Malaysian Political Language Needs To Change

The language which dominates the Malaysian political discourse needs to undergo a serious change. Like the old drama reruns on RTM, the discourse keeps going back and forth between religion and race. This type of discourse is a big turnoff especially when the whole world, including Malaysia, is facing a far more serious threat than the PAS-UMNO unity talk or the demanding non-Malays - the economy.

Low class politicians such as Ibrahim Ali have continued to stir up racial sentiments among the Malays by trying to play up their insecurity. It is interesting that he was allowed to get away with his view without being taken to task. In his worldview, the Malay community needs to be protected against other races so that their political and economic rights will not be diminished.

The main threat to the Malays is not the other races but their own complacency and insecurity. Leaders of the community, such as Ibrahim, should try to answer why there were Malays who had survived the fiercest competition outside of Malaysia and many of them had thrived.

The most important thing these leaders should do is to inspire and encourage young Malays to face off any global challenges and become world beaters. There is nothing that cannot be achieved if there is a will and a persistent heart. A lazy and demotivated Chinese boy is definitely no better than a hardworking and persistent Malay boy.

The point is it is not about race. It will do Malaysia good if our political language can be reviewed and reconstructed to promote a less divided and less racialised nation. What the government should do is to quickly recognize and promote the talents of the its people, especially the youths.

Recently, I had organised a B-boy (Breakout) extreme dance comedy theatre. In conjunction with the event, we had organised a B-boy Dance Competition at the Sunway Pyramid mall. I was taken aback by the amount of talents we had discovered in the competition. Malaysian youths can dance!

This discovery is only a tip of the iceberg. I am sure there are many more talented youths around who are awaiting the right platform to showcase their skills and ability. Why aren't they be given that platform?

Politicians and political parties continue to disappoint when comes to connecting with the youths. Their political language simply does not resonate with the youths. Unsurprisingly, the Malaysian youths are keeping their distance away from political parties and politicians.

Malaysia is facing a serious gap between the political leaders and its young society. Hence, politicians think that politics is all about politicking. As a result, the people became mere spectators and were given very limited access to the feedback and governance processes. Politicians continue do what they think is good for the society.

The politician-know-best attitude is the root cause of many scandals and issues in the country. This arrogance is evident. Most of the ruling politicians do not feel accountable to the people to do a good job and to stay out of controversy.

Power breeds arrogance. People, I have said this again and again. It is up to us to tell the politicians that ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

Posted by Khoo Kay Peng (http://khookaypeng.blogspot.com/2009/06/malaysian-political-language-needs-to.html)

Umno, new faces, old politics

AUG 21 – Five days after losing an appeal against being struck off as a lawyer, Rohaizat Othman became Umno’s candidate for the Permatang Pasir state seat.

He would have been the candidate for the earlier Penanti by-election last May 31 but Umno refused to stand there.

If Umno had, there wouldn’t be much controversy over the 38-year-old Permatang Pauh Umno division secretary’s legal career.

But Rohaizat’s saga is the end result of a selection process and promotion system in Umno that is based on patronage and money. Not merit.

Ironically, this is something that current Penang Umno liaison chief Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had railed against when he was Umno Youth chief in 1998 and openly denounced the party’s “Korupsi, Kronisme dan Nepotisme” culture, a page he took from a similar rallying cry against then Indonesian president Suharto.

Yet, the culture seems to have remained in Umno.

Often the dominant party in the ruling Barisan Nasional offers candidates who are not the best, most qualified or cleanest, but those who have moved their way up the political totem pole through patronage and money.

The end result: an ever-decreasing pool of qualified men and women of quality and integrity to represent the party.

This is a structural problems that continues to ail Umno. Because of patronage and warlordism, the best and brightest people are often overlooked as candidates in a division.

Instead, only favoured sons and daughters get a shot at public office – notwithstanding their past or peccadilloes.

So, it is not surprising that Zahid, Umno Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin and their ilk continue defending Rohaizat. After all, they are all products of the patronage and money politics.

And Rohaizat is one of them as Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah wryly observed two days ago: “By fielding a disbarred lawyer, today’s Umno is projecting the image that it lives by a different moral code from the rest of Malaysia. One set of rules for Umno, and another for everyone else. Either that, or this is the best we can do”.

Perhaps it is the best that Umno can do and can offer Permatang Pasir and Malaysia. New faces, old politics.

Najib wants Selangor back in BN’s clutches

KUALA SELANGOR, Aug 9 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today he wants Selangor back in Barisan Nasional’s (BN) fold.

Describing the state as the heartbeat of the country, he said, the BN has a bright chance of winning back the state provided that component parties, led by Umno, are prepared to change, he said when opening the Kuala Selangor Umno delegates’ meeting here today.

