Malignant Mais Malaise

Have you heard of the Manglish word 'cannon' which means 'ricochet' rather than 'brag'? No I don't know how it came into use, unlike 'go-starn, which evolved from 'go astern'.

Anyway,  I've kind of suspect the 3 R's are 'cannoning' on UMNO.

Once UMNO mauled the royalty (1992); today we see in a southern state a chunk of royal claw back where governing powers might have been surrendered to a constitutional monarch, much to the anxiety of some of the more intelligent UMNO members.

Then came along Dyana Sofia a happening which threw dear old UMNO into fits wakakaka.

Finally in UMNO fooling around with religion in using it to attack its opposition we now see a stubbornly defiant MAIS at odds with legal authorities.  And frighteningly we hear syariah lawyers talking preposterously of the syariah courts being on par with the civil courts - for their own professional and religious interest naturally.

Cannon! Soon MAIS and its counterparts in other Peninsula states will be in a position to do away with all UMNO,  PKR and even PAS politicians wakakaka.

Dirgahayu Ayatollah.  Amin. Wakakaka.

Face mahu juga

Sometimes some people don't know when to quit when ahead.

The restrictions on the Allah word are only for the Catholic Herald where churches can use the word in its services.  Yet the Christian sector continues to push the envelope.

Look,  Putrajaya wants some been chooi man, face saving for itself among its right wing sector.  If it feels it'll lose face water wakakaka it will opt to save itself at the expense of the Christians. .

Win at all cost or lose everything lah. Wakakaka.

Selangor - A necessary amputation!

If Pakatan dismisses the current royal vizier through a show of no confidence there is a real danger of either HRH or PAS pulling the rug from under the coalition's feet by bringing about the dissolution of the DUN.  OTOH without such a move Pakatan will allow him to continue his pro big business actions and policies which will turn the rakyat against Pakatan.

PAS is quite happy to leave him where he is. RPK has written about it and now Iskandar Samad has voiced his support as well.

To me the choice is bloody clear.

Amputation though painful and dangerous can save life, Pakatan's.

Very vily Vizier

How does one get rid of a Royal Vizier who is no longer a believer in Pakatan politics?

He appears to be tap dancing between royalty and religion to avoid answering to critics wakakaka.

Death of Democracy

It's a fucking sad day when a parliamentarian is to be charged for saying in state parliament that a political party is celaka. The AG is totally politicized to even consider such a ridiculous act.

Vague Kidex leads to Vizier Kickout?

Maths 101

Selangor 56 ADUNs, thus majority is 29.

PAS has 15,
DAP has 15,
PKR has 14 then 13 then 14, wakakaka

Total 44, but has recalcitrant 'Royal Vizier', wakakaka

BN has 12

Royal Vizier

New Kidex-ised Scenario 1

PAS has 15
DAP has 15
PKR has, hmmm?, 12 after Vizier de-Vizier-ized* and possibly an ADUN-aide loyally sticks with him.  

* Pakatan decides who should be Vizier while HRH accepts/rejects (with good reason) and approves Pakatan's nominee. Pakatan can withdraw support for its own Vizier candidate.

Revised total 42

BN 12 plus ??

A very significant Pakatan majority to be state government which HRH simply cannot ignore, though he may still choose to, wakakaka.

So, who shall be new Vizier?

Possible candidates would be (a) Dökkálfar Dwarf, (b) wife of God's gift to people, and (c) a PAS candidate.

DAP needn't get excited UNLESS HRH decides innovatively he wants a Chinese Vizier, but don't hold your breath, okay! Wakakaka.

Read also:

Malay Mail Online's Put Kidex highway project on hold now, DAP tells Selangor

Anil Netto's How did it come to this for Khalid Ibrahim? and

Sakmongkol's Azmin Ali or Khalid Ibrahim

Kopitiam Kok-Tok (1)

(1) Great news for MCA and Gerakan. It has been reported that UiTM does not ban masturbation.

Am only mentioning this as a public service to them because ever since Mah Siew Keong won Teluk Intan, the leaders of the two BN-affiliated parties have been wanking away over the humongous 238 voters majority which, according to them, signal a return of the Chinese to BN.

