Monthly Archive

The day has arrived. Happy Halloween everybody!

There are plenty of grisly truths and half-truths that served on the Malaysian menu today, for your pleasure.

Here’s some of the delectable fare.

1) Mr RM27 million is not worth that much after all? Well, that’s what he says in this report that he is not. He also says that the ACA fucked up. And that he was a victim of bad press. Ramli himself may or may not have clean hands but what he says about ACA doesn’t augur well for whistleblowers. Here’s his statement , courtesy of Malaysiakini via Screenshots. He said the former IGP gave him blessings to own shares. Blessings? He makes his ex-boss sound like the Pope.

PM said that the ACA is not stupid. The issue is not stupidity, Pak Lah. The issue is effectiveness and impartiality. To me the Anti Corruption Agency begins to sound like an evil tool of selective persecution.

 Poster by Mob

2)The Cabinet pit bull Nazri implies that he cares for Indians more than he cares for bloggers. Not by much I must say. Yesterday, yet another temple, this time in Shah Alam, was demolished. Oh, perhaps the temple was illegal as per local authority bylaws.

But the fact remains. There are rarely any approvals given to construct a place of worship for non Muslims in Malaysia. More are torn down than are approved. Now this problem of demolition could be solved if a certain area with a large community of a certain race or faith gets a temple.

But who cares anymore? Indians count for less than 10 percent of the population. In the climate where the Prime Minister has lost reins of of the country, where a son-in-law rules by proxy, where Umno pit bulls with too much money doesn’t hesitate to flaunt their wealth or threaten people, who cares about the bloody Indians?

Having said that, I must say that a surau was also torn down in the demolition exercise. And this was despite a court order that gave permission only to tear down the squatter houses, not the places of worship (until an alternative site is given).

3) Spinning is a gift. It can also be evil. In my case it gave me a headache. When I read these two reports. One by Jacqueline Surin at The Sun. Another by Shaila Koshy at The Star. Same event, same guy…different things came out of two different newspapers. Read both and go figure.

4) Samy Vellu says the People’s Progressive Party  (PPP) is like a mosquito. The story is here. PPP is also a pest control company from Texas.

This is a mosquito.

This is Samy Vellu.

You decide who scares you more.

This my dear…is Dr Evil…muahaaahahahah muahhahahah muahahahahah!

This is Nazri Aziz. And here’s Malik Imtiaz’s rationale on why he’s such a hot minister. This Rottweiller of the Malaysian Cabinet has canine instincts, and he bites first and thinks later…or in this case…not at all.

Now, who’s more shagadelic?

 What kind of nonsense is this?

You can put a Malaysian in space for a price tag of RM85 million. You can spend RM3.4 billion for two Scorpene submarines. I will not complain too much about the submarine purchase.

Yet you can’t have a backup scanner at a sensitive border entry in case one fails. This bit appeared in The Star today.

 On the statement by Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Johari Baharum that there was an increase in firearms smuggling due to the breakdown of a scanning machine at the Bukit Kayu Hitam entry point, Musa said the force had not been able to repair the equipment. 

“At the moment, we are sharing the scanning machine used by the Customs Department at the entry point. 

“We should be able to share resour ces with other agencies with whom we are working together in order to cut costs,” he said. -The Star

WTF!!! In effect, the IGP is telling me that thanks to a faulty scanner, I can go to southern Thailand, shop to my heart’s content for firearms and just coolly walk across the border at Bukit Kayu Kayu Hitam and come home.

Nice!

This article from last year says that Thailand wants to be gun-free in five years. Firearms aren’t exactly perishable goods. So, southern Thailand being your friendly ASEAN neighbourhood centrepoint for gun traficking, don’t you readers think that they will be having a lot of the Great Gun Megasale.

Where are those firearms going? Some certainly will flow south. And because of a bloody scanner, they will walk in unnanounced and end up in the hands of drug pushers and dealers who will drop cops like flies.

