Undurlah

Defense of self

2010-11-20T09:34:00.000+08:00

Defence Minister Zahid Hamidi has gone on record in the Dewan Rakyat (Malaysian Parliament) as having said that the low number of Chinese and Indians in the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) is due to their lack of patriotism. And there has been vigorous response from the very people that Zahid has accused of being unpatriotic.

My only thought is: Why would the Chinese and Indians even want to join the MAF to defend the country when the country has consigned them to being 2nd class citizens? Why should any of them risk life and limb to defend the special rights and privileges of the Malays? Let the Malays do it themselves, I say.

Typhoon R

2010-09-17T21:38:00.004+08:00

Whether it is Singapore's fault that Malaysia ended up with its race-based politics and policies I leave up to the historians, who probably will be able to provide a more dispassionate version of what really happened, why, how and when. My only comment about Dr M's latest outburst that Malaysia owes its racism politics to Singapore (specifically Mr Lee Kuan Yew) is ludicrous. It is true that the Lee government constantly harped on a Malayan Malaysia in those early days. It got itself kicked out of the Federation in1965 and the rest is history.

Can Dr M blame Singapore for what happened in Malaysia after that? If one says yes, then it demonstrates how powerful the PAP government must have been to be able to influence Malaysia politics so permanently from it little island. And this after being kicked out ('turfed out' in Mr Lee's words) of the Federation. Conversely, it also implies how weak Malaysia was, or rather how weak the leaders of Malaysia were, that it was not able to withstand the sheer intellectual and politic typhoon that Singapore dumped on Malaysia during its years in the Federation. Surely Dr M gives more credit to Mr Lee than he deserves.

Leaders of Malaysia had all of 45 years (since 1965 when Singapore was kicked out) to deal with the typhoon, but hey, guess what? They rather liked it and rolled with it, including Dr M, its longest serving Prime Minister. I wonder why Dr M is giving such high praise to the leaders of Singapore? Does he want to apply for PR and then become a citizen of Singapore?

If so, say so lah! Don't need to beat about the bush.

Bribe vs Bribe

2010-08-20T07:50:00.002+08:00

What's this I hear? A Singapore motorist was actually fined RM15,000, and had to spend a day in a Johor jail for offering a bribe to a Malaysia policeman? But that's how Singapore motorists have been settling their speeding offences (real of imagined by you know who) for upteenth years. I know because I was in a Singapore car on Johor's road when it was stopped by a policeman on a motorbike, ostensibly for speeding. The 'offence' was settled on the spot with a $50 note. That was more than 20 years ago. And the practice appears to have continued all these many years.

Now, the same act has been deemed a real offence, and the Singapore motorist has had to pony up RM15,000 (about Singapore 6,000 over dollars) for bribing a police officer with RM100. Going by the old practice, this same Singaporean could have gone racing up and down Johor's road with free abandon to use up all of that 'fine' money. And the money could have been spread around more to top-up these probably underpaid highway patrolmen's pay. Now I wonder who that money will go to? Maybe somebody higher up thought that their middlings have had it too good and wants in on it.

Make no mistake. Breaking the law is a serious matter, and doing so in a foreign country more so. But now Singaporean motorists need to change their mentality regarding Malaysian traffic and its policemen, and above all, drive more 'carefully'. Except, how fast is too fast remains a matter of personal judgment - the patrolmen's. Yes, Malaysia should enforce the law, but it must do so with a definite amount of certainty and not leave it to the whims and fancies of an often corrupt system to start off with. Imagine, a corrupt system accusing someone of corruption. How ludicrous.

I fear for Singaporeans motorists now.

Read this news article

Ungracefully senile

2010-06-17T16:11:00.007+08:00

After a long spell of silence (shown by the lack of postings in this blog for some time now), Dr Mahathir has once again gone on his Singapore bashing trips again. This time, it is the Malays in Singapore that he has targeted. Paraphrasing him, he said the Malays in Singapore form the minority race and they have to 'kowtow' (i.e. beg, be subservient to, etc.) to the majority race, which is the Chinese. Mahathir could have lived in Singapore for a time. He was trained in Medicine in Singapore many many years ago, but I have lived in Singapore all my not inconsiderable length of life.

I went to school in Singapore all my life, counting Malays among my classmates. I sat beside one in class in Secondary School and was proud to call him a best friend. I have come across many Malays, and indeed people of other races such as the Indians and Eurasians. I even have an Indian colleague, whom I have coffee with, in our 'off hours' at work. Some of them were laid-back and provide a different perspective on life, others were just a competitive as any of the best in school, and indeed at work. I have come across a couple of Malay girls who excel in their studies. And all of them are proud of being whatever race they belong to. I don't know about other Singaporeans, but I am colour-blind when it comes to people of other races. To me, they are just another human being whom you may meet, share common interests and obligations, do better in certain areas but maybe not in others. Some maybe even live in the same neighbourhood. None of them need to kowtow to anyone. That isn't the culture, it isn't something that comes natural to any of us. We are proud about who we are, including those in the minority races. Some Malays do face financial difficulties, but so do many Chinese and Indians. Some may resort to begging, others turn to crime, yet more seek help, which is widely and readily available among their respective communities and beyond. Even some Ang Mohs among us need help from time to time.

So far as my experience goes, this is how it is with all Singaporeans, because I am at heart, very much a heartlander.

The hearts of Singaporeans went out to the some foreign workers who were hacked and injured very seriously in Kallang not too many weeks ago.We are generally a compassionate and helpful lot. Of course there are the genuine rotten apples among us, but which country can claim otherwise?

Iin Singapore, nobody is obliged to kowtow. We are no longer a British colony. We are not a subservient people under colonials. It's been like that for more than 40 years.

So I am mystified who Dr M is referring to. Maybe he has been away from Singapore for too long, and/or he is growing senile, imagining things that are not there. Dr M seem to be lost in history. I wish he would grow old gracefully, but it appears that he cannot help saying that some people are better than others, including himself.

In Singapore we don't kowtow

http://www.straitstimes.com/PrimeNews/Story/STIStory_540300.html

Bermain bola

2010-05-27T22:43:00.000+08:00

At last, after 20 long years, Malaysia has come out to play ball. PM Najib Razak has agreed to move on the issue of its land at Tanjong Pagar, and the stretch of land that its railway track occupies. Singapore has been generous, allowing an unequal 60% share of whatever is eventually developed on these land to Malaysia, taking the balance 40%. It isn't clear who will develop these land - Singapore or Malaysia developers, how any contract will be awarded, etc. If it were left to Singapore, I wouldn't be worried about transparency, but if it were left to Malaysia...

The other good news is that SMRT will be extending its Mass Rapid Transit network into Johor, making it so much more convenient to cross the Causeway into Malaysia and vice versa. This can only be good for both neighbours. It beats a crooked bridge that some crooked mind cooked up some years ago, and still insists on having it.

The real regret is that this didn't happen earlier, not for a lack of effort on Singapore's side, but intransigence and ego of the power that was in much of those 20 years. But there is a silver lining to it. Because of the constant threat of cutting the water supply to Singapore, it decided to invest into water technology and maximizing on the use of all bodies of water on and around the island. Singapore is well on its way to water self-sufficiency, and is even donating its water processing facility in Johor to Malaysia.

In spite of Singapore's puny size, it can be generous when it needs to be. Only some narrow-minded people cannot and will not see it, even to this day.

To Slay a Giant

2010-03-31T09:12:00.000+08:00

I say hurray for PM Najib Razak - for being brave enough to kill a sacred cow like the New Economic Policy (NEP) which, while achieving some of its original aims, has probably introduced more problems over its 22 year history. What is the content of the New Economic Model? Well, I don't think it has been fleshed out, and as they all say, the devil is in the details. Some are even suggesting that it may be old wine in new bottles, that the NEM is nothing but a new and sophisticated wrapper for the NEP.

The problem is NEP has become so entrenched into the politics of the ruling class - the UMNOs and the Malay supremacists and what have you's. It will take a person of tremendous political clout, significant underlying Malay support, and persuasive powers to slay this giant money generator for the bumiputras and raise one that is more equitable in its place. It is said that the NEM will place more emphasis on needs and merits. That is the way it should have been. Hopefully, that is the way it is going to be, if we believe in Najib Razak. You do not have to look far for an example, Just look south of the Peninsula, in a tiny little island called Singapore, to be convinced that this is the right thing to do. But of course it requires a person also with a strong political will to realize the proposed changes. Does PM Najib Razak have it - the political staying power to roll back what his father put into place back in 1971?

Only time will tell.

Mahathir closet terrorist?

2010-01-23T17:35:00.002+08:00

I have heard of conspiracy theories of one sort or another. A friend I know has a pet theory that someone or some party is at the back of the Singapore government, other than the PAP, orchestrating everything to ensure that Singapore is run according to their (not the PAP) whims and fancies that are ultimately self-serving. The rest of us slaves just slog away at our jobs trying as best we can to make a living but unknown to us, our effort contributes to the final objectives of this unknown group. I am not reporting him. I laugh it off. And he sensibility talks about this conspiracy theory behind closed doors.

But Mahathir Mohammad is not one to keep quiet, not even when spewing a conspiracy theory so far fetched and illogical that it does a disservice to his reputation as the longest serving Prime Minister of Malaysia. What did he say? Well, that 911 was not a terrorist attack per se, but one that is orchestrated by the US and other Western countries. The purpose being to create an excuse for the Americans to go to war with/in Afghanistan and Iraq. Oh, he also said that this conspiracy allows the US to brand all 1.6 billion Muslims in the world as terrorists.

Mahathir claims that there is strong evidence that 911 was staged, but does not provide any details about this 'strong evidence'. I think he also claimed to have seen evidence of Anwar Ibrahim's wrongdoing and used it as an excuse to sack him. A case of the pot calling the kettle black perhaps? What is alarming is that he made these claims in a Conference held in KL. Yeah, KL is his 'territory', but that doesn't give him the license to spew nonsense and insult the intelligence and common sense of people. I can imagine the embarrassment of a large number of Malaysians to hear their former PM speak like that.

Mahathir claims that the press is ignoring him, and perhaps the powers that currently sit in Putrajaya are giving him short shrift. Now we know why. But that doesn't give him license to hallucinate in public. The 'West' is already quite used to such Mahathirism, but the 3000 who died in the World Trade Centre must be turning in their graves to know that their deaths were due to a conspiracy by 'their own' people. Not all who died in the WTC were Americans. There were Americans, British, Chinese, Indians, Koreans, etc. - in short the United Nations, in those buildings when they were 'bombed' by the 747s. And I believe there were Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, and people of other faiths among them too. But of course it doesn't matter to the Muslims because Muslim terrorists believe that their martyrdom would earn them a haloed place beside All*h.

No wonder the world is wary of any and all Muslims. I suppose now the extremists and would-be terrorists can count the former Prime Minister of a moderate Muslim nation among them.

Empty faith

2010-01-09T10:06:00.004+08:00

Why am I not surprised? It was an incident demanding to happen. When Malaysia PM Najib Razak told Muslims that they can demonstrate peacefully over the decision by the Malaysia High Court to allow Christians to use the word 'Allah' for God, he opened the floodgates, never mind that the Inspector General of Police warned against it.

Religion, besides race, has and will always be a flashpoint in Malaysian society. Much of it can be irrational, fueled by emotions and that raw aggression in people. Truth, reason, rationality are all thrown out the window for no other reason than to protect one's own insecurities. Malaysian Muslim's indiscriminate bombing of 3 churches lays bare the emptiness of their faith, as if a word, when told to be shared, will shatter their very beliefs and teachings of their religion. Surely such action speaks no good of these adherents of Islam, and perpetuates the impression, formed since 911, that Muslims are dangerous and ultra-sensitive people.

To their credit, the Malaysian government and some prominent politicians have come out in condemnation of the bombings. But really, verbally condemning these actions is one thing. It remains to be seen if any concrete action will be taken against the perpetrators of these crimes - the destruction of property and the stoking of fear. And if so, how swift it will be. Are the authorities going to drag their feet on this because the criminals are their fellow Muslim brothers? Are they going to fish a few guppies to slaughter and let the big whales go, just like what they did in the theft case of the 2 F5 fighter jet engines?

Malaysian Muslims should listen and learn from the sensible response of Marina Mahathir to the ruling on the use of the word 'Allah'. She said something to the effect that a word is not important, that the important thing is if you are certain of what you believe in. Sadly, many Muslims in Malaysia are not all that certain about their beliefs.

Malaysia boleh

2009-12-22T10:33:00.001+08:00

We all know that Malaysia is corrupt to the core, in spite of recent effort by its government to rein in the shenanigans. But this must surely take the cake. A Royal Malaysia Air Force personnel (they didn't mention rank here, but it cannot be a lance corporal, surely?) has ganged up with foreigners (South American) to take a RM50 million engine out of the country from one of its military airbase. This has nothing to do with a friendly exchange of technology. It is reportedly a simple case of theft. But at this level and within its military? You have to be concerned, very concerned.

The Malaysian authorities are onto the case. They don't approve of it, of course. And now that the cat is out of the bag, they have a lot of damage control to manage, not least of which is to assure the rest of the world that the integrity of its military is still intact, that a rogue Captain/Major/Colonel (or maybe even ranked higher?) has been captured and will face a court-martial.

The questions that calls for answers are:

1. How much control and discipline is there in the Malaysia armed forces today? Is the military just as corrupt as the politicians, the police and everyone in between?
2. If someONE can ship out a $14.5 million fighter jet engine without authorisation, what else can't be leaked out of its military bases?
3. How high up the echelon is the perpetrator of this theft. Surely not just a Colonel?
4. Is there only one perpetrator on the Malaysian side? Just one? Really?

This gives a different spin on 'Malaysia boleh'!

Cook the crook

2009-08-21T09:12:00.003+08:00

Is UMNO out of its mind? Fielding a dishonest person for an otherwise honourable position as Member of Parliament? If this is the best that UMNO can offer to the Rakyat, then it shouldn't be in the business of government. An MP is an honoured position tasked to make laws, deliberate on the State and country's budgets and finances, and act as the leader of the community.

Clearly this position requires a person of great personal integrity and honesty. Anything less, and it appears that UMNO is willing to settle for less, and the people will feel betrayed. Why, because it is the people's money - the taxes that they pay - that goes to providing the salary and whatever other perks that an MP enjoys. If I were a taxpayer, I will be very unhappy that my hard earned money is used to support and sustain a crook, who, it would appear, has not seen the error of his ways and shown any remorse. Like what many are saying, he would even try to deceive UMNO about the truth of his conduct - behaviour that the Law Society deems fit to debar him from practicing as a lawyer.

For a moment there, it appeared that Najib was doing the right things, striking the right cords, but this incident, coupled with the MACC incident threatens to derail any attempt by him to gain respectibility among the electorates. The long hard winter is set to continue in UMNO-land.

p.s. then again, I can hear someone questioning the integrity of half the MPs in the present Parliament. So what is one more?

PAS meltdown

2009-06-19T18:40:00.004+08:00

If it succeeds, it will be recognised as a master stroke by Najib's UMNO. Using that age-old strategy of 'Divide-and-Conquer', it appears that UMNO is close to succeeding in driving a wedge at the top levels of the PAS leadership, breaking that singleness of purpose that PAS has so far been known for, and for which it has succeeded, albeit around a political niche. Today, it is a major partner with Anwar Ibrahim in the Pakatan Rakyat (PR). To break up PAS is to also break up the PR, and thereby come closer to reclaiming the constituencies which is has lost and which it continues to lose.

What really is driving some people in PAS towards a Unity Government with UMNO? To whom does it benefit? The Malay/Muslims? Or the very people in PAS clamouring for this Unity Goverment? Have some people's hands been greased, or enticed by promises beyond mere political inclusiveness and power?

One waits with bated breadthe the outcome of this internal political battle. The only people smiling are Najib and his UMNO. At last, he is showing that he is more than what people have disparaged him for.

Sniping Mahathir

2009-06-17T08:47:00.011+08:00

In typical fashion, Dr M has now come out to criticize MM Lee's recent visit to Malaysia. In this visit, Singapore's MM Lee Kuan Yew, met with PM Najib and his wife, former PM Abdullah Badawi, the Chief Minister of Penang, Datuk Lim Guan Eng, the Sultans of Perak and Pahang States, and, for the first time, the Opposition PAS' leader, Nik Aziz Nik Mat. Conspicuous in the list of people that MM did not meet were Dr M and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. I don't know why. Maybe MM asked, but they didn't want to see him, or they asked and MM said it was out of the way and couldn't fit them in in his scheduled 10-day visit to Malaysia. Maybe both parties didn't even think about it. In any case, Anwar Ibrahim comes over to Singapore pretty often to attend conferences and such. Whatever the reason, Dr M seems to be pretty unhappy and he has worked up a tirade, yet again, againsts the MM and Singapore.

That's exactly what MM meant when he warned that it was difficult for Singaporean and foreign investors to put their money into Malaysia in the past - that past when Dr M ruled the roost. Because then, as the byline of this blog states, there was always this case of 1-step forward 2-step back relationship between Singapore and Malaysia. It didn't have to be the case, and it shouldn't ever have to be this case, said MM. I agree.

Differences there will always be, and each one of us, every country, is obliged to and thus must try to find a way in this world to earn a living, to improve life and living, and not chronically go begging for alms. This has always been Singapore's stance and it has had to cultivate friendships with one and all, even with the rogue nations of Myanmar and Iran. So is it any surprise that MM continues to value Malaysia as a friend and partner? Yet Dr M sees MM as a prima donna out to trick the Malays all over again in his latest foray up north, implying that the illustrious people listed above are easily hoodwinked. Come on, grow up, Dr M and put away such insecurities that belies the immaturity of a man. Give more credit to your successors and fellow Malaysians.

Singapore knows it place and has just had to get on with it in the past. It has had to learn to recycle its longkang water because it fears that in time to come, Malaysia will just charge it monopolistic prices for water which it gets free-of-charge from its rivers, courtesy of divine sources. It has had to station its F-15s and F-16s in Australian and US deserts for its pilots to get some flight time because Malaysia cannot tolerate them flying over any of its airspace. It has had to ship in sand from Myanmar and elsewhere because it wouldn't sell its sand to Singapore. This is one of the most ludicrous and childish policies. Just look at the map. How much land area will Malaysia deplete to cover the entire island of Singapore with sand? It doesn't need a trained geographer to tell you its negligible. Singapore is, after all, just a little red dot. And even in getting back Pedra Branca, it went to the World Court - the International Court of Justice - for a judgement according to International Law. Not a single bullet was fired, nor a kris unsheathed (excepting Hishammuddin's antics), to claim ownership of the island, as would have happened in older times.

So it is ludicrous when Dr M insinuates that the Chinese bullies the minority Malays in Singapore and even the majority up north. Ask any Malay in Singapore if they would rather give up their Singapore citizenship and go live in Malaysia. I suspect that the numbers will be in the low hundreds, including undesirables like Mat Selamat. So Dr M should stop that childish bashing and stop being the perennial cry-baby. It will only lower people's perception of him and his place in history.

Corruptor Free

2009-06-03T17:24:00.004+08:00

Dr M is playing catchup. After Lim Guan Eng suggested offering money to whistle blowers for exposing corrupt practices, Dr M suggested in his blog that the Malaysia law should be amended such that it punishes the corruptee (those that gain from the corrupt act, i.e. receives the benefit in cash or kind) but look the other way on the corrupter - he who offers the benefit in cash or kind).

That doesn't sound fair. You forgive the person who initiates the corrupt act - the tempter, but screw the temptee? This won't stop corruption. It will do the opposite - increase it. Because the corrupter knows that whatever he does, the law will protect him, or at least look the other way. The temptee, will, of course, get his just desert by being locked up and/or de-cashed. Whether the Malaysia Polis throws away the key I leave it up to them ($$$ *wink* *wink*).

But on further thought, Dr M is probably doing Singaporeans a favour, seeing as how Singapore motorists, for example, routinely offer $50 Sing dollars to Malaysia traffic policemen for overlooking whatever motoring misdemeanor they may or may not have committed on Malaysia roads. We all know this is common. My friend did this once and I was in that same car. Now I don't have that sense of guilt anymore.

Hmmm...I think I am wrong about Dr M all this while. As a Singaporean, I support his proposal, I salute him. Majullah Singapura!

Crooked once more

2009-04-16T09:25:00.004+08:00

Malaysian politics is complex, yet simple. There is probably a lot more wayang behind the scenes even as Najib Tun Razak is trying to get a grip on loyalty within UMNO, fire-fighting local quarrels (e.g. Terengganu), paring the Opposition PKR and considering some Johor political bigwigs' suggestion of resurrecting the crooked bridge idea across the Johore Straits hatched during Mahathir's reign as supremo.

The simple part? Najib appears to be beholden to Mahathir. He appointed Mahathir's son, the worst loser of the UMNO Youth contest, to a deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry. Mahathir appears to be cashing in his other chips early. He probably wants the crooked bridge project back on the table after unceremoniously being dumped by former PM Abdullah Badawi, much to the delight of the Singaporeans, who prefer things to be straight and clear.

But unfortunately, the crooked bridge proposal just wouldn't go away and alleged crooks like Najib Razak may, naturally, build it. If it is realised, it will stand as an infamous symbol of stupidity and waste by the Malaysian government. That will be Dr M's ultimate legacy to the country. Well, frankly, if he doesn't mind the infamy, the waste of the people's (from both sides of the Causeway) time and money, and the derisive laughter of the international community for generations to come, he and his cronies can go ahead and build their half of the bridge, however crooked.

The Win

2009-03-26T09:18:00.003+08:00

Friend, Malaysians, Countrymen, today we come together to pronounce the end of the Mahathir Dynasty with his son, Mukhriz Mahathir's loss to Mr Khairy Jamaluddin for the post of UMNO Youth Chief. It was a surprise win, given that sentiment has been against Khairy's father-in-law, Mr Abdullah Badawi (AB) since UMNO's crushing loss in the elections last March. The in-coming PM, Mr Najib Razak has been replacing AB's people in government over the last couple of months, perhaps in an effort to erase anything connected to AB in the new Administration. So one would reasonably expect Mukhriz to win, or at least come in second. He came in last. Poor chap.

So things are not to be. With Khairy the Youth Chief, it is now more difficult to shake aways AB, much to the chagrin, no doubt, of Dr M and his son.

The politics, if it is not already tumultous over the last couple of years, is set to retain its suspense into the Najib administration.

Crime and High Office

2009-03-20T07:07:00.005+08:00

One of the saddest things leading up to the takeover of the PM'ship of Malaysia by Najib Razak is the cloud of suspicion that the next PM of Malaysia is a crook and, possibly, a murderer.

Talk has been swirling for so long about this that it seems like fact in the minds of many. So far, talk has been hush hush. Spoken behind closed doors, in coffee-shops, at dinners, people are saying that Najib Razak is complicit in the murder of Ms Altantuya Shaaribuu, the stunningly beautiful Mongolian Model. Nevermind that his friend, Abdul Razak Baginda, has been 'cleared' of any wrong doing in the same case by the Malaysia Courts.

Hidden things can never remain hidden forever. Malaysia's former defacto Law Minister, Mr Zaid Ibrahim said a PM must be "beyond reproach in his dealings, both official and private..." and has asked the Malaysia King to reject Najib Razak as PM. Zaid Ibrahim has no proof. Nobody, it appears, has. Otherwise Najib would long have been dealt by the Courts, or would it? Even if there were proof, would it make any difference to prosecute him, given that the Court prefers to look the other way, as in the case of Abdul Razak Baginda?

The problem is Najib Razak is letting this thing fester. Sure he asks, "Where is the evidence?", and unless someone has concrete proof of his wrong doing, he is innocent. As they say, one is innocent until proven guilty. But for someone aspiring to high office, absence of proof is just not enough, as Zaid Ibrahim suggests. A person who aspires to the top post of the land must be beyond reproach. There should never be a shadow of a doubt. Yet the situation now is - many have doubts. So to begin with, Najib Razak does not have the moral authority. Sure he has lineage and politics behind him, but these count for little ultimately in forging a good leader, someone who commands the trust of the electorate. If Najib Razak is clean, he should make a concerted, deliberate effort to show, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that he has nothing to do with the model's murder. It is not up to him. As the incoming PM, he owes it to the people, the rakyat, to show that the next PM of Malaysia is not a crook.

Unless, of course, he is ...

Pax Malaysiana

2009-03-09T14:22:00.004+08:00

Well now, some Malaysian love their language, Malay, so much that they are calling for the return of the teaching of Maths and Science in Malay. It was only 6 years ago, in 2003, that Malaysia recognised that its graduates were facing a lot of difficulties when they try to go up the educational ladder - because all they knew was Malay Science and Malay Maths, that the government switched the language of instruction back to English.

Now, the same issue is being raised amidst the political and economic turmoil gripping the nation. I wonder why? A distraction a la "wag the dog"? I think these Malay demonstrators are ultimately doing themselves a dis-service. They are displaying how insecure they really are. They want their children, ultimately, to be crippled when and if they advanced through the educational ladder. For countries like Singapore, which boasts a strong educational system, these subjects are done only in English. How are they ever going to fit in, even if their grades say they can? Their grasps of the English language will be so poor that these educational institutions will not even take them in.

Which leads to the next question. Is it because the government wants to stifle the non-Malays from ever moving up in the world, if not out of the country? Well, to be fair, the government is resisting this, so it isn't a government conspiracy, if there were any at all. Let's hope that, for the progress of Malaysia, people proposing the Malayanisation of all things Malayan do not succeed.

This is one area that I agree with Dr M. But would people listen to him today?

Corrupt to the core

2009-02-19T05:15:00.000+08:00

The Malaysians are at it again. Photos of a semi-naked Ms Elizabeth Wong, the Honourable opposition MP from Anwar Ibrahim's PKR party, has been circulated, leading to her resigning her Selangor state Cabinet post and assembly seat. The last time a similar thing happened was when Mr Chua Soi Lek resigned his posts because he was caught on video in a hotel room engaged in activities with a person not his wife.

Since when has the naked form of a person, man or woman, proved incompetence on the part of the person? Don't we ALL have "private parts", which, if you are not aware, play important roles in keeping use alive and propagating the human race? What is there to be ashamed of if these parts are publicly displayed, especially when it is done so without the person's consent? I would like to let Ms Wong know that there is no wrong, no shame and certainly no dishonour in it, except among those who are prudes and among people - enemies - who would want to bring a person down, politically or otherwise.

Unfortunately, in Malaysia, that's how its appears the dominant UMNO wants to play politics. Anwar is already on video accusing the UMNO party of playing dirty politics. And he would be the one who has a certain 'authority' on this because somebody did him in in dirty fashion more than 10 years ago.

If politics is going to be conducted in this fashion in Malaysia from here on in (remember, just a few weeks ago, certain MPs defected to BN in Perak state, leading to a change in government of sorts). It is difficult to imagine that some political force is not behind all of these. And these forces appear to be quite powerful, and rich too, for who would want to defect, or show 'embarassing' photos' if there is not some financial incentives to do so. And who would want to part with their money if that somebody is not enriched by somebody else in some significant way?

Is Malaysia now so corrupt to the core?

Standing the law on its head

2009-02-18T09:10:00.009+08:00

Malaysia has been mired in controversy over the last couple of months. And it didn't begin with the dominant UMNO losing 5 Malaysia States in the last election. Of particular note is the murder of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaaribuu, who was blown up by explosives. One of the accused, Abdul Razak Baginda, has been acquited. Abdul Razak has 'high powered' connections and some are saying that that is why he got acquitted.

On the other hand, the 2 police officers who remain in the dock have just about been convicted of the murder because, according to the prosecution, the 2 policemen have not been able to prove "beyond reasonable doubt" that they did not commit the murders.

Well, I am flabbergasted. The established rule is that the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt that the 2 policemen (the defendants) did committed the murder, and not for the defendants to prove beyond reasonable doubt that they did not. The judge will hand out his verdict on 9 April 2009, but if it agrees with the convoluted and unprecedented arguments put forth by the prosecution, then I'd be floored totally.

One wonders where Malaysia prosecution lawyers were trained. I only hope the learned Judges do the right thing and throw out the case because the prosecution does not seem to have proved beyond reasonable doubt their case.

See also: Mongolian model shot and blown to bits

Boycott Man

2009-01-10T08:21:00.004+08:00

Malaysia's Dr Mahathir Mohammad is bankrupt.

Before anyone sues me for lies and defamation, let me clarify. He is bankrupt of ideas, of constructive suggestions that will solve problems and not exercerbate them. In response to the conflict between Israel and the Hamas in the Gaza strip just this past week, Dr M suggests that the world boycott all American made products, including Coca-cola, as well as the US currency. Didn't we last hear him suggest to the world to boycott Netherlands products for screening a film that criticized the Holy Quraan, the holy book of Islam? It would appear that boycotting is the Mahathir way.

In the war between Israel and the Lebanese back in 2006, Dr M also called for the boycott of the US currency.

Back in 1997, Dr M suggested that ASEAN should boycott ASEM because ASEM insisted on banning Myanmar from its dialogue. In 1998, Dr M boycotted the APEC. His alternative to the APEC, the East Asia Economic Caucus, had received lukewarm response.

