monthly - aliranaliran monthly : vol.32(10) page 4 egates, one could not but palpa-bly sense that...

Aliran Monthly : Vol.32(10) PP3739/12/2012(031205) ISSN 0127 - 5127 PP3739/12/2012(031205) ISSN 0127 - 5127 PP3739/12/2012(031205) ISSN 0127 - 5127 PP3739/12/2012(031205) ISSN 0127 - 5127 PP3739/12/2012(031205) ISSN 0127 - 5127 RM4.00 RM4.00 RM4.00 RM4.00 RM4.00 2012:Vol.32No.102012:Vol.32No.102012:Vol.32No.102012:Vol.32No.102012:Vol.32No.10For Justice, Freedom & SolidarityFor Justice, Freedom & SolidarityFor Justice, Freedom & SolidarityFor Justice, Freedom & SolidarityFor Justice, Freedom & Solidarity

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Aliran Monthly : Vol.32(10)

acial sentiments ranhigh, tears flowed, therhetoric became warlike,13th May’s ghost was

resurrected and even God was in-voked during the 66th UnitedMalays National Organisation(Umno)’s convention which

wound to its close on the first dayof December 2012. Gearing up forthe ‘mother of all elections’ due tobe held within months, Umnoleaders were striking out a pos-ture of solidarity and rallying thetroops. However, belying thepomp, decibels and camaraderie

was an undertone of the domi-nant political party of Malaysialosing much of its ‘mojo’ andsomewhat in a survival mode.

Milling around the conventionpremises and listening to the emo-tionally charged speeches of del-

COVER STORY

Malays ia ’s Umno insurvival modeUmno itself faces the rise of an unprecedented number ofyoung and more urbanised voters who have little appetite forneither its old-style racial politics nor its ersatz Islamism

by Johan Saravanamuttu

RRRRR


Umno faces the rise of an unexpected number ofyoung, more urbanised voters who have little appe-tite for its old-style racial politics nor its version ofIslamism. Johan Saravanamuttu, who attended theparty’s recent general assembly, shares with us hisimpression of a party that appears to be in survivalmode.

Umno simply cannot cope with the arrival of NewPolitics in Malaysia. In our back-cover story FrancisLoh says the party continues to manipulate ethno-religious issues to delay the emergence of a NewPolitics associated with justice, equality and free-dom and the push towards a more democratic two-party system.

This focus on racial politics has contributed to Ma-laysia finding itself in a communal rut. If we are toget out of this situation, we have to learn to respecteach other, individually and as communities of vari-ous ethnicities and faiths, says Angeline Loh. In asecond article, she listens to a Rohingyas refugeepouring out his despair over the agonising hard-ships faced by their families at home.

Cecil Rajendra reviews a couple of books by masterphotographers Ismail Hashim and Ooi Cheng Ghee.Penang, he says, is fortunate to have in the duo twoblack-and-white photographers par excellence.

Finally, Jeyakumar Devaraj provides an alternativevision for transport for the country. We need to bringtogether a coalition of individuals and groups whoare committed to sustainable transport and put iton the national agenda.

C O N T E N T S

EDITOR'S NOTE

COVER STORYCOVER STORYCOVER STORYCOVER STORYCOVER STORY••••• Malaysia's UMNO In SurvivalMalaysia's UMNO In SurvivalMalaysia's UMNO In SurvivalMalaysia's UMNO In SurvivalMalaysia's UMNO In Survival

ModeModeModeModeMode 22222

FEATURESFEATURESFEATURESFEATURESFEATURES••••• Can Malaysia RelinquishCan Malaysia RelinquishCan Malaysia RelinquishCan Malaysia RelinquishCan Malaysia Relinquish

Communal Governance?Communal Governance?Communal Governance?Communal Governance?Communal Governance? 99999••••• An Alternative Vision ForAn Alternative Vision ForAn Alternative Vision ForAn Alternative Vision ForAn Alternative Vision For

Transport In MalaysiaTransport In MalaysiaTransport In MalaysiaTransport In MalaysiaTransport In Malaysia 1 21 21 21 21 2••••• Dialogue With A RohingyaDialogue With A RohingyaDialogue With A RohingyaDialogue With A RohingyaDialogue With A Rohingya

RefugeeRefugeeRefugeeRefugeeRefugee 2 82 82 82 82 8••••• Shame On You, ShahrizatShame On You, ShahrizatShame On You, ShahrizatShame On You, ShahrizatShame On You, Shahrizat 2 62 62 62 62 6••••• Arrival Of New PoliticsArrival Of New PoliticsArrival Of New PoliticsArrival Of New PoliticsArrival Of New Politics

Undermines The Old PoliticsUndermines The Old PoliticsUndermines The Old PoliticsUndermines The Old PoliticsUndermines The Old Politics 4040404040

REGULARSREGULARSREGULARSREGULARSREGULARS••••• Current ConcernsCurrent ConcernsCurrent ConcernsCurrent ConcernsCurrent Concerns 3 03 03 03 03 0••••• LettersLettersLettersLettersLetters 3 83 83 83 83 8

OTHERSOTHERSOTHERSOTHERSOTHERS••••• Master PhotographersMaster PhotographersMaster PhotographersMaster PhotographersMaster Photographers 1 61 61 61 61 6••••• Aliran SurveyAliran SurveyAliran SurveyAliran SurveyAliran Survey 2 32 32 32 32 3••••• Invasion Of The El-Gee-Be-Tees!Invasion Of The El-Gee-Be-Tees!Invasion Of The El-Gee-Be-Tees!Invasion Of The El-Gee-Be-Tees!Invasion Of The El-Gee-Be-Tees! 2 52 52 52 52 5••••• Aliran Goes Digital, BroadensAliran Goes Digital, BroadensAliran Goes Digital, BroadensAliran Goes Digital, BroadensAliran Goes Digital, Broadens

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egates, one could not but palpa-bly sense that Umno was a partyunder siege. Umno, as the politi-cal engineer of the unbroken 50-plus-year rule of the BarisanNasional (BN), may indeed havebeen responsible for the loss of theruling coalition’s customary two-thirds majority of seats in Parlia-ment and five state governmentsin the 2008 general election, itsworst electoral outing to date.

The fact that the Umno’s PresidentNajib Razak, who is also thePrime Minister, has held backfrom calling a general election upuntil today suggests that Umnoand its coalition partners con-tinue to have doubts that theirperformance in the forthcomingelection would be up to par. Thewindow to call the election closescompletely on 28 April 2013 bywhich time the government wouldhave served out its maximum termof five years. The Election Com-mission would then have the op-tion to hold the election withintwo months.

On the final day of the Assembly,Umno president Najib Razakvowed to win back the two-thirdsmajority of seats in Parliament butall indications are that the BN willfall short in the upcoming election.Serious political analysts see theBN winning only a simple major-ity of the 222 parliamentary seatsup for contest and unlikely towrest back all the state govern-ments of Penang, Kedah,Kelantan and Selangor lost in2008. Moreover, it may stand thechance of losing Perak, whichwas turned over when threePakatan Rakyat (People Alliance)

law-makers hopped out of theopposition coalition in February2009.

Umno’s 79 seats constitute about36 per cent of the total numberwon by the BN and if its penin-sula coalition partners MCA, MICand Gerakan fail to retain theircurrent hold on 20 seats, thiscould spell real trouble. Furtherhaemorrhaging could occur inSabah and Sarawak, where non-Umno coalition parties hold 41seats for the BN. Indeed, if thingsturn out much worse than before,the scenario of an Opposition winis not unthinkable.

The argument advanced in thisarticle is that Umno and its part-ners in BN have lost its “first-mover-advantage” as the rulingcoalition in Malaysia for the lastfive decades or more and nowfaces decreasing returns on insti-tutional arrangements and pro-cesses that it has pioneered, par-ticularly when a new successfulplayer, in this case, the PR, entersthe scene. (For an exposition ofthe notion of increasing returns inpath-dependent analysis, see Paul

Pierson, “Increasing Returns,Path Dependence, and the Studyof Politics,” The American PoliticalScience Review 94, no. 2 (June 2000):251-267.)

This scenario has been given cre-dence because the PR has beengaining ground in Sarawak andSabah since 2008, the two solidstronghold states of the BN. In theApril 2011 state election inSarawak, the PR won a total of 15seats which could well translateinto six to eight parliamentaryseats in the coming GE 13. InSabah, two BN MPs, Lajim Ukinof Umno and Wilfred Bumburingof Upko, left their respective par-ties in July 2012 and have set up aPR-friendly entity. Earlier in 2009,the SAPP, led by former ChiefMinister Yong Teck Lee, alsoweaned itself out of the BN. TheBN’s total of 140 seats could welldecrease significantly given thesedevelopments.

But what about Umno itself,would it able to retain its currentshare of seats or increase them?Why does the party convention of2012 evince an unmistakable tinge

T h i n k a b l eopposition win?


of defensiveness and insecurity?

To understand Umno’s currentpredicament, it will be necessaryto backtrack to 2008. Umno held alittle over half the Malay groundin terms of popular votes andseats in 2008. One estimate putMalay support for the BN at some58 per cent. The BN itself won justover 50 per cent of the popularvote. It is hard to actually accu-rately measure the percentage ofMalay support for Umno through-out the country but on the basis ofUmno’s performance contra thatof the Islamic party, Pas, in theMuslim heartland of the EastCoast and the northern Malaystates of the Peninsula, one couldventure some more fine-grain in-terpretations of the Malay vote.

Umno’s slippage in retainingMalay support has been evidentover the years with the concomi-tant rising presence of Pas. Anadditional element is the PKRpresence in the more urban Malayareas. The table below shows thepercentage of votes won by par-liamentary candidates of the Op-position (mainly Pas and PKR) inPerlis, Kedah, Kelantan andTerengganu from 1995-2008. (Ex-tracted from table in JohanSaravanamuttu, “Twin CoalitionPolitics in Malaysia since 2008: APath Dependent Framing andAnalysis” Contemporary South-

east Asia, Vol. 34, No. 1, 2012,p.105.)

Perlis has remained an Umnostronghold but even so there hasbeen a slippage of 3.6 per cent ofvotes. The slippage in Kedah wasparticularly evident and this sawthe government change for thefirst time to the PR. In terms ofpopular votes in Terengganu, themargin of change in the last elec-tion was low after a surge in 1999.The chances are that in the 13thGE, Kelantan will remain firmlyin Pas’ grip and unless there is areverse swing of votes in Kedah,it will remain under Pas leader-ship as well. There would be adistinct possibility forTerengganu to be back in the em-brace of Pas.

After an unprecedented 16 by-

elections held after the 2008 GE, ithas been ‘even stevens’ betweenBN and the PR. This suggests thatBN-PR strengths have largely re-mained unchanged and that thetwo-coalition system has contin-ued to track.

One particular by-election illus-trating the weakness of Umno vis-à-vis Pas was the contest overBukit Gantang, a parliamentaryconstituency with an electorate of55,471 voters lying on the out-skirts of Taiping town. A formerstronghold of Umno, it passedinto Pas’ hands at the 2008 elec-tion, the Islamic party capturinga credible majority of 1,566 votes.The death of the Pas assembly-man forced the 7 April 2009 by-election which saw the charis-matic Nizar Jamaluddin take onUmno’s Ismail Safian.

Umno’s pred i cament

StateStateStateStateState 1 9 9 51 9 9 51 9 9 51 9 9 51 9 9 5 1 9 9 91 9 9 91 9 9 91 9 9 91 9 9 9 20042004200420042004 20082008200820082008 Change 04-08Change 04-08Change 04-08Change 04-08Change 04-08

Perlis 3 1 . 5 43.8 36 .3 39.9 +3.6

Kedah 3 5 . 3 44.2 40.2 5 3 . 2 + 1 3 .0

Kelantan 56.7 60.9 48.7 55 .0 +6.3

Terengganu 45.4 58.7 43.6 44.7 + 1 . 1


In the event Nizar, the deposedMenteri Besar of Perak, won theseat with an increased majority of2,789. An analysis by Pas showedthat Nizar may have won only 43per cent of the Malay votes. Theresults showed that the more ru-ral areas of Trong gave Umno amajority of votes while the moreurban regions around Sepang,Bukit Gantang proper and KualaSepetang gave Nizar sizeablemajorities. Nizar won the seat bycapturing a sizable portion of theMalay votes, but in Malaysianpolitics today, this is a necessarybut not a sufficient condition forsuccess. Nizar had to win thenon-Malay votes by a good mar-gin and he did.

