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| Thursday, November 30, 2006 |
| Drifting Toward Extremism |
Malaysia and Indonesia are known for their gentle version of Islam. So why is the mainstream worried?
By Joe Cochrane and Jonathan Kent
Newsweek International
Updated: 11:59 p.m. ET Nov. 25, 2006
Dec. 4, 2006 issue - The meeting of the united Malays National Organization, the ruling pro-Muslim party in Malaysia, was a shocking display of divisiveness. Some UMNO delegates at the rally, which ended Nov. 17, gave speeches that, either explicitly or in veiled terms, were racist or called for violence as a means of settling religious or political differences. One of them, Hasnoor Sidang Hussein, declared: "UMNO is willing to risk lives and bathe in blood in defense of race and religion." Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein unsheathed a keris (Malay dagger) at the meeting. Party supporters perceived the gesture as invoking Malay power and pride, but critics said the minister was pandering to racist elements in UMNO's youth wing, which Hishammuddin heads. Twenty years ago, the youth wing had displayed banners calling for the keris to be bathed in the blood of the minority Malaysian Chinese.
Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi disavowed the inflammatory rhetoric in his speech to the UMNO conclave, and Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak suggested that the police have a word with delegates who'd used extreme language. Still, the UMNO chest-thumping makes clear that the moderate Abdullah is struggling to cope with a surge in intolerant—and in some cases extremist—behavior by his base of Malay Muslims. Earlier this year a Muslim mob disrupted a forum being held in Penang to discuss religious pluralism. Forum organizers said the mob's message was unmistakable: attempts to equate other religions with Islam in Malaysia will be met with violence. Malaysia's minority Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs—already on the short end of economic policies that favor the Malay majority—are worried. Wong Kim Kong, head of a Christian evangelical group, said in a newspaper interview after the UMNO conference that tensions among the communities were higher than they'd been in decades—partly because Muslims "feel they are being cornered" by the Western war on terror.
In neighboring Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority nation, even more troubling scenes are playing out. Last week a radical Islamic preacher publicly said it was the obligation of Muslims to assassinate George W. Bush during his visit to Indonesia. In Jakarta, three Muslim men are on trial now for allegedly decapitating three Christian schoolgirls in central Sulawesi last year as they were walking to class. On the main island of Java, mobs of young Muslim men have forcibly closed dozens of Christian churches. "We cannot ignore this radical tendency among certain elements of the community," says Din Syamsuddin, chairman of Muhammadiyah, a mainstream Indonesian Muslim group that boasts 30 million members. "The mainstream in the country are a bit worried."
Traditionally, Southeast Asian Muslims have been known for their tolerance and their incorporation of traditional beliefs into an Islamic framework. Indonesia and Malaysia are thought to be models of multicultural democracy. And yet, say mainstream Islamic scholars, political analysts and even former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid, Southeast Asia's two most important countries are both drifting toward fundamentalism—a trend made scarier by the inability or unwillingness of some senior political leaders to condemn those promoting the shift. Some analysts are already calling this the "Arabization" of the region.
Certainly, most agree that mainstream Muslims generally are more religious and conservative than they were 10 years ago, and Southeast Asia's Muslim regions (Indonesia, Malaysia, southern Thailand, southern Philippines) are more radical. The trend—which was started by Islamic radicals in exile in Europe in the 1970s and then slowly gained strength with the Iranian revolution and later the struggle of the mujahedin in Afghanistan and now the Iraq war—is both ironic and surprising. Indonesia has been moving toward democracy and the rule of law after decades of authoritarianism; Malaysia is quick to lock up alleged terrorists (without trial) under national-security laws. Fundamentalist Islamic political parties that demand Sharia are regularly trounced at the polls in both countries.
There are different factors at play. In Malaysia, the lower-income Muslim Malay majority resents the economic clout of minority Chinese business groups. Economic insecurity, hence, has resulted in a mix of Muslim nationalism and Malay nationalism, exacerbated by the possibility that non-Malays (almost 45 percent of the country's 26 million people) could someday become the ethnic majority in the country. Malaysia already has Sharia for Muslims, which has equal status to the civil and criminal laws that apply to ethnic and religious minorities. Still, the conservative Islamic opposition wants harsh hudud laws to be enacted.
In Indonesia, the issue is really what kind of Islam the country should have—and the debate between moderates and radicals has political overtones. Indonesia's fundamentalist parties were suppressed for decades, ever since founding president Sukarno dissolved Parliament in 1959. Only after the dictator Suharto fell in 1998 were fundamentalists able to rise up and speak out again.
And that they do: defeated at the polls, radical Muslim groups nonetheless use bluster, threats and occasional violence in somewhat successful attempts to hijack the public debate on Islam, impose social restraints at the grass-roots level and push religious laws through Parliament. Some have glorified holy war abroad and violence against non-Muslims at home. During the Israeli-Hizbullah conflict in Lebanon this past summer, Indonesian fundamentalist groups demanded Jakarta break off ties with the United States and use the Indonesian military to fly hundreds of young men to Lebanon to fight.
Some of that is just anti-Americanism. Still, the influence of fundamentalists is growing, partly because political leaders seem reluctant to challenge them. In Indonesia, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono tends to react timidly to extremist demands for fear of being smeared by political opponents as being un-Islamic. Such softness is dangerous: while liberal Muslim scholars receive death threats, radical clerics like Abu Bakar Bashir—the alleged head of the Jemaah Islamiah terror group, who spent two years in prison on conspiracy charges in connection with the 2002 Bali bombing—are heroes to many for lashing out against the infidels. "Bashir has become a symbol of standing up to the West in the war on terror," says Sidney Jones, Southeast Asia director of the International Crisis Group.
