There is no need for Senior State Executive Councillor, Teng Chang Khim to resign as to err is only human, and the errors upon discovery are rectified

The DAP Selangor State Committee met in an emergency meeting this afternoon to discuss the public concerns over the guidelines and planning restrictions over non-Muslim places of worship.

The DAP Selangor State Committee unanimously agreed that the recommendation that non-Muslim places of worship should not be built within 50m of a home owned by Muslims, as well as several other guidelines are not appropriate for a multi-racial, multi-religious society which encourages mutual respect and tolerance.

It should be noted that such guidelines are the status quo for other BN-led states like Johor and Negeri Sembilan.  

The State Committee heard the explanation provided by Selangor Vice-Chairman and Senior State Executive Councillor, Teng Chang Khim, that despite having requested state government officials to make the necessary changes, the changes were not incorporated into the final version of the guidelines. 

As reported during his press conference in the morning, Teng has apologised for the unintended error and even offered to resign from his position.

The State Committee found that the question of Teng resigning from his government office does not even arise as he has committed no crime.  He has neither stolen money from the state government coffers, nor abused his powers to benefit vested interest parties like developers.

Instead, DAP Selangor would like to commend Teng for stepping forward to take full responsibility over the unintended error and omission, despite the fact that the guidelines manual was approved by the Selangor State Planning Committee.

To err is certainly human, but what is most important is the fact that immediate steps are being taken to ensure that these errors are corrected upon discovery.  No one has yet suffered or been penalised by the guidelines for new non-Muslims places of worship.  

Hence, DAP Selangor state committee supports Teng’s decision to seek the State Executive Council’s (Exco) approval on Wednesday for immediate suspension of the guidelines implementation pending revision.

At the same time, in the light of the gravity and sensitivity of the matter, the Selangor State Committee also resolved to set up a special sub-committee to assist Teng.  This will ensure that no stones are left unturned in the revision process.  The sub-committee will be led by Vice-Chairperson, Hannah Yeoh and four other members, Rajiv Rishyakaran, Dr Abdul Aziz Bari, Yeo Bee Yin and Ng Sze Han.

DAP Selangor would like to reiterate that the constitutional provisions providing for Islam as the religion of the Federation and guaranteeing the freedom of religion would be defended at all cost.  We firmly believe that such provisions can only be achieved with tolerance, respect and acceptance of such freedoms by all Malaysians.

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Image of fake racist tweet purportedly made by me is the work of amateurs

The attached image was circulating widely via Whatsapp yesterday, particularly among the Indian community.

Based on the image, I had allegedly tweeted that “The Indians really behave like thugs and act like Pariah! i will not be threathen by them!”

The above tweet is clearly a fake image and I have never written anything remotely close to what was written above.  It is clearly fake because you would notice that the time stamp next to every tweet has been removed.

In addition, I would like to think that I would not misspell “threaten”, nor would I be grammatically wrong when it should be “threatened”.

Regardless, I have never used the word “pariah” to describe anyone and I most certainly do not believe that Indians “behave like thugs”.  However there are those among us – Chinese, Indians, Malays, who do behave like thugs.  The person or persons who made the above image is certainly a shameless “thug”, regardless of his race.

Perhaps the above malicious fake tweet, was a vicious response to me when I described those who had prevented licensed Indian traders from setting up their stalls, and those who disrupted my press conference at the Deepavali Bazaar in Sungai Way, Petaling Jaya last week as “thugs”.  They had come to intimidate those who were present by heckling, shoving and spewing unprintable expletives.

The fake image is clearly designed to inflame racial sentiments against me.  I have no idea who designed and spread the above image to defame me.  However, it will not in any way stop me from carrying out my duties to serve my constituents and all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or creed without fear or favour.

Finally, I would also like to give thanks to all concerned parties who had forwarded me the image last night expressing their continued support and trust in me, knowing without having to ask, that the image is a fake.

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Young Malaysians not “delusional”; have souls and aspirations

I refer to the lengthy 3,000-word opinion piece by Singapore’s Ambassador-at-large, Bilahari Kausikan entitled “Malaysia is undergoing a systemic change that has profound consequences for Singapore” dated 6 October 2015 published in The Singapore Straits Times.

Mr Bilahari wrote in his analytical piece, referring to the overwhelming anti-establishment sentiment of the Chinese community and the turnout at the recent Bersih4 rally, that

It is my impression that many young Malaysian Chinese have forgotten the lessons of May 13, 1969. They naively believe that the system built around the principle of Malay dominance can be changed. That may be why they abandoned MCA for the DAP. They are delusional. Malay dominance will be defended by any means.

In fact, he even warned that the likely outcome of the above will be “even less space for non-Muslims”.

The top Singapore diplomat could not have gotten it more wrong.

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Dr Mohd Zuhdi Marzuki Perlu Meminta Maaf Atas Pendapat Yang Rasis Dan Ekstremis

Pengarah Operasi Pusat Penyelidikan PAS (PPP) Dr Mohd Zuhdi Marzuki perlu
meminta maaf kepada semua rakyat Malaysia ke atas pendapat beliau yang
bersifat rasis dan ekstremis.

Berikutan kontroversi yang terbangkit seteleh mesej WhatsApp Dr Mohd Zuhdi Marzuki
dalam kumpulan Ahli Jawatankuasa PAS Pusat terdedah secara meluas, beliau telah
menjelaskan bahawa beliau “tidak termasuk dalam senarai mereka yang menyokong usul
keluar PR itu.”

Beliau berkata “semoga dengan penjelasan ini, nama saya dapat dibersihkan daripada
tanggapan buruk pelbagai golongan ekoran sikap segelintir pihak di dalam PAS yang
membangkitkan fitnah yang sedang tidur."

Rakyat Malaysia tidak mempertikaikan langkah Dr Mohd Zuhdi mengkaji sama ada PAS patut
berada di dalam ataupun keluar daripada gabungan Pakatan Rakyat. Pendirian Dr Mohd
Zuhdi untuk keluar atau kekal dalam Pakatan juga tidak merupakan tumpuan kritikan. Itu
merupakan hak ahli PAS.

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When National Schools Cultivates Schism and Seggregation

I am a proud product of a Malaysian national school and continues to harbour romantic notions of how the school was able to bring various races of different religions together under a single roof.

