Thursday, January 26, 2012

10 Things Found Only In Malaysia

Original Post:  The Malaysia Chronicle

LETTER A few months ago I moved to Malaysia in Southeast Asia. Although it is not a large country with no abundant reserves of oil, it has been able to build a solid economy and achieved a large level of development and progress

During my stay in Malaysia, I noticed things that were not found in any other country I have been to and it is not difficult to get used to them. But they draw a smile on the face any foreigner visiting Malaysia because of their uniqueness Let us go through the ten things that are found only in Malaysia

(1) You should take a train to get your luggage: The first thing that surprised me at the airport in Malaysia that, despite its small airport compared to other airports , the passenger takes the subway for a few time to get to the luggage space and passport check point. I have never seen this somewhere else.

(2) Be aware of yellow lines: When you drive in Malaysia, you will notice a lot of yellow lines on the road indicating a bump and uneven ground that may heavily shake the car. What is ridiculous is that these lines indicate that the Government was aware of such defects in the streets but instead of carrying out some maintenance, they paint as a warning.

(3) A bottle of beer costs you as much as a slice of meat: This was the trap I fell in when I ordered a beer besides the meal , then turned out that I paid for two meals ! So why all these taxes on alcohol?

(4) "Halal" on the fridge: You can find old label on everything here and that you do not see in any other country . In a shop power tools ,I saw this sticker on a refrigerator !!.They over use the "halal" label be it on electric appliances or soft drinks

(5) Sepang, but for whom? : One of the beautiful things in Malaysia for me is the Formula racing tournament. It is very nice to live in a country hosting a round of the world F1 races . However, what distinguishes Malaysia is that when you talk to people about F1 racing , it is clear that no one watches or is interested in this sport. For the past several months, I have been trying to explain to the owner of an Indian restaurant what F1 is and I kept buying stuff to watch the race on his TV. Since generally nobody is interested in the F1 race, I wonder why they host the race ?

(6) Malaysians, I love them! It is the only country where people prefer foreign gas stations not because of the good services or quality of the gasoline sold, but just because some people do not support the government so they do not buy gas from governmental gas stations. This is what I have seen and told by some friends there. And I do not agree with this .

(7) Frequent rain but no clean water: Usually ,the main problem of any country is the lack of rain and low water levels, but Malaysia's problem is different; meaning that rainfall is abundant too, but you simply cannot drink water directly from the tap because the water treatment plant is Off " for a few years" and this is what forces the purchase of water despite the availability and abundance.

(8) Four languages and he is not a professor: the only country where I have seen a man who could speaks four languages fluently but works in a supermarket. The surprising part is that he is only a salesman and not a professor at one of the English, Malaysia, Indian or even Chinese universities which are the languages of more than half the world.

(9) Swimming in full dress: I have visited many of the beaches of Malaysia and the thing that struck me most about those beaches is that many of the men who swim are wearing full dress, why would a man swim wearing his T-shirt. This is something I have seen only in Malaysia.

(10) Celebrations of Muslims Buddhist, Hindu and Christians: This ethnic mix is wonderful and cannot be found elsewhere. I celebrated with Christians, and Muslims and Chinese. It is great to be able to celebrate all of these religions in one country. It is only found in Malaysia.

Alaa Soleiman hails from the Middle East and is temporarily based in Malaysia. He reads Malaysia Chronicle.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Racial discrimination in Malaysia: Don't believe? Then look at the list ...

FROM THE BLOGS Discrimination of Non-Malays in Malaysia is plain racist. There is a list that is common knowledge to a lot of Malaysians, especially those who are non-Malays (Chinese, Ibans, Kadazans, Orang Asli, Tamils, etc.) and who have been racially discriminated against.

Figures in this list are merely estimates, so please take it as a guide only. The government of Malaysia has the most correct figures. Is government of Malaysia too ashamed to publish their racist acts by publishing racial statistics?

This list covers a period of about 48 years since independence (1957).

List of racial discrimination ( Malaysia ):

(1) Of the five major banks, only one is multi-racial, the rest are controlled by Malays.

(2) 99% of Petronas directors are Malays.

(3) 3% of Petronas employees are Chinese.

(4) 99% of 2000 Petronas gasoline stations are owned by Malays.

(5) 100% all contractors working under Petronas projects must be of Bumis status.

(6) 0% of non-Malay staff are legally required in Malay companies. But there must be 30% Malay staffs in Chinese companies.

(7) 5% of all new intake for government police, nurses, army, are non-Malays.

(8) 2% is the present Chinese staff in Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF), a drop from 40% in 1960.

(9) 2% is the percentage of non-Malay government servants in Putrajaya, but Malays make up 98%.

(10) 7% is the percentage of Chinese government servants in the entire government (in 2004); a drop from 30% in 1960.

(11) 95% of government contracts are given to Malays.

(12) 100% all business licensees are controlled by Malay government, e..g. Taxi permits, Approved permits, etc.

(13) 80% of the Chinese rice millers in Kedah had to be sold to Malay controlled Bernas in 1980s. Otherwise, life is made difficult for Chinese rice millers.

(14) 100 big companies set up, owned and managed by Chinese Malaysians were taken over by government, and later managed by Malays since 1970s, e.g. UTC, UMBC, MISC, Southern Bank etc..

(15) At least 10 Chinese owned bus companies (throughout Malaysia in the past 40 years) had to be sold to MARA or other Malay transport companies due to rejection by Malay authorities to Chinese applications for bus routes and rejection for their applications for new buses..

(16) Two Chinese taxi drivers were barred from driving in Johor Larkin bus station. There are about 30 taxi drivers and three were Chinese in Oct. 2004. Spoiling taxi club properties was the reason given.

