Remembering...

Today I will not write anything but observing a day's of silence and memory to my late grandfather. It's already 3 years, so I would be lighting a candle later on.

R.I.P.

There's No Harm Giving Them Chance of a Term

It is very certain that the elections would be around early June, as to take advantage of the school holidays. Arguably, a pointer to that is the launch of the Federal Territory BN election machine officiated by Muhyiddin Yassin himself at Titiwangsa yesterday. There's not much room of manuever and selecting the best date for election largely due to external factors. However I recalled having seen somewhere that having the election around that date is also one way of Najib telling his mentor Dr. Mahathir that he's not going to call the elections at the expiry of the term, as what the old man wishes for.

Everyone knows the saying of "lesser of two evils". If people are simply accepting what Najib Razak is begging over the last few days including going up and down Perak, KL and Selangor, then you are expected by them to be stupid, not well educated to allow them to commit the very sins that taint the nation - crimes unfounded, money spilling out and many that will take a lot of space to list up in one posting.

The fault of who decides it is simply the people themselves. Whatever we have taught with the still stagnant and mundane education system has made us more of robots and seeing things in the boundaries of a box. We are merely taught to memorize and excel in exams, but in reality whatever we've learnt will hardly be used in the real-world work experience as different material is being taught and utilized. So we were never educated properly of what we can do under the concept of democracy. What is still happening in Malaysia still falls under the ideology of neo-feudalism.

That ideology is defined as rebirth of policies of governance, economy and public life reminiscent of those present in many feudal societies. It is related to some of the ideas of neo-medievalism. Look at several aspects of society around us. Does it all relate to the neo-feudalism defined?  We all shout about cronyism, corruption, bias towards minorities, but are we doing at least something to back your words? Voting and going to demos is the simplest of the lot. It is part of translating your anger into action. No bloodshed is required and it requires a virtue needed to execute it: courage.

Okay, maybe we can say that 50 percent of those above 21 (legit, registered voters, Malaysians) with all the information from all avenues available have the same opinion as I do which is to give the other side a chance to demonstrate their governance. The only problem some may share as I do is the mindset of those who are unwilling to do so. There's the law of nature which says that everything is not indispensible or omnipotent. 

This too points out that UMNO's "Dulu, Kini dan Selamanya" motto is against the laws of nature, and it gives the picture of omnipotence, like how the Pharoahs think of themselves in Egypt. There are people who are afraid of what happens on a change of a Federal government. There's nothing unusual, as it's happening everywhere. People have been threatened and scarred of the so call Malay unity being destroyed, society in brink of problem, with other cock - in fact most of those threats are non-existent - just to keep them in power, so there's virtually nothing to be afraid about something proven to be non-existent. Maybe the "Myth of the Lazy Native" mindset still lives in us until today, for before 1957, it was by colonial powers for almost 4 1/2 centuries.

In this case, why not give the federal opposition at least a term? They did well in some states but in order to see the full capability, they need to be on the federal level, not state. 

Previously, people tried to give them a chance, but were there are another 300K to 500K move votes in their favor, PR would be running the federal government, and you won't hear all the "nothing promises" like the 16 September crossovers and so forth. The scenario could have changed - if there were more people who came out to vote. Even a sen makes a difference between 0.99 and 1 ringgit - not by rounding.

Give them the chance and a term to gauge how effective and fast they can be in doing things they have promised like reducing corruption, improving living standards, doing the tons of reforms they promised and so forth. The most important reason of giving them chance to manage the national coffers better. If there is a BN politician who argues that the opposition does not have experience in doing it, the argument is not proper because they were never given the chance to shine and demonstrate what they can do - BN hogs everything like a school child.

If they want to get people to decide and sell themselves out to the people, you definitely have to give coverage to both sides - not bashing every night and not letting them have a 15-minute spotlight! Is it because of IRA-thinking of capitulation that government-owned media are unwilling to give them a share?

On the other hand we should not expect so much from the PR-MPs to perform like Superman where all the 50+ years of dirt can be wiped slate clean in one instant. The most they can do is to remove as much grime and clean up as many areas they can cover.

If they still slack after the 5 years, then fine, we can go back to the dacing. The PR coalition has already stated that if BN-run Malaysia goes bankrupt in the next few years , they don't want a hand in running the state. Everyday, people in the city often hear Najib's "give us another term" thing or there won't be reforms, and surely from the words of one of the few men who splashes money for votes thing, do you find it a little insulting?

Superman-Level Expectations for Reps

I was at the IDEAS-organized forum early last month for the included academics, and two notable MPs from both political fronts. UKM's Anis Yusoff famously said during the forum that "The rakyat should not have this very high expectation that their MPs should be a Superman, the MPs have to be there [is] because obviously you are promoting corruption without realising [it]."

This quote above has brought out something to be questioned with. This is arguably a problem faced by first-time MPs / assemblymen or those who are from the different political front that replaced the other one from the opposite front. When this situation happens, expect calls from citizens in the constituency where you belong coming to their service centre doorstep to barge in and "demand" that their problems rectified in the first place. And if he / she is an assembly-person in a state run by non-BN, things get tougher because the funding from the BN Federal Government is not that much since they view opposition as their enemies.

One thing that people really did not get the picture is that there is a distinct difference between a first-time MP or a multi-term MP. One of the differences established is the room of error permitted. Of course, an newly-mint MP needs time to wet the feet and to do the duties required (meeting municipal councils, visit places and people, etc, getting funds). But if the MP selected is a multi-term MP then it's different. Making the same mistakes and overlooking the things the constituent have been asking over and over again is more or less not befitting the proper standard of a veteran MP. For that case, the MP is already past shelf life and should be replaced. Why would a person vote the same person over and over again if it is known that the MP / assemblyman is not doing the job properly?

A sub-question to be debated is how much room of error and how tolerant can people take before labeling a representative a slack?

To cite an example to the dilemma above, Palanviel was formerly a multi-term MP for Hulu Selangor before he got voted out in March 2008. How many things he didn't do or overlooked or how many mistakes did he make in his capacity as MP? Contrast this to an MP like Nurul Izzah who is a first-time MP with the same pair of questions above. Surely people in their constituency who want to bring up their problem will need to use a different way of approaching their MPs when talking, right? - particularly if it's a representative different from the last time. And the level of expectation has to vary and increments if the MP is re-elected for another term and so forth.

People should have a fair share of the blame, not just the politicians as well. As the last resort, they should not just leave everything to the representatives to do it but to do things at their own initiative - get together, and collaborate to get the attention of their representatives.

Winning By Crook

Back on 28 December 2011, Suhaimi Shafiei, an assemblyman in Selangor has criticized Najib's allocation of RM 2.71 billion to the state, but the money to be funded will bypass the state government. Shafiei described the action as "insolence from the Federal Government" towards the state government.

The assemblyman is partially correct at least. Barisan Nasional is viewing states under the Pakatan as enemies instead of having proper partners in nation building. Terengganu in 1999-2004 is the best case in example. The customary oil royalties was pulled out by Mahathir at that time and was reinstated by Pak Lah's administration after the 2004 GE landslide. What the YB and other people should constantly remind themselves is that BN is doing anything to regain Selangor back in the by crook method. The money announced by Najib is an indirect way to take back Selangor.

