Catholic Merdeka Message

This is a message from the Catholic Church:

Message of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Malaysia on the Golden Jubilee of Merdeka

The Catholic Bishops of Malaysia rejoice with all Malaysians as we celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Merdeka, 50 years of independence, freedom and nationhood. There is much for us to celebrate as we have made outstanding progress and achieved great development to stand out as one of the most developed countries in South East Asia.

However, as we celebrate our success, we should also be aware of areas of concern which have surfaced in recent years, namely religious and racial tensions, corruption and a rising crime rate.

Racial and religious tensions have been heightened by increasing infringements on the fundamental right to freedom of religion which is enshrined in the Constitution, and a growing perception that non-Muslims’ religions and concerns are diminished or neglected. To move ahead and for Malaysians to continue to be united, we must adhere to the social contract arrived at by our founding fathers, the Federal Constitution and the Rukun Negara, our national ideology.

We urge the government and elected Representatives of Parliament and State legislatures as custodians of the rights of all Malaysians to address these issues directly. They should not let the growing number of individuals of a predominant group in the civil and armed services and the executive branches of governance to act in ways which are prejudicial or hurtful to the sensibilities of non-Muslims and those of other faiths.

In addition, the government should hold dialogues between followers of various religions in the country, not only to foster greater understanding and harmony among our people of different faiths, but also to resolve by consensus, the various problems and obstacles to the peace and prosperity of our beloved nation.

We are concerned about continued reports of corruption and lack of transparency and accountability, and urge the Government to be more proactive in the eradication of corruption and more transparent in its administration of public funds and projects.

We are concerned with the rising crime rate and fear that our country may be heading towards a breakdown of enforcement of law and order if the situation is allowed to continue. It is timely for the Government to reform the Royal Malaysia Police Force for effective implementation of a better policing system.

In our role as Malaysian citizens and as leaders in the Catholic Church, we work towards and pray for the very best that our nation deserves.

As such, urge you not to be dispirited by such recurring problems and to become catalysis of nation-building especially by promoting inter-racial and inter-religious harmony, “For he is the peace between us, and has made the two into one and broken down the barrier which used to keep them apart, actually destroying in his own person the hostility caused by the rules and decrees of the Law” (Ep 2:14-16) and integrity in your civic duties.

May Almighty God continue to bless Malaysia with continued peace and prosperity.

Sincerely in Christ,
Archbishop Murphy Pakiam
President
21 August 2007.

Why I won't fly the Flag

No, Sir, I will not fly the flag this time.
Click the following pics and stories to enlarge them!
Here are a few of the many reasons...
16th September, 1963: Formation of Malaysia, with 20-point agreement. Yeah, that's right-44 years ago and not 50 years ago we became independent from Great Britain. Borneons aren't living up in trees to be able to calculate this fact. Good try for trying to pull a fast one on us, mates but it doesn't work! Can a 44-year old man celebrate a 50-year old birthday and declare "I'm now 50 years old!" ??? Everyone would laugh to death.

Democratically-elected politician and first Sarawak Chief Minister, a non-Muslim Iban, Stephen Kalong Ningkan, is removed as Chief Minister by an act of parliament in Kuala Lumpur.

One big full ayam brand bowl of kong lau mien (dry mee with meat) with lots of meat costs only 10 sen (US 1 cent) in Sarawak.

13 th May, 1969: Racial Riots in Kuala Lumpur. Elections are suspended throughout Malaysia, including in the peaceful East Malaysian states.

Beloved Sabahan Chief Minister Donald Stephens, an Eurasian and one of co-signatories to the agreement to form Malaysia, is killed in a mysterious plane crash in Sabah, together with several prominent well-loved elected officials.

It's bloody difficult to go on to a government university due to the New Economic Policy which has a quota system in place...

5% each oil rights compensation payment are thereby given back to Sarawak and Sabah on an annual basis in lieu of oil profits from both oil-rich states, contrary to the 20-point agreement made on state rights over control of natural resources.

April 1985: Joseph Pairin Kitingan, a Christian wins the Sabah state elections, toppling the traditionally Muslim-based power structure.

March 1986: Sabahan Muslim riots with state mosques used as gathering places to incite the Muslims. Look closely at this illegal procession and the participants...and they say a picture says a thousand words...
1988: The independence of the judiciary is removed after Prime Minister Mahathir gets a tribunal to sack Malaysia's Supreme Court's Lord president Tun Salleh Abas and others.

P.M. Mahathir says Malaysia is an Islamic state.

Sarawak Shell becomes a downgraded minor contractor to Federal authorities' Petronas, instead of being a major community player in Sarawak.

12th July, 2004: Tragic deaths of Sarawakian heroes, including rising political star, beloved Dr. Judson Tagal in a mysterious helicopter crash.

