Letter from Johore NGOs to the Johore people

Unite! People of Johore

Realize 3 Pressing Demands

Smash UMNO Hegemony

Form a Democratic United Front

Representatives from Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF MAKKAL SAKTHI) (Johor) and Friends of SUARAM (FOS) Working Committee (Johor) took a picture together after holding a press conference in Kelab Akhbar Cina Johor Selatan on 19 October 2012. From left to right (front row): sitting: Stephin Micheal, Y. Mohan, Yong Siew Lee, Chen Xin From left to right (standing): M. Suba, Kumaradevan a/l Muthusamy, Thirunavukkarasu, Segaran. S, Choo Shinn Chei, Goh Chee Horng

Introduction
The 12th General Election delivered a severe blow to BN. BN lost 5 states (namely, Penang, Kedah, Selangor, Kelantan, and Perak) to the opposition, and also lost its twothirds majority in Parliament, though still holding on to the federal government. (The Perak State was subsequently snatched back by BN through manipulating the defection of Pakatan turncoats.) The BN regime under Najib rolled out various political and socio-economic transformation programs with a view to prolonging its hegemonic rule that hinges on institutionalized racism. Under Najibs BN, the laboring masses continue to be ruthlessly oppressed and exploited, while the ethnic minorities are subject to forced assimilation, or are excluded
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from enjoying the fruit of development, thereby sending the ethnic minorities to the depths of despair. The Indian community and the minorities in East Malaysia are cases in point. Over the past 4 years, the broad masses of the people are still suffering under the BNs hegemonic rule, corruption and abuse of power, ever rising cost of living, and marginalization in culture, education and religion of ethnic minorities. Only when a general election is looming would the BN regime allocate meager sums as a sweetie, for the development of culture and education of ethnic minorities in order to assuage their widespread discontentment, and at the same time allow MCA, Gerakan, SUPP, MIC and PPP to claim credit for the allocations, in the hope of fishing votes and prolonging their political rule. From the nasty experience of more than 50 years rule by BN, the oppressed ethnic minorities, especially the Indians in the peninsular Malaysia as well as the Dayaks, Kadazan-Dusuns and others in East Malaysia, have finally awakened. Within the Chinese community, (except for those bigwigs with vested interests in the ruling regime and the upper strata of the community) wide-spread discontent towards UMNO-led hegemonic rule has never been more intense. The Chinese primary schools and the Chinese independent secondary schools were established and have been maintained with huge sacrifices made by the forefathers of the Chinese community. The broad masses of the Chinese community have witnessed the gradual changes in character of these schools. They have learnt well of the true colours of MCA leaders and their cronies, who would not hesitate to sell out Chinese education for their personal gains and position. People of all ethnic groups have realized that any democratic reform can only be brought about when various communities of any class, political party or religion do not entertain any illusion about the deceptive transformation programs of the BN/UMNO clique indulging in hegemonic rule. They must not harbour any illusion about the upper echelon of BN component parties intention to safeguard the interests of the various communities. The people of various ethnic groups must unite, regardless of class, political party or religion, and be prepared to consign UMNO and BN (including its main component parties) to the dustbin of history, so that the popular aspirations for any democratic reform will become a reality. For the coming 13th General Election, NGOs from various sectors have put forward Civil Society 13GE (20) Demands following discussions based on equal and democratic principles. These demands represent the common aspirations of people of all ethnic groups as well as their concrete requests in the light of current political, economic, social and cultural situation in Malaysia. These demands constitute a reform agenda for a fairer and more democratic country, proposed by the non-partisan civil society to all democratic political parties and independent candidates. It is hoped that such demands will be agreed upon by all democratic political parties and independent candidates. As a member of civil society striving for democracy and human rights, we, Friends of Suaram (FOS) Johor, will spare no effort to promote this reform agenda in the State of Johore. We are of the view that though the 20 demands represent a set of General
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Election demands, they are more akin to a working agenda of civil society for the next 20 to 30 years, as it covers far and wide the various aspects of life. We feel that it is necessary to apply the spirit of these 20 demands to the concrete conditions of the State of Johore, since the people of Johore will constitute a democratic force in the southern part of Johore, aimed at capturing the stronghold of UMNO which regards Johore as its frontline. Within the next 5 years or so, from the eve of the coming GE13 to the eve of the next following General Election, we propose to realize at least basically or partially the pressing Johore Demands. After some discussions and studies, we together with several civil society groups, consolidate the numerous demands into 3 pressing demands. We hope that candidates of all democratic political parties and independent candidates will endorse them. We also urge the Johore people to vote for the candidates who have committed themselves to the Johore demands. We firmly believe that people of all ethnic groups will abandon and reject the candidates of UMNO and BN component parties. The population has had enough of the bitter experience of 55 years hegemonic rule under the UMNO /BN. The Johore demands are concrete. The democratic political parties and independent candidates must honour their promises after winning the elections, to safeguard the interests of the people. We together with other civil society groups in Johore will oversee the performance of the elected state assemblymen, in order to ensure that they live up to their commitment to the Johore Demands.

