Umno, you are hereby sentenced to death by ridicule (again!)

PLEASE DON'T OFFEND ME...
I'M A REAL SENSITIVE GUY!

I was alerted by a facebook message from a friend that my blog had been blocked. True enough, I discovered Umno cybertroopers had been at it again!

Fuckwits. Bodoh betul!

YOU DON'T HAVE A CLUE WHAT FORCES YOU'RE DEALING WITH.

Try your nonsense one more time and I shall

DELETE YOUR PAST AND YOUR FUTURE.

I kid you not.


[First posted 12 August 2009]

Basiran Nasional? ... Embarisan Nazional? ... Barbarisan Nastianal? ... Borosan Nasikangkang?

Once again, with apologies to Malaysiakini, I just have to repost this classic from the indefatigable Dean Johns...

What BN really stands for
Dean Johns
14 March 2012 / Malaysiakini

On the face of it this is painfully obvious, at least to most Malaysians. BN stands for Barisan Nasional, the coalition that has ruled them increasingly crookedly and incompetently for the past half-century.

But as ‘Barisan Nasional’ means ‘National Front’, the question remains what and who BN is a front for, and how much longer it can get away with all the ugly realities it strives to hide behind its carefully-crafted facade.

How much longer, for example, can some apparently sentient Malaysians keep taking it seriously as ‘Barisan Nasional’, when, as I pointed-out in a column some months ago, BN is so evidently a front for what could justly be called ‘Basiran Nasional’?

I recall that at the time several readers complained of my calling BN ‘basi’, which I had discovered in my trusty pocket Malay-English dictionary to mean “stale, rotten, out-of-date”, on the grounds that it was abusive.

An accusation to which my response was and remains that, after 54 dreary years in power, BN has come to stand for so much that is basi, not to mention buruk and busuk, that it’s ridiculous.

And if this plainly evident fact strikes anyone as abusive, or even ABUsive, I’m delighted. BN has subjected Malaysia and Malaysians to such an intolerable burden of abuse, of everything from public funds to human rights and civil liberties that no amount of verbal abuse by me or anyone else can come close to restoring the balance.

Especially in view of the fact that the rot goes on unabated, so that Barisan/Basiran seems to be not just a false front or throwback to the dim, dark ages, but a veritable Barahsan Nasional.

Cancer mutated into conspiracy

A cancer that has grown from barely-detectable beginnings in a formerly apparently benign political coalition, and mutated and metastasised into a malignant criminal conspiracy that threatens the livelihoods and even the lives of Malaysian citizens.

If you think I’m exaggerating in the life-and-death department, take a look at the what BN expects Malaysians to Barinsanely stand for at the hands of their Nasional law-enforcement agencies.

Not only the unexplained, uninvestigated and of course unpunished homicide of ‘suspects’ in staged ‘shoot-outs’ and in custody, and charges and counter-charges between senior police and law officers allegedly in league with organised crime, but such dereliction of ordinary, everyday duties that communities have to pay private security organisations to ensure their own and their families’ safety, and the fatality rates on Malaysia’s pathetically-policed roads are 10 times of those in countries like the UK and Australia.

Then there’s BN’s legendary standing as Borosan Nasional, extravagantly spending and squandering so much public money on its members and their relatives and cronies as to threaten to reduce the rakyat to ruin.

The prime minister and his shopaholic consort spend fortunes jet-setting around the world and throwing glitzy parties using either public funds or mysteriously-amassed millions of their own. Billions disappear in ‘commissions’ on submarines, armoured personnel carriers and other ‘defence’ deals, and countless more billions go missing in ‘soft loans’, ‘bail-outs’ and ‘development’ schemes and scams.

And in case the poor suckers who pay for all this get wise to how wantonly they’re being cheated, short-changed, ripped-off, and thus take to complaining or - horror of horrors - avenging themselves at the ballot-box, there’s the ultimate expression of what BN stands for, Barisandiwara Nasional.

