by Joshua Wu Kai-Ming | Nov 24, 2014 | Politics
Perkasa seems to be getting more and more dissatisfied with UMNO’s performance in defending malay rights. A coalition of Malay rights groups (including Perkasa) plans to submit a memorandum to the Government, touching on issues like the abolition of vernacular schools and the limitation of PTPTN loan exemptions to only bumiputeras
As of 2013, Perkasa claims to have a membership of around 500,000 (an impressive feat considering it has only been around since 2008). If the numbers prove to be true, perhaps instead of supplementing UMNO, Perkasa should become a political party and give UMNO a run for their money
I know many of us would balk at the idea of seeing a Perkasa candidate on our ballot paper. However, a hallmark of a democratic society is the presence of competitive and unique political parties (ethnic supremacist groups included)
Case in point, the United Kingdom. The UK has the British National Party (BNP), which is their very own version of Perkasa. The reason I liken BNP to Perkasa is because amongst other things, the former advocates white nasionalism
In regards to legal immigrants settled in UK, the BNP “recognises the right of legally settled and law-abiding minorities to remain in the UK and enjoy the full protection of the law, on the understanding that the indigenous population of Britain has the right to remain the majority population of our nation”.
It offers however voluntary repatriation where “generous grants to those of foreign descent resident here who wish to leave permanently”
It is important to note that BNP has no representative in the House of Commons or the European Parliament. This could possibly mean that the people of UK generally do not subscribe to BNP’s principles
Only by running for elections will Perkasa know if the people truly supports its ideologies. Perhaps Perkasa could outdo UMNO as its far-right stance may appeal to certain segments of society more than UMNO’s new centrist direction under the command of Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak
It wouldn’t be fair to gauge Perkasa’s wealth of potential just by looking at its president’s failure to recapture Pasir Mas in the 13th General Election.
After all, just because Ibrahim Ali lost his beloved parliamentary seat (which he has been contesting in without fail since 1986) to a political novice doesn’t mean the people dont want him right?
Futhermore, considering Perkasa supposedly has 500,000 members, it shouldn’t be too difficult to field a candidate for every parliamentary seat up for grabs in the next general election
Even IF 60% of Perkasa members happen to also be UMNO members, in the event of a mass exodus to UMNO, Perkasa would still have 200,000 members give or take a few
In the hypothetical situation whereby Perkasa fields 222 candidates for election to be members of Parliament, the malay supremacist group would still have plenty of manpower to go around campaigning and garnering for support. Talk about strength in numbers!
Instead of complaining and whining that UMNO does a dreadful job in upholding the Bumiputera agenda, Perkasa should play a more active role in the 14th general election and not shy away from the challenge. I’d honestly love to see the reception of the rakyat (people) towards Perkasa.
*Check it out also at The Malaysian Insider , Free Malaysia Today, Malaysia Today, and Malaysia Chronicle
by Joshua Wu Kai-Ming | Sep 15, 2014 | Politics
This article is in response to Social and Cultural Affairs Advisor, Tan Sri Dr Rais Yatim’s suggestion to the Government for Malaysia to have it’s own social networking site similar to Facebook. In light of all the fake FB accounts posting abhorrent things, the suggestion isn’t at all baseless
This year itself, there are fake facebook accounts using the names of royalties. Then there are also the cases of Facebook users “Chandra Lawan Tetap Lawan” who insulted the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and “Man Namblast” who referred to Hindus as “syaitan” (demons)
It is a fait accompli that creating a fake facebook account is pretty simple as the only pre-requisite is an email (which can also be faked). Hence, this leaves the authorities at a disadvantage when trying to deal with repugnant postings by fake accounts
With our very own ‘Facebook-like’ social network, the Government can make Malaysians register for an account using their identity card number. This will put the authorities in the driver’s seat as it would be easy to identify the perpetrator(s) & appropriate action can be taken swiftly
An alternative option would be for Malaysians to register using their phone number(s). Although there is the possibility that people may create fake accounts because they have multiple phone numbers, this can be countered by strictly enforcing the rule that each phone number must be registered to a passport/IC number
Malay Mail Online columnist Khairie Hisyam Aliman in his article listed down a few advantages of having our own version of Facebook. Those worth mentioning are ‘job creation’, and ‘economy stimulation.’
Syed Hassan (secretary general of Perkasa) gave his two cents’ worth that having our very own Facebook would be able to stop all insults against any religion and race, prevent insults against the royalty and the nation, besides preventing local women from falling victim to online fraud.
However, all is not a bed of roses as the suggestion by Tan Sri Dr Rais Yatim and the backing by Perkasa failed to address the issue of international connectivity. Currently with Facebook, people are able to keep in contact with their relatives no matter where they are (except China and whatnot). However, our own Facebook substitute would most likely only be on a national scale (at best)
It is undeniable that there are other alternatives to keep in contact with one’s relatives (e.g. Skype, Whatsapp). However, none of them provide the diverse range of functions that Facebook does. Amongst others, Facebook allows you to chat with your friends, as well as see and comment on their posts & pictures
Malaysians conducting businesses with their international counterparts through Facebook would also be affected by this change. All the effort and money (through paid advertising, etc) spent into developing their Facebook page goes down the drain. At the time of writing this article, there isn’t any alternative social network with a reach as great as Facebook
Conclusion
While the concept is good, it is not without its flaws. If indeed one day Malaysians want to have their own social networking site, the chinks in the armor have to be thoroughly addressed
*This article also appeared in The Malay Mail Online , The Malaysian Insider, and The Malay Mail
by Joshua Wu Kai-Ming | May 10, 2014 | Misc
Click here for an introduction as to the concept of 1Malaysia
That article is a supplement to this article. Anyways, back to the topic at hand, “What happened to 1Malaysia?” Many of us wonder if Barisan Nasional (BN) is still championing this concept after Malaysia’s 13th General Election (GE)
Prior to the election, BN used this as their catchphrase. The whole idea was basically to rally Malaysians together and preserve the thin fabric of unity holding Malaysians together
After GE 13, Utusan (a government owned Malay language newspaper) caused a nationwide controversy with it’s “What More Do The Chinese Want?” headline. BN was obviously disappointed with the fact they did so much yet did not get the votes of the Malaysian Chinese. But of course nothing justifies the use of such insensitive remarks
After that fiasco, Perkasa and ISMA had their fair share of moronic statements (e.g. ‘ban malay bibles’, ‘what are the non-muslims’ contribution to the nation?’). Mind you, BN over the past few years have financially contributed to Perkasa and ISMA’s cause. The fact that happens doesn’t reflect very well on our supposedly moderate Prime Minister
So a year after GE 13, the question on the minds of Malaysians is, “What happened to 1Malaysia?” Was our PM just fooling around with the idea of racial unity in order to get votes? If he is still serious about maintaining racial unity, he needs to come down hard on any organisations/individuals spewing racism and religious extremism
Make an example out of those quarters and let the whole world know that Malaysia DOES NOT tolerate racism & religious extremism!
* Read it also at The Malaysian Insider
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