There is also a need for Umno and component parties to work together based on the spirit of consensus, he said.

“This is my hope... my message is, if we want to win, let’s act in a way that allows us to win. Let’s not say we want to win but court defeats in our deeds,” said Najib, who is also Selangor Umno chief.

Najib, who is Pekan member of parliament, also spoke of what he called the “Pekan Formula” which saw him rising in the political arena to become the prime minister and party president.

Najib said he implemented numerous changes after his narrow victory in Pekan in the 1999 general election, where he won by a mere 241-vote majority.

He said many felt that his political career was nearing an end but he nevertheless stood by the Pekan parliamentary seat even though he could choose to contest in safer seats in subsequent elections.

He said he began analysing the situation in a realistic manner and implement changes based on his sincere observation.

“We must be able to read the situation correctly... we must listen to the voices and aspirations of the people.

“If it’s a black area, we don’t say it’s a grey area. If it’s a grey area, we don’t say it’s a white area,” he said.

In the following election, he won by a thumping majority of 22,922 votes and last year, the winning margin increased to 26,464 votes.

The prime minister said leaders should go down to the grassroots, keep their promises, work for the people and not for their clique and be sincere in discharging their duties.

He said it was important for leaders to be sincere as this would determine whether they could get the extra support from the people. Leaders who failed to keep their promises would lose the support of the people, he said.

“When that happens, they can only become the people’s representatives for one term,” he said

Najib said it was important for the party to listen to the voices of the people so that it could translate them into policies, otherwise there would be a disconnect between the policies and the people’s aspirations.

When policies were in line with the people’s hopes, aspirations and expectations, they would readily support the government, he said.

He also said that the BN should be seen as a party with less problems.

This was not the case among opposition parties which were prone to clashing every now and then, said Najib. Unlike the opposition pact, the prime minister said, the BN had proven that it could unite its component parties.

He also said that the BN should be fair to the people in line with the 1 Malaysia concept.

“Being fair to all races is required in Islam and if Umno is fair to all, it will be respected by them,” he said.

At the event, Najib presented RM200 worth of Amanah Saham 1 Malaysia each to Saidon Alang, Tamodharan Manavalan and Loh Chooi Peng.