However today, such thoughts are mere nostalgic reminiscenes of days long past.  Instead of bringing Malaysians together, the national schools have become the ironic reason, directly and indirectly for our young to be seggregated by race and religion.

There are two key reasons why the non-Malays of this country, particularly the Chinese community has chosen to shun the national schools today.  This will include parents who have gone through the national school system, who often don’t even speak a word of Chinese besides their own name.

The first and perhaps the most dominant reason is the drastic decline in the quality of teaching at the national schools.  Parents who can’t afford private schools would prefer to send their children to the Chinese vernacular schools to ensure that they receive an education of sufficient rigour and quality.  National test results have proven that the Chinese vernacular schools outperform the national schools significantly.

However, the quality of education isn’t the only factor.  No parents would want to send their children to a school where their child will be seggregated and discriminated against, by teachers, schoolmates and the school administration.

Malaysians are up in arms over the news reports yesterday of photographs which have emerged online allegedly showing non-Muslim students of a primary school being made to eat in a shower room during fasting month.  The pictures show students of SK Seri Pristina in Sungai Buloh sitting around tables set up in the school’s changing or shower room.

The school authorities have made the students eat in the makeshift dining room, located next to the toilets.  No food is believed to be served in the canteen, which is said to be closed during Ramadan.

Although the Ministry of Education has “pledged” action on this matter, the above while extreme in its nature, is certainly not the first case, nor will it be expected to be the last.  Over the past few years, we have read many such reports, including a principal in Kedah telling off the Chinese pupils for being insensitive towards their Muslim peers by eating in the school compound during Ramadan and telling them to “balik Cina”.

There were equally ridiculous cases of cheerleading teams being disbanded, decrees for lion dance without drums during Chinese New Year as well as blanket bans on Christian fellowship groups.  And certainly, if one were to pay a visit to practically any national school today during the month of Ramadan, non-Muslim students are seggregated in secluded corners during recess, to “respect” their Muslim peers.

Even during normal months, students in many schools are seggregated so as not to contaminate Muslim food and utensils.  What’s more, many students have in the past complained that they were forced to take Arabic or attend Islamic classes despite being non-Muslims.

Is this the “respect” that our national education system seeks to cultivate?  Shouldn’t it be such that while non-Muslims understand and give respect to Muslims who are fasting, Muslims should equally understand and respect non-Muslim who are not?

The “transformation” of our national schools into such religious hardline schools has major negative ramifications for the country’s future.  Not only are non-Malays extremely deterred from sending their children to these national schools, those who do – both Malays and non-Malays – will be scarred for life.

The non-Malays who attend these schools, such as SK Sri Pristina above, will see the entire country’s system as biased against non-Malays and they will forever be discriminated as unworthy second class citizens.  The Malay students who attend these schools will on the other hand deem it is right and proper to subject other races, religions and cultures to their own beliefs and practices.

If the BN Government is serious about making the national schools, the school of choice for Malaysians and the grounds to breed national unity, then some very drastic reforms need to take place.

We call on the Ministry of Education to mete out swift and severe punishment to the school authorities who had the audacity to come up with policies demeaning our Malaysian children in SK Sri Pristina.  More importantly, we call upon the Ministry to come out of strict guidelines on these matters in our schools.  For example, non-Muslim students must be allowed to eat in school canteens during fasting month, and the canteen must be operated instead of being closed.  The failure to even come up with, and enforce such guidelines would only mean that the Ministry is granting tacit approvals for such actions, and will almost certainly make racial polarisation in Malaysia an irreversible process.

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1Malaysia Or 1Race-1Religion?

Housing & Local Government’s Minister’s Defence of Ibrahim Ali’s Bible-burning call proves there is no 1Malaysia, but only Malaysia for 1Race and 1Religion

For those who are familiar with the antics of Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan, Member of Parliament for Kota Belud and new Housing and Local Government Minister, he will be the first in the House to stand up and concoct a reason to defend “why the chicken cross the road?”

However his latest response as to why Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali's urging to burn bibles containing the word ‘Allah’ cannot be compared with the present case against the sex bloggers Alvin Tan and Vivian Lee for insulting Muslims certainly takes the cake.

Datuk Rahman Dahlan argued that Ibrahim’s remark was merely to “correct the error of printing the said bibles”, and hence “burning them was the proper thing to do” just as Muslims burn copies of the Quran that have misprints.

He further added that "what Ibrahim Ali said was normal”, but has been “twisted”.

No right-thinking Malaysian would believe the explanation that Ibrahim’s fiery and emotional remark was just an innocent and virtuous attempt to “correct the error of printing” in the bibles.  And even in the unlikely earth-shattering event that it was, that is no defence against the current Sedition Act.

For example in the landmark case of Public Prosecutor v Mark Koding, Justice Azmi Kamaruddin in the course of his judgment said: “... It is immaterial whether the accused intention or motive was honourable or evil when making the speech” when finding the latter guilty of sedition.  All the judge has to do is to see whether the words are likely to create disaffection against the government, the ruler or the people.

What Datuk Rahman Dahlan has done is to defend the indefensible attempt by the right-wing Perkasa leader, Ibrahim Ali in his attempt to incite Malays and Muslims in the country to burn the holy books of Christians.

However, in the case of the bloggers Alvin Tan and Vivian Lee, better known as “Alvivi”, who probably thought it was “funny” to ridicule fasting Muslims, “justice” was meted out before those charged has an opportunity to defend themselves.

Make no mistake, those found guilty must be punished accordingly and the acts of insulting another’s religion is not acceptable.  However, in the case of Alvivi, they have been denied bail on the basis that “both accused had a tendency to upload pictures that could arouse public outrage”, making them guilty before their defence is called.

The clear-cut double-standards in Malaysian prosecution system proves the hypocrisy of “1Malaysia”, a slogan preached by the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak himself.  It also makes a mockery of our Federal Constitution which provides that all Malaysians are equal before the law.

The fact that Ibrahim Ali who the open and defiant call for bibles to be burnt was not only left uncharged, but also now defended by the UMNO Minister, while summary punishment was meted out to the blogging duo who carried out the tasteless prank confirms that the Federal Government practices not “1Malaysia” but Malaysia for 1Race and 1Religion.

