In The Name of Unity...Are You Sure?

Malaysian needs to really understand the term unity. We are constantly drawn towards a more fake meaning of unity which carries an underlying agenda – to which many are just not aware of.

The agenda here is a political one I might add.

With all the talks in recent months focusing on ‘unity’ I find myself wondering, are we that disarrayed in the first place? The opposition party is calling for unity within their ranks, MCA has that great unity plan, Najib comes up with 1Malaysia to foster unity among Malaysians...are all of these necessary?

It easy to understand where each of these people (and entity) coming from – to be strong one must be seen as united.

The opposition is desperate to be seen as united because well they are new and to be an infant in the political arena without any firm backing would be like throwing a baby into the pool. Sure they can swim, but they’re not strong enough to swim for long and would sooner or later drown.

But all this talk about them being united is certainly wearing thin with recent highly-publicized discord among party members from within component parties. Not only are PAS members attacking other PR members, PAS members are up and arms against their own, DAP against PAS and PKR, PKR against PKR and PAS, PAS against PKR’s driver’s wife with a DAP member’s uncle’s niece being attacked by a normally domicile cat of one PAS’ members and a PKR man’s third cousin from his father’s stepbrother’s side not in friendly terms with one DAP man’s favorite butcher’s fourth divorced wife.

Do I really think any of the seemingly un-united episodes among PR members would wane my support for them? Not really. Sufficed to say, I support them for what they stand for and if they are passionate about what they believe in, what they fight for, who they fight for then I would support them nonetheless. I don’t really expect them to be as strong as BN or some other party whose been in it for 50-odd years, but I know it will come good in the end.

Sure they are united by one common belief – to oust BN. But in order for them to attain this main goal they would need to convince the people first and convince themselves that there is a chance if they truly unite. So they don’t really need to fake being united, just do their job properly (and unlike BN).

BN on the other hand is truly confusing people about unity. Najib is talking about 1Malaysia – i.e. Malays, Chinese and Indians live in one country in peace. This is not something new, it’s just a rebranding. Are we not united before? Hasn’t this been the message all along? I recall RTM and TV Pendidikan with their short-stories and without fail would place three students together, one Ali, Ah Chong and Arumugam. It’s the same concept only that time when I see those moments I would call it, the TV Pendidikan moment – instead of 1Malaysia.

Also, is it different from Bangsa Malaysia which have been promoted by DAP all along? Yes, because Bangsa Malaysia stems from having one common race for all the people, on the other hand, 1Malaysia is what we’ve been doing all along but with a different brand name. It is only their answer against DAP’s Bangsa Malaysia because frankly, Malaysians are easily duped when big billboards are put right smack in front of their faces.

Now MCA with its great unity plan. Is it good for MCA? Well it depends. Both the head of this great unity plan have been rejected outright by the delegates at the EGM. A third force came into the fray threatening their very power, nay, existence in politics. So what do they do? Easy, team up in unity’s name and get back at this third force. So it’s not really unity in unity’s true sense of word – it’s just another counter attack to parry any hand which is eager to take over their control.

Unity...yeah right.

Isa's Not the Issue, Desperation Is

BN’s, or rather, UMNO’s pick of Isa as candidate raises further questions of their commitment to change, to walk the talk, to transform themselves. What’s the point of picking Isa? Is it to best serve the constituency with a clean candidate that carries no burden and is truly trusted – or is it simply to win, having lost but one of the previous by-elections? Surely BN must look at themselves in the mirror.

First of all MIC doesn’t know where they stand in the eyes of the public. I have a feeling they don’t read properly into people’s views. For instance, the public would say MIC party needs a new leader because the current one isn’t helping the Indians, but to MIC it sounded more like, MIC’s paper needs a new header because the current one doesn’t use windings (a type of font...what??).

MCA for all its ‘rebranding’ and doing the right thing is doing more harm to themselves. Fact is, there are two factions in MCA and both are quite prominent and powerful. Had Soi Lek challenged Tee Keat during last year’s AGM things would’ve been different. But as it is, they don’t really know who stands where in the grassroots’ eyes. They are resolving matters amicably but the way politics are shaped in Malaysia both stand to lose. With Soi Lek it’s the morality issue and the public’s viewpoint. With Tee Keat it’s warlords within BN’s own component party, especially UMNO.

