MPs apologize

The two uncouth MPs (Kinabatangan MP-Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin and Jasin MP-Datuk Mohd Said Yusof) have finally apologized to Batu Gajah MP Fong Po Kuan. About time, too.

May 13 book banned

Ministry seizes controversial May 13 book

May 15, 07 8:56pm Malaysiakini

The Internal Security Ministry confiscated 10 copies a controversial book with new claims on the May 13 racial riots from a major bookstore in the Midvalley shopping centre today.

According to the publishers of ‘May 13: Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riots of 1969', a team of ministry officers visited the MPH bookstore this afternoon.

The officers advised the popular bookstore not to sell the book as it may be banned.

According to a letter issued by the ministry officers to the bookstore, the books were confiscated from the shelves for suspicion of being an “undesirable publication” based on Section 7 of the Printing Press and Publications Act 1984.

The act empowers the minister to ban any publication which is “prejudicial to or likely to be prejudicial to public order, morality, security, the relationship with any foreign country or government, or which is likely to alarm public opinion”.

The book is penned by academic Dr Kua Kia Soong as a result of a three-month research at the Public Records Office in London to study records and declassified documents on the May 13, 1969 communal riots.

Based on official correspondences and intelligence reports by British officers, Kua argued that the riots were not random acts of communal violence but a coup d’etat attempt by a faction within Umno.

He asserts that the coup attempt against then premier Tunku Abdul Rahman was also backed by the police and army with the intention of forging a new Malay agenda.

Kua said official records show was evidence that portrayal of the event in history books were heavily distorted, which blamed the riots on opposition parties “infiltrated by communist insurgents”.

Senators want book banned

Official figures said the May 13 riots claimed 196 lives, 180 were wounded by firearms and 259 by other weapons, 9,143 persons were arrested out of whom 5,561 were charged in court, 6,000 persons rendered homeless, at least 211 vehicles and 753 buildings were destroyed or damaged.

Following this, Malaysian government embarked on an affirmative action policy, the New Economic Policy, to uplift the economic standards of the Malays, which objectives have been kept in place up to today.

Yesterday in the Dewan Negara, three senators have called for the book to be banned.

In response, Deputy Internal Security Minister Fu Ah Kiow today said that the ministry would study the contents of the book and take action soon, according to the evening edition of China Press today.

So, which is the truth? Were the May 13 riots caused by the opposition, or a faction in Umno? Using intelligence reports by the British is reasonable since it's a neutral source. Why ban the book though? Because it will create unrest? More support for the opposition? Disunity among Umno supporters? Banning the book suits the political purpose of the ruling party in Malaysia. So, are they trying to cover up the truth? Or are they trying to bury lies?

Most people will probably think that they're trying to cover up the truth. Yet, just because they ban a book does not necessarily mean that the book contains truth, which the government does not want to reveal. History is often a story told to people to place the storyteller in a positive light. So, the best way to obtain truth is to study the stories told by two people on opposing sides regarding the same event, and if possible, using an outside neutral source.

Of course, we're deprived of that academic privilege to research on the truth. Knowledge is power, indeed. And the government is doing its best to curtail that power from the hands of its people, whom it was created for.

sexist remarks by MPs

Now, they're going to bring up the issue of the sexist remarks made by MP Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin (BN – Kinabatangan) against MP Fong Po Kuan's (DAP – Batu Gajah) in the next Cabinet meeting: " Mana ada bocor, Batu Gajah pun tiap-tiap bulan bocor juga (Where is the leak? Batu Gajah leaks every month too)."

Of course, Jasin MP Datuk Mohd Said Yusof (who made the same insulting remark) refuses to apologize. According to him:

“Who says that it means the menstruation cycle? Bocor can be translated into different things.

“Besides the leaks in the Parliament building, it can also mean to urinate.

“Apologise to Fong Poh Kuan? What is there to apologise for? I did not mean to offend her or other women,” he said when contacted by the daily on Saturday.

He said he was referring to the ceiling leaks in the Parliament building.

Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil commented:

“I will bring this up to the Cabinet to see whether it is possible to amend the Standing Orders to include that language used in Parliament must be gender sensitive.

Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) is also leading a protest against the two BN reps tomorrow.

It is a very sad matter indeed to come to a point where formal rules need to be created just to ensure that people talk courteously. Even 1o-year-old kids are taught to speak respectfully, compared those two idiotic adult men. Wonder what their wives and mothers are thinking of them now.

transsexuals

A rather late comment. But I thought it is necessary.

Mak Nyahs: Rehabilitation attempts doomed to failure

I read with alarm the report in which an announcement was made that 'mak nyahs' (transsexuals) in Kuala Terengganu would possibly face forced attendance at a rehabilitation centre aimed at 'educating' them out of their feminine ways.

There is strong evidence that people such as these, whom psychologists would call transgendered or transsexual, are 'hard-wired' (very possibly biologically, from before birth) to develop the feelings and behaviour we see.

