Silence Is Not Always Golden

They say silence is golden. Most of the time it's true. After all, a lot of people open their mouth and get into trouble because of what they say.

But sometimes what the world needs is for people to get off their couch and voice their opinion for everyone to hear.

One pretty glaring aspect is the subject of refugees.

Now, no one really needs refugees - certainly not anywhere in Asia where the population is high enough as it is.

Bear in mind, honest, hard-working, tax-paying citizens are the ones who are forking out the expenses to feed and shelter a refugee.

I can fully understand why the Australians are anxious to get rid of their refugees, especially the trouble-makers.

The question is, how did we get to the stage where there are so many refugees? I was trolling the web and most refugees are from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, China and Afghanistan.

On one side of the coin, it is not fair for the host country to bear these expenses, but on the other side, how many people become refugees for the fun of it? The journey is treacherous, the new surroundings unfamiliar and unpleasant.

Something drastic must have caused these people to flee their homeland.

Often it is war. Sometimes it is the tyranny of the tin-pot dictators. People don't become refugees in search of a better lifestyle; they become refugees because they have no other choice.

If we collectively spoke up against the tyrants that make these people run away, and get them to behave, then maybe there would be less people fleeing their homeland.

If we controlled our very own village idiots -- the tin-pot dictators who try to rule our country without our consensus -- then we wouldn't have to run away some day.

Most Malaysians Agree With BERSIH Demands

Over two-thirds of Malaysians agree with the demands mooted by electoral watchdog Bersih while close to half disagreed with the way the government handled last month’s Bersih rally and the events leading up to it, a Merdeka Center poll has shown.

Seventy per cent agreed that foreign observers should be allowed to monitor elections while 68 per cent felt opposition parties should be given access to government-owned television and radio stations for at least one hour a day.

Read the rest: Most Malaysians agree with Bersih demands, poll finds

Imran Khan on the Malaysian Govt at The Guardian

On being detained at Kuala Lumpur airport

Malaysia didn't want me to enter the country to gather evidence about how ethnic Indians were treated by colonial Britain

In the Hollywood film The Terminal Tom Hanks plays (with obligatory mangled foreign accent) a character who is trapped in New York's JFK airport. Last week, I had a similar experience at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Malaysia. Whereas Tom Hanks's character spends years trapped, I was only there for a few hours. The episode was both humiliating and enlightening. I had been engaged by a Malaysian lawyer, Waytha Moorthy, to look into taking action against the British government for its role in the exploitation of Indian Hindus during Malaysia's period as a colony, and its failure to protect their rights when independence was declared in 1957.

Read the rest on the web.

From Lofty Pedestals

By Erna Mahyuni

If there’s one thing we’re consistent about, it’s electing clowns into Parliament. For me, it is one of life’s mysteries, one other Malaysians often contemplate very loudly at a mamak stall.

I think I’ve figured it out. We don’t elect idiots for entertainment value. More likely, it’s just that Malaysians have an inferiority complex the size of Putrajaya.

While our political quagmire is similar in many ways to that of the United States -- loud, right-wing faction, business and political interests colliding -- but unlike the American people, we don’t like putting our leaders up on pedestals. No, we seem to like having our politicians stay in the gutter so we can look down on them from our own lofty moral pedestals.

Read more at: Be Malaysian, love an idiot

Strange Way Of Dealing With Refugees

I am confused.

The Malaysian government has been trying to entice Filipinos and Indonesians to become citizens of Malaysia in the hope that these migrants would vote for the BN government come the next general elections.

Personally, I don't know if this will work, but Malaysia has agreed to accept Muslim refugees from the Middle East in exchange for sending non-Muslim Myanmarese refugees to Australia.

This led me to believe that the BN administration was selecting Muslims for their vested interests.

But it looks like I was wrong.

I had not previously heard of the Uighur people of China. These people hail from Xinjiang and are of Caucasoid (European/Turkish) and Mongoloid (Chinese) ancestry.

You may be forgiven for thinking that people from China would be either Taoists or Buddhists. That was what I previously thought.

But the Uighurs are Muslims.

Only today, the BN government deported 11 Uighur people to China.

KUALA LUMPUR — A human rights group criticised Malaysia on Tuesday for sending a group of ethnic Uighurs back to China and urged an end to such deportations over fears of mistreatment and even torture.

The UN refugee agency also said it had sought access to the 11 people deported on August 18 as well as five others still in custody in Malaysia but had been denied by Malaysian authorities.

A senior Malaysian police official defended the government's actions in comments to AFP, saying the Chinese nationals, all members of the Uighur ethnic minority, were involved in a human-smuggling syndicate.

"This group has nothing to do with any political group or asylum-seekers. They are all involved in people smuggling," he said.

Announcing the deportations on Saturday, police said they had busted a Chinese people smuggling ring which was falsely trying to claim UN refugee status for its victims after smuggling them into Malaysia.

But New York-based Human Rights Watch denounced the deportations and urged they be halted, saying Uighurs faced "grave risk of torture" in China.

It also called on China to make known where the 11 deportees were.

"The treatment of these Uighurs is a litmus test for Malaysia?s commitment to basic principles of refugee protection," it said in a statement.

Many Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking and predominantly Muslim minority in China's remote northwestern Xinjiang region, allege decades of political and religious repression by China.

Their anger -- and China's resulting tight security in the region -- has triggered sporadic bouts of unrest.

The deportations come amid a refugee swap arrangement between Malaysia and Australia, which has been put on hold by a Canberra court.

Rights groups moved to block the deal, citing concerns over Malaysia's record on handling refugees.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees spokeswoman Yante Ismail said the agency had sought access to all 16 Uighurs. She said the five in detention had all previously applied for refugee status with the agency.

"We very much regret that the 11 individuals were deported without the opportunity for us to have access to them," she said in a statement.

The police official said there were no immediate plans to deport the five but that they could face criminal charges over fake Malaysian passports found on them.

The US-based Uyghur American Association called the deportations a "flagrant violation of international law" by Malaysia.

