Umno man is stirring racial tension with ‘Allah’ judgment

KUALA LUMPUR: One of Umno’s known hawks, Pasir Salak MP Datuk Tajuddin Abdul Rahman, lambasted the High Court judgment on the ‘Allah’ case today, saying that it would not solve anything but only ignite racial and religious tension.

The High Court today lifted the home minister’s ban against the Catholic church from publishing the word “Allah” to refer to the Christian God in its weekly paper, Herald.

The landmark decision may be of joy for some 850,000 Catholics in the country but for Tajuddin, the suit itself, filed by Herald’s lawyers, is an act of provocation.

“What is their motive (for the suit) ? Why all of a sudden they want to use the word Allah when all this while they have been using the term God?

“This is definitely provocation, they are just using all this human rights, religious rights as excuses. This is sensitive to the Muslims and this will create racial and religious tension,” he told The Malaysian Insider.

The controversy over the word “Allah” has stirred huge debate among Christians and Muslims alike in Malaysia and attracted international attention as well.

The Home Minister, who controls giving the annual mandatory publishing permits in the country, had banned the church from using the word “Allah” outside the Muslim context.

But some have questioned if there can be a copyright over the word “Allah”, which Muslim representatives here say is a special word reserved to refer to the Muslim God, meaning “the one and only Almighty”.

The act of questioning the exclusivity of the word “Allah” for Muslims said Tajuddin is a clear indicator that “certain quarters” have become “bolder”.

“They have dared to do these things because the Muslims have been soft..but if you put some one in a corner, they will bounce back,” lamented the Pasir Salak MP.

“What the High Court thinks is right, may not necessarily be right outside (the court),” he added.

Meanwhile PAS vice-president Datuk Mahfuz Omar said Muslims must respect the decision of the High Court and remain calm.

“We must not be hasty and jump to conclusions. We should let the religious authorities to decide on its next course of action,” he said.

Asked if he agreed with the decision, Mahfuz ignored the question and reiterated that the country’s Muslims must respect the High Court decision and allow the religious authority to decide on its next course of action.

Though it is unclear if the Home Minister will seek to reverse the decision through the Appellate Court but he is likely to do so given the sensitivity of the issue.

MI
01/01/2010

Malaysian government is backward and myopic in their thinking and doing things that will destroy the country instead of improving it

The forgotten Malaysians

It seems like all we can think about in Malaysia these days is race and religion. We feel threatened by other races, and feel insecure about the future of our own community. It’s true these are serious concerns but our obsession often means that we forget that there are things that will affect us all no matter who comes up on top, if such a thing is even possible.

We forget that many of our problems are colour-blind, and are not peculiar to any ethnic group. When we insist on a racial approach and refuse to reach out, all Malaysians suffer. Two groups stand out in this quandary: one because they have the most to lose, the other because they have no opportunity to contribute to the nation.

The first the Malaysian middle class, that group that author Karim Raslan refers to as “Middle Malaysia”. Our middle class should be the bedrock of the nation, the repository of our values and a showcase of our prosperity but along with the hardcore poor, they are being squeezed the hardest.

They are supposed to be living the Malaysian dream: possessing higher education, homes and cars. They were promised the opportunity to either engage in business or comfortable white-collar jobs in the public or private sector. The trade-off would be that they would be pay taxes to the government and support the cause of nation-building. The Malay community in particular was promised all this and so much more via the NEP.

Yet today, many of us feel that this “Malaysian dream” is more allusive than ever. Wages have stagnated while costs of living have skyrocketed. Jobs that can match the qualifications of our graduates, indeed any jobs at all, are more difficult to find. Our people are increasingly reliant on personal loans and credit cards to make ends meet, adding to the burden of mortgages on their homes and their car loans. Demagogues spread fear and mistrust in the name of God or community.

The standards of our national schools have declined, forcing many parents to fork out yet more money to put them in other streams. Even medical care is problematic — those who can afford it prefer to opt for private hospitals but for the rest a major calamity often means spending their life savings to restore their loved ones to health.

These are real problems that real Malaysians face. Is it any wonder that they are so cynical and angry at the Establishment’s attempts to mollify them? The people won’t stand for being hoodwinked indefinitely.

Middle Malaysia is more exposed to the world compared to their predecessors: the Internet is providing them different perspectives. Budget airline travel means that visiting foreign countries is more affordable than ever before. Thus, the sense of stagnation and missed opportunities that is engulfing Malaysia becomes more evident.

As a result of all of the above factors and our inability to ameliorate them, more Malaysians are now working and eventually settling abroad. This is the second group I alluded to: Malaysians overseas. They lose out because they cannot contribute to the country and soon are dispossessed of their roots, a powerful resource that they are the poorer for lacking. The country loses their ideas and energy. We stand exposed as not being able to care for or keep our own people.

Last year, I visited Singapore and was invited to meet a group of local young professionals, civil servants and entrepreneurs. It turns out that nearly half of these “Singaporeans” were Malaysians!

I also visited Malaysian students in America and most of them said that they were planning to work in the United States. Another Malay expatriate I encountered there told me that most of his family would eventually relocate to California. We often wonder why they don’t want to return — sometimes it’s because it just makes sense for them not to.

A programmer constituent of mine found it so tough to make a decent living in Malaysia that he chose to leave his wife in Petaling Jaya, and work in Singapore. To cut costs, he lives in Johor Baru, and commutes every day, like thousands of other Malaysians. Another programmer who stayed on could not find a job in the industry and so ended up working at a toll booth!

But not everyone wants to leave. Many of my peers who studied with me in the UK — Malays, Chinese and Indians, Ibans and Kadazans — are now working there but plan to return in a few years having made some money and gained experience, bettering their prospects here.

After all, warts and all, Malaysia is still home. I always encourage them to come back, as Malaysia can only move forward if it has its best and brightest back home. True, it is useful to gain the exposure overseas, but at the end of the day, Malaysia needs them back and as I said before, their Malaysian identity offers them a unique perspective which they can share with (and sell to) the world.

I remind them that while we can work anywhere in the world, many ordinary Malaysians do not have that option. But coming home isn’t always as simple or easy. As the years pass by, the offer for permanent residency comes up and then, accustomed to the quality of life they enjoy there and perplexed by the mess back home, a few decide to stay on.

As I said earlier, we can judge them as much as we want. But ultimately, like everyone else they have to decide on what they think is best for them and their families. The onus should be on the state to make its entire people feel at home, rather than for any particular group to be forced time and again to “prove their loyalty”.

If they feel unwanted back home where glass ceilings block their progress, why not stay in a country where people are sorted by merit? If they feel that the only way to do business back home is to know the right people why shouldn’t go where they can do business through working hard?

Our “Malaysian Diaspora” too, like our middle class, is therefore often neglected. The lack of them traps the country in a vicious cycle: the inequities drive them away, but we can never hope to close these gaps without their talent complementing the ones we have here.

This is also something that powers-that-be ought to deal with, rather than on fancy slogans. Here’s another Herculean task: we have to strengthen our middle class, reverse our brain drain and make Malaysia competitive again.

At Merdeka, Malaysia was on par with Korea, Singapore and Taiwan in the early days after independence. Today, those countries are earning much more than us. The sleeping giants of China and India have woken up, and are growing rapidly. Closer to home, Vietnam and Indonesia have made great strides as well. These countries supply us with their labour, but as an analyst has claimed, we might be exporting maids to them soon!

Wise countries realise that talent has to be derived from both home and abroad in order for their economies to grow. This enables them to move up the value chain. Malaysia on the other hand drives out our own talent, further enriching other developed economies.

Thus, it’s not surprising that the government revealed recently that the number of Malaysians giving up their citizenship has nearly doubled this year in 2009, to 3,800 people. Over 300,000 Malaysians migrated from March 2008 to December 2008. There are reports now that an increasing number of Malays seem to be migrating as well. How are we to reverse this trend?

We need to formulate policies that empower our middle class. It’s no longer enough to focus on the basic constituency services — this should be a given. Instead, we have to make sure Malaysians regain a sense of ownership in their country, which has been lost. The misappropriation of the nation’s wealth and assets must be exposed and punished.

Let’s face it, decades of mismanagement mean that the property, honour and indeed lives of any Malaysian are no longer secure or inviolable. Recent events have proven that these can easily be rescinded if they get in the way. Reforming Malaysia should be about making sure that such abuses can never happen again.

Education must be a priority. We must invest in better schools and colleges and free them from political manipulation. Our companies need genuine incentives to develop their human resources so that they can move up in the value chain. We all know how Singapore leeches our talent through opportunities for education and professional development — so this is where the effort has to start.

But the fundamental change must be socio-political. We’ve often heard the refrain that Malaysians who don’t like it here should pack their bags and leave. Some might say “good riddance”, but this is arrogant and disingenuous.

The government announces slews of initiatives to get Malaysians home, but these will be always ineffective without fundamental changes to our polity. We have to simply start treating our fellow Malaysians better than they are now and stop going on who should be “grateful”.

We can stem the tide if we are willing to make difficult decisions, especially in allowing all deserving Malaysians to succeed and aiding those who are left-behind by society, combining meritocracy and affirmative action. It is sad that meritocracy is such a bad word in Malaysia but it’s increasingly our only way, especially for the Malays, to progress.

