Do we really want to march to Putrajaya? (reprise)

Heart-shaped cloud over Putrajaya. Was it Photoshopped? (Pic by Saeed Salem)

I've been to Putrajaya total of three times. The first time out of sheer diabolical curiosity. I was on the highway and spotted the Putrajaya exit; decided to make a brief detour just to see for myself what the hoo-ha was about. I parked in front of the PM's office and noticed the Egyptian-style obelisk outside his window. I couldn't believe the rococo lampposts and idly wondered how many there were and how much each cost (after mark-up).

The place was utterly soulless. A monumentally overpriced concrete façade. Like a colossal movie set for very boring and unimaginative epics involving millions of demure concubines and uncomplaining slaves. Only an evil emperor with massive delusions of grandeur (or terminal ego insecurity) could have conceived such an anachronistic monstrosity - and the man who launched the Putrajaya project was indeed an evil emperor wannabe, albeit of pathetically mediocre caliber. Unsurprisingly he left us with a cumbersome and morally diseased mediocracy to dismantle.

The second visit was with my ethnic fusion group Akar Umbi. We were invited for a gig in Putrajaya in conjunction with something or other. We even overnighted in a local hotel there. Luckily, the presence of giggling Orang Asli neutralized the robot city vibes of Putrajaya. It wasn't too bad an experience and we even got paid for our efforts.

Last week I went to Putrajaya to assist my friends with their application for a visa extension. Our visit to the Immigration Department turned out to be rather surreal and decidedly unpleasant. My friends were only given two weeks when they re-entered Malaysia after a trip to Singapore. However, the immigration officer at Tuas reassured them they could apply for an extension at the nearest immigration office and led them to believe it was a routine procedure.

Well, it was hardly routine. We were made to wait nearly 5 hours, only to be told the application for an extension was rejected. No reason given. But judging by the smug unfriendly tone in which the betempurunged and betudunged immigration officer pronounced that my friends had to leave the country, it was only too clear that our immigration policy discriminates against citizens of certain countries, in this case, China. If we had been treated with courtesy and not made to wait fruitlessly for hours, not getting an extension would have been much easier to accept.

The cold unhelpful treatment we received at the Jabatan Imigresen in Putrajaya merely confirmed what all of us have known all along: that BN slogans like "Performance Now" and "People First" are just a huge load of Najis (absolute crap, for the uninitiated).

Ironically, my friends had been seriously considering investing in Malaysia and making it their second home. Now I'm not so sure they would want to live in a such a rabidly and crudely racist country - even though all the Malaysians they have encountered - outside Putrajaya - have been very friendly and hospitable.

This foul-tasting encounter with post-Mahathir bureaucracy has prompted me to question the wisdom of wanting to take over Putrajaya - an architectural abomination which carries the reek of an accursed kingdom, something only a reptilian warlord like Sauron could relish.

Every structure in Putrajaya is designed to dwarf and diminish the common man and exalt the abstract notion of financial and political clout. It flatters the megalomaniacal ego and sneers at the whole idea of the soul. The architecture of Putrajaya insults all notions of human warmth and peremptorily dismisses the idea of democracy. Instead, we are browbeaten into submission to whomsoever operates the machinery of government from within those imposing stone fortresses.

If Pakatan Rakyat succeeds against all odds at vanquishing the Barisan Najis, the new federal government ought to seriously reconsider moving into Putrajaya. I'm convinced that just occupying those cold unfeeling premises will swiftly turn the newly elected government into an ugly replica of the old guard. Very bad fengshui, in other words.

Hard to imagine putting on the clothes of a moral leper - and not getting infected almost immediately.

Putrajaya is the concrete and glass manifestation of Mahathir's megalomania - which is really no different than that of Josef Stalin, Adolf Hitler or Benito Mussolini. In an earlier age, Mahathir could have been Atilla the Hun or Genghis Khan. These would-be world-conquerors are essentially cut from the same crude cloth. They have no time for the simple and the wholesome. They curl their lips and snarl in contempt at those who show compassion, forgiveness and mercy. They are prepared to do whatever it takes to seize earthly power and hold on to it with a vice-like grip. Their egos crave abject adoration from their disciples and followers - a sure sign that these personality types are descended from fallen angels and false gods.

