Aliran president writes Malaysia is perceived to be one screwed up nation. There is no doubt about it. It is difficult to fathom what is our priority and what we should be concerned about. Should our priority be safeguarding secrets or exposing corruption?
We are taken aback by the NST report on Sept 19 – 'Probe into expose of port govt secrets' – that investigations are underway to determine who was responsible for leaking the cabinet papers on the PKFZ that were posted on the Malaysia Today website.
The information contained in the 18-page document that was made available by this website for the benefit of the public could potentially implicate the cabinet and put the blame squarely on ministers and prime ministers.
This information throws light on why the cost escalated and how the project was grossly inflated. The Port Klang Free Zone project has squandered billions of ringgit of public money and has seemingly received the blessings of people who have been entrusted to be guardians of our finance. People who were expected to be accountable, transparent and responsible have failed us miserably.
It is these failings that they want to keep hidden by going after those who had a hand in revealing their complicity in this sordid affair.
They are not interested in investigating the element of corruption that is raised in this expose but they are only intent on punishing those responsible for leaking the corruption involved in the PKFZ project.
Is this why the OSA was legislated - to protect the corrupt and the guilty?
Shouldn’t the investigation focus on the incriminating contents of the document and bring to book all those who are guilty of corruption?
But the police and the Attorney-General are allegedly directing their energy elsewhere to nail those who had the audacity to expose this corruption.
Shouldn’t what was exposed be of interest to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission? Wouldn’t this be of vital importance in their investigation?
But let it be known that history has shown that the messenger may be stopped but the message can never be suppressed.
P Ramakrishnan
President
Aliran
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
If the shoe fits ...
‘In my day…’ says the old-timer. This is the preface to yet another harangue about a world that was better, kinder, wiser, juster, healthier, smarter etc. Nobody bothers to listen to him
But if the current Deputy Minister of Education says more or less the same, they do listen!
‘Schools are no good nowadays’, the old-timer insisted. ‘The kids don’t learn anything – spend too much time playing computers – always off on sports events – holiday for this holiday for that -- can’t even read and write properly...’
Bingo! said the Minister. Some 85,000 Malaysian children in Form I are ‘functionally illiterate’, which means ‘cant read and write properly.’
School teachers didn’t need an Old-timer or a Minister to tell them that, of course. Every year the system shunts youngsters from one primary grade up into the next, regardless of what they know, or don’t know. That’s called automatic promotion, and it works for the broad average but – surprise! surprise! – not every child is ‘average’.
Focus on personal attention
The slow learner falls between the cracks of this educational conveyor belt. If he’s still in school by Grade 6 he is bored, possibly naughty, and definitely not able to read and write properly. But he will be automatically moved up to Form I, and there he is, no asset to his school or the system. Long-suffering teachers have to deal with him as best they can.
The Minister has now directed that ‘good and experienced teachers’ be assigned to the lower Primary grades, and that more personal attention be given to the slower students ‘to monitor both their behavioural and academic development’. (Right: a 1930's photo of a primary school class in rural Sarawak)
A good point. A student who can’t keep up with his class is likely to get bored, and start playing up. If his parents let him, he stops going to school – or he hangs around town all morning while his parents think he’s in school. So now the ministry will have to come up with another strategy, this time to deal with ‘dropoutism’ (no, I didn’t invent this word!).
The plan to have better teachers in the lower primary grades is a good one. But even the best teachers can only work with the ‘human material’ in their hands, especially if the classes are large. Children’s intellectual capacities range from the genius level to the sub-normal; they cannot all be taught in the same way and at the same speed.
Quite recently, double-promotion (that’s definitely one from the Old-timer’s arsenal!) has been tentatively re-introduced for exceptionally bright children. How long will it take till some of their less gifted friends will be officially allowed to repeat a grade if necessary?
There should be an informal ‘minimum achievement’ test at the end of each primary year. Students who fail this will simply repeat the same grade.
Repetition must be treated as a straightforward administrative matter. Teachers and classmates raise no fuss, nobody says: ‘Shame on you, Jimmy!’ No tearful mummies and enraged papas turn up at the school, sobbing for mercy or threatening revenge.
At a rough guess, I’d say about 3 – 5 % of children would have to repeat a grade at least once in their primary career. Go ask the primary teachers, they can tell you! A really slow learner might need several repeats. He could be 15 of 16 by the time he completes primary school, but he would have acquired the basic education and literacy he’ll need to cope with life. One less ‘unemployed school leaver’ roaming the streets!
Every Malaysian child is entitled to free education, every Malaysian child has a place in a school. Unfortunately, the implementation of this laudable education-for-all policy is based on one faulty assumption: that all children are the same.
If anybody out there really believes this, let’s extend the principle to something simple like school shoes.