Nobody in their right mind can seriously advocate us continuing down the current path. It’s time we started thinking about how we can expand our economy, instead of fighting for the biggest slice of a shrinking pie.

What I have written may not be the silver bullet to cure our woes, but I do know that more has to be done for our “Forgotten Malaysians” — our middle class and fellow countrymen abroad.

I hope that my colleagues in Putrajaya and the various state capitals will spare a thought for them come this New Year.

Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad is the political secretary to the Selangor mentri besar and state assemblyman for Seri Setia. He was the youngest elected representative in the 2008 general election and blogs at www.niknazmi.com. His book, “Moving Forward: Malays for the 21st Century” was recently published by Marshall Cavendish and is available in major bookstores. The views expressed are his own.

MI
01/01/2010

What a waste of Tax payer's money? Bagaimana wang rakyat di belanjakan sewenang2

Surat untuk Tun Dr Mahathir — Husam Musa

JAN 1 — Untuk Tun Dr Mahathir,

Tun,

Amat malang sekali PM telah menolak cadangan Tun supaya sebuah Suruhanjaya Diraja menyiasat pengurusan kewangan Tun dan Pak Lah dibentuk.

Alasan Najib sekadar melepas batuk di tangga. Sapu bawah karpet. Kemudian goyang kaki.

Jika Najib seorang PM yang serius melihat pulihnya pengurusan prudent, beliau mesti berbuat sesuatu. Kalau pun enggan menubuhkan Suruhanjaya Diraja.

Menteri Kewangan boleh membentangkan Kertas Putih mengenai ke mana wang minyak RM270 billion telah dibelanjakan. Tun harus menggerakkan cadangan ini. Paling tidak, Parlimen akan mendapat penjelasan melalui Kertas Putih MOF itu.

Ia mampu dilakukan oleh Kerajaan dan atas prinsip telus dan berakauntable, tidak ada sebab Najib enggan berbuat demikian.

Tentang penggunaan wang RM270 billion tersebut, memang ada kebenarannya untuk diragui.

Senarai ringkas di bawah sedikit sebanyak boleh memberikan gambaran bagaimana wang itu dibazirkan sesuka hati;

a. Pembatalan kontrak Landasan Berkembar Rawang-Ipoh. Bayaran ganti rugi kepada DRB-Hicom — RM425 juta

b. Pembatalan kontrak Jambatan Kedua Malaysia-Singapura Bayaran ganti rugi kepada Gerbang Perdana — anggaran awal RM360 juta

c. Bayaran ganti rugi kepada operator lebuhraya RM380 juta

Compensation to be paid to nine highway concessionaires are as follows:

1. Ampang-Ulu Kelang Elevated Highway RM28 million,

2. North-South Expressway (Central Link) RM18 million,

3. Seremban-Port Dickson Highway RM178 million,

4. Kulim-Butterworth Highway RM10 million,

5. Malaysia-Singapore Second Link RM6 million,

6. Sprint Highway RM34 million,

7. North Klang Valley Expressway RM9 million, and

8. Penang Bridge RM22 million.

d. RM500 juta — pembelian bas baru untuk Rapid KL milik Khazanah. 1,000 bas sedia ada terpaksa disadai

e. Kompleks CIQ berharga RM1 bilion menjadi gajah putih hasil pembatalan pembinaan Jambatan Kedua.

"The result is that more than RM1 billion has been wasted building the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complex, foundation works for a new railway station, pilings and preliminary works on the road linking the CIQ to the bridge plus compensation to the contractors because of the cancellation of the projects."

f. Kos pembinaan Landasan Berkembar Rawang-Ipoh, mengikut PAC, meningkat RM1.43 billion dari harga asal. Mengikut laporan lain, ia meningkat dari RM2.7 pada Julai 2007 kepada RM4.8 billion pada Mei 2008. Peningkatan 77% dalam tempoh 10 bulan!

g. Pembatalan insinerator Broga — dianggarkan di antara RM500 juta hingga RM700 juta untuk bayaran pampasan dan berkaitan.

Angka di atas sahaja dah mencecah RM5.5 billion!

Sebahagian kos ini berlaku kerana sistem runding terus. Sebahagian, untuk menyediakan peluang perniagaan kepada pihak tertentu semata-mata. Sebahagian kerana bayaran ganti rugi semata-mata.

Siapa patut disalahkan, tidak disentuh di sini. Namun, bagaimana wang yang sangat besar boleh diselamatkan jika Kerajaan cekap dan berhemat.

Saya percaya, Tun mampu mempengaruhi Najib membentangkan Kertas Putih itu pada sidang Parlimen akan datang.

Atau, jika Tun ada cadangan lain bagaimana siasatan dan penjelasan terhadap isu ini boleh dilakukan.

Terima kasih.

Husam Musa — harakahdaily
01/01/2010

Will the judiciary make it happen in 2010? or still remain as kangaroo-court


KUALA LUMPUR: Since the sacking of former Lord President Tun Salleh Abas in 1988 during the reign of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as Prime Minister, the Malaysian courts have never been the same again.

Critics have long referred to the Malaysian judiciary as a kangaroo-court institution, claiming it has been compromised by vested political interest. And the past year did nothing to dispel that notion; there was enough drama tep the most avid soap opera fan entertained, with politically-loaded cases often going all the way to the highest court of the land, where the side aligned to the ruling regime can expect a happy ending.

The public perception is that justice is not done, and the year did nothing to bring back the respect that the judiciary once enjoyed.

2010 could be different if the independence of the judiciary is restored and the rule of law upheld.

Malaysians will be watching closely the unfolding of the trial of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, the inquest into DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock’s death, the Perak MB vs MB case and the many other corruption and power-abuse cases yet to be brought to court.

In outlining the theatrics in the Malaysian courts, Bernama reports that as 2009 tapered off, court headlines flared again with the first indictments over the scandal-ridden Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project with a total of 29 criminal breach of trust and cheating charges pressed against four accused.

The year’s first major headline grabber was the dispute between Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and Datuk Seri Dr Zamry Abdul Kadir of Barisan Nasional (BN) after three PR state assembly representatives declared themselves as independents friendly to BN.

Mohd Nizar turned to the courts after Dr Zambry was appointed as the menteri besar and the matter is pending with the Federal Court. Earlier, the Court of Appeal, in overturning a High Court decision, held that Sultan Azlan Shah was right in appointing Zambry as the new menteri besar under Article 16(2) of the Perak Constitution.

The case also resulted in DAP chairman Karpal Singh being charged with sedition for remarks made at a media conference regarding the Sultan of Perak’s role in the state’s political crisis.

Anwar, 62, who has claimed trial to the charge of sodomising his former aide Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan in 2008, failed to stop the prosecutors from transferring the case to the High Court.

The Court of Appeal upheld an appeal by the prosecution against a High Court order to supply documents and materials such as medical reports and DNA samples sought by Anwar, whose trial is set for hearing on Jan 25 next year.

Anwar also took his RM100 million defamation suit against Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, for calling him a homosexual, to the Federal Court after the Court of Appeal struck out the suit because his appeal was not filed in the national language.

The Federal Court has fixed March 1 to hear his appeal for leave against the appellate decision.

Anwar also filed multi-million ringgit civil suits against the media with Utusan Malaysia and News Straits Times heading the list.

The country’s anti-graft agency, renamed the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) at the beginning of 2009, took a tumble after young political aide, Teoh Beng Hock, was found dead on the fifth floor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam on July 16 after he was called in by MACC Selangor for questioning into alleged misappropriation of state funds.

Teoh’s death is being investigated by a widely-reported coroner’s inquest. The government has also agreed to set up a royal commission to probe investigative methods used by the MACC.

The High Court also ruled that the MACC could question witnesses only during office hours when deciding on the case of Kajang Municipal Council member Tan Boon Wah, 39, who filed a suit against the MACC, claiming that his detention and questioning for 16 hours was illegal. However, the decision was overruled by the Court of Appeal.

MACC also suffered setbacks in its prosecution of big names — former Land and Cooperative Development Minister Tan Sri Kasitah Gaddam, former commercial crime director Datuk Ramli Yusoff and Tourism Malaysia director-general Datuk Mirza Mohammad Taiyab, all for graft.

It has since obtained High Court permission to appeal agains the acquittal of Mirza, who returned to his post in the ministry after the trial. In the PKFZ scandal, former Port Klang Authority (PKA) general manager Datin Paduka O.C. Phang was produced before the Klang Sessions Court on three counts of criminal breach of trust involving a total of RM254.85 million.

Three others, from turnkey contractor Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd (KDSB) and project consultant BTA Architect, face cheating charges for making false claims.

Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail said more would be charged over the PKFZ scandal. Eseentially, the scandal is about how the cost to develop the massive 400-hectare integrated cargo distribution hub spiralled from RM2 billion to RM4.6 billion.

For the record, the Port Klang Authority has filed RM920 million suits against KDSB to recover part of its losses, and MCA president and Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat has filed a RM500 million defamation suit against KDSB chief executive officer Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing, who is also the member of Parliament for Bintulu.

Another coroner’s case that received wide coverage was the inquest into the death of actress K. Sujatha, 28, a former personal assistant to S. Vell Paari, the chief executive officer of Maika holdings and son of MIC president Datuk Seri S.Samy Vellu.

