Month: August 2013

By S. Sundareson
Letters to the Editor
New Straits Times

I REFER to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s article on the Chinese dilemma published in the New Straits Times on July 26 and 27.

Dr Mahathir said: “Buoyed by the success of the Alliance party in the 1955 elections, the Tunku looked more kindly at the proposal of Sir Cheng Lock that citizenship should be based on jus soli (citizenship by being born in the country). The Tunku did not quite agree but he nevertheless decided to give one million citizenships to unqualified Chinese and Indians.”

As a former registrar of citizens, I wish to comment on Dr Mahathir’s views.

The legislation that conferred citizenship on Malayans are the Federation of Malaya Agreement, 1948, State Nationality Enactment, 1952 of the various states and finally, the Federal Constitution that came into force on Feb 1, 1948, Sept 15, 1952 and Aug 31, 1957 respectively. Continue reading “MALAYSIAN CITIZENSHIP: One million met criteria”

The Malaysian Insider
July 31, 2013

And this is the man who craves to become the next Prime Minister of Malaysia. God help us because without divine intervention, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (pic) will lead the country speedily down the path of suspicion, anger and confrontation, pitching Muslims versus non-Muslims.

He stoked the fire sufficiently last night at a buka puasa function when he warned non-Malays against insulting Islam and creating tension, drawing attention to a video which showed a man mimicking the Muslim ablutions with dogs, to the sound of Eid prayers and a popular Hari Raya song.

There can be no justification for this smut. None whatsoever.

And if the authorities can find out who produced this video clip, they should use the full force of existing laws to send a message that in multi-racial and multi-religious Malaysia, the most serious crimes involve inciting religious and racial strife.

But at the same time, there must be fairness and honesty when a national leader touches on the sensitive topic of race and religion. And this is where the deputy prime minister and deputy president of Umno failed spectacularly.

Have the authorities established that a non-Muslim produced this video? Continue reading “Malaysia needs leaders to rise above partisan politics, not stoke racial conflict”

By Zurairi AR
The Malay Mail Online
August 01, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 1 — An article by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on “The Chinese Dilemma” has been removed by Facebook for allegedly violating its community standards, according to the former prime minister’s Facebook page’s administrator.

The column piece, originally published in English daily New Straits Times (NST) and then posted on Dr Mahathir’s Facebook page, painted a portrait of Chinese Malaysians in a dilemma, caught ostensibly between their thirst for political control while retaining their economic clout and the decades-old power-sharing formula.

“Today, Facebook has informed us that the article was removed for violating its supposed community standards. This means there were many who were disturbed and opposed, and complained to Facebook against what Tun wrote,” said a posting by an administrator who identified himself as “KN”. The original posting had received more than two million likes.

KN had urged fans of the page to read the online version of the article on NST’s website and decide for themselves whether the article violated Facebook’s Community Standards or was just an “unpleasant truth”, as he called it.

Facebook users can anonymously report any posts that they believe violate the social network’s community standards by clicking on a link on each post.

A post which receives enough complaints will then be investigated by Facebook’s User Operations team, and it will then be removed if the team decides that it has violated the standards.

It is believed that Dr Mahathir’s article may have been removed for promoting hate speech, which according to Facebook includes attacks on people based on their actual or perceived race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability or disease. Continue reading “Facebook removes Dr M’s ‘Chinese Dilemma’, cites violation of community standards”

DAP and Malaysians are entitled to know the reasons why and under what powers the Registrar of Societies is directing the DAP to hold re-election of its Central Executive Committee (CEC), which was elected in the DAP Party Congress in Penang last December.

Is the Registrar of Societies (RoS) Director-General Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman directing the DAP to hold a re-election of its CEC because 753 DAP delegates had been denied their right to attend the DAP Congress in Penang last December, and if so, let him state it clearly so that the DAP can pin down and expose the lie.

For the past six months, the Umno/Barisan Nasional “war room” had invested vast resources, personnel and tens of millions of ringgit in a two-prong strategy to “demonise and destroy” DAP (the “DDD” campaign), namely spread the lie about the DAP funding the “Red Bean Army” with 3,000 cybertroopers and a budget from RM100 million to RM1 billion in the past six years to character-assassinate Umno/BN leaders; and secondly, to keep alive the canard about frauds in the DAP Congress CEC elections last December.

Both before and after the 13th general elections on May 5, 2013, there was a sustained campaign by UMNO/BN operatives for action by the RoS against the DAP, from demand for invalidation of the CEC polls to deregistration of DAP on grounds of irregularities, improprieties and frauds in the CEC election last December.

One main ground for such demand is the allegation that 753 DAP delegates had not been notified of the DAP Congress last December as required by the party constitution and that they had therefore been denied their right to attend the congress and vote for the CEC.

In fact, the “753” issue was also used to accuse the DAP of being anti-Indian on the ground that the overwhelming majority of the “753” delegates were Indians and this was why they were discriminated against and denied the right to attend the Congress and vote in the CEC elections. Continue reading “RoS should say so if the reason he wants DAP CEC re-election is because 753 DAP delegates had been denied their right to attend DAP congress last December so that the DAP can pin down and expose the lie”

by Allan CF Goh

Listen, listen, listen,
Do not rebut at all,
In spite of the foolishness,
Despite lacking truthfulness.

When wrongs are committed,
You shall not see or hear.
Citizens may not report;
Ignore the racist import. Continue reading “A New Morality?”

— Arif Fahmi Md Yusof
The Malay Mail Online
July 31, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, July 31 — The uploading of a video of a Malay Muslim celebrating Hari Raya in the facebook with his three dogs invites voluminous responses from Malaysians especially Muslims. Most of the Muslims consider the video as insulting Islam. Many regard this video as insulting episode in the Holy month of Ramadhan for Muslims. Regrettably, in this Holy month of Ramadhan, many use a very offensive and indecent language in the social media, commenting this video.

What is insulting here? It is about the dog. Muslims generally are sensitive to dogs. For majority of Muslims particularly in Malaysia, dogs are impure. Many Muslims try to avoid contacts with dogs. The intention of the person who uploaded the video may be good, to appreciate the similarities between the creation of God and to promote kindness towards animals especially the dog. Unfortunately, the cultural perspective in Malaysia is against this idea.

Many people often adhere to an idea they heard without examining whether it is legally correct. Therefore, it is usual to find people who easily believe in erroneous ideas that may have no basis or evidence. In Islam it is pertinent to understand its teachings and observe them. The primary consideration in dealing with other beings, especially animals is promoting kindness and avoiding cruelty.

An act of kindness to the dogs is recorded in one hadith where a man gave a dog water to drink using his shoe as the vessel to contain the water. The hadith praises the man, and Allah forgives his sins as a result of his kind act of providing the dog water. Continue reading “A victim of Muslims’ misunderstanding: The dog”