The Irony of Malaysian Lupa-ness

One definition of the word 'irony' is  'an outcome of events contrary to what was, or might have been, expected'.

It is not to be confused with 'ingratitude' which would be 'unthankfulness' or 'lack of gratitude', though sometimes one could argue, within Malaysian political context, there's connection between the two.

For example, in the 70's when Ibrahim Ali (yes, that Jabba the Hutt bloke) was a student leader and desperately trying to escape detention under the ISA, he frantically sought the help of a Chinese, namely, Lim Kit Siang, then Parliamentary Opposition Leader. In recent times, Jabba the Hutt has been virulently and venomously vicious against most things Chinese, in particular against Lim and his party., the DAP.

Jabba the Hutt

Would this be a typical case of Dr Mahathir's Melayu mudah lupa?

No, because we know Ibrahim Ali is a political survivor par excellence, a cheen chnea ch'am* carma† chameleon, and thus we know that his personal interests, khusus untuk numero uno, would have easily, conveniently and unconscionably suppressed any of that often touted Malay phrase hutang budi, that is if at all any exists in the first place, to Lim Kit Siang.

* cheen chnea ch'am is Chinese for bloody (wakakaka) pitiful

† for 'cari makan', an abbreviation coined by A Samad Said

Naturally, as Opposition Leader, Lim would only be doing his job in ensuring, within the laws, that Ibrahim Ali was not ISA-ed, and which Lim did, and for which he would not expect nor demand any gratitude, and Lim did not.

As I had written in a 2010 post Malaysian meaning of 'gratitude' about the survivor instinct of Ibrahim Ali who had the thick-skinned temerity, or perhaps in this case, we could use 'irony' (wakakaka) of Jabba, to speak about the lack of 'gratitude' of Chinese in Hulu Selangor and Sibu when they disdainfully rejected the PM's offer of campaign pork-barrelling financial allocations, as follows:

Look, if Pakatan becomes the ruling party one day, Ibrahim Ali will be there beside the new Pakatan PM singing a new song titled ‘Reformasi is for me’; if PAS assumes power, Ibrahim Ali will replace the Kulim Wonder as the No 1 Islamic warrior of Malaysia, and in the unlikely event of DAP becoming the ruling party, Ibrahim Ali of course will be in astronaut costume, helmet and all, to show he’s an ardent rocket jock wakakaka.

Jabba the Malaysian astronaut wakakaka

Of course there is nothing for the rakyat to be grateful for a politician's election campaign pork-barrelling, because the offered or allocated funds belong in the first place to tax payers, and not the prime minister or any politician.

In this confusion over or incorrect expectation of 'gratitude', which I posted in Malaysian meaning of 'gratitude', I averred to our Malaysian medieval feudalistic mentality, of still a prevalent belief in some quarters of our society that people are born with a divinely assigned position or status such as rulers, nobles, warriors and vassals, and where the PM (in modern times voted in by the rakyat, but perceived nonetheless as a ruler in our social culture) owns all or most of the land and national assets which he has the authority and prerogative to grant (as if his own) to his supporters in return for their loyalty.

Exploitation of this belief has sometimes been laughingly referred to as the disease of 'sehelai kain pelekat & RM100'.

Mind you, Jabba himself does not believe in the above but don't call it 'irony' but rather, take your pick, 'politicking', 'expediency' or 'hypocrisy', because the reality is that his messages, like most political messages, have been naughtily crafted for his targeted audience.

Okay, let's leave Jabba at his planet Tatooine, and may he stay there forever wakakaka.

Tatooine

When we talk about 'irony' and 'lupa-ness' how could we ever get past Dr Mahathir without reminding ourselves, very sadly, of his Bangsa Malaysia.

Here was a man, a far-sighted Malaysian leader, who took the initiative, with just two words, to infuse us with a sense of harmonious fusion, a sense of all belonging to one nation, a sense of togetherness in one proud nationality, perhaps even that of a new race a la 'Americans' (the gringo variety wakakaka), 'Australian', 'Canadian', etc.

