Barking Dogs and Wagging Tails

Which part of Najib Razak and the UMNO/BN government as a whole is serious in clamping down on illegal immigrants in our country?

How can we believe a government who warns the enforcement officers and courts to be sympathetic and caring in deporting foreigners and the very next day announces a massive crackdown on illegal immigrants?



Barking Dogs and Wagging Tails

A young boy, John visited a friend’s house and was greeted by an aggressively barking alsatian.

“I’m afraid to enter. Your dog is barking” exclaimed John.

“But it’s also wagging its tail,” replied his friend, Tom.

“Then I don’t know which end to believe…”

The short conversation above was something I read in the Children’s Brittanica many years ago. It was supposed to be a joke.

I didn’t find it hilarious then. I still don’t. In fact, I can’t see how anyone can find any humor in that short and bland dialogue.

It does however bear some relevance to recent national events.

After the Sabah Progressive Party’s (SAPP) threatened motion of no confidence against Abdullah Badawi, the UMNO government has made significant moves in an attempt to placate the increasingly impatient Sabahans.

It was reported as headlines on June 26th that the UMNO Federal Government will be holding a massive crackdown on illegal immigrations in Sabah. The grand plan was announced by Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak. It was reportedly greeted with joy and thanksgiving by the Sabah politicians, including SAPP president Yong Teck Lee.

Amazingly, just a day ago on June 25th, the Immigration Department in Peninsular Malaysia was reminded not to be ‘overzealous in deportation’. Seemingly, an Indonesian couple suspected to be in the terrorist outfit Jemaah Islamiyah was deported from Kuala Lumpur recently.

It brings us back to the brief exchange between two little boys over a barking canine.

Which end do we believe now?

Which part of Najib Razak and the UMNO/BN government as a whole is serious in clamping down on illegal immigrants in our country?

How can we believe a government who warns the enforcement officers and courts to be sympathetic and caring in deporting foreigners and the very next day announces a massive crackdown on illegal immigrants?

Perhaps there is no contradiction in the press statements. Maybe he’s implying that the illegals rounded up in Sabah will not be deported after all but merely sent to temporary detention centers where they’ll wait patiently for a Malaysian identification card. After all, a genuine Malaysian ID only costs RM 100 in Sabah. It even comes with the special privileges of Muslim bumiputeras as enshrined in the constitution of Malaysia.

Sometimes I feel that we’re too affixed in the exponential population bloom of the Filipinos and Indonesians and Pakistanis in Sabah under Project IC. We’ve forgotten that Indonesians, Burmese and Bangladeshis are infiltrating Kuala Lumpur at a rate similar or perhaps in excess to what is happening in Sabah. Malaysians do not need PAS to transform the nation into an Islamic state. The UMNO politicians have already been doing that for years now, welcoming Muslim immigrants with wagging tails and friendly barks.

Lastly, food for thought – if the government can make two contradicting announcements in 24 hours, how are we to perceive the politicians' repetitive denials in the murder of a Mongolian model?