As UMNO subordinates they may qualify for entry into UiTM if they fancy improving their academic qualifications, where they can continue their joyous wanking, wakakaka.

(2) I fear someone appears to be makan gaji buta in not doing his duty. OTOH I kinda grudgingly admire him for his brilliant work strategy where he does no work yet take our (taxpayers') money! 

(3) Can someone please tell this sweetie to change her photo, 'coz her very gorgeous eyes have been haunting me and driving me nuts! Yes, I'm protesting against her cruel visual torture of me and probably zillions of other guys, wakakaka..

(4) Matthew 22:21 (KJV) tells us: Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's. 

But alas, someone appears to have forgotten it, considering who had said it.

(5) Surely you have heard of Chinese Ghost Marriages if not, read this wikipedia article. There's a whole lot of reasons behind such eerie marriages, and  believe me, it's still practised until today. It seems that such 'other world' marriages, or sometimes unions straddling both 'worlds' are practised also in Sudan, India and France. 

But I have to admit I've never heard of Ghost Divorces. Have you?

Jeon Ji Hyun

married to her, would you wanna divorce her when you are dead?

Johor minefield

In the Malay Mail Online House buyers welcome new Johor bill Chang Kim Loong who is the secretary general National House Buyers Association (HBA) appeared at first glance to be saying something totally at odds with the opinions of most Malaysians including both sides of politics.

malay mail online photo

What he said about the controversial proposed housing board bill to be tabled at the Johor state assembly today, was that it would be a step in the right direction.

However, if you read on, he then qualified his rice-bowl (= profession’s) statement by stating: “The bill is a welcomed enactment by HBA but we feel rulers should not be part of the set up as the Sultan should not be involved in the administrative business of the elected state government. After all, the state government has the executive power to run the state.”

Chang is in the end of the same opinion as most Malaysians.

However, his professional counterpart, Michael Yam, president of Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association Malaysia, is typically Chinese in being more (oxymoronically or yang-yin-ishly) forthright yet circumspect, an old Chinese specialty which younger Chinese Malaysians have not been well taught on, wakakaka.

What Michael Yam opined on the Johor Housing & Real Property Bill has been: “We are on sensitive ground here, and I would not like to speculate until the full understandings and implications of the act is [sic] known.”

But even then, he couldn't resist saying “Needless to say, all legislation emanating from the state should be aligned both in principle with the constitution,” thus revealing his inner feelings on the issue, wakakaka.

One highly sensitive issue in Malaysia, even more so than religion, has been and still is the sacrosanctity of a Malay ruler, who captures in his royal self all that Malays menjunjung tinggi (uphold highly or very dear), a God-King status not unlike the Chinese 'Mandate of Heaven' for their respective Emperors.

Chinese and Indian Malaysians are well advised to ether stand clear of or excise extreme prudence when commenting on or about a Malay ruler.

Strangely, many older Chinese and Indians are actually staunch monarchists at heart, perhaps possessing closer memories of their respective homeland dynastic monarchs as well as their ethnic social-cultural (and in the case of Indians, also religious) indoctrination. My own maternal granddad was a staunch monarchist.

Few would be the Indians who do not thrilled to the exploits of Rama, the son of a king and eventually a king himself, despite recent scholarly dissertations he was quite a cad in his treatment of his wife Sita. He also exhibited the most arrogant ketuanan mentality and injustice in justifying his sneak-murder of Vali, King of the Vanara.

King Vali, murdered by Rama

And we know that quite a many Chinese and Indian Malaysians take pride in being honoured with awards by the rulers, though we accept that yes, some of them aim for such honours only for practical business reasons, wakakaka.

Anyway, Malay rulers! Chinese and Indian Malaysians! Do you notice any issue standing out?

Well, if you don’t then just hang on for a while, wakakaka.

Now let me share some of my earlier (post 05 March 2008) thoughts with you. There was a brief hopeful and near orgasmic moment (or two, wakakaka) when I thought HRH’s of Perak and Selangor, both being well-educated and modern thinkers, would come in from the left field and innovatively approve non-Malays as MB in their respective states. 

But in Selangor, not even a non-Malay deputy MB was allowed, let alone a MB! This relates to a 2008 hope amongst Pakatan (or rather, DAP wakakaka) supporters in Selangor that sassy Teresa Kok might be appointed deputy MB.

