Penang CM caught in a knot in Tandas

Tanda Putera should be retitled Tandas Pordah for its utterly irresponsible fabrications which are likely to incite racial ill-will.

But nonetheless, if we respect freedom of expression, we should allow its screening.

Yes, freedom of expression (speech, gathering, etc) should be accompanied by sound and mature responsibilities, and though the film maker obviously lacks that, her film including and especially fabricated bullshit about May 13 events aimed to put the Chinese and their alleged-fabricated involvement in the worst possible light in Malay eyes, has alas been approved by the Malaysian Censor Board ...

... which is hardly surprising as she is just another UMNO apparatchik like the mob at Utusan. I wonder whether pathetic she could get a director's job outside Malaysia, wakakaka!

TMI reported that:

The DAP has railed against the controversial film with the MCA joining in to express concerns with the scenes and dialogue that are said to be racially sensitive.

The DAP, especially, has been highly critical of the movie, pointing out that it can stoke racial tension by pinning the 1969 racial riots on the Chinese.

The party has been particularly irked by a purported scene in the movie, which has been linked to a young Lim Kit Siang urinating at a flagpole outside the house of former Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Harun Idris.

Kit Siang, who is DAP adviser, denied that such an incident had taken place.

Indeed, how could Lim KS be peeing in KL when he was in Sabah during 13 May 1969, a situation verified by Tamrin Baba, son of former DPM Ghaffar Baba (of UMNO) ... unless he possessed a humongously long cock, wakakaka.

Bapak Lim KS in 1969? wakakaka

I'd make a better film director than that paid moron

And that's the shameless disgusting extent of the film maker's utter irresponsibility - no, not about Lim KS's huge cock wakakaka but Lim KS's alleged urinating at a flagpost in the Selangor MB's house. Typical!

But Lim GE has been wrong in advising Penang's cinema not to screen the Tandas bullshit. F**k, let that Tandas bullshit be shown.

The film maker (director) Shuhaimi Baba has been equally wrong in threatening Penang cinemas of losing their licence if they do not screen the film. F**k - Mana freedom of expression?

And just who the f**k is she to threaten cinema operators?

But hey, did I say she's a typical UMNO apparatchik, where threatening and bullying a la Ahmad Zahid would be the order of their pathetic lives and day?

Tandas - wakakaka!

Who really cares about Altantuyaa Shariibuu?

I have not been able to blog on this earlier because of continuous travelling associated with bread & butter issue.

The sad saga of Altantuyaa's murder is unlikely to ever see justice because of its grubby over-politicization.

And may I just say both sides of politics have been involved with a common aim, to get Jibby Boy wakakaka.

Yes, both sides of politics meaning UMNO as well as PKR. None of them cares abut the murdered victim who became a convenient tool in their personal political pursuit, which was, has been and still is to replace Jibby, originally as DPM and now, maybe a much weaker case, as PM.

Ask yourself, if not for Jibby Boy's alleged involvement, even preposterously as the very man who ordered her murder, why there have been so much interests in the death of a foreigner, a Mongolian woman, when there have been far more important Malaysians who were murdered or have disappeared, including beautiful Malay and Chinese women.

PKR mourners for Altantuyaa

Why didn't they do same for Preeshena Varshiny
or Nurin Jazlin Jazimin?

Instead of dealing with the tragedy as a straightforward case of a murder of passion, those political interests wanted to see it as a terrible political scandal connected to only one particular politician, our dear Jibby Boy as the alleged murderer, even though the last known and very well recorded behaviour of the deceased model didn't support the salacious allegations of Najib's "frontal and rear" liaison with her, as salaciously told by Perumal Balasubramaniam.

PKR mourners for Altantuyaa

Why didn't they do same for Teoh Beng Hock?

Yes, after RPK's most original earth-shattering statutory declaration (SD), someone must have thought this new form of surat layang was brilliant, where we suddenly have out of the blue the questionable testimonies of private investigator Perumal Balasubramaniam, a man who waxed and waned like a Madagascar chameleon in his so-called courage in exposing Najib, in coincidental cozy coordination with certain politicians who turned him into a (very dodgy) folk hero.

I don't wish to cast aspersion on a dead man but how could I respect a man who was brave for around 4 months in drafting and crafting his 1st SD with the help of a lawyer (Americk Singh Sidhu) ..... 

