Liberalism Is Mentioned In Vision 2020

Politicians and even ministers from the both sides have lauded the Sabah-born federal Minister, Joseph Kurup whom on last Friday have brought a long-awaited proposal to remove the "race" field seen in most official forms as an indirect effort foster unity among Malaysians. You can read last Friday's article here.

As far as I recalled, this "race" field is no longer a required field in Singapore on most official forms except on certain scenarios, for instance a Chinese translator. The Singapore Manpower has clearly specified that if there is a need to require the "race" field, clear and sound reasons are required to be given prior to the potential candidates for the job, lest to invite trouble of law from the Ministry itself. This practice has already been in place for many years though.

Two weeks ago, a group of people lodged a police report in response to the Malay NGO's chicken slaughter and slap offer gathering held at Jalan Tun Perak at the Brickfields police station. When submitting their report, they requested to have the race code replaced with "Anak Bangsa Malaysia". Although the computer form doesn't allow them to change, the police officers in charge of report taking that night were gracious enough to allow them to make that amendment. This was  documented in Haris Ibrahim's account here.

Muhyiddin Yassin responded that the idea will have to be presented to the Cabinet for consideration, while right-wing Malay NGO Perkasa's Ibrahim Ali has rejected outright, reasoning that it is equivalent to removing Malay privileges. You can read Ibrahim Ali's response here.The next day, ISMA, in addition to Perkasa showed signs of opposition to the idea, according to them inviting liberalism.

Do you think that Kurup's idea is likely to go through? High probability of no likely.

However, the "Mudah Lupa" syndrome rears its head here, not just the majority of Malays, but most of us Malaysians as well.

Looking back at a math's exercise book that I kept at home that states about the Vision 2020, the liberal society was listed as one of the nine challenges in facing 2020. This is what is said about Vision 2020's fifth challenge: (from Ministry of Education's website)

MEWUJUDKAN MASYARAKAT YANG LIBERAL DAN BERTOLAK ANSUR, DI MANA MASYARAKAT PELBAGAI KAUM DI MALAYSIA BEBAS MENGAMALKAN ADAT, KEBUDAYAAN DAN KEPERCAYAAN AGAMA MEREKA DAN PADA MASA YANG SAMA MELETAKKAN KESETIAAN MEREKA PADA SATU NEGARA.

We are six years away from 2020. Considering how the social-political-economical level in Malaysia, it is unlikely we can reach the target. In other words, we've broke the set philosophy that was set. The one who came out with this concept is none other than Perkasa's patron and ex-PM, Dr. Mahathir himself. 

The question, has Perkasa and ISMA as well as other NGOs involved in the Malaysian human-rights arena forgotten about this thing before shooting their mouths? To say no, implies that they are rejecting what the old man is outlined about the concept in 1991. At that time, it's about 30 years away. We're six years from the deadline - where are we now?

If Kurup's suggestion gets a go ahead and becomes a new law due to popular support from people from all races, from both sides of political divide, who is it that is going to die from it? It can be definitely assured that the races in the world will never go extinct at all despite various threats. Do bear in mind that any Constitution amendment that involves the main religion do require participation from the "Council of Rulers" even it has been passed in Parliament, so there's no way to be cowed by an non-existential threat.

When The Outcast Is Ultimately Proven Right

Utusan has put up a two big cover pages in succession with a different Islamic scholar but each of them declares that it is forbidden to support DAP save for the exception of MCA and MIC. According to their demented logic, DAP doesn't recognize Islam’s pre-eminence. But then again, DAP has repeated so many times that it recognizes that Malaysia is a secular nation with Islam as the official religion. I don't recall having seen such logic as defined in either the holy books but as someone who has a rough idea - that logic absurd and non-existent.

Misinterpreting that phrase will get you into tons of headaches and confusion. This is apparently the intended goal that is indirectly intended by UMNO with some of those clerics quoted of saying that. The religion is already been used as a political tool now by UMNO as what PAS did many years back. This is already, out of control religious interference into the system of administration.

When Lim Kit Siang famously hammered Barisan in the early 90s over the Bank Bumiputra scandal in Hong Kong, many of those accused him of being all sorts of time - like naughty, chauvinist, a foreign power instrument and attempting to undermine a Bumiputra institution. This was not very well known outside the Parliament circles and was kept under wraps in order to keep people in the dark, but when with the power of Internet, people have started to ask questions about that the government finds it hard to keep in tabs. Seems that the skeletons in the closet have come out to haunt politicians in this time period for their mischief.

A pity that there are still a portion of Malaysians who do not use their brain to think, when they are presented with such statements above, or they could have forgotten of what happened the other way round almost a dozen years ago. In 2001, when Dr. Mahathir famously declared that Malaysia is an Islamic state, none of UMNO's partners dare to have the "testicles" to rebut that statement in contrary to what was written in the Constitution nor what was affirmed by the first three Prime Ministers.

During the two years leading to the 2008 general elections, many of us have repeatedly whacked MCA and MIC for not doing their job right and rather becoming a running dog for UMNO. Why this happened and why that 2001 incident happened all ties up to one common reason: they would be whacked one way or another in a subtle way. To this day, the big partners MCA and MIC have yet to recover to the level of respect they wanted. Instead, every time people like Chua Soi Lek talks trash on television on main print, everyone will really say something that is not going to stand well with those two parties.

While Barisan attacks the opposition for doing what is right, they are actually selling out the country by failing to control illegal immigrants to come in, amassing the mass riches for themselves while claiming to protect the Malay race from everything, and claiming to represent the people but actually doing things opposite that put ordinary people in misery. So much of being cheated of false promises more by the party that rules for 55 years and not the opposition who has yet be given the chance to demonstrate their ability to run in national scale.

There are people who had the foresight and are concerned that the interference from the church or the religion would put a damp to the country's stability and confusion in administering the law and system, since religious law differs in various aspects in contrast with the secular law.

As what RPK said recently, "Eventually, Christendom saw the separation of church and state. But this did not happen overnight. It took more than 1,000 years for that to happen. Islam, however, although it took the same route as Christianity to spread, did not go the same route of separation of church and state, as Christianity had."

I previously touched about Kemal Attaturk in my previous posting, a reminder to PAS. I said:


The one that is closest to the situation of secular / hudud law is Kemal Ataturk's implementation of Turkey. It fascinates me that he had a clear firm hand that religion should be kept out of every day administration, even though he himself is a Muslim. To his mind, there is a certain believe that the Ottoman law and sex segregation prevented social interaction between men and women - required to further advance the country.

Here, Raja Petra also mentioned another point about Kemal Attaturk:

No doubt Islam had Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the Father of Modern Turkey, the seat of the Ottoman Empire, who attempted to impose the separation of church and state. Atatürk, however, although viewed as a reformist by those from the west, is viewed as a traitor by most Muslim scholars. In fact, people like the PAS President, Abdul Hadi Awang, label Atatürk as an apostate and one of Islam’s greatest traitors.

The notion of separation of church and state is not an acceptable concept in Islam. And any ‘true’ Muslim would agree with this. To disagree would make you a deviant Muslim or a Muslim who is defying God’s command and who is violating the Qur’an.

Fine, maybe separation being unacceptable is what makes people unhappy about, but in the modern times, it is no longer putting too much stock into the religion. It is as what Darwin or that mutant En-Sabah-Nur (Apocalypse) used to say "only the strong in the chain will survive". In this case, Malaysia can't survive the harsh realities of the outside modern world if we have people like those two ulamaks, and other people who seem to look at the angle of religion as threatening their own race. 

Kemal Attaturk and Lee Kuan Yew are the two notable figures of the 20th century whom I noted that attempted to prepare the country to face the harsh realities of the outside world, in the level of the great empires of the 20th century like America, Europe, Russia and even China. And they have eventually succeeded in doing so. While doing that, they (Attaturk in particular) are branded traitors to their religion by many naysayers. Ultimately, they were right in the end.