"(The deportations) follow an extremely disturbing trend of Uighurs deported from countries with strong trade and diplomatic ties to China," it said in a statement.

Human Rights Watch said other countries such as Thailand and Pakistan had recently deported Uighurs back to China, adding that it revealed "the bullying hand of China".

I would derive two conclusions from this:

1. While the BN government tries to bully its Malaysian-Chinese citizens, it has a profound fear of China, with whom it has business dealings.

2. While the BN government is seeking more Muslims to form a bigger Muslim majority, it is still wary enough of increasing the Chinese population in Malaysia.

3. The BN government will happily ditch the Muslims when it suits them.

I guess all those protests against atrocities in Palestine are just grandstanding.

Why Exchange Refugees Anyway?

I just read Chris Kenny's commentary on the refugee swap between Malaysia and Australia. I am honestly surprised to note that the Australians are this perceptive to the state of affairs in Malaysia.

Frankly, I am not the only Malaysian who has been protesting the refugee exchange programme between Malaysia and Australia. It originally sounded quite beneficial for Malaysians - after all Australia will take 4000 of our refugees in exchange for only 800 of theirs per year.

But of course, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Australia is offloading most of their troublemakers and the extremists to Malaysia.

And what does Malaysia stand to gain? The truth is, the average citizen has everything to lose, while UMNO is banking on the support of these new-comers, the Muslims. Perhaps UMNO is hoping to reinforce the divide between the Muslims and non-Muslims.

This is a sorry state of affairs.

Related: Malaysia trading 4,000 non-Muslims for 800 Muslims in asylum swap, says top Aussie paper

The Emergency Ordinance

Are we in a state of emergency?

A lot has been said about the Internal Security Act - more commonly known as the ISA. It is mostly because it has been used to detain political dissenters, or those whose only crime is that they oppose the practices of the ruling coalition which calls itself our government.

But many people did not realise that we have another equally draconian law called the Emergency Ordinance.

As you've probably guessed, it was called as such because it was used during emergencies. I can think of 2 legitimate emergencies - one was the communist one in 1948 and the other was caused by the racial riots of 1969.

But did you know that out of 5 emergencies that have been declared, 4 have not been lifted yet??

That bring us back to the question: Are we in a state of emergency?

Most rational people would say that we are not. At least I would expect that foreign investors do not regard us as being under emergency.

But the problem is, the ruling coalition administration is using these laws indiscriminately. On the 1st of August 2009, Malaysians took to the streets to protest the use of ISA.

The irony is that at most, there have been 600 people held under the ISA while the reality is that over 6000 Malaysians have been detained under the EO.

Not all of them are political prisoners. Some are unfortunate enough to be caught stealing motorcycles. Others are squatters (or urban dwellers) who came from villages to make a living in the city.

In order to be able to evict them without giving due compensation, the administration puts them away by the EO. Some of them who protest the destruction of their dwellings are banished to another state using the EO as legal basis.

The EO is so draconian in that it does not allow the public or the judiciary to question its use. The legislative powers have undisputed and exclusive access to this awful bit of law.

It is a terrible situation, one that has gotten so bad because we ignored those we put into power and let them do as they wished.

We will now have to somehow work together as one people to finally be able to revoke these two nasty bits of law.

Are We An Angry Bunch?

This is in response to Wong Chun Wai’s ‘On the beat’ column ("Of Angry Birds and angry Malaysians": The Sunday Star, 24 July 2011) where he asked Malaysians to stop being angry on the many issues affecting the nation.

It was a very well written piece, well placed and sounded almost logical and rational to those who read only the mainstream media.

Allow me to give Wong 10 good reasons why Malaysians are angry … in fact Malaysians are very, very angry.

1) We are angry that we have been denied our constitutional and democratic rights to a peaceful gathering. We are angry at the police brutality on a frail, tender 65-year-old auntie who was sprayed with chemically laced water and tear gassed for exercising her democratic rights when she was walking alone to demonstrate peacefully what she believes in.

2) We are angry at the lies, the biased reporting and the cover-ups by mainstream media (The Star included) to serve their political masters. We are angry at the way the mainstream media demonise Bersih 2.0.

3) We are very angry at the double standards of the police in arresting activists and opposition politicians. While some self-proclaimed nationalists and race champions openly spew seditious statements to incite religious and racial hatred and no action was taken against them, others were arrested for merely wearing yellow T-shirts.

Read the rest here: Why Malaysians are angry

Wong Chun Wai attempts to condescendingly belittle the common man, saying that he has nothing to be angry about. Tan Seng Hai's response is very befitting and to the point.

That being said, I don't think Malaysians are really angry. If they were, things would have improved. But unfortunately, the problem is that there is just a lot of talk and nothing much being done.

On the 9th of July 2011, about 100,000 people showed up on the streets (as per my estimate). But the population of Kuala Lumpur is more than a million. This suggests that less than 10% of the population are dissatisfied or at least angry enough to brave threats of arrest, tear-gas and chemical water.

Were the 90% of the population sleeping/apathetic/ignorant/BN-supporters/cowards?

Cambridge Syllabus In Malaysia?

One of my pet peeves is the state of education in Malaysia.

This is the reason why BN ministers can systematically deny that tear gas was shot into Tung Shin hospital when heaps of videos can be found on youtube, proving otherwise.

This is the reason why Malaysians cower in fear, afraid to speak out, frightened to stand up to authority.

They have been taught not to think, but merely to accept what the authority (in this case, the teacher) tells them.

So when someone tells me that they are going to revamp our education system, I get excited.

I start thinking that there is hope for Malaysia after all. But as usual, my hopes are dashed.

Apparently, this education is solely for Mara colleges.

Like Sarojini, I want to know why.

Cambridge syllabus: Why only in 45 Mara colleges?

August 15, 2011
FMT LETTER

From Sarojini C, via e-mail

The article ‘Cambridge curriculum at Mara colleges’ in the ‘In Brief’ section of the NST on Sunday spoke about the offering of the Cambridge International General Certificate of Education in 45 Mara Junior Science Colleges nationwide by 2016.

