IF THIS IS THE VOICE OF YOUR YOUNGER GENERATION IN MALAYSIA , YOU WILL BE BLESSED.

Sharyn completed her Diploma in Advertising from Taylor's College, and then left motherland to pursue her BA degree majoring in Media Studies and Anthropology at Victoria University in Wellington, New…

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Sharyn completed her Diploma in Advertising from Taylor's College, and then left motherland to pursue her BA degree majoring in Media Studies and Anthropology at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand. While waiting for her graduation in May 08, she interned briefly at M&C Saatchi Wellington, a global advertising firm. Upon returning to Malaysia, jobless and relieved of rent payments, Sharyn stumbled upon Wild Asia through The Star which sparked her interest to learn more about nature and environmental causes. Armed with a communications background, Sharyn works on the Wild Asia website and editorial, translating geek terms into laymen language, easily accessed and understood by visitors regardless of their backgrounds, be it scientific, business, the arts or just plain interested. 
By The Tunku's Great Granddaughter 

This is a great piece. She has all the qualities of her great grandfather. Tunku has reason to be proud of her!

Tunku Abdul Rahman's great granddaughter 

Sharyn Lisa Shufiyan, 24, Conservationist 

Both my parents are Malay. My mum's heritage includes Chinese, Thai and Arab, while my dad is Minangkabau. Due to my skin colour, I am often mistaken for a Chinese.

I'm happy that I don't have the typical Malay look but I do get annoyed when people call me Ah Moi or ask me straight up "Are you Chinese or Malay"

Like, why does it matter? Before I used to answer "Malay" but now I'm trying to consciously answer Malaysian instead.

There's this incident from primary school that I remember till today. Someone told me that I will be called last during Judgement Day because I don't have a Muslim name. Of course, I was scared then but now that I'm older, I realise that a name is just a name. It doesn't define you as a good or bad person and there is definitely no such thing as a Muslim name. You can be named Rashid or Ali and still be a Christian.

I've heard of the 1Malaysia concept, but I think we don't need to be told to be united. We've come such a long way that it should already be embedded in our hearts and minds that we are united. Unfortunately, you can still see racial discrimination and polarisation. There is still this ethno-centric view that the Malays are the dominant group and their rights must be protected, and non Malays are forever the outsiders.

For the concept to succeed, I think the government should stop with the race politics. It's tiring, really. We grew up with application forms asking us to tick our race. We should stop painting a negative image of the other races, stop thinking about 'us' and 'them' and focus on 'we', 'our' and 'Malaysians'.

No one should be made uncomfortable in their own home. A dear Chinese friend of mine said to me once, "I don't feel patriotic because I am not made to feel like Malaysia is my home, and I don't feel an affinity to China because I have never lived there.

I know some baby Nyonya friends who can trace their lineage back hundreds of years. I'm a fourth generation Malaysian. If I am Bumiputra, why can't they be, too? Clearly I have issues with the term.

I think the main reason why we still can't achieve total unity is because of this 'Malay rights' concept. I'd rather 'Malay rights' be replaced by human rights. So unless we get rid of this Bumiputra status, or reform our views and policies on rights, we will never achieve unity.

For my merdeka wish, I'd like for Malaysians to have more voice, to be respected and heard. I wish that the government would uphold the true essence of parliamentary democracy. I wish for the people to no longer fear and discriminate against each other, to see that we are one and the same.

I wish that Malaysia would truly live up to the tourism spin of Malaysia truly Asia. Malaysians to lead - whatever their ethnic background. Only ONE NATIONALITY MALAYSIAN. No Malays, No Chinese, No Indians - ONLY MALAYSIANS. Choose whatever religion one is comfortable with.


