Monthly Archive

According to this news report, the Democratic candidate for White House 2008 is relying on female votes to give her an edge over hugely popular fellow Democrat and first time Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama.

The chicks in America are falling over themselves, over Obama. The Chistian Science Monitor examines the charisma angle in this Opinion piece. Interesting.

Funnily enough, I would like to think American women would see the value of pushing a woman into the White House. The glass ceiling argument etc etc….

However, Hillary’s own battleaxe/bitch persona doesn’t seem to endear her. In fact, pundits and journos observed that access to her campaign insiders only started being relaxed in those desperate days after Obama started winning state after state across America.

I’m sorry Mrs Clinton. While I think it is long past due that the US of A gets a female president, I think you might just not make it, cos Americans are suckers for romance, and Obama certainly is Kennedy-esque in his charm.

Hell, his voice stopped me in my tracks.

*sigh*

One of those things that make u snigger.

Jeff Ooi, one of Malaysia’s elder god of blogging, is running for Parliament. Everyone knows that.

Today though he appeared in a New Straits Times report as Ooi Chuan Aun. NST as we know, belongs to the media group that is suing Jeff and Rocky.

It was kinda funny therefore, to see his views actually featured in the newspaper, which is NOT known for impartiality(but then again neither is The Star, Utusan, Berita Harian and the Opposition papers). Maybe they are trying. Here, read for yourself.

Thank you, Syed Nazri.

However, Jeff was consistently referred to as Ooi Chuan Aun and never in his better known “Jeff Ooi”. If he wasn’t referred to as the DAP candidate for Jelutong, I wouldn’t know it was him.

I knew Jeff as someone rather meticulous with facts n figures, and someone with the tenacity of a bulldog, even if he does get personal sometimes. I’m sure he’s furnish the figures.

I also wish all the luck to blogger types Tony Pua (taking on PJU’s Chew Mei Fun), Elizabeth Wong  and CheguBard who’s taking on Khairy Jamaludin in Rembau.

Theresa Kok, the battle-hardened MP of Seputeh, is being screwed in a very very amateurish manner by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall and the Umno Seputeh.

Go read more at her blog.

I have seen some really dirty maneuvers in the months past by these folks in my neighbourhood.

However, if they think this is gonna make the people of Seputeh constituency vote for them…..

hahhahahahahah…..hahahahah

….perut sakit loh! Last term, this MCA candidate Banie Chin said Theresa is not fit to be MP cos she is an unmaried female. He lost.

By the way, the upgrading of Jalan Kelang Lama was Satu Projek Kerajaan….they owe it to taxpayers. It happens to be a Kerajaan Barisan Nasional, but that is just incidental.

It could be a Projek Barisan Bersih in the future. The thing is, this kinda stupid moves might work in a rural area, but this is Kuala Lumpur.

People are informed.

Enuf said.

That is not a website address. It is my way of comemorating the political demise of what must be one of the most repulsive Parliamentarians in Malaysian history. 

One of the three enfant terrible of the last Parliament will not return to those halls again. At least not this coming term. Part of my wish answered :).

  A news alert from The Star said Jasin’s incumbent MP Mohd Said Yusof has been dropped from Malacca Chief Minister Mohd Ali Rustam’s list of names given to PM Abdullah Badawi as Umno candidates from the state.

Lots of women who felt as insulted as DAP’s erstwhile postergirl and lately resigned Batu Gajah MP Gong Po Kuan by his “bocor” remarks would no doubt cheer.

The celupar and rather thick-skinned MP whose main claim to fame is a runaway mouth and an alleged graft scandal (note the Wikipedia entry in his name) should now retire to his lubuk and sit quietly.

If he does come out, then maybe only when he has improved on his lousy public manners that got him in trouble in the first place.

A Malay proverb comes to mind. Kerana Mulut Badan Binasa. In this case, it is his career.

BTW, what happened to his timber company, Binyu Sof Enterprise? Has ACA and the Customs and everyone else tutup sebelah mata as well?