The Coroner’s Court ruled that she had committed suicide after consuming the weed killer paraquat.

Controversial blogger Raja Petra Raja Kamaruddin, who was detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA), eluded authorities trying to serve a warrant of arrest against him for failing to turn up in court for a sedition charge and another for a charge of defaming the prime minister’s wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.

The Petaling Jaya Sessions court said it had no alternative but to discharge the blogger, who is reportedly in London, although police earlier speculated that he was in Australia.

FMT
31/12/09

Top ten news makers in 2009, Welcome to Malay-sia, the World’s most racist and religious extremist country.

1) R. Seetha’s brother was murdered in cold blood by UMNO’s Malay-sian police along with four other Indian youths including a 17 year old Indian juvenile on 8/11/09 at Klang. Out of these five ruthless police killings done with impunity there were three coffins/dead bodies in one family to grieve. How cruel?

seetha

As Seetha could not take the pain of her brother’s said murder and that she was in no position to fight UMNO’s Malay-sian police, she took her own life by drinking paraquat. Her five children who were also given paraquat to drink survived but are likely to suffer from medical complications like kidney failure, cancer etc at a very young age. The last twenty seconds of Seetha’s life was captured by HRP’s video crew. And so was the first two minutes of her death. (see video in video section below). The height of the UMNO Malay-sian police atrocities is when the police tried shifting the blame on Seethe’s husband for her suicide. HRP was disappointed when the family of R. Seetha backed out from protesting by taking her body in a procession to Parliament house which was then in session. We will have another day. We have taken a rain cheque on this. There is no history of a tragedy of this magnitude ever happening in any other part of the world. UMNOs’ Malay-sia made it somehow

2) The pictures of A. Kugan’s brutalized body speaks a thousand words (see photos below). kugan-grief1But all the police murderers who murdered Kugan got away scot free. As usual a “mandore” Indian policeman was prosecuted for a token offence of causing injuries while extorting a confession. A. Kugan’s murder at the Taipan police station was the worst case ever recorded on camera of a death in custody. Lawyer N. Surendran and HRP’s S. Jayathas took the lead in standing up for, capturing on camera and publicizing this atrocity.

3) Even in “our” very own Opposition led DAP in Penang, the last Indian traditional village of Kg. Buah Pala was demolished with impunity by Kapitan Lim Guan Eng and ably assisted by thier Indian mandores. These villagers campaigned, carried placards and and even cried openly outside the Kapitan’s official residence but to no avail.13082009070 Hindraf and HRP went at full steam at the campaigns but DAP, PKR and PAS does not care. The saddest ending was when Murugan (46) who led the unprecedented lobby at Unesco to save Kg. Buah Pala passed away from a heart attack last week when he could no longer bear Kapitan Lim Guan Eng is continued demolishing of his cattle farm the week before after earlier in October 2009 having completely destroyed Kg. Buah Pala.

4) Similarly in PAS led Kedah the last piece of history and the heritage value cemetary of the Indian plantation workers in Ladang Batu Pekaka, Kuala Ketil, Kedah, p10204035the Kedah PAS Menteri Besar unilaterally demolished it with impunity. PAS was backed up by the Malay-sian UMNO police force and silently watched over by PKR and DAP. PAS, PKR or UMNO would never dare to it to a Chinese cemetary. Pray tell us of one Muslim, Christian, Buddhist or Chinese cemetery or place of worship being demolished in Malaysia. Why does this happen only to the Indian Hindus in UMNOs’ Malay-sia.

5) 16 Hindraf/HRP anti cow head candle light peaceful assemblers were arrested on 21/09/2009. 7823_126037194043_732234043_2345212_7316216_nkanth-576There video of this HRP/Hindraf cemetery. We wonder why? arrest drew an unprecedented half a million over hits in Malaysiakini.com. Whereas the malay muslim criminal protesters who stepped and spat on a severed and bloody cow head were given an audience with UMNO Home Minister Hishamuddin Hussien. 20971403764456284afe80704c3109aef42f2003

6) Release of P. Uthayakumar and M. Manoharan from ISA detention on 5/9/09 after 514 days at Kamuniting prison is the ultimate price paid for fighting for the critical Indian issues having befallen on the Malaysian Indian community . isa_utaya

7) Announcement of the formation of Human Rights Party and book launch “Indian Political Empowerment Strategy The Way Forward” by P. Uthayakumar on 19/6/09. n_25hindraf

8) 2nd Anniversary of 25th November 2007 100,000 over Hindraf peaceful Rally was held with the hunger strike of 18 Hindraf/HRP supporters and a gathering of 100 over others at KLCC at 11.30 a.m on 25/11/2009. klcc61klcc41Thereafter at 2.00 p.m a letter from Hindraf Chairman P. Waytha Moorthy’s daughter and a bouquet of flowers was brought to Putrajaya. As none of the Prime Minister’s Secretaries wanted to come out to receive us, the letter and the bouquet of flowers were left at the steps to the Prime Minister’s office after which the hunger strikes broke their fast. klcc-pm-office-20

9) Also noted are the plight of the Indian poor handicapped and senior citizens who have been denied Welfare help, Socso payments, live in dilapidated shacks, 70% of Tamil schools in cow shed like conditions,poor-men2 Tamil schools have to buy their own chairs and tables when (the almost all malay muslim) MRSM in Trolak is built on RM 120 Million government funding, Indian mini market owner from Termerloh of 30 years standing was even denied his licence to continue running his business in November 2009.

10) 150,000 Indian children being denied their birth certificates, another 150,000 even third, forth and fifth generation Indians have been denied their Malaysian citizenships,indian-girl an Indian cannot even become an Assistant district officer in Malaysia when the USA already has it’s first black “muslim” President in the person of Barack Hussien Obama. Malaysian Indian medical students degrees from Russia, Ukraine, Romania, India, Indonesia etc being derecognized at a time when Malaysia is short of doctors by 50%.

Every day some hindu temple, hindu crematorium, tamil school or Indian settlement is demolished given notice to be demolished, relocated or to be relocated.

Welcome to Malay-sia, the World’s most racist and religious extremist country.
S.JAYATHAS
HRP Information Chief
31/12/09

HENTIKAN POLISI : TIADA SIJIL LAHIR TIADA SEKOLAH

YAB. Dato Seri Najib Razak

Perdana Menteri Malaysia

Blok Utama Bangunan Perdana Putra,
Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan,
Fax: 03-88883444
62502 Putrajaya Mail : khairulam@moe.gov.my

Y.B Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin
Menteri Pelajaran,
Pejabat Menteri Pelajaran,
Aras 10, Block E8,
Complex Kerajaan Parcal
Fax: 03-8889 5846
62604 Putrajaya.
email: khairulam@moe.gov.my

HENTIKAN POLISI : TIADA SIJIL LAHIR TIADA SEKOLAH

YAB/ YB,

Kami rujuk kepada perkara yang tersebut di atas

Menurut akhbar Tamil pada penghujung tahun 2007 satu Surat Pekeliling telah dikeluarkan oleh Kementerian Pelajaran kepada sekolah –sekolah Tamil supaya tidak menerima masuk murid – murid yang telah dinafikan Sijil Kelahiran mereka bermula dari tahun persekolahan Januari 2008. Dan selepas daripada itu kami telah membaca banyak laporan- laporan akhbar yang menyatakan bahawa murid – murid keturunan India yang telah dinafikan Sijil Kelahiran telah tidak dibenarkan diterima terutamanya di sekolah- sekolah Tamil.

YAB/ YB kes kanak- kanak dinafikan sijil kelahiran sebenarnya adalah satu tragedi oleh kerana akan berlaku masalah bersangkut (chain reaction) dan implikasi jauh ke hadapan (far reaching consequences) bermula dari tidak dibenarkan masuk ke Sekolah Rendah, Sekolah Menengah, Kolej- kolej Kemahiran (Skills Training Institutions) Institusi Pengajian Tinggi dan Universiti di dalam dan luar negara, tidak boleh mendapat pinjaman Pendidikan dan Biasiswa. Juga mereka akan dinafikan lesen memandu motorsikal, motorkar van, bas dan lori untuk mendapat pekerjaan dan mencari makan. Mereka tidak dapat membuka akaun bank atau membeli rumah, motorsikal, kereta, lori atau van. Tidak akan dapat lesen berniaga. Tidak dapat buka walaupun sebuah gerai makanan. Tidak akan mendapat pekerjaan walaupun pekerjaan yang tidak memerlukan kemahiran seperti pengawal keselamatan atau pekerja am dikilang ataupun cleaner di pejabat.

Dan akhir sekali, mereka tidak dapat berkahwin. Jikalaupun mereka berkahwin anak- anak generasi mereka yang seterusnya mengalami masalah tiada sijil kelahiran dan masalah ini berlanjutan kesemuanya sekali lagi (all over again) kepada generasi berikutnya. Masalah sosial yang berbangkit adalah remaja India yang terjerumus ke dalam kegiatan kongsi gelap dan jenayah. Kami merasa amat dukacita olehkerana kerajaan terpaksa membelanjakan RM 1 Billion dalam Bajet 2010 kepada Polis Diraja Malaysia untuk menangani keselamatan dan jenayah termasuk membunuh dengan menembak mati antara lain lima orang pemuda India dalam satu hari termasuk seorang remaja berumur cuma 17 tahun dalam satu transaksi di Klang pada 8/11/09.

