Racial Politics creating a Failed Nation

One of Malaysia's Racial politics started in the early 70s when the government discovered that the Muslim-Malays were too poor yet overly incompetent compared to the economy advanced Chinese. As a result, the government of Malaysia launched a program called NEP (Malaysian New Economic Policy) to uplift the economy status of the poor muslim-Malays, hoping to balance up the income of the poor with the rich. However, after 30 years of NEP, income disparity in Malaysia has not improved.

According to the UNDP 1997 Human Development Report Asian Analysis 1998 by Asean Focus Group and the 2004 United Nations Human Development (UNHDP) report, Malaysia has the highest income disparity between the rich and poor in Southeast Asia, greater than that of Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia. The UNHDP Report shows that the richest 10% in Malaysia control 38.4% of the economic income as compared to the poorest 10% who control only 1.7%. Kuala Lumpur as the capital of Malaysia has an increasing number of squatters, shanty towns and slums, and is also seeing an increase in criminal acts such as snatch theft, robberies, and rape.

What they say about racial politics?:

Malaysian politician Chang Ko Youn put forward "Malaysia has practised racial politics for 51 years and we know it is divisive as each party only talks on behalf of the racial group it represents... When all races are in a single party, no one person will try to be the champion of the party.... It is easy to be a Malay hero, a Malaysian Chinese hero or an Malaysian Indian hero but it is difficult to be a Malaysian hero.... The country is facing economic problems now and it is important that the Government and political parties come up with a Malaysian agenda on how to unite the people and face these challenges..."

Marina Mahathir wrote: "...The same thing happened in our country. Unfortunately, race politics has not really died down yet, and some people reacted as if ethnic cleansing had just taken place...."

Michelle Gunaselan wrote: "...I am often ashamed and angry about what has happened to the industry, to my view of what is an honourable profession. My friends who wrote powerful things – beyond our age, perhaps – about human rights abuses, race politics, and much more in our college newspapers, now sit back and allow their editors to change key facts in their stories. We now maintain “elegant silences” about each other’s choices. I don’t profess to be a model journalist, I think I could still do better, and I have a long way to go, but I do admire them for trying to work under these difficult circumstances. After all, I have, I suppose, taken the easy way out by writing for magazines (on political features) where I am not necessarily subjected to the same sorts of political influence and Government ownership and control issues as the mainstream media."

Politician Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham when he was asked, "What do you dislike most about Malaysians?", he replied: Racial politics

Chris Anthony wrote: "...After 50 years of living and working together side-by-side, the people have voted to do away with racial politics but unfortunately the politicians are far from showing signs of heeding their calls for multiracialism...."

Philip Bowring of International Herald Tribune wrote that the political organization of Malaysia has long been largely on racial lines, Islam has at times become a device for use in racial politics, a yardstick for measuring the commitment of competing parties to Malay racial advancement.

Writer A. Asohan wrote: "...you started to grow up, and race increasingly became a factor. You became aware of race politics here. Insidious people would hint that being friends with the "Other" made you a traitor to your own race. The racist rot seems to have intensified over the subsequent generations. The bigotry we learned as adults are now being picked up by our primary schoolkids. Our leaders may, in a fit of progressiveness (by their standards), talk about racial tolerance, but acceptance and appreciation for other races and cultures seem beyond their ken. Racial intolerance in the country is getting worse, we tell ourselves, looking back to a more idyllic past. Bah, what crock! We Malaysians have always been racists. Heck, the entire human race has always found some illusive basis for discrimination. Race, religion, colour, creed, whether you were born north or south of that artificial line called a border – we spend an inordinate amount of our time and resources on delineating our differences rather than celebrating our similarities. If you married someone from a different race in the old days, you faced severe social censure and were treated as an outcast. Parents wrung their hands and tore at their hair, wailing “What did we do wrong? Aiyoh, how can you do this to us?"

