Singapore citizen Yang Razali Kassim with Former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew anti-Malay thoughts

UMNO THE OTHER STORY ONE MALAYSIA STORY FOR EVERY MALAY, A DOZEN SEEDS ARE BEING FERTILIZED

Note that this is not meant to be a calumny or attempt at defamation. It is an attempt to find the truth. The questions I posed are based on widely available public sources. I am willing to amend this post if evidence is presented to me contrary to any of the points raised. May the truth prevail. Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam, a lawyer, was the first opposition party candidate to be elected a member of parliament in Singapore, 16 years after the country gained independence. But he was brought down by a series of allegedly politically-motivated charges and fines that saw him disbarred, bankrupted, and prevented from taking part in future elections.

“He used to engage in heated debates in the house. Perhaps it was because he and the PAP never saw eye to eye on any major political issue and he sought by all means to demolish the PAP and our system of government,” Lee had written in his 2008 letter. “Unfortunately, this helped neither to build up a constructive opposition nor our parliamentary tradition.”

Former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yewthe longest serving prime minister in the world, having served in that capacity for 30 years . During his political life spanning a period of 50 years, he became one of the longest serving ministers in world history. He served for a total of half a century.Lee’s brother studied law at the University of Cambridge. After university they set up a law firm called Lee & Lee. This is the firm that Lee left to join politics later on. Lee had another brother called Freddy who became a stockbroker while another brother studied medicine at the University of Cambridge. The doctor later on opened a successful practice.There are many other members of Lee’s family who hold great positions in Singapore. Lee has a daughter, Lee Wei Ling, who presides over the National Neuroscience Institute in Singapore.

Between 1963 and 1965, there was a merger between Singapore and Malaysia.
The merger was proposed by the Malayan Prime Minister. They wanted to form a political federation consisting of Singapore, Sarawak, Malaya and Sabah. This was in 1961. The aim of the merger was to end the British colonial rule in Singapore. As a result they carried out a referendum where 70 % of the citizens were in support for the merger. There was a short-term union of Singapore and Malaysia. There were were more challenges than advantages in the merger. By 1965 Singapore was a state that lacked natural resources. Singapore depended solely on Malaysia for its water supply and there was limited defense capability. There were great challenges that faced Lee at the time when the nation of Singapore was created in 1965.

PM 1965 – 1990 Lee started out by seeking the recognition of Singapore from a refugee state as  independent country. The first step in that direction involved the joining of the United Nations on September, 1965.whether to challenge authoritarian practices in Southeast Asia were more of a professional and principled decision. So you fight on principle,“Now, it’s more of a business decision. They ask themselves, ‘Does it make economic sense?’

Why is there no demand for any investigation? or even an explanation? Why are no questions asked? Why are the allegations dismissed with a practiced air of nonchalance?What explains the thundering silence? And what is the price for this silence?

There is no bigger taboo in Singapore’s free press than asking hard and pointed questions of the Lee Kuan Yew Racialist family.  Few  journalists have ventured into this territory. Fewer still have asked the really uncomfortable questions. Questions that demand answers but have been conveniently ignored, dismissed and even forgotten.Questions for example  why Malays are drafted in the armed forces in Singapore apparently held under .suspicion……..This was done with the help of Israeli military advisers, who were closely … Malays were virtually excluded from conscription from the beginning of the draft in 1967

At the recent general assembly of UMNO, the anchor party of the multi-racial BN coalition, 1Malaysia was hardly mentioned in Najib’s keynote speech. Yet when resolutions were debated, one delegate sought to kill the whole idea, calling for 1Malaysia to be replaced by “1Melayu” – or 1Malay, referring to the majority community that UMNO represents.

Najib did not respond in defence of 1Malaysia. Instead his entire rhetoric during the assembly was primarily about advancing the Malay and Muslim agenda – signifying a major refocusing on this core constituency as UMNO gears up early for the 14th GE.

Unchallenged as president in party elections prior to the assembly, Najib has one eye on his own political survival. The still influential former Prime Mnister Mahathir Mohamad has been uneasy about the BN’s worst showing at the May 5 polls and may want to ease Najib out, just as he did to Najib’s predecessor Abdullah Badawi. As his popularity dips due to some economic belt-tightening policies expected in the new year, Najib’s swing to appease the UMNO conservatives is not surprising.