And of course the Police will come out and say they don’t have budget for more Kevlar vests.

The rising crime rate, especially serious crimes, is not something the Malaysian Police is unaware of. In fact, this report from ACP Amar Singh Sidhu made that very clear several years ago.

So what gives? It is up to the authorities to empower the security agencies on this country to act, and improve the crime-fighting machinery. Increase quality of our forensics people. Encourage technopreneurs and researchers who engage in and develop security-enhancing technology. Encourage further education for career cops.

No budget? RM85 million would have gone some way towards helping with that. Believe me, the need for public safety is much much bigger than a feel good PR exercise.

Now, I wish things like these were discussed in Parliament instead of skirt length, calling each other Pukimak and asking the non-Malays (that’s 49.6% of the 24.8 million estimated Malaysian population, according to this site) to leave the country if they are not happy.

Humbling thought. The more I read, the more I surf, the more I realise there are loads of things out there I DON’T know. Last night, my bedtime reading was the late Kurt Vonnegut’s  Cat’s Cradle.

In recounting the life of the fictional Dr Felix Hoenicker whose cataclysmic creation Ice Nine spelt doom for mankind, he mentioned that Alfred Nobel was the inventor of dynamite.

Never knew that. I went slapping my forehead thinking all sort of things, the main thought being “you ignorant fool”. Then the next thought that came got me laughing, for its irony.

 Here’s Alfred Nobel, in whose name, the Nobel Prize was given out every year for Literature, Physics, Chemistry, Medicine (since 1969, Economics too) and the biggest of them all, the Peace Prize.

This guy who was born in a family of scientists, was known in his own lifetime as an armaments manufacturer. Heh Heh! Armaments and Peace…funny relationship.

The irony doesn’t stop there though. If you go through the list of Nobel Peace laureates  you’d see some names that will trigger a snigger. Heh Heh! Don’t believe me? Read it here. 

1994 was kind of a farce. Three hawks; Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat (the latter two are dead now) shared the Nobel Peace prize for their work in bringing peace to the Middle East. Peace? Middle East? Who respects the Oslo Accords these days?

1978 Nobel Peace Laureates were Egypt’s Anwar Al Sadat and Israel’s Menachem Begin. Begin was reviled by many as the butcher behind the Massacre of Deir Yassin. I guess history is often written by winners.

In the words of Mr Vonnegut….so it goes!

We Malaysians can bitch all we want about our tiny neighbour down south but we must admit we have so many things in common.

Here’s the latest thing, courtesy of Reuters via Yahoo.

SINGAPORE, Oct 23 - Singapore’s parliament decided on Tuesday to keep a ban on sex between men, with the prime minister saying the city state should keep its conservative values and not allow special rights for homosexuals.”Singapore is basically a conservative society … and we want to keep it so,” Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a rare speech to parliament.

The chamber passed a bill on Tuesday for an amended penal code that kept the ban on sex between men, but included other changes such as legalising oral and anal sex between heterosexual adults, a spokeswoman at the home affairs ministry said.

Tough eh! What they are saying essentially is that homosexuals can’t do each other at all….not according to law. But Heterosexuals can violate each other’s ass with consent. Baffling.

Hmm…Singapore is prudish alright, but so are many other countries in the world. Life certainly ain’t so happy for gays these days.

Bloomberg pix by Goh Seng Chong. 

Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong, the Genting Group supremo, passed away today at the grand old age of 90 at the Subang Jaya Medical Centre today. Lim is survived by wife Lim Hua Kee as well as six children and grandchildren.

A long, event-filled life for this Genting patriarch who, back in the 60s, braved the tough Equatorial jungle to build a mountain-top casino, founding what is today a USD22 billion diversified empire of gaming, leisure and commercial concerns. Many people thought him a madman then, but he laughed all the way to the bank (with your money and mine!).

International Herald Tribune has more on one of the pioneers of Malaysia’s commercial growth here . Certainly this he ralds the ending of an era where stalwart businessmen took on challenges that eventually built Malaysia’s economy.