Feet and heads not the same
The Ministry of Education decrees that all boys and girls in Primary School wear dark blue tunics, shirts or pants, white blouses or shirts, and white canvas shoes. As of tomorrow morning, let the authorities also decree that in Primary 1 this uniform must be worn with a pair of shoes Size 1.
In Primary 2, all have to wear shoes Size 2.
In Primary 3, all have to wear shoes Size 3.
In Primary 4, all have to wear shoes Size 4.
In Primary 5 -- aw stop already, this is nonsense! How could all children wear the same size shoes? Some have big feet, some have small feet. In one class, the height difference between the shortest and the tallest child might be four inches. How could they all have the same feet?
My point exactly. Just as children’s body size comes in a very wide range, so do their teeth, and their earlobes, and their hair, and their intellectual capacities.
I am convinced that modifying automatic promotion to permit both double-promotions at one end, and retention in the same grade at the other, will improve the standard of Primary 6 leavers. It’ll be considerably more economical than shunting barely-literate students into Form I and then providing special remedial classes for them. A 7-year-old will take repeating a grade fairly easily; a 14-year old will resent being put into the ‘dumb class’ and react accordingly.
Their feet are not the same, neither are their heads, but both have to be taken care of.
None of this impressed the Old-timer, by the way. ‘In my day, we walked five miles to school, barefoot…’
Heidi Munan
But if the current Deputy Minister of Education says more or less the same, they do listen!
‘Schools are no good nowadays’, the old-timer insisted. ‘The kids don’t learn anything – spend too much time playing computers – always off on sports events – holiday for this holiday for that -- can’t even read and write properly...’
Bingo! said the Minister. Some 85,000 Malaysian children in Form I are ‘functionally illiterate’, which means ‘cant read and write properly.’
School teachers didn’t need an Old-timer or a Minister to tell them that, of course. Every year the system shunts youngsters from one primary grade up into the next, regardless of what they know, or don’t know. That’s called automatic promotion, and it works for the broad average but – surprise! surprise! – not every child is ‘average’.
Focus on personal attention
The slow learner falls between the cracks of this educational conveyor belt. If he’s still in school by Grade 6 he is bored, possibly naughty, and definitely not able to read and write properly. But he will be automatically moved up to Form I, and there he is, no asset to his school or the system. Long-suffering teachers have to deal with him as best they can.
The Minister has now directed that ‘good and experienced teachers’ be assigned to the lower Primary grades, and that more personal attention be given to the slower students ‘to monitor both their behavioural and academic development’. (Right: a 1930's photo of a primary school class in rural Sarawak)
A good point. A student who can’t keep up with his class is likely to get bored, and start playing up. If his parents let him, he stops going to school – or he hangs around town all morning while his parents think he’s in school. So now the ministry will have to come up with another strategy, this time to deal with ‘dropoutism’ (no, I didn’t invent this word!).
The plan to have better teachers in the lower primary grades is a good one. But even the best teachers can only work with the ‘human material’ in their hands, especially if the classes are large. Children’s intellectual capacities range from the genius level to the sub-normal; they cannot all be taught in the same way and at the same speed.
Quite recently, double-promotion (that’s definitely one from the Old-timer’s arsenal!) has been tentatively re-introduced for exceptionally bright children. How long will it take till some of their less gifted friends will be officially allowed to repeat a grade if necessary?
There should be an informal ‘minimum achievement’ test at the end of each primary year. Students who fail this will simply repeat the same grade.
Repetition must be treated as a straightforward administrative matter. Teachers and classmates raise no fuss, nobody says: ‘Shame on you, Jimmy!’ No tearful mummies and enraged papas turn up at the school, sobbing for mercy or threatening revenge.
At a rough guess, I’d say about 3 – 5 % of children would have to repeat a grade at least once in their primary career. Go ask the primary teachers, they can tell you! A really slow learner might need several repeats. He could be 15 of 16 by the time he completes primary school, but he would have acquired the basic education and literacy he’ll need to cope with life. One less ‘unemployed school leaver’ roaming the streets!
Every Malaysian child is entitled to free education, every Malaysian child has a place in a school. Unfortunately, the implementation of this laudable education-for-all policy is based on one faulty assumption: that all children are the same.
If anybody out there really believes this, let’s extend the principle to something simple like school shoes.
Feet and heads not the same
The Ministry of Education decrees that all boys and girls in Primary School wear dark blue tunics, shirts or pants, white blouses or shirts, and white canvas shoes. As of tomorrow morning, let the authorities also decree that in Primary 1 this uniform must be worn with a pair of shoes Size 1.
In Primary 2, all have to wear shoes Size 2.
In Primary 3, all have to wear shoes Size 3.
In Primary 4, all have to wear shoes Size 4.