Here is the boycott man spieling his brand of geopolitical strategy:

Fatwa or Dudwa?

2008-11-29T08:32:00.012+08:00

I cannot help but feel that the Malaysia National Fatwa Council are making a laughing stock out of itself. Well, no, not just this Islamic authority, but the nation's authorities as well. What is the occasion of this farce, you ask?

The Malaysia National Fatwa Council have just issued a fatwa that all Muslim cannot practice yoga, the ancient art of meditation originating from Hinduism. Just days later, Ahmad Abdullah Badawi. outgoing PM of Malaysia and a Muslim Scholar, contradicted (or should I say, refined) the fatwa by saying that yoga is ok, but not the chants that go with it. And because each Malaysian state is autonomous in adopting fatwas, everybody else is having second thoughts about taking this fatwa seriously. There are even some Muslims who have said openly that they will not abide by it, simply because they have practised yoga for ages and derived benefit from it without their Islamic faith being adversely affected.

What kind of fatwa is this, which can be followed willy-nilly and interpreted differently by different Muslims? The problem is, the Fatwa Council can't rescind a fatwa, nor, in this case, enforce it. Some people now have mud on their faces, which makes them look like clowns. This will be comical, except that we are talking about very serious people.

See also: Dhimmi Watch

See also Singapore Islamic Religious Authority's more sensible stand on this issue

Dog for dinner

2008-09-22T14:44:00.005+08:00

Nothing much, it would appear, has changed where the Malaysia Polis are concerned. 10 years ago, they arrested Anwar Ibrahim and gave him a wacking in jail that the Inspector General of Police was sacked and jailed himself - because he was the one doing the wacking.

10 years hence, Teresa Kok reports that she was fed dog food when she was in police detention under the Internal Security Act (ISA). Well, that's the talk going around Malaysian blogs nowadays. How different is this compared to Anwar's wacking. Nothing much. It shows that the Malaysia Polis still have no respect for the law. They are ready to take the law into their own hands and interpret it any way they feel like it. Clearly, after so much promise that came with Abdullah Badawi's government eight years ago, nothing much has been done to wipe out corruption in the Polis force. And just when something is being attempted, the corruption fighter, Law Minister Zaid Ibrahim, has quit his post. The corrupt elements in dirty Malaysia have triumphed yet again.

I hear people sharpening their knives. The corrupt have better get out of town. History shows that people can be fooled some of the time, even most of the time, but certainly not all of the time.

Suicide in the making

2008-09-16T05:58:00.007+08:00

It would appear that the Malaysia government is doing all the wrong things to keep Anwar Ibrahim from grabbing power. Today is the self-imposed September 16 deadline when Anwar is supposed to replace the incumbent government by garnering enough defections from the ruling party to form a simple majority of MPs in Parliament. Whether this will happen today remains to be seen.

But whatever the outcome, the incumbent government seem to be giving a leg-up to Anwar towards his goal. First, in a childish move, it sent its MPs to Taiwan on a study trip in an attempt to thwart the deadline for the takeover (it would appear that the government really believes that Anwar can do it). Then in the latest move, it arrested three Malaysians under its draconian Internal Security Act (ISA) laws - one is an opposition MP, Ms Teresa Kok, another a Sin Chew journalists, Ms Tan Hoon Cheng, who by all accounts, was just doing her job, and third, the irascible Raja Petra Kamaruddin who has fired so many poison arrows at high government ministers that it was only a matter of time that he got 'done in'.

This has backfired on the government. Malaysian are even more convinced that they have the wrong people in government. Its erstwhile Law Minister, Zaid Ibrahim, has resigned in protest over the use of the ISA. So now there is even more reason for incumbent BN Ministers and MPs to defect to the Pakatan Rakyat - Anwar's platform for taking over the Malaysia government. Truly, if this happens, a large part of the fault must lie squarely on the incompetence, childishness and wrong-footing of the government - people like Najib Razak and Said Hamid Albar doing more of the dancing.

Amazingly, it would appear that the greatest source of support for Anwar's planned coup is the BN government itself. UMNO itself is now racked by disagreements and infighting, with Muhyiddin Yassin calling for Abdullah Badawi to step down sooner rather than later, and Najib Razak wavering in his support for AB. Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, the Education Minister, is reportedly against the use of ISA on the Sin Chew reporter. It is now clear that Ms Kok's alleged wrong-doing that led to her arrest has been denied by the party whom she had allegedly wronged. It is clear that the Home Ministry acted without much thinking in the ISA arrests. How can such a sloppy government continue to govern?

Is there any hope anymore for the BN? It would appear that Anwar will get his way without him lifting a finger anymore.

That pesky bloke

2008-09-10T05:54:00.006+08:00

Malaysia is going from bad to ridiculous. The government actually spent taxpayers' money to send tens of its MPs (from Sabah and Sarawak) and a few others on the Peninsula to Taiwan this week so that they can learn how to farm their lands better? And why didn't they just wait for the visas from China, which was their original intended destination? I suppose that we will be hearing more from government about plans to upgrade their agricultural programmes in months to come, or will it all be forgotten because this is really a government-funded holiday for its law-makers, to keep them from defecting?

Well, it is clear to all but the Malaysian government that this is to thwart Anwar Ibrahim's claim that he will take over the government on 16 Sep 08 when some government MP will walk over to his political party to execute the coup de grace to Abdullah Badawi's government. It is sad that the sitting government in Kuala Lumpur can be scared by the wayang that Anwar has been waging these past months. If it can move the government to waste taxpayers' money without him lifting more than a finger, that's an admission that Anwar deserves a greater role in government, for after all, those in government look like ants trying to run away from Anwar's poke.

And I suppose that the situation has deteriorated to such an extent that Dr M feels compelled to enter the fray again to take charge of the country and rid the country of pests like the PKR and Anwar. What Malaysia needs to get rid of a pest is to get a bigger pest. Don't hold your breadth now, Malaysia. There is a battle royal coming up real soon...in your very own backyard.

Shown the behind

2008-09-02T05:10:00.004+08:00

Censorship is the prerogative of the sitting government, so the Malaysian government has every right to censor web sites that are spewing forth pornographic, obscene or libelous content. And so the Malaysia Today web site has been blocked. Netizens and free speech advocates are up in arms over it, reminding the government of the promise it made to the world that it will not censor the internet when it first set up its very ambitious MSC project.

But of course, the Malaysian government cannot be bound by its commitments, particularly when those commitments were made during somebody else's watch, especially when that somebody has already resigned from the political party under which he was PM and is basically acting as a lone opposition figure - opposition to the PM, i.e.

It is naive of anybody to think that a government can be held by its words, particularly where politics (and perhaps pornography) is concerned. Practically, it isn't an issue anyway because the web site that is being blocked has been mirrored and is still accessible. If the news had not broke, you'd think nothing out of the ordinary has taken place. That's the real power of the internet - it just cannot be controlled, at least not in the long run. So for the M'sian government to have done what it has done - blocking Malaysia Today's web site - shows how helpless it really is. Far better to leave it alone than to have its behind exposed, as in this instance.

Punch and counter-punch

2008-08-02T06:45:00.006+08:00

Things are coming to a head in Malaysia. Anwar Ibrahim has just been arrested for alleged sodomy (i.e. homosexuality) with a young 23 former volunteer at his political outfit. People are wondering why he was taken to the hospital when a swap of the saliva is sufficient to provide material for determining one's DNA. But I suppose that, going by Malaysian government doctors, you need a specialist to extract the DNA sample 'properly'. You need even to go to the hospital to do it, and I suppose, it had to be a government hospital. No, a General Practitioner (GP) will not do, and much less a police with a mouth swap in his hands, although this is widely practiced elsewhere in the world. I suppose that the Malaysian government wants to uphold the highest standards as they will be accused of un-professionalism when and if Anwar is convicted of sodomy - again. So that's why the government steadfastly refuses to acknowledge the medical report filed by a GP at a private hospital that reportedly stated that Saiful, the accuser, showed no signs of being violated in his private parts - a necessary condition for his accusation of sodomy by Anwar to stand.

I suppose all these started with the opposition gaining a spectacular victory in the last GE in March, where the opposition came 30 seats shy of unseating the incumbent government. With Anwar promising to really unseat the government by September 2008, things couldn't lie still. Real or not, Anwar got slapped with the sodomy charge, which if convicted, would guarantee that he will stay out of parliament for another 10 years. A punch must be met with a counter-punch. Najib was then accused of sleeping around with a murdered Mongolian model, whom he claimed never to have met - in spite of circumstantial evidence that showed he was probably doing a Pinocchio. Curiously, the lawyer who made the charge recanted almost the next day and went missing. Then the government grabbed Saiful and put him under police protection and quickened the pace of charging Anwar for sodomy. They knew that was the most effective and legal way of silencing Anwar, at least in Parliament, if not in public. But truth be told, the Malaysia Police do not have much credibility in the eyes of Malaysians, or foreigners for that matter.

Now, Anwar is trying to beat them all by running for election in the ward vacated by his wife. Many believe that he will win, even if he were arrested and sits in jail during campaigning. A duly elected Indian MP still sits in detention under ISA laws. But Anwar will still be denied if the charge of sodomy is carried, unless a Member of Parliament carries immunity for this type of 'crime'.

What next?

Sleepless nights

2008-07-18T05:58:00.006+08:00

First, Dr Mahathir gave his support to Abdullah Badawi so that Badawi became PM of Malaysia. Then Dr M turned on AB and wanted him to step down, like, err, yesterday. He threw his support behind Badawi's deputy, Najib Tun Razak. This Najib is now in a shouting match with Anwar Ibrahim. He is being accused of adultery with Mongolian model Altantuya Shaaribuu, who was killed. Anwar is in turn accused of the crime of sodomy.

In his latest show of support, Dr M is throwing his weight behind Muhyiddin Yassin, for him to be elected a Vice President of UMNO. Dr M is certainly not unaware that the Vice Presidency confers the likely status of Deputy Prime Minister. Is Dr M supporting Muhyiddin for PM of Malaysia one day?

Going by Dr M's track record on judging people, I wouldn't hold my breadth. Even if Muhyiddin becomes PM one day, and if Dr M is still around, I wouldn't be surprise if there is some falling out again. The way I look at it is that Dr. M sees himself as the only person who can rule Malaysia without all these political crisis popping up left, right and centre. But his time is well past now, and Malaysia is now in the throes of sorting itself out for the next decade.

What a spectacle it now is. Journalists just cannot sleep nowadays for fear of missing the next juicy bit of news that keeps flooding out of KL.

The Crocs Cometh

2008-07-05T21:01:00.003+08:00

What is wrong with Malaysia today? All the buayas (Malay for crocodile) seem to be baring their fangs. First, Anwar Ibrahim's former aid, a very ambitious and young 23-year old - Saiful Bukhari Azlan, accused Anwar of sodomising him. That's not new. Anwar was accused of the same thing 10 years ago, for which he was convicted but which judgement was later overturned by the Supreme Court of Malaysia. I can understand why Anwar bolted to the Turkish Embassy to seek refuge the moment the accusation was made. He had to do so before the Malaysia Police could lay a hand on him. The last time, the Chief of Police (Inspector-General of Police, they call him) gave Anwar such a beating that he blackened his eye. Anwar certainly wasn't going to wait around for another black eye. But why would a young man make a false accusation, if it indeed was one? He is either a morally upright chap, or a opportunistic young man led astray, rather willingly, may I add.

A tit must be met with a tat. Anwar seems to have played a part in Mr P. Balasubramaniam, a private investigator employed by Abdul Razak Baginda who stands accused of killing Mongolian model, Altantuya Shaaribuu, 2 years ago, making a sworn statement that DPM Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak knew Ms Altantuya, and that he had had sex with her. If Anwar can be accused of being a homosexual, surely DPM Najib can be accused of being an adulterer?

'I have never met her before", claimed DPM Najib in reply. Given the circumstantial evidence, it is hard to believe that statement. This revelation is not new. 2 years ago, when this tragic crime took place, tongues were already wagging of the DPM's complicity in the case. Otherwise, why blow up the victim into smithereens? Probably to ensure that no trace is left of any other persons than those already accused was involved. But this is all speculation.

When two of the pretenders to the Malaysian political throne go at each other like this, you wonder if there is any more hope for the long-suffering people of Malaysia.

The Great White One

2008-06-11T15:53:00.006+08:00

You must give credit to the Malaysian government. After losing Pedra Branca (the Malays call it Pulau Batu Puteh - the White Rock) to the Singaporeans, they have taken immediate action to review the status of about 100 islands that they think belongs to them. But unlike previously when they didn't even bother to station a person (at least from time to time) on the island they claim to be theirs, in spite of Malaysia fishermen frequenting the area near the island regularly, it is taking a long hard look at every rock now and probably to assert their rights in the right way - the ICJ way. Which is simply to care for it.

The Malaysians have learnt to their grief that neglect is a sure way to lose something in international law. That, plus writing ill-conceived letters dis-claiming ownership of anything, even a piece of rock at the mouth of the Straits of Johor on the side of the South China Sea. Now, in spite of what they promised before the ICJ judgement was handed down, they are busy overturning their cupboards and drawers all the way to their former colonial master's to look for a purported document that could get the ICJ fellows to reverse their decision over ownership of Pedra Branca. Those Singaporeans - they think that everything is settled. Think again, man. You are dealing with a 100 pound gorilla in your backyard. It doesn't matter if a 1000lb gorilla half way across the world agrees with you.

Well, you can bet one thing - Singapore is not likely to claim sovereignty over any other island for now. It has better sense than that. So the Malaysians should look askance at the Indonesians. But then again, Indonesia has so many islands already, why do they want to claim some more stoney rocks near Johor? Frankly, those rocks are just not worth the trouble, but tell that to Singapore, who obviously think that their Pedra Branca victory was a significant one.

Taking the guess out of gas

2008-06-08T08:30:00.001+08:00

Did Abdullah Badawi really have no choice but to increase the price of petrol? I think nobody will dispute it, not when India, Taiwan, Vietnam, and a whole host of countries recognise that subsidizing fuel prices is no longer tenable, given the skyrocketing price of this commodity. I suppose the only people who are laughing all the way to the bank are the oil producers and the speculators.

But increasingly the prices by about 41% for petrol and 67% for diesel with less than a week's notice? That's mighty strong medicine and obviously very difficult to swallow. In fact, there were long queues at gasoline stations the night before the price increase kicked in (5 June 2008). Motorists were just acting out of economic self-interest by lapping up that last litre of cheap petrol. I wonder if not more had brought along their jerry-cans to get even more savings.

