Today my post is on two of the Johor Sultanah’s comments, in her role as Chancellor of UTM, during the 5th Annual Malaysian Student Leaders Summit at the Kuala Lumpur Hilton yesterday - see Malaysiakini's Johor sultanah: Bersih 2.0 was hijacked.
First comment was on Bersih where she, to summarise, said the movement calling for free and fair elections had been hijacked.
As one of my personal political principles/beliefs, I don’t support constitutional royalty making comments on politics. This has been my position way way before the 2008 GE, and most certainly way before a series of unwelcomed royal intervention in the politics of Perlis, Terengganu (against AAB & UMNO then) and Perak (against Pakatan) - I posted on all these events.
I have always said that royalty should only make political comments if they are politicians like Tunku or Ku Li, but never (especially) when they are constitutional Heads of States.
If a Head of State, de jure or acting, makes political comments or acts politically in like fashion as a politician, then he/she must be mindful that in a democracy any political statement or act can be challenged, commented on and criticized. Thus he/she must not/cannot take umbrage nor could his/her supporters claim lèse majesté had been committed. The Perak case springs immediately into mind.
The only way such a Head of State acting politically can get away unquestioned or unchallenged would be when he/she is an absolute monarch (e.g in Brunei, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan) as one local (late) royal member thought he was. The Malaccan Sultanh ordering the execution of Hang Tuah on the basis of a mere rumour would be another example.
However, having carefully read the news article in Malaysiakini, I have to say HRH has quite carefully navigated her way around the ambush of a student's difficult question on Bersih. I find it hard to criticise her reasonable response.
She was even handed in stating (as reported) "Of course, you can see from the mainstream media that perhaps Bersih is founded by wrong people and the bad guys, and other groups are the good guys.”
"It maybe or may not be, there is no right or wrong answer, but it may indicate that the country is heading for some kind of maturity."
But what did she mean by Bersih being ‘hijacked’? Well, Tian Chua flashed across my mental vision wakakaka. That wannabe martyr has been at his usual self – I won’t comment any further on this PKR Drama King wakakaka again. Then there was Anwar Ibrahim's pathetic attempt to (take over and) make unauthorised proposal to cancel the Bersih, but which was shot down in flames, thanks to cool sweetie Ambiga.
However, I believe HRH’s opinion on vernacular schooling, to abolish it, though fair and logical as it might be (because I once shared it wakakaka), is unfortunately way too late, as a large segment of Malaysian society no longer trusts the dodgy standards and at-times racist governance of national type schooling.
In these lamentable impressions (of not trusting national types but only vernacular schooling) we only have a series of UMNO Educational Ministers to thank, for their treatment of education as a political/nationalistic football, to kick their rotten way up the ranks of UMNO and thus to greater access to the Boleh Land gravy train.
The notorious BTN has played an equally nefarious part in confusing, corroding and corrupting the values of some school heads, who should no longer be fit to 'educate' young Malaysian minds.
Many parents now cling on to vernacular schooling as the only educational salvation for their children’s future.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
Teoh Beng Hock - Murdered?
Read The Malaysian Insider’s A sham that deceived Malaysia — by Marcus van Geyzel, taken from the Loyarburuk website, and compare it with my post yesterday titled RCI report on Teoh Beng Hock - the Dark Interregnum.
Marcus wrote the following (concluding extract):
*****************************
The purpose of the TBH RCI was to reveal the truth. Looking at the chronology of events and the findings of fact made along the way and the sudden and inexplicable conclusion it is obvious that it has failed to reveal the truth behind the death of Teoh Beng Hock.
I am in shock. The five Commissioners are respected experts in their fields and are held in high regard. There seems to be no reason to doubt their integrity. The way the report was written points to only one logical conclusion - murder or at the very least culpable homicide not amounting to murder due to an accident during the interrogation process.
But suddenly without any basis without any evidence and in fact with evidence pointing to the contrary, the TBH RCI turns all its key findings on its head with one fanciful speculative fantastical and fictional paragraph*.
* the paragraph Marcus was referring to was the RCI's finding that Teoh was driven by the interrogations to commit suicide. That paragraph stated "Tormented by this predicament TBH experienced a change in his state of mind. And in a matter of hours this change transformed him from being in the low-risk group for suicide into the high-risk group. The doubts extreme emotional conflict and the immense feeling of guilt were all intolerable. Finally precipitating the irreversible crisis that happened to him ... etc etc ..."
No reasonable person of the calibre of those five Commissioners could possibly have come up with that. It beggars belief.
In the spirit of the TBH RCI report perhaps I should try my hand at a fanciful conclusion. Here we go.
Maybe there was a political intervention - or at least some heavy influence.
Maybe the Government would not have been able to cope with the backlash that would have resulted from a finding of murder.
Perhaps having been pre-informed that the TBH RCI was going to conclude that Teoh was murdered, someone somewhere forced the TBH RCI to invent this “middle ground” - this cop out solution which has cheated Malaysia of the truth.
** above highlighting are kaytee's
Do you find this theory unbelievable?
Well it is no more unbelievable than the ridiculous finding of “driven suicide” that was contained in that report.
Malaysia is going through some interesting times. Our Judiciary is failing us. Our Government is failing us. Our politicians and leaders are failing us. Our police force are failing us. So many of our institutions are failing us.
With their finding of “driven suicide”, the TBH RCI has most certainly failed us.
It was supposed to reveal the truth but instead has thrown up even more deception and doubt.
Marcus wrote the following (concluding extract):
*****************************
The purpose of the TBH RCI was to reveal the truth. Looking at the chronology of events and the findings of fact made along the way and the sudden and inexplicable conclusion it is obvious that it has failed to reveal the truth behind the death of Teoh Beng Hock.
I am in shock. The five Commissioners are respected experts in their fields and are held in high regard. There seems to be no reason to doubt their integrity. The way the report was written points to only one logical conclusion - murder or at the very least culpable homicide not amounting to murder due to an accident during the interrogation process.
But suddenly without any basis without any evidence and in fact with evidence pointing to the contrary, the TBH RCI turns all its key findings on its head with one fanciful speculative fantastical and fictional paragraph*.
* the paragraph Marcus was referring to was the RCI's finding that Teoh was driven by the interrogations to commit suicide. That paragraph stated "Tormented by this predicament TBH experienced a change in his state of mind. And in a matter of hours this change transformed him from being in the low-risk group for suicide into the high-risk group. The doubts extreme emotional conflict and the immense feeling of guilt were all intolerable. Finally precipitating the irreversible crisis that happened to him ... etc etc ..."
No reasonable person of the calibre of those five Commissioners could possibly have come up with that. It beggars belief.
In the spirit of the TBH RCI report perhaps I should try my hand at a fanciful conclusion. Here we go.
Maybe there was a political intervention - or at least some heavy influence.
Maybe the Government would not have been able to cope with the backlash that would have resulted from a finding of murder.
Perhaps having been pre-informed that the TBH RCI was going to conclude that Teoh was murdered, someone somewhere forced the TBH RCI to invent this “middle ground” - this cop out solution which has cheated Malaysia of the truth.
** above highlighting are kaytee's
Do you find this theory unbelievable?
Well it is no more unbelievable than the ridiculous finding of “driven suicide” that was contained in that report.
Malaysia is going through some interesting times. Our Judiciary is failing us. Our Government is failing us. Our politicians and leaders are failing us. Our police force are failing us. So many of our institutions are failing us.
With their finding of “driven suicide”, the TBH RCI has most certainly failed us.
It was supposed to reveal the truth but instead has thrown up even more deception and doubt.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
RCI report on Teoh Beng Hock - the Dark Interregnum
Every violation of truth is not only a sort of suicide in the liar, but is a stab at the health of human society - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Lies, lies, and damn lies ... which have been why I posted in The missing public trust that no one in Malaysia (other than the most hard core & faithful UMNO supporters) would trust in and rely on the objectivity of public institutions or ministers.
We see more of this in The Malaysian Insider’s Bar Council says MACC responsible for Teoh’s death.
Far more important, and totally damning for Minister Nazri and the cabinet, has been the Bar Council President, Lim Chee Wee’s repudiations of Minister Nazri’s untrue assertions. TMI reported:
Lim also rejected the notion that Teoh’s “weak character” had led him to suicide, as described by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz when he announced the release of the RCI report.
He pointed out that forensic psychiatrist Professor Paul Mullen had not testified that Teoh had a “weak character” and had not concluded that Teoh had committed suicide.
It’s just unbelievable that Minister Nazri had the brazen nerve in believing he could get away with putting words in Professor Paul Mullen’s mouth. Obviously Nazri, knowing there is no credible source on the authority’s side, had hoped to hitch a stowaway ride on a credible source.