And now that he’s dropped….what about the other two jackasses? Bung Mukhtar Radin (Kinabatangan) and Badrudin Amiruldin (Jerai).

 For a long time, reading the newspapers served only to depress me. One reason is all the bad news that I see in print. The other is all the scheming and lying that goes on daily in Bolehsia.

A third is the fact that the number that I buy never seems to hit the top prize in Kuda, Toto or Magnum. But that’s another sorry …er, story.

But porpoises frolicking? That too of Penang island? Nice Very Nice. Ai yai yai yai yai…Me happy.

Pix borrowed from www.flheritage.com

You see, I discovered the word porpoise as a child, thanks to Jules Verne’s mind-blowing Journey to The Centre of the Earth. I thought at first that it was a fictional creature. Then later, I thought it was some pre-historic giant sea snake gone extinct.

Nay, people. They are alive and well and apparently they come to Penang too.

Kudos to The Star for this one.

Read more about Porpoises. They are cute sea creatures related to whales and dolphins. And the sight of them along our shores must augur well. I certainly hope so.

This is interesting. The Star says that at least seven Federal Ministers will exit the stage this coming polls season. Several of those names have a surface reason and a set of rumours surrounding the underlying reasons.

Chan Kong Choy to leave? I think the Team A-Team B dynamics is still very much alive in MCA despite protestations to the contrary. Ong Ka Ting pledges this as his last term while Chan is quietly moved out.

Shahidan Kassim to lose Perlis MB-ship? Looks almost certain, but hey what can I say? Remember the Sanusi Junid/Osman Aroff tussle in the late 90s?

Rais Yatim to retire due to age? Hahahah. The guy at 66 is fitter than a lot of other younger Cabinet fellas I know of.  The Umno posse in ascendance  tried to shelve him quietly by nominating him to the Commonwealth Sec Gen job, but he didn’t play ball.

Rais is often considered a loose cannon for his inconvenient way of not echoing the party/government line if it doesn’t agree with his views. Pretty much an outsider even though he rejoined the Umno establishment after two terms in the cold in 1999.

To lump him and Azmi Khalid together just because of age is to insult Rais, certainly. Btw, the political rumour mill has it that Azmi is slated for MB”ship” in Perlis. Rais is of course being shown the door.

Also, the tussle for seats are turning ugly not only among Barisan Nasional component parties but also the Opposition parties.

Talk is rife that DAP Sec Gen Lim Guan Eng might contest both at Parliament level and for the state assembly (the state seat to be in Penang). Why macha? Thoughts of a chance at Chief Ministership no doubt appeals to him.

Johor State MIC chairman finally had to confront the raging rumours of his involvement in Tenggaroh Assemblyman S.Krishnasamy’s brutal murder with this statement. Telling though, don’t you think?

And of course the former deputy MB of Selangor who used to flirt with all the “pious Muslim” electorate, who was sidelined in 2004 elections, is keen to make a comeback on a Parti Keadilan Rakyat ticket. Umno bridges have been permanently burned eh? I do take exception to some of the riff-raff that PKR uses to its advantage. Sheesh!

Read this excerpt from The Star.

Meanwhile, former Selangor deputy mentri besar Datuk Dr Zainal Abidin Ahmad is tipped to contest the Hulu Langat parliamentary seat on the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) ticket.

The incumbent for the seat is Barisan Nasional’s Datuk Markiman Kobiran, who is also the Commercial Vehicles Licensing Board chairman.

Dr Zainal, who had previously served as Dusun Tua assemblyman, from 1990 to 2004 declined to comment, saying that he would issue a statement on nomination day on Feb 24.

This election will also see a lot more of the NGO types to contest, which in my opinion can be a good thing. You know….people running (on whatever ticket) for a certain cause. Toni Kassim is one and Charles Santiago is another. This is by no means the first time for Toni Kassim however. She has been blooded before.

