Rallying for clean and fair elections: WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU TO STOP US?

Listen up, Bersih Bashing Morons!
By Emmanuel Joseph

Listen up, morons.

250,000 us went down to KL to walk and we walked for a variety of reasons. WHY we walked is not as important is WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU TO STOP US? We’re citizens, we’re taxpayers. Our tax dollars paid for the tear gas they shot at us, the water the sprayed us, the barbwire they put around Dataran Merdeka and the train services denied to us! WHO THE FUCK are you to stop me from wearing yellow, taking a train, joining a rally? It was rallies that got your asses into the comfy seats in which you now sit in, the keyboard you are typing to condemn us with, the monitor in which you sink your beady eyes and give us your self righteous comments with.

Listen up, morons.

We were not there to kill anyone, whack anyone, crash any car. Don’t judge the actions of 99.99% on the few who did; that too evidence is fast appearing that they may not be protestors after all! If you used your heads to think, we were already there for umpteen hours, for the third time - you think we would ‘lose it’ just like that? If we were to judge everyone by the actions of a few, every cop loves his baton too much, every MCA member sleeps with women on video, and every PERKASA member is short and has a limited vocabulary.
[Read the rest here.]

Face the facts, Election Commission... and dismantle yourself. No point holding elections otherwise!

Malaysian Election Commission found seriously flawed, backward and dysfunctional. Umno stubbornly clinging to authoritarian attitudes, as reflected in the opinions of its secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor.

Members of the fact-finding mission from Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Australia and Germany were invited to Malaysia by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim - but they came at their own or their country's expense. They were appalled at the violent police action against defenceless and peaceful protesters towards the end of Saturday's mammoth Bersih 3.0 rally for clean and fair elections.

HIDUP RAKYAT! 

BERSIH BERSIH BERSIH!

Of evil emperor wannabes and farting storm troopers...

"A word in your aristocratic ear, Your Pinkish and Puissant Petulance..."

"The pay's lousy but I just lurve the smell of uniforms..."

Brave men-in-blue ganging up on a ferocious and deadly Yellow Pig

(photo: Adrian Hoe)

Finally... the robots rebel!

Fabulous cartoon in the long-haired guy's hands (photo: Lily Fu)

The Spirit of Bersih 3.0: From the mountain heights...

... to the ocean depths!

Small section of the colorful crowd near Masjid Jamek (photo: Lily Fu)

A surging sea of determination to reclaim our electoral destiny (photo: Harakah Daily)

Birthpangs of a new nation, free of BN robber barons... (photo: source unknown)

Censorship, jackboots, thuggish intimidation, water cannons, tear gas, storm troopers, secret police... so fucking primitive! So ludicrously shtupid! So utterly futile in the age of digital tech and instant interconnectivity!

The biggest showing ever for clean and fair elections (Harakah Daily)

My guess is between 150,000-200,000 were at Bersih 3.0 (Harakah Daily)

Always a reassuring sight: The Yellow Geeks from DiGi!

From the channel that brought you Tahrir Square: The Battle for Independence Square on 28 April 2012

Published on Apr 28, 2012 by AlJazeeraEnglish

Malaysian police have clashed with thousands of protesters who are calling for an overhaul of the country's electoral system.

Security forces fired tear gas and water cannon at demonstrators in the capital Kuala Lumpur.

Al Jazeera's Harry Fawcett, reporting from the capital Kuala Lumpur, says he himself has experienced "some police violence."

KETUANAN RAKYAT MEANS POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

An astrological overview of Bersih 3.0

The Chart of Bersih for 28th of April 2012

The Sun is in stable, foundation building Taurus. Here there is a strengthening and a laying of ways of group values, building a comforting and solid sense of community. The Sun here that talks about grounding these new values and making them tangible gets lovely support in a wide sextile to the Moon in Cancer.

The emotional vibe here again on this day is one of nurturing and protecting a new sense of wider ‘family’ or ‘community’ values. There is empathy and feeling for history but also a moving into the direction of newness.

Societal structures that are outworn and exclusive get a challenge from the fiery, pioneering spirit of Mecury conjunct planet of rebellion Uranus.

This looks like a potent aspect for rebellion – there is a lot of mental energy here but also energy to really flip the polarities of existing structures. Individuals get a boost of empowerment to stand up for their rights.

Mars planet of war is coming to touch upon Malaysia’s natal Uranus in Virgo and with this transit there can be flare ups of impulsiveness and accidents. Perhaps the police being angered by peaceful protestors (Sun in Taurus in the 11th) and acting rashly, using law to punish.

Venus the planet of harmony and love in communicative Gemini is right on the ascendant of this chart, suggesting that there will be lots of communication and media interest, (perhaps more than usual) sparked by this event. Lots of debates and talks are indicated.

