3 Revelations on 'Keling'

TMI - After Hindu insult, Zulkifli Noordin says ‘keling’

kalau jantan, bertanding lagilah di Kulim

There is no doubt Zulkifli Noordin loves being controversial. On 09 August 2008, despite being an officer of the court (a lawyer), he became notorious for his unruly protest against a Bar Council's forum on 'Conversion to Islam' by gatecrashing and derailing the event (like what Saifuddin Nasution and his former UMNO Youth mates did to Apcet II, wakakaka) - yup, a lawyer gatecrashing a Bar Council forum to disrupt it, that's Zulkifli Noordin.

Then, after he was sacked from PKR, a very much overdue event thanks to Anwar Ibrahim being reluctant to bring him to heel as per party discipline, he badmouthed Anwar's family notwithstanding his earlier claim of being a close family friend.

Oh Zul Zul, lu ay mah lah

Last year in October, together with another traitorous snake to Pakatan, Nasharuddin Mt Isa, he accused the DAP of wanting to turn Malaysia into a Christian State.

For a bloke who professes to be an Islamic warrior, he has the blasphemous daring to fabricate the above bullshit.

So why should we be startled or annoyed by his current antics. I suspect he wants to be considered for a seat somewhere, hence is drawing attention a la Ibrahim Ali. Maybe he even hopes Dr Mahathir might also endorse him with the same words “If there are many people like Zulkifli, this country is saved.”

Wakakaka.

I had nick-named Zulkifli the Kulim Wonder because he showed he loved, and still does, crude contentious controversies. However, I'm not sure whether he loves doing that because he truly enjoys it or he was attempting to demonstrate he's an ethnic-religious hero to his right wing constituency.

But he is not alone in such grating style of ethno-religious politicking, and you can bet it's usually for self aggrandizement and of course self interests. He has two other colleagues of like-minded mentality.

We all know the gene-denier Ridhuan Abdullah Tee, a man who has regularly and pathetically striven to show the Malays through his aggressive criticisms of things Chinese just how loyal a Melayu he is.

aku bukan cina

I had once suggested he ought to drop his surname 'Tee' and adopt the Arabic 'Taufik' to complete his wannabe transformation. Maybe who knows, he might have considered my suggestion seriously but has since been cursing the NRD for its strict rules of not allowing name changes from the one Malaysians were born with, unless of course they weren't born in Malaysia like Maedeen Afzal, Alam Chaudhury, Bambang Agusalem or Kadir Kiram, or even Qasim Naim, wakakaka.

But do you know he has a twin (twin in denying his Chinapek genes, wakakaka) by the name of Ann Wan Seng. Ann was (is?) an ustaz and a member of Perkim national council.

Somehow, like his better known gene-denying twin, instead of doing his work for Islam and Perkim without insulting other races or religions, he just had to insult the non-Muslim non-Christian Chinese, presumably for the same self aggrandizing self interests. But he did it in a pitiful ignorant way, testifying to his abysmal ignorance on a topic he set out to insult, a typically dubious hallmark of his BTN-ized Boleh-ness but more of Bodoh-ness.

King Kong Know-nothing

Sometime back in 2010, he delivered a speech to deliberately insult the non-Muslim non-Christian Chinese, specifically the Buddhists, grandstanding in front of and ingratiating himself with the Malay-Muslims, by suggesting through his attacks against Chinese Buddhists that he wasn't a Chinese. His speech went as follows:

Bukan sekadar orang Cina menyembah agama Buddha. Mereka juga sembah berbagai dewa dan juga dewi. Mereka sembah Tua Pek Kong, mereka sembah Pau Kong, mereka sembah Datuk Kong dan barangkali mereka juga sembah King Kong.

Maka jadilah agama dia agama Kong Kali Kong.

