Joseph Entulu: Drop the term “Dayak”

Posted on May 11, 2009
Filed Under Culture News, Sarawak Politics | Leave a Comment

SIBU: The term “Dayak” coined by the colonial power to describe all 26 non-Muslim communities of Sarawak in the 1820s should no longer be used in present time, said Rural and Regional Development Deputy Minister Datuk Joseph Entulu Belaun.He said the term should be dropped because it conveyed negative connotations like being uncivilised, uncouth and “low class“.

“As a matter of fact, some leaders of Sarawak non-Muslim communities had some years ago suggested that the government stop using the term. I believe the suggestion has the tacit support of the leaders and the people concerned.

“So I am again reviving the call for the government to consider dropping the term,” Entulu told reporters after witnessing the installation of the new committee members for the Sarawak Dayak National Union (SDNU) Rajang branch led by chairman Maj (Rtd) Mosses Ripai on Saturday night.

Entulu said the state’s native communities, despite forming more than half of the state’s 2.5 million population, had not been acknowledged according to their respective ethnic groups.

“If we look at official forms or documents, in the column for race, they only state either Malay, Chinese, Indian or others.

“This is despite the fact that the so-called Dayaks are the majority in the state and they are among the country’s leading population groups.

“I believe it will be more tactful and exact if specific terminologies like Iban, Bidayuh, Kayan, Kenyah, Kelabit and so forth, be used,” he said.

Entulu said he had heard of bitter experiences where Dayaks working in the peninsula were turned away when they wanted to invest in the Amanah Saham Nasional or when they applied for low-cost housing because some people there thought they were not bumiputera.

Earlier in his speech Entulu advised social or cultural organisations like the SDNU, Sarawak Dayak Iban Association and others to stay apolitical.

“Leave politics to politicians. Your association will suffer if the leaders started to behave like politicians,” he said. — Bernama

Now here’s an example of an elected official, displaying once again, why we the “unwashed masses” do not have much confidence in the intelligence of our elected officials.

Is it the fault of a particular race that there are small minded bigots who choose to look down on a particular ethnic group or other?

Will dropping the term Dayak change the minds or preconceptions of the aforementioned bigots?

When I was a kid, my grandparents used the term Dayak instead of the term Iban to refer to themselves. They knew who they were, backward hicks or otherwise, and they were proud of who they were. I am a descendant of such proud people and I have no problems if people choose to call my race backward or low class or crass. It speaks more of the people who think such thoughts than they do about me!

As to government forms, why does there have to be a column asking for one’s race? Or one’s religion? Are we not all Malaysians? The only place I see the importance of identifying a person’s race is in his/her birth certificate and that’s about as far as I will allow for that kind of crap.

Rather than call for the dropping of the term “Dayak” the YB should call for the doing away of government forms that ask for a person’s race or religion! There will not be a One Malaysia if such policies of identifying and dividing people by their race and religion continue to be perpetuated.

How about we start doing that by dropping race and religion from the MyKad?

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Malaysia’s Anwar to face sodomy trial in July

Posted on March 10, 2009
Filed Under Anwar Ibrahim | Leave a Comment

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) — Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim will go on trial for sodomy in the High Court in July, his lawyer said Tuesday, after a long wrangle over where the case should be heard.

The trial date was set after Anwar last week lost his bid to have the politically charged case heard in a lower court.

His supporters have said they fear authorities will be able to manipulate the case more easily in the High Court.

“The High Court today fixed the hearing dates for July 1 to 24. We have not been given the list of witnesses to be called by the prosecution,” lawyer Sankara Nair told AFP.

“We are deeply disappointed with the court’s decision last week,” he added.

Anwar has rejected the sodomy allegations levelled by a 23-year-old former aide — the same charge that saw him jailed a decade ago — as a government conspiracy to derail his plan to topple the ruling coalition.

The opposition leader is currently out on bail pending his trial.

Here we go again. Are we going to be treated to the spectacle of a stained mattress being dragged to the court house this time around?

