Testing

After more than 18 months absence from my blog, I need to test this blog still exist and work.

Haha, time to write again, hope the spirit is willing

REUNION DINNER 2010

As usual, Chinese New Year reunion dinner was held in my elder brother’s house. The headcount remains the same as last year with an addition very soon. Looking back from my childhood days, it was always 6 until we got married. I never had a reunion dinner with my grandparents because they left long before me. So it was just 2 generations celebrating.

Tonight, our reunion dinner was celebrated by four generations. My mother is very fortunate and I often wonder whether she cherish this moment. I just wonder if I would live that long to taste this experience. I am less optimistic and think it just wishful thinking.

Looking back to my childhood, I remembered Chinese New Year was most exciting and memorable. The mood was joyous with lots of cookies to eat and as well as long school holiday. It’s also the time for angpow collection that gave me the feeling of being richer.

For me Chinese New Year eve was special in my own way. It was the time when my ‘Kampong’ and childhood friends will meet for some drinks and card games. If I recall, this meeting started when I was in Sec 2 and our annual traditions continued to my Mid-30s. We started playing Black Jacks with stake from 20 cents and increases as we grew older. When we started work, we progress to Poker. Unfortunately, this annual tradition had to end as we had families and more important priorities.

My dad hated gambling and knew nothing of my indulgence. He would have been very upset if he knew of my escapades. The session normally ended after 2 or 3 am. When I reached home, father would be preparing for the morning prayers. Then I went to sleep until lunch time. The first and second days of Chinese New Year were routine.

The star of this year reunion dinner was my first grand-nephew. Being the first for his generation, he hogs the limelight and all attention was on him. His energy and cuteness certainly warm our heart. 30 years ago, the scenario was the same. It was his father, my first nephew which captured our attention. It brought out the essence of a family. He too was the first in his generation and I was really heartened to witness one generation matured from child to fatherhood.














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AVATAR, THE MORAL OF THE MOVIE

I am one who hardly goes to the movies. Yet I watch Avatar twice. I have read about this movie, produced and directed by James Cameroon. I was curious about the 3D format as well as the cutting edge technology that was employed to produce this epic. It’s about a humanoid race, Na’vi that inhabited the planet Pandorra where the living live in harmony with nature. Human went there to mine a rare mineral through sheer power.

True to my expectation, the movie blew me off, kept me spellbound and I thoroughly enjoyed the cinematography and the animation. The setting was just spectacular and the story line is certainly thought provoking.

For the less initiated, viewing this movie purely as a fiction is thoroughly entertaining. To dwell a little into depth, a movie, like any story, comes with a moral behind it. In fact, the message portrayed is far more portent because of the visual impact. From the political and historical perspective, this movie certainly resonated and drew many parallels in the history of mankind.

The thought that came foremost to my mind was the colonisation by European of African, Australia, Asia, North and South America.

The historical parallel was when the Spanish explorers, in search of gold and other precious metal, raided South America. It displaced, subjugated and marginalised the indigenous Indians. Many indigenous Indians were massacred or killed by disease brought in by the invaders. Today the entire continent speaks Spanish except Brazil and the Spanish descendents remained in rich and powerful position.

In North America, the English and the French almost wipe off the entire indigenous Red Indians population through scorched earth policy of slash and burn. There can be no reason to justify this cruel act other than outright greed to seize lands.

The stories were similar across Australia, Africa and Asia. The European, armed with superior fire power and were better organised, were able to steamroll the indigenous inhabitants into submission. It unscrupulously and recklessly plundered the earth resources for its insatiable appetite and forcefully seized and occupied indigenous land.

Another powerful message inflamed by this movie Avatar is the deteriorating world environment. Vast rainforests were destroyed to make way for development, as well as excessive and illegal logging for the tropical hardwood. The movie draws many parallel between the powerful and profit driven conglomerates devouring the earth commodities with very little regards for environmental damages.

In the movie, luckily there is Jake and Dr Grace to save the Na’vi and Pandorra. As anticipated, the villians in the movie ended with death. But in the world that we live in, the legacy of colonisation remained very evident. The Europeans remained embedded in many continents becoming even wealthier and stronger. The indigenous Red Indians, Amazon Indians, Maoris, Aborigines have been permanently dislocated, subjugated and marginalised.