Teresa Kok

a Chinese Malaysian mystery, a Selangorean yet not a Selangorean

 wakakaka

Then state secretary Muhammad Munir claimed that the deputy MB should ideally be a Malay to assist the MB in Islamic and cultural duties. But Professor Abdul Aziz Bari pordah-ed that argument.

The Prof said: “The Sultan of Selangor does not need the menteri besar or the deputy menteri besar in matters pertaining to religion and Malay custom.”

According to the Prof, the sultan, as the head of Islamic matters and the Malay adat, was (still is) in fact THE PERSON in charge of such matters in the state, and not the MB or his deputy.

He said: “Matters cited by the palace are entirely within the sultan's jurisdiction. As the sultan may act on his own discretion on these matters, the constitution provides that a council may be appointed to assist him. This is what is commonly known as religious councils or majlis agama, which looks after the religious department or the jabatan agama. In the other four states and federal territories, the Agong will have the same establishment.”

Prof Aziz also commented that a prolonged delay in the appointment of a deputy MB was unnecessary and might even be unconstitutional.

But when Khalid Ibrahim was asked whether the appointment of a Deputy MB had been postponed or scrapped altogether, he as usual side-stepped the issue by stating the need to explain the matter (what?) properly to the people (who?), and that he would do this after the executive councillors had been sworn-in (why?).

But had he ever done that?

That was one of Khalid Ibrahim's greatest shames which over the last five years we have come to realize even more, with increased regrets. 

In the end, Teresa Kok was NOT appointed as deputy MB in the previous DUN session, enabling Khalid Ibrahim to live happily ever after ... well, until now, wakakaka. 

Hence Malay rulers, Chinese and Indian Malaysians!

And there’s buggerall the nons can say anything, for as I've mentioned earlier: One sensitive issue in Malaysia has been and still is the sacrosanctity of the Malay rulers, which Chinese and Indian Malaysians are well advised to ether stand clear of or excise extreme prudence when commenting on.

Thus yesterday I was shocked and yet not shocked (wakakaka, that’s the Tao part in me and I'll come to it later) when I read TMI’s Utusan says will snub Johor palace over criticism on new bill which reported:

Utusan Malaysia today said it would not answer any royal summons to appear before the Sultan of Johor, following the paper's criticism against a controversial plan to include the ruler in the state's administration. […]

The Umno mouthpiece said if the Johor palace was unhappy with the criticism and wanted to reprimand or clarify, it could send a representative to meet the daily's editors.

Of course the UMNO mouthpiece (in the editorial pseudonym of Awang Selamat) couched its Jebat-ish defiance with courtly words like "Awang does not think that Sultan Ibrahim will cheapen his status as a ruler by calling Utusan Malaysia to appear before him. Awang believes that Sultan Ibrahim, although known to be firm, is a gentleman."

... something which everyone including kaytee have been doing, wakakaka, when we do not support the bill.

It's not unlike my mum telling me "It's for your own good" when she caned the living daylight out of naughty me as if those altruistic words could have mollified me or take away the sting of the rattan, wakakaka.

But unlike Chang Kim Loong and Michael Yam mentioned above who (being Chinese) were both more circumspect, Utusan could not resist continuing in Jebat-ish fashion:

"Moreover, times have also changed. The media must stop being overly worried about criticism involving the rulers.

"This is the common question among media practitioners every time a sensitive issue arises regarding the Johor palace. "The anxiety of media practitioners towards this issue should stop immediately. There is no reason for such anxiety in today's new media landscape.”

TMI also reported: Awang said there was no reason for high-ranking palace officials to reprimand reporters and editors.

Instead, he said in other countries with monarchies, it was a common practice for the media to send their representatives to the palace.

"That is how it is done in palaces in Europe, Japan and Thailand, even the royal institutions in other states in Malaysia. This is to avoid misunderstandings as if parties are being bullied."

Has Utusan signalled that it's open season for the royal royalty hunt?

Now, recall I said (after reading above Utusun's blast) that I was shocked and yet not shocked.