Najib remarked previously of winning back Selangor at all costs. Selangor is considered as UMNO's piggy bank. It is also no doubt the richest state of the country. UMNO sees losing it again is considered as the "IRA capitulation" - capitulating to the enemy. That is why they are playing a lot of dirty tricks. There are some analysts who opined that if Najib could not recapture the state, he would meet his Waterloo.

Dirty tricks includes making illegals - Banglas, Indons and others legit citizens of Malaysia by buying in cash, and in turn making them vote BN. The other way is splashing money as if it comes to the sky to the people there. We might be going back to the days of Khir Toyo if they are

Where does the RM 2.7 billion come from? Petronas royalties or borrowing money from international financial organisations?

This post is written because I was pointed to some article written in the PKR's mouthpiece Suara Keadilan last week by a friend of mine. I am aware that I am repeating what many people have said but it seems that many people may have forgotten about the state problem.

I've met and know a few PR die-hards of the state in the past. And it's better for them to be ready earlier as a possible GE date could be end of May / early June. The word of caution is that PR could lose the state even with a lot of votes is on the opposition hand largely due to several factors like illegals' votes, RELA / postal votes and of course the main factor being the Malay vote factor.

It is already established that the election can be decided primarily by the Malay voting community since they form a little more than half of the nation's population of 28 million people. Emotion and misconception plays part of the people's psyche, especially if they are being duped into believe that such things happening.

My understanding is that if PR wants to hold up another 5 years, there are at least two possible things that should be done. The first thing is to have the status quo or more than the 31/25 seat arrangement. Ideally, areas in Hulu Langat, Kuala Selangor and Sabak Bernam is where PR may want to attract and interest the voters there. Win there, and they can get another 5 to 6 more. Perhaps looking back at the election result chart at Undi.INFO could be considered as reference material.

Most urban areas are a foregone conclusion since BN is not really well liked there.

The other problem is egos in PR. DAP's state leadership and Khalid Ibrahim's ego must be put aside. These are potential problem risers as they have been noted to give problems previously. Alternatively, Khalid should step aside to give the MB to someone with an equal caliber as his. Presently, I notice that not all PR assemblymen might match his forte.

Do you remember what Bersih said that if all 8 demands are not met? Keep that in mind as well.

You're Your Own Worst Enemy

I couldn't recall who first said "You're your own worst enemy." but from my understanding, it was originated from "Man is his own worst enemy" spoken by the Roman senator and philosopher Cicero. The quote is what I've been summarizing about in regards of my observations of PKR, it's top two leaders and apart from that KITA's Zaid Ibrahim. Similarly, there are many fellow colleagues who view the famous Allies General George Patton's ego as his own worst enemy. One of them who famously alluded that was his close friend, Omar Bradley. It is the ego of man that gets the best out of him and it's a tough thing to defeat unless it can be kicked out of a man's system.

I've been reading rants and tweets from a friend of mine, KITA's former CEC-member who was unceremoniously dismissed with the other members of the committee. I can dig up the whole list of tweets in regards to what he said, if wished. Previously when Zaid said KITA will not contest in the elections and instead show unconditional support, I was certain that Zaid made several big mistakes while he's still at PKR. I did remarked previously that you need to understand the relationship between Anwar Ibrahiim and Azmin Ali before you can attempt to take on them. One friend of mine told me of Zaid being cautioned of that relationship during the Permatang Pauh by-election campaign. But having been in the party for less than year, many viewed his actions in the party as impatient and barging through.

When he announced today that instead of dissolving the party and have KITA contesting in seats in several states, a friend of mine opined of him as a flip-flopper. Easy enough to say. But this doesn't mean that I am anti-Mr.A or anti-Mr.B or something.

Which now brings back to Anwar. Anwar's main weakness is also about the ego getting the best of him. At times, he claims to have this and that, he can turn around things in Putrajaya. There's an acknowledgement that the need to win seats in Sabah and Sarawak to gain control of the government. But then the sentiment and mindset of Sabah and Sarawak is not the same as in Peninsular. Their's as they put it as their own independent sub-camp. If the big-three from peninsular wants the lion's share of seats in Sabah and Sarawak, it would be very difficult to accomplish the objective. Unless, they make partners and friends with the local-based parties like SNAP, STAR and so forth.

Why can't PKR and their two partners make more friends with their local partners? It's one way to demonstrate their show of autonomy giving to East Malaysia. If you recall the agreement points of the two states prior to joining the federation in 1963, it's not appropriate to push and exert over there. That's what STAR is doing right now in Sabah. That's fine if the peninsular parties can represent there, but the scale has to go lower. In other words, give them to the local parties there. Lest, the mistake is seen in Batu Sapi. Barisan Nasional has local partners there, and as the saying goes, there's no harm done in having extra partners to help them out in the agenda.

If the PR's agenda is to also inline of "Anything But UMNO" agenda, then the ego, being their own worst enemy has to be shed. People with notable egos like Anwar, Azmin and Khalid Ibrahim - not just the three of them, but others have to step aside or at least settle their differences with their other partners before going ahead with the agenda. There's not much time really, maybe at least another 2-3 months before the earliest time of a general election. The crisis in Kedah is also another example of Azizan's old methodology, considered obsolete in the current age compared to what was 30 years ago. Obsolete is also alluded to what some people and think-tanks look at the Pemandu's ETP as well.

It may be a harsh way to get those with high egos aside but it is also a way to pave for more caliber people to represent the community in the Parliament. Having watch Patton biographical movie many years ago, I was reminded of the infamous Cicero quote above - a man's downfall from an enemy he can't defeat: himself.

This Blog is 5 Years Today!

I really didn't have anything to write apart from one posting planned (had a write block today) but I know that today is the 5th year of this blog.

I took cue from a friend of mine who started writing a few months ahead of me and following that I finally decided to start one once I had this Maxis Broadband in 2007. At that time P1 has yet to be launched. 

For the first three months, I write whenever I please and by May 2007, I've mostly jumped into the social-political scene, while at times write something casual just out of the fun.

People asked me why "Taffer" at times. The answer is, I took cue from a two places: a video game series called Thief and a Welsh slang meaning of low-life. It's the video game's nice slang that caught my attention hence the name and moniker.

Anyhow, quite tired today, not that usual, so I sign off with a birthday greeting.

When Owners Barreling At The Front of The Door

It's the Scolari case over and over again 5 years ago. I was counting on the case where Villa-Boas would be fired at the end of the season as what happen to Carlo Ancelotti but it happened prematurely, with barely 2.5 months towards the end of the season. This assumes that the club has been knocked out of European football but still having to play the remaining Premier League games and continuing their FA Cup challenge.