MERDEKA
MERDEKA
MERDEKA

The struggle for Merdeka: what the Malaysian history books do not tell us

Yesterday, I wrote an article called ‘Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!’ regarding the Selangor Royal Family’s opposition to British colonial rule. Today, I want to publish chapter 34 of the book ‘Malay Nationalism Before Umno: The Memoirs of Mustapha Hussain’ to show that Umno was not involved in the early moves to gain Merdeka for Malaya.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Some of you may not want to read the entire chapter of eight pages (I know Malaysians malas membaca). So allow me to summarise the main points of this chapter.

1. The fight for Merdeka in 1946 was not spearheaded by Umno (as the Malaysian history books claim). It was spearheaded by the All-Malayan Council of Joint Action (AMCJA). The AMCJA was a leftist group (what Umno would call Communist).

2. This was the second attempt to gain Merdeka. The first was in 1945 during the Japanese occupation of Malaya. In fact, Japan had already agreed to Merdeka, which was supposed to have been declared on 17 August 1945. However, Japan surrendered on 15 August 1945 (just two days before Merdeka) after the bombing of Hiroshima followed by Nagakasi. If the Americans had delayed the bombing just a few weeks, Malaya would have seen Merdeka on 15 August 1945 instead of 31 August 1957.

3. The 1945 and 1946 moves to gain Merdeka was made by a multi-racial group amongst who were nationalists, religionists and communists. It was not an all-Malay group. And Umno was certainly not in the group. Umno did not talk about Merdeka until about 10 years later.

So that is story of the struggle for Merdeka and don’t let Umno tell you otherwise. And take special note that all the races, not just the Malays, participated in the fight for Merdeka.

Of course, at that time, the British would not consider Merdeka because then Malaya would have become a socialist state (with a Constitutional Monarchy). Instead, the British arrested those calling for Merdeka. The British then promoted and backed Umno, a party of British-trained Malays, to ensure that post-Merdeka Malaya would remain pro-British.

Photos!! Police insult the Sultan of Perak by throwing down the petition to His Highness and show utter disregard for the wishes of the rakyat..

 
Senior Hindraf Activist Capt Bala

	The Police report lodged by Uthayakumar on the insult to the Sultan and the assault on Uthayakumar

The  people’s petiton to the Sultan of Perak with all the signatures thrown down by the police. A serious insult to the Sultan of Perak and utter disrespect for the people’s petition. 





































The police bullies

Hindraf activists along with victims of forced conversion to Islam.
The Valiant HINDRAF Activists

Police Insult DYMM Sultan Perak

Police arrest man over religious conversion memorandum to Perak Sultan

By CHAN LI LEEN

IPOH: A group claiming to be members of the Human Rights Party Malaysia failed on Sunday to hand over a memorandum seeking Sultan of Perak Sultan Azlan Shah’s intervention in issues pertaining to religious conversion.

Instead, the group was involved in a brief standoff with the police at the Impiana Hotel car park, just 300m away from Istana Kinta, resulting in one of them being arrested.

The party’s national information chief S. Jayathas said party members had planned to walk to the palace from its headquarters in First Garden but was advised against doing so by the police.

He said they were told that only one vehicle with four people would be allowed into the palace.

A smaller group led by pro-tem secretary-general P. Uthayakumar were already waiting at the hotel car park.

While ferrying Jayathas and one of three Muslim convert women who were supposed to hand over the memorandum to the palace, one member was dragged away in handcuffs after he defied orders to stop his vehicle.

The man, 53-year-old retired army sergeant M. Balakrishnan was also alleged to have hurled profanities against policemen when they tried to take away his car keys.

An argument ensued between the group’s leaders and the police over how many people would be allowed to enter the palace ground.

Thirty minutes later Ramesh and Uthayakumar announced that none of them would go to the palace if only four people were allowed in.

They instead left the memorandum on the bonnet of a police car after the police refused to hand it over to the palace on their behalf.

The group, together with Muslim converts S. Banggarma and Rajina Mohd Zaini@Krishnan, dispersed at about noon.

They then headed to the Ipoh district police headquarters to lodge a report against the police for alleged aggression and misuse of power.

