Lina Joy! And so the dust will begin to settle and Malaysians will go back to their lives and forget the decision of probably the most important court verdict that directly impacts the lives of all Malaysians in this land. The Lina Joy verdict has damned the secular Constitution of the land, leaving many unanswered and worrying questions about the fate of Malaysia - a land with a non-Muslim population of about 40 percent.

The Malaysiakini headline on Wednesday cried out "No Joy for Lina" after the Federal Court rejected the 42-year-old Malay Christian's application to the highest civilian court in the land to allow her to delete Islam from her identity card. A lot of people who believe that the Constitution should be the supreme law of the land also has no joy. The Chief Justice himself said Lina Joy must now submit to the Syariah court for redress, effectively putting her in limbo, as she is no longer a Muslim and thus should not be forced to submit to Islamic law. I don't have legal training but it is clear to me that by making someone like Lina Joy submit to Islamic law when she has declared herself to be a Christian is a gross violation of human rights and the freedom to choose one's own religion.

Malaysia is now being accused by some quarters of violating its own laws as well as international laws. If the government thinks that this furore over this case will slowly die a natural death, it may be in for a surprise. In fact, Malaysia's confusing stance of pretending to allow freedom of religion and in the same breath, denying Malays the right to practice any religion is now very loudly proclaimed to the world. I would not be surprised if foreign governments make it a point to bring this matter to the attention of the Prime Minister in future government-to-government engagements. There is a price to be paid. This case is another clear sign that the Prime Minister's Islam Hadhari is sitting on thin ice. Lina Joy is also another indication that the country's reputation as a secular nation is in in grave danger. This should worry Malays and non-Malays equally, as only the Constitution without a religious slant can truly protect the rights and freedoms of its populace. This has been proven in history.  ¶ 4:12 PM 0 Comments

  Lina Joy verdict in Wednesday The much awaited Lina Joy verdict is expected to be read by the Federal Court this Wednesday. This test case, whether a Malay can renounce Islam, the state religion, is by far one of the most divisive court cases in recent times as Malaysia appears to tilt heavily towards more Islamic characteristics at the expense of the strongly secular Constitution.

Either way, the verdict will be greeted by one set of supporters (those supporting more Islamic laws versus supporters of the Constitution being the supreme law of the land) with dismay. I tend to believe that the Federal court will not allow the now christian Lina Joy to leave Islam. Recent episodes involving religious conversion have been badly handled by the government, leaving many frustrated and disturbed. The reality is that if Lina Joy is allowed to legally leave Islam, then Muslims are allowed to renounce Islam - a precedent far too dangerous for the government to even contemplate.

I believe Malaysia will continue to be confronted by religiously-slanted issues whereby only decisive and fair leadership can help stem any fallout. So far, this kind of leadership has been lacking, with leaders opting for inaction for fear of offending certain parties. The head-in-the-sand approach just do not cut it. It can be argued that in some instances, the constitutional rights of Malaysians have been infringed, yet no remedial action was taken.

Malaysia should take note of how India handles the cauldron of race and religious cases. With a judiciary which is independent and untainted by executive control, it has won the confidence of both Hindu and Muslim citizens of the republic. It is in fact the only way to keep a country such as India, with disparate religions and ethnic populations, from tearing at each others throats. In Malaysia, the bad image the judiciary has collated for itself over the course of several years, has not entirely dissipated. Perhaps the best way for Malaysia's judges to win back its old reputation as steadfastly neutral and professional is by handing out the verdict in the case of Lina Joy, purely within the ambit of the supreme law of the land - the Constitution. Meanwhile, we wait for Wednesday's verdict. May God bless Malaysia.  ¶ 2:35 PM 1 Comments

  Why do these things keep happening? Anguish. Anger. Helplessness. Imagine your child being ripped away from you by an official decree that says that your son is now a Muslim and there's nothing you can do about it. I have always believed that religion is an intensely personal choice, certainly not a public forum where politically-motivated religious officials can dip their hands at will across respected human boundaries and yank back a "convert" kicking and screaming. Without this Malaysiakini report, there would have been virtual public silence and apathy about what happened to 20-year-old C Ragu. His lawyer has rightly made the argument that more non-Muslim parents will be reluctant to send their children for National Service if there is an hidden force intent on converting naive youths to Islam by coercion. An appeal has been to the Prime Minister. Will he take make things right?

