I am a Malay

FMT - Ridhuan rapped for ‘unpatriotic sportsmen’ remarks

What about WP? Should it go back to Selangor?

What about Labuan? Shouldn't it be reattached to Sabah?

Why only Penang?

PETALING JAYA: Controversial academician Ridhuan Tee Abdullah has come under fire for saying Malaysian Olympic medal winners are unpatriotic and only competing in sports for monetary rewards.

MCA Youth Secretary-General Leong Kim Soon said the article penned by Tee could destroy the harmony and unity of Malaysians. [...]

In his column in a Malay language daily published on Monday, Tee said sports had become a business and also a means to gain popularity. He said it was no longer for patriotism, but only for show.

He wrote that “ultra-kiasu” (mercenary) athletes competed for monetary rewards rather than for patriotic reasons and thus were driven towards individual sports, rather than sports which required teamwork.

Ridhuan, a Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) lecturer, also urged for more diversity among Malaysian athletes.

In response, Leong said sports transcended race and religion.

“Malaysia’s badminton exponents, who coincidentally are ethnic Chinese, united all Malaysians, irrespective of race and religion, during their semi-final and final matches at the Rio Olympics.

“Malaysians were kept glued to their television sets, cheering for our sportsmen and sportswomen. They fully embodied the spirit of solidarity when our badminton players were presented with the precious medals,” said Leong.

The athletes’ passion, skills and hard work were dismissed by Tee, said Leong, “He not only belittled the efforts and hard work of our Olympians, he also insulted everyone across the nation.”

Leong Kim Soon has missed an important point in the lexicon of Ridhuan Tee Abdullah (RTA).

'Ultra kiasu' in RTA's words does not mean 'mercenary'. Indeed not - it specifically means Chinese Malaysians, especially (though not exclusively) those aligned to the DAP. Sometimes he extends 'ultra kiasu' to Chinese Singaporean, wakakaka.

Thus he was criticising ONLY Chinese Malaysian athletes, people like the 6 Chinese Malaysian silver medallists, namely Lee Chong Wei, Goh V Shem, Tan Wee Kiong, Chan Peng Soon, Goh Liu Ying and the Chinese half of the silver-winning diving pair, Cheong Jun Heong.

God forbids RTA dares to or has the balls to question Malay/Bumi athletes like Pandelela Rinong and Azizhasni Awang.

It's rumoured that during RTA's hasty circumcision to desperately become a Muslim, the harassed Ustaz's hand slipped and apart from nipping off the foreskin of RTA's wee weenie, he also accidentally sliced off both of RTA's balls.

RTA just couldn't control his obsessed need to speak out against 6 Chinese Malaysian medallists in the Malaysian contingent to the Olympics in Rio. No one else in Malaysia other than Utusan and Cosmos have noted the distinction of races in the Malaysian winners, thus RTA is in his usual racist company.

There is no one in Malaysia, not even PERKASA or ISMA or low-yat-2 Ismail Sabri Yaakob or Mahathir or any Chinese Malaysians hater, who has attacked, condemned, criticized, blasted, spat at or kicked at Chinese Malaysians more than Ridhuan Tee Abdullah. It has become his sole obsessive fixated objective in his miserable life, to prove to Malays he is a true convertee.

I urge him to forgo his name of Tee because he has been insulting his Chinese ancestor day in and day out. Please change Tee to Taufik or Tambee or Tawab a.s.a.p

Dirgahayu Malaysia

Congratulations Malaysia and Malaysians on your National Day.

the best ever PM we had 

And for our Sabahan and Sarawakian brethrens, you celebrate your union with Malaya 16 days later only because Soekarno of Indonesia and Macapagal of Philippines protested to the UN, which forced us to delay merger by those 16 days, in order to conduct a last minute check on the wishes of the Sabahans and Sarawakians by the Cobbold Commission.

Thus 31st August is our true pre-planned/original National Independence Day whilst 16th September has been a date forced on us by foreigners.

The date of 31 st August was said by the late grandfather of former PM AAB to be an auspicious Islamic date for our Independence.

ghost?

I have a new post over at KTemoc Kongsamkok titled Grandfather's story (2) - The ghost which was caught, wakakaka.

Syariah-compliant or korupsi-compliant?

Star Online - MACC picks up bank chief

PETALING JAYA: Bank Rakyat chairman Jen (ret) Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Haji Zainal has been detained for questioning over a RM15mil case, the second top level person from the bank to be hauled up by the MACC.

The bank’s managing director, Datuk Mustafha Abd Razak, was detained on Thursday and has since been remanded.

