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Malaysian case of "Bumiputra" and "Non-Bumiputra"

The article is written by a fine man by the nick of a YM-RPK. He is really a reasonable being who is being well respected and adored by all walk of Malaysian. Keep up Sir .... https://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/17358/84/

Is there a doctor in the house?

Thursday, 29 January 2009 13:36

Raja Petra Kamarudin

How many of you detected the ‘hidden messages’ and the contradictions in the message by the Malays compared to the non-Malays? And I must add that as much as I do not like to use the terms ‘Malays’ and ‘non-Malays’, I have no choice because this is how the mainstream media and the politicians always talk. So I have to use the ‘normal’ vocabulary or else many may not understand what I am saying.How would the citizens of America be called? Would the ‘original’ inhabitants of the land be called ‘Indians’, or ‘Red Indians’, and the immigrant British, Italians, Germans, Jews (from Russia, Germany, Italy, France, the Middle East, etc.), Arabs, Chinese, Japanese, Malaysians, Indonesians, Filipinos, and what have you, be called ‘non-Indians’ or ‘non-Red Indians’?I am just using the ‘agreed’ standards adopted by Malaysia.

The Malay, the ‘Lord of the Land’, is called Bumiputera, or son-of-the soil, and all those who came slightly later are called non-Bumiputera.Okay, I know this opens up an entirely new debate. What about Tian Chua, some may ask, whose family came to this country 500 years ago, and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, whose father was born in India? Mahathir is Bumiputera and Tian Chua is non-Bumiputera. If ‘he who came first to Malaya’ is the yardstick, then Tian Chua would be Bumiputera and Mahathir would be non-Bumiputera, many will argue.Unfortunately, it does not work that way at all. Even if Mahathir himself were born in India and even though Tian Chua is 20th generation Melaka Malaysian, Mahathir would still be Bumiputera and Tian Chua would be non-Bumiputera. And that is why I, who was born in England, am also Bumiputera, while many of you whose grandfathers and/or grandmothers were born in this country are non-Bumiputera.Now, before you scream ‘not fair’, remember, life is never fair. So quit grumbling like a good non-Bumiputera. You are the ‘pendatang’ whether you like it or not.

Okay, let us look at what Pewaris said: any protest during the procession was inadvisable as it might offend the sensitivities of others. He meant, of course, the sensitivities of the Malays when he said ‘others’. ‘Others’ here means those who are not Indian. He knows the Chinese will not be sensitive about the matter so he did not think that ‘others’ meant Chinese as well.Saying that Malaysia’s race relations has improved is not enough, especially when it is Barisan Nasional politicians who are talking. This is mere rhetoric and even those making the statements know this is true. We need to do more than just talk. We need to act as well.

How can we explain why an estimated 90% of those who die in custody are Indians when Indians are not 90% of those behind bars? I have been behind bars many times myself and I can tell you that those who share the prisons or detention centres with me are not 90% Indians. In fact, 90% of the ISA detainees are Malays while the majority of those under EO are Chinese (with quite a number of Indians as well of course). In the lockups, more than half are Malays. In some lockups, depending on where it is, it is an almost all-Malay population.This means the high number of Indians killed behind bars does not reflect the proper ‘racial quota’. Is it any wonder that the Indians are upset? And if the Indians demonstrate their unhappiness, who are those ‘others’ who are going to become ‘sensitive’ about it? Certainly not the Indians, and the Chinese could not care a damn.

The Malays and Barisan Nasional politicians must guard what they say. What comes out of their mouths reflect what’s in their minds. And what’s in their minds is that Malay ‘sensitivities’ come first and the sensitivities of all others are not important. How can we shout about how much improved Malaysia’s race relations are when what you say does not give this impression?

Parti Keadilan Nasional (PKN) once threw a dinner party back in 1999 (before it became PKR) and the food had beef in everything, even in the vegetables. I asked the organiser why he did not provide for a vegetarian alternative for the Hindus and vegetarians. Even the vegetables were ‘not halal’ to Hindus and vegetarians.The reply the organiser gave me was that Malaysia is a Muslim country so they have prepared a ‘halal’ menu according to the Muslim tradition. The non-Muslims will have to learn to live with this, the organiser added. They can always not touch the food, the organiser said.Why would anyone want to come to a dinner party and not eat the food? Would they rather not come? The late MGG Pillai pointed this out to me and said that keADILan should be more sensitive to the feelings of those who are Hindus or vegetarians. At least one vegetarian table should have been prepared, he said.I apologised to Mr Pillai and promised to take him to dinner later to make up for it. “Oh, it’s not about me,” he replied. “I am just pointing it out to you.” And he went and whacked the chicken and fish. Mr Pillai was not grumbling because he could not eat what had been prepared. He was more concerned about the party’s image and what people might say about a ‘multi-racial’ party that caters only to the Muslim diet and tells those guests who can’t eat the food to “jangan makanlah kalau tak boleh makan.