But then, how do we explain the following extract of TMI’s report?
On the other findings in the RCI report, Lim said the council had concurred with the royal panel that Teoh had been subjected to “aggressive relentless oppressive and unscrupulous interrogation” and that most of the MACC officers involved in the case were not credible as they “had the inevitable habit of lying”
Lim said the council also agreed that the massive operation launched by the Selangor MACC at the time had been based on a mere belief without proper ground work or verification. The then-Selangor MACC deputy director Hishammuddin Hashim, he said, had been accurately described in the RCI report as “arrogant, given to falsehoods, untruthful and uncompromising” and “just too stubborn to retreat from his mistake in mounting such a massive operation”.
We know the answer would be found somewhere in the period between the RCI's submission of its report to the Agong (and thus, effectively the cabinet) and its public release, nearly 3 weeks of unaccountable 'blackout', not unlike a crucial moment at one of the polling station in interior Sarawak in the State's last election, when the creativity of dark forces would be at its zenith wakakaka.
The Bar Council’s disagreement has been strictly with Minister Nazri’s spin (his attempt to put words in the mouth of credible expert like Prof Mullen). Notwithstanding the implausible finding of 'suicide', now totally demolished by the Bar Council's repudiation of Nazri's pathetic and shameful attempt to 'justify' the finding, there is enough in the RCI's report to show some genuine investigation. But ...
... BUT there is now an increasing* suspicion that in the silent interregnum, there has been some disingenuous ‘creativity’.
* 'increasing' means the suspicion was already there way before the public release of the RCI report, but since then, has escalated to humongous dimensions
If so, then it supports the rakyat's perception that in Boleh Land court cases, coronial inquests, police reports, pathological reports and hospital medical checks etc must always support the side of the UMNO-led government and its pro-UMNO public institutions. How it would or could be achieved is irrelevant. It could be a voluntarily case of what Sasterawan Negara (National Laureate) Samad Said termed 'charma' (cari makan), or it could be involuntary.
We also know why, as reported in TMI, that the Teoh family boycotted RCI when, aside from the RCI chairperson being (unusually) a sitting Federal Court judge, the RCI insisted on continuing the inquiry despite a proposed judicial review over the appointment of deputy public prosecutors DPPs (from the AG's Office) as conducting officers.
And the ultimate insult to the Teoh family’s wish for at least some (whom they see as) impartial and outstanding citizens sitting as RCI members was when Najib and his cabinet rejected what was a fair and reasonable request.
I wrote on that in one of my earlier (February) posts RCI = Regrettable Conflict of Interest?:
The Teoh family after consulting 126 NGOs had earlier proposed (a) former national police chief Tun Hanif Omar, (b) former Bar Council president Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, (c) former Court of Appeal judge NH Chan, and (d) former Deputy Prime Minister Tun Musa Hitam. But Najib has failed to appoint even one of them to the RCI. Why?
Surely these four are Malaysian luminaries with impeccable credentials and reputations of integrity, with even an UMNO man in Musa Hitam. The only person, also of exceptional integrity and courage, former Justice NH Chan, may perhaps be seen by the Najib administration as being anti-government. If that is the case, kaytee suggests he be replaced by former Justice Gopal Sri Ram, who is also retired.
But in refusing such a request for outstanding citizens, including even UMNO's Musa Hitam to sit on the RCI, Najib and his cabinet had actually revealed their true colours, their intention and what they had already decided on the outcome, thus the Teoh family's correct boycotting of the RCI at least didn't confer on the inquiry its most desired and most important vestige of credibility.
As Sir Humphrey Appleby advised: 'Minister, two basic rules of government: Never look into anything you don’t have to. And never set up an enquiry unless you know in advance what its findings will be.' And so it was.
Lies, lies, and damn lies ... which have been why I posted in The missing public trust that no one in Malaysia (other than the most hard core & faithful UMNO supporters) would trust in and rely on the objectivity of public institutions or ministers.
We see more of this in The Malaysian Insider’s Bar Council says MACC responsible for Teoh’s death.
Far more important, and totally damning for Minister Nazri and the cabinet, has been the Bar Council President, Lim Chee Wee’s repudiations of Minister Nazri’s untrue assertions. TMI reported:
Lim also rejected the notion that Teoh’s “weak character” had led him to suicide, as described by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz when he announced the release of the RCI report.
He pointed out that forensic psychiatrist Professor Paul Mullen had not testified that Teoh had a “weak character” and had not concluded that Teoh had committed suicide.
It’s just unbelievable that Minister Nazri had the brazen nerve in believing he could get away with putting words in Professor Paul Mullen’s mouth. Obviously Nazri, knowing there is no credible source on the authority’s side, had hoped to hitch a stowaway ride on a credible source.
But then, how do we explain the following extract of TMI’s report?
On the other findings in the RCI report, Lim said the council had concurred with the royal panel that Teoh had been subjected to “aggressive relentless oppressive and unscrupulous interrogation” and that most of the MACC officers involved in the case were not credible as they “had the inevitable habit of lying”
Lim said the council also agreed that the massive operation launched by the Selangor MACC at the time had been based on a mere belief without proper ground work or verification. The then-Selangor MACC deputy director Hishammuddin Hashim, he said, had been accurately described in the RCI report as “arrogant, given to falsehoods, untruthful and uncompromising” and “just too stubborn to retreat from his mistake in mounting such a massive operation”.
We know the answer would be found somewhere in the period between the RCI's submission of its report to the Agong (and thus, effectively the cabinet) and its public release, nearly 3 weeks of unaccountable 'blackout', not unlike a crucial moment at one of the polling station in interior Sarawak in the State's last election, when the creativity of dark forces would be at its zenith wakakaka.
The Bar Council’s disagreement has been strictly with Minister Nazri’s spin (his attempt to put words in the mouth of credible expert like Prof Mullen). Notwithstanding the implausible finding of 'suicide', now totally demolished by the Bar Council's repudiation of Nazri's pathetic and shameful attempt to 'justify' the finding, there is enough in the RCI's report to show some genuine investigation. But ...
... BUT there is now an increasing* suspicion that in the silent interregnum, there has been some disingenuous ‘creativity’.
* 'increasing' means the suspicion was already there way before the public release of the RCI report, but since then, has escalated to humongous dimensions
If so, then it supports the rakyat's perception that in Boleh Land court cases, coronial inquests, police reports, pathological reports and hospital medical checks etc must always support the side of the UMNO-led government and its pro-UMNO public institutions. How it would or could be achieved is irrelevant. It could be a voluntarily case of what Sasterawan Negara (National Laureate) Samad Said termed 'charma' (cari makan), or it could be involuntary.
We also know why, as reported in TMI, that the Teoh family boycotted RCI when, aside from the RCI chairperson being (unusually) a sitting Federal Court judge, the RCI insisted on continuing the inquiry despite a proposed judicial review over the appointment of deputy public prosecutors DPPs (from the AG's Office) as conducting officers.
And the ultimate insult to the Teoh family’s wish for at least some (whom they see as) impartial and outstanding citizens sitting as RCI members was when Najib and his cabinet rejected what was a fair and reasonable request.
I wrote on that in one of my earlier (February) posts RCI = Regrettable Conflict of Interest?:
The Teoh family after consulting 126 NGOs had earlier proposed (a) former national police chief Tun Hanif Omar, (b) former Bar Council president Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, (c) former Court of Appeal judge NH Chan, and (d) former Deputy Prime Minister Tun Musa Hitam. But Najib has failed to appoint even one of them to the RCI. Why?
Surely these four are Malaysian luminaries with impeccable credentials and reputations of integrity, with even an UMNO man in Musa Hitam. The only person, also of exceptional integrity and courage, former Justice NH Chan, may perhaps be seen by the Najib administration as being anti-government. If that is the case, kaytee suggests he be replaced by former Justice Gopal Sri Ram, who is also retired.
But in refusing such a request for outstanding citizens, including even UMNO's Musa Hitam to sit on the RCI, Najib and his cabinet had actually revealed their true colours, their intention and what they had already decided on the outcome, thus the Teoh family's correct boycotting of the RCI at least didn't confer on the inquiry its most desired and most important vestige of credibility.
As Sir Humphrey Appleby advised: 'Minister, two basic rules of government: Never look into anything you don’t have to. And never set up an enquiry unless you know in advance what its findings will be.' And so it was.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Lateral thinking by Mat de Brootal
Story No 1
Once upon a time a man named Edward de Bono explained his theory of ‘lateral thinking’ with the following story (in kaytee’s own words wakakaka):
A bastard of an old loan shark lusted after a sweetie whose father was pathetically poor thus vulnerable to borrowing money from the Ah Long. As the story went, Dad was in deep deep deep, very deep financial shit with the Ah Long when the assh*le decided to pounce and satisfy his evil lust.