Future & Politic Of Malaysia

Malaysia''s predominant political party, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), has held power in coalition with other parties since Malaya''s independence in 1957. In 1973, an alliance of communally based parties was replaced with a broader coalition — the Barisan Nasional — composed of fourteen parties. The political process in Malaysia has generally been described as taking the form of "consociationalism" whereby "communal interests are resolved in the framework of a grand coalition""Malaysia: Developmental State Challenged". In Government and Politics in Southeast Asia'' The executive branch has tended to dominate political activity, with the Prime
Minister''s office being in a position to preside "over an extensive and
ever growing array of powers to take action against individuals or
organizations," and "facilitate business opportunities". Critics
generally agree that although authoritarianism in Malaysia preceded the
administration of Mahathir bin Mohamad, it was he who
"carried the process forward substantially" Legal scholars have
suggested that the political "equation for religious and racial harmony"
is rather fragile, and that this "fragility stems largely from the
identification of religion with race coupled with the political
primacy of the Malay people colliding with the aspiration of other
races for complete equality."
Like the desire of a segment of the Muslim community for an Islamic State,
the non-Malay demand for complete equality is something that the present Constitution will not be able to
accommodate. For it is a demand which pierces the very heart of the political
system — a system based upon Malay political pre-eminence. It is a demand that
challenges the very source of Malay ruling elites'' power and authority.
In early September 1998, Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad dismissed Deputy
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and accused Anwar of immoral and
corrupt conduct. Later in
September, Anwar was arrested, beaten while in prison (by among others, the
chief of police at the time), and charged with corrupt practices, in both legal
and moral contexts, charges including obstruction of justice and sodomy.
In April 1999, he was convicted of four counts of corruption and sentenced to
six years in prison. In August 2000, Anwar was convicted of one count of sodomy
and sentenced to nine years to run consecutively after his earlier six-year
sentence. Both trials were viewed by domestic and international observers as
unfair. Anwar''s conviction on sodomy has since been overturned, and having
completed his six-year sentence for corruption, he has since been released from
prison.The current Prime Minister is Dato'' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (colloquially
known as "Pak Lah"). He took office following the retirement of Dr.
Mahathir (now Tun Dr. Mahathir) on October 31, 2003. He is seen as a more
compromising and affable figure as opposed to Tun Dr. Mahathir''s more
confrontational and direct style. He has pledged to continue Tun Dr. Mahathir''s
growth oriented policies, while taking a less belligerent stance on foreign
policy than Tun Dr. Mahathir, who has regularly offended Western countries, the
United States
of America and Australia in particular.
In the March 2004 general election,
Dato'' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi led Barisan Nasional
to a landslide victory, in which Barisan
Nasional recaptured the state of Terengganu.
The coalition now controls 92% of the seats in Parliament. In 2005, Mahathir
stated that "I believe that the country should have a strong government
but not too strong. A two-thirds majority like I enjoyed when I was prime
minister is sufficient but a 90% majority is too strong. We need an
opposition to remind us if we are making mistakes. When you are not opposed you
think everything you do is right."
The national media are largely controlled by the government and by political
parties in the Barisan Nasional/National Front ruling
coalition and the opposition has little access to the media. The print media
are controlled by the Government through the requirement of obtaining annual
publication licences under the Printing and Presses Act. In 2007, a
government agency — the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission —
issued a directive to all private television and radio stations to refrain from
broadcasting speeches made by opposition leaders. The official state ideology
is the Rukunegara,
which has been described as encouraging "respect for a pluralistic,
multireligious and multicultural society". However, political scientists
have argued that the slogan of Bangsa, Agama, Negara (race, religion,
nation) used by UMNO constitutes an unofficial ideology as well. Both
ideologies have "generally been used to reinforce a conservative political
ideology, one that is Malay-centred"
Malaysia is a federal constitutional elective
monarchy. It is nominally headed by the Paramount Ruler or Yang di-Pertuan Agong, commonly
referred to as the King of Malaysia. Yang di-Pertuan Agong are selected for
five-year terms from among the nine Sultans
of the Malay states;
the other four states, which have titular Governors, do not participate in the
selection. The king also is the leader of the Islamic faith in Malaysia. The
system of government in Malaysia is closely modeled on that of Westminster parliamentary system, a legacy of British
colonial rule. In practice however, more power is vested in the
executive branch of government than in the legislative, and the judiciary has
been weakened by sustained attacks by the government during the Mahathir era. Parliamentary elections are held at least
once every five years, with the last general election being in March 2008.
Since independence in 1957, Malaysia has been governed by a multi-racial
coalition known as the Barisan Nasional (formerly the Alliance).
Executive power is vested in the cabinet led by the prime minister; the Malaysian constitution stipulates that the prime
minister must be a member of the lower house of parliament who, in the opinion of the Yang
di-Pertuan Agong, commands a majority in parliament. The cabinet is chosen from
among members of both houses of Parliament and is responsible to that body.
In recent years the opposition have been campaigning for free and fairer
elections within Malaysia.

Malaysia must end racial politics-Razaleigh

The Najib Tun Razak government and the United Malays National Organization (Umno) came under attack from former Finance Minister Tengku Razaleigh who urged the nation to do without 'communal policies' and racial based politics.

In a veiled attack against his own party, Tengku Razaleigh pointed out that the NEP had been systematically appropriated by a small political and business class to enrich itself and perpetuate power.

“We must break the stranglehold of communal politics and racial policy if we want to be a place where an economy driven by ideas and skills can flourish.

“We can do much better than cling to the bright ideas of 40 years ago as if they were dogma, and forget our duty to come up with the bright ideas for our own time.

“We need a Malaysian New Deal based on the same universal concerns on which the NEP was originally formulated, but designed for a new era.”

The Umno veteran also called for a fair and equitable political and economic order, founded on equal citizenship which he said was the only possible basis for a united Malaysia and a talent-driven economy.

Tengku Razaleigh pointed out that the current government was elected into power on March 8, 2008, and not 100 days ago.

He also argued that Najib had effectively been in power since last year when Tun Abdullah Badawi’s departure schedule had been announced.

“The issues before the present BN government are not transformed overnight with a change of the man at the top,” he said.

In a scathing criticism of the BN government, he cited the recommendations made in 2004 by the Royal Commission to Enhance the Operations and Management of the Police and pointed out that despite the allocation of RM9 billion as a result of the panel’s conclusion, “there has been no dent on our crime problem.”

“Security is about more than just catching criminals out there. It is also about the integrity of our own people and processes.

“It is above all about uprooting corruption and malpractice in government agencies, especially in law enforcement agencies,” he said.

The key recommendation of the panel, he pointed out, was the formation of an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission, but it had been shelved.

Citing another example, he said the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam video clip “might as well have not been conducted” because its findings had been completely ignored.

Tengku Razaleigh said that Malaysians should start trusting “less in personalities and more in policies.”