The problem is that Roman Abramovich is a living example of people in the football industry that is barreling at the front door. No patience. Many failed to see the need to understand long term of having a great depth of squad before mounting a challenge of trophies. Instead, the approach was the opposite - buying great players at the start hoping to go past the post instantly. There have been a few clubs that really actually understood the value of long-term projects, like Man Utd and Everton. These are clubs that show the close and strong relationship with manager and the chairman; there's an acknowledgement of making a good team will take years on. It took Alex Ferguson 6 years to win his first Premier League trophy, 12 years to win his first European Cup. (they came agonizingly close to final in 1997 when they lost to Dortmund in both legs in semis)

By this barreling at the front door attitude, Abramovich had to spend millions to compensate Villa-Boas (28 months remaining of the 3 year contract). And it is 8 managers in 9 years, average of one per season. It's similar the rich mega-spending club in Russia, or a few clubs where the owner attempts to interfere with the manager's work on team selection, thus the manager will be complaining about how he's unable to have autonomy on work. Abramovich is not the only person or parties that adopt this attitude. Fiorentino Perez's first spell at Real Madrid was also case in point. His mistake was not to keep Vicente Del Bosque while at the club even if Del Bosque won 2 European Cups in the space of 3 years (2000 and 2002) and then going through lots of coaches. Fabio Capello's second stint at the club lasted only a full season, having left even if the team won the league trophy. Sates the club and fans satisfaction of winning trophy, yet being unappreciated and get thrown out? It really scratches my head really.

It's more frequent to see this problem and attitude of the owners / fans in Middle East football. Take Saudi Arabia for instance, where a coach's job hangs on the balance in no more than a dozen games unless the team either qualifies for the country-level continent competition. If one condition is not met, expect the man to be shown to the door. For the owners, their nigh-infinite amount of money from oil can be splashed in bringing in coaches here and there as they please. But it will be the squad that will suffer for each coach has a different way of traning and strategy and thus the struggle to adapt to the system desired. Until today most Arab-club owners and FAs still barrel in front of the door, impatient, expecting a magic pill to happen.

Still it's not as severe as in Brazil's famous Dance of the Coaches syndrome - coaches go in and out after a few games within a season. Much of it is because of intense fan pressure and owners' impatience - even a slight setback in form a league game defeat means of people taking offense and unable to accept it. In fact, it can - if overuse - drive players and coaches mad as hell. Can you imagine, like in 2002, at the end of the first month of the Brasilla state championship that 12 coaches were replaced? In Brazil, coaches are made scapegoats and if a team is elbowed, the coach gets it first.

Abramovich never has the passion of the game. His is strictly on the business and expecting the magic pill with no patience and no finesse. The passion component is missing and will never happen with his impatience and barreling at the front of the door. Only crazy money can really tempt a potential coach into joining Chelsea. A coach potential coach offered to join Chelsea should first hand know the history of the club of the last 10 years before taking the risk. Otherwise, it's best to snub any offer Abramovich would offer and let him keep searching and searching around. Then we can see who's laughing the last.

Unforgiven

Some call it as a point of desperation. Others call it as a cheap way of illicit sympathy votes from the people, while some call it begging then giving a slap in the face by reverting back to old habits. I guess that's the context behind Najib's begging for forgiveness for the mistakes made in the past. But the sheer magnitude of the mistakes committed in the last 40 years plus or so makes it technically very hard to be forgiven.

I am unable to understand the logic of BN starting to go into this mode apart from them realizing from the way they are moving, they are starting to lose more support from the public, particularly from the non-Malay community. Why Najib would move into that is clearly based on the people psyche. As what Raja Petra said recently in "Malay unity at is best", people are easily forgiving, unless you make them "small heart" (kecil hati). This is the factor that they are banking on, hoping that in flock they would return to conventional BN support previously.

Are they really sincere in begging forgiveness? If you look at how they ridicule Kelantan as the poorest, perhaps it could hint of insincerity. Kelantan has the potential of being rich, with its oil reserves, but because it is being run by opposition, they were refused the entitlement of the 5% royalty. If the Petroleum Act bill is being respected irregardless of which party running the state, then there is not going to be any ridicule and excuse that BN would do to Kelantan. After all, Mahathir's grudge against PAS is evident in the period of 1999-2004 in Terengganu. 

In the last 35 years, we could have earned about trillions from petroleum discovered, but yet the money was squandered in other things and to enrich only 0.5% of the population of 28 million, with further atrocities happened by the same group of people running the country. And then they are begging for forgiveness? It's like thieves trying to be pious at people and will resume their dirty habit once given chances over and over again.

What is also stated by Najib also hints that he could be out of power with Muhyiddin slated to take over. It also hints that Najib is going to be kicked out, in and out anyways. The statement by Muhyiddin after Najib's since to paint the impression. In the party scale, it also hints that UMNO is going to be out, unless if they win by the way of the crook. I once recalled my primary school standard 6 teacher, going by the name of Latifah, said that most Malays believe that prior to death, he / she would act rather strangely. A band of pirates acting arrogant and brash then suddenly does this act of begging at people? There are signs that elections happening within the next 3 months already.

What are we going to do with them? Hammurabi's Law is using the eye-for-an-eye concept. If they are asking for forgiveness, then don't give them the space needed to resume their heinous crimes. Why was our tax money paid to bail out Mirzan's company many years ago? 

It's unforgiven. We should never forgive them at all and it's hell to pay.

Have We Calculated The Cost?

The question is: which one is your friend and which one is your enemy? Your enemy is not the 51% Malay voters who voted Barisan Nasional in March 2008. Your enemy is certainly not the 49% Malay voters who voted Pakatan Rakyat in March 2008. Your enemy are those who walk in the corridors of power in Putrajaya and the 2,500 Umno delegates who attend the Umno general assembly to elect their party President who then becomes the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

- Malay Unity At Its Best (Malaysia Today, No Holds Barred 1 March)

I do not deny that it is very important for voters to identify who is the enemy and who is the friend. Once we have identified who is the real enemy and who are your friends, then at least you have a clear point of focus. I do not like to chastise or mock other people for voting for the wrong reasons. I acknowledge that it is their own choice to do so. However after seeing the effect from making the wrong choice and paying a terrible price in the way of suffering, I get very angry and agitated at those who made the wrong choice and as well at what Pete refers to "those who walk the corridors of power". 

What he wrote above has caught my attention to write my opinion which I have thought for a while back.

The aftermath of Hulu Selangor and Bagan Pinang by-elections is the case in point where I get angry at people making wrong choices. And I've seen news reports of people there complaining about not getting what they need when they put in the "grand old party and its scale" in power back. I am angry when by putting bad apples to run the country (those who do bad like corruption, getting away with crimes) people who choose their leaders poorly are indirectly saying that bribing, murder, white-collar crimes at the highest level is legitimate, permitted and we turn our eye blind from it as long it is money. But while we make these choices, have we actually calculated the cost of our mistakes?

The next general election will hinge on the 40% of the voters who are on top of the fence. They those who are full of uncertainty of picking which party to run the government from either mid-2012 or 2013 onwards. The issues to be raised here is have they see what would be the consequences like if they make a bad choice? Which side are they going for - those who want to keep the old guard or those who felt the need to shake the nation up after 55 years? Never mind the 30% of each side who are dead fixed on following the ideology of the coalition, but it will be a tug of minds to get the remaining 40% voting.

There have been people who worried, like myself over what future would behold if the wrong choice is ultimately made. Apart from seeing more corruption, bankruptcy can be reality in the next 3 to 6 years, with Malaysia ultimately capitulating to the demands of the IMF and the World Bank. Socially, the society ladder, where Malaysia is supposedly should move up will remain in the neo-feudalistic level as it is. And of course along the way, racial politics will still remain.

