Republic of virtue, 9/08

Race Relations Act - why now?

Posted by admin

Thursday, 25 September 2008 10:30

We are proposing this act at a time when we arrest our citizens for no good reason and no trial, using the instrument of oppression no longer suitable for an ultra and hyper-modern society such as ours. Azly Rahman http://azlyrahman-illuminations.blogspot.com/ This sounds like a good idea; but why after 51 years of independence? We should have had this act to prevent the emergence of race-based parties and to ensure that all citizens be given equal opportunity and the rights and privileges accorded to them as a result of surrendering their natural rights to the state. After 51 years of the institutionalisation of ethnocentrism and many times outright racism in terms of allocation of resources, open-secret indoctrinations, and the exploitation of racial and religious issues for political gain, we are now proposing an act to improve race-relations? I am now puzzled – by the inherent contradictions we are confronting and will continue to confront vis-à-vis this proposed act. Questions abound Since the government had asked citizens like me to make suggestions and seek clarification concerning this proposed act, I have the following questions: How will we judge the existing race-based parties that live and breathe on racial sentimentality to the point of being seditious in their pursuit of hegemony? How will this act be used against governmental institutions such as the Biro Tata Negara whose livelihood has historically been based upon making sure that the damaging ideology of Malay (Pseudo) supremacy will forever prevail? How will this act be used against public-funded educational institutions that promote "Ketuanan Melayu" which is clearly antithetical to our will to teach multi-racial understanding? How many members of Parliament will be arrested under the Race Relations Act based on the nature of speeches they had given? How many teachers and public servants will be investigated for using their position to deny their students and clients respectively the rights to be treated equally before the Constitution - rights accorded regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, color, creed, and religious orientation? How many years of the possibility of multicultural education and intercultural understanding have we lost as a consequence of not having a Race Relations Act way back on Sept 16, 1963 during the formation of Malaysia? How many racist policymakers in governmental and non-governmental sectors have we produced as a result of no Race Relations Act? How many racist youth party leaders have we given birth to and how many can we afford to see "cloned" and "artificially inseminated" as a result of the absence of any act that erases racism and curbs arrogance and greed? How will this proposed act, if passed, abolish the Internal Security Act that has been used to crush amongst others, those who oppose race-based policies and fight for racial and social justice? How will this act allow for the passage of a new brand of politics – one that sees a truly multiracial party ruling the country and implementing policies based on the philosophy of equality, equal opportunity, excellence and empathy? We are proposing this act at a time when we arrest our citizens for no good reason and no trial, using the instrument of oppression no longer suitable for an ultra and hyper-modern society such as ours. We are proposing this out of desperation and out of sync with the mass sentiment of the day; at a time when the Berlin Wall of our Balkanized race relations is crumbling by the day, each brick in the wall ripped off by the power of the digital tsunami. We are hearing this proposal coming from a race-based coalition government that wants to ensure that the divide and conquer and sub-divide and sub-conquer policies of British colonialism prevail in the filter-funneled minds of our little brown brothers and sisters. The need to go deeper Perhaps what we need is not another act to add to the ambivalence of acts such as The University and University Colleges and the Internal Security Acts but to go deeper into our public institutions and ask why we have not progressed much in race relations after all these decades. We should investigate further how the New Economic Policy itself as a grand Stalinist-inspired programme of national development has contributed not only to the deterioration of race relations but has cemented racism in newer forms – both subtle and open. We should investigate how the topic race relations has been taught in our community centers, schools, universities, and other public institutions to see what goes into the mind of our citizens by way of schooling, indoctrination, training, and education – to see what went wrong and what is still not right. We should examine governmental policies and see if we indeed uncover practices that promote equality, equal opportunity, and empathy in place; policies that ought to have improved race relations, inclusionary, and integrate rather than disintegrate the different races. This will be a mind-boggling noble proposal for us to contribute ideas. Do we need a new act? Or will a new government with a brand new ideology suffice? But as peace and justice-loving Malaysians, let us offer constructive ideas to this proposed act. Let us propose that only a truly multiracial party that has the will, motivation, intelligence and the set of acquired skills should be given the mandate to implement a Race Relations Act. Any communal-based party is too much a contradiction to put their act