Beyonce, sex, morality, and PAS

By Sim Kwang Yang

Beyonce Knowles is going to perform at a concert in the Bukit Jalil Stadium in KL later this month, and so as expected in Malaysia, there are voices in PAS calling on a ban on her concert so as to protect Malaysian youths from her negative immoral influence.

Two years or so ago, a concert of hers was cancelled because she could not accept the dress code imposed on her by the authorities

We all know who Beyonce is.  She is the scantily clad pop icon who is also a one-woman tour de force that can whip up a frenzy on the stage.

I have watched her performance on TV a few times.  I do not find her mode of dress and her performance “sexy”.  They are all like that these days, and after a while, you become numb to their alien mode of presenting themselves.

I am not a big fan of pop culture, but if other people are crazy about her, let them go to her concert.  They harm no one.  It is just simple entertainment, a commodity for mass consumption, and consumers must be entitled to their right of choice.

About social grace – or lack of it

Kaypo Anak Sarawak is a Columnist  of  Hermit Hornbill at The Borneo Post Online , His article is  published  in The Borneo Post every Sunday. (Used by permission of the Author )

I WAS having my dinner in the clean coffee shop in my neighbourhood and enjoying a beautiful Malaysian September sunset.

This scraggy young man sat down at   the next table. Then he tilted his head backwards, gurgled for a few seconds, and with a “ptwit..!” he   spit on the floor. He repeated this disgusting action a few times. I was nauseated, and walked   away from my unfinished dinner, fuming.

I should have walked over to him and reprimanded him politely but firmly. But a young man who is so ill-bred as to spit in a public eatery will probably beat me up if I had scolded him anyway!

You see anti-social behaviour in public places like that everywhere.

JABU UNWILLING TO OPEN DOOR FOR LADIES

Jabu refuses to meet Women’s Representatives

By Rosita Maja

The Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister and Minsiter in charge of Penan affiars, Alfred Jabu anak Nmpang, has refused to accept a memorandum concerning the plight of Penan girls and women, who had reportedly suffered sexual abuse by logging company workers.

The memorandum was from the national Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Wanita, or Women’s Chief, Hajjah Zuraidah Kamaruddin.

Hajjah Zuraidah Kamaruddin, the Member of Parliament for Ampang, traveled to Kuching to visit Sarawak state leaders and government departments.

She expressed the serious concern by the Keadilan Women’s Wing over the rape and sexual abuse of Penan girls and women in Sarawak, as revealed by the national Ministerial Task Force Report, released almost three weeks ago by the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development.

On September 25, a delegation of Keadilan women’s leaders, led by Zuraidah, went to Wisma Bapa Malaysia to present the memorandum to Jabu, the Chairman of the State Cabinet Committee on Penan Affairs.

MEMORANDUM

By Parti Keadilan Rakyat Biro Wanita

We, PKR Wanita Keadilan Malaysia, are gravely concerned about the issue of the sexual abuse of Penan girls and women in Sarawak.

These heinous crimes and extreme violations of human rights perpetrated upon Penan girls and women must be stopped immediately, and perpetrators must be prosecuted as soon as possible.

The long-standing problem of systematic marginalisation of the Penan people, which  has been well documented by many quarters, including SUHAKAM, must be stopped.

We, PKR Wanita Keadilan Malaysia , hereby urge the Sarawak Government to look into the following issues with urgency, and we demand immediate action.

Hornbill Unleashed six months later……

By Sim Kwang Yang

Hornbill Unleashed was launched on March 26, and so to-day, we passed the first six months of our existence.

We are very grateful for the many readers who have visited our site and left their comments.  Apart from the few odd balls, most of our readers have been thoughtful, courteous, positive, and engaged.

We have tried to keep our site updated everyday, and keeping to deadlines is never easy.  But we have managed somehow.

We have had over 238,000 hits so far.  But getting hits is the not the sole reason for this communal blog.  We do want to offer something different, in accordance with our guiding principle of Anak Sarawak, Bangsa Malaysia.

We also want to speak a new language, the language of reason, compassion, and positive engagement.  We will continue to fight the racial narrative that has imprisoned our country for six decades.

Race, Discourse and Diversity

By Bunga Pakma

As was one of the commentators, I too was surprised at the eruption of the first real ruckus in Hornbill Unleashed, “unleashed,” one might say, by the article “Help the hungry Penans” [22 Sept].  This altercation in words has not amounted to an all-out “flame war”—pace said commentator—but it comes close.  Certainly neither the vehemence of responses to that article nor those many thumbs-down (a boo-ing in uncanny silence) have been seen before in this blog.

