Who is a whistleblower?

The dictionary says a whistleblower is a person who informs on another or makes public disclosure of corruption or wrongdoing. And it's by this meaning that most Malaysians understand the term - more of this in a while.

Another word or term for whistleblower could be 'snitch' or 'informer' but these two terms carry slimy sleazy connotations so the famous American civic activist Ralph Nader coined the word 'whistleblower', a term he adopted from the soccer game where the referee blows a whistle on observation of any infringement of the rules.

So of late, in the last couple of years or so, we in Malaysia have heard of this term being bandied around freely, flamboyantly but, wakakaka, flimsily just like 'democracy', 'freedom of association' and 'freedom of speech', but with most of its users not knowing what all those four terms really mean.

For example, was Anwar Ibrahim's 916 attempted coup d'etat scheme a true manifestation and example of 'democracy'?

Have Lee Lam Thye, Michelle Yeoh and RPK been allowed their rights to 'freedom of association', something that their abusive detractors themselves cried out for?

As for 'freedom of speech (expression)', it's preferable we don't go there where there have been lamentable violations of this much touted, much abused but alas, least respected 'right' on both sides of the fence, the last being Nathaniel Tan's dirty piece of nasty propaganda shit against Lim Guan Eng - see my letter to Malaysiakini titled Nathaniel Tan’s cherry-picking and missing the elephant in the room - in which he exercised and enjoyed his 'freedom of expression', and granted, I too did so in my rebuttal of his half-truths, hidden truths and 'cherry-picked' truths, wakakaka.

Nathaniel Tan & his Mahathir-elephant  he couldn't or didn't want to see

Of course, as in everything, too much rights and very little responsibility would not be good for a nation, community, political party, etc. Too much sugar (sweetness) is bad for us, thus too much freedom (without commensurate social-communal responsibility) is a likewise bad affliction (and habit).

We cannot allow democratic 'freedoms' to launch into their excessiveness when would then invariably promote anarchy and its ensuing chaos.

Hence, one also can't argue on 'freedom of association' to hobnob with a known terrorist like Osama bin Laden or members of the Kiram family, wakakaka.

And one can't use 'freedom of speech' to incite racial violence'.

In a political party, a member can't exploit the concept of 'democracy' to do what he/she likes, like openly defying or opposing a party policy stand, unless of course he/she is prepared to leave or be expelled from or be suspended by one's own party.

In political parties, the issue of 'conscience vote' only applies to matters affecting one's conscience, eg. capital punishment, gay marriages, etc, but definitely not on administrative-governance issues, eg, recognizing the State of Israel, opposing or supporting TPPA, GST, land reclamation policy, etc.

Thus there are limits to any excessiveness in exercising one's freedoms and rights, where there must be commensurate responsibility when doing so.

Back to whistleblowing, in Australian legislation pertaining to corporations (as would be applicable to an entity like 1MDB), the definition of a whistleblower goes beyond merely informing on another or making public disclosure of corruption or wrongdoing.

The whistleblower on an institution has to be an insider, that is an officer or staff member of, or in some cases, a contractor involved with the institution on which he/she is whistleblowing.

Secondly, the issue must be one of wrong doing (against the law or an Act) and of corruption.

Thirdly, the whistleblowing must be made in 'good faith' - more of this shortly.

Under such a definition, Major Zaidi in making a police report about the EC's very delible indelible ink was NOT a whistleblower because he was an air force officer but not one in the EC. He was thus an unhappy dissatisfied voter who reported on an allegedly corrupt matter (I use the term 'corrupt' in its widest sense)

By the by, on that ink matter, three air force personnel made police reports but only two were court-martialed. Why?

That's because the two who were court-martialed were those who, on top of making the police reports (their rights as a voter), went beyond that by making press comments (or comments to the press) which was definitely NOT their right as members of the Armed Forces - the 3rd person did not make any comment to the press and was not court-martialed.

Armed Forces personnel are legally bound to obey certain restrictions as laid down by the law and instructions - these are Malaysian laws provided for under the Malaysian Constitution, not some quirky dictatorial laws laid down by some generals. Also see my letter to Malaysiakini titled Hang on a ding-dong minute, my dear Gen Blimp.