He told the sweetie to bet on a 50-50 chance game, for her to pick either a white or black pebble from a bag. Picking up a white pebble would mean she wins, with her father’s debt completely cleared, while picking up a black would require her to marry the prick. It was an 'all or nothing' gamble, an offer which Don Vito Corleone would have said that sweetie couldn't refuse.
Coincidentally where Ah Long and the sweetie were standing, the ground was covered with white and black pebbles.
Of course Ah Long intended to win by cheating so he placed two black stones in the bag. Sweetie saw the bastard doing that but knew she was in a fix. If she made noise, Ah Long would make her father’s life hell.
So we were told that she employed ‘lateral thinking’
She picked a pebble (obviously black) from the bag but ... ooops a daisy ... she dropped it on the ground. She bersandiwara and apologised to Ah Long, but asserted that all was not lost as whatever colour pebble was left in the bag would mean the one she dropped, accidentally of course, would be of the opposite colour (in other words, a winning white).
That’s Edward de Bono’s explanation of what ‘lateral thinking’ is, where sweetie won without being confrontational with Ah Long. To kaytee it’s just another term for ‘creative thinking’.
Story No 2
Once upon a time a man namedMacc Mat de Brootal of the Brootal Clan explained his theory of ‘lateral thinking’ with the following story (in kaytee’s own words wakakaka):
A bastard of a sadistic oppressor lusted after a confession from a young man for nefarious purposes. In the interrogation he killed the victim, perhaps accidentally, but nonetheless a crime that would have been classified at least as ‘manslaughter’, one requiring imprisonment of the Mossad-like assh*le.
To cut the story short, he and backers attempted to pass the death off as suicide but the public did not accept that implausible bullsh*t because facts and logic stood in the bloody way of what he thought would be a convenient escape.
His backers had to think of a way out, one that won’t implicate the draconian Shabak-like (Shin Bet like) clone with a crime (this one mana boleh lah), but provide that extra something beyond just a mere statement of ‘suicide’, though mind you, not too much, just a wee sweetener for the public to punish the prick with a slap or maybe even two on his f* wrist, which was covered with the victim's blood.
So, they thought ‘creative thinking’ was in order, with a new inquiry. The aim was to win without complete denial of some (light) form of punishment to satisfy the angry crowd.
Coincidentally, the finding came out that death was indeed by suicide due to the weak character of the victim, but, here’s what they thought would be the wee sweetener (probably arrived at weeks after the inquiry report was submitted), the cause of the suicide was contributed by incorrect interrogation techniques, deemed as aggressive, inappropriate and therefore in violation of the regulations.
The Aman (Agaf HaModi'in)-like assh*le would then be dealt with by an administrative tribunal for his harsh interrogation techniques since it was just a case of poor judgement and not a ‘crime’ - perhaps with a small pay deduction or more probably, a promotion sideways. An administrative slap-on-the-wrist was the maximum punishment acceptable for 'The Chosen Ones' who would/must never be ever responsible for any crimes - don't believe me, hey man, ask the Palestinians.
Kow tim.
Recall, I posted yesterday in The missing public trust where I asked “Does anyone (other than UMNO and cronies) trust … [any Malaysian public institution]?”
But praise The Lord, and thank goodness for atheists like me, Story No 2 did not happen in Malaysia, but elsewhere … in B****Land.
Once upon a time a man named Edward de Bono explained his theory of ‘lateral thinking’ with the following story (in kaytee’s own words wakakaka):
A bastard of an old loan shark lusted after a sweetie whose father was pathetically poor thus vulnerable to borrowing money from the Ah Long. As the story went, Dad was in deep deep deep, very deep financial shit with the Ah Long when the assh*le decided to pounce and satisfy his evil lust.
He told the sweetie to bet on a 50-50 chance game, for her to pick either a white or black pebble from a bag. Picking up a white pebble would mean she wins, with her father’s debt completely cleared, while picking up a black would require her to marry the prick. It was an 'all or nothing' gamble, an offer which Don Vito Corleone would have said that sweetie couldn't refuse.
Coincidentally where Ah Long and the sweetie were standing, the ground was covered with white and black pebbles.
Of course Ah Long intended to win by cheating so he placed two black stones in the bag. Sweetie saw the bastard doing that but knew she was in a fix. If she made noise, Ah Long would make her father’s life hell.
So we were told that she employed ‘lateral thinking’
She picked a pebble (obviously black) from the bag but ... ooops a daisy ... she dropped it on the ground. She bersandiwara and apologised to Ah Long, but asserted that all was not lost as whatever colour pebble was left in the bag would mean the one she dropped, accidentally of course, would be of the opposite colour (in other words, a winning white).
That’s Edward de Bono’s explanation of what ‘lateral thinking’ is, where sweetie won without being confrontational with Ah Long. To kaytee it’s just another term for ‘creative thinking’.
Story No 2
Once upon a time a man named
A bastard of a sadistic oppressor lusted after a confession from a young man for nefarious purposes. In the interrogation he killed the victim, perhaps accidentally, but nonetheless a crime that would have been classified at least as ‘manslaughter’, one requiring imprisonment of the Mossad-like assh*le.
To cut the story short, he and backers attempted to pass the death off as suicide but the public did not accept that implausible bullsh*t because facts and logic stood in the bloody way of what he thought would be a convenient escape.
His backers had to think of a way out, one that won’t implicate the draconian Shabak-like (Shin Bet like) clone with a crime (this one mana boleh lah), but provide that extra something beyond just a mere statement of ‘suicide’, though mind you, not too much, just a wee sweetener for the public to punish the prick with a slap or maybe even two on his f* wrist, which was covered with the victim's blood.
So, they thought ‘creative thinking’ was in order, with a new inquiry. The aim was to win without complete denial of some (light) form of punishment to satisfy the angry crowd.
Coincidentally, the finding came out that death was indeed by suicide due to the weak character of the victim, but, here’s what they thought would be the wee sweetener (probably arrived at weeks after the inquiry report was submitted), the cause of the suicide was contributed by incorrect interrogation techniques, deemed as aggressive, inappropriate and therefore in violation of the regulations.
The Aman (Agaf HaModi'in)-like assh*le would then be dealt with by an administrative tribunal for his harsh interrogation techniques since it was just a case of poor judgement and not a ‘crime’ - perhaps with a small pay deduction or more probably, a promotion sideways. An administrative slap-on-the-wrist was the maximum punishment acceptable for 'The Chosen Ones' who would/must never be ever responsible for any crimes - don't believe me, hey man, ask the Palestinians.
Kow tim.
Recall, I posted yesterday in The missing public trust where I asked “Does anyone (other than UMNO and cronies) trust … [any Malaysian public institution]?”
But praise The Lord, and thank goodness for atheists like me, Story No 2 did not happen in Malaysia, but elsewhere … in B****Land.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
The missing public trust
Trust!
Does anyone (other than UMNO and cronies) trust the police, that they would come out with objective findings in their multi-team investigations into accusations of police brutalities against Bersih participants on 09 July 2011?
Trust!
Does anyone (other than ... wakakaka) trust the Home Affairs Minister and police in their accusation that PSM President Dr Jeyakumar and colleagues are communists?
Trust!
Does anyone (other than the usual suspects) trust the AG to expedite the court hearing of the PSM President and 5 others being communist, when it suits UMNO to incarcerate them until the 13th GE to frighten the Heartland about a revived communist presence?
Trust!
Does anyone (.... wakakaka) trust our Judiciary to be fair in hearing the police case against Dr Jeyakumar?
Trust!
Does anyone (... kekeke) trust Utusan’s assertion that the Israelis/Jews have penetrated and subverted Bersih?
5 questions on trust in our public institutions for you to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
I will answer only the last one with a qualified ‘yes’.
I believe Utusan’s allegation that the Israelis/Jews have penetrated and subverted Malaysian institutions, yes I do wakakaka, though the Malaysian institution is not Bersih, but rather the PM’s department and possibly the PDRM, respectively in the form of APCO and, if true, a much talked-about e-contract.
Does anyone (other than UMNO and cronies) trust the police, that they would come out with objective findings in their multi-team investigations into accusations of police brutalities against Bersih participants on 09 July 2011?
Trust!
Does anyone (other than ... wakakaka) trust the Home Affairs Minister and police in their accusation that PSM President Dr Jeyakumar and colleagues are communists?
