Dean Johns on Sodomy, Godomy and Bodohmy in Malaysia (10th anniversary repost)

Cloned from Malaysiakini for the benefit of those too poor or too cheap to subscribe, this is another hard-hitting, lethally spot-on & punishingly funny broadside from political columnist Dean Johns, published 31 October 2014.

Sodomy, godomy and bodohmy

Oh me, oh my. As you can plainly see from the title of this, my 384th piece on the perfidy of the BN regime, I’m finding it increasingly tough to find or even fabricate appropriate words to decry and deride the activities of this cabal of despicable crooks.

Because just as they seem to have gone as low as it’s possible to go, they sink to depths that are even more difficult than ever to credit or describe. Stopping at absolutely nothing in their project to pervert every possible aspect of Malaysian life, from truth and justice to religion, reason and human intelligence itself, for the sole purpose of perpetuating their monopoly on power and plunder.

As is most painfully evident right this minute in the latest episode of their persecution of Anwar Ibrahim on endless, plainly trumped-up charges of sodomy. Never mind that you’d have to be totally sodumbnised to believe that the whole thing is not yet another criminal conspiracy by this incurably crooked regime.

All the tainted serological evidence and perjured testimony aside, the fact alleged ‘victim’ Saiful Bukhari Azlan not only allegedly had a suspicious tryst with the inspector-general of police in a hotel, but also then-deputy prime minister Najib Abdul Razak at his residence, just days before he reported the so-called ‘crime’, is clear evidence of conspiratorial collusion.

Especially in light of Najib’s initial denial that he had met Saiful, and later his lame admission that indeed he had met him, but that the meeting had been for the purpose of discussing the possibility of a “scholarship”.

“Scholarship” in this case being a euphemism for bribe, no doubt, as years later it seems that Saiful is living comfortably if not outright luxuriously despite having long had no apparent employment or other legitimate means of support.

And while we’re on the subject of fake scholarships, it appears that the regime has showered similar if somewhat less largesse on a group of craven creatures prepared to wear T-shirts and wave signs, all suspiciously professionally printed, no doubt at public expense, proclaiming their desire for justice, not for Anwar, but for Saiful.

Meanwhile, BN’s ever-compliant ‘religious’ authorities keep colluding in the regime’s sodomisation of the Malaysian people by every possible means from murder and massive theft and bodohmisation of the populace by lying ‘news’ media and a dismally dumbed-down ‘education’ system with a programme of godomisation that gets more ridiculously outrageous by the day.

With the self-styled holier-than-thou posing as ‘protectors’ and ‘defenders’ of Islam at every possible opportunity, as in perennial attempts to refuse Christians the right to use the generic Arab term for God, ‘Allah’, and threatening to burn Bibles that offend the ‘sensitivities’ of the ‘faithful’.

And these godomists also go so far as to try and ban the celebration of such allegedly ‘un-Islamic’ celebrations as Oktoberfest, St Valentine’s Day and, as most topical today as I write this column, Halloween.

Every day memorialises a deity

Little aware, apparently, that, in the English language at least, every day memorialises a pre-Islamic, pre-Christian, indeed outright pagan deity: Sunday the ancient sun god; Monday the goddess of the moon; Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the old Scandinavian gods Tiw, Odin, Thor and goddess of love, Fria; and Saturday recalls Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture.

In other words, in English and doubtless many other ‘Western’ tongues, every day of the week is arguably as potentially sodomising of the alleged sensibilities and sensitivities of BN’s tame godomists as the regime’s ‘unsolved’ murders, massive thefts and sundry other sodomies on Malaysian society are to the majority of us.

Yet BN spokespersons still have the unmitigated gall to claim that they are on the side of justice, fair play and social harmony, as in Sports and Youth Minister Khairy Jamaluddin’s recent attempt to rebut Anwar Ibrahim’s claim that his sodomy appeal is a “litmus test for the government" by claiming that it is “Anwar and not Putrajaya that is on trial”.

“The government did not force Anwar to do what he is accused of on Saiful,” Khairy declared, thus begging the burning question as to whether the government made the whole thing up, “so why make it a trial about the government’s credibility?”

As one of the world’s least evidently successful and thus also least credible ministers of sports, surely it’s time for Khairy to realise that the majority of us are not so godomised or bodohmised as to believe a word that he or anyone else in the rotten BN regime says about anything.

And that we’re also very well aware that if the government is not on trial, it surely should and someday will be. For a catalogue of crimes so enormous that it would take a column far longer than this to list them all.

From the sodomy of Malaysian society by Abdul Razak Hussein, second prime minister and father of the current incumbent, by his alleged fomenting of the May 13 1969 riots, through the shafting of the judiciary in the 1980s by Dr Mahathir Mohamad through all the countless extra-judicial killings and obscene financial killings by regime members and their cronies in all the years since, the list of indictable offences is endless.

