A salute to a gutsy lad'!

Our Own Apartheid
Marina Mahathir

To mark International Women’s Day, Marina Mahathir’s essay on the above topic -- potentially a hot potato that many UMNO lads would not even deem to touch! -- was scheduled for publication in her regular Tuesday column (March 7) in The Star. For reasons only known to the powers-that-have-been at the daily, the article did not see print in the self-trumpet-tory "largest English circulating newspaper" in Malaysia-eh. Until three days later, when it had already generated lots of heat and debate -- sound and fury? -- at many forums, including a long and discerning discourse at bakrimusa.com.



Bakri, in his preface before running Marina's esay, wrote:

"Achieving equality for women is more than just a do-good gesture. A nation cannot hope to progress if it does not make maximal use of the talent of half of its population. The embarrassing backwardness of many Muslim nations is precisely this; they have chosen to ignore the potential of their women by denying them access to education and other opportunities.

Malaysia is fortunate not to be in this category. We count in our midst women ministers, bankers (including the central banker), professors, executives, and judges. While women have made it to and excel at the appellate levels in our judiciary, our Islamic establishment has still to be convinced that women could be appointed judges in the Sharia courts.

As demonstrated by the recent bumbling attempts at reforming the Islamic Family Law, the gains of women, especially Muslim women, are not guaranteed. They will continually be eroded unless vigilantly protected.

Marina Mahathir’s essay below reminds us that while apartheid may have been discredited in South Africa a long time ago, that mindset is still persistent within our midst." (DEsi acknowledges with greAt thanks this Malaysian abroad for lending a voice to leading off contemplation of the nation's truly "national" issues which many sections would like to see buried in the sand -- of wasted politicians and cronies' time and dime?

DESIDERATA is NOT reproducing the said article in full by the outspoken -- and truly independent-minded lad' -- as he feels the article has been well circulated and debated. But I am reprising some points, and the last TWO PARAGRAPHS that The Star chose to excise from its Friday "late" news-and-views... jest for the record.

I've taken the liberty to expand on the point on "Apartheid", and first off, must record my gratitude to Marina, and Bakri, for affording us the bridges to perform some soul-searching.

We do have some time on lazy, hazy and crazy Sunday to chew on some intellecvtual food, yes? Yes, I jest finished my CON BF, it's
supercalifragiliaexpedicoulsly GOoDe! THat (w)longish word
came about when a long-distant buddy called jest now asking about the storm that hit Subang Jaya where I temped to cari-cari makan, and I responded that I did a Mary Poppins and the survey result showed, SEMUANYA MASIH OKAY!:)



Our Own Apartheid
-- some extracts from the famed essay by Marina Mahathir (THe emphasis is Desi's)

"In 1948, one of humankind’s most despicable ideas – apartheid – was made into law in South Africa, and with that racial discrimination was institutionalized in that country. Race laws touched every aspect of South Africa’s social life, including a prohibition of marriage between non-whites and whites, and the sanctioning of “white-only” jobs. Although there were 19 million blacks and only 4.5 million whites in South Africa, the majority of the population was forced to be second-class citizens in their homeland. They were banished to reserves and needed passports to travel outside them, even within their own country. It was only in 1990 that apartheid began to crumble and South Africans of all colors were finally free to live as equals in every way.

With the end of that racist system, people may be forgiven for thinking that apartheid does not exist anymore. While few countries practice any formal system of discrimination, nevertheless you can find many forms of discrimination everywhere. In many cases, it is women who are being discriminated against. In Malaysia, there is an insidious and growing form of apartheid among Malaysian women, between Muslims and non-Muslims....


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"The differences between the lot of Muslim and non-Muslim women beg the question: Do
We should formally consolidate the apartheid of women in this country by having a Ministry for Non-Muslim Women which works to ensure that Non-Muslim women enjoy the benefits of the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Malaysia signed this UN document and is thus legally bound to implement it. Meanwhile the Ministry for Muslim Women works to gag and bind Muslim women more and more each day for the sake of political expediency under the guise of religion.