Trust!
Does anyone (other than the usual suspects) trust the AG to expedite the court hearing of the PSM President and 5 others being communist, when it suits UMNO to incarcerate them until the 13th GE to frighten the Heartland about a revived communist presence?
Trust!
Does anyone (.... wakakaka) trust our Judiciary to be fair in hearing the police case against Dr Jeyakumar?
Trust!
Does anyone (... kekeke) trust Utusan’s assertion that the Israelis/Jews have penetrated and subverted Bersih?
5 questions on trust in our public institutions for you to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
I will answer only the last one with a qualified ‘yes’.
I believe Utusan’s allegation that the Israelis/Jews have penetrated and subverted Malaysian institutions, yes I do wakakaka, though the Malaysian institution is not Bersih, but rather the PM’s department and possibly the PDRM, respectively in the form of APCO and, if true, a much talked-about e-contract.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Malaysian dinosaurs
Dinosaur.
That’s what Star group editor Wong Chun Wai called Ibrahim Ali in his latest column article titled Talk less, listen harder, where he wrote (as advice to BN leaders out of touch with their constituencies):
“We are not interested in 100-storey buildings, stupid political quarrels, whether wives should be obedient to their husbands in bed or racist tirades from political dinosaurs like Ibrahim Ali of Perkasa.”
Though Wong referred specifically to Ibrahim Ali as the dinosaur, he was actually including most BN leaders ... mind you, not that he would make that accusation/advice too obvious.
This is particular true for MCA and Gerakan leaders who had the brazen cheek to taunt PAS and DAP for the recent Kedah ban on entertainment outlets during Ramadan, when in fact they have been the very ones who in 1997 supported UMNO in passing that piece of legislation restricting jollying during the holy month - see The Malaysian Insider's PAS: MCA, Gerakan approved nightspot ban in 1997.
In today's information-rich world, political hypocrites and liars like some MCA and Gerakan leaders are so dinosaur-ish, and thus deserving of their eventual extinction.
Kedah Menteri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak is another one. Though the brouhaha he unnecessarily caused has now been resolved, thanks to PAS national leadership, he is known for his outdated approach which would be better placed in the fringe areas of the remote regions of the Pakistani northwest.
Another PAS dinosaur is Dr Hasan in Selangor. He remains potentially a dangerous loose cannon.
Wannabe-Melayu Dr Ridhuan Tee should also be confined to Jurassic Park.
That’s what Star group editor Wong Chun Wai called Ibrahim Ali in his latest column article titled Talk less, listen harder, where he wrote (as advice to BN leaders out of touch with their constituencies):
“We are not interested in 100-storey buildings, stupid political quarrels, whether wives should be obedient to their husbands in bed or racist tirades from political dinosaurs like Ibrahim Ali of Perkasa.”
Though Wong referred specifically to Ibrahim Ali as the dinosaur, he was actually including most BN leaders ... mind you, not that he would make that accusation/advice too obvious.
This is particular true for MCA and Gerakan leaders who had the brazen cheek to taunt PAS and DAP for the recent Kedah ban on entertainment outlets during Ramadan, when in fact they have been the very ones who in 1997 supported UMNO in passing that piece of legislation restricting jollying during the holy month - see The Malaysian Insider's PAS: MCA, Gerakan approved nightspot ban in 1997.
In today's information-rich world, political hypocrites and liars like some MCA and Gerakan leaders are so dinosaur-ish, and thus deserving of their eventual extinction.
Kedah Menteri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak is another one. Though the brouhaha he unnecessarily caused has now been resolved, thanks to PAS national leadership, he is known for his outdated approach which would be better placed in the fringe areas of the remote regions of the Pakistani northwest.
Another PAS dinosaur is Dr Hasan in Selangor. He remains potentially a dangerous loose cannon.
Wannabe-Melayu Dr Ridhuan Tee should also be confined to Jurassic Park.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Bersih 2.0 brought fruition to Najib's 1Malaysia
My most dearest BELOVED yang amat berhormat DATUK PM,
No no no, I am not Liow Tiong Lai, wakakaka. So sorry to disappoint you lah.
I write in to thank you for your vision of 1Malaysia and your amazing ability to realize it, though you did so (the latter) unwittingly. As we 1Malaysians would describe, your actions, and not forgetting your non-actions as well, ‘kena cannon balik’ (ricochet back at you).
By violating your personal promise to Bersih for them to use Stadium Merdeka to express their appeals for a free and fair election, at the eleventh hour, ...
by demonising the organizers of Bersih especially your ad hominem attacks against its chair person Ambiga Sreenevasan, ...
by having your police persecute the peaceful marchers (all Malaysians) with not only tear gas and chemically-laced water jets but with kicks, slaps, walloping and baton strikes, and the most gut wrenching desecration of all, ... assaulting Tung Shin hospital*, ...
you have (unwittingly) brought about the true meaning of 1Malaysia. Syabas.
* oh, may I just put in a kind word for your hamba Liow Tiong Lai - he denied there was any police tear-gassing or water attack on the hospital which showed he’ll be what UMNO wants, a well-behaved candidate for the presidency of MCA (assuming the party will still exist after the 13th GE)
I shed tears of joy when I read the personal accounts of various Bersih 2.0 participants in Malaysiakini and The Malaysian Insider, people like my mateys Lucia Lai and Marina Mahathir, ex servicemen like Lt Col (retired) Aw Yeang, Stephen Foong, Kristina Sze, Kashini Krishnamurty and various other peaceful and very courageous Malaysians.
I shed tears of joy because they recounted their sense of ‘belonging’ amongst other Malaysian participants, where they saw each other as Malaysians, smiling, acknowledging and accepting each other as on a common goal for the better future of Malaysia. 'Twas a very moving insight - utterly priceless. Thank you so much.
Lt Col Aw Yeang’s recall was particularly poignant when he related how during the ‘run, hide and seek’ phases of the rally, young Malay men inquired caringly about him; their “Uncle okay?” gave me goose bumps. And once again, it’s all thanks to you, my dearest BELOVED PM (reminding you of course I’m not Liow Tiong Lai wakakaka).
Their considerate sharing of salt, water, toothpaste with those less experienced with the peccadilloes of our world-renowned FRU have been touching, all very 1Malaysians.
My dearest BELOVED PM (now jangan lupa okay? I’m not Liow Tiong Lai wakakaka), isn’t it wonderful that your actions against and non-actions for Bersih have brought about that once-believed-to-be elusive semangat bangsa Malaysia? Well, the so-called ‘patriots’ in your 1st, 2nd and 3rd line of defence may disagree but we have to start somewhere, don’t we? Besides, I believe those 'patriots' wakakaka are now in the minority.
My dearest BELOVED PM (ingat, ai bukan your hamba Liow Tiong Lai lah wakakaka), you should give yourself a pat on the back for achieving something no previous Malaysian PM (not even Tunku) could achieve – in persecuting Bersih 2.0, you brought Malaysians together as they never have been.
We’ll never forget your remarkable (though unintended) deed. It deserves an entire page in the Boleh Book of Remarkable Malaysian Records.
And not only have you fused Malaysians together on Saturday, you have done what Marina Mahathir succinctly analysed:
“And when they started arresting people wearing yellow T-shirts and put (Sungai Siput MP) Dr (D) Jeyakumar in jail - he is such a good person and has done a lot of good service - people got more angry. It is not fair to accuse him of being a communist.”
“I think a lot of ordinary people decided that this is it. This is it and this is not fair, and we are going to out there and participate in the Bersih 2.0 rally.”
“There are so many accounts of the aunty types who would not ever do anything or something radical in their life or never march, and these people decided to go, even those from outside Kuala Lumpur.”
Yes, thank you also for giving us our aunty types, in particular our icon, Auntie Annie Ooi or Auntie Bersih, the Lady of Malaysian Liberty.
To conclude my letter of thanks to you, may I paraphrase Winston Churchill that:
Never in the field of Malaysian solidarity was so much owed by so many Malaysians to so few (specifically you, your unmentionable cousin, Perkasa).
I am, sir,
Your obedient servant (but not hamba Liow Tiong Lai wakakaka)
kaytee
No no no, I am not Liow Tiong Lai, wakakaka. So sorry to disappoint you lah.
I write in to thank you for your vision of 1Malaysia and your amazing ability to realize it, though you did so (the latter) unwittingly. As we 1Malaysians would describe, your actions, and not forgetting your non-actions as well, ‘kena cannon balik’ (ricochet back at you).
