Wednesday, December 05, 2018

The Hypocrisy of Pakatan Harapan


FMT - When is it ever time for human rights in Malaysia? by Dr Kua Kia Soong (Suaram)



On this Human Rights Day 2018, Suaram asks: when will the time ever be ripe for human rights to be realised in Malaysia?

Here, we pose six specific human rights questions to the new Pakatan Harapan (PH) government which since coming to power on May 9 has developed a reputation for flip-flopping over basic human rights issues. Such issues include the failure to ratify ICERD; bring back elected local government; redistribute wealth; regulate developers; commit to sustainable development and have an accountable and effective police force.


Suaram’s Human Rights Report Overview for 2018 further calls for the abolition of detention-without-trial laws, the death penalty, the Sedition Act and the UUCA and other human rights violations that the PH government has found too convenient to use like their BN predecessors. The time never seems to be ripe for realising human rights in Malaysia.

1. When will it be time to outlaw racial discrimination in Malaysia?

While the new PH government says the time is not ripe to ratify the ICERD that the general assembly of the UN passed in 1965, let me remind them that as long ago as 1913, before the First World War, the Russian revolutionaries already had a position on the national question. Yes, more than 100 years ago, their concern at the time was that nations within Russia were being denied the right to self-determination in the name of opportunistic Great-Russian nationalism. Does that ring a bell in Malaysia amid the cries of the Malay supremacists?

Thus, instead of introducing red herrings such as the suggestion that the Malaysian constitution is racially discriminatory, we should endeavour to enact the necessary legislation to give domestic effect to ICERD. There is nothing to stop the “New Malaysia” from putting into place legislation and enforcement mechanisms that ensure that victims of discrimination can have access to an Equality Act and an Equality and Human Rights Commission to redress any racial discrimination.

Is the PH government not ashamed to be seen as perhaps the only supposedly democratic country that, more than 60 years after independence, still practises racially discriminatory “Bumi-only” policies such as those that exist at UiTM?


I am PM of a democratic nation BUT if you are NOT a pribumi you CAN'T join my Pribumi Party

Let me remind the nation that with Article 153 in the Federal Constitution from 1957 to 1971, such institutions did not exist in our then newly independent nation. It was only after the coup d’etat against the Tunku by the new Malay ruling elite in May 1969 with their Bumiputera-ist ideology that such discriminatory policies transformed Malaysian society.

2. When will it be time to bring back local government elections?

We are also told by the new PH government that we cannot afford to bring back elected local governments because of the supposed debt mountain inherited from the previous BN government. Whether our national debt is RM1 trillion or in fact RM800 billion depends on whether we include government guarantees and lease payments under public-private partnerships.


have changed my mind liao

The size of Malaysia’s government debt in international statistics for 2017 is actually 64% of GDP, compared to China’s 65%, Singapore’s 110% and Japan’s 236%. Moody’s figure for Malaysia in 2018 is 50.8% of GDP. Clearly, it is our economic fundamentals that count and the finance minister has assured us they are sound. So why does the new PH government continually use this mythical debt mountain as an excuse to cut public expenditure?

Malaysia must be the first country that, while claiming to be democratic, gives the excuse of insufficient funds for not implementing local government elections. The PH parties have been slamming the former BN government for years for not bringing back elected local councils but this latest excuse is pretty lame.


On the question of funds for local elections, let me remind Malaysians that at independence in 1957 when the GNP per capita of Malaya was just around US$800, we could afford to conduct local government elections in the country. Today, with our GDP per capita close to US$10,000 and our pride in being on the brink of becoming a high-income society, the new PH government claims that we cannot afford to run local government elections.

3. When will it be time to tax the super-rich and redistribute wealth?

The time never seems to be ripe to implement wealth redistribution by progressive taxation of the super-rich top 1% of our society. The finance minister said Budget 2019 did not tax the super-rich because it would have shocked the financial system.

We would think that it is time for the progressive taxation of the super-rich instead of constantly raiding Petronas’ dividends to bridge the budget deficit which we have been doing ever since Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s first term as prime minister.


nama saya Moo-Moo-Petronas 

Former law minister Zaid Ibrahim was a PH member until he criticised the “billionaires running the show”. There are other “eminent” advisers who are the country’s top plantation owners, independent power producers and property developers who are advisers in PH-run states such as Perak. Such a pattern reeks of glaring conflict of interests. The works minister recently bemoaned the excessive “super profits” reaped by toll operators all these years.