As it is one of the most recognised qualifications in the world, I, as a fellow citizen of Malaysia, am thrilled at the prospect of such world-class education, but at the same time cannot help but wonder why such syllabus cannot be offered to government schools as well, as this appears to suggest a double standard in our education syllabus.

I understand that there may be a lack of resources to implement such syllabus on a national basis, and more time may be required for such a big move, but at a time where national schools are bickering over the usage of English in the teaching of the Math and Science subjects, such a move to implement the Cambridge syllabus, which I assume will be fully in the English medium.

Why only in the 45 Mara Junior Science Colleges? It his seems to suggest that there would be inequality in the education offered in such Mara colleges and national schools. As education is a basic right for every child, be it a child in a Mara college or a child in a national school, it would only be fair if the same syllabus is applied in both Mara colleges and national schools alike, be it the Cambridge syllabus or the current syllabus.

Read the rest on the web.

"They Want To Suppress That Information."

If any of you had any misgivings about HINDRAF's claims, this should put rest to them. The fact that the Malaysian authorities act in such a way shows that they have something big to hide.

From AFP: Malaysia deports British lawyer for Indian activists

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia Saturday deported a British lawyer for a group of ethnic Indian activists who allege discrimination of their minority community in the Southeast Asian country, officials said.

British lawyer Imran Khan arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport Friday but immigration authorities prevented him from entering the country and instead sent him back to London 12 hours later.

Immigration Department director general Alias Ahmad confirmed Khan was deported early Saturday as he was a "prohibited immigrant" but declined to comment further.

S. Jayathas, a coordinator for Hindraf, which lobbies for more rights for Malaysia's ethnic Indian minority, said Khan had planned to stay a week to meet community members who have faced difficulties, such as getting identity cards or being forced to convert to Islam.

"They deported him," Jayathas told AFP, adding that officials only told Khan they were following police instructions "from higher authorities" without being given any other reason.

"(His visit) will bring awareness that the Indian minority has been cheated for the past 54 years of their rights... They want to suppress that information," Jayathas said.

Frankly, I had my doubts on what HINDRAF was up to. A lot of people claim that HINDRAF is a barrier to a united Malaysia.

But the Indians have legitimate issues which both sides of the divide - Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat - ignore.

I actually feel quite encouraged that someone from the UK is willing to listen to their grievances.

If I've got it right, this Imran Khan is an experienced lawyer in the field of human rights and his take on this case would be very valuable.

How Many Yellow Cities?

If you were wondering really how many cities participated, here is your answer.



Is it possible that people all over the world - in 38 cities to be exact - could be wrong about
a) the fundamental right to express ourselves?
b) the sorry state of our government?

Faith Under The Constitution?

Have you ever wondered about the Federal Constitution which is the highest law in this country and wanted to know more?

You're in luck. A bunch of Legal Eagles are offering their knowledge to the public by holding a forum.

Forum: Conversations on the Constitution: Keeping the Faith under the Constitution
Date: 16 August 2011 (Tuesday)
Time: 8 – 10pm
Venue: Eaglepoint, No. 2, Jalan Rajawali 3, Bandar Puchong Jaya, 47100 Puchong

Panel:
Aston Philip Paiva (Advocate & Solicitor)
Nizam Bashir (Advocate & Solicitor)
Edmund Bon (Advocate & Solicitor, Founder of LoyarBurok and Campaigner with UndiMsia)

Moderator:
Joanne Leong (Co-Deputy Chairperson, Bar Council Constitutional Law Committee)

Presentation:
The Constitution and You

Speaker:
Syahredzan Johan (Chairperson, Bar Council Constitutional Law Committee)

For more info, go to our FB event page: http://on.fb.me/rd8gNz

The Federal Constitution is the “rule-book” or manual for Malaysia, and preserves the central pillars of democratic governance. It is the supreme law of the country. However, the Constitution in its current form is not “user-friendly”, and unlike many other nations with written constitutions, the Constitution does not form a comprehensive part of the education curriculum in Malaysia.

All Malaysians need to be informed in order to consider for themselves whether positions taken on the Constitution can be upheld and accepted. They must also be armed with an understanding of the rights and limits of the institutions of government and the rights and limits of every Malaysian. The Constitution belongs to every Malaysian, and every Malaysian is a beneficiary of its promise of constitutionalism and democratic governance.

One of the fundamental liberties enshrined and protected by the Constitution is our freedom of religion. Article 11 of the Federal Constitution guarantees every person has the right to profess or practise his/her religion and to propagate it. Yet are there limits to our freedom of religion? Can the State curtail freedom of religion for other interests? We see many examples of the restrictions placed on the practise of religion. Are these restrictions constitutional? How have the various pillars of governance – Legislature, Executive and Judiciary – upheld our religious freedom?

How do we keep the Faith under the Constitution?

Program:
8.00 – Welcoming speeches
8.15 – Conversations on the Constitution: Keeping the Faith under the Constitution
9.15 – Q & A session
9.45 – The Constitution & You

More About FBC Media

From Asia Sentinel:

Packaged TV productions extolling the virtues of Malaysia and Sarawak state Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud have embarrased some of the world's leading television networks after they were found to have been paid for by the Malaysian government as part of a massive public relations campaign.

According to the Sarawak Report, a Sarawak-based NGO, the news programs are being produced by Fact Based Communications, a London-based company also known as FBC Media, that describes itself on its website as an "European-based media and entertainment group specializing in television format creation, production and distribution."

Read the rest on the web:
Government effort to plant stories tarnishes major TV networks worldwide

Riots and Chaos

The IGP has some words of wisdom for the Malaysian public.

Deputy IGP: London riots proof against allowing street protests

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 11 — The ongoing riots in London and other major cities in Britain are evidence of the “nightmares” that can be prevented by avoiding street protests, said Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Khalid Abu Bakar

Despite chaotic scenes where tens of thousands were dispersed with tear gas and water cannons during the July 9 Bersih rally, Khalid (picture) said that “we are able to avoid these scary and tragic scenes from erupting here in our beloved country.”

