Posted on 12/01/2007 3:55:11 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Malaysia hits back, tells India not to interfere
1 Dec 2007, 1049 hrs IST,
REUTERS
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has told India not to meddle in its internal affairs after New Delhi expressed concerns over the treatment of ethnic Indians in Muslim-majority Malaysia.
Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said the government would deal with citizens according to its own laws and no other country should interfere, the Star newspaper reported on Saturday.
Last Sunday, more than 10,000 Malaysian Indians staged the community's biggest anti-government protest, sparked by anger over policies they say prevent them from getting decent jobs or a good education for their children.
Police used tear gas and water canons to disperse the protesters, many of them Tamils with their roots in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, sparking outrage and demands from Tamil politicians that New Delhi intervene.
"If they break any law, it is our right to deal with them in accordance with Malaysian laws," Syed Hamid was quoted as saying.
India said on Friday that it was concerned about the treatment of ethnic Indians in Malaysia and had taken up with Kuala Lumpur accusations that protesters from the community had been harassed.
"The government remains deeply solicitous for the welfare of people of Indian origin living abroad," Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the Parliament.
"We have friendly relations with Malaysia and we are in touch with the Malaysian authorities in the related matter."
Multi-racial Malaysia has denied claims it mistreated ethnic Indians, saying that they were better off than those in India.
Ethnic Indians form 7 per cent of Malaysia's 26 million people. New Delhi's expression of solidarity came as the Hindu rights group behind Sunday's protest said its leader had left for India before heading to London, Geneva, Brussels and Washington to lobby for international support.
The Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) said its chairman, P Waythamoorthy, left Malaysia on Wednesday "in the light of the crackdown and threats of detention without trial".
He is expected to meet Indian leaders including the foreign minister and chief minister of Tamil Nadu.
Separately, one private immigration agency in Malaysia said an unusually large number of Malaysian Indians had inquired about migrating to Australia after Sunday's protest.
"This week the phone has not stopped ringing," said Louis Lovestrand, director at Global Migration Solutions Sdn Bhd, a firm specialising in Australian migration and visas. "There's been an unusual rush."
Protests expose Malaysia’s tense race equation
28 Nov 2007, 0953 hrs IST,
AFP
KUALA LUMPUR: Unprecedented street protests by ethnic Indians have opened up a new faultline in Malaysia’s tense race relations, posing a major problem for the government as it faces elections, analysts said.
Political observers in the multicultural nation, where minority Indians and ethnic Chinese live alongside the dominant Malay Muslim community, said the ugly scenes at Sunday’s rally represented a new era of racial activism.
“It is quite clear we will have an emboldened community willing to fight for their rights. It’s almost a renaissance or a rebirth,” said leading commentator Charles Santiago.
“The young Indian population out there especially see discrimination on a daily basis ...For a lot of them, they feel they have nothing to lose.”
At least 8,000 protesters including women and young people massed near Kuala Lumpur’s iconic Petronas Towers — meeting stiff resistance from police who beat them with batons and unleashed gas and chemical-laced water.
The rally was officially in support of a multi-trillion dollar lawsuit accusing former colonial ruler Britain of being at the root of Indians’ economic problems by bringing their ancestors here as indentured labourers in the 1800s.
But it was more squarely aimed at the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), which stands for Malay interests and has ruled the nation since independence a half-century ago.
While Malays control the political scene and the Chinese population is dominant in business, Indians complain they run a distant third in terms of wealth, education and opportunities.
Analysts said that although they had long been a silent minority, many ethnic Indians have become radicalised by the increasing
“Islamisation” of Malaysia, which minorities see as undermining their rights.
The destruction of hundreds of Hindu temples in recent years, sometimes with bulldozers moving in even as devotees were praying, has also caused intense anger.
“The Indians have become alienated and that has basically transformed the nature of resistance,” said political analyst P. Ramasamy, noting that ethnic Indian professionals were well represented at the protest.
“The character of struggle has changed. It has taken on a Hindu form — Hinduism versus Islam. And this is something that should not have taken place in a multi-racial society.”
Ramasamy said he was certain there would be more protests, raising the spectre of serious racial violence — not seen since 1969 and something all sides on Malaysia’s political scene are desperate to avoid.
The protests, which come shortly after another mass rally calling for election reforms, are a major headache for the government, which had been expected to call elections early next year.
UMNO rules in a coalition with race-based parties including the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), which has been under fire for its handling of the crisis.
“I think it’s very clear the MIC cannot speak on behalf of the Indian community any more,” Ramasamy said. “Elections are around the corner and whether their majority will be reduced we will see.”
