MY RESPONSE: Why only  6 months? As far as I am concerned, he can stay on until the next elections. Take as much as time as he likes since changing the culture is, by his own admission, a long term process. Furthermore, the chance of being made a Tan Sri is too tempting for him to quit. Hang around and you will be rewarded for your effort. That is the system as it has been for years.

The bottom line is clear. Mr Low is likely to suffer the same fate as former Minister-Senator Tan Sri Amirsham Aziz (left) who came from Maybank to be in charge of the Economic Planning Unit in the Prime Minister’s Department, or Zaid Ibrahim who joined Badawi’s Cabinet as Law Minister and left in a huff.   Even Minister-Senator Wahid who is in the Cabinet from Maybank could end up in the same way as his predecessor, Amirsham. Zaid is a politician, and Amirsham,  Low, and Wahid are not.

Mr Low will face serious resistance from the bureaucracy which is hostile towards outsiders from the private sector because it does not want them to see its weaknesses and ineptitude.The risk of rejection is high for those who have been transplanted into the bureaucratic structure of government. So adapt, and play along is the antidote and that won’t result in change in the business of public administration.

There is one exception, of course, and that is the case of Minister-Senator Idris Jala, CEO of PEMANDU who has been given a clear mandate to drive Prime Minister Najib’s Transformation Agenda and the power to appoint his own staff. And so, he is doing a fairly good job as transformation advocate.–Din Merican

___________________

Newly-Minted Minister Paul Low deserves a Chance

by Francis Paul Siah@http://www.malaysiakini.com

COMMENT:Newly-minted Minister Paul Low must be having mixed feelings these days. Surely, it must have been a great honour to be appointed a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department. Low must feel proud to be recognised for his past contributions to the nation, both as a business and civil society leader. Rightly, he should.

On the other hand, the barrage of criticisms against Low could have weighed him down and dampened his spirit considerably.

It must be particularly uncomfortable when people in Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M), the very organisation he served as chairperson, started casting aspersions on some of his decisions.

Then, some Pakatan Rakyat leaders unleashed some harsh words on him immediately after he gave his first press conference as a minister. I thought that was a bit premature and unfair to the man who has just started work (at a ripe age of 66, mind you) and in an unfamiliar setting.

Yesterday, former MACC adviser Robert Phang dropped another bombshell when he said that Low had violated Transparency International’s code of ethics by accepting his appointment as a minister.

Referring to Low’s statement that he has no enforcement powers, Phang said it was an admission by Low that he is a lame duck. Not very uplifting words from people whom Low would gladly call friends, I’m sure.

No words of encouragement, even from friends

I would have thought that words of encouragement from friends and associates, particularly those within the leadership of civil society, would be in order.

Alas no – that was not to be. What I’ve gathered from media reports are more negatives than positives. But I’m sure the new Minister would have received different, kinder and more generous vibes from his private circles.

I wouldn’t want to criticise the new Minister just yet. He has just embarked on his new ministerial duties and is probably in the process of setting up his new office and sorting out the personnel made available to him.

Let’s be fair to Paul Low. Let’s give him time to settle in. Allow him to concentrate on the job in front of him first, before we start to hurl criticisms and insults at him.

Let us give him six months to get cracking on his job and responsibilities. The tasks ahead of him are not one of envy – they sit pretty high on public expectations.

I would even venture to say that only a fool would be willing to take up a portfolio tasked with ensuring that transparency and accountability are the hallmarks of a government that was notoriously famed for its opposites for five long decades.

How could Low seriously think that he could propose changes to government systems, procedures and processes to reduce opportunities for corruption when the very system he is now embedded in is riddled with legal loopholes that enable the rich and powerful to get away with corrupt practices?

If Low is a fool, I must honestly say that this fool has my respect for now.

Even as I appeal to my fellow Malaysians to give Low six months before we start judging him, I must also say I’m not sure that the good man will last that long in the cabinet.

I expect him to clash frequently with his boss and cabinet colleagues in the days and months ahead.

We know only too well what transparency and accountability mean to most of Low’s cabinet colleagues. These are the people who were unwilling to declare their assets publicly in the first place.

Low has conceded that he has no enforcement powers and is hoping to rely on the prime minister’s stature to enable him to fight corruption.

I believe that the day when push comes to shove in terms of policy matters set in, his conscience will get the better of him.

Thus, I’m not sure Low will last even six months in the cabinet. I foresee a second Zaid Ibrahim. Nonetheless, if the new minister is a man who relishes tackling the next-to-impossible challenges, then he has my support. I sincerely hope Paul Low succeeds.

FRANCIS PAUL SIAH heads the Movement for Change, Sarawak (MoCS). He can be reached at sirsiah@gmail.com

Malaysia’s Top Diplomat Kamil tells his story

“The life of a diplomat and foreign policy maker can be pretty much routine and humdrum during the best of times. However, there is no lack of excitement and thrills.”–Ambassador Kamil Jaafar.

In the Preface to his memoirs, Growing Up with  the Nation,  Special Envoy of the Prime Minister and  former Secretary General to Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Kamil Jaafar says “[T]he subject of this book will be a personal, subjective account of my life and career as a diplomat. It is my intention to try to explain the decision-making process preceding the policy formulations of Malaysia’s approach to a number of specific international issues as well as Malaysia’s understanding of regional priorities.” (Preface, xii).

He has been able to discuss in depth with insight and eloquence issues like the formation of ASEAN, bilateral relations with Indonesia and the Philippines over the formation of Malaysia and the Sabah claim and Singapore under Lee Kuan Yew, the Cambodian conflict in the context of the Vietnam War, Malaysia’s engagement with China following the historic visit to the PRC by our Second Prime Minister Tun Haji Abdul Razak in 1974 (see pic below), the civil wars in Somalia and Sudan, and ethnic cleansing in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Malaysia’s role in the Middle East  especially over the Palestine Question receives good coverage in his memoirs.

Ambassador Kamil also discussed territorial disputes that continue plagued our region. His account of his years in Japan as our Ambassador makes a very interesting read from my perspective. I recall my meeting with him in Tokyo over dinner and he told me that he admired the Japanese people and their rich culture, work ethics, and proud history. He handled the Japanese well and for that he should be congratulated. He is without doubt an excellent representative of our country to Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, China,Japan, Germany, Switzerland, and the United Nations.

In dealing with complex issues and difficult problems throughout his 34-year career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he  showed lots of patience and tact, using excellent interpersonal and negotiating skills, and bringing into play his breadth of knowledge and well rounded education in history and politics he had at the University of Malaya,coupled with his hands-on training in diplomacy and international relations in Wisma Putra under the stewardship of then Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs, (Tun) Ghazali Shafie.

On his former boss, Ambassador Kamil had this to say”…It is generally recognised that the early batches of the Malaysian Foreign Service were the product of Tan Sri Ghazali Shafie’s moulding. His aggressive and inquisitive stye, coupled his quick temper, put a fear in our young hearts. Those who survived the full blast of his temper when thing went wrong were later transformed into a dedicated and professional core of officers that would serve the country right into the 21st century.

