Misc news items - IwantbustyKim

[IwantbustyKim]

Last month, a pro-government counter-demonstration was organised by Pesaka - a right-wing Malay group ostensibly devoted to silat, the Malay martial art. The demonstration was almost entirely Malay, positioned as defending Malay rights and marked by fierce racial rhetoric. Before the demonstration, posters were displayed, captioned "Cina turun Bersih, sedialah bermandi darah" (Chinese who attend Bersih, be ready to be bathed in blood) which depicted a Bersih supporter being slashed with a parang. A flier with a similar slogan was found at DAP headquarters.

Umno denied organising the demonstration. Datuk Seri Najib did not attend but said he had no objections to Umno members doing so. The president of Pesaka is an Umno leader. Another Umno politician, who was one of the driving forces of the Pesaka demonstration, proudly admitted he was racist because it was under the Constitution.

Thankfully, violence at these demonstrations was avoided by the strong police presence. But the demonstrations certainly raised the temperature of an already racially fraught atmosphere.

Although the authorities denied it, the affray that broke out in July at Low Yat Plaza, a mainly Chinese shopping area in Kuala Lumpur, after a Malay youth was accused of stealing a mobile phone, was certainly racial. It exposed the tinderbox Malaysia had become.

Shortly after news broke about US$700 million (S$1 billion) believed to be from 1MBD being traced to what was alleged to be Mr Najib's personal account, a Putrajaya spokesman said: "The Prime Minister has not taken any funds for personal use."

Umno has always operated through a system of patronage. If this is what the spokesman was hinting at, then Dr Mahathir's accusations against Mr Najib ring hollow. Did he not preside over the same system and for far longer than any other Malaysian prime minister?

This system also means that Mr Najib is in no imminent danger of being forced from office so long as he holds the majority of Umno divisions and retains Malay support. Frustration may account for Dr Mahathir's attendance at the Bersih demonstration which I do not think has raised the good doctor's standing with the Malay ground.

The 1MDB scandal is less about corruption than about a struggle for power within Umno.

Dr Mahathir seems to have expected to exercise remote control even though he was no longer prime minister. Among his grievances with his successors were their warming of ties with Singapore, Mr Najib's decision to settle the railway land issue, cooperation on Iskandar Malaysia (IM) and the refusal of both Tun Abdullah Badawi and Mr Najib to proceed with his pet white elephant: the "crooked bridge". Dr Mahathir wants to replace Mr Najib with someone more pliable.

The intra-Umno power struggle is not over. Mr Najib retains his office but has been politically damaged. Dr Mahathir's reputation may have been dented, but he still has a following within Umno and the Malay public.

Mr Najib cannot allow himself to be outflanked on the right. Two days after the September demonstration, he attended a Pesaka gathering. He praised Pesaka members as being "willing to die" for the government and said "Malay people can also show that we are still able to rise when our dignity is challenged, when our leaders are insulted, criticised, shamed", adding, "We respect other races. But don't forget: Malays also have their feelings. Malays also have their limits."

WHAT NEXT?

A former minister, Tan Sri Zainuddin Maidin, has said that "if Najib succeeds in uniting Umno and PAS, then I am confident the Malays will forgive his grave mistakes", adding that "after fulfilling this large and sincere task" he should step down and hand power to former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

I do not know if Mr Najib feels he has committed "grave mistakes". But he certainly will not hand over power to a man he unceremoniously sacked. Still, Mr Zainuddin is probably not wrong about anyone who brings Umno and PAS together becoming a Malay hero. It may not be Mr Najib, but the trajectory of political developments in Malaysia already seems to point in that direction.

Malaysia and Singapore are each other's second-largest trading partner. Malaysia is Singapore's sixth-largest investment destination and we are the top investor in IM. Every day tens of thousands of Malaysians commute across the Causeway to work in Singapore. It is in our interest to see Malaysia stable with a healthy economy.

[JamieCarragher]

Thank you TS for sharing.

[YALE]

Support TS for this thread.

