Kong Fuzi, our great teacher, taught us to work through examples from the general to the specific, to promote enlightened learning.
Outside
The Garden
Of Eden, Abel the
Shepherd was loved by
God, who frowned upon
Poor Cain, tiller of the soil, just
An unwanted farmer, grower of veg
Was God a meat lover to treat
Those brothers differently
One as a favourite
And the other
Becoming a
Killer?
Oh, burning questions of
God’s unfairness gnaw
At my impious thoughts
I must kill the source of
My need to know why why
I turn to the Mahabharata
In
Gaza
Palestine,
Children of the
Holocaust turned Nazis
Subjected Arab women and
Kids to severest group punishment,
Ghetto-risation and humiliation
As their forefathers were in
Europe. The victims now
The killers, as if
YVWH himself
Ordained
Oh, burning questions of
How such evil irony could be
Permitted by the Christian
World baffle me; angrily I tell
Myself to stop asking why why
So I turn to secular socialism
Here
In Malaysia
Land of lepak &
Lemak, a great evil
Perpetrated against a
Woman from a foreign land
May yet be unrequited, oh shame
To our country’s reputation
I cringe and pray that
Justice may yet
Prevail to set
Her soul
Free
Oh, burning questions of
Who the murderous killer
Could be; so callous, evil
Eat into my troubled heart
I know I mustn’t ask why why
I turn hopefully to due process
In
Fraser
Hill, I agonise
Over thousands
Of burning questions
That metamorphosed into
A cancerous tumour eating away
Relentlessly at my poor sanity
I have become an insomniac
Fiend with unbridled rage
Over inconsequential,
Mountains out of
molehills
Oh, burning questions of
Frightening potential rivals
Of imagined origin and hue
Fighting for prohibited territory
I have to stop with why why
I turn hopefully to asceticism
Lao Tze, our great teacher, taught us to work through samples from the specific to the general, to promote lessons of experience.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Penang Chinese are racists?
I picked up this news item from malaysiakini.
Batu Kawan - many of my relatives, mostly Teochew nang, were born and brought up there. I wonder what they would think of the accusations against Chinese voters by Wahid Osman, the UMNO division chief and also its Youth representative.
He was probably in merajuk mode (sulking) when he declared that Penang UMNO Youth would stop making calls for the state CM post to be held alternatively between UMNO and Gerakan.
‘... between UMNO and Gerakan ...’? Ouch and take that, dear MCA!
Just a wee background before we get to dear Wahid’s comments - One person who had raised the UMNO recent demands for a shot (and probably a ‘permanent’ shot at that too) for the Penang CM’s post had been KJ.
Making ethnic-coloured demands on the claim that it’s all for bangsa (race) and agama (religion) has always a sure-fire success-guaranteed formula to secure party’s popularity (especially within the Youth camp), and regrettably, regularly and remorselessly resorted to by ambitious UMNO apparatchiks.
Yes it’s cheap and seditiously-gained popularity but when one’s in a mighty mad rush to the top, one would take everything one possibly could, especially those well and truly tested formulae which work – yes, the end justifies the means.
The usual tactic as applied to the Penang scenario – first, alleged that Penang Malays had been marginalized by Chinese CM, then argued CM should be Malay (from UMNO, but who else) as only solution to address and ameliorate the impoverished status of the State’s Malays – not forgetting of course to throw in the rousing teflon-ised cry of ‘demi bangsa dan agama’.
This old demand was given new life in 2006 when KJ started to make waves in the area. The result was not important; the demands had to be made flamboyantly, aggressively and loudly - the typical Malaysian case of form being far more important than substance.
Going back a little, when Dr Mahathir was PM, he refuted those claims of marginalisation of Malays in Penang by pointing to the Malay-governed state of Kelantan as a stark example of the accusers’ unfounded allegations.
The economic fact shows that Malays in Penang are only second to their counterparts in the Klang Valley. They are certainly better off than their compatriots from other states such as Kedah, Perlis and Terengganu.
See Dr Mahathir: "Khairy's all talk but no action"
So, the BN leadership had rejected some UMNO calls for an UMNO person to hold the CM post. The recent renewed demands by (mainly) UMNO Youth for a shot at the No 1 Penang position could be considered as one of those perennial UMNO grandstanding manoeuvres for internal consumption.
PM AAB re-stated what his predecessors since Tun Razak’s days had stated, that the CM post belonged to Gerakan (encore commiserations: MCA, go ahead and weep!).
As I had blogged previously, why disturb a (another) winning formula where Gerakan and the MCA have been allocated seats that nicely split the Penang Chinese representation, making UMNO by default the BN component with the most seats and therefore the principal political influence over matters in the state.
See also my previous postings:
(1) An island cursed & it's not Langkawi!
(2) The Brilliance of Hishamuddin Tun Hussein
Making an UMNO person the CM could possibly see all Chinese in Penang flocked to the DAP banner, or worse, the MCA – yes, not an error, I haven’t got it wrong – a MCA as the BN component with enough seats not to require UMNO’s support in the State Assembly would be disastrous (for UMNO), and insufferable.
To UMNO, there’s nothing more insufferable than a cocky and difficult-to-restrain MCA. The formula is to give parties like the MCA and Gerakan enough to keep them docile, dependent and dependable, but not enough to make them too assertive, aggressive or amok-ish-ly independent.
Anyway, back to dear Wahid – he said what we already know, that the State UMNO had twice proposed alternating the post, because UMNO has a majority in the state assembly – though not if you group Gerakan and MCA together, which again is another undesirable outcome (for UMNO).
He lamented that the proposal was rejected both times, first by former PM Dr Mahathir, and then again last year by AAB. That’s why they are the PMs while Wahid is just a Batu Kawan Youth representative – no strategic outlook.
I wonder whether he sobbed as he said: "We have decided not to propose the same thing again."
Maybe there was a phone call from KL to be sabar, tenang and demi bangsa dan agama?
Apparently Wahid was not one to relinquish the spotlight, not if he wants to climb up the echelon fast. So he said that the State UMNO would focus on taking back the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat - As if we weren’t aware of that electoral constituency being No 1 on UMNO’s hit list.
Probably still in merajuk mode, Wahid accused Chinese voters of supporting the opposition (certainly DAP, but PKR in Permatang Pauh? I have to admit I don’t know). And that’s because, according to Wahid, the Chinese have been disillusioned with the UMNO government. Nooooo, I wouldn’t have guess – thanks Wahid!
He continued his shocking ;-) revelation: "This is not a new thing. It has happened in other places in Penang, especially in areas where an UMNO candidate is vying for a seat with a Chinese candidate."
Wahid put the Chinese support down to Chinese affinity with its own race since the DAP candidates like Karpal Singh, Kulasegaran (and in the past, Peter Dason, Devan Nair, Patto, etc) won seats in areas where the Chinese population made up more than 80 percent.
Damn shifty, those Chinese – modifying their candidates' names to avoid detection.
In this connection (no, not about those Chinese with Hindi-nised monikers), Wahid warned UMNO that the party must, before the general election, deal with issues appeasing the Chinese community, such as the economy, Chinese schools and temples.
But how and in what fashion, he didn’t elaborate, which is just as well, as he would just upset various established winning formulae, beyond the ken of a katak dalam Batu Kawan tempurung.
Footnote: from malaysiakini - BN holds 38 out of 40 seats in the state assembly - Umno (14), MCA (9), Gerakan (13) and MIC (2). The other two seats are held by DAP and PAS.
Batu Kawan - many of my relatives, mostly Teochew nang, were born and brought up there. I wonder what they would think of the accusations against Chinese voters by Wahid Osman, the UMNO division chief and also its Youth representative.
He was probably in merajuk mode (sulking) when he declared that Penang UMNO Youth would stop making calls for the state CM post to be held alternatively between UMNO and Gerakan.
‘... between UMNO and Gerakan ...’? Ouch and take that, dear MCA!
Just a wee background before we get to dear Wahid’s comments - One person who had raised the UMNO recent demands for a shot (and probably a ‘permanent’ shot at that too) for the Penang CM’s post had been KJ.
Making ethnic-coloured demands on the claim that it’s all for bangsa (race) and agama (religion) has always a sure-fire success-guaranteed formula to secure party’s popularity (especially within the Youth camp), and regrettably, regularly and remorselessly resorted to by ambitious UMNO apparatchiks.
Yes it’s cheap and seditiously-gained popularity but when one’s in a mighty mad rush to the top, one would take everything one possibly could, especially those well and truly tested formulae which work – yes, the end justifies the means.
The usual tactic as applied to the Penang scenario – first, alleged that Penang Malays had been marginalized by Chinese CM, then argued CM should be Malay (from UMNO, but who else) as only solution to address and ameliorate the impoverished status of the State’s Malays – not forgetting of course to throw in the rousing teflon-ised cry of ‘demi bangsa dan agama’.
This old demand was given new life in 2006 when KJ started to make waves in the area. The result was not important; the demands had to be made flamboyantly, aggressively and loudly - the typical Malaysian case of form being far more important than substance.
Going back a little, when Dr Mahathir was PM, he refuted those claims of marginalisation of Malays in Penang by pointing to the Malay-governed state of Kelantan as a stark example of the accusers’ unfounded allegations.
The economic fact shows that Malays in Penang are only second to their counterparts in the Klang Valley. They are certainly better off than their compatriots from other states such as Kedah, Perlis and Terengganu.
See Dr Mahathir: "Khairy's all talk but no action"
So, the BN leadership had rejected some UMNO calls for an UMNO person to hold the CM post. The recent renewed demands by (mainly) UMNO Youth for a shot at the No 1 Penang position could be considered as one of those perennial UMNO grandstanding manoeuvres for internal consumption.
PM AAB re-stated what his predecessors since Tun Razak’s days had stated, that the CM post belonged to Gerakan (encore commiserations: MCA, go ahead and weep!).
As I had blogged previously, why disturb a (another) winning formula where Gerakan and the MCA have been allocated seats that nicely split the Penang Chinese representation, making UMNO by default the BN component with the most seats and therefore the principal political influence over matters in the state.
See also my previous postings:
(1) An island cursed & it's not Langkawi!
(2) The Brilliance of Hishamuddin Tun Hussein
Making an UMNO person the CM could possibly see all Chinese in Penang flocked to the DAP banner, or worse, the MCA – yes, not an error, I haven’t got it wrong – a MCA as the BN component with enough seats not to require UMNO’s support in the State Assembly would be disastrous (for UMNO), and insufferable.
To UMNO, there’s nothing more insufferable than a cocky and difficult-to-restrain MCA. The formula is to give parties like the MCA and Gerakan enough to keep them docile, dependent and dependable, but not enough to make them too assertive, aggressive or amok-ish-ly independent.
Anyway, back to dear Wahid – he said what we already know, that the State UMNO had twice proposed alternating the post, because UMNO has a majority in the state assembly – though not if you group Gerakan and MCA together, which again is another undesirable outcome (for UMNO).
He lamented that the proposal was rejected both times, first by former PM Dr Mahathir, and then again last year by AAB. That’s why they are the PMs while Wahid is just a Batu Kawan Youth representative – no strategic outlook.
I wonder whether he sobbed as he said: "We have decided not to propose the same thing again."
Maybe there was a phone call from KL to be sabar, tenang and demi bangsa dan agama?
Apparently Wahid was not one to relinquish the spotlight, not if he wants to climb up the echelon fast. So he said that the State UMNO would focus on taking back the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat - As if we weren’t aware of that electoral constituency being No 1 on UMNO’s hit list.
Probably still in merajuk mode, Wahid accused Chinese voters of supporting the opposition (certainly DAP, but PKR in Permatang Pauh? I have to admit I don’t know). And that’s because, according to Wahid, the Chinese have been disillusioned with the UMNO government. Nooooo, I wouldn’t have guess – thanks Wahid!