..... and then (this was where he ruined his credibility) appeared together with Anwar Ibrahim at a press conference (expecting us to believe he wasn't "influenced" by politics and politicians, or as Americk Singh went to extra pains to inform us, that Anwar wasn't involved at all other than being at the press conference), .....

..... only to back-flipped 24 hours later with a 2nd SD and then disappeared into the Indian sub-continent (where his children were schooled at exclusive international schools), .....

..... then to re-emerge from time to time, but always with PKR or pro-PKR people besides him, and to be garlanded by PKR's Sivarasa on his final return just prior to his death.

The tragedy for Altantuyaa was that many people could believe and still do Balasubramaniam's zig-zagging words, of course cherry-picking only the 'zigging' aspects of them and ignoring his 'zagging' say.

Balasubramaniam told us he was told by Razak Baginda who was told by Najib, who was told by Altantuyaa that she liked it in the back ..... all based on only Balasubramaniam's words.

..... so we were all told ... by Balasubramaniam.

Instead we should be asking:

• who was Altantuyaa's Malaysian lover or husband?
• who was Altantuyaa harassing to tears here in Malaysia?
• thus who had the motive to remove her (where 'remove' did not necessarily mean 'murder')?
• who took Altantuyaa away from Razak Baginda's house?

But WTF, would that have satisfied the political interests of someone in UMNO and someone in PKR?

So we allow ourselves to digress and be distracted from the facts of the case, where we only want Najib named as the murderer or the person who ordered the murder or the husband of the woman who turun padang to personally supervise the demolition of Altanuyaa's corpse ... and we have the bloody nerve to wonder why the Appeals Courts f**ked up our wishful (political) expectations.

And commonsense even tells us, would AAB or KJ have ever allowed Najib to get away with it if the latter was indeed guilty?

The f**king truth was, has been, is and will be: which politician really cares about Altantuyaa Shariibuu?

Utusan: Punish those who insult Islam - kaytee agrees

Malay Mail Online's Utusan: Stripping Singaporean’s PR serves as warning to others reported that Utusan "... said similarly harsh punishments should be used against those who dared to insult Islam in the future."

"In a column penned by Awang Selamat, the paper said the Home Ministry’s move would serve as a clear warning and deterrence to all religious offenders, regardless of their nationality or beliefs".

This lie must be punished because it's an insult to Islam

"“The message is that hopefully not just towards those who hold the PR status, but also Malaysians whether they are Muslims or not — be prepared to receive punishment if (you) dare to mencemari (defile) the sanctity of this country’s official religion,” the paper’s collective voice of its editors wrote today."

Can Utusan promise to uphold its threat? Given that Utusan is nothing more than an UMNO mouthpiece, can we then hold the UMNO government to this promise, to "punish those who dared to insult Islam"?

And why wait until Islam is insulted in the future? Why not those who have already insulted Islam, especially during the holy month of Ramadan?

Another lie, another further insult to Islam

Insulting Islam would include those UMNO leaders, members and apparatchiks (guess who's one of them, wakakaka) who lied/lie through their bloody rotten political teeth and fabricate evil tales against their political foes, cheated the nation and who have been on the 'take'.

Insulting Islam should include those UMNO leaders, members and apparatchiks who brought Islam into disrepute through their oppressive, arrogant and abusive (of power) conduct and behaviour.

Zaid's 'mediocre' too kind a word?

It's debatable whether Tunku or Abdul Razak was the best PM we had.

It's believed that Ku Li would be the best PM we never have.

And I believe Zaid Ibrahim will be the best PM we should have.

Recently, in the midst of increasing social unrest due to outrageous political, racial and religious brouhaha, some suspected to have been staged, Zaid made a number of high class statesman speeches, unlike some who should know better and act better and more responsibly but instead who thrive on being batu api and divisive agitators, of course for their own political interests.

Two days ago he stated in the Malay Mail Online that UMNO's Race policy has bred ‘mediocre’ Malays.

I wonder whether he remembers a certain 'someone' (wakakaka) said recently that meritocracy (besides the concept of Bangsa Malaysia) was not suitable for Malaysian society.

Thus this 'someone' was actually promoting Mediocrity over Meritocracy. In fact, that 'someone' said when Chinese talked about meritocracy, it's racist.