Continuing unabated

Literally so, as they’re still continuing unabated through massive un-repaid ‘loans’ as in the notorious National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) fiasco, embezzlements as in the RM12-billion Port Klang Free Zone scandal, the vastly-overpriced new ‘low-cost’ KLIA2 airport and terminal, and currently both KL’s plunder-riddled MRT project and the so-called ‘sovereign wealth fund’ 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), and “losses” like that of MAS flight MH370.

Not to mention outright thefts like that of much of the timber from Sarawak by regime crony Abdul (‘The Termite’) Taib Mahmud, whose lawyers are currently threatening legal action against the publishers and distributors of the book Money Logging: On the Trail of the Asian Timber Mafia.

And as if to add insult to Taib’s sodomy of his state’s natural resources and the laws of the land, his shysters are predicting “substantial” damages due not only to the “extreme seriousness of the allegations,” but also “given the wealth of our client”.

This supremely arrogant attitude is not particular to Taib Mahmud, but characteristic of Malaysia’s entire ruling regime. And so, whatever the verdict this gang of crooks engineers for Anwar this time around, it will keep getting away with its sodomies on the country until enough honest citizens finally decide to stop taking it lying down, and revolt against BN-style godomy and bodohmy for once and for all.

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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, 1Malaysia.con and Malaysia Mania.

[First posted 1 November 2014]

BLACK EYES ALL AROUND (repost]

EX-CID BOSS CRIES 'BLACK-EYE' CONSPIRACY
Malaysiakini | 28 May 2009, 6:40pm

Former Kuala Lumpur CID chief Mat Zain Ibrahim, who was declared a bankrupt, has claimed that several 'powerful hidden hands' wanted to destroy his credibility.

And their reason for doing so - "to paralyse my capabilities and prevent me from giving evidence against Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail and Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan for fabricating evidence in the Anwar Ibrahim 'black-eye' case."

In a statement emailed to all media organisations today, Mat Zain said his friends and relatives were wondering why his case, which is a non-issue and not worthy of publication, was given tremendous prominence by the media.

The issue was reported in the media today.

"I was just a common retired senior assistant commissioner II who went on optional retirement some eight years ago. I am not a member of any political party and have no intentions of being one.

"Surely you too are curious to know the reasons why the news on me had to be played up as such," he said.

"No ordinary person can influence the entire media (radio and TV) to run this sort of news simultaneously. I say with certainty there are very powerful hidden hands that wanted it so," he added.

The former CID chief was the investigating officer of the black-eye incident, and pledged that the probe was done "professionally without fear or favour."

On July 7 last year, Anwar filed a police report accusing Gani, Musa and one Dr Abdul Rahman Yusof and Mat Zain of falsifying a medical report.

The matter was also investigated by the then Anti-Corruption Agency (now renamed Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency).

Commenting on the corruption watchdog's probe, Mat Zain said: "My detailed statement was recorded no less than five times by the investigating officer."

"I made full disclosure and provided the MACC with documentary evidence which I believe,was more than sufficient to proof criminal wrongdoings on the part of Gani in particular," he added.

MACC board clears Gani and Musa

On March 1 this year, MACC chief Ahmad Said Hamdan (left) announced that a three-member independent panel appointed by the solicitor-general to scrutinise the investigation papers had cleared Gani and Musa of any criminal wrongdoings

"Ten days later, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Aziz repeated that Gani and Musa are both cleared of any wrongdoings except with regards to Gani, where one of the panel members dissented, leaving Dr Rahman’s and my position in jeopardy," said Mat Zain.

"In view of this, on April 15, I submitted my appeal to the chairman of the advisory board of MACC and extended copies of the same to all committee members as well as to the chairmen of the other panels, including all members of the select committee to review the above findings.

"I provided the members with detailed arguments and attached supporting documentary evidence that I believe would be sufficient to proof that Gani and Musa were involved and/or abetted in the falsification of the medical reports on Anwar and that they should not have been cleared.

"I have yet to receive any response from the board but believe it is still under their consideration," he added.

On May 5, Mat Zain said he followed up on his appeal and extended copies to the solicitor-general as well as to the solicitor-general II.

"Once again, I provided them with arguments and submissions which I believe could show that Gani not only falsified one medical report as alleged by Anwar, but three, with Musa believed to be involved in at least two of them. I hope this too is being looked into seriously," he said.

Pak Lah was not told the entire truth

Mat Zain also believes that former premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was never told the truth or the entire facts concerning the case.

Should the truth have been told, the former police officer was certain that Abdullah would have taken the appropriate action.

As for his bankruptcy case, Mat Zain said the notice was issued on April 21, 2009 while the order was issued on May 14.

