Malaysia

"It is understood by all that this country by its very name, its traditions and character, is Malay. … In any other country where aliens try to dominate economic and other fields, eventually there is bitter opposition from the indigenous people. But not with the Malays. Therefore, in return, they must appreciate the position of the Malays..."

"Of course there are Chinese millionaires in big cars and big houses. Is it the answer to make a few Malay millionaires with big cars and big houses? How does telling a Malay bus driver that he should support the party of his Malay director (UMNO) and the Chinese bus conductor to join another party of his Chinese director (MCA) - how does that improve the standards of the Malay bus driver and the Chinese bus conductor who are both workers in the same company? If we delude people into believing that they are poor because there are no Malay rights or because opposition members oppose Malay rights, where are we going to end up? You let people in the kampongs believe that they are poor because we don't speak Malay, because the government does not write in Malay, so he expects a miracle to take place in 1967 (the year Malay would become the national and sole official language in Malaysia). The moment we all start speaking Malay, he is going to have an uplift in the standard of living, and if doesn't happen, what happens then? Meanwhile, whenever there is a failure of economic, social and educational policies, you come back and say, oh, these wicked Chinese, Indian and others opposing Malay rights. They don't oppose Malay rights. They, the Malay, have the right as Malaysian citizens to go up to the level of training and education that the more competitive societies, the non-Malay society, has produced. That is what must be done, isn't it? Not to feed them with this obscurantist doctrine that all they have got to do is to get Malay rights for the few special Malays and their problem has been resolved."

"They (the Malay extremists) have triggered off something basic and fundamental. Malaysia — to whom does it belong? To Malaysians. But who are Malaysians? I hope I am, Mr Speaker, Sir. But sometimes, sitting in this chamber, I doubt whether I am allowed to be a Malaysian. This is the doubt that hangs over many minds, and the next contest, if this goes on, will be on very different lines."

"A passion for all that is related to the Malay race, such as political rights, language, culture, tradition and the homeland. The Malay peninsula is regarded as the Malays' traditional land."

"In Malaysia, everybody knows that Malays are the masters of this land. We rule this country as provided for in the federal constitution. Any one who touches upon Malay affairs or criticizes Malays is [offending] our sensitivities."

"We will not budge an inch to defend our rights, we will defend it to the last drop of our blood."

"Do not challenge the Malays - it will ignite our spirit to run amok."

"When tension rises, the blood of Malay warriors will run in our veins."

"Umno is willing to risk lives and bathe in blood to defend the race and religion. Don't play with fire. If they (non-Malays) messed with our rights, we will mess with theirs."

"If they question our rights, then we should question theirs. So far we have not heard the Malays questioning their right to citizenship when they came in droves from other countries."

"These are the King, religion, culture, language and our country. No one should question these and we have set this out in our Constitution."

"We should accept the fact that bumiputera rights is to stabilise (the races) in this country. Whether or not this is discriminatory, the question does not arise because this has been stated in the Federal Constitution."

"I lived in Malaysia for three years in the kind of uncertainty westerners face only in times of war. The five daily calls to prayer are the only predictable events in the capital city, Kuala Lumpur. The power cuts are frequent, the traffic jams continuous. Islam is the official religion, but materialism is the ruling creed. ... Islam is practised with ritual precision and with perfect reverence for its Arabian dimension. All Malays, including the royal family, look up to Arabs, the white men of the East."

"He (Najib Razak) has spent the last half-decade strengthening his position within Umno, and the past year since the 1MDB scandal broke purging his party of potential adversaries. This past summer, Najib fired his attorney-general (Abdul Gani Patail), who had been leading the 1MDB investigation. Malaysia exemplifies how corruption drives can fall short in countries with a single political party and weak governing institutions."

"[S]o many languages were spoken in Malaysia that quite often the wheels of justice ground to a standstill for the lack of an interpreter who could restore the tower of babel to a court of law."

"Singaporeans were always adding to the list of reasons each one kept to hand, in case they met a Malaysian, of why it was so much better on the island than the peninsula. They ranged from law and order to cleanliness, from clean government to good schools, and always ended on the strength of the Singaporean economy. But in the end, the Malaysian would nod, as if to agree on the points made — and shrug to indicate that they wouldn't trade passports, not really."

"Recent economic and technical growth in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei demands a common regional language to foster linguistic and literary understanding in these interconnected & frequent activities."

"A true Malaysian is always a very lonely person."

"We want Malaysians to be united. We want Malaysians to succeed and enjoy the nation’s wealth. I invite all Malaysians to take up their responsibility now. If all strategies contained in this document (midterm review of the 11MP) can be implemented, I believe Malaysia will roar back as an Asian tiger. Malaysia’s image will change from a kleptocratic state to a pure democratic state with a clean, noble and integral government. Malaysians from every corner of the world can proudly introduce themselves: I am a Malaysian."

