Racism can unite a race ‘for good’, BTN says. Screen capture of one in a series of slides that BTN used to show that racism can unite a race for a ‘good purpose’.KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 — The National Civics Bureau (BTN) claims that racism can unite a race for a “good purpose” as Malaysia struggles to deal with inter-ethnic tensions that have bubbled up the last few years. In another set of slides uploaded on its website titled “Rasis”, the government agency claimed that racism has instead received a “negative connotation” as the idea is being used by certain parties to achieve their political goals and topple the government.
“The reality is, the minorities in Malaysia have possessed what was mentioned in human rights,” according to the content of the slide first uploaded on March 11. It claimed that the concept of “racism” had initially originated from the Islamic concept of “asabiyyah”, a positive idea that centered on brotherhood and formed social solidarity in historical Muslim civilisations. Witter / ? Malaysia's traditional dishes dying out. Mohd Nor preparing fish baked in clay as it was done in the olden days. Some traditional food unique to Malaysians in Peninsular Malaysia are dying out due to difficulty in obtaining raw ingredients such as buah rong and ikan loma, which is close to extinction.— RAYMOND OOI/ The Star KUALA LUMPUR (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Ikan masak tanah liat (clay-baked fish), opok-opok (glutinous rice crackers), pulut kukus dalam periuk kera (pitcher plant glutinuous rice), kebebe(mashed fruits in bamboo).
Sounds foreign? These are actually traditional food unique to Malaysians in Peninsular Malaysia but they are dying out due to difficulty in obtaining raw ingredients such as buah rong and ikan loma, which is close to extinction. That led to the National Heritage Department organising the “101 Close to Extinction Food Assemblage” at the old National Palace here on Saturday. Sinleeloh : The direction Malaysia is heading... Malaysia: Backsliding on Rights. (Bangkok) – Prime Minister Najib Razak’s promised reforms did not significantly improve legal protections for basic liberties in Malaysia, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2013. Press restrictions, the use of excessive force against peaceful demonstrators, and intimidation of rights groups exposed the limits of government adherence to internationally recognized human rights.
In its 665-page report, Human Rights Watch assessed progress on human rights during the past year in more than 90 countries, including an analysis of the aftermath of the Arab Spring. In Malaysia, Human Rights Watch said, government respect for basic rights and liberties is likely to be tested in the run-up to national parliamentary elections, which must be held no later than June 2013. “The Malaysian government’s promised human rights agenda fell far short in practice in 2012,” said Phil Robertson, Asia deputy director at Human Rights Watch.
Mobile. Malaysian History X : sinlee.com. I try very hard to avoid the topic of Malaysia and its politics and policies. Not because I don’t care – because I do – but because I never know how to begin writing about Malaysia without bringing up the immense complexities of Malaysian society and history. To truly understand the hows and the whys of the state of things in Malaysia, one has to consider a dizzying array of variables that has shaped the foundation of the country and continues to affect its future. Which brings me to question the wisdom of the drastic changes to the history syllabus to “instill patriotism” (which I didn’t even know was lacking amongst Malaysians). Sure, I can accept that history is viewed through the eyes of the victor (or, in our case, the dominant majority), but the complete omission of whole sections of history in favor of one ethnic group over all others is utterly deplorable.
The trouble is, in roughly 30 years, the minorities have been slowly written out of the history books. Why? 304,358 M'sians migrated to other countries from March 2008 till. Malaysia Today. Lim Kit Siang.