Rilek1Corner

Tag: malay

  • Jufrie Mahmood: Don’t Question The Loyalty Of Malays To Singapore

    Jufrie Mahmood: Don’t Question The Loyalty Of Malays To Singapore

    During the war my late father, who was then an officer in the Civil Defence was busy risking his life evacuating people from buildings bombed by the Japanese warplanes.

    Compare this with what the father of someone in the ruling party did, collaborating with the Japanese invaders while many of our countrymen were being tortured and executed. For what my father did he was honoured by the Queen, head of the government of the day, with a medal (MBE) while the father of that person was posthumously honoured by the Japanese government for his services.

    And I am a Malay and they dare question my and my community’s loyalty to this nation.

    That is where it hurts!

     

    Source: Mohamed Jufrie Mahmood

  • Tun Dr Mahathir’s Advice To SG Malay Community: Be Resilient, Adaptable, And Never Stop Learning

    Tun Dr Mahathir’s Advice To SG Malay Community: Be Resilient, Adaptable, And Never Stop Learning

    I had the privilege to meet Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad yesterday to seek his views and advice. This is the second time I met him in person. As usual, I gained much from the meeting.

    Tun Mahathir is 92 years old but still as sharp. Very easy to talk to. His wife, Tun Siti Hasmah, 91 yrs old is still as cheerful and hospitable, making time to also chat with us.

    Although time is of a premium, we talked on many topics. From politics to social issues. The biggest takeaway from this meeting is the advice given by Tun Mahathir to our community.

    1. Be like the jews, resilient. They migrated during the period where they were persecuted, but developed their self-worth by learning and mastering the work they do and as a result? they are now able to control the world by proxies.

    2. Seek knowledge and skills that are relevant to the world economy so that we will be in demand anywhere we go.

    3. If we are an employee, worm our way to the heart of our employers. Not by flattery or apple polishing but by hard work, being dependable, trustworthy and ultimately indispensable.

    4. If we are an employer or in business, work with honesty, hard work, integrity and shrewdness.

    5. We cannot single-handedly change the fate of the community. The community itself must want to excel and prosper as a whole. Only then are we able to change the condition we are in.

    Somehow, I left the place feeling sad. Time is not in his favour but yet, I think he has more to contribute positively to the society. I hope he continues to be blessed with good health and have many more good years ahead.

    Aameen.

     

    Source: Khan Osman Sulaiman

  • Singaporeans Petition For Ong Teng Cheong To Be Recognised As First Elected President

    Singaporeans Petition For Ong Teng Cheong To Be Recognised As First Elected President

    “The President shall be elected by the citizens of Singapore in accordance with any law made by the Legislature.”

    – Singapore Constitution, Article 17(2).

    This is a call for the Government of Singapore, led by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, to not disregard and disrespect Mr Ong Teng Cheong as our nation’s first Elected President.

    This call is made in light of remarks made in Parliament by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Mr Chan Chun Sing, on 6 February 2017.

    Mr Chan, in responding to a question from the Workers’ Party Member of Parliament for Aljunied GRC, Ms Sylvia Lim, said that “President Wee Kim Wee was the first president to exercise the powers under the new Elected Presidency act”, and thus Mr Wee was Singapore’s first Elected President.

    Mr Chan said that the Government was advised on this by the Attorney General.

    Mr Wee is the fourth of Singapore’s seven presidents.

    We contend that the Attorney General is wrong in advising the Government that Mr Wee was our country’s first Elected President simply because Mr Wee had exercised the powers under the Elected President scheme; and we ask that the honour be rightly bestowed on Mr Ong Teng Cheong instead.

    We present the following reasons for this call.

    – Mr Wee, who held the post of president with distinction and honour, was nonetheless unelected, a fundamental requirement of our Constitution. He did not present himself to the people of Singapore as a candidate. Instead, Mr Wee was appointed by then Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew.

    – No other candidate was able to present himself as a challenge to Mr Wee and to let the people of Singapore choose or make their choice in a democratic and open election.

    – Mr Ong had relinquished his position as a minister in the Government, resigned his post from the People’s Action Party (PAP), before offering himself as a candidate for the Elected Presidency.