I guess it is time Malaysians take a good look at their candidates and what they stand for, and decide if it is aligned to their own (voters’) interests, before  voting these guys in. Instead of voting along partisan lines. This is pretty much lawyer/blogger/civil rights activist Harris Ibrahim has been advocating publicly.

Ultimately though, the Barisan Nasional government will prevail, probably with a reduced majority somewhat, because of the eroding public confidence. The Opposition may just be menang sorak, if that, because already they can’t see eye to eye on so many things. Resentment over outstation candidates, and greedy tussle for perceived safe seats may just scuttle their already haphazard efforts to ride on the wave of public outrage.

And MIC candidates will certainly feel the wrath of the Indian voters who have been vocal since Hindraf’s awakening. The police’s manner of handling the Feb 16 Rose March is another way to ensure that the Indian voters are further enraged.

Who gains? PPP perhaps, for the short term. Kayveas says that he had 3,000 former MIC members join PPP in the Port Dickson constituency alone. I don’t know the veracity of this, but the point is, parties like these are just exploiting the anger of the people.

Ultimately, the Dacing will prevail.

But don’t believe me. Don’t take my word as gospel.  I’m the greatest pessimist in my neighbourhood.

The parliament has been dissolved, which means the 12th general elections will be held soon, possibly in the first week of March.

This will be a very interesting GE for many reasons. It is also one I expect to be the dirtiest in Malaysian history. A lot of things are at stake here so the participants will go all out.

To woo you for YOUR VOTE. You are not stupid. (You may have been before, but you have no reason to still be). Vote wisely.

Of course, this is the time the ruling party’s people will do ANYTHING for you. Short of undoing your pants and giving you a B^$#J*~! (some might literally stoop to that).

And enjoy the fun. By the way, if you roof needs repair, your neighbourhood drain needs deepening, you need a tarred road up to your kitchen, just tell your incumbent candidate. Dreams can come true in these next three weeks.

In the meantime, I’ll be posting some interesting stuff on the ground, when I hit some of the Klang Valley candidate’s campaign trail.

See you there!

Funny…as the general elections draw near, you get these politicians bending, contorting and twisting every which way to get elected. They say and do a lot of things that u might find unthinkable in other times.

The assholes get friendly and political has-beens dust themselves and set out to get mileage. Of course, the same old lies steeped in denial will not go out of fashion.

It doesn’t stop at the small fry. Even the biggies do it.

Here’s a sample.

 1. Pak Lah says Malaysians are delicious

2. Paedophile crawls out of the woodwork to say lame things.

3. Gagged and bound university students love Barisan.

4. Sabah costs RM5 billion, on paper.

5. BN will win 100% says Samy Vellu.

*sigh*

I got tagged by two fellow bloggers, A Voice and Bigdog on the same topic. No prizes for guessing.

 Muhibbah. Defined by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka as  perasaan persahabatan dan kemesraan (feeling of friendship and camaraderie or closeness).

I have it aplenty, I’d like to think. Looking back at more than three decades of human interaction with people of all shapes, sizes, colour, race, religion and whatever other ways of classifying or segregating the human race…I found that Muhibbah pretty much describes it, but I wasn’t doing it consciously.

It is not easy to co-exist with people who don’t share the superficial sameness that is identifiable. Anyone with some though will tell you that. However, trade, travel, and basically what we today call globalisation but has been happening for millenia, brings us into contact with people who are in many ways different.

A certain level of understanding and tolerance would make interaction easier, and maybe one day head towards wome kind of harmony.

It is a known fact, however, that it is the minority in any of these equations who will try to fit in and learn things that help him assimilate. I was one, and I assimilated. I learnt about this unique plural society I was born into, and it helped that I had a lot of positive experience growing up.

I was born a few years after 1969, and since my family was settled in a rural area, none of the hate reached us anyway. So I’d like to think.

My parents however, must have been privy to race-related hate and God bless them, they kept their cool and NEVER taught us to hate. So here I am today, after 14 years in the city of Kuala Lumpur and still I don’t know how to hate a fellow human being for his colour, race, religion or political beliefs.

