Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Next PM please stand up

As the days getting nearer to the Umno General Assembly next week, Malaysians and the world community are expected to be served with an arrays of questions, actions and stories that will makes everyone stand up.

The gigantic question will be whether Abdullah Badawi will really vacate his seat as Prime Minister and if Najib Razak will be able to claim the coveted highest political seat of government.

As reported in the Malaysiakini, Zaid Ibrahim, the former de facto Law Minister who was sacked from Umno last year is now appealing to the King not to appoints Najib as PM when Abdullah steps down. With this call, it will not be surprising if Zaid's call will create a snowballing effect with more similar calls by others especially those that has an axe to grind with Najib. These people most probably will be from within and outside of Umno circles which includes Ali Rustam, the affable Umno vice president who was barred yesterday from contesting the deputy president position next week.

If the King really uses his discretion not appoint najib as PM, other that Najib who else can fit the bill to wear the PM shoes after Abdullah? Assuming there is no power play behind the scene to shoo-in Anwar Ibrahim as the next PM with the endorsement of Abdullah and Ali Rustam's block of supporters in Umno, will there be anyone else from Umno who are courages and capable enough to accept the PM position even if consented by the King.

Maybe there will be one. Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, can you please stand up? - Loka

Monday, March 9, 2009

Impact of 308 on Buddhist community

Impact of the 12th General Election on the Buddhist Community

By Loka Ng Sai Kai



Preamble

Based on historical records it is obvious that the Buddhist community has been in existence in this land since the influx of Indian traders, sailors and missionaries of Hinduism and Buddhism during the Indianization period in the Malay Archipelago. Traces of Buddhism can be found in the form of artifacts and archaeological findings in various places in Peninsula Malaya. Records of Buddhist influence are also found in some old kingdom like in Tun-Sun and Langkasuka. The dominance of the Sri Vijayan Empire from the 7th century to 13th AD also contributed to the Buddhist influence in the Malay Archipelago which includes the Malay Peninsula. The Sri Vijayan Empire was a Buddhist kingdom based in Sumatera. The arrival of Chinese immigrants in the 17th century and Singhalese from Ceylon in the 19th century during the British colonial period reinforced the Buddhist presence in this country until present day.


Buddhists in Malaysia

The Report for the Population and Housing Census of Malaysia 2000 published by the Department of Statistics Malaysia shows that while Muslims are the majority in Malaysia, the Buddhists population also has a sizeable figure which is about 20.2% of the total citizens in this country. (Refer Table 1.1 at Appendix 1). This means Buddhism has the second largest group of followers after Islam.


308 Political Tsunami

The “Political Tsunami” of March 8th 2008 which was the country 12th General Election had generated many responses and comments from political scientists in the universities to the man-in-the-street at coffee shops and modern Kopitiams. Various perspectives were given on the surged of opposition parties like Parti KeAdilan Nasional (Keadilan), Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) which managed to take over four state governments in Kedah, Penang, Perak (1) and Selangor while strengthening the grip on Kelantan. In the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, the three-party alliance now known as Pakatan Rakyat (PR), grabbed ten out of eleven parliamentary seats contested in the urban territory.


On the other hand, many reasons were given on the heavy beating experienced by Barisan Nasional (BN) and its component parties. BN lost its two third majorities in the parliament which was the majority required to amend the constitution. Some of the component parties in BN lost heavily and were nearly decimated by the rejection of the voters. Party strongman like MIC’s Samy Vellu lost at his stronghold in Sungei Siput and Gerakan’s Koh Tsu Koon failed to secure the Batu Kawan federal seat. MCA’s leaders like Ong Ka Ting can be considered lucky that he stood and won in Kulai, a seat in the state of Johor which is considered the traditional stronghold of BN.

The current MCA president Ong Tee Keat won the Pandan constituency with a reduced majority and the only parliamentary seat secured by MCA in Selangor. MCA’s Wanita national leader Chew Mei Fun was humbled by rookie politician Tony Pua in Petaling Jaya Utara while Donald Lim Siang Chai who was vice president that material time was dislodged as MP for Petaling Jaya Selatan by unknown Hee Loy Sian of PKR. Even UMNO was shocked to win fewer seats this time and loses traditional stronghold seats like Lembah Pantai, Shah Alam and Titiwangsa. UMNO’s Wanita deputy head Shahrizat Abdul Jalil was thrashed by Anwar Ibrahim’s daughter Nurul Izzah in Lembah Pantai.

