What An Australian Journalist Thinks

A tale of two Malaysian aristocrats

This has been a week of Malaysia in foreign policy circles, though you'd hardly know it from the news. We've had both the Malaysian Prime Minister and his most stinging critic here at the same time.

Najib Razak and Raja Petra Kamarudin look like peas in a pod: amiable, worldly and articulate members of an aristocratic elite which has long included Australia in its stamping ground, its tuns and tunkus familiar faces at our racecourses and going off the radar in Kings Cross.

On Thursday, Najib, 57, was getting a 19-gun salute outside Federal Parliament and a welcome from Julia Gillard. Scion of Pahang state nobility and son of a previous prime minister, he has been Malaysia's Prime Minister for nearly two years and heads the dominant United Malays National Organisation, or UMNO, in power since independence in 1957.

Petra, 60, has been working smaller, less formal gatherings of expat Malaysians in Sydney and Canberra. He's another Malay aristocrat, from Selangor's royal family, but has been a political exile for two years, fleeing repeated detentions without trial under the draconian Internal Security Act, and running his critical website, Malaysia Today, from London.

Of the two, though, I suspect the Prime Minister lies abed more uneasily.

The dutiful but lukewarm welcome in Canberra, reciprocating a two-day visit by Gillard to Kuala Lumpur, reflects the scandals and political question marks that hover around Najib.

When he was defence minister, signs of huge kickbacks arose from military equipment deals. After the purchase of French submarines, a young Mongolian model involved in the negotiations, Shaariibuugiin Altantuyaa, turned up in Kuala Lumpur seeking money and was murdered by two of Najib's bodyguards. She was the lover of a senior Najib aide, who escaped conviction in the case.

Petra says he was told by the "No. 2" in Malaysia's military intelligence that Najib's wife was "at the scene of the crime". He filed a statutory declaration about this to the court, but it was not followed up. Instead, Petra himself was arrested. Hit with sedition and criminal defamation charges, he fled when he could. "I am not accusing him of being involved in the murder," Petra said this week. "I do accuse him of not answering a lot of questions that have been raised."

In Canberra Najib would have also been aware that 60 of our MPs signed a petition urging him to drop what they see as a fabricated sodomy charge against opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, brought after his coalition sharply cut the UMNO-led government's majority in 2008.

He would know, too, that Malaysian policies do not impress here. John Lee, at Sydney's Centre for Independent Studies, has just written of the "enduring cancer" of the pro-Malay affirmative action instituted 30 years ago by Najib's father, Abdul Razak, after race riots. While lessening the income gap with Chinese Malaysians (25 per cent of the population) and Indian Malaysians (10 per cent), it has created a rent-seeking Malay elite. Public sector jobs and subsidies for Malays add to persistently large budget deficits, funded from oil and gas reserves that will run out in 15 years.

Australian visitors to Malaysia soon get the sense of a dumbed-down country, with insipid media controlled by UMNO or the government, a pervasive fear of the huge Special Branch, a debased judiciary, and mediocre universities where entry is by racial quota rather than by merit.

Hal Hill, an economist specialising in South-East Asia at the Australian National University, wrote this week that Malaysia was now struggling to lift its economy out of low-skill activities, with the difficulty worsened by the pro-Malay policies that have created a "culture of entitlement" and pervasive "institutionalised leakages".

Anwar's challenge to UMNO has renewed fear of unscrupulous politicians stirring racial conflict. Behind the official multiculturalism of "Malaysia, truly Asia" lie suspicions and stereotyping, surveys show – "lazy" Malays, "greedy" Chinese, "untrustworthy" Indians. A lot of parliamentary "debate" is just racial abuse, Petra says: "You shutup-lah, you don't belong in this country."

Record numbers of ethnic Chinese and Indians are leaving, along with vast amounts of capital. In one of the WikiLeaks cables, a senior Singapore diplomat, Tommy Koh, worried about race riots causing a flood of Malaysia's minorities into his small island.

Najib is smart enough to know he has to address the rising sense of corruption and privilege that has diverted support from UMNO and its Chinese and Indian-based coalition partners. A year ago he announced his "New Economic Model", emphasising growth instead of redistribution.

But Lee says actual changes have been "piecemeal" and don't yet amount to significant reform. Najib's UMNO colleagues enjoy the "vast and deep network of rent-seeking and patronage" built up over the past 30 years. Malay voters might hate their cronyism, but not affirmative action itself.