Anggaran kami adalah 150,000 kanak – kanak India yang hampir kesemuanya lahir di Malaysia malah ada yang dalam generasi ketiga, keempat dan kelima yang sengaja dinafikan sijil kelahiran oleh sebahagian daripada 1,016,799 ‘graduan’ Biro Tata Negara (rujuk UM Buletin 21/6/09 mukasurat 19) yang menolak pengeluaran Sijil Kelahiran atas alasan- alasan teknikal yang paling remeh. Persepsi kami adalah mereka sudahpun membuat keputusan untuk menolak atas dasar perkauman terutamanya apabila pemohon adalah dari golongan kelas pekerja dari masyarakat India.

Oleh yang demikian dalam penyelesaian ikhlas jangka pendek dan jangka panjang kami memohon supaya:-

1) Surat Pekeliling yang telah dikeluarkan pada penghujung tahun 2007 tersebut dibatalkan dan satu surat Pekeliling yang baru dikeluarkan oleh Ketua Setiausaha, Kementerian Pelajaran untuk tahun 2010 dengan arahan kepada terutamanya guru- guru besar dan Ketua- Ketua Jabatan Pelajaran supaya tidak menolak sebarang dan/ atau mana- mana murid keturunan India khususnya daripada dibenarkan masuk ke sekolah- sekolah rendah dan seterusnya.

2) Satu Surat Pekeliling dikeluarkan oleh Ketua Setiausaha Kementerian Dalam Negeri supaya kesemua kes kanak – kanak dari masyarakat India yang telah dinafikan Sijil Kelahiran dikenalpasti dengan segera dan diberikan Sijil Kelahiran dalam tempoh 60 hari dari tarikh disini.

Tindakan dan jawapan yang awal dari pihak YAB,YB disanjung tinggi.

Sekian,
Terima Kasih.

Yang Benar,

____________________
P.Uthayakumar
Setiausaha Agong (penaja)
HRP

Hindraf Makkal Sakthi was given 2nd Civil Society Awards

Federal State, Selangor Chinese Assemble awards giving ceremony was held 2nd time and the awards was given to Hindraf Makkal Sakthi. On behalf of P. Waytha Moorthy, S.Jayathas Information Chief received the award. This award giving ceremony was held in a Chinese hall recently.


HRP
31/12/09

Who do you think is “Indian of the year 2007-2009″ ?

High Court lifted home minister’s ban of publishing the word “Allah" BUT what would be the outcome of Court of Appeal


Court says ‘yes’ to Allah for Christians

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 31 — It will be a glorious new year for some 850,000 Catholics in Malaysia.

In a landmark ruling today, the High Court here lifted the home minister’s ban against the Catholic church publishing the word “Allah” to refer to the Christian God in its weekly paper, Herald.

Counsel for the Herald, Porres Royan, told reporters outside the crowded court, “The court has granted the declaration that the applicant has the Constitutional right to use the word Allah. I believe the ministry is bound by the court’s decision.”

Senior Federal counsel Datuk Kamaludin Md Said said, “I was made to understand the ministry has already issued the permit for 2010.” The publishing permit for the Herald expires today.

He added that he will consult the ministry for new instruction, when asked about his next course of action.

The government had said that the ban was necessary to avoid confusing the majority Muslims in the country. Islam is the official religion in Malaysia.

But the church claimed the ban violates its constititutional rights to practice its religion freely.

According to Father Lawrence Andrew who edits Herald, the term “Allah” has been used by Christians in the region to refer to their God since four hundred years ago. He added that it is still actively used today.

Lawrence explained that “Allah” in the Christian context is used to refer to the trinitarian concept of “God the Father” which is different from the Muslim use of the verse to refer to the “one and only God”.

Herald’s editor claims the use of the word has not died out and is still being used in church worship among indigenous East Malaysians, who form a substantial number of the Christian faithful in the country.

The church first took the government to court last year after the home ministry threatened to revoke its annual publishing permit for Herald, Malaysia’s only Catholic paper.

It was forced to refresh its suit again this year after its 2008 permit expired without any decision from the court.

MI
31/12/09

Najib Razak: A New Prime Minister Facing an Uncertain Future

Reading a booklet from Barry Wain, ‘Najib’s Challenge: Glory or Oblivion’ published by Research for Social Advancement (Refsa), it gave us an understanding that the newly appointed Prime Minister has a lot of hard work to do to gather the support of the people.

Being a politician who have faced pressures from the oppositions and bad impressions from the international media, he must find a way, urgently, to arrest the erosion in the government’s electoral appeal, or he will make history as the man who led one of the world’s longest-governing parties to defeat.

Moreover, Najib brings to the job so much political baggage that it has threatened to derail his prime ministerial ambitions. He has been linked to a Mongolian woman, 28, who was shot and blown up with specialized C4 plastic explosives in Malaysia in 2006. The woman’s former lover, an adviser to Najib, was cleared of ordering her death in a protracted court case that drew harsh public criticism and left vital questions unanswered. Two members of an elite police bodyguard unit assigned to Najib, who were asked by the adviser to “do something” about the woman because she was blackmailing him, had to answer murder charges.

Barry who is Writer-in-Residence at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies also mentioned how well the allegations on Najib’s corruption history. For example, the 114.96 million euros “coordination and support services” fee for Malaysia’s purchase in 2002 of two new Scorpene and one reconditioned Agosta submarine for 1.04 billion euros was paid to Perimekar Sdn. Bhd. Perimekar at the time was owned by a company called K.S. Ombak Laut Sdn Bhd.

UMNO, of course, is not Najib’s only immediate concern. With limited experience in finance, he must prepare to steer Malaysia through the global recession that is engulfing the region. He also is under pressure to address the extremely sensitive issue of affirmative action, still known colloquially by its original name, the New Economic Policy (NEP), which is a source of acute unhappiness among not just ethnic Chinese and Indians, but also increasing numbers of Malays without UMNO connections.

Significantly, it was when Najib was acting head of UMNO Youth in 1987 that he sounded a discordant racial note, which raised questions about him in the minds of non-Malays and dogged him for years. It came as communal tension had been building for weeks and he led a huge rally in Kuala Lumpur to confront what was perceived as a Chinese threat to Malay special rights. In the air were ethnic grievances on both sides, though the immediate issue was the government appointment of non-Mandarin-speaking Chinese to administrative posts in Chinese-medium primary schools. As party barriers were overrun by ethnicity, two National Front members, the Malaysian Chinese Association and Gerakan, joined with the opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP) on occasions in defence of Chinese interests.17 Najib was photographed at the demonstration with several other UMNO Youth leaders, wearing white headbands with their arms raised, above a banner naming four high-profile opponents, all ethnic Chinese and Indian (though one was a Muslim) and the words, “destroy them”. Followers waved other banners bearing racially provocative slogans. “Our elders should not compromise anymore”, said Najib. “We are simply fed up.”

Although Najib pronounced himself happy with the response to his direct appeal to the public, it did little to improve his image. Three months after the website appeared and three months before Najib was due to replace Abdullah, only 41 per cent of Malaysians thought he would be a good prime minister. Even the inept Abdullah had a 46 per cent approval rating in the poll, conducted by the independent Merdeka Centre. Voters were worried about the usual panoply of issues: the economy, race relations and equality, corruption and governance. After waiting more than three decades for his moment to lead the nation, Najib Razak is taking over “without the burden of overly high expectations”, as one report put it, but burdened on almost every other score.

NE
30/12/09

PAS, PKR and UMNO destroys hindu cemetery in Kedah. DAP won’t disturb Chinese cemetery in Penang

In fact the DAP has bent backwards to protect the Chinese graves that even went beyond the Chinese cemetery boundaries and spilling onto the adjoining land (refer The Star 23/12/09 at page N16 below).
But when it was the Indian Village Kg. Buah Pala this very same DAP destroyed the last traditional Indian village in Penang in October 2009 while PAS last week destroyed the local 100 over year old hindu cemetery, the last piece of history and heritage of the Indian plantation workers of Ladang Pekaka, Kuala Ketil, Kedah.
And PKR destroyed the Ampang Hindu temple in early 2009. UMNO has a record of destroying one hindu temple in every week during the terror reign of former Selangor Menteri Besar Khir Toyo (reply by Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid to ADUN for Kota Alam Shah, Maoharan Malayalam at the Selangor State Assembly early this year). And all these atrocities by UMNO, PKR, PAS and DAP done with impunity.

This is the UMNO, PKR, PAS and DAP rulers set of justice when it comes to the Indians and Hindus in Malaysia. Why the double standards?

The bottom line is the Chinese and the Malays both have the economic and political clout which the Indians don’t. So the Indians are both the soft targets and easy prey to be bullied and to be pushed about and around by both UMNO and also PKR, DAP and PAS. This is the race based political reality in UMNOs’ Malaysia vis a vis PKR DAP and PAS.

P. Uthayakumar.
HRP
30/12/09

Tease and shame of the decade: The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the VK Lingam video


KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 30 — It takes a rare sort of nerve to move into a new job and immediately declare that you will solve the biggest problem that wasn't dealt with by your predecessor in the 22 years he was there. Rarer still, when you consider that the predecessor in question might possibly be the most powerful Malaysian who ever lived.