Hornbill Unleashed was founded as a site for civil discussion.  We have common enemies enough and our anger is justly directed at them.  These enemies are the epidemic vices that infect and corrupt our lives and which have made our government a grasping tyranny—greed, apathy, prejudice, arrogance, pride, contempt and so many more.  When vices are institutionalized as the foundation of the State, many of the rest of us feel permitted to practise them ourselves.  Corruption at the top metastasizes like a cancer and spreads to destroy lives and relations even at the kampong level.  On the converse, good qualities are also self-reinforcing.  Malaysia will rise out of the mire only when enough citizens resolve that, whatever the big-shots do, whatever dirt is promoted by the media, they themselves will be damned to hell before they foul their souls with the same viciousness.

Actually, I like a good verbal battle.  It gets the pulse racing.  Yet, in the interests of maintaining the “tone” of HU, so that the sparring doesn’t go beyond Queensbury rules, I’d like to do a little rhetorical analysis.

The Termite and Jabu: Theatre of the Absurd

By Pak Bui

A Tragic Comedy of Quotations in Three Acts

CHARACTERS

TERMITE, friend of loggers, plantation towkays and dam builders

JABU, servant of Termite

DAWOS, servant of Termite and Jabu

LIHAN, servant of Termite, Jabu and other towkays

CHORUS of villagers, from remote areas

NGOs, non-governmental organisations working for native people’s rights

SCENE

Penans with cars and big houses?

By Sim Kwang Yang

The Sarawak Environmental advisor Dr. James Davos Mammit has parroted Alfred Jabu’s attack against NGOs, by blaming the Penan problem on the NGO, who he said manipulated them.

James has a PH D I think.  He is also an old schoolmate from St. Joseph’s in Kuching.  I think he was a few years my junior.

But too many years of politics in BN must have dulled his intellect.  His attack against the NGOs is really a bad reflection of the standard of his political narrative.  Surely, he can have something more original to say, like “I feel sorry for the Penans, and will seek way to get to the truth of the rape of Penan girls.”

But then, as the state environmental advisor, James would probably be fired by his boss the termite, if he shows any sign of support for the Penans.

The PKFZ black hole

Kaypo Anak Sarawak is a Columnist  of  Hermit Hornbill at The Borneo Post Online , His article is  published  in The Borneo Post every Sunday. (Used by permission of the Author )

THE Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) controversy is poised to grow into a political black hole which threatens to suck into it many prominent personalities in time to come.

The project was originally scheduled to cost RM1.96 billion, but it has since ballooned to cost RM12 billion.

In the 1980s, when the BMF scandal revealed that losses amounting to RM2.5 billion had been incurred by this subsidiary of Bank Bumiputra for shady deals made in Hong Kong, opposition leader Lim Kit Siang called this the Mother of all Scandals. It has turned out that the PKFZ fiasco is the real Grandmother of all Scandals!

Credit has to be given to the new Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Kiat, for deciding to make the investigation into the PKFZ issue public.

We support The Nut Graph

By HU Editor

The Nut Graph is an independent news website launched in August 2008. Founded by two renowned journalists Jacqueline Ann Surin and Cindy Tham, this Malaysian news website that is accessed free of charge is appealing for support for its subsistence beyond March 2010.

In “The Nut Graph needs your support”, Jacqueline Ann Surin is steadfast to uphold their founding belief that Malaysia needs as much critical and independent journalism as it can benefit from, that good journalism helps keep government, political parties, politicians, companies and decision-makers accountable.

“Journalism is expensive and good journalism that upholds fairness, accuracy and responsibility even more so” is merely stating the obvious.

In Malaysia, the mass media remains the domain of big corporate conglomerates, financed and managed in sync with the ruling political parties that wield the power to shut down any printed media and websites alike.

Help the hungry Penans!

Kaypo Anak Sarawak is a Columnist  of  Hermit Hornbill at The Borneo Post Online , His article is  published  in The Borneo Post every Sunday. (Used by permission of the Author )

I SWITCHED on a local private TV station on Astro by mistake and caught the news of the closing ceremony of the Hunger 30 Programme.

Thousands of Chinese school kids were crammed into a stadium after having gone through 30 hours without food, to see their pop singer icon Chang Hui Mei from Taiwan. She was there to endorse the sacrifice they had made to help feed the hungry of the world. Behind her at a press conference, was the huge picture of a black hungry African child.