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Jonker Walk: Keselamatan Terjejas

MP tak yakin keselamatan di Jonker Street

Zulaikha Zulkifli
4:46PM Jun 27 2013

Ahli Parlimen Petaling Jaya Utara Tony Pua menuntut Ketua Menteri Melaka Datuk Idris Haron bertanggungjawab ke atas keselamatan peniaga dan pengunjung di Jonker Walk apabila jalan tersebut dibuka untuk lalu lintas.

"Bila saya teliti laporan ini dengan terperinci, dia kata 300 peniaga yang ada di Jonker Walk boleh teruskan perniagaan mereka. Apa yang dia tak sebut ialah adakah jalan terus dibuka atau ditutup?

"Ini kekeliruan atau silap mata yang cuba dibuat ketua menteri Melaka. Perniagaan ada tapi jalan terus dibuka. Ini boleh menjadi isu keselamatan kepada peniaga, pengunjung dan pelancong.

“Sekiranya ada apa-apa terjadi, kerajaan negeri kena bertanggungjawab," katanya dalam sidang media di bangunan Parlimen hari ini.

Beliau mengulas kenyataan Idris semalam, bahawa 300 peniaga tersebut boleh meneruskan perniagaan mereka seperti biasa di kawasan pasar malam Jonker Walk pada setiap hujung minggu.

Idris juga menjelaskan bahawa arahan penutupan gerai yang kebanyakannya menjual cenderamata di Jonker Walk itu hanya salah faham.

Katanya, jalan sekitar Jonker Walk yang menjadi tumpuan pelancong itu dibuka semula untuk kenderaan yang ketika ini ditutup bermula 6 petang hingga 12 malam pada setiap Jumaat.

Isu menghalang peniaga berniaga di Jonker Walk pada hujung minggu, sengaja dimanipulasikan pihak tertentu demi kepentingan politik mereka, katanya lagi seperti dilaporkan Bernama semalam.

Beliau tidak berpendapat bahawa langkah tersebut akan menyukarkan pengunjung dan peniaga dan mengambil contoh amalan yang dilakukan di Oxford City, England.

Peniaga menjalankan perniagaan di kaki lima jalan raya dan kenderaan dibenar melalui kawasan di situ, katanya.

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Don't Give Excuses - Keep Jonker Walk

We would like to thank Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, the new Tourism Minister for the return of sensibility over the closure of Jonker Street market by the Melaka state government

Datuk Seri Nazri said he had “appealed to Malacca Chief Minister Idris Haron not to close down the Jonker Walk night market” because “the night market is an essential part of Malacca's tourism sector and should not be closed”. "Malacca is not the only place for tourism (in Malaysia), so I hope the CM would think about this properly," he said. This attempt to return to sensibility must be applauded and supported.

However, Datuk Seri Nazri then went on to cover up for the new Melaka Chief Minister, claiming that the latter told him that the market “will be closed for four weeks as a trial to see if closing down the market alleviates traffic problems there.”  Nazri added that he hoped the CM "would think" about the closure of the night market again at the conclusion of four weeks.

This “compromise” is however, completely unacceptable.  Despite the excuse of “traffic” being raised the reason for the closure, the Datuk Idris Haron has already himself admitted in public that the act is to retaliate against the non-Malay community in Melaka.

According to Kwong Wah Daily on Monday 24 June, Datuk Idris argued that the decision passed by the Malacca executive council on June 12 to close the night market "follows the intention of the people… Now, we see most of the Malacca residents fully supporting DAP over MCA candidates, who have been serving them. Hence, we decided to cancel the night market and we hope they will be happy."

If it is not political vengeance by the immense pettiness of UMNO-Barisan Nasional led by the new Chief Minister, then why is the issue of whether the rakyat supporting DAP or MCA even relevant to “alleviating traffic problems” there?

Furthermore, it is a complete lie by Datuk Idris Haron that the night market will only be closed for four weeks as a “trial”.  I have in my possession a copy of the memo issued to the Datuk Bandar of Melaka City Council which instructed the outright closure of Jonker Street with absolutely no mention of it being a trial or a need for an official traffic study to be conducted during the so-called 1-month period.

While Pakatan Rakyat continues to serve all Malaysians regardless of whether they had voted for us, we are witnessing an increasingly vindictive Barisan Nasional where MCA threw its tantrums by shutting down all their service centres, while UMNO demonstrated their racist mindset by not only poisoning the minds of the people and destroying the people’s livelihoods.

The move is clearly akin to cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face.  Just because Datuk Idris Haron wanted to demonstrate his politcal pettiness to inflict damage to the Chinese community, he is willing to sacrifice the interest of the people of Melaka and her economy.

This major move to punish the Chinese voters, if left unchecked will only be the beginning of a series of actions which UMNO-led governments will take to discriminate against, sideline, punish as well as humiliate any of the minority races in the country which they deem not to have given support to UMNO-Barisan Nasional.

Hence we call upon the Melaka Government to immediate lift the ban on the Jonker Street night market, and stop using the pretext of “alleviating traffic problems” or they might as well close every single pasar malam and pasar tani through the state and country.

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UMNO's Political Retaliation: Why Not Cancel Chinese New Year?

In a shocking move involving political vengeance and retaliation against the non-Malay community, the new Chief Minister of Melaka, Datuk Idris Haron last week announced the closure of the Jonker Street weekend market, which is an extremely popular 13-year old tourist destination in an area often regarded as the Melaka Chinatown.

According to Kwong Wah Daily, Idris yesterday argued that the decision passed by the Malacca executive council on June 12 to close the night market "follows the intention of the people".

"Now, we see most of the Malacca residents fully supporting DAP over MCA candidates, who have been serving them. Hence, we decided to cancel the night market and we hope they will be happy," the daily quotes Idris as saying.

We had assumed that with the political demise of former Melaka Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Ali Rustam, you can’t possibly appoint a Chief Minister more reckless, arrogant and callous than him. However, Datuk Idris Haron has immediately proven us completely wrong.

The move is clearly akin to cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face.  Just because Datuk Idris Haron wanted to demonstrate his politcal pettiness to inflict damage to the Chinese community, he is willing to sacrifice the interest of the people of Melaka and her economy.

More importantly, it has proven beyond doubt that Barisan Nasional is not a “1Malaysia” government as touted by the Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, but in reality a 1UMNO party which only cares about the interest of their own leaders and cronies.

Over the past 8 weeks since the General Election, UMNO leaders and its mouthpiece, Utusan Malaysia has gone on a verbal rampage to demonise the Chinese for BN’s poor performance.  But this is the first physical act by which UMNO to victimise the Chinese community for the latter’s perceived support for Pakatan Rakyat.