MACC investigation director Datuk Azam Baki confirmed that the commission had moved in yesterday.

“I confirm the arrest. It is to facilitate the ongoing investigation,” he said, declining to elaborate further.

A source told The Star that the chairman was detained at his office in Jalan Rakyat at about 1.15pm yesterday.

Jen (ret) Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Haji Zainal  

Bank Rakyat became a full-fledged Islamic cooperative bank by the beginning of 2003, when it successfully converted its 1.1% conventional assets balance to comply with Syariah guidelines. Yet, alamak lah, its staff regularly failed to meet the honesty bench mark of Islamic requirements.

In 2014 Lim Kit Siang stated on the DAP website that Tan Sri Sabbaruddin [Chik] has just been sacked as Bank Rakyat Chairman by the Minister for Domestic Trade, Co-operative and Consumerism Datuk Seri Hasan Malek because Sabbarruddin and the bank’s board of directors refused to comply with the Minister’s directive to approve the settlement of a RM32 million loan without calculation of any interest, but on a 120 post-dated cheques to be cashed in by the bank over a 10-year period.

Apparently, the scandal of RM32 million interest-free loan might possibly have involved controversial businessman Deepak Jaikishan.

Wakakaka.

But much earlier, back in the 70's, Bank Rakyat staff had been also arrested and masuk lok-up for criminal acts, wakakaka.

What a notorious syariah-complaint bank. Podah!

I prefer this non-complaint photo 

Racist rather than Islamist ISMA?

Star Online - Court finds Isma president guilty of sedition

It's a fitting and very much welcome eve-of Merdeka news-present for all of us Malaysians.

But what has been far more troubling is the report that the court:

... ordered him to defend himself on an alternative charge under Section 4 (1)(c) of the Sedition Act 1948.

The alternative charge was for publishing an article entitled “The coming of the Chinese with the British colonialists a form of intrusion” on the Isma website two years ago.

The court ordered Abdullah Zaik to pay the fine or serve two years in prison if he failed to do so.

He was charged with committing the offence at Isma headquarters in Bangi on May 6, 2014.

Abdullah Zaik later told reporters that he accepted the court’s decision.

And just what did he meant by “The coming of the Chinese with the British colonialists a form of intrusion”?

Did that mean ISMA has been a racist rather than an Islamist?

If so, then ISMA has brought enormous shame to Allah swt.

Bahaya tak guna mata yang dianugerahkan Tuhan 

Is Najib politically weak?

Is PM Najib Razak as politically weak as Bakri Musa reckons he (Najib) is?

Bakri Musa in his post at Malaysian-Today titled Devolution and the rise of Adenan Satem believes Najib is, weak that is, but I reckon Bakri gave far too much credit to Adenan Satem.

Bakri Musa shows this by the following (I've just chosen 3 of his points to debate over, with the rest to be discussed in another post):

(i) He reckons Najib's weakness has been caused by ineptness and insensitivity in dealing with state leaders, such as Adenan Satem, as indicated by even the absence of having a Department of Iban studies in a Malaysian university.

Was such a topic available in any Malaysian university during Mahathir's time?

I reckon Bakri Musa shouldn't allow his personal desire, such as the academic pomposity of having an Iban Studies Department in one of our uni, to cloud his judgement, wakakaka.

(ii) Bakri Musa also believes Najib's lack of sensitivity with the Eastern States, especially a non-UMNO controlled state like Sarawak, has resulted in not having a Sarawakian on the Board of Petronas?

Well, was such a person on the Petronas Board during Mahathir's time?

Why then is Adenan Satem now imposing various restrictions on Petronas management, administration and recruitment with regards to Peninsular Malaysians serving in Petronas Sarawak?

Firstly, we need to to recall his family relationship with the 'King' of Sarawak, namely its governor Taib Mahmud, the real power behind the CM, who had allowed/appointed Adenan to be CM.

So whatever Adenan might have said, you can bet your bottom dollar those have been on the directions or/and with the approval of Mahmud Taib.

And strangely, Bakri Musa himself gave away the real secret in saying Adenan has acted with far greater autonomy than Taib, "... declaring English to be on par with Malay in schools and the state’s administration, in defiance of federal policies. The surprise is the silence of UMNO chauvinists and Malay language nationalists. That can only happen with specific directives from Najib."

Indeed, such utterances could only have been done with the approval of both Taib and Najib, who are the real political powers in Sarawak and Malaysia respectively.