I think the law criminalizing sodomy should be done away with. It is an archaic law, and there are numerous people engaging in anal sex and do we see them being dragged to court for such practices?

And did the young man who claimed to have been sodomized by Anwar claimed rape? If not, why are we being treated to this circus again?

Aren’t there more important things to focus on, like the tanking economy, then titillate the public with the sexual conduct of two grown men, that is, if the allegation is even true! :evil:

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“Allah” ban reinstated

Posted on March 2, 2009
Filed Under Religion News | 1 Comment

Malaysia to reinstate ‘Allah’ ban for Catholic paper: report

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) — Malaysia’s government has rescinded a Catholic newspaper’s right to use the word “Allah” just weeks after it gazetted a law allowing the paper to do so, according to reports Sunday.

On Friday, the editor of the Herald newspaper, Father Lawrence Andrew, said the weekly had been allowed to use the word as a translation for “God” in its Malay-language edition, as long as it printed “For Christians” on the cover.

The permission had been granted after a long battle with the government which threatened to close it down.

However, Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar told the New Straits Times newspaper Sunday a “mistake” had been made, although he did not specify what it was.

“I think there was a mistake in enacting the gazette. When we make a mistake, I must admit that there is a need to look at it thoroughly,” he was quoted as saying.

Syed Hamid said the ban on the use of the word would remain in force until a pending court case decided on the matter, the paper reported.

“There is a judicial review on the matter and we leave it to the court to decide,” he added.

Home ministry officials could not immediately confirm the decision.

Andrew said he was surprised at the decision to rescind permission to use the word.

“Unfortunately, the apparent relief that we were able to enjoy has been shortlived,” he told AFP.

“I don’t know what the present status is as we have not received any official letter on the new decision,” he added.

However, he said the Herald would continue with the court case which it started to force the government to allow it to print the word “Allah.”

The government has argued that the word should be used only by Muslims, who dominate the population of multicultural Malaysia.

Andrew said Malaysian Christians have been using the word “Allah” for centuries in translations of the Bible, and in popular prayers.

The home minister’s comments come as some conservative Islamic leaders criticised the government’s decision to allow the use of the word.

“To me, it’s a mistake,” Malaysian Islamic Dakwah Foundation chairman Nakhaie Ahmad told the state news agency Bernama.

Around 60 percent of Malaysia’s 27 million people are Muslim Malays.

The rest of the population includes indigenous tribes as well as ethnic Chinese and Indians, variously practising Buddhism, Christianity and Hinduism, among others.

Didn’t take very long, did it? All of two weeks.  It was a mistake, said the minister.  Yeah, right.

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“Allah” ban lifted. For now.

Posted on February 26, 2009
Filed Under Religion News | Leave a Comment

Malaysia to allow Christians to use ‘Allah’

By JULIA ZAPPEI

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The Malaysian government has softened an earlier ban on the use of the word “Allah” by Christian publications to refer to God and is allowing them to use it as long as they specify the material is not for Muslims, a church official said Thursday.

The government had earlier argued that the use of Allah in Christian texts might confuse Muslims, who might think Allah refers to their God.

The revised order was issued Feb. 16 by Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar, said the Rev. Lawrence Andrew, the editor of the Herald, the Roman Catholic Church’s main newspaper in Malaysia. He said the publication has already started printing “For Christianity” on its cover.

The Herald publishes weekly in English, Mandarin, Tamil and Malay with an estimated readership of 50,000. The ban on “Allah” concerns mainly the Malay edition, which is read mostly by indigenous Christian tribes in the eastern states of Sabah and Sarawak. The other three editions usually do not use the word “Allah.”

The dispute has become symbolic of increasing religious tensions in Malaysia, where 60 percent of the 27 million people are Muslim Malays. A third of the population is ethnic Chinese and Indian, and many of them practice Christianity.

Malaysia’s minorities have often complained that their constitutional right to practice their religions freely has come under threat from the Malay Muslim-dominated government. They cite destruction of Hindu temples and conversion disputes as examples. The government denies any discrimination.

