How should we judge a government?

In Malaysia, if you don't watch television or read newspapers, you are uninformed; but if you do, you are misinformed!

"If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing." - Malcolm X

Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience - Mark Twain

Why we should be against censorship in a court of law: Publicity is the very soul of justice … it keeps the judge himself, while trying, under trial. - Jeremy Bentham

"Our government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no
responsibility at the other. " - Ronald Reagan

Government fed by the people

Government fed by the people

Career options

Career options
I suggest government... because nobody has ever been caught.

Corruption so prevalent it affects English language?

Corruption so prevalent it affects English language?
Corruption is so prevalent it affects English language?

When there's too much dirt...

When there's too much dirt...
We need better tools... to cover up mega corruptions.

Prevent bullying now!

Prevent bullying now!
If you're not going to speak up, how is the world supposed to know you exist? “Orang boleh pandai setinggi langit, tapi selama ia tidak menulis, ia akan hilang di dalam masyarakat dan dari sejarah.” - Ananta Prameodya Toer (Your intellect may soar to the sky but if you do not write, you will be lost from society and to history.)

Friday, November 07, 2008

A foreigner's view on our race supremacy

With race being a sensitive subject, I am always tempted to use letters written by Malays or in this case, by a foreigner in Malaysiakini. We have been so conditioned that sometimes we wonder if our own views are wrong despite questioning misleading and contradictory statements by our national leaders:

Inconceivable race supremacy promoted here
Mike Martin Nov 6, 08 3:58pm

I refer to the Malaysiakini report 'Issue show-cause letter to Zaid'.

There has been much negative comment and anger raised from within the ranks of Umno following the excellent speech given by Zaid Ibrahim recently.

I read the entire transcript of his speech and was really impressed with the common sense and honesty in what the Datuk was saying.

Try as I may, I cannot understand how a government in a multi-racial and multi-religious country like Malaysia can support any concept that promotes supremacy of one race over another.

To Europeans and Americans, the concept of supremacy of one race over another has connotations of the ideology of the whites in the southern states of the US in the last century who were determined that the African Americans were only good as slaves and third-rate citizens of their country.

It also raises the same thoughts about a plan for a supreme Aryan (white) race in pre-Second World War Germany. For the main component of the Barisan Nasional to espouse the same idea and maintain that Malays should be supreme over all other races is a total anathema in the 21st century.

Maybe something has been lost in the translation of ketuanan into English, but since all English- language media in Malaysia use both ketuanan and ‘supremacy’ inter-changeably, I suspect not.

The following is the definition of ‘supreme’ as taken from the internationally-recognised Webster’s English dictionary:

‘Supreme: greatest, utmost, paramount, preeminent, foremost, crowning; first-rate; (important), (excellent); unrivaled peerless, matchless; none such, second to none, sans pareil; unparagoned, unparalleled, unequalled, unapproached, unsurpassed; superlative, inimitable facile princeps, incomparable, sovereign, without parallel, nulli secundus, ne plus ultra; beyond compare, beyond comparison; culminating; (topmost); transcendent.’

As a foreigner in your country for a number of years, it is obvious to me that many in the higher echelons of Umno are living on a different planet if they think that racial harmony and national pride in Malaysia by all races here will be attained by espousing such repugnant views.

Does no one up there realise this?

We realise it long ago, and so do those in the higher echelons of Umno too, but they were able to misuse the interpretation to suit themselves. Anyone questioning the matter amounts to being seditious, as they will put it as questioning the Constitution or the supremacy of our rulers.

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