No News Is Bad News
A young patriot at the recent 66th Merdeka Parade spectators’ stand in Putrajaya.
A divided Malaysia celebrates National Day with Prime Minister Anwar rallying for unity
By Associated Press
Published August 30, 2023 7:53 PM
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) — Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has rallied Malaysians to unite and reject racial and religious bigotry, as the country marked its 66th year of freedom from British rule with fireworks and colorful street parades. In a speech on the eve of National Day, he appealed to Malaysians not to let their differences ruin the nation. Anwar, who took power in November after a divisive general election, warned powerful nations have collapsed not just due to mismanagement or corruption but because they “played with fires of ethnic and religious fanaticism.” Racial and religious divides further deepened in Malaysia after Nov. 19 general elections led to the rise of a strong Islamic-Malay nationalist opposition bloc.
Jail the racial and religious bigots, without fear or favour
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 5, 2023: Singapore rapper Subhas Nair was jailed six weeks by a district judge for spewing racial rhetoric.
That is how the Singapore maintains national unity and super socio-economic growth that has made the island republic a devbeloped nation.
Governments should act without fear or favour against racial and religious bigots, giving zero tolerance to such “bigoted anti-nationals”.
Does Malaysia have the courage and political will to act and do the same to those who are out to cause national disunity and harmony?
No News Is Bad News reproduces below a news report on the jailing of the rapper in Singapore:
Singapore rapper Subhas Nair gets six weeks jail over racial comments
Tuesday, 05 Sep 2023
2:19 PM MYT
Subhas Nair had earlier claimed trial before District Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan convicted him of all four charges in July. - ST
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): Local rapper Subhas Nair was handed a six-week jail sentence on Tuesday (Sept 5) over four counts of trying to promote feelings of ill will between different racial and religious groups in Singapore.
The musician, whose full name is Subhas Govin Prabhakar Nair, 31, had earlier claimed trial before District Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan convicted him of all four charges in July.
The first charge centred on a video by City Revival Church founder Jaime Wong and social media influencer Joanna Theng.
The two women had made remarks linking the gay pride movement to Satan.
Nair responded to the video, posting a message on Instagram on July 25, 2020, stating: “If two Malay Muslims made a video promoting Islam and saying the kinds of hateful things these Chinese Christians said, ISD (Internal Security Department) would have been at the door before they even hit ‘upload’.”
He removed the post on Nov 2, 2020.
In their submissions, Deputy Public Prosecutors Suhas Malhotra and Jordon Li said the obvious message behind Nair’s post is that Malay Muslims are “targeted” by the authorities, while Chinese Christians get “preferential treatment”.
On the first day of his trial on March 21, 2023, Nair, who is represented by lawyer Suang Wijaya, admitted he had posted messages which the prosecution described as inflammatory comments on race and religion.
But Nair denied he had done so in an attempt to promote ill will between different racial and religious groups in Singapore.
He also testified that the video by the two women contained “hate speech”, adding: “We need to admonish statements like these.”
The DPPs said his explanations were unbelievable, stressing that Nair had admitted during the trial that it was his decision to refer to Wong and Theng by their race and religion as identifiers.
The prosecutors added: “If his intent was indeed to admonish hate speech as he claimed in court, there was no reason to draw specific attention to the race and religion of the people using the hate speech.”
Nair’s second and third charges involved another Instagram post which was his response to a news article linked to a Chan Jia Xing, then 27.
Chan was initially accused of murdering Satheesh Noel Gobidass, 31, at Orchard Towers in July 2019.
Chan’s murder charge was later reduced to that of consorting with a person carrying an offensive weapon in a public place, and he was given a conditional warning in October 2020.
The case involving Satheesh’s alleged killer Tan Sen Yang is pending.
Among other things, Nair had stated in his Instagram post: “Calling out racism and Chinese privilege, two-year conditional warning and smear campaign in the media.”
During the trial in March, DPP Malhotra said: “This post creates feelings of ill will between Chinese and Indians in Singapore... the accused’s post implied that the law enforcement authorities treat Indians far more severely than Chinese.”
But Nair testified that he did not intend to create enmity between the different races.
He told the court that he was instead commenting on the state of journalism here after an unnamed news platform asked Chan about his baby following his conditional warning.
Nair had said in his Instagram post: “Do you actually think a brown person would get asked these type of questions?”
The DPPs said in their submissions that this Instagram post sought to advance the narrative that Singapore was “biased against the Indian community”.
The fourth charge was linked to a rap video featuring Nair that was posted on YouTube on July 29, 2019, which contained lyrics that were deemed offensive to Chinese people.
