By Dr Chen Man Hin, DAP life adviser
THE EVOLUTION AND SIGNIFICANCE OF MIDDLE MALAYSIA.
Actually, the evolution of Middle Malaysia was spontaneous when about 50% of the electoral votes of 2008 general election supported a minimum common programme of the PKR-DAP-PAS coalition.
March 8th 2008 was a turning point for the country when the coaltion achieved a resounding victory by capturing five States and denied the Barisan of a two thirds majority. It signified that half the electorate wanted a Malaysia that was democratic, just, transparent, with religious freedom and rule of law – all the prnciples of the common programme of the Coalition of PKR-DAP-PAS.
The momentous victory for the coalition marked the spontaneous birth of a MIDDLE MALAYSIA.
THE 8/03 VICTORY SPURRED THE FORMATION OF PAKATAN RAKYAT.
The leaders recognising that the coaltion movement had secured massive electoral support, wisely proceeded to formalise the coaltion. After months of negotiation and patience, on December 19th 2009, the coaltion having adopted the name of PAKATAN RAKYAT summoned a national convention and formally adopted a PAKATAN COMMON PLATFORM, defining the objectives for a united, progressive and prosperous Malaysia.
The common platform outlined a minimum program which reflected the wishes and aspirations of the rakyat.
DAP MIDDLE MALAYSIA STRATEGY
On September 17th 2010, Secretary General of DAP Lim Guan Eng, presented his tactical strategy of MIDDLE MALAYSIA, which he fervently felt would help Pakatan Rakyat to win the hearts and minds of most of the people of Malaysia.
He is focusing on Middle Malaysia to win more support from the people and it will also guide Pakatan Rakyat to move in the right direction.
SIGNS THAT MIDDLE MALAYSIA WILL RALLY BEHIND PAKATAN RAKYAT.
Firstly, the 8/03 victory was a sign that the people of middle malaysia want a change and will support pakatan rakyat because of its policy of a democratic open society that is just and provide equal opportunities for all, irrrespective of race or religion.
Secondly the people who constitute Middle Malaysia, come from different sections of the population. They come from a wide spectrum irrespective of race, religion, gender, the poor, workers, professionals, business men, petty traders, housewives, sports people, the unemployed and even the rich. They are different, but they have a common purpose – they want CHANGE.
Middle Malaysia comprised of people whose state of mind is common – the desire for national unity, justice, progress, religious freedom, quality education, job opportunities, crime free society, healthcare, rule of law, good governance that is transparent, corruption free police force and an independent judiciary.
PAKATAN RAKYAT WILL ADOPT THE MIDDLE WAY TO ACHIEVE CHANGE FOR A BETTER LIFE FOR THE PEOPLE.
Pakatan Rakyat has been championing the rights of Middle Malaysia and will continue to do so the right way, which is the Middle Way – via democracy, consultation, dialogue and interaction with the people irrespective of race, class or religion.
As asians, we will follow the age old wisdom of Budda and Confucious to take the middle way in life.
‘Islam is the Middle Path’ according to Masumah A Farchici, who says ‘Islam teaches balance in thought and action’ and he quotes:-
“Thus We have appointed you a middle nation.”
(Qur’an, Surah Baqarah, 2:143)
I don’t think there is any high chance to assure that 100% of the Malaysian people will accept the Concept of Middle Malaysia as a blueprint for shaping the future of Malaysian Nation. However, Pakatan Rakyat doesn’t need 100% consensus in order to acquire a mandate for ruling of the nation. Slightly more than 50% of the command in parliamentary seats will be enough to win over the ruling power from Barisan Nasional by the next general election.
Even though it is almost impossible for Lim Guan Eng to win 100% of support from the whole nation, I still believe that the concept of Middle Malaysia is a viable one.
I am not going to elaborate too much about the reasoning for my support given to Lim Guan Eng on his proposal of a Middle Malaysia with the citations of any philosophy or of any religious doctrine which comes with great complexity. I simply have a few words to say here: I like the idea of a Middle Class Malaysia, whereby nobody will be marginalised and be forced to live in the ugly living condition of abject poverty and nobody will be allowed to become filthily rich without having to make any contribution through paying income taxes for fufilling the common social commitment of greater good, by helping the less fortunate ones, such as orphan, widow, ederly, the sick, the handicapped and the relatively poorer citizen.
