From Nila Tanzil to Donald Luther Kalapita to the latest Muslianah Nurdin, who is the wife of Indonesia’s education and culture attache, was detained last Wednesday while shopping in Kuala Lumpur despite showing her identification, Malaysian based in Jakarta Unspun is feeling malu.
The headline: Rasa anything but sayang.
I am very malu to be a Malaysian and I think many Malaysians feel this way, again. To my Indonesian friends: We are sorry for a very goblok government that seems to be losing control of even its own government servants.
He strongly believed that our Government should apologize unconditionally for this latest act of stupidity, which I’ve to concur wholeheartedly, for all the wrong reasons starting from early this year.
For a start, an ex-US Navy serviceman complained he was treated inhumanely which made him felt like a dog. Recently, he is back to Malaysia considering suing the Tourism Minister headed by Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor. Latest status unknown.
May 2007, Indian film director Sanjiv Mishra was in Malaysia to shoot a documentary, he was detained by Rela officers after mistaking him for an illegal immigrant.
Tourism Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor was shocked by the incident and apologized. He slammed the Rela for its insensitive approach to foreigners and reminded them not to go overboard while carrying out their duties.
The bad incident was followed by the detention of an Indian software professional, who was handcuffed and detained by police for not carrying his passport while shopping. Both events were reported by IHT too.
Besides incidents highlighted above, probably the most infamous incident thus far after Nila’s would be the unfortunate event where an American couple were woken at 2am with threats to break down the door of their rented holiday apartment on Langkawi Island, where they were alleged to be Muslim and insisted to be checked upon by a team of 6 enforcement officers.
10 months into Visit Malaysia Year 2007, bad incidents affecting our tourism industry were reported by local mainstream medias, bloggers as well as international press too.
However, continuous rhetorical statements by fellow politicians, authorities and any other parties are not effective anymore. Instead of pushing buckets around, Tengku Adnan as the Tourism Minister must stand out and pushes for better reform for a better image and more importantly, to curb over-zealous act by any concerned parties.
Tengku Adnan knows this, the same goes to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi too, otherwise, tourism industry which has long been one of the main revenue generator for this country, might be at risk of losing out to more exotic destinations in neighboring countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and etc.
It’s too high a price to pay for.
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symptoms of a failing state. as history has shown, treats, intimadation and violence are used as control apparatus in the last days of any regime. RELA, MAT REMPITS are real signs for us to see.
Very well said yh, the state is failing, and the downward gradient is getting eVer steeper. All the symptoms are already there, and more will follow Very soon.
All the spin and diVersionary tactics are doomed to failure. A truly democratic Malaysia with transparency and a leVel playing field is on the not too distant horizon. Vote for change, kick the selfish, the corrupt and the greedy out. Stand up and Vote for freedom.