Everyone should take the share of the blame. We've been quite ignorant and making the same mistakes over and over again. We've been succumbing  / buckled to false threats and temptations to the same party who have been sweet-talking over the last 55 years and so forth yet at times break promises. 

How will one realize of the cost of making the wrong choice, particularly for those who have voted many times? I can identify one possible solution, but a very distasteful one. If I say that is the only way, I feel that some people would be "hati kecil" over an over-the-top act. I have said a few times way back that sometimes "an insult is necessary to wake people up". Sure, anyone who may have the same opinion as I do would do that at the risk of making people "small hearted" - but for greater good and shaking things up. 

One identified risk is that for us who are voting for the future, our children / grandchildren will someday scold us and despise us for all life if we give them the wrong future by making the wrong choice. This goes out to everyone and those who refuse to see the reality beyond the veil of illusion that is sown by the mainstream media - instructed to write things that sugar-coat realities mere to please. I worry that one day a child of mine would spit on me and said that "Daddy has been ignorant and making it legit for what is morally wrong." I've heard opinions and decisions from the young that many are prepared to move out to other countries to work and never come back if the situation and outcome remains as bad as it is right now. There goes TalentCorp to the waste.

 

While we are squabbling over the fault of one race or vice versa, we've been dropping our priority objective which is to ABU. Anything But UMNO can't just be another mere slogan. It has to be translated into action. The first and foremost objective and priority that has to be focused is to at least reduce the BN majority, or if desirable replace it with the other government. This of course needs people to know who's your friends and who's the enemy. If we're to whack the enemy to kingdom come, your friends have to avoid making the bad choice - and it requires helping one another to do so.

Does that reveal the key action point needed to ensure ABU success?

Namewee Screws Lynas

Note: There's a joke on Warcraft: It is a good day to die

The Green Ultimatum, Anti-Lynas KL Protest

Kuala Lumpur today was also another location for the simultaneous Green Gathering in protest against the Lynas Rare Earth Plant in Kuantan. The KL leg was held this morning from 9.30 a.m to noon at the Maju Junction mall. For the people who were unable to go to Kuantan due to amount of time required or other priorities, the location and alternative event serves to cater their show of solidarity of support and express their mass disapproval of having a rare-earth plant without proper measures to isolate wastes.

Around 1000 people turned up today at the venue, occupying both sides of Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman. Many of those who were present are the young generation. There have been constant shouts and cheers on anti-Lynas and whenever passing motorists honked to show support to their cause, they cheered as well. Two MPs were present, Charles Santiago from Klang and Dr. Dzukefly of Kuala Selangor. The protest duly ends at 12.30 pm with people dispersing as planned and there have been promises from the crowd to show up in a similar roadshow event in the future.

Here are some of the selected pieces of photos that I've taken on the ground. There were some incidental reactions from passing motorists that it is also included as well.

According to Malaysiakini, there were around 15 thousand in attendance in Kuantan. However, the police downplayed the size and said only 3 thousand. (from Bernama but information used could be the early hours info). One thing caught my interest was an ultimatum delivered by the organizing chairman of Stop Lynas Wong Tack. This is what he said in The Malaysian Insider:

“The whole nation has risen up. We cannot accept this kind of destruction to our country. It is very clear. How much louder do you want us to scream? When are you going to care about the people’s concerns?” he told reporters after the rally at Padang MPK 4 here. 

“We want a decision to be made in 24 hours, or else our committee will start immediately on a bigger demonstration... to make sure either we bring down Lynas or bring down this government. You change your decision or we change you.”

The movement has given the Najib administration 24 hours to respond. So far at around 5 pm, it looks like the Najib administration is going to ignore the demands, claiming it is still safe. I am quite certain that they are unwilling to cancel it because they are in desperation of money (a reason) and you must understand that there's big corporation control over the government decision making as well. Some in the party who has extreme views may see it as a challenge to the party's omnipotence. Definitely we are likely to see another round of protests soon.

It is also noted that many who turned up (as mentioned earlier) are the young generation. Rather than having the "Stop Lynas Save Malaysia" become merely words and slogan, the action must be translated into votes in General Elections. This means that there is a need to take the initiative to become a voter and turn the slogan to "Anything But UMNO". United Malays National Organisation is still having a chokehold on the naive, ignorant and low-knowledge people. The uncles and aunties in rural and otherwise will ultimately be the ones that will be selling the future generations away if they persist on ignorance or refusal to acknowledge the dangers that are to come.

Additional Material:

1. More photos taken on the ground

2. MobTV's news video coverage

3. Free Malaysia Today's report

Ketakutan Malaysia

I saw a post from Malaysia Chronicle (though I am told that it's Mr. who's mouthpiece) of a young Malay girl (The Girl in the Green Scarf) telling a Malay man spot on of the paranoia of society facing if there is a change of government later on. What the girl's answer to the man actually answers the points that knowledgeable people have been trying to tell to the naive.

Baru-baru ini saya post pendapat saya tentang politik di Malaysia di status facebook saya. Salah satu berbunyi; “Kebanyakkan rakyat takut untuk berubah kerana TAKUT hilangnya Melayu.” Saya petik sebuah syair Arab menyatakan, “sesebuah bangsa itu tidak akan hilang melainkan runtuhnya akhlak bangsa tersebut”.

Kemudian saya dapat satu private message di inbox Facebook saya menyatakan ketidakbersetujuan beliau dengan pendapat saya.

Pertama kali saya dapat komen private sebegini mungkin juga kerana ini pertama kali saya dengan terang-terangan menyatakan pendapat politik saya yang mentah ini. Saya menulis di sini kerana saya kira ianya tanggungjawab saya sebagai gadis berusia 24 tahun, mengambil jurusan undang-undang yang suka ambil tahu dan mencari maklumat untuk mengetahui kebenaran kerana saya tidak suka menerima apa yang disuap sahaja.

Dan semoga, jika Allah menyoal saya di akhirat kelak apa yang kamu lakukan untuk kebaikan Islam? Saya akan menjawab usaha saya yang satu ini untuk menyampaikan apa yang saya tahu supaya yang tidak tahu akan mengetahui dan pengetahuan saya tidak sia-sia. Sekurangnya saya berusaha.

Private message tersebut berbunyi berikut:

My opinion
Salam “gadis”, Melayu memerintah Kelantan sebagai sebuah negeri dalam Persekutuan tapi yg menjadi kekhuatiran ialah orang Bukan Melayu (DAP atau parti yang mengikut telunjuk DAP) memerintah Persekutuan...Uncle tak khuatir kalau Melayu memerintah Persekutuan tak kira parti apa asalkan Melayu.

DAP akan mengujudkan Malaysian Malaysia jika mereka memrintah, semua sama rata, tidak ada siapa yang mendapat keistimewaan. Orang Melayu lebih-lebih lagi di luar bandar masih belum boleh bersaing dengan bangsa asing seperti orang Cina terutama dalam bidang pendidikan & ekonomi.

Uncle tak risau langsung kalau PAS betul-betul kuat, memerintah tanpa perlu kerjasama dengan DAP.

Uncle menyokong Hudud... Sebagai orang Islam kita perlu sokong hukum Allah.

