The Malaysian Insider :: Side Views

An open letter to the home minister — Stephen Doss

Fri, 24 May 2013 03:50:54 GMT

MAY 24 — Dear Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, I write to you as someone who has followed your political ascension from Umno Youth chief to your current position as minister of home affairs. As a young university student, I watched with pride when you took on the then Umno president and Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on the issue of ...

The need to understand the workings of a parliamentary democracy — Ahmad Mustapha Hassan

Fri, 24 May 2013 02:51:14 GMT

MAY 24 — It is without doubt that all or maybe about 99 per cent of Umno Baru members are Malays but it must also be remembered that not all Malays are Umno Baru members. This has to be made known to leaders and members of Umno Baru. It is a complete fallacy to simply equate Umno Baru as Malay and Malay as being Umno Baru. Just to quote, albeit on ...

Compassion means suffering together — Steven Sim

Fri, 24 May 2013 02:39:17 GMT

MAY 24 — A few years ago I visited Sri Lanka to attend a meeting with its opposition coalition of the social democratic persuasion. I was at that time running the secretariat of the Network of Social Democracy in Asia, a coalition of political parties, organisations and scholars in the region espousing social democratic values. At the conference ...

The unsung heroes of GE13 — Thomas Fann

Fri, 24 May 2013 02:31:17 GMT

MAY 24 — The 13th general election is over and the result showed that majority of Malaysians wanted to “Ubah”, that is, to see change. Many who have worked hard for it are disappointed with the outcome but we realise that we must move on and prepare ourselves for GE14. We salute the tireless efforts of politicians and civil society leaders at the ...

The measure of effective teaching — K. Ranga Krishnan

Fri, 24 May 2013 02:19:43 GMT

MAY 24 — If we spend time with our children when they prepare for an examination, we are likely to be surprised, if not shocked, at the vast content they have to deal with. There is so much more that students in schools, colleges and universities have to grapple with. But do not blame teachers for expanding the curricula — they just want to ...

My dream: A united Malaysia — Aruna Sena (loyarburok.com)

Fri, 24 May 2013 02:10:13 GMT

MAY 24 — Malaysia, the land of multiethnicities, faiths and cultures, harmony and stability, not to mention the tagline “Truly Asia” But is that truly the case with the people of Malaysia? Yes and no. Why? Because of racism. Yes. Racism exists in Malaysia. There’s no point beating around the bush. As much as we love to sugarcoat the image of this ...

Counterfeit democracy — Angeline Loh

Fri, 24 May 2013 01:35:24 GMT

MAY 24 — Sixth of May was a black day for Malaysia. We, the ordinary rakyat, had worked hard for a genuine democracy. We sincerely wanted change, we sincerely wanted to move on, to progress, to develop our thinking on par with what seemed our advanced economic development. To liberate our minds, expand our perceptions, most of all achieve the ...

Now anybody can stop reading Utusan Malaysia — Mustafa K. Anuar

Fri, 24 May 2013 00:59:44 GMT

MAY 24 — The excessive reaction resorted to by Utusan Malaysia and other Malay-based groups over the fair criticism made by AirAsia X chief executive Azran Osman Rani is disturbing and worrying. Azran had criticised what he rightly considered to be a racial slur in the daily’s post-general election coverage. Utusan Malaysia columnist “Awang ...

Love Malaysia more — Tay Tian Yan

Fri, 24 May 2013 00:53:22 GMT

MAY 24 — This is a true story. A Taiwanese scholar came to Malaysia for a speech tour. The car carrying her shuttled along different highways and passed many toll stations in that few days. One day, she asked a Malaysian in the car: “Why none of the toll collectors is Chinese? Since the Chinese accounted for 30 per cent (should be 25 per cent) of ...

The chill of sedition laws — Aerie Rahman (Loyarburok)

Thu, 23 May 2013 11:20:53 GMT

MAY 23 — Despite it being Spring, London is chilly. Malaysia, so I hear, is extremely hot right now, with friends and family members telling me that the current heat wave is unparalleled to any we’ve had before. Nevertheless, a chilling effect is haunting Malaysia. This kind of chilly feeling is unable to be insulated by thick clothing, a warm ...