The Backdrop

The 12th General Election was held during a time when many unresolved issues affecting the people were left to take its natural cause. The Hindu Action Force (Hindraf) which took to the streets in Kuala Lumpur few months earlier was still highlighting the needs of the Indian community. The demolition of a Hindu Temple near Klang before the Deepavali festival in October 2007 was still fresh in the mind of the Hindu community. The detention of five Hindraf leaders under the Internal Security Act (ISA) after the street demonstration becomes an additional cause for this unregistered (now banned by the government) but vocal grassroots group to persevere on.

The Chinese community has been uncomfortable with the perceived arrogance and bullying attitude of BN’s dominant partner UMNO. The issue of “Malay Dominance” or Ketuanan Melayu” and using the keris as a show of dominance add to the dislike of UMNO amongst the Chinese community. The Chinese community perceived the MCA and Gerakan as being too subservient to UMNO and did not fight for the needs and rights of the Chinese community. Incidents of debatable conversions and “body-snatching” which occurred when the Islamic authorities took away bodies of non-Muslims claiming the deceased already converted to Islam before his or her death created furors and uneasiness amongst the non-Muslims.

Many can still recalls the January 2006 incident when a group of nine non-Muslims Ministers in the previous Abdullah Badawi Cabinet were asked to withdraw the memorandum they submitted to the Prime Minister on situation of the non-Muslims community. Another matter is the reluctance of the federal government to set up a working body within the PM department for the non-Muslims. The rejection of this proposed body, which is to be a channel for them to seek for solutions and help on matters affecting their freedom of religious practice, is perceived as non-accommodating to the needs of the non-Muslims.

The Christians community has been very obvious in showing their attention and interest on the political development of the country since the “Reformasi” period after the sacking of Anwar Ibrahim as deputy prime minister in 1998. They were vocal in issuing statements on issues affecting the non-Muslims community and also national issues affecting the people as a whole. On the run-up to the 12th General Election, some of the Christians group even invited election candidates to forums held in their churches.

The Hindu and Christian communities’ positions on the state of affairs of the nation were very clear and there were no doubts where most of their votes went to in the 12th General Glection. Some Christian and Hindu members of non-government groups even participated actively in opposition parties like PKR and DAP.


Buddhists community and Nation-Building

On the other hand, what about the Buddhist community? While the Indian/Hindu and Christians communities were voicing their concerns and demands for their communities, what was the attitude and response of the Buddhist community?

Don’t the Buddhists have any issues that they are not satisfied with and want the government and relevant authorities to address it for them?

The point to be highlighted here is whether the Buddhist community is interested to bring up issues affecting the community directly to the relevant authority or they leave it to others’ especially politicians to do it for them?


Buddhists and Politics

It has become a deluded perception amongst a wide spectrum of Buddhist leaders in this country that Buddhism and politics does not co-exist. It will not be surprising that leaders in Buddhist associations discourage its members from being politically active or sympathetic to any political parties. The notion that Buddhists should not be addressing issues that have political connotation has been ingrained in the thoughts and minds of many Buddhists for years.

In any Buddhist organization, if there are any committee members who show signs of his interest to be active in the political development of the country, he or she will be possibly treated with suspicion and frowned upon. This approach is very naïve and self-deceiving. As a citizen of this country, Buddhists has every right and responsibility to contribute to nation-building and nation-building includes participation in the political process and political parties.

The Buddhist approach in the political realm and struggle for power is on how an individual or group can achieve their objective without sacrificing their morality and act responsibly with any political power falling into their hands via a democratic political process.There are some instances when the Lord Buddha preaches about the roles of the people and responsibilities of the king (government) in maintaining a peaceful and develop country/state/district.In the Agganna Sutta, which discourse centered on the knowledge of beginnings, one part of it traces the beginnings of the process of governance involving people's participation in electing an official to manage the community affairs.

If the Buddhists leave politics only to politicians who are alien or indifference to the Buddhist cause, we are also directly and indirectly leaving our future and religious rights in the hands of politicians. If Buddhists are not keen to be involved in the political decision making process, are we prepared to leave it all to non-Buddhists and prepared to bear the consequences in the name of karma?

In the last 50 years of nation-building in this country we do not have many politicians who are Buddhists that openly speaks out for the Buddhist community. One of the more memorable incidents was during the process of seeking the government’s commitment to declare Wesak Day as a national holiday in the early 1960s. The then president of MCA Cheah Toon Lok spoke out for the Buddhists at the Dewan Negara to request the government to declare Wesak as a national holiday. Co-incidentally, Cheah Toon Lok was also the then president of the Kedah Buddhist Association.

From time to time when there are any issues affecting the Buddhist community, political leaders will be sought for their help. Most of the time the Buddhist community seeks out political leaders from MCA and Gerakan to help them in solving problems they faced with the government. The Buddhist community rarely approaches or even engaged with opposition parties to help them in any issues. This unwritten stand will later affects the Buddhist community in linking up with the opposition parties governing the state governments.