Keadaan dalam negara kita membimbangkan, orang Cina dah naik kepala, tanpa segan silu mempertikaikan keistimewaan orang Melayu, mengejek-ejek orang Melayu, secara terbuka di fb mengkritik orang Melayu. Uncle takut kita jadi seperti Singapura... Itu pandangan Uncle sebagai orang tua yang makan lebih sikit garam daripada orang muda seperti ”gadis”.... Uncle memikirkan nasib anak cucu uncle ... Nauzubillah orang Cina memerintah kita ...

Jawapan saya:
Ya, saya sangat bersetuju dengan pendapat uncle tersebut. Saya juga mempunyai kerisauan yang sama sebelum ini. Tetapi selepas saya lihat semua keadaan, meneliti semua maklumat, kenaikan suara orang Cina memang tidak dapat dibendung lagi.

Persoalan utama adalah tentang kebangkitan orang Cina yang akan menganggu gugat kedudukan orang Islam dan Melayu terutamanya. Seperti yang saya katakan tadi kebangkitan orang Cina tak dapat dibendung lagi terutama sokongan kepada DAP. Boleh dikatakan hampir 90 % daripada mereka menentang kerajaan. Oleh itu walau apa cara sekali pun, parlimen akan datang akan dipenuhi dengan orang Cina iaitu melalui kerusi-kerusi DAP dan mereka pasti akan memenangi kerusi tersebut dengan
sokongan penuh orang Cina sekarang ini.

SATU sahaja cara untuk membendung keberkuasaan orang Cina terhadap orang Melayu, iaitu orang-orang Melayu yang menyokong Umno sebelum ini menyokong PAS. Jika kita menyokong PAS bermakna PAS akan majoriti dalam Pakatan Rakyat.

Mengapa saya menyatakan begini? Di dalam Pakatan Rakyat, mereka telah membahagi-bahagikan kerusi antara PAS, PKR dan DAP. Seperti kita tahu kerusi PAS adalah sekitar 80 kerusi PKR sekitar 90 dan dan DAP cuma 42. Mengapa kerusi PAS dan PKR lebih banyak? Kerana penentuan kerusi ini adalah berdasarkan populasi penduduk. Untuk kawasan Melayu, diletakkan calon PAS dan untuk kawasan Cina diletakkan calon DAP manakala pengundi campuran adalah PKR. Kita juga tahu Melayu adalah majoriti di negara ini.

Sebab itu saya katakan, dengan satu cara sahaja untuk selamatkan keberkuasaan Melayu iaitu dengan cara semua orang Melayu mengundi PAS. Ini akan menyebabkan secara automatik majoriti kerusi parlimen akan dimenangi oleh orang Melayu melalui PAS. Dengan cara ini, Islam akan mampu mengubah keadaan parah Malaysia, bukanlah semata-mata untuk mencari kekayaan untuk keluarga sendiri seperti berlaku sekarang ini.

Bayangkan apa yang akan berlaku apabila orang Melayu terus mengundi Umno (kononnya untuk menjaga kepentingan Melayu) dalam pilihan raya umum nanti ketika orang Cina sudah mengundi Pakatan atau jelas DAP dan PKR.

Ketika itu, Umno akan menang sekitar 70 kerusi Melayu yang ditandinginya. PAS pula akan tinggal bawah 10 kerusi. DAP akan menang 40 kerusi yang ditandinginya manakala PKR akan menang 50 kerusi. Selebihnya dimenangi oleh parti-parti di Sabah dan Sarawak.

Bayangkan scenario yang berlaku ketika itu. Negara tidak stabil. Kalau BN menangpun dengan kerusi yang majoriti kecil, dan Pakatan pula menjadi pembangkang dengan kekalahan yang kecil. Negara seolah-olah dikuasai oleh Melayu sedangkan pembangkang adalah Cina sepenuhnya.

Negara tidak akan stabil. Malaysia akan menjadi sebuah negara yang politiknya bercorak dikotomi di mana kerajaan adalah Melayu manakala pembangkang pula Cina. Perkara ini adalah sangat tidak sihat kerana pentadbiran negara tidak akan fokus kepada mambawa kebaikan kepada semua pihak tetapi sesetengah pihak sahaja.

Namun perkara ini boleh diimbangi dengan mengundi PAS yang sudah tentu orang Melayu dan Islam yang betul-betul mahu membela Islam dan juga Melayu. Ketika itu, Cina yang menyokong DAP akan bergabung bersama dengan Melayu yang menyokong PAS dan PKR dalam Pakatan Rakyat. Inilah formula kestabilan Barisan Nasional (BN) sebelum ini. Suasana kestabilan di bawah BN tidak boleh berlaku lagi kerana Cina sudah tidak bersama dengan BN kerana mereka menolak politik Umno.

Tidak terfikirkah betapa orang PAS dan saya sendiri sayangkan bangsa saya, Melayu. Semua orang sayang akan bangsa mereka sendiri termasuk Cina, India dan lain-lain. Tetapi saya musykil betul kah Umno sayangkan Melayu itu sendiri atau sekadar gah dengan PERKASA

Terlalu banyak pembelotan yang dilakukan Umno kepada orang Melayu dan rakyat Malaysia sehingga kini. Tidak terfikirkah mengapa Cina begitu tegar menentang kerajaan BN sekarang? Tidak sedarkah kenapa mereka menuntut hak itu?

Tidak sedarkah bahawa mereka menuntut hak tersebut KETIKA pemerintahan sekarang yang mengamalkan ketidakadilan, kronisme, penipuan dan rasuah. Sebab mereka sudah muak dengan sikap pemerintahan BN di mana bagi saya sangat melampau cara mereka menggunakan wang negara (sila rujuk laporan audit negara).

Malaysia sangat kaya dengan gas, sawit, emas, getah, timah, dan banyak lagi, tetapi masih ramai lagi rakyat yang sangat miskin. Sedangkan negara kita kaya tetapi di sebabkan pemerintah yang tidak menguruskan negara dengan betul, Malaysia menjadi sekadar sebuah negara kroni sahaja.

Jika dibandingkan dengan negara Arab Saudi yang jauh lebih berkebajikan walhal sumber hasil mereka cuma petrol dan gas tetapi mereka berjaya memberi pendidikan percuma, air percuma, harga minyak yang murah dan lain-lain keperluan asas rakyat yang wajib di penuhi pemerintah. KENAPA BUKAN MALAYSIA?

Tentu Uncle fikir, kenapalah saya beriya sangat dengan politik ini sedangkan saya masih mentah? Sebelum ni saya tidak berapa kisah tentang politik. Bagi saya semua politik sama, ada kepentingan dan kotor. Tetapi tidak perasankah kita betapa teruknya gejala sosial sekarang dan Malaysia kita seperti tiada Islam lagi.

Masyarakat sekarang dibentuk dengan hiburan yang berlebihan, sukakan hiburan, sistem pemerintahan yang tiada tarbiyah langsung terhadap masyarakat menyebabkan anak luar nikah dan zina tidak terbendung, terasa tidak selamat di negara sendiri dengan kadar jenayah yang meningkat, dan paling menyedihkan tiada lagi akhlak di kalangan kebanyakan anak muda yang bakal memimpin negara.