Party hardliners are convinced that the multi-ethnic BN’s political survival rests increasingly with UMNO, whose survival in turn rests on the Malay constituency, which is synonymously Muslim. While 1Malaysia was designed to embrace all the races, its failure to attract the non-Malays, especially the ethnic Chinese, at the last

Particularly ominous is the thundering silence around disturbing questions to do  Lee Kuan Yew’s daughter-in-law Ho Ching as executive director of state-owned investment company Temasek Holdings, Inc. , arguably the most powerful  family in Singapore today family’s interests above those of the country in Ho’s appointment, and that her husband Lee Hsien Loong and father-in-law were guilty of nepotism. The apology added that the writer could have implied that Ho’s appointment was made not on merit, “but in order to indulge the interests of the Lee family or for some other corrupt motive.”.  Why has there been no discussion on these numerous transgressions and apparent violations? None of these questions have been publicly answered (to the best of my knowledge). None of the allegations have been openly challenged or followed up – neither by journalists, nor investigative reporters nor the opposition.With the Lee family having won several defamation cases against opposition politicians and media organizations, involving large monetary compensation .

Leading Singapore media freedom advocate Professor Cherian George says Singapore’s courts tend to disregard the standard defense against defamation that it is justified in the public interest. Based on previous judgments, he says, the courts in Singapore tend to side with the public official’s right to protect his or her reputation rather than the need for open and vigorous public debate. “It’s very hard to find an argument to defend your client. In Singapore, the public interest argument has not been taken seriously by the courts,” he says.

In most cases, lawyers simply advise defendants to apologize and reach an out-of-court settlement. Nowadays, foreign publications find it makes economic sense to apologize and pay damages rather than contest the charges in court, says Prof. George. A prolonged legal battle, which they know they will almost certainly lose, will be far more expensive.In a September 2002 report in The Australian, Sydney lawyer and journalist Stuart Littlemore, who has studied several defamation cases in Singapore, said that no foreign publisher has successfully defended a libel action against a Singapore politician, and that when these leaders win their case, the average monetary compensation awarded is usually S$450,000, which is 12 times the compensation when the defendant is a Singapore citizen

Once you’ve read Yang Razali Kassim article you wouldn’t need to read the rest  in his mind “Don’t let the grass grow under your feet.”

As the new year begins, the big signal from Najib is that “1Malaysia” will probably have to be set aside as an electoral strategy. This is significant as it could mean that his vision of a unified, cohesive and inclusive plural society that was much touted in the 2013 GE – is as good as cast to the backburner.

“It’s a divide between the successful and the less successful which happens in every society. The successful have forgotten that without the peace and stability that made their education, their job or their business opportunities possible, they would never have made it. But having made it, they think they made it on their own. Some students from the top schools like Raffles Institution or Hwa Chong, they go abroad and they think that they had done it on their own. They don’t owe the government or society anything. They are bright chaps, but how did they make it? Because we kept a balance in society. With peace, stability, we built up our education system and enabled the brightest to rise to the top.”

“Will we alwas be able to get the most dedicated and the most capable, with integrity to devote their lives t this? I hope so, but forever, I dont know.

I can see the change in values and attitudes of a different generation who feels that, you know, I’m not going to spend my life in public service like my father or my uncle. I see no reason for that. The place is running, let somebody else do it. Who is that somebody else? Have we got such a plethora of talent, capable, honest, dedicated? We haven’t.”

UMNO’s three-pronged strategy towards GE14

This conservative logic formed the bedrock of the “back to basics” strategy that was spelt out by Najib, whose speech was themed “Fortifying the Future”. Going forward, UMNO will pursue three strategic thrusts – or what Najib called the “three messages from the assembly”: The first is a turn towards Islamic Shariah; the second is a stronger Malay and bumiputra agenda, for which, he said, UMNO need not be apologetic; and the third a “transformed UMNO” as a “party of the 21st century”. It is significant that UMNO as the “party of the future” will become not just more Malay, but Islamist at the same time.

