Raja Petra Kamarudin published an article in his Malaysia Today entitled MISSION AND VISION STATEMENT, REVISITED and it appeared like a reaffirmation to me…maybe he is fortifying his spirit for impending war.

The crux of the article is about the fight for social justice being what Malaysia Today is about. He says,

In describing the scenario today:

He proposes the strategy and philosophy to ensure government accountability and integrity:

(…read the whole RPK article here)

RPK makes the quest for social justice sound so simple but is it really? Whether it is or not, we know RPK will be at the forefront; a fact that is both comforting and disturbing. So much hinges on just this one man. I agree with his ideals for Malaysia but I am personally unconvinced that the majority of Malaysians can afford to agree.

In RPK’s own words, we have been divided; and might I add that in some instances the differentiation is acute to the point of mutual exclusivity yet veiled by expedient restraint. The cracks have begun to show.

Two factors make me apprehensive about real hope for social change in Malaysia:

1. Different segments of Malaysian society today have different ideals about just society and

2. The very nature of Malaysian politics having evolved into factions of incompatible ideologues that the probability of having tenable coalitions will always be undermined by the selective myopia which is ingrained in the Malaysian psyche.

The question of can Malaysian politics really evolve into an effective two party system even if racial lines were erased seems superfluous. Can racial lines be erased?

The lines are blurred even further when we consider that Malaysian politics defies definition of left wing and right wing political ideologies. Social ideals are apt to differ.

Social justice or civil justice, as it is sometimes called, refers to the concept of a society in which justice is achieved in every aspect of society, rather than merely the administration of law. It is generally thought of as a world which affords individuals and groups fair treatment and an impartial share of the benefits of society. It can also refer to the distribution of advantages and disadvantages within a society.

As such, social justice is both a philosophical problem and an important issue in politics, religion and civil society. By broad definition, social justice should ideally be an apolitical philosophical concept (insofar as any philosophical analysis of politics can be free from bias) based on the concepts of human rights and equality in a socially just world. Obviously, most individuals wish to live in such a just society, yet political ideologies are an intrinsic part of society. And different political ideologies have different conceptions of what a ‘just society’ actually is; therefore, the constant polemics as different proponents of social justice have developed different interpretations of what constitutes fair treatment and an impartial share.

The political left describes just society as one with a greater degree of economic egalitarianism, which may be achieved through progressive taxation, income redistribution, or property redistribution.

The term social justice is also used by the political right wing but it generally thinks that a just society is best achieved through the operation of a free market, which they believe provides equality of opportunity and promotes philanthropy and charity.

3. We, Malaysians of all races and of various faiths, pledge to collectively:
· work to create a just and prosperous Malaysian nation based on a truly
democratic system of government;
· protect and defend the rights and dignity of all the people and guarantee justice
for all;
· act to enhance economic prosperity through greater productivity, efficiency, and
sound economic management in order to enable the country to face global
challenges;
· channel the country’s resources not only to meet the basic needs of the people
but, more importantly, to ensure that the quality of life and social harmony are
enhanced;
· distribute wealth and opportunities fairly among all; and
· develop quality social infrastructure and a clean and comfortable physical
environment; enhance the quality of education, health and other social services;
build mosques and other places of worship; build public parks and libraries;
build arts and cultural centres; and provide the widest opportunities for
information technology and other methods of communication.

1. We will initiate measures to build and foster unity among the various ethnic and religious groups, having as our aim the evolution of a people with the common aspiration of justice and equality for all. To that end, we will :
· immediately dismantle any and all remaining practices of “divide and rule” in
public administration from the days of the BN administration;
· cause to be established a Ministry in charge of Non-Islamic Religious Affairs;
· put in place an affirmative action programme at Federal and all State levels to
eradicate poverty and marginalization from amongst the weak and backward
groups irrespective of race, social background and religion;
· pay special attention to the Orang Asli in the Peninsula and all the indigenous
groups in Sabah and Sarawak, and amend various laws and regulations
pertaining to them so that justice is served, including establishing a Commission
to protect Native Customary Rights (NCR) land and to resolve disputes relating
to such lands while respecting their traditions and customs;
· strengthen national integration by restoring the rights and privileges that were
promised to the people of Sabah and Sarawak;
· establish an independent Ethnic Relations Council, reporting directly to
Parliament to help in building a united Bangsa Malaysia;
· establish a Commission for Shari’ah Law at the Federal level;
· reduce the influence of party politics in the respective State Religious Councils,
mosques and other religious institutions;
· allocate land for graves and places of worship for all faiths without any
discrimination;
· increase inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogues to strengthen mutual
understanding among the people; and
· encourage the development of a Malaysian culture based on common moral
values and ideals. This requires an open attitude towards the diversity of
cultures of the various ethnic and sub-ethnic groups in the country, taking
account of the country’s history and evolution.