In fact, we have to assume that this major move to punish the Chinese voters is a directive coming directly from the top of the UMNO leadership itself.  And if true, then this will only be the beginning of a series of actions which UMNO-led governments will take to discriminate against, sideline, punish as well as humiliate any of the minority races in the country which they deem not to have given support to UMNO-Barisan Nasional.

Perhaps, the new Tourism Minister, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz will announce a similar move to close down the historic Petaling Street.  Or why stop at just closing these “Chinatowns”, why not just cancel Christmas or even more impactful, ban Deepavali or Chinese New Year celebrations!

The acts by these UMNO governments runs in direct contrasts with the Pakatan Rakyat-led adminsitrations which goes out of its way to ensure that all their voters, regardless of political affiliation will enjoy the fruits of our administration.  When the Selangor state government provided free water to individual households or insurance for the elderly, it was granted to all regardless or race, religion or political affiliation.  This is similar in Penang, when it became the first state government to eliminate hardcore poverty in the country, despite the fact that the majority of the beneficiaries are Malays who had then supported BN.

While Pakatan Rakyat continues to serve all Malaysians regardless of whether they had voted for us, we are witnessing an increasingly vindictive Barisan Nasional where MCA threw its tantrums by shutting down all their service centres, while UMNO demonstrated their racist mindset by not only poisoning the minds of the people and destroying the people’s livelihoods.

In the past, we would have ended this statement by making a call to the Prime Minister to be the voice of moderation and uphold his commitment to his “1Malaysia”.  Today, we know that Dato’ Seri Najib Razak will just remain completely silent to the above act of closing down Jonker Street as well as other threats to the non-Malay community.  He silence not only proves his tacit approval and involvement in these actions, it also confirms that “1Malaysia” is purely a propaganda rhetoric to win votes in a General Election.

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Malaysian Chinese are not Concerned with the Race of the Prime Minister

The misplaced tirade against the Chinese in Malaysia, whether intentional or otherwise, continues with the new Minister in Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim latest salvo published in Sinchew Daily yesterday.

He said that if the Chinese Malaysians who have been indoctrinated with “extreme racism” by the DAP can ditch their “racist mindset”, he “believes that Malaysia would one day have a prime minister of Chinese ethnicity”.

He was quoted to say “(You) cannot lead the people if (you) believe too much in racial power. If one day the Chinese could get rid of this mindset, Malaysia could also have a Chinese as prime minister”.

This statement is not only an uncalled for attempt to insult Malaysian Chinese as racists, it is a clear cut attempt to insinuate that Malaysian Chinese are a power-crazy and greedy community whose ultimate goal is to take over the Prime Ministership of this country.  It is part of UMNO’s continued attempt to divide the nation by having the Malay community remain completely frightful of the fairy-tale eventuality of losing political power.

Taking leaf from the former Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed, Datuk Seri Shahidan even accused the Chinese of not participating “in activities organised by the government, but chose to be involved in the illegal street rallies held by the opposition”.

It clearly shows that to these UMNO leaders, any support given Pakatan Rakyat as an alternative to Barisan Nasional will be deemed “racist” in nature, even if the support is given to fight the blatant racism of parties like UMNO.

When Malays vote overwhelmingly for UMNO in the past, it is never “racism”. When Chinese voted for MCA in the past, that can’t be racism.  However, when Malays increased their support for Pakatan Rakyat candidates in the same election, Dr Mahathir accused DAP of spreading “propaganda” that influenced educated Malays.  And when the Chinese voted strongly for Pakatan Rakyat, that according to UMNO, is proof of Chinese “racism”. That is complete and utter gibberish coming from UMNO leaders.

UMNO leaders like Tun Dr Mahathir and Datuk Seri Shahidan perpetuate the above lies because they believe that the only way to maintain UMNO’s control of in the country and to share the wealth of the nation only with the politically connected elite, is by demonising the non-Malay community with artificial claims of “racism”, even if the claims are themselves racist.

UMNO leaders fear a Malaysia where Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans, Dayaks and other minority communities become united to fight cronyism and corruption among the ruling BN elite. Hence the desperate need to use all racist means keep Malaysia divided by race and religion.

The DAP never campaigned on a “Chinese” political power platform.  We never campaigned against Malay political interests.  If we did, Malaysians can be assured that such campaign speeches will be televised and condemned widely in all broadcast and print media as “proof” of DAP racism.  Instead, throughout our election campaigns, our leaders harped only on the singular point of creating a country that is free from corruption and cronyism, where the nation’s wealth can be shared among all Malaysians, and not just those who are politically connected.

For the Chinese community, they have no interest whatsoever in seeing a Chinese installed as a Prime Minister of Malaysia.  They don’t care if the Prime Minister of the country is a Malay, Indian, Kadazan or Iban, as long as he is a Prime Minister for all Malaysians and not just for a select group of cronies or race.

The Chinese community did not give their votes to PAS because PAS is a Chinese party.  They certainly did not pick Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as their preferred choice of Prime Minister because he is a Chinese.  They picked him because they see him as Malaysian first, who will fight abuse of power and prioritise the interest of the poor and disadvantaged, regardless of race, religion or creed.

UMNO Ministers and leaders will need to learn that the only way to stop the inevitability of losing their grip on power in Malaysia is to adopt the “Malaysian first” principle as espoused in their own “1Malaysia” slogan.  Their continued racist bent of their political platform will end all hopes of BN ever recovering from their election losses in 2008 and 2013.

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Dr Mahathir Redefines Racism

The UMNO DDD brigade, exposed by Member of Parliament of Gelang Patah, Lim Kit Siang has continued their non-stop inflammatory propaganda to cast the DAP as a racist party.  The DDD brigade led by none other than former Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamed has now claimed that the proof that DAP is a racist party is that the Chinese voters voted for them, and the Chinese turn out for the recent Pakatan Rakyat rallies are high.

This accusation must rank as among the biggest piece of gibberish coming from the 88 year old UMNO President.

When Malays vote overwhelmingly for UMNO in the past, it is never “racism”.  When a 100% Malay crowd hold weekly protests against the Pakatan Rakyat government in Penang, it is not “racism”.  When Chinese voted for MCA in the past, that can’t be racism.  When Chinese also voted strongly for PAS and PKR in the current elections, PAS and PKR are not accused of racism.