"This man's got chutzpah," we all thought as then-Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, as the prime minister, promised to tackle, pin down and disembowel corruption. As Tunku Abdul Aziz wrote earlier this year, "We were swept and overwhelmed by the euphoria of the moment, the dawn of a blessed new era and the end of a morally degrading and debilitating regime. Anyone after Mahathir Mohamad was a welcome change, and the country was happy to give him and the party he led the biggest ever electoral victory in the history of our country."

The year was 2003 and Malaysia had just dipped from No. 33 in the Global Corruption Perception Index (CPI) done by Transparency International to No. 37. No fear, Pak Lah is here!

And as we went about our business, we assumed he was doing the same... but we then went down to No. 39, two years later to No. 44... and then, A-HA, the Lingam tape surfaced! Here was a chance for Pak Lah to prove he was serious, and only four years after he had taken over!

And so he rolls up his sleeves, puts together a five-man royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to look into the video recorded in 2002 showing lawyer Datuk Kanalingam Vellupillai allegedly talking to former Chief Judge of Malaya Ahmad Fairuz Abdul Halim on the phone about getting the judge appointed as the top dog — Chief Justice of Malaysia. The lawyer also seemed to boast about having discussed judicial matters with Cabinet minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and Berjaya tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan, one of then-Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's closest business buddies.

This was big, big nVK Lingam was caught on video but he insists it wasn't him.
ews with Dr M, Tan, Tengku Adnan, another Chief Justice Tun Mohamed Eusoff Chin and Lingam all having to testify before the almighty commission. It gave us such wonderful entertainment such as Lingam's immortal, "Looks like me, talks like me, sounds like me, but it's not me."

Was this to signal a turning point in Malaysia's history? A wide-ranging clampdown on the wheelers and dealer and fixers of the Mahathir-era?

The RCI seemed to think so. It found that the phone call was between Lingam and Ahmad Fairuz, that judicial appointments were open to manipulation and specifically that Lingam, Tengku Adnan and Tan ensured the late Tan Sri Dr Abdul Malek Ahmad did not become Chief Judge of Malaya.

Abdullah's Cabinet agreed to make these findings public and ordered the Attorney-General to investigate the allegations. Finally, justice? Well, it seemed there was sufficient cause to invoke the Sedition, the Prevention of Corruption, the Legal Profession and the Official Secrets Acts against the main protagonists.

None of the above, however, has eventually been invoked with regards to the tape — the Sedition Act has instead been used to do things like haul DAP chairman Karpal Singh to court over his claim that royalty could be sued. Parliament was recently told that Lingam might have committed a "moral wrong" but that he had committed no criminal wrong.

And it was Abdullah himself who had told the House just before he retired that three out of four persons investigated with relation to the video had been cleared of any wrongdoing.

The last time I checked, we are now No. 56 on the CPI.

MI
30/12/09

Disappointment of the decade: Pak Lah as fifth prime minister


KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 30 — “Don’t work for me, work with me.”

That one sentence heralded what was supposed to have been a New Age for Malaysians. After over two decades of iron-fisted rule by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, a prime minister who cared about what the country thinks was exactly what the doctor ordered.

Most Malaysians thought as much.

Together with the promise of a softer approach towards running the country was Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s image as “Mr Clean”. An image that he played up further by vowing to come down hard on a culture of corruption so entrenched that, far from being a crime, it was treated as an entitlement.

More than just giving Pak Lah — as he is popularly known — the benefit of the doubt, Malaysians handed him the keys to the country. In Election 2004, Barisan Nasional was given its most convincing mandate yet, winning 198 out of the 220 parliamentary seats. Whatever gains the opposition made during the 1998 Anwar Ibrahim debacle was all but wiped out.

But despite the overwhelming support of the electorate, it did not take long for it to be obvious that instead of using this mandate to implement policies that might have taken the country somewhere, anywhere, Pak Lah seemed content to rest on his laurels.

An administration paralysed by indecision, it was painful to watch what was essentially the most powerful man in the country being unable — or unwilling — to decide which direction the country should be heading. Instead, Malaysians were treated to mere rhetoric.

If ever there was an example of how indecision can be as harmful — and perhaps even more so — than bad decisions, this was it. National policy — when they made any — seemed to change on a whim, before being reversed soon after if objections were raised.

Dr Mahathir, “recalcitrant” as he was, was at least decisive. And once he made up his mind, for better or worse, he stuck by it. Pak Lah, in contrast, ruled with all the consistency of a limp noodle. And before long, some quarters even began pining for the return of his predecessor.

Anecdotal accounts now seem to suggest Pak Lah was more than happy to let the country run itself, rather than be bothered with the minutiae of administrating the day-to-day affairs of the nation.

It also did not bode well that the man who was in charge of the country brought more than a metaphorical meaning to the phrase “sleeping on the job”. In any case, rather than running itself, the country was quickly running aground.

Besides residing over periods of harsh “unofficial” inflation, when the rakyat was increasingly feeling the pinch yet kept being told that everything was, is, and ever will be all right, it was also obvious that Pak Lah was failing miserably at his earlier promise of combating national graft.

Not only was he not doing much to cut down on corruption, merciless insinuations and accusations of cronyism by Dr Mahathir also ripped Abdullah’s “Mr Clean” reputation to shreds. Allegations of corruption in the UN Oil for Food programme certainly didn’t help matters. Nor the unfortunate discovery of a nuclear smuggling network involving Scomi Group.

Given carte blanche to run the country, Pak Lah chose to play the bureaucrat at a time when the country needed a strong steward to guide it into uncharted waters. Promises of fighting corruption, an Islam Hadhari that no one understands till today, and stillborn economic progress all lie in the wake of possibly the country’s most ineffectual prime minister to date.

What had started with so much potential ended as a major letdown. Hounded out of office by the man who put him there and the man who would be there, Pak Lah cut a lonely and forlorn figure in his final days.

In the end, Pak Lah's years will be remembered as a lost opportunity to reform Malaysia by a man who was paralysed by indecision and manacled to the status quo demands of his own political party.
30/12/09

Shame of the decade: The Perak power grab


KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 30 — There are plenty of contenders for Malaysia's biggest shame of the year.

The mystery of two missing fighter jet engines from under lock and key, which came to light just recently but almost two years after it happened, is a top candidate.

There is also the bloody cow's-head parade outside the august Selangor state secretariat by some 50 religious radicals over the relocation of a Hindu temple a few months back.

And before that, there was the first-term lawmaker who lost his head and disrespectfully yelled “You murderer!” at the prime minister while Parliament was still in session.

But the Barisan Nasional's behind-the-scenes machinations to topple the democratically-elected government in Perak 11 months ago surely qualifies as Malaysia's shame of the decade.

Why is it the shame of the decade?

Hmm... could it be because a powerful political coalition gave the impression that it was desperate and petty enough to resort to coup tactics to grab power back?

Or that the elected representatives did not show a single stitch of honour by hopping back and forth between parties?

How about because the royal household which lost the respect and affection of many Malaysians for failing to do the right thing — dissolve the state assembly and call for fresh elections?

Or is it about the courts which ditched solid law made by some of Malaysia's top jurists, law which stayed true to the principle of separation of powers, which made it clear that the courts have no business inquiring into matters of the legislature?

Sivakumar being forcefully dragged off his official chair during the coup in the state assembly.
Can anyone who saw the pictures forget how Perak Speaker V. Sivakumar was forcefully dragged off his official chair and his official robes torn off him?

Or the fury of Perakians at then Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak whom they accused of masterminding the coup when photographs of feet stepping on his poster were published?

Who is shamed by this crisis?

The BN?

Their political rival faction, Pakatan Rakyat?

The Sultan?

The state legal advisers?

The four frogs who leaped from party to party and which caused the political/ constitutional stand-off?

Does it matter?

The coup, bloodless as it was, triggered a series of events of epic proportions which struck at the very core of the rule of law and order.

Just like the country's Constitution, the Perak state constitution is a contract which binds the people of Perak to its Rulers.

It sets out the terms that each agree to follow so they can all live in peace and prosperity.

All the things that went wrong in Perak have yet to be righted because the deafening clamour from voters calling for state-wide elections has been ignored.

The court battle — over who has the power to sack a lawfully appointed mentri besar — remains hanging with the Federal Court yet to set a date for decision despite having heard all the arguments.

Until these issues are dealt with and properly, the Perak shame will continue to hang like a deadweight on the minds of all right-thinking Malaysians who wonder what else can be done away with.

After all, there are now two multi-million ringgit giant Hollywood-style signboards erected at the north and south gateways to Ipoh, Perak's capital, to serve as a constant reminder of where the shame began.

Perak is a classic case of the people in power forgetting who put them in power. The only good news is that the people who hold the power of the vote will not forget it.

MI
30/12/09

40 plots of land allocated to the poor were given to to Umno members and village heads by Perak illegal state governmment

PKR rep wants land released to the poor

IPOH, Dec 30 – A Perak PKR assemblyman has issued a warning to the Kampar land committee to release the 40 plots of land allocated to Umno members and village heads under the Sungai Itek planned village programme or get hauled up to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

Teja assemblyman Chang Lih Kang, who has already lodged a report to MACC on the alleged land scam in Gopeng, told a press conference today that the 40 plots of land should be released immediately and given out to the poor instead.

