Sickening!

Haven't been blogging for a while. Haven't really been angry enough about whatever's been happening here in Malaysia. Wait, there was the Bersih rally and how badly the government handled the situation (which actually got worse thanks to the "peace-keeping" police and FRU), but I guess I was in a state of apathy towards Malaysian politics at that exact time in history. (Note: The news about police firing tear gas into the Tung Shin hospital is true. Just ask anyone you know who works there or was there for treatment.)


But now, something's happened that's made me very very sad and wondering if there is anything we can do to ensure it never happens again....


BORNEO TRIBES ARE BEING RUN OFF THEIR ANCESTRAL LANDS TO MAKE WAY FOR THE SINGAPORE-SIZED BAKUN DAM!


After 12-years of fighting for their right to stay on the land that they have developed since the time of their ancestors, the indigenous tribes of Sarawak are being thrown out of their ancestral land, and poorly compensated, too. Even with compensation, the resettlement of the Orang Asli tribe in the Penchala area in Selangor has proven that it can only be detrimental to them as they have lost access to the natural resources that have been so instrumental to their livelihoods. Big bungaloes and running water and electricity mean nothing to them when they don't have money for food and can't simply go fishing in a stream or hunting in the forest.


Back in Sarawak, one displaced Ngajang Mudin, of the Ukit tribe, lament about how he and his family has to leave his cocoa and pepper trees as well as the graves of his ancestor, all buried underneath the water. If this was done to a Muslim burial ground here on the Peninsula side of Malaysia, there would have been an uproar over it! And sadly, this will be happening to many more tribesmen and families as the government clears land the size of Singapore! Singapore may not be big for a country, but imagine how many indigenous people could possibly be living in an area that size.


Read the news by AFP here: http://news.malaysia.msn.com/regional/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5247534

I really wonder how anyone can help in any way? The court case undertaken by representatives of the indigenous tribes was thrown out by a unanimous decision by three judges. Unanimous! How is it that not even one of them feel compassion for these people? If you're reading this, I hope at the very least you will keep this info somewhere in your consciousness and be stirred to help these downtrodden "Sons of the Land", or Bumiputera, ironically a term coined by the ruling Malay-majority government themselves to describe the ancestral people of Borneo and Malaysia. Meanwhile, I will have this on the fore of my consciousness as I dig up more info, facts, references and comparisons for a Vanity Fair-style expose that hopefully might be published somewhere someday and help prevent any more similar injustices from taking place.

They should do more of this

Today, I shamefully read about a Muslim man who had caused the death of his parents in a ritual killing, where he and his cousin beat the old folks with helmets, a table top and the table's legs in hopes of driving out evil from their bodies. Along with his cousin, who abetted the misdeed, he will be jailed for ten years as punishment.

What is shameful is that in this more enlightened age of the Internet, there are people who still believe in violent spiritual cleansing rituals such as this (apparently, the victims believed it, too, as they had consented to the ritual), and these men, being "Muslim", give a bad name to the other Muslims, especially when people are looking to generalise. Also, I think it is shameful that these men are getting only 10 years in jail, for killing your own parents! Whether consented or not, a murder is still a murder. In Western countries, people get more than that for euthanasia.

However, this time I did notice one good thing by the Agence-France Presse, who are fond of attaching the following footnote to almost anything related to Malaysia: "Minority Chinese and Indian citizens fear rising Islamisation in a country with a Muslim Malay majority." Or something to that effect.

Anyhoo, this time their footnote read: "Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim country and the authorities periodically crack down on unauthorised sects including the one the accused was a member of."

The authorities should crack down harder on these sects so that we can avoid murders such as the one described, while the AFP should include more remarks like this that paint a more accurate picture of Malaysia (rising Islamisation? yeah, right).