Under ground thugs and racism inside UMNO party

Institutional Racism and Religious freedom in

Malaysia

Institutional racism is the process by which people from ethnic

minorities are systematically discriminated against by a range of public and private bodies. If the result or outcome of established laws, customs or practices is racially discriminatory, then institutional racism can be said to have occurred.

Dr.Benjamin Bowling

(Professor of Criminology & Criminal Justice and Director of Criminological studies in the School of Law,

King's College London.)

In this paper we postulate that Malaysia has all the hallmarks of a racist and

religious extreme state on the following foundation;

a) The Federal Constitution basically establishes 2 classes of citizens, vide

Article 153, the root of the racist system.

b) The State sanctions racist and religious extreme laws and policies

c) The State controls the Government Administration through one racial

and religious group

d) The State channels most funds for economic/education/social

development programs and licenses, permits etc., to one race

e) The State controls Religious freedom to the disadvantage of non-

Muslims, imposes of Muslim religious laws on non- Muslims and extends

the jurisdiction of the Syaria Courts onto non-Muslims.

f) The State sponsors violence and threats of violence both directly and

indirectly (outsourced) on the citizens to create fear among the nonMalay

non-Muslims.

g) The State sanctions draconian, punitive laws and gives blank cheques to

the Police to make arbitrary arrests of dissenters.

h) The State explicitly and implicitly declares that the Malays are the

masters (Malay Supremacy) and the sons of soil.

Ethnic composition of Malaysia : Malays 53.3%, Chinese 26.0%, indigenous

11.8%, Indians 7.7%, others 1.2%. Religions: Islam (60.4%), Buddhism (19.2%),

Christianity (9.1%), Hinduism (6.3%), other/none (5.0%). - US Department of

State 2011

In the Federal Constitution of Malaysia, a Malay is one who is defined as one

who is a Muslim, speaks the Malay language and habitually practices Malay

culture, customs and traditions.

In reality as long as a person is a Muslim he can be a Malay, even an illegal

immigrant and a foreigner who is a Muslim can be Malay.

Non-Muslims represent approximately 40 % of the population – approximately

12.5 million people and include Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs and nature

worshipping communities. The Indian population and other non-Malay and

native races are clearly a minority community.

The treatment received by the minorities in Malaysia relating to public and

private bodies clearly establishes that Institutional racism is occurring in

Malaysia.

Malaysia is not that bubbling, bustling melting pot of races. In reality it is a

country based on a subtle, pervasive and increasingly aggressive form of

racism

1

.

The conflict that lies just below the artificial calm, is so well concealed, that

someone with not more than a cursory knowledge Malaysia will find it hard to

believe that there exists anything significant otherwise . The current discourse

holds that even what is termed racism here is no more than an outcome of a

failing and incompetent bureaucracy. Everything else is just affirmative action.

The various state policies have been creatively crafted and carved into a jigsaw

of a reinforcing racist system.The state system operates with the protection of

official secrecy and a tight hold on the various apparatus of the state that

whosoever dares to cross the line runs the risk of detention and malicious

prosecution. This effectively renders the phenomenon of racism in Malaysia

opaque and gives racism in Malaysia its uniquely Malaysian flavor.

The Malay supremacy or Malay dominance narrative holds that the Malay

people are the tuan (masters) of Malaysia and the Chinese and the Indians,

who form a significant minority are beholden to them for granting them

citizenship. In return for which the special position of the Malays as set out

in Article 153 of the Malaysian Constitution is freely interpreted to mean special

privileges – no holds barred. The Article was initially intended to be reviewed 15

years after independence (1957), however it has become a permanent feature.

In subsequent amendments to the Constitutions, Article 153 was entrenched

further which requires the consent of the Malay Rulers before it could be

amended.

Article 153 is a deep-rooted racist provision in the Constitution which sanctions

implementation of all racist policies in Malaysia to the disadvantage of the

minority non-Malay/Muslim population. Questioning any matter, rights, status,

privilege etc of Article 153 is considered a challenge to the Malay Supremacy,

insulting the Royal Institution and Islam. It is also deemed a threat to National

Security, an offence under the Internal Security Act which gives powers of

arrest for unlimited period without trial and under the Sedition Act which

provides for imprisonment between 3-5 years.

The current Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers have on previous occasions

openly threatened non-Malays with violence (blood) should this provision be

questioned.

The rise of Malay "ultras " who advocated a one-party government led by

UMNO, and an increased emphasis on the Malays being the "definitive people"

of Malaysia — i.e. only a Malay could be a true Malaysian became more

apparent after the race riots in 1969.

The riots caused a major change in the government's approach to racial issues,

and led to the introduction of an aggressive affirmative action policy strongly

favoring the Malays, the New Economic Policy (NEP).

The Malaysian New Economic Policy (NEP or DEB for Dasar Ekonomi

Baru in Malay), was a determined and divisive socio-economic

restructuring affirmative action program launched by the Malaysian government

in 1971 under the then Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak. In practice it was a

social engineering project to enrich a particular race – the Malay Muslims.

Though the NEP ended in 1990, it effectively continued as the National

Development Policy in 1991. The NEP has reduced non-Malays and natives of

Peninsula Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak to the status of second-class

citizens through the ketuanan Melayu (Malay supremacist) policies. The nonMalay/Muslim

minority will never be able to call themselves Malaysians in

equality and would remain a permanently colonized people.

The entire range of government administrative policies, annual budgets,

economic programs, education, job opportunities in public sector, grant of land,

business opportunities, permits or licenses for any business or trade are tilted

to favor Malay Muslims and are meant to segregate just like the apartheid

system in South Africa and In effect to implement a divide and rule policy to

maintain the UMNO led political party hegemony.