It hadn't dawned on me that Singaporeans have been living off the largesse of the Malaysians, or their foolishness, these many years. You don't realise it until prices of vegetables, eggs, poultry, and even travel and tours into the Malay Peninsula, in Singapore start to rise. That's the inevitable trend and Singaporeans are bracing for another round of imported inflation. Think about it. For as long as the Malaysian government has been subsidizing the prices of petrol, they have been subsidizing the livelihood, and yes, even the pleasures, of the Singaporeans, both the rich and the poor. So its not just the Singapore motorists who fill up their tanks in Johor that has benefitted only.

So Singaporeans are now understandably very disappointed by the removal of the fuel subsidies. I think they will stand together with ordinary Malaysians in lobbying the M'sian government to reverse the drastic increases of gasoline, notwithstanding its obvious wisdom. But people don't like rude shocks and see their money reduced in value so fast.

This latest policy change will likely cost PM AB his premiership. The knives were already out prior to this latest uproar. It now remains for them to be plunged into the gut for the fatal blow. Will PM AB survived? Who will take over? Can he do a better job? The Malaysians are now not too optimistic about the incumbents. Will the Opposition do any better, or will they turn out to be just as disappointing?

Pull down the curtain

2008-05-21T05:38:00.001+08:00

What? Dr Mahathir has quit UMNO? Well, I would imagine that Abdullah Badawi thinks its about time Dr M did so, except that Dr M still retains a lot of influence that his latest move may lead to the dissolution of UMNO and the government. Does he love himself more than he loves UMNO? That's the question on many a lip.

Some say Dr M's latest antic is to ward off attention to the government's decision to investigate him for alleged shenanigans in the appointment of judges during his time as PM of M'sia. That is really a blot on his PM'ship. He has left the country with a discredited judicial bench for which the present government is trying to make right (I hope). Dr M first made the challenge to have him investigated 'fully' - no stone unturned - as he says that there are some things that he can 'expose'. That must have sent some of his cronies and perhaps some other political foes into a state of panic. Now he announces his resignation from UMNO, and has put out a call for everyone to do the same. Its as if he is signaling to those that do not want their ugly linen to be exposed to follow him. Its a distraction, but one that seem to have several layers of meaning.

Actually, Dr M should just leave things be. He need not have stirred the hornet's nest. Let the newer generation fight their own battles, tackle the country's problems and manage the political landscape. He seems to be implying that the party and the country is going down the drain without him. He's 82 and has suffered a few heart attacks. Why put himself into harm's way again and suffer another, which may be fatal?

I, for one, applaud Dr M's resignation from the party. Shocked? I don't see why anyone should be. He has been doing this sort of things from time to time. There can be no surprises, need be no surprises. At his age, he should have faded away gracefully. instead, he is trying to fight his way out of retirement, which is a pity. History would have remembered him better, but I suppose the ghosts of the past would not let him alone. Whoever wants to can follow him. These people are probably the excess baggage that Abdullah Badawi is only too glad to get rid of - in this case without lifting a finger.

Ironically, Anwar Ibrahim and the opposition parties are probably the beneficiaries of the ongoing spat in UMNO.

Save the ringgit

2008-05-16T21:40:00.001+08:00

Malaysia's National Service is a joke, according to some. Yet others refer to it as an "Outward Bound Course" - fun and meaningful. At 3 months, it is 27 months short of what Singapore's more serious National Service is. However, Malaysia does not claim its National Service programme as anything other than social bonding stints. But some Malaysians think the bonding can be deadly - already 6 lives have been lost in its 4-year history. That is perhaps one death too many and some Malaysian want the NS abolished. The newly minted Opposition is carrying the flag for these people in Parliament, which is the only place where abolishing the NS programme can take place.

Predictably the government is not budging, but if the numbers in the abolitionist camp grow, then DPM Najib may not be able to hold out. Frankly, the current Malaysia NS is a waste of time. Social bonding? In 3 months? There is no quicky route to long term genuine bonding. It probably would take a lifetime to bond adequately. I say, save the ringgit for other more pressing national causes. But don't let the ringgit saved go into anybody's pockets.

Slippery slope

2008-05-08T06:09:00.001+08:00

If nothing, there is one thing that is begging for an answer in the arrest of Raja Petra Kamarudin (RPK) - is Najib Tun Razak involved in the death and murder of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaaribuu? So far, Abdul Razak Baginda has been fingered together with two policemen, but there is fierce talk out there that Najib's hands are tainted too. The Rakyat's questions have not all been answered, and given the state of the judicial system in Malaysia today, it won't be answered any time soon either. And given the state of the justice system in Malaysia today (and this includes the police and their political masters behind them), it is not surprising that RPK is now being thrown into the slammer for even suggesting that Najib is involved in this sordid affair.

Not only is there vehement insistence among the Rakyat of Najib's complicity, I have heard similar sentiments expressed by Singaporeans with equal vehemence. No smoke if no fire, so instead of shutting up RPK, the Malaysian government - the elected representative of the Rakyat - must do what is right to silence idle talk, or admit to the truth. Sadly, since a top politician, the number 2 government official, is involved, the current loyalties in the government makes the telling of the truth impossible.

Malaysia has notched itself one rung lower in the eyes of its own people, if not the world.

Dr M Speaks

2008-05-02T17:06:00.001+08:00

One and a half years ago, some friends of Malaysia's former PM, Dr Mahathir (Dr M) reputedly set up a blog named UndurLAH in support of his call on PM Abdullah Badawi to step down as PM. That blog, UndurLAH was shortlived, or neverlived, because I managed to register the UndurLAH.blogspot.com (the blog that you are now reading) to blog about things Malaysia. A search for UndurLAH.com, UndurLAH.com.my, etc. returned nothing. So I wonder if ever that report was true in the first place.

Now, Dr M himself has taken to blogging, with his freshly minted www.chedet.com blogsite. It is surprising that he has done so only now. His daughter, Marina M, has been blogging for some time now. Better late than never, I suppose.

His one entry has so far has attracted more than 600 comments - not bad for a beginner - although some of those comments seem patronising to me. One thing I did notice about how Dr M blogged - very civil service like, numbering all his points. It is said that Singapore's George Yeo blogs (here and here) in this manner too. I suppose habits die hard for these government (and former government) officials. Once an officialese, always an officialese.

Whatever, it will be interesting to see more of Dr M in print rather than just hearing him shoot his mouth off.

Angkasawan technician

2008-04-30T05:45:00.001+08:00

Yes, there is no more funds for Malaysia's space programme. So its second prospective Angkasawan, Major Dr Faiz Khaleed, will have to look at the moon and the universe from one side of a spyglass - the telescope, for now and in the future. Dr Faiz was brave about the decision by the state to stop at one. He reportedly said that the "space mission should no longer be about sending a Malaysian to space but for Malaysia to embark on the aerospace industry" - brave words, those. It this is so, then stop referring to it as the space mission. Its just like saying building the second Penang bridge is not about building a bridge... Ironically, this bridge project is also stalled by a lack of funds.

I pity the Dr. I am sure he trained long and hard for the prospect of going to space. His government failed him because it persisted in wasting money sending its one and only Angkasawan to space on a Soviet Soyuz and giving him the impression that he will still be very involved in the space industry. Wake up Dr Faiz, your employer just admitted that it went bust. Do you still want to be around and stick with them? What aerospace industry are you talking about? The country cannot even sustain its own automobile industry - the national car project has been sick for a long long time - do you think the aerospace industry will go anywhere except perhaps into MRO? Then you will be a glorified Angkasawan technician repairing aeroplanes. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, Malaysia did not buy that Soyuz spacecraft from the Russians. Otherwise there will be yet more space craft to do MRO on....

No UMNO

2008-04-03T10:03:00.000+08:00

I find it nothing short of comical that Dr M is now taking the charge to pull down PM Abdullah Badawi through rescinding a rule that he put in place to protect himself. He has gone public to get his UMNO cronies to get AB replaced by changing this rule, which he originally put in place when he was first challenged by Tengku Razaleigh for the Presidency of UNMO back in 1987. This rule required the contestant to have at least 30% of the UMNO party's divisions backing. It was this very rule that kept Dr M. in power for as long as he was, until ill-health forced him to retire. I suppose his health has improved leaps and bounds since then.

Dr M was famously irked by AB for canceling the many programmes and projects he had put in place before he retired. I suppose that is akin to tearing to shreds any vestige of the prestige he could take away with him to the grave. Projects like the KLIA, Petronas Twin Towers, MSC, the Malaysia Car and Cyberjaya are examples of these projects that came to fruition, but many have not turned out to be the successes that he had hoped for. Fortunately, for Singapore, his crooked idea of a crooked bridge to replace the Singapore-Malaysia Causeway was never realised. Maybe that is why AB had to cancel the projects still on the drawing board - so that the country does not waste time and money putting up a veneer of grandeur - grandeur that Malaysia cannot really find meaningful in their lives and are often sources of cronyism, nepotism and corruption.

BN is now more broken that it was just after the losses it suffered in the last GE in March. I can see a gleeful Anwar Ibrahim, who has gone on to form a formal alliance of the 3 major opposition parties that took control of 5 states and denied the BN a 2/3 majority. If the state of turmoil continues in UMNO, and the people in UMNO do not band together instead of fighting one another, then the end may not be far off.

Say what?

2008-03-31T17:07:00.005+08:00

Dr Mahathir is again not doing credit to himself and the Islamic world at large. In response to Geert Wilders' Fitna video, Dr M is calling on the entire Muslim world to boycott Dutch products. Can we hear something more original and more effective, please? As a long-serving PM of Malaysia, with geo-political experience, I expect him to have more than a certain level of understanding and knowledge of the world today compared to the common man/woman. Therefore he cannot not be aware of the fact that many people in the Netherlands are Muslims, his brothers and sisters in the faith he professes and claims to be defending in his latest 'call to arms'. His call for the boycott will probably hurt Geert Wilder, but it will also hurt his brothers and sisters in the faith too, many of whom live in the Netherlands today. The world is no longer a monolithic Dutch vs Malays vs Chinese, etc. in any one piece of land. And Dr M labeling every person who is Dutch anti-Islamic just because one of them acts in a certain way is surely immature and unbecoming of a former statesman and PM . I daresay that some 17 year olds can be more mature in thought compared to him. Is he getting senile, I wonder? On the other hand, the Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen has reportedly called on the Islamic world to be level-headed in its response to the film. "Let's keep a cool head and warm relations," Mr Verhagen was quoted as saying in Asharq Al Awsat, which is read in many Arab countries. He has "...distanced his government from the text of the film, which he said made generalisations and was polarising." (Today, 31 Apr 2008 "Dr M calls for Dutch boycott').

Dr. M will do well to keep his own counsel and not shoot off that mouth at every opportunity. It appears that the more he says, the more he chips away at the goodwill and legacy he has built up over so many years among his people and those of the world. Granted not many in the Western world are particularly enamored of this straight-talking man, but continuing to give offence in such as a manner discredits his thinking and makes even his friends cringe.

Shadow Krising

2008-03-26T09:19:00.005+08:00

For Abdullah Badawi (AB), it isn't going to rain. It is pouring. First, he led his BN alliance to its worst showing in a General Election, though it did help him shed some major deadwood from the government. Then Mukhriz Mahathir fired off a letter urging AB to step down. AB is now facing a constitutional crisis in the State of Trengganu (Terengganu) when the state's royalty (whose sultan is also the King) rejected the government's nominee for Menteri Besar (Chief Minister). Tungku Razaleigh Hamzah added oil to the burning house of UMNO by challenging AB for the Presidency of UMNO, which is the same as challenging AB to move aside and let him be the PM. Now, there are poison-pen letters swirling around Malaysia that is seeking to pull down AB, Anwar Ibrahim-style.

Gosh, these politicians in Malaysia sure have a thousand and one Keris' up their sleeves. Strike while the keris is hot, I suppose, and pull down the incumbent. When the Opposition party claims they can save Malaysia, that is to be expected. But when the untried (Mukhriz), the also-run (Tengku Razaleigh) within the same party, and the silver-spooners (the King) want a piece of the action, you begin to wonder if Malaysia is going to the dogs (who let the dogs out, woof, woof), if you would pardon the expression. If Mukhriz and Razaleigh had any wonder formula, they should have shown it already. As it is, Razaleigh didn't even contest the last elections and Mukkriz's margin of victory is nothing to shout about. Sure, you might say that AB is a failure, but people who failed the first time around should be given a chance to make amends. If half way through and he doesn't show results, then people can boot him out, no questions asked.

Would a change in leadership bring about any good at this time anyway? I think not. And even if a change is necessary, UMNO should support Najib Tun Razak instead, not an also-ran uncle of a royalty.

Do the job

2008-03-22T08:12:00.001+08:00

Hey, where did this Tengku come from? Razaleigh Hamzah I mean. Yes, I have heard of him. He was a in very public spat with Dr M when he tried to wrest fro him the UMNO presidency in 1987, some 20 years ago. Now, as the Chinese saying goes the "East Mountain has risen again" and he wants to challenge Dr M's successor, Abdullah Badawi for the UMNO presidency (again) and become Prime Minister. Apparently his backers are the rejects in Abdullah Badawi's new Cabinet. Come on, many of these rejects have served for long periods of time in Cabinet, and if they are not wanted this time around, they should just 'fade away'. Some period of reflection may be in order why they were dropped.

Instead, I heard that they are trying the back door through the old man, Tengku Razaleigh. He is 71 this year. The last thing that Malaysia needs now is a disunited BN - not after it fared so poorly in the last elections. So not only does AB have to contend with Anwar Ibrahim,who is threatening to further reduce the BN's majority through enticements to defect, he also has to watch his back for would-be assassins from within his own people. How the political situation has deteriorated. It is perhaps at such times that people's true colours are revealed. Never mind that you have been working with a person for years, and have been 'pal-ly' all this while, even to the extent of shedding tears in public. Some people cannot see beyond their own interests at the interests of the people and the nation. Is it any wonder that the people have rejected the status quo and demanded change? Yet there are some who are living in self-denial, and I am not surprised because that has been the case for too long. AB shouldn't be too nice a guy. He must remember that he was put there to do a job. And this being his last term as PM (he wouldn't want to continue this - its just not worth it, really), he should do what needs to be done and then hand the hot potato to his deputy, Najib Tun Razak. Then history would remember him more favourably.

UMNO should close ranks and give their leader the support that he needs, not hack him down at the next opportunity.