Dispirited — Lim Sue Goan

Thu, 23 May 2013 11:15:16 GMT

MAY 23 — The MCA’s greatest crisis is, all its members have been in a dispirited mood and got lost after the severe defeat in the general election, as if they are trying to delay the time of death. Obviously, MCA’s leaders are having a depressed state of mind. After suffering the massive setback, party president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek should ...

After GE13, what changed, and the status quo — The Malaysian Insider

Thu, 23 May 2013 07:12:19 GMT

MAY 23 — Now that the dust has settled after GE13 and the Malaysian Cabinet has been named, it is time to test the pulse in the country and figure out what has changed and what has not changed. What has changed? ● Umno and Barisan Nasional’s armour of invincibility and sense of confidence Nothing punctures confidence and self-belief than the ...

Let them start by debating GST — A. Kadir Jasin

Thu, 23 May 2013 01:34:01 GMT

MAY 23 — Let us hear some intelligent and productive debates when the new Parliament sits! We cannot expect anything less since the Dewan Rakyat is now more balanced than ever — 133 Barisan Nasional vs 89 Pakatan Rakyat. Let them begin by debating the good and bad of a very important fiscal measure the government has been proposing for decades, ...

No sobriety or sanity in former judge’s statement — P. Ramakrishnan

Thu, 23 May 2013 01:23:50 GMT

MAY 23 — Decent thinking Malaysians were justifiably shocked that a former judge of the Court of Appeals, Mohd Noor Abdullah, could have expressed views that are so abhorrently out of character for a judge. There was no sobriety or sanity in his statement. One would expect such incoherent utterings from the likes of extremists from Umno — not from ...

The long and winding road for Chinese education? — Lim Mun Fah

Thu, 23 May 2013 01:12:07 GMT

MAY 23 — Just as the entire Chinese community was still wrapped in bewilderment over the prospects of Chinese education in this country, the appointment of Mary Yap, who is not well versed with the Chinese language, as deputy education and higher learning minister undoubtedly added some new uncertainties. One of the major changes in the new ...

ASEAN’s balancing act with China — Simon Tay

Wed, 22 May 2013 23:37:27 GMT

MAY 23 — Clues about the emerging character of the new Chinese leadership are emerging from its interaction with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Following the grouping’s summit last month, China’s new Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, visited the region for the first time. While ties are co-operative on many fronts, the South China ...

We just love our motherland, is that so hard to grasp? – May Chee

Wed, 22 May 2013 08:39:04 GMT

MAY 22 – More than a hundred thousand have thronged a single rally and there was no untoward incident. Thirty at a candlelight vigil showing solidarity with a young and courageous Malaysian and it turned chaotic. So, when someone says we go to the streets to foment chaos, he hasn’t a clue or he’s plain lying through his teeth. I would say he had ...

Commitments and reality ― Lim Sue Goan

Wed, 22 May 2013 07:57:15 GMT

MAY 22 ― The Regent of Perak, Raja Dr Nazrin Shah recently analysed why the BN was able to strike a landslide victory in the 2004 general election but suffered a huge setback in the 2008 general election, as well as the crux why the BN has failed to regain a two-third majority in the Parliament. Raja Dr Nazrin said that as those in power have ...

Don’t knock the Bangladeshis ― Ice Cream Seller

Wed, 22 May 2013 01:24:00 GMT

MAY 22 ― We have been hearing far too many negative stories about the Bangladeshis in the run up to and post GE13. Many Malaysians have freely vented their feelings and I can’t help but notice the enormous amount of ignorance being demonstrated in the process. How many actually know that their country was formerly East Pakistan? How many know ...

A rakyat’s peace: Reclaiming a lost language ― Low Iishan

Tue, 21 May 2013 23:25:10 GMT

MAY 22 ― “People are deeply imbedded in philosophical, i.e., grammatical confusions. And to free them presupposes pulling them out of the immensely manifold connections they are caught up in.” ~ Ludwig Wittgenstein “But if thought corrupts language, language also corrupts thought.” ~ George Orwell Perhaps one of the most overlooked sources of ...

