Helen Ang
Jun 17, 10
2:45pm
This photograph (below, right) of the PAS muktamar last weekend shows Malay men stepping on the Star of David. Now how would you feel if it were the cross or crescent? The event organizer deliberately etched the religious symbol of Judaism on the floor so that those present could not avoid trampling on it.
Two weeks ago at an anti-Israel protest, the demonstrators chanted 'Allahu akhbar' and 'Khaibar ya Yahud' (the Arabian Jews were subjugated when Khaibar was conquered), marching from Kampung Baru. Sidenote: Prime real estate slated for development, Kg Baru will remain "100 percent bumiputera" as its landowners strongly object to non-Malays investing in this area located in the heart of KL.
Another popular rally cry by the Malays is 'Yahudi laknatullah' or accursed Jews. Then there was that brilliant idea of a nationwide 'Teach children to hate Israel' campaign in schools, mooted by Hishamuddin Hussein back when he was education minister.
If you read Malay media and Malay blogosphere, you'd be acquainted with the fevered pitch of race hate exhibited against Jews.
Yet even in English, media coverage is lopsidedly anti-Israel. On June 7 alone, The Star online carried nine articles that made it proudly deserving of the tagline 'The Palestinian People's Paper'. A day earlier on June 6, it published not one, not two but three! opinion-editorials excoriating the Jewish state – I wrote about that piece of top brass initiative in my CPI article 'Umno heroes and Star spear Israel'.
The frenzy of race hate in cyberspace is patent each time the Israeli-Palestinian conflict flares up and Malaysian blogs start bashing Israel. "MM, most of the time, you only posted international news about Gaza and Palestinians here, very few others. I bet your whole world spin around that tiny land?" one reader calling himself 'Joseph' wrote in Marina Mahathir's blog last Dec 30, directing his comment at her.
However the hatred manifested is not confined to anti-Jewish sentiments. In some of the Malay-ultra blogs, expressions of hate are targeted at Chinese and Indians. The common denominator of these blogs is that they all have Che Det (Mahathir Mohamad's blog) on their blogroll.
'Mahathiracism' speech
The May 13 death toll was predominantly Chinese, hacked to pieces. Malays were the aggressors armed with parangs.
It is a monumental task to untangle distortion about the massacre because the ketuanan melayu hegemony tightly controls official storylines permitted public airing. However, through studying the coverage of Gaza as a present-day comparison, we can get an inkling of the one-sidedness on what content the Malaysian public is encouraged or allowed access to.
It is fair to assume that a lot of information has been obscured, withheld or doctored, be it about Israel, Palestine or May 13.
In such a vacuum and hedging on our absence of knowledge, Mahathir Mohamad (left) in his 'Gertak' speech attempted to turn the Malays into May 13 victims – instead of the perpetrators that they were – by calling the bloodletting a "class war".
It is not to say that the economics of class struggle as well as the politics of divide-and-rule did not play a part in precipitating the outbreak of racial violence.
What I'm saying is Mahathir's motives are suspect since he has never been a socialist icon like Ahmad Boestamam, Pak Sako and the like. His posturing now as a champion of the working class rings hollow, especially when Umno was led by the elites just as its Alliance partner MCA had the reputation as a towkay party.
A major factor for the mass killings to have happened – really, it takes the utmost extremism for a man, or a mob to beat a victim till he bleeds to death – is that the Chinese were nothing short of hated by the Kg Baru amoks.
And lately, loathing again has been fanned after the opposition made great strides in the 2008 general election, similar to May 13 occurring after opposition gains in the 1969 GE.
This suspicion of minorities is egged on by stereotyping. Mahathir wrote in 1970's 'Malay Dilemma': "The Jews, for example, are not merely hook-nosed but understand money instinctively. … And the Chinese are not just almond-eyed people, but are also inherently good businessmen."
His keynote address in Terengganu on Monday is a facsimile of the Dilemma screed. After 40 years, Mahathir is still repeating his sly insinuation that Chinese, as a race and collective, were filthy rich in the 1960s.
While the above is disingenuous, it becomes quite dangerous for him to be trotting out accusations that Chinese today are still robbing the riches of Tanah Melayu. The gist of Mahathir's continual agitprop bodes ill for peace and stability, particularly if Malaysia were to go bankrupt in a few years and prompting social unrest.
'Gertak' is to intimidate
The ketuanan melayu demagoguery conveniently ignores the fact that prior to 1969, British suppression of the communist insurgency saw 1.2 million Chinese resettled in more than 500 New Villages which were little more than shantytowns fenced behind barbed wire.
How could those one million-plus Chinese villagers in the peninsula – out of a population totalling only 10.5 million in 1969 including Sabah and Sarawak – be considered prosperous in such huge numbers as to provoke the 'rich Chinese-poor Malay' class war that Mahathir invokes?
Lest it be forgotten, the Chinese came to this land as coolies. The dictionary does not define 'coolie' as millionaire. A great number of the community remained the underclass eking out a meagre living.
But even before the ex-premier's devotees turned up at the stadium for their dose of vintage 'Mahathiracism', the Gertak gathering already started from a lie. Its organizer Razali Idris claimed he chose the acronym Gertak meaning 'bridge' [sic] for his group Gerakan Kebangkitan Rakyat because it "embodied all that they stood for", i.e. "to connect" the races and foster harmony.
Oi! Jangan nak tipu lah. In the Terengganu dialect, bridge is 'getok'. The pronunciation of 'getok' is quite distinguishable from 'gertak'. And Gertak itself was a mono-racial rally scheduled for May 13 – a date picked by Mahathir himself.
The intent to intimidate was clear from the outset, and framing the event as 'Malay uprising' does not leave room for doubt. The identical 'Melayu bangkit' battlecry was a front-page banner headline not too long ago in Utusan Malaysia, and unmistakably to incite.
Everyone bumi except Chinese
At the Gertak occasion also, Mahathir as head of the Perdana Global Peace Foundation was presented the proceeds from the Fly2Gaza drive, totalling more than RM120,000. Interesting isn't it, that the Malay supremacist showboating just had to tie in with the Malaysian Muslims' pet cause?
The Kuala Terengganu (KT) venue of Gertak (right) may have something to do with the lukewarm response the event received.
Terengganu is 95 percent Malay in population. There were no May 13 tensions there or in its East Coast cousin Kelantan which has a similar demographic. May 13 happened not in the Malay heartland but in Kuala Lumpur where the populace was racially half-half.