“These are the nightmares that we are fighting hard to avoid and prevent. Street protest should always be avoided as we will never know what it can turn into,” he said on his Facebook page last night.

A few things that need to be taken into context here:

1. The British police were instructed to "stand and observe looting". This will never happen in Malaysia, because the cops are too anxious to get their hands on any unsuspecting citizen so they can show who's boss. The British cops on the other hand, display restrain.

2. In order not to provoke more anger, the police did not take any action against the rioters. Unfortunately, there were many out to take advantage of the situation by committing crimes. The police should have promptly arrested those.

3. The issue that the British government has failed to tackle here is the minority underclass. From several videos and images on the web, it is very evident that most of the perpetrators are of minority groups who probably hold a lot of resentment about their status.

Interestingly, there have been a few instances of massive riots in the US. And yet, the US still remains the world super-power. I expect the UK economy would not be unaffected by this either though they would do well to get to the root of this matter of random rioting.

That being said, while streets protests are enshrined in the constitution as a freedom of expression and public gathering, riots are never acceptable.

Expressing oneself is normal, infringing on someone else's property and personal rights is not.

Do Malaysians Care About Wrongful Deaths?

He was 29 years old.

He lived in North London. Just last week, on the 6th of August, he was fatally shot by the Metropolitan police.

He was by no means an innocent angel.

Mark Duggan was an alleged cocaine dealer and member of the 'Star Gang'.

His biggest mistake was to be carrying a gun - something that is relatively rare in the UK.

His friends and family held a vigil in protest over his shooting. Over 200 people gathered.

Unfortunately, this led to riots and subsequently, looting in a minority community which was already seething over the wealth discrepancy in London and what they perceived as police bullying.

Mark Duggan was not the most upstanding citizen in the neighbourhood, but his death was not tolerated by the community.

In another country far away, two young men (who were not entirely upstanding citizens either) had their lives snatched a few years earlier.

One was Kugan Ananthan, and the other Gunasegaran Rajasundram. They were in their 20s to 30s - very much like Mark Duggan.

But unlike Mark Duggan, very few mourned their deaths. Another life gone was not to be despaired over - after all, there were already 1805 deaths in custody, so what was another?

In fact, some even went to the extent of saying, "We work for our living, we don't cause trouble, avoid crime and make the best of our lives in Malaysia. Not like Indians. Get involved in crime, have massive protests and threaten the government and the police."

The fact that police are senselessly killing Malaysian citizens does not worry the average Malaysian. Or does it?

What The Election Commission Says

The Selangor Election Commission (EC) has rejected all 583 complaints which claimed that permanent resident (PR) holders had been registered as voters, claiming that they were found to be citizens.

Could all 583 be bogus complaints?

You and I know how valuable Selangor is to the federal government. Port Klang, one of the nation's cash cows is located in the state of Selangor. Then we have most of the affluent neighbourhoods as well.

BN really needs to reclaim Selangor to be able to continue lining their pockets.

From Malaysiakini:

Selangor EC had received a total of 1,475 objections against the second quarter supplementary electoral roll draft, with 583 or 39.5 percent on PR holders allegedly being given voting rights.

The rest were ordinary complaints such as discrepancy in registered address, which will be resolved through a public inquiry held from Sep 6 to Oct 6, Dzulkifli added.

The issue of a PR holder named Mismah registered as a potential voter in the latest supplementary electoral roll draft was first reported by Malaysiakini last Tuesday.

Pakatan Rakyat then claimed that they had detected 1,597 such cases nationwide, with 1,108 of them found in Selangor, a state ruled by Pakatan.

Not only that, the EC has been found to have registered a voter named 'Kg Baru'.

From Malaysiakini again:

According to the EC online verification system, 'Kg Baru' (Mykad: 830527115422) is a voter registered in the state constituency of Hulu Besut and parliamentary constituency of Besut, Terengganu.

However, a check with NRD online system revealed that the Mykad number is assigned to one Noraini binti Abdullah.

"The question is, how can the EC make such a shameful mistake? How did it happen?” asked Johor PAS Youth chief Suhaizan Kaiat, who discovered the flaw.

Believe it or not folks, there is a RM10 fee levied on each objection raised by the public, as well as a RM200 penalty for every objection that is rejected.

This is the extent of their shameless corruption and cheating.

Another Brain Drain Story

From: Brain drain: The story behind the dwindling Chinese in Malaysia

Excerpt:

Migration has always been a part of our history, especially in a country like Malaysia, where most of our forefathers were migrants looking for a promised land. They worked their fingers to the bone making their fortunes far away from their places of birth, often with little help and lots of hardship.

There is also the rural-urban migration, where the main pull factor is the seeking of better education and better job opportunities compared to those available in the rural sectors. But the worse kind of migration is what is happening in developed countries today - the migration of fully qualified, hard working professionals to other countries, not because they cannot find jobs, but because they are unhappy with the political system practised by the state.

A brain drain is one of the worst things that can happen to a country; that is the reason why states like Singapore are doing their best to retain not only their own people, but foreigners who study in their local institutions of higher learning. These new graduates are dangled not only with scholarships and a stable career after graduation, but also offered the security of a citizenship.

And it was Malaysia who gave these bright sparks 11 years of free education; Singapore merely complemented it with a few years of university and then got to keep them. Now, who are the biggest losers? Who are the real dummies?

Straight From The Horse's Mouth

A lot of people would ignore this bit of news.

It does sound like the typical mainstream media spin, which it tries to be. However, it gives some precious gems of information - quite unwittingly, I wager.

What I learned from this article by Bernama:

1. BN is extremely worried - to the extent of hiring bloggers to counter-attack the rising public sentiment against BN and by their own admission, it is not working!!!!!!

2. A lot of people are going online for information rather than sticking to the conventional news on TV, radio and print media. It shows that BN has totally lost credibility.