There are also several literary references where the character branded the outcast by a society ultimately wins on the long run and eventually proven right. You can take the Weasley family - proven right to the end despite branded as a blood-traitor (the love of other levels of society rather than their own) or even Batman, once considered as a outcast but proven to be savior at the time of desperation.

When that day happens what will then happen to those who hold power but proven wrong? Whine and say that the society has lost direction? They are not likely to make an apology or neither they are unwilling to take the reality that is now.

There would be a day where the talk of religion as politics will not save a country or the world from the disasters to come. There are many things in the world that knows no religious boundaries so if that is the case that many of us know accept that, shouldn't we all be branded as apostate or deviants like what people like Hasan Ali or Ridhuan Tee would call?

Finally, let's go back to the DAP question. What will the two ulamaks say if they were eventually proven wrong? DAP wouldn't go as far as having 1/3rd of representatives in Parliament so they can never call their own shots at everything. The party only wanted to uphold what was already established as the nation's foundation stone. That's all that is. Speaking of which, the two ulamaks never mentioned of ridding of corruption. It simply implies of following false prophets and tells people to continue the culture of Ali Baba, patronage and bribing. What's wrong is halal now it seems.

People have called others who don't share their ideals as "infidels" or called countries like Britain as "infidel country" but yet they have conducted themselves better with minimal level of corruption - which adheres to even Islam and other religion core principles. But then these people are committing tons of acts that Islam forbids. Who's the loser eventually? Who's eventually proven right? It's the moment when those people who found themselves on the wrong end that I really wish to see, especially of those two.

At What Real Cost?

The top brass of Barisan Nasional has been running around the country and giving all sorts of promises, splashing goodies around to the people in exchange for requesting them to give support in the next general elections. I was already certain that the general election would be somewhere around in November mainly because this takes into account of how the possible feel good hype that would be elicited from the people after the 2013 budget announcement, and the incentives that could be offered in conjunction with the Haji and Deepavali holidays. Analyzing on people sentiment, the ruling coalition is likely to count on the Malay votes (if you can understand their psyche, mindset as well) and the roller-coaster mindset of the Indians which can go up and down depending on the situation that arises that involves their society.

It is unlikely that they would wait until after Chinese New Year because the situation seems not well to them. It has already been established that most of Chinese are dead-set to vote for the opposition. The one thing that many in the top brass may find it hard to comprehend even including UMNO's partner, MCA is perhaps of the level of maturity, awareness and the mindset of the Chinese community in comparison with the other races of the Malaysian community. It is already noted that the level of support is very low that UMNO has already given up any big chance to regain support from the Chinese.

From the tone of what I am to present:

Sounds like I am talking race comparison.

Sounds like I am looking down at other people.

Sounds like I am talking race stuff. 

Sounds like I am screaming "I'm better than you." 

But out of here, there is a question that I wish to bring out especially at the naive and those who find it hard to believe in it. There's not much need for me to harp on the racial, royalty and religion thing as it is not my forte to talk about nor to those who are looking more bigger issues than those three that merely scratch the surface.

Recently there have been speeches from the big brass like (e.g Mahathir, Muhyiddin, Rais Yatim, Najib) calling for Malay unity, general unity, demands for gratitude to the ruling party, you help me I help you things in particular. They shout non-stop almost every day of "vote for us to keep the country stable." These leaders imply that the country would collapse if they do not hold on to their power on and on. And on prime time television, the party-owned private channels in particular are playing propaganda ads as to push for more support -no thanks to their infinite amount of resources, so as they perceived. But then again it's already almost 60 years they are in power, yet they are found to be caught with misconduct in almost every aspect of the country administration.

Some people have been asking why most of the Chinese community and the well-educated middle class have already no longer willing to stick to the convention and decide to go for something totally different and out of the box. The country's running old men have been calling and accusing some of them as creating a revolution and scream of instability if there's a change of guard in the country. Contrary to that, there's actually no such unusual effect happening since this scenario often happens in other countries. There's nothing to be excited about and to cheer about it. And as to allow me to answer that, it comes to one high probable reason: if you can understand the saying of "survival of the fittest" then perhaps it can answer that solution above. People have started to get past the "must feed me" thing and use other means to achieve success in live.

So why does the mainstream media seem to glorify the government although they are clearly have committed some gross misconduct? One thing is for sure, they are now lagging in support and are trying to drum up support way to the finishing line sometime around next year at most.

I appreciate some of the writings written by some of my friends that when being conveyed their own people which describes of how people are being mislead over the promises made by the present government of the day only to see what was promised being denied claiming of no such claim. Note that the present opposition has not at once run as the government of the day so it is not right to compare their track record because we didn't give them the chance to demonstrate their capabilities.

I also appreciate that through their writings that their people have started to acknowledge their mistakes and have started to wake up. However my only question to them would be on what about those who are still unwilling to correct their mistakes and stand for the coalition that has committed many misdeeds and gross misconduct? And what about those who are going to be ultimately mislead?

Here's one example of a person being ultimately mislead: Recently the man who accused Mat Sabu on the Mat Indera case has already admitted to the court that he made a police report based on the Utusan newspaper report. It was already proven that Mat Sabu did not utter or say anything that is referred to Communism in his series of public speeches. The man has then admitted to this and has asked the Sessions court in Penang to drop the case. This means that the man was a victim of misleading by the spin by the media - the spin that the government of the day, the present ruling coalition wishes to show it to the mass people.

Sure, it is still their right to decide. You can't obstruct them from making their choice. At what cost in exchange for your vote for them?


Okay, you would accuse me as another person dead set on going against the coalition party. I have my own set of reasons behind it. Any well educated, matured person can think of it. And if people ask me whether I am taking the risk to go and do something unconventional, the answer is yes. It's like making an unusual bet of (e.g a Double 0 in roulette, Snake Eyes for dice craps, etc..). Let's face it that the fate and future of the country is not decided by the handful of people nor just the minority of the Malaysians but the majority of people that forms the big part of the Malaysian society - but the problem is of being too simple-minded.

And allow me to fill in the blanks for you, o'naive and unbeliever ones for the question above:

1. You are actually acknowledging that flocks of sheep fly in the sky and monies fall from the trees.
2. You are condemning your future generations and your country to remain mundane until the point we're all gone and after say another 100 years of independence.
3. You show yourself that you're chickening out with no guts to think out of the box and vs convention.
4. You are actually saying that up becomes down, black is white - what is illegal is legal and vice versa.
5. You are saying that you don't really believe the real warnings - not by those who claim to say it's okay for now -  until it is too late to go back because you got complacent subsequently. The Greece scenario is a case in point.

I Would Love Being A Commissar

Once in 1941 from Operation Barbarossa, the Russians were starring at the blink of defeat with Nazi Germany's blitzkrieg tactics hitting them hard. Adolf Hitler turned against his one-time ally Stalin and like Napoleon was hoping to run over the Eastern front. Hitler tried to fight in two fronts and on the east end, it failed because like the 1812 invasion, the cold weather in Russia had sapped their morale, depleted their supplies and resulted in the number of casualties. Background aside, the Russians had no other choice but had to put a hard stop on the line of retreating and retaking back their territories occupied by Germany.

It is a very hard thing to do for Stalin but to issue the infamous order #227, called the "Not One Step Back" (Ni Shagu Nazad) order at end of July 1942. Basically, the main idea states that you are not allowed to fallback or retreat unless there is permission to do so. Failure to do so means you are branded a traitor and will be shot by a political officer called the commissar. In the battlefield, there will be 1 to 3 penal batallions (comprising of soldiers with disciplinary problems) for each front. The penal batallions form the first line of attack. At the back of each front would be the blocking detachment comprising of commissars. Turn back you will be shot.

