Politics: the art of the passable lie?

By Maximus Kho

Time flies. We are already at the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations, and into the third month of 2010.

There is hardly a moment to waste: a flurry of Court decisions equally balanced between the ruling coalition and the opposition have rattled the status quo. The Judiciary has started to show that it values its independence and may still fulfill its role as the third limb in the Doctrine of Separation of Powers.

Detractors might differ on this point, depending on which decision they examine and which political party they are from. But from an objective view, you might gather that the decisions are largely based on common sense and are mostly apolitical.

Malaysian CNY…Politics as usual

By Bunga Pakma

“I was in Philadelphia once, but it was closed.”

—attributed to W. C. Fields.

The week before CNY was chock-a-block with work that exhausted me. Every duty was a last-minute demand. I filed my piece on the Friday and hoofed my way home and put a big pot of chili con carne on the fire for the hungry teens I was to put up for the holidays.  Then I wilted, and looked forward with relish to the prospect of doing nothing for a while.

Saturday nothing happened. I slept through the midnight fireworks. Sunday even less than nothing happened. Traffic vanished. A little old lady could have crossed Jalan Ampang on foot any time she pleased.

Monday nothing happened. My son and his friends had played as much on the computer they could take. The sun burned and the frightfully intense heat had killed all appetite. By afternoon I had three half-naked 18-year-olds prostrate on the marble floor of the house, the ceiling-fan roaring on full. They looked like shipwrecked sailors drifting in a lifeboat somewhere in the endless ocean. They draw breath slowly, with sighs. Involuntary tears trickle from their eyes.  One tries in vain to rise. He sinks back to the floor and feebly waves his limbs like the metamorphosized Gregor Samsa.

The oldest profession

By Sim Kwang Yang

The Chinese language Oriental Daily published an interview with a senior lady cop by the name of Noraini recently. I had heard of her reputation on the streets of Kuala Lumpur four years ago. She was known as the incorruptible iron-faced police woman who created havoc for the prostitution rings that used to thrive along the throbbing sin strips of the Golden Triangle.

In the interview, the lady cop recalled one of the most harrowing incidents in her career. She was conducting a raid against vice in a Bukit Bintang Hotel. To escape capture, a Chinese national climbed out of the window from her room on the 7th floor, slipped, and fell to her death below.

Betraying her human face beneath her police persona, this lady cop expressed her sadness. “This girl came to Malaysia from China, just to make some money. She lost her life simply because she did not have her passport with her. She would have gotten away with a small fine. Life can be so cheap.’

Malaysian roads, killing fields!

By Sim Kwang Yang

The double-barrelled festive celebrations are now finally over. And so is the seasonal killing spree on Malaysian roads and highways.

That is why my feeling of joyous participation in our nation’s festive holidays has always been dampened. One knows very well beforehand that tens of thousands of road accidents will occur each time, including hundreds of fatalities, some of which would be excruciatingly gruesome and unnecessary.

We are told that every year, something like 6000 Malaysians die on the road. Road accidents must rank as one of the foremost causes of death in our country. Is there anyone among us who has not had a relative or friend who perished in a road accident?

As I get older, I think about how I am going to die. As they say, death and taxes are the two only certainties in life. You cannot get out of this life alive. But one does not fear death as much as the manner of death, over which one has very little choice.

Time for Sarawak natives to bring out the tiger in them?

By Apang

The High Court rejects the state government’s application for a stay of the ground-breaking Agi judgment. NCR landowners are not to be denied the fruits of litigation.

Harvest time arrives early in 2010 for the Native Customary Rights (NCR) landowners of Rumah Agi in the Sebauh district of Bintulu, Sarawak. The traditional rice harvesting has been supplemented by the yield of oil palm for the Iban folks of Rumah Agi this year.

The High Court in Kuching declared on January 21 that part of the lands given to Lembaga Tabung Haji, and subsequently contracted to a Sabah-based oil-palm plantation company, are NCR lands.

With hundreds of hectares of the NCR lands bearing ripening oil palm fruits, Rumah Agi Ibans have been busy harvesting, to claim back what they had lost. The Ibans have fought long and hard to exert their customary rights over their lands, which were first destroyed by loggers, and then grabbed by a government-corporation partnership.

