Friday, 8th February 2013 is the 110th birthday anniversary of Bapa Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman.
History and the world at large acknowledge his contributions as a statesman, a nation builder and as a singularly unique historical figure. He personified decency, a deeply-held belief in the rule of law and respect for tradition.
This is an occasion for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or political beliefs to come together to pay tribute to a man who laid the foundations for a modern, democratic, secular Malaysia welded out of a diverse mix of ethnicities, faiths and cultures.
It is most unfortunate and regrettable that Tunku’s good name and memory and those of our forefathers had recently been sullied when derogatory references were made by one of his successor-Prime Ministers who falsely accused Bapa Malaysia of having granted citizenship to one million “unqualified” non-Malays before Merdeka in 1957 – hypocritically claiming that the treasonous “citizenship-for-votes” rackets for illegal immigrants in Sabah were more honourable and worthy deeds!
When the nation achieved independent nationhood on August 31, 1957, followed by the formation of Malaysia in 1963, it heralded the beginning of a new era where Malayans and later Malaysians could dare to dream big dreams to remake the world.
Reading out the Merdeka Proclamation in the Merdeka Stadium in Kuala Lumpur on that auspicious day 55 years ago on August 31, 1957, Tunku pledged that Malaya “shall be for ever a sovereign democratic and independent State founded upon the principles of liberty and justice and ever seeking the welfare and happiness of its people and the maintenance of a just peace among all nations”.
These aspirations were reiterated by Tunku six years later in the Proclamation of Malaysia on September 16, 1963 on the formation of Malaysia, pledging that Malaysia “shall forever be an independent and sovereign democratic State founded upon liberty and justice, ever seeking to defend and uphold peace and harmony among its people and to perpetuate peace among nations”.
The multi-million ringgit invitation to the South Korean superstar Psy to Penang for the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Chinese New Year Open House to perform his global hit “Gangnam Style” is a powerful symbolism of the multiple failures of Malaysian nation-building in the past half-century as promised in Tunku’s Merdeka and Malaysia Proclamations on democracy, liberty, justice, people’s welfare and happiness.
On the Chinese New Year of the Snake, let Malaysians have fun and enjoy Psy’s “Gangnam Style” but it should be a powerful reminder that Malaysia has a lot to catch up whether in terms of political democracy, economic competitiveness and justice, educational excellence, technological prowess or nation-building as highlighted in the reversal of fortunes of the two countries in the past half-century with South Korea rising up from greater poverty and backwardness than Malaysia to be a global economic powerhouse while Malaysia is struggling to escape from the trap of “middle-income countries”.
There is no better way to commemorate Tunku’s 110th “birthday anniversary by supporting the “Spark the Change” campaign launched by the DAP National Publicity Secretary Tony Pua today to accomplish Merdeka2 which Tunku had dedicated the final decade of his life.
Let 2013 on the occasion of Tunku’s 110th birthday anniversary mark Malaysia’s beginning of the new journey of the Second Merdeka through UBAH in Putrajaya in the 13th General Elections, to see the fulfillment of the promises of the Merdeka and Malaysia Proclamations on democracy, liberty, justice, people’s welfare and happiness particularly in the face of the relentless challenges of globalization in the 21st century.
When you are serious and earnest about ruling with the Rakyat in mind; you don’t have to horse around.
Bangun Rakyat Malaysia!
Feb 11, 2013, second day of CNY is the “worst day of the month” according to a Lunar Calendar reading. It’s a “broke” day. Good to lie low with no entertainment or celebrations to avoid attracting bad luck. Could it be fated that BN’s 56-year rule will be halted/broken this time? Or else why BN chose 2nd day of CNY which used to be an auspicious day!
I used to think that umno does nothing but monkey about. Now I realise that I was wrong all along for umno actually does one other thing besides monkeying about. Umno likes to horse around.
Saya sungguh gelihati membaca artikel ini…Sepanjang hayat Tunku tidak pernah sekali2 beliau menyokong perjuangan DAP…Sekiranya beliau menyokong DAP maka tentulah beliau menyertai parti satu kaum tersebut….