This all too familiar scene is being repeated yet again in Malaysia, with the government not showing any political will nor leadership to stop this dangerous trend. We have had enough of the Moorthi and Rayappan cases, still questioning why are such actions being perpetrated when unity, already a national illusion, becomes even more of a distant dream. Don't these government officials see that actions carried out on the banner of Islam, continue to make many non-Muslims equate Islam with these suspicious actions? So much for the Prime Minister's much-publicized Islam Hadhari. We Malaysians continue to be far apart as ever because of religion and race.  ¶ 11:38 AM 0 Comments

  Top cop cops out on corruption Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan was quoted in a local newspaper recently that police officers now have no reason to take bribes since the government has announced a generous pay hike for them. Is he trying to convey the message that previously it was perfectly ok for police officers to take bribes prior to any salary hike? So what were all the previous officious announcements about battling corruption in the force all about? Is the top cop in the land really serious about battling corruption within the force, a problem which is getting worse by the day or is he going to make empty rhetorical statements to reporters?

By his logic, a salary hike should stem the flow of dirty money into the pockets of our police officers. Somehow, the idea that rapacious, hungry officers who are so used to slipping RM50 notes into their pockets during the course of duty, are magically going to stop taking bribes due to a salary hike is a little ludicrous. Once, the good times roll, its hard to stop it. That is plain human nature, cop or no cop. It shows that Musa, however well-meaning, is at his wits end, to stop the potent public perception that Malaysia's police force is riddled with corrupt cops all the way to the top.  ¶ 10:31 AM 0 Comments

  Zam the dinosaur Malaysia's Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin is increasingly showing himself to be irrelevant. His self-proclaimed credentials as a journalist committed to his craft, has been debunked a long time ago. Even the mainstream newspapers are fast losing patience with this dinosaur. It is a wonder that he is still in the limelight, hogging precious newspaper space, to spew his dribble against anyone who dares to have an alternative point from the offical government line.

Just weeks after raising the alarm that bloggers are doing immeasurable damage to the nation's unity, Zainuddin now says that political bloggers only make up 20,000 of the 11 million Internet users in the country, and hence only a few people read blogs. Then why is he worried? Why the contradictory stance? Why is UMNO anxious about sites like Malaysiakini, Malaysia-Today, Screenshots? Malaysia-Today claims it gets daily hits of more than 2 million. I am sure that type of figure drowns out any imaginary numbers his TV stations can muster.

China, the rising world power, has been unable to effectively filter the Internet. Zam, as he is more inclined to be called, thinks he can - by shouting threats at an increasingly sophisticated urban populace. He has warned them that their writing is a threat to "national unity". If thinking aloud and producing analysis is a threat to the nation, then one must wonder if he is really talking about bloggers being a threat to UMNO. His McCarthystic behaviour in demonising ordinary citizens who happen to have a point of view about Malaysia is truly disturbing.

Where are we as a nation want to go? Does the government want this country to develop wings and fly or do they want the people to be forever docile, secure in the bosom of UMNO? Even if that means that this country becomes an insecure nation afraid of its own shadows, riven by racial suspicion for eternity?

What I have read about Zam demonstrated an anachronistic world view which swims in Zam's brain. The sad thing is that he is proud of his world view. I suppose when one is in the throes of power, and wishes to please his master, that's what people do. In any case, such behaviour has proven to be well-rewarding for many Ministers in our nation's esteemed cabinet. But I do hope that the Prime Minister loses patience with this Information Minister and drops him in the next Cabinet reshuffle.  ¶ 11:06 AM 0 Comments

  Is the Visit Malaysia Year campaign doing well? I returned from Phuket yesterday from a short break and as I stood in line to get my passport processed, I noticed that the swarms of people waiting to officially enter Malaysian soil were Malaysians back from the sun-kissed island of Phuket. Of the two hundred-odd passengers, a handful were foreigners lining up at the foreign passport queue. So what happened to Visit Malaysia Year 2007, that annoying battle cry of the government all this year? Where are the throngs of foreigners pushing desperately into Malaysia for leisure? Sure, we have the other sort, the type that takes a night boat from Sumatra, aided by syndicates, to forage for any work in small Malaysian towns and cities. But we Malaysians want well-heeled visitors, willing to contribute to the economy. Are we getting that type of visitors in big numbers when these big spenders can get excellent service (something Malaysians are not renowned for) and appealing cultural experiences in Thailand and Bali?