1. Eliminate racial oppression and work towards equality for all ethnic groups.
Repeal the unequal provision in Article 153 of the Federal Constitution Facts have substantiated that Article 153 of the Federal Constitution lays the legal basis for the UMNO-dominant BN ruling clique to practise institutionalized racism. It has created two classes of citizens, namely, Malays and non-Malays, resulting in national inequality and disharmony, thereby impeding and damaging nation-building and social development. Thus, Article 153 of the Federal Constitution has to be repealed in order to achieve unity among all ethnic groups as well as social harmony and prosperity of the country. Abolish NEP and bumiputera quota system Since 1970s, NEP and its related policies allow the BN ruling clique and its cronies to enrich themselves, and to create a few super-rich and well-connected Malay capitalists. But the broad masses of the Malay community at large remain poor and live in abject poverty. The quota system favouring bumiputras is a sweetie for the Malay masses, and a tool to disrupt national unity. NEP and the quota system must therefore be abolished to stop brain drain and outflow of capital, so as to encourage inflow of talents and influx of capital instead.
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 Repeal s.17(1) of the Education Act 1996 and its related policies s.17(1) of the current Education Act 1996 has been premised upon the ultimate objective of one nation, one language, and one medium of instruction (Malay) implemented since the 1950s. The existing Education Act and its related policies have led to confusion and fiasco. In this era of China and India emerging as big powers, any attempt to eliminate totally the education conducted in Chinese and Tamil language in Malaysia (with a population of 6.96 million ethnic Chinese and 2.07 million ethnic Indian) is wishing thinking, and it is the height of absurdity. Therefore, s.17(1) of the Education Act should be repealed. More Chinese primary schools must be established immediately in areas densely populated by the Chinese commuinity, and more Tamil primary schools should also be established in Bukit Indah, Mount Austin, Kota Tinggi and other areas in Johore. Application for the revival of the Segamat Chinese Independent Secondary must be approved, and United Examination Certificate (UEC) and the degree of the Southern College University should be fully recognized. Mother tongue education in Chinese and Tamil must be allocated with sufficient funds under the national Budget. Respect and protect religious beliefs and customs of ethnic minorities Although the Federal Constitution safeguards freedom of religion, UMNO-dominated BN government has been imposing unreasonable restrictions on this right. As a result, freedom of religion of ethnic minorities has been curtailed; statues and places of worship of minority groups demolished or the construction thereof prohibited. This has caused anxiety and resentment among the community. The religious beliefs and customs of ethnic minorities should be respected and safeguarded, only then can racial harmony and unity be achieved. The country will then be able to enjoy stable development. The Indian (Hindu) cemetery at Masai has hardly any more vacant burial land left. The state government should therefore allocate sufficient land for such purpose. This will go a long way to prevent Indian poor families from falling prey to loan sharks who collect exorbitant interest on loans taken for the purpose of defraying high cost of cremation. These poor families can hardly pay back the loans taken, and they are forced to lead a miserable life.