He continued his shocking ;-) revelation: "This is not a new thing. It has happened in other places in Penang, especially in areas where an UMNO candidate is vying for a seat with a Chinese candidate."
Wahid put the Chinese support down to Chinese affinity with its own race since the DAP candidates like Karpal Singh, Kulasegaran (and in the past, Peter Dason, Devan Nair, Patto, etc) won seats in areas where the Chinese population made up more than 80 percent.
Damn shifty, those Chinese – modifying their candidates' names to avoid detection.
In this connection (no, not about those Chinese with Hindi-nised monikers), Wahid warned UMNO that the party must, before the general election, deal with issues appeasing the Chinese community, such as the economy, Chinese schools and temples.
But how and in what fashion, he didn’t elaborate, which is just as well, as he would just upset various established winning formulae, beyond the ken of a katak dalam Batu Kawan tempurung.
Footnote: from malaysiakini - BN holds 38 out of 40 seats in the state assembly - Umno (14), MCA (9), Gerakan (13) and MIC (2). The other two seats are held by DAP and PAS.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Why we lost faith in the man man lai promise?
One of my fave columnists in malaysiakini, Dean Johns, on whom I wrote a farewell tribute in I'll miss you, Emperor Nasi Goreng has a new article lamenting the sad state of justice in Malaysia.
In typical wry humour he described the Malaysian version of the western symbol of Justice.
In the West, ‘Justice’ is usually represented by a blind-folded woman holding a set of scales.
In typical wry humour he described the Malaysian version of the western symbol of Justice.
In the West, ‘Justice’ is usually represented by a blind-folded woman holding a set of scales.
The symbol stems from antiquity when ancient Egyptians revered Maat as one of their Gods - Egyptians liked choice in their gods until one intolerant bloke Akhenaten came along.
Maat was the Goddess of Justice and often depicted carrying a sword with an ostrich feather in her hair to symbolize truth and justice. In fact, the term magistrate is derived from Ma'at because she assisted Osiris in the judgment of the dead by weighing their hearts (gulp).
The ancient Greeks knew her as Themis, but it was the Romans who portrayed her as evenly balancing both scales, with a sword in her hand (gulp again) and wearing a blindfold, meaning she (Justitia, as she was known on the Seven Hills) would be blind to corrupt or naughty influences.
So we have a Western justice system represented by the symbol of Justitia being impervious to corruption, and without fear ort favour, weighing justice fairly by her scales. I needn’t mention what her sword symbolises as we Malaysians are fairly familiar with such weapons, though our keris has nothing to do with justice but more with right of might.
But it seems that the symbol of the BN, a dacing (also the same set of scales) also has nothing to do with the symbol of judging right from wrong by a justice system that’s blind to fear or favour.
According to Dean “BN's been robbing justice blind for years ........ But it's become increasingly clear in recent times that BN has co-opted the scales for the purpose of tipping the forces of the law in its favour not just occasionally, but consistently and chronically.”
“And kept the blindfold over the eyes of justice to celebrate its success in pulling the wool over the peoples' eyes with a combination of official obfuscation, blinkered media and laws designed to keep outsiders in the dark. “
See why I love Dean John's articles ;-)
In his new article, he also pondered over the unacceptable and probably illegal remand of Nathaniel Tan. He wondered, like many, whether the abuse of justice was aimed not at Nat but rather his employer Anwar Ibrahim and Anwar's party, the PKR? In other words, was Nat just a convenient (proxy) target?
Then, Dean also considered another possibility for the dodgy persecution of Nat Tan.
He noticed that the investigation into the allegations against Nat is being conducted by the Cyber Crimes Division, possibly signalling the start of an intimidation campaign against the “growing legions of bloggers hell-bent on bringing BN down by betraying its secrets?”
I reckon the former may possibly be true, whilst I feel the latter, even if it has purchase, would not be effective.
Threatening bloggers? For a start, bloggers can remain anonymous and used overseas servers. Then, on the political cost-effective scales (pun not intended) the Malay heartland, which is the principal concern of UMNO (and bugger the MCA or Gerakan) isn’t exactly brimming with Internet capable PC’s and laptops, with only an arty farty minority being blogosphere savvy (who cares about them). The publicity surrounding any persecution of bloggers would be far more damaging to UMNO than worth the effort.
I believe that the harassment of Nat Tan might well have been an outcome of the current tussle between Johari Baharum and the IGP. Anyway, I am glad that Nat Tan has been released, though admittedly just on bail, but at least he can eat sandwiches instead of HMS nasi kari.
During Nat Tan’s incarceration, I had self-imposed an embargo on my usual target practice at the world’s greatest de facto leader, out of consideration for the Tan family. Now that Nat is out, well, it’s open season again ;-)
But I would just copy part of Dean’s article to show KTemoc isn’t the only person in Malaysia having the following thoughts – read on and weep:
If Anwar and PKR are actually the targets, I really don't see the point. As much as I deplored the way Anwar was set-up by Mahathir (on the same sodomy rap ...), I couldn't help feeling that finally at least one Umno big-wig was, however unjustly, getting his desserts.
And as strongly as I sympathised with the man as they paraded their perjured witnesses and the stained mattress, then had him assaulted and shut-up in solitary, I still can't view him entirely as a victim.
Nor can I see him today as anything but a spent force. Or, more accurately, as a misspent force. Frittering-away his new-found moral authority on making the fiery speeches for which he's so justly famous and messing-around in petty party-politics when, if he was truly serious and sincere, he could be bringing one documented charge after another against his former corrupt colleagues and their current successors in the Malaysian and possibly even international criminal courts, as well as the courts of local and world public opinion.
His repeated assertions that he will reveal all he knows and act accordingly "when the time comes" are sounding increasingly hollow, and doing nothing to allay many peoples' suspicions that he is "the same old Anwar" and thus not to be trusted.
He's calling for justice for Nat, naturally, as so many of the rest of us are. But if ever Anwar is going to contribute significantly to this country and its people, it's time he did something more concrete about wresting the scales from the clutches of BN and restoring them to justice where they belong.
Dean matey, read my previous posting The Anwar style of campaigning, and don’t hold your breath. After all, he was from UMNO.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
National Unity Panel - should it be top heavy or with fingers on society's pulse
I have amended this posting here and there as my original inevitably showed the results of a 15-minutes job. I made a lot of grammatical errors as well as used incorrect words without checking - shame on KTemoc ;-) The end result of the original rush posting is that I even have to amend the title
UPDATE 18 July 2007: A more polished version, ie. minus blogger's irrelevant and loud thoughts, and yeah, coarse language ;-) has been printed in malaysiakini today, with even a more couthy title - see Marina Mahathir ideal for National Unity Panel
********
VRK wrote a letter to malaysiakini voicing his concerns over the composition of the National Unity Panel members.
He reckoned, hmmm, correctly, to some extent if I may add, that retired civil servants and not-so-senior members of the government will only be nothing more than a bunch of Sir Humphrey’s idling in cosy comfort and indulging in ‘talk shop’.
I reckon one or two bureaucrats may not be bad as the panel would need these civil servants to manage the administrative and funding aspects. But VRK is right because I can predict that if the panel are made up of only government employees, past and present, we may expect them to be ringing up HQ for instructions on what ‘findings’ and ‘recommendations’ to issue.
So, why bother with a National Panel. Give the job to some party hack or a senior civil servant in the PM’s Department, unless of course it’s just more 'jobs for the boys’.
But VRK is not entirely non-constructive. He praised the importance of such a panel which will be responsible for analysing inter-ethnic problems buggering our society and dreaming ‘thinking’ up fresh ideas to improve national unity.
But the following is where I feel VRK might have veered from his initially correct course when he recommended that the panel should have important personalities from both the government and private sectors. For example, he proposed the president of Petronas, deputy prime minister (DPM), CEOs of Cimb and Maybank as well as the other captains of industries.
He even nominated the crown prince of Perak to chair the panel, saying: "Perhaps the panel should be headed by a member of a royal household; the Crown Prince of Perak comes to the mind given his urging recently on the issue of unity."
I disagree – too blooming top heavy!
Admittedly kaytee is a socialist and thus doesn’t take kindly to societal Brahmins, but OK, leaving my personal prejudice aside, I don't believe that captains of industry are exactly experts on issues of national unity or have the sort of minds which emphatize with the fears, prejudice and worries of society. For them, the prime objective has always been and is about profits.
I am not even talking about sweat shops, serf-like labour in plantations with some in medieval bondage which malaysiakini in recent articles had shockingly revealed as existing in some Malaysian agricultural estates.
Then, there is also the unmitigated evil of a few unscrupulous plantations exploiting illegal immigrants as poorly paid semi-slaves. The lack of official control over such abysmal conditions could and would have indirectly contributed to the frightening rise in crime rates that now plagues us, when some of those more entrepreneurial workers moonlighted as Robin Hood, or committed worse crimes.
Where were the captains of industry then?
OK, perhaps the DPM can sit on the panel as the Chair but I doubt he wants to. Obviously VRK likes a member of the royalty to head the panel. I have no objections to his nomination of the Perak prince as the latter seems to be a fine young man, and if the panel could do with his leadership that's good, but there is no point in having him and the DPM together in one room.
What we really need on the panel are people who have a finger on the pulse on what's troubling the nation and can propose solutions to bridge the politically created rifts between ethnic, religious, social groups. They should be people who have the ability to break down prejudice.
And since I mentioned the rifts in society have been caused by politicians they should be kept out of the panel.
I am thinking of people like (nah, not kaytee):
(1) Marina Mahathir, a dedicated worker for those unfortunate members of our society afflicted by the dreaded HIV-AIDS. Her caring compassion has in many ways overcome cruel ostracism. National unity is not just about inter-ethnic problems but the ill-informed prejudice of our society which denys the needy of much needed compassion.
Marina can be the person to span the needs of victims of cruel fate with a more compassionate generous understanding Malaysian society, and help foster an inclusive caring and tolerant Malaysian people. We could do less than bigoted and cruel suggestions to maroon the sufferings to some isolated Devil's Isle.
Marina is highly respected for her caring nature and dedication in such a difficult field of social work and I dare say many, especially yours truly, adore her - the ideal personaility for the National Unity Panel.
(2) The Mufti of … nah, not ... Disgrace ... what, you think I'm crazy?
Having frowned upon cruel bigoted suggestions to consign our sufferings to Pulau Buang-Dia, we gratefully look across to the other side on the religious front and see that we should co-opt the Mufti of Perlis, a man who has shown his comprehensive confidence and strength in his faith, that he does not need to behave like paranoid neo-cons.
Together with moderate leaders from other religions he can help heal the divide by promoting improved mutual understanding leading to a tolerant multi-ethnic multi-religious mutually respectful society.
(3) Brother Ong Boon Keong of SOS Penang - As a Penangite, I have witnessed his sterling community work, where his social contributions have been above narrow ethnic considerations. He certainly has a finger on the pulse of the anxieties, fears and worries of the common people, those that the National Unity Panel should be focusing on.
Obviously there are other capable and suitable people to be nominated to the panel, but these three social luminaries are representative of people I have in mind for the National Unity Panel.
While VRK has correctly pointed out the panel members are being disproportionately made up of bureaucrats, his solution was unfortunately more driven by impressions of prestige, power and position. Let us have people who know what have been troubling our society and who can come up with meaningful recommendations.
Kuala Lumpur-less?
Paul Keating, a former PM of Australia well-known for his razor sharp quips, once sneered at the Australian Senate as nothing more than ‘unrepresentative swill’. He made the derogatory remark to indicate that it’s the House of Representatives (Lower House) and not the Senate which speaks for the people.
The Australian Senate has a tendency to be very assertive and in fact had brought down a PM before (Gough Whitlam) by blocking a Supply Bill. Keating wanted to put the Senators in their place.
And mind you, the Australian Senators are elected, whereas in Malaysia, the Dewan Senate consists of members not directly elected by the people. Our Senate has been in reality nothing more than a rubber stamp for Dewan Rakyat, or more correctly, the cabinet.
