is quite impressive and gives the Rakyat the confidence of what to expect should PR take over Putrajaya.

The responsibility of executing the Orange Book will obviously fall on the shoulders of the Cabinet.To give the Rakyat further confidence of what to expect,PR should announce its Shadow Cabinet now.Members of this Cabinet should start their work so that they can function immediately,should PR take over Putrajaya.

In this regard ,the issue of who will be the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers,must also be addressed. There is a strong view that we should have 3 Deputy Prime Ministers, one from Semenanjung and one each from Sabah and Sarawak.Lets address this now so that the Rakyat know what will happen and will not be surprised.

Pakatan Rakyat must demonstrate that it is capable of governing and if the issues are worked on now,there is no reason why we cannot have a smooth takeover.Lets give the Rakyat the confidence that we have the people and we can govern.