All of which has Christian leaders wondering whether Indonesia's move toward democracy is taking a detour. "The question is whether Indonesia will stay a pluralistic and secular society or become victim to growing Islamization," says Father Magnus Franz Seseno, a Jesuit priest at STF Driyarkara Catholic College. Indeed, non-Muslims of all stripes in Southeast Asia are asking whether the portrayal of Indonesia and Malaysia as models of multiracial and multireligious harmony are only myths. Among the assumptions they are calling into question:
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IS RESPECTED.
While both countries' constitutions guarantee such freedoms, on the ground it's a different story. Both require that state identity cards list every citizen's religion, which rights groups say opens non-Muslims to discrimination. Malaysian Muslims are not allowed to convert to another religion, and can be sent to re-education camps if they do so. The highly charged issue was recently highlighted by Lina Joy, a Malay Muslim woman currently appealing to Malaysia's High Court to recognize her conversion to Christianity.
Similar examples can be seen in Indonesia. Fundamentalist groups including the Alliance for Anti-Apostates and the Islamic Defenders Front have forcibly shut down dozens of Protestant churches in West Java during the past year, purportedly because they did not have proper permits. Police did nothing to stop the closures. In addition, three Christian women in West Java were convicted of proselytizing and are now serving three-year sentences for including Muslim children in a Sunday-school class—even though their parents had agreed. "In the past, this [extremist] behavior would be crushed," says Seseno, the Jesuit priest. "This is a consequence of democratic opening."
SECULARISM IS STRICTLY UPHELD.
Indonesia has 230 million people from more than 300 ethnic groups. The country has remained unified under its state ideology, Pancasila, which promotes multicultural and religious harmony. But now even that's under threat. In 1999, Indonesia's Parliament passed a law allowing the implementation of Sharia in the strife-torn province of Aceh—even though it violates the country's secular Constitution.
The move has opened a Pandora's box. Earlier this year Muslim parties in Jakarta submitted antipornography legislation that would have jailed women for 10 years for showing their arms and legs in public. More than two dozen provincial governments have issued Sharia-inspired bylaws, including one district in West Java that bans women from walking alone at night. Today in Aceh, morality police detain women for not wearing headscarves and break into homes without warrants looking for Muslims engaged in "bad behavior." Despite the abuse of power, provincial officials from other areas of Indonesia are visiting Aceh to study its Islamic model. "I think it's going to expand," says Jones of the International Crisis Group.
There are also blurry lines in Malaysia between religion and the state. Conservative Muslims are gaining more bureaucratic power through their positions in the civil service and education system. More disturbing, religious edicts issued by Muslim clerics,called fatwas, are legally binding for Muslims, even if they don't regularly practice their religion. Each state has its own Sharia legal code and religious police to enforce it. They ensure mandatory fasting during Ramadan, and raid nightclubs, bars and even homes to stamp out illicit drinking and sex.
VIOLENCE IS ABHORRED.
Indonesia has suffered four major terrorist attacks since 9/11, most notably the 2002 and 2005 attacks on the resort island of Bali. The bombs have hurt the economy, killed hundreds of innocent people and shocked the country's 190 million Muslims, the vast majority of whom are moderate. While the Indonesian public is widely believed to reject terrorism, a recent survey by the Indonesian Research Institute found that one in 10 people said violence such as the Bali bombings was justified to defend Islam.
WOMAN HAVE EQUAL RIGHTS.
Malaysia has often been cited as an Islamic-majority country where women, particularly Muslim women, have successfully risen to senior political and business positions. That's true—but in the past year, critics say, the country has backpedaled. The Parliament amended so-called Islamic family laws to make it easier for a man to take multiple wives and to divorce, and the amended laws now allow a husband to claim a share of an existing wife's property if he takes additional wives. Some female lawmakers rebelled at the changes but were ordered on threat of dismissal from the government to vote for the measures.
Marina Mahathir, the outspoken daughter of the country's former prime minister, says Malaysian women are subjected to a form of apartheid. "You could be married to a minister, [but] if he wants to get rid of you, get another wife, there's very little you can do," Mahathir says. "It's all stacked against you because of these personal laws."
What are the indonesian and Malay-sian governments doing about the ominous shift toward fundamentalism? Some say not enough. Both Yudhoyono and Abdullah Badawi, the Malaysian prime minister, have touted themselves as the voices of moderation in the Islamic world. Those voices seem to be quiet these days. During the Lebanon crisis, it took Yudhoyono nearly a week to respond to public threats by radical groups to send armed fighters to Lebanon and murder American, Israeli and Australian citizens worldwide. Even then, he only suggested they should send humanitarian aid rather than go to fight. The Foreign Ministry inexplicably said that, legally, it could not stop anyone going abroad to join a war.
The reaction infuriated security officials. "These threats have to be taken seriously, and there's no clear position taken by president—that's waffling," says an Indonesian counterterrorism official who's not cleared to speak to the media. Former Indonesian president Wahid, a respected Islamic scholar and cleric, says Yudhoyono is scared of being pegged as an anti-Muslim because, as a former general, he doesn't have Muslim credentials. "He's afraid that if he does anything, it will be seen as against Islam."