3. The urban-dwellers are being enlightened and in turn enlightening the folks back in the kampungs. This means the message is actually being carried across and the rural folks do not have the same perception of the government as they used to.

4. BN acknowledges that the July 9 rally was a huge blow for them.

BN does give some really good advice though: "In this age of information, people must train themselves to think and analyse before actually accepting the information presented to them."

I'm so glad that so many people do think and analyse - which is why they have rejected BN.

Alwyn Lau On The DUMC Raid

I think Alwyn Lau manages to get to the root of the matter. This is probably the best piece written on this issue.

Excerpts:

Berita Harian and Harian Metro see only how Christians want to bribe Muslims into believing in Jesus Christ, without seeing how Christians may in fact be concerned about the very poverty of some communities (including Muslims, obviously) and how the fact that some Muslims end up being Christian may reflect less some odious scheme to convert Muslims and more the natural sense of gratitude humans have when people show compassionate love.

In a word, the politically motivated see only what they want to see. But what they can’t see is that segment which they must be most responsible for i.e. the least of “the people”.

I’m talking about the homeless, the AIDS victim, the drug addict, the orphan, the widow, the handicapped, i.e. the very people for whom the DUMC dinner was thrown — who sees THEM? Only, it seems, DUMC and Harapan Komuniti.

The drug addicts and homeless are those whom society doesn’t enjoy seeing, so all the more reason why our leaders must take a good hard look at how they came to be.

The orphans are the ones for whom GE13 will make hardly a whiff of difference, so it’s critical that voters make a difference at GE13 bearing these children in mind.

The handicapped are the ones who will continue to suffer after the media furore has been cleaned (off the fans and the surrounding “areas”), so we need to bring them to the top of our political priorities lest it makes our talk of justice and a “high-income society” full of nonsense.

It’s pretty ironic when we remember that the people being served by Harapan Komuniti represent the very definition of “marginalised”. And yet when an incident involving them sprouts up, the last thing we think about is them.

Because after the political parties and analysts have finished their speeches and back-patting, after we’ve finished convincing ourselves that the bad guy remains as bad or even worse than before and that our good-guy party isn’t an iota responsible, the abused wife who has to feed three kids still has to fight back the tears every day to ensure her kids don’t have to fight back their hunger.

[Read that bit again, O ye sanctimonious Pakatan Rakyat supporters.]

We need to see the less privileged in our community as part of us and not merely as pawns in political ploys to get people to tick a preferred square on a piece paper come election day.

I’m glad Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim apologised for the incident but I’ll be gladder if his commitment towards justice doesn’t end with reprimanding Jais for their conduct and if, overall, Pakatan Rakyat is defined less by their criticism of Barisan Nasional and more by their efforts to bring joy and hope to these individuals.

Read the whole piece on the wesbite: The DUMC Raid: Are we forgetting someone?

I Found This On Wikipedia Main Page

It has something to do with a Malaysian event.

Click on image to enlarge

Can you see it?

It is things like these and not a peaceful demonstration that would keep potential tourists away.

Anonymous Returns!

Remember Anonymous? The same guys who hacked into the Malaysian site some time back as a lesson to the Malaysian government for censoring whistle-blower site Wikileaks?

Well, these guys are back with a vengeance, and the next date is 24th October 2011.

I wonder if the Malaysian government is prepared to be humiliated yet again. Maximus Ongkili (minister of Science, Technology and Innovation) was quoted as saying that the hackers were in the process of being identified.

I have yet to hear anything on that subject so far and it has been almost 3 months since then.

Not only that, he claims the hackers were Malaysians. Nabbing them would have been quite easy.

But I suspect it is all trash talk to sound big and mighty. After all, perception management is a big thing for the Malaysian government, otherwise why would they hire APCO and FBC to make them look good?

All this trash talk is making them sound silly as Anonymous prepare to unleash yet another volley of Denial Of Service (DOS).

Check them out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHrZsmfylog&feature=youtu.be

This is a good one

The irony is that while Muslims in other parts of the world are being persecuted for their religion, over here it is the other way round.

I think religious extremists exist in every religion, but the crux of the matter is that we should not shun a fellow Malaysian just because he or she is of a particular religion.

Who Is FBC Media?

What they say on their website:

Formed in 1998, FactBased Communications (FBC) is a European-based media and entertainment group specialising in television format creation, production and distribution.

However, there is more that you should know about them. Apart from entertainment, they apparently do public relations.

Guess who is part of their clientele? Our very own BN government of course, and it's probably funded by you and me.

The news is, they were paid millions of ringgit by Putrajaya and Sarawak to shine their images globally.

Fortunately, the BBC and CNBC have come to their senses and disassociated themselves with FBC Media.

Read the whole story here: CNBC drops flagship show over paid Malaysian interviews

P.S. There is a transcript of one of the public relations type shows between the host and Najib on the site, so you don't want to miss it!

DUMC - The Church That Got Raided Over A Dinner

The freaking religious authorities merely walked in without a warrant and seized the function’s programme sheets and questioned the dinner organisers and guests.

They claimed they were there in response to a complaint but never clarified what the complaint was.

This is part of DUMC's press statement.

Click to enlarge

So much for Najib seeking an audience with the pope. Why bother with that when you royally p1ss off the Christians???

Read the whole story here: Jais, cops raid church over multi-racial dinner

Yet Another Phantom Voter Found On The Electoral Roll!

Someone had just checked his details on the electoral roll. For fun, he randomly changed one value in the IC number.

He stumbled upon this name.

Then he changed yet another number, and the same name showed up again!!

How could the same name appear again? Is this a real life human being behind the IC number or yet another of the election commissions attempts to cheat?

Really, how many phantom voters are there in the electoral roll?

The fact that a random number managed to pick up a phantom voter goes to show that there must be thousands of them in there!!

Asia Sentinel on Rosmah

The surat layang - "flying letters" in Malay, or anonymous assaults -- have been flying in record numbers in recent weeks, attacking Rosmah Mansor, the wife of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.

They are being picked up and spread in volume by the country's blogosphere, much of it arrayed against the Barisan Nasional, or ruling national coalition.

