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Najib should make public the proposed National Reconciliation Plan (NRP) for public feedback and input before finalization so that it could be a more comprehensive and inclusive roadmap to restore national unity and consensus in the country

In his blogpost “A national reconciliation update”, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced that the National Reconciliation Plan (NRP) “will be unveiled and implemented over the next few months” as a result of “months of quiet work”.

This is the second time that Najib has mentioned the National Reconciliation Plan.

The first time was after the Cabinet meeting of 29th January, when he announced that the Ministers had examined a National Reconciliation Plan “to develop and promote an environment which was conducive to and would help promote national reconciliation through unity and consensus in the country”.

He said the government’s National Reconciliation Plan would be based on four key thrusts, namely social, political, government and international relations and would be based on democratic principles.

Before January 29, nobody has ever heard of a National Reconciliation Plan.

Who drafted this National Reconciliation Plan and who had been consulted? This is still a great mystery up to now. Continue reading “Najib should make public the proposed National Reconciliation Plan (NRP) for public feedback and input before finalization so that it could be a more comprehensive and inclusive roadmap to restore national unity and consensus in the country”

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Najib’s plan may turn out to be ‘Never Really Plan’

– Kennee Wong
The Malaysian Insider
February 26, 2014

Yesterday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak penned an article about the government’s new initiative for a more cohesive and united Malaysia.

Called the National Reconciliation Plan (NRP), it will be unveiled and implemented in the next few months and he has shared a bit of what is to come.

I cannot help but to wonder if the NRP will be another irresolute proposal that will have little consequence towards the improvement of our nation’s race and interfaith relations. Continue reading “Najib’s plan may turn out to be ‘Never Really Plan’”

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Extremists: Ignore them or isolate them?

– Ramon Navaratnam
The Malaysian Insider
February 26, 2014

I refer to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s well meaning advice to “just ignore extremists”.

With due respect sir, there are many Malaysians who will sincerely agree with me that this is not the way to deal with extremists.

Their inflammatory statements and worse still, dangerously provocative and evil acts, based on racial and religious hatred, must instead be nipped in the bud!

Their seditious statements and incendiary acts which undermine our fragile national unity have to be exposed, and those responsible from any quarter should be named, shamed, arrested and prosecuted. They have to be publicly exposed and harshly dealt with rather than inadvertently encouraged to do their dirty work stealthily, secretly, and without scrutiny from the rule of law!

Malaysians should not tolerate extremists and extreme acts of any kind in our multiracial, multi-religious and highly complicated and sensitive society. Continue reading “Extremists: Ignore them or isolate them?”

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Is Najib seriously suggesting that Utusan Malaysia should be given a free hand to pump vitriol and stoke racial and religious animosities, including attack on a Cabinet Minister entrusted with the portfolio of national integration and unity?

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s recipe yesterday for national reconciliation, national unity and to help inspire Malaysians to respect and rec-connect with one another has been immediately put to the test today by another vitriolic article by Utusan Malaysia editor, Datuk Zaini Hassan in his article warning that a minister’s suggestion to remove “race” from official forms was the first step to convince Malays to surrender their bumiputera status and other privileges afforded to the community.

Najib proposed to Malaysians that “We don’t have to condemn them, just ignore them” as the best way to respond to the demands and vitriol of the instigators and extremists, adding: “Don’t give them the air time or the publicity” they crave.

The problem is that such vitriolic articles, inciting racial and religious animosities and hatred, is not the work of individuals but of the official newspaper of UMNO, the backbone of Barisan Nasional government, like the Utusan Malaysia editor’s article today entitled “Orang Melayu sudah tidak peduli dengan bangsa sendiri?” (Malays no longer care for their own race?) and is given full oxygen by the UMNO’s official media, and which will be given full dissemination in the UMNO/BN-controlled empire of printed, electronic and social media.