Petra says his ginger group, the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement, is prodding Anwar's opposition into spelling out its plans for reform. As well as his court case, he says, Anwar has baggage: as a former UMNO minister, he helped build the existing system; he is suspect in the mostly Christian states of North Borneo for his Islamist outlook. "We don't want to remove one monster and find ourselves with a bigger monster," he said.

In Malaysia a Middle East-style mass uprising isn't needed, Petra says. With only half the 15 million eligible voters actually casting a vote, just 300,000 more opposition votes in the right places could have tipped UMNO out in 2008. With 5000 Facebook friends, 20,000 Twitter followers, and half a million unique visitors to Malaysia Today, Petra is hoping to wake up the middle class – "the satisfied class, the ones who live in bungalows and drive BMWs" – and persuade them Malaysia could be doing a lot, lot better.

Najib is expected to call an early election this year, possibly after the likely verdict on Anwar in August, to obtain his own mandate and entrench his power. Petra thinks it will be the last chance for major change for a very long time: "Either we do it this time or we'll never do it."

The Chinese-And-Indians-Getting-Richer Spin Again!

If BTN is the main course and Interlok is dessert, then this is the aperitif.

The six o'clock news this morning was broadcasting this bit of info.

And then the NST took over with its spread.

The Chinese and the Indians are taking over the wealth of Malaysia, it seems to be imploring the Malays.

But while an exclusive group of Malaysians are indeed getting wealthier, the average Malaysian is still struggling to make ends meet - battling the traffic to work every morning and paying off bills and loans.

That is the reality.

Nipped In The Bud

It is very evident that the crisis in the middle east - democratic reforms in Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt, Libya - has the Malaysian government quavering in their seats.

I went down to the HINDRAF Solidarity Against UMNO Racism with full expectations of being tear-gassed and sprayed with chemical-laced water.

Nothing of that sort happened. It was a non-event.

Instead of the violence in previous demonstrations, this time the participants and even suspected allies like citizen journalists were arrested on sight.

The government does not want any publicity. Not now.

In fact, Najib has been caught whining about how HINDRAF has cruel intentions :-)

Hindraf deliberately creating bad publicity for Malaysia, says PM

Bernama
Sunday, February 27th, 2011 16:03:00

TEMERLOH: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak regards the action by Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) members of holding a demonstration in the federal capital today as deliberately creating bad publicity for Malaysia through the international media.

He said the group was actually hoping the police would use force on them so that the Malaysian government would be seen as a brutal and autocratic regime.

"We don't want to use force, but they are hoping we will do so as they want to exploit the situation by painting a bad picture of Malaysia through the international television channels," he said after attending a gathering with Felda Jengka 25 residents, here, today.

The prime minister was referrig to the incident where more than 15 people, believed to be Hindraf members, were arrested by police for holding a demonstration protesting against the novel "Interlok", at the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) grounds, here, this morning.

In my personal opinion, Najib could have avoided the bad press entirely by allowing the protest to go on as planned.

But the bigger fear was that it would evolve into the crises in the middle east. I don't think the BN government will step down as easily as Mubarak of Egypt did, and even that was no easy feat, mind you.

This is not a good setting to call for the general elections.

Translate This Into Votes

For all the ruckus that the Indians have been whipping up over the 'Interlok' issue, it looks like the Chinese have been insulted far worse in the novel.

And yet, they appear to be quite unruffled.

The writer of 'Interlok', Abdullah Hussein has attempted to depict the Chinese in all sorts of ways - greedy, fat (yes, even that), evil, heartless (they sell their kids), cunning, desperate (no future in their own country that they had to go to the extent of being a nightsoil carrier), rapists, drug-users etc.

And the Indians are complaining about 'pariah'.

That being said, the Chinese have always had a high sense of self-esteem, some justified and others not.

I can imagine the average Chinese thinking smugly, "Say what you may about us, but we own the economy." Which is true.

But there are other issues involved.

This whole exercise of using an obviously inferior book as examination material is for a subtle exercise known in psychology circles as "priming".

Priming is a way of conditioning the human mind to think in a certain manner and even behave as such.

Wikipedia says: The effects of priming can be very salient and long lasting, even more so than simple recognition memory[2]. Unconscious priming effects can affect word choice on a word-stem completion test long after the words have been consciously forgotten.

This is precisely the effect the BN government wants in the minds of young, impressionable Malaysian children.

They want to establish the underlying notion that:

a) All Chinese are out to get the Malays
b) Indians are low class
c) Malays have been wronged and deserve better (creating a sense of entitlement)

Perhaps the effect may not be seen immediately. But I assure you that the effects will be seen a few years down the road.

In fact, our current generation of Malaysians are unable to think for themselves, preferring instead to have other make decisions for them.