[IwantbustyKim]

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/wo...riage-proposal

Pakistan woman ‘set on fire for refusing marriage proposal



MULTAN (Pakistan), Oct 23 — A young Pakistani woman was recovering in hospital today after she was burned over nearly half her body by a man she had refused to marry, police said.

Sonia Bibi, 20, told police from her hospital bed that her former lover Latif Ahmed sprinkled her with petrol and set her alight after she turned down his proposal.

A doctor in Multan’s main Nishtar hospital confirmed to AFP that 45 to 50 per cent of Bibi’s body had been burnt in the attack, but said she was out of danger.

The incident took place in a remote village of Multan district in central Punjab province, and police have arrested the 24-year-old Ahmed, local police official Jamshid Hayat told AFP.

“Police arrested the man after recording the statement of Sonia Bibi in the presence of her parents,” Hayat said.

“The girl told us that she was in love with Latif, whom she accused of dousing her in gasoline and setting her alight,” Hayat said.

Police have launched a probe, he said, but preliminary investigations suggested Latif had set Bibi on fire “after she refused to marry him”.

Mukhtar Cheema, another police official in Multan confirmed the incident, saying that Bibi had told police she had turned Ahmed down as she was no longer in love with him. — AFP

- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/wo....gbjKPK4c.dpuf

[IwantbustyKim]

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/ma...ealth-services

Discrimination against single women in public sexual health services?



KUALA LUMPUR Oct 25 — Public sexual healthcare providers appear to be discriminating against single women on moral grounds, with clinics regularly withholding access to contraceptives, among others, without proof of marriage.

Despite the lack of directives to limit universal sexual health care to the married, its provision by government clinics to unwed women is inconsistent from one location to another.

Recent attempts by Malay Mail Online to obtain contraceptives at one such clinic was initially denied as caregivers there insisted that they have never provided birth control medication to unmarried women, although the reporter was able to convince them to dispense these after a long negotiation.

At another clinic, also in the Klang Valley, the nurses outright said it is mandatory for clients to bring in their marriage certificates in order to be registered and treated.

Calls to 18 maternal and child health clinics in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor also supported the suspicion that unmarried women face informal barriers to obtaining sexual health services that are provided unchallenged to their married counterparts, with all saying they must check if they are allowed to dispense contraceptives to singles.

Seven later said no, while five said it is not encouraged; another said to seek the doctor’s advice first.

Six said it was possible after further checks, although one said it was necessary for patients to disclose their religion, explaining that Muslim women must provide proof of marriage in order to obtain the medication.

Premarital sex and sex in general remain taboo subjects in conservative Malaysia, and such views are hampering access to sexual health services at government clinics in times of changing norms and values.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), men and women have the right to be informed of and have access to safe, effective, affordable and acceptable methods of fertility regulation of their choice.

“Reproductive health, therefore, implies that people are able to have a responsible, satisfying and safe sex life and that they have the capability to reproduce and the freedom to decide if, when and how often to do so,” according to its web site.

The unofficial barriers to single women securing contraceptives from public healthcare providers also come at a time when cases of teen pregnancies and baby dumping are on the rise.

According to Welfare Department statistics, there were a total of 472 abandoned babies in the country between 2005 and 2010. Activists attributed many of the cases to the stigma that unwed mothers face as well as the lack of access to sexual health education.

Figures from the Health Ministry revealed that 16,528 teen pregnancies were recorded last year based on the number of adolescents that registered at government clinics. On average, there are around 50 teen pregnancies a day.

Reproductive health care includes not only access to contraceptives such as birth control pills, condoms, but also scientific rather than religious-based information on reproductive health, treatment for sexually transmitted infection and diseases, access to safe abortion, among others.

These services are technically available to all at the 1,061 government clinics all over the country, inclusive of standalone Maternal and Child Health Clinics and 1810 Community Health Clinics, under the Health Ministry.

