The honest, principled and courageous statement by the UPKO President and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Tan Sri Bernard Dompok yesterday that Malaysia is not an Islamic state was completely blacked out by the mainstream media, both printed and electronic.
This is the first time that an important pronouncement of a Cabinet Minister on a grave and fundamental national issue had been blacked out by the mainstream media.
It happened on the fourth year of the Abdullah premiership which had promised greater openness, respect for diversity of views and preparedness to listen to the truth from the people, however unpleasant. Such a “blackout” never happened in the 22 years of the previous Mahathir administration.
What does this foretell about the future of Malaysia in terms of freedom of expression, free press, human rights and democracy after the 50th Merdeka anniversary celebrations, especially after the 12th general election?
One can disagree with Bernard Dompok but why should his statement be blacked out when it is to correct growing misperceptions, both historically and constitutionally, that Malaysia is an Islamic state when the fundamental nation-building principle going back to the Merdeka social contract 50 years ago and the Malaysia Agreement 44 years ago was that Malaysia shall be a secular state with Islam as the official religion and not an Islamic state.
Has Malaysia reached a stage where through sheer majority rule and administrative fiat, the Constitution can be revised without any parliamentary amendment and fundamental rights subverted without any legal basis — like the ban on mainstream discussion of the 50-year nation-building principle for a secular Malaysia with Islam as official religion and not an Islamic state.
Yesterday, I asked who is the next Minister or Deputy Minister, whether at national or state level, Sabah, Sarawak or Peninsular Malaysia, to emulate Bernard to speak up and defend the truth — that Malaysia was conceived as a secular state with Islam as the official religion and never as an Islamic state.
Nobody seems in sight. There is one party in the Barisan Nasional which had always prided itself as the “conscience” of the ruling coalition — Parti Gerakan.
Is Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon, the new leader of the self-proclaimed “conscience of Barisan Nasional”, prepared to back up Bernard Dompok on the true meaning of the Merdeka social contract and Malaysia Agreement that Malaysia is a secular state with Islam as official religion and not Islamic state?
Or will he prove wanting again, as so many times in the past, when it comes to the crunch on fundamental nation-building principles and national issues?
Are we reaching a stage where it is only permissible to declare that Malaysia is an Islamic state in the mainstream media while any statement that Malaysia is a secular state with Islam as the official religion is not only banned from mainstream media and “polite circles” but will increasingly be regarded as insensitive and treated as anti-national and even seditious?
Will the idea of a Parliamentary Roundtable to reaffirm the Merdeka social contract and Malaysia Agreement that Malaysia is a secular state with Islam as the official religion and not an Islamic state, planned for Parliament on Friday, be the last expression of its kind in Malaysian history?
You are asking too much from Koh la! He is now shivering in his pants! He is scared that other Gerakan babboons will ask him to speak up!!!
Bet my last dollar that he dared not!!
Maybe Dr. Toh is a better bet. Dr. Toh has more principles than the rest.
The bloody most he will say iis nobody is allowed to change the status that had already been agreed by the former administrators of the country like what OKT said in SIN CHEW recently.
Hey, PM god son man !! Po ra…..!
aiya BN component parties is all yes man, whatever shits UMNO ask them to do they will said Yes sir. Another thing is,this islamic state is just another sandiwara before the GE, they want to be hero ma, don’t fall for BN’s trick.
Maybe such a “blackout†never happened in the 22 years of the previous Mahathir administration because there was no need to – there was less freedom of speech then – as no minister dared to speak out when Mahathir was PM.
i think no body from BN will declare the truth again, coz all mainstream media black out already so who dare to say again from BN people? i think nobody liao…anyway i highly appreciated YB bernard dompok…
Please do not pressure Koh Tsu Koon, he needs to jaga his periok nasi.
He wants to remain as Chief Minister of Penang. He is still trying hard to convince Pak Lah that he is badly needed in Penang to make NCER a success, and there is no better person to replace him.
this blackout thing really is unacceptable, nevermind the speaker himself is of BN.
