RACIST MALAY GROUPS GAIN THE UPPER HAND: NOW ICERD A PLOY BY NON-MALAYS TO ROB MALAYS OF THEIR RIGHTS – WHILE IN SHAH ALAM, ‘RUDE’ CHINESE & TAMIL WRITING ON ROAD SIGNS DEFACED & SPRAYED WITH PAINT

THE push to ratify an international anti-racism convention is a ploy by non-Malays to strengthen their own positions and take control of the country and subjugate the Malay race, said president of the Malaysian Muslim Solidarity (Isma) Abdullah Zaik Abdul Rahman.

The objection towards the ratification of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) was not due to fear but spurred by a need to defend the rights of Bumiputeras as enshrined in Article 153 of the federal constitution, said Abdullah.

“The excuses that non-Bumiputeras have for ratifying the ICERD are all lies and untruths. It is all for power, and to strengthen their position to control the country and place Bumiputeras under their control,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Many foreigners, and even Malaysians, did not understand that the special rights of the Malays were, in fact, a form of compensation for “accepting other races to share in politics, the economy and so on”.

ICERD, he said, was less about removing racial discrimination than it was about crushing the rights of Bumiputeras.

“It is a form of abuse and mistreatment because of the implications to the Malays who are forced to lose control of their own land.  

“Independence from the hands of the colonisers is meant to return sovereignty to the original inhabitants of the land, not sacrifice it,” said Abdullah.

Isma president Abdullah Zaik Abdul Rahman says non-Malays are trying to seize power and subjugate the Malay race, starting with the ratification of ICERD. – The Malaysian Insight file pic, November 21, 2018.

Azhar Mohamad, chairman of the Skuad Badar vigilantes, also warned ratifying ICERD will destroy the special position of the Malays.

“ICERD is an international agreement which if ratified, would potentially remove the absolute rights of the Malays. Article 153 will be threatened,” he told The Malaysian Insight, adding that the power of the Malay rulers would also be at risk.

However, both men were unable to elaborate on how the ICERD would actually discriminate against Bumiputeras or remove the power of the royalty.

ICERD has become a hotly debated issue since Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Unity) Waytha Moorthy announced that it would be one of six human rights treaties the government is hoping to ratify by the first quarter of 2019.

Malay rights groups have reacted negatively to the news, as well as Umno and PAS, which are planning to hold a massive street protests in Kuala Lumpur on December 8 to oppose the ratification.

Universiti Malaya political analyst Awang Azman Awang Pawi said PAS and Umno are responding to a genuine concern of the Malays community with regard to ICERD.

“If PAS and Umno remain silent on this, they are not fighting for the objectives of their party,”   he said.

Awang said that many Malays were concerned that with the ratification of the ICERD, foreign countries would have the right to pressure Malaysia to amend Article 153 on the special privileges of the Bumiputera.

Shah Alam’s dual-language signs defaced, as council slammed for wasting money

SHAH ALAM ― Several of the road signs in Shah Alam with Chinese characters appeared to have been defaced, following public complaints and the subsequent decree by the Sultan of Selangor calling for their removal.

Checks by Malay Mail in the Subang Perdana, Subang New Village, and Kampung Melayu Subang areas yesterday found that on some of those signage, the Chinese characters were sprayed over with black paint.Some were painted over neatly with green paint, similar to the original colour of the signs. It could not be confirmed if the latter ones were done by the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA), who said yesterday it was in the middle of replacing the dual-language signage.

This comes as several local residents told Malay Mail their displeasure at the amount of public money being spent to install new signage with either Chinese or Tamil script, and subsequently the removal and replacement following the royal decree.

Ng Ket Leng, 69, speaks to Malay Mail during an interview in Subang November 12, 2018.

But several of the ethnic Chinese locals interviewed also pointed out that they care little for the signage with Chinese script.

“I didn’t pay attention to all these. Even if the signboards are here, it’s no use. It’s still difficult to find your way here,” said 68-year old Ng Ket Leng when met at Subang Perdana.

“This one is just a waste of money. When finding routes here is already difficult, writing the road names in Chinese is of no use.

“This is not a problem at all. Let’s all not fight over this. It’s enough with just one language,”  the pensioner added.

Just like Ng, tailor Chor Chong Tin, 59, was also indifferent. But he felt that having Chinese spellings may come handy for those who have poor knowledge of Malay language.

Chor Chong Tin, 59, speaks to Malay Mail during an interview in Subang November 12, 2018.

“Some people don’t know Malay or English, so they just read the Chinese language.

“However, just Chinese language alone too won’t do. For me, it’s not a problem. I don’t care. I’m very simple,” he said.

Inclusivity or provocation?

But several Malay residents interviewed saw the initial move to install dual-language signage as provocation, with some even suggesting a conspiracy.

“Why must the Chinese wordings be on top and be prioritised?” asked a 65-year-old self-employed resident of Taman Subang Baru, Abdul Majid Sumal.

Abdul Majid Sumal, 65, speaks to Malay Mail during an interview in Subang November 12, 2018.

“I was meaning to ask. Now this is simple. Who did this, and who approved it? That person must face action, because this person, I am sure they know that in Malaysia, Chinese language is secondary to Bahasa Malaysia.

Abdul Majid suggested that the issue may not have been controversial had the Chinese writing been printed below the Malay version.

“If the Chinese wordings are beneath, maybe we can still accept, but the Chinese language was placed first. So, it’s as if in Malaysia, the Chinese language is number one and Bahasa Malaysia falls to number two,” he said.

Omar Hassan, a resident from Kampung Melayu Subang, said he had contacted Kota Damansara state assemblyman Shatiri Mansor, to express discontent over the use of Chinese language on the road signs, claiming that local council rules do not allow such practice.

“If according to the specs issued by the local council in 2017 the council allowed that Bahasa Malaysia must be 30 per cent larger than Chinese writings or the Indian language.

“Chinese and Indian words were also allowed beneath Bahasa Malaysia, but it must be smaller than the wordings of the national language. Likewise, with postcodes and others,” the self-employed Omar told Malay Mail.

Omar Hasan, 61, speaks to Malay Mail during an interview in Subang November 12, 2018.

“However today, we here, have a new village head, and a new state executive committee member, and they raised this type of signboards here,” Omar claimed, although he did not provide any proof.

He also expressed fear that the signage issues might lead to racial tension, claiming that the recent signage have broken the purportedly harmonious life of the residents here.

The Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, in a decree relayed earlier this week through his private secretary Datuk Mohamad Munir Banir, wants the road signs to be changed and the work completed before the Sultan’s 73rd birthday on December 11.

MBSA had previously explained that the Selangor government had previously decided to use dual-language signages based on the local community.

But Malaysian National Writers Association was quoted saying the act of changing the name of roads on Malaysian signposts from being displayed in the Jawi script to being written in other languages such as Mandarin and Tamil was “rude”.