together on this one. _______________________________________________ I APPEAL TO THE MALAYSIAN GOVERNMENT TO RELEASE RAJA PETRA KAMARUDIN IMMEDIATELY AND UNCONDITIONALLY AND RELEASE ALL THE ISA DETAINEES AS WELL AND CONSEQUENTLY REPEAL THE ISA AND ALL OTHER INTOLERABLE ACTS REPLACE THE ISA with the INTELLECTUAL SUSTAINABILITY ACT INSTEAD ______________________________________________ PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION ---> HERE <--- Comments (29) ... written by Tom n Jerry, September 25, 2008 10:52:49 What we want is a Malaysian Malaysia,noe racial Malaysia;if only BN & UMNO can get this into their thick heads,then many problems would have been solved;harmony & solidarity will prevail and our economy will improve also;not busy fighting one another,each trying to oust the other;this is the present scenario;how pathetic! report abuse disagree 0 agree 15 ... written by batsman, September 25, 2008 10:55:33 It is obvious why - it is to cement the status quo or "cast the status quo in stone." report abuse disagree 0 agree 5 ... written by ahmadneil, September 25, 2008 10:59:15 We don't need this shit.What we need now is to release RPK immediately. report abuse disagree 1 agree 23 ... written by Kunta Kinte, September 25, 2008 11:18:23 One another note, Najib has canceled his trip to the UN conference. Obviously, a plot to avoid questions with regards the usage of ISA in Malaysia.Another liar! report abuse disagree 1 agree 18 ... written by SocratesI, September 25, 2008 11:21:08 How can Racists in UMNO/ BN understand what good race relations are, and draft such an Act constructively ?? We don't need this now. We just need Pakatan RAKYAT to take over and have in place a democracy that can be sustained with a Civil Society in place with due process of the Law (we need an independent Judiciary for this!). That is all I need for my birthday present. Not too much to ask for, certainly ??!! FREE RPK & ALL ISA detainees ! REPEAL the ISA ! report abuse disagree 0 agree 21 ... written by batsman, September 25, 2008 11:21:54 No, No! Just cowardly - cannot face international disapproval and condemnation. Guilty conscience to great - whatever is left of it. This jaguh kampung / great "glokal" can only bully Malaysians. report abuse disagree 0 agree 9 ... written by batsman, September 25, 2008 11:25:56 The only real race relations act that makes any sense is to enshrine equality of all races and any discrimination based on race, religion or gender must be punished. Punishing people who hurt "sensitivities" is just trying to cement the status quo. report abuse disagree 0 agree 6 ... written by slash n burn, September 25, 2008 11:28:28 For sure, Ketuanan UMNO can go to HELL!! report abuse disagree 1 agree 8 ... written by DontPlayGod, September 25, 2008 11:31:07 Race Relations Act? Can this be for real? You mean, UMNO is prepared to give up the NEP, special rights, special privileges, ketuanan Melayu, cronyism, all scholarship and job offers/promotion to be based on merits, all races allowed and given support for the maintenance of their cultures, languages, etc.? Unbelievable!! It must be a dream! report abuse disagree 0 agree 10 ... written by hakuna, September 25, 2008 11:57:19 Dr.Azly - We all know the government if full of crap and this is one of it. They arrest RPK who literally unifies all Malaysians without colour or creed and yet talk about this. I am longing to see the silver lining behind the dark clouds which has been clouding Malaysia for the last 51 years. TRUTH will always prevail but TRUTH (RPK) is shut off from the world!!!!!! report abuse disagree 0 agree 14 ... written by teo siew chin, September 25, 2008 12:23:27 We do not need any piece of legislature when we have the country's supreme law - The Federal Constitution - which safeguard equality for all! Our relationships with each other should come from our hearts - Love our neighbours as we love ourselves. It has always been so with the rakyat of this nation ... until somebody(ies) stir up shit! report abuse disagree 0 agree 6 ... written by cheekhiaw, September 25, 2008 12:35:55 It is like thieves seting up property protection laws after they have stolen from others. No unlike the whites in Americas and Australia the last few hundred years... xxx report abuse disagree 0 agree 5 ... written by peace, September 25, 2008 13:04:42 RACISM in Malaysia has been legalised with the stupid quota system, government project, GLC recruitment quota, local university and etc ... Malaysia is the one and only place in the world practice such racist system. Racial harmony? To UMNOK, Please GET LOST from Sabah and we NEVER WELCOME you racist party to brainwash our sabahan especially the muslim and to apply your divide and rule tactic to the muslim and non muslim. report abuse disagree 1 agree 10 ... written by skc, September 25, 2008 13:53:15 But as peace and justice-loving Malaysians, let us offer constructive ideas to this proposed act. Constructive indeed, most of the comments here. Hahahahahaha. report abuse disagree 0 agree 3 ... written by asguard, September 25, 2008 14:38:29 We already have a flip flop government and now they come up with the flip flop race act... which i see no differents just to suits their taste... report abuse disagree 0 agree 7 ... written by mucking fuddled, September 25, 2008 14:52:39 dear dr azly, i am deeply disappointed at your enthusiastic optimism this time. do you actually think they are serious? it is pure propaganda...thats 'why now'? and we have seen many of that. not a single one of them have the guts or the determinations....and i