I strongly agree with the opinion of this article written by Nuraina A Samad (taken from her blog.)
All said and done, we can now talk about what needs to be done -- post-Hindraf rally.
If we still think that everything in this country is so peachy pink and rosy, then there is something really wrong with us.
On Sunday, I saw unhappiness, anger and desperation walk the streets. I am helpless, I am powerless.
But, let me be clear on one thing though-- I take exception to Uthayakumar's memorandum which, in my humble opinion, is laced with racial overtones and littered with distorted facts, and therefore smacks of blatant racism and bigotry.
His kind of politics will only set us all back, as that of keris-wielding chest thumping ultras in Umno has done. We do not need another racist, another bigot.
His memorandum aside, I see and appreciate the real issue at hand -- the deep sense of being severely marginalised and disenfrachised felt by a sector of Malaysians of Indian origin.
I am so sad that it has come to this state of affairs.
This is not the end of this article. Click here for the whole thing.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Post Hindraf Rally - What now?
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
MPs as RELA Colonels: Feudal Lords in Modern Malaysia?
You know, as much as there are those out there who vehemently detest the government, credit has to be given to the ruling coalition for coming up with some rather 'interesting' suggestions, the most recent of which can be found in today’s Star under the article 'RELA men won’t be armed at immigration depots':On when MPs would start their duties as Rela Colonels as announced early this year, he [Home Affairs Ministry parliamentary secretary Datuk Paduka Abdul Rahman Ibrahim] said discussions would be held on Dec 17.
"As honorary Colonels, MPs can be advisers to Rela teams in their constituencies and aid them in their activities," he added.
Given the fact that RELA is a military organization, and that MPs - irrespective if they are members of the Parliament or not - are civil servants, shouldn't there be at least some question as to the wisdom of elevating mere civilians to the rank of feudal lords?
Not that I am implying that our ruling coalition is interested in creating feudal lords, or reverting to feudal systems. No, no, no...far from it. It must be, after all, admitted that most of our MPs fall far short of the requirements of a Shogans, and RELA members...well, suffice it to say that while there is the slimmest of possibilities that they might become samurai warriors in their next life, chances are higher that they'll probably be reincarnated as MPs first.
However, irregardless of the shortcomings of individual MPs and RELA, the elevation of MPs as RELA Colonels within their constituencies poses a number of serious questions.
1. Can this be construed as a constituency based militia?
2. Can 'advice' from MPs who are RELA Colonels be taken as 'orders'?
3. Can this be seen as a move by the ruling coalition moving to 'secure' individual constituencies?
4. Can this be seen as a move by the ruling coalition to circumvent current legal and judicial system that is being challenged?
I know, I know...conspiracies, conspiracies. But look at it this way, if the figures from Wikipedia are correct - averaging out 494,145 members of RELA between 219 members of Parliament elected from single-member constituencies - then on average, 2,300 members of RELA will come under the purview of each individual MP.
While many would scoff that RELA is a military organisation by the barest of definitions, it's members are still essentially soldiers, albeit badly trained and equipped. And no matter how poor their training is, or how outdated their equipment, members of RELA enjoy a host of 'responsibilities' and 'privileges' beyond that of conventional police and military forces.
Like the 'Fingermen' from the movie V for Vendetta, RELA members are in effect empowered beyond conventional law enforcement, and worse, are not individually accountable for their actions. Under Essential (Ikatan Relawan Rakyat) (Amendment) Regulations 2005, Essential (Pasokan Kawalan) Regulations 1966, and Emergency (Essential Powers) Act 1964, RELA members - in the words of the Malaysian Bar – have the right:"...to bear and use firearms, stop, search and demand documents, arrest without a warrant, and enter premises without a warrant and all these powers can be exercised (if) the RELA personnel has reasonable belief that any person is a terrorist, undesirable person, illegal immigrant or an occupier..."
Now imagine that kind of authority invested in 2,300 members of RELA - who are essentially soldiers - under one MP.
If that is not an impressive constituency based militia worthy of a feudal lord, I don’t know what is.
And lets not forget that not all militias are created equal. After all, in some constituencies, the number of RELA members may run up to tens of thousands, while in others the numbers may range somewhere in the tens or twenties. Will this imbalance mean that some MPs in some constituencies – possibly even all - will encourage a conscription drive to recruit more and more members for RELA, to enlarge their militias, and become greater feudal lords?
So is this the face of things to come? Will conscripting RELA members become the preference amongst our future feudal lords?
