A PASSIONATE MAHATHIR BUT PRIME MINISTER NAJIB INDIFFERENT TO LEGALLY-REGISTERED REFUGEES MUSLIMS’ PLIGHT IN SABAH

A royal commission of inquiry (RCI) into Sabah’s prolonged illegal migrants issue will “not do anything at all”, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad says
At times, I have to agree with Dr Mahathir Mohamad. These illegal migrants have been in Sabah since their great great grandfathers come and go from southern Philippines to Sabah.  DrM indirectly admits to “Project IC”. These immigrants should be given “permanent resident” status instead of citizenship and bumiputra status.

Malaysia was lucky we got Sabah. What if Sabah were part of the Philippines? Sorry to say, all of you Sabahans are no better than them.

Let us be humane because these illegal migrants and Sabahans were once part of a bigger empire that existed during that time. I totally agree with Mahathir – they deserve to be citizens after considering their long presence in Sabah.Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today he disagreed with Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s decision to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into Sabah’s illegal immigrant problem, pointing out that such a panel would bring no solutions and instead complicate matters.

His latest remarks come even as the prime minister prepares to announce the terms of reference for the RCI tomorrow in Sabah, in what is seen as a bid to head off the potential for a revolt in the east Malaysian state over the illegal immigrants issue, after two Barisan Nasional (BN) lawmakers quit recently citing the federal government’s lack of resolve in solving the surge in the number of foreigners in the state.

“The RCI will not deliver any result that will solve the problems. When there is an RCI it will bring about other matters,” the former prime minister told reporters today.

Some opposition politicians have blamed Dr Mahathir for the growth of illegal immigrant numbers in Sabah, pointing to the fact that the state saw a huge increase in population during his time as the prime minister.

But Dr Mahathir, who was premier from 1981 until 2003, sought to justify the increase in Sabah’s population in the latest posting on his blog earlier this week.

Earlier this week, he defended the increase in the number of migrants in Sabah, pointing out that they qualified to be citizens because they have been staying in Malaysia for decades and spoke Bahasa Malaysia.

“I have been accused of apparently bringing them (illegal immigrants) in … We don’t have to do that because they came on their own.

“Previously they have been coming and going. They are not alien to Sabah; they have been going back and forth between Sabah and the Philippines. Maybe they feel Sabah is safer and that is why they stay there,” said Dr Mahathir today.

He highlighted that, while he was PM, he had directed the authorities to repatriate the foreigners but it was a pointless exercise because they kept returning.

Yesterday a Sabah-based Barisan Nasional (BN) party condemned Dr Mahathir for his “insensitive” defence of Sabah’s increasing migrant population, an emotive issue that will likely be central to the pact’s campaign for the state in the coming polls.

The United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (UPKO) said in a statement in Kota Kinabalu that Dr Mahathir, whom the opposition has blamed for Sabah’s unchecked population increase, had confused the state’s illegal immigrants with its legal migrants.

Najib had announced the highly-anticipated RCI on Sabah’s illegals issue on June 1 but stopped short of revealing details of the panel’s composition and terms of reference.

The issue has been bandied about in the media for nearly six months since February 10 when Sabah BN leader Tan Sri Bernard Dompok’s first announced Cabinet’s decision to form the RCI.

The unchecked influx of illegal immigrants in Sabah has been a longstanding problem in the BN-ruled state, and frequently blamed for the rise in social, economic and security problems suffered by the locals here.

According to replies provided in Parliament last year, Sabah’s populace numbered 651,304 in 1970 and grew to 929,299 a decade later. But in the two decades following 1980, the state’s population rose significantly by a staggering 1.5 million people, reaching 2,468,246 by 2000.

Media reports said that as of 2010, this number has grown further to 3.12 million, with foreigners making up a sizeable 27 per cent or 889,799 of the population.

Opposition leaders have long raged against the BN government for this population explosion, alleging that illegals have been allowed into the east Malaysian state, and given MyKads and voting rights to help the ruling coalition cling to power.

Aung San Suu Kyi was a world hero but does she command the same respect? This is now a question being asked repeatedly due to her apathy towards the plight of Rohingya minority and her controversial statements about their citizenship status.

The world had stood by Suu Kyi and openly supported the pro-democracy woman who had been under house arrest by the military government in Myanmar but after her release and victory, her stand on the Rohingya issue has been shocking to say the least.