Both measures were cited in the preamble of the order as having been successfully used by the Germans during their winter retreat.

If you have watched documentaries or watched the Jude Law / Joseph Fiennes movie, Enemy at The Gates, it surely would make sense and the idea.

From the start way before the official announcement of Bersih 3.0, I have already began to guess how people from both sides (those who agree and disagree) who react to this and what are the possible titles that the mainstream media would likely use to villify Bersih for what they want to do. And of course, if you recall previously as in June 2011, Najib media's advisers, led by TV3 CEO Ahmad Farid Ridzuan have been advising a bash-them-till-you're-dead campaign against the "fair and clean agenda", utilized by RTM, Utusan. Bernama, The Star and even their Media Prima-owned channels. The number arrested only 9 July 2011, 1700 approximate for a non-violent offence is somewhat an outrageous thing that maybe Najib realized that he was misadvised by those who were hellbent on putting minorities into prisons.

If anyone has studied Boolean algebra or familiar with the basic if-else coding blocks in programming, you would clearly understand that even the government claims to have addressed 7/8 issues it still counts as a fail condition. e.g (if demand >= 8 then (do success scenario) else sayFail(bersih)). One of the demands there got shot down, the minimum 21 days campaign period is somewhat tied to the demand for free and fair media access. One logical reason of not giving them 21 days is indirectly, it gives voters more time for second thoughts of voting the same party over and over again.

What is very humourous about this matter of Bersih 3.0's announcement is the reaction more from those who don't really agree. True, it's okay to let them talk but I find very humorous at times. For example:

Wan Ahmad Omar: They should be patient... they say they are smart but they are close-minded... what they are doing is rushed, hasty and troublesome to people, The EC has not even come out with any statement, we will study the proposal and come out with an official reply later.

Bung Mokhtar: It's the opposition’s tactic is to attack the government from the streets

Problem is they are too slow. Some things can be done in the space of few days. Why want to drag? Then you got Ibrahim Ali saying that all of the Bersih committee  should be put into Sedition Act; Ahmad Maslan saying that it's always opposition's fault this and that. All the time the other side is blamed while they fault is on themselves. Wait till one Friday where Jakim-issued sermons are read in mosques where they could be say trash material about Bersih is sin, etc..The list of excuses can go on and on including the excuse of damaging buildings and money, whereas event like that can be a firesale if you take it in a positive way.

There are maybe a handful of tweets or arguments I observed that don't really give the proper logic to back a person's disagreement to Bersih. Some are personal-oriented attacks in contrast to arguments of fighting a cause. Mostly these arguments are from those people who are still willing to be enslaved by the neo-feudal mindset who keeps believing the superstition, mumbo-jumbo things or they are yet to be enlightened. 

Here you are, you have the opportunity to proof to yourself and others that you have the guts to translate your cause into action. After all, every religion encourages its people who practices its faith to move forward in time. Why want to dwell back longer? 

I can see those kind of people thinking like a Provisional IRA member where they want a zero opposition while if they lose one bit, they scream capitulation and start scoring own goals. I have written this in my previous posting entitled The Fear of Capitulation. It obvious isn't it? If these measures are implemented, then the number of seats that Barisan in particular as of now will be chipped off by another 30 to 40 percent and they could be screaming "hilang kuasa" like a person in dementia.

In metaphor to what I'm talking, they represent people instead of walking forward, they walk backwards. 

The "Not One Step Backwards" Stamp

If this is still Russia in World War II, these people and apologists (para pengampu dan pembodek) would have been lined up in the front and made to move at the German firing range. If they refuse to do so but to move back, they would have been lined up and shot by the blocking detachment. 

If there is such scenario above, I love to be a commissar and even would volunteer to do the shooting and execution. Bang bang bang. Butter-up boys bewarned.

There's More Than Just What Petra Says Plainly

I had seen many people who have either bashed or expressed total frustration in light of Raja Petra's (RPK) interview with the New Straits Times early this week. He did underline that he would only grant interviews if any media is willing to take word by word (whatever is said from his mouth), not twisted or manipulated by any other means apart from him. And when this was published in the papers, people and the now opposition, Pakatan Rakyat keeps bash him left and right since to them, Pete was considered a double-dealing son of a bitch, to an extent PKR Sec-Gen called him a blogger hired by UMNO.

First thing, I wanted to retrace some history way back.

Frankly speaking, since I started writing in 2007, right after I started having my own internet connection and the confidence to write and blog, I started to love the present habit of cussing and whacking United Malays National Organisation kingdom come for their shear arrogance and blunders. I got to admit that it happened when I started reading his series of things he writes in both columns, and then later during the Permatang Pauh by-election, the funny writings of Hishamuddin Rais even raised my anger up and along the way I started to feel cynical about that damn bloody political party. Along the way, I wanted to meet the man in person so whenever there were any functions or parties just to say how I really enjoyed reading his material, that has occasionally full of wit and sarcasm at times. 

And so by chance, I was invited to some soirees / parties / dinner by a mutual friend that from that on, I happened to have some encounters with the man himself. At times the group of people had some food, listening to some interesting things he had to say and it was kind of interesting and great to remember some moments. This went on until the last time I encountered him in person was during the 2009 New Year's party (he remarked how I was so hungry that I was eating my meal that mad, as I just finished work late) - the next month he left - as I learned of what could happen had he not left. At least from meeting a part of the man's personality can show what's said plainly and what's said indirectly.

In the last three months (or you can go back further if you want), Petra keeps quoting things from Sun Tzu's Art of War. The first chapter alone had a few things that were quoted. For instance, 1:18-22 says:

All warfare is based on deception. #

18

The truth of this pithy and profound saying will be admitted by every soldier. Col. Henderson tells us that Wellington, great in so many military qualities, was especially distinguished by "the extraordinary skill with which he concealed his movements and deceived both friend and foe."

19

Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near. #

20

Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him. #

All commentators, except Chang Yu, say, "When he is in disorder, crush him." It is more natural to suppose that Sun Tzu is still illustrating the uses of deception in war.

21

If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. #

22

If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant

Here we are right now.

If Pete quotes things like that above, then I was certain that there is a definite hidden reason of why he would eventually do the interview with News Straits Times in Singapore. The interview, having read most of it is a duality in nature. 

It can be a real weakness in Pakatan Rakyat. Many have forgotten that a party can function well with stinging and nudging criticism even from their own supporters. As if a person is walking on a tight beam, a hand counterbalances the other hand and if the other hand is not put out, a person is high likely to fall off balance. PKR is always since the last three years remain the weakest link of the coalition, particularly because it still carries the relics of the UMNO mentality. And if you are in the party, you will need to understand (read: sizing) the clear relationship between Azmin and Anwar during their heydays in the Finance ministry. While some ex-UMNO men have already turned into a new leave, there are still things that are remain the same as the opposite.

I don't want to repeat or summarize whatever Petra has said in the papers. Of course this has given the UMNO-owned media ammunition to whack the opposition again and again, resulting in many of fans calling him a sell-out. There are people who have tried to tell you of holes in your turf, but you turned them away. There are people who are offering help to make it better, but you turn them away. There are people who want to air grievances to alternate media to let you know, but you don't bother...so where can the people turn to, huh?

But along the way, if you can picture how an pro-UMNO supporter (we're referring to the butter-boys as a case in point) think and feel with that you would notice how some things that Petra quoted from Sun Tzu comes into the fore.

No sooner later when he did say in "Which Category Are You In?", where he did pointed out that "I expect to get whacking", I have a good idea and a reason why Pete would be up to that. If I am to look at the opposite of the coin, there's a feeling and false sense of relief. The underlying theme in the game of poker is deception. It's really up to us to use our heads well and think where the game of politics is like cards on the table. Wellesley, the 1st Duke of Wellington was also noted to be a master of the game to outsmart his opponents including Napoleon, which was why he was an integral person in fighting the Napoleonic Wars.