Anyway, let's examine whether Zaid has been correct in alluding to UMNO's race policy as breeding mediocre Malays, who I shall be fair, should only apply to UMNO apparatchiks and not Malays in general.

The incredible edible delible ink

The EC leadership couldn't even save their two miserable lives if that had depended on decent plausible reason for the so-called indelible ink becoming easily delible, preferably in the first instant the explanation was required.

The excuses provided were (in succeeding order as each preceding one was easily knocked off the perch of credibility for sheer moronic implausibility):

• EC staff didn't shake the ink bottle well enough
• silver nitrate in ink reduced on advice of Health Ministry as it might cause kidney damage and cancer - New Health Minister S Subramaniam retorted PORDAH to EC
• ink deliberately made more delible to allow Muslims to perform ablution prior to prayers (the apparatchiks' standard resort to 'agama' to save their skins (why then bother to claim ink was indelible or event to use it?)
• ink had edible oil (why was it there then?)
• some bastards deliberately rubbing off the ink, wakakaka - surely this one is the best or perhaps worst, BS that was.

Weren't those two EC clowns mediocre? That would have been too kind to them.

The 'Siapa Raja' RoS

Examine the 'siapa raja' mentality of RoS Director-General, a mere public servant.

The Malay Mail Online reported on 26 July 2013:

The DAP could face a permanent ban as the Registrar of Societies (RoS) has said it will reject the opposition party’s application to form a new party if it is deregistered.

RoS director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman was quoted by The Star as saying that the party should not “harbour false hopes” of forming a new party since the body had shun applications to register new parties for the past five years.

“They can apply. But the right to approve it is with the RoS. We did not even entertain 29 applications to set up new parties submitted over the last five years,” he said.

Hello, I didn't realize that the RoS DG is a Law unto himself, where he can approve or disapprove registration of societies without any accountability?

As a mere public servant, he should explain to the public why he "did not even entertain 29 applications to set up new parties submitted over the last five years"? Apa ni, makan buta gaji, syiok sendiri kah?

And he should explain why and on what grounds he has pre-empted any possible re-registration by DAP? Siapa raja kah?

takut kan?

And since then, everyone knew he would continue to harass the DAP (unlike the ready registration of his precious UMNO Baru in 1988), and even then, on nebulous grounds brought up by unknown complainants and one so-called Father Augustus Chen, a phantom who the RoS DG has the brazenness to rely on in his illegal directive to DAP.

This man is truly an arrogant unaccountable public servant who believes he can do what he wishes or what his UMNO bosses wish.

Incidentally, Khairy Jamaluddin for all his Oxon airs should be fair and brave in admitting the DAP, for all its party procedural correctness, faces a losing case with a local shameless unconscionable Attila the Hun, thus the party's best and pain-saving bet in the long run would be to just re-hold the CEC elections to close a pure case of political harassments.

Mediocre would be too high a praise for this sickening UMNO apparatchik.

The Adorna case

After 10 years of legalised fraudulent pilfering, on 10 January 2010, the Adorna judgement by Justice Eusoff Chin was finally overturned.

The website of the Malaysian Bar's reported:

A five-member bench of the Federal Court today unanimously ruled that the previous Federal Court had misconstrued the provisions of section 340(3) of the National Land Code, 1965 ("NLC") in its decision of Adorna Properties Sdn Bhd v Boonsom Boonyanit 2000 ("Adorna Properties") because the principle of deferred and not immediate indefeasibility applies to the NLC. [...]

Delivering the main judgment of the apex court, Chief Judge of Malaya, Tan Sri Arifin Zakaria said the Court has to depart from Tun Eusoff Chin's four-page judgement in Adorna Properties as it is erroneous.

It's not just f* erroneous; it has been f* shameless and immoral.

In delivering his supporting judgment, Chief Justice Tun Zaki Azmi described the error committed in Adorna Properties as "obvious and blatant". He added that it is a well known fact that some unscrupulous people have taken advantage of this error by falsely transferring titles to themselves.

Indeed the "error was obvious and blatant".

It led to a decade of fraudulent cheating that subsequent courts had to abide by Eusoff Chin's judgement in the original ruling on the infamous Adorna case.

The judicial ruling deserves a place in the Hall of Shame for endorsing duplicitous scams for almost ten infamous years. Legitimate owners of properties in Malaysia were rendered unprotected and helpless by the unjust nonsense.

