More comments from readers on the 'ultimatum' which was issued by Umno Youth against MP Loh Seng Kok (MCA-Kelana Jaya) for his speech in Parliament on religion and politics.

Sydput: It is about time that these things are brought up in Parliament, since the government is hell bent on Islamisation. It is also about time minorities speak up openly on subject that mattered to them most. Where else but the Parliament can these things be discussed openly by our elected representatives, and not behind closed doors as some perceived.

Go on, voice more grievance. That way, the MPs will be busy doing things that they are supposed to do instead of trading insults at one another.

KC Leong: I give praise to YB Loh on his courage to speak what is in the heart and minds of many Malaysians especially the non-Malays and I think some Malays too. All I ask for is for the Umno Youth division to put their hands on their hearts (if they still have it) and ask themselves: ''Is what YB Loh has said so grossly wrong that you need do send a delegation to his office unannounced?".

What is so wrong in setting up a council or whatever organisation you may called it? Don't they have conficence and conviction in their own faith? How can setting up such a council undermine Islam. I think most of us accept that Islam is the dominant religion in this country. So what harm can the council do, except to better interfaith relationship. Come on wake up Umno Youth division, we are no longer in the dark ages.

TMF: In a real democracy everyone has a voice, and this voice has to be far more than that one vote in a general election once every five years or so. Such a voice, should be heard and respected by the government of the day.

Ronald Reagan once wrote: "Government is only a convenience created and managed by the people with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people. We sometimes tend to forget that great truth and we never should."

How does a responsible government understand and appreciate what the people want if all sorts of obstacles are placed everywhere to mute the voice of the masses?

First we have the Sedition Act, Internal Security Act, Official Secrecy Act, University and University Colleges Act and many other regressive legislation including those that control the freedom of expression in the main stream mass media. All these effectively obstruct the healthy growth in the civic consciousness of a normal citizen and turning such a citizen into a non-participating, ill-informed, marginalised, frustrated and angry person. This is dangerous.

Further, we are now burdened with so many political actors who claimed to be so very delicate, ultra sensitive and very easily offended. Therefore even in our parliament today, relevant issues however humbly articulated with however noble the intention, are "deemed sensitive" and "deemed offensive". Such political actors shamelessly condemned and threatened other parliamentarians who brought up certain issues which are affecting every Malaysian. It is disheartening and I believe many thinking Malaysians are disappointed and depressed.

Look around ourselves, we do not find many people who are interested in discussing about any current affairs constructively; we have gone numb and resign to keeping silent. To me, this silence is very loud and it is getting to be deafening.

Sadirah K: I would suggest that the same Umno Youth representatives if they have guts also forward a letter seeking explanations from the former PM who stated that Chinese Malaysians have contributed greatly to the development of this country. They pay the most income tax. This is also a sensitive issue and they should raise the same with Dr Mahathir. At least Dr Mahathir has spoken some facts which Umno Youth would not like to hear.

It is true that the contributions of the non-Malays is not highlighted in the history textbooks. Not surprising because the Japanese and the Koreans have also doctored their history books. Religion is sensitive but there are so many policies that are not in keeping with religious texts. So let no one take the moral high ground on this matter.

Annon: I think Loh is very brave to say what he said and I don't see why that is very hurtful to the Malays. The truth hurts and in this case it is the truth. Perhaps MP Loh should not touch on religious matters like the prayer recital but on the whole I fully support his speech. At least he show more backbone than what MCA as a whole got to show so far. We always lament Japan for hiding the truth of their war crime when publishing their history school book but we are no different when we too alter our history book.

Certainly, the action of the Umno Youth delegates to confront Loh in uncalled for. When Loh spoke on the above subject, he did so as an MP in the august house of Parliament and he should do so without fear or favour. I am sure Umno Youth does not represent the majority as they

claim to be. Please grow up and not use bully tactic to cower dissenting voices.