In Primary 5 -- aw stop already, this is nonsense! How could all children wear the same size shoes? Some have big feet, some have small feet. In one class, the height difference between the shortest and the tallest child might be four inches. How could they all have the same feet?
My point exactly. Just as children’s body size comes in a very wide range, so do their teeth, and their earlobes, and their hair, and their intellectual capacities.
I am convinced that modifying automatic promotion to permit both double-promotions at one end, and retention in the same grade at the other, will improve the standard of Primary 6 leavers. It’ll be considerably more economical than shunting barely-literate students into Form I and then providing special remedial classes for them. A 7-year-old will take repeating a grade fairly easily; a 14-year old will resent being put into the ‘dumb class’ and react accordingly.
Their feet are not the same, neither are their heads, but both have to be taken care of.
None of this impressed the Old-timer, by the way. ‘In my day, we walked five miles to school, barefoot…’
Heidi Munan
Is Samy really ready to leave the MIC?
Amid a barrage of calls to step down, including an unmistakable hint from Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, MIC president Samy Vellu said he is ready to go “even tomorrow” so long as his deputy is prepared to take over the reins.
“I have no problem. It is not like I want to hold on to this post forever. But there are many things that need to be resolved,” he told the local media.
“I am ready to let go. Monday or even tomorrow if Palanivel feels that he is ready to take over the party leadership. I am ready to pass the leadership to him.
“I will meet him to discuss this.. I will ask if he is ready to take over as president. And if he is, I will hand it over to him.”
Samy, who by now holds the trophy as the longest-serving party leader in the local political scene, was referring to his anointed successor G Palanivel who recently upset the odds by beating two other candidates for the No 2 post.
Despite winning the most votes, Palanivel is seen by members as a leader without his own personality, who will help Samy to remain in the MIC hot-seat.
The former Works Minister became party acting president in 1979 before being elected as MIC chief in 1981.
He was re-elected for his 11th consecutive term in April and has publicly assured that he will step down in 2012, when his term ends.
Not soon enough
But 2012 is not soon enough – not only for his detractors within MIC – but also for the Barisan Nasional coalition of which it is a member.
But 2012 is not soon enough – not only for his detractors within MIC – but also for the Barisan Nasional coalition of which it is a member.
Fractious infighting at the MIC led to a disastrous outing at the 2008 general election, contributing to the BN’s overall depressed performance.
The party only managed to retain three parliamentary seats, with Samy even losing at his long-held bastion.
Unsurprisingly, he was punished by the previous prime minister and BN head Abdullah Badawi, who did not hesitate to drop him from the cabinet.
Now, with the MIC even more split after Palanivel pipped popular contender S Subramaniam for the deputy presidency, Najib – the current BN chief – is getting worried.
Subramaniam is mulling his future and may even leave the MIC for the opposition, possibly taking some 300,000 supporters with him.
"At that time, he told me that he could not step down and if he did, then it would destablise the party. But that was before the party election,” said Najib, referring to a June meeting with Samy."But now after the election, I will discuss with him again but this should not be seen as BN's interference in the internal affairs of the MIC.”
Winning back the Indian community
Former vice-president S Sothinathan, who also contested against Palanivel for the No. 2 post earlier this month, agrees that the BN can only win back the Indian community if the succession issue at the MIC is resolved to the satisfaction of the public.
Former vice-president S Sothinathan, who also contested against Palanivel for the No. 2 post earlier this month, agrees that the BN can only win back the Indian community if the succession issue at the MIC is resolved to the satisfaction of the public.
“It is a good idea for the prime minister to address the issue as he has to look at the perception of the public,” he said.
Meanwhile, Samy and his supporters have hit back at the calls for him to step down, saying that the MIC must be left to decide its destiny.
Said Samy: “I don’t want to say anything about it. I want to let the issue die down”.
Said Cameron Highlands MP SK Devamany: "I support my president and he will lead the party for as long as MIC members want him to lead."
Malaysian Mirror
Monday, September 14, 2009
Call me GOD
It never creases to amaze me how politicians in this country can get away with anything. Not only do they contradict themselves on a daily basis, their hypocrisy is mind-boogling.
Take for instance the word “democracy”. All politicians I know swears that they are for democracy and some even say they will defend it with their blood. Unfortunately in Malaysia, democracy does not mean “democracy” as most people think. In Malaysia, democracy means hypocrisy and double or even triple-talk.
The best example of this “democracy” at work is party elections. Every time there is a party election, the leader will say this is democracy at “work”.
Before you can even blink, they will also say the “party” has “decided” that “no contest for the top posts” is the best way for party elections. So definition number one: democracy means no elections for top posts.
