A young Malaysian's answer to Dr M's dirty politics of divide-and-rule...

Dr M, you are wrong!

by Azrul Mohd Khalid | The Malaysian Insider

JULY 5 — I was quite disappointed to read of Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s prediction that the upcoming general election would be more focussed on race and ethnic issues than ever before.

I think you are wrong, Dr M. Speaking as a product of your policies and far-sightedness in the creation of a Vision 2020 generation, I am happy to inform you, Dr M, that you have actually wildly succeeded in pushing us towards the formation of a more united, integrated and mature democratic Malaysian society (remember the Vision 2020 concept document?).

Through the programmes put in place under your leadership, the opportunities for education and learning provided by your administration, and through the shared experiences, heartache and pain that we have had over the past three decades, you bear much responsibility for the current state of affairs which resulted in the evolution of our people.

Bazuki Muhammad/Reuters

And the evolution is a good one. When you look at the young people today below the age of 35, there is much to be proud of. We used to gripe about how apathetic Malaysians in general were about the state of the country, how they often took for granted that which they are able to benefit from, and did not really want to participate in the political process. Well, things, as you well know, certainly have changed.

Though we are not quite there yet, we are getting ready to leave racial identity politics behind. We see the possibility of a new Malaysia. One that concentrates on addressing the real issues affecting Malaysians such as alleviating poverty and economic hardship, reducing unemployment, addressing corruption, improving livelihoods and preventing crime. Whether you are Melayu, Cina, India or lain-lain, it just doesn’t mean much to people any more. Everyone is in the same boat and we need to work together.

We should be wary and turn away from these guys who scream, shout abuse, and threaten violence in order to get their way. These are the people who claim to be the champions of speaking out and defending the rights and privileges of their race yet are the same ones who are still robbing these same communities and the rakyat blind for themselves and their families.

They do this while securing sweetheart deals and line their pockets with public funds. They distract us from the bread-and-butter issues by abusing and misusing religion to promote bigoted and racist agendas against those of other ethnicities and religions.

These are the ones who are obsessed in continuously speaking about race and are racist themselves, who jump at shadows, yell “traitor” and point to others at every single turn, offer luxury cars to encourage the intimidation of others, threaten physical harm and insist on maintaining the status quo for the benefit of the privileged few.

Look around you, Dr M. Does it sound familiar to you? If all you hear is race, it is because you surround yourself or are surrounded by people who are terrified of positive change and are only looking out for their own selfish interests. Maybe it’s time to find a new group of friends.

Meanwhile, we are moving on.

There has never been a prouder moment for Malaysians to be Malaysian. We have progressed far from my parents’ generation of “siapalah kita” to the current one who answer back “kita adalah rakyat Malaysia.” We are experiencing an empowered sense of shared destiny and a common vision.

If you had been at the rally on July 9 last year and the many rallies organised around the nation this year, particularly the one on April 28 at Dataran Merdeka, you would realise that this generation is neither an apathetic one nor are they troublemakers.

If you had been there standing and sitting with us and seen the peoples of Malaysia from all walks of life reflected in the faces of those gathered there that day in solidarity, you would realise that this is a group of people who care and love their country and who want to see a better Malaysia. You would have been proud of us.



When you see people standing in solidarity and unified together for no other reason than that they care about an issue of mutual and common concern which affects all Malaysians, are you not proud that we have looked beyond race?

Isn’t this what we sought to be and do? Are we forever going to be chained by the divisions created and cast by our former colonial masters? We cannot afford to be forever mired in racial identity politics

Today, to talk about race is to be selfish, narrow minded and to lack vision. A leader of today’s Malaysia must rise above race and communal politics. To remain relevant, the ruling coalition must learn to adapt and to accept the dawning reality that the old rules are increasingly fading into obscurity. It must reinvent itself or risk being obsolete, as some political parties are already finding out the hard way.

We need to move beyond the dinosaurs of the past who are fossilised and only know of the importance of race and their own selfish concerns.

We are moving on.

This will be Malaysia’s proudest moment when we take the first tentative and courageous steps towards a future where the divisive race-based politics will be increasingly less of a factor.

Perhaps the coming elections will be about race. It will be the beginning of how race ceases to become the unifying factor for people of this country. It will be the starting point when Malaysians began to see something greater than themselves and reached deep down and found courage in striking out into the undiscovered country, leaving the baggage of race in the dustbin of history.

Azrul Mohd Khalib works on HIV/AIDS, sex and human rights issues. He is becoming cynical and is in danger of losing his sense of humour and mind. 

KAM RASLAN ~ A Movie You Can Read ~ by Antares

First published December 2006 in The Hilt...

Meet Kam Raslan, college dropout, filmmaker… and now, first-time novelist. Physically, Kam is an unlikely cross between Keanu Reeves and Woody Allen. Mentally, I’d suggest Fyodor Dostoevsky overlaid with a strong hint of John Cleese. Mother: Welsh, fond of classical music, a violinist and closet fan of David Bowie. Father: Malay, successful banker, passed away when Kam was only four.

Educational background: Kam went to some excellent schools in England and flunked all his exams. Remembers seeing his mother with her head in her hands after he failed his ‘O’ Levels, and all he could say was, “I’m going to the pub.” After screwing up his ‘A’ Levels, Kam’s friend at a film school asked him to help out on a shoot, as sound recordist.