Some of the usual matters that Buddhist community faced in relation to government policies are as follows.

i. Land for temples

The allocation of land for building of non-Muslims places of worship or the lack of it has been a decades-old major problem affecting religion other than Islam. Even though there are provisions in the guidelines by the Jabatan Perancangan Bandar dan Desa, Kementerian Perumahan dan Kerajaan Tempatan Malaysia, which stated there ought to be one place of worship for non-Muslims for every 2,600 devotees or 5,000 residents”, this is rarely adhered to by the local authorities and developers. In any new housing development, one plot of land for religious usage is usually provided for the building of a surau or mosque. Even if there is an allocation of land for the building of non-Muslims place of worship in any new development, it is not unusual if only one plot of land is allocated. This means the Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, Catholics and Taoist groups will be eyeing on this very piece of land to build their place of worship.

ii. Building of Temples - Government Policy and Bureaucracy

Even if the religious group owns any piece of land to build a place of worship to practice their religion, it doesn’t mean that any religious structure or building can be erected on any plot of land. The particular plot of land must be converted for religious use only. (Tanah Untuk Kegunaan Keagamaan). Some of this conversion will take a long time because it requires the approval of the respective EXCO of the State Government (Ahli Majlis Mesyuarat Kerajaan Negeri) as land is a State matter. Some of the well-known temple cases that took a long time to be solved were the Bodhi Park and Samadhi Temple in Selangor and Puzhao Buddhist Vihara in Johore. (2)

After a religious group is granted a piece of land from the state government or obtain approval for land conversion to build a place of worship; their association, temple or church group are required to submit the necessary building plans for approval from all relevant authorities like the local council.

It is at this stage that time consuming bureaucracies will pro-long the time taken for building of temples for many years. Conditions such as the building of the temple must not be more than 10,000 sq feet and height limitation to 36 feet or two storeys high will usually create a challenge to the non-Muslims community.


iii. Entry of missionary Buddhist monks

Buddhism as a missionary religion encourages the propagation of the noble religion to every corners of the world. Malaysia itself is a beneficiary of Buddhist missionaries that came centuries ago. The arrival of missionary monks to Malaysia during the 20th century changes the face and development of Buddhism in this country when prominent monks arrive. Some of the notable ones were Venerables Sumangalo, Chuk Mor, Dr K Sri Dhammananda, Kim Beng, Keng Aun, Kim Seng, Pemaratana, Gunaratana and Ananda Mangala.

Malaysia has been dependent on monks from overseas to provide Dhamma teachings and also to conduct religious services for decades. For foreign religious teachers (monks, priests, ulamaks etc) to teach in Malaysia, they will need to apply for a special visa for missionary from the Immigration Department of Malaysia. Some of the challenges faced in obtaining approval for these visas includes limitation on each period of visit, age limitation and can only teaches or conduct service at the host temple.

The authorities discouraged long term visit of foreign missionaries and wants the local non-Muslim religious group to train local people to conduct the religious teaching and temple services. It is not unusual for local Buddhist temples or association requesting politicians to issue supporting letters or intervene on their behalf to obtain the visa approval or visa extension for the resident monk.


Impact after 12th General Election


i. Weakened ministerial representation

After 12th General Election, the number of politicians/ministers who are deemed sympathetic to the Buddhist cause had declined in tandem with heavy losses suffered by MCA and Gerakan’s candidates in the general election. Politicians who are the Buddhist community’s usual focus of reference like Koh Tsu Koon, Fu Ah Kiow and Tan Chai Ho were defeated in their seats. Gerakan also lost the only ministerial position it previously held before the 12th general election. Since then Gerakan has been slipping deeper towards political oblivion and its fate is just like the Malay proverb, “hidup segan, mati tak mahu”.

Former MCA president Ong Ka Ting who stepped down as a Federal Minister after the 12th General Election was the main person the Buddhist community approaches whenever they need top level political interference. Ong Ka Ting was even named as “Minister for Buddhist Affairs” by the Prime Minister in December 2007. Ka Ting’s elder brother, Ong Ka Chuan, a declared Buddhist who replaces him as Minister for Housing and Local Government had lost his clout and influence since his defeat in the contest for the MCA deputy presidency in October 2008.