Tan Sri Ghazali Shafie made great demands on us all and once you learned to face the challenge you begin to appreciate  and value his style of on-the-spot training, even when it felt like a whipping. Yes, he whipped us into shape…” (p.31)

The Postscript to his memoirs merits carefully reading because it contains invaluable pointers on the conduct of Malaysia’s foreign policy. Ambassador  Paramjit S. Sahai, former High Commissioner of India to Malaysia (1996-2000), who wrote the Introduction to Growing Up with the Nation noted:

” ‘Postscript’ is couched in highly philosophical tones. Even though Tan Sri Kamil claims that he would try to avoid forcing Malaysia’s foreign policy into any theoretical mould, be it described as ‘predictive, scientific or deductive’ he is not unmindful of the challenges coming from global governance, trans-nationalism, power politics versus issue politics. He unhesitatingly states that it would not be in Malaysia’s national interest to ‘compartmentalise our practice of diplomacy into being Islamic and non-Islamic’ as Malaysia’s existence ‘is founded on cultural pluralism and social justice, built upon communal tolerance and individual dignity’. Prima facie, it has to be ‘based on the need to protect, defend and promote its national interests’ while ensuring that ‘communitarianism and normative values form part of that world’”

The memoirs is a candid and heart rending story of a boy from Kulim-Bukit Mertajam, North Malaysia who was privileged to have have an excellent education from school ( Bukit Mertajam High School and Malay College Kuala Kangsar) and University of Malaya. That boy blossomed into an impressive Malaysia’s top diplomat and Special Envoy of the Prime Minister. I recommend Growing Up with a Nation as an excellent read on Malaysia’s Foreign Policy.–Din Merican

NOTE:  The launch of Growing Up with the Nation by HE Tun Datuk Seri Mohd. Khalil bin Yaacob, Governor of Malacca, will be at the Hotel Impiana, Jalan Pinang, Kuala Lumpur on May 22, 2013 at 4.30 pm

]]> http://dinmerican.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/diplomat-kamil-tells-his-story/feed/ 7 Din Merican Kamil's Memoirs Tun Razak visit China in 1974 Ghazali Shafie http://dinmerican.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/finalise-the-state-exco-for-selangor-quickly/ http://dinmerican.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/finalise-the-state-exco-for-selangor-quickly/#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 14:30:15 +0000 dinobeano http://dinmerican.wordpress.com/?p=55445 Continue reading »]]> May 20, 2013

Finalise the State Exco for Selangor quickly

COMMENT: It is indeed unfortunate that Selangor Menteri Besar, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, has not able to form his own “Cabinet”for more than 2 weeks since GE-13. This is due to wrangling for seats by component parties within Pakatan Rakyat.

The DAP should agree to three seats with a Speaker’s post rather than belabour over allocation of seats in the State Exco.

Let the Menteri Besar run the state as soon as possible. That requires cooperation among the coalition partners, DAP, PAS and PKR. Cooperation means compromise in the overall interest of the state. Penang and Kelantan have done so smoothly. And why not Selangor? –Din Merican

Weathering one tempest, Khalid saunters into another

by Terence Netto@http://www.malaysiakini.com

After coolly weathering the tempest caused by Azmin Ali’s challenge to his chief ministership, Khalid Ibrahim, who took his oath for a second term as Menteri Besar of Selangor last Tuesday, has had almost immediately afterwards to deal with another potentially tricky situation.

The quandary may well cause him to reflect that the tantrum thrown by Azmin was a storm in a teacup compared to what he is presently faced with.
This concerns the composition of the state executive council.

Last Thursday, at a brief meeting of the top Selangor Pakatan Rakyat leaders, the composition of the state exco was set for a four-seat allocation to DAP, with three seats each going to PKR and PAS, the latter enjoying the prerogative of nominating the speaker of the state assembly.

However, matters took an awkward turn after Khalid had a meeting with the Sultan of Selangor on Friday which caused Khalid to change tack.

On Saturday, he tweeted that the DAP has been allocated three exco seats together with the speaker’s post. This meant that four exco seats were to go to PAS and three to PKR.

DAP’s Tony Pua (left), who attended last Thursday’s meeting, promptly remonstrated that the new arrangement was out of sync with the agreement reached at the Selangor Pakatan discussion.

Yesterday, Khalid tamped down the nascent contretemps by letting the DAP know that the discord would be resolved in two days.

How that was going to be possible was hard to envisage given the nature of the problem that had caused Khalid to apparently renege on the the formula for the allocation of state cabinet seats drawn up at the Selangor Pakatan meeting last Thursday.

Khalid’s backtracking was attributed to the Selangor palace’s desire to see seven of the state exco seats occupied by Malay legislators, with four seats reserved to non-Malay reps.

Acquiescing to this behest meant that Khalid would have to restrict DAP to three seats instead of the four agreed to last Thursday, with the speaker-ship thrown it as sweetener.

That approach would have allowed him to include one non-Malay in PKR’s allocation of three seats, what with the DAP’s allotment of three seats guaranteed to be occupied by its Chinese reps which would then bring the non-Malay total in the state cabinet to four, as per the Selangor palace’s wishes.

Faced with a dilemma

But if the DAP were unwilling to accede to the allocation of three seats to it plus the speakership, Khalid would be faced with a dilemma with respect to the palace-requested racial division of seven Malays to four non-Malays in the state cabinet.

The seven ‘Malay’ seats in the exco would then be occupied by legislators composed of four PAS reps, certain to be all Malay, and three PKR ones, who would necessarily be Malay in contradistinction to its multi-racial image as a party.

If Khalid cannot persuade the DAP to be satisfied with three exco seats, with the speakership thrown in, then he has to revert to the last Thursday’s arrangement whereby the DAP would be allocated four seats, and PAS three, with the speaker’s post thrown in for good measure, while PKR gets three seats.

Needless to say, this formula would not be in keeping with PKR’s multi-racial image. If this were all the problems Khalid faced with respect to the composition of the state cabinet, matters would not be comparably daunting.

There is also the matter of the ‘Aku Janji’ pledge that the Selangor palace would want exco members to make after taking the oath of office as members of the state cabinet.

There is a provision on the ‘Aku Janji’ list that requires the state ministers to pledge to abide by all the directives issued by the ruler.  This is tricky because of the dilemma exco members would be in when faced with issues where directives are perceived to be in conflict with the interests of people whom they have been elected to represent.

The ‘Aku Janji’ pledge is a legacy of the days of UMNO-BN rule, devised by a mindset that is apt to identify their survival with the interests of the people.  That it is being recycled and foisted on a Pakatan administration that has been re-endorsed by a Selangor electorate by a bigger margin than when it was first elected at the 2008 polls can be taken to be a validation of the Shakespearean insight that the bad humans do lives on after them whereas the good is often interred with their bones.

Khalid Ibrahim, by all accounts a good manager in his role as state CEO, may have felt that successfully fending off the challenge of his PKR rival Azmin Ali to his continued occupation of the Selangor MB’s post was cool; he’s just now confronted with a challenge to his mettle as a democratically elected leader of a multi-racial component of a coalition that is wont to deemphasise race in preference to national identity.

How he gets the salience of those democratic facts across to people who can be a little forgetful about the nature of our polity where the monarchy is constitutional – and not peremptory – constitutes the bigger test of his calibre as a leader.

COMMENT: When I went to the polling station at SMK Seafield, Subang Jaya with my wife, Dr. Kamsiah on May 5, I thought I was an isolated case of a voter whose name had been inadvertently deleted during the updating of the electoral roll. I had voted there in 2004 and 2008. I had known in advance that my name was not in the roll, but some friends told me that I should go there early and appeal to the officer in charge so that I could be granted my democratic right to vote. But still my right to vote was denied. So I could not have the pleasure of having the infamous indelible ink on my forefinger!

I also discovered that I was not alone. 20 eligible voters before me had suffered the same fate. I left the polling station disappointed. Later that election night, I consoled myself that DAP’s Hannah Yeoh and her colleague for the Parliamentary constituency had won convincingly. –Din Merican

PKR reveals proof of phantom voters

In a series of exposes on electoral fraud, PKR today revealed a case where eight individuals in various constituencies were denied the right to vote as someone else had cast the ballots using their identities.

I was of those victims who could not vote , here standing at the polling station in SMK Seafield, Subang Jaya where I had voted in 2004 and 2008

Speaking at a press conference today, PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli said that the individuals affected had lodged police reports on the matter and are still waiting for action from the authorities.