Ordinary Malaysian Indians interviewed Monday defended the protests saying they were forced onto the streets by a government which had ignored their grievances for decades.
“I think it’s a stepping stone for a better future, although change may not come overnight,” communications executive Thavamalar Muniandy told reporters in the capital’s ethnic Indian Brickfields district.
“In my opinion the protest achieved its objective — we got the world to focus on us and the government can no longer ignore our concerns,” said 24-year-old law student Sivamalar Ganapathy.
A retiree who gave his name as Subramanian said that since the 1960s conflict, which pitted Chinese against Malays fearful of marginalisation, the nation had focused too much on elevating majority Muslims.
“Sadly, we were often neglected in the process of development and side-tracked,” he said.
“I’m sad to see that even after 50 years of independence we have to resort to such measures to express our dissatisfaction in a civilised country.”
http://desicritics.org/2007/11/30/064840.php
Malaysian Waters Are Suddenly Muddy
November 30, 2007
Sandeep
The innocuous, almost ridiculous, demand for massive historical damages has smoldered into an international loss of face for Malaysia. Purely realpolitik terms, this was easily avoidable had the Malaysian government shown a little restraint. By jumping headlong in a fit of panic, Abdullah Badawi has invited both trouble at home and bad publicity outside. Within a week, Malaysia finds itself in muddy waters, which only promises to get worse.
A pragmatic solution to stop the protest from getting out of hand was to invite the protesters for a talk. More importantly, the protesters employed what is now fashionably called—Gandhigiri to vent their grievance.
A Tamachelvy, from Klang, told Malaysiakini that she, along with her 60-year-old father, attended this rally after hearing about the spate of Hindu temple demolitions.
“We felt very hurt after watching VCDs about how the government would destroy our temples. We are Malaysians but our government treats us like foreigners,” she said.
Instead of hearing them out, a democratically-elected Malaysian government swiftly resorted to violence without grave provocation. Badawi also threatened to invoke a tyrannical Internal Security Act, which
...allows for detention of any person the police deem to be a threat for up to 60 days. Detainees are denied access to legal counsel. Police can act on suspicion that an individual has acted or is about to act or is likely to act in any manner prejudicial to the security of Malaysia or any part thereof or to maintenance of essential services therein or to the economic life thereof.” The law allows the Minister of Home Affairs to extend detention for up to two years without trial or submission of evidence. The detention order can be renewed indefinitely.
If the protest was allowed to pass on without violent state intervention, it would have caused a major embarrassment to Badawi at the most. Badawi could have remedied that embarrassment by a standard looking-into-the-grievance line. But his thoughtless move has resulted in severe damage to Malaysia’s image on at least two crucial fronts: as a favoured tourist destination, and in general, a peace-loving nation. A clue to understand Badawi’s response may lie in the highly-Islamized Malaysia, where Sharia courts wield equal—if not greater—power as the “regular” judiciary. The Malaysian government’s response makes sense in that light because Islamic political principles grant a dhimmi (or zimmi) status to non-Muslims. Accordingly, the origin or domicile status of a non-Muslim ceases to be of any consequence to the state. Dhimmis have absolutely no right, and any method to silence discontent is sanctioned. Does Badawi deem Malaysia an Islamic state governed only by the Sharia? Some political observers answer in the affirmative.
Malaysia’s Islamization over the past decade has arguably made matters worse and likely contributed to the hostility. Even though Muslim Malays just barely constitute a majority of the population, the government has proudly proclaimed Malaysia an Islamic state. It’s strictly political Islam...Islamization’s main effect isn’t to unite the country but to highlight differences, whether it’s with your Chinese neighbors or that Westerner ordering local fare.
That report is more than six months old, and provides great hindsight into what lurked beneath the awesome spectacle of Kuala Lampur.
The Malaysian government seems to be indifferent to the torrent of criticism that has emanated from all directions including the US. In what appears presumptuous, it has singled out protestors for arrest. Worldwide condemnation is a hopeful sign but we need to watch whether it fizzles out once the freshness of the atrocity fades.
From India, noises have reverberated from the expected quarters. Karunanidhi’s concern, although rooted in his party’s Tamil-first ideology is welcome. But the Indian government has so far refrained from taking any official position on the issue. Despite this, Nazri Aziz, a Malaysian minister has asked Karunanidhi to “lay off” the issue. Within India several agitating leaders who demanded Indian intervention were snubbed with
We are a very responsible democracy. We don’t discuss ... any other country in such a manner,” Chatterjee said, according to the Press Trust of India news agency...