The concept of Middle Malaysia should mean that any citizen who is keen to work hard will stand a fair chance to earn a decent and dignified living for his/her family and thereby enable him/her to be classified as a Middle Class people, which will represent a class of the majority number of people in Malaysia as a long-term goal of nation building!
I believe the day for the come-true of the dream of a Middle Malaysia is drawing much nearer now, simply because many Malaysia smallman populace have the courage to struggle for the better future and dare to dream about a Middle Malaysia!
Lge not a sportman far from a golfer , i dont think he understand the game of golf . fairway , green and handicap system . What happen to Korean golf development in Penang?..
Golf game is not a common sport game for the Middle Class people. By right, with such limited and scarce land resources in the Penang Island, any failed golf course development project found in Penang Island should be told to change its original plan to a much more commercially viable project, such as building private educational colleges or private specialist hospitals and health care centres.
No doubt, there may be a statutory requirement for maintaining a golf course in Penang Island in order to allow a township to be qualified for the status upgrade in the township grading, such as upgrading from Majlis Perbandaran to Dewan Bandaraya. However, the acreage of the golf course should be kept as low as possible in Penang Island in order to free up much more lands for much better productive use of the lands in a densely populated area such as Penang Island. Leisure resort should be given less priority than the commercially much more viable property development project, unless leisure resort is critically needed in order to uphold the aesthetical value of the tourism scenery for Penang!
Hope “Middle Malaysia”, the brainchild of Lim Guan Eng, will propel PR to Putrajaya.
Long live Middle Malaysia!!!
UmnoUtusans do not want a Middle Malaysia.
They want UU Malaysia.
Are people ready to dig in and see its attainment ?
Most people are willing to accept changes such as middle malaysia if the proposer can convince them that it’s viable,good and fair to them. Has LGE the ability,the resources,the time and sincere good people to help him ? President Obama besides his ability,needed millions,almost two years and hundreds of good friends to help him convined the American people to voting him to the White House. America is a well developed democracy,its citizens are mature,intelligent and pretty smart too,hence Obama could convined them to accepting most of his proposed changes. But do the Malaysian voters have what most Americans have to be abled to understand and be convined by LGE regarding his middle malaysia concept.However,after one year’s in office,president Obama now realised he could not deliver what he promised. Some times talking about changes is great but the reality is it’s pretty difficult to achieve. Umno/Bn is another pretty good example of failing its promises to the poeple despite every recourses are at its desposal. I think it’s not the people are ready to dig in and see its attainment,rather whether LGE and PR are ready to dig in deep enough to convince the poeple to achieve its objective.
Sorry it should read every resources are at its desposal.
“They are different, but they have a common purpose – they want CHANGE.”
People want to see a Responding Government who can respond to Complaint?!!
People want to see Government keeping their words when they are promoting CAT!!
What had the CAT Penang Government done in respond to a Complaint on Police’s silence on a senior lawyer assaulting Clients in his office in April 2008?
What had the CAT Penang Government done in responds to Developer building houses along the slopes of Batu Ferringhi with high risk?
Are Security, Housing Safety, Police Discipline, Lawyer Etiquettes important to Middle Malaysian?
We are talking politics and you leave it to a nut like chengho to talk of course….trying to say LGE did not keep his promise to built a golf course.
Onlooker Politics…only an idiot can expect 100% support in politics or the Middle Malaysia concept by DAP..will get 100% support.
DAP is smart enough to have a slogan totally different from Najib’s “1Malaysia” and let Malaysians choose.
Let no one ever doubt how difficult UMNO is making lives for PR party…to promote what they are. It is always lies and low class accusations….especially saying DAP is a Chinese party…which is far far from the truth..and it takes that old crook Mahathir to keep saying it…when he is a 100% racist.
Yes Middle Malaysia or “1 Malaysia”…let Malaysians choose.