Is Najib seriously suggesting that Utusan Malaysia should be given a free hand to pump vitriol and stoke racial and religious animosities, including attack on a Cabinet Minister entrusted with the portfolio of national integration and unity – and that this is Najib’s way to national reconciliation and national unity in Malaysia? Continue reading “Is Najib seriously suggesting that Utusan Malaysia should be given a free hand to pump vitriol and stoke racial and religious animosities, including attack on a Cabinet Minister entrusted with the portfolio of national integration and unity?”

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After ‘race’, they will come for your privileges, Utusan editor tells Malays

The Malay Mail Online
February 26, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 26 — A minister’s suggestion to remove “race” from official forms was the first step to convince Malays to surrender their Bumiputera benefits and other privileges afforded to the community, an Utusan Malaysia editor wrote today.

Alleging that the call by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Joseph Kurup last week was the result of pressure from rights groups, Datuk Zaini Hassan warned the Malays that the efforts were opposition-driven to erode the community’s rights.

“Already there are voices that dare question the origins of the Malays. They claim that Malays are immigrants, just as they are immigrants. That we are all the same,” he wrote in an editorial piece titled “Orang Melayu sudah tidak peduli dengan bangsa sendiri?” (Malays no longer care for their own race?).

In it, he drew parallels between Kurup’s suggestion and the efforts by the Coalition of Malaysian NGOs (Comango) that was heading local human rights efforts in the recent Universal Periodic Review (UPR) under the auspices of the United Nations last year. Continue reading “After ‘race’, they will come for your privileges, Utusan editor tells Malays”

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National reconciliation is the way forward

by Karim Raslan
The Star
February 25, 2014

Change in Malaysia has to be spearheaded by the Malay community, and with this leadership, comes responsibility.

MALAYSIANS are increasingly polarised – especially over race and religion.

At the same time we’ve also lost our sense of humour.

We’ve become dour, over-sensitive killjoys.

The spirit of Lat, Harith Iskandar and Jo Kukuthas has disappeared.

Now, everyone has the right to be proud of their culture and identity.

But we’re suffering today because we all think of ourselves as being “Malay”, “Chinese” or “Indian” before being Malaysian.

So how do we move forward? Continue reading “National reconciliation is the way forward”

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Najib’s NRP is a recipe to abdicate his responsibility as Prime Minister in a plural society but still clinging to the perks of office

I was excited when I learned that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has today a blog post entitled “A national reconciliation update”, as I thought it would signal an end to the nine-month hiatus of government after the 13th general elections, with a Prime Minister who seems to be rudderless, leadershipless and directionless especially on the important agenda of nation-building and national unity.

I could not believe my eyes when I read Najib’s blog-post, because it does not inspire hope that there is going to be a new purposeful leadership to end the government drift in the past nine months with an inclusive vision of nation-building, but a recipe for Najib to abdicate his responsibility as Prime Minsiter in a plural society but still clinging to the perks of office!

What was Najib’s answer to the worst racial and religious polarisation in post-13GE compared to any other time in the nation’s 56-year history and which led the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) to warn only last week that the Najib administration’s failure to act swiftly when dealing with racial and religiously sensitive incidents could lead to “serious consequences”? Continue reading “Najib’s NRP is a recipe to abdicate his responsibility as Prime Minister in a plural society but still clinging to the perks of office”

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Rukunegara

― Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud
The Malaysian Insider
February 25, 2014

FEB 25 ― I never knew the importance of Rukunegara. It brought no meaning to myself and my friends in school, we memorised the Rukunegara after reciting it every Monday during school assemblies after a few weeks in Darjah Satu and we continued the same routine for years.

Rukunegara was even on the back of every notebooks we owned. Still, I was clueless as to why we had to raise our right hand and recite them every Monday during compulsory school assemblies and I never bothered to find out. I never read about it in books or in the newspapers, although I was a regular Utusan reader back in my teenage years, reading it at my neighbour’s house since my father only buys The Star (I never went a day without reading The Star back then). Our teachers never told us why we even had Rukunegara.

When I was reading law in UiTM, again Rukunegara was never mentioned. Although we can still recite it word by word, we never cared about it, never knew the importance of it, left alone to understand the history, the reason behind Rukunegara and why is it so important to instil the values of Rukunegara in every Malaysians. Even my favourite, patriotic, selfless, constitutional law lecturer never said anything about Rukunegara!