Dr Choong Sim-Poey, the president of the Penang Family Health Development Association (FHDA), said the fact that sexual health services are given to singles on a “discretionary” basis allows cultural and religious bias to operate.

The co-chair of Reproductive Rights Advocacy Alliance Malaysia (RRAAM) said some official data indicated that this unmet need for better contraceptive and abortion services has long been ignored by health authorities because of such biases.

“In a nutshell, the government considers that all single women are celibate, and if they are not, they should be punished.

“And because of stigma and prejudice, a lay person may find it quite difficult to get accurate information on where to get such services,” he explained.

He said a more controversial aspect of discrimination in reproductive health services is termination of pregnancy or induced abortions for unplanned and unwanted pregnancies.

Although Section 312 of the Penal Code allows for terminations on grounds of mental distress, he said records showed that government hospitals only provide abortion for serious medical risks of a continuing pregnancy.

As such, most abortions here are provided by private doctors who are willing to recognise mental distress as a valid and legal indication for an abortion, he noted.

“But because the private sector abortions are unregulated, clients, especially if they are single, are exploited by some doctors with exorbitant fees putting this procedure or treatment beyond the means of many women,” he said.

WHO calls for legal abortion a “fundamental right of women, irrespective of where they live” and “legalisation of abortion on request is a necessary but insufficient step toward improving women’s health”.

Dr Choong said an official Health Ministry guideline released in September 2012 made it clear that government health facilities should provide this service according to the law, but based on informal feedback, he said this has yet to be effected.

“The concept of reproductive rights of women as a human rights principle has yet to be recognised by our government,” he said.

Sex educator and activist June Low said the answer to the current situation is not to tell staff at government clinics not to apply their own morals on patients; rather, she advocate comprehensive sex education for everyone, from students through to adults.

“Get sex ed in schools, get people talking about sex and being more open about it as an issue that affects us all.

“Only then can we expect a shift in attitudes,” she said.

- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/ma....Po7TQsHI.dpuf

[IwantbustyKim]

[Wallabies]

TS, thank you for sharing.

[IwantbustyKim]

http://www.cambiarnews.com/news/saud...hypocrisy/8632

Saudi Singer Shams Bandar Slams Arab World and Hypocrisy





The 28-year-old Saudi-born singer Shams Bandar Al-Aslami might not have been so popular before but after making some bold comments about the Arab world she is getting the limelight almost everywhere.

Shams was interviewed recently where she lamented on the worrisome situation that a number of Arab countries are currently going through, blaming the Arab world in general for hypocrisy on the matter. Her comments were pretty hard hitting and got criticized all over the Arab countries because it is not usual for an Arab to speak out so openly against his/ her fellow Arabs.

Shams Bandar, on the other hand, has recently announced that she is giving up her Saudi and Kuwaiti nationality and taking on a European nationality. In the interview, she was inquired as to the reasons for this. When she was probed with questions about why she regarded the Arab world as “hell” and the west as “paradise,” she finally spoke up:

WHY TELL OURSELVES LIES? THE SYRIANS ARE SCATTERED IN THE WORLD’S OCEANS, DYING BY THE MILLIONS ON A DAILY BASIS… IRAQIS ARE DYING BY THE MILLIONS… ALL THE ARAB COUNTRIES HAVE CLOSED THEIR BORDERS TO THEM. WHAT CAN THESE WRETCHED PEOPLE DO WITH THEIR ARAB CITIZENSHIP? HOW DOES A SUFFERING SYRIAN BENEFIT FROM HIS ARAB CITIZENSHIP, WHEN HIS CHILDREN AND FAMILY HAVE BEEN KILLED AND HIS LIFE HAS BEEN DESTROYED? HIS OWN ARAB BRETHREN DO NOT LET HIM IN.

Defending the west and comparing it against the practices of Arab she taunted whether the former chopped off heads, decapitated people, stoned or publically executed them before moving on to talk about ISIS and how they are the stark opposite of the west at least as far as laws and constitutions are concerned.