As far as I know Malaysians are always one from the day of Merdeka…and Mahathir tried so hard to separate all…to divide and rule…to use the Malay race to achieve his evil objectives and steal with no fear…making himself….a dictator..did a he like for 22 years…making sure guys like Najib and the present bunch of ministers are corrupted and steal too…thus Mahathir are holding all UMNO crooks by the balls..and not one dares to put him into jail.
So many Muslims are against UMNO….out come Khairy telling all…”Forget the past. Lets move forward” and Najib’s “1 Malaysia”….meaning for all the evils …stealing and killings…done by UMNO….forgive all…and give them another chance.
Those were spoken and planned right after 12th GE.
Now judge for yourselves.
Have UMNO or Najib ever changed?…100% NO.
You actually can read and see..UMNO ministers are contradicting each other in many things….to save themselves…pointing out clearly Najib has…no power. Who is actually controlling UMNO?
Yes….MIDDLE MALAYSIA aims for level headed sensible Malaysians to achieve the Malaysian Malaysia….and we can feel vast majority wants that…judging from the recent burning of churches and throwing wild boars heads at mosques…all being condemned by the important people and politicians alike..except not one word of condemnations..from that devil reincarnated ..Mahathir.
UMNO BARU is his…and we must vote him out from our lives totally.
I must say….credit must be given to UMNO Youth Chief….Khairy getting all Youth Chiefs from both camps to sign a document..condemning present incidents.
As usual…you can expect an UMNO ultra saying that was a coward act by Khairy.
Yes…UMNO ministers are divided and thank God..some do have guilty conscience ..when situations need them to stop playing dirty politics…and be a true Malaysian.
All these stuff about Middle Malaysia is right idea and necessary. BUT its not going to be the killer idea that will see PR take Putrajaya. Simply because there is not enough for a lot of Malaysian to invest personally in it quick enough.
There is a race going on and PR including DAP especially need to get it in their head. If PR don’t win the next GE13, there may not be another one down the road to contest in or things will get so chaotic, whatever PR wins in the end will be such a mess, they will not make meaningful change anytime soon.
Middle Malaysia need to be complemented by another idea and that things are already too late have to get worst before it gets better i.e., cathartic change is unavoidable and the sooner it happens, the less painful and faster change to better and the person who stands in the way, the people who won’t lead the change namely Najib, is Malaysia’s no 1 problem.
In that sense, PKR slogan is correct, Selamatkan Malaysia – its train wreck waiting to happen, the time to act is now…
Err chengho, your cheongsam slit cuts too far up. Your err well crack front and back. They are showing. Its alright to look sexy. Just dont do a britney here. OK?
Look at the allah issue. And all the fanning by jib, gang and umno. Malays by and large are unmoved. I venture to say that Umno has been decoupled from the malays. At least the signs of decoupling are now firmly in place. For umno did not realise that malays are no longer so interested in issues concerning their privilege, rights and religion. Even nazri is embarrassed by the constant open reference in the media to his ketuanan. Well I would. And Middle Malaysia is where they fall under. Umno caters for umnoputras only. Let them continue.
The concept of Middle Malaysia should also include establishing of a fair guideline for the sharing of administrative power, natural resources, state collected revenues between the state government and the federal government.
Let’s listen to what Tengku Razali Hamzah said about defect in the present system of Federation (as reported in The Malaysian Insider 28 Jan 2010):
//“More importantly there is a failure to understand the origin of federal powers over state resources.
“We have forgotten that the states existed prior to the Federation. The Federation only exists because the states were willing to vest their rights in it, such as their rights in oil. Not the other way around,” he wrote.
Razaleigh noted the federation itself rested on the principle of fairness to all the states, and to its citizens, wherever they may live.
“When the government of the day ignores this principle, it is ignoring a basic principle holding our country together.
“There has been too much centralisation of power in the federal government. Powers functions and rights that belong to the states must be restored to them,” the Gua Musang Umno chief said.//
Mamak said pkr and pas split the malays. Actually umno (more like mamak himself) is directly and solely responsible for the split. He created umnoputras and started the new malays outside umno.
It is fashionable in Politics nowadays to think of voters as “consumers” to whom political products, nicely “branded” are packaged and marketed. Malaysian voters are accustomed to “branding” of political slogans and high-sounding concept titles (eg “Vision 2020, Bangsa Malaysia, One Malaysia, now GTP etc”). Here’s where think thank/strategists of both ruling & Opposition coalition go to work in contestation to put forth what they think best captures voters’ support for the coming GE.
