Happy 51st Birthday Malaysia!

I guess there is nothing prouder for a country than to achieve its independence. And saying that, nothing makes its rakyat prouder than to celebrate the great day with their fellow Malaysians and perhaps join in when they call out "Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!"

To think that it's already been a year since the government was talking about the country's achievements for the last 50 years (and of course, taking the credits for everything that comes to mind) and what "they had in mind for Malaysia" for the next 50 years.

It's 50 + 1 and a lot has happened. The boat has been rocked and the pot has been stirred (forgive me for the cliched expressions). And yet, the ministers, their deputies, their secretaries and their supporters are still resting on their laurels, applying outdated methods in their everyday activities. Be it from dealing with modern media, mouthing racist comments during speeches, or being in denial over the people's voices - nothing has changed. A year's time was a waste on them.

But I'm hoping that the rest of Malaysia and its people are feeling that they are destined to do more. Wait...I meant, WE are destined to do more. From pushing for political reforms, to helping the country grow economically and realizing the Malaysia Inc. vision, to nurturing our young with values and making them leaders of tomorrow, to breaking away from old practices of racism, sexism and religious superiority, and finally to ensuring the sick, the poor and the elderly are taken cared of in a system that is wholesome and sustainable.

I have heard it many times before from different people - be it local and foreign visitors - saying that Malaysia is a great place to live in. It amazes people that a country with such diversity - in terms of culture, religious practices, beliefs and historical background - could live in harmony with one another. It amazes me too. Despite the underlying tension that surfaces once in a while - especially when some idiots pull out their ceremonial dagger during an important event - things has been pretty alright amongst us common Malaysians, has it not?

If we take politics and power aside - what is truly important to us all? Independence was a hard thing to achieve back then. After we achieved it, what was next? Was it political superiority? Money? Or supremacy over others who are different? What is it that pulls us all together as Malaysians today and not as distinctive races?

I apologize for the rhetoric questions. I used to write a lot about how we could change Malaysia for the better and how we should continue to work hard into getting our next generation there. I have also been to the so-called greener side and have been back. And I'm still saying that we can achieve our dream, which is to have a place where everyone is truly a Malaysian with their rights protected as equal with no discrimination and injustice. Everyone should have a vision of how their country should be. And so this is mine.

I'm So Scared! He is Annoyed!

Referring to this piece of news: Najib: No more fuel rebates if you don't appreciate them
I can only say this...Kalo tak nak bagi, tak usah bagi!!

Seem like he was expecting this to be an easy thing to deal with. Perhaps he thought that the initial scheme was flawless? Or he is thinking that getting annoyed is too much for his highness to bear?

I guess Malaysian national policies are clearly determined by the whims of the powerful.

This is another round of incompetence in implementing a national policy with no thoughts about the consequences nor the expectations that the people has. I guess this is what I would call a half-baked policy. All it takes to change national policies is to get someone higher up annoyed.

Stupidity That Surpasses The Greatest

And we Malaysians complimented his stupidity with our very own kiasuness.

That comment probably just stepped on quite a lot of toes. Yours too - particularly if you were one of those who rushed to the petrol station just to filled up the tank, while causing a massive jam on every road leading to a petrol station there is in the country. Even those stations that usually don't have much business were jam packed with cars, SUVs, lorries, motorcycles...you name it. And then leaving those who really needed the petrol stuck on the road, after whatever was remaining in their tank ran out while waiting for their turn.

Whose fault was it? Well, of course I couldn't blame it on the people since the government should really have foreseen this...and who would not have expected the reaction?? Malaysians in general are kiasu, even rivaling their southern neighbours on some fronts. (though some of us hate to admit it, but there are also those who wear it like a badge of honour - which I seriously wonder why). OK...let's not step on even more toes.

But in all seriousness, the fault lies with Uncle Lah, who in his supreme wisdom decided to raise the petrol ceiling by 78 sen - all in one go. He couldn't raised it over a few months. No, no, no, the past few months was too near to the elections...so it had to be done after the elections. And as a "reward" for all those naughty voters who voted accordingly, he wanted to dish out the "goodies", all in one shot.

