Tag: Ismail Kassim

Former Journalist Ismail Kassim: PAP Should Nominate Strong Minority Candidate For Upcoming Presidential Elections, Not Amend Constitution To Stifle Competition

A note to PM

Dear Prime Minister

By now you ought to know how divisive your proposal to amend the EP system has become. I cannot think of any issue in the last three decades that has caused such a wide and deep division within the electorate.

The tragedy is that your aim to ensure that members from minority communities too have a chance at becoming an EP is commendable, and has its merits.

Unfortunately, the way and timing of your move have also prompted considerable misgivings over your real motive:

Is it really to ensure minority representation or is it to prevent an independent-minded citizen from being elected EP in 2017?

Because of suspicions and emotions aroused over motive, it has become very difficult, even for those in the middle ground, to look at the proposed changes in a calm and objective manner.

And any rush to implement a system that is deemed unfair may have adverse repercussions on the EP itself.

Reserving the post for a particular minority is fundamentally flawed and goes against the grain of multiracialism and meritocracy. Likewise, the obsession with higher qualifications without giving due weight to strength of character and integrity is both elitist and undemocratic.

Will any good arise from foisting a minority candidate in a closed race open only to members from that community on the nation; in all likelihood too, it is likely to become a farce, reminiscent of a past EP election, when a businessman was forced to compete to give the semblance of a democratic race.

Such an EP is unlikely to command wide respect, and in all probability will be regarded as a ‘kayu’ (wood) by significant sections of the people, including members from his own community.

There is still time for you to salvage the situation; just make sure that whatever changes that will be adopted will not come into effect in the 2017 presidential election.

In this way, your protestations that they are not aimed against any individual will instantly become more credible.

The minority community that has not yet produced an EP for the last 47 years will not mind waiting a little longer.

As far as I know, they have grumbled over a lot of things such as continuing discrimination in the military and national service for their males and the unfair banning of their tudung-clad females from becoming nurses and policewomen.

But over the EP, there is none.

The PAP, notwithstanding its faults, is a great party with a sterling record.

If you feel strongly, you should nominate a minority for the coming EP and use all the powers at your disposal to get him elected.

If you think it is too risky, you can always field a stronger candidate. There is someone with impeccable credentials from your ranks who cannot become PM because of his ethnic origins. I think he will be unbeatable in any contest.

These are the heroic options, which a party with a solid reputation to protect, should choose.

Do not stoop so low now as to amend the Constitution out of fear, just to exclude opponents and independent-minded citizens.

So Mr Prime Minister, I hope you will reconsider all your options, and choose one that will unite the people, and not divide them further.

Ismail Kassim
14th November 2016

Source: Ismail Kassim

September 15, 2016
Ismail Kassim: New PAP Candidates Should Be Principled, Follow Lead Of S Dhanabalan

To the PAP new candidates, I extend my best Qi greetings. I am sure all of you are sincere, dedicated and think of nothing except to do your best to serve the people.

I like to say that I have no quarrel with any of you. My grouse is against your top party leadership and some of their policies on the key issues that will determine how we will develop as a nation.

For example, I am against abuses of the law to strike down against opponents, to destroy their lives and their families in the name of strengthening the government. The Amos Yee case comes to mind.

I am also against putting the glory of the nation above that of the welfare of the ordinary citizens.

What for become the world’s No 1 in this field and that field, when the majority of the people cannot join in the joy.

Many of you are from the best homes and come from the world’s greatest universities and left richly rewarding jobs in order to serve the people.

It is no secret that a select few among you will be groomed for the very top leadership, while others will be rewarded with lucrative appointments commensurate with their ability and talent.

You may all know it already, but there is no harm in being reminded that holding office has a corrupting, corroding influence.

Just look at the world around you. See how many idealistic and selfless leaders have succumbed to temptation once in office, more so if they overstayed.