Abdullah has been equally vague in recent months as relations between religious groups have worsened. Political analyst Farish Noor says the prime minister deals with religious tensions in piecemeal fashion, ranging from general statements about the need for moderation in Islam to mild condemnations of extremists. Worse, some of the most conservative-minded religious leaders in the nation have been given positions of power in Malaysia's religious bureaucracy. "Abdullah is fully aware of the fact that the rise of an increasingly right-wing conservative Muslim voice in the country will bode ill for the image of Malaysia abroad, but at the same time he cannot risk losing or antagonizing the Malay-Muslim bloc vote," Noor says.
Geopolitical issues have of course angered hard-liners. Analysts say moderate Indonesian Muslim leaders are constantly being isolated by the radicals because of Bush's controversial policies in the Middle East. To counter this, Yudhoyono has thrown his support behind a move by moderates to rehabilitate Pancasila as a tool to promote Indonesia's diversity. "I think Indonesia's mainstream Muslims are concerned that their democratic freedoms are being eroded," says Robin Bush of the Asia Foundation.
The vast majority of Indonesians are still moderate in their practice of Islam, and the fundamentalists have limited appeal. But they're gaining traction, and there is a danger that the population can be swayed by the loudest voices, especially when they blame poverty on corrupt, secular politicians in the government. Wahid says that the moderates must initiate an open debate—which societies in Indonesia and Malaysia have thus far tended to shy away from—on what kind of Islam they want. Syed Ali Tawfik Al-Attas, head of the Institute of Islamic Understanding, Malaysia's Islamic think tank, agrees. "The Muslim idea of tolerance means that you have mutual respect, forgiveness and magnanimity [for others]," he says. "If you ask now if those [attitudes] have weakened, the answer is yes." The region's moderate leaders must work harder to strengthen them, or risk seeing two anchor countries slide into extremism. |
posted by Nobody @ 4:46 AM  |
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| ‘Pic in blog’ on agenda |
The Star
PUTRAJAYA: The controversy faced by Gombak MP Datuk Dr Rahman Ismail and Senator Datin Paduka Norhayati Onn over a photograph on the Internet, purportedly of them together, is expected to be discussed by the Umno supreme council tomorrow.
Sources said that although Norhayati had filed for divorce and the matter was now in court, the party was concerned, as the matter involved two Umno leaders.
“The position of the two will be discussed by the council. In politics, image is very important,” said a source.
“The matter should be discussed as it involves two Umno politicians. The interest of the party should come first.”
Another source said that if the case of Klang Umno chief Datuk Zakaria Md Deros, whose illegal construction of his mansion caused an uproar, was discussed at the supreme council level, the case involving the two politicians must also be raised.
The council in its meeting last month told Zakaria to resign as Klang municipal councillor.
However, no decision was made on his division post and position as Port Klang assemblyman.
The Star reported on Tuesday that Norhayati, who is Klang Umno division Wanita chief, and Dr Rahman, a committee member of the Gombak Umno division, had denied that the picture posted on the Internet was of them.
Sungai Pinang assemblyman Teng Chang Khim had posted a negative image of the photograph on his blog.
It showed a woman with her head on a man’s chest. |
| posted by Nobody @ 4:32 AM |
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| 教長：限收10%非土著違政策 |
星洲日報
（布城訊）教育部長拿督斯里希山慕丁今日（週四，11月30日）指示森美蘭州教育局，立刻收回引起爭議的“開辦特別計劃班”通函。
希山慕丁出席新海峽時報的閱報計劃推介禮後，在新聞發佈會上強調，開辦特別計劃班並不是教育部的決定，而且違反他要加強國民學校和使國民學校成為首選學校的目標。
他說，他是從馬華總會長拿督斯里黃家定提呈的教育備忘錄中獲悉此事。
“當我審查此事時，發現州教育局所規定的條件，與教育部的政策是完全背道而馳。我不知道哪里出了問題；不過，我在今天的部門內閣會議匯報會上已發出指示（收回通函）。”
“這封通函只是由森州教育局發出，而且只涉及一個州。”
希山慕丁指出，在這項計劃下只收土著優秀生、只收10%非土著生和只有考得7A生才能就讀的3項條件都是沒有理由的。
“我感到非常奇怪，在我們準備加強國民學校，以吸引非土著學生時，卻制定這種阻撓錄取非土著學生的條件，這與我們當初的政策和議程相抵觸。
“我們都希望通過國民學校加強國民團結，所以任何州教育局若違背我的這項願望，我將毫不遲疑的指示他們收回（決定）。”
不對付森教育局
詢及教育部是否會對付發出有關通函的州教育局時，希山說：“有甚麼理由要這樣做？又沒有人死去，如果只是一項錯誤，那麼就讓負責此事的官員作出解釋；重要的是，我們是因為別人做錯事而處罰他呢，還是因為他不明白而處罰他？”
“對我來說，別人若不明白，我們就設法讓他明白，如果發出的通函與我們政策有抵觸，我們就收回，又不是有人死去或被殺！” （星洲日報‧2006/11/30） |
| posted by Nobody @ 4:24 AM |
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| Wednesday, November 29, 2006 |
| Malaysia bites back and industriously trades the insults |
by Michael Backman
The Age
November 29, 2006
MY LAST column on wasteful government spending in Malaysia (Business, 15/11) generated a furore. I received more than 600 emails from readers, mostly Malaysians (both expatriate and in Malaysia) and nearly all supportive.
