Letter to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad

Salam Tun yang sangat dikasihi,

How are you and Toh Puan? And how is business at your bakery?

Okay, with the salutations and pleasantries over, please allow me to engage Tun in something I have long been yearning to propose to you, wakakaka.

Oh, by the way, please excuse kaytee's mild version of melatah-ing - call it Latah Lite if you wish, wakakaka again - sorry, you know how it is for people who melatah ;-).

I'm sure you will agree with me that we Malaysians* like to refer to important events by their dates in a 3-digit format, as I have written in my other blog KTemoc Kongsamkok several years ago in a post titled Secret Society of Handsome Chinese Cryptographers.

* yes, I know I know, you mentioned a couple of days ago that there will never be a true Malaysian. By the way Tun, have you read my post Should Chinese Malaysians adopt indigenous surnames?

Oh, and sorry about the title of the post Secret Society of Handsome Chinese Cryptographers especially the 'handsome' part as I know how much it irritates you to hear about Chinese implied indirectly and also incorrectly as being better looking than Malays. In fact, I have often heard from Chinese female friends how handsome, or in modern language what a hot looking stud, you are.

And though I know you don't like (probably detest) Khairy Jamaluddin, he too has been described as another fine specimen of Malay manhood, in Chinese parlance, a leng chai.

But no doubt the word 'society of Chinese whatever' might have alarmed you, especially as I recall my uncle (one of your admirers) telling me that you once explained the necessity of Ops Lalang as (words to the effect) 'Chinese history has shown that it bodes no good when Chinese parties gather together at a temple to protest against the government'.

Needless to say, I was and still am amazed by your knowledge of Chinese history regarding the razing of Shaolin temple by the Manchus.

Yes, we all recall that on 11 October 1987, MCA, Gerakan, SUPP, DAP and other Chinese-based parties congregated together with Dong Jiao Zong at the Shaolin (sorry, wakakaka) Hainanese Association Building, beside the Thean Hou Temple in Kuala Lumpur, to protest against what they saw as the nasty policy of then-Education Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

It was a remarkable first and undoubtedly last for Chinese Malaysian Unity, wakakaka. Your Ops Lalang was certainly worthy of the brilliant Manchu attack on Shaolin Temple, and to your further credit you did it without burning any holy site.

But let us move on from Ops Lalang since both you and your once-beloved-protege, wakakaka, had already accepted responsibilities for your respective parts in the whole sorry affair.

Now, what do I mean by Malaysians like to refer to important events by their dates in a 3-digit format

Virtually every adult in Malaysia knows or has heard of 513, the tragic day on 13 May 1969 when racial riots broke out in Selangor after the May 1969 general elections which saw Perikatan (headed by UMNO) lost its two-thirds majority in Parliament and also its hold on Selangor threatened.

Yes Tun, 513, a sad day for our nation but even sadder, still very much nourished, embellished and frequently referred to by, alas, your political party!

I don't propose to revisit that sad event as we have gone through it more often than any other Malaysian event, including even a fabricated fictionalized version in the film Tanda Putera, which was reviewed by the Malay Mail Online as a film that takes liberty with truth.

Then we have the infamous 916, wakakaka, which mention I am sure will warm the cockles of your heart - no no Tun, there is really no need to thank me.

But that many had even believed in the democratic correctness of 916 has been a sad reflection on the standard of mathematics taught in our Malaysian schools, where those people somehow reckoned that 82 > 140 (that is, 82 is greater than 140), wakakaka.

The American term for those incomprehensible believers and supporters of 916 is, I believe, 'mathematically challenged', a description which may also be applied today to someone in Selangor who in his own mind may contrive conclude that a coalition which holds 43 seats in a 56 seat state assembly would present for the state an unstable political deadlock which merits the dissolution of the DUN with fresh elections necessary.

But let us leave discussions of that issue for the future and move on to what I wish to propose to you.

It is about 929 and 617.

Didn't I mention that we Malaysians love such 3-digit codes - again yes, I know I know, you mentioned a couple of days ago that there will never be a true Malaysian, but grant me a wee leeway in my, this post please, wakakaka.

As you mentioned on 14 February this year (2014) when you bravely accepted responsibility for Ops Lalang:

"Well, if I made a mistake, I made a mistake. I am an old man. I am 89 years old, so I am prone to forgetting."

