Why we lost faith in the man man lai promise?

One of my fave columnists in malaysiakini, Dean Johns, on whom I wrote a farewell tribute in I'll miss you, Emperor Nasi Goreng has a new article lamenting the sad state of justice in Malaysia.

In typical wry humour he described the Malaysian version of the western symbol of Justice.

In the West, ‘Justice’ is usually represented by a blind-folded woman holding a set of scales.

The symbol stems from antiquity when ancient Egyptians revered Maat as one of their Gods - Egyptians liked choice in their gods until one intolerant bloke Akhenaten came along.

Maat was the Goddess of Justice and often depicted carrying a sword with an ostrich feather in her hair to symbolize truth and justice. In fact, the term magistrate is derived from Ma'at because she assisted Osiris in the judgment of the dead by weighing their hearts (gulp).

The ancient Greeks knew her as Themis, but it was the Romans who portrayed her as evenly balancing both scales, with a sword in her hand (gulp again) and wearing a blindfold, meaning she (Justitia, as she was known on the Seven Hills) would be blind to corrupt or naughty influences.

So we have a Western justice system represented by the symbol of Justitia being impervious to corruption, and without fear ort favour, weighing justice fairly by her scales. I needn’t mention what her sword symbolises as we Malaysians are fairly familiar with such weapons, though our keris has nothing to do with justice but more with right of might.

But it seems that the symbol of the BN, a dacing (also the same set of scales) also has nothing to do with the symbol of judging right from wrong by a justice system that’s blind to fear or favour.

According to Dean “BN's been robbing justice blind for years ........ But it's become increasingly clear in recent times that BN has co-opted the scales for the purpose of tipping the forces of the law in its favour not just occasionally, but consistently and chronically.”

“And kept the blindfold over the eyes of justice to celebrate its success in pulling the wool over the peoples' eyes with a combination of official obfuscation, blinkered media and laws designed to keep outsiders in the dark. “

See why I love Dean John's articles ;-)

In his new article, he also pondered over the unacceptable and probably illegal remand of Nathaniel Tan. He wondered, like many, whether the abuse of justice was aimed not at Nat but rather his employer Anwar Ibrahim and Anwar's party, the PKR? In other words, was Nat just a convenient (proxy) target?

Then, Dean also considered another possibility for the dodgy persecution of Nat Tan.

He noticed that the investigation into the allegations against Nat is being conducted by the Cyber Crimes Division, possibly signalling the start of an intimidation campaign against the “growing legions of bloggers hell-bent on bringing BN down by betraying its secrets?”

I reckon the former may possibly be true, whilst I feel the latter, even if it has purchase, would not be effective.

Threatening bloggers? For a start, bloggers can remain anonymous and used overseas servers. Then, on the political cost-effective scales (pun not intended) the Malay heartland, which is the principal concern of UMNO (and bugger the MCA or Gerakan) isn’t exactly brimming with Internet capable PC’s and laptops, with only an arty farty minority being blogosphere savvy (who cares about them). The publicity surrounding any persecution of bloggers would be far more damaging to UMNO than worth the effort.

I believe that the harassment of Nat Tan might well have been an outcome of the current tussle between Johari Baharum and the IGP. Anyway, I am glad that Nat Tan has been released, though admittedly just on bail, but at least he can eat sandwiches instead of HMS nasi kari.

During Nat Tan’s incarceration, I had self-imposed an embargo on my usual target practice at the world’s greatest de facto leader, out of consideration for the Tan family. Now that Nat is out, well, it’s open season again ;-)

But I would just copy part of Dean’s article to show KTemoc isn’t the only person in Malaysia having the following thoughts – read on and weep:

If Anwar and PKR are actually the targets, I really don't see the point. As much as I deplored the way Anwar was set-up by Mahathir (on the same sodomy rap ...), I couldn't help feeling that finally at least one Umno big-wig was, however unjustly, getting his desserts.

And as strongly as I sympathised with the man as they paraded their perjured witnesses and the stained mattress, then had him assaulted and shut-up in solitary, I still can't view him entirely as a victim.

Nor can I see him today as anything but a spent force. Or, more accurately, as a misspent force. Frittering-away his new-found moral authority on making the fiery speeches for which he's so justly famous and messing-around in petty party-politics when, if he was truly serious and sincere, he could be bringing one documented charge after another against his former corrupt colleagues and their current successors in the Malaysian and possibly even international criminal courts, as well as the courts of local and world public opinion.

His repeated assertions that he will reveal all he knows and act accordingly "when the time comes" are sounding increasingly hollow, and doing nothing to allay many peoples' suspicions that he is "the same old Anwar" and thus not to be trusted.

He's calling for justice for Nat, naturally, as so many of the rest of us are. But if ever Anwar is going to contribute significantly to this country and its people, it's time he did something more concrete about wresting the scales from the clutches of BN and restoring them to justice where they belong.

Dean matey, read my previous posting The Anwar style of campaigning, and don’t hold your breath. After all, he was from UMNO.

National Unity Panel - should it be top heavy or with fingers on society's pulse

I have amended this posting here and there as my original inevitably showed the results of a 15-minutes job. I made a lot of grammatical errors as well as used incorrect words without checking - shame on KTemoc ;-) The end result of the original rush posting is that I even have to amend the title

UPDATE 18 July 2007: A more polished version, ie. minus blogger's irrelevant and loud thoughts, and yeah, coarse language ;-) has been printed in malaysiakini today, with even a more couthy title - see Marina Mahathir ideal for National Unity Panel

********

VRK wrote a letter to malaysiakini voicing his concerns over the composition of the National Unity Panel members.

He reckoned, hmmm, correctly, to some extent if I may add, that retired civil servants and not-so-senior members of the government will only be nothing more than a bunch of Sir Humphrey’s idling in cosy comfort and indulging in ‘talk shop’.

I reckon one or two bureaucrats may not be bad as the panel would need these civil servants to manage the administrative and funding aspects. But VRK is right because I can predict that if the panel are made up of only government employees, past and present, we may expect them to be ringing up HQ for instructions on what ‘findings’ and ‘recommendations’ to issue.

So, why bother with a National Panel. Give the job to some party hack or a senior civil servant in the PM’s Department, unless of course it’s just more 'jobs for the boys’.

But VRK is not entirely non-constructive. He praised the importance of such a panel which will be responsible for analysing inter-ethnic problems buggering our society and dreaming ‘thinking’ up fresh ideas to improve national unity.

But the following is where I feel VRK might have veered from his initially correct course when he recommended that the panel should have important personalities from both the government and private sectors. For example, he proposed the president of Petronas, deputy prime minister (DPM), CEOs of Cimb and Maybank as well as the other captains of industries.

He even nominated the crown prince of Perak to chair the panel, saying: "Perhaps the panel should be headed by a member of a royal household; the Crown Prince of Perak comes to the mind given his urging recently on the issue of unity."

I disagree – too blooming top heavy!

Admittedly kaytee is a socialist and thus doesn’t take kindly to societal Brahmins, but OK, leaving my personal prejudice aside, I don't believe that captains of industry are exactly experts on issues of national unity or have the sort of minds which emphatize with the fears, prejudice and worries of society. For them, the prime objective has always been and is about profits.

I am not even talking about sweat shops, serf-like labour in plantations with some in medieval bondage which malaysiakini in recent articles had shockingly revealed as existing in some Malaysian agricultural estates.

Then, there is also the unmitigated evil of a few unscrupulous plantations exploiting illegal immigrants as poorly paid semi-slaves. The lack of official control over such abysmal conditions could and would have indirectly contributed to the frightening rise in crime rates that now plagues us, when some of those more entrepreneurial workers moonlighted as Robin Hood, or committed worse crimes.

Where were the captains of industry then?

OK, perhaps the DPM can sit on the panel as the Chair but I doubt he wants to. Obviously VRK likes a member of the royalty to head the panel. I have no objections to his nomination of the Perak prince as the latter seems to be a fine young man, and if the panel could do with his leadership that's good, but there is no point in having him and the DPM together in one room.

What we really need on the panel are people who have a finger on the pulse on what's troubling the nation and can propose solutions to bridge the politically created rifts between ethnic, religious, social groups. They should be people who have the ability to break down prejudice.

And since I mentioned the rifts in society have been caused by politicians they should be kept out of the panel.