By today standard, the acts of the early Europeans violate all human rights and human dignity. Ironically, today the loudest critics of human rights and the biggest proponents for saving the environment come from these countries.

Nevertheless, Avatar is a fiction movie that will trigger a technological revolution and set new standard in the film industry. Perhaps 3D will be the standard for big screen. Avatar has been nominated for 9 Oscars Awards.





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ANWAR, JUDICIARY, POLICE ALL ON TRIAL

The second series of Anwar sodomy trial is set to start tomorrow after a 10 year recess. In the first series, Anwar was convicted but after spending 6 years in prison for corruption charges, the High court overturned the sodomy charges. Legally, he is acquitted on this sexual demeanour. The first trial gripped many Malaysians and the world with salacious and juicy details of the once 2nd most powerful man, prime minister in waiting of Malaysia.

It also divided the nation and split the Malay ground. Many believe it was a conspiracy to end Anwar political career at any cost. Mahathir bore the brunt of the political fallout when it did poorly in the subsequent general election and may have hastened the early retirement of Mahathir. The political landscape was altered permanently especially in UMNO.

This time around it was a 22 year old aide that claimed he was sodomised by Anwar. There was of course a lot of scepticism on the ground. It is a crime in Malaysia for anal sex. If it was consensual sex between Azlan and Anwar, then both should be charged. As only Anwar is charged, it means than Azan was forcibly sodomised.

Many puzzling questions are asked. Is a 60 year old man so strong to be able to overcome a young 22 year old, stripping his pants, force him to bent and held him for the penetration? So who is not telling the truth?

And how did this young man secured permission to seek PM Najib counsel. How many ordinary citizens have a chance to meet the PM in private?

Well these questions will be best left to the prosecutor as well as the defence counsel to address in court.

Without doubt the trial will become a soap opera for the world to view and enjoy. Unfortunately the fallout from this trial will be very damaging for the country image. Within the country, the trial is set to crack the fissure deeper and further divide the nation at a time when energy should have been focus on the recovering economy.

The microscope will be on the Malaysian Judiciary. In fact, this trial is a trial on the integrity of the Malaysian judiciary system. If not handle properly, it will further erode the credibility of the judiciary system. The police too are on trial. Any wrong or silly prosecution will further affirm the prejudicial nature and incompetence of the attorney general and the police force.

Most citizens of Malaysia have anticipated the final judgement basing on the experience of the first trial. The verdict is a foregone conclusion. The legal system allows appeal from any parties on the outcome of the verdict. This will drag the case for years. Whatever the court judgement, the real judge for this trial is the Malaysian public as well as all the international communities. Public perception and opinion will be crucial to the next general election in Malaysia as either Anwar or UMNO will be buried in history.

Whichever way the judgement goes, there will be no winner. The country, the politicians and the citizens will have to bear the consequences.





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MALAYSIA MISFORTUNE, BLAME MAHATHIR

Mahathir recent blogs on the internet as well as his tirades against the west continue unabated, showing his bitterness and frustration of what is happening in his Malaysia. For a man of his age, he is surely alert and seems to crave the attention he lost since leaving the corridors of powers. Many, including me have thought that after helping to destroy and remove Abdullah Badawi, the man will gracefully retreat to his moral high ground to enjoy the serenity in his twilight years. But this is not to be. Perhaps politician just cannot fade away quietly.

Instead, he lost no time rejoining UMNO and becoming more vocal. As most of the main Medias shun him, it did not stop him from ranting and spewing venomous rhetoric in his blogs and over interviews. On the contrary, he has on many occasions gone ballistic and vitriolic on the blog. He used the blog shrewdly to manipulate public sentiment as well as to elevate his popularity and justify his relevance. Of course his chorus of gullible and diehard fans keep singing his praises and echo his idiosyncrasies. His trademark sarcasms have been generously used to belittle his foes as well as those who overshadowed him like LKY.

While the country is marred by controversies one after another, the race and religious bickering are spiralling out of control; he had chosen to remain oblivious to the country needs for national unity and racial harmony. In such turbulent time, any noble statesman would have step out spontaneously, using their status and credibility to heal and unite the nation. On the ‘Allah’ issue, he seems to sit on the fence. It is obvious he is playing safe as he did not wish to offend his own UMNO and Malay conservatives.