UMNO Youth Leader and Education Minister, Hishammudin brandishes and kisses his long, long keris in UMNO General Assembly, ready to use it in modern day Malaysia.

2007: Fellow blogger Nathaniel is discourteously hurled to a police station and detained.

2007: Fellow blogger, Raja Petra aka Prince Peter is interrogated for hours by the cops.

2007: His wife is next likewise interrogated by the cops.


Our popular Sarawak Tribune (Seen here being ironically deposited by Sarawak's Chief Minister Taib Mahmud, as one of the time capsule objects into the Petroleum Museum's foundation, to be opened in future) gets suspended indefinitely for publishing small versions of Danish cartoons of Islam's prophet, Muhammad. It's still not back. The rumor is that it's a life-time ban.

The price of petrol shoots up again in this oil-rich nation, and ironically, oil-rich state, raised by the Federal authorities. Despite assurances from the authorities, subsequently everything else naturally cost more as expected. My fellow monkeys up in the tree even know that whenever petrol prices go up every monkey has to charge more to cover the raised prices.

At the end of the year, Petronas declares a pre-tax profit of expected gigantic proportions. The petrol prices never comes down.

The Federal Court denies Lina Joy her basic human right to freedom of religion in Malaysia when she chose to leave Islam and be an apostate. She is condemned with the court's decision to a Syariah Court where every Tom, Dick and Harry knows she will be placed in a communist-style Re-education Camp to force her to change her mind.

Deputy Prime Minister's declares unexpectedly that Malaysia is an Islamic state and to rub salt into the wound, declares as well that it is in fact, driven by Islamic fundamentals.

Chief Muslim Justice makes a sly hint of changing common laws to Islamic Syariah laws; later backed by Minister in the P.M's Religious Department (see accompanying insightful article by K-tomac)
Go to "chief justice adopting syariah laws"

Prime Minister makes an ambiguous statement that Malaysia is an Islamic state (or nation) in Bahasa Malaysia in parliament. Why must he be so ambiguous???


So the whole stinky stuff that's coming out from the often times fuzzy and sometimes arrogant powers-that-be will gradually but surely lead this once idealistic great nation to this unthinkable third world backward state as in the pic below:

So guess whose ugly face will ever be on that wall???

Here's something to think about...
Since too many Islamic countries do not practise sufficient amounts of practical democracy they are doomed. Just to change their political systems they will most likely have to go through bloody and decades long struggles. There will be regime change in Saudi Arabia someday. It will most likely be bloody and destructive. .. We have seen this in Iran, Afghanistan and now Iraq...Now after 27 years of rule (under Islamic Syiah priests' rule) the Iranians are still unhappy. Their idea of ruling a country is that their priests are supreme... (Syed Akbar Ali. Malaysia and the Club of Doom. Kuala Lumpur: 2006. p. 184.).

Ah yes, one half bowl of ayam brand kong lau mien with a few miserable pieces of meat now costs RM3.50 to RM4.50 (in air-conditioned coffeehouses) in Sarawak... and it's still difficult to get into a government university with the NEP in a differnt name... though there are profit-making private colleges and universities which charge a lot to enroll in...

Aussie Justice's View on Lina Joy Verdict

G'day, mates! The latest opinion piece in the Brisbane Times by a New South Wales Supreme Court Judge, David Hodgson regarding the Lina Joy case shows the concern of one of our many Aussie mates down-under.

I also wish to add that I'm so impressed with the objectivity of his opinion. I would truly be a jolly swag man and not just be an orang utan if I ever have a just judge like him in my jungle kingdom here.

Malaysia's shackles on religious freedom

David Hodgson | June 22, 2007

Can Islam be compatible with religious freedom? I certainly hope so, but doubts are raised by a decision of Malaysia's highest court, given a month ago. Lina Joy is a 43-year-old Malay woman who became a Christian some years ago and wished to marry a Christian man.

To read more, please click this link, go to Brisbane Times' "Opinions" and read David Hodgson's piece

Church Demolition in Kelantan

It seems that some extremist Muslims in Kelantan are determined to do things their way without regard to the Laws of this land. Every Malaysian knows that the West Malaysian natives, the Orang Asli have their own gazetted settlements and what they build on their land is their own bloody business. I await the due process of the Law to take place and pray that those damn religious nutty thugs who tore down our fellow brother and sister Christians' house of God will be brought to justice. May us in Sarawak, be aware of the form of religious extremism that is practised in parts of West Malaysia. We must be vigilant against the actions of the forces of darkness. The following is a Malaysiakini report dated 12/6/06. Pastor sees red over church demolition.