By the small line of foreigners from Phuket waiting for their passposrts to be stamped at the LCCT airport, I am even more convinced that VMY2007 has not paid dividends. And why are so many Malaysians willing to spend their money overseas and not take a local holiday? Another reason to suspect this is the Tourism Minister's decision to extend VMY 2007 to another year. Surely, things are not panning out well for the Minister and his grand plans?  ¶ 10:42 AM 0 Comments

  Decent Men The ghosts are nearly dead
Blood has turned to dust.
They still walk among us,
Race-based policies,
The unsheathing of the keris
And quotas
As silent companions.
Brittle beings, they peer sadly
From the ravages of history.
Malaya is now Malaysia
But their righteous hands
remain imprinted on the land.
But their grip is weakening,
On the verge of
slipping back into the soil they love.
Forever lost this time,
their time-seeped uniforms
To be unravelled
into naked atoms,
Eaten by parasitic successors
Trapped by indecency.

Decent men
Who did decent things
To help make a decent country
In the name of love.
This love still walks among us.
Dying. But not dead.

Yet.  ¶ 9:52 AM 0 Comments

  Are elections around the corner? There is coffee shop talk that elections may be just around the corner. Couple of indications why some people think so. Firstly, the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) has already started dusting off its elections machinery a few days ago. In usual political speak, MCA claimed they were just being fastidious and hardworking. Well, that may well be true but when it comes to the MCA (or any political party for that matter), I find that hard to believe in this era of political selfishness.

The recent outcry over the Maybank's requirement that legal firms servicing the bank must be bumiputera-owned, was quickly silenced by the Cabinet by directing the bank to retract this edict. The Prime Minister did not (as usual) have the courage to give the country's biggest bank a stern tongue lashing. Instead, he said "they know what to do". Essentially, the message is; don't be silly to make such announcements now but if you want to work this out on the sly, be my guest.

Even the keris waving Hishamuddin Tun Hussein Onn wavered on the side of common sense by saying that Maybank should not be doing things like this when we are trying to build a united Malaysia. Surprise turn around for someone who are not averse to unsheathing the keris. Even his deputy, the son-in-law of the Prime Minister, the self-proclaimed figher of Malay rights, has been silent on this issue. One could surmise that they do not want to annoy the Chinese voters at this juncture.

The Ijok by-election has been a tremendous eye-opener for the ruling party. It may be best to strike when the iron is still hot i.e when the momentum is still with the government. Why wait until later when the economic or political developments are not conducive to hold elections? After all, the opposition parties are being viewed as being able to cobble together an alliance as evidenced by Ijok when PAS and DAP helped Keadilan campaign. There is also the well-founded fear that the Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed factor could swing more votes for the opposition in the next general elections. The Star newspaper demonised the former premier just last Sunday in a full-page article questioning his association with opposition political parties. Of course, now with the old man recuperating from a recent health hiccup, the government may see this as an added impetus to hold elections sooner rather than later.  ¶ 7:58 AM 0 Comments

  A nation under religious siege Dialogues are the only way forward to promote religious understanding amongst the people of varying faiths. The hasty measure of man taking up arms against a fellow human being who happen to reach out to God in a different manner to his has caused great bloodshed and tragedy. Violence only begets more violence. An eye for an eye makes the entire world go blind.

The current Prime Minister is a great proponent of dialogues. He has impressively called for dialogues to end conflicts in the Middle East, Darfur and any other region in the world that is under strife. Dialogues for the entire world seem a reasonable and logical solution as far as he is concerned.

But dialogues are not for Malaysians apparently. When citizens of this country call for inter-faith dialogues to create bridges and strengthen understanding between peoples of different faiths, the Prime Minister remains silent, unwilling to agree to such a basic request. The fact that the longer he waits, the spirit of nationhood becomes weaker amongst the 27 million Malaysians is apparently irrelevant.