Enough is Enough: There is such thing as shame in life. If we are unable to provide and protect our children, it is a shame. We could continue to call ourselves a father, but other will see us as a shameless father. A father without dignity who only knows how to enjoy the love making but does not know how to protect the family. A father who shamelessly lives off the family and enjoy the fruits of their labour.

This is how I view the leaderships of the parties that supposedly represents the Chinese and the Indians in Malaysia. They claim to be the father of their races, but they are hopeless and useless. They have no shame to occupy the thrones. I would rather kill myself if I were in their positions. I cannot understand why as human beings they have no shame and dignity.

The MP of Jerai Bahruddin Amirulddin shouted in Parliament, "Malaysia negara Islam, you tak suka keluar." The reaction from the shameless "fathers" was - a complete silence. In the same place, the MP of Kelana Jaya Loh Seng Kok talked about imbalanced history textbooks, prayer recital guidelines and the difficulty of non-Muslim with regards to places of worship. The reaction from others was - a gang of 50 family members coming to show Loh their power.

And their leader Hishamuddin said, "Keep debate on religious issues behind closed door." Did he say the same to the MP of Jerai? Did he tell his kids not to storm other people's building and threaten to burn it down? Did he not brandish a keris in the public place? See who is talking about "behind closed door" now?

You, shameless fathers, why are you so quiet an what are you doing?

A Malaysian Taxpayer and Voter: I had read the speech given by MP Loh and found nothing in his speech that is threatening against Islam, Malay, Malaysia or anybody. It is a fair view as far as I'm concern. For the Unmo Youth to issue a protest letter is an absolute nonsense. Anyone can see that they are trying to gain political mileage out of this.

The Umno Youth are suppose to be our future leaders, suppose to be wise, progressive, and fair. They are not suppose to be afraid of challenges, changes, progressiveness or even other people's opinion. How are they suppose to lead us into a better and stronger Malaysia with this kind backward, selfish and coward attitude? How are we to become a strong nation if even our own politician "backstabbed" and "used" us just for their own selfish political gain? How are we as a country to progress at all if we cannot discuss issues concerning the development of our nation?

Everything "can and will be" deem sensitive at the expense of our nation just for the sake of "making some noise" and to gain political mileage. How are we to compete with other countries if we still remains to be selfish and still have this third world mentality? How are we to unite all races if we still cannot discuss things openly and turned every issue into racial or religious ones?

We should be moving forward, not backward. Not at this critical stage of globalisation. The leaders of our countries are trying hard to unite and move us forward, but due to a few immature, selfish individuals, I fear our country will be left out in the race of globalisation. The rakyat nowadays are well-informed and mature. They expect more out of our leaders and the government. Every action, word and decision made by our leaders and their subordinates will be "judged" when election time comes. The majority of rakyat are losing faith. Please don't force us to the other side.

Rightan: The real test now is whether our YB Loh will quickly withdraw his statement made in Parliament following the precedent set by his seniors (remember the famous nine cabinet members) and chicken out and pretend nothing happen or hold on to his position and let Malaysian of all races decide whether we allow ourselves to be ridden roughshod by a small group of fanatics!

Red Bull: Tonight when your child is asleep, take a deep look at your child and then go sit in your comfortable chair, close your eyes for a few minutes and reflect the future of your child.

Ariffin: I am seeing a bunch of young politician trying to toil with religious issue and historical facts to get to the top, so there is no surprises! Once you get to the top you can be sure of good fortune-lah. So forget about nation, forget about responsibility of a citizen to help the country to stay in harmony, this is not their agendas, this is not what they want. What they want is an opportunity like Loh's issue to be exaggerated and used as weapons to show their so-called "leadership", and enable them to be noticed and there's a gold mine awaiting them.