The current MCA president Ong Tee Keat, who declared to be Buddhist and known to be associated with Fo Guang Malaysia are too pre-occupied with his political agenda and maneuvering since his election as the boss of MCA. Even though Tee Keat may be keen to provide assistance to the Buddhist community, at this moment of time when MCA itself can’t even put her house in order, it looks like the Buddhist community will have to fend on its own.


ii. Christian strength, Hindu influence

While the Buddhist community still can approach MCA ministers at the Federal level for assistance, they will need to deal with the new State Government leaders from Pakatan Rakyat (PR) especially concerning places of worship since land and approval of building plans are within the jurisdiction of the state and local government. An overview on the list of non-Muslims leadership in PR governed states shows that most of them are either Christians, Hindus’ or traditional Chinese folk religions followers. Even if Hindus’ are not in senior state policy makers, their needs and requests are duly taken into serious considerations by the states in appreciation of their support given to PR during the last election.

Since the Buddhist community did not or seldom make any “noises” before and after the 12th General Election, they are conveniently expected by the Federal and State governments to take care of their own affairs and needs as they usually has been doing all this while.


iii. Representation in State Committee for non-Muslims Affairs

After the 12th General Election, the Selangor State government revamped the committee for non-Muslims affairs by having three non-Muslim State Excos to co-chair the committee in place of the State Secretary which was done during the BN state government. Representatives from each non-Muslims organization were appointed to sit in the committee known now as Jawatankuasa Hal Ehwal Selain Islam Negeri Selangor. Previously under BN, there were no representatives from the non-Muslims organization. Meetings were held more regularly at two months intervals compared to previous irregular and overdue meetings.

The Pakatan Rakyat Perak State government also established a non-Muslims affairs committee “Jawatankuasa Hal Ehwal Bukan Islam Negeri Perak” which was headed by the Christian faith Senior Exco Ngeh Koo Ham. It has a Unit which employs full-time staff to co-ordinate and manages issues related to non-Muslim affairs in the state. When the BN took over the State government on February 5, 2009 due to the defection of three PR assemblymen, the committee was retained and assigned to the only non-Muslim Exco Dr Mah Hang Soon of MCA. In a swift move by the BN state government, all the four staff appointed by the PR state government to the non-Muslims Unit was sacked from their jobs. The question now is whether BN Perak will be appointing new staff to the Unit or dissolved the Unit totally which will be a loss to the non-Muslims community.

The Penang State Government’s purported plan as reported in the Star newspaper on April 8, 2008 to establish an Inter-Religious Goodwill Council to foster better relations and mutual respect amongst the various religions and races in the state was clouded with uncertainty and derailed before it even started.


iv. Federal Government survey on statistics of non-Muslims places of worship

The Jabatan Perancangan Bandar dan Desa, Ministry of Housing and Local Government in October 2008 commissioned a private firm to conduct a survey on the places of worship for non-Muslims. The survey report will be use as a reference during the review of the planning guidelines for the development of places of worship for non-Muslims. This is taken as a response by the federal government after the general election to obtain more accurate information on the situation of non-Muslims places of worship before they decides on any policies affecting the non-Muslims.

The final draft of the report are being finalized and expected to be issued by the department soon.


v. Land allocation for non-Muslims places of worship

While policies regarding land for non-Muslims places of worship in BN state governments remained pretty much the same, there were some positive developments in PR states especially in premier state Selangor and PR-led Perak. Selangor new state government decides that land allocated must not be beside sewage ponds, beside TNB sub-station or under high tension wires. At this stage where the Perak political crisis is going into a level of absurdity and disgrace, it is yet to be seen what will be the future lies for the non-Muslims.

In Selangor, even though the State Exco was swift in approving about 30 pieces of land for non-Muslims places of worship, the actual transfer and issuance of the land title are still stuck at the departmental level.


vi. Financial allocation for non-Muslims

Financial support from the Federal and State governments for the building and maintenance of non-Muslims places of worship has been very minimal all this years. Due to this limitation, the non-Muslims especially the Buddhist and the Christian communities has been depending heavily on they own devotees and parishioners for financial resources to construct their temples or churches. If they can’t obtain land to build their place of worship they will usually rent or purchase their own building especially commercial buildings to conduct prayers and run their religious programs.

The Selangor State Government recently increases the financial allocation for the non-Muslims to maintain or build their places of worship and to organized religious programs. Allocations are via direct application to the state which differs from previous state government where it depends on the discretion of the respective constituency BN State Assemblyman. It may looks good on paper but the situation can be much more better as the actual transfer of the funds to the religious groups is being delayed due to bureaucracies at the administrative level.

vii. Review of building structure for non-Muslims place of worship

The Selangor State Government had changed policies regarding the land size for building of places of worship. With the new guidelines, temples can be built larger than 10,000 sq feet and the heights of the structure will be based on case by case basis depending on the condition of surrounding areas around the planned temple or church.


viii. Demolition of illegal structures of places of worship

Since the Hindu temple demolition incident in October 2007 which cause so much harm to BN and gives PR the necessary support from the Indians during the 12th General Election, both the BN and PR has been very cautious in handling issues pertaining to demolishing illegal religious structures built on state or private lands.