When Malays increased their support for the DAP candidates in the same election, Dr Mahathir accused DAP of spreading “propaganda” that influenced educated Malays into perceiving the Barisan Nasional (BN) government as corrupt.

However, when the Chinese also voted strongly for DAP, that is proof of DAP “racism”. When many Chinese turns up at Pakatan Rakyat events, that is beyond shadow of a doubt, Chinese “racism”.  What type of senile perverted logic is that?

Dr Mahathir and his DDD brigade should perhaps look up the dictionary on the definition of “racism”.  Racism is defined in Dictionary.com as “a belief… usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others” or “a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination”.

By the above definition alone, it is proof that the real racists of this country are UMNO, Dr Mahathir and his DDD brigade.  In fact the multi-million ringgit DDD brigade has via influential blogs and the UMNO mouthpiece, Utusan Malaysia completely rewrote the definition of “racism” to fit their own political objectives.  Their objectives are to brainwash Malays and Malaysians into believing “anti-racism” as “racism”, and “racism” as their birthright.

Where else in the world can you find a party like UMNO which calls for “ketuanan Melayu” or supremacy of the Malays as its sole raison d’etre being able to dispel all notions of its racism?  While at the same time, DAP, a party that fights only for equality of opportunities, justice regardless of race and religion as well as for free and fair elections, being demonised as the most racist entity in the world.

Just because we support the doctrine of “ketuanan rakyat” or the supremacy of the people, and oppose the doctrine of the supremacy of any single race, UMNO has since the end of last year made DAP their biggest enemy to ensure the survival and continuation of their racist policies. The concerted non-stop onslaught by the DDD brigade led by Dr Mahathir, funded with hundreds of millions of ringgit is resulting in DAP facing the single biggest fight of our political history.  Their objective is nothing less than the total demise of the DAP whether via de-registration by the Registrar of Societies, the imprisonment and disqualification of our leaders via the abuse of Sedition Act and other draconian laws, and the total rejection by Malays and Malaysians of DAP as a “racist” party it is not.

The DAP will stand firm on our principles and fight all racist attacks from UMNO and Barisan Nasional.  The leaders will stand on our principles without fear or favour and are prepared to suffer all injustices meted out by the UMNO regime to ensure that our future Malaysian generations will not be trapped in the racist framework we endure today.

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PM Must Prove He Wil Stop Racism

Instead of a “national reconciliation” pronounced by the Prime Minister on the night of election, what we are witnessing today is the “national aggravation” of race-relations by all UMNO and BN-related machinery, particularly the Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia and Umno’s team of bloggers and cyber-troopers.

The situation, with absolutely no restraint from UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak himself, is spiralling out of control, worsening race-relations to its lowest ebb in recent decades.

Utusan Malaysia takes a completely racist position when defending UMNO over BN’s worst ever electoral performance in history, placing the blame squarely and entirely on the Chinese community.  The newspaper kicked off its tirade with the inflammatory headline “Apa lagi Cina mau?”.  It has since on a daily basis, inundated its readers with racist quotes from UMNO and NGO leaders chiding the Chinese for being ingrates such as the quote from Dr Mahathir who claimed that “the Chinese has rejected the Malays’ hand of friendship”.

Utusan Malaysia has gone one to attack the CEO of AirAsiaX, Azran Othman who had gone on record to say “I am Malaysian. I am anti-racism. I am disgusted by Utusan’s editorial stance.”  Utusan Malaysia now accuses Azran of being “anti-Malay”, “having forgotten his roots” and an ingrate towards presumably Umno and Utusan, for contributing for his achievements today.  It has become shocking how those who stand against racism are being vilified in the mainstream media owned by Umno and Barisan Nasional.

Now the Umno-owned media are playing up the call to boycott “Chinese-owned” goods and services by Umno bloggers, cyber-troopers and Umno-linked NGOs.  Muslim Consumers Association Malaysia (PPIM) for example, had recently called for consumers to boycott or at the very least buy goods sold by Chinese companies last.

While the new Domestic Trade, Consumerism and Cooperatives Minister, Datuk Hasan Malek has stated that the Government will not endorse such a call, he has at the same time said that it is these organisations’ right to make the boycott call as it is a free country.  Such a lame response to a racist attempt to divide the nation certainly leaves much to be desired.  It is certainly true that people can choose to be racist, but it is the moral duty of the Government to demonstrate leadership by discouraging and rebuking such racist actions and causes.

Pakatan Rakyat call upon all Malaysians to not only frown upon racist calls – whether to boycott “Chinese” goods, or to discriminate against “Malay” companies – but to stand up against racism because regardless of whether the goods were produced by Chinese or Malays or Indians, we are all Malaysians.

Unlike the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak who likes to keep his “elegant silence”, Pakatan Rakyat leaders will not hesitate to condemn attempts to divide the country through racism or religious bigotry.  We have proven that in the recently concluded General Election, Malaysians of all races have increased their support for Pakatan Rakyat, and not only the Chinese and we have called for the results not to be racialised.

Hence we call upon the Prime Minister to demonstrate his sincerity in “1Malaysia” by breaking his silence and condemn the racist developments in the country before his reign becomes recorded in history as the one which caused Malaysians to be the most racially divided.

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Najib Shows He Is Not Malaysian First

Bernama reported that the Prime Minister said that “the 13th general election is not an ordinary election. Instead, it will determine the survival of the Malays.”

He used the threat of “the survival of the Malays” to threaten Malays into supporting Barisan Nasional.  The Umno president said “Malays should realise that as the backbone of the Barisan Nasional (BN), Umno would be able to continue the struggle of the Malays and Islam.”

The above statements proved that Dato’ Seri Najib Razak failed as a Prime Minister for all Malaysians, especially as the nation celebrates the 49th anniversary of Malaysia Day today.

At the start of Dato’ Seri Najib’s premiership, he has made the “1Malaysia” slogan the cornerstone of his entire administration, which he defined as “every Malaysian perceives himself or herself as Malaysian first, and by race, religion, geographical region or socio-economic background second and where the principles of 1Malaysia are woven into the economic, political and social fabric of society” in the Government Transformation Programme (GTP).

However his exhortation to the Malays proved that the Prime Minister is more than willing to play the racial card to protect BN’s hold on power.  He has shown that he speaks not as the Prime Minister for all Malaysians, but an instigator of continued racial division in the country.