I bet Madame Boonsom Boonyanit who unjustly lost her Adorna property because of Eusoff Chin’a ruling must have cursed him and the Malaysian courts before she passed away, and I hope her curses work. Alas, the poor lady passed away and never ever was to know that it took almost 10 long years before a modicum of justice would reassert itself in BolehLand.

And those who had legally endorsed her loss of property through an obvious case of fraud deserved/deserve every curse in her damnation. It just beggars belief that a Malaysian court ruling had not only caused such blatant injustice but perpetuated and abetted the same shameful fraudulent practice.

The injustice of the Adorna case ruling was so flagrant that (now-retired) Justice Gopal Sri Ram, once sitting in the Court of Appeals, did what the catchphrase in Star Trek claims (paraphrased): Go where no judge has gone before by boldly ignoring legal precedence.

Though criticised by many, Justice Gopal's amazing defiance of stare decisis (legal precedence) to rule in favour of the Au brothers in 2007 was eventually vindicated when the Federal Court sat early this year to overturn Eusoff Chin’s ruling of infamy.

The Chief Judge of Malaya, Tan Sri Arifin bin Zakaria, acknowledged in his 2010 judgment that, "It is therefore highly regrettable that it has taken some time, before this contentious issue is put to rest". 

Believe it or not, Eusoff Chin was once the Chief Justice of Malaysia. Was he just mediocre? Bloody f* no, he was worse.

This was what a lawyer said of him, as published on the website of the Malaysian Bar:

At the forefront of the attack was retired senior lawyer Lim Kean Chye, 88, who described the Federal Court's 2000 decision on the Adorna Properties Sdn Bhd v Boonsom Boonyanit as "stupid".

"To put it in a nutshell, the case made a laughing stock of our judiciary," the octogenarian ex-lawyer told a forum - entitled 'Property Rights Under the Malaysian Constitution' - at the three-day 14th Malaysian Law Conference, which kicked off today at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

The case had destroyed much of the credibility that the judiciary had enjoyed among foreign investors in the protection of the rights of property owners, said the feisty Lim, who had founded the defunct Malayan Democratic Union and had once been detained in British Singapore.

The name of Eusoff Chin has in recent weeks been resurrected following the emergence of the infamous Lingam tape.

we Malaysians are by nature very friendly & sociable  lah

In the eight-minute video clip released by opposition party PKR, senior lawyer VK Lingam was seen talking, purportedly to a senior judge, of securing the appointment of ‘friendly’ judges from Chin's camp.

In 2000, then-CJ Chin had controversially overruled the Court of Appeal and awarded a piece of land to Adorna Properties despite it being fraudulently gotten from Boonsom - the registered landowner - through forgery.

At the heart of the trial was whether Adorna case was to be categorised under clauses (2) or (3) of Section 340 of the National Land Code.

Lim said that “plain English” dictates that neither clause can be mistaken for the other.

"Section 340 (2) says you have no title if you bought from a forger. That's the end of it.

“But if A buys from a forger, and sells to B - an innocent man - sub-section (3) protects you. The second buyer (B) is protected," said Lim.

He argued that the Adorna decision - which involved a buyer getting the property directly from a forger - should be come under sub-section 2 of the land code instead of sub-section 3.

In his hard-hitting speech, Lim alluded to Lewis Carroll's book ‘Through the Looking Glass’ to press home his point. He quoted Carroll from the book:

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, "it means just what I choose it to mean."

"The question is," said Alice," whether you can make words mean so many different things."

"The question is," Humpty Dumpty said, "which is to be the master - that's all."

Lim continued: "The former judge (NS) Chan has said it ... he said of another court ... they're stupid, they don't understand the English language.”

The ex-lawyer also took the opportunity to lambast the judges, many of whom have ruled according to Chin's judgment in the Boonsom case.

Legal expert Teo Keang Sood later pointed out in the forum how several court decisions had followed the precedent set by Chin in 2000, including in Ismail Mohmad & Anor v Ismail Husin, in Liew Yok Yin v AGS Harta Sdn Bhd and Mok Yong Chuan v Mok Yong Kong & Anor.

Judges ‘obey the boss’

According to Lim, the judges had failed to realise the true spirit and intentions behind the principlestare decisis and instead followed blindly the precedent dictated by peer or higher courts.