It is worth reminding Malaysians that the total wealth of the Forbes 50 richest Malaysians (the top 0.0017%) is more than RM300 billion compared to the combined wealth of the B40 of just RM20 billion. But apparently, we cannot upset the top 1% of our high society or it will shake the entire financial system! The rest of us 99% of Malaysians can continue to be taxed and the financial system and the market will be just fine.

4. When will it be time to firmly regulate developers for the benefit of the people and the environment?

It is clear that particular rich developers have got the new government in their pockets since they were given the contract for the FundMyHome scheme one day after the budget was announced.

Apart from the criticism of cronyism in this project, private developers should stay out of public housing for the people. Let the federal government, state governments and elected local councils be in charge of public housing for the B40 and the working people of this country.

And instead of looking east and west and north, they should just drive south of the border to find out how they manage public housing across the causeway. 


Sing public housing 

Crony capitalism happens when the government is hand in glove with property tycoons and this results in house prices being artificially pushed up by limiting supply.

We need government intervention to solve the housing crisis and build liveable homes for the majority – not let the market dictate. Developers in Penang, Selangor and other states continue to have their way reclaiming land, building highways and flouting regulations by building on hill slopes even after two disasters killed more than 20 people in Penang recently.


State governments have been allowing private developers to acquire land even when there are unresolved issues of temples and communities that have been in those locations for decades, such as the Seafield temple. As was the complaint in the Kuala Lumpur Structure Plan during the 80s, there have been few provisions in council and state plans for temples and burial sites for minority communities.

5. When will it be time to commit to the climate change agenda and clean environment?

How long are we going to rely on Petronas dividends to patch up the budget deficit like we have been doing since the 70s? When will we have a sovereign wealth fund like that of Norway’s which is worth more than US$1 trillion although their petroleum industry only started in the 90s while ours started in the 70s and we have only US$100 billion of assets?

What is our commitment to renewable energy and a clean environment? Why are we importing plastic waste when we can hardly cope with our own domestically generated waste? 

And if the new PH government cannot close down the Lynas plant, they should apologise to the people as well as to the former BN government because they rose to power on the discontent of the people there over the Lynas plant. 


It will be yet another unkept promise in the PH Buku Harapan. The people around Kuantan still want the toxic plant to close and to ask Lynas to generate its toxic waste in its own backyard in Australia.

The continuing travails of our indigenous peoples who are plagued by the encroachments of plantation interests and developers into their native customary lands such as the Temiar at Gua Musang show that there is a desperate need for a Ministry for Indigenous Peoples and a national agenda to improve the lives of our indigenous peoples.

Ad hoc state behaviour continues to exploit land for profit and abrogates their responsibility as stewards to conserve our precious and biodiverse forests for the benefit of future generations of indigenous communities and as a brake on climate change that benefits all. The forest reserve in Gombak is about to be de-gazetted by PH, just as Bukit Sungai Putih in Cheras was de-gazetted in 1992 for “development” by BN.

6. When will it be time for an accountable, effective police force?

The home ministry and the police have been portrayed in the media as super efficient at apprehending alleged Abu Sayyaf and IS terrorists, but they prove to be useless in finding Indira Gandhi’s daughter, Pastor Raymond Koh, and other victims of enforced disappearances. 


We now hear of vigilantes in Kedah who abduct victims with impunity, apparently to “convert” them. This is an alarming trend for there is not a great distinction between such abductions and enforced disappearances.

Why are the police characteristically late whenever racist mobs attack peaceful assemblies? This was seen not only recently at the Seafield temple but also at Kampung Medan in 2001, the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall in 2000, the Asia Pacific Conference on East Timor in 1996 and other such mob violence in recent years including May 13 in 1969.

And we should stop calling these incidents “racial riots” – they are in fact mob attacks by racists and fascists intent on intimidating ethnic minorities in the country. Thus, the PH government’s decision to call off the ratification of ICERD is actually a triumph of fascism in this country.

There is an urgent need for a multi-ethnic peace-keeping force that can be rapidly deployed to any flash point such as that which occurred at Seafield and Kampung Medan in order to prevent any possible racial violence.

To conclude, after kicking out the old BN government on May 9, the Malaysian people will not put up with the same lame excuses for postponing the implementation of these basic human rights.

