KUALA LUMPUR, May 15 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s voice was barely audible above the background din of chattering guests and a cocktail-bar pianist at the Hilton Hotel in Kuala Lumpur.
Anwar — who had rebounded from six years in prison on corruption and sodomy charges to become the best hope for a more democratic, less corrupt Malaysia — speaks softly. He is still under constant surveillance, he said.
Sensitive political business has to be handled in other capitals, Jakarta, Bangkok or Hong Kong. Security is a constant worry. Intelligence sources from three countries have warned him to be careful. “I’m taking a big risk just walking into this hotel to see you, but what can I do?” he murmured. “It’s all too exhausting. But, you know, sometimes you just have to take risks.”
This was the same Anwar Ibrahim, one struggled to remember, who was once at the heart of the Malaysian establishment: the Minister of Culture in 1983, the Minister of Education in 1986, the Minister of Finance in 1991 and a Deputy Prime Minister in 1993. He was poised to succeed Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. And then he got overconfident. Starting in the summer of 1997, when the Malaysian currency and stock market lost more than half of their value in the Asian financial meltdown, Anwar did something that Dr Mahathir found unforgivable.
Even as the prime minister was imposing capital controls and blaming “rogue speculators,” such as George Soros, for the crisis, Anwar launched an attack on “nepotism” and “cronyism” in his own party, Umno, which had been in power since independence. The “cronies” included members of Dr Mahathir’s family. While Dr Mahathir tried to bail out banks and corporations run by his allies, Anwar talked about transparency and accepting some of the International Monetary Fund’s recommendations for liberalising the economy.
Dr Mahathir does not like to be contradicted. In 1998, Anwar was removed from the Cabinet and from Umno. He was charged with corruption, and with sodomising his speechwriter and his wife’s chauffeur, and convicted. Under Malaysian law, “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” carries a sentence of up to 20 years. Anwar denied everything and took to the road, addressing crowds all over the country. When he was barred from speaking in halls, he spoke in mosques or parking lots, standing on top of trucks or cars. “The government is trying to keep the people away from me,” he declared. “I am not afraid. No matter what happens, whether in prison . . . I will still strive, I will still fight, I will not step down.” While awaiting trial, Anwar was badly beaten by the chief of police, and he says that attempts were made to poison him.
After his arrest, Anwar says, Dr Mahathir gave a slide show for his Cabinet colleagues, to justify the purge of his former heir apparent. There were photographs of current and former US officials — Robert Rubin, William Cohen and Paul Wolfowitz — along with the World Bank president James Wolfensohn. “These are the people behind Anwar,” Dr Mahathir explained. (Dr Mahathir denies showing any pictures but allows, “I informed the Cabinet about Anwar’s associates.”)
Nobody was likely to miss the implication; Dr Mahathir has clearly stated his conviction that “Jews rule this world by proxy.” At the Hilton, Anwar, who started his career as the president of the Malaysian Muslim Students Union, and is a devout Muslim, shrugged. “They say I’m a Jewish agent, because of my friendship with Paul,” he said. “They also accuse me of being a lackey of the Chinese.” His eyebrows twitched in a gesture of disbelief, and he emitted a dry, barking laugh.
When Anwar was released from prison, in 2004, after six years in solitary confinement, he announced that he would return to politics. Last year, Dr Mahathir was asked by a reporter whether he thought Anwar would ever be the Prime Minister of Malaysia. Dr Mahathir replied that “he would make a good Prime Minister of Israel.” So far, it looks as though Dr Mahathir has underestimated his man. Anwar was returned to Parliament last year in a landslide. His coalition of opposition parties — which includes DAP and PAS, as well as his own PKR — has taken more than a third of the seats in Parliament, and several state governments. In the next general election, possibly as soon as 2010, Anwar Ibrahim may well become the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
To make sense of Anwar’s rise, fall, and rise, it helps to know something about the role of race and religion in Malaysia. The country’s population is more than half Malay, defined by ethnicity and the Muslim faith, but large numbers of Chinese (now about a quarter of the population) and Indians (seven per cent) arrived in the 19th century, when the British imported coolies from China and plantation workers from India. Tensions arising from this mélange — and, in particular, the fear held by Malays that they will always be bested by these minorities — have gripped Malaysian politics since the country achieved independence from the British, in 1957. In recent years, the situation has been further complicated by a surge in Islamic fervour among many Malays.
Dr Mahathir, whose father had some Indian ancestry, had always been obsessed with race, and the modern era of Malaysian politics can be traced to his book “The Malay Dilemma,” published in 1970, a decade before he came to power. It is a distillation of the kind of social Darwinism imbibed by Southeast Asians of Dr Mahathir’s cohort through their colonial education. The Malay race, the book argues, couldn’t compete with the Chinese for genetic reasons. Whereas the Chinese had been hardened over the centuries by harsh climates and fierce competition, the Malays were a lazy breed, fattened by an abundance of food under the tropical sun. Unfettered competition with the Chinese “would subject the Malays to the primitive laws that enable only the fittest to survive,” Dr Mahathir warned his fellow-nationals. “If this is done it would perhaps be possible to breed a hardy and resourceful race capable of competing against all comers. Unfortunately, we do not have four thousand years to play around with.”
And so the Malays had to be protected by systematic affirmative action: awarded top positions and mandatory ownership of business enterprises, along with preferential treatment in public schools, universities, the armed forces, the police and the government bureaucracy. Otherwise the “immigrants,” as the ruling party still calls the Chinese and the Indians, would take over. “The Malay Dilemma” was immediately banned for being divisive. The country was still reeling from the race riots of 1969, when, after a predominantly Chinese party enjoyed an election victory, hundreds of Chinese were attacked by Malays. Killings led to counter-killings. Such intergroup tensions were hardly new: ever since Britain left its former colony, political parties have used ethnic resentments to gain votes, while PAS sought to turn Malaysia into an Islamic state. Presiding over this fraught mosaic of ethnic and religious politics throughout the nineteen-sixties was the aristocratic Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman — until, in the fall of 1970, he was brought down by the brand of Malay nationalism advocated in Dr Mahathir’s book.
Despite the ban, activists succeeded in distributing copies to nationalistic Malay students. One of them was the young Anwar Ibrahim, then president of the Malaysian Muslim Students Union. Over the decade that followed, Anwar and Dr Mahathir steadily gained influence. By 1981, Dr Mahathir was prime minister. A year later, Anwar, who could easily have joined PAS, was brought into the government to help put Dr Mahathir’s ethnic theories into practice through the so-called New Economic Policy. He continued to do so until the late 1990s, when the consequences had become too blatant to ignore: a bloated (in all senses of the word) Malay élite was raking in more and more of the country’s wealth; educated young Chinese and Indians were leaving the country in droves; and poor Malays were being kept in a state of fear by the propaganda in public schools and in the state controlled press. Without their special status, the Malays were told, they would be at the mercy of those rapacious, dominating Chinese “immigrants.” Meanwhile, Dr Mahathir’s rule had grown increasingly autocratic. In 2003, he was succeeded by the more amiable Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who promised reform but delivered little. Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad, a confidant of Dr Mahathir’s, told me that, if anything, corruption has grown worse. “They’re making hay while the sun still shines.”
To challenge Umno’s ethnic policies is still to court serious trouble. I met Professor Lim Teck Ghee, a former World Bank social scientist, at a restaurant in Brickfields, a largely Indian section near the central station of Kuala Lumpur. A soft-spoken man, peering sadly through his glasses, Lim was the director of a leading economic think tank until he published, in 2006, a careful analysis showing that Malays, far from being dominated by the Chinese, actually owned more than 45 per cent of corporate equity in publicly-listed companies. He was quickly vilified for being “anti-national,” and he resigned his post.
Lim was one of several people I spoke to in Malaysia who used the word “apartheid” in describing his country. “The ethnic situation has become much worse,” he said, especially since Malay nationalism took a strong Islamic turn in the late 1980s, when Umno was challenged by PAS. The Islamists got a boost from the Iranian Revolution, and actually took power in Kelantan in 1990. To preëmpt the Islamists, Umno, ostensibly a secular party, wedded its ethnic nationalism (which was decidedly not a feature of PAS) to religion: Muslims were no longer supposed to drink alcohol; women were encouraged to wear head scarves (tudung); easygoing Malay Islam took on the harsher tone of Wahhabi purism.