Mahathir seems to have agendas of his own. But one recent blogs he tries to ignite the water agreement with Singapore as well as the calling LKY a Little Emperor of Modern Middle Kingdom. It failed to excite the public. Now he writes that sands being smuggled to Singapore and blame some government officials. Does he have an ulterior motive to stir up some emotions, so that this emotion can be exploited? Apparently, the blog was timely as we noticed the subsequent arrest of high government officials which belong to the opposition party. Is he planning to discredit PKR or Singapore bashing to divert attention in time of trouble. Or is he just demonstrating his prowess and nationalistic credentials?

His latest claim that the 9/11 terrorist attack was staged by the US government to give it justification to attack Iraq was astounding. It is even more bizarre for him to argue that if USA can produce “Avatar”, the 9/11 conspiracy is possible. But why an educated doctor would want to make such stupendous claim? Surely he must have a motive. Is he picking on the Jews to divert attentions? Is he seeing something we don’t? Maybe he needs to spew something so idiosyncratic to catch the world attention. Of course he can hoodwink some of his targeted audience, but this time round, many would just dismiss this tirade. His country folks are no more gullible or illiterate.

So far, Mahathir has squarely blamed outsiders and opposition parties for Malaysia woes. Mahathir scathing attack on Badawi has tone down a few notches but still occasionally insinuate him. His trademark mode is to blame everybody except himself. As the country get deeper into economic and social malaise, blaming other may not be sufficient to save the day. The present government will have no choice but to assign some blame to the predecessors including Mahathir.

Many quarters are speculating that Mahathir will eventually be blamed for the rampant corruption in government, as well as the big companies controlled by UMNO members and associates. The unabashed cronyism and the shameless handout mentality among the Malay masses are also attributed to the 22 years of” Mahathirism”. This was done in the name of affirmation action to assist the economically weak Malays. Tengku Razaleigh has pointedly commented that the oil money was a curse to Malaysia and was wastefully squandered by the government or not spend diligently. Of course we know who headed Petronas and the Government. Former WSJ journalist wrote in his biography of Mahathir that this man squandered away 100 billion ringgits. For sure, more skeletons will fall out of the closets when the social and economic situations deteriorate further in Malaysia.

Mahathir has grand vision to build a stable of Malays billionaires to take on the tycoons like Lim Goh Tong, Robert Kwok, Kwek Leng Chan and many non-Malays entrepreneurs. So through UMNO and his friend Daim, he supported and nurtured Halim Saad of PLUS, of N/S Highway, Tajuddin of MAS and a few Malays. It looked promising at first, but when the Asian Financial crisis hit, all this Mahathir propped millionaires crumbled like a house of cards. In the end, he blamed Soros for his failure and castigated his deputy Anwar for wanting to accept IMF support. During Mahathir reign, Bank Negara lost billion or ringgit in money speculation. Billions were also spend to bail up failed bumiputra banks.

Another of Mahathir endeavour was to uplift the status of Malays. His conviction to social engineering of a new breed o Malays that is equal, if not better than the Chinese was simplistic and naive at best. With quota and privilege for Malays to be admitted to university with grade below mediocre, it basically kill the spirit to compete and strive. At such young age, if this spirit is not inculcated, it is no surprise such competitive spirit will be absent when one grows up and faces the world. In the business world, affirmative action also guarantees many businesses for Malays. Thus a crutch mentality is created from cradle to grave. Companies are required to employ 30% bumiputras. Many redundant vacancies are created in the civil services just to hire Malays. These people will never understand the meaning of productivity.

No one doubts the difficulties of governing a multi racial and multi religious country. Mahathir autocratic style did allow him to govern Malaysia effectively. But his use of divide and rule tactics to manage the Chinese and Indian parties further polarises the nations. Racial issues are further aggravated. He had the chance to transform Malaysia into a truly multi racial harmonious country but he was prejudice against non-Malays. Playing the race card is his winning strokes for many years. Putting fears into the Malays and constantly bashing the west was very endearing to the Malays. He never endorsed the concept of Malaysian identity. 22 years is long enough to do this bit of nation building. Today Malaysia’s woes could have been avoided if Mahathir had done the right thing.