“If the land committee fails to do this, I will refer all those who sit on the committee to the MACC as soon as possible,” he warned, adding that the committee should sit soon to decide on the final list of candidates to receive plots under the programme.

He said that among those who sit on the committee are Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir or his representative, the Land and Mines Department director or his representative, Tualang Sekah assemblyman Nolee Ashilin Mohammed Radzi and Kampar MP Datuk Lee Chee Leong.

Chang had exposed the supposed land scam earlier this month when he revealed that 40 out of the 127 plots under the Sungai Itek planned village programme which were meant for the poor and the landless had been allocated to Umno politicians, including Gopeng Umno division chief Datuk Hamzah Kassim, and Barisan Nasional-appointed village heads.

He has since lodged a report with the MACC.

Chang also scoffed at state executive councillor Datuk Hamidah Osman for claiming last week that the state government was not aware of the land quota for Umno cronies and that the blame lay in the hands of the Kampar district officer Ahmad Kamarulzaman Hamzah.

“Putting the blame on a civil servant when such mismanagement is revealed is clearly the practice of politics of cowardice.

“The district officer stands to gain nothing from preparing such a quota for Umno politicians so why would he do so unless he was under certain political pressure?” said Chang.

He said that Ahmad Kamarulzaman was being used as the scapegoat to wipe away all blame from Hamzah and his crew.

“Furthermore, Hamidah is not fit to pass comment on this issue because for one thing, the land portfolio does not come under her jurisdiction.

“Also, her sincerity is questionable as she is the Gopeng Wanita Umno chief while Hamzah is the Gopeng division chief. The two of them also used to be business partners in a company called Projek Bitara Sdn Bhd,” claimed Chang.

When contacted, Perak MACC deputy director Norasmi Shari told The Malaysian Insider that the commission had yet to decide whether to proceed with investigations into Chang's earlier report.

He confirmed that the case had been filed with the MACC and that Chang's statement had since been recorded.

“We have not decided on whether to proceed yet with the case. However, we will do what is necessary,” he said.

Ahmad Kamarulzaman could not be reached for comment.

MI
30/12/09

K Ketil graves: PAS MB digging his own grave

Let me quote from the report: ‘Menteri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak said the matter was settled after the government held discussions with family members and the cemetery committee. He said more than 100 graves had been relocated and work on the campus would continue and was expected to complete by 2012.

‘The case is settled. We have also briefed the Malaysian Hindu Sangam association and they understand,’ he told reporters today. He said each family was given RM3,000 to relocate the grave of their loved one to a new site about four kilometres away.’

Now let me quote from a report I have just received from Kuala Ketil from the ‘pengerusi’ of the Kuala Ketil Tamilar Association, the organisation that has been administering the burial ground all along:

‘The Kedah goverment has threatened the families that if they do not remove the tombs they would all be covered up and buried over by earth. Each of the families were given RM3,000/= immediately upon removal. A total of 80 graves have been dug up and the remains were buried in another existing graveyard.

No new location has been offered as promised by the state government (nine acres). There are still about 90 graves left and the concerned families have decided that they stay put’.

It is obvious from this report that the Kedah MB is lying. The problem is far from resolved. And the remains in the 80 graves have not been moved to a new site, they have only been moved to another pre-existing site. Shame on the PAS MB for lying and misleading the public.

Firstly, the Kedah PAS government should stop trying to circumvent the wishes of the people by bringing in an organisation that has never played a role in administering the burial ground (this is the Hindu Sangam) to help the PAS government usurp the rights of the poor Indians of Kuala Ketil.

This is outright treachery, manipulation and an anti-democratic practice, the type of stuff that Umno has been famous for, whom we (including PAS) are striving to throw out.

Secondly, the Kedah state government should stop using strong-arm tactics saying that the burial grounds will be covered-up and totally destroyed even if the people do not remove the tombs. This is the same nonsense that the DAP government did to the people of Kampung Buah Pala, bullying the people into submission. So is this the stuff of r the Pakatan Rakyat coalition.

Is this what Pakatan means in their recent announcement in for their ‘Common Policy Framework’ (CPF) where they said, ‘Pakatan rejects policies that allow for corruption and other financial crimes and abuse of power. In order to ensure sustainable growth, oppressive policies that have only enriched the few should be replaced with a policy that ensures that the poor are assisted regardless of race.’

Or is this just another in a string of unfulfilled’ promises? Thirdly I would like to remind the Kedah MB that if they proceed with the demolition of the burial ground, they will be committing a crime under Section 297 of the Penal Code as it will before an amicable settlement is arrived at. Under this law, a person could be jailed for at least a year for trespassing, damaging and desecrating the burial places of any religion.

When are the people going to get to see some real democracy at work? We have not seen it under the BN for the last 52 years. Now, in the last going-to-be two years, we are not seeing it in the Pakatan-controlled states either.

If Pakatan is serious about their CPF pronouncements, we insist that they immediately stop this bullying, manipulating and lying about the Batu Pekaka Hindu burial ground issue and sit down with the true representative organisation, the Kuala Ketil Tamilar Association and hammer out a mutually agreeable solution.

Failing which, they Pakatan, will be exposing their true nature.

The writer is pro-tem central committee member and advisor, Human Rights Party (HRP).

MK
29/12/09
mi1: Dont blame Indians if they vote out PR in the next General election. Looks like 1st and last for PR in Kedah.

HINDRAF MAKKAL SAKTHI NEW YEAR WISHES

Malaysian police should direct their attention to solving serious crime in the country instead of going after the opposition

Stretching absurdity to the extreme! — P. Ramakrishnan

DEC 29 — Aliran is appalled by the statement of Selangor police chief Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar claiming that the Sri Kembangan state assemblyperson Ean Yong Hian Wah had intimidated the police when he called on them to stop their investigation of DAP Secretary-General, Lim Guan Eng, for alleged sedition.

It is difficult to understand how a request or a demand to stop their investigation of Lim Guan Eng — in what is interpreted by the police as sedition — can be construed as directing the police to cease their investigation of Guan Eng. What authority does Ean Yong have to direct the police? Or are they recognising that he has such powers to do so? He has no such powers. Why, then, does Khalid claim that the police were directed by Ean Yong to desist from their investigation?

On what basis does Khalid state, “I wish to stress that the honourable member should not try to intimidate us …” Irrespective of whether it was a request or a demand in wanting the police not to investigate Guan Eng, in what way does that constitute intimidation?

Is Khalid claiming that the police were indeed intimidated by Ean Yong’s statement? Is he admitting that the police indeed felt intimidated by Ean Yong? Imagine that, one lonely voice can intimidate the entire police force! This is stretching absurdity to the extreme! This is doing violence to the word.

Does the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein, who is in charge of the police force agree with this ridiculous interpretation?

Khalid’s statement has serious repercussions on civil society. If civil society were to tell the police not to accept bribes, or urge the police not to be cruel to the detainees, or ask the police to be even handed when dealing with dissidents, would that now be interpreted as a directive and therefore having the effect of an intimidation?

On a serious note, if the police are so easily intimidated by a mere statement, how are they going to ensure our safety on a daily basis when the crime rate has soared to frightening levels? There are so many criminals running around killing and raping, snatching bags and valuables from pedestrians on the street, putting us in fear for our own well-being, how then are the police going to cope with this intimidating environment we are living in?

The police should direct their attention to solving serious crime in the country instead of going after the opposition. Their conduct with regards to the opposition is becoming very blatant. People are troubled by this and are disappointed with the police.

* P. Ramakrishnan is the president of Aliran.

MI
29/12/09

Culminating in the laughable mystery of the missing RM50 million fighter jet engines and many more embarrassing events took place in the year of 2009

What a year we have had - 2009

A fighter jet without an engine? What a shocker. Honestly, imagine if we were suddenly under attack from some evil alien race or the little red dot down south.

The siren at the air force base would sound waking our finest fighter pilots. They would then proudly don their uniforms, kiss the flag and grab their helmets while running down the tarmac towards their respective planes.

Up the ladder and into the cockpit they go just like in “Top Gun”. The nation cheers them on, our only hope for survival in the hands of these fine young soldiers.

They then smack on their helmets and push the start button expecting a roar from the engine of the F-5E Tiger fighter jet. Nothing happens. Not even a meow.

“What in the world is happening?” shouts the fighter pilot to the aircraft engineer down below over the sound of bombs exploding in the background.

“Hang on man — don’t worry. Let me check and fix the problem” replies the engineer as he hurries up the ladder.

“Hurry up, man, I can hear the enemy approaching,” urges the pilot.

“Sorry, brother. I believe the problem is much more serious than I first thought. The whole entire engine is missing!” screams the engineer in horror.

Another bomb explodes, this time even closer. The brave pilot looks up to the skies, removes his helmet and prays that the nation’s two Scorpene submarines do not share the same fate.

By the way, could someone do a headcount of our Scorpene submarines please? If jet engines could be spirited away, I fear for the safety of KD Tunku Abdul Rahman and KD Tun Razak.

