Najib's Talk As In The Magic Flute

This is what I've written for the last two years, on this very day because this coincide with the premiere of Mozart's The Magic Flute. Last year I wrote about:

The Queen of the Night - a representation of obscurantism , in other words, the practice of deliberately preventing the facts or the full details of some matter from becoming known. This is ironically what is happening right now, where people are denied the knowledge of what they want to know. Instead, they were threatened with a charge of the Official Secrets Act if information is to be revealed. And this is why many people to this day has either no clue or they acted foolishly without the proper and sufficient knowledge. The aristocracy's obscurantism of the social problem's is the main factor the start of the French Revolution.

 

I also put in the Three Ladies as the agents of the Queen:

The three ladies of the Queen - Represents the agents that will carry out her order. The mainstream media has been ordered to do a smear campaign of Bersih. The main goal is simple: manufacturing consent, to create a consent among the simpleton minded (those like Papageno) that Bersih is a no good thing, without presenting the reasons why Bersih would do such thing. They would also twist to include statements from leaders who are opposed to the idea of clean elections.

 

I've also included a video clip of the opera's famous aria,  "Hell's Vengeance Boils In My Heart"

 

As most of you are not aware, today and this year marks the 220th anniversary of the opera.

It was first debuted on 30 September 1791, just two months before Mozart's untimely death.

 

The problem right now is that fear and threats are spread around, yet people remain ignorant. The character of Papageno is an allegory to such attitude. I wrote:

 

Papageno - Tamino's companion, Papageno represents the foolish and the error of the people. These people are mainly simpletons, those who do not really bother about enlightenment and wisdom but just food, drink and companionship. In Act II Scene 5, the priests scolded Papageno because he will never know the enlightened bliss of the gods, but instead Papageno said, there are many unenlightened but happy. This is the danger of being susceptible to the danger of superstition and groundless fears.

How can we overcome such fear mongering like "eradicated rights" that people from UMNO and some NGOs would say that? It's from proper and right knowledge, enlightenment and not to be a lazy native. We too should start believe that such things spread actually do not exist. It is meant to scare people of going out of the shell and exploring the unexplored.

 

The plot of the opera is somewhat a metaphor of the mankind's progression from naive to enlightened being. To refuse such enlightenment is a one step backwards.

Just before Bersih 2.0, I've broken down the list of characters and its representations:

Sarastro - a representation of the enlightened sovereign who rules according to principles based on reason, wisdom, and nature. The complete anti-thesis of the Queen of the Night. He reveals that she attempts to bewilder people with superstition and groundless fears. The first model that serves the influence of the character was Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II - an ultimately flawed figure despite his attempt on using the principles above.

Pamina - daughter of the Queen of the Night, representing people. Sarastro refused to let her return to her mother because she was not properly guided. As what Mozart and Schikander put in - the people must be guided proper, even if there are mistakes apart.

Tamino - the main protagonist - representing the trials that mankind must go through. At the start of the second act, Sarastro declared that Pamina must be guided by man, Tamino represents the trials that Pamina will faced or in other way round, the people.

Papageno - Tamino's companion, Papageno represents the foolish and the error of the people. These people are mainly simpletons, those who do not really bother about enlightenment and wisdom but just food, drink and companionship. In Act II Scene 5, the priests scolded Papageno because he will never know the enlightened bliss of the gods, but instead Papageno said, there are many unenlightened but happy. This is the danger of being susceptible to the danger of superstition and groundless fears. 

The are three famous numbers for this opera:

1. Hell's Vengeance Boils In My Heart - The most difficult aria, performed by the Queen of the Night. She orders Pamina to kill Sarastro, or risks being disowned in pain by the mother. The pitch notation of this aria can reach up to F6. A few sopranos could perform at such degree, and currently the modern day soprano that could perform that is Diana Damrau. 

 

2. A Girl Or Young Woman - Papageno's number representing his desire for a young woman as a wife, but it is already that he refuses enlightenment, as mentioned at the start of Act II. 

 

3. Papapapa duet - Papageno and Papagena stammer at each other that they started to warm up and eventually got their wish of love.