(17) 0 non-Malays are allowed to get shop lots in the new Muar bus station (Nov.. 2004).

(18) 8000 billion ringgit is the total amount the government channeled to Malay pockets through ASB, ASN, MARA, privatization of government agencies, Tabung Haji etc, through NEP over a 34 years period.

(19) 48 Chinese primary schools closed down from 1968 - 2000.

(20) 144 Indian primary schools closed down from 1968 - 2000.

(21) 2637 Malay primary schools built from 1968 - 2000.

(22) 2.5% is government budget for Chinese primary schools. Indian schools got only 1%, Malay schools got 96.5%.

(23) While a Chinese parent with RM1000 salary (monthly) cannot get school textbook loan, a Malay parent with RM2000 salary is eligible.

(24) All 10 public university vice chancellors are Malays.

(25) 5% of the government universities' lecturers are of non-Malay origins. This percentage has been reduced from about 70% in 1965 to only 5% in 2004.

(26) Only 5% has been given to non-Malays for government scholarships in over 40 years.

(27) 0 Chinese or Indians were sent to Japan and Korea under the 'Look East Policy.'

(28) 128 STPM Chinese top students could not get into the course to which they aspired, i.e. Medicine (in 2004).

(29) 10% quotas are in place for non-Bumi students for MARA science schools beginning in 2003, but only 7% are filled. Before that it was 100% Malays.

(30) 50 cases in which Chinese and Indian Malaysians are beaten up in the National Service program in 2003.

(31) 25% of the Malaysian population was Chinese in 2004, a drop from 45% in 1957.

(32) 7% of the Malaysian population is Indian (2004), a drop from 12% in 1957.

(33) 2 million Chinese Malaysians have emigrated in the past 40 years.

(34) 0.5 million Indian Malaysians have emigrated overseas.

(35) 3 millions Indonesians have migrated to Malaysia and become Malaysian citizens with Bumis status.

(36) 600,000 Chinese and Indian Malaysians with red IC were rejected repeatedly when applying for citizenship in the past 40 years. Perhaps 60% of them had already passed away due to old age. This shows racism, based on how easily Indonesians got their citizenships compared with the Chinese and Indians.

(37) 5% - 15% discount for a Malay to buy a house, regardless whether the Malay is rich or poor.

(38) 2% is what new Chinese villages get, compared with 98% - what Malay villages got for rural development budget.

(41) 0 temples/churches were built for each housing estate. But every housing estate got at least one mosque/surau built.

(42) 3000 mosques/surau were built in all housing estates throughout Malaysia since 1970. No temples or churches are required to be built in housing estates.

(43) 1 Catholic church in Shah Alam took 20 years to apply to have a building constructed. But they were told by Malay authority that it must look like a factory and not like a church. As of 2004 the application still have not been approved.

(44) 1 publishing of Bible in Iban language banned (in 2002).

(45) 0 of the government TV stations (RTM1, RTM2, TV3) are directors of non-Malay origin.

(46) 30 government produced TV dramas and films always showed that the bad guys had Chinese faces, and the good guys had Malay faces. You can check it out since 1970s. Recent years, this has become less of a tendency.

(47) 10 times, at least, Malays (especially Umno) had threatened to massacre the Chinese Malaysians using May 13, since 1969.

(48) 20 constituencies won by DAP would not get funds from the government to develop. These Chinese majority constituencies would be the last to be developed.

(49) 100 constituencies (parliaments and states) had been racially re-delineated so Chinese votes were diluted for Chinese candidates. This is one of the main reasons why DAP candidates have consistently lost in elections since the 1970s. (update to 2008 needed)

(50) Only 3 out of 12 human rights items are ratified by the Malaysian government since 1960.

(51) 0 - elimination of all forms of racial discrimination (UN Human Rights) has not been ratified by Malaysian government since 1960s.

(52) 20 reported cases whereby Malay ambulance attendances treated Chinese patients inhumanely, and Malay government hospital staffs purposely delayed attending to Chinese patients in 2003. Unreported cases may be 200.

(54) 20 cases every year whereby Chinese drivers who accidentally knocked down Malays were seriously assaulted or killed by Malays.

(55) 12% is what ASB/ASN got per annum while banks fixed deposits are only about 3.5% per annum.

There are hundreds more examples of racial discrimination in Malaysia to add to this list of 'colossal' racism. It is hoped that the victims of racism will write in to help expose this situation.

The Malaysian government should publish statistics showing how much Malays had benefited from the 'special rights' of Malays and at the same time release the statistics which show how minority races are being discriminated against.

Hence, the responsibility lies in the Malaysian government itself to publish unadulterated statistics of racial discrimination.

If the Malaysia government hides the statistics above, then there must be some evil doings, immoral doings, shameful doings and sinful doings, like the Nazis, going on with the non-Malays of Malaysia .

Civilized nations, unlike the evil Nazis, must publish statistics to show its treatment of its minority races. This is what Malaysia must publish.

We are asking for the publication of the statistics showing how 'implementation of special rights of Malays' had inflicted colossal racial discrimination onto non-Malays.

Human Book

Do you believe in 1Malaysia after reading this? What is MCA and MIC doing after all these years. No wonder leaders like Samy Vellu and Ling Liong Sik have been accused of corruption and serving their own self interests.

What we need is a Malaysian Nelson Mandela!

What makes us sick are the Malaysian ‘white’ leaders practising apartied under the nose of the world community and getting away with it. They have the cheek to critisize the White South African regime and yet practise apartied at home. Maybe to camouflage their actions!! Smart? But actually very stupid because they will make Malaysia a failed nation. Not now but later as surely as the sun rises over the horizon.

From : The Malaysia-Chronicle