Then, when a challenger emerges, its back to democracy at “work”. This means the leader will use all sorts of presidential power to ensure that there is no such thing as a fair fight. If the challenger has more than an even chance to win, then the challenger is immediately packed off to the disciplinary committee for one or more of the following. All based on recent cases — take your pick:
1) “destroying the credibility of XXX’s elections”
2) “tarnishing the party’s image”
3) “money politics”
4) “sabotaging the party during the elections”
It is as if going after the top job is a regarded as a capital sin nowadays. It is as if one can only lawan towkay if one is willing to be kicked out of a party. There does not appear to be any other way.
Malaysians politicians have a mentality that it’s a winner-take-all situation. The moment you lose, you are out, forever.
The good news of course is that since the public is so forgiving and have a short memory, you can move to another party without much difficulty. This appears to be the most popular route for MCA leaders.
Lim Chong Eu was the president of MCA before he jumped and became the leader of Gerakan. Lim Kheng Yaik, then a young turk who was planning to challenge the old guard in MCA, was kicked out of MCA but he end up as leader of Gerakan and one of the longest serving member of the cabinet. Tengku Razaleigh who lost narrowly to Mahathir in the 1987 Umno polls, left the party and established Parti Semangat 46. In the Democratic Action Party (DAP), the people behind the KOKS, Knock-out Kit Siang or Knock-out Karpal Singh, have all left the party. One of the most prominent members of KOKS, Wee Choo Keong, is now a MP for PKR. The irony of course is that when Wee was forced out DAP he actually established a new party, Malaysian Democratic Party (MDP). MDP obviously was not selling so PKR.
Over in Sarawak, Leo Moggie and Daniel Tajang who challenged James Wong for Sarawak National Party (SNAP) ended up forming a new party, Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS). Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) were all created by challengers to the existing leader.
I agree that this sort of thing happens all over the world but in Asia and Malaysia its so vicious that one could almost say that our level of political development is still stuck in the Stone Age. A modern political party must embrace differences in opinion but in Malaysia political leaders regard themselves as God. A God must not be challenged and all those who challenge God must be struck down by lighting and banish forever. This may explain why people will do anything to be God and once they become God, only the real God can remove them.
One way out of this mess is to impose term limit. I cannot think of another way to limit the damage done by these little Gods on the Malaysian political system. The good news is that the younger generation no longer tolerates these Malaysian Gods and their nonsense. Hence I am willing to bet that the recent actions against Chua (MCA) and Subra (MIC) will ultimately lead to unhappy endings for the incumbent presidents of MCA and MIC. Malaysian Gods are not as powerful as before!
James Chin is a Malaysian academic. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect the views of institutions he is associated with.
Take for instance the word “democracy”. All politicians I know swears that they are for democracy and some even say they will defend it with their blood. Unfortunately in Malaysia, democracy does not mean “democracy” as most people think. In Malaysia, democracy means hypocrisy and double or even triple-talk.
The best example of this “democracy” at work is party elections. Every time there is a party election, the leader will say this is democracy at “work”.
Before you can even blink, they will also say the “party” has “decided” that “no contest for the top posts” is the best way for party elections. So definition number one: democracy means no elections for top posts.
Then, when a challenger emerges, its back to democracy at “work”. This means the leader will use all sorts of presidential power to ensure that there is no such thing as a fair fight. If the challenger has more than an even chance to win, then the challenger is immediately packed off to the disciplinary committee for one or more of the following. All based on recent cases — take your pick:
1) “destroying the credibility of XXX’s elections”
2) “tarnishing the party’s image”
3) “money politics”
4) “sabotaging the party during the elections”
It is as if going after the top job is a regarded as a capital sin nowadays. It is as if one can only lawan towkay if one is willing to be kicked out of a party. There does not appear to be any other way.
Malaysians politicians have a mentality that it’s a winner-take-all situation. The moment you lose, you are out, forever.
The good news of course is that since the public is so forgiving and have a short memory, you can move to another party without much difficulty. This appears to be the most popular route for MCA leaders.
Lim Chong Eu was the president of MCA before he jumped and became the leader of Gerakan. Lim Kheng Yaik, then a young turk who was planning to challenge the old guard in MCA, was kicked out of MCA but he end up as leader of Gerakan and one of the longest serving member of the cabinet. Tengku Razaleigh who lost narrowly to Mahathir in the 1987 Umno polls, left the party and established Parti Semangat 46. In the Democratic Action Party (DAP), the people behind the KOKS, Knock-out Kit Siang or Knock-out Karpal Singh, have all left the party. One of the most prominent members of KOKS, Wee Choo Keong, is now a MP for PKR. The irony of course is that when Wee was forced out DAP he actually established a new party, Malaysian Democratic Party (MDP). MDP obviously was not selling so PKR.
Over in Sarawak, Leo Moggie and Daniel Tajang who challenged James Wong for Sarawak National Party (SNAP) ended up forming a new party, Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS). Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) were all created by challengers to the existing leader.