But what I wouldn’t give to be a senator to collect the generous salary and enjoy the perks for just sokong-ing, basically okay-ing whatever the BN in the Lower House passes. I believe with just two terms (maximum terms permitted anyway) I would be due for a life long pension.
Besides, there’s also the 3-syllable title of Senator to consider too, especially in our title-conscious society - and there's only 70 of such titles instead of the zillions of Datuks.
Imagine, Senator Kayteemoc – hmmm, bow & tremblingly obey, you other bloggers, hahaha!
Even though some Senators are supposed to represent minority groups such as the Orang Asli, we do wonder from time to time whether the Senators are of any use at all. According to elders, our most and only distinguished senator was Ghazali Shafie - also known flamboyantly as King Guz – and that was because he entered the cabinet through the Senate backdoor on the behest of the late Tun Razak!
But malaysiakini informs us that Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi, a current senator, has stirred or attempted to stir things up a bit by proposing our national capital, Kuala Lumpur, be moved to another location so that it may be known as the ‘ibu kota tanpa lumpur’ or ‘capital without mud’.
'Lumpur' happens to be the Malay word for mud.
He said Kuala Lumpur is situated in a valley which is prone to flooding. Because of its national capital city status Kuala Lumpur (or Kayell as it's affectionately called) invariably has a very high population.
Flooding and lots of people - generally a bad combination.
When thunderstorms hit Kuala Lumpur, the city folks there would experience and suffer from flash flooding. Dr Mohd Puad is sick of these many flash floods, which makes the ‘mud’ appellation rather true.
He proposed a solution:“So instead of spending billions of ringgit in trying to resolve the flood problems, it will be better if we move Kuala Lumpur to another location and call it ‘ibu kota tanpa lumpur’.”
I wonder how running away from the flood problems can solve the nightmare for many who have to live there. But then, I suppose one has to have that thinking to be a senator.
If I can just advise the dear Senator, the Dutch people live on land that’s actually lower than the sea level so what’s our flash flooding by comparison, except other than a far smaller challenge for us to surmount, rather than run away from.
Hmmm, to borrow from Paul Keating's comment on the Australian Senate, ours seem to be more of 'unrepresentative mud'.
The Australian Senate has a tendency to be very assertive and in fact had brought down a PM before (Gough Whitlam) by blocking a Supply Bill. Keating wanted to put the Senators in their place.
And mind you, the Australian Senators are elected, whereas in Malaysia, the Dewan Senate consists of members not directly elected by the people. Our Senate has been in reality nothing more than a rubber stamp for Dewan Rakyat, or more correctly, the cabinet.
But what I wouldn’t give to be a senator to collect the generous salary and enjoy the perks for just sokong-ing, basically okay-ing whatever the BN in the Lower House passes. I believe with just two terms (maximum terms permitted anyway) I would be due for a life long pension.
Besides, there’s also the 3-syllable title of Senator to consider too, especially in our title-conscious society - and there's only 70 of such titles instead of the zillions of Datuks.
Imagine, Senator Kayteemoc – hmmm, bow & tremblingly obey, you other bloggers, hahaha!
Even though some Senators are supposed to represent minority groups such as the Orang Asli, we do wonder from time to time whether the Senators are of any use at all. According to elders, our most and only distinguished senator was Ghazali Shafie - also known flamboyantly as King Guz – and that was because he entered the cabinet through the Senate backdoor on the behest of the late Tun Razak!
But malaysiakini informs us that Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi, a current senator, has stirred or attempted to stir things up a bit by proposing our national capital, Kuala Lumpur, be moved to another location so that it may be known as the ‘ibu kota tanpa lumpur’ or ‘capital without mud’.
'Lumpur' happens to be the Malay word for mud.
He said Kuala Lumpur is situated in a valley which is prone to flooding. Because of its national capital city status Kuala Lumpur (or Kayell as it's affectionately called) invariably has a very high population.
Flooding and lots of people - generally a bad combination.
When thunderstorms hit Kuala Lumpur, the city folks there would experience and suffer from flash flooding. Dr Mohd Puad is sick of these many flash floods, which makes the ‘mud’ appellation rather true.
He proposed a solution:“So instead of spending billions of ringgit in trying to resolve the flood problems, it will be better if we move Kuala Lumpur to another location and call it ‘ibu kota tanpa lumpur’.”
I wonder how running away from the flood problems can solve the nightmare for many who have to live there. But then, I suppose one has to have that thinking to be a senator.
If I can just advise the dear Senator, the Dutch people live on land that’s actually lower than the sea level so what’s our flash flooding by comparison, except other than a far smaller challenge for us to surmount, rather than run away from.
Hmmm, to borrow from Paul Keating's comment on the Australian Senate, ours seem to be more of 'unrepresentative mud'.
DAP forum for Nathaniel Tan
DAP is organising a forum to say "No to a police state in blogosphere"
KTemoc suppots the release of Nathaniel Tan and our constitutional rights to expression of responsible free expression by Malaysian bloggers, and therefore provides this advertisement fro a good cause.
The following details the DAP organised forum.
Nathaniel Tan, a 26 year old dedicated blogger, a Harvard University alumnus and an aide to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has been arrested under the Section 8 of the Official Secrets Act (OSA) over allegations that he had documents linked to Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Johari Baharom’s alleged involvement in corruption.
T odemonstrate our solidarity with Nathaniel who has been dealt with great injustice, to show our steadfast refusal to let the Government curb the democratisation impact of blogs and the Internet, and to voice our displeasure at the OSA, we are organising a forum with invited speakersfrom across the civil society with details as follows:
Venue: KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall
Date: 19th July 2007 (Thursday)
Time: 7.30 pm
Admission is Free; Bring Friends
The panel of Distinguished Speakers include:
Nathaniel Tan, Blogger & Aide to PKR Advisor*
Jeff Ooi, Protem Vice-President, All Blogs Malaysia
Harris Ibrahim, Lawyer & Founder of The People's Parliament
Nurul Izzah Anwar, Special Assistant to PKR Advisor
Lim Guan Eng, Secretary-General of DAP
Tony Pua, Economic Advisor to DAP Secretary-General
Chairperson: Soon Li Tsin, Journalist & Blogger
*Nathaniel will be invited to speak to us and relay his experiencesat the Forum should he be released from remand on Tuesday, 17th July.
The organisers will be trying to leave as much time to the floor aspossible, so as to enable greater interaction at the forum
KTemoc suppots the release of Nathaniel Tan and our constitutional rights to expression of responsible free expression by Malaysian bloggers, and therefore provides this advertisement fro a good cause.
The following details the DAP organised forum.
Nathaniel Tan, a 26 year old dedicated blogger, a Harvard University alumnus and an aide to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has been arrested under the Section 8 of the Official Secrets Act (OSA) over allegations that he had documents linked to Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Johari Baharom’s alleged involvement in corruption.
T odemonstrate our solidarity with Nathaniel who has been dealt with great injustice, to show our steadfast refusal to let the Government curb the democratisation impact of blogs and the Internet, and to voice our displeasure at the OSA, we are organising a forum with invited speakersfrom across the civil society with details as follows:
Venue: KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall
Date: 19th July 2007 (Thursday)
Time: 7.30 pm
Admission is Free; Bring Friends
The panel of Distinguished Speakers include:
Nathaniel Tan, Blogger & Aide to PKR Advisor*
Jeff Ooi, Protem Vice-President, All Blogs Malaysia
Harris Ibrahim, Lawyer & Founder of The People's Parliament
Nurul Izzah Anwar, Special Assistant to PKR Advisor
Lim Guan Eng, Secretary-General of DAP
Tony Pua, Economic Advisor to DAP Secretary-General
Chairperson: Soon Li Tsin, Journalist & Blogger
*Nathaniel will be invited to speak to us and relay his experiencesat the Forum should he be released from remand on Tuesday, 17th July.
The organisers will be trying to leave as much time to the floor aspossible, so as to enable greater interaction at the forum
Monday, July 16, 2007
The ultimate betrayal
The bulldozer smashed through
The lush verdant tropical forest
For a new highway straight thro’
Like an arrow unaffected by drift
And the victims, jungle denizens
Fell before the fierce onslaught
‘Twas the ultimate betrayal of nature
The driver saw one baby gibbon
Having survived a fallen tree
He raised his gun to mercy kill it
The towkay shouted, ‘waste not
A good bullet. It’ll die anyway.’
Shockingly callous, ruthless, yes
‘Twas the ultimate betrayal of compassion
They surrounded him, no chance
Stabbed a dozen times by daggers
Wielded by colleagues of the senate
He fell, but in his last few moments
Saw the one he loved, standing over
His bloodstained body, Et Tu Brutus
‘Twas the ultimate betrayal of friendship
She, the one from the Valley of Sorek
Loved by him with rich long black hair
Delilah enticed him into Dagon’s Temple
Loving her, Shimshon naively entered
To met her well-laid biblical bobby trap
She cackled proudly at her clever evil
‘Twas the ultimate betrayal of love
The lush verdant tropical forest
For a new highway straight thro’
Like an arrow unaffected by drift
And the victims, jungle denizens
Fell before the fierce onslaught
‘Twas the ultimate betrayal of nature
The driver saw one baby gibbon
Having survived a fallen tree
He raised his gun to mercy kill it
The towkay shouted, ‘waste not
A good bullet. It’ll die anyway.’
Shockingly callous, ruthless, yes
‘Twas the ultimate betrayal of compassion
They surrounded him, no chance
Stabbed a dozen times by daggers
Wielded by colleagues of the senate
He fell, but in his last few moments
Saw the one he loved, standing over
His bloodstained body, Et Tu Brutus
‘Twas the ultimate betrayal of friendship
She, the one from the Valley of Sorek
Loved by him with rich long black hair
Delilah enticed him into Dagon’s Temple
Loving her, Shimshon naively entered
To met her well-laid biblical bobby trap
She cackled proudly at her clever evil
‘Twas the ultimate betrayal of love
PABS requests PM free Nathaniel Tan
Pro-tem president and deputy president of PABS expressed their shock at the draconian and questionable detention of citizen-blogger Nathaniel Tan by police on a flimsy charge under the OSA, when no national security issue exists to justify that repressive persecution.
On the eve of an auspicious period in Malaysia's history, when Malaysians are poised to celebrate the 50th anniversary of our great nation, the questionable remand of Nathaniel Tan can only besmirch a momentous national event.
PABS appeals to PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, also as the Minister of Internal Security, to instruct police to release Nathaniel Tan immediately, so that Malaysians may proudly greet 31 August 2007 in an inclusive joyous Merdeka celebration.
Jangan biar pelanduk mati di tengah-tengah, bila gajah sama gajah berjuang!
PABS views with great regret the threat by Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharum to use the police to seek out law-abiding citizen-bloggers who post responsible criticism of government ministers or officials.
Constructive criticism of the government, especially of the people's representatives, is a constitutional right of every citizen. PABS considers the Deputy Minister's act of intimidation as inappropriate and against free and responsible expression of speech, guaranteed under our Constitution and the principles of Islam Hadhari.
Instead of threatening lawful citizens into silence, the Ministry of Security should focus its hitherto missing attention on the nation's rising crime rates and ameliorate this worrying threat to national security.
PABS will be sending to malaysiakini a copy of its appeal to the Prime Minister on the unjust and oppressive incarceration of Nathaniel Tan.
On the eve of an auspicious period in Malaysia's history, when Malaysians are poised to celebrate the 50th anniversary of our great nation, the questionable remand of Nathaniel Tan can only besmirch a momentous national event.
PABS appeals to PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, also as the Minister of Internal Security, to instruct police to release Nathaniel Tan immediately, so that Malaysians may proudly greet 31 August 2007 in an inclusive joyous Merdeka celebration.
Jangan biar pelanduk mati di tengah-tengah, bila gajah sama gajah berjuang!