On education, he championed the use of Bahasa Malay. Today, it is just difficult to overturn education policies without alienating the Malays. This he has regretted as many Malaysians are not very marketable due to the language handicap. The education quota system also drove away substantial number of non-Malays overseas. Many of the best and bright talented young non-Malays are lured away with lucrative scholarship and never return. This brain drain has far reaching economic impact on Malaysian economy in the future. Surely a man of Mahathir calibre recognises the folly of this education policy but he does not have the political courage to overturn his own creation without upsetting his Malay constituency.

Mahathir sacking of the once highly respected and independent high court judges death a blow to the judiciary system. Today the judges’ appointments are based on alignment to the right political parties. Many court decisions are questionable and the public has lost faith in the judiciary system.

In some way, Mahathir must be given credit to his ability to rally Malaysia of all walks of life. He was able to make Malaysia feel proud to be a Malaysian. His smartly use of “Malaysia Boleh” and Vision 2020 were prime examples. He builds the tallest building; sent Malay into space, sail around the world and climb Mt. Everest. He built airport, seaport and improve the country infrastructures. These are some to the highlights. Unfortunately, the slogan “Malaysia Boleh” has now become the butt of the jokes and describes anything outrageous and scandalous.

In my opinion, Mahathir greatest failure was his inability to groom and nurture the next generation of leaders during his 22 years in office. It is really hard to explain; he sacked 3 deputy Prime Ministers and went on to destroyed the fourth that he anointed as his successor. Any wise leaders must groom someone to takeover. Look at China; it is now grooming the 4th generation leaders. Nelson Mandela has a team of leaders to take over him when he stood down. Some speculated that Mahathir inherent fear of being ousted prevented him from nurturing leaders to take over his mantle. If this is true, then this must exemplify his deep insecurity and suspicion of others.

It is highly possible, BN may lose the next election and that will be Mahathir biggest nightmare. So far, no one has yet to dig into Mahathir 22 year’s legacy. His policies and many failings will eventually surface and the public will understand that the problem Malaysia faces today is the outcome of Mahathir’s legacy. If PKR forms the next government, then Mahathir failures will be magnified and his legacy will be diminished. I would not hesitate to guess that Mahathir will get the same blame medicine he has prescribed to so many.

Being a consummated politician, Mahathir has honed the skill of blaming others and is a master in the art of deception and diversion. I notice he has been intentionally courting controversies and constantly seeking attention. All these are done with purpose and there must be a motive. Perhaps he is expecting the worst and realise the blame game may ended up with him being the ultimate victim.

For 22 long years, he has tirelessly built and ran a country, it is only natural for him to worry how history will judge him, as he clearly knows that history is written by winner. What if the winner is Anwar Ibrahim? And he has too many detractors and enemies. That’s why his engine is firing on all cylinders, flooding Malaysians with all kind of theatrics to keep them busy. Very shrewdly, he is dictating the subjects, denying his adversaries any chance to scrutinise him. For him to have the upper hand, he must continue to speak out before the wind change tack.

All that I wrote are my wild imagination.







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HAITI, WHO CAN STOP NATURAL DISASTERS

The last few days, I was engrossed watching live broadcast of the Haiti earthquake.I find this tragedy very sad and I am much disturbed. The images are grim, depressing, heart wrecking but it also thought provoking. One of the most dramatic and gruelling images was 11 year old girl whose leg was crushed under steel concrete grimacing in pain and calling out “papa, papa.....” she was eventually freed after 2 days to the relief of so many watching her fate. But she died in hospital. My heart really went out to her.

Thanks to modern communications, we see images of crushed and mangled building, piles of bodies strewn across the streets, the despondent looks of the traumatised survivors looking for their loved ones. And frantically digging in vain with bare hands to save a life and so many scenes that break our hearts. We see all these destructions in the comfort of our living room. An all out global rescue and humanitarian effort is underway, but that is just the beginning of the misery of Haitians.

I have always been curious and disturbed, trying to fathom and understand the causes and reasons for all these natural disasters. The 2004 Tsunami and the 2008 Sichuan earthquake were the recent disasters. And year in year out, the flood, Typhoons, Hurricanes and volcano eruptions visit mankind without fail. Helplessly, mankind take the bashings, unable to stop all these disasters despite constant appeal for divine intervention. Yes,not even all the Gods out there can stop these disasters.

Why can’t the Christian God stop the typhoon to protect all the Catholics in Philippines?

Why can’t the Islam Allah stop the monsoon drowning all the Muslim Bangladeshis?