By violating your personal promise to Bersih for them to use Stadium Merdeka to express their appeals for a free and fair election, at the eleventh hour, ...
by demonising the organizers of Bersih especially your ad hominem attacks against its chair person Ambiga Sreenevasan, ...
by having your police persecute the peaceful marchers (all Malaysians) with not only tear gas and chemically-laced water jets but with kicks, slaps, walloping and baton strikes, and the most gut wrenching desecration of all, ... assaulting Tung Shin hospital*, ...
you have (unwittingly) brought about the true meaning of 1Malaysia. Syabas.
* oh, may I just put in a kind word for your hamba Liow Tiong Lai - he denied there was any police tear-gassing or water attack on the hospital which showed he’ll be what UMNO wants, a well-behaved candidate for the presidency of MCA (assuming the party will still exist after the 13th GE)
I shed tears of joy when I read the personal accounts of various Bersih 2.0 participants in Malaysiakini and The Malaysian Insider, people like my mateys Lucia Lai and Marina Mahathir, ex servicemen like Lt Col (retired) Aw Yeang, Stephen Foong, Kristina Sze, Kashini Krishnamurty and various other peaceful and very courageous Malaysians.
I shed tears of joy because they recounted their sense of ‘belonging’ amongst other Malaysian participants, where they saw each other as Malaysians, smiling, acknowledging and accepting each other as on a common goal for the better future of Malaysia. 'Twas a very moving insight - utterly priceless. Thank you so much.
Lt Col Aw Yeang’s recall was particularly poignant when he related how during the ‘run, hide and seek’ phases of the rally, young Malay men inquired caringly about him; their “Uncle okay?” gave me goose bumps. And once again, it’s all thanks to you, my dearest BELOVED PM (reminding you of course I’m not Liow Tiong Lai wakakaka).
Their considerate sharing of salt, water, toothpaste with those less experienced with the peccadilloes of our world-renowned FRU have been touching, all very 1Malaysians.
My dearest BELOVED PM (now jangan lupa okay? I’m not Liow Tiong Lai wakakaka), isn’t it wonderful that your actions against and non-actions for Bersih have brought about that once-believed-to-be elusive semangat bangsa Malaysia? Well, the so-called ‘patriots’ in your 1st, 2nd and 3rd line of defence may disagree but we have to start somewhere, don’t we? Besides, I believe those 'patriots' wakakaka are now in the minority.
My dearest BELOVED PM (ingat, ai bukan your hamba Liow Tiong Lai lah wakakaka), you should give yourself a pat on the back for achieving something no previous Malaysian PM (not even Tunku) could achieve – in persecuting Bersih 2.0, you brought Malaysians together as they never have been.
We’ll never forget your remarkable (though unintended) deed. It deserves an entire page in the Boleh Book of Remarkable Malaysian Records.
And not only have you fused Malaysians together on Saturday, you have done what Marina Mahathir succinctly analysed:
“And when they started arresting people wearing yellow T-shirts and put (Sungai Siput MP) Dr (D) Jeyakumar in jail - he is such a good person and has done a lot of good service - people got more angry. It is not fair to accuse him of being a communist.”
“I think a lot of ordinary people decided that this is it. This is it and this is not fair, and we are going to out there and participate in the Bersih 2.0 rally.”
“There are so many accounts of the aunty types who would not ever do anything or something radical in their life or never march, and these people decided to go, even those from outside Kuala Lumpur.”
Yes, thank you also for giving us our aunty types, in particular our icon, Auntie Annie Ooi or Auntie Bersih, the Lady of Malaysian Liberty.
To conclude my letter of thanks to you, may I paraphrase Winston Churchill that:
Never in the field of Malaysian solidarity was so much owed by so many Malaysians to so few (specifically you, your unmentionable cousin, Perkasa).
I am, sir,
Your obedient servant (but not hamba Liow Tiong Lai wakakaka)
kaytee
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
King Canute Soi Lek & the tides of Tung Shin Hospital
Some people are great communicators, like Bill Clinton; some are giant bullsh*tters, like ... wakakaka; but some are utterly hopeless, like Chua Soi Lek and Liow Tiong Lai.
Alamak, both from the last group belong to the same political party. Would that (party) be a common denominator of those utterly hopeless communicators? I hope my matey Ti Lian Ker and former MCA president Ong Tee Keat will provide some illumination on this.
Both Liow (who considers Najib as his ‘beloved PM’) and CSL have come out badly in the Tung Shin Hospital affair.
During the Saturday Bersih event, observers reported Police firing tear gas grenades and directing their chemical-laced water cannons into the grounds of Tung Shin Hospital, raising huge outrage at the desecration of a universally recognized sanctity from violence.
When Israeli gunships attacked Lebanese ambulances in Southern Lebanon, Malaysians including UMNO apparatchiks were correctly outraged; when Israeli jets and artillery attacked Gaza hospitals we fumed and correctly demanded those Israelis be tried for war crimes.
When the PDRM ‘attacked’ Tung Shin, ‘twas not only UMNO but MCA which denied such an occurrence had taken place, in total contradiction to what the Bar Council observers and hospital staff reported.
While it’s expected of Raja Bodek II (Liow Tiong Lai) to sycophantically defend the Police (and thus his overlord, UMNO), Chua Soi Lek should have known better.
Couldn’t CSL have said one of the following?
• Let’s wait for an objective report before I comment, (or)
• I need to check with the hospital authorities before I comment, (or)
• If the feedback has been true, then it’s not appropriate for the Police to get carried away to the extent of ........, (or)
• If it has been true, I am disturbed by such an occurrence, (etc etc)
But CSL just couldn’t help himself in rushing to defend the Police.
Of course in reality he doesn’t give a fig about the police, but he worries about UMNO's feelings because Taikoh sees the police as an extension of its range of political tools.
Of course he doesn’t give a fig about UMNO but alas, UMNO is essential to the survival of MCA, himself and his son.
Without UMNO, what good is MCA?
Who would support MCA today? Certainly not the Malays or Indians! And most certainly not the majority of Chinese.
Most frighteningly, the police desecration of Tung Shin has the humongous potential to turn the stomach of most Chinese, even those in Johor still supporting MCA ... but only because CSL and his MCA choose to be identified alongside UMNO with the police.
Yes, his mistake has been in assuming the police is part of the MCA’s range of political tools when it is only that of UMNO. CSL should have treated the police like the civil service it is supposed to be, and not assume emotional protection for it.
He should have said: If the tear gassing and water jetting of Tung Shin by the police have been true, then I am deeply disturbed by such occurrences, but let’s wait for an objective report before I comment any further.
But he didn’t, in fact failed miserably to seize that golden option. Instead he stupidly tried to kill off the veracity of the report - he might as well be King Canute.
And it’s now too f* late, CSL! You have effectively kill off MCA for good.
Alamak, both from the last group belong to the same political party. Would that (party) be a common denominator of those utterly hopeless communicators? I hope my matey Ti Lian Ker and former MCA president Ong Tee Keat will provide some illumination on this.
Both Liow (who considers Najib as his ‘beloved PM’) and CSL have come out badly in the Tung Shin Hospital affair.
During the Saturday Bersih event, observers reported Police firing tear gas grenades and directing their chemical-laced water cannons into the grounds of Tung Shin Hospital, raising huge outrage at the desecration of a universally recognized sanctity from violence.
When Israeli gunships attacked Lebanese ambulances in Southern Lebanon, Malaysians including UMNO apparatchiks were correctly outraged; when Israeli jets and artillery attacked Gaza hospitals we fumed and correctly demanded those Israelis be tried for war crimes.
When the PDRM ‘attacked’ Tung Shin, ‘twas not only UMNO but MCA which denied such an occurrence had taken place, in total contradiction to what the Bar Council observers and hospital staff reported.
While it’s expected of Raja Bodek II (Liow Tiong Lai) to sycophantically defend the Police (and thus his overlord, UMNO), Chua Soi Lek should have known better.
Couldn’t CSL have said one of the following?
• Let’s wait for an objective report before I comment, (or)
• I need to check with the hospital authorities before I comment, (or)
• If the feedback has been true, then it’s not appropriate for the Police to get carried away to the extent of ........, (or)
• If it has been true, I am disturbed by such an occurrence, (etc etc)
But CSL just couldn’t help himself in rushing to defend the Police.
Of course in reality he doesn’t give a fig about the police, but he worries about UMNO's feelings because Taikoh sees the police as an extension of its range of political tools.
Of course he doesn’t give a fig about UMNO but alas, UMNO is essential to the survival of MCA, himself and his son.
Without UMNO, what good is MCA?
