The day our MPs voted to screw the public

As you must have heard, the poorly conceived DNA Identification Bill was passed yesterday, by the majority of ONE vote.

Read here and here for more sordid details. Even if my government had not betrayed me and millions like me before this (and they had, big time), this alone will be a reason never ever to vote BN again.

I attended a talk last year about the bill while it was still in committee stage and my fears were proven as Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo explained the key contentious points of the bill.

“We need act to govern these matters, but certainly not in this form” I recalled him saying this, or something to this effect. I blogged about it then too and covered certain points. Read more here.

To all those Malaysians who voted in each Member of Parliament that supported this bill, I have this to say, “You morons deserve the government you get.”

All those MPs who voted it in, they of course voted party line, regardless of the long term consequences they are inflicting on the unsuspecting public. I sincerely hope some, if not all of these pricks, will be at the receiving end of this hastily-conceived, ill-thought law.

The one consolation is that they removed a clause that stipulated that only a police officer can head the DNA Databank. Now, it is a member of the civilian public.

At a time when the public estimation of the Malaysian Police is at an all time low, this clause would have been like giving loaded gun to a certified violent basket case. Yet that too may have been put in if not for the public outcry.

But don’t cheer just yet. This DNA Identification Bil, which is now on the way to the “stamping board” Dewan Negara has many more clauses that empowers Polis Raja Di Malaysia to royally screw you, if it chooses to.

Meanwhile, I want to know if any of our MPs can give me the names of those 48 MPs who voted in the bill. I would like to put up the names of these paragons on my blog, for posterity’s sake and also to celebrate their genius.

Well Done, Barisan MPs. You’ve just proven beyond a doubt that you guys don’t give a damn about anything but your own ends.

And to the Pakatan Rakyat posse, I’d like to ask this question. Only 47 of you were present to vote against the bill. You guys could have defeated it? As far as I know, only Nizar and Gobind Singh were suspended. Where were the rest of you? Last I checked, there was 82.

Pakatan Rakyat MPs let us down as well today. It irks, because this is a fight you could have won for us, the public. If I was an MP and I knew this bill was going to be voted on, I would turn up even if I had hernia.

Where the f**k were the rest of the Pakatan Rakyat MPs? Civil society would like know. Permatang Pauh, this bill, once it turns into act, will be used against the likes of you. How many of your party members were there to help to defeat it?

I repeat, if any of you readers could, please tell me the people who voted for and against this bill in Parliament yesterday.

I’m collecting a bucket of spit for the absentees and the Yays.

Of Legislators and Legitimacy

I managed to squeeze in some reading time despite the working weekend. Which is how I found this gem that kept me awake till the wee hours…mulling.

…whenever the legislators endeavour to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any further obedience, and are left to the common refuge which God hath provided for all men against force and violence.- John Locke.

While we Malaysians go on endlessly about a social contract and whether it was cast in stone and therefore inviolable, it is worth considering if the spirit social contract we were said to have had, was honoured at all.

You don’t have to be a genius to figure out that we as a collective, regardless of this ugly thing called race, have been screwed by those we entrusted the governance of this country to.

Most people swimming in money and vested with power, tend to suffer from delusions of grandeur and self importance. They lie, cheat, rape, pillage, plunder and get away with murder. In Malaysia, it seems to be the exclusive territory of the haves, to be above the law.

And you know why that is? It is our fault as citizens. This is a so called democracy as far as the theoretical government-through-ballot goes. Once we’re done marking the ballot paper, we go on with our lives, leaving the business of running the country to the people we elected.

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. – PJ O’Rourke

That is exactly what we did. While some 50 years ago, there was a spirit of tolerance and live-and let-live among our leaders that we could count on, that has not been the case for a couple of decades now.

So what happens? When the masses goes about its business of making a living, the folks at the top have been having their wicked way with the country’s coffers like it’s their birthright, with utter impunity.

PKFZ is just one of the can of worms. Look at Renong, Perwaja, the dodgy business behind Pergau dam, Bakun Dam.

Look at the number of deaths in police custody. For all you know, the latest casualty could have died due to natural causes, but hey, after Kugan, who do we believe?