It seems there is a really true and huge agenda coming up regarding the “islamic vs secular” state.
However, now BN seems to be unusually silent about this issue… expect more to come
My 2cents: If BN win the majority again in the upcoming GE, I fear for the worst that BN will eventually declare “islamic state” officially!!
Koh is a Buddhist, I think. He is praying for enlightenment before he speaks.
ccjett wrote: BN will eventually declare “islamic state†officially!!
What lah, TDM many years ago and now DPM and Umnoputras already declared loud and clear, if that is not official, that Malaysia is an Islamic state. No more argument, discussion, or talk. Just shut up, period.
I think UMNO should consider to let the two states in Borneo have their own independent and free from Malaysia. This way it would be easier to call Malaysia (West) an islamic state. Tan Sri Bernard Dompok can than be the new PM for the two states in Borneo.
it should be Malacca, Penang, Sabah and Sarawak being official independent… I dont want to be dragged into hell by those guy
You don’t expect someone who can’t even tame Penang’s taxi drivers to have the guts to come foward to fix what’s wrong and make it right. Tsu Koon is a shame to Penangites!
Gerakan should know very clearly where their conscience lies, in the next few years if the plan for reclaimation land for PORR is allowed to go on, what will become of Gurney Drive? All these years in Penang, what have Gerakan and MCA did for Penangites? Nothing! Penang will still be alive without Gerakan and MCA.
Whether or not he dare to speak his piece and voice the sentiments of more than 40% of the non Muslim population in the country depends really on what he is made of. The moral authority is there. The support is there. The needs and reasons are there. What may be lacking is personal courage and determination. There comes a time when one should know that what one stands for has been pushed beyond tolerable limits and a stand must be taken. Failure to do so is submission to the challenge and the consequences will be severe.
Media blackout can only work to a certain extend. It is not possible to cow 40% of the population into submitting to Islam and especially so with the bad press that Islam is having at this point of time in the world. In any case I personally do not see the great need nor advantage of having an Islam brand to Malaysia. Like it or not in the eyes of many in the non Muslim world, Islam now is associated with terrorism, suicide bombing, genocides, poverty,trampling of human rights especially of the femal gender, barbaric laws, intolerance and the list continues. Why in the world do we want to be associated with this.
Koh joined Gerakan and got elected as an educator with the intent of changing or moderating BN policies from within. Did he achieve anything significant over the years? What’s his record in terms of speaking out against irrational and racial speeches by Umnoputras?
At least, another Gerakan member with PhD dared to voice his opinion according to his conscience, even against his political masters, the Umnoputras.
Koh joined Gerakan and got elected as an educator with the intent of changing or moderating BN policies from within.
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How the hell can Mr No-Talk-No Action expect to “change or moderate BN policies from within”? By kneeling and begging his umno paymasters? Or by threatening to pull out of BN as the PPP joker kayves tried last week?
Another mute UMNO poodle.
Examination passes given out according to race, not actual scores? What has the great president of gerakan got to say to all these?
http://malaysia-today.net/blog2006/letters.php?itemid=6944
wujudnya kuota bumiputera peperiksaan CLP dan juga tahap kelulusan adalah dikawal pada kadar 30-35%.
If Koh Tsu Koon dare to declare loud an clear that Malaysia is not an Islamic state, the sun will rise from the west, monkeys can sing like Micheal Jackson and babboons can can tango!!!
Hei, you guys out there, who said Tsu Koon dare not voice out, he will do it behind close door and close window as he always did in the past! ?????? :))
What do you think Khor Tsu Khoon will do?The previous time when Mahathir utter this same announcement, his boss Lim Kheng Yaik quickly sokong.Do you think he dares to be different.
Almost all BN component leaders have sold their souls.Their high posts with all the trimmings of power have lulled them into a state of stupor that whatever principles they have are long forgotten.Whatever feeds their self-interest only counts –islamic state or secular state who cares!!!
Who said Malaysia is an Islamic state?
