On The Subject Of Paying Tax

Who are the true patriots?

Wise words from Zaid Ibrahim.

This is in response to the Prime Minister who first brought up the topic of patriotism HERE:

KUALA LUMPUR: Tax evasion is a treasonous act as it tantamounts to deterring the country’s development, says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today.

Instead, Najib described paying taxes as patriotic since an increased government revenue would be used for infrastructural growth, for example.

Except government revenue hasn't been used for infrastructural growth. It's been used for bribing constituents into voting for BN in Sabah and Sarawak. It's been used to ferry plane loads of Bangladeshis into the country.

With such treasonous acts, he is in no position to talk about patriotism.

KL Property Assessment Rates

I heard the first rumblings of dissatisfaction on Facebook about a month ago. Friends were aghast that their assessments had suddenly spiked with no warning at all.

It is natural that property prices would go up, especially at the prime areas of Kuala Lumpur, which is a vibrant and attractive city.

But there is no legitimate reason why it should have increased by such a high percentage -- more than 100% in some cases! Also, not all KL property is posh and new.

No bones about it, the federal government is out to tax the citizens of Kuala Lumpur for what it's worth. Bear in mind, the majority of KL voted for the Opposition, and not for BN, knowing how corrupted and worthless BN is.

This is the best way that BN can punish the urban voters -- by hitting at their pockets.

Apart from stupid remarks from ministers like, "Take it positively that your property value is higher", little else has been done. Boring, insignificant and irrelevant anecdotes like a minister's wife owning a penthouse and other properties in and around KL and having to pay for it has been bandied about.

I couldn't care less about a BN minister (or his wife), and neither can most KL citizens.

So 11 MPs were tasked with sorting out the issue with the federal government.

But this is how sneaky the government is: they made the MPs sign into the official secrets act, which means divulging any information regarding this fiasco to the public would make it a criminal offence.

So we're back to square one here.

The question is: will people submit to the bullying tactics of the BN government and choose to vote them in at the next General Elections (like East Malaysians perpetually do), or will people stand up and fight back?

What are the people of KL really like?

What Is Causing The Upward Spike In Crime?

It's not snatch thieves that you have to be worried about these days.

It's the far more violent robberies where the perpetrators don't hesitate to kill.

Everyone knows someone who has been affected in some way. Gone are the days when you had to worry about pickpockets. I still maintain a clear distance of everyone who walks past me.

But even sitting alone in your car, waiting for an appointment could be dangerous, as a friend discovered. A gang of men broke his car window and tried to pull him out. But he managed to turn his ignition on and sped away. He was later informed by the police that there were 3 robberies in that very location that day.

Just about every housing estate is now gated. The guards presumably profile every visitor before they let them in. My sister, mother and I have never been denied entry. But I do wonder what the criteria are.

Crime has become so rampant that even the New York Times has a feature on it: Wave of High-Profile Crimes Has Put Malaysians on the Defensive

It doesn't help that the authorities are so incompetent and ignorant. They start off by denying the problem exists. Then they decide that they will instruct the police to shoot first and ask questions later.

Any criminal will be emboldened, knowing that the men tasked to stop them are not worth the words that come out of their mouths.

But there is another problem: one of poverty that has not been addressed, and needs proper looking into.

Dei Tamby!

OK, this isn't a Deepavali post.

But it's directed at Najib, who is superb at dealing with foreign media and politicians, but hopeless at dealing with his own countrymen, from his own party to the voters who can't wait to get him and his party out.

I mean, look at how he and Amanpour are cosied up together like BFFs. Seriously. That woman needs a social life.

To make matters worse, he claims to be protecting the marginalised. Who? The majority.

Ahem. Yes. The majority.

Obviously, the minority can take care of themselves, which is why he casts a blind eye at the Penans, who have their homes torn down and their land deforested. And their women raped.

He's too busy taking care of the marginalised majority.

Oh yeah, he sings to the gallery. He says what the western world wants to hear. He waxes lyrical about moderation and the Muslim world.

Dei tamby. The western world isn't voting for you. They really don't give two fags about you. All they want is the oil you can supply and the money you have.

Malaysians can't stand you.

You have never been able to persuade us of your sincerity, because you simply have NONE.

Back On The Topic Of 'Progress' And 'Regression'

And as promised in my previous piece about Iran, this time about Afghanistan.

Some of you may have watched a movie called The Kite Runner. Actually it's a book by Khaled Hosseini, and I only came across it when I was living in the UK.