Until today I didn't really buy into the feeling of others about the man their idol double-crossing and selling himself out to the enemy. For instance, I read a few comments in Facebook of some people expressing their disgust and they being let-down from the event. Or even someone, like Paula, (a.k.a Masterwordsmith) whom I've met many times before was giving an interesting expression of frusration title a few days ago - "Why....RPK?". So it turned out to say there are some people who don't really understand clearly what's the intended statement, apart from you need to maybe read a few rounds to get the drift and the other meaning, if you're aiming for the advance level of mindset thinking.

The enigmatic Snape, from the Harry Potter series was also a clear literary case study of a character playing both sides of the game with deception. But along the way it has an ugly side of making your friends feeling cheated and unhappy along the way. Since Pete has made it clear from the beginning, then I don't have anything to whine about but at least can figure a few ways to pick up from the trail here. 

I've repeated many times that I am no fan of Anwar Ibrahim although there are things in Pakatan that I like about. But right now, I am in very sarcastic and cynic mood to see how UMNO, their partners, party-related NGOs, Perkasa, Braheng Ali making a fool of themselves with their almost immature nonsense statements and blunders. True, we got to move on and Petra's statement indirectly nudges everyone to go on the goal of Anything But UMNO. At Melewar last month, the message relayed was not to be afraid of BN or UMNO but to bury them 6 feet under. 

Since these mob groups spend their money like if it's nobody's money but theirs, we might as well ask them to pay us up to $50 million if the lose in the GE, ain't so?

This Is Not Democracy. It's Dictatorship

"This is not democracy. It's dictatorship. I am the law." - Herman Boone, Remember The Titans

Remember the Titans was one of my favorite sports-themed movies where in the first part of the film, Coach Boone (Denzel Washington) was saying that line above to his team before they started pre-season training of college football. The line held me dearly and after reading through quickly the first reading text of the Peaceful Assembly Bill, I see that things are getting from bad to worst.

From my several observations these new measures seem to imply that we are no longer heading towards democracy and in the line of the real reform that Najib Razak was promising about. Instead, it was heading towards the other end, turning it into a police state. Think of the whole idea as the Big Brother system, which is actually happening right now. Everything you wish to do, has to be done way ahead, one month ahead. According to the draft, there are 8 conditions that must be fulfilled by any organizer before a permit can be issued. And to make it worse, the police, with its given powers will ultimately say either yes or no and like a dictator, their word is law.

Remember that not all human conventions and declarations mentioned in the UN Human Rights charter. So far, Malaysia only ratified two. They are articles against discrimination of women and another for children. But others were never ratified at all. In fact, Malaysia especially United Malays National Organisation has not acknowledged and even ratified the Human Rights Declaration. This is why till today there is still detention without trial, cases of third-degree interrogation in police stations resulting with people dead in custody, cops refusing to accept the IPCMC recommendations (see Malaysiakini's Dzaiddin Recommendations Ignored) and even people / authorities responsible for beatdowns walking away scott-free.

One paragraph from the Bar Council's statement can say how bias the tone can be in setting up:

This Bill, like section 27 of the Police Act, vests wide powers in the police, who are empowered to impose restrictions and conditions, and to disperse assemblies and arrest participants. The police’s past consistent and atrocious conduct in suppressing assemblies shows that it is crucial that the police change their mindset and abandon the culture of impunity in managing freedom of assembly. In other jurisdictions, the power to impose restrictions and conditions vests in the local authority or a procession commission.

The summary is that the bill is merely separating Section 27 of the Police Act out and making it as an independent act. Nothing more. Same wine, different bottle like the replacement to the ISA.

It is natural to see street protests everywhere throughout the world. To forbid such thing is to suppress people dissatisfaction when they are unable to voice through channels or all avenues of venting their problems have been exhausted. If you say no to protests, how can you answer the question of why the Bolshevik Revolution happened more than 80 years ago or why is there the phenomenon of Occupy Wall Street? You can't go against the nature. But the caveats, drawbacks and everything seem to point for one reason - an ulterior motive, I would say. As Aspan, my friend said sometime back, change is natural, no one can run away from it. (see here)

The powers vested to the Home Minister, the custodian of the bill in adding / subtracting prohibited places coupled with the discretion by the police in approving the permit or otherwise can be considered as dictatorship. So whoever says that Malaysia is a democractic place now seem to have been misled by those claims as it is actually more or less a guided-democracy and slowly heading towards a failed state.

The Bersih 2.0 rally has already terrified many people in pro-government, particularly those who screamed most - from United Malays National Organisation. The biggest fear, and the main factor of motivating them to clampdown is the fear that it could alter the existing political landscape. That's it and that's the main reason. Altering the political landscape means they ultimately end up playing second banana and losing the power they have been holding for the last 55 years. Otherwise, what could explain why have some people became paranoid with unfounded things, figments of their own imagination like Ibrahim Ali? 

Who actually came up with the bulk of those things? AG? Cabinet? Nazri alone? Main party? Najib alone? 

This is one of the "projek pembodohan" that is in the play. Many people saw this as an insult of intelligence from Najib thinking that the conditions and laws drafted in this bill will make people happy, but many think otherwise. It's not surprising that we can see many "butter boys" and "pembodeks" that will say sweet and nice things of the bill tomorrow in the papers and the online mainstream press. In fact I am ready to see it coming and it's likely that many naive people will fall for it, in the process become a bonsai plant.

I would like to repeat this question again. Can anyone of you imagine if you are among the 30000 people that ended up in prison for doing something that is part of your basic human right, doing something of a crime that is not written in stone or doing something that is morally right but considered wrong by the oppressors?

The Question That Was Never Answered

I have refrained from talking over the matters of the apostasy or the recent sexuality issue over the past few weeks because there is nothing much to say about apart from reading things of one party bashing the other party left and right that everyone has been talking about via press conferences, press releases and so forth. In fact, what Raja Petra wrote two days ago in his Cure The Cause, Not Symptoms piece actually underscores what I have been trying to say about in regards to the two problems above.

Most of you are focusing on and talking about the symptoms of the problem. All the comments you post are about the signs of the disease. And all your suggestions are about trying to cure these symptoms rather than getting to the root of the problem, the cause of the disease.

What both of them share in common is this both things: first, we Malaysians are very much of busy bodies in minding people's personal affairs and privacy until we have totally forgotten of the bigger problems we have. And then when disaster strikes, only we start to realize that we have been giving ourselves the wrong priorities. If people do not believe of the more bigger and evil problems at now, it is only after disaster that people would realize eventually. By that time, though it would already have been too late as a blot of oil / ink will have spoil the container of milk. I suppose this is already ingrates part of our local culture and while this is done, it also serves as a distraction to cover up bigger problems we should know about, not of keeping in the blue.

I am sure that many of us have seen how people react to the alleged apostasy case in the DUMC or the Sexuality Merdeka festival in a very nervous, kan cheong manner. There are people who claimed to be pious and deeply religious opened their mouths and screamed that apostasy is not allowed and those who did it should be punished..bla.bla..bla. Likewise those on the moment the Sexuality fest gets covered in the press, zealous people started screaming of why is there gays and lesbians in Malaysia, where there should not be one.

Equally the same thing as those who scream about is about the high handed actions by the authorities on those involved. For example, our number 2 cop immediately declares a ban on the Seksualiti festival and Hassan Ali for instance wanted the apostasy thing to be declared as a criminal offense outright not to mention on the extremes of those who wanted people involved in this to be stripped of citizenship and so forth.