"Why was it only publicised yesterday?" he asked. "I have reason to believe that the notice was obtained about a week after I filed my appeal to the MACC board on April 15 after Anwar vowed that he would provide a tough defence in the sodomy charge against him fixed to be heard beginning July 1."

"I have reasons to believe that the prosecution team anticipated that Anwar would certainly raise at a certain point of his trial the issue of fabrication of evidence in the black-eye case. My evidence would be vital at this stage. Their only option was to destroy my credibility," he said.

Although conceding that the news about his bankruptcy would affect him and his family, Mat Zain however said that he took it as a blessing in disguise.

"It would only enhance my resolve to disclose the whole truth of the 'black-eye' episode. Believe me, that this is not the only case the duo (Gani and Musa) had their fingers in. There are others which are as sensational. The truth shall prevail," he added.

With regards to the bankruptcy matter, Mat Zain said he has instructed his lawyer to look into the matter which came as a surprise to him "especially when I was never served personally of any notice of the hearing."

[First posted 28 May 2009]

When The Shit Hits The Fan... (repost)

THE SHIT HAS HIT THE FAN!

Letter reveals top MACC man, politician collusion

K Kabilan
Aug 20, 09
1:49pm 

The mystery letter which emerged at the Teoh Beng Hock inquest yesterday is believed to contain claims connecting a top ranking MACC officer to the interrogation of the political aide, which could have led to his death. Believed to be written by a Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission insider, the letter alleged how the top officer and an influential politician (pictured left) had worked together to start investigations into alleged corrupt practises by Selangor's Pakatan Rakyat leaders. And it was on this understanding that Teoh was called up for questioning.

The unsigned letter, which carried the MACC official letterhead and written in Bahasa Malaysia, also stated the top officer's modus of interrogation - which involves pulling the suspects by the belt.

It further alleged that the top official was questioning Teoh on the day the DAP man was found dead. However the letter did not state on how Teoh died or if the officer was directly involved in his death.

Further claims made in the letter include:

• The officer did not punch out from work when he left Plaza Masalam where the Selangor MACC is located on that day. However, the letter stated the time of him leaving the office. This is important as it could show that this officer was the last person to have seen Teoh on that day, alleged the letter.

• The officer did not provide his DNA samples along with his other colleagues. He only gave a sample privately at a later day.

• That he ordered his officers to wipe clean the window from where Teoh had apparently fallen from.

• His alleged corrupt practices while investigating previous cases and that he is generally corrupt.

• He had helped close an investigation on the politician.

The letter also stated that the top officer had been serving in the state for a long time, well beyond the usual five-year term for high ranking officials.

The letter also claimed that he was living beyond his means by having several houses, a petrol station in Shah Alam and several plots of land, courtesy of the politician's goodwill.

 
He was also allegedly caught for khalwat with his junior officer at the Shah Alam lake early this year.
When contacted, the politician denied all the claims made in the letter and said he will be lodging a police report as soon as he is back from his overseas trip. The MACC officer could not be contacted.

Lawyers remain tight-lipped


Yesterday, lawyer Gobind Singh Deo submitted the letter to coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas, asking him to adjourn the inquest pending an investigation into the contents of the letter.

Gobind said that he was handed the letter by an individual on Tuesday evening.

Azmil, who agreed to instruct the police to probe the letter, had then urged all lawyers involved in the case not to reveal the details of the letter to anyone. However he had not ordered a gag order on the matter.

Lawyers involved in the matter when contacted by Malaysiakini today remained tight-lipped on the content of the letter.

However, it is learnt that the letter was also sent out to several other people since last week, including some members of parliament.

One MP who spoke to Malaysiakini said that he received the letter last week and confirmed the contents of the letter.

"Some big names were mentioned in the letter and the claims are massive. If they are true, some very big people from Selangor MACC and the political circle will have to pay the price," he said, requesting anonymity.

The MP also said that the letter appeared to be "an inside job from MACC".

He added that the letterhead used was from the MACC's headquarters in Putrajaya.

Teoh (left) was found dead, with his belt snapped, at the fifth floor landing of Plaza Masalam on July 16, a day after he was summoned by the MACC for questioning in regards to their probe into an alleged misappropriation of state allocation funds. He was questioned at the 14^th floor.

The inquest is being held to determine how he died. It will continue on Monday pending the investigation into the letter.

The letter has also been posted in the Internet at various sites, including in Malaysia Today.


Last man to see Teoh left building at 6.10am, court told

APPENDIX A

This intriguing comment was found in Dr Rafick's blogpost:

Inside sources. Hishamuddin and Khir Toyo were school mates, Khir being a year or two [older]. Of course Khir approved Hisham’s application for a plot of land in Shah Alam.