In Iran, for example, transgendered people are able to undergo sex reassignment surgery subsidised by the state, and subsequently change their legal gender status and marry. It seems it is not sufficient that Malaysia currently denies 'mak nyahs' all these rights. For now we see this unpleasant proposal to force their rehabilitation.

I don't know the success rate of so-called rehabilitation of transsexuals. Probably very low, I would imagine. And yes, biology does play a big part in the feelings and behaviors of transsexuals. However, I'd like to add that upbringing and the social environment play a very large role, as well. Same old argument of nature vs nurture, as in homosexuality. While homosexuality had been taken out of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) (due to political reasons), transsexuals are not considered normal as there is still Gender Identity Disorder in the DSM IV.

The DSM, btw, is the bible of clinical psychologists in diagnosing people.

Well, most psychologists are White and male. The DSM isn't perfect--riddled with gender, racial and cultural biases too. Most of the time, in my opinion, the DSM is used to further marginalize people who are different from the powerful majority. What's normal and abnormal? It's not so black and white, if you think about it. To what extent can you be different until you get labeled 'abnormal'?

If a man and a woman display similar symptoms, the woman will more likely get diagnosed as borderline, while the man will get diagnosed as antisocial In fact, right now, they're even considering obesity as a mental disorder. Ridiculous. Seems as if doctors have nothing else better to do than to put everyone into little neat categories to dissect and analyze.

book review: the Book of Lost Things

This book is an excellent book. It's a beautifully-written book about a boy, David, whose mother passes away. His father remarries and has a baby, whom David resents. As a lover of books, stories and tales, David soon takes refuge in his books. One night, he wanders into the sunken garden not far from his house, and finds himself in a strange land. Then, it reads like a fairytale--filled with beasts, knights, wolves; interwoven with classic tales of Snow White and the Little Red Riding Hood, albeit with a twist. In this book, Snow White is a fat, ugly woman who puts on white make-up, who is being taken care of by six communist dwarfs who are on a strike against capitalism. Little Riding Hood is not threatened by a nasty old wolf who eats her grandmother. Instead, in this story, Little Red Riding Hood chases after the wolf who tries fruitlessly to escape her. At last, he faces up to her after her relentless pursuits--and they make love and produce a breed called Loups (half-wolf, half-man). There's also a Huntress who captures animals and breeds them with little children, producing deer with the head of a girl, little boys with the heads of foxes, and things like that. After she releases them into the wild, she hunts them for fun.

These are just some of the things that capture your attention and force you to keep flipping the pages just to see what happens. Connolly has a captivating writing style--almost poetic in nature. Yet, he manages to evoke the story as a simple one being told from the lips of a little boy. For all its simplicity, there are many deeper lessons to be learned from the story.

The narrative is well-paced. The plot is believable. And the language is simply lovely. Reading this book will transport you back to a time when your innocence still remained, and you once feared hidden monsters underneath the bed. Read this book. It's well worth it.

interfaith conference in malaysia banned

And so it appears as if the ruling powers in Malaysia still think that we are like little children, who can't think rationally and decide the truth for ourselves.

Summit on Religious Harmony is Thrown into Discord by Malaysia
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has suffered a serious setback in his attempts to foster Muslim-Christian dialogue after the Malaysian Government banned an interfaith conference...Building Bridges conference, the sixth in a series intended to foster dialogue between the two religions...he was due to be chairing this week. It was cancelled with just two weeks notice.

This year’s seminar in Malaysia was to signal a breakthrough in Muslim-Christian relations in a region where they are particularly delicate.

However, it is understood that some influential Muslims believe that Christianity is “not a heavenly religion” and therefore they frown on interreligious dialogue.

Although the Malaysian Government allowed Dr Williams into the country to preach at the consecration of a new Anglican bishop, it said that it would not permit the interfaith dialogue to take place.

This is compounded with many other religious cases that are happening right now, such as the Marimuthu case, the Subashini case, the ongoing Lina Joy case. There is talk about setting up an Interfaith Commission, but if it is indeed to produce actual relief in the current tumultuous religious and legal atmosphere in Malaysia, changes need to be made in not just the legal structure, but also in the repressive culture here. Article 11 of the Federal Constitution is emphasized time and time again by various NGOs. Yet, there are many who try to shut the voices of those people, closing off the minds of other people.

It is as if they are afraid that we would immediately change the religion we have clung on to for years just by listening to the discourse of another religion. If the religion of these fanatics really is the 'true' religion, why should they be afraid that we would so readily believe the 'lies' of another religion? Neither Islam nor Christianity coerce belief. As long as religious fanatics try to shut up the voices of the believers of other religion in this multicultural society, religion will just be a tool of political power--no longer a personal philosophical system meant to produce good to oneself and everyone else.

religious freedom?

So much for equality in the eyes of the law.

A Distant Dream (Malaysiakini)

The country's laws are of no help in easing the tensions faced by people of different faiths. The imbroglio arising from the case of the late S Rayappan, S Shamala and M Moorthy has only gone to show that racial disparity and biasness has taken firm root in this country once standing tall on its composition of multi-racial.