Worse, Rohingyas were getting killed in the rioting when she was on a tour to Europe. She didn’t speak about the violence back home, issued no direct appeal to her people to stop violence and while newspapers said she was treated like ‘Rockstar’ and awarded doctorate, Suu Kyi made THE controversial statement.

The ‘iron’ woman, who was supposed to have spoken for the rights of the community, has gone to the extent of questioning that if the minority indeed belongs to Burma. What can be the biggest irony? She was a hero for everyone but no more for me and perhaps many others.

The Rohingyas, a stateless people, have been living in Myanmar for centuries until the military government in 1982 [through a citizenship law] decided to strip the off their nationality. The community that is termed by Amnesty and other agencies as one of the most persecuted in the world, is now termed ‘outsider’.

Rohingyas population estimates range from 8,00,000 to 1 million though it is suspected that the government figures are markedly less than the actual population. The community has faced hostility, prejudices and massacres for the last 60 years.

World Wakes up to the plight of Rohingyas

But the woman who suffered most at the hands of the military, seems to be in sync with the junta’s [army] views about the Rohingyas who have been discriminated, oppressed and systematically forced out of Burma for decades.

Now pandering to popular sentiments, Suu Kyi has refrained from making any statement. No wonder, the Rohingyas are dejected and have lost hope from the woman they had supported and even vote for in election, aiming for change. Does she feel the Bamars would get upset if she speaks for Rohingyas!


That’t what politicians do. But this is not expected from a leader of her stature. The ethnic riots between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims left nearly 90 dead while 90,000 were displaced. But she ket mum. Bangladesh didn’t let fleeing Rohingyas, who wanted an asylum, and forced them to go back to their country.

It was in this scenario that reporters during her tour to England, France, Ireland and other countries, asked her repeatedly on this humanitarian crisis. She kept mum and avoided a comment on this issue, even as the extent of violence had shaken her country.

Rohingya woman cries after her husband got killed

When she was not left with any alternative, she shrewdly said, “The rule of the law is needed”.

Is this you expect from a statesman, a Nobel prize winner or a world leader or a fighter?

Newspapers were finally getting critical about the fact that her tour appeared more a celebration and PR exercise.

She seemed to echo the hardline sentiment that Rohingyas are illegal immigrants [refugees] in Myanmar.

She finally said that Myanmar must clarify citizenship rules and that she was unsure whether Rohingyas could be regarded as Maynamar nationals. WHAT A SHAME!

The world is changing Ma’am. The fascist rule had somewhat managed to keep the country insulated but news about the clashes and genocides can’t be suppressed any more.
Malaysia, like Indonesia, is in danger of being Christianised. We’re grateful to Ridhuan Tee Abdullah for the revelation and the warning.

Unlike ordinary journalists, who are not qualified to speak about Islam, Tee is an Islamic academic. It would do us well to heed him.

According to him in a recent article, at the current rate of conversion of Indonesian Muslims to Christianity, our southern neighbour will have a Christian majority by the year 2035.

How can Malaysian Muslims let that happen! Over our dead body!

Ridhuan Tee, who has long styled himself a champion of Islam, noted that Muslim Indonesians converted to Christianity due to a variety of factors, including the high poverty rate there and the lack of laws to protect Muslims against Christian proselytisation.

He warned that the Christianisation movement was on the upswing in this country.

Now it would be embarrassing to find out that after all our efforts to proselytise among the non-Malays, the number of Muslims in this country is actually declining.

If what Ridhuan Tee says is true, then there is really a cause for concern and we need to stem the tide. No wonder our concerned government decided to ban Malay Bibles and to prohibit non-Muslims from mentioning God’s name.

And with so many Malays still living below the poverty line, the danger is ever present, especially when one considers the fact that the Indonesians are converting in order to get out of poverty.

But how come so many Malays in Malaysia are still poor? Why hasn’t Umno done its job of lifting the Malays out of poverty?

Perhaps Ridhuan Tee will answer these questions in a later article. Continuing with our review of his latest article, Ridhuan Tee cited a passage from the Quran to suggest that Muslims should treat Christians as their enemies.

