Link graphic for a KJB version Bible Verse that will be automatically updated when we update it from time to time
">


Articles, Opinions & Views: Timah whiskey row shows what's wrong with Malayan politics BY Wilfred Madius Tangau (MP for Tuaran)

Photobucket
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
 
Fighting Seventh
The Fighting Rangers
On War, Politics
and Burning Issues
Profile
Miscellaneous

American Thinker
American
Newspapers Online

Arab News
Asia News
Asia Times
Assyrian News
BBC News
Breitbart News
British and
International
Newspapers Online

CAMERA
CBS News
City Journal
CNN
Christian Solidarity
International

Daily Caller
Daily Mail
DAP Malaysia
Dawn
Drudge Report
Dutch News
Faith Freedom
Ali Sina

Foreign Affairs
Forward
Fox News
Google News
Guardian
Haaretz
Harakah Daily
English

Herald Malaysia
Hurriyet Turkey
History of Jihad
Independent
Indian Newspapers
Online

Inspire Magazine
IPOH Echo
International
Herald Tribune

Jerusalem Newswire
Jihad Watch
Local-
French News
In English)

London Times
Malaysiakini

Malaysian Insider
Malaysia
Centre for Policy
Initiatives

Free Malaysia Today
Malaysia Chronicle
Malaysia
-Sarawak Report

MEMRI TV
Middle East
Forum

Mission Network
News

MSNBC News
National Review
NEWSMAX
New York Post
New York Times
Nut Graph
Opinion Journal
Right Wing News
Spiegel
Star Online
Straits Times
Sun Malaysia
Sydney
Morning Herald

Telegraph
The Malay Mail
The Rebel Media
The Sun (UK)
Time
Times of India
Town Hall
US News
World Report

USA Today
VBS TV
Washington Post
Washington Times
World Net Daily
World
Watch Monitor

Yahoo News
Ynet News



No Atheists
In A Foxhole

Rudyard Kipling

" ā€œWhen you're left wounded on
Afganistan's plains and

the women come out to cut up what remains,
Just roll to your rifle

and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldierā€
General Douglas MacArthur

" ā€œWe are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.ā€

ā€œIt is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.ā€
ā€œOld soldiers never die; they just fade away.
ā€œThe soldier, above all other people, prays for peace,
for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.ā€
ā€œMay God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .ā€
ā€œThe object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.

ā€œNobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
ā€œIt is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died.
Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."

Proud To Have
Served With Warriors

Glorious
Malaysian Food
Foreign Bloggers
&
Other Stuff
Gaming

Major D Swami
WITH Lt Col Ivan Lee
Click Here

Lt Col Ivan Lee
you want him with
you in a firefight!!!!

Dying Warrior
xxxxxx
Condors-Infantry
Fighting Vehicles
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Camp
Bujang Senang
Click Here
xxxxxxxx
The A Team
Click Here
xxxxxxxx
Major General
Toh Choon Siang
Click here
Lieutenant General
Stephen Mundaw
Click Here
With His
Dying Breath
Killed in Battle
In Death
Last Thoughts
Before Battle
Whilst There Is
Life, There Is Fight

Not Done In Yet!!

Iban Trackers
XXXXXXXX
Facts On RoP
Hutang Negara
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Timah whiskey row shows what's wrong with Malayan politics BY Wilfred Madius Tangau (MP for Tuaran)
Saturday, November 06, 2021
The Local Taliban Are NOT Happy

Via WhatsApp : I call upon five ministers from mainland Malaysia, who are also from Borneo, namely Maximus Johnity Ongkili (Sabah and Sarawak Affairs), Alexander Nanta Linggi (Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs), Fadillah Yusof (Works), Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar (Parliament and Law) and Nancy Shukri (Tourism) to speak in one voice in this Wednesday cabinet meeting to put an end to the nasty populist campaign to force the manufacturer of Timah to change the whiskey's name and image.