Dan inilah keadaan yang sedia wujud itu di mana orang Cina sembah patung-patung ini kerana mereka yakin dan juga mereka percaya bahawa patung ini boleh mendatangkan kebaikan kepada mereka, boleh mendatangkan kesejahteraan kepada mereka, boleh memberikan keselamatan malahan boleh menjadikan mereka ini kaya-raya.

Needless to say, his ignorant religious bigotry drew the desired laughter, sniggers, giggles from his rapt audience who weren't aware of the religious fact that Buddhists, unlike many other religions specifically the Abrahamic religions, have no almighty creator god or gods.

Yes, Buddhists (and Jainists) don’t give two figs about god or gods because the way to Nirvana (end of their sufferings through zillions of rebirths) must be and can only be achieved through their own efforts. Thus God or gods would be completely irrelevant to their religious beliefs.

Once I asked an Indonesian friend, whose profession was coincidentally a government ideological specialist, somewhat like our BTN Goebbels-like clowns but minus the latter's ugly racist religious bent, how would Buddhism as one of Indonesia's 5 official religions reconcile with the state ideology of Pancasila, specifically Sila Pertama, which is Ketuhanan Yang Maha Esa.

He was stunned for a while, obviously indicating I was the first bastard who asked him that. There weren't all that many Buddhists in Indonesia and I suppose not one had bothered to ask this question which might have brought them to unfortunate official scrutiny for questioning the most important part of the state ideology of Pancasila.

Then having recovered his wits, he stalled for a while by saying "Wah, Pak Kaytee, ini memang persoalan yang baik sekali", which he hoped would preoccupy me as he swiftly gathered his thoughts and formulated an answer.

Anyway, we had a long discussion on the matter and I have to say he earned his specialist pay by weaving a rather clever way out of that trap I laid for him (mind you, not deliberately so).

Anyway, Ustaz Ann Wan Seng in his ignorance had mistakenly conflated Chinese folklore religion with Buddhism, indicating he was just a shallow superficial snake, but then why should we be surprised!

Just suppose for an instant that Ustaz Ann Wan Seng had been right about Chinese Buddhists worshipping patung (idols), and I then asked him about the black stone in the eastern corner of the Ka'aba?

Do you think he would graciously say “Touché”?

A wee aside before I return to the Kulim Wonder. The silly Kong Kali Kong phrase was adopted by two Chinese bloggers to disparage in particular DAP politicians, especially Lim Guan Eng. My erstwhile matey, sweetie Helen Ang had been one of them.

She was of course entitled, and still would be, to use that phrase in any way she wanted, but I know Helen's writing style so well and in fact admire it. I had even noticed a couple of years back when she started to change her writing style, but when I first read her use of Kong Kali Kong, I felt it was so discordant with her more sophisticated style and even her personality ..... as if she was someone else. I have to say I have been disappointed by her abuse of her own intrinsic writing style.

I believe she has dropped that silly phrase and for that I must say I am glad for her.

Okay, back to the Kulim Wonder and his alleged latest derogatory insult of Indians. He used the word keling which is deemed by Indians as racially offensive.

Now, you may ask why I employ the word 'alleged' when it's recorded on YouTube that he did use the keling word? Please read on and discover my 3 revelations on keling, which I gathered from my readings and personal experience as a Penangite.

Revelation No 1

Keling has an interesting and in fact rather proud pedigree, being a label inherited directed from the ancient Jainist maritime kingdom of Kalinga (today's Odisha or Orrisa and northern Andhra Pradesh).

The pedigree of Kalinga was enhanced by its powerful warrior king Kharvela, and became so attractively reputable that a 7th Century Indonesian kingdom was named Kalingga after the original Kalinga in India, and where it became a renowned centre for Buddhist scholars. It's most famous king was Ratu Sima.

Malays once referred to India as Benua Keling and in fact attempted to link the pedigree of Malay sultans to Indian princes, just as some of today's muftis want to trace Malay Islamic heritage back to the Prophet (pbuh).