What would you pay for another year of life? ― Ong Sin Tong

Tue, 21 May 2013 23:20:10 GMT

MAY 22 ― When I first saw Stephanie* three years ago, she was newly diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML), a blood cancer that almost killed her just two weeks before. At that time, the leukaemia had replaced the normal blood cells in her bone marrow, causing a life-threatening brain haemorrhage. Thankfully, we were able to control her ...

Standing up to bullying ― The Malaysian Insider

Tue, 21 May 2013 22:56:08 GMT

MAY 22 ― Finally, it comes down to motive. Why did Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan put herself in harm’s way, put her law practice on the backburner, and travel the length and breadth of the country educating Malaysians on clean and fair elections? Because she believes that if we want a better government, better governance and a country that we can be ...

Segregation happens in national schools too — Lutfi Hakim

Tue, 21 May 2013 05:48:33 GMT

MAY 21 — The air is toxic in our national schools. Not by design surely, but the schools do little to remove the spores of prejudice that the children bring into the schools from their homes. These absent outside influences spread quickly along the sweat-drenched hallways of ugly concrete and colour the minds of the pupils who spend the ...

So, what are the best ways to national unity? — H. Lee

Tue, 21 May 2013 05:39:34 GMT

MAY 21 — I was disappointed to read the article “The best ways to national unity” in a mainstream English daily today. The panellists of the Cafe Latte chat included Bukit Gasing assemblyman Rajiv Rishyakaran, lawyer and human rights activist Latheefa Koya, Labis MP Chua Tee Yong and management consultant Anas Zubedy. Newsman Philip Golingai ...

Challenging road ahead for family doctors — Darren Seah

Tue, 21 May 2013 01:58:41 GMT

MAY 21 — Family medicine in Singapore in the early days often took the form of doctors and nurses who travelled on foot or in sampans to see patients. These subsequently became organised outpatient dispensaries, then further evolved into the general practice clinics of today. Family doctors have long served as the first touchpoint for the ...

An unconvincing call to boycott — Tay Tian Yan

Tue, 21 May 2013 01:47:28 GMT

MAY 21 — The calls to boycott can be heard everywhere after the general election. It has been extended from a political battle to an economic battle. Some people wonder about the origin of the word “boycott”. In the 19th century, Englishman Charles Boycott went to Ireland to serve as a landlord’s agent. England and Ireland had long been engaged in ...

Dispute over GST — Lim Mun Fah

Tue, 21 May 2013 01:19:24 GMT

MAY 21 — Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Idris Jala said that if the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) is implemented at 7 per cent like Singapore, Malaysia will be able to rake in an additional tax income of over RM25 billion. The remarks triggered nervousness and people are worried that the suffering days might be ...

Who is Adam Adli? — Pravin Pillai

Tue, 21 May 2013 01:00:05 GMT

MAY 21 — Shame on you if you don’t know. If you haven’t civically engaged in the last few weeks I certainly am not wasting my time on you. Spare some of the enthusiasm with which you find the latest Groupon deals or the fastest link to your favourite Korean drama to catch up with home news. In any case this letter isn’t for you anyway. It’s for ...

Doing away with vernacular schools ― Cheng Yi

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:23:26 GMT

MAY 20 ― As a parent of four kids, three of whom are still in the national school system, it is actually very heart-warming to see the children make friends with other students of all colour and creed, shapes and sizes, and gender. In the short hour between end of school and start of co-curricular, my son will bring home his group of friends, ...

GE 13 and the emergence of the enlightened Malays ― Ahmad Mustapha Hassan

Mon, 20 May 2013 08:52:53 GMT

MAY 20 ― The general election has come but not gone. I wrote on March 15 that the 13th GE would be the most undemocratic and the dirtiest elections Malaysia would ever experience. I was not wrong at all. Umno/BN used underhanded tactics to gain power and it was never the tsunami as uttered by the PM, who not only could not regain Selangor but ...