Following the news of his death, shares of Genting Berhad fell 1.3 percent to 7.55 ringgit while its affiliate, Resorts World and plantations arm Asiatic Development, were both flat at 3.74 ringgit.

More news from The Edge.

Excerpts from AP report. 

Lim, a migrant from China, battled against the odds to build Genting Highlands, a casino hotel resort that opened in 1971 and flourished into a Las Vegas-style resort. It is the country’s only casino and includes five hotels and a theme park.Forbes magazine listed Lim among the world’s top 250 billionaires in 2006 and the third richest person in Malaysia with a personal net worth of US$4.3 billion (?3.04 billion).

Born in Anxi in Fujian province, Lim was the fifth child among seven siblings who migrated to Malaya _ as Malaysia was then known _ in 1937 at the age of 19 with only a suitcase and US$175 in his pocket.

He made his first fortune by trading in second-hand heavy machinery in the 1940s after the end of Japanese occupation, and later ventured into mining.

While working on a hydroelectric power project in 1964 in Cameron Highlands, a popular hill resort patronized mostly by British colonials at the time, Lim dreamt of building a similar hill resort nearer to the country’s biggest city, Kuala Lumpur, as a getaway for local residents.

He found the remote 5,900-feet (1,800-meter) Ulu Kali mountain, just about an hour’s drive from Kuala Lumpur. In 1965, he set up the Genting Group to transform the dense virgin tropical jungle into one of Malaysia’s top holiday destinations that attracted 18.5 million visitors in 2006.

R.I.P Mr Goh.

There are rights and there are rights. But what this represents to me is unadulterated bulshit. Read on..

LOS ANGELES: A Malaysian-born US Army soldier has launched a legal bid to prevent being sent to Iraq, claiming deployment to the war zone would conflict with his religious beliefs, lawyers said on Friday. 

Calvin Lee Chee Keong, a 26-year-old Malaysian who has permanent residency in the United States, said in a lawsuit filed here that he had been duped into joining the military by recruiters in 2004. 

Lee, a Buddhist, said he had been told he would never have to leave the United States during his three years’ military service or go to war, lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said. 

However, he sought conscientious objector status after discovering that his service was being extended and his unit was being deployed to Iraq, the ACLU said in a statement. 

“Every action of killing is so evil and wrong, I don’t want to do any evil things and see any suffering happening right in front of my eyes,” Lee said in the statement. 

Wow! How convenient. I don’t understand this. Calvin Lee is a Malaysian. He joined the US Army. I suspect that decision is more to do with furthering his own ends , certainly an opportunistic move, rather than anything altruistic. After all, joining the US military does bring with it tremendous opportunities for growth and personal development.

Mr Calvin Lee, here’s the news, you idiot. Those opportunities are a recognition by the US government, of the sacrifices of soldiers, who are supposed to be the defenders of the ncountry (in my idealistic parlance anyway).

You are a soldier, for God’s sake. No one put a gun to to your head to join the army. You should know that a soldier is required to bear arms, and maybe even kill, in defence or offense. So, to cry that you have been duped by recruiters is indeed laughable.

Takut mati ah? Kiasi ! What was a Buddhist doing in a profession that one certainly knows, requires aggression and violence? I’m not disparaging your religion at all. Buddhists are determined peace-loving folks. But it is your motives that seems to me, rather impure.

You are a disgrace to all brave soldiers out there. There are millions of soldiers worldwide who sacrifice time, effort, personal safety, individual rights and even their lives, just so that they don’t compromise their team.

I was and will never agree with the US war on Iraq. That was a stupid, highly immoral war that will have repercussions for generations in the Middle East….maybe long after Bush, Cheney and his Haliburton gang are six feet under.

But to cringe at going to war after reaping all the benefits of your host state? That is a new low. Mr Calvin Lee would not even have defended the country of his birth, should push come to shove. That’s the way I see it. Shames me to read that he’s a Malaysian.

