The Modern Middle Kingdom

By

Dr. Mahathir Mohamad

on June 15, 2009 3:10 PM |

1. Ancient China considered itself the centre of the world and called itself the Middle Kingdom. And well it should. It was far more advanced in every way than Europe of the Dark Ages. Maybe China is thinking of making a comeback.

2. But we already have a new Middle Kingdom now. During Lee Kuan Yew's triumphant visit to Malaysia he made it known to the Malaysian supplicants that Singapore regards the lands within 6000 miles radius of Singapore as its hinterland. This includes Beijing and Tokyo and of course Malaysia.

3. Of course this self-deluding perception places Singapore at the centre of a vast region. It is therefore the latter day Middle Kingdom. The rest are peripheral and are there to serve the interest of this somewhat tiny Middle Kingdom.

4. Kuan Yew also explained that the fear Singapore Chinese would control Iskandar whatever is not justified. Malays can also work there. It is good to know that Malays can also work in their own country. I wonder as what? Maybe someone should make a study of the Malays of Singapore just to know what it is like to be a Malay minority in their own country.

5. As for the 3 sen per 1000 gallons of raw water supplied to Singapore Lee says it was absurd for the former Prime Minister of hinterland Malaysia to ask to increase it to RM8 per 1000 gallons. I don't know where he got this. Some Malaysian officers did suggest this figure but we were ready to bargain and maybe settle for RM3. And why not? Johore sells raw water to Melaka for 30 sen, 1000% higher than to Singapore. And Melaka is, I believe, a part of Malaysia! Some Malaysians may see the irony of this.

6. The great 5th Prime Minister has decided that since the people of Johore did not want to sell sand to Singapore, Malaysia would not build any bridge, straight or crooked, or negotiate and settle the other issues like the Central Provident Fund, the Railway land. Maybe the 5th Prime Minister thinks he is punishing Singapore. Actually he is giving Singapore what its wants including the 3 sen per 1000 gallons water until 2061. Think of how many grains of nasi lemak we can buy with 3 sen in 2061. Imagine what 1000 gallons will earn for Singapore at that time. Can't think of a more astute PM for Malaysia.

7. All those who met the great man from the little country were lectured on how Malaysia should be run. We should not have anymore problems now. We have been told the direction to take. MCA must help UMNO to win because Singapore does not want an Islamic Party like PAS to win. We must ensure this. Sorry PAS. Working with the DAP, the offspring of PAP has not endeared you to Mr Lee.

8. I have a lot more to say about this little Emperor but I will reserve it for later.

Memperlekehkan perjuangan UMNO

Oleh Dr. Mahathir Mohamad

on June 4, 2009 12:25 PM |

1. Terdapat usaha berterusan untuk memperlekeh perjuangan UMNO dan orang Melayu untuk kemerdekaan.

2. Kononnya orang yang pertama memperjuangkan kemerdekaan ialah Chin Peng, pemimpin Parti Komunis Malaya. Chin Peng lah yang cuba membebaskan Malaya daripada penjajah British sebelum mana-mana orang Melayu mencuba melakukannya.

3. Perjuangan UMNO adalah kemudian dari itu.

4. Chin Peng bukanlah orang yang pertama yang memberontak melawan British. Sebelum Parti Komunis Malaya (PKM atau MCP - Malayan Communist Party), sudah ada Kesatuan Melayu Muda (KMM) yang bergerak sebelum Perang Dunia II. Mereka tidak mendapat sokongan penuh daripada orang Melayu Semenanjung kerana mereka cenderung ke kiri. Dengan itu perjuangan mereka tidak begitu berhasil. Namun terdapat beberapa pertubuhan yang secara tidak langsung mewarisi perjuangan mereka. Malay Nationalist Party atau Party Kebangsaan Melayu, Angkatan Belia Insaf dan Putera adalah di antara pertubuhan yang meneruskan perjuangan KMM. Mereka juga tidak mendapat sokongan daripada majoriti orang Melayu kerana disyaki dipengaruhi oleh Komunis.