Thus keling meant a person from Kalinga, one with a proud heritage. Of course with such a blue ribbon pedigree the word keling shouldn't be considered as derogatory, au contraire. But alas, that changed after 1963.

Revelation No 2

The change of the keling word from one with a proud pedigree to one racially offensive occurred with the publication of the 1963 edition of Cherita Jenaka or in today's ejaan (spelling) Cerita Jenaka.

Cerita Jenaka was a collection of 5 Perak stories based on material collected and written by Raja Haji Yahya and published in 1908. In 1963, the new publishers (Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur) decided to edit-simplify the 60-year old text (with its much harder reading) to meet modern tastes, one of which was to change the 12 mentions of orang keling in the Cerita into orang India. The editor was believed to be Mohd Taib Othman.

Apparently thereafter, the keling word was considered by the Indians as racially offensive.

We also need to note a second factor, that the major critics of the keling word have been Tamils who arrived in Malaya (not yet Malaysia) aeons after the Kalingas.

I wonder whether it's the Tamils' lack of identification with the proud pedigree of the northern Kalinga that they (the Tamils) consider the keling word as highly offensive?

Today, there still exist places with keling names such as Bukit Keling, Tanjung Keling, Kampung Keling, and of course the most famous of all, Penang's magnificent Mesjid Kapitan Keling, and the renaming of Pitt Street along which the mosque stands as Jalan Mesjid Kapitan Keling.

Kapitan Keling Mosque

There are many more places with keling names especially in Penang and Singapore, and even in Indonesia.

Will we have to change all of them into politically correct names?

Revelation No 3

Now to Penang - Even until today there is no other Penang Hokkien word to describe Indians other than kelinga.

Indian Penangites who speak perfect Penang Hokkien describe themselves as kelinga, implying they don't find the word offensive. Hey, could it be that they are the descendants of the original migrants from Kalinga, or wish to be associated with its proud history? wakakaka.

Penang Thaipusam
Indians and Chinese making votive offerings to Lord Subramaniam
along Jalan Dato Keramat 

As a Penangite I can assure you when I use the Penang Hokkien word (that is, when I speak in Penang Hokkien to other Penangites or people who can converse in Penang Hokkien) I don't have any abusive or insulting intent, and my Penang Indian friends would be able to confirm that.

Back to the Kulim Wonder. And that has been why I referred to his use of the keling word as an alleged derogatory insult of Indians, because my three revelations indicate the word was never meant to be derogatory but in fact possessed fine ancient pedigree from the powerful maritime nation of Kalinga which was at its prime around 200 BCE.

Kalinga Orissa sweetie

Unfortunately for Zulkifli Noordin, he (a) possesses a nasty religious-ethnocentric notoriety like the gene-deniers, (b) is not a Penangite (and Alhamdulillah for that - he was born in Baling) unlike sweet naive friendly and completely innocent kaytee wakakaka, and thus on these two counts he cannot be exempted for using the keling word.

But nonetheless let's examine what he had said with regards to the late Perumal Balasubramnaiam and his 1st SD on the death of Altantuyaa Shaariibuu:

“Ada badigol Baghdad ni percaya, entah keling mana bawa kitab Hindu dia, ‘saya ada tengok, saya ada bukti’. Keling ni bawa kitab Hindu sumpah, dia percaya."

(Translated by TMI: There are these Baghdad fools who believe this keling from nowhere who brings his Hindu holy book, saying, ‘I have seen, I have proof’. This keling brings and swears on his Hindu holy book, he believes)

I opine the Kulim Wonder was railing more against the Hindu Holy Book more than Indians per se. Well, f* him for that rather than the keling word.

And for someone who lives in a glass house he ought to be more careful about throwing stones.

The Tragedy of Hindraf

Yesterday Malaysiakini published my article Plagiarism cries, and the tragedy of Hindraf which is an improved and expanded version of my earlier post SARSI? 