It isn't certain who is behind the attacks, but they are clearly tied to national elections expected either late this year or early in 2012.

Read the rest here: Malaysian PM's Wife Draws flak

Election Commission Reverts Status Of Mismah

Just yesterday, I posted the news from Malaysiakini regarding attempts by the ruling coalition BN to register phantom voters into the electoral roll.

However, due to the bad publicity it was receiving, the Election Commission quickly reverted her status to "being verified for the electoral roll".

This is one instance where the cheating has been discovered and highlighted. But I really do wonder how many others have escaped detection.

BN is desperate and would do anything to gain enough votes to stay in power.

EC changes 'Mismah' status in draft electoral roll

The Election Commission (EC) has changed the status of Mismah, a 'permanent resident' whose name had been entered in the draft electoral roll.

Based on a check of its online verification system at 2pm, under the 'record status', it is now stated that her application to register as a voter is dalam proses pengesahan daftar pemilih (being verified for the electoral roll).

Her name had been included in the draft supplementary electoral roll that has been opened for public scrutiny for a week.

EC head Abdul Aziz Yusof, when contacted, explained that the objection period had ended yesterday.

"Those who did not receive any objection will be gazetted (as elegible voters). Those who received objections will be subjected to a verification process," he said.

"(During the process) a public inquiry will be called, (enabling) both parties - the potential voter and the complainant - to be heard."

Malaysiakini yesterday discovered Mismah had beencategorised as a permanent resident (PR) in the National Registration Department (NRD) online system.

The NRD online verification system, which allows users to check the status of an individual, shows that Mismah holds MyPR card No. 640704715238.

About four hours after yesterday's report, Mismah's status on the NRD online verification system had been 'upgraded' to that of a citizen.

Abdul Aziz had earlier attributed this to technical negligence on the part of the NRD, insisting that only citizens are eligible to be registered as voters.

'NRD online database not updated'

Elaborating on this today, he said he had contacted the NRD and was told that its online database had not been updated alongside the Agency Link-Up System (Alis).

"(It was only) when I called (them) that they realised they have not updated the names online," Abdul Aziz (left) added.

The NRD online database - used by the public to verify their status and details - is different from Alis, which is the reference point for the EC in registering voters, he said.

According to election laws, the EC updates the electoral roll every three months with a quarterly supplementary electoral roll draft.

The names of all newly-registered voters, voters who have changed their residing addresses and voters who have been removed from the electoral roll, are compiled in the supplementary electoral roll draft.

The roll is then displayed usually for one week, for public scrutiny, before it is gazetted and used in the next election.

During the display period, members of the public can raise their objection to the names listed in the supplementary electoral roll.

Permanent Resident Becomes Citizen ... In Four Hours!

From Malaysiakini:

Less than four hours after Malaysiakini reported that a permanent resident (PR) holding a red MyPR card had been registered as a new voter, she has apparently become a citizen.

She now has a blue Mykad, based on a check of the same online system of the National Registration Department (NRD) where her identification details are recorded.

A check of the NRD online verification system twice - at 5.48pm yesterday and 11.30am today - had shown that a person named Mismah was a PR holder who had collected her MyPR card (No. 640704715238), an identification card for PR.

When the same number was entered into the Election Commission (EC) online verification system, Mismah appeared as a newly-registered voter.

However, another check with the NRD system at 3pm returned a shocking result - the same Mismah has become a citizen who has collected her blue Mykad.

Her status on the EC online verification system remained the same as at 3pm - a newly-registered voter in the latest supplementary electoral roll draft which is now on display for public scrutiny.

Despite the fact that non-citizens cannot be registered as voters, she was registered in the Ijok state constituency and Kuala Selangor parliamentary constituency, which are respectively held by Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid from PKR and Dzulkelfy Ahmad from PAS.

It appeared that Mismah's is not an isolated case.

Federal Territory PAS has claimed to have encountered 52 such cases when filing complaints with the Federal Territory EC today about the supplementary electoral roll draft .

Titiwangsa PAS division secretary Hedzer Ibrahim, who went to the EC office with other party leaders, said the first check with the NRD online verification system from 9-10am today showed that the 52 were PR who had collected their red MyPR card.

However, when the PAS team conveyed the result to the Federal Territory EC officials about 3pm, the latter checked the NRD database and found the 52 names to be those of citizens.

Hedzer then instructed the party technician to check the NRD online system again and obtained the same surprising result.

Fortunately PAS had screen-captured the result accessed this morning and a copy was given toMalaysiakini.

The 52 voters are registered in six parliamentary constituencies in Kuala Lumpur that were won by the opposition in the last general election.

These are Lembah Pantai (6 voters), Bandar Tun Razak (1), Segambut (5), Titiwangsa (28), Batu (8) and Wangsa Maju (4).

Malaysiakini is attempting to seek comment from the NRD.

Voter registration procedures

According to election laws, the EC updates the electoral roll every three months with a quarterly supplementary electoral roll draft.

The names of all newly-registered voters, voters who have changed their residing addresses and voters who have been removed from the electoral roll, are compiled in the supplementary electoral roll draft.

The roll is then displayed usually for one week, for public scrutiny, before it is gazetted and used in the next election.

During the display period, members of the public can raise their objection to the names listed in the supplementary electoral roll.

Allegations of foreigners being illegally registered as voters to shore up the support of certain political parties have been continually raised by the opposition parties but constantly denied by the EC.

EC chairperson Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof has said thatonly citizens are allowed to be registered as voters, and that verification is done through the Agency Link-Up System (Alis) of the NRD.

Through the system, the EC cross-checks with NRD and employs 33 types of vetting before any application to become a voter can be approved.

“During the registration process, the applicant's identifier will be cross-checked with the NRD through Alis. The EC will only process the application if the details tally with the NRD records," he said.

“The system will automatically reject any fraudulent attempts to register a voter."

The Race Card

More than three years ago, I read an article and saved it. Today I read it again, and I found it still relevant.