The Chinese may feel that the general elections are the best place to sock it to the government.

I hope the Indians remember this too, and when the next elections come round, not a single one should vote for BN.

Related:
Interlok: Sex scene, rape scenes, suicide by hanging
Interlok: Cunning Chinese swindles Malay, evicts him like a mangy dog
Interlok: Chinese immigrants came here to carry shit buckets

HINDRAF Racism Rally - Report From KLCC

Someone told me that this was supposed to be a citizen's rally.

Perhimpunan orang ramai, my @$$!!! It was more of a perhimpunan polis!! When I got there a while after 9am, the place was crawling with blue shirts.

I got off at the Ampang Park station just in case the KLCC station was closed. As I exited, I ran into at least 3 cops.

Feigning innocence, I asked, "Why are there so many policemen here?"

"An illegal assembly," he muttered apologetically. I thanked him and walked on.

Cops and trucks amidst the normal traffic

When I reached KLCC, I saw them in full force. They stopped me and asked to see to see my IC. I happily complied. They asked me what I did for a living.

I promptly replied.

"Where did I work?" they also wanted to know. I had no qualms about providing them with the answer.

"Why are you here?" they asked.

"Shopping," I said, with my best butter-wouldn't-melt-in-my-mouth look.

They looked at me disbelievingly. Finally, since it appeared that there was no conclusive evidence that I was there for the rally, they let me go. "If I see you out here again, I'm going to arrest you," the cop warned me as I departed.

We'll see about that, I thought.

The cops were getting weary

Those cops were sitting there at 9:30am. They were still there when I left at about 12:30pm. They looked weary. :-)

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to...

Some of the cops sought shade under those trees. I counted at least 5 trucks in the area. There was even a canine unit there, for some reason. I also caught sight of a unit bergerak - don't have a clue what that was for (it looked like a first aid centre).

Tourists gawked at the fire power in the vicinity

Tourists were happily snapping away. I guess this is not a common sight in their country.

I had trouble getting around because of my race. Judging by some of the reports from other witnesses, it looks like I was super-lucky not to get arrested.

At 6:30am, they were busy arresting any Indian who was visible in the KLCC region.

February 27 - A Big Day For Malaysia And Racism

On the 25th of November 2007, a bunch of relatively unknown activists took to the streets of KL.

They were severely abused as the government went no-holds-barred on trying to quell their voice of dissent.

I lost count of the number of times they were sprayed with chemical-laced water, much less fired with tear-gas.

I had mixed feelings about this group; unable to decide if they were extremist or if they had legitimate concerns.

This time, their cause is straight forward and legitimate. It is a walk against RACISM - not specific to any race or creed.

And tomorrow, on the 27th of February 2011, people from all walks of life will come together again to speak out against the use of the novel 'Interlok' for school examinations and also against government-propagated racism in general.

It won't be a walk in the park, I assure you. The government is understandably nervous.

Protests in the Middle East have toppled regimes so they will take no chances. Instead, they will come down hard on the planned gathering.

And yet, coming down hard on these peaceful protesters in 2007 led to widespread international attention and managed to fuel the anger of otherwise apathetic citizens.

Even now, Human Rights Watch has issued a statement to the home affairs minister to allow the march to go on as planned.

"Malaysian government opposition to peaceful marches results in three big losers: the rights to free expression, freedom of association, and peaceful assembly," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The home affairs minister should respect Malaysia's international legal obligations and permit the march to proceed, and the organizers should ensure that the march is orderly and peaceful."

It would be very interesting to see what happens tomorrow, since it is expected that Perkasa and other deplorable elements of UMNO will also be present to cause trouble.

First Najib, Now Muhyiddin

Najib had an injured expression.

"How could you even suggest that we will get overthrown like Mubarak?" his puppy dog eyes seemed to say.

Now his deputy is doing his solo bit.

I wonder when they will unleash the chorus.

SINTOK, Feb 24 — Attempts to link the political situation brewing up in several Middle East countries to Malaysia and the assumption that this country would also face a similar development are unrealistic, said Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the claim that a government chosen by the people would collapse was an assumption that was not substantiated by concrete explanation.

“I’m sad that there are disgruntled voices attempting to link the political developments in the Middle East with the political situation in this country.

“Politics in our country is totally different from the politics in several countries in the Middle East because our government is chosen by the people in a democratic and competitive general election,” he said in his speech at a Special Gathering with the DPM in conjunction with the 27th Anniversary of the Founding of the Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), here today.

Muhyiddin, said the competitive general election made the government in this country more responsive.