"To them, stare decisis means 'obey the boss' even though you are of the same rank but you're slightly older and appointed earlier than you.

"Stare decisis doesn't mean that. Stare decisis came about out of respect - you like the judgment written by a judge or by three or four judges, (which are) full of learning and of wisdom, and full of justice.

"But if that court doesn't deserve your respect, how does the principle of stare decisis apply? To me, it's very clear. If there is an injustice, you don't follow it," said Lim.

Do you have a "bright future"?

On the matter of stare decisis, remember the bowler who when hauled before the court on a confessed charge of statutory rape, was discharged by the judge because "His Amazing Worship" believed the bowler had a "bright future"?

Statutory rape versus "bright future" of rapist, and in BolehLand, of course statutory rape lost.

So Noor Afizal Azizan was allowed scot-free after bonking a 13-year old girl, thanks to the Malaysian Court of Appeal who (amazingly again) considered many factors such as, believe it or not, consensual sex.

Hellooooooooo, yang 'Amazing' arif, the victim was sub-16, in fact only 13. What kind of judgement had it been, when judges didn't understand what was 'statutory rape'.

The law states clearly that a person below the age of 16 is deemed unable to make an informed decision and/or appreciate the possible consequences of the decision.

Thus, consensual sex is totally irrelevant in statutory rape!

Thus, non-coercion is totally irrelevant in statutory rape!

Thus, any adult who had sex with a girl below the age of 16 has committed statutory rape, regardless of consent by the victim or that there was no force or coercion!

The Malaysian Insider (TMI) reported in its news article Rapists freed by courts match medical definition of paedophiles that the World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases (ICD) categorizes paedophilia as ‘a sexual preference for children boys or girls or both usually of pre-pubertal or early pubertal age’, ...

... while the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) used by mental health professionals globally states 'paedophilia is the sexual attraction to pubescent or pre-pubescents aged 13 or younger and the subject must be 16 or older with the child at least five years younger'.

TMI states the slimy maggot fitted the medical profiles of paedophiles and that international research of paedophilia as a sexual disorder suggests that paedophiles start offending at a young age.

I was totally gob-smacked by the judge's explanation where he had dared, in a case of statutory rape, to use the excuse that Noor Afizal did not use force and that it was consensual sex.

Were these new laws no one other than the judge was aware of?

Apparently not, as his colleague in Penang has done the same thing to another maggot Chuah Guan Jiu who too bonked a sub-16 year old girl but was released on good behaviour bond, probably in classic stare decisis or worse, in not wanting to offend the more senior judge by making him look bad?

maggots

In my post Malaysian Laws like Spider Webs? I pointed out that an unemployed Malay man in Johor was jailed for FIVE YEARS for stealing less than a dozen cans of beer. He was charged under Section 380 of the Penal Code for theft, which carries a maximum 10 years’ jail or fine upon conviction.

For stealing 11 cans of beer, he was sentenced to 50% of the max jail term.

Those two arseholes, Noor Afizal and Chuah Guan Jiu were charged under Section 376(1) of the Penal Code where they could face up to 20 years' jail and whipping.

For raping little girls, did they get any fraction of the max sentence or whipping?

The moral of the story we obtain must be that under Malaysian law, it's (criminally) safer to rape little girls than steal a few cans of beer.

Mediocre would hardly be the word for those judges - it would have been too kind. Mafulat would have been more appropriate.

However, I am please to say one of the two maggots, Chuah Guan Jiu, was subsequently jailed for 5.5 years after public outcry over the stupid court ruling and an appeal by the prosecutor. He deserved it.

But what about the bloke with the "bright future"? Surely what's good for the goose (Chuah Guan Jiu) should be good for the gander (Noor Afizal).

New seditious threat to Muslims - Memo to YAB PM

Most Private Memo

To:

Yang Amat Berhormat Dato' Sri Neroajib Tun Razak,

Assalamu alaikum Dato',

May I humbly and most respectfully draw your kind notice to the delightful news reported by Malaysiakini in its article titled Resort owner remanded over 'Buddhist meditation in surau'.

I must congratulate you, your super-patriotic Home Affairs Minister, the renowned IGP, the Johor CPO and the state religious authority for a unique bright spark in their most lawful and timely apprehending of potential violence, this standing out so magnificently amidst the gloom, doom and terror of a recent series of wanton shooting in Malaysia that we once thought only occur in Philippines and Thailand, but nay, which we have somehow manage to catch up with them. And given our stupendous gold standard Boleh ability, and also thanks to our pandai-bisa-diatur Police, our violence and occurrence of criminal gun-slinging actions will soon exceed our neighbours' hitherto meagre performance.