Hisham has [a] strong cable with Macc Hq notably with Ahmad Said, the Macc Chief and Ahmad Said in turn is a running boy of Nazri Aziz. For the first time in the history of the ACA/MACC, a Minister seems to be talking on behalf of MACC. It never happens bf as the ACA/MACC is supposed to be independent.

Khir with the help of Hisham and the blessing of the top leadership wanted to topple S’gor PR gov’t. Hisham can’t do it without the approval of the Selangor MACC Head. So Hisham instigated his Boss removal and Ahmad Said sent a weak officer, Jaafar Mahat to head the MACC.

Soon after, the blitz on the PR gov’t by Selangor MACC begins. Hisham was in full control with the approval of Ahmad Said, another corrupt ACA/MACC officer.

[First posted 20 August 2009, reposted 20 January 2020] 

Dean Johns does it yet again! You've GOT to read this one, folks...

The BNality of evil
Dean Johns | Malaysiakini | 27 May 2009

On this glorious autumn morning in Sydney, an absolute cliché of a perfect day, the air as clear as crystal and the sky a stunning blue.

By rights I should be revelling in the feeling that it’s great just to be alive. And I guess I am, in a physical sense.

But emotionally it’s another matter entirely, as with this column to write, I sit here cheerlessly confronting the cold eye of my computer screen and its mindlessly blinking cursor, struggling to strike a spark of inspiration from an uncooperative keyboard.

But I can hardly blame an innocent computer for the contrast between the brilliance of the day and the bleakness of my mood. In fact the fault is entirely my own.

Somehow I’m constitutionally incapable of the feeling that ‘God’s in his heaven, all’s right with the world’ when the same alleged God that some imagine created this heavenly day perversely permits such hellish situations in so many other parts of the world.

Sometimes it seems that evil lurks almost everywhere on earth

There seems no end to the pain and suffering and death that it causes, and no sign that any amount of intervention, divine or otherwise, will ever diminish it, let alone bring it to an end.

And for those of us who are driven to write or fight against it, it has an extra and especially excruciating dimension: it’s incredibly, endlessly boring.

The phrase “the banality of evil” is as apt today as it was back when Hannah Arendt coined it to describe the personality of Nazi genocide organiser Adolf Eichmann.

Eichmann, she claimed, committed his atrocities not out of hatred for his victims, but out of a lack of imagination so total as to deprive him of any shred of empathy for fellow human beings.

I don’t believe that all of today’s major-league evil-doers are as motiveless as Eichmann, but they’re every bit as callous, banal and ultimately boring as he was in their insatiable cravings for power and feelings of self-importance.

Surely the most vivid embodiment of the banality of evil in the world today must be Kim Jong-Il (right) of North Korea. A man, like his father before him, who has enslaved and starved his people in his demented quest to maintain a million-strong army and build a nuclear weapon for the single, pathetic purpose of expressing his paranoid egomania.

Then there’s Robert Mugabe (left), driven by a hatred for whites that Eichmann, according to Arendt, lacked for the Jews he slaughtered, but every bit as empty as Eichmann of any capacity for sympathy or empathy with anyone but himself and the supporters he needs to survive.

And he is as boring as every other tinpot dictator I can think of in his greed for such banalities as grand mansions, branded merchandise and shopping sprees for his stupid wife.

The leaders of Iran are another case in point, still tediously employing timeless sectarian hatred and insane religious extremism in the pursuit of sordid, mundane cravings for some shred of self-esteem.

And so it goes around the globe, such an endless parade of banality and evil as to disgrace the human race and bore us columnists - and our unfortunate readers - to tears.

Beyond banality

Of course the most crying shame of all to me, because I happen to read and write about it so much, is the chronically tedious situation in Malaysia. After more than half a century of monopolisation by Barisan Nasional (BN), the situation has gone way beyond banality to utter BNality, and seems to get more evil by the day.

The whole country is held to ransom by a bunch of people so BNal that all they can muster in the way of a slogan for a nation they’ve so strenuously kept divided all these years is a ludicrous lie like ‘1Malaysia.’

And all these so-called leaders seem to care about are BNalities like money, ridiculous titles, luxury cars, big houses, offshore holiday retreats and overseas junkets for themselves and their families.

The BNality of evil; the evil of BNality. Have you ever heard or read an utterance by a BN politician that wasn’t so dim, dull or such a litany of obfuscation and outright lies that it was anything but stupefyingly boring?

And no, fans of Dr Mahathir Mohamad (right) needn’t claim that their hero is an exception, as his every utterance is drearily, predictably false and sarcastic, and thus not a whit witty.

BNality of speech is, of course, just a symptom of BNality of thought. And just as I’ve never heard an even remotely interesting remark from a BN politician or official, nor have I seen evidence of a single creative idea.