By the same token, the Kg Medan racial clash would not have happened in KT or Kota Bharu because the minorities there are not significant enough to be a threat or to cause friction. This could be the reason why Mahathir when in Terengganu (that has only 2.6% Chinese) failed to draw the crowd the organisers wanted.
Adding to that, the Gertak gathering was held in the morning of a working day during World Cup season – which football fans have waited four years for. The turnout might be a different story another time, another place though … say, in Kg Baru.
The institutional basis of this country that makes it almost a point of honour to discriminate against Chinese and Indians rests on racism, period.
Make no bones about this selectivity in discrimination as Malaysians of Siamese and Portuguese descent are inexplicably categorized bumiputera, although Article 153 of the federal constitution denotes the 'special position' as referring to Malays and natives of Sabah and Sarawak.
'Bumiputera' is a coined word facilitating the suppression of Chinese and Indians. I'm just surprised that some women rights sub-committee from political groups like Kimma (comprising wannabe princes and princesses of the soil) has not yet campaigned for the use of 'bumiputeri'.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Will minorities be made increasingly syariah-compliant
Helen Ang
Friday, 28 May 2010 09:45
Today is Wesak.
Last week the country was told about a Chinese Muslim Faizal Wong Abdullah who wanted to return to Buddhism – a religion of depleting numbers in Malaysia.
Faizal Wong had filed an application in March to renounce Islam. It’s not surprising though that Wong had converted as the proselytization drive is intense.
Being a civil servant, Wong was in a predominantly Malay-Muslim working environment. Looking at the organization chart of RTM (below), as one example of a state agency, we can get an idea of the racial composition in the civil service.
Out of the 40 top people in RTM, only one is of Chinese ethnicity and he is Rashid Woon Abdullah.
Here’s another example of the same phenomenon. “On the University of Malaya’s ‘Expert Page’ which details the researchers and thereby essentially the academic staff of the university, of 1,240 persons listed, only 20 Chinese names are included, eight of whom also have Islamic names” – found Dr Geoff Wade in his Asia Research Institute paper ‘The Origins and Evolution of Ethnocracy in Malaysia’.
The substantial number of converts to Islam could be due to peer influence as in Faizal Wong’s case, the many active missionary bodies, the Islamization of our public sphere and space, the Islamic programmes constantly broadcast in Mandarin and Tamil by RTM, or even the shenanigans of our National Registration Department.
Rigorously applying syariah
An academic studying political Islam in Southeast Asia and Malaysia, Prof. Gordon P. Means, observed that “[b]y 1970, nearly all the state governments had revised their Islamic laws to provide for more vigorous enforcement of Syariah law with increased penalties for violations in matters of personal behaviour and public deportment”.1
Nowadays the enforcement of Islamic law has become comparatively stricter still.
Apart from model Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno whose caning sentence for drinking beer was commuted after intercession by the Pahang sultan, another Malay was arrested for the same offence last month. The Pahang Syariah Court sentenced cook Mohamad Sabri Zulkepli to a year’s jail and six strokes of the cane for imbibing liquor in a mall.
But should the enforcement of Islamic mores concern Malaysians of other faiths as well?
Under Section 19 (2) of the Syariah Criminal Offences (Federal Territories) Act, those found guilty of abetting the sale of alcohol can face a jail term of three years and/or a RM5,000 fine. It is unclear what happens presently if the beer seller or pub owner is a non-Muslim.
It is rumoured that the federal authorities may do something to streamline our civil and Islamic laws that are mired in a seeming overlap of jurisdictions. In the event of which, the lacuna indicated above – where a Muslim is punished and a non-Muslim escapes charge – might possibly be addressed during the procedure.
The late Zaitun Mohamed Kasim, a civil society activist, commented: “In addition to [conversion and child custody cases], notions of proper gender/sexual/moral conduct that are founded on orthodox notions of Islamic understanding’ have increasingly become applied to Malaysia’s significant non-Muslim minorities”.2
Zaitun told a symposium in 2007, “To give but two examples of this: non-Muslim couples have been charged under municipal laws for holding hands in public. In one prominent case, an elderly married American couple, who were holidaying in [Langkawi] Malaysia, were asked in their hotel room to demonstrate to Malaysian Islamic authorities that they were married.”
Fatwas can become law
Another area of concern is how the issuance of fatwa has been turned into a state matter and granted “the exceptional status” as a source of lawmaking.
There is no requirement for religious edicts to be tabled in Parliament or the state legislature for approval. All it needs is for a fatwa to be gazetted, and then for it to become law, is that it is approved by the state Islamic religious council and the sultan.
“This is not a new development as the state authorities had fatwa-making powers under most of the State Administration of Islamic Law Enactments that have been in force for several decades,” noted Prof. Mohammad Kamali Hashim.3
“The issue took a new turn, however, during the 1990s when legislation on fatwa went a step further to declare it an offence for ‘any person who gives, propagates or disseminates any opinion contrary to any fatwa’ in force,” Prof. Kamali further wrote.
Although he cited Section 9 of the Syariah Criminal Offences Enactment of Johor, this legislation has equivalent provisions in most of the other states, c.f. Article 9 on “contempt and defiance of religious authorities” under the Syariah Criminal Offences (Federal Territories) Act 1997 .
Do recall that in November 2008, the National Fatwa Council issued a prohibition against yoga if the practice included haram chanting – an element of Hindu worship. A month earlier in October, the council also issued a fatwa against pengkid (tomboys).
[Sidenote: In 2007, a transsexual Ayu was detained by officials from Malacca’s Islamic Religious Affairs Department (JAIM) for committing the offence of “men dressing up as women in public space” under Section 72 of the Malacca Syariah Offences Enactment.]
If the prohibition against yoga is gazetted, then it will become a religious law on the statute book and carrying the corresponding penalties. Some of the states have indicated that they are considering or in the process of gazetting it.
One wonders too if the case for yoga is analogous to that for beer, i.e. if the yoga instructor or proprietor of the health centre/gym is a non-Muslim, would he nonetheless be punished for aiding and abetting the offence?
Apostasy is a serious crime
State Muslim laws in Malaysia allow for deviationism and apostasy to be prosecuted in court with criminal sanctions of a maximum of three years or a fine up to RM5,000 or whipping up to six strokes or a combination of these.
