Najib should give local content to his call for a global movement of moderates against extremists

At the Eighth Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM 8) in Brussels on Tuesday, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak reiterated his call for a global movement of moderates from all faiths to play a dominant role in a world threatened by extremism.

This was an expansion of his call he made last month at the United Nations General Assembly in New York in which he urged nations to reclaim the centre from extremists.

At the end of his six-day visit to the United Nations and the United States, Najib was uplifted by the positive response to his call and he told the accompanying Malaysian media that Malaysia’s profile had been enhanced, particularly in the West.

I was in Melbourne when Najib made the international call for global moderation, not only making it the theme in his maiden address to the United Nations General Assembly but also publicly commending United States President Barack Obama for the latter’s “courageous public position” in dealing with Islamophobia in condemning the proposed burning of the Quran by a Florida pastor and urging Obama “to galvanise the moderates, bring in the non-governmental organizations and social movements

I immediately came out with a statement urging the Prime Minister on his return home to lead a national campaign to galvanise moderates in Malaysia against the rise of extremism, whether racial bigotry or religious intolerance, which would be fully in line with his own declaration of “Zero tolerance for racism” made just before National Day on August 31.

Najib did not do any such thing on his return home nor did he make any clarion call for moderation to reclaim the centre from extremists.

Instead, he has gone off to make another international call for a global movement of moderates at ASEM 8 in Brussels.
Najib should realize that his call for a global movement of moderates against extremists will quickly lose all credibility unless it is grounded by a national agenda against extremism, whether racial bigotry or religious intolerance.

For this reason, I call on Najib to make a Prime Ministerial statement in Parliament when it reconvenes on Monday on how he proposes to give local content to his international call at UNGA and ASEM 8 for a global movement of moderates against extremists.

This is relevant and most pressing as Najib has himself expressed concern at the rise of extremism in the country – a development which is raising increasing national and international concern as impacts adversely on Malaysia’s international competitiveness.

How can Najib’s call for a global movement of moderates be taken seriously when he is not prepared to take a stand against extremism or dissociate himself from irresponsible politicking of race or religion?

For instance, it is now 56 days but no action has been taken by his government against the two school principals who made incendiary, insensitive and racist statements against students in school, making a total mockery of Najib’s “1Malaysia. People First. Performance Now” policy.

Also, how can Najib allow the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Penang Umno to continue with their irresponsible politicking to create panic among Muslim senior citizens in Penang so as to return the RM100 under the Senior Citizens Appreciation Programme on the ground that it is funded from “gambling sources” when this has been denied by the Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and Muhyiddin has not dared to respond as to whether he would return to Treasury his salaries and allowances as Federal Minister for past 15 years so as not to be associated with “forbidden” money?

Furthermore, what is Najib’s credibility in calling for a global movement of moderates when he is unable to rein in the “brain-washing” indoctrination unit, the Biro Tata Negara, in the Prime Minsiter’s Department from continuing to preach the worst forms of extremism?

As Din Merican said in his blog: “BTN had turned into a Frankenstein that has gone berserk and done harm to millions of people who call Malaysia their one and only home”, there is only one way “to strap down the monster” – “abolish the detested BTN”.

So long as outfits like BTN continues to exist in the very bowels of the Najib administration, Najib does not possess the credentials and credibility to call for a global movement of moderates against extremists.

Is Najib prepared to announce the dissolution of BTN in a Prime Ministerial statement in Parliament on Monday?

I commend Din Merican’s blog yesterday entitled “Biro Tata Negara: An Incubator or Bigotry and Intolerance” for Najib’s perusal and action:

The Biro Tata Negara (BTN) or National Civics Bureau has been hogging the limelight lately for all the wrong reasons. Ostensbily created for the purpose of fostering patriotism and “commitment to excellence”, the BTN has become an incubator of bigotry and intolerance. It turned out to be nothing more than “communal brainwashing” and is anything but civic.

It started off as an obscure agency in 1974 with an innocuous-sounding name: Youth Research Unit. It mutated into BTN at the time when Mahathir Mohamad had just assumed power. And unbeknownst to the public, the devils in the BTN had been subtlely and at times blatantly poisoning the minds of scholars, public servants, university students and youths sent there for training over the past quarter of a century.

