A PRAYER FOR THE LAND I LOVE (reprise)

Dear God or Whatever You Prefer To Be Called These Days:

I'm not in the habit of publicizing my private thoughts,

But times are such that habits must be broken.

And so I will utter my innermost feelings

In the form of words,

Even though I know

That words are what imprison us

In mindsets of No Escape.

For I remain steadfast in my belief

That words spoken from the heart

Have the power to free us from

The evil clutches of political expediency.

It saddens me to see such beautiful, graceful beings

Caught in the deceit of cosmetic piety,

Enslaved by the ugly dictum - "Money Talks!"

Enfeebled by the lame excuse - "What to do?"

Disempowered by the abject fear of False Authority,

And disenfranchised from their own glorious destinies.

Grant unto us the clarity and wisdom

To understand that we have no grander gift

To bestow on our children than the freedom

To speak their heart's truth

Without fear of punishment.

Grant unto us the courage and the fortitude

To truly embody the lofty ideals we hold so dear;

Let us not falter in our inner struggle

To throw off the mental shackles of Greed and Fear,

For those are the twin towers of Tyranny.

Grant unto us a Vision of the Real.

Let us not be misled by cunning projections

From the debased minds of "economic experts"

Who advise us not to "rock the boat" of Status Quo;

And whose dire warnings are couched in grave tones of

"Security and Stability."

Remember: INTEGRITY

Is the key to the Divine Sanctum of the Self!

And since each Nation is but a collectivity of Selves,

My greatest duty to the land I love

Is to always seek to be true to myself;

And my true self tells me:

Bear not the yoke of feudal despots

A moment longer than you need.

There's room and board enough for everyone,

Once you cast the Vampires of Vitality

From their vacuous palaces erected by the sweaty toil

Of half-wit slaves, who know not half their worth.

This beautiful, gracious land is YOURS -

Not THEIRS! (Well, it COULD be theirs too,

If they'd only see themselves as YOU).

The Reality of Heaven on Earth will soon be here,

And to that we are ALL heirs.

Antares

24 October 1998

[First published 26 August 2008. Cartoons courtesy of LAT. Reposted 3 July 2011, 29 October 2015 & 27 August 2020]

Fuck Corporate Greed! Reclaim Your Destiny!

In solidarity with the politically awakened people who are occupying Wall Street and telling rapacious corporations (and their corrupt cronies in government) their time is almost over.



A former CIA agent blows the whistle on the trillion-dollar scam called "national security."

Enough of Big Brother's Heavy Hand!

These superb photographs were found on Totally Cool Pix...

Rebellion has flared up across the Middle East, starting with the massive uprising in Tunisia that forced President Ben Ali and his family to flee in disgrace.

None of this street violence would have been necessary if only the ruling elites had heeded the warning signs and reined in their ego excesses, their insatiable appetites and misguided worldviews. Like a father who collapses of heart failure because he no longer has power over his own grown-up children, all corrupt and oppressive feudal-style governments on this earth will inevitably collapse.

People of Malaysia, unless we effectively vote BN out at GE13, these scenes of street violence are almost certain to happen here. We have suffered four decades of hypocritical authoritarian misrule - first under Razak Hussein, then Mahathir Mohamad, followed by the spineless Abdullah Badawi and now, the most despicable of all... Rosmah Mansor's chubby hubby, the infamous Mr Pink Lips.

Rosmah and Najib have so much in common with the Ceaucescus of Romania, the Marcoses of the Philippines, the Taib Mahmud clan of Sarawak, and the Ben Ali family of Tunisia....



Change is always scary, folks - but no change at all is a million times worse!

Too Expensive To Blog From A Cybercafe (But How To Stop?)

I've been at this dimly lit cybercafe for the last two hours, catching up on the local news through Malaysiakini and Malaysia Today. Never a dull moment. Anwar released after being subject to major harassment, indignity and extreme discomfort. RPK roped in, only to be released on bail within a couple of hours. Now I can leave the cybercafe with a much lighter heart. For the last 48 hours I have endured genuine anxiety on behalf of Anwar and RPK. I care deeply about the well-being and freedom of these two national heroes who are doing what I myself would gladly do if I had chosen the political path. The bullshit they go through for our sake and that of our posterity may seem mild compared with what others have been subjected to in countries like Cambodia, Burma, Zimbabwe, Palestine, Chile, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Nonetheless, I thank such public figures every single day for their heroic acts, because they keep the idea of freedom, justice and truth alive even through the darkest night of authoritarian misrule. I know we must be thankful that Malaysia is relatively less violent than some countries where political dissidents face arrest, torture and summary execution by hooded death squads. But why can't we compare ourselves with countries like New Zealand, Australia and Norway instead?

Anyway, July 16 will remain embedded in my memory as among the darkest days in recent memory. The totally unwarranted and unjustifiable arrest of Anwar Ibrahim came close to shattering all my hopes of a peaceful transition for Malaysia from the stinky and stupid BN era to a new political dawn with Pakatan Rakyat administering the country. The sheer insanity of a country that sends a UTK (Special Action Unit) team out in terrorist-style balaclavas and a convoy of police vehicles to nab a guy whose only crime is that he has set his sights on the nation's top post! Come on, let's grow up, people.


Only a not-happening no-hoper like Mukhriz Mahathir would stand up in Parliament and foam at the mouth like Shabery Cheek about "unnatural sex acts" - as though there are no worse crimes that occur at any given moment. In the first place, whoever labeled anal and oral sex as "punishable crimes" requires immediate psychological counseling and deep emotional therapy. Rape is a no-no, that's for sure - but that Saiful fella certainly didn't look like somebody who had just been repeatedly raped when he smiled for the press photographers soon after lodging a police report against Anwar. Indeed, he looked like some dimwit kid who can't get over the fact that he has become an overnight sensation across the nation and that thousands were Googling his name and even visiting his girlfriend's inane blog.

The prime cause of BN's inevitable downfall may well prove to be a 28-year-old Mongolian beauty who found herself in extremely bad company and got blown up trying to collect her rightful share of ill-gotten gains. No matter how many formal denials issue from the pink lips of Najib Razak or his reprehensible spouse Rosmah Mansor, ugly rumors will persist until the murder case is finally resolved to the public's satisfaction. And the only way that can happen is for the DPM to take temporary leave and allow himself and his wife to be summoned to court as key witnesses.

Anwar Ibrahim @ Shah Alam, 1st July 2008

I wish to record my sincere appreciation to the dynamic team at MediaRakyat for uploading Anwar Ibrahim's full speech at the Shah Alam stadium on YouTube within a matter of hours. Now Malaysians around the world can hear what the man has to say... and decide for themselves whether they still prefer the Devil They Know!

ANWAR: Ceramah @ Shah Alam (1 July 2008) PART 1


PART 2


PART 3


PART 4


PART 5


[Courtesy of MediaRakyat]