I am of course referring to the most commendable detention of the 45-year-old Singapore (Malay) owner of a resort in Johor. This alien being had the outrageous al-Qaeda-ish effrontery to allow a group of Buddhists to meditate in a surau at the resort he owns in Tanjung Sedili Besar.

How terribly seditious! We all know how "violent" and "terroristic" a group of meditating Buddhists can be. More than anyone, I should know as my own late mum was one, that was, a meditating Buddhist. And the Dalai Lama is another. I dare not even detail their degree of potential violence which I'm sure you'll understand, me being a filial son and all that. Aiyoyo, apo nak dikato, man!

I extend my heartfelt congratulations to the police for taking time off from pursuing mere ordinary criminal gun-slingers to arrest this man who in fact is far far far far far more dangerous than those who shoot to kill. I also congratulate  Kota Tinggi Session Court registrar for approving the remand order of four days, knowing how serious and threatening to the nation the offence has been.

How could we let the resort owner remain free when he could be guilty of injuring or defiling a place of worship with intent to insult the Islamic religion, though he may be a Muslim.

Thank goodness to the authorities' collective swift actions, Malaysia is once again, at least in the case of the resort, free from violence from meditating Buddhists, probably of vintage years ... but nonetheless of the "undesired" kind.

The authorities' brilliant actions would be in the same commendable category as the vigilant MCMC who hauled in the mother of Alvin Tan for interrogation. Never let it be said that Malaysia's watchdogs are sleeping (except in mere violent shooting and murder, and mere corruption by the hundreds of millions, or mere intrusion by armed and murderous Filipino intruders - well, be reasonable lah, we can't also be perfect, can we?).

Mrs Tan should have known better than to have a blogging son, and that by itself is indicative of her guilt. She should at least have moderated her son's blog, and if she or her lawyer claims she doesn't know anything about computer or blogging, well, those are not good enough reasons. Kita mesti jaga standards, our Boleh gold standards.

Besides, the MCMC had an urgent need to check with her whether the bah-kut-teh herbal ingredients were halal or haram?

Insha allah, we shall overcome this new threat of meditating and violent Buddhists, and if it takes a wee while to do so, look at the bright side as it will provide you and your cabinet colleagues new material and plenty of time to frightenalert Malaysian Muslims of the most seditious threat against vulnerable Islam.

Alhamdulillah, we can always return to Malaysian Muslims' old foe, the Christians, much later – treat them as a convenient standby threat for your cabinet colleagues and JA-this-&-that to fall back upon.

With the arrest of that seditious resort owner, and preferably also those seditious Buddhist meditators and where possible, the seditious Dalai Lama, we grateful citizens may sleep peacefully tonight.

And may you enjoy your fiddling without being disturb unnecessarily by seditious elements.

I am, Dato' Sri, yang amat berhormat,

your most respectful and obedient servant,

[related to my 32nd cousin seventeen times removed, Ridhuan Abdullah, who has never tired of reminding me he is a Malay]

Dodgee Dimsum

The Yum-Cha Chronicles:

(1) Apology - A letter to the minister

(2) Bloggers - A letter to the ministry

(3) Drama queens & kings wanted

(4) May 13 Book - a letter to the minister

(5) Appreciation - a letter to the minister

(6) Goblok to Golek - a letter to the minister

(7) MGR-ish makeover - a letter to a minister

(8) Bahasa Mělayu - a letter to Yang Běrhormat

(9) 'Convincibility' - A letter to Yang Amat Berhormat

(10) Political defections - a letter to a future PM

(11) Healing the nation's wounds - a letter to the PM

(12) Dodgee Dimsum's Statutory Declaration

(13) Mandore-ism - A letter to Aneh

(14) New threat to Muslims - memo to Yang Amat Alim

Once brothers

I wonder whether my post title describing the former relationship between Malayan-Malaysians and Singaporeans might make Malaysians, especially those of the younger generations, realize the close ties (warts & all) we once had.