A disappointed parent: "It is really sad. Parents spend huge amounts of money educating their children, but the ones who stand to benefit are the Singaporeans, Americans, Australians and the British. For as long as race politics is not done away with, the problem of brain drain will continue and Malaysia will always fall behind advanced countries, no matter how many twin towers and Putrajayas we build."

Former Prime minister of Malaysia Mahathir bin Mohammad said Samy Vellu is a racist in his own blog www.chedet.com "...They speak not just of Indians, but of Tamils as a separate race. They and their apologists are racist to the core....Seeing the death and destruction inflicted on Sri Lanka by the Tamil Tigers, they threaten to bring this kind of violent racial politics to Malaysia...

Source: Wikipedia

LETS WORK TOGETHER TO REJECT RACIAL POLITICS!

Racial Politics Losing it's Grip

PERCENTAGES ACCORDING TO THEIR POPULARITY

A poll conducted by a political party has revealed that Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng is more popular than Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, Prime Minister Najib, and DPM Muhiddin in the Malay majority Penanti constituency.

59% of the electorate regarded Lim Guan Eng as the most popular leader in their constituency. The surprising factor is when Malay majority constituency now very much happy with the Lim Guan Eng's performance. It shows that our nation is moving in the right track, racial politics are losing its grip among Malaysian. According to the survey, Anwar, Najib and Muhiddin failed to win over Lim Guan Eng's popularity.

There are more surprise on the polling result when Muhyiddin took the third slot with a 39 percent approval rate while Najib only managed to muster 28 percent. Is that mean 1malaysian failed terribly from the beginning? May be Perak crisis effected him so much. Well, at least this survey make our PM realise that Perak's 'new' goverment are not blessed by all Malaysian.

15,384 registered voters in Penanti will out to vote on May 31 with four cornered fights between PKR and three independent candidates.

LOOK AT THE PERCENTAGE OF RACES IN PENANTI

Save the Penans!

The Penans are a nomadic aboriginal people living in Sarawak and Brunei. They are one of the last such peoples remaining. The Penan are noted for their practice of 'molong' which means never taking more than necessary. Most Penan were nomadic hunter-gatherers until the post-World War II missionaries settled many of the Penan, mainly in the Ulu-Baram district but also in the Limbang district in Sarawak.

For the last two decates the Sarawak government has allowed the logging of the primary forest to escalate and now the end is in sight. If logging continues at the current rate, in less than half a decade, one of the world's oldest and most complex ecosystems will be destroyed. The loss of this great rainforest will drive thousands of unique species (found nowhere else on earth) to extinction, and will mean the end of a traditional way of life for many of Sarawak's natives, including the Penan, one of the last tribes of true hunter-gatherers left in the world.

The future of the more than 10,000 Penans has been a controversial subject since the confrontation between indigenous rights and state land use began. National and International Non-Governmental Organisations have been pressing for indigenous self-determination and respect for Penan human and land rights. The politicians never see them as human, and so they forget that we all share the same rights and realities as fellow human beings.

They have been living peace until the timber companies came to disturb their life and encroach into their forest. Many of them have suffered due to the logging operations, their rivers are polluted, their sacred sites damaged their animals chased away, rain forest home destroyed, women and girls often raped by the timber company workers. The damages are severe, so why are the government still ignoring Penan’s plights?

For many years, they have been raising their voice to protest against logging activities, but neither the company nor the government is listening to them. Stop offending the Native Customary Rights by giving certificates the logging companies! Save Penans and their rainforest home!

Listen to their plights:

LOGGERS SURVIVED, HOW ABOUT THESE PENANS?

WHERE IS THE JUSTICE FOR THEM?

WHY DISTURBING THE PENANS?

Malaysiakini.com helping Malaysians to overcome the "Growing Culture of Fear"

http://www.malaysiakini.com/

The image of Malaysia is of a country with a superior economic and financial infrastructure but things aren't so good when it comes to human rights and press freedoms, the mainstream media still can't criticise the government directly. Luckily miles away from Kuala Lumpur's centre, there is a narrow lane which leads to a corner building. This is where Malaysia's independent online newspaper Malaysiakini is housed.