Hospital reports can be doctored, lawyers can be bought (this is not new) and lawyers can buy people as well. An impartial judge is almost an oxymoron in Malaysia, never mind the independent commissions and tribunals. The Attorney General? Ahahaha!

The civil servants are used as instruments against the very public they are supposed to serve. The hegemony must be preserved you see. All’s fair in love, war and Malaysian politics.

I read last year that one young man went to the then Deputy Prime Minister for help, saying he was sodomised. The DPM is now PM. But the hospital reports (two of them) said his rear end wasn’t violated.

I believe that we the Malaysian public have been collectively raped by the politicians. Will the Prime Minister help us get justice?

I think we have plenty of evidence and witnesses. No need for doctored reports. Plenty of us will write statutory declarations if you want.

What? You want us to swear on the holy books? We will swear on them all.

There is nothing to fear when you are telling the truth. There is not enough place for 25 million Malaysians in Kamunting.

Death Becomes You

Most societies view death as a painful thing. It’s crass to talk about it. Being reminded of one’s own mortality is not pleasant for many of us, I guess.

Death is harder on the living. The pain of parting is bad enough when both parties are still alive. Imagine a permanent one. I know, I’ve lost a few.

The guy who is dead, well, he’s gone and you won’t know what’s going on with him. I mean he could be sipping a Tequila Sunrise while lounging on an oh-so-comfortable deck chair in a place where getting a tan doesn’t come with carcinoma. It could be happy hour every night.

So, as someone who has made someone laugh almost every other day, I’d like to tell you this, death is not to be feared. It should be celebrated. Try watching Death at the Funeral. Helps.

Face it, death is the great equaliser. If there’s anyone I do have sympathies for it would be this guy. He’s been working like, forever. Grim prospects!

stole the pic from here

It couldn’t have been easy for Grim Reapers of the world. The job must suck. And they have  to face all sorts of hazards.

Then he has deal with smart mouths like Winston Churchill who said,

I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.

Keh keh keh!

Some grim reapers are not up to the job, you can tell.

pic source

And of course you must have heard that pun about how the undertaker always has a grave appearance. Keh keh keh!

See, death is funny business. People die in all kinds of places, in all kinds positions (sometimes awkward, like Michael Hutchence of INXS), of all kinds of causes (war, drugs, disease, natural disaster, murder, accidents and natural causes). But they die. Just like you and I will, someday.

With such inevitability, it’s kinda hard to be too serious about it.

So live life to the fullest, go out in style and if you still have to take up space on this earth AFTER you die, leave something for people to remember you with a chuckle. Be

Some hints.

You see, I love visiting cemeteries. And I adore the idea of someone giggling among the tombs. When my time comes for the appointment with the Reaper, I’ll insist he tells me a good joke first.

You should insist on it too.

Vindication for Manohara?

Indonesia model’s medical exam confirms abuse

JAKARTA (AFP) — A medical examination of a teenage US-Indonesian model who claimed she was raped and tortured by her Malaysian prince husband, has confirmed she was physically abused, a forensic expert said on Tuesday.

Manohara Odelia Pinot, 17, last week told reporters she was treated like a sex slave after her marriage last year to Tengku Temenggong Mohammad Fakhry, the prince of Malaysia’s Kelantan state.

She escaped the prince’s guards at a Singapore hotel and returned to her family in Indonesia with tales of abuse, rape and torture at the hands of the 31-year-old prince.

“There are slash wounds on many parts of her body, especially on her chest. Some are still fresh,” forensic doctor Mun’im Idries told AFP.

“We are still examining her blood and urine samples because she said she had been given jabs,” he said adding that he also found an injection mark on her back.

Read more at AFP

What else to say? Private matter? Now of course the husband will ask for independent medical opinion. But Dr Mun’im Idries is a respected forensic pathologist, not your fly by night quack. Check out his credentials.

The police report has been lodged. Now the mess will become bigger. Then there will be a divorce petition. I wonder what court will dispute Dr Mun’im’s findings.

This is a cautionary tale for all those chicks looking for guys with fat wallets. I may sound like a cliche, but life’s no fairytale, as countless fairytale turned nightmare has shown us.

Slash wounds? Drugs? Is it GHB I wonder.