In fact, Sarawak in having a member on Petronas Board, as has Sabah, has been with the quite recent approval of Najib. No doubt Naib has to placate a more independent-minded East Malaysian states who were both somewhat dissatisfied with Mahathir's 22-year draconian rule. Najib has to no ameliorate and mollify them, in other words, make up for Mahathir's arrogance, disdain and big-brother attitude towards those states.

On the Petronas issue, there was also another unpleasant falling out between Najib and Mahathir when the former appointed a Chinese Muslim, Mohd Omar, Najib's personal matey, to the Petronas Board very much against the wishes of anti-Chinese Mahathir.

By now we should know how Najib operates. He is the exact opposite of bullying blustering bulldozing anti-Chinese Mahathir. Najib uses others to be his surrogates or indirect reps of his policies as if to 'test the waters', in other words, Adenan has been used as his voice for the enhanced use of English and/or even the recognition of the Chinese Independent Board's examination certificate of UEC, the latter strongly opposed by Mahathir.

The sad fact of our very racist-conscious nation is that Najib cannot be personally seen as being too liberal or too 'pro-Chinese' as he was accused of by Mahathir, or he (Najib) would lose his power base, that of Heartland Malays and conservative UMNO divisional leaders.

Wasn't it Mahathir who condemned Najib after the 2013 general election that he (Ah Jib Gor) wasted too much time and money in trying to win the Chinese vote when he should have spent all that time and money focusing on the Malays instead?

Oh BTW, an important point to note, there are now more than 3,880 Sarawakians out of the 5,190 Petronas employees in the State, whilst about 1,000 Sarawakians work in Petronas outside the State. These stats prove that Petronas has hardly been discriminating against Sarawakians, so Adenan's mucho noise has been more propaganda for home consumption that anything.

(iii) Najib is silent about the Sarawakian government's prohibition of UMNO operating there.

Did such a Sarawakian prohibition of UMNO exist during Mahathir's time?

Dr Andrew Harding and Dr James Chin informed us via their book '50 Years of Malaysia: Federalism Revisited' that Taib Mahmud had a WRITTEN agreement with Mahathir (not Najib or AAB or Hussein Onn) not to set UMNO up in Sarawak as long as they are in power, and remember, Taib is still in power, as the Sarawak governor and its de facto CM.

Adenan for all his pompous popular publicity and blustering is merely but a mere machai or a creature of Taib, thus in Adenan's 1st week as CM it's hardly surprising he merely re-announced the Taib-Mahathir written agreement, perhaps to remind new PM Najib.

Najib's character is true to state when he appears (or pretends) to be easy-going and accepts (or pretends to accept, or considers it not sufficiently important to quarrel with Adenan over) the Taib-Mahathir agreement.

Who knows if he will change that eventually. So Bakri Musa's analysis has been terribly faulty on this issue. Or has he been influenced by Mahathir's vociferous rant at Najib after the recent Sarawakian state elections, that “Najib has no reason to be happy. What the Sarawak BN achieved is to weaken the authority of the central government which Najib leads. He is now going to be even more dependent on the support of Sarawak than before. Already, he has given in to all Sarawak’s demand. Now more than ever Najib will have to pander to the demands of Sarawak. In fact, Najib has been doing just that. Anything that Sarawak asks for, Sarawak will get. The cry of Sarawak for the Sarawakians has become louder.”

But that's Mahathir, maybe still wanting to treat Sarawak as one of the minor states in Peninsular?

One more thing that we need to remember is that Adenan Satem is what Westerners would term a 'lame duck' CM, someone who actually has far less influence or say than he should have. He is a 'lame duck' because he had announced his intention to retire after one term.

Don't ever forget Taib Mahmud lurking powerfully in the shadow. Taib will be the one who selects the next CM of Sarawak.

Anyway, my analysis is at odds with Bakri Musa, We should not under-estimate Najib Razak. He may be seen as lackadaisical and laid-back, but in reality is like a reticulated 15 feet long hungry python who watches with his beady eyes (seemingly lazily or sleepily as pythons have been seen to do) but who waits patiently to strike, strangulate and swallow his prey.

Re-visiting MH 370

It's almost 29 months since we mysteriously lost MH 370 on 08 March 2014. Unlike MH 17, its disappearance remains unexplained but highly speculated, its whereabouts unknown though it's suspected to be somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean.

There have been many theories (not facts) on MH 370's disappearance, with one of the most flamboyant ones from Mahathir. He suspected US complicity in its loss. I too have contributed a couple of probable, thus speculated causes.

But the most notorious or recurring rumour has been the deliberate suicide flight of its captain, Azaharie Ahmad Shah.

