Bangladesh indigenous groups reject 15th Amendment of Constitution and terming of indigenous peoples as 'Bengali'

Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact

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Category: IP/IP Rights                                                                             Date: July 12, 2011

Bangladesh indigenous groups reject 15^th Amendment of Constitution and terming of indigenous peoples as ‘Bengali’

Main concerns that affect Indigenous peoples are:
(1) Retaining of “BISMILLAH-AR-RAHMAN-AR-RAHIM” (In the name of Allah) In the preamble of the constitution.
(2) Retaining of ISLAM as state religion: Islam alone cannot be the state religion as there are people who practice and folow other religions such as Hindu, Christian, Bouddha and Indigenous Practices.
(3) Non recognition of Indigenous Peoples as Indigenous (Adibasi). Upajati(tribes)/Khudra Jatisatta(minor races)/Nrigosthi-sampradai(ethnic sects and communities) are the terms inserted. These terminologies are not acceptable to the indigenous peoples.
(4) The Nationality and Citizenship: The People of Bangladesh shall be know as Bengali as a nation and the citizens of Bangladesh shall be know as Bangladeshis. Indigenous peoples of Bangladesh do not want to be known as Bengali. In this way Indigenous peoples own national identity will get lost.
(5) Freedom of Association: There is every possibility for the political parties/organizations/associations of the Indigenous Peoples  to be stopped terming them communal.   

10 July 2011

Najib Snubbed By UK PM?!

The flash crowd that turned up to boo Najib’s event at Mansion House (the official residence of the City of London’s Mayor) was larger than yesterday’s outside Downing Street.  They had been joined by Amnesty International, who have spoken out about the treatment of the Bersih demonstrators at the weekend.  Amnesty commands considerable respect in the UK.

Cabbie says Bersih good for business

“I wish I could cope,” a taxi driver tells our reporter.

KUALA LUMPUR: Business was brisk for some taxi drivers in the city on June 9, according to one of them.

A cabbie who drove a FMT reporter from Jalan Tun Sambanthan to Bangsar during the Bersih rally said he, like many others in the business, was not able to cope with the day’s demand for taxis.

Does Pairin really love the KDM ?

By Ezra Haganez
KOTA BELUD: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) posed a question to Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) leadership on what makes it wanting to stick with UMNO when clearly UMNO is not a help in solving many of the state' perennial problems especially the 1.7 million illegal immigrants overstaying in Sabah, and Malaysian identity cards issued to them.

Samad Said: Najib 'memang kejamlah'

Sasterawan Negara Datuk A Samad Said menyifatkan Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak sebagai perdana menteri yang "memang kejam" berbanding dengan beberapa perdana menteri sebelum ini.

"Kalau tengok (perdana menteri) yang sudah-sudah itu, (Najib) memang kejamlah," katanya ketika diminta membandingkan pentadbiran Najib dan dua penyandang sebelumnya - Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad dan Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Menceritakan kembali "kebengisan" polis dalam menangani perhimpunan BERSIH 2.0 Sabtu lalu, A Samad (kiri) mendakwa pentadbiran Najib sekarang mengarah kepada menjadikan Malaysia negara kuku besi.

Ketika diwawancara Malaysiakini di sebuah restoran di Bangsar hari ini, A Samad berkata, perkara itu boleh dilihat melalui rakaman video dan gambar di internet yang mana kerajaan "berantakan dengan orang awam".

"Youtube siarkan, kita boleh lihat semua dan (dia) tak boleh tipu. Cuma, malangnya dalam akhbar-akhbar (dan) media utama, sudah tentu kamu nampak berat sebelah," katanya yang mesra dengan panggilan Pak Samad.

"Tapi kalau (di) Youtube, tak boleh tipu. Kamu kata tidak jentik-jentik, (itu) pun nampak (di Youtube). Kamu kata tidak ada orang yang dipijak, (tetapi ada) yang ditendang berulang kali," katanya.