The storyline or whatsoever is not quite important. The metaphor of the story is. Looking back at the story, and coupled of what is happening right now, it is clear that the government's paranoia over the matter of people demanding for fair and clear elections is akin to what the Queen of The Night would exhort to do. The police, and some ministers like Hishamuddin Hussein are like the Queen's three ladies, doing her bidding. They would harass people, simply arresting people, do all the silly things instead of catching the real scum out on the streets.

It's the government's paranoia - the fear of losing power, to divert the internal fighting among themselves, and all the things that are considered to be a bane as well as how the society will go against them prompted them to be in such obscurantism. 

The mainstream media, like one of the three ladies have been on the smearing Bersih campaign. The main goal is obviously to manufacture consent among the audience, particularly simpletons and those in the rural land area. They are the ones ignorant or do not have alternative access to other channels. Manufacturing consent is one of the things the acclaimed Noam Chomsky spoke about in several of his books. I am very critical on the attitude of many Papagenos online. I have seen many people who seem to be very ignorant of those and have yet to understand the realities of the fragile present election system. Many claimed that Bersih is opposition. On the contrary no. It is natural for them to support for they have been victims of fraud. The instance of fraud in Sarawak or Hulu Selangor is the case in point.

Monostatos is the big henchman of the Queen of the Night. Perkasa can the example

Obviously, Pamina is representing the people themselves and the actions of trial and error will determine whether she would either go back to her mother or follow the guidance of Sarastro and the marriage of trial / Tamino. 

The problem with Malaysia is there are lack of enlightened leaders to lead the way. By the antics of how they deal, Najib and his most team of ministers are mere showman, but not with people with quality. They could have handled the situation well, give Bersih 3 hours for the day and solving the problem. Unfortunately, because of paranoia, they decided to play hard. Can Anwar be under the group of enlightened leaders like Sarastro? No, given of the present skeletons in his closet. 

The Saturday's rally will be a trial that Malaysians who have realized the importance of fair playing field of the election game that will determine the outcome in generations to come. It will be one step towards enlightenment or one step backwards to obscurantism as what the present government of the day is advocating, by playing dirty. And it has already attracted an international audience, with human rights groups in particular paying attention. 

I am certain that the Vatican and London is also watching as Najib will be visiting these places from tomorrow and next week. Many said that Najib is a laughing stock now given of his handling of the situation. I bet it would be.

 

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Any one of you who have listened to that famous aria would notice some similarity to what Najib talks below. They should also reveal who in the agency that wrote it. :

 

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak today urged Malaysians to be wary of the opposition’s three main “weapons” which were condemning, instigating and making all sorts of promises in trying woo the people.

 “They must condemn (the government), they must knock you (government) down. After that, they must instigate (the people) and then they will promise. Like I said, they’ll promise the sun, the moon, and even the galaxy,” he said when opening Gerakan’s 41st National Delegates Conference here.

Najib, who is also Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman, said the people should ponder about the sweet promises made by the Pakatan Rakyat opposition coalition which in the end were actually nothing more than venomous poison for them.

“Is it really something good for the people or will it lead to some catastrophic outcome for the nation. This is something the people must think about, because to become the opposition, the arsenal is three things  — condemn, instigate, promise,” stressed Najib.

Najib said that to be a credible opposition in a parliamentary democracy, a few fundamental conditions must be fulfilled, one of which is having a common symbol.

“In other words, you must register as a party. But Pakatan Rakyat is not registered as a common party nor do they have a common symbol,” Najib said.

The prime minister pointed out BN had been using a common symbol, with electoral candidates contesting under the BN banner.

“We go and face the people as BN, but the opposition will go to the people with different faces.

“Symbol not the same …we are not sure whether they will table a common manifesto ,” he said, noting that squabbles over (the implementation of) hudud (Syariah laws) among the opposition pact had been conducted openly.

Unfulfilled promises

Najib said this demonstrated that they did not have a common position and common policy on how this country was going to be administered.

He also took a swipe at the opposition’s failure in unveiling its ‘shadow cabinet’.

Najib said the country should not be governed by the opposition pact who kept on making unfulfilled promises.

He noted that 75 per cent of promises in PKR-led Selangor, remained unfulfilled while the BN had to step in to resolve the Kampung Buah Pala (eviction of villagers) issue in DAP-dominated Penang.

