Confident People Do Not Get Confuced...

JAN 4 — I found by chance this article the other day: “Prophet Muhammad’s Promise to Christians”.

The document is not a modern human rights treaty but even though it was penned in 628 AD it clearly protects the right to property, freedom of religion, freedom of work, and security of the person, says Muqtedar Khan.

Muslims and Christians together constitute over 50 per cent of the world and if they lived in peace, we will be half way to world peace. One small step that we can take towards fostering Muslim-Christian harmony is to tell and retell positive stories and abstain from mutual demonisation.

In this article I propose to remind both Muslims and Christians about a promise that Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) made to Christians. The knowledge of this promise can have enormous impact on Muslim conduct towards Christians. Muslims generally respect the precedent of their Prophet and try to practise it in their lives.

In 628 AD, a delegation from St Catherine’s Monastery came to Prophet Muhammed and requested his protection. He responded by granting them a charter of rights, which I reproduce below in its entirety. St Catherine’s Monastery is located at the foot of Mt Sinai and is the world’s oldest monastery. It possesses a huge collection of Christian manuscripts, second only to the Vatican, and is a world heritage site. It also boasts the oldest collection of Christian icons. It is a treasure house of Christian history that has remained safe for 1,400 years under Muslim protection.

The Promise to St Catherine:

“This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them.

“Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by God! I hold out against anything that displeases them.

“No compulsion is to be on them. Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries. No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims' houses.

“Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God's covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate.

“No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight. The Muslims are to fight for them. If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray. Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants.

“No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (end of the world).”

The first and the final sentence of the charter are critical. They make the promise eternal and universal. Muhammed asserts that Muslims are with Christians near and far, straight away rejecting any future attempts to limit the promise to St Catherine alone. By ordering Muslims to obey it until the Day of Judgment the charter again undermines any future attempts to revoke the privileges. These rights are inalienable. Muhammed declared Christians, all of them, as his allies and he equated ill treatment of Christians with violating God’s covenant.

A remarkable aspect of the charter is that it imposes no conditions on Christians for enjoying its privileges. It is enough that they are Christians. They are not required to alter their beliefs, they do not have to make any payments and they do not have any obligations. This is a charter of rights without any duties!

The document is not a modern human rights treaty but even thought it was penned in 628 AD it clearly protects the right to property, freedom of religion, freedom of work, and security of the person.

I know most readers must be thinking so what? Well the answer is simple. Those who seek to foster discord among Muslims and Christians focus on issues that divide and emphasise areas of conflict. But when resources such as Muhammad’s promise to Christians are invoked and highlighted it builds bridges. It inspires Muslims to rise above communal intolerance and engenders goodwill in Christians who might be nursing fear of Islam or Muslims.

When I look at Islamic sources, I find in them unprecedented examples of religious tolerance and inclusiveness. They make me want to become a better person. I think the capacity to seek good and do good inheres in all of us. When we subdue this predisposition towards the good, we deny our fundamental humanity. In this holiday season, I hope all of us can find time to look for something positive and worthy of appreciation in the values, cultures and histories of other peoples.

Dr Muqtedar Khan is director of Islamic Studies at the University of Delaware and a fellow of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding.

Now, when that delegation from St Catherine's monastery came to meet with Prophet Mohamad (pbuh), I suppose it's fair to assume that they spoke Arabic to one another. And when they were conversing, surely the word “God” must have come up. As in "May God Be With You" and such like. What word did the Prophet (pbuh) use for “God” I wonder? And what did the St Catherinians use in return? For monotheists like them, was there a “your God” and “my God” type of situation, or did they understand that they were both talking about the same One?

While some idiots are mourning over the “loss” of the word “Allah” and therefore basically telling the world that they are people easily confused by nomenclature, and others are predicting riots over what is basically a “copyright” issue, let me define what I think a confident Muslim should be:

1. A confident Muslim is unfazed by the issue of God's name. God speaks to all of humankind in the Quran and never said that only Muslims could call him by the name Allah.

2. A confident Muslim has 99 names to choose from to describe that One God. My favourites are Ar-Rahman (The All-Compassionate) and Ar-Rahim (The All-Merciful).

3. A confident Muslim never gets confused over which is his/her religion and which is other people's. For instance, a confident Muslim knows exactly what the first chapter of the Quran is. And it's not the Lord's Prayer.