Thus, in particular constituencies,non-Malay voters have becomekingmakers whenever the Malayvote is split down the middle. Itwas clear that Nizar swept thenon-Malay, mostly Chinese votes,sometimes to the tune of 80 percent. A field trip to KualaSepatang (formerly Port Weld),provided the author with the dis-tinct impression that the Chinesefishing community seemed totallysupportive of Nizar, who in hisshort tenure as Chief Minister hadlegalised Temporary OperatingLicence (TOL) land to Chinesefarmers and other tenants.

For a comparison, let us now turnto the Tenang by-election in Johorheld on 30 January 2011. This 14thby-election witnessed a resur-gence of voter support for Umno,but fell short of the 5,000 vote ma-jority that it had expected. Umnotook the seat by a majority of 3,707,some 1,200 more than what itgained during 2008 with a voterturnout of 9,833, which is only 67per cent of the electorate. Wide-

spread flooding in the constitu-ency during voting day accountedfor the low voter turnout.

Tenang practically exhibits thepeninsular template of Malay-Chinese-Indian distribution (49-38-12, and 1 per cent “others”)and its result was seen by someas a barometer of the state of playin Malaysian electoral politics.The Umno candidate AzaharIbrahim may have swept morethan 80 per cent of the Malay vote.The Pas challenger, NormalaSudirman, evidently won the Chi-nese vote, but the numbers mayhave shrunk somewhat since2008. This was thought to be be-cause of the low voter turnoutamong the Chinese. She was ableonly to win a majority in the 95per cent Chinese polling area ofLabis Tengah but lost in LabisTimor and in Labis Station, whichhad lower Chinese percentages.

The DAP claim is that she stillpicked up the majority of Chinesevotes. DAP publicity chief TonyPua suggested that Umno’sAzahar Ibrahim received 83.3 percent of Malay votes, up four per-centage points from 2008. Thiswas helped by an 81 per cent turnout by Malay voters. The Indianvote also went to BN, but the com-munity had a low 40 per cent turn-out. The by-election was marredby massive flooding and manyvoters had to be ferried to pollingstations in police boats.

The Tenang by-election result wasalready predictable before votingday and only the margin of vic-tory was at issue. As such, the in-teresting points to be made con-cern the different styles, tacticsand approach to by-elections ofMalaysia’s twin coalition system:

Umno clearly optimized on a strat-egy of using its copious resourcesand electoral machinery withgreat effect, while Pas flounderedunder the weight of Umno’s mo-nopoly of state resources.

The by-election outcomes beg thequestion of what is animatingpolitics on the ground today andhere is where we could turn to therecent Umno assembly for somepointers. ( BN went on to win thefinal two by-elections on 6 March2011 in Malacca, namely, in thestate seats of Merlimau andKerdau, previously held byUmno. The Electoral Commissionruled in April 2011 that theywould be no further by-electionsas three years had elapsed sincethe last election.)

A considerable amount of timeand energy was devoted by del-egates to pillorying and mockingPas for its inability of fulfilling itspromise of an Islamic state andwatering down its agenda to thatof a negara berkebajikan (welfarestate) because of the objection ofits alliance partner DAP. ThusUmno continues to target Pas asits main opponent. The delegatefrom Perlis, a religious scholar,Fathul Bari, played two videoclips of the recent Pas convention,showing PasS spiritual leaderNik Aziz leading a prayer callingfor Umno’s destruction and alleg-edly dubbing Umno members asmurtad (apostates). The Umno del-egates jeered loudly, evidentlyscandalised by Tok Guru’s venomfor the party.

But herein also lies Umno’s Achil-les heel; constituted originally asbasically a secularist politicalparty, it has increasingly beenforced to meet the challenge of


Pas’ Islamist politics and so far ithas fared rather poorly. The morereligious Muslims who supportPas consider Umno’s attempts tobe ersatz.

The contestation of Umno withPas on the Islamic terrain has tobe understood in the context ofPas’ relentless critique of Umnoas a corrupt, unethical party andone incapable of implementingIslamic values and policies.Umno’s riposte has been merelyto up the ante on its own Islamiccredentials. All Umno prime min-isters since Mahathir have at-tempted to implement a host ofIslamisation policies, recruitedreligious scholars and propo-nents into the party, and havetermed Malaysia an “Islamicstate”.

Under Najib, the government hasintroduced the notion ofwasatiyyah (moderation) whichinter alia accepts the presence ofother faiths but without puttingthem on par with Islam. Najib inspeeches before and during thisassembly openly rejected the no-tions of “liberalism” and “reli-gious pluralism”. Delegates dur-ing the assembly attacked Pas forsupporting LGBT (Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender) rights andpointed to Pas’ support of Bersihchairperson Ambiga Sreenivasanas evidence of this. (Ambiga, alsoa former Bar Council President,was slotted to chair a session todiscuss LGTB rights in theSeksualiti Merdeka Festival inNovember 2011. The festival wasstopped by the government.)

It is of supreme irony that Umno,the erstwhile Malay secularistparty now postures itself as anIslamist party while Pas, the pu-

tative Islamic party, has begun totake on more progressive agendasand stances on contemporary is-sues.

A defensive Umno has evidentlymoved beyond its familiar attackof non-Malays – symbolised bythe ‘keris rattling’ of Umno Youth– to a more frontal confrontationwith its religious foe Pas. Put dif-ferently, Umno’s polemical ter-rain appears to have shifted oneremove beyond its preoccupationwith the notion of ketuanan Melayu(Malay supremacy).

This said, Malay supremacy stillreared its head and remained asan important trope of the latestUmno assembly. It was clearlyinvoked in the speeches of thewomen’s chief, Shahrizat AbdulJalil, and deputy youth leaderReezal Merican Nainan Merican.One spun out the familiar threatto non-Malays of the possible re-currence of a May 13 event shouldUmno lose the Malay vote whilethe other famously announcedthat Umno was a party anointedby God.

On a more defensive plane, ayoung delegate representing theUmno clubs abroad struck a reso-nance with all and sundry whenhe started to sing a Biro TataNegara (BTN) propaganda songlamenting the surrender of indig-enous lands and possessions toforeign occupiers. (BTN or theNational Civics Bureau organisesorientation programmes forMalay students and civil ser-vants.)

But the tear-jerking episode con-veyed a subliminal message that

Umno Malays have lost sight ofthe multi-racial politics advo-cated by its traditional leaderssuch as Tunku Abdul Rahmanand Tun Abdul Razak. Withoutdoubt, the Umno deputy youthleader Reezal Merican took racialpolitics to a new high when heimplied that the Malays wereGod’s chosen people.

Predictably, the Umno’s presi-dent opening address emphasisedthe crucial character of the 13thGE for the party’s future and itssurvival and he alluded to the sig-nificance of the 2.9m new voters.Again, this suggests that Umno isnot at all confident that it has cap-tured the youth vote. Indeed,young people were conspicuousby their low attendance at theUmno assembly. Some 10 or soUmno overseas club memberswere visible and the Puteri Umno(young women’s wing) wereclearly outnumbered by the Umnomakciks and pakciks (older folk).Speeches by Puteri representa-tives were underwhelming anddrew little fire.

The president’s speech was de-void of new policies as he trottedout the successes of his policies of

A defensive Umno


economic, political and govern-mental transformation. There wasno mention of how the governmenthas addressed the egregious prob-lems of corruption and crime. Heclearly avoided any reference tothe cyber rumblings that linkedthe first family to a land deal in-volving the Ministry of Defencealleged by one Deepak Jaikishan.Defence Minister Ahmad Zahidalso demurred responding to theDeepak allegations. (At the pointof writing, Deepak, a business-man and carpet dealer, has suedSelangor Umno women’s leaderRaja Ropiaah Abdullah’s com-pany Awan Megah for breach ofcontract and for allegedly cheat-ing him of millions of ringgit.Awan Megah was awarded aRM100m privatisation project toset up an intelligence centre bythe Defence Minister, it was al-leged. Deepak had also intimatedthat he was responsible for therecanting of a statutory declara-tion by private investigatorBalasubramanian which hadstated that Najib Razak had a re-lationship with the murderedMongolian woman AltantuyaShaariibuu (See The Malaysian In-sider, 30 November, 2012, and aFree Malaysia Today interview on

video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJaAcBA_E5g&)

Najib’s 45-minute concludingspeech provided hints of the prob-lems afflicting the party. He spokeof finding “winnable candidates”,the problem of “saboteurs” andchose to praise in the same breathboth ex-premiers Mahathir andAbdullah Badawi, known to be indifferent Umno camps. Furthercyber noise from former InspectorGeneral of Police Musa Hassanthat the Home Minister had inter-fered in his handling of arrests ofpersons of standing over criminalactivities also failed to draw anystrong response fromHishammuddin Hussein, theminister in question. With the go-ings-on inside and outside theparty, there were more thanenough suggestions that the partywas faction-ridden.

More tellingly, certain personali-ties appeared likely to be droppedas candidates in the coming GE.It has been common knowledgefor a long time that the UmnoYouth Chief Khairy Jamaluddin,Abdullah’s son-in-law, may notbe selected to defend his Rembauseat because of alleged blockingby Mahathir, who would like tosee his own son Mukhriz rise inthe party hierarchy. There havealso been incessant rumours cir-culating that Deputy PresidentMuhyiddin was ‘plotting’ for thepresident himself to under-per-form in the GE, while Najib’scousin, vice president Hisham-muddin, awaits a leg-up to thenext level should Muhyiddin fal-ter.

As the 66th Umno Assembly con-

Johan Saravanamuttu isJohan Saravanamuttu isJohan Saravanamuttu isJohan Saravanamuttu isJohan Saravanamuttu isSenior Visiting ResearchSenior Visiting ResearchSenior Visiting ResearchSenior Visiting ResearchSenior Visiting ResearchFellow at the Institute ofFellow at the Institute ofFellow at the Institute ofFellow at the Institute ofFellow at the Institute ofSouth East Asian StudiesSouth East Asian StudiesSouth East Asian StudiesSouth East Asian StudiesSouth East Asian Studies(ISEAS), Singapore.(ISEAS), Singapore.(ISEAS), Singapore.(ISEAS), Singapore.(ISEAS), Singapore.

cluded and the impending 13thGeneral Election looms large,Malaysia’s de facto ruling partymay not be able to find the meansto check its path-dependent de-cline. After more than five decadesof unparalleled success in helm-ing Malaysia save for a hiccup in1969, it now faces the prospect ofa possible loss of control of the fed-eral government following the di-sastrous electoral outcome of2008.

Path-dependent decline has evenbeen more evident in its coalitionpartners, the MCA and Gerakan,two Chinese-based parties whichhave lost their historical advan-tage to the DAP. Leadership prob-lems and haemorrhaging in theMIC has meant a splintering of theIndian vote mostly mopped up bythe Opposition front. Other coali-tion partners in Sabah andSarawak have fared much betterup till now but some decline isevident in last year’s state electionin Sarawak and in recent partydefections in Sabah.

Umno itself faces the rise of anunprecedented number of youngand more urbanised voters whohave little appetite for neither itsold-style racial politics nor its er-satz Islamism. Furthermore, fac-tionalism within the party lead-ership despite an outward showof solidarity is bound to affect itseffectiveness in securing desiredelectoral outcomes.

C o n c l u s i o n

q


n our current political environment, Ma-laysians are becoming more aware of whatwe tend to term, ‘racism’.

No doubt, since 13 May 1969, the word was oneconfined to whispers, as was discussion of the topicthat was mainly more open, behind closed doors.Yet, every now and then, the topic would emerge inverbal expression about an apparent incidence ofrace discrimination, by those who felt victimised inthis way.

Since the implementation of the New EconomicPolicy (NEP/DEB), the practice of affirmative ac-tion in favour of “bumiputra” made the system ofprivileges more visible, where selective ‘positive dis-crimination’ virtually became the unquestionablenorm. Within this environment, those who cameunder the select category (bumiputra) but seemed tobe sidelined, and those excluded (non-bumiputra)from the select category, carried on with compressedlips to maintain the peace and harmony of tolera-tion in the national interest. The subject of race dis-crimination became altogether taboo. [Bumiputra i.e.Orang Asal, and indigenous peoples of Sarawakand Sabah were more publicised by the mainstreammedia only recently since 2008. They had been ne-glected and exploited by the current administrationthat has dominated government for the past 49 yearssince Malaysia was formed in 1963.]