It describes the life of a Pashtun boy whose friend is Hazara. There is a certain amount of racism against the Hazara people who are one of the minorities (who have Mongolian ancestry) in Afghanistan. The Pashtuns are Sunnis while the Hazaras are Shiites.

Anyway, both the book and the movie describe what Afghanistan was like before the invasions by the Soviet Union, Taliban and United States of America.

Most notable is the way the women were: back in the 1960s, it appeared to be a carefree life, with educated, identificable and sociable women on the streets.

These days, the women look like walking clothes bundles. Their clothing is possibly designed to make them look as unattractive as possible as prescribed by the omniscient Taliban.

It can get depressing if you go deep into their history. I'm sure that no one expected, back in the 1960s that the state of their once proud nation would deteriorate to such levels.

The people did not elect or assign a mandate on the Taliban on a whim. It all happened because the Russians invaded, took over lands, made all sorts of rules and regulations, raped the women, stole from the men and generally made it an unpleasant place to live.

People then started moving out of there. It started steadily, but like a small stream and then started gushing like a torrent.

But the Soviet Union was defeated, and in place of them came the Taliban. Interestingly, Talib means 'student' and these guys were the students of Islam. The fundamentals of the religion. But their fervour was unchecked and they went overboard on the basics.

They probably thought that covering up their women was the solution to them not being raped. But in essence, it wasn't their skin that made them vulnerable, but the attitude of the invaders towards them.

They possibly thought that this invasion was a form of punishment by God for their past mistakes, so naturally, they outlawed homosexuality, sports, any form of entertainment including music, films, dancing etc.

Outlawing it does not mean that everyone adheres to the rules; it simply goes underground as demonstrated in The Kite Runner, where the childhood bully uses the little boy (son of the Hazara kite-runner) for his sexual pleasures.

It is sad to think of how nations can sink to such depths.

Who Is Liz Adinan?

The truth is, I don't know. I've never met her personally or exchanged any two words with her.

She's described herself as a banker, dealer and a neutral market watcher, and from the photo on her Facebook site, she appears to be an attractive young woman with an equally good-looking husband. And she speaks fairly good English. At least she writes well.

The reason I brought her up is that I read something she had written on her site that just went viral.

I read it because two of my friends had shared the post on their site as well. Both friends were non-Malays. They could have been friends of hers or have friends who know Liz Adinan.

More importantly, I want to highlight that among the educated and open-minded Malaysians, there is no longer hesitance in sharing a post, as long as it's well-written and makes sense, regardless of race or religion.

UMNO may moan about how Melayu akan hilang di dunia (some illogical prose about Malays fading away in oblivion), but the truth is, a Malay has nothing to fear, living amongst the same Chinese and Indians he has lived with for the past few hundred years for they are his brothers.

So to wax lyrical about how Tanda Putera is true history (when everyone knows it isn't) and that it should be taught in schools is not only insulting to the non-Malays, but also to the Malays.

Liz Adinan never expected her post to be shared by so many. In a subsequent post, she states it was 4000 and counting. When I took a screen shot of it on Facebook, it was at 6759 Shares and 1424 Likes.

She talks about capital outflows due to lack of confidence from foreign investors causing the Ringgit to drop against the US Dollar. She points out how Bank Negara has revised the GDP to reflect a lower percentage (4.5-5%). And she mentioned the lack of action on the part of the government before the elections to counter the increasing trade deficits and debts.

Her warning is timely.

And yes, Malaysians of all walks of life are sitting up and paying attention -- because she makes sense.

Not because of her race/religion/gender.

What Is Progress? Or Even Regression ....

Iran wasn't always a backwater that persecuted its women and made them cover up.

After all, they are the nation that gave us Aladdin (of Arabian Nights) and the computer game Prince of Persia is based on that very nation.

Sure, they were different to most Arabs, in that they were Shi'ite Muslims, as opposed to Sunnis. And they also had another religion called Baha'i (lesser known, and apparently illegitimised in Iran -- but that is a different story altogether).

For the most part, the Iranians were very Westernised, having a ruler who had been educated in a Swiss boarding school and installed by the Americans (yes, the Yanks had to have their finger in that, too) and British.

The pictures below show young Iranians going about their daily life; perhaps some a throwback from the hippies of the 60s, but for the most part, a reflection of their times and their ruler the Shah, who was eventually deposed during the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

Iranians having a picnic in the 1970s

The students from Sharif University could easily be mistaken for students from Britain or America. Iran was a developing nation; which some say was on par with South Korea and Singapore.