So what is Rukunegara is all about? Continue reading “Rukunegara”

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Pakatan Rakyat comprising PAS, PKR and DAP representing Malaysians of all races, religions and regions, will spearhead campaign to save Malaysia from traitors who want to destroy Malaysia by incessant incitement of racial and religious hatred and tensions through lies and falsehoods

Pakatan Rakyat comprising PAS, PKR and DAP representing Malaysians of all races, religions and regions, will spearhead campaign to save Malaysia from traitors who want to destroy Malaysia by incessant incitement of racial and religious hatred and tensions through lies and falsehoods

Malaysia after the 13th General Elections nine months ago in May last year is going through its most dangerous times in the nation’s history.

This is because there are in our midst irresponsible and reckless elements, whom I would even call traitors to the nation, who want to pit race against race, religion against religion, to destroy Malaysia by causing racial chaos or religious conflagration through the incessant incitement of racial and religious animosities, hatred, conflicts and tension spouting lies and falsehoods.

What makes the situation very dangerous is we have a government which seems to have lost it duty and political will to uphold the Constitution and be a government for all Malaysians and to act firmly against the merchants and vendors of hate. Continue reading “Pakatan Rakyat comprising PAS, PKR and DAP representing Malaysians of all races, religions and regions, will spearhead campaign to save Malaysia from traitors who want to destroy Malaysia by incessant incitement of racial and religious hatred and tensions through lies and falsehoods”

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Cabinet Ministers and senior government leaders need a re-education in Rukunegara as they seemed to have forgotten its principles and objectives

At the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak should direct all Cabinet Ministers and senior government leaders to undergo a re-education in the Rukunegara as they seemed to have forgotten the Rukunegara principles and objectives 43 years after their promulgation.

Although the five Rukunegara principles have been taught in the schools in the past four decades, many Malaysians, including the Cabinet Ministers and senior government leaders will not be able repeat them offhand.

The Rukunegar principles are:

BELIEF IN GOD
LOYALTY TO KING AND COUNTRY
UPHOLDING THE CONSTITUTION
The RULE OF LAW
GOOD BEHAVIOUR AND MORALITY

Continue reading “Cabinet Ministers and senior government leaders need a re-education in Rukunegara as they seemed to have forgotten its principles and objectives”

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Is there a high-powered plot to frame me up like Teresa Kok in 2008 so that I could be detained on the ground of being anti-Quran and inciting racial and religious disharmony?

I must give credit to the diabolical “cleverness and creativeness” of the UMNO cybertroopers and those committed to incessant incitement of racial and religious animosities, hatred, conflict and tension in recent months to create racial chaos and religious conflagration in coming out with a new accusation against me.

I thought after some 48 years of Malaysian politics, there will be no accusation that had not already been hurled against me and there could be no new accusation against me.

I had been accused of being anti-Malay, anti-Indian, even anti-Chinese of being anti-Chinese Chinese-educated, anti-Chinese English-educated (not yet accused of being anti-Chinese Malay-educated); I have been accused of being anti-Islam, anti-Hindu, anti-Christianity; I have been accused of being a CIA agent, KGB agent, Australian Secret-Service Agent, a Singapore agent even Special Branch agent at home – and anti-nationalist!

I have even been accused of having caused the May 13 riots in 1969 (if so, why have I been allowed to be at large in Parliament and Malaysian politics over four decades) and most disgusting of all, that I have urinated at the flagpole of the then Selangor Mentri Besar’s residence in Kuala Lumpur when in fact I was in Sabah at the time. Continue reading “Is there a high-powered plot to frame me up like Teresa Kok in 2008 so that I could be detained on the ground of being anti-Quran and inciting racial and religious disharmony?”

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NUCC’s Samsudin Osman vs Perkasa’s Ibrahim Ali a battle of “patriots vs traitors” for moderates to save Malaysia from extremists who want to foment racial chaos and religious conflagration?