I mean...come on lah...he could have made the raise incrementally, right? In my humble opinion, the petrol price should have been raised since last year - a bit at a time. Everyone hates price increases, especially when our pay remains the same - but if it needed to be done, it should have been done in a way that would have lessen the pain.

Unfortunately for us, with his unsurpassed wisdom, we will now see everything else go up in prices too - exceedingly high too. Not like it has not been going up and up and up for the last few months. But it's going to hit sky high now. With the price of chicken on the rise, looks like I'll need switch to pork - not like it's cheaper - with my porridge (remember someone's Deputy asked us to change our lifestyles?). Probably have to switch to bringing my own lunch now too.

Uncle Lah of course have to lead the pack by raising the price for electricity - by 18%. Whoopy! Now I need to eat my porridge by candle light. How romantic.

While in our minds we knew that we have stupid ministers...they have now removed any reasonable doubt - at least from my mind (I thought there was a cure...but...looks like that was my optimistic self speaking). Either that or the coffers has really shrunk over his tenure and he had no choice in this matter.

Whatever the reason was, the execution was once again a "first for Malaysia" and it was something no one could have guessed. Bravo Uncle Lah, bravo for the dumboness that puts us all into shame.

So What Happened To Immediately?

The Star reported this:

A camp spokesman said the trainees ho complained of nausea and stomach pains, started vomiting between 12.15am to 1.30am.

The trainees were referred to the medical team at the camp and rushed to the hospital at 7am when their conditions worsened. It is learnt that the source of the food poisoning had been traced to the lunch ate on Wednesday.

So it's all NATO again lah...No Action Talk Only. What happened between 1:30am and 7:00am ? More than 5 hours difference before they were sent to the hospital. This is contrary to what our Deputy Prime Minister assured us just a day before.

Furthermore, trainees had said (in the report) that the meat they were served was stale...rice uncooked? What sort of training camp are they running anyway?

So who is going to take responsibility for this problem? Who will compensate the trainees who suffered the food poisoning? Mr. Deputy PM, are you going to live up to your assurances? Or as usual, your speech yesterday was only a publicity stunt?

Uncle Lah Continues To Talk Shite

Uncle Lah, Uncle Lah...don't be a hypocrite lah...

There are bigots in your party that has been mouthing racist comments and you said nothing about it. Self-censorship konon. Ask who kissed his keris in front of camera - just to show his racial supreme-ness?? Who always asked us to balik China and balik India? Who keeps reminding us of May 13?

Bak kata pepatah, Gajah di depan mata tak kelihatan, semut di seberang kelihatan.

And talk about "ethical journalism" - heh...even The Star put them in inverted commas - you mean only those media (newspapers, tv, etc.) who are sympathetic to your party and those who sings your praises all the time, every time, are ethical lah...correct? Correct, correct, correct, correct...

All those of us who criticize the government are labeled with crude remarks like "monkeys" and "goblok". Our words are baseless while those written by the so-called mainstream media are the gospel of truth.

Balik lah Uncle Lah. Up till now, still want to talk cock. Malaysian ministers, really No.1 at this kind of things. The people who are threatening our national security and public order are those in your government that has been living off the public coffers and abuse their power with impunity. Go clean your own house before you dare talk about being "ethical" about anything.

After 4 Years and 16 Cases

Only after 16 death cases does our brilliant government thought of sending sick trainees straight to the hospital.

I would have thought that after the second case it would have triggered a red alert to have falling sick trainees to be sent to the nearest hospital, IMMEDIATELY. After all, if the trainee is checked to be OK (or if sick, then recovers), he or she can always continue with the NS training later on.

Took long enough for the bulb to light up.

Change Lifestyle...Eat Porridge???

Aggressive measures my foot.

It's the economy, stupid! And it's all those short-sighted policies that has caused our economy to lag behind and become ever more dependent on FDIs. And this in turn has caused the average income of the lower and middle income groups to rise too slowly to cope with the ever increasing cost of living.

Like I have mentioned in the comments section of my previous entry, the Ringgit doesn't have the buying power. Ask the average Joe in Malaysia, how long does a RM50 note last? How much can RM1 buy today - as compared to 10 years ago? Keeping that in mind, how much has our average base income increased in the last 10 years?