Dato’ Seri Najib’s speech also exposed the fact that like his Deputy, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, they see themselves as “Malays first”, and not “Malaysians First” as defined in the GTP.  Tan Sri Muhyiddin had said in 2009 “How can I say I’m Malaysian first and Malay second? All the Malays will shun me and say that it is not proper.”

As we celebrate both our independence from our colonial masters on 31st August and formation of Malaysia on 16th September, a Prime Minister for all Malaysians should be extolling the virtues of a united nation regardless of race, religion, class or geography.  However, what we have is a Prime Minister who tells the Malay community that they are being attacked and threatened by the other races in the country.

It is hence not a surprise that Dato’ Seri Najib never reprimanded Tan Sri Muhyiddin’s public declaration that he is “Malay first” despite the clear contradiction to the 1Malaysia definition in the GTP. It is not a surprise because they both see themselves as “Malay first” and not Malaysian First.

This also shows that Najib’s “1Malaysia” is pretty on the outside, but empty on the inside.  The whole “1Malaysia” campaign is to present a false picture of Malaysian First, with no sincere leadership or intent build a truly Malaysian First country.

The Prime Minister’s position blots our 49th anniversary celebration of Malaysia Day and it raises the question as to why, after 49 years of nationhood, we are unable to elect a Prime Minister who puts the interest of all Malaysians, above that of a person’s race.  We can only hope that the Malay community will not be so easily threatened by Dato’ Seri Najib and will, together with all other Malaysians, pick a government that will be fair to all its citizens regardless of race, religion, class and geography in the next general election.

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Khairy should Get Out from the Racial Mindset

I read with bemusement and disappointment not for the first time, MP for Rembau, Khairy Jamaluddin asking DAP to declare its number of Malay members to prove our 'multiracial' credentials.

It is unfortunate that Khairy is not able to rid himself of the UMNO paradigm of race-based ideology and politics. The DAP has never denied the fact that Malays form a small proportion of our membership base, and this "weakness" has been exploited by BN politicians stuck in the racial mindset to the hilt to frighten the Malay community into submission.

Khairy and his fellow BN leaders subcribes to the quota-based "multi-racial" definition where it can only be multi-racial if 70% of scholarships are awarded to Malays or if 30% of corporate wealth is in the hands of bumiputeras (excluding Government ownership).

The DAP's political ideology is based on social justice, democracy, freedom and equal opportunity and not based on race.  Hence we are multi-racial because we do not ban membership based on the colour of one's skin, unlike the key BN parties of UMNO, MCA and MIC.  The DAP accept all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or geography as members, as long as they believe in our struggles and subscribe to our political ideals.

There is no question that we face the uphill task of convincing the Malay community to join our struggles over the past decades, especially in the light of UMNO's use of racial arguments to fan sentiments, attract and retain members. However, our leaders have never been dismayed by the uphill battle and have no intention of sacrificing our ideals by doing a "Perkasa", just to attract more Malay members.  The means will not justify the ends.

Instead we believe that over time, the principles of social justice, freedom, democracy and equal opportunity will emerge victorious against race-supremacist ideologies.  Increasingly, we can see greater dissatisfaction among the Malay community of UMNO's antics of hiding corruption, cronyism and abuse of power under the guise of the New Economic Policy. We are happy that there are an increasing number of leaders and activists in the Malay community who have joined DAP recently because they believe in our cause.

The numbers will only increase once the Malay community, and Malaysians at large see past the lies printed in BN-owned mainstream media, and understand that the DAP causes will benefit all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion and geography.  Hopefully Khairy, of all people, will be able to rid himself of his preoccupation with race by then.

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"Global Movement of Moderates" - A Political Scam?

Najib’s attempt to promote the “Global Movement of Moderates” is nothing but a political scam if he can’t even reign in extremist Perkasa, comprising mainly of Umno members

Dato’ Seri Najib Abdul Razak has been pushing his international agenda of “The Global Movement of Moderates” (GMM) and most recently delivered a keynote address at the inaugural “International Conference on the Global Movement of Moderates” (ICGMM) last week.

In his forward message in the conference's programme book, Najib said, “the time has come for moderates of all countries, of all religions to take back the centre, to reclaim the agenda for peace and pragmatism, and to marginalise the extremists.”

Let me state upfront that the DAP fully support and concur with Najib’s statement for “all religions to take back the centre” and “to marginalise the extremists”. It is a position that DAP Secretary-General, Lim Guan Eng has preached in his address at our 2010 party convention where he called for a “Middle Malaysia”.

He had stated clearly that “in DAP’s Middle Malaysia we prefer co-operation not conflict, consultation instead of confrontation and an inclusive shared society rather than an exclusive separate society.”

However, while Najib had sought to portray himself as a leading moderate, he has failed, intentionally or otherwise, to practise what he preaches by providing fertile ground for racism and religious extremism to prosper in Malaysia through UMNO-supported vehicles such as Perkasa.

The fact that Perkasa has with growing intensity over the past few months sought to increase religious friction between Muslims and Christians with inflammatory and unfounded statements, published in the UMNO-owned mainstream media proves that Najib is either hopeless or devious in the fight against extremism.

The latest statement by Perkasa secretary-general that “The faith of Islam, of Muslims is under siege in Selangor... Perkasa is concerned of a more aggressive Christianisation attempt, especially with Khalid [Ibrahim] in charge of the exco portfolio for Islam,” seeks to fan the anti-Christian sentiments in the country.

It was only 2 years ago when Malaysia suffered the worst cases of arson and attempted arsons on churches throughout Malaysia and the freedom provided to Perkasa and its ilk to do its worst will not lead to any peaceful outcome.

Dato’ Seri Najib, as the Prime Minister of the country, and a self-proclaimed “Voice of Moderation” has failed to even once admonish Perkasa, the UMNO members involved or the party’s mouth-piece Utusan Malaysia for promoting racial hatred and stirring religious intolerance and extremism.  On the contrary, Najib has more than once, made policy U-turns to placate Ibrahim Ali, the Perkasa supremo.

Without sincerity and political will from the top leadership, Perkasa has the tacit approval to do its worse in the light of the upcoming general elections to sow fear into the hearts of the Malay-Muslim community in order to protect the vote bank for UMNO.