What a show of shows this is. What a dazzling display of deception, trickery, illusionism and sleight-of-hand. Roll up, roll up and see BN’s ‘world’s best democracy’, never mind BN’s world-class anti-democratic laws, phoney BN ‘reforms’, rigged BN electoral system and BN ‘transformations’ that turn out to be just more of the same old BN transfornications.

Tune-in to the BN show-trials of opposition leaders, and selected scapegoats in BN scandals where ‘justice’ has to be seen to be done by a hand-picked BN judiciary.

Sit through years of fraudulent BN ‘inquests’ and ‘royal commissions’ that eventually end but never come to any actual, actionable conclusions.

See, hear and read all the exciting, sordid details of BN allegations against its critics and opponents, and thrill to the thunderous silence about BN crimes and misdeeds in the BN-biased ‘news’ media.

Chorus of sectarian discord

Feel the peace, love and harmony of a BN-united 1Malaysia, and never mind the dreadful din of the BN-conducted chorus of racial and sectarian discord.

Barisan Nasional is no doubt a front for many more evils than those I’ve identified among those that BN stands for.

But I’m right on deadline for this column, so I haven’t much time to come up with any others. In any case, despite my ownership of the dictionary I mentioned up front, I’ve pretty well exhausted my store of BN-appropriate Malay words.

Or to put this another way, I’m monolingual or what I guess you could call homotextual in English, unlike many of you readers in Malaysia who, ‘homo’ being a no-no, are pretty well all heterolingual or even heteroliterate and thus far better-equipped to come up with some more ideas.

But whatever language we all manage to communicate in, I’m sure that the vast majority of us are on the same page when it comes to BN.

Only a 1Malaysiac, 1Malaysiaccomplice or 1Malaysiaccessory would stand for another minute of Barisan, Basiran, Barahsan, Barinsane, Borosan, Barisandiwara or any other kind of Nasional anyone can think of that BN stands for.

With the notable exception, of course, of the words that those of us who can’t stand BN for another minute would love to see come true: Burysan Nasional.

-------

DEAN JOHNS, after many years in Asia, currently lives with his Malaysian-born wife and daughter in Sydney, where he coaches and mentors writers and authors and practises as a writing therapist. Published books of his columns for Malaysiakini include Mad about Malaysia, Even Madder about Malaysia, Missing Malaysia and 1Malaysia.con.

[First posted 15 March 2012, reposted 3 December 2013]

The dreadful Umno sindrome (revisited yet again!)

What exactly is this fatal disease called the dreadful Umno sindrome (sic)? Is it contagious? How do we protect our children from it?

First the bad news: none of us is free from infection, because the dreadful Umno sindrome virus has been an integral part of the human gene pool for literally thousands of generations. Indeed, we may well have inherited it from our Makers, the Anunnaki “creator gods” who, according to recent interpretations of the Sumerian clay tablets, colonized the earth several hundred millennia ago. Of course, the disease wasn’t known as “the dreadful Umno sindrome” back then…

Back then it wasn’t even recognized as a disease.

Back then it was regarded as a survival program. It went by many other names: for instance, the competitive urge, the will to dominate, insatiable greed for power, or Us versus Them.

Today the disease manifests in many facets of human behavior: Domination and Submission – Master and Slave – Predator and Prey.


Deliberately maintaining a vast pool of subordinate humans to power the relentless juggernaut of illusory progress is another symptom of the dreadful Umno sindrome.

Those at the top of the food chain feed vampire-like off the suffering of the semi-conscious masses. Generation after generation. Stealing energy from a mentally shackled human population - unable to generate their own, devoid of creativity and totally incapable of originality.


It is undoubtedly a virulent form of parasitism. Leeches, Inc. Bloodsuckers & Tapeworms, advocates & solicitors. The dreadful Umno sindrome creates a shadowy, unwholesome power structure founded on deceit, hypocrisy, and violence.