I moved into this tiny apartment in a Kuala Lumpur suburb in 2001. The apartment was bare of any trace of the previous occupant, except for one little thing.

It was curious little contraption of wire, frame, thread and feathers that hung on my window grille. It sways and makes little noises whenever the wind blows in from my perpetually open window. It looked something like this.

Never once was I curious to know what it was. In fact, when I moved to another cubicle of an apartment, I left it behind.

Six years after catching numerous dreams as I slept blissfully unaware, it came back to haunt me. In a way that took my breath away. So I read, and found magic.

Dreamcatchers are Native American in origin. It is a spider-like web woven inside a usually circular frame. Comes is many many variations. These beautiful creations are usually hung over a child’s bed to ward off bad dreams. Protective by intention, it sometimes acquires the quality of a talisman, to those who believe. More of dreamcatcher lore here.

The Ojibwa/Cheppewa tribe north of Mexico were the first to be credited with the use of dreamcatchers in their culture. It soon spread to the rest of the American Indian culture. The whimsical quality and their beauty has made dreamcatchers a popular object, not just collected physically but also serve as inspirations for other types of art, including paintings, books and movies. Here’s a stained glass version.

Stephen King’s Dreamcatcher is a disturbing story that went into the realm of viruses and such stuff. It was made into a movie in 2003. Talk about macabre derivatives.

Dreamcatchers, I found, are also favoured as tattoo subjects, especially among Americans. 

Saw a beautiful one this year. Still haunts me. Since then, little words, suggestions, signs, sights I’ve seen all point back to the dreamcatcher. Well, I know the great fates are trying to tell me something. Maybe I’m not meant to ignore it any longer.

So here I come.

Got this email from a friend recently. If anyone sees her please inform the authorities or call the numbers below.

We are searching for our beloved sister called Puspha Malar d/o Ganesan. 21 years old. She ran away from our house about 4.00pm on 7th October 2007 (Sunday). She has some memory loss difficulties so please do help us to find her.

Please refer to the attachment to view her picture.

If you happen to see her anyway Please do not hesitate to inform us at the following numbers:

On Feb 5 I blogged about Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by some Balkan NGOs. A man I much admire for many reasons, this man is in my opinion a towering Malaysian indeed. Hope he recovers soon

 However, it was a long shot at best. The Nobel for Peace was announced today and I am very much heartened by the fact that it went to Al Gore and the UN Climate Change Panel. I like the lengths to which Mr Gore has gone, often in the face of much opposition, reluctance to commit, apathy and derision from industry head honchos, the public and also the short-sighted Bush administration.

I would like to hope that this is a sign that the Nobel committee and the international public is aware of the importance of handling the issue of global warming, climate change and conservation.

Let’s hope they fight the good fight to educate the masses, governments and corporation on our common responsibility to preserve a decent quality of life on this planet. Like the One Earth ad says, its not as if we go shopping somewhere else.

This seems indeed Gore’s year. The man who “used to be the next president of the United States” won an Oscar earlier this year for his An Inconvenient Truth, a sobering documentary on climate change that sent major ripples across the world as far as awareness was concerned.

Now the Nobel. There are talks of getting Gore to run for President in 2008. The guy hasn’t committed anything yet. However, there is a sign that the environmental card is being played as a vote-puller. The Democrats’ presidential candidate Barack Obama pushed for up to 80% vehicular carbon emissions back in April this year. Read it here

Republican California governor Arnie Schwarzenegger went as far as to issue an executive order aimed at reducing carbon content in fuel. So yes. It is fashionable for even the politicians to be enviro-friendly.

In Malaysia however, we still have a knee-jerk reaction to environment and conservation. Does anyone remember what happened with Lojing by the way? Is that something that will only come up during the coming elections?

We Malaysians will not learn, will we? We rejoice about putting a man in space, but we forget to ensure we have a healthy Earth to bequeath to our children. With this kinda attitude, we might as well all pegi mampus!!