The very first day of the shoot, Kam fell in love with filmmaking: “I suddenly discovered something that I understood and something that I was good at.” That was 21 years ago. He has since worked on films in London, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, and even Los Angeles. In the 1990s Kam directed a lot of commercials and was making good money… until he wrote a magazine article dismissing Malaysian adbiz as a load of crap.

Not exactly a smart business move – but perhaps it forced Kam to concentrate on writing. He was kept busy for a period scripting material for the Instant Café Theatre. In fact, rumor has it that Kam wrote the bulk of the skits for their 2nd First Annual Bolehwood Awards - which ruffled quite a few bureaucratic feathers and almost got the show shut down by City Hall.

Kam paid his penance by scripting and directing several Malay TV dramas, none of which he seems keen to discuss in any detail. More recently Kam Raslan’s byline has graced the pages of The Edge as well as Off The Edge (which serialized several chapters from his forthcoming novel).

When I broached the possibility of an interview and personality profile for The Hilt, Kam was pleased with the prospect of some publicity for his soon-to-be-published book – but unsure if he wanted to be identified as the author. You see, Kam’s first novel is a personal narrative attributed to a retired civil servant named Dato’ Hamid. Kam wants his readers to believe that Dato’ Hamid is a real person – not just a fictitious character assembled from components of various personalities he has known or heard about.

After a brief exchange of SMSes, Kam agreed that it was quite pointless to assume the role of ghostwriter – and far too complicated to spin a yarn that Kam Raslan was only the Dato’s spokesman and facilitator. Might as well accept all the credit… as well as the possible censure from certain quarters who may be acutely discomfited by Dato’ Hamid’s published confessions.

Kam’s approach to writing is distinctly more cinematic than literary, in that he prefers to set the scene and then allow his characters to reveal themselves through their words and deeds. This makes his book a painless pleasure to read. By eschewing verbal embroidery and highfalutin stylistics, Kam draws the reader straight into his tale - just as a well-crafted film instantly immerses us in the action and the atmosphere. The naturalism that Kam has achieved in his story-telling grants us a privileged glimpse of a world within a world – that of the upper class Malay in the context of post-colonial Malaya’s rapid evolution into the multi-layered complexity of a multicultural, multiracial Malaysian nation. Dato’ Hamid’s stories engagingly reveal the foibles and follies of the Malay elite, and offer a rare insight into the sociopolitical and psychological factors governing Malaysia.

“What’s the title of your book?” I asked Kam. “Umm, still thinking about it…” he said, wondering if I had any suggestions. I SMSed Kam: “Call it HAMID, in bold 3D font like BEN HUR, with a subhead: Confessions of a retired civil servant.” He shot back an SMS: “Funny, I was thinking along the lines of Ben Hur myself.” Later I Googled the Arabic name “Hamid” and found out it means “praiseworthy.” Definitely a name that looks good carved in stone.

[Note: In 2007, a few months after this article appeared, Kam Raslan's debut novel, Confessions of an Old Boy, was published by Marshall Cavendish. It proved to be a runaway bestseller.]

Signs of positive reinforcement...

[Posters found on Fabiola Tiamar Kühl's facebook wall]

Missed the rare transit of Venus across the Sun? Here's a ringside view...

Launched on 11 February 2010, the Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, is the most advanced spacecraft ever designed to study the sun. During its five-year mission, it will examine the sun's atmosphere, magnetic field and also provide a better understanding of the role the sun plays in Earth's atmospheric chemistry and climate. SDO provides images with resolution 8 times better than high-definition television and returns more than a terabyte of data each day.

On 5 June 2012, SDO collected images of the rarest predictable solar event - the transit of Venus across the face of the sun. This event happens in pairs eight years apart that are separated from each other by 105 or 121 years. The last transit was in 2004 and the next will not happen until 2117.

The videos and images displayed here are constructed from several wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light and a portion of the visible spectrum. The red colored sun is the 304 angstrom ultraviolet, the golden colored sun is 171 angstrom, the magenta sun is 1700 angstrom, and the orange sun is filtered visible light. 304 and 171 show the atmosphere of the sun, which does not appear in the visible part of the spectrum.

This video is public domain and can be downloaded here.

Lest we forget what transpired on 28 April 2012...

DAP in pre-emptive strike over Bersih 3.0 video

Kuek Ser Kuang Keng 2:12PM Jun 6, 2012

Just hours before the Home Ministry is scheduled to release its version of Bersih 3.0 rally footage, the DAP has launched its video on the April 28 street protest in Kuala Lumpur.

Focusing on police brutality, the 15-minute edited video, entitled Bersih 3.0 Semangat Bersih, Harapan Negara (Bersih 3.0 Clean Spirit, Hope of the Nation), has Malay subtitles and a narrative.

National publicity secretary Tony Pua, who screened the video at a press conference at DAP headquarters this morning, said the footage proves that the rally was a peaceful and joyous one until the police got involved.

“There was no reason why the police should have acted in such an aggressive fashion against unarmed Malaysians,” he said.

The video, Pua said, also exposes the prime minister’s “clear-cut discrepancy and hypocrisy” on the rally for clean and fair elections.

