(Petaling
Jaya, Thursday):
DAP
welcomes the statement by the Malaysian Buddhist Consultative Council
reaffirming that the 1957 Merdeka Constitution is the nation-building blueprint
and calling on political parties to stop “playing
with fire” and not to impose religious hegemony in plural Malaysia.
The
Malaysian Buddhist Consultative Council, which comprises Buddhist organizations
in Malaysia including the Malaysian Buddhist Association (MBA), the Young
Buddhist Association of Malaysia (YBAM), the Buddhist Missionary Society (BMS),
Malaysian Fo Kuang Buddhist Association, Buddhist Tzu-Chi Merit Society
(Malaysia) and Sasana Abhiwurdhi Wardhana Society, expressed regret over calls
for an Islamic State and the enactment of the hudud and qisas enactment and
concern at developments leading to greater religious extremism incompatible with
the fundamental constitutional principle and nation-building cornerstone as
agreed by the forefathers of the major communities on the attainment of
Independence in 1957.
Buddhists
in Malaysia, like followers of other faiths, whether Christians, Hindus, Sikhs
or Muslims, should be in the
forefront to defend the 1957 Merdeka Constitution as the nation-building
blueprint that Malaysia is a
democratic, secular and multi-religious nation with Islam as the official
religion but not an Islamic state – whether PAS or UMNO Islamic State.
The
statement by the Malaysian Buddhist Consultative Council and the recent one by
the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Malaysia calling on Malaysians of all
faiths to resist any attempt to change the secular nature of the Federal
Constitution reflect greater awareness of the second nation-building crisis in
the 45-year history of the country as
a result of *929 Declaration” by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir
Mohamad at the Gerakan national conference on Sept. 29 last year that Malaysia
is an Islamic State and the enactment of the Syariah
Offences (Hudud and Qisas) Bill by the PAS Government in the Terengganu State
Assembly on July 8 this year – but there is an urgent
need to accelerate greater national awareness of the fundamental issues
at stake and the far-reaching implications of these disturbing developments.
Time,
however, is running out as
over 90 per cent of Malaysians still do not know that the fundamental principle
of the 1957 Merdeka Constitution that Islam is the official religion but
Malaysia is not an Islamic state has come under the greatest
challenge and test in the past 45 years and there are less than 12 months
for Malaysians before the next general election to take a stand on this issue.
This
is why the DAP has launched the “No to 911, No to 929, Yes to 1957”
People’s Awareness Campaign which is not a seditious or subversive campaign as
it is wholly committed to defend and uphold, through democratic and
constitutional means, the 1957
Merdeka Constitution, the “social contract” and the 1963 Malaysia Agreement that Islam is the official religion but Malaysia is not an
Islamic State – a position publicly endorsed by the three first Prime
Ministers of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein Onn as well
as the highest court of the land.
It is
most regrettable that some elements in the
Police, which had sworn to defend and uphold the Malaysian Constitution, should
be obstructing the DAP’s “No to 929” campaign by criminalizing
constitutional political activities through
false and wrongful arrests of DAP leaders, including the DAP MP for Batu
Gajah Fong Po Kuan in Bentong last Sunday.
Suhakam
should accept the DAPSY invitation to send a Commissioner to Bentong on Sunday
to send out the clear message of
its disapproval of police abuses of
power through wrongful arrests and criminalizing
legitimate constitutional political activities.
Together
with Po Kuan and other DAP and
DAPSY leaders and activists, I
will visit the Bentong wet market
on Sunday (11th August 2002)
as part of the nation-wide “No to 911, No to 929, Yes to 1957”
People’s Awareness campaign to make the point that the police arrests
of Fong and 12 others in Bentong last Sunday were
wrongful, unlawful and a gross abuse of powers.
I do
not want to be arrested a third time over the “No to 911, No to 929, Yes to
1957” campaign, having been
arrested in Ipoh on June 5 and Port Dickson on July 18,
but no political leader worth his salt can allow any police officer to
take the law into his own hands to criminalize legitimate constitutional
political activities, just because it is carried out by the Opposition.
I
call on the Suhakam Chairman, Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman, to ensure that Suhakam
is fully engaged and committed to
the cause to promote and protect
human rights and not to stay at the
sidelines when human rights are
flouted so wantonly by police in this case in criminalizing legitimate
constitutional and political activities, making
a mockery of Suhakam and Malaysia’s international reputation, by sending a
Commissioner to the Bentong wet
market on Sunday morning to personally monitor developments.
(8/8/2002)