Lethargy, Confusion…

..and a general inability to make sense of things.

I wanted to blog about certain issues. But something is stopping me. Inertia maybe. In some cases, the absence of real facts to rely on.

I read yesterday that the body’s metabolism, growth, tissue function even the moods, is all governed by an endocrine gland the size of a pea.

Duh! Something so small, does so much. I am humbled and awed and somewhat reduced in ego-size as the realisation dawned.

Started reading more and discovered some medical symptoms I might have. Alarm grew deafeningly loud,  only to be abruptly silenced by a friend who warned that I sounded like a hypochondriac.

Duh! number 2. I must stop thinking too many things at once. Might blow a fuse upstairs.

But have I already? Blown a fuse I mean.

You know the expression, “I’d like to get inside his head”? Well, I would like to get inside my own head, but is that possible?

I mean, I’m thinking so, my mind is mine. Getting inside my own head to have a look-see would mean my mind is a separate individual from the physical brain that is firing off those signals that my mind uses to analyse.

You get what I’m thinking? No?

I am doomed….aaargh!

The Yellow Folks Spread the Love

“I will follow you…” Yeah, this time I will definitely follow you.

DiGi, the yellow telco, is doing a lot of things right in the recent years and I wouldn’t be surprised if it isn’t already giving the Red and the Blue a run for their market share.

Tai Kor blogger Jeff Ooi recently announced he’s going DiGi broadband, cos surprise surprise!, it works better.

Wish him well. But my interest is piqued by this CSR effort by Digi.

Apparently they have a list of charity on the site and each time you click on a chosen charity, DiGi pays RM5 into their respective kitty.

I wish the National Zoological Society was in the list, since Zoo Negara is in dire need of help, but it wasn’t. The Malacca Zoo and its residents seem to be better taken care of.

Maybe DiGi could do something about this eh? I used to visit Zoo Negara often, and I’m rather sad and the somewhat dilapidated look. Not many things to be cheerful about in the zoo, except maybe the scarlet Ibis, and some of the big water birds.

The panther is fat, the binturong and the puma is always hiding under some tree branch. Poor tigers look thin. That was last year. But I digress.

What is important is, DiGi is trying to raise RM150,000 in 30 days and all you have to do is just click on your preferred charity and they will pay.Not much there, but hey, its better than nothing.

And you can even view how much each charity is receiving at the Love Bank.

Go! Make a difference. At least this Monday will be a blessed one, for you, you and you. Yes, you reading this.

“….We can make it if we try…”

The indignation grows…

Different people, different views.But the story of Manohara Odelia Pinot has fast become a media circus.

You get a pretty girl. An exotic foreign beauty at that. Throw in bits of a fairytale with a marriage to royalty. Then allegations from said girl’s mother that she’s denied entry to Malaysia to visit her daughter.

Allegations of drugs, violence and even rape. From this report, the allegation from Manohara covers physical and statutory rape, considering she was 16 at the time. Proper little soap opera don’t you think, but wait…the plot thickens.

A friend of the estranged husband has spoken out against her allegations, demanding proof, but I don’t think this will be forthcoming now, signalling a court battle may be looming in the not-so-distant horizon.

Another twist takes place. The Kelantan palace distanced itself from the media statements of Mohd Soberi, saying that that those statements were made in his personal capacity.

The palace comptroller says the family’s position is that this is a personal matter between husband and wife, to be resolved according to the law.

But the Indonesians are not letting Malaysia off easy. “Don’t think that I don’t care”, says Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhyono, adding that this has become a public issue affecting his citizen. Outraged Indons are protesting, adding Manohara’s case to other complaints of theirs against Malaysia.

Back home, the Women’s Centre for Change, Penang (WCC) says violence ain’t a personal matter. I agree. It is an issue for our whole society, provided of course what Manohara said all this while is true and could be corroborated.

Otherwise it’s just he-says-she-says, and it would be a crying shame that two neighbours with longstanding ties have a diplomatic spat over a love story gone awry.

Still, the public interest in this story is understandable. No one in his/her right mind could help feeling outrage over this violence against women. Which makes me wonder what’s wrong with the public in this story.