Westerners especially Americans and Aussies like to believe a Muslim pilot is prone to such suicide flight, influenced in parts by 9/11 and the viciousness of IS, though they somehow remain very quiet about Lufthansa-owned Germanwings Flight 9525, an Airbus 320-211, which was deliberately crashed by its co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, a German caucasian. He killed 144 passengers, 4 crew members, the pilot and himself in his suicide flight.

There have been several other cases of suicide flights by pilots, including one allegedly blamed on a Sing (Chinese) pilot some years ago, but most like to blame a Muslim pilot.

As mentioned above, I have written quite a few posts on MH 370 and I have to admit I'm still speculating about its crash location at best. However, I place my trust in the investigation of the Australian Transport Safety Board (ATSB).

Recently an Australian retired pilot came out to support previous allegations that Captain Azaharie committed suicide, hardly surprising, but no evidence was offered by him as to why there had been total communication silence from the final flight, when there existed hundreds of mobile phones of passengers and cabin crew on board.

Australian media were naturally quick off the mark after the crash, coming up with salacious stores about his copilot since they had no evidence of any suicidal intent by the pilots - that's their carma, that's their sensational rating-driven style.

Capt Azaharie with Aussie-educated daughter 

In fact, many disconnected pieces of evidence showed the ATSB and its counterparts from other nations are still correct in their ongoing investigation. This has been in contrast to the wild sensational speculations by so-called 'experts' who offered merely speculations. We can only wonder about their motives?

One of the most moronic speculations on Andreas Lubitz's suicide flight had been his practice of descents. Huh? Descent practice?

Ask any pilots on the stupidity of such speculations. Then, those so-called 'experts claimed Lubitz's girlfriend was pregnant, and the list of moronic speculations went on.

Many theories have been offered for Azaharie's so-called suicide, including:

would such a person commit suicide? 

(a) He was a supporter of Anwar Ibrahim, in fact personally related to him but disowned by Wan Azizah at time of the flight disappearance, and was said to be extremely depressed by Anwar's imprisonment. Anwar's incarceration was made known to him just prior to his flight, yet no one explained why he had allegedly practised flying into the southern Indian Ocean for weeks prior to Anwar's incarceration.

Would any Anwaristas commit suicide for the imprisonment of Anwar? Hmm, no answer?

(b) He and his wife had divorced two weeks before his suicide, yet like above, he allegedly practised flying into the southern Indian Ocean for weeks prior to his divorce.

Obviously Boeing obviously has an avid interest in the matter as it had been their aircraft that was MH 370. If ATSB investigations can prove (not speculate) that it had been structural or some part of the aircraft that failed, leading to the mysteriously diversion and loss, Boeing's liability will be tremendous.

OTOH, if it can be proven Captain Azaharie had indeed committed suicide, MAS liability will be equally enormous.

would such a person commit suicide? 

Anyway, a report by the UK's Weekday said:

Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 plummeted out of the sky at speeds of up to 20,000ft a minute, according to new analysis of the plane's automated signals.

Defence scientists believe the aircraft ran out of fuel and the two engines flamed out within 15 minutes of one another, causing the plane to lose lift.

At this point, its nose would have dropped and it would have fallen in a series of downward swoops, reports The Australian, which was briefed on the analysis.

"As it gathered speed, it would have gained lift and climbed again. As that speed fell off, its nose would have dropped rapidly once more, the aircraft falling into another steep dive," says the newspaper. "That process is likely to have been repeated until it hit the water, probably with one wing down. The impact would have been catastrophic."

The discovery of wreckage from the flight over the past year suggests that it broke up on impact.

Greg Hood (I know of him - he's a good bloke), the chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is leading the search, said the new data suggests there was no pilot at the controls at the end of the flight. This is contrary to another theory that a pilot might have crashed the plane outside the current search area.

The analysis, which includes extensive testing by Boeing, indicates that the plane descended at a rate of between 12,000ft a minute and 20,000ft a minute, much faster than a normal landing of around 2,000ft a minute.

Maybe we will never ever know what happen except to continue speculating. Maybe we will just cling on to Mahathir's theory about USA complicity. Maybe Raja Bomoh can tell us via his coconut-bullshit.

It's somewhere - see where the coconuts drift to 

But al Fatihah, Azaharie Ahmad Shah.

RIP to all those on board.

On the camel's back?

The worst in this and that abound all over the world - you have the Raspberry Awards (Razzies) for the worst in films and the worst (0%) in 'something' by Rotten Tomatoes.