Acting Ipoh OCPD Supt Ibrahim Abu Bakar said the group had never intended to hand over the memorandum and was merely seeking publicity.

“The police had given them more than an hour to hand it over and yet they came up with excuses after excuses not to.

“We have been very accommodating and patient,” he said, adding that the police would study the memorandum, which was left behind, but was unsure if it would be handed over to the palace after that.

HINDRAF & HRP: Ethnic cleansing of Bukit Jalil esatate

Washington Post article on Hindraf and Malaysian Hindus persecuted

Malaysia – Is it moderate, and is it modern?

By Ramesh N. Rao  
Malaysia has been seen as a beacon of modernity and a country promoting and practicing moderate Islam. In a recent "On Faith" essay, Prof. Katherine Marshall (Malaysia’s Cool Imam) offers Malaysia as a good example for South Africa to follow regarding the legacy of racial inequality, and argues that the "lively debates about cool imams, how to curb child marriage, and what should be taught in schools" are "healthy symptoms of a complex society confronting the complicated realities of racial and religious identities in modern times."

Malaysia’s minorities, she claims, are largely Chinese and Indian, and that they are mostly Buddhists and Christians. But it is the Chinese (23 percent) who are mostly Christian and Buddhist, and the Indian minority (7 percent) is mostly Hindu. Given the size of the Chinese minority, the Malay state has made allowances for their inclusion and some influence in the affairs of the country, though the Chinese minority too is worried about the increasing and radical Islamization of the country. But the Hindu minority has suffered the brunt of Malaysia’s discriminatory policies and Islamic decrees.

The Hindu American Foundation, in its annual Human Rights Reports, has carefully documented the discrimination against Hindus. A few examples will suffice.
On August 4, 2010 Judicial Commissioner Yaakob Sam pronounced that 28 year-old Banggarma, a Hindu mother, was is officially a "Muslim" despite her plea that she is a Hindu. According to the judge, the document that she was converted to Islam, at the age of eight, and while in an orphanage is enough to prove that she is a Muslim! How could Banggarma, as an abandoned eight-year old in an orphanage, be considered competent to have made such a decision voluntarily?

On August 15, 2010, Waytha Murthy, President of Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF), wrote in a memo to the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh requesting 2,237 full scholarships and seats in universities in India for Malaysian-Indian students segregated and denied scholarships, student loans, and refused seats in colleges and universities by the Malaysian Government.

Hindus, who remained largely silent until 2007, began to challenge the government’s discriminatory practices. On November 25, 2007, nearly 10,000 Hindus, led by HINDRAF leaders, organized a peaceful rally to protest the discriminatory policies pursued by the Malaysian government. The Malay authorities broke up the rally using tear gas and chemical-laced water under the pretext of maintaining national security. Following the event, the Malaysian government began to crack down on the Indian and Hindu communities, and hundreds of Hindus, including five HINDRAF leaders, were arbitrarily detained and arrested for asserting their basic democratic rights.

Malaysia has a parallel court system — secular courts for non-Muslims, and Sharia courts for Muslims. Hindus and other minorities have recently been forced to deal with the Islamic courts where they have faced severe disadvantages. In one case, a Hindu mother, Subashini Rajasingam, lost an appeal to prevent her husband, a recent Muslim convert, from changing their four-year-old son’s religion to Islam. The highest court in Malaysia subsequently affirmed the ruling of a lower federal court, granting the Muslim husband a right to use the Islamic Sharia courts to seek a divorce and also upheld his right to convert their child to Islam without the mother’s consent.

Islam has permeated all aspects of Malaysian society and towards the end of 2008, the National Fatwa Council, Malaysia’s top Islamic body, issued a fatwa (edict) banning the practice of yoga for Muslims. The council ruled that: "yoga involves not just physical exercise but also includes Hindu spiritual elements, chanting and worship," effectively denying Muslims the freedom of religion.

