Black & White of Malaysian political thinking

When I read a published letter by Michael Chua to RPK at Malaysia-Today titled in elegant simplicity as Thank You (the latest in a brief series of published correspondence between Michael and RPK, wakakaka) I was tickled pink by one of Michaels' appeal, to wit, "RPK, please follow this up by writing some articles to pacify your readers concerning the issues that I mentioned above."

'Pacify readers?'

Wakakaka, my dear Michael, that would be akin to asking RPK to make the sun rise in the West.

Now, while I am not questioning RPK's ability to do so (that is, make the sun rise in the West), wakakaka, my expressed opinion above is not so much about RPK or Michael Chua; it's about Malaysians in general where most if not all have already taken up George Bush' position of "Either you're with us or against us!"

In other words, most Malaysians today cannot be 'pacified' by any article; they can only be for (thus happy with) or against (thus railing against) a viewpoint - I wouldn't say they are colour blind, which would incorrectly imply they are not racist, because some are, wakakaka, but alas, the sad reality is they can only see (discern, distinguish, differentiate) things in black or white, wakakaka.

Take for example, HM the Agong honouring Malaysia's most renowned actor, sweetie Michelle Yeoh in 2013.

Many pro Pakatan supporters somehow forgot their demand for 'freedom' of this and that, and went into berserk mode, whacking Michelle Yeoh for exercising her 'freedom of association' and 'freedom of expression'.

Hellooooo there, remember 'freedom of association' and 'freedom of expression', 'freedom' of ... whatever?

Their sheer hypocrisy and double-standards in their vile vitriolic vicious and vehement buses of her for her political affiliation and expression of support, her fundamental right to do so, spread even into the Hong Kong and China's entertainment net, and have been disgraceful, disappointing and (quite frankly) disturbing.

Michelle Yeoh is Malaysia's most globally recognized entertainment talent, and has been honoured twice by her home state of Perak with Datukship's, twice (within 5 years) by France with the Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur and the Officier de la Légion d'honneur, and by HM the Agong with a Tan Sri-ship in 2013.

Yet from those unacceptable uncivilised and uncouth abuses by so-called Malaysians (the very people who clamour for 'freedom' of this and that, wakakaka) you might wonder whether she is notorious in her own nation, perhaps as a serial killer, child abuser or fratricidal or matricidal psychopath.

Because of such feral cyber-fascist attacks, I was wont to remark that some Malaysians couldn't and I suspect still can't handle democratic differences. I dread to think of these intolerant cyber-bullies ever coming into power.

Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur
established by Napoleon Bonaparte on 19 May 1802

Read this to know of her achievements and if you're truly a Malaysian, you would be immensely proud of her, regardless of her or your political affiliation. I know I am, very!

Zaid Ibrahim, Chandra Muzaffar and even wakakaka RPK (just three examples) have also been similarly vilified when they started to say stuff that showed that 'white' isn't all that white after all. But their vilifiers forgot that when they had previously said 'black' is very black, they were ALSO (and already) vilified by the other side, wakakaka.

Whether you agree or disagree with them, and that's entirely within your right, as that's part of the democratic process. But disagreeing with them didn't and doesn't call for vile vitriolic vicious and vehement abuses of them.

And to those who have abused Michelle Yeoh, Zaid Ibrahim, Chandra Muzaffar, RPK, etc, for their views, would you be capable of discussing, debating and distinguishing issues in a civilised manner, like academician Joshua Neoh whose intellectual take on the 'Allah' word issue was reported in TMI's Courts do not have the final say on the Allah issue, says academic as follows:

Joshua Neoh
Lecturer in law at Australian National University
Master of Laws, Yale Law School (2011)
Bachelor of Laws, 1st Class Honours & the University Medal, ANU College of Law (2010)

... when the judges were rewriting the constitution through reinterpretation, they had at least tried to couch what they were doing in terms of constitutional law.

Neoh pointed out that the Malaysian post-colonial constitutional settlement was precarious – not only because the constitution is an incompletely theorised agreement, but because it presented two conflicting visions on issues of law, religion and state.

The effect of this, he added, was that there were two constitutions embedded in the one constitutional text which engages in double speak.

"This bifurcation in the constitutional text makes the post-colonial constitutional settlement a precarious arrangement because its meaning is internally incoherent and inherently unstable.

"While it may not have the benefit of stability, ironically, it may have the benefit of longevity," he said.

He added that this was the reason that enabled proponents of both sides of the ideological divide to find their voices and visions in the same constitutional context.

"They could both draw on the same document for support and could construct their own narratives and counter-narratives from the available constitutional materials," he added.

Neoh went on to explain that this was the reason why the contestation on the use of the word Allah will continue beyond the Federal Court, adding that it was a symptom of a larger contest about the meaning of the Constitution.

"It is a contest about the origin of our state and the future of Malaysia. The court does not have the final word, the courts never have the final word in any Constitutional matter," he said.

But alas, I think not, because there's the sheer toxicity of our socio-politico-cultural-religious landscape today, of which you have become a willing captive. It's poisonous and nothing thus far that I can see or predict will remedy it.