Gerakan is as irrelevant as the mint leaves on every fine dining dessert (yes I’ve been watching AFC, a lot).

Best of all UMNO. I can’t help but giggle at the sight of the news coverage – Muhyiddin: BN component parties need to change. In lieu of recent events, I think that Muhyiddin thought with Najib’s revolutionary changes to his economic policies and the 1Malaysia concept, UMNO is as the forefront of change. But in reality, no one would doubt that whatever “inclusive” policies which Najib has introduced since the beginning of his Premiership aren’t all that it’s cracked up to be, especially since his own party is clueless on how it works.

Case in point would be the highly charged cow head protestors and their rowdy, unrepentant behavior. Not only are UMNO quiet about this matter, Hishamuddin, the future leader and prospective head of UMNO had at first backed these protestors. It is not until his public backing was highly criticized on all front and by all parties – except of course by UMNO – did he make a 180 degrees turn. This shows that Najib’s policy didn’t really seep into the mind and mentality of his party members.

Muhyiddin had also done a lot of harm to his party’s no.1’s cause. For one, he played on the Malay agenda during the Permatang Pasir by-election by calling Anwar a traitor to the Malay. He also played the race issue in the Malay dailies when interviewed.

If recent event is anything to go by, I think UMNO is the party that really needs an overhaul. They are the head of the pack. It’s like a car owner pimping (yes I’m hip this way) his ride (see, hip) from top to bottom making it look so good that you’d compare it with Angelina Jolie, but did not change its old Nissan Sunny 1996 1.4l engine (not that I know anything about cars, I just googled the thing).

Their failure to realize that they are not the defenders of Malay and Malaysia is really taking it’s toll (at least on me). I mean the fact that they self appoint themselves with such title and give credibility to themselves to defend us from whatever elusive threat we face is just mind boggling. What threats are heading our way? How can you defend Malay and Malaysia at the same time?

I gather that the defence the Malays need is from the non-Malays who would like to usurp our status as the main race in this country. I have one solution which I think would work really well in this situation: keep on reproducing fellow Malays, our majority status would definitely not be threatened if we do! As for the economic front, several solutions: get your lazy bums off those lazy chairs, stop allowing your children to merempit and help your fellow Malays without favor! Or better yet, elect better representatives, one that is clean and fair, honest, with integrity and best of all, not from a corrupt party!

But here’s my question though; how can UMNO be the defenders of Malays when they are also tasked to govern a multi-racial country? Oh yes that’s what they’ve been doing all along – take away other people’s rights for the sake of the Malays. Wait that’s not quite right – for the sake of some fortunate elite Malays.

Which brings me back to Isa. He was penalized for corrupt conducts. Corruption doesn’t get any dirtier than money politics because a person does that for power, and if that person is so crazy for power so as to desperately acquire it in such a corrupt manner, I can only imagine what that person would do when he does have power. We might not be able to see it happen in front of our eyes, but we know it happens.

By picking Isa, UMNO doesn’t show continuity in their policy for change, they don’t do what they preach – especially when Muhyiddin just spoke of other BN component party’s need for change - and mainly, UMNO doesn’t show that they have a future nor do they have candidates to carry Malaysia forward in the future. Then again, they're not picking UMNO for anything but a desperation to win.

Peace :)

The Identity Issue

Did anyone watch Bill Clinton’s appearance on the late show the other day? Letterman wasn’t at his usual wittiness as he seems more star struck by his country’s former President. Of course everyone can see he holds the former President in the highest regards possible.


But I’m not going to analyse the whole show – apart from the fact that Bill Clinton looks mighty healthy for a guy who had heart surgery 5 years ago; he doesn’t look a day older than when his term ended almost a decade ago.


As Letterman said before the introduction of Clinton, he is one of the most intelligent people in the world and you can really sense that Letterman might not be exaggerating it when he made that remark. One thing he said really made a lot of sense, and I feel that because he was in power and had probably tried to do some good then (keyword, tried), whatever he says after his term in the office would carry much more weight – because there is no political pressure and/or lobbying.