4. A confident Muslim will not walk into a church, hear a liturgy in Malay or Arabic where they use the word “Allah” and then think that he or she is in a mosque. A confident Muslim knows the difference.

5. A confident Muslim is generous, inclusive and doesn't think that his or her brethren is made exclusive through the use of a single language. The confident Muslim is well aware that in the Middle East, all services of ANY religion are in Arabic because that's what they all speak.

6. A confident Muslim knows the basis of his/her faith are the five pillars of Islam and will not be shaken just because other people call God by the same name.

7. A Muslim believes in only One God. Therefore it makes sense that other people should call God by the same name because there is no other God.

ART THOU NOT aware that it is God whose limitless glory all [creatures] that are in the heavens and on earth extol, even the birds as they spread out their wings? Each [of them] knows indeed how to pray unto Him and to glorify Him; and God has full knowledge of all that they do: (Surah Nour, Verse 41) (Asad).

So I would ask those people demonstrating against the court decision, have you no pride? Are you saying you're easily confused?

And before anyone says I have no qualifications to say these things, read what Dr Asri Zainal Abidin (who does have qualifications no matter what JAIS says) has written about this very subject here.

And here's something interesting. In 2007, the Majlis Agama Negeri Perlis, which is a large majlis filled with people very learned in Islamic religious knowledge, discussed the question of the use of “Allah” by non-Muslims. Their unanimous decision? They issued a fatwa to say that there is absolutely nothing wrong with non-Muslims using the word at all. (This was told to me by Asri but I cannot find the fatwa anywhere online because all the religious departments' websites are so useless.)

Are we now going to excommunicate the whole of Perlis?

— rantingsbymm.blogspot.com

Do you have a sixth sense?

In our everyday lives, we are using our 5 senses to take in information in the world around us and to respond to it: touching, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting. Have you ever thought about what could be the sixth sense, particularly when living in 21st century, in the age of information technologies, where everything is going online and mobile?
Well, what discovered the MIT students is something that can totally be described as turning internet into the sixth human sense. Besides using all your 5 senses, now you are always in need of having some information from the computer or from internet. How about having all that with you and feeling like Tom Cruise in Minority Report?
SixthSense is the latest invention from MIT folks, which gives you the opportunity to get on spot information about anything you want with just having a flat surface. SixthSense is a wearable gestural interface that augments the physical world around us with digital information and lets you use natural hand gestures to interact with that information. By using a camera and a tiny projector mounted in a pendant like wearable device, SixthSense sees what you see and visually augments any surfaces or objects we are interacting with. It projects information onto surfaces, walls, and physical objects around us, and lets you interact with the projected information through natural hand gestures, arm movements, or your interaction with the object itself. SixthSense attempts to free information from its confines by seamlessly integrating it with reality, and thus making the entire world your computer.
This was also presented on the TED conference, and you can watch how Pattie Maes of the labs Fluid Interfaces group presents it.
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Category: Science & Technology

Tags: Technology

BTN: Divisive, racist, politically- motivated

For me, the seeds of poison were planted decades ago.

Just before I went overseas to study, I was sent for 'orientation' at a Mara hostel to ostensibly prepare myself for life abroad.

That weekend was a blur, and I recall four things:

1) Blocked toilets and flooded communal bathrooms.

2) Basic food, thus a friend's sister dropped off much needed rations of chocolates and 'kacang'.

3) How to wash your 'smalls' (underwear) in a cold country and have them dry by the next morning.

4) We assembled in small groups for out-of-door talks, in the school grounds. We were told that the Malays were the most supreme race in the world, we were God's chosen few, that the others were insignificant. We were warned about certain elements in our society and abroad, determined to undermine Malay excellence.

It was never meant to be a question-and- answer session and the lecturer omitted to qualify his contentious and contemptuous statements.

Just like my peers, my mind was focused on going overseas. In essence, we simply 'switched off'. Moreover, we hardly experienced any racial issues at our convent school.

Did I come out of that orientation a better person? Did I pick up new skills and ideas? Of the four things, the first two are just facets of Malaysian life; the third has been extremely practical, whilst the fourth left me disturbed and has lain fallow, until now.

After reading about the BTN (Biro Tatanegara or National Civics Bureau), I fear that much venom has been perpetuated. I may also have unwittingly experienced the inception of the BTN.

Ties have eroded

I am reminded by my grandparents and parents that after the last of the midnight chimes had heralded the arrival of Aug 31, 1957, everyone was ecstatic. It was a stirring moment.

