Monthly Archive

So, Avram Grant and Chelsea shouldn’t set foot in Malaysia? Protest, protest, protest. I think the pro test by a certain number of NGOs is kinda silly, but from my past experience with the “Yahudi” questions, I’m not surprised.

From my childhood I have been fed the diet of Jew-hate and suspicion. Not in my house. I doubt my parents know much about Jews, Judaism, Zionism and Israel.

No. It happened in school. Not during the Kelas Agama that I stayed in despite that fact that as a Non-Muslim, I could choose not to. The ustaz told us some intriguing stories of the Crusades, Perang Badar and Perang Uhud, you see so I had to stay.

No…this happened among my Muslim friends, where distrust and hate of Jews are so indoctrinated that it became automatic response. In fact, being Jew as I understood it then, was to be wicked, manipulative and not to be trusted at all. A friend who chides another for being nasty, greedy, manipulative says, “Kau ni Yahudi betul la..”

When I grew up, I heard similar refrain from Christians who say “Jews deserved the Holocaust because they turned away from God”. Oh, I heard this from so-called staunch Christians.

Hmm…an entire race demonised since before Biblical times?

Statements like these made me interested enough to go read the Bible, the Koran and about Jews, Judaism, Zionism. Still haven’t finished…so there are little but private conclusions that I arrived at.

Now, in the interest of humanity and the furtherance of sports, I think those Chelsea players and coach should be allowed in Malaysia. We should not stoop to the level of the American authorities post-911 for whom every Arab-looking face and every Muslim-sounding name is suspect.

For those who protest that Jews and Israelis shouldn’t come here because our government does not have diplomatic relations with them, I think they should think before they protest. Remember that people you don’t have formal diplomatic ties with are not necessarily your enemies.

In 1996, during the Japanese Embassy hostage crisis, I heard that our diplomats had to use some back channel help from Cuba to free Malaysians stuck in the embassy.

Soon after, Malaysia started having diplomatic relations with Cuba and there was even an exhibition of Cuban history and culture, introducing Malaysians to the country we knew before only because of their cigars and to bookworms like me, Fidel Castro, Ernesto (Che) Guevara, Bay of Pigs, the Missile Crisis etc. Bottomline…we owed them.

I think strongly of the whole Palestinian debacle, but there is so much more to the issue that what Malaysians and indeed Muslims around the world, think.

The Allies facilitated the birth of the Israeli state to salve their conscience for keeping quiet when millions of jews were slaughtered by Hitler. But they did it without a thought to what the local Arabs in Palestine might think of this sudden carving up of their land, to share with their Biblical enemy.

The conflict only worsened after Britain’s departure. The expansionary overtures of the Israelis, the actions of Menachem Begin and Irgun, as well as Fatah and later Hamas, have all contributed to it. Yes people, I read of Sabra, and the Deir Yassin Massacre too.

The Americans who entered the fray only made it murkier since. But where have CIA not sunk their dirty fingers eh?

My point is, there are no clean hands there. Those who suffered are ordinary citizens of both nations. Osama Bin Laden and A Qaeda may have seemed like the avenging angel to the Muslim world, but think of his second-in command Ayman Al Zawahiri’s latest statements people. Read the dialogue here.

So those of you who want to protest a football team’s visit to Malaysia, well, stop and think of what exactly you are protesting for. When you look deeply enough…you will realise how silly this is.

If you are really against injustice, why isn’t there a whimper when the murderers in Yangon started mowing monks down with bullets? In fact, many Malaysians still buy stuff from Myanmar and do business with them.

I have some answers, but then it will not sit comfortably on your conscience.

While some folks enjoyed the Monsoon Cup, 

While some ministers chomped to fat cigars in Kuala Lumpur’s best humidors,

While other folks had a cosy party at Seri Perdana to celebrate Malaysia’s 50th anniversary of independence last August,

While Zakaria Md Derus was enjoying life in a 16-room mansion in Klang,

Some people have been subsisting on less than 50 ringgit a month. Folks in Abaco Estate in Selangor (supposed to be the richest state in Malaysia) have no running water and no toilet facilities, hell !

After reading these reports by The Star’s Edward Rajendra and Geetha Krishnan, I can’t help but think, what the *&^#% have those successive MIC fellas appointed too look into their plight has done?

And Mr Samy, what have you been doing? Yes, I have heard so many instances of Samy Vellu helping folks. The true stories as well as the cynical ones.

I know the Ijok thug Sivalingam (he’s dead now) used to do anything but help the downtrodden etate folks (oh, he was in Xavier Jayakumar’s portfolio before in case you people also mudah lupa).

So Mr Samy, are you unaware of your Indian “makkals” drinking foul-smelling water? Or were you aware and tried to get government help, but were rudely snubbed by he Umno Napoleons in the Cabinet?

You say tears come to your eyes when you hear of your people’s plight. Cry now! Cry till you go blind. While you are at it, go get your two yes-men; fighter-cock (I don’t need Indian votes to win) Sothinathan and (I’m a wimp who will wait quietly for my boss to die) Palanivel.

Where are they now? You wanna fight Hindraf’s cause? No need, cos other people have been doing it longer and with more conviction.

You should devote what is left of your life righting the wrongs you have done in all these decades at the helm of MIC.

As for Dr Jeyakumar, I have this to say. “I hope your broom stays new, always. Cos then it will always sweep clean”.

When you run out of brooms, ask Khir Toyo. I believe he has some in storage.

The old robed ones on the hallowed benches are saying “balls!” to the Gordon Brown Labour Administration in the United Kingdom.

From The Guardian

The government was censured over its anti-terror laws in the courts again yesterday when