Here is a man who talks about the nonsensical potential of Chinese taking over the country, whipping up Malay nationalism, ensuring we remain as divided as the days before Merdeka and especially immediately post May-13.

Would this be irony, or would it be his accusation of Melayu mudah lupa be the irony?

On the other hand, perhaps his Melayu mudah lupa has been 'prophetic' rather than 'ironical', as he amply demonstrated the veracity of his own accusation by his repetitive selective amnesia over his prime ministerial records.

Perhaps I'll indulge in just one more commentary on Dr Mahathir, the prime minister who during his earliest term, in 1983, promoted the concept of Kepimpinan melalui teladan or leadership by example. In kool parlance it's for leaders  to walk their talk.

Adanyakah?

Addendum @ 1900 hours - see The Malaysian Insider's Ideology and debt: A reply to Dr Mahathir by Pak Sako, who wrote that Dr Mahathir, who had complained about the injustices of the neo-liberal international order, had himself (during his government) introduced neo-liberal policies including the massive privatisation strategy (sometimes referred to cynically as 'piratisation' strategy) - 'twas said to be the policy linked to 'increased competition for resources within the ruling Malay party', and which redistributed resources 'in favour of emerging factions centred on key political leaders'.

Hmmm, another of his mudah lupa-ness?

Let's move on to ...... wakakaka ..... no, I'll let him off today, though I won't his followers, those M-cube, the Mindless Manmanlai Myrmidons - see my post Mindless Malaysian Myrmidons wakakaka.

Now, in my previous post, someone asked me to write something about Princess Nurul Izzah. Here goes, though it may not be what he/she expected.

Now, this would not be unfamiliar to you who read blogs. Those M-cube would frequently demand that Marina Mahathir (I presume you know who she is wakakaka) in her writing denounces her father before they would consider her as clean and acceptable.

Apart from Marina ignoring those totally senseless demands (unlike me she is polite and courteous, whereas I would just use the f*-o word wakakaka), as an Asian I believe it is utterly cruel and unreasonable for someone to demand that a son or daughter publicly condemns his/her parent, regardless of who the parent is or has done, I would not respect Marina if she ever publicly denounces any of her parents, no matter what they might have done, even (wakakaka) mass murders.

One can disagree with one’s parents and refuse to do what they do or what they want one to do, but one can never, should never ever badmouth them, no matter what their sins. As Chinese would say, a put-hau (unfilial) child is an affront to the Heavens.

I once wrote that Marina Mahathir is only responsible for her own conduct and the master of her own destiny. Her father’s should be those of her father. She doesn't need to be unfilial just to be accepted, which should be solely on her own conduct, rights and merits.

Just look at RPK’s post Your 10 questions with Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir* , where one of the visitors left this terrible moronic mindless comment:

* incidentally, RPK was incorrect in addressing her as Datin (implying her husband was the Datuk) when she is in fact a Datuk in her own rights - wonder how her husband should be addressed? Dateeen? wakakaka

Never bother to read what she wrote. Never believe she is an angel in Bersih 2. The many many SINS from her Mamak Papa to the Rakyat of Malaysia can never be cleansed and forgiven. Please remember that every night you go to sleep. Same to your brothers.

His (or her) mentality is not unlike the Israelites’ belief in the biblical saying that the sins of the father will be visited upon their children for several generations …

Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me – Deuteronomy 5:9

or

I will even repay into their bosom, both their own iniquities and the iniquities of their fathers together – Isaiah 65:6-7

… which I opine is utter nonsense on the basis of logic, commonsense and secular justice, but then, a mindless Manmanlai Myrmidon could never ever understand logic or commonsense.

What if we were to demand that Nurul Izzah denounces her father for a host of evil sins? As I promised I won’t raise those sins here, but if you’re interested, please see my post Mindless Malaysian Myrmidons; if you want to continue to be an ostrich wakakaka, then skip it.

Shouldn't it be also good for the goose whatever is good for the gander?