The incessant attacks on Timah whiskey is a symptom of what is wrong with Malayan politics, and must not be shared by Borneo politicians. Instigated by agitators of communal insecurities - two camps of peninsular Malay politicians trying to outdo each other as champions of Malay-Muslims, and a drink legally consumable only by non-Malays - became the latest victim of intra-Malay hero drama.

Sarawak ā€“ a rich state with mega projects but poor people

Timah whiskey has been attacked on two nonsensical grounds that the brand and its icon can associate Muslims with drinking and are therefore out to insult or confuse the Muslims. First, Timah, the Malay word for tin, is a shortened form of Fatimah, the daughter of Prophet Muhammad and a common name for Malay woman. Second, the image of Captain Speedy ā€“ a whiskey lover in British Malaya while bringing about peace for the tin-mining industry in Taiping as the British assistant resident in Larut, Perak ā€“ bearded and wearing a kopiah-like Ethiopian skull cap may be mistaken as a Muslim man.

Sanity at stake

A true towering Islamist, Syed Ali Tawfik al-Attas, former director-general of Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia (Ikim), has forcefully refuted both absurd accusations in Bahasa Malaysia and English. For him, those who would shorten Fatimah, (an Arab word, not Malay), as the name of the Prophetā€™s daughter, as ā€œTimahā€ and associate her to the whiskey are the truly biadab (rude and offensive) ones.

He further called them ā€œarrogantā€ for insisting that they are right after the whiskey manufacturerā€™s explanation. The stake in Timah whiskey is not just the brand name of a product, but sanity in our political, social and economic life, as put eloquently in the petition: ā€œIt is senseless, and dangerous, to claim that anything some Malaysian Muslims may find familiar, must be exclusive for their usage, and that non-Muslims cannot use them whenever some Muslims claim to be offended.ā€

Surrendering on Timah whiskey will not put an end to the insecurities of those who insist to feel insecure. We have had bans on the words Allah (by non-Muslims), root beer and hot dog, where would we end? Do we let the most insecure set the standard in the name of sensitives and harmony and dictate what we may eat, drink, think and speak?

No appetite for orthodoxy

Does anyone remember Borneo sensitivities? In Borneo, our attitude to alcohol consumption can be summed up to four points: (a) alcoholic drinks - lihing, montoku, bahar, tuak, langkau, etc ā€“ are part of our indigenous cultural heritage; (b) drinking is not for Muslims amongst us; (c) alcoholism and irresponsible behaviours like driving after drinking are condemned; and (d) beyond the above, it is an individualā€™s freedom to drink or not drink.

What kind of civility (kesopanan dan kesusilaan) ā€“ the fifth pillar of Rukunegara ā€“ is it for some Malayans to call all alcoholic drinks ā€œSatanā€™s urineā€? Sabahans and Sarawakians, even those who donā€™t drink for religious, health or other reasons, reject outsidersā€™ insult of our heritage.

To go all-out against drinking, to condemn not just alcoholism but any consumption of alcohol ā€“ even in the name of public health or consumerism ā€“ is offending Borneo sensitivities, and if we need to raise the card of sensitivities before we get heard, undermining the spirit of social contract embedded in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63). Sabah and Sarawak are part of Nusantara, which has a real tradition of diversity and accommodation and we have no appetite for the orthodoxy set by some Malayan bigots.

Legal confines

Lest Malayan-centrists forget, we natives of Borneo are keenly observing how our cousins are respected in Kalimantan, where Indonesiaā€™s new capital will be. We are opposed to Malayan domination not only in resource exploitation but also in cultural suppression.

Our grandparents signed on to a secular Federation of Malaysia, where individuals have the freedom to engage in activities which may be considered ā€˜personal vicesā€™ in some religions, like drinking, smoking, gambling and dating, so long as it within legal confines.

