THE NEW GENERATION OF MALAYSIANS WANT A PEACEFUL INTERPRETATION OF HISTORY – ONE THAT WILL NOT CONTINUE TO BLAME THIS OR THAT GROUP FOR THIS OR THAT ENGINEERED AND WELL-CRAFTED CONFLICTS SEEN AS FACTUAL, OBJECTIVE AND OFFICIAL NARRATIONS OF MALAYSIAN HISTORY.“MAN HAS NO NATURE… WHAT HE HAS IS HISTORY,” WRITES THE SPANISH PHILOSOPHER ORTEGA Y GASSETT.BUT WHOSE HISTORY MUST MAN LEARN? WHOSE CONSTRUCTION OF HISTORY MUST WE CRAFT AS OFFICIAL KNOWLEDGE? WHAT IS THE CONCEPTION OF HUMAN NATURE MUST WE HOLD IN WRITING ABOUT HISTORY? THERE ARE NO HISTORICAL ‘FACTS’. THE TERM ITSELF IS AN OXYMORON AND A CONTRADICTION. THERE ARE ONLY SELECTED MEMORIES WE PURSUE OUT OF OUR IDEOLOGICAL BIASES. UNDERLYING THE SELECTION PROCESS LIE THE ACT OF HISTORICISING AND THE BASE AND SUPERSTRUCTURE THAT SHAPE THE MANNER HISTORY IS WRITTEN. THE MODERN STATE – THE ‘NECESSARY EVIL’- DICTATES THE IDEOLOGY OF HISTORICISING; THUS THE MAXIM “WINNERS WRITE HISTORY, LOSERS WRITE POETRY OR STUDY ANTHROPOLOGY”-THE MUSLIM786 MALAYSIA
YOU MAHATHIR THE ‘NECESSARY EVIL IN HISTORY OF MALAYSIA WHO DESTROYED THE JUDICIARY DO NOT BE MISLED BY MERE CHANGE IN NAME. OUR DEMOCRACY IS MODELLED ALONG BRITISH PARLIAMENTSRY DEMOCRACY BUT WE END UP WITH DICTATORSHIP /TOTAITARIAN SYSTEM OF GUIDED DEMOCRACY AS REPRESENTED BY THE MAHAHIR REGIME AND PEPECTUATED BY THE PRESENT GOVERNMENT. WE TRY TO MODEL OUR ANTI-CORRUPTION AGENCY ALONG THE HONGKONG INDEPENDENT CAC BUT MAY END UP WITH A GUIDED COMMISSION THAT MAY NOT BE SO INDEPENDENT.IT CAN BE MODIFIED TO SUIT THE POLTITICAL NEEDS AND DEMANDS AND CONDITIONS OF THE RULING ELITE WITH VESTED INTERESTS. A CHANGE IN NAME WITHOUT A CHANGE IN SUSTANCE IS A MERE ILLUSION TO HOODWINK THE RAKYAT. IT MAY BE WELL-PLANNED SYSTEM TO PROTECT AND PRESERVE THE HIGHLY CORRUPTED LEGALLY USING OUR OWN GUIDED ‘SYSTEM OF RULE OF LAW’
We must value our stability because it has made it possible for this country to develop much faster than other countries.the malaysian dictator, mahathir, under the growing burden of corruption and cronyism, conspired to halt the march of freedom. in order to build his fraudulent case against anwar, mahathir himself ordered my arrest.