I visited the Sin Chew Daily website, and this is what I found:

Freedom of expression; a reality in M’sia

Kaypo Anak Sarawak is a Columnist  of  Hermit Hornbill at The Borneo Post Online , His article is  published  in The Borneo Post every Sunday. (Used by permission of the Author )

IN developing Malaysia, the freedom of speech and assembly has always been a contentious issue.

In our multiracial and multicultural nation burdened with the dark memory of the May 13 incident, the government has always leaned towards curbing that freedom of expression. There are many laws prohibiting the uninterrupted exchange of views in public forum and the media. Of course, there is always the dreaded ISA.

At the other end of the spectrum, civil societies and opposition political leaders have called for an opening of the Malaysian sky, citing the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984, Broadcasting Act 1988, Official Secrets Act 1972, Sedition Act 1948, and Internal Security Act 1960 as instruments which violate the freedom of speech guaranteed to them under Article 10 of the Federal Constitution.

See Chee How expresses his shock and disgust with Lihan Jok

BY HU Editor

Press statement by See Chee How, lawyer and Keadilan Sarawak Information Chief, in Kuching on 19.09.2009

See Chee How, a lawyer acting for Penans and indigenous communities in NCR land cases, today expressed his shock and disgust with Lihan Jok. See said Lihan, the Telang Usan State Assemblyman, did not tell the truth when he reportedly said that the Penans had agreed to dismantle blockades and to allow logging to resume in the timber concession areas.

See also called on the state government to take native customary rights land claims seriously, to salvage the state’s plummeting international reputation, in the interests of the state’s economic development, and to respect and uphold various court judgements that ruled in favour of Native Customary Rights (NCR) lands in Sarawak.

In a statement issued in a press conference in Kuching today, See said that he was present at the meeting between Lihan Jok and the Penan headmen, village representatives and villagers in Long Bangan last Tuesday (15 Sept 2009) and has first-hand knowledge of what had transpired during and after the meeting.

Video inside :-

Indonesian samurais, Malaysian submarine, bak kut teh, and skin-deep nationalists

By Sim Kwang Yang

This war of words over culture ownership between Indonesia and Malaysia is getting to be childish.

First, there was this noisy riot in the Indonesia newspapers over Malaysia stealing the Pendet dance that originated from Bali.  The dance was inserted in a 30 second clip as part of Malaysia’s attractions in a Discovery series to promote Malaysia as a travel destination.

It was an obvious mistake made by a culturally illiterate production house in Singapore.  The obvious question is why a Malaysian production house was not appointed to make the clip.  Any Malaysian would not make a stupid mistake like that.  Why is it also that the Tourism Ministry did not check the clip to ensure its authenticity?

In any case, I find those sugary promotional materials quite revolting.  The Ibans are always portrayed as wearing cawat.  Can you blame Hadi Awang or anybody else for thinking that the Ibans of Batang Ai are all wearing cawat?

East Malaysia beats West – in concern for the sick

By Pak Bui

“It may come as a surprise to you, but Sarawakian and Sabahan nurses are, on the whole, streets ahead of West Malaysian ones,” a doctor friend told me.

“Honestly?” I asked. “The hospitals I’ve seen here always look overcrowded, much worse than the ones in KL. Except the private ones, of course, which are nice and quiet – like hotels, smelling of disinfectant.”

“Well, in fact, most of my friends in government hospitals agree with me,” my friend insisted. “Doctors and nurses seem more dedicated – and more inventive, too – than in the West. The buildings and equipment in Sarawak and Sabah aren’t adequate, of course, but many of the people working there try hard, at least.”

“Have you worked all over Malaysia, then?” I asked the good doctor.

“Yes, various places, in Sabah, Sarawak, West Malaysia, I’ve seen private healthcare and government hospitals…but the mindset in many Sarawak and Sabah doctors and nurses is different from those in West Malaysia.”

Another 15 Indigenous People Detained in Sarawak

Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia

Media Release

Another 15 Indigenous Peoples Detained in Sarawak

18 September 2009

Sri Aman, Sarawak – After the arrest and release of 15 indigenous people in Sarawak on Malaysia Day, another 15 indigenous Iban have been reported arrested in the Pantu District in Sarawak, for the alleged crime of harvesting oil palm fruits that have been grown on their native land. This was done in response to a police complaint filed by trespassing company Pelita-Tetangga Akrab.