[Source: Malaysiakini]

THE PEOPLE ASSEMBLED PEACEFULLY. 
THE POLICE RIOTED VIOLENTLY.
HISHAMMUDDIN... DOWN YOU GO!

Everybody who's celebrating a birthday today... this one is especially for you!

ALI FARKA TOURE vocals, guitar | ALI MAGASSA guitar, vocals | BASSEKOU KOUYATE n'goni | SOULEYMANE KANE cabaça, djembé, vocals | OUMAR AMADOUN TOURE congas, vocals | OUMAR DIALLO baixo | featuring TOUMANI DIABATE on kora

Recorded 22 June 2005

[Brought to my attention by Dain Said]

VENUS TRANSIT 5/6 JUNE 2012

Venus (detail), by Henri Pierre Picou (1824-1895)

John Wadsworth on the Venus Transit of June 2012...

In this video, astrologer John Wadsworth discusses the astronomical and astrological significance of this year's Venus transit - and the extraordinary symmetry and harmony of the eight-year cycle of Venus-Sun conjunctions.

WHO DA FUCK IS DIS GUY? NOW WE ALL KNOW...

But would you trust him with RM5 billion of your hard-earned pension funds... after he made RM30 billion disappear into thin air?


Like his former boss Daim Zainuddin, he stays clear of the spotlight, preferring to work quietly behind the scenes. As Mahathir's financial advisor in the 1980s Nor Mohamed Yakcop was implicated in a series of colossal disasters and largely responsible for the shocking loss of RM30 billion of the rakyat's money in forex speculation that ended in abysmal failure. Instead of losing his job, he gets promoted to Second Finance Minister. Only in Bolehland!

It now transpires that Daim Zainuddin, then finance minister, had in 1992 authorized Nor Mohamed Yakcop to gamble with our money in the forex casino, with the acquiescence of Bank Negara governor Jaffar Hussein and prime minister Mahathir Mohamed. They probably agreed to split the profits, if any - but any losses incurred would be quietly foisted on the public. Nice guys, huh?


From Malaysiakini (Vox Populi | 26 July 2008): "Recent developments have shown that Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop indeed played a pivotal role in Bank Negara's forex scandal between 1992 to 1994. It would now be embarrassing to Pak Lah's administration if he continues to serve as Malaysia's second finance minister after being responsible for such a colossal loss of up to RM30 billion of the people's money. The most honourable thing for him to do would be to step down and come clean on the enormous forex losses as a result of speculation in the international currency markets in the 90s."

The forex scandal is ‘plunder’ of the highest order. Pak Lah must not close one eye to this gross offence of misappropriation of funds, which had allegedly occurred. Pak Lah who serves under the BN government must carry through his pledge to clean up the country. The best way to do that is to start with all the alleged abuses and misappropriation of funds over the last 20 years of the BN rule. The Sabah immigration scandal, Perwaja, MAS, Miti share allocations and the use of the people’s EPF money. Until he does this and investigate the losses, BN will forever be haunted by the ghosts of the past. The people will not rest until we see the culprits brought to justice, and if not, BN must be held responsible.

THE RM700 MILLION BANK ISLAM SCANDAL (2005)

RM30 BILLION FOREX FIASCO (1992-94)

MORE ON THE RM30 BILLION FOREX FIASCO

IT'S A MAD, MAD WORLD


[First published 14 November 2008]

Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II ~ Success story of the Anunnaki Bloodlines

Elizabeth Alexandra Mary (born 21 April 1926),
ascended the throne in 1952

The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II is a multinational celebration throughout 2012 marking the 60th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom to the thrones of seven countries upon the death of her father, King George VI, on 6 February 1952. She is today queen regnant of 16 sovereign states, 12 of which were British colonies or Dominions at the start of her reign.


Queen Victoria in 1897 is the only other monarch in the histories of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and a few other Commonwealth realms to have celebrated a Diamond Jubilee. Following the tradition of jubilees past, a Diamond Jubilee medal is being awarded in various countries and holidays and events will be held throughout the Commonwealth. Plans were discussed at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2011.

Windsor castle, interior

The House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (orig. Haus Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha) is a German dynasty, the line of the Saxon House of Wettin that ruled the Ernestine duchies, including the duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.


Founded by Ernest Anton, the sixth duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, it is also the royal house of several European monarchies, and branches currently reign in Belgium through the descendants of Leopold I, and in the Commonwealth realms through the descendants of Prince Albert.


Due to anti-German sentiment in the United Kingdom during World War I, George V of the United Kingdom changed the name of his branch from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to Windsor in 1917. [Source: Wikipedia]

Windsor Castle, exterior

One of the biggest public relations hoaxes ever perpetrated by the British Crown, is that King Edward VIII, who abdicated the throne in 1938, due to his support for the Nazis, was a "black sheep," an aberration in an otherwise unblemished Windsor line.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The British monarchy, and the City of London's leading Crown bankers, enthusiastically backed Hitler and the Nazis, bankrolled the Führer's election, and did everything possible to build the Nazi war machine, for Britain's planned geopolitical war between Germany and Russia.

Support for Nazi-style genocide has always been at the heart of House of Windsor policy, and long after the abdication of Edward VIII, the Merry Windsors maintained their direct Nazi links.