A VULTURE, NAMED MAHATHIR
As a student I knew of the horrors of the Holocaust and other human tragedies, but merely as a distant thunder: The violation of human rights and crimes against humanity were only an abstract notion.That was all fated to change with my arrest under the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA) of Malaysia, which allows for indefinite detention without trial. My crime? I had known Anwar Ibrahim, the deputy prime minister and finance minister of Malaysia, as a close personal friend for many years. We shared and strove for a vision of life firmly rooted in human dignity. We struggled for building an intellectual and political milieu for free expression. Together, we subscribed to the idea of economic prosperity, gender and racial equality and a civil society.Alas, the Malaysian dictator, Mahathir, under the growing burden of corruption and cronyism, conspired to halt the march of freedom. In order to build his fraudulent case against Anwar, Mahathir himself ordered my arrest.My kidnapping and detention by the infamous Malaysian Special Branch taught me how it feels to be forcibly separated from one’s wife and children. How it feels to be searched and seized, disallowed to make phone calls, handcuffed, blindfolded, stripped naked, driven in an animal cage, shaven bald, endlessly interrogated, humiliated, drugged, deprived of sleep, physically abused. What it’s like to be threatened, blackmailed, tormented by police lawyers, brutalized to make a totally false confession, hospitalized for a consequent heart ailment, and treated as a psychiatric patient with symptoms of Stockholm syndrome.Barely surviving on a meager diet of rancid rice and chicken along with 12 medicines a day, I spent nearly four months handcuffed around the clock to my hospital bed, under the watchful eyes of the prison guards.Thereafter, my ability to speak, read and write took a considerable time to show signs of recovery. Short-term memory lapses were frequent. I existed in a fluid state in which suicidal tendencies, depression and despair were punctuated by fits of rage and indignation.Weekly visits of less than an hour by my wife, Nadia, with our young children — Aisha and Omran — were my only contact with the outside world and the only inspiration to live on.In collusion with the lawyer appointed on my behalf by the police, the Malaysian authorities refused the legal assistance of my choice, coercing me not to mount an appeal against the court verdict and threatening me with greater punishment under new charges if I didn’t co-operate.Simultaneously, Nadia constantly endured police harassment, wiretapping and disruption of our e-mail and bank accounts. Some of our friends were met with the same fate and were compelled to abandon us when we needed them most.But, in attempting to scare off and alienate my friends, how terribly mistaken were Malaysian autocrats in aping gross Gestapo tactics. How they underestimated the temper of freedom in so many places around the world, above all among friends in the West.Floodgates of human compassion were opened when the futurist author Alvin Toffler, who Mahathir asked to advise him on a pet high-technology project, sent a message of protest to the Malaysian leader within 72 hours of my capture. In a major interview with the Western press, Mahathir even felt it necessary to make assurances — unfulfilled, of course — about my well being.With every passing day, the rising tide of concern for my plight seemed to personify the words of Elie Wiesel: “Take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor. Never the victim. Never the tormented.”Friends and strangers alike took a stand and support began to mushroom everywhere. Nadia related to me in the hospital how Amnesty International had declared me a “prisoner of conscience,” and how Pen International adopted me as a “writer in prison.” Against all odds, two prominent Malaysian lawyers, Manjeet Singh Dhillon and Balwant Singh Siddhu, offered their services unconditionally. To top it all, an international coalition — Friends of Dr. Anees — came into existence in defence of my rights. The core group of Naseer Ahmad, Baseer Hai, Safir Rammah, Jamal Mubarak, Anees Ahmad and Naeem Siddiqui mounted a media campaign with phenomenal success.What touched my heart was that the person, Kamal Mubarak, who set up the Web site had never met me in person. From the depths of my confinement, I could see the magic of human compassion had begun to defeat oppression.The pinnacle was reached after my release in the warm hug laced with watery eyes of an Amnesty friend in Toronto, Margaret John, who witnessed a pledge of solidarity between me and Devan Nair, the former president of Singapore, for we had come to share a similar fate.My victimization at the hands of Mahathir’s “Asian values” has transformed me in another way. All my adult life, like so many in the Muslim world, I have suspected under every nook and cranny some conspiracy by the West to keep us down. Yet, in this seminal experience of my life, my friends in the West succeeded in saving me, while Mahathir, a Muslim, did everything to destroy me. And he is trying to do the same to Anwar again through his obliging courts on totally fabricated charges.Mahathir has demonstrated that, though a proclaimed Muslim, his heart is blind to compassion. Tyranny is the hallmark of his bankrupt concept of “Asian values.”My tragedy, and that of my friend Anwar, ought to make our fellow Muslims think very hard when they ponder the West and its role in the world. As we set out to shape our collective destiny in the 21st century, will the values of Mahathir or Jefferson serve us best? Mahathir himself made that choice for me. Sic semper tyrannis.These are words of Dr. Munawar A. Anees
related article read the fullstory click below
Part1 The treachery of the invertebrate Tun Dr Mahathir: An Islamic administration must respect laws what about your administration for 22years?
