Anwar Ibrahim made famous the concept of a Masyarakat Madani for Malaysia. Translated, it meant a humane and civilised society. At the National IT Council (NITC), when it was still alive and active, we called it a values-based knowledge society, as opposed to any Arabic version of that meaning.
We then argued that to achieve a values-based knowledge society, we first needed an information society or an informated society; one in which people are rational and make choices based on information and knowledge.
To enable the realisation of an information society, we needed ICT enablement throughout society including Internet and social media enablement in all corners of Malaysia. One of the most exciting projects we enabled and funded was called e-Bario, or a project which sought to enable Internet and social media in the Bario Highlands of Sarawak for the Kelabits of Malaysia.
Recently, I had the privilege to listen to an update about this information society by none other than the original project proponent Dr Poline Bala, a Professor of Sociology at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) and a Kelabit herself.
The Kelabits of Bario are almost surely on the road to becoming a values-based knowledge society. Many well-known people and a more than average share of qualified Malaysians come from the Kelabits; namely Idris Jala, Robert Lian, Lucy Bulan, Ramy Bulan and John Tarawe.
The Kelabits of Bario are now globally known as a progressive indigenous society and are often quoted in international papers and websites about their successes.
But, my question from the NITC Vision is; have they rolled out all the other ePublic Services, eHealth, eEducation, eSovereignity and can all families in Bario have free access to the web? If not why not?
A civilised society
We are not an Islamic nation-state but a civil society defined and qualified by a written and legal secular constitution which defines itself as supreme. Our consequential civility must therefore be defined by this Rule of Law and never by the Rule by Law (the deviant form abused by the close one eye culture of today). The chief minister (CM) gets charged but not the prime minister (PM).
That ‘Document of Destiny’, the title of a published book by Prof Shad Saleem Faruqi, Professor Emeritus of Constitutional Law at UiTM, and its contents will define or redefine our destiny as a nation-state. It cannot be and never should be only by sheer interpretive expressions of any single mufti’s of any of the nine states with rulers. We close one eye to all such abuse at our own peril. The primacy of our civil law jurisprudence in defining our Rule of Law defines and refines our nation-state.
We may be a quasi-legal Islamic nation, at least for nine of the states of the Federation of Malaya, but that is not even for two-thirds of the Federation of Malaysia’s three states. This was what was agreed in 1963; with the 18- and 20-point exceptions defined by our Borneo States. To change any of those agreements by the back-door is deception at its best, or theft at its worst.
.My is the call sign for Malaysia in the Internet names domain space. That is also our name in the cloud of the Internet. My also happens to be the personal call sign for each of us, on matters that are personal and existential. Therefore, my pun on this word is an attempt to use dual meaning words to communicate my reality of thoughts, views, and opinions. Now I pray we can all understand all its nuances though.
After my last column, one of my closest friends and classmates sent me a private note, enquiring if the cost of living in Bario is cheaper than in KL/PJ. He did get my twin messages from the last column.
Deconstruction before reconstruction
Since Malaysia is a constitutional democracy, we cannot easily legally convert Malaysia into an Islamic State without an Agong’s decree or even a mullah’s reign. Such a change in status must be done with a two-thirds majority vote in Parliament or a simple one-issue referendum.
If that is the real desire of the majority of Muslim Malaysians, then someone like Abdul Hadi Awang must table that motion and let all MPs vote on it; or through a referendum wherein all Malaysians can vote on that specific matter. That is why I have called for a referendum in the light (or darkness of) of the Brexit vote and the reality or possibility of the October backdoor trapdoor of Ustaz Hadi’s hadd bill.
For the majority of the British, the Brexit vote was about what kind and quality of lifestyle they wanted their society to reflect or believe in. They rejected the public service mandate of EU governance systems and chose independence from Europe for the very first and real time ever for the UK.
The same may be the equivalent prophetic truth and result at the next presidential vote in the US; that joker and clown may be be elected because the majority of simple and ordinary citizens are living under the weight of a unfair and inequitable system of governance, wherein corporations can lie, steal, and cheat but citizens cannot.
The result is ugly capitalists who can collaborate to lie and steal or cheat but can get away with a slap on the knuckle while citizens have to fend for themselves. Most and the majority of ordinary people do not want chaos and uncertainty but always opt for their civic and moral values of a simpler but comfortable lifestyle devoid of high ideals.
Therefore, if the Umno-PAS alliance is serious about their unstated agenda, they should first meet the Conference of Rulers and make that fact known and address all their concerns before tabling a bill that is sure to break up this nation because it changes the basic structure of our Federal Constitution.
Is that too difficult to understand, Mr Prime Minister? Please do not collude and ‘bersubahat’ to destroy the nation which the Tunku helped create for a multi-ethnic unity of diversity.