Kebelakangan ini DAP kerap menggunakan nama besar beliau…pastinya untuk tujuan tertentu…Mungkin DAP sangat berbangga dengan usaha Tunku mengadakan ‘kontrak sosial’ bersama pemimpin2 besar lain dari parti perikatan.
Berikut dipetik dari Wikipedia
Kontrak sosial di Malaysia merujuk kepada perjanjian oleh bapa-bapa kemerdekaan negara dalam Perlembagaan, dan merupakan penggantian beri-memberi atau quid pro quo melalui Perkara 14–18 yang berkenaan dengan pemberian kewarganegaraan Malaysia kepada orang-orang bukan Melayu, dan Perkara 153 yang memberikan hak istimewa rakyat kepada mereka daripada kaum bumiputera.
Seperkara lagi DAP kerap menyebut mengenai UBAH… sebelum mengubah orang lain…..ubah lah diri sendiri dulu…Pemilihan CEC baru2 ini tidak menunjukkan DAP adalah parti berbilang kaum tapi hanya bertopengkan Malaysian Malaysia untuk meraih sokongan…..
“Gunakanlah Bahasa Kebangsaan Kita …Marilah Amalkan Ramai-ramai”…
Mungkin LKS perlu ada blog dalam Bahasa kebangsaan supaya dapat berinteraksi dengan rakyat di luar sana…
sungguh gelihati membaca komen cintanegara, mana ada dalam artikel ini mengatakan Tunku menyokong DAP??? Artikel ini mengatakan DAP akan mengekalkan ikrar Tunku iaitu Malaysia “akan kekal menjadi sebuah negara yang merdeka dan berdaulat serta berdasarkan kebebasan dan keadilan dan sentiasa menjaga dan mengutamakan kesejahteraan dan kesentosaan rakyatnya dan mengekalkan keamanan antara segala bangsa.”
Scene of long parade when my late father walking side by side along main road with late Tunku while I scrambled along the road side earth drain covered with leaves of rubber trees: the rustling sounds, the enthusiastic march and the celebratory atmosphere still vivid in my mind…
Felt damn insulted when my citizenship is questioned by Dr. M who’s just like me, the offspring of immigrants, Anak Malaysia entrenched in Malaysian soil and nowhere else!!!
Buang Masa dengan Bahasa malaysia..You can jump in the river
///while Malaysia is struggling to escape from the trap of “middle-income countries”///
55 years of BN in power have turned Malaysia into a middle-income-trapped country. What a shame!
Sdr. Lim qoute Tunku on his birthday while Najib equates Mahathirism with Communism by quoting Deng Xiao Peng. Somehow its seem poetic that the enemy is confirming the utter failure of Mahathir, Mahathirist and UMNO B/BN..
Oh.. and To suggest that we, no Malays, are no better than brain-washed peasant communists from 3 decades ago after 55 years of affirmative action? The mediocre intellect clownishly pranced out in the open is so painful to watch…
Mahathir’s words
THE “ALLAH” CONTROVERSY
Jan31st 2013 Written by chedet
///1. Malaysia is a multi-religious country where people can adhere to their own religion even though Islam is the official religion. For most of the time the followers of the different religions have lived in peace with each other. We do not see the kind of violence between the followers of different religions as found in Northern Ireland, Lebanon and the Indian sub-continent.///–Mamakthir
The Malaysian constitution provides for free practice of religion according to the choice of the persons. Religion is a personal matter. People in Malaysia were free to practice their religion until Mamakthir came into power, when he decided in 1986 that Al-lah should be the exclusive God of Muslims in Malaysia. Non-Muslims have no problem with however Muslims wish to practice their religion, but Mamakthir as a Muslim decided when he had the power as PM to limit non-Muslims’ access to Al-lah.
