Tolerance Lost In Fog Of Chauvinism

Chauvinism

HOW MUCH LONGER WILL THESE BULLIES GO ON?

Deputy Internal Security Minister Noh Omar today warned that the government would invoke the Internal Security Act against those who incite religious or racial sentiments but brushed aside the incendiary remarks made by a top Umno leader at the party’s recent general assembly.

The Star (4th. Oct 2004) quoted Berita Minggu which highlighted on its front page the Internal Security Deputy Minister’s warning to the owner of a blog (www.jeffooi.com) for allegedly allowing disparaging remarks about Islam to appear on his website. The daily quoted Datuk Noh Omar as saying that this was like playing with fire as it could ignite the Muslim community’s anger and pose a threat to the nation’s internal security.

In the NST (4th. Oct 2004), the daily reported that the authorities are studying the form of action to be taken against web blogger Jeff Ooi for allowing derogatory statements on Islam Hadhari to be posted on his website. Datuk Seri Lim Keng Yaik, the Minister of Energy, Water and Communication said that he had been informed of the controversy and had directed ministry officials to investigate.

On the issue of the derogatory remarks posted by Jeff Ooi, Lim Kit Siang commented that the 2Ks Khairy Jamaluddin, UMNO Youth deputy chief and Kalimullah Hassan, New Straits Times editor-in-chief should stop barking up the wrong tree, gunning for Malaysian blogger Jeff Ooi and his weblog Screenshots and creating a red herring to cause a public distraction from the grave problem of corrupt money politics in the recent UMNO General Assembly. The attacks on Jeff Ooi are completely unwarranted when the 2Ks know that the offensive reference to Islam Hadhari was not made by the blogger but by an anonymous poster who signed off as "Anwar". To his credit, Jeff Ooi immediately rebutted and rebuked "Anwar" for his offensive and provocative language."The 2Ks may have personal scores to settle with Jeff Ooi and Screenshots but they should not create, pounce or piggyback on an issue of such sensitivity especially when Jeff Ooi had acquitted himself most correctly and honourably." The target of the wrath of the 2Ks should be the anonymous poster "Anwar“ and not Jeff Ooi and Screenshots, and it is therefore most bizarre that Jeff Ooi and his blog should be the subject of front-page attacks in Berita Harian for two consecutive days as well as in the New Sunday Times.

In the NST Article: PLAIN TALK: Tolerance lost in fog of chauvinism by Brendan Pereira (3rd. Oct 2004); Brendan highlighted that one critical issue has demanded a stand from Malaysians — not unthinking, irrational response but noises that showed care and concern. (Below are the extracts from Brendan article)

The Number One Issue was: "The cavalier manner in which Kedah politician Datuk Badruddin Amiruldin referred to the May 13, 1969 riots in his speech at the Umno general assembly last Saturday." Datuk Badruddin was in full flow warning anyone against questioning the rights of the Malays, lapping up the generous applause. "Don’t poke at this nest, for if it were disturbed, these hornets will strike and destroy the country," he said, noting that the founding of Umno in 1946 coincided with an agreement whereby citizenship would be granted to the minority groups in return for accepting the special privileges of the Malays.

According to Datuk Badruddin, "Fifty-eight years ago we had an agreement with the other races, in which we permitted them to menumpang (temporarily reside) on this land."

To crown his burst of rhetoric, he waved a book in the air. It was a book on the May 13 race riots in 1969 — a black mark in the history of the country. An incident so painful and embarrassing that many older Malaysians simply refuse to talk about it. The riots in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor happened after the 1969 general election. A nationwide curfew was declared and rescinded within a week. Lives were lost, property destroyed and trust damaged.

Growing up, trying to get family members and even teachers to talk about the mysterious May 13 incident was like a visit to the dentist — a painful and not always rewarding experience.

Maybe because the wounds were still raw, it was a taboo subject back then.

Or maybe, they understood something which obviously escaped Badruddin — that there were no winners in the May 13 incident. In recent times, the events that led to the days of madness have been discussed more openly but always with reverence.

Few have used May 13 to whip up sentiment. Or to score political points, and with good reason too. The country has moved on. Regardless of the color of skin, most people who hold Malaysian citizenship consider themselves Malaysians. They accept the Malay privileges as non-negotiable.

This issue only keeps chauvinists awake at night. But, then, that should not surprise anyone. Language, racial and religious chauvinists are people who try to appeal to narrow interests to stay relevant.

Badruddin said that his comments or his flashing of the book on May 13 was meant to wake up the Malays and send a signal to chauvinists who keep questioning the right of the Malays.

"These chauvinists are questioning the Constitution. They want to know if the head of the military has to be a Malay and all sorts of things. I am not a racist person. Some of my friends are Chinese and Indians," he told the New Sunday Times.

He said his main message at the assembly was directed at Malays, especially those who had benefited from the New Economic Policy and who had the duty to help those less fortunate in the community break out of the cycle of poverty.

Unfortunately, when Badruddin reached for the May 13 book to strengthen his incendiary language, he sounded like the band of people he was aiming his verbal missiles from the rostrum at.

His main message was lost in the fog of chauvinism.
(End of article).

REMARKS:

How much longer would those chauvinist UMNO leaders continue to play these type of chauvinistic rhetorics?

How much longer would those inflicted by the tone and language of those chauvinist be willing to be tolerant before they too decide some form of retaliation? Will this give rise to the clash of civilization? God forbid!

As quoted by Brendan in the same article, "TOO much of a good thing is bad. More so if that good thing is tolerance. Renowned newspaper columnist George F. Will once wrote that too much of tolerance is both "a cause and a consequence of a culture in which ‘judgmental’ has become an epithet". He could have been describing the situation in Malaysia.

In the past few days, particularly in Berita Harian and NST, there seem to be a conspiracy to attempt to crush and destroy blogger Jeff Ooi by implicating him with the intent to tarnish Islam Hadhari. The conspirator had even got the Internal Security Minister's attention and also the attention of the Minister of Energy, Water and Communication. But nothing from this two Ministers seem to suggest any form of action against Datuk Badruddin who had flashed a May 13 book in front of the UMNO General Assembly and the threats he had made against the non-Malays.

Why is there this double standard? Is what Jeff Ooi publishing construed as more detrimental to internal security as compared to the remarks by Datuk Badruddin? Or is it that the non-Malays who had chosen not to respond to the unsound racial remarks (so as not to balloon a racial issue) construed as weaknesses? How long more can these tolerances continue if those in UMNO choose to discredit and stab the other races? The scenarios don't look good based on observation from the public response, particularly at coffee shops talk. We hope that the government will sincerely look into the issues and resolve such issues before the nation goes through another disastrous state of chaos. Racial integration cannot be achieved with the communalistic form of divide and rule government as preached by some in UMNO and MCA. Those in politics are playing with fire at the expense of commoners!