PABS views with great regret the threat by Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharum to use the police to seek out law-abiding citizen-bloggers who post responsible criticism of government ministers or officials.
Constructive criticism of the government, especially of the people's representatives, is a constitutional right of every citizen. PABS considers the Deputy Minister's act of intimidation as inappropriate and against free and responsible expression of speech, guaranteed under our Constitution and the principles of Islam Hadhari.
Instead of threatening lawful citizens into silence, the Ministry of Security should focus its hitherto missing attention on the nation's rising crime rates and ameliorate this worrying threat to national security.
PABS will be sending to malaysiakini a copy of its appeal to the Prime Minister on the unjust and oppressive incarceration of Nathaniel Tan.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Is God humorous?
I have seen the film Bruce Almighty, where I enjoyed the comical antics of Jim Carrey, one of my favourite actors. But at the same time,I appreciate the moral message behind the story.
In spite of the beneficial moral lessons on divinity, with a story that has an actor, a mere mortal man, portraying God who interacted with another mortals, it was of course bound to be controversial in conservative circles, and not just in Malaysia.
Indeed four years ago, dear Abdul Hamid Zainal Abidin, former Minister in the PM’s Department, called for the film to be banned because it was against Islamic beliefs.
But now, we have Evan Almighty as its sequel. The trailer of the US$175mil (RM600mil) movie features Morgan Freeman again as God, surely an American touch of political correctness to have an African American play his Almighty. But they somehow missed covering the other aspect of Western political correctness at the same time in not having, say, Oprah Winfrey instead.
This time ‘God’ will be asking Evan Baxter, a New Yorker (has to be an American, what do you expect?), to build an ark to prevent the big flood that was to hit New York. Baxter is played by Steve Carell who also starred in a supporting role in the earlier movie.
Predictably, the secretary-general of the Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia, Maamor Osman, asked for Evan Almighty to be banned because he considered it as an insult to Islam. It’s a comedy so of course it’s scripted to be funny, but Maamor alleged the film pokes fun at God and the Prophet Noah.
As they say, one man’s humour is another’s bellyache. But surely one's faith must be strong enough to tolerate a bit of laughter. After all, aren't we creations of God? If we like to laugh at humour, surely that's God's will, and who is Maamor to speak against HIS will.
Fortunately the Government has allowed its screening after various government officials including those from the Islamic Development Department and Film Censorship Board had viewed and assessed the movie as OK.
Dr Rais Yatim, the Minister for Culture, Arts and Heritage, advised parties calling for a ban on a movie on religious grounds to first view it. And it should be only after they have seen the movie and identified those aspects of the film which are against the tenets of the religion, before they may forward their views to the Film Censorship Board.
Hey, sounds like sensible advice. Indeed, how could one ask for a movie to be banned without viewing it first and knowing what it’s about, unless of course one is either totally intolerable or ........ hmmm, is it true that the general election is just around the corner?
Having said that, I recall a locally produced but banned documentary, The Last Communist, was severely condemned by the Berita Harian when no one in that newspaper had even seen the documentary. Beat that for Boleh-ness ;-)
And equally outrageous, no one interviewed by Berita Harian, namely those politicians, film makers and academics, who jumped on the bandwagon of bullsh*t intolerance to lambast the documentary, had seen it either. Unbeatable Boleh-ness!
As Amir Muhammad, the producer of the documentary, had alleged, the Berita Harian initiated criticisms plus those of the interviewed Zaitochi's, brought about the moronic banning of The Last Communist by the Home Affairs Ministry.
At last, with Evan Almighty, some long overdue commonsense by the authority has prevailed.
Related:
(1) Why isn't 'Last Communist' a Malay?
(2) The Last Communist or Communalist?
(3) Tremble - Last Communist Cometh!
In spite of the beneficial moral lessons on divinity, with a story that has an actor, a mere mortal man, portraying God who interacted with another mortals, it was of course bound to be controversial in conservative circles, and not just in Malaysia.
Indeed four years ago, dear Abdul Hamid Zainal Abidin, former Minister in the PM’s Department, called for the film to be banned because it was against Islamic beliefs.
But now, we have Evan Almighty as its sequel. The trailer of the US$175mil (RM600mil) movie features Morgan Freeman again as God, surely an American touch of political correctness to have an African American play his Almighty. But they somehow missed covering the other aspect of Western political correctness at the same time in not having, say, Oprah Winfrey instead.
This time ‘God’ will be asking Evan Baxter, a New Yorker (has to be an American, what do you expect?), to build an ark to prevent the big flood that was to hit New York. Baxter is played by Steve Carell who also starred in a supporting role in the earlier movie.
Predictably, the secretary-general of the Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia, Maamor Osman, asked for Evan Almighty to be banned because he considered it as an insult to Islam. It’s a comedy so of course it’s scripted to be funny, but Maamor alleged the film pokes fun at God and the Prophet Noah.
As they say, one man’s humour is another’s bellyache. But surely one's faith must be strong enough to tolerate a bit of laughter. After all, aren't we creations of God? If we like to laugh at humour, surely that's God's will, and who is Maamor to speak against HIS will.
Fortunately the Government has allowed its screening after various government officials including those from the Islamic Development Department and Film Censorship Board had viewed and assessed the movie as OK.
Dr Rais Yatim, the Minister for Culture, Arts and Heritage, advised parties calling for a ban on a movie on religious grounds to first view it. And it should be only after they have seen the movie and identified those aspects of the film which are against the tenets of the religion, before they may forward their views to the Film Censorship Board.
Hey, sounds like sensible advice. Indeed, how could one ask for a movie to be banned without viewing it first and knowing what it’s about, unless of course one is either totally intolerable or ........ hmmm, is it true that the general election is just around the corner?
Having said that, I recall a locally produced but banned documentary, The Last Communist, was severely condemned by the Berita Harian when no one in that newspaper had even seen the documentary. Beat that for Boleh-ness ;-)
And equally outrageous, no one interviewed by Berita Harian, namely those politicians, film makers and academics, who jumped on the bandwagon of bullsh*t intolerance to lambast the documentary, had seen it either. Unbeatable Boleh-ness!
As Amir Muhammad, the producer of the documentary, had alleged, the Berita Harian initiated criticisms plus those of the interviewed Zaitochi's, brought about the moronic banning of The Last Communist by the Home Affairs Ministry.
At last, with Evan Almighty, some long overdue commonsense by the authority has prevailed.
Related:
(1) Why isn't 'Last Communist' a Malay?
(2) The Last Communist or Communalist?
(3) Tremble - Last Communist Cometh!
Saturday, July 14, 2007
A dream
alway wanted to be, but alas, not quite Shakespeare ;-)
The brook tumbles down the hill
Along its rough bubbling course
Giving birth to seeds of a cloud
Wisps that rise to the heavens
One flows down, one floats up
Of identical stuff, but strangely
Never the twain shall meet, sad
But they are imitating, yes, life
Light first turns the clouds golden
But soon night casts a dark cloak
The cloud is still there, unseen
Till tomorrow comes, if it comes
Promises of things that could be
May be like a cloud, wispy stuff
Disappearing in night’s mantle
But can one wait till tomorrow?
I had put my hands on the cloud
Touching yet not able to hold it
Elusive like a soft dream slipping
Away with break of early dawn
I touch the brook’s cool water
And know it’s real, not a cloud
Yes, not a dream but cold reality
But alas, I love a sweet dream
The brook tumbles down the hill
Along its rough bubbling course
Giving birth to seeds of a cloud
Wisps that rise to the heavens
One flows down, one floats up
Of identical stuff, but strangely
Never the twain shall meet, sad
But they are imitating, yes, life
Light first turns the clouds golden
But soon night casts a dark cloak
The cloud is still there, unseen
Till tomorrow comes, if it comes
Promises of things that could be
May be like a cloud, wispy stuff
Disappearing in night’s mantle
But can one wait till tomorrow?
I had put my hands on the cloud
Touching yet not able to hold it
Elusive like a soft dream slipping
Away with break of early dawn
I touch the brook’s cool water
And know it’s real, not a cloud
Yes, not a dream but cold reality
But alas, I love a sweet dream
Return of the Jed - for Nathaniel Tan
After checking for any updates on Nathaniel Tan's detention a malaysiakini, I made my usual haj to my mate walski’s blog myAsylum and was surprised (delightfully, mind you) to learn that erstwhile blogger Freelunch2020, who left the blogosphere immediately post Ijok (as she vowed), has return to lend her support to Nathaniel Tan.
Those of you who know something of the post Ijok situation that had affected Jed (Freelunch2020) would surely applaud her gracious return - in fact, it should be a double applause as she has not only broken her vow not to blog in order to lend support to Nat, but ........ I won’t elaborate on the second reason any further.
Her resurrected blog starts off with a poignant reminder to us who are still hesitating to support Nat, as follows:
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
First they came … is a poem attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group. (From Wiki)
Well said Jed.
Those of you who know something of the post Ijok situation that had affected Jed (Freelunch2020) would surely applaud her gracious return - in fact, it should be a double applause as she has not only broken her vow not to blog in order to lend support to Nat, but ........ I won’t elaborate on the second reason any further.
Her resurrected blog starts off with a poignant reminder to us who are still hesitating to support Nat, as follows:
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
First they came … is a poem attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group. (From Wiki)
Well said Jed.
To PM AAB - Please free Nathaniel Tan
I have to break an earlier promise to keep the Madeleine McCann posting in No 1 position on my blog, as the arrest of blogger Nathaniel Tan requires urgent publicity to marshal support for his immediate release.
For latest information, please see postings by Elizabeth Wong. Elizabeth has been so stressed and frustrated by the police bull and heels dragging on the dodgy detention of a citizen that she (most unusally) blessed all readers with colourful exopressions. Thank you Elizabeth for expressing our similar feelings along as well.
There is also a malaysiakini video clip (7 minutes).
KTemoc supports and calls for the immediate release of Nathaniel Tan. The police action has thus far been unjustified by normal standards of democratic process or even national security considerations, and thus represents yet another case of oppressive repression of free speech and draconian persecution and intimidation of law abiding citizens.
For latest information, please see postings by Elizabeth Wong. Elizabeth has been so stressed and frustrated by the police bull and heels dragging on the dodgy detention of a citizen that she (most unusally) blessed all readers with colourful exopressions. Thank you Elizabeth for expressing our similar feelings along as well.
There is also a malaysiakini video clip (7 minutes).
KTemoc supports and calls for the immediate release of Nathaniel Tan. The police action has thus far been unjustified by normal standards of democratic process or even national security considerations, and thus represents yet another case of oppressive repression of free speech and draconian persecution and intimidation of law abiding citizens.
poster by Mob1900 of Mob's Crib
However, I slightly disagree with Elizabeth that we should lodge our outrage at the unjustified persecution of Nat with the IGP and not the PM.
I believe (I love conspiracy theories) this bull (painful for Nat and family) could possibly be a result of the current acrimonious IGP-Johari Baharum confrontation - OK, it's just a suspicion.
Anyway, based on my suspicions I doubt the IGP will move a bloody finger. Thus, I prefer to call upon the PM concurrently the 'Police' minister to instruct police to release citizen Nathaniel Tan immediately.
If dear AAB is in elegant non-listening, can at least someone on the 4th Floor please act on behalf of daddy. KJ had, while lodging a complaint against Tian Chua with the media watchdog recently, claimed he wasn't against free speech especially on the Internet. So, c'mon KJ, do something and show you aren't with the dark side all the time.
Update: 17 July 2007 - Nathaniel Tan has been released!
Friday, July 13, 2007
Police at it again with draconian intimidation of bloggers
malaysiakini informs us of another totally unnecessary draconian intimidation of bloggers.
Police took Nathaniel Tan of PKR away for questioning, without providing any reason at all. They entered his office at about 4.45 pm today, and told Tan to follow them to the Bukit Aman police headquarters. The policemen also requested that Tan bring his notebook computer with him. It is believed that he is being questioned on matters relating to certain postings on the Internet.