The prime minister also said that a leader must be fair and just, traits which had apparently escaped an opposition leader when he tried to deprive a competent senior state Education official from being promoted in Penang some time ago because he was a non-Malay.

“When I checked on it, I took a risk. He was the deputy prime minister, I was the Education Minister…I said no, that man must be given the Pengarah Pelajaran (atate education director) post. And I was prepared to face the consequences because of principle. A leader must be fair and just,” he said.

Touching on the 2013 Budget he tabled on Friday, Najib said the underlying philosophy in its preparation was that the people must come first and all steps taken were for them.

“This budget is about the people as well as about moving the economy. You can’t just talk about the rakyat (people) without moving the economy, without attracting foreign investment, domestic investment, innovation and productivity.

“There are 111 initiatives or touch points in Budget 2013. Read them one by one,” he said.
 

Sampai Kiamat Masih Jadi Bodoh!

1. This is more or less a dilemma issue that I want to point out. Where I want to place this is somewhere between Raja Petra's recent sarcastic posting entitled "Cina Sudah Kurang Ajar! Dah Lupa 13 Mei?" and my friend Haris' posting entitled "Fear Mongering, RPK Style". The two main interesting points to be summarized here are:

a) For the former, it is a response from someone using the yardstick that freedom of speech is absolute, no holds barred, with no tolerance line / borders defined. With that scenario - what would be the response to a picture depicting a man stamping on a picture of Najib.

b) For the latter, it is about not needing racial tones and imagery, but based on past experiences / encounters instead, it is that a real multi-racial community can come out to fight oppression and bring down a government that seems to no longer cares for the real welfare of the nation and plunging the country into the abyss of no recovery - despite repeated self-denials - in a real democratic way and a level playing field without bias from any agency.

2. Nobody wants and likes a confrontation anyhow. Recently Najib declared in Johor that it is taboo for the opposition to take over Putrajaya. It already violated his own tenets of 1Malaysia -as he is the imam of that school of thought. This statement also reflects what I have mentioned several times that UMNO has the same mentality of the Provisional IRA (Irish Republican Army). I have also noted that for them, a loss, even a setback is considered a "capitulation" to the enemy - hence the statement above. 

The statement and UMNO's value system is also underscored in Pete's 'Like a Trapped Animal Part 4:"

Excerpt:

To Pakatan Rakyat, this may just be about winning or losing an election. To Umno, it is about the life and death of Barisan Nasional. Pakatan Rakyat can lose the election and still continue to exist as an opposition grouping. Barisan Nasional cannot lose the election and continue to exist as an opposition coalition. Barisan Nasional would be hit with a double whammy. Death will follow its defeat, a danger that Pakatan Rakyat does not face. 

3.  Most of us admit that it is high time to change the government despite repeated warnings to change and no improvement, instead it gets worse and the attitude of the present government of the day still remains in the same, thinking that they are losing their Godsend right. As in talking about with the next general election, any coalition that needs to win well (simple or with 2/3rds majority) will need achieve the following factors - as acknowledged by many including political analysts:

a) Malay votes

b) Sabah and Sarawak's 56 Parliament seats on the platter.

4. The first part is easier to achieve in Peninsular Malaysia. This is because if the main lynchpin is weak, BN's partners in Sabah and Sarawak may choose to declare themselves out of the fold and be independent - thus the kingmaker role - or joining the other coalition; something that some people might not be happy with. From what I was told that "the joining the other coalition" option is a possibility that should not be discounted.

5. Malay votes is 50-50 since Anwar's sacking and jailing since 1999. As a few friends observed, a 5-10 percent swing (at least) can give Anwar's coalition a simple majority in Parliament. Remember that the minority votes alone will not be enough to decide the outcome. A bone of contention that is to be a problem is the matter called the Malay Mindset.

6. However, we have bigger problems as where the country will be heading. Another Greece scenario will happen in Malaysia since the debt + hidden has already hit more than half trillion ringgit - disregarding the amount on investment and the amount of income that comes in. Roubini - a.k.a. Dr. Doom - has foresee that 2013 is an economic storm that it will be quite hard to get out. 