This vacuous type of leadership is gradually being exposed to the world, following the recent cancellation of an international Muslim-Christian dialogue session which was also supposed to include key religous figures from both sides including the Archbishop of England. Such a summit would have boosted Malaysia's international credentials and position as a moderate, modern country which happens to have a Muslim majority population.

The question that begs to be asked; who is really running the country? The Prime Minister or an unseen hand with a myopic, narrow view of the world?  ¶ 5:17 PM 1 Comments

  In the name of religion, we must tear our social fabric apart In the name of religion, the authorities are demonstrating a disturbing propensity to tear this country asunder. Another Hindu man has come forward to tell his story; that his wife has been forcibly taken away by Islamic officials on grounds that she is muslim and thus she has no rights to be with a Hindu man. Laws that are crucial for the existence of a harmonious society are being ignored. The man's lawyers have alleged that the woman was taken away by people claiming to be from the Islamic authorities without showing any proof. It is believed that the woman has been taken away to a so-called rehabilitation camp.

It is as if there is a powerful group operating freely, beyond the control of the government, going around making crude demonstrations of the primacy of Muslims in Malaysia. It is curious that in recent months, most of these actions have been aimed at Hindus, who are a very small minority in Malaysia. On one occasion when a Christian man's body was taken away by Islamic authorities on the grounds that he was a Muslim, the body was returned for a Christian burial within weeks. One could surmise that the government was pressured by powerful international Christian blocs to do so. So there is a need to tread carefully with Christians in this country but not so with Hindus, seen as weak and compliant.

The paralysis of the government under the current leadership is disturbing. It is as if it is willing to forgo the nation's Constitution to pander to a loud minority clamouring for more public pronouncements of Islam's primacy in Malaysia. The latest case of a family being torn apart is unlikely to be the last, under the current environment.  ¶ 11:14 PM 0 Comments

  Of ministers and labels In Malaysia, politicians are very fond of labels. We are all conveniently divided into groups, with the basest denomination of race at the forefront of everything in the forefront of Malaysian society. Malays, Chinese, Indian, Pendatang, Bumiputera, non-Bumiputera, Kafir, Muslim, non-Muslim. All Malaysians grow up with this chant ringing in our ears. This is the mantra of our very being, with the tangible piece of plastic in our pockets to remind us of our differences. Then there is the matter of religion - that most personal of beliefs - where in Malaysia, how you make peace with your God is information the state deems it necessary to have imprinted into that little piece of plastic one carries in our wallets. We are not one people but many smaller groups. In a country of only 27 million, surrounded by bigger countries vying for scant resources, politicians go out of their ways, to remind us of our differences, and as politicians usually do, in the same breath exhort us to be united. Usually, this call is made without much fervour or zeal.

Labels are liberally applied, some would say, to make it makes it easier to govern a polyglot of people in a country like Malaysia. The other more cynical argument is that it makes it easier for the authorities to replicate the successful formula used by our colonial masters to keep the subjects divided, pitting one group against another, to ensure obedience and compliance to British rule. Recently our Minister of Science, Technology and Innovations Datuk Seri Jamaluddin Jarjis casually threw around his comments about “dark-skinned” Indians and “light-skinned” Indians to a group of Malaysian students and embassy officials overseas. He also deduced that dark-skinned Indians are low-class while the lighter skin ones are high class.

Perhaps such statements make the good Minister feels good about himself when he is uncomfortably aware of the tremendous advances “dark skinned” Indians are pioneering all over the world. Despite his claim that he is a learned man armed with a doctorate degree no less, his behaviour while shameful, is to be expected. It is not the first time he has courted controversy and he is unlikely to stop using such labels on the citizens of Malaysia. Why should politicians like him cease using such labels when such actions find resonance within his own political party? After all, UMNO thrives on such labels. While the good minister is surely aware that derogatory labels will anger Malaysian Indians, does he really care? After all, Indians in Malaysia are not a large enough group of influential voters to shake his position.