With the highly skewed inflation rates released by the government every year, it is hardly a surprise why the our yearly increments (if we have any) - for lower and middle income groups - is so low. Note that Malaysia's inflation rate (consumer price) for 2007 is 3.8%.

Simple example without going into too much details. As I usually do, I buy my lunch from a nearby economy rice stall. And these days I pay around RM3.50 for a plate of rice and dishes, where I was only paying RM3.00 a few months back for the same stuff. Sometimes for dinner, I go for a plate of nasi goreng at the local Nasi Kandar restaurant and the price has now gone up from Rm3.50 to RM4.00. Let's do the Maths - in both cases the rise in prices has gone up more than 10%. While they are fervently trying t control the prices, it is not working.

I agree that not all the prices has gone up by that amount - my point is that the rising inflation today is not on special items or things that we buy for luxury. These are food items and if our Uncle Lah wants me to change my lifestyle - I wonder what I should eat next. Porridge? Can't even fall on bread these days, as it too has gone up in price.

Also, perhaps Uncle Lah can provide me with an adequate public transport system so that I need not drive and pay tolls?

On one hand, they are asking us to spend in order to keep the local economy up. And on the other hand, Uncle Lah wants us to save. Cannot lah like that...most of my spending is already on basic stuff...does he even realise what is happening on the common folk's level?

My qualm is really not about rising prices or rising inflation because the the world economy is really not doing too well these days and I do understand the economics of it, albeit from a layman's view. But these problems or the pain we need to go through when things go bad would be much less IF our country's economy was more robust and that its people has better buying power with their earnings.

And instead of getting the economy back on track, our Uncle Lah falls on to controlling prices, setting "food granaries", "asking us to change our lifestyles", spending more on mega projects,...

What a load of crap. All these does nothing to right the fundamentals of Malaysia's economy nor does it strengthen our capabilities to compete globally. All these are short term measures that would only forestall the worse to come. Perhaps Uncle Lah thinks that by then, he would have retired and become a Tun.

That Minimum Wage Thing

So today, our Resource Minister told the us that if the minimum wage policy is implemented in Malaysia, foreign workers must also be included - due to international labour law and all that. And I agree, though since when has Malaysia given much thought about international laws except when it's convenient?

And this minimum wage thingy...it's still a really BIG if when it comes to how the BN government operates. Probably it will become reality in another 10 years time or maybe after we celebrate the next 50 years of independence.

Anyway, back to what our minister said:

If the minimum wage is fixed at RM1,500, he said, employers must also be prepared to pay their factory workers and housemaids the fixed amount.

"Now with maids' salary being about RM600, women who earn RM2,000 still find it okay to go to work, but if minimum wage is fixed at RM1,500 these women would rather stay at home," he said.

I don't know about you Mr. Resource Minister, but if I had a maid and I needed to increase her pay by RM900, I would assume that my pay be going up by similar amounts - or at least a sane person would demand an increase from their employers. Or did I misunderstood how the minimum wage is suppose to work.

Will the minimum wage policy be implemented only for people earning below a certain income bracket? And if that bracket has a threshold that doesn't go beyond "RM2000", then even I would think it's a stupid idea - or more accurately, we have a stupid government (which is not really a new discovery) and an even dumber Resource Minister.

But that's just my thoughts. I do believe that when politicians open their mouths to give "analogies", they should at least run it through their brain and if they have already done so, then perhaps they should run it through someone with a better one.

A New Hope - That's What I Like To See

Congratulations to the Opposition! And in a few states, you guys are no longer the "opposition" - simply brilliant!

I have thought about what to write regarding the recent General Elections (and its results) and I have surfed the web, reading countless comments from bloggers and netizens'. In the end, despite the huge implications the results of this General Election have on Malaysia's political landscape, we will have no choice, but to wait and see. To see if both the Barisan Nasional (BN) government and the Opposition will/can deliver on their promises.

Those in BN will have to come down to reality and acknowledge that the people want to be served - not the other way round. The people wants development, but at the same time their rights needs to be protected. Development should be felt by every segment of society and not only the rich and well-connected. The economy might seem rosy and healthy, but the people's buying power has been on the decline for years - their pockets are thin and the economy paints a contradictory picture for them. Raising the earning and buying power is a more viable solution than controlling prices and subsidies.