The column was the most emailed item on The Age's website for six days straight and it was replicated in dozens of blogs worldwide.
My personal website received more than 50,000 hits. A Malaysian Government minister criticised the column publicly. And the Malaysian Opposition Leader issued a news release in its support.
The minister, Rafidah Aziz, Malaysia's Minister for Trade and Industry, declared somewhat imperiously that she didn't care what I said because I am a foreigner and I probably don't know much about Malaysia anyway.
Rafidah knows her trade brief like few others. Her knowledge of the complex rules of the international trading system, with its many trade barriers, is remarkable. In meetings with other trade ministers, she rarely needs assistance from minders. Hard working and tenacious, I once thought she might make a reasonable prime minister.
But her technical abilities are marred by her mishandling of other issues, most recently her ministry's allocation of much coveted car import permits. Most went to a handful of well-connected businessmen, including her own relatives.
The issue exploded in Malaysia late last year and she was lucky to keep her job.
And then there are the corruption allegations. In 1995, in a report to the attorney-general, the public prosecutor said there was a prima facie basis for Rafidah's arrest and prosecution on five counts of corruption.
An opposition activist later acquired official documents that appeared to confirm this. He was jailed for two years under the Official Secrets Act simply for possessing them. Rafidah, on the other hand, was not even charged.
Rafidah added to her remarks about my column that no Malaysian should say such things. It's little wonder that she doesn't welcome scrutiny from her own people. But then the idea that Malaysians cannot comment publicly about how their country is run but a non-Malaysian can, is disgraceful.
Perhaps Rafidah needs to be reminded who pays her salary.
And as if to underscore my points about waste, on the day that my column was published, an assistant minister told the Malaysian Parliament that Malaysia's first astronaut to be sent into space next year aboard a Russian space mission will be tasked to play batu seremban, a traditional Malay children's game played with pebbles, will do some batik painting and will make teh tarik, a type of Malaysian milky tea, all to see how these things can be done without gravity.
The day before, the Government announced that a new RM400 million ($A142 million) palace will be built for Malaysia's king, a position that is almost entirely ceremonial.
And the week before a groundbreaking ceremony was held for a second bridge between Penang and the Malaysian peninsular costing RM3 billion, a bridge that many consider unnecessary.
Where would the money be better spent?
Education is the obvious answer. But not on school buildings, for it matters less in what children are educated than how. And how children are educated in Malaysia is a national disaster.
Learning is largely by rote. In an email to me last week, one Malaysian recalled her schooling as being in a system “all about spoon-feeding, memory work and regurgitation. Students are not encouraged to think for themselves and they become adults who swallow everything they're told.”
Even the existing system fails many. It has just emerged that in Sabah state, only 46 per cent of the students who had sat the UPSR — the exam that students sit before going to secondary school — had passed. One small school actually had a 100 per cent failure rate.
But does the Malaysian Government want creative, critical thinkers? Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi said to the ruling party's recent general assembly Malaysia needed to make students creative. But that means they must be questioning and thus critical; what hope is there of that when one of Abdullah's own ministers tells Malaysians that they cannot say the things that I can and hundreds of them write to me to complain because they don't feel that they can complain to their own Government?
Malaysia needs to do something. Its oil will run out soon and it has lost much of its appeal to foreign investors — recent UN figures show that from 2004 to 2005, foreign investment in Malaysia fell by 14 per cent, when the world economy was enjoying one of its longest periods of growth. One might wonder what the Trade and Industry Minister has actually been doing.
But, while politicians from the ruling party preach about Malay nationalism, there are at least some who quietly go about the business of trying to secure the country's future. Not all of them are Chinese.
Two weeks ago, Malaysia's MMC Corporation, together with a local partner, won a $US30 billion infrastructure deal in Saudi Arabia. That's a huge undertaking for any company, let alone a Malaysian one, and just as well too — someone has to pay the bills. |
| posted by Nobody @ 5:09 AM |
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| Comments from Michael Backman |
Michael Backman
November 17 2006
Source
The response to my recent column 'While Malaysia fiddles, its opportunities are running dry', published in The Age newspaper on November 15 has been overwhelming. I've received hundreds of e-mails and messages, many from Malaysians both in Malaysia and outside, of which perhaps 95% have been supportive. Thank you for these. It seems that the column has given voice to concerns that many Malaysians have.
I'd like to emphasise (and as many of you realise already), that I wrote the column as constructive criticism. I like Malaysia very much. I visit often and have many Malaysian friends of all races. I've also written a lot that is positive about Malaysia in the past, most notably in a previous book of mine - The Asian Insider: Unconventional Wisdom for Asian Business, which has no less than five chapters to explain to people outside Malaysia why I feel that Malaysia should be given more credit than it gets.
There have been many achievements. There is much about which Malaysians can be proud. Malaysia, for example, is far more politically mature and developed than is Singapore. The media is more open too (but of course not as open as it could or should be.) Malaysians are more entrepreneurial too. AirAsia started in Malaysia and has revolutionised air travel across Asia. In Singapore, there is very much a sense that the government has to do everything.
I also believe that the NEP, which has seen special advantages given to bumiputeras over other groups, has been important for Malaysia. It has been essential for nation building. Malaysia is peaceful and while the various groups may not mix much there is clear mutual respect between them. That is a huge achievement.