But in Malaysia we have the 'Aiyoh Wat Lah' awards, this year running into its 5th session. FMT informs us that:

Inaugurated in 2012, the ‘Aiyoh Wat Lah!’ Awards is an annual awards ceremony doubling as a public education tool, used to raise awareness about the pervasiveness of misogyny, sexism, homophobia and transphobia in the country and to demand higher standards of discourse from public figures and institutions.

The award has seven categories including awards for Foot in Mouth, Insulting Intelligence, Cannot Ignore, Policy Fail, Enough Already, Least Helpful to the Sisterhood, and Right on Track. [...]

Organised by the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG*) and the Gender Equality Initiative (GEI), the purpose of the awards is to hold public officials accountable for the statements they make or the actions they take.

* JAG is made up of the All Women’s Action Society (AWAM), Association of Women Lawyers (AWL), Perak Women For Women (PWW), Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (EMPOWER), Sabah Women’s Action Resource Group (SAWO), Sisters In Islam (SIS), Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) and Women’s Centre For Change (WCC).

Well, this year's winners are (wakakaka):

(a) 'Foot in Mouth' category went to the Islamic Development Department (Jakim) with its Billion-ringgit per year budget, for distributing flyers in February last year titled “10 myths about homosexuality”. The flyer made all kinds of unsubstantiated claims about gay people including that they were less likely to be faithful to their partner.

(b) 'Insulting Intelligence' went to Chinese-hater & Blame-woman (Raja Sherina) Perak Mufti Harussani Zakaria for his statement in April last year that wives must consent when their husbands demanded sex even if “they are riding on the back of a camel.”

it is forbidden NOT to let your husbands bonk you on the back of a camel, but preferably on a dromedary as it's from Arabia, and not a bactrian as it's from hated China

But the couple will slip down from a dromedary's back, whereas the Chinese bactrian has a second hump to stop your sliding

Dei, when you're really syiok you'll grab the dromedary's hair on its back in your syiokness lah, so that will stop any sliding

(c) 'Cannot Ignore' went to the inaction of the police when BFM journalist Aisyah Tajuddin and G25 spokesperson Noor Farida Ariffin were threatened in December last year with rape and physical violence including death, but who ended-up being investigated by the authorities instead for allegedly mocking Islam.

(d) 'Least Helpful to the Sisterhood' went to former de facto (deposed by Najib) Law Minister Nancy Shukri, who in June last year said that the provision with regard to Section 375 of the Penal Code states that intercourse between a legally married couple continues to remain in force and cannot be considered as rape.

(e) 'Enough Already' went to Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS) for a Friday sermon made in February last year where it said: “Which house would robbers love and break into? Surely house B because it was exposed and made it easy for external elements to intrude. Therefore, that was a simple analogy for women who cover up their aurat.”

(f) 'Policy Fail' went to the Court of Appeal for their judgement in May last year to acquit a 60-year-old man of raping a 15-year-old teen because he claimed to have used a finger tainted with his semen to penetrate her.

and the only good one:

'Right on Track' went to Batu Kawan (DAP) MP sweetie Kasthuri Patto who said in November last year that “when MPs stop judging and blaming women for their attire, only then will women be taken seriously as innocent victims of immoral, indecent, obscene advances by people who look through judgmental, sexist lenses.”

Cari pasal? Cari kerja?

Bernama informs us that Jamil Khir, Minister in the PM's Department (meaning the PM couldn't find a portfolio for him, wakakaka) said the authorities had arrested a 43-year-old man who claimed to be 'Jesus' and had taken his statements.

Yehoshua ben Yosef
(or in Greek, Jesus)
(or in English, Joshua) 

Yehoshua's Chinese brother Hong Xiuquan
(1 January 1814 – 1 June 1864)

He was a Hakka who launched China's biggest civil war, the Taiping Rebellion, which saw about 20–30 million civilians and soldiers killed

Why arrest him? What for?

That Jesus bloke that the Malaysian police has just arrested could well be Yehoshua's Malay, Indonesian, Kadazan, Iban or Mamak brother.

In San Francisco I've seen Moses, Jesus, King David, his son Solomon and even God as well as the 12 tribes of Israel walking up and down the street, wakakaka. They were dark, or even darker, in their complexion as Yehoshua in image above, and strangely, not at all like the blonde figure below.

Despite the Bible coming to life in 'Frisco, no one gave a damn and affairs went on normally.

In Malaysia? Cari pasal? Cari kerja?

Mungkin Muslim akan jadi bingung (confused)?

Malaysian Senate 'unrepresentative swill'?

FMT - Think tank calls for Senate reforms

PETALING JAYA: A think tank has suggested reforms for Dewan Negara to make it effective as a guardian of democracy.