It was a peaceful toleration imposed with suppres-sion of dissent. Could we call this, peace or har-

ETHNIC RELATIONS

Can Malaysia relinquishcommunal governance?If Malaysians are determined to get out of this communal rut,we have to learn to respect each other, individually and ascommunities of various ethnicity and faiths

by Angeline Loh

IIIII


mony in our multiracial society? Such was the peaceof autocracy and dictatorship prevalent in most ofAsia and Africa after World War II when imperial-ist empires crumbled and nativenationalistic feelings ran highfor independence and sover-eignty. Malaya, like some otherBritish colonised territories wasleft with pockets of migrant mi-norities, living outside the tra-ditional system established bythe indigenous rulers, but ad-ministered by British colonialauthorities. There seemed nobridge between the two systems.The British never encouragedassimilation.

Many potentially sovereign na-tions in Southeast Asia had towrench independence out of thehands of colonial powers that came from WesternEurope, with the exception of Japan which greatestinfluence was achieved economically after the war.[Japan had a policy of colonisation through con-quest, particularly on the Chinese mainland but alsotowards Korea and Russia for a long time. The issuewas taken up at the war crimes trials in Tokyo afterWWII.]

Malaya, however, was picking itself up and seemedto be undecided on the question of independence.Different factions advocated different political so-lutions for the future. Yet, overall, there appears tohave been a feeling of ‘wait-and-see-when-the-Brits-come-back’ (according to most conventional histori-cal accounts). No specific body could claim to spear-head a popular united mobilisation towards inde-pendence or liberation from colonial rule, as washappening, for example, in Indonesia and Philip-pines. Malaya had no acknowledged popular de factoleadership to lead the charge towards independence.

With this kind of segmented political history, it wasinevitable that communalism became the mecha-nism of communal survival. It hung mainly on whothe former colonial government would favour asallies they could work with, to hammer out somekind of independence arrangement for a future sov-

ereign nation. It looked like the British colonial di-vide-and-rule tactic had succeeded too well in thiscountry. Obtaining independence was hailed by all

as an achievement; yet it turnedout to be more of an achieve-ment for some than for others.What had not been done in thiscountry was the exploration ofpolitical, economic and socialoptions under varied ideolo-gies to shape the future nation.No real discussion ensued fromthe anticipation of indepen-dence except the question of theposition of the Malay rulersand elite, who were the usualnegotiators with the Colonialauthorities.

In contrast, an intellectual re-naissance occurred in China in

the early 20th century with the New Culture Move-ment (the May 4th Movement, 1919),when Chinawas threatened with fragmentation by western im-perialist powers and Qing government reform at-tempts failed, causing it to flounder in political quick-sand. Intellectuals like Hu Shih held public discus-sions on pragmatism, Sun Yat-sen on republican-ism and nationalism, whilst Mao Zedong looked tothe Soviet Union for inspiration, but invented hisown brand of communism to suit his vision forChina. These ‘new’ ideas emerged as China searchedfor a viable ideology to protect its sovereignty andindependence from imperialist encroachment anddivision of the nation.

Malaya in contrast, faced two extremes i.e. absolutemonarchy of the sultans – the traditional set up ofgovernance in the Malay states, and authoritariancommunism, at that time, the newly adopted popu-list political system in China, the Soviet Union andits allies in Eastern Europe. The British in collabo-ration with the elite Malay ruling class installed asystem of constitutional monarchy over a system ofparliamentary democracy, a variation of what theyhad in the UK.

Nevertheless, this was only the framework aroundwhich other alternative systems could operate, asin Britain today. Perhaps, this was the middle pathto maintain the monarchy, appeasing the rulers of

Communal survival


the Malay states and the Malay elite, but leaving anopen end for populists’ choice of government, hope-fully, keeping democracy intact. What the Colonialauthorities seemed to overlook was that the indig-enous population had never known or experiencedany other system of government apart from monar-chical rule under the sultans and colonial rule. Boththese systems were not exactly democratic. They hadnever experienced democracy as such and were ig-norant of the nature of democracy in the Britishsense.

Despite their privileges and open opportunities tolearn from experience overseas, some of the Malayelites seemed to give the questions of governmentand governance of a sovereign nation less seriousconsideration than self-interested enjoyment andprofit. Onn Jaafar was an exception, who was sub-sequently ostracised by Umno for his supposedlyBritish-influenced ideas. Onn Jaafar perhaps under-stood the basic need for unity and equality in form-ing a nation better than many of his compatriots.Those from the Communists factions who also as-pired to Malayan independence were sidelined andsubsequently suppressed by the British with thesupport of the Malayan leaders they favoured.

In the Cold War aftermath (1947 -1991) of WorldWar II, the British interest lay in maintaining closelinks with their victorious western war allies; thusnurturing leaders of anticipated independent na-tions like Malaya was not their business. What mat-tered was the rebuilding of war-torn Europe andprotection of Western political and military inter-ests against the Soviet Union and its bloc of easternpartners.

The post-Second World War period also saw theofficial formation of the United Nations in 1945 andthe UN General Assembly that passed Resolution1514, Declaration on the Granting of Independenceto Colonial Territories and Peoples in 1960, intendedto free territories from colonial domination with aright of self-determination. Therefore, it was inBritain’s interest to be seen as justly handing overindependence to an erstwhile colony to fend for it-self, whilst concentrating on the British bid to be-come a world power.

Yet, the British are only partly to blame for the ini-

tial irresponsibility of the Malay elite in establish-ing a communally divided independent nation. Ba-sically, few amongst the initial leaders of this coun-try made an effort to think of its future as a unitedmultiracial nation or showed interest in the daunt-ing task of bringing cohesion to an initially dividedmultiracial society. The fault also lies with thosewho wanted to keep an iron hold on power indefi-nitely, through race and religious politics.

From this historical background of popular igno-rance and inexperience of democracy or any alter-native systems to unite Malaysia’s multiracial popu-lation in a spirit of fraternity beyond mere tolerance,we have much to learn. Still, at this point in time,when freedom of speech is selectively curtailed andthe more destructive and divisive elements in soci-ety are encouraged in their mission to cause uneaseand suspicion amongst the rakyat, hope lies in uni-fying for change. But, for how long?

If Malaysians are determined to get out of this com-munal rut, we have to learn to respect each other,individually and as communities of variousethnicity and faiths. We must grow out of givingway to impulsive reactions to irrational and falseperceptions and generalisations regarding the eth-nic profile of others. We must learn to ask intelligentand educated questions, without prejudging a situ-ation. Growing up is a difficult process - adoles-cence being one of the hardest to cope with. Yet, thatis possibly where we are, and we must not be defen-sive or discouraged by what we do not understandor know.

The will to learn and the determination to maturedoes not stop at common difficulties but muststruggle through this painful process to make thedream of justice, peace and unity a reality. With therealisation of a shared struggle in condemning cor-ruption, ethnic and religious aggravation, and cam-paigning for a true democracy as one people, a mile-stone has been reached. But there are many morealong the way before arriving at our destination oftrue unity and appreciation of being the people of aunited nation, called Malaysia.

Shared struggle

Little thought

Angeline Loh is an Aliran executive commit-Angeline Loh is an Aliran executive commit-Angeline Loh is an Aliran executive commit-Angeline Loh is an Aliran executive commit-Angeline Loh is an Aliran executive commit-tee member.tee member.tee member.tee member.tee member.

q


he transport system in Malaysia is in a ter-rible mess. It is expensive, polluting, un-sustainable and is causing serious conges-tions and frequent jams in our major urban

centres; it is manifestly inefficient on top of its othershortcomings! We shall look at these shortcomingsa little later. But first lets take a look at some perti-nent figures. There were a total of 600,123 new cars sold in Ma-laysia in 2011 (StarBiz 12 May 2012, article quotingMalaysian Automobile Association statistics). Ourper capita cars sales are high for a developing coun-try though not as high as the rates in Europe andthe USA. The table below summarises the figures -

In a reply to a question posed by Ngeh Koo Ham,the Member of Parliament for Beruas, the Ministerof transport said that there were 21m registered ve-hicles in Malaysia as of August 2011. The break-

down by type of vehicle given by the Minister isreflected in the Table below.

TRANSPORT

An alternative vision fortransport in MalaysiaWe need to bring together a coalition of individuals andgroups who are committed to sustainable public transportand put it on the national agenda

by Jeyakumar Devaraj

TTTTT

Country /RegionCountry /RegionCountry /RegionCountry /RegionCountry /Region PopulationPopulationPopulationPopulationPopulation Car sales in 2011Car sales in 2011Car sales in 2011Car sales in 2011Car sales in 2011 Car sales perCar sales perCar sales perCar sales perCar sales per1000 population1000 population1000 population1000 population1000 population

Malaysia 27 million 600 , 1 2 3 22 . 2

European Union 503.8 million 19.2 million2 3 8 . 1

USA 313.8 million 12.76 million2 40.7

China 1300 million 15.5 million2 1 1 . 9

Table One: Per Capita Car Sales in 2011Table One: Per Capita Car Sales in 2011Table One: Per Capita Car Sales in 2011Table One: Per Capita Car Sales in 2011Table One: Per Capita Car Sales in 2011

Category ofCategory ofCategory ofCategory ofCategory of NumberNumberNumberNumberNumberVehicleVehicleVehicleVehicleVehicle

Motorbikes 9.84 million

Motorcars 8.49 million

Lorries 0.63 million

Vans 0.61 million

Jeeps 0.45 million

Pick-ups 0.33 million

Buses 0.06 million (57,458)

Table Two:Table Two:Table Two:Table Two:Table Two:Registered Vehicles in Malaysia 2011Registered Vehicles in Malaysia 2011Registered Vehicles in Malaysia 2011Registered Vehicles in Malaysia 2011Registered Vehicles in Malaysia 2011


ExpenseExpenseExpenseExpenseExpense Of the 600,000 cars sold in Malaysia in 2011, 179,989were Perodua models and another 158,657 were Pro-ton models (StarBiz 12 May 2012). These two pro-ducers made up 56 percent of total car sales for 2011.This means that the remaining 44 percent or 261,477were imported. As 110,000 APs (Approval Permits)were given out for vehicular imports in 2011, wecan assume that 151,000 units of foreign modelsassembled in Malaysia (termed CKD – completelyknocked down) were bought by Malaysians in 2011,while 110,000 units of fully assembled cars (CBU –completely built units) were imported into Malay-sia in 2011. What does this mean in terms of dollars and cents? 151,000 locally assembled foreign models. If we as-sume an importation price of RM50,000 per unit onthe average, that works out to 151,000 units x RM50,000 = RM7,550,000,000. ie RM7.5bn. The 110,000 foreign models imported fully as-sembled would have cost more per unit. If we canassume RM100,000 per unit on the average, the out-flow of Malaysian currency due to these purchaseswould be 110,000 units x RM100,000 =RM11,000,000,000 or RM11bn. These are obviously very rough calculations, butwhat they establish is that there is a significant out-flow of foreign exchange – in the order of RM10-20bn per year - due to purchases of foreign cars. Cars need fuel to run, obviously. If we assume thatthe 9.88m cars, vans, jeeps and pick-ups on Malay-sian roads each use an average of RM100 of fuel permonth, the cost for a year is 9.88m x RM100 x 12months = 11,856m or RM11.8bn per year. (In com-parison the total Penang government state budgetis only about RM1,300m or RM1.3bn. The other huge expense is the cost of highways andbridges – the second link in Penang, the Outer RingRoad being planned for Penang – all being built indesperation to partially resolve the problem of con-gestion and traffic jams.

Financial burden on poorer familiesFinancial burden on poorer familiesFinancial burden on poorer familiesFinancial burden on poorer familiesFinancial burden on poorer families Nor Mohamed b Yakcop, a Minister in the PrimeMinister’s Department, said in a speech in Parlia-ment on 24 October 2011 that 40 percent of Malay-sian families have a monthly household income ofless than RM2300 (Hansard, Malaysian Parliament.24 October 2011, Pages 113 and 118). Another 20percent of Malaysian families have household in-comes of between RM2,300 and RM3,000 per monthie 60% of Malaysian families have a household in-come of less than RM3,000 per month. But many of these families own cars – perhaps notnew ones, but the much cheaper second-hand vari-ety. And they do so because they do not have choice.The family needs to go places, and in the absence ofan efficient public transport system, the private carbecomes a necessity for even poorer families. But second-hand cars can be expensive as they needperiodic maintenance. And then there is the cost ofroad tax, insurance and of course petrol. All theseexpenses put a strain on the finances of these fami-lies, diverting income away from other crucial needs.

Greenhouse gas emissionsGreenhouse gas emissionsGreenhouse gas emissionsGreenhouse gas emissionsGreenhouse gas emissions The table below gives the breakdown of energy con-sumption of different sectors of the Malaysianeconomy in 2010 as estimated by the MalaysianEnergy Commission.

