14
speak up!
Of mentors
and lecturers
» Scene: Dome, KLCC
CHONG: So Lee Kuan Yew is back in Singa-
pore after that high profile eight-day visit to
see how we are surviving up here. Wish I was
a journalist like Azman.
Zain: Careful what you wish for.
Chong: Just for the chance to meet old
Harry Lee. Azman and a few other journalists
were invited to meet the Singapore mentor
minister when he arrived here about a fort-
night ago.
Mohan: Wow! What a privilege! So, Az-
man, you met the founding father of independ-
ent Singapore. He must be quite old by now.
Azman: He is about three months shy of 86.
He may look frail and speaks slowly and softly
but his mind is as razor sharp as ever. And he
looks like he is still in command. Maybe he
hasn’t actually relinquished control since he
took over the reins of power in 1959, became
prime minister of independent Singapore in
1965 and even after he stepped down in 1990.
Instead, he remained in the cabinet first as
senior minister and then as mentor minister.
A remarkable fellow I must say.
Mohan: As remarkable as our Tun Dr
Mahathir Mohamad, Azman?
Azman: Both of them are remarkable.
Kuan Yew is mentoring Singapore and his son,
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, and others
who will rule Singapore after he is gone.
Mohan: And Mahathir?
Azman: Well, as you can see he – he is
about three years younger than Kuan Yew – is
not mentoring anyone. But he is advising. And
he also lectures.
Chong: And sometimes he scolds.
Zain: I agree with you Azman, both are
remarkable people. Kuan Yew developed an
old colonial outpost into a thriving first world
city state. And you can say that much of the
Malaysia you see today is Mahathir’s doing.
The country is on the threshold of being a
developed nation.
Zain: But they did it their way.
Mohan: Yes, Cikgu. But not universally
popular ways. Many people have a lot of things
to say about their ways. Wonder if Kuan Yew
too sings Mahathir’s favourite song My Way.
Chong: Some people – I am not one of
them – say why bother about the means as
long as you get there. Some people wonder
whether they did actually compare notes on
how to do what they did.
Mohan: I am told that they have many
things in common. For instance Kuan Yew
agrees with many of the things Mahathir said
in his book The Malay Dilemma.
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Zain: Well, one thing I know for sure. Sure
because I was told so by some reliable friends
close to the two octogenarians. They used to
meet and discuss things – civilly of course.
Some say they chatted while some say they
“sparred”. For instance, when Kuan Yew was
in Beijing for a seminar or something and
heard that Mahathir was in town, he would
find time to call on him. Same with Mahathir.
Chong: Probably, they won’t do that
anymore. When Kuan Yew was here recently
Mahathir told the media that he was not going
to meet the Singapore leader. He probably sur-
prised and disappointed his old “sparring part-
ner”. Not that they are friends. The animosity
they have towards each other is legendary.
And it hasn’t decreased even as they age.
Mohan: But what many people are won-
dering about is why the sudden chill. Why the
name calling. If you remember Mahathir called
the visitor “little emperor from a tiny middle
kingdom”. Maybe he knows something about
Kuan Yew that we don’t know about. For sure
he is still angry with Singapore for refusing
to pay more than 3 sen a 1,000-gallon of raw
Johor water. Even Malacca is paying 30 sen.
Azman: Maybe because of that he isn’t
pleased that his enemy is getting a lot of at-
tention and facilities to visit some sultans and
mentris besar and a chief minister. Maybe
that’s why he said he would not meet Kuan
Yew as he is “a nobody”.
Chong: But, really, why was Kuan Yew
here. For an old man he had a punishing
schedule in Negri Sembilan, Perak, Penang,
Kelantan and Selangor. Cikgu?
Zain: Not too difficult to guess. You all know
that in Singapore he is regarded as Father of
the Nation. As a father, and like all fathers,
he must ensure the future well-being of his
children. With the BN and Umno dominant
Singapore leaders feel secure even though
they take pot shots at each other sometimes.
They didn’t have to worry about the opposition
parties. What worries them now is that BN and
Umno are no longer dominant. So they have
no choice now but to wink at others. Make
new acquaintances.
Chong: I think you are right. Maybe the
Singaporeans, like the rest of us, did not quite
expect the results of March 8 last year to be
like that. To them a secure and stable Malaysia
is good for them.
Mohan: Maybe that’s why Mahathir said
that Kuan Yew was here to lecture Malaysian
leaders on how to do their thing.
Chong: What a strange thing to say?