Also while we are at it, could someone also please ensure that all six missiles, anti-ship surface missiles and anti-submarine torpedoes are accounted for onboard both our nation’s defensive pride and joy.

No point swimming about underwater without weapons. Then the only thing that will be afraid of our navy’s might will be baby whales and other small sea creatures.

Last week, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was reported to have advised people not to sensationalise the missing fighter jet engines issue. You absolutely cannot be serious Mr Minister.

This fiasco is a sensation all by its own. One cannot sensationalise it any more. The facts speak for themselves.

Also, how about the fact that these engines were detected missing since 2007? It has been two whole years. Were we waiting for the thieves to use them and then pass them back to us?

On Christmas Eve, Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail gave his assurance that his Chambers would go “all out” in this case.

Wow. Thank you so very much. Did you think the nation expected anything less than “all out” in every case?

Speaking about going “all out”, we simply must get to the bottom of this murky state of affairs involving serious capital flight from Malaysia through illegal money changers.

It is not good enough for Bank Negara to simply shut down these money changing firms. They merely provide the service because there is demand.

To get to the bottom of the matter, it is the unpatriotic individuals, who blatantly ignore the government’s efforts to keep capital within the country that must be punished.

Surely when Bank Negara shuts down these illegal money changers they must have had documentary proof that monies were wired out. These documents must have also carried the names of the individuals who gave the wiring instructions and other details like amount, currency and destination.

A Bank Negara official was reported to have said that the crackdown was part of an “ongoing surveillance” of the activities of the country’s 875 licensed money changers.

Could someone send the MACC an invitation to be part of this “ongoing surveillance”? In fact, the MACC may treat this article as the invitation. Apologies for the lack of pomp and ceremony.

After all, they fought hard at the Court of Appeal to do their job after office hours so what is a little round-the-clock surveillance over people who inexplicably have millions of ringgit in their accounts.

Just last week a father whose child is studying in Britain lamented to me about how many forms he had to fill up just to send his son money from Malaysia.

Pity he did not have a friendly neighbourhood money changer on his speed dial.

The tragic death of Teoh Beng Hock, the racism of Utusan Malaysia and the continued failure to address sensitive religious issues such as conversion, Malay-language Bibles and the word Allah are just some of the matters that irreversibly taint 2009.

Add that to the caning sentence imposed on Kartika Sari Dewi and the endemic corruption and abuse of power still prevalent everywhere in this country and we get a year that cannot stand up and be proud of itself. As said by Queen Elizabeth II in 1992 — this has turned out to be an Annus horribilis.

2010 has to be better, surely it cannot get worse! Common sense must take its place at the forefront along with the dismantling of racist policies and machinery and a more effective enforcement of the law of the land.

Happy new year to all. May the next year be better than the last. May 2010 be an annus mirabilis.

mysinchew
29/12/09

Teoh Beng Hock murdered, it is pathetic and as a nation totally stripped of any dignity left, to have a foreigner tell us the truth

KUALA LUMPUR: Teoh Beng Hock was murdered. Top Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand has sufficient evidence to prove that he was killed.

The Parti Keadilan Rakyat organ, Suara Keadilan, reports in its latest edition that her forensic report will be presented at the January 7 inquest into Teoh’s untimely death.

The weekly quotes unnamed Health Ministry sources as saying that Pornthip reached her conclusion after a second postmortem at the Sungai Buloh hospital.

The report adds that Pornthip has made known her findings to all relevant groups, including the Teoh family and the Selangor government, which commissioned her services.

Teoh was the political secretary to Selangor executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah. Yong is the Seri Kembangan assemblyperson and a member of DAP, a member party of the ruling coalition in Selangor.

On 15 July, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), investigating allegations of misappropriation of state allocations, raided Yong’s office. Teoh was questioned as a witness at the Selangor MACC office later that day.

At about 1.30pm the following day, a janitor found Teoh’s sprawled body on the fifth floor of the building.

The coroner’s court allowed Teoh’s remains be exhumed on Nov 21 for a second-post mortem.

Earlier in October Pornthip told coroner Azmil Mustapha Abas that based on photographs of his remains, she was 80 percent sure that Teoh was murdered.

The second autopsy was witnessed by British pathologist Prof Dr Peter Venezis acting for MACC, Dr Khairul Azman Ibrahim and Dr Prashant Naresh Samberkar.

FMT
29/12/09

What is RM2.4 million ink compared to RM12 Billion PKFZ and RM100 million jet engines?

Indelible ink mystery still unsolved

SHAH ALAM: For 21 months, Malaysians for Free and Fair Election (Mafrel) has waited for the Election Commission (SPR) to provide evidence supporting its decision against using indelible ink in the 12th General Election.

And while Mafrel waits, the ink has been quietly disposed of.

“It was burnt in accordance with procedures set by government regulations,” Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Liew Vui Keong told parliament recentl. He said it could not be used because of “security and legal problems.”

Mafrel president Syed Ibrahim Alhabshi said “disposed of or not, the people deserve to know the truth. They must be told who was responsible for the decision to retract the use of the indelible ink in the (12th) general elections in March 2008.”.

He said Marel held a press conference when SPR first announced its decision to retract the use of the ink and had demanded to know the reason behind the decision but received no answers.

“Some Mafrel members even boycotted the monitoring of general election,” he said. “Other groups of people also questioned SPR’s decision. Both SPR and the police promised to act on our queries. But nothing has come out of it.”

He said Mafrel supported the use of the ink during general elections to prevent an “increase in the numbers of eligible voters on polling day.”

Mafrel’s call follows a statement issued by PAS urging SPR to “come up with the truth” following allegations that individuals had reportedly bought the ink illegally for use during GE12. PAS accused SPR of lying and wasting RM2.4 million of public funds.
29/12/09

Little by little, the Indians are being pushed out

When the police, the political parties and the courts all gang up against you when your rights are being taken away systematically from you, what do you do? When politicians regardless of their hue or colour resort to manipulation and threats to carry out the usurpation of your rights, what do you do?

When the supposedly opposition parties opportunistically work with the same police and courts that they themselves are having trouble with, attack and prevent the poor and marginalised from realising their rights what do you do?

What do you do? What does one do? I think the inevitable is about to happen, if it is not already happening. Read on.

One must first have a basic understanding of how it all works in that we have this repeating outcome. The political system in the country is an electoral democracy. The social system is one based on ethnicity. The economic system is based on free market operation.

Put all this together and you have an ethnically-orientated policy-making government that favours the rich among the economic classes, the Malays among the ethnic groups and the politically-numerous groups, vote-wise, among the polity.

Within this system, when you have an ethnically homogeneous group that is numerically small and is at the bottom of the economic ladder (like the poor Indians) what tends to occur in this system is a systematic usurpation of its their rights and a denial of their share of the resources of this nation – in short, marginalization occurs as a direct outcome of the workings of this system.

The latest case is that of the Kuala Ketil Tamilar Association – a small association of Indians in the Kuala Ketil area, in Kedah. Right now, their burial ground is being threatened by the Kedah state government. This is a burial ground the Indians in that area have been using for a long, long time. Only a historical study can verify its true age, not petty politicians as they are wont to do in their eagerness to sweep away this part of our history.

Now using threats, using treachery, using the police, using the media, the Kedah state government is trying to steal this land from the Indians there, all over again. This story has been told so many times in recent memory across the country. ‘Economic development’ has been occurring on land - which was historically plantation land - for the benefit of the rich and the powerful in the country with little or no concern for the historical occupants of the land.

Little by little, the Indians are being pushed out – out of the estates, out of their temples, out of their urban squatter settlements, out of their traditional burial grounds, out of their schools, out of their traditional employment all without any or proper or equitable replacement. The aggregate social effect of all this is potentially a decimation of a community by what you can call a ‘death of a thousand cuts’.

When all this happens the people of the community are left with little choice but to look to their collective strength to stay this jeopardy to their existence as a community. They have to get organised to ward off this steady, sometimes open, sometimes surreptitious encroachment, which if not checked, means a complete erasure of their community from the face of this country.

That collective strength of these Indians is now finding increasing expression in Hindraf and the Human Rights Party. Hindraf and the Human Rights Party (HRP) are now increasingly providing the ideological, moral and physical leadership for the poor and marginalised Indians in Malaysia.

In the case of the Kuala Ketil Tamilar Association, they contacted HRP’s P Uthaykumar for support against those who were attempting to steal the burial ground off from them. Whether this initiative succeeds, the general process has begun - the process where the poor and marginalised Indians will start looking to Hindraf and the Human Rights Party for support against the systematic encroaching which they have been suffering silently all this while.

The poor and the marginalised need to be heard. They need to obtain their share of the resources of this country. They need to regain their lost dignity. They need to become equals in substance in this system. They need to stand up against the treachery that has kept them there.

mk
28/12/09

Malaysian government is very bad - Penan tribe


KUALA LUMPUR - A massive tract of Borneo jungle, an area the size of Singapore, will soon disappear under the waters of the Bakun dam, a multi-billion-dollar project nearing completion after years of controversy.

The dam, which forced thousands of indigenous people off their ancestral lands, has struggled through setbacks and delays since its approval in 1993, as well as fierce criticism over its environmental impact.