To be sure, “Middle Malaysia” actually is at conceptual level, quite clever.
One of the reasons is that it tries to figure out what happened in last 12th GE, why political tsunami happened giving shift of votes to opposition. What do voters want and for that one has to profile the emerging group of voters making the difference. We know what they don’t want – ie mis-governance abuse of power or corruption ie push factor away from BN but what do they want to pull them to PR? Here PR perceives more and more Malaysians especially the young urban and educated group of all races want a moderate & inclusive platform as opposed to exclusive, racist and extremist platforms to which UMNO/BN is identified, thanks to the race based than need based NEP, and latest its stand on the Herald “Allah” issue exacerbated by spate of arsons and desecration of places of worship.
Comparing to BN, it has the supposedly inclusive “1 Malaysia” and GTP to improve civil service delivery.
The problem with these 2 mottos is that whilst pointing the finger at what’s wrong in the country they don’t attempt to address what’s the root cause of it, which is a total denigration of meritocracy in preference to race based ethnocentrism!
Here “Middle Malaysia” is different: it identifies the problem of what is bugging this complex society, which not to put too fine a point on it is basically this – that realistically Malays are majority in demographics and votes; Islam is inextricably linked to Malay cultural identity and a major Malay concern. In Malaysian politics, that makes it a major national concern. And because of this factor the Malay and Islam’s position must be accommodated, so the question is accommodated to what extent? I imagine to the extent that Special Privileges, Official Religion in the Constitution and Rulers position being upheld/respected but not to the extent of absolute secularism as customarily associated with DAP’s traditional ideology nor the extremist position of promoting the Official Religion to the extent of denigrating other Non Malays’ rights (as for eg the Herald & other conversion controversies) or pushing NEP affirmative programme to the extent of denigrating Meritocracy all together in exacerbation of brain drain and the country’s competitiveness up the vale added chain!
So the key is to eschew the fundamentalist stance of PAS in its purist form and the near-total secularism of DAP in its purest form, neither of which is acceptable to the growing group of emergent young voters representing “Middle or Mainstream Malaysia” and to strike a balance in between two extremes Here this is DAP’s contribution to ‘Middle Malaysia” – the down playing of Malaysian Malaysia and secular pluralism to which it is traditionally associated with that got it no Malay support!
(Continuing from preceding post)
To say that by “Middle Malaysia” the DAP still sticks to its traditional ideology of plural secularism is strictly no more true. For DAP too has to factor in pragmatic realpolitik considerations and realities on the ground to forge a workable compromise with its Malay based partners PKR & PAS, also meeting half way in not pushing race and religion issues to the hilt.
So “Middle Malaysia” is actually quite a clever motto to ask what’s the root problem in Malaysia (ie racial & religious extremism) and sek the moderate middle position, which is better than just an inclusive 1 Malaysia or GTP that do not factor in that improvement in inclusivenss & KPIs is only possible if root cause of extremism were addressed! A growing number of ordinary Malaysians understand this. They are Middle Malaysia. “Middle Malaysia” give them a face to identify with. Only Shamsul Akmar in his infinite wisdom skews it to be “ancient and feudal — very much like the Zhou Dynasty’s Middle Kingdom.”
Having said the above, though “Middle Malaysia” is conceptually a clever motto, what Big Joe says is also true that for the average Malaysian it is probably more digestible to grasp a simpler slogan like (say) “Change”.
For when one promotes “Change” you don’t have to focus on your own weakness – just the political opponent’s weakness. Your opponent is weak in mis-governance, corruption or extremism, all you have to do is shout “Change” and people go with you because they want to change the other fella.
The danger in “Middle Malaysia” is that you’re not only saying that the opposite fella is short and need to be changed but that you yourself are good in the sense of being “moderate” and taking middle position and therefore ought to be supported!
That’s where you, PR, will also encounter problem in putting a moral yardstick out because people will pick circumstances and how you handle them and measure you against it.