///2. Malaysians respect each others’ religions and the rights of the religious practises of their followers. We avoid commenting on other people’s religion even though we may have furious debate within each religion.///–Mamakthir
That is generally true except for Mamakthir who passed a law to restrict the right of non-Muslims to practice their religion, and took away their God from them.
///3. Unfortunately now we have this controversy on the use of the name of God, Allah. Many years ago this controversy was settled through the acceptance that the Christians of Sabah and Sarawak could continue to use the word Allah in their Malay language bible and teachings but these should not be used in the rest of the country.///–Mamakthir
The Christians did not willingly accept what was forced upon them to keep quiet since they simply cannot change the law. It is just like Mamakthir telling BBC that MCA accepted BN’s policies which discriminated against Chinese. MCA leaders were shameless to give the impression that they had a say in formulating government policies when it has none.
If Christians in Sabah and Sarawak can use the word Allah, why then did BN banned the bibles meant for Christians in Sabah and Sarawak. When Christians from Sabah and Sarawak are in the rest of the country outside Sabah and Sarawak, the rule would mean that they cannot call upon their God. Is that free practice of religion? Was it the decision of BN government to split Christians in Malaysia since they will have different God in different places? Surely Mamakthir could claim that Christians had agreed to settle the controversy in the manner which actually deprived Christians their right to free practice of religion as provided in the constitution. After all when he was in power, he was quite free to use ISA against any person he chose. With that he was free to say what he liked.
///4. Unfortunately because some politicians want to get the support of Malaysian Christians, the demand is made that the Malay language bible be used in the whole country. Predictably the Muslims protest and the controversy is resurrected.///–Mamakthir
Muslims do not have to protest how non-Muslims practice their religion since religion is a personal matter. The controversy had the root in Mamakthir passing the law and Syed Hamid banning the bible in Malay language. The persons who championed the protest are found in Perkasa of which Mamakthir is the patron. Now Mamakthir tries to give the impression that 60 percent of Malaysians are protesting.
///5. Christians and Jews know very well that in all their bibles, the Old Testament and the New Testament, and in the King James and other versions the word Allah had never appeared as the name of God. It is only after Islam and the Quran that the world became acquainted with the word Allah for God.///–Mamakthir
The world over, Muslims accept that the word Allah can be freely used by any persons who may not be Muslims. Indeed the world Allah appears in the holy book of the Sikh religion. Why should Mamakthir have passed the law to create controversy in the first place?
///6. In their effort to spread Christianity in the Malay speaking world the Christian missionaries used the word Allah for reasons best known to themselves. Whatever, the word Allah for God is not derived from Jewish or Christian sources.///–Mamakthir
The people of the world are free to spread whatever religion to which they hold dear, even in Indonesia where the number of Muslims exceeds those in Malaysia. Whether or not the word Allah was derived from Christian sources, Christians in Sabah and Sarawak had used them before they became Malaysians. Indeed the Romanized word Allah was only adopted by Malaysia when Malay language adopted Romanized script. Who then has a longer history of using the word Allah?
///7. Among Christians in Malaysia, except for the natives of Sabah and Sarawak, the word Allah for God had never been used. In any case, the need does not arise as most sermons are not in Malay. Even when they were in Malay, the word Allah was to my knowledge never used.///–Mamakthir
Mamakthir cannot claim that he had been to every church and heard every sermon to make the above claim.
The Sikhs may not use Malay language but they have the word Allah in their Holy Book.
///8. Religious confrontations can lead to very serious consequences. It can lead to violence and killings even. This peaceful country will not be peaceful anymore if we have religious violence.///–Mamakthir
If Mamakthir is sincere in seeing that there is no religious confrontation why did he sow the seed for possible religions confrontation, by restricting the use of the word Allah in 1986?
///9. It is unfortunate that Ibrahim Ali should suggest burning the newly-printed bibles. That may be the way we rid ourselves of unwanted publications. It cannot be done for the Bible any more than it can be done for the Quran.
10. But what Ibrahim said does not reflect the views of UMNO. Unfortunately, some politicians would like to make it so in order to gain political mileage.