When armed forces officers violate rules, laws and instructions, they are not 'heroes' but violators of rules, laws and instructions. I hope sweetie Maria Chin Abdullah read this.

And neither is Rafizi Ramli a whistleblower in exposing this and that, though to be fair to Rafizi, he recognizes this issue when he said, as reported by FMT's Rafizi: I never asked to be protected as a whistleblower:

“But he (Nazri) also needs to recognise that I’m not a whistleblower per se. It’s the people behind me, your faceless citizens and your faceless officers who continue to take risks and provide information that allows people like me to serve the public by speaking out on their behalf.”

But I suspect (not 100% sure) Rafizi might have been incorrect in saying that, for example, in Australia there is a clause in the Whistleblowers Act that allows the whistleblower to go directly to the media because the ASIC (Australian Securities & Investment Commission) Guidance for whistleblowers sets several criteria to ensure they get the necessary protection, relevant extracts as follows:

2. Who the disclosure is made to

You must make your disclosure to: the company’s auditor, or a member of the company’s audit team a director, secretary or senior manager of the company a person authorised by the company to receive whistleblower disclosures, or ASIC.

Note the bold word 'must'.

I suspect this could be because ASIC expects a whistleblower to make an 'insider' report in good faith.

Charging directly to the media would smell badly of bad faith, probably in wanting to score publicity and media points for one's own agenda. Note following criterion.

5. Made in good faith

You must make the disclosure in ‘good faith’. That means your disclosure must be honest and genuine, and motivated by wanting to disclose misconduct. Your disclosure will not be ‘in good faith’ if you have any other secret or unrelated reason for making the disclosure.

But Rafizi Ramli is NOT a whistleblower just as Major Zaidi never was, but unlike Major Zaidi who was a military officer then bound by military rules, regulations and instructions, Rafizi Ramli is not as he is a politician and can go ahead and make all the press statements but should not expect whistleblowers protection, nor would he be exempt from libellous actions if he recklessly and unjustifiably slanders anyone.

To reiterate, there are limits to any excessiveness in exercising one's freedoms and rights, where there must be commensurate responsibility when doing so.

Malaysian politics - Talk softly, talk loudly, talk nastily!

In the good old days nasty slanderous political campaigns usually went underground and then emerged as either khabar angin (rumours) or surat layang (poison-pen letters or sometimes circulars packed with poisonous slanders), which could either be facts or nasty fabrications.

According to Khoo Boo Teik in his book 'Beyond Mahathir: Malaysian Politics and its Discontents', the favourite topics of the political surat layang were corruption and sexual misconduct among politicians, and mostly UMNO ones at that.

Since a good part of the art of UMNO's in-fighting was conducted as wayang kulit (shadow play), the typically surat layang made a stealthy appearance before or during UMNO general assembly, party elections and the general elections. [...]

Not all surat layang were, reportedly, entirely false in their contents. Yet the surant lyang as a genre of calumny and character assassination was too indirect to be an effective weapon - unless the misconduct it exposed was too widely known and too serious to be overlooked.

Since the 1980's, because of the ineffectiveness of anonymous vilification, the slanderous rumours and libellous surat layang were sometimes overshadowed by the emergence of privately published but openly marketed books whose authors did hatchet jobs on selected targets. An infamous example of these books was 'Challenge: Siapa Lawan Siapa?' that vilified Musa Hitam before the 1987 UMNO part election.

Another example of poisonous and slanderous fabrications had been the baseless shameless unscrupulous lie by an UMNO man in a Penang UMNO division that Lim Guan Eng's teenage son had somehow molested an American Chinese who was 15,000 km away across two big oceans, someone whom he had never met and who had never even visited Malaysia.

What a slug, one which must have crawled out from beneath the slimy sleazy shitty murk of a cesspool!

As Khoo Boo Teik mentioned in his book, for the slanders to be more effective, it would come in the form of books rather than mere surat layang, eg. '50 Dalil Mengapa Anwar Ibrahim Tidak Boleh Jadi PM' which was published in mid 1998 to slander kau kau then-DPM Anwar Ibrahim who was subsequently ejected out from UMNO.