Waythamoorthy is a mistake ― Jaspal Singh

Mon, 20 May 2013 08:13:18 GMT

MAY 20 ― I will work hard for the community but not with MIC, says Waythamoorthy, as carried by Malaysia Times on 18th May. It is certainly a most unworthy response to the open hand of friendship extended to Mr Waythamoorthy by MIC’s deputy President, Dr S. Subramaniam. Apparently, Mr Waythamoorthy and his dwindling band of followers inhabit ...

Ashgar Ali Engineer: A life for peace — Sumanto Al Qurtuby

Mon, 20 May 2013 07:52:30 GMT

MAY 20 — I paused my work upon hearing the gloomy news of the death of Asghar Ali Engineer, one of the world’s greatest scholars of Islam, last Tuesday, after a prolonged illness. Born in 1939 in the town of Salumbar in the western Indian state of Rajasthan, Engineer was a prolific writer who authored more than 50 books, many of which have been ...

A tectonic shift — Jamil Maidan Flores

Mon, 20 May 2013 07:48:27 GMT

MAY 20 — After the 13th general election in Malaysia recently, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak grumbled about a “Chinese tsunami” that barged against his Barisan Nasional coalition, leaving it with only 47 per cent of the popular vote. Barisan Nasional has a Chinese component, the MCA, but the Chinese vote went heavily to the opposition ...

Chinese-Malaysians’ passion for politics — Mario Rustan

Mon, 20 May 2013 07:44:12 GMT

MAY 20 — In 2008 the Malaysian media called it a “political tsunami”. In 2013 the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (BN) called it the “Chinese tsunami”. Five years ago, the shockwave was evident. BN lost the important states of Penang and Selangor to the DAP and PKR respectively. This time, they have retained those states while BN failed to ...

The brilliance of Zahid Hamidi — Aerie Rahman (loyarburok.com)

Mon, 20 May 2013 03:22:10 GMT

MAY 20 — Move aside Khairy Jamaluddin and Saifuddin Abdullah — we have a new poster boy for change within the Barisan National power structure. Not used to flamboyance and only recently baring the fangs of radicalism, Zahid Hamidi has sparked a debate on a new form of politics: migratory politics. With his decree demanding that those who are ...

Malaysia is, as we are — Pravin Pillai

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:29:02 GMT

MAY 20 — On May 6 we awoke to a haze that enveloped the nation. It began some hours before when the prime minister-elect blamed the narrow victory of his party to the ingratitude shown by the Chinese community, a sizeable population making up about 30 per cent of the population. Many, especially among the young, had never felt or experienced this ...

The de-racialisation of Barisan Nasional? — Yang Razali Kassim

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:06:24 GMT

MAY 20 — On the 44th anniversary of the May 13, 1969, racial riots that gave birth to it, the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) displayed signs of being in existential angst. Though it won the 13th general election on May 5 by securing the most parliamentary seats, BN lost the popular vote and failed to wrest back its two-thirds parliamentary majority ...

Can NS give meaning to a Singapore vision? — Ong Weichong

Sun, 19 May 2013 23:56:50 GMT

MAY 20 — The logic of National Service (NS) in Singapore is clearly elucidated in policy and how we train our national servicemen. Sheer logic alone, however, cannot persuade. Any dialogue on NS must take into account what it means to servicemen at the individual and societal level. The modern understanding of the “citizen soldier” is very much ...

On a sustainable Malaysia — Yasmin Rasyid

Sun, 19 May 2013 10:30:20 GMT

MAY 19 — I am sitting here on a fine Sunday, reflecting on the front page news in the Star (May 19th 2013), "Hills in Cameron Highlands ‘raped' at an alarming rate", and I was compelled to write this to the editors of all papers, with the aim of expressing my continued disappointment on how this country, rich in natural resources and heritage, is ...

You are racist if you are not racist — conspiracytheor1st

Sun, 19 May 2013 10:10:58 GMT

MAY 19 — You will never read from anywhere that brand Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King as racists. Abraham Lincoln pawned his life to fight against the enslavement of the African Americans, Nelson Mandela traded decades of his freedom to free South Africa from the shackles of the Apartheid policy and Martin Luther King paid ...