Andrew, the Herald’s editor, said although the order “makes things easier” for the Herald, the newspaper will not drop a legal challenge against the ban. A court is due to hear arguments in the case Friday.

The Herald is arguing that the Arabic word is a common reference for God that predates Islam and has been used for centuries as a translation in Malay.

Andrew said the new order is still a violation of religious freedom guaranteed by the constitution because Christians will not be able to use any literature that does not carry the warning on the cover, including much imported material.

He said most Malay-language Bibles in Malaysia are imported from Indonesia, which uses a variation of the same language.

“If this (order) is enforced, it will be difficult to possess materials … from Indonesia, and thus practicing our religion will not be easy. This goes against … the constitution,” he told The Associated Press.

Andrew said the order also prohibits the use of three other Arabic words — “solat,” or prayer, “Kaaba,” a holy site in Saudi Arabia, and “baitullah,” or house of God — without the warning.

Ministry officials could not immediately be reached for comment. Home Minister Syed Hamid’s aide said he would not be available for comment until Monday.

How long before the ban is reinstated?

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Re Elizabeth Wong’s nude pictures

Posted on February 19, 2009
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

The sad story of Bukit Lanjan elected representative Elizabeth Wong’s nude pictures being made public, serves as a teachable moment.

Anyone, and I mean anyone, who aspires to any public office better not have any nude pictures or videos taken by boyfriends/girlfriends or ex-spouses still in the hands of such persons.

Otherwise you many find yourself in Elizabeth Wong’s position - faced with humiliation and forced to resign from her public office over an incident that has no business being in the public’s eye.

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Thoughts on the defections

Posted on February 11, 2009
Filed Under Defections | Leave a Comment

I have intentionally refrained from commenting on the defections of the three Pakatan Rakyat assemblymen in Perak before this.  It just pisses me that politics in Malaysia have not  changed very much where party hopping is concerned.

The pertinent question to ask of each of the defectors is:  How much did you prostitute yourself for?

How else can one describe the defection if not an act of prostitution?  Why would anyone with the ruling team defect for the opposition if not for monetary gain?    I doubt if any of these three was promised an important post once the BN took over the government of Perak.

I agree with Karpal Singh, that all the defections that Anwar Ibrahim had encouraged from BN elected representatives last year, have come back to bite him in the butt.

And one more thing:  What’s with the spate of police reports against Karpal Singh for expressing his legal views on the role of the Sultan with regards to the turmoil caused by the defections? Karpal is a lawyer after all.  He is entitled to expressing his legal views without having to deal with accusations of insulting and disrespecting the sultan.

It is hard to have any open dialogue if there is fear that every time one opens one’s mouth especially when royalty is involved, one can be accused of insulting or disrespecting royalty.  Is that an indirect way of shutting down criticism, no matter how legitimate?

If that is the case, what else is new, eh?

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BN loses to opposition. Again.

Posted on January 17, 2009
Filed Under By-election | 1 Comment

A blow in the face for Najib, eh.  There he was pontificating to the folks in Kuala Trengganu that indeed Malaysia was a welfare state, that there was no need for the government to put a label to all the good deeds that the BN government had done for Malaysians.  I wished that was true.  That Malaysia was a welfare state especially if it was anything like the model of a European welfare state.

I guess not very many people in Kuala Trengganu believed Najib because they instead voted for the PAS candidate - PAS the party that had made the promise to run the country as a welfare state.  And on the implementation of Hudud, but that idea didn’t sell very well especially to the non-Muslims, so that aspect of the election manifesto was de-emphasised.

As the incoming Prime Minister, this by-election loss for the BN does not bode well for his leadership.  In all likelihood, if this losing trend continues, the state of Trengganu will once again revert to PAS rule. Heh.

Not very good for Najib who has the thankless task of rejuvenating the BN coalition (more so with the internal struggles within MCA who has supporters who want the party to not merely be a rubber stamp to UMNO’s policies) so that once again it is the dominant dog in Malaysian politics.

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