This paper establishes the facts and joins the dots and hopes to clarify the

reality of this institutionalized racism and religious extremism. The phenomenon

will be established by laying out the experience of the minorities. In this paper

we try to give as many facts and as much data as are available to us to

corroborate our claims. It continues to be an uphill battle getting necessary and

reliable statistics from the Government as it does not put out such statistics as

this is part of their scheme to keep under wraps the numerical representation of

the uncomfortable facts.

We will segment the various experience as follows:

1. Treatment in State Policies

2. Treatment by the Malaysian Police

3. Treatment in and by the State Administration

4. Treatment by the Judicial System

5. Treatment by the Media

6. Treatment in the Education system

1. Treatment in Government Policies

The New Economic Policy (NEP) of the Malaysian Government from the 1970s

had the stated objective of eradicating poverty irrespective of race and of

eliminating identification of race with occupation. However in reality NEP and its

subsequent economic programs have seen the channeling of hundreds of

billions (the exact figure remains a state secret) to enrich and uplift the Malay

Muslims.

Article 153 of the Malaysian Federal Constitution states that:

153. (1) It shall be the responsibility of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (the

Malaysian King) to safeguard the special position of the Malays and

natives of any of the States of Sabah and Sarawak and the legitimate

interests of other communities in accordance with the provisions of this

Article.

The phrase special position has been interpreted to mean special privileges

and the entire government policy frame has been hijacked in favor of the

Malays and the innate racist tendency of the Constitution was given a fillip by

Dr.Mahathir from the 1980s. This hijacking has been made possible by the

muzzling of any and all dissenting views by the various draconian laws of which

the Internal Security Act of 1960 is the most notorious. The Sedition Act (1969),

the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984, and the Official Secrets Act

1972 are some of the other acts.

The above two factors – the NEP driven by the distorted interpretation of Article

153 and the muzzling of dissension of Government policy has in effect made

NEP the policy vehicle for the institutionalization of the racism. The NEP

accelerated the formation of the largely Malay Administration which for its part

then worked hand in glove with the dominant Malay political party – UMNO and

the other key institutions and consolidated the institutionalization in the ways

described above to become what it has become.

Outsource of UMNO policy implementation to NGO’s and the Para-Military

underworld.

Since the Democratic uprising of Indians led by Hindraf in 2007 and the

subsequent loss of its 2/3 Parliamentary mandate in the March 2008 elections,

UMNO has outsourced its overt racist agenda to NGO’s in particular PERKASA.

This is an NGO led by a Pro UMNO Parliamentarian who promotes the Malay

supremacy agenda and has the explicit support of top UMNO leadership

including the former Prime Ministers, ex Army officials and ex Inspector General

of Police.

PERKASA works intimately with a more militant group known as Pekida

And another underworld Para- military group known as 3 LINE. Together they

perpetuate racial hatred and cause fear among the non-Malays.

3 LINE is believed to have existed from after the 1969 racial riots and its

members pledge their loyalty to the serving UMNO Prime Minister. It is said

they have sworn to protect the Malay UMNO hegemony at any cost and

believed to be armed and work closely with the Police and Armed forces. Many

Malaysians know the existence of 3 LINE but dare not speak about this

underworld movement for the obvious reasons.

3 LINE members are mainly former and current members of the Royal Police

force and Armed forces. They move freely and are not subjected to Law and

often their threat of violence is given tacit approval by the government.

We have reliable information that the 3 LINE para-military members were

involved in the Kg Medan Racial attack in 2001 where hundreds of ethnic

Indians were attacked unprovoked and 5 killed.

All 3 groups are sanctioned to perpetuate racial / religious hatred and fear

towards the Non-Malays.

Government budgetary allocations

Government budgetary allocations have largely been slanted towards Malay

Muslims in the following areas as a matter of unashamed policy. Various arms

of the Government act in support:

1. All Government projects are primarily given to Malay Muslim individuals

and organizations. All government procurement requires involvement of

or outright Malay equity participation in the supplying organization.

2. All Government contractors have to be licensed by the Finance Ministry

before being given any Government projects. The Finance ministry

ensures that only Malay contractors are licensed such.

3. Malays have been promoted in the Civil service to assure that the

highest policy-making positions will be filled by Malays regardless of

objective performance standards. Almost all Secretaries-General of

ministries and Directors-General of professional departments are Malays.

The same is true of their deputies. And it cannot escape notice that

virtually all senior officials in public universities, from school deans

upwards to Chancellors are Malays.

4. Thus, the Malay to non-Malay recruitment ratio of 4:1 for the elite

Malayan civil service (MCS) was instituted, which ensured that “at

least 80 per cent of the service will be filled by Malays, far above

their proportion in the total population”

.

5. As of June 2005, more than 85% of the Civil Servants were Malay

:

This was an increase of close to 25% from 1971.

Malay Chinese Indian Others

1971 60.80% 20.20% 17.40% 1.60%

Jun-05 77.04% 9.37% 5.12% 8.47%

6. Development programs such as Entrepreneur, Technoprenuer

development programs, Land development Programs, Small and

Medium Industry development Programs, Financial Aid programs,

Womb to Tomb business development programs are almost

entirely for the Malays.

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The HRF full report to Washington is in the net. Check it out.english.cpiasia.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2272:hindraf-report-to-washington-institutional-racism-in-malaysia&catid=78:Human%20Rights

Then maybe some brave soul can stand before UMNO Assembly to ask the bangsat leaders to explain this report of underground thugs and racism practice in the party. No wonder MCA and MIC wet their pants when UMNO leaders stand beside them.

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