Well, if the Christians continue to proselytise among Muslims, then they are indeed the enemy. Luckily, the Muslims have not tried to proselytise among them instead.

Ridhuan Tee emphasised that Christians had great financial power and were using that power to target the Malay Archipelago after failing in their missionary attempts in the West.

Yes, with so many cases of sexual abuse brought to court involving Catholic leaders, of course the West is slowly abandoning Christianity.

And because of the Christians’ financial power, no wonder Muslim nations throughout the world are still trying to hoard and consolidate the bulk of their wealth before it falls into the wrong hands of the non-Muslims.

Tighten the loopholes

Ridhuan Tee called on Muslim Malaysians to save their brethren in the archipelago. “Remember, my brothers, the Indonesians are our brethren too. If they are safe, we too are safe.”

So something must be done to arrest the situation in Indonesia. And pronto! if we continue to let things slide, Indonesia will become a Christian nation by 2035.

There will be chaos, with daily live concerts and everyone wearing the cross, celebrating Valentine’s Day, Easter and Christmas, gays and lesbians running around half-naked.

Indonesia will drown in a sea of alcohol and ruin itself with free sex. There will be loud music blaring from the discos. We may never get to hear the soothing sounds of Azan again.

Even the traditionally Christian West would be threatened, and the next Pope may come from Indonesia. It is the most populous Muslim country now, but by 2035 it will become the most populous Christian country. Christians around the world may headquarter their holy administration in downtown Jakarta.

The Malays should reconsider their options, leave political differences aside and vote for the obvious coalition that will protect Ketuanan Melayu, religion and royalty. This way, we can stem any threat to our way of life at the root.

Malay unity is important to ensure a peaceful, corrupt-free nation. PAS’ insistence on Islamic unity instead of Malay unity is simply a ploy and a play of words. Malay unity means Islamic unity. The two cannot be separated.

We are truly lucky that in multicultural Malaysia, non-Muslims are prevented by the law from spreading their faiths among Muslims even as they are constitutionally guaranteed the freedom to practise their religions.

But several right-wing religious groups have accused churches here of converting Muslims to Christianity.

Yes, we have to tighten loopholes. Hudud must be implemented without delay. And new laws must be enacted to prevent Muslims from overstepping their boundaries.

We have to ban Western values with immediate effect. Astro should stop broadcasting rubbish and concentrate on wholesome Islamic movies. Muslims must be barred from subscribing to sports channels because they show athletes in skimpy outfits, and from movies channels because they glorify Western thoughts and values.

Personal choice and critical thinking should be discouraged because these cause Muslims to question the religious authorities on even the slightest details.

Leading the jihad

Ridhuan Tee must lead the jihad to prevent such a tragedy from happening. He should resign from his unimportant role in the Defence University and concentrate his efforts on saving Indonesia and Malaysia.

I too may resign my day job in time and consider joining him in a jihad to save the Indonesians from themselves.

Ridhuan Tee should chide Najib (Tun Razak) for wasting good money to restore dilapidated church buildings in Sarawak.

The RM1 million can be put to better use to check the downslide of Islam in this country. The billions we could save from building dams and LRTs can be used to beef up the Dakwah Outreach and moral squads as well as to eradicate poverty among Muslims.

To counter proselytisation efforts, which are illegal in this country, the Dakwah Outreach must be adequately funded to reach out to the non-Muslims.

In this way we can target a 90% Muslim population, which would be an adequate guard against Christianisation, especially when Indonesia becomes a Christian country.

Non-Malays should, perhaps, consider Islam as a way of life and study the beauty of this great compassionate religion. They too can enjoy the benefits of Bumiputeraship and be part of 1Malaysia. Imagine! No more racial conflicts. And together we can join hands to build a better nation

A recent journey to western Myanmar has revealed a provincial capital divided by hatred and thousands of its Muslim residents terrorised by what they say is a state-sponsored campaign to segregate the population along ethno-sectarian lines.

Decades-old tension between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in coastal Rakhine state exploded with new ferocity in June, leaving at least 78 people dead and tens of thousands homeless.

Exclusive reporting conducted last week in the highly restricted region suggests that the long-term fallout from recent violence could be even more damaging than the bloodshed.READMOREhttp://muslimjournalmalaysia.blogspot.com/2012/08/a-recent-journey-to-western-myanmar-has.html