There are 23,000 Hindu temples and shrines in Malaysia, but the government has refused to grant them land or record their land holdings as done for Islamic places of worship. Hundreds of Hindu temples have been demolished, and some relocated near garbage dumps and sewage tanks.

There are anywhere between 150,000 to 200,000 Malaysians of Indian origin without birth certificates and/or identity documents. Darshini, an eleven-year-old girl, for instance, was denied her birth certificate because her mother had not registered her birth within the required 42 days, as the father, a crane operator, was away working in Penang. It is reported that the Malaysian authorities rejected her application so many times that she stopped trying. The estimated 200,000 third, fourth and fifth generation Malaysian-born Indians have been denied Malaysian citizenship and are currently stateless. The government has neglected or willfully ignored the status of these people as contrasted with the way Muslim immigrants are treated from neighboring Indonesia and the Philippines who are granted immediate citizenship.

Finally, in one of the worst incidents reported worldwide, in late August 2009 Malay Muslims protested the relocation of a Hindu temple to their locality from another in Shah Alam by kicking and spitting on the head of a cow (cows are considered sacred and are revered by Hindus) they had just slaughtered. When HINDRAF leaders held a peaceful candle light vigil in protest, sixteen of them, including their legal adviser were arrested.

Would we still advocate that South Africa follow Malaysia’s example?

Ramesh N. Rao is the Human Rights Coordinator for the Hindu American Foundation, and Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication Studies and Theatre, Longwood University.

Polis Raja Di Malay-sia up to their police murder again

(See The Star 27/8/10 at page N 36)

'Allot RM53 billion to assist Indians in next budget'

By Athi Shankar - Free Malaysia Today

GEORGE TOWN: The Human Rights Party Malaysia (HRP) wants the federal government to set aside RM53 billion in next year's budget for the socio-economic development of the Indian working class community.

Heeding to the public call by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to share ideas with him for Budget 2011, HRP pro-tem secretary-general P Uthayakumar has written in requesting the country's chief executive to allocate the fund.

Although the demand would raise eyebrows in the Putrajaya, Uthayakumar claimed the multi-billion ringgit budget request for the Indian poor was actually a bargain deal.

“The RM53 billion proposal is merely to undo all the injustices done to Malaysian Indians for past 53 years,” he told FMT.

He said HRP had only proposed 'a mere billion ringgit retribution for a year' of injustices and racial discrimination carried out by the Umno government to marginalise, sideline and isolate Indians from the country's mainstream political and socio-economic development.

He said due to Umno's half-century racist programme, the Indian working class were badly hit in both public and private sectors.

He pointed out that majority of Malaysian Indians were poor and comparatively, in real terms, were the poorest community in Malaysia.

He claimed Indians were even poorer than the poor Orang Asli, Malay, Kadazan and Iban, who have their traditional villages and ancestral lands as their “social safety net”.

He pointed out that even the Chinese poor have their Chinese new villages as their social safety net.

“The Indians don't have this . . . even if they were to have it, it would be destroyed,” he said.

He recalled that only last year Penang Indians lost their last traditional village on the island - Kampung Buah Pala, courtesy of the Pakatan Rakyat government.
“Due to the racist policy, Malaysian-born Indians have been systematically excluded and segregated from the national mainstream development,” said Uthayakumar, who is also the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) legal advisor.

20-point demand

HRP had also enlisted a 20-point demand for the federal government to fulfil in a year's time for the betterment of the Malaysian Indian community.

1. Grant each of the 450,000 hardcore Indian poor in the country the 10-acre land ownership that had been distributed to some 442,000 poor Malays under the Felda, Felcra and Risda schemes.

2. Grant land titles to all Hindu temples, burial grounds and crematoriums, Tamil schools and Indian settlements to execute permanent solution to this long running problem.

3. All Tamil schools must be converted to fully financially aided government schools by December 2011 on par with national schools.