In my post A Tale of Two Sweeties I wrote:

… whatever good Marina Mahathir might have done (as in AIDS and women affairs), they (as well as some UMNO-BN people too) would impute some ignoble motive on her part [...]

Then there were others who questioned her ’enjoyment of the privileges’ of being a PM’s daughter as if she could only be free of guilt if she had chosen someone else to be her parents. Such has been the stupidity of those mindless comments.

And incidentally, did Nurul not enjoy the same privileges when Anwar was the powerful rightwing DPM from UMNO?

It’s frightening that these people, who like their leaders, claim to fight for democracy, have 'ironically' shown themselves to be most undemocratically authoritarian, attempting to shout down at and silence anyone who has written unfavorably about their party and leaders. There’s no Voltaire-like understanding of free speech or democracy.

Irony? Lupa-ness? No, it’s just plain double standards!

Keep religions out of politics and civil laws

A belated Selamat Hari Raya to all Malaysians - I've been away on personal matters, to attend a funeral, that  for the father of my friend - more about this much later in another post.

Today, on reading The Malaysian Inside I was intrigued by an article The adulteress, the accusers, politics and Afizal, written by Rama Ramanathan. It's about the inexplicable unprecedented Appeals Court judgement in the case of rapist Noor Afizal Azizan, where the word 'consensual sex' was even raised and shockingly, accepted in a charge of statutory rape.

'Consensual sex' means both parties (in the case discussed in this post, included one mere 13 year old) had agreed to have sex with each other.

It shows the pathetic pariah-ish poverty of our legal system where the term 'consensual sex' was allowed to be employed in a case of statutory rape, in which one person, 13 years of age, was well below the age required to legally consent to the act. In fact, in statutory rape, unlike forcible rape, there is no requirement to prove force or threat preceded or was involved in the rape. The laws automatically presume coercion, because a minor or an adult who doesn't have normal mental capacity is legally incapable of giving consent to the act.

Perhaps Ramanathan was teasing the readers into drawing a parallel between the court releasing the rapist on a bond of RM25,000 (thus compassionately forgiving him for his crime) instead of jailing him for raping a minor, with the biblical story of Jesus saving a female adulterer from being stoned.

While some bibles do not include the verses of this tale, some do, like the King James version (KJV), which tells us (no worries, this is not a biblical lesson for I'm an atheist wakakaka, but merely an essential component of my post):

And early in the morning He came again into the Temple, and all the people came unto Him; and He sat down, and taught them.

And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto Him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto Him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the Law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest Thou?

This they said, tempting Him, that they might have to accuse Him.

But Jesus stooped down, and with His finger wrote on the ground, as though He heard them not. So when they continued asking Him, He lifted up Himself, and said unto them, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her."

And again He stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

When Jesus had lifted up Himself, and saw none but the woman, He said unto her, "Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee?"

She said, "No man, Lord."

And Jesus said unto her, "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." (John 8:2-11 KJV)

Ramanathan then asked: "I wonder whether some Malaysians think there is a similarity between the woman and Afizal the bowler who doesn’t deny having sex with a 13-year-old girl."

Well, I am still trying to draw a comparison between rape and adultery, where the former is a blatant crime of forceful physical violation, and the latter, a crime of morality but only in some religions and medieval societies. I'm afraid I have to confess I just couldn't see any similarity! Afizal admitting to his crime of statutory rape against a minor could not be equated to admission of adultery between two adults.

He continued: "I am not aware of anyone appealing to this story as a basis for compassion towards Afizal but I’m drawn to it."

Is Ramanathan claiming originality for postulating the parallel, and that there was a biblical precedent in favour of Afizal, wakakaka?

He continued: “The story of the Messiah and the woman caught in adultery is the most often told story of compassion sympathy and pity for the sufferings of others — in this case the woman’s humiliation and unequal treatment. Compassion is exercised where suffering is recognized”

… no doubt challenging us to consider whether we should extend to Afizal compassion, manifested in his bond rather than jailing.

Then rather confusingly, he wrote: “We are asked to believe the High Court judge who sentenced Afizal to a jail term did not have compassion, did not have enough sympathy or pity for the national bowler".