Now, you may not like this but I'm going to say it anyway: There are just too few Malaysians like Joshua Neoh, Neil Khor, Tunku Abidin Muhriz, Zaid Ibrahim, RPK (wakakaka) and many more.

On the sad current situation in Israel and Gaza, needless to say, we have in one way or other chosen sides. Again, it's your right to have different opinions from others as we are afterall humans.

We are individuals and thus entitled to our individual views and political affiliation, but there must be a civilised approach to expressing them, in the way Joshua Neoh has done. Thus I read to my utter shock and dismay one Malaysiakini reader (using the nick of preposterously 'msian1st') commenting on the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the MKINI article Cease trade with Israel, demands PAS Youth with an unbelievably cruel "I hope all Palestinian wiped out so that the Middle East will be at peace again. Palestinians are nuisance."

It's the exact mirror image to what some ultra pro Palestinian supporters have said of Hitler not doing a better job in eliminating all Jews.

Well, it's patently obvious that the only article that will 'pacify' this 'msian1st' will have to be the successful genocide of the Palestinian race including Muslims, Christians, Druze, Mandaeans, etc. Sieg Heil!

Palestinian babes killed in Israeli air attacks on Gaza in 2008/2009

I suppose 'msian1st' would be most happy with these killings

And to think, he or she must be one of those who has been hypocritically berating the BN government about human rights and the lack of freedom to do this and that.

Then there are those who have been so poisoned as to make, in my opinion, quite childish comments regarding their worldviews. Take for example Malaysiakini's reader 'Odin' who challenged Palestinian sympathizers not to use or enjoy the facilities offered by a number of items supposedly invented by Jews, for example, the nuclear reactor.

[Note: another childish one I have heard, rather frequently, has been about a Jew developing the Pentium chip and therefore whoever dislikes the Israel government should not use it. The Pentium chip was actually developed/invented by Vinod Dham, an Indian American, who was born in Pune, India but who migrated to and became an American citizen]

But does disliking or protesting against what the Israeli government is/has been doing akin to disliking all Jews? The fact is some Jews also don't like what the Israeli government has been doing.

ultra orthodox Jew in London
protests against Israel's air strike against Gaza

Leaving his infantile comment aside for a moment, 'Odin' had dishonestly ignored the fact that Italian (Catholic) Enrico Fermi was also co-designer/inventor of the nuclear reactor. 'Odin' wrote in a manner that appeared to assign all credits for the invention solely to a Jew. I presume the Jew must be Hungarian American Leó Szilárd - if Odin had also presumed so, then in this, by dismissing or masking Szilárd's Hungarian-American nationality, and highlighting only his Jewish origins, 'Odin' sounded in some ways like one of those shameless Australians who claimed Kiwi Russel Crowe as an Australian when the actor won an Oscar, wakakaka.

According to the asinine and callow logic (or lack of) of 'Odin', it's like saying that those who don't like or are anti Chinese government (eg. the US, Japanese, Australian governments) should not use paper of any kind (including toilet paper, wakakaka) as this material was invented by the Chinese. Likewise they should not read anything that's printed as the Chinese had also invented printing.

I will blog on this toxic socio-politico-cultural-religious Malaysian landscape later, in particular its impact on our fragmented Malaysian stand regarding the Middle-East conflicts.

However, not all is lost as I have been thrilled to read some intelligent comments on my last post Today's Neo Nazis which I believe have correctly analysed the probable/likely cause of non-Malay Malaysians' seeming lukewarmness towards the plight of the oppressed Palestinians, as that of the Malaysian Muslims' disservice in over-Islamizing the Gazans' strait when it should have been treated for what it actually is, a humanitarian issue and an ugly 50 years of Nazi-like oppression by covetous fascism.

Many of you may possibly not realize this, KTemoc Konsiders blog started in March 2005 as a result of my strong support for the oppressed Palestinians as well as my anti-US invasion of Iraq (Gulf War II, not I).

Prior to that I was blogging at BolehTalk, then owned and managed by Mr X. He was a very nice bloke who invested considerable efforts in introducing me to and in teaching me on how to blog, but alas to his shock he subsequently discovered that I was (to him) a loose cannon, wakakaka, because then I wanted to blog principally on my stand regarding the US invasion of Iraq and Israel's persecution of Palestinians. He had expected me to blog mainly on Malaysian affairs.

Perhaps I might have misled him into believing that because of my first post I Fear the Greeks Even When They Bring Gifts! which was drawn from my letter to him about the evils of smoking for Malaysia. That must have been the smoke that blurred his eyes, wakakaka.

Anyway, out of respect for him, shortly after I posted my BolehTalk post Farewell to 2004 - a KTemoc roundup (in this post you can gather what my socio-political attitude would be), I started my own blog KTemoc Konsiders so I could do what I personally wanted without upsetting him with my rants at BolehTalk. The rest as you may say is history, though as an afterword, Mr X grew tired of blogging per se and before abandoning blogging altogether, endowed me with ownership of BolehTalk.

But to end this, my rant, wakakaka, I need to say there are many shades in this world, even in Malaysia; it's not just black and white - for example, there's my wakakaka!