Prince Philip (born 10 June 1921)
married Elizabeth on 20 November 1947

So, when Prince Philip, co-founder with Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), tells an interviewer that he hopes to be "reincarnated as a deadly virus" to help solve the "population problem," he is just "doin' what comes naturally" for any scion of the Anglo-Dutch oligarchy.

To get beyond the soap opera stuff and truly understand the Windsors today, it is useful to start with Prince Philip. Not only was he trained in the Hitler Youth curriculum, but his German brothers-in-law, with whom he lived, all became high-ranking figures in the Nazi Party.

[More at American Almanac]

MESSAGE FROM UTU SHAMASH, SON OF KING NANNAR OF NIBIRU, TO HUMANITY

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN ~ by Motorhead

God save the queen

The fascist regime

They made you a moron

Potential H-bomb

God save the queen

She aint no human being

There is no future

In England's dreaming

Don't be told what you want

Don't be told what you need

There's no future no future

No future for you

God save the queen

We mean it man

We love our queen

God saves

God save the queen

'Cos tourists are money

Our figurehead

Is not what she seems

Oh God save history

God save your mad parade

Oh lord God have mercy

All crimes are paid

When there's no future

How can there be sin

We're the flowers in the dustbin

We're the poison in your human machine

We're the future your future

God save the queen

We mean it man

We love our queen

God saves

God save the queen

We mean it man

And there is no future

In England's dreaming

No future,no future

No future for you

No future,no future

No future for me

No future,no future

No future for you

No future,no future

No future for you

No future

No future for you

Venus Transit of the Sun and the Astrology of June 2012 ~ with Carl Boudreau

How can we get the 1% to stop hogging 99% of the goodies?

The Yin Yang of World Hunger by David Revoy

What started off as a doodle by French artist David Revoy has now gone viral on the internet. Read Revoy's personal account of how a simple idea swiftly evolved into a powerful visual meme.

Sinking deeper and deeper into a vast pit of shit...

Najib, Baginda, Umno, C4 and Daim

In today's press briefing, SUARAM confirmed that apart from individuals involved such as Najib and his close friend Razak Baginda, the Malaysian ruling party (UMNO) is the biggest beneficiary.

The evidence SUARAM lawyers have gathered include a sub-folder entitled "C4" which swivels the spotlight for the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder back onto Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor.

Najib "Ferdinand" Razak & Rosmah "Imelda" Mansor

The Malaysian first couple have been accused of being involved in her murder and two of their bodyguards have been sentenced to hang for killing the 28-year-old Mongolian lady and exploding her body with C4 to prevent identification. Altantuya, who Baginda admits was his mistress, is believed to have had knowledge of the Scorpene transaction.

Apart from Najib and Baginda, former finance minister Daim Zainuddin was also implicated when SUARAM revealed that documents seized by the French police included a note that named Mohd Ibrahim Mohd Noor as one of the players. According to SUARAM, Mohd Ibrahim is close to Daim.

[Read the whole sordid tale here.]

Why settle for Crap News when you can access Rap News?

Episode XIII - A NEWS HOPE 

It is a time of corporate war.

Deprived of a reliable media the people of Planet Earth are kept misinformed and in a state of perpetual conflict.

In order to discover whether an honest Fourth Estate is the Force than can restore peace and balance to this distant arm of the Galaxy, Juice Rap News consults two of journalism's most inflammatory figures: Rebel journalist enfant terrible, Julian Assange who awaits a verdict in London which could see him 'extradited' to Sweden. And, on the opposite end of the media spectrum, Rupert Murdoch, the media mogul embroiled in legal scandals which go to the highest level of celebrity in Britain.

In the manichean manner of some ancient laser sword and forcery epic, join the wisest news-anchor in the galaxy, Robert Foster, as he attempts to wrangle these two figures together for a rap-debate.

Will the light or the dark side prevail, and is it really so easy to know which is which? Will egos get in the way of civilised debate? How many Bothans died to bring us this information? Is the Force Estate with Robert? Will we see THE RETURN OF THE JOURNALI before the EMPIRE EXTRADITES BACK?

For answers to these questions, and more, pull down your blast shields, switch off your on-board computer and feel the force in this episode of Juice Rap News... or click play.







Congratulations and respect, Giordano Nanni and Hugo Farrant of The Juice Media, for brilliantly realizing an idea whose time is now!

These girls would be arrested in Malaysia... (updated)

Uploaded 24 September 2009

First of all these girls are dressed in red. Remember the Jerit cyclists who were harassed, arrested and obstructed at every turn when they decided to ride across the country to alert people to urgent social issues? Red is a Communist color.... oops, forgot that Umno samseng also wear red T-shirts.

Second of all these amazingly acrobatic young ladies would be accused of attempting to impersonate our national flower, the hibiscus. A very serious offence, almost as bad as premarital sex or drinking beer in public if you're a Muslim.

Third of all such an exhibitionistic display of unladylike behavior could encourage our local women to become pengkid - tomboys - and there's a fatwa against that. We can't have Ambiga Sreenevasan's lascivious LGBT legions grow from strength to strength.

Best of all these 16 acrobats from China appear to have no qualms about revealing their knickers. This could precipitate traffic jams and riots on our streets and cause petty traders aligned with Umno to lose revenue. Najib would be forced to call out his army of veteran bumwigglers. Malaysia would lose face big time. The Agong would be compelled to issue a statement advising us to stay united and vote BN.