For those in the Opposition and in states where they will be running the government - they will also need to take note that there isn't a moment's rest for them either. In view that they did not foresee such a big win in the elections, they need to formulate their policies - not only quickly, but these policies must realistic, achievable and seen to be implemented for the good of the people. Those promises made during their election campaigns must be kept and delivered without bias nor given excuses to keep them from being a reality. Let's bring back municipal council elections, and do away with the Official Secrets Act like what the Selangor-designate Menteri Besar is proposing to do. If the Opposition cannot prove to the people that they can be an alternative, then they will surely be consigned to dustbins in the next election.

The Opposition has always said that the people never gave them a chance. Well, now they have it. Let's see how well they can manage and govern the states, which they have been given a mandate.

We have rocked the boat and threw out a few clowns (think Zam and Samy) in the process. However, the helmsman is still the same, but his relevance is now in question. Should the alternative prove viable, I see no qualms in throwing him and his lots out in the next election.

Going Home for The Elections?

Well, I will be heading home later tonight,
1. To do my US Visa, and 2. The far more important thing, which is to cast my vote on Saturday.

The more I read the local so-called mainstream news, the more I feel that we need to vote the current government out so that they get a taste of being in the opposition for once.

I have never been a supporter of the opposition. I have always believed that working on a consensus basis is a good way to run things in a multicultural country. And I have always believed that Barisan Nasional was the lesser evil.

No longer.

Perhaps the availability of alternative news sources, coupled with a higher awareness of the on-goings in this country has allowed me to get a better view on things. Well, not so much of a "better view", cause from what I have seen, Malaysia is far from the rosy country that the incumbents have led us to believe.

If I believed that they were the lesser of two evils, then now I believe that the incumbent has grown a few devil's horn in a short five years. In short, it is becoming obvious that those who are so-called "ruling" us has grown from bad to worse, and they have become ever more arrogant and ignorant to the people's needs. It seems that all they care to think about is themselves - and how to pocket more money, despite already being filthy rich.

When they talk about distribution of wealth, it means distributing wealth among the pockets of the elites and the well-connected. When they say they will control price increases, it means they will still increase prices, just that they will do it in a "controlled" manner - instead of thinking of ways to lift our earning and purchasing power. When they talk about bringing more Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) into the country, it means keeping wages low to attract multinationals to set up factory and manufacturing plants - instead of raising local expertise to encourage the setting up of more research and design centres in the country.

When they say that implementing a minimum wage system would mean higher cost for employing foreign workers, it means they will keep telling us that the inflation rate is less than 2%, just to let your boss know that he can almost skip your pay increment this year - that is even if your nasi goreng has gone up by 50 sen without you having a say in it. When they tell us that if we don't vote them, we will not get our development budget, it means that without our votes, they cannot continue with their wealth distribution system.

When a minister tells us to "change our lifestyles", he really means that we should stop asking them to change theirs. When a minister pulls out a keris and tells us that he meant to use it only symbolically, it means he has dished us a plate of shite and wants us to swallow it - quietly. When we hear a minister rave incoherently during an interview (think Al-Jazeera) it was meant to demonstrate our impeccable command of English and to create some humorous moments during a tense situation.

Finally, when they tell us that voting for the opposition means less power for us in their government, it means we should take that vote and give it to them by shoving it up their arses!

Phew...now I can go vote logically and not influenced emotionally. So what does that tell you? ;)

Food On Table No Longer Enough

When Azmi Sharom made the point, I felt that he has highlighted the situation succinctly - a situation that the government seems to be either ignorant of or simply playing stupid. And hope that the rakyat are dumb enough to believe them.

The local media, i.e. the government's boot-lickers, have been helping with the propaganda non-stop - spinning the news, giving biased coverage, putting opposition parties in a bad light - what else have they not done in the name of serving their political masters? Well, I'm fed up with reading and watching these sort of reporting and I'm sure a lot of us are as well.

