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Malaysia 101: Stripped Citizenship Not An Option

Citizenship Mehran Karimi Nasseri

(Remember Mehran Karimi Nasseri? This is what going to happen when you start revoking citizenships and those stateless people have nowhere to go. Image source: Wikipedia)

I guess 2 wrongs cannot make 1 right.

In the recent fiasco of PM’s special assistant uttering racist statements, there have many things done and called for by many Malaysians. Some asked for his public apology, others have made a police report and have urged the police to investigate him under the Sedition Act.

Nasir Safar on the other hand has apologised (perhaps under protest) and has tendered his resignation though, for some, this is still not enough – they say he still needs to face the music.

Whilst we are pushing the long arm of the law to deal with Nasir Safar’s uncalled for statement, there are few who decided to go one step further and demanded his citizenship.

A group of Malaysian Indian NGOs led by Hindu Sangam Malaysia will initiate legal action against Nasir Safar, demanding that his citizenship be revoked.

(Source: Malaysiakini)

Didn’t these morons read what Dr M has said in the papers recently? He said:-

“That should not be questioned. We cannot banish our citizens now. The Constitution provides that you cannot take away citizenships,” he told reporters after opening the Malaysian Liver Foundation building at Ara Damansara here on Wednesday.

Mighty words from the Old Man who as a PM was not so successful to unite Malaysians as one people and the Malaysian Indian NGOs must also remember that many Malaysians did not like similar calls when this happened:-

Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam has rebuked Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leaders for their “outrageous actions” and urged the Government to revoke their citizenship.

Or when this happened:-

Malay nationalist group Gagasan Melayu Perak (GMP) told Ipoh Barat DAP parliamentarian M Kulasegaran to give up his citizenship and leave the country if he was unhappy with the establishment of Malay supremacy and the New Economic Policy (NEP). (2009)

Or when this happened:-

In July, when the status of Malaysia as an Islamic state was being debated, Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang of the DAP argued Malaysia was clearly a secular state, and cited a 1988 decision by the Federal Court. Badruddin then angrily yelled, “Malaysia ini negara Islam, you tak suka, you keluar dari Malaysia!

(“Malaysia is an Islamic state, you don’t like it, you get out of Malaysia!”)

53 years after we have gained our independence and decided to live together as one nation, we still have uneducated people going around and asking the citizenship of those at fault to be stripped.

We have a good legal framework in place and those at fault should be subjected to the provisions of the law.

Certainly, no one deserves to be punished to the extent of being stripped his’/her’s citizenship – we are no longer in Stone Age where you can chase anyone out if they did something wrong.

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5 thoughts on “Malaysia 101: Stripped Citizenship Not An Option”

  1. The Pledge – Let’s live together as one people regardless of race, language or religion

    I am going to relate here my experience as a teenager attending a secondary school in Singapore in the 60’s. Some of you may not like this story because it is about Singapore but I am telling it because of it’s usefulness and its relevance, anyway.

    Here’s the story:

    In Singapore in the 60’s, immediately after the separation from Malaysia on 9th August 1965 before the introduction of National Service, the Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, introduced ‘The Pledge’ in all primary and secondary schools which read as follows:

    “We, the citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves as one united people, regardless of race, language or religion, to build a democratic society based on justice and equality so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation”.

    This was done to instill loyalty, discipline and unity in all the young people of Singapore, both boys and girls regardless of race, language or religion to ensure that the state’s desire to build a democratic society based on justice and equality so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for the small nation.

    Does anyone who studied in Singapore secondary and primary schools in the 60’s and early 70’s remember saying ‘The Pledge’?

    The routine was; the bell rang, everybody assembled at a the Assembly Area and the principal and the teachers took their respective positions. The bugle blew followed by the raising of the State Flag and singing of the National Anthem ‘Majulah Singapura’ with everyone standing at ‘Attention’ and after that, The Pledge was read aloud together. Then ‘Stand At Ease’ – ‘Stand Easy’ and the principal and/or teachers will make their announcements followed by ‘Disperse’ and ‘Move To Classrooms’ led by the respective class monitors. The prefects were grouped together in one block.

    Singapore then was under threat of communism and other leftist movements where the majority of their members were Chinese and to thwart these movements, all Chinese schools were closed and instead, national and integrated schools were introduced. Gradually, vernacular schools such as Malay and Indian schools were closed as they were getting less and less popular even amongst the Malays and the Indians themselves. However, Chinese (Mandarin), Malay and Tamil were offered as optional subjects in both primary and secondary schools. The integrated schools had two streams, Chinese and English streams and there were also integrated technical schools offering technical subjects which were taught in the two different streams up to the ‘O’ level equivalent qualification either in Grade 1, 2 or 3. At the same time, other types of schools like religious schools such as Madrasah Aljunied, Madrasah Ipoh Lane, Madrasah Wak Tanjong, etc. which mainly taught Islamic subjects and Arabic, were allowed to continue and at the same time English language was also made compulsory in these schools.

    The system worked very well, beliefs in communism and extreme socialism were totally eliminated and the schools produced moderate government friendly bilingual students with either an academic or technical education up to School Certificate which was equivalent to the ‘O’ levels, at least and all spoke English. Many went on to enter polytechnics, colleges and universities for their diplomas and degrees. Some opted to further their studies overseas. Of course, the few remaining hard cores were put in jail, rehabilitated and reeducated before being released.

    All students who obtained their ‘O’ levels, Pre-university (Higher School Certificates), diplomas and degrees, were snapped up by the job market offered by the many government departments, ministries, quasi-government bodies and the many private companies offering goods and services, shops, restaurant, hotels and factories and many more which were set up in the island state and were growing at a tremendous rate including in the building and construction sectors, shipping, airline and the oil and gas sectors.

    I wish to suggest that, to make the 1Malaysia concept more successful, all students in both primary and secondary schools in both national and private in the country, must be made to take a pledge in order to instill in each and every one of them loyalty to the country, one who professes the importance of unity, observes and practices it and maintains a high standard of discipline in order to build a democratic society while conscientiously improving it based on justice and equality so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our beloved nation.

    Those who are good at writing verses or prose in Malay should try composing a pledge, Malaysian style, and propose it to the PM and the MOE for use in all Malaysian schools as soon as possible.

    Best regards.

    Hussaini Abdul Karim

    http://www.hak55.blogspot.com/

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