The following news article by KC Boey for the Malaysian Insider, is an excellent summary of Raja Petra Kamarudin’s public lecture at the Australian National University.
Reforms are the only way forward if the opposition in Malaysia is to overturn 53 years of unbroken rule by the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) government, blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin said here yesterday.
But Raja Petra, who campaigned actively for the three parties who now make up the Pakatan Rakyat (PR), despaired of the opposition offering an alternative when he set out the reform agenda of the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM) in a public lecture at the Australian National University in Canberra.
“We (the MCLM) can’t seem to get the opposition to bring itself out of Merdeka politics,” he said in a question-and-answer session, “the politics of 1957. They are still stuck in the past.
“What they fail to see is that the world has moved on,” said Raja Petra, 60, popularly known as RPK. “People are more sophisticated, people are better read, people are better informed.
“Unless the opposition can come to terms with this … we are going to see a Barisan Nasional government for many, many more years to come.”
In a presentation on “Beating Malaysian Authoritarianism with People Power: A Blog Activist’s Tale” that moderator Dr Andrew Walker described as “entertaining and fascinating”, Raja Petra said the opposition could not come into government without the support of the non-Malays and, more critically, the voters in east Malaysia.
The non-Malays in Peninsular Malaysia have to a large extent had the fear factor of Umno’s “riot act” lifted, but the opposition was giving no comfort to the people in east Malaysia, many of whom are Christians.
“The key to Putrajaya is in the hands of Sabah/Sarawak,” Raja Petra said. “Whoever rules Sabah/Sarawak will rule the whole of Malaysia, and currently we do not see the opposition making any headway in Sabah/Sarawak.
“Why do we (the opposition) play the race and religion game in Sabah/Sarawak? The Muslims are the minority in Sabah/Sarawak. Yet the opposition, in particular Anwar Ibrahim, wants a Muslim to head Sabah and Sarawak.
“There are a lot of Christians in Sabah/Sarawak; very angry Christians; the issue of body-snatching, the issue of Christians can’t use the word ‘Allah’ … What they see is one federal government exchange for another federal government, one colonial party exchange for another colonial party.
“They want change. They want religious freedom. They want equality.”
If there was to be more of the same, they might as well maintain the status quo “and take the (Barisan Nasional) money”.
Raja Petra disclosed meetings with de facto opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in London, expressing disappointment with opposition approaches to the next general election. “The way things are going, the opposition could self-destruct over the next two years,” he said.
But he rejected suggestions that the MCLM would split the opposition. He said the MCLM had made clear that it was a movement and not a political party.
“How can we split the votes if we are not contesting the elections?” he asked. “What we want to do is to assist the opposition, help the opposition by offering better candidates.”
Candidates identified by the MCLM would contest under the opposition, not as MCLM. “We are not contesting,” he said.
The condition for collaboration is that the opposition support the MCLM’s Rakyat Reform Agenda (RARA).
The MCLM also wants restored the four branches of government: the executive, the judiciary, the legislative and the monarchy, and not “power concentrated in the hands of one man”.
The Canberra lecture kicked off a three-city tour, with Sydney and Melbourne to follow. In all three cities, there will be fundraisers for the MCLM, with that in Canberra at the ANU today.
Flyers promoting Raja Petra’s visit promise a speaker “large as life and several times as natural, ready to do what he does best: to strip down the misguided truths that strut the corridors of power in his usual no-holds-barred style. Unsparing of the discomfort it might inflict on the wrongdoers, unyielding in his quest to bring change.”
Raja Petra was true to form yesterday.
Observing that Johor is a stronghold of Umno, he said that was why Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek was the president of the MCA; “he’s from Johor, it’s got nothing to do about his performance on video”, to gales of laughter and applause from the largely Malaysian audience.
The observation was made that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was arriving in Canberra — for a three-day official visit to Australia — the night Raja Petra was speaking.
Asked what he would say to Najib should they meet, he said: “I doubt I’ll be meeting the prime minister … well, I don’t know what to say to him other than ‘met any lovely Mongolian ladies lately’?”