Presumably that '50 Dalil' book was to prepare UMNO party members for his eventual ouster. The World Socialist Web Site published (extracts only):

... at the UMNO national conference held in June. During the lead-up to the meeting, Anwar and his supporters mounted a thinly-veiled challenge to Mahathir in the guise of an attack on nepotism and cronyism in UMNO and the government. Anwar pointedly referred to the resignation of Indonesian president Suharto in May, warning that if Malaysia did not counter corruption then, as in neighbouring Indonesia, "the people may demand changes".

Mahathir used the conference to answer his critics and effectively sidelined Anwar by inserting former finance minister Daim Zainuddin, a close political ally, into a key economic post as Minister of Special Functions. Daim, a millionaire businessman in his own right, was closely involved in the Fleet Group, a holding company for UMNO's extensive business operations.

In the manner of previous UMNO leadership struggles, a campaign against Anwar was set in train with the distribution to conference delegates of the book '50 Reasons Why Anwar Cannot Be Prime Minister', containing all the unsubstantiated accusations which form the basis of the present criminal charges. Whether true or false, these allegations were simply a political cover for the repudiation of Anwar's policies and a fundamental shift of economic direction.

Of course the World Socialist Web Site, being of a socialist bend (wakakaka) wasn't all that keen on a capitalistic conservative like Anwar Ibrahim, so it also stated:

Even after he was sacked and then expelled from UMNO, Anwar only very belatedly and reluctantly began to call anti-government protests.

For two weeks he confined his political activity to meetings of supporters at his home in Kuala Lumpur and repeatedly put off plans for a series of rallies around the country.

[kt note: I suspect he was hoping to be recalled to the Mothership, wakakaka]

Only when it became apparent that no compromise with Mahathir was possible did he tentatively launch a "reform" campaign that culminated in a demonstration of some 50,000 people in Kuala Lumpur on September 20--the day before his arrest.

Like all bourgeois politicians who seek to exploit the aspirations of working people for their own political ends, Anwar feared that the protests and demonstrations would trigger a broader movement of the working class and undermine the stability of Malaysian capitalism as a whole. The economic breakdown has already fueled widespread discontent among workers, small farmers, traders and sections of the middle class who have been hit by a doubling of the jobless rate and rising prices.

Anwar's credentials as a "democrat" are being bolstered by an array of opposition political parties, non-government organisations and human rights groups. Last weekend two new opposition coalitions were formed--an Islamic-based coalition, Majlis Gerakan Keadilan Rakyat (MGKR), and Gagasan Demokrasi Raykat, comprising 18 different parties and organisations.

The three main opposition parties--the ethnic-Chinese based Democratic Action Party (DAP), Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), which supports the formation of an Islamic state, and Parti Rakyat Malaysia--have all lined up behind Anwar.

The character of these coalitions is revealed by their uncritical adoption of Mahathir's former right-hand man Anwar and his wife Wan Azizah as de-facto leaders of the opposition movement. Throughout his 17 years in UMNO, Anwar has never been anything but a loyal defender of all of the government's policies, including its repeated abuse of basic democratic rights. He joined UMNO in 1982 at the invitation of Mahathir, who helped him to rise rapidly up the ranks to become deputy leader in 1993 and heir apparent to the 73-year-old prime minister.

[kt note: that has been one of my blogging burdens, namely, to remind people of the deformasi (not reformasi) of the politics of this man and his inner 'coterie', and which has been vindicated by, just 2 examples, Anwar's shameless 916 frogology and Kajang manoeuvre - both arrogant insults to the voters]

Sometimes the campaign of poisonous slander would be delivered in open campaigns but by 'remote' proxies (which BTW is still being used today, wakakaka).

Then Statutory Declarations (Stat Decs or SDs) become commonplace in lieu of 'surat layang' or poisonous books, after the existence of this legal document was first brought to our attention by RPK who claimed he was provided information allegedly okay-ed by the aide of Ku Li and also of Anwar. Both were coincidentally much touted much rumoured competitors to Najib for the DPM's post.

The main target of incriminatory Stat Decs seems so far to be Najib Razak, wakakaka, though recently one was offered as a denial of alleged questionable sale of a Penang bungalow, wakakaka again.

Then came Facebook and blogs, wakakaka.

But now it seems the vogue medium, the 'in-thing', is debates.