There’s been no shortage of projects, I grant you. Like the Twin Towers, for example, which have proven a big tourist attraction. But they were built by Japanese and Korean contractors using mostly Indonesian labour, and when it came to the BNality of who paid the bill, the evil fact is that the Malaysian people did, through Petronas accounts so compromised that they’re an official state secret.

So, as with every project on which the BN government spends public funds, there’s no accounting for how much loot was siphoned-off in kickbacks, ‘commissions’, fraud and embezzlement. Just as there’s no way of telling which individuals and corporations evade tax by paying bribes in return for deep discounts.


But the greatest cost of all this venality isn’t financial, it’s social. For evil of such BNality to prosper and perpepuate itself, the populace has to be deprived of such safeguards as a proper police force, honest judiciary, trustworthy media, enlightened education system and independent civil services.

Deprivations that lead in turn to rampant corruption, uncontrolled crime, ceaseless suspicious deaths in custody, growing risk of arrest and detention without charge, heavily-skewed elections and, as recently experienced by the DAP, police harrassment of opposition politicians and supporters.

As I write this, people are being arrested in Ipoh for participating in a hunger strike to protest the recent power-grab in Perak. So at least I haven’t entirely wasted this beautiful day by spending it at the keyboard.



As long as courageous activists keep on fighting and we critics keep on typing, someday the majority of Malaysians will finally revolt against the intolerable reality - not to mention the flagrant immorality and growing illegality - of BN evil and banality.

[First posted 27 May 2009]

Exploiting Religious Insecurities (reprise)

A Malay Student Front representative (left) gatecrashes the Bar Council's forum yesterday on Islamic conversion, yelling: “I represent Umno. Stop this forum! Don’t insult Islam! You... Chinese, Indians, go to hell!” (Photos courtesy of Malaysiakini) 

Never a dull moment. That sums up Malaysian politics since the 12th General Election on 8 March 2008. Even as the nation celebrates the 61st birthday of prime minister elect Anwar Ibrahim in eager anticipation of a smooth transition of power come September, we are rudely reminded of the wide disparities that divide Muslims from non-Muslims, Malays from non-Malays. Disparities easily exploited by those frightened by the sweeping transformations underway and who can always be counted upon to resort to the race-and-religion card to protect their own vested interests. 

At this crucial juncture in our political evolution, we have to keep a cool head and stay calm. Five months after the political earthquake that forever altered the course of Malaysian politics, there are still many who fail to comprehend the big picture. Scared and confused by the rapid changes they see around them, they can be easily goaded into creating havoc on the streets - thereby giving the fascist BN government an excuse to declare an emergency and reclaim their power through military rule. Don't forget who's still in charge of the Defence and Home Ministries.

We must not allow reactionary forces to whip up ancient fears and resentments in order to thwart our collective dream of a mature, multiracial, multicultural nation at peace with itself and prospering as a harmonious rainbow family. Remember, 300 misguided religionists do not speak for 27 million. No matter where you go, you will find a handful who cling fanatically to narrow, sectarian beliefs. In a healthy, mature society, opposing views can be expressed without recourse to violence. The Bar Council, after all, hosted the forum mainly to bring certain "sensitive" issues into the open by encouraging intelligent public debate. The timing, as it turns out, wasn't quite right.

Nevertheless, it's particularly depressing to note that Zulkifli Noordin, PKR's Kulim-Bandar Baharu MP, was among the leaders of yesterday's rowdy protest over the Bar Council forum. What message is Zulkifli sending to all those who have put their faith in a Pakatan Rakyat government? That when it comes to questions of Malay rights and religious freedom, nothing will change? This, of course, puts Anwar Ibrahim in an awkward spot. If he advises people like Zulkifli within PKR to downplay religious differences, Umno will be quick to use that as evidence that Anwar will sell out the Malays. After so many decades of Barisan Nasional's racist policies and divisive politics, it will take some time for the people to voluntarily break down the walls of interethnic mistrust and build solid bridges of understanding and love between the various communities. With Pakatan Rakyat in charge of the Ministry of Information, the powerful reach of the mass media can be utilized to foster genuine friendship and the spirit of cooperative symbiosis amongst all ethnic groups - rather than keep racial and religious issues simmering undebated and unresolved. 

Allow me to use an analogy to illustrate the situation we are faced with in Malaysia. Let's say we're flying 20,000 feet above sea level in an airplane and a few of us are veteran skydivers eagerly anticipating the moment we hurl ourselves from the aircraft and experience the sheer ecstasy of freefall before we pull the cord of our parachutes and float gracefully down to the ground.