Why can’t the Hindus Deities stop the drought as well the flood?

Why can’t the Buddha show mercy to all the disasters and just stop it?

Isn’t what we learn and believe that all Gods are merciful, loving and compassionate? All religions condemn killing of children and innocent lives. How do we justify innocent and young babies and children just perished in all these disaster? We ostracised women for abortions as murders in the name of God or Gods. Yet why pregnant women must dies in natural disasters?

Are all the Gods punishing us for our sins? Are all these retributions for the evil deeds committed? Or are all these disasters the work of the Devil or Satan? Or is it the law of nature to cull the population in those areas that are heavily populated? No, we are not supposed to question as God has the power to create, it too has the perogative to destroy.

Do we have answers or just pretend to have answers, or just manufacture our own answer to justify our faith? And when we cannot find an answer, do we conveniently explained away that all the Gods have reasons for these to happen and it is beyond our understanding? Are we suppose to reassure ourself that those who died will proceed to heaven? Or those that perished will be reincarnated and the next live we see a better ‘karma’ than this one? Or is it we will be reduced to dust as Atheist believed?

And for those of you, who profess that you understand and sympathise the pain and sorrow of the victims, please don’t fool yourself. You never will. All I can say is that the grieving process will be very long, some recovers, many never. One of the good of religions is that any faith can help to mitigate the pains and console the mind and assist in the recovery. This is because faith provides hope. Yes, hope even for this most impoverish nation in the western hemisphere.

As the reality of the disaster sinks in, the hunger pangs of the victims will also unleashed the ugly side of human being. Looting and fighting and scavenging for food and shelters will feature in the next episode of the news. At the same time we will also hear of bravery, courage and humility of fellow men. But no amount of consolation and praying will bring back the lives of those who perished. But there are bound to have a few lucky one buried alive to be rescue miraculously.

I have no answers but I know this is certain, there will be many more disasters, some even worst. Mankind has no means to stop natural disaster, neither do any of the Gods the world knows. At best mankind can do is to be prepared to face natural disaster and minimise the loss of life and properties.



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1MALAYSIA A BIG JOKE

Malaysia, Truly Asia........ This was piece of marketing ingenuity that helps propel Malaysia onto the world tourist map. This slogan left lasting impression of a country rich in cultural diversity as well as its natural beauty. Many nations have emulated Malaysia on such tourism advertisement.

When Mahathir was PM, his national slogan was Vision 2020. Badawi slept through with no special vision. The success of Truly Asia and Vision 2020 was attributed to Mahathir. Not to be left out, PM Najib rolls out ‘1Malaysia’ campaign in a hope of creating a new beginning. It sounds good to the ears but no one knows exactly what it encompasses or embraces. But since its inception, it has only met with suspicion and cynicism. But some contend that Najib should be given a chance to prove his seriousness and sincerity about building a new Malaysia.

But alas, no one is excited about it. Does it mean equal rights for all races? No way it will happen in Malay dominated UMNO government. Ever since the last GE, the number of domestic incidents related to race and religion has spiral out of control. The dismal failure of the government to handle all these issues fairly without prejudice has further eroded the relevance of ‘1Malaysia’ campaign. It is the government uneven handedness that displeases the non-Malays. In fact race relation has worsened and religious conflicts are escalating. Today Malaysians are more polarised on ethnic and religious line. How does ‘1Malaysia’ can fit into the present political landscape? Any Malaysia can tell you this is a big joke. It is just an electioneering gimmick to hoodwink, cajole and pacify the ordinary folks.

I can recalled many incidents that are not consistent with the philosophy of Najib 1Malaysia. Ahmad Ismail of Penang UMNO unceremoniously calls non-Malay ‘pedatang’ or immigrant and he was never investigated for sedition. Yet DAP MP and a news journalist were arrested under ISA for supposedly criticising mosque being too loud in the Morning Prayer call. And it was the Malay aligned newspapers that spin the stories. The severed and bloody ‘cow head’ demonstration against building a Hindu temple near Muslim areas was never condemned by UMNO leadership. Beers were confiscated from 7Eleven shops by religious enforcement officers for beibg unislamic. For the first time a Muslim woman was sentenced to canning for drinking beer. This Muslim court's sentencing embarassed the country which proudly claims itself as moderate and progressive. The latest conflict now is who has the wnership of the word “Allah”. This was followed torching of the churches and as I wrote, even a Sikh temple. Where is 1Malaysia?

