Malaysian History

So we now hear about the government wanting to make history a compulsory subject. let us begin by some real history here;

Our Jewish link in education

THERE is a "don’t ask, don’t tell" policy operative in education in Malaysia that I think should be discussed and done away with. It regards expatriates of Jewish background working as teachers in higher education. Jews from the US, Australia, the UK and elsewhere who apply for a job to work here are generally advised not to disclose their background when applying. And if hired, perhaps with the knowledge of a dean that the new visiting lecturer is Jewish, there is advice along the lines of "don’t ask, don’t tell": "don’t tell your students or colleagues you’re Jewish. Let them think you’re Christian if they ask." The upshot is that few qualified Jews seek employment to teach in the country.

Why should this be? The answer is clear: because of solidarity with the Palestinians and official government policy critical of Israel. The irony is that many progressive Jews throughout the world are highly critical of Israel and its policies, and in strong solidarity with the Palestinians. Yet even such Jews are basically "not welcome" as academics. This needs to change. Israel does not "represent" Jews outside Israel. Indeed, many Jews say "not in my name" in reference to Israel abuses and war crimes.

Malaya has a long history of Jewish presence, particularly in Penang, which boasts a large Jewish cemetery in old George Town dating back to 1805, located on Jalan Zainal Abidin. The cemetery is barely mentioned in guide books.

Jews built a synagogue in the heart of Kuala Lumpur a century ago that was in operation down into the late 1930s. That building is still standing not far from Masjid Jamek.

The first and founding vice-chancellor of University of Malaya was the world-famous British-Jewish mathematician Datuk Alexander Oppenheim. He came from a Jewish family, Yiddish-speaking, born in Salford outside Manchester in 1903. Oppenheim’s most famous contribution to number theory is the "Oppenheim conjecture". He became vice-chancellor of the University of Malaya in Singapore in 1957, and of UM in Kuala Lumpur in 1962, and served in that capacity until 1965. As VC of both universities, Oppenheim worked closely with Tunku Abdul Rahman in organisational questions, private fund raising and the like. Yet Oppenheim’s memory at UM is barely recorded, even though he is the most famous mathematician ever to have been connected with the university.

The University of Malaya should name a major building or new research centre after him, and establish a special scholarship in his name.

It is high time Malaysia does away with this tacit "don’t ask, don’t tell" veil of silence regarding its own Jewish heritage, and welcome Jews from abroad who wish to teach or work and live here. Justified criticism of Israeli policy should not preclude Malaysia from becoming a country Jews from across the world are happy to visit.

Our students at the University of Malaya must know the proud facts about where they learn, to hide it from them is to hide the great past of the University.

Say yes to a compromise and be terrorised for life

I have refrained from putting anything on this blog for a while, decided to just break away from what looked like a hopeless situation, a country run by tyrants and crooks, and a PM who is a pawn in the hands of his old master and some sort of a relative.

The Allah issue has raised the stakes for the ordinary Malaysian, there are now five classes of citizens in Malaysia.

Top on the list is the Malay Muslim or the what I'd call the Keris grade citizen, second on the list is the Mamak,a nd that is why Nor Yaacob was second Finance Minister, third on the list are the nativeswhich includes the ethnic peoples of East Malaysia and the orang Asli, next comes the Baba/Nonya, the Eurasians, and the Melaka Chitty, and lastly the Indians and Chinese.

First class and second class are reserved only for and only for the Muslims, and that too only if the toe the line of the present government, there can be no dissent, Anwar was a dissenter and see what happened.

What has happened to Anwar is now happening to all citizens in this country, in the last elections the Malaysians of other races voted mainly the opposition, many Malays more than in any other election voted the opposition, five states fell and the UMNOputras were shaken to the core.

Prior to that election the ground swell was not too much in UMNO's favour but Selangor UMNO had Khir Toyo the son of a Java Contra go around destroying Hindu temples, in an apparent show of strength in order to show the Malays that he was more Islamic then anyone else. Little did he realise that the many Muslims in the country objected to his modus operandi, their religion forbids it and he was looked on as a scourge to the nation, the race and the religon, his actions was a contributing factor that led to the poor showing of the BN in the last elections.