However, the problem as I said in my column, is waste. And also the use of statistics that are blatantly wrong. Malaysia also has a big problem with transparency. Too little account is made of how other people's money is spent. The police too are way too corrupt for a country as developed as Malaysia. The rote learning that is practiced in the schools also needs to be done away with. Generations of Malaysian children are missing out on an education that should teach them how to be creative and critical - this is what a truly modern, boleh country needs. Again, my comments are meant to be constructive. And I make them as a non-Malaysian largely because many Malaysians feel rightly or wrongly that they cannot say these things themselves in their own country.
Since my column was published, plans for a new RM400 million Istana have been announced and the Agriculture Ministry parliamentary secretary has told Parliament that Malaysia's first astronaut will be playing batu seremban and spinning tops and making teh tarik while in space. There are countless scientists around the world who would give anything for the opportunity to go to space and do real experiments. For the Malaysian government to send an astronaut into space to play Malay children's games serves only to re-emphasise my point about waste. Not only that, it makes Malaysia look infantile in the eyes of the rest of the world, which is a great pity when Malaysia has made so many real achievements. The world is getting more clever, more competitive and more dynamic every day. There are too many in Malaysia who don't seem to understand this.
Of course my views are just that: my views. But I have spent most of my adult life analysing and writing about Asia. I am direct and critical; I do not veil my criticisms because I don't want to waste my time or yours with readers trying to guess what I really mean. Open debate is absolutely critical for all modern, dynamic countries. The free flow of ideas and information helps to make countries rich. Political leaders cannot do everything on their own be they in the UK, Australia or Malaysia. They need help. Otherwise they make mistakes. And when they do, whose fault is that? Those who prefer to stay quiet? And should I as a non-Malaysian be commenting on Malaysia? Of course. Malaysian political leaders and commentators routinely comment about other countries. That's how the world is now, an inter-dependent, global world. And the world is much better for it.
I will write another column about Malaysia soon. |
| posted by Nobody @ 4:58 AM |
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| While Malaysia fiddles, its opportunities are running dry |
source
MALAYSIA'S been at it again, arguing about what proportion of the economy each of its two main races — the Malays and the Chinese — owns. It's an argument that's been running for 40 years. That wealth and race are not synonymous is important for national cohesion, but really it's time Malaysia grew up.
It's a tough world out there and there can be little sympathy for a country that prefers to argue about how to divide wealth rather than get on with the job of creating it.
The long-held aim is for 30 per cent of corporate equity to be in Malay hands, but the figure that the Government uses to justify handing over huge swathes of public companies to Malays but not to other races is absurd. It bases its figure on equity valued, not at market value, but at par value.
Many shares have a par value of say $1 but a market value of $12. And so the Government figure (18.9 per cent is the most recent figure) is a gross underestimate. Last month a paper by a researcher at a local think-tank came up with a figure of 45 per cent based on actual stock prices. All hell broke loose. The paper was withdrawn and the researcher resigned in protest. Part of the problem is that he is Chinese.
"Malaysia boleh!" is Malaysia's national catch cry. It translates to "Malaysia can!" and Malaysia certainly can. Few countries are as good at wasting money. It is richly endowed with natural resources and the national obsession seems to be to extract these, sell them off and then collectively spray the proceeds up against the wall.
This all happens in the context of Malaysia's grossly inflated sense of its place in the world.
Most Malaysians are convinced that the eyes of the world are on their country and that their leaders are world figures. This is thanks to Malaysia's tame media and the bravado of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad. The truth is, few people on the streets of London or New York could point to Malaysia on a map much less name its prime minister or capital city.
As if to make this point, a recent episode of The Simpsons features a newsreader trying to announce that a tidal wave had hit some place called Kuala Lumpur. He couldn't pronounce the city's name and so made up one, as if no-one cared anyway. But the joke was on the script writers — Kuala Lumpur is inland.
Petronas, the national oil company is well run, particularly when compared to the disaster that passes for a national oil company in neighbouring Indonesia. But in some respects, this is Malaysia's problem. The very success of Petronas means that it is used to underwrite all manner of excess.
The KLCC development in central Kuala Lumpur is an example. It includes the Twin Towers, the tallest buildings in the world when they were built, which was their point. It certainly wasn't that there was an office shortage in Kuala Lumpur — there wasn't.
Malaysians are very proud of these towers. Goodness knows why. They had little to do with them. The money for them came out of the ground and the engineering was contracted out to South Korean companies. They don't even run the shopping centre that's beneath them. That's handled by Australia's Westfield.
Next year, a Malaysian astronaut will go into space aboard a Russian rocket — the first Malay in space. And the cost? $RM95 million ($A34.3 million), to be footed by Malaysian taxpayers. The Science and Technology Minister has said that a moon landing in 2020 is the next target, aboard a US flight. There's no indication of what the Americans will charge for this, assuming there's even a chance that they will consider it. But what is Malaysia getting by using the space programs of others as a taxi service? There are no obvious technical benefits, but no doubt Malaysians will be told once again, that they are "boleh". The trouble is, they're not. It's not their space program.
Back in July, the Government announced that it would spend $RM490 million on a sports complex near the London Olympics site so that Malaysian athletes can train there and "get used to cold weather". But the summer Olympics are held in the summer.
So what is the complex's real purpose? The dozens of goodwill missions by ministers and bureaucrats to London to check on the centre's construction and then on the athletes while they train might provide a clue.