Now, can you imagine the fear and hesitation you might feel if you've never done this before? Do we despise the novices in our midst and jeer at their cowardice? That would be extremely unkind and uncouth. We mustn't push them either - because we would then be responsible if, in their panic, they forget to pull the cord and plunge to their deaths. Those of us who have long outgrown our emotional attachment to a particular belief system can be compared to veteran skydivers who have taken that leap of faith into the unknown many times before. The novices have yet to experience the sense of freedom one feels when liberated from childhood indoctrination and social rituals. Naturally, the unknown scares them. They cling to the safety of the aircraft rather then hurl themselves wholeheartedly and gleefully into the freedom of speculative metaphysics, rational secularism, agnosticism, atheism, or pantheistic mysticism.

But, given a little more time and encouragement, they will one day become veteran skydivers too. In other words, when dealing with folks who are emotionally attached to a particular belief system - and who closely identify with belonging to a specific ethnic group - it's pointless to force the issue or waste your breath trying to talk them out of it. Just love and honor them wholeheartedly regardless of their belief systems. Remember, it's really a question of software preferences. Some people are constantly upgrading to the latest versions of everything - while others haven't even taken their first tentative steps into the digital age. Some folks are neophiles (swift to embrace the new) and others are neophobes (terrified of new ideas). In any community, some individuals serve as the accelerators of evolution; while others function as the brakes. Good driving requires that we step on the accelerator more often than the brakes - which means the more adventurous and open-minded members of the family are the natural-born leaders, while the more conservative ones keep us from speeding too fast and colliding with obstacles. They're the ones who remind us of our origins and heritage and keep us rooted to terra firma, to Mother Earth. I have absolute faith that given sufficient time, all belief systems begin to mellow or break down into simpler elements - and yesterday's fanatics will be tomorrow's sages.

[Read Moris Farhi's excellent essay, God Save Us From Religion! First posted 10 August 2008]

IF ONLY PIGS COULD FLY... (another timely repost)

And Jesus exorcised the demons from the possessed villagers of Gadara, and the demons sought refuge in the bodies of a herd of swine; whereupon the Master shouted a command and the swine flew off the top of a cliff, only to perish in the crashing waves below...

Of all the fears we are subject to as humans there is none greater than the fear of death, if only because it represents the Great Unknown. No amount of faith in the promise of an afterlife can assuage that fear in some folks.

Is it any wonder then that news of mysterious "killer diseases" invariably spreads faster than wildfire, triggering large-scale panic amongst people everywhere? And when this happens, almost everything else is temporarily forgotten. Reports of scandals in high office... war crime investigations... financial shenanigans of earthshaking magnitude... no longer hog the headlines when something as scary as swine flu or bird flu or SARS or mad cow disease gets introduced as a convenient distraction.

Well, folks, I don't believe in disease, having unsubscribed from the hypochondria channel decades ago. True, I can still experience the inconvenience of a bad case of the sniffles or a prolonged bout of coughing whenever my immune system is subject to emotional stress - but I've long decided that disease is a state of mind to begin with. It only becomes a physical condition when your emotional tone goes below zero for more than three days.

However, my attitude is entirely subjective and there's no way I can persuade anyone else to share my views on this. A couple of days ago, my friend Pat Goh alerted me to an interesting letter published in Malaysiakini by someone named Wong Ang Peng. I don't know who he is, but I salute his fighting spirit and would like to reproduce his message in abridged form (for the benefit of those who don't subscribe to Malaysiakini and therefore may have missed it).

Wong has, in my opinion, got the problem well sussed out - even if he erroneously pins the blame on the Americans. The benighted souls who engage in biowarfare and clandestine population culling projects know no ethnic or national allegiances. I suspect they aren't even fully human - and if they are, they must have been bodysnatched at some point and are now merely human agents (perhaps unwittingly) of an inhuman evil that seeks to perpetuate its stranglehold on human evolution and the destiny of the planet through the rule of fear.

LATEST FLU OUTBREAK AN AMERICAN PLOT
Wong Ang Peng | Apr 27, 09 4:24pm

I refer to the Malaysiakini report Global alarm as killer swine flu spreads.

Since the 70's and 80's, during the Cold War era, much emphasis was focused on developing weapons of mass destruction using biological agents. SIV-40 (Samien Immuno-Defficiency Virus 40) was created and introduced to chimpanzee and later passed on to Africans and homosexuals.

A strong stain of the dengue virus was created in the labs of the US Army and released in Latin America and Nicaragua in the 1980's. There are many other examples.

Every pre-winter season, there will be much hype through the mass media in the West to create fear in the masses that an impending fatal strain of flu equivalent to Great Flu Epidemic that killed millions in the West in the 1920's is imminent.

The effect of all this hype is long lines queuing for anti-flu vaccines. In the tropical regions, there is no such thing as a winter flu season. So, the avian flu was ingeniously created.