Tolerance? Hah! I was raised a Hindu and everywhere I went, saw a lotta beef on the table. No one bats an eyelid when it comes to our sensitivities. Except for a caring Uncle Samad and Aunty Ruby in whose house I stayed for a year in my late teens. Throughout the time I stayed with the Samads, I didn’t see a single beef dish on the table. His daughter Ina was by best friend. I would not have minded so much since I was obviously menumpang, yet not a day went by that I was made to feel anything other than a daughter of the house.

When I went climbing a mountain in my late teens, I had collapsed on reaching the top. When I opened my eyes, I was lying on the lap of a fellow climber while a Chinese girl was offering me a steaming bowl of Maggi. Times like that, the issue of race and religion never crept in. We were just people sharing the same circumstances.

Somehow it struck me though that most of my Muhibbah moments happened way before I came to Kuala Lumpur. And I’ve been here 14 years now.

Why is it that in the cities, things are more clearly drawn along racial, religious or political lines? Maybe social inequality is one reason. But I’m not sure it isn’t the fact that politicians play up these sentiments for their own gain.

I was working in the mainstream media for more than a decade and I did see a measure of racism and a twisted brand of racial agenda protectionism going on. And this is below the surface of the fact that all of them are somehow owned by parties affiliated to the ruling coalition.

I refused to be part of Malaysia Hindu Sangam because when I was a young adult, they were more concerned by ad-hoc measures. I had to learn the Hindu philosophy on my own, and take what part of those ancient teachings that would help me be a better human being.

What worried this group was more the fact that more and more Hindus were embracing Christianity (mostly through the work of evangelists) and Islam. What I feel they should be doing is to teach the young Hindus what their religion and way of life is all about. Religion is a very personal thing, and if a guy finds solace, belief and salvation in a faith, it probably because he didn’t find it in the religion he was born into.

However, personally I am increasingly finding that the more you learn, the more you see what’s going on around you, the more you would be turned off by atrocities wreaked by monsters in the name of religion.

I have a friend who was a staunch Catholic who gave up on his faith because in his opinion, have the evils in this world was done in the name of religion. I have another Christian friend (she adopted the faith a decade or two ago) who said she would actually rejoice if some power was to arrive in Malaysia and wipe out the entire Malay population. I was appalled. See, the same Bible-thumping chick for whom Jesus is salvation, has no problems with genocide. Do the math.

I would like to think there are a lot of people like that here and their conviction is fed further by mindless acts of people in authority. In general though, the people, I think should be educated to see each other as equal, and kids be taught respect in school.

My niece is just seven years old and she goes to a Chinese school in Johor. She told me once, “We must respect and be helpful to everyone.” I asked her who taught her about respect, she said, “We learn it in Moral class.” She really took the lessons to heart too. God bless her teachers.

Reminded me of the time when I was 11 years old and a Malay classmate said, “My father said it doesn’t matter if you are good or bad. Since you are kafir, you and your kind are all going to hell.

I actually asked this Ustaz in school if that were true. I’ll never forget what he said till today. He said, “God decides who goes to heaven and hell. God decides who is a Muslim. God knows who has Iman, not man.”

God bless him. Because of him, I still seek to understand other people’s faiths, and love people regardless of what color, race, whether they are atheist, monotheist or polytheist.

I consider myself lucky.

To keep this discussion going, I’d like to tag two other bloggers. SK Thew of MagEP’s Lab and Shar of OBE. Good luck guys.

To all Malaysians, may the year of the Rat/Mouse bring lots of prosperity and happy activity. You know, most members of the Rodent species are industrious creatures who don’t sit still for long.

 Whether you are a white mouse

…a gerbil

….a capybara

a house mouse

a beaver

Mickey…

or Jerry

THIS IS YOUR YEAR!!!!!! To all those born in the Rat year, this is it…go shake yer tails at the world this year.

Happy Lunar New Year people!

….rats!

 My cheese went missing : (