I am thinking of people like (nah, not kaytee):

(1) Marina Mahathir, a dedicated worker for those unfortunate members of our society afflicted by the dreaded HIV-AIDS. Her caring compassion has in many ways overcome cruel ostracism. National unity is not just about inter-ethnic problems but the ill-informed prejudice of our society which denys the needy of much needed compassion.

Marina can be the person to span the needs of victims of cruel fate with a more compassionate generous understanding Malaysian society, and help foster an inclusive caring and tolerant Malaysian people. We could do less than bigoted and cruel suggestions to maroon the sufferings to some isolated Devil's Isle.

Marina is highly respected for her caring nature and dedication in such a difficult field of social work and I dare say many, especially yours truly, adore her - the ideal personaility for the National Unity Panel.

(2) The Mufti of … nah, not ... Disgrace ... what, you think I'm crazy?

Having frowned upon cruel bigoted suggestions to consign our sufferings to Pulau Buang-Dia, we gratefully look across to the other side on the religious front and see that we should co-opt the Mufti of Perlis, a man who has shown his comprehensive confidence and strength in his faith, that he does not need to behave like paranoid neo-cons.

Together with moderate leaders from other religions he can help heal the divide by promoting improved mutual understanding leading to a tolerant multi-ethnic multi-religious mutually respectful society.

(3) Brother Ong Boon Keong of SOS Penang - As a Penangite, I have witnessed his sterling community work, where his social contributions have been above narrow ethnic considerations. He certainly has a finger on the pulse of the anxieties, fears and worries of the common people, those that the National Unity Panel should be focusing on.

Obviously there are other capable and suitable people to be nominated to the panel, but these three social luminaries are representative of people I have in mind for the National Unity Panel.

While VRK has correctly pointed out the panel members are being disproportionately made up of bureaucrats, his solution was unfortunately more driven by impressions of prestige, power and position. Let us have people who know what have been troubling our society and who can come up with meaningful recommendations.

Kuala Lumpur-less?

Paul Keating, a former PM of Australia well-known for his razor sharp quips, once sneered at the Australian Senate as nothing more than ‘unrepresentative swill’. He made the derogatory remark to indicate that it’s the House of Representatives (Lower House) and not the Senate which speaks for the people.

The Australian Senate has a tendency to be very assertive and in fact had brought down a PM before (Gough Whitlam) by blocking a Supply Bill. Keating wanted to put the Senators in their place.

And mind you, the Australian Senators are elected, whereas in Malaysia, the Dewan Senate consists of members not directly elected by the people. Our Senate has been in reality nothing more than a rubber stamp for Dewan Rakyat, or more correctly, the cabinet.

But what I wouldn’t give to be a senator to collect the generous salary and enjoy the perks for just sokong-ing, basically okay-ing whatever the BN in the Lower House passes. I believe with just two terms (maximum terms permitted anyway) I would be due for a life long pension.

Besides, there’s also the 3-syllable title of Senator to consider too, especially in our title-conscious society - and there's only 70 of such titles instead of the zillions of Datuks.

Imagine, Senator Kayteemoc – hmmm, bow & tremblingly obey, you other bloggers, hahaha!

Even though some Senators are supposed to represent minority groups such as the Orang Asli, we do wonder from time to time whether the Senators are of any use at all. According to elders, our most and only distinguished senator was Ghazali Shafie - also known flamboyantly as King Guz – and that was because he entered the cabinet through the Senate backdoor on the behest of the late Tun Razak!

But malaysiakini informs us that Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi, a current senator, has stirred or attempted to stir things up a bit by proposing our national capital, Kuala Lumpur, be moved to another location so that it may be known as the ‘ibu kota tanpa lumpur’ or ‘capital without mud’.

'Lumpur' happens to be the Malay word for mud.

He said Kuala Lumpur is situated in a valley which is prone to flooding. Because of its national capital city status Kuala Lumpur (or Kayell as it's affectionately called) invariably has a very high population.

Flooding and lots of people - generally a bad combination.

When thunderstorms hit Kuala Lumpur, the city folks there would experience and suffer from flash flooding. Dr Mohd Puad is sick of these many flash floods, which makes the ‘mud’ appellation rather true.

He proposed a solution:“So instead of spending billions of ringgit in trying to resolve the flood problems, it will be better if we move Kuala Lumpur to another location and call it ‘ibu kota tanpa lumpur’.”

I wonder how running away from the flood problems can solve the nightmare for many who have to live there. But then, I suppose one has to have that thinking to be a senator.

If I can just advise the dear Senator, the Dutch people live on land that’s actually lower than the sea level so what’s our flash flooding by comparison, except other than a far smaller challenge for us to surmount, rather than run away from.

Hmmm, to borrow from Paul Keating's comment on the Australian Senate, ours seem to be more of 'unrepresentative mud'.

DAP forum for Nathaniel Tan

DAP is organising a forum to say "No to a police state in blogosphere"

KTemoc suppots the release of Nathaniel Tan and our constitutional rights to expression of responsible free expression by Malaysian bloggers, and therefore provides this advertisement fro a good cause.

The following details the DAP organised forum.


Nathaniel Tan, a 26 year old dedicated blogger, a Harvard University alumnus and an aide to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has been arrested under the Section 8 of the Official Secrets Act (OSA) over allegations that he had documents linked to Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Johari Baharom’s alleged involvement in corruption.

T odemonstrate our solidarity with Nathaniel who has been dealt with great injustice, to show our steadfast refusal to let the Government curb the democratisation impact of blogs and the Internet, and to voice our displeasure at the OSA, we are organising a forum with invited speakersfrom across the civil society with details as follows:

Venue: KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall
Date: 19th July 2007 (Thursday)
Time: 7.30 pm
Admission is Free; Bring Friends

The panel of Distinguished Speakers include:

Nathaniel Tan, Blogger & Aide to PKR Advisor*
Jeff Ooi, Protem Vice-President, All Blogs Malaysia
Harris Ibrahim, Lawyer & Founder of The People's Parliament
Nurul Izzah Anwar, Special Assistant to PKR Advisor
Lim Guan Eng, Secretary-General of DAP
Tony Pua, Economic Advisor to DAP Secretary-General

Chairperson: Soon Li Tsin, Journalist & Blogger

*Nathaniel will be invited to speak to us and relay his experiencesat the Forum should he be released from remand on Tuesday, 17th July.

The organisers will be trying to leave as much time to the floor aspossible, so as to enable greater interaction at the forum

The ultimate betrayal

The bulldozer smashed through
The lush verdant tropical forest
For a new highway straight thro’
Like an arrow unaffected by drift
And the victims, jungle denizens
Fell before the fierce onslaught

‘Twas the ultimate betrayal of nature

The driver saw one baby gibbon
Having survived a fallen tree
He raised his gun to mercy kill it
The towkay shouted, ‘waste not
A good bullet. It’ll die anyway.’
Shockingly callous, ruthless, yes

‘Twas the ultimate betrayal of compassion

They surrounded him, no chance
Stabbed a dozen times by daggers
Wielded by colleagues of the senate
He fell, but in his last few moments
Saw the one he loved, standing over
His bloodstained body, Et Tu Brutus

‘Twas the ultimate betrayal of friendship

She, the one from the Valley of Sorek
Loved by him with rich long black hair
Delilah enticed him into Dagon’s Temple
Loving her, Shimshon naively entered
To met her well-laid biblical bobby trap
She cackled proudly at her clever evil

‘Twas the ultimate betrayal of love

PABS requests PM free Nathaniel Tan

Pro-tem president and deputy president of PABS expressed their shock at the draconian and questionable detention of citizen-blogger Nathaniel Tan by police on a flimsy charge under the OSA, when no national security issue exists to justify that repressive persecution.

On the eve of an auspicious period in Malaysia's history, when Malaysians are poised to celebrate the 50th anniversary of our great nation, the questionable remand of Nathaniel Tan can only besmirch a momentous national event.

PABS appeals to PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, also as the Minister of Internal Security, to instruct police to release Nathaniel Tan immediately, so that Malaysians may proudly greet 31 August 2007 in an inclusive joyous Merdeka celebration.

Jangan biar pelanduk mati di tengah-tengah, bila gajah sama gajah berjuang!

PABS views with great regret the threat by Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharum to use the police to seek out law-abiding citizen-bloggers who post responsible criticism of government ministers or officials.

Constructive criticism of the government, especially of the people's representatives, is a constitutional right of every citizen. PABS considers the Deputy Minister's act of intimidation as inappropriate and against free and responsible expression of speech, guaranteed under our Constitution and the principles of Islam Hadhari.