The increasing conservatism of Malaysian Islam probably stems from insecurity and envy, more than from religious values. Lacking the powerful cultural and historical traditions of the Chinese and the Indians, Malays have been vulnerable to the inroads of Saudi-style Islam. It gives them an identity, a sense of belonging to something stronger than their village traditions. Meanwhile, in Lim’s view, educated Malays have been too timid to resist, whatever they might do or say in private. “I’ve seen it happening with my progressive university friends,” Lim said. “Wives take to wearing the tudung, the daughters cover up. Their passivity, their silence, is very bad for the community, because it allows the ultras to set the agenda. Islam has become more and more conservative. Muslims can no longer go to non-Malay restaurants or visit the houses of non-Malay friends. Tensions have grown. We’re reverting to the colonial situation, where the different races only meet in the marketplace.”
Lim’s children have already left the country; a daughter is in Seattle, a son in Sydney. He sighed. “Even young Malays are leaving,” he went on. “They can’t stomach the hypocrisy, the dishonesty.” Then he said something that I would hear, over and over, from many others: “The sad thing is that Malaysia could have been so good — we could have been a model of multi-ethnic harmony.” A sense of disappointment was palpable in most conversations I had with Chinese and Indian Malaysians, not least among those who once supported the privileging of Malays, in order to redress colonial imbalances and raise the prospects of the rural Bumiputera, the “sons of the soil.” It was also clear that such disillusionment can easily turn to hostility.
I saw Dr Mahathir, whose views are still widely read on his daily blog, Che Det, at a demonstration protesting the Israeli attack on Gaza. As I arrived at the Bangsar Sports Complex, he was finishing his diatribe against “the Jews” and “Jewish atrocities,” wildly cheered by groups of schoolchildren in Palestinian-style scarves and black tudung. They disappeared as soon as the former prime minister, smiling a little menacingly at the young, left the scene. Later, I read in a newspaper that the government had planned to mobilise “about five million pupils and 360,765 teachers from more than 10,000 schools,” to protest against what posters in the Bangsar Sports Complex termed “Holocaust II.”
I looked around the now depleted hall, and was puzzled by posters that read, in Malay, “Stop the atrocities against us.” I turned to an elderly Chinese-looking gentleman sitting behind me. “Who is this ‘us’?” I asked. With a sly grin, he replied, “Don’t you know? It means the Malays.” What atrocities had the Israelis perpetrated against the Malays? “Palestinians, Malays — they’re all Muslims,” the old man said. He shifted his chair closer. “I’m just here to observe,” he said, lowering his voice. “I’m not pro-Palestinian at all. I have Jewish friends, you know. Lend a hundred thousand dollars to a Jew and you’ll always get it back. Lend it to a Muslim and he’ll cheat you, for sure. They’re all liars and cheats, the Muslims.”
Anwar’s daughter, Nurul Izzah, then entered the hall. The sports complex happened to be in her constituency. She had been elected as a member of Parliament for PKR in 2008. Izzah had not been especially eager to be a politician, having just given birth that year. But when Anwar was imprisoned, and his wife, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, took his place as an opposition leader, politics became something of a family enterprise.
Nurul Izzah, now 28, is popular, especially among the young. She has her father’s gift for public speaking, and is remarkably beautiful. She got up on the stage and shouted slogans in English about Israel being founded on bloodshed. When she sat down, she whispered to me, “Did you notice how they took away the microphone?” Referring to the official media, she said, “That’s how much they love me.” The vigorous government campaign against Israel had taken the opposition by surprise, and she felt that she had to make a statement. But the government evidently did not wish to share its Muslim solidarity with the opposition.
I asked Izzah when she started wearing a tudung. “Since I was 18,” she replied. Later that year, her father was jailed. “In the darkest hours, you turn to God. We were never forced into wearing the tudung. It was my decision. My father was alarmed.” In fact, Izzah was sent to a Catholic convent school outside Kuala Lumpur, and studied international relations at Johns Hopkins. Her best friend is a half-Welsh Catholic. “I can’t remember many verses of the Quran,” she said, with a polite giggle, “but I felt it was my duty as a Muslim to wear the tudung. I did face some challenges.” As a student, she told me, “My crowd was mostly liberal. So friends sometimes felt uncomfortable. Couldn’t go clubbing and that sort of thing.”
Nurul Izzah was asked to run for office, she explained, “because it was important for the PKR to have a young generation that supports multiracial politics. But, you know, to run for the opposition is suicidal for a future career in this country.”
Despite what must have been a very difficult childhood, she had a refreshing lack of bitterness, and spoke with a sense of humour, even a guarded optimism. I had noticed this quality in others of her age, including Chinese and Indians, who were working for NGOs, writing blogs, or organising local communities. Some have backgrounds in the community: I met Indian and Chinese politicians who started in labour unions. Others have studied abroad and decided to return, as activists or journalists. The most popular blogger is the half-Welsh, half-Malay scion of a royal family. The two founders of Malaysiakini, the country’s best online news site, met as students in Australia. Some are religious; many are not. But everyone, even Lim Teck Ghee, a staunch atheist, seems to agree that the chances of Malaysia’s becoming a more democratic, less racialist society depend almost entirely on the former Muslim student leader who helped institutionalise Malay nationalism: Anwar Ibrahim.
His arrest in 1998 was probably the making of him as an opposition leader. It came at a time when Malaysian society was beginning to open up, especially on the Internet. One of Dr Mahathir’s ambitions was to make Malaysia into an Asian Silicon Valley. Foreign companies were invited to invest in a “Multimedia Super Corridor” between the new international airport and the twin Petronas Towers (also known as Dr Mahathir’s Erections), which rise like gigantic pewter cocktail shakers in the centre of Kuala Lumpur. An international committee of experts, including Bill Gates, advised Dr Mahathir that, if he wished to attract foreign investment, censoring the Internet would be unwise. As a result, Malaysian readers now have access to news and commentary that is independent of the government.
Steven Gan is one of the founders of Malaysiakini.com. Inspired by Anwar’s call for reformasi, political change, he launched the site with his partner, Premesh Chandran, in November of 1999. On the night of Anwar’s arrest, 10,000 people had turned out to listen to his speech against bribery, ethnic discrimination, and rule by decree. Reformasi became the rallying cry of all those who felt disaffected by the corrupt autocracy that Malaysia had become. Every Malaysian able to go online knew what Anwar said when he was sentenced at his trial: “I have been dealt a judgment that stinks to high heaven. . . . The corrupt and despicable conspirators are like worms wriggling in the hot sun. A new dawn is breaking in Malaysia. Let us cleanse our beloved nation of the filth and garbage left behind by the conspirators. Let us rebuild a bright new Malaysia for our children.”
“When we launched Malaysiakini, we had 500 readers,” Gan told me in a sidewalk café near his office. “By the time the decision went against Anwar in the sodomy trial, we had 300,000.” Malaysiakini, which has paid subscribers, actually makes a profit. One of the effects of Malaysiakini — and of a number of immensely popular bloggers, such as Raja Petra Kamarudin and Haris Ibrahim — is the emergence of a genuinely multi-ethnic debate. Raja Petra is the aristocrat, related to the Sultan of Selangor. Haris is a half-Malay lawyer. Another influential figure is Jeff Ooi Chuan Aun, a Chinese IT consultant turned politician. Divisions that exist in daily life seem to fade away online. Malaysiakini is published in English, Malay, Tamil, and Chinese. “Malaysiakini has provided a platform for different communities to express themselves on sensitive issues, like NEP, Islam, human rights,” Gan says. “More non-Malays are finding their voice. They no longer feel they need to leave their country.”
The demonstration on the night of Anwar’s arrest was largely a Malay affair; it took a little longer for the minorities to stir in public. Indians had largely supported the ruling Barisan Nasional, which was led by Umno and backed by the MIC. This changed in November of 2007, when thousands of Indians marched in the streets to deliver a petition to the British High Commission, insisting that the British take responsibility for the treatment of Indians under colonial rule. It was really a stunt to protest against ethnic discrimination. But the petition never reached the High Commissioner: soldiers and riot police with water cannons and tear gas cracked down on the protesters with maximum force.
“I shall never forget that day,” Charles Santiago, an MP who took part in the protests, told me. “There was pent-up frustration there before, but that day something snapped.” The frustration had many sources: blocked job prospects, discrimination in education and property ownership, destruction of Hindu temples, young Indian men dying mysteriously in police stations and prisons. “The point of the petition was to raise consciousness among Indians about their rights, to embarrass the government,” Santiago explained. “But the crackdown was so heavy-handed that even the Chinese became sympathetic to our cause.” It was the first time, Santiago said, that “people of all stripes, rich and poor, went into the streets to make a point — this is what broke the back of Umno.” The MIC lost heavily in the March 2008 elections, as did the MCA. Many Indians and Chinese voted for Anwar’s PKR.