Hmmm, perhaps Ramanathan meant the 'raped victim' (rather than the bowler who raped the victim-minor)?  See following sentence (below) for context.

Continuing, he asked: "We are asked to believe the Court of Appeal acted compassionately in “freeing” Afizal binding him over as an encouragement to “sin no more”.

“Is that what the story of the Messiah and the woman caught in adultery is about?. Are we called to act as the Messiah did with respect to those who break the law?”

Then inviting us to ‘cast the first stone’ he asked of us:

“After all which of us has not broken the law? Have we not bought illegal DVDs? Have we not run red lights? Have we not driven in excess of speed limits? Since we ourselves are mean pieces of work and gladly not in jail. shouldn’t we be glad Afizal’s not going to jail? After all Afizal’s offence (let’s not call it a “crime”) is only consenting sex with a minor. A minor incidentally who can’t consent to abortion or breast enlargement. Is that what compassion means?"

Running red lights, speeding, buying pirate copes of DVDs? Can we equate these crimes to rape?

And Ramanathan cynically answered his own query on the question of 'consent' in that rape case where 'consent' didn't legally exist, as would be also the case of a minor 'consenting' to abortion.

Since Ramanathan has raised the issue of Jesus and his "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her", let me answer by recalling a statement of Jesus, which I had previously used to answer Rev Dr Hermen Shastri and Paul Sinnappan.

The two had on 07 August 2012, addressed a public forum in PJ, Section 8, at the Dignity International, A-2-7 Pusat Perdagangan, on the upcoming general election from a Christian perspective, where their topic was “What will Jesus be doing in Malaysia today?” – see Free Malaysia Today - GE 13: What would Jesus do?

I was not bloody impressed by their questionable attempt to use religion (Christianity) to influence Malaysian voters who are Christians. When I read of such clerical naughtiness, I am reminded of what a sweetie once told me about Denis Diderot's advice on priests - can't produce that quote here lest I be accused of lèse majesté, wakakaka.

In replying to Rev Dr Hermen Shastri and Paul Sinnappan's “What will Jesus be doing in Malaysia today?”, I wrote in my post precisely what Jesus told us 2000 years ago, as recorded in Matthew 22:21:

"Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's."

I'm not supportive of any religion intruding into Caesar's realm of politics and civil law, so please, let's leave Jesus and his "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her" from the case of Noor Afizal Azizan.

Besides, there was/is/will be no* stoning of him under Malaysian civil law, nor I suspect, even under religious ones as well.

* last night I left out a vital word 'no' from the above statement - hope it gave the sh*ts to the rapist wakakaka 

From my observations, in religious laws, the poor woman usually gets the worst of the lot, as was the case in the story of Jesus and the attempted stoning of the woman adulterer, because we may well ask: just where was that bloody man adulterer?

Read also: Malaysian Laws like Spider Webs?

Silat of kungfu, kungfu of silat

I read with much delight RPK’s The art of silat, which reveals to us a bit on Ling Liong Sik’s mulling about Chinese (presumably Chinese Malaysians) and their approach to politics.

Why with delight?

Because I too had previously written on a couple of similar issues. For example, RPK wrote the following on one of Ling’s political reflections:

“The trouble with us Chinese,” he said, “is that we are not as skilled in politics as you Malays. We Chinese play politics like kungfu. We just charge and whack. You Malays use silat. You smile and dance and make graceful moves and we don’t know when the keris is going to stab.”

Seven years ago, on 07 Nov 2005, I posted Anwar Ibrahim & silky court intrigues, as follows (extracts):

Once an old (Chinese) pal of mine confessed to me how much he saluted the Malays for their amazing and sophisticated political skills, which were/are subtle as silk - silk of course is also an effective garrote. 

He lamented how raw the Chinese were by comparison. When I asked him why, he pointed out to a tradition of Malay court intrigues dating back to the legendary days of Hang Tuah and his best mate/nemesis Hang Jebat. 