The most recent case of involved R Subashini, a Hindu who was asked by the Court of Appeal to seek recourse through the Syariah Appeal Court. The Court of Appeal had dismissed Subashini's appeal to stop her Muslim-convert husband Muhammad Shafi Saravanan Abdullah from going to the syariah court to dissolve their civil marriage and to convert their young children to Islam.

The message that Syariah law is the supreme law of the nation has left the non-Muslims fuming with anger. So much so that Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Bernard Dompok made a statement that it was unreasonable for non-Muslims who married under non-Islamic laws to submit themselves to Syariah Court jurisdiction.

Dompok admitted it was a worrying trend that the civil courts were unwilling to take up disputable cases like that of R Subashini's. The cabinet minister was firm when he said that it was not logical to expect Subashini to seek recourse in the Syariah Court.

Dompok was one of the 10 ministers who submitted a memorandum to the prime minister early last year, asking for a review of laws and the Constitution so they would not infringe on the rights of minorities.

Except for Dompok, the others later withdrew the memorandum. This action in itself tells the public that apart from individuals like Dompok, the rest of the ministers who pulled back could not care less in fighting for the rights of the people. Malaysia Boleh? For the wrong reasons, always!

Karpal said he was perplexed with the Court of Appeal's move to ask the plaintiff S.Subashini, a Hindu, to seek recourse in the syariah court.

Karpal had also called on the Chief Justice to look seriously into the case of Lina Joy who converted from Islam to Christianity and is now seeking to restate her religious status in her identity card.

Bukit Mertajam MP Chong Eng and 11 other DAP MPs planned to send a letter to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to look into the case of Siti Fatimah, 29, who had been separated from her 15-month-old baby.

Siti was an Indian Muslim who was brought up as a Hindu by her grandmother and had never practised the teachings of Islam. After she married a Hindu man and gave birth to a baby girl, the Malacca Islamic Department ordered Siti to surrender her baby to the department. The baby was with the department while Siti had been sent to the Religious Rehabilitation Centre in Ulu Yam, Selangor by the Syariah Court for 100 days until April 18.

Then there was another case of 81-year-old Tang Siew Ying in Johor, which was highlighted by Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang. Tang died on April 2, 2007 but her family was not allowed to take her body from the Segamat Hospital in Johor as the hospital claimed Tang's identity card showed that she had a Muslim name which was Tang Siew Ying@Azizah Abdullah.

However, it seems that all efforts are in place to slowly but surely alienate non-Muslims from efforts to seek fairness from the civil courts on matters relating to Islam. The remarks by the Terengganu and Perlis muftis that non-Muslims should not be prejudiced against the Syariah Court because it is capable of justice serve as no consolation.

Likewise the insensitive comment made by the Syariah Lawyers Association that non-Muslims must learn to accept syariah law as the civil court had already given its verdict on the Subashini case.

Just as callous was the remark made by Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil that the civil court's decision in the Subashini case must stand. She said it did not matter which court such cases were heard in so long as justice was served.

Hopefully Shahrizat and the two muftis concerned will take the trouble to ponder over the statement made by Women's Aid Organisation.

"Irrespective of the syariah court's capability to dispense justice, the Federal Constitution explicitly stipulates that syariah courts can only exercise jurisdiction over persons who profess Islam and the judiciary must continue to uphold this guarantee," WAO had said.

It added that within Malaysia's constitutional framework, there was no option for non-Muslims to seek legal remedy in the syariah court, even if they wished to do so.

This is indeed worrying. There have been too many cases whereby Article 11 of the Federal Constitution, guaranteeing religious freedom, is ignored for the sake of propagating the power of the majority. Another recent case involves a Hindu woman who was forcibly removed from her husband and has been detained for at least 100 days on the charge of apostasy. The Islamic authorities and the woman's parents claim that she is a Muslim named Siti Fatimah. However, her husband Suresh Veerapan said she is not a practising Muslim, but a Hindu born to Muslim parents and that her name is Revathi Masoosai.

What has happened to the Federal Constitution? It is supposed to be the supreme law of the nation, governing every other rule. Islam may be the official religion in Malaysia, but that does not mean that Malaysia is an Islamic state. It is a secular state. Yet, it appears as if the government is turning more and more Islamic, ignoring the fundamental rights of all Malaysian citizens, as enshrined in the Constitution.

A special inter-religious commission may be set up to investigate such matters. However, unless it is given the power clarify the vague boundaries between the syariah court and the civil court, it will be useless. This is an arduous task which will inevitably raise the ire of religious fundamentalists. Ultimately, it really boils down to one's freedom to choose one's own religion, including Islam. The curtailing of this freedom has resulted in a lot of anger and heartache for everyone involved, as seen in the cases above. Unfortunately, it is highly unlikely that such freedom will be granted. Men have always used religion to gain power. Why should it stop now?