Imitation Kings

2008-03-16T05:56:00.001+08:00

Is there a conspiracy between father and son? We know that Dr Mahathir has long wanted Ahmad Badawi (AB) to hand over the PM'ship to his deputy, Najib Tun Razak. He said that he had wanted Ahmad Badawi to just serve one term, hinting of such a private 'gentlemen's' agreement when he first chose Ahmad Badawi to succeed him. This sounds awfully like what actually happened in Britain, where Tony Blair, the former PM, reportedly made a pack with the current PM, Mr Gordon Brown, to hand over the premiership after an agreed period. Well, how original of Dr. M, to borrow the story from his former colonial masters and make it his own!

Why does Dr M want Ahmad Badawi to be gone? It is said that Dr M was immensely displeased that AB cancelled many of the mega-projects, including the fantastic crooked bridge that was planned to replace the Singapore-Malaysia Causeway, that he, Dr M, had put in place while he was PM. This is probably true. I do not know if this also includes AB successfully repairing the sour relationship between Singapore and Malaysia during Dr M's time. If so, then Dr M is being very mean, to both AB and Singapore.

But it appears that this pattern of imitation runs in the family. Freshly minted MP, Mukhriz Mahathir (MM Jr) is echoing his father's long-standing call for AB to step aside as PM. He has gone to the extent of circulating a letter to the top people in UMNO calling for AB's resignation. Hmmm...sounds awfully familiar when one recalls the flurry of letters before Anwar Ibrahim was sacked and thrown in jail. The reason given now is not the mega-projects or Singapore. MM Jr is so freshly minted that he has no other credibility except that he is Dr. M's son. But he is nevertheless imitating some nations where, when the election result is less than ideal for the sitting government party, the leader - the PM - resigns to take responsibility. An example will be Japan, which has serial examples of PM's resigning due to unfavourable election results. It is their symbolic version of hara-kiri. MM Jr must be fascinated by this ancient Japanese practice to want to have it imitated in UMNO politics. Or is it opportunistic plagiarism? Whatever it is, it appears that MM Jr has become Dr M's surrogate. We had hoped that MM Jr would establish his own credentials and come into his own as a politician and leader. If his approach today is representative of his thinking - one of imitation and duplicity - then he has lost the people and allied himself with the cronies of Dr M's time, which is not surprising.

What a waste for a young and freshly-minted MP!

See also: UMNO Youth mulling action against MM Jr

Chance to change

2008-03-12T12:55:00.006+08:00

Come to think of it, PM Abdullah Badawi should shake Anwar Ibrahim's hands as a gesture of gratitude for having 'humiliated' him in the last General Elections. For without him and the loose opposition coalition's success in wresting 4 states from the BN, Abdullah Badawi would not have been able to get rid of some dead wood in his old Cabinet and given him a chance today to reform his government, particularly those at the highest levels. I can imagine that all components parties in the BN will now be less quarelsome when it comes to the allocation of cabinet posts. Abdullah Badawi has a great opportunity to put good people in the proper places so that it would be easier for him to forward his agenda of fighting corruption and nepotism. He should stay put with the old gang left by his predecessor, Dr Mahathir.

The question is, would he do it? Or is his weakened authority and credibility going to force him to accept Tom, Dick and Harry that his stronger 'colleagues' in the BN, like Najib Tun Razak, and conceivably Mukhriz Mahathir, have in mind? If he cannot exert his authority, or what is left of it, in gathering a good team around himself - people who are interested in serving the country rather than themselves - then he may as well retire from politics today.

For clearly the next 5 years cannot be more of the same. Yes, he has articulated his position through the Wall Street Journal partly to calm the financial markets, but talk is still talk. Would he walk the talk, for example, in fighting corruption, which he listed as his third objective in the statement to the WSJ? We know he said that 5 years ago, but didn't follow up with enough concrete action to fulfill that promise. What gives anyone any confidence that he can do better in the next 5 years? Hopefully the factor will be the absence of imcompetent former ministers and leaders who may be more interested in building themselves palatial homes in an exclusive suburb in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur or fattening their Swiss bank accounts, if any exists. With a chastened BN, there is opportunity to do the right thing and not the old thing.

Hopefully, Ahmad Badawi will not fail his people this time. Or are the knives already out for his head?

Humble pie around the table

2008-03-09T07:45:00.001+08:00

The writing was already on the wall. Riots, running inflation, perceived injustice suffered by the Indians, corruption at the highest places, religious bias in favour of the state religion, Islam, in a supposedly multi-racial multi-religious country - the results of the Malaysian Election are hardly unexpected, except the scale of the upset. Upset is perhaps too tame a word to use. Some called it a tsunami that knocked the incumbent BN off their pedestal, forcing them to eat humble pie this time around. The Barisan Nasional (BN), the ruling coalition led by PM Abdullah, lost a total of 5 states - Kedah (the home state of former PM Mahathir), Penang (the home state of sitting PM Abdullah Badawi), Selangor, Perak and Kelantan (retained by PAS). The BN even lost to lawyer Manoharan, a candidate who is still incarcerated in Malaysia's prisons under the Internal Security Act. Can it be any more humiliating than this? And for the first time perhaps, a blogger, Jeff Ooi, won against seasoned politicians.

And they failed to retain their two-thirds majority. I don't understand why the two-thirds is a factor in the first place. Sure it allows the government to change the Constitution, but does anyone want to change the Constitution? Two-thirds is an important and indicative target because it shows the total confidence that the electorate has in the ruling party - confident enough to allow them to change the Constitution at will. But that confidence is no more.

Many of the bigwigs in BN either lost their seats or were returned with reduced majorities. For all the hype surrounding Khairy Jamaluddin, UMNO's Dpy Youth Chief, he won by a slim majority of 5,746 votes. The previous BN candidate had won by a margin of 18,656 in 2004. People just aren't comfortable with this young man. His work is cut out for him once his father-in-law exits the political stage sooner rather than later.

Probably the only consolation the BN got was DPM Najib Razak's overwhelming victory in Pekan, Pahang - polling an increased 26,464-vote majority - in a constituency that he has held since he was 22 and before that, his father, Malaysia's second PM, Tun Abdul Razak. What can be said perhaps is that the electorate has kept faith with its favourite political family. Now, there is more reason for PM Najib to claim the Premiership from Abdullah Badawi, notwithstanding questions over his alleged involvement in the murder of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu. This case will now probably never see the light of day.

And of course, Malaysian's heeded their former PM Mahathir's instructions - dump Samy Vellu. Ironically, Mahathir is probably now a very happy person. First, he isn't the PM that suffered such as stunning loss. People apparently still listen to him. He will probably see PM Abdullah Badawi stand aside in favour of DPM Najib - something he has been very vocal about. His son, Mukhriz Mahathir won in Jerlun, Kedah, which used to be part of Kubang Pasu where his father was MP for 3 decades.

Anwar Ibrahim is probably also a very happy man. Both his wife and daughter won their Permatang Pauh and Lembah Pantai parliamentary seats respectively. Wan Azizah Ismail polled a vastly improved majority over her last election. Although Nurul's majority margin was only 2,895, she was up against a formidable and proven opponent. She wasn't even expected to win.

In hindsight, Mahathir should also take responsibility for this huge setback. He said Samy Vellu had overstayed his welcome, but he had kept him as a government Minister for all those many years he was the PM. The corruption, the rot, did not start with Abdullah Badawi. Mahathir may or may not be corrupt, but as the PM, he didn't have a hoot of an idea how to resolve the problem. History will have many negative things to say about the Mahathir years which may have contributed to today's sorry state of affairs.

Truly, the political landscape has changed drastically with this latest elections. One only hopes that the BN will pay more attention and gain a greater urgency in resolving problems that have been festering for years.

Get this guy

2008-03-01T23:00:00.007+08:00

Yes, the Malaysia elections campaigning are in full swing now. But Singaporeans, unfortunately, cannot care any more. It has greater problems in its back yard - looking for a dangerous terrorist which it inexplicably allowed to escape.

So till we find the *sob*, I'll have to give the electioneering a miss. Just don't keep your guard down during this time, my dear neighbours. Malaysia is nearer than any other country to Singapore. And it'll be a good place to run to because everybody is engrossed in the elections to care about an escaped convict from the island of Singapore - those incompetent, err, better not say.

Keep an eye out for Mas Selamat Kastari, will ya? He looks like this. Well, no, don't vote for him! When you see him, send him to the Singapore Prison Island, yah? Tolong, not to the Malaysia Parliament, ok? And pronto, please. Reward? Here's the reward.

Mat Selamat Kastari

p.s. Of course, if Malaysia wants him, it can keep him for good. Just down mix him up with those Hindraf political detainees. This guy is a real criminal.

Elect the Blogger

2008-02-18T05:32:00.007+08:00

The temperature is hotting up, not only in Kuala Lumpur, but elsewhere throughout the Peninsula and East Malaysia. PM Badawi disssolved Parliament on 13 February 2008, paving the way for a General Election in March 2008.

Significantly, at least one prominent blogger - Jeff Ooi - is getting into the fray and putting himself up for election. He wrote:

But the call of national duty is definitely prompting me. I need to do what I wanted to do in JEFF 4 MALAYSIA campaign, and I have made some details here, to explain the mission. The state Election Manifesto, which I helped draft, will be release at the right time. I am certain that talk is cheap and beyond being a blogger, I need a legislator role to speak up for Malaysians!

Well, as a fellow blogger, I wish him well. As a foreigner, I'd stay neutral in the contest. But it seems that he does need a lot of campaign contribution and the amount he has received so far is paltry. Perhaps the rest of Malaysia's bloggers are not too enthused that one of their own is putting himself forward for national duty?

Visit his Blogsite and his Election Site to find out more.

Indiscrete conversation

2008-01-23T06:25:00.000+08:00

Would you believe, after viewing this video, that Mr V.K. Lingam was drunk? He sounded perfectly, though damningly, sound and sane to me. But of course Mr Lingam is a lawyer, so I wouldn't be surprised with his explanation for an incident that has brought out the political knives in Malaysia today. This video is the subject of an ongoing Royal Commission of Inquiry whether judicial appointments had been unduly influenced by Mr Lingam's and perhaps others' effort since 2001. But of course, Dr Mahathir claims that all judicial appointments made during his tenure of office as PM was solely by him, taking into account the feedback and advice of various people.

You be the, ahem, judge, whether Lingam was drunk or not.

Bedroom Politics

2008-01-06T08:57:00.000+08:00

Malaysia seem to be having a love affair with videography.

I found it odd that Dr Chua Soi Lek had admitted to being the man in the now notorious sex video showing a man and a woman having sex in a hotel. According to some people in his hometown of Batu Pahat who had seen the video (circulated by some unknown persons or parties), they couldn't even make out that the male in that video was Dr Chua! That being the case, the smart thing for Dr Chua to have done was to deny everything. But Dr Chua prefers to be honest, which is not a bad thing, though his romping in bed with a woman not his wife was a case of bad judgment, and doing so in a hotel which had such lax security was a bad choice of location to have his night of pleasure.

It would appear that there is one sure way of causing the downfall of any rival in Malaysian politics, or anywhere else for that matter. If Dr Chua, who by any measure, is a successful man - he is a medical doctor, a No. 2 man in the dominant Chinese political party, the MCA and married with 3 kids - can be brought down so easily by a moment of indiscretion, anybody is fair game. And this has been going on for some time now. The most famous of these is the former Deputy PM, Mr Anwar Ibrahim, who was convicted of sodomy with his driver, although the veracity of the Court's judgment remains suspect to this day. But it doesn't have to be true, making it look convincing is enough to push one off the edge into political oblivion. This is what people mean when they say that politics is a dirty game - for how many otherwise effective leaders have not had their nights in the bedrooms of a woman not their wives? Plenty. John F. Kennedy, Thomas Jefferson, François Mitterrand, Bill Clinton (well, sort of), Napoleon Bonaparte, etc. are some of the more famous ones. All of these, except JFK, completed their terms in office, though.

While the verdict is still out on the performance of Dr Chua as an MCA leader and Health Minister, it is unfortunate that he was honest about it - unfortunate for his political career, but it was probably a good thing for him to be honest about it.

I wonder if there is a budding film industry in the making in Malaysia.

Race Riots Irony

2007-12-02T20:54:00.000+08:00

Malaysia and Singapore has lived in irony since 1964. Why so? Because in that year, two race riots occurred in Singapore - one in July and a second in September. Singapore was then a part of Malaysia. While Malaysia's then DPM Tun Abdul Razak blamed Indonesia and the Communists for these disturbances, Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew and some foreign observers blamed Malay supremacist, Syed Jaafar Albar and some elements of the ultra-nationalist faction of UMNO.

History followed up these disturbances with yet another riot, this time in Malaysia, on May 13, 1969. Historians have judged that these 1969 riots were connected to those of 1964, and the reasons for them were similar - conflict between the Chinese and Malay races. Malaysia has sought to solve these problems all these years by implementing its Bumiputra policy - the policy of affirmative action (i.e. positive discrimination) in favour of the majority Malay race. Everything seemed to have been settled, with relative peace for 40 years, until just a few weeks ago, following on demonstrations to protest corruption in government at the highest levels. This time, the minority Indians (mostly Tamils) took to the streets to vent their frustration at the Bumiputra policy which has prevented the race from moving on and up in the Malaysian economy. This is 1964 and 1969 all over again, except it is now an India-Malay conflict.

All of which goes to show that the Bumiputra policy has been an abject and total FAILURE. All these many years, the UMNO and the Malays have been pulling wool over their own eyes and assumed that their Bumiputra policy had been the magic bullet that has brought about peace and harmony. So proud are they of this policy that, 40 years after it was started, they still claim that it has not fulfilled its objectives. The Malays just want their privileges to continue on and on. But who are they kidding? The recent show of anger from its minority Indian race demonstrates that Malaysia is no nearer resolving the problems that first exploded in 1964. That all this while, the Malays and UMNO have just been sitting on a time bomb which they hoped has stopped timing. How wrong they were and how wrong they still are now.

Unless Malaysia addresses the discrimination that is the Bumiputra policy, Malaysia will not move a single steps towards long term peace and harmony. The volcano will erupt again.

Hindraf Rally Reports

Winter of discontent

2007-11-17T08:36:00.000+08:00

This year, the 58th UMNO General Assembly meeting was reportedly tame - in comparison to last year's, where the Malay delegates, led by Tun Hishammuddin, wielded the Kris with much bravado. Was this a sign of the times? Malaysia's economy reportedly grew by 6.1% so far this year. Though lower than Singapore's expected 7.9%, it is still an achievement.

Wither the discontent, which exploded into mass demonstrations against the government in the streets of KL? Government sanctioned mass media are not reporting fully on it, so new media has taken over. You want the news about this demonstration? Read online newspapers and blogs. You want to look at pictures or better still, videos? Look at Youtube with the word 'bersih'. Truly the government is losing its battle of the minds. Gagging the official media is no longer effective. Malaysia can't control new media, unless it shuts off access to the internet, as governments in China and Myanmar are fond of doing from time to time.