“For 1,400 years we have been slaughtering one another, just because one of us prays one way and another prays a different way,” Shams Bandar said and concluded that 1400 years ago the USA was not there then why on earth is the Arab world blaming them for everything.

[IwantbustyKim]

Saudi actor arrested by religious police for taking selfies with female fans in mall

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...-a6710931.html



A popular actor and TV presenter has been arrested in a mall in Saudi Arabia after his appearance caused a huge commotion among young female fans.

Abdul Aziz al-Kassar, a Saudi national who lives in Kuwait, was on a working visit to Riyadh when he was mobbed by fans trying to take pictures and selfies with him.

Kassar had publicised his visit to the Al Nakheel shopping centre on Friday evening, asking his social media followers for recommendations of "the best mall to visit", Gulf News reported.

But in a TV interview at the weekend, he told the Gulf Rotana network he had not expected the "overwhelming" welcome he received from fans.

Video from the mall posted to YouTube and Twitter appears to show Kassar surrounded by women taking photos, before a man in white robes grabs him by the shirt and hauls him away.



Kassar told Gulf Rotana: "I did not expect to find so many people waiting for me. I want to clarify that the presence of young women at the mall was not something under my control.

"When I stepped in, several fans came over and surrounded me until someone came over and pulled me aside into a room that I learned was reserved for the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice inside the mall.

Saudi's 'religious police' assault Kuwaiti artist @KASSAR_KASSAR in a mall in Riyadh. #شكرا_رجل_الهييه_تلال_الارقاب pic.twitter.com/eD56DuRCdf
— توثيق جرائم الهيئة (@HaiaWatch) October 24, 2015
"I understood that the man who pulled me was a member of the commission and I did not resist him out of my respect for the Commission,” he added.

Kassar said he initially had his phone confiscated, and he has been released on bail pending an investigation into accusations of disturbing public order, mixing with women unrelated to him and abusing social media.

Hugely popular on social media and with acting credits across Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, Kassar has also presented a number of TV programmes. He claimed that the religious police should have warned him about the number of fans congregating and that they "did not tell me to stay away".

[IwantbustyKim]

Drug smuggling, rape and torture: These 5 Saudi royals all did things commoners would be executed for

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/10/drug...ted-back-home/



The recent arrests of two Saudi Arabian princes — one for smuggling literal tons of illegal drugs in his private plane and one for a series of sexually abusive incidents involving his employees — call attention to a long and august tradition of fabulously wealthy people from the highly religious Islamic monarchy acting in absolutely horrible ways.

On Monday, Saudi prince Abdel Mohsen Bin Walid Bin Abdulaziz and four associates were caught at the Beirut airport attempting to carry “two tons of Captagon pills” into Saudi Arabia as well as a quantity of cocaine.

Captagon is the brand name for fenethylline, a combination of the stimulants amphetamine and theophylline. Sources in the Middle East say Captagon is fueling fighters on both sides of Syria’s bloody civil war.

The Guardian said that the drug was first synthesized in the 1960s to treat “hyperactivity, narcolepsy and depression,” but was ultimately banned as too addictive. It remains wildly popular in the Middle East, but virtually unheard-of anywhere else.

Last week, in Los Angeles, 29-year-old Majed Abdulaziz Al-Saud was arrested on suspicion of “forced oral copulation” of an adult and other charges.

Al-Saud is accused by three anonymous female employees of going on a violent, debauched rampage in which he attacked male and female aides and house workers, forcing them to strip on command and perform sex acts against their will.

Last week neighbors spotted a naked, bleeding woman frantically trying to scale the 8-foot fence around Al-Saud’s Beverly Hills compound. They helped the woman escape and called police.

By Thursday Al-Saud — who is the son of Saudi Arabia’s late King Abdullah — was free on $300,000 bail.

The arrests echo other instances of wealthy Saudis running afoul of the law, including the case of 27-year-old Monsour Alshammari. Alshammari was apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border attempting to flee the country to escape prosecution on rape charges in Utah.

