BTN - a reflection of the idiocy of Umno's race-centred struggle.

When the Cabinet decided to revamp its National Civics Bureau (BTN) curriculum in late 2009, that was an admission that the accusations leveled against it, by past participants were true.

However, Dr Mahathir disagreed and said that there was no need to revamp the BTN training modules as they were fine in instilling the patriotic spirit among Malaysians.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Aziz then described Mahathir as a racist for disagreeing with the revamp .

Nazri also refuted a commentary in a Malay daily, which suggested that the BTN curriculum overhaul was his idea.

He said, “It is a Cabinet decision. The decision to revamp the course came up shortly after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced the 1Malaysia concept”.

The BTN module came into spotlight when Selangor prohibited state civil servants and students of higher learning institutions owned by the state from attending the courses, claiming that they were an indoctrination process by the BN government and aimed at brainwashing Malaysians to hate Opposition parties.

Dr Mahathir said that during the BTN courses, when history of Malaysia was discussed, it would be mentioned that the country was once called Tanah Melayu.

Mahathir said, “Now it is Malaysia because we have people who have come to settle down here. That is fact of history. You can’t deny facts and history. But if we can’t even mention that, then we are denying history.”

A few Umno ministers had blindly declared that the course was non-racial and non-discriminatory.

Nevertheless the public outrage forced Najib to order a revamp of the BTN’s courses.

Then came the usual government flip-flop in the form of the BTN chief, Ahmad Maslan, who told us that the BTN would not be revamped as originally intended, but that it would be upgraded.

Revamp? Upgrade? What is the difference? In the end, that directive came to nought.

Just a few days ago, the Pahang BTN assistant director Ahmad Shah Jamlus said that rejecting race was un- Islamic and stressed that the religion and Malays are inseparable.

In the BTN blog, Ahmad made some erroneous comments about Adam and Eve, nations and tribes, piety and how Malay and Islam were non-separable. His remarks appeared in an article, “Rejecting race or ethnicity is rejecting human nature,” on 9 February.

He seems just as clueless in his Islamic faith as in his belief of the BTN propoganda.

More importantly, his stance showed that the BTN’s racist teachings had not been eradicated.

Nik Aziz had recently criticised Umno and said, “There is no such thing as Malay dilemma in Islam. Islam has given sufficient ingredients to guide our life in achieving peace, security and prosperity in the world and hereafter.”

The Kelantan Menteri Besar reminded that Islam strongly forbade preferential treatment for any race as it would create communal conflicts.

He said, “Prophet Muhammad taught us not to emphasis on race.

“When we talk about the interests of a specific race, it would encroach into the sensitivity of the other race. When the interest of only the Malays is prioritised, the Chinese and Indians will definitely bear a grudge because they want equal treatment”.

Nik Aziz stressed that Islam prohibited any attempt to sow hatred or undermine the dignity of other communities.

“Thus, there is no issue of any Malay dilemma or dilemma of any race, when the questions of race and struggle of any specific race are based on the teachings of Islam.”

Nik Aziz encapsulated the idiocy about the UMNO's race-centred struggle.

He said, “In the end, it has misled its own race because their people no longer believe in the good brought by their own religion.”

Now that Ahmad Shah Jamlus has been exposed, how many other BTN centres are compromised?

One really feels sorry for the likes of Ahmad Shah. His warped vision of Islam and the Malays is disturbing. What will he think of when we talk to him about ‘Genesis’ or ‘The Big Bang Theory’ or even Charles Darwin’s ‘Theory of Evolution’? - Malaysia Chronicle