Ever since the results of the March 8 General Elections were announced we have seen numerous instances of racial and religious issues being played up by certain groups. The most obvious would be by the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and the Democratic Action Party (DAP).
The DAP started the ball rolling by questioning the appointment of a Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) assemblyman as the Menteri Besar (head minister) of Perak. This angered the pro-UMNO Malays who saw it as a blatant Chinese insult against a Malay ruler. Thankfully the issue quickly died out when there were UMNO members in both Perlis and Trengganu who were against the appointment of individuals as Menteri Besars in those states.
Then came the issue of centralizing pig farming in Selangor. UMNO saw this as an opportunity to stoke religious flames and government-run broadcasts and Malay language press played up the issue. This issue also slowly died out when it was found that the pig-farming project was already planned when UMNO was at the helm of the Selangor government.
Thirdly came the Conversion to Islam Forum, organized by the Malaysian Bar Council. No thanks to the poorly named forum, many Malay Muslims spoke out against the forum. There were DAP members who spoke against those who opposed this forum including in parliament. What they did not realize was that the problem could have been averted had the forum employed another name. After all the forum was to merely discuss problems faced by non-Muslim mothers whose husbands had converted to Islam. It was not about conversion to Islam per se. The Bar Council too should have publicly stated that the forum was a closed one. Thankfully this issue too simply died out when it was found that amongst those who opposed the forum was a member of parliament allied to the DAP.
Then came the issue of DAP assemblymen in Penang, Johore and Selangor who refused to wear the songkok (Malay fez) at swearing-in ceremonies. Many Malays saw this as an insult to Malay customs. North Borneo Herald saw this as an insult to Malaysian custom. After all non-Muslim assemblymen and parliamentarians have been wearing the songkok without fear or fervor all these years. Why was these hardline DAP members being afraid? This issue too was quickly resolved.
Next, came the proposal by the DAP to introduce multilingual road signs in states it had power. North Borneo Herald feels it is absolutely unnecessary to have road signs in Chinese, Jawi and Tamil. Even UMNO has implemented Jawi roadsigns in some states. Why all these unnecessary additions, when the money could be better spent elsewhere? Even in Sabah there have been proposals to have road signs in Jawi. How many people in Sabah can read Jawi by the way?
The DAP meanwhile tries to justify its action by saying that multilingual road signs reflect the multilingual Malaysian society. They also say that it helps foreign tourists to find their way around. Are the majority of foreign tourists Chinese and Tamil speaking? It is the DAP that is fighting for a Malaysian Malaysia. Therefore its actions should reflect a united Malaysia, not a Malaysia which cannot even have road signs in only one language.
After that came the issue of a DAP member of parliament being arrested for allegedly insulting the azan (Islamic call to prayers). UMNO tried to use this issue to paint the DAP as being anti-Muslim. Once again, thankfully the issue disappeared when a mosque official denied that the DAP member ever did what she was accused of.
What is interesting is that this so-called fight between the DAP and UMNO is slowly dragging other parties to slowly lean towards either of them. Many know that PAS has members who fight for exactly some of the same things UMNO fights for. And then there is the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), the Malaysian Indian Association (MIC), Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (GERAKAN) and the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) who tend to lean towards the DAP. For example when an UMNO member from Penang labeled the Chinese in Malaysia as squatters, it brought GERAKAN out in the open against Penang UMNO.
The other political parties like Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), the Sabah and Sarawak-based political parties are caught in between, not knowing exactly what to say when all the issues above were blown out of proportion.
We should not let two political parties to simply make issues out of nothing and cause the Malaysian public to suffer. The DAP must understand Malay Muslim sensitivities and at the same time UMNO should also understand that not all Malaysians are Muslims and neither are all indigenous people of Malaysia Muslims.
North Borneo Herald’s greatest fear is that what happened in India in 1947 might repeat itself in Malaysia. There two political parties played up religious sentiments to its greatest height, and the result was a great nation splitting up into two and thousands of people mercilessly slaughtered.
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Ever heard of Mr. Alfred Russel Wallace?
Mr. Wallace wrote his research thessis titled "Malay Archipelago" 100years ago, which was the same time with Charles Darwin's famous thessis, "The Origin of Species".
From these book, the Malay people are the natives of these islands (Borneo, Sulawesi, Maluku, Java, Sumamtra), and not the Semenanjung M'sia as claimed by KL gov ... How misleading of the KL gov to claim they are the centre of Malay origin??!!
Malay culture were Hindusim origin!!!
Anyone wonder why in some atlas map book, there is a line called Wallace Line which separates Borneo and Sulawesi?
Also, ever wonder why there is a Wallace Bay being named in Sabah? It's in Honor of this person.
Welcome to The Alfred Russel Wallace Page, a website dedicated to celebrating the life and work of the English
naturalist, evolutionist, and social critic, Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913)!
The links connects you to various kinds of information on one of the most fascinating figures in the history of science.
http://www.wku.edu/%7Esmithch/index1.htm
Note, now published!: Natural Selection and Beyond: The Intellectual Legacy of Alfred Russel Wallace
"Truth is born into this world only with pangs and tribulations, and every fresh truth is received unwillingly.
To expect the world to receive a new truth, or even an old truth, without challenging it, is to look for one of those miracles which do not occur." (from an interview of Wallace published posthumously in 1913)
"Whenever we depart from the great principles of truth and honesty, of equal freedom and justice to all men whether in our relations with other states, or in our dealings with our fellow-men, the evil that we do surely comes back to us, and the suffering and poverty and crime of which we are the direct or indirect causes, help to impoverish ourselves."
(from Bad Times, 1885)
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http://www.wku.edu/~smithch/wallace/S022.htm
Alfred Russell Wallace (sic)
Borneo (S22: 1855)
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About Borneo Island
Borneo Island, Malay Archipelago.
Bounded by the South China Sea, the Sulu and Celebes seas, the Makassar Strait, and the Java Sea,
it is the third largest island in the world, measuring about 292,000 sq mi (755,000 sq km).
The northern part includes the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak and the sultanate of Brunei;
the southern section (Kalimantan) forms part of Indonesia.
Borneo is mountainous and largely covered in dense rainforest;
its highest point is Mount Kinabalu, at 13,455 ft (4,101 m).
Much of it is drained by navigable rivers, including the Rajang, which are
the principal lifelines of trade and commerce.
It is mentioned in Ptolemy's Guide to Geography (c. AD 150);
Roman trade beads give evidence of an earlier civilization.
Brahman and Buddhist images in the Gupta style indicate the influence of
Indians who apparently arrived in the 5th century.
With the arrival of Islam in the 16th century, various Muslim kingdoms were
founded, some of which owed allegiance to Java.
Around the same time, the Portuguese, followed by the Spanish, set up trading stations.
In the early 17th century the Dutch broke the Portuguese-Spanish monopoly,
but they in turn had to deal with newly established British interests.
After World War II, Sarawak and North Borneo (later Sabah) became British crown colonies.
Strong nationalist sentiment emerged in Dutch Borneo, and sovereignty passed to Indonesia in 1949.
The British relinquished Sabah and Sarawak to the Malaysian federation in 1963, while Brunei became independent in 1984.
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