There is no such thing as self-check. Without proper checks and balance institutions, power corrupts. Even the purest of steel will eventually become rusty.

It is only natural when you have a desirable post to want to hang on to it, and to hope to get a better, higher post. It’s only human nature.

But one can also try to resist; every office-holder has to decide for himself the price he is prepared to pay if a conflict arises with his principles or religious precepts.

It is better to draw your line now and make it firm than later, because it is tempting to change the goal posts, to extend the boundary and make it more accommodating. This is also human nature, reflecting the survival instinct in all of us.

In the PAP, there is the fine example set by Dhanabalan. He decided to leave the Cabinet after he would not in good conscience support the detention of the so-called Marxist conspiracy.

Even then it took him years to extricate himself from office, and even more years before the public hears of his deed.

Years later, two devout Christians opposed the Casino Bill in Parliament as it conflicted with their religious beliefs. But many other very religious MPs from all faiths opted to stifle their conscience.

People like Dhanabalan are a rare breed these days. Many office-holders here and elsewhere will put their posts right up the altar, above everything else.

If the crunch ever comes, you will have to decide whether you want to be a Dhanabalan or his opposite, and unless you have drawn a firm line earlier it will be all too easy to rationalise.

Source: Ismail Kassim

September 1, 2015
Free Amos Yee

FREE AMOS

I must confess, dear friends, I have just return
From a Free Amos rally at the Hong Lim Park
It’s my very first attendance at a protest meeting
For the first time, I willed myself to show my face
Friends, don’t mistake my intention
I am not for Amos, but
I am against state bullying of a 16 year old boy
What he did was clearly wrong and he deserved
To be chastised as befitting an errant enfant terrible
After being shackled and manacled in court and
Behind bars for almost two months, it is enough
Anything more such as forcing him to undergo
A compulsory Mandatory Treatment programme
At a Mental Hospital is akin to mental torture
It is also vindictive and an abuse of the legal process
I take no joy in employing such harsh words
But someone has to say it, and say it clearly

Source: Ismail Kassim

July 6, 2015
Ismail Kassim: A Malay Triology – Politics

Part III: Why Malays can’t put their act together?

We are Malays and we must uphold our Malay heritage above all. All my life I have considered myself a Malay and a Muslim; not Sunni, not Syiah.

I honour our Prophet, PBUH, whom I consider a perfect gentleman; peerless and fearless. I try to imbue myself with the values he espoused and accept much of his teachings on how life should be lived in this world.

We should not get involved with the Semitic people, their perennial quarrels and their penchant for mutual slaughter.

Neither side is right; both are equally murderous, and both want power, not to build a progressive and equal society based on fear of God, but to oppress the other side for not belonging to their sect.

To these people, their strongest affiliation is to their religious sect and to their tribe; the sense of nation hardly exists. They have never learnt to compromise and work together for the larger interest of the nation.

True, in the early years, Islam liberated their minds and they became a progressive people but over the centuries they have slide backwards; today, they are among the most backward of societies.

For example, just take a look at the Land of the Pharoahs and you see another Mubarak in the making, made possible by the so-called liberals of their society. The military, which lost all their battles against the Israelis, is only good for oppressing their own people.

The trouble there is that the Muslim Brotherhood wants to force their Islamic agenda down the throat of the liberals, the latter wants to do the same to the Muslims, while the military wants to usurp power mainly to further their own ends.

As for the keepers of our holy places, look at them trying to imitate the Israelis, bombing Yemen and killing innocent civilians, to further their dubious self-serving goals.

If you look around the globe, the Chinese are fast on their way to becoming a respected nation, the Indians too have jumped on the same path and picking up momentum.

Alas the Arabs are still locked in their ancient enmities and the Malays seem to want to follow them on their path of self-destruction.

Just compare how the Australians behave towards Singapore and towards Indonesia when their citizens are about to be executed for drug offences. You can tell which country commands more respect from the Aussies and you know the reason why.

