KJ John Jul 17, 07 3:53pm
Malacca is a major historical town in Malaysia which has a truly mixed
background. It was Hindu, Portuguese, Dutch, English, Chinese, Malayan and
finally Malaysian. Development in Malacca has meant many and different
things to all concerned; stakeholders past and present.
For the Portuguese Malaysians it has meant not destroying their
traditional
and religious heritage. To the other original Malaccans like the Babas or
the Chitis, it has meant sustainability of their culture and way of life;
in
spite of modernity and all other challenges. The Malaccans are a truly
unique people, among all other Malayans. They do not have a Sultan to pay
homage to; unlike the other nine Federated and Unfederated Malay States.
From there arise both the heros and crooks like Hang Jebat and Hang Tuah.
Like Penang, she was historically a Straits Settlement. This actually
meant
some special and extra privileges; including the bumiputera status to some
of the ethnic communities in Malacca. Although, even many tenth generation
Chinese in Peninsular Malaya like, the dependents of Yap Ah Loy, are not
even so recognized. Today, if I am not wrong, the Malacca Portuguese even
have a very senior deputy secretary general, and bumiputera in the public
services; even as they probably have had many others before.
History aside, in the 50th year of our independence from colonization and
political patronage of paying homage to others, we may still have
colonialist mindsets operating right in our midst; as we celebrate our
so-called independence and our Visit Malaysia Year when a visit to Malacca
is a must! Really? To see what? To find out about the truth of how we
"manage local cultures and traditions of faith and practice?" This is
neo-colonial exploitation of a new kind which we usually accuse the West
for. The quote below from Dr Farish Noor says everything, to me:
"In short, what we are witnessing today is the destruction of Malaysian
temples, and that is why we Malaysians should be concerned. It doesn't
matter what religion you may or may not choose to profess: this is an
issue
that needs to be addressed by us collectively. To recognise that these
temples are Malaysian temples means locating them here, at home, as part
of
our collective identity and what defines us as what we are. I grew up in a
neighbourhood of Kuala Lumpur where at dawn I could hear the sound of the
azan from the mosque and the chimes of the Hindu temple nearby. Today the
temple bells are being silenced; and my world - and yours - is poorer as a
result." - Dr Farish Noor, The Other Malaysia.
The story of the Hindu temple in Tambak Paya has broken into the news but
the real under-currents are still fanning anger and hatred. I mean it:
anger
and hatred. I hope the National Unity and Integration Department have
their
feelers on the ground in Malacca before it is too late. Too many things
are
happening in Malacca which has upset the local Hindu population to no end.
Malaysiakini carried a photograph of an Umno-linked poster "warning the
adherents that the Malay limits have been reached." But does Umno speak
for
the government on all matters, and especially so on matters related to the
religion of another race or another ethnic community?
Surely the local council president does not take orders from Umno but
instead, from the chief minister or ketua menteri of Malacca (note that he
is not an MB like the 9 others). In fact, if I were the housing and local
government minister, I would definitely find some legal basis to intervene
to stop this abuse of Federal Constitutional rights of other communities
to
have their places of worship. The religious rights and liberties of the
non-Muslim communities are found in the Federal Constitution and not from
State Enactments.
Yes, therefore, if no proper places are officially allocated, then their
worldview dictates that from the alignment of the stars and the full
appreciation of the universe, different places and locations are
considered
more suitable for the setting up of temples. Therefore, the adherents
build
where they find such "spiritually aligned locations." Technically it may
be
state land or even other forms of private property, like estate lands, but
that becomes incidental when "the principle of occupation legitimizes
existence." After all, I think it was the Foreign Minister of Israel,
Moshe
Dayan who once said, "Occupation is 90% of ownership."
50 years on
Let me now relate to what happens elsewhere, almost in identical form but
wherein double standards prevail. There was a 40 year old green lung in my
neighborhood. Many children in our neighborhood who are parents today
"grew
up in this neighborhood green lung and park." The park had sepak takraw
courts, a skating ring and badminton courts and a dilapidated playground
for
younger children. More importantly it had some huge and large trees which
looked more than half a century old.
The neighborhood Muslim community had been asking for a new mosque because
their old surau was bursting at it seems. The housing developer, made many
verbal promises and even had proposed plans to build a mosque which were
publicly presented. Then, slowly but surely, the developer forgot their
promises, after the houses were sold. Then in 1999, just two weeks before
the general elections, earthmovers came and cleared our 30-year-old green
lung and ark. Nobody but the government knew what was happening and I
suspect that government involved some state exco members (read Umno) who
sanctioned and colluded to rape our green lung.
My many AR registered letters to the president of MPPJ went unreplied. The
only ones that replied were two minister's offices, one was the DPM's
(then
deputy premier Pak Lah to whom I personally handed my letter of appeal to
stop it) and the other Minister Dr Rais Yatim's (then minister of law). No
one else bothered or cared. In fact, a current Umno exco member of the
Selangor government even lied to us about his concerns, at a meeting
arranged by friendly parties.
Today, the green lung is gone and in its place stands a huge "illegal
mosque" which started as a local masjid committee project but then stopped
because of corruption, and was finally "bailed out and completed by the
government." It was completed partially with the people's money on illegal
land, which rightly belonged to the people of Kampung Tunku, based on the
costs they paid for the housing development. Such rape continues before
our
very eyes.
Therefore when attending the parliamentary hearing at MBPJ recently I
registered this complain as "one type of crime happening which the police
should not ignore!" All criminal activites like these ones and others, are
seeking to destroy legitimate rights of other Malaysians must be seen as
crime and fought with a vengeance; otherwise we participate in propagating
double standards of governance - one standard for the "migrant non-Malays"
and another for the Muslim Malays.
But, this is the year we are celebrating 50 years of independence and what
does it really mean if we cannot view ourselves as Malaysians. I pray that
the Constitutional rights of the Hindus in Malacca will be justly
preserved
and protected, otherwise, as I have written before, maybe we should review
whether we can and should really celebrate independence of 50 years from
the
colonial governance of the past. Maybe neo-colonialism is right here with
us! God Bless Malaysia.
----------------------------------------------------------------
This e-mail has been sent via JARING webmail at http://www.jaring.my
No comments:
Post a Comment