7. Unfortunately there's still a majority of people have yet to realize of the set of problems in front of us. They still support the same party who many are angered over the amount of plundering, corruption and crimes that they have committed against the country. Indeed as what Datuk Sakmongkol recently said, a mental revolution is necessary. In my view, the real problem is how to empower the other Malays who are still in the traditional mindset - as what a friend of mine Aspan recently said - the conventional believe is that UMNO is everything, for if that particular organization falls, the Malays will be extinct. In actual it doesn't actually happen. That claim is ex nihilo - out of nothing just to scare the shit out of people.

8. My dilemma is on how Malaysia can stop the rot and plunging further as well as the need to catch up with their other emerging neighboring countries. The major stumbling block is the mindset of the majority. I still find that there are still many who are afraid to move in what Zaid Ibrahim said "ready to abandon “the path chosen for them by Umno for the last 55 years” and seek other answers to the problems they face".

9. Looking at Greece, I see a hard lesson dished out and deserved for those people. If Malaysia suffers the similar fate later, only then the people would then realize, but too late to avoid troubles and despair - that is if the ruling coalition at the time of disaster still remains BN - this is based on the observations of many political analysts that they will still win but with a smaller majority.

10. One way that can be done - a.l.a reverse psychology style - is shake them and insult them to wake them up. We understand that many are still hesitant and unwilling to change. Yes, I agree, that the ABU (Anything But UMNO) is needed to be brought inroads but examining the problem right now, as what Aspan said:

Pertamanya, Melayu mesti menyokong UMNO bulat-bulat dan jangan mengambil kira samada UMNO itu jujur atau tidak. Mereka menganggap Melayu mesti dipenjara dan diberi makan sikit-sikit untuk mengelak orang Melayu dari berfikir dan bertindak mengikut kehendak zaman dan waktunya. Kalau pemimpin rasuah ditabur benih-benih nilai yang membunuh orang Melayu sendiri seperti ada sesetengah Melayu yang berkata, “kalau Melayu rasuah itu Melayu, orang Melayu juga yang kaya. Apa yang hendak dicemburukan?”

Apa sahaja yang pemimpin mereka buat jangan dipersoalkan. Yang Melayu mesti lakukan ialah menyokong sahaja dan jangan berbuat apa-apa. Terima sahaja bantuan rakyat 1Malaysia (BRIM) dan bersyukurlah sampai mati. Terima sahaja bantuan dua batang gigi palsu dan terus mengundi UMNO sampai mati. Itu adalah sifat berterima kasih. Kalau tidak menyokong UMNO pulangkan balik gigi palsu itu kepada kerajaan.

 

11. I have the same sentiment and feeling above. I have recently asked a few friends on whether telling this whole thing to the Malay community would get the effect intended. I was met with a not advisable answer because that the target audience, some, would be wondering why a Chinese man start talking issues like this to them? In other words, it means they might not get the point intended to be addressed or they would say "who is this guy talking to anyway?"

12. As a side note, Simpang Pulai assemblyman Chan Ming Kai was also told the same answer before. This means that it will be up to the more intellectual, liberal minded Malay friends to empower their own people to wake up before it is too late. Recent commentary written by Datuk Sak and Aspan have also exactly pointed out what is necessary to be addressed to the Malay community. I have also seen tweets of perverted logic that some people, including those lower level people from UMNO that talks things that doesn't make sense. My only feeling and impression about that problem is that "sampai kiamat masih jadi bodoh"!

Further material:

Mengundi UMNO Bukan Wajib Hukumnya (Pt 1)

Mengundi UMNO Bukan Wajib Hukumnya (Pt 2)

The Agencies Couldn't Hide The Mischief

In November 1955, Kim Philby was famously accused of being a double-agent for the Russians that he repeatedly denied his involvement in a press conference.

The famous spoken line was: "I was never a communist."

However, his flight to Russia was only confirmed in July 1963. Read more about him here.

What  does it mean is that a person / party attempts vehemently to deny his involvement in activities outside his scope and abuse of power. However, the party / person could not hide his mischief.

The bottom line is - there are some agencies who claimed to be independent of political inteference but likewise the pictures and attachments seems to say otherwise. It already proves that they are indirectly tools of the trade for a political organization.

