I endorse this.

This is it. I can't take this simpleton bullshit by BN's meddling, total apathy and/or stupidity anymore.

Hi. I'm a Malaysian and a Muslim (i feel like i'm already at an AA meeting), and I thoroughly endorse Jacqueline Ann Surin's article below. So if Zulkifli Nordin-types, or tea-bagged brained politicians in UMNO or their dick wad NGO pallies disagree with this, please let it be known that you don't fucking speak on my behalf, you bunch of sicko-psychos.

If you're reading this, a Malaysian and a Muslim in particular, please take a stand in support of her article on your blog and or social networking page or take up a front page ad in Utusan (just to rile those fuckers up).

Her article is a damning indictment of the BN governments lack of will power and/or belligerent attitude towards its citizens and the protection of minorities in this country. Please take this as a step to reclaim your faith as a Muslim to say NO! to this irresponsible behaviour towards our non-Muslims brethren.

I think Najib better start explaining to the RAKYAT, what the fuck he means by 1MALAYSIA. Because it is starting to look like the rise of Hitler's Germany. One Race One Nation.... and it goes on and on and on... so which is it? 1Malaysia where all differences are embraced and celebrated or 1Malaysia where everybody who is non-MalayMuslim has to fall in line with the majority's whims and deficiencies?

you already have the following dimbulbs....

a DPM who's an idiot - yeah calling Rohaizat's disbarment a mere parking ticket, shows what a retard he is... brother, i never knew of a parking ticket that could deprive a person of his livelihood.

a Home Minister who thinks he's fucking Oprah... who the fuck is he to mediate with the cow head protesters, and step on the AG's or the Police feet? As it is, damage has been done by the cow head protesters and he does no favours for himself when he tarnishes his daddy's legacy. Please get his head checked... people who feel victimised can hold peaceful assemblies... but when you see a cows head being thrown around and spat upon.... every fibre of your being should tell you that this is soo wrong and walk away, BUT they didn't... it is blood lust and the protesters should be punished for it in accordance with the law. By the way, i read that the following day he backtracked on his lame-o endorsement.

a Culture Minister, who is forced to back track on everything he has said in recent days... 1st, the green dam implementation fiasco, then the Black Eyed Peas Arthur's Day gig, is he senile? has he got alzheimer? i want to know. A minister who says one thing and then backtracks, clearly has a fair weather brain and has no spine. so why is he still a minister?

is this the quality that we're getting from a 1Malaysia type cabinet? Fuck, even UMNO's allies, the MCA and the MIC can't do anything... they're too busy with their internal shit to even give a fuck about current affairs affecting their electorate... oh i'm sorry... I forgot MIC and MCA were wiped out last 2008 elections. so, what electorate are we talking about?

so there you go.... BN doesn't give a shit. All talk and same old bullshit. but let's not forget our PR folks who are committed to bungling at every opportunity they get... even the CarryOn bunch would have finished the caper in double quick time. The PR's biggest downfall is that they are not able to get the message out effectively...

and with all the bitching in public... hey, i'm all for an open relationship where people talk things out... but can you take your lover's quarrel and shove it behind closed doors, please? Here's an option, put your money where your mouth is. Throw out the Zulkifli Nordin and Hassan Mohd Ali types on disciplinary grounds and let them try to be the fucking turncoats that they may be... if they do jump ship to BN or become the latest thing in vogue, an independent, and the PR governments fall.... then so be it. Integrity is a severely underestimated quality. If you can't keep your fellas in line how are you going to forge policy? it's still going to be paper that i can wipe my ass with (not literally... i prefer triple ply).

what you politicians have to say arises from a responsibility to this country and ALL its citizens. don't fuck with it.

If the UMNO led BN Goverment (what a mouthful that was) doesn't want to go after their own trouble makers and ne'er do wells, what credibility and respect can this UMNO led BN Government (i'm already huffing) expect to get? Oh... i guess that's why BN has always subscribed to rule by law because it's likely they don't have the brains to understand how to govern by rule of law.

so i raise my glass of (pick your poison), and congratulate Ms Jaqueline Ann Surin for sticking it to the man.

... until next time... kill the lights and pray you don't see daylight..... or you could just fight to get it back again.



What possessed the protesters?
4 Sep 09 : 8.00AM
By Jacqueline Ann Surin
jacquelinesurin@thenutgraph.com

WHAT possessed them? That's the question I'd like to ask the protesters who desecrated a cow head on 28 Aug 2009 after Friday prayers to object the building of a Hindu temple in Section 23, Shah Alam.

We know that it's not Islam that teaches intolerance of and disrespect toward other religious beliefs, nor is it Islam that preaches violence or force if Muslims don't get their way. We also know that it is really not Malaysian or Malay custom at all to be so obnoxious, threatening and crude. For all my life as a Malaysian, I have known Malay customs to be gentle, sophisticated and inclusive. This is most likely because the "Malay" race was actually historically constructed; its customs weaved from a convergence of different continents and cultures.

So, if neither Islam nor Malay custom drove the 50 protesters to publicly despoil a sacred Hindu creature and to threaten bloodshed because of a Hindu temple, what was it?

Possessed by superiority

My hunch is that these protesters were emboldened by a culture of Malay Muslim superiority that has been carefully cultivated and strategically stoked by the Umno-led government, Malay Muslim politicians from Umno, PAS and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), and by the judiciary both civil and syariah.