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Alshammari is related to Saudi royalty and U.S. authorities say that if he is allowed to return to that country, they will lose the ability to extradite and try him.

In 2013, a Saudi princess named Meshael Alayban was arrested in Irvine, California on charges that she imprisoned and abused a Kenyan house servant. The L.A. Times said that the victim accused Alayan of imprisoning her and treating her as slave labor.

In 2010, a wealthy Saudi couple was accused of torturing a 49-year-old Sri Lankan maid by hammering 24 hot nails into her flesh when she complained about her workload.

Also in 2010, Saudi Prince Saud bin Abdulaziz bin Nasir Al-Saud was jailed for life after bludgeoning his manservant Bandar Abdulaziz to death in London. During Nasir Al-Saud’s trial it came to light that the man he murdered was also his partner.

The BBC noted that the 34-year-old prince spent more of his time in court arguing that he isn’t gay than he did denying the murder.

The oil-rich nation is a theocratic monarchy which is rigidly controlled by the House of Saud, a royal family with thousands of members, the majority of whom wield outsized wealth and influence over a population boasting one of the widest gaps between rich and poor on the planet.


Some 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers were from wealthy Saudi families and former al Qaeda head Osama bin Laden also hailed from the richest districts of Riyadh, the Saudi capital.

The country is governed by Islamic law and its criminal justice system regularly executes offenders by means of beheadings, firing squads and crucifixions. An August report said that the Saudi government is executing one person every two days for crimes as various as “drug trafficking, rape, murder, armed robbery and apostasy.”

[IwantbustyKim]

Saudi Arabia 'may jail woman who posted video of husband groping housemaid'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...-a6683651.html

A Saudi woman who filmed a clip appearing to show her husband groping their housemaid could face prison because of the nation's defamation laws.

The woman secretly shot the encounter between her husband and the maid on her phone. The resulting footage appears to show the man talking to a maid and kissing her.

Seeking her revenge, she shared the footage on a social media alongside the caption: “the minimum punishment for this husband is to scandalise him.”



The video, shown above, went viral in Saudi Arabia, with many viewers rallying in support of the wife, the Sada newspaper reported, according to Emirates 24/7.

“I salute you warmly for your valiant courage,” Al Yamama, a blogger, said of the woman’s decision, according to Gulf News.

“You did the best thing because there was an urgent need for revenge and your revenge is the best."

However, Majid Qaroob, a top Saudi lawyer, said the woman could be handed a one-year prison sentence or a fine of 500,000 Saudi Riyals (£87,630).

"This law [on information technology crimes] includes stiff punishment for anyone using mobile phones with a camera or other equipment to photograph others and defame them," he said.

Millions of people work as maids in the Gulf States, many of whom are migrants from poor countries such as the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

[IwantbustyKim]

Appellate court bins bid by mum and four sons to remove ‘Islam’ status from IC

http://m.themalaymailonline.com/mala...-status-from-i

PUTRAJAYA, Oct 30 — The Court of Appeal today dismissed the bid by a mother and her four sons to get the National Registration Department (NRD) to change their names and remove “Islam” as their religious status in their identification cards (IC).

The appellate court ruled that their argument of being mistakenly identified as Muslims by the NRD was not supported by “cogent evidence,” noting that there was evidence to show that they had identified themselves as being of Indian Muslim heritage and professing Islam.

“Based on the evidence on record, we are of the unanimous view that the decision of the National Registration Department not to change the names and religion of the applicants in their respective identity cards is correct in law and cannot be categorised as being perverse, unreasonable, irrational or illegal so as to warrant our intervention,” the three-man panel led by Court of Appeal judge Datuk Mohd Zawawi Salleh said.

“Therefore we affirm the decision of the High Court and dismiss all appeals with costs,” he said, fixing RM5,000 as the total costs that the five have to pay for the High Court and Court of Appeal proceedings.

Today was the hearing of the appeal by a Hindu-born mother, her Hindu-born son from her first marriage and her three other sons from her second marriage, against the Kuala Lumpur High Court's February 10 decision to dismiss their judicial review bid against the NRD's refusal to make the amendments.