Malays grasped the hands of Chinese, Indians embraced Malays. With 'Merdeka', Malaysians felt energised.

Fast forward to present-day Malaysia and the scene is stupefying. Malays eye the non-Malays with contempt and derision, whilst the non-Malays are consumed with frustration and resentment. A never-ending nightmare.

The ties that cemented us 52 years ago have eroded. Instead of acting as one, our differences have been emphasised; our similarities have all but diminished.

The new slogan, 1Malaysia, is a vain attempt to patch-up our differences. There is little point in using this sticking plaster to mend a wound that is deep and suppurating.

If we are instructed to be 'one', then something is wrong. If we are drilled to behave in a particular way, to be seen to be united, then this is a veiled and tacit acknowledgment that all is not well.

Somewhere after independence, we lost our focus. We took our eye off the ball.

We allowed ourselves to be massaged and manipulated into submissiveness by those who purported to lead us, but who have done us much damage - physically, spiritually, morally, financially, emotionally.

We are now a bunch of apathetic people who have to be led by the nose, who grumble only in private but hide any dissent in public. We are cowed into inactivity, resigned to our fate.

Why do we allow racism, corruption or inequality, practices which are unacceptable in the wider world, to prosper here? Why do we accept that when something goes wrong, no one is made accountable? Why is there a poor system of checks and balances? What happened to leadership by example?

The silent majority

The BTN is alleged to be divisive, racist and politically- motivated. The public is outraged; but politicians seem blind to these facts.

The deputy prime minister and the women, family and community development minister both deny the allegations. But what do ministers from the other component parties of BN say? Their silence speaks volumes.

Some ministers claim that the courses instil patriotism and are harmless. In their view, segregating participants into specific groups of race and ethnicity, followed by humiliation, is considered not divisive. They may need to reassess their values.

Others say that the BTN is being revamped. Or upgraded. Or changed. Whatever. The truth is, the BTN runs counter to the ideals of a united Malaysia. It is time we dispensed with our politicians' knee-jerk reactions in their pathetic efforts to ameliorate the breakdown in public confidence.

How can the Umno information chief assume the role of BTN programme head? This is a conflict of interest. How does he isolate his political affiliations? He cannot possibly assume neutrality.

I have not experienced the BTN programme and hope that I never will.

When questions with political and religious undertones are incorporated, that is reason enough for the BTN to cease to operate and function.

When non-Malay Malaysians are chastised for their 'immigrant' status and are condescendingly told to be grateful to the Malays, that is wrong.

When only the contributions of the Malays are recognised for bringing peace and prosperity to the nation, that is positively abhorrent.

When Malays are warned not to mingle with non-Malays, when only Muslims are to be respected, that is despicable.

It is a mockery that 1Malaysia has boiled down to mean 'belonging to only one race'. And the shocking thing is that many Western-educated middle class Malays believe it.

Like the vines of our jungles, the BTN is strangling the ideals, aspirations and uniqueness of all Malaysian peoples.

I have been accused of being a traitor to my race, and religion just because I state what is obviously unfair, undemocratic and lacking in morals and principles.

I suspect they disapprove of me, mostly because I am a woman and a Malay, and dare to speak up about prickly issues. But I admire these people. At least, they are willing to express their views, however vile they may be. Unlike, the silent majority.

For these are the ones I appeal to, and who I wish would make a stand and do more to champion change, if only for the good and love and future of our nation.

In the final analysis, '1' more person, might make all the difference.

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a non-conformist traditionalist from Perak, a bucket chemist and an armchair eco-warrior. In 'real-speak' , this translates into that she comes from Ipoh, values change but respects culture, is a petroleum chemist and also an environmental pollution-control scientist.

http://malaysiakini .com/news/ 119070

PI Bala surfaces to drop Bombshell 3

I received this in a mail and I am posting it here for those who are looking out for news about PI BALA.

PI Bala surfaces to drop Bombshell 3

MISSING private investigator P. Balasubramaniam has broken his 15-month silence, claiming that Prime Minister Najib Razak’s younger brother, Nazim, met and threatened him into withdrawing his first statutory declaration.

Bala alleged that carpet businessman Deepak Jaikishan, an aide of the Prime Minister’s wife, Rosmah Mansor, instructed him to meet Nazim on the day he made public his statutory declaration.

He said the first statutory declaration in which he claimed that Najjib had a relationship with murdered Mongolian model Altantuya Shariibuu, a lover of the Prime Minister’s associate Abdul Razak Baginda, was true.