"Even if the decision was made by someone else, it was in the Cabinet. I accept responsibility. We did what was needed to ensure peace and stability in Malaysia."

... yes, you are indeed already a most respected 89 years old so I hope you won't be annoyed if I respectfully remind you what 929 and 617 had been.

On 29 September 2001 (thus 929) you declared that 'Malaysia is an Islamic state' at the Gerakan national assembly.

Then you were supported most ardently by both MCA and Gerakan leaders, who ironically (or with the advantage of hindsight, hypocritically) have been currently attacking/accusing the DAP for working 'hand-in-glove’ with PAS to establish an Islamic State, and who wakakaka asserted publicly that Malaysia was a secular and not an Islamic State.

But immediately after your 929 Declaration, your Chinese partners in BN, namely MCA and Gerakan leaders, gave their full and unequivocal support that compelled a blistering post by Lim Kit Siang against MCA and Gerakan volte-face, as follows (extract only):

"Malaysia had always been an Islamic state from day one of our nationhood 44 years ago as if the founding fathers and early leaders of MCA like Tun Tan Cheng Lock, Tun Tan Siew Sin, Tun S.H. Lee, Too Joon Hing or even the early UMNO leaders like Onn Jaffar, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein Onn would have agreed to multi-racial and multi-religious Malaysia becoming an Islamic State".

Lim Kit Siang also reminded us, no doubt totally flabbergasted by the MCA-Gerakan cari makan belakang pusing (wakakaka), that "For eight month after September 29 last year (2001), MCA and Gerakan leaders were trumpeting that Malaysia is a moderate Islamic state", wakakaka, somehow showing they had been either devout Islamists or devout tok ampu's, wakakaka.

Then less than a year later, on 17 June 2002, you declared that Malaysia was not just an Islamic State but, with words to the effect (with a wee dram of my blogger's licence, wakakaka), to hell with the term moderate Islamic state (which of course pulled the rug from beneath MCA and Gerakan's feet), that Malaysia was a fundamentalist Islamic State.

This declaration came to be known as 617, a declaration that your MCA and Gerakan tok ampu's were the first to endorse, despite your declaration moving Malaysia from being a moderate Islamic State to a fundamentalist version. Alamak and aiyoyo Tun, what motivation could be greater than the tok ampu's cari makan belakang pusing-an, wakakaka.

I would like, with Tun's indulgence, to quote from Lim Kit Siang's post in which he wrote:

Bapa Malaysia and the nation’s first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman confirmed this and declared in the Legislative Council in 1958:

“I would like to make it clear that this country is not an Islamic State as it is generally understood; we merely provide that Islam shall be the official religion of the State.”

The position of the constitutional cornerstone that Malaysia is a secular and not a Islamic state was further reinforced in the negotiations for the formation of Malaysia in 1963, as Sabahans and Sarawakians were assured that Article 3 of the Constitution "does not imply that Malaysia is not a secular state." (Cobbold Commission Report).

The fundamental constitutional principle that Malaysia is a secular nation has been upheld by the highest court in the land in Che Omar bin Che Soh vs Public Prosecutor (1988).

Delivering the judgment of a five-man Federal Court panel, the then Lord President Tun Salleh Abas held that the Constitution and the legal system are “secular” and held that the meaning of the expression “Islam” or “Islamic religion” in Article 3 “means only such acts as relate to rituals and ceremonies”.

He said that “There can be no doubt that Islam is not just a mere collection of dogmas and rituals but it is a complete way of life covering all fields of human activities, may they be private or public, legal, political, economic, social, cultural, moral or judicial” but rejected the contention that the terms “Islam” or “Islamic religion” in Article 3 is “an all-embracing concept, as is normally understood, which consists not only the ritualistic aspect but also a comprehensive system of life, including its jurisprudence and moral standard” as this was not the meaning intended by the framers of the Constitution.

Salleh Abas’ judgment that Malaysia was a secular nation was in keeping with the interpretation of his predecessor, the late Tun Mohamed Suffian Hashim who in 1962 defined the scope of Islam in the constitution as being primarily for ceremonial purposes, such as the permission for prayers to be offered in the Islamic way on official public occasions such as the installation of the Yang di Pertuan Agong, his birthday, Merdeka Day and other occasions.