Increasingly, this kind of thinking is coming to the forefront of Malaysia’s political landscape as typified by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri’s Abdul Aziz’s eye-catching statement a few weeks ago when he blurted out he cannot support inter-faith dialogues because his voter base is uncomfortable with the concept. The dearth of intellectualism in the Malaysian ministerial cabinet is further emphasized by the obsession with control and brute force to bring Malaysians who are increasingly exposed to the outside world, to heel. The closing of the Malaysian mind nears completion. Ministers such as Jarjis who is always making overseas trips to promote Malaysia, are essentially showmen with little understanding of his environment and unfortunately, blessed too with a not-so-glib tongue.

Another Minister Zainuddin Maidin has also adopted similar tactics by going on record that bloggers should be divided into two groups – professional and non-professional categories. In his words, such a grouping will make it easier for the authorities to govern that annoying space called cyberspace. In the good minister’s simplistic world, the so-called “professional” blogger carries more weight and credibility while the the so-called “non-professional” blogger are to be viewed as cesspools of rumour mongering and consigned to the dustbins of credibility.

Zam as he is popularly known, described his ground breaking idea as a “mechanism of control”. How such labels and differentiation can help regulate cyberspace, we remain in the dark. As I am sure the Minister is as well. It is obvious that this suggestion is the good Minister’s strategy to effectively counter the growing influence of blogs which has caused him many a sleepless night since he took over the important Information Ministry post. So, the solution? Divide and rule with a liberal application of labels to segregate and confuse the target group while offering no real solutions to the perceived problems at hand. With the General Elections just around the corner, labels will continue to be splashed without limits. But labels are just what they are – mere words that when used too often, lose its potency to overawe and subdue.  ¶ 9:49 AM 0 Comments

  My travels to Kota Bahru to be with you I recall
the days when
The stars glide slowly past.
The milky night welcomes me
As I settle into the cavernous beast
Watching a thousand words file past
to bridge the distance between
Our restless hearts
If just for an instant.

Searching for air
Outside,
the darkness seals me in.
Molecules swirl impatiently
As wistful shadows of Malaya look back at me;
smudges of dim lights
on the window pane
race past me helplessly.

My steel-cold compartment
Moves deeper into the land,
Closer to you.
Come sleep
Into the darkness
And let me trace your heartbeat now
Let the soft lines of your skin
Pull me into sleep, sleep, sleep.

Then darkness.
It hastens the rise
of the Kota Bahru morning sun
and I rise to search
for your sweet clean face
in the tiny sea of unwashed humanity.  ¶ 4:29 PM 0 Comments

  Chinese are upset. Will UMNO makes amends? The Ijok by-elections results are in and government is patting itself on the back on a job well-done. Whether the cry of outrage from the opposition about alleged ballot fraud is factual or not is largely irrelevant. The results are irreversible and indeed, this loss has been deemed by some triumphant Barisan Nasional politicians as a death-knell for Malaysia’s opposition.

But a closer look at the Ijok election results show a massive shift in the voting patterns of the Chinese, who have in recent years, been disturbed by adverse political development within UMNO. The MCA president himself Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting himself has admitted that his party need to work harder to bring the Chinese back into the “fold”. Ong should be worried. Rural Chinese voters in an isolated region of Selangor, have sent a signal to the center that they are unhappy with larger national issues seen to be detrimental to the community. The old promise of local infrastructure development has proven ineffective with the community, perceived by many to be shielded from any trickle-down effect due to the keris waving antics of certain UMNO leaders last September. This despite the millions of Ringgit poured into Ijok in a few short weeks!

The Chinese needs to be convinced otherwise. That means snap general elections are unlikely to be held anytime soon. UMNO will have to be nice to the Chinese from now on, perhaps to the chagrin of some fire-brand politicians. In many constituencies, Chinese voters hold the key between victory and defeat. So UMNO need to re-evaluate its strategy and soberly recognize that race-baiting tactics could backfire badly. The government has to hold general elections by February 2009. The clock is ticking. And the Chinese are waiting for UMNO to make the first move.  ¶ 10:58 PM 0 Comments

  Thank You Malaysiakini Malaysiakini printed my tribute to my father MGG Pillai yesterday. The news site has also kindly linked my father's previous articles he wrote for Malaysiakini under his column, Chiaroscuro. Here is also eminent blogger Jeff Ooi's report on my father's passing away last year.  ¶ 12:27 PM 0 Comments