After all, why should MPs bother going through normal channels when they are able to invoke upon the discretionary powers of RELA to enforce whichever lark that takes their fancy? And why should the government be even bothered to hire and train professional policemen when they are able to pay RM 4.00 per hour (to any RELA member out there, I hear McDonalds pays RM5.00 per hour) to a RELA member who only needs 3-14 days training for a cheaper supply of 'law enforcement officials'?
With some work and a lot of luck, the ruling coalition may even get to jettison the tedious micromanagement of constituencies, reverting all of us back to the good 'ol Middle Ages. So instead of wrangling in Parliament, our feudal lords can while away their time by collecting taxes and hanging up 'Most Wanted' posters of prominent opposition leaders, though they'll need to share their ill gotten gains later to the crown...er, I mean government.
Hmmm...say, don't they already do that now?
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Hindraf: Takde permit, takde jalan
The local rags have really outdone themselves yesterday. In less time that it would take Benito Mussolini to comb his hair, articles with such memorable headlines as ‘Inflammatory entries’, ‘IGP: They'd no intent to give memo’, 'Use existing forums to voice problems', ‘Govt won't allow rally to turn into racial issue’ were printed, bundled and disseminated across the by the NST.
Not to be outdone, the Star went the extra mile to add those little touches with ‘Muhyiddin: Other races have poor too’, ‘Cops forced to use tear gas, water cannons’, ‘Change must come from within ourselves’, ‘PM: Police had to take action’, and my personal favorite, ’Ka Ting braves Hindraf crowd to attend function’.
Though Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting should be quite used to dealing with rowdy crowds, given his stints at the Dewan Rakyat, it takes a real man to brave a crowd of 10,000 men and women, regardless if they are made up of Indians, Chinese or Malays…well, maybe if they are made up of Indians.
After all, there could be a cache of todi being secreted in those voluminous orange robes that the protesters were wearing, which could be taken out to be randomly imbibed or thrown at discreet couples holding more than their hands in and around the KLCC area.
What? No orange robes? Well, maybe those caches of todi were hidden anally, like how most politicians are able to hide the truth. After all, where do you think those Molotov cocktails came from? It is not like the Malaysian police were handing out crates of the stuff - or C4 explosives - to random passersby with their blessings.
Really, in light of that revelation, who really cares about the fact that the participants of Hindraf protest have a democratic right to take to the streets of Kuala Lumpur, a democratic right that is enshrined in our Federal Constitution, and strengthened by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1993 Vienna Declaration.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Our Skin
Our skin says so much about us yet so little. Being a dark skinned child, i was subjected to comments like "Wah, so cute, so pretty! But so dark.." "You sure you're malay ah?" and the most hurtful one,
"How come everyone in your family is so fair but you are so black? Are you adopted?"
I grew up hating my dark skin and wishing i was fair like my other siblings. I even entertained thoughts that i might be adopted. As i entered adulthood when self confidence, self worth and self acceptance set in, I realized that I love the skin I'm in. I wouldn't have it any other way.
This posting is not so much about myself but about people. Malaysians to be precise. The example above just shows how superficial and cruel people can be when judging others by the color of their skin.
We Malaysians tend to judge others (and ourselves) by the color of our skin. It doesn't have to be this way. Ok, what i mean is we judge each other based on race. This is a bad thing, in my opinion. Common labels that we give each other are:
1. The chinese are wealthy.
2. Indians are always drunkards.
3. Malays are a lazy bunch.
These labels come from feelings of distrust amongst us, which separates us further, which in turn increases the distrust among the races. It is a vicious cycle.
Let me tell you a recent (very demoralizing) experience i had in YouTube. One day, out of curiosity, i logged into Namewee's famous YouTube music video, Negarakuku. I'm sure most of you are aware of the big hoo haa that was caused by this particular video. I won't get into that but I want to talk about the comments on that page.
It was very depressing to read the hate comments on that page, knowing that it came from Malaysians. This shouldn't happen in a country like ours! I feel so disheartened when I realized these hate comments (againts one race/religion or another) were so filled with untruths and were written out of our ignorance of one another.
Just to get it out of the way: I am malay. I am muslim. And I love it.
Most of the comments on Namewee's video were warring words: malay vs chinese. The language used, i will not repeat here but suffice it to say that the vocabulary was colorful, to say the least. The comments were sometimes much too hurtful for me to swallow as a muslim and malay but the comments against the chinese and indians were equally as hurtful. I forced myself to remain objective and to judge the truth of those comments.