"MALAYSIA steams. In the rainy season in the mornings the clouds build up. In the afternoon it pours, the blue-green hills vanish, and afterwards the clouds linger in the rifts in the mountains, like smoke. Creepers race up the steel guy ropes of telegraph poles; they overwhelm dying coconut branches even before the branches fall off; they cover dying trees or trees that cannot resist and create odd effects of topiary. Rain and sun and steam do not speak here of decay, of tropical lassitude; they speak of vigour, of rich things growing fast, of money."

"We need the international community to come together to ensure that Malaysia responds to the ongoing investigations into the misappropriation of government funds, known as the 1MDB scandal, and does not try to cover up any wrongdoing. The attorney-general’s statement is just another in a long line of incidents that raises questions about the impartiality of the judiciary and Malaysia’s commitment to fighting corruption"

"Malaysia is a country unlike any other: full of promise and fragility. Its history, cultural and religious diversity make it a rich, compelling and surprising land. Chinese, Indian, Malay and, in a broader sense, Indonesian cultures live side by side, while Buddhism, Christianity and Islam all partake of its multi-layered heritage. Moreover, Malaysia possesses a first-rate economic and geostrategic potential."

"We are all Malaysians. This is the bond that unites us. Let us always remember that unity is our fundamental strength as a people and as a nation."

"Our great aim must be to make Malaysia a haven of peace, harmony and happiness. We must strive for this with all our strength. We must be brave, we must be fair and we must be just, so that, come what may, we shall be ready as united Malaysian people to meet it."

"The decay of the Soviet experiment should come as no surprise to us. Wherever the comparisons have been made between free and closed societies -- West Germany and East Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia, Malaysia and Vietnam -- it is the democratic countries what are prosperous and responsive to the needs of their people. And one of the simple but overwhelming facts of our time is this: Of all the millions of refugees we've seen in the modern world, their flight is always away from, not toward the Communist world. Today on the NATO line, our military forces face east to prevent a possible invasion. On the other side of the line, the Soviet forces also face east to prevent their people from leaving."

"Malaysia is a beautiful, exciting tropical paradise. Sadly, it's also the graveyard of cinema."

"There’s always this question: Have we missed something? That’s the sort of thing that will occasionally keep me awake at night. We were ready for most things, but MH370 has been unpredictable all the way through."

"In times of emergencies like this, we have to show unity of efforts that transcends boundaries and issues."

"If they have a strong feeling or indication that the debris belongs to the aircraft, one of the first things authorities will do is drop sonar buoys in the water. If the black box (flight recorder) is there, the buoys should be able to pick up the signals. This could take up to 48 hours but it all depends on how near or far the ships and other assets are."

"I have been very hopeful because it was intentionally diverted, so I don't believed it was crashed," he said. "It's been a very, very difficult time, and very emotionally stressing. The area where Australia is looking - I was a captain at sea - I have been through that area several times. This area has got a concentration of garbage - plastics and wood. I don't know, I don't want to believe it as yet."

"Obviously we have now had a number of very credible leads and there is increasing hope - no more than hope, no more than hope - that we might be on the road to discovering what did happen to this ill-fated aircraft."

"We demand the Malaysian side state the detailed evidence that leads them to this judgement, as well as supply all the relevant information and evidence about the satellite data analysis. The search and rescue work cannot stop now. We demand the Malaysian side continue to finish all the work including search and rescue."

"Our sincerest condolences go out to the loved ones of the 239 passengers, friends and colleagues. Words alone cannot express our enormous sorrow and pain."

"We realize this is an excruciating time for the families of those on board. No words can describe the pain they must be going through. We understand the desperate need for information on behalf of the families and those watching around the world."

"Goodnight Malaysian Three Seven Zero"

"A change of government may have caused a bump in the road but since the bill was already prepared and was merely at the point of being tabled, this was a bump that the government could have handled... Any questions on the bill and its draft could be referred to the stakeholder organisations that were involved and we would have been happy to support the government in this way... By not focusing on the bill in the past year, the government has also lost the chance to ensure that a proper allocation of resources is set aside during the 2021 budget, to ensure an effective implementation of the bill."

"While I was attending the patient, he made a phone call to a woman and turned on the loudspeaker on his phone. During the conversation, I was drawing his blood and I heard the woman ask what he was doing to which he answered, 'I'm having sex with the staff nurse and if you don't believe me, you can make a video call.' I was worried because there were only two of us in the room."

"We have referred the case to the deputy public prosecutor (DPP) on 13 August and the DPP said there will be no charges against the suspect. This is on grounds that the suspect has already faced disciplinary action from UM that was triggered by the victim's complaints... The victim previously made a police report at UM and UM had conducted investigations and took action against the (associate) professor. He has been demoted and has retired in June, if I'm not mistaken."