At the forum on “Legacy of Tunku Abdul Rahman” at New Era College in Kajang on 10th February 2014, I called on all moderates and patriots in Malaysia, whether in Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat or those outside the two political coalitions to unite and isolate extremists and traitors of the country who want to foment racial chaos and religious conflagration through incessant incitement of racial and religious hatred, conflict and tension.

I said that I believe that the overwhelming majority of Malaysians, whether in DAP, PKR or PAS in Pakatan Rakyat, or in Umno, MCA, Gerakan, MIC and the other component parties in Barisan Nasional, or outside the two political coalitions, do not want another May 13 riots in the country as they want, like Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman, love, peace, harmony, solidarity and prosperity to prevail in Malaysia.

But all the moderates in Malaysia, whether Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat or outside the two political coalitions, must act to unite and isolate extremists and traitors of the country who want to foment racial chaos and religious conflagration through the incessant incitement of racial and religious hatred, conflict and tension – or they will lose by default and allow the irresponsible and reckless few to hijack the national agenda which can only lead to ruination and sent the country down the abyss of a failed state.
Continue reading “NUCC’s Samsudin Osman vs Perkasa’s Ibrahim Ali a battle of “patriots vs traitors” for moderates to save Malaysia from extremists who want to foment racial chaos and religious conflagration?”

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The enemy of the people

– Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
February 18, 2014

I will come back to the Kajang topic soon. It is now becoming more interesting as Zaid Ibrahim is entering the race.

At the moment, I want to share some thoughts on a topic that has been at the back of my mind for some time.

It is Umno’s perversion of the idea of nationalism and the “Umnonisation” of Islam. The danger is this. If left unchecked, Umno will confer upon itself the right as final arbiter on who is a Malaysian or not Malaysian and eventually who is Islamic, less Islamic and so forth. In a bizarre twist, Umno has totally outflanked PAS in portraying itself as the religious zealots bent on “talibanisation” of Muslims in Malaysia and eventually over all Malaysians.

We are all in danger. The country is crumbling under a fainéant leader. His madmen are on the loose. Umno’s nationalism. Continue reading “The enemy of the people”

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IGP Khalid must heed the NUCC call for swift action against those inciting racial and religious animosities and hatred to destroy Malaysia’s inter-racial and inter-religious harmony like Utusan and “Council of Islamic NGOs”

The Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said yesterday that the Attorney-General’s Chambers has returned the police investigation papers on DAP National Vice Chairman and Member of Parliament for Seputeh Teresa Kok’s “Onederful Malaysia CNY 2014” video to the police to refine their investigation.

What is surprising is why despite nation-wide and international criticism, the IGP still allows the police to practise double standards as no police action and investigations have yet been made against the group of self-styled “Council of Islamic NGOs” who committed a slew of offences when they staged a demonstration in Kuala Lumpur the previous Thursday on 6th February including criminal intimidation, sedition incitement of violence against a woman, incitement of violence against a Member of Parliament, incitement of another May 13 riots, when they offered RM1,200 to anyone who slaps Teresa Kok and slaughtered four chicken and smeared blood on images of DAP and Pakatan Rakyat leaders.

How can the IGP and the police be so indifferent to the slew of crimes committed by the “Council of Islamic NGOs” if they are the true upholders of law and order and protector of public peace in Malaysia? Continue reading “IGP Khalid must heed the NUCC call for swift action against those inciting racial and religious animosities and hatred to destroy Malaysia’s inter-racial and inter-religious harmony like Utusan and “Council of Islamic NGOs””

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Call on overwhelming majority of Malaysians, who are moderates regardless of race, religion or politics, to support the “Purple Movement” for racial and religious tolerance, peace and harmony and to reject the merchants of hate and violence in their midst

Two events yesterday are the latest signs that the merchants of racial and religious hatred are continuously upping the ante to escalate racial and religious hatred, conflict and tension in Malaysia to serve their petty political ends, viz:

— The vitriolic Mingguan Malaysia article yesterday falsely attacking non-Malays for insulting Malays, Islam and Rulers and warning them to know their “limits”; and

— The hurling of a slab of meat, believed to be pork, at a mosque at Cherok Tokun in Machang Bubuk yesterday morning.