Surely along the way, as I recalled these lines by Raja Petra: 

What happened to live and let live? And why must everyone live according to your value system?

The trouble with both Christians and Muslims is: 1) they always think they are right and everyone else is wrong; 2) they always think they are pious and take on a righteous attitude; 3) they refuse to live and let live and everyone must live according to their standards; 4) they do not tolerate differences of opinion and regard those who disagree with them as the enemies of Christianity/Islam.

-- Small Things For Small Minds

No matter the claim of how pious people claim to be or the big mouth small brain thing, there's a question that people ought to answer but to this day remains unanswered: Why or What made would a person want to do that?

I once asked this question way long back when I said that there are flawed policies introduced because there is a lack of understanding of the human psychology there. If I am to ask you a question in that context, maybe I can ask you questions like why is online piracy still rampant or why is still vandalism on the phone booth? These kind of questions can go on and on. But we still have yet to give an answer.

Occasionally, I would come across or listen to replies with the phrase "God willing", or  "God wills it" if you put it that way.  In the context of the apostasy, is that problem happening because a person feels that God wills them to do it that thing? It can be that way or, as what Dr. Mohd Asri said before, was this alleged problem happening because we have been ignored by those from our own religion that we have no choice but to look for help from others not in our religion? What must be addressed if the answer is either one of the two above?

The basic foundation of any religion is that any religion actually does not force their ideals on to others. It just answers what the Small Things excerpt said above. Compulsion is a no no, so to speak. So, when I thought of the aftermath of the Himpun rally, which drew only a meager 5000 people, I was asking myself, are those people really got a big mouth but a small brain?

On to the Sexuality Merdeka thing. As what Marina Mahathir said in reply to the detractors, the goal was to help and educate those groups of people that have been discriminated or having problems in the context of the law, not to promote it as what the detractors have alleged. Why are they behaving or What made them to do it was never answered before the open their mouths. And so, when Ambiga, Maria or Marina responded back to the allegations made by TV3 or Ibrahim Ali, they are unable to respond to the three women. Now do you notice that a big mouth but a small brain like those two will put you in a hesitant result?

I know there are people who would not take kindly to such opinion and critique, insisting that what they see of the religions are right. But we got to ask ourselves first and put ourselves in the A.A mode before you start doing rash things like the persons would announce, okay? If you are able to provide a very very good answer (carved to stone grade) to those above, you then have a likelihood of curing the cause.

Note: see also Let's Get This Straight

The Overprotectiveness of PAS

In light of the statement that Elton John is performing in Malaysia, PAS has been making statements of popular singer figures coming in to Malaysia and perform for the past all these years as somewhat promoting the "western culture that is wrong (in their definition)" among youngsters here. Elton John is not the only one that is also the target of PAS Youth, but past figures including Gwen Stefani for instance and a few others. To most people including fans in the world, the adjective of gay as what Elton John publicly declares is eclipsed by his popularity in pop culture given by his array number of hit songs / music that was performed in over more than 30 years.

What I am trying to point out is that PAS is in this case over protective of the people. It is like a overbearing mother who tries to keep a child inside a shell although it clearly defies the nature of curiosity inhabited in each and everyone of us. What is also underscored by their actions is that PAS still has yet to let people able to make their own decisions and having them to use their own discretion. This in one way is best to encourage people to think for themselves, not to show that "I know best, and I do it for you" thing.

To say that this is from the western culture is not entirely accurate. It is actually part of the capitalism culture - to make money, profits from it. Famous people come and perform here because of the demand from fans, with firsthand knowledge of how popular they themselves are. Simply use this on the Far Eastern artists that come here to perform. Aren't they on the same capacity as these famous artists do, until to the point where PAS has to bark up on that?

It is best for PAS to say "I let you decide" but they should not have a strong hand of intervention on this case. The more positive statement that they might say is "Look, we don't really encouraged you to get spoiled by their rowdy behavior but you make the final choice".  What PAS do not understand that many youngsters are willing to pay extra money, like in Singapore dollars to go down the causeway to watch their favorite concerts, if there happens to be none performed in Kuala Lumpur. Since having performed here is cheaper than going down (considering the cost of food, travelling and lodging, not to mention the high exchange rate between the hosting currency vs our currency).

It's very hard to see a celebrity coming down once in a blue moon to perform here. To shoo a famous person off, in spite of noble intentions and despite a person with a famous popularity and reputation is to give a slap as the first impression on the artist performing here. As the saying goes, people don't forget on how you make them feel, even though they may forget and forgive what you would do to them. So, the real bottom line is that PAS Youth in particular should start moving away from its overprotective attribute of themselves and encourage people to let them think.

If it is not already enough with our present education system which churns out people to think and behave like a robot instead of encouraging a creative and inquisitive mind who is able to make better judgements and learn more by its curiosity. This culture, with the ulterior being to prevent a person to go rocking the boat because of the curiosity nature (a.k.a suppression) has stop here, if Malaysia wants to have a level up in its society, since we still have many lazy and submissive natives around.

PAS should go around and ask everyone, not just their own Malay youths on whether they like for instance Elton John music or they like people to come here or not. This is not the 1980s, but we're in the 21st century. Already PAS has taken a lot of brickbats from its hudud saga and they should not give more info for the enemy to hit them with such kind of issue. Aren't they aware of traps to make people's support for them to wane already?

It's Comes Overdue Already

Najib announces repeal of ISA, three emergency declarations

Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced tonight the repeal of the Internal Security Act 1960 (ISA) and the three Emergency Declarations when both the Dewan Negara and Dewan Rakyat have their next sitting.

The prime minister said that new laws will be enacted to protect the peace, harmony and security of the country.

He also announced that the government will do away with annual printing and publishing permits with permits that can be cancelled if regulations are flouted.

Najib acknowledged in his address to the nation on the eve of Malaysia Day that the move to increase civil liberties was “risky, but we are doing this for our survival.”

“No individual will ever be detained simply due to political ideology,” he said in his speech that was broadcast live on all local television stations.

The move to scrap the law has been hailed by ex-ISA detainee and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng as “an epochal move.”

The Barisan Nasional (BN) chief said that two new security laws would be introduced for preventive detention which would be limited only to cases of terrorism and “ensure that basic human rights are protected.”

Najib said that under the new laws, detentions could only be extended by the court and therefore “the power of detention will be shifted from the executive to the judiciary, unless it concerns terrorism.”

Before a studio audience of 800 including his entire Cabinet, he also announced that the Banishment Act would be repealed while he will do away with the need for annual publishing permits under the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA).

 -- The Malaysian Insider

I once said before that it takes a disaster for the country to realize its mistakes. And by the time they realized that there's the need of having a reform, it is already far overdue already. For instance, when Bersih 2.0 decided to launch it's campaign to make a statement to the government of the necessity of election reforms, many - especially the government's butter-up boys do not really believe in their claims and instead, misguided by the MSM papers including Utusan were made to believe that they are about to start another 13 May 1969 incident.

And that allegation came unfounded. But it is only after they noticed that 1700 people arrested and how the cops handled the situation, with the directive from they themselves, they realized of the terrible mistake that they have committed. They only then also realized that they cheated themselves into believing that there was to be another riots or so. They didn't even trust themselves, like a dog being duped by it's own reflection on the pool..and so decided to embark on the reforming thing that they've spewed out on the news.

The ISA abolishment was also another thing overdue. When the anti-ISA movement decided to protest in the streets August last year (that's to commemorate the 50th anniversary of its inception), the government refused to believed in that thing and the GMI's demands, thinking they can handled on their own terms. Scores of people arrested, roadblocks here and there, well of course I've kept some pictures as to remember that incident. With more and more people pressuring the government, it became imminent and evident that even amending the ISA is totally impossible. But it took more than 20 years since the cession of arms against Malaysia by the CPM to realize that ISA is already irrelevant.