Instead of threatening lawful citizens into silence, the Ministry of Security should focus its hitherto missing attention on the nation's rising crime rates and ameliorate this worrying threat to national security.

PABS will be sending to malaysiakini a copy of its appeal to the Prime Minister on the unjust and oppressive incarceration of Nathaniel Tan.

Is God humorous?

I have seen the film Bruce Almighty, where I enjoyed the comical antics of Jim Carrey, one of my favourite actors. But at the same time,I appreciate the moral message behind the story.

In spite of the beneficial moral lessons on divinity, with a story that has an actor, a mere mortal man, portraying God who interacted with another mortals, it was of course bound to be controversial in conservative circles, and not just in Malaysia.

Indeed four years ago, dear Abdul Hamid Zainal Abidin, former Minister in the PM’s Department, called for the film to be banned because it was against Islamic beliefs.

But now, we have Evan Almighty as its sequel. The trailer of the US$175mil (RM600mil) movie features Morgan Freeman again as God, surely an American touch of political correctness to have an African American play his Almighty. But they somehow missed covering the other aspect of Western political correctness at the same time in not having, say, Oprah Winfrey instead.

This time ‘God’ will be asking Evan Baxter, a New Yorker (has to be an American, what do you expect?), to build an ark to prevent the big flood that was to hit New York. Baxter is played by Steve Carell who also starred in a supporting role in the earlier movie.

Predictably, the secretary-general of the Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia, Maamor Osman, asked for Evan Almighty to be banned because he considered it as an insult to Islam. It’s a comedy so of course it’s scripted to be funny, but Maamor alleged the film pokes fun at God and the Prophet Noah.

As they say, one man’s humour is another’s bellyache. But surely one's faith must be strong enough to tolerate a bit of laughter. After all, aren't we creations of God? If we like to laugh at humour, surely that's God's will, and who is Maamor to speak against HIS will.

Fortunately the Government has allowed its screening after various government officials including those from the Islamic Development Department and Film Censorship Board had viewed and assessed the movie as OK.

Dr Rais Yatim, the Minister for Culture, Arts and Heritage, advised parties calling for a ban on a movie on religious grounds to first view it. And it should be only after they have seen the movie and identified those aspects of the film which are against the tenets of the religion, before they may forward their views to the Film Censorship Board.

Hey, sounds like sensible advice. Indeed, how could one ask for a movie to be banned without viewing it first and knowing what it’s about, unless of course one is either totally intolerable or ........ hmmm, is it true that the general election is just around the corner?

Having said that, I recall a locally produced but banned documentary, The Last Communist, was severely condemned by the Berita Harian when no one in that newspaper had even seen the documentary. Beat that for Boleh-ness ;-)

And equally outrageous, no one interviewed by Berita Harian, namely those politicians, film makers and academics, who jumped on the bandwagon of bullsh*t intolerance to lambast the documentary, had seen it either. Unbeatable Boleh-ness!

As Amir Muhammad, the producer of the documentary, had alleged, the Berita Harian initiated criticisms plus those of the interviewed Zaitochi's, brought about the moronic banning of The Last Communist by the Home Affairs Ministry.

At last, with Evan Almighty, some long overdue commonsense by the authority has prevailed.

Related:
(1) Why isn't 'Last Communist' a Malay?
(2) The Last Communist or Communalist?
(3) Tremble - Last Communist Cometh!

A dream

alway wanted to be, but alas, not quite Shakespeare ;-)


The brook tumbles down the hill
Along its rough bubbling course
Giving birth to seeds of a cloud
Wisps that rise to the heavens

One flows down, one floats up
Of identical stuff, but strangely
Never the twain shall meet, sad
But they are imitating, yes, life

Light first turns the clouds golden
But soon night casts a dark cloak
The cloud is still there, unseen
Till tomorrow comes, if it comes

Promises of things that could be
May be like a cloud, wispy stuff
Disappearing in night’s mantle
But can one wait till tomorrow?

I had put my hands on the cloud
Touching yet not able to hold it
Elusive like a soft dream slipping
Away with break of early dawn

I touch the brook’s cool water
And know it’s real, not a cloud
Yes, not a dream but cold reality
But alas, I love a sweet dream

Return of the Jed - for Nathaniel Tan

After checking for any updates on Nathaniel Tan's detention a malaysiakini, I made my usual haj to my mate walski’s blog myAsylum and was surprised (delightfully, mind you) to learn that erstwhile blogger Freelunch2020, who left the blogosphere immediately post Ijok (as she vowed), has return to lend her support to Nathaniel Tan.

Those of you who know something of the post Ijok situation that had affected Jed (Freelunch2020) would surely applaud her gracious return - in fact, it should be a double applause as she has not only broken her vow not to blog in order to lend support to Nat, but ........ I won’t elaborate on the second reason any further.

Her resurrected blog starts off with a poignant reminder to us who are still hesitating to support Nat, as follows:

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

First they came … is a poem attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group. (From Wiki)

Well said Jed.

To PM AAB - Please free Nathaniel Tan

I have to break an earlier promise to keep the Madeleine McCann posting in No 1 position on my blog, as the arrest of blogger Nathaniel Tan requires urgent publicity to marshal support for his immediate release.

For latest information, please see postings by Elizabeth Wong. Elizabeth has been so stressed and frustrated by the police bull and heels dragging on the dodgy detention of a citizen that she (most unusally) blessed all readers with colourful exopressions. Thank you Elizabeth for expressing our similar feelings along as well.

There is also a malaysiakini video clip (7 minutes).

KTemoc supports and calls for the immediate release of Nathaniel Tan. The police action has thus far been unjustified by normal standards of democratic process or even national security considerations, and thus represents yet another case of oppressive repression of free speech and draconian persecution and intimidation of law abiding citizens.

poster by Mob1900 of Mob's Crib

However, I slightly disagree with Elizabeth that we should lodge our outrage at the unjustified persecution of Nat with the IGP and not the PM.

I believe (I love conspiracy theories) this bull (painful for Nat and family) could possibly be a result of the current acrimonious IGP-Johari Baharum confrontation - OK, it's just a suspicion.

Anyway, based on my suspicions I doubt the IGP will move a bloody finger. Thus, I prefer to call upon the PM concurrently the 'Police' minister to instruct police to release citizen Nathaniel Tan immediately.

If dear AAB is in elegant non-listening, can at least someone on the 4th Floor please act on behalf of daddy. KJ had, while lodging a complaint against Tian Chua with the media watchdog recently, claimed he wasn't against free speech especially on the Internet. So, c'mon KJ, do something and show you aren't with the dark side all the time.

Update: 17 July 2007 - Nathaniel Tan has been released!

Police at it again with draconian intimidation of bloggers

malaysiakini informs us of another totally unnecessary draconian intimidation of bloggers.

Police took Nathaniel Tan of PKR away for questioning, without providing any reason at all. They entered his office at about 4.45 pm today, and told Tan to follow them to the Bukit Aman police headquarters. The policemen also requested that Tan bring his notebook computer with him. It is believed that he is being questioned on matters relating to certain postings on the Internet.

Let me register my support for the immediate release of Nat Tan. Unless the police has a justified reason for the detention or even questioning of any citizen, they just can't order poeple around, and into police station for hours.

Nat and I have not and do not see eye to political eye, but I abhor and indeed protest the totally unjustified taking of him by the police - why the hell can’t the police, if they need to do any questioning, do so at Nat’s office?

Polygamy prevents infidelity and enhances social prestige

Arbibi Ashoy wrote a letter to malaysiakini about the Altantuyaa Shaariibbu murder trial.

I like to read Arbibi’s letters because you never know where he would go or end up ;-)

He complained that reading the Altantuyaa case each day only convinced him that the news could only get more and more sickening. He bemoaned that the sorry court saga has the appearance of nothing more than a big farce.

So far so good, I agree with him, though I wonder whether he had factored in the equally sorry saga of a political party attempting to hijack the issue in an attempt to turn the murder trial instead into a trial of a political opponent for grubby interests rather than justice.

He said: “Something big is missing so far from the Altatunya case - it's motive.”

‘Motive!’ – wow, fantastic – straight right out from a John Grisham novel.

He continued brilliantly: “People don't commit crimes without a motive unless they are suffering from a mental illness. There is a suggested motive of the covering up of infidelity.”

‘...suggested motive of the covering up of infidelity ...’ - double wow, juicy juicy man, you’re hot with your analysis.