Ahhhh... fuck all that shit. What is it about young girls and bicycles? Can't resist them!

A loving tribute to the incredibly, amazingly, absurdly talented Jo Kukathas

I met Jo Kukathas 32 years ago when she was teaching literature at the Garden School. Apart from performing the occasional skit with her siblings or reciting poetry to entertain her ebullient and extremely eloquent father - the late K. Das, former bureau chief of the Far Eastern Economic Review, best-selling author, political commentator, and arguably the foremost authority on Mahathiritis (long before it acquired the status of a terminal, practically incurable disease) - Jo had never been on stage, except perhaps in a few school productions.

At our very first meeting, I noticed she had remarkable control of her voice, and asked if she had tried her hand at acting. "Not professionally," she replied, and I laughed and said Malaysia doesn't have any professional theatre yet, we're all amateurs, so she ought to give it a go.

And give it a go Jo did. In a matter of months I found myself applauding wildly after a theatrical performance in which Jo Kukathas featured - can't remember which play it was now. All I know is that Jo has never once disappointed - no matter what role she took on.

I don't want to make this a full-blown essay on the versatile, vivacious and vonderfully high-voltage Ms Kukathas - she deserves at least a 500-page official biography - and I can't possibly do the woman justice with a single blogpost.

Let it be known far and wide, nevertheless, that I absolutely adore and admire this feisty, brilliant peacock feather in the cap of Malaysian theatre. If she had chosen to be born in the UK or the USA, she would most certainly be vying for her share of the Oscars alongside actresses like Goldie Hawn, Whoopi Goldberg, Glenn Close, Nicole Kidman and Meryl Streep.

Jo, please take as many bows as you please.

Eggs and stones may break your bones... but Umno/BN MUST be overthrown!

"Even if our bodies are crushed and our lives lost, brothers and sisters, whatever happens, we must defend Putrajaya." ~ Najib Razak, Umno crime minister of Malaysia


Defend Putrajaya against whom? A few million Indonesian, Myanmarese and Bangladeshi workers? Or is Najib referring to opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and the Pakatan Rakyat coalition he leads?

What a pathetic poseur!
Who the fuck elected you?
Certainly not anyone I know.

Najib, listen up, fat boy! You're talking about me - and at least 10 million thinking voters who sincerely want to see you and Umno/BN OUT. We're ready to carry out a citizen's arrest on you for high treason. What you said about "crushed bodies and lost lives" is insanely incendiary - you are threatening us with blood on the streets, no less, if Umno/BN loses the 13th General Election. That is clearly a criminal offence - and anywhere else in the civilized world, any politician uttering such rabid  and dangerous rhetoric would be considered clinically mad and put in a padded cell.

You've already had 55 years of uninterrupted power and you can no longer deny that Umno/BN has fucked up big time. Malaysia is undergoing a moral crisis of gargantuan proportions - and soon it will also be a financial and political nightmare.

I swear to you, Jibby, the only thing that's going to be crushed is you and your witchy wife's big fat egos. Down, down you go, boy - along with Umno/BN!



Bravo, Jo! ;-)

Mr Pink Lips Loses His Head... Again!

Uploaded 22 May 2009

Now this is a lot more fun and much funkier than scaring Polis with lighted candles and threatening the Homo Minister with birthday cakes. Whoever carried out this courageous act of guerrilla warfare, bravo and tabik!


[First uploaded 24 May 2009 as a rehearsal. Now we're ready for the real thing.]

Don't worry, Ambiga. Don't worry, Anwar. Don't worry, Pakatan Rakyat. Don't worry, Good People of Malaysia....

WON'T BE LONG NOW.

An obituary for Mahathirism ~ by Josh Hong

A deranged doctor in the house

Josh Hong | Malaysiakini
4:07PM May 18, 2012

Mahathir Mohamad may have been a dutiful and well-respected medical doctor back in the 1940s. But his decision to enter the political fray has - it’s safe to say - turned out to be a sheer nightmare for the country as a whole.

Mahathir could have maintained his good reputation as a doctor, but his name is now ruined, forever associated with the Twin Towers of corruption and cronyism, his only solace being perhaps the personal wealth that he and his sons managed to accumulate when he was at the zenith of his tyrannical rule.

And the most pathetic thing about this old man is that he had a choice to become either a statesman or a rascal, but he has clearly opted to be remembered as a deranged veteran who refuses to believe the world around him has changed.

By any standards, Mahathir was an intelligent man among his contemporaries. Even Lee Kuan Yew found him a tough nut to crack.

Lee is an elite member of the old anglophile school who could easily quote a famous British judge to justify his own autocratic governance, but was confronted with tremendous difficulties in articulating his thoughts with the masses in Singapore’s early days as an independent state. But Mahathir, himself from the top drawer of his time, was often able to return to the grassroots and arouse populist sentiment for his own cause when the going got tough.

Which makes it all the more tragic that the doctor has now become deranged in his own house. With Barisan Nasional appearing to lose power sooner or later, he is living in great fear of his own misdeeds and transgressions being laid bare under the Malaysian sun. Had Mahathir been a righteous and just-minded leader, he would not have to shudder constantly at the scenario of an alternative government, for his rectitude would remain intact, come what may.