11. While UMNO believes that the word Allah is exclusive to Islam, it had never advocated burning the Malay language bibles which uses this word. I regard the attempt to imply Ibrahim’s support for UMNO to mean what he says is what is subscribed to by UMNO as mischievous. Ibrahim is not a member of UMNO. He may support UMNO but he is not a spokesman for UMNO.///–Mamakthir
So now whatever Ibrahim Ali said does not represent UMNO. Who is Mamakthir to make that clarification when the President of UMNO Najib has not taken that stand? Maybe Najib will soon confirm it.
///12. We have lived together in relative peace and harmony all these years. Our country has developed fast because of this. While we can have political differences, we should not resort to our religious differences to win elections. It is a double-edged sword and those who live by the sword shall die by the sword.
13. Let this controversy be settled behind closed doors by responsible people. Let not the extremists take over and exploit religious issues.///–Mamakthir
The controversy started by Mamakthir. Mamakthir still thinks that the powers-that-be have the power to decide how people practice their religion. How arrogant? The solution is either for the government to accept the decision of the High Court which implies that the law passed by Mamahtir in 1986 was unconstitutional, or the government should not stop the appeal court hearing its appeal on the 2009 High Court decision on related issue.
///14 It may be a denial of freedom of speech but freedom even in a liberal democracy have limits if we really want democracy to work.///–Mamakthir
Mamakthir started the controversy and now he wants limit to legitimate airing of views.
///15. I would like to appeal to all parties to stop trying to abuse this issue.///–Mamakthir
Mamakthir started it all and now he pretends to care.
There is no progress if there is no struggle. We must be the change we wish to see in the country. Only a fanatic who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.
Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. ~ Barack Obama.
///KUALA LUMPUR Feb 6 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad came to Datuk Ibrahim Ali’s defence today claiming the Malay rights leader had not meant it as an insult when he suggested burning Malay language bibles for using the word “Allah” Dr Mahathir picture who is the patron of Ibrahim’s Malay rights group Perkasa told a press conference here that the Pasir Mas MP had merely been referring to a common practice of burning publications that have been identified as illegal “Usually if there is a publication that has been banned the action taken is to burn these books “So his Ibrahim view is that if this Bible is illegal in terms of policy he chose to opt for the common method of burning them ” he said after launching the coffee table book “Antartica Malaysia’s Journey to the Ice” at Universiti Malaya here “So I don’t think that he Ibrahim had any intention to insult the kitab injil it was not his intention ”///–Mamakthir
Now Ibrahim Ali knows his own intention after Mamak has spelt it out for him. It is most likely that Ibrahim Ali would be submitting written answer to supplement his statements given to police in their interview with him.
Mamakthir seems to know better the intention of Ibrahim Ali than Ibrahim Ali himself.
Mamakthir thinks that he can fool people with his explanation to make light of the serious offence committed by Ibrahim Ali. Mamaks must have forgotten that it is what the words meant to ordinary person that count as to whether Ibrahim committed seditious crime. In fact Ibrahim Ali did not on any occasion mentioned about illegal books, and so burning illegal books never came to his mind. Ibrahim Ali talked about religion and thus burning bible was from his religious perspective. That was how his intention was as conveyed to ordinary persons.
By saying what he did Mamakthir showed his forked tongue.
Mamakthir mentioned that it was not UMNO’s intention to burn the bibles. But with his rationalization of IA’s words, Mamakthir accepts that Ibrahim Ali now speaks for UMNO!
I think cintanegara should balik india before GE13.
Just one more point. The root of DAP, PAP was part of the founding of this country so to say that Tunku never part of DAP is spiritually incorrect.
Bukan Melayu mudah lupa, UMNO sahaja sampai terangan-angan nak lupa yang benar
Let us all spare a thought for Tengku, the most loved PM on his birthday. Though he may be departed, his spirit is very much alive. If only the present ruling part. Has his principles, malaysia would the the happiest nation. May his soul find peace in ALLAH