There is a negative aspect of individuation which makes each of us unique – but at the same time isolates and traps us within our cultural, linguistic, and conceptual cocoons - or coconut shells, if you happen to be a local. In effect, the “skin-encapsulated ego” articulated by Alan Watts; the narrowest and most limited definition of Self. Everything outside my skin is not me – and therefore whatever I do to it or however I relate to it doesn’t impact upon me... so who gives a fuck?

The artificial boundary of skin is subsequently extended to include those of similar color - and whose manner of speech and daily behavior is most akin to our own.

Individuals with the strongest egos are the ones most susceptible to the dreadful Umno sindrome. Many rise to political prominence either by choosing to incarnate through royal bloodlines – or by brutally and ruthlessly seizing power. Thus was established the template of lord-and-ladyship, the habitual exercise of unquestionable power over others – at first by brute force, later via mass mind control.

Under the nefarious influence of the dreadful Umno sindrome, ordinary folks yearn to acquire the superficial trappings of power – big houses, big cars (the bigger the better), security guards, servants, personal cosmeticians and public relations consultants. They begin leading hypocritical, schizophrenic lives wherein the divide between their private and public personae eventually turns them into Dr Jekylls and Mr Hydes (or Smeagols and Gollums).

In effect, their public selves will reflexively deny whatever their private selves crave.

This perpetual conflict between inner and outer selves projects itself outwardly into a greater duality wherein the Devil is pitted against God in eternal competition. In Arabic and Hebrew the word shaitan means “opponent.”

Satan is whomsoever you’re competing or warring with.

Ultimately, the only enemy you face is your own dark side.

And now for the good news: the dreadful Umno syndrome is really just an atavistic, outdated survival program that can quite easily be deleted or uninstalled from our neural circuitry and deep psyches.

Indeed, detecting this viral program within our own operating systems and consciously deactivating it is the only way humanity will finally be free from its compelling dictates.

We’ve heard it said that people get the government they deserve. If you examine all the negative traits in a political entity like Umno and then take a long, honest look at the hidden agendas that drive us – you’ll see that the potential to be arrogant, greedy, deceitful, hypocritical, envious, devious, acquisitive, exploitative, and totally self-centered is actually latent in each of us.

That’s why it’s so easy to fear and loathe Umno – because it unabashedly embodies all the bad habits and shortcomings we detest in ourselves. Even if we succeed in reducing Umno to a puny, rapidly fading political opposition, we are still in danger of succumbing to the cancerous effects of the dreadful Umno sindrome virus hardwired in our DNA over countless generations.


So please take heed, ladies and gentlemen. If you wish to see honesty and openness in government, the only way is to become honest and open ourselves.

If you insist that your leaders be accountable and transparent, make sure that you yourself are equally accountable and transparent.

If you detest bribery, coercion and the use of crude force in modifying public behavior – then you must ensure that you yourself transcend the urge to manipulate others by corrupting or threatening them.

If you’re tired of being treated like a retarded child by the authorities, then quit treating your own retarded child like a retarded child. Instead, acknowledge that he or she is wired differently, that’s all, and cease to project your expectations on others.

This is how we can free ourselves from the dreadful Umno sindrome without having to poke our nose into politics.

Nevertheless, given an opportunity to vote, use that prerogative wisely against all known carriers of the dreadful Umno sindrome by kicking out the irredeemably rotten Barisan Nazional.

Let’s celebrate the dawn of a new era of enlightenment, compassion and wisdom in our public as well as private lives!


[First published 4 April 2010, reposted 12 May 2014]

Statement on the Selangor Dam (revisited)

TECHNOLOGY WILL NOT SOLVE OUR PROBLEMS. ONLY HUMILITY AND TRUTHFULNESS WILL DO THE TRICK.