But integrity is precisely what the doctor is short of. To pre-empt potential change of government, he is now working profusely to smear both the Bersih movement and the opposition by joining the government’s chorus of vilification.

In fact, he is almost a lead singer!

Admittedly, Mahathir, who is single-handedly responsible for the erosion of the Malaysian judiciary does not see eye to eye with the Bar Council. The bad blood, however, came only from the doctor himself as he tried to ‘fix’ the judges as he did his own patients in Alor Star. His caustic remarks that the Bar Council has become a political party therefore only reveal his ineptitude in understanding the role of the legal fraternity.

Hence, it was a blessing that the colonial administration allegedly denied him a scholarship to read law in London!

Instead of hurling hollow accusations at the Bar Council, Mahathir should have the decency to admit as many as 90 percent of the judges, high-ranking police officers and “mainstream” journalists - especially those from RTM, TV3, Utusan Malaysia, Berita Harian, The Star and the New Straits Times - actually joined Umno and became his underlings after 1988.

Speaking truth to power

No, the Bar Council is not partisan. It just so happens that the current government is more often than not found to be on the wrong side of the law, and our lawyers are duty-bound to correct it. A Singaporean lawyer once told me how much she wished her colleagues back home would have the guts to speak truth to power like many of her Malaysian counterparts. This time on the Bersih 3.0 rally, the Malaysian Bar Council has again proven her right, of which I am indeed proud.

And Mahathir consistently refuses to accept the simple fact that Malaysians have different political identifications as rightful citizens. As far as he sees it, anyone who votes for the opposition is a bad Malaysian and less worthy, yet he ought to be told that not all who vote for Pas are religious “fanatics” and those who opt for the DAP are Chinese “chauvinists”. They simply want a government that is less corrupt, more honest and knows its limits.

My parents, for one, voted first the Barisan Sosialis Rakyat Malaya and then PAS throughout their lives, and did that make them racists or religious bigots? And how would “racists” like my parents have chosen PAS over either the MCA or the Chinese-dominated Gerakan in the first place? Can the doctor see the abject lack of logic in his view?

Simply put, Mahathir is now so paranoid and caught up with profound angst that he has lost all his senses, bent only on poisoning the minds of the Malays - young and old alike - with his race-centric rhetoric. Instead of championing greater transparency, public accountability and political integrity, he is going on an immoral crusade against anyone who simply wants to make Malaysia a better country to live in.

Which, in retrospect, was perhaps a reason why he was rejected by the colonial administration, for Mahathir just beats the British at their own game: divide and rule that is.

JOSH HONG studied politics at London Metropolitan University and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. A keen watcher of domestic and international politics, he longs for a day when Malaysians will learn and master the art of self-mockery, and enjoy life to the full in spite of politicians.

43 Years of Racial Politics ~ The End of Mahathirism!

Umno is still trying to pin the blame for the bloody 13 May 1969 episode on the DAP (in other words, the Chinese). Notwithstanding widespread reports that machete-wielding, black-clad berserkers donning red headbands were brought in and out of Selangor in army and police field force lorries, there is no doubt that the authorities could have ended the violence within 48 hours - instead of allowing the carnage and tension to drag on for weeks - if they had had the political will to do so...

A few months ago a young friend shared with me his unease about the upcoming general election. "I have a gut feeling Pakatan Rakyat will win and Umno will stir up trouble," he said.

If he was hoping to get some reassurance from me that nothing so horrific could possibly happen, he would have been disappointed. My response was that the signs were clear - Umno knows it has reached the end of the line, but it refuses to get off the gravy train.

Fat man in a red suit not always Santa Claus!

Ever since Razak Hussein took over the reins from Tunku Abdul Rahman in the grim aftermath of May 13, Umno has been gorging itself off the fat of the land, riding on the NEP and an outrageous array of Ketuanan Melayu (Malay Supremacy) policies.

No need to go over soggy, rank-smelling ground. Umno's sins are legion, and an inordinate proportion were obviously perpetrated under Mahathir Mohamad's 22-year-tenure. Umno should have died and been buried in February 1988 - but Mahathir was way too ruthless and nipped in the bud an attempt by two former prime ministers to establish an "Umno Malaysia" without him.

It was all about the money then - and even more so now. When so much money is involved, the worst traits tend to emerge. Umno in general - and Najib Razak in particular - are in dire straits. They can see the bold graffiti on the wall: the younger, street-savvier generation of Malays are no longer inclined to be whipped into a mindless frenzy by issues of race, religion and royalty. They are far more interested in freedom and social justice.

Umno's support base has been reduced to just a small band of rowdies and bullies - many of them moonlighting as policemen and goons-for-hire. Even its rural voter base of FELDA settlers can no longer be taken for granted - their children are beginning to wake up to the fact that they have been systematically robbed by smooth-talking Umno warlords who claim to have the Malays' interests at heart.

Is the army behind Umno? It's safe to say that the top brass are behind Najib. As defence minister for two terms, Najib had ample opportunity to line the pockets of high-ranking officers and make sure their retirement benefits were well taken care of. However, if the army is called out in the event of a national emergency, the rank-and-file troops may be disinclined to open fire on multiracial crowds for fear of injuring their own friends and relatives.