Across the Causeway, we see the spectacle of UMNO and PAS at each other’s throat, almost like a pantomime imitation of the Sunni-Syiah conflict in the Middle-East.

They forget the lesson of history. With 5000 British troops, the British ruled over 500 million Indians for 500 years.

A feat made possible only with the help of hundreds of thousands of collaborators because of disunity and jealousy among Indians, who hate each other more than they hate the white men. If the Malays are not careful, history can repeat itself in Tanah Melayu.

When I stopped reporting on Malaysian politics in Oct 1995, I felt then that the country was sliding down the hill. Two decades later, my opinion remains unchanged; the slide continues inexorably.

Politics is in a mess. The Malays are divided as they have never been, and the non-Malays disenchanted and demoralised, and race-relations never very good even in the best of times, has taken another tumble downwards.

Corruption in high places and in the Malay-dominated bureaucracy has become more rampant.

As for the rakyat, the bigots and the obnoxious among them have made themselves heard at frequent intervals, no doubt instigated by Nationalist elements, religious fanatics and politicians in furtherance of their own narrow and selfish goals.

Even before it lost Chinese support, UMNO have for years been pampering the Malay electorate on two fronts; closing its eyes to mismanagement of its pro-bumiputra policies and appeasing their insatiable demands for more and more Islam in public and private life.

The result is increasing greed within sections of the community for the material comforts of this world and at the same time for the divine blessings of the next world.

I do not see switching from the UMNO-led Front to the opposition Pakatan Rakyat as a viable long-term solution. A narrow win for the Pakatan will only trigger endless rounds of instability a la Thailand.

Malaysia is not ready yet for a two-party system, not now and not in the next few decades. A split within the dominant Malay community does not benefit any group, not the Malays and not the minorities.

Likewise, in Singapore, it is foolish of the Malays here to entertain any ideas that they could profit by playing one Chinese side against the other.

Only a united, dominant community will have the confidence and the ability to offer meaningful concessions to its respective minority.

In a democratic one man one vote system, UMNO are now in a dilemma. After losing the support of the Chinese and the more progressive elements from the Malay community, it cannot afford to alienate whatever little communal support it has left.

Without any concession to the Chinese, they won’t come back. If too much, it might lose its conservative Malay base. The result is stalemate.

The best way out for Malaysia is for the Malays to unite, for PAS and UMNO to get together minus their extremist fringe, and forge a common platform to build up the nation, develop the Malays and other indigenous groups into a respected community and to be fair to their minorities, who are assets to the nation.

Malay leaders should swallow their pride. Come to Singapore and see how the PAP have done it. Learn how to protect the interests of the dominant community while giving a fair deal to the minorities.

The selective discrimination against Malays in the security and military services is balanced by other benign policies so that overall things square up for the community.

It is not an impossible act for Malaysia to follow, but you need a strong leader to pull it off. At the moment, there is none in sight.

Source: Ismail Kassim

June 11, 2015
Ismail Kassim – A Malay Triology: Part 1 – Culture – Why Can’t Malays Be Malays?

Part 1: Why can’t Malays be Malays?

Outspoken Marina Mahathir, finally says it: ‘’I will go into exile if hudud is implemented.’’

For years I have been telling my friends: ‘’I rather face discrimination as a minority than risk getting my hands chopped off or my head lobbed off elsewhere.’’

It’s no secret that religious freedom doesn’t exist in Muslim-ruled countries. As for human rights,the record everywhere is appalling.

If you belong to the majority group, life may not be too bad provided you conform to all the dos and don’ts. If you are a minority – irrespective of whether it is ethnic or religious or belong to the wrong Muslim sect, then be prepared for the worst.

I am happy that my friends on the WhatsApp network have begun to voice their disgust at the turmoil in the Muslim world. Intolerance and bigotry reign unchecked amidst mutual slaughter.