With Venus on the ascendant and Sun in Taurus, it feels like it mostly will be quite a peaceful event, and this feeling will permeate and people looking on will most likely sense the good intentions of this protest.

Reading by Melissa Lin

A BRIEF MESSAGE FOR BERSIH 3.0 FROM AMBIGA

Thank you so much, dear Ambiga and every brave soul behind the Bersih Movement. Never before in the history of our nation have so many been touched and inspired by what a small handful of determined individuals can achieve when they join minds, hearts, bodies and souls together to demand the elections be fair and clean - and we now know beyond any doubt that Barisan Nasional has been rigging the polls for many, many years just to stay in power and continue robbing us of our past, present and future - and all our rights as free citizens, especially the right to peacefully assemble in public spaces and voice our grievances or jubilation.

It's utterly incomprehensible that anybody in their right mind can be against Bersih 3.0's simple demand that the top echelon of the Election Commission step down immediately in view of their abysmal failure to perform their duties honorably and honestly. But, in a rogue regime where the incorrigibly corrupt, deceitful and hypocritical are allowed to rise to the highest ranks of government - where even an individual under suspicion of cold-blooded murder can be muscled into the top job - it would be naive to believe that the incumbent party is in any manner capable of reforming itself, no matter how much it spends on useless and extravagant public relations exercises.

On 9 July 2011, the Specter of May 13 was slain by the collective will of at least 50,000 who defied the police lockdown of Kuala Lumpur and took to the streets. Never again will anyone fear the possibility of racial riots. If anyone stirs up the shit, it will be none other than the uniformed or plainclothes hooligan auxiliaries of Umno, MIC or MCA.

28 April 2012 is the final showdown between the disintegrating Barisan Najis and the People of Malaysia. Whether or not you are able to be physically present at any of the 72 rallies worldwide, please help by visualizing Malaysia as a free nation where social justice, truth, compassion and wisdom have triumphed over atavistic tribalism, ego insecurity, moral depravity and insufferable hypocrisy.

We demand that the Election Commission chief and his deputy be arrested immediately for massive electoral fraud and betrayal of public trust.

ABSOLUTELY OUTRAGEOUS... BOTH THESE TALKING ARSEHOLES ARE CARD-CARRYING UMNO MEMBERS!

EC chief Abdul Aziz Yusof is registered at Umno’s Ampang division

Nama ABDUL AZIZ BIN MOHD YUSOF
No KP 500124105279
No KP Lama 2698922
No Keahlian UMNO 113804
Kod Cawangan 09920036 = SRI AMPANG BARU
Kod DUN 09920 = LEMBAH JAYA
Kod Bahagian 099 = AMPANG
Negeri SELANGOR

EC deputy chief Wan Ahmad Wan Omar is a member of the
Pasir Mas Umno Division

Nama WAN AHMAD BIN WAN OMAR
No KP 490101035179
No KP Lama 2756290
No Keahlian UMNO 2374564
Kod Cawangan 02213049 = KUBANG BUNGGOR
Kod DUN 02213 =  CHETOK
Kod Bahagian 022 = PASIR MAS
Negeri KELANTAN

EC top two still in Umno, PKR wants duo to quit

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal April 27, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, April 27 — PKR today demanded the Election Commission (EC) chairman and deputy chairman resign from their posts, and has furnished evidence to show that the two are still Umno members.

Both EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof and his deputy Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar have admitted that they could have been Umno members a long time ago, but stressed that it did not affect their ability to carry out their professional duties.

They took great pains to point out that it (being Umno members) happened a long time ago, and that they were inactive members, having not paid any fees or attended any party meetings.

“Both of them have to resign their positions in the EC immediately.

[Read the rest here.]

Mooza Mohd ~ Notes from #OccupyDataran

The following was lifted from blog entries posted by my young friend Mooza Mohd who beautifully embodies the brilliant exuberance, courage and idealism of Malaysian youth in the Age of Aquarius...

19th April, 2012
2.36am @ Dataran Merdeka

Me & Temme came back from the ‘toilet’ behind the generator of Dataran Merdeka, and as we were walking back, there was shouting and we immediately saw the tents were being kicked and destroyed. Several of these tents had people sleeping in them, including a petite girl in tudung - who later verified she was kicked several times before she got out. She stood there, probably traumatised & crying for like about 5 minutes. Nobody came to check if she was alright for that duration because the gangsters were too busy destroying and abusing the occupiers & friends. A lot of shouting & verbal abuse. Not to mention really rough continuous physical attacks.

When I came to the site running with Temme, about 3 Malay men (they were ALL Malay) took my camera before I could do anything with it - wrangled it away from me, pushing & pulling me until they smashed it onto the floor, then smashed it with their feet.

At the same time I saw Temme getting pushed by about 10 or so men, surrounding her until she fell back. They were pulling her camera, and pulling her bag very roughly. I actually tried to get to her, but saw the girl who was kicked in her tent still sobbing and standing there alone. I got to her, and Kris was already there trying to pull her to safety, we took her aside and I turned to look at what’s happening. It was clear, the occupiers were being harassed continuously, shouted at, pushed, provoked & attacked to the sides. Temme fell backwards when she was being pushed/pulled & surrounded by 10 or so men - also they stole her new camera, along with the pictures in it.

By this time we all knew they were targeting people with recording devices. I stood there watching to witness as many incidents and trying to recognise their faces, when suddenly a man in his 40s looked at me, shouting, “Kau tengok apa? Blah! Kau nak kena?!” (What are you looking at? Get out! You want to get it!?”). Of course, I clocked that this man was a total idiot, a primitive creature. I looked at him, just in my head asking WHY? (Okay, I was thinking, “Why are you such an IDIOT and so ugly?).

This man must’ve totally heard what I thought and came closer to my face, repeatedly provoking me. When he came close, I told him several times, “Jangan sentuh saya!” (“Don’t touch me!”) but he continued to threaten me and shoved his index finger to my forehead until I almost fell back. At the same time, several dudes pointed towards me saying I have the camera, and aggressively shouting to take my camera and my phone from my bag. All of this happened very quickly and I suddenly found myself surrounded by 5 or 6 men pushing and pulling me from all sides, roughly grabbing my bag until it tore. Edwin was there too, and he helped me out - and then I was finally taken away to the sides.

I was in shock and also very pissed off. What I saw 30 metres away from me, 10 or so policemen who had a good view of the entire thing, THEY DID NOTHING. Another group of cops on the other side, about 20 of them scattered at the sides. I stared at these policemen, and they only watched. I saw there were already 5 patrol cars (one just screeched in loudly at the side stylishly) but still, THEY DID NOTHING. I saw none of the policemen trying to ‘calm the situation’ as they so proudly declared on the papers.

Only in the last 5 minutes of the whole attack did they come in & try to negotiate. Negotiate? Yes, that course of action makes a lot of sense when people are getting attacked and harassed for 15 minutes.

When I finally remembered to breathe all of this in, I saw a man surrounded by two gangsters, and then later 5 and later 10, and it came to about 20. I didn’t get a good look but I clearly saw there was kicking. And this happened at the very end, about two policemen became part of that crowd, again, trying to ‘negotiate’ things.

The gangsters left. A handful policemen stayed.

Time to transmute the tragedy of history into pure comedy!

When everything was finally a little bit calmer, it was already 3.34am on my clock. What #OccupyDataran did was quick and brilliant when Fahmi suggested everyone to participate in the Sidang Rakyat to recollect the timeline of what happened in recording. After most of the accounts have been shared, the occupiers & friends came to a decision to collectively stay in Dataran and continue to occupy peacefully.

Police reports were made the whole day by the various individuals who got attacked, hurt, abused & their property damaged/stolen.

Dataran Merdeka will remain occupied.

p/s: Most pissed off that the gangster in his 40s contaminated my third eye with his finger. Need to do a thorough cleansing to dispose his ugliness. What an asshole.

TEXT POST FRI, APR. 20, 2012
thoughts: occupying our space

They’ve planned the city well. Surrounding Dataran Merdeka - the symbol of the people’s independence - you can see buildings of Ministry of Culture & Communication, Federal Court, DBKL, Royal Selangor Club and also banks in the likes of AGRO Bank (seriously, that’s its name), HSBC, CIMB, Bank Rakyat (People’s Bank). Nearby there’s a huge fortress called the Dang Wangi Police Station, MARA building, Bank Negara & other capitalistic institutions. Buildings for the people? Oh yes, they’re there too. It’s called shopping malls and food courts.

Why #OccupyDataran? People need to reclaim their space. It’s been too long that our space have been determined by the government & elitist. Free space is hard to come by, and without it expression of the free minds & ideas could not materialise collectively. Occupiers of Dataran Merdeka are there for a simple reason. They know this is not the best possible condition to live in, governed & ruled by a small percentage whose voice & reason monopolise the country, and they are there to provide alternative ways to organise our community.

Reclaiming the space is the first step into shaping ideas by the people for the people. Dataran Merdeka is free for anyone, including the rulers, and there, people can introduce different alternative methods which could take shape in a project. I disagree to the notion that the occupiers only stands for protesting against the government. That they only stand for rebelling, negation & sourcing more angst. Yes, there is resentment, despair & and the feeling of being cheated continuously, but they do not dominate the main reason why they are there. What it stands for is a new idea. A collective of ideas that could replace the decaying ones that has been jeopardising the rights of the people repeatedly.

