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Friday, June 24, 2011

Open letter to Lim Guan Eng by Anas Zubedy - The Malaysian Insider

JUNE 24 — Dear Lim Guan Eng,

Peace be with you.

Let me state my position very clearly. I am a centrist. I do not work for Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat. I do not belong to any political party. I am a rakyat. I am a voter. I vote for the best person for my constituency, not which party the candidate is from.

I firmly believe that what is right is right and what is wrong is wrong, no matter who does it. I care about unity and work to promote unity. I will render my service to any party that will work for unity.

I am one of those people who were glad to see the growing co-operation between the DAP and PAS. I see it as the best gift March ‘08 has given to our nation. When two Malaysian blocs who have avoided each other for decades can now sit down together and share a meal, it is reason to celebrate.

Read more on this article

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks like Malaysian Insider ripped you a new one. I have read your piece and frankly, I find myself slightly disgusted with it. Like what TMI says, chauvinism comes in many forms. Some in Ibrahim Ali and some in Anas Zubedy.

Anas Zubedy, frankly, I do not think you're in the same vein as Ibrahim Ali. Far from it; but you sure as hell aren't Art Harun either. You may have your 15 minutes of fame as the guy with the advertisements espousing multiracial harmony, but I am beginning to worry that the "fame" has gotten into your head. You are right preaching about unity and harmony. Continue doing that, that's what got you "famous" in the first place.

With this article addressed to LGE however, you are just being political. Stop going into the political side of things; you lose credibility on both ends.

That's my main gripe with you.

As for the contents of your letter to LGE however, that's another story altogether which I shall not expound on, on the basis that your suggestions are childish and silly. (On second thoughts, I think I will.)

Some are just downright wrong, but overall they are just childish and silly. Apologize to the Malays? (Like TMI, I have to ask: For what really?) Integrate DAP and PKR? Seriously? Like an Eric Cantona All-Star team apa? Appreciate the Malays shared the land? Shall DAP (a Malaysian party btw) buy some sweets and fruits next time they visit the Parliament to present it to their Malay friends too as a token of gratitude for letting the non-Malays stay in Malaysia? What nonsense are you actually spraying out? I'm a passport carrying Malaysian (non-Malay Buddhist btw, because apparently that matters to you). 2nd generation Malaysian. Just like you mate. Do your people thank the Malays for sharing the land with you? I might as well trade my passport for a fucking Star of David arm-band because my Malaysian passport apparently don't mean shit.

It is not my fault that certain Malays think that just because I do not look, eat, pray like them, that I am not a Malaysian. I shouldn't apologize for that, nor thank them for letting me stay in Malaysia. Do you understand this? Isn't this the platform that you run your ad campaigns on? Diversity is our strength, remember? You of all people should know.

Apologize, say thanks? I was born a Malaysian. Lived my life a Malaysian. The need for me to apologize or thank a certain race is as much as that other certain race has the need to apologize or to thank me. In other words, no need whatsoever because we are all MALAYSIANS and I trust you are doing what is good for the country and not what is good for say, Yemen. Well, are you?

I am not a DAP member, but just like me, they needn't have to apologize or thank anyone for doing what they have done. Has DAP ever sold Malaysia out? Has Karpal Singh even sold secrets to India? Or LKS to China? Can the same be said about BN leaders? Not with the same conviction I bet.

The more I think about it the more stupid it becomes so I shall stop right now.

In any case, you can check out TMI's reply, they hit it right on the dot.

All said and done however, salam right back at you. Or whatever peace there is left in Malaysia in it's current state.

Disappointing coming from you, Mr. effective ad campaign.

Anonymous said...

A show of appreciation for this act of sharing will make a big difference to the Malay community. If you and the DAP set the example to appreciate that the Malays shared the land, the hearts of the Malay community will open to you. Just a simple acknowledgement, a simple thank you, would have warmed their hearts

u know mr anas,u really disaapoint.as a sabahan, there is no logic in your writing.smacks of colonialism.u need to grateful to us sarawakians and sabahans for agreeing stupidly to join your tanah melayu to form MALAYsia!!u should be grateful for all the timber and oil money that has financed your kuala lumpur while we are stuck with musa and taib!!

zakwan said...