There are also laws in the states under various articles providing for rehabilitation to restore the faith of lapsed Muslims. Or those that the state declares to be Muslim like the young Indian woman M. Revathi who became a cause celebre not too long ago.
An Ayah Pin follower Kamariah Ali was convicted on charges of apostasy under Section 7 of the Syariah Criminal Offence Enactment (Takzir) Terengganu and sentenced to a jail term of two years in March 2008.
Hudud laws passed in Terengganu and Kelantan prescribe death for apostasy, although they have thus far never been implemented. 4
Former International Islamic University law lecturer Salbiah Ahmad asks: “A question may be posed to our High Court in adjudicating freedoms under the constitution: should Article 11 privilege the Sunni school or recognize the reality of diversity of beliefs and practices among Malaysians who still choose to be called Muslims”? 5
Adding another perspective, Syed Husin Ali cites clause (4) of the same Article 11 to point out that “The constitution does not allow others to induce Malays to leave Islam; the consequences are serious when a Malay leaves his religion, even of his own volition”.6
The federal constitution was promulgated in 1957 when Muslims were synonymous with Malays. The situation has since then changed significantly where Muslims are not only Malays but are to be found among Indians, Orang Asli, the natives of Sabah and Sarawak and Chinese too.
So now Faizal Wong is caught in a predicament of his own making; he embraced Islam out of choice as a mature adult.
For an oblique comparison, Buddhists are predominantly if not almost all Chinese in the country, although all Chinese need not necessarily be Buddhist. And even those Chinese here who style themselves Buddhists might be more accurately said to be practicing some mix of Taoism, Confucianism, ancestral worship and polytheism.
There is no such eclecticism for the Malay – at least not in the eyes of the religious authorities – despite what Salbiah may say on actual diversity of beliefs and practices among those who nominally call themselves Muslims.
Only 1Islam in M’sia
The state through a slew of laws strives to make Malays monolithic in faith instead. Article 160 of the Federal Constitution defines ‘Malay’ as a person who professes Islam – a stipulation which technically renders ‘un-Malay’ a person such as Lina Joy.
Malaysia follows the Shafii mazhab of Sunni Islam – a school predominant in Indonesia, Brunei, and in Southeast Asia generally. On the other hand, Shi’ite Islam is prohibited in the country, and its followers have been detained under ISA in the past. 7
State Islamic law enactments adhere to Sunni jurisprudence and the Department of Islamic Development (Jakim) is among the federal agencies responsible for its implementation.
Jakim enforces faith (akidah) conceptualized along the principles of ahli Sunnah wal Jamaah. Other beliefs outside the one officially sanctioned are proscribed, e.g., the Al-Arqam movement is banned. The Ahmadiyah community in Selangor numbering some 2,000 individuals is also on the Jakim blacklist as a deviant organization or teaching.8
In 2002, Jakim published a pamphlet‘Malaysia adalah sebuah Negara Islam’ in response to then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and his deputy Abdullah Ahmad Badawi affirming that Malaysia had attained Islamic state status. In it, Jakim director-general Mohamad Shahir Abdullah listed what he said was a series of proofs that the country is indeed Islamic. 9
According to statistics from the 2000 census, Muslims make up 60.8 percent of the population.10 Our next census – an exercise conducted every 10 years – will be carried out this July-August. It is expected that Muslims as a population ratio will rise further in percentage point.
All Muslims automatically fall under syariah law, which is being accorded a wider reach and coverage over ever more areas, what with the relentless Islamization that is taking place. Hence, even when some quarters are futilely contending whether Malaysia is secular or an Islamic state, the facts on the ground already bespeaks two-thirds of the country’s population.
********************
Citations
1. Gordon P. Means, ‘Political Islam in Southeast Asia’, Petaling Jaya: SIRD, 2009.
2. Zaitun Mohamed Kasim, “Religious Fundamentalisms in Muslim Societies” in ‘Selected Papers on Religious Fundamentalisms and their Impact on Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights’, Kuala Lumpur: Arrow, 2008.
3. Mohammad Kamali Hashim, ‘An Introduction to Shariah’, Kuala Lumpur: Ilmiah Publishers, 2006.
4. After PAS enacted hudud and qisas in 1993, Zaid Ibrahim petitioned the courts on the basis that Kelantan and Terengganu had contravened the federal constitution because criminal laws cannot be enacted by the state legislative assembly. Only Parliament has the legal capacity to enact criminal laws, and thus Zaid challenged if the actions of the two states were valid. (Zaid Ibrahim, ‘Saya Pun Melayu’, Petaling Jaya: ZI Publications, 2009).
5. Salbiah Ahmad, ‘Critical Thoughts on Islam, Rights and Freedom in Malaysia’, Petaling Jaya: SIRD, 2007.
6. Syed Husin Ali, ‘The Malays – Their Problems and Future’, Kuala Lumpur: The Other Press, 2008.
7. ‘Malaysia Human Rights Report 2008’, Petaling Jaya: Suaram Komunikasi, 2009.
8. Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (Jakim), Bahagian Penyelidikan
9. ‘Religion under Siege? Lina Joy, the Islamic State and Freedom of Faith’, Kuala Lumpur: Kinibooks, 2008.
10. Population and Housing Census of Malaysia 2000, Department of Statistics Malaysia.
Friday, 28 May 2010 09:45
Today is Wesak.
Last week the country was told about a Chinese Muslim Faizal Wong Abdullah who wanted to return to Buddhism – a religion of depleting numbers in Malaysia.
Faizal Wong had filed an application in March to renounce Islam. It’s not surprising though that Wong had converted as the proselytization drive is intense.
Being a civil servant, Wong was in a predominantly Malay-Muslim working environment. Looking at the organization chart of RTM (below), as one example of a state agency, we can get an idea of the racial composition in the civil service.
Out of the 40 top people in RTM, only one is of Chinese ethnicity and he is Rashid Woon Abdullah.
Here’s another example of the same phenomenon. “On the University of Malaya’s ‘Expert Page’ which details the researchers and thereby essentially the academic staff of the university, of 1,240 persons listed, only 20 Chinese names are included, eight of whom also have Islamic names” – found Dr Geoff Wade in his Asia Research Institute paper ‘The Origins and Evolution of Ethnocracy in Malaysia’.