But the most important transformation over the past decade probably occurred in the mind of Anwar himself. He had long been critical of government policies, but almost up to the time of his arrest he was still regarded as a rather arrogant Umno man. I tried to picture the haughty technocrat as he smiled at me in his daughter’s sparsely furnished office at the PKR headquarters. All I saw was a charmer, whose fine dark hair, snappy spectacles, and black goatee gave him the air of a jazz-loving hipster of the 1950s. Even at his own party headquarters, he spoke softly, sometimes in a whisper, aware that anything he said was likely to be overheard.
I asked him whether he had expected Dr Mahathir — a man he had known for more than 30 years — to treat him so harshly. “Yes and no,” he replied. “I didn’t think he’d go that far. I’d seen him destroy opponents, but always short of using physical abuse.”
The 1998 trial was a humiliating spectacle, with elements of dark comedy: a mattress with semen stains produced as evidence in court; police claims that Anwar had beaten himself up by pressing a glass onto his own face. Years of solitary confinement provided much time for thought. “Prison life is such that you have to impose a punishing discipline on yourself,” Anwar told me. “Otherwise, you become lethargic, or a psycho.” Deprived of books for the first six months, Anwar was eventually allowed to read Tocqueville, Shakespeare, Confucius, the Indian and Arabic classics. He also received a subscription to The New Yorker. But there were times when he would have given anything to hear a human voice, even to be scolded by a guard. Family visits were always brief. His children would sing old pop songs to him. Anwar looked wistfully out the window as he sang the first bars of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.”
The experience seems to have made him a humbler man. In an interview given three months after his release from prison, he told writer Eddin Khoo, “To be frank and honest, I cannot absolve myself entirely of the excesses of (Dr Mahathir’s) administration. There were some things that were beyond our control, other things we simply did not have the courage to address at that time.”
A retired Indian civil servant told me about hearing Anwar speak in the district contested by his daughter in 2008. It was near midnight and pouring down rain, yet more than 1,000 people waited until Anwar arrived, on the back of a motorcycle, drenched. When he spoke, the crowd fell silent, listening to every word. Then, suddenly, a number of Indians began to shout, in Tamil, “Makkal Sakti!” — “People Power! People Power!” And the Malays and Chinese repeated it after them, louder and louder — an unusual demonstration of multi-ethnic solidarity.
Anwar was arrested again, in the summer of 2008, for “sexual assault” on a strapping male aide, but it made no difference to his popularity. Allegations of sexual misconduct had become so clearly political that few people believed them, and the legal proceedings were farcical. Anwar was seized near his home by 20 commandos in balaclavas. The putative victim, who remains under “police protection,” is rather strong to be overwhelmed by the much less physically imposing Anwar. The aide swore in a mosque, over the Quran, that he was speaking the truth. When an imam later claimed that he had been forced by superiors to witness these proceedings, he was dismissed. The offence was then changed from “sexual assault” to “consensual sex against the order of nature,” even though the aide has yet to be charged. Anwar is not worried. “They just used it to embarrass me, but it did no good,” he said. “They lost the elections anyway.”
Anwar has not entirely shed his tendency towards arrogance. Weeks after the opposition won its victory in March 2008, he announced that he was ready to take over the government that year. This was premature. It’s true that the Barisan Nasional government no longer commands a two-thirds majority in Parliament, but there are many problems to overcome before Anwar’s coalition of opposition parties is ready to rule the country. It could be another year or two before the next general election. And the current prime minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, has the image of being a more ruthless operator than his predecessor, the ineffectual Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Najib has been involved in a scandal of his own. A young Mongolian model who was a former mistress of a political crony was found blown to pieces in a jungle clearing near Kuala Lumpur in 2006. At first, it looked like a sordid case of blackmail: she wanted money from her lover, and he, in desperation, had her killed. Then things got more complicated. The men convicted of killing her were police officers in charge of security for top officials. The blogger Raja Petra signed a “statutory declaration” alleging that Najib’s wife had been at the scene of the murder. He has since been charged with criminal defamation. Najib has denied any wrongdoing. For the two main contenders of leadership of Malaysia, the truth of the matter might prove to be less important than the public perception. The fact that Anwar appears to be less vulnerable than Najib suggests that the Malaysian public is more inclined to believe a popular blogger than their unpopular prime minister.
One man who is desperate for Najib to succeed is Dr Mahathir. When I spoke to Dr Mahathir’s confidant Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad, who is a veteran Umno political operator, about his party’s fortunes, he sounded gloomy. Umno, he told me, is like Chiang Kai-shek’s corrupt nationalists in Shanghai in the 1930s. He ticked off the party’s many ills on his fingers: “corruption, ostentatious living, abuse of power, rank stupidity at the top . . .” So was Anwar going to win? “He will if Najib fails to deliver great changes,” Abdullah Ahmad predicted. “Najib wants to, but he can’t. He’s surrounded by corrupt people.”
It’s not clear that Najib wants to make big changes, despite recent speeches denouncing corruption in Malaysian politics. Anwar does, but it’s unclear whether he will be able to. The entrenched interests — Malay bureaucrats, army officers, policemen, judges, businessmen, and politicians — will fight to hold on to their privileges. When I asked Anwar about this, he said that such resistance could be managed by reformulating the quotas rather than abolishing them. “Affirmative action would still be acceptable, but based on need, not on race,” he said. “I tell PAS that Malays won’t lose out. But there are poor Indians, and poor Chinese, too, who should be helped.”
Class rather than race, then? Anwar laughed. “I don’t like the word ‘class,’ ” he said. “I’m not a Marxist.” He paused, and added, “But Adam Smith mentioned equality many times in his books, too.”
An advantage of replacing the rhetoric of race with that of class is that all opposition parties can agree on the ideal of equality. Religion is a more contentious matter. How to reconcile the Islamists and the secularists? Anwar prefers to finesse the problem, by “concentrating on what we have in common, not what divides us.” But PAS has stated its desire to introduce hudud laws for Muslim citizens — punishing criminal offenses with stoning, whipping, and amputation. Secularist partners in a federal government would find that hard to accept. “Any party should be free to articulate its ideas,” Anwar says. “But no issue should be forced on non-Muslims. When I argue with Muslims, I cannot sound detached from rural Malays, like a typical Malay liberal, or sound like Kemal Atatürk. I would not reject Islamic law out of hand. But without the consent of the majority there is no way you can implement Islamic law as national law.”
I mentioned the case of a young Malay woman who no longer believed in Islam and wanted to marry a Christian. To do so, she would have to change her religious status. The secular authorities ruled that this was a matter for the Islamic court, but, of course, no Islamic court (whose authority she, as a non-believer, no longer recognised) would ever accede to apostasy. Her predicament has become a test case on the issue of Malay identity. After receiving death threats, she is now in hiding.
Anwar rolled his eyes. “Islamically, it is indefensible that all Malays should have to be Muslims,” he told me. “Not all Arabs are Muslims, after all. But this case has become too political. It is better not to dwell on this issue. We should deal with poverty, rule of law, democracy. . . .” I must have looked unsatisfied. “Look,” he said, “I have Malay friends who no longer believe, who drink. But they don’t make an issue out of it.”
I decided to visit Kelantan, where PAS has been in power since 1990. Islamic laws have been introduced there for Muslims, though they are not always enforced. Muslims cannot drink alcohol. The lights must stay on in movie houses, and only morally acceptable films can be shown. (Some movie houses have gone out of business.) But nobody has been stoned for adultery or had limbs amputated. I drove across the country, through a succession of palm-oil plantations, in the company of Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, a wealthy liberal Malay lawyer who had resigned his post as minister of legal affairs in the Prime Minister’s office on a matter of principle — the first Malaysian Cabinet minister to do so. He was against the arrests of political opponents, including Raja Petra, under the Internal Security Act.
We had met on a Sunday night in Kuala Lumpur a week before we embarked on our trip north. Zaid was happy, because PAS had scored an important by-election victory in Kuala Terengganu, dealing another blow to the Barisan Nasional. He decided to celebrate the success of the Islamists with a lavish dinner in a fine restaurant. “A good result,” Zaid murmured, raising his glass to the men who wanted an Islamic state.