My shocked part had been as per above where the mouthpiece of UMNO, meaning it's UMNO itself, multiplied by Dr Mahathir's warning plus Najib's soft yet unmistakably disapproving statement, have shown their collective disapproval of the Johor MB's intention to air a bill which would alter the construct of constitutional monarchy as we know it, and perhaps unwittingly set the monarchy on a gradual path towards absolute rule.

My 'yet not shocked' part has been my recollection of the 10 December 1992 parliamentary session, when an UMNO bloke walloped the rulers as follows:

"How can we continue to uphold rulers who are known to be robbers, adulterers, drunkards and kaki pukul(thugs)?" [...]

"They (the rulers) must be made to realize that they do not own this country. They are not Superman but placed on their thrones by the people."

"The real power did not lie with them, but with us - the representatives of the people."

Aiyoyo, rulers who are known to be robbers, adulterers, drunkards and kaki pukul (thugs)? Imagine if a Chinese MP had said that!

Another UMNO bloke wakakaka, said the following:

"After the struggle for India's independence in 1947, Deputy Prime Minister Sardar V Patel was given the task of negotiating with the Rulers to phase out them.:

"Patel rounded up the Maharajas and put them in a hotel. On the first day of discussion, he could not get them to agree to the Government's proposal.”

"On the second day, he placed soldiers around the perimeter of the hotel. On the third day, he cut the electricity supply; on the fourth day, he stopped the water supply and on the fifth day, he stopped food from being brought in. On the sixth day, all the Rulers, who were confined to the building, agreed to the government proposals.”

"When Patel was asked why he did not obtain the consent of the Rulers in a normal fashion, Patel replied, 'Do you ask the consent of the chicken before it is slaughtered?'"

"A similar approach could have been taken to solve the present problem with the Rulers."

[above quoted from a post at Dewan Pemuda PAS Serdang blog]

Wow, slaughtering our rulers like chooks a la the Maharajahs? Who would dare say that other than an UMNO person, who of course would have been sanctioned by UMNO.

But these have been exactly what Dr Mahathir, Royal Dentist Extraordinaire (wakakaka), warned about recently when he stated: "There is already a feeling of disrespect for the royals. This may lead to other forms of disrespect."

do you have a toothache?

wakakaka

I observed that ever since Dr Mahathir retired there was a sort of Operations Royal Clawback, as we had noticed in Perlis, Terengganu, Perak and now perhaps Johor.

Mind, RPK in his Johor triggering a constitutional crisis, yet again wrote:

The Johor palace has always had what we could probably call ‘special powers’, for want of a better term, compared to the other eight Malaysian royal households. Even Singapore ‘closes one eye’ to the antics of the Johor royalty rather than risk rubbing them the wrong way — which is unique for Singapore which takes no shit from anyone (other than just the Johor royalty).

The Johor palace has always attracted controversy that makes the other royal households cringe and shudder. For example, ............ [...]

The Johor palace has always reminded me of England in the 1500s. The King was capable of sacking the Pope and of inventing a new branch of Christianity with him as the head (plus he put to death all the Papalists) just to show who is the boss.

And that is what the Johor palace is, a power above the law with a Sultan appointed by God. And because of Johor, most likely the days of the Republic of Malaysia may not be too far down the road. But then again this may not happen just yet in our lifetime. Nevertheless, if the members of the royal family are not careful, it will eventually happen one day in the future.

So be warned!

Exactly what Dr Mahathir had ominously warned a few days ago!

But harkening back to 7 November 2008, Malaysiakini published Raja Nazrin: Rulers will not act on wrong advice in which the regent of Perak but now-Sultan Raja Nazrin talked about “the rulers are part of national institutions whose role is to strengthen the democratic system by carrying out the check and balance responsibility and the function as an independent tribunal for the legislative, executive and judiciary branches.”

He stated that “Generally, the rulers act based on the advice by government leaders elected by the people. Nevertheless, the rulers cannot accede to acts which do not symbolise justice or sanction moves which do not mirror truth.”

He was basically saying (as reported by Malaysiakini): The rulers would not agree with the advice from government leaders which goes against the spirit of the constitution, rule of law and universal principles of justice.

The way I had read it, he was attempting to carve a role for rulers beyond that of a constitutional monarch. 