“Dewan Negara should have the powers to debate bills and challenge the decisions of the Dewan Rakyat. It should not be a mere rubber stamp,” said the Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas), Wan Saiful Wan Jan.

He also said senators should ideally be elected by the people or appointed for their expertise.

He was commenting on the outcry over the National Security Council Act, which has come into force without the Yang diPertuan Agong’s assent.

Without going into itsy bitsy teeny weeny details, during Dr Mahathir's tenure as PM, under his dictatorship the Senate was changed through constitutional amendments - possible when the government has a two-thirds majority - from one which ensured the states and minorities could check and challenge the federal government's legislation which might not be in their states' and/or minorities' favour (which Wan Saiful Wan Jan is recommending above) into one which is controlled by the federal government or to wit, Mahathir himself.

And in that change, the Senate lost its raison d'être, its ability to check & balance legislations passed by the Dewan Rakyat that have been unfair to minorities or the states or even the rakyat.

The Senate previously had more states-appointed senators than the King's (but in reality the PM's) appointed ones, but the majority has now gone the other way.

The King's (PM's) or federally appointed senators, having been increased through constitutional amendments from 16 to now 40, could easily overrule the states' and territories' maximum of 30 even if the impossibility exists of all 30 states-appointed senators being from non-UMNO parties.

Mohamed Suffian Mohamed Hashim 

Mohamed Suffian Mohamed Hashim, former Lord President of the Federal Court, said that the amendments acted "contrary to the spirit of the original constitution which established the Dewan Negara specially as a body to protect in the federal Parliament, state interests against federal encroachments" and which our dear Wan Saiful Wan Jan, the Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas), has just criticised.

So what's new in Mahathir's Malaysia Boleh, which of course Ah Jib Gor has benefitted from.

It was just another obscene molestation by Mahathir of the already much mutilated federal Constitution.

The late Bhai Karpal was so incensed by Mahathir's mutilation of the Senate, and Najib's (including his PM predecessors') misuse of this convenient 'back door' to the cabinet that he )our late Bhai) proposed for the abolishment of the useless legislative institution, a sort of good-for0-nothing institution, which alas, it has been since Mahathir laid his grubby hands on it (through his then overwhelming 2/3 parliamentary strength, which BTW you gave to him - 'you' because I had voted DAP, wakakaka).

Mind, I don't agree with my Bhai hero as I think that his proposal was way too drastic.

At that time (May 2013), Gobind Rudra, a former editor of a newspaper wrote: DAP chairman Karpal Singh has gone overboard in asking for the Senate to be abolished. He’s throwing out the baby with the dirty bath water out of anger and disgust with the way that Umno-BN use the Senate for appointments to the cabinet.

I agree with Gobind Rudra's take on only that but most certainly NOT his other points in his article in the May 2013 FMT's Reform the Senate, not abolish it. I'll come back to Gobind later.

So as you can see, Wan Saiful Wan Jan's recommendations to reform the Senate is not new. It came up 3 years ago.

Needless to say, at that time when the late Bhai Karpal called for the Dewan Senate to be abolished, DAP's former VP and current foe, wakakaka, YM Tunku Aziz, disputed Bhai's call, stating that "... the Senate would unearth and develop more political and administrative talents for the good of the country",

But alas, my dear YM, that's not the purpose of the Senate, to 'unearth and develop talents', though I grudgingly grant there could be serendipitous side effects.

However, Tunku has been correct in saying the "Senate would give the government an opportunity to use a much bigger pool of talents to administer the country", though the only 'talent' the government had ever recruited via the Senate into the cabinet was King Guz, better known as the late Tun Ghazali Shafie, another of my 'heroes'.

In Tunku and Tun Razak's days, Ghazalie Shafie was a superb (probably the best ever) civil servant, and it wasn't surprising the 2nd PM brought this 'talent' into the cabinet via the Senate. His fortune took a tumble after Mahathir became PM, probably another 'victim' of Mahathir's Minus touch.

But I couldn't name 'back door' candidates for the cabinet, people like Koh TK and Waythamoorthy, etc, as 'talent' but more as 'mandores'.

Besides, Koh TK was resoundingly rejected by the Penang people. In the 2008 general election he was thrashed kau kau in Batu Kawan (56% Chinese-dominated constituency) by DAP's Ramasamy Palanisamy by nearly 10,000 votes majority. Yet Najib made him a senator-minister, ignoring that the people did NOT want him.