Selangor River rapids (Antares)

I issue this statement on my own behalf, and not as a representative of any group or organization. I am resolutely against any attempt to solve our serious environmental problems - of which recurring smog and water shortages (despite worsening floods) are merely symptoms - through heavy-handed bureaucratic schemes and club-footed technological ploys.

Never mind the goddam EIA. These multi-million-ringgit "professional" reports are a wordscreen for a lot of nasty unspeakable projects that I prophesy will soon be totally banned from this precious planet, as more and more of us awaken to the terrible truth.

What an EIA does is to soften the crushing impact of reckless "development" projects. The EIA is very much like an inventory of potential damage caused by warfare: you might lose a few toes, half your brain, most of your vision, your hearing, your sanity, etc - BUT if you follow certain SAFETY PRECAUTIONS, you might escape with only half the above injuries!

The point is: WE DON'T WANT TO GO TO WAR AT ALL! What industrialization has done to the environment is essentially a declaration of war against natural beauty and simple, honest values. That way lies a dead-end future of merciless grey grimness unfit for organic lifeforms, only state-owned androids.

Building yet another colossal dam to feed our insatiable appetite for "growth" is definitely a sign of derangement. We have been forcefed - and a few have greedily swallowed - Mahathir's "vision" of unfettered industrial development and economic expansion. But how many have dared to publicly question the sanity or wisdom of this management policy? And when a few voices in the wilderness cried out in warning, were they heeded or even heard amidst the clamor of the stock exchange and the growing traffic jams?

When water catchment areas have been rudely denuded and despoiled, and hills carved up for high-rise housing, do we expect to live happily after on this earth? Surely Mother Earth will seek ways in which she can rid herself of this terrible infestation called humanity, surely she will find ways to alert us to the grave errors of our perception, so that we can return to a loving, cherishing relationship with her (instead of exploiting her and robbing her of resources meant for all living things, and seeing her beauty as no more than booty for our taking).

KL flash flood, March 2009 (Ahmad Asmadi/The Star)

My friends, the inclement weather changes - wet months getting wetter and hot months getting hotter and cold countries getting colder - are part of the phenomenon called Global Warming. It is largely caused by human insensitivity to the miraculous spectrum of life that constitutes our biosphere. "Modern Man" suffers from acute anthropocentrism - a viewpoint focused exclusively on human need and greed - and acute anthropocentrism will eventually destroy the whole earth. Our needs are amply provided for by Mother Nature, as the wise ones say, but not our greed.

So our recent plague of environmental problems is basically an indicator of our excesses. To further abuse and exploit the environment certainly will not help - no matter how clever or inventive or EXPENSIVE the technology may be.

What will help is to reassess our management policies and national aspirations with complete truthfulness. We would immediately recognize that we have reached the point where national ego pride could ruin us and genuine humility just might save us.

Humility means acknowledging how little we know about the universe; and humility comes from realizing that nature's beauty and mystery are worth infinitely more than our perverse obsession with illusory fame and fortune.

Being able to breathe clean, fresh air and admire the distant hills every day may not get us into the Guinness Book of World Records or the Who's Who of the Banana Republics- but it will certainly get us closer to regaining heaven on earth.

Road to Heaven by Emily Mueller

So stop midway through this frantic and futile feast of fools and look up at the ethereal clouds in the sky, and remember why we chose to be born on this exquisite and unique gem of a planet. Was it to puff ourselves up with toadish pompousness and amass a hoard of dragon's gold we could never bequeath to our grandchildren? Because our grandchildren would be too busy turning into cockroaches, rats, and other lifeforms that can survive or even thrive in ugly and polluted environments.

Or did we come here to experience the separation of matter from spirit, and to learn how they can be harmoniously fused again? For this lesson would teach us that the outer reflects the inner. Where there is drought in the external reality, it means our souls are parched of feelings, love has dried up. Where there are landslides and flash floods, it means our integrity is decaying and our emotions are murky and raging out of control, bursting the banks of tranquility. And where the air is thick with greasy crud and black with factory soot, it means our thoughts are indecent (i.e., mechanical, pornographic) and our spirit is exhausted.