Many people still do not understand why ISA has to go and in fact some people including those in Perkasa think that ISA is still needed for something that is illogical like Malay rights. However, many are not aware that there's no such thing as abolishing ISA without something to compensate, right? With the specter of 9/11 around us, of course there has to be something to replace it and of course people have proposed a new Anti-Terrorism bill in its place. As what Nazri said, the bill is for real terrorism. This missing piece of information is one of the causes of bro ha has that foam in the mouths of those people who complained about removing ISA.

With people getting angry over the EO6 episode, what is much more necessary of putting the EO 1948 off coupled with the close to the 80 year old Restricted Residences (a.k.a Banishment) act for good? What...applying a more than 60 year old laws into the 21st century scenario? Somewhat doesn't fit like big engines into a small car?

Connecting the dot from that above is the official end of three declarations of emergency. I suppose that many people and politicians have forgotten about it, with many assuming that the 1989 ceasefire automatically ends it, but there were no proclamations until 22 years later where they finally realized that they have overlooked that matter. It took lawyers and civil movement pressure to get them to come into their senses.

In spite of all that, there are still things neither never mentioned or partially mentioned that raises questions from other quarters. For instance, the publications permit - whether it can be challenged in court after the annual renewal condition is removed. However, people still bash Pornstar Chua over the need of having online publication permit - this guy is one hell of a jester in this point.  Talk about another Rais Yatim thing that is.

I am bit unclear about this amendment to the notorious Section 27 of the Police Act. Demos usually happen if whatever statements that is to be sent out are totally ignored by the government of the day, so generally it is theirs to be blamed. Bersih rally happened because of government ignorance, otherwise how would those unnecessary police ruckus happened on that day? I would definitely would want to see and read more of the amendment ideas before talking more.

Unfortunately, the AUKU 1971 act was never mentioned and this has raised dire questions from university students who felt the need to have more active participation in the present issues. They were asking "what about AUKU". Sedition Act remains one of the archaic laws that has yet to be asked then.

I look at some of the statements and thoughts by other people in regards of this in online avenues. Some good, some disagreed but I have the thought that this could be one something else that motivates the reason of Najib Razak doing such thing, that would be discussed later. Since these things are to be brought forward to the Parliament when it reconvenes next month, I have the feeling that it could be well opposed by some of the MPs in his front, who are also UMNO warlords and those who have a different opinion of his statements. If most of the Cabinet ministers were in the studio where he made the statement, it's likely that most of them have already agreed to follow the ship's directions, albeit a few, probably.

Ibrahim Ali has also been making noises but when the government finally realizes their mistakes and started doing things, he has been quiet over this subject or so. It's my gut feeling that he could be making noises tomorrow to show his disagreement over what Najib would say.

Anyhow, it's about time, too long already.

Profit at The Expense of Unsatisfactory Telco Service?

A lot of people complained about the service tax charge on the prepaid service in this past week or so. Many think that having another 6 percent is already too much in addition to how call charges are tallied in the present prepaid system. It's that much pressure that prompted the government to put that thing on hold.

The irony here is that prepaid charges are more expensive than the postpaid but the question is why people favor that method of usage rather than having it postpaid? One problem identified in this question is that many are not aware that they can switch telco services but still can retain their existing phone numbers. Ask anyone who is using a postpaid plan and many would come with the answers such as difference on calculating call charges, no need top up in case of emergency and there are now calling plans to choose from base on the needs.

The problem right now that most consumers face now is that although they pay high prices for monthly phone bills, yet the service, quality and reception still suck. This is actually in contrast to the reception, affordability and marketing way of our neighboring country down south. You only to walk into a mall in a suburb of Singapore, e.g. Sengkang and see how the mobile phone marketing plans contrast of how the marketing plan is in Malaysia.

Even a simple person can get a proper phone at a very low price and a reasonable plan and yet can get a very good coverage in the city state itself. And what about here? Well. we have a few share of problems, for example certain networks don't work in coastal areas, a network that doesn't work well when we're on the main highways along Peninsular Malaysia. Getting a smartphone, now a trend everywhere is still very expensive because of the price and plan unfavorable to the lower income group. How can we catch up with our technologically developed partners across the world when you have a problem that can't be solve like this?

Ask any marketing expert and they tell you that the conventional methods of marketing don't really work nowadays. Giving extra content at an affordable pricing, (actually should be much lower than the general picture of pricing and plan caps here), and many people would come in, thus the volume of consumers would definitely compensate the expenditure required for maintenance and operations of course. Well, Streamyx is one clear-cut example. People paid a lot of money for monthly broadband subscription and yet it lags behind Singapore in terms of the service and support provided.

And so it comes back to the key dilemma here: is it profit at the expense of good service? Sure, any business book would tell you that there is a set margin of profit to be targeted but it is actually much easier if there's strong customer satisfaction rather than charging high for instant profit and get no satisfaction from the end user here. I guess the saying of "greed is good" is still happening around.

Let's put it this way: our mobile phone operators have still yet to give a very satisfactory telco service across the board, in overall aspects despite having high revenues and profits. Even if they paid the service tax back to the government, the profit margin still remains at high. There's a fair share of who are the people using their services and so forth. In this case, it's okay to say that people should say "screw you" at the operators for charging over than what is supposedly reasonable. 

Even though there have been appeals and statements by ministries including the PM of imploring them not to proceed imposing service taxes on prepaid customers, I am not able to be very certain or trusting what those buggers would say. Sometimes, it can be a flip-flop in a later time. Sometimes, it is a public-relations desperation to appeased people in hard times.

Or the other way round is to move to postpaid plan since we are not really going to change our lines frequently. Another way is that the present marketing plans in those mobile telephone companies should be scrapped with an aggressive but lower price but high content plans. Excuses such as insufficient resources, no one wants that is merely bullshit at all.

Addendum: There was also a case of something about Maxis about giving customer P&C information to Pricewater House Coopers (auditing firm) as a clear violation of customer privacy. Violation because the information was given without consent of the customer. I suppose this is unprecedented in the mobile telephone line, but in the credit card business, this was mentioned in the fine print of the application and of course getting your consent first before proceeding. I think mobile telephone companies like Maxis should clarify the question lest dozens of angry people and customers mob in to HQ looking for one woman who gave out customer info!

We're Our Own Victims of A Distorted History

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 — The family of Muhammad Indera, who led the communist assault on Bukit Kepong police station six decades ago, wants the government to recognise him as a freedom fighter and not a traitor.

His brother, Baharom Shah, said Muhammad, better known as Mat Indera, had been committed to his religion and fought to free his country from the British colonialists.

“Therefore, I am certain he was a true independence fighter,” the former Army engineer told reporters today.

“I ask that the government rehabilitate the name of Mat Indera, who has been labelled a traitor to the nation. The history of our independence struggle needs to be re-examined.”

Speaking at PAS headquarters, Baharom said he and other family members welcomed efforts by any party to clear his family’s honour and good name.

Also at the press conference were Johor PAS Youth chief Suhaizan Kaiat and PAS Youth secretary Khairul Faizi Ahmad Kamil.

The Mat Indera issue became the focus of controversy after PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu touched on the 1950 Bukit Kepong Incident in a speech last month.

Mohamad, more popularly known as Mat Sabu, said Mat Indera’s contributions to the nation’s independence struggle had been forgotten following Umno’s alleged whitewashing of the country’s history.

Baharom, who was six at the time of the incident, said according to information gleaned from other family members, Mat Indera had arrived late at the scene and was not involved in the actual assault on the police station there.

He said Mat Indera had, in fact, gone to Bukit Kepong not to fight but to save the lives of the policemen and their families.