He said the traits of a responsive government were that national wealth was distributed fairly, public interest was given priority and every individual, regardless of race or religion, received equal opportunity to succeed.

He said if the government ignored the problems of the people and did not discharge its responsibility properly, the people would then make the appropriate decision during the general election.

"Our government is chosen by the people in a democratic and competitive general election"?? Really? By delineation, gerry-mandering, postal votes, phantom voters etc?

I wonder if he could possibly convince a tadpole (in the drain outside my house) of his sincerity. That would be quite a feat to witness.

And this is hard to beat, "..national wealth was distributed fairly, public interest was given priority and every individual, regardless of race or religion, received equal opportunity to succeed".

Whoa! I did not see that coming!

Someone hand me a barf bag.

PKR: Join Party To Contest

According to this dude Rafizi Ramli, any MCLM candidate wanting to contest in the upcoming elections will have to become a member of the party first.

The reason: He doesn't want a repeat of Zulkifli Noordin, who "acted according to his own instincts".

It may have escaped his attention that Zulkifli Noordin was a PKR member to start with. Just as Wee Choo Keong also was.

Party membership did not stop them from acting out of their own accord.

The whole intention of having MCLM-selected candidates is to put up for elections those with integrity and a heart for the people. PKR evidently did not do a good job of weeding out their own frogs.

So if there are obligatory excuses for not fielding MCLM candidates, can we at least skip the lame ones?

Lapdog Of UMNO

The problem with having all these draconian laws that suppress freedom of speech is that those on the mightier side of the political divide have no clue on how to deal with succinct points.

Hence, every other politician and his running dog are getting a shameful trouncing in the hands of John Malott.

I did wonder what Johan Jaafar had done to be indirectly called the lapdog of UMNO.

Now I know :-)

Long Live BN

YES!!

I LOVE BN....

After all, BN is ingenious enough to dupe the Rakyat for over 50+ years.

Oh wait. The Rakyat are still in a drunken stupor and continue voting for them.

BN's Achievements To Date (just to name a few):

1) PKFZ White Elephant 14 Billion
2) 7.6 Billion Scorpene tin can - the submarine had trouble submerging!
3) 500 Million commission on Scorpene
4) 810 Million palace balloning to some 1.2 Billion
5) Maltrade II land grab by Naza, costing taxpayers some 2.2 Billion
6) Limbang off shore blocks L and M giveaway to Brunei of 320 Billion
7) Maminco.... cornering the tin market 2.2 Billion
8) Bank Negara Forex fiasco costing ? Billion
9) Perwaja Steel 15 Billion
10) Naval support ships to cost 2.5 Billion so that we can indulge in some humanitarian service to Indonesia or Philippines. You know, since earthquakes and volcanoes erupt every month.
11) 60,000 APs worth 2.4 Billion given to a few UMNOputras
12) 810 Million new Parliament house.... believe it or not, the Westminster in the UK and the White House in the USA are still standing even after hundreds of years
13) BMF scandal 4 Billion .... and it's not just about the money. The BMF manager was murdered!
14) 6.75 Billion to PSC Bhd for locally made naval vessels which were never delivered
15) 12.5 Billion for economically senseless double tracking railway from Ipoh to the Thai border
16) Altantuya, picked up a stone while walking in KL which turned out to be C4
17) Teoh Beng Hock - fell out of the room "accidentally"!
18) Kugan Ananthan - death in custody
19) Aminulrasyid - shot by trigger-happy policemen
20) Nasir Safar's "Chinese prostitutes & Indian beggars"
21) Khir 'The Toyol' Toyo's 24 Million Palace
22) Missing F5 jet engines.... what a joke. Aren't you ashamed to be a Malaysian?
23) PI Bala's flip flop on the Statutory Declaration
24) Perak coup d'etat - unlawful grab of the state.
25) Sodomy I & II
26) MAS shares - Govt bought at RM8 when market price was RM3.50
27) School classrooms and computer labs - 10 Billion, direct negotiation. How much did the Government actually get?
28) Halal Hub - 2 Billion spent, nothing done, only 200 Million left
29) Armoured carriers - 8 billion going to be spent. By industry standards, a good armoured car will only cost half a million. Mindef will spend 30 Million for each armoured carrier!
30) UEM PLUS highway contract.

Yes, it does appear long but it is by no means an exhaustive list of scandals.

And yes, because of all this money going into someone's pocket, we are forced to pay extra taxes in the form of GST and do away with fuel subsidies.

I just LOVE BN so much that I just cant wait to vote BN in GE13 for another 50+ years of corruption and mismanagement.