Becoming more Islamist for a Malay-nationalist party like UMNO is an equally significant shift. Ideologically-driven Islamist parties actually find ethno-nationalism objectionable. UMNO clearly is positioning itself as the primary political vehicle for the Malay and Muslim constituency, thus raising the prospects of an all-out contest for power with the opposition Islamist PAS, even as UMNO – paradoxically – woos PAS for unity talks.

UMNO’s drift towards a more Islamist identity was marked by a highly controversial drive to pitch itself as the defender of Sunni Islam in the face of what it paints as the growing threat of Shiism in the country. The federal constitution would be reworded to define the official religion as “Islam Sunnah Wal Jamaah” or Sunni Islam, not simply Islam. That this move is partly politically-motivated is seen in the immediate targeting of the PAS deputy leader as a closet Shia and therefore a threat.

The second thrust of a greater push for the Malay and bumiputra agenda is clearly aimed at solidifying the Peninsular-East Malaysia axis around the Malay core. Najib conceded the crucial role of the “fixed deposit” states of Sabah and Sarawak in BN’s ultimate win in the last GE. As many see it, if not for these two states, there would have been a change of government in Malaysia. With Najib’s renewed emphasis on the Malay and bumiputra agenda, the New Economic Policy that officially ended in 1990 but was unofficially continued, has finally been resurrected in all but name. CEOs of all government-linked companies have been given KPIs to realise this goal on pain of seeing their contracts not renewed.

To complete the three-pronged strategy, UMNO will go all out to win the young voters. In the next GE, some six million new voters will be casting for the first time. The majority are likely to be anti-establishment and anti-UMNO. They could make a difference whether there will finally be a change of government or not in GE14. No wonder Najib made it clear: UMNO must win over the young voters and master the social media with which the young are savvy.

Implications

Most of Malaysia’s mainstream newspapers appear to have taken a hit since the May 5 general election for perceived biased reporting, Singapore’s the Straits Times (ST) said today. media in Singpore loves to play god. To be the moral compass of the nation. If we find Lee Kuan Yew moral policing in Malaysia  to be unacceptable (public display of affection in with Rosmah and Najib,  we should find media’s moral politicing unacceptable too. Besides, its not just moral policing. Media also abuses its powers in other ways – by character assassination of whoever it wants to. It uses this power routinely with politicians when TV anchors become judges and pass verdicts. And now media has started using its power against private institutions as well.But we either believe in democracy or we don’t. If we do, then, we must say categorically, without qualification, that no restraint from the any democratic processes, other than by the ordinary law of the land, should be allowed… If you believe in democracy, you must believe in it unconditionally. If you believe that men should be free, then, they should have the right of free association, of free speech, of free publication. Then, no law should permit those democratic processes to be set at nought, and no excuse, whether of security, should allow a government to be deterred from doing what it knows to be right, and what it must know to be right..

• • But we either believe in democracy or we don’t. If we do, then, we must say categorically, without qualification, that no restraint from the any democratic processes, other than by the ordinary law of the land, should be allowed… If you believe in democracy, you must believe in it unconditionally. If you believe that men should be free, then, they should have the right of free association, of free speech, of free publication. Then, no law should permit those democratic processes to be set at nought, and no excuse, whether of security, should allow a government to be deterred from doing what it knows to be right, and what it must know to be right…Lee Kuan Yew, Legislative Assembly Debates, April 27, 1955

• If it is not totalitarian to arrest a man and detain him, when you cannot charge him with any offence against any written law – if that is not what we have always cried out against in Fascist states – then what is it?… If we are to survive as a free democracy, then we must be prepared, in principle, to concede to our enemies – even those who do not subscribe to our views – as much constitutional rights as you concede yourself.
  • Opposition leader Lee Kuan Yew, Legislative Assembly Debates, Sept 21, 1955