The game that UMNO and Perkasa are playing, regardless of the outcome of the next general election, is a highly dangerous one which may forever tarnish Malaysia’s reputation as a moderate country.  It will leave Najib in history as the Prime Minister who failed moderation.

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UMNO Hypocrites Over Civil Service

The racist reactions by Umno politicians to proposals to improve the efficiency of our civil service and government expenditure prove that the Party prioritises only its bigoted political interests and marginalises the needs of the nation

I am almost amused by the “shock and fury” expressed by Umno politicians, the far-right Perkasa and Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia on a straightforward comment which I had made in a forum in Johor Bahru on 30th October 2011, in response to a question posed by a member of the audience.

I had presented at the Budget 2012 forum the rising Government operating expenditure and the fact that the largest and fastest rising component of the expenditure is the allocation for “Emoluments, Pensions and Gratuities”. I had shown the chart below which clearly highlights the rise of the Government’s total wage bill:

 The chart shows that our total civil service wage bill has increased from RM20.9 billion in 10 years ago in 2001 to RM30.2 billion 5 years ago in 2006 to a massive RM64.1 billion expected next year in 2012.

The member of the audience had asked, what could be done to resolve the issue. I said that this matter will be one which is highly sensitive and a very difficult issue to deal with. I had specifically emphasized that the civil service cannot be reduced overnight and any rationalisation of the civil service has to be conducted over the long term. I had offered certain suggestions such as the termination of civil servants who have failed to perform their responsibilities as well as offering optional early retirement programmes for those who are interested.

However, the reaction from the UMNO chauvinists clearly showed that they are not interested in solving the problem but are more interested in inflaming racial sentiments and making irresponsible wild allegations with the sole purpose of creating racial hatred.

It was perhaps most disappointing to hear the widely respected and normally rational, MP for Johor Bahru, Datuk Shahrir Samad stooping so low as to turn a healthy discussion on the size of the civil service into a racial issue. He has said that “Motif mereka hanyalah mahu menaikkan sentiment rasis dan bukannya berasaskan ekonomi.”

The reaction by the Johor Bahru MP, other Umno politicians and Perkasa is completely hypocritical for it was the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak himself who has proposed a new civil service scheme for the government workforce.

In his Budget 2012 speech, the Prime Minister himself had proposed that “a flexible remuneration system will be introduced to retain or terminate civil servants based on performance. Civil servants must accept this challenge and be prepared to change. Hence, the Government will introduce the New Civil Service Remuneration Scheme or SBPA [will] introduce an exit policy for underperforming civil servants and for those who opt to leave the service”.

Why is it that these very critics and race-champions have not raised a single note of objection to the Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s proposal but when the same issue is raised by an opposition politician, then all hell breaks loose.

In fact, even the Chief Secretary, Tan Sri Sidek Hassan has said the same when questioned by reports the day after the Budget speech where “…he insisted that the “exit policy” announced in Budget 2012 would be strictly enforced.”

“If you want to go out, we will allow you to go out. When we think that it is better off for you for a civil servant to be outside the public service, then we will allow them to go out. When they misbehave, and we think they should go out, we’ll ask them to go out,” he said.

Therefore Datuk Shahrir and all other shameless critics should focus on the task at hand as put forth by the Prime Minister and the Chief Secretary themselves and stop playing racial politics with the sole purpose of inciting racial hatred among Malaysians for the purposes of shoring up declining support for an UMNO that is bankrupt of ideas.

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Rahim Noor and Perkasa Starts Facism Movement

It comes as a complete shock that one of the country’s former Inspector General of Police (IGP) had the nerve to “liken the rise of the human rights movement in Malaysia to communism”.

Disgraced Tan Sri Rahim Noor who gave Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim the infamous “black eye”, had referred to the human rights movement as a new “religion”. He warned that civil liberties activists saw the US and UK as their spiritual home and drew parallels to how the Comintern had engineered the global spread of communism from its Moscow base.

If human rights can be akin to communism, then surely what Tan Sri Rahim Noor is attempting to do during his speech at the 2nd Perkasa General Assembly is to seed and grow the fascism movement in Malaysia. “Fascism” is described in the Oxford English dictionary to include “a belief in the supremacy of one national or ethnic group, a contempt for democracy, an insistence on obedience to a powerful leader, and a strong demagogic approach”.

The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 had emphasized among other things, the fact that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”, that “all are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law”, that “no one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile” and that “the will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage”.

Tan Sri Rahim Noor’s speech and reception at the right-wing Perkasa assembly marks the second time the movement is attempting to derail “reforms” put forth by the Prime Minister, since the latter’s inauguration in 2009.

In the first instance, Perkasa was able to force the Prime Minister to reverse his landmark “New Economic Model” (NEM) which sought to reform the country’s race-based affirmative action system. The NEM when launched in March 2010, had called for an “affirmative action approach based on “transparent and market-friendly affirmative action programmes”, which “will mean greater support for the Bumiputera, a greater support based on needs, not race”. It is as opposed to the previous New Economic Policy (NEP) of “imposing conditions to meet specific quotas or targets”.

However, within 3 months from the launch of the NEP, the affirmative action policy reform was reversed when the 10th Malaysia Plan re-incorporated the race-based agenda and quota system. Even at the earlier Malay Consultative Council (MPM) lead by Perkasa in May 2010, the Prime Minister had already referred to the NEM as a only a “trial balloon”, a clear reversal from the bold reforms announced.

The latest attacks against the human rights movement deemed as subversive is clearly an attempt to reverse Najib’s capitulation to civil society movements such as Bersih. Such movements have recently led to the setup of a Parliamentary Select Committee for Electoral Reforms as well as the proposed abolishment and amendment of several draconian such as the Internal Security Act (ISA) and the Printing, Presses and Publications Act (PPPA). These measures are opposed by Perkasa, comprising of many hardliners within UMNO.

Datuk Seri Najib Razak must immediately put a stop to this fascism movement and openly condemn the former IGP and Perkasa’s attempt to allude the human rights movement to communism. He must also openly declare his full support for the human rights objectives, as enshrined in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, if he is sincere about his “political transformation programme”.

Otherwise, the latest hype surrounding the “political transformation programme” will just become a “trial balloon” like the NEM, where the promised reforms will be severely curtailed or worse, equally draconian laws will be adopted to replace existing ones such as the ISA.