These are not - as an official propagandist might have you believe - the essential hallmarks of progress, the few broken eggs of omelette-making. Material comfort and spiritual distress are not the sine qua non of success. If truth be told, these are the unmistakable symptoms of acute mismanagement pulling the wool over the eyes of - or, rather, shearing the wool off - a woefully disinformed and misguided citizenry.

Don't be fooled or bullied by businessmen and politicians into believing that ideals and principles are for lily-livered dreamers and bleeding-hearts. Ideals and principles are our navigational beacons through the foggy night of never-knowing-for-sure. Businessmen and politicians prefer to bandy about FACTS and FIGURES. They call it being REALISTIC, being PRACTICAL, being LOGICAL, being RATIONAL.  "Hey, don't be so emotional," they're fond of admonishing individuals like me.

Well, my friends, if you think the world is run by walruses and carpenters... oops, I mean, busynessmen and appalliticians... and there isn't much you and I can do to change the situation - you're dead wrong! In the first place, they are not running the world - they're RUINING it! And in the second place, every bit of POWER they appear to wield they STOLE from YOU.

Now, to reclaim your POWER - and your FUTURE - and your SENSE OF MEANING and PURPOSE - all you have to do is stand your ground and say: NO WAY! YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BUILD ANOTHER STUPID BLOODY DAM JUST TO COVER UP YOUR INCOMPETENCE, YOUR INEFFICIENCY AND YOUR INBRED CORRUPTION. YOU ARE GOING TO START LISTENING TO THOSE WHO CAN STILL TALK STRAIGHT - INSTEAD OF THROWING THEM ALL IN JAIL! - AND CARRY OUT THE TRUE WISHES OF WE THE PEOPLE.

We no longer desire to be permanent debt-slaves of an inaccessible power elite ("Boss ada meeting!"). We shall no longer pick up the bill for your deadly sins. We are prepared to give you ONE LAST CHANCE to admit your mistakes (go on, say "Sorry lah!" just once with feeling) and then call for suggestions from the public as to what needs to be done about everything: our air, our water, our legal system, our police force, our news media, our housing policy, our hideous track record of moral duplicity, and our utter contempt for truth, never mind the environment!

I'm absolutely sure the very first suggestion will be: DO AWAY WITH OBSOLETE LAWS FROM THE DARK AGES LIKE THE ISA AND THE OSA. Then we can feel free at last to discuss decent, intelligent, eco-friendly and non-destructive ways to resolve our problems without being harassed by zomboid goons.

In fact, you may find we actually have very few problems in this country. I'd venture that they can all fit into a single courtroom and be tried for conspiracy to befuddle and bamboozle the public! And the most fitting "punishment" would be for the entire cabinet to live for two whole years in an Orang Asli village on RM500 a month. They will each be issued a 20-year-old 80 c.c. motorbike - and no petrol allowance.

The Orang Asli, of course, will be paid ministers' salaries during the exchange period to make up for the inconvenience of having to teach a bunch of back-biting batik-shirted baboons the basics of honest living.*

Antares

Magick River

6 March 1999

*Twelve years have elapsed since I wrote this. Regrettably, I have had to revise my earlier, overly romantic view of the Orang Asli and their role as guardians of "indigenous wisdom." This may have been true of past generations, raised on grandmothers' stories instead of low-grade TV. However, the new generation of Orang Asli - and I refer specifically to the Temuan of Ulu Selangor - are hardly in a position to teach anybody "the basics of honest living." Indeed, I'm inclined to think only a tiny handful these days have any grasp of the notion of honesty. The rot from Putrajaya has spread all the way down to the roots. To rehabilitate BN ministers we will probably have to outsource the contract!

