UMNO Youth leading the People's Alliance for Peace Malaysia (Malaysians for Peace) -
Patron: Head of UMNO Youth
The anti-war movement, the People's Alliance for Peace Malaysia (Malaysians for Peace), was formed on Friday, 3 January 2003 with the first meeting attended by 45 NGOs held in Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC), Kuala Lumpur . Its patron is the Head of the UMNO Youth, the youth wing of the dominant United Malays National Organization (UMNO) party, Hishammuddin Hussein.
Human rights groups noted that as recently as early as January this year, UMNO Youth filed a complaint about Malaysiakini's publication of a "seditious" letter by a reader, who criticized the country's affirmative policies for majority Malays. It resulted in a police raid on the offices of the independent news portal Malaysiakini. UMNO Youth had also broken up a conference held in Kuala Lumpur in 1996 to discuss strategies to end Indonesian oppression in East Timor.
The anti-war movement wants to highlight the Western powers' double standards and their possession of weapons of mass destruction. It is working to collect a million signatures and submit a declaration to the Non-Aligned Movement summit, which will be held on February 20-25 in Kuala Lumpur.
Most of the critical non-governmental groups in the country are missing in People's Alliance for Peace Malaysia (Malaysians for Peace),
The
450 or so groups listed on the Malaysians for Peace consists mainly of establishment groups, including the youth wings of the ruling coalition parties, universities, a string of state family-planning councils, police family associations, and another list of state youth councils. "A lot of these groups are not critical on human rights, democracy and peace-building issues in the movement," says Cynthia Gabriel, executive director of the Kuala Lumpur-based rights group Suaram in a report in
Asia Times Online.
Since 1998, the government has cracked down hard using riot police to disperse largely peaceful demonstrations. It has since banned outdoor political gatherings. But such restrictions do not seem to apply to government-backed gatherings, including the officially sponsored anti-war gatherings.
A parallel movement -
Stop the War Coalition, Malaysia - has since emerged and so far some
50 groups, including most major human-rights groups, have joined its ranks. They are submitting a joint anti-war memorandum to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan
UMNO Youth leading the People's Alliance for Peace Malaysia (Malaysians for Peace) -
Patron: Head of UMNO Youth
The anti-war movement, the People's Alliance for Peace Malaysia (Malaysians for Peace), was formed on Friday, 3 January 2003 with the first meeting attended by 45 NGOs held in Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC), Kuala Lumpur . Its patron is the Head of the UMNO Youth, the youth wing of the dominant United Malays National Organization (UMNO) party, Hishammuddin Hussein.
Human rights groups noted that as recently as early as January this year, UMNO Youth filed a complaint about Malaysiakini's publication of a "seditious" letter by a reader, who criticized the country's affirmative policies for majority Malays. It resulted in a police raid on the offices of the independent news portal Malaysiakini. UMNO Youth had also broken up a conference held in Kuala Lumpur in 1996 to discuss strategies to end Indonesian oppression in East Timor.
The anti-war movement wants to highlight the Western powers' double standards and their possession of weapons of mass destruction. It is working to collect a million signatures and submit a declaration to the Non-Aligned Movement summit, which will be held on February 20-25 in Kuala Lumpur.
Most of the critical non-governmental groups in the country are missing in People's Alliance for Peace Malaysia (Malaysians for Peace),
The
450 or so groups listed on the Malaysians for Peace consists mainly of establishment groups, including the youth wings of the ruling coalition parties, universities, a string of state family-planning councils, police family associations, and another list of state youth councils. "A lot of these groups are not critical on human rights, democracy and peace-building issues in the movement," says Cynthia Gabriel, executive director of the Kuala Lumpur-based rights group Suaram in a report in
Asia Times Online.
Since 1998, the government has cracked down hard using riot police to disperse largely peaceful demonstrations. It has since banned outdoor political gatherings. But such restrictions do not seem to apply to government-backed gatherings, including the officially sponsored anti-war gatherings.
A parallel movement -
Stop the War Coalition, Malaysia - has since emerged and so far some
50 groups, including most major human-rights groups, have joined its ranks. They are submitting a joint anti-war memorandum to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan
