Better Beer and Oktoberfest

I've done way more travelling in my lifetime than I ever anticipated. Seen a bunch of things, done a few, approved of some, disapproved of others.

Drinking in moderation was one thing that I always approved, of Malaysia. I'd like to think that most Malaysians drink responsibly, and that they don't drink and drive.

Alcohol consumption is also officially the domain of the minority, as Muslims are forbidden to drink.

Oktoberfest in Munich can be a ludicrous affair. I concede that the locals usually hold it together; besides, they've been doing it for centuries, in celebration of their Prince Ludwig's wedding to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.

You'd think that with Ludwig's infidelities throughout his marriage, the merriment would have dampened somewhat, but no, the Bavarians enjoy any excuse for a drink. Or fifteen.

It's mostly the throngs of visitors from around the world that have trouble behaving themselves after the copious levels of imbibing.

But forget the Bavarians and their tourists; a major fraction of the United States of America consists of indentured servants who arrived from Germany - their descendants take the celebration of Oktoberfest as a God-given right. Unfortunately, this being America, they struggle with moderation and frequently over-indulge themselves, despite the drinking age being moved up to prevent them starting young.

Of course, that would be cue for PAS (and any random moral police representative) to assert that drinking leads to LOW MORAL VALUES!!!!! Apparently, the drinkers will run rampant and the non-drinking public cannot be ensured of their "safety from crime, free sex, rape etc." Alamak. Dahsyat la.

There is this Jamal Jamban character, who frequently inflicts himself on the general public. He once protested a water shortage by walking around in a towel. This unfortunate moment led to collective dry-retching on the part of self-respecting Malaysian women, who had not expected to see such monumental filth.

This time, Jamal Jamban attempted to outdo himself. He bought a few crates of beer, and brought it, along with his blithering machais to the Selangor state government building, and then proceeded to smash it with a sledgehammer. He is currently under investigation for being a public nuisance. If you were British, you'd refer to him as a classic ASBO case.

As Coconuts says, "The stunt was in protest of an already canceled beer fest. You cannot get more syok sendiri if you tried."

The distressing truth is that both Kuala Lumpur and Selangor cancelled the festival. Clearly, they are pandering to a group whose votes they are counting on, and it's not the urban, educated, tolerant and sophisticated bunch. The ruling coalition knows it has lost those votes.

And when I say 'votes', I mean there's an election around the corner. It's obvious, because the beer festival was held in 2012 and again in 2016 with less objection than was deemed worthy to make the news.

The Straits Times says Najib dithers, and that will be his undoing. Apparently you can kill off Mongolian models, run off with a ton of 1MDB money and you'll still be alright - as long as you choose the right timing to call for the election.

He's not the only politician to be doing that. The Tangerine Buffoon at the White House is already campaigning for re-election. He knows who his support base is: the white supremacists and Evangelicals. So why would he even bother to get anyone else's vote?

Najib's modus operandi is exactly the same. He needs the right-wing, religious, Muslim vote. And he has to avoid offending them.

You'd be surprised, folks, at how similar the whole world can be.

Voting Tips

1. Vote early, defend your polling stations and also, if you can, test out the indelible ink on your finger with different solutions - bring along small quantities of soap, nail polish remover, alcohol swab etc.o use after voting -but away from prying eyes. And if the stain comes off, let the relevant NGO know right away.

2. You may also want to follow the suggestion regarding smudges. Take note too that if SPR Kerani 3 tries to fold your ballot paper before giving it to you, you have every right to tell him/her politely not to do that.

Malaysia Election Is Too Close to Call

From New York Times:

Analysts say that Malaysia's 13.3 million registered voters have been given a stark choice: the continuation of a political and economic system based largely on race, by a group that has firmly held power since the country's independence in 1957, or a completely new direction with a combative but untested opposition promising dramatic changes.

"It's either to accept that we need to mature as a country and support reform, or be stuck in the old ways of semi-authoritarianism, controlled media, an economic policy lacking in transparency and using the old race-based economic policies," Mr. Anwar said in an interview.

