Perhimpunan Rakyat Organised By BERSIH 2.0

The Perhimpunan Rakyat will be held on 9 July 2011 at a time to be confirmed.

BERSIH 2.0 has been advocating electoral reform but demands have fallen on deaf ears.

The purpose of the event is threefold:
1. To further press for the rakyat’s demands for electoral reform
2. Strengthening of public institutions
3. To take a stand against widespread corruption at all levels of society

The home minister delivered a hostile response, describing the rally as a move to create chaos and jeopardise Malaysia's international image.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the same buffoon who was falling over himself to defend the cow head thugs.

Oh yes. We have an international image - as ill-treaters of refugees, harbourers of terrorists, racists and unstable idiots.

It can't go lower than this. The good thing about hitting rock bottom is that from now on, we can only go up. At least I hope so.

Welfare Of Policemen

I have no objections whatsoever to the welfare protection of our Law Enforcement.

The last time I checked, they were so lowly paid, and I really couldn't blame them for trying to earn extra money through taking bribes.

This is one issue that the public continually ignores for more pressing issues like bad governance and draconian laws.

But I think the welfare of the policeman is very important. This is the security and future of our country that we are talking about here.

A policeman who is worrying about how to make ends meet is hardly going to be putting all his efforts into bringing criminals down. He has other issues to think about.

This is where dirty politicians also come into the picture. Take Hishammuddin Hussein for example, who is doing his best to win the hearts of the police force.

Being the only one who has championed the cause of policemen, he is now going to have them eating out of his hands while coming out smelling like roses (even if he slips his hand into the national coffers while he's at it).

And we wonder why the ruling coalition, BN, have their backs covered by the police.

We do have some serious issues in this country, but someone also needs to spare some thought for the men in blue.

HRW Speaks Out Against Harrassment of M'Kini

Excerpts from Human Rights Watch:

Malaysia: Don’t Censor or Harass Independent Website

(New York) - The Malaysian government should drop its order to a popular news website to remove videos of a recent protest and of a government minister's reaction, Human Rights Watch said today.

The website Malaysiakini has refused to comply with a September 3, 2009 order by the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission to remove a video showing an incident where protesters in Selangor state marched with a severed cow's head to oppose the building of a Hindu temple and another in which the home minister stated that the actions were legal. The minister later reversed himself and police charged some of the protesters.

"The government wants to make the problem disappear by taking the videos off the internet," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "But Malaysians have a right to see for themselves what happened and hear what was said - the government shouldn't be suppressing this information."

According to the Communication and Multimedia Commission, the videos are in violation of the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998, which prohibits "content which is indecent, obscene, false, menacing or offensive in character with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass another person." Violations carry fines of up to RM50,000 (US$14,325) and up to a year in prison.

The commission's letter ordering Malaysiakini to remove the videos from its website stated that the videos "contain offensive contents with the intent to annoy any person, especially Indians."

"The government's investigation of Malaysiakini is nothing short of media harassment and it needs to stop," said Pearson. "Malaysians are entitled to know all sides of a story. It is not up to the government to approve what news is fit to air, print, or post."

I genuinely feel embarrassed for the BN government. It puts its foot in its mouth so often that the foot ought to start paying the mouth some rent for taking up permanent residence there.

It screwed up royally when it rounded up the pseudo-Muslim gangsters to protest the relocation of the temple.

UMNO probably hoped it would garner Muslim sympathy and comradeship. It did not.

Then Hishamuddin Hussein attempted to calm trouble waters by pooh-poohing the whole issue. It backfired in his face. Literally.

He was caught on tape spouting rubbish. That move earned BN an all-time political pariah status.

Muslims were quite embarrassed (the poor things) and quick to disassociate themselves from those munafik imbeciles.

So he quickly changed his tune and ordered that those protestors be arrested and tried in court. Of course, you and I know they will be out in no time at all.

But he couldn't change the video in which he was caught making a fool of himself.

The smart thing (for any other normal being) would be to lie low and lick one's wounds in quiet.

But no. He gets a running dog, the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission to force Malaysiakini (who videoed him and uploaded it to its website) to remove those offending videos.

That sort of stupidity can only attract a whole new level of attention.

But BN has been around for ages. They haven't learned anything thus far, and they never will.

Who Can Lead Us?

A frequent reader of CRANKSHAFT dropped by and left a comment in response to my post, Malaysia Is In Distress:

..I am at a loss as to how to get our country going again .. put an end to corruption and be governed by people with integrity who have the citizens' welfare at heart. Can anyone think of such a leader?

It is a pertinent question indeed, Fergie.

In the face of a glaring lack of leadership, we yearn for someone to fill in the space. In his own words, this guy says he wouldn’t mind having Hishammuddin Hussein as the Prime Minister.

I've probably agreed with him numerous times over his opinion of Abdullah Badawi - heck, I think half the country thinks he should vacate his seat as PM. In fact, I think it is a miracle of brown-wooly-mammoth-proportions that Abdullah is still in office.

But under no circumstances am I going to vote Hishammuddin Hussein into office. With his keris-waving stunts, he has certainly not endeared himself to me.

Even Malik Imtiaz Sarwar has taken to dark ruminations about statemanship and the lack of faith in any political candidate in Malaysia to run this country the way it should be run.

To steal his thunder, is there a statesman in the house?

Of course there is. In fact, there are many. Because of the many shortcomings of our leaders, we are fooled into thinking we are just as incompetent.