So here it is: The Malaysian Race Card with a brief excerpt.

Chinese and Indians have become more vocal in opposing discriminatory policies, but they have given little indication that if they were granted greater equality they would rise above their own clannish tendencies.

Now don't get me wrong. I am not saying that all Malaysians are racist and clannish. In fact, the Bersih 2.0 rally was testament to the fact that we are colour blind deep down.

Then again, those who came out to stand up for their rights as voters are those who love their country and countrymen.

The problem is those who love to complain about the state of this nation but have never lifted a finger to do their part, be it signing a petition or attending a talk, much less participating in a rally.

I notice an interesting phenomenon when I read articles in Malaysia Today by Raja Petra Kamarudin.

When RPK posts a blog-entry that slams the Malays, many Chinese and Indians cheer him on. Interestingly, the Malays graciously accept their weaknesses and admit it.

But when RPK criticises the Chinese or Indians (rightfully), there is much angst and vexation over it.

Some time ago, John Malott, former US Ambassador to Malaysia spoke out against institutionalised racism practised by the Malaysian government.

I personally think the Malaysian government is rotten to the core and all its policies are designed to aid them in lining their own pockets.

But they still have the support of the Malay population because there is still a certain amount of wariness towards the Indians and Chinese as elaborated by one Umar Mukhtar in Malott painted only half the picture of racism.

A few excerpts:

Yes, two wrongs do not make a right. But as the saying goes, “It takes both hands to clap”. That is to say, Mallot's article runs the risk of completely absolving non-Malays from any responsibility in the racial predicament that the country is in. That is nothing less than avoiding reality and counter-productive to any effort to improve race relations in Malaysia. Malays have their grievances, too, against the Chinese. The fact that they seldom get aired does not make those grievances any less legitimate or valid.

Education for the very young is one obvious area where racist attitudes can be nipped in the bud.

Often the excuse given by the Chinese for insisting that their children go to vernacular schools and for more such schools to be built is the poor quality of national schools. Surely the solution is not to build more racially-segregated schools but to join hands with Malays and Indians in insisting and ensuring that the quality of national schools be improved for the benefit of children of all ethnicities. Perhaps that is considered such an outlandishly 'out-of-the-racial box' thinking that I have never heard any Chinese make that call.

Any sincere and honest effort to improve race relations has to take cognizance of the fact that racism exists in and racial discrimination is practised, to one extend or another, by all the races in Malaysia.

However, my own honest observation is that the Chinese never want to admit or acknowledge their own racism against Malays or other races.

Official and overt discriminatory policies can easily be criticised as institutionalised racism but covert racial discriminations by their very nature are harder to pinpoint. That does not mean they don't exist or any less invidious than the former.

When a “Mandarin speakers only” requirement is stated in job advertisements, even for jobs which do not conceivably require much language skills, that surely is equivalent to saying “Chinese only”. But you will be hard put to find any Chinese who would admit that the practice is racially discriminatory.

To many Malays, given the refusal of non-Malays to even acknowledge their own racism, the prospect of a rollback in whatever few affirmative action policies left on the plate appears to be concessions which are unlikely to be matched in a similar spirit by the Chinese in the spheres that they predominate, namely the commercial and economic.

If Najib can be accused of pandering to militant Malay groups, Chinese political leaders in the government and opposition, too, can be accused of pandering to their racial constituency.

In my lifetime, I have yet to hear of any Chinese leader asking that the Chinese to join in and contribute towards the betterment of national schools.

I have yet to hear of one calling for Chinese businesses to assist or at least not to gang up against their fellow non-Chinese businesses or to not practice discrimination in their employment policies.

Mallot failed to take into account one side of the equation in his brief exposition of the race relations situation in Malaysia. Hopefully, I have managed to redress that and allow a better understanding of why things are the way they are in Malaysia.

It would have been more gracious of Mallot if he had used his relationship with Malaysians during his tenure as a diplomat to impart his country's experience and firm action with regard to vigilance against the emergence of the evil that is racism, than to make things worse by dogmatically adopting the attitude that sympathising with the minority makes one righteous.

Unlike Umar Mukhtar, I have met the Chinese who speak out against racism. They are a wonderful bunch.

But the majority of people are more content to watch out for their own interests rather than the collective well-being of everyone involved.

Siapa Yang Bodoh?

RPK posted one of his usual Malay-bashing posts about 3 Malay men, 2 of them academicians in Melayu Bodoh.

I was rolling my eyes in my usual fashion when I realised it was taken from the idiot agency, Bernama.

And then I got to the end where it said this:

Another academician, Abd Ghapa Harun, Senior Lecturer at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's History, Political and Strategy Research Centre surmised that peace and harmony in the country could be sustained if the government readily responded to the issues that were being relentlessly harped on.

"For example, issues about corruption or the election - the government must respond to them immediately.

"Peace is not merely a demonstration-free situation. In a wider context, it is taking further measures to avoid confrontations including through dialogues and discussions before issues are blown out of proportion," he said.

I did a double-take. I went back to the beginning to check if it was still part of the Bernama article.

Lo and behold, it was! Bernama was actually reporting both sides of the story! This is unprecedented competence from this agency.

But when I got down to the comments section, I really started wondering who was 'bodoh' to begin with.

For example:

written by devious17, July 31, 2011 09:12:09
I was told that no one was born stupid, we are just lazy but after reading this article I am beginning to have doubts of what I was told about stupidity.

These three are nothing but The Three Stooges of umno/bn, the noose around their necks are tightening and desparate.

These three are indeed Melayu Bodoh.

and

written by roggon, July 31, 2011 01:29:39
CHE HAMDAN-uITM, MOHD ARIFFIN (DR) AND ABD GAPA HARUN, ukm. tHESE 3 ARE EXAMPLES OF MELAYU BODOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!!!!!

Were the true bodoh people the Melayu or the Cina dan India who had obviously not read to the end but chose to hurl insults at all 3 Malay men mentioned?

Lucius Goon Exposes Najib

I just love this piece by Lucius Goon!