Point 1
I believe DAP has already acknowledged this Malay polity or whatever it is that you call it

Point 2
I believe the Chinese and Indians appreciate in sharing this land with Malays
Unfortunately after the 2008 tsunami, racial polarization and discrimination played to the hilt to
UMNO rebranded with this 1Malaysia farce has outsourced their racist characteristics to some lowly NGO called Perkosa (not a typo)
The way I see it, it is the Malays (especially UMNO) who cannot deal with sharing the land with other races despite having them as our next door neighbors and business partnerts for half a century

Point 3
Get to know the Malays
Have you been living under a rock?
Have you not seen the sanctity and dignity of Islam being strengthened in Penang with all those increased allowances of KAFA teachers and fund allocations to religious schools?
Have you not seen DAP Perak allowing Nizar to recite a prayer before starting the weekly esco meeting?
Have you not seen DAP MPs and ADUNs delegating some of their time to break fast at suraus/mosques within their constituencies?
The way I see it, DAP is much closer to the Malays more than MCA and Gerakan can ever could

Point 4
Say sorry for what?
Granted that DAP like any other political parties has it flaws (the songkok farce comes to mind) but no party is perfect
Last I check, Malaysian Malaysia is not oppressive to any race
Equality among all cultures?
I thought that is what 1Malaysia is all about
I'm a Malay myself and I do not find equality between cultures offensive

Point 5
Kit Siang retires only when the rakyat tells him to call it quits
Even if he retires, what makes you think UMNO will stop playing the race cards
I dare say that even if a Malay ascends to the party leadership in the near future, DAP will always remain a Chinese dominated and chauvinist party in UMNO's eyes

Point 6
Last i check, there is nothing chauvinistic about DAP today
That honor now goes to MCA
And I cannot imagine the Chinese going back to the BN specifically the MCA fold
Besides, I believe more Chinese will vote for PAS if DAP screws up

Point 7
Due to their similar ideologies, a merger is possible, just not now

Now I'm waiting for your open letter to BN especially UMNO

Anonymous said...

oh my god.this coming anas.such an educated mat salleh looking malay or is it pseudomalay.looks like this country is doomed if suppossedly moderate and educated malays like anus thinks like this.non malays should all migrate.go back to china and india if they have to.sabah and sarawak should declare independence after 50yrs of malay colonialism

jm said...

u know i heard the exact same line of reasoning when i attented biro tatanegara's kursus kenegaraan.especially on the grateful part.u sound just like those btn buggers.centrist konon!!dah kena brainwash,termakan ideologi umno pun tak tau lagi.memang budaklah kau ni anas.

PahNur said...

Dear Anas, talking about unity in malaysia is like a man having to answer to a woman's question, "Did I put on weight?". It's a sensitive issue and there is no right answer to it..just safe ones.


How did we get to this point? How can we build the bridges over water full of hatred. How did our forefathers do it? Maybe because they are not deluded by "intelligence" and opened their hearts to embrace each other's presence? Maybe we should all be stupid, at least we are united right?

I take it this letter is a feedback to LGE's and Tunku Aziz's sighs on why the malays do not join DAP...albeit I did not see this stated anywhere on the MI that carried your open letter. I can understand now, why the off tangent replies you are getting in here.

Will be back with more comments...

Anonymous said...

Tulis-tulis cari makan, BIG SPIN aka Anas Zubedy is none other than conned man appointed by BN to be the champion of so called Third Force.
Appeared as host of RTM in boring way make it obvious misuse of public fund to support highly ambitious personality, another personality created by UMNO BN like Saiful Buhari.

How many would buy into your free space The Star advertisement? Tulis-tulis Syok Sendiri.

Amin.
Jebat

Anonymous said...

Election is around the corner, Anas is showing his true colour. Malaysians are not short of intelligence.

zakwan said...