India cannot obviously sweep this under the carpet. A direct diplomatic offensive against Malaysia will send out wrong signals. Malaysian Indian protests were overwhelmingly if not hundred percent Hindus with specific Hindu grievances like state-sponsored temple destruction. An offensive will spark demands from other countries based purely on religious grounds: Buddhists in Burma, Sikhs in Canada and France, etc. This is not to argue against India’s support for Hindus outside India but against setting thoughtless precedents. Overt intervention in Malaysia’s internal crises will send wrong signals to other, similar “weaker” nations. This is an important lesson India needs to learn from America’s thoughtless interventions post World War II based solely on its prowess.
Malaysia has given plentiful reasons for India to feel offended. Malaysia has never made a secret of its hostility towards India. Its non-admission of Indians during the Surat plague is an open insult few of us remember (or care to). Its coziness with Pakistan is semi-secret. Shaukat Aziz has served it well by for example, lowering trade barriers so Malaysia could clamour for more from India at the ASEAN. That sounds like a harmless, routine international game compared to the dangerous nexus between A Q Khan and Badawi’s son.
The documents, obtained by AP via searches of publicly accessible files, reveal a paper trail through privately held and publicly listed companies that outlines ties between the prime minister’s son, Kamaluddin Abdullah, and the Sri Lankan, Buhary Syed Abu Tahir, as well as his Malaysian wife.
The documents show that the men were top executives at Kaspadu Sdn.Bhd. when Tahir negotiated a deal for a company linked to Kaspadu,Scomi Precision Engineering, to build components that Western intelligence agencies allege were for use in Libya’s nuclear program.
U.S. President George W. Bush last week called Tahir the “chief financial officer and money launderer” of the black market network led by Khan, who has admitted selling nuclear technology and know-how to Iran, North Korea and Libya.
The disgraceful Polaris incident is also worth recalling at this point. Just to add to India’s list of complaints against Malaysia. India desperately needs to (re)learn the art of displaying its displeasure to Malaysia. A good way to do this is to put a spanner in Malaysia’s economic prospects. By economically choking Malaysia, India has little to lose and a lot to gain. It will (finally, hopefully) send a clear message that India will not allow itself to be taken for granted. Given India’s current closeness with the US, a strong push in the right direction might convince the latter to change its mind about the FTA, which is currently “under review” for—among other things—”racial preferences.” India might also need to “review” its agreement on the Multimedia Super Corridor, arguably, Malaysia’s most ambitious economic project...
Finally, international groups need to forcefully pick up the cause of Malaysian Indians and sustain pressure on Malaysia to clean up its act. India can “guide” them from behind the scenes when required. This technique has a high success rate, demonstrated by the fundamentalists who surround Bush. A diplomatic offensive on India’s part will only brand India as a troublemaker.
Is this too much to expect of our policymakers?
Malaysia’s “bumiputra” system of islamic apartheid is evil... and this nation is one so many like to use as “exhibit A” for an example of “moderate islam.”
UMNO has used islam, fueled it to cling onto power, and is now has to maintain its “islamic credentials” to face off its opposition in PAS etc...
He that lieth down with dogs, shall rise up with fleas.
CIA: Malaysia - Malay 50.4%, Chinese 23.7%, indigenous 11%, Indian 7.1%, others 7.8%
That is probably true, but due at least as much to the legacy of British rule with respect to the rule of law as (which drew ambitious Indians and especially Chinese there to begin with) as to anything the Malaysian government has done since independence.
Malaysia's affirmative action experiment has borne the same fruits as ours, only more so: corruption and economic damage, combined with rising contempt for members of the protected groups when they are assumed, rightly or wrongly, to be where they are only because of this special assistance.
Ironically in India itself there is extensive affirmative action for certain castes and tribal groups, which has had similar effects.
Diversity is everyone’s strength, right?
Liquid jihad.
I sure I am able to follow your comments as to exactly why you think its is true.
Malaysia’s so-called “affirmative action” isnt really an “affirmative action”. Rather its an “affirmative action” in the reverse. More aptly an apartheid system. “Affirmative action” in most countries applies to the economically backward minorities the purpose of which is to bring them on par with the affluent majority.
In case of Malaysia the apartheid system is given the name “Bhumiputra” which means “people of the land” or in other words ethnic Malaysians have first right to every opportunity as they are original people of Malaysia. in other words Malaysians are first class citizens and the ethnic Indians are second class citizens. This is definitely not affirmative action but a straight forward racial discrimination clear and simple. There is no evidence that the ethnic Malays are worse off then the rest of the people.
I can understand becoming Muslims, but how exactly can they become ethnic Malays racially speaking?
“but how exactly can they become ethnic Malays racially speaking?”