Raja Petra yesterday met independent Senator Nick Xenophon and Labour Senator Claire Moore. He will be at Parliament House again today, where Labour Member of Parliament Michael Danby is said to have organised a meeting with a non-partisan group of parliamentarians.
Danby, as chairman of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade in February last year, delivered to Malaysian High Commissioner to Australia Datuk Salman Ahmad a petition signed by more than 50 MPs demanding that the Malaysian judiciary drop charges of sodomy against Anwar.
Raja Petra will speak at the University of Sydney on March 11 before leaving for Melbourne on March 14
Degradation…Text book insults Indian community in Malaysia. A Book Titled: INTERLOK
It was a rude awakening, Interlok a Malay literature book, was supposed to be introduced in school as a core subject. This book was written by a national laureate, Abdullah Hussein. The controversy stems from the use of racial slurs, which the author included to reflect the social reality during the period depicted in the novel. Several groups claimed that the novel contains elements deemed offensive to the Indian community, and it also gives a negative and distorted view of the Indians. Therefore, its use in the schools would make the other communities look down on the Indians.
More than 100 NGO’s (Non-Governmental Organizations) under the Malay Consultative Council (MPM) have essentially said that the minority Indians are angry with them because they have shown their unhappiness with the use of the book Interlok as a school text book. Meanwhile, in Kuala Lumpur, Prof Emeritus Datuk, Dr. Nik Hassan Shuhaimi Nik Abdul Rahman, the deputy director of University Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Institute of the Malay World and Civilization urged politicians and academicians to sit together and discuss the content of the novel to dispel any negative perceptions towards it. But sadly, it fell on deaf ears.
It was 27th of February 2011; the march was supposed to start on at 9am, beginning at the Renaissance Hotel in Jalan Ampang, before passing through KLCC (also known as the Petronas Twin Towers, one of the tallest twin buildings in the world) and later making its way to the Dang Wangi Police Headquarters. On the other hand, there were severe restrictions by police, including arrests of main leaders, to make sure that the march never took off as planned. It wasn’t able to begin until the demonstrators re-gathered at the compound of the Kottumalai Pillayar Temple. Initially a small crowd of Indians recited ‘Haramkan Interlok, jangan hina kaum India’ (Ban Interlok, don’t insult Indians), while accompanied by Kota Alam Shah Congress leader, M. Manoharan. But when the crowd began marching to the Dang Wangi police headquarters, the crowd quickly expanded to some 200 Indians. There, temple-goers joined in the reciting and picked up banners condemning the novel, while most of them were heard one temple-goer saying, “We have nothing to lose now, let them arrest, if they want to arrest us, they need to do to all of us. Let’s see how far they can go,” Eventually, 109 were arrested and jailed under Section 27 (5) of the Police Act for gathering in an illegal assembly, and under the Societies Act. In the evening, 101 were released. However, eight others, believed to be leaders of HINDRAF, the banned Hindu Rights Action Force, and the Human Rights Party, were under investigation.
In Northern Africa and the Middle-East, we are seeing a revolution as people stand up to re-claim their rights. Here, Malaysian Indians through Human rights movement called Hindraf Makkal Sakthi (HINDRAF), and its political division Human Rights Party Malaysia (HRPM), are fighting to hold on to their dignity against a piece of literature which is humiliating the Indians. Interlok is an issue quite recently encountered by the Malaysia education ministry on Malay literature that involves the issue of Pariah’s (Indian untouchable caste) in this country. But its impact on the Indian community at large was obvious as the Human Rights Party Malaysia (HRPM) aimed to organise this biggest anti-Interlok march. The Malay-language novel Interlok was assigned as a literature textbook for 17-year-old students this year. First published in 1971, it tells the stories of three families which are Malay, Chinese and Indian, reflecting Malaysia’s main ethnic groups in British colonial times.