“Look less to politics and more to principles, less to rhetoric and more to tangible outcomes, less to the government of the day and more to enduring institutions,” he said.

In his speech, the former finance minister also spoke at length about the country’s affirmative action policies, the NEP and how he felt embarrassed that after 50 years of independence, “we are still talking about bringing Malaysians together.”

“Curiously, although the policy was formulated … for a finite period, in our political consciousness it has grown into an all encompassing and permanent framework that defines who we are.

“The NEP ended in 1991 when it was terminated and replaced by the New Development Policy, but eighteen years on, we are still in its hangover and speak confusingly about liberalising it.”

He said that it was a crushing indictment of the mediocrity of leadership that the NEP is considered sacrosanct and that departures from it are big strides.

“The NEP is over and we have not had the courage to tell people this.”

However the good talks and the criticism, Razaleigh's views will not weight much within the Umno, said an oberver to Wfol.tv. The observer added that Razaleigh wanted to 'reform' the Umno but that is tentatmout to Don Quitchot fighting the windmills and losing the battle. "His place is within the opposition, in the Party Keadilaan Rakyat (PKR) and not with Umno," said the observer.

A cyber war in Malaysian politics?

FEB 19 — Once upon a time, before the Internet became as common as the television in Malaysian homes, public figures made local speeches that were tailored to suit the audience that was physically present.

This worked well for politicians wishing to entertain the parochial tendencies of the audience of the day without jeopardising their prospects of becoming nationally relevant.

Today, however, such speeches quickly leak into the wired world of the Internet, putting things into a different context, and revealing the speakers' supposed real values to the world.

Playing local politics with the awareness that the audience is always the whole wide world is no easy task, especially for those who have been in politics and in power long before the Internet changed everything.

The dominant Umno learned this the hard way three years ago when it decided to telecast "live" its national assembly. The parochialism and racism expressed by its candidates on that occasion for the nation to hear soon forced it to backtrack.

Defensive arrogance does grow out of the inability to evolve.

The attempt to block access to Raja Petra Kamarudin's controversial Malaysia Today website last year managed to stop traffic going to that site, but did not stop access to its contents. Mirror sites sprung up immediately to nullify the censorship.

The police decision in September 2008 to use the Internal Security Act to jail Raja Petra, along with prominent opposition politician Teresa Kok and journalist Tan Hoon Cheng, merely backfired. The de facto minister of law, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, soon resigned in protest.

Publicly calling female bloggers liars, as then Tourism Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor did in March 2007, is also not a very smart thing to do. The negative reaction on the web on that occasion was tremendous.

Opinions expressed for local consumption becoming national news is part and parcel of a revolution in information technology which carries enormous consequences for the near future. Some are positive, and some will certainly not be.

Through the Net, you can sell old useless books you have under the stairs on the world market; you can get to know strangers on the other half of the world merely by being on chat sites; and you can arrange an entire holiday to the south of France without talking to any salesperson at all.

In Malaysian politics, we have witnessed how SMSes, videos and phone cameras have come into play. While these can uncover abuse of power, as in the case of the woman forced to do ear-squats naked while detained by the police in December 2005; reveal dubious practices, as in the case of the Lingam Tapes released in 2007 showing a prominent lawyer boasting about his ability to fix top judge appointments through political connections; and contribute to court cases, as in SMSes supposedly sent by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to a lawyer, discussing the detention of a close associate then charged with involvement in the murder of a Mongolian woman.

The latest political incident involving IT innovations concerns the circulation of nude pictures of prominent opposition politician Elizabeth Wong, secretly taken on a phone camera.

The case of Wong (also a blogger), who has offered to resign from her position as state assemblywoman for the opposition-held Selangor, adds worrying dimensions to the political use of modern IT.

First, it is not only the line between the local and the national that is being erased. The line between the private and the public is fading fast as well.

That is worrying indeed. Most urbanites in Malaysia of all races, especially in the Klang Valley where Wong lives, would undoubtedly consider Wong the victim. Mass media attempts to class the case as a "sex scandal" — and this happened on both sides of the Causeway — smack of shameless sensationalism, journalistic amateurism and political opportunism.

In the sanctity of her home, surely she is allowed to walk scantily dressed, sleep half-naked, even shower nude, and yes, have sex without clothes on. The culprits deserving punishment are those who facilitated the publicising of those pictures, regardless of whether they were taken with her permission or not.

The fact that she is an unmarried woman, and not a man, has had a serious impact on how the incident is being interpreted. Should a male politician, married or not, such as former Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Khir Toyo, for example, have been photographed in the nude while asleep, the fallout would have been minimal, even comical.

The Wong case also shows the disturbing shrinkage of moral space when the private and the local are technologically subsumed under the public and the national.