Last year we had expectations of a debate between Mahathir and Najib but the latter wisely ignored his former mentor's challenge. Obviously one would only accept a challenge to debate when one believes one can have a good chance of winning or at least gaining favourable publicity, wakakaka, so otherwise why even bother!

Now, we have been inundated with promises of debates between HRH TMJ and leng chai KJ on soccer, Tony Pua and Arul Kanda on 1MDB, Rahman Dahlan and Lim Guan Eng on governance (of land) in Penang, and Dr Zakir Naik and Penang DCM II Dr Ramasamy on comparative religion.

In the last case, what Malay Mail Online has reported seems to show that the Mumbai-based Islamic TV evangelist or rather his supporters takut ler (scared), wakakaka.

Read this MM Online report:

Indian Muslim preacher Dr Zakir Naik is prepared to accept Dr P. Ramasamy’s debate challenge on condition that the Penang Deputy Chief Minister II gets at least 20,000 people to attend his own (Rama's) ceramah first, organisers said.

Abu Shariz Sarajun Hoda, programme director for Dr Naik’s Tour to Malaysia 2016, also told Malay-language broadsheet Utusan Malaysia that he did not want Ramasamy to debate with the Mumbai-based televangelist just to be popular.

“If Ramasamy wants to debate with Dr Zakir, at the very least, he needs to be at the same level as his proteges first.

“If he wants to debate, Dr Zakir has six proteges in Malaysia. Maybe he can challenge them first and see if there are issues which can be brought forth and defended, only then can he think about debating our teacher,” Abu Shariz was quoted saying.

Aiyoyo and to boot, very karn-neen-nare ler, Abu Shariz is very Tionghua in his arguments, pushing the ancient Chinese kungfu insulting and play-safe formula of "You're not my sifu's equal lah, so tiu nei, you go fight with his disciples first before talking big. Tiu!" 

"And see whether you can even get nor-baan lang to attend your own ceramah before you smell my sifu's toes. Tiu."

Wakakaka.

But I wonder what medium will be next for political stoushing, but excluding twittering because our IGP has already monopolized that, wakakaka.

Nazri Aziz's WTF(?) on Dr Zakir Naik

More than five years ago I posted what I had thought of Minister Nazri Aziz. In that post I wrote (just a small extract):

To echo Sakmongkol’s words, Looks like "... Najib needs more people like him [Nazri] in the Cabinet after all. If Najib is wimpish he needs others to provide him with the sinews to his bones."

We may not like Nazri for some of his statements, but I have to salute him for standing up to bigoted demagogues like Jabba the Hutt and Awang Selamat.

If you want to know more about what I had written, please read Nazri Aziz - PM's Chief Head Kicker.

Minister Nazri once again proved my point in the Star Online today (article follows) in which he gave his views on Dr Zakir Naik.

Nazir questioned the need to import a bloke like Zakir when Malaysian Muslims already have their own scholars.

Because Nazir would only say stuff that he believes the PM stood for or has been so told by the PM, I suspect Najib might have the same opinion that Nazri has expressed about Dr Zakir Naik.

But regardless of Najib's opinion, good on you Minister, you're succinctly spot on in your views.

********

From the Star Online:

Nazri Aziz questions need to invite Dr Zarik Naik for talk

PETALING JAYA: Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz questioned the need to invite controversial preacher Dr Zakir Naik to give talks noting that Malaysians have their own Islamic scholars to refer to.

Nazri said while those who attended Dr Zakir’s speeches described them as being mild, it should be no surprise that those of other faiths would not feel the same.

He said it was all about perception and this perception was based on what Dr Zakir had done in the past, especially when he had talked about other religions.

"I think if you want to talk about religion, then just talk about your own.

"When making comparisons between religions, you are bound to conclude that your religion is better," Nazri was quoted in an interview with a news portal.

Nazri said Muslims in Malaysia "did not need to be told that they are on the right track" as Malaysians were not new to Islam and had their own Islamic scholars to refer to.

It was not a question of freedom of speech, he said, but of ensuring that Malaysians were not being unnecessarily divided by someone who has no ties to Malaysia.

Nazri said that Dr Zakir would give his speeches and leave the country while Malaysians would be left behind with all the problems that he may have caused.

Dr Zakir created controversy after he was invited to talk at Universiti Teknikal Malaysia in Malacca on the topic of Similarities between Hinduism and Islam.