The substantial number of converts to Islam could be due to peer influence as in Faizal Wong’s case, the many active missionary bodies, the Islamization of our public sphere and space, the Islamic programmes constantly broadcast in Mandarin and Tamil by RTM, or even the shenanigans of our National Registration Department.
Rigorously applying syariah
An academic studying political Islam in Southeast Asia and Malaysia, Prof. Gordon P. Means, observed that “[b]y 1970, nearly all the state governments had revised their Islamic laws to provide for more vigorous enforcement of Syariah law with increased penalties for violations in matters of personal behaviour and public deportment”.1
Nowadays the enforcement of Islamic law has become comparatively stricter still.
Apart from model Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno whose caning sentence for drinking beer was commuted after intercession by the Pahang sultan, another Malay was arrested for the same offence last month. The Pahang Syariah Court sentenced cook Mohamad Sabri Zulkepli to a year’s jail and six strokes of the cane for imbibing liquor in a mall.
But should the enforcement of Islamic mores concern Malaysians of other faiths as well?
Under Section 19 (2) of the Syariah Criminal Offences (Federal Territories) Act, those found guilty of abetting the sale of alcohol can face a jail term of three years and/or a RM5,000 fine. It is unclear what happens presently if the beer seller or pub owner is a non-Muslim.
It is rumoured that the federal authorities may do something to streamline our civil and Islamic laws that are mired in a seeming overlap of jurisdictions. In the event of which, the lacuna indicated above – where a Muslim is punished and a non-Muslim escapes charge – might possibly be addressed during the procedure.
The late Zaitun Mohamed Kasim, a civil society activist, commented: “In addition to [conversion and child custody cases], notions of proper gender/sexual/moral conduct that are founded on orthodox notions of Islamic understanding’ have increasingly become applied to Malaysia’s significant non-Muslim minorities”.2
Zaitun told a symposium in 2007, “To give but two examples of this: non-Muslim couples have been charged under municipal laws for holding hands in public. In one prominent case, an elderly married American couple, who were holidaying in [Langkawi] Malaysia, were asked in their hotel room to demonstrate to Malaysian Islamic authorities that they were married.”
Fatwas can become law
Another area of concern is how the issuance of fatwa has been turned into a state matter and granted “the exceptional status” as a source of lawmaking.
There is no requirement for religious edicts to be tabled in Parliament or the state legislature for approval. All it needs is for a fatwa to be gazetted, and then for it to become law, is that it is approved by the state Islamic religious council and the sultan.
“This is not a new development as the state authorities had fatwa-making powers under most of the State Administration of Islamic Law Enactments that have been in force for several decades,” noted Prof. Mohammad Kamali Hashim.3
“The issue took a new turn, however, during the 1990s when legislation on fatwa went a step further to declare it an offence for ‘any person who gives, propagates or disseminates any opinion contrary to any fatwa’ in force,” Prof. Kamali further wrote.
Although he cited Section 9 of the Syariah Criminal Offences Enactment of Johor, this legislation has equivalent provisions in most of the other states, c.f. Article 9 on “contempt and defiance of religious authorities” under the Syariah Criminal Offences (Federal Territories) Act 1997 .
Do recall that in November 2008, the National Fatwa Council issued a prohibition against yoga if the practice included haram chanting – an element of Hindu worship. A month earlier in October, the council also issued a fatwa against pengkid (tomboys).
[Sidenote: In 2007, a transsexual Ayu was detained by officials from Malacca’s Islamic Religious Affairs Department (JAIM) for committing the offence of “men dressing up as women in public space” under Section 72 of the Malacca Syariah Offences Enactment.]
If the prohibition against yoga is gazetted, then it will become a religious law on the statute book and carrying the corresponding penalties. Some of the states have indicated that they are considering or in the process of gazetting it.
One wonders too if the case for yoga is analogous to that for beer, i.e. if the yoga instructor or proprietor of the health centre/gym is a non-Muslim, would he nonetheless be punished for aiding and abetting the offence?
Apostasy is a serious crime
State Muslim laws in Malaysia allow for deviationism and apostasy to be prosecuted in court with criminal sanctions of a maximum of three years or a fine up to RM5,000 or whipping up to six strokes or a combination of these.
There are also laws in the states under various articles providing for rehabilitation to restore the faith of lapsed Muslims. Or those that the state declares to be Muslim like the young Indian woman M. Revathi who became a cause celebre not too long ago.
An Ayah Pin follower Kamariah Ali was convicted on charges of apostasy under Section 7 of the Syariah Criminal Offence Enactment (Takzir) Terengganu and sentenced to a jail term of two years in March 2008.
Hudud laws passed in Terengganu and Kelantan prescribe death for apostasy, although they have thus far never been implemented. 4
Former International Islamic University law lecturer Salbiah Ahmad asks: “A question may be posed to our High Court in adjudicating freedoms under the constitution: should Article 11 privilege the Sunni school or recognize the reality of diversity of beliefs and practices among Malaysians who still choose to be called Muslims”? 5
Adding another perspective, Syed Husin Ali cites clause (4) of the same Article 11 to point out that “The constitution does not allow others to induce Malays to leave Islam; the consequences are serious when a Malay leaves his religion, even of his own volition”.6
The federal constitution was promulgated in 1957 when Muslims were synonymous with Malays. The situation has since then changed significantly where Muslims are not only Malays but are to be found among Indians, Orang Asli, the natives of Sabah and Sarawak and Chinese too.
So now Faizal Wong is caught in a predicament of his own making; he embraced Islam out of choice as a mature adult.
For an oblique comparison, Buddhists are predominantly if not almost all Chinese in the country, although all Chinese need not necessarily be Buddhist. And even those Chinese here who style themselves Buddhists might be more accurately said to be practicing some mix of Taoism, Confucianism, ancestral worship and polytheism.
There is no such eclecticism for the Malay – at least not in the eyes of the religious authorities – despite what Salbiah may say on actual diversity of beliefs and practices among those who nominally call themselves Muslims.
Only 1Islam in M’sia
The state through a slew of laws strives to make Malays monolithic in faith instead. Article 160 of the Federal Constitution defines ‘Malay’ as a person who professes Islam – a stipulation which technically renders ‘un-Malay’ a person such as Lina Joy.