Although PAS won in the city, the Terengganu is still in Barisan Nasional hands. “Look at those buildings,” Zaid said, as we drove through Terengganu on the way to Kelantan. We passed a vast stadium, a huge new airport, a gigantic new mosque, a convention centre, a university, an “integrity institute.” All around these grandiose testimonies to human greed (and generous kickbacks) were typical Third World shantytowns: wooden shacks with corrugated iron roofs. “There is no money to be made out of building proper sewage systems or water supplies,” Zaid observed, with the dry chuckle of bitter experience.
Kelantan has hardly any huge buildings. Everything in the state capital, Kota Bharu, near the border with Thailand, is built on a modest scale. I met the PAS vice-president, Husam Musa, at the party headquarters. Husam, an economist by training, is not an imam but one of the new breed of professionals in Islamist politics. He was polite, if a little defensive. On the question of an Islamic state, he said this goal was often misunderstood: “We don’t mean a state ruled by clerics but one guided by the holy books. Without the books, we’d be like Umno and just grab the money. The difference between us and them is that we believe we will be judged in the afterlife.”
He said that Islam was “pro-progress,” and that American democracy was a good model. (“Unfriendly people will accuse me of being pro-American for making this statement.”) He also said that discriminating against ethnic minorities was “un-Islamic,” as was government corruption. “People should be treated the same, and that includes the freedom of religion,” he said.
What about Muslims — were they free to renounce their faith? He averted his eyes. “I have my own opinion about that, but I will reserve it,” he said. “Media in Malaysia will interpret it in the wrong way. Everything here is turned to politics.” He used “politics” as a pejorative term. “I am not a politician,” he said. “I’m a Muslim activist.”
Few people in Kelantan, even the Chinese, openly complain about the PAS government. Non-Muslims don’t feel hampered by religious rules that don’t apply to them, and the lack of corruption is widely acknowledged. Still, given the chance, many young people leave for Kuala Lumpur. Several young Malays told me that it was “no fun” living in a place where you can get arrested for buying a beer. “This is a place for old men,” an unemployed building contractor said. “They can sit around and pray all day.”
The real Malay dilemma today is that democrats need the Islamists: Malay liberals and secular Chinese and Indians cannot form a governing alliance without religious and rural Malays. And the only serious contender who can patch over the differences between secularists and Islamists for the sake of reform is Anwar, a liberal Malay with impeccable Muslim credentials. “He is our last chance,” Zaid told me, as he celebrated the victory of PAS in Kuala Terengganu. When I repeated this to Anwar, he looked thoughtful and said, “Yes, and that’s what worries me.”
— The New Yorker
Friday, May 15, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
To Lovers and Friends
I am feeling a bit sentimental this morning...
You are the few I noticed amongst the thousandth,
and we both seems bond by invisible threads,
There is a feeling of longing, although undefined,
We could be lovers or a band of brothers in the past,
And here we are, meeting again in this life to complete the pages of our life stories or rewriting what was lost in our past life?
Come what may, come what may.
For now, you are like a refreshing breeze in the wake of spring,
Bringing new leaf of life to the frozen Earth after a cold long winter,
Awaken all men’s senses, and breathe colors and warmth into life,
and we both seems bond by invisible threads,
There is a feeling of longing, although undefined,
We could be lovers or a band of brothers in the past,
And here we are, meeting again in this life to complete the pages of our life stories or rewriting what was lost in our past life?
Come what may, come what may.
For now, you are like a refreshing breeze in the wake of spring,
Bringing new leaf of life to the frozen Earth after a cold long winter,
Awaken all men’s senses, and breathe colors and warmth into life,
You have brought good tidings and meanings to my life.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Standing ovation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-KiGva9dV4
Standing ovation to Susan Boyle...
Didn't we all sucked up to shallow first impression of a person and judge just based on physical look? See how Susan Boyle stunned and wowed us with her voice despite her look. I like her attitude
and I was moved by her singing...."I dreamed a dream" one of my favorites of songs from Les Miserables
Standing ovation to Susan Boyle...
Didn't we all sucked up to shallow first impression of a person and judge just based on physical look? See how Susan Boyle stunned and wowed us with her voice despite her look. I like her attitude
and I was moved by her singing...."I dreamed a dream" one of my favorites of songs from Les Miserables
Monday, April 13, 2009
Winner of 56th Berlin Film Festival - Chicken Ala Carte
Chicken a la Carte
Director: Ferdinand Dimadura
Genre: Drama Produced In: 2005
Synopsis: This film is about the hunger and poverty brought about by Globalization. There are 10,000 people dying everyday due to hunger and malnutrition. This short film shows a forgotten portion of the society. The people who live on the refuse of men to survive. What is inspiring is the hope and spirituality that never left this people.
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One of my friends shared the above short film with me.
Other than the apparent lessons, like not to waste food, eat only when you need and not over-indulgence....
To my opinion and only my personal opinion, I strongly feel that if one family is poor, please don't have too many children.
although one can claim having children are blessings from God, bringing them into this world to suffer is the opposite in reality. To me, children are only blessings from God if the couples can afford it. This is because when children are born, we have to shower them with best of love, care, provide them with the best comfort and protection, as well as basic necessities like food, clothing and shelter. If a couple is in question or has any hesitation in providing what I stated above, well, think twice or more of having children more than they can afford.
Humans are creatures who need love and family, but adults also need to realise their responsibilities that comes after of their actions in bed, especially those who don't practise family planning. So, not only the teachers of various religions have to teach / preach about family values, they have to educate the people about reality too.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Another example of people loosing faith with BN
The results of the by-election sent a strong message that the National Coalition or Barisan Nasional - BN is loosing ground. It's race-based strategy is loosing its relevance to the people of Malaysia.
Out of the three by-elections, namely Batang Ai of Sarawak, Bukit Gantang of Perak and Bukit Selambau of Kedah; the opposition People Coalition or Pakatan Rakyat - PR, won 2 by-elections, namely Bukit Gantang (Perak) and Bukit Salambau (Kedah). This is despite BN's malicious race-based agenda and fanning the fire of race hatred.
Like an example quoted in today's Malaysia Insider, telling that [a leaflet distributed in BN's by-election campaign in Bukit Gantang warned that UMNO is being pressured by it non-Malay components in the BN, and this may happen to PAS and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PAS and PKR are 2 out of the 3 main component parties of PR, who are dominant ed by members of Malay ethnics) in their opposition coalition.
UMNO also campaigned along the lines of Malay power being eroded in the state under the former opposition government (in Perak state) which was toppled by the BN in February 09. It labelled the ousted PR Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin, who stood as the PR candidate, a Chinese puppet.]
On the contrary, the PR's strategy of multi-racialism and calls for reforms and economic assistance based on need, not ethnicity resonates strongly among the liberal urbanites, as well as the marginalised rural and urban poor.
People are tired of BN's race-based agenda, corruption and cronyism practises. Even majority of the Malay community realised and disagreed that the threat to Malay power is not the non-Malays but the Malay leaders themselves and and their politically-linked Malay elites.
Our new Prime Minister - Najib Razak is doing a massive PR campaign to rescue his reputation and his party (UMNO) by acknowledging the contribution of Non-Malays to Malaysia recently; which UMNO party memebers previously labels the Non-Malay as mere "Pendatang" or Immigrants and disregards their roles and contribution to the building and development of this nation. Also, our new Prime Minister is also pushing for a freer Media in Malaysia and ready to accept its consequences. He also released 2 HINDRAFT members who have been detained under Internal Security Act on last Sunday 5.4.09 in the wake of the recent by-election , so to please and fish for Indian voters.
Let sees if our Prime Minister means what he said... How about amending our history book to tell the truth for a start? How about consider dropping the charges to a prominent blogger and stand for trial against his accusations? How about releasing all the other HINDRAFT members who are still detained under ISA, and not just the 2 that were released recently?
The anak-anak Malaysia are watching...
Talentime,Tale n Time
I watched Yasmin Ahmad's Talentime this afternoon. It moves me so much. Towards the end to the movie, at the scenes where Mahesh (a speech impaired Indian boy) kneel before his mom confessing his love to Melor (Muslim girl) and the closing score performed by Hafiz for his love to his mom really opened my floodgate and many times i almost failed to hold back and really want to sob out loud.
Yasmin did it a again, evoked our emotion and compassion through her story telling. Bravo!