Kepimpinan 'bangsawan'
Sehubungan itu, A Samad mendesak Najib meletakkan jawatan, selaras dengan kempen sama di Facebook yang kini sudah digemari hampir 200,000 orang.

"Ya, saya mahu (beliau letak jawatan). Saya ikut (perkembangannya) dalam Facebook, amat bagus (kempen itu). Kalau di Jepun, orang lain buat salah pun, menteri itu tunduk depan orang.

"Ada perdana menteri Jepun tidak sampai satu penggal pun, (letak jawatan). Tapi di sini tentu, orang sangat mengidam kuasa," katanya sambil menambah kerajaan tidak lagi memerintah "dengan sukaan umum".

Bagaimanapun, ditanya tentang perdana menteri mana yang yang paling bagus, A Samad tidak menjawabnya secara langsung, sebaliknya menyebut tentang penguasaan "bangsawan" bagi jawatan itu.

Katanya, sepanjang lebih 50 tahun kemerdekaan, kecuali Dr Mahathir, kesemua perdana menteri disandang oleh golongan itu yang disifatkannya "hidup mudah".

"Laporan-laporan yang sampai ke telinga (mereka) itu, semuanya yang cantik sahaja. Jadi, mereka tidak merasakan (kesusahan rakyat).

"Saya merasakan sudah waktunya, kepimpinan harus datang dari bawah, bukan dari atas," tegasnya lagi.

Ditanya berapa lama BN boleh bertahan untuk memerintah negara ini, sasterawan yang membiasakan dirinya dengan panggilan "bapak" berkata beliau sukar untuk meramalkannya.

"Tetapi bapak harapkan dalam pilihan raya akan datang, mereka undur ataupun jatuh. Itu harapan saya," katanya.


A Samad Said diwawancara Wee Yu Meng, Jimadie Shah Othman, Abdul Rahim Sabri dan Nigel Aw.

No need for dam, what needed in Kota Belud is proper irrigation, says SAPP

The irrigation canal in Kesapang is full through out year.
Better irrigation and pumping is all what is needed.

By Peter Marajin
In response to Kadamaian Assemblyman, Datuk Herbert Timbon Lagadan's statement in newspapers today (14/07/2011) on the need of Tambatuon Dam, SAPP would like to disagree with his founding on the matter.

While we welcome a pledge of an increase of income for Kampung Tambatuon to RM500,000 annually should the dam is built, this is altogether a new statement designed to push the dam into the people's throat. We have to take this with a pint of salt taking into consideration the pathetic facts on displaced natives in other similar situation including in neighbouring Sarawak.  

Wikileaks: Malaysia Attempts To Rein In Bloggers

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 KUALA LUMPUR 001218

SIPDIS
STATE FOR EAP/MTS AND DRL -- SARAH BUCKLEY
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/30/2017
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, SOCI, KPAO, MY
SUBJECT: VIRTUAL LIMITS: MALAYSIA ATTEMPTS TO REIN IN BLOGGERS
REF: KUALA LUMPUR 1155 - POLICE DETAIN ANWAR AIDE

Classified By: Classified By: Political Section Chief Mark D. Clark for reasons 1.4 (b and d).

Summary

1.  (C) Bloggers fear the recent police actions against two prominent online political commentators, Nathaniel Tan and Raja Petra Kamarudin, presage a Government of Malaysia (GOM) crackdown on the freedoms of speech and the press in cyberspace.  GOM leaders and officials from the dominant United Malays National Organization (UMNO) justified the moves as necessary to check irresponsible bloggers who incite racial and religious hatred.

DAP Sabah acting like Umno

SAPP is shocked that DAP turned its gun to attack SAPP on the Bersih signboard issue, doing the work for UMNO.

On the Bersih campaign in Sabah. Sabah DAP is talking like UMNO who claimed that people must “obey the law” and “not to challenge the laws”. This is the same type of flimsy arguments that UMNO ministers Hishammudin, Rais Yatim and even Perkasa”s Ibrahim Ali used against the brave Bersih activists.

