THE RAT RACE PART VI – MALAYSIA: HOW DID UMNO STAY IN POWER FOR SO LONG?

[pywong]

Politicians like to play the tag team game, one appearing as the Devil and the other as the Angel. Guess who is who?

A. Umno, not racist?

Posted by admin
Tuesday, 03 November 2009 08:31

By Ding Jo-Ann, The Nut Graph

DATUK Seri Najib Razak's assertion over the weekend that only "one or two Umno leaders" have made racist comments and that they do not represent the party's views belies belief.
A. Umno, not racist?.

B. Muhyiddin’s racist outburst demolishes 1Malaysia facade

Posted by admin
Tuesday, 03 November 2009 08:17

Fan Yew Teng takes issue with Muhyiddin’s recent outburst; what a stark contrast to Umno founder Onn Jaafar, who was more inclusive and open, he observes.

Muhyiddin Yassin, Malaysian deputy chairman, has lately been playing the racist card to the hilt.

In his speech at the opening of the Seri Gading Umno division meeting in early August, Muhyiddin, according to The Star (11 August 2009) made some comments about Anwar Ibrahim.

'Malay traitors'.

[pywong]

Religion, a tool of the Ruling Class to keep the Rats quiescent and ignorant.

That reminds me

Posted by admin
Wednesday, 04 November 2009 17:41

The controversy involving Dr MAZA (Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin), the ex-Mufti of Perlis, brings back memories of my own brush with the ‘religious police’ more than a year ago. I was then under ISA detention and this is part of what transpired during my interrogation by five Special Branch officers.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Pak Raja, the way you write appears like you have a different view of Islam.

Which Islam are you talking about?

What do you mean ‘which Islam’? There is only one Islam.

There is not only one Islam. There are different interpretations of Islam. So which Islam are you talking about?

I don’t understand what you mean by different interpretations of Islam? Do you mean different schools of Islam? There may be different schools of Islam but there is still only one Islam.

Okay, so which school are you talking about then?

Sunni Islam. The Shafie school.

So you want to talk about the Shafie school of Sunni Islam then?

Yes.

What exactly do you want to know?

How you interpret Islam.

Simple, I follow the Quran.

So you are anti-Hadith then?

I knew you were coming to that. Why do you people always use the word anti-Hadith? Why not pro-Quran?

So is Pak Raja saying you only accept the Quran and not the Hadith?

Which Hadith?

I am not a religious expert so I can’t go into details.

Okay. Then how many Hadiths are there?

I am not sure.

There are 700,000 Hadith.

Okay, 700,000 then if Pak Raja says so. I am not sure.

Ah, hold on. But only 7,000 Hadith are accepted as authentic. That means only 1% of the Hadith are undisputed. The balance 99% are disputed. Did you know that?

No.

You want to debate about Hadith with me but you don’t even know there are 700,000 Hadith and that only 1% are sahih or undisputed?

I already said we are not religious experts.

If you are not religious experts then why do you debate Islam with me? You are not qualified to debate religion with me.

Okay, so do you accept the 7,000 Hadith?

Which one in particular?

All.

You give me an example of one Hadith from the 7,000 and I will tell whether I can accept it or not. Let’s be specific. Quote me one Hadith and I will tell you if I accept it or reject it.

I can’t quote you any Hadith. As I said….

Yes, I know….you are not an expert on Islam. But yet you want to debate Islam with me.

(The Special Branch officers remain silent).

Dr Mahathir said we must re-evaluate the Hadith. Kassim Ahmad said the same thing. Each Hadith must be looked at one by one to see which can be accepted and which should be rejected. We are not saying that we reject outright all 7,000 Hadith. We are asking to re-evaluate the 7,000 to see which makes sense and which do not. What is wrong with that?

But how can you do that? The ulamak already agreed what is acceptable and what is not. As Pak Raja said, there are 700,000 Hadith and they have already been short-listed to 7,000 by the ulamak. So why do you want to re-evaluate them again?

The Maliki have re-evaluated them. They have only 1,720 Hadith in the Muwatta, not 7,000. Even then only 600 of the 1,720 are attributed directly to the Prophet. And quite a number of the Shafie and Maliki Hadith do not overlap. This means some of the Shafie Hadith are not accepted by Maliki while some of the Maliki Hadith are not accepted by Shafie. So which one do we accept? The Maliki or Shafie Hadith, where many are different and do not overlap?

We are Shafie so we talk about Shafie.