Then this was the part where he reverted to the Arbibi Ashoy that I have been more familiar with ;-)

He said: “However, this is a non-issue with regards to Muslims. After all, Muslims can have four wives. It is only in Western society that infidelity is a major issue as unfaithfulness leads to divorce, separation from children, loss of wealth, damage to career, loss of respect, smaller circle of friends and a departure from mainstream life.”

Hahahahahaaa – he’s actually saying that Muslims can’t succumb to infidelity because they have four wives.

Well, on second thoughts, I am not sure whether he understood what infidelity means?

Now, this takes the cake – he said: “This is not the case for Muslims in Malaysia as polygamy brings admiration and a higher social standing especially if in the process, a non-Muslim spouse converts to Islam.”

Man, this is great news that polygamy brings admiration and a higher social standing. Did you guys know that Chinese used to practise polygamy, until those Western imperialist spoilsports ruined every decent Asian value ;-) with their Anglican tightass concept of monogamy, which is OK for Ang Mohs but not for us.

I am gonna elect Arbibi Ashoy for President (or Ayatollah) of Malaysia.

And I love his belief that by marrying a non-Muslim spouse and then converting her/him to Islam enhances the admiration and social prestige further.

OK, I am available to any rich Muslim sweeties (with rich and powerful dads) – by marrying me, she would only be adding to her family’s social standing ;-)

Arbibi, you’re a gem.

The Arbibi Ashoy Collection:
(1) Loose Cannon in PAS
(2) Saint (Dr) Azahari the Pure

I'll miss you, Emperor Nasi Goreng

I’ll miss Dean Johns of malaysiakini when he leaves us next month.

malaysiakini tells us Dean works in the ad-industry, and of course is a communication consultant. He also serves as a journalist and lecturer in KL. He’s not quite the foreigner he claims to be as he’s married to a Malaysia born lady with parents in Ipoh. Both share the joys of a daughter.

I have enjoyed Dean’s articles where his brilliant tongue-in-cheek play with words – eg. asing around and dermo-cracy - have not only elicited more than a few chuckles from me but provided piercing journalistic information.

I came to realize, regrettably too late, that he was conducting lessons on how to write. What a teacher he would have been for me. Hmmm, maybe he ought to think of a long distance course … er … at affordable Malaysian fee of course ;-) - ya, mate, it's almost 3 to 1 now.

I wonder whether his departure could be related to his articles a la ‘without fear or favour’ where he had ‘hamm-tam’ the bad governance in our country. I can only hope not and that it has been influenced by his wish to either seek new pastures or for family requirements.

I wish he continues to write for malaysiakini as an overseas correspondent, and bid him and his family a bon voyage and every prosperity for the future. Yes, I’ll miss him too.

Dean will understand what I mean when I pay him the greatest Australian ad compliment – mate, your writings are even better than Emperor Nasi Goreng ;-).

PKR squeezing last drop of blood from a dead woman

Oh oh oh, it’s the usual from PKR that malaysiakini has just reported.

The party leadership is still pushing the campaign against Najib (but not AAB or KJ), relying on what Burmaa Oyunchimeg, prosecution witness, told the court on on June 29. She claimed she saw a photograph of Altantuya dining in Paris with the third accused Abdul Razak Baginda and a government official known only as ‘Najib Razak’.

malaysiakini reported:

PKR wants the police to check the passport of Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to determine if there is any link between him and slain Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Speaking at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today, the opposition party’s supreme council member Latheefa Koya said it is important for the police to look into this matter since Najib previously denied knowing Altantuya.

She said this based on the testimony of the murder victim’s cousin Burmaa Oyunchimeg during the ongoing murder trial.

Latheefa said the police should check the passports of all three individuals, to determine if they were in Paris at the same time

This has become a joke when PKR political interests have degenerated into exploiting a side issue to press in its campaign against Najib for … whatever interests its leadership might and may have in mind. But then, hardly unexpected of a de facto party with a de facto leader.

It so happened I asked Raja, a visitor to Susan Loone blog, who has been noted to post erudite and very carefully thought out legal commentaries in relation to the Altantuyaa’s case, a few questions this morning.

I have learnt a few things from him and even had one of my vague understanding of hearsay evidence confirmed as correct – champagne all around ;-)

I asked Raja:

… how would the court (i.a.w world’s best practice, of course) assess or categorize the ‘evidence’ or statement by Burmaa Oyunchimeg about the photo which she saw but could not produce.

Would her claim that the late Altantuyaa told her a person in the photo was a Malaysian officer named Najib Razak be considered as ‘hearsay’ and inadmissible?

I have heard of some exceptions to hearsay evidence where (from vague recollection) a dying man were to reveal to a priest or monk that his murderer was, say, KTemoc (gulp), that could well be admitted - would I be correct here, and if so, would this example, admittedly drawing a long bow here, be akin to the Altantuyaa’s

Raja commented (I have slipped in some comments of my own but in different highlights):

a. For something to be admissible it must first be relevant to the issue.

b. Then if relevant it must not be inadmissible for being hearsay evidence. For example, a confession statement by a witness or a suspect under interrogation by the police is inadmissible if the purpose is to use it in court to prove the truth of contents.

That prosecution witness was not answering questions posed to her by the prosecution when she said she was shown by Altantuya a photograph of a group of people sitting around a table for a meal and among them was a government official (meaning the DPM), Razak and the deceased. If the purpose was to prove the fact of a possible conspiracy involving a high government official and the accused, and to attack the credibility of that government official, that government official is not on trial, nor is he a witness - and so is the Government of Malaysia not on trial.

“…witness was not answering questions posed to her by the prosecution when she said she was shown by Altantuya a photograhg …” – hmmm, KTemoc wonders why the prosecution witness decided to go on her own bat by bringing out the thus-far unavailable photograph which dear old Tian Chua had pounced on to help make available through some ‘magic’ of his own

Some foundation must first be built by counsel to allow its admission into evidence - and in this case the prosecution had nothing like that in mind. The witnessed was not being examined on the possibility of such a photograph or any photograph. While that may be so, prosecution should have allowed the witness to continue. If the defense objects the judge would most certainly sustain that objection on the ground of relevancy.

But that was not what happened. Both counsel from the prosecution and the defense stood up to object! The attorney holding a watching brief has had to ’stand up’ to ask the judge to allow the witness to have her say or complete her testimony.

I find the behavior of counsel for the prosecution strange though not unexpected. Allowing their witness to continue with her testimony would not have damaged their case - though irrelevant.

I am not sure why the defense is objecting!

Before evidence is admissible in court, it has first to be relevant. The photograph is not relevant.

Really? You wouldn't have thought so with the way they PKR crowd have been baying.

Forget the trial for a minute. If relevant what does it prove? It proves that the DPM had lied to the people when he said he did not know the accused - but he is not even a witness in this trial?

Could that be made a basis to charge him with conspiracy to murder? In my opinion - insufficient to prove anything more than the fact that they were having a meal. Period.

Hmmm, legally speaking of course. But politically speaking, which ends justify the dirty poo flinging, trust a party virtually bankrupt of policies and (democratic) process to squeeze to the last drop of Mongolian blood to somehow extract Najib’s from the non relevant issue.

Then Raja commented on my hypothetical case of “a dying man revealing to a priest or monk that his murderer was, say, KTemoc (gulp)” and whether such an example could be akin to Burmaa’s claim of Altantuyaa showing her a photo?

A dying declaration is an exception to the common law rule against hearsay. You are right.

… explains my elation and reckless offer of champagne …

Altantuya never made a statement that could be said to be her ‘dying declaration’. The letters left by her referring to Razak is admissible only to prove her state of mind if that is in issue - and not the truth of contents e.g. Razak was trying to have her killed unless she stopped harassing him.

Good try PKR, and I do mean it, because as they say, fling enough poo and some will inevitably stick. And bugger the feelings of the family of the late Altantuyaa by unnecessarily (for them) indulging in sensational mud rucking, and bugger also ethical due process.

The reformasi way?

Tian Chua - a cherry blossom?

"If someone asks about the spirit of kamikaze, it is the Tian Chua of PKR that is flagrant in the party’s setting sun"

- paraphrasing a poem by (and with apologies) to Mootori Norinaga

Tian Chua, Tian Chua!

Like a kamikaze pilot, he knows only one course, towards the enemy (whoever that might be), without any care that there's no fuel for his return for he doesn’t need to return, hurling towards his ultimate sacrifice, for a cause already lost.

