Day: September 1, 2013

Ahmad Fadli KC & Lee Way Loon | 12:16PM Sep 1, 2013
Malaysiakini

INTERVIEW For many years, the Aidilfitri festive period saw Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud visiting open house functions as a custom. But this year, things are a little different.

Now her visits have an official air to it, as she is a representative of Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang.

Dyana, a UiTM law graduate who hails from Ipoh, is serving full time as Lim’s political secretary since the general election in May.

She first came to prominence in early 2012, when Lim held a press conference to announce her entry into DAP.
Continue reading “Born to an Umno family, but now a DAP rising star”

By Ida Lim
The Malay Mail Online
September 1, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 1 — Former Umno leader Zaid Ibrahim today said that the party would be unable to flush out those joining the party to enrich themselves, but said it should at least refrain from hunting down the Chinese.

Zaid’s comments this afternoon appeared to be aimed at Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s call for Umno to shed its corrupt image, where its leaders are viewed as allegedly lining their pockets.

“Umno surely can’t clean themselves of fortune hunters. At best they should try not to be Chinese hunters,” the former de-facto law minister said on Twitter today, likely in reference to Dr Mahathir’s column in Utusan Malaysia’s weekend edition today.

Dr Mahathir had today written in Mingguan Malaysia that the injection of new blood into the Umno leadership this October through polls would counter views that it is corrupt. Continue reading “At best Umno should try not to be ‘Chinese hunters’, says Zaid”

– Stephen Ng
The Malaysian Insider
September 01, 2013

Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said that it is “a historical fact that the riot was sparked by Chinese, (like the fact) that Nazis killed thousands of Jews during the Second World War”. I beg to differ.

When May 13 broke out, I was a young five-year-old boy living in a New Village. My father was away working either in Kelantan or Pahang. My sisters and I were the only ones who stayed with my mother in Jinjang Selatan. Although we were supposed to have moved to a new home in Taman Kepong, the family decided to stay put.

As a boy, I was listening in to every conversation that took place between my mother and other relatives and friends. There were horror stories of Malays killing the Chinese, and Chinese killing the Malays. But a phone conversation between my mother and my father that has never escaped my attention was that everything was peaceful in the East Coast.

My Father said that the Chinese and the Malays were having breakfast together. There was no riot in the East Coast. It was business as usual for them. Muthusamy, Ali and Ah Chong were still friends, when things went awry in Selangor. Why is that so, Datuk Seri Nazri? Continue reading “May 13 was not a racial riot”

By Erna Mahyuni
The Malay Mail Online
September 1, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 1 — For Merdeka, I watched Shuhaimi Baba’s docu-drama “Tanda Putera”. Fourteen other people were in the cinema at GSC Paradigm Mall in Petaling Jaya at 11.30am.

I am unsure if any of them enjoyed the film, though an elderly Chinese gentleman in the audience walked out halfway. My one regret is that I could not do the same. The heart of “Tanda Putera” is the friendship of the late Tun Abdul Razak Hussein and Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, played by Rusdi Ramli and Zizan Nin respectively.

Sadly, neither of the actors was up to the mark, but more on that later.

To call this revisionist history would be too kind. “Tanda Putera” is a poorly written, abysmally researched train wreck that makes our local soap operas look like arthouse films.

What amazes me is that it cost RM5 million to make this schlock. Continue reading “A review of ‘Tanda Putera’, a film that takes liberties with the truth”

The Malaysian Insider
September 01, 2013

I is for Idiot and unlike established artist J Anu, there is little need to lob that label on former US president George W. Bush when there are enough politicians in Malaysia who have doctorates in idiocy.

The artist was forced to explain the concept behind his artwork after a mosquito Muslim group lodged a complaint, saying that the painting insulted Islam. In fact, the government yesterday demanded the piece be withdrawn from the Selamat Hari Merdeka exhibition at Publika Kuala Lumpur.

Anu said the artwork was in reference to Bush’s adventure in Iraq.

But really, why look thousands of miles away for an idiot? Malaysians are spoilt for choice at home.

Look at Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz (pic). He enjoys that work of fiction called Tanda Putera and tries to pass it off as historically accurate and well-researched. Never mind that the director of the film herself conceded that she took artistic licence with the events surrounding the race riots of May 13, 1969.

Nazri yesterday offered the discredited Umno version of the riots, saying that it was sparked by a few Chinese individuals.

“The Chinese community as a whole is not responsible for what happened in 1969, only the individuals, they are the ones who should feel guilty,” he said.

Well, well, what magnanimity by the minister. Today, most Chinese should be at peace and sleep easy. Because Nazri has singled out only a few Chinese for starting the riots. Continue reading “I for Idiot is for Bush? Why look that far?”

Tommy Thomas
Malaysiakini
Aug 31, 2013COMMENT The social contract, social compact or bargain reached by the three communities under the watchful eye of the British imperial power as a condition to Merdeka was that in exchange for full citizenship, a right to use their language and observe their religion, the non-Malays had to concede special privileges to the Malays to assist the latter to ascend the economic ladder.

It was a quid pro quo. It was a consensus arrived after hard bargaining, and has formed the basis of nationhood. In this equilibrium, the non-Malays were not to be relegated to second-class citizens: citizenship was not on a two-tier basis and there was going to be no apartheid, partition or repatriation.

What was required from the non-Malays at the time of Merdeka was undivided loyalty to the new nation. They could no longer owe their allegiance to the mother country, China or India. Racial differences were recognised. Diversity was encouraged. There was no pressure to integrate into one Malayan race.

A new nation was to be integrated over time, but as a plural society. Assimilation was out of the question. Thus, a united Malayan nation did not involve the sacrifice by any community of its religion, culture or customs. Minorities were not to be discriminated in a system of parliamentary democracy based on constitutional supremacy. In many respects, the establishment of Malaysia six years after Merdeka strengthened the social contract.

But as Malaya completes 56 years as an independent sovereign nation today, and more significantly, Malaysia turns half a century on Sept 16, do the 26 million Malaysians have reason to celebrate? Unfortunately, the popular response would be very much in the negative. Continue reading “56 years later – a fractured, polarised nation”