And the song... O Re Piya (a Hindi song, i.e. Oh my beloved)... has kept lingering in my head for the last 8 hours.
Also, I like Melor's family dynamic in the movie - a family with such big hearts. Melor's Yorkshire English speaking granny was so funny too. There are many candid moments in the movies that put a smile to the audiences.
The movie also conveyed hidden messages of social issues that are relevant to fellow Malaysians now, especially on how religion and race now has divided and caused tension in between ethnic groups.
By the way, this movie was shot at my hometown of Ipoh and my younger brother was studying at the school where the story was told, i.e. Anderson School
If you have not watched the movie, please go watch it.
Yasmin did it a again, evoked our emotion and compassion through her story telling. Bravo!
And the song... O Re Piya (a Hindi song, i.e. Oh my beloved)... has kept lingering in my head for the last 8 hours.
Also, I like Melor's family dynamic in the movie - a family with such big hearts. Melor's Yorkshire English speaking granny was so funny too. There are many candid moments in the movies that put a smile to the audiences.
The movie also conveyed hidden messages of social issues that are relevant to fellow Malaysians now, especially on how religion and race now has divided and caused tension in between ethnic groups.
By the way, this movie was shot at my hometown of Ipoh and my younger brother was studying at the school where the story was told, i.e. Anderson School
If you have not watched the movie, please go watch it.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Funeral
This shortfilm which is made by Yasmin Ahmad (a reknown Malaysia film director) for Singapore government and it is posted on her blog.
This short film is very meaningful and absolutely moving and touching the hearts of everyone.
Key message: Imperfection of your partner makes a relationship perfect. Enjoy!
This short film is very meaningful and absolutely moving and touching the hearts of everyone.
Key message: Imperfection of your partner makes a relationship perfect. Enjoy!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Songs that keep playing in my head lately
End Of the World-Matt Alber
Accidentally bump into this song performed by Matt Alber. As the song title implies, it's a melancholic song and I love the singing and its melody. Initially, I was kind of hesitate to post up the video due to its content and then I realised I should not be judgemental. Love and music has no boundary and I would embrace them with a big heart. Hope you enjoy the song as I do.
Another song which keep playing in my head is Jason M'raz's "You and I Both"
Monday, March 23, 2009
Begining of an oppressive era on 2.4.09?
RAHMAN
That is the prophecy of Malaysia leadership. Each letter represents the Prime Minister of Malaysia since independence.
R for Tunku Abdul Rahman
A for Tun Abdul Razak
H for Tun Hussein Onn
M for Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad
A for Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
N is for Najib Abdul Razak, who is sceduled to take over the premiership from Ahmad Badawi on 2.4.09, not by election of Malaysians but by UMNO, the main ruling party.
So far, the prophecy had come true and Najib will ascend to the top leadership post of Malaysia. At the same time, people said the prophecy also marks the end of BN ruling after the 'N'.
Whatever prediction is the prophecy, one thing for sure is that Najib is unlikely to be "soft" in his approach to secure his top leadership position in his party and this country.
According to polls, his popularity as the Prime Minister is at the lowest at 41%, even lower than Ahmad Badawi. As people says, desperate time needs desperate measures, it is predicted that hard actions would be taken with all costs to mark his footing permanently at the corridor of power.
His approaches towards his opponents are obviously hardline - like how he led to the ruthless power taking-over of Perak state from the opposition party, the sedition charge of Karpal Singh, parliamentary suspension of speaker Govind Singh,' illegalised' gatherings for Anwar Ibrahim's speeches in Taiping yesterday, 3 months ban on Opposition newspapers of Harakah and Suara Keadilan since yesterday; and his recent past acts of putting the famous blogger - Raja Petra Kamarudin under Internal Security Act and Sedition Act charge for linking him to the gruesome sensational murder of a Mongolian women etc; all these actions tell Malaysians that he is not an easy person but likely will rule Malaysia with devious Iron fists. It is likely that all his opponents; and bloggers that pursuit truth and justice for the people of Malaysia will be widely clamped down.
People said 'N' is a prophecy fulfilled. People say 'N' could be the marking of the end of BN ruling in Malaysia. To me, the 'N' signals the beginning of an oppressive era for all Malaysians. 'N' refers to a Malaysia Prime Minister that is not elected by the people.
I foresee hardship in years to come and the struggle for better freedom and justice for the all walks of life would not come easy. Democracy will be challenged all the way down to the ground.
Whether is it going to be a Dark Age for Malaysia or not, Malaysians will see in time to come. So far with all the indications and events unfold under his stewardship in the past 2 months; even before he ascend to the "throne", we certainly are not optimistic that the future will be bright and sunny.
Perhaps, only the cronies and people connected to the ruling "elites, families, political empayar and party" will likely to continue to prosper; and this will be an exact showcase of Malay Supremacy.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
It is about the word again? Why not "marking" it as some kind of properties?
Agence France-Presse - 3/20/2009 6:30 AM GMT
Malaysian legal body faces lawsuit for using 'Allah'
Malaysian religious authorities have threatened to sue the country's top legal body for using the word "Allah" on its website, in another row over the issue to hit the multi-ethnic country.
The Islamic religious council in central Selangor state said it would take action against the Malaysian Bar, which represents some 12,000 lawyers, for using the word as a translation for "God" in two online polls on its website.
Its comments came amid a long-running battle between the government and a Roman Catholic newspaper which has been threatened with closure for using the disputed word in its Malay-language edition.
The government has argued that the word should be used only by Muslims, who dominate the population of multicultural Malaysia.
The Malaysian Bar's polls asked lawyers to vote on whether any particular race in Malaysia had an exclusive right to use "Allah" and whether non-Muslim religious publications should be allowed to use the word.
"The issue raised in the polls can threaten the sensitivity of Muslims," the head of the religious council Mohamad Adzib Mohamad Isa said in a statement.
He said it was empowered under religious laws to lay charges against anyone misusing the word "Allah".
The Malaysian Bar said it would defend its use of the word.
"I haven't receive a (legal) notice yet, we are prepared to challenge it," its president Ragunath Kesavan told AFP.
Religion and language are sensitive issues in multiracial Malaysia, which experienced deadly race riots in 1969.
About 60 percent of the nation's 27 million people are ethnic Malay Muslims, who dominate the government.
The rest of the population includes indigenous tribes as well as ethnic Chinese and Indians -- practising Buddhism, Christianity and Hinduism, among others.
Some people just have too much time in their hands, always missing the big picture but harping on trivial matter. Has not religious authority a bigger role to play in harnessing welfare for the weak and poor; and promoting goodness, fairness and just to mankind?
I believe Islam is a good religion with a big heart, exercises no favoritism. It is always some narrow-minded religious leaders and organisations like these making Islam look so small.
Why not filing the "word" worldwide as "religious intellectual property" of the religious council of Malaysia and every Non-Muslims in Malaysia soil or even the world has to seek permission and pay in kinds in the form donation for using, saying or pronouncing the word. The donations are then can be used for "word cleansing rituals" by these silly fanatics!
The reputation of Malaysia judiciary system has already gone down to the drain, with its non-independence and strong association to politics of the ruling party in this country. We definitely don't need another lawsuit like this to tell the world how small and irrelevant Malaysian judiciary system is.
Malaysian legal body faces lawsuit for using 'Allah'
Malaysian religious authorities have threatened to sue the country's top legal body for using the word "Allah" on its website, in another row over the issue to hit the multi-ethnic country.
The Islamic religious council in central Selangor state said it would take action against the Malaysian Bar, which represents some 12,000 lawyers, for using the word as a translation for "God" in two online polls on its website.
Its comments came amid a long-running battle between the government and a Roman Catholic newspaper which has been threatened with closure for using the disputed word in its Malay-language edition.
The government has argued that the word should be used only by Muslims, who dominate the population of multicultural Malaysia.
The Malaysian Bar's polls asked lawyers to vote on whether any particular race in Malaysia had an exclusive right to use "Allah" and whether non-Muslim religious publications should be allowed to use the word.
"The issue raised in the polls can threaten the sensitivity of Muslims," the head of the religious council Mohamad Adzib Mohamad Isa said in a statement.
He said it was empowered under religious laws to lay charges against anyone misusing the word "Allah".
The Malaysian Bar said it would defend its use of the word.
"I haven't receive a (legal) notice yet, we are prepared to challenge it," its president Ragunath Kesavan told AFP.
Religion and language are sensitive issues in multiracial Malaysia, which experienced deadly race riots in 1969.