Last week malaysiakini reported Anwar Ibrahim demanding DPM Najib Razak explain a claim by prosecution witness Burmaa Oyunchimeg - that she was shown a photo by the late Altantuyaa Shaariibuu which included a Malaysian officer called Najib Razak together with Altantuyaa and Razak Baginda. But Burmaa did not produce the photo for the court.

I blogged on this in O Tian Chua, what have you done! where I also related that Malaysia’s foremost wannabe martyr compensated for the lack of damning evidence (for Najib) by doctoring a photo showing the alleged threesome having a French dinner. The lady in Tian Chua's photo was also rather well endowed, designed, I suppose, to titillate viewers.

Despite all pretences, denials and lawyer burok-ish (barrack room) arguments by Tian's supporters, there wasn’t any doubt in the minds of Malaysians that the woman in Tian's doctored photo, and posted on his blog, represented Altantuyaa. There wasn’t also any doubt that Tian had implied Najib Razak knew Altantuyaa despite the DPM’s denial.

In fact Tian admitted he created the photo.

Tian is known for his recklessness but the doctored photo exceeded even his normal martyr-ish antics. He did some damage control in a following posting the next day, realising the enormity of his blunder.

It wasn’t just slander with a libel suit hanging over his head like the sword of Damocles – worse, it provided Najib and UMNO with the wherewithal to counter-attack and distract from an embarrassingly seething simmering smoking situation for Najib.

Well, trust Tian Chua to blunder impetuously with the insinuation backfiring on him and his PKR. Sleazy, grubby and unethical were the words used to describe Tian's crazy tactic. Suddenly Najib and UMNO were on high moral grounds.

You’ll never catch the DAP indulging in such salacious stupid and slanderous excesses.

But then Tian Chua being Tian Chua, no one had expected him to apologise (despite the wee backpedalling the day following the silly posting). In fact when AFP interviewed him, he was gleefully back in his element, stating (as reported by malaysiakini):

"This photo is just my imagination. It is aimed to push Najib to explain his link in the case. I will not withdraw the photo or apologise."

"I want the authorities to handle the case in a transparent way and for Najib to reveal his relations with Altantuya."

The difference between a martyr and a wannabe martyr is the former is prepared to be crucified for his beliefs, while the latter just wants to be crucified, full stop!

Banzai, Tian Chua ;-)

*** *** ***

Mootori Norinaga’s original poem as adopted by the Japanese Kamikaze Special Attack Force:

"Shikishima no Yamato-gokoro wo hito towaba, asahi ni niou yamazakura bana"

"If someone asks about the spirit of Japan, it is the flowers of mountain cherry blossom that are fragrant in the rising sun"

The new elegance of 'Dunno'

Once again, in malaysiakini, we learnt from the tireless Lim Kit Siang how our PM hasn’t been quite on his expensively-shoed toes.

The Opposition Grand Olde Man rapped Mr Elegant Silence for not even knowing who is the minister named in a NGO’s report (inclusive of evidence) about a high level corruption case, already submitted to the PM.

I guess that would now change his elegant title to Mr Elegant Dunno.

malaysiakini also informs us that ‘Last month, Movement for Democracy and Anti-Corruption (Gerak) submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office a 632-page report containing allegations of criminal breach of trust and misappropriation involving a senior cabinet minister.’

‘Ayoyo’, as Humpty Dumpty would probably exclaim (if he dares). And may KTemoc add on behalf of those very quiet MCA blokes: ‘Karn neen nay’.

Gerak chairperson Ezam Mohd Noor (he formerly of the de facto party) had stated that the voluminous report included documentary evidence made up of statements from the Companies Commission of Malaysia, receipts and invoices amounting to millions of ringgit, and best of all, police reports lodged by a listed company against the minister in the 1980s - guess the police & ACA have been sleeping, or perhaps they're still working 'diligently' on the 1980's case.

Well, though Ezam didn’t name the minister, he did reveal that the minister is an UMNO member. The naughty bloke apparently used RM 30 million of public company funds to clear personal debts.

Wouldn’t that be considered as CBT rather than corruption? Or, hopefully both!

Strangely, for a senior UMNO cabinet minister, why would he even need to relieve the company of a mere sarp sarp suoi (chicken feed) RM 30 mil? I wonder whether it had been a case of arrogant belief that, no doubt it’s just loose change, it was there for his convenient use, to dip his grubby hands into the petty cash box whenever he liked, without fear of discovery or even being questioned. Hmmm, I wonder what sort of ‘personal debt’ would that have been?

Anyway, back on track - What had embarrassingly occurred has been AAB telling reporters a couple of days ago he didn’t know who this naughty minister is. Mind you, he did say he was informed of the report and would ‘study it’ ;-)

That sent poor conscientious Lim up the wall. He bemoaned the sad fact that AAB, with the evidence in his manicured hands, doesn’t even know the identity of the accused minister

Doesn’t know or doesn’t want to know, or worse, can't let you all know?

Lim asked caustically: "If Abdullah takes 10 days to state publicly that he is aware ... how long more would he need to announce what he proposes to do about it?"

"Or will he just pass the buck and kick the football elsewhere, starting a merry-go-round which will drag out the issue in an inconclusive manner for the next few years?"

"Is it credible that a prime minister who is serious about his pledge [about the National Integrity Plan] and commitment to make anti-corruption his top priority can allow 10 days to pass without bothering to find out who was the (allegedly corrupt) Umno cabinet minister."

Hmmm, somewhile ago, AAB has claimed that he was still in control of the nation and he’d rid the country of corruption - ah, in his own way and own time, of course. He reminded us that things couldn’t be changed overnight.

OK, even taking his explanations at face value, that things would take time to change, let’s ask a few questions that I and millions of other Malaysians have not been satisfied with, namely the lack of resolutions (and probably unlikely resolution) in very simple cases of dodginess. These are issues that I can immediately recall without too much probing:

(1) What has happened to the case of Cyclops in the Monkey House? I am talking about the 'close one eye' sin and not his disgusting 'leaking' grubbiness.

PAC chairman Shahrir Samad claimed somewhile back he was waiting for the police investigation to complete before the PAC can assess the Cyclops case. Well?

Then, the police investigation is into criminality whilst the PAC should be looking at parliamentary propriety, or propriety of the MPs

But we need to bear in mind that poor Shahrir had been 'punished' for daring to take a decent bilateral stand (initially anyway) against Cyclop's shameful close-one-eye mentality. He has been whipped back into line (Shahrir, that is - did you for even one moment think it was Cyclops?)

(2) Police issues such as:

(a) A Japanese student being extorted by policeman of RM500
(b) Chinese wives being abused at police station by policemen, & hubbies extorted

and

(c) the mother of them all, a very recent allegation that our police has dodgy links to the underworld. Most staggering of all, Raja Petra Kamarudin of Malaysia-Today alerted us to the link between the Police, IGP’s son and BK Tan, the alleged Kingpin of the organised crime syndicate, through a company called Web Power Sdn Bhd.

(3) Rela members sent to city, to beat up imported Indian workers who had the nerve to question management, right in front of Indian Hi-Comm - question: why and who sent those thugs?

(4) Libra-ECM-Avenue case – how could AAB as Finance Minister be not aware of the merger?

(5) Menteri Besar rorting the tsunami funds, meant for the needy.

There’s more but the above should suffice for this posting.

Politics behind Revathi Masoosai?

'There are truths on this side of the Pyrenees, which are falsehoods on the other'

'We know the truth, not only by the reason, but also by the heart'.

- Balise Pascal

The time has come for the ‘truth’ about the religious belief of Revathi Masoosai to be acknowledged by the Muslim authorities, regardless of their (unfounded) fears of allowing her to be the Hindu she wants to be, which her heart tells her to be, and her will directs her to be.

One of the fears of the Islamic authorities is of course the adverse snowball effect, that by allowing a Muslim to leave the folds of Islam, it may cause a stampede of people from the Muslim community.

Quite frankly, that’s unlikely because if we take the example of Buddhism, a religion where Buddhist parents (or even the monks) may not convert their children into Buddhists (though they may bring their children up in accordance with Buddhist teachings), we see that today, in many parts of the world, Buddhism is the fastest growing religion.

So when malaysiakini tells us that Revathi Masoosai, born to Muslim parents but brought up as a Hindu by her granny and married to a Hindu in accordance with Hindu rites, declared: “I am a Hindu and I choose to remain this way", it's time for the authorities to hear her.

