Press Statement by Charles Santiago in Klang on Wednesday, 3^rd June 2009:

UMNO’s Syed Ali’s race and religious rhetoric exposes poor understanding of history and peoples struggle for self determination

I refer to Utusan Malaysia’s article entitled ‘Syed Ali ingatkan Ahli Parlimen Klang supaya jangan tiupkan api perkauman!’ dated Thursday, 29th May 2009.

The Cheras UMNO division chief Datuk Wira Syed Ali Alhabshee was responding to an Utusan article entitled: ‘Sri Lanka: Malaysia dituduh pilih kasih’ that appeared on 28th May 2009.

He took issue with my criticism of the Malaysian government’s policy on the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka.

The UMNO chief suffers from ignorance and his analysis appears to be clouded by religion and race. He will be shocked to realise that there are strong similarities confronting the occupation and plight of Palestinians and Tamils in Sri Lanka and the people of Burma.

In a panel discussion at the Bar Council I suggested that Malaysia’s position on the genocide of the Sri Lankan Tamils reeks of double standards.

I criticised Malaysia opposition to a UN Human Rights Council resolution demanding investigations of all allegations of human rights abuses and to ensure the freedom of displaced people and access to drinking water and sanitation in Sri Lanka.

Malaysia’s Foreign Minister argued that that the government decision was premised on the notion of non-interference in another country’s internal affairs.

I opined that if this is the case, than why is Malaysia and ASEAN pressuring the Burmese military junta to release Aung San Suu Kyi and initiate democratic reforms in the country.

Also, why does the Malaysian government lobby against Israel at the UN and other international fora in support of the Palestinian cause for self-determination and an autonomous home-land.

Aren’t these activities interfering in the internal affairs of another nation and promoting the right to self determination of oppressed people?

The UMNO division chief construed my criticism of the country’s policy as stoking racial sentiments in the country.

This is silly.

It exposes a shallow mindset and failure to understand history, ethnic conflict and struggle for self determination of an oppressed community.

Syed Ali posited that Malaysia as an active member of the Organization of Islamic Countries has a responsibility to help the Palestinians. He argued that the Palestinian cause is a religious one since Muslims are being oppressed by the Israeli regime.

He further suggested that the situation in Sri Lanka is one based on a minority group fighting for power through armed struggle. The UMNO leader stressed that the Malaysian government has never supported armed struggles to form a government.

The Palestinians, Burmese and the Tamils in Sri Lanka share a common fate: they are an occupied people. Their struggle for self determination and autonomous home-land needs to be supported by all.

A consistent foreign policy suggests that the government would have extended the same support to the Tamil population of Sri Lanka whose government was unleashing genocide against its minority population. The Malaysian government chose to support the perpetrator and thus the criticism of double standards.

A further similarity between the Palestinians (Hamas; before that Fatah) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is that both are considered terrorist organisations. Why do these groups take up arms? Since the 1950’s Tamils were systematically denied of their constitutional rights, language, education, jobs, business, state sponsored land grabs etc.

State violence was directed at Tamils. Ethnic cleansing was part of state policy. In 1983, one of the worst cases of violence against Tamils witnessed about 3000 Tamils massacred and about 20,000 businesses destroyed. The upsurge of violence against Tamils resulted in the armed resistance led by the LTTE and others.

In the last weeks, the Sri Lankan government organised mass killings of its minority Tamil population. The Times of London citing UN secret documents indicate that the Sri Lankan security forces would have massacred over 20,000 Tamil civilians towards the end of the onslaught. In fact, based on witness accounts and expert analysis, the paper is suggesting that 1000 people were killed on a daily basis since early May. The figure is about three times the official casualty figures.

At this time, there are about 300,000 internally displaced people held in camps ringed in barbed wire and surrounded by security forces, a situation similar to the Palestinian refugee camps.

Amnesty International has called for an independent probe into the number of civilians killed in the final weeks of the war against LTTE and urged the UN to reveal its own estimates.

Similarly, in 1982, terror was unleashed by the Israeli government on Palestinians in Sabra and Shatila which resulted in the massacre of 3000 Palestinians. The Palestinians in the Gaza Strip experienced Israeli state sponsored genocide late last year.

What the Palestinians, Burmese and Tamils in Sri Lanka are fighting against is state-sponsored terrorism.

I urge the UMNO chief not to politicise and further dehumanise victims of genocide. It is certainly not the time to suggest that one cause is holier than the other.

This is a time where women and men of all colour, creed and believe unite against tyranny. This is a time for moral leadership among nations and not opportunistic policy making.

I urge Syed Ali to push for war crime trials against the Sri Lankan government as a way of promoting justice for Palestinians.

What Malaysia needs is a consistent and enlightened foreign policy and not bigotry.

* Charles Santiago, Selangor DAP Vice Chairman & MP for Klang