About 60 percent of the nation's 27 million people are ethnic Malay Muslims, who dominate the government.
The rest of the population includes indigenous tribes as well as ethnic Chinese and Indians -- practising Buddhism, Christianity and Hinduism, among others.
--------------
Some people just have too much time in their hands, always missing the big picture but harping on trivial matter. Has not religious authority a bigger role to play in harnessing welfare for the weak and poor; and promoting goodness, fairness and just to mankind?
I believe Islam is a good religion with a big heart, exercises no favoritism. It is always some narrow-minded religious leaders and organisations like these making Islam look so small.
Why not filing the "word" worldwide as "religious intellectual property" of the religious council of Malaysia and every Non-Muslims in Malaysia soil or even the world has to seek permission and pay in kinds in the form donation for using, saying or pronouncing the word. The donations are then can be used for "word cleansing rituals" by these silly fanatics!
The reputation of Malaysia judiciary system has already gone down to the drain, with its non-independence and strong association to politics of the ruling party in this country. We definitely don't need another lawsuit like this to tell the world how small and irrelevant Malaysian judiciary system is.
Who is more "kurang ajar"?
Perkasa warns non-Malays to behave
By Shannon Teoh
KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 - Malay right-wing group Pertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa today threatened that it would react to the actions of those who chose to question Malay supremacy.
President Datuk Ibrahim Ali said that for the sake of "the country, race and religion, I am willing to be detained under the Internal Security Act" should Malay rights be challenged.
The Malay nationalist politician warned non-Malays to behave, if not then Malays would repay in kind.
"If they are polite, we will be polite. But if they are not, neither will we. If they are kurang ajar (ill-mannered), we too can be kurang ajar," said the Pasir Mas MP to cheers from the thousand-strong crowd.
Ibrahim as president of Perkasa had last year also called on other races to adapt to the local culture of Malays as they have already been given many rights and freedoms in this country.
Today, he added that those who questioned the issue of the special position of Malays were not acting in the name of justice.
"The truth is that justice has not yet come to Bumiputeras who have spent centuries being oppressed by colonial masters," he said.
The former Umno leader said that in the past, Malays had been reasonable with the colonial masters but that they would not tolerate "our heads being stepped on."
"We will not tolerate Bumiputeras losing face or our honour. Especially Malays and Islam, do not ever try to play around with these," he threatened
Again, see how UMNO moron like this Pasir Mas MP, Ibrahim Ali is being so racist? And without doubt, he is getting away with such sedition despite inciting such strong racial hatred and threatening the security and stability of this country. Why? Because he is on the side of the people in office and the party in power. Isn't this another reason that Barisan Nasional should be voted out from the office?
Which foreign investment would have the right frame of mind to invest in a country that uphold inequality and injustice by definition of race ? No wonder Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to this country is diminishing.
If I was not mistaken, I remember Malaysia was one of the countries that protest against Apartheid system of South Africa in the past and why we see UMNO moron like this now insisting a devilish system that divide people base on race to be implemented, or should I say continue to be implemented in this country? How insensible this idiot to openly threatening the Non-Malays and jeopardise the already eroding racial harmony of this country?
This ideology of Ketuanan Melayu (Malay Supremacy) is Apartheid system in disguise!
We fully understand the needs to close economic gaps of people for social and economy stability and we cannot deny that a big part of the Malay community needs some extra hands in this country. I personally think the NEP program is a useful tool to achieve better distribution of wealth if properly executed within a definite time frame. A definite time frame is key so that the people who receive the initial boost of help understand the needs and urgency to change their life and becoming more competent and competitive for better survival.
The main problem is that such program has been abused to benefit the politicians in power and and their politic cronies only. These people who needs help remains largely out of reach.
See here for a water scandal. This political crony -Rozali Ismail - get paid RM425,000 per month as CEO of this water supply company! In addition, no open tender of contracts and pipe purchases through the CEO's company in Indonesia.
http://jelas.info/2009/03/20/water-scandal-summarising-bns-massive-conjob-or-how-you-are-making-the-super-rich-rozali-ismail-even-richer/
Imagine how many hundreds of poor families can be fed by taking half of his monthly salary out.
To enable these corrupted leaders and their cronies to stay at the upper food chain of their own kind, it is no wonder they have to play the race and religion card game well. These corrupted politicians will not hesitate to poisoning the minds of the Malay grassroots that they are the oppressed race by falsely accusing the Non-Malays are taking away their entitlement of riches; which these politicians in power are in fact the mothers / fathers of all evil.
These corrupted leaders also strategically inculcate the idea that their fellow Malay brothers and sisters belong to an inferior and incompetent race and they need these "leaders" to save and fight for their rights, which in fact they are the vampire of the lifeline of these grassroots; and criminal of the misfortune of their own people.
The Non-Malays are not the threats but the corrupted BN leaders and their cronies are.
Of course, these corrupted politicians and cronies would die fighting for the indefinite privileges for the Malay community so that their own children, grand children and generations to comes can continue to oppress their own kind and feed on their fellow brothers' and sisters' blood!
It is not that the Non-Malays are begging for special privileges. A more level playing field would be just. After all, isn't the whole idea of abolishing poverty is to have a balanced scale of wealth amongst people. It is certainly not about enriching a particular race by tipping the scales off from another end.
Ibrahim Ali is obviously an insignificant and foolish soldier being mobilised by the masterminds of race and religion card game to achieve their insensible, evil objectives.
Malaysia is the only country where privileges are given to majority but not the minority. History books are written to downplay contributions of other ethnic groups but glorifying one ethnic group to the existence of this country. Children are brainwashed via formal education and religious studies that the ruling elites are doing a good job and indispensable for the country. Children are also taught about evils are all but them. Children are also educated that racism and corruption are a way of life in Malaysia and they should not question such work of evil.
By Shannon Teoh
KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 - Malay right-wing group Pertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa today threatened that it would react to the actions of those who chose to question Malay supremacy.
President Datuk Ibrahim Ali said that for the sake of "the country, race and religion, I am willing to be detained under the Internal Security Act" should Malay rights be challenged.
The Malay nationalist politician warned non-Malays to behave, if not then Malays would repay in kind.
"If they are polite, we will be polite. But if they are not, neither will we. If they are kurang ajar (ill-mannered), we too can be kurang ajar," said the Pasir Mas MP to cheers from the thousand-strong crowd.
Ibrahim as president of Perkasa had last year also called on other races to adapt to the local culture of Malays as they have already been given many rights and freedoms in this country.
Today, he added that those who questioned the issue of the special position of Malays were not acting in the name of justice.
"The truth is that justice has not yet come to Bumiputeras who have spent centuries being oppressed by colonial masters," he said.
The former Umno leader said that in the past, Malays had been reasonable with the colonial masters but that they would not tolerate "our heads being stepped on."
"We will not tolerate Bumiputeras losing face or our honour. Especially Malays and Islam, do not ever try to play around with these," he threatened
-----------------------------
Who is more "kurang ajar" (literally means lack teachings or translated as ill-manner in this article)? Isn't he is the one who is ill-behaved? I hope he is not representing the Malay community or else he is certainly painting a very bad picture about the Malay community.Again, see how UMNO moron like this Pasir Mas MP, Ibrahim Ali is being so racist? And without doubt, he is getting away with such sedition despite inciting such strong racial hatred and threatening the security and stability of this country. Why? Because he is on the side of the people in office and the party in power. Isn't this another reason that Barisan Nasional should be voted out from the office?
Which foreign investment would have the right frame of mind to invest in a country that uphold inequality and injustice by definition of race ? No wonder Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to this country is diminishing.
If I was not mistaken, I remember Malaysia was one of the countries that protest against Apartheid system of South Africa in the past and why we see UMNO moron like this now insisting a devilish system that divide people base on race to be implemented, or should I say continue to be implemented in this country? How insensible this idiot to openly threatening the Non-Malays and jeopardise the already eroding racial harmony of this country?
This ideology of Ketuanan Melayu (Malay Supremacy) is Apartheid system in disguise!
We fully understand the needs to close economic gaps of people for social and economy stability and we cannot deny that a big part of the Malay community needs some extra hands in this country. I personally think the NEP program is a useful tool to achieve better distribution of wealth if properly executed within a definite time frame. A definite time frame is key so that the people who receive the initial boost of help understand the needs and urgency to change their life and becoming more competent and competitive for better survival.
The main problem is that such program has been abused to benefit the politicians in power and and their politic cronies only. These people who needs help remains largely out of reach.