Najib should look back at Malayan history. LKY was booted out of Malaysia for trying to introduce “Malaysian Malaysia”. It became popular and Abdul Rahman saw it as a threat to the Malays dominance and had Singapore evicted out of Malaysia. If Najib truly believes in the philosophy of 1Malaysia, he surely has guts walking on the minefield in his own backyard. He sure can get the support of non-Malays. How is he going to dismantle the NEP, education quota system, Bumiputras special rights and removing all the special perks that Malays received for '1Malaysia' vision to be truly meaningful?

Najib’s vision of 1Malaysia will die a natural death. To succeed, Malaysia has to made constitutional changes in the Parliament. He needs to change people mindset and it have to start right out of his own party UMNO. The best course of action for him is to quietly abandon this slogan before it becomes a liability as well as the butt of jokes.




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THE DEMON UMNO CREATED

I once read this from a forum in Malaysia, “If it is an Indian problem, it is no problem. If it is a Chinese problem, it is a racial problem. If it is a Malay problem, it is a national problem’.

Race-based politics has been the corner stone of Malaysian politics since independence. UMNO being the dominant and majority party has honed the skill to exploit every opportunity to ensure it continued survival and leadership within BN and the country. Their top leaders have mastered the intricacies of manipulating communal and religious politics to an art form.

In a diversified country such as Malaysia, UMNO is able to exploit its majority status by capturing the hearts and souls of Malays through the affirmative action, championing of the Malay rights and defending the religion of Islam. The NEP provided bumiputras with guaranteed quota in education and preferred business opportunities.

When Mahathir sacked his deputy Anwar Ibrahim during the Asia financial crisis, the Malays were inadvertently divided. Jailing Anwar aggravated the situation. Urban Malays better educated and more prosperous middle class can no longer be easily manipulated by UMNO leaders through scare mongering. The rampant corruption and self gratification that only benefit few UMNOputras certainly do not go well with the average Malays.

The Preaching of ‘Ketuanan Melayu” or Malay supremacy to the Malay masses has been an essential sloganeering tool that encompass all thing Malay. At every UMNO General Assembly, the battle cry was to protect the Malays at any cost. Many of the past and present leaders have invoked spilling of blood to defend his race. The unsheathing of the Kris has been a ritual that antagonises non-Malays for many years.

Whoever uttered any words against Malay, will almost be guaranteed to get a spontaneous and vigorous response. At times UMNO Youth members are mobilised to go on demonstration. It has done against many Chinese associations, Indian temples relocations and even against Singapore LKY for stating that non-Malays are marginalised in Malaysia. Some of the demonstrations can be ugly and uncivilised and yet we don’t see any UMNO leadership coming out to condemn it. Instead it always justify that it is fair for the Malays to upset and need to show their emotions for the feeling of hurt.

And the UMNO controlled newspapers continue to spew venom and attack whoever is deemed to have encroached on Malay ground. It continues to highlight the negatives of anyone that has worked against any Malay establishments. It is not adverse to twisting facts and insinuates to defend its Malays interest. Classic examples were the death of Teoh Beng Hock and the “cow head demonstration”.

Over the years, UMNO politicians have succumbed to the temptation of appeasing Malay-Muslims constituency merely for the votes with hand in gloves. Often a blind eye is turned on UMNO demonstrators but any others can expect a very heavy- handed response. Court cases too advance faster whenever anti government figures are involved. Seditions charged too are selective. Investigations process and decision to prosecute can easily be guessed. Many key UMNO members are never investigated despite having wealth beyond their means.

The demon I am talking about is the playing of the Malay race card. It is useful at times for political expediency, widely used as a means to justify its relevance and improve its credibility and popularity among the Malay masses. This demon has become part of UMNO legacy. It has become an uncontrollable and heinous monster that brings fear to its own master. Just to temper it require utmost sensitivity and care, otherwise it will turn around and haunt whoever tried.

The lack of firmness from the whole government in this “Allah and church arson” episode illustrated my point. It fears offending the Malay and Muslim ground. It has appealed to the courts for a stay of order. It did not stop street demonstrations. In its effort to cool the situation, it only shows conciliatory gesture to the Christian quarters.