It is the spirit of religious freedom as espoused in Islam - "for you is your religion, and for me is my religionā€- where no one has the right to impose the ā€˜dos and donā€™tsā€™ in their faith onto other faiths and cultures. They did not sign on for an Islamic federation where some Malayans get to set their notion of Muslim standards for all of us.

The anti-Timah campaign is invoked, not by the name of Timah or the beards and skull cap of Captain Speedy, but by the whiskeyā€™s winning of successive awards in international competition. For some Malayan bigots, since Malaysia is a Muslim-majority nation, then Malaysians cannot win any award for activities unaccepted by their world view. And such activities even include gymnastic sport where Farah Ann Abdul Hadi was showered with condemnations for her ā€˜revealingā€™ outfit, instead of congratulations for her medals.

Voice of reason

If the intra-Malay one-upmanship competition continues suppressing common sense and progress in Malaysia, then all Borneo parties and politicians ā€“ regardless of faith and affiliations ā€“ must collaborate strategically to be the voice of reason and harmony in Malaysia. We must not sacrifice the futures and freedom of our children and grandchildren for this generationā€™s pursuits.

Borneo Malaysians must not deceive themselves with the propaganda of Borneo Exceptionalism and Isolationism and that the Malayan madness will stop at Malaya as if South China Sea can protect us. As long as Sabah and Sarawak remain a part of Malaysia, and our development lags behind Malaya, many of our children and grandchildren will study, work and eventually settle in Malaya. In other words, Borneo children in Malaya will suffer if nonsenses and insecurities reign supreme.

Meanwhile, bigots with an imperialist mindset will not leave even our regions alone as ā€œeyesoresā€ in their pursuit of purity. For them, Malaysian is but the expansion of Tanah Melayu, as Umno parliamentarian Tajuddin Abdul Rahman claimed in Parliament, whom I had categorically refuted as then deputy chief minister.

If the five Borneo ministers can assert reason on the cabinetā€™s decision on Timah tomorrow, this will send a clear message to Malayan politicians on both sides of the divide - that Sabahans and Sarawakians are not blind followers in their dangerous game of obsessions. We will not pour in fuel if they want to set fire on Malaysia as a multicultural union.

As Malaysian politics gets more fluid and intra-Malay competition more dangerous, all Borneo-based parties - including the Borneo chapters of federation-wide parties - must forge some common grounds on what we must defend together while we compete between us to bring the best for our regions and Malaysia. We must beat insanity and imperialism with intelligence and imagination.
posted by Major D Swami (Retired) @ 10:18 AM  
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home
 
ARCHIVES


Previous Post
Indian Soldiers
World War 1
Links To Rangers
Military Related Links


End of a Saracen
East Malaysian
Warriors
Blow Pipe
xxxx
xxxx
Lieutenant Colonel
Zulkapli Abdul Rahman
Click Here
Lieutenant Colonel
Harbhajan Singh
Click Here
Heads from the Land
of the Head Hunters
Heads
20 Harrowing Images
Vietnam War

Creme De La Creme-Click here

Killing Time
Before Deployment

Lt Col Idris Hassan
Royal Malay
Regiment
Click Here

Also Known as
General Half Track

Warriors
Dayak Warrior
Iban Tracker with
British Soldier

Showing the
British Trooper
what a jackfruit is!!

Iban Tracker

A British Trooper training
an Iban Tracker

Iban Tracker

Tracker explaining
to the British Soldier who
knows little about tracking

Iban Tracker
Explaining to the
British Trooper the meaning
of the marks on the leaf

Iban Tracker
Aussie admiring
Tracker's Tattoos

Lest We Forget Major Sabdin Ghani
Click Here
Captain Mohana Chandran
al Velayuthan (200402) SP
Ranger Bajau
ak Ladi PGB
Cpl Osman PGB

Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
Photobucket
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Advertistment
XXXXXXXX
Powered by

Free Blogger Templates

BLOGGER

google.com, pub-8423681730090065, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 <bgsound src=""> google.com, pub-8423681730090065, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0