Who would support MCA today? Certainly not the Malays or Indians! And most certainly not the majority of Chinese.
Most frighteningly, the police desecration of Tung Shin has the humongous potential to turn the stomach of most Chinese, even those in Johor still supporting MCA ... but only because CSL and his MCA choose to be identified alongside UMNO with the police.
Yes, his mistake has been in assuming the police is part of the MCA’s range of political tools when it is only that of UMNO. CSL should have treated the police like the civil service it is supposed to be, and not assume emotional protection for it.
He should have said: If the tear gassing and water jetting of Tung Shin by the police have been true, then I am deeply disturbed by such occurrences, but let’s wait for an objective report before I comment any further.
But he didn’t, in fact failed miserably to seize that golden option. Instead he stupidly tried to kill off the veracity of the report - he might as well be King Canute.
And it’s now too f* late, CSL! You have effectively kill off MCA for good.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
The politics of Bersih
Politics, political, politicking, politicised, politically hijacked!
Was Bersih 2.0 any of these?
Bersih is a coalition of NGOs and political parties concerned with the poor pathetic performance of our amazing Bolehland Wonder, the Election Commission and its ‘conduct’ of both federal and state elections.
Thus Bersih’s aim is of course political, though being political doesn’t mean it is promoting the agenda of a particular political party or political group.
Unlike another political NGO, Perkasa, Bersih is not promoting the maintenance of special economic privileges on the basis of race, nor is it demanding the dissolution of what Perkasa demands to be continued.
Bersih’s goal is free and fair elections in Malaysia.
Bersih’s recent rally, commonly known as Bersih 2.0, has the following eight demands:
1. Clean the electoral roll
2. Reform postal ballot voting
3. Use of indelible ink
4. A minimum campaign period of 21 days
5. Free and fair access to media mainstream media
6. Strengthen public institutions
7. Stop corruption
8. Stop dirty politics
... though it may be reduced to only 3 essential, namely:
1. use of indelible ink to ensure that voters may only vote once
2. clean out the electoral rolls to remove entries that are no longer valid such as those of deceased people
3. abolition or at least reforms of postal votes to prevent their abuse
While Bersih also demanded that all candidates and political parties have equal access to print and broadcast media, I personally doubt the EC can do much even if it wants to, given that the BN controls most if not all of the mainstream media.
Thus Bersih's campaign has been only about the issue of '1 vote for 1 person'. On this, I would have thought there should have been one more demand, that boundaries of electoral constituencies be redrawn to support this universal adult suffrage.
As an example, take the blatantly gerrymandered case of Putrajaya constituency (approximately 6600 registered voters) versus that of Kapar constituency (112, 200 registered voters) where 1 vote in the former is worth about 17 in the latter. Obviously some Malaysian citizens are more equal than others.
While of course everyone recognises it's not possible to have absolutely equal number of votes for every constituency, the EC should have ensured that every constituency be as near equal as possible, say, around 50,000 voters per.
Putrajaya with its list of voters less than even that of a typical state assembly seat definitely does not deserve to be a federal constituency on its own. Its creation as a federal constituency on its own is typical of the EC and the reason for its loss of credibility.
Gerrymandering is not new when one looks at sardine-packed constituencies like Kapar, Bukit Bintang, and various other urban districts. But the Putrajaya federal constituency certainly takes the cake, cream and corruption home.
That the BN and its associates like Perkasa have objected to the call for free and fair elections seems to signal that the fears of Bersih has been justified, namely, elections are not as free and fair as it should be. I’m of course merely saying something every Malaysian (even those in BN) already knows, that so-called public institutions like EC, Civil Service, Police, MACC, etc aren’t (politically neutral) public services as such but UMNO institutions, though Utusan Malaysia called them ‘Malay’ institutions.
Has Bersih been politicised?
Yes, because the dictionary tells us ‘politicise’ means ‘to engage in or talk about politics’. In Malaysia, one cannot talk about EC, Civil Service, Police, MACC, and other so-called public institutes without mentioning politics, specifically the political involvement or direction of UMNO in their conduct against the opposition. Another classic example of an organization serving UMNO is the equally amazing Bolehland Wonder, the PDRM.
Was Bersih politically hijacked?
There were attempts but unsuccessful ones. Recall how Anwar Ibrahim attempted to act as if he was the leader of Bersih, declaring that he would call off Bersih 2.0 if the EC ... yadda yadda ... when he didn’t even have that authority. But then, that's Anwar. He was correctly, curtly and coldly dismissed by Ambiga Sreenevasan, the real top honcho of Bersih 2.0.
During the rally on Saturday my matey OKM confirmed there were sporadic shouts of reformasi, a call, wakakaka, associated with PKR, but these were too few to change the character of Bersih 2.0 as a rally for free and fair elections (directed at the EC), into one for Anwar Ibrahim as he must have dreamed of, wakakaka again.
Would stirring cries of Allahu Akbar imply PAS’ attempts to hijack Bersih? Though normally identified with PAS, the Islamic praise of Allah swt is not exclusively PAS and has been used by UMNO as well. I reckon it's hard to accuse PAS of any hijacking of Bersih on the basis of religious calls of inspiration.
What about the other side? We know that Perkasa, Utusan and UMNO (clumsy clowns like Hishamuddin) have collectively attempted to politicise Bersih in the worst light, with even the police involved in conducting its 'usual investigation', this time into the financial sponsors of Bersih.
And I wonder what Khairy Jamaluddin, an Oxford educated man, would have been thinking when UMNO Youth selected the slogan of 'Patriot' on its red T-shirt?
Surely he would have heard of Samuel Johnson’s famous pronouncement "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel" when he attacked John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute and his supporters for the false use of the word ‘patriotism’. Imagine KJ as the new Earl of Bute wakakaka.
But alas, that Hang Tuah-ish word may find resonance with the Heartland who wouldn't know or give a fig about Samuel Johnson, which no doubt KJ would have already taken into account.
Yes, scoundrels throughout the world love that word as it accords (so they believed) them protection, and respectability and credibility in the eyes of some (or even many). Some even brazenly and shamelessly draped themselves (and their bigoted nastiness) with the national flag.
But in the Bersih 2.0 rally, three non-party sweeties stood out for praises of their amazing courage, dignity and examples – Ambiga Sreenesavan for her leadership and cool courage, Marina Mahathir for, firstly, her courage and sense of fairness in defending Ambiga against the scurrilous ad hominem attacks by the rightwing Bolehland Wonders, and secondly, especially given the particular circumstance of her personal connections, for her walk in Bersih 2.0, and finally but not least, Aunty Bersih, the Lady of Liberty.
I salute you sweeties - you're the real patriots.
Was Bersih 2.0 any of these?
Bersih is a coalition of NGOs and political parties concerned with the poor pathetic performance of our amazing Bolehland Wonder, the Election Commission and its ‘conduct’ of both federal and state elections.
Thus Bersih’s aim is of course political, though being political doesn’t mean it is promoting the agenda of a particular political party or political group.
Unlike another political NGO, Perkasa, Bersih is not promoting the maintenance of special economic privileges on the basis of race, nor is it demanding the dissolution of what Perkasa demands to be continued.
Bersih’s goal is free and fair elections in Malaysia.
Bersih’s recent rally, commonly known as Bersih 2.0, has the following eight demands:
1. Clean the electoral roll
2. Reform postal ballot voting
3. Use of indelible ink
4. A minimum campaign period of 21 days
5. Free and fair access to media mainstream media
6. Strengthen public institutions
7. Stop corruption
8. Stop dirty politics
... though it may be reduced to only 3 essential, namely:
1. use of indelible ink to ensure that voters may only vote once
2. clean out the electoral rolls to remove entries that are no longer valid such as those of deceased people
3. abolition or at least reforms of postal votes to prevent their abuse
While Bersih also demanded that all candidates and political parties have equal access to print and broadcast media, I personally doubt the EC can do much even if it wants to, given that the BN controls most if not all of the mainstream media.
Thus Bersih's campaign has been only about the issue of '1 vote for 1 person'. On this, I would have thought there should have been one more demand, that boundaries of electoral constituencies be redrawn to support this universal adult suffrage.
As an example, take the blatantly gerrymandered case of Putrajaya constituency (approximately 6600 registered voters) versus that of Kapar constituency (112, 200 registered voters) where 1 vote in the former is worth about 17 in the latter. Obviously some Malaysian citizens are more equal than others.
While of course everyone recognises it's not possible to have absolutely equal number of votes for every constituency, the EC should have ensured that every constituency be as near equal as possible, say, around 50,000 voters per.