However, this early harvest must be put in the context of a decade-long battle in court, and a 14-year struggle since the provisional lease over their NCR lands was issued by the Sarawak government in 1996.

Malaysian literature in English, anyone?

By Sim Kwang Yang

The naiveté of half-cooked patriotism knows no bounds. A reader wrote in to the NST, questioning why Malaysian students should study English literature. Why, he wondered, should our children not study Malaysian literature instead?

The obvious problem is with the very existence of anything that we can recognise as Malaysian literature. Obviously, there is a body of Malay literature, especially that promoted by the Dewan Pustaka dan Bahasa. All the Chinese newspapers give plenty of space for aspiring writers to develop their talents. I am sure the Indian community also have some literary activity. But do we have a Malaysian literature – for all Malaysians?

Strangely enough, the most robust English dailies have done little to encourage literary creativity in English. Does it mean that there is no market for it, and that English educated Malaysians of all races are simply not interested in literature?

Another Victory for the Sarawak NCR Landowners

By HUeditor

The year of the tiger has roared in favour of the Sarawak Native Customary Rights landowners, again, today as the Federal Court sitting in Kuching on 21^st February 2010 dismissed an application by the Sarawak Government to review its own decision delivered in October last year.

The case involving more than 600 Sarawak native landowners, Amit Salleh and others from Bintulu had gone through the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court, with judgment given in their favour.

Refer to the various judgments downloadable here.

Amit  Salleh – APPELLATE JURISDICTION -21-February 2009

Amit Salleh – Court of Appeal – 28-April-2008

Amit Salleh – High Court Suit – 12 May-2005

The former Sarawak Attorney-General, Datuk JC Fong, was however not satisfied. Representing the Sarawak State Government, Datuk Fong and State Legal Officer Encik Saferi Ali sought the apex court’s review of its own decision this morning.

The Sarawak State Government’s application was, however, dismissed with costs to the native landowners.

Pray that Umno will not come to Sarawak

By Sim Kwang Yang

Sarawak is the only state in Malaysia where Umno has not established any presence. Within Sarawak itself, the talk is not so much if, but when Umno will make a grand entry, as it did in Sabah.

Now, the conditions seem riper than ever before for Umno’s foray into that vast eastern state on the northern shores of the Borneo Island, as Sarawak is on the verge of plunging into a leadership vacuum.

The Chief Minister of Sarawak, Abdul Taib Mahmud, has been in power for slightly more than a quarter of a century in that resource rich territory. (Pardon me for mentioning him by name. His string of titles is too long to be cited in full for a column of limited length like mine.)

But Taib is in his 70s, and rumours of his ailing health have been rife like wildfire in Kuching. I have heard various versions of his struggle with his cancer problem within some part of his internal anatomy, but like a good Sarawakian, I will not spread the rumour further.

He had three front-runners for successors within his party, the PBB earlier on: Abang Johari, Adenan Satem and Effendi Norwawi. All three seem to have fallen out of his favour since then. He has yet to name an alternative candidate for party president and Sarawak CM. There is also nobody in sight who is more powerful, more charismatic, or more senior than the above mentioned three veteran politicians.

Politics bottom up or top down?

By Sim Kwang Yang @ MalaysiaKini

Internet writers like me have a cushy job. We stare into the blank wall, try to imagine the audience out there in cyberspace, and bang out a string of connected ideas at break-neck speed to beat the deadline.

Writing is a lonely business. Thank God, I do get some feedback from readers sent to my email address every week. Otherwise, I would have stopped writing out of boredom. I try to answer them all.

The messages accumulated over the six or seven years of my service with Malaysiakini amount to a huge pile. Most are friendly, but there are a few that are very critical. Of course, one has learned long ago the art of agreeing to disagree with mutual respect.

Then, there are readers and bloggers who cut and paste my articles all over the Internet. I am not sticky on the issue of intellectual property rights, so that is okay too. Any idea of mine, once it is out there, for better or for worse, is public property.