The shortcomings of M a l a y s i a ’ sapproach to transportation

Sector Energy Use in Percentage ofkilo tonnes total energy useoil equivalent

Power Stations 33 ,294 50.5%

Residential 718

Commercial 1,722

Industrial 8,621 1 3 . 1%

Transport 16,809 25.5%

Agriculture 1,050

Total 65,910

Table Three:Table Three:Table Three:Table Three:Table Three:Energy consumption in Malaysia 2010Energy consumption in Malaysia 2010Energy consumption in Malaysia 2010Energy consumption in Malaysia 2010Energy consumption in Malaysia 2010


If we wish to reduce our carbon footprint, we haveto look seriously at power generation and transportwhich together contribute 76 percent of our carbondioxide emissions. According to Wikipedia, effi-ciencies of transport in Japan in 1999 were 68kWhfor a personal car, 19kWh for a bus and 6kWh forrail per 100p-km (to transport 100 persons for 1km,or 1 person for 100 km).

Damage to our urban environmentDamage to our urban environmentDamage to our urban environmentDamage to our urban environmentDamage to our urban environment Private cars have put our cities under duress – theroads are dusty and congested, and there is a smellof exhaust fumes in the air. There is insufficient spaceto park leading to double parking and further con-gestion. In an attempt to ease congestion, elevatedhighways are built, but these serious reduce thequality of air and life in the corridor adjacent to thesehighways. How much nicer it would be if we couldhave small parks and grow trees in the spaces thatwe now reserve as car parks! Jams are a daily feature and time to travel to andfrom work is two or even three times longer than itshould be. Life is, as a whole, more stressful – but itneed not be so! A greener, sustainable vision for transportation inA greener, sustainable vision for transportation inA greener, sustainable vision for transportation inA greener, sustainable vision for transportation inA greener, sustainable vision for transportation inMalaysiaMalaysiaMalaysiaMalaysiaMalaysia

An environmental friendly, sustainable, less expen-sive transport system, would have the following fea-tures: • A good network of bus and train routes within

our cities and towns and in between our cities. Asystem relying on buses is much less costly toimplement as it would use the existing roads.Urban train systems are more than 100 timesmore expensive to develop. (Interview with JaimeLerner, former mayor of Curitiba, Sierra). Citiessuch as Curitiba, Brazil are examples that wecan learn from if we decide to implement a bus-based public transport system.

• Decongestion of our roads by a mixture of zon-ing laws and economic disincentives to drivingprivate cars e.g. the road tax could go up, the costof petrol should be allowed to rise, highercharges should be imposed for parking, tollshould be charged for entering urban centres.

• Public transportation should be regarded as apublic good – something that cannot be left toprofit-driven corporations - as part of the “com-mons” which should be provided at affordablerates to the general public.

• The management of the transport system of a cityor district should be by a collective, comprisingtransport workers, elected local government rep-resentatives and members of the public. It shouldhave built-in mechanisms to obtain complaintsand feedback from users.

• Our cities would become more liveable when traf-fic congestion is alleviated, parking areas arefreed up for recreation or for growing trees and/or other plants, streets are closed off to traffic sothat they can be pedestrian malls and the bicyclescan once again be safely used to move about inthe city.

The obstacles that have to be overcomeThe obstacles that have to be overcomeThe obstacles that have to be overcomeThe obstacles that have to be overcomeThe obstacles that have to be overcome

It would be naïve to act as if all that is needed is topropose a reasonable masterplan for transport. Sucha position is like the proverbial ostrich as it refusesto acknowledge the powerful interests that want tomaintain the existing dysfunctional system that wehave at present. These interests include Our local car manufacturers - Proton claims that it isonly using 41 percent of capacity (Starbiz, 31 Octo-ber 2012). The corporate interests investing in Pro-ton and Perodua would not be enamoured with pro-posals to downgrade private transport, and theybelong to the 1 percent who have good access to thepeople in power! The importers of cars - both the CKD (assembled in Ma-laysia) and the CBU (brought in fully assembled) - Therewere 110,000 approved permits given in 2011 forthe import of foreign cars with a fee of RM10,000 perAP. It would be safe to assume that the AP holderwill mark up the price of the cars he brings in byabout RM30,000 per unit. That works out to 110,000x RM30,000 = RM3,300,000,000 or RM3.3bn – justfor acting as an importing agent! Surely the agentswould oppose measures that reduce the demandfor foreign cars. The CKD importers have investedin car assembly plants in Malaysia; they would bevery unhappy if overall car sales in Malaysia are


driven down by a conscious policy of the govern-ment.

Toll operators - They are making huge profits atpresent. According to an answer to a question putby the Pas MP from Jerai, Kedah on 8 March 2011,the Minister of Public Works informed Parliamentthat the total profits for the toll concessionaires in2009 and 2010 were RM3.8bn and RM4.2bn respec-tively. I don’t think that anyone will dispute thatthese toll concessionaires are very close to the par-ties in government at present. We have to assumethat they have a strong lobby in the corridors ofpower! Petrol station owners - A switch away from the pri-vate motorcar would see their sales and incomedrop! The intellectually impaired government planners whostill harbour the delusion that the ‘free market’ is the bestand most efficient allocator of goods and services (in-cluding public goods such as education, health and trans-portation!) - This neoliberal myth that has been in-doctrinated into the minds of many governmentplanners all over the world seriously impairs theircapacity to plan in a rational manner!

Those who are misusing their control over the transportsystem to award permits, licences and projects to theirfamily members and political cronies - At present theLicensing Board for Commercial Vehicles is underthe Prime Minister’s Department in Putrajaya. Per-mits for bus routes in Gua Musang, Kelantan are

determined in Putrajaya. This has nothing to do withtransport efficiency but everything to do with pay-offs for political supporters! A large percentage of the ordinary people who believethat one only actualises oneself if able to follow the Ameri-can model of consumption – and this includes the two-cars-per-family model - This is the most crucial group,for we need to win them over to the side of sustain-able transport if we wish to move forward!

We need to bring together a coalition of individualsand groups who are committed to the concept ofsustainable public transport system and who areprepared to stay together and undertake an ongo-ing campaign to educate the Malaysian public. We need to put public transport on the nationalagenda. People have to face facts – climate changeis a reality, and the present trajectory of our trans-portation system is clearly not sustainable and ismaking our cities unliveable! We need more envi-ronmentally friendly modes of transport. We needto develop a consensus among the people that weneed to change from a private car-based model to

public transport.

We need to decentralise the man-agement of our transport systemsto city and district levels. Thepresent concentration of deci-sion-making power in Putrajayais inefficient and ridiculous! We need a change of federal gov-ernment to one that is less arro-gant, not so tied in with the 1 per-cent who are benefiting from thepresent arrangement of transpor-tation in Malaysia and moreopen to new ideas and inputsfrom civil society.

The way forward

Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj, an Aliran member,Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj, an Aliran member,Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj, an Aliran member,Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj, an Aliran member,Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj, an Aliran member,is the Member of Parliament for Sungaiis the Member of Parliament for Sungaiis the Member of Parliament for Sungaiis the Member of Parliament for Sungaiis the Member of Parliament for SungaiSiput.Siput.Siput.Siput.Siput.

q


n this digital age with itsemphasis on clamourand colour, it is ex-tremely rare to find one

good black and white photogra-pher anywhere; to find two excep-tional black and white camera-men working on the same islandat the same time, is nothing shortof miraculous. Yet Penang, withits uncanny knack of being ableto constantly surprise - both in artand politics - has in IsmailHashim and Ooi Cheng Gheethrown up two black and whitephotographers par excellence.

Besides being close buddies, thepair share many common denomi-nators: both are die-hardPenangites; both have an abiding,if somewhat old-fashioned, faithin black and white photography;both have passion for perfection;and both are partial to a glass ofShiraz.

However, each has his own dis-tinctive vision.

Now within the space of one year,each has been honoured with amajor solo exhibition and acomplementary coffee-table bookfeaturing a section of their oeuvre.

BOOK REVIEW

Master photographers:Master photographers:Master photographers:Master photographers:Master photographers:The Professor and The DoctorThe Professor and The DoctorThe Professor and The DoctorThe Professor and The DoctorThe Professor and The DoctorPenang has in Ismail Hashim and Ooi Cheng Ghee two blackand white photographers par excellence

by Cecil Rajendra

IIIII


Ismail Hashim (fondly referred toas Prof” in local coffee shops) wasaccorded the rare honour of aRestrospective exhibition by thePenang State Art Gallery at theend of 2010. The exhibition, ifsomewhat poorly curated, was apowerful testament to the breadthand scope of Ismail’s work.

Stretching back from his earlypaintings, graphic designs forAliran covers and IOCU (Interna-tional Organisation of ConsumerUnions) posters, to great master-works of the 1990s - Kedai Gunting,Snooker Table and After Having NasiKandar - right to the present mil-lennium with Kean Chye at the WarMuseum (2007) and The Last Man-grove (2010).

Though the human figure rarelyinhabits Ismail’s prints, they arenevertheless impregnated withlife; and, whether the subject mat-ter be plastic chairs, improvisedpost-boxes, battered bicycle seats,or phone-booths, one can alwayscatch a whiff of the human spoorbefore and after the moment thecamera clicked.

Besides a mastery of his craft, thestand-out feature of Ismail’s workis his sense of humour and strongsocial awareness.

Masterworks such as Penang - ofthe Orient (1998), What a View ofPenang Bridge (1997), The Placid &the Putrid (2003) and The Last Man-grove (2005), though subdued in

tone, speak volumes about thesorry state of our environment.

I dare say no photographer in thiscountry has the ability to registerin a single frame such moral cour-age without compromising hisartistic integrity.

A detailed study of the social sig-nificance of these photographersis highly recommended to stu-dents of the Arts and Social Sci-ences alike.

But perhaps this is only to be ex-pected of a man of unswervingmoral fibre who, many art-loversmay be surprised to discover, wasalso one of the founding fathersof Penang’s historic reform move-


ment: Aliran.

In constrast to Ismail Hashim’sbook and Restrospective thatspans a lifetime and covers a va-riety of concerns and locations, DrOoi Cheng Ghee’s Portraits ofPenang’s Little India consists of aseries of photographs shot in onespecific area over the period of asingle year - 1979.

Cheng Ghee says that he snappedover 4,000 shots of the people wholive, work and play in that enclaveof Georgetown known as LittleIndia.

Of these 4,000 shots, 160 were se-lected for the exhibition and cof-fee-table book in a sequence de-scribed by art commentator GarethRichards as “arguably Malaysia’sfirst great social documentaryphoto essay”.

Really?

While there is no denying the stun-ning visual beauty and technicalexcellence of Cheng Ghee’s pho-tographs, one comes away fromthe exhibition and the book witha strange feeling that somethingis sorely missing from this ‘great’photo-essay.

Particularly so for a habitue ofLittle India is indelibly associatedwith its spice and saree shops andrustic banana-leaf eateries.

More so in 1979 than today whenMuslim, Hindu and Punjabi spicemerchants sat behind open gunnysacks of coriander, mustard,cummin etc. and hollered to pass-ing housewives in much the samefashion as purveyors ofBollywood CDs try to entice punt-ers into their loud parlours these

days.

Yet though there are eight shotsof handcart pullers, and 11 of be-tel-nut workers, there is only asingle print of a spice merchantand not one of a saree shop or abanana-leaf eatery.

Nor is there any record of the threeiconic 1970s chapatti makers - aSikh, a Bangladeshi and a Bengalilady - who had pitched their stallsin fronts of three Chinese coffee-shops - and were locked in afierce, if silent, competition interms of price and variety of ac-companiments. Another strikingimbalance in Cheng Ghee’s por-traits is the paucity of women.

But perhaps these lacunae canbest be explained by the fact thatthe good doctor is a full-time medi-cal practitioner and almost all hisphotographs were taken on Sun-days and holidays. That time per-haps when the spice and sareeshops, the chapatti stalls and ba-nana-leaf eateries were mostlikely shut and the women of LittleIndia cloistered in their kitchenscooking dinner for their hus-bands.

But for all its skewed perspectiveand lop-sidedness, in terms ofquality of production, ChengGhee’s coffee-table book trumpsIsmail’s by a mile.

The sloppiness in editing, proof-reading, captioning and repro-duction of Ismail’s prints can belaid firmly on the lap of thePenang State Art Gallery Commit-tee.

To catalogue the misprints andmistakes would take up epochalspace in this brief essay. Suffice it

to say that this august body evenfailed to notice that the “I” inIsmail was missing in the namegrandly embossed on the cover ofthe commemorative book.

At first glance, it now reads likeSnail Hashim!

But let us get back to the photo-graphs ...