Only false gods enjoy being feared by those who worship and unquestioningly serve them. The corrupt Umno priesthood established by Mahathir to serve his unholy ambition are the ones who typically work in ideological think-tanks and indoctrination agencies like Biro Tatanegara (National Civics Bureau). Just as Hitler's Third Reich was founded on a perverted sense of racial pride and prejudice, Mahathir built on Abdul Razak Hussein's Ketuanan Melayu agenda and infected two generations of Umno Malays with the dangerously divisive notion of racial supremacy.


Imitation of false gods is what prompts potentates to construct monuments and palaces to their own vainglory. In Malay the word raja (king) constitutes the root of the word for government - kerajaan. This suggests that government officials represent the rulers.

Instead of serving the public, the bureaucracy believes its primary purpose is to serve the symbols of Malay power, the sultans. That's only in theory, of course. In practice, most bureaucrats are programmed to serve their political masters, while helping themselves to the goodies at every opportunity. The upshot of this unhealthy practice is that we invariably end up with a rusty can of overfed maggots in public office and greedy, grasping, dragons of debauchery in the palaces.


Which means the common people, the rakyat, don't really feature at all in the power equation - except as a source of revenue and labor. This may have been the prevailing pattern in which power has been misused for millennia - but this sort of top-down hierarchy is no longer viable and should have become extinct along with the belief that Time is linear and Space strictly Euclidean..


Oppressive and authoritarian misrule is the primary cause of mediocrity. The docile, obedient, unimaginative and uncreative get promoted to positions of authority while "cultural creatives" - the innovators, mavericks and real talents - get sidelined or persecuted till they go into voluntary exile.

I hope the next government of Malaysia takes very careful note - even though I already know they won't and that they will rapidly become an almost exact replica of the bureaucratic tyranny they once vociferously opposed, proving once again and irrefutably, that those who consider themselves adult should unsubscribe from the notion of external authority (especially in the guise of their own parents, family clans, political parties, Cosplay governments and fictional off-planet deities).

[First posted 23 November 2010]

DEAR SAM (revisited)

Dear Sam,

Your message comes as no surprise. I have long been disenchanted with the activities of the UN. Indeed, just thinking about ALL human institutions - from religions to governments to universities, corporations and militaries - makes my soul feel depleted and weary. Obviously, my soul sees right through the BIG LIE that these institutions are established to serve humanity... yeah, maybe they do serve human energy as FOOD for astral predators!

And just as obviously, LATERAL action against these cynical and corrupt institutions will do little to change the equation of imbalance and injustice. Which is why PETITIONING governments for reforms is, at best, only a stop-gap measure; it merely creates an illusion that one is "doing something worthwhile" with one's life.

It's not my intention to devalue the ultimate usefulness of your campaigning, but I would like to present you with a different perspective, trusting that you will be receptive.

Our parents - and their parents, and their parents' parents, going all the way back thousands of generations - did what they believed was best for their children. They worked and saved and sent their kids to school and to college, hoping the next generation would secure respectable jobs and earn decent wages, and live comfortable and safe lives. What was missing from their worldview?

They had no time, so preoccupied were they with the "struggle for survival," to stop and ponder what existence was about, and why things were the way they appear to be, with so much to be desired in terms of fairness and satisfaction and fulfilment. And so each generation passed on to the next the erroneous belief that LIFE IS A STRUGGLE - IT'S A "JUNGLE" OUT THERE - DOG EAT DOG - SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST - LIFE IS ENDLESS COMPETITION AND THE WINNER TAKES ALL - ALL MEN MAY BE BROTHERS BUT WHEN IT COMES TO GOLD, TRUST NOBODY! Exactly the misguided values that have brought about so much inequality and distress and suffering among us, and engendered so much hypocrisy and lip-service to higher ideals and humanitarian virtues.