Why do we just talk about Shafie? Why can’t I talk about Maliki? Or talk about Salafi? In Perlis they are supposed to be Wahhabi, a branch of the Salafi. And the Wahhabi do not accept some of the things we are doing. Dr Asri, the Mufti of Perlis, is also said to be Wahhabi. I have spent time in Perlis and I find that things are a bit different there. The Muslims in Perlis say they follow the Wahhabi. If we are only allowed what JAIS, JAWI, JAKIM and JAKUN say then the Perlis Mufti should be arrested for following the wrong teachings.

Eh, mana ada JAKUN (where got JAKUN)?

(The five Special Branch officers laugh).

Why must I only follow what the government says? Why can’t I research and decide which interpretation of Islam I want to follow?

We can’t allow that. The ulamak have already decided what is correct and you have to follow that.

How do you know the ulamak are correct? What if they are wrong? And which ulamak do I follow? There are so many. Which ulamak is right?

That is not for you to decide. The ulamak knows best.

Islam says in the akhirat (the hereafter) you will follow your imam. If your imam goes to heaven then you go to heaven and if your imam goes to hell then you go to hell. The ulamak can’t save me from hell. I will have to save myself. So how would I save myself unless I research and decide which ulamak is correct and which are wrong.

But you are not qualified to research. You will have to let the ulamak do that.

But the first word in the first verse of the Quran revealed to Prophet Muhammad is iqraq (read). Did not Allah command us to read? The first word in the first verse revealed to Muhammad is not ‘follow your ulamak who knows best’. It is ‘read’. Furthermore, the Quran asks: do you still want to follow the majority when the majority may be wrong? The Quran also asks: when you are made to account for your actions are you going to offer the excuse that you just followed the religion of your ancestors when your ancestors are wrong and misguided? So the Quran has made it very clear that we must read and not follow the majority or simply accept the ways of our ancestors who may be wrong.

(The session goes on and on for days but allow me to stop here for now). Malaysiatoday....

[pywong]

BTN – Brainwashing The Nation (Part 1)

Posted by admin
Thursday, 08 October 2009 09:45

By Eyes Wide Open

The real indoctrination of the nation is done by another government machinery, whose existence and infrastructre are widely known but whose operations are largely secretive. And the most unfortunate fact is that their primary target is the youth of our nation.

I’m talking about the Biro Tatanegara (BTN).

- He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future! (Adolf Hitler, speech at the Reichsparteitag, 1935 ) Malaysiatoday....

Pogo: We have met the enemy and he is us.

Single stream schooling: The bad and ugly side
A REPUBLIC OF VIRTUE

Tuesday, 17 November 2009 Super Admin

The BTN as an indoctrinating institution was conceived by ‘intellectuals’ who themselves are trapped in their own cocoon or glass coconut shell of wrongly-defined Malay-ness and in a paradigm that teaches a poor understanding of Malaysian history.

A REPUBLIC OF VIRTUE

Azly Rahman

Edited by Helen Ang
for Center for Policy Initiatives

http://azlyrahman-illuminations.blogspot.com/

‘Ideas move nations but indoctrinations remove intelligence’.

According to government figures, only 7 percent of students in national schools are non-Malays. Parents fear sending their children from their past experience of the government indoctrinating young minds in the guise of an educational setting. Inciting racial sentiments in the classroom and boot camps (BTN, National Service, 1Malaysia) is in fact a big business nowadays. Malaysiatoday....

[pywong]

I wonder how hard is it for people to understand: UMNO is waging war against the people of Malaysia. With the help of the British,they have been doing it since 1948 with the Declaration of the Emergency Act. The BTN is merely a manifestation of their continuous attack on the minds of the people.

Young Pakatan lawmakers slam BTN ‘brainwashing’

By Neville Spykerman

SHAH ALAM, Nov 18 — A group of young Pakatan Pakyat (PR) elected representatives urged the Selangor government today to stop allowing students to be sent for what they called “brainwashing propaganda” programmes conducted by Biro Tata Negara (BTN) under the Prime Minister’s Department.

According to the group of seven PR lawmakers, BTN courses — compulsory for local university students and civil servants — taught students to hate and was contrary to its original purpose as well as the Constitution.

Speaking from his own experience as a student made to attend BTN, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said they were taught that PKR members were Jewish agents, that DAP was a Singaporean Party, while PAS was labelled a deviant movement.

“There is no room for debate, and there were Chinese students in attendance during one of the programmes and I can only imagine the fear they would have felt,” said the Seri Setia assemblyman.

Teratai lawmaker Jenice Lee questioned why BTN programmes are being held in secrecy and called for the “brainwashing” to stop.

