REALITY CHECK on "Damai Malaysia" Organisation - Claiming to Represent the Silent MAJORITY:

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Quote:

It is mischevious and highly dangerous to the social fabric of Malaysia for Malaysian Indian Muslims, (or any other non-ethnic Malays,) to have passage into UMNO by presenting themselves to ethnic Malays as " fellow Malays", and thereby gain political influence as paid-up members of UMNO, to be then fully engaged in DIVISIVE RACIAL politics against other races.

Background:(Read here for more from Bernama)

Representatives of Damai Malaysia – an umbrella body comprising 395 non-governmental organisations – handed over to Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yesterday a memorandum criticising the illegal street rallies. The group of about 20 people led by Damai chairman Mohd Saiful Adil Mohd Daud was not allowed to enter the Royal Malaysian Air Force Subang airbase but after waiting for the airbase authority to get back to them, they were finally allowed to go in.

The memorandum said, "As can be seen from today’s memorandum, the PEOPLE who remained SILENT have now stood up to make their stand. They want peace to be maintained.."

Damai (claims to) represent 1.5 million members and its representatives include those from 75 Chinese-based and 20 Indian groups and associations. They condemned individuals and groups who used lies and slander against the country and asked for foreign intervention in Malaysia’s internal affairs.

DAMAI Advisor and Bukit Bintang MCA chief Senator Datuk Dr Lee Chong Meng said the Bersih and Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) illegal demonstrations last month had caused tourists to cancel trips to Malaysia.

REALITY CHECK

By Liew Chin Tong, Executive Director of the KL based think-tank, Research for Social Advancement. Read here for more

"...Damai Malaysia, a coalition of 395 non-governmental organizations has been initiated by UMNO and MCA politicians in Kuala Lumpur. The Malaysian Chinese Association (which is the second largest ruling party in the coalition) has a candidate in Bukit Bintang which is the heart of Kuala Lumpur, Datuk Lee Chung Meng was one of the key people behind this group.

It’s mainly a coalition of mostly pro-government groups and they held a forum to denounce street demonstrations without specifically mentioning names, but mostly likely in response to Hindraf as well as the Bersih coalition gathering on November 10th. I don’t see this as a major group.

WHO is Behind "Damai Malaysia" ?
Read here for more on "MY Asylum"Blog"

So, who is Damai Malaysia, really? And for whom do they speak? The answer to that comes via two other online sources that Walski came across. The first, via the Malay-centric KLpos.com website, provides anecdotal evidence as to who is really behind the coalition. The following is an excerpt:

" ...the number given ( 03-40439948 ) connected to the Office of the Peninsular Malay Students Coalition (better known as GPMS), located in Sentul Raya, KL, but its operator answered the call as 'Damai Malaysia' "(source: KLpos.com)

GPMS's current president is Datuk Reezal Merican Naina Merican.

He also happens to be the Political Secretary to Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Nice coincidence, eh?

Who is Reezal Merican Naina Merican? Read here for more

Reezal Merican Naina Merican is an Indian Muslim from Penang ( i.e. MAMAK) who had managed to bring himself to the attention of Abdullah Badawi three years before Khairy ever showed his face in the Jalan Bellamy house.

Reezal Merican (often called ‘Ustaz Reezal’) is an IIUM graduate with a penchant for high politics and beautiful women artistes. He was sued for divorce by his second wife, actress Sharifah Norhaslinda.

Reezal Merican is a member of the Kepala Batas Umno division in Penang headed by Abdullah. Read here for more

When Abdullah Badawi ascended that high office, Reezal Merican thought that his time had come. His years of being the ‘lightning rod’ in IIUM -- attracting the ire of his fellow students who were mostly supporters of Anwar Ibrahim -- would finally pay off when Abdullah recognises his loyalty and perseverance in defending his image.