“This shows that the existence of identical MyKads given to various individuals so that they can become phantom voters,” he alleged.

Pakatan Rakyat had alleged that the recent general election was marred with irregularities and had embarked on a series of rallies to inform the public of the matter.

The opposition pact also added that they would file election petitions for about 30 parliamentary seats.

Discredits electoral process

The parliamentary constituencies based on Rafizi’s list were Sungai Petani, Rembau, Kuala Selangor, Serdang, Kemaman, Tumpat and Shah Alam.

Rafizi, who is also Pandan MP, said that although the opposition had won in some places mentioned, the alleged phantom voters were widespread in other areas while many have yet to lodge police reports on the matter.

“Nevertheless, the moment you have phantom voters, it discredits the entire electoral process.

Why are they so happy? They think they had done the duty. They should be ashamed of themselves, the moment you have phantom voters, it discredits the entire electoral process.

“But the issue is also bigger than phantom voters. It also shows that there is something wrong with how MyKads are being given out by the National Registration Department (NRD),” he said.

Rafizi urged the Election Commission (EC) and the NRD to explain the matter so that they could be judged in the court of public opinion.

“Let them come up with another foolish statement like the ones they gave on the indelible ink fiasco. I also urge Khairy Jamaluddin, our newly appointed [Youth and Sports] minister, to explain this as it also involves his Rembau constituency,” he said.

On his next course of action, Rafizi said that he would try to get the eight individuals to also sign statutory declarations (SD) on the matter to take it up when filing the election petitions.

He added that the EC and NRD should at least issue a statement to address the anomaly rather than keeping mum. “They need to be held accountable. At least acknowledge the problems instead of being in denial,” said Rafizi who vowed to reveal more findings on electoral irregularities soon.

Islamic Diplomacy and the Search for Human Security

The Keynote Address at the Peace and Security Forum 2013 at the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kuala Lumpur on May 16,2013.

I WARMLY commend the organisers of this conference for shining a spotlight upon one of the most pressing challenges confronting the Muslim world.

The violent conflicts that afflict some Muslim countries are discussed in many conferences. They feature in the global media every day. In fact, they feature in the global media virtually every hour of every day, and in my view rightly so, for almost every day Muslim lives are lost, Muslims’ limbs are maimed and Muslim land and property destroyed.

But few international forums — and far less the global media — look at the problems the Muslim world is encountering in a way that is more profound and comprehensive, as that of a paucity of human security.

Fewer still approach the subject of human security in the Muslim world from the standpoint of the role that Islam and diplomacy can play in promoting it. The theme of this conference is, therefore, both novel and welcome.

Before I proceed, I should like to take a moment to place the problem of human security, as I see it, in perspective. It is interesting to note that the concept of human security first came into international vogue as a result of the work of a Muslim economist, Dr Mahbub ul Haq. He conceived both the concepts of human development as well as human security that have been so central to the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) approach to developmental issues since the 1990s.

Unlike the Human Development Index of the UNDP — which has now been widely accepted and adopted — an index of human security is still very early work-in-progress. Even an understanding of what human security means and what it encompasses is the subject of debate and discussion.

Until the dust settles on this subject, I should like to be guided essentially by the initial concept as outlined by the UNDP in 1994 and developed further in Version 2 of the Human Security Index.

I must stress, however, that the Human Security Index probably cannot yet be regarded as a sufficiently robust measure of the real state of human security among different countries. But it does give some general picture of the situation. Its importance at this stage lies more in its ability to depict the relative gravity of conditions in different countries based on the criteria employed.

In my view, briefly expressed, human security centres on the security of the human person and the community. This is unlike the conventional notions of national security which pivot around the security of the state.

Human security includes traditional national security concerns such as security from external aggression, security from external intervention, security from foreign occupation as well as security from internal strife; but it also embraces much more.

It includes the security of livelihood provided by steady jobs and meaningful employment; the security from disease that is provided by good and widely accessible health facilities; food security; protection from crime and domestic violence; freedom from political repression; the right to practice one’s religion freely; and the right to clean air, safe water and a sustainable and healthy environment.

Human development as postulated by the UNDP is thus closely correlated with human security. The former seeks to develop the human person; the latter to protect him or her from threats to that development.

Human security facilitates human development, while human development releases more resources to improve human security.

Human security tends to be better assured in peaceful countries that rank high in human development, but it can also lag behind.The United States, for instance, ranks No. 3 in the latest Human Development Index; yet its composite Human Security Index ranking is 147 out of 232 countries and dependencies.

The ranking reflects very poor scores in several areas, including very high incarceration rates and wide disparities in income and wealth.

Thus understood, human security, or human insecurity, knows no nationality. It knows no religion. And it knows no race or ethnicity.

Although the peoples of the developed nations of Europe and North America are less vulnerable, human insecurity also tends to recognise no geography.

Unemployment in the European Union, for instance, is expected to reach an average of 12.2 per cent this year. That is four times the unemployment rate of Malaysia. In Spain and Greece, every fourth person in the workforce is unlikely to have a job.

Human security, whether in the Muslim world or elsewhere, is something that is complex in the sense that it cannot be advanced by just the one tool of diplomacy.

Diplomacy, indeed, is perhaps not even the most important instrument. Much of the hard work must be done at home in each country, through sound and equitable political, economic and social policies.

The primary actor and driver may indeed be the state, but there are a host of other important domestic and external players that make an impact upon human security in every individual locale.

The mix of political, economic, social and security factors that affect human security differ markedly among countries and communities, Muslim as well as non-Muslim.

I will elaborate on some of these general points presently, but let me turn now to the quest for human security in the Muslim world.

As we know, Muslim communities are found virtually everywhere on the globe and amidst differing conditions of human security.

Like many non-Muslim majority countries, Muslim countries and Muslim-majority countries often fare worse in the Human Security Index than they do in the Human Development Index.

This reflects their relatively poorer performance in areas such as political freedoms, income distribution, access to information and personal security compared to indicators such as per capita GDP (Gross Domestic Product).

Whereas at least ten Muslim-majority countries make it to the top 70 in the Human Development Index ranking, none are in the top 70 in the Human Security Index ranking. Seven countries managed to be ranked between 80 and 100. As in the case of the Human Development Index, many Muslim countries are ranked in the bottom third of the Human Security Index table.

The picture that emerges shows that the comprehensive well-being of the people in a number of Muslim-majority countries leaves much to be desired.

Many millions of Muslims do enjoy high levels of material security as minorities in affluent Western countries and as majorities in high income and peaceful Muslim countries like Malaysia, Brunei, Turkey, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

But when factors like extensive poverty, unemployment, income inequality, poor education opportunities, inequitable access to healthcare, violent conflict, political repression, abuse of rights, lack of information empowerment, and the position of women are factored in, about a billion Muslims in a majority of the Muslim countries, or two-thirds of the total global Muslim population, are at risk.

The tragic human security conditions in conflict-ridden and occupied Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, and war-torn Syria, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan — the last four are occupied, but, only by themselves — are only too painfully evident to us all.

But there are also hundreds of millions of Muslims who live in vulnerable communities or areas in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Indonesia, Yemen, Nigeria, Niger, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Benin, Chad and Senegal.

Put bluntly, the Muslim world is home to a disproportionate share of all the seven areas of human insecurity identified by the UNDP.

Vulnerabilities to aggression, foreign intervention and occupation, sectarian, tribal and ethnic strife, joblessness, poverty and severe income disparities, disease, crime, undemocratic regimes, political repression and violation of rights, discrimination against and abuse of women, and even natural and environmental disasters are all too common and even pervasive in large parts of the Muslim world.

In the Arab world, including the imploding crucible that is Syria today, as well as in Afghanistan, the destruction that Muslims have managed to inflict upon themselves has been colossal. This has been aggravated by some countries that have colluded with foreign powers and involved themselves in the affairs of fellow Arab and Muslim nations.