Alice slays the Jabberwocky of race-based politics

The Bersih 2.0 Rally of 9 July 2011 for free and fair elections put to rest the specter of May 13. And to make doubly sure it was dead, Bersih 3.0 on 28 April 2012 attracted 5 times the numbers.

That was Bersih 2.0's greatest achievement. After that pivotal date, Malaysians are uniting against corruption, social injustice, and demanding their civil liberties. While Umno and its fascist offshoots Perkasa and Pekida remain mired in the ugly rhetoric of race, religion and royalty, everybody else has moved on.

So, even if Umno attempts to revive its May 13 scenario after it loses the next election, it can only send a few hundred rempit into the streets to create an atmosphere of tension. Nobody else will be provoked to join the fray. You can't start a full-scale "race riot" without participants. What can the rempit do except burn a few cars and overturn some trash cans?

Everyone who isn't still in a cultural trance or living beneath a coconut shell knows what sort of dirty tricks Umno is capable of and is unlikely to fall for any race-based sandiwara  it attempts to stage, post GE13. Even if Umno's armed thugs manage to inflict injury on a few hapless bystanders - the rest of the population will take cover and refrain from retaliating. How long can a bunch of mindless thugs roam the empty streets before they tire of their aimless rampage?

The SupremeTransformer, 1Nazjib

Sure, Najib can twist the Agong's arm and declare a national emergency... but such a desperate ploy can only backfire on his corrupt regime. No nation can maintain a state of emergency for more than a few weeks. And then what?

Without people going about their everyday business, everything grinds to a halt. This would be akin to a massive hartal  (general strike) which some of us have been trying to organize - only this time the hartal  would be thrust upon us by an evil and massively unpopular regime that has just lost an election. Well, if such a situation arises, it would only prove beyond any shadow of doubt that Umno/BN has lost its legitimacy - and even if it seizes this opportunity to arrest and imprison all Opposition leaders, activists and bloggers, it will only be signing its own death warrant.

So let's put it this way: should we continue voting Umno/BN just because we fear the dire consequences if we don't? Or should we pit our fearlessness against Umno/BN's fear? But what about the Election Commission? By now nobody doubts that the EC is prepared to go to any lengths to ensure a BN win. Should we bother voting on an uneven playing field? Or should we boycott all elections until Bersih 3.0's demands are met? Can we get 1,000,000 in the streets for Bersih 4.0? Will Hishammuddin send his brainless goons out to whack the voters yet again?

I'm willing to concede that we may have to embark on a national reconciliation exercise - the way it was done in South Africa during the tenure of F.W. de Klerk, when many police officers received formal pardons in exchange for their confessions and corrupt ministers were let off if they agreed to return a fair percentage of their ill-gotten gains to the national treasury.


[First published 25 December 2011]

Thank You, AnaMata RaMuAn! Muchas Gracias, Pachamama!

IT'S MOTHER'S DAY!

Gaia the Earth Mother by Lauren Gary

A timely message from the Intergalactic Systems Busters!

“You are living in a time when opportunities for self-empowerment, expanded awareness, and spiritual growth appear to be unlimited.” ~ The Pleiadians.

"What the Pleiadians are saying is that we inherit all the abilities of our ancestors. We've all had ancestors who were traumatized and never processed their trauma because they didn't understand it. Now, today, with the energies increasing, we're cleaning the [human] gene pool by [replaying] all of the traumas our ancestors went through, as well as all their joys and victories... During the period from about 1987 through the end of 2012 is a time for humankind to build a frequency of healing so that we can make a new paradigm. As we bridge the gap from the Piscean to the Aquarian Age, everything [we think, say or do] is registered genetically to sum up the age and to carry a frequency or information into the next Age. They say it comes down to real simple choices - fear or love."

For more information: Barbara Marciniak ~ Bringers of the Dawn

[Brought to my attention by Arun Paul]

If you've ever suspected that this 3D Matrix was an Energy Farm, a Prison Planet, owned and operated by cold-blooded semi-human entities to harvest our vitality, check out this fascinating site!

Mariam Mokhtar on the Scorpene's Sting...

[Reproduced from Malaysiakini in the public interest]

Can Najib survive Scorpene's sting?

Mariam Mokhtar 11:16AM May 7, 2012

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak sealed his own fate, 11 years ago at a meeting to discuss the Scorpene submarine purchase. The date was July 14, 2001.

As any history student will tell you, the storming of the Bastille in Paris, on the morning of July 14, 1789, signalled the beginning of the French revolution. Every year, the French celebrate their National or Bastille Day, on July 14.

From now on, Malaysians may also attach some significance to July 14. It might not be the start of a Malaysian revolution, but it was on July 14, 2001, that Najib held a meeting with DCNI, the subsidiary of the French shipmaker DCN.

Najib, who was the defence minister at the time, had allegedly demanded that the French pay US$1 billion (RM3 billion) to the Malaysian company Perimekar, as a condition for meeting him.

These details were divulged by the French investigators for Suaram, and form only the tip of the iceberg. Their list of witnesses includes Najib, Abdul Razak Baginda and the current Defence Minister Zahid Hamidi. All are required to testify in Paris.