In his classic essay Camera Lucida- Reflections on Photography - therenowned French sociologist/philosopher Roland Barthes rumi-nates on how millions of fine pho-tographs that evoke polite inter-est, even admiration, are “inert”in that they lack “punctum” i.e.that latent element in a photo-graph - whether by accident or de-sign - that pricks and woundsone’s awareness; leaving the im-age lingering in memory long af-ter one has stopped looking at thephotograph. This, I find, is theessential difference between thework of Ismail Hashim and Dr OoiCheng Ghee. In Cheng Ghee’sprints, for all their visual beautyand perfection of composition,what you see is what you get.

In Ismail’s, you don’t often getwhat you see ... until much later;and then they haunt you for a life-time.

For in, the final analysis, thoughCheng Ghee is arguably the bet-ter technician/photographer,Ismail is indubitably the greaterartist.

Cecil Rajendra is a re-Cecil Rajendra is a re-Cecil Rajendra is a re-Cecil Rajendra is a re-Cecil Rajendra is a re-nowned poet and lawyernowned poet and lawyernowned poet and lawyernowned poet and lawyernowned poet and lawyerbased in Penang.based in Penang.based in Penang.based in Penang.based in Penang.

q


Ismail Hashim and his photographs


Dr Ooi Cheng Ghee and his photographs


t Aliran’s 35th AGMheld in Penang in Nov2011, the general meet-ing resolved that Aliran

would begin a transition towardsdigitizing the Aliran Monthly(AM). Beginning in early 2012, theExco has been discussing howbest to prepare and move towardsthis goal. In this regard, we havestopped street sales of the AM (ex-cept in designated outlets), andencouraged readers to subscribeto AM instead. The Exco has alsodecided that we shall stop pro-ducing the hard-copy printed ver-sion of the AM by December 2013.

Considering that the AM is in its32nd year of production, this hasnot been an easy decision. Whenwe first started in 1980 (as a Quar-terly, before becoming a Monthlyfour years later) we were one ofonly a handful of magazines thatreported critically on current po-litical, socio-economic and ethno-religious issues and develop-ments that affected our country.Whereas many other magazineshave folded, we have continueduntil today.

In the late 1990s, our subscrip-tions and sales more than paid forthe AM and the labour involved.Over the last 15 years, however,sales of Aliran Monthly havegradually declined for a variety of

reasons, including the arrival ofon-line news dailies, blogs andsocial media. Meanwhile, thecosts of printing paper, printing,and postage have soared. Al-though our AM writers work on avoluntary basis receiving no pay-ment for their articles, we find itvery difficult to make ends meetnowadays. With little or no in-come generated from the sales ofAM, we are also facing problemsmaintaining our office.

It is these considerations - the ar-rival of the online news and so-cial media, rising printing andpostal costs and the difficulty ofmaking an impact with a monthlypublication in the web-connectedworld that we now live in - thatforce us to move with the times, inorder to remain relevant.

Our switch to the online media,therefore, is our way to get us outof this corner. By stopping the pro-duction of the printed version ofthe AM in its current form, weshall be able to free ourselves ofthe time, energy, funds, indeed,the monthly schedule imposedupon us to produce the AM. Thesevarious resources, we hope, cannow be re-channelled towardsour online efforts.

The impact of our website pres-ence could be expanded and sup-

SURVEY

Survey of Aliran Monthlys u b s c r i b e r sDear Aliran Monthly Subscribers,

AAAAA

ported by a ‘digitised Aliranmagazine’ in the form of a regulare-newsletter, perhaps weekly atfirst. We will also explore ways ofreaching out to the younger gen-eration who are increasingly ac-cessing reading material on mo-bile devices like smartphones andtablets.

Such a change might allow us toreach out more to the millions whoresort to the e-media rather thanto the printed hard copy for news,entertainment, and we hope, foranalysis and reflection of devel-opments in Malaysia, before tak-ing whatever action necessary tousher in change for the better. Ourtransition towards online mediacontent (via our website, digitisedAM or e-newsletter, and socialmedia) might allow us to interveneand expand our presence onlineand connect to these younger andtech-savvy Malaysians more com-prehensively.


Finally, we need some feedback from you to help usin this transition. At this point, we have three ques-tions.

What you think about this transition (Aliran’s movefrom print to online) that we are making? * Chooseone from below

( ) I support the digitisation of Aliran Monthlyvery strongly

( ) I support the digitalisation of AM( ) I have no opinion on the digitisation of AM( ) I do not support the digitisation of AM( ) I am strongly against the digitisation of AM

Are you willing to donate at least RM30 a year tosupport Aliran’s online work (via the website, an e-newsletter, social media)? *

( ) Yes( ) No

How would you prefer to read our digital content?Tick one or more * Select one of more from below

( ) I will visit the Aliran website aliran.comregularly

( ) Please send me via email an e-newslettercontaining summaries of the latest articlesand links to the Aliran website

( ) I am interested and willing to buy any hard-copy Quarterly magazine that contains se-lected articles from the website

Please provide your answers to the questions by anyof the following means:

(a) Mail to 103 Medan Penaga, 11600 Jelutong,Penang.

(b) Fax to: 04-6585197(c) email to:

[email protected]

We take this opportunity to thank you for your sup-port in subscribing/buying the AM all these manyyears.

Peace and blessings.

Aliran Exco


Parents, Teachers, good NeighboursListen!

Lock up your sons & your daughters.The El-gee-be-Tees are coming ...The El-gee-be-Tees are coming ...They’re coming to gobble up your children.

The male of the speciesare easy to tag

in their tight-fittingV-neck T-shirts

& over-sized hand-bag.

The females are less discerniblemingling in malls

to yak, text & giggleexclusively

with members of the own sex.

But don’t be fooled bythis innocent behaviour

They pose a grave threatto our country’s moral fibre.

Parents, Teachers, good NeighboursListen!

Lock up your sons & your daughters.The El-gee-be-Tees are coming ...The El-gee-be-Tees are coming ...They’re coming to gobble up your children.

- Cecil Rajendra -

Invasion of theE l - g e e - b e - T e e s !

(The El-gee-be-Tees are(The El-gee-be-Tees are(The El-gee-be-Tees are(The El-gee-be-Tees are(The El-gee-be-Tees area group of Lesbian,a group of Lesbian,a group of Lesbian,a group of Lesbian,a group of Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual &Gay, Bisexual &Gay, Bisexual &Gay, Bisexual &Gay, Bisexual &Transgender aliensTransgender aliensTransgender aliensTransgender aliensTransgender aliensfrom outer space.from outer space.from outer space.from outer space.from outer space.Guidelines on how toGuidelines on how toGuidelines on how toGuidelines on how toGuidelines on how tospot and avoid them arespot and avoid them arespot and avoid them arespot and avoid them arespot and avoid them arebeing handed out atbeing handed out atbeing handed out atbeing handed out atbeing handed out at“Educational” parent/“Educational” parent/“Educational” parent/“Educational” parent/“Educational” parent/teacher seminars in theteacher seminars in theteacher seminars in theteacher seminars in theteacher seminars in thecountry.)country.)country.)country.)country.)


t is disgraceful that apolitician seemingly onthe way out has toressurect the fear factor

to shore up her flagging fortunesin Umno.

As a former minister, she shouldhave more sense to be responsibleand appreciate the democraticprocess. Instead, she comes acrossas someone who is not preparedto accept the verdict of the peoplein a democratic election if that ver-dict went against Umno.

Is she planting the seeds of hatredin the minds of Umno membersand instigating them to run amokand create havoc?

How does one view her statementwhen she said at the WanitaUmno Assembly, “If we are nolonger in power, we would losepolitical stability. Certainly, theMalays, the majority in this coun-try, would be unsettled”(Malaysiakini, 28 November2012).

“I am concerned and worried thatthis would bring racial tensionsthat could lead to a repeat of theMay 13, 1969 tragedy.”

Shame on you, Shahrizat:You are a fear-monger

POLITICS

Is she threatening Malaysiansthat there will be a recurrence ofthe May 13, 1969 tragedy ifUmno were to lose power? Whyshould that be so? Is she callingon Umno members to get readyto do the unthinkable if theywere forced by the electorate tovacate Putrajaya?

Is she aware of the terrible conse-quence of rioting following thelikely routing of Umno? Shedoesn’t care to think for a momentof the destruction and the loss ofinnocent lives that can ensue in

such an eventuality. Her concernseems not to be for the well-beingof the country and the people butonly focused on remaining inpower at whatever cost.

This is utterly irresponsible!

Her unintelligent gibberish onlybewilders thinking Malaysians.Consider this for a moment whenshe rambles, “We must addressthis now if we don’t want to berefugees in our own land. A splitin the Malay vote would dull thepolitical power of the Malays.”

IIIII

by P Ramakrishnan

Her unintelligent gibberish only bewilders thinking Malaysians


How can citizens become refu-gees in their country? Refugees arepeople who flee their own coun-try because they no longer feelsafe for their lives. Refugees runaway to another country for somevalid reasons: political oppres-sion, social upheavals, unrest,persecution, absence of rule oflaw, absence of protection from thegovernment, inability to eke out alivelihood, etc.

Can anyone foresee this ever hap-pening in this country i.e. peoplebeing forced to flee? She has toexaggerate this lie to create fearand horror in the minds of un-thinking Umno members!

How would “a split in theMalay vote dull the politicalpower of the Malays”? TheMalay vote has been split fordecades. That has not dulled thepolitical power of the Malays.This goes to show that Umnodoesn’t necessarily equate withthe Malays, and vice versa. Thepolitical reality is much morecomplex than Umno would likeus to believe. Besides, Malays,like any other ethnic group in the

country, should instead unitearound noble principles of jus-tice, equality and compassion.

Take Kelantan for example. Therewas and has been a split in theMalay vote but has that dulled thepolitical power of the Malays?Has that forced Umno membersto seek refuge elsewhere outsidethe country?

There was a change in govern-ment in Kedah. Has that dulledthe political power of the Malays?How many Umno members fledKedah to seek safer haven else-where?

Take the case of Perak that wastaken over by the Pakatan Rakyat.In recognising the political real-ity and the make-up of the polityof this country, Tan SriMohammad Nizar Jamaluddinwas appointed the Menteri Besarof Perak. Obviously, Pakatan wasvery sensitive to the Malay senti-ment and did not do anythingthat could be upsetting. We arenot aware if Umno members wereinvolved in any exodus fromPerak!

Then there is Penang, which fellto Pakatan Rakyat in March 2008.In keeping with the tradition andoriginal understanding – unlikeMalacca – Lim Guan Eng wassworn in as Chief Minister. Therewas no unrest. There was no flightof refugees from Penang.

So there is no basis to claim thatthe Malays will become refugeesor that their political power willbe diminished. What has beenestablished is the fact thatchange can be peaceful and thatthe harmony of the country willnot necessarily be destroyed.

As long as we accept and respectthe political process as a legiti-mate avenue of expression, po-litical change will be withoutany untoward incident. By andlarge, the majority of Malaysiansare peaceful, sensible and re-sponsible. However we must beon the lookout for the few whomay try and stir up trouble. Weshould leave them to the policeto take care of.

Umno must be desperate if suchlies have to be manufactured! q


amal (not his real name)met me at a small road-side eatery after eveningprayers. The weather

was good, and sitting out in theopen was much cooler and lesscrowded.

I’ve known Jamal for some timenow, since 2007 and interacted tosome extent with his communityon Penang Island. All these years,he very generously and trustinglyallowed me access into the livesof his Rohingya community, theway their society operates andtheir struggle for survival. He isan excellent gatekeeper for hisRohingya community, being vigi-lant of their safety and alwaysensuring a principled and truth-ful approach to problems and is-sues affecting them.

Despite his simple and hard life,Jamal is a respected leader in hiscommunity and is frequently con-sulted by other members for ad-vice and opinions on specific is-sues affecting the Rohingya com-munity in Penang and Malaysia.

Yet, Jamal does not affect arro-gance, despite the esteem he is

held in by his community, andcontinues to emphasise the prin-ciples and tenets of Islam as thefundamental guideline to living agood Muslim life. He is a quiet-spoken person with a thought-fully peaceful demeanour.

Jamal has had his fair share ofsuffering having to flee for his lifefrom his home in Maungdaw,Arakan, Myanmar, leaving wife,children and family behind nearly20 years ago. His children havealready reached adulthood but hehas not had the pleasure of see-ing them grow up or been closelyinvolved in nurturing them toadulthood and passing on thevalues he holds dear.

Anxiety for his loved ones and hiscommunity underpin most of histhoughts. There is little to laughabout, but he still manages to raisea smile or two at the irrationalityof the whole situation or at thehuman antics that seem illogicalin the circumstances.