Forget about the whining of police investigating those in the Barisan fold more slowly vs very fast at those accused from the Opposition. That has need not to be repeated here.

Remember this at the CCM building in KL Sentral?

 

This is the excerpt of the letter that was sent to the UIA university in regards to the campus polls - removing and replacing a vice rector.

So it seems that there will be attempts to pry into the privacy of voters of those who voted against Pro-Aspirasi. Those who do so could find themselves preferentially discriminated in other ways, not in direct intimidation anyways.

On 8 September, Muhyiddin warns its own party members that they would face the sack if sabotaging their own members. Excerpt from Bernama:

“If they (Umno leaders and members) resort to sabotage in the next general election, we will sack them from the party. We do not need such people, sorry. 

“The (Umno) president (Datuk Seri Najib Razak) has agreed. We don’t  need people who want to sabotage candidates. If the candidates lose, we will also lose,” he said.

The statement that would implied by Muhyiddin would be that "we will track your vote" one way another via any means. Civil servants have been blackmailed and threatened with a sack for not voting in the way of the ruling political organizations. The fear of this has to be overcome.

The Election Commission was quite fast in coming out a statement of condemning people stamping on Najib's face. However they are silent when there is talk of people urinating at opposition leaders e.g Nik Aziz and Guan Eng.

Voters Overseas have already had enough of the EC and asked them to resign.

The conclusion is that government agencies are already indirect lap dog and component parties of Barisan Nasional, the ruling political organization. There is not likely going to be serious electoral reforms at what Bersih wants not to mentioned what is recommended by the PSC committee last year.

Initial intelligence reports by the Special Branch speaks of grim results for BN. It's like knocking at Death's door. To delay or cheat death - it would mean cheating and intimidating other parties. Incidentally, do you remember how Putrajaya parliamentary seat was won last round? Same thing.

At the expense of possible intimidation and discrimination by them, throwing them out of the government next round would actually make things status quo. Things would be put back in order so actually it's more of a setback. People will need to shed that old style feudal mentality. That's all that is to solve the problem.

SUARAM's Poker Game Has Started

Today, Suaram is likely to face charges from six organizations with the worst case being declared an illegal organization. 

The pressure to charge them comes from pro-Malay groups like JMM and Perkasa.

All of course are affiliated with UMNO. Like a casino UMNO has bankrolled them in a high stakes poker game - with the goal of bleeding (not physically) SUARAM to its throes of abyss. But for a motive I am unable to comprehend they seem to turn a blind eye on the corruption activities committed by those in their league - e.g NFC (one of the statements that Tony Pua has raised in response to today's events).

 

Even the CCM - just as what the police did to a girl who surrendered over the stamping of Najib's pictures, this similar thing is done. A messages is out to send chill to shivers by the Malay organization. So it paints the picture that they are merely pawns for a political organization, not an actual government agency that knows no allegiance to any political parties.

From my understanding, in Bolehland, you need to prove your innocence instead of innocent until guilty. Also, as far as I can recall, NGOs receive funding as a token of support from any parties who have and share a same view as the goals of an NGO. That is a norm. Nothing more. If that is the case, then the plan to charge is done in a bad faith.

 

It's going to be a tough for Suaram - unless they have a good bluff or a very very good hand in poker. A good hand in poker is producing evidence that will be cleared out. A good bluff would be arguments that say that "nothing related to that".

Imagine Suaram playing poker with several opponents (Malay NGOs) with the croupier being the AG chambers and the judiciary, with the venue being played is Casino UMNO? And in the game of high-stakes poker, the winner will take the money that is staked at the pot. 

But you have a turf where other players have scratch-one-another-balls connection.

You have a possible card dealer that always deal a losing hand to one player but not to the other. The other players however are expendable.

Silence is deafening as the saying goes. I have never said anything about nor get involved with Suaram until when this recent episode got out. There are arguably too many parties in both camps so, I would want to see how the chips fall, and the slug match between Ayah Dafi & Co. vs NGOs turn out.

As a side note, how many of you really like Ayah Dafi anyhow?