When I countered by reminding him of equally diabolical Chinese court manoeuvrings, with its legends, history, eunuchs, imperial concubines, traitors and whatnot, he smiled and crushed my arguments by stating: 

“Those imperial ar$eh%les were northerners. The Chinese in Malaysia came from the south, and were of ignorant bumbling peasant stock." 

I was outraged and protested vehemently, declaring that my ancestry could be traced back to the bloodthirsty pirates looting, pillaging and raping in the Formosa-Fujian-Guangchow region. 

Chinese pirate Sao Feng wakakaka

Bloody hell, calling me, a descendant of swashbuckling Chinese pirates, a descendant of country yokels! ;-) 

Oh, BTW, Chinese victors in a dynastic struggle ordered dethroned royal families to kill themselves and avoid the shame of public execution, by presenting the unfortunate victims with a sash of fine white silk, for them to hang themselves.

It would seem there are certainly more than a few Chinese Malaysians who have lamented the political naivety of many in their community, but then we should remember we have been the descendants of mainly country peasants (wakakaka).

Chinese peasants - photo from Greenpeace East Asia

The other aspect of Chinese political naivety has been their hitherto refusal to recognize or just blissful ignorance that 65% of Malaysians are Malays who are Muslims where most (though not all*) deeply respect their sultans, culture and tradition. Such has been that the Malays have a saying ‘biar mati anak, jangan mati adat’ which means ‘better your children die than your traditions’.

* read the Hansard of 10 December 1992 to know how Dr Affifuddin Omar, an UMNO man from Padang Terap, no doubt given the imprimatur by his party leaders, described the sultans:

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

"They (the rulers) must be made to realize that they do not own this country. They are not Superman but placed on their thrones by the people. The real power did not lie with them, but with us - the representatives of the people."

Now, which ‘non’ could have said that and got away? None! Only UMNO and UMNO alone could have gotten away with its abuse of the raja, who they claim to defend today. Thus UMNO could and indeed would be considered the exception to the rule that Malays deeply respect their sultans, culture and tradition (including religion).

From our limited views (only of Malay politicians, particularly like Dr Affifuddin Omar from UMNO) we non-Malays may think that’s no longer the case (wakakaka), but step into the Malay Heartland, and we can see why such a saying had evolved centuries ago to remain still true today.

However, it’s gratifying to note that today Chinese politicians, especially those from DAP, are more conscious of, and thus able to demonstrate their respect for Malay royalty, culture and tradition.

Previously, some DAP sweeties like hardworking, dedicated and ‘colour-blind’ Teo Nie Ching, MP for Serdang, was reported by UMNO of entering a surau without proper headgear. Notwithstanding her faux pas, Teo had already successfully and effectively reached out to every sector in her constituency. Her popularity among her Malay constituency has been such that, just as an example, she was specifically invited by them to join in their aerobics sessions (much to the fear of UMNO).

Teo Nie Ching

Thus it wasn’t surprising that UMNO attacked her mercilessly by highlighting and amplifying the seriousness of her headgear-less entry into the surau.

Apart from this, our dear Home Minister, Hishamuddin (I won’t mention his illustrious father’s name next to his), a man with a natural flair for putting his foot into his own mouth every time he opens it, condemned Teo on another issue, as being too ‘dirty’ to enter a surau (mind you, at the invitation of the mosque authority) to present some money to her constituency.

Of course, much as Chinese have not been so receptive to and perceptive of Bahasa euphemisms, even then we knew he implied Teo was or could have been menstruating when she visited the Muslim prayer place.

And may I ask Hisham please, how did you know Teo was menstruating at that time? Were you browsing through her rubbish bin outside her house? Wakakaka. For more, see my post The 'dirty' business of menstruation?

But this multi-aspect assault on her character was driven more by fear of her popularity with her Malay constituency than anger at any so-called religious-cultural slight on her part, but obviously it was a straw that UMNO clutched on tightly in desperation to make hay (I love mixing up metaphors and sayings wakakaka), I suppose, in preference to having its division leader or media mouthpieces fabricate horror stories about DAP and son of a DAP leader (wakakaka) - mind, selecting the former option didn't stop them in the latter. For more, read my post A dead chook and many frightened monkeys.