1. Genuine democracy must provide meaningful space for the people to express their views and to participate in various processes of daily administration and not merely to voting once in five years. All interest groups must be allowed to present and debate their views. Information will be free available subject to strictly defined restrictions. To that end, we will :
· repeal the Internal Security Act and and all laws that presently permit detention
without trial;
· form an Independent Commission to consider if any form of preventive detention
laws are necessary and, if thought so, to draft a bill to provide for the same and
the necessary checks and balances;
· form an Independent Commission to review all acts and laws (such as the
Official Secrets Act, Sedition Act, Police Act, University and University Colleges
Act, Printing Presses and Publications Act, etc.), with the objective of repealing
whatever violates basic human rights;
· take the necessary measures to ensure and safeguard the freedom of the press
and the rights of peaceful assembly, expression and organisation, by amending
the appropriate acts and laws and RTM will be corporatised and subject to an
independent Broadcasting Commission;
· ensure that the Human Rights Commission is independent and has
representation from all major groups;
· formulate a Freedom of Information Act to guarantee transparency and free flow
of information from the government to the people;
· to pass the necessary legislation to provide for local council elections;
· so at to allow for more certainty in the electoral process, thereby affording to
all parties participating in that process the most equitable opportunity to
make preparation for the same and to remove any and all elements of surprise,
make all necessary amendments to the law so that the date of dissolution of
Parliament and general elections following thereafter shall respectively occur
and be held every 5 years on a date or within a fixed period stipulated by law;
· review and, where necessary, revise all previous redelineation of constituencies
so as to ensure that differences in the numbers of registered voters in any two
constituencies shall not exceed 20%;
· enact a law to protect “whistle-blowers” of official misconduct and corruption;
· sign and ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights;
· improve the quality and effectiveness of human rights education at all levels of
education and institutions of higher learning as well as training centres for
public servants; and
· improve prison administration and conditions in line with with international
standards.

(a) Reduce the tax burden
· Raise the level of personal income tax exemption, in addition to increasing child
allowance to a reasonable level;
· Raise the level of personal income tax deduction for wives who are full-time
home makers in recognition of their important contribution;
· Raise the level of service tax exemption to a turnover exceeding one million
ringgit a year;
· Review the tax system with the objective of strengthening government revenues
while reducing the tax burden on the people, especially the low- and middle-
income groups.

(b) Eradicate absolute poverty
· Eradicate absolute poverty by the middle of the next parliamentary term;
· Reduce poverty levels in the next parliamentary term to half the levels of 1999;
· Improve poverty eradication programmes so that they are free from political
interference and truly help the poor;
· Streamline various existing poverty eradication programmes;
· Narrow the income and wealth gap without infringing on legitimate rights.

(c) Assist petty traders and hawkers
· End the practice of using the licensing of small traders and hawkers as a source
of revenue and as a party political tool, and instead use it purely for
management and regulatory purposes to safeguard the well-being and health of
the people, small traders and hawkers;
· Provide comfortable, clean and attractive infrastructure and facilities for
hawkers.

(d) Improve public transport services
· Improve the quality of public transport and reduce fares to a level
commensurate with the people’s living standards;
· Issue taxi permits to individual entrepreneurs and their cooperatives, rather
than to large companies;
· Enhance the efficiency and quality of taxi services by private entrepreneurs
through the establishment of cooperatives, associations, councils and the like;
· Reduce the fares of domestic flights between Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah and
Sarawak to promote national unity and domestic tourism;
· Modernise and enhance rail services in Peninsular Malaysia;
· Develop the road system in Sabah and Sarawak;
· Provide suitable facilities and regulations to reduce of road accidents and
enhance public road safety;
· Study the possibility of new forms of public transport in the main towns to
improve the quality of urban life;
· Provide more orderly and reasonably-priced school services bus to reduce the
burden on parents.