The Sunni-Shia fault line that runs through the Arab crescent and the Persian Gulf has been a major destabilising factor. It pits Muslim against Muslim not only within countries but between countries as well.

Together with historical tribal enmities, it underlies much of the unrest in the Arab world today. The confrontation between Arabs and Persians, for example, is an age-old enmity that has further embroiled West Asian nations in intra-Muslim struggle and conflict.

The Sunni-Shia sectarianism, tribal animosities and Arab-Persian power plays have undermined not just the national resilience of Muslim countries in West Asia and North Africa. They have also rendered the countries even more vulnerable to the machinations, military intervention and occupation by foreign powers and weakened their capacity to present a collective response to Israel.

Next to war and violence, nothing degrades human security and human dignity more than extreme poverty and widespread unemployment, for their effects are often hunger, malnutrition, starvation, illiteracy, disease and crime.

Such conditions also contribute to a highly combustible political environment.In this regard, poverty and unemployment levels are unacceptably high in much of the Muslim world. No less than 40 to 65 per cent of the population live below the national poverty line in nearly a third of all Muslim countries or those with a sizeable Muslim component, for which there is reliable information.

Democratic governance, protection of human rights and support for gender equality are also key attributes of human security and human development that are in short supply in many of those countries.

Taken together then, the human security landscape of the Muslim world is a grim and dismal one. However, this situation has nothing to do with Islam. It is, in fact, the very antithesis of all that Islam stands for.

Instead, the problems have more to do with factors such as sectarian, tribal and class rivalries; the consequences of colonisation including borders drawn without regard to the glue that natural demographic patterns would have yielded; the strategic location and resources of the Gulf region that make them perennial targets of predatory powers; the insecurity of small states that seek alliance with foreign powers; the dislocation that the imposition of the state of Israel created and the half century of violence that has followed in the absence of a political solution; the grip of unhealthy tribal traditions and customs that distort religious interpretation and inhibit human development; and the absolute lack of resources in some sub-Saharan countries.

As I observed earlier, the improvement of human security, as also in the case of human development, is a task mainly to be done at home. Indeed, diplomacy is one of the means which can be used for that purpose. It normally comes into prominence, however, only when a country is at war or is under military threat, or when there is foreign intervention in internal conflicts.

For those Muslim countries and their peoples that are in this unfortunate situation, like Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Sudan (and thus South Sudan), diplomacy becomes a crucial instrument.

But good diplomacy — I am using “diplomacy” here interchangeably with foreign policy — can also be important for alleviating other aspects of the human security conditions that prevail in many Muslim communities.

Diplomacy has become indispensable in this globalised age when the politics, economics and security of nations and communities are becoming increasingly enmeshed.

Although domestic policies are primary, human security and human development are impossible to pursue without engagement with the outside world and without interaction with other important actors.

This is especially the case for the less developed nations with scarce or limited resources that make up a large proportion of the Muslim world.

If diplomacy — that is diplomacy as in foreign policy — is important in the pursuit of human security, what has Islam to offer to the endeavour? How can Islam affect diplomacy so as to provide better human security in the Muslim world and beyond?

When I surveyed the literature on Islam and diplomacy, the work that stood out was the Rusul al-Muluk, or Messengers of Kings. Written in the tenth century, or about 300 years after the demise of the beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), it describes the diplomacy that was practised by the Arabs and Muslims from pre-Islamic days to its own time.

It also presents and makes use of examples of Arab diplomatic practice drawn from the Quran and other sources used by Muslim scholars.

The work examines extensively the use of emissaries, diplomatic exchanges, the types of treaties and agreements that the Prophet and other Muslim leaders entered into with Muslim and non-Muslim tribes and empires, the principles of diplomatic negotiations, the codes that guided war and peaceful settlement, the granting of asylum, and the treatment of prisoners, refugees and minorities.–Part I (May 18, 2013)

MUCH of the diplomacy that is described in the book Rusul al-Muluk, or Messengers of Kings, existed before Islam, and it also continued to be practised by non-Muslim nations after the revelation of Islam.

From translations of ancient writings such as Letters from Early Mesopotamia and the Amarna Letters, we learn that there was a thriving culture of diplomacy that had been practised as far back as the 3rd millennium BC, in the very region we now call West Asia and North Africa.

The diplomacy depicted in that literature, practised by the ancient kingdoms and empires of Mesopotamia, Babylonia, Assyria and Egypt, among others, included diplomatic codes of conduct, exchange of emissaries, arbitration and mediation, negotiation of treaties and treatment of political fugitives.

Diplomacy in somewhat less ancient times developed in similar modes in the great civilisations of China and India. For example, the “realist theory” of International Relations can be traced back to Sun Tzu in 6th century BC China and Kautilya in 3rd century BC India. The Persian, and the Roman and then the Byzantine Empires, of course, were famous for their diplomatic endeavours.

The revelation of Islam, however, brought a sea-change in the conduct of foreign policy and the practice of diplomacy as Muslim political sway expanded in West Asia and beyond.

Islam’s conception of humanity, the Ummah, its world view and its ethos and values were infused into foreign policy and diplomatic practice. The personal character of the Prophet (PBUH), guided by the principles and teachings of Islam, also left its imprint.

The Rusul al-Muluk, the Islamic work which I referred to earlier, is not an ordinary manual on diplomacy; rather, it is a work that boldly argues for a very modern theory of International Relations, by rejecting warlike policies in favour of low-key but firm diplomacy with the pragmatic outlook of constructive realpolitik — all done with the aim and intention of securing the common goal of human security among all mankind.

The ultimate purpose of Islam is the well-being and salvation of all humankind, irrespective of national, ethnic or even religious identity. Islam’s horizon is the Universe: it does not stop with the Muslim Ummah.

This is the bedrock upon which universal human well-being (including what is now called “human security”) is to be built, both domestically and abroad, across nations.

Development, peace, security, justice and human dignity are for all peoples regardless of race or gender or even faith. Human beings are created by God to fulfil the dual role of the person as a servant of God (al-’Abd) and as His representative (al-Khalifah) on Earth.

The goals of Islam that have a bearing upon the prevailing ideas of human security – as well as human development – are founded on two concepts. One is that of human well-being: Sa’adah, which can also mean success, happiness, prosperity or felicity.

The second is the Muslim concept of the good life in this world and in the next world: Hayatun Tayyibah. The balanced fulfilment of both the material and spiritual needs of all human beings will lead to human well-being and the good life that fulfils human security needs.

A fundamental core of human security is the freedom from want, and this is best assured by education and knowledge, which can help secure jobs and a better livelihood. In Islam the pursuit of knowledge, both spiritual and material, is nothing short of a religious obligation. Acquisition of knowledge is considered a form of worship and will bring a Muslim closer to God.

Islam also enjoins ethical action (‘Amal Salih), morality (Akhlak), justice and fairness (‘Adl), moderation (‘Iffah), integrity (Amanah), and provision for the poor and the disadvantaged.

The payment of zakat, or charity, by the rich for the poor is obligatory. Islam’s principle of Tawhid further demands that there be no exploitation among human beings. All these teachings point to a basic concern with what we call “human security”.

In the field of foreign policy, diplomacy and war, the Islamic tradition privileges negotiations and peaceful resolution of disputes over war. It further specifically forbids the taking of innocent life and damage to property.

It also enjoins humane treatment of prisoners and due protection for refugees. Our tradition counsels just peace, when the circumstances allow.

The Islamic faith, thereby, provides a unique religious, normative and legal reference for the formulation and implementation of foreign as well as domestic policies to protect and promote human security.

So what roles can Islam play in the contemporary diplomacy of Muslim countries in their pursuit of human security? I can think of at least three.