The Federal Court in Nizar v Zambry: A critique

By NH Chan

On 9 February 2010 the Federal Court (Alauddin Mohd Sheriff PCA, Arifin Zakaria CJ (Malaya), Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin, Mohd Ghazali Mohd Yusoff and Abdul Hamid Embong FCJJ) handed down a unanimous decision on Nizar v Zambry. The judgment of the court was read by Chief Judge, Malaya Arifin *Zakaria.

* The judgment is 40 pages long on A4 size paper and if you have the stamina to persevere to the end of the judgment you would have realized that these judges of the highest court in the land have, under the pretext of interpretation, decided that the Sultan of Perak has the power to dismiss the incumbent Menteri Besar Nizar when the Laws of the Constitution of Perak does not confer any executive power on the Sultan for so doing.

If the Sultan has no power to dismiss Nizar then, we should ask, how could the Federal Court commit suck a devastating error to their reputation as judges of the highest court in the land?

National Registration Department on ICs: it’s complicated

By Liumx

Ever wonder why Identity cards (ICs) and Birth Certificates are such difficult prizes to obtain for our rural poor? Follow us on a trip to Kafka’s Castle in Putrajaya.

Four delegates of MEO-Net, Ong BK, Molly Cheah, Liew TC and Liew MS, visited the National Registration Department (Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara or JPN) in Putrajaya on February 12, to meet with the Deputy Director-General (Operations) or Timbalan Ketua Pengarah (Operasi) Haji Zulkifli bin Rahmat.

Encik Zulkifli is responsible for ICs for Sabah & Sarawak. The delegation also met with Encik Rahman, another JPN official, and Public Relations Officer Puan Jainisah binti Mohd Noor.

According to Encik Zulkifli, there are issues of “illegal” longhouses, due to those longhouses that have split off from existing longhouses, hence illegal village chiefs or Tuai Rumah. These cause problems of recognition by the State. These so-called illegal Tuai Rumahs are not empowered to verify identity – a crucial step in obtaining many JPN documents.

Shooting guided missiles at mosquitoes?

By Sim Kwang Yang

The parliament ought to be one of the most important symbols of national sovereignty. It represents the rule of the people, by the people, for the people. It is also the highest political forum of the land, where the fate of the nation can be debated by revered elected representatives of the people. That is what the parliament ought to be, in theory at least.

The doctrine of the separation of power evolved through the history of Westminster style of parliamentary democracy, and is more or less recognised as sacrosanct in developed democracies of the world, even by those politicians who have dictatorial tendencies, as in the United States, Pakistan and Malaysia.

This doctrine stipulates that the legislative, the administrative, and the judicial branches of government must be independent of one another, so that they will check and balance one another. The history of the evolution of democracy all over the world has been driven by this one basic principle: power will breed more greed for power, and all human individuals entrusted with power in public office in various branches of the government must be mistrusted and checked.

The old New Year

By Sim Kwang Yang

We are now on the brink of a universal celebration that bids farewell to an old year and welcomes the arrival of a new one.

The New Year has not been always so universal. In the distant past, different cultures and civilisations in different parts of the world celebrated some form of New Year on different dates. For instance, the Egyptians celebrated their New Year at the time the Nile flooded at the end of December. Our modern New Year that falls on the first day of January has not had a history longer than four centuries only.

The modern New Year can be traced to the ancient Babylonian civilisation some 4,000 years ago. They celebrated their New Year on the first new moon after the Vernal Equinox (first day of spring), and it usually fell on the 23rd of March.

The choice of the date is logical. The power and the glory of Babylon depended on their agriculture, like ancient China and Egypt. What better day to mark the beginning of another cycle of hopefully abundant harvest than the first tremor of spring that announces the end of winter? There lies the symbolic meaning of the New Year for the ancients. It started a natural process of rebirth and renewal, as they look forward to the planting of new crops.

CNY celebration with a vengeance

By Sim Kwang Yang

Finally, the Chinese New Year has arrived.

The children in my neighbourhood are already making set off mini fireworks in the evening. Their shrieks of laughter gladden one’s heart, heralding yet another season of joy and rest.