The police had banned him from the talk but Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi later allowed Dr Zakir's talk after changes were made to the topic of the talk.

Deposing Najib - what's & where's the plan after?

Malaysiakini - 'Focus on ousting Najib, not on his successor'

It's more important to is ensure current premier Najib Abdul Razak resigns from his post rather than pondering on his replacement, said PKR information chief Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh.

He explained that Pakatan Harapan’s main agenda is to save the country before it gets ‘destroyed’ under the Najib administration.

“Basically, what’s important now is that we ensure Najib resigns as prime minister. The question of who will be the prime minister after him should not be the main topic of discussion.

There is no bigger bullshit than such an approach, because without an agreed replacement for Najib, the ensuing strife on the 'morning after' will be far worse, far more chaotic, and with far far greater consequences.

This has been exactly what happened in Libya (Obama just confessed/admitted to the US and Anglo-French culpability in lack of planning for the Libyan morning after'), which has been far worse than what happened in the US invasion and occupation of Iraq.

(CNN) President Barack Obama said the worst mistake of his presidency was a lack of planning for the aftermath of the 2011 toppling of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

"Probably failing to plan for the day after what I think was the right thing to do in intervening in Libya," he said in a Fox News interview aired Sunday.

This is not the first time in recent weeks he has talked about Libya and the NATO-led intervention which resulted in Gadhafi's death in October of that year, months after NATO first intervened.

Libya today is in a state of anarchy with IS gaining significant footholds in that country.

Further: As U.N. Special Representative Martin Kobler told the Security Council on March 2, the overwhelming majority of Libyans want a unified, democratic government, but have been betrayed by small factions pursuing narrow political interests.

This is a problem that has plagued the transition from its beginning. Meanwhile, as Kobler warned, ISIS "takes advantage of the political and security vacuum and is expanding to the west, east and to the south. While Libya's financial resources are dwindling, the criminal networks, including human smuggling, are booming."

Malaysia too will be in a state of anarchy when Najib is deposed without an agreed person to swiftly step into his shoes to run the country without any chasmic break in governance.

I dare say IS or/and its local affiliates may ape their Libyan counterparts in exploiting such a chasmic interruption between the deposing of Najib and the agreement to his replacement.

But I'm sure Mahathir already has someone in mind, and which most of us do NOT want as it'll be more of the same 'Mahathirism', wakakaka, but Pakatan as usual is vacillating, procrastinating and playing with their dicks (via their pockets).

Such has been the lamentable hallmark of a leadership-less and mutually avaricious Pakatan (whether Pakatan Rakyat or Pakatan Harapan) because it hasn't ever have the balls to even determine its shadow cabinet. On this it dared/dares not because it fears the coalition will split asunder with avaricious claims and counter claims amongst the so-called partners.

But the component members are merely sweeping unresolved vital matters under the carpet, hoping against impossible hope these matters will magically disappear. But a nasty 'Libya' awaits them, that is, if they ever win the general elections. Their immediate greed has been so great as to override commonsense and their strategic thinking

Any coalition or party in opposition which does not have a shadow cabinet (a proper one, not f**king groups of multiple committees to avoid the real pressing issue) is not worth its salt and does NOT deserve to be an alternative government.

Unless this so-called 'Save Malaysia' coalition nominates an alternative PM, f**k it as it doesn't deserve to be the alternative government. It will only bring upon Malaysia the horrendous drastic situation that Libya currently suffers from.

My new post at Kongsamkok

What do we have on the news today?

The same old stuff about Mahathir and his pandai lupa stories, Indians getting frustrated (again) by the government allowing Dr Zakir Naik to preach, Lim GE and BN in perpetual tussle (for Gerakan, it's do or die - they must kacau LGE no matter what as the alternative for them means they would be accepting political demise and oblivion), 1MDB .....

..... Sarawak state elections where we see how the Melanau, a minority in the state as they might be (only 124,000 population and 5th in size in the state after the Iban, Chinese, Malay and Bidayuh) again dominates the state politics and power since the days of Abdul Rahman Ya'kub, and yes, TMJ challenging leng chai KJ to a debate on soccer, wakakaka.