LGBT's Numero Uno Question Remains Unanswered

If a student is taught to identify signs that a person is a gay / lesbian or otherwise - that is a wrong way of teaching people. It is also a wrong way to solve a problem because it is the matching pattern that is included there is not specific in nature. Putting that in will not solve the problem because the causes of this problem does not lie on just one source, but most of the sources are naturally exterior factors. Interaction with people is dampened or severely limited by the taboo that might go irrelevant as society ages.

The V-neck and sleeveless clothes is not really an appropriate symptom of someone being a gay or something for it can also represents a fashion trend. To augment the inappropriate diagnosis, V-neck jumpers form part of the school uniform for schoolchildren in other countries, including UK. Anyone who have seen the movies featuring schoolchildren in the UK will notice that this is a norm, with nothing unusual in nature.

Why or what makes a person behaving like an LGBT still remains unanswered until today despite all the broohahas from people and scum like Puad Zakarshi. 

The answer to that is a secret and a private matter that only the person themselves would only answer and know about it.

Most of the LGBT things that surfaced in a person generally happened at the approximate range of at around the end of the teen years and mostly a person goes that at adulthood. The most notable factor that can put them into that would be the present society pressure where these people are totally ignored, despite crying out for attention and the need to help. If these people were not helped but instead alienated them more and more, then we are no better than the Nazis or the KKK clan that discriminate people. 

Just because of one dominant religion, people that are under that religion are subjected to huge amount of pressure that touches and invades their privacy from various moral quarters while others who are citizens of the same country and yet they are given a different treatment or let off without a warning. The apostate and this LGBT is similar in problem dealing except that the latter is bigger in scope.

Malaysia claims that it respects the human rights as defined in the UN charter. However, if examined closely, it only respects and ratified certain clauses of the human rights charter for example for women and children. But the rest of it were never ratified. Why would there be cases of death in custody or assaulted while being detained by the police and etc..? Why would there be space for idiots to talk that these kind of LGBT people should be chucked aside like trash? If UN human rights watch, assuming they are doing their job happens to do the job - thousands of letters including suspension from the council - could await Malaysia should they have ratified the human rights charter in entire but yet violating it.

What kind of people are actually worst of the lot? People who committed various atrocities like murder or robbing against people who have decent proper conduct  and courtesy but may or may not be LGBT? So what the hell is this Muslim lawyer talking trash about?

These practices are actually demonstrating hypocrisy but more importantly, activities committed by a person are actually in private and not required to be known by the moral police. It actually allows a person to make their own choices and choices that are made will only be answerable to God himself when man and woman stood before the presence at the end of their lives. Therefore, it is wrong for those people and parties to act as if they represent God. 

Who are they to interfere with personal lives of people's privacy whereas on the other hand if the same is done on them at an alternative scenario they would scream? It's their own business, not yours, not Puad's, not those Malay NGOs who have been questioning Ambiga recently on the same matter.

I once was told the reason why one of my uncles decided to become a pastor after being in an engineering profession for almost 10 years. He once said he felt a "calling from God" to go full time and minister. The phrase "calling from God" has actually piqued in me in wondering whether this could be one of the reasons why there are people who would decide to become LGBT. Supposed if you asked someone the question and he / she said of a calling from God then what will you do then? Chuck them into a hole or beat them up like a vicious criminal who have just killed an innocent victim - all that falls under the religious fanaticism?

Supposed if someone like Puad who screams of LGBT problem happens to eventually learn in someday in future that his child / grandchild admits or declares that he / she is one of those under the LGBT - what will he then say except to put his palm in his face? Anything will come around sooner or later as what most religions or people who are aware of this would definitely acknowledge? At that point of time, I would rather not hear a rambling from a demented old man who could be shell-shocked to see a kin of his doing what he's stamping at this time. 

Having this kind of measure to fight the problem is actually making the society more naive and mundane not to mention a weaker way of life compared to interacting with more people to get more exposure and self-discovery along the way. Puad should have spend time understanding the problems with real people that deal with this issue including psychologists / psychiatrists rather than basing this whole problem on the religion scholars as it is not addressed in a realistic and hands-on manner. 

I admit that as another friend shared my view, the present government is run by too many incompetent people who have too many titles but yet can't even think big. And if you look at the cabinet composition structure - the present cabinet - there are mostly formed of people who are from the south. The idiom "gone south" could also be coincidental - things have gone haywire in Malaysia. How funny.