Let me register my support for the immediate release of Nat Tan. Unless the police has a justified reason for the detention or even questioning of any citizen, they just can't order poeple around, and into police station for hours.
Nat and I have not and do not see eye to political eye, but I abhor and indeed protest the totally unjustified taking of him by the police - why the hell can’t the police, if they need to do any questioning, do so at Nat’s office?
Police took Nathaniel Tan of PKR away for questioning, without providing any reason at all. They entered his office at about 4.45 pm today, and told Tan to follow them to the Bukit Aman police headquarters. The policemen also requested that Tan bring his notebook computer with him. It is believed that he is being questioned on matters relating to certain postings on the Internet.
Let me register my support for the immediate release of Nat Tan. Unless the police has a justified reason for the detention or even questioning of any citizen, they just can't order poeple around, and into police station for hours.
Nat and I have not and do not see eye to political eye, but I abhor and indeed protest the totally unjustified taking of him by the police - why the hell can’t the police, if they need to do any questioning, do so at Nat’s office?
Polygamy prevents infidelity and enhances social prestige
Arbibi Ashoy wrote a letter to malaysiakini about the Altantuyaa Shaariibbu murder trial.
I like to read Arbibi’s letters because you never know where he would go or end up ;-)
He complained that reading the Altantuyaa case each day only convinced him that the news could only get more and more sickening. He bemoaned that the sorry court saga has the appearance of nothing more than a big farce.
So far so good, I agree with him, though I wonder whether he had factored in the equally sorry saga of a political party attempting to hijack the issue in an attempt to turn the murder trial instead into a trial of a political opponent for grubby interests rather than justice.
He said: “Something big is missing so far from the Altatunya case - it's motive.”
‘Motive!’ – wow, fantastic – straight right out from a John Grisham novel.
He continued brilliantly: “People don't commit crimes without a motive unless they are suffering from a mental illness. There is a suggested motive of the covering up of infidelity.”
‘...suggested motive of the covering up of infidelity ...’ - double wow, juicy juicy man, you’re hot with your analysis.
Then this was the part where he reverted to the Arbibi Ashoy that I have been more familiar with ;-)
He said: “However, this is a non-issue with regards to Muslims. After all, Muslims can have four wives. It is only in Western society that infidelity is a major issue as unfaithfulness leads to divorce, separation from children, loss of wealth, damage to career, loss of respect, smaller circle of friends and a departure from mainstream life.”
Hahahahahaaa – he’s actually saying that Muslims can’t succumb to infidelity because they have four wives.
Well, on second thoughts, I am not sure whether he understood what infidelity means?
Now, this takes the cake – he said: “This is not the case for Muslims in Malaysia as polygamy brings admiration and a higher social standing especially if in the process, a non-Muslim spouse converts to Islam.”
Man, this is great news that polygamy brings admiration and a higher social standing. Did you guys know that Chinese used to practise polygamy, until those Western imperialist spoilsports ruined every decent Asian value ;-) with their Anglican tightass concept of monogamy, which is OK for Ang Mohs but not for us.
I am gonna elect Arbibi Ashoy for President (or Ayatollah) of Malaysia.
And I love his belief that by marrying a non-Muslim spouse and then converting her/him to Islam enhances the admiration and social prestige further.
OK, I am available to any rich Muslim sweeties (with rich and powerful dads) – by marrying me, she would only be adding to her family’s social standing ;-)
Arbibi, you’re a gem.
The Arbibi Ashoy Collection:
(1) Loose Cannon in PAS
(2) Saint (Dr) Azahari the Pure
I like to read Arbibi’s letters because you never know where he would go or end up ;-)
He complained that reading the Altantuyaa case each day only convinced him that the news could only get more and more sickening. He bemoaned that the sorry court saga has the appearance of nothing more than a big farce.
So far so good, I agree with him, though I wonder whether he had factored in the equally sorry saga of a political party attempting to hijack the issue in an attempt to turn the murder trial instead into a trial of a political opponent for grubby interests rather than justice.
He said: “Something big is missing so far from the Altatunya case - it's motive.”
‘Motive!’ – wow, fantastic – straight right out from a John Grisham novel.
He continued brilliantly: “People don't commit crimes without a motive unless they are suffering from a mental illness. There is a suggested motive of the covering up of infidelity.”
‘...suggested motive of the covering up of infidelity ...’ - double wow, juicy juicy man, you’re hot with your analysis.
Then this was the part where he reverted to the Arbibi Ashoy that I have been more familiar with ;-)
He said: “However, this is a non-issue with regards to Muslims. After all, Muslims can have four wives. It is only in Western society that infidelity is a major issue as unfaithfulness leads to divorce, separation from children, loss of wealth, damage to career, loss of respect, smaller circle of friends and a departure from mainstream life.”
Hahahahahaaa – he’s actually saying that Muslims can’t succumb to infidelity because they have four wives.
Well, on second thoughts, I am not sure whether he understood what infidelity means?
Now, this takes the cake – he said: “This is not the case for Muslims in Malaysia as polygamy brings admiration and a higher social standing especially if in the process, a non-Muslim spouse converts to Islam.”
Man, this is great news that polygamy brings admiration and a higher social standing. Did you guys know that Chinese used to practise polygamy, until those Western imperialist spoilsports ruined every decent Asian value ;-) with their Anglican tightass concept of monogamy, which is OK for Ang Mohs but not for us.
I am gonna elect Arbibi Ashoy for President (or Ayatollah) of Malaysia.
And I love his belief that by marrying a non-Muslim spouse and then converting her/him to Islam enhances the admiration and social prestige further.
OK, I am available to any rich Muslim sweeties (with rich and powerful dads) – by marrying me, she would only be adding to her family’s social standing ;-)
Arbibi, you’re a gem.
The Arbibi Ashoy Collection:
(1) Loose Cannon in PAS
(2) Saint (Dr) Azahari the Pure
I'll miss you, Emperor Nasi Goreng
I’ll miss Dean Johns of malaysiakini when he leaves us next month.
malaysiakini tells us Dean works in the ad-industry, and of course is a communication consultant. He also serves as a journalist and lecturer in KL. He’s not quite the foreigner he claims to be as he’s married to a Malaysia born lady with parents in Ipoh. Both share the joys of a daughter.
I have enjoyed Dean’s articles where his brilliant tongue-in-cheek play with words – eg. asing around and dermo-cracy - have not only elicited more than a few chuckles from me but provided piercing journalistic information.
I came to realize, regrettably too late, that he was conducting lessons on how to write. What a teacher he would have been for me. Hmmm, maybe he ought to think of a long distance course … er … at affordable Malaysian fee of course ;-) - ya, mate, it's almost 3 to 1 now.
I wonder whether his departure could be related to his articles a la ‘without fear or favour’ where he had ‘hamm-tam’ the bad governance in our country. I can only hope not and that it has been influenced by his wish to either seek new pastures or for family requirements.
I wish he continues to write for malaysiakini as an overseas correspondent, and bid him and his family a bon voyage and every prosperity for the future. Yes, I’ll miss him too.
Dean will understand what I mean when I pay him the greatest Australian ad compliment – mate, your writings are even better than Emperor Nasi Goreng ;-).
malaysiakini tells us Dean works in the ad-industry, and of course is a communication consultant. He also serves as a journalist and lecturer in KL. He’s not quite the foreigner he claims to be as he’s married to a Malaysia born lady with parents in Ipoh. Both share the joys of a daughter.
I have enjoyed Dean’s articles where his brilliant tongue-in-cheek play with words – eg. asing around and dermo-cracy - have not only elicited more than a few chuckles from me but provided piercing journalistic information.
I came to realize, regrettably too late, that he was conducting lessons on how to write. What a teacher he would have been for me. Hmmm, maybe he ought to think of a long distance course … er … at affordable Malaysian fee of course ;-) - ya, mate, it's almost 3 to 1 now.
I wonder whether his departure could be related to his articles a la ‘without fear or favour’ where he had ‘hamm-tam’ the bad governance in our country. I can only hope not and that it has been influenced by his wish to either seek new pastures or for family requirements.
I wish he continues to write for malaysiakini as an overseas correspondent, and bid him and his family a bon voyage and every prosperity for the future. Yes, I’ll miss him too.
Dean will understand what I mean when I pay him the greatest Australian ad compliment – mate, your writings are even better than Emperor Nasi Goreng ;-).
Thursday, July 12, 2007
PKR squeezing last drop of blood from a dead woman
Oh oh oh, it’s the usual from PKR that malaysiakini has just reported.
The party leadership is still pushing the campaign against Najib (but not AAB or KJ), relying on what Burmaa Oyunchimeg, prosecution witness, told the court on on June 29. She claimed she saw a photograph of Altantuya dining in Paris with the third accused Abdul Razak Baginda and a government official known only as ‘Najib Razak’.
malaysiakini reported:
PKR wants the police to check the passport of Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to determine if there is any link between him and slain Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu.
Speaking at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today, the opposition party’s supreme council member Latheefa Koya said it is important for the police to look into this matter since Najib previously denied knowing Altantuya.
She said this based on the testimony of the murder victim’s cousin Burmaa Oyunchimeg during the ongoing murder trial.
Latheefa said the police should check the passports of all three individuals, to determine if they were in Paris at the same time
This has become a joke when PKR political interests have degenerated into exploiting a side issue to press in its campaign against Najib for … whatever interests its leadership might and may have in mind. But then, hardly unexpected of a de facto party with a de facto leader.
It so happened I asked Raja, a visitor to Susan Loone blog, who has been noted to post erudite and very carefully thought out legal commentaries in relation to the Altantuyaa’s case, a few questions this morning.
I have learnt a few things from him and even had one of my vague understanding of hearsay evidence confirmed as correct – champagne all around ;-)
I asked Raja:
… how would the court (i.a.w world’s best practice, of course) assess or categorize the ‘evidence’ or statement by Burmaa Oyunchimeg about the photo which she saw but could not produce.
Would her claim that the late Altantuyaa told her a person in the photo was a Malaysian officer named Najib Razak be considered as ‘hearsay’ and inadmissible?
I have heard of some exceptions to hearsay evidence where (from vague recollection) a dying man were to reveal to a priest or monk that his murderer was, say, KTemoc (gulp), that could well be admitted - would I be correct here, and if so, would this example, admittedly drawing a long bow here, be akin to the Altantuyaa’s
Raja commented (I have slipped in some comments of my own but in different highlights):
a. For something to be admissible it must first be relevant to the issue.
b. Then if relevant it must not be inadmissible for being hearsay evidence. For example, a confession statement by a witness or a suspect under interrogation by the police is inadmissible if the purpose is to use it in court to prove the truth of contents.
That prosecution witness was not answering questions posed to her by the prosecution when she said she was shown by Altantuya a photograph of a group of people sitting around a table for a meal and among them was a government official (meaning the DPM), Razak and the deceased. If the purpose was to prove the fact of a possible conspiracy involving a high government official and the accused, and to attack the credibility of that government official, that government official is not on trial, nor is he a witness - and so is the Government of Malaysia not on trial.
“…witness was not answering questions posed to her by the prosecution when she said she was shown by Altantuya a photograhg …” – hmmm, KTemoc wonders why the prosecution witness decided to go on her own bat by bringing out the thus-far unavailable photograph which dear old Tian Chua had pounced on to help make available through some ‘magic’ of his own
Some foundation must first be built by counsel to allow its admission into evidence - and in this case the prosecution had nothing like that in mind. The witnessed was not being examined on the possibility of such a photograph or any photograph. While that may be so, prosecution should have allowed the witness to continue. If the defense objects the judge would most certainly sustain that objection on the ground of relevancy.
But that was not what happened. Both counsel from the prosecution and the defense stood up to object! The attorney holding a watching brief has had to ’stand up’ to ask the judge to allow the witness to have her say or complete her testimony.