I had written it as a letter to Malaysiakini but was delighted when Malaysiakini editor Steven Gan offered to publish it as a MKINI Comment article.

Incidentally my submission to Malaysiakini was prior to Uthayakumar announcing his intention to have HRP (his political party) participate in GE-13 in a number of Pakatan stronghold seats.

How much adverse effect will HRP participation have on Pakatan chances to retain those seats remains to be seen as some Indians have returned to BN's fold while some continue to support Pakatan, and some no doubt will support HRP.

But regardless of the percentage distribution of Indian voters among BN, Pakatan and Hindraf, there will undoubtedly be some adverse effect on Pakatan's chances. 

In a critical situation like GE-13 when we have already suspected the EC of being less than impartial, no matter how small HRP's effect will be on Pakatan, it will be most unhelpful to Pakatan's ability to hold on to the state of Selangor.

It's very possible that those Pakatan strongholds will be rendered by HRP into non-stronghold seats, so is it a coincidence that HRP wants to contest there? 

Ah Jib Gor
Aneh

When you examine the impossible odds of HRP winning any of those seat, not unlike a snowflake's chance in hell, you have to conclude that Uthayakumar like Darth Vader has gone over to the dark side of the Force, or if we want to be kind, not that it'll be complimentary at all, he has done a silly vindictive dummy spit*.

* Urban dictionary defines 'dummy spit' as an Australian term meaning to lose one's temper and/or indulge in a display of anger or frustration. The phrase is usually used of an adult, and the implication is that the outburst is childish, like a baby spitting out its dummy (pacifier) in a tantrum and refusing to be pacified.

But political dummy spits are costly indulgences (unless of course there is a generous benefactor or backer) so we are forced to think of the worst.

Thus, in my article published by Malaysiakini, Plagiarism cries, and the tragedy of Hindraf, my naughty suggestion ...

This leads us uncomfortably to the suspicion that the DAP has been an unwanted suitor, when Hindraf probably desires someone else. I hope I am wrong but when I read in Malaysiakini’s ‘Tough issues in store for second PM-Hindraf meet’ I see a totally different Hindraf reaction to its meeting with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak. Dare I say it has been coquettishly coy complete with fluttering eyelashes? 

ayoyo Aneh, do you like my fluttering eyelashes?

Ayoyo Aneh, do you like my fluttering eyelashes?

... appears rather prescient, not that my analysis requires the intellect of a rocket scientist.

I reckon my title 'The tragedy of Hindraf' has been appropriate because the man who accuses DAP Indian MPs and ADUNs of being mandores is now suspected of being the biggest mandore of all, a mandore of Najib.

Aiyoyo Aneh, do you like our help holding the lei up for Akkai?

And maybe that's why Indian Malaysians have been marginalized for so long.

Uthayakumar and Waythamoorthy, please stand aside and let the DAP look after the Indians as the party has promised in its Gelang Patah Declaration.

Related:
(1) The Toddy syndrome
(2) Malaysia's Economic Pariahs?
(3) Hated by Indra
(4) Marginalization of Indians - the true story
(5) SARSI?

Third Force or Conspired Kacau-ing Kutu Party?

Often we have heard of the Third Force in politics, with many not understanding what it means. Some have identified the voters (rakyat) as the Third Force, which I blogged before is patently incorrect. If the voters are to be considered as a force, they are then THE FORCE and not a 1st, 2nd or 3rd force.

In a democracy, theoretically the voters are the only real force, on whom the political parties and politicians rely on to vote them into power, which has been why there's been lots of pork barrelling in any run-up to an election.

Pork barrelling is not a haram-ish insulting word to Muslims but an English language political term meaning a politician with public funds undertake projects to benefit only the voters in a location (part of a constituency) he wants support from in an election, when the funds ought to have been used to benefit everyone in his or her constituency.