We only need to consider the following events where non-Muslim, non-Malay Malaysian rights are deferred, even trampled on, by a system that upholds Malay-Muslim rights and sensitivities as ultimate and unquestionable.

Despite several police reports that have been lodged by Catholics against Al Islam for an undercover report that desecrated the holy communion, no action has reportedly been taken against either the publisher or the editorial team.

Despite the incendiary reports and headlines in Utusan Malaysia that promote ketuanan Melayu at the expense of the constitutional rights of other citizens, no action has been taken against the Malay-language daily by the Home Ministry. Consider how other media have received warnings and threats, and have even been suspended or shut down before for much vaguer offences.

Additionally, let's not forget that in 2006, it was the Barisan Nasional (BN) government, under the leadership of then Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who banned any discussion of Article 11 and the proposed Interfaith Commission. Abdullah also threatened to use the Sedition Act if Malaysians attempted to discuss their constitutional rights in the light of issues arising from a clash between civil and syariah laws because some Muslim groups charged that these initiatives were attempts to undermine Islam.

According to Selangor PAS, beer must not be sold in Muslim-majority areas regardless of non-Muslims, who may want to consume alcohol and are not prohibited from doing so.

Because this is the holy month of Ramadan, PAS Youth wants the Michael Learns to Rock concert banned. They have described it as a huge insult to Islam especially since Muslims, presumably, should not be having any fun during the fasting month. The Umno-led BN government, surprise, surprise, has also chided the concert organisers for being disrespectful towards Muslims and Ramadan.

But since when was Ramadan meant to be a kill-joy for Muslims and non-Muslims? I don't recall Catholics in Malaysia insisting that non-Catholics should also fast and sacrifice during Lent. Or Hindus suggesting that everyone else should also be a vegetarian on a Hindu holy day.

Mind you, this attempt to ban a band because of preferences, defined by some Muslims for all others, is no different from when the animated movie Babe, which starred a pig as the lead character, was banned several years ago.

Consider also how "Allah" cannot be used by non-Muslims in their worship in Malaysia, out of deference for perceived Muslim insecurity and the notion that the word "Allah" only belongs to Muslims. Let's remember that it is the government of Malaysia that is upholding the ban on the use of "Allah" even though historically and culturally, the word cannot be copyrighted by Muslims, and was used even before Islam.

Notice also how the proscription of pork in students' school lunch boxes and increasing regulation for pet dog ownership presupposes that Muslim sensitivities are all-important regardless of the way of life of other Malaysians.

And it's not just food and pets, its dress codes, too. Remember how in 2005, several ministers defended the dress code imposed by the International Islamic University on non-Muslim female students? No matter that even among Muslim scholars, there is no consensus about the requirement for Muslim women to wear the tudung.

In the conversion cases involving, among others, Shamala Sathiyaseelan, M Moorthy, R Subashini and more recently, M Indira Gandhi and Mohan Singh, one outcome keeps recurring: not even the civil courts will uphold the rights of non-Muslims.

Police inaction

I'll also wager that the Shah Alam protestors were bold enough to do what they did so publicly, showing no fear of being caught or penalised by the police, because they knew that they would not be arrested. After all, in the past, police have demonstrated an uncanny ability to restrain themselves from taking action whenever a Muslim mob attacked a Malaysian forum that tried to address the issues of political Islam and how they affect our nation.

We shouldn't be surprised at all that the Selangor police stood by and did nothing on 28 Aug while the protesters promised bloodshed and clearly threatened the peace. After all, the police also took minimal action against the mob that disrupted the peaceful Article 11 forum in Penang in 2006, and against another mob, led by PKR's Zulkifli Noordin, that disrupted the August 2008 Bar Council forum on conversion in Malaysia.

And what has the current administration led by Datuk Seri Najib Razak demonstrated to reinforce this culture of inaction in the face of threats and attacks against civil liberties and the legitimate rights of non-Malay and non-Muslim Malaysians? It excuses these threats of violence. Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein not only found time to meet the cow-head protesters at his office, he also found ways to justify their actions by making them out to be the ones who were "victimised".

We all know that if any group protested against the building of a mosque by using a severed and bloodied pig head, the group would not have stood a chance with the authorities. And they definitely would not have been so easily welcomed, and then defended, by the home minister in his office. And that's why, even when protests that are designed to insult Islam happens, the perpetrators of such hate antics do so without revealing themselves.

So, what possessed the residents of Section 23, Shah Alam to do what they did so boldly and publicly? I'll be happy to wager that it's because they believed they would get away with it. Even if they eventually don't because of public outrage, including among Muslims, and the embarrassing international headlines, these protesters probably started off by believing that their method of protest would not result in any repercussions on them. Indeed, Hishammuddin's defence of them may just be an indicator of how, even if they are taken to task for instigating violence, they will be let off lightly.

And so, do you blame the protesters for thinking they would get away with threats of violence? I don't. The evidence, after all, that they would likely escape action because they belong to a Malay Muslim majority, is just too overwhelming. Denying that a particular political culture has been put in place in order to favour such bigoted, violent and intolerant behaviour would be to deny that the 28 Aug demonstration ever occurred.

Jacqueline Ann Surin had to shout to be heard over a Merdeka dinner at a friend's home in Section 6, PJ because the terawih prayers from the nearby mosque was being blared for more than an hour before she left. She wonders if for some Muslims, piety is best demonstrated by being a nuisance to one's neighbours.