PPP, RIP? — Irfan Husain

Sun, 19 May 2013 09:36:00 GMT

MAY 19 — An old Native American saying gives this sage advice: "If you are unfortunate enough to find yourself on a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount immediately." Sadly, I did not follow this wise counsel and found myself on the carcass of a PPP steed that had passed on five years ago. The truth is that the party died the moment ...

The low-down on fighting graft ― Kunjuraman Karuppan

Sun, 19 May 2013 07:51:27 GMT

MAY 19 ― The focus on Transparency International-Malaysia chief Datuk Paul Low’s appointment as a minister in the Najib Cabinet can only mean one thing ― that everyone is depending on him to ramp up the fight against corruption. That includes Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak who picked Low to do the job despite a beefed-up Malaysian ...

Whither Dr M? ― Zaid Ibrahim

Sun, 19 May 2013 03:10:25 GMT

MAY 19 ― We know that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had little say in the naming of the new Cabinet. This wasn’t because he didn’t try. Indeed, he was rebuffed by the prime minister who suddenly felt strong and energised by his so-called new mandate after the election. Barisan Nasional (BN) likened Datuk Seri Najib Razak to a rock star, and put ...

Where personal opinions really reflect the official position ― Callistus Antony D’Angelus

Sun, 19 May 2013 02:40:00 GMT

MAY 19 ― Newly-installed Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is now seemingly backtracking on his statement asking people who don’t accept the results of the general elections to leave the country. He is saying that it was his personal opinion and not an official line. Going forward, anytime Ahmad Zahid makes a statement, he should first qualify as ...

Soi Lek’s wrong bet ― Tay Tian Yan

Sun, 19 May 2013 02:34:56 GMT

MAY 19 ― Up till this second I still do not have much idea why Dr Chua Soi Lek made the decision of not joining the Cabinet. And why the presidential council, central committee and general assembly all rushed to echo the decision in unison. What I was trying to say is that it was a very imprudent political gamble, one of inconsiderate ...

BN: A victim of their success ― Terry C

Sat, 18 May 2013 23:57:40 GMT

MAY 19 ― No one is to be blamed for the Malaysian Tsunami except the 55-year-old ruling government. I say this because Malaysians have been spoiled with the opportunity to see the world and be a part of their evolution. Thanks to the infrastructure you built, 60 per cent of the population have access to the Internet, a third use a smartphone. ...

Affordable housing: Political rhetoric or serious solution? — Khairul Anuar Shaharudin

Sat, 18 May 2013 06:58:57 GMT

MAY 18 — As the dust of GE13 settles, maybe the rakyat should start planning for what to demand before GE14. I suggest all politicians from our newly-minted two-party system start to take the issue of affordable housing more seriously. Try to understand why affordable housing is crucial in winning the rakyat’s hearts. The issue of affordable ...

Doing ‘congak’ on transformational Cabinet — A. Kadir Jasin

Sat, 18 May 2013 06:31:06 GMT

MAY 18 — When I came across a Star newspaper report of May 16 headlined “A well-balanced Cabinet of 32 ministers” my brain went into rewind mode, taking me back to my Malay school days in the 1950s when “congak” and “ujian akal” were both loved and loathed by the pupils. “Congak” was mental arithmetic and a regular subject. We would be given, in ...

GE13: We are already the winners! — M.M. Pereira

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:56:49 GMT

MAY 18 — A few days before the historic 505, the then caretaker Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said: “The victor or loser of this 13th general election will not be BN or PR. It will be Malaysia, its people and our children.” Immediately after the official results were announced, he blamed the loss of BN seats on a “Chinese tsunami”. In my ...

New Cabinet, new expectations — Lim Mun Fah

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:48:02 GMT

MAY 18 — With a popular vote less than 50 per cent of the total cast and the refusal of two component parties, the MCA and Gerakan, to join the Cabinet, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has finally announced his new Cabinet line-up. Overall, there is no big surprise from the line-up. However, two non-governmental organisation leaders, namely ...