But as I said, that’s all in the past. Teo and her DAP female colleagues have since been careful to pull their selendang (Malay shawl) over their heads a la Catholic women entering a church when they visit a surau or mosque.

Still, some Chinese (pro BN) bloggers want to have it both ways, where they now jeer at Teo for wearing a selendang, a jeering obviously targeted at any chauvinistic supporters of Teo, to show Teo ‘has gone native’ (as if we aren’t Malaysians).

But worse, especially for another DAP ADUN, sweetie Hannah Yeo, those bloggers in badmouthing her hopefully for the same targeted Chinese audience have deliberately mis-described her selendang as a tudung (hijab), where the former is of Malay culture while the latter is of Islamic origin, and supposedly worse for Hannah in the eyes of her Chinese and Indian supporters.

Hannah Yeo with selendang

sweeties with tudung

I believe I am not wrong in stating that the only Chinese Pakatan sweetie to wear a tudung has been Eli Wong (PKR). And I also believe, very strongly, Eli has every right to do so. After all, kaytee wears sarung and sometimes the dhoti (wakakaka).

dhoti

So, boys and girls, unless your heads are missing (wakakaka), do put on your songkok and selendang (or tudung if you wish) when visiting an important Malay-Islamic place or event (like when invited by HRH), and thus show respect to/for your hosts.

I’m also tickled pink by another of RPK’s paragraph which says:

Silat masters will tell you that you must never teach your students everything. Teach them all the moves except one. And you keep that last move in the event the student turns on you when he thinks he has learned enough and can now makan his master. Then, when he turns on you, you hit him with that one move you never taught him.

Six years ago, 01 April 2006, I posted The Master & The Disciple, in which I wrote about a kungfu master by the name of Sifu Ma Ha Teh (wakakaka).

As with most who know something about Chinese martial art, in China the surname of Ma was associated with the renowned Chinese Muslim martial art practitioners, like the amazing Ma Xueli who was the founder of the Henan branch of Hsing I. But our Sifu Ma Ha Teh was not from that family or China. He lived in the land called Arhm Noh (wakakaka).

My story was about him and his love-hate relationship with his erstwhile most fave disciple, Arn Wah (wakakaka) during their leadership struggle in the school of martial arts called Dominating Leopard. In that struggle, it brought out the classical story of the wushu master's last 'ace in the sleeve' that RPK mentioned.

Well, those martial arts schools did have strange names like White Crane, Praying Mantis, Eagle Claws and such likes, so why not a Dominating Leopard … you known, the carnivorous feline reputed to never ever change its spots (wakakaka).

Finally, in ending I need to clarify Ling Liong Sik’s understanding, or lack of, of kungfu (or more correctly wushu, Chinese martial arts). While he was correct in stating Chinese Malaysians had been too blunt and not diplomatic in politics, not unlike the practice of the Western World, he was incorrect in believing kungfu (wushu) has been about ‘charging and whacking’.

While in general, wushu in southern China has been more of the hard style, thus giving rise to an incorrect impression of brutal crude abrasive style of fighting, it has never been about 'charging and whacking' in approach. Besides, there are other Chinese ‘internal’ or soft style wushu (like Taichi, Bhaquazhang, Hsing I, etc of the Wudang Sect, most of which originated in northern China) which are very gentle, slow and graceful in its moves but extremely deadly, not unlike a whip.

Wudang (Taoist) style wushu

Hence we often read in our Malaysian blogs of “Chua taichi Ong” (wakakaka), implying Chua had subtly and with finesse manipulated Ong to Chua’s advantage, or “Ong shaolin Chua” indicating Ong employed a very abrasive, aggressive and confrontational method to combat Chua (though of course, it’s important to remind ourselves that Shaolin martial arts are not specifically about ‘charging and whacking’, or not subtle like its northern internal school counterpart.