Senate appointment to the cabinet should NOT take on rejected election candidates but only people of the standard of Tun Ghazali Shafie, an exceptional civil servant converted expeditiously through the Senate into a working cabinet minister, or perhaps an exceptional captain of industry or a technological expertise.

Another senator, though wakakaka we cannot describe him as a Senate 'back-door' product* because he was NOT in the Malaysian cabinet (yet anyway), has been Senator Jaspal Singh, who is the MIC treasurer-general. Then he wrote a letter to Malaysiakini about the call by his 'countryman'** to abolish the Dewan Senate.

* while being nominated to the Senate is a constitutionally legal process and a singular honour, taking a senator into the cabinet particularly one already rejected resoundingly by the voters, people like Koh TK and Shahrizat etc, or one who is hardly a representative of a minority group, like Waythamoorthy, have been insults to the rakyat.

** if you're a Sikh, you'll know the flippant and humorous reference to 'countrymen', wakakaka.

Jaspal Singh's letter to Malaysiakini titled Karpal's pitch to abolish senate ill-considered has only one good point for us to share, while the rest of his letter consists of attacks against Karpal and DAP, which was okay since Jaspal is from MIC, wakakaka - now, surely you don't expect him to praise Karpal or DAP, do you?

Jaspal wrote in his opening paragraphs:

The Dewan Negara plays a critical role in Malaysia’s democracy. It reviews laws passed by the raucous lower house. It allows minorities, like the Orang Asli, or for that matter, Sikhs, to have a voice in the legislative.

It also ensures representation for states. Senators comprise individuals of worth and if Karpal finds some of them unsuitable, his personal views cannot be confused for widely-held public opinion.

I might have some questions on his claim that 'senators comprise individuals of worth' wakakaka, but I would grant he had been partially right, considering that not all senators have been cast-aside & recycled rubbish.

However, Jaspal Singh failed to put his above statement, though correct, in full context, and I suppose I couldn't blame him because I didn't expect him to criticize Dr Mahathir for messing up the Senate as he (Dr Mahathir) had messed up most things he laid his hands on.

What would be this 'full context' I've just mentioned

As mentioned above, Mahathir altered the composition of the Senate from one which ensured the states and minorities could check and challenge the federal government's legislation which might not be in their favour (previously 30 senators as opposed to federal appointed 16) into one which is controlled by the federal government  (now 30 senators as opposed to federal appointed 40).

Again, as mentioned above, the Senate thus lost its raison d'être, its ability to check & balance legislations passed by the Dewan Rakyat that were deemed as unfair to minorities or the states.

And that's the 'full context' within which Jaspal Singh should have made his comments on the Senate, namely, that it is now one that can no longer protect the interests of minorities or the states, but just a rubber-stamping factory for the federal cabinet's legislations and a 'back door' avenue for the PM to reward failed and rejected politicians like Koh, Shahrizat, etc.

Jaspal Singh should appreciate why his 'countryman' the late Bhai Karpal was so outraged by the 'unrepresentative swill'* that is the Dewan Senate today.

* the term 'unrepresentative swill' was first used by former Australian PM Paul Keating to describe the Australian Senate, though his words carried a different meaning to the one I have for the Malaysian Senate, where mine indicates that Malaysian senators have not been directly voted into office by the rakyat.

Mahathir was not unlike the fabled King Midas, though of a version which changed everything he touched into disaster (instead of gold). I had previously named him King Minus (not Midas).

Do we recall someone had once cried in equal despair at the curse of what he erroneously imagined would be his magic touch?

And hadn't everything he touched turn into disaster? Forex, Sabah, Senate, the Pandora Box of religion (LKS' condemnation of Mahathir's 617 and 929 Declarations), crooked bridge, etc etc etc, even his beloved NEP ended up with him (not someone else) criticizing his UMNO people for continuing to lean on crutches.

But alas, unlike King Midas, King Minus Mahathir is not repentant. He doesn't believe in the curse he has in his hands, changing every everything he touched into disaster, even and especially for those he favours.

But let's return to Gobind Rudra's proposal to reform the Senate. Gobind spoilt a serious proposal, for a start, by his rants against Singapore (which I have to admit I have not been too fond of, wakakaka, though only against the late LKY, wakakaka).

Mind you, Gobind Rudra's rant against a 85% Chinese-dominated Island State has omitted mention of the Island army chief being another bhai too, wakakaka - not something you will ever see here in Malaysia.

However, Gobind behaved in an irrational angry manner, a behaviour which incidentally he had accused Karpal Singh of, when he wrote:

Karpal seeks to destroy what would be an institution that could strengthen democracy and the people’s interests. He is disgusted that P Waythamoorthy was made a deputy minister. So he says close down the the Senate.