FIRST the great achievement of the Prophet (PBUH) in bringing peace and reconciliation to the warring tribes and communities of Arabia can be invoked to inspire and reinforce efforts to reduce enmity among Muslim countries and communities and make their relations harmonious.

There is no more necessary and important effort than the active pursuit of reconciliation for healing the wounds caused by conflicts, bloodshed and violence.

This is especially pressing for the conflicts in West Asia and North Africa, where Sunni-Shia sectarianism and tribal conflicts are tearing nations apart and bringing them into conflict with one another.

What is happening in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan with the involvement of other Muslim countries as well as outside powers is producing the very antithesis of the peaceful aims and teachings of Islam. It strikes at the very core of the human security concerns of the affected multitudes, which include millions of displaced persons and refugees.

SECOND Islam is all about human dignity, human development and human security. Yet in so many countries of the Muslim world, it is these very things that are in shortest supply.

The values and teachings of Islam can be more effectively mobilised to spur greater efforts by Muslim countries, acting individually as well as collectively, through such institutions as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), to bring more and better development.

These efforts could embrace marginalised minority communities, such as the Rohingyas in Myanmar and the Muslims in southern Thailand and southern Philippines.

Among the programmes that should be highest in priority are those aimed at improving education and health facilities, reducing income inequities, bringing greater protection and emancipation for women, strengthening representative government, and enhancing standards of governance.

These, in fact, are some of the causes that are already being championed by organisations such as the Islamic Development Bank, but progress will continue to be slow unless there is greater commitment from many member countries.

THIRD the non-governmental infrastructure for human development and human security greatly needs to be developed in many Muslim countries. Organisations in civil society and the private sector have a vital role to play and an important contribution to make.

 In areas such as education, healthcare, welfare activities, protection of women and children, crime prevention and environmental conservation the participation of voluntary organisations is necessary and invaluable, especially when they are supported by the business sector and the state.

Muslim nations, again, individually as well as collectively, can do much to foster and strengthen the infrastructure within their own countries and sometimes even in others.

If we take our humanity seriously, and are motivated by the guidance conveyed in our sacred traditions, then we should expand our conception of security to embrace its human dimensions.

A foremost requirement for promoting human security is the recognition of diversity and differences in our global context, as well as within the boundaries of individual nations.

To this end we should cultivate awareness and understanding of the worldview of others, and learn to respect their various traditions.

This is why inter-cultural competence and training for understanding other religions and worldviews is important – both for non-Muslims to appreciate Islam, and for Muslims to appreciate cultures and peoples belonging to other traditions.

Indeed the search for human security is the gateway to the future of a reformed global order.The combined experiences of human societies in the modern era in the economic, political, social and cultural domains of life are pushing towards recovering the basis of security reflected in basic human needs and hopes.

Peace will only be achieved between nations, and among the diverse peoples within nations, when security is understood in these terms. (Part II-May 20, 2013)

http://www.nst.com.my

COMMENT: I have always enjoyed reading the writings of Prof. Dr. Tajuddin. He is a clear thinker with the guts to call a spade a spade. Guts and grit are qualities that are lacking in our communities. Yes, indeed. Our country is in trouble and that means we are in deep trouble. Why? Because we leave everything in the hands of politicians who have consistently betrayed our trust.

Knowing that, we remain on the sidelines assuming that the future of our country is still  in good hands. Malaysia is not in good hands. Maybe I am being a pessimist to say that we have reached a breaking point.

We have an arrogant regime back in power which is behaving like a wounded tiger ever ready to pounce on dissidents and civil society activists at the slightest provocation, and an alternative force that continues to use street protests for their own ends. I have seen both sides and I  am disappointed.

Prof Dr. Tajuddin’s message, which I endorse, is intended for those smooth talking politicians on both sides of the political divide, in UMNO-BN and Pakatan Rakyat. Stop pontificating and jostling for power and get down to the serious business of governing this country. Malaysia can no longer on auto-pilot. It needs leadership with guts and integrity to do the right thing.

Fortunately, we have civil society activists like Ambiga, Haris, Hishamuddin Rais, Poet Laureate Dato Samad Said, Dr Wong Chin Huat, Marina Chin et.al and new generation of young men like Adam Adli and the netizens who are speaking up. So far their message has not reached our rural heartland which remains the backbone of the present regime. If we can awaken the sleeping giant that is our rural heartland, we will be able to move forward for better Malaysia. Let us  now debate the good Professor’s blueprint.–Din Merican

http://www.malaysiakini.com

Malaysia is in trouble and We are: Stop Racism and Ustazism

COMMENT by Prof Dr Mohamad Tajuddin Mohamad Rasdi (May 19, 2013): Although many things remain uncertain after the GE13 result, one thing is unarguably clear… Malaysia is in trouble.

Who is in trouble? Not Pakatan, not BN to my mind… we are. We… the rakyat. Our children are in trouble and yes, theirs too, in the distant future if we do not stop this juggernaut called…racism.

I would like to outline my basic blueprint for rebuilding this country with the special focus of eliminating racism as its main objective. My programme may be ‘shocking’ or ‘unusual’ but it has the virtue of never been thought off or tried.

In architectural design training, the best design ideas are usually the ‘shockers’!I have been trained to understand the box but never to stay long in it and to always leave it on the front porch…well, most of the time.

My programme or blueprint can be easily implemented by BN…if it wants to, if it has the heart, the will and intelligence to.But if it is still sore what with statements like; ‘leave the country’ or ‘sodomising minds’ and ‘Chinese Tsunami’, then I would assume that it is disinterested to resolve the problem of racism in this country. Point blank.

Now if the minority BN government does not want to implement the programme, will the majority Pakatan form its own shadow cabinet and pool their financial resources to implement this programme?

In the first place, I have to ask Pakatan leaders a point blank question: Are you guys actually interested in resolving our dreaded racism issue?

I have followed very closely political events in this country from 1997, and after all that Anwar and Pakatan have gone through…I still have a small lingering doubt.

In my academic reading, Pakatan is simply a strong coalition built to fight one single enemy. Which enemy? Racism? Religious intolerance? Poverty? Nope…just BN.

I am generalising of course but I am using my poetic license to make this simple point that racism will still not go away if Pakatan now sits in Putrajaya. Why do I say so? Because I have not witnessed a single paper by Pakatan to seriously look at the problem of racism.

Now if Pakatan, too, seems disinterested to rebuild Malaysia, then it is up to the third political force, the rakyat via the machinery of NGOs like BERSIH and the Islamic Rennaissance Front to take matters into our own hands.

My philosophy is simple…if you believe in something; you just have to do it yourself.Then come the next election we, the rakyat, will throw both parties out and rule in a different way.

How? Think out of the box-lah.

Nice words

Now, before outlining my programme, allow me to say a few nice words about BN. Not the present BN but the old founding fathers of BN.Yes…the one before former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the sacking of Salleh Abbas (right).

To be fair UMNO, MCA and MIC have done a great service to this country by successfully working with one another amicably and providing peace and prosperity for three decades.

When I stand amidst 2,000 academics at UTM hall with easily 90% Malay Muslim scholars, I would say BN deserves an A-. Why A minus? Must subtract a very strong minus for 1969 May 13. Now let’s be clear the A- is for the BN before Mahathir.

The post Mahathir BN deserves a failing grade and the grade for a post GE13 BN is a letter and level of failure that I can’t find low enough. Why have I given a failed grade to Mahathir’s BN when we have shiny tall buildings, and a New Putrajaya kingdom with a massive crystal mosque?

Because this was when basic human decency and dignity was violated.Operasi Lalang, the Memali bloodshed, the Tun Salleh Abbas sacking, The Anwar ‘kangaroo’ Trial, The Anwar second sodomy case, The dubious sexually explicit videos and above all else the death of many innocent children in the National Service.