I agree that this sort of thing happens all over the world but in Asia and Malaysia its so vicious that one could almost say that our level of political development is still stuck in the Stone Age. A modern political party must embrace differences in opinion but in Malaysia political leaders regard themselves as God. A God must not be challenged and all those who challenge God must be struck down by lighting and banish forever. This may explain why people will do anything to be God and once they become God, only the real God can remove them.
One way out of this mess is to impose term limit. I cannot think of another way to limit the damage done by these little Gods on the Malaysian political system. The good news is that the younger generation no longer tolerates these Malaysian Gods and their nonsense. Hence I am willing to bet that the recent actions against Chua (MCA) and Subra (MIC) will ultimately lead to unhappy endings for the incumbent presidents of MCA and MIC. Malaysian Gods are not as powerful as before!
James Chin is a Malaysian academic. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect the views of institutions he is associated with.
Samy’s MIC on collision course with BN
MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu basked in the glow of victory today, looking on appreciatively as one delegate after another attacked the government and former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for interfering in MIC matters.
The delegates at the MIC general assembly singled out for criticisms Mahathir and other leaders for condemning Samy Vellu and praising his rival Datuk S. Subramaniam, in the run up to yesterday’s election.
A day earlier, Samy Vellu-backed candidates all but swept the board, taking the lion’s share of posts contested, and cemented his grip on the party, despite some pressure from Umno and the public for some change in MIC.
Mahathir was criticised severely for doing nothing for the Indian community while the Umno/Barisan Nasional (BN) government was attacked for favouring only the Malays and ignoring the woes of the Indians for many years.
The depth of the criticism, sometimes tedious, was best illustrated after one delegate from Johore stood up and said: “They can see the woes of the Palestinians and the Bosnians but they can’t see our suffering right here before their eyes.”
“For them to tell us who to pick as our leaders is an insult,” he said.
While they attacked the “government” and Tun Mahathir, they held back on criticizing Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who had them on their feet yesterday in a stirring speech urging them to reform to win back Indian support.
He issued a warning, seen as being directed at Samy Vellu, that being popular in the party was useless if the people you claim to represent hate you.
But Samy Vellu appeared to shrug off the advice, seeing it as interference in MIC affairs.
He has also allowed delegates to speak up against a government, of which he was minister for nearly 30 years, and in which his party is still represented by a minister and two deputy ministers.
“The die is cast…he is on a collision course with the government…Umno,” said a newly elected MIC leader on the sidelines of the MIC general assembly today.
“We are either in Barisan or out. We cannot be in the tent and attack our own,” he said, adding that in his desire to continue as MIC president, Samy Vellu, was now on a collision course with the federal government.
“It is the classic disease of individuals in power for one too many years,” said the MIC leader. “He believes without him the MIC would collapse and without him he Indian community would suffer.”
“The community that the MIC had represented has long fled to the opposition and the party is just a shell of what it once was but the Samy Vellu party and same script goes on,” he said.
The Najib administration is going the extra-mile to woo the Indian community, aware that the government had alienated them and that the level of frustration is deep.
But it needs a vehicle to take forward the transformation, and was hoping the MIC could reform, elect a new leadership and be the harbinger of a “new deal” for the Indians.
With Samy Vellu still around, there is little choice for Umno/BN but to support other stakeholders in the community and gradually start making a direct approach to Indian voters.
Baradhan Kuppusamy
The delegates at the MIC general assembly singled out for criticisms Mahathir and other leaders for condemning Samy Vellu and praising his rival Datuk S. Subramaniam, in the run up to yesterday’s election.
A day earlier, Samy Vellu-backed candidates all but swept the board, taking the lion’s share of posts contested, and cemented his grip on the party, despite some pressure from Umno and the public for some change in MIC.
Mahathir was criticised severely for doing nothing for the Indian community while the Umno/Barisan Nasional (BN) government was attacked for favouring only the Malays and ignoring the woes of the Indians for many years.
The depth of the criticism, sometimes tedious, was best illustrated after one delegate from Johore stood up and said: “They can see the woes of the Palestinians and the Bosnians but they can’t see our suffering right here before their eyes.”
“For them to tell us who to pick as our leaders is an insult,” he said.
While they attacked the “government” and Tun Mahathir, they held back on criticizing Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who had them on their feet yesterday in a stirring speech urging them to reform to win back Indian support.
He issued a warning, seen as being directed at Samy Vellu, that being popular in the party was useless if the people you claim to represent hate you.
But Samy Vellu appeared to shrug off the advice, seeing it as interference in MIC affairs.
He has also allowed delegates to speak up against a government, of which he was minister for nearly 30 years, and in which his party is still represented by a minister and two deputy ministers.
“The die is cast…he is on a collision course with the government…Umno,” said a newly elected MIC leader on the sidelines of the MIC general assembly today.