Zinn talked about the three “holy” wars as he called them: the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and the Second World War. He says these are holy because nobody dares to question them. He questioned the cost of these wars. Twenty five thousand dead out of 3 million total population in the Revolutionary War translates into 2.5 million dead in today’s population figures. The other two wars also costing millions of dead. He made a distinction between a “just cause” and a “just war.” The cause might be just but – is the war the best way to achieve a worthy goal?
As he was explaining the enormous cost of wars and the fact that neither the cost is borne equally by people nor the eventual benefits are ever shared equally, one’s mind naturally wonders what the alternatives could be. As a veteran activist, he knows his audience and in anticipation of this obvious question, he ends his talk by listing a few cases where the gains similar to the ones championed by the advocates of these wars were achieved before the war even began. He is cautious not to pretend that there is only one answer and he knows what that is. He gives the well known example of South Africa and ends his talk by encouraging people to question the authority, trust in the ingenuity of people to solve their problems peacefully, and be prepared for the long haul because peaceful resolutions take time.
Yet, the question of what the alternative is and whether protests and elections have any effect at all comes up during the question and answer period. Zinn again advises patience by saying “protests work by not working… it does not work the first time, the second time, the third time… but you keep at it, it eventually drives a change.” He is more pragmatic when it comes to elections. Though he already has much criticism of the Obama administration, he is happy that Bush is replaced by Obama.
The big turnout at the event was encouraging. However, there is a certain degree of despair present in people as expressed by some of the questions. I think even this desperation is positive, because it is not selfish. I feel the frustration is not about direct personal benefit, but it is about not being able to right the wrongs on others quickly. At this point, I am reminded of the verse from the Qur’an:
“No misfortune can happen on earth or in your souls but is recorded in a decree before We [Allah] bring it into existence: That is truly easy for Allah. In order that you may not despair over matters that pass you by, nor exult over favors bestowed upon you. For Allah loves not any vainglorious boaster.” (Al-Hadid 57:22-23)
and this verse:
“If any do deeds of righteousness, be they male or female, and have faith, they will enter Heaven and not the least injustice will be done to them” (An-Nisaa’ 4:124).
It is part of the Muslims’ belief that salvation and damnation arise from the deeds and motives of people, not from matters that lie beyond their will or from natural phenomena. Neither environmental or hereditary factors nor the natural capacities present in people have any effect on people’s salvation or damnation. Hence, fatalism or indifference to the world around us is not acceptable in Islam. Seeing many people of many faiths, including Muslims feeling the pain of others and caring for the means as much as the ends is truly a joy and a blessing. I felt privileged yesterday
Dr. Mattson spoke about her election as the first woman president of ISNA (www.isna.net), the largest Muslim organization in North America. Addressing an audience of over 300, she made the case for joint action by religious communities to face the challenges of the 21st century.
She stated that religion has an unique responsibility to preserve the dignity of children of Adam and promote compassion among each other. She emphasized three concepts that religion provides: transcendence, ethics, and community. While keeping their own unique particulars and traditions, Islam, Christianity and Judaism can produce a common language. A language that gives meaning to life through connection to God and enrich our communities by promoting care for the neighbor. She alluded to the Common Word initiative undertaken by a majority of mainstream Muslim scholars worldwide to find common ground with Judaism and Christianity.
She focused on the fact that, in the age of instant gratification and distant communities, religion is the only vehicle that is best equipped to articulate the common and long lasting good and bring people together. Isolated and monotonic activities within the confines of our respective faith communities will not satisfy the next generation. It is our duty to expand the space for the young generation for respectful engagement within and across faith communities and with the rest of God’s creation.
The event ended with a brief question and answer session.
Study history. See what it was like during the Golden Age. Then see what it was like during the subsequent Dark Age. Spot the difference. And the reason this was so will become as clear as daylight.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
An Islamic administration must be fair in all matters, says Dr M
MELAKA, Oct 24 (Bernama) — An administration led by Muslims must be guided by Islamic values and be fair in all matters, free from corruption, respect laws and show concern for all communities, said former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
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