Sam: Umno is a big party with many members. There are also huge numbers of members aspiring to high positions in the party. Is it any surprise that some will draw attention to themselves in order to be seen and heard above the crowd of hopefuls? Maybe such types will get noticed by some senior party members, and be taken under their wings and groomed for future greatness. Why do these people deny the truth? If they don't accept what MP Loh said, then argue with facts and not threats.

Do all Malays agree with the action taken by Kelana Jaya division chief Abdul Halim Samad? If no, please come out and say so.

Billy: Quite frankly, I just simply cannot understand what the fuss is all about. If it is true that our "sejarah" textbooks are seen to be more than 50% biased towards Islam and Malay studies, all Umno Youth need to do is bring those pile of books to Parliament and prove the MCA MP, and other MPs, wrong. If it is a fact, admit it and throw in an arrogant, "So what?"

Next is about the setting up of a Non-Islamic Religious Council. This has been openly brought up in the past many times by DAP with no fuss. Why now? Please read Teng Chang Khim's blog .

If everything is so sensitive to Umno Youth, perhaps they would like to draw up a list of 'don'ts' for us to adhere to. But that must be applied both ways.

The country is already in dire straits. We don't need this bunch of people to further add fuel to the fire.

Godfather: Umno Youth - a bunch of illiterate gangsters who have been brought up as bullies in society. Pay them no heed and continue to voice out against injustice and high-handed bullying. Let us see what the non-Umno component parties will do next.

Ishak Abd Rahman:

Surat protest di katakan ultimatum Pemuda

Memorandum komponen BN dikatakan permintaaan saja

Jeff Ooi dan Malaysiakini nak main isu apa?

Bebaik nanti termakan kata kata sendiri pula

Kononnya Sufiyan (Melayu) sokong orang Cina

Tentang pengorbanan semua bangsa yang jadikan negara merdeka

Mereka jugalah yang nak pengitirafan Chin Peng juga

Kalau kami guna ISA, nanti tuduh kami zalim pula

Kamu peduli ke sosial kontrak yang ada

Tentang nenek moyang kamu yang terima sejarah sedadanya

Sekarang kamu meminta lebih segalagalanya

Kamu lupa kamu 35% tapi kontrol 85% ekonomi kita

Kamu nak main isu perkauman dan agama pula

Kamu ingat boleh menag ke?

Bebaik mani api, jangan kata kami tak ingatkan pula

Jangan terlebih minta, nanti takut hilang semuanya

Kalau menjaring si ikan tuba

Jangan lupa mandi dikuala

Kalau memancing harap dapat ikan sejuta

Tetapi nasib tak baik terhutang pula

Moral of the story

Jangan jolok sarang tebuan

Jangan sombong

Jangan tamak

Jangan bongkak

Jangan underestimate

Jangan tak tahu malu

Tze Yeng: I am a Kelana Jaya resident and I would like to attend the debate on religious issues. Being a non-Muslim living in a predominantly Muslim area, I do my best to learn more about my neighbours' religion to foster better understanding and appreciation.

I am deeply insulted that I am deemed not mature or know enough to attend the dialogue. Aren't debates a learning process as well? If you have any information on the time and venue of the debate, please do let me know as I would like to attend.

S Wong: Would anyone be interested in signing on to a letter addressed to Umno Youth requesting that they respect the rights of our duly elected representatives of the rakyat? Let the BN take disciplinary action if what YB Loh Seng Kok has said is untrue or prejudicial to racial harmony! Unlike them, however, the letter would make no veiled threats and demand no ultimatum.

We would deliver it not with a mob of 50 thuggish men but 50 girls and boys - the next generation - as part of their training to stand up to intimidation. They would not be carrying the keris but copies of the Federal Constitution (flowers may be a bit hackneyed in this day and age). In short, we would put on a demonstration of all the qualities that Umno Youth and wannabe politicians of the ilk are not!

Pak Lah has spoken of civility - something which has not been taken to heart by many in his party. We may be politically weak. That's an unfortunate fact. But we do not have to be cowered. That's a choice that we make.

More comments: Part 1

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