“Among those saved included Yusof Rono, a policeman, and Jamilah Abu Bakar, the daughter of policeman Marin. I understand that many other victims of the attack were saved by Mat Indera,” he said.

The Malaysian Insider, 7 September

Read more here

**********

The Mat Indera debate has drawn mixed reactions from both sides. One side insists that with the actual history taken into account, Mat Indera is actually a hero that fights against the English colonial masters, while the other side, the right-wingers of BN and UMNO said that he is a communist.

However, based on various statements made by the BN political leaders as well as other people involve including ex-policemen, present policemen (in this instance, the much-hated deputy IGP Khalid Bakar) and so forth, this has revealed how much people are victims of a distorted history, coupled with the inability (as a result of an exam-oriented education) to discern between what is real and what is not. Having read those statements, I must say that many fell to the "BN-definitive" version of the Malaya history, and more are going into that, with the present school History syllabus.

In the context of the Mat Indera case, many have failed to establish the difference of who is running the country at the time of the Bukit Kepong police station raid. Many have failed to understand that at the time of 1950, independence of Malaya have not existed and the cops who are based in Malaya are actually working for His Majesty's (King George VI) government. How else would you explain that the head of the Bukit Kepong police station is an Englishman? 

In order to read history, you have to know your vocabulary well before you start reading. Otherwise, how can you distinguish between certain words used in history? In the case of the raid above, Malaysia has not yet become independent, with that being 7 years before 31 August 1957! And who actually arrested Mat Indera? A local Malay policeman working for the English - subsequently became UMNO Youth Chief of Pontian. So, the question of between a man fighting for nationalism vs a man fighting for the colonial masters, the English, who is actually the ruffian really? 

In the present school history books, we were taught to believe that independence of Malaya was accomplished without bloodshed and UMNO was the only party responsible towards it. However, it seems actually otherwise. Actually, we could have been 66 years independent. The Japanese had actually promised to hand over the country to the people once World War II was over. The date actually planned was in mid-August 1945. However, the A-Bomb incident in Hiroshima and Nagasaki had scuppered the plan at all.

KMM and other left-wing parties had already been fighting for independence way before UMNO was founded in 1946 and how the present history totally disregards of those contributions. In fact, the English declared those left-wing parties, despite with people referendum illegal. When the Emergency was declared, it was actually a way to get rid of those "pesky" left-wing parties. In anyways, there is actually no such thing as a bloodless struggle but actually, there was a need of those events to happen, a precursor more or less.

There is still lack of campaign of remembering the heroes who fought against the English, those events that served as the precursor to independence. History can't be rewritten as the event has passed.

You can see more of the elaboration of independence struggles here as commented by Hisham Rais.

I also had listened several times to the Ibrahim Ali's audio recording of the Gerak Aman rally in June 2011, apart from its comedic values, just to see how people believed in a distorted history. Many people who don't believe in Bersih rally was mainly because of the main fear of a relapse of the 1969 disaster. We were taught to believe what was written in the school books or on the official capacity statements that were delivered. However, what was hardly revealed was actually because of the Perikatan's unwillingness to accept the loss of 2/3rds which to some believe as capitulation to the enemy. 

The Churchill saying, "History is written by the victor." still remains and rings true today.  Add this with Goebbels' statement of the more people believe in a lie, the more the lie becomes a fact. And of course, this is becoming true already.

The distorted version of the history of Malaya has caused many people to react or to think in the illogical manner. The ulterior motive in it was merely a political mileage to maintain power by backdoor means, since the front door approaches no longer works at this time. Look at how Utusan Malaysia or Bernama's news, manipulated, or with some information withheld which causes people to see inaccurate views and in turn make many people to file police reports based on inaccurate information provided. This is what is happening at the expense of the reporters writing and concocting up news merely to pleased the censors, retaining the feel good thing of the ruling government at the expense of inaccurate reporting and information.

Most of the people who commented about the Mat Indera communist have yet to reach a correct understanding of what it is today. It is actually a concept, the opposite of capitalism where the focus is more on worker unions and welfare. The Cold War period is the peak period of where the battle of ideas between Communism and Capitalism were up, until it was ultimately defeated with the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. When Fukuyama famously declared the victory over Communism at that time, the battle of ideas was already over, and faded into history.

Note: Tarek Fatah has also pointed out about the battle of ideas which was documented in my previous posting.

There have been accusations that in Malaysia, the ideology refers to the Chinese, but with the accusation of Mat Indera as a Commie, it already destroys the myth that the Commies are only Chinese people and not Malays. The ideology knows no religion, wealth status but merely a person's believe of whether you agree or not agree.

The worry right now is that the more people believe onto one-sided history, the quicker the other part of history, which forms the overview of a country's history will fade to nothing and myth. When that happens, people would believe in distorted versions and ultimately becomes a victim, self-ensnared by it.

Failing The Spot The Difference Game

AUG 11 — It does seem like honesty is a rare commodity in Malaysia. Not once before, during and after the Bersih rally have the BN government, police and senior politicians spoken truthfully about the rally.

Now we have the country’s No. 2 cop alluding that police put down the Bersih rally because otherwise things would have gone awry like the London riots.

This is the same line of argument put forward by Umno bloggers and the mainstream media (one can only surmise that instructions were handed down by Putrajaya).

Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Khalid Abu Bakar is rewriting history. It is an open secret that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, after an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, decided to offer the Bersih people the use of a stadium.

Soon after that meeting, he chaired a meeting of government officials and announced that he had decided to offer a stadium to the Bersih cause, prompting a round of congratulations by attendees who were pleased that a reasonable solution to the stand off was in the offing.

That stadium offer was revoked the next day. Why? It is anyone’s guess but a representative of an NGO met the PM a day before July 9 and said that the PM was talking about an uprising to overthrow the government and about resistance from groups within Umno.

It is interesting that some of the PM’s insiders are now blaming the Home Ministry and police for the mishandling of Bersih, saying that both groups told Najib that the Bersih people would not vacate the stadium for weeks ala Tahrir Square in Egypt and would force the collapse of the BN government.

These insiders say that Najib’s gut feeling was to allow the rally to take place but was persuaded otherwise.

All that sounds nice on hindsight but the fact is that he took the advice of people — home minister and the police — who don’t have a clue on the DNA of Malaysians. Ninety-five per cent of people who marched on July 9 probably have jobs, unlike the unemployed in Egypt and the yobs in London.

The Bersih people were marching for electoral reform. A sizeable number are from the middle class, and the middle class all over the world are not looters or people who are willing to lose their employment by staying in a stadium for days or weeks!

So for the police and Home Ministry to liken the Bersih rally to the situation in Egypt and London is dishonest.

The police clamped down on the rally because their political masters in Putrajaya told them to do so. 

Now Khalid is trying to put a sheen of credibility on the over-reaction by the police by drawing a parallel between Bersih and the London riots.

How far has the rot set in?

--- What A Load of Rubbish by The Malaysian Insider, 11 August 2011

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I was laughing my ass of loud on Khalid Bakar's comments. Not only me, but in twitter space, everyone too is having a good laugh at how the deputy IGP puts the London riots with Bersih protests. However, in this case, Khalid has failed in his language because it shows that there are people who are unable to discern the difference between riots and protests.

A few of us got "maki hamun" by some at twitter about talking bullshit in this subject matter. But I just simply asked those a question of whether they are able to understand the clear definition of riots and protests. Even the dictionary also defined it clear and concise of what is protests and riots. Therefore, if you are unable to discern the difference, either you have fared poorly in English in school or, as I have told someone, MSM inaccuracies and spinning as been feeding you with shit. Full stop, and I don't even bother to reply at all.