Malaysia follows the Shafii mazhab of Sunni Islam – a school predominant in Indonesia, Brunei, and in Southeast Asia generally. On the other hand, Shi’ite Islam is prohibited in the country, and its followers have been detained under ISA in the past. 7
State Islamic law enactments adhere to Sunni jurisprudence and the Department of Islamic Development (Jakim) is among the federal agencies responsible for its implementation.
Jakim enforces faith (akidah) conceptualized along the principles of ahli Sunnah wal Jamaah. Other beliefs outside the one officially sanctioned are proscribed, e.g., the Al-Arqam movement is banned. The Ahmadiyah community in Selangor numbering some 2,000 individuals is also on the Jakim blacklist as a deviant organization or teaching.8
In 2002, Jakim published a pamphlet‘Malaysia adalah sebuah Negara Islam’ in response to then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and his deputy Abdullah Ahmad Badawi affirming that Malaysia had attained Islamic state status. In it, Jakim director-general Mohamad Shahir Abdullah listed what he said was a series of proofs that the country is indeed Islamic. 9
According to statistics from the 2000 census, Muslims make up 60.8 percent of the population.10 Our next census – an exercise conducted every 10 years – will be carried out this July-August. It is expected that Muslims as a population ratio will rise further in percentage point.
All Muslims automatically fall under syariah law, which is being accorded a wider reach and coverage over ever more areas, what with the relentless Islamization that is taking place. Hence, even when some quarters are futilely contending whether Malaysia is secular or an Islamic state, the facts on the ground already bespeaks two-thirds of the country’s population.
********************
Citations
1. Gordon P. Means, ‘Political Islam in Southeast Asia’, Petaling Jaya: SIRD, 2009.
2. Zaitun Mohamed Kasim, “Religious Fundamentalisms in Muslim Societies” in ‘Selected Papers on Religious Fundamentalisms and their Impact on Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights’, Kuala Lumpur: Arrow, 2008.
3. Mohammad Kamali Hashim, ‘An Introduction to Shariah’, Kuala Lumpur: Ilmiah Publishers, 2006.
4. After PAS enacted hudud and qisas in 1993, Zaid Ibrahim petitioned the courts on the basis that Kelantan and Terengganu had contravened the federal constitution because criminal laws cannot be enacted by the state legislative assembly. Only Parliament has the legal capacity to enact criminal laws, and thus Zaid challenged if the actions of the two states were valid. (Zaid Ibrahim, ‘Saya Pun Melayu’, Petaling Jaya: ZI Publications, 2009).
5. Salbiah Ahmad, ‘Critical Thoughts on Islam, Rights and Freedom in Malaysia’, Petaling Jaya: SIRD, 2007.
6. Syed Husin Ali, ‘The Malays – Their Problems and Future’, Kuala Lumpur: The Other Press, 2008.
7. ‘Malaysia Human Rights Report 2008’, Petaling Jaya: Suaram Komunikasi, 2009.
8. Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (Jakim), Bahagian Penyelidikan
9. ‘Religion under Siege? Lina Joy, the Islamic State and Freedom of Faith’, Kuala Lumpur: Kinibooks, 2008.
10. Population and Housing Census of Malaysia 2000, Department of Statistics Malaysia.
Your children's future in an Islamic State
Helen Ang
Jun 3, 10
3:56pm
Malaysian involvement in the Gaza flotilla and Malaysia's response to the Israeli military operation against the pro-Palestinian activists both unite Umno, PAS and PKR in a cause beloved of the Muslim world.
Dr Mahathir Mohamad (left) and his Perdana Global Peace Organisation had raised over 300,000 euros to buy three boats for the Gaza expedition, reported the Perdana website. Six of the flotilla's Malaysian participants sailed to Gaza under the aegis of Perdana.
Some readers have wondered aloud about the lack of a similar national outrage to the atrocities committed in Myanmar, Sudan and Sri Lanka.
There is no mystery as it is quite natural that the Muslim brotherhood should be more concerned about the fate of their brethren. It is only the zealous proponents of universal brotherhood who mistakenly believe that this inclination of the ummah may be something unnatural.
"We are all one race, the human race" is a slogan to sell the idea that the various races on the planet should love each other. But perhaps what "we're all human" merely does is to remind us that we're not chimpanzees.
The inconvenient truth is that we are indeed various races and of various religions, and Malaysia is an ethnically fractured society where churches have been firebombed and Hindu idols destroyed.
As the passionate reactions to the Palestinian conflict have shown time and again, Malaysia is greatly sympathetic to Palestinian Muslims while vastly indifferent to Burmese Buddhists, Sudanese Christians and Sri Lankan Hindus.
The reason why is straightforward - Islam is the most defining characteristic of this land; two-thirds of the population are Muslim and ultimately everyone is free to pick and choose the cause closest to their heart. Malaysia does not vary from the rest of the Organisation of Islamic Countries in our close alignment with Palestine.
Notably, three successive prime ministers have declared Malaysia to be an Islamic state - and thus meriting our leading role in the OIC - although Najib Abdul Razak's declaration is more precisely that Malaysia has never been a secular country.
Islamising the country
The Department of Islamic Development (Jakim) asserts that Malaysia is a 'negara Islam' in a pamphlet issued in 2002. Jakim director-general Mohamad Shahir Abdullah was following up on the Islamic state affirmation by then prime minister Mahathir and his deputy Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
In the Jakim statement, Mohamad Shahir listed what he said was a series of proofs that the country is Islamic. Read it - it's in Bahasa Malaysia.
There are few voices today insisting that Malaysia is secular. Even Karpal Singh (right) who famously said "over my dead body" about the Islamic state status has been ominously silent of late.
Whereas the secretary-general of Karpal's DAP party, Lim Guan Eng, is loudly trumpeting the emulation by Penang of the governance of Caliph Umar Abdul Aziz. On May 20, Lim had been scheduled to officiate the opening of a surau in the state secretariat building Komtar, much to the chagrin of some in Umno Youth.
I'm more inclined to agree with the assessment of the three prime ministers past and present that Malaysia is somewhat an Islamic state since Islam is everywhere and anytime in the country. Or if we're yet to fully attain the Islamic state aspiration, there are many Muslims who see no reason why we should not.
For details on Islam as a state function, please read my articles 'Will minorities be made increasingly syariah-compliant?' published by the Centre for Policy Initiatives, and 'Rukunegara: M'sia not quite secular' on the variety of state Islamic agencies including those in the PM's department.