Generally, the people in China and Vietnam who died about four years ago were those who had been taking the avian flu vaccine shots.

The H5N1 hype a few years ago caused nations all over the world to stock up on the anti-bird flu Tamiflu vaccines. Malaysia spent about RM60 million. These vaccines usually have a shelf life of around five years. We have another year to go before the Tamiflu stockpile becomes useless.

And now it is reported that Tamiflu is effective for this new strain of swine flu. "A 'seed stock' genetically matched to the new swine flu virus has been created by the US Centers for Disease Control, said Dr Richard Besser, the agency's acting director."

If we apply logic to basic knowledge in biology and genetics, the horizontal transfer of genes can only happen when genes are artificially tampered with, i.e., through genetic engineering, or GMO (genetically modified organisms). In today's geopolitical-economic conflict, and the threatened beginning of the end of the US empire, it is not absurd to reason that covert activities are planned and executed to destabilize different parts of the world, in favour of and for prolonging the hegemony of the US empire.


Please Google for 'NSSM 200'. In the 70's there was a secret plan by the world elites, influenced by the people of the Rockefeller Foundation, to reduce the world's population from six billion to two billion. The Rockefeller people are in the Obama administration today. Many are members of the Trilateral Commission, the Bilderberg Group, and the Council on Foreign Relations.

From past events and the hype over impending flu outbreaks, it is inevitable that this swine flu which originated in Mexico, will very soon reach the shores of South East Asia and other parts of the world.

There will be panic. There will be public clamouring, and even stampedes for anti-swine flu vaccines. Remember that Vitamin C is the best prevention for any natural or man-made flu outbreak. Sugar and junk food will aggravate any flu symptoms.


MY FRIEND SUZANNE WARD SENDS ANOTHER TIMELY MESSAGE FROM MATTHEW:

"Once again the dark streamers that are heavily influencing individuals in powerful positions have lashed out in what can be well-termed this energy's 'death rattle.' The newest strategy - the ordering of laboratory-designed, created and released swine flu virus - is, as before, abetted by the controlled media's part of the plan, to declare PANDEMIC!

It is puzzling to us that these dark ones did not learn from their abject failures with SARS and then the avian flu, both of which were widely publicized with the same global pandemic prognosis; eventually the publicity was forced to cease because those diseases caused a few deaths, then totally fizzled out.

This swine flu situation will have the same result. The technology of our family in other star nations has neutralized the vaccine that is intended to spread this disease, just as they did to prevent the spreading of SARS and avian flu.


"This new diabolical plan has been done without the US government leader's knowledge, unlike the previous two pandemic attempts, which were fabricated with the approval of the highest members [of the Bush] administration. Think about the timing of this latest disease publicity. In addition to authorizing the creation of a virus and its intended worldwide fear, the darkly-inclined individuals’ aim is to distract the attention of the populace from their growing demands for peaceful negotiations; indicting responsible ones in the US government who authorized torture; the truth about the perpetrators of 9/11; what caused the collapse of the global economy; the decades of government cover-up about the presence of extraterrestrials; who operates the illegal drug industry; the real purpose of chemtrails and weather control; the aims of the worldwide Zionist movement; and the ‘black ops’ behind terrorism around your world.

“It is not enough to create a distraction for only the people of the United States simply because this is the country where much of the corruption and deception originated and where now investigations are running deep. No, it must be a global effort because individuals with dark intentions, who live around the world, are panicking as they see other governments’ citizens joining the clamor for truth, for peace, for renewable energy sources, for improved health care and education, for just laws and rightful recognition of women’s equality.

All of those are anathema to dark individuals as those conditions are the opposite of all dark goals. But just as the collapse of the global economy is exposing the truth about who has been manipulating it, so will this swine flu plan expose other evils perpetrated by the same dark ones within the Illuminati or under their control. Welcome this evidence of progress in ‘bringing to light’ the truth and the fast-withering tendrils of dark energy around your planet!”

There are firm indications that the public-at-large is increasingly skeptical about the motives of individuals at highest levels of medicine and pharmaceutical corporations: There is this sudden outbreak of yet another kind of flu and “accidentally” there is live virus in the vaccines? Yes, there is some fear as well, but not nearly in the proportion the Illuminati intended and expected. Quite the opposite - this is a setback of major proportion for them!

People's reactions show their expanding consciousness, and this is likely to cause widespread outrage that will not be confined to the deliberate attempt to infect millions and cause global panic. Light efforts are underway in numerous other areas too that will remove the long-time heavy hand of dark control in your world. Holding steady your light and being patient a bit longer for dynamic developments will be abundantly rewarded!

LOVE and PEACE
Suzanne Ward 

[First posted 29 April 2009]

Anwar Ibrahim on the Spirit of Liberty (reprise)

[First posted 23 November 2009 and more relevant than ever!]