The latest piece of spin is of course on the topic of development and economic prosperity. Well, maybe it has always been one of their key spins - since the current government really has nothing much to shout about, so they have no choice but keep beating same dead horse over and over again. But even when we talk about development and the economy, what do we really see? I see a failure to balance the need to raise the standard of living of the poor and the requirement to ensure that rest of the population keeps progressing.

Taking "fishes" from the wealthy and simply giving them freely to the poor might be acceptable to some. But taking the "fishes" from those who are far from being wealthy and then pocketing them for their own benefit (and their cronies as well) is what the government is really doing.

It's time to put a stop to all this bullshit about the economy being strong because of Barisan Nasional. The country is so-called "economically strong" because of the people's hard work and the used-to-be-abundant natural resources. If these so-called people in the Barisan Nasional made better policies and had better foresight - two prerequisites to becoming a good leader - we should be far better off now. And this is true for everybody, regardless of race, religion or creed. There would not be rallies like the Hindraf, the people would not need to be worrying about rising prices and we certainly would not be talking about the stupidly low rankings of our national universities - IF they have done their jobs well.

And they have not. Of course. we have had some successes. And it might have been enough to appease the people then. But the world is no longer about just you and me. It's about making a better future for our children, and their children, and so on. It's about living in a country where standards of living is high and yet its people can still afford to pay for it, without needing to "steal" from the wealthy. And it's about having policies, which are just, fair and colour blind. It's about transparency and accountability of those people in power - power that the people has given them.

No. Being able to put food on the table is no longer sufficient. We need more from our government. And if they cannot provide what the people is asking for, then they would do well to retire in grace. If not, then it would do well for us to vote them out.

Do check out Azmi's interview with Malaysiakini:

PKR Campaign at Solok Bukit Jambul

I went to the PKR election ceramah (campaign speech) last night at their operation house at Bukit Jambul - opposite the Vistana Hotel. The crowd was small initially, numbering around 50 people. It started around 9:30pm and we heard speeches from those contesting in Batu Uban (Raveen Tharan - PKR's state legal advisory panel chief) and Pantai Jerejak (Sim Tze Tzin).


Their speeches were OK-ish, with Raveen being the better speaker than Sim. Both were clearly not politicians - and while they really do need to brush up on their public speaking, they did appear honest in their believes. They believe that PKR is the better party and that its policies will benefit the people.

OK, Sim's speech was actually pretty slow since he repeated his points in three different languages, mainly Bahasa Malaysia, English and Mandarin (sometimes in Hokkien too). It was at this moment that I felt hungry and nicked away for a bite at Nasi Kandar Kayu. OK, I'm not a fan of PKR and a man's got to eat, no? ;p


But I was hoping to catch Anwar Ibrahim (although again, not a fan) because I believe his speeches are usually better prepared and he can pretty much still charm the crowd like he used to when he was the deputy prime minister. By the time I went back to have a look, the crowd had already swell to more than 150 people, all listening to a speaker from PRM - though I didn't catch his name as he has already started his introductions.

Anyway, after about 10 minutes or so, we heard the news that Anwar was going to arrive soon. And from the expressions of those around, it seemed that they too were waiting eagerly for the arrival of the charismatic PKR leader. So when he arrived to explain his party's agenda and what he really meant with this "New Economic Agenda", we were not disappointed.

I managed to record the early part of his speed with my camera, though it soon ran out of memory. Plus the visual captured was quite bad - but the audio is still pretty good. Have a listen. We have heard enough of the crap that is coming out from the state-controlled media, so let's hear what the other side has to say. By the end of his speech, there were about 300+ people gathered - and all gathered by the roadside along the operation house.





We continued to add on his party's policies on improving health care and if remembered correctly, on having a minimum wage system in this country - IF they were in power.

Pangkah Betul-Betul!

We are all reminded to pangkah (cross) our ballot paper correctly on the polling day. Mistakes could well cause our votes to be void. Regardless of who you are planning to vote for, remember to pangkah correctly. This is how I will be doing it:






Well, there's too many party components in the ruling coalition to pangkah, so I just pangkah the main one-lah...


So, remember...pangkah betoi-betoi!

And You Are Being Stupid

They need him he says. More like you guys need someone to keep the goodies coming, eh?