"This bill is necessary as the existing law only regulates sexual harassment crimes that occur in the workplace when instead it should include public space as well."

"In the beginning, I thought that was normal because it always happens... But after hearing the experience of other activists, I feel this was inappropriate and should be labelled as sexual harassment."

"Were you a virgin, how did it feel, was his penis big, did it hurt...Sex is supposed to be great, sex is good, sex feels and everyone should have a lot of sex."

"We think there are a lot more cases related to sexual harassment which have gone unreported... And, this is because some of victims may feel it is not worth it to go through all the trouble and in the end justice is not served."

"I would like to suggest to the minister, if we could create a Sexual Harassment Act for men to deal with the acts, speech or dressing of women that could seduce men into committing incest, rape, molest and pornography, among other things."

"A handful of frontliners at police stations still make insensitive remarks to victims... They pass comments that what they were wearing may have invited such a response from the men."

"How did this become viral when the report has been retracted? That bothers me as to which party made the issue public... I hope the media will not prolong it because that will damage the reputation of the girl who has a future ahead of her and must be protected."

"There is some truth in that (case). We are taking action on that. I cannot say when but it would be immediate... So far, there have been reports, allegations and even 'surat layang' (poison-pen letter) on this. We are looking into the matter seriously."

"NUJ suggests, in the view that sexual harassment is part of the challenges faced by female journalists, that they present themselves in an appropriate manner and be firm while on duty. For example, do not dress in an overtly sexy outfit, decline interviews at inappropriate places like night clubs or politicians' homes. Female journalists must have integrity and an appropriate manner to obtain news."

"If little things like covering the eyes, pinching the nose or hug I can still accept since it’s just a poster but if it is towards harassment or sexual, I feel that is too far... They may just be joking, but I feel ashamed because that is still myself although it is just an image."

"The abuse happened on a daily basis... I just wanted to work, but ended up being treated this way. There is no respect for women, for local staff. I want justice as my rights as a woman were violated both morally and emotionally."

"It is the right of the employer to request potential flight attendants to expose their chests to interviewers."

"In these cases, some perpetrators are men. We do have cases of men being harassed by women, especially female bosses, although it is rare. In such cases, female bosses try to take advantage of their position over the men."

"The Malaysian government maintains that its strict laws and police activity undermined the previously existing networks of terrorism in Malaysia and continue to prove to be an effective deterrent to extremism."

"In the context of terrorism in Malaysia, the government has used various strategies to curb terrorism in the country, in terms of law enforcement and amendments and de-radicalization processes."

"In Malaysia, we have been very successful in our own fight against terrorism. The Communist insurgents whom we defeated practised widespread terrorism. We defeated them, and eradicated terrorism from our country not only by military means, but also by addressing the root causes of the terrorism that plagued Malaysia. Terrorism can never be justified, under any circumstances. However, if we are to prevent it, we must not only hunt down all the terrorists but also remove the root causes that make some people angry and bitter enough to commit or support acts of terror. By addressing the grievances of our Chinese community, from which most of the terrorists sprang, we were able to put an end to terrorism in Malaysia. Recently, Malaysia has had to deal with another source of terrorism; extremist Muslim groups who claim that our government is not Islamic and want to replace it with a Taliban-style state spanning Malaysia, Indonesia and the southern Philippines. They are opposed by the overwhelming majority of Malaysians, including Muslim Malaysians, who want to preserve our democratic, multi-religious, multi-ethnic and multi- cultural society and the spirit of religious and ethnic tolerance that underlies it. Malaysians want to preserve our commitment to modernisation, development, and openness to the outside world, which have played such an important role in our unprecedented economic growth and prosperity over the past two decades. We studied the causes for extremism among Muslims and their resort to terror but found that they were mislead by the situation in other Islamic countries and their wrong perceptions of Islam. We have taken measures to ensure the spread of the true teachings of Islam as espoused by the majority of Malaysian Muslims. Fundamental Islam proscribes suicides and the killing of innocent people and Muslims should not resort to indiscriminate violence, but should seek peace instead. As to the situations in other Muslim countries, in Palestine for example we will try to alleviate them, to help overcome their problems. Accordingly we have been able to act against the would be terrorists in accordance with our laws with the full support of our people. We are firm when dealing with terrorists whether they be Chinese, Indians or Malays, Muslims or non- Muslims. If anyone plots terror in Malaysia he will be arrested under the laws of the country. As one of your newsmagazines recently wrote, Kuala Lumpur is a modern and attractive city, an outstanding place to do business, but also to rest and relax. But this is not so for terrorists. We do not tolerate their presence. We give them no rest, no quarter, and no place to hide. We have adequate laws and capacity to deal with such threats. And we have had much experience in this field."