Putrajaya with its list of voters less than even that of a typical state assembly seat definitely does not deserve to be a federal constituency on its own. Its creation as a federal constituency on its own is typical of the EC and the reason for its loss of credibility.
Gerrymandering is not new when one looks at sardine-packed constituencies like Kapar, Bukit Bintang, and various other urban districts. But the Putrajaya federal constituency certainly takes the cake, cream and corruption home.
That the BN and its associates like Perkasa have objected to the call for free and fair elections seems to signal that the fears of Bersih has been justified, namely, elections are not as free and fair as it should be. I’m of course merely saying something every Malaysian (even those in BN) already knows, that so-called public institutions like EC, Civil Service, Police, MACC, etc aren’t (politically neutral) public services as such but UMNO institutions, though Utusan Malaysia called them ‘Malay’ institutions.
Has Bersih been politicised?
Yes, because the dictionary tells us ‘politicise’ means ‘to engage in or talk about politics’. In Malaysia, one cannot talk about EC, Civil Service, Police, MACC, and other so-called public institutes without mentioning politics, specifically the political involvement or direction of UMNO in their conduct against the opposition. Another classic example of an organization serving UMNO is the equally amazing Bolehland Wonder, the PDRM.
Was Bersih politically hijacked?
There were attempts but unsuccessful ones. Recall how Anwar Ibrahim attempted to act as if he was the leader of Bersih, declaring that he would call off Bersih 2.0 if the EC ... yadda yadda ... when he didn’t even have that authority. But then, that's Anwar. He was correctly, curtly and coldly dismissed by Ambiga Sreenevasan, the real top honcho of Bersih 2.0.
During the rally on Saturday my matey OKM confirmed there were sporadic shouts of reformasi, a call, wakakaka, associated with PKR, but these were too few to change the character of Bersih 2.0 as a rally for free and fair elections (directed at the EC), into one for Anwar Ibrahim as he must have dreamed of, wakakaka again.
Would stirring cries of Allahu Akbar imply PAS’ attempts to hijack Bersih? Though normally identified with PAS, the Islamic praise of Allah swt is not exclusively PAS and has been used by UMNO as well. I reckon it's hard to accuse PAS of any hijacking of Bersih on the basis of religious calls of inspiration.
What about the other side? We know that Perkasa, Utusan and UMNO (clumsy clowns like Hishamuddin) have collectively attempted to politicise Bersih in the worst light, with even the police involved in conducting its 'usual investigation', this time into the financial sponsors of Bersih.
And I wonder what Khairy Jamaluddin, an Oxford educated man, would have been thinking when UMNO Youth selected the slogan of 'Patriot' on its red T-shirt?
Surely he would have heard of Samuel Johnson’s famous pronouncement "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel" when he attacked John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute and his supporters for the false use of the word ‘patriotism’. Imagine KJ as the new Earl of Bute wakakaka.
But alas, that Hang Tuah-ish word may find resonance with the Heartland who wouldn't know or give a fig about Samuel Johnson, which no doubt KJ would have already taken into account.
Yes, scoundrels throughout the world love that word as it accords (so they believed) them protection, and respectability and credibility in the eyes of some (or even many). Some even brazenly and shamelessly draped themselves (and their bigoted nastiness) with the national flag.
But in the Bersih 2.0 rally, three non-party sweeties stood out for praises of their amazing courage, dignity and examples – Ambiga Sreenesavan for her leadership and cool courage, Marina Mahathir for, firstly, her courage and sense of fairness in defending Ambiga against the scurrilous ad hominem attacks by the rightwing Bolehland Wonders, and secondly, especially given the particular circumstance of her personal connections, for her walk in Bersih 2.0, and finally but not least, Aunty Bersih, the Lady of Liberty.
I salute you sweeties - you're the real patriots.
Lessons of history unheeded
I wrote the following 2 years ago, on 01 August 2009 in a post titled Anti-ISA protests magnified by FRU suppressions. The protest was not by Bersih on fair elections but about another issue, the ISA.
*****************************************************
*****************************************************
Very stressful, hasn't it been in today's march against the ISA? Stressful for both the government and the protestors.
However, the organizers of the protest have assessed today's anti-ISA staged rallies as a success, and they are right. They have successfully captured the nation's and international attention that the Malaysian people are against the government's misuse of the ISA.
And the ar$eluck for the governmet is that this would be the general impression even if only 25% of the people supported the anti-ISA movement.
Worse, the attempted police suppression of the protesors has only martyr-ised each and every one of the participants ... exactly the outcome the Pakatan leaders would have wanted.
The government might have wished the protest rallies hadn't ocurred but alas, it did. In my opinion, the ministers (PM, Home and Information) handled the protests abysmally.
Visualize an alternative scenario - what if the government had allowed the peaceful protest to proceed unimpeded?
Yes, there would still be a protest march and ..... [consider an absence of the FRU with all its attention grabbing characteristics like chemical spraying machines, tear gas and praetorian guards and their baton charges] ..... then what???
The political effect would be very much, indeed significantly, reduced.
So why has the government chosen the option that could only aggravate and magnify the public dramas and political consequences of the anti-ISA rallies, unwittingly lending the Pakatan-led protestors far greater attention than would have been the case if there was no police/FRU interference.Sometimes I wonder how stupid the relevant ministers had been to adopt such a counter-productive (for them) tactic - but more often that that, I wonder whether the Police had sinisterly, sinuously and successfully sold those dumbos the hardline approach ... obviously to enhance their own (police) importance and to suck the (so-called) political masters (or more likely, pundee morons) into total dependence on the men in blue.
And of course the IGP gets another highly undeserved extension to his contract.
*****************************************************
Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it - George Santayana
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Bersih - its casualties
This is no laughing matter; kaytee isn’t going to wakakaka in this post, ‘coz someone died, or could be said to have been killed in the Bersih rally yesterday.
Baharuddin Ahmad was a fatal casualty of the police attack on the peaceful rally.
Many others were more fortunate, suffering at most injuries unlike poor Baharuddin.
And PM Najib has been a casualty too, where his credibility, prestige and reputation have now been mortally wounded.
Hishamuddin and his police have been notorious casualties as well - they may not even know it but they're now the most hated people in Malaysia, for their evil brutalities.
What if?
That eternal question, what if?
What if Najib’s offer of a stadium for Bersih to protest, in his very words, “from morning till night” had not been right royally sabo by his cousin and certain ‘forces’ within UMNO; what if Najib had not been presented with only bad choices, rotten fait accompli to make him backpedalled every step on his so-called 1Malaysia, and his promise of accommodation to Bersih, in the use of Stadium Merdeka for the protest against a badly tainted and seriously damaged EC?
What if Hishamuddin had shown a modicum of respect for HM the Agong, acknowledging HM’s meeting with Bersih as indicative of the legitimacy of the NGO instead of disrespectfully and defiantly insisting that the organization headed by a courageous woman whom the King saw fit to grant an audience is illegal?
But alas, Hishamuddin demonstrated that UMNO continues to be the principal and only body in Malaysia in its blatant serial commission of lèse-majesté, lying and betraying the Malays, while in the same breath hypocritically shouting Raja, agama dan bangsa.
The ‘what if’s’ do not absolve Najib from the responsibility of the horrendous outcome where the so-called guardians of the law, the Royal Malaysian police attacked Malaysian citizens, in some case, with brutal glee and vicious delight, where the internationally centuries-old sanctity of a hospital was not even immune to its atrocities - who has heard of police firing tear gas and jets of chemical-laced water into a building housing the sick. Najib was, has been and still is the PM, and the buck stops with him
One man is now dead.
And it didn’t require an outrageously Zahidi-politicized military who was made to threaten Malaysians just prior to the Bersih rally that they would shoot to kill, Perkasa (with Ibrahim Ali meekly/cowardly AWOL) or the legion of silat pseudo-warriors to take 'emotional' action – no 1st line of Najib’s defence, no 2nd line, no 3rd line was required to kill; only the inhumanity of a callous police force to deliberately leave Baharuddin Ahmad, who was seriously affected by the tear gas, unattended by proper medical people to resuscitate his breathing problems.
Malaysia as a nation has been a casualty too.
But the biggest casualty, as in any war, and war it had been, has been Truth, ...
... the Truth of a dysfunctional UMNO where its leader was not consistently in charge, upstaged every which way by intra-centrifugal forces; the Truth of a pagar-makan-padi police force, and the Truth of a cheating corrupt non-accountable entity whose crimes were disguised and camouflaged by deliberate distracting diversionary ethocentric threats, false alarms and blatant lies issued daily by the very people who blasphemously claim to be defenders of their agama.