For decades, BTN had been training and producing “graduates” to become future leaders who would come out well-rounded intellectually, emotionally, spiritually. The courses they studied had noble objectives: enhancing patriotism, strengthening self-reliance, building character and discipline, promoting excellent work ethics, and fostering a spirit of camaraderie “regardless of race”.

The goals were fine on paper but it appears they were not put into practice or had become totally irrelevant. Once shut up within the four walls of BTN, it is a fact that the “students” were subjected to racial and political indoctrination.

The products of the BTN system were there for all to see: A school principal in Johor reportedly said “Chinese students should go back to China” and likened Indian prayer strings to dog leashes. A special officer openly said that “Indians came to Malaysia as beggars and Chinese, especially women, came to sell their bodies”. A high-ranking BTN officer shocked the nation when he allegedly called Chinese “slitty eyed” and Indians “alcoholic”. These are the tip of the iceberg: more muck will float when incendiary remarks made in public or in private functions see the light of day.

The courses were also political in nature, emphasising Malay supremacy and loyalty to national leaders. According to one BTN alumnus, a song was taught with the lyrics: “the land that you walk upon is owned by others”, insinuating that the non-Malays have grabbed all the land and that it was time the Malays asserted their rights and reclaimed lost ground.

Another alumnus was put off when the trainers tarred the Chinese as the “Jews of Asia” who were engaged in a conspiracy to topple the government. Yet another participant was shocked when one lecturer blatantly declared that the Malays “were the most supreme race in the world… while the others were insignificant”. The opposition was mercilessly flayed to bring home the message that it did not pay to vote for the other side.

The BTN continues to exist in its monstrous form. Apologists like Ahmad Maslan, deputy minister in the prime minister’s department, and Mahathir were quick to defend the ogre. Maslan dismissed the whole hullabaloo as a mere slip-up by one lecturer, while Mahathir had nothing but high praise for the BTN for “inculcating the values of discipline and hard work in public servants and scholars”. Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin came out from the dark to say BTN programmes “inculcate nationalism and unity… in line with the 1Malaysia concept”. These are weak responses. Even the recent directive to all heads of government departments to check their officers from making sensitive statements is an exercise in futility. It does not address the glaring abuses in the system.

Undoubtedly, BTN has failed to discharge its duty responsibly. It has created at taxpayers’ expense and released hundreds, perhaps thousands, of bigots into the civil service and other sectors, who will continue to spew racial slurs and undermine the very concept of patriotism.

Love of country cannot exist in a cauldron of hate and spite. Moral and ethics cannot take root when public servants themselves do not show exemplary conduct. Team spirit cannot be built on the mucky soil of racism. Unity in diversity is a lost cause when the doctrine of Malay supremacy is worshipped as a national ideology. BTN is an antithesis of everything that is good, unifying, principled, decent.

BTN was recast largely in the image of Mahathir. When the aging doctor took it under his wings in the Prime Minister’s Department, the creature underwent a series of operation. Drastic changes were introduced to ensure that all who attended the courses would come out with the look of the devil in their eyes.

BTN had turned into a Frankenstein that has gone berserk and done harm to millions of people who call Malaysia their one and only home. There is only way to strap down the monster and put it to sleep: abolish the detested BTN. This calls for firm, decisive action. BTN aka Frankenstein must be consigned with all haste to the dung heap of history.

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15 Replies to “Najib should give local content to his call for a global movement of moderates against extremists”

  1. The DPM has declared that Muslims do not want to be associated with money from “a forbidden source.

    The government will have to stop collecting taxes and revenues from all haram activities, including from gambling outlets. Personal income and business tax will be scrutinised for any haram income which will not be taxable, example, if you work at Genting, you will be exempted from any income tax. If your business is dealing with bars, night clubs, selling non halal products, you are exempted from any business tax……To ensure that no haram money goes into the government treasury, all FDI will have to make declaration that their resources are all halal before getting the approval to operate in the country.

    http://ousel.blogspot.com/2010/10/mr-prime-minister-are-you-in-somniloquy.html

  2. It scores political points to take a dig on the PM: how legitimate to lecture the world to reject extremism and advise Obama to galvanise moderates when at home, nothing is done to censure the 2 racist principals & Hanim?