Reezal had hoped that Abdullah would reward him with a suitably high post in government. In November 2003, Reezal was made Political Secretary to the First Finance Minister. It was not as important as being Political Secretary to the Prime Minister himself, but as the two posts were conjoined in the same person, Reezal did not complain too much.

Khairy did not take this lying down though. He shot off another official memo to Abdullah, informing him that the IIUM graduate did not deserve the post as he added no value to the effort to show Abdullah’s administration as being a professional team of bright young things.

Khairy also accused Reezal of involvement with several young recording artists and newsreaders. The letter found itself on Abdullah’s desk, but not before chief private secretary Dato’ Thajudeen Abdul Wahab (no friend of Khairy’s) had made a copy and given it to Reezal.

Seething with anger, Reezal swore to eliminate Khairy from the Abdullah circle.
That promise was made in the white heat of anger.

Eventually, Reezal realised that it was better to be seen to support Khairy, at least for the time being. He took a step back and allowed Khairy to go for the UMNO Youth Vice-Chief post while he himself contested as an ordinary EXCO member, though he had a longer relationship with the UMNO Youth delegates.

On 15 June 2006, Reezal Merican Naina Merican wrote a letter to Datuk Zamani Abdul Ghani, the Deputy Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia about an amount of USD50 billion required by Malaysia to fund its national development.

Now, what authority does Reezal Merican Naina Merican have in instructing the Deputy Governor of Bank Negara? Reezal Merican is one of the ‘Tingkat Empat’ boys and the Political Secretary to the Finance Minister, who by chance also happens to be Malaysia’s Prime Minister.

Reezal Merican is not there because of his abilities but because Khairy Jamaluddin, the Prime Minister’s son-in-law, wants to keep an eye on things and Reezal Merican plays the role of Khairy’s eyes and ears.

The Two Powerful UMNO-Mamaks and Khairy Jamaluddin

Reezal Merican’s job is not only to report everything to Khairy and to be the minder for the Finance Minister II and keep him under control, but also to ensure that Khairy gets to read all reports and letters before it falls onto the desk of the Finance Minister II.

By the time any documents reach the table of the Finance Minister II, it would already have instructions etched on them about which project and which contract is to be awarded to which company. In short, the jobs are apportioned out even before the Finance Minister II gets to see the papers. Read here for more

Identity Crisis of Indian Muslims like Reezal Merican Naina Merican

Something is very wrong when we have traitors in the (Malaysian Indian) community. Read here for more.

The Indian community consists of various ethnic groups with their roots going back to India. People from South India are the Tamils, Telugus, Malayalees, and those from North India are the Sikhs, Gujarathis, Bengalis and others.

In this group there also religious groups like Indian Muslims both from South and North India.

Religion can NEVER change your roots.

Indians in Malaysia do not have an identity problem. (But) this identity problem is evident with the Indian Muslims.

These Indian Muslims are bent on CHANGING THEIR RACE.

This is impossible. I may imitate a white man in his talk, mannerism, food, clothing and many others but I cannot be a white man, not even a “celup” white man.

A reader in Malaysiakini categorised Indian Muslims into three groups consisting of:

• Indian Muslim converts
  
• Malays with Indian ancestry
  
• Indian-Muslim descendants of immigrants

It is evident that the bulk of the Indian Muslims in this country come from the Indian-Muslim descendents of immigrants.

Generally, this group is referred to in Tamil as “thulukar” or “thulukan”. This is a misnomer, the origin being “thrukkan” or a mussalman from Turkey. Mamak is the Malay version.

They include:

1.President of the Federation of Peninsular Malay Students, Datuk Reezal Merican Naina Merican

2. President of the Indian Muslim Congress Malaysia (KIMA) Syed Ibrahim Kadir

The names Merican, Naina and Kader are very clear that these two chaps refer to the “thrukkans” .