It's a shame that younger leaders at MIC cannot be more capable - if there is no one else better than their current president, then perhaps they should all quit right this moment. Because it would mean that the members at MIC are all followers, which then makes MIC = The Samy Vellu Party. Should rename it to TSVP and run the party as such.

This statement by one G. Palanivel clearly shows how MIC has failed and will continue to fail the people that it is supposed to represent. No community should depend wholly on one person, much less on a politician like Samy Vellu - a politician that has passed his time and should have retired a long time ago with some grace intact. Samy Vellu is no Mahathir. That should be a clear indication enough that you lot in MIC should have ousted him long before this coming election.

Strike: A Gift for Penangites?

Talk about a new year gift for the Penangites...

Bus drivers on strike
Thousands Stranded As RapidPenang Drivers Strike
Koh Orders RapidPenang To Restore Service

I'm not sure how much these bus drivers are getting and so I can't really comment on whether their request for a RM200 pay rise was a fair one. But to me it all comes down to the need for more money to afford better stuff, isn't it? And again, whose fault is it that our so-called buying power is so damn low? I'm sure that if we could buy more with every ringgit we are now earning, there would be less cases of employees asking for a pay rise every year.

"Star"-ing MIC

Looks like there are quite a few articles on The Star today on MIC, MIC and more MIC. It ranges from re-engineering, trusts (???), temples, so-called "key issues" (whatever those are) and education. I'm sure they would have squeezed in even more MIC stories if it wasn't because the spin would have been too obvious.

And they say HINDRAF didn't work? Even though MIC is merely putting on a show for us to see, nonetheless the march has garnered the necessary attention. If MIC wants to talk about re-engineering, perhaps their President should step down and let the younger generation to do the re-engineering. MIC doesn't need nor, honestly speaking, want him. Malaysians would certainly like to see the back of that one, with his broken Bahasa Malaysia and all.

Let see what our local newz managed to cook up out of one meeting...

Re-engineer yourself to remain relevant, Najib tells MIC
- Follow what UMNO did? UMNO is still as racist as it ever has been. In fact with the keris waving madman around, it's hard to see what you lot have re-engineered into. And you want those in MIC to follow your example? Maybe they should have started waving the Khanda when you were giving your speech?

Trust Barisan, Indians told
- Yeah...that's why you get temples destroyed without much notice, much less any care. That's why you get HINDRAF on our streets. Whose fault was it that did these things happened? Because the people trusted Barisan.

“The household income of Indians is RM3,215 – more than the national average of RM3,022, while their relative poverty rate stands at 2.9% compared to 8.3% for bumiputras and 0.6% for the Chinese,” he added. [...]

Try asking those working in the estates. RM3,215 my foot. If you average those of the richest and those of the poorest, of course you get a bloody average. That does not mean that there are no poor Indian Malaysians. There is a higher percentage of poorer bumiputras because the bumiputras has a larger population. It simply doesn't mean that Indian Malaysians are doing better than the bumiputras.

These are all twisted statistics just to make the government look good. And the reason why there is a higher percentage of poor bumiputra is because of corrupt elites at the top of the food chain pocketing all the benefits meant for the poor. By the time things trickle down, there is nothing left except to maintain the status quo. The poor stays poor and the rich just gets richer.

Najib promises orderly relocation of temples
- Ever heard of a mosque being relocated? Or that it became a big deal to the community? Enough said.

MIC wants Government to intervene in key issues
- Took you long enough to even mention them aloud. These issues were known la...If the government wanted to fix them, they would have done so already. The only reason why they didn't bother is because they just don't care. Not until it starts to affect their votes in the coming election. Wake up mate! Wait...you were always awake...just that you also didn't care la...correct?

Do or die battle for MIC - Read this piece. You think Samy will step down in the coming election? I think the pigs will fly first.

Is Rafidah Doing a Zam?

So, our Trade Minister is trying to duplicate the successes of the Mis-Information Minister by spewing cow-dung comments against bloggers.

According to this report, she apparently said:

There will always be people who use blogs on the Internet to criticise the rapid economic growth achieved by the Government [...]

That is stupid. Most bloggers I know crticise their government because their policies have slowed the country down - NOT increase it. If only our politicians in the Cabinet were wise enough to put the country AND its citizens ahead of their own pockets and cronies, we would have been far, far better by now. She thinks we are growing rapidly? We could have been a first world country already if their lot had stopped playing racial games with one another for the last 50 years.