Now our wise PM proclaimed that “Malaysia is not a secular state and neither is it a theocratic stateâ€Â, adding more rojak wisdom to the already conceptually-enriched citizens.
Furthermore he defined secularism: “Secular nations do not practise such (i.e., religious) freedom. To them, religious practice can only be done at home,†he said, responding to critics who claimed that the Government advocates secularism.
Our generous and considerate PM also said: “Be it a surau, masjid, temple or church, when there is a need for it, the Government gives the necessary aid.†Sweet, sweet words to Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, and Jews in Malaysia – kindly forward your applications for land and financial assistance to build temples, churches, shuls, and synagogues. Our generous and considerate PM had spoken, fulfilling the spirits of Rukun Negara.
The current struggle was to eradicate poverty and prejudiced feelings that could derail the nation’s unity, our PM added. Yes, we must eradicate prejudiced feelings like some well-educated individuals who felt that all monkeys are bloggers.
So, it looks like BN under our wise, generous and considerate PM, our supremo servant, is not too bad afterall.
Koh TK is a happy and relieved guy now.
When Sabah & Sarawak joined Malaysia, it was spelled out quite clear that Islam as a national religion does not apply to them.
Dompok is on his last leg politically and he does not want to have his ancestors pissing on his grave.
Its time to make BN component party members decide if they want a political career or people piss on their grave later…
Pissing on his grave?
http://www.halfvalue.com/wiki.jsp?topic=Cixi
In July 1928, Empress Dowager Cixi’s tomb was occupied by warlord and Kuomintang general Sun Dianying and his army who methodically stripped the complex of its precious ornaments, then dynamited the entrance to the burial chamber, opened Empress Dowager Cixi’s coffin, threw her corpse (said to have been found intact) on the floor, and stole all the jewels contained in the coffin, as well as the massive pearl that had been placed in Empress Dowager Cixi’s mouth to protect her corpse from decomposing (in accordance with Chinese tradition). The large pearl on Empress Dowager Cixi’s crown was offered by Sun Dianying to Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek and ended up as an ornament on the gala shoes of Chiang’s wife, the famous Soong May-ling.
“This is the first time that an important pronouncement of a Cabinet Minister on a grave and fundamental national issue had been blacked out by the mainstream media.”
Should we wonder, wonder, wonder why….wonder why
MAlaysians turn to blogs
for independent news,
for truthful coverage,
for exposes.
Block the blogs and Malaysians would end up like Zimbabweans!
Tsu Koon, be a Dompok!
Since you cannot lead, just follow Dompok.
It takes a statesman to do what is RIGHT, spineless cowards just lie where they are plopped.
Whatever he wants to say, muslim or islam country but just have be concious cause there might be a missile pointing on our site.
Gerakan conscience of BN?
May be in the past…..now tak bergerak!
Don’t expect much from Tsu Koon. “cakap tak serupa bikin” is his motto. Approach him for help, and he will pass the buck to someone else. Penang owes much to Chong Eu for where it is now. Not sure how this goon got up there.
k1980,
dun think the grave wld be so valuable n hav so many goodies …
no point doin so …
We cant read the mainstream newspapers anymore la….
lets publish the Rocket everyday instead of it being a monthly affair ~!!
Btw , brother art-upon-mu are they any Jewish community is malaysia ? haha
Hi fellas, why are we only urging Tsu Koon (to speak up); what about uncle Sam of MIC, or Kayveas of PPP or why not Pairin Kitinggan of PBS, who fwas a great Hero then in Sabah (and now enjoying the fruits as a spineless government member), why not ALL THOSE MANY OTHER GUYS IN BN WHO ARE SOOOOOO QUIET, on the matter. So please spare Tsu Koon – for how else can he hold on to Penang or become a Minister (after Keng Yaik)?
I would have expected Keng Yaik to say something- for he has nothing to lose-(or has he? (his pension?!). They all do not have MORAL CONSCIENCE! That’s the reality.
You dont bite the hands that feed you.. haha.. fat hopes those in the cabinet will ever speak up for the public…