See here for a water scandal. This political crony -Rozali Ismail - get paid RM425,000 per month as CEO of this water supply company! In addition, no open tender of contracts and pipe purchases through the CEO's company in Indonesia.
http://jelas.info/2009/03/20/water-scandal-summarising-bns-massive-conjob-or-how-you-are-making-the-super-rich-rozali-ismail-even-richer/
Imagine how many hundreds of poor families can be fed by taking half of his monthly salary out.
To enable these corrupted leaders and their cronies to stay at the upper food chain of their own kind, it is no wonder they have to play the race and religion card game well. These corrupted politicians will not hesitate to poisoning the minds of the Malay grassroots that they are the oppressed race by falsely accusing the Non-Malays are taking away their entitlement of riches; which these politicians in power are in fact the mothers / fathers of all evil.
These corrupted leaders also strategically inculcate the idea that their fellow Malay brothers and sisters belong to an inferior and incompetent race and they need these "leaders" to save and fight for their rights, which in fact they are the vampire of the lifeline of these grassroots; and criminal of the misfortune of their own people.
The Non-Malays are not the threats but the corrupted BN leaders and their cronies are.
Of course, these corrupted politicians and cronies would die fighting for the indefinite privileges for the Malay community so that their own children, grand children and generations to comes can continue to oppress their own kind and feed on their fellow brothers' and sisters' blood!
It is not that the Non-Malays are begging for special privileges. A more level playing field would be just. After all, isn't the whole idea of abolishing poverty is to have a balanced scale of wealth amongst people. It is certainly not about enriching a particular race by tipping the scales off from another end.
Ibrahim Ali is obviously an insignificant and foolish soldier being mobilised by the masterminds of race and religion card game to achieve their insensible, evil objectives.
Malaysia is the only country where privileges are given to majority but not the minority. History books are written to downplay contributions of other ethnic groups but glorifying one ethnic group to the existence of this country. Children are brainwashed via formal education and religious studies that the ruling elites are doing a good job and indispensable for the country. Children are also taught about evils are all but them. Children are also educated that racism and corruption are a way of life in Malaysia and they should not question such work of evil.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Malaysia is roiled by a crisis of democracy
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/20821-malaysia-is-roiled-by-a-crisis-of-democracy-
The article above was published in The Malaysian Insider 21.3.09. It gives a summary of the ordeals that the people of Malaysia have to go through in this tough political and economic times.
While our neighbor like Singapore is busy tackling the economy crisis, our leaders are still so engross to their personal interest of power and sideline the economic crisis that the country is facing.
The article above was published in The Malaysian Insider 21.3.09. It gives a summary of the ordeals that the people of Malaysia have to go through in this tough political and economic times.
While our neighbor like Singapore is busy tackling the economy crisis, our leaders are still so engross to their personal interest of power and sideline the economic crisis that the country is facing.
------------------------
On another note, the willing tendency of certain top leaders of PAS (which is one of the component party of the People Alliance / Pakatan Rakyat) to form a unity government with Barisan Nasional (BN), based on the ground of uniting the Malays based on race and religion (again!!!!), is heartbreaking.Haven't we had enough of segregating the anak-anak Malaysia based on race and religion? Shouldn't we just focus of uniting the people of Malaysia as a country based on common grounds like economy and social stability, instead of uniting based on race and religion again and again?
When are these old farts will ever grow up? When Malaysia will be free from such evil idealogies?
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Major housecleaning in UMNO or just frying the small fishes for the big ones to continue to devour?
Bernama - Friday, March 20
SEREMBAN, March 19 (Bernama) -- Umno is ready for change and renewal aimed at restoring the party's image and the members faith under the new leadership of Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
Agence France-Presse - 3/19/2009 10:34 AM GMT
Mahathir says Malaysian party faces revolt over graft
Malaysia's ruling party faces an internal revolt over an anti-graft purge, but will be voted out of power if it fails to act on corruption, former premier Mahathir Mohamad said Thursday.
Rais: Give new leaders a chance NST 2009/03/20
KUALA LUMPUR The new Umno leadership, which will be in place later this month, should be given a chance to set things right in the party and regain the people's confidence Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said besides party members, the Malays also needed to give the new leadership a second chance. "Now we know what the shortcomings are and we are correcting them."
Agence France-Presse - 3/17/2009 11:09 AM GMT
Malaysia's leadership battle hit with corruption probe
A battle for senior leadership posts in Malaysia's ruling party was hit with a bombshell Tuesday as 15 members including several top figures were found guilty in an anti-corruption probe.
The above headlines strongly suggest that change within the party of UMNO is eminent but will the same wind of change blow across the entire governing system of this nation, political parties and on one would be spared?
Is this not just another classical example of 贼喊捉贼 (literally means a thief shouting others to catch other thieves, i.e. referring to the tactic used by the greater evils to divert public attention to the chaos created by them and by labelling others as the evil and bad)?
SEREMBAN, March 19 (Bernama) -- Umno is ready for change and renewal aimed at restoring the party's image and the members faith under the new leadership of Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
Agence France-Presse - 3/19/2009 10:34 AM GMT
Mahathir says Malaysian party faces revolt over graft
Malaysia's ruling party faces an internal revolt over an anti-graft purge, but will be voted out of power if it fails to act on corruption, former premier Mahathir Mohamad said Thursday.
Rais: Give new leaders a chance NST 2009/03/20
KUALA LUMPUR The new Umno leadership, which will be in place later this month, should be given a chance to set things right in the party and regain the people's confidence Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said besides party members, the Malays also needed to give the new leadership a second chance. "Now we know what the shortcomings are and we are correcting them."
Agence France-Presse - 3/17/2009 11:09 AM GMT
Malaysia's leadership battle hit with corruption probe
A battle for senior leadership posts in Malaysia's ruling party was hit with a bombshell Tuesday as 15 members including several top figures were found guilty in an anti-corruption probe.
--------------------
The above headlines strongly suggest that change within the party of UMNO is eminent but will the same wind of change blow across the entire governing system of this nation, political parties and on one would be spared?
Is this not just another classical example of 贼喊捉贼 (literally means a thief shouting others to catch other thieves, i.e. referring to the tactic used by the greater evils to divert public attention to the chaos created by them and by labelling others as the evil and bad)?
Don't get me wrong, i have no pity to those who are under corruption probes in UMNO and I am totally support such anti-corruption purge. What I am saying is that such house cleanings should not be politically motivated, but independent and apply across the board. Don't just catch the small fishes but also the big ones too.
It would be an understatement to say every Malaysian knows how corrupted of our governing party "leaders" are. In fact, Malaysia is notorious worldwide for corruption.
And obviously, the government agency who is chartered to do such job, i.e. MACC / SPRM is not doing its job truthfully. In fact, the agency is becoming or even has spun off to become another government vehicle for the ruling party to get rid of opponents.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) / Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) which was commissioned in 2007 to replace the former Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) or Badan Pencegah Rasuah (BPR) is supposed to be an agency that investigates and persecutes corruption in the public and private sectors. It is an agency supposedly to put an end to corruption that has been dogging the political parties, especially the ruling party, i.e. Barisan Nasional.
Our observation so far pointed that the agency is highly skewed and biased towards UMNO and Barisan Nasional coalition party but reacting very negatively to the opposition party. Many controversial and corruption cases involving UMNO politicians, including the thief who shouted others to catch thieves, had been swept under the carpet while trivial cases involving opposition parties are given endless hours of investigations.
Again, don't get me wrong, if the politicians of the opposition parties are in the wrong, they deserve such investigation and be prosecuted.
The ruling party can continue to be ignorant that the anak-anak Malaysia (sons and daughters of Malaysia) will believe with whatever they showcase to the public and report on the mainstream media.
While not all the sons and daughters of Malaysia have eyes, ears, mouths and brains; many have developed those senses and intellect to detect and analyse who and where the smelly rats are!
UMNO Youth thugs in action in front of the Parliament House
This incidence happened at about 2.30 pm on 26.2.09. An wheel-chaired bound lawmaker from the People Coalition / Pakatan rakyat opposition alliance force - DAP (Democratoc Action Party) MP Karpal Singh was mobbed by 30 UMNO (United Malays National Organisation) Youth members, preventing him from entering the Parliament.
Contrary to its name, UMNO Youth are not the teenager members of UMNO (main political party of the Barisan Nasional / Coaliation Front that rule the nation) but grown ups whose behaviour and brains are nothing like of grown-ups.