At this point, I was very much hoping that at least 30% of Malaysian politicians watched the show and listened to the former President talk (at least). When asked by Letterman why the many countries in the world just can’t live peacefully with one another, Bill Clinton (having remarked that North Korea is actually a nice country and that it’s President is more inclined towards peace than he is made out to be), said that the problem lies with the identity issue.


Identity issue, according to him, is the issue faced by many leaders, countries and especially politicians trying to do one better than their rivals because they feel that that would make things better for them. In reality Bill cannot be more right.


A simple case in point, Malaysian drivers (not to make reference to politicians yet). Some feel that without driving recklessly fast would his whole effort of leaving the office precisely at 5pm would be to no avail – that precious 5 seconds delay in arriving at his home would be catastrophic to him as he would miss the last piece of pisang goreng hot off the oily pan at some makcik’s stall right across his house. These kind of people feel that being fast would make put them in a better position but ignoring the fact that their act would trouble others and the domino effect of their recklesness on traffic would inevitably be more catastrophic than the hot pisang goreng he missed out on.


Bill Clinton had also said that most politicians and leaders missed out on the more important things in life – I actually forgot the examples given but I’d say it’s along the line of birds, the sun, trees, children, etc. What they care about is having the upper edge, of course he’s probably talking in a more clinical terms such having the better nuclear arms, defence technology, political reputation – but in my mind I can’t help but think about politicians fighting over who has the bigger house, whose wife has the most jewelries across her neck and arm, who had the best trip to Europe last year and so on so forth.


As petty as the examples that my thoughts were able to produce, I think that in the context of Malaysia today (in fact since we gained independence and since some of us gained power) that is the reality of it all. The identity issue with regards to Malaysian politicians have always been about material things. It’s as if they have nothing but ignorance of the plight of others. Of course when I say “politicians” here I’m generally referring to those rather well-established-having-been-in-power-for-more-than-3 decades politicians (you know, them).


But this identity issue can be rather contagious. Those who are in power for a year might well have caught the bug and is hungry for some more of its “benefits”. If only politicians start thinking about other people more than just themselves. North Korea might not be in such a dire economic situation had they let down their ego and US might not be the most hated country in the world if the same issue is addressed (in this case, very high ego). Malaysia too might well be prosperous and all of its citizens can reap the benefits of this highly resourceful country.

Peace :)

Where's Your Faith?

Some Malay “residents” from sec.23 are a bunch of cow-piss and rogues that only knows how to wreak havoc by acting in undiplomatic manners to resolve a non-issue. Why do I say non-issue? Well for the simple fact that, building a temple 400m or 200m or even 100m away from a Muslim’s house shouldn’t dent a true Muslim’s faith and therefore they should not be bothered. That’s the real issue with these people – do they have faith in the first place?

Why be so afraid so as to cause, first the cow head protest and secondly the ruckus in the town hall? The first might be done out of total ignorance and brash racist mentality, but the second one is just plain stupid. The town hall meeting was conducted to discuss your grievance on top of the Hindu’s. Why disrupt a discussion that aims to solve the issue that you yourself brought up and want settled?

A true Muslim with faith won’t be disturbed even if their house is surrounded by deities, temples and churches. That’s what separate a mere Muslim by name and a Mu’min (believer). The first would talk of defending their religion by discrediting the other religion and belittling them while the latter would defend their religion with conviction and pious actions – stomping and spitting on a cow’s head is hardly pious (nor is it humane).

What’s more laughable then the “residents” of sec.23 is our Home Minister (and his friends of course). The fact that he made a u-turn have not gone unnoticed by any person that follows this story, or anyone who reads news on a daily basis really. First he was defending the residents with pig stories, “I have it in my records to show where a pig head was used irresponsible parties, including leaving the head in front of an umno building covered by an umno flag”. Then the next day, they government newspaper displays the word “CHARGE” proudly on the front page as if the previous day’s “defense” had never even occurred.