(2) Just economic growth

(a) enhance domestic demand and productive, not wasteful, domestic investment
· Review the existing regulatory framework and address its weaknesses;
· Enhance private sector corporate governance, transparency and responsibility,
and end the abuse of the banking and finance sector;
· Give priority to projects which generate the greatest benefit to the people,
projects such as medium and low-cost housing, modernisation of the railway
system, road projects in Sabah and Sarawak, and others;
· Halt mega-projects which are wasteful, environmentally destructive and of little
or no benefit to the people;
· Enhance economic opportunities for all by giving specific emphasis and
appropriate support to groups that are weak, and effective support to local
businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises.
· Ensure that economic development is equitable and sustainable, and does not
threaten social integrity or destroy the environment and natural resources;
· Develop special development programmes for the poor and the low income in
traditional villages, new villages and estates so that they are brought into the
mainstream of development and provided with better income sources, jobs and
title to land;
· Ensure that special privileges are not abused to enrich only a small elite of those
in power and their cronies.

(b) strengthen competitiveness, greater geographical dispersal of industry, develop resource based and hi-tech, information- and knowledge-based industries
· Modernise and expand high productivity industries to increase the country’s
economic competitiveness and to encourage high-value exports;
· Address our technological weaknesses, in particular the technology gap between
the backward and the advanced industries;
· Ensure that large projects, including heavy industry projects, are managed in an
integrated manner and in line with a practical industrial development
master plan;
· Provide incentives and greater support for small and medium-sized industries;
· Encourage, by means of appropriate incentive schemes, further linkages between
local, especially small and medium-sized industries, and large international
corporations in order to accelerate technology transfer to local industries and
increase the use of local inputs;
· Support local entrepreneurs and encourage the upgrading of local skills and
human resource capacity;
· Utilise foreign capital, expertise, markets and technology in order to reinforce
local economic fundamentals;
· Enhance the role of science and technology by strengthening basic science
education and developing appropriate technical training facilities;
· Increase and improve the efficiency of financial allocations and other incentives
for scientific and technological research and development.

(c) Strengthening small and medium-sized agriculture and fisheries
· Enhance food production for the security and stability of the country;
· More research in agriculture, particularly in areas of high technology, food crops
and the industrial use of agricultural output;
· Protect biodiversity and encourage research in biodiversity conservation and
the use of natural products;
· A review of FELDA, FELCRA, RISDA, MAJUIKAN and other agriculture and
fisheries development agencies to improve management and technology use for
the benefit of settlers, farmers and fishermen;
· Restructuring government monopolies to become more efficient, effective and
market-driven;
· Firm implementation of laws regulating fisheries exclusion zones to protect in-
shore fishermen against encroachment by large fishing vessels and trawlers
which cause extensive damage to coastal fisheries resources;
· Development of idle land.

(d) Information technology and economy for all
· Speed-up the installation of telecommunications and electricity infrastructure
nationwide and seek to reduce usage costs;
· Expand information technology (IT) education in all schools, beginning with
primary schools;
· Develop more effective IT appreciation programmes for the general public;
· Launch a “One Village, One IT Centre” programme by giving appropriate
incentives to encourage the dissemination of information technology facilities to
small towns and rural areas;
· Make compulsory information technology infrastructure planning in all new
housing schemes, including low and medium cost housing, and push for the
modernisation of the infrastructure in existing housing schemes;
· Negotiate with software manufacturers to obtain cheaper software for the local
market.

(e) Prioritising small and medium enterprises
· Establish an investment fund, under-written by the government, for the
development of small and medium enterprises and allocated according to
performance and not political favouritism.

(f) Reorganising the privatisation policy framework
· Details of privatisation contracts to be made public in the interests of
transparency. The interests of consumers and workers, and the rights of the
people, will be safeguarded. All future privatisations to be conducted on the
basis of competitive bids;
· Ensure that public monopolies do not become private monopolies;
· Basic public facilities and services – such as water, education, health and public
housing – will only be corporatised to improve management but will not be
privatised;
· Public enterprises that have already been privatised will be monitored closely to
safeguard public interests. Enterprises that have been privatised will not be re-
nationalised but any invalid contracts can be terminated in the interest of the
people and the country;
· Establish an independent commission to audit all large privatised projects in the
interests of transparency and accountability.

(g) Strengthening the financial system
· encourage and promote investment and credit facilities to productive sectors
and not to speculation;
· rehabilitate the image, prestige and integrity of Bank Negara;
· ensure that Federal expenditure is channeled particularly to enhance the
standard of living of the poor, and to interior and rural areas which are still
marginalised.