During the trial, Nair testified that the video was done in response to an advertisement which featured local actor Dennis Chew playing multiple roles, including that of an Indian man and a Malay woman.
He told the court that he wanted his rap video to convey the message that the advertisement was blatantly racist.
He added that the rap video was directed towards some Chinese, whom he said are racist.
Stressing that not all Chinese are racist, Nair said he wanted to end instances of “brownface” in Singapore.
Brownface is a social phenomenon, usually involving a light-skinned person pretending to be somebody of a different ethnicity who has a darker complexion.
DPP Malhotra said during the trial: “Had the accused displayed his offence to the advertisement in a temperate and dignified manner, no criminal offence would have been committed. Instead, the accused resorted to insulting and ridiculing Chinese people in general.”
On Tuesday, Wijaya told the court that Nair maintains his position of not being guilty of the offences.
The lawyer also said his client intends to appeal against his conviction and sentence.
G25: Enact law to criminalise attempts to incite racial, religious hatred
Thursday, 01 Dec 2022
7:47 PM MYT
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia needs a law that makes it a crime to incite racial or religious hatred, says the G25 group of eminent Malays.
In a statement, G25 said some politicians are still continuing to use race and religion in their public statements.
"For the purpose of safeguarding racial and religious harmony, G25 proposes the enactment of a law to be called the 'Racial and Religious Harmony Act' that makes it an offence to incite racial or religious hatred," said the group.
On Wednesday (Nov 30), Tuanku Muhriz Ibni Almarhum Tuanku Munawir, the chairman of the Conference of Rulers, reminded all leaders to put an end to religious and racial extremism in the spirit of togetherness.
In his opening speech on the second day of the 260th Meeting of the Conference of Rulers, the Negri Sembilan Yang di-Pertuan Besar said the new government had to take the opportunity to propel the country to greater heights by uniting all Malaysians, regardless of race and religion.
G25 also applauded their Royal Highnesses the Malay Rulers for expressing their views and calling on politicians not to use race and religion to create fear and anxiety among the people.
"Our Rulers are heads of Islam in their respective states. It is therefore timely and most encouraging that they, in the recent Rulers' Conference, called for hate speech to stop before it goes out of control," said the group.
Meanwhile, economist Tan Sri Dr Ramon Navaratnam said he fully supported the G25 statement.
"We hope and pray that more Malaysians will condemn racism and bigotry and encourage the Prime Minister and our new unity government to introduce new laws and enforce the present legislature to fight racism and bigotry more effectively.
"This is essential for our survival and progress as a successful nation," he said.
This article is more than 14 years old
Malaysian blogger jailed for inciting racial tensions
This article is more than 14 years old
A high-profile anti-government blogger has been jailed for up to two years in Malaysia for threatening national security
Ian MacKinnon, south-east Asia correspondent
Tue 23 Sep 2008 09.28 BST
A high-profile anti-government blogger has been jailed for up to two years in Malaysia, his lawyer said today.
Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin, who was arrested two weeks ago, was last night sentenced under Malaysia's draconian security laws.
The beleaguered government's long-time critic was taken today to a high-security prison where he could be held indefinitely without trial as the detention order, signed by the home minister, Syed Hamid Albar, can be renewed.
Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin, a prominent Malaysian blogger, outside court in Kuala Lumpur. Photographer: Vincent Thian/AP
"This is definitely a big blow to the idea of civil liberties, especially at a time when everyone is asking for greater rights," said his lawyer, Malik Imtiaz Sarwar. "I don't think the government did itself any favour in attempting to regain popular confidence."
Raja Petra, 57, is accused of insulting Islam and threatening national security by inciting racial tensions in the ethnically mixed country on his popular blog and website, Malaysia Today.
The site was blocked several times when Raja Petra was questioned by police and charged with sedition over material that appeared on his blog over the past few months.
In one article Raja Petra implied that a senior government minister was linked to the murder of a Mongolian model, Altantuya Shaariibuu. The ongoing trial of her alleged killers has kept Malaysia spellbound.
Raja Petra also said that the evidence against the opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, who will appear in court again tomorrow accused of sodomy, was fabricated. He refused to reveal his sources when he appeared before the high court last month.
To the fury of civil rights campaigners and lawyers he was detained on September 16 along with a journalist and an opposition MP, though the others were subsequently released.
Raja Petra is being held at the Kamunting detention centre, in the central state of Perak, which hosts about 60 other internal security law detainees, most of them suspected Islamist extremists.
Observers believe the home minister may have signed the order to prevent intervention by Raja Petra's supporters in the courts to secure his release. - The Guardian
No comments:
Post a Comment