Ibrahim Ali blew RM200-500 million that the Govt gave him and blames PR for being poor

This article, written by a Malay himself, is so true and sums up the Malay mentality in Malaysia . Its almost the same as the Palestinians who sold much of their seemingly barren land in today's Isreal and later blame the Jews for occupying them Whether you like or dislike the Jews they have the technology and ability to turn the dry, unproductive land into what it is today. Whatever it is, a successful people must have the 'resources' or brains to turn seemingly worthless things into something useful and stop blaming others. Imagine they can turn desert into farmland while the Palestinians have to rely on international aid.
.

Sabah Umno has forgotten Usno’s sacrifice

Former Usno members, unhappy with Umno's short memory, are seeking
to reactivate their party in time for the 13th general election.

KOTA KINABALU: United Sabah New Organisation (Usno) have given the Registrar of Societies (ROS) and the Home Ministry 14 days to decide on the party’s application to be registered.

According to protem president Badaruddin Tun Mustapha, Usno had submitted its application to ROS Sabah on Oct 26 last year.

He said ROS Sabah had, when asked, told them that the file was now in Putrajaya.

Badaruddin said when protem vice president Abdullah Sani Abdul Salleh checked with ROS on June 28 this year, Abdullah was told that the file was now with the Home Ministry.

Fedup with the runaround, Badaruddin said they were giving the ROS and Home Ministry 14 days to respond to their official letter requesting an answer to the application.

“Failing this, our next course of action would be to ask for the Yang diPertuan Agong to step in.

“In this respect, Usno members will be handing a memorandum to the King through the Sabah Head of State,” he told a press conference in Beverly Hotel here yesterday.

Badaruddin said Usno’s protem committee during its meeting on Monday had also decided to urge the Barisan Nasional government to be transparent in its action against Usno, which he said was the party that gained independence for Sabah.

Ungrateful Umno

He said the BN government should be fair to Sabahans and allow former Usno members to reactivate the party, just like those in Peninsular Malaysia such as the Makkal Sakti, which only took about 60 days to be approved.

If the party failed to be registered by the 13th general election, Badaruddin said Usno will find other ways to use their own symbol and party name to contest.

Badaruddin, who is former Chief Minister Tun Mustapha Harun’s fourth son, said the new Usno is a party for all Malaysians unlike its predecessor.

According to him, the decision to revive the party with the same acronym of the United Sabah National Organisation (Usno) that was founded by his father was in response to the members displeasure over the non-approval of Club Usno, which they applied to be registered as an NGOs in 2006.

Badaruddin, 51, claims that the number of Club Usno members has grown to 100,000 throughout Sabah and that most of the old Usno members, particularly in the East Coast had never joined Umno.

“Usno is Usno and Umno is Umno but we are disappointed that Umno has forgotten about Usno, which brought them to Sabah,” he said of the deal which his father made that allowed the peninsula-based party to spread its wing to Sabah in 1994/1995.

Asked how confident he was that the Home Ministry would approve their application, he said: “The hope is thin but we are confident.

“If registered, Usno plans to contest all 60 state seats in the coming general election.”

Challenging Umno

On whether Usno would be aligned to BN or opposition or perhaps form a pact, he said: “We’ll cross the bridge when we get there”.

“In politics our door is always open,” said Badaruddin, who had contested in 1994 in Usukan for the PBS Plus (a pact between Usno and Parti Bersatu Sabah).

If registered as a party, Usno is expected to put up a strong challenge against Umno and other state political parties in the general elections.

“I remember a deputy chief minister said a few weeks ago that if you want to make noise, contest in the general election then we can tell who is greater.

“So I asked Yahya Hussin (deputy CM) please help us to approve our party then we can know whether Umno can beat Usno or not,” he said.

Nearly 50 members representing the various constituencies in Sabah attended the function together with some of the 13 protem committee members.

The old Usno was disbanded by Tun Mustapha following the entry of Umno into Sabah with most of its members being absorbed into the party.