Politics 101 Malaysia

Lim Kit Siang and Karpal Singh today condemned the use of ISA by the government and the police to arrest P. Uthayakumar, M. Manoharan, R. Kenghadharan, V. Ganabatirau and T. Vasanthakumar without trial.

by Joseph M. Fernando, Lecturer in the Department of History at the University of Malaya, in Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 37 (2), pp 249-266 June 2006. Printed in the United Kingdom. © 2006 The National University of Singapore doi:10.1017/S0022463406000543.

The Federal Constitution of Malaysia states that Islam is the religion of the Federation. This provision in Article 3(1), inserted in 1957 when the independence constitution was framed, has drawn considerable scholarly attention in recent years. Most of the studies, however, have not been able to consult the primary constitutional documents. Invariably, many have given varied and ambiguous interpretations of the provision. This article examines the primary constitutional documents and constitutional debates between 1956 and 1957 to trace the origin of Article 3(1) and to determine the intentions of the framers in inserting this provision in the constitution.

Article 3 (1) of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia states that Islam is the religion of the Federation. 1 This provision has drawn considerable debate in recent years from scholars, politicians, lawyers and the general public in Malaysia. Varied interpretations of the article have surfaced in recent years and the provision in the Federal Constitution continues to be widely debated from time to time because of its perceived ambiguity.

Most scholarly work on the issue, however, has been based on information derived from a reading of the published material available on the Constitution - the report of the Reid Constitutional Commission, 2 the White Paper on the Constitutional bill, 3 Parliamentary proceedings, newspaper reports and judgements handed down by the courts in the post-independence period. None of the existing works have examined adequately the primary Constitutional documents to ascertain the intentions of the framers. ”Continued”

The Economist, August 30.

THE government of Malaysia has laid on all sorts of grand pageantry this weekend, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Malay peninsula’s independence from Britain. There is much to celebrate.

Living standards and access to education, health services, sanitation and electricity have soared during those five decades of sovereignty. The country’s remarkable modernisation drive was symbolised, nine years ago, by the completion of the Petronas twin towers, in Kuala Lumpur, then the world’s tallest buildings.

Yet there will be a hollow ring to the festivities. Malaysia’s 50th birthday comes at a time of rising resentment by ethnic Chinese and Indians, together over one-third of the population, at the continuing, systematic discrimination they suffer in favour of the majority bumiputra, or sons of the soil, as Malays and other indigenous groups are called. ”Continued”

by Darah Kacukan, Asia Sentinel.

Malaysia’s Malay leaders say ‘do as I say, not do as I do’ when it comes to marriage

weddingIn early June, the Malaysian media blossomed with pictures of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in the traditional Malay suap-menyuap ceremony, exchanging bites of colored glutinous rice with his new bride.

This low-key but high-profile wedding followed another elite ceremony in May when one of Malaysia’s most eligible bachelors, the Raja Muda (crown prince) of Perak, Dr Raja Nazrin Shah, finally got hitched at the age of 50 in an unostentatious ceremony in Kuala Kangsar.

But these two weddings had something else in common, a characteristic not much commented on in the media but clear to most Malaysians: in both cases the brides were locally-born Eurasians. The prime minister’s new wife is Jeanne Abdullah, a friend and relative of Abdullah Badawi’s late wife, Endon, who died of complications from breast cancer in October 2005. Jeanne had originally been Jean Danker, a Catholic from a Eurasian family which spans Malaysia and Singapore and who converted to Islam when she married her first husband, Endon’s brother Othman, from whom she was later divorced. ”Continued”

By Andrew Symon, Asia Times.

Malaysia is gearing up to celebrate half a century of independence, but the multi-ethnic country is arguably still not at peace with the often turbulent history that led to the end of British colonial rule.

Resurrecting those controversies is the latest bid by Chin Peng, the onetime leader of the Malayan Communist Party (MCP), to return to Malaysia. The ethnic-Chinese former rebel, who now lives in exile in Thailand, finally gets his day in court on Friday.

Once described as the most wanted man in the British Empire, and now at 83 years of age the last of the great post-World War II revolutionary leaders in Southeast Asia, Chin Peng led a full-scale guerrilla war against British and Commonwealth forces in the late 1940s and 1950s and thereafter a decades-long ideological struggle against Malaysia’s new indigenous rulers in Kuala Lumpur.

On Friday, his lawyers will make his latest challenge to the Malaysian High Court in Kuala Lumpur and argue that the government’s enduring refusal to allow him to return represents a breach of the peace accord the two sides signed in 1989, which ended nearly 40 years of an on-and-off armed struggle between the MCP and the central government. ”Continued”

Our friend in the Opposition Leader Office wonders whether the PM is considering another round of Operation Lalang with his “be careful” warning.

Here’s some background info on the infamous roundup of ‘87.

A column in djnovin.com by The Spinhx.

Our History

“Large scale migration of Indians from the sub continent to Malaya followed the extension of British formal rule to the west coast Malay states in the 1870s.

As early as 1901 the Indian population in the Straits Settlements and the Federated Malay States was approximately 120,000, and by 1947 it had grown to almost 600,000 for Malaya and Singapore.’

At the time of Independence in 1957 it stood at a little over 820,000. In this last year Indians accounted for approximately 11 per cent of the total population of Malaya and Singapore.

The overwhelming majority of migrants from India were Tamil speakers from the south of the sub continent. In 1947 they represented approximately 77 per cent of the total Indian population in Malaya and Singapore. ”Continued”

Keadilan youth chief Mohd Ezam Nor will launch a new movement to promote reforms this coming Friday.

He told the Sunday Star the new movement, Gerak, was non-political and would be open to all who wanted a “corrupt-free country and culture, a free media and an independent judiciary”.

While refuting talk that he would defect to Umno, Ezam said he was committed to the struggle for reforms, adding that he did not see the ruling party as having immediate room for effective reforms.

He confirmed he has received “informal invitations” from his friends in Umno. This comes hot on the heels of rumours that he’s expected to defect to Umno very soon. ”Continued”

Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Rais Yatim wants Radio Era to stop speculating whether the Negara Ku is a copy of the Hawaiian folk song Mamula Moon.

The private radio station, he said, should have been more sensitive and should not have played the so-called ‘original version’.

It was not appropriate for the station to request feedback from its listeners on the matter, he said.

Hau seow lah lu, Rais. For goodness sake, have you really listened to Mamula Moon and Terang Bulan or read the history of the melody?

Blind, deaf or just don’t wanna know?