Shariibuu-Altantuyaa, Susan Loone, Scumbags, Sisyphus and Sex

Most of you would have read the murder trial of the Mongolian model, Shariibuu Altantuyaa, that Malaysiakini had been reporting faithfully.

Equally faithful in her reports on the murder and the subsequent trial too had been renown blogger Susan Loone. But many won’t realise that Susan has been doing so as a private dedicated undertaking, because she is the sort of person who is passionate about justice, and Susan has decided sometime back that she would keep watch for Altantuyaa, to seek truth and justice.

But scurrilous scumbags have unfairly accused her of being paid (by whom?) to write on the Shariibuu Altantuyaa tragedy. And really, while one may expect those accusations to come from certain quarters, if you know what I mean, those (the scurrilous accusations) had come from within the bloggers community, some who are not aligned with the government.

Musuh dalam selimut, as the Malay saying goes! Scumbags, snakes, slugs!

The following was what Susan wrote in her postOne year anniversary of Altantuya’s murder:

I am not giving up either despite the countless accusations by top bloggers in the country that I am paid to do the Mongolian story. I don’t know what you people get by spreading the word. I only know this: that perhaps you can’t imagine that someone can champion a cause for the sake of truth and justice and do not need to be paid a single cent. Some people also do it for fun, and some do it because they are trained to do these things. But if you think that people act only when they get paid, that is because you yourself get paid for writing your blogs probably.

But I don’t get paid for anything I write on this blog. I’ve neglected this blog, partly feeling disheartened at how vicious people can be, how true it is that some bloggers are indeed liars. But the other part is that when I left my job at the human rights organization recently, I no longer have a lap-top. So, posts had been scarce and will be scarce. I’m looking for a job now, especially in the writing, journalistic and editing field.

What a nasty blow below the belt, at a time when Susan was struggling to find a job. Why do they need to bad-mouth poor Susan? Settling old scores? Ooooooh, real nasty, real mean minded.

I have every faith in Susan, in her words, in her character, and in her sincerity. I can’t say the same for some people who’s unlike Susan, and who would blog only for their personal career advancement or personal agenda.

In Malaysia socio-political blogging carries some disadvantages. Politically, our society has become so divided that there’s no middle ground. It has become George Bush-y, the “either you’re with us or you’re against us”, or “you must have a secret agenda” sometimes meaning “who are you blogging for?” or "how much you are being paid to rubbish so and so” ;-)

I only wish the last could be true as I could do with a few odd ringgit.

When I blogged as follows, the respective comments would invariably arise:

1) anti AAB – awwwwlright kaytee

2) defending AAB* – how much are you being paid?

* I did defend AAB once when there were salacious remarks against him regarding the photo with Michelle Yeoh at a dinner party

3) anti Najib – spot on, kaytee, way to go

4) defending Najib* – how much are you being paid?

* the bull about Najib being responsible for the Nuri crash, which accusations even before the investigation findings were out would have cruelly aggravated the sorrows of the bereaving families, and just for grubby political gains

5) pro-Palestinians or anti-Israeli – you are blind, what did the Jews do to you, you’re an Arab lover, you suck up to the Muslims, you write to appease local expectations, then of course there's you are most fair, at last a fair comment from a non-Muslim/Chinese

6) anti-PAS or anti-Mufti of Perak – I am going to get you, we have a kilafah team waiting to ‘discuss’ stuff with you, we want you to come down to meet us PAS people and of course there's the good onya, KT, that’s the way, kick those bastards etc

7) anti Anwar – you’re prejudiced, you’re biased, what did Anwar do to you, you’re playing into the hands of the UMNO people, why don’t you shut up, we’re watching you, you are always anti-Malay and anti-Muslims, why don’t you propose someone who is better than Anwar if you even can

8) pro Anwar – ... er … er … er … sorry, I haven’t yet made any pro Anwar posting ;-) but I am quite tempted to just to gauge the reception

As my friend and co-chair in PABS, Susan said: “you can’t imagine that someone can champion a cause for the sake of truth and justice and do not need to be paid a single cent. Some people also do it for fun …”

Defending yourself against these typical responses would be like the labours of the Greek legend of Sisyphus.

Sisyphus offended the God Zeus, not a de facto one ;-) so Zeus punished him by making him roll a boulder up a hill. Each time when he reached the top of the hill, the boulder would roll down to the bottom, and he was forced to start all over again. Last heard he was still doing it.

So, no matter how much you attempt to explain, like Sisyphus you can’t win.

Hmmm, I wonder whether Sisyphus was the one who worked out that he was struggling against a force equal to WsinƟ, where W was the weight of the boulder, and Ɵ the incline of the slope. Afterall he (1) did have plenty of time on his hands and nothing to do with his mind (other than to curse Zeus) to work that out, and (2) being Greek he would have used Ɵ.

The formula was to plague me in my school days where following each encounter I would rub my bottom from the thrashing by the maths teacher while cursing the Greek letter Ɵ and the sine function. But then I didn’t realize that in years to come, in my blogging I would learn not to be like Sisyphus or be bothered with WsinƟ. I would follow Edward de Bono’s advice to step aside laterally, and allow the damn boulder to roll down the hill, and to hell with Zeus.

What about the last ‘S’ of my title Shariibuu-Altantuyaa, Susan Loone, Scumbags, Sisyphus and Sex?

Well, if I didn’t add that, would you have come read my post? ;-)