CABINET TO MAKE DECISION ON ICERD, SAIFUDDIN STANDS HIS GROUND DESPITE INSULTS & INTIMIDATION BY UMNO MPs – EVEN AS THE STARK TRUTH EMERGES – 99% OF MUSLIMS IN THE WORLD ARE FROM COUNTRIES THAT HAVE ALREADY RATIFIED THE CONVENTION INCLUDING INDONESIA, SAUDI ARABIA & IRAN

PERAK 18-11-2018.Thousand of protesters, comprising from political party, Umno and Pas, and non governmental organisations gathered at the Kampung Gajah taxi stand to oppose the ratification of the ICERD. MALAYMAIL/Farhan Najib

KUALA LUMPUR: A controversial UN rights treaty caused another ruckus in Dewan Rakyat today as some MPs from Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional asked the government to postpone the treaty.

It started with Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (BN-Pasir Salak) asking about the benefits of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).

Tajuddin asked if there were problems with human rights in Malaysia.

He then claimed that Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah, who was wrapping up his ministerial speech, was a liberal and “willing to sell your own people politically”.

Hassan Abdul Karim (PH-Pasir Gudang) said the majority of Malays were concerned about the issue.

“ICERD is a big issue with the Malay community. I just came back from my kampung. They asked me to postpone it first.

“They say there are economic problems, unemployment and other issues. I urge the Cabinet to rethink this issue.

“It does not need to be tackled right away. We need to prioritise other issues,” he said while Saifuddin was wrapping up his ministerial speech at the Dewan Rakyat.

Anwar Ibrahim (PH-Port Dickson) also asked the government to postpone discussions on ratifying ICERD due to all the concerns raised.

Ahmad Maslan (BN-Pontian) said there was no rush for the government to ratify the treaty as “we have not ratified it since the 1960s and nothing has happened to the country”.

Khairy Jamaluddin (BN-Rembau) asked the government to reconsider its decision as even Pakatan Harapan MPs were not comfortable with ratifying the treaty just yet.

“I don’t see any public engagements.”

Saifuddin then said a decision will be made by the Cabinet.

Earlier, Saifuddin said the benefits of ICERD could not be measured through foreign direct investments or through global trade.

“This ratification is for a few reasons. We believe it needs to be done.

“We need to send an official report to UN every four or five years and we get comments from other governments.

“We at PH feel we need to improve on our own human rights.”

He said certain parts of ICERD could be reserved and there was no need to amend Article 153 of the Federal Constitution, on the special rights for Bumiputeras.

Saifuddin said public engagements were being held to collect feedback from the people.

Yesterday, BN and PAS MPs had created chaos in the lower house when Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department P Waythamoorthy was giving a speech on ICERD.

He was called a racist and a liar after a video of the minister’s interview with Dutch media, which he gave 10 years ago, emerged on social media.  – FREE MALAYSIA TODAY

99pc’ of Muslims from nations where ICERD ratified not genuine? Kit Siang asks Hadi

KUALA LUMPUR — DAP’s Lim Kit Siang has lambasted PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang for suggesting that all Muslims must reject the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).

The Iskandar Puteri MP said 36 Muslim-majority countries — comprising roughly 99 per cent of the global Muslim population — have ratified the United Nations convention, with Malaysia and Brunei as glaring exceptions.

“Malaysia and Brunei are among the 14 countries which have not ratified the ICERD. Malaysia has about 19 million Muslims and Brunei 350,000 Muslims.

“Even China, which has about 50 million Muslims, has acceded to ICERD in 1981,” he said in a statement.

“Is Hadi suggesting that 99 per cent of Muslims in the world who are from countries that have ratified or acceded to ICERD are not genuine Muslims?” he asked.

There are at least 1.9 billion Muslims in the world. Muslims in Malaysia would make up just around 0.01 per cent of that number.

Malaysia is among the 14 countries in the world yet to accede to the ICERD, which has been ratified by numerous Muslim-majority countries, such as Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey and Jordan.

Malay-Muslim groups continue to oppose the government’s plan to formalise the convention, arguing that doing so will strip the Bumiputera community of its constitutional safeguards and privileges. – MALAY MAIL

FREE MALAYSIA TODAY / MALAY MAIL

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