The kind Malays

If one were to follow the current UMNO General Meeting and one is not a fellow UMNO member, one would feel quite offended.

Simply because phrases such as the chinese forget that the Malays were KIND enough to let us stay here in Malaysia, and that the Chinese should not question Malay rights because since Merdeka we the non Malays have agreed to give them everything and now cannot make a u turn and decide that perhaps enough is enough. And that if a man secretly converts into Islam and unexpectedly dies, his family member cannot ask for the body to be buried according to any other way but the Islam way because no one should question the Syariah Court decision or the conversion.

If one were to think clearly and not allow religion to cloud their mind, it would make more sense perhaps to discuss in the UMNO meeting the reason why the Malays have not caught up with the rest of the races. Why is it that after almost 50 years of the Government giving and giving and giving AND GIVING to the Malays, they still lag behind? What is the root cause? Have the Malays become complacent perhaps? Or is there truly a problem of there being a huge disparity among the poor and the super rich? Where should the money be channeled into? Instead of building a new Istana on Jalan Duta costing millions and millions, perhaps the money is better used for channeling it to rural ares where the Malay children can receive education. Some UMNO members have taken upon themselves to tell the rest the reason why Malay children lag behind and the way to overcome that is to start educating them from school and not only in university. Those are the ones who have come to the meeting with a reason- which is to help their fellow people who are poor and underprivileged. They were not there to crack a joke and look for approval.

Perhaps it will be wise to discuss how the issue of conversion without one's family members knowing should be addressed instead of saying that Civil Courts have no rights and non Muslims should stop questioning that simple truth.Many do not know that if UMNO sends a strong message that if one is Muslim, Islamic matters is in the exclusive jurisdiction of the Syariah Court, many husbands have secretly converted their children and denied access to their mothers purely because the mother has no right to "fight" the conversion of the children and she being non Muslim cannot go to the Syariah Court. She cannot "unconvert" (if such word exists) the children. What has she to do? Nothing. This is not a pure matter of an attack of the religion. That non Muslims have gone to court to challenge the conversion not because they do not respect the religion or agree to it, but because the conversion has been done with malicious intent. You only need to ask a family lawyer to find that many spouses have converted themselves purely to escape paying maintenance of their children or their wives. Is that what conversion into the religion is all about? There should be some guidelines. Perhaps approval of both parents before one can covert. After all, we need two parents to make a child, dont we?

UMNO members must have a clear understanding of what they utter to the public at large. It is truly regrettable that UMNO has sent a message of "WE ARE SUPREME!WE REIGN!AND NO ONE CAN QUESTION US!WE ARE UNITED AGAINST NON MUSLIMS!" as I thought that Barisan Nasional was the party of and for the people of Malaysia. Therefore being part of BN, UMNO members should not be making such "racist" (I term is racists because it was clearly an attack on the Chinese)speeches. Speeches are not merely to gain support and get thunderous applause. It must be made with a clear understanding and a true appreciation of its consequences to all Malaysians.

While I applaud those members who have attended the meeting with a clear agenda of discussing the flaws of the current system and to improve them, I am disappointed with some who have gone there purely to say, "Screw all of you. We get what we want as long as we are in power. Dont forget, we were kind enough to let you stay."