Like every society in the world, theRohingya also have their internal

Dialogue with aRohingya refugeeFar away from their homeland, the Rohingyas in Malaysiacan only wring their hands in despair over the agonisinghardships faced by their families at home

by Angeline Loh

JJJJJ

C o n f l i c t

HEART TO HEART"What comes from the lips reaches the ear,what comes from the heart reaches the heart" - Arab proverb

politics. More often than not,Jamal tries his best to maintain aneutral stance, attempting in hisown way to be fair and not hast-ily judgemental of others, who-ever they may be. In his dialogueswith me, he is often critical of hisown community. It is in these in-stances that the deep anxiety hefeels surfaces, for which neitherof us can find any solution to.

We have discussed many issues,and this evening, it was the eventsin Maungdaw, Arakan State inMyanmar (Burma). It began onFriday in Jamal’s own village nearhis home, where his wife and twoof his children still live. His eldestchild is married and gone awayto Bangladesh with her husband.His wife had also gone to visit rela-tives, at that time, leaving his twoother children at home.

I asked Jamal what he knew of thecurrent troubles in Maungdaw.He recounted whatever he couldglean from phone calls to his rela-tive still living there. As far as heknows, it stemmed from the attackon a group of Burmese Muslimmissionaries. Apparently, a groupof Rohingya had held a protest af-


ter Friday prayers outside themosque and were fired upon bypolice.

Two persons were injured andtaken to the hospital which is nearhis home, but doctors refused totreat them unless a police reportwas made. A fight then, broke outand a doctor was beaten up.Jamal said that under the law (Act144) assemblies of more than 100persons are prohibited and therewere a hundred or more peoplegathered at the protest.

With the escalation of conflict andarson attacks on homes, shopsand other buildings, a curfewwas imposed on the whole areaof Maungdaw that night but po-lice and a Rakhine mob were seenstill freely roaming about. Some ofthe mob wielded swords.

Jamal’s children stayed indoors,but he said he was afraid thatsome of the mob might break intotheir home and harm them. He felthelpless from this distance to pro-tect them. His wife was apparentlystill away; when she can safelyreturn is unknown.

On Saturday, 9 June, when theimposition of the curfew had notbeen lifted, a nine-year-oldRohingya girl, unaware of the cur-few went out a few metres from

her home to sell vegetables. Shewas allegedly shot dead by secu-rity forces and her body was takenaway by them, and not returnedto her family for burial. This wassaid to have happened inMaungdaw Quarter 2. There werepolice and special forces – LuinThuin - patrolling the area thatmorning. Village heads had alsocalled together Rohingya shop-keepers whose shops had beendestroyed.

Myanmar telecommunicationshad been cut on Friday and Sat-urday, and Jamal and other anx-ious Arakan refugees tried to con-tact family and relatives viaBangladeshi phone lines. “Now,we can’t do anything.” Jamalended his account of these hap-penings in utter despair at the fu-tility of the situation that thou-sands of Rohingya refugees andpeople find themselves in.

He could not help but tell meabout the oppression he had fledfrom, about 20 years ago. TheRohingya people are often re-ferred to as kalar by other Rakhine,which insultingly translates as‘ pariah’. “We have been afraid ofthem (Rakhine) since we werevery young. To instil disciplineour parent’s threatened to call the

Rakhine, and we would be obedi-ent because we feared them.

“Our people are easily put in fearand go about humbly.”

Despite, what he says, Jamalknows that there are Rohingyawho have taken bolder measuresand are inclined to act in strongself-defence or aggressive retalia-tion.

Still, on reflection, he told me thatthere was a time when theRohingya and the Rahkhine en-joyed a camaraderie with eachother, going out together andspending time at eateries, talkingand walking late into the night. Itis sad that those days seem to havefaded away with time and thatbarriers of hatred and anger havearisen between them instead.

This is the last conversation I hadwith Jamal, as he hasn’t been incontact for the last few months. Ican only hope and pray for theacceptance of the Rohingya peopleas recognised citizens ofMyanmar and that peace and for-giveness will come soon amongstthe various ethnic communities inJamal’s home state of Arakan(Rakhine State) in Myanmar. Thisis an account truly from the heartof a Rohingya refugee.

Fear and oppression Angeline Loh is an AliranAngeline Loh is an AliranAngeline Loh is an AliranAngeline Loh is an AliranAngeline Loh is an Aliranexecutive committeeexecutive committeeexecutive committeeexecutive committeeexecutive committeemember based in Penang.member based in Penang.member based in Penang.member based in Penang.member based in Penang.

The interview with JamalThe interview with JamalThe interview with JamalThe interview with JamalThe interview with Jamalwas done around Junewas done around Junewas done around Junewas done around Junewas done around June2012, when ethnic clashes2012, when ethnic clashes2012, when ethnic clashes2012, when ethnic clashes2012, when ethnic clashesin Rakhine State firstin Rakhine State firstin Rakhine State firstin Rakhine State firstin Rakhine State firstbroke out. The situationbroke out. The situationbroke out. The situationbroke out. The situationbroke out. The situationhas since deteriorated andhas since deteriorated andhas since deteriorated andhas since deteriorated andhas since deteriorated andcontinues to worsen.continues to worsen.continues to worsen.continues to worsen.continues to worsen.

q


Who determines one’s faith – theindividual or the NRD? It is obvi-ous that it has to be the individualconcerned. The National Registra-tion Department has no businessto disagree when a person laysclaim to a certain faith.The NRD’s function is to issueMyKad and it cannot act beyondthis function. It is very clear. Butwhy then is the NRD making thelives of Bumiputra Christians inSabah and Sarawak miserable (asreported in the MalaysianChronicle)?

For Christians, it has been onelong struggle to claim their rights.To use the word ‘Allah’ was atussle; to import the Bible in thenational language was a problem.Now, even to claim that they areChristians is a formidable chal-lenge.

Many Bumiputra Christians have

traditionally used the word ‘bin’and ‘binti’ in their names. But thatdoes not make them Muslims.They are Christians for all intentsand purposes.

Even when they point out thatthey are Christians, the NRD over-rides their objection and lists themas Muslims rather arbitrarily. Whois in a better position to determinethe religion of any one – the per-son concerned or a civil servantin the NRD?

It is most shocking that despitetheir pointing out that they are notMuslims – but Christians – theNRD refuses to entertain them.This is really ridiculous!

The NRD is insistent that it wouldcontinue to list these Christiansas Muslims simply because theyhave ‘bin’ and ‘binti’ in theirnames. It has stubbornly refusedto rectify the mistakes in theMyKad claiming that it wouldonly act upon an order by aSyariah High Court declaring thatthey are not Muslims. These cre-tinous Little Napoleons in NRDshould realise that ‘bin’ is merelyan Arabic term for ‘son of’, while‘binti’ means ‘daughter of’. So, ingeneral, these terms don’t neces-sarily indicate that one is a Mus-lim. If they need reminding, to beArabic may not necessarily be thesame as being Islamic!

But why has this case to be re-ferred to the Syariah High Courtwhen they are in fact not Mus-lims? What is the NRD up to?What has happened to the PM’sslogan ‘People First’? Can a pettycivil servant make a mockery of

A record of A record of A record of A record of A record of Aliran'sAliran'sAliran'sAliran'sAliran's stand on current affairs. stand on current affairs. stand on current affairs. stand on current affairs. stand on current affairs.

Christians forced tobecome Muslims by(little Napoleans in)

N R D


the PM and his pledge?

When a person applies for theMyKad, isn’t he or she required tofill in a form in which the religionof the applicant is stated? If theofficer has any doubt as to theclaim, it can be easily cleared upby questioning the applicant overthis matter. These Christians musthave undergone baptism in achurch and there would berecords to support their claims.Why wasn’t this taken into con-sideration? In this way the prob-lem could have been easilysolved.

In one recent case even whendocumentary evidence from theSabah Islamic Affairs Departmentwas produced stating that theperson concerned was not a Mus-lim according to the IslamisationRegister – a fact that was reportedto the Syariah Court in Kudat –the NRD still would not rectify theerror. It wants the person to go tothe Kudat Syariah High Court fora declaration that she is not aMuslim before action could betaken to rectify its mistake.

It is very strange that the NRD isunwilling to accept or respect theevidence produced by the SabahIslamic Affairs Department.Shouldn’t the word of the IslamicAffairs Department carry someweight?

Why does this matter, in spite ofbeing cleared by the Islamic au-thority, have to be referred to theSyariah Court, entailing unneces-sary delay and expenditure? TheSyariah Court had in March lastyear barred a Christian lawyer,Victoria Jayaseele Martin, frompractising in a Syariah court de-spite having a Diploma in Syariah

Law and Practice from the Inter-national Islamic University Ma-laysia, in addition to a Universityof London law degree.

Going by this precedent, whyshould these Christians who arenon-Muslims be part of theSyariah Court proceedings. TheseChristians were not born Muslimsnor were they converted Muslims.There is no authoritative evidenceto state that they are Muslims.

In the face of this overwhelmingevidence in favour of these Chris-tians, on what authority does theNRD insist on listing them asChristians?

Is the NRD a law unto itself? Canit act beyond its scope and makethe lives of these Christians mis-erable?

Because of the unnecessary andirritating behaviour of those in the

NRD, these Christians are sub-jected to numerous problems.Their children cannot be baptisedin a church and they cannot getmarried in a church. They cannotbe accorded a Christian burial. Isthis fair?

Must they continue to suffer thisindignity indefinitely? They neednot if they wise up. What they aresubjected to is the result of theBarisan Nasional government be-ing too long in power. It has lostits compassion; it has become ar-rogant; it is unable to recognise theproblem or provide a solution. Ithas become indifferent to theirmisery.

There is only one answer to getout of this misery: Vote for change!

P RamakrishnanAliran

Executive Committee Member23 November 2012


Meanwhile, her colleague MohdRafizi Ramli who had first ex-posed the National Feedlot Corpscandal, has been accused ofbreaking banking laws and con-demned for tarnishing the imageof Malays; the whistleblower hasbeen called in for questioning!The DAP and its leaders havebeen accused of being anti-Islamand anti-Malays when in fact thenew policies that the DAP-ledPenang state government haveimplemented have removed cer-tain Umno-connected Malaysfrom the lucre that they had hadaccess to previously. Humanrights group Suaram andmalaysiakini.com, the on-line daily,are among the latest to come un-der attack. Significantly, Suaramis pushing for an investigation byFrench legal authorities into theScorpene submarine deal on cor-ruption grounds; while, unlikethe mainstream media dominatedby the Umno-BN coalition,malaysiakini.com have been inves-tigating and reporting on many ofthe above controversies all toocritically, from the point of theauthorities.

A pro-Umno-BN or NGO will firethe first salvo. The pro-Umno-BNmainstream media will then playup the issue, often deliberatelytwisting the facts and dishing outmisinformation. On a recent occa-sion, Mohd Zaini Hassan, the as-sistant chief editor of Utusan Ma-laysia, unabashedly claimed at aforum on social media communi-cation that his newspaper doesnot lie, but admitted that it resorts

to ‘spin’. Considering that the fo-rum was organised by the BiroTata Negara, the government’spropaganda machinery, it is notsurprising that he dared to excusehimself in such a manner.

At any rate, on account of suchmisinformation, Perkasa andPerkida, Harrusani Zakaria themufti of Perak, or NakhaieAhmad, a former Pas leader whohad crossed over to Umno, or theso-called ‘independent’ lawmak-ers like Ibrahim Ali, ZulkifliNoordin or Hassan Ali, if not theUmno youths themselves, willthen get into the act. Predictably,the mainstream media will high-light their attacks against the crit-ics in the front page. One or moreof the above will then file policereports that such-and such had‘ menghina Islam’ and the royalty,and committed sedition by ques-tioning Malay rights and‘ Ketuanan Melayu’, etc.

After a short while, the Umno-BNministers, sometimes the formerprime minister, if not the currentprime minister himself, will nextstep in. By this time, the Police,Jabatan Agama, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC)and other authorities would havebeen unleashed against the crit-ics.

Consider the recent case involv-ing Nurul Izzah Anwar. On 3November, in response to a ques-tion from the floor at a forum on‘The Islamic State’, Nurul hadmade comments to the effect that

there was no compulsion in Is-lam. Understanding the sensitiv-ity of the issue, she was quick toadd that she was not in favour ofapostasy.

And yet, it was reported in theUtusan Malaysia and Berita Harianthat she had declared that Malayscould renounce their faith, whichshe had never said. These news-papers also reported variousgroups and leaders – they in-cluded minister of Home AffairsHishammuddin Hussein Onn,Gerakan Masyarakat PrihatinMeru leader Jaya KusumaRosman and Persatuan UlamaMalaysia secretary-general DrMohd Roslan Mohd Noor - de-nouncing her for what she hadnot actually said, but what wasreportedly claimed that she hadsaid.