I am not a political scientist to offer a reasoned analysis on the situation in Malaysia today. But it is clear that the administration of Abdullah Badawi is facing myriad problems. The biggest of these is the still smoking gun of judicial bribery brought to prominence by Anwar Ibrahim. He must really really hate the judiciary because he must have felt it the height of injustice when he was sent to jail for the charge of sodomy (subsequently overturned) and bribery/corruption (which has prevented him so far from seeking a seat in Parliament). Now that the video tape he released about a senior lawyer bribing a top judge has been acknowledged to be genuine, the ball is on Badawi's administration to appoint a royal commission to look further into the allegations. Badawi, it appears, is still dragging his foot on this. What is he worried about, unless the allegations are true? Lawyers subsequently staged a demonstration about the video tape's implications of complicity and injustice at the very citadel of justice. Truly, Malaysia' judiciary is now in tatters. How the mighty have fallen.

The word 'elections' has been on the mouth of many Malaysians for some time now. The elections process has often been viewed as not that clean in Malaysia. Out of nowhere, the people marched in KL under the banner 'bersih' or 'clean' where they demanded for clean elections, which is expected sometime early next year, and clean systems of government. The government's response - water cannons and news blackout.

Meanwhile in the Hague, Malaysia's lawyers are trying their level best to lay claim to a piece of rock in the South China Sea, called Pedra Branca (or Pulau Batus Puteh as the Malaysians prefer to call it). The protogonists? None other than the red dot of a nation far larger in size to Pedra Branca, on its southern tip that Malaysia unceremoniously ejected from its territories 42 years ago - Singapore. From the evidence and arguments presented so far, it appears that Singapore has a stronger case.

This is truly the winter of discontent in Malaysia. Hopefully it does not signal the winter of Badawi's political career. Why do I hope so? Because he has been good to and for Sinagapore.

Karang Guni nation

2007-11-08T05:55:00.000+08:00

I heard, don't know if it is true, that Russia is prepared to sell Malaysia the Soyuz spacecraft that its first angkasawan, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, made history in.

Now what would Malaysia do with such as spacecraft, I wonder?

It can't launch it into space itself as it does not have the know-how nor the infrastructure to do so itself.

It doesn't have a viable space industry that would benefit from the design technology of the space craft.

However, it can keep it in a space museum, I suppose. A space museum is not difficult nor too costly to set up. All proud Malaysians will make a bee-line for the exhibit in order to to inflate their chests once more. The Malaysia government can collect entrance fees to recoup the money it would have to pay for this piece of immobile technology (i.e. it will never fly again).

Well, I don't know if Russia is making this a gift, or if it is selling it at a discount for goodwill purposes or what. But it does seem to me that if Russia is willing to unload this spacecraft, they consider this spacecraft as having reached its useful lifespan.

In other words, its ready for the Karang Guni man to collect it. Will Malaysia want to be the Karang Guni nation?

Out of this world

2007-10-12T06:18:00.000+08:00

Literally, as a Malaysian angkasawan, a Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, sometime model, flew aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft with a Russian and an American on board to the International Space Station on 10 Oct 2007.

The fare for this single return trip? A reportedly $24M (that's US$, I think). This was the deal that Malaysia made with Russia to take a space tourist, err...its first angkasawan, to outer space. His most significant space experiment to date is to fast (it is still Ramadan) and eat ethnic Malay food (sans Durians) on board a spacecraft. But of course he has more serious experiments to conduct during the 9 days he will be on board the ISS. Details of these experiments have yet to be reported.

Well, Malaysians should be proud of the occasion. Many nations would have wanted to join the outer space club. Malaysia has done it. But last heard, traveling into space is going to be a common thing. Already, the following five tourists have flown to and from the International Space Station on Soyuz spacecraft*:

Dennis Tito (American): April 28 - May 6, 2001
Mark Shuttleworth (South African / British): April 25 - May 5, 2002
Gregory Olsen (American): October 1 - October 11, 2005
Anousheh Ansari (Iranian / American): September 18 - September 29, 2006
Charles Simonyi (Hungarian / American): April 7 - April 21, 2007^[10]

Dr Muszaphar is but the 6th person that Russia's space program has benefited from. What can we expect of future developments in the space programme in Malaysia? Now I don't mean to be sceptical, but I would expect zero development without the help of the Russians. And why would the Russian's want to spend time developing Malaysia's space programme? Simple, either Russian Roubles or Malaysian Ringgit - millions of them.

That's almost like extorting money from the poor Malaysians for a brief moment in the Sun. It goes beyond asking whether it is worth it. It begs the question whether it is at all meaningful. It would be, if the space programme in Malaysia can develop on its own steam in the long run. But if the effort is like the bumiputra policy, which is entirely within the control of the government and has been around for over 30 years and is still not considered completed, then its space programme would not amount to much in any meaningful timeframe either. Another example is Malaysia's troubled national car project.

If this analysis is correct, then Malaysia's latest space adventure is a real waste of money, not just $24M of it. Saddled with Russian aircraft, it will have to pay Russia millions more to maintain them over the life of these aircraft - say 20 years? I wonder if Malaysia has stepped into space or into a black hole?

* Source: wikipaedia

Changing places

2007-10-09T18:57:00.001+08:00

I think there is something wrong with a witness protection programme when it involves defacing the witness. That was exactly what the Cabinet Minister Nazri Aziz said when he tried to draw the whistleblower of the now notorious video clip of a senior lawyer's smoking gun conversation with a senior judge out into the open. To me, it seems that the whole judiciary in Malaysia is all messed up. What kind of justice can you get nowadays in Malaysia? You'd better not get caught and charged in court. The best thing would be to buy off the cop with a couple of hundred ringgit. At least for Singaporens, that's an immediate 50+% discount.

But back to the issue of the whistleblower. The Minister's offer of defacement of the witness, err, sorry, that's plastic surgery to hide the identity of the witness, is preposterous. It is not obvious that one would want to change his/her face just so that the incompetent Malaysia police and judiciary can claim credit for solving a case. This a lifetime identity altering thing. I like the face I was born with. It resembles my father/mother/siblings. It is a family thing. You ask me to change it? For what? If the police cannot guarantee the effective protection of its citizens beyond plastic surgery and a change of identity, then why should anyone want to come forward. Is this not a tacit admission by the Minister of the incompetence of the police and the state's inability (or is it unwillingness in this case?) to protect those who step forward?

Whoever it is, I think the powers that be are out to hantam you. Be forewarned.

Free Burma

2007-10-04T05:25:00.000+08:00

Wool over your eyes

2007-08-30T07:04:00.000+08:00

Datuk Rafidah Aziz, Malaysia's International Trade and Industry Minister, went down to Singapore the other day preaching the IDR to potential investors. Those gathered expressed a lot of concern about the crime situation in Johore, which had gone from bad to worse in the last few years. While acknowledging that it was a problem, she put the blame squarely on foreign workers. Now I am not sure if she has correctly diagnosed the problem, but it is certain that the Johore police are not doing enough. She promised to bring this up with the Johore police and state government.

This is a step in the right direction, but it would seem that more needs to be done. So far, the Malaysian government has touted the IDR as a sure thing. Even some of its official use this IDR plan to threaten and cajole the Singapore government. In the wake of the Port Klang Free Zone fiasco, which itself was launched with much fanfare, it is no longer certain that the IDR would amount to a roaring success. Probably the best thing about the IDR now is the concept scale model of the plan. Getting from concept and plan to reality and, hopefully, success, is a long long way.

Singapore may be seen as small fry when compared to the financial might of some middle-eastern countries that Malaysia is also wooing, but the lesson of Port Klang should not be forgotten.

See:

Govt bailout looms for Port Klang project
Malaysian government may help Port Klang with its debt problems
Port Klang Free Zone, a MYR4 billion white elephant ?
Lim Kit Siang on PKFZ

To get a more sympathetic slant on the saga, see

Govt throws lifeline to Port Klang Free Zone
Jafza pullout amicable

Sons of the soil

2007-08-10T06:25:00.000+08:00

They say it never rains. It pours. Just as Malaysia is embroiled with its own citizens about its very core identity, one of its 'sons' puts up a video on Youtube criticizing Malaysia's discriminatory racial practices all these many years. Known as the New Economic Policy (NEP), it discriminates in favour of its sons of the soil (bumiputra) - the Malays - over against migrant races such as the Chinese and Indians in almost all areas of life - in education, in jobs, in owning and operating a company, in the civil service, and yes, in its religion.

Malaysia was founded as a secular state almost 50 years ago. 50 years is a long time, and I do not blame its PM, DPM and ex-PM's attempt at revising history. People have short memories, and history can be bent and twisted any which way to advance an agenda. Japan often attempts to do this. However, after 50 years, Malaysia's youth have grown up. Having lived under discrimination, many have left because of the discrimination. I know because I have friends who are brilliant academically and successful, career-wise, who are ex-Malaysians. Truly, Singapore's gain is Malaysia's lost.

Therefore, it is not surprising that a new Youtube video lampooning the Malaysian political, business, social and religious culture highlighting the discriminatory practices and its official religion, Islam, has appeared. It appears to have been created by one of its younger sons, one Mingzhi, belonging to the discriminated racial class. The song called "I love my country", is sung and dubbed mostly in Chinese and Malay with a splattering of Hokkien after the Malaysian National Anthem Negara Ku. It is a bold and stark critique of modern Malaysia, if a trifle disrespectful. But it appears to have come from the heart.

The Malaysian government, instead of spending time trying to nail sediton charges on this young man, should reflect, on its 50th year of independence, where it might have strayed from the straight and the narrow, to have aroused such negative feelings among its sons. This is Malaysia's open secret, and it appears that the cover has been blown off it.

Here is the video:

The leaders are confused

2007-07-24T06:17:00.000+08:00

In recent weeks, we have had Malaysian leaders come out with a statement of what Malaysia is or is not - an Islamic state or a secular state, or not.

This issue was raised when its DPM, Najib Tun Razak, declared unilaterally that Malaysia is a de facto Islamic state right from the start (presumably this refers to when it gained independence as a nation from the British). Tun Dr Mahathir, speaking a few weeks later, agreed with Encik Najib but made the point that it benefits no one to press the point, as many had weighed in on the debate by then.

For example, Mr Bernard Dompok, a Government Minister in the Malaysian government has come out to say that Malaysia is not an Islamic state, but a secular one, as evidenced by the words of the Constitution. Mr Kirpal Singh, the activist lawyer, and Mr Lim Kit Siang, of the political opposition, agree. So do most, if not all, minority groups such as the Chinese, Indians, Christians, Hindus, and 'renegade' bloggers.

PM Abdullah Badawi muddied the waters by saying that Malaysia is neither an Islamic state nor a secular one. Instead, it is one that is governed by Parliamentary Democracy.

Now there is enough here for students of politics to turn over the matter till the cow comes home.

Meanwhile, the rest of the country is now suffering from schizophrenia. Why not? When elected leaders of Malaysia, past and present, active and inactive, cannot decide on such a fundamental matter, you'd wonder who can?

Judge hammered in his Court

2007-06-05T13:10:00.000+08:00

PM Abdullah Badawi is correct. There should not be any cover-up regarding the case of the unnatural death of Altantuya Shaariibuu. This case has been widely reported both in national and international press. The alleged murder took place last October (2006) and, after 7 months, the case is before the Malaysia Courts - but...

The prosecution revealed that he has just the day before been assigned the case and pleaded for a month to prepare afresh. Gosh, the Malaysia government legal department must be working in overdrive with so many cases that this reassignment was necessary? It is extremely odd (to say the least) for a government prosecutor to be appointed just the day before after 7 months have passed since the 'crime'. That or, as many are now whispering, there is more than meets the eye. Is something going on in the corridors of power such that the weight is now shifted against the prosecution from succeeding? The prosecution, by the way, is arguing that Encik Abdul Razak Abdullah Baginda and his alleged accomplices kidnapped and killed the young AS. We are reminded that these accused have friends in high places in the Government. There is also allegations of a third party involved that is trying to pervert the course of justice, although this party has not been identified.

Surely the Malaysia government is not doing itself a favour and moreover putting itself up to ridicule by its own citizens and the international community just for the sake of the three accused men? Or it there something else going on higher up? Its looks like someone is desparately trying to tilt the scales of justice his way. Can the Malaysia Courts go along merrily with the government on this, so soon after its decision to take away basic civil liberties from its own citizens?

Image Source: http://images.stockxpert.com/

IDR brewing

2007-05-26T19:22:00.000+08:00

You must give credit to the Malaysians for their sheer scale, vision and ambition in coming up with the plans for the Iskandar Development Region. The area that IDR covers is bigger than the whole of Singapore! So if it took Singapore 40 years to arrive at where it is today, I wonder how many decades it will take for the IDR to be realised!

Already, some Malaysians are acting as if the IDR is already built. Well, it is - on paper that is. They are jealous that Singapore is described as a partner in the whole plan, part of a committee that will look into its development. They say, not without justification, that this is a Malaysia plan and vision and that Singapore is but an investor, just like any other country that shows interest in pumping their money into it. But such is the close yet suspicious relationship between the two nations that this has become inevitable.

Malaysians do not have to be too worried though. Remember Suzhou, China? Well, Singapore now has a minority stake in it although it took a lead in planning, developing and realizing the IP. After much public posturing and behind-the-scenes struggles (a word only too familiar with our communist friends), China has majority control over the IP today. If history were to repeat itself, Malaysia will have its IDR - nobody is going to take it away from them. But they must have greater self-confidence and not feel immediately threaten the moment a Singaporean shows up at their doorstep, never mind if no plans are offered. Its a Malaysian plan, OK? Yeah, and I don't think Singapore wants to take it away from them.

But given the sheer scale of the project, Malaysia really needs the right people with the track record to pull off the IDR. Otherwise, the IDR will likely end up as no more than a beautiful model that businessman marvelled at for a while and then moved on to something more practical.

Taking out your spoons before the broth is cooked and ready to eat seems to me to be premature.

Image source: http://images.stockxpert.com/

FAM U-Turn

2007-05-16T21:20:00.000+08:00

Applause please...for PM Ahmad Abdullah Badawi for doing the right thing. This is Visit Malaysia Year and nobody should dictate to a sovereign nation and its people how, when or who they should invite to the country to celebrate Malaysia's 50th birthday. Certainly not the AFC President, Mr Mohamed bin Hammam, who is now threatening to sue FAM for reneging on its promise not to promote any competing event around the time of the Finals in AFC's Asia Cup event.