As we can see from the footage, the security personnel of the Parliament did not take immediate intervention when the wheel-chaired bound politician is being intimidated and attacked.
Although the speaker of the Parliament expressed regret over the incidence immediately and urged the Home Ministry to investigate the incidence, we have heard no serious action has been taken against these mobsters even till now.
A double standard on how these UMNO Youth people can get away with such behaviour; moreover in front of Parliament House is again testifying that UMNO Youth or even UMNO itself is fulled and backed by these gangsters who are supposed to be the succession generation of the party. Shameful and disgraceful!
New Premier
I have not put up any postings since Jan 09. Reasons were 2 folds
Firstly, I moved to a new apartment and Internet connectivity was not available until a couple of days ago. So, I conveniently give myself excuse of not putting my 2 cents of thoughts in blog.
Secondly, the worsening global and local economy had put a heavy toll on my company sales and profit. In fact, putting the company in red last month. So, it is not surprising that I have to put more time and effort into my work and less spare room for thoughts about the politics in the past 2 months. To me, it is about the economy, and business survival that should be kept as a top top top priority, now more than ever.
Firstly, I moved to a new apartment and Internet connectivity was not available until a couple of days ago. So, I conveniently give myself excuse of not putting my 2 cents of thoughts in blog.
Secondly, the worsening global and local economy had put a heavy toll on my company sales and profit. In fact, putting the company in red last month. So, it is not surprising that I have to put more time and effort into my work and less spare room for thoughts about the politics in the past 2 months. To me, it is about the economy, and business survival that should be kept as a top top top priority, now more than ever.
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Malaysia politics never fails to amaze people in a bad way. The recent political shamble in Perak was utterly disgusting. In that political saga, democracy was robbed and the people of Perak were sodomised up and down, left and right. By buying over a few assemblymen of the opposition party to defect to BN via thousands and some said millions of ringgit, this granted Barisan Nasional (BN) a simple majority to take over the Dewan Undangan Negeri of Perak. So, instead of a people elected state government, BN is now "in power" by their number games.
Malaysia will have a new Prime Minister after Ahmad Badawi steps down as Prime Minister by end March 09. I believe all true anak Malaysia are anxious to see how this next-in-line PM, i.e. Najib Razak will take over the baton from Badawi to head this nation.
To my opinion, a PM who is not truly elected by the people of Malaysia, but succeeded through a system which democracy is undermined is worrisome. Not to mention that this next-in-line PM has many uncleared baggage of corruption, linkages to crime, injustice and racism. If Najib is the best candidate to succeed his predecessor in UMNO, you can tell how "good quality" are the rest of the people in that party.
We shall see!
To those who like to know more about Najib Razak and how he rises into power, look out for an interesting essay written by Barry Wain in the Far Eastern Economic Review magazine.
http://www.feer.com/essays/2009/march/najibs-challenge-clean-up-umno
Not surprising it is all gutter politics in order to rise to power!
So, like some prominent Malaysian figures felt, Badawi should stay in the office. Not because he is well loved for his weaknesses. It is more of our worry for having a man of potentially greater evil and dictatorial with little national interest in mind to lead this nation.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Year of The Ox 2009 - Singapore 18.1.09
Went to visit Singapore yesterday (18.1.09) to "look see look see" Chinese New Year celebration there. While Ray was busy shopping for his clothes at the malls, I took pictures instead. After all, I am financially very tight this Chinese New Year (CNY) and all I can spend was a few clicks of my Nikon camera. Oh Yes, instead of buying things for CNY, I bought 2 novels instead. Ha ha!
Next stop was Paragon Mall at the Orchard Road. Its theme is the "Lantern"
The arrangement of these lanterns makes people feel as if they are in ascending mode, yet suspending in ether.
Chinese New Year (CNY) is also called Spring Festival 春节 and we can not take out flowers from the CNY equation.
Beautiful, healthy blossoms.
How I wish I can bath in this sea of flowers (I don't mean literally) ;)
Trip to Singapore around CNY time is incomplete without visiting the Chinatown.
The Chinese auspicious wishing idiom (牛转乾坤) being chosen for this year is most appropriate.
First stop - Bugis Junction.
The Peony flower balls are beautiful, although they aren't the real peony flowers. I wish I can take one home and used it as chandelier at my house's balcony... :)
Next stop was Paragon Mall at the Orchard Road. Its theme is the "Lantern"
The arrangement of these lanterns makes people feel as if they are in ascending mode, yet suspending in ether.
Chinese New Year (CNY) is also called Spring Festival 春节 and we can not take out flowers from the CNY equation.
Beautiful, healthy blossoms.
How I wish I can bath in this sea of flowers (I don't mean literally) ;)
Trip to Singapore around CNY time is incomplete without visiting the Chinatown.
The Chinese auspicious wishing idiom (牛转乾坤) being chosen for this year is most appropriate.牛 means "cow", and has the same pronunciation as 扭. So, 牛(扭)转乾坤 means "bring about a radical change in the situation or reverse the course of events in the year of Ox". So appropriate for 2009, as this year economy is going to be shadowed with gloomy sentiment.
This is indeed a year of Ox, we see them everywhere.
I accidentally captured a happy face of a lady. She was definitely happy to have 2 bouquets of plum and peach blossoms for her home. To the Chinese, the plum and peach blossoms for CNY celebration is like Christmas tree for Christmas.
Like before, Chinatown is jam-packed with shoppers and tourists during Chinese New Year time
The icon of Chinatown - 珍珠坊 buildling
"Must have" red and gold decors for CNY celebration
Red color = 红, an auspicious lucky color that bring good luck. So, 鸿运当头, which 鸿 (means abundant, grand) has the same pronunciation as 红. In total, the phrase means "Lots of good luck, right to your doorstep"
Gold color 金 symbolises 富贵, i.e. fortune and wealth.
This is indeed a year of Ox, we see them everywhere.
I accidentally captured a happy face of a lady. She was definitely happy to have 2 bouquets of plum and peach blossoms for her home. To the Chinese, the plum and peach blossoms for CNY celebration is like Christmas tree for Christmas.
Like before, Chinatown is jam-packed with shoppers and tourists during Chinese New Year time
The icon of Chinatown - 珍珠坊 buildling
"Must have" red and gold decors for CNY celebration
Red color = 红, an auspicious lucky color that bring good luck. So, 鸿运当头, which 鸿 (means abundant, grand) has the same pronunciation as 红. In total, the phrase means "Lots of good luck, right to your doorstep"
Gold color 金 symbolises 富贵, i.e. fortune and wealth.Fish is 鱼, which has same pronunciation as 余, which means "having surpluses"
So, a "golden fish" means having surpluses of gold, i.e. having good fortune and wealth.
Chinese language is so beautiful.
Yummy CNY cookies for sale. Anyone care to get me a few boxes as gift? Ha ha!
Nuts and seeds - goes very well with beer and liquor drinking with friends and family during CNY celebration
Children's favorite - fruit and fruit flavored jelly.
Free food sampling for Taiwan's Muachi, so to convince the shoppers to buy at least 1 box home.
Other than the plum 梅花 and peach blossoms 桃花, ornamental bamboo plants (竹) are also popular during CNY celebration. The bamboo plant is symbolising 竹报平安, i.e. wellness and safety. You will also see lots of fruiting tangerine plants (桔子) on sale at many plant nurseries. 桔子 is symbolising 吉祥, i.e. auspiciousness.
Sweets and lots of sweets, symbolising 甜甜蜜蜜 (sweetness in life)
Happy Chinese New Year to all. Wishing all lots of good fortune, great luck, marvelous health and have a safe and superb career this year.
Nuts and seeds - goes very well with beer and liquor drinking with friends and family during CNY celebration
Children's favorite - fruit and fruit flavored jelly.
Free food sampling for Taiwan's Muachi, so to convince the shoppers to buy at least 1 box home.
Other than the plum 梅花 and peach blossoms 桃花, ornamental bamboo plants (竹) are also popular during CNY celebration. The bamboo plant is symbolising 竹报平安, i.e. wellness and safety. You will also see lots of fruiting tangerine plants (桔子) on sale at many plant nurseries. 桔子 is symbolising 吉祥, i.e. auspiciousness.
Sweets and lots of sweets, symbolising 甜甜蜜蜜 (sweetness in life)Happy Chinese New Year to all. Wishing all lots of good fortune, great luck, marvelous health and have a safe and superb career this year.
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