”Malays are always concerned about their ‘sensitivities’. But when others also get ‘sensitive’, the Malays get upset and get the impression that the non-Malays are becoming too much and too demanding. This is a Malay country. Why are the non-Malays complaining so much? If they don’t like it then why not they go back to India or China or wherever they came from?But that’s just the point. They came from Malaysia, just like everyone else. They can’t go back to China or India. They did not come from China or India. They came from a town somewhere in Malaysia, the place where they were born. And they are as Malaysian as everyone else. How to make the Malays understand this?There is no way we can reinstall the program in their heads. We can’t even reformat the hard disk. The old program is so corrupted and the hard disk practically destroyed. We need to buy a totally new hard disk. This is what Malaysia and its race relations have been reduced to.Indonesia is not safe for the Chinese, many Malays will tell you. They kill Chinese in Indonesia. And that is why many Chinese have left Indonesia and have migrated to another country. The Chinese are more fortunate in Malaysia. In no other country are the Chinese as lucky as the Chinese in Malaysia. This is the belief of most Malays.

Well, in November 2008, Indonesia passed the Non-discrimination Act (UU No. 62/58) that makes it a crime to discriminate against any ethnic group. Indonesia’s aim is to unite all the races. Sure, there may have been problems in Indonesia in the past. Malaysia too has been having problems on and off since even before Merdeka. But Indonesia is trying to change all that. Malaysia is not only perpetuating racial problems but we even have institutionalised racial discrimination.Indonesia is no longer the ‘cowboy’ country that it once was. It has taken a giant leap into the new Millennium. They even give the opposition parties equal airtime on the government-owned television networks. Malaysia, unfortunately, is now far behind Indonesia. I know many Malaysian Chinese who have shifted their business interests to Indonesia. If we are not careful all our money is going to exodus to our neighbour and one day, soon, we are going to be poorer than that largest Muslim country in the world.Then what will come next? Indonesian maids will stop coming here to work? Instead, Malays will go to Indonesia to work as maids? Don’t laugh!

It not only is not funny, it can even happen, though maybe not in the immediate future.In the 1960s, the Pakistanis used to go to England to work as labourers. 50 years on and many Pakistanis are now the towkays while the ‘whites’ work for them. Stand on Oxford Street and see for yourself. Look at all the Rolls Royces passing by. The ‘white skins’ are driving the cars while the ‘brown skins’ sit in the back seats. Okay, some Pakistanis still work as the kuli. Not all are towkays. But the streets are no longer being swept by the ‘brown skins’. The ‘white skins’ do that dirty job. And the ‘white skins’ rent apartments owned by the ‘brown skins’.

Muhyiddin Yassin talks about Umno going downhill and what they should do about it. The problem is, he is totally clueless about the reason. The doctor can’t cure the disease until he can diagnose what is wrong with you. My late father was suffering from heartburn, said his doctor, and he recommended anti-acid tablets. After he suffered a heart attack and died at a young age of 40 plus, the doctor said maybe it was not heartburn after all. Maybe it was a mild heart attack that became worse because it was not treated.A friend of mine, DJ Tate, went to the Tawakal hospital because he was not feeling well. Just fatigue, said the doctor, go home and rest. Tate phoned me to tell me he would not be joining me at Anwar Ibrahim’s house for tea that day. He was not feeling well, he said. He hung up, slumped into the chair, and died within seconds. Five minutes later the wife phoned to say that Tate had died. I was shocked. I spoke to him barely a few minutes before that.Yes, unless the doctor knows what is wrong with you he might recommend an afternoon nap or some anti-acid tablets. You then lie down and die. Umno needs a better doctor than all those quacks. It is dying, not just tired. And unless they treat it with the right medication Umno is going to soon be buried like how I buried my father and Mr. Tate.

Malaysia-litic - Fuel Hike, oked, Car import duty, how?