And she had the nerve to say:

Most of these bloggers belonged to or were associated with the Opposition, she said.

“In the past they do it in ceremahs [sic] and now they do it through the blogs. Their criticisms without properly backed facts are pure rubbish [...]

I'm not associated with nor belong to any party, and her comments sounded so lame that it's no longer funny. If she deemed that bloggers crticise "without properly backed facts" then I must say that her lot are the Kings of Rubbish - she being the Queen of course - since they spew the smelliest, dirtiest and shittiest comments ever. And she has just proven my point by making sweeping statements without checking out the facts. I wonder if any of these so-called Ministers surf the web. At the very least, a responsible representative should read and understand where these bloggers are coming from - before seeing fit to make lame excuses just to cover their own backsides - I mean to cover the stench of their own rubbish.

And the last bit:

“Given a new mandate by the people in the next general election, it will continue to ensure the country keep tabs on the growth track and that the benefits of that growth are reaped by the people regardless of race and religion.”

Yeah right...Really...they do think that people are stupid. "Regardless of race and religion". Truly laughable. If they had done things fairly, there would not have been so many complains.

Every country has opposition parties. But they don't go to the streets in their thousands just to ask for a free and fair election - which is supposed to be the foundation of any country running on a democratic system. You just don't declare being a democracy out of convenience sake. There is a responsibility to be uphold. And clearly, the present government has failed time and time again. There is no integrity. There is no honesty. And there is certainly no honour.

The VKC Led Propaganda

Last Friday, our local boot-licking columnist, V. K. Chin, decided that more propaganda is needed to please his political masters. The HINDRAF rally is yet again his focus for storytelling and it's a tale that is convincingly misleading (can this two words go together?). Perhaps he's hoping that one day he will land on the Minister of Misinformation job if he's seen as the most prominent boot-licker of his time.

When talking about spin-doctors, the Malaysian government surely has a lot of volunteers. But government boot-licker far outnumber these spin-doctors. At least we know spin-doctors are politically motivated, perhaps even understandable for the government to have such people. But for boot-licker...let's just say it irritates me to no end.

Okay...back to this wonderful tale, which I think the writer should be praised for the effort - must certainly have put in a lot of hard work on it seeing how far it now resembles from reality. Not to belittle his effort, I think that Mr. Chin should reassess his analysis on which group is actually manipulating Malaysian when he said the following:

Their pro-active stance is to counter the negativity generated by the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), which was responsible for several illegal demonstrations in the Klang Valley recently.

Unless the majority stands up and be counted, the constructive contributions of other NGOs could be negated and the Indian agenda would then be manipulated by a very small noisy group prepared to break the law to achieve their objective.

And the writer continued to say, quite adamantly I must add, that these people - all 30,000 of them were duped into a making a protest. Duped into making a protest out of nothing apparently. Duped into thinking that the government has marginalized them with their racist policies. Duped into thinking that those Hindu temples that were bulldozed over were mere illusions conjured up by some minority group. Duped into thinking that they are all stupid. Well, actually it's just that the writer believe these people who got "duped" are stupid people. For how else would Mr. Chin justify that a person can be duped on so many things?

So, let me summarize what Mr. Chin is trying to say - he thinks and believes, without a doubt, that all 30,000 of his fellow Malaysians are dumb and don't really know how to think for themselves. If not why else would he make comments such as these?

"Those responsible for such unlicensed gatherings are good at using the gullible to support them by making all sorts of promises, financial or otherwise, they can never hope to keep.

"In response to such temptations, some of them had been misled into participating in illegal gatherings and processions, resulting in their arrest.

"The dropping of the attempted murder charge is sensible since many of them were duped into committing the offence because they were being made use of.

Putting the talk of tales aside, the HINDRAF rally was a huge success if we look at how the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) President is now saying that he'll reform his party; that a council will be formed to address so-called "Indian problems" (they are Malaysian problems by the way); and that there will be more help for the Indian community in the future, e.g. in raising the level of education.