Khalid was chosen over Nalla because PKR was afraid of offending PAS

In Malaysia pork barrelling have usually been done by those on the government side (federal or state, especially the former). Remember the Ijok by-election when Samy Vellu boasted that he succeeded in, words to the effect, compressing 10 years of public work projects into a month's effort in Ijok. The money obviously must have come from projects for other localities. That's pork barrelling.

I recall during my kiddie days, prior to an election, the lanes in my village would be resurfaced and street lamps magically come back to life wakakaka.

While servicing street lamps wouldn't exactly be termed pork barrelling (unless completely new ones were set up as a project) my late mum's favourite reminder to house-visiting politicians would be for the unserviceable street lamp in front of my house to be working again, which usually involved just a change of bulb, but it had to take a pending election for the local BN ADUN to kick some behinds to get that done.

In mature democracy, where there exists a two-party system, like the UK which has Labour and Tory (Conservative), a Third Force would be the Liberal-Democrat, providing a 3rd choice for Britons voting in an election.

In Australia which has a similar political structure to the UK, with Labor and Coalition (Aus' Conservative) as the two main parties, the Greens have emerged in recent years to become the Third Force. Some have mentioned the Social Democrats as an earlier Third Force in Australia but others think not, because that party only existed in the Senate which in terms of real political power didn't count.

Alas, there's no Third Force in Malaysia, at least at federal level. At one stage, some thought Bro Haris Ibrahim & RPK's MCLM was the Third Force. That wasn't so because the function of MCLM then was just to help PKR get some (about 30) vetted candidates least likely to defect. PKR as the political taxi sapu suffered badly from and is still likely to suffer from defections of its politicians.

Much earlier in Malayan political history, just prior to 1969, there were three coalitions (sort of), namely, Perikatan (BN's predecessor comprising UMNO, MCA and MIC), Barisan Socialis or Socialist Front (comprising Parti Rakyat and Labour Party) and a Third Force made up of a loose pact involving Gerakan, DAP, PPP and even (via an understanding) PAS.

The understanding among the loose pact was not to form a three corner fight in any constituency, which with the Socialist Front boycotting the 1969 election, proved to be so successful that Perikatan was demolished in  Penang and near demolished in Selangor and Perak. It was the 1st Malaysian tsunami, minus the help of a then non-existent Hindraf or a very young Anwar Ibrahim.

Gerakan swept MCA out of Penang in 1969
It was swept out by DAP in 2008

But even then, we couldn't consider the loose pact of Gerakan, DAP , PPP and PAS as the Third Force because with the Socialist Front boycotting the election, it became the 2nd force, thus we have never enjoyed a Third Force.

Small parties in regional localities like SAPP, SNAP, etc, cannot be considered as a Third Force.

Mind you, in every election we get the usual KKK (konspired kacau-ing kutu) parties or candidates participating under the instructions of (usually) BN to slice off votes from the competition. Currently, the Human Rights Party (HRP) of Uthayakumar is viewed (correctly or otherwise) by Pakatan as an UMNO-sponsored or BN-friendly KKK party to split up the Indian votes, supposedly to disadvantage Pakatan.

HRP will act only as a spoiler party because it won't have a ghost of a chance of winning any seat. Thus many suspect it's out to bugger a 5-year old Pakatan for the sins of a 50-year old UMNO & MIC.

They sure like to attack 5-year old Pakatan
for the 50 year old 'sins' of UMNO & MIC

I just wonder, hmmm, looking at Gelang Patah's voters racial breakdown where we have 33.85% Malays, 54.29% Chinese, 11.69% Indians and 0.17% Others, whether a KKK 'insertion' can affect Lim Kit Siang's chances there?

If 20% of Malays, 20% of Chinese (c'mon, surely the MCA can at least manage this much) and 10% of Indians (hint, hint, hint, wakakaka) vote for BN, Uncle Lim will be in trouble - oh, how rapt Dr Mahathir will be then, wakakaka.