Instead of some actually rejoicing that we might be benefitting from some so-called royal ‘check & balance’, au contraire I was then filled with dread.

But yessiree,I was/still am a Chinese Malaysian who has had to shut my mouth on such sensitive issues surrounding royalty, but ampun Tuanku, I have to confess I was then not impressed in the least by HRH's speech.

The democracy of Malaysia, warts and all, already has a system of ‘check & balance’, which admittedly didn't work too well until around 2008, but then, when it didn't work well, where were the royalty?

Yes, that 'part of national institutions whose role is to strengthen the democratic system by carrying out the check and balance responsibility and the function as an independent tribunal for the legislative, executive and judiciary branches', as pronounced by HRH, just where was it?

Why then did our democratic system of the tripartite ‘check & balance’ (executive, legislative and judiciary) begin to awake from its Rip-Van-Winkle-an slumber sometime around 2008 (perhaps slightly earlier)?

I then thought maybe AAB had loosened the shackles, maybe Anwar Ibrahim (wakakaka) had provided the leadership, maybe the people had been sick of the arrogance of unfettered racism and the rampant exploitation of politics for reasons of individual avarice, and thus would be more prepared to exert their voice, etc?

hehehe, dah pencen liao lah

A kid of 'sudahlah' awakening, so to speak!

Whoever, whichever, whatever, our political reawakening and enjoyment of a more liberal political environment had/have been attained without any help from royalty! Not an iota! None whatsoever!

Besides, there was none forthcoming!

They were deafeningly silent when they should have spoken out, but now, like us they too would like to flex their own Mahathirised-atrophied muscles (wakakaka) in the changing socio-political environment, and reinvent their role in and relevance to society, to enhance their personal status and claw back their stripped down power.

But alas, there's not much a 'non' could have done, not previously nor currently, for we have to stay away from what was/still is an obvious socio-politico-cultural minefield, wakakaka.

Ultimately, it's all up to the Malays for afterall, wasn't it a Malay who had dared to say: Raja adil raja disembah, raja zalim raja disanggah (A fair king is a king to obey, a cruel king is a king to fight against).

No, I'm not referring to the son of Tan Sri Muhammad Ali Hashim, former Johor Corp (JCorp) chairman, who returned three state medals to the Johor Council of Royal Court, after the latter accused him of ridiculing the Sultan of Johor in an eulogy to his son. He published his son's poem in Sinar Harian on 02 Dec 2013, and which contained the above Malay quotation. Incidentally Tan Sri has also spoken out against the proposed bill.

The author of those words was Hang Jebat.

Bro, our fight will become both a problem and example for future generations, a troubling dilemma for them

In concluding, I leave you with what seems to be a constitutional advice by Karl Otto von Schonhausen Bismarck:

Der Konig herrscht aber regiert nicht (The king reigns but does not govern).

Johor Property Bill raises bipartisan concerns

Though the proposed Johor State Property Law is only a state bill, it seems to have in general drawn BN and Pakatan (including the federal sides) together in a bipartisan concern over a new law which may unwittingly drag HRH into government administration by conferring him with executive powers when HRH like other HRH and the Agong is only a constitutional monarch.

Yes, the common grounds seem to be worries about the State Sultan's role in the bill which will shatter the construct of a constitutional monarch, and worse, raises questions on his associated responsibilities, as it's an administrative (legal too?) concept that executive powers carry commensurate responsibilities and thus public accountability.

In a worst case scenario where HRH may be called to account for the Housing & Real Property Boards' actions, the demand for accountability may possibly destroy the hitherto immunity of HRH, which of course no one wants.

Just to obtain a picture of how HRH may be liable, TMI informs us the proposed law has '... provisions that allow the state ruler to appoint members and determine its budget, raising fears that the constitutional state monarch could have a hand in the state's administrative affairs'.

If HRH does end up having a hand in the state's admin affairs, then he becomes a typical public servant who may be criticized, complained against and be subjected to various other consequences unbefitting those for a royal person.

Let's not forget in Malaysia the monarchy at both state and federal level is of the constitutional variety, and would not have the executive powers that the Johor state bill will endow on HRH.

The remaining absolute monarchs in the world are the rulers of some Gulf states, Saudi Arabia and in the local region, the Sultan of Brunei.