Moral values do differ geographically, individually, culturally and according to lifestyle. This diversity is denied when such a case gets politicised, and here, the supposed sensitivities of the vocally most religious, most parochial, most traditional and most rural are allowed to define the national public norm. Wong is being sacrificed to appease illiberal elements within the opposition. Surely, this is not what the Pakatan Rakyat is fighting for.

A political cyber war has started in Malaysia. While we thought that the old would be at the mercy of the new in such a showdown, it is time to realise that, in truth, the more desperate and more immoral has the edge.

Practising in Perak

For federal battles to come

WHEN three legislators in Perak, one of five of opposition-ruled Malaysian states, switched sides in February, overturning a narrow majority in the 59-seat assembly, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) was cock-a-hoop. After a big electoral setback last year, the long-dominant UMNO was at last taking the fight to the opposition, led by its nemesis, Anwar Ibrahim, a former deputy prime minister. Loyalists credited the defections, reportedly induced by the threat of corruption probes, to the bare-knuckle tactics of Najib Razak, since sworn in as prime minister in place of the mild-mannered Abdullah Badawi. Taking back Perak was just the start, UMNO snarled.

Perak was indeed the start of something, but not the rollback of Malaysia’s opposition, as foreseen by UMNO and its ruling coalition partners. Instead it has snowballed into a constitutional crisis that reveals the wobbly underpinnings of a democracy yet to be tested by a handover of power at the federal level. On May 7th, amid scuffles at Perak’s parliament, UMNO’s man was installed as chief minister. Scores of people were arrested, including the speaker of the house, who was bundled away by plainclothes police. He had objected to the takeover as it had never been put to a vote in the assembly.

On May 11th it was the opposition’s turn to crow. The High Court ruled that its man, Nizar Jamaluddin, was still the chief minister of Perak as his removal in February was illegal. He had been removed not, as is usual in parliamentary systems, by his elected peers but by Perak’s sultan, one of Malaysia’s hereditary state rulers. Sultan Azlan Shah had sealed the controversial takeover on February 5th, ignoring an appeal from Mr Jamaluddin to dissolve the house and hold snap elections.

The opposition’s euphoria was short-lived. The next day UMNO successfully obtained a stay from an appeals court against the reinstatement of Mr Jamaluddin. That decision allowed Zambry Kadir, UMNO’s candidate, to return on May 13th as caretaker chief minister. Grotesquely, in a blog posting, Mr Kadir likened his grubby power play to the struggles of Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi.

A fast-track deliberation by the appeals court should resolve the case in the next week or so. But the political fallout is much harder to fix. Should the obstreperous assembly reconvene, more scuffles are likely, says James Chin, a political scientist at Monash University’s campus in Kuala Lumpur. One way out, it seems, is to hold fresh elections in Perak. Yet that is exactly what UMNO fears most after a run of embarrassing defeats in state and federal polls. Ministers complain that by-elections are a waste of public money. In the case of Perak, the legal and legislative routes have not been exhausted, argues Khairy Jamaluddin (no relation), a senior UMNO official.

The opposition is expected to win again in Perak, as it did in March 2008 in an election that saw the UMNO-led National Front lose its cherished two-thirds majority in parliament. Mr Anwar subsequently sought to persuade 30 ruling MPs to cross the floor, the same tactic used in Perak. His advisers argued that this was justified as he planned to dissolve the house and return power to the people, betting on victory. In the end, Mr Anwar’s carrot went unbitten. But it dangles still, and UMNO knows it.

The bigger question posed by the proxy war in Perak is what happens if the levers of federal power should one day slip from UMNO’s hands, as has seemed inevitable since last year’s election. Entrenched political elites rarely go quietly. A politicised civil service and security apparatus might resist an opposition victory, and look to the judiciary and, possibly, the sultans for support. Mr Anwar knows this, and is courting power-brokers in the system. But the danger of civil unrest should not be dismissed lightly. That is particularly true if UMNO decides to play on tensions between Malaysia’s majority Malays and its ethnic-Chinese and Indian minorities.

Until the Perak storm broke, Mr Najib had been steering a mildly reformist course. A handful of political prisoners have been freed, including ethnic Indians jailed after rowdy anti-government protests in 2007. Regulations on Islamic banking and insurance, and on local-ownership restrictions in selected service sectors were liberalised. But the core grievances of non-Malays over statutory privileges for the Malays remain. These privileges, staunchly defended by UMNO, were introduced in 1971, two years after deadly race riots in Kuala Lumpur. The riots began after UMNO suffered election losses to Chinese-based opposition parties. The date, by coincidence, was May 13th 1969.