On another note, the Indonesian embassy folks Singapore have taken exception to the Manohara family allegation that she wasn’t given help, and instead they had assistance by the Singapore police and the US embassy there.

Embassy hand Achmad Djatmiko details the participation of the Indonesian Embassy down south in the ‘liberation’ of Manohara. If you can understand bahasa Indonesia, read this.

Now, it has been a couple of days and lots of media attention, but there is no sign that this girl has taken her allegations of abuse to the Indon authorities. I mean, I understand trauma and all, but in the logical order of things, a police report in this case should precede a press conference, don’t you think?

I mean, if you were drugged and all, drugs can metabolise in hours or maybe a day at most, and exit the body. Thought about evidence, Manohara?

Now doesn’t this give you pause, people?

Let’s Unreason Things Out

No…you did not read that headline wrong.

Welcome to Unreason. I found this link while surfing along Netburbia looking for TED.

You know, we Malaysians are a bloody opinionated bunch, especially in recent times. A lot of bloggers, including yours truly here, has been a fairly consistent part of the bitching brigade, if not leading the way.

Now, there are lots of things that are not quite right in this country or indeed, this world today.

So why don’t we Netizens bash our collective heads together in search of some practical solutions to the woes we face today?

Like how to ensure our roads don’t get dug up every few weeks by some telco, or the Utilities people.

Visit Unreason and share your ideas.

You may not save the world, buthey, maybe you could figure a way to make the house cool without air-conditioning, y’know?

Unreason is an idea exchange and also a seeding ground, the way I see it. Go! Think outside, inside (if it helps) on top, underneath, hell, blow the box to kingdom come, if it gives you ideas that makes this earth a wee bit better than it is now.

Good Luck!

Of Manohara and Maling-sia

One night a few years ago, I was dining out when I received a disturbing call from a friend.

She was at a police station with her battered and terrified sister. They wanted to lodge a report against the sister’s husband, who did the deed. The reason my friend called me was the shoddy treatment they received at the police station. The battered girl was “advised” to take her domestic dispute home.

I asked her to insist on her right to report the incident. After the call ended, I asked my dinner companion his views on the matter. He said, “Don’t get involved.” That got me thinking…just how many cases of abuse, especially ones that happen within the marital home, get swept under the carpet because we are a society that doesn’t interfere with “hal rumahtangga orang”.

Now here’s another domestic violence episode that looks set to have diplomatic repercussions. The kind of publicity we really don’t need now.

When the curious case of Manohara Odelia Pinot, who is known in the Kelantan circles as Cik Puan Temenggung Kelantan, first hit the news, I was struck by the contrasting reporting. The slant of the media in Malaysia (quiet, downplayed stories) and the opposite way the Indonesian press and blogs approached the matter, was food for thought.

It looked like there even existed some attempts to make Manohara’s mom Daisy look foolish when she went to the Indonesian press with allegations that her daughter was abused. To be fair to the Malaysian police, there was no report lodged, but

But today we find Daisy vindicated. Here’s Manohara at the press conference. She says she is abused and injected with drugs, treated like a toy, and the Indonesian Embassy in both Malaysia and Singapore failed to help her. On their part the Indonesian embassy said they had done what they could.

This was an Indonesian national, who alleges abuse in our country, and she managed to escape only when she hit Singapore, with the help of the US Embassy and the Singapore police.

I am disgusted. I guess our unwritten policy of non-interference with palace matters extends to alleged crimes as well. To be fair to the Malaysian police, there was no report lodged on this matter, but then again, Manohara alleges she was confined.

To begin with, Indonesians don’t like us all that much, as we abuse their maids and workers. Now this high profile tale of love gone awry fans the anger further.

The Australian has rather naughty story here about a little known encroachment episode in Ambalat last weekend. Apparently the Indons call us Maling-sia…Thieving Malaysians.

Maybe it’s just domestic dispute, but if the girl offers proof of abuse, then what? Are our authorities going to take action?

Can racist rabble-rousing still work post March 8?

It just occured to me that two consecutive May 13s have taken place since the political map-changing Malaysian General elections of 2008.

Despite a record number of Parliament and State seats falling to the Opposition, there was a telling absence of widespread insecurity on the part of this country’s majority voters: the Malays.