Your post is kicking quite a storm on the Malaysian Insider
Go check it out yourself

Also, The Malaysian Insider has taken you to school
Click <a href="http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/open-letter-to-anas-zubedy-the-malaysian-insider/>here</a>

Rocky's Bru said...

The Malaysian Insider has rubbished your piece. Read here.

Sorry that its painful, Anas.

Our pro-government position disguised as 'centrist' doesn't seem to be working with the Malaysian rakyat.

I guess it's back to the drawing board eh?

Let's try discuss sometime bro.

Not a Malay said...

So you are saying that as a non-malay i have to bow and play servant to the Malays? Is that what you are implying? No thank you.

For someone who claims to uphold unity, it is sad to see you preaching inequality of status. No race is better than the other, everybody is equal in the eyes of God, shame on you.

Racist!

Anonymous said...

I'm sorrylah, Tuan !
Thank you very muchlah, Tuan !
Happy now, Tuan ?
Satisfied now, Tuan ?

PahNur said...

Well, Anas, can't say you didn't try..there is a price to pay when one says it the way it is. It's human nature to only listen to what they want to listen to. They only listen to what benefits them....

Empathy. That is what is severely lacking in our society today. That paired with other lost good traits through time; integrity, honesty, sincerity, the ability to count our blessings, the ability to apologize. What we gain whilst growing as a nation is we develope a self serving culture, (it's a nice way of saying selfishness), ego that needed no viagra boost, amnesia of our own history, discontent, anger over injustice. This my brothers and sisters is the consequences of a solely money driven society. And we all, in muhibbah proportion are guilty as charged.

Let's get back to Empathy. Whether you and me like it or not, history states that the Proto Malays then deutero malays came before the Hang Li Poh, the portugese, the chinese, and indians. Here's where empathy lies. Imagine it is the reverse. The Chinese and indian came first, followed by the Proto/deutero malays that automatically go into the "dan lain lain box". Tell me how you feel, honestly.

Chinese/ Indian: Would you have embraced the deutero/proto malays the way they have done so, without claiming that this land is yours forever? Look at China and India today. If Malays were to go and migrate there, would they be embraced the same way without a fight ? History of China showed the killing of your own kind so as to unite the kingdom. Ghandi had to fast for long period of time to get the Indians, amongst them, to unite. Look at Singapore. Would you blame the Malays today, for feeling insecure about being a second class citizen on their own soil?

Malays: Imagine if you are being called immigrants even as you are the 3rd descendants born and raised in this country. How would you feel? Islam had taught you that this land is God's land. And that being Islam have no room for racism. Islam also taught you to rise to the occasion in serving humanity. You cannot claim racial superiority and at the same time claim to be Islamic. That's just a joke.

PahNur said...

Malays are irritated with the arrogance of non malays not accepting the fact that they did the non malays a favor by granting them the citizenship. After all, they could have gone to war and chase the chinese / indians out of the country back then. Or would they. Could they? And what would have happen if the chinese and Indians were sent back? The chinese came to malaya because they wanted to run away from Opium War. Why can't the chinese appreciate the fact that in Malaya, they found sanctity ? Malays are also irritated at some Chinese/Indian that despite having born and bread here in malaysia, some don't even bother to make an effort to learn the Bahasa Malaysia.

Non malays are irritated with the arrogance of the malays for despite contributing to the economy and treating this country as their home, they are still treated like "kaum pendatang". (But pendatang halal maaaa..not pendatang haram). But can you blame the Malays for questioning your sincerity towards uniting with them, when you refuse to give up your vernacular schools on the pretext of maintaining your culture.

Why? Separating our children from even before puberty ergo impairing unity is less important than maintaining culture? As for the Malays, please...if you want to attract the non malays into joining a One School system, you seriously need to be more sensitive towards making schools that is as competetive, and accomodate the needs of minority to maintain their culture. They are here. What are you going to do about it? Deal with it, but deal with it in a manner complying to the teaching of Islam.

PahNur said...