Some Indians complained about a portion of the book involving a poor man from India’s “Pariah caste” who migrates to Malaya (now known as Malaysia) to find work and is surprised at the absence of a caste system. They says it unfairly depicts Indians, who make up about 8 percent of Malaysia’s 28 million people, as coming from inferior communities and contributes to ethnic tension and discrimination. Under the Indian caste system, Hindus are divided into four main castes according to their line of work. Although the system is banned in India, it is still practiced in villages. Malaysian Indians do not follow with most of their ancestors traditions; the caste system is largely obsolete here in Malaysia. Here are some of the lines quoted from the novel which clearly stereotypes to smear the entire Indian community in Malaysia:-
1. “Maniam seperti orang India yang lain, tidak pernah khuatir tentang keselamatan isterinya.” (218) (Maniam is just like any Indian, did not worry about his wife’s safety.)
2. “Mereka yang dari arah ke utara sedikit bercakap bahasa Malayalam atau Telugu, tetapi hampir semuanya tahu bahasa Tamil. Malayalam dan Telugu pun berasal dari satu rumpun bahasa Dravidia. Satu perkara besar yang membuatkan mereka senang berkaul adalah kerana mereka tergolong dalam satu kasta Paria.” (211) (They are from the north, some spoke in Malayalam or Telugu, but almost everyone knows Tamil language. Malayalam and Telugu are from the same root of the Dravidian language. The common thing about them interacting without any hassle is that they belong to the same caste known as “Pariah”. The reason all Indians in Malaysia can get along so well is because we are all Pariahs.)
3. “Mereka berasak-asak seperti kambing.” (211) (They rushed like goats.)
4. “Dia tidak sahaja dimaki hamun dengan kata-kata yang kesat, malah disisihkan daripada masyarakat sehingga dirinya dan orang-orang yang sekasta dengannya menjadi lebih hina daripada.” (219) (Not only was he scolded with words of vulgarity, he was also humiliated and segregated from society together with the people from the same caste.)
5. “Apatah pula lembu ialah binatang suci bagi orang Hindu; dan kalau binatang itu mati, seperti ibunya sendiri yang mati.” (220) (Since cows are considered sacred for the Hindus; and if the cow dies, it is just like his mother had died.)
6. “Tidak makan tengah hari tidak mendatangkan masalah, asalkan dia dapat mengunyah sirihnya seperti lembu atau kambing memamah biak.” (224) (He is not bothered whether he takes his lunch, as long he can munch on his beetle leaf like how the cows and goats munch their food.)
The (HRPM) pro tem secretary-general and the legal advisor of (HINDRAF), P. Uthayakumar, said, “If anyone can prove that there is even one country in the world more racist than Malaysia, we stand corrected. By racist, we don’t mean the people, but the government, the ruling party, the ruling elite, the system and the establishment. We don’t want to politicize anything. We are here to speak the truth, highlight injustices and violations of human rights. The government has to decide whether to hear the pleas or otherwise and at what cost. The rally is more than Interlok; it will focus on racism, racial prejudice and racial polarization in the country.”
The minority Malaysian Indian communities have suffered terrifically under the racist policies implemented by the UMNO (United Malay National Organization) ruled the Government since independence and their condition is worsened as most are from low paid working class group. This community is left with no other choice but to raise their grievance in justifiable ways. The Government realizes that Hindraf Makkal Sakthi (HINDRF) and the Human Rights Party (HRPM) is opening a new dimension in the outlook of Malaysians in the area of human rights and have changed the political equations, and thus as usual have taken the most extreme method of clamping down these human rights defenders by pressing criminal charges upon them. This is a transparent abuse of power and human rights. The Feb 27 rally and other similar events throughout Peninsular Malaysia would press for the opening of an Anti-Racism Act to set up an Anti-Racism Commission. The rally will also push for an equal rights and equal opportunities act to facilitate and translate the law into action. At first, there were 140 Indian NGO’s (Non-Governmental Organizations) that supported the call for the withdrawal of Interlok. Now, it is 250 Indian NGO’s representing some 500,000 Indians.
Interlok was not serving its purpose of helping to unify students, yet, is sowing the seeds of racism in school going children. In the beginning, the book was introduced to create harmony and national unity; but now it is definitely producing division between students and teachers. Instead being a place for education, it turned out to be an unsociable environment between Malay teachers and Indian students. The learning process has become bad. It is also making the teaching and learning process very difficult because Malay teachers will have to address the Indian students and the Indian teachers will have to address the Malay students on this issue. An incident took place in January this year, when the headmistress used the same word “Pariah” before her students at the assembly; so when she was asked where she got the word from? She said is from “Interlok,”.