“We are either in Barisan or out. We cannot be in the tent and attack our own,” he said, adding that in his desire to continue as MIC president, Samy Vellu, was now on a collision course with the federal government.
“It is the classic disease of individuals in power for one too many years,” said the MIC leader. “He believes without him the MIC would collapse and without him he Indian community would suffer.”
“The community that the MIC had represented has long fled to the opposition and the party is just a shell of what it once was but the Samy Vellu party and same script goes on,” he said.
The Najib administration is going the extra-mile to woo the Indian community, aware that the government had alienated them and that the level of frustration is deep.
But it needs a vehicle to take forward the transformation, and was hoping the MIC could reform, elect a new leadership and be the harbinger of a “new deal” for the Indians.
With Samy Vellu still around, there is little choice for Umno/BN but to support other stakeholders in the community and gradually start making a direct approach to Indian voters.
Baradhan Kuppusamy
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Yet another by-election roils the country's ethnic divisions
The sudden death of a state lawmaker in the Malaysian state of Negeri Sembilan last week appears likely to set the stage for the first real test of the opposition Pakatan Rakyat's political power since March 2008 general elections, at least partly because of rising ethnic Indian irritation over treatment by the Muslim majority in the country .
In seven of eight previous by-elections since the 2008 general election, the party that previously held the seat reclaimed it. However, the death last Thursday of Azman Mohd Noor, an UMNO lawmaker representing the Barisan Nasional, or national ruling coalition, appears to set up the real possibility that a seat could go to the opposition, analysts say.
Although it is a rural seat in a relatively obscure state legislature, the by-election, whose date has not yet been set, plays into a variety of disturbing national trends in the country, including rising ethnic Malay beliefs that their racial prerogatives are being usurped by other races and questions over the rising political power of the fundamentalist Parti Islam se-Malaysia, or PAS.
The 14,000-voter district is more than 20 percent ethnic Indian. Malaysia's Indians, who make up about 8 percent of the total population, are furious over Muslim protests that forced cancellation of the relocation of the 150-year-old Sri Mahamariamman Temple to a site more convenient to them after housing estates had overtaken the onetime rubber plantation in which it had been situated. The obstreperous Muslim protesters paraded a severed cow's head – an insult to Hindus, who venerate cattle -- to the local town hall and dumped it in the protest.
Speaking of the violent tone of the anti-temple potests, Mustafa K. Anuar, assistant secretary for the reform organization Aliran, said that "Malaysians of all ethnic and religious backgrounds certainly have no reasons to be overjoyed with the Merdeka celebration, especially when the authorities were warned by these unthinking rebel-rousers of violent, if not bloody, 'retribution' if the demands of the protesters were not hneeded and met. It is of paramount importance to remind ourselves that better ethnic and religious understanding and relations can only come about through mutual respect and tolerance and dialogue – never by losing our heads."
The virulence has put paid to months of attempts by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to woo back ethnic Indian voters to the Barisan National. Najib has been photographed making chapatis with his wife and ostentatiously visited the magnificent Batu Cave, which houses an ancient Hindu temple just north of Kuala Lumpur, during recent Hindu holidays.
Tensions between Chinese and Malays backing the United Malays National Organization, the dominant party in the Barisan Nasional ruling coalition, have been rising for months. But tensions have also been growing between Indians and Malays ever since authorities cracked down on a rally by the Hindu Relief Action Force, or HINDRAF, in 2007 and threw the rally's leaders in jail under the country's stiff Internal Security Act, which allows for indefinite detention without trial. Najib freed the activist pressure group's leaders and had been seen to be making progress in wooing back the Indian community.
Although the rural Negeri Sembilan district has always been a Barisan Nasional stronghold, analysts say the seat could go to the Pakatan Rakyat opposition. Although the Barisan retained power in the statehouse in the 2008 election, for the first time ever it lost its two-thirds majority, with its majority dropping to 21 lawmakers to 15 for the opposition in the Negreri Sembilan statehouse.
The Negeri Sembilan seat that came open last week with Azman's death, apparently from blood poisoning, went to UMNO by a majority of 6,430 votes to PAS's 4,097, a relatively healthy plurality of 2,333. About 10 percent of the district, near the coastal town of Port Dickson, are ethnic Chinese. But rising racial tensions across the country are expected to play a role as politicians on both sides use Islam as a bludgeon against the other.
The ruling national coalition has traditionally relied on the ethnic Indian population to vote solidly for continuity. However, rising Malay-Muslim sentiment has coalesced with Indian disillusion with its own Malaysian Indian Congress, the third major component of the Barisan Nasional, which cratered in the 2008 election over disgust with corruption within the party. The MIC has continued to be riven with factionalism as the party's longtime head, S. Samy Velu, has battled reformers.
