| Background |
53 years has passed since our independence and we are still talking about racism. Malaysia as a young nation with its rich diverse and multicultural ethnic composition is an unusual social setting compared with many other nations. Due to the political landscape in Malaysia, the racial divide has in fact become bigger since Malaysia’s independence in 1957. Malaysians are divided based on their ethnicity on many fronts, be it education, health care, finance and welfare. The consciousness of an ethnic identity is deep seated and is felt very stronglyin both the public and private sectors. Most of the time the authorities use this divide to promote its political interests and control over the divided population. This feeling of mistrust is further used by rights wing groups that turn every issue in the country into a race related issue. This has further divided the people into their own ethnic groups in a defensive mode to protect their own existence. Pusat KOMAS’s non-discrimination programme was started since 2004 focusing on race relation and ethnicity. KOMAS was also part of the team of civil societies who came up with the statement during the Durban Review Conference to the Government of Malaysia in 2009. Part of the statement was to ask the government to ratify, without reservations, the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). We want to provide an open and safe platform for Malaysians to discuss, understand and act upon issues of race and ethnicity. Then hopefully they will take serious actions including engaging different stakeholders such as policy makers and Malaysian society in general make constructive changes in the country. KOMAS has also produced many resource materials such as comic books, posters, video films and photo stories which have helped us to spread the message of anti discrimination 
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| Featured |
MALAYSIA MUST PUSH TO RATIFY THE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION Today as we celebrate the International Day of Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination, we have to reflect on how far Malaysia has come since its independence in achieving it. Malaysia as a young nation with its rich diverse and multicultural ethnic composition is an unusual social setting compared with many other nations. However, despite the uniqueness it possesses, its beauty is still overshadowed by division that exist between the different ethnicities. The unity that existed when we got our independence is no more while the division is greatly increasing year by year. Instead of finding the similarities in the differences we share, we have been magnifying the differences instead. There are many reasons which can be attributed to this with political structure being the main cause. Due to the political landscape in Malaysia, the racial divide has in fact become bigger since Malaysia’s independence in 1957. Malaysians are divided based on their ethnicity on many fronts, be it education, health care, finance, workforce and welfare. The consciousness of an ethnic identity is deep seated and is felt very strongly in both the public and private sectors. Most of the time the authorities use this divide and to promote its political interests to take control over the divided population. Politics in Malaysia have long been race based with the ruling government made of three main race based political party which forms the ruling coalition. These parties have ruled Malaysia for the past 54 years using ethnic identity as a plus point as political survival often depends on playing the race card. The latest campaign by the Prime Minister, Najib Razak promoting the 1 Malaysia concept was supposed to bridge the gap between the ethnicities. However, although the concepts have been heavily promoted and has become a household name in any government linked institutions, the real objective of the concept is still unknown. The implementation of the policy also has become structured and heavily promoted to become a household name in Malaysia without much significance in the concept and has become a mere branding tool to all segments of the society. Race and religion has also become a very much debated issue in Malaysia. Especially now when elections are around the corner and race politics is just being fueled to garner support from different segments of the society instead of using real reforms to garner support like eradicating poverty, corruption, decreasing our nation’s debt, better transport system, affordable housing and many more. Every single issue that crops up in Malaysia from environment, education and housing always revolves around race. It has become a political struggle to cling to power by resorting to dirty politics where race and religion has been used to stir the sentiments of the people to vote. For instance when the people of Kuantan protested against Lynas, The chief minister of Pahang claimed that those opposing are majority Chinese and are supporting China which is the current largest rare earth producer. When the issue of lack of participation of Non-Malays in armed forces was raised, Defence Minister Dato’ Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Bin Hamidi made a statement saying that it was because their “patriotism spirit is not high enough”. The list can go on and on on how the politicians and specific groups have attributed almost every issue in Malaysia back to race. The way forward now for Malaysia is too take concrete steps to promote unity before the situation further deteriorates. The government must take necessary steps to ensure that proper race relation policies are in place to prevent discrimination from taking place and also to encourage good governance with accountability and transparency. One of the first steps that they can do is to ratify the International Convention of Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). If the government is serious about achieving 1 Malaysia, the ratification of the convention is important and necessary. 175 countries have ratified the convention till now and Malaysia being one of the 16 countries which has not done so show not much concrete effort had been put into the action plan. We are in bottom of the line together with countries like Myanmar, North Korea and Angola. Being one of the countries who is the member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, it has has not shown its commitment to uphold of Human Rights here. Malaysia has only ratified 3 conventions so far which is the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). So we seriously urge the government to start the process to ratify the other conventions especially the ICERD. This will prove its seriousness in promoting tolerance and understanding among its people through the policies. Ratifying the ICERD is an important step for Malaysia to take in its long journey to create a nation which truly celebrates its differences and unites its citizens based on common aspiration and understanding. Non-Discrimination Coordinator Pusat KOMAS Please also visit KOMAS Non-Discrimination Page for more information on our program; http://www.komas.org/non-discrimination.html
SWEEPING DIRT UNDER THE CARPET This cartoons are excerpts from our book titled “Sweeping dirt under the carpet”. This cartoon booklet contains 11 cartoons on different race based issues in Malaysia. It is a powerful visual tool to facilitate open and honest discussion on race-based issues in Malaysia. It also encourages its readers to seriously recognize and reaffirm universal human rights principles which also ironically happen to be enshrined in the Malaysian constitution. SIAPA UNTUNG
SUSAH OH... SUSAH
MALAYSIA TRULLY ASIA
SHH.. TAK BOLEH CAKAP
SAYA ANAK MALAYSIA
KONTRAK APA ITU?