Other prominent Indian Muslims/"mamaks" who became "Malays" and gained political influence in UMNO are:

• Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin
• Minister for Women, Family and Community Development, Shahrizat Abdul Jalil
• Second Finance Minister Nor Yakcop
• Subahan Kamal
• Datuk Abdul Azeez Rahim
• Dr. Zamri

Related Article

From Malaysia-Today (March 2006). Read here for more

"... The Malaysian Indian Muslim Congress (Kimma) decided that it will affiliate itself with Umno, after having failed to get admitted into the Barisan Nasional coalition over the last 28 years. Its president, Amir Amsaa Alla Pitchay, said a memorandum on the matter would be forwarded to Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad .

Amir Amsaa said that since Kimma was formed in 1976, the party, which represented 80,000 Indian Muslims in the country, had been a staunch supporter of the BN government led by Umno.

Asked why Kimma wanted to affiliate with UMNO and not the MIC or other Indian parties, its deputy president Kamal Batcha said: 'The issue here is one of religion.'..."

From Cakap Tak Serupa Bikin blog (September 2005): Read here for more

"...The Malaysian Indian Muslim Congress (Kimma) passed a motion seeking the Government to give Malay status to Indian Muslims born in the country.

In the eight-point motion, passed at its 30th annual general meeting, Kimma cited provisions in the Federal Constitution, which stated that a Muslim who could speak Bahasa Malaysia and practise the Malay culture was regarded a Malay.

The contents of the motion, among others, stated: “The Indian Muslims adopt the three elements but still cannot get the Malay status. If there is a problem in doing so, at least give the bumiputra status as is being done for the Portuguese”.

The motion was handed to the Prime Minister's political secretary Datuk Othman Desa who opened the meeting.

Kimma is also asking for a special quota for the Indian Muslims in the allocation of low-cost houses, places in public institutions of higher learning, scholarships and employment opportunities. It also wants two of its members to be appointed as senators.

On the political side, the congress also passed a motion to apply to become a member of the Barisan Nasional coalition and would gladly accept to become a coalition party in Umno.

Kimma advisor Thasleem Mohd Ibrahim said that although the Indian Muslims could be Umno members, many were not keen because they wanted to maintain their culture and mother tongue.

He said the Indian Muslims played an important role in the setting up of MIC but left the party when the religious element seeped in.

He added that there was a great difference in the historical background of the Indian Muslims and the Indians who came to work as labourers despite them speaking Tamil and were from Tamil Nadu in India....."

By Raja Petra Kamarudin: Read here for more on Malaysia-Today

".... The mastermind behind DAMAI MALAYSIA is Mamak Rezal Merican Naina Merican of GPMS. Their job is to stir the Malays into a feeding frenzy like what Datuk Harun Idris did on 13 May 1969. Unfortunately the effort failed.

The Malays today are not like the Malays of 1969 and it is not so easy to incite them into an anti-non-Malay frenzy like how they did on 13 May 1969. Even the rumours they spread and the SMSess they circulated did not work.

And the so-called PEKIDA rally in Kampong Baru on Sunday, 16 December 2007, the supposedly prelude to May 13 II, did not happen as planned. Nobody turned up except for the truckloads of riot police and Special Branch officers who patrolled a deserted street. It reminds me of how they cordoned an empty Dataran Merdeka on 10 November 2007.

To further impress Malaysians that race riots are imminent they got this chap called Mohd Saiful Adil Daud to form DAMAI MALAYSIA, supposedly an amalgamation of 395 Malay NGOs with a combined membership of 1.5 million Malays.

That is the biggest crap I have ever heard.

You would be hard-pressed to find 39 Malay NGOs, let alone 395. And even then some of these so-called NGOs have less than a dozen members. Why did they not list down the names of these 395 Malay NGOs? They couldn’t because these NGOs do not exist. And certainly these 1.5 million members do not exist either.

Mohd Saiful Adil Daud is actually the runner of a well-known Malay gangster called Drs Suleiman a.k.a. Man Brandy.