Fire-crackers and fireworks used to be strictly banned during the New Year for security reasons. The ban was part of the legacy of our past when a State of Emergency was in place. I think those few declarations of State of Emergency ware never revoked, so technically we are still at war with the now non-existent terrorists. In any case, it was believed that the communists in the jungle could make ammunition out of the powder in the fire-crackers, so their importation, sale and distribution have since been strictly controlled.

Nowadays, the ban on fire-crackers and fireworks is still in place, for the purpose of protecting children from injuries caused by wayward explosions of those mini-bombs. I am ambivalent on the issue. I truly miss those early years when you could set off as many fire-crackers as your father could afford to buy. It was the essence of childhood joy.

An hour before 12 o’clock on New Year Eve, you could hear sporadic firing-offs of innumerable fire-crackers and fireworks, shooting into the city skyline all over, building into a deafening crescendo towards the bewitching mid-night hour, lighting up the sky with a kaleidoscopic canopy of shrieking darting dancing lights and sounds. The experience was one of sheer exhilaration.

A word in defence of the Judiciary

By Pak Bui

So Zambry the Frog Prince is now secure with his three pet frogs, Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi, Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu and Hee Yit Foong. Frogs are officially a protected species in Perak.

Zambry’s frogs have been protected by no less than royal decree, and by the Federal Court, the highest court in Malaysia. The judges have earned their many decorations, datuk-ships and tan sri-hoods, and now they have won the grandest title ever: High Protectors of All Frogs.

Most Malaysians are incensed over the unanimous (and pusillanimous) 5-0 whitewash Federal Court verdict in favour of Umno’s Perak stooges (MB Zombie and his crew). Some Malaysians have even written letters to the press, complaining it is a waste of time to pursue justice through the Malaysian courts. But this is a silly reaction.

The decision made by the Federal Court panel was, of course, not unexpected. The Famous Five judges, Alauddin Mohd Sheriff, Arifin Zakaria, Zulkifli Ahmad Makinuddin Mohd Ghazali Mohd Yusoff and Abdull Hamid Embong, were expected to agree with the Appeal Court.

Gong Xi Fa Cai

“  I feel that you are justified in looking into the future with true assurance, because you have a mode of living in which we find the joy of life and the joy of work harmoniously combined. Added to this is the spirit of ambition which pervades your very being, and seems to make the day’s work like a happy child at play. — Albert Einstein   “

Gong Xi Fa Cai – Start Everyday Anew

Bunga Pakma

Fate, or Heaven— 天 —has so decreed that I file my weekly piece for Hornbill Unleashed on the eve of the Year of the Tiger. That Heaven so honours me, a non-Chinese, with the task setting the tone for the holidays on our blog is a little tiny honour, but an honour nonetheless. Today, when the moon at noon is a few hours short of meeting the sun, people all over Malaysia and the world are disengaging themselves from the toil, struggle and grime of secular affairs and preparing for renewal.

Politics and disasters never stop, yet it would be most inappropriate, even blasphemous, for me to write about politics now. When the year turns over, it is human nature to think about what has passed and to hope for good things in the future. On the one hand, the New Year is a time for throwing out the old crap, for sweeping, tidying and disposing of useless rubbish, both physically and in a metaphorical sense.

On the other hand, thinking good and auspicious thoughts does indeed help good things happen.  The New Year bids us to ask ourselves—without fooling or kidding ourselves—What do we really want? If we refine our wills and put our hearts in the right place, we feel confidence our efforts will make a different, and good things enjoy a better chance of succeeding.

Natives are not only NCR landowners, they are part of the land

THE NEW CONCEPT (KONSEP BARU) OF DEVELOPING NCR - A TOTAL FAILURE

BY BARU BIAN PKR STATE’S CHAIRMAN

On the 19^th day of August 1996, the ‘brain-child’ project of the YAB Chief Minister Taib Mahmud of Sarawak was launched in Kanowit amidst fanfare, celebrations and hope. Hope for the rural poor natives Ibans to better themselves, after all the Chief Minister referred to this project as “the best plan project, to uplift the standard of living of the rural poor natives above the poverty line”. (Rancangan Kerajaan untuk memajukan Tanah NCL adalah merupakan rancangan yang terbaik untuk meletakkan taraf hidup Bumiputera di luar Bandar diatas garis kemiskinan).

