Human Rights for All (HuRiFA) Sabah is a new NGO which has been initiated on an ad hoc basis by concerned citizens for the betterment of the state and Malaysia.
We hope that similar initiatives will be undertaken in Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia.
HuRiFA Sabah, in conjunction with its coming into being, will host a Makan Kecil followed by a town hall-style meeting at 6.30 pm on Sun 6 Jan, 2013 at Dowish Restaurant, opposite KDCA, Penampang, Kota Kinabalu.
The purpose of the meeting is to deliver an apolitical message for both sides of the divide and directed in particular at the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN), Pakatan Rakyat (PR), the opposition alliance, and the emerging 3rd Force in the Malaysian Parliament.
The run-up to the 13th General Election is an opportune moment for the 45 per cent minorities in Malaysia to push for the creation of a Ministry of Minority Affairs (MoMA) Malaysia at the Federal Cabinet level.
The minorities are at present divided by geography, economics, ethnicity, language, culture and religion. However, they can be a force for stability in the country and moderation.
Hence, MoMA M’sia or MoMA can act as a one-stop centre for the minorities to engage with the government of the day at the national level and help ensure that their interests are taken into consideration and their grievances addressed.
There have been numerous instances where administrative laws – government policies in action – had become a source of great discomfort if not embarrassment, inconvenience and loss to the minorities.
It’s our stand that a pro-active step such as creating a Ministry of Minority Affairs is the right step forward to help Malaysia regain international confidence and trust and demonstrate that this country respects human rights and would not intend to continue with discriminatory practices which violate international law and the UN Charter.
MoMA can also help address the obvious lack of diversity in the government sector.
It’s envisaged that MoMA would consist of several departments, each catering for a particular ethnic group.
The main departments in the proposed Ministry can be those representing the Indian, Chinese, Bajau, Suluk, Orang Asal -- Murut, the Dusun including Kadazan or urban Dusun, Dayak, and Orang Asli -- and Other Minorities to cover the Bugis, Portuguese, Siamese and Eurasians.
We call upon interested parties to contact us if they wish to participate in the proposed meeting and give their input.
We have since received confirmation that several organisations will send their representatives for the proposed meeting.
These include the Borneo Heritage Foundation (BHF), Borneo Forum (BF), United Borneo Front (UBF), United Sabah National Organisation (Usno), Common Interest Group Malaysia (CigMA), KoKaKoBa (Koidupan Kapayan Kobusak Bahang), the United Kingdom-based Borneo’s Plight in Malaysia Foundation (BoPi MaFo), United Borneo Alliance (UBA) which brings together several organisations, the State Reform Party (Star), the United Kingdom-based Human Rights Foundation (HRF) Malaysia, the Persatuan Promosi Hak Asasi Malaysia (Proham) and Hindraf Makkal Sakthi.
HRF and Hindraf chairman P. Waythamoorthy is expected to attend the proposed meeting and give his valuable input.
Proham chairman Tan Sri Simon Sipaun will speak on Sabah before Malaysia and the present-day context.
Star chairman Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan will grace us with his presence and share his thoughts with participants.
We welcome the media to cover the event which will be preceded by a press conference, followed by a press statement at the end of the deliberations.
Phillip Among (013-888 3936, 0111-4100 700), Chairman Human Rights For All (HuRiFA) Sabah
NECESSITY FOR HURIFA RELECTS THE INEQUALITIES CREATED BY MALAYSIA
ReplyDelete"MALAYSIA" was a concept that pretended to take an "egalitarian" approach in creating a new country out of 5 supposedly independent countries being Malaya Singapore and the British colonies of Brunei Sabah and Sarawak.
However, from the beginning the Malaysia Agreement was an unequal treaty which carried with it UMNO's hidden agenda of creating "Melayu Raya" they openly called "Greater Malaysia".
The treatment of Brunei in the Malaysia negotiations revealed to the Brunei Sultan and government that UMNO had no intention to treat Brunei as an "equal partner" but as an subordinate vassal state.
UMNO demanded total control of Brunei oil and refused to even give the Brunei sultan the right to be elected as Head of State or "King of Malaysia"
This was a grave insult to the Sultan. Brunei has seen greater days then UMNO Malaya as a sizeable empire many times the size of the Malay states and stood for 500 years before Malaya came into being in 1957.
Apart from this the Sultan was wise to see beyond the "idealist" British/Malayan hatched union that Brunei would be dominated by Malaya.
So he chose real Brunei independence.
The other example is Singapore which started as an enthusiastic proponent of the Malaysia idea and once it got itself locked into the scheme its leaders saw the danger of being totally dominated by Malayan UMNO.
In 1965, Singapore escaped by the skin of its teeth from UMNO clutches and left Malaysia. Today it is free and independent and prosperous while Malaysia under UMNO sinks into dire straits as a grand example of an economic and race relations failure.
Since 1969 Malaysia has been turned into "Melayu Raya" under the NEP. UMNO created a state different from that set out in the Malayan (cum Malaysian) Constitution imposed on Sabah and Sarawak.
UMNO has been busy creating its own supremacist and pseudo religious state. Increasingly the extremists in UMNO and satellite organisations want a "Melayu Raya" which they have defined by calling all non Malay/Muslim citizens "pendatangs". They want a pure Malay Muslim state. In other words "Melayu Raya".
At the same time they hypocritically welcome millions of foreign non-Malay Muslims into Malaya Sabah and Sarawak and make them instant "Malays" and given the right to vote. (How can this be "pure"?)
An article in these pages has warned of the "clear and present danger" of Sabahans (also and Sarawakians) losing all their rights with the implementation of "Melayu Raya" policies.
This will crystallise at the polls and it is feared that in Sabah the "illegals" will control the vote as UMNO has already started to shift instant voters into many Sabah constituencies to strengthen their voter base.
Real Sabahans will simply be outnumbered and out voted.
In Sarawak there are fewer "illegals" and there is still has a better chance for the people to exercise and fair and democratic vote subject to the gerrymandering and vote rigging by the UMNO backed PBB BN.
However, again it is feared that in time this advantage will be lost to the increasing number of illegals from across the borders.
The said article also mentioned that UMNO is using this approach to create the impression that their changes are being made legitimately by vote and therefore appears democratic to the world.
But how can it be democratic when the vote has been rigged and stacked with instant foreign "illegals" who outnumber the real local people?
So HURIFA is welcome and it is hope it will expose to the world UMNO'as Melayu Raya apartheid and anti-freedom and human rights agenda already in place since 1969.