I find the behavior of counsel for the prosecution strange though not unexpected. Allowing their witness to continue with her testimony would not have damaged their case - though irrelevant.
I am not sure why the defense is objecting!
Before evidence is admissible in court, it has first to be relevant. The photograph is not relevant.
Really? You wouldn't have thought so with the way they PKR crowd have been baying.
Forget the trial for a minute. If relevant what does it prove? It proves that the DPM had lied to the people when he said he did not know the accused - but he is not even a witness in this trial?
Could that be made a basis to charge him with conspiracy to murder? In my opinion - insufficient to prove anything more than the fact that they were having a meal. Period.
Hmmm, legally speaking of course. But politically speaking, which ends justify the dirty poo flinging, trust a party virtually bankrupt of policies and (democratic) process to squeeze to the last drop of Mongolian blood to somehow extract Najib’s from the non relevant issue.
Then Raja commented on my hypothetical case of “a dying man revealing to a priest or monk that his murderer was, say, KTemoc (gulp)” and whether such an example could be akin to Burmaa’s claim of Altantuyaa showing her a photo?
A dying declaration is an exception to the common law rule against hearsay. You are right.
… explains my elation and reckless offer of champagne …
Altantuya never made a statement that could be said to be her ‘dying declaration’. The letters left by her referring to Razak is admissible only to prove her state of mind if that is in issue - and not the truth of contents e.g. Razak was trying to have her killed unless she stopped harassing him.
Good try PKR, and I do mean it, because as they say, fling enough poo and some will inevitably stick. And bugger the feelings of the family of the late Altantuyaa by unnecessarily (for them) indulging in sensational mud rucking, and bugger also ethical due process.
The reformasi way?
The party leadership is still pushing the campaign against Najib (but not AAB or KJ), relying on what Burmaa Oyunchimeg, prosecution witness, told the court on on June 29. She claimed she saw a photograph of Altantuya dining in Paris with the third accused Abdul Razak Baginda and a government official known only as ‘Najib Razak’.
malaysiakini reported:
PKR wants the police to check the passport of Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to determine if there is any link between him and slain Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu.
Speaking at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today, the opposition party’s supreme council member Latheefa Koya said it is important for the police to look into this matter since Najib previously denied knowing Altantuya.
She said this based on the testimony of the murder victim’s cousin Burmaa Oyunchimeg during the ongoing murder trial.
Latheefa said the police should check the passports of all three individuals, to determine if they were in Paris at the same time
This has become a joke when PKR political interests have degenerated into exploiting a side issue to press in its campaign against Najib for … whatever interests its leadership might and may have in mind. But then, hardly unexpected of a de facto party with a de facto leader.
It so happened I asked Raja, a visitor to Susan Loone blog, who has been noted to post erudite and very carefully thought out legal commentaries in relation to the Altantuyaa’s case, a few questions this morning.
I have learnt a few things from him and even had one of my vague understanding of hearsay evidence confirmed as correct – champagne all around ;-)
I asked Raja:
… how would the court (i.a.w world’s best practice, of course) assess or categorize the ‘evidence’ or statement by Burmaa Oyunchimeg about the photo which she saw but could not produce.
Would her claim that the late Altantuyaa told her a person in the photo was a Malaysian officer named Najib Razak be considered as ‘hearsay’ and inadmissible?
I have heard of some exceptions to hearsay evidence where (from vague recollection) a dying man were to reveal to a priest or monk that his murderer was, say, KTemoc (gulp), that could well be admitted - would I be correct here, and if so, would this example, admittedly drawing a long bow here, be akin to the Altantuyaa’s
Raja commented (I have slipped in some comments of my own but in different highlights):
a. For something to be admissible it must first be relevant to the issue.
b. Then if relevant it must not be inadmissible for being hearsay evidence. For example, a confession statement by a witness or a suspect under interrogation by the police is inadmissible if the purpose is to use it in court to prove the truth of contents.
That prosecution witness was not answering questions posed to her by the prosecution when she said she was shown by Altantuya a photograph of a group of people sitting around a table for a meal and among them was a government official (meaning the DPM), Razak and the deceased. If the purpose was to prove the fact of a possible conspiracy involving a high government official and the accused, and to attack the credibility of that government official, that government official is not on trial, nor is he a witness - and so is the Government of Malaysia not on trial.
“…witness was not answering questions posed to her by the prosecution when she said she was shown by Altantuya a photograhg …” – hmmm, KTemoc wonders why the prosecution witness decided to go on her own bat by bringing out the thus-far unavailable photograph which dear old Tian Chua had pounced on to help make available through some ‘magic’ of his own
Some foundation must first be built by counsel to allow its admission into evidence - and in this case the prosecution had nothing like that in mind. The witnessed was not being examined on the possibility of such a photograph or any photograph. While that may be so, prosecution should have allowed the witness to continue. If the defense objects the judge would most certainly sustain that objection on the ground of relevancy.
But that was not what happened. Both counsel from the prosecution and the defense stood up to object! The attorney holding a watching brief has had to ’stand up’ to ask the judge to allow the witness to have her say or complete her testimony.
I find the behavior of counsel for the prosecution strange though not unexpected. Allowing their witness to continue with her testimony would not have damaged their case - though irrelevant.
I am not sure why the defense is objecting!
Before evidence is admissible in court, it has first to be relevant. The photograph is not relevant.
Really? You wouldn't have thought so with the way they PKR crowd have been baying.
Forget the trial for a minute. If relevant what does it prove? It proves that the DPM had lied to the people when he said he did not know the accused - but he is not even a witness in this trial?
Could that be made a basis to charge him with conspiracy to murder? In my opinion - insufficient to prove anything more than the fact that they were having a meal. Period.
Hmmm, legally speaking of course. But politically speaking, which ends justify the dirty poo flinging, trust a party virtually bankrupt of policies and (democratic) process to squeeze to the last drop of Mongolian blood to somehow extract Najib’s from the non relevant issue.
Then Raja commented on my hypothetical case of “a dying man revealing to a priest or monk that his murderer was, say, KTemoc (gulp)” and whether such an example could be akin to Burmaa’s claim of Altantuyaa showing her a photo?
A dying declaration is an exception to the common law rule against hearsay. You are right.
… explains my elation and reckless offer of champagne …
Altantuya never made a statement that could be said to be her ‘dying declaration’. The letters left by her referring to Razak is admissible only to prove her state of mind if that is in issue - and not the truth of contents e.g. Razak was trying to have her killed unless she stopped harassing him.
Good try PKR, and I do mean it, because as they say, fling enough poo and some will inevitably stick. And bugger the feelings of the family of the late Altantuyaa by unnecessarily (for them) indulging in sensational mud rucking, and bugger also ethical due process.
The reformasi way?
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Tian Chua - a cherry blossom?
"If someone asks about the spirit of kamikaze, it is the Tian Chua of PKR that is flagrant in the party’s setting sun"
Tian Chua, Tian Chua!
Like a kamikaze pilot, he knows only one course, towards the enemy (whoever that might be), without any care that there's no fuel for his return for he doesn’t need to return, hurling towards his ultimate sacrifice, for a cause already lost.
Last week malaysiakini reported Anwar Ibrahim demanding DPM Najib Razak explain a claim by prosecution witness Burmaa Oyunchimeg - that she was shown a photo by the late Altantuyaa Shaariibuu which included a Malaysian officer called Najib Razak together with Altantuyaa and Razak Baginda. But Burmaa did not produce the photo for the court.
I blogged on this in O Tian Chua, what have you done! where I also related that Malaysia’s foremost wannabe martyr compensated for the lack of damning evidence (for Najib) by doctoring a photo showing the alleged threesome having a French dinner. The lady in Tian Chua's photo was also rather well endowed, designed, I suppose, to titillate viewers.
Despite all pretences, denials and lawyer burok-ish (barrack room) arguments by Tian's supporters, there wasn’t any doubt in the minds of Malaysians that the woman in Tian's doctored photo, and posted on his blog, represented Altantuyaa. There wasn’t also any doubt that Tian had implied Najib Razak knew Altantuyaa despite the DPM’s denial.
In fact Tian admitted he created the photo.
Tian is known for his recklessness but the doctored photo exceeded even his normal martyr-ish antics. He did some damage control in a following posting the next day, realising the enormity of his blunder.
It wasn’t just slander with a libel suit hanging over his head like the sword of Damocles – worse, it provided Najib and UMNO with the wherewithal to counter-attack and distract from an embarrassingly seething simmering smoking situation for Najib.
Well, trust Tian Chua to blunder impetuously with the insinuation backfiring on him and his PKR. Sleazy, grubby and unethical were the words used to describe Tian's crazy tactic. Suddenly Najib and UMNO were on high moral grounds.
You’ll never catch the DAP indulging in such salacious stupid and slanderous excesses.
But then Tian Chua being Tian Chua, no one had expected him to apologise (despite the wee backpedalling the day following the silly posting). In fact when AFP interviewed him, he was gleefully back in his element, stating (as reported by malaysiakini):
"This photo is just my imagination. It is aimed to push Najib to explain his link in the case. I will not withdraw the photo or apologise."
"I want the authorities to handle the case in a transparent way and for Najib to reveal his relations with Altantuya."
The difference between a martyr and a wannabe martyr is the former is prepared to be crucified for his beliefs, while the latter just wants to be crucified, full stop!
Banzai, Tian Chua ;-)
*** *** ***
Mootori Norinaga’s original poem as adopted by the Japanese Kamikaze Special Attack Force:
"Shikishima no Yamato-gokoro wo hito towaba, asahi ni niou yamazakura bana"
"If someone asks about the spirit of Japan, it is the flowers of mountain cherry blossom that are fragrant in the rising sun"
- paraphrasing a poem by (and with apologies) to Mootori Norinaga
Tian Chua, Tian Chua!
Like a kamikaze pilot, he knows only one course, towards the enemy (whoever that might be), without any care that there's no fuel for his return for he doesn’t need to return, hurling towards his ultimate sacrifice, for a cause already lost.
Last week malaysiakini reported Anwar Ibrahim demanding DPM Najib Razak explain a claim by prosecution witness Burmaa Oyunchimeg - that she was shown a photo by the late Altantuyaa Shaariibuu which included a Malaysian officer called Najib Razak together with Altantuyaa and Razak Baginda. But Burmaa did not produce the photo for the court.
I blogged on this in O Tian Chua, what have you done! where I also related that Malaysia’s foremost wannabe martyr compensated for the lack of damning evidence (for Najib) by doctoring a photo showing the alleged threesome having a French dinner. The lady in Tian Chua's photo was also rather well endowed, designed, I suppose, to titillate viewers.
Despite all pretences, denials and lawyer burok-ish (barrack room) arguments by Tian's supporters, there wasn’t any doubt in the minds of Malaysians that the woman in Tian's doctored photo, and posted on his blog, represented Altantuyaa. There wasn’t also any doubt that Tian had implied Najib Razak knew Altantuyaa despite the DPM’s denial.
In fact Tian admitted he created the photo.
Tian is known for his recklessness but the doctored photo exceeded even his normal martyr-ish antics. He did some damage control in a following posting the next day, realising the enormity of his blunder.
It wasn’t just slander with a libel suit hanging over his head like the sword of Damocles – worse, it provided Najib and UMNO with the wherewithal to counter-attack and distract from an embarrassingly seething simmering smoking situation for Najib.
Well, trust Tian Chua to blunder impetuously with the insinuation backfiring on him and his PKR. Sleazy, grubby and unethical were the words used to describe Tian's crazy tactic. Suddenly Najib and UMNO were on high moral grounds.
You’ll never catch the DAP indulging in such salacious stupid and slanderous excesses.
But then Tian Chua being Tian Chua, no one had expected him to apologise (despite the wee backpedalling the day following the silly posting). In fact when AFP interviewed him, he was gleefully back in his element, stating (as reported by malaysiakini):
"This photo is just my imagination. It is aimed to push Najib to explain his link in the case. I will not withdraw the photo or apologise."