At least the rally - regardless of it being held without the ever-elusive permit - managed to raised the amount of attention and awareness needed by the community. It really boggles the mind that the government were not aware of the problems faced by the rakyat. Or perhaps our government knew, but just didn't care enough to do much. That says a lot about MIC's performance in its supposed role in championing the "Indian needs" in the country - bad, very bad.

All that V. K. Chin knows how to do is tow the line - even if it meant issues are swept under the carpet. To him, adhering to proper channels are more important than raising awareness. He cares nothing about what happens to the community, but he certainly feel irked when people started rocking the boat. How dare they! And to stop this uncalled for "rocking of the boat", he will continue to condemn - however untruthfully - the very people who has managed to pushed the government into making the changes, which we are now seeing the government scrambling to put in place before the coming election.

Perhaps the writer should stand in the coming election under BN instead of pretending to be a journalist.

What Is Religion To A Deceased?

Looks like there is to be yet another case on fighting over the body of a deceased - only a few days past the 1st of January mark.

In this piece of news,

"Ngiam Tee Kong, 53, filed the ex-parte application, which also named the director of Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (HUKM) as the first defendant."

Apparently, when Mr. Ngiam went to claim the body of Wong Sau Lan - his wife - the hospital informed him that,

"...it would only be released to him if he confirmed that she was a Muslim at the time of her death.
He was also told that the body would be released to him only for having Christian rites to be performed, after which it was to be returned to the hospital for it to be buried according to Muslim rites."

By filing the application, he is seeking a declaration that:

- Wong was a Christian at the time of her death;
- she did not fully embrace Islam before she died;
- she was not a Muslim at the time of her death.

These days, there are more and more cases of non-Muslims being left in a quandary because their loved ones have apparently converted to Islam before their unfortunate death. And always, there are Malaysians who feel that holding on to these bodies are of utmost important, even if the act causes more pain and grief to husbands and wives of the deceased.

Religion, it seems, is being a problem that causes contention rather than something that brings harmony. In Malaysia, people makes use of religion as a reason to divide rather than to unite. In Malaysia, the profession of one's faith is much more important than the practicing of good values. In Malaysia, where Islam is the official religion, non-Muslims has to kow-tow to Islamic jurisdiction so long as a Muslim is involved in the dispute. No offense to Muslims on the last statement, but any rational being can see the rising number of disputes we have seen so far in recent years - under similar situations. And the outcome of most, if not all, of these cases hardly gives non-Muslims a boost in confidence in the way they were dealt with in the Boleh-land.

Talk About A New Year Gift from Our Politicians

Update:
To avoid posting another Chua-Soi-Lek-Sexual-Scandal-post on this affair, I've decided to just update this entry. Looks like the Dr. has now resigned - perhaps after being "advised" to do so by his taikos in the Cabinet.

A lot of mainstream articles wrote him as accountable and has courage because he admitted to his affair. But they failed to realise that the biggest courage is to take up the responsibility of his actions and should have resigned straightaway. Then again, the mainstream media had to be nice since they needed to kiss their political master's buttocks for fear that they get screwed in a very bad way if they ever wrote truthfully.

I'm certainly not judging him on his sexual misdeeds - it's a private matter after all - but looking at it from a political angle, I cannot see how he can continue to lead nor can I see how he can inspire others. In short, he has lost all credibility.

Resigning is the only way to go. I'm sure his supporters will now be singing his praises of how brave he is because he resigned. Unfortunately, it came a bit too late and has lost even more credibility in my opinion since he has to be told to step down.

Good riddance, I say.

***********************
Well, well, well...so it's now revealed that one Dr. Chua Soi Lek is the main actor in the sex DVD that has been sold/circulated in Johor.

Although our so-called Health Minister admitted this to the police and apologized to the public, he has refused to resign. While he may not have made the tape himself - as he has said it - I would have thought that the embarrassment would have been enough reason for a politician - any politician, who is also a member of the Cabinet - to resign his position from the government.

Perhaps having power is too much so important for politicians these days that they will face much - even when such scandal is about - just to stay in power. Not trying to be overly harsh on a man whose sexual experience with a "personal friend" has been recorded AND circulated, but honestly speaking, how can anyone in the public now take him seriously when this is around?