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. 

When The Outcast Is Ultimately Proven Right

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Display Names of Bernama Reporters

Once a while I am reminded via tweets of Section 114a of the Evidence act, where a clause inside that act states that the owners of the articles written via online media is responsible for what they would be writing upon. Any lawyer or law expert who have read this amendment first hand before a layman would be able to explain what this amendment is all about sans the difficult law jargon to give a picture of what it clearly means and how it will impact everyone who's on the social media.

Sure, some would say it is Big Brother thing, but it's true that it's also part of thing to shed some of the privacy skin out of each of them.

Most of the blogs, including some whom I've always visited or some who have been following proper blogging etiquette would be showing maybe the real first names and a mugshot of themselves. Newspapers, if written by their own reporters, would definitely put their names on top of the column that they are writing. That's okay for me, but it is the article syndication by Bernama has raised an interesting point of question here. 

Recently there have been a string of lawsuits mostly by Opposition party people and even some NGOs against newspapers particularly Utusan for instance or an example of NGO sending a cease and desist letter at the news agency demanding that they either put an apology or put a correction. I am more interested with the latter, since whatever articles written by the agency are syndicated to other papers, there is no explicit mention of who really in the agency wrote it, apart from the basic knowledge that it goes through a sub-editor for approval before getting it published. 

One problem: if there is case of misreporting by the agency is that the person, (taking in the context of the recently amended Section 114A of the act ), it should that person taking more of the responsibility rather than having the entire agency blamed for the a small mess. Some may interpret my point as letting the entire organization go off a slap on the wrist but then again there is a lack of responsibility, lack of mirroring what others will have to face with that amendment taking into account.

If anyone of us have read anything that is syndicated from Reuters on the online platform, you definitely seen something like (Contributed / written by Reporter A, Reporter B, edited by Editor A...) at the bottom of the page. Just try to find an article online by say Yahoo for example to see such instance. At least there is some courtesy by an international news agency to demonstrate their writing responsibility and ownership of materials written in the name of the international agency.

But currently not here, not by Bernama. Isn't it appropriate to show more responsibility by the agency to emulate what Reuters did above by indicating for example.."By Reporter ABC, Bernama" in each of their articles syndicated? Are we actually looking at secrecy in even reporting? There's still times where they are fond of writing articles that will appease and make the top officials complacent while not allowing those that seem to make a bad impression on the government in overall.

It's not that hard for a reporter from the agency to show their individual responsibility by putting that small line above. After all, it doesn't take a minute and everyone has the same fair share in writing in the media / mainstream and social. Even top bloggers in the world and in the country also put in at least their first names to show who they are and their responsibility right?

A small responsibility to the readers, that's all.

Perak's Black Flags and Vendetta

If Datuk Sak / Ariff's projections for the next Parliament-level GE elections Perak should prove to be right, then Barisan Nasional has identified 11 more parliamentary spots designated as black flags.

This means that Barisan Nasional in Perak could be booted out and trashed in retaliation in the form of votes. This also means that certain state UMNO warlords could be trashed out. The projections were also factored in after certain veteran politicians from UMNO either have been asked or by free will decided not to contest in the next round and make way for other faces to contest. This also assumes that if there's a level playing field in the election game.  However some may want to contest there again but could lose this round. The notable black flag spots includes:

1. Larut - Hamzah Zainuddin  - former Felcra head

2. Padang Rengas - Nazri Aziz (Minister, PM Dept)

3. Tambun - Ahmad Husni Hanadziah (2nd Finance Minister)

4. Kuala Kangsar - Rafidah Aziz

5. Parit - Mohd. Nizar Zakaria

6. Kampar - Lee Chee Leong (Dep. Home Minister)

7. Pasir Salak - Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (notable UMNO Warlord)

8. Lumut - Kong Cho Ha (Transport Minister)

9. Bagan Datoh - Zahid Hamidi (Defense Minister)

10. Tanjung Malim - Ong Ka Chuan

11. Tapah - M. Saravanan (Deputy, F.T Minister)

There are 3 ministers and 2 deputies that could lose their seats next round. Again this is minus Rafidah and Nazri  (Nazri was previously quoted that he is willing to make way if required) ; Rafidah is fulltime in Airasia board - she might not.; Hamzah is also Najib's proxy, Anwar's rival and known as The Man Who Bought Perak (remember the two PKR jumps?)

Note that the projections on parliamentary alone is not enough. Many people within the radius of Ipoh are very angry of how Najib's staged coup in retaking Perak via illegal means. Someone said:

"Perak is a different animal altogether. This is where any amount of analysis and theories will be good on paper. The simple fact is that the people of Perak are just waiting for the elections to throw out BN. You wont be able to see this UNLESS you are on the ground daily in Perak. The Perakians have fortunately, experienced, different administrations, however short the opposition's administration was. The way UMNO used THAT woman to screw Perak of their legitimately voted govt, is still fresh on the minds of all Perakians. "

However, in order run the state without having the repeat of the same case before, you need to have at around 36-37 Pakatan assemblyman (that's 1-2 ppl short of a 2/3 majority). You also need to throw out some of the BN incumbent assemblymen that are considered scum or who won by a small majority (approximately 1000 votes or below). Examples considered in that scenario include the Pengkalan state seat (skin of teeth majority) and of course for instance Sungai Rapat's Hamidah Osman (remember between the snake and Indian quote?)

An issue that I feel it is being put to question is the attitude of the cousins Ngeh and Nga. One of the reasons of why the PR state government fell was pointed to how the two of them called the shots. Sometimes, their antics have been equated by some people under the BTN influence to say PAS has become a mule by the DAP. It was also said that their antics have also caused some inconvenience to some of the members of the state association. This has also been illustrated in their cold reaction towards the offer by Haris to debate with PSM's Saraswathy on whether who is the better person to contest against BN and Hee Yit Foong (if she decides to recontest) in Jelapang. It's something that also raised some concerns by some NGOs.

The two parliamentary seats considered safety seats are those in the northern parts - Lenggong and Grik. Anyone who don't really like BN would definitely say that those people's attitude there is unwilling to change - with the Malay-majority Aunties and Uncles will say PR who?!

If BN still goes for play dirty - which at this point of time, they are unlikely to reform from top to bottom of the election game, then the seats considered to be 50/50 chance by both sides would be:

1. Parit Buntar (Dr. Mujahid Rawa)
2. Bagan Serai
3. Parit
4. Padang Rengas
5. Tambun
6. Bagan Datoh
7. Tanjung Malim

Should PR have the 7% reserve, they can win all of those back, with deception and cheating factored. Arguably, the one to look for is Parit Buntar no doubt then Tanjung Malim. The Bagan Datoh entry also piqued me: why would people keep supporting a Minister  - who is found and known to commit a battery on an innocent person , talks trash matters including Ketuanan Melayu but yet cows when he's faced with international-level pressure like the French subpoena?

One last thing noted is about campaign money. Assuming that BN's election war chest is at the maximum of RM1.7 billion, approximately RM 121.4 million will be allocated to each state in equal proportions. By rule, the maximum amount of money permitted to campaign in a Parliamentary seat is twice of the state seat, we say that  RM 80 million will be contested on the 24 parliamentary seats in Perak.

Based on the projections, Casino UMNO will stand to lose approximately RM 73 million in Parliament-level elections, while they would lose approximately RM 26 million in state elections, equivalent to 81.5% of the total money allotted. It could be that the silent majority is hell bent on vendetta since the courts have denied them the right of letting the government of their choice complete the service and the mandate entrusted to them. 3.5 years taken away by force so far.