The Story of K

By Bunga Pakma

Ramadhan is drawing to a close, the moon is coming to her rendezvous with the sun, to reappear soon and bring us Eid Al-Fitri.  Once the festivities have quieted down, poor Ms. Kartika will report to prison, where a specialist will thwack her six times with a rotan in the interest of her education.

Indignity after indignity has been heaped on Ms Kartika, and in respect to her, I shall not print her name further. Among these indignities, perhaps the most sordid is a thing which the outer world well knows but here in Malaysian discourse is conspicuous by its absence, the proverbial “elephant in the room.”  Have the Malaysian authorities, have the Syariah judge Abdul Rahman Mohd Yunos and lawyers realized that they have crafted a lurid pornographic entertainment for the lascivious men and women, straight, gay and lesbian, of whole world?

When it comes to the variety of sexual practices and fantasies, I doubt there are many innocents in Malaysia or elsewhere, though I’m sure many Malaysians keep an anxious hold on their thoughts and imaginings.  In the interest of education, let us examine the nature of this spectacle.

Sabah and Sarawak: when will they become Malaysia’s real king makers?

By Sim Kwang Yang

Yesterday was Malaysia Day, commemorating the 46 anniversary of Sarawak and Sabah independence through forming Malaysia with Singapore and the Malayan Federation.

I purposely did not comment on it, since there are far more people nowadays talking about the meaning of this date.  I have also stopped talking about the 20 point agreement signed in a joint memorandum 46 years ago.

We all know that Sarawak and Sabah have had a raw deal from 46 years of Malaysian independence.  The thing to think about is how to reverse this trend.

Sarawak has 31 parliamentary seats and Sabah 25 parliamentary seats, which were all but swept by the BN in the 2008 general elections.  The Sarawak and Sabah state governments are also firmly in the hands of the state BN.

Statement on Sexual Violence against Penan Women and the Situation of Indigenous Peoples in Malaysia

Statement on Sexual Violence against Penan Women and the Situation of Indigenous Peoples in Malaysia

16^th September 2009

Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG)

Centre for Orang Asli Concerns (COAC)

Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM)

Pusat KOMAS

In the wake of the release of the report of the task force confirming allegations of sexual abuse of Penan women and girls, we – concerned citizens of this country – greet Malaysia’s 46^th birthday with a renewed sense of outrage. We are gravely disturbed over not only the status of the Penan girls and women whose rights were violated, but also over how their situation reflects the overall state of the affairs of the Orang Asal: the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia and the indigenous peoples of Sabah and Sarawak.

ARREST OF JOAS LEADERS IN SARAWAK

16 September 2009

As Malaysia commemorates its 46th anniversary, 15 indigenous Sarawakians have been detained by Kuching police for trying to send a memorandum of protest to the Sarawak Chief Minister. Among those arrested are Mark Bujang (BRIMAS), Raymond Abin (BRIMAS) and Hellan Empaing (WADESA), all leaders of the Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia (Indigenous Peoples Network of Malaysia) as well as representatives from the Kayan, Kenyah and Penan communities of Sarawak.

Negaraku — My Malaysian Dream

MCMC: Cyber Gestapo in Malaysia?

By Sim Kwang Yang

So the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission officers are expected to charge Malaysiakini for transgressing cyber laws in Malaysia?

They have spent many man-hours interrogating the editor-in-chief of Malaysiakini Steven Gan and more than 10 of his staff members over the airing of two videos, one showing the cow-head protest and the other over a press conference given by the Home Minister Hishamuddin Hussein.

According to MCMC monitoring and enforcement division senior acting director Abdul Halim Ahman, in his letter to Malaysiakini, the display of both videos on the news portal “is an offence under Section 211/233 of the CMA”

Sarawakians not forgotten

Sim Kwang Yang

I write an article entitled 2Malaysia in health services published in Malaysiakini on September 5, grumbling about the problem of health care in rural Sarawak. I was quite pleasantly surprised to read a letter to the editor of Malaysiakini on September 14 from the Director-General of the Ministry of Health Mohd Ismail Merican.

I reproduce his reply here on HU. Since I am not so much in the know about Sarawak health service, I leave it to those Sarawakians who are better placed in the system to check whether what the KSU said is true or not.

Sarawakians not forgotten

Dr Mohd Ismail Merican

This is in response to the article 2 Malaysia in Health Services by Sim Kwang Yang: The health ministry expresses our appreciation of your concern regarding the health care provision for the people of Sarawak, especially those living in the interior.

Sarawak has never been left out. However, due to geographical constraints, the remote interior of Sarawak is not as easily accessible as one would wish.