(1) Education
· Education is a fundamental responsibility of the state, although private
education is allowed;
· Establish a National Education Consultative Council to ensure that the practice
and implementation of the national education policy and philosophy is both
effective and just;
· Stop the privatisation of public institutions of higher learning and review the
implementation of the corporatisation policy so that it adheres to the principles
of education and not financial gain;
· Allocate the education budget in a fair and equitable fashion, without neglecting
any group;
· Provide more scholarships and other financial assistance on the basis of need;
· Increase nursery and kindergarten facilities, especially for the lower income
group;
· Guarantee access to compulsory and free and compulsory education at the
primary and secondary levels;
· Improve standards and facilities for schools in the interior, especially in Sabah
and Sarawak;
· Review the schemes of service for teachers and introduce additional incentives
for serving in the interior;
· Raise the standard of teacher training for all levels of schools and increase the
number of trained teachers according to demand;
· Increase advanced training opportunities for teachers and lecturers so that they
are always current in their respective knowledge and skills;
· Strengthen the position of Malay language as lingua franca among the people;
· Encourage and develop the Malay language as a dynamic literary and cultural
language, which is accepted and used by all communities in Malaysia;
· Recognise the right to study the mother tongue like Chinese, Tamil, Iban,
Kadazandusun and others in schools, and improve the implementation of
policies on mother tongue education, so that it is more efficient and responsive
to the demands of parents. Trained mother tongue language teachers must be
supplied by government schools when at least ten students need such teachers,
and the training of mother tongue teachers must be improved at teacher training
colleges and public institutions of higher learning;
· Retain the various language streams in primary schools while encouraging
greater integration among students of different ethnic groups, for example
through co-curriculum activities;
· Increase the number of mother tongue schools and upgrade their facilities
according to need and demand;
· Improve the teaching and learning of international languages, especially English
and Arabic languages;
· Improve the quality of and facilities in primary and secondary religious schools;
· Strengthen the position of the existing public institutions of higher learning and
improve their performance;
· Systematically increase the number of public institutions of higher learning
without weakening the existing ones, so that more qualified students have access
to higher education at minimum fees or for free;
· Guarantee the autonomy and standards of universities and other institutions of
higher learning by establishing a Universities Commission as an independent
supervisory body, and amend the University and University Colleges Act to
ensure the fundamental rights of the academic community, including students;
· Provide an educational television channel to complement formal education and
to encourage life-long continuing education, with the help of the private
corporate sector as well as public and private educational institutions;
· Widen the scope of the National Accreditation Authority to monitor, investigate
and propose recognition of certificates, diplomas and degrees outside the
national education system. Degrees from institutions of higher learning in
Arabia, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan, India, Pakistan, China and other
countries, and local educational certificates such as the United Independent
Schools Examination (UISE) will be considered based upon academic standards.

(2) Health
· Establish a National Health Council, with the objective of protecting the
interests of the people and advancing the quality of health;
· Abolish all programmes to privatise the public health system;
· Review the cost and quality of service of all the health support services that have
been privatised;
· Increase expenditure allocations for the health sector;
· Restructure the scheme of service for government medical staff to be more
commensurate with their work load and responsibility;
· Maintain low cost healthcare services for all the people;
· Establish a commission to study the deficiencies in the existing health system
and to make recommendations for improving the public health system;
· Monitor private medical services and check any abuses;
· Establish a national centre for disease control;
· Increase continuing educational and specialist training opportunities for
doctors, nurses and laboratory staff;
· Review the possibility of incorporating complementary healthcare methods such
as homeopathy and traditional medicine within the Malaysian health system;
· Step up health promotion activities, health education, preventive measures and
monitoring of diseases;
· Encourage the greater involvement of women in the health sector, including
training more women doctors to handle female patients.

(3) Housing
· Increase the number of good and comfortable low cost houses which meet
household space and environmental needs;
· Overcome the “squatter” problem as quickly as possible, preferably through
development of housing in situ and/or land sharing;
· Mandate a system of consultations between the “squatters”, developers and the
authorities to reach settlement on matters of alternative housing or land or
other compensation;
· Provide public facilities around flats to ensure a balanced and healthy
personality development;
· Carry out efforts to provide easy and cheap credit facilities to help “squatters” to
buy and own their houses.

(4) Social Services
· Carry out the responsibility of the government to provide comprehensive social
services that are fair and efficient;
· Ensure that every housing project above a particular size provide social
facilities, such as playing fields, public recreational clubs, libraries and so forth,
for the use of the general public;
· Provide a systematic and comprehensive arrangement to protect and provide
assistance to the poor, orphans and single parents;
· Ensure equal opportunities for the disabled to achieve self-improvement,
education, careers, social participation and the provision of the necessary
facilities to enable them to be independent in all public areas, facilities and
buildings.