Yes, FAM did a u-turn there, but that's in the nature of soccer. Sometimes, some well executed u-turns on the soccer pitch can result in a spectacular goal. The only thing is, you'd want to make sure that goal is not your own, something the FAM almost did. But I must give credit to FAM for its guts in standing up to the imperial AFC, and more to the Malaysia PM for protecting the interests of the country and its own people. Yes, that's right, folks, Malaysia has only one PM, and he does not go by the name of Hammam.

Hammam and WSG, who had hoped to make tonnes of money from the event, will now see the money go to MUFC, because football-fans just acquired a distaste for the AFC and its brand of soccer.

Malaysia boleh!

Image source:http://images.stockxpert.com/

My Football

2007-05-12T06:23:00.000+08:00

Mr Mohamed bin Hammam and the FAM are not getting my vote for being insensitive to the wants of football crazy Malaysians, and Singaporeans too. How could one person in the AFC unilaterally decide that thousands of football fans should watch the Asia Cup rather than Manchester United FC? Mr H accuses MU of being colonialist, but he is no better. In fact, except for his bald pate and dark complexion, he looks like Hitler and acts like Hitler too.

Sure, he wants to promote Asia soccer, but not at the expense of the people who enjoy good soccer? Isn't it ironic? He doesn't want MUFC to show up just to cart away tonnes of Asian money, but isn't the AFC after that same pot of gold? You think the AFC is money-blind and totally altruistic in promoting Asian soccer? They have done their sums and they know that whatever they could have pocketed would have to be shared with MUFC if they turned up around the same time. Look, the events aren't playing on the same day, so fans can catch both the AFC event and go crazy over Ronaldo and gang. But no, the AFC want ALL the cash to itself. That explains why Mr H was so un-diplomatic, even rude, with his language. The soccer fraternity, on a global scale, is still a small world. One day, AFC might have to look west for collaboration. Burning bridges such as what Mr H is doing is akin to suicide.

We fans weren't born yesterday. We may be soccer crazy, but we are not blind and stupid. Only, let us spend our hard-earned cash on what we want and not on what Mr H wants. We may decide not to spend any of it, since MUFC is not invited to the party.

Responsibility for free speech

2007-03-07T12:32:00.000+08:00

I have never had any doubt that Malaysia has liberal free speech policies. What's the proof? Just look at the kind of crap that the Malaysia press is ready to carry about Mr Abdul Ghani Othman's accusation against Singapore for causing massive floods in Johor recently and you should be convinced of the veracity of this claim.

On the other hand, it says a lot for the Malaysia bar when they were willing to host a rebuttal by Singapore's Today newspaper on their very own website - a rebuttal against the claims of the Chief Minister of Johor, no less. Even its press - no less than Bernama and a newspaper in the East of Malaysia (Sabah) did the same. So from the Singapore perspective, part of the Malaysian press has been balanced and fair. We cannot realistically expect every and all newspapers to behave the same. In fact, Bernama and the Malaysia Bar are practicing the very principles that Singapore has espoused - which is for the press, whether local or foreign, to publish Singapore's own account of the issue.

But of course, Malaysians, and especially Malaysian bloggers will disagree. They hold that cyberspeech and cyberpublishing is immune from the laws of mere mortals which still print newspapers for a living. That is why the law suite by the New Straits Time Publishing (NSTP) against two bloggers, Jeff Ooi and Encik Ahirudin Attan has garnered so much opposition among Malaysian bloggers and news watchers. A fund has even been set up to pay for defence of these two gentlemen and there is much handwringing and drumbeating over the whole affair.

I will be the first to admit that I am not clear about the details of the suite. In fact, I cannot be bothered. So I am not going to venture any opinion on who is right and who is wrong. To many people, 'David' should always be 'right' because he is being bullied by 'Goliath'. But since when has this taken on the status of a virtual 'law'? What any fair minded person would suspect is that the truth lies somewhere in-between. It is good that Malaysia has decided to resort to its law courts to settle this dispute over against a lynching party, whatever form that might have taken.

If Malaysians, and in particular, Malaysia bloggers, do not believe in their system of justice and due process, then the country will really be in trouble.

Let he/she who has thrown the first word answer for what he/she has said.

I am a blogger, but I do not take myself too seriously when I am on and within the rarefied air of cyberspace. I land once in a while to feel the ground.

Water arising

2007-02-02T06:20:00.000+08:00

Malaysian government Ministers can have very fantastic imagination, and sometimes, these imagining tries to be scientific too. Abdul Ghani Othman, the Johor Chief Minister is on record as saying that the floods in Johor in the last few months is caused by the reclamation works that Singapore had carried out on its Tekong Island. Because of the reclamation works, so the reasoning goes, the mouth of the Johor River was narrowed, which impeded the flow of water. This eventually led to the overflowing of that same river, flooding much of the State of Johor.

This is the most incredible piece of 'scientific' reasoning sh*t I have ever heard. I think the Johoreans should use its river for better purposes than as a football that it tries to wack into Singapore's goal. First, Malaysia is already going to restrict the amount of water it sells to Singapore, water that originates from the Johor River, once the current water agreements with Singapore expire. If what Encik Ghani says is true, then Johoreans should brace themselves for more floods in the future. I can imagine them blaming Singapore for not taking more water from the Johor River like it used to for so many years, when floods strike Johor again.

Now it is blaming Singapore for clogging up the mighty Johor River. Sometimes, I think Malaysians give Singapore too much credit than it deserves.

Malaysia boleh

2006-12-05T06:51:00.000+08:00

Politics is getting a bit exciting up north. Singaporeans must welcome recent steps by UMNO's senior leaders such as Najib Tun Razak to welcome Singapore investments in Malaysia (and I trust that includes the SJER, if and when it materializes) and UMNO's rebuke of some of its members for making racially inflamatory remarks during its recently concluded UMNO annual pow-wow. From what I heard, not everyone is in agreement on this. There remains a strong underlying current of disquiet and it will take all the skills of politicking and leadership from PM AB and DPM NTR to rein in the disenchanted in order to move Malaysia's national agenda forward.

Actual results count for everything.

A peaceful Malaysia is good for Singapore. A properous Malaysia is also good for Singapore. A Malaysia that wants to play football, and I mean real football, with Singapore is a plus plus. This will be taking two steps forward.

I truly wish Malaysia well. As I have mentioned before, I love to visit Malaysia. It just has to rein in the snatch thieves and robbers and most importantly, keep the police clean. Visitors expect the police to provide protection and help in times of need. It is no good if visitors to the country suspect that senior police officers can blow people up. If the head honchos do it, what more the subordinates?

Wayang show up north

2006-11-19T08:01:00.000+08:00

It appears that Malaysia's Malay leaders are ready to unsheath their kris, and if necessary, to kill (the minority races that are accused for formenting trouble) to defend their rights as Malays in their own lands, where they form the majority of the population and where there is an affirmative action for the Malays already in place for more than 30 years. With so much going for them, this must be one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard.

Are these leaders then admitting that their affirmative action has been a total failure? It must be when you are at it for more than 30 years and you have yet to achieve its objectives. Either those objectives were set too high or are impossible to meet? In any organisation, if objectives are not met within the stipulated time (and this rarely exceeds 3 years much less 30 years) the leaders are held to account, plans are changed or the project scrapped entirely.

But in Malaysia's affirmative action programme, we see a most remarkable thing. The leaders are actually proud of the fact that it has still not succeeded in meeting its objectives. In fact, they strongly and adamantly refuted, without much justification except pure political posturing, a considered study that suggested that the affirmative action has more than achieved its objectives. At least the person responsible for that report has done the honourable thing and resigned his post rather than compromise his academic integrity.

The wayang that is going on in UMNO these days is incredible, and I am not referring to DR M & PM AB. If the gathering of the big-wigs of Malaysian national leaders that produced these sentiments and posturing was not a very serious thing, I would laugh till my tummy ached, or my teeth fell out.

Image source: http://www.seasite.niu.edu/

Scandalous diversions

2006-11-08T13:09:00.000+08:00

Alamak, another interesting thing is developing in Malaysia and the IGP is coming into the picture again. The last time the IGP had such publicity was when he hantam Anwar Ibrahim in jail. But of course this IGP is a different person. He has been pulled in because a high-ranking government official, a political analyst close to a Malaysian Cabinet Minister stands accused of murdering a Mongolian women, with whom he allegedly had a sexual relationship. Now, some police officers have also been arrested, allegedly for complicity in the whole affair.

This juicy story might just be the thing that AB needs to deflect attention from Dr. M's barbs. Stay tuned...

Ghosts from the past

2006-11-05T11:41:00.000+08:00

With all due respect to his excellency, the Sultan of Johore is spouting nonsense when he said that the Singapore-Johore Causeway should be demolished because, apparently, it was a conspiracy by its former colonial masters, the British, to block the waterways in the Straits so that it will benefit Singapore's southern coastline's port development at the expense of the Port of Tanjung Pelapas. In the first place, his excellency probably thought of the Tanjung Pelapas port as nothing more than for docking sampans by fishermen, until Singapore showed how to profit from having a deep-water coast. Secondly, with or without the Causeway, AP-Moeller-Maersk and Evergreen did move over to PTP, didn't they? Will his excellency be happy only if Keppel becomes a shell?

I don't know which quack advised him on his history, but it is bad advice and bad history. I have not come across any academic who has studied and published on Singapore-Johore / Singapore-Malaysia history and politics with this radical interpretation of history. That the Sultan said that the British hoodwinked his ancestors is a telling admission that they now think that somebody else could be hoodwinking their children today. It is a sad. I personally do not think that the Malays are without common sense . The Sultan should stop portraying them as such.

In this respect, I wonder if the Sultan is not being more like Mahathir, whom he criticised not too long ago, counselling him to stop making noise. Besides, how can Singaporeans contribute to the success of SJER without a bridge? or are Singaporeans not welcome even before the first foundation stone to SJER is laid? If so, it does not augur well for the success of the SJER. I believe Singapore values every opportunity to work together with others for mutual benefit, including Johore. But if the other side doesn't want to play ball, it can do nothing but to turn to others who want, like Batam. Let it not be said later that Singapore is not a friendly neighbour.

The Sultan should be careful with his words and history. It may return to haunt him.

Image source: http://home.ca.inter.net/~dmonet/

When elephants fight...

2006-10-29T14:37:00.000+08:00

As if Malaysia hasn't got enough problems on its hands with two of its big shots going at each other in public (actually, its one going at the other, who has been rather, though characteristically, quiet, perhaps till now), Malaysia has to contend with its auxiliary religious police who are running amok while the elephants battle each other. Like the saying goes, when two elephants fight, the mouse gets up to mischief.

The first mischief is the religious police conducting witch-hunts for Muslim couples committing 'khalwat' or close-proximity. There now seems to be two laws in the land, the civil law and the religious laws. What is frightening is that the religious law is an authority to itself, seemingly untouchable by the more established civil law. In a boo-boo of embarrassing proportions, it was reported that one such religious police squad barged into the home of an elderly American couple intending to charge them for khalwat. It seems that catching the couple at their age for committing the close-proximity sin is decades too late. But this is lost on the fervent religious police, who can think of nothing but to enforce the Prophet's teachings. This poor couple had intended to get a permanent house in Langkawi, where the incident took place. Now those plans are dead. 'Malaysia - truly Asia' now has a sinister ring to it.

As if this were not enough, we hear that Malaysia has also set up an authority, primed by some government minister/department, to suss out people who mix Bahasa-Melayu with English in their speech (and most likely, written too). Call Bahasa Rojak, Malay language purists are now on a crusade to cleanse the language of Malaysia to its purest form.

Now, any linguist worth his salt will tell you that there is no such thing as a 'pure' language - only purely stupid purists. I used to hear Malaysia Ministers, Dr Mahathir included, mixing Bahasa Melayu and English in their speeches and recorded conversations, and appearing proud of it. Of course, they are not the only ones. actors and actresses in made-in-Malaysia Malay movies also do the same, so much so that I was beginning to get used to this lingua innovation as an accepted part of the way Malaysians are going to speak.

Apparently somebody thinks otherwise, and so we now have, besides the religious police, also the language police running around to prey on Rojak speakers, providing some intermittent amusement while the two elephants plan their next moves.

Well, that's not all, really. There is also the case of those lies, damned lies and statistics. I wonder what Malaysian leaders will pull out of the rabbit's hat next? Look at it another way, even if the leaders are not doing their jobs (and I an not implying that they aren't), at least they are providing a seemingly endless stream of comic relief.

See also: http://undurlah.blogspot.com/2006/04/beware-vice-squad.html

Image source: http://www.elephantvoices.org/albums/

The show continues

2006-10-24T09:00:00.000+08:00

The Malaysia political scene is set to continue to be interesting, albeit painful for many, as its 'nosey-parker' former PM Mahathir refuses to keep his thoughts private and his mouth shut. It looks like there will be more mud-slinging, accusations, counter-accusations, conspiracy, mouth gagging, nosey-parkering, ad nauseam. Somewhere along this timeline, somebody will get really hurt. Mahathir should follow MacArthur's advice - old soldiers should slowly fade away...

Must the show continue, to the bemusement of its neighbour at the peninsula's southern tip? Seems like Anwar Ibrahim is getting his own back - without lifting a finger.

Image source: http://www.anssi.org/andrei/privacy.htm

Boss' word not final

2006-10-08T07:10:00.000+08:00

The boss has spoken, but the lieutenants are now weighing in on the issue in spite of the boss saying that he has closed the case and he will move on.

What am I referring to? Non other than the consternation over remarks made by Singapore's SM Lee about the systematic marginalisation of non-Malay races in Malaysia. Who are adding their two cents worth (for that's really all that its worth after the boss has spoken). Maximus Ongkili, who is Minister in the PM's department. I wonder if his ofice has such thick walls that he doesn't know what his boss just said. The other is Dato' Seri Syed Hamid Albar, the Foreign Minister. He just cannot not say something. But he is a man of high ambitions, stretching from the Mahathir days.

Even Mahathir Mohammad is giving his satu sen worth, but on a different issue. He is taking issue with SM Lee's characterisation of him as a difficult person to work with. Dr M counters that SM Lee is arrogant. Touche. It takes two to tango and men of strong characters to create sparks. If you ask me (I know you didn't), I prefer the Lee sparks any day although Dr M's sparks can sometimes raze a country as he is threatening to do to his own nowadays. Mahathir is not satisfied with life. He just cannot rest in peace, err, I mean leave well alone.