Of course there was HINDRAF and Abdullah Badawi's handling of the issue, in fact from what I know Abdullah just did nothing and allowed the Police and the others including one of Malaysia's most stupid Home Ministers, (the other beign Krishamuddin) handle the issue. That was UMNO's biggest fall from grace, Malays in Kg Baru and other parts of KL gave the HINDRAF members refuge, the tide was turning it was apparent, the new Malay rejected racist policies, and did not want to be associated with it. It was even clear when very recently Nazri called Mahathir a racist and Mahathir responded by admitting that UMNO was indeed a racist party.

Then we had the cow head incident, when the present Selangor State government granted the Hindus of Shah Alam a piece of land for a temple an UMNO led gathering had the audacity to take cow's head to the State Secretariat in protest. Notwithstanding the sensitivities of the Hindus, and nothing has come out of the entire episode.

It was a silence that led to this Allah issue being challenged in a very illegal manner.

If the Christians give in, they shall be gving in to a reign of terror, because all the government has to do to trample on their constitutional rights is to let terror on the streets as they have done in this case.

Before I proceed any further may I congratulate those who have stood up to these terrorists, terrorists who claim they are the government, for it is only terrorists who will use words like tolerate when you do what is constitutionally right to show you that they are above the constitution, and will ask you to compromise your constitutional rights when it suits their purposes or face terror again and again.

Let us address the Allah issue with all clarity here;

The word Allah was there long before Islam, it predates Islam, it is an Arabic word.

Christianity was in the Arab lands before the coming of Islam, Christianity there fore predates Islam as a religion.

In the pre Islamic era and even now there are Christians in the Arab Lands, for that matter Damascus was a Christian city before it became Muslim. It is clear that Christains used this word before the Muslims, and this is something this government knows.

Islam's Holiest prophet - The Prophet Muhammed had this to say; (http://www.altmuslim.com/a/a/a/3489)

"This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them. Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by Allah! I hold out against anything that displeases them. No compulsion is to be on them. Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries. No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims' houses. Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God's covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate. No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight. The Muslims are to fight for them. If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray. Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants. No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (end of the world)."

Now this Allah issue is being raised by some who call themselves Muslims in this country, I honestly do not blame the persons who fire bombed. They have done so in the misguided belief, the propoganda of UMNO politicians that the use of the word Allah by Christians is to convert Muslims to Christianity here in Malaysia.

I challenge this government to show the numbers of Muslims who have converted to Christianity in Malaysia, and I also challenge them provide the statistics of the numbers of Christians who have been converted so that we can all, Muslims and Christians see if indeed the Christians are covertly trying to convert Muslims to Christians.

In the first place Christian Carols the real Christian Carols not the commercial Christian songs like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer are not allowed to be broadcast over the radio and TV stations in this country.

Islamic programmes are so plentiful, and there is not a day that goes by when a single Malaysian hears the Islamic call to prayer over the loud hailers placed in mosques. Islamic literature is found everywhere and yet this government has decided that the word of the word Allah in Malaysia is sensitive because it will ocnfuese the Muslims.

The Secretary General of the Home Minsitry when questioned by the diplomats he called in to explain the situation had this to say when asked by an attending diplomat why was it only in Malaysia this ruling was made to apply; "you can't compare an apple and an orange," what on earth he was talking about only he will knwo he seemed more confused then anybody else when he continued, "in Indonesia they have a different understanding, in Malaysia it is different."

Was he trying to say that in Indonesia they practice a different Islam for that practiced in Malaysia, and if that is the case is he going ban Indonesian Muslims form praying with Malay Muslims?

The absurd things they say can only be because of two reasons. One that that is the level of reasoning of our Secretaries General in the Ministries in Malaysia, or tat they know they are wrong and a stammering for answers when asked to explain something very silly.

The fire bombing of the Churches has gone on with the Government saying the situation is under control, this whole issue is not about Islam and Christianity, and if it is not then what is it?

It is a political issue, the typical UMNO type to show that they champion Islam, jsut like they did when Khir Toyo destroyed Hindu Temples, it is done to show the Malays that only UMNO can protect them, it is an extreme measure to gain Malay support which is moving in the direction of PAS and PKR,and they use terror tactics to force us into submission.

It was first practiced when on the eve of a general election Mahathir Mohammed circulated a picture of Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah in the Kadazaan headgear which looked like the head piece used by Bishops in the Christian churches and said he has become Christian, that changed history, for if that was not done the Barisan Government would have been finished in the eighties.