Well, start by surgically slanting the eyes, flattening the nose and the face, and perhaps lightening the skin to blend in as ethnic Malays. /sarcasm
Interesting, about Malaysia having an ancestoral natives first program. I believe Japan does or used to do the same thing even more aggressively.
It is racial discrimination, but then don’t peoples and countries have the right to self defense? Any country and the native peoples can be overwhelmed by immigrants and taken over.
You may well counter that human migration is an unstoppable force, and point to the overwhelming of the North and South American continents by migration and now by reverse migration. But I don’t fault people who try to save their cultures and primacy in a country even though I believe such efforts are doomed in the long run to failure. They can be effective for the short term, however, even for several hundreds of years.
Self defense against what? Its been more then a century now that Indians have been living in Malaysia, by now they should have equal rights as the natives.
Would you argue the same for Zimbabwe and South Africa kicking out the Whites who are non native? Illegal entry of aliens is one thing but people who have already migrated and have been living there for centuries (not decades) are no longer aliens or migrants ............ or else in US the only true natives would be the native Americans (Indians) and in Australia the Aborigines.
By whose morality should they have equal rights?
That is an American concept, that immigrants can become just as American as the those whose ancestors were here three hundred years ago once they have become naturalized citizens.
You are arguing a personal morality. That is okay with me, but it is evidentally not okay with a number of people with more ancient claims to the land.
It is the essense of the problem of Israel. You have two groups making an ancestoral claim to the land.
Our American concept is a bit communist actually. The idea that everyone is equal in claim to the land and to the ballot box no matter where they came from.
But to stereotype and target a specific ethnic group thats otherwise peace-loving and supposedly doing better then you is more like Nazism lite not self defense.
If you are asking for someone’s right to equal opportunity to be taken away and you be given an unequal advantage because historical reasons that are no longer valid, that is again racial apartheid.
What you are espousing is our American belief. It is a belief that we have been accused of arrogantly proselytizing around the world.
I believe in the concepts you are espousing, but I am just now recognizing that the natural consequence of my personal belief is a One World government end result, in a homogenized world.
That isn’t necessarily a best course for human survival, as diversity within a species and differences in the niches they inhabit is more likely to produce survivors of some catastrophic event that would more likely wipe out completely a homogenized population.
“......more ancient claim to a land ....”
Its not a territorial argument. If basic rights of a population living within the borders have to be denied based on some ancient claim, you might as well live in ancient times not the 21st century. And if you have doubts you could go through the preamble of the UN universal declaration of human right of which even Malaysia is signatory.
You are making your arguments with emotional fervor, which causes me to think you are emotionally invested in the situation in Malaysia. And that means you may be one of those being discriminated against or have allied yourself deeply with the cause of those who are being discriminated against.
I’m exploring my beliefs rather cooly and intellectually at the moment, though I remember arguing them quite emotionally in my youth in our South during Jim Crow.
It’s easier for me to be detached as I am not going be facing the consequences of my beliefs for much longer as I am in the denouement of my life now.
Its not American belief. America itself until not long ago has had situations that directly contradict such belief.
“a One World government end result, in a homogenized world.”
Honestly we are argueing apples and oranges.
“That isn’t necessarily a best course for human survival, as diversity within a species and differences in the niches they inhabit is more likely to produce ....”
You are deviating to the topic of racial miscegenation. Regardless of whether you think its right or wrong, the process of homogenization didn't start with birth of America. Both homogenization and heterogenization have been going on parallely for as long as humanity has been alive.
Yes, because competition is always greatest within a species.
And we wouldn't be here if we our ancestors hadn't out-competed (caused the death of) or homogenized with the other competitors, like the Neanderthals.
But one can also have compassion for or sympathy for a culture or a people that are being destroyed slowly or quickly by such competition, and understanding for (though maybe not agreement with) their sentimental attachment to the way of life of their ancestors which leads them to try to save it by means that you or I might find in essense abhorent.
I remember watching Gone with the Wind, and listening to the actor Leslie Howard, as Ashley, talk about the loss of a way of life that had been so agreeable to the character...a way of life that had depended on slavery. It was incredible to hear the character regret losing the sound of his slaves. Later I learned the actor was British and died in the next few years after making this picture, while flying in a plane during WWII that was shot down by the Nazis, a plane that the Nazis thought might be carrying Winston Churchill.
I would say that the primary mistake of the Malaysians was allowing immigrants to come into their country in the first place. If they wanted to keep their culture and their genetic pool isolated and the same/unchanging, then the only way to do that is to prevent immigration. Of course, even that doesn't prevent change. Children seem to get ideas of their own and cultures change no matter what. It's a hopeless task trying to hold time or a genetic pool in place.
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