Let's see what other cockroaches will now emerge to kacau Pakatan.

wakakaka

SARSI?

Lim Kit Siang announced in the DAP Gelang Patah Declaration a 14-point plan specifically for the uplifting of Indian Malaysians. It's a good plan though many haven't been happy with such an ethnocentric scheme when the Indian problems, and let's not deny there isn't - au contraire, there's many - should be remedied as part of a plan for every Malaysian, on a need basis and not along ethnic lines.

Mind you though, Indians face the problem of statelessness more than any other ethnic groups.

DAP announcing its 14-point plan for Indians

But DAP's 14-point plan was deemed not good enough by Uthayakuamr.

Ironically, the current proponents of the so-called Hindraf 18-point demands have been the very people who criticised the NEP, UMNO's affirmative action program that's exclusive to bumiputera Malays.

Instead of asking for the policies, plans and programs of the NEP to be tailored along need (rather than race) basis and thus to include all needy Malaysians, most of whom would be Indians, the proponents of the Hindraf 18-point demands decided to jump on the ethnocentric bandwagon, with an unrealistic expectation that the government will issue an exclusive-to-Indian NEP in accordance with its 18-point demands.

Some of the 18-point demands are actually good but as usual, spoilt by unrealistic and impractical demands in others. I wonder whether the ulterior aim has been to ask for the sky and happily expect and accept a much lower offer. But if that's the case, then may I say that the future of Indian Malaysians shouldn't be subjected to whimsical poker-style bluff by upping the ante to heights of sheer stupidity - eg. ask for 100 billion, and hope (and will be happy) to receive 100 million.

They sure like to attack 5-year old Pakatan
for the 50 year old 'sins' of UMNO & MIC

Let's quickly run through a few of the so-called Hindraf 18-point demands to examine what I consider to be totally and absolutely impractical, unrealistic and really, preposterous:

In an earlier post Marginalization of Indians - the true story I commented on one, its Point No 18. Let's pick that up again and see what I had written:

(18) A minimum of 20 Opposition members of Parliament are elected exclusively by the Indian Community to represent their interest at the highest political level and also as a Parliamentary Democracy check and balance and the same is safeguarded and entrenched into the Federal Constitution and which is to be increased proportionately with the increase in Parliamentary seats.

What kind of democracy or bullsh*t system will that be? I can only think of one word - racist!

Instead of attempting to overcome the evil that is racism, which no one would deny is prevalent in Malaysia especially the worst kind, institutionalized racism, Hindraf has instead jumped on the racism bandwagon by attempting to carve for itself and the people it claims to represent a cozy racist ghetto ...

... and I wouldn't be surprised it expects its own members to play the role of the so-called minimum 20 Opposition MPs.

That's what I mean by preposterous or monstrously absurd or harebrained stupidity. Tell me, just how will that demand help the marginalized Indians? To me, it seems the proposer wants to have his exclusive 20 MPs (no doubt including himself) to lord over and perhaps play the fantasized role of a Bollywood Puratchi Thalaivar, and no doubt to use his exclusive parliamentary leverage to become kingmaker.

MGR as Puratchi Thalaivar

More importantly, how does the proposer expect such a demand to be met, indicating a Kafkaesque mindset that's totally unhelpful or contributory to the real needs of the marginalized Indians.

It's MIC all over again. He might as well ask for the state of, say, Perlis, to become an autonomous state exclusively for Indian residents where he can be its Chief Minister of SARSI (Special Autonomous Region Specifically for Indians).

MUST I COME?
wakakaka

Then, Point No 3 – Call for affirmative action for all poor Malaysians especially the ethnic minority Indians. A Protection of Ethnic Minority Malaysian Indian Act 2007 to be passed to secure and safeguard the interests of the poor and defenceless ethnic Indian Minority Community.

The 'call for affirmative action for all poor Malaysians' is good, but why add on 'especially the ethnic minority Indians'?