After that master stroke, a political manoeuvring, religion has always been used by UMNO to rally the Malay vote and all the time it was stroked with lies, as is the case now.

Frankly Xroy

Melayu?

Will the real Melayu please stand up Melayu is derived from the Javanese word Melayu, there are many other words in the Malay vocabulary that actually come from the various Asian languages mostly those of Sanskrit Origin. 

The Sanskrit in Malay is derived from the Indian influence of the Majapahit, Sriviajaya and other Indian influences in South East Asia. 

This particular word in Bahasa Malaysia is derived from the word Melayu from Javanese. Javanese was the lingua franca of the people in the region having its own script, the original Javanese script had its origins in India and later the present day script which was actually taken from the Arabic script, the Bugis and the rest have dialects close to Javanese. 

The Malay language in its romanised context only evolved in the early part of the 20th century. In Javanese the word Melayu means running away, or a run away, that is why if you go to Java and ask a Javanese if he is Melayu he will feel very insulted. The word Melayu found on the statue as claimed in your URL; http://www.sabrizain.org/malaya/malays4.htm thus denotes that the person buried there was a Melayu, a "Run Away. 

These people the run aways whether in Sumatra or in the Malay Peninsula referred to themselves as orang Melayu, it is therefore no coincidence that the word orang is placed before Melayu, people who ran away so to speak. 

In the Malay Peninsular it was gradually accepted as the word to describe the Javanese, the Bugis, the Menang, the Achinese etc. and even the Kelantanese who are actually Yunanese and have their origins in China, because they recognized the fact that at the end of the day they were all Melayu, or Run Aways from their respective homelands the word was accepted by all these communities to describe themselves. 

In fact before the formation of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) all these so called people in the country had referred to themselves as Menang, Achinese, Bugis, Java etc. etc. and we all know that the Kelantanese used to treat the other Melayu, that is the Menang, Java the Bugis etc. as foreigners. 

Well for that matter even Mahathir Mohammed was registered as Indian in King Edwards College where he studied medicine, and a clearer look into our History will tell us that Hang Tuah is a Chinese. 

The Onn Jaafar family had Turkish heritage how they became Malay is anyone's guess, and if you remember well enough one of the first countries Tun Hussein On visited was Turkey, and today Onn Jaafar's grandson is the leader of UMNO youth.

 Now that should explain why some people say "dia masuk Melayu" and this phrase is very common amongst Malays. 

This so called Malay therefore very much like the Indians, and later the Chinese are Melayu in the very true sense of the word because they all left their respective countries to come to this location in South East Asia called Malaysia today. 

The real natives of the country are the Orang Laut, the Jakun, the Kadazaan, the Iban, the Senoi and the rest, and not the so called Orang Melayu, because these people are actually Javanese, Achinese, Bugis, people from the Mollucas islands, and other parts of neighbouring Indonesia, including the those from Cambodia and even China (Yunanese). 

That explains the word melayu found in gravestones in various parts of Sumatra too. 

These people, the runaways from Java to Sumatra and Malaysia were referred to as Java Kontra a term they despised by the Javanese Melayu and today in Sumatra they are referred to as Orang Transmigrasi which is more acceptable to the Javanese in Indonesia then the term Melayu. 

For Malay citizenship and for permanent residence reasons, the Orang Java, be they Sundanese, Orang Java Barat, Orang Java Tengah or Orang Java Timor, or any other Indonesian for that matter recognises the fact that the day he becomes a Malaysian citizen he is now an Orang Melayu that is a new word coined by Malaysians of these origins to legitimise their Bumiputraism. 

And to become Bumiputra this way that is by becoming a Melayu he has to profess the Islamic faith. 

This privilege is not extended to Dayaks, from Kalimantan, they are Dayaks and Ibans because they are not Muslims, or for that matter people of other faiths from among Sumatra, Java or any other Indonesian Islands. 

The irony of all this is the fact that if you look at the real Orang Asli of Malaysia as a whole you'll find out that the majority of them are not from the Islamic faith, and that is one of the reasons why in Sabah the registration department of the Federal Government legitimised and gave citizenship and permanent residence status to hundreds and thousands of illegal Fillipina immigrants from the Southern part of the Philippines. 

I therefore disagree with your attempt to legitimize the term Orang Melayu as a race, it is not and never will be. 