This was dubbed the “Konsep Baru” or “New Concept” of developing Native Customary Land (NCL), in a three joint-venture partnership comprising firstly the NCL Owners who hold 30% equity, the Government 10% through Land Custody Development Authority (LCDA) or PELITA and the balance 60% to the investor. It was on this equitable division of shares that the Chief Minister and the BN Ministers and Leaders since the launching of this pioneering project in Kanowit in 1996 involving a total of 102,675 hectares of NCL, assumed that the natives will improve their lots through the development of their “idle NCL” into oil palm plantations. Sadly, this promise of uplifting the standard of living for the rural natives through this New Concept did not materialize at all.

Sarawak gov’t credibility strained over NCR policies

By Keruah Usit

Penan chief Pada Jutang of Long Pakan, Baram, laughed when he heard that land rights lawyers Baru Bian and See Chee How had won two breakthrough Native Customary Rights (NCR) court cases on Jan 21. The High Court had found for Agi anak Bungkong and Mohd Rambli Kawi, against the Sarawak government.

Pada said that the news was both encouraging, and somewhat amusing. On the same day as the landmark NCR decisions, timber company Samling had been trying to persuade Penan villages in Baram to withdraw their own NCR lawsuit, telling the villagers they had no chance of victory.

Five Penan villages, Long Pakan (Top right), Long Lilim, Long Sepatai, Long Kawi and Long Item, have begun legal action against loggers and the state government. The Penan communities claim they have traditional customary rights to the forest, and that the loggers are trespassing on their ancestral land.

“Samling’s (community affairs officer) Stewart Paran and the camp manager paid a visit to Tua Kampung (headman) Ngot Laing, from Long Lilim. They claimed that Bian and See had filed many NCR land cases against the government, but were always unsuccessful,” Pada said.

“They told the Long Lilim headman that the company wanted to apologise (for taking timber from the disputed area). They asked him to follow them to Miri to withdraw the court case. They said they felt ‘kasihan‘ (pity) for us Penan, because Bian had taken several NCR cases to court, but could never win,” Pada said with a smile.

On the independence of judges

By NH CHAN

NH CHAN was admitted to the Bar in 1961 and was a lawyer for almost two decades before becoming a High Court judge. He was then elevated to the Court of Appeal before retiring in 2000. He is the author of two books, ‘Judging the Judges’ (2007) and ‘How to Judge the Judges’.

What does the term ‘the independence of the judges’ mean? I pose this question because it appears that there are many of our judges today who do not seem to know the true meaning of separation of powers in constitutional law.

This is most apparent especially among those judges in the higher echelon of the judicial hierarchy. The bad judges seem to think that independence means that they can do what they like – because the dictionary says the word means ‘free from the control or influence of others’.

The recalcitrant judges think that words can mean whatever they want them to mean. They think like Humpty Dumpty who says that it depends on who has the power – “the question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master”. These Humpty Dumpty judges also think that they are independent of the legislature.

Much ado about sexuality

By Sim Kwang Yang

According to the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, the people of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were so sinful that God had them destroyed en masse. Sodom is the root word for our modern term “sodomy”.

The term has been very much in the headlines in recent weeks, and decent people are aghast at the extent to which Malaysian politics has sunk. In genteel circles, sexual deviation is seldom discussed, let alone done.

By now, we should know that homosexuality must be as old as human civilisation itself. In ancient Greek tales, we have the island of Lesbos, where the ancient Greek poetess Sappho composed her awesome verse. Lesbos is how the term lesbian originated.

Surprisingly, homosexuality was not only tolerated in ancient Greece, it was a kind of vogue among men of fashion and men of letters. If you read Plato’s dialogues, naughty references were constantly made by Socrates about ‘beautiful youths”. In the dialogue Symposium (A Greek term for a drinking party), a male disciple even gave an account of how he tried to seduce Socrates in vain.

Abolish the BTN course!

By Sim Kwang Yang

For many years, I have heard from university students and some civil servants whispering their silent tales of horror at the Biro Tatanegara courses that they had attended.