Do you get what I'm saying?

Well, in so "managing" their lives, generation after generation, our ancestors neglected to CONSCIOUSLY EVOLVE AS SENTIENT BEINGS. They were created and programmed to be workers and slaves - and it was accepted and understood that those among them with extraordinary intelligence and skill would be promoted to the Executive Class and, ultimately, if they were lucky enough to marry a princess, perhaps even be permitted entry into the rarefied ranks of the Ruling Elite.

Most humans have no quarrel with the Status Quo - until they find their personal progress thwarted or disrupted. Whether through racial prejudice, unjust laws and policies, or through wars that do not concern them but impact massively on their routine existence and overall well-being. In effect, the majority of humans are PASSIVE CONSUMERS OF REALITY. We do not accept RESPONSIBILITY for our EXPERIENCE OF THE WORLD - preferring to find SCAPEGOATS upon which to project our anger and resentment.

Those Dirty Niggers are to blame for the high crime rate! Those Money-Grubbing Slant Eyes take away all the jobs from our children! Those Capitalist Fat Cats have stolen everything from under our feet! The Fucking Reptiles have screwed up our evolutionary program!

Of course, any sort of action taken to address these issues ultimately leads to a power confrontation. As Jim Morrison sang: "They have the guns/But we have the numbers/The Old get older/And the young get stronger/Gonna make it, baby/In our prime/C'mon, baby, we're taking over!" That was the political anthem of the 1960s generation, and it was also mine for many decades. But today the ones who were buying The Doors records are in their late 50s - and many are CEOs of big companies, much too comfortable to be talking "revolution" and going out in the street to be maced, bludgeoned, and shot with rubber bullets.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

What happened with the French and American and Russian and Maoist Revolutions? The Who sang: "Meet the new boss/Same as the old boss!" 

That's right, Animal Farm, folks! George Orwell, whose books are widely quoted as warnings against totalitarianism, was himself a secret policeman working with MI6 during WWII and in the early years of the Cold War. Some analysts say he wrote Animal Farm as counterpropaganda against Bolshevism, and that the Big Pigs were caricatures of Lenin and Trotsky (interesting that Leon had such a porcine surname).

I'm not saying there's NO HOPE OF REAL CHANGE. There's lots of hope - but REAL CHANGE COMES FROM WITHIN! And how does one trigger such change in others? One effects the changes within oneself - and that naturally changes the radioactive biofield around one's being, which then subtly influences other energy fields to shift internally.

In other words, instead of admonishing others to become more honest, one simply embodies more honesty, thereby anchoring the potential for honesty in the collective psyche. You may think this is wishy-washy wishful thinking, Sam, but I assure you it will prove a million times more powerful as a catalyst for positive change than all the placard waving and slogan chanting you may do, even if you can get 10,000,000 people to join you.

Having said all that, I am not antagonistic to political action, as such. Indeed, I'm always heartened to hear that millions are out protesting W or the WTO - it's dramatic and colorful and exciting to see the masses mobilized. Nevertheless, the adrenaline rush of street politicking wears off quickly and people like to return to their routine reality. And that's why the Establishment usually rides out these swells of public protest, and then brazenly proceeds with its nefarious Agenda, regardless.

In the end, it's probably necessary for change to occur INTERNALLY as well as EXTERNALLY - and I feel the inner transformations must and do precede the outer ones.

Thank you for listening to my viewpoint.

Your friend,
Antares
~^@^~
11 January 2007


43_truth263@unhcr.umacr.net wrote:

This message is about Human beings, Democracy, UNHCR, Refugees, The Iraqis, Islam, Kurds, Human rights, Respect, Money, Donations, Angelina Jolie, Pavarotti, Giorgio Armani, Donors, Peace, History, Campaigns and about you if you care about these words.