Man Brandy used to sell ganja around the Kampong Baru mosque area in the days before May 13. He then escaped to Indonesia when the police hunted him down for murder and that was where be bought his very impressive ‘Drs’ title. Later he came back to Malaysia. He won the Titiwangsa Parliament seat and was made a Deputy Minister of Health.

Umno says that HINDRAF is a threat to national security. Umno says that HINDRAF is anti-Malay and anti-Islam. Umno says that HINDRAF plans to organise an anti-Malay rally in Kampong Baru. Some of the HINDRAF people did in fact march through Kampong Baru on 25 November 2007. And the police opened fire on them and sent them running. Then the Malays in Kampong Baru opened the doors to their homes and invited the HINDRAF people in to take shelter from the police.

There was no Indian-Malay tension that day on 25 November 2007. The Malay police opened fire on the HINDRAF marchers and the Malays in Kampong Baru gave the Indians shelter.

The so-called Indian-Malay racial tension is in the minds of the Umno people. And Umno is spreading rumours and circulating SMSess to give the impression that racial tensions are increasing and that there is a danger race riots will break out...."

From "The Antics of Husin Lempoyang" Blog: Read here for more

"...Apa agaknya pendirian Dato Reezal Merican, Dato Azeez dan Khairy Jamaluddin tentang Hindraf?

Mereka ini adalah kononnya pemimpin-pemimpin harapan negara yang sedang meyakinkan orang ramai dan kelihatan menyuarakan isu-isu dalam memperjuangkan nasib ORANG MELAYU.

Di dalam hati mereka-mereka ini, adakah tidak sifat atau naluri kemanusiaan untuk menaruh simpati kepada orang-orang India yang susah tetapi terikut-ikut dengan perjuangan Hindraf?

Jika ada, apakah yang membuat mereka memberi simpati kepada penyokong-penyokong Hindraf?

Reezal Merican Naina Merican

Sebagai orang “Melayu” Pulau Pinang, Dato’ Reezal Merican memang mempunyai darah kacukan India Muslim atau Mamak.

Dalam satu majlis UMNO, Reezal menyebut:

" ….Walaupun saya ni mamak, saya lebih Melayu dari kebanyakkan dari tuan-tuan dan puan-puan yang berbangsa Melayu asal…."

Reezal mengaku dirinya mamak dan hanya mahu mendapat keyakinan mengenai kesediaannya berjuang untuk orang Melayu.

Orang kata UMNO Bahagian Tanjung Pulau Pinang pun sebenarnya berlainan dari UMNO tempat lain kerana di Bahagian itu, "UMNO" bermakna "United Mamak and Nana Organisation"

Dato’ Reezal Merican adalah bekas penuntut Sekolah Al Masyhur, Pulau Pinang dan pelajar UIA.

Reezal adalah Setiausaha Politik Menteri Kewangan yang juga Perdana Menteri Malaysia dan ahli exco Pemuda UMNO.

Apabila Reezal menjadi Presiden GPMS, ramai yang mempersoalkan. Apa salahnya? Seorang kawan berkata, kita tidak mahu GPMS menjadi "Gabungan Pelajar Mamak Semenanjung."

Apa sekali pun, GPMS penganjur utama dan Reezal hadir di Majlis Damai Malaysia.

Sebelum dengan Pak Lah, dia bekerja dengan Dato Shahrizat Jalil (juga seorang mamak). Nama dia mula diketahui ramai apabila berjaya merampas jawatan Presiden GPMS. Khabarnya dia ada cita-cita untuk bertanding jawatan Timbalan Ketua Pemuda UMNO.

Abdul Azeez bin Rahim

Dato Abdul Azeez bin Rahim adalah Ketua Putera UMNO Malaysia. Di pertandingan untuk Exco Pemuda UMNO pada tahun 2004, dia menduduki tempat ke 10.

Sebagaimana Reezal, Azeez juga keturunan Mamak atau India Islam Pulau Pinang.