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BN Must End Politics by Race

Pakatan dares BN to end race formula
By Clara Chooi September 07, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders have challenged Datuk Seri Najib Razak to abolish Barisan Nasional’s (BN) race-based formula by turning the coalition into a multiracial party, saying this would resolve the quandary over maintaining Chinese representation in government.

DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua pointed out to The Malaysian Insider that it was BN’s race-based system that is now causing it to gripe over MCA’s decision to reject Cabinet posts if it were to fare worse in future general elections than it did in Election 2008.

If BN should turn into a multi-racial party, he said, MCA’s threat would not cause any headache to the party’s coalition partners, especially Umno.

“The squabble between Umno and MCA is simple ... the root cause to the dispute is the fact that the BN formula for one party to represent each race does not work for this country.

“The only way for BN to resolve this problem of marginalising a particular community in government is by transforming themselves from a race-based coalition to a multiracial one, banning all race-based parties,” he said when contacted here.

Pua was responding to a statement by senior Umno minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz carried by The Malaysian Insider yesterday, in which the latter said it would be unfair to “punish” the Chinese if they chose not to vote for BN Chinese-centric parties like MCA or Gerakan.

For the full article, read it on The Malaysian Insider here

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MCA: Are You Malaysian First?

DAP to MCA: Contracts given on merit, not race
By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal July 30, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, July 30 — DAP rapped MCA today for accusing the Penang government of sidelining the Chinese community in the award of contracts, stressing that the state administration’s criteria was strictly merit-based.

In a strongly-worded reply, DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua charged that Barisan Nasional (BN) parties like MCA were stuck with “archaic” policies where they were only interested in attracting votes from the “respective races” they claimed to represent.

“They fail to recognise their own chauvinism and their total disconnect from ordinary citizens today who are increasingly seeing themselves as Malaysians first,” he told The Malaysian Insider today.

MCA had accused Penang Chief Minister and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng of awarding all of the state’s Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) contracts to Malays, Bumiputeras and Indian Muslims, leaving the Chinese community out in the cold.

Penang Wanita MCA chairman Tan Cheng Liang claimed yesterday this was likely because the chief minister was “currying favour” with the non-Chinese community as, according to her, the DAP has realised that it could not rely on support from the Chinese forever.

Tan was referring to a statement Lim purportedly made on Wednesday that the contractors in all five districts in Penang for DID contracts are Malays, Bumiputeras and Indian Muslims, with women accounting for 20 per cent.

In response, Pua today said DAP and Pakatan Rakyat (PR)’s policies were specifically designed from a “merit and needs-based perspective.”

“Unlike MCA and BN’s model, we are race-blind. If one is poor, he or she will deserve assistance, regardless of race, religion or creed.

“If one is competent and cost-efficient, they will be awarded government contracts and projects irrespective of company ownership,” he added.

The Petaling Jaya Utara MP said that since majority of Malaysians below the poverty line in the country were Malays, PR states would therefore ensure that they were ones mainly benefitting from financial assistance.

“Similarly, if the best contractors happen to be Bumiputera companies, there’s no reason why they should be penalised just because of their skin colour.

“First Umno calls us anti-Malay. MIC says DAP ignores the plight of Indians, and now MCA says we are anti-Chinese? That doesn’t make much sense, does it?” Pua asked.

The Penang administration under Lim’s rule has regularly been accused by Umno, MCA’s senior partner in the ruling BN coalition, of being racist for allegedly discriminating against the Malay community.

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Muhyiddin & Mahathir: Biggest Obstacles to High Income Nation

Datuk Seri Najib Razak's ambitious goal of becoming a high income nation of US$15,000 per capita by 2020 faces the biggest stumbling blocks in the form of his predecessor Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammed and his likely successor, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for their strident opposition to a fairer and more inclusive Malaysian society.

The just released World Bank report on brain drain in Malaysia proved beyond doubt that "social injustice" as a result of the New Economic Policy (NEP) was the key reason why hundreds of thousands of the country's best talents had left our shores for greener pastures. The report survey had indicated that 60% of respondents have cited "social injustice" as a key reason for their leaving the country.

In addition, an overwhelming 87% of respondents had suggested that a "paradigm shift away from race-based towards needs-based affirmative action" may entice a migrant to return to Malaysia. At the same time, 82% of respondents also called for "fundamental and positive change in the Government and public sector".

The World Bank model also found that Malaysia would have attracted more than 5 times our Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) at US$15 billion instead of only US$3.8 billion in the 3 years 2007-2009 had we retained our skills base and adopted a more open investment policy regime.

The Report has called for a comprehensive policy on "inclusiveness" to bring back talent into the country and stem the accute outflow of skilled workers as a critical measure to fulfil our goals of becoming a high income nation by 2020.

Prime Minister Najib had taken some initial steps towards greater inclusiveness by defining "1Malaysia" in the Government Transformation Plan (GTP) as the goal where every Malaysian sees themselves as Malaysians first, their race, religion, class and geography second.

The "original" New Economic Model as announced by Najib had called for reforms on the race-based affirmative action system to a need-based one.

However both these initiatives which are crucial towards a more "inclusive" Malaysia were killed with the strident racial supremacy agenda expounded by Najib's Deputy, Muhyiddin and his predecessor, Mahathir.

Muhyiddin made a joke of the "1Malaysia" definition by stating that he's "Malay First" with his now infamous quote "How can I say I'm Malaysian first and Malay second, all the Malays will shun me". He has further aggravated the racial schism with his open endorsement of Utusan Malaysia's "1Melayu, 1Bumi" movement just a week ago.

Mahathir who has on the other hand dismissed the World Bank report "useless" and accused them of being "politically motivated" without even bothering to rebutt any of the results of the study. In fact, Mahathir must take the biggest responsibility for causing the huge drain in talent during his long reign from 1982 to 2003 which has consistently increased to some 1 million people today.

Instead of taking a statesman role to encourage greater racial unity and integration post retirement, Mahathir has chosen to sponsor and be the patron of the increasingly militant Perkasa movement, hell-bent on institutionalise a Malay-dominant society. It was Perkasa rapid rise which had caused Najib to roll back the most critical reforms in NEM needed to achieve a high income nation status.

Najib must pay heed to the advise and warnings presented in the World Bank Report. By remaining in denial, or succumbing to the pressures from Muhyiddin and Mahathir will not only lead to the failure of Talent Corporation, but also Malaysia missing out on our high income nation target.

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