MIC and Samy Vellu: a truly dying breed

By Sim Kwang Yang

I have not been following the MIC party election that closely, because I know the outcome is predictable.

The outcome of the MIC party election is predictable, because, despite their humiliating thrashing in the last general election, this grand old party is still mired in the fossilised outdated and dying mode of strongman politics.

Strongman politics has died out in the old dictatorships in the Philippines, Indonesia, and elsewhere.  It is that brand of politics where the entire political organisation or country is controlled by one domineering charismatic personality.  The retirement of Dr. M marked the end of strongman politics in Malaysia.  Whether it has ended in UMNO or not is yet to be seen.

Bagan Pinang buy-election: the old UMNO to the fore?

By Sim Kwang Yang

The Bagan Pinang by-election will surely be won by UMNO, and give them a reprieve from the long record of seven losses in West Malaysia in the past year and six months.

Bagan Pinang is quite a mixed seat, with nearly 70% Malay votes, 10.5 %  Chinese votes, and 19.9% Indian votes.  By right, it should be a good seat for Pakatan Rakyat to win handsomely.

But there are 5000 postal votes in Bagan Pinang, and we all know about postal votes.

When I used to contest many elections long ago, I would be visited in my office by some uniformed personnel still wearing their uniforms.  They told me that they have been offered RM100 per vote by my BN opponent, but they would happily vote for me for RM30 only.

Clearing the air on the “mysterious” NGOs – on a lazy Malaysian Sunday

By Sim Kwang yang

Finally, the truth is out: Penan girls had been raped by timber camp workers, according to the official reports put out by the task force appointed by the federal Ministry of Women, Family, and Community Development.

The official report had been ready and approved by the federal cabinet in April I hear, but has not seen the light of day until a group of PKR Wanita protestors led by their chief  Hajjah Zuraidah went to the office of the Minister.  There were promptly given a copy.

The report confirming the rape of very young Penan school girls is like a slap on the face of the Sarawak Ministers who had denied such rapes ever happened.  But some people have very thick skin on their face; they do not feel the heat of the slap, even when they are soundly slapped.

The Deputy Chief Minister and Minister in charge of Penan affairs Alfred Jabu promptly questioned the findings of the task force, blaming the mysterious hands of the NGOs in influencing the outcome of the task force’s investigations.

JABU IN PERPETUAL DENIAL …

By HU Editor

Jabu just never fail to amuse Sarawakians and the world at large (Shhh … he doesn’t know what internet is) …

To entertain all and sundry who are looking for some response from the Sarawak state government towards the now revealed National Taskforce Report on allegations of rape of Penan women and young girls, he made sure that the Borneo Post would carry it on the front page:

Doubts over KL Penan rape report
Jabu says negative NGOs could have a hand in federal government finding

KUCHING: Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu yesterday questioned the credibility of a government report about allegations of rape of Penan women.

Education

”  Today I can hand over the controls to someone else.  He’s an old friend, also teaching in a certain institution of higher learning (not mine), and we often compare ideas and exchange hints.  He’s been involved in academia without break all the while I had been whacking the bushes, and his experience has been of great value to me. I groused to him recently, and here’s how he replied. “

-  Bunga Pakma -

*.-*.-*.-*.-*.-*.-*.-*.-*.-*.-*

Dear Bunga Pakma,

Why can’t I more briefly call you “Pak” or “’Ma”, or “Bung”? Alas,“Bung” is Javanese and I already have a Pak and a Mak, hehehehe!  But seriously four syllables are too many for your name, friend, at the head of a letter.

This morning I brought up the BBC on my laptop, and not long into the news I heard that Pres. Obama had made a speech to children on their first day of school, and that Conservatives had screamed that he was “indoctrinating” their little kids with “evil socialist lies.” Such as, you can’t get something for nothing, you’ve got to work for what you want, and that to fail yourself is to fail your country, stuff my father taught me.  You know Americans pretty well. What is it with these people?  If the right-wing nut-cases number to match the attention they’re getting, I’m worried.

RAPE AND SEXUAL ABUSE OF PENAN GIRLS AND WOMEN IN BARAM

Media Statement of the

PENAN SUPPORT GROUP

on the

RAPE AND SEXUAL ABUSE OF

PENAN GIRLS AND WOMEN IN BARAM, SARAWAK

11 September 2009

In September 2008, news broke out that Penan girls, some as young as 10 years, were being sexually abused by logging workers in the Middle Baram area of Sarawak. However, local politicians and the police were quick to dismiss these as mere allegations without any basis.