The objection to the Interlok novel is not a matter concerning just only one community; it is a national issue involving everyone who cares for national unity. They are not asking for special rights but only for an equal opportunity. At one point, I too like many Malaysians believed that (HINDRAF) is a racist organisation. But as the day goes by, it is becoming clearer what they are fighting for. They may be seen as savage, yet, that does not matter. Why is this happening and who is looking into this issue to ensure it does not happen again? UMNO’s callousness has to be put to an end. Many know what HINDRAF has done but are tentative about speaking up for them. Put all the human rights workers together and this group outshines them, yet they are called racist by the civil societies who are uncomfortable with HINDRAF because of the economic comfort they enjoy in Malaysia. They tried various methods to destabilize them; from calling them terrorists to breaking them up from within. But nothing worked. The poor and the underclass are with them.
Malaysia today has emerged as the world’s most racist and religious supremacist country and the world’s only and last remaining apartheid regime, but very little known to the world at large because of UMNO’s very brilliant media political propaganda. The (HINDRAF) rally was to call for an end to “UMNO’s Racism” as well as seeking a ban on the controversial textbook Interlok. Malaysia’s refusal to allow the HINDRAF rally to take place is an act of arrogance and disrespect. The Malaysian government’s commitment to diversity and development is betrayed when it refuses to permit peaceful criticism of its policies and programmes. If this matter does not come to an end, I suppose, there will be more rallies that have to be organized and evidently not to be traumatized about it.
This shows that UMNO, the government is not ready to accept the truth about them playing the role of the master and the rest of the ethnic groups as their slaves. It is so apparent in their policies, be it in financial sector right up to the education system, they have manipulated and made it into a quota system, thus depriving other ethnic group the excess to proper living and education. Even in the civil sector, the malays control the main positions in all the ministries citing that official functions attended by the King can only be attended by malay officers. Though they are there in the main stream positions, but they are there without merits. There are Chinese, Indians and many other ethnic groups besides the malays, who are more qualified and more intelligent than the malays, but they can only play second fiddle to the malay supremacy.
The idea government implemented through its former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir Mohamad, who had a fore sight of building a new rich and educated malay society, but to his dismay, it back fired when the so called selected new rich malay society wanted more from the government. The social contract between the malays and the non-malays was actually draw up by the first PM, Tuanku Abdul Rahman, who wanted the malays to prosper through a planned called the Fisrt Malaysia Plan. Such was the case in Stalin’s Russia. Stalin implemented a series of Five Year Plans in an effort to build up the industrial might of the Soviet Union. Production quotas were constantly announced well before they had been reached in order to supply the illusion that the Five Year Plan was working. But before the Five Year Plan had run its course, another Five Year Plan was announced. Hopefully, you can intuit the psychological necessity of such an act on Stalin’s part. So, for the past 53 years the government has done its level best to help the to gain wealth through its doctrine of “MELAYU MISKIN” (Malays are poor), this resulting the non-malays to revolt against the government.
They need the plot to go on without any failure, thus creating animosity between its non-malay society. By conjuring non relevant issues like Interlok, calling the Chinese immigrants and saying that this country belongs to them. We see here that the history was distorted from the very beginning, by the first PM right up to now, the sixth PM. Hindraf what’s to put a stop to all this for once. The social contract should be re written so that the non s can also enjoy the privilege’s this country has to offer. We to have built the country with our own bare hands, so why shouldn’t we enjoy just like the malays do. All the non s what is equal opportunity and easy excess to education.
Interlok is an issue that might bring the country to a standstill if the government does not arrest the issue with utmost importance. Though the Indian community is small in number, but the whole world is looking at it as a bias issue brought about by the government of Malaysia to split the Indian community. If Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak wants the nation to hold as one, then he has got a heavy task of persuading the malay folks to accept the fact that the Interlok book should be withdrawn from the school syllables. That the non s should be given rights and privileges just like the malays
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