Shaolin (Buddhist) style wushu

Okay, so with kungfu wushu 101 out of the way, let me ask you, has Najib ‘taichi-ed’ both Mahathir and Anwar in approving a RCI on the Sabah illegal immigrants? Was Mahathir too ‘shaolin’ in arguing the RCI would not be useful? And has Anwar in stating he was not involved in the Sabahan ‘Project IC’, floated like a butterfly and hoped to sting like a bee? Wakakaka.

Thanks Punch Gunalan, a Great Malaysian

Good bye to Datuk Gunalan s/o Panchacaran, who's better known to us as Punch Gunalan.

Like another Malaysian badminton world beater, Tan Yee Khan, Punch was an amazing badminton champion in both singles and doubles, winning championship titles around the world.

Coincidentally he teamed up with Ng Boon Bee, after the latter split up with Tan Yee Khan, in their days the world's best double players. But Punch and Boon Bee continued Malaysia's one-time stranglehold on the doubles game.

Punch & Ng Boon Bee (front row)

After retiring from the courts, Punch took up coaching where he coached Malaysia's 1992 Thomas Cup team. Finally, he played a huge role in badminton sports administration, and was the secretary-general of IBF.

His contributions to Malaysian badminton was enormous, making him a truly Towering Malaysian.

Vale Punch, Requiescat In Pace.

Too many Chiefs and not enough Indians

Well, there's too many chiefs and not enough Indians

Around this house

An' baby, I'm tired of this old game we play

Called cat and mouse

If you don't give just a little bit more

We're both gonna lose this race

'Cause there's too many chiefs and not enough Indians

Around this place

- sung by Dean Martin

You know that saying (and song) 'Too many Chiefs and not enough Indians'. Well, you see a lamentable element of it in Malaysiakini's Niat lists GE demands - seeks Indian M'sian DPM which reported (extracts):

The National Indian Rights Action Team (Niat) has listed out its demands for the next general election today, including calls for a Indian Malaysian deputy prime minister. 

This was among the NGO’s five demands that it wants the next government to implement within the first 100 days in office. [...] 

It also calls for three Indian Malaysian cabinet ministers and four deputy ministers, most of whom would be elected representatives, while the rest are picked from NGOs and appointed to the cabinet. [...]

In addition, the proposed line-up calls for Indian Malaysian deputy chief ministers in Selangor, Perak, Penang and Negri Sembilan, assuming that the states are ruled by the same parties as the federal government.

Such demands are only self serving but worse, it demonstrates MIC-type mentality behind them. And of course, the proposed Indian ministers and deputy ministers will not only be from those elected in the coming general election, but also from NGOs.

And NIAT's inclusion of Indian NGOs or NGOs, which have Indian members, as a source for ministerial material means one or all of the following:

(a) NIAT has no confidence in MIC (or any BN party with Indian candidates, like wakakaka PPP or more wakakaka, Gerakan) winning in any federal constituency,

(b) wink wink nudge nudge, NIAT is an Indian-based NGO - if dear Nallakarrupan can become a BN senator, why can't NIAT members be ministers or deputy ministers,

(c) NIAT secretary Arun Dorasamy obviously doesn't know what the abbreviation NGO stands for?

NIAT published a 42-page booklet which asserts that the marginalisation of Indian Malaysians was due to under-representation in government.

This statement has been the sad story of Indian Malaysians, where indeed Indian under representation in government is true but NOT because of the small numbers of Indian ministers or that the DPM is not an Indian, but the inability or reluctance of those Indian ministers to stand up and speak for the fair interests ordinary Indian Malaysians.

Thus, increasing the number of Indian ministers per se, via front or back door (like for Palanivel wakakaka), won't help those poor Indians at all.

Mind, some items in the booklet are good proposals, such as '... opening boarding schools to all students and not just those from national schools, tackle alcoholism with measures such as rehabilitation centres and banning the sale of alcoholic drinks in convenience shops and to end to statelessness by 2013.'

In the end, it's good policies by the government and ministers (of any race) who will be selfless, dedicated and courageous enough to serve all Malaysians (not just Indians, Chinese, Malays, or any other ethnic groups) that are required.