WHAT NOW … TAIB, JABU AND JAMES MASING???

.

English Version of “ Part 5” Summary Inside

By HU Editor

When allegations of rape and sexual abuse of the Penan young women and school girls

came to light last September 2008, the Sarawak state government was dismissive with the news reports:

Penan girls claim abuse , Against their will , Violated by loggers , A neglected people

Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud said the reports were nothing but “lies” and demanded that the newspapers corrected them. “Check your information or you will be suspected by the decent people of Sarawak of trying to sabotage us when we have toiled to develop our state,” Taib said.

Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu who is the chairman of the steering committee on Penan Affairs said that it would be a waste of time to investigate. He said: “I have not heard of such complaints from the Penan communal leaders in my many visits to Ulu Baram.”

The rape of the Penan, and other shameful crimes

By Pak Bui

The government has finally admitted that vulnerable Sarawakians have been raped by logging workers in Baram.

The Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development caved in to demands by NGOs and the electronic media. Malaysian civil society has been clamouring for justice for nearly a year. As a result, the Ministry released its National Taskforce report to PKR Women’s Chief Zuraida Kamaruddin this week.

Our wealthy logging companies behave as if they are kings in rural parts of Sarawak. Rape is an expression of power over the victim as much as it is a crime of passion or lust. Therefore it is no surprise to learn that schoolgirls as young as 10 years old have been molested, abducted and raped by loggers.

These loggers carry out these crimes because they can.

PKFZ – bottomless sink hole in Port Klang

By Sim Kwang Yang

 

No, the hottest news in Malaysia nowadays is not about the MIC party election this weekend.  The MIC is a rich mosquito party that has nothing to do with the poor and marginalised Indians.  Who wins there is hardly newsworthy!

The hottest news these days is the bottomless sink hole in Port Klang, as more and more information surfaces of how billions of taxpayers’ money have been sucked into that financial black hole, created by bad planning and bad management.

As I write, on a Wednesday afternoon, the Cabinet is discussing what to do what a report submitted by a task force set up to investigate the irregularities committed in the PKFZ project.  For once, I agree with Kho Tsu Koon; nothing short of a Royal Commission of Enquiry, with wide terms of reference to get to the bottom of the pork barrel, will satisfy Malaysians who seek transparency, good governance, and accountability.

Cow head, Indian temples, and hungry ghosts

By Sim Kwang Yang

Since the eve of Merdeka, we have seen some pretty ugly business surrounding the cow-head protest.

Of course, the self-proclaimed residents of Section 23 in Shah Alarm had every right to protest peacefully the proposal to relocate a Hindu Temple to their neighbourhood, and they should not be charged with illegal assembly, as the Attorney General is about to do.

But for them to drag a severed cow’s head to the State Secretariat is a gesture of insult to the Hindu religion that perceives the cow as a sacred animal.  It is rudeness beyond belief, and a barbaric act beyond all boundaries of civilities.

There is salvation in multi-racial and multi-religious Malaysia yet.  The Hindu Indian communities have remained calm and restrained in the face of such blatantly hateful provocation.  They have shown their political maturity by not succumbing to the instinct to strike back in retaliation.

Report on Allegations of Sexual Abuse of Penan Girls and Women… Finally released !

Women, Family and Community Task Force Investigation Report

on Allegations of Sexual Abuse of Penan Girls and Women in Sarawak

Penan Task Force Report in PDF Format

We thank Keadilan Wanita Chief YB Hajjah Zuraidah Kamaruddin and her good team that demonstrated outside Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat’s office today and obtained a copy of this report, and made it available for our readers.

Video & Photo Inside :

MCA crisis; where would it take our nation?

By Sim Kwang Yang

This is the season for internal warfare within MCA as both sides in this Ong-Chua tussle are now openly engaged in very ugly exchange of words in the media.  It looks now that the chance of any mediation to resolve the party crisis is razor thin.

Many Chinese citizens have expressed their loss of interest in following this latest round of power struggle in the MCA.  They say that, whichever side emerges victorious in the end, the MCA will just be its old self, as the junior partner of BN, that gives credibility to UMNO’s myth of the Social Contract and power sharing among the races.

This contemptuous lack of interest in the ongoing MCA crisis is the trend of the Chinese people to-day that regard the party as having alienated the Chinese community.  It is a sharp contrast to the MCA image at one time that the MCA represented the Chinese, and the Chinese could find salvation in multiracial Malaysia only through the MCA.