Bank bale outs, a formula one racing track, an entire new capital city — Petronas has paid for them all. It's been an orgy of nonsense that Malaysia can ill afford.
Why? Because Malaysia's oil will run out in about 19 years. As it is, Malaysia will become a net oil importer in 2011 — that's just five years away.
So it's in this context that the latest debate about race and wealth is so sad.
It is time to move on, time to prepare the economy for life after oil. But, like Nero fiddling while Rome burned, the Malaysian Government is more interested in stunts like sending a Malaysian into space when Malaysia's inadequate schools could have done with the cash, and arguing about wealth distribution using transparently ridiculous statistics.
That's not Malaysia "boleh", that's Malaysia "bodoh" (stupid). |
| posted by Nobody @ 3:54 AM |
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| Tuesday, November 28, 2006 |
| The racial divide widens in Malaysia |
source
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's government regularly cautions its constituents that open and honest dialogue of the "sensitive" subject of race is strictly off limits.
Then comes along the week-long United Malays National Organization (UMNO) annual assembly, at which Muslim Malay party leaders warn the country's minority Chinese and Indians that questioning the special status of Islam and Malays in society will be met with violent doom.
Fists tremble. Daggers are brandished. Party delegates thunder, "Long live the Malays." The very predictability of the chest-thumping is what UMNO members use to rationalize it: "Although some sides were a bit extreme [this year]," said UMNO vice president Muhyiddin Yassin, "it is quite normal to voice feelings during the assembly."
Yet it would be a mistake to confuse this year's assembly with previous party congresses. The Islamic and racist zeal was unmistakably more incessant and explicit, and the proceedings were considerably less tempered with calls for national unity. Remarks by Hasnoor Hussein, an UMNO delegate from Malacca, were typical: "UMNO is willing to risk lives and bathe in blood to defend the race and religion. Don't play with fire. If the [other races] mess with our rights, we will mess with theirs."
What troubles many Malaysians about UMNO's lack of restraint is that it comes at a time when the country appears more racially polarized than it's been in decades. Malaysia's mix of ethnic Malays, Indians and Chinese has long been resentful of each other and willfully segregate themselves. Those resentments exploded into full-blown race riots in 1969, when ethnic Malays attacked and killed scores of ethnic Chinese.
These days, some 90% of Chinese students attend private Mandarin-language schools. Meanwhile, most Malays attend public schools and most Indians Tamil-language institutions of learning. Two years ago the government initiated a public service program to improve race relations by choosing 18-year-olds to participate in a military style camp. That scheme has been dogged by reports of race-related infighting, however.
Unequal rights
In the face of a creeping Islamization, non-Malays and social activists have recently pressured Malaysia's UMNO leadership to grant equal rights to all of the country's citizens regardless of race or religion - as is guaranteed under the federal constitution.
In particular, they have also become more vocal in questioning a controversial affirmative action program intended to help Muslim Malays catch up economically with the ethnic Chinese, who comprise 60% and 25% of the population respectively.
Started in 1971, the so-called New Economic Policy (NEP) was originally intended to last 20 years but has since been extended indefinitely. That's because, according to the government, its target of 30% Malay ownership of the country's total corporate equity still has not been achieved. According to official statistics, that percentage now hovers around 18%. Yet a study conducted by an independent academic last month contested that figure by claiming that ethnic Malay total equity ownership could already be as high as 45%.
The push for more democracy in authoritarian Malaysia leaves its ethnic Chinese and Indian minority groups particularly vulnerable - a fact reflected in the racial bashing at this year's UMNO assembly. At the same time, UMNO's preoccupation with racial politics raises growing doubts about its ability to lead the country forward faced with the challenge of China's economic emergence. The party leadership has openly acknowledged the need for Malaysia to change course if it is to remain competitive with its fast-rising neighbors.
Economic growth slowed from 7.2% in 2004 to 5.2% last year, while foreign investment dropped 15% to $3.9 billion. Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has promoted his concept of Islam Hadhari, or Civilizational Islam, a modernist interpretation of the faith that stresses moderation and technological and economic competitiveness. In that direction, his party has also introduced plans to transform Malaysia into a regional information technology, agricultural and biotech hub.
"We need an economic transformation," Abdullah said in his opening address at the UMNO assembly. Yet tight curbs on personal freedoms, implemented to curb racial tensions, have hindered the open inquiry and innovative spirit necessary to achieve Abdullah's vision. The next phase of economic development will require coincident social transformation, reforms the current race-obsessed political leadership is reluctant to implement.
Past tense progressive
Oddly, UMNO was once a progressive party, championing what seemed a viable vision to improve equity among the races. Even into the 1990s, under the iron-fisted leadership of Mahathir Mohamad, UMNO looked primed to lead Malaysia toward developed country status. The shimmering steel and glass that spangle Kuala Lumpur's skyline are remnants of that now fading vision.
But the plan went awry as UMNO became politically entrenched in power. Meanwhile, Malaysia's social development and technical know-how has not kept pace with its infrastructural achievements. A common concession in Malaysia, even among its own leadership, is that the country has first world infrastructure but a Third World mentality. Now, that dubious distinction is becoming increasingly obvious to outsiders.
The country's leadership must take much of the blame. UMNO has clung to old solutions, such as the NEP, to fix new problems. Put another way, UMNO, which has ruled Malaysia for four-plus decades through a coalition of other race-based parties, has become bitter, cynical and defensive - a party that is emphasizing preservation at the expense of progress.