Mr. Najib has countered with a "stay the course" argument, touting political, social and economic changes and saying that the government's policies have maintained Malaysia's status as a stable, modern emerging country with Southeast Asia's third-largest economy.

"That is why the opposition's call for reform has had a poor response from the people," Mr. Najib said during a campaign rally this week in the northern state of Terengganu. "Which is better: street demonstrations or respecting the law? Which is better: sowing discord in the community or inculcating good moral values?"

Read the rest: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/04/world/asia/04iht-malaysia04.html?_r=0

Violence, 'faulty ink' mar Malaysian vote

Hong Kong (CNN) - Malaysia's closest-ever election is also fast becoming what some have described as its most violent amid reports of petrol bombs, texted death threats and beatings in the weeks leading up to Sunday's poll.

Just days before polling booths opened, the potential for voter fraud was also being alleged after reports that indelible ink used to mark the fingers of advance voters was washing off with water.

"The whole purpose of introducing indelible ink is to cut off multiple voters -- that is now being compromised by low quality ink," said Maria Chin Abdullah from BERSIH 2.0, which campaigns for electoral reform.

More: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/02/world/asia/malaysia-election-preview/?hpt=hp_inthenews

The black eye of Malaysian scandal politics - Al Jazeera

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Most countries, if not all, have had a dose of political intrigue, a few lofty falls from grace, or the embarrassing blunders of elected officials.

Yet even by this measure, the recent history of Malaysia has been utterly over the top.

The tight general elections set for Sunday have undoubtedly been influenced by the culture of scandal that has permeated domestic politics, but the outcome could determine if Malaysia is past all that or if it will sink deeper into the cross-fire of tabloid-style sleaze.

The two main players heading into the polls, one of whom will surely be the next leader of Malaysia, have hardly been immune, or averse, to political hardball.

Najib Razak, the prime minister, has vehemently denied links to the 2006 murder of a female Mongolian translator who was shot twice before her corpse was obliterated with C4 explosives in an abandoned field outside Kuala Lumpur.

Bone fragments linked the killing to two members of an elite police squad who have been described as Najib's former bodyguards. Both were sentenced to death by hanging.

The incident has been back in public re-play mode since March when a private investigator, who gave sworn testimony that placed Najib with the woman at a café in France, died of a heart attack. Najib took a public oath at a mosque to declare that he never met her.

His opponents, as could be expected, made public calls to re-open the case.

Read the rest: http://aljazeera.com/story/201352145851553210

Hotly Contested Elections -- Can You Be Bought?

Najib now needs to win this election in order to rule Malaysia under his own mandate – but analysts conjecture that if the BN were to lose any more seats on Sunday, Najib could easily be replaced as leader of the country.

That may explain why Najib's party, Umno, has invested heavily in this election, says Malaysia expert Bridget Welsh at Singapore Management University. According to Welsh's research, Najib's administration has spent nearly 60bn ringgit (£13bn) on "election-related incentives" in the past four years, making this the most costly runup to any election in Malaysia's history.

Billboards around the country allude to the incumbent coalition as aproduk, or product, that lasts. Voters have been offered food coupons and cash for attending Umno meetings, while Najib himself has handed out thousands of cash bonuses to state-linked corporate employees.

"There is a clear orientation to find potential groups of voters, identify their immediate needs, and provide it," Welsh recently wrote in online news portal Malaysiakini. "The bottom line in the BN's strategy is that it assumes Malaysians can be bought."

Read the rest: http://guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/01/malaysia-hotly-contested-elections

Rapp KL reputedly behind controversial Malaysian political ads - Campaign Asia

Underhanded tactics by the ruling coalition will only result in a vote for the Opposition.

Read the article:
http://www.campaignasia.com/Article/341008,rapp-kl-reputedly-behind-controversial-malaysian-political-ads.aspx

What About The Election?

After 5 years and 2 months, a decent proportion of Malaysians are anxious to return to the ballot boxes with greater urgency than even the previous elections.