[First posted 6 November 2011]

Evil Days Ahead! (reprise)

Sauron rules in Malaysia with his Inflamed Anus,

secret weapon against The Rakyat!

Portrait of an Umno supreme warlord

(in his bulletproof underwear)

Where the Judge is also the Executioner...

and awaits Orders from Above

Once they were men with human souls, but these 9 kings were seduced by Sauron's
Ring of Power... and they became the Ringwraiths, the Living Dead...

The Chief Prosecutor at Anwar's trial on a good hair day

Evil reigns triumphant in Sauronjaya...

but for how long more?

Judge says Saiful a ‘credible, truthful’ witness

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal

May 16, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, May 16 — There is a prima facie case in Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy charge as the accuser Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan is a credible witness, trial judge Datuk Mohd Zabidin Mohd Diah has ruled.

The High Court judge, in his decision today, quashed the defence team’s arguments in attacking Saiful’s credibility as the case’s star witness.

They had charged that Saiful had lied in open court, and charged that there were many loopholes in his testimony.

Mohd Zabidin had also decided that there was nothing “inconsistent” with the clinical findings by the doctors from Hospital Kuala Lumput (HKL) as well as government chemists who had taken DNA samples from Saiful and Anwar.

This is despite the defence’s repeated claims of possible contamination and degradation of material evidence by investigating officer ASP Jude Pereira.

“I found PW1 to be a credible witness, his evidence reliable.

[Read the rest of this sordid report here.]

A very dirty and very dangerous game!

[First posted 16 May 2011]

The Remarkable Anwar Ibrahim ~ by Gwo-Burne Loh (repost)

Just think about it: Mahathir, the financial might of UMNO, the entire cabinet, the Police, MACC, the Judiciary (or at least a large part of it), Election Commission, top civil servants, you can say the whole weight of the government has been going all out to find some evidence of wrongdoing (be it Sodomy 1 or 2, sex tapes, and maybe more to come) for the last 16 long years and yet to date, not one credible shred of evidence has been found or revealed. What does this mean? 

Anwar is not the man Mahathir tries to paint him to be. Think about it: Mahathir is so rich (with access to tens of billions), so powerful, so cunning, evil and sly, so clever and resourceful - and with all that power and money of the whole government and UMNO plus the BN partners ever willing to do his bidding - he could prove nothing against Anwar. What an anti-climax. Every plot to destroy Anwar Ibrahim has fallen completely flat or backfired - and he still cannot understand why. In plain English, Mahathir's time is up. The Mahathir Era is over. Let a fresh new dawn begin for all us!

Press Release issued by Kelana Jaya MP Gwo-Burne Loh 

on 9 January 2012 in Petaling Jaya

Saeed Khan (AFP/Getty Images)

The Remarkable Anwar Ibrahim

This is not an article about Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy trial. But in case anyone is interested to hear my two-cents worth on the trial, I have two questions. How many people do we know who have actually been charged with sodomy? And do you think Dato Seri Anwar would be charged if he were not an opposition leader?

My answers are: 1 and NO.



Furthermore, those paying attention during the VK Lingam video would have heard Anwar’s case being mentioned. What does it mean? It means the BN government would go to great lengths to ascertain that Anwar be put behind bars until his political career expires, if not for his entire lifetime. On that fateful day Lingam revealed to my father and myself that Mahathir and his political cronies had planned an UMNO-led coalition be cemented in power as long as time could be projected, and in the name of Malaysian prosperity and peace, Anwar must be destroyed.



In this conspiracy all sectors of government - including the civil service, judiciary, and police - would be under their direct or indirect control and influence. The reach of this conspiracy even extends into the private sector. The financial system in the country would be manned by trusted cronies; Petronas and its agents guarded by friends and family; the private power suppliers, utilities, media, trading companies... precious little was spared.