What’s puzzling me in this case is how different his stance is in the first place compared to his boss’ and his former deputy in the youth movement. Whilst the those two (who ironically is not supposed to be on the same boat) condemned the protestors outright, this joker of a Minister deems it right to defend those lousy protestors. He definitely have not got the PM’s hint all these while - be more inclusive towards all races and to accommodate everyone’s interest into administrative policies...is it wrong to suggest that he has never even heard of the word 1Malaysia before he made that “defense”?

Today, he says those who brings disrepute by doing racist stuffs must be punished (referring to the cow head protestors)...what happened to "they did not mean to be racist..."?!?

I was told once during a course I attended that police do not need reports to start investigation – of course it’s only logical. if a police sees a snatch thief going about their usual snatch-thieving business then the police or anyone can make an arrest. He doesn’t need to wait for a report. While it may seem a bit odd to the police that the protest was not peaceful and no one was holding candles or wearing black, the police should have stopped the protestors from doing anything else because it is obviously going to be damaging. But in this case, out of sheer confusion of the manner of the protest, they decided to stand back and watch – and perhaps actually waited for someone to do a report explaining the whole thing cause they can’t comprehend what’s going on.

I know since my serious commentary on this issue has come a little bit late – I too was confused by “what the heck is our government doing in addressing this issue?!?” – the A-G has found it appropriate to charge the protestors with sedition and illegal assembly. Obviously there are other charges that could also be on the cards like criminal intimidation, for actually threatening bloodshed (but no real victim I suppose?), and though I welcome the charges being made, I can’t help but feel somehow it’s a little bit late. The fact that they have gone on to disrupt a meeting in the town hall shows that they do not have respect for the law even though the whole nation had condemned their act in the first place.

The ultra-Malays have to really stop and think for awhile. Is everything that they do worth the hassle? Do they really know what they want? Is our livelihood that threatened if Malaysia actually grow in unison rather than with the Malay on top?

Peace :)

Residents That Have Umno as Guru

OMG! Stupidity at its best! Seriously, with Muslims fasting and abstaining themselves from eating and filling their stomach, a group of not so smart "residents" went and spit and stomp a cow's head.

Sure we don't really cook and eat cow's head here in Malaysia, in general, but don't waste it. Some people in some African country (maybe even our neighboring countries or a tribe somewhere in Borneo) might well love a cow's head for dinner. What you could've done is to ship it out, get some money out of it and buy food for the homeless.

One of the main thing to practise during Ramadhan is self discipline and to control one's desire. Wasting is definitely an evil act which Islam does not accept especially in this holiest of months.

Plus to do it after Friday prayers? Haven't you people heard, this is the month where you should grab all the rewards you can muster. If you have so much free time after Friday prayers to actually conduct stupid acts like that, why not spend time reading the Quran or just sit around the mosque and pray.

Someone's lying as well in this holy month. Residents claim 90% of the people in the area are Malay whilst the Selangor government decided to relocate the temple there because they say 40% is Indian. I'm not saying the residents are liars, but I'm sure the Selangor government must've checked their facts before deciding on their plan and I don't think anyone's stupid enough to execute the plan without getting something so simple checked and confirmed.

So there's wasting time and food, lying, being stupid, ignorant, disrespectful, inciting hatred, threatening bloodshed, accusing others, being stupid (I know I've said this but it's really, really stupid what they did), causing disharmony and well every other negative evil word you can find in the dictionary - don't say this is what your religious teacher teached you in school.

Unless! Unless of course your religious teacher is any of the Umno warlords, then it's not that hard to believe. Let's recap:

* Using race as a battlecry - okay, yes Umno is famous for that with their Utusan Malaysia providing printed evidence

* Being stupid - of course, Umno is known for that as well what with picking rohaizat as an election candidate and supporting Samy Vellu after so many years of incompetence (wait, that's ingenious! they have their reasons for this)

* Accusing a Malay of betraying something - yes well this needs no explanation. They would accuse an opposition of betraying human nature if they find the most trivial reason to (like betraying human nature for not taking easy money when it's right in front of you)