Unequivocal has been her assertion about her belief, yet one may wonder why religious officials at the Islamic-run rehabilitation centre were still confident she could be ‘rehabilitated’ to embrace Islam ...

... to which she stated clearly: "What are they talking about? They have separated me from my child and my beloved husband for six months. Even if I was given a million dollars, I will never follow them."

The seemingly blind and obdurate insistence that this woman, who has made such a strong declaration of her religious preference, could be rehabilitated into the Muslim community beggars belief. So it may seem!

But in Malaysia, one has to look for the politics behind the authorities’ unrelenting ‘punishment’ of a woman whom we (and they) know would never ever surrender away her Hindu faith.

Yes, there’s always the politics, and it’s precisely this politics that saw Revathi subjected to an indoctrination which has now ricochet into adverse publicity for Islam - an unsuccessful rehabilitation which had driven her into open defiance against the religion which officials had attempted to make her re-embrace.

With the general election just around the corner, the UMNO-led government is acutely aware that PAS is waiting to pounce on any retreat on the Revathi case. ‘Tis a case of the olde ‘holier than thou’ struggle for the hearts of the Muslim community, so bugger the virtue of ‘compassion’.

And one would not be completely astray in suspecting that the spin has continued that Islam has not yet lost Revathi, that she has only been released into the guardianship of her Muslim parents, and that the authorities is convinced that the recalcitrant woman will eventually be rehabilitated to become once again a member of the umma wahidi.

Malaysia - Rise of the Warlords

malaysiakini quoted Opposition Leader, DAP Lim Kit Siang, as lamenting that in just twenty years, the police has allowed a once-safe Malaysia to deteriorate into a country where its people are racked with fear of, and deeply traumatised by crimes.

The city of Johor Baru is chief among those places which have been neglected by our so-called guardians of the law to the extent that they are now hostages to criminals and their nefarious conducts.

We not only have had allegations of the police being brutal, corrupt and unlawful, but further allegations of our so-called lawmen being in cahoots with the very criminals who now ‘run’ JB as if the city is their own fiefdom.

There was a time when our police tamed the untameable Triads, way way way before Hong Kong came up with the idea of ICAC. And we successfully defeated the communists - the only nation in the world to do so - in large part due to Special Branch's superior intelligence, infiltration of the CT cells and psy-war.

Our police then gave us not only confidence in our security but pride that we alone in SE Asia (ignoring Singapore which had always been an intrinsic part of our history, political and social fabric in so many ways) did not have to suffer the totalitarian regime of a military government.

The government, since Tunku’s days, had successfully used the RMP as an effective counter-weight to keep in check any ambitious military napoleons.

But alas, that glorious history has long gone. It has been reported that since the current IGP took over, crime rates have soared to disgraceful levels, where rapes, robberies and snatch thefts are common everyday events that terrorise the public.

malaysiakini reported that ‘of late, the crime wave in Johor Bahru had prompted public outcry and demands for immediate steps to arrest the problem which culminated in a demonstration being held in front of the Johor Menteri Besar's official residence.’

‘Following this, the government announced the deployment of 400 additional police personnel along with 200 new police vehicles in the state.’

It had to come to such dramatic but as many suspected, a pre general election PR move.

Raja Petra Kamarudin in his Malaysia-Today posted a severe hard hitting body blow at the IGP titled Please, IGP, explain this!

It makes one’s blood curdled to read about the IGP’s dodgy links. Raja stated that ‘The organised crime syndicate -- which, as I said, includes prostitution (in particular girls from China), drugs (four types of ‘designer’ drugs) and illegal gambling (4D lotteries and slot machines) -- started expanding its operations soon after Musa took over as the IGP.’

Raja also raised the link between the Police, IGP’s son and BK Tan, the alleged Kingpin of the organised crime syndicate, through a company called Web Power Sdn Bhd.

Then, to add insult to our injury, PM AAB allowed the IGP to be honoured by the Agong with a Tan Sri and then, unbelievably for such disgraceful and incompetent police performance, extended the IGP’s contract when it’s supposed to end in September this year.

The case of a decaying rotten state! Please also see my previous postings:

(1) Altantuya trial & Najib Razak - why we seek alternative process
(2) Now is time for IPCMC

Then, just when we thought that nothing could get any worse, we have a malaysiakini article telling us that the government intends to make RELA, the People Volunteer Corps, into a full fledged enforcement department soon.

Well-known NGO Aliran is against this government plan, and suggested the government should instead limit RELA to disaster relief work. It spokesperson said:

“Aliran contends that legitimising Rela to become a permanent feature of our security apparatus is superfluous and tantamount to condoning the continuing violations of human rights in the country, regardless of the status of the victims.”

On a similar note, Amnesty International Malaysia criticised the government’s move because it would further legitimise and strengthen RELA’s powers to arbitrarily arrest, search and detain individuals. At present, RELA already has wide and discretionary powers where they can stop any person, enter any premises and make arrests without any warrants.

Worse, such powers also do not come with an oversight mechanism and thus were subject to abuse. Yes, frighteningly, we also know that RELA members are not trained like the police (I suppose one could then argue what’s the difference?) yet exercise far greater powers of intervention, arrest and detaining.

RELA members are already notorious for their abuse of powers. Read my previous postings:

(1) Rela-gate! Do we have Warlords?
(2) Rela-gate - we want some answers!
(3) Warlords & their goons
(4) Home Ministry sets Rela hounds on traders!
(5) Throwing Kitchen Sink at Dr Mahathir

Our government seems to be not only condoning but have certain sectors actually nurturing these private armies, and then using them as indicated in above postings.

The police is either incompetent or, as alleged, in cahoots with criminals, with senior heads behaving like warlords, whilst we have the additional threat of an unaccountable organization like RELA, already suspected of being used by political warlords for their own interests (eg. terrorising and physically abusing Indian nationals who were imported estate workers), becoming a full fledged enforcement organization.

Then of course we have our infamous JAIS, JAWI and official peeping toms (proposed from time to time by different UMNO-controlled states), city enforcement personnel who preyed on hugging couples, and dangerous seditious zealots like the Mufti of Disgrace who had no compunction in (nearly) causing religious riots.

Warlord-ism seems to have not only affected the government side but also one opposition party where shock troops would be sent into the streets for political interests. And of course we have suspicions of attempts to harness the Mat Rempits into future Brown Shirts on motorised two-wheels

Though the solution is as equally terrifying as the current plague of civilian warlords, wouldn’t it be just ironical if Malaysia, with its hitherto proud history of never ever having to suffer the indignity of being under a military government like other SE Asian nations, would need to turn to the army, like Turkey did, to rid us of the infestations of warlords and restore the nation to being a fully accountable, transparent and secular democracy, that it once was.

Apotheosis or Apostate to a forgotten ideal?

Sorry PKR buddies, this was reported in malaysiakini so don’t blame me if your party has been reported to be imploding.

Anyway, before I get to that malaysiakini news article, do you remember my earlier posting Anwar Ibrahim interferes with PKR polls? just two weeks ago, when PKR Youth secretary Johari Yasin made the most unusual, if fact astonishing accusation against party sacred party icon, its apotheosized Anwar Ibrahim.

Johari who was then standing for party election as Youth deputy chief after receiving 42 nominations, the highest for the position, accused Anwar Ibrahim of meddling in the party elections in (Anwar, as claimed by Johari) asking acting Youth chief Shamsul Iskandar to ‘find ways’ to ensure that Johari loses.

Johari then withdrew from the PKR Youth contest with a huff and puff because of his disgust at the interference by the ‘world’s greatest political reformer, the true Renaissance Man who is the incomparable paragon of democracy, virtue and ______’ (fill in blank)

I had deemed Johari’s allegations as astonishing because it would be akin to a Thai national giving the bird to the King of Thailand, committing an unthinkable act of lese majesty.

As I wrote, most PKR members, especially those of the younger set, have a fanatical devotion to Anwar. Some of them have displayed virtual kamikazi take-no-prisoner behaviour towards any critics of Anwar or PKR. So, Johari’s disgust with his once-idol must have been Godzilla-ish humongous.

It seems he wasn’t the only one because PKR former treasurer Abdul Rahman (KeADILan membership card No 3) left too, followed by Ezam Mohd Nor, once Anwar’s right hand man, who also resigned from PKR also with a huff and a puff, because he accused the ‘world’s greatest political reformer, the true Renaissance Man who is the incomparable paragon of democracy and virtue’, of being a dictator (another word for de facto leader). Then, one week later, half of the committee members in the Shah Alam PKR division including Johari Yasin, resigned.