• Repression, Sir is a habit that grows. I am told it is like making love-it is always easier the second time! The first time there may be pangs of conscience, a sense of guilt. But once embarked on this course with constant repetition you get more and more brazen in the attack. All you have to do is to dissolve organizations and societies and banish and detain the key political workers in these societies. Then miraculously everything is tranquil on the surface. Then an intimidated press and the government-controlled radio together can regularly sing your praises, and slowly and steadily the people are made to forget the evil things that have already been done, or if these things are referred to again they’re conveniently distorted and distorted with impunity, because there will be no opposition to contradict.
  • Lee Kuan Yew as an opposition PAP member speaking to David Marshall, Singapore Legislative Assembly, Debates, 4 October, 1956

• If we say that we believe in democracy, if we say that the fabric of a democratic society is one which allows for the free play of idea…then, in the name of all the gods, give that free play a chance to work within the constitutional framework.
  • Opposition leader Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore Legislative Assembly, Oct 4, 1956

• Repression can only go up to a point. When it becomes too acute, the instruments of repression, namely the army and the police, have been proved time and time again in history to have turned their guns on their masters.
  • Opposition leader Lee Kuan Yew, Straits Times, May 5, 1959

The Star is the largest English-language daily in Malaysia, averaging audited sales of 290,000 copies daily between January and June last year.

Umno’s network of media outlets is wide, according to the Kuala Lumpur-based Centre for Independent Journalism.

Via proxies, Umno controls Media Prima, which publishes the New Straits Times, Berita Harian and Harian Metro. It also owns the Utusan Group, which publishes Utusan Malaysia and Kosmo!

The ST said Utusan Malaysia has been accused of biased reporting for years, and its circulation has fallen from 213,000 in 2006 to between 170,000 and 180,000 last year.

It has been overtaken by Harian Metro, now the largest Malay daily — its circulation rose from 210,000 in 2006 to 394,000 last year. Analysts told the ST that younger readers are drawn to its culture and lifestyle-based content.

Once the No. 1 English-language paper, the New Straits Times saw its circulation decline sharply from 1999 to the early 2000s, going from 180,000 to as low as 80,000.

The ST said readers shunned the paper for what was perceived as lopsided reporting on Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s sacking as deputy prime minister in 1998 and his subsequent corruption and sodomy trial.

“In the rural areas, the Malays hate slander. My research showed that only 18 per cent of readers will believe what was written on Anwar,” said Shaharuddin.

The ST said newspaper readership in Malaysia is also facing challenges as younger people increasingly get their news online.

Internet users among Malaysia’s 29 million population grew from 3.7 million in 2000 to 17.7 million in June last year, a 61 per cent penetration rate. Nearly two-thirds of Internet users are aged 21 to 40.

There were 13.6 million Facebook users in Malaysia as of December.

The top news website in Malaysia over the past month was the independent malaysiakini.com, according to alexa.com, a site that tracks Web traffic, said the ST.

“Urban readers are more connected and compare content with the alternative media. They see that the same event is given a different slant in the mainstream so people question this,” said Hah Foong Lian, a new media analyst with Monash University Malaysia and former reporter at The Star.

Three days after the general election, electoral watchdog Bersih and the opposition parties called on Malaysians to boycott the New Straits Times, The Star, Berita Harian and Utusan Malaysia for perceived unbalanced reporting.

Analysts said that although such a boycott would have little real effect in numbers, the mainstream media should be wary of Malaysia’s strong civil society eroding their credibility, the ST added.

“All mainstream papers reported in favour of their owners but after the election, The Star is the only newspaper that has become more balanced,” Kiranjit Kaur, a media researcher at Universiti Teknologi Mara, told the ST.

“It was very biased (during the campaign) but since the new Cabinet was formed without MCA, it may not feel it has to toe the party line too much these days.”

The dark night between the sunset of a government and the dawn of a new election is a good time for rumination. Ms Aruna Roy, confidant of Mrs Sonia Gandhi and leading light of the most powerful NGO in India, the National Advisory Council, was struck so hard by the thunderbolt of revelation that she resigned. She now knows who sabotaged Mrs Gandhi’s schemes to win an endearing place in the hearts of the poor: Dr Manmohan Singh.

More remarkably, Sharad Pawar’s NCP has suddenly discovered that finance minister P Chidambaram has been “squeezing the poor” and that “elements supporting laissez faire theory” have forgotten that 94% of India lives outside the formal economy, according to a resolution passed by its youth wing. [The elderly wing of NCP was busy with cricket.] At least two elders have spent the last five years in the Singh Cabinet, nodding their heads dutifully at every decision. Maybe their juniors were reading Karl Marx at the same time. You never know. They should have been reading recent history instead.