The so called Melayu must own up to their own heritage the way the Chinese and Indians in Malaysia proudly do. 

It is a shame, and in fact a disgrace that they are the only group of people who by this very act, show the world that they are ashamed of their own heritage. And who else can be so? Only those who run away or are banished from their own lands, for it is only such people who are ashamed of their own heritage. 

Why, even the customs, the traditions, the dressings, the architecture etc. of these so called Malays point to the fact that the so called Orang Melayu of Peninsular Malaysia are actually not one and the same people

You can't teach a Malay new tricks

"You Can't Teach Malay New Tricks"

by: Xroy Bogel

The sad fact of the matter is as one great man put it, "a government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always rely on the support of Paul, " and this government as we all know has been continuously robbing us to pay the Malays, so where do you think this will end?

For that matter in the case of the Judiciary we must remember that Anwar was a member of Team" A" in the great UMNO saga that resulted in the removal of Tun Salleh Abbas the then Lord President, the sacking of esteemed judges - George Seah, and Wan Sulaiman Pawenteh and, also the disciplinary action against Eusoffee Abdoolcader.

UMNO had the support of Anwar at that time as Anwar was then elected the Deputy President of UMNO, he was the Deputy Prime Minister and could have stood up against it at that time if he was a man of honour, today he has become victim of his own doing, and we must never forget that he was party to it.

Badawi on the other hand belonged to team "B" and today he practices the same things he and Razaleigh and gang were against when they fought Mahathir, for what they alleged were corrupt practices. It is more a case of "where is my share," and for the aspiring leaders amongst this group of crooks "'I'll be richer if I am up there." it's a case of, " you can't teach a Malay new tricks," because it looks like every Malay who assumes the post of PM will be up to the same dirty old tricks.

Today, and in the future such things will continue to happen because we lack integrity amongst our leaders, and I will very bravely say that there are indeed very few Malays who possess this quality called integrity, after seeing so much in the last fifty years I believe this conniving lot are just fighting to rest power for their own sake, and once there, we are but pawns.

The same applies to the Indian and Chinese leaders in government, these are the worst of the whole lot, they are the vampires, and for those of you who witnessed it, it will now explain why at one time Tan Koon Suan and Neo Yee Pan fought tooth and nail for the MCA presidency, its simple the person who wrests this position becomes a multi-millionaire at the expense of the people.
All MCA Presidents after Tan Swee Sin have become Million if not Billionaires. (Tun Tan came into Parliment rich and he was I still believe a man of integrity who looked at himself as a Malaysian leader more than a Chinese leader.) Isn't Samy Velu Samy Veloo a rich man as well.

So you see as long as we continue to accept all this nonsense about Malay superiority, and Bumiputra privileges we shall continue to be sidelined and be the same third class citizens we are.

The Malays in this country have been accustomed to all these illegitimate privileges grabbed thru political clout which was also gained through illegitimate means, and that statement may surprise you, but take a look at May 13, the truth about May 13 is now being leaked by Malays themselves who have learned to hate UMNO because they were kicked out of it. Raja Petra Kamaruddin has placed the blame squarely on Tun Abdul Razak and Dato Harun Idris.

Today they will tell you how UMNO used May 13 to quell opposition by the forceful formation of the Barisan Nasional, the subsequent redrawing of electoral boundaries, how they sent in family planning workers to the estates and new villages to teach Chinese and Indian housewives about the benefits of small families whilst they propagated the 75 million population policy amongst the Malays. (Note till today the official version of the Malaysian Government is that May 13 was started by the Chinese) (Read Raja Petra Kamaruddin to find out the true story.)

The Chinese population that once stood in the majority is fast dwindling, it's in the thirties (%) now, the foreign worker population now exceeds the Indian population so what clout do the non Malays have? Where do they stand? The Islamisation of the nation that was founded on a social contract to be secular has been unilaterally broken on the premise that consultation is no more a requirement, the Malays can do what they like, where has the sanctity of this contract gone?

And now this, the only institution (the judiciary) that once held sway on whom we could rely on for a decent dose of justice without fear and favour has also gone with the wind and been engulfed by this epidemic called corruption.

I hope some sanity prevails, I hope that men of honour still exist in our Malay Muslim community to put right these evils, and to be very straight forward, I think even if Anwar comes to power we will be faced with the same problems, to remain in power he has to play the same game, "you can't teach a Malay new tricks."