It has not been a good week for the PM. The government's response to the Bersih sit-down protest has attracted international condemnation. In the week which coincided with World Press Freedom Day, his policemen have been accused of brutality and his administration has been villified for media censorship.

Independent foreign observers have criticised Najib for mishandling the peaceful protest, and denying the rakyat their fundamental right to freedom of assembly.

Two newspapers face legal action; the New Straits Times, by an Australian senator, Nicholas Xenophon, because the paper libeled him, and Utusan Malaysia, which ran a front-page story that the Opposition politician Azmin Ali was involved in a tryst.

Diminishing support


With the French court case looming, corruption scandals rocking his cabinet and further delays to GE13, Najib fears that support for him and his party will diminish further.

Is it any wonder that a few days ago, Najib tried to distract us, by claiming that Bersih's sit-down protest was a plot to topple his government?

Najib's opposition to Bersih 3.0 is a clear indication that Umno knows that it cannot win a clean election. He knows he cannot allow a free and fair election.
That explains the concerted effort by Umno and the Election Commission (EC) to cheat. In desperation, Najib has accused Bersih 3.0 of wanting to turn Dataran Merdeka into Tahrir Square.

In a press conference last week, Suaram confirmed that the French judicial probe had evolved from a "civil complaint" into a "criminal investigation."

The French lawyer acting for Suaram, Joseph Breham said: "Investigations so far have provided sufficient evidence to point our finger at Malaysian officials in this (court) hearing."

Suaram secretariat member and lawyer Fadiah Nadwa Fikri said, "....The parties involved in the scandal would soon be charged in the French criminal court. It's going to be bigger than it already is now".

Suaram secretary-general Cynthia Gabriel (left) called the Scorpene scandal, "the Great Malaysian Robbery" with several companies, including the pilgrimage fund (Lembaga Tabung Haji) and the military servicemen's pension fund (Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera) being used to obscure the money trail.

Gabriel said, "The Malaysian and French people have clearly been misled, cheated and robbed of their monies through blatant corruption and mismanagement of funds in the name of national safety and security."

The former finance director of DCN, Gerarde Philippe Maneyas, alleged that Malaysian officials in the deal had been bribed.

With the introduction of new laws in France and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Convention in 2002, bribes made to foreign officials are considered a criminal offence. Previously, these bribes were tax-deductible.

As a result of these laws and the OECD, all documentation relating to arms deals would replace reference to the payment of "commissions" with "payment to service providers."

Terasasi surfaces


The French inquiry also revealed the presence of a previously unknown company, Terasasi, which is owned by the PM's former aide, Abdul Razak Baginda.

Baginda (left) also owned Perimekar, and both these companies received several million euros in commissions and kickbacks. Baginda's wife and father are also linked to Perimekar and Terasasi.

Interestingly, French investigators found an invoice from Terasasi to a French company, Thint Asia International, dated Aug 28, 2004 for 359,450 euros (RM1.43 million) with a handwritten note saying: "Razak wants it in a hurry." Needless to say, the race is on to discover which "Razak" this refers to.

Despite the rapid pace of development by the French investigators, members of Najib's cabinet have remained eerily silent.

One thing is clear. Najib cannot be non-committal in future press conferences and abruptly terminate them when any reference is made to Scorpene. He cannot use that old trick of saying he will go the mosque and swear on the Quran. He cannot avoid the French subpoena without risking an international arrest warrant.

Despite the internal power struggles in the upper echelons of Umno, none of those who wish to be PM has appeared to lodge the first knife in his back. Perhaps, they all realise that despite Najib's unpopularity, they have to band together to save their skin.

Najib faces a dilemma. He needs the support of Umno members so he can remain as PM, because it is said that a head of state enjoys immunity while he is in office. Once he stands down, he becomes another ordinary person and will be prosecuted, for any crimes committed.

Najib probably rues the day he entertained the French on July 14, 2001. Even Swiss bank accounts and exile to a "friendly" country are no guarantees of freedom.

---

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a non-conformist traditionalist from Perak, a bucket chemist and an armchair eco-warrior. In ‘real-speak', this translates into that she comes from Ipoh, values change but respects culture, is a petroleum chemist and also an environmental pollution-control scientist.

The medical profession is seriously against vibrant health!

In the last 100 years dozens of doctors, scientists and researchers have come up with the most diverse, apparently effective solutions against cancer, but none of these was ever taken into serious consideration by official medicine.

Most of them were in fact rejected out-front, even though healings were claimed in the thousands, their proposers often being labeled as charlatans, ostracized by the medical community and ultimately forced to leave the country.

At the same time more than 20,000 people die of cancer every day, without official medicine being able to offer a true sense of hope to those affected by it. Why?

[Brought to my attention by Kate Daniels]

RUN FROM THE CURE ~ The Rick Simpson Story

Sarawak natives resist Taib Mahmud's voracious deforestation and dam building projects

Sarawak Energy's desperate prayers for an unnecessary dam

Norwegian Sarawak Energy CEO Torstein Dale Sjotveit and Sarawak government representatives were faced with resistance when they tried to hold a traditional prayer ritual at the site of the planned Baram dam which would flood over 400km2 of rainforest and displace 20,000 people.

For more information visit http://www.stop-corruption-dams.org