At the present moment, I do not see any strong UMNO Malay leader that has the guts to exorcise this demon. Even strong man Mahathir continued to coddle and play the race and religious card to his his advantage. While serving as Malaysia PM, he declared that Malaysia is an Islamic State to the shock of his countrymen. He always play the race card especially when criticising Singapore. On his recent blog. he was sympathetic to the Muslim over the court ruling on the use of the word "Allah".

Under the circumstances the only exorcist has to come from a Malay in the opposition camp. If not, the country has no alternative and Malaysians are destined to live under the shadow of this UMNO demon. Also this ghost will continue to haunt the hand that feed it.





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MALAYSIA, CRACKING UP

60 years ago, Malaysia forefathers created a federal constitution to create a multi racial and religious country. It took into consideration the indigenous populations especially the impoverish Malays by having Malays Special rights enshrined in the Federal Constitution. It was a social contract where non-Malays are granted citizenship and guaranteed freedom of religion and language. It also accepted and recognised the strong economic dominance of the non-Malays to continue practising their commercial activities. The Malays on the other hand will run the country, concentrates on civil governance and administration and also include the major security agencies including the military and police. However this arrangement was short-lived when racial riots broke out in May 1969.

UMNO led government then implemented social engineering through NEP where the economic pies of the Malay was enlarged and given privileges in major economic activities including finance, communication, petroleum and plantation business. All major civil engineering contracts were also awarded to preferred Bumiputras without tenders. This action did manage to pacify the Malays but at the end only a minority composing those aligned with UMNO truly benefited. This opened the flood gate for cronyism and nepotism. As such the Malays masses in general were left out. On the contrary, the NEP was seen to marginalise even the Malays and of course the minority races. The non-Malays took it in their stride, overcoming the challenges and obstacles, sometimes through corruption to get thing done. Corruptions have grown unabated and have become endemic. Those in power exploited the opportunities and enriched themselves. Yes, from the lowest ranks of policemen to ministers could not avoid the temptations of easy money.

The vicious cycle of money politics bloomed among BN politicians. Those in power know that to ensure a place in elected office, they are obliged to spend money to buy votes, speak the language of the masses to stay relevant and popular. Racial rhetoric, at times ignoring the sensitivities of the other races and religions, as in defending Malay rights and religion becomes a key platform for their survival. Kissing and drawing the Kris, tough talks of spilling blood to defend Malays rights are standard battle cry for top UMNO leaders. This was the known winning formulas for some time.

It has also become a culture among UMNO leaders to capitalise on any opportunities to go on the streets to demonstrate. Any non-Malays who spoke against Malays rights is guaranteed to incite a retaliation. Is it a Malay psyche to display superiority or is it the fear of being overwhelmed by others? Both are plausible. It is common but unfortunate that non-Malay are stereotyping the Malays in very negative light. Naturally, Malays are compelled to defend its image in a more aggressive manner. At the same time, the Malays have been constantly scared by UMNO leadership that they are very weak and only UMNO is strong enough to protect Malays from being marginalised in their own soil. With constant bickering and reminders, many Malays have actually been conditioned and convinced.

With the court granting the Catholic Church the right to use the word “Allah”, the stage is set for UMNO to defend its Malay ground again. But this time round, many ordinary Malays took thing into their own hands by burning churches. Some quarters believed the arson could have been orchestrated. UMNO leaders responded immediately to contain the ground, but the fuse have been ignited and only drastic measure and cool minds of the non-Malays kept this volatile issues from uncontrollable fallout.

But the real issue and the crux of the problem Malaysia faced today is not about the burning of churches or the use of “Allah” by non-Muslims. The Malaysian government can assure the public and international investors that this is an isolated incident perpetrated by some individual and there is nothing to worry about. Unfortunately the government is still in a denial mode, it just not have the courage to acknowledge that deep rooted racial politics is the real culprit.

Race-based politics has been so deeply entrenched in Malaysian politics. Such politics has become so outmoded in a globalised world when instant news can no longer be buried, instead, it can be transmitted to the living room of a remotest ‘kampong’ as it happened.

BN has become a dinosaur too big to dismantle. UMNO has become a monster so greedy and overfed with corruption and finding no motivation to change its patronising system. MCA and MIC leaders have been given lucrative perks and benefits by their political patron UMNO that their entire leadership takes pains to selfishly guard their positions.