DARI TADIKA KE UNIVERSITI
BORANG BANGSA MALAYSIA
TUAN OH TUAN
JANGAN INI JANGAN ITU
DIPANYUNGI PERLEMBAGAAN
“Aku Bangsa Malaysia” Photo Stories of Non-discrimination “Aku Bangsa Malaysia” is the latest production of Pusat KOMAS which portrays 5 powerful and affirmative stories on Non-discrimination. These are stories of ordinary citizens in Malaysia reaching out to others around them regardless of race, religion and cultural differences. Every day, we witness or read about incidents of racism in the media, our society and immediate communities. Yet there are actually positive stories out there that affirm the positive interaction of different ethnic groups based on common human values and compassion. This set of positive stories of non-discrimination was produced to be used as exhibits in different places especially to out of town communities where discussions can be held to raise awareness about issues of non-discrimination. We launched the stories on the 6th of October 2011 in Maju Junction Mall during KOMAS’ National conference on non-discrimination. The event was co-organised by SUHAKAM and KITA (spell out the full names). SUHAKAM commissioner, Mr Detta anak Samen was present to give the opening speech.
The “Aku Bangsa Malaysia” photostory exhibition made its first roadshow stop at the “Collision Asia Arts Festival” from the 21st - 23rd of October 2011 in Solaris Dutamas, Kuala Lumpur. The second stop was during our roadshow to Kampung Sg. Ular, Kuantan where the exhibition was displayed together with the screening of the film, Gadoh. Our next stop was to MUAR where the exhibits were shown and discussed with local residents of Kampung Parit Bulat Darat. If you wish to organize an exhibition at your school, work place, place of worship, office complex, public and private institution or any other venues or occasion, do not hesitate to contact the program coordinator, details as below. The stories are also printed in a booklet and sold for RM10 each. If you wish to buy a copy, please contact Pusat KOMAS. For further inquiries please contact: Lena Hendry, Non-discrimination Programme Coordinator Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it P: 03-79685415 PUSAT KOMAS CONDEMNS POLICE ACTION ON SEXUALITY MERDEKA Press Statement on Sexuality Merdeka 8-11-2011
Pusat KOMAS strongly condemns the actions by the authorities to enforce a blanket ban on the events organized by “Sexuality Merdeka” on the grounds that it would create “a public disturbance”. This annual event has been organised since 2008 without any undue disturbances as claimed by the authorities. The sole objective of this event is to give a voice to the Lesbians, Gay, Bysexual, Transexual, Intersex and Queer (LGBTIQ) community who are discriminated and harassed almost daily just because they are different. The event provides a platform for this marginalized group in Malaysia to come together and address issues faced by this particular community. The authorities have shown a very clear lack of understanding in this issue by the way they are handling the issue. Unfortunately this is also made worse by certain politicians and groups who have openly attacked this group instead of seeking to understand the issue and exercise dialogue with them. It is sad to see that Malaysia which has always claimed to be a modern democratic country with room for discourse and dialogue has resorted to banning a peaceful event where a certain community of people wished to peacefully express themselves by open discussion and discourse about issues about their lives. Furthermore this is a slap on the face of the freedom of expression and free speech as guaranteed by the universal principles of human rights. What’s more saddening is the fact that such arbitrary actions displayed by the authorities and the police have violated a very important document of our country which is the Federal constitution which state in Article 10 (1) (a) (b). Article (a) states that “every citizen has a right to freedom of speech and expression; and (b) all citizens have the right to assemble peacefully and without arms It is clear that this issue has become a political tool being played by some parties to gain favour and want to be seen as champions of doing the right thing. However it is truly disappointing to see how the government which is supposed to uphold the rights of all its citizens has also joined the bandwagon to further suppress the community and their right to freedom of speech and expression. The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) under article 1-3 clearly states that all humans are born free and are equal in dignity and rights and these same rights should be applied to LGBTIQ community as well. Everybody deserves to have their dignity respected regardless of their sexual orientation or their gender identity. Everybody is entitled to have their own views on the issue but their views should not cause fear for others to be true to who they really are. Every community has the right to believe in what they believe in as long as it does not infringe the rights of others. We call on the government to prove its commitment to the people and do the right thing. Firstly to understand the issue by becoming more aware and shed away the unnecessary “fear of the unknown”. Then to engage in dialogue instead of banning anything that it does not understand! We strongly urge the Malaysian government, the police and some political and religious quarters to show the world that Malaysia truly upholds basic human rights by showing willingness to understand people who are different rather than condemning them. Start living up to the often over-used slogans of “Malaysia Boleh” and “Malaysia Truly Asia” Prove to the global community that these slogans are not merely decorative words to attract tourist to our country but show in actions that the Malaysian government truly cares for all the people. By: Pusat KOMAS
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| Activities |
Here is a peek at some of our activities for 2011:
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| Resources |
DVD -- Bangsa Malaysia Compilation 2011 Series
DVD-- “GADOH” the movie
Book -- Sweeping Dirt Under the Carpet; Reflections of Race Relations in Malaysia.
(English and Bahasa Malaysia)
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