certainly can't see jeanne's lover boy a likely candidate.... any dumb camel who is brave enough to bring the subject up in UMNO's MT would probably wet his pants out of fear. its the hornet's nest of fascists and racists there..... report abuse disagree 0 agree 6 ... written by shangrilapeace, September 25, 2008 15:42:06 Petition No. now is at No.27600. Yesterday, RPK said "Marina, supporters will forget about me 3 months later, please tell them not to forget me". Let not the excitement, speed & hunger to read the 'Latest Updates' in MT distracted you from signing the petition effortlessly at the end of this article. Just click 'Sign the Petition here' check it out and decide whether to sign or not. All it need is a name and an email. The importance of letting RPK knows in his 'cell' that the Nos. are rocketing up quickly during his detention is giving him strength, pride and worth. Give me some allowances for saying, 'Please disregard and dilute your negative perception that this petition is only forwarded to the PM'. I am sure the organisers knows what they are doing. This is the least we can do for a man going for broke just for our benefit and the love of our country. Can we No.38,000 today? We can with your kind support. Please sign now lest we forget. Thank you. Support RPK, Hindraf and others. Release them now. Abolish ISA! report abuse disagree 0 agree 8 ... written by shangrilapeace, September 25, 2008 15:52:51 An Act, even a simple one will only work today if the 'House' is free from rodents. The only one able to do it is Anwar & PR, not anyone in the 'House' currently. Maybe today, tomorrow, next week... As long as Anwar, PR and righteous players are in. Be calm, be patience. Peace. report abuse disagree 0 agree 1 ... written by Hakim Joe, September 25, 2008 16:09:35 "This sounds like a good idea; but why after 51 years of independence?" - Dr Azly Rahman _______________________________________________________ ___ Has being in another country addled your brains, Dr Azly? Good idea? You mean that the Gomen needs a Law to regulate relations between Malaysians of different races? Isn’t the Federal Constitution supposed to protect all races? This is the worst kind of legislation: It assumes legal providence to control and manipulate race relations. The NEP/NDP will be extremely mild compared to the verbiage of this Act. The perfect opportunity for Ketuanan Melayu. The perfect opportunity for another disguised ISA. It might be called the Race Relations Act here in Malaysia but I don't think it is any different from apartheid. Same basis for incarceration without trial as race relations (or the lack of it) can be construed as an act to destabilize the country. ISA is already bad enough, now you rejoice in the enactment of a Racist Act? Sounds like a good idea? I can understand that your ethnicity subconsciously impels you to support such a Law even though your editorial submissions say otherwise. Do you know the meaning of the word "hypocrite"? Do you really mean what you write or are you writing just to allow all Malaysians to know the extent of your mastery of the Queen's Language? You are now officially listed amongst the ever-growing list of "disappointments". 916, 31 or more (actually 17), have/haven’t/will/won’t sent a letter to Agong, etc. report abuse disagree 1 agree 5 ... written by Beezee_Beezee, September 25, 2008 16:40:49 For us in East Malaysia Sabah in Particular, we have so many inter- marriages and we cannot even think of racial issue as our grand mothers are of different races and most of our children are coming from different mixtures. So PLEASE don’t talk to us about RACE RELATIONS ACT? It does not exist. Only in Semenanjung that the UMNOputras are yet to have inter-marriages so that they would not have issue of NEP and what not. We have been living in SABAH for so many years and we don’t wish to collaborate on this ACT just because we are in BN. Perhaps the East Malaysia BN MPs put their head together and oppose this stupid idea. Common Malaysian we are moving forward not backwards. Though many West Malaysian still thinks East Malaysian Lives on TREES, But we are more advance in-term of racial intergration. Belajar lah Dari Kitani di SABAH BAH. Hidup Pekatan Rakyat Hidup RPK. report abuse disagree 0 agree 3 ... written by bengali kunday, September 25, 2008 20:53:24 Beezee_Beezee, we don't think you live on trees, but something similar. I thought you lot live as extended families in something known as long houses. report abuse disagree 2 agree 0 ... written by johntyc, September 26, 2008 01:18:32 The purpose of the proposed race relations act is to further divide and separate all of us! Can't we all just simply be Bangsa Malaysia? I'm ashamed because this is what we achieved after 51 years. report abuse disagree 0 agree 4 ... written by renoir, September 26, 2008 01:48:16 A most wonderful essay - precise and concise with delicious wit and irony. For example: "We are proposing this act at a time when we arrest our citizens for no good reason and no trial, using the instrument of oppression no longer suitable for an ultra and hyper-modern society such as ours." In short, it's like Al Capone proposing a law to forbid gangsterism, Sharon Stone scolding budding actresses for revealing too much, or SemiValue deploring MIC members for not taking a stance against the wanton demolition of Indian temples. As Teo Siew Chin notes, "Our relationships with each other should come from our hearts - Love our neighbours as we love ourselves. It has always been so with the rakyat of this nation ... until somebody(ies) stir up