The loss of a single seat in a relatively unimportant largely rural state shouldn't ordinarily shake Barisan power. But the Barisan has been reeling from a long string of defeats and from perceptions of a kind of end-of-era deterioration, with the coalition mired in corruption and stultified in paralysis. Its only win among the previous by-elections was for a Sarawak seat with an overwhelming Barisan plurality.*
Najib has acted decisively to attempt to turn around minority sentiment, nullifying some elements of the New Economic Policy, an affirmative action program designed to provide economic uplift to Malays, which form a 55 percent majority of the country but who have traditionally played an economic second fiddle to the Chinese. The program, however, has created a rent-seeking class of cronies who have become known as "Umnoputras," a play on bumiputras or sons of the soil. But Najib faces long-standing questions of personal corruption as well.
In addition to the problems with the Chinese and Indians voters, several UMNO divisions in the Negeri Sembilan state are said to be disillusioned with the chief minister, Mohamad Hasan, a non-politician who was appointed by the former prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. It remains to be seen whether the lack of enthusiasm for Mohamad will cause UMNO stalwarts to sit on their hands, and particularly whether it will drive Malay voters to the fundamentalist PAS, which will field the opposition candidate.
The opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition headed by Anwar Ibrahim has plenty of its own problems, with internal contradictions rising between the fundamentalist PAS, the Chinese-dominated Democratic Action Party and the moderate urban ethnic Malay Parti Keadilan Rakyat, Anwar's own party. PAS has begun to feel its oats outside its own rural stronghold in Terengganu, Kelantan and other northeastern states, demanding that ethnic Malays in urban areas surrounding Kuala Lumpur adopt a much more conservative lifestyle. As many as 60 young people were grabbed by religious police on the first night of Puasa, the Malaysian version of Ramadan.
Asia Sentinel
In seven of eight previous by-elections since the 2008 general election, the party that previously held the seat reclaimed it. However, the death last Thursday of Azman Mohd Noor, an UMNO lawmaker representing the Barisan Nasional, or national ruling coalition, appears to set up the real possibility that a seat could go to the opposition, analysts say.
Although it is a rural seat in a relatively obscure state legislature, the by-election, whose date has not yet been set, plays into a variety of disturbing national trends in the country, including rising ethnic Malay beliefs that their racial prerogatives are being usurped by other races and questions over the rising political power of the fundamentalist Parti Islam se-Malaysia, or PAS.
The 14,000-voter district is more than 20 percent ethnic Indian. Malaysia's Indians, who make up about 8 percent of the total population, are furious over Muslim protests that forced cancellation of the relocation of the 150-year-old Sri Mahamariamman Temple to a site more convenient to them after housing estates had overtaken the onetime rubber plantation in which it had been situated. The obstreperous Muslim protesters paraded a severed cow's head – an insult to Hindus, who venerate cattle -- to the local town hall and dumped it in the protest.
Speaking of the violent tone of the anti-temple potests, Mustafa K. Anuar, assistant secretary for the reform organization Aliran, said that "Malaysians of all ethnic and religious backgrounds certainly have no reasons to be overjoyed with the Merdeka celebration, especially when the authorities were warned by these unthinking rebel-rousers of violent, if not bloody, 'retribution' if the demands of the protesters were not hneeded and met. It is of paramount importance to remind ourselves that better ethnic and religious understanding and relations can only come about through mutual respect and tolerance and dialogue – never by losing our heads."
The virulence has put paid to months of attempts by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to woo back ethnic Indian voters to the Barisan National. Najib has been photographed making chapatis with his wife and ostentatiously visited the magnificent Batu Cave, which houses an ancient Hindu temple just north of Kuala Lumpur, during recent Hindu holidays.
Tensions between Chinese and Malays backing the United Malays National Organization, the dominant party in the Barisan Nasional ruling coalition, have been rising for months. But tensions have also been growing between Indians and Malays ever since authorities cracked down on a rally by the Hindu Relief Action Force, or HINDRAF, in 2007 and threw the rally's leaders in jail under the country's stiff Internal Security Act, which allows for indefinite detention without trial. Najib freed the activist pressure group's leaders and had been seen to be making progress in wooing back the Indian community.
Although the rural Negeri Sembilan district has always been a Barisan Nasional stronghold, analysts say the seat could go to the Pakatan Rakyat opposition. Although the Barisan retained power in the statehouse in the 2008 election, for the first time ever it lost its two-thirds majority, with its majority dropping to 21 lawmakers to 15 for the opposition in the Negreri Sembilan statehouse.
The Negeri Sembilan seat that came open last week with Azman's death, apparently from blood poisoning, went to UMNO by a majority of 6,430 votes to PAS's 4,097, a relatively healthy plurality of 2,333. About 10 percent of the district, near the coastal town of Port Dickson, are ethnic Chinese. But rising racial tensions across the country are expected to play a role as politicians on both sides use Islam as a bludgeon against the other.
