Biro Tatanegara & Khidmat Negara

I'd have thought that any news beyond anal accusations and sodomy would be a welcome relief.

Evidently not.

These shenanigans by the Biro Tatanegara (BTN) have me more than just a little disheartened. In fact, it reminds me of why we need a change of government even more urgently.

Malaysians are a gullible bunch. They would like to believe that this BTN is a rogue programme, one that has not been monitored properly and allowed to spin out of control.

Take these two commenters on Malaysia Waves, for instance:

Khalid Hishamuddin says, "I hope the Ministry of Higher Education is taking note of your report."

Seriously, I doubt the government reads blogs, so don't flatter yourself or anyone else for that matter, dude.

Another anonymous commenter says, "..the PM's Dept or the Higher Educ Ministry must take immediate and drastic action either against the lecturer or to thoroughly review or axe the whole BTN program... Where's the National Unity Department ? Don't they monitor these courses ?"

This programme comes under the Prime Minister's department. I assure you, they know EXACTLY what they are doing. They just didn't expect to be caught at it.

I suppose they need to improve on their brain-washing skills because it didn't work on everyone and obviously, someone snitched and that is why we are all reading about this.

And the Khidmat Negara, or National Service? Is it any better?

Zorro asks, "Did the government set up the BTN and NS to combat our dismally flawed education system? Or were they set up to complement it and perpetuate the racism and hate?"

He certainly has a point.

The fact is, UMNO needs to keep the Malays under their thumbs. It needs to inflame a sense of entitlement from the world, so as to keep the Malays paralysed and incapable of competing. It needs to create fear and paranoia.

Of course, a lot of Malays (and I have to give them the credit) don't subscribe to these lame beliefs and have made it on their own, especially abroad.

But I don't want the smart Malays to go abroad and leave us with the bodoh piang bunch. It's the idiots who will fall for the racist crap like 'Christians don't like Muslims' and a classic one: 'Malays aren't racist, but everyone else discriminates against them'.

If I had a dollar everytime I heard a snivelling-moron-on-a-victimhood-drive spout that kind of crap, I'd be sipping a piña colada on the Copacabana beach right now.

This kind of psychological war isn't new. But it's shameful to think it can still be employed even in this day and age.