These were mostly non-Malays who were completely unprepared for the very racist assertions of the BTN lecturers.

I was dying to get my hand on some real material proof from these former participants, like pamphlets, tapes or even photos, so I could write about it on Malaysiakini.

But I was told no such materials were ever left behind, and in some cases, they had to swear to an oath of silence.

Then, all of a sudden, it took the Pakatan Rakyat state government in Selangor to open up the whole can of worms that has been festering beneath the surface for decades within the secretive courses conducted by the BTN.

Sarawak BN Battered in Publicity Wars

By Pak Bui

The Sarawak Barisan Nasional (BN) government is struggling to cope with the new media revolution. In the not-too-distant past, it could always count on KTS and Rimbunan Hijau and their stable of newspaper mules: the See Hua Daily News, the Borneo Post, Sinchew Jit Poh and Nanyang Siang Pau, to carry its propaganda.

But the tides of battle are changing. Sarawak BN has been battered by blow after blow in the publicity wars.

First, Chief Minister Taib Mahmud was infuriated by Malaysiakini’s reports of alleged RM32 million kickbacks to his family from the Regent Star timber shipping agent in Hong Kong. Last year, Taib’s lawsuit against Malaysiakini was set back when the Kuala Lumpur High Court threw out his application to ban parts of the news portal’s legal defence.

The Sarawak newspapers then made up a story about “foreign instigators” being responsible for Penan blockades in Long Bangan, Long Belok and Long Nen, only to end up with egg on their face when the “foreign instigators” turned out to be AFP journalists.

Perhaps the biggest defeat for the BN propaganda machine was the scandal over the crimes of rape visited on rural communities by logging workers.

Avatar – Attack of Aperçu

By Bunga Pakma

Many months ago we hired Nuim to do some repair and construction in the house.  Nuim is our relative in one of those convoluted Sarawakian ways (Mrs. Pakma says, “He’s my grandmother’s cousin’s son’s nephew” or something), but more important, he’s a highly skilled artisan.  He can build you a house from the foundation to the roofing, complete with plumbing, wiring, and kitchen cabinets.

I was working nearby on my own chores and when Nuim got into some process that involved moving heavy, bulky things, I thought I’d give him a hand.  I’m afraid all I did was to get in the way. Nuim remarked, without malice, “You know, B.P., I do something ten seconds before you think of it.”

Nuim put his finger on a trait of my character I constantly overlook.  Thinking is, in a sense, my profession, and thinking is indeed an excellent thing, but ratiocination is hardly the only way to live and certainly not as lofty as it’s cracked up to be.  We ought to remember Hamlet, who dithers about the propriety of revenge for four and a half acts and only does something when the king is clearly trying to kill him. For example…

Malay Muslims must walk the talk

By Baharuddin Mokhsen

Sarawak Malay Muslims must walk the talk.

Let us take a local issue as an example. Recently it was widely reported in the press that young and underage Penan girls are being raped. No local Muslim NGOs came out in support of the plight of this poor community.

Where is the local chapter of ABIM or HIKMAH (BINA, as I remember fondly)? We, who claim to be Muslims, do not appear to care. We do not walk the talk, sadly. Yet we are told that Islam is a religion of love and compassion.

Another very recent example is the demolition of the houses belonging to Rumah Nor anak Nyawai in Bintulu. I will not dwell on the legal or political aspects of the case. I am lost for words as to how the BN government cannot address the problem of landlessness, based on humanitarian grounds.

We are told the state is led by Muslim leaders. We as Muslims have failed miserably to provide for the poor, to help the needy, as required by clear tenets in Islam.

Mind you, Sarawak is blessed with vast land. But then again I might be wrong, as report after report indicates that this beautiful state of Sarawak is being carved up to faceless capitalists and owners of huge oil palm plantations.

Sarawak Government: The High Court is Wrong

By HU Editor

In a press statement released on February 3, the Sarawak State Government announced that it is appealing against the 2 High Court decisions delivered last week, in the legal actions of Agi anak Bungkong and Others v Ladang Sawit Bintulu Sdn Bhd and 4 Others, and Mohd Rambli Kawi v Superintendent of Lands & Surveys, Kuching and the State Government of Sarawak.