The ruling national coalition has traditionally relied on the ethnic Indian population to vote solidly for continuity. However, rising Malay-Muslim sentiment has coalesced with Indian disillusion with its own Malaysian Indian Congress, the third major component of the Barisan Nasional, which cratered in the 2008 election over disgust with corruption within the party. The MIC has continued to be riven with factionalism as the party's longtime head, S. Samy Velu, has battled reformers.
The loss of a single seat in a relatively unimportant largely rural state shouldn't ordinarily shake Barisan power. But the Barisan has been reeling from a long string of defeats and from perceptions of a kind of end-of-era deterioration, with the coalition mired in corruption and stultified in paralysis. Its only win among the previous by-elections was for a Sarawak seat with an overwhelming Barisan plurality.*
Najib has acted decisively to attempt to turn around minority sentiment, nullifying some elements of the New Economic Policy, an affirmative action program designed to provide economic uplift to Malays, which form a 55 percent majority of the country but who have traditionally played an economic second fiddle to the Chinese. The program, however, has created a rent-seeking class of cronies who have become known as "Umnoputras," a play on bumiputras or sons of the soil. But Najib faces long-standing questions of personal corruption as well.
In addition to the problems with the Chinese and Indians voters, several UMNO divisions in the Negeri Sembilan state are said to be disillusioned with the chief minister, Mohamad Hasan, a non-politician who was appointed by the former prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. It remains to be seen whether the lack of enthusiasm for Mohamad will cause UMNO stalwarts to sit on their hands, and particularly whether it will drive Malay voters to the fundamentalist PAS, which will field the opposition candidate.
The opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition headed by Anwar Ibrahim has plenty of its own problems, with internal contradictions rising between the fundamentalist PAS, the Chinese-dominated Democratic Action Party and the moderate urban ethnic Malay Parti Keadilan Rakyat, Anwar's own party. PAS has begun to feel its oats outside its own rural stronghold in Terengganu, Kelantan and other northeastern states, demanding that ethnic Malays in urban areas surrounding Kuala Lumpur adopt a much more conservative lifestyle. As many as 60 young people were grabbed by religious police on the first night of Puasa, the Malaysian version of Ramadan.
*We originally called it an UMNO plurality. We apologize.
Asia Sentinel
Samy may have won but the future's not bright for MIC
MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu showed Malaysians who is boss in the MIC tonight with his men practically winning the lot in one of the party's most hotly contested elections ever.
But among the Indian community and the broader Malaysian society, his era is over. The signs are not good for MIC either.
When opening the MIC AGM hours earlier, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak told delegates that leaders should be popular with the public and not just be champions in their own party.
Samy Vellu may have shown once again that his vise-like grip on the party is unshakeable but MIC will pay a heavy price when facing the Indian community, the majority of whom now lean towards Pakatan Rakyat.
When a dejected Datuk S Subramaniam left the PWTC tonight, many of his supporters mobbed him and urged him to join the Pakatan Rakyat.
"Datuk, the MIC is a sinking ship…let’s join Pakatan,” delegates were heard calling out.
Subramaniam, who had lost the deputy presidential contest to Datuk G Palanivel, did not say a word. He only gave a wistful smile.
The victory of Palanivel, by 87 votes, also indicates Samy Vellu will continue as president until the end of his 11th term in 2013 because Palanivel, who owes his victory to Samy Vellu, is unlikely to challenge his benefactor.
The mood for change in the MIC was just not big enough today to turn the tables on Samy Vellu.
Another reason for the loss is that the anti-Samy Vellu votes were split between challengers Subramaniam and newcomer Datuk S. Sothinathan, and this allowed the “official” line up to win.
It now appears that Sothinathan was key to victory for Samy Vellu’s official line up. He helped reduced Palanivel’s majority from 483 to just 87 – votes that could have gone to Subramaniam.
Despite his defeat, Subramaniam’s “Change for the better” theme remains relevant for the MIC which is caught in the throes of a leadership change.
Palanivel’s victory clears the way for him to take over the party when Samy Vellu, who has vowed to stay until 2013, retires. The big question is when?
The defeat does not spell the end of Subramaniam’s career because he polled a respectable 546 votes, indicating his standing in the MIC as the “alternative” leader to Samy Vellu remains.
Subramaniam, 65, who is Siputeh division chairman, is expected to remain in the MIC despite the loss but he faces possible expulsion from the party for allegedly tarnishing the MIC’s image over a number of issues.
Samy Vellu announced earlier in the week that Subramaniam will be issued a show-cause letter to answer the charges.
By Baradan Kuppusamy
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