One man stood to threaten the conspiracy, so he had to be destroyed. And what will happen on the 9th of January? I think all the cards are with the conspirators. If recent trends are any indication, then I think Anwar will be found not guilty, to buy some goodwill. Instead the grounds of execution will be moved to the court of Appeal (probably only after the elections). But all the cards are with the conspirators, we can only wait.

With that out of the way, I want to talk about one of the most remarkable humans I have had the pleasure to encounter and spend time with. He is my boss, but I will try to be objective. So let’s make it clear that Anwar is by no means perfect, only Umno Barisan Nasional is perfect and does no wrong, so Anwar from time to time makes mistakes. The important thing is that he admits it.

The Inspirational 

The first time I met Anwar Ibrahim was about 4 years ago together with my father. I was never an Anwar fan; also I am a skeptic by nature, making me someone quite difficult to convince. I had lost all hope for Malaysia, and like many Malaysians, had decided to move abroad. I was in a very good place in my life. Anwar struck me with his warmth and modesty. He spoke at length on his beliefs and his political vision for Malaysia. He spoke about his views regarding race relations and international relations of Malaysia. He spoke at length about his mistakes and what he learnt during his ordeals. When I left the meeting, I left with a change of heart. I left the meeting loving Malaysia more.

For the first time in my life I felt hope for Malaysia . I realised that there is something worth fighting for. Suddenly I started to see everyone as Malaysians instead of just Malay, Indian, Chinese, Dayak, etc. I was inspired to see hope for our nation and its people...

Anwar inspires. Anwar inspired with his sincerity and conviction. Anwar inspired with his vision. And directly and indirectly millions were inspired. Just five years ago, who would have believed that our nation was standing on the verge of change? Who would believe that the mighty UMNO would need to start listening to the rakyat?

Of course Anwar was not the only source of inspiration. But at a time where some tremble at the sight of the moon on a green flag, and others who hurl insults at the sight of a rocket. He, more than anyone else, was the glue to bind us all together. He, more than anyone else, led us to each other; and today, together, we stand at the brink of a regime change in Malaysia. Without Anwar, how many would have believed we would have even got this far?

The Resilient

The remarkable thing about the survey which registered that 51% like Najib Razak, while 39% likes Anwar is this: a friend commented that PR should be worried since Najib apparently was more popular than Anwar, but I offered a reversed conclusion that it is BN who should be concerned. Why? Simple. For four years you have all the kings’ horses and men, all the newspapers, radio, cybertroopers attack one man. You went so far as to dig out the old play book and charge him with sodomy. You even have a crony get his own brother to impersonate this man in a porno production.

All this while, the mainstream media treat every day as "deify our prime minister day." Even going as far as to issue official national sermons for Friday prayers telling all good Muslims to offer undivided loyalty and obedience to our great Prime Minister and friends. After four years of this and you find you are only 10% ahead, wouldn't you be worried?

In other words we need to appreciate one thing. Anwar is extremely resilient. Anyone else subjected to this intensity of abuse would have thrown in the towel long ago, anyone else would have fallen ages ago. Yet, Anwar still stands tall and strong.

In fact through the waves of onslaughts directed at Anwar, I have never seen him visibly affected. Except during Zahrain’s fallout. For the first time I could see Anwar visibly sad, more from the lost of an old friend I sensed. Despite the unrelenting assaults, which would have crippled entire armies, Anwar still stands tall and strong. "This is because of the hard work and support from all of you," he would say. But, in truth, we are the ones who should be thankful.

Not only because he continues to give us hope and inspiration, he also provides us shelter and protection. Imagine if there is no Anwar to draw the waves and waves of onslaught by the powers that be. Imagine if all the PR leaders and YBs are subjected to what Anwar has to face every day, how many more of us would have fallen? How many more would have thrown in the towel? He stood there and drew most of the heat upon himself, so the rest of us can collectively work towards the goal of a better nation.