Saya berfikir, dengan apakah supaya negara ini berubah? Saya mencari punca kenapakah negara ini menjadi sebegini rupa? Cuma satu penyelesaian saya jumpa iaitu dengan BERUBAH. Berubahnya cara pemerintahan negara dengan mengubah pemerintah tersebut. Untuk berubah, hanya dengan mekanisme politik dapat mengubah tampuk pemerintahan tersebut.

Tahukah bahawa semua kerusi ibu negeri di setiap negeri sekarang seperti Kuantan, Shah Alam, Alor Star, Ipoh, Seremban, Melaka dan lain-lain ibu sudah dimenangi Pakatan Rakyat kecuali Arau sahaja yang tidak dimenangi? Mengapa mereka yang berada di kawasan membangun ini memilih untuk
berubah dan tidak di lain kawasan?

Kerana mereka cakna dengan maklumat dan boleh mengakses maklumat dengan menggunakan teknologi yang ada dan tidak menerima bulat-bulat apa yang disampaikan oleh media utama seperti mana yang dimahukan kerajaan.

Ketahuilah, kebanyakan masyarakat sekarang mengalami KETAKUTAN disebabkan media. Saya gelar itu sebagai ‘media freak’ kerana media sering memomokkan betapa Melayu akan hilang dengan berubahnya tampuk pemerintah. Tidakkah anda sedar bahawa sistemnya masih sama di mana di dalam BN, terdapat MCA dan MIC manakala di dalam PR terdapat PAS, PKR dan DAP. Namun keduanya amat berbeza dari segi perjuangan iaitu BN memperjuangkan kronisme manakala PR memperjuangkan kebajikan dan keadilan untuk rakyat. Merujuk kepada buku Jingga iaitu tawaran daripada PR, tiada apa yang berbeza dengan keistimewaan hak orang Melayu di mana mereka masih mengiktiraf hak keistimewaan orang Melayu dan Islam sebagai sebagai agama rasmi, kedudukan raja-raja Melayu dan juga bahasa Kebangsaan sebagai bahasa rasmi.

Kenapa masih takut? Takut bahawa PAS akan ikut telunjuk DAP? Ia akan berlaku kalau PAS minority tetapi jika PAS majority dalam kerajaan berkenaan, DAP akan mengikut telunjuk PAS.

Jika anda lihat debat antara DAP dan MCA, anda akan lihat siapa yang mengikut telunjuk siapa selama ini. Kata Chua Soi Lek presiden MCA; “Kita orang Cina berani menentang Umno terutama dalam bab hudud, adakah DAP berani dalam hal ini?” kemudian Lim Guan Eng, Setiausaha DAP menjawab; “Kita orang DAP tidak boleh menghalang kepercayaan orang Islam dalam hal agama mereka, begitu juga orang PAS tidak pernah menghalang dalam bab agama kita”. Anda bijak, anda yang menilainya.

Bukankah Allah sudah berjanji Islam itu rahmatan lil a’lamin (rahmat untuk seluruh alam) tidak kira bangsa dan agama. Kenapa perlu terlalu takut? Takut dikatakan tidak mengenang jasa? Bukankah sememangnya tanggungjawab kerajaan untuk membina negara? Tapi negara seperti apakah yang sedang di bina sekarang? Negara korupsi dan kronisme?

Kata akhir saya, jadilah warga yang CAKNA. Jangan sekadar menerima apa yang disuap, dapatkan juga maklumat lain supaya kita dapat membuat perbandingan dan menilai dengan bijak. Selainnya, terserah pada semua untuk membuat pilihan.

Sekian, maaf jika saya yang sekadar memerhati dan masih mentah ini menyinggung mana-mana pihak.

Are The Cops Working For The People or UMNO?

This Sunday's simultaneous rallies across the country against the Lynas plant.

It is on that day it will be the latest round that we shall see whether the police's really working for the people or for political interests. If protesters are arrested but carrying no-weapons that can harm others, then the country's heading to the wrong direction.

Remember Bersih 2? There are tons of evidence of wrong conduct by bad apples of the police force. Maybe this video can remind everyone about it.

How Long Will We Remain Ignorant or Stupid?

“The answer is education and knowledge. I tell them of my own experience in the past when (former prime minister Tun) Dr Mahathir Mohamad said to me — Jeffrey, do not teach the people what they don’t know.

“Let them be ignorant ... so that they can be manipulated and controlled. This is the federal attitude, you know,” he said.

-- Dr. Jeffrey Kittingan, (STAR Joins Crowded Battle for Sabah, 21 Feb 2012)

This statement above underlines what prominent writer and activist Hishamuddin Rais and a few others have been saying for the last few years of the "Projek Pembodohan" - making people stupid and keeping them in the dark over national matters. The still Official Secrets Act coupled with other outdated laws like Sedition Act suppresses the inquisitive nature of Malaysians are entitled to.

To this day, many people are still unaware of bad things happening in our nation. The present education system - primary and secondary levels are still based on memorizing things instead of teaching them to go more than what is available, EQ sorely lacking. That is why though many have excelled in subjects, they still do not have the sufficient forte and ability to face real-world situations.

From Jeffrey's statement above, the ones that are victims of manipulation and cheat are those in the rural area. UMNO is banking on people's ignorance and lack of knowledge so that they can remain in power. That's what has been happening over the last 30 years or so.

Sometimes we ask other people why they support a party that has a corruption record although they know what they do is wrong. Most of the answers they get is that are either afraid or they felt that the coalition is the only one that guarantees national stability. In every situation, there is always more than one solution to a problem, depending on what kind of result is being expected.

If you have seen some pictures featuring people holding banners refusing to listen to alternative options presented by the opposition, then you know that those people are totally ignorant, butter-up and lack of intelligence. The lack of knowledge is why many leaders, clerics and even low-level citizens behave in a very crude and immature manner. 

If they have been exposed and enlightened with many things, it means the end of the present mob group called UMNO. Making people stupid and ignorant is the one main reason I get very angry at that party and I really wanted to see them crushed / trampled to the ground in the next election.

I have enjoyed reading my friend Aspan's writings about the problems in UMNO and the need for Malaysia to change its brand of politics after 55 years of Merdeka. But the problem is whether people will remain ignorant or stupid about the facts above?

It is democratic to let people decide of their choice, but the one question we should ask before deciding is at what cost will you let them continue? Does it include forsaking our children / grand-children's future at the hands of a bunch of old men?

Look at the BBC article reporting how Goldman Sachs masking Greece's real debt. The government will never likely a bad news they first encountered out to the public masses fearing of people panic, and painting a bad image on themselves. But no amount of hiding under the carpet will keep themselves away from the chopping block someday.  

Finally, this video below featuring Hishamuddin Rais underlines Jeffrey's statement.

ExcludingThe Religion Factor

I have no religion, and at times I wish all religions at the bottom of the sea. He is a weak ruler who needs religion to uphold his government; it is as if he would catch his people in a trap. My people are going to learn the principles of democracy, the dictates of truth and the teachings of science. Superstition must go. Let them worship as they will; every man can follow his own conscience, provided it does not interfere with sane reason or bid him against the liberty of his fellow-men.

