It appears that the authorities are no better than the Japanese in the art of glossing over history, says a reader who lived through the tumultuous May 13, 1969 racial riots.



On Build or burn bridges with 'Ethnic Relations'

May 13 Witness: It is very fortunate that many of us who witnessed the tragedy are still alive today, and knew exactly what took place. It is without a doubt and a common knowledge that it was Gerakan, and not DAP, who provoked the Malays to react the way they did. Remember, the throwing of pork into the Jalan Travers police station incident and shouting, "Melayu, balik kampung"?

Lim Keng Yaik and his cohorts should apologise to our Malay brethren for causing such sufferings instead of maintaining the 'elegant silence' over the issuing of the new 'Ethnic Relations' textbook. As they say, tell the truth and shame the devil. If not, the truth will find you out. It's just a matter of time.

Is the BN government so bankrupt of ideas that they have to resort to telling lies and more lies? Goodness, our people are no better than the Japanese in the art of whitewashing history.

SK: Ethnic relationship in this country has gone to the dogs. Politician pretend as though it is not a problem but in reality it is getting out of hand.

There is no point saying in CNN that "Malaysia is truly Asia" but it should be also practiced in real life. Malaysia should learn from India as the present president of India is a Muslim and the prime minister is a Sikh, both are from minority communities.

Will this ever happen in Malaysia? Not in this century as Islamic fanaticism is beginning to seep into our society and this is going to be a major hurdle for the government to scale.

The day Indians and Chinese are allowed to become the IGP, chief secretary to the government or for that matter Lord President, that is the day we can say that the government have taken positive step to minimise racial discrimination.

Philip WM Wong: The unbearable stench that seems to emanate from the biased, ill-thought (or was it deliberate?) contents of the Ethnic Relations textbook used in the tertiary Ethnic Relations subject will certainly create a serious stink amongst the more concerned, less blindly pro-government groups.

The not-so-slow and insidious degradation of non-Muslim/non-Malay rights as well as the trivialising of the positive roles that these groups made in the development of Malaysia smells fishily like neo-Nazism (= Nazrism?), intended to cleanse Malaysia of the "undesirables" polluting its environment and threatening the odorless purity of a certain majority.

What next? A call for modern-day Hitlers to bring us their perfume? And what is our beloved prime minister doing to curb the extremism of the ruling classes? Or is he too busy clinging to power to bother?

Tak Boleh Tahan Hypocrisy: The polarisation of the races in this country has been deliberately engineered by our politicians over the years. And of course, the perversions of historical truth in this so-called compulsory 'ethnic relations' course does seem to be yet another insidious attempt at dividing the young further.

During my schooldays in the late 1950s - the different races existed so peacefully and happily together, and my friends and I had no hesitation in visiting each other's house. That happy co-existence has been killed by our politicians - whose language nowadays has had to be (hypocritically) about "toleration" at best - shame on them!

Instead of thanking God for blessing us with a beautiful and rich country and which is so sheltered from natural calamities, and encouraging everyone to work hard side by side at making this a truly successful country, they have chosen to concentrate on bringing about suspicion, jealousy and hatred into our everyday life.

We don't need any grandiose plans - any grandiose 'courses' - all we need is something that is so utterly basic and which doesn't require the spending of any ringgit at all in grandiose 'projects' - it is for parents and teachers to teach and inculcate in the young to love, and respect, everybody, regardless of race, religion, and social status.

I put this as a challenge therefore to our politicians - do they sincerely and honestly wish to see peace, happiness, and success in this beautiful country of ours, or are they bent on destroying it?


On Better to build complex in 'cool' M'sia than London

YSM: The country's social ills can be greatly reduced if our government concentrates on keeping our children in school. The way to do this is not by building more shopping malls, office skyscrapers and massive billboards all over the Klang Valley, which to me is now a distraction for motorists and an eyesore.

The way to keep our young occupied is by ensuring that they have something to do when they are not sitting behind the desk doing their homework. Keep the school field green, ensure there is a sports complex for every 1,000 houses built. The sports complex should have a swimming pool, tennis court, badminton court and squash courts. Build more basketball courts at parks and ensure that parks and jogging tracks are maintained with well-lid lights.

The way to curb social ills is not setting a curfew hour or banning movies or magazines because these days everything can be downloaded via the Internet. We need to give our children something that is more entertaining and rewarding. I believe that the money for the training centre in UK should be used instead for these purposes.

BT: Why don't we use part of the money for maintenance work to all our sports facilities, I am sure the YBs are aware of some of the country's stadium conditions. Save some money, don't go to UK.

Dhammika: The government must set the priority right. Haven't they learn any lesson at all. Look around our own country and see the poverty level. Put the money to good use for the poor like schools, hospitals, etc.

For that colossal sum, what benefit can we get in the end? How often will this complex be utilised? What about maintenance, cost of accommodation and abuse by officials for free B&B. What about cost of flights, etc? Use that money at home for the development of LRT for Klang Valley townships like TTDI,/Subang Jaya/USJ/Shah Alam.

Satria Asia: Gee, I thought Pak Lah said the government was broke. So how come we have money to spend on a sports complex to be built in the UK? How will this benefit Malaysians directly, right down to the nasi lemak vendor?


On New rep all set to grill CM

Abdul Kader Abdul Razak: The longest serving chief minister in the country has been enjoying past 25 plus years of iron rule with no opposition .I am not surprised about widespread cronyism and nepotism in such administration.

It is heartening to note that Sarawakians had been more foresighted than their peninsular brothers in the recent state election to elect several assemblymen from opposition. Only then the ruling party will wake up and show good governance and accountability in their administration. In fact, the people should clamour for a limited term for CMs and PMs to minimise misrule and abuse of power.


On Gov't releases letters between Dr M and S'pore leaders

Ah Chong: I applaud the government in being transparent. For the first time in decades, the BN government is so transparent to the point of declassifying official documents between governments.

I think the rakyat should demand more openness. Declassify cabinet minutes with regards to Anwar Ibrahim's sacking, declassify documents relating to Miti's share allocations and declassify minutes with regards to all privatisation of government services. The rakyat has the right to know.

While the government is at it; abolish the OSA and ISA too.


On Zaid urges 'dominant' Umno to be more open

Sadirah K: I cannot but agree with Zaid Ibrahim that we need more openness and transparency. We have a ruling coalition but this is only in name. They only meet when there is a crisis. BN must have its committees that discuss all the various issues so that when Parliament convenes there is an attempt to discuss issues in a more intelligent manner.

We have had economic growth but our democracy is stunted. Unless there is more space and a willingness to be more open, the road ahead will be one filled with tensions. Those in leadership must realise that democracy provides them with the best process for managing power, difficult though this may seem.