Hi there,

I am SAM, an Iraqi refugee living in Lebanon at the moment; I have spent the last 10 years of my life as a refugee registered with the UNHCR in Beirut. The last 4 years, I have spent as an activist for peace and human rights (especially refugees and asylum seekers) on the Internet; I'm also books author and ebooks publisher. I have launched many campaigns to improve our situation as refugees in Lebanon and hopefully bring more understanding to our problems worldwide. I helped make many changes and improvements at the UNHCR office in Beirut; I used the Internet as the field for my activities (you can read more about that in my free ebook 'MY CAMPAIGNS'). All my ebooks are free and could be download from my sites.

This is my newest campaign, it's about the illegal and humiliating actions of the UNHCR, who using photos of refugees as banners and human-buttons to collect money. This is an abuse of the dignity and humanity of the refugees and must stop immediately and a clear public apology present by The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. My friends, I am talking about the pictures you can see here:
http://Arts.net4free.org/un77

Where you can read the rest of this message as web page.

For more info about UNHCR and life of refugees you can read my free ebooks. I invite you as fellow humans and members of the world community to support my campaign by reading my article on my site and see the human-buttons. The campaign is to support and improve the UNHCR http://www.unhcr.ch especially after the last scandals in the UN and UNHCR, just for example:

The refugees allege that UNHCR staff is selling most of the food items they are supposed to be supplied.
"They aren't supplying sufficient food to us because they sell most of the food items," they allege: http://allafrica.com/stories/200503140214.html
Here is another example: Burmese Refugees Withdraw Protest Against UNHCR http://www.mizzima.com/archives/news-in-2005/news-in-april/12-April05-22.htm
Together we will build better world.

You could reach me fast via this form: http://www.unhcr.us/email_me.htm and if you like to know more about me, you can google for my name 'osam altaee'.

Thanks
THE TRUTH WARRIOR
http://unhcr.fbhosting.com
http://www.unhcr.biz

[Originally posted 11 January 2007]

Do we really want to march to Putrajaya? (revisited)

Heart-shaped cloud over Putrajaya. Was it Photoshopped? (Pic by Saeed Salem)

I've been to Putrajaya a total of three times. The first time out of sheer diabolical curiosity. I was on the highway and spotted the Putrajaya exit; decided to make a brief detour just to see for myself what the hoo-ha was about. I parked in front of the PM's office and noticed the Egyptian-style obelisk outside his window. I couldn't believe the rococo lampposts and idly wondered how many there were and how much each cost (after mark-up).

The place was utterly soulless. A monumentally overpriced concrete façade. Like a colossal movie set for very boring and unimaginative epics involving millions of demure concubines and uncomplaining slaves. Only an evil emperor with massive delusions of grandeur (or terminal ego insecurity) could have conceived such an anachronistic monstrosity - and the man who launched the Putrajaya project was indeed an evil emperor wannabe, albeit of pathetically mediocre caliber. Unsurprisingly he left us with a cumbersome and morally diseased mediocracy to dismantle.

The second visit was with my ethnic fusion group Akar Umbi. We were invited for a gig in Putrajaya in conjunction with something or other. We even overnighted in a local hotel there. Luckily, the presence of giggling Orang Asli neutralized the robot city vibes of Putrajaya. It wasn't too bad an experience and we even got paid for our efforts.

Four years ago I went to Putrajaya to assist my friends with their application for a visa extension. Our visit to the Immigration Department turned out to be rather surreal and decidedly unpleasant. My friends were only given two weeks when they re-entered Malaysia after a trip to Singapore. However, the immigration officer at Tuas reassured them they could apply for an extension at the nearest immigration office and led them to believe it was a routine procedure.

Well, it was hardly routine. We were made to wait nearly 5 hours, only to be told the application for an extension was rejected. No reason given. But judging by the smug unfriendly tone in which the betempurunged and betudunged immigration officer pronounced that my friends had to leave the country, it was only too clear that our immigration policy discriminates against citizens of certain countries, in this case, China. If we had been treated with courtesy and not made to wait fruitlessly for hours, not getting an extension would have been much easier to accept.