And of course if NIAT is still insisting on more Indian Chiefs, they can listen to the song 'Too many Chiefs and not enough Indians' wakakaka.

Congratulations on Gold

The Malaysian Insider - Anwar: More crossovers expected in Sabah

KOTA MARUDU Aug 12 - Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim confirmed today that more notable Sabah Barisan Nasional BN personalities will cross over to the opposition camp in the coming months adding strength to Pakatan Rakyat s PR growing influence in east Malaysia.

Congratulations to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Asia's Renaissance Man and World renowned political reformer, for winning the gold medal in the sports of political defections.

defectors wakakaka

For years this man has dedicated himself totally to this aspect of Malaysian politics, and he has not failed his ardent supporters and admirers in bringing about a heartening win, giving him another gold medal, coincidentally in a place where he won his first gold medal in political defections.

Syabas, Datuk Seri.

Citius, Altius, Fortius, Amphibious.

Wakakaka!

Malaysian Laws like Spider Webs?

“Laws are spider webs through which the big flies pass and the little ones get caught.” ― Honoré de Balzac

Free Malaysia Today (FMT) - ‘Court should not use powers of contempt to jail blogger’

Lawyers group, Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) said the decision to imprison the blogger reinforces the public perception that justice is only meant for the rich, powerful and well connected. 

“In this case, the court has failed to temper justice with mercy and has acted in a harsh and disproportionate manner – a decision that unfortunately can only reinforce public perception that “justice” is only for the rich, powerful and well connected,” said LFL . 

It also wants the High Court to reconsider the circumstances that led to blogger Amizuddin Mamat acting in contempt of court that resulted in the latter being imprisoned.

KTemoc Konsiders - 5 years jail for RM70 theft

The Star Online reported in its news Jobless man gets 5yrs for stealing some beer that an unemployed man Zulhaidi Hamzah was sentenced by the Magistrates Court in JB to 5 years jail for stealing 11 cans of beer worth RM70 from a mini mart in Pasir Gudang. 

The loot apparently was 4 cans of Guinness Stout and 7 cans of Tiger Beer. 

That’s an over-the-top heavy handed judgement by the Yang Ariff. It’s monstrously out of proportion to the seriousness of the crime, more so when you consider heavier shit being committed by 'heavy metal' ar$eh#les in this country, none of whom has thus far been found guilty. 

But I suppose Zulhaidi ought to be at least grateful for not being slapped with a whipping sentence by the Syariah Court for the haram items. 

I am not f* impressed by the justice system.

The Malaysian Insider - Review national bowler’s jail-free sentence on statutory rape, Gobind tells Appeals Court

The Puchong MP was responding to public outrage over 21-year-old bowling ace Noor Afizal Azizan who was released on a RM25 000 bond for good behaviour for the next five years instead of being imprisoned five years after he pleaded guilty to raping a girl three years ago The girl was 13 at the time of the incident.

KTemoc Konsiders - Lawmakers too easy on incest!

The Star Online - Father jailed 15yrs for incest with teenage daughter 

That slimy slug received only 15 years jail and three strokes of the rotan. He would have been punished more severely if not for the disgraceful act of Parliament in lightening sentences for such slugs – read about that in my 2006 post Parliament reducing sentence for incest 

Then I had written: ... the biggest disgrace has been its proposed amendments to the conviction for committing incest. Incest with an underage child would also be aggravated rape. Currently incest carries a jail sentence of between 15 and 30 years with up to ten strokes of the rotan (cane)*. The committee now proposes to reduce the jail term to between eight and 15 years.

* that’s what that slug should have received, if not for Parliament

Oh, BTW, just a teeny weensy itsy bitsy question on another issue - when was Tan Sri Rahim Tamby Chik honoured by HM the Agong, earning the privilege of having the title Tan Sri?

Well done Pandelela Rinong

Most heartfelt congratulations to Pandelela Rinong for her sterling performance at the Olympics. We look forward to more diving achievements at world level competitions from this sweetie. Syabas sweetie.