Life was still the same in the streets. The makcik who sells nasi lemak in my predominantly Chinese neighbourhood still enjoys roaring business, her only troubles coming from the City Hall enforcement who wants to put an end to her illegal makeshift stall.

I have yet to lose any friends because of politics, Malay, Chinese, Dayak, Indian, Ceylonese, Kadazan or otherwise. The major disgruntlement was over how the establishment screwed the people over. But that was a complaint even I have.

You see readers, in the matters of civil rights, common interest, nation-building, economics and other sober goals, I ceased to see myself along the lines of ethnicity, if I ever did to begin with.

52 years after Independence, I guess Malaysians of different ethicities have ceased to be suspicious of each other on grounds of skin/race/religion. Except for the politicians and their likes.

Which is why it is baffling why a certain newspaper editorial still continues to fan the embers of racial sentiment.

Awang…oh Awang, you cannot be as dumb as to write this sort of drivel.

I take offence at the insinuation that my life here is at the behest of the kind people of Umno. I’m a child of this tanah air too. I was born here. I’d die rather than betray my country.

But if people don’t care for Umno, that should not be equated as anti-Malay. To say that is just plain stupid.

Why do people (Malays and non-Malays alike) hate Umno? You don’t have to be rocket scientists to know.

The excesses we have seen over the years just makes the bile rise. Again and again. The corruption, the crimes, the violation of trust, the abuse of power….I could go on.

It’s not that the Pakatan Rakyat is clean as a whistle. It’s just that the scale of excesses on the BN side of the fence is far more dirty, so dirty that anything looks white by comparison.

Look at this PKFZ scandal. RM10 billion ringgit! I can’t even fathom how much one billion ringgit looks like. And that much money is squandered through shady deals, inept governance, lackadaisical attitude to the taxpayers’ money and sheer negligence.

That’s what we are opposed to. The status quo is a horrible state of being, for this country, Awang! And this is what many Malaysians feel. I think I can quite safely assert that we have moved beyond seeing people along racial lines.

Zaid Ibrahim is a Malay too, last I checked. And yet he too finds it disturbing to read yesterday’s editorial.

Yes, I agree that thousands of the immigrants were granted citizenship in those early days after Independence. But post-1970 it was another story wasn’t it?

The system was such that the likes of Khir Toyo, whose father wasn’t a citizen here, could go as far as to become the MB of Selangor, but a friend of mine who has lived here since 1953, still can’t get his citizenship.

Why? With Indonesians, it is always “kita serumpun” isn’t it? You buta sejarah fellas actually forgot the Konfrontasi period? Remember Ganyang Malaysia?

And since you embraced the Indons and they started turning up here in droves to work and to settle down like Khir Toyo’s father, the numbers grew.

But today, you don’t treat them any better these days, do you?

In fact, Malaysia can be positively evil on immigrant workers and refugees. Yes, there are bad apples here and there but imagine without those immigrant workers, who would work your construction sites?

The poor blokes who died last week in Jaya Supermarket collapse are cases in point. Now they mati katak. I hope the government has the decency to send their bodies back to their homeland to be buried.

Another thing,  the part about kindness and generosity you guys at Utusan so readily associate with Malays certainly does not extend to the monsters that are in authority today. Monsters like those who tortured Kugan to death. Monsters like those who bombed Altantuya to pieces.

This government allowed for these heinous crimes to happen. This government screwed its own people by  allowing the folks in resource-rich state like Terengganu and Sabah to remain poor.

This is what we object to. Not Malays, not bumiputeras. Imagine guys, maybe RM10 billion could have built roads to Bario.

RM10 billion could have built several universities and funded hundreds of scholars, so our kids and sisters and brothers who aced their exams need not fight over university places or scholarships.

This is one of the real costs of corruption and of absolute power. And we all suffer in the end.

While the likes of Awang Selamat lament about the loss of status quo with such narrow, parochial views, the country is slowly sinking into the abyss. But of course Utusan doesn’t care. After all, it didn’t even bother running the story about the PKFZ fiasco.

Sorak la Awang. Jangan tak sorak. Kampung dah tergadai dah.