But if the truth be told, I think most of us are even better than some of our foreign counterparts from the USA, Australia and Europe. After having worked abroad, I personally find myself to be on par with my contemporaries.

And yet, compared to some of my Malaysian friends, I am in fact, a shrinking violet.

But most of these friends of mine have made plans or are making plans to move on to greener pastures. A place where we are accepted for who we are and the skills we bring.

Not what ethnic group we belong to, or which God we worship.

And the fact is, Malaysians are incredibly mobile, adaptable and versatile. We're practically in every corner of the planet.

We're in demand because of our skills all over the world - except for Malaysia, that is, where what is more important is who you know and rub shoulders with, and what colour your skin is.

So why doesn't a competent Malaysian stand up and take charge of bringing about change?

For starters, that's easier said than done. Most self-respecting Malaysians wouldn't want to be associated with politics. And why would they, when politics is more about rambling nincompoops with sole expertise in sodomy, corruption and brown-nosing than leading a nation?

Politics, all over the world, is dirty, but in Malaysia, it is the very depths of the cesspool.

That being said, I still think we have hope.

There are young potentials involved in politics like Hannah Yeoh, Nathaniel Tan and Nik Nazmi.

And for what it's worth, leaders aren't born, they're made. When young Malaysians start seeing people they'd want to emulate, only then will we start seeing talent within the political pool - and perhaps, world-class statesmen.

Until then, it's going to be a long way uphill.

My Response To The HINDRAF Campaign

I know I promised to come up with a response to Resolving The Malaysian-Indian Issues much earlier.

But I had to ponder deeply on how a Christian Malaysian of South Asian origin, whose ancestors settled in Malaya over six generations ago should respond to issues pertaining to a faction of Hindu Malaysians who have finally voiced their dissatisfaction.

Frankly, I have never experienced much government-institutionalised discrimination. I am reasonably well-educated, wealthy (though I hasten to add, not of TAK-ish proportions), have been places and seen things.

By proxy, HINDRAF marginalises me. But it's not about the group or its leader Uthayakumar, though his leadership has obviously inspired thousands to brave the FRU and its neighbourhood-friendly water-cannons and tear-gas.

He has a following that Samy Vellu can only dream of. That's scary.

Because no one has ever spoken up for the Malaysians of South Asian origin (I deliberately refuse to say 'Indian'. You'll understand why in just a bit). And they sorely needed their cause championed.

Because, like Nate says, "When you’re small, you become a punching bag." And yes, I can appreciate that that was why he walked on that day.

HINDRAF's brand of racist rhetoric is no worse than that of the violence-propagating Kerismudin or the benignly stupid Jamaluddin Jarjis or even the mufti of Perak, Harussani Zakaria.

While those guys may have been ridiculed by the blogosphere, they did not provoke the outrage of the public like HINDRAF did. Why the double standard? Why the calls by Malaysians to send their fellow Malaysians back to India?

Why are the Hindus considered to have gone overboard for their walk and their memo when the Muslims have threatened to start riots and go on killing rampages simply because their rights were questioned?

Why didn't anyone call for the ISA to be used on Kerismuddin for his subtle call to violence when so many want Uthayakumar put away for a long time?

It's racism, and it didn't even start from HINDRAF.

Perhaps no one better sums it up than Farish Noor, who (being in Berlin) is so far in terms of location from Malaysia, yet understands the situation better than anyone else living here.

In The Other Malaysia, he freely admits that:

While the leaders and supporters of Hindraf may have resorted to the politics of race and religious-based communitarianism to further a specific goal in mind, we should not really be surprised if they had done so. This is Malaysia, remember: the same multi-culti country that has been run and governed by the same tired and worn-out coalition of ideologically bankrupt right-wing communitarian race and religious-based parties for half a century. Those fellow Malaysians who marched on Sunday are the children of a nation-building project that has failed utterly and miserably, and they merely reflect the racialised mindset of so many Malaysian politicians today who are no better.

So while we may disagree with the tone and tenor of Hindraf’s communitarian political-speak, let us not miss the wood for the trees. Hindraf did not invent racialised communitarian politics in Malaysia, it was the component of the Barisan Nasional parties that did, and continue to do so.

Hindraf did not begin a new trend of race and religious-based political association and collectivism in Malaysia: it was the older race and religious-based parties and movements like UMNO, PAS and ABIM that did, and continue to do so.

Hindraf did not invent the language of racial and religious identification in Malaysia, for these terms were already hoisted on them and the minority communities of Malaysia by the state, the mainstream media and the conservative reactionary forces in this country long ago. It was the politicians, political analysts, media commentators and communitarian activists who referred, for instance, to the Hindu temples of Malaysia as ‘Indian temples’; and who continue to refer to Malaysians of South Asian origin as ‘Indians’ or the ‘Indian community’.

For the information of all and sundry, those temples that were bulldozed were not ‘Indian temples’ but Malaysian temples, built on Malaysian soil, frequented by Malaysians, paid for by Malaysians and they were part of the Malaysian landscape. There are no ‘Indian Temples’ in Malaysia- Indian temples exist in India and if you don’t believe me then fly to India and check them out yourself. Likewise the only ‘Indians’ in Malaysia are the tourists, expats and workers who come from India and happen to be Indian nationals bearing Indian passports. Those Hindus who marched in the streets of Kuala Lumpur on Sunday happen to be Malaysians like you.

And because I too am Malaysian, I will champion the cause of the downtrodden and those who have been kicked around for too long.

Not because the blog-lords or their commenters approve, but because it is only the right thing to do.