Students at Sharif University, Teheran in the 1970s

But things took a turn for the worse. When the Shah (Mohammed Reza Pahlavi) was deposed, the mass support went behind a religious leader called Ayatollah Khomeini.

Voters at the June 2013 elections

Today, the women of Iran look very different to those in the 1970s.

Some say it's progression, others say regression.

I think it's a cycle that afflicts nations that have corrupt rulers. The Shah came from a dynasty of rulers, his father was the Shah too before he was replaced by his son under the watchful eye of the Americans.

The new Shah was no better: he didn't understand the hearts and minds of his citizens. His father forbade traditional Islamic clothing, separation of the sexes and veiling of women in Iran.

That was not a good move for a nation that was prominently religious in nature. In fact, it is as equally invasive and oppressive as forcing women to veil or wear a burkha.

When the revolution came, the Shah was ousted by about 3 million Iranians who took to the streets. This was a rejection of poverty (not everyone in Iran was fabulously wealthy), of corruption, and of extravagance.

If you're wondering what extravagance is, the Shah's third wife (he divorced the first two because he had no male heirs) had a Yves St Laurent gown and Noor-ul-Ain Diamond tiara for her wedding.

I suppose that pales in comparison to what UMNO and their minions do to Malaysia by plundering its coffers, but then again, we are peace-loving Malaysians and not as hot-headed as the Iranians.

Shah Reza Pahlavi also grew increasingly brutal and autocratic when he realised that there was discontent among the Iranians. Freedom of expression was stifled.

The Iranians, on their part, had had enough of corruption and what they deemed as Western afflictions. They wanted someone noble and pious, someone who wouldn't rob them of their wealth or blindly do the bidding of the Americans.

Ayatollah Khomeini was their answer.

But like Afghanistan and their Taliban, when there is no "separation of church and state" or perhaps separation of religion and state, there is abuse of power and religious leaders impose their own wills.

And so, Iran is what it is today.

How about Afghanistan? Next up.

Related: Open Letter to Reza Pahlavi
Watch: Argo trailer

BERSIH and Overseas Malaysians

In 2011, two out of every ten Malaysians with tertiary education opted to live abroad. That is a significant number.

I have been documenting various reports on the Malaysian brain-drain, but to date, no measures have been taken by the BN government, simply because they do want the Chinese (who make up the majority of the migrants) to leave.

So a bunch of them do leave for greener pastures. But not for good.

If the BN government thought they were rid of this bunch, they were wrong. Desperately wrong.

These motley crew of disillusioned and disgruntled walk-outs may be far in physical distance, but emotionally close to the nation that gave birth to them.

They're back, stronger than ever, thanks to the issues highlighted by BERSIH.

They're interested in the progress of the nation, and are not afraid of the BN government.

Thanks to the exchange rate, this group is probably also responsible for funding projects carried out within Malaysia by social and political activists.

So much for the BN government's hopes and plans of unrestricted domination.

1Failure .....

... with endless possibilities.

What happened to 'People First, Performance Now'?

Was that proven to be unachievable, or perhaps even a contradiction to reality?

The administration of Najib Razak shows that when one fails, one must try again.

If the first slogan doesn't quite catch fire, try again. Datuk Seri Najib Razak is set to launch a new branding approach for Malaysia, aimed at galvanising Malaysians after the fractious Election 2013.

The new campaign, called "Endless Possibilities", is slated for launch on September 17, a day after Malaysia celebrates the 50th anniversary of its founding, sources told The Malaysian Insider.

Read the rest here: After 1Malaysia falters, Putrajaya goes for “Endless Possibilities”

More On Radio Free Sarawak's Founder

HONG KONG — CLARE REWCASTLE BROWN is persona non grata in her native Malaysia, barred from entering the former British colony.

But that does not silence Ms. Rewcastle Brown, who is one of the most effective voices calling attention to deforestation in Malaysia.

The booming economy there, she contends, has been fueled in part by the country’s willingness to tap its natural resources in ways that have enriched the leadership of her native Sarawak, a vast state on Borneo Island long known for its stunning natural beauty and biodiversity.

Through Internet postings and shortwave radio transmissions from London, Ms. Newcastle Brown has given voice to growing concerns among Malaysians about environmental degradation. She spreads her message on social media, her Sarawak Report Web site and broadcasts on Radio Free Sarawak.

Read the rest: Barred From Malaysia, but Still Connecting With Critical Jabs