Johari said he has lost faith in Anwar, and added:

“When he was in prison, we fought till (ex-premier Dr) Mahathir (Mohamad) eventually stepped down but since he was released, we have not seen him being critical against Umno or (the Prime Minister) Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.”

“Anwar claimed he has evidence of corruption against government ministers, but except for making criticisms, have you seen him expose any document so far?”

“If the party call those who quit traitors, I would like to respond by saying it is Anwar who has betrayed the members and this struggle.”

Well, I have been consistent in my suspicion of Anwar Ibrahim's sincerity as an opposition leader and his secret but ardent desire to return to UMNO because that’s where the power is, and Anwar loves being at the top of the tree where he once was, 'ere he fell down like a nyior (coconut)

Reflect on what I posted in Bringing Anwar Ibrahim back to UMNO?:

Once one has tasted and enjoyed the sweet sheer power of Malaysian top politics, as one would at the top echelons of UMNO like Anwar once had, one would be reluctant to do the hard yards again like those old plodding born-losers DAP idealists or the snookered PAS leaders, or god forbid, the PKR neither-here-nor-there leaders.

One of my friends saw him recently on Australian TV in an interview where he actually praised AAB for the latter's ‘compassion’. So it seems Johari’s accusation about Anwar’s tactic of ‘going easy on AAB’ may have some grounds, and probably with an objective.

I suppose it’s a case of not burning his bridges (back to UMNO), though ‘burning Najib’ would be good to make easier the achievement of his unspoken but apparent aspiration.

Related:
(1) The Rise & Fall & Fall of ........
(2) PKR meltdown - the Anwar Ibrahim factor?
(3) Anwar Ibrahim needs a mirror

Bull from Yang Berbocor

malaysiakini may not have this news item but the Star Online did. It spoke of government backbenchers being angry with Tian Chua for his doctored photo of a French dinner for three.

The usual suspects provided their obligatory and furious reactions at the insinuation of a cosy dining ménage a trois. But the one that riled me in turn has been Bung Mokhtar Radin, the notorious MP from Kinabatangan, yes, Mr Bocor himself.

He had the thick skin to condemn Tian Chua for going ‘overboard’. He said: “The Opposition cannot simply spread lies to discredit national leaders. This is a criminal act.”

Well, may I say to him that “The government backbenchers cannot simply make disgusting remark to insult opposition members in the so-called august House. That would be worse than criminal acts”, for to abuse the trust and expectations of your voters is surely the greatest crime of betrayal for a politician.

Yang Berbocor could do well and serve his constituency best if he keeps his lips sealed, doctored if necessary.

PKR - just in different sheep's clothing

Letter to malaysiakini by Aaron Yap:

Syed Husin Ali, what a fine, clear cut and thorough analysis with regards to the current situation our country are facing (Both Rafidah and Rommel wrong).

Dr Syed Husin is one of the most decent human beings there is – what a pity he is mixed up with a de fective person.

If I would just add, should PKR be a more professional and ethical party, I supposed we, the ordinary folks, will very much willing to extend our utmost support to PKR itself but after recently seeing the superimposed picture of the deputy prime minister being posted by one of your party colleagues, it just show that the ugly and unprofessional side of the party itself.

And why wouldn’t it be nasty – born and breed from the same cesspool, mere chanting of the reformasi mantra can't ever consecrate its true nature.

It is indeed destroying the credibility of the party image in the eyes of the normal and ordinary folks. Certainly, we do agree that the current administration is consist of a whole bunch of ‘jokers’ but if the opposition such as PKR are behaving no differently than those current bunch of ‘jokers’, how do you expect us to change our course to support your party instead?

As my blogging mate, Dr Darren Hsu used to say, same wine, new label, or, same people, different sheeps’ clothing.

O Tian Chua, what have you done!

Last week malaysiakini carried a news item where Malaysia’s self-declared de facto leader demanded DPM Najib Razak explain a claim by a witness in the Altantuya murder trial.

Prosecution witness Burmaa Oyunchimeg (a cousin of murdered Altantuya Shaariibuu) told the Shah Alam High Court that the late Altantuya showed her a photo after the latter returned from a trip to France - see malaysiakini article Najib seen with Altantuya.

Burmaa claimed that the photo showed her late cousin having a meal with one of the accused, Abdul Razak Baginda, together with ‘a government official’ and other people.

Then Karpal Singh, who was holding a watching brief for Altantuya’s family, queried her about the 'government officer', to which Burmaa responded: “I remember the name Najib Razak, they had the same name, ‘Razak’. I thought they were brothers. I asked her if they were brothers.”

Needless to say, the de facto leader, leaping on Burmaa's claim, pounded Najib, the man whom he had hounded since Ijok, for an explanation, acting as if he was judge, jury, prosecution and hopefully executioner.

I had blogged on this issue in Altantuya trial & Najib Razak - why we seek alternative process.

Unfortunately Burmaa did not produce said photo which could have transformed her hearsay evidence (“Altantuya told me ...”) into steamy solid sh*t for the DPM.

But then, trust Malaysia's WB to oblige, well, in a sort of way.

Who’s WB?

Oh, it’s our country's most famous ‘wannabe martyr’.

Tian Chua, PKR’s head of publicity posted the missing photo on his blog to show an 'Altantuya' (with cleavage and all) together with a 'Najib' and a 'Razak' having a cosy French dinner.

As one visitor to his blog commented (extract): “... I understand that you need to pull all the shots you have at your disposal for your political sake. At least, just put there ‘this is a superimposed image’”

Yes, unfortunately Tian Chua neglected to mention that wee qualification about his posted photo.

Putting up a doctored photo as a joke is OK for ordinary bloggers like KTemoc. But for the PKR information chief to resort to such gimmickry, for obvious political gains, it is no longer a joke or a humorous gambit.

It actually demonstrated an act of desperation, a sinister intention to rubbish a political opponent along the lines of the infamous 50 Dalil Mengapa Anwar Tidak Boleh Jadi PM (50 reasons why Anwar cannot be PM).

Well, wouldn't it a case of orthnithological specimens of identical plummage ... eh? Yes, what irony!

Even Raja Petra Kamarudin of Malaysia-Today, a blog renown for bold hard hitting revelations and robust exchanges, saw it fit, nay, was compelled to qualify/question the authenticity of Tian Chua’s posted photo when he (Raja) posted Tian Chua’s article in his blog corner.

Tian Chua, known for his recklessness (though hitherto only to his own safety), has certainly exceeded his normal boundaries. I was shocked as I didn't expect him to descend to such gross grubby gutter level cheap shots, which would be more suited for another sector of the PKR. Much as I had ribbed him about his wannabe martyr inclinations, I, like many people, have a secret fondness and some admiration for the eccentric bloke.

Tian, having realised his faux pas which might even attract a libel suit, quickly made a damage control qualification the following day. He attempted to brush it off with a casual : "I thank those good hearted individuals who tried to inform me the picture is doctored. I should certainly know. I also believe the real photo exists, and hopefully it will eventually be displayed publicly."

"I believe the real photo exists ..." does not and cannot excuse a politician's surat layang-ish (poison pen-like) posting of a doctored photo. Alas, for a political party which wants Malaysians to take it seriously, the salacious sleazy sin has already been committed.

Oh dear, oh dear, Tian Chua, what have you done?

You have transformed not just the photo but your own WB image as an eccentric but still likeable ‘wannabe martyr’ into a malicious ‘wicked monger’.

And the collateral damage to PKR?

If anything, Tian Chua's intemperate act has proven PKR to be desperate, as 'desperate' can be.

Israel controlling Palestinian purse-strings ...

From al Jazeera

Israel has begun returning to the Palestinians some of the hundreds of millions of dollars in tax funds it had frozen for 17 months, hoping to bolster Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, while isolating his Hamas rivals.

Israel: Now, go kill some Hamas people!

A senior Palestinian official told Reuters Israel's initial transfer was $120m, a fraction of the sum held by Israel.

Israel: Kill Hamas men, then you get more!

Salam Fayyad, the prime minister in Abbas's government, chaired a cabinet meeting on Monday to discuss how the funds would be used.

Israel: Kill Hamas – they just bloody Palestinians anyway!