The evil that ISIS spouts continues to attract a handful of youths and other misguided Muslims round the globe. Don’t they realise how despotic and self-serving a caliph will eventually be?

What has ISIS done since its emergence? Helping Palestinians or the Rohingyas, coming to the aid of oppressed Muslims? No, all they have been doing is killing other Muslims like Kurds, Yazidis and others who do not belong to their intolerant version of Islam.

Marina’s complaint against Arabisation of the Malay mind further stokes the embers of discontent among my friends. It is Arab colonialism, no less she adds.

One says it is high time the Malays bring Islam to the Arabs. Another suggests – drop the use of Arabic names for our children and our mosques. Someone chips in: We must make it clear we are Malay Muslims and not Malay Arabs.

To stoke the fire further, I decide to become the agent provocateur: ‘’Malays must go to civilise the Arabs. I support that.

’’My brothers, has anyone ever wondered why the Lord above sends prophets only to the Semitic people? Why the Malays have never got one? Think, think. Obviously, we don’t need one. Has anyone of us drown our new-born daughters in the seas?’’

Several instant responses: ‘’The only Arabs we need to respect are the Prophet and his close companions’’; ‘’when we eat Malay food even in public, we must use our right hands and not fork and spoons’’; and ‘’we must bring back the sarong kebaya and the ronggeng.’’

A convert adds, ‘’the problem is that Malays suffer from severe inferiority complex. They sacrifice the beautiful aspects of their culture in pursuit of so-called religious obligations.’’

Even in the 80s when I was reporting from KL, I noticed with distaste the spectacle of Malays trying to behave like brown Arabs.

Imagine the unsightly scene of two heavy weight men, or two fat, middle-aged, brightly painted women in embrace, trying to give each other a peck on the cheek Arab-style. It was a common sight at Umno meetings then.

What’s wrong with the Malays salam bersalaman ? How gracious….. palms lightly clasp and fingers exchanging touches and then the hands back to the chest!

Likewise, why exchange the Malay tudung or selendang and the sarong kebaya for the drab and black shapeless gowns that have been designed for use in the hot desert sands.

Both are gifts from our forefathers and both are among the most gracious female apparel ever designed by humans for use in our humid tropical climate.

After a recent tour of the small towns of Johore, I see more signs of Arabisation and Westernisation. Fast food joints such as KFC chicken, pizzas and burgers are easily available, but the mee rebus, rojak, tahu goring and gado-gado can hardly be found andmaybe on the path to extinction like the Malay selendang and kebaya.

So used are they to eating the Western fast food, I found many of them, including the older generation, seems to have forgotten to eat with their hands at the nasi padang stalls.

Have they forgotten the berkat traditionally associated with eating Malay food with hands and fingers?

I know how pernicious such food can be. Within a generation of receiving halal certificates, the Singapore Malays have been transformed from a tough and resilient ethnic group to become the unhealthiest.

In my youth, I used to envy Malay boys who can play in the rain, swim in the flood swollen drains without falling sick; now I look with amusement at the number of plumb, fat and overweight Malays especially among females that I come across in the streets. Sometimes, I think Malays have only two preoccupation: eating and religion

Have the Malays forgotten a saying that goes back generations that says customs must be preserved even at the cost of one’s child. (biar mati anak,jangan mati adat)

Nampak-nya sekarang, melayu celup macham saya, saudara baru and kaum Jawi Peranakan lebih menghargai adat2 Melayu daripada Melayu tulen. Dunia sudah terbalik.

The British describes Malays as Nature’s gentlemen – always polite and gracious with their own endearing traditions, customs and ways of dressing.

And those who have mixed with the Malays in the past have also largely become a more pleasant people – witness the Baba Peranakan, the Jawi Peranakan and the Arabs in our midst.

P/S: Ordinary folks everywhere are not be blamed; it is their leaders and the elites that must shoulder the responsibility for any shortcoming in the society.

Source: Ismail Kassim

June 4, 2015