Congress policy has been obvious; pale capitalism in office, and thick socialism on election-eve. There is electoral mathematics in this: mobilise minorities on the basis of identity, and split the majority as far as you can on privilege-poverty lines. This is not an original concept, but when you do not have a new idea an old one is far better than nothing. It has worked before. However, will it work again?

An old doctrine about communication strategy suggests that it is easier to persuade those who know that they are being persuaded. This certainly works in romance. Wooing is wasted on those who are oblivious to its possibilities. But neither individual nor collective assurances of true love work without credibility. Voters will demand to know what you did with the last five years before they give you another five. Since the obvious answer, according to Aruna Roy and the NCP, is nothing much, the minimum necessity for any forward movement is the slow sacrifice of a scapegoat. Step forward, Dr Manmohan Singh. You have received more than you ever expected from the Congress. All Mrs Sonia Gandhi wants in return is the death of your reputation. It’s a fair swap, surely?

This also explains the slow ascent of A K Antony in Congress hierarchy. He can be sold as a 1970s khadi-socialist, because he has a properly humble demeanour, and makes vague noises against America if needed. He does not actually do much, which also fits the mould of Congress leftism.

There is no confusion in Congress about who is Number 2; that belongs to Rahul Gandhi as long as his mother is party president. But an epic power struggle continues for rung number 3. Chidambaram did all he could to ease into this slot; he even stood beside Rahul, Gandhi cap on head, to salute the national flag at AICC headquarters on independence day, an excellent photo opportunity that must have caused much heartburn among compatriots. But since it is impossible to sell Chidambaram as any kind of leftist, the chair beside Dr Singh now belongs to Antony. This is not shadow boxing; it is a battle for the real thing. Senior Congressmen are convinced that Rahul Gandhi is not ready to become prime minister in the immediate future, and wants his own version of Manmohan Singh. He would prefer power without the responsibility of office in order to do precisely what is happening now: take credit for what goes right, and shift the blame for that which goes wrong.

We are, therefore, expected to believe that Mrs Sonia Gandhi truly wanted to serve the poor but was powerless before an obstinate prime minister. On the other hand, we are also told that when Dr Singh, displaying a hint of muscle, seeks to retain two Cabinet ministers accused of finagling and corruption, Mrs Gandhi gets them sacked by raising an indignant eyebrow. This convenient image repositioning is nothing but a public-relations caricature of government. For nearly a decade Dr Singh and Mrs Gandhi have taken important decisions together, in consultation, for better or worse. Bouquet and blame must be shared equally.

The voter’s take-away from this controversy is uncomplicated. It adds the weight of an insider’s frustration to a growing conviction that this government has failed those who gave it a second term. Instead of food security, Indians got corruption and excuses. The government could have passed whatever legislation it wanted in its first year; why did it wait till its last year? It was ready to risk its survival for FDI, not for social welfare.

Mrs Gandhi is trying to save what she can of the Congress from the debris of disappointment, but turning Dr Singh into the sole villain of the next script is not going to help. A dark night is a long night. There is plenty of time for some more thought.

UMNO’s eagerness to recover its eroded political ground has seen it responding in unexpected ways, with implications yet to be fully fathomed. Its readiness to march to its own drumbeat is a warning to friend and foe alike that the rules of the game will be set by UMNO alone.

To its ethnic-based political allies in BN, which are facing their own internal crises, the message is that the BN power-sharing system will be on UMNO’s terms. To the opposition, the message is clear: whoever controls the Malay and Muslim ground will control power – and it is not going to be the opposition, which is not homogenous ethnically and ideologically.

UMNO is desperate to win. Going forward, all communities will be forced to ponder what this means for them and the country.READMORE http://suarakeadilanmalaysia.wordpress.com/2013/11/28/singapore-owned-straits-times-misadventure-stings-itself-go-on-a-witchhunt/

Yang Razali Kassim is a Senior Fellow at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University