Fail. E-, F, X, whatever.

It is my academic reading that this nation has lost its citizen’s honor and respect. How can that compare to BRIM and the Tall Two Towers of Petronas or the Splendour of Putra Mosque?

Allah The Most High sent all his prophets to teach about the dignity and humaneness of man to treat one another with love and compassion. Allah The Most Beneficient, needs no RM600 million mosque.

So, in summation, BN was a great blessing then, but now it is becoming an entity that would dismantle what its own forefathers built. In principle, there is nothing absolutely wrong with the political concept of BN…its present leaders show no qualities comparable to the leaders of old.

Right, so now comes my programme. Remember…I am not a social scientist, nor a super management guru but just a guy with a Phd in architecture, 40 books to my name, hundreds of encyclopedia entries, hundreds of media articles and a fondness for reading how to get close to god from Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist perspectives, as well as freethinkers.

This is my take and my priority in dealing with racism.

Retrain the Ustaz

First and foremost, I would like to retrain 50 ustaz or religious teachers for six months on a single message; Islam abhors, rejects and can never tolerate racism in any form, action or even thought.

The Ustaz will be taught in class, at the temples, churches and houses of people from various races and religions.Upon graduation, they will be the light that will realign the Muslim Malay mindset.

Why have I made the ustaz my top priority? I have listened to thousands of sermons, CDs, cassettes and ceramah to know that the ustaz and the content of their lectures and sermons have contributed greatly to the polarisation of this country.

My second priority is education. I have already written extensively about vernacular schools and the national curriculum. Just to sum up, there are just two points.

First, if we are to keep the vernacular schools and religious madrasah, then there must be a no-nonsense policy that the children must have a ‘year out’ at the primary and the secondary level at a national school.

Second point is that the national school curriculum must be revamped so that cultural and religious needs of non-Malay Muslim students must also be strictly adhered to.

Exchange some of the content of science, maths, history, geography and Bahasa Malaysia for cultural studies and religious understanding.There will be teachers teaching Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism in the national curriculum.

My third priority is my Hijra Children Concept which I wrote about in Malaysiakini some time ago.

In sum, I called for volunteer parents of 14 year olds and 16 year old sons to come forth and exchange their children with a family of a different race and culture for a period of three months. In this way not only the children will get to interact with different people in Malaysia, the parents can also interact with the relatives of other culture related to the adopted child.

This is a very important programme because of its direct social implications.
Fourthly, I would personally dismantle the National Service, kick out all military personnel and reorganise the camps into fun filled summer camps concept of 2 weeks with 50 percent Malays and 50 percent non-Malays on a voluntary participatory method.

There will be no military style program but more of games, talks, art and craft and service to the community visitation to temples, churches and mosques.

Fifthly, I would reorganise Dewan Bahasa and split it into one which still concentrate on developing knowledge in Bahasa Melayu but the other entity must publish books about our different cultures and religions in the Malay, Chinese and Indian languages. The books should be about rituals, customs, religions and traditions.

Sixth, I would concentrate on our teachers in secondary and primary schools. The teachers have to be retrained like the Ustaz but in a one month course where they learn in class but also get close to the multi-ethnic parties.

Seventh is a programme for university students.The students must be retrained to understand that cultural understanding is paramount in business management as well as in public relations.

Regardless of whatever profession students target these two skills are necessary for confident career advancement or prospects.

The eighth programme is what I call the ‘Personal touch’. In the age of mobile phones, fast internet and everything on a tight schedule, we must go back to the simple days of laid back talking, eating and plain old socialising.

All politicians, high ranking officials should take off one weekend every four months to pick from a preselected family of a different race and live with them and participate in the family, religious and social rituals.

Leaders must come down to earth once in a while…or for a number of whiles in fact, to rediscover the true meaning of humility, tenderness and simple caring. All these human traits seem to have disappeared in front of the LCD screen.

Inter-cultural exchange

At UTM School of Architecture, in the measured drawing programme where students have to measure and record the history of heritage buildings, they would have to stay for a month with the families that own the houses and the community which surround it.

The inter-cultural exchange is a by-product that I found most beneficial and important.There you have it. My simple blueprint. Call it naïve, strange or even ridiculous.

But this is my honest reading of what has happened in Malaysia and how I think might return us back to a nation with a serious and humane conscience and minus racism and religious intolerance.

If BN and Pakatan is disinterested, then Malaysians of all walk of life with the help of NGOs can raise funds and organise ourselves to do what must be done for our children’s future.

Racism in Malaysia will never disappear and having certain parties purposely, accidentally or even naively perpetrating mistrust between the races will not help the situation change.

The fate of our nation lies with the few citizens who still have a conscience, hope and the vision to see Malaysia in a new light.

PROF DR MOHAMAD TAJUDDIN MOHAMAD RASDI is a 23-year veteran academic and teaches architecture at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. He specialises in mosque and Islamic architecture particularly that which relates to Malaysia using a hadith-based and socio-cultural approach in order to create the total idea of built environment suited for a whole social structure.

Prime Minister Najib: Listen to Voices of  Student Dissent

The Voice of Student Dissent

COMMENT: Elections are over but young citizen activists who are unhappy with the results are back to show their dissatisfaction with the outcome by attending rallies organized by the Opposition in large numbers. They are defying orders from the Police not to attend these gatherings which have been declared illegal by the Police.

They see injustice and want to change so that they are free to choose a government through free and fair elections. This movement for change cannot be suppressed because people like Adam Ali and his friends and associates in various universities and other educational institutions are driven by democratic ideals, not by money or fear tactics. Like their counterparts in Indonesia at the close of the Suharto era, they choose democracy and freedom.

His friends were feeding him food while his hands were handcuffed when he was brought to his place in Bangsar this evening.

Their demands are simple; they want a legitimate government, not one that retains power by massive electoral fraud. They want the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of our Election Commission to step down; like BERSIH, they seek electoral reforms, and they want the EC itself to be revamped and made independent. not an appendage of the Prime Minister’s Department.

Will the Najib administration engage them civilly? Obviously not, since the symbol of student protest, Adam Ali, is under detention and faces the prospect of imprisonment of up to 20 years under the penal code.

Here is the opportunity for the government to crack down on Malaysian dissidents. We have a new Minister of Home Affairs and Inspector-General of Police and his Deputy (above). They are keen to show that they are tough and intolerant of dissent. They will not hesitate to use whatever means available to them to deal with student  protests and political dissent led by the Opposition.

In truth, high handed methods will only acerbate, not alleviate tensions since these student activists are intelligent and reasonable people.

What the Home Affairs Minister and his Inspector-General of Police need to do is to have dialogue with them. It is very much in the power of the Minister of Home Affairs and the Inspector-General to defuse the mounting tension by releasing Adam Ali from detention and by allowing peaceful protests to go on.

At the same time, the Najib administration should address the issue of electoral reform and the demands of BERSIH for free and fair elections. It should also ask for the resignation of the Election Commission Chairman and his Deputy to facilitate change. –Din Merican

___________________

Cops widen probe on Adam

by Ram Anand@http://www.malaysiakini.com

Student activist Adam Adli, who was arrested yesterday, is also being probed under Section 124 (B) of the Penal Code in addition to being investigated under the Section 4 of the Sedition Act.

COMMENT: This is the new politics of Malaysia. One way to be in the Malaysian cabinet is to do it the Waytha Way.By putting your life on the line and compromising your health, you get the attention of the Prime Minister. And presto, you find your way to  Putrajaya. You become a senator and almost simultaneously you get to be a Deputy Minister. You do not have to be a candidate in an election. One of a kind.I can’t blame James Masing and the Sarawakians especially the Dayaks for getting upset. They delivered GE-13 to UMNO-BN but are marginalised when it came to be in the seat of government in Putrajaya.