The presence of different groups in Dataran Merdeka (#OccupyDataran, #MansuhPTPTN, Lynas, Bersih 3.0 & other parties) suggests clearly that there is something wrong with this government. It suggests corruption, unfreedom, censorship, and compromised justice. These issues are brought to light when these groups create a united community in the encampment.

[Read the full post here.]

Images courtesy of Mooza Mohd and Peter Jackson

Hasan Ali unveils new threat to the nation ~ Al Gayda!

One of the funniest episodes yet of That Effing Show :-)

Najib's insane ambition to go nuclear is another reason to vote out Barisan Najis!

Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant before 11 March 2011

How local democracy shut down Japan’s nuclear power plants

Fearing a public backlash at local polls, no local government would dare to re-start a reactor in their locality now. Anil Netto interviews Ohashi Masaaki.

Scholar-activist Prof Ohashi Masaaki  

In a lesson for countries everywhere, Japan’s vibrant local democracy is sealing the fate of the country’s once-entrenched network of nuclear power plants.

After the Fukushima disaster on 11 March 2011, the nuclear energy industry in Japan came under intense public scrutiny. Japan has 54 nuclear reactors in 17 locations. Already 52 reactors (including the eight in Fukushima Daichi Nuclear Power Station, four of which were damaged or had serious problems) have been stopped while the remaining two are coming up for periodic inspection.

Visting Japanese scholar-activist Ohashi Masaaki stresses that local government consent is essential for any reactor to be restarted. “This is the nice part of decentralisation,” says the professor of international development, NGO studies and South Asia studies at Keisen University, looking relaxed in his hotel room at the end of a whirlwind speaking tour to universities in Kuala Lumpur and Penang. “Although the central government wants to have a nuclear reactor, the local government has a right to say ‘No.’"

[Read the whole story here.]

Malaysia's loss, as usual, is Singapore's gain....

Yale World Fellow Huzir Sulaiman (formerly of Malaysia and now Singapore) works across different media, art forms, and genres, telling stories that allow people to access complex ideas in simple, personal, human ways. He is the Creative Director of Studio Wong Huzir, a brand communications consultancy, and a Joint Artistic Director of Checkpoint Theatre, which the Financial Times (UK) called "a repository of much of [Singapore's] best stage talent."

A celebrated playwright, his plays include the internationally acclaimed satire Atomic Jaya (1998), which asks what would happen if Malaysia decided to build an atomic bomb, and the forthcoming The Weight of Silk on Skin (August 2011), a meditation on women, beauty, love and loss.

Sulaiman also writes for film, television and newspapers, and teaches playwriting at the National University of Singapore. As a brand communications consultant, he has worked as the Creative Director of the observation deck on the 124th floor of the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, and recently completed a book on the history of Temasek Holdings, the USD147billion investment firm owned by the Singapore government.

What follows is a book review I wrote for kakiseni.com in December 2002... 

8 BRILLIANT PLAYS IN 4 TUMULTUOUS YEARS

Antares accords Eight Plays by Huzir Sulaiman a vertical ovation

Huzir Sulaiman must be sick and tired of being called precocious, an enfant terrible, a veritable prodigy. But that’s only because people believe him when he says he was born in 1973. After reading his recently published Eight Plays, I’m convinced that Huzir must be at least several years my senior and ready to withdraw his EPF money.

Either that or he’s suffering from progeria - a wasting disease that grossly accelerates the aging process - because I distinctly recall acting with Huzir Sulaiman in a 1981 production called Struggles of the Naga Tribe when he claimed to be only seven. Well, even then, he seemed rather precocious - and a whole lot more approachable than the image of the enigmatic and disdainful savant he sports today.

But I’ll say this: few people I know deserve to be called “creative genius” as much as Huzir Sulaiman does, regardless of mental age or attitude towards his audiences.  I have no idea what his formative years were like. I know his parents are incredibly smart (his dad was one-time president of the Bar Council, and featured prominently as a senior member of Anwar Ibrahim’s defence team) - but what books did he read, was he good at sports, did he like girls? I’m told he was a top student at Princeton, though I haven’t a clue what his major was. All I know is that Huzir returned to KL in the mid-1990s looking like a tweedy middle-aged Ivy League professor.

But, boy, could he act! He was superb in every rôle he played, even when cast as a Malaysian “Mr Bean” in a silly TV sitcom series. Then he tried his hand at directing - and the results were outstanding. Next thing I knew, this prodigious enfant terrible had churned out a slew of plays - all of them excellent, damn him!