The site is known for publishing stories, breaking news, updates and much more which are quite critical and not really touched by the state media. For instance, human rights violations or abuses by the state and the police. The country's first online news journal was launched in late 1999 when the long-time ruler Mahatir Mohammad, known for his autocratic style, was still in power. And Malaysiakini.com now is the nations most famous online media.

Amid the tight restrictions on print and broadcast media, the online media now have a perfect chance to expand in Malaysia. Masses of online sites and blogs have cropped up in recent years and have fast become an alternative source of news and opinion. But many of them which are too critical come under constant fire from the government. It accuses them of spreading lies and has threatened them with harsh penalties and tighter controls. For being too outspoken, Raja Petra and several other bloggers bullied by the government repeatedly through courts and detentions.

Malaysiakini.com is assisting Malaysians in creating a better Malaysia without racialist policies, religious bigotry, corrupt practices concealed and incompetent governance. My hope for Malaysiakini.com is that it will continues its struggle to deliver true facts and news like now forever for Malaysians.

THANK YOU, MALAYSIAKINI!

Chin Peng is a Malaysian, So let him Come Back to Malaysia!

CHIN PENG DEVELOPED NATIONALIST AND COMMUNIST BELIEFS

In 2000, Chin Peng applied to be permitted back into Malaysia, and a complex legal issue has arisen out of this. Hearings on whether to permit his return to Malaysia were scheduled for May 25, 2005 but the High Court postponed the hearing to July 25, when his application to be allowed to return to Malaysia was rejected.

His return is opposed by victims of attacks committed by the Communist Party of Malaya, those who served in the armed forces during the Emergency, and members of the public. There has been a resurgence of accounts of the alleged atrocities the Communist Party of Malaya committed in newspapers by those who are against his return to Malaysia (such as the Ex-Serviceman's Association of Malaysia). Chin Peng has lived in exile in southern Thailand and has also given lectures in the National University of Singapore. The current Malaysian Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi, suggested the Government might reconsider its position in the future. He said he would wait for the outcome of the Court case before making a decision.

CHIN PENG

In June 2008, Chin Peng again lost his bid to return to Malaysia when the Court of Appeal upheld an earlier ruling that compel him to show identification papers to prove his citizenship. Chin Peng maintained that his birth certificate was seized by the police during a raid in 1948. His counsel, Raja Aziz Addruse, had submitted before the Court of Appeal that it was wrong for the Malaysia government to compel him to produce the documents because he was entitled to enter and live in Malaysia by virtue of the agreement.

When Chin Peng's parents are already obviously dead, old as they must have been, this is the time for the other relatives of Chin Peng, mainly, his own brothers and sisters who are still alive, and also, his own children, to assist him now, and probably have some DNA testings done so as to ascertain the reality of the birth and existence of such a person named Tan Boon Hua, also, known as Chin Peng, to have been born in Sitiawan, Perak - some 84 years ago.

It is not impossible for the records of Chin Peng's birth to have been lost by the authorities concerned - in this relevant time. However, since the keeping of such records is not within the control of Chin Peng, he ought not to be blamed when the authorities cannot trace their records of his birth which might have been kept some 84 years ago. What about the records of his parents, and also, those of their deaths (certificates)? If it had been recorded that his parents had been citizens, then "BY OPERATION OF LAW", Chin Peng ought to be a citizen as well.

I think he is not a threat to government, and I'm really sure that his age not allow him to re-emerge as a fighter. It is indeed a great honor to our country that Chin Peng, after all his sojourns, have decided to come back home to Malaysia to breathe his last at 84. It hurts him a lot when denied to return to his homeland. Just think of our feelings if we are in his situation. Definitely, it will be good for us to fulfill his last request.

'MY SIDE OF HISTORY' BY CHIN PENG