Although various groups like Sis-ters in Islam, the Islamic Renais-sance Front, and individuals likethe former Mufti of Perlis DrMohd Asri Zainul Ariffin, bloggerand lawyer Harris Ibrahim, col-umnist Mariam Mokhtar and sev-eral Pas leaders came to her de-fence, none of these opinions andclarifications in support of Nurulwas reported in the mainstreammedia.

Why, some pro-PKR blogs alsocirculated a news clipping quot-ing former prime ministerAbdullah Badawi saying aboutthe same thing - that some ‘Mus-lims who wanted to leave Islamshould be allowed to do so’.These remarks had appeared inChannel News Asia on 10 July2007.

The case ofNurul Izzah Anwar

Pattern inthese attacks

ARRIVAL OF NEW POLITICS... Continued from page 40


Despite support for what Nurulhad actually said, clarificationsthat she had been misrepre-sented in the mainstream media,and that Abdullah Badawi hadalso said, more or less the samebut was never attacked for it,Nurul Izzah continued to bemisrepresented and attacked.The intention, it was clear, wassimply to whip up a frenzyamong Umno-BN supporters.

In so doing, several critical issuesthat had been making the head-lines particularly in the alterna-tive media – the Scorpene subma-rines contract, the National Feed-lot Corp scandal, the AutomatedEnforcement System, and the al-leged RM40m contribution toSabah Umno, all, clearly and po-tentially corruption cases – wereconveniently sidelined! So, in-stead of investigating the truthbehind these cases, various gov-ernment agencies began question-ing and investigating the variousgroups and alternative media thathad given attention to these po-tential corruption cases, and tothe counter-reports of what NurulIzzah had said.

Another disturbing exampleconcerns how the Utusan Malay-sia had on 8 August 2012 de-clared in its front page: Haramsokong DAP. Apparently, thedeclaration was first made by areligious teacher calledAbdullah Sa’amah who runs asekolah pondok in KampungGeting in Tumpat. The next day,under the headlines ‘Lagi seruantolak DAP’ the newspaper car-ried more reports condemningthe DAP.

In essence, the DAP was labelledas kafir harbi or kafir dimmi whichtranslates as ‘belligerent infidel’.More seriously, kafir harbi is usedto describe ‘non-Muslims seen asenemies of Islam and whosedeaths are allowed and justifiedin a war setting as they are seen tobe attempting to kill Muslims’. Forthe Utusan Malaysia, the DAP’sopposition to the implementationof hudud law in Malaysia was tan-tamount to being anti-Islam. Theirdepiction of the DAP as kafir harbi,therefore, was justified. Appar-ently, the same term ‘did not ap-ply to the MCA and MIC becausethey are prepared to accept Islamicsupremacy in multi-religious Ma-laysia’! This is very heavy stuff!

Related to this labelling of theDAP are the allegations whichhave been highlighted in theUtusan Malaysia during the pastyear, namely that the DAP wasplanning to turn Malaysia into aChristian country and that theyhad pledged to instal a Christianprime minister. No matter howludicrous the charge, Perkasa,Perkida and other groups lodgedpolice reports and demanded thatthe Police and the various Statereligious councils investigatethese allegations of the DAP’s in-tentions.

The DAP’s veteran leader, Mem-ber of Parliament Lim Kit Siangalerted the public and protestedagainst the Umno-BN governmentthat this depiction of the DAP wasakin to calling Muslims to hate, ifnot to destroy the DAP. Whenqueried on the matter, the deputyeditor of the Utusan Malaysia hadthe gall to claim ‘fair comment’ forso calling the DAP. There were noqualms on his part that he couldhave taken Malaysia to the brink

of a racial catastrophe. Certainly,there were no qualms that he wasacting unprofessionally. The cabi-net minister in charge of Islamicaffairs simply clarified that thesewere but ‘personal opinions’ be-cause there were as yet no fatwas(religious rulings) on these mat-ters. The minister in the primeminister’s department opined thatit was good to air such views on‘sensitive matters’, so that they didnot remain sensitive and contro-versial!

In fact, there have been many otheroccasions in the past few yearswhen irresponsible and extremistopinions have been openly ex-pressed, sometimes by very impor-tant political leaders. I mentionsome of these in passing:

• In Sept 2001, Dr Mahathir hadproclaimed unilaterally thatMalaysia is an Islamic coun-try. Naturally, there occurreda heated debate over his pro-nouncement.

• An off-shoot of this controver-sial pronouncement was theattempt by the Bar Council andother NGOs to set up the Inter-religious Council (IRC), whichwas opposed by a group ofMalay-Muslim associationsthat saw the establishment ofany such Council as a movethat would undermine the sta-tus of Islam as the official reli-gion of the country. The mattercame to a close after then primeminister Abdullah Badawiruled that the establishment ofthe IRC was ill-conceived andordered the Bar Council to halt

Fanning racistsentiments and

extremist views?

Haram to votefor the DAP


its efforts.

• Thereafter, there emerged anew coalition of like-mindedNGOs that called themselves‘Article 11’, named after thearticle in the federal Constitu-tion that guaranteed freedomof religion. After several pub-lic forums were held, this ef-fort was also halted in itstracks. Not least, a meeting co-organised by Aliran in Penangwas disrupted by demonstra-tors and even a bomb scare!

• The problem, of course, wasnot resolved. It was only sweptunder the carpet. For in thecourse of that decade, there de-veloped a series of court casesinvolving the competing juris-dictions of civil law and thesharia related to burial rights,custody and upbringing ofchildren when one spouse hadconverted to Islam. In themidst of this, the Lina Joy casealso came to Court. Despite aCabinet ruling over these mat-ters, it does not yet appear thatthe question of competing ju-risdictions has been solvedonce and for all. Not least Ar-ticle 11 on the freedom of reli-gion appears to contradict Ar-ticle 121(1A), an amendment tothe federal Constitution in1988.

• There was also the ‘Allah con-troversy’ involving the Catho-lic Herald. Related to this wasthe seizure and withholding ofthe distribution of the Malayversion of the Holy Bible:30,000 copies were confiscatedat Kuching Port and anothershipment of 5,100 Bibles wasimpounded in Port Klang. Thematter has been resolved tem-

porarily by requiring that theBibles be numbered, andstamped ‘only for the use ofnon-Muslims’ before they werereleased. But there has notbeen a withdrawal or amend-ment of the said administrativelaw which led to the seizureand distribution of the Biblesin the first instance.

• The perennial debate over theHistory syllabus also came tothe fore again when it was pro-posed that History be made acompulsory subject in the SPM.There was a complaint bymainly non-Muslims and non-Malays that the syllabus hadover-emphasised the study ofIslamic history. As well, littleattention had been given to thecontributions of non-Malays,or to Sabahans or Sarawakiansto the making of modern Ma-laysia. Again, the matter hasbeen left hanging.

• Amidst this controversy, agroup of non-Muslims, allegedthat the novel Interlok writtenby a national laureateAbdullah Hussein, which was

used as a compulsory text byupper secondary school stu-dents in the Klang Valley, con-tained racist sentiments. In thiscase, the matter was resolvednot by replacing the text but byremoving certain passages inthe text; this move neither ap-peased the complainants northe author.

• Meanwhile in Penang, thepublication of a pamphletmyBalikPulau by Arts-Ed inPenang, the result of a popu-lar history project by Penangyouths of all multi-ethnic,multireligous backgroundscaused a stir when Umno-Penang leaders claimed thatthe pamphlet had denigratedPenang Malays. The accusa-tion was completely baselessand was an attempt to turnMalays against the PakatanRakyat-led state government.The matter came to rest whenit was revealed that it was theprevious Umno-BN govern-ment which had first awardedArts-Ed the grant for theproject. In this instance, alas,the creative efforts of theyouths who had been involvedin the project were subjected tothe politicking of racist politi-cians.

• There were several other at-tempts by racist politicians tosmear the reputation of thePenang state government. Noless that the deputy prime min-ister had alleged, wrongly asit turned out, in front page re-ports of the Utusan Malaysia,again, that the state IslamicCouncil had replaced the nameof the Yang di-Pertuan Agongwith the chief minister’s namein their Friday prayers. Al-

Ibrahim AliIbrahim AliIbrahim AliIbrahim AliIbrahim Ali


though, the allegation wasproven baseless, there was noretraction of the reports, noapology from the deputyprime minister.

Have these public debates onethno-religious matters contrib-uted towards ethnic tensions? Nodoubt they have.

So, are ethnic tensions worsen-ing? Many of us are inclined toagree. If we are one of those whothink so, then we should, logi-cally, turn to the Umno-BN lead-ers for help. For, unlike the Oppo-sition coalition, Umno-BN hasaccumulated 55-plus years ofhandling ethnic tensions in Ma-laysia.

In fact, we must get our analysisright. We must locate these eventsand issues which are ethnicallytainted, into a wider context.

Look around us. Remember thatthere is now an alternative multi-ethnic multi-religious oppositioncoalition, the Pakatan Rakyat. Arethey strange bedfellows as themainstream media, especially theUtusan Malaysia, the Berita Harian,the New Straits Times, and The Star,make them out to be?

If we believe the mainstreammedia’s reporting on goings-onwithin the PR, they should havesplit up or crashed a long timeago. In fact, it appears that theywork with one another ratherwell, probably better than the BNparties do, which is clearly domi-nated by Umno.

At a PKR Youth dinner held in

Penang on 24 August 2012, whichfeatured Nurul Izzah Anwar,Mohd Rafizi Ramli, N Surendranand the famous artist Wong HoyCheong, they reminded us that thePR and PKR style of work wasvery open and transparent. Theyhave different points of viewswithin the party, they clarified.And they tend to argue with oneanother openly. Hence it looks likethey are always quarrelling withone another! By contrast, the BNseldom allowed their differencesto be aired openly. In fact, the otherBN parties are always scared ofUmno. So, they quietly stab eachother in the back instead, they ex-plained!

Or look at the politics in virtualspace. Nowadays, one can findwebsites and blogs, and opinionsposted on non-partisan blogs andsites that are rabidly racist. At thesame time, who can deny thatthere are websites, blogs, postingsand social media which expressopinions which are clearly non-racist, although the issuestouched upon, sometimes, mightbe considered ethnically sensitive.

Recall Berish 2.0 and DudukBantah 3.0. Weren’t these verymulti-ethnic mass rallies? In factthey involved not only people ofdifferent ethno-religious back-grounds, but people of all ages,male and female, and apparentlyfrom different strata of society.

On Aliran’s part, we have alsobeen trying to build multi-ethniccoalitions. Via our executive com-mittee members based in theKlang Valley, we have partici-

pated in various multi-ethnic coa-litions involved in Berish 2.0, theGerakan Mansuhkan ISA,KemSMS Kempen Sejarah Malay-sia Sebenar, the GerakanBertindak Malaysia, the Anti-Water Privatisation campaign,Jerit, the Coalition AgainstHealthcare Privatisation, etc. InPenang, we have also workedwith various groups to organisethe Bersih 3.0 Duduk Bantah, thePenang Forum, the Local Democ-racy Initiative, and an anti-racismcampaign (with the Islamic Re-naissance Front). We have alsoheld dialogues with Pas leadersincluding Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad,the MP for Kuala Selangor, onwhat Pas stands for includingtheir new concept of the Islamicwelfare state.

So, what is the context for locat-ing those ethno-religious issueswe elaborated on in the first partof this article?

It must be stressed, again andagain: the real political strugglethat’s occurring is not one due toethnic or racial tensions. Neitheris it one between the religions. Noris it a struggle between the upperand lower classes, in spite of ourhopes that the oppressed will beliberated sooner rather than later

Plain and simple, it is a struggleof New Politics vs Old Politics.

The Old Politics is relativelysimple to determine. It is the poli-tics of race and religion whichemphasises differences and diffi-culties in working things out. Soyou need big brother, namelyUmno-BN. It is in this manner that

Getting ouranalysis right

Remember Bersih 2.0and Duduk Bantah 3.0

Old Politics vsNew Politics


they make themselves important,even indispensable.

Earlier, Dr Mahathir declared: “Inthis country we are veryracist…even more than before.”Accordingly, for him, “the nextelection is going to be aboutrace…who gives what, who getswhat based on race”. And headded: “When the government isweak, it caters to demands whichare not going to be good for thecountry in the long run” (The Ma-laysian Insider, 28 June 2012). Hewas referring, of course, to theBN’s loss of 82 federal seats andfive state governments in the 2008general election.