The Remarkable

Sometimes a nation produces a person who is destined to shine not only within their nation, but on the international stage as well. Someone that will make our nation shine that much more brightly (Some might try, some might imitate, but you can’t pretend to be Princess Diana). We in Malaysia are fortunate to have produced such a remarkable person. But it is also unfortunate that we choose to allow him to be shackled and weighed down.

Or should I say that it is unfortunate that so many of us decide to stand by and allow him to be shackled. But, remarkably, Anwar remains firm with his love of Malaysia and its people; remains determined to spend his life and blood in building the nation into the great nation we know we can become. He believes we can, I believe we need to. Today our nation remains rooted, unable to break free from being decidedly mediocre, but the truth is, we are mediocre by choice rather than due to any disability.

Gwo-Burne Loh

Kelana Jaya MP

To a large extent this is where our government has decided is the best place to be. And for 55 years there was nothing the people could do about it. In a way we chose where we wanted to be.

When the BN government was bulldozing the so called "peaceful" assembly bill through parliament, in spite of the widespread objections from the people, a BN YB said that the Barisan Nasional is passing this bill with the mandate of the people and if you don't like it then take over the government in the next elections, if you can.

The Remarkable Mr. Anwar Ibrahim says we can. Do you hear him?



[First posted 3 June 2012]

DEMOCRACY: Elect your own dictator! (repost)

Democracy and the power of the mind
By Stanley Koh

Why do Malaysians continue to support a government that has been abusing its power for so long that its credibility has become thinner than toilet paper?

Are Malaysians really too naive, gullible or blind to see that it is their failed collective political will that is the stumbling block to any real national progress?

One may of course argue that there is no such thing as a perfect government, that Utopias exist only the minds of idealists and romantics, or that the human mind, as played out in the real-world political arena, is far from being plain, perfect or even honest.

Cynics say we deserve the government we elect. But Barisan Nasional apologists tell us to look into what they vaguely refer to as “the statistics,” as if to say that these would show BN’s legitimacy as the ruling coalition in Malaysia.

Still, does it make sense that in 2008 only 4.08 million of 7.94 million voters chose BN to rule over a population of some 27 million? Is it fair for a minority to determine the future of the majority or the nation’s destiny?

The sad truth about the Malaysian majority is that its collective mindset is so passive—some would say deformed—that it does not seem interested in bringing about the revolutionary changes our nation needs for its betterment.

General elections reveal another shortcoming of the collective Malaysian mindset: it lacks focus on national issues. Most of us are foolish, naïve, apathetic and gullible, distracted by side issues thrown at us by power players.

Nevertheless, our national consciousness continues to be shaped by recent political trends and the increasingly strident voices of public interest organizations against the BN regime’s excessive control over civil society and its undemocratic tactics in undermining the opposition coalition.

Is the BN a good and credible government?



Most ignore the regime’s propensity to depend on draconian measures against political opponents: the Internal Security Act, the Sedition Act, the Printing Presses and Publication Act, the ban on rallies and a host of other instruments of power abuse.

[Read the rest here.]

[First posted 5 May 2010]

Bukit Merah Catastrophe Revisited (a pictorial essay)

Asian Rare Earth Sdn Bhd - a joint venture involving Mitsubishi Chemical Industries Ltd (35%), Beh Minerals (35%), Lembaga Urusan dan Tabung Haji or the state-owned Pilgrims' Management Fund Board (20%) and other bumiputra businessmen (10%) - began operations in 1982 soon after Mahathir Mohamad became prime minister. It took the residents of Bukit Merah more than 10 years of unrelenting struggle to get this lethally hazardous operation shut down. In the process, community leaders at the forefront of the protest against ARE were even arrested and detained under the obnoxious ISA by order of the vindictive home minister, Mahathir Mohamad...

CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS 

IN THE ASIAN RARE EARTH DEBACLE

And now, under the nefarious Najib Razak, history is about to repeat itself...

unless we topple this lethally hazardous, ecocidal and utterly corrupt BN regime!

[First posted 3 March 2012]