Waytha, the new Jeffrey Kitingan, has no reasons to help cover up racist BN past

Waytha Moorthy Ponnusamy, our dynamic Minister for National Unity and Social WellBeing, has no reasons to apologise for remarks during a TV interview nearly ten years ago at The Hague, Netherlands.



We can be seen as well, albeit briefly, in a video of the interview which has gone viral in recent days. We were not interviewed but have no reasons to disagree with Waytha.

Waytha in Malaya is what Jeffrey Kitingan is in Borneo.

Hindraf Makkal Sakthi's constituency is the 350, 000 stateless people in Malaya -- and countless others in Sabah Sarawak -- and the 850, 000 displaced estate workers including many non-Indians, freedom of conscience and other human rights issues.

There are no reasons why non-Muslims have to convert if they marry Muslims. The stark reality is that both become murtad. When the Muslim partner takes on another wife, his previously non-Muslim wife returns to her old religion. She's forced to remain Muslim on paper.

It's a fact the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) gov't was racist for most of its 60 years in power.

It not only rooted for ketuanan Melayu and ketuanan Islam but tried to make life as difficult as possible for non-Muslims.

The Orang Asal, for example, were denied the benefits of Article 153 if they were not Muslim.

At the same time, the federal gov't went beyond the four areas in Article 153 to make life for non-Muslims a living hell in all walks of life. This is not a fairy tale.

Article 153 envisaged a special position, by way of a reasonable proportion, on intake into the civil service; intake into institutions of higher learning owned by the gov't and training opportunities; gov't scholarships; and opportunities from the gov't to do business.

Malays, according to the 2010 census, formed only 50.4 per cent of the population. If they make up over 90 per cent of the federal civil service, that's not a reasonable proportion.

The civil service must reflect the demography of the nation.

Elsewhere, it's an open secret that Sabah Sarawak are the poorest territories in Malaysia, because of the colonialist policies of the Federal gov't towards the Orang Asal in particular.

Malaysia, formed on 16 Sept 1963, promised security and development for Sabah Sarawak.

The grinding poverty of Sabah Sarawak provides ample proof that the Federal gov't has failed to bring development to the two Orang Asal nations in Borneo.

The situation will go from bad to worse unless the distribution of political power, resources and revenue are restructured.

Putrajaya failed to provide security for Sabah.

The state has been over-run by illegal immigrants as the Federal gov't virtually looked the other way. The people have lost their sovereignty as outsiders entered the electoral rolls by means more foul than fair.

We urge Putrajaya to stop collecting taxes in Sabah Sarawak and surrender its control of oil and gas resources in Borneo to their state gov'ts.

Instead, the state gov'ts of Sabah and Sarawak can contribute to the Federal gov't for the Borneo component in defence, internal security, foreign affairs and the Malaysian Common Market.

It would suffice if deputy ministers are appointed from Sabah Sarawak in these four areas.

There's no need to involve Sabahans and Sarawakians in the rest of the Federal Cabinet.

It does not concern them.

If Waytha wants to involve Sabahans and Sarawakians in his Ministry of National Unity and Social WellBeing, we would not quarrel with him.

So far, he has not done so, although he has visited both states numerous times since May 9. He has said he wants to learn from Sabah Sarawak on national unity and integration.