Yes, let’s give the Chinese what they want

The Chinese ‘demand’ is not only to legalise sports betting or gambling. That is only one ‘demand’. There are 17 other ‘demands’, which are better and serve all Malaysians, Malays and Muslims included. Why is the government adamant on not agreeing to these ‘demands’?

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Legal sports betting ‘respects’ non-Muslims’ rights, says Nazri

Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said the Najib administration’s recent move to approve sports betting through tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan’s Ascot Sports Sdn Bhd was a way to “respect” non-Muslim rights in the country.

The minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said the government needed to take into consideration the rights of other citizens in the country and not just Muslims who form the majority.

“You must remember that the country does not belong to the Muslims. There are things that sometimes non-Muslims do, for example, gambling. It is their culture, their way of life and we have to respect their rights.”

“Jangan semua undang-undang berdasarkan keperluan orang Islam sahaja (all laws in the country cannot be based on only the needs of Muslims),” Nazri told The Malaysian Insider this week.

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That was what The Malaysian Insider reported today. You can read the rest of the report here http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/legal-sports-betting-respects-non-muslims-rights-says-nazri/.

Okay, so Nazri is reminding us that this country does not belong to just the Malays and that the Chinese too have a place under the Malaysian sun. That is well and fine with me because that too has been what I have been saying for a long, long time. So we must respect what the Chinese want, request, demand, etc., and not just think of the interests of the Malays or Muslims.

In that same spirit, I want to take you down memory lane to 16 August 1999 when 11 Chinese organisations presented the government with a 17-Point ‘Election Demand’, subsequently presented as the 17-Point Election Appeal, or simply, Suqiu.

The 11 organisations were the United Chinese School Committees Association of Malaysia (known as Dong Zong), the United Chinese Teachers Association of Malaya (Jiao Zong), the United Chinese Schools Alumni Association of Malaysia, Nanyang University Alumni Association of Malaysia, Taiwan Graduates Alumni Association of Malaysia, the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, the Federation of Guangdong Associations of Malaysia, the Federation of Guangxi Associations of Malaysia, the Federation of Sanjiang Associations of Malaysia, the Federation of Fuzhou Associations of Malaysia, and the Huazi Research Centre.

Amongst the ‘demands’ were for a fair and equitable economic policy and multiculturalism as the bases of promoting national unity, the development of Chinese schools and the improvement of Chinese new villages. They also called on the authorities to restore constitutional democracy and professionalism in the police force, to uphold human rights and justice, to advance the rights of women, workers and the indigenous peoples, and to provide housing for all.

In addition, they wanted the government to curb corruption, to review privatisation policies, to protect the environment, to repeal the ISA, and to safeguard the freedom of the press.

2,095 out of an estimated 4,000 Chinese organisations all over Malaysia, big and small, endorsed the ‘demands’. MCA, Gerakan and SUPP voiced their support for the ‘demands’ and made representations on behalf of the Chinese organisations to the Cabinet.

The MCA President, Ling Liong Sik, announced that the Cabinet had considered the ‘demands’ and had appointed him to head a special team of Chinese ministers to meet the organisations. He said that none of the issues had caused any controversy or were rejected by the Cabinet outright. (The Star 23 Sept 1999).

(You can read more about the 17-point Chinese demands here: http://www.freeanwar.net/articles/article050101.html)

Now, taking into consideration that sports betting is yet another Chinese ‘demand’, demand number 18 if you wish, and considering that the government wants Malays and Muslims to be sensitive to Chinese ‘demands’ because we must not only think of the Malays or Muslims, then the government should re-look at the earlier 17 ‘demands’ -- which are noble ‘demands’, may I add -- and consider them.

Yes, the Chinese ‘demand’ is not only to legalise sports betting or gambling. That is only one ‘demand’. There are 17 other ‘demands’, which are better and serve all Malaysians, Malays and Muslims included. Why is the government adamant on not agreeing to these ‘demands’?

In fact, the government has labelled those who made these 17-point demands as Communists and traitors to the nation. Umno Youth then invaded the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall building in Kuala Lumpur and threatened to burn it down if the Chinese did not withdraw their 17-point demands.

How can those who are asking the government to curb corruption, to restore constitutional democracy and professionalism in the police force, to uphold human rights and justice, to advance the rights of women, workers and the indigenous peoples, to provide housing for all, to review privatisation policies, to protect the environment, to repeal the ISA, to safeguard the freedom of the press, etc., be regarded as Communists and traitors to the nation?

So, since we are in the mood to listen to what the Chinese want and therefore should approve or legalise sports betting and gambling as what they want, let us then look at the earlier 17 requests or demands from the Chinese, which are far better than gambling, and approve those also.

courtesy of malaysia-today.net