But even before the turbines of the 2.2 billion dollar hydro-electric facility begin to turn, activists have sounded the alarm over plans for 12 more mega-dams on Malaysia's half of Borneo which it shares with Indonesia.

'This government is very bad'

Balan Balang, an elderly chief of the Penan tribe, sighs as he talks of the Murum dam, the first of the dozen dams envisioned for Sarawak state, which will drown the hunting grounds and burial sites of his people.

"This government is very bad. In the old days people would fight us using machetes or spears. But now they just sign away our lives on pieces of paper," said the headman, who sports the elongated earlobes distinctive to his tribe.

"My people never want to leave our place. We want to die in our place," he said, after a long journey from his rainforest home to seek help from indigenous lawyers in Miri, a coastal town in Malaysian Borneo.

Human rights activists are intent on avoiding a repeat of the botched relocation of some 15,000 indigenous people in the Bakun area who they say have made an unhappy transition to life in resettlement areas.

Balan Balang's village is outside the Murum resettlement area, but some 1,500 people -- mostly Penan but including another of Sarawak's tribes, the Kenyah -- will be forced to abandon their homes for an uncertain future.

The chief, who is not sure of his birth date but reckons he is "between 70 and 80 years old", has seen much hardship during his long life.

Long life of hardship

As a young boy he watched fearfully as Japanese warplanes flew overhead during the World War II occupation, while rampant logging later degraded the jungles where his people forage for food, wild game, and materials for shelter.

"Now the rivers are all polluted. The wildlife has slowly disappeared -- wild boar, deer, gibbons. Even the broad-leafed plants that we use for roofing, and rattan which we use to make mats and baskets, is gone," he said.

But what brought him to Miri are new threats to his way of life, the dam project as well as plantation firms who want to clear what is left of the jungle and grow palm oil and foreign timber species.

"Our people oppose our area being included for the dam because that's where we come from, our ancestors lived and died and were buried there. For us we have no other place, that is our only place," he said.

The Penan of Sarawak, famed for their ability to live off the jungle armed only with blowpipes and machetes, number around 10,000 including 300-400 thought to be among the last nomadic hunter-gatherers on earth.

Balan Balang is just one of many tribal leaders who have sought the help of Harrison Ngau, a former member of parliament who belongs to a network of indigenous lawyers fighting for tribal rights in Sarawak.

'ATM card to make money'

"All these dams, why do we need so many dams here? It's just an ATM card for the political leaders to make money," said Ngau, who has been jailed in the past for his stand against mega-dams and logging of Penan territory.

"There will be further loss of their heritage, their land, whatever forest they have left," he says from his humble offices.

Ngau said a notice extinguishing the rights of the Murum people over the affected land has already been issued, and construction has begun, but so far there is no formal relocation proposal or offer of compensation.

He and his colleagues are now campaigning to halt the next of the dozen projects, the Baram Dam, but he says it is difficult to prove ancestral ownership as the oral history of his people is not admissible in court.

"It is quite sick to know that your own fellow man, your fellow Malaysian, doesn't understand the customs and cultures and history of our people," he said. "That is the tragedy here."

"Even the British colonial rulers were very respectful of communal rights, they even encouraged the native communities to record their traditional boundaries. They did much better than our present Malaysian leaders."

Ngau said that the Penan, forced to shift from the Bakun area more than a decade ago, are still struggling to survive with insufficient farming land, schools, clinics, water supply and transport.

"You haven't solved that problem -- you want to start a new problem?" he asked.

Transparency International has labelled Bakun a "monument of corruption" and highlighted debate over whether there will be enough customers in 2011 when it becomes fully operational with a 2,400MW capacity.

All the valuable timber has already been removed from its catchment area, and the dam will begin filling up in January, taking eight months to submerge all 70,000 hectares (270 square miles).

Details of the 12 mega-dams envisaged by state body Sarawak Energy Berhad are scant -- a map of proposed locations of dams purportedly to be built by 2020 was published on the Internet and seized on by campaigners.

May not be built for 50 years

Sarawak's Rural Development Minister James Masing said that all 12 dams may not make it off the drawing board.

"That is a masterplan that we have the potential to build, they may not be built for 50 years," he told AFP earlier this year.

Masing, who is helping formulate the Murum relocation, said it is likely to happen in three to four years' time but that first there should be a careful study of the people involved.

"There are some areas we have to refine. The settlement project must be done properly. What was done in Bakun may not be one of the best, we may have been ignorant of some of the issues," he told AFP earlier this year.

"We want to change them for the better," said Masing, an anthropologist by training. "They have good reason not to trust us, but we are not there to destroy them, we are trying our best to assist them."
AFP
27/12/09

Pakatan MPs slam Dr Ridhuan Tee Abdullah over racial formula

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 27 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders lashed out today at prominent Utusan Malaysia columnist Dr Ridhuan Tee Abdullah for suggesting that Malay-Muslims have more rights because they form the majority in Malaysia.

PR leaders from PAS, PKR and DAP also took issue with the National Defence University lecturer, who is a prominent Muslim convert, for accusing non-Muslims of putting their own interests above that of the country’s.

They accused him of acting in the interests of Umno and for living in a world that no longer exists.

In his regular column in Mingguan Malaysia today, Ridhuan also put forward a formula based on the racial and religious breakdown of the country’s 27 million population, to apportion the share of what is due to each community in terms of rights, festivities and celebrations, adding that no one should question the “social contract.”

“What he is doing is not right. As a Muslim, we want to emphasize that Islam teaches justice. Everyone has rights. We do not accept a rule where only one race’s rights are protected simply because they are the majority. We cannot deny the minority,” said Khalid Samad who is the PAS Shah Alam MP.

The PAS man said that the problem with how democracy in Malaysia is understood is that it tends toward the majority rule, instead of being based on principles of justice.

“Even if there was one Buddhist in a village, he must be allowed to celebrate and practice his faith because it is his right. Just because the Malays are the majority, Islam does not say we can go around and oppress others,” stated Khalid, who sounded upset when told about the arguments made in Ridhuan’s latest article.

He added that while the original social contract of the country did provide some form of protection for Malays so that they would not be left trailing behind, that was in the past and even then that did not mean that other races were not considered as equal citizens of the country.

“It is disappointing that Ridhuan Tee is becoming more UMNO than Muslim. As a Muslim convert, he should be concentrating his efforts in trying to show the truth and justice within Islam, and not trying to win acceptance from the Malay-Muslims minorities who buy into this racist sentiment.”

Ridhuan had also taken the opportunity to hit out at people who questioned the large government allocation for mosques and the comparatively smaller sum set aside for houses of worship for other faiths, in what is understood to be a direct jab at DAP’s stand over the issue.

He also labelled DAP as an “ultra-kiasu” party, meaning that they were willing to do anything to retain their position for fear of losing it.

“Are the number of churches and the pile of houses of worship, to the extent of sinking the number mosques and suraus, not considered as rights? Have we ever prevented them from going to church every Sunday? Do not compare with the Muslims because we worship differently. We have different needs. Similarly goes the requirements for jamaah prayers.

“Hence, the concept of equal rights and the equal opportunities should be based on the formula that has been outlined in the constitution and by proportion of races (religions),” wrote Tee.

PKR Information Chief Tian Chua laughed when he was told about Ridhuan’s written outburst in Utusan, dismissing it as a desperate attempt to serve the interests of the UMNO elite.

“I personally do not feel threatened by this, I laugh ... this is desperate. Tee is not acting alone. He is making justifications for his big boss. Right now, UMNO is cornered, and they need to find some way to justify their position,” said Chua, who is the Batu MP.

The outspoken opposition lawmaker asserted that UMNO no longer had a raison d’etre, and by doing this it was a way to tell the non-Malays in the country to “not muck around with Umno, because it might unleash something nasty.”

“In the past, their (UMNO’s) language of violence and supremacy was implied more than expressed.

“Now it is so openly racist, something is wrong,” said Chua.

Pakatan Rakyat-ruled states such as Penang and Selangor were singled out by the Mingguan columnist as being under the “ultra-kiasu party” and no longer serving the interests of the Malay-Muslims, which according to him were under siege.

“Just look at the shopping malls, although Christians are only nine per cent, the Christmas and New Year 2010 celebrations are incomparable to the Hari Raya and the Islamic New Year. If you do not believe, visit the states ruled by the ultra kiasu and its allies, and the shopping malls of their allies throughout the country,” stated Ridhuan.

The DAP’s Liew Chin Tong agreed with his PR colleagues and lashed out at Ridhuan for his views and ideas which are “really behind time.”

“All this talk about race doesn’t really help anyone. We need a society which lifts everyone up. Sixty per cent of household family income is below RM3,000. Among this 60 per cent are also Malays.”

Liew, who is also Bukit Bendera MP, argued that equal opportunity was pivotal as the issue of poverty moves well beyond racial lines.

“He must be mistaken if he thinks that people all around the world thought that Malaysia was an ideal place to live in during the 1950s.

“That is why the message of Pakatan is clearer. Under the Pakatan Common Policy Platform, it is stated that in order for Malaysia to move on there is an urgent need to address the issue of equal opportunity of the lower-earning income group,” said Liew.

He also noted that Ridhuan’s article further validates the impression that UMNO is currently split between ultra conservatives and more liberal minded individuals.

MI
27/12/09