• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • RSS
  • Archives
  • Subscribe
The Nut Graph

The Nut Graph

Making Sense of Politics & Pop Culture

  • Projects
    • MP Watch
    • Found in Conversation
  • Current Issues
    • 6 Words
    • Commentary
    • Features
    • Found in Quotation
    • News
  • Columns
  • Interviews
    • Exclusives
    • Found in Malaysia
  • Multimedia
    • Audio
    • Pictures
    • Videos
  • Corrections
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Vault
    • Found in Translation

Minister must resign for condoning violence

By Civil society groups

September 4, 2009

WE, the undersigned organisations, condemn Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein for defending the cow-head protesters and justifying their incitement of violence and hatred. He should now resign or be sacked as home minister as he cannot commit to law and order.

(Source: sabceducation.co.za)

The most important issue in the cow-head incident is the threat of violence against the Shah Alam Hindu community and the Selangor government. The police must investigate not based on the vaguely defined Sedition Act, but on whether the protesters threatened bloodshed if the temple relocation was carried out. The lame excuse that the cow head was brought by unknown persons is completely irrelevant.

Nobody must be allowed to threaten with violence just because they feel “victimised“. Anyone who does so must be punished by law. Otherwise, society would sink into anarchy.

By suggesting that “if it can be resolved quickly and can be done with both sides understanding each other … why would we want to penalise anybody?”, Hishammuddin is actually encouraging the threat of violence as a means to negotiate.

A home minister by portfolio and a lawyer by training, Hishammuddin has brought both his office and profession to unprecedented shame with his disregard for the law. Because he has turned the minister of law and order into the minister against law and order, he must resign or be sacked.

The prime minister must now act boldly to keep his 28 Aug 2009 promise that action will be taken against the perpetrators who incited violence. If the police refuse to investigate them and the deputy public prosecutor refuses to charge them for violence, Malaysians will believe that such threats of violence are condoned by the Datuk Seri Najib Razak administration as a political means.

Hishammuddin’s justification of the cow-head protest by painting the perpetrators as victims also legitimises and indirectly encourages communal hatred. This can be explosive if it results in retaliating insults across communities, as all can claim to feeling victimised. By sympathising with the perpetrators, Hishammuddin is also tarnishing Malaysia’s image by demonstrating that Malaysian ministers legitimise hatred.

This is most unfortunate when over 70 civil society groups representing different ethno-religious communities and sectors have issued a joint Merdeka message calling all Malaysians to delegitimise violence and hatred.

Civil Right Committee, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall
People’s Parliament
Civil Society Committee, LLG Cultural Development Centre
Centre for Policy Initiatives
Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (Empower)
The Micah Mandate
Writer Alliance for Media Independence
Civil Society Initiative for Parliamentary Reform
Justice for Beng Hock Facebook Group
Centre for Independent Journalism
Suara Rakyat Malaysia
All Women’s Action Society Malaysia (Awam)
Image Group
Hindraf
Council of Malaysian Indian Trustee
Persatuan Kebajikan Wawasan Cahaya Selangor
Persatuan Bharatham Negeri Selangor
Malaysia Youth and Student Democratic Movement (Dema)
Editorial board of Horizon e-journal
Pertubuhan Jamaah Islah Malaysia
Sisters in Islam

4 Sept 2009

The Nut Graph needs your support

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related Stories

Filed Under: Letters to the Editor Tagged With: civil society groups, cow head protesters, Hishammuddin Hussein, home minister, letter to the editor

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ann David says

    September 4, 2009 at 2:24 pm

    This is so, so sad. This appears to be a delibrate attempt to divide the people by some, and stupid shennanigans by intolerant, arrogant others.

  2. seriati says

    September 4, 2009 at 2:42 pm

    Prime Minister, sir.

    1Malaysia cannot succeed with cow-heads, so let him go!

  3. Mani says

    September 4, 2009 at 4:23 pm

    What that mob of 50 did was criminal.

    Hisham ought to be charged with trying to cover up a crimninal act!

  4. Minister???? What a joke. says

    September 4, 2009 at 9:03 pm

    Would Hisham have said the same and defended the protesters if it was a protest about relocation of mosque using a pig head?

  5. James says

    September 5, 2009 at 11:51 am

    The whole affair is or must be master-minded by none other than [Khir Toyo] and with strong backing by the kerisman. That explains neatly the sandiwara being played out for the humourous enjoyment of us all. Hey! In such dreary economic times, we must thank them for this entertainment, no?

  6. KerisBusuk says

    September 5, 2009 at 3:43 pm

    Dream on, The Nut Graph…[…] All the best getting enough [to sign the] “petition”.

    The only way [is to] vote BN out [in the] next GE!!

  7. benny says

    September 6, 2009 at 12:08 pm

    Isn’t the Hindu temple the victim here?

  8. Ritchie says

    September 6, 2009 at 9:14 pm

    Another example of political “turnspeak”… where the victims are made the aggressor and the aggressors made the victim. The home minister has demonstrated his religious bias and hatred by condoning with this jihad zealot mob. Why the double standards? In a country where even children are handled violently and arrested for bringing a cake to the prime minister, this is a blatant act by the Barisan Nasional to intimidate non-Muslims and to supress their rights.

    Malaysians will not forget such dastardly forms of ethnic provocation that border on blasphemous acts. It is equivalent to putting a bloody pig head on a shredded copy of the Quran in front of Jakim’s office and threathening Muslims not to build a mosque near a predominantly non-Muslim housing estate. Please do not take the patience and tolerance of the non-Muslim community in this country for granted, it may have serious repercussions.

Primary Sidebar

Search

Twitter

My Tweets

Recent Comments

  • Wave33 on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Adam on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • PSTan on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • PSTan on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Andre Lai on The Nut Graph stops publication

Recent News

  • The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Nasihat tentang sepupu yang mengganggu perasaan
  • Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: The Sunni-Shia split and the answer to Muslim unity
  • Why Malaysia needs the national unity bills
  • Challenging government in the digital age: Lessons from Kidex
  • Najib’s failure
  • Babi, anjing, pondan: Jijik orang Islam Malaysia
  • Kidex and the law – What the government’s not telling you
  • Beyond Dyana Sofya
  • Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: Does Malaysia need hate speech laws?

Tags

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Anwar Ibrahim Barisan Nasional BN Bukit Selambau by-election dap Deborah Loh Ding Jo-Ann Election Commission elections Found in Malaysia Found in Quotation Gan Pei Ling government high court Hishammuddin Hussein ISA islam Jacqueline Ann Surin Khairy Jamaluddin KW Mak Lim Guan Eng Malaysia MCA Menteri Besar MP Watch Muhyiddin Yassin muslim Najib Razak Pakatan Rakyat Parliament Parti Keadilan Rakyat pas Penang Perak PKR police politics prime minister Selangor Shanon Shah Umno Wong Chin Huat Zedeck Siew

Footer

  • About The Nut Graph
  • Who Are We?
  • Our Contributors
  • Past Contributors
  • Guest Contributors
  • Editorial Policy
  • Comments & Columns
  • Copyright Policy
  • Web Accessibility Policy
  • Privacy Policy
The Nut Graph

© 2023 The Nut Graph