Unless there is a major political earthquake, a major reform caused by severe economic crisis or another May 13, change is unlikely. This church burning episode will just be another sub-chapter. No one ever doubt new episodes are already lined up at regular interval, just like soap operas on television.





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MALAYSIA, WHERE ARE YOU GOING????

Where is Malaysia heading? Where, I do not know, but for sure it is going down the hill towards a cliff. If the government is not going to muster the courage to tell its citizen to stop this kind of racial brinksmanship and taunting, a repeat of May 13 is not too far.

60 years ago, 13 fragmented states, most were ruled by Malay Sultans came together to form a single independent country called Malaysia which consist of 60% Malay majority. The Malays enjoy special rights enshrined in the Constitution. The ‘special rights’ has been the single most contentious and divisive issue.

This time, the court granting Catholics the right to use the word “Allah” was deem to have trampled and encroached on Malay special rights. As anticipated many politicians saw this as a direct challenge to the Malays and thus must be defended vigorously.

All these years, this issue have been manipulated and exploited by all political parties to boiling point. A few questions need to be asked, did the leaders of the past did anything to temper this emotional issue. Or have the past leaders find this issue politically expedient to uphold for their own political advantage? Have the past leaders failed in nation building? What nation-building did the highly respected statesman Mahathir did for Malaysia in his 22 years at the helm?

The recent spate of contentious, divisive and controversial events constantly gripped the news headlines are getting more bizarre and even scary. The government seem to be at lost, at times completely in a dilemma to act rationally without upsetting the racial balance and expectations.

The latest arsons of burning churches has attracted world attentions. Having so many embarrassing episodes occuring in this ever divided country, this one was one too many. The potential security risk cannot be underestimated. What if more churches are burnt? What if the Christian retaliated? What if mosques are burnt in revenge? What if a fight between Christian and Muslim is exploited by extreme quarters? How would an unstable Malaysia be impacted economically? This event is set to be the tipping point and the Malaysia government have to act fast and firmly. It may not have any choice left but to invoke the draconian ISA. Otherwise a racial and religious implosion cannot be ruled out and the consequences unimaginable.

The last GE saw BN losing its 2/3 majority since independence. With the spate of events unfolding the last few months, BN cannot expect to receive continuned unconditional support from the non-Malays quarters. These recent chilling and unnerving events have further alienated more non-malay who used to support BN. With eroding support of BN within its ranks as well as outside, the political landscape is bound to undergo seismic change in the next election. The recent lost of power by the LDP in Japan may be a case in point. If and when BN do lost its mandate in the next election, Malaysia will be in deep political malaise and agitated political tensions will fester for the subsequent years. This will not bode well for Malaysia socially and economically, especially at a time when it is struggling out of recession, losing direct foreign investment and as well as dipping oil revenues in the years to come.

If I am a Malaysian, doesn’t matter if I am a Chinese or Malay, I would be crying for my country. How did Malaysia end up so fragmented, so divisive and so insensitive. If we compare Malaysia as a big family, where was the 'family upbringing' of sharing and respect? It is a situaion when every child fight for his own selfish interest. The elder demand more as if it is his birth right. The younger must fight for everything. No one give in and even prepare to see blood if needed. This is the problem with Malaysia today, no family upbringing or rather no nation building at all! Each race continues to fight for its own interest and nobody want to lose out!

As the fire burned the churches, the government scrambled into the fire fighting mode. This has been the mode of the government for all these 60 years, fire fighting. In its balancing act, the home ministers even defended the Muslim demonstrators that carried the bloody and severed cow head against the building of a Hindu temple. He said he understands the emotions of the demonstrators and even have a dialogue with them. Now in this church arson episode, he even tries to pacify the antagonists by allowing them to demonstrate. This is a situation when the head of the family fears his children and obliges even unreasonable demand; the outcome is certainly chaos and disharmony. UMNO has unwittingly trapped itself in this quagmire in its hunger and desperation to win election. UMNO leaders fear losing its members’ support. The price for this short sightedness and inaction will be very costly and painful in the next election. When the inevitable happens it may be too late for UMNO.

There are no winners in this episode and UMNO apparently will come out a bigger loser. It can only at best, mitigate this loss if the PM prepares to take a more rational and tougher stand.




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