But he withdrew it and signed a second declaration after he was taken to see Nazim at the Curve in Damansara on July 3 2008 when he was told by the Prime Minister’s architect brother to “follow instructions if he loves his family.”

According to Bala, the specific instruction to him was to withdraw the July 3^rd statutory declaration and leave Malaysia immediately.

Hours after that meeting, Bala signed a second statutory declaration which was prepared for him and later issued to the media.

He and his family were then taken by road to Singapore before being flown to Thailand and and Nepal and eventually to India, where he has been hiding since.

Bala gave the startling account of the alleged threats made by Nazim in a tell all interview done overseas which concluded with him saying: “As a family man, I want to have a normal life. I want to put a stop to all this. ”

FreeMalaysiaToday was provided with excerpts of the interview done in the presence of three lawyers including Bala’s.

In the hour long interview, Bala gave an account of money allegedly promised by Deepak, whose orders Nazim told him to follow.

He claimed Deepak offered him a RM4 to RM5 million deal to sign the second statutory declaration retracting his allegation against Najib, and to remain overseas until Najib was installed as Prime Minister.

In the course of their conversations, Bala said Deepak related to him how he came to know Rosmah and even offered to arrange a breakfast meeting with the Prime Minister’s wife.

“(Deepak said) I can come back to Malaysia after Najib become the PM. (Also) he will make arrangements to have breakfast with Rosmah (for her to ) thank me ,” for retracting the first SD, Bala added.

However, no breakfast meeting took place with Rosmah, and Bala said he never received the RM5million sweetener promised to him.

Although Najib’s smooth ascension to power took place as scheduled in April this year, Bala saw little to suggest that he would be allowed to return to Malaysia to lead a normal life with his family.

Bala said Deepak gave him about RM750,000 in total to cover expenses for him and his family during their stay overseas. The money was mostly banked into his account with cheques issued by Carpet Raya Sdn Bhd, of which Deepak is a director.

Another revealation by Bala was his meeting with a Malaysian Police Special Branch team which tracked him to Bangkok in July last year.

Bala said the officer in charge of the Special Branch team, ASP Muniandy, asked him which of the two statutory declarations was true.

“ I told him the first SD was the true SD. Then he just shook my hand and said ‘You are really brave,’” Bala quoted Muniandy as saying.

He said the police team then proceeded to record a statement from him for nearly seven hours on the contents of the first statutory declaration and events leadings to the release of the document.

Given the circumstances of fear and continued harrassment against him and his family, Bala indicated he wanted to start his life afresh overseas with his family rather than returning to Malaysia as long as Najib and his people were in power.

Efforts to contact Nazim and Deepak were unsuccessful.
Free Malaysia Today...

The confident Malay

12 Nov 09 : 8.00AM

By Deborah Loh
deborahloh@thenutgraph.com

Corrected on 12 Nov 2009 at 11am

Zainah Anwar

DESPITE stepping down in 2008 as executive director of Sisters in Islam (SIS) which she co-founded and led for two decades, Zainah Anwar has not retired from her commitment to women's rights and justice.

Currently project director of Musawah, a global movement for equality and justice for Muslim families, Zainah, 55, continues to travel the world to advance equal rights for Muslim women. On top of that, the daughter of one of Umno's founders is not one to stay quiet in the face of an injustice. The most recent example was when she lent support to Perlis Mufti Dr Mohd Azri Zainul Abidin following his arrest by the Jabatan Agama Islam Selangor.

A former journalist and one of the pioneering commissioners of the National Human Rights Commission or Suhakam, Zainah has also worked with the Institute of Strategic and International Studies and the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Still, she is most well-known for her work with SIS which has brought her and the organisation both acclaim and condemnation. The Nut Graph interviewed Zainah at the SIS office in Petaling Jaya on 22 Oct 2009, and traces the source of this activist's resilience.

TNG: Can you trace your ancestry?

Lithograph "Abyssinian Slaves Resting at Korti, Nubia" by David Roberts
(all pics courtesy of Zainah Anwar)

Zainah Anwar: I love the story that my great grandmother was an Abyssinian slave whom my great grandfather bought, freed and married. He was an Islamic scholar from Muar who moved back and forth between Mecca and Muar. He brought his Abyssinian wife back to Johor to settle. Supposedly there were quite a few Abyssinians who were brought to Pahang and Johor during that period when religious scholars travelled between Mecca and the Malay states.