Even younger UMNO members, once portrayed as idealistic, urbane and liberal, have quickly come to resemble the party's conservative old guard. And now they often represent the front edge of the party's increasing racist angst. For instance, Abdullah's Oxford-educated son-in-law, Khairy Jamaluddin, who is coincidentally the deputy chief of UMNO's youth wing, warned in September that Chinese political groups would try to take advantage of any split inside UMNO.
When pressured to apologize, according to media reports, the 31-year-old said, "What is there to apologize for? ... I am only defending my race." At the annual assembly, meanwhile, UMNO youth chief Hishammudin Hussein urged the government to reject proposals for an inter-faith commission intended to foster better understanding among Malaysia's various religious groups.
He brandished a Malay dagger, known locally as a keris, when speaking. Some delegates, it seemed, urged him to go further. "Datuk Hisham has unsheathed his keris, waved his keris, kissed his keris. We want to ask Datuk Hisham, when is he going to use it?" said UMNO Perlis delegate Hashim Suboh.
Non-Malays are seeking to exploit the fiery tone of the UMNO assembly to their own political advantage. Liow Tiong Lai, youth chief of the Barisan Nasional component of the Malaysian Chinese Association, said the day that the assembly wrapped up, "All of us are Malaysians in this multiracial country and hatred must not exist. Instead, we must find strength in diversity. We must inculcate love and unity among the races in order to overcome obstacles together."
Malays and UMNO party members will question the sincerity of such remarks, and not without reason. Following UMNO's example, all of Malaysia's major political parties are explicitly race-based, and all have been known to play the race card to shore up their support bases. But only UMNO has the weight of an assembly that has incited anger, mistrust and ridicule of other races.
This year's assembly could mark a dangerous turning point for a country that not long ago was often applauded internationally as a model moderate Islamic nation for its seeming religious tolerance and clear economic achievements. Nowadays, it's altogether unclear if a racially charged UMNO can even manage to maintain short-term social and political stability.
Ioannis Gatsiounis, a New York native, is a Malaysia-based writer. |
| posted by Nobody @ 4:10 AM |
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| Sunday, November 26, 2006 |
| Hisham and his keris' remark shocks Karpal |
Source : MalaysiaKini, Nov 18, 06 2:21pm
A Umno Youth delegate’s remark asking when its movement chief Hishammuddin Hussein will use the keris (traditional Malay dagger) has annoyed and offended an opposition leader.
DAP chairperson and Bukit Gelugor MP said he was shocked that such statement was allowed to be made at the Umno Youth annual meet.
Umno Perlis delegate Hashim Suboh was quoted in a New Straits Times report yesterday as saying at the end of the debate on economy and education issues that “Datuk Hisham has unsheathed his keris, waved his keris , kissed his keris. We want to ask Datuk Hisham when is he going to use it?”
Hashim made the remark while saying “force must be used against those who refused to abide by the social contract” in relation to Hishammuddin’s alleged weakness in dealing with demands from the Chinese schools.
“The deputy chairperson of the assembly, Amiruldin Badruddin, should have immediately asked for a retraction of such provocative remarks,” Karpal, also a prominent lawyer, said in a statement today.
Disquiet among non-Malays
He demanded Prime Minister and Umno president Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to look into the matter and order the offensive remark to be withdrawn.
The veteran politician added that Hashim’s remark also deserved the attention of the Inspector General of Police Musa Hassan and Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail to ascertain the course of action to be taken.
“(Hashim’s) statements have created concern and disquiet among non-Malays in the country. The statements amount to sedition as they have a seditious tendency,” asserted Karpal.
Two days ago, Karpal described Hishammuddin’s brandish of the keris at this year's Umno Youth assembly as another attempt to use the keris as a “weapon of offense”.
He also said Hishamuddin’s remarks in relation to the jurisdiction of the civil court and syariah court has “committed a contempt of court”. |
| posted by Nobody @ 5:44 AM |
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| Friday, November 10, 2006 |
| RM17bil initial investment for SJER project |
TheStar
JOHOR BARU: More than RM17bil is expected to be initially pumped into the 2,217sq km South Johor Economic Region (SJER) project which is 2.5 times the size of Singapore and 48 times as big as Putrajaya.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said it was Malaysia's vision to make the region the new international address for business, investment, leisure and culture and to showcase all that the nation could be.
"Not only will this ambitious effort benefit the people of Johor, it will also bring great returns to all Malaysians.
"The SJER is the single-largest development project ever to be undertaken in the region.
It is one of the most important and ambitious initiatives not only in the Ninth Malaysia Plan(9MP) but also in the history of our development," he said in his speech at the launching of the SJER by the Johor Sultan.