Funding spread of Islam
More and more concepts from Islam have been made familiar to us - Hadhari by ex-premier Abdullah, Amar Maa'ruf Nahi Mungkar by the Penang Pakatan state government, Raudhatul Sakinah in Putrajaya and it would seem Najib is making a foray into Islam Wasatiyyah branding.
More and more words of Arabic origin have crept into our common usage such as muzakarah, muhasabah and mujahadah, not to mention terms like takaful, sukuk and riba, now that several more financial institutions are offering Islamic banking and not just restricted to Bank Islam and Bank Muamalat.
Another indicator of the level of Islamisation is the Tudung Index.
Even the highest echelons of the church have at last publicly conceded the deep reach of Islam, in this particular case, into the pockets of the state treasury.
The remarkable pastoral letter recently penned by Bishop Hwa Yung, chairman of the Methodist church's council of presidents, contained the following pertinent observation:
"Indeed the problem in our country is that most of the money for religious bodies is usually given to one particular religious community, with relatively much smaller proportions given to other communities."
The tremendous disproportion in terms of allocation to the different religious communities can be explained by Article 12(2) of the federal constitution. It says: "... it shall be lawful for the federation or a state to establish or maintain or assist in establishing or maintaining Islamic institutions or provide or assist in providing instruction in the religion of Islam and incur such expenditure as may be necessary for the purpose".
It is the enabling mechanism for the government to disburse financial assistance to mosques and for activities promoting Islam. Tellingly, the article clauses omit any reference to Christianity and other faiths in this regard.
Most are unaware of Article 12(2). Evidently, the people touting 'Malaysian First' are on the mistaken footing that the country does not make any distinction between its citizens. Malaysia most clearly distinguishes its citizenry one from another, and even coined the word 'bumiputera' for this purpose.
Islam impacting minorities
Yesterday Malaysiakini carried an article about convert Faris Syafi Abdullah who lamented the difficulties faced when one wishes to renounce Islam.
Another convert in the same boat is Faizal Wong Abdullah (right). I've written in greater detail about the trend of Chinese, especially those in the civil service, to embrace Islam, in my 'Syariah-compliant' article cited earlier.
In it, I also discussed the breadth and reach of syariah law, its rigorous application and how easily fatwa can be legislated to carry harsh penalties as well as the Malaysian authorities strenuously rendering the adherents of Islam a monolithic block.
As for the increasing number of Indian converts to Islam, there are the controversial issues surrounding this development.
It is not only PAS and Umno that have been ramping up the Islamisation process but the Raja-Raja Melayu flexing their muscles through political Islam too.
We're living in a country where to question the monarchy and 'special position' of the Malay (whose identity is conflated with Islam and whom the royals are constitutionally empowered to protect) is seditious and can land you in jail.
'1Malaysia' is Najib's propaganda. 'Malaysian First' is Lim Kit Siang's rhetoric. While denizens of Bangsar Malaysia (spelling deliberate to allude to the affluent suburb) may buy into 1Malaysia1st, the decision of the majority G1 Chinese to send their children to vernacular school speaks volumes of the latter's inherent skepticism.
G1 is the group to whom "Chinese education is part of their socio-cultural life and even their identity as a race" whereas the English-speaking, Western-oriented G2 category are "vocal, articulate, often Christian, and likely to be from a professional class" - ref. quotes attributed to the MCA think-tankers of Insap and Insap's G2 "thoroughbred" CEO, Fui K Soong.
Methinks the G2 doth protest too much. How can these Malaysian First-ers credibly reconcile their 'one united country' mantra in the face of the facts above?
Aside from Chinese, more Indian parents are enrolling their children in vernacular Tamil schools than before. The wariness of the minorities for national school and its attendant Malay environment will not be allayed so long as Islamism is a pervasive feature of the education system.
Jun 3, 10
3:56pm
Malaysian involvement in the Gaza flotilla and Malaysia's response to the Israeli military operation against the pro-Palestinian activists both unite Umno, PAS and PKR in a cause beloved of the Muslim world.
Dr Mahathir Mohamad (left) and his Perdana Global Peace Organisation had raised over 300,000 euros to buy three boats for the Gaza expedition, reported the Perdana website. Six of the flotilla's Malaysian participants sailed to Gaza under the aegis of Perdana.
Some readers have wondered aloud about the lack of a similar national outrage to the atrocities committed in Myanmar, Sudan and Sri Lanka.
There is no mystery as it is quite natural that the Muslim brotherhood should be more concerned about the fate of their brethren. It is only the zealous proponents of universal brotherhood who mistakenly believe that this inclination of the ummah may be something unnatural.
"We are all one race, the human race" is a slogan to sell the idea that the various races on the planet should love each other. But perhaps what "we're all human" merely does is to remind us that we're not chimpanzees.
The inconvenient truth is that we are indeed various races and of various religions, and Malaysia is an ethnically fractured society where churches have been firebombed and Hindu idols destroyed.
As the passionate reactions to the Palestinian conflict have shown time and again, Malaysia is greatly sympathetic to Palestinian Muslims while vastly indifferent to Burmese Buddhists, Sudanese Christians and Sri Lankan Hindus.
The reason why is straightforward - Islam is the most defining characteristic of this land; two-thirds of the population are Muslim and ultimately everyone is free to pick and choose the cause closest to their heart. Malaysia does not vary from the rest of the Organisation of Islamic Countries in our close alignment with Palestine.
Notably, three successive prime ministers have declared Malaysia to be an Islamic state - and thus meriting our leading role in the OIC - although Najib Abdul Razak's declaration is more precisely that Malaysia has never been a secular country.
Islamising the country
The Department of Islamic Development (Jakim) asserts that Malaysia is a 'negara Islam' in a pamphlet issued in 2002. Jakim director-general Mohamad Shahir Abdullah was following up on the Islamic state affirmation by then prime minister Mahathir and his deputy Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
In the Jakim statement, Mohamad Shahir listed what he said was a series of proofs that the country is Islamic. Read it - it's in Bahasa Malaysia.
There are few voices today insisting that Malaysia is secular. Even Karpal Singh (right) who famously said "over my dead body" about the Islamic state status has been ominously silent of late.
Whereas the secretary-general of Karpal's DAP party, Lim Guan Eng, is loudly trumpeting the emulation by Penang of the governance of Caliph Umar Abdul Aziz. On May 20, Lim had been scheduled to officiate the opening of a surau in the state secretariat building Komtar, much to the chagrin of some in Umno Youth.