Why not read my new post at KTemoc Kongsamkok titled The day I first saw my mum cry. It's more than just my late mum - it's about old Penang, Chinese beliefs, politics of yester-years, etc and yes, a lembu.

Art of insulting other religions

Dr Zakir Naik is an Indian who was born in Mumbai. Mumbai is in India so that makes him an Indian.

However, he is a Muslim preacher and is said by Hindus in both India and Malaysia as one who would regularly insult Hinduism. Hence we read of MIC and Indian NGOs in Malaysia protesting against his current preaching tour of Malaysia.

On 04 Oct 2012, Times of India reported:

BUBANESWAR: Social outfit Bharat Raksha Manch on Wednesday lodged a complaint against a religious leader for posting derogatory remarks against Hindu deities on social networking sites - Facebook and Youtube.

The Manch's national secretary, Anil Dhir, filed the complaint at Kharavel Nagar police station alleging that the leader in question Dr Zakir Naik, head of a Mumbai-based religious research foundation, questioned the existence of Lord Ganesh and Shankar.

"If you prove that Sri Ganesh is Bhagwan, then I will eat the Prasad, If your Bhagwan cannot recognize his own son (Ganesh), how will he recognize me if I fall into difficulties - were the remarks, purportedly made by Naik," Dhir said. "He has hurt the sentiments of scores of Hindus. His inflammatory posts should be blocked and he be arrested," Dhir added.

No Doctor, I believe there is none
But strangely, in the Bible, Tripitaka and Mahabharata there is a corresponding lack of sign of Islam

Here in Malaysia, Ann Wan Seng is a Chinese and like Dr Zakir Naik is a Muslim preacher. He is also a member of Perkim national council.

Instead of doing his work for Islam and Perkim without insulting other races or religions, he just had to insult the non-Muslim Chinese. But alas for him, 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.

Sometime back in 2010, he delivered a speech to deliberately insult the Chinese Buddhists, grandstanding in front of and ingratiating himself with the Malay-Muslims, perhaps by suggesting through his attacks against Chinese Buddhists that he wasn't a Chinese. Now, didn't he remind you of someone, a 'twin' perhaps, who's always at pain to remind Malay-Muslims he is one too, wakakaka.

Ann Wan Seng's 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 have no almighty creator god or gods.

Yes, Buddhists (like Jainists) don’t give two figs about god or gods because their way to their belief in Nirvana must be and can only be achieved through their own efforts - no god or gods or angel or anyone can help them save their own efforts.

Thus god or gods are completely irrelevant to their religious beliefs.

But that's the pathetic pitiful pariah-ish ignorance of Ann Wan Seng.

Anyway, I can't understand why an Indian must insult Indian Hindu beliefs, even if those beliefs are different to his belief in Islam.

Can minister Shahidan Kassim explain please since he the minister has told Indian Hindus not to interfere in Muslim affairs? Shouldn't a Muslim like Dr Zakir Naik also refrain from interfering in Hindu affairs?


And I can't understand why a Chinese must insult Chinese Buddhist beliefs, even if those beliefs are different to his belief in Islam.

Can Minister Shahidan Kassim explain please since he the minister has told Indian Hindus not to interfere in Muslim affairs? Thus, shouldn't a Muslim like Ann Wan Seng also refrain from interfering in Buddhist affairs

I'm only waiting for a Japanese Muslim to insult Japanese beliefs (in Buddhism or Shintoism), even if those beliefs are different to his belief in Islam. And then I want to export minister Shahidan Kassim to Japan to explain to Buddhist and Shinto Japanese.

And the Japanese can keep him there forever, wakakaka and hopefully sayonara to the minister.

Penelope Phoebe Python

From the Star Online:

Members of Malaysia's Civil Defence Force pose with a python, that they estimated to be 7.5m (24.6 ft) long and 250kg (551 pounds) in weight, caught near a construction site in Paya Terubong, Penang. - Reuters.

GEORGE TOWN: The 7.5m long python that slithered into the spotlight recently has died.

The reptile, weighing some 250kg, is said to have died on Sunday.

However, it is learnt that the python, believed to be Penang's largest and longest caught so far, had laid an egg a day earlier.

Representatives from the Civil Defence Department (JPAM) said they would provide details of the python on Tuesday.