"I want the authorities to handle the case in a transparent way and for Najib to reveal his relations with Altantuya."
The difference between a martyr and a wannabe martyr is the former is prepared to be crucified for his beliefs, while the latter just wants to be crucified, full stop!
Banzai, Tian Chua ;-)
*** *** ***
Mootori Norinaga’s original poem as adopted by the Japanese Kamikaze Special Attack Force:
"Shikishima no Yamato-gokoro wo hito towaba, asahi ni niou yamazakura bana"
"If someone asks about the spirit of Japan, it is the flowers of mountain cherry blossom that are fragrant in the rising sun"
The new elegance of 'Dunno'
Once again, in malaysiakini, we learnt from the tireless Lim Kit Siang how our PM hasn’t been quite on his expensively-shoed toes.
The Opposition Grand Olde Man rapped Mr Elegant Silence for not even knowing who is the minister named in a NGO’s report (inclusive of evidence) about a high level corruption case, already submitted to the PM.
I guess that would now change his elegant title to Mr Elegant Dunno.
malaysiakini also informs us that ‘Last month, Movement for Democracy and Anti-Corruption (Gerak) submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office a 632-page report containing allegations of criminal breach of trust and misappropriation involving a senior cabinet minister.’
‘Ayoyo’, as Humpty Dumpty would probably exclaim (if he dares). And may KTemoc add on behalf of those very quiet MCA blokes: ‘Karn neen nay’.
Gerak chairperson Ezam Mohd Noor (he formerly of the de facto party) had stated that the voluminous report included documentary evidence made up of statements from the Companies Commission of Malaysia, receipts and invoices amounting to millions of ringgit, and best of all, police reports lodged by a listed company against the minister in the 1980s - guess the police & ACA have been sleeping, or perhaps they're still working 'diligently' on the 1980's case.
Well, though Ezam didn’t name the minister, he did reveal that the minister is an UMNO member. The naughty bloke apparently used RM 30 million of public company funds to clear personal debts.
Wouldn’t that be considered as CBT rather than corruption? Or, hopefully both!
Strangely, for a senior UMNO cabinet minister, why would he even need to relieve the company of a mere sarp sarp suoi (chicken feed) RM 30 mil? I wonder whether it had been a case of arrogant belief that, no doubt it’s just loose change, it was there for his convenient use, to dip his grubby hands into the petty cash box whenever he liked, without fear of discovery or even being questioned. Hmmm, I wonder what sort of ‘personal debt’ would that have been?
Anyway, back on track - What had embarrassingly occurred has been AAB telling reporters a couple of days ago he didn’t know who this naughty minister is. Mind you, he did say he was informed of the report and would ‘study it’ ;-)
That sent poor conscientious Lim up the wall. He bemoaned the sad fact that AAB, with the evidence in his manicured hands, doesn’t even know the identity of the accused minister
Doesn’t know or doesn’t want to know, or worse, can't let you all know?
Lim asked caustically: "If Abdullah takes 10 days to state publicly that he is aware ... how long more would he need to announce what he proposes to do about it?"
"Or will he just pass the buck and kick the football elsewhere, starting a merry-go-round which will drag out the issue in an inconclusive manner for the next few years?"
"Is it credible that a prime minister who is serious about his pledge [about the National Integrity Plan] and commitment to make anti-corruption his top priority can allow 10 days to pass without bothering to find out who was the (allegedly corrupt) Umno cabinet minister."
Hmmm, somewhile ago, AAB has claimed that he was still in control of the nation and he’d rid the country of corruption - ah, in his own way and own time, of course. He reminded us that things couldn’t be changed overnight.
OK, even taking his explanations at face value, that things would take time to change, let’s ask a few questions that I and millions of other Malaysians have not been satisfied with, namely the lack of resolutions (and probably unlikely resolution) in very simple cases of dodginess. These are issues that I can immediately recall without too much probing:
(1) What has happened to the case of Cyclops in the Monkey House? I am talking about the 'close one eye' sin and not his disgusting 'leaking' grubbiness.
PAC chairman Shahrir Samad claimed somewhile back he was waiting for the police investigation to complete before the PAC can assess the Cyclops case. Well?
Then, the police investigation is into criminality whilst the PAC should be looking at parliamentary propriety, or propriety of the MPs
But we need to bear in mind that poor Shahrir had been 'punished' for daring to take a decent bilateral stand (initially anyway) against Cyclop's shameful close-one-eye mentality. He has been whipped back into line (Shahrir, that is - did you for even one moment think it was Cyclops?)
(2) Police issues such as:
(a) A Japanese student being extorted by policeman of RM500
(b) Chinese wives being abused at police station by policemen, & hubbies extorted
and
(c) the mother of them all, a very recent allegation that our police has dodgy links to the underworld. Most staggering of all, Raja Petra Kamarudin of Malaysia-Today alerted us to the link between the Police, IGP’s son and BK Tan, the alleged Kingpin of the organised crime syndicate, through a company called Web Power Sdn Bhd.
(3) Rela members sent to city, to beat up imported Indian workers who had the nerve to question management, right in front of Indian Hi-Comm - question: why and who sent those thugs?
(4) Libra-ECM-Avenue case – how could AAB as Finance Minister be not aware of the merger?
(5) Menteri Besar rorting the tsunami funds, meant for the needy.
There’s more but the above should suffice for this posting.
The Opposition Grand Olde Man rapped Mr Elegant Silence for not even knowing who is the minister named in a NGO’s report (inclusive of evidence) about a high level corruption case, already submitted to the PM.
I guess that would now change his elegant title to Mr Elegant Dunno.
malaysiakini also informs us that ‘Last month, Movement for Democracy and Anti-Corruption (Gerak) submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office a 632-page report containing allegations of criminal breach of trust and misappropriation involving a senior cabinet minister.’
‘Ayoyo’, as Humpty Dumpty would probably exclaim (if he dares). And may KTemoc add on behalf of those very quiet MCA blokes: ‘Karn neen nay’.
Gerak chairperson Ezam Mohd Noor (he formerly of the de facto party) had stated that the voluminous report included documentary evidence made up of statements from the Companies Commission of Malaysia, receipts and invoices amounting to millions of ringgit, and best of all, police reports lodged by a listed company against the minister in the 1980s - guess the police & ACA have been sleeping, or perhaps they're still working 'diligently' on the 1980's case.
Well, though Ezam didn’t name the minister, he did reveal that the minister is an UMNO member. The naughty bloke apparently used RM 30 million of public company funds to clear personal debts.
Wouldn’t that be considered as CBT rather than corruption? Or, hopefully both!
Strangely, for a senior UMNO cabinet minister, why would he even need to relieve the company of a mere sarp sarp suoi (chicken feed) RM 30 mil? I wonder whether it had been a case of arrogant belief that, no doubt it’s just loose change, it was there for his convenient use, to dip his grubby hands into the petty cash box whenever he liked, without fear of discovery or even being questioned. Hmmm, I wonder what sort of ‘personal debt’ would that have been?
Anyway, back on track - What had embarrassingly occurred has been AAB telling reporters a couple of days ago he didn’t know who this naughty minister is. Mind you, he did say he was informed of the report and would ‘study it’ ;-)
That sent poor conscientious Lim up the wall. He bemoaned the sad fact that AAB, with the evidence in his manicured hands, doesn’t even know the identity of the accused minister
Doesn’t know or doesn’t want to know, or worse, can't let you all know?
Lim asked caustically: "If Abdullah takes 10 days to state publicly that he is aware ... how long more would he need to announce what he proposes to do about it?"
"Or will he just pass the buck and kick the football elsewhere, starting a merry-go-round which will drag out the issue in an inconclusive manner for the next few years?"
"Is it credible that a prime minister who is serious about his pledge [about the National Integrity Plan] and commitment to make anti-corruption his top priority can allow 10 days to pass without bothering to find out who was the (allegedly corrupt) Umno cabinet minister."
Hmmm, somewhile ago, AAB has claimed that he was still in control of the nation and he’d rid the country of corruption - ah, in his own way and own time, of course. He reminded us that things couldn’t be changed overnight.
OK, even taking his explanations at face value, that things would take time to change, let’s ask a few questions that I and millions of other Malaysians have not been satisfied with, namely the lack of resolutions (and probably unlikely resolution) in very simple cases of dodginess. These are issues that I can immediately recall without too much probing:
(1) What has happened to the case of Cyclops in the Monkey House? I am talking about the 'close one eye' sin and not his disgusting 'leaking' grubbiness.
PAC chairman Shahrir Samad claimed somewhile back he was waiting for the police investigation to complete before the PAC can assess the Cyclops case. Well?
Then, the police investigation is into criminality whilst the PAC should be looking at parliamentary propriety, or propriety of the MPs
But we need to bear in mind that poor Shahrir had been 'punished' for daring to take a decent bilateral stand (initially anyway) against Cyclop's shameful close-one-eye mentality. He has been whipped back into line (Shahrir, that is - did you for even one moment think it was Cyclops?)
(2) Police issues such as:
(a) A Japanese student being extorted by policeman of RM500
(b) Chinese wives being abused at police station by policemen, & hubbies extorted
and
(c) the mother of them all, a very recent allegation that our police has dodgy links to the underworld. Most staggering of all, Raja Petra Kamarudin of Malaysia-Today alerted us to the link between the Police, IGP’s son and BK Tan, the alleged Kingpin of the organised crime syndicate, through a company called Web Power Sdn Bhd.
(3) Rela members sent to city, to beat up imported Indian workers who had the nerve to question management, right in front of Indian Hi-Comm - question: why and who sent those thugs?
(4) Libra-ECM-Avenue case – how could AAB as Finance Minister be not aware of the merger?
(5) Menteri Besar rorting the tsunami funds, meant for the needy.
There’s more but the above should suffice for this posting.
Monday, July 09, 2007
Politics behind Revathi Masoosai?
'There are truths on this side of the Pyrenees, which are falsehoods on the other'
'We know the truth, not only by the reason, but also by the heart'.
'We know the truth, not only by the reason, but also by the heart'.
- Balise Pascal
The time has come for the ‘truth’ about the religious belief of Revathi Masoosai to be acknowledged by the Muslim authorities, regardless of their (unfounded) fears of allowing her to be the Hindu she wants to be, which her heart tells her to be, and her will directs her to be.
One of the fears of the Islamic authorities is of course the adverse snowball effect, that by allowing a Muslim to leave the folds of Islam, it may cause a stampede of people from the Muslim community.
Quite frankly, that’s unlikely because if we take the example of Buddhism, a religion where Buddhist parents (or even the monks) may not convert their children into Buddhists (though they may bring their children up in accordance with Buddhist teachings), we see that today, in many parts of the world, Buddhism is the fastest growing religion.
So when malaysiakini tells us that Revathi Masoosai, born to Muslim parents but brought up as a Hindu by her granny and married to a Hindu in accordance with Hindu rites, declared: “I am a Hindu and I choose to remain this way", it's time for the authorities to hear her.
Unequivocal has been her assertion about her belief, yet one may wonder why religious officials at the Islamic-run rehabilitation centre were still confident she could be ‘rehabilitated’ to embrace Islam ...
... to which she stated clearly: "What are they talking about? They have separated me from my child and my beloved husband for six months. Even if I was given a million dollars, I will never follow them."
The seemingly blind and obdurate insistence that this woman, who has made such a strong declaration of her religious preference, could be rehabilitated into the Muslim community beggars belief. So it may seem!
But in Malaysia, one has to look for the politics behind the authorities’ unrelenting ‘punishment’ of a woman whom we (and they) know would never ever surrender away her Hindu faith.
Unequivocal has been her assertion about her belief, yet one may wonder why religious officials at the Islamic-run rehabilitation centre were still confident she could be ‘rehabilitated’ to embrace Islam ...