Well, I guess the subject of "FUEL" has become the most talk-able subject, and mostly negatively because the recently hike was really causing hardship to many people. Well, to be honest & frank (in macro level sense), it is becoming too costly and not efficient if the government is to continue to subsidise fuel. BUT, our case is different. All the problems that we are facing today are due to corruption, mis-management of funds, wastage and Cronyism among certain protected and privilege groups in Malaysia. Subsidy will definitely create price arbitrage (price difference between non subsidise and subsidised goods) and these cronies and corruptists will take advantage of the situation by using corrupt practise, gangsterism and collusion to reap millions and millions out of it in the expense of the large number of normal citizens. So who to blame? Government gives subsidy to keep the cost stable and as affordable as possible but on the other hand, Government also creates a big HOLE somewhere for the protected and privilege groups to take advantage by relaxing on enforcements.

So it is RIGHT for Government to come back to us NOW and tell us, it is becoming burden to them to continue to subsidise the FUEL, after all those protected and privilege groups stole from us and became multi millionaires and even billionaires (in RM)

What have the Government done all these while? They should be able to predict what would happen.

How about the CAR IMPORT DUTY ? Yes, we are paying FUEL at about the market price just like the American, but OUR CARS are much more expensive after the 150% to 300% import duties. I am not sure if CAR IMPORT DUTY is really a duty that government collected duly from potential car buyers or it is somehow related to AP (Approval Permits) payment that CERTAIN protected and privilege groups collect. Why WHY Government is giving AP to certain people ?? Why not collect the DUTY efficiently and add the duty into the NATIONAL COFFER?

These are all the questions that we need explanations and I hope certain MPs can help to query about these in the Parliament. I guess only Pakatan MPs can bring up this matter as all the other Barisan MPs won't dare to raise any voice about this in the Parliament.

The following was a blog writing from an unknown person by the name of "A concern citizen" from Malaysia-Today. Its all about the above topic matter.

An estimated of RM 162 billions had been collected over the past 22 years. Actual figures could be much higher..

By A concern citizen

Recent fuel hike had sparked anger across the country asking Petronas account to be made available for public scrutiny to justify why the government cannot continue to subsidy the fuel. May be all these while, Petronas may not be footing 100% of the fuel bill, is the car owners had paid in advance for fuel subsidy in form of import and excise duties for both local and foreign mad vehicles, as suggested by one article published in the Star recently, and republished by Malaysia Today.

Following up on this topic, I had done a little research myself, and may be others had already done it but did not get highlighted in a wider angle. I had visited the website of Malaysia Automotive Association to get the statistic of total vehicle sale from 1986 till 2007, to get a broad idea of estimated excise and import duties might have been collected by the government since the inception of Proton, as the import duties were imposed for the excuse of protecting our new start up that suppose to make our nation pride in years to come. Well, Proton is not an issue for our discussion here, so we will not talk about it's success or failure and the failure cost to the rakyat. Let's us guestimate how much we had contributed to the government coffers since 1986.

Total vehicle sales since 1986 amounted to 6,264,910 units, both passengers and commercial vehicles included. (Source: http://www.maa.org.my/info_summary.htm). Assuming the ratio of 60% of total vehicles being locally produced, and rest of them are being imported. Also assuming average duty collected from local car is RM 10K each, and RM 50K for imported vehicles. Please note that I had made broad assumption, as the actual figure was never reported by the government in their annual budget and accounts.

An estimated of RM 162 billions had been collected over the past 22 years. Actual figures could be much higher as import tax was relatively high in the 90s before we signed the ASEAN free trade agreement. Where had the money gone? How much fuel subsidy had been given by the government on fuel after being offset by the car duties?

Such amount can be used to build a comprehensive rail network comparable to Japan and Europe, where almost all major cities are connected by rails. An efficient metro networks can also be build in Klang Valley comparable to London, Hong Kong and Singapore.

I hope the MP will continue to ask for actual figures in the Parliament and show to the rakyat that the car duty and Petronas proceed had been used in an accountable way.

Sabah-litic - Sabah the Step Child

Sabah ... where? What is that?

I could not imagine there are among Malaysian who will ask the above.....

That's could be the reality in the real life.....

You know why there are so much talk about Sabah-litic (I short-formed that from Sabah Politic after the so called Perfect Storm of March 8, 2008 Malaysia Election????

Facts or Fictions.... well, those us as Civilized and Brained people to evaluate, ok?

The Claim ... Sabah is being treated as Step-child (Anak Tiri).

As one of the state within the Federation of Malaysia, Sabah is among the worst performed states within Malaysia especially in terms of the standard of living (Sabah has the highest ratio of hard core poor people and many of them in the rural areas still live miserably and survive on small fishes caught from swamp/rivers and wild vegetables/animals for the past many years we called ourselves as Malaysian).