    Kit’s question is clever, and, in a restricted sense, also fair. The reason is because all three are guilty of racial epithets, and racial epithets are commonly regarded as hate speech. All Malaysians can agree hate speech is wrong because it attacks or mocks another’s race and religion which being constitutive aspects of an individual self-respect, hurts him. It is not just hate speech but also hate conduct like throng Molotov cocktails at churches and suraus or combination of both hate speech and conduct for example, protesting against a proposed erection of a Hindu temple by shouting “I guarantee bloodshed and racial tension and bringing a severed and bloodied head of a cow to demonstrate the point.
    There is no doubt that hate speech & conduct as above illustration is a part, a visible and clear but small part of extremism. That’s about the only thing there is a Malaysian consensus. Beyond that point –especially when it come to larger extremism in terms of ideologies and attitude of organized groups of people- that affect us and the country more than the above isolated instances of hate speech and conduct – there is no consensus and agreement amongst Malaysians. We are not a homogenous people in terms of race, religion or culture.

    There is therefore no common standard by which to take as frame of reference and measurement regarding what is moderate and what is extreme. What is extreme to Non Malays can for example, be taken to be moderate by Malays. So nothing can come out of egging Najib on to galvanise moderates against extremism when there is no common understanding and definition of what is moderate and what is extreme. To him Perkasa is not extreme: he said it. To Kit it is. The word “extremism” is in the political context descriptive of the actions or ideologies of individuals or groups outside the perceived political center of a society – but for 40 years Ketuanan Melayu espoused by Perkasa has been taken by the ruling party as the political center of the society, “! Malaysi” notwithstanding! To agree that race based Perkasa is extreme the PM will also have to agree that UMNO, MCA MIC are all extreme for being race-centric. Of course he cannot agree to this. Like for eg Namewee : LKS may think that except for uncouth language the young rapper is a patriot but to UMNOputras – and even Chinaputra like CSL – he is labeled an extremist/racist more than Hanim and the two principals. You can ask how could Namewee be racist when his message is “Say No to Racism”? If everyone says no to racism what light would it throw on all the ruling communal parties (UMNO, MBCA & MIC)? All their parties will be put in a bad light as “no to racism” is an antithesis of what these communal parties stand for! One simply does not shoot his own foot. In same way TDM would say advocates of meritocracy are racists because otherwise he will shooting his own legacy based on the race specific NEP.
    The point of this is to show that there is in Malaysia no consensus and agreement by all regarding what is extreme or moderate just like what is racist and what is not. The Namewee example illustrates how people will define extremism and moderation according to the dictates of their own agenda and vested interest, which aggravates the problem. For you can’t prod Najib to galvanise moderates against extremist when he does not agree with you who is an extremist and who is moderate!

  3. The above post touches on lack of consensus on what is extremism in matters of race. I go on next to what constitutes religious extremism and here there is even less consensus – not just between BN and PR but also even between the component parties of PR themselves.

    To DAP & Kit, Muhyiddin is engaged in “irresponsible politicking” to create panic among Muslim senior citizens in Penang on the matter of RM100 allegedly funded from gambling sources. We don’t however hear PKR or PAS saying it. In fact a state Pas member took a swipe at LGE in apparent agreement with the DPM! If PAS bans unisex hair salons, karaoke and traditional Malay dance, orders Muslim women to wear heads carves, supermarkets stores to keep separate check-out lines for men and women and cinemas to leave the lights on during movies to prevent cuddling and wants to introduce hudud – is it extreme or moderate to DAP?

    I venture to speculate that even amongst Muslims there is no unanimity/consensus whether the following are moderate and right or extreme: canning of Kartika for beer drinking and canning of 3 other Muslim women for having extramarital sex!

    So who can say what is religious extremism or what is not? Who judges and determines that? Non-Muslims definitely have no say. Not even cabinet ministers. The experts are said to be the religious authorities & scholars.

    Some wise man once said: “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice; moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue”!