And it infuriates me that in the IGP heading the list of honours in the YDP Negeri of Penang’s birthday awards, the respectability of the YDP Negeri has become another casualty.
Baharuddin Ahmad was a fatal casualty of the police attack on the peaceful rally.
Many others were more fortunate, suffering at most injuries unlike poor Baharuddin.
And PM Najib has been a casualty too, where his credibility, prestige and reputation have now been mortally wounded.
Hishamuddin and his police have been notorious casualties as well - they may not even know it but they're now the most hated people in Malaysia, for their evil brutalities.
What if?
That eternal question, what if?
What if Najib’s offer of a stadium for Bersih to protest, in his very words, “from morning till night” had not been right royally sabo by his cousin and certain ‘forces’ within UMNO; what if Najib had not been presented with only bad choices, rotten fait accompli to make him backpedalled every step on his so-called 1Malaysia, and his promise of accommodation to Bersih, in the use of Stadium Merdeka for the protest against a badly tainted and seriously damaged EC?
What if Hishamuddin had shown a modicum of respect for HM the Agong, acknowledging HM’s meeting with Bersih as indicative of the legitimacy of the NGO instead of disrespectfully and defiantly insisting that the organization headed by a courageous woman whom the King saw fit to grant an audience is illegal?
But alas, Hishamuddin demonstrated that UMNO continues to be the principal and only body in Malaysia in its blatant serial commission of lèse-majesté, lying and betraying the Malays, while in the same breath hypocritically shouting Raja, agama dan bangsa.
The ‘what if’s’ do not absolve Najib from the responsibility of the horrendous outcome where the so-called guardians of the law, the Royal Malaysian police attacked Malaysian citizens, in some case, with brutal glee and vicious delight, where the internationally centuries-old sanctity of a hospital was not even immune to its atrocities - who has heard of police firing tear gas and jets of chemical-laced water into a building housing the sick. Najib was, has been and still is the PM, and the buck stops with him
One man is now dead.
And it didn’t require an outrageously Zahidi-politicized military who was made to threaten Malaysians just prior to the Bersih rally that they would shoot to kill, Perkasa (with Ibrahim Ali meekly/cowardly AWOL) or the legion of silat pseudo-warriors to take 'emotional' action – no 1st line of Najib’s defence, no 2nd line, no 3rd line was required to kill; only the inhumanity of a callous police force to deliberately leave Baharuddin Ahmad, who was seriously affected by the tear gas, unattended by proper medical people to resuscitate his breathing problems.
Malaysia as a nation has been a casualty too.
But the biggest casualty, as in any war, and war it had been, has been Truth, ...
... the Truth of a dysfunctional UMNO where its leader was not consistently in charge, upstaged every which way by intra-centrifugal forces; the Truth of a pagar-makan-padi police force, and the Truth of a cheating corrupt non-accountable entity whose crimes were disguised and camouflaged by deliberate distracting diversionary ethocentric threats, false alarms and blatant lies issued daily by the very people who blasphemously claim to be defenders of their agama.
And it infuriates me that in the IGP heading the list of honours in the YDP Negeri of Penang’s birthday awards, the respectability of the YDP Negeri has become another casualty.
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
Bersih's message has already spread beyond stadium
So they did throw in the kitchen sink after all, a very heavy yellow-coloured one, wakakaka.
OK, Bersih will now be held in a stadium but really does it matter, because its point (not just message but its brave stand, its courageous preparedness to stand resolutely against the evil force of a dark storm) has already been made, kau kau if I may add.
I’ve always lamented the stupidity of the police (or more correctly, its boss Hishamuddin) for resorting to use of the sledgehammer to crack mere groundnuts. For example, review past police heavy handed dispersal of candlelight vigils by a few sweeties. What if the police had left those sweeties alone? Would that have made the headlines or a few lines on page 6?
Likewise with Bersih, if the police (and Hisham) had ignored the rally, ask yourself how much impact could it have made, compared to the situation now?
Indeed, the stupidity of Hisham and his police are just unbelievable. By harassing, persecuting and threatening the organizers and supporters of Bersih, a rally as yet to take place, those goons have provided the rally and its organizers with far more credentials, credibility and credit than they could have obtained without the enhancing bullying, internationally too.
But bullies being bullies (like America and Israel), they only know one method, brute force, threats and persecution. They didn't hesitate to use UMNO Youth and scums like Perkasa, silat masters who violated the very ethics of their noble art in threatening Bersih, police, whatnot, to intimidate and harass Bersih. No brain, but the damage to PM Najib is incalculable. Najib should blame his dear cousin.
Yup, Najib, UMNO, the police and alas, Anwar are in the doldrums, shattered by the wake of the storm surrounding Bersih.
Anwar Ibrahim? Why, you may ask?
Poor bloke tried to hijack the Bersih movement (as he did in Bersih I, arriving at the final minute for a grand presidential entrance, though spoilt by the traffic jam which required him to ride pillion on a motorcycle wakakaka), but was abruptly slapped down by Ambiga Sreenevasan.
“Hands off buster” she implied in her cool dismissal of Anwar when he had the brazen cheek to suggest he could call the rally if .... yadda yadda .... Since then, I am glad he hasn’t re-attempted to muddy the Bersih water, but alamak, what loss of face for the world's greatest Reformer.
Ambiga Ambiga, she’s the person of the moment.
Her reputation has been further enhanced by a moronic threat to strip her of her citizenship, and by those goons in blue who are now investigating her bank accounts for possible financial contributions from .... whom? ... perhaps North Korea, Myanmar, Libya, PRC, Peru’s Shining Light, al Qaeda? .... wait, I’ve the perfect contributor ... The Tamil Tigers of course wakakaka.
Don’t be surprised if there should soon arise allegations of her ‘lesbianism’, ‘allegiance’ with Singapore or India, stories of her ‘sordid affairs’, etc.
But f* those goons and their foot soldiers! Question I want to ask is, will MCLM consider her candidature?
I’ll vote for the hot babe anytime.
OK, Bersih will now be held in a stadium but really does it matter, because its point (not just message but its brave stand, its courageous preparedness to stand resolutely against the evil force of a dark storm) has already been made, kau kau if I may add.
I’ve always lamented the stupidity of the police (or more correctly, its boss Hishamuddin) for resorting to use of the sledgehammer to crack mere groundnuts. For example, review past police heavy handed dispersal of candlelight vigils by a few sweeties. What if the police had left those sweeties alone? Would that have made the headlines or a few lines on page 6?
Likewise with Bersih, if the police (and Hisham) had ignored the rally, ask yourself how much impact could it have made, compared to the situation now?
Indeed, the stupidity of Hisham and his police are just unbelievable. By harassing, persecuting and threatening the organizers and supporters of Bersih, a rally as yet to take place, those goons have provided the rally and its organizers with far more credentials, credibility and credit than they could have obtained without the enhancing bullying, internationally too.
But bullies being bullies (like America and Israel), they only know one method, brute force, threats and persecution. They didn't hesitate to use UMNO Youth and scums like Perkasa, silat masters who violated the very ethics of their noble art in threatening Bersih, police, whatnot, to intimidate and harass Bersih. No brain, but the damage to PM Najib is incalculable. Najib should blame his dear cousin.
Yup, Najib, UMNO, the police and alas, Anwar are in the doldrums, shattered by the wake of the storm surrounding Bersih.
Anwar Ibrahim? Why, you may ask?
Poor bloke tried to hijack the Bersih movement (as he did in Bersih I, arriving at the final minute for a grand presidential entrance, though spoilt by the traffic jam which required him to ride pillion on a motorcycle wakakaka), but was abruptly slapped down by Ambiga Sreenevasan.
“Hands off buster” she implied in her cool dismissal of Anwar when he had the brazen cheek to suggest he could call the rally if .... yadda yadda .... Since then, I am glad he hasn’t re-attempted to muddy the Bersih water, but alamak, what loss of face for the world's greatest Reformer.
Ambiga Ambiga, she’s the person of the moment.
Her reputation has been further enhanced by a moronic threat to strip her of her citizenship, and by those goons in blue who are now investigating her bank accounts for possible financial contributions from .... whom? ... perhaps North Korea, Myanmar, Libya, PRC, Peru’s Shining Light, al Qaeda? .... wait, I’ve the perfect contributor ... The Tamil Tigers of course wakakaka.
Don’t be surprised if there should soon arise allegations of her ‘lesbianism’, ‘allegiance’ with Singapore or India, stories of her ‘sordid affairs’, etc.
But f* those goons and their foot soldiers! Question I want to ask is, will MCLM consider her candidature?
I’ll vote for the hot babe anytime.