How all these can happen to our people when we has among the biggest and highest building in the world, when we are one the venue for the F-1 race, etc and etc ....??

Why the Step-child tagged?? Do you all know that the so called decedents from Sultan of Sulu from the southern islands of Philippines still laid claim on Sabah? According to them, Sabah was then rented to the British during the early colonial year ... to the North Borneo Company ... so until now, Sabah still belongs to them....

Well, well ... how on earth that this claim is still valid when Malaysia (well the Federation of Malaysia) came into existence on 16th September 1963 and the Philippines is now a republic that headed by an elected President not the Sultans. And the funny thing is that why our Federal Government did not take this claim seriously? Why?? Is it that Sabah is just a STEP CHILD and thus, the complicated matter like this just leave it aside until one day that the case of Pulau Batu Puteh repeats (Pulau Batu Puteh - an island that supposed to belong to Malaysia but was ruled by ICJ it is now part of Singapore ... all because our Executives, Councilors and Member of Parliaments ... too complacent about the small rock initially)...

Because of this claim by the descendants of Sultan of Sulu (well, as I said earlier, the Philippines is a Republic now), Sabah now is facing the worst illegal immigrants issue. Can you imagine that the Filipino from the southern islands of the Philippines can just come and go just like that? Well, honestly, I am not against the so called Illegal Immigrants ... they are just like us, human ... the only difference is that they are not properly documented and governed ... we have identity cards and passport ... so any illegal activities and crimes that committed by anyone of us (I mean the citizen and other properly documented residents of Malaysia), we can be traced upon ...

But imagine, the so called Illegal Immigrant ... they live amongst us and we don’t even know who they are ... they can just commit crimes (robbery, rape, murder and etc) and just disappear easily ... THIS IS THE MAIN issue.

But why??? Why Malaysian Government and its agency could not do anything (or may it harsh to say that powerless or slowly to response to any of this) about this Illegal Immigrant issue?

It is not that we (Malaysian Government) do not have the means. Come on ... we have the serious and well trained RED HAT armies and we have Naval based with complete TOOLS ... submarines and combat vessels... If we don’t have, buy. We, Sabahan, also contributed to the Government coffers by paying TAX of all sorts, just like our fellow Malaysian living in Sarawak and Peninsular.

For me, the mother of all these issues ...came from the CLAIM ... and because of that the Philippines Government does NOT want to set up a consulate in Sabah and because there is no Philippines consulate in Sabah, the issue of Illegal Immigrant becomes very complicated and impossible to control.... Without a consulate, its hard for Malaysia to send back the Illegal back to their home country and due to these all detention stations (like RUMAH MERAH at Lok Kawi, KK) jam packed ... so how ?? De-tending illegal’s slowly become liability to the Malaysian Government as we need to build more Detention center / station and then we have to feed them ... So it’s a CATCH 22 situation.

So for me, as a lay man; a non politician, a non academia, non NGO. Just a plain SABAHAN ... solve the CLAIM issue 1st ... that’s the mother of all the illegal immigrant issue.... do not POLITICISED or argue on whether ROYAL COMMISSION of INQUIRY (RCI) or High Powered Federal Cabinet is better. To all those Sabah politicians, don't act and lie to us ... we are not stupid ... most of the Politicians that brought up the issues have been in power either in the Sabah State Cabinet or Federal Parliament for the past 20 years or so ... so DO not embarrass yourself by saying something stupid .... If you really want to solve the issue, just be sincere and act whole heatedly ... NO problem in the World is not solvable.... unless you don’t have the will ... Think of the future of your next generation in Sabah ... your lovely sons and daughters too ... There is no use of becoming a hero in the parliament by saying this and that but at the end of the day, what had been said just become a "hear say" only. And, please do not the blame the Federal Government now since we have the little advantage on hand NOW to handle the matter once and for all ... take this advantage and unite for the sake of the issue.

By not solving the Illegal Immigrant problem, we are also being unfair to the illegal immigrant themselves. They are just normal human like us. They want to survive... they need to eat and live ... create a proper channel so that everyone is being treated fairly and in he most humane way possible.... if not, we are opening the door for certain bad people who used this to their advantage i.e. by distorting and bullying the illegal’s .. The Government will create a means for the bad agents to commit corruptions and abuse of powers … May God Bless Us, the under privilege State of Sabah, The Land below the Wind ….