    – Mr Ong faced an opponent in Mr Chua Kim Yeow, a former Accountant General, in an open and democratic presidential election in 1993. Mr Ong won the popular vote and became our 5th President, and our First Elected President.

    Also, we note that through the last 24 years since Mr Ong became Singapore’s 5th President, numerous media reports and articles have cited and recognised him as our first Elected President.

    But the highest recognition of Mr Ong as Singapore’s first Elected President came from our former Prime Minister, Goh Chok Tong, himself.

    In his condolence letter to Mr Ong’s family when Mr Ong passed away in 2002, Mr Goh wrote:

    “As the first elected President, Teng Cheong had to work the two-key system…”

    Mr Goh is, of course, correct and right in recognising Mr Ong and affirming the fact that Mr Ong was indeed Singapore’s first Elected President.

    So was our founding Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, who had initiated the idea for an Elected President as far back as 1985.

    Mr Lee had said then “that Singapore might have its first elected President at the end of Mr Wee’s four-year term or, perhaps, earlier.”

    Mr Ong’s status is also recognised by curators of our nation’s history.

    The website of the National Library Board (NLB) also affirms this fact, with this title on its “History SG” page on Mr Ong:

    “ONG TENG CHEONG IS THE FIRST ELECTED PRESIDENT OF SINGAPORE”.

    Please see here: http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/history/events/a99d13…

    The basis for anyone being recognised as an Elected President is two-fold:

    1. He must offer himself as a candidate in a presidential election, so that the people of Singapore have a choice to express their wish. This is at the very heart of a democratic election, whether parliamentary or presidential. This is an unequivocal stipulation in Article 17(2) of the Constitution.

    2. Even if it turns out that there is no actual contest because of a lack of opponents, the candidate would still be recognised as the winner because he had actually stepped forward and put himself up as a candidate for the people to choose.

    The Elected President scheme was introduced so that the candidate and eventual president would have to go through an open election to get the people’s endorsement. And this was required for one very important reason:

    The Elected President must have the moral authority to act on behalf of the people in being a check on the government of the day. And he can only have such moral authority if he has the assent of the people who bestow such powers on him through the vote.

    With all due respect to Mr Wee, he did not offer himself as a candidate in an open election. This is not his fault as the scheme was introduced halfway through his term.

    Nevertheless, it would not be right to recognise him as our first Elected President.

    Professor of Law, Jack Lee, of the Singapore Management University, wrote on the Singapore Law website in 2016 that while Mr Wee was the first to exercise the powers of the Elected President scheme, “[the] provision [in the law] was carefully worded to avoid deeming Wee Kim Wee as having been elected, so although he exercised all the discretionary powers of an elected President, the first truly elected President was Ong Teng Cheong.”

    It is quite clear that Mr Ong, who fulfils all the necessary and important requirements of the Elected President scheme as stated in the Constitution, should be recognised as SINGAPORE’S FIRST ELECTED PRESIDENT.

    We must not do him a dishonour by brushing off his contribution with a simple stroke of the pen without any substantive, rational explanation.

    Mr Ong gave his whole life to public service, first as a Member of Parliament, later as minister and deputy prime minister, and finally as president.

    To now dismiss him as Singapore’s first Elected President is to dishonour him, and to dishonour Singaporeans who still hold him in the highest regard.

    It is also an attempt to re-write our history.

    We thus call on the Singapore Government to respect history and to respect Mr Ong, and to recognise him as our first Elected President.

     

    Source: www.ipetitions.com

  • New Award For Students Pays Tribute To Malay War Hero, Lt Adnan Saidi

    New Award For Students Pays Tribute To Malay War Hero, Lt Adnan Saidi

    A war hero’s name now graces a new award for tertiary students who embody his fighting spirit, 75 years after he died valiantly in battle defending Singapore.

    The SMEF-Lieutenant Adnan Award from the Singapore Muslim Education Fund (SMEF) will go to students who have excelled in their studies in the face of adversity, or proven their leadership mettle in a uniformed group.