The SJER will be officially called the Iskandar Regional Development, a name given in honour of the Ruler. |
| posted by Nobody @ 3:42 PM |
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| 华丽推介礼未能证明市场认同－柔南经济区域成败考验执行力 |
独立新闻在线
【本刊特约吴以伦撰述】上周，一个盛大的仪式在一片赞美声中隆重举行，首相阿都拉巴达威在仪式上透露了一组关于柔南经济区域的关键数据；数据虽然很多，但归结一句话，就是柔南经济区域是个很庞大的工程。
怎么庞大呢？一、这个计划面积涵盖2217平方公里（或相当于55万英亩），相当于新加坡面积的2.5倍。二、这个计划动用的投资超过马币177亿元。
这个2217平方公里的区域包括了努沙再也（Nusajaya）新行政中心、肩负柔佛州未来旅游业发展使命的金海湾（Danga Bay）、在古来兴建的资讯走廊赛城（Cybercity）、丹绒柏勒峇斯港口（Port of Tanjung Pelepas）、士乃机场、巴西古当港口合组成的士乃后勤物流中心，形成一个北起古来、东至巴西古当和西至笨珍组成的“柔南经济金三角”。
在马币177亿元的资金来源中，有43亿是中央政府在第九马来西亚计划期间的拨款，作为柔南经济区域的发展经费，其中大部分用于安全、基础设施及提升交通方面。另外34亿来自政府关联企业，作为这个策略性计划的起始投资。最后100亿投资资金来源，政府则是信誓旦旦的认为，会来自于本地及境外的私人投资者。
最大特色：儒艮保护区
马来西亚政府的主要投资臂膀国库控股（Khazanah）的资料，柔南经济区域将涵盖近135万人口，大约相当于柔佛州43%人口；若以种族区分，约有48.2%的居民为马来人、35.8%为华人、9.4%印度人及6.6%的外国人。
现阶段已经公布的具体发展计划包括柔佛州新行政中心努沙再也（Nusajaya）、教育城（Nusajaya EduCity）、医疗中心、回教食品中心、南部工业物流产业带、生物燃料研究与发展中心、娱乐中心、回教金融中心、1765英亩的马球场、居住园区、还有大家在前些时间听说过在邀请迪斯尼前来投资但是最后未遂的主题公园。有别于马来西亚其他发展计划，这个工程最大的特色就是还有一个儒艮（海牛，Dugong）保护区。
这个庞大工程有几个主角，执政党巫统、国库控股、与巫统关系密切的马友乃德集团（UEM）及未来即将成立的柔南机构（South Johor Authority）。
掌握马来西亚一切权力的巫统，就是于1946年5月在新山成立；在今年五月，他们正好在这个区域内的某个地方庆祝这个政党成立60周年。
马友乃德积极参与
国库控股现阶段主要是负责这个区域发展的规划及管理工作，是这个区域的催化者；马友乃德集团一直都积极参与国内各大发展计划的建设项目，其旗下公司马友乃德置地（UEM Land）则是新行政中心努沙再也的开发商。
即将立法成立的柔南机构，是个为了协调各个利益群体实权的组织，由中央政府及地方政府投资合组而成，为投资者提供一站式服务，以及能有有效处理投资计划及申请，未来还会扮演这个区域的规划、制定发展策略、招商及管理的政府机构。
在2005年7月，马来西亚中央政府已认为，柔南地区需要重新定位及发展，然后就委托国库控股研究分析在柔佛州南部设立一个特别经济区域的可行性，起初的名字为南部经济区域（Southern Belt Economic Zone）。
国库控股为此特别成立了一个涵盖城市规划、房地产、商业流程再造（BPR）、环境规划、法律法规、市场营销、经济与金融规划、社会政策、战略及柔佛州相关县市地方政府的特别行动组进行相关的论证工作。当然，来自中央政府及柔佛州地方政府的官员也参与了这个最初的研究工作。
一直到2005年10月，国库控股向由首相及柔佛州务大臣担任联合主席的国家柔南经济区域规划委员会（NSPC）提交柔南经济区域的研究报告，最终形成大家熟知的柔南经济区域。随后国库控股作为这个委员会的秘书处，又另外被委托撰写柔南经济区域大蓝图的许多细则，并要确保这个计划的完整性及可持续性。
要与新加坡竞争
事实上，在这个柔南经济区域在被宣布之前，政府已经是对于这个区域大兴土木了，最明显的就是丹绒柏勒峇斯港口（PTP）及努沙再也新行政中心。前者早在1999年就开始运作，其成立的目的非常明确，就是要与新加坡港口竞争，至今他们成功吸引全球最大的航运企业之一马士基航运（MAERSK）及台湾的常青海运集团将他们的区域总部搬迁到此。后者则是在2004年开始兴建，第一期的总投资额超过10亿马币、预计在2007年8月以后陆续完成其中的设施。
根据本地媒体早前的报道，新加坡是柔南区域内主要的境外投资者，早在上个世纪以来就有不少于30%的境外投资是来自新加坡，而马来西亚政府通过希望这个庞大计划吸引来自新加坡的投资，从新加坡这个高速发展的经济体中获取更多机会。
为了吸引来自新加坡的投资者或消费者，国库控股也向媒体透露这个区域很可能成为一个自由通关区域（Free Access Zones）。自由通关区域一旦落实，来自新加坡的境外人士可以不必持护照进入柔佛南部，这样为这些人提供了生活及工作的便捷，并认为这样会促进这个区域的经济发展。
种种迹象显示，柔南经济区域将会是马来西亚政府未来20年（2006年至2025年）的区域发展的重点，政府将会持续不断的为这个区域提供必要的资金，据说这笔资金将高达千亿马币，而柔南经济区域将会成为区域内最大型单一发展项目。当然先决条件是如果他们还能够继续执政。
未来这个柔南经济区域会怎样发展，我们拭目以待吧，该说的早在《柔南走廊的迷失世界 百亿元吹起的巨型泡泡》已经提及。再怎么华丽的推介仪式及巨大的柔南经济区域发展沙盘，也不一定能证明这个计划会被市场所认同。 |
| posted by Nobody @ 3:18 PM |
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| About Me |
Name: Nobody
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