(5) Environment
· Formulate a long term sustainable development policy involving all strata of
society, to promote full support from all levels of government, non-
governmental organisations, political parties and the public at large;
· Amend the Environmental Protection Act so that no project can be started
without the approval of the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment and
the written commitment of the project proponents to implement all provisions
for mitigation, as determined by the Department of Environment, with clear
procedures for providing information and for consultations in the
Environmental Impact Assessment process involving the main stakeholders;
· Coordinate the environmental protection laws at the state and federal levels so
that enforcement and supervision can be more efficient and cost-effective;
· Implement laws relating to the protection of the national heritage, and increase
fines for breaching the Environmental Protection Act and laws to protect our
natural heritage;
· Ensure that every state gazettes a reasonable number of national parks,
conservation parks, sites for new urban centres and housing development areas
in its master plan;
· Work towards the standardisation of laws relating to forestry and logging among
the various states and establish an independent inspection system to ensure
that all these laws are firmly implemented;
· Encourage all the states to immediately gazette sufficient water catchment areas
to meet the needs of the future;
· Consult with the state governments so that they implement the existing
conservation plans and provide new conservation plans wherever necessary.

(6) Consumerism and Prices
· Strengthen consumer protection laws, especially those relating to price control,
cost of services and their quality, particularly during festive seasons;
· Review the Consumer Act so that an independent Tribunal can be established,
with participation from non-governmental organisations, to identify the list of
necessary products and control price increases by establishing a price index for
the purpose;
· Encourage the cooperative movement for production and distribution of
necessary goods;
· Encourage consumer organisations to be more active in raising the awareness of
consumers regarding their own rights;
· Regulate advertisements so that they will not degrade the dignity of women or
other groups.

(7) Workers
· Form a framework of tripartite consultation that is effective, just and
democratic, and amend laws relating to labour, trade unions and industrial
relations consistent with it;
· Repeal or amend laws which restrict the right of workers to form, participate
and be active in trade unions;
· Review and update retrenchment benefits and study the establishment of a
national retrenchment fund to help retrenched workers;
· Fix a reasonable minimum monthly wage for daily paid workers;
· Fix a reasonable monthly wage for estate workers and seriously implement a
housing scheme for estate workers;
· Provide an example for a five day work week with normal working period of not
more than 40 hours a week;
· Review methods of recruitment and pay for foreign workers and reduce
dependency on them;
· Recognise the right of trade unions and union leaders to participate in national
politics;
· Increase the retirement age to 60 years for the public sector, consistent with the
improvement of health and life span;
· Ensure equal pay and benefits for men and women doing equal work or
performing similar duties;
· Increase maternity leave in the public sector to 90 days and introduce leave of 7
days for the husband;
· Develop programmes with the private sector for continuing education and
training in order to improve flexibility, expertise and productivity of workers;
· Introduce retraining programmes for retrenched workers;
· Review the effectiveness of the National Institute for Work Safety and Health
and overcome its deficiencies.

(8) Women
· Enforce strictly laws regarding the rights, interests and dignity of women and
abolish laws and regulations that discriminate against women;
· Protect the rights and welfare of women who have been abandoned by their
husbands without any reasonable support;
· Continue payments of pensions for widows even after they remarry;
· Provide creches within the community and also at places of work;
· Introduce flexible working hours for working women;
· Study the Women’s Agenda for Change in order to implement appropriate
recommendations therein.

(9) Youth
· Give encouragement and facilities to youths in order to improve their talents in
the fields of arts, sports and culture;
· Provide projects aimed especially at discovering leadership talent in individual,
cultural, entrepreneurial and social development;
· Overcome problems, such as unemployment, drug abuse, drop-out and moral
questions, faced by some youths with innovative methods;
· Provide greater opportunities for youths of different social backgrounds to
participate in skills training and in economic projects;
· Provide more effective rehabilitation centres and work opportunities for youths
that have become victims of social problems, so that they can be absorbed back
into the community.

(10) The elderly and pensioners
· Fix a minimum pension level that will enable pensioners to sustain themselves;
· Encourage pensioners who are still able to work to contribute towards national
development;
· Have a half fare system for the elderly and pensioners for all types of public
transport;
· Make it obligatory for children or close relatives to look after the aged and
support such moves by tax exemptions or some other incentives;
· Ensure that the elderly are given priority to go on the pilgrimage;
· Encourage non-governmental organisations to develop programmes and courses
for the elderly and pensioners to improve their talents, develop new skills,
participate in study tours; language courses, physical education and so forth.