Today, March 8, 2006, is International Women’s Day. Unfortunately only about 40 percent of the women in this country can celebrate. The rest can only look with envy and despair at their non-Muslim sisters."

My comment that follows is largely similar to the one I left at Bakri's website lust night, and Desiderata felt the topic is still lkusty enough to justify some Sunday's INTER:LUDE. Riminations for a lusty BF,bourgeosie one excusable, as it's only once a week. Six other days, stick to simple tehtarik, B&B, no kaya, as it's CHANGING-of-LIFESTYLO! No, yes, or steal undecided?

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ylchong Says:

March 11th, 2006 at 6:50 am

First off, I’d like to salute Marina Mahathir, in her own right, and not because she’s the daughter of a former PM, for a well articulated Malaysian issue. Faith crosses all boundaries — race, gender, age and education. It’s one area this scribe has been “reluctant” to discourse as personally I feel so inadequate.

Second, I’d like to thank Bakri Musa for hosting this discourse; and I’d like to expand the thread to a wider, and hence more significant and consequential, form of “apartheid” in the Race-based polices practised by the Malaysian environment. Since Merdeka about 49 years ago, so-called affirmative programmes wre implemented under the guise of the New Economic Polcy, then renamed into other guises, but nevertheless same self-serving with blatantly abused history and record, and now being perpetuated under false pretenses (using unreliable and questionable statitics…among the reasons), these largely RACE-BASED POLICIES ARE CONTINUED BY THE GOVERNMENT LED BY PAK LAH.

I had great hopes when Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi assumed PMship Nov 1, 2003, hoping that a leader well-grounded in religious knowledge, and clearly a God-fearing man, would be “visionary” enough to see to eradicating the ROOT CAUSES of the nation’s chief problem of nation-building, closely related to the minimisation of ethnic-centric policies.

But the Barisan Nasional-led Goevrnment ensured its status quo by continuing to keep the ethnioc communities cocooned within their well-partitioned “ethnic” groups - as wished for by the short-sighted Politicians — UMNO heading the Malays/Bumiputeras, MCA the Chinese, MIC the Indians and other smaller BN components looking after minor ethnic groups. The citizenry has been fed on a constant diet in their everyday lives of “RACE, RACE, RACE” policies. A good example I have often quoted in my own writings is (advertising billboards) staring in Malaysian faces by the roadside and highway (EVERY DAY!)the DIFFERENCIATED housing prices of 10-15% discounts for a particular group regardless if they are already well-to-do; nay, some of the buyers are even millionaires getting a house costing RM0.5million with a 15% discount, while some poor Malaysians can’t even afford to buy a low-cost house of RM30,000.

Yes, I agree with your main point (of your essay), Marina, about the fate of Muslim women, but extrapolate this “similar” discrimination to some 50% of fellow Malaysians, you have a larger “national” problem ahead.
Until, and unless, a visionary leader comes along and is able to galvanise Malaysians towards NEEDS-BASED — NOT RACE-BASED! - POLICIES, I’m afraid NegaraKu will remain a dream. We are NOT EVEN AT THE STARTER’s LINE!

Tonite I’ll say another prayer that in the near future, a truly TOWERING MALAYSIAN LEADER will emerge, because Pak Lah — I can understand why since he’s enmeshed in the pool of croc-infested UMNO pool - had failed to seize the golden oppportunity, after achieving a 90% mandate, to bring about a FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE. He is almost a visionary leader that I had wished for. Too bad, I’m disAppointed. Well, hope springs eternal in hearts that still flutter:)..." (ends my humble thoughts at Bakri's place).

May I add that TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE< and TIME"S RUNNING OUT FOR OUR COUNTRY WHILE OUR LEADERS -- MOST OF THEM __ CONSTANTLY ENAGE THEIR SMALL MINDS ON PETTY ISSUES> As someone said, or even myself, should we not ask oursleves:

Are Malaysians seeing the mote in our neighbour's eye, but can't see the plank in our own?

Please adjourn now, my most times ESteemedReaders, and some times, very obedient Malaysians, to bakrimusa.com -- for dessert while we can steal afford it!:)