The other way is to use a NGO like Transparency International via its Malaysian Chapter, make a lot of noise about good governance, corruption  and abuse of power. Having achieved some prominence in civil society as champion, you will be invited by the Prime Minister to be in the Cabinet as a Minister. Then immediately after your appointment, you speak to the media like Malaysiakini and the Malaysian Insider and then tell us and the rest of the world that you are  actually powerless to do anything about the things you stood up for and need to use the stature of the Prime Minister accomplish your duties as Transparency Minister.

Which way is better? Obviously, the Paul Low Way is better and smarter than the politics of Waythamoorthy. Tell me how not to be cynical about politics and Malaysian politicians.–Din Merican

Getting into the Cabinet the Waytha Way: Just Go on Hunger Strike

by Terence Netto@http://www.malaysiakini.com

DAP National Vice-Chairperson M Kulasegaran joined in the lambasting of Hindraf Chief P Waythamoorthy whose appointment as Deputy Minister in the cabinet of Najib Abdul Razak drew broadsides from critics.

“This is probably the first time in the history of political protests that you have a leader who has fasted to get into the cabinet of a government infamous for its neglect of the cause that prompted the fast in the first place,” cracked the re-elected MP for Ipoh Barat.

“At least if he got into the cabinet at minister level, there’s something there. But he’s got in as a deputy minister. All of us know a deputy minister does not attend cabinet meetings and has no impact on policy,” opined Kulasegaran (left).

Waythamoorthy was appointed a Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, presumably to handle matters covered by the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between UMNO and BN secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and the HINDRAF leader days before the general election.

These matters generally relate to the alleviation of the plight of Indian plantation workers, the resolution of statelessness among Indians, and the provision of equal education and job opportunities to Indians.

These issues were part of a six-point blueprint for the Indian poor for which HINDRAF sought to obtain the endorsement of Pakatan Rakyat in return for the movement’s backing for the opposition coalition at the general election.

When negotiations reached a deadlock, partly over the Hindraf demand that Pakatan cede seven parliamentary and 10 state seats to the movement to contest at the polls, HINDRAF, with Waythamoorthy commencing a fast to draw moral support, opened a channel of discussion with BN.

Three days before polling on May 5, HINDRAF and BN inked a deal in which Najib pledged ameliorative action on four of the six demands in HINDRAF’s blueprint.

The dropped demands were for an end to Police brutality and custodial deaths, and a halt to institutionalised racism.

‘Hindraf goes easy with BN’

Commenting on the dropped demands, Kulasegaran, who has had his fair share of the demeaning epithet – “mandore” – HINDRAF regularly hurled at Indians seen to be compliant with the reigning political order that discriminates against minorities, said:

“Isn’t it time Waythamoorthy explains why the two demands in their six-point blueprint were dropped in the MOU HINDRAF signed with PM Najib?”

“HINDRAF pressed Pakatan hard in negotiations but they seemed to have gone easy with the BN, not demanding for seats to contest and shedding two demands that are critical for the alleviation of the plight of the Indian poor,” declared Kulasegaran.

He said the MOU between HINDRAF and BN was signed only days before the general election, “and so perhaps there was not enough time to explain why the two demands were dropped.”

“But now that the election is over, I think the public is entitled to know why the two demands were dropped. If no explanation is given, people are likely to conclude that the primary motive for the deal was to enable some individuals to advance their personal career interests more than the collective interests of the Indian poor,” asserted the DAP legislator.

Kamil Jaafar–The Diplomat Extraordinaire of My Generation

COMMENT: Kamil Jaafar (he insists that I forget the “Tan Sri” bit when I address him) was my senior at MU and Wisma Putra (I joined the Foreign Service in 1963 when Tun Ghazalie Shafie was the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of External Affairs) and housemate together with Tun Mohd Khalil Yaccob, the present Governor of Malacca (right) and a host of other foreign  service colleagues at No 272, Jalan Brickfields/Jalan Tun Sambanthan, Kuala Lumpur in the heart of Little India.

Despite his many achievements as Malaysia’s top career diplomat, the First Among Equals, Kamil remains the simple and kind man that I knew when we first met at Bukit Mertajam railway station when we took the train to MU at Kuala Lumpur. Of course, he was not really that nice on the train!

He and another Kedahan, (Tan Sri) Razali Ismail (left), who was President, United Nations General Assembly in 1996-1997, ragged me throughout the night.  But I suppose the ragging brought us together to this day.

I promised Kamil that I will review his book, Growing Up with the Nation after it is launched by our respected friend, the Governor of Malacca on May 22, 2013 at 4.30 pm at Hotel Impiana, Jalan Pinang, Kuala Lumpur. My wife Dr Kamsiah and I will be there and hope you will join us at the launch.–Din Merican.

The Tiger of Wisma Putra still has his bite

by Balan Moses@http://www.nst.com.my

RESPECTED AND REVERED: After 51 years of diplomatic service, the imposing former Secretary-General has stories to tell

THE giant who greets me at the door of his spacious condominium unit in the upmarket Jalan U Thant suburb of Kuala Lumpur is wearing a wide smile, inimical really,  on the diplomat extraordinaire never known more than three decades in harness to smile.

He might have smirked, but that was par for the course, fitting the carefully cultivated image of the uncaring senior civil servant, who tolerated subordinates (and superiors), only as long as their actions and professional philosophy were in consonance with his.

But if anyone is looking to read about a Tan Sri Ahmad Kamil Jaafar, who ran roughshod over everyone, was vengeful and worked only for his glory, nothing is further from the truth as “I never harmed anyone and I never kept anything in my heart”.

“If you did well, you were promoted and gained my trust and respect. If you did not see things the way I did (in the larger interest of the nation) and fumbled, you were on your own,” he says a little past midway into the interview for this column on his memoirs — Growing Up With the Nation — to be launched on Wednesday (May 22, 2013).

“Of course, I even scolded ambassadors (and a few others in various capacities) at airports and other places, with many afraid to even talk to me after that,” the 76-year-old says, admitting that his temper sometimes got the better of him.

But again, I get the feeling that even those episodes were crafted to fuel the image of the hard-boiled bureaucraft who did not suffer fools gladly, when he was actually just a man on a personal mission to serve his country to the best of his abilities using the manpower available.

The smile for me this morning is part of a countenance reserved for friends and people that Kamil likes, a compliment for a story I wrote nine years ago in my column “Diplomatic Dealings” about him that he fancied.

The breezy welcome from the former number one diplomat at Wisma Putra, more famous for his scowls and penetrating gaze than the expansive countenance he is wearing today, is courtesy of the fact that he will be baring all about his 51 years in diplomatic service (the last 17 years or so on national service as special envoy to the Prime minister) at Hotel Impiana in three days’ time.

The 189cm-tall Kamil, a little thicker around the waist, more jowl than cheek and slightly slower in movement than in 2004, is in his element, casting a commanding eye over all he surveys at home. It is not very much unlike the towering presence he had at Wisma Putra as secretary-general, frightening lesser beings into acquiescence with a look that told you where you stood in his esteem.

Kamil is almost curt on the phone in his baritone that has lost a little of the boom it held in years past, but is still respected enough to be listened to carefully by his wife, Lena Hultgren Kamil, son, Tariq, daughter, Yuhanis, a wide range of friends and acquaintances.

If there is an occasional observation of a seemingly lack of steel in his overt personality, I feel it is just another side to the multi-facetted life of the man touted as the most famous non-conventional diplomat that Malaysia has ever produced.

The cloak-and-dagger stuff of the spy (he refuses to be buttonholed in this genre) is still very much evident to me in the almost whispered requests to steer clear of issues “better less spoken about”.