5. Selepas KMM barulah datang Chin Peng dan PKM. Chin Peng berjuang untuk mendirikan sebuah Communist Dictatorship di mana dia akan menjadi diktator. Bagi orang yang bukan Komunis, terutama bagi orang Malayu kejayaan Chin Peng bukan akan membawa kemerdekaan tetapi mengganti penjajahan British dengan penjajahan Komunis pimpinan Chin Peng dengan majoriti daripada pemerintahan terdiri daripada kaum Cina. Melayu yang akan ada dalam pemerintahan Komunis ini hanyalah hiasan, seperti juga kita lihat keadaan di Singapura sekarang.

6. Bangsa Melayu dan Bahasa Melayu lambat laun akan terhapus.

7. Sebab itu Melayu yang sedikit yang mirip ke kiri pun tidak ingin menyertai MCP. Keadaan dalam MCP sepanjang ia mencuba rebut kuasa, mulanya daripada British dan kemudian daripada Kerajaan Campuran Perikatan dan Barisan Nasional, memberi gambaran akan pemerintahan Chin Peng jika ia berjaya. Orang Cina Komunis akan menjadi pemerintah tetapi Komunis Melayu dengan orang Melayu dan India akan diberi peranan yang kecil dan tidak bermakna sama sekali.

8. Inilah sebabnya yang orang Melayu tidak menyertai pemberontakan MCP melawan British, dan tidak anggapnya sebagai perjuangan untuk kemerdekaan Malaya.

9. Dengan kesedaran dan kepercayaan ini maka orang Melayu telah tubuh badan yang tersendiri untuk betul-betul memperjuangkan kemerdekaan daripada penjajahan British. Badan yang ditubuh ialah UMNO.

10. Orang Melayu tidak percaya yang pemberontakan bersenjata akan berkesan. Ini adalah kerana negara yang akan di warisi jika menang sekalipun sudah tentu akan rosak teruk kerana peperangan.

11. Pendekatan orang Melayu dan UMNO mengambilkira kemampuan mereka. Mungkin perjuangan UMNO tidak gah seperti perjuangan kemerdekaan bersenjata di negara-negara lain, tetapi kemerdekaan yang dicapai oleh UMNO lebih bermakna kerana Malaysia dapat menegak pendirian sendiri dan mengecam kuasa besar di dunia apabila mereka membuat kesalahan.

12. Sesungguhnya UMNO lah yang perjuangkan kemerdekaan sehingga berjaya mencapai kemerdekaan yang bermakna. Chin Peng berjuang untuk mendirikan pemerintahan diktator Komunis yang akan menjajah orang Melayu dan kaum-kaum lain juga.

Integrity, Trustworthiness and the Islamic Vision for Malaysia

In Islam there are a few basic principles which are often forgotten by the Muslims. An example is the concept of amanah or trustworthiness.

Trustworthiness is a very important concept in Islam. Trustworthiness, as prescribed in the Quran and Sunnah denotes performing all obligations and responsibilities. Allah said in the Quran in Surah An Nisa , verse 58 which means:

“Verily Allah commands that you should render back the trusts to those , to whom they are due, and that when you judge between men, you judge them with justice. Verily how excellent is the teaching which Allah gives you. Trully Allah is Ever All-Hearer, All-Seer.”

And the Prophet, peace be upon him , said in a hadith by Ahmad: “And there is no faith in him (somebody) who is not trustworthy.”

This means that somebody who are not amanah is not a faithful Muslim.Why is trustworthiness so important in Islam ? This because if there is no trustworthiness how can there be any justice in the society.

A model ruler that really held to justice and trustworthiness is not utopian in Islamic civilization. We have a role model in the Caliphate Umar Abdul Aziz.

During his rule integrity and trustworthiness reigned supreme. Thus the level of poverty among the Muslims was greatly reduced to the point of there being no poor people in the land . The Baitul Mal (common wealth of the society) was bountiful.

The fundamental principles of the administration under Omar Abdul Aziz emphasized that the government were just and trustworthy from the top to the lowest bottom in the administrative hierarchy of his Caliphate.

The Caliph himself was very trustworthy. The Wazir was trustworthy. The teachers were trustworthy. The military Generals were trustworthy.

The writers were trustworthy. There were no such thing as mercenary writers. These mercenary writers like their counterparts the mercenary soldiers were writers/soldiers paid to write/fight for any parties that hired them and to kill off whoever the enemies of those who hire them.

These writers would then write venomous and malicious stories on their paymasters’s opponents even though these were lies while singing praises on their paymasters even though what they wrote were not the truth.