The famous American Reverend / human rights activist Jesse Jackson recently made one simple statement that actually solves it all, rather than impeding on other people's affair like it's someone's grandfather's business: "If you don't believe in it, then don't do it." It's an elegant statement yet a simple straightforward solution to the problem.

Addendum (from RPK's My Beliefs are My Business)

Why are the Malays so kaypoh? Why are they so concerned about what other people believe and don’t believe? Even if Ambiga believes in the tooth fairy or Father Christmas or whatever that is her business. Malays should take stock of their own beliefs and do some soul searching as to whether what they believe in are fact or fiction.

That is the trouble with most Malays. They like to jaga tepi kain orang lain. Just so that Tengku Amalluddin Sani Raja Ahmad Sufian is aware, I too am a strong supporter of LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) rights. I too, just like Ambiga, believe that LGBTs have a rightful place under the Malaysian sun. That is my right to believe what I believe.

Post Merdeka: Copycatting and Cheating Ourselves: Part 2

Part 2: Sang Saka Malaya

Pic from Singa Selatan

The problem of many naive people, even political ones is that when they screamed about the alternative Malaysia flag their mouth moves faster than the brain. I also thought the press editors and reporters do have the knowledge but instead it was the other way round. Leading the way are those people from Perkasa and UMNO, then amplified by those from News Straits Times, Bernama, Utusan and etc.. 

Have you people try to understand what Raja Petra tries to tell in his flag posting ("Let the pictures do the talking?") - If you are...fine, but if you can't then something is wrong already with you.

In Form 3 / Form 5 history, PKMM was mentioned briefly, maybe a small chunk. But it never went deep while Malayan Union was mentioned prominently in Form 3.

The Sang Saka Malaya was used as left-wing groups to tell the English that the identity of the national flag intended to be adopted. However, the English saw those left-wing groups as commies, subsequently banning them and most leaders are thrown into jail. This became more relevant and significant when the Emergency broke out in mid-1948. 

PKMM left UMNO after Malayan Union was successfully aborted because of the flag issue. UMNO had hijacked it and had the keris symbol inserted in the center of the flag - that PKMM disagreed. Minus the blue color of our flag (representation of unity), the red and white, according to the intended Sang Saka scheme represents blood and heart of the people. Indonesia adopts that; Singapore adopts that and some other countries do use that same color scheme.

 

You only need to compare our flag with the American flag and noticed that it is identically similar (red and white stripes, blue and stars), except that American stars represent (the 50 states of the union) and our moon and crescent in yellow. It's a sad thing that many people have forgotten or have been blurred by part of the history (which was intended to be faded away) by the victor of the ideals race at that time: UMNO - whom the English deemed are more friendlier and easier in wheel dealing. In other words, some would perceive our flag as copycatting (America in particular). So thus the saying - history is written by the victor.

A case in point in related to the matter above occurred when the Malaysian team was in Afghanistan on relief and peacekeeping mission in between 2004 and 2005. They were told not to show the Malaysian flag in public view because the Taliban insurgents could mistaken the flag as the American flag and would attack. Remember, the American army presence in Afghanistan still remains at a considerable amount until today, even there have been announcement of plans of gradual withdrawal.

Along with the flag, the tune for our National Anthem is largely based on the Memula Moon - its tune was composed by French composer Pierre Jean De Berengar (1770-1857) - known as the first superstar of French popular music. There are plenty of audio clips on YouTube and it is no doubt that - apart from the lyrics, the tune remains familiar.

While the screaming of that deemed "blasphemous" charade continues on the streets, these people have fallen victim to the history cheat. The fragment of our very own history, had it been included would provide the balancing act that gives the proper third-person view of the Malaysian history. These people again, as I have said yesterday are also the end-product of the problem of average-two-books-a-year syndrome; an education system that is designed not to get people to think and act beyond the box, but instead trained to become a mere sponge to absorb everything - including what is actually false; and finally a project that aimed of making people think one step backwards - a.k.a Projek Pembodohan. Questioning is equivalent to dissenting and deemed a wrong thing - I can't even comprehend such logic and culture!