The fever is international. Malaysians from every corner of the world are either excitedly following the progress of the upcoming days or even flying the thousand miles to come home and vote.

This time, an international audience is also watching. Not content with the ruling coalition's morality (or lack thereof), Bersih has beseeched Australia to get involved.

“Australia can and must play a critical role in ensuring a close UN member, Commonwealth friend and long-standing ally like Malaysia heeds its democratic obligations and respects the rights of its citizens without resorting to widespread violence, intimidation and electoral fraud,” said Global Bersih.

Malaysians have had enough. In the last 5 years, the crime rate has increased drastically. So has national debt. Meanwhile, the quality of life has steadily declined.

When things were going well, people turned a blind eye to corruption, racist practices, cronyism and nepotism. But life has stepped up the pace (all over the world, not just in Malaysia) and people are just not willing to accept old practices anymore.

So what are Malaysians voting for? Is it a certain political party? Or a particular personality? Or is there more to it?

Perhaps virtue may have a hand in it?

Like maybe, Empathy? Accountability. Transparency. Integrity. Stewardship.

Do those still matter?

Fly Home To Vote!

A while back, I posted about Malaysians working abroad who will be returning home to vote.

Interestingly, the airlines appear to be cooperating with those returning around the 5th of May.

Extracts:

Airlines are hoping to cash in on the huge interest in Malaysia’s upcoming May 5 elections by offering discounts and promotions to entice Malaysians living abroad to come home to vote.

“Fly Home to Vote” kicked it off, with cheap tickets offered by discount carrier AirAsia Bhd.

There are over one million Malaysians living and working outside Malaysia, according to MyOverseasVote, a group set up to campaign for the right of Malaysians abroad to vote. Roughly 40% work in Singapore and 20% in other Asian countries, the group said.

“We’re urging people to come back to vote and be sure that their votes will go to their preferred party because we’re gravely concerned about the possibility of fraud,” Bersih co-chairman Ambiga Sreenevasan told The Wall Street Journal.

National flag carrier Malaysian Airlines System Bhd isn’t offering any special fares, but it will allow Malaysians to change their flight schedules to around the election period free of charge, a company spokesperson said.

The elections were exciting the last time round. This time it's going to be riveting.

For Overseas Malaysians

BERSIH 2.0 Voting Advisory for Overseas Malaysians

via Bersih 2.0 | Gabungan Pilihanraya Bersih dan Adil by Bersih 2.0 on 07/02/13

Together with Global BERSIH, Tindak Malaysia, and MyOverseasVote, BERSIH 2.0 has developed an advisory for overseas Malaysian voters. Please keep yourself informed of any changes to postal voting procedures through the Election Commission’s main website and a special website for GE13.

You can also contact us at overseasvote@bersih.org.

Spread the advisory far and wide!

ENGLISH version: PDF  (right-click and save) | JPEG

CHINESE version: PDF (right-click and save) | JPEG

Malaysians Are Hardcore! :-)

Salmon fish are born in fresh water, migrate to the ocean, then return to fresh water -- to the exact spot where they were born to spawn.

Who knows what inspires this homing behavior.

Like salmon making its way upstream the river, a significant fraction of the million or so Malaysians living abroad will be returning home for the general elections.

Some will be missing their traditional homecoming for Chinese New Year.

Many others will be planning their holidays around the general elections.

From Asian Correspondent:

From Singapore, Australia and across the region, to the US and UK, voters will be travelling by car, bus and plane to vote in an election ear-marked as a once-in-a-generation opportunity for change.

There are more than a million Malaysians living overseas from a population of about 28 million people – enough to make a real difference come election day.

There may be thousands of miles between the expat Malaysian and his voting booth.

But that's not going to deter him. Most Malaysians are going to be coming home this year -- to vote.

And you know what? That makes me proud to be Malaysian.

These Are Signs

It looks like Barisan Nasional know that this is going to be a tough fight.

They're going to go down fighting at least, by bringing in the big guns like the ex Premier.

The question is, does Old Nyanyuk still have clout?

Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia's longest- serving leader, will hit the campaign trail to help Prime Minister Najib Razak's ruling coalition win a 13th straight general election after sitting out during the 2008 vote.

"I have promised that I will campaign," Mahathir, 87, said in a Dec. 5 interview in Putrajaya, Malaysia's administrative center near Kuala Lumpur. "I don't know whether I have enough influence or not, but I think people still remember me."

I remember you, mate. But not for reasons you will like.

Register To Vote

Just a friendly reminder about exercising your right to vote.

As of 4th June 2012, there were 3.65 million unregistered voters -- and Selangor has the highest number of eligible voters who have not registered with the Election Commission (EC), with the figure reaching 600,000.

Shame on you, Selangor! And you consider yourself an urban state.

Are you amongst those eligible but as yet unregistered to vote? Do you know of someone who can but hasn't yet registered?

Seriously, it doesn't take herculean effort to get to the post office and register yourself. I know, because it only took me 10 minutes.

Don't let civil servants talk you out of registering. Or the politically apathetic. If you don't vote, you frankly don't matter to the powers that be.

If you don't vote because you're disappointed with your choices, disgusted by tactics like lying and spin, or merely turned off by the process, you've opted out of the marketplace.

The goal of political marketers isn't to get you to vote. Their goal is to get more votes than the other guy. So they obsess about pleasing those that vote. Everyone else is invisible.

Read the rest HERE because it really is a good piece.

And then go register now and get every unregistered voter you know to do the same, if we are to have a chance for change in the 13th General Election.

And when you're done with that, perhaps a month or two later, you should probably look up this website to check if you've been properly registered.

Fix US

American readers of CRANKSHAFT may find this intriguing:

http://www.fixus.us/

In the own words of these citizen journalists, "Fix*us is a campaign about giving you the platform to weigh in on some of the biggest issues."

No country is perfect, be it Malaysia, Australia, Singapore, UK or the USA. The problem with democracy, in spite of it being possibly the best political system there is, is that the politicians are always trying to run it their way.

The responsibility is on us as citizens to remind them that they serve us and not themselves.

This is something Malaysians can take on as well. Actually, it has been done -- we have our very own UndiMsia!

But do take a look at this concept by LiveCitizen.

Malaysians Living Abroad Want a Say in Next Election

From the New York Times: Malaysians Living Abroad Want a Say in Next Election

KUALA LUMPUR — Nurul Syaheedah Jes Izman, 27, a graduate of New York University, lives in New Jersey and works on Wall Street as a financial analyst. Though she has spent her college years and all of her working life in the United States, she closely follows political developments in her native Malaysia, reading Malaysian news Web sites every day and talking with friends and family back home about the issues.

But under current law, Ms. Nurul Syaheedah will not be able to express her political preferences at the ballot box in the next Malaysian election, widely expected this year, unless she makes the 23-hour trip home. The only Malaysians living overseas who are allowed to vote by absentee ballot are government workers, military personnel and full-time students and their spouses.

“The right to vote is a basic right of all citizens,” Ms. Nurul Syaheedah said in an e-mail. “No one should be disenfranchised in this time and age, even from a different location overseas. We are all rightful stakeholders in our nation.”

With an estimated 700,000 of Malaysia’s 28 million citizens residing abroad, the Malaysian diaspora is spread far and wide, from neighboring Singapore to New Zealand and the United States, and their calls for a greater say in how their country is run are growing louder.

These appeals are being heard against the backdrop of a larger popular movement to make the process of choosing Malaysia’s leaders more fair and transparent. Last summer, thousands of people demonstrated in Kuala Lumpur for electoral changes that they argue would level the playing field for the political opposition to compete against the governing National Front coalition, dominated by the United Malays National Organization, which has been in power since independence in 1957.

In January, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur rejected an application by six Malaysians living in Britain for a review of the election laws. But the authorities have begun taking steps toward extending the vote to more overseas Malaysians. A parliamentary committee, set up after the protests last year to consider changes to the election process, has recommended that overseas voting be expanded and has been discussing options with the Election Commission. The panel is expected to present a report in early April.