... to which she stated clearly: "What are they talking about? They have separated me from my child and my beloved husband for six months. Even if I was given a million dollars, I will never follow them."
The seemingly blind and obdurate insistence that this woman, who has made such a strong declaration of her religious preference, could be rehabilitated into the Muslim community beggars belief. So it may seem!
But in Malaysia, one has to look for the politics behind the authorities’ unrelenting ‘punishment’ of a woman whom we (and they) know would never ever surrender away her Hindu faith.
Yes, there’s always the politics, and it’s precisely this politics that saw Revathi subjected to an indoctrination which has now ricochet into adverse publicity for Islam - an unsuccessful rehabilitation which had driven her into open defiance against the religion which officials had attempted to make her re-embrace.
With the general election just around the corner, the UMNO-led government is acutely aware that PAS is waiting to pounce on any retreat on the Revathi case. ‘Tis a case of the olde ‘holier than thou’ struggle for the hearts of the Muslim community, so bugger the virtue of ‘compassion’.
And one would not be completely astray in suspecting that the spin has continued that Islam has not yet lost Revathi, that she has only been released into the guardianship of her Muslim parents, and that the authorities is convinced that the recalcitrant woman will eventually be rehabilitated to become once again a member of the umma wahidi.
With the general election just around the corner, the UMNO-led government is acutely aware that PAS is waiting to pounce on any retreat on the Revathi case. ‘Tis a case of the olde ‘holier than thou’ struggle for the hearts of the Muslim community, so bugger the virtue of ‘compassion’.
And one would not be completely astray in suspecting that the spin has continued that Islam has not yet lost Revathi, that she has only been released into the guardianship of her Muslim parents, and that the authorities is convinced that the recalcitrant woman will eventually be rehabilitated to become once again a member of the umma wahidi.
Malaysia - Rise of the Warlords
malaysiakini quoted Opposition Leader, DAP Lim Kit Siang, as lamenting that in just twenty years, the police has allowed a once-safe Malaysia to deteriorate into a country where its people are racked with fear of, and deeply traumatised by crimes.
The city of Johor Baru is chief among those places which have been neglected by our so-called guardians of the law to the extent that they are now hostages to criminals and their nefarious conducts.
We not only have had allegations of the police being brutal, corrupt and unlawful, but further allegations of our so-called lawmen being in cahoots with the very criminals who now ‘run’ JB as if the city is their own fiefdom.
There was a time when our police tamed the untameable Triads, way way way before Hong Kong came up with the idea of ICAC. And we successfully defeated the communists - the only nation in the world to do so - in large part due to Special Branch's superior intelligence, infiltration of the CT cells and psy-war.
Our police then gave us not only confidence in our security but pride that we alone in SE Asia (ignoring Singapore which had always been an intrinsic part of our history, political and social fabric in so many ways) did not have to suffer the totalitarian regime of a military government.
The government, since Tunku’s days, had successfully used the RMP as an effective counter-weight to keep in check any ambitious military napoleons.
But alas, that glorious history has long gone. It has been reported that since the current IGP took over, crime rates have soared to disgraceful levels, where rapes, robberies and snatch thefts are common everyday events that terrorise the public.
malaysiakini reported that ‘of late, the crime wave in Johor Bahru had prompted public outcry and demands for immediate steps to arrest the problem which culminated in a demonstration being held in front of the Johor Menteri Besar's official residence.’
‘Following this, the government announced the deployment of 400 additional police personnel along with 200 new police vehicles in the state.’
It had to come to such dramatic but as many suspected, a pre general election PR move.
Raja Petra Kamarudin in his Malaysia-Today posted a severe hard hitting body blow at the IGP titled Please, IGP, explain this!
It makes one’s blood curdled to read about the IGP’s dodgy links. Raja stated that ‘The organised crime syndicate -- which, as I said, includes prostitution (in particular girls from China), drugs (four types of ‘designer’ drugs) and illegal gambling (4D lotteries and slot machines) -- started expanding its operations soon after Musa took over as the IGP.’
Raja also raised the link between the Police, IGP’s son and BK Tan, the alleged Kingpin of the organised crime syndicate, through a company called Web Power Sdn Bhd.
Then, to add insult to our injury, PM AAB allowed the IGP to be honoured by the Agong with a Tan Sri and then, unbelievably for such disgraceful and incompetent police performance, extended the IGP’s contract when it’s supposed to end in September this year.
The case of a decaying rotten state! Please also see my previous postings:
(1) Altantuya trial & Najib Razak - why we seek alternative process
(2) Now is time for IPCMC
Then, just when we thought that nothing could get any worse, we have a malaysiakini article telling us that the government intends to make RELA, the People Volunteer Corps, into a full fledged enforcement department soon.
Well-known NGO Aliran is against this government plan, and suggested the government should instead limit RELA to disaster relief work. It spokesperson said:
“Aliran contends that legitimising Rela to become a permanent feature of our security apparatus is superfluous and tantamount to condoning the continuing violations of human rights in the country, regardless of the status of the victims.”
On a similar note, Amnesty International Malaysia criticised the government’s move because it would further legitimise and strengthen RELA’s powers to arbitrarily arrest, search and detain individuals. At present, RELA already has wide and discretionary powers where they can stop any person, enter any premises and make arrests without any warrants.
Worse, such powers also do not come with an oversight mechanism and thus were subject to abuse. Yes, frighteningly, we also know that RELA members are not trained like the police (I suppose one could then argue what’s the difference?) yet exercise far greater powers of intervention, arrest and detaining.
RELA members are already notorious for their abuse of powers. Read my previous postings:
(1) Rela-gate! Do we have Warlords?
(2) Rela-gate - we want some answers!
(3) Warlords & their goons
(4) Home Ministry sets Rela hounds on traders!
(5) Throwing Kitchen Sink at Dr Mahathir
Our government seems to be not only condoning but have certain sectors actually nurturing these private armies, and then using them as indicated in above postings.
The police is either incompetent or, as alleged, in cahoots with criminals, with senior heads behaving like warlords, whilst we have the additional threat of an unaccountable organization like RELA, already suspected of being used by political warlords for their own interests (eg. terrorising and physically abusing Indian nationals who were imported estate workers), becoming a full fledged enforcement organization.
Then of course we have our infamous JAIS, JAWI and official peeping toms (proposed from time to time by different UMNO-controlled states), city enforcement personnel who preyed on hugging couples, and dangerous seditious zealots like the Mufti of Disgrace who had no compunction in (nearly) causing religious riots.
Warlord-ism seems to have not only affected the government side but also one opposition party where shock troops would be sent into the streets for political interests. And of course we have suspicions of attempts to harness the Mat Rempits into future Brown Shirts on motorised two-wheels
Though the solution is as equally terrifying as the current plague of civilian warlords, wouldn’t it be just ironical if Malaysia, with its hitherto proud history of never ever having to suffer the indignity of being under a military government like other SE Asian nations, would need to turn to the army, like Turkey did, to rid us of the infestations of warlords and restore the nation to being a fully accountable, transparent and secular democracy, that it once was.
The city of Johor Baru is chief among those places which have been neglected by our so-called guardians of the law to the extent that they are now hostages to criminals and their nefarious conducts.
We not only have had allegations of the police being brutal, corrupt and unlawful, but further allegations of our so-called lawmen being in cahoots with the very criminals who now ‘run’ JB as if the city is their own fiefdom.
There was a time when our police tamed the untameable Triads, way way way before Hong Kong came up with the idea of ICAC. And we successfully defeated the communists - the only nation in the world to do so - in large part due to Special Branch's superior intelligence, infiltration of the CT cells and psy-war.
Our police then gave us not only confidence in our security but pride that we alone in SE Asia (ignoring Singapore which had always been an intrinsic part of our history, political and social fabric in so many ways) did not have to suffer the totalitarian regime of a military government.
The government, since Tunku’s days, had successfully used the RMP as an effective counter-weight to keep in check any ambitious military napoleons.
But alas, that glorious history has long gone. It has been reported that since the current IGP took over, crime rates have soared to disgraceful levels, where rapes, robberies and snatch thefts are common everyday events that terrorise the public.
malaysiakini reported that ‘of late, the crime wave in Johor Bahru had prompted public outcry and demands for immediate steps to arrest the problem which culminated in a demonstration being held in front of the Johor Menteri Besar's official residence.’
‘Following this, the government announced the deployment of 400 additional police personnel along with 200 new police vehicles in the state.’
It had to come to such dramatic but as many suspected, a pre general election PR move.
Raja Petra Kamarudin in his Malaysia-Today posted a severe hard hitting body blow at the IGP titled Please, IGP, explain this!
It makes one’s blood curdled to read about the IGP’s dodgy links. Raja stated that ‘The organised crime syndicate -- which, as I said, includes prostitution (in particular girls from China), drugs (four types of ‘designer’ drugs) and illegal gambling (4D lotteries and slot machines) -- started expanding its operations soon after Musa took over as the IGP.’
Raja also raised the link between the Police, IGP’s son and BK Tan, the alleged Kingpin of the organised crime syndicate, through a company called Web Power Sdn Bhd.
Then, to add insult to our injury, PM AAB allowed the IGP to be honoured by the Agong with a Tan Sri and then, unbelievably for such disgraceful and incompetent police performance, extended the IGP’s contract when it’s supposed to end in September this year.
The case of a decaying rotten state! Please also see my previous postings:
(1) Altantuya trial & Najib Razak - why we seek alternative process
(2) Now is time for IPCMC
Then, just when we thought that nothing could get any worse, we have a malaysiakini article telling us that the government intends to make RELA, the People Volunteer Corps, into a full fledged enforcement department soon.
Well-known NGO Aliran is against this government plan, and suggested the government should instead limit RELA to disaster relief work. It spokesperson said:
“Aliran contends that legitimising Rela to become a permanent feature of our security apparatus is superfluous and tantamount to condoning the continuing violations of human rights in the country, regardless of the status of the victims.”
On a similar note, Amnesty International Malaysia criticised the government’s move because it would further legitimise and strengthen RELA’s powers to arbitrarily arrest, search and detain individuals. At present, RELA already has wide and discretionary powers where they can stop any person, enter any premises and make arrests without any warrants.
Worse, such powers also do not come with an oversight mechanism and thus were subject to abuse. Yes, frighteningly, we also know that RELA members are not trained like the police (I suppose one could then argue what’s the difference?) yet exercise far greater powers of intervention, arrest and detaining.
RELA members are already notorious for their abuse of powers. Read my previous postings:
(1) Rela-gate! Do we have Warlords?
(2) Rela-gate - we want some answers!
(3) Warlords & their goons
(4) Home Ministry sets Rela hounds on traders!
(5) Throwing Kitchen Sink at Dr Mahathir
Our government seems to be not only condoning but have certain sectors actually nurturing these private armies, and then using them as indicated in above postings.
The police is either incompetent or, as alleged, in cahoots with criminals, with senior heads behaving like warlords, whilst we have the additional threat of an unaccountable organization like RELA, already suspected of being used by political warlords for their own interests (eg. terrorising and physically abusing Indian nationals who were imported estate workers), becoming a full fledged enforcement organization.
Then of course we have our infamous JAIS, JAWI and official peeping toms (proposed from time to time by different UMNO-controlled states), city enforcement personnel who preyed on hugging couples, and dangerous seditious zealots like the Mufti of Disgrace who had no compunction in (nearly) causing religious riots.
Warlord-ism seems to have not only affected the government side but also one opposition party where shock troops would be sent into the streets for political interests. And of course we have suspicions of attempts to harness the Mat Rempits into future Brown Shirts on motorised two-wheels
Though the solution is as equally terrifying as the current plague of civilian warlords, wouldn’t it be just ironical if Malaysia, with its hitherto proud history of never ever having to suffer the indignity of being under a military government like other SE Asian nations, would need to turn to the army, like Turkey did, to rid us of the infestations of warlords and restore the nation to being a fully accountable, transparent and secular democracy, that it once was.
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