It is incumbent upon Malaysia’s civil society to carry on the struggle for a truly progressive New Malaysia in which human rights are respected and real reforms that uphold those rights are realised in our society. To all the progressive and peace-loving people of Malaysia, Suaram wishes you the speedy actualisation of human rights in our lives.


23 comments:

  1. "The reality is, human rights do not exist in any of the Abrahamic faiths. The Abrahamic faiths only talk about the rights of God, not the rights of Man".~ RPK

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    Replies
    1. rpk really know religion meh?

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    2. RPK studied Philosophy of Religion at Oxford University mah.

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    3. rpk study philosophy but churn out such rigid n dichotomy statement, i rather read ck la, at least more fun wakaka.

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    4. G Bush Jr studied at Yale university(BA) & Harvard (MBA).

      What had he done to the econ of the US under his care?

      D-!

      Jibby bunked out of University of Nottingham w/o a complete degree (sama2 madam mom's wasted stay at Oxford). Look at 1MDN lah!

      Perhaps some people r NOT meant to be educated. All the titles in the world WOULDN'T hide their inherent stupidity.

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    5. RPK's Wikipedia entry.

      Born in Surrey, England, Raja Petra Kamarudin was educated at the Alice Smith School. At the age of 13 he went to further his studies at the Malay College Kuala Kangsar, completing his education at the Victoria Institution.

      That is all.

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    6. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nst.com.my/node/131943/amp

      (I studied Political Philosophy and Philosophy of Religion (at Oxford University) and in both these courses, you cannot avoid studying Plato and his student, Aristotle, who, in turn, taught Alexander the Great subjects such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Zoology, Botany, Psychology, Political Theory, Ethics, History, Literary Theory, and so on.)

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    7. u left out sophistry, only subject rpk pass with flying colors.

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    8. Wakakakaka……

      The truth of the matter is that dedak sustained mom was ONLY taking a few casual course papers at Oxford. He didn't enroll for ANY degree course at all.

      Oxford uni will ONLY issue a course certification to successfully completed course attendant. This certification DOESN'T equate degree, not even diploma!

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    9. Each year, as part of its community outreach, Oxford Uni runs more than 1000 short weekend and summer courses.
      They are open to the public for a fee. It is not amounting to an Oxford Uni degree

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  2. "The reality is each individual nation/tribe/group can ONLY reach the equivalent state of comparative development IFF each individual nation/tribe/group has reached the same necessary level of humanistic awareness."

    ~Prime Directive of human evolution

    Thus this Dr is talking cockaroo just to syiok-sendiri lah!

    欲速则不达, 反而祸害無穹. (When the humanistic evolution of the tribe has not reached the required mature level, a forced uplifting process can only bring untold calamity to the tribe)

    All the things he so desired have been taken hundreds of yrs for the liberal western world to achieve. And yet he expects PH to set a time frame, which most likely takes longer than his available life span, to accomplish!

    He forgets small steps & benevolent administrator. Especially when bolihland has been so deeply deviated & marching backwards in the last 60+ yrs.

    A typical ivory tower bleeding heart - pandai at farting & yet fails miserably when given a task!

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  3. Where got hypocrisy. Guanee here speaks out. It is Hadi that is telling cerita dongeng about ICERD.

    If there was a vote in Parliament about ratifying ICERD all DAP members will vote in support. No hypocrisy.

    QUOTE
    Anti-Icerd rally: Guan Eng slams Hadi for 'pitting Muslims against non-Muslims'
    5 Dec 2018, 5:54 pm (Updated 5 Dec 2018, 5:54 pm)

    DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng today slammed PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang for allegedly pitting the Muslim majority against the non-Muslim minority in justifying the need for the gathering against the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Icerd).

    In a statement, Lim also rued that Hadi’s recent remark that the rally was necessary, as non-Muslim MPs in the Pakatan Harapan government far outnumbered Muslim MPs in the Parliament, was “highly provocative”.

    The media can do better in the Icerd debate
    “Instead of preaching national unity amongst all Malaysians of different ethnic and religious backgrounds, Hadi continues to try and divide Malaysians, by pitting the Muslims against non-Muslims.

    “Firstly, the figures quoted by Hadi are not accurate. He said there are 66 non-Muslim MPs and 58 Muslim MPs in Harapan. In fact, there are 62 Muslim MPs in Harapan.