Utusan Malaysia, UMNO’s official organ, had been enjoying immunity and impunity for its nefarious and long-standing mischief of disseminating lies and falsehoods to incite racial and religious misunderstanding, hatred, conflict and tension – as for example in its front-page lie that the DAP wanted to create a Christian Malaysia and that DAP is anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Rulers.

As Mingguan Malaysia – the Sunday edition of Utusan Malaysia – belongs to UMNO, the UMNO President and Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the UMNO Deputy President and Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, and the UMNO National Vice Presidents and UMNO Ministers must declare whether the vitriolic Mingguan Malaysia article reflects the latest thinking and position of the UMNO leadership. Continue reading “Call on overwhelming majority of Malaysians, who are moderates regardless of race, religion or politics, to support the “Purple Movement” for racial and religious tolerance, peace and harmony and to reject the merchants of hate and violence in their midst”

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Are we heading for emergency rule?

by P Ramakrishnan
Aliran
16 February 2014

Is that why no action is taken against these trouble-makers who whip up ethno-religious sentiment – because unrest is necessary for emergency rule, wonders P Ramakrishnan.

It was reminiscent of the lawless Wild West when rough-necks went on a rampage to assert their authority over the helpless town folks. There was nobody brave enough to stand up to the mayhem they created.

There was no Sheriff, no Deputy and no hero to take on these hooligans.

That was what happened last Thursday, 6 February 2014, when troublemakers took to the streets in a frenzy of hatred to incite and provoke Malay extremists to partake in acts that would threaten our peace and harmony. It was no ordinary gathering; it was a gathering of racists and bigots out to create mischief.

In blatant defiance of the law, these members of several Muslim NGOs gathered in the afternoon near the busy Puduraya bus terminal and government offices at Jalan Tun Perak in Kuala Lumpur.

Some participants stomped on the banner bearing the faces of DAP and PKR representatives. They then slaughtered four chickens and smeared their blood on the faces of Teresa Kok, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang and Machang Bubok assembly member Lee Khai Loon (PKR) in a ritual intended to cause calamity in the country.

This bloody act was committed by these trouble-makers claiming to belong to the Council of Islamic NGOs as proclaimed in the banner to “Protest against insults of Malay leadership, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Islam and Malay dignity by a splinter of politicians, leaders and Chinese chauvinists”. Continue reading “Are we heading for emergency rule?”

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Amid growing religious tensions, this group walks for peace in Penang

by Looi Sue-Chern
The Malaysian Insider
February 16, 2014

Hours after a mosque in mainland Penang was defiled with a slab of meat believed to be pork, a group of people visited places of worship in George Town promoting peace and love.

Dressed in purple – the colour that signifies religious tolerance – the group carried carnations and roses, as well as purple balloons as they walked together to visit the St George’s Church, the Goddess of Mercy Temple, the Sri Mahamariaman Temple and Masjid Jamek Lebuh Acheh.

The group’s mission to promote inter-religious tolerance came some 12 hours after a mosque in Cheruk Tok Kun on mainland Penang was defiled with a slab of meat believed to be pork, which was thrown at one of its entrances.

Social activist Azrul Mohd Khalib from the group said the event, “Walk in the Park” by a loose group called Malaysians for Malaysia, is aimed at demonstrating that Malaysians are standing up for their fellow citizens, following increasing concern over tensions related to racial and religious issues.

“We reject violence, aggression, bigotry and discrimination. This is not the Malaysia we want. We can actually exist together in harmony.

“We want to speak for ourselves and stand up against groups like Perkasa and Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (ISMA) and their prejudice,” he said, addressing the people who had gathered at the Esplanade field at 5.30pm today, before setting out on their mission of peace. Continue reading “Amid growing religious tensions, this group walks for peace in Penang”

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Lessons of faith, harmony and provocation over the weekend

BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
February 17, 2014

Malaysians learnt a few things over a rather hot weekend, from opposition leaders who reached out to all, to ordinary Malaysians preaching harmony and the few troublemakers who appear to incite trouble.