But some expatriates are concerned that any changes will not come in time for the next election and that Malaysia will continue to bar some of its overseas citizens from voting — based, perhaps, on how long they have lived abroad, as some other countries do.

Some analysts believe that the Malaysian governing coalition — which in 2008 suffered one of the greatest electoral setbacks in its history, with the opposition taking more than a third of the seats in Parliament — is unlikely, for political reasons, to extend the franchise to more overseas Malaysians in time for the next election.

Expatriates, these analysts say, could be seen as likely to support the opposition, since many are ethnic Chinese and Indians who went abroad, at least in part, out of exasperation with the government’s longstanding policies favoring Malays.

“The strong suspicion is that the vast majority of overseas Malaysians, who are ethnic Indians and ethnic Chinese, are somewhat frustrated with the affirmative action policies and have left Malaysia to seek better opportunities,” said John Lee, adjunct associate professor at the Center for International Security Studies at the University of Sydney. “This includes better opportunities for their children’s education, and also due to the fact that the best jobs in the public service and other selective sectors of the economy have affirmative action quotas in place.”

Wan Saiful Wan Jan, chief executive of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs in Kuala Lumpur, said that, based on his observations, Malaysians living overseas were “overwhelmingly critical of the governing coalition.”

“The government has a lot to lose,” he said. “Overseas voters can make a big difference if they have that opportunity to vote.”

Wan Ahmad Wan Omar, deputy chairman of the Election Commission, said the commission had recommended to the parliamentary panel that Malaysians living overseas be required to return at least once every five years to maintain their eligibility to vote. He said it would not be fair to extend the vote to citizens who return less frequently and do not follow developments in their constituencies.

Some expatriates are riled by the implication that if they stay away for long periods, they do not care about their country’s affairs. They say they want the chance to vote for leaders who will address the issues that prompted them to leave in the first place.

“Just because you are overseas doesn’t mean you don’t care and don’t know,” said Ong Suan Ee, a Malaysian who works as a senior research analyst at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

See-See Leong, a software designer who has lived in London for 17 years and was one of the six Malaysians involved in the case the High Court ruled on in January, said there was “no logic” to why only certain overseas Malaysians are allowed to vote.

“The Constitution gives you the right to vote, and therefore, so long as you are a Malaysian citizen, you should have the right to vote,” said Ms. Leong, 44, who is on the board of trustees of My Overseas Vote , an advocacy group established in London in 2010.

Among other changes, My Overseas Vote wants votes to be counted at Malaysian embassies, rather than mailed back to the country from overseas — a process that the election commission has recommended stay in place. The group said in a statement this week that voting by mail in Malaysia had “become synonymous with fraud and unfair balloting.”

The group also said that in the past, some overseas military personnel had had to fill out their ballots in front of their superiors.

Mr. Wan Ahmad of the Election Commission said he was aware that such allegations had been reported in the news media but said the commission had received no formal complaints and urged anyone with evidence of misconduct to come forward.

Some expatriates, including Hwa Shi-Hsia, 28, a biologist who lives in Singapore, are determined to vote even if the rules are not changed before the next election. Ms. Hwa, 28, plans to book a flight home as soon as the election is called. But she says this is a cost she should not be required to bear.

“The Philippines managed to arrange overseas voting for its citizens in Singapore,” she said. “I don’t see why we can’t.”

Washington Post On Anwar And Democracy In Malaysia

An editorial opinion by the Washington Post on Anwar Ibrahim's ludicrous case.

ON MONDAY a struggle over human rights and democracy will come to a head in an important Muslim country.

The site is not Egypt or Turkey but Malaysia, a country of 28 million that, as it has prospered economically, has grown an opposition movement that is pressing an authoritarian regime to share power.

The opposition’s leader is Anwar Ibrahim, whose multiethnic alliance shocked the ruling party in several state elections in 2008 and who has a chance to oust Prime Minister Najib Razak in national elections expected in the next few months, if the vote is free and fair.