For example they will ask if you are so moderate and middle why does defacto leader Anwar treat with kids glove Kulim Bandar Baru MP Zulkifli Noordin who lodged police report against PAS’s Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad supporting Herald’s use of the word “Allah”? Not just an ordinary voter measures PR by its ‘Middle Malaysia’ benchmark. Even PKR stalwart Zaid Ibrahim questions his own party and leader (Anwar) in this issue.
“Middle Malaysia” is as good as any political slogan but PR’s progress to Putrajaya and its travails are immediately bound to your “leadership” issue – whether Anwar can lead due to the sodomy case, whether he’s willing to give way, and even if he does, what second echelon leader can take the helm position to lead and yet meet this criterion, set by yourselves, of “Middle Malaysia”?
That’s the Million-Dollar Question!
//The danger in “Middle Malaysia” is that you’re not only saying that the opposite fella is short and need to be changed but that you yourself are good in the sense of being “moderate” and taking middle position and therefore ought to be supported!
That’s where you, PR, will also encounter problem in putting a moral yardstick out because people will pick circumstances and how you handle them and measure you against it. // (Jeffrey)
Moral yardstick is the most tricky part when someone is getting involved with discussion of making a policy choice for the Government. This is especially tricky when the debate boils down to the emotional argument on the issue of “whose God is a better God or a bigger God”! It may be easy for DAP people to shout “Middle Malaysia” when majority members of DAP are of the polytheist faiths. However, for PAS, the concept of “Middle Malaysia” may be an idea which is too tough for the muslims to digest when this seems to be a big deviation from the concept of the Islamic theocracy. History proved that the God of a Monotheism is always a jealous God, who will never tolerate any form of religiously unclean and unholy acts, such as changing the Islamic law in order to accommodate for the better growth of other Monotheist religion like Christianity or polytheist religion like paganism, Hinduism, sikh religion or ancestor worship religion.
When asking the muslims to give up the concept of merging Islam with State seems to be something not very practical at the present stage of intense religious tension, it will certainly be a wise choice for DAP to promote among the Malaysians the kind of moderate life style which has been vividly presented in P Ramlee’s movies. Therefore, the concept of Middle Malaysia should place a priority on the upholding of the citizens’ constitutional rights in terms of freedom of religion, freedom of speech and expression and freedom of assembly. In that respect, while the majority group will be given the legal rights to enjoy the freedom of practicing all kinds of religious rituals and religious taboos which are all of their personal choice, the constitutional rights of the minority group shall also be preserved and protected through the prevalence of the rule of Law!
I think all malaysians irrespective of race,religion and creed must be aware of three vital important things that exist in the country : Umno/Bn have abused and destroyed our enviroment in the name of devolopment and modernisation.Umno’s extremists have terrorized and killed people in the name of religion.And also Umnoputras,warlords and UmnoUtusans’s supremacist’s attitude thinking that they are having the highest position,with regard to power,importance and influence that they can now do anything they like and can get away unchallenged .
1Malaysia, Middle Malaysia, …. what hv u, all slogans
Enuf lah, ppl r sick, sick of slogans
TELL us what DAP n PR had achieved
TELL us what DAP n PR had done differently fr Umno B/BN
R DAP n PR politicians different fr self-enriching n latuk-crazy Umno B/BN politicians
The Troubles of Umno
Once there was a guy named Umno.
Umno married a widow. And then, trouble appeared. Umno’s father fell in love with his step-daughter and married her, so Umno’s father became his son-in-law and Umno became his father’s father-in-law.
Legally now Umno’s step-daughter is his mother and Umno’s wife is his grandmother.
More problems occurred when Umno had a son. His son is Umno’s father’s brother-in-law and at the same time he is also his uncle .
Situations turned worse when Umno’s father had a son. Now his father’s son, i.e. his brother, is his grandson. Ultimately, Umno has become his own grandfather and also is his own grandson.
No wonder umno needs a roadmap to find his way to 1malaysia
Sorry, off-topic
///In responding to a question from the floor, he (Mahathir) said that the mentality of the Malays had not changed.
“If they want to be rich, they will find the easiest way. If they can sell the country, they will, if they cannot, they will sell sand.”///- http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Malaysia/Story/A1Story20100129-195211.html-
It should be interesting to get the fact right. Have the Malays been looking for easy money as part of their culture, in their genes, or was it that they have been given the opportunity to realise the possibility of getting rich through the easiest ways?
