Abolishing ISA, Malay Rights and Other Things That People Blame The Government For

Opposition and supporters are harping the same tunes. Abolish the ISA, Malaysians for Malaysia, BN is racist, Government is corrupt and abusive with its power. If the government is corrupt, guess who was Finance Minister in 1997 who almost tethered us with new economic masters in the form of IMF. It's always easy to blame the system and blame the leaders. Credits to Pakatan Rakyat for an extraordinary PR exercise pre-election with blogs and internet campaigns, discrediting the keris, etc. BN didn't know what hit them and it should be a lesson to our leaders that credibility and accountability must again be virtues held high up.

Because of the state of openness and somewhat freedom of speech, questions are being hurled about the NEP, Malay rights, ISA and even the Azan. While the NEP is a double-edged sword, we have to admit that a significant amount of people benefited from this, not just the Malays. Of course, some people would choose to keep a closed eye on that and the numbers. There are also Malays who have milked infinite riches from the special rights and now condemn the policy and its failure.

The Special Position of the Malays in the Constitution could be a poison also, especially for those who choose to take the path of least resistance and sell their precious contracts back to the Chinese. We all know that. As suggested by a senior Minister earlier, if we are ready to amend the Special Rights, only Parliament has the legal right to do so and that would reflect the will of the majority. Even the US has affirmative actions in their education system to ensure that a healthy percentage of non-Caucasians are admitted into universities because of their demographic disadvantages. The SAT is blamed to be biased for educated white folks and does huge injustice to the Latin and African Americans who were deprived of better education at an early age.

There is no doubt BN is in need of restructuring and major overhaul. We are seeing it transpire. Pakatan should just stop nitpicking and run their 5 states to prove to the people that they are worthy. I don't see much difference anyway. Wasn't a temple demolished under their watch in Ampang? It's easy to condemn - try doing it yourself.

My Reply to Jaredsdad> Hi, I hope you're doing your part not just as voter but a concerned individual to realize that not only race-based politics is real and alive in BN but also in Pakatan Rakyat. What does that say about both sides? I hope you're going down to the ground and listening out to grass root people. It's always comfortable to sit in our chairs and blog and whine about how racist certain individuals are and how corrupt the Government is and why you deserve more subsidies for petrol because we are an oil exporter, etc etc. If you're doing your part, that's great. At least you could appreciate the uphill battle.

On ISA and many other rules of the land, some are justified and some questionable. However, it is still an act passed in Parliament and only Parliament can decide to amend or suppress it. That is the essence of democracy, whether fair or not to some individuals. It is the will of the majority. Why hasn't Pakatan passed the motion in Parliament to amend or throw it out the window?

If BN is labelled as racist and they've been winning elections under the leadership of Tun Dr Mahathir for decades, then you are safely concluding that majority of Malaysians are racist.
There is nothing wrong with being proud of one's race. It is our identity. To be acknowledged as a Malaysian is also an identity (although identity these days is quite questionable seeing the massive fan base of English Premier League in Malaysia considering there's no real affiliation to the teams or the nationalities who represent the teams). Doesn't mean we throw out the keris or the sari.