* Threatening bloodshed - oh this one needs no introduction really, especially if you were alive in the late 1980's (or at least read political/history/biography books) when our own beloved 1Malaysia propagating, unity wielding, PM threatened bloodshed of the Chinese community at a massive rally in KL

* Liars - do I really need to give evidence of this one? Come by-election in some remote undeveloped area somewhere in Kelantan, then you'll know what I mean - especially if Umno loses that particular by-election

* Causing disharmony - see "threatening bloodshed"

So please do not say you represent Islam because never have Islam ever condone acts of violence and to threaten others with bloodshed. When Allah said he created humans in all forms and races so that we can live together, it does include letting other religions live in harmony (Surah Al-Hujurat verse 13).

Umno Is Just Not Matured Enough

After 2 Permatang by-elections, BN/Umno has yet to mature (matang – funny kan?)

To think that cats can learn faster than this. Cats are persistent, don’t get me wrong (much like Umno trying to win votes by using race rhetoric) but with cats, at least you know that if you smack them hard once, they won’t bother you anymore.

People say once bitten twice shy. But with Umno it’s more like, once bitten...shy? Whose shy? Are you saying that Malays are lacking confidence?

With the first by-election in Permatang Pauh, there was nothing wrong with the choice of candidate. He was the best there was, he really had a chance had the opposition candidate been Pak Ali, some Permatang Pauh division PKR member – but he was up against a big gun, the biggest gun you’ll ever see (and Saiful Bukhari might well testify to this having admittedly been out muscled by that particular 60 year old man)

However the race rhetoric was one of their main battle cry. It’s as if they haven’t realized that after 52 years of Malaysia’s existence, there are other race as well and these other races vote as well. It’s ok if you want to protect the Malay name, but to do that in expense of the others? Really?

Then Permatang Pasir, same story. Anwar is a traitor to the Malays, Anwar wants to get rid of Malay rights and privileges, DAP hates Malays and would one day build another Singapore in Malaysia, PAS is only subservient to DAP and does not uphold race nor religion and the baseless claim goes on and on and on and trust me if there’s another by-election one week away, they’ll probably reprint whatever they used during the Permatang Pasir by-election – hey, save money what?

Sure the Permatang Pasir by-election isn’t about the non-Malay vote as even though 27% (is this right?) might be a big number, but it’s hardly anything. If Umno can get at least 60% of the Malay vote then they would’ve won – hardly precise calculation but whatever number that supports this claim would be good (if that 60% is a load of crap that is).

It has always been about the Malay vote, and that’s why they were so bravely going all out on that front. Sure press report also made claims of them trying to get to the heart of the Chinese voters and Rohaizat had gone to the extent of blaming the Chinese for his loss – he really needs to look himself in the mirror – but those are all nonsense. They never really cared about them.

Where was Najib anyway? Why didn’t he do what he did in Permatang Pauh and went all out? Oh wait, no one raised the issue of the Mongolian who shall not be named so no reason why he should visit mosques...err right?

Also in Permatang Pauh it was all about sodomy II and I guess they realized no one believes that nonsense – hei wait, they did learn something...ekh. But still race issue was still by and large the most outstanding issue in Umno’s eyes - which leaves them with 2 defeats and nothing much.

Of course this time around the chunk of the blame should also go to their choice of candidate. I mean surely they must’ve done a little bit of vetting at least. To say that he is their best candidate would mean that they are devoid of any plausible party member – even if they can’t find a local (in which case Rohaizat wasn’t anyway) surely there’s someone in Melaka or neighboring Kedah, right?

But that’s the thing, they don’t pick based on merit. Like what was written in a surprisingly not yet condemned nor banned online news portal the Malaysian Insider, the candidacy is picked based on whose next line – or in other words since he climbed that dirty ladder the fastest, that seat is his.

Back to race rhetoric, it saddens me when fully grown individuals like Muhyiddin can't think straight and instead defy reality. Isn't he the education minister? Isn't he responsible to educate the young people about unity and being Malaysian? It's sad...sad...dumb...sad...

Peace :)

Everyone's an Extremist

Much brouhaha have been made about Kartika’s fate of having to be whipped for her indiscretion – drinking alcoholic beverage which though the punishment has not been specified in the Quran, it can be seen through the traditions of the Prophet s.a.w.