But didn’t the DAP appoint Tunku Aziz Ibrahim as senator? And when he was appointed, didn't the DAP trumpet the fact that he was the first DAP senator?

Yes indeed, DAP did appoint Tunku Aziz to the Senate as allowed by the Constitution, BUT NOT into the cabinet via the Senate 'back door'.

That has been the fundamental difference which unfortunately Gobind, in his anger against Karpal Singh wakakaka, failed to distinguish. Thus, Tunku Aziz was NOT a 'back door' appointment.

Then strangely for someone who claimed to speak for the rakyat, Gobind cast his anger at the Dewan Rakyat in saying:

Karpal’s suggestion for only one house, of a Parliament consisting only of the Dewan Rakyat, is a disguised appeal for the supremacy of parties and politicians, instead of the supremacy of the people.

For a start, to argue that the Dewan Rakyat is not an expression of the supremacy of the rakyat shows his somewhat confused understanding of parliamentary democracy, warts and all.

Additionally, he failed to explain how a Dewan Senate would be different from a Dewan Rakyat in terms of politicians and political parties, other than a few rep of minorities may be there.

He was talking as if his reformed Dewan Senate would be completely divorced from the Malaysian political sphere. What was he smoking?

Or, was he prejudiced against the Dewan Rakyat because there hasn't been 'someone' in the lower house of parliament he wanted to see?

But nonetheless let us examine what he had offered:

What Malaysia needs is a reformed Senate as well as a reformed government and reformed politicians who believe in the principles of democracy and will uphold them. One of those principles is representation of the people. Another is separation of powers. And another is check and balance.

Okay, no problem, though all mentioned have been motherhood statements thus far, but alas, nothing enlightening. Let's read on.

A reformed Senate, if given due respect from reformed politicians and a principled government, would provide a check and balance against a house of MPs who believe their word should be law merely because they were successful in conning an unthinking and gullible rabble into voting for them.

Again, a motherhood statement with a wee patronizing rant at the hoi polloi lowly simple-minded voters at the end wakakaka, though I did question (at that time) his particular rant against the Dewan Rakyat as not being the law maker. 

My dear Bhai, they (Dewan Rakyat) are or were the legislative arm of parliament, and if they are/were not the law-makers, who are?

I'm getting worried about his understanding of parliamentary democracy.

A reformed Senate would give voice to ethnic minorities, like Aborigines, Thais, etc, as they would probably be sidelined by the political process. Also the Senate should allow all minor religions to be represented.

In Muslim (Sunni) majority Malaysia, it's essential that the Shias, Buddhists, Christians, Taoists, Hindus, Ba'hais, followers of folk religions and animists including followers of native religions, be given a voice.

Maybe technocrats could be appointed to represent industries and trades.

Some good points but I have a few questions for him:

(a) who, apart from ethnic minorities like the Aborigines and other (East Malaysian) natives, are those 'sidelined by the political process'? OK, I can name one, the Thais.

(b) but who is an ethnic minority? How would we define an ethnic minority in Malaysia? One with less than 3, 2, 1 or x % of the Malaysian population? Or perhaps one with less than 8%, wakakaka.

(c) what did he mean by 'those who cannot, or will not, take part in the dirty business of winning votes'? Is he advocating a departure from the (his) 'dirty business' of democratic elections?

Is he suggesting imperious (note: not imperial) appointments instead of the choice/voice of the people?

I gathered Gobind Rudra hasn't been exactly a man in favour of democratic elections, sneering at it as 'dirty business', but I suspected then, only because those he supported couldn't get elected into Parliament, wakakaka.

A reformed Senate would have direct or indirect elections (the latter the current practice) for people to represent the 14 states, but I prefer the former.

Importantly it should provide for royal appointment, by which minorities (in race and religion) could have a voice.

But then I had obtained the sense he was a Hindraf sympathizer or even a member who wanted a SARSI, wakakaka.

He wanted an upper house as a place for unpolitical debate, for a calm rethink of what the rowdy politicians in the other place demand.

But unpolitical debate? There is no such animal when one deals with issues pertaining to, or involving parliament, to wit, its lower and upper houses, the states or governments, in defining policies and legislations of any state. All these are political. He was a totally clueless person on the political process.

As for his rowdy politician, well, what could I say except wakakaka.

I had hoped someone would propose a Senate based on the powerful Australian version, to make amends for King Minus Mahathir's mutilation of it. But I doubt it'll occur in the next 20 years.