And now Silverfishbooks have published eight of them in an affordable paperback edition. Unfortunately the laminated covers curl as soon as you begin to read. Well, one either lives with this or holds out for a hardcover edition. And this collection undoubtedly deserves a permanent place in any library. Not everyone thinks plays are good reading but in this case I found the text extremely engaging as literature, and the exercise actually forced me to change my mind about some Huzir productions I’d seen (but more about that later).

It’s true Huzir’s first play, a one-man show called Lazy Hazy Crazy, was pretty much an Instant Café Theatre revue - but without the rest of the famous cast, of which he had been a member for a season or two. It was nonetheless hilarious and wackily inspired, and established his Straits Theatre Company as a cutting edge force. The playwright decided to omit this early effort from the collection - either because he prefers the numeral 8 to 9, or perhaps he felt it didn’t quite match the elegance and sophistication of his subsequent works.

A strategic move: because his second play, Atomic Jaya, was simply explosive. No, it didn’t bomb. On the contrary, it was arguably the most scathing, timely, and intelligent satire ever seen in these parts. The first version had the incredible Jo Kukathas playing all 14 parts. It was revised and restaged three years later in Singapore with the phenomenal Claire Wong as the entire cast.

Who can resist quoting a brief exchange between Dr Mary Yuen (nuclear physicist) and General Zulkifli (who commissions her to build the first Malaysian atom bomb)?

General Zulkifli welcomes Dr Mary Yuen to the research laboratory of Syarikat Perniagaan Atomic Jaya Sdn. Bhd.

YUEN:  Yes, I was confused about the sign. You mean this is a private company?

GENERAL:   It’s not my decision. Everything they must privatize now. But it’s okay.

The directors of the company include seven generals and one Prime Minister’s son.

You must have Prime Minister’s son. Keep them busy. Otherwise if unemployed they will start the NGO.

Exquisite precision. Atomic Jaya had the same electrifying intensity as Stanley Kubrick’s classic Dr Strangelove or Terry Gilliam’s hyperrealistic Brazil. It was delightful to be able to read the script and be mesmerized all over again by the sparkling wit and sheer inventiveness of this brilliantly mad exposé of the psychopathology of Bolehland.

The Smell of Language - an involuted and priapic experiment in verbal synesthesia (no doubt inspired by the fractal semantic constructs of Jorge Luis Borges) struck me as one huge wank when I saw Huzir perform it - albeit a highly erudite one with serious political undertones. But as a printed text, it holds enormous appeal for anyone who takes pleasure in cunning linguistics and the ruthlessness of intellectual virtuosity.

It’s easy to see why Hip-Hopera - Huzir’s shot at writing and directing a feel-good rap musical - proved such a box-office hit, playing to packed houses for a full month. The characters are breezy and instantly likeable, the tunes lively, funky (and forgettable), but the lyrics… the lyrics are something else, check this out:

I’m a soap-box preacher, a lyrical teacher

And if you come into my theatre there’s an usher who will seat ya

And if you come into my parlour I’m sure I’m pleased to meet ya

And if you come into my bed you can see the main feature

Got a lot of philosophy that just might reach ya

Cause I dig Heidegger and Friedrich Nietszche

I need ya, I’ll feed ya, I’m never going to cheat ya

But if you lie like the President I am going to impeach ya

Genuinely capable and inventive individuals like Huzir Sulaiman are the only cure for Terminal Malaysiabolehitis. Their creative contributions rescue us from chronic cultural embarrassment or, worse, premature self-congratulations.

I regret missing Zahim Albakri’s performance of Notes on Life & Love & Painting, which received critical accolades. Reading it was truly an aesthetic experience and

further reinforced my admiration for the way Huzir Sulaiman has integrated his Ivy League education with an intrinsically Malaysian sensibility. His diatribe on the myth of artistic originality is worth framing as a poster and I feel compelled to quote a portion of it, truncated for brevity:

We have rubber trees because rubber trees were brought here from Brazil by the British. Chilli is not indigenous. Chilli was imported from South America 500 years ago. What comes from Malaysia? We buy our rice from Thailand now and our sarongs from Indonesia. Was the novel invented in Malaysia? No. Did we invent films and television? Is painting indigenous to Malaysia? No. Is abstract art an outgrowth of weaving mengkuang? Like fuck it is. So why should anybody expect me to be original? It angers me when after hundreds of years of importing aspects of other people’s culture some politician in a 4,000-ringgit Italian suit complains about Western values and such-and-such a thing is not from our culture. Our culture is everybody else’s culture. We’ve never had our own. Deal with it and grow up. Would you like some coffee? No? It’s Colombian.