Who is pushing such a novel but constitutionally questionable law?

Well, he's none other than Johor MB Mohamed Khalid Nordin!

Despite mounting concerns by constitutional law experts and politicians on both sides of politics including PM Najib who warns Johor to ensure the proposed law follows the Federal Constitution, meaning and asserting (in polite Malay-speak) that HRH is only a constitutional monarch, the Johor MB seems hell-bent on airing the bill in the state DUN on Monday.

MB Mohamed Khalid Nordin brushed off those bipartisan concerns and claimed that he will still be the one exercising executive powers and bearing responsibilities, and not HRH, but hardly anyone believes him.

Why? Because the proposed law has '... provisions that allow the state ruler to appoint members and determine its budget ...'.

Isn't that executive powers? What then about executive responsibilities?

Najib must have been pissed off to have said, seemingly a la Pontius Pilate: "The menteri besar explained that the bill was consistent with the provisions of the Federal Constitution. He will also be fully responsible in managing the board."

Even our Grand Olde Man, Dr Mahathir, wasn't impressed by Mohamed Khalid Nordin's proposed bill, reminding everyone that our monarchy is constitutional, presumably just to make a point rather than inform us.

In Malaysiakini's Dr Mahathir issues a veiled royal caution, his piss-off-ness (wakakaka) was reported as follows:

The former premier also warned that any drastic changes could exacerbate the people's ill-feelings towards the royals.

"There is already a feeling of disrespect for the royals. This may lead to other forms of disrespect," he said in his blog.

"Although by and large the Malays are for the institution of the monarch, when their ability to defend is eroded, they might forego their adat (custom)."

I don't see those statements as veiled caution against royalty other than Johor wasn't directly mentioned, wakakaka.

Rather, I see him warning, yes, warning the royals not to usurp the (executive) rights of the people's representatives and thus the rakyat, which if unheeded may lead to worsening 'disrespect' for them.

I read worsening as implying there exists already disrespect - see his statement again: "There is already a feeling of disrespect for the royals. This may lead to other forms of disrespect." 

Incidentally, Dr Mahathir was the PM who extracted the fangs of a particular royal some years ago, perhaps indicating his 'Dr' title extends as well to dental care, wakakaka.

He even alluded to the possibility of foreign influence in the Johor state bill, suggesting that outside forces are making use of royalty for their own interests.

He said: "Of late there has been a tendency to ignore the constitution and to effectively change it by other means. Nobody can change it on his own. States cannot change it nor can rulers without the approval of the federal parliament and the federal government."

"The constitution is the basic law of the country. When a precedent is established, it will become a base for other changes."

"These people must stop especially when they are foreigners."

That evoked speculations about possible strong influence from our near south in the Johor MB being strangely adamant on airing a bill which even UMNO's mouthpiece Utusan has taken 'valuable' time off, wakakaka, from its usual bashing of nons in order to indicate UMNO's unhappiness with the proposed new law, which would give HRH executive powers over the proposed Johor Housing and Real Property Board.

I sense that Dr Mahathir must have been 'briefed' kau kau about the Johor strange and constitutionally bizarre bill.

As mentioned earlier and reiterated here as a refresher, under the new law HRH will gain executive powers including the right to appoint board members, determine their allowances, scrutinise the board's accounts as well as being empowered to dissolve the board.

One has to ask: Why, Why, Why is MB Mohamed Khalid Nordin insisting on introducing a new law which both sides of politics in probably the first demo of bipartisanship have frowned upon?

What is his motive?

I doubt it is to test grounds on bipartisanship, wakakaka, but jokes aside he is playing a dangerous game. Hope he is not another who believes as a 'Royal MB' he can do what he likes.

Racism in advertising

Leng chai is mighty pissed off. In Malaysiakini's KJ sees red over 'non-bumi' job ad, a firm was reported to have advertised its preference for a non-bumi to assume a post of production engineer in Tikam Batu, Kedah.

Though leng chai was initially provided with a doctored version of the advertisement a la char koay teow with plenty of chillies, the original version was ascertained as "Preferably non-bumiputera encourage (sic) to apply."

Leng chai has been absolutely correct in saying "Well, the actual ad isn't much better."