I'm more inclined to agree with the assessment of the three prime ministers past and present that Malaysia is somewhat an Islamic state since Islam is everywhere and anytime in the country. Or if we're yet to fully attain the Islamic state aspiration, there are many Muslims who see no reason why we should not.
For details on Islam as a state function, please read my articles 'Will minorities be made increasingly syariah-compliant?' published by the Centre for Policy Initiatives, and 'Rukunegara: M'sia not quite secular' on the variety of state Islamic agencies including those in the PM's department.
Funding spread of Islam
More and more concepts from Islam have been made familiar to us - Hadhari by ex-premier Abdullah, Amar Maa'ruf Nahi Mungkar by the Penang Pakatan state government, Raudhatul Sakinah in Putrajaya and it would seem Najib is making a foray into Islam Wasatiyyah branding.
More and more words of Arabic origin have crept into our common usage such as muzakarah, muhasabah and mujahadah, not to mention terms like takaful, sukuk and riba, now that several more financial institutions are offering Islamic banking and not just restricted to Bank Islam and Bank Muamalat.
Another indicator of the level of Islamisation is the Tudung Index.
Even the highest echelons of the church have at last publicly conceded the deep reach of Islam, in this particular case, into the pockets of the state treasury.
The remarkable pastoral letter recently penned by Bishop Hwa Yung, chairman of the Methodist church's council of presidents, contained the following pertinent observation:
"Indeed the problem in our country is that most of the money for religious bodies is usually given to one particular religious community, with relatively much smaller proportions given to other communities."
The tremendous disproportion in terms of allocation to the different religious communities can be explained by Article 12(2) of the federal constitution. It says: "... it shall be lawful for the federation or a state to establish or maintain or assist in establishing or maintaining Islamic institutions or provide or assist in providing instruction in the religion of Islam and incur such expenditure as may be necessary for the purpose".
It is the enabling mechanism for the government to disburse financial assistance to mosques and for activities promoting Islam. Tellingly, the article clauses omit any reference to Christianity and other faiths in this regard.
Most are unaware of Article 12(2). Evidently, the people touting 'Malaysian First' are on the mistaken footing that the country does not make any distinction between its citizens. Malaysia most clearly distinguishes its citizenry one from another, and even coined the word 'bumiputera' for this purpose.
Islam impacting minorities
Yesterday Malaysiakini carried an article about convert Faris Syafi Abdullah who lamented the difficulties faced when one wishes to renounce Islam.
Another convert in the same boat is Faizal Wong Abdullah (right). I've written in greater detail about the trend of Chinese, especially those in the civil service, to embrace Islam, in my 'Syariah-compliant' article cited earlier.
In it, I also discussed the breadth and reach of syariah law, its rigorous application and how easily fatwa can be legislated to carry harsh penalties as well as the Malaysian authorities strenuously rendering the adherents of Islam a monolithic block.
As for the increasing number of Indian converts to Islam, there are the controversial issues surrounding this development.
It is not only PAS and Umno that have been ramping up the Islamisation process but the Raja-Raja Melayu flexing their muscles through political Islam too.
We're living in a country where to question the monarchy and 'special position' of the Malay (whose identity is conflated with Islam and whom the royals are constitutionally empowered to protect) is seditious and can land you in jail.
'1Malaysia' is Najib's propaganda. 'Malaysian First' is Lim Kit Siang's rhetoric. While denizens of Bangsar Malaysia (spelling deliberate to allude to the affluent suburb) may buy into 1Malaysia1st, the decision of the majority G1 Chinese to send their children to vernacular school speaks volumes of the latter's inherent skepticism.
G1 is the group to whom "Chinese education is part of their socio-cultural life and even their identity as a race" whereas the English-speaking, Western-oriented G2 category are "vocal, articulate, often Christian, and likely to be from a professional class" - ref. quotes attributed to the MCA think-tankers of Insap and Insap's G2 "thoroughbred" CEO, Fui K Soong.
Methinks the G2 doth protest too much. How can these Malaysian First-ers credibly reconcile their 'one united country' mantra in the face of the facts above?
Aside from Chinese, more Indian parents are enrolling their children in vernacular Tamil schools than before. The wariness of the minorities for national school and its attendant Malay environment will not be allayed so long as Islamism is a pervasive feature of the education system.
One Dispirited Malaysian
Mariam Mokhtar
Jun 9, 10
2:11pm
The Youth and Sports deputy minister, Razali Ibrahim, said that Malaysians who belittled the country lacked a national spirit and prevented the country from becoming a developed nation. How very patronising of him to have such a low opinion of us.
He is wrong or in denial. Malaysians have a strong sense of national spirit and identity.
He compared us unfavourably with our neighbours, whom he considered more nationalistic, even with their anti-government protests.
He even claimed that kiasu was the “national spirit” of Singapore and the “secret to Singapore's success”. I was under the impression that Singapore's success was because of its strong leadership and long-term vision.
Razali (left) firmly believes that Malaysia's key to being a developed nation is by being kiasu. If only it were that easy – to be successful by riding rough-shod over people.
The only kiasu I see are our political masters and institutions like the police, who completely disregard the wishes of the people they should serve.
A 'victim' of kiasu despairs at the intolerable arrogance and pushy behaviour. It is neither an appealing trait nor a good example to emulate. In my eyes, success only comes through hard work and perseverance. Not through being kiasu.
Excelling with minimum effort
Take for instance the Malays. The previous National Economic Policy allowed Malays to excel in their studies or work performance with the minimum of effort.
Work was never valued. Responsibility was always someone else's. Sensitive topics were taken personally. And no serious attempt to integrate into the modern world, one where the woman was an equal, was made.
With this diet of false support and false hope, Malays were rendered weak and became intolerant of others. They did not know their own weaknesses and strengths. They became hostile to others who did not share their views. With little stimulation, they became mentally challenged.
They demanded rather than earned respect. They expected rather than encouraged people to behave. They dictated rather than engaged in discussions which displayed mental astuteness.
By contrast, non-Malays had to perform with what little they had. Success, when it came to them, tasted even sweeter.
Both the Malay and non-Malay started off from an unequal platform. The non-Malays persevered for success, would demand life-changing decisions which would also affect their immediate families. We are familiar with tales of houses being mortgaged or parents holding several jobs to pay off education loans.