'Once' is undoubtedly the appropriate keyword, because on 07 August 1965 Tunku Abdul Rahman (TAR), at the end of his patience with a politically abrasive Lee Kuan Yew (LKY), asked Parliament to decide on the expulsion of Singapore from the nascent state of Malaysia. Two days later, on 09 August 1965, Parliament, with Singaporean MPs absent, voted 126-0 for the expulsion.

Confronted with the reality of that parliamentary decision, LKY had no further choice but to accept the expulsion, which caused him to actually break down during a televised press conference as he stated emotionally:

"For me, it is a moment of anguish. All my life, my whole adult life, I ... I believed in Malaysian merger and unity of the two territories. You know that we, as a people are connected by geography, economics, by ties of kinship ... It broke everything we stood for ....... ".

But obviously many Malaysians, including Chinese Malaysians and especially the MCA, didn't share his belief.

As I had previously written, as an example, Penangites (then mostly Chinese) didn't take well to LKY.

In his 1964 general election campaign in Peninsula (much to the chagrin of TAR and MCA) he must have imagined he could win over the predominantly Chinese Island State but in many ways, he was a lot like Anwar Ibrahim, an interesting political curiosity but not well trusted. His PAP campaign turned out to be an abysmal flop in Penang.

In fact it was LKY the politician who was the very cause of his island's expulsion. There’s never any doubt LKY was super intelligent, a double starred first class honours from Cambridge, etc etc etc. But that was the precise problem for LKY vis-a-vis Malaysia and its mainly Malay leaders.

A non-Malay could only be too clever by half in a Malayan (Malay) environment because the style of, for example, LKY's assertive and aggressive politicking didn't go down well with Malay culture and its more genteel style of politics.

'... its more genteel style of politics.'

Thus I point out the core issue of dealing politically with Malays, particularly those patricians with royal or culturally high ranking pedigree like TAR, Ku Li, Tunku Aziz, Tunku Zain Al-'Abidin and especially some high ranking Javanese-Indonesian politicians and military generals.

It's not the done thing to utter or blab out blunt truths or facts to confront these people. The message has to conveyed across in a meandering shadow play of taichi, silat and wayang kulit movements.

Yes, it'll be tedious, time consuming and patience-taxing for those unused to Malay politics, especially those Western educated or Western exposed non-Malay Malaysian politicians. Ask former Australian PM Paul Keating, wakakaka.

Perhaps we may gain an idea of what this genteel style of politics is by reading what Thomas Koester of Ludwig-Maximilains Universitat Munchen had written about Javanese political culture (also applicable to earlier Malay political culture):

The Javanese elite or ruling class (priyayi) is dominated by the idea of being halus, that means “subtle, refined, sensitive, polite and civilized”. The term halus also consists of the idea of smoothness that is divided into smoothness of spirit (self- control), smoothness of appearance (beauty, elegance) and smoothness of behavior (politeness, sensitivity).

The opposite of being halus is being kasar that means to be “rough, crude, vulgar, coarse, insensitive, impolite and uncivilized”. Being kasar is the natural state of man where everyone’s thoughts and behaviors are uncontrolled.

“Halusness” on the other hand can only be achieved by constant effort to control human emotions and ambitiousness. Thus restraint of emotion is a common phenomenon in the Javanese ruling class.

According to Professor Dr. Masykuri Abdillah from the University of Jakarta, the term kasar describes the act to offend other people, commonly seen as an act of impoliteness. “Polite (halus) behavior manifests itself in two concepts which are linked to each other, namely ‘malu’ (discomfort or a feeling of being insulted) and ‘segan’ (a combination of discomfort and respect)”.

Therefore, according to the concept of being halus, it is of vital importance for a person to behave politely, even if he feels offended. This concept of being halus helps to explain “why the Javanese behave in a less transparent or open manner”.

Another concept well established in the behavior of the Javanese elite is the tradition of perintah halus. According to this tradition, the Javanese elite are obliged to give orders only using polite and indirect language. Perintah halus derives from the Javanese traditional thinking that a man of power does not need to raise his voice and to give order directly because “the halusness of his command is the external expression of his authority”. This is why the Javanese style of administration is “marked by the attempt, wherever possible, to give an impression of minimum effort”.

Mind you, ever since Dr Mahathir became PM, the Malay-Javanese genteel (halus) style of politics went out of the window because of the man's in-your-face personality and also, just kaytee's personal suspicion, his disdain for Malay nobility.