“If they have nothing to hide they should open up the programmes so the public can see for themselves.”

PKR’s Amirudin Shari said they were aware that BTN courses taught those who attended that PR were enemies of the state or foreign agents.

“From the feedback we received from those who attended BTN, a big part of the programme has nothing to do with nation building or education but is an Umno and BN race-based programme,” said the Batu Caves lawmaker.

“Participants are indoctrinated with propaganda about ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ and outside threats. There is no room to challenge what’s being said.”

He said they will urge the state government to stop sending students from Selangor-owned institutions of higher learning, including Universiti Industri Selangor (Unisel), Kolej Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Selangor and Inpens Selangor, from attending BTN. TheMalaysiaInsider....

The other part of their attack is through their control of Islam. Anyone challenging their monopoly is seen as a threat and must be eradicated at all cost. The travails of Dr Asri Zainul Abidin, the former mufti of Perlis, who is now being harassed and even charged in court, is a symptom of UMNO's agenda.

UMNO is evil! TheMalaysiaInsider.... Clerics take fellow preacher to syariah court

[pywong]

A strategy of UMNO is to keep the lower class poor and in the poverty trap. This is achieved by bringing in foreign labour with lower salaries. There is a fringe benefit as well - commissions for work permits and visas.

“And their monthly pay is more or less RM500 a month including the advance which is RM80 a month. So the net salary of the worker is only about RM420 and not RM1,700,” he explained in the press conference.

The Malaysian Insider
Thursday November 19 2009

Estate workers say minister lied about their incomes

By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 19 — Oil palm and rubber plantation workers are angry at Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok’s revelation that they are above the national poverty line.

Dompok told Parliament on Oct 19 that the net income of a oil palm harvester is about RM1,700 and a rubber tapper’s salary is about RM870 a month, when replying to a question from Mas Gading MP Datuk Dr Tiki Lafe.

He also said the income level of the workers were above the rural poverty line of RM720 a month and that they also enjoyed free facilities such as homes, medical care and pre-school education for their children.

Coordinator for the Plantation Workers Support Group M Sugumaran today blasted Dompok’s statement and called it a “blatant lie”. TheMalaysiaInsider....

[pywong]

Shades of 1984.

Politicians will say anything to hang on to power. And waging propaganda warfare and turning white to black and black to white is par for the course.

Malaysian Malaysia concept 'a violation'
NEWS/COMMENTARIES

Tuesday, 17 November 2009 admin-s

(NST) JOHOR BARU: Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman has lambasted those who continue to stand by the "Malaysian Malaysia" concept. Making no direct reference to any political party, Ghani said the concept was a violation of the Federal Constitution and was against the motto of 1Malaysia.

"These people claim that the Malaysian Malaysia concept is about equality, but it contradicts the Federal Constitution which protects the rights of all Malaysians," he said during the closing speech of the Johor Komuniti Bestari (smart community) convention at the New York Hotel here yesterday.

Ghani said the action of certain parties to uphold the Malaysian Malaysia concept could destroy the freedom that have been enjoyed by the people since independence.

"Imagine after being colonised for almost 500 years, and only after more than 50 years of Merdeka, there are those who want to go against our Federal constitution.

"Even the United States' constitution has been preserved for hundreds of years," said Ghani, adding that those who supported Malaysian Malaysia were stoking racial disunity.

The "Malaysian Malaysia" concept was first used in the early 1960s as a motto of the Malaysian Solidarity Council, a gathering of political parties that rallied against Article 153 of the Federal Constitution, which involves the safeguarding of rights of the Malays and other indigenous peoples.

In the same speech, Ghani criticised those who urged for a two-party political system, saying that it would only lead to disunity within certain communities.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had refuted claims by DAP in Parliament in June that the 1Malaysia concept was taken from the DAP's Malaysian Malaysia concept.

Najib had said this during a question-and-answer session during the opening of Parliament's latest session. MalaysianMirror....

[pywong]

The Politics of Fear
FROM AROUND THE BLOGS

Thursday, 19 November 2009 admin-s

At some point in the last thirty years … definitely somewhere within the regime of Mahathir … the Government of Malaysia stumbled onto the effectiveness of using Fear as a means of controlling its own people.

By Steadyaku47

From my own recollections it started with the May 13th Riots in 1969. What became obvious to all of us was the use of the Police and the Army to quell the volatility of the situation in a very short time very effectively. The sight of the Police and the Army roaming the street of Kuala Lumpur sobered us all up and brought order out of chaos and calm out of a stressful situation. That the Police and Army then went on to terrorize the Chinese and Indians population was simply accepted by thegovernment as collateral damage.