The snake drew international attention shortly after it was caught at a flyover that was being built in Paya Terubong on Thursday after workers spotted it.

Six JPAM personnel were deployed to catch the reptile that was found under a fallen tree approximately 100m from the nearest road.

Its name was Penelope (wakakaka), Penelope Phoebe Python that was. Don't ask me how I know - it's a secret.

But I wonder how old it was and what it had fed on to grow to such a length (mentioned as 7.5 metres, then 8, then 7.5 again), which has been reported by news media as possibly the longest snake in the world to be ever caught.

Female reticulated pythons normally lay batches of 10 to 15 eggs, not just one. Years ago I saw a caged reticulated python at a restaurant in Kuching with a dozen eggs by her side.

The Guardian (Australian edition) reported (extracts): The sudden death of the animal, estimated after its capture to be 8 metres, just days after it was found has led to concerns that it was mishandled.

Shazree Mustapha, a public relations officer at Malaysia’s Civil Defence Force, said the python “died on her own.”

“Maybe she committed suicide. Maybe she felt threatened so she killed herself,” he said, adding he was not certain this was the reason for its demise.

Committed suicide? Killed herself? Wakakaka, you're cute, Shazree, definitely far more cute than the MACC prosecutor in the inquest into Teoh Beng Hock's mysterious (yet not so mysterious) death, Abdul Razak Musa who suggested that TBH strangled himself because he was 'depressive'.

Malaysiakini reported (extracts only):

Abdul Razak next had the gallery groaning in disbelief when he suggested that Teoh had strangled himself and was "depressive".

Interestingly, when asked by Gobind Singh Deo, who is representing Teoh's family, how someone can strangle himself, the MACC representative went as far as to demonstrate this on himself.
[I wish I was there to see that]

If that was not enough, Abdul Razak riled up those in the gallery further by suggesting to Pornthip that her report was "based on her imagination".

In an effort to make his point, he asked if Pornthip has any experience jumping off a building.

Exasperated by the barrage of provocative questions Malik Imtiaz Sarwar - representing Pornthip and the Selangor government - stood up to say: “With questions like these, we would all want to jump off a building.”

Ooops, sorry to digress so back to the Guardian's report - However, ... Raymond Hoser, who runs snake handling courses (in Australia), ........ said that snakes do not kill themselves and the python likely died due to internal injuries.

“Snakes don’t just drop dead. If they die there is a reason,” he told the Guardian.

“The most likely reason is injuries sustained when caught or after being caught. Snakes are relatively delicate animals,” he said. He added that when nooses are used on snakes, the animal will struggle which can lead to broke bones and internal bleeding.

“If they used a noose to catch the snake, that has caused the injury that has caused the death.”

Other than its usual diet in the wild of monkeys, birds, musang (civet cats), wild pigs and sometimes deers and in Sarawak, even honey bears, the Malaysian reticulated pythons love to eat domesticated pigs, goats, calves, dogs, cats, fowls, rats and for the larger specimens, even homo sapiens.

Perhaps the police needs to re-examine its records of missing people in Paya Terubong in the last thirty years or so, gawd gulp omigosh, an area in which I as a kid used to roam around in the nearby belukar and jungle, catching fighting spiders - phew!

Wikipedia reports (and members of my family testified to the veracity of the tragic incident as they read of it in The Star years ago):

On September 4, 1995, Ee Heng Chuan, a 29-year-old rubber tapper from the southern Malaysian state of Johor, was reported to have been killed by a large reticulated python.

The victim had apparently been caught unaware and was squeezed to death. The snake had coiled around the lifeless body with the victim's head gripped in its jaws when it was stumbled upon by the victim's brother.

The python, reported as measuring 23 ft (7.0 m) long and weighing more than 300 lb, was killed soon after by the arriving police, who shot it four times

My Uncle told me that (from the Star report which was far more accurate than above) Ee had gone to his fiancée's house with his elder brother to discuss wedding arrangements. While his brother was talking to his future in-laws, he went to the back to have a dump.

Dunny's (WC; jamban) in rural areas are usually located about 10 to 20 metres or so at the back from the house, like the dunny for my kampong house in the rural part of Ayer Itam. On the way there he met the python and his tragic end.

When he didn't return after too long a time, his brother and members of the in-laws went looking for him. That was when they saw the snake with only his two legs still unswallowed.