Anwar: We need substantive change

Terence Netto
November 22, 2009
1:25pm


Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim told a Pakatan Rakyat seminar yesterday on the two-party system that Malaysia must move from the forms of representation to the substance of democratic experience to give validity to the nation's founding constitution.

Speaking to several score leaders from PKR, PAS and DAP, the component parties of Pakatan, at the seminar in Kuala Lumpur organised to infuse them with a sense of mission, Anwar held that the country's democratic beginnings were not sustained because of servile subscription to certain shibboleths.

One was that its racial diversity was potentially explosive and the other was that the need for rapid economic progress was touted as incompatible with democracy.

pic courtesy of penangtalk.com

"Our diverse ethnic make-up, rather than an asset, was treated as a powder keg that could be ignited by the slightest spark," he said.

He said this manipulated fear of the country's social fragility was compounded by the perception that "economic development was not compatible with the freedoms that have been established in other democratic nations."

He said delusive beliefs led politicians to give free rein to "greed and avarice and not what Vaclav Havel (right) described as a heightened responsibility for the moral state of society."

Havel was the Czech playwright who figured prominently in his country's break with its communist past in 1989 and became president shortly afterwards, a modern epitome of Plato's ideal of the 'philosopher-king' that held philosophers as best equipped to rule a country because of their passion for truth and justice.

Of course, these notions are scoffed at by the hardnosed, realist school of leaders who think of politics as offering success only to those skilled at deploying the wiles of a fox and the strength of a lion.

That period is over

Anwar said the period was over when the notion held sway that Asians had a cultural predisposition to such values as social order, deferred gratification, and respect for hierarchy, in preference to the cacophony of democratic dissent.

He said this was the pet theory of a cadre of Asian authoritarians whose influence had waned. In any case their theory has been deflated by Asian intellectuals like Nobel laureate Amartya Sen (left) who has cogently argued that there was nothing intrinsically Asian about a preference for social conformity over democratic individualism.

Sen posited the contrary view that freedom and democracy are vital factors in wealth creation and social advancement in Asian societies.

Once again Anwar aired his opinion that while the Western world had established strong institutions of democracy, they held no monopoly on its underlying principles.

He reiterated that the theories of liberal democracy's progenitor John Locke were adumbrated by the principles laid down in Prophet Muhammad's Last Sermon, to wit, the sanctity of contracts and property rights, racial equality and women's rights.

These principles were upheld as the higher objectives of Islamic Law by the Andalusian legal scholar, al-Shatibi, in his treatise, maqasid al-Sharia, which sanctify the preservation of religion, life, family and wealth.

Anwar again claimed that the philosophic antecedents of the Enlightenment principles of Locke and Montesquieu that seeded the flowering of democratic government in the West could be found in the the Last sermon and the maqasid al-Sharia.

He said there was a discontinuity between Malaysia's beginnings as a constitutional democracy and its subsequent experience as a nation as its rulers deviated from the original spirit of the Constitution.

"The upshot is that Malaysia's experience as a pseudo democracy has been an utter disaster. A nation blessed with vast wealth and a people with the ability to learn and excel have been left in the lurch by decades of failed policies. Hope in a brighter future has been snuffed out by the blunt instrument of state power and the cancer of corruption," claimed Anwar.

Pakatan has a special responsibility

He said the impetus given to the two-party system by the results of the general elections of March 8, 2008, would be lost if the main values of the democratic societies are not fortified. These were liberty, social pluralism and political constitutionalism.

"The intent of these values and the institutions that mediate the relationship between the citizen and the government is to guard against the exercise of tyranny," he said.

Anwar said an independent and free judiciary, a free press and a legislature that applied moral precepts to its output, are vital to the mediation of the relationship between government and the citizen.

He proposed the concept of democracy articulated by the political scientist Ian Shapiro - that it is "an ideology of opposition as much as it is one of government" - as an animating principle for the two-party system.

"Yet we would be in a state of self-deception, however, if we pinned the hopes for healthy democracies on just one of its attributes," said Anwar.

He said free and fair elections in which all parties are allowed to compete on a level playing field and unobstructed governance by those elected by voters were the other attributes of a vibrant two-party system.

Anwar said all these features were envisaged by the country's founding constitution but the sum of subsequent deviations – 700 amendments to be sure – eventuated in the contorted construct Malaysians are faced with today.

He said the Pakatan coalition had a special responsibility to nurture the new consciousness that has emerged in Malaysian society after March 8, 2008, to "retrieve, revive and reinvigorate the spirit of liberty, individualism, humanism and tolerance" that was the underlying spirit of the founding constitution.

[Read the complete transcript of Anwar's excellent speech here.]