Poor Malaysians are poor Malaysians, regardless of whether they are Indians, Thai, Ibans, Kadazans, etc, or gasp Malays and Chinese.

In other words, I would be reasonable in suspecting Point No 3 doesn't give a fig about the non-Indian poor, but which was added just to sound inclusive.

Uthayakumar in a recent letter to Malaysiakini (and without fail) criticized many of his mandore-rish DAP 14-point blueprint for Indians for its lack of specifics, yet in its demand for a Protection of Ethnic Minority Malaysian Indian Act 2007 to be passed to secure and safeguard the interests of the poor and defenceless ethnic Indian Minority Community, what were/are the specifics of this proposed Act?

Perhaps a SARSI with him as CM?

Point No 4 – on Tamil schools, air-conditioned libraries, non-Muslim religious classes, pocket money for pupils [okay lah, though I strongly disagree with religious classes – and are those to be on Hinduism only?], then demanding ‘A RM 100 billion grant @ 20 billion per year with effect from 2007 to be allocated to Indians under the 9^th Malaysia Plan …..’

Can anyone tell me whether any government (let alone BN) will ever approve such a grant?

Point No 6 on business for Indians also demands another RM 100 billion, which I suspect attempts to imitate the NEP investment schemes for Malays. I won’t commend on this – readers, please do.

Point No 7 – 20% of the Government top most level postings (Secretaries General), Middle level Management (Directors) and management level postings, and the same for the Private Sectors, and positions of District Officers, Foreign and Diplomatic Service positions, civil service positions are reserved for Indians for the next 15 years.

Laksamana Muda (Tan Sri) Thanabalasingam
1st Malaysian Naval Chief

Hmmm, what percentage of Malaysia's population would Indians comprise?

20%?

And assuming such a preposterous demand is acceded to, how will the government ensure 20% of top most level positions in the Private Sector could be reserved exclusively for Indians?

Why not ask for a SARSI and be assured of 100% reservation of all public and private positons for only Indians?

wakakaka

Point No 10 – 15,000 Indian temples were demolished in last 50 years, and which shall be compensated at RM 10 million per temple.

Wow, I wasn't aware that the number of Indian temples demolished by government actions totalled 15,000.

I just wonder what would constitute such a temple? I ask only because I'm visualizing a Hindu or Indian temple as the one in my kampung of Ayer Itam village, where my family prayed at when I was a kid, namely, the Arulmigu Sri Ruthra Veeramuthu Maha Mariamman Devasthanam, or more familiarly known as the Ayer Itam Mahamariamman Temple.

Mahamariammam Temple, Ayer Itam

And the total compensation cost, presumably to be handed over by the government to the proposer of Point No 10, is only a mere trifling RM 150 billion (yes, billion and not million).

Would an UMNO, Pakatan or even a Hindraf government ever consider giving RM 150 BILLION away as compensation for temples which were demolished by the authority?

The demands are so insanely nonsensical that I don't believe it's necessary to continue commenting on the other 18 point demands. where good points were tragically contaminated by crazy ones.

But tell me, will the so-called Hindraf and its preposterous demands serve Indian Malaysians in the way they should be, and would be as per the DAP's 14 point Gelang Patah Declaration?

Tun Razak's NEP was meant principally to serve the Malays until the economic gap between them and the generally better off Chinese can be closed. The policy has been bastardized to enrich an elite because of someone's humongous chip on his shoulder (I had blogged on this before so won't repeat the same story). The deliberate change in track for the NEP was a gross betrayal of the Malays.

The so-called Hindraf 18-point demand seems to be heading in that same direction, maybe without even its proponents being aware of it.

Hindraf came about because of three principal issues, namely, the brutal, wanton and horrendously insensitive destruction of Hindu temples by an unfriendly uncaring Muslim-dominated authority, the unexplained, unaccountable and horrific deaths in custody of just too many Indians, and the general poverty and hopeless situation (eg. statelessness) among many Indians.