I’m not going to touch on the rationality of the punishment and why it is not a bad thing (I support it wholeheartedly by the way) for that punishment to be meted out to serve as a deterrent to others (though I doubt in this rather unethical days anything can be served as a deterrent anymore), but I would rather touch on the humanitarian side of things – or rather the extremes of the human rights advocates.


I’m not one to argue too much with human rights advocates because naturally I don’t deny that some of what they fight for should be fought for. Justice, fairness, equality, equal opportunity, etc. are all good things so anyone who does not want such things are evil.


However, some of what they fight for are rather bleak. Corporal punishment for example. Not that I’m all for it but whichever makes sense to me makes sense to me and no one can change that. I know human rights activists are blossoming like mushrooms after a rainy day (is this right?) but that doesn’t mean everyone must be one – just because you believe in something doesn’t mean everyone has to believe in it too. This is what Islam teaches us.


I agree that PAS have kind of been doing the same thing when they advocate Syari’ah ruling and an Islamic government of Malaysia. But you people are no different from them. Those who harp on PAS not caring about other religions and other people who does not wish to be ruled in that manner are doing just that by condemning PAS for believing in what they believe in.


Is there any difference between PAS members and supporters who does not wish for concerts to be held during Ramadhan as opposed to any concert organizers who wishes for the concert to be held? Aren’t both advocating for something they believe in even though both are in opposite directions? When you feel that PAS has stepped on someone’s rights, don’t you feel you are stepping on their rights as well? (when I say PAS I also mean those who believe in their belief and not necessarily their party members). So if they protest against the concert than that is their right. If the concerts goes on than that’s your right as well.


It bugs me when there are those who does not see that there are 2 sides to a coin. Sure whatever the extremists think is wrong but by you condemning the extremists and not taking into consideration what they believe in, you are no better. Extremists, by the way, are coined by those who just cannot get into grips that what they believe in are not accepted by all. So you are also an extremist to an extremist – no one’s neutral.


This is where diplomacy and mutual engagement comes in, in an ideal world. But nowadays no one wants to listen and everyone cares only about their interest, their belief and themselves.


Back to Kartika. The punishment of whipping might not be the best option to some of you but in Islam that’s the way it is done. Though it doesn’t fit your human rights code but it does fit Islam’s. I know most human rights activists are liberals and believes in secularism but to an obedient Muslims, we stand by our religion and Syari’ah.


When you talk of rights, you have human rights, animal rights, labour rights, refugees’ rights and so on so forth. When we talk about rights, we have human rights and Allah’s rights. When you ask us to take only human rights into consideration and ignoring any other rights, then you are doing us a disservice because we also believe in the hereafter – which requires us to be fully obedient to Allah and his rulings for us to get the best rewards.


I’m not going to argue with the Atheist activists who finds it well enough to argue not only that human rights should be the ultimate consideration but also there is no such thing as “God” – and no one should believe otherwise – since some are hypocrites who cannot take a differing opinion, at all.


Some might argue that imposing Syari’ah laws goes against some people’s belief and that it is like stuffing thing down one’s throat by force. But ultimately, Syari’ah laws are just for Muslims. True Muslims would not have any qualms about Syari’ah laws and true obedient Muslims realize that it is Allah’s law. Who are we to defy our creator?


I watched one episode of The Simpsons 2 days ago and in that episode Lisa, Homer Simpson’s daughter, fought hard to educate the people of Springfield on animal rights. However, her own father does not believe in it. She argued with Homer due to the latter’s love for meat. She ran away from home and subsequently met Apu, an Indian who owns a mart in Springfield - he is a vegan as well.


Later (ridiculously) they met Linda and Paul McCartney at a secret park somewhere and talked about being vegans. Lisa told them that she eats cheese which struck Apu by surprise since he does not eat anything that comes from animals. But then Apu went on to say that he learned to live through differences between people and knows he cannot make everyone believe in what he believes in.


Strong message from a very silly (but hilarious) cartoon.


Peace :)