This is vintage Kamil at its best, always putting the nation first as he had since he began serving the nation under founding Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman in 1962 and continuing under five Prime Ministers, including Dato’ Seri Najib Razak (son of second Prime Minister Tun Razak Hussein, for whom he probably had the most personal affection for…”he was a very kind man”).

“This is my first and last book, Balan. Don’t expect to interview me on another book,” the tiger that roamed the corridors of Wisma Putra says in an almost threatening growl, sans a few of the proverbial “teeth” that gave him his bite in office.

Kamil beams as I ask him who will launch his book as the honour goes to old friend and bosom buddy of 56 years, Tun Mohd Khalil Yaacob, the Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Malacca, one of four classmates (also prefects) at Malay College Kuala Kangsar, who wrote new chapters in the schools annals with their mischief.

“We did a lot of havoc like going to the prefects’ room and sneaking a few cigarettes. At night, we used to leave the school and go for packets of char kuey teow in town and come back before dawn. We also used to take laundry money from students under our charge, use it for a taxi to town to live it up before giving what was left to the dobi and telling him he will get the rest the next month,” he says, chuckling at the incident that occurred in the 1950s.

His four partners-in-crime rose to high office in different areas of calling; Khalil became the head of a state; Tan Sri Razali Ismail became Malaysian special envoy to the United Nations; Sallehuddin Alang joined the French Foreign Legion; while the late Dalil Awin became a senior executive here.

All these episodes find print in his memoirs, written in a style that could be termed “diplomatese”, in the sense that the memories are strong in their profundity, but are often played out in a style that lacks the colour and character of a true-blue novelist. But then, Kamil has never claimed to be a writer, admitting in his low-key manner that “I speak better than I write”.

I am convinced that the veracity of his stories, told in a frank, guileless and breathtaking manner, will embrace and captivate the reader to a great extent.

The man who has worked with Kings, Prime Ministers and Statesmen has vignettes for some of them in his book, that traces his genesis from a gangling kampung boy in Kedah to a respected and towering figure in international diplomacy.

“Tunku Abdul Rahman was almost like a father to me. He used to tell his wife, Sharifah Rodziah, that I looked like my father because of our height. I remember one night in Bangkok, when I had to physically dig up the remains of his younger brother as he wanted them to be reburied in Kedah.

“It was a terrible night, with heavy rain and thunder, almost like out of a ghost movie, and there I was, a middle-ranking diplomat in a Muslim cemetery in a Buddhist country, up to my arms and knees in mud.”

Tun Abdul Razak was also almost like a father to Kamil, constantly wanting him to take up a diplomatic position in London, which the latter gently demurred as he wanted to be at home to do national service here. On Tun Hussein Onn, he says the old soldier was made of the stuff of legends, with his razor-sharp ethics that were premised on the fact that “one must not do to others what you do not want others to do to you”.

Kamil reminisces that Hussein (he always had a ruler and pen with him) took his own time with decisions, which sometimes did not work in consonance with the demands of a Foreign Ministry that worked around the clock. But his career truly took off under Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, with whom he had a special chemistry based on a shared belief that Malaysians were no lesser beings than others, “especially whites, who sometimes thought we were second-class people”.

On Dr Mahathir, he says they worked extremely well in “unconventional diplomacy”, which fitted the former Prime Minister’s bill as both had the force of will, commitment and character to help the downtrodden in places like Bosnia and Kosovo.

“I became an arms runner of sorts when I helped arrange for delivery of weaponry to the Bosnians, who were at the mercy of Serbs around them. Dr Mahathir and I shared a personal commitment to the Bosnians that went beyond the pale of our jobs.”

Kamil may be getting on in age, but the sharpness that sometimes riled others at senior levels in government is still there.

“Wisma Putra committed a faux pas a little while ago in the case of Bahrain, where there was a disconnect between the reality and the advice given to the leader of the land (Najib). This would never had happened back then.”

There is more new ground touched upon as Kamil meanders into Malaysian politics, which he has always studiously steered clear off, but here again, his comments are in relation to foreign policy.

“The ground under our feet is shifting after what Malaysians collectively did at the recent general election.Our foreign policy is shaped on a multiracial, multilingual and multireligious character at home and represents the sociopolitical make-up of the nation.”

Kamil wants the powers-that-be to address the problem fast,  “with special attention paid to communitarian and normative values as these are important and at the core of our social fabric”. The former diplomatic craftsman also remembers people like Farah Aidid, the Somali strongman, who  gave him a walking stick which “he said had kept him alive for years, but you know that he died the month after giving me the souvenir”.

Kamil tries to laugh the deep laugh that rang through his office and that of his friends  (he has great memories of his late friend, historian and author, Dr Chandran Jeshurun)  years ago,  but is unable to do so, no thanks to a 50 per cent lung capacity,  courtesy of scores of Camel cigarettes for a major part of his life.

“I never cry when giving speeches,  but I cried when delivering his eulogy,” says the characteristically unemotional  diplomat,  never known for asking for a quarter  and certainly giving none to no one of his childhood friends, fellow Malaysian visionary and noted historian.

Today, Kamil says the days of unconventional diplomacy are over and that he never bothered to pass on the tricks of the trade that he wrote the book on in his heydays between 1962 and 1989,  when he ruled the heap at Wisma Putra. The world at large, however, should never forget that the slightly bent (crouching) tiger still has much fire in his belly, a phenomenon  that Malaysians may witness (if he so decides to) at the launching of his book.

After all, he is still the Special Envoy to the Prime Minister and who knows what demands the nation may still make of the man who managed more delicate scenarios in foreign service than a hoard of diplomats across the board will ever handle in their lifetime.

COMMENT: There is nothing wrong for us to have a bicameral Parliament. A Unicameral one is not a panacea for our legislative branch. The quality of our representative in our Dewan Rakyat too is questionable, if you use the quality of debate in that august House as a yardstick. Furthermore, the Executive Branch does not take Dewan Rakyat seriously. It is, therefore, the duty of political parties  on both sides to choose candidates of high quality so that voters can elect the best to represent them in Dewan Rakyat. 

Parliament Malaysia–The Seat of Democracy

It is true that as presently constituted the Senate is not effective. Both UMNO-BN and Pakatan Rakyat use it a means to reward politicians who have been discredited, or rejected by the voters. We can change it so that senators are elected by the people and the powers of the Senate should be enlarged so that it can truly act as  a check and balance mechanism in our legislature.

If we wish to reform it, then we should look at how the US Senate operates. In the US, the Senate is a powerful institution to keep the Executive Branch in check. Let us amend our constitution so that senators are elected by the people, and give the Senate added powers to counterbalance the all powerful Executive Branch.–Din Merican

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Abolish the Dewan Negara ( Senate), says Karpal Singh

by Josephine Jalleh@http://www.thestar.com.my

DAP National Chairman Karpal Singh said the Senate should be abolished as it does not serve any purpose.The Bukit Gelugor MP said having the Dewan Rakyat was good enough.

“The Federal constitution should be amended to abolish the Dewan Negara.A unicameral parliament, with a single legislative chamber, as is the position in Singapore, would be best suited in the public interest,” he told a press conference here yesterday.

“The Dewan Rakyat is supreme as it comprises members directly elected by the people and, therefore, stands on high moral ground,” he said.He added that the Senate only encourages those who have been rejected by the people or others to be brought into Parliament through the “back door”.

He cited the inclusion of Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar, Datuk Seri Idris Jala, Datuk Paul Low Seng Kuan, P. Waythamoorthy, Datuk Dr Loga Bala Mohan Jaganathan and Datuk Paduka Ahmad Bashar Md Hanipah in the new Cabinet of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

“Any Cabinet worth its name must, of necessity, include personalities of integrity and high public standing and that assessment can only be brought through direct election by the people and not by appointment,” said Karpal.

The Dewan Negara currently consists of 70 Senators.