My great grandfather and his Abyssinian wife had only one child, who was my father's father. My father was born in 1898 in Muar and he died two months short of his 100th birthday.

My mum was born in Johor Baru. Her side is Malay but I'm not sure about the mix. There might be some Chinese and Indonesian blood.

What are some of the family stories or aspects of your childhood that were formative of who you are today?

With siblings Ahmad Zaki, now an artist, and Zarinah
(right), now chairperson of the Securities Commission

Our family is a story of mixed races. I'm very proud of the fact that we have different bloods in us. There's Malay, Minang, Javanese, Abyssinian, Arab, Chinese and also one extinct race, according to my father. I grew up embracing the pluralism of Malaysian society. I had neighbours who were Malay, Chinese and Indian [Malaysians]. I went to a school that had all races and my closest friends include all races, from young until today. I went to an English school, the Sultan Ibrahim Girls' School where I had a cosmopolitan and liberal education.

My father, (corrected) Tan Sri Anwar Abdul Molek, even though he was socially conservative, was intellectually very liberal. He was part of the Kaum Muda in Johor. He believed in religious reform, was critical of the ulamak and he was against closed-mindedness. He spoke English fluently and was an avid reader. We had subscriptions to Life magazine, the Readers' Digest, three newspapers a day — which were the Utusan Melayu, the Jawi version then, Straits Times, and The Malay Mail. We also had a subscription to Dewan Masyarakat.

So in terms of trying to explain why I am open minded, it's because I grew up in that kind of environment. Books, newspapers, magazines laid all over the house. Breakfast, lunch and dinner could only be served after the BBC world news at 8am, 1pm and 8pm were over. My father had two shortwave radios, one upstairs and one downstairs to listen to world news.

When were you born and what were some of the exciting times you lived through?

I was born in 1954 into a very political household. My father was a contemporary and political comrade of Datuk Onn Jaafar; so politics was very much in our family. My father took part in local elections but lost in the Johor Baru municipal council elections on the Parti Negara ticket.

In my childhood, all kinds of people came to our house, my father's old political comrades and his Malay, Chinese and Indian friends and others who came for help. Our front door was always open and people just came and went. After retirement in 1954, my father sat on many boards — all in a voluntary capacity. He would help the poor and needy irrespective of race.

Family photo, where Zainah is sitting on her father's lap (at the top of the stairs). Her mother (left) is holding her brother
Ahmad Zaki. Sitting next to them is elder sister Zarinah. The two other girls in the photo are Zainah's half-sisters.

As a retired division one civil servant, people needed his signature for this or that government application, for aid, scholarship, or licence. He helped many poor Chinese and poor Malays get stalls when the new JB (Johor Baru) market opened. I remember the flower person, the chicken person and the vegetable person, who were all Chinese. Because my father helped them, whenever we went marketing they would not take money from us. My mother thought this was great! But my father was very strict and he would instruct us to pay or buy from another stall. But during Raya, they would send us live chicken, flowers and durian when it was in season.

I love the fact that my father's friends in Umno who later became rich in Kuala Lumpur would remark to me that they do not make men like him these days. He was a man of honour and integrity. The kind of man who would hand over the receipts of all our Raya purchases in Singapore to the Customs officer at the Causeway so that he could pay all the taxes! He was the chair[person] of the organising committee of the the Johor Baru Grand Prix and yet he would not give his children free tickets to watch. There was an invitation card for two persons and my mother would take one child per day to the grandstand, while the others joined neighbours and relatives on the grassy slopes.

Tell us about your father's links with Datuk Onn Jaafar.

He was private secretary to three of Johor's menteris besar, including Datuk Onn. My father was one of the six men who founded Umno.

Zainah's parents, Tan Sri Anwar Molek and Puan Sri
Saodah Abdullah in the 1990s.

The British effort in 1946 to form the Malayan Union, which would have transferred Johor's sovereignty to the King of England, led to protests among the Johor Malays, and disbelief that the Sultan had signed over his sovereignty to the British Crown.

Protests also erupted in other parts of the country. My father felt the only way the Malays could fight this attempt to take over the country was if all the Malay organisations in the Malay states were united under one organisation. And there had to be one strong leader to lead the protest movement. He felt that that man could only be the fearless Datuk Onn, who was then the Batu Pahat district officer.