Of course we knew why you proclaimed your fundamentalist Islamic state in the 929 and 617 Declarations, though then, you weren't able to see the Pandora Box you had opened with those declarations, especially for your own UMNO ulama.

But look Tun, you have already won your battle with PAS and done your part even commendably unto accepting responsibilities for Ops Lalang. Why not take it from there and make another declaration, namely that you were mistaken about your politico-medical (wakakaka) 'interpretations' of our Constitution, and that we should adhere to the legal judgements on Malaysia as a secular state, as provided in the above-mentioned Cobbold Report and the rulings of Tun Mohamed Suffian Hashim and Tun Salleh Abas.

Pass on the baton of arguing over the Islamic State issue to your current and erstwhile proteges, wakakaka, and let them fight it out. At least it may possibly provide some amusement for you.

Incidentally, do you know that Tunku Abdul Aziz, a patrician I was formerly rather fond of (and still am to a certain extent despite his grievances with DAP) has also asserted our nation to be a secular state while he was lashing out at the Islamic Party's abandonment of Khalid Ibrahim. In an angry and disgusted rail against PAS he said:

Let me remind my co-religionists and all Malaysians that what they are seeing is not the teachings of the Quran: It is the work of people who have long abused their religion to promote their political ambitions and are prepared to traffic with any party of whatever political bent.I have never made a secret of my abhorrence and distaste for their brand of politics, with its evil concoction of pseudo-religious orthodoxy grounded in undisguised worldly opportunism. Surely, it can have no place in secular Malaysia.

Note my underlining and bolding of the relevant sentence above.

Continuing with Tunku Aziz's statement:

When I saw on television Mohamad Sabu reading the unholy announcement abandoning Khalid to the jackals, it dawned on me that perhaps this was God’s mysterious intervention to expose the truth about the party and its leaders. If this latest act of duplicity does not teach us anything about Pas’ politics of adventurism, then we will be putting the future of our nation at considerable risk.

Coincidentally, Raja Petra Kamaruddin had in his Malaysia-Today just written a rather amusing (or if you like,sarcastic) article about things happening being always acts of Allah swt, as in his post BLAME ALLAH FOR THE SELANGOR MB CRISIS in which he commented wryly on Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad's claim that 'Allah made the two PAS state assemblymen defy their own party by joining the 28 DAP and PKR representatives in pledging support for Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail because Allah wanted to save Selangor'.

Much as Tunku Aziz might have shown his disgust at PAS, he is undoubtedly a co-believer like Dr Dzulkefly in the all-powerful but mysterious interventions of Allah swt, a belief very much shared as well by devout Christians who would explain away, for example, the tragic disastrous aftermath of the Boxing Day Tsunami in which nearly half a million innocent God-fearing Indonesians and quite a few Thais, Westerners and Indians perished, as one of God's mysterious ways. Amen.

Continuing with Tunku Aziz's statement:

For the sake of a united Malaysia, we cannot allow a religion-based political party that is causing unnecessary fear and apprehension among Malaysians to preach its sermon of hate and darkness. The party has to decide what it wants to be, a political organisation or a Muslim missionary society because it cannot be both.

It now operates under false pretences, and with its shrill campaign for a Muslim state, it is splitting the nation down the middle, a situation to be avoided at all costs as we strive to find our true destiny and identity as a nation.

We must not let Pas or anyone frustrate that national goal. Let all men and women of goodwill beware.

Well Tun, there you have it. Instead of blasting or tormenting poor Ah Jib Gor (does his Chinese nick, wakakaka, bother you?), why don't you stun Malaysia and the World again by declaring that your 929 and 617 Declarations were not legal but political constructs, designed to outflank PAS as advocated today by your fellow Kedahan, YM Tunku Abdul Aziz.

Yes, please do so and watch the fun begin as undoubtedly Najib and Anwar will amuse and entertain us as they tap-dance around the hot potato which you have baked for them, wakakaka.

I am,

Tun,

Your obedient servant,

Kaytee Moc

P/S: Tun do you by any chance gift people with discount vouchers for purchase at The Loaf? Hint hint. Terimakasih Tun in anticipation.