Riyad al-Malki, the information minister, [...] said that employees working for or allied with Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip last month, would not be paid.

Israel: Good boy!

The truth of Brahma's faces

I am aware that Proarte is a regular letter writer to malaysiakini, though I haven’t been keeping track of his leanings.

His descriptions (extracts) of the de facto leader seems to coincide with mine. Proarte said of that person (all underlining below are mine):

Anwar Ibrahim has squandered all the goodwill he generated in the aftermath of his sacking and persecution. He tried cleverly to reinvent himself as a 'reformist' hoping that the ‘rakyat’ would easily forget that he was a Mahathir and Umno man, responsible for much of the unhealthy division in our society using Islamic demagoguery and Malay chauvinism for political advancement.

I hope those naive believers in him would read Proarte’s description of the de facto leader as being “responsible for much of the unhealthy division in our society using Islamic demagoguery and Malay chauvinism for political advancement”. The term 'de facto leader' is in itself already a blasphemy to his oft-preached democracy - what hypocrisy!

Anwar must realise his 'all things to all men' modus operandi is downright dishonest. He cannot use the language of secular idealism and democracy including the 'Jeffersonian Focus' in the West and when addressing a non-Malay crowd, and then be an Islamic demagogue who feels it is right that Lina Joy a Christian convert should be tried for apostasy in the syariah courts which he feels we should have 'more confidence' in. This duplicitous behaviour will be the unravelling of him and his party.

“... duplicitous behaviour ..” says it all. I had described him as Brahma-faced.

Brahma

In the The Witch of Ijok I lamented the fate of a blogger who was foolish enough to criticise the PKR debacle in that by-election, where for her bold words, she was subsequently torn to shreds in the most feral and sickening ad hominen attack by a horde of intolerant cyber-jihadists. In that posting, my concluding paragraph stated:

But her greatest sin was
To do the blasphemous

To question, blame, sneer
At the one & most holy Grail,
The one with the pious wail
Four face Almighty Brahma
Hi to my dear buddy Paul
Assalaimu Alaikum yaa akhi
wo men dou shi yi jia ren
demi bangsa, bangsa & bangsa

I have also posted another poli-poem about the Ijok campaigning titled IJok – of, for & by the Fairest.

Proarte continued:

Anwar has also betrayed the people of Sabah over the Ma Zu issue in Kudat. Anwar has been silent on this issue. Abim, an institution which Anwar co-founded, has supported Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman in preventing the Ma Zu statue from being erected.

So much for his 'wo men dou shi yi jia ren'.

The opposition however is divided and PKR has an unprincipled person as its de facto leader. The non-Malays in the party, including the self-conscious 'intellectuals' of PRM have been taken for a ride. Those who remain are pawns or opportunists who are drawn to delusions of grandeur and powerless party positions.

Wake up!

Sadly, they could not resist their human desire for power and limelight, and were easily seduced by Anwar's rhetoric of justice, the primacy of human rights, freedom of conscience and upholding the secular nature of our constitution.

Urghhh, I need to wash myself!

Altantuya trial & Najib Razak - why we seek alternative process

malaysiakini reported that Burmaa Oyunchimeg, a witness in the trial of the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu and also a cousin of the murdered Mongolian model, claimed she saw a photo of a man named as Najib Razak, when she was shown the photo by the late Altantuya.

Needless to say, the world’s greatest de facto leader seized eagerly on Burmaa's account as the gospel truth (or as malaysiakini put it, 'took it at face value') and demanded answers from Najib

We know that his over-enthusiasm have been more about politics than concern over justice for Altantuya, especially more so when the world’s greatest political reformer, said de facto leader, had been virtually harassing Najib about this murder case during the Ijok by-election, with an incessant indecency.

But that incessant indecent harassment was perhaps explained by what we had learnt from Raja Petra’s Malaysia-Today. It seems then there was a de facto movement called GAN (Gerakan Anti-Najib) to oust Najib from the UMNO No 2 position (and by default, the DPM post) so that someone, in his wildest dream, with his hope-for triumphant court case to set aside his sacking from the UMNO NO 2 position, could slide gnam gnam into the high office that Najib would be forced to vacate because of the Altantuya case.

That unrealistic hope was crushed into smithereens when AAB unexpectedly dropped into Ijok not only to campaign for the candidate but to voice his support for and confidence in Najib. Then the court completed the demolition of that dream by dismissing the de facto appeal.

Desperation took place and a new scheme - God and probably a million Malaysians know from where - was hatched, involving this time an unlikely wish list of conspirators, a Triad comprising the de facto leader, his arch Nemesis, and Ku Li, to destabilise the AAB camp including Najib.

The conspiracy didn’t gain any purchase when the Grand Olde Man so happened to have a health setback at that period. Knowing as we all do Dr Mahathir, a man whose greatest strength as well as greatest weakness during his PM-ship had been his absolute loyalty to his people, I doubt very much he would ever countenance working with a man he despises to the very core of his soul.

Anyway, should and would Najib answer to the demand of the de facto leader?

The answer is obvious, but when the DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng posed the same question, and called for the PM to investigate into the issue of Burmaa's testimony, everyone sat up and took greater notice, for this was Lim Guan Eng, a far more politically credible person, the de jure secretary general of the largest political opposition party.

But even then, Lim Guan Eng notwithstanding, surely such a matter should be for the police, AG and the court! Even Lim was playing politics, though with his reputation (going to prison in speaking up for a Malay underaged girl rather than losing in an intra party powerplay), he was more more credible, beliveable and trusted.

But nevertheless, the two politicians had asked because of politics. Despite our knowledge that what Lim had asked (of the PM) has not been correct process, we still support Lim because we want answers too. And that's because we fear there won't be any answer, due to our distrust in the police, AG and the courts.

That’s the sad part of how our standard system has so failed us that we now seek an alternative system, one proposed by Lim Guan Eng, that the PM initiates an investigation.

Which western democracy has its PM (or president) investigating into a murder case, when it should be the job of the police? In fact, if a PM of western democracy were to intervene he would have been accused of political interference by the police, and in all likelihood, told to butt out. For an example of western democracy, read Mach 2.0 Mouth which I posted two years ago.

The answer is Malaysia, where we aren’t quite a dictatorship (yet, thank goodness we don’t have a self proclaimed de facto PM) but at the same time we don’t trust our democracy, its official organs like the police, and the standard process.

If we look at the fundamentals, we must blame both the police and the police minister (the PM himself) for our lack of faith in due process under standard means. We have to call for the highest level of intervention, whether this be a murder trial or entrance for students into universities and selection of the students' choice courses.

That's the ridiculous and dsyfunctional state of affairs of our system, where the PM would be called upon regularly to micro manage the country.

Just look at the police force.

It's been revealed by a Royal Commission to be one that’s generally corrupt and inept. The Royal Commission has had to come up with recommendations that were as long as the Mahabharata.

As if that was not enough, we have a deputy ‘police’ minister who has been accused of frightening corruption, and a policeman who was head of the ACA who has been accused of avaricious corruption and sexual abuse.

Then Tan Sri Haniff (a former IGP) did an unprecedented, coming out of retirement to criticise the police ineffectiveness in curbing the current disgraceful and rampant occurrences of crimes in Johor Baru. His admonition was immediately followed by revelations of web allegations that the police force works in cahoots with crime syndicates in that state

The current IGP termed those allegations as slander instead of stating an intention to investigate those allegations to confirm its veracity. He forgets that public service convention of any democracy doesn't permit the public service to sue any member of the public for criticising the service, no matter how severe the criticisms may be. The public service has only one recourse, which is to rebut the criticisms through evidence and facts, or alternatively to investigate the allegations to assess the veracity of the accusations.

The IGP should stop threatening members of the public to shut them up.

Hey, let's not forget too the previous IGP (immediate to the current one) who committed the unmitigated public service offence of warning UMNO MPs during a cosy private briefing that unless they supported the police in opposing the IPCMC, the police force couldn’t guarantee they would be supported by the police to win in the next election.

And of course we have a PM and concurrently ’police’ minister who seems to have succumbed to the police threats in his inability to live up to his promise of establishing the IPCMC, that was recommended by the Royal Commission. As if to add insult to injury, he allowed the current IGP to be awarded a Tan Sri

To cap it all, the two accused in the Altanrtuya Shaariibuu's murder should so happen to be police officers

What a police nightmare, but the UMNO-police symbiotic relationship must be broken up. Who but only the PM can do that

Are we lost then?