After the police shot the snake, the villagers went on a python-hunting rampage the following day, destroying many pythons and allegedly their nests in the nearby belukar and jungle.

But back to Penelope, it's just a guilty thought - I'm afraid I might have been responsible for its premature death. Now this is a secret between you and me so please don't tell anyone.

When it was caught, I asked a matey in Penang to ask it (yes, it understands human talk as snakes of such size and age possess kesaktian, like Saktimuna, their legendary ancestor in Sumatra) whether we could feed it an annoying person.

And when we named the person, it was so repulsed, revolted and repelled by the sort of shit we proposed to feed it that it vomited, whence out from its mouth spew forth an egg. Then it died of fear and gross revulsion at the thought of swallowing Nathaniel ..., wakakaka.

Conspiracy among private institutions of higher learning

A week ago I wrote in jest about Orang Tionghua disalahkan lagi because the Chinese are convenient punching bags since Merdeka and indeed way before. It might have been in jest on my part but others obviously don't think so.

Read this extract from the Malay Mail Online:

The convention of Malay rights group (National Unity Convention) ..... alleged of a possible conspiracy among private institutions of higher learning (IPTS) to grant non-Bumiputera students higher grades, which it claimed could escalate into a racial issue that can disturb national unity.

“The Malaysian government must study the reasons behind the academic decline of Bumiputera students in public tertiary institutions, compared to non-Bumiputera students,” read a draft of the memorandum prepared during the convention today.

I suppose that explains the real reason, the conspiracy behind non bumis getting higher grades, and that it wasn't about the culture of placing importance in education as well as parental and society's support. Maybe an alien from Alpha Centauri star system had provided tuitorial help as well.

On Chinese culture which places humongous importance on education, it explains why education reigns paramount among the many needs of Chinese society in Malaysia, and thus becomes a very sensitive issue with Chinese Malaysians. That also has been why the Chinese in Malaysia have virtually abandoned the national education system which they consider to have dodgy standards.

Chinese parents are known to mortgage their houses and worldly possessions to send their children abroad for tertiary education in Australia, New Zealand, UK, Canada, USA, China, Taiwan, India, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, etc. Many others have also left very comfortable positions and upper middle class lives to migrate abroad for their children's educational needs.

The reasons for seeking university education abroad even though the financial cost threatens their economic position are three-fold – the dodgy standards of local universities, difficulties of getting a scholarship, but most significant of all, the very slim chance of even securing a place in a university study of their preference because the government’s affirmative action have marginalized many Chinese and Indians.

On parental and society's support for the education of the young, the people of the Far East in particular, these being the Chinese, Koreans, Japanese and Vietnamese, those steeped in Confucian doctrines, take their children’s education very very seriously.

It's taken so seriously that, for example, a TV documentary informed us that in Korea, during high school or college examination days, government and commercial offices reschedule and stagger their business hours so that morning traffic would be decently light in order not to delay the aspiring scholars when they travel in their cars or taxis to the examination halls.

Meanwhile in China, the authority has taken the precautions one step further, by considering the feng shui aspects of the very important examination days.

During the day prior to school and college examination days, taxi companies in Shanghai would recall all taxis with the number ‘4’ on their licence plates so that the budding scholars won’t be hexed with the ‘shi’ (or in Cantonese ‘sei’) word. That's because the word sounds like ‘death’ in Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien and Japanese, and ‘loser’ in the Shanghai language.

Nothing must be left to chance to affect the examinees’ prospects, not even a word pun which could invoke bad feng shui.

And don't forget we are talking about China, a communist ruled country viewing and considering Confucian doctrines on education and feng shui seriously during school & college examination days.

But hey ho, we Malaysians don't worry about such silly stuff because tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of our school students could easily attain 17 A's in their final school examinations. I'm ashamed to say in my days I attempted only 9 subjects. We, that is excluding kaytee, are f**king smart lah!

So there you are, where undeniably the convention of Malay rights group in its allegation of a possible conspiracy among private institutions of higher learning (IPTS) to grant non-Bumiputera students higher grades can only be spot on in their suspicion.

However, on 2nd thoughts, maybe the alien tutors were not from the Centauri star system but the Andromeda Galaxy.