The mother Jamilah Jan Vasanthegokelam, 56, had sought to get the NRD to remove Islam as her official religious status and to revert her name to her original - Vasanthegokelam Subramaniam - when she was born to Hindu parents.

During the appeal hearing, Jamilah's lead counsel Robin Lim Fang Say said his client had changed her name at the NRD at the request of her second husband Mohd Baser Kalakan to avoid problems in obtaining a birth certificate for their eldest son, due to his Muslim-sounding name, and her name that did not sound like a Muslim's.

But Lim argued that Jamilah's name change is not conclusive proof that she had changed her religion and she had no intention to convert, noting that she herself had conducted her own search and confirmed with the Islamic authorities that there was no certificate of her conversion to Islam.

Jamilah's three sons from the second marriage — Mohd Jefrey Mohd Baser, 32, Mohd Jass Mohd Baser, 28 and Mohd Naser Mohd Baser, 22 — now also want the religious status classification of Muslim in their identity cards to be removed. Lim had noted that their birth certificates did not carry their religious status or that of their parents.

Jamilah's other son Mahendra Ghanasan had his name changed to Mohd Sharif Abdullah and was declared to the NRD as being an Indian Muslim and professing the Islamic faith when he obtained his IC at the age of 12, but the 35-year-old wants to reinstate his original name and Hindu religious status that was stated in his birth certificate.

Lim had said there was no conversion certificate to show that Mohd Sharif had converted to Islam.

But senior federal counsel Mazlifah Ayob, who represented the NRD, noted that Jamilah has held this new name for 30 years since she applied for a name change in 1983 and has been holding the identification card with the word “Islam” printed on it for the last 13 years since it was issued in 2003.

Mazlifah cited Jamilah's 2013 statutory declaration in support of her application to the NRD for a name change and removal of the Islam status, where the latter had said she had converted to Islam but was not a practising Muslim.

Jamilah's lawyer Lim interjected to say that his illiterate client had mistakenly thought that her identification card details meant that she had converted.

Mazlifah said NRD's records show that the application forms for all four sons for their identification cards were filled up with “Indian Muslim” and “Islam” as their race and religion.

Lim contended that the religious status of Jamilah's husband was unclear as there was no evidence to state he was born or converted to be Muslim, while government lawyer Mazlifah said that his identification card application and an application for his death certificate had stated that he was a Muslim.

At one point, Mazlifah said the NRD was not denying applicants their right to amend their religious status in their identification cards, but said there was a need to show some proof that they have become apostates.

Jamilah and her four sons had filed for judicial review against the NRD director-general and the Home Minister.

Nithiyawathi Subramaniam and federal counsel Haryati Ahmad appeared for the five appellants and the two respondents respectively, while Farez Mohd Ali Jinnah held a watching brief on behalf of the Bar Council.

The other Court of Appeal judges who heard this case today are Datuk Nallini Pathmanathan and Datuk Abd Rahman Sebli.

[Huricane88]

Your comment is not useful at all

Originally Posted by TomMaffo1ter

Very useful news and tell us many things which we may not read about in our busy lives.

[IwantbustyKim]

Non-Malays more accepting of child rape, says deputy home minister

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/ma...-home-minister


According to Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, despite the decline in numbers, child rape remains a major concern. — Picture by Choo Choy May

KUALA LUMPUR, March 18 — Non-Malays are likely to be more accepting of statutory rape, Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar told Parliament today, in reply to a question on the low incidence of reported cases of sexual violations among Malaysia’s minorities.

The deputy home minister appeared to suggest that the lower level of tolerance among the country’s largest community for sexual predators who prey on minors is a contributing factor to the high number of cases involving Malays.

“This doesn’t mean the cases mostly involve Malays. Because Malays are culturally more sensitive about its youth so there are more police reports about it.