    The implication is that we should not be extreme to pursue bad and wrong causes and objectives but should be extreme and relentless to pursue the right, the just and the worthy causes and combat the wrong and unjust ones.

    Which is all well and good as a motivating thought but this cannot be done so easily in a heterogenous and diverse society like ours when different peoples and groups have just as many different and conflicting ideas of what are good worthy and right as distinguished from those that are bad unworthy and wrong – as they have common ideas in other areas.

    Again, it may be asked, how could one effectively prod Najib to galvanise moderates against religious extremist when he does not agree with you who is a religious extremist and who is moderate?

    Such are the problems we face here : the lack of shared norms and common outlook. How to galvanise any group of ‘moderates’ when they are just as likely be viewed by other groups of different values and outlook, as ‘extremists and vice versa????’

  4. ///Najib did not do any such thing on his return home nor did he make any clarion call for moderation to reclaim the centre from extremists.

    Instead, he has gone off to make another international call for a global movement of moderates at ASEM 8 in Brussels.///–Kit

    Looks like Najib wants to complete his round of international meetings before he turns inwards to Malaysia. There are so many international meetings such as the Conference of Commonwealth countries, the conference of Islamic nations, the meeting of north and souths and many more NGOs conferences. Najib may be waiting for 2020 to implement NEM and then make the call suggested by Kit.

  5. If you want Najib to address extremism (however way one defines it), you have to PIN him down on specifics to come up (with APCO’s help) with an official Black And White “1 Malaysia Declaration and Programme of Action” to which all may refer for guidance or adjudicating disputes, something like:

    Considering that the importance of unity of all Malaysians as a matter of priority Recognizing therefore the importance that Malaysians proactively embrace plurality and not just mere tolerance Reaffirming our commitment to ‘1 Malaysia’ as a platform superseding any other earlier ideology that espouses the supremacy of any particular race over the rest and Emphasizing the responsibilities of all persons whether working for the government or not, belonging to any political party or not to uphold and subscribe the inclusive principles of “1 Malaysia” hereby Solemnly adopts this “1 Malaysia Declaration and Programme of Action”:-
    1. Mutual and equal respect for all races and no racial or religious slur or epithet shall be made of another;
    2. The promulgation of a Race Relations Act;
    3. Creation of a 1 Malaysian Ministry to implement programmes in promotion of 1 Malaysia;
    4. the establishment of a specialized 1 Malaysia agency to monitor the promotion, preservation and implementation of 1 Malaysia rights and standards in bureaucracy and government agencies etc
    5. the following are considered extremist speech and actions contrary to “1 Malaysia”:- etcetera
    6. the following will be the type of actions taken against extremism : etcetera
    7. and so on and so on.”

  6. There will be too many things to do to reverse extremism and yet it would not be successful. The answer would be to remove the source that causes extremism. It is money and power which come easily in an institutionalized corrupted country to politicians. So anti-corruption policies faithfully carried out is a must. For that the various institutions must perform their functions, and observe rule of law.

    Extremism in this country come about because it rewards politicians who could use race and religion to gain political advancement, to project extremist positions. That is because inequality in this country is based on race supported by religion, and the extremists want this to remain. Article 153 was badly implemented and NEP is much worse. So until NEP is removed, there is no way to stamp out extremism. All suggestions could best alleviate some symptoms. The disease remains.

    Corruption in this country started because of NEP. So NEP is the only cause of all the symptom of this failed state.

  7. As long as BTN continues to exist in its present form, the Government’s calls for moderation, tolerance, mutual respect, unity etc are insincere and hence cannot be taken at face value. BTN’s original objectives are noble but has metamorphosed into a racist producing institution to serve UMNO’s selfish interests.

  8. the BTN is a body created by the government and it seems it cannot be controlled just lie how the PDRM rejected the government’s move to implement IPCMC.
    The Police proved that the authorities dare not take action and now even the BTN thumbs its nose without penalty.
    Don’t change the BTN but we need to change the BN regime.

  9. ///Najib did not do any such thing on his return home nor did he make any clarion call for moderation to reclaim the centre from extremists./// – Kit

    Time and again, we rakyat are being deceived by eloquent persuasion of political leaders.

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