"Our problem now is one of dealing with terrorists, and these are people who are ‘invisible’ to us because they are not in any recognisable uniform. We do not know who the terrorists are. Our preparations are focused on information, intelligence. We must be able to identify, at an early stage, who a terrorist could be because he (or she) will be undergoing training or has close ties with terrorist groups,"

"The Malaysian society of different races, languages, religions and cultures are used to celebrating religious festivals together. This is one of Malaysia’s many specialties. It is also a manifestation of the freedom of religion practised in Malaysia and this freedom is not limited to religion, but also freedom of language, customs and cultures."

"There is obviously no absolute freedom of religion in Malaysia. First, the political need to conflate 'Malay' with 'Muslim' ensures that it is forbidden for Malays/Muslims to leave Islam, ...."

"Even so, it seems that there are still some restrictions imposed against one’s rights to fully exercise freedom of religion in Malaysia Nowhere is this deprivation of rights evident than in Article 11 (5) of the Constitution. It implicitly places restriction to this freedom on the grounds of public order and morality, and thus the right of exercising any religious act that deemed contrary to any general law relating to such grounds is inconceivable. In the case of Muslims, there may be additional restrictions applied to religious freedom by virtue of Schedule 9, List II, Item I of the Constitution. This provision grants power to State Assemblies to enact laws to punish Muslims for offences against the edicts of Islam and human dignity..."

"We lack authoritative contemporary external sources on the adoption of Islam by the Indonesian states from the end of the thirteenth century on­ wards. However, the conversions were naturally not ignored by the in­digenous chroniclers and it was thought worth while to gather together some of the material which these chroniclers have to offer, and to present it as far as possible in their own words; the value of these accounts lies in the fact that they are indigenous, that they are the products of the same cultural tradition, not so much in their worth as “history” in the Western sense.... ...it might be prudent to content ourselves with the statement that the conversion of Kedah would have taken place in the latter half of the fif­teenth century. The conversion myth for Kedah is recorded in a Malay text called the Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa. This is known only from comparatively late manuscripts—late nineteenth century—and the available published Malay romanized version derives from a manuscript copied as late as 1898.11 Butan English translation was published half a century earlier,19 from a Malay manuscript that must have existed in about 1821 A.D.20 The following has been adapted and paraphrased from the Malay text: ...“ ’What religion do you and your people in this country of Kedah follow?’ asked Shaikh Abdullah. ’Our religion,’ replied the king, ’is what the men of old handed down to us—we all worship idols.’ Replied Shaikh Abdullah ‘Then you and your subjects must be informed that this is the era of the religion of the Prophet Muhammad, Apostle of God of the present time. We, the later communities to whom religion has been revealed, must all uphold the religion of Islam in accordance with the Qur’an which was revealed by God (Praise be to Him the Exalted) to his Apostle the Prophet Muhammad, Apostle of God in the city of Mecca (and whose tomb is at Medina); for the former faiths were false and untrue. My lord must un­derstand that it was owing to false faiths that the devil was able to come and cause trouble.’ Pra Ong Mahawangsa requested to be taught about the true religion of Islam. “This delighted Shaikh Abdullah. He embraced and kissed the ruler, and they conversed. He taught the ruler the creed: ’I testify that there is no god but Allah alone, nothing is to be associated with Him, and I testify that Muhammad is His servant and His apostle.’ Pra Ong Mahawangsa recited this, and forthwith ordered his vessels of liquor to be fetched and poured out on to the ground, till none was left. He ordered that his idols of gold and silver, porcelain, wood and clay, human figures, be brought and piled up before them. With an axe and a sword Shaikh Abdullah proceeded to smash them to smithereens, after which they were burnt."

"I lived in Malaysia for three years in the kind of uncertainty westerners face only in times of war. The five daily calls to prayer are the only predictable events in the capital city, Kuala Lumpur. The power cuts are frequent, the traffic jams continuous. Islam is the official religion, but materialism is the ruling creed. ... Islam is practised with ritual precision and with perfect reverence for its Arabian dimension. All Malays, including the royal family, look up to Arabs, the white men of the East."

"Missionaries (from India or Pakistan) had brought the idol-smashing message to Malaysia. They had worked out, from various books they had consulted, how many thousands of years in paradise a Muslim earned for every idol he smashed; and they had calculated that a grand total of thirty smashed idols won a Muslim the jackpot, an eternity in paradise. The Malay rage was really about the Chinese shrines—some no more than concrete boxes—that were everywhere in the towns (there were two just outside the Holiday Inn). But the Chinese were powerful, and had their secret societies. The Tamil Hindus were a small, pacific community. So Hindu images were smashed. On many nights—during a three-week period in 1978—Tamil temples were desecrated."