All that explains why on Monday Mr. Anwar will find himself not on the campaign trail but in a courtroom, where he is likely to be given a lengthy prison sentence. The charge is homosexual sodomy, which Malaysia shamefully still treats as a crime.

Read the rest online: A ‘test’ of democracy Malaysia might fail

Malaysians In London Protest Peaceful Assembly Bill

It was an incredibly windy morning at Belgrave Square.

That, however, did not discourage any hard-core Malaysian overseas.

They came with their banners and posters.

There was not a peep out of the Malaysian High Commission while the protesters chanted and waved their banners.

A couple of policemen kept watch at a respectful distance, but did nothing to disperse the crowd. Street protests were seen as a fundamental right.

Making one's dissent heard is far easier in the UK than in Malaysia.

Solidarity Rally For MyOverseasVote

Please save Saturday, November 26 free for a solidarity rally in support of the MyOverseasVote campaign and the 8 Demands of Bersih 2.0.

Six Malaysians, who are all based in Britain, have applied to the KL High Court to compel the EC to amend its regulations to allow Malaysians overseas to register as Absent voters.

As the EC regulations stand, only Civil Servants and students who are overseas are allowed to vote with a Postal ballot. All other Malaysian citizens who wish to vote have to return to Malaysia to cast their ballot. The lawsuit aims to put an end to this discriminatory and arbitrary rule.

Permission for Judicial Review was granted by Judge Rohana Yusuff on the 14th November. Constitutional Lawyers Edmund Bon and Edward Saw appeared for the Applicants. The campaign is supported by the MyOverseasVote campaign.

Independent Lawyers from the Bar Council, MyOverseasVote and the Malaysian Centre for Constitutionalism & Human Rights were present to hold a watching brief. The Substantive hearing is fixed for January 3rd, 2012.

The London rally details:

Date: 26 November 2011
Time: 11:00am to 1:00pm
Venue: outside the Malaysian High Commission in London (45 Belgrave Square)

Other Bersih groups around the world will be holding events on the same day:-

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Global-Bersih-20/182539641800071?ref=ts

The People's Petition On BERSIH 2.0 Demands

Puan Rosni Malan, the widow of the late Baharuddin Ahmad who died on 9th July 2011 during the Bersih 2.0 rally, and Madam Anne Ooi (Auntie Bersih) launched the Petisyen Rakyat Tuntut Pilihanraya BERSIH this afternoon at KLSCAH.

The Petition highlights the Bersih reforms called for and appeals to His Majesty, the DYMM Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong, if presented with a request for consent to dissolve Parliament

• before the PSC has completed its work;
• before any and all recommendations of the PSC for reforms to our electoral processes have been approved by Parliament, and fully implemented; and
• before the Rakyat are fully convinced that the next GE will be free, fair and clean.
• to invoke His Majesty's powers under Article (2)(b) to withhold consent to dissolve Parliament if all of the above conditions are not met.

People, if ever there was a time when we must all pull together and give it all we've got, it's now - Facebook, Email, SMS, Twitter etc. - reach your relatives, friends, neighbours, even strangers.

This is preparing for GE13.

Go to the website: www.PetisyenRakyat.tk

If you have problems, try this: http://www.petitiononline.com/petitions/per2011b/signatures

No To Overseas Malaysian Votes

Says MCA:

Malaysians abroad are not qualified to vote because they are “out of touch” with the current state of affairs in the country, MCA told Parliament’s polls reform panel today.

The ruling Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Chinese party said its research showed most Malaysians outside the country only received information from questionable news sources, which it said may not reflect the “true situation” ongoing in the country.

“What they read about Malaysia may therefore be biased and is the wrong information. It does not give them the whole truthful picture about the ongoings [sic] in the country.

MCA certainly knows that an influx of overseas votes, especially from people like these and these and those from these 24 countries will soundly whack them to never-never land.

And they're afraid. Very, very afraid.

Read the whole thing at The Malaysian Insider.