My father and two friends, Syed Alwi al-Hadi and Syed Abdul Rahman Abu Bakar, drove there to discuss with Datuk Onn this urgent need to bring all the Malay associations together under one umbrella. It was on that momentous night that Datuk Onn dictated the historic letter to Utusan Melayu calling on all the Malays to come together in one United Malay Organisation.

The name "Umno" which is actually in English — first came from my father. He was inspired by the formation of the United Nations to bring world peace after the end of World War II. Since this was an effort to make every disparate party more loyal to their state and Sultan than to a nation together, he came up with the name United Malays Organisation. It was Umo at first, until the big meeting [the first Malay Congress] at the Sultan Sulaiman Club [in Kuala Lumpur] where [Zainal Abidin Ahmad] Za'aba then added the word "national", and it became Umno.

What role did your mother play?

Zainah in May 2006 at the SIS conference "Trends in
Islamic Family Law Reform". Seated are the daughters
of three past prime ministers, Nori Abdullah, Datin
Paduka Marina Mahathir and Hanis Hussein.

My mother, Puan Sri Saodah Abdullah, was a model homemaker, an extremely capable woman. But I always felt sad that she did not reach her full potential. She could have been a doctor.

She was so interested in medicine; she was in the St John's Brigade, she was in the Red Cross, she knew everything about first aid and nutrition, and she had this huge dictionary of medicine in Jawi that she always referred to.

But she was born in 1922 and there were no opportunities for her further education. She went to a domestic science school where she was an outstanding student, and later gave cooking and sewing classes. During those early days of Umno, she opened her house to women who ostensibly left home to attend sewing classes, but who were actually organising protests against the Malayan Union.

My nationalist father wanted to send us to a Malay school and it was one of the few times my mother held out against him. My father was such a patriarch who expected to be served hand and foot, and my mother was the good obedient wife. But when it came to our education, she had greater ambitions for us. At that time, if you went to a Malay school, you ended up being a Malay school teacher. But she wanted her children to be financially independent and successful professionals.

It's clear where you get your sense of advocacy and value system from.

Zainah (second from right), with other SIS founding members at the organisation's launch in 1991 by then Minister in charge of Women Tan Sri Napsian Omar (left).

My father brought us up with strong values. I remember when Tun Hussein Onn became prime minister, my father received an endless stream of visitors arriving in Mercedes cars. These business[people] wanted my father to be chair[person] or director of this or that company. My father would be totally baffled. He would tell them that he had no money to invest in their companies, so how could he sit on the board.

They just wanted his name because they thought my father would be able to get them access to the new prime minister. So he sent them off packing.

When I went to study at Institut Teknologi Mara, my father insisted on paying a token sum even though pensioners' children did not have to pay fees to study there. In fact, we could even get a small monthly stipend. I remember I was shocked to find friends whose fathers were wealthy business[people] getting the monthly allowance, just because their fathers were also pensioners. But my father felt that since he could afford it, he shouldn't be depriving another poor person of the privilege.

What kind of Malaysia do you want for yourself and future generations?

With Nelson Mandela, "the only man I ever wanted to
marry", on his visit to Malaysia in 1990 after his release
from 27 years in prison.

I want a Malaysia that truly celebrates its diversity and sees this as strength. This is not something difficult because it's in our blood, in our history. We once embraced our Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim heritage that enriched us.

Nobody felt that we were lesser Muslims because we had wedding ceremonies that adapted practices from the Hindu tradition, or that we performed the wayang kulit. The Malays were once confident and proud of their identity. How did it come to today where Malay [Malaysians] now feel under siege? It's politicians with their short-term interest who have created this siege mentality. "Mati Umno, matinya Melayu". Please lah, this is 2009! Malay [Malaysians] will survive even if Umno is dead! There are more Malay [Malaysian] Members of Parliament now than ever before.

I also want for every Malaysian to have the opportunity to realise their full potential. Especially now, when we are competing globally. We urgently need to do something about the education system. It's creating bigger class divisions. Rich Malaysians are sending their children to private schools, while the national school system remains 90% mono-ethnic. We're losing the kids who have a cosmopolitan upbringing and global outlook to the private school system.

Now the better off Malay [Malaysians] are sending their children to private schools as well, educating them to compete globally. If this regression, fundamentalism, intolerance, the obsession to control every minute detail of our lives and our choices does not stop, if everything continues to be seen as a threat to the Muslims and the Malays, more of the best are going to leave Malaysia, and that includes the best of Malay [Malaysians].