Kaytee believes it's terrible to marginalize qualified and capable candidates from applying on the basis of race, gender, religion (beliefs) or political affiliation. It's racist and discriminatory.

However, I expect some of my readers to say words to the effect that what's good for the goose should be good for the gander.

Okay, looking from their lenses, let's take an extreme example: Would the Malaysian army advertise for and accept all Malaysian races as soldiers in the Royal Malay Regiment? For example, military regiments in Britain such as the Scots Guards and Irish Fusiliers today aren't from only those named ethnic groups.

Would UiTM and the various other universities advertise for and accept for their respective Vice Chancellor positions Malaysians without ethnic considerations?

Anyway, I suspect or speculate whoever made that terrible advertisement for a non-bumi to be its production engineer might be thinking: WTF, "they" are doing it anyway!

But kaytee believes that's not correct to 'follow' the other side if the other side has been doing it wrong. As my mum used to shout at me (after gifting me with a couple of tight slaps, wakakaka) whenever I argued that my cousin did it first (something naughty of course, wakakaka): "He ate shit, so you want to eat shit too?"

Ouch and ouch again, good olde mum. Wakakaka.

There's no denying there's enormous discriminations going on in Malaysia especially in jobs, university places, etc. I needn't delve too deeply into this as most of you probably know the current situation better than me, wakakaka.

Even if the job of, say, that production engineer involves the processing, packing and cold storing of pork for export or sale locally, the advertisement must not rule out bumiputeras from applying as some bumiputeras (Sarawak/Sabah natives and our Peninsula Thais, now classed as bumi too) are Christians or devotees of non-Islamic religions like Buddhism or Hinduism.

And WTF, if a qualified Muslim wants to apply, that's entirely up to him or her. I remember my vet in Kedah who attended to the health of my dog for years was a Malay. In fact most of the staff in the veterinary department were (are?) Malays. 

Maybe the ad can at best state, as an informative courtesy, that 'the job will involve the processing, packing and cold storing of pork for export' etc. Then it's up to those qualified and interested to apply or not to apply.

However, I disagree with what was also reported in the same article by one complainant grumbling to leng chai about "Banyak je iklan 'mandarin speaking’ is an advantage" (There are many job advertisements where it is stated that speaking Mandarin is an advantage).

Some jobs do require language skills. Besides,  I know there are many Malays who are fluent not only in Mandarin but also Cantonese and Penang Hokkien - they put me to shame lah. For example, Najib's son is known to be fluent in Mandarin. Malu ai lah!

So the complaint that job advertisements requiring fluency in Mandarin, let alone those just saying 'speaking Mandarin is an advantage' (advantage only, not mandatory) is not a valid point.

And if challenged, the onus should be on the advertiser to show that fluency in Mandarin is indeed a requirement (or an advantage) for the advertised position - eg. journalist or editor of a Mandarin language newspaper, tour guide for Chinese tourists, manager based in Shanghai, or beh-koh-eoh salesperson, wakakaka).

koh-eoh (pain relieving patch)

Chinese writing warns against sticking on sensitive hairy areas of body?
 wakakaka

This reminds me of Uncle's friend in New Zealand who related the following story to him:

A Kiwi sweetie went to South Korea as an English teacher. While there she was shocked by some local (Korean) job advertisements for English language teachers which blatantly said that non-Caucasians need NOT apply, wakakaka.

Such racist ads would NOT have been allowed in New Zealand or Australia, au contraire the authorities would be going after the person advertising such racist discriminatory job descriptions.

A wee digression - Those Koreans dungus weren't aware that some Asians speak better English than many Caucasians (Poles, Serbians, Ukrainians, Italians, Hungarians etc are Caucasians too - and not all Europeans speak good English as compared to some Indians, Pakistanis, Malaysians, Sings, Hong Kongers, etc).

The joke was, Unc's friend said, that Kiwi sweetie possesses such a terrible Kiwi accent that even the English or Americans would have great difficulty understanding her speech, let alone those Koreans - a case of the ignorant learning from a poor example of an English teacher, wakakaka. I wonder how she managed to last for almost two years there.

David Killick, a Kiwi freelance journalist wrote in a post on his website the following example of the Kiwi twang:

Gidday. Air gun?
(Good day. How are you going?)