Zain: Did he lecture you and your friends,
Azman?
Not by the law alone
I REFER to “Set up task force to address human
trafficking issues” (June 19) and agree that “ac-
tive implementation of the anti-trafficking law”
would help give the country a good image.
The law alone, however, no matter how
strict and well-enforced cannot make people
do the right thing. In the case of human rights,
the common law alone is bound to fail in giving
the desired results.
One reason for this is that observing human
rights, and that is being kind, just and helpful to
others, is much more a matter of understanding
than following rules. It is possible to read, study
and memorise the rules of the law from a book,
but understanding is from within the individual
and cannot be controlled by humans.
Religious people believe that understanding
is the true application of knowledge and that it
is given by God.
Although all the communities of Malaysia
formally have their religion to fall back to, there
is plenty of evidence that they have forgotten
the tenets of their religion and are therefore
unable to abide by them.
Because the things one does for God and
his religion often have delayed or unseen grati-
fication, many people prefer to work for that
which offers immediate result and pay. For the
Muslims, God says that “whomsoever forgets
Him, He also will forget them.” It follows that
if God forgets a people, the people whom He
has forgotten will not have true understand-
ing. A lack of understanding will in turn cause
them to make the wrong decisions and opt for
wrong choices which will ultimately be their
downfall.
The pettiness of many issues Malaysians
struggle with at present shows their lack of
religious knowledge and subsequent lack of un-
derstanding. There is an indication that people
place more importance in the reward given by
man than in that given by God.
The issue of the foreign maids is typical.
Refugees want to move on
ON the occasion of World Refugee Day on June
20, we wish to make the following statement.
We are Iraqi Palestinians who have lived
in Iraq since 1948. We lived in Iraq and went
through thick and thin and shared everything
with the Iraqi people, but after the invasion
of Iraq by the coalition forces, our situation
changed completely. We were arrested, kid-
napped, tortured and imprisoned. Some just
disappeared.
Because of that, we decided to leave Iraq
with our families and travel to Malaysia to regis-
ter with UNHCR as refugees in the hope to find
safety. Contrary to our expectations, we were
surprised that UNHCR in Malaysia could not
give us anything, not even safety. We can be de-
tained at any time because our refugee status
is not recognised in Malaysia. This happened to
some of us last March and UNHCR was not able
to help us. Those detained were released with
the help of the Palestinian Embassy.
theSun | TUESDAY JUNE 23 2009
When a weekly day off was proposed for the
maids, the concern of most employers was that
the maids would go out and make undesirable
acquaintances, or get into trouble. It seems
surreal that these employers would trust the
maid with their own flesh and blood, ie their
children, but they would not trust her to behave
in a responsible manner during her day off.
The swelling number of foreign workers
who are enticed to come here because they
are willing to accept a lower pay than the locals,
is testimony of the small value Malaysians place
on work in spite of the fact that it is only through
work that concrete results are obtained.
The very fact that the home minister’s call for
stricter enforcement of the human anti-traffick-
ing law was prompted by utilitarian concerns
rather than piety for the unspeakable suffering
of those who fall prey to the human trade, is a
demonstration of how little Malaysians have
come to care for God and His creatures.
The victims are taken from their homes
and their families, loaded one on the top of the
other on lorries and ferries in a fashion not even
suitable for animals, and given little or no food
for days, taken to a foreign country where they
are then treated like slaves and made to work
without rights and without pay.
There is no doubt then that the average Ma-
laysian lacks understanding. He pays no heed
to his heart and even fails to observe the basic
obligation of piety every human being must
have towards another. Malaysia has become a
house where everyone stomps their feet to get
what they want, and the one who stomps the
loudest gets what he wants.
The issue of human trafficking can only be
resolved by a return to religion. It is said that
God doesn’t punish a people for wrong belief,
but he punishes them for wrong behaviour.
Marisa Demori
Ipoh
Furthermore, the UNHCR does not give us
financial support. As we are not allowed to
work, how are we to support our families?
In our present insecure situation, there is not
much difference to the situation we had to face
in Iraq after the war; we are subject to arrest
in both places.
Our children are also not allowed to attend
school.
The UNHCR must quickly process our appli-
cations to be resettled in third countries. Some
of us have been here for more than two years
and are still waiting for our registration card.
There are also Palestinians here from the
Gaza Strip and United Arab Emirates. They face
the same problems. Some of them are disabled
and cannot earn a living.
We need a future. Please give it to us.
Group of Iraqi Palestinians
Kuala Lumpur