Dalam satu majlis MIC, Azeez telah dipinta bercakap. Dia pun memulakan syarahannya dengan bahasa Melayu dengan mukadimah dan protokal penghormatan yang sepatutnya hingga,

" … tuan-tuan dan puan-puan, benarkan saya bercakap dalam bahasa ibunda saya ... "

Lepas itu, Khairy yang ada bersama, terus tidak memahami apa yang dikatakan (oleh Azeez).

Memang ada mamak ini masih fasih lagi berbahasa Tamil.

Azeez belum diketahui berkata dengan ikhlas tentang kemelayuan atau kemamakannya, tetapi tidak segan untuk mengaku bahasa ibundanya adalah Tamil.

Latarbelakang Azeez tidak banyak diketahui melainkan beliau adalah seorang peniaga kereta terpakai. Dia mengaku memulakan perniagaan pada umor 18 tahun dan menjadi jutawan sebelum umor 21 tahun. Dia mengaku memperolehi ijazah MBA dari Universiti tertua di Amerika Syarikat, Preston University.

Bila disebut nama Azeez, orang ramai biasa teringat pasal usahanya untuk membetulkan Mat Rempit.

Pendirian Azeez berkenaan Hindraf tidak didengari kerana Azeez tidak ada membuat apa-apa kenyataan mengenai Hindraf. Untuk ambil mudah, dia pasti akur kepada pendirian yang dikeluarkan oleh Dato Hishamuddin dan Khairy.

Azeez memang rapat dengan Khairy dan dia naik menjadi Putera UMNO atas sokongan dan cadangan Khairy. Apakah persamaan antara mereka yang membuat mereka rapat? Betulkah Khairy tidak faham atau buat-buat tidak faham syarahan Azeez di majlis MIC?

Khairy Jamaluddin

Khairy Jamaluddin (adalah) anak Dato Jamaluddin bekas diplomat. Dato Jamaluddin berasal dari Rembau dan itulah sebabnya pendaftaran Khairy sebagai ahli UMNO adalah di Bahagian UMNO Rembau.

Khairy dilahir di Kuwait. Penghidupannya dari kecil hingga dewasa tidak pernah di Malaysia.

Semua orang tahu sejarah persekolahnya kerana Khairy ke sana sini mendabik dada tentang sekolah-sekolah yang dia pergi - United World College, Singapore, Oxford University, dan University of London, UK. Habis belajar, dia bekerja di London.

Bila balik dan mula bekerja di Malaysia, dia tidak fasih bercakap Melayu.

Bolehkah dia menjiwai hati dan harapan orang Melayu? Itu baru sejarah hidup. Apa pula pemikirannya?

Dalam laporan akhbar The Star November 2hb, 2007, ramai hanya bising berkenaan pengakuan dia menerima perlindungan dari bapa mertua.

Ada yang dapat membaca majalah Ethos menyatakan pemikiran Khairy tidak ada langsung menjiwai sejarah perjuangan kebangsaan Melayu dan UMNO. Jiwa dan 'worldview ' Khairy adalah anglophile.

Seorang pejuang Nasionalis Melayu memahami sejarah, bijak mengimbang hak dan kepentingan pelbagai pihak, dan tidak mudah bertolak ansur berkenaan kepentingan Melayu yang tinggal sedikit dan sentiasa ditiris.

Bolehkah dipercayai pendirian Khairy yang berkerangka minda barat berkenaan demonstrasi jalanan dan tuntutan Hindraf? Di pentas UMNO, ucapan-ucapannya berdegar-degar konon mencadangkan wadah Agenda Melayu, mempertahankan hak Melayu dan kesinambungan perjuangan UMNO.

Khairy berusaha untuk dilihat sebagai Melayu dan cuba mendapat keyakinan ramai tentang perjuangannya untuk Melayu tetapi darah mamaknya dirahsiakan. Dia berdegar-degar bersyarah hanya untuk mengaburi orang ramai latarbelakang dan pemikirannya yang jelas anglophile.