*****

It is claimed that religious unity is also a factor in the formation of nations. Whereas, we see the contrary in the Turkish nation. Turks were a great nation even before they adopted Islam. This religion did not help the Arabs, Iranians, Egyptians and others to unite with Turks to form a nation. Conversely, it weakened the Turks’ national relations; it numbed Turkish national feelings and enthusiasm. This was natural, because Mohammedanism was based on Arab nationalism above all nationalities. 

 - Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881-1938)

Kemal Ataturk, as the founding father of Turkey has consistently insisted on racial integration of all races to form a united Turkey. One of the things to ensure proper racial relations and integration is the to forbid the religion factor from interfering with the governance of the nation, but still gives people the opportunity to worship as they will. (see the first quote, which he said in July 1917.)

Lately, I have been observing series of events and news that have been somewhat related to the subject, for instance the moral snoop squad on the Malay people who celebrate Valentine's day. Many people, including those non-Malays who were unwillingly dragged into the religious affair found this as a direct invasion of their privacy. This is for instance is a case where a people of their own religion were held against to act on their free will and conscience, as well as interfering with logic.

What I don't really understand is in Malaysia that religion is factored in governance. Many people have felt that this has already been considered as discriminating and considered bias. The survey by Merdeka Center, as reported by The Malaysian Insider today (see chart above) shows that there is a close tie and many non-Malays in particular felt themselves being treated second-class. Even the Malay counterparts have the same feeling but in a different story, but the same thing in common: religion radicalism in politics, lack of chance to express freedom. You can say that many young people are really worried of the problems mentioned below:

 

Worst still, there have been calls by the local Muslim clerics to draw up a line of regulations of interacting between Muslims and non-Muslims. This already doesn't make sense and against logic. If a disease spreads to everyone without recognizing the person's skin color or descendant then the statement above is going against reasoning and logic. In fact, this is one way complete racial integration among other races in Malaysia can't and will never happen successfully. It in fact, on the contrary will alienate more people from other relations from meeting and interacting together merely because of the many illogical and superstitious restrictions imposed on them. From the beginning Malaysia is always intended to be a secular country with one official religion, customs of all races respected and retained but never to the extent that the religion factor will be stamping on other pillars of the nation

Simply put, it will not make people to discern, reason and think but it ultimately makes people inferior and subservient to something that is against their own conscience. What is clearly understood is that each mainstream religion encourages people to do good and does not use compulsion on mankind - which is you can force something on to them, but instead it is up to a person to decide. Whether or not a person will do it or not, it is the person that will bear the consequences of their actions. Intervention and interference in the name of religion.

Ataturk was right on in one line: Conversely, it weakened the Turks’ national relations; it numbed Turkish national feelings and enthusiasm. Looking at France and Singapore as case of examples, how can a nation push for good racial integration where the purpose of the nation precedes others in proper and good policy implementation? Race and religion will have to come into the lowest of all rungs and factors - whereas the right to practice faiths will still be allowed for it's a man's right. Simply travel to a well advanced nation e.g in Europe, Australia, America, etcc and ask someone there whether if religion is factored into implementing and execution of a government policy. Not likely. 

I am certain that if Tunku were still around, Tunku could have agreed that things have gone wrong. Many who have seen or met Tunku in the flesh would definitely noticed or testified how Tunku lived a simple life while running the country during his tenure. Keeping things simple and short is definitely better than making too many things complex and difficult like what we're seeing it right now. 

I once recalled reading about Patton and his view on race and nationality. It was very identical to what Ataturk mentioned above and he summarized the flaw of Islam (he read the Quran during his North Africa tour of operations) in fatalism (leaving it to fate / takdir) and utter degradation of women, and that he said was the cause of arrested development in Arab. (see Patton's Wikipedia entry). Notice this line from Ataturk's quote in parallel: This was natural, because Mohammedanism was based on Arab nationalism above all nationalities. Does our Malay Supremacy thing parallel what is said?

As an afterthought, I am aware that some people are not willing to take this commentary because of criticism involving the religion factor but by looking far ahead, Malaysia cannot afford to be in this position of having religion factor interfering with nation building. There is a need to give and take at one another, but so far, we've seen one side giving for others but another unwilling to give but only take because of the thinking that their side monopolies most aspects of Malaysian life. 

I suppose we have been too familiar with the "shut up, no questions and listen" routine that anyone tries to point out or try to talk an issue out of this is met with brickbats by the group of butter-up boys. Antagonizing religion was never part of it but given of the indirect holier than thou bragging that hits the news almost everyday, this has to be put into doubt and question. As said before, there have been unhappy faces at times branding me an infidel but sometimes those accused turned out to be behaving themselves better than those who accused.

Eventually, the issue and events above draws down to the few questions risen from examining the problem:

1. How will Malaysia's racial integration be successful if there is constant religious interference & bias?

2. How will we let the people able to use logic, think properly if we keep hawking down on them and never give them the space to maneuver and act on their free will? 

3. Is it really that our national enthusiasm, feelings and relationship with our country blood siblings strained because of this factor imposed on us by those who believe to be acting on behalf of the religion?  

The Fishy Feeling of An Ambitious Gamble

If I am to put the Sara1M scheme, the Public Low House Scheme and the 1Care system together through an element in column, I must say that it is a very high-risk gamble with the results can be suicidal. One thing I was certainly weary of the Sara1M is that the returns, which PNB claims to give a returns up to 32% of the investment, sounds familiar. It's not as the same as your often heard "get-rich-quick" scheme, but in impression, it is more of a ponzi scheme because of its high-yield investment programs. Another thing is that there was understood expectation that the more money poured into it the longer the scheme can go.

The real potential danger of one scheme like this, though it sounds very appealing in nature is that in the period where the investment slows down and should such problem happens unexpectedly / unanticipated - e.g market catastrophe in Europe / America, the target of returns in the space of 5 years as what PNB claims to be would not be met. Thus, in reaction, people who may have invested in it might ask where are the returns asked? Have we not remembered what happen to the Madoff ponzi scheme scandal?

The 1Care system has met with many brickbats from many people including those from the medical sector. A simple logic will allow us to distinguish the difference of using a insurance medical card vs paying to the 1Care. The problem is that if you are healthy, you are penalized by paying 10% of your monthly gross salary. This already counts alongside paying your 11% EPF, SOSCO and even paying a PCB to the Inland Revenue Board.

The annual premium of a young working professional from the age of 21-40 is usually within the range of RM600 to RM800 annually which compared to paying 10% every month is basically paying 1/6th of the monthly pay. Many insurance companies, aware of the people's need to have proper healthcare have offered a medical card with the reasonable premium,  when divided by a monthly basis seem to make decent sales out of it and from the customer's point of view, much better than paying 10% and get nothing out of it.

And here we are, the government wants to use the people's retirement fund to fund the housing loan scheme whereas it is supposedly using their own side of the money, not people's money to do it. What Tony Pua and Nurul Izzah said of masking the real debts from people is true and of course this breaks the statement from Najib "Haji Express" saying that days of "gomen know best" is already over. And the mainstream media still remains willing to be prostituted over the fear of reprimanding by the Home Ministry although the facts have been wrong and economic data to skewed to please, a.la. Enron style.

All these three things point to one thing in common: there is a hidden acknowledgement that the government is already out of money and to keep it alive they had to loan (in confidentiality) money from lenders like IMF / World Bank and other countries with mass reserves. 

If any of us have watched some Hong Kong serial dramas or movies, you have seen a man in bad finances would desperately try to repay the loan sharks by undertaking more loans and do a desperate gamble hoping to win back money plus surplus to save himself. That is what BN is doing now. Obviously they won't dare to do it because truth can scare and cause panic across the country. As of 2011, the debt stands at RM456 billion, which if you are to recuperate back the money, how would you do it?

Simple: bond selling. my intuition is that Sara1M is like selling bonds, hoping if things get better they pay back the invested money plus interest. 1Care includes those who do not pay income taxes as if their monthly pay is below RM2500, but still paying 21 percent of contribution not counting SOSCO and PCB can still be considered burdening since the annual inflation rate stands at 6.8 per year. And it is considered a wild gamble to stake the monies like EPF funds into a foreign fund hoping if the fund hits high, another high return of investment from the base money would return.

There have been warnings that the world economy is not going to be like in the last 20 years or so but it could prolonged until early next decade. Sad to say I am not verse in economics to predict that but it clearly implies it will be a very disastrous move to gamble people's money and ending up bankrupt by 2019, if what Idris Jala says is true all the round.

Ibrahim Ali Fumbled in White Packets

The picture of Ibrahim Ali distributing white money packets to the Chinese people in conjunction with the first time Perkasa open house drew either question marks and brickbats saying that Ibrahim Ali is giving the Chinese community a death wish, since a white packet means for funeral money. I've been through three to four funerals enough to see how it is like.

I must say that Braheng had fumbled in dealing this aspect because some may consider it as a bitchslap from Perkasa to the non-Malay community since it is their attempt to show the moderate face whereas it has been noted since its inception that this one of the NGOs apart from those noted to be making broohas on racial, religion and royalty matters. The picture there says it. 

If Perkasa were to live to the claim that they mind the sensitivities of the other races, they could have at least serve a dish of roast pork, as to round up the meals served, lest because they still want to show that they are holier than thou that they will not do that? Isn't that even defeating the idea of showing how "moderate they are". There are people out there who still remembered what Braheng Ali who accidentally tell the Chinese people to stock up and stay home prior to the 9 July Bersih 2 rallies.

It should have been $10000 of hell's money BTW. But I found it funny and sarcastic to say things about this man who likes to rant about Ketuanan Melayu, jaguh kampung yet fumbled in this thing.

So the research which I read the other day turns out to be true. There are many people out there who likes to make nonsense rants, very very conservative views and unwilling to change, adapt and reform. The research reveals that people have prejudice views because they have a very low intelligence level IQ.

You can read the excerpt below, the rest here:

There's no gentle way to put it: People who give in to racism and prejudice may simply be dumb, according to a new study that is bound to stir public controversy.

The research finds that children with low intelligence are more likely to hold prejudiced attitudes as adults. These findings point to a vicious cycle, according to lead researcher Gordon Hodson, a psychologist at Brock University in Ontario. Low-intelligence adults tend to gravitate toward socially conservative ideologies, the study found. Those ideologies, in turn, stress hierarchy and resistance to change, attitudes that can contribute to prejudice, Hodson wrote in an email to LiveScience.

"Prejudice is extremely complex and multifaceted, making it critical that any factors contributing to bias are uncovered and understood," he said.

So you see, Ibrahim Ali is a living example of those with prejudice, exhibiting low level IQ (hence his bragging of Jaguh Kampung). I could have said "churn choi" but hey, I ROFL over to at the antics of Pak Pandir of the day! We can even break out our foot in his John Brown hind pants to make him run a mile for fumbling - at the risk of his heart problem.

Welcoming Lunar New Year 2012

Gong Xi Fa Cai, Gung Hee Fatt Choy  Happy New Year to readers, friends and colleagues alike!

What They Dare Not Speak Its Name

Pay close attention to what conspiracy theory man David Icke said about the clear distinction between Jews and Zionism. One is a religion and another is about how they act and think. Hishamuddin Rais mentioned this several times in writings that even Jews stand up to against the brutality of the Palestinians, which was never reported in the western press.

Having a Jew friend or someone who is Zionism associated is two different matters. Recently local football fans booed Youssi Benayoun just because he is an Israeli. This has clearly revealed that we've misunderstood and unaware of the clear distinction of the two things mentioned.

At least Mahathir, who have been attacking George Soros during the Asian Financial Crisis was right to a certain point here, from this video.

Anyhow, since I am in a write block, I thought this video can be stimulating at times, since I have enjoyed watching some of the videos. And I started to have a feeling about Najib Razak and a possible connection to the content discussed in there.

Dr. Ravi Zacharias Answers On Freedom in Islam

Malaysia is referred twice in the video. First one is at 2:15.

Pay attention to the second reference at 4:33 onwards. He said: "There are people in Malaysia today who were misidentified at birth according to parentage and listed as followers of Islam who are now asking to be removed from that because one of them is a Buddhist from a Buddhist family. He doesn't even have the right to go to court to ask for his rightful claim of his parent's religion.

Tim Howard's Bizarre Goal

"For the back four and the goalkeepers at both ends, there was an awful wind swirling. You could see everybody was mistiming balls. Defenders were missing clearances that normally they would put up the field. I think the wind is the hardest condition to play in. Snow, rain, sun doesn't matter, but the wind really does play tricks on you." - Tim Howard on the goal

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?

UPSI Scuffle: "Media, Tangkap Gambar!"

One of my friends told me to look specifically into certain portions of the video. Just to allow all of us to refresh our mind, I will put up the video for you all to review the thing again.

There are two interesting segments to pay attention to.

At 3:02 onwards, the undergraduate is making a statement to the police:

"Jangan ingat kita langyak. Jangan ingat kita senang ditumpas. Jangan sekali-sekali ingat mahasiswa lemah semangatnya. Kita hadir pada malam ini bukan untuk berjenayah tapi untuk menyatakan solidariti kita pada Afdli dan kebebasan akademik. Polis jangan layan kami sebagai penjenayah.."

This means that there was a clear statement to the police that the undergraduates who were there that night was never intended to commit any criminal act. Why would a sane and intellectual person would commit such thing apart from it's against moral conflict or it's against an act of lunacy?

At 4:00, look at the cops rushing from the left which resulted in the start of the scuffle. Did anyone started insulting any police officers prior to the scuffle? Eight seconds later at 4:08, a voice on the background said "Media tangkap gambar!" when the cops start arresting the 17 people off away.

Of course later on the scuffle happened and with 17 people arrested that night, Dr Juanda later was quoted saying at Malaysian Insider: “Yes, you have power, but let the people respect and appreciate your power, not stoke (more anger) with hate.”

The police have repeatedly denied of any violence done, but the Safzwan - who was knocked unconscious was saying otherwise, base on his account. And here's a danger part: sometimes, the police can misuse their privilege and power - if proven - to cover their tracks of wrong doing. Either way, the video, if reviewed over and over again seems to say otherwise of what the cops said. If there happens to be any further material or evidence put in Youtube that sheds more light on that matter, then it seems that our state police has lied in the skin of the teeth. 

The video as it was shot on that day from AntaraPos:

Happy New Year 2012!