Getting money through selling APs is faster than printing money itself. The AP scheme was meant to be the NEP strategy to facilitate Malays entry into the auto industry. It has been used to enrich a few well connected Malays, through the easy money making schemes.
In the excuse of getting Malays to own 30% of the equity share capital, the government regulates non-Malays to sell shares of their profit making corporations, at par value to Malays. Had they kept their shares, the Malays would have owned more than 30% of the equity by the government regulations alone. No such restriction was imposed, and the Malays who obtained the cheap shares were free to sell them for profit. That was easy money for Malays through NEP.
In the excuse of getting Malays into business, the government allows Malays to have monopoly of government contracts. Had the contract been awarded based on open tender, even among Malays, the government would have gotten its money’s worth of the projects, and the Malays would have developed into competitive contractors. Mamakthir removed the practice of public tender. The negotiated tenders at huge profit margin allow contractors to subcontract their projects, and retain the lion share of the value of the contracts. That was easy money.
It was not Malay culture to look for easy money. It was Mamakthir which utilised NEP to divide and rule cum buying support. So NEP has moulded Malays into looking for easy money. Whether Malays would sell the country and the sand is Mamakthir’s opinion.
The mentality of Malays is part of Malay culture. By saying that he wanted to change the mentality of Malays, Mamakthir declared that he does not practise Malay culture. Mamakthir called himself Indian when he was a medical student in Singapore, before the 1957 constitution allowed Muslims under article 160 to be called Malays if they practise Malay custom. He should not be Malay if he does not practice Malay culture.
Mamakthir gate crashed the Malay community. Is he a liability to the community, taking into account the influence he has imposed on the Malays? If Malays have received positive influence in adopting him, why is Mamak still claiming that Malays might disappear from this world? He might be right in that the mamak’s type of Malays have taken over the power, and the true Gaffar Baba type of Malays are fast disappearing, as Malays get less pure because of Article 160 which provides great incentive for people to assume the ethnicity of Malay. There was just one such Chinese Muslim so-called himself Islamic scholar who was afraid that the division between Malays and non-Malays in inequality might disappear.
Zahari Mohd Hashim is using the tactic yo irritate and accuse Lim Guan Eng…all sorts of things …can mean two things.
Either his attacks are justifiable or Lim Guan Eng is doing a marvelous job in Penang…someone is getting jealous…because deep inside Hashim is the true UMNO agent…and LGE is impossible to be one.
LGE has ti stay cool.
Using great commonsense to do right things…not many have that skill..and LGE is doing things with no selfish ulterior motives or personal benefits.
Sitting as Chairman of the tender board is correct…to make sure what he promised…he delivers.
Depending on anyone to do such an important decision….not to favour anyone…too risky.
I guess Hashim is not used to a sincere.. hard working boss.
Strange as it may seem…mamak said…as long as no one is happy..UMNO was doing the right thing…when he was PM.
That’s true…if the government is not corrupted like LGE governing Penang.
LGE need to be inspired by Anwar’s tolerance and patience.
///So when and how did you become Malay, Doc?
Because of the definition of ‘Malay’ in the Federal Constitution, Doc?
Article 160 (2)?
That right?
So, right up until the last moments before Tunku’s declaration of independence, you were the son of an Indian who migrated from Kerala, and moments later
you were magically transformed into a Malay?
And is not the definition of Malay in Article 160(2) stated to be for the limited purpose where the word ‘Malay’ appears in the Constitution?
But really, Doc, I don’t give a toss whether you hold yourself out as Malay or the son of an Indian who migrated from Kerala.
Whatever turns you on.
What pisses me off is this Bumi-non Bumi crap.///
http://harismibrahim.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/dear-mahathir/
The person who in 1969 used the race-card of which he hardly belonged, and became all powerful for 22 years, is using the same formula in 2010 so that his sons or grandchildren would have repeat performance. If he succeeds, Malays might really have disappeared from the surface of this earth. They would be replaced by NEWMalay just like UMNO has been taken over by UMNO Bahru.