4. The 12,650 places in the 39 MRSMs, fully residential schools and 20 elite public colleges such as MCKK, Tengku Kursiah, Cyberjaya College to be opened to all deserving poor Indian students. And, these students shall never be coerced into involuntary and forced conversion to Islam under any circumstances.

5. Grant all poor Indian students, who had scored 5A1s and above, JPA, Mara, Petronas, Yayasan Negeri,  GLC Yayasan, TNB, TM scholarships.

6. Grant to all other poor Indian students, PTPTN loans for them to pursue their ambitions even in fields of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, bio-medicine at local private and overseas universities and institutions of higher learning.

7. No poor Indian student to be denied or deprived of higher education, and the sky should be their limit as is the case for any Malay Muslim student.

8. A minimum monthly wage for all Malaysians across all sectors be capped at RM1,300.00 per month.

9. Socso be made the poor man’s insurance scheme and be given round-the-clock insurance coverage, unlike the current coverage of only accidental death and disability at, to and from work.  The minimum Socso pension should be capped at RM750, which is the marker for poverty in Malaysia.

10. Scrap metal, car wash, petty trading, stall and food stall, lorry, taxi, buses, tourist vans and other similar operational licences and bank loans be granted to all deserving poor Indians.

Participation in policy planning meetings

11. Licences, permits, direct projects, contracts, bank loans and business opportunities be granted to all deserving Indians craving but denied upward mobility opportunities.

12. Indians shall not be segregated from serving in the Malay-Muslim controlled civil service and GLC-owned banks and corporations.

13. Racial discrimination shall not be practised in career growth, salary increment or top civil service jobs such as secretary-generals, director-generals, managers and officers.

14. Legislation shall be passed and enforced strictly to ensure Indians are not discriminated in the Malaysia Chinese-controlled private sector.

15. A specific Act shall be passed to protect Malaysian Indians, to secure and safeguard the interests of the poor, defenceless and politically powerless ethnic Indian community.

16. The 209 Giat Mara colleges, vocational and technical schools and colleges, and all government funded and aided skills training institutions should be fully open and available to every poor Indian.

17. Full legal aid for all criminal cases beginning from remand proceedings onwards for all Malaysians earning RM5,000.00 and below.

18. Affordable three bedrooms with a minimum of 1,000 sq-ft state funded homes at nominal rentals of RM50 per month or purchase price of RM25,000 made available to all poor Indians. Government loans must be ever available for those blacklisted, those above 55 years of age or those rejected of bank loans. This is to avoid cases such as 21 Indians, including a three-month-old baby, living in a low cost apartment, as reported in the media last month.

19. The estimated stateless 150,000 Indian children and their 300,000 Indian parents, who have been denied birth certificates and identity cards, are issued those documents by end of December 2011.

20. All Indian-based welfare homes for orphans, senior citizens, single mothers and disable persons are granted full annual financial funds and facilities.

Uthayakumar also offered Hindraf and HRP participation in the Economic Planning Unit (EPU), Implementation and Co-ordination Unit (ICU) and the Central Coordinating Unit (CCU) to help the government implement all the demands.

“This would effect permanent solutions to pressing and critical daily problems faced by Indian poor,” he said

Malay muslims protest in front of Hindu temple. UMNO police allows it. UMNO A.G does not prosecute. Imagine if other way round.

(See SH 7/8/10 at page S25).
If only the PKR led Selangor State government had granted land to all Hindu temples  in one go as had previously been done by UMNO for all mosques and suraus, there would be no room for this.
P. Uthayakumar

HRP's 20-point plan to improve Indians' lot

(Malaysiakini) The Human Rights Party Malaysia (HRP) has responded to Premier Najib Abdul Razak's request for feedback from the public for the 2011 Budget.

It yesterday submitted a 20-point proposal for the betterment of the Indian community in the country to Najib, who is also the finance minister.

HRP pro-tem secretary-general P Uthayakumar made available a copy to Malaysiakini today.