    “The bumiputera MPs, which include the non-Muslim bumiputera, outnumber the non-bumiputera, 70 to 58 in Harapan. Does Hadi consider the non-Muslim bumiputera from Sabah and Sarawak, as not equal, just because they are not Muslims?” asked Lim, who is also the finance minister.

    He further pointed out that out of the 28 cabinet members, including senators, 17 are Muslims and only 11 are non-Muslims, while among the deputy ministers, 18 are Muslims and nine are non-Muslims.

    Out of the 222 MPs, 140 of them are Muslims while only 82 of them are non-Muslims, Lim said.

    “How can Muslim rights be threatened when Muslim MPs comprise 63 percent of MPs in the Parliament? Using Hadi’s logic, shouldn’t the non-Muslims feel threatened by the 63 percent Muslim MPs in Parliament?” he asked.

    Lim said that PAS’ insistence of joining the anti-Icerd rally this Saturday, despite the government’s announcement that it would not ratify the UN instrument, was all about political survival and gaining political capital for the Islamist party.

    Instead of gathering against the Icerd, which is no longer relevant, PAS is better protesting against all the financial scandals which happened under the administration of Umno/BN, he added.

    “This would be the right thing to do for all Malaysians, both for Muslims as well as for non-Muslims.”
    UNQUOTE

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  4. Kua Kia Soong has a gigantic axe to grind against Mahathir, Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng, and some others in the DAP leadership. Each of them have, at various times, various incidents, in his view , done him enormous personal damage.
    The grudges are deep, intense and unrelenting

    Mahathir, Lim Guan Eng and Lim Kit Siang in the same government is enough to send Kua ballistic, from the morning of May 10 onwards.

    While Suaram's actual report is couched in quite level-headed language, Kua'screed against the current government is an emotional rant.

    I don't trust the views of a person with such a personal vendetta.

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  5. You asked if the PH government is not ashamed that it still practises racially discriminatory "Bumi-only" policies such as those that exist at UiTM; and that such institutions did NOT exist before the coup d'etat against the Tunku in May 1969. In truth, Bumi-only policies were set up by the British administration long before independence. The Malay College Kuala Kangsar was established on 2 January 1905 for the education of Malays of good families and the training of Malay boys for administering certain branches of government service. Universiti Teknologi MARA was established in 1956 as RIDA Training Center with a focus to help the rural Malays. Thus the British carried out a divide and conquer policy

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  6. Human rights among Abrahamic faith believers? What a joke.

    Their preachers, clerics, priests, scholars etc have clearly told them those of their faith are superior to others.

    Besides racists, religious bigots are the next real threat to mankind hypnotising and indoctrinating their dumb believers into waging wars, violence and hatred towards others not of their beliefs.

    History had shown desperate, corrupted, evil and failures in life person of using racism and religion to further their own selfish greed.

    And unfortunately, many are still willingly be led like lambs by emotional appeal rather than using their God given brain.

    How unfortunate, most Malaysians are uncivilised still in the 21st century and still living like barbarians.

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  7. To be fair, the ONLY Abraham faiths that r still following the orthodoxy doctrines described in their 'books' r the Orthodox Judaism & Islam.

    All others faiths, even Catholicism within that loosely defined Abrahamic religious hive, have moved on to the next plane of enlightenment that's r commensurated with their individual evolution.

    One is sustained by their claim that they will their god's chosen people. The other has its claim via the power of swords!

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    Replies
    1. Unfortunately, God did not send any new divine guidance or His book to supersede the Qur'an. Allah's guidance is status quo through time, place and people. BTW I agree with RPK that the only rights that exist is God's right, which shall prevail over any other rights.

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    2. I tend to agree with the Jews - the true Messiah has not come yet.

      All the rest so far have been just very very good at PR ( public relations and public speaking)

      Wakakka...

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    3. fortunately, nabi muhammad shown otherwise. prevail not necessary mean absolutely no human rights, i suppose a religion that promote the concept of peace n justice is more abt human n not god.

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    4. Then, prove that circular question that yr God exists lah!

      Otherwise, EVERYTHING is man-made by a power hungered elites to shackle the minds of the blur-sotongs!

      Moron!

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    5. u prove god dun exist la, bodoh.

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    6. Wakakakaka…

      Dealing with rabid dog 101;

      If you find yourself in the path of a dog that appears to be rabid, you should do everything in your power to avoid coming into contact with the animal. Never try to approach a dog that is acting strangely or seems aggressive.

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    7. n when mahathir ask to stop barking, cblim stop, u oso.

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