Some might still think opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is a political chameleon but his visit to a Kajang church yesterday proved one thing – he was willing to take the bull by the horns and reach out to all Malaysians irrespective of their faith.

Perhaps he was just there for their votes, those less charitable of him would say.

But the PKR de facto leader did something that no Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders has done in a long time – meet Malaysians outside their community and be the leader of all Malaysians, not just their own race or co-religionists.

Have we seen any BN leader face a crowd of ordinary Malaysians, not from their party or race or religion, and answer their blunt questions? In most cases, it is stage-managed events filled with either a pliant media or those paid to tweet photographs of these leaders.

Anwar is not alone, of course. PAS leaders such as Khalid Abdul Samad and Mujahid Yusof Rawa have also gone to meet and reach out to people from different faiths over the years. Continue reading “Lessons of faith, harmony and provocation over the weekend”

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DAP calls for a nation-wide “Love Malaysia, Save Malaysia” campaign to rescue the country from the nefarious and treacherous designs of a small group of anti-Malaysian elements out to foment racial and religious strife through incessant incitement of racial and religious hatred, conflict and tensions

The pattern is emerging from the events from the past few months that there is a small group of anti-Malaysia elements whose nefarious and treacherous designs are to foment racial and religious strife through incessant incitement of racial and religious hatred, conflict and tensions.

I categorise in this group of anti-Malaysia elements with nefarious and treacherous designs those responsible for the recent Molotov cocktail attack on a church in Penang, the hanging of provocative banner “Allah is Great. Jesus in the son of Allah” outside five churches in Penang without the knowledge of the church authorities and the vandalism of eight gravestones in a Christian cemetery near Kuantan.

Recently, DAP National Vice Chairperson and MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok’s “Onederful Malaysia CNY 2014” was the subject of a national frenzy that it was anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Rulers, causing a group of self-styled “Islamic NGOs” to hold a “chicken-slaughtering and blood-smearing” demonstration, including offering RM1,200 to anyone who slaps Teresa Kok – although nobody could substantiate the allegation that the video was anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Rulers in the past three weeks. Continue reading “DAP calls for a nation-wide “Love Malaysia, Save Malaysia” campaign to rescue the country from the nefarious and treacherous designs of a small group of anti-Malaysian elements out to foment racial and religious strife through incessant incitement of racial and religious hatred, conflict and tensions”

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In “Major Right, Major Wrong” challenge facing the country, can Liow-Wee MCA leadership be trusted to be with “moderates” in Malaysia to take a stand against extremists, or will they keep silent hoping that the extremists can create a political situation they can benefit?

When I last visited Kajang on Monday to take part in the forum “Legacy of Tunku Abdul Rahman” together with the Parliamntary Opposition Leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the Selangor Mentri Besar, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim and the former Bersih 2.0 Chairperson, Datuk Ambiga Sreenivan, I made a national appeal to all Malaysians to best remember the life and services of Bapa Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman.

I called on all moderates in Malaysia, whether Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat, to unite and isolate extremists and traitors of the country who want to foment racial chaos and religious conflagration through incessant incitement of racial and religious hatred, conflict and tension,hoping to destabilise the country by fomenting racial chaos and religious conflagration.

For the past nine months since the 13th general elections in May last year, the country has been afflicted by a quintuplet of national crisis the magnitude of which had never been experienced by the country in over half a decade of nationhood – nation building and national unity; economic as reflected in the unchecked rise in prices and the increasing hardships of the low-income groups; education with the unchecked decline in educational standards; security in terms of the safety of Malaysian citizens, investors and visitors; and good governance particularly in the losing war against corruption. Continue reading “In “Major Right, Major Wrong” challenge facing the country, can Liow-Wee MCA leadership be trusted to be with “moderates” in Malaysia to take a stand against extremists, or will they keep silent hoping that the extremists can create a political situation they can benefit?”