The Selangor PR Government dictates that any intention to demolish any existing religious structures must obtain the prior approval from the State EXCO.

While the Buddhist community do not face this problem compared to the Hindu community, some existing Buddhist organization are still without any land to build a proper premise of their own to run their activities. The state governments cannot be totally blamed on this situation because sometimes it is the Buddhist organizations themselves that did not put in the necessary effort to apply for state land to build their temples or centers or lacked of follow-up in their application process.

ix. Muslims Leaders response

Is there any change on the level of openness and interaction between Muslim political leaders and the non-Muslims community? Since the period of Mahathir, political leaders especially from UMNO are reluctant to be seen in the premises of places of worship for non-Muslims. Even if they enter into the premises, there will be no report on the media as there will be news black-out purported visits.

Things began to change after the “308 political tsunami” as political leaders, for political expediency or whatever reasons starts to be more open in their interaction with non-Muslims leaders in their place of worship. For instance, the PAS MP for Shah Alam Khalid Samad has no qualms of walking into a church function and let the public knows about it. The Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim visited the Dong Zhen Buddhist Centre in Jenjarom and walks straight into the main shrine during the recent Chinese New Year celebration at the temple. In comparison, when Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi visited Dong Zhen in 2006 for the same occasion, he was just visiting a floral exhibition held in a separate hall and then fed the fishes in the ponds within the temple complex.


A year after the 12th General Election, not much change is expected from the Buddhist community in regards to the policy and political process of the country. The various Buddhist groups at the national are managing the situation and latest developments based on their respective agenda and direction. Even though in Buddhism everything is subject to change, life goes on as usual for many Buddhists especially those who endeared themselves as the champion of the Buddhist community?

Change - Maybe we should just leave it to the Law of Karma. - Loka
Footnotes

1. The Barisan Nasional took over the Perak State Government after two PKR assemblymen and one DAP assemblyman quit their respective parties and declared themselves as “independents” supporting BN. The state assembly now consists of 28 BN, 28 PR and 3 independents.
2. Bodhi Park and Samadhi Temple were given the approval to develop the site in 2008. Puzhao Buddhist Vihara which was asked to stop work in 1989 was given approval to resumed re-construction recently.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Proud, shameful and a disgrace

Today Malaysians should be proud of themselves and shameful at the same time.


History has been created in the modern era where elected representatives were forced to have their sitting under a tree and open Malaysian sky. Maybe we are back to the ancient time where Socrates and Confucious were lecturing about good governance in ancient Greek and the Middle Kingdom.


We can be proud that there are still people who will defend the sanctity of the constitution and the doctrine of separation of power between the three branches of parliamentary democracy.


At the same time we should be very ashamed that there are people who claimed to be peace loving and law abiding citizens of Malaysian whom had put Malaysia in a state of shame and disgraced in the eyes of the global community.


By now the whole world would have known about the biggest joke of the day that originated from a place named Perak in Malaysia. All internet searches would have by now zoom on some of the more "popular" words, which are "Perak ", assembly, tree, illegitimate, power grab, frog, traitor, court, state secretariat, MB residence, exco Camry and of course Nizar and Zambry!


Cut off all these crap and nonsense. Return the power to the people now! - Loka

State of anarchy

Is Perak heading into a state of anarchy where a legitimate government is not in existence while politicians and pseudo-politicians are interpreting laws at their whims and fancies?
The doctrine of separation of powers between the three branches in parliamentary democracy, namely the executive (Cabinet), legislative ( state assembly) and judiciary are the basis to ensure a country are governed based on the rule of law. The rule of law of course refers to the constitution of the land which was drafted and adopted by the legislative for the executive branch to implement it. It is the judiciary role's to interpret the laws whenever the need arises.
In the case of Perak, it seems there is already a breakdown to the system. State laws are interpreted for the convenience and interest of specific groups while civil servants who had taken the vow to serve and protect the nation and people are perceived to be taking sides based on their political agenda.
It looks like what is happening in Perak is moving towards a level of absurdity when those who claimed they do what they are doing now are for the sake of the people are actually creating more uncertainties, anxieties and losses to the people. As the Malay proverb says, "Harapkan pagar, pagar makan padi".
As a Perakian, I am totally fed-up with the antics of these protagonists and antagonists. Can we just have a by-election for the state assembly and move on? - Loka