Nonetheless, I believe it was this genteel (halus) style of dialogue that might have been missing in Lim Guan Eng's and Zairil Khir's interactions with Tunku Aziz, though not of the same magnitude as that between TAR and LKY, and which ended in an acrimonious relationship between Tunku Aziz and his erstwhile party, DAP.

For more of above, please see my post DAP's comedy (or tragedy) of errors with Tunku Aziz, a post much to my surprise has scored the highest number of hits in my blog, perhaps because of the interests in DAP's 'errors' wakakaka, but which, wakakaka again, should be read together with my BolehTalk posts Tunku Aziz went beyond the pale and Noblesse oblige missing.

Back to LKY - Tunku was aware of LKY's covert (though well-known) intention to replace MCA in the Perikatan (the BN’s predecessor coalition), and of course TAR being the loyal friend he was to MCA (and MIC), wouldn't have any of that, apart from his fears of LKY asking for more of the impossible vis-a-vis the latter's political policy of Malaysian Malaysia.

Then there was the MCA, fearing for its own political position should LKY's PAP succeed in replacing it within the Perikatan, working as the batu api to ensure UMNO would not accept the PAP.

Tan Siew Sin, then MCA president and Finance Minister, stated in no uncertain terms that any cooperation between the federal government and the Singapore Government was out of the question as long as LKY was PM of his island state.

Tan Siew Sin said in Parliament, paraphrasing the words of Jesus in Mathews 19:24: "It would be far easier for the camel to pass through the eye of the proverbial needle than for the Central Government to co-operate with the Government of Singapore."

Tan described LKY as the "greatest, disruptive force in the entire history of Malaysia and Malaya."

Like Anwar Ibrahim? wakakaka.

Meanwhile, the then Malay right wingers were getting so heated up with LKY that TAR thought a cooling period, via a ‘temporary’ expulsion of Singapore, would be good for everyone.

Yes, TAR had intended Singapore's expulsion to be of a temporary nature. He imagined that Singapore alone outside of Malaysia would be so helpless by itself that LKY would come crawling back, begging to be let in again, though this time on TAR’s terms. That was TAR's plan. But as we know, it didn't work out that way.

I suspect LKY, notwithstanding his personal and his Island State's successes, has never forgiven UMNO for the expulsion. Again I suspect this might have been due to his belief, that he being the super-intellectual, would have swarmed all over TAR and his UMNO-Perikatan cabinet ministers and dominated the government once his PAP got into TAR's coalition.

And each time LKY said something adverse or uncomplimentary about Malaysia, while there would be some truths in his words, I couldn't help but sense him getting some form of silly satisfaction through his talk-Malaysia-down comments, usually criticisms of UMNO's style of government.

You may wonder why with his outstanding personal success and undeniable global recognition, and his Island's 1st World status, he would indulge in, as I suspect, getting-his-own-back at Malaysia?

Well, I'm not Sigmund Freud but maybe we can just possibly detect something of that in his autobiography where he (embarrassingly, to me anyway) coo-ed over a British honours, The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, awarded by the Queen of Britain.

The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George

I then wrote that my esteem of LKY immediately took a deep nosedive on learning this near superman could/would even be thrilled by a mere meaningless trinket handed down by the Great White Mother, a foreign monarch.

Thus in this, his egoistic conceit, I personally suspect LKY wants recognition no matter how meaningless a form that might be (at least to kaytee wakakaka), and perhaps the recognition he craves most of all would have been that of his scuttled dream (scuttled by UMNO) of leading and making a Malaysia inclusive of Singapore (with all Malaysia's rich natural resources) into one of the most powerful, rich and prosperous nation in Asia, even surpassing Japan.

Alas for him, that was not to be.

But of course today LKY wants the best Malaysian option for his Singapore's relationship with Malaysia, and thus his cruel criticism of Pakatan has been, as I suspect, an indication of his preference for the devil he knows (namely UMNO) than one he doesn't. Mind, there's some truth in his comment against Pakatan.

Harry pordah, the sunset awaits you

But since his criticism of Pakatan, the hot words coming out from DAP to blast LKY into the fading sunset wakakaka should be ample proof that any suspected link between LKY's PAP and a Malaysian political party would be that with UMNO (via Najib and KJ) rather than a DAP he has recently disparaged, wakakaka.