The Sarawak state government also announced that it has made an application for stay of execution and further proceedings of the two judgments.

The State Government does not appear to be bothered with the criticism it is likely to draw, that it is trying to influence and pressure the High Court Judge who will be hearing the application for stay of execution and further proceedings of the judgments.

Even more heroically, the Sarawak Government openly denigrated the High Court, saying the High Court “did not follow well established precedents” and berated the High Court for the “wrong application” of Article 153 of the Federal Constitution.

The State Government insisted that the two judgments ought to be critically reviewed by the Appellate Courts. The Sarawak Government claimed that Article 153, which provides for reservation of special rights and privileges for Malays and natives of Sabah and Sarawak, has no application to land and land rights.

The State Government’s arrogant message appeared to challenge the Courts. The Sarawak Government reminded the Courts, and civil society critics, that it has a mandate from the people to rule the state. It appeared to be an attempt at propaganda to silence critics, but the press statement is likely to elicit even more jeers and condemnation.

Is this the first salvo fired in a constitutional showdown with the courts? Does the Barisan Nasional government think it is all-powerful and cannot be challenged?

Full text of the Sarawak Government’s press statement:

ALLAH and the Malays

By Baharuddin Mokhsen

I am trying to understand what all the fuss is over the usage of the word “ALLAH”. Let me be clear that I am no authority on Islam, just a Sarawak Malay accepting Islam as my religion and judiciously trying to practice it as ‘a way of life’.

As the issue is currently the hot topic of the day and more so Islam is close to my heart, I took an active interest by researching and reading the numerous commentaries on the subject. I failed to find any injunctions in the Quran forbidding other “people of the book” to use the term “ALLAH”.

I am ready to stand corrected on this, but rest assured that I am willing to listen to my fellow more enlightened Muslim brethren for a different perspective.

The dumb ducks in our local councils

By Sim Kwang Yang

You see a rat running around the house. You pick up the closest solid thing at hand, aiming to throw at the rodent. Then, you hesitate because you do not want to smash up the furniture and the china lying about the house.

That is an old Chinese proverb. It describes my present mood to a T. Many Internet commentators and bloggers must be sharing my dilemma.

We have so far steered away from criticising the Pakatan Rakyat coalition, not because they are perfect, but because we value them as a vehicle to a two-coalition system and democratic progress in Malaysia.

But political parties are strange organisms. They are huge, complex, and run on their unique dynamics not always comprehensible to outsiders. They are a little like secret societies that way.

Aliens in East Malaysia

By Sim Kwang Yang

TO those in the Klang Valley who read papers like The Star and The New Straits Times, Sabah must sound like the remote edge of the nation. It is out there, a huge chunk of real estate inhabited by exotic people speaking a strange version of Bahasa Malaysia.

Therefore, it would not be so clear to those participating in the national narrative why Sabahans make such a big deal about illegal immigrants. Are they not in all corners of the nation, numbering in the millions, working in jobs deemed neither lucrative nor respectable enough by Malaysian citizens?

Unfortunately, the national narrative does not always take into account the meek voices of Sabahans. Their problems are often considered too parochial to be of national concern.

Ask any Sabahan though, and he or she will tell you that there is no greater security and social problem facing Sabah today than that of illegal aliens. It is a daily nightmare that Sabahans have to live through and watch helplessly as it reels out of control.

Op-ed pages, fertile ground for social and intellectual progress

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 )

WHO reads the newspaper columns like mine?

I haven’t the faintest idea really. Writing must be one of the loneliest jobs on earth. You stare at the computer monitor, and try to imagine an audience out there, waiting with bated breath for your entertaining words of wisdom. In actual fact, you never know who reads your stuff!

But the columns are an important part of the op-ed section of any newspapers in any country with a long tradition in journalism. This is one of the few jobs that are not open for application, but is offered only upon invitation by the newspaper editor.

Hard news is the staple fare of the media industry. Everyday, we wake up with a natural hunger for the who, what, where, why, how and when of the latest events that go on around our world. As the principle tool for our mass media of communication, the newspapers satisfy our needs perfectly.