There may be some who are unwilling to accept that fragment of history that still exists in this country but all they are doing right now is cheating themselves and as what the theme underlined in Gangnam Style - attempting to be that status but impossible to do in reality. But this commentary doesn't underscore the notion of replacing a flag. It's merely to state the fact that we either are being cheated in history or we have already forgotten that fragment as part of the act of false perception by a political organization and its accomplices. 

It's really important that we start to question ourselves whether we are still under an impression or there's need to save this fact that forms part of our history and acknowledge it before it ends up in a bin permanently. 

The spillover from the debacle is that while the police have started investigations, it slowly has cracked up the lid of doubts over the existence of that flag not to mention other things that have been hidden in the closet (e.g Mat Indera and so forth.)

Part 1 -- here

Post Merdeka: Copycatting and Cheating Ourselves : Part 1

Part 1: Sweetening The Numbers

I saw a few screenshots of the same tweet but by a few people. Looking at the tweet handle and their names, it reminded me of running a stress and sanity test of an application that I have conducted two years ago at a Hewlett Packard facility in Petaling Jaya. For example: 

Back at the facility, I would create a spread sheet containing a list of usernames, and encrypted passwords - all dummy in nature so that the HP's utility program would proceed to create the user profiles and other primary user-related data contained in one of our application modules.  For example, the tweet handle above TAN CHOR KHAI in particular is somewhat matching to a default tweet Id that I would use if I am to create a dummy / test account using a real-name user account permitted only scenario.

Why would someone - judging by their names, handles and their identity would put in something that was written by someone. The retweet function doesn't result like this. A retweet tag would definitely be visible if I am retweeting something else. It is almost tough to cheat the Twitter system if you are trying to retweet something there.

Based on the next screenshot by Politweet above, if as a user that wants to tweet or retweet material that can be shared with other friends, the twitter handle of a person would preferably show something imaginative rather than a plain straightforward user handle. But something is not right: based on the tweet above, there it is not likely that every user coincidentally were at Queensbay mall when the first tweet was written. The logic by that scenario is surely as some would say that it is written by a bot program, with multiple bot-style tweet ids.

If what Rais Yatim (a.k.a Ayah Dino) said of 3.6 million tweets of #Merdeka55, people including him are actually cheating themselves as to get themselves complacent. That's also the effect of the mainstream press not publishing articles showing elements of dissent against the government. Complacency would be one of  the end products from that way of managing. 

Cheating themselves would eventually catch back on themselves. Take the Enron scandal as a the clearest example. 

Jeffrey Skilling and Andrew Fastow had misled the entire board of directors and the audit firm Arthur Andersen via account loopholes, special entities, hiding bad debts and so forth. In order to show Enron favorable fiscal finances, the accounts were manipulated based on the forecast figures to their ideals.

Eventually by November 2001, $11 billion were lost when the stock plummeted from $90 in mid-2000 to that time. Arthur Andersen subsequently wind-up, losing customers as the result of the scandal.

Interestingly, the attendance for the Merdeka 55 at Bukit Jalil stadium is also another way to demonstrate the tricks to sweeten up the numbers:

1. Monies and bonanzas for GLC-staffs, students, undergraduates to come for the event.

2. Compulsory orders for staffs, otherwise being blacklisted

3. Indons, Banglas and Nepalis attending there.

It's very simple to explain why this happened. Remember Hari Korperasi Negara?

On 14 July, people were also paid monies to attend that event that was officiated by Najib at the same venue. 

It was only half-full. When Najib started his speech, many started to leave the stadium, out of boredom. Embarrassed by that incident, the minister, Ismail Sabri (a.k.a Ayah Dafi) blacklisted and transferred 5 directors of the Cooperative Commission to cover up his mistakes. 5 state directors were transferred in the space of 24 hours. Executive Chairman and deputy were recommended to be terminated or reduction of salary upon investigation.

No matter what directive that has been put or otherwise, the government is still cheating themselves as to sweeten the numbers. It's like Enron but in the different scenario.

So we have cheated ourselves, particularly on those naive. Many have reacted aggressively, but not aware that they have been cheated and misled by the very own organisation that they are supporting. That's the problem of not reading extensively. The claim of Malaysians reading an average of 2 books per year holds true to this day.!

To be continued....