The London riots originally started with the killing of an innocent man. Similarly, the Los Angeles riots in 1992 started with the beating of Rodney King and the first acquittal of the four police officers involved. While it's clear that the four were guilty, acquitting them got the city into furor and thus days of carnage started. Bersih 2.0 in contrast was just only a one day, 3 hour affair on the streets to send an electoral message to Najib and Co.

I sometimes asked the nay sayers whether they have read the history of Malayan Union, which I always remembered that part while in secondary school. UMNO was formed out of the protest against the Malayan Union. They came out in demos to make a collective statement to the English that they don't want the plan. Otherwise, Malaya then Malaysia would not have exist. This of course contradicts Dr. M's famous statement in the aftermath of the Perak takeover in 2009, which he said "Demo is not our culture". Sounds contrasting, yes?

As what Pete said today, the riots in London happened for no reason apart to loot, plunder and making mayhem along the way for nothing. If anyone of you who have watched The Dark Knight, you would see the tag title, "Welcome to a World Without Rules." A world without rules is like you can do anything you want including riots above there. Good and bad allowed, no holds barred. But as what was witnessed in Bersih, there have been a clear set of rules - a three hour affair, once message has been sent to the King, disperse. Simple as it. Bersih's protest, as he said, was to make clear political statement to the Najib administration and the Election commission.

The BERSIH march was a political statement. There was no political statement in the UK riots. It was all about plundering, looting, robbing and stealing.

No, we can’t compare BERSIH to the UK riots. This would be like banning drivers/bikers who do not drink and only allowing drunks on the road because drinking and driving causes only 1.4% of traffic accident deaths.

Did not the Malays oppose the Malayan Union that the British were trying to impose on Malaya through a street demonstration? And was it not because of this demonstration that the British abandoned the plan for the Malayan Union and instead the Federation of Malaya was formed?

-- Ban Non Drinkers, Malaysia Today

Of course, when the ruckus happened on 9 July, this shows that Najib has violated his own tenets, whereas the many events happened during Pak Lah's time indicate that he too violated his own Islam Hadhari tenets.

The main mistake that politicians made out of paranoia was to associate protest with riots. This was how the tone of antagonism towards Bersih started. The 1969 riots happened because the ruling party could not stomach losing the customary 2/3rds control fair and square in the elections. From there that's where they got berserk, fueled with delusions. A side note though, my late grandfather was absolutely upset later when it was known that his ex-colleague Harun Idris started the whole thing.

Back to Khalid Bakar, the mistake was assuming that people are stupid. In fact, the statement simply reflects of making himself look stupid or "membodohkan rakyat". I always held that man as an unqualified person sitting behind Ismail Omar and a liar on the fateful night on 9 November 2008. In fact, there are more and more people that start to laugh at his face since this morning for the nay sayers, I am not the only one needed to be criticized of.

Violating The Basic Tenet of Respect

Conventional wisdom says that respect is earned and not to be forced with. So it is clear that it is forced with shown by that the latest JAIS fiasco raid. It is one of the case in point where the basic tenet of respect has been violated. This came not even less than two weeks after the similar case where Najib, when returning back to Malaysia said to the press that "respect Islam first then we respect yours".

There has been a perception that just because Islam is defined as the official religion of the country under the Federal Constitution meaning that there can be stamping the foot onto other religions. It is true that there are groups of people with such of mindset that if there is a slightest moment of an allegation of a Malay conversion to Christianity, as example, these kind of people, without thinking deeply would go frenzy and start making noises of violating their religion and doing things they are not supposed to do and so forth (e.g, the cow head demo in Shah Alam). The obsession of knowing things that are not so important seem to be engraved in the minds of those. 

The latest JAIS fiasco with police rounding up dinner participants and coming without any warrant of search shows no respect to other religions just because in the religion context, they are big brother and nobody should challenge them, even if they are in the wrong clearly. You only need to go back to the Crusades period of Baldwin IV where any Muslim and Christian are welcomed to be together in harmony. 

While many would start pointing fingers at others, many have failed to see the mirror side of themselves. They are mostly unaware that actions that they do are equivalent to forcing their perceptions and believes onto others, even if it is not really accurate as to what is defined in the holy books. 

One night, I went for a round of drinks with my usual Malay retiree friend who lamented that even though a Muslim prays five times a day, yet they still do corruption things, which of course violates a core tenet of Islam which mandates the need to fight the evils like that. Some people would call me an infidel (kafir), just because of my skin, my personal beliefs as well as me eating pork but yet, he admitted that even a kafir can behave and do things much better than they themselves. This was clearly illustrated by  Mat Sabu on Thursday which he said that: “Even when I tell them RM28 billion was lost due to corruption in Malaysia, they don’t care or can’t comprehend but the Chinese, as taxpayers, get angry,”

The complacency and who cares attitude adopted by these people are what Malaysia is heading to  - an abyss of worse things that they can never get out unless there is a mindset revolution and enlightenment. 

News articles about body snatching by religion officials, non-Muslim temple demolitions, child custody battle with conversion into count and the problems along the way would also give problem to others and poses the question of how non-Muslim religions are given the proper respect if there is an attitude of stamping onto others as leverage and demand for respect?

Respect is earned, not forced with. Unless it is a formal function with state leaders or kings / queens gracing their presence and include delivering keynote speeches, nobody would really care about the demand of respect, not unless a person does things that will help everyone regardless of creed and religion. In this case, this is what the GOM and JAIS is severely lacking. I must admit that the non-Muslim interfaith council won't go that much unless a Race Relations Act is proposed and defined clearly of how it would be done. Imagine seeing one big stamp vs  a pool of small stamps equivalent to the big stamp. How would that be? 

How will the Vatican take that issue? Not well, definitely. Not with after Malaysia establishing formal ties with the Vatican. They would surely in exchange ask for a consulate and will definitely monitoring the Christian affair in the country to ensure that the GOM lives up to their promise of respecting other religions, as what Najib told the Pope in Rome. And this? This has indicated wrong footing with them, breaking promises and then. 

I understand that Hassan Ali was summoned to give an explanation of the fiasco tomorrow and I would really like to hear what he has to say in his own words.

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‘Malays less sensitive on corruption than Chinese’

PETALING JAYA: PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu said many Malays do not seem to know that it is part of the Islamic teachings to have zero-tolerance for corruption.

Instead, the Chinese seem to be more sensitive and concerned about corrupt practices of the nation’s leaders.

“The second Qaliph Umar Al Khattab had a large country under his rule and when he often wore new shirts, the people would ask where he got his money from to buy them.

“That is what Islam asks of you, to be critical and check your leaders,” said Mohamad, better known as Mat Sabu, during a live interview on FMT RAW yesterday.

“But now when we mention to the Malays that Rosmah (Mansor) has a ring costing RM24 million, they are not stunned. But the Chinese are. In that sense the Chinese seem to be practising Islamic culture more than the Malays,” he said.

Mohamad said Malays need to change their mindsets.

“Even when I tell them RM28 billion was lost due to corruption in Malaysia, they don’t care or can’t comprehend but the Chinese, as taxpayers, get angry,” he said.

Mohamad also said that Umno would totally “collapse” when it comes to the urban and semi-urban seats but Pakatan Rakyat still had a long way to go with rural voters.

He touched on how the Umno-controlled mainstream media as well as the National Civics Buerau (Biro Tata Negara) have a hold on the minds of many Malays, and Pakatan needs to find a way to break that strangehold.

On the incident where he was allegedly rammed into by a police vehicle when he was on his way to take part in July 9 Bersih 2.0 rally, he said he was disappointed by accusations that he dramatised the whole episode.

“That’s very low politics. We don’t play with health. When Najib (Tun Razak) was sick, we prayed for him, when the Inspector-General of Police had a heart treatment, we prayed. Even with Ibrahim Ali, (although) I don’t like him… I called him and wished him a speedy recovery,” he said.

-- Free Malaysia Today, 4 August 2011