He even succeeds in ending the monologue on a positive, life-affirming note. Awesome! It’s one of those wonderfully self-contained masterpieces one wishes one had written.

The neo-existentialist mood of Election Day annoyed and depressed me when I caught the play, staged as it was nine days after a bitterly disappointing election that saw business-as-usual triumph over ethical and environmental considerations. But in the ensuing years, I have come to accept that Huzir was right - the male ego’s desire to screw something terribly sexy, like an exotic woman or an entire country, transcends belief systems and underlies all acts of betrayal. However, I’m still unhappy with the way Huzir disposes of two of his characters, getting them hauled off by the cops for assaulting a police officer. Surely he could have found some way to invoke the dreaded ISA?

Those Four Sisters Fernandez represents the playwright’s exploration of his own Malayalee roots. There are many scintillating moments and memorable lines, yet the play leaves a great deal unresolved - but I suppose life’s a lot like that. As an attempt to document the collective psyche of a fascinating subculture and how it responds to change, the play carries considerable value. Nonetheless, it isn’t my favorite in the collection.

The last two plays - Occupation and Whatever That Is - have only ever been staged in Singapore. The former was commissioned by the 2002 Singapore Arts Festival while the latter was presented as part of an evening of 10-minute plays entitled Squeeze and Squeezability. Occupation is a masterful and disciplined exploration of internal puns and rhymes, and the nebulous nature of historical reconstruction. I found it a tad clinical yet strangely heartwarming. What impressed me most was Huzir’s knack of capturing the inflections of his characters’ speech in print.

If one must draw comparisons, it’s Salman Rushdie who comes to mind: I regard Rushdie as one of the most engaging contemporary writers in English, a happy and unexpected by-product of the late great British Empire, whose “native” soul fuses ecstatically with his “colonized” mind. Well, we don’t want a fatwa on Huzir’s head - but it definitely does me proud to claim dat young fler as an old friend (no pun intended). And to think he used to call me “Uncle.” This is ridiculously mature work for someone who just turned 29.

Whatever That Is reads like a miniature gem in the chic and cerebral style of Yasmina Reza (whose award-winning play, Art, was staged by Huzir’s Straits Theatre Company in June 2001). Huzir certainly knows how to play with pregnant pauses, making silence speak louder than his wonderfully crafted words.

An extremely hearty slap on the back to Silverfishbooks for making Huzir Sulaiman’s Eight Plays available in print. What an excellent public service. May it reach far and wide and redeem our pygmified intellectual self-esteem. I hope we don’t lose one of our finest creative minds to a neighboring country for lack of appreciation.

[A year after I wrote this review, Huzir Sulaiman decided to settle in Singapore, where he married Claire Wong, another former Malaysian and an absolutely superb actress.]

WE CAN ALL BE HEROES (ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING!)

First published 20 March 2008...
"Mati ayam, mati tungaunya (if the fowl dies, its ticks perish too)" - an old Malay saying.

As far as I’m concerned, Umno-BN is deceased. Finito. R.I.P. Kaput. What happened on March 8th was a gigantic Samurai sword that moved so swiftly the 10-headed hydra of Might-Is-Right that has terrorized us for the last 25 years lost all its heads. The BN survivors of the March 8th debacle are all operating in Safe Mode now, their operating systems having crashed big-time. Perhaps the Umno-BN hard drive can still be booted up a few more times and some useful data saved - but the motherboard itself is on the verge of terminal malfunction. So let's not speak ill of the dead.

Anyone who hasn’t been brainwashed by establishment pundits with vested interests can see that Anwar Ibrahim has got what it takes to steer this floundering ship back on course. And what it takes is intelligence, courage, stamina, adaptability, good humor, experience, and most importantly, ethical sense. His resilience has been proven over the last ten years by his capacity to transmute tragedy into triumph, transforming himself from victim to victor - all the while maintaining his dignity, clarity, and focus.

Whatever his early political agenda, the Anwar Ibrahim of 2008 has been forged in the furnace of personal pain and endurance. In 1998 he could have taken the money and run - become an academic or corporate CEO. But he didn’t. He stood up to Mahathir (right) and fought like a man. That’s how he gained my respect and admiration and trust. There are very few in our midst today that I can describe as “heroic.”

Is Chandra Muzaffar a hero? He might have been once, back in the early 1980s when he left academia to battle the monstrous menace of Mahathir. But after his ISA experience in 1987, Chandra’s spirit buckled. He left Aliran to establish JUST and for a few years he continued to say the right things. But he had lost his fire, his fighting spirit. He had gone the way of Lee Lam Thye.