“Non-Malays are maybe more accepting about it so the margin (is lower),” Wan Junaidi said in reply to Setiu Barisan Nasional MP Che Mohamad Zulkifly Jusoh during Question Time.

The Santubong MP said that in 2012, there were 1,550 reported incidents of statutory rape, with Malays taking the top spot at 48 per cent, followed by the Chinese at 5 per cent and Indians at 3 per cent.

The lawmaker observed that the number of reported cases last year had dropped to 1,424.

He added that close to 90 per cent of the cases reported involved those aged between 16 and 19.

Despite the decline in numbers, child rape remains a major concern, Wan Junaidi said .

He added the government has initiated various campaigns to educate the public about the problem as well as crime prevention programmes.

But the deputy minister said public refusal to co-operate has made it hard for the authorities to tackle the problem.

Malaysia was rocked in the past two years by several high-profile cases of men having sex with underage girls, some barely in their teens, which raised questions over the Penal Code.

A 41-year-old Sabahan and father of two was charged with statutory rape of a 12-year-old girl whom he subsequently married last year.

In 2012, a national bowler, who pleaded guilty to having consensual sex with his 13-year-old girlfriend when he was 19, escaped a jail sentence after the Court of Appeal ruled to show leniency, saying the youth had shown remorse.

- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/ma....qKbROYlz.dpuf

[IwantbustyKim]

http://m.themalaymailonline.com/mala...against-racism

In Chinatown, opposition leaders tell Malaysians to unite against racism



KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 26 — In a symbolic display of unity, leaders of the multi-racial opposition pact Pakatan Harapan today visited Petaling Street where an anti-Chinese rally was initially scheduled to take place, and called on Malaysians to unite against what it alleged was state-backed racism.

The rally, which an Umno leader warned earlier this week could possibly escalate into a riot, was called off at the eleventh hour but Pakatan Harapan leaders said their presence at the area known as Chinatown was meant to send a clear message that there are Malaysians who will stand up against any effort to divide the country with communal politics.

“I am here not only to support the traders, but I come here to show that this is place that belongs to all Malaysians.

“Whatever form of racism is symptomatic of the jahiliyah (ignorant) people and as a Muslim we must stand up for unity and fight any divisive elements,” PKR vice-president and Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar told a press conference here.

Nurul Izzah was flanked by several other opposition leaders, including the DAP's Lim Kit Siang and national laureate Datuk A Samad Said.


“This togetherness here is important to send a strong signal that we Malaysians reject any attempt to incite and divide, which received the endorsement and support of this government,” she added.

Earlier this week, #Merah 169 spokesman Datuk Jamal Md Yunos had warned that the authorities’ failure to take action against Petaling Street traders for allegedly selling counterfeit goods will inevitably force “red shirt” protesters to return there today and possibly “riot”.

Last week, some 2,000 participants of the pro-Malay #Merah169 rally had tried break a police barricade around Petaling Street, a tourist hotspot dominated by Chinese traders that the group described as a symbol of alleged Chinese chauvinism.

Samad said today he does not see Petaling Street as a “Chinese place” and recalled how he used to walk by and shop in the area, which had in the past inspired some of his writings.

“This is a place of history, culture and food so any attempt to desecrate it with elements of racism must be opposed,” said the soft-spoken writer and now a member of Chinese-majority DAP.

He also accused Jamal and the “red-shirters” of attempting to score political mileage by stirring racial sentiment to rally support for the Najib administration by targeting Petaling Street.

Lim echoed the view and said the #Merah169 rally was nothing more than a diversion from the many crises plaguing Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s government.

“They are playing the racial card in a bid to strengthen Najib’s rule. That is all”.

The Gelang Patah MP noted that Putrajaya’s diversion tactic was evident with leaders allegedly painting the August pro-reform Bersih 4 rally as a Chinese and DAP initiative, which he called “utter nonsense”.
Najib is facing mounting pressure to quit over his alleged involvement in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd financial fiasco, which is now under investigation by several international agencies, including the US’ Federal Bureau of Investigation.