Some comments mentioned that malays live off the grace of the 'malay' government through the NEP. Some comments expressed anger that other races are being left out of the equation and that malays are the undeserving 'privileged'. Other comments stated that malays would be left far behind had it not been for the government 'saving their sorry asses' (pardon me). There were comments which said that the the chinese were the biggest contributors to the economy and the malays should be thankful. Most comments mentioned what a bad job our 'malay' ministers are doing and how the 'malay' politicians are dirty/corrupt. Some other comments were threatening the repeat of May 13 1969 (between the malays and chinese) or threatening the repeat of the Kampung Medan incident (malays and indians). Overall, there were hate and violent messages all over the place.
I wonder, do all Malaysians feel this way? Do they really think that one and only one race should dominate above the rest? I don't believe so. In my opinion, malays, chinese and indians should be equal malaysians. We've been here for so long, shouldn't we just do away with the racial stereotypes and policies that divide us racially?
I decided to investigate by getting to know the commenters.
Despite the hate and violent words thrown around, these were pretty decent people. After lots of digging, it turns out that they have little or no knowledge of the malay culture or Islam. On the same note, malays also have little or no knowledge of the chinese culture or religion. Ignorance. That being said, what ruffles them up is our government. Present and Past. I agree with them for the most part too. They are unhappy with the fact the malays are getting help from the government and are given many privileges while they are left to fend for themselves. They want equality for all races. That's it. That. Is. It. The malay ministers are not helping at all with all the keris waving and racial statements that they have been making. Shameful, shameful. Tsk tsk..
Note: True, the government came up with the NEP, but i must say that not all malays agree with this policy.
Malaysians, we have a problem. There is growing dissent between the races, be sure of that. Denying it will only make it worse and make you a fool. This rift between the malays, chinese and indians are the product of ignorance. IGNORANCE which we cannot put up with anymore. IGNORANCE which we must overcome and rise above. IGNORANCE which will ultimately destroy us one day.
Our generalizations of one race or another begets our ignorance. Sometimes i wonder, how did we get through 50 years of independence and still not know each other? It's like being in a bad marriage you just can't get out of. Like most marriage counselors, I would advise us to
"Work it out and not just lay there, hoping the problem will go away. Let's be more proactive."
I know that some of you might say that I am generalizing things, myself. But let me state this - there are a handful of us who actually do tolerate each other, understand each other's motivations and drives - and get along with other races famously dahlink!
So what do we do now? We make an effort, that's what. Make a change within ourselves. Ask yourself, what do you wish other races knew/understood about you? For me, I wish other races understand that not all malays are lazy. On behalf of my indian sistas and brothas, I wish other races understand that not all indians are criminals and drunkards. For my chinese geng, I wish other races understand that not all of them are kiasu and money driven.
Like i mentioned earlier, these are generalizing statements which are simply not true. There are lazy, drunks, criminals, kiasu and money driven people everywhere, no matter the race. Likewise for religion. Contrary to popular belief, Islam does not condone violence and terrorism. Neither does Hinduism, Buddhism or Christianity. Nevertheless, we see evidence of people who subscribe to these faiths committing senseless violent acts. So why pick on Islam? No religion condones this, I don't need to be an expert to tell you that.
It saddens me that Malaysians are buying into the western rhetoric, that Islam is a violent religion. This statement is made out of sheer ignorance, i tell you. And maybe a touch of hypocrisy since they invented 'terrorism' in the first place. Malaysians, we should know better. We've been together for more than 50 years. In fact, if you count backwards, we have been together for close to 600 years since the first immigrant landed in Malaya. We should rise above all this because we have a long history together. We just should know better.
So let's make a pact everyone. Let's be more tolerant and understanding of one another. Let's stop seeing each other as malay, chinese or indians. Let's be malay malaysians, chinese malaysians and indian malaysians. Let's stand up for each other and watch each other's backs. Let's stand up for all the injustices done to any of us, together. Malays, don't just watch when you see your chinese brothers being treated unfairly. Vice versa for all of us. We are all in this together. Let's remember that.
Lastly, I call all of you to fight for justice, fairness and equality... together. Let's not look at our skin color. Let's go deeper than that.
I call all Malaysians who call this country their home to join me and many many others at the Bersih Rally on 10 November 2007 at Dataran Merdeka (walk to Istana Negara)3pm. Let's stand up and demand a fair justice system, demand that the government take notice. (So far, our defacto Law Minister has been denying there is a problem so let's make them sit up and take notice) One cause, One Malaysia! Hurrah!