It proposes a budget of RM53 billion - based on an allocation of RM1 billion to "undo each year of injustice suffered by the Indian community for the past 53 years".

Uthayakumar's argument is that the Malaysian Indian poor are the poorest community in Malaysia - even poorer than the Orang Asli, Malay, Kadazan and Iban, who all have their traditional villages and ancestral land as their social safety net, unlike the Indian poor.

HRP's proposal is as follows:

1) Grant the estimated 450,000 hardcore poor Indians 10 acres of land each in a scheme similar to the Felda, Felcra and Risda land ownership schemes that 442,000 poor Malays have benefited from.

2) Grant land titles to all Hindu temples, Hindu cemeteries, Tamil schools and Indian settlements as a permanent solution.

3) All Tamil schools must be converted to fully financially aided government schools by December 2011 to be on par with other Malay, Islamic or Chinese schools.

4) The 12,650 places in the 39 MRSM and fully residential schools and in the 20 elite public schools like MRSM, MCKK, Tunku Kurshiah College, Cyberjaya College (NST July 9, 2010) to be open to all, especially deserving poor Indian students.

5) Grant scholarships from JPA, Mara, Petronas, Yayasan Negeris, GLC Yayasan, TNB, TM, etc to all, especially the poor Indian students who had scored 5A1s and above.
6) For all others, especially poor Indian students, PTPTN loans are to be granted to pursue their ambitions, to do medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, bio-medicine etc at local private and overseas universities and institutions of higher learning.

7) In short no poor Indian student should be denied higher education.

8) A minimum monthly wage for all Malaysians at RM1,300 per month.

9) That Socso be made the poor man's insurance scheme and 24-hour insurance coverage be granted, unlike the present accidental death and disability coverage only at work or going to and from work.

10) The minimum Socso pension should be RM750 which is the marker for poverty in Malaysia.

11) Licences and bank loans be granted to all, especially deserving poor Indians for businesses like scrap-metal, car washing, petty trading, and the operation of stalls and food stalls, lorries, taxis, buses, tourist vans etc.

12) Licences, permits, direct projects and contracts and bank loans and business opportunities be granted to all deserving Indians.

13) There should be no impediments for Indians to serve in the Malay-controlled civil service and GLCs, banks and corporations. And there shall be no race-based discrimination in promotions, salary increments, or top civil service jobs like secretaries-general, directors-general, directors, managers, officers etc.

14) Similarly the Indians should not be discriminated against in the Malaysian Chinese-controlled private sector.

15) A 'Protection of poor Malaysian Indians' Act to be passed to secure the interests of the ethnic Indian minority community.

16) The 209 Giat Mara colleges, vocational and technical schools and all government funded and aided skills training institutions should be fully open and made available to every poor Indian.

17) Full legal aid for all criminal cases beginning from remand proceedings onwards for all Malaysians earning RM5,000 and below.

18) Affordable three-bedroom state-funded homes with a minimum of 1,000 sq feet at nominal rentals of RM50.00 per month, or available to be purchased at RM25,000. Government loans to be provided for those blacklisted, or above 55 years old or who cannot get bank loans, for every poor Indian.

19) The estimated 150,000 Indian children being denied birth certificates and their parents denied identity cards and rendered stateless; to get their documents on or before December 2011.

20) All Indian-based welfare homes, orphanages and old folks' homes to be granted full financial assistance and facilities.

"To this effect Hindraf and HRP would like to participate in the Economic Planning Unit's (EPU) Implementation and Co-ordination Unit (ICU) and the Central Coordinating Unit (CCU) to help the government implement the above," suggested Uthayakumar.

Racist UMNO Headmistress not sacked. Hindraf /HRP Johor lodges police report.

Students fear their school exam marks may be affected because of retaliation by the almost 100% Malay muslim school teachers.
(See police report Kulai 0082/6/10 dated 21/8/10 below)
S. Jayathas