In fact, he also clarified (as re-ported in The Insider, 28 June2012) “that Chinese voters willdecide who forms the governmentafter GE-13 as the Malays are di-vided among three parties”. So allthree Malay parties “butter theChinese voters”.

Or listen to this old record playedby MCA chief Dr Chua Soi Lek(The Star 3 Feb 2012):

“Chinese voters did not under-stand that a vote for the DAPwould only help Pas realise itsobjective of forming an Islamic

state and implementing its brandof hudud.” Chua made these re-marks even when the Pas leader-ship had just sacked the extrem-ist Dr Hassan Ali from the partyand got him removed from theSelangor State Exco, for express-ing views and acting in opposi-tion to the policies and positionsthat the PR coalition had agreedupon and adopted.

Chua has also argued that the PRgovernment had yet to build asingle Chinese school anywherewhereas his MCA had succeededin persuading the federal govern-ment to make available land andfunds to build several Chineseschools, had got scholarships forChinese students and won thementrance into particular courses inthe universities.

Subsequently, on several occa-sions, he has threatened the Chi-nese electorate that if they do notvote for the MCA in this upcom-ing elections, the MCA will notparticipate in the next BN govern-ment! There will then be no partyrepresenting the Chinese in thenext BN government. Of course,Chua fails to see that it might notbe a Umno-BN c oalition that willcome out tops! It might be thePakatan Rakyat instead!

It is clear that Chua wishes to pro-long the Old Politics based on race.After all, this is his party’s raisond’etre. It is understandable for himto criticise the PR. But he shouldnot patronise the rakyat with out-of-date Old Politics arguments!

It must be clarified that this OldPolitics is riddled with cronyismand money politics, and a lack oftransparency and accountabilitytoo. Recall the issues that weresidelined when the pro-BN-Umnopoliticians and mainstream me-dia started highlighting the NurulIzzah, the kafir harbi, and otherethno-religious issues. Again, theintention was to sideline theScorpene and NFC scandals, theAES and other sweetheart dealsfor the cronies, the Klang NorthPort exposes, and the latest report-edly RM40 million ‘contribution’from some businessman to UmnoSabah.

At any rate, after 55 years ofMerdeka, Malaysia is no longerthe society and economy it oncehad been. It has been transformedfrom a tin- and rubber-led com-modities-based economy to an ex-port-led manufacturing- and ser-vices-based economy. With rapidgrowth and industrialisation, thesize of the industrial workingclass employed in the industrialestates and the free industrialzones has grown. In February2010, the total registered foreignworkers stood at 2-odd million.They, too, were contributing toMalaysia’s economic growth.

Similarly, the size of the middle-class has expanded rapidly.Whereas there once used to be asingle university, today there are

Towards a new politics


Dr Francis Loh is the presi-Dr Francis Loh is the presi-Dr Francis Loh is the presi-Dr Francis Loh is the presi-Dr Francis Loh is the presi-dent of Aliran. This is a re-dent of Aliran. This is a re-dent of Aliran. This is a re-dent of Aliran. This is a re-dent of Aliran. This is a re-vised version of the speechvised version of the speechvised version of the speechvised version of the speechvised version of the speechthat he delivered at Aliran’sthat he delivered at Aliran’sthat he delivered at Aliran’sthat he delivered at Aliran’sthat he delivered at Aliran’s36th Annual General Meet-36th Annual General Meet-36th Annual General Meet-36th Annual General Meet-36th Annual General Meet-ing on 25 November 2012.ing on 25 November 2012.ing on 25 November 2012.ing on 25 November 2012.ing on 25 November 2012.

some 25-odd public universities,another 20-plus private universi-ties, and hundreds of other pri-vate colleges. Plus, thousandscontinue to return to Malaysia af-ter studying abroad every year.These graduates constitute theyouth who often are IT-savvy.They read the alternative onlinedailies besides blogging, tweetingand have their own Facebook ac-counts. They made a difference inthe 2008 election. They wereamongst the hundreds of thou-sands who participated in theDuduk Bantah Kuala Lumpur andelsewhere in the country on 28April 2012.

Besides, a large proportion ofpeople involved in the neweconomy and higher educationare also women. As is wellknown, women account for morethan 60 per cent of enrolment inpublic universities. Surely, the ris-ing numbers of the educated, IT-savvy middle-class, especially theyouths, male and female, make adifference to Malaysian politics!

With the successful implementa-tion of the New Economic Policy(NEP, 1971-90) and its continua-tion under other auspices like theNational Development Policy(1991-2000), a large proportion ofthose engaged in the neweconomy, at the upper, middleand lower echelons arebumiputeratoo.

The results of the 2008 electionsare yet another indicator of thedecline of old politics. Not onlydid some 50 per cent of the elec-torate vote for the alternativemulti-ethnic coalition. But thevarious races crossed racial lineswhen they voted. The evidence isavailable to show that Malays in

the urban areas actually voted forthe DAP while non-Malays in thesemi-urban constituencies actu-ally voted for Malay candidateswho contested under the PKR oreven Pas banners. Apparently,these voters voted for change to anew politics.

Some of us will also recall ouranxieties on the night of 8 March2008, when the electoral resultswere coming in. Many feared theworst as it was being announcedthat the BN had lost its two-thirds’parliamentary majority and thatthe Opposition had captured fivestate governments.

In fact, we had neglected to re-mind ourselves that our societyhad been transformed and that wehave had a history of inter-ethniccooperation as well in earliertimes. The formation of thePakatan Rakyat governments infour states is further testimony thatMalaysians can see through thosewho resort to racial baiting. Ma-laysians are not steeped in ethnicexclusivism as the advocates ofOld Politics want to influence usto believe. We can transcend eth-nic ties and sentiments. It is timeto bury the ghost of May 13,1969.once and for all!

Put another way, tremendoustransformation of Malaysia’seconomy and society has oc-curred. If this is so apparent, itshould also be apparent that Ma-laysian politics has also been un-dergoing change. For the newmiddle-class, especially theyouths, are demanding politicalreform and democratisation. Why,the ghost of May 13 is now beingdisplaced by the multi-ethnic soli-darity displayed in the recentDuduk Bantah.However, be fore-

warned, there are many, not leastin Umno-BN who wish us to re-turn us to the Old Politics. Theywill continue to resort to ethnicsentiments and manipulation. Butwe must push ahead with NewPolitics.

Aliran’s task as a people’s thinktank is to focus on the big picture.One of our roles, I believe, is to helpfellow Malaysians see the forestbeyond the trees. In this case, weare highlighting that there is nowa series of ethno-religious contro-versies occurring only because theold politics that is based on eth-nic exclusivism and cronyism isbeing confronted by a strong pushtowards a new politics that ismore democratic, just and respect-ful of our ethno-religious differ-ences. Our support for the NewPolitics is clear. q

Hassan AliHassan AliHassan AliHassan AliHassan Ali


To all those who are yearning forpeace in the Middle East, may Ioffer some thoughts for possiblelong-term solutions, since noth-ing has worked so far? Suppose asmall baby is taken from his Jew-ish parents and placed with aPalestinian family. Wouldn’t thechild learn to dislike his or herbiological parents and other Jews?Likewise, take a Palestinian babyand place it with a Jewish familyand he or she will learn to hateand even go to war against thevery people he or she came from.Isn’t that logical?

But if we would give our childrena naturally nurturing environ-ment, with economic security forlife and the tools of science butwithout ideological and commer-cial indoctrination, they wouldgrow up to see other people asbrothers and sisters. They wouldhave no enemies to fight. Their

appreciation and preservation oflife and nature would grow pro-portionately. They would havelittle use for recreational drugs orother mindless pursuits.

In such an environment, no man-made religions such as we havenow would ever re-emerge. Afterall, everything known about Godwould have to make scientificsense. There is no need to be a be-liever in gravity to make it work.Let us humbly acknowledge thateach of us bears the mark of ourparticular heritage, environmentand education. Depending onwho is doing the talking, each ofus is the “other person.”

Gunther OstermannKelowna, B.C., Canada

Soi Lek is hammering away at theDAP accusing them of supporting

Letters must not exceed 250words and must include thewriter's name and address.Pseudonyms may be used. Sendletters or emails to Editor (seepage 3 for address details).Views expressed need not reflectthose of Aliran. If e-mailing,include message in the e-mailbody itself.

Long-term solutionto peace

hudud and the Islamic state. Heoverlooks the slow but steadyIslamisation of Malaysia underUmno and the BN.

Umno does not support an Inter-Faith Council. What has he to sayabout it?

Has Umno declared that it will notimplement sharia laws? Soi Lekshould get Umno to state this.When he succeeds in doing this,then he can take on DAP and Pas.

What has he to say about corrup-tion, which is rampant under BNrule? Has he condemned corrup-tion in the Scorpene scandal?

What has he to say about theAltantuya murder? The judge hadruled it was not necessary toprove motive. Any comment, SoiLek?

Gangnam Condom-styleJohor

Soi Lek:Speak sense!


Aliran goes digital,broadens online presence

liran will be going fullydigital from 2014 withAliran Monthly beingphased out over the com-

ing year.

The magazine which began life asa quarterly in 1980 beforebecoming a monthly fouryears later, is now in its32nd year of publication.

By stopping the publica-tion at the end of 2013, thesociety hopes to free itselfof the time, energy andfunds, indeed the monthlyschedule imposed to pro-duce the magazine. Risingcosts have also contrib-uted to the decision tophase out the magazine.The savings in costs and re-sources would then be rechan-nelled to Aliran’s digitisation ef-forts.

Apart from revamping and rede-signing the website, Aliran willuse e-newsletters and social me-dia networking tools to boost itsonline outreach. All this will re-quire greater participation from itsmembers.

This was one of the main high-lights of the discussion at the 36thannual general meeting today.

Scholar activist Dr Francis Lohretained his position as Aliran

AGM 2012

president. Similarly Dr Mustafa KAnuar and Anil Netto were re-elected as honorary secretary andhonorary treasurer respectively.Henry Loh was elected as the newassistant secretary.

Members also elected the follow-ing to the executive committee: PRamakrishnan, Dr PremaDevaraj, Andrew Wong, Dr SoonChuan Yean, Dr Andrew Aeria,Sarajun Hoda bin Abdul Hassan,Angeline Loh, Dr SubramaniamPillay, Dr Lye Tuck-Po, Dr MollyLee and Dr Chistopher Chong EuChoong.

Ch’ng Teng Liang was electedhonorary auditor.

In his keynote address, Loh fo-cussed on the simmering tensionsbetween old and new politics inMalaysia: ‘old’ referring to theethnic-based crony-ridden non-

transparent processes associatedwith Umno-BN dominance; ‘new’referring to the push towardsdemocratisation, decentralisationand good governance promotedby events like Bersih 3.0 and theemergence of a two-party system.

“It is this tension be-tween old and new poli-tics that characterises theebb and flow of politicsin Malaysia today. Thisis so despite the claimsby politicians and themainstream media thatharken back to our eth-nic divisions andpolarisation.”

Loh also noted it hadbeen a most eventful

year for Aliran. The society hadpresented submissions to theParliamentary Select Committeeon Electoral Reforms, organisedDuduk Bantah 3.0 at the PenangEsplanade, which drew 10,000people and held a forum on Elec-tions and Democracy which fea-tured Ambiga Sreenevasan asthe main speaker. Aliran alsoheld a high-tea in Penang on theday after Bersih 3.0 when na-tional laureate Pak Samad Saidspoke about his experience inKL and read a poem.

Dr Mustafa K AnuarHonorary Secretary25 November 2012

AAAAA


n recent months andyears, there have oc-curred vicious attacksand actions taken

against people and groups whohave stood up for justice, equalityand freedom. In the course of2012, the leaders of Bersih 2.0 andDuduk Bantah 3.0 were system-

atically attacked. We also wit-nessed attacks againstTenaganita leader IreneFernandez who was campaigningfor greater justice for migrantworkers. Perkasa condemned heras ‘anti-national’ and demandedthat her citizenship be revoked.There has also occurred a cam-

paign against the Member of Par-liament and PKR vice-presidentNurul Izzah Anwar, who hasbeen accused of supporting apos-tasy for Muslims, something shehad not said whatsoever.

Arrival of New Politicsundermines the Old Politics

NEW POLITICS

Umno-BN continues to manipulate ethno-religious issues todelay the emergence of a New Politics that is associated withjustice, equality and freedom, and the push towards a moredemocratic two-party system

by Dr Francis Loh

IIIII

Continued on page 32Continued on page 32Continued on page 32Continued on page 32Continued on page 32

monthly - aliranaliran monthly : vol.32(10) page 4 egates, one could not but palpa-bly sense that...

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