As true Muslims these writers must be honourable and write with integrity. If they do not have integrity, they do not deserve to be respected and being given the honour to be called writers.

Writers deal with qalam or the pen or knowledge and if they write lies they would be responsible for their writtings in this and the after world.

Talking of a writers’s integity reminded me of the life of Sir Thomas Moore who was at one time the Prime Minister to King Henry VIII of England.

This was the King who created the Church of Enland after severing any relationship with the Roman Catholic Church at Rome because the Vatican prohibited him from divorcing his first and Spanish borned and Catholic Queen in order to marry Anne Boleyn which subsequently became his second wife. He fathered Queen Mary of Scots from his first wife and Queen Elizabeth I from his second wife respectively.

In the course of his career Sir Thomas Moore on one occasion antagonized the King when he refused to follow the King’s instructions as they were against his principles. He was subsequently charged with treason and sent to the London Tower to be beheaded.

His wife and children appealed to King to spare Sir Thomas Moore’s life to which the King agreed on condition that he seeked for the King’s foregiveness.

The family beseach him to seek the King’s forgiveness to which Sir Thomas Moore adamently refused. He told his family especially his children that how can he sacrificed his principles in order to live and what kind of life it would be for him without his principles . He would rather die than give up his principles.

Thus he refused to seek forgiveness from Henry VII and was subsequently executed. Later Sir Thomas Moore was immortalised and became one of England’s best known Prime Minister.

Likewise justice and trustworthiness were the cornerstones of Caliph Omar Abdul Aziz’s rule. Whether this idealist administration is possible in contemporary Malaysia remains to be seen. But it is worthwhile to quote here Martin Luther King Jr’s most famous phrase “ We have a dream”.

Both UMNO and PAS are Islam-based parties. The Muslims formed the majority religious group making up 60 % of Malaysia's population. The competition between both of them should be healthy and constructive.

Its end results should be positive for the Muslim’s future whether for this world and the after world as both are in symbiosis .

A moderate Muslim Malaysia that is in tune with the times and on the march towards modernization in our own mold should be our Vision . As the English proverb goes “ Strike when the iron is hot". May Allah bless and protect our beloved Malaysia.

Can Pakatan Rakyat be a credible alternative?

Malays and Muslims makeup around 60% of Malaysia's population and is the majority community in Malaysia. Chinese is 32%, Indians 7% and the rest are other races.

So in order for the country to be stable, the Malay community must be of priority feels itself stable first. If there is feeling of instability among the Malays then it will naturally affect the nation as a whole.

For comparision Indonesia's population consisted of Javanese 70% and the other 30% Non Javanese like Sumatrans, Bugis, Molluccan and others.

Indonesian politics and civil services since its independence in 1945 have been dominated by the Javanese.

In Malaysia, likewise the Malays have been the base in the politics and civil services of the country.

Generally the Malays are comfortable with Barisan Nasional which has ruled the country since 1957 (the Alliance, its predecessor until 1970) which is dominated by Umno until the last general elections which saw BN losing a lot of seats. This occured in Umno but especially for MCA, MIC and Gerakan which saw their leaders generally wiped out of Parliament.

The question to be asked is can the Pakatan Rakyat be an alternative to BN?

An indication of this can be seen from the stand of Pas when Anwar Ibrahim tried his 16th September 2008 grand scheme. This is when he tried to win over 31 BN MPs to cross over to PR.

Pas made it clear in the event that Anwar is successful it would not join the new PR Federal government if there are more Non Malay/Non Muslim MPs than the Malay/Muslim MPs.

The message sent by Pas is that the PR Government should be Malay based. This message is shared by the majority of Malays. Being the majority community it would be unacceptable to them to have a government dominated by the Non Malays. Malaysia have not reached the sort of political maturity as yet. The insecurities of the Malays are still in existence. Even though they are the majority community , economically they are very weak compared to the Chinese. We need time to solve their socio-economic problems. These needed to be handled with care.

Thus the question is can PR turns itself into a Malay-based coalition like BN in order to offer itself as an alternative? Will the majority of Malays be able to accept and be comfortable with a PR government at the Federal level? The recent Penanti bye elections which is a Malay majority area showed the lowest voter turnout rate in the Malaysian electoral history. Is it because BN did not put a candidate in the bye elections. Maybe.

In the final analysis these are among the main hurdles for PR to overcome if it wants to be a credible alternative to BN.