The New Zild axsint: Uzza toe kay? Or uzza chuss duffrunt?”
(The New Zealand accent. Is it OK? Or is it just different?)

Then Killick narrated what I thought of that Kiwi sweetie in South Korea, as follows:

New Zealand actor Andie Spargo does character voices. He can switch seamlessly from English Upper Class twit to Scottish loon, to mad German scientist.

Spargo recalls when Lorraine Downes became Miss Universe in 1983.

“Here she was, this gorgeous woman on the international stage, and she was asked what she would like to do, and she said something like, ‘I’d like to go to Efrica? To hilp the chuwdren learn to speak Unglush?’

I thought, ‘You’d better not!’”

Wakakaka, ands that should have been applied too to the Kiwi sweetie in Korea.

But leng chai should know and accept that in Malaysia the discrimination game has been played horribly on both sides (by both Malays and non-Malays). Sadly in some cases, they were deliberate tit for tat or what's good for the goose should be good for the gander.

Now by contrast, take the example of an Australian advertisement in Hobart a couple of years ago that went like this: "Store requires no indians or asians please. Must speak english (sic)".

The first protests or attacks against the ad was from the community (most of whom are European Australians) - that's the hallmark of an advanced civilised society. News.com.au reported:

The advert, on the Gumtree website, generated outrage on social media sites, with calls for people to boycott the store and lodge complaints.

"Which supermarket is this so I can boycott them?" one Facebook user said.

"What planet are they on?", asked another.

The job ad was later removed from the site.

A Coles spokesman yesterday admitted the advert had been posted by a contract company responsible for cleaning its Rosny store.

"The ad was placed without Coles' knowledge and we were extremely concerned to learn of the ad and its contents," spokesman Jim Cooper said.

Not only was the contract company in deep shit but the website owner was as well. ABC news reported:

Tasmania's Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, Robin Banks, has launched an investigation into the advertisement.

"It's clearly racially discriminatory and in a very important area of life for many people - the opportunity to work," she said.

Ms Banks said she was surprised when she read the ad, but that she knows racism happens.

"It's why we need to be alert to speak out about it when we see it quite so overtly," she said.

"The risk is that this is a very overt indication of somebody intending to discriminate, but I guess it's possible also that there are people who apply the same filter but don't advertise that they're going to do that."

Ms Banks says anyone who feels discriminated against by the ad could lodge a complaint and potentially fight for an apology and damages from both the advertiser themselves, and the publisher of the ad, Gumtree.

"Under anti-discrimination law in Tasmania it's unlawful to advertise or publish or to display or cause or permit an ad to be published," she said.

"So in this case Gumtree may have some liability."

A quick search of the Gumtree website reveals this is not the only advertisement that seems to discriminate.

Discrimination is apparent in more job ads, as well as ads for share housing.

Gumtree declined our request for an interview.

Taking about ads for share housing I am reminded of a movie called 'Single White Female', starring delicious Bridget Fonda.

I have been told by friends who lived in Fiji for years that such blatantly racist advertisements were fairly common, particularly by Indians there. Apparently some Indian landlords didn't want to rent out rooms or houses to the Fijian bumis.

Torika Watters would no doubt be an exception to
the no bumi' marginalisation above, wakakaka

at 16 she won Miss World Fiji title
 but was stripped of that title because organizaers said she was underaged

Torika said prior to contest organizers said her age was okay
but after she won, coincidentally locals complained she did not look Fijian enough (would that be considered racist?)

she's now 18!

But it's not always white bias as we can see from a Daily Mail report about an ad in 2010 which stated: 'Minimum six years of experience in IT . . . The person should be a UK citizen with security clearance from the UK Government. Preferably of Indian origin.'

Needless to say, the UK authorities went after the advertiser.

Well, WTF can we say except to jaga our own standards of not falling into a racial rut. Thus I support leng chai's (Khairy Jamaluddin's) condemnation of such racist advertising but at the same time I call upon him to lift our Malaysian game above blatant racism, especially from the BN-led government.

The government must provide the example as per the 1982 slogan of Dr Mahathir, 'Leadership through example'.

from Portal Pendidikan Utusan