Image source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/

Irony of cross-strait politics

2006-10-07T07:04:00.000+08:00

Khairy Jamaluddin, erstwhile son-in-law of PM AA Badawi, has been shooting off his mouth about many things of late. Now he is alleged to have said that non-Malays will take advantage of a weak UMNO. If that isn't race politics, I don't know what is. MCA has duly made it known that the non-Malays' feelings are hurt. Khairy cannot say things like this (which reminds me that PM AA Badawi also said something like this about some hurtful comments made by someone down south recently), especially when he represents UMNO's Youth wing as deputy chief and is the incumbent PM's son-in-law to booth. Does UMNO Youth subscribe to this view? Is it an official position of UMNO Youth? What has Hishamuddin Tun Hussein, as UMNO Youth Chief, have to say about it?

It is doubly ironic as his father-in-law (and all of Malay Malaysia, I would suppose) expressed great displeasure over remarks made by Mr Lee Kuan Yew about how the non-Malays have been systematically marginalised over the years in Malaysia. It would seem that Mr Jamaluddin and Mr Lee Kuan Yew share something in common - the ability to say things that may be hidden in the sub-consciousness of a nation and its peoples.

Well, AA Badawi has graciously acknowledged SM Lee's apology and closed the matter. I doubt it would be forgotten though. But it would seem that Malaysia still has to contend with its own pretender in the years to come, unless somebody stops him, or his mouth or both.

Image source: http://www.hhmi.org/

Calling a spade a shovel

2006-09-29T16:20:00.000+08:00

As always happens, Singapore is having yet another spat with Malaysia over remarks made by MM Lee Kuan Yew that the Chinese in Malaysia have been systematically marginalised all these years. Not only that, Indonesia got mentioned too in the same breadth and now Singapore has been asked to explain those remarks to both countries.

I don't know what Singapore's diplomats are going to say, but perhaps MM should have been less candid with his remarks in the first place. But what's done is done, and MM managed to offend the people whose country it is sandwiched between. This is certainly not a very comfortable position to be in. Nevertheless, it is interesting to note that nobody in Singapore disagrees openly with MM's opinions and some in Malaysia have written to the local press to support his views.

Of course, Malaysia has reacted in many other threatening ways, one of which is that UMNO grassroots politicians have reportedly called on PM AA Badawi to ensure that Singapore does not benefit from the South Johor Economic Region (SJER) plan - that grand plan to transform Johor into an economic powerhouse that matches that in the Klang Valley in KL. This really shows that these grassroots politicians have no idea what they are talking about and that they don't under the SJER plan at all. Let me quote Malaysia's MIDA on this plan:

Presently most of the services activities are concentrated in the Klang valley. To take advantage of the inherent strength and business activities in the southern region, the South Johor Economic Region will be developed as a REGIONAL HUB for services. The services sector will be supported with specific funding such as the Export Services Fund and the SMEs Export Services Fund.

Source: 9th Malaysia Plan

First, it will be very strange for a hub to be off-centre with Singapore's exclusion, and second, where and who do they think the 'strength and business activities in the southern region' is currently fueled mainly by? Singapore may sometimes appear arrogant, but it cannot be denied that the main engine running in the south of the Peninsula is Singapore. It is a fact that many enterprises in Johor are owned, though not always operated, by Singapore businessman. The Port of Tanjong Pelapas itself will not an economic miracle make, so who are these politicians deceiving anyway?

In today's globalised world, SJER will succeed spectacularly if it collaborates with that little red dot at the tip of the Malay Peninsula. Otherwise, it is not certain that this planned regional hub for services will amount to much more than rhetoric. Our Malaysia grassroots political friends are speaking as if SJER will be a reality next month. All I can say is, don't count your chicks before the eggs hatch.

Image source: The Star

Cash in them crops

2006-09-21T14:12:00.000+08:00

Many years ago, my mother invested money in some palm oil plantations in Malaysia. That investment has since been disposed and the money put into other higher-yielding investments. I wished she had held on to it because palm oil is turning out to be the type of cash crop that will make you rich beyond imagination.

With the price of crude oil reaching near stratospheric heights in the last couple of months, research and development into alternative fuels has gathered momemtum. One of these alternatives is biofuels, which comes from renewable sources such as palm oil. Malaysia is the largest producer of palm oil in the world today. It could have been an even larger volume producer had not Dr Mahathir cleared thousands of hectares of land that once produced palm oil to build his Putrajaya and Cyberjaya. Both places are now huge consumers of oil - to power the lights, the air-conditions, and all sorts of electrical and gas-guzzling gadgets and devices.

I remember visiting Putra and Cyber Jaya some 5 years ago. I was really shocked but at the same time, marvelled at how grand and how huge these places were. At the same time, I asked myself where they got the land from. Of course, Malaysia is a big country. What I mean is, what was the land that Putrajaya and Cyberjaya is now sitting on used for previously? Rubber plantations? Palm Oil plantations? I am sure of one thing. It was previously not a nature reserve, nor residential area, nor rainforest, nor mountain nor river. It was just too close to the Malaysian Capital, Kuala Lumpur, to be any of these. Probably it's previous occupants where the rubber trees but more likely, the palm oil plantatations. If the latter, the Malaysia will have to kick itself in the royal behind to have gotten rid of crops that will generate cash at a rate unimaginable previously.

My point is, before anyone goes about destroying any of its natural and man-made resources, it should think very very carefully. Otherwise, they may just wake up one day to regret the amount of money they have burnt away.

See All Things Biodiesel

Image source - http://assets.panda.org/

Tussle among the giants

2006-06-26T06:46:00.000+08:00

Just what does Mahathir Mohammad aim to achieve by bad-mouthing the country's Prime Minister and his whole Cabinet? Is his aim to:

1. Bring down the government and offer himself as the alternative?
2. Get the incumbent to apologise to him and follow his lead?
3. Make sure that everyone knows he is still alive and very much kicking at that
4. Ensure that his legacy is perpetuated in stones and steel (albeit crooked ones)
5. Irritate and continue to persecute Singapore even after he finally 'leaves' the scene
6. All of the above

Like I wrote in an earlier post - this man is turning out to be quite a megalomaniac. By so vehemently criticizing the Federal government - a government that he had a hand in forming - he has done what the opposition parties have failed to do. The opposition should be happy about it. But they have remained largely silent, probably because they know that what Dr M is doing will cause Malaysia, the country, to be ridiculed by the rest of the world, if not their own people. He can pretend to wallow in self-pity, and blame the day that he made certain wrong decisions. Yes, it will pull a few heartstrings and probably gain him some sympathizers. But he of all people should know that his time in power has passed. He should just let go.

Clearly, Dr M's tirades will not resolve anything. Instead it will force the powers that be to alienate him, and ultimately, banish his memory from the collective body of UMNO. Far better for Dr M to have taken the silent, consultative approach than to let loose in public over the issues he is now gripping about. After all, he remains an UMNO party elder and should have some measure of influence by reason of seniority, if nothing else.

But such is a person that whatever strength his forthrightness and bluntness used to be when he was in power is now turning into a liability and embarrassment for the rest of the country, government and family. If nothing, will he not save his family from further embarrassment?

Image source: http://www.du.edu/~ttyler/ploughboy/

Mickey Mouse in Johor

2006-06-02T05:46:00.000+08:00

Will Mickey Mouse make a permanent appearance in Johor, Malaysia? According to UEM World and some Malaysian government officials, that is a 'Yes'. According to them, negotiations with Oriental Land Company (OLC), the company that operates Tokyo Disneyland, are progressing well, with a huge piece of land in Johor earmarked for the giant amusement park. Strangly, though, Walt Disney Company is denying all this and says that it has no intention of setting up Disneyland in Johor, much less Malaysia. Are the Malaysians getting ahead of themselves on this without first verifying if indeed the Mouse is looking for a permanent home on Malaysian soil? If so, then this will be a huge embarrassment for them. Coincidentally, Singapore, its neighbour to the South, just announced the appointment of LA Sands to build its multi-billion dollar Integrated Resort, which should be ready come 2009. Are the Malaysians trying to counter this with its own mega-amusement-park project? One can only speculate.

Whichever it is, one thing works against a permanent home for an all-American institution in a largely Muslim country. It doesn't take an analyst with PhD credentials to tell you that a Disneyland Theme Park in a Muslim-dominant country (such as Malaysia) will be a ready and fantastic target for fanantical Muslim extremist to practice their bombing and suicide skills. Their hatred for all things American is a well known fact. So even if, for some inexplicable reason, Disneyland becomes a reality in Johor, the terrorism insurance expenses alone will be humongous. On balance, I think Johor has popped its champagne a bit too early. It should get rid of terrorists first so that Mickey Mouse can feel much safer planting its feet on Malaysia soil. On the other hand, Johor's loss may be Singapore's gain, going by speculation that Mickey may be looking for a home in the Lion City and eventually building its Magic Kingdom here.

Image source: http://www.mvcs.org/

A few good women

2006-05-25T14:48:00.000+08:00

Thank heavens for Marina Mahathir. In an opinion piece in the Malaysian The Sun newspaper (carried in Today's 25 May 2006 issue), Ms Marina, daughter of Malaysia's former Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohammad, gave a balanced and forward looking critique of Islamic practices in recent times. She compared the Muslim's often violent response to the Mohammad Cartoons (and reaches as far back as Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses) with Christians' measured and calm response to the Da Vinci Code book and movie, which was recently released worldwide. While I expect Ms Marina to receive flak from her countryman and Muslim 'brothers' for expressing those opinions, I cannot but admire this fiesty lady's courage in being fairminded at certain cost to herself.

Islam needs more of the calibre and mind of this lady, which obviously is inherited from her famous but more controversial father, Dr Mahathir. She is a shining beacon in a sea of storm that Islamic extremists (and even some moderates) have created time and again to push their agenda and practice their brand of hate and vengeful religion. But I fear that Ms Marina is an exception, for who would dare risk life and limb to hold such contrary views within the prevailing mood in Islamic-sphere? I do not think that what she wrote, sensible as it is, will make a difference in moving the prevailing Islamic feeling towards the middle path - not in the Madrasahs or schools run with Islamic clerics who espouse discrimination against Muslim women and hatred towards anything 'western', including Christianity and the Jews, not in the political sphere as that will put into jeopardy the position of the incumbent and not in society in general, for that will go against centuries of Islamic teachings handed down from generation to generation.

However, to the rest of us, it was a breadth of fresh air.

See also: Alike yet so unlike

Image source: http://www.amfar.org/

Beware the vice squad

2006-04-07T06:01:00.000+08:00

Singaporeans, especially those who LOOK no different from a Malaysian, should be careful when they travel up north from now on. For that matter, which Singaporean Chinese, Indian or Malay doesn't look like a Malaysian? Many Singaporeans have friends and relatives in Malaysia. For all intents and purposes, we look and speak like Malaysians.

Why the need to be careful? Not because you'd get car-jacked while enjoying your meals in Johor Bahru, though that is likely to happen, but that you'd get arrested for behaving indecently. What indecent behaviour, you ask. Well, for one you'd need to keep a mile away from

(for men): any woman, whether that woman is your grandmother, mother, sister, girlfriend, maid or wife, and
(for women): any man, whether that man is your grandfather, father, brother, boyfriend or husband.

According to a report in Today (7 April 2006), Malaysia's Chief Justice, Justice Ahmad Fairuz Abdul Halim has given the city councils permission to enact and enforce morality by-laws. No act of Parliament is necessary here, so long as that person who enacts those by-laws follow Muslim laws and are eager to curb indecent behaviour. What is indecent behaviour in this context? Well, for one, kissing in public is. Don't even try a peck on the cheek and it doesn't matter if you are kissing your mother. You can still be arrested until you can established that that women is in fact your mother. What else is considered indecent? Well, it's hard to say, really. It depends on these people's sense of morality, so its better you pretend not to know the person beside you, even if that person is your grandmother, your wife, your sister, or your...

When fanatics and extremists do these things, you don't worry too much, because that's how they behave and they form the minority. But when no less than the Chief Justice of the land is saying yes to these morality squads who tend to come from mainstream society, you begin to wonder what will become of your planned holidays to Malaysia later this year, not to mention the reputation of the country.

Image source: http://www.marinemammalcenter.org/

Alike yet so unlike

2006-03-29T16:52:00.000+08:00

Marina Mahathir is so like her illustrious father, Mahathir Mohamad, the former PM of Malaysia - candid and outspoken. If she put on glasses, she will be the spitting image of her father, looks wise. Yet, I think she is unlike her father in the sense that she does not evoke a sense of dread in Singapore whenever she speaks. She is a social activist and of late, has spoken out strongly against Sharia (Islamic) law that generally leaves Muslim women short-changed. A case in point is Malaysia's Family Law Act (Dec 2005) that makes it easier for Muslim men to enter into polygamous marriages and appropriate their first wives' property in the event of a divorce.

Marina and her collaborators say that's wrong but her opponents say she is too much influenced by Western values, whatever these values are. I applaud her courage in speaking up for Muslim women, who have been reportedly bullied of late not only in Malaysia, but elsewhere too. There is the case of an Islamic wife who needs to marry another man as a condition for her to divorce the same man so that she can re-marry her first husband, who uttered the words for divorce three times in his sleep that led to the separation of the original couple in the first place. Not only are we witnessing extreme forms of Islam, we are also witnessing a convoluted and confused form of Islam.

I think somebody must rescue Islam from every Tom, Dick and Mullah before it becomes a laughing stock. Oops, better not laugh or I will become a victim of my written and mental indiscretion (remember Rushdie?).

Image source: http://www.sistersinislam.org.my/

Northward Bound

2005-12-10T06:58:00.000+08:00

In a week's time, I will be travelling north to Malacca, a historic town in Malaysia. I am not driving, as most people who travel north are wont to do. Instead, I managed to persuade my fellow travellers to take the Railway. This railway line, from Singapore right up to Thailand, has been around for more than 50 years. It is operated by the Malaysia firm, Keratapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTM). Surprisingly, this old company has kept pace with technology and the internet. It allows customers to purchase its train tickets over the internet. It's website also shows train schedules to help the customer make purchase decisions.

What is amazing is that it is still quite affordable. A first class ticket to Malacca costs S$50 if you buy it from Singapore, and RM50 if you buy it from Malaysia. As RM50 is about half the value of the equivalent in Singapore dollars, you get an effective 25% discount on a two way ticket! But you must buy your tickets in two separate transactions.

This is certainly not the first time I will be travelling by KTMB train, but my memories of the first time wasn't pleasant. I remember then that I was squeezed like sardine into the rail car and had to stand for the entire duration of the journey, which, thankfully, was a short one. Hopefully, this time, the journey will be more comfortable, although I found out that the first class rail car is fully booked. That means that the toilet will be fully used. Given that this service is not operated by Singapore Airlines, there is some trepidation that the 4 hour journey may not be entirely pleasant, toilet-wise. Better visit the toilet just before departure...