2. Stop Project M and eliminate source of corruption in law enforcement agencies

Stop Project M - prejudicial to the rights of our citizens UMNO-led BN ruling clique has through Project M (Mahathirs Project) legalized illegal immigrants in Sabah. Such project is now extended in its application to the peninsular Malaysia by way of legalizing more than 3 million illegal immigrants (according to conservative official statistics) giving them long-term work permits and even citizens identity cards.
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This is undoubtedly a political ploy used by the UMNO-led BN ruling clique to inflate their votes in the coming General Election. We resolutely oppose such project being implemented in peninsular Malaysia, as it is highly prejudicial to the rights of our citizens. We demand that thorough investigations into this matter be conducted, removing suspicious votes from the electoral roll. Root out the source of corruption in law enforcement agencies Despite high influx of foreign workers, shortage of labour force in small and medium industries and the agricultural sector remain a pressing problem as a result of rent seeking and corruption in law enforcement agencies (such as the immigration department and the police) and profit grabbing by middlemen. While bringing in foreign workers helps propel economic growth, any move on the part of the government and the law enforcement agencies must be monitored by the people, civil society and opposition parties. Employers should be allowed to apply direct to the relevant departments for employment of foreign workers, with a view to curbing corruption and exploitation.

3. The Johore people's interests must be protected from wanton land acquisition (enclosure operation) in the name of Pengerang Integrated Petroleum Complex (PIPC) project.
20% of the total profits derived from PIPC project and petrochemicals integrated development project under RAPID, should be used for the purposes of economic development and health care services in the state of Johore. The government should minimize the environmental pollution in the process of producing petrochemical products. Pengerang residents adversely affected by the development project should be given adequate compensation, and should be appropriately resettled. The issue of relocating Chinese cemetery and Malay cemetery must be dealt with in an appropriate manner. We are against groups well connected to the powers-that-be making huge profits from land acquisition (enclosure operation). The government should ensure that the acquisition of land from Pengerang residents should be for public purposes only. The government should also prevent any group wellconnected to the powers-that-be from making huge profits through resale of land acquired in the name of implementing development projects. The land acquisition process should be open and transparent, and above suspicion, to be monitored by civil society and opposition parties.

The people of Johore, Unite! Form a Johore democratic united front, and overthrow the UMNO hegemonistic rule
It is the highest aspirations of the populace to reject UMNO hegemonistic rule - a prerequisite for realising the democratic reform in our country. We call upon all political
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parties, NGOs and individuals opposed to the UMNO hegemonistic rule, to form a democratic united front in the State of Johore. This democratic united front includes the three parties in Pakatan Rakyat, i.e. Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) and Democratic Action Party (DAP) as well as all parties, including Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM), Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM), Human Rights Party (HRP), etc., NGOs and individuals from all walks of life who are opposed to the UMNO-BN rule. Besides, we also welcome the higher echelon of leaders from BN component parties to pull out from BN, and all grassroots leaders and members from the BN component parties to spurn or reject BN if they are opposed to the corruption and the racist hegemony of UMNO-BN, and join the democratic united front.

We sincerely call upon all Johoreans from all walks of life to unite! Together we put an end to the UMNO racist hegemonistic rule, and form a democratic coalition government in the State of Johore!
Friends of SUARAM (FOS) Working Committee Johor and Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF MAKKAL SAKTHI) (Johor) release this letter together on 19 October 2012.

For any organisation that wishes to endorse, please contact: Y. Mohan (019-710 2895, rymohan_hms@yahoo.com) Ang Pei Shan (013-770 8320, suaramjb1@gmail.com)

Visit hindraf.org or suaramjb1.blogspot.com for other information.