Is Raja Petra Kamarudin (left) a hero? Most certainly. He stood by Anwar Ibrahim in the early days of his rebellion against monumental odds and was arrested under the ISA for his efforts. He was a tireless webmaster for the official Reformasi website and that subsequently led to his launching Malaysia Today - a "no holds barred" local news portal that has played a crucial role in exposing the dark side of Umno-BN and gained an immense readership. Indeed, RPK grew to be such a thorn in BN's backside a police report was filed against him by an Umno hatchetman and he was interrogated for eight hours. He threw his energy into the Opposition campaign as a featured speaker at many ceramahs (political rallies). Although a bona fide prince, RPK has always been accessible, down-to-earth and his finger is firmly on the pulse of the people. A large part of the credit for what happened on March 8th must go to RPK.

[Since this essay was written, much has transpired that warrants the inclusion of a footnote: RPK was arrested under the ISA in September 2008 and sent to Kamunting; in November a courageous high court judge ordered his unconditional release, and RPK subsequently went into self-imposed exile; recently, RPK turned petulant and began attacking Anwar Ibrahim, although it appears to be more a personal than political feud. This has dimmed RPK's heroic lustre to a large extent, even if he remains a positive force for change.]

Is Tian Chua a hero? I would say YES! His career as a politician is only just taking off and he has learnt fast, especially after nearly losing his parliamentary seat over the ridiculous charge of biting a policeman. In any case, his fearlessness in the face of police violence has inspired many to speak up or march for justice. There are many other heroes I can think of: Lim Guan Eng, the new Chief Minister of Penang, for example, jailed by Mahathir for speaking up on behalf of a schoolgirl gang-banged by the former Chief Minister of Melaka; Tony Pua, who sold his successful IT business to launch his political career as an outspoken blogger and DAP candidate; Sivarasa Rasiah, who has spent the last 20 years defending human rights... it so happens they are all in the Pakatan Rakyat.

And then there's Steven Gan, managing editor of Malaysiakini, who stuck to his guns as a political journalist and quit The Sun when he rubbed the establishment up the wrong way. In 1999, at the height of Reformasi fervor, Steven teamed up with Premesh Chandran to launch Malaysia's first news portal. Over the years Malaysiakini has survived several police raids and the confiscation of its computers. For invaluable services rendered to truth-loving Malaysians, this news portal deserves a standing ovation - and a thousand-fold increase in subscribers!

But to my mind nobody can match what Anwar Ibrahim has accomplished: he has led us through the Chapel Perilous of racial politics and now, for the first time since Merdeka, we can look around and appreciate the beauty of our own diversity and say, “Vive la difference!” On March 9th I was blissed out by a tangible feeling that we are no longer stuck in the rut of ethnocentric tempurungism, that we have finally outgrown all that “Bangsa-Ugama-Tanahair” hot air. I went to town and felt the genuine goodwill and jubilation that shone from every face I saw - Malay, Chinese, Indian, Orang Asli, Dan-lain-lain!

What has been missing all these decades is the possibility that we can love one another as humans, regardless of skin color or creed - that’s because cold-blooded ambition and ruthless greed have no use for empathy and warm feelings, nor does it encourage compassion, kindness, and spontaneous joy. No, it feeds and fattens itself vampire-like on fear - other people’s fear. And now, on that bright Sunday morning after GE12, the fear had dissipated like a bad smell in the winds of change. PKR flags fluttered proudly against a glorious blue Selangor sky, proclaiming that the people's eyes were open at long last.

In the climate of fear Mahathir created during his 22-year reign, anybody who dared speak the truth became a hero - or martyr. Anwar Ibrahim, more than any other political icon in the country, succeeded in transcending his own childhood prejudices to embody the universal values that will unite rather than divide us as a nation. That is indeed the mark of a hero. Let us honor this hero (who nearly became a martyr) by giving him what he fully deserves - the chance to serve as prime minister (at least till he tires of it or we tire of him). At the same time, let us all aspire to become heroes too, so that we will no longer be scared children in need of a grown-up to lead us across the street. Let us each become, in time, self-governing individuals whose relationship to our political leaders is akin to an orchestra’s respect for the conductor, knowing full well that his job is to create a symphony from the potential cacophony of so many different instruments.


[Illustration by Antares from Two Catfish in the Same Hole; photos pinched from various sources]

Flashback to Puncak Alam, 19 October 2006...

[Brought to my attention by Hawkeye]

THE MANY HUES OF MALAYSIAN POLITICS (REVISITED)

GREEN is for the Islamic Party, PAS, whose politics are founded on religion. A dangerous mix indeed. Politics concern the outer world and religion the inner. Ideally the inner and outer ought to be aligned and in dynamic balance. But who determines the parameters of inner space, the dimensions of belief and faith? A panel of ulamas (spiritual leaders)?