From: Jangan Temberanglah, Najib!

JULY 31 — I have watched from afar how the prime minister and his administration have squirmed and twisted and justified their handling of Bersih 2.0 and shown their reluctance to discuss meaningful electoral reform.

Very little has surprised me about an administration that is bereft of principle and function on the basis of spin and half-truths. It is quite obvious that the government believed that it could kill off Bersih by tough action and threats of intimidation.

When this did not happen, Najib tried a different tack: that the government was reasonable but Bersih was bent on causing havoc on the streets. His administration also spread the word that if the electoral system was skewed, there is no way the Opposition could have snared five states.

Today, while speaking to student leaders, Najib added to the spin, saying that if the government really controlled the Election Commission, it could have easily won Kelantan in 2004 where a few seats were lost by a few votes.

I think we should end this lie now. In 2004, the PM was Abdullah Badawi, not the smartest man around and definitely a major disappointment but not a cheat. He would not have thought of stuffing the ballot box. In addition, the Umno guys did not know that Abdullah would lead BN to a strong win across the country.

Their showing in Kelantan was probably a surprise. But in all likelihood, Abdullah would have frowned on cheating.

In 2008, nobody, not BN, not Abdullah and certainly not Pakatan Rakyat, believed that the Malaysian public would punish the incumbents so severely.

Umno was caught unawares. Given that scenario, they did not feel the need to change the postal vote rules as they have done so recently. In addition, it is unlikely that as a God-fearing man, Abdullah would have agreed to wide-scale cheating.

But times have changed and the people at the top these days are facing much more pressure than Abdullah did: there is more racial strife; personal issues like the Scorpene deal which refuse to go away; a disillusioned non-Malay/Muslim electorate; a gaping budget deficit and a less gullible electorate.

More than anything else, there is also belief within Umno circles that this could be the end, and this fatalism is reflected by the grabbing and get rich mood currently prevalent among the BN elite and their cronies.

With this background, it is not surprising that Najib played hardball over the Bersih rally. Within Umno, they actually gave the Bersih people more power and credit than they deserved.

There is no way that Umno will agree to the transparency of electoral reform because the party leadership believes that control of the Election Commission is the last trump card it holds.

Coming back to Najib today. All this stout defence about offering Shah Alam Stadium is an afterthought. As the days roll along, the administration will embellish this story, aided and abetted by the lamestream media.

Depending on the audience, sometimes the justification for the government crackdown on Bersih will be to protect the majority against tyranny of the minority or that it is illegal to deal with an illegal organisation or something along those lines.

Temberanglah.

Notice all talk of communism and a Christian takeover has suddenly disappeared.

Rosmah Inserts Her Foot Into Mouth

Guess what big mama just said?

The US 24.8 million diamond was actually bought from savings since she was a teenager...

According to the Utusan Malaysia article, Rosmah Mansor, wife of PM Najib Razak, is quoted as saying that – yes, she bought this 30-carat diamond from Jacobs & Co. Fine Jewellers New York for US$24,458,400 – and that the money came from her savings since she was a teenager!

I have no idea whether the above quote is correctly attributed to her, but since her picture and the actual diamond bought also appeared in this same Utusan Malaysia article, and, so far, she has not denied it, we have to assume that this assertion did come from her mouth.

Unless Utusan Malaysia and its UMNO cohorts are the dumbest illiterates and can't-count-at-all morons, or they think all citizens of this 1Mar-rae-sia country should qualify for these "titles" I am flabbergasted as to the extent of their naivety and their nonchalant acceptance of this status quo!

Consider the following:

1. Datuk Seri Paduka Rosmah Mansor was born on 10 December 1951, which would make her 59 years 7 months old, or 60 years old on 10 December 2011 – 2 years old than hubby PM Najib Razak, who was born on 23 July 1953.

2. She has a BArts (Hons) Degree in Anthropology and Sociology from the then University of Malaya, where she graduated in 1974, and a MSc in Sociology and Agriculture from Louisiana State University, U.S., where she graduated in 1978.

3. She received the "Honorary Doctorate of Innovation in Human Capacity Development" from the Limkokwing University of Creative Technology on 22 March 2011.

4. She married Najib in 1987 and they have 2 kids – Nooryana Najwa Najib and Norashsham Razak Najib. This is Rosmah's second marriage, as she was previously married to Farid Ismeth Emir, a former TV presenter, and current job appears to be a GM of a trading company. She also had 2 kids with Farid. It is also Najib's second marriage – he first married Tengku Puteri Zainah Tengku Eskandar ("Ku Yie") in 1978, and she bore him 3 kids. He divorced Ku Yie in 1987 to marry Rosmah.

5. According to her official website http://www.pmo.gov.my /datin rosmah, she then worked in Agriculture Bank Malaysia until 1983, and as Business Development Manager at Island and Peninsular Berhad, where she worked until 1987.

6. So, at most, from her graduation in 1978 to the end of her working career in 1987, she worked some 9 years only!

7. She now tells us, as stated, that this US$24.5 million bauble was bought from her "savings" since her teenage days!

Let's explore further this statement:

-US$24,458,400 at today's exchange rate of RM3.047 to US$1.00 means it is RM74,524,745!

- What age is one called a "teenager"? Say we start at 15 years old. She's 59+, so she "saved' for some 44 years. RM74,524,745 divide by 44 years means:

***** her average yearly "savings" is RM1,693,744!
***** or average "savings" of RM141,145 a month!
***** or average "savings" of RM4,705 per day!

Wow, even better than Bill Gates or Warren Buffet who both had to work their butts out to get to where they are today!

8. She worked only 9 years from 1978 to 1987 in low to mid-level Managerial positions – the usual starting positions for most new University graduates – and basic pay-wise, would be around RM2,000 per month in 1978 to RM4,500 per month in 1987 – maybe, if you consume just nasi lemak and teh tarik every day, you will be able to save some money from these salaries! But RM74.5 million? Dream on!

She would be world famous if she wrote her thesis on how she did it – My Way!