The society we live in today is struggling to achieve unity. We are all swimming in our own racial insecurities, distrust amongst us and for some who had failed to evolve from the nearnandal era, racial hatred. Anyone who dispute this should ask themselves, "who do I have lunch with everyday at work? Is it with my own race or a mix group", there you go, there's your proof.....and it's only because we do not have a ONE SCHOOL system, and i am not talking about the Sekolah Kebangsaan. If we can send an..well, the russians call him cosmonaut, the americans call him astronaut and malaysians call him...gay-or-not?, to the moon, then we can spend good money to build good ONE SCHOOLs. If we cannot come up with a decent ONE SCHOOL, then we should all just shut the f** up...

Of course there are those who have embraced each other and see themselves as just Malaysians. Unfortunately, that is what happens to quality...they come in small quantity and are struggling to find a sense of belonging in society. If anything we are the minority. Heck! I think even the gay community outnumbered us.

PahNur said...

But why are we fighting each other? Why don't we make the politicians, all of them, not just LGE apologize to us, the rakyat? Mahathir should apologize for planting the seed to chronism and destroying the independence of the legal system? Anwar for selling anything from under the sun just to become the PM. Let's not forget, he was one of them who fed chronism before he became their foe. Tengku Razaleigh and Musa Hitam for teaming up to illegalize UMNO causing an innocent by stander Tun Salleh Abas to be sacked, and the legal system therein flushed down the Mexico way, only because they did not anticipate Mahathir could retaliate.

These politicians spend too much time in dick waving competition, without even considering what the consequences will be on the rakyat, so just they can show who's dick is larger and deserve that standing ovation. ! They should also apologize to the people of Sabah and Sarawak. These trusting souls voted for BN for a long time and look at how the incumbent government reciprocrated... there are still people in these places who don't know what it would be like to live their lives with electricity. They should also apologize for abusing the NEP which is one of the major contributor to this countries discontent.

So bloody hell....they should be the ones apologizing to us!!!

What a mess we've made of our country!! But the solution is not so much as to look back, but to look forward. If being humble and apologizing is seen as something that is so difficult to do, then perhaps unity is not seen as a pritority after all, so much so, we cannot disable our ego to make way for unity. What is the point of being intellects when we have lost our basic virtue of being human? Like love, sometime we should let our hearts do the talking.

Why don't we all stop talking about unity, and start living it. Is preserving culture more important than preserving unity? After all, culture is something humans create and pass it down to the next generation. Why don't we make unity, our future culture???

Anonymous said...

THe chinese and indians immigrants were imported by the British for mining and rubber industry.But during the insurgency, the Rulers (being advice and persuaded by British) to give citizenship to them as incentive to fight the communists which were mainly chinese. It was British brilliant strategy to use local chinese to fight communist chinese.

One point to raise, u say non-malays should respect the rulers. I think , most do but how abt Dr M, diluting the rulers power, isn't that disrespect??

Old Fart said...

Anas, Zorro, put it best. There is obviously a Mr Hyde in you. Now, tell me why I should be thankful to Khir Toyo? His father came in from Java in 1946. Khir was born long after me. Somewhere along the line the father must have legitimised himself. And he is now a Malay. And a bumiputra! My grand dad came in 1914. Parents were born in Malaya in 1924 and 1933 respectively. I came around in 1955. Tell me really, who amongst you honestly qualify to call yourselves Malay anyway? That is assuming honesty is in your lexicon!

And Rocky, finally you admit here that you and some of your pals are in cohorts with UMNO!!

Anonymous said...

Anas, I just lost all respect for you. It's people like you who are more dangerous than the likes of he who shall not be named IA.

Anonymous said...

ANAS ZUBEDY,

This article of yours is filled with preposterous suggestions/advice.

Why don't you ask the ex-MB of Melaka, the rapist, to apologize to the underage Malay girl and her family?

Why don't you ask the rapist to apologize to Lim Guan Eng for going to jail for helping the Malay girl while the rapist got away with it?

Why don't you say "Many Thanks" to Lim Guan Eng for his good deed.

You are the biggest idiot in our midst. You should go back to your village....coz it is missing an idiot!!!

Anonymous said...

Wolf in sheep skin that's how i think of u. Third force ? u write to Najib to explain y we are the most corrupted nation.