Fast-forward to 1997 when Mahathir decided he did not want Anwar looking over his shoulders any more. Here for the first time we saw that UMNO had the political will to use fear as a means of controlling not only its opponents but also its people. Who can forget the running battles fought between the Reformasi supporters and the Riot Squad! Brutal and effective in going about their job of stopping the demonstrators dead in their track. Mostly Malays against Malays! What a far cry from the May 13th Riots! Then it was also overwhelming force against defenceless citizens – but this was excused as a way of teaching the other races a lesson - now how do you explain the use of Malays against Malays? Malaysiatoday....

Easy.

When you treat the people as the enemy,
When you treat any potential challenger, to your hold on power, as the enemy,
then the use of fear and violence against such people becomes the norm.

[pywong]

The Malaysian Insider
Saturda4 November 21 2009

Made in Malaysia — Tay Tian Yan

NOV 13 — The following are true stories:

• A Malaysian politician had heart surgery in Singapore.

The operation was successful. During his recuperation, the politician wanted to thank his three skilful doctors, including an anaesthesiologist.

He said: “Thanks to Singaporean doctors...”

“I'm sorry, sir. I'm from Malaysia,” interrupted one doctor.

“Me too.”

“Me as well.” TheMalaysiaInsider....

The stories are undoubtedly heart-rending or heart-warming depending on your perspective. The bottom line is, it's a long-term strategy to shrink the middle class and expand the lower-class, as shown by the figures below. The skin colour is irrelevant. They are all Rats to be exploited.

According to Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) statistics, about 785,000 Malaysians are currently working abroad and 44 per cent of them are working in Singapore while the rest are working in other countries, including Hong Kong, China, Australia, Britain and the United States.

And two-thirds of them are professionals.

At the same time, most of the two million guest workers in Malaysia are from Indonesia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, India and Vietnam.

The end result is a narrowing of the waist and a broadening of the base

......... until we achieve the result where there will no more middle class to defend the people from UMNO. And that's the Myanmar model.

[pywong]

3 UMNO War-dogs - Police, AG, Judiciary.

From behind the walls of the A-G Chambers
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Monday, 23 November 2009 Super Admin

When one senior prosecutor refused to fix up RPK’s sedition trial by falsifying the evidence he was removed from the case and within 24 hours transferred to a court that hears cases involving unpaid credit cards and car installments. That is what the A-G Chambers has been reduced to; a tool to fix up cases of those opposed to those who walk in the corridors of power. It is time, however, that those of us inside the A-G Chambers speak out and reveal the truth. And today we are going to do just that.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

From Inside the A-G Chambers

Malaysians must be reminded that Gani Patail and Musa Hassan are today Malaysia's A-G and IGP respectively as a reward for fixing up Anwar Ibrahim in the Sodomy I trial in 1998-1999. They remain as the IGP and A-G under Najib's rule as a further reward for burying the Altantuya murder case for which Razak Baginda got away scot-free while RPK got charged for sedition and criminal defamation based on trumped-up charges and fabricated evidence.

To their mind, it should not be too difficult to get RPK convicted and stopped from being a nuisance to their plans. All they need is a police department, A-G Chambers and Judiciary working in tandem and in compliance to those who walk in the corridors of power in Putrajaya.

The modus operandi of fabricating evidence and amending the charges several times in the midst of a trial -- as what happened to Anwar -- have since become the SOP (standard operating procedure) in all cases where A-G Gani and IGP Musa are involved. That happens because: i) they fix up cases; ii) because of sheer incompetence, they don't know how to fix the cases properly; iii) they know the courts will still help them to fix these cases even if they botched up badly.

This collaboration is a good example of Najib's 1Malaysia. Malaysiatoday....

[pywong]

When we understand that the Police is merely an arm of the UMNO War Machine, such behaviour as described below is not surprising.

Who is the law – police or Umno?
NEWS/COMMENTARIES

Tuesday, 24 November 2009 admin-s

(The Malaysian Insider) This isn’t a naive question. Who is the law in Malaysia – the police or Umno?

Police stopped Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim from finishing his speech at a Pakatan Rakyat ceramah in Kulai last night. Only the PKR de facto leader was not allowed to deliver his full speech while other allies earlier spoke to the crowd.

Kulai PKR chief Liew Shin Kheong was quoted as saying Kulai Jaya OCPD Supt Zulkifli Yahya had led a police team to end the ceramah, ostensibly at the behest of a group of 30 Umno Youth members. Malaysiatoday....