What happened last Friday (Oct 27) should be an eye-opener not only to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and the Madani government but the Malaysian public at large.These incidents in schools are probably only the tip of the iceberg. At best, they are indications of the undercurrent that there are individuals – including the educators – who have extreme tendencies even within the school system.
Parents are generally only concerned about their children because they do not want schools to become the breeding ground for potential terrorists and other extreme elements or that their children are used as pawns in future to turn this nation into another Taliban state.
Instead of building the country to be reckoned as an economic powerhouse in this region, if the problem is not nipped at the bud, things may snowball to an extent that the country’s future be in the hands of extremist groups.
The incidents in schools which were carried out ahead of the Palestine Solidarity Week which officially kicks off today (Oct 29) are nothing but expressions of defiance which authorities cannot close an eye, especially since Terengganu PAS Youth had in February this year displayed tendencies to adorn war garments and paraded with fake weapons of war.
In an undated video (above), Permatang Pauh MP Muhammad Fawwaz Mohamad Jan had also allegedly taught that the “Malay rulers are supposed to be subjugated to the powers of the ulama”. What does this tell us about our lawmaker?
Since the demise of its spiritual leader Tok Guru Nik Aziz Nik Mat in February 2015, PAS has begun to display the more extreme side of Islam with its current president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang alongside Opposition leader Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin dabbling with fire by riding on the pro-Palestine march on Sunday to demonstrate against the US.
In his latest video clip, fugitive blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin (RPK) claimed that the PAS 10,000 Palestine Solidarity Rally held yesterday (Oct 28) afternoon has attracted “more than 10,000, 50,000 or even 100,000 participants though hard to estimate correctly”, hence more successful than the Malaysia Stands with Palestine’ rally staged by the unity government on Oct 24.
The video clearly shows RPK is hell bent attempt to overthrow the Madani government especially Anwar, the solely pro-opposition rally pale in comparison to the BERSIH rally in 2007 which enticed a multi-racial crowd of 40,000 who only wanted to seek a fair and clean election as opposed to toppling the government of the day.
Given such unruly state of affair, the unity government has no choice but to view such development very seriously if the country is to remain as a progressive nation that believes in democracy.
This is why most middle ground Malaysians – both Muslims and non-Muslims alike – have expressed concern over the latest development by urging the government to stall the Palestine Solidarity Week in schools. There is the tendency for the issue to be exploited by the negative elements which have long been lying low away the radar.
A pure sabotage?...
Although the intention of the government is quite different for the Palestine Solidarity Week where schools are supposed to carry out activities to teach children humanitarian values, it is obvious that certain school principals and teachers have gone too far displaying their extreme tendencies. For a long time, parents have expressed the concerns over the behaviours of some of educators in the country but Education Ministry officials have taken lightly the complaints from parents.
Now, they cannot downplay what is obviously wrong even in the eyes of the law. Section 36 of the Firearms Act 1960 states that “Possession of and importation of imitation (fake) arms, by any person who shall import or have in his possession or custody an imitation arm shall, on conviction, be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to a fine not exceeding RM5,000 or both”.
This is no longer about the Palestinian struggle. It is about local politics where one party is trying to cause the collapse of the unity government set up by the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong (YDPA).
It seems that the Opposition is seeking to take over the Federal government through a vote of no-confidence rather than waiting for the next general election. The government must take this seriously by investigating the possible involvement of deep state and hidden hands that have gone “silent” for the past two months.
Bear in mind that every move or action that we see being played out in the open appear to be done with one concerted effort – which is to overthrow the Madani government. There are obviously people who are afraid that Anwar may go on the overdrive with the fight against corruption, a “cancer” of society that Emir Research has estimated Malaysia’s total economic cost of corruption to be worth by RM2.3 tril over the last 26 years. – focusmalaysia
PM Lee, Malaysia PM Anwar
to hold leaders’ retreat in Singapore...
Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim will lead a high-level delegation to Singapore for the 10th Singapore-Malaysia Leaders’ Retreat on Monday (Oct 30).The annual retreat, the first to be held since the pandemic, is a key platform for the leaders of both countries to discuss bilateral issues and explore new areas of cooperation, Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said in a statement on Sunday.
The previous retreat was held in 2019 in Malaysia’s administrative capital Putrajaya and subsequent editions were postponed due to COVID-19 and successive changes in the Malaysian government. This year’s retreat will also be Mr Anwar’s first in his current capacity as premier, and MFA said it is an opportunity for both countries to “take stock of the growing cooperation”.
Mr Anwar will arrive in Singapore on Sunday before attending the retreat the next day, where he will call on Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and meet Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The prime ministers and their delegations will then meet for bilateral discussions and witness the signing of bilateral agreements on key areas of cooperation, MFA said.
This includes updating a business development fund agreement and working together to develop small- and medium-size enterprises in both countries. Analysts expect this year’s edition to be similarly significant.
“This leaders’ retreat will be important from an optics standpoint because it will signal the move away from the Mahathir-led Pakatan Harapan administration in 2018 to an Anwar-led Unity Government administration starting in 2022,” said Dr Ong Kian Ming, director of the philosophy politics and economics programme at Taylor’s University in Malaysia.
Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who attended the 2019 retreat as Malaysia’s leader, frequently clashed with Singapore over issues like maritime boundaries and the price of water bought from Johor. Dr Ong, who served as a deputy minister of international trade and industry in the Mahathir government, told CNA that ties between the two countries have “warmed up significantly” since Mr Anwar took the helm.
“Anwar doesn’t have the same kind of baggage and hangups with Singapore that was so obviously present with Mahathir,” he said. “This means that it has been much easier to discuss possible areas of cooperation without having the shadow of old issues such as the water issue hovering in the background.”
Dr Ong expects long-standing bilateral issues like Pedra Branca (above) to continue being discussed. In December 2022, Mr Anwar said after a Cabinet meeting that he had asked the attorney-general to clarify Malaysia’s claims on Pedra Branca, and that he hoped for discussions with Singapore to ensure there were no problems between the two countries.
The dispute over Pedra Branca - a strategic rocky outcrop at the entrance of busy shipping lanes in the Singapore Strait - dates back to 1979, when Malaysia published a map indicating that the island was within the country’s territorial waters. The matter was brought to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2003, and in 2008, it ruled that Singapore had sovereignty over Pedra Branca, while Middle Rocks was awarded to Malaysia and South Ledge belonged to the state in whose territorial waters it is located.
In January 2023, Malaysia’s then-attorney-general Idris Harun said in a statement that the Malaysian government respects the ICJ decision, although he added that a Mahathir administration decision in 2018 to withdraw Malaysia’s application to revise the ICJ judgment was “improper”.
Then in February, local media reported Mr Anwar as saying in parliament that the government will table a white paper on the Pedra Branca issue for “further action”, as the premier charged that the previous decision to drop the appeal had led to a loss of Malaysian territory.
“But I notice that the discussions on these sensitive issues have not been publicly disclosed which means that both sides want to work outside the public spotlight to find agreeable ways to resolve these issues,” Dr Ong added.“This is a good sign.”
All eyes will be on a possible resurrection of the high-speed rail (HSR) project (above) between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. “Because that is what is needed to connect the two metropolises for better collaboration, and that is also a major infrastructural undertaking,” he said.
The HSR project - which aimed to reduce travel time between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur to about 90 minutes - was called off on the first day of 2021 after multiple postponements at Malaysia's request and an eventual lapsing of an agreement.
Malaysia paid more than S$102 million (US$76.25 million at the time) in compensation to Singapore for the terminated project. But in July 2023, Malaysia announced it was seeking proposals from local and international firms to revive the project under a public-private partnership model, although Mr Anwar said in August this was still being discussed. - -CNA
What if these remaining legs belong to your child?
cheers.
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