    It pays tribute to Lt Adnan Saidi who died fighting the Japanese in the Battle of Pasir Panjang during World War II. His platoon in the Malay Regiment was vastly outnumbered, but Lt Adnan rallied his men in a battle to the bitter end.

    SMEF chairman Ameen Talib told The Sunday Times yesterday: “Lt Adnan is a symbol of bravery, leadership, resilience and determination, which we thought were perfect virtues for our younger generation to aspire towards.”

    He noted that the introduction of the award was timely, coming on the 75th anniversary of the fall of Singapore.

    The $700 award was given out for the first time yesterday, in a ceremony at Mamanda Restaurant in Kampong Glam.

    Among the three recipients was 19-year-old Nurhaliza Ramli who, despite her troubled family background, has excelled in her media management course at Nanyang Polytechnic.

    She has never met her mother, and her father, who was released from jail two years back and is partially blind, lives in a halfway house.

    After her grandmother died in 2007, Ms Nurhaliza spent years shuttling between her relatives’ homes. She now lives with her taxi-driver uncle and his family.

    After she graduates, she plans to find a job to help her save up for part-time university courses.

    “I want to support myself and lighten the burden on my uncle, who has to think of his three children too,” she said. “Sometimes I do feel down, but I always tell myself to focus on the future. That’s something I can control.”

    At the ceremony, Minister of State for Communications and Information and Education Janil Puthucheary gave out $41,000 worth of awards to a bumper crop of 12 students.

    This is the SMEF’s largest disbursement since it was set up in 2013. Its initial focus was on supporting Malay/Muslim students pursue law and medicine overseas.

    Yesterday, six medical students received the $5,000 SMEF Medicine Award, while three law students were given the $3,000 SMEF-Professor Ahmad Ibrahim Award, which is named after Singapore’s first attorney-general.

    Said Dr Ameen: “There were very few Malay/Muslim professionals in these fields, and so we wanted to encourage and support students doing law and medicine.”

    “Now, we want to look at other segments. We want to encourage those who have done their best against all odds, in any field.”

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com

  • Yaacob Ibrahim: Give Elected Presidency A Chance To Develop

    Yaacob Ibrahim: Give Elected Presidency A Chance To Develop

    Give the elected presidency (EP) a chance to develop and allow it to evolve, Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Yaacob Ibrahim yesterday urged the Malay community, in particular, its youth.

    He made the appeal in response to a question during a dialogue with tertiary students on whether the upcoming presidential election, which has been reserved for Malay candidates, is “mere tokenism”.

    “I think, let’s give it a chance and see how it works because no policy is cast in stone. One day, the Government might change its mind and decide that this reserved election doesn’t work. You never know,” he added.

    “You’ve to sort of recognise the fact that we must continue to evolve and learn from the experiences on the ground.”

    Dr Yaacob was speaking publicly on the EP for the first time since the Presidential Elections (Amendment) Bill was passed last week.

    The Bill provided details such as the election period and the size of the committees to assess whether candidates are eligible to contest. It follows broader constitutional changes passed last November that spell out how a presidential election will be reserved for a particular racial group if no one from that group has been president for five terms in a row.

    The upcoming election is reserved for the Malay community, which has not seen a Malay president for 46 years since Singapore’s first president Yusof Ishak, who died in office on Nov 23, 1970.

     

    In his reply, Dr Yaacob, who reiterated that he will not contest the election, said his preference “would have been clearly an open election, where a Malay could actually win the EP on his or her own merit”.

    “But I think we also have to ask ourselves whether or not we are able to achieve that if we take that risk,” he added.

    He said tribal tendencies “are still very strong” and “run deep”, not just among the miniorities, but even among the majorities.

    “So how you ensure that the imbalance doesn’t become a burden on the minority is something which the Government has to think about all the time,” he added.

    He said the Malay community is concerned “not just about the president, but also Malay permanent secretary, Malay general… because we want to see representation across the entire Singaporean life”.

    “But we believe it must come about because of meritocracy. Even for the elected president, you don’t just pick up somebody from Geylang Serai – the person must qualify, the person must earn the respect of all Singaporeans,” he added.

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com