Sabrina Chan Jun 12, 07 3:45pm

A pastor is crying foul over the demolition of a church in an Orang Asli settlement in Gua Musang, Kelantan on June 4. According to Moses Soo, the Orang Asli community in Kampung Jias had embraced Christianity in February and wanted to erect a small church to mark their faith. After consulting the Village Development and Security Committee and the Department of Orang Asli Affairs, they proceeded with the construction with the help of volunteers and donations. Following this, Soo claimed that on several occasions, people from religious groups came to the site uninvited and took photographs of the construction and those involved in the work. “They came in cars that had car plates indicating they belonged to Islamic religious groups. They looked scary and tough, but the villagers refused to stop work even though they were afraid of the people who came,” he told malaysiakini today. On April 11, the Gua Musang district land office issued a stop work order. The letter stated that the construction was being carried out on state land without permission from the authorities. The following day, the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship of Malaysia (NECF), in a letter to the land office, said the land belonged to the Orang Asli villagers. “Their right is guaranteed under Section 2 6(1) and 7(1) of the Orang Asli Act 1954,” read the letter signed by NECF secretary-general Reverend Wong Kim Kong. Copies of the letter were sent to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Kelantan Menteri Besar Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail. Intimidation tactics Soo said work on the church continued but the land office slapped them with another stop work order on April 19. Five days later, the pastor claimed, several policemen had asked him to follow them to the police station without providing any reason. “Three police officers stopped me while on my way to Gua Musang at about 11am. They demanded for my IC (identity card), which I obliged afer seeing the officers' identification. “They insisted without reason that I should follow them back to the police station, which I declined as I was heading back to Kuala Lumpur to celebrate my wife’s birthday,” Soo recounted in a website set up to highlight the issue. When he refused to follow them, Soo claimed that he was tailed by the policemen for several minutes. He told malaysiakini that this was an attempt to “intimidate” him. He said the policemen then went to the village and took down the IC numbers of the volunteers involved in the building of the church. On May 24, the land office issued a third notice informing the village headman Pedik Busu that the “illegal” structure would be demolished. Soo said despite various efforts to block the demolishment, the church was finally torn down by bulldozers. The pastor claimed that since the land belongs to the Orang Asli, the district land office did not have any right to reduce the church to rubble. According to him, the land belonged to the headman of Kampung Jias but was donated to the community for the purpose of building the church. On June 6, a police report was filed on the incident by the village headman.

Thanking Reagan and the US

Please click to enlarge pics.

He was the United States of America's oldest president. Despite his age and his conservatism, this person, Ronald Reagan was, in my personal opinion, the greatest man in the world in history.

Revisionist historians may declare that the Cold War was not won by this president alone; other larger factors were more significantly involved. They would point to the Holy father, the pope's outspokenness on communist oppression; restless desire for freedom by a young generation in Warsaw Bloc nations; Russian disenchantment with the heavy loss of lives in the Afghan War debacle; Russian nuclear plant disaster; growing resistance to authoritarian regimes in other nations, increasing attraction of a new pop culture and so forth.

I agree but I believe Reagan the supremo led the charge into battle for democracy. He talked the talk and walked the walk. Even if he was play-acting, he displayed what the world wanted to see-in a generation like ours that was fixated with good idealistic perfect heroes, superheroes and celebrities, mostly who are Americans-true John Wayne grit. No Reagan, no bearer of the torch of liberty for humankind.

Yup!

Images, images, images on television of Cowboy Reagan, defending the meek against oppression... shooting from the hip whatever he wanted to say in sincerity...standing up to the icy Soviets and the dreaded KGB..."Gorbechov ...tear down this wall!", firmly prepared for a possible High Noon showdown with an expressed constant threat of a nuclear build-up and Star Wars program... soothing a wounded nation over the Challenger disaster...

Out in the Far East, this great man who symbolised Lady Liberty started something significant. It seemed small at first but it did much for numerous politically oppressed peoples. He increased funding for delivering the message of hope and liberty through various media such as the Voice of America. The message was loud and clear: There is another better alternative to Marxism and autocratic oppression: American democracy!

Listeners like me would be drawn to the States to see how democracy worked there. I was not disappointed. Words can hardly express the experience of breathing in the fresh air of freedom and liberty. Undoubtedly, the cowardly attacks of 9/11 would have an effect on the freedom of individuals there, but the freedom of expression would always be there.

This is why I pray that a courageous apostate like Lina Joy, and all others will choose peace and harmony in the best freedom loving country in the world, the United States of America with its present great humanistic president, if it opens its doors to her and many others in either their love for Christ or other religions other than Islam . No nation is perfect and has its warts and all but the US, unlike Malaysia, has something few nations are God-blessed with, the most important precious gift for all who seek it: LIBERTY FOR ALL.

Here is my proud first copy of the VOA Magazine for listeners. In its opening page, a perfectly clear coloured pic of the handsome President could be seen with his message.

Malaysia's Folly