For the Malays, whatever they did was a walkover. They were content with coasting along.
The devil is in the details
So, if Razali is serious about Malaysia becoming a developed nation, he must appreciate that the devil is in the details.
Most Malaysians are loyal, tolerant, hospitable, genteel and diplomatic. The genuine interaction of Malaysians can be acutely observed in overseas Malaysians, more so than in the false window-dressing found at the local '1Malaysia' rallies.
How does Razali expect the Chinese and Indians who make-up 40% of the population, the so-called pendatangs (immigrants), to feel patriotic?
If we are to become a developed nation, we will have to stamp out all corruption in the government and civil services.
Should we feign ignorance when things go disastrously wrong and no one is held accountable?
Should we ignore the cronyism, racism, religious intolerance, scandals, political conspiracies, kangaroo trials, a politicised police force, a tainted judiciary…?
Is Razali content with Malaysia's poor human rights record and that we have draconian laws to detain people without trial?
Malaysians are neither blind nor stupid. The country is bankrupt and we have been told to tighten our belts. Prices of many commodities are increasing. Rice, flour, oil and sugar are in short supply. Employers cannot find suitable workers. The unemployed cannot find suitable work.
Razali said that the '1Malaysia' concept to make the people and nation developed was under attack by some ungrateful Malaysians, saying “Will running down your own country make others respect us more?” He claimed that such an attitude would make other nations lose confidence in Malaysia.
Time for complacency over
Razali is wrong. Malaysians have only lost faith in their leaders. For 53 years, the masses have subsidised those at the top and believed their false rhetoric. The time for complacency is over.
He referred to the strong nationalism of the South Koreans, Japanese and Singaporeans, saying “This is what we are lacking,” and claimed that “….people in developed countries rarely talked bad about their own countries but would defend them.”
Wrong again. People in developed countries do talk bad about their own countries and especially their leaders.
Criticism leads to change, and the chance to progress. That these citizens can comment without censure is known as democracy. The countries he praised have despatched with all speed corrupt or incompetent officials and politicians, including prime ministers. Some did the honorable thing.
However, these countries have a good system of governance guided by their constitution. Their needs are addressed and their rights defended. The same can't be said for Malaysia.
Jun 9, 10
2:11pm
The Youth and Sports deputy minister, Razali Ibrahim, said that Malaysians who belittled the country lacked a national spirit and prevented the country from becoming a developed nation. How very patronising of him to have such a low opinion of us.
He is wrong or in denial. Malaysians have a strong sense of national spirit and identity.
He compared us unfavourably with our neighbours, whom he considered more nationalistic, even with their anti-government protests.
He even claimed that kiasu was the “national spirit” of Singapore and the “secret to Singapore's success”. I was under the impression that Singapore's success was because of its strong leadership and long-term vision.
Razali (left) firmly believes that Malaysia's key to being a developed nation is by being kiasu. If only it were that easy – to be successful by riding rough-shod over people.
The only kiasu I see are our political masters and institutions like the police, who completely disregard the wishes of the people they should serve.
A 'victim' of kiasu despairs at the intolerable arrogance and pushy behaviour. It is neither an appealing trait nor a good example to emulate. In my eyes, success only comes through hard work and perseverance. Not through being kiasu.
Excelling with minimum effort
Take for instance the Malays. The previous National Economic Policy allowed Malays to excel in their studies or work performance with the minimum of effort.
Work was never valued. Responsibility was always someone else's. Sensitive topics were taken personally. And no serious attempt to integrate into the modern world, one where the woman was an equal, was made.
With this diet of false support and false hope, Malays were rendered weak and became intolerant of others. They did not know their own weaknesses and strengths. They became hostile to others who did not share their views. With little stimulation, they became mentally challenged.
They demanded rather than earned respect. They expected rather than encouraged people to behave. They dictated rather than engaged in discussions which displayed mental astuteness.
By contrast, non-Malays had to perform with what little they had. Success, when it came to them, tasted even sweeter.
Both the Malay and non-Malay started off from an unequal platform. The non-Malays persevered for success, would demand life-changing decisions which would also affect their immediate families. We are familiar with tales of houses being mortgaged or parents holding several jobs to pay off education loans.
For the Malays, whatever they did was a walkover. They were content with coasting along.
The devil is in the details
So, if Razali is serious about Malaysia becoming a developed nation, he must appreciate that the devil is in the details.
Most Malaysians are loyal, tolerant, hospitable, genteel and diplomatic. The genuine interaction of Malaysians can be acutely observed in overseas Malaysians, more so than in the false window-dressing found at the local '1Malaysia' rallies.
How does Razali expect the Chinese and Indians who make-up 40% of the population, the so-called pendatangs (immigrants), to feel patriotic?
If we are to become a developed nation, we will have to stamp out all corruption in the government and civil services.
Should we feign ignorance when things go disastrously wrong and no one is held accountable?
Should we ignore the cronyism, racism, religious intolerance, scandals, political conspiracies, kangaroo trials, a politicised police force, a tainted judiciary…?
Is Razali content with Malaysia's poor human rights record and that we have draconian laws to detain people without trial?
Malaysians are neither blind nor stupid. The country is bankrupt and we have been told to tighten our belts. Prices of many commodities are increasing. Rice, flour, oil and sugar are in short supply. Employers cannot find suitable workers. The unemployed cannot find suitable work.
Razali said that the '1Malaysia' concept to make the people and nation developed was under attack by some ungrateful Malaysians, saying “Will running down your own country make others respect us more?” He claimed that such an attitude would make other nations lose confidence in Malaysia.
Time for complacency over
Razali is wrong. Malaysians have only lost faith in their leaders. For 53 years, the masses have subsidised those at the top and believed their false rhetoric. The time for complacency is over.
He referred to the strong nationalism of the South Koreans, Japanese and Singaporeans, saying “This is what we are lacking,” and claimed that “….people in developed countries rarely talked bad about their own countries but would defend them.”
Wrong again. People in developed countries do talk bad about their own countries and especially their leaders.
Criticism leads to change, and the chance to progress. That these citizens can comment without censure is known as democracy. The countries he praised have despatched with all speed corrupt or incompetent officials and politicians, including prime ministers. Some did the honorable thing.
However, these countries have a good system of governance guided by their constitution. Their needs are addressed and their rights defended. The same can't be said for Malaysia.
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