The first public emergence of Hindraf on its magnificent rally was so inspiring that I attempted a poem 25 November 2007 to show my admiration and support.  

Alas, after that, fame and admiration for Uthayakumar endowed him instead with hubris and pomposity, which failed him as he began to antagonise his natural supporters and sympathizers instead of consolidating on that won support for his cause for Indians.

In his arrogant belief he could go it alone, he betrayed himself and in that process, by alienating the very people who could help, betrayed his cause.

It's common wisdom that when a race is oppressed, you will find at the heart of that oppression its very own people playing significant roles in the betrayal. The Chinese were betrayed by Chinese in oppressions by Mongolians, Manchurians, Western powers, Japanese etc, and likewise with the Malays.

The only difference between Wathamoorthy and his elder brother Uthayakumar is that the former adopts a softer approach as opposed to his brother's aggressive style inclusive of vilifications at particularly DAP Indian MPs and ADUNs. But both don't serve Indians well in their unreasonable demands.

What now, Waythamoorthy?

What good will asking Indians to boycott the elections do for their well-being? Remember the Socialist Front who boycotted the 1969 elections? Where are they now?

Incidentally, note that I mentioned 'so-called Hindraf' because we must ask: who is Hindraf? Or better still, who were the leaders of Hindraf?

There were five of them, namely, V Ganabatirao, K Vasantha Kumar, R Kenghadharan, M Manoharan and P Uthayakumar.

M Manoharan
admittedly at times a bit of a loose cannon
wakakaka, but his heart is in the right place

V Ganabatirao and M Manoharan are DAP members, where the latter was elected, while in ISA detention, as an ADUN for Selangor.

I'm not sure what political roles are K Vasantha Kumar and R Kenghadharan currently playing.

Thus, can Uthayakumar and his younger brother Wathamoorthy truly claim to still represent the original Hindraf?

Of course SARSI is a cheeky fantasy, a kaytee's jab at their preposterous demands and the inane absurdity of their 18-point campaign, but gasp I wonder whether they hope to replace MIC in BN? Does that explain Uthayakumar's particular obsession in vilifying DAP Indian MPs and ADUNs as mandores?

Omigosh, could they actually be considering becoming UMNO's mandores? wakakaka.

Dr Rama Deputy CM Penang
chief target of Uthayakumar's mandore-attacks
Uthy jealous kah? wakakaka

In the meantime, sweetie Kasthuri Rani Patto, daughter of one of DAP's luminaries P Patto, is DAP's candidate for Bukit Gasing, Petaling Jaya. Eat your hearts out, Wathamoorthy and Uthayakumar.

Kasthuri Rani Patto
to carry on her dad's legendary service

Teng Chang Yeow fears voters of Padang Kota Lama

One thing is clear - Lim Chong Eu's Gerakan Party is no more; let me say that again with some sadness, the Gerakan Party with its 'Satu Hati' spirit conceived in 1969 is no more.

And how do I know that?

Penang state BN chief Teng Chang Yeow (also from Gerakan Party) refuses to meet Lim Guan Eng in Padang Kota Lama, a state constituency that Teng had won and represented for THREE TERMS prior to March 2008.

He dares not stand in his old stronghold where he had the voters' support for THREE TERMS.

Why?

Because he knows he has lost those voters' confidence in him as their representative. Penangites know Gerakan and MCA politicians have run out of their use-by dates.

Penangites have eliminated Gerakan Party on 05 March 2008 in the way they eliminated Wong Pow Nee's MCA on 10 May 1969, ironically in favour of a then Penang Gerakan Party under Lim Chong Eu.

Gerakan Party's slogan today is no longer 'Satu Hati' but 'Ta'ada Hati' - am being polite here, wakakaka.

Teng should honourably withdraw and concede defeat.