The cold unhelpful treatment we received at the Jabatan Imigresen in Putrajaya merely confirmed what all of us have known all along: that BN slogans like "Performance Now" and "People First" are just a huge load of Najis (absolute crap, for the uninitiated).

Ironically, my friends had been seriously considering investing in Malaysia and making it their second home. Now I'm not so sure they would want to live in a such a rabidly and crudely racist country - even though all the Malaysians they have encountered - outside Putrajaya - have been very friendly and hospitable.

This foul-tasting encounter with post-Mahathir bureaucracy has prompted me to question the wisdom of wanting to take over Putrajaya - an architectural abomination which carries the reek of an accursed kingdom, something only a reptilian warlord like Sauron could relish.

Every structure in Putrajaya is designed to dwarf and diminish the common man and exalt the abstract notion of financial and political clout. It flatters the megalomaniacal ego and sneers at the whole idea of the soul. The architecture of Putrajaya insults all notions of human warmth and peremptorily dismisses the idea of democracy. Instead, we are browbeaten into submission to whomsoever operates the machinery of government from within those imposing stone fortresses.

If Pakatan Rakyat succeeds against all odds at vanquishing the Barisan Najis, the new federal government ought to seriously reconsider moving into Putrajaya. I'm convinced that just occupying those cold unfeeling premises will swiftly turn the newly elected government into an ugly replica of the old guard. Very bad fengshui, in other words.

Hard to imagine putting on the clothes of a moral leper - and not getting infected almost immediately.

Putrajaya is the concrete and glass manifestation of Mahathir's megalomania - which is really no different than that of Josef Stalin, Adolf Hitler or Benito Mussolini. In an earlier age, Mahathir could have been Atilla the Hun or Genghis Khan. These would-be world-conquerors are essentially cut from the same crude cloth. They have no time for the simple and the wholesome. They curl their lips and snarl in contempt at those who show compassion, forgiveness and mercy. They are prepared to do whatever it takes to seize earthly power and hold on to it with a vice-like grip. Their egos crave abject adoration from their disciples and followers - a sure sign that these personality types are descended from fallen angels and false gods.

Only false gods enjoy being feared by those who worship and unquestioningly serve them. The corrupt Umno priesthood established by Mahathir to serve his unholy ambition are the ones who typically work in ideological think-tanks and indoctrination agencies like Biro Tatanegara (National Civics Bureau). Just as Hitler's Third Reich was founded on a perverted sense of racial pride and prejudice, Mahathir built on Abdul Razak Hussein's Ketuanan Melayu agenda and infected two generations of Umno Malays with the dangerously divisive notion of racial supremacy.


Imitation of false gods is what prompts potentates to construct monuments and palaces to their own vainglory. In Malay the word raja (king) constitutes the root of the word for government - kerajaan. This suggests that government officials represent the rulers.

Instead of serving the public, the bureaucracy believes its primary purpose is to serve the symbols of Malay power, the sultans. That's only in theory, of course. In practice, most bureaucrats are programmed to serve their political masters, while helping themselves to the goodies at every opportunity. The upshot of this unhealthy practice is that we invariably end up with a tin can of overfed maggots in public office and greedy, grasping, dragons of debauchery in the palaces.


Which means the common people, the rakyat, don't really feature at all in the power equation - except as a source of revenue and labor. This may have been the prevailing pattern in which power has been misused for millennia - but this sort of top-down hierarchy is no longer viable and should have become extinct along with the belief that the Earth is flat.


Oppressive and authoritarian misrule is the primary cause of mediocrity. The docile, obedient, unimaginative and uncreative get promoted to positions of authority while "cultural creatives" - the innovators, mavericks and real talents - get sidelined or persecuted till they go into voluntary exile.

I hope the next government of Malaysia takes very careful note.

[First published 23 November 2010]