shit! " And that's the rub - a Race Relations Act cannot be genuine when it's proposed by people who "stir up shit." Such proposals are mere diversions, ruses meant to deflect the public's accusations of racism by those from or associated with the ruling class. There're other kinds of diversions, including accusing an opposition party of chauvinism when the powers-that-be are Chauvinists with a capital C, implying that members of another opposition party are religious fanatics when, again, it was the ruling party that promotes body-snatching acts, that arrests people for holding hands, that advises Christians not to use the name Jesus during Christmas carolling. Other than projecting their own sins on others, a recent favorite diversion by like-minded people (or mouthpieces) is the topic of vernacular schools. Such schools, they say, doesn't help national unity. Remember again that the people who would bathe their keris in Chinese blood aren't from vernacular schools. The people who raise their keris and threaten May 13 aren't from vernacular schools either. Nor are the people who called others "orang asing," "pendatang," "squatters" and so on from vernacular schools. Nope. In most cases, these are either people from national schools where the mixture of races are supposed to make them broadminded, or from international schools where diversity is surely present throughout their school lives. Strange, isn't it, that national schools and international schools, with all their glorified interaction of race, culture, and religion, could produce some of the worst racist scums in history - that such schools could turn out people who promoted the Hitlerite Racial Supremacy concept, who saw nothing wrong with special privileges based on the accident of birth, who considered any question on such privileges to be a crime worthy of the Sedition Act or even the ISA. The fact is that the medium of instruction has little to do with anyone's racism and/or religious fanaticism. The CONTENT of instruction, however, could've serious effects. Schools with teachers inculcating hatred towards other races or religions are more poisonous that a viper's pit. And matters become worse when the culprits are not punished or even reprimanded, but merely transfered to another, perhaps even better-equipped school. And what's occurring in many schools of keris-waving mentality is replicated in other public institutions where racial ideology is facilitated because of the practice of hiring by race. If somehow such institutions managed to avoid race consciousness, BTN would be around to see that they don't. It's believed that fish gets rotten first at the head, and from there spreads to the rest of the body. Unless those with power change their ways - and the arrest of RPK shows that such a change is less likely than Teresa Kok falling in love with Mohd Toyol - all talk about better race relations or getting rid of corruption or reforming the judiciary is just Bollywood fluff, meant to distract us from seeing the evil of a regime that has overstayed its 1957 mandate. LChuah report abuse disagree 1 agree 13 ... written by teo siew chin, September 26, 2008 08:52:07 Hi LChuah, hope you are doing well! As usual a good write-up from you and "Teresa Kok falling in love with Mohd Toyol" is the freakiest statement ever! But perhaps that is the greatest challenge ever? "He is a rebel, a heretic, a lout He drew a circle to shut us out But love and I have the wit to win We drew a circle and embraced him in." report abuse disagree 0 agree 4 ... written by cruzeiro, September 26, 2008 19:13:28 No need to get puzzled, azly! In the interest of being a "developed nation", we need to have "Acts" on everything. The Parliament will soon be debating several procedures coming from the Home Ministry, like 1. Ablutions Act 2. Courting (aka Boyfriend/Girlfriend) Act 3. Consanguity act 4. Sexual positions Act 5. Abusive Teacher Act 6. Civilized Umno Method of Insulting Act 7. Insulting Eggs Act 8. Breeding Umno Imbeciles (aka Toyols) Act 9. Hairstyle Act (not applicable for Botaks - especially Yemenis) 10. STFU Act and many more ...... Any civilized Umno country would need all these things, Doc! Don't the barbarians in the west have all these? report abuse disagree 0 agree 3 ... written by cruzeiro, September 26, 2008 19:15:57 Oh sorry ... The last (STFU act - that's the real name actually, in case you didn't know) has already been achieved under the name of ISA. Malaysia Boleh!!! report abuse disagree 0 agree 2 ... written by renoir, September 26, 2008 23:38:07 Hi Teo, that's a nice poem, but what if ... He kicked and screamed and scuffled about And broke the circle as he shouted loud: "Neither love nor wit nor ruse could pin My heart to your circle, so don't begin." By for now LChuah report abuse disagree 0 agree 2 ... written by teo siew chin, September 27, 2008 16:00:37 aiya L Chuah - dont lah so negative! and yes he may kick and scream and shout and break the circle many times no doubt but love and I will not stop till we win we'll keep mending the circle until he is finally in ! report abuse disagree 0 agree 1 ... written by onnetline, September 28, 2008 22:24:29 BN-UMNO shitheads, Our colonial master, the British have already established ' Race Relations and Hatred ACT ' in their country to treat everyone or race(s) fairly ! Being a racist today is totally outdated and deem arrogant in nature. report abuse disagree 0 agree 1 Write comment This content has been locked. You can no longer post any comment. You must be logged in to a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet.