Najib's Talk As In The Magic Flute

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

The are three famous numbers for this opera:

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

 

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Unfulfilled promises

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sampai Kiamat Masih Jadi Bodoh!

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

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

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

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

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

Excerpt:

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

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

a) Malay votes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

Further material:

Mengundi UMNO Bukan Wajib Hukumnya (Pt 1)

Mengundi UMNO Bukan Wajib Hukumnya (Pt 2)

The Agencies Couldn't Hide The Mischief

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

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

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

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

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

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

Remember this at the CCM building in KL Sentral?

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SUARAM's Poker Game Has Started

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

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

LGBT's Numero Uno Question Remains Unanswered

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Post Merdeka: Copycatting and Cheating Ourselves: Part 2

Part 2: Sang Saka Malaya

Pic from Singa Selatan

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Part 1 -- here

Post Merdeka: Copycatting and Cheating Ourselves : Part 1

Part 1: Sweetening The Numbers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2. Compulsory orders for staffs, otherwise being blacklisted

3. Indons, Banglas and Nepalis attending there.

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

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

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

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

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

To be continued....

Merdeka 55 Tahun: Janji Dicapati

What's Next for Rafizi After N.O.W?

Now that N.O.W, Rafizi Ramli's pet project is up, the next thing I can think of in regards of Rafizi Ramli is to rethink of contesting in Pandan and fall back to a safer spot.

I once managed to have a short time with Rafizi one night in Gombak - unfortunately the talk was cut short of his appointment elsewhere. Rafizi can be a nice chap, as what I hear what other people would say about him. Surely his reputation has shot up after a blitz of exposes involving the LRT extension project and the big talk of the town: the NFC cow scandal.

A few months ago, Rafizi spoke about contesting in Pandan against MCA's Ong Tee Keat. I, together with a few people have certainty to say that regardless of political affiliations, Superman OTK is a very popular figure in Pandan and the only way for OTK to lose is if there is sabotage from his own party, MCA. In 2008, former MTUC president Syed Shahir contested in that area but Ong won with a neither big nor small majority of 3000 votes.

The doubt I have is that Pandan may not be that feasible contrary to what Rafizi thinks.

The much more better alternatives is either in Kelana Jaya or in Petaling Jaya Selatan.

I've been overhearing some random people on the ground talking about how they are unhappy with the performance of either Hee Loy Sian or Gwo Burne which is in contrast with Tony Pua's performance. If what the people on the ground say the same thing as my first thought of both of those MPs, it would be a good idea to have them replaced with Rafizi and Syed Shahir. It's just not that both of them have a better chance of winning. It's the matter of problem solving most common issues that a Member of Parliament can do in those areas. 

MCA contests in both areas as the statistics speak for themselves.

Gwo Burne and Loy Sian won with a medium-range size majority of 3000-5000 votes.

It's likely Donald Lim in PJ Selatan and someone else if neither Lee Hwa Beng nor Loh Seng Kok would be up again in Kelana Jaya. In 2008, MCA was whacked almost kingdom come in the entire GE. People have seen that party, then run by the Ong brothers becoming more and more a mere stooge to United Malays National Organisation.

It looks like Rafizi and Syed Shahir stands a better chance in those areas. The population of voters there are a mix proportion of races. Ominous rumors of the incumbents in those areas being dropped over their performance is likely to be fact later on. Being a PKR candidate stands to have a good chance to contest in that area given of the good mix-proportion of people vs other areas.

I wonder how does it sound if Rafizi goes to contest there? Perhaps PKR doing some ground work there would be more appropriate rather than branding some unknown guy like me as talking something I am not appropriate to talk about? There's still time, at most up to 8 months left before reaching the full term where an election must be called.

Tee Keat is likely to have a few additional issues to deal including from within the party. We do not know whether there will be attempts to sabotage him or possible bickering by UMNO against MCA over the scenario of refusing to hand over the seat to their candidate. It's best to leave it untouched on Pandan for sometimes there's something that can be discovered while an infighting is happening.

Non Piu Andrai Nurul Izzah

Nurul Izzah has to stop all her gallivanting. No need all those trips and going around the country to ceramah. Focus on Lembah Pantai, which is a large enough territory as it is. The voters need to see your face and shake your hand. Kiss babies if need be. Just make sure that your presence is felt. What you lack in Ministerial powers and millions in cash you need to make up for in personal touch.

And get rid of those Young Chikos. Get some Old Cocks onto your team. And go poach some UMNO people as well. Pay them to work for you if need be. You need to pull every trick in the book at this stage. And if you need more money just holler. With 500,00 readers, and if each Malaysia Today reader donated just RM10 on average, that can already come to RM5 million.

You need to fight Raja Nong Chik using his own weapon. And his weapon is money. So you must use that same weapon. And if this is something you are not prepared to do then get out of Lembah Pantai and contest somewhere else.

- Battle Royale In Lembah Pantai , Malaysia Today (27 August)

I know that PKR are not really in good terms with Raja Petra whenever his name is brought up anywhere it was written be it on the print media or on the alternative news portals / blogs that write that statements that PKR might not stand up to that. But what is shown there actually paints the picture that there's some problems facing in Nurul's own turf. Surely everyone, apart from the groups of people that Raja Petra mentioned in the article above has the fondness of her except that in this game of election, it's just not a popularity contest but whoever has the most monetary resources will likely win the Parliamentary seat - based on the present rules of the game that is - unless Bersih's real demands are fulfilled that is. 

This time PKR will have no time and space to argue over that statement unless they are dead serious to defend Lembah Pantai successfully.

Quite true, Nurul has a hard battle to fight with against Raja Nong Chik who has the panache and the monies to become the next Lembah Pantai MP but as what Raja Petra said above, this would be the closest thing that she can do in order to serve the people in that area itself. As for the money, true, people will have to chip in for the election campaign, unlike UMNO who has an election war chest of up to RM 1.7 billion that they can splash anywhere and anytime they want. 

Look, Nurul is a nice girl really. Maybe I have seen her many times in public but I remembered one night in a hotel meeting room in Petaling Jaya where there are a few people with her including some of my friends (for respecting privacy of others, I will not name those) and of course Khalid Samad was there. For maybe 2 hours of discussion there, I can say that she can go on but the odds of insufficient facilities and tools for her are stacking day after day.

Of course, she can't gallivant anymore except to work hard within her area for up to the next 8 months. Forget about going outside Klang Valley for that time or so...if what Pete says is correct or so. Then, there will still be people who will help to chip in the money - I can do it, but I will find time in the next few weeks to chip in.

Non piu andrai, Nurul.

Mozart - Non Piu Andrai (No More Gallivanting)

The Count says that he forgives Cherubino, but he dispatches him to his own regiment in Seville for army duty, effective immediately. Figaro gives Cherubino mocking advice about his new, harsh, military life from which all luxury, and especially women, will be totally excluded.

You won't go any more, amorous butterfly,
Fluttering around inside night and day
Disturbing the sleep of beauties,
A little Narcissus and Adonis of love.
You won't have those fine feathers any more,
That light and jaunty hat,
That hair, that shining aspect,
That womanish red color [in your face]!
Among soldiers, by Bacchus!
A huge moustache, a little knapsack,
Gun on your back, sword at your side,
Your neck straight, your nose exposed,
A big helmet, or a big turban,
A lot of honour, very little pay.
And in place of the dance
A march through the mud.
Over mountains, through valleys,
With snow, and heat-stroke,
To the music of trumpets,
Of bombards, and of cannons,
Which, at every boom,
Will make bullets whistle past your ear.
Cherubino, go to victory!
To military glory!

Merdeka: Past Anti-Colonial Heroes Forgotten

In secondary school we are used to be taught to know the whose-who of the anti-British colonial heroes who have fought to free their states from colonialism.

Notable figures that we would encounter during our history lessons include:

Tok Janggut.- Datuk Bahaman. - Mat Indera - Datuk Maharajalela - Dol Said - Mat Kilau and you can name a few more if you wish to add to the list.

Every year we celebrate Merdeka on 31 August. But it seems that the amount people showing support towards it seems dwindling year to year. Despite the present government's call of raising flags everywhere, not many people seem to do that.

Everywhere you go and see Merdeka banners and so forth, it often shows the pictures of our Prime Ministers from Tunku up to Najib right now?

What about those people, those who shaped the events that are pre-cursor towards the 1957 independence? 

Those freedom fighters above fought against the English colonial system in Malaya. What motivates them is the sanctity of their race at stake. Another reason is because of the absurd number of taxes that milks them of their hard earned wealth that they made at that time.

That's why people like Tok Janggut or Mat Kilau fought against the English at that time. And we don't even see their faces / caricatures nor their names everywhere right now. Instead we only see faces of Onn Jaafar all the way to Najib Razak and only BN everywhere.

Have seen any of those freedom fighters whenever we set foot into the city at all? None whatsoever.

Some think BN is godsend - handed over by the colonial English to only one party to run the nation forever. That is already breaking the spirit of democracy. Independence in Malaysia contrary to what is claimed was achieved via bloodshed.  There are left-wing organizations that have fought for independence including AMPAJA, PUTERA, API and other organizations. Yet, until today, they were sidelined, not recognized for their contributions towards nation building.

Instead, these organizations were declared illegal by following the aftermath of Malayan Union and banned, with its leaders either fled to Indonesia / Thailand or arrested and jailed. 

The sad thing is that these past people were never recognized nor appreciated. Instead, we were showed to only five figures throughout these many years. 

If including these people into there, at least people will start to know more of those since the 19th century that have fought against the English in Tanah Melayu. I wonder whether should Pakatan takes over the country will they see the neccessity to recognize the unsung heroes or just continue to ignore them at their own peril. 

The other reason not many people are keen to celebrate Merdeka is the excessive amount of propaganda material. These kind of materials have been broadcasted almost three prong via print media, video projection, and television as well. As what I've said just now, it merely drills the point that only one organization - United Malays National Organization is a godsend from the English that everyone must recognize the figures in the organization - not even the anti-colonial heroes.

If these unsung anti-colonial heroes are not recognized via remembering them for independence, then what is the point of having to learn those people in History classes back in school then? Doesn't it make sense right?

Take a look at the American Independence. Every prominent figures, in addition to George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Paul Revere or etc..have played big or small but vital roles in the American Revolution against the English. Even if it's already 236 years since July 4 1776, they are still remembered today. 

It's those that are sidelined that being put into question.

Cakap Kafir Tapi Buat Haram

While I was hastily writing a Selamat Hari Raya post, I was in Singapore for a short holiday, visiting some friends and ex-colleagues. That was during my first night there.

On my second night, I joined in a conversation with a hostel guest, a German. He's a quality assurance manager at a factory in southern China. 

He was curiously asking for the Malay translation for the 5 Sing Dollar note and our 5 Ringgit note. I gladly translated it for him.

Over a round of drinks, he revealed that he came here to have a break and to look at possible jobs related to his position here. I asked what's the economic and job situation in Germany right now. All I know was that for the second quarter, Germany's GDP was only at 0.2%, while France was at break even point. Jobless rate is still around the same level as in France - 10%, with at least 3 out of 4 able people (excluding seniors). Therefore, it will be absolutely hard for foreigners like myself to find work in Europe down the road in the next few years or so, unless there is a sudden miracle or something that I do not expect it to come. Also, the job priority would be on their own people first before others.

The man also told me that Kuala Lumpur is his secondary option for job searching. After being impressed with the public transport efficiency in the city-state, he wanted to know how's the public transport system fared in Kuala Lumpur. Honestly, I told him it's still not very well efficient with too many ropes rather than having it simplified and easier to maintained. I also told him that it's very hard to buy a car given of the protectionist money included into the cost of buying car in Malaysia.

I also told him the traffic conditions at peak hours, particularly on evenings and on usual Fridays.

We also talked a few other things but the questions he asked was more on economic and career matters. I told him to try getting one in Singapore first unless there's no vacancy there. The reason is not because of they have more expatriates staying there rather in KL, but for economic reasons, 6 months down the line. It is because if there is another global scale recession, Malaysia will not survive that long.

First of all, the Euro is in jeopardy. Greece is in the balancing act of whether to stay or exit the Euro. If the exit decision is taken, the decision is considered catastrophic and the Euro is considered break-up.

In other words, Europe is sneezing at the rest of the world including America and China.

Secondly, the German constitutional court is weighing on whether the European Financial Stability Facility's ESM (the stability mechanism) is constitutionally feasible. Being the main paymaster of the Euro, if the court blocks / says not feasible, ESM can't provide the necessary bail out money of 100 billion euros (approximately) to Spain, as well as money to Italy. Worse of all, the EFSF said that there is no plan-B if the negative verdict is revealed.

There have been warnings that the Euro could collapse as early as September. Just wait until if European banks take longer holidays -  a tell tale sign of collapse.

For ASEAN territories, only Singapore and Brunei have plenty of reserves to be ready for this. Not Malaysia's GDP nor the amassed debt of almost half-a-trillion can save Malaysia in the next few years - not by how the money is managed right now. Unfortunately, not many of us are aware that we are borrowing money from various sources, EPF included just to support ourselves - we simply do not have extra resources (apart from the foreign reserves) to keep Malaysia manageable.

In 2009, Singapore used 1/35 of their reserves (only mere SGD 20 billion) for stimulus. Their annual GDP for 2010 was at an amazing 14.6%.

The only piece of advice I told the man is to get ready for it should he happens to be working and visiting Kuala Lumpur next time round. 

Race and religion issues coupled with mismanagement was quite hardly a rare occasion down south there. For the sake of nation building, everyone understood that race and religion has to be separated out of the state. 

Many hate this word - secularism - but it came to my understanding that if that is applied, "aqidah" and the way of life will have improved tremendously. Mentally, people will be far better rather than told to absorb and question nothing. Why are still nations in the Middle-East in particular still socially far behind then the other countries somehow? 

Motor-mouth politicians and those who talk faster than the brain thinks in Malaysia plsu those who do still stick to the old guard conservatism scream of their neighbors like Indonesia and Singapore as infidel nations (casino, eat pork, secularism, etc..) but yet they do things that are considered as what infidels do (corruption, committing white-collar crimes, breaking the trust / mandate). People like those, when humiliated in public either fall into the shadows or will start whining longer in the public, like the two Alis (Ibrahim Ali, Hasan Ali) and the lot.

Maybe I feel glad that being expelled from the Federation in 1965 is a disguise for them. And they have become one of the AAA credit / richest countries in the world. We almost matched them in might around the early 90s, but sadly we never recovered after the Asian crisis. We're still not really out of the woods, contrary what many people including Dr. Mahathir would say.

Cakap kafir tapi buat haram ah!

Stones to Bread

Stones to bread; jumping down from the temple; a mountain where kingdoms can be seen from the view - no doubt these are referred to the focal points of the Temptation story in the Bible. Or on the other hand, why is there an annual stoning ritual that is done on every Haj period? Two different religions but yet they share the common theme and battle: resisting the devil's temptation. The fight against personal obsession and greed is arguably man's greatest battle against themselves that has been acknowledge in every religion and its holy books.

Uncertainty is the reason why many people rather fancy the idea of sticking to the devil rather than the angel you don't know. In vice-versa, shunning away the heart of an angel with the smile of the devil. That's what Madey (short form for Mahathir, uttered by some of the Reformasi people like Hishamuddin Rais)  said yesterday about not voting Pakatan in the next general election because the claim is that the federal opposition will bankrupt the country if they take over next round. But then again, it is actually the other way round. While the country is slowly been eaten away, stripped of its flesh but things inside (like incapable present government leaders and corruption) , and yet we still fall into the supporting the party that committed tons of atrocities for almost 3 decades and counting.

I have to admit that there are still people out there who still think that UMNO is godsend - given the mandate to run the country with nobody supposed to take the right away from theirs. But then it has already violated the definition and the purpose of the country's existence - a democratic which was agreed upon just before August 1957. A basic common sense would tell you that even if one person out of a group is drop dead, the others can still proceed ahead without him. So therefore, it clearly defies logic if there screams an illogical claim that the house would collapse with that one particular person is dead.

Is that what some people think that if Dr. Mahathir would be gone while the opposition is ahead Malaysia would collapse? It's like people going in and out of the room, that's all. The claim of if MCA dies so does the Chinese or if UMNO dies so does the Malays doesn't exist. In fact, it is like coming out of nowhere from the sky. UMNOPutras in particular are fond of saying such "elephants flying in the sky" statement.

Then again where is the purpose of life if there is no devil or evil to battle with? The expression that Mahathir puts there is an interesting dilemma. Should we deal with people whom we are familiar with rather than an unknown face that we do not know off?

The road to heaven is a path of daggers while the path to hell is like bread and cheese. Najib's way of splashing monies out to the people is like peppering bread and cheese for people to scramble and fight for it. But then, it tells us that we too are succumbing to the temptation of the devil. Along the way, we have stupid people who thinks that the country will be destroyed by those who claimed to be angels but in fact they refuse to accept that the fact that they have themselves been enslaved by the evil that is ought to be combat with.

Sure, a mental revolution is necessary to get them working. But as I've said once before, one way to shake them up is to put them in a disaster that will wake them up. But a disaster comes with a catastrophic cost. The other way is to insult them countless of their stupidity. Sure, people will get angry but it will take a long time for them to understand or not to accept it at all. Either both ways will require tremendous sacrifices to put it into fruition.

Wishing Selamat Hari Raya

Every year, without fail, this blog would convey festive greetings to all readers.

In this case, wishing Malay friends and readers Selamat Hari Raya.

I am sorry while writing this I am outside of Malaysia and have been in a very tight work situation.

Maaf Zahir Batin.

In Solidarity With #Stop114A

To show solidarity for the initiative of stopping the usage of Section 114A of the Evidence act amendment, this blog in conjunction with others will observe a full day of silence and blackout.

Today is the day we declare cyber war against Barisan Nasional and United Malays National Organisation for curbing Internet Freedom

ABU! ABU! ABU! ABU!

AES Location Compilation

SHAH ALAM - Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM) menggesa agar Kementerian Pengangkutan mengumumkan lokasi-lokasi kamera Sistem Penguatkuasaan Automatik (AES), yang akan ditempatkan di seluruh negara supaya pengguna lebih berhati-hati menggunakan jalan raya semasa musim perayaan.

Penyelaras Kebangsaan SAMM, Yaser Sheikh Abd Rahman berkata, jika pihak berkenaan gagal untuk mengumumkan lokasi-lokasi kamera, ia jelas menunjukkan sikap mereka yang mahu mengaut keuntungan semata-mata, bukan meningkatkan kesedaran pengguna kepada “perception of being cought” seperti yang dimahukan kerajaan.

“AES merupakan sistem perangkap kesalahan lalu lintas yang mula beroperasi dan saman yang dikendalikan syarikat akan dilaksanakan bermula 12 Ogos ini dan pemilik kenderaaan boleh disaman hingga maksimum RM2,000 kerana sistem ini,” katanya.

Sistem ini merupakan penguatkuasaan secara automatik iaitu keseimbangan daripada Pelan Keselamatan Jalan Raya 2006 hingga 2010.

Read more here

**************

Yesterday marks the start of the new traffic Automated Enforcement System where traffic offenses are recorded real time and sent as summons to the traffic offender. Currently, there are about approximately 600-700 AES designated spots nationwide. 

SAMM (Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia) has already requested the government to display the locations as a way of showing that the summons are not for profits but increasing the perception of being caught.

These are some of the identified locations

Rather than waiting for them, it would be a good idea to compile the locations of the spots nationwide (the speed camera) in particular into a list that can be shared like Facebook or using Waze (for those who have smartphones). 

This can be a great idea.

We should get the ball rolling. There's one at Batu 3 of Jalan Ipoh. Meanwhile according to those pictures, there are also those things at the highways as well. 

I think the speed limit should be increased to 130 maximum on the highways. It is realistically slow. But people in transport Ministry are unwilling to do it. France has done it.