There have been many theocratic nations that have lasted hundreds, even thousands of years. Ancient Egypt flourished for millennia and it was a civilization built around the concept of the Pharaoh as a divine manifestation. Tibet was for centuries essentially a lamacracy ruled by lamas with the Dalai Lama as titular head. Constantine and, later Charlemagne, tried to establish a Holy Roman Empire with Roman Catholicism at its core. Salah ad-Dīn Yusuf ibn Ayyub aka Saladin had the same vision of conquering the world for Islam. America under the Neocons may be said to have been the reincarnation and modern manifestation of a 4,000-year-old dream of a Unified Judeo-Christian World.

RED & WHITE represent courage and purity, and it's probable that the Democratic Action Party (DAP) chose these colors as a nod to its early ideological links with Lee Kuan Yew's People's Action Party (PAP).

RED is also the color most frequently associated with Communism and Socialism as it's a martial color symbolizing passion, heroism, and victory and prosperity through sacrifice and struggle. The Chinese national flag is RED. Singapore's is RED & WHITE. So are the Canadian and Swiss flags - though the Canadians and Swiss are hardly into socialism in a big way.

Nor is UMNO whose official colors, interestingly, also happen to be red and white - making it an energetic match for the DAP. However, the UMNO logo is in blood red, indicative of strong racialism and an atavistic propensity to resolve disputes through brute force.


DARK BLUE is the color of Barisan Nasional and policemen's pants. Nobody (except perhaps a policewoman in heat) likes to be forced to look at policemen's pants closeup.

BN achieved a measure of popular support for many decades by putting the "development" agenda at the forefront at a time when people were eager to embrace modernity and prosper. Alas, internal weaknesses - mainly unfettered corruption, blatant cronyism and nepotism, and heavy-handed abuse of power - brought the ruling party into disrepute and it was shown the massive disfavor of voters in the last general election.

Panicked by the imminent prospect of losing power after more than 50 years, BN swung violently to the right by muscling the utterly corrupt Najib Razak into the post of crime minister.

Clinging desperately to the status quo through flat-footed police intimidation and high-priced image consultants, BN's dark blue banner with the archaic scale symbol has come to represent endless despair to young Malaysians who dream of a harmonious, joyful and wealthy nation managed by brilliant and talented individuals untainted by generations in power. However, almost all the brilliant and talented ones have long left BN or were never part of the defective and deficient government.


SKY BLUE, WHITE & RED constitute the colors of Parti KeADILan Rakyat (PKR). The contrast between the light pastel blue of PKR and the dark blue of BN is like the difference between the clear sky of freedom - and the interior of a policeman's pants.


The blue and green fields of PKR and PAS appear to complement each other reasonably well. But red and green are either complementary or conflicting colors, hence the friction and frequent tensions that arise between the secular DAP and the religious PAS.


Now if the red and green polarities could learn to appreciate the workings of the chromatic spectrum, they would quickly discover that their differences are merely superficial. No deeper than the skin and tattoos of cultural imprints, really.


I never get tired of seeing photos of PAS spiritual leader Tuan Guru Nik Aziz and DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang sitting together at ceramahs. Ever since the Permatang Pauh by-election in August 2008 these two seem to have become firm friends. The Fearless General and the Foxy Ustaz: what a formidable partnership they form when they work together, united by a common dream we all share...


The dream of a glorious New Dawn for Malaysia where all the colors of Pakatan Rakyat combine to form a perfect picture of loving abundance for everyone under the sun. PAS can be the moral foundation, representing the aspirations of the grassroots and the humble folk who live close to the earth. PKR, a party founded on social justice - and the rejection of cruelty, inhumanity and injustice - can ensure that democratic rights and universal principles of freedom and truth are well defended against the power-hungry. And DAP, with its ambition to see the nation's wealth fairly distributed and wisely managed, will be the engine that thrusts Malaysia boldly into the future.


So hang in there, folks! Don't get up and leave just because the band hit a couple of wrong notes. The REAL party hasn't even begun...


[First published 3 July 2009]

UBAH MEANS CHANGE... and the Times They Are Indeed A-Changing!

Kudos to Anthony Loke & Yu Heng for the uplifting lyrics and inspiring theme; music video director Jia Keng for a competent, sincere and sensitive job well done; and the DAP for successfully rejuvenating and reinventing itself, just as PAS has done. Love the end sequence with the glowing orbs of revitalizing change.

Now that the Umno dregs from PKR have more or less been flushed out, leaving the true warriors, the party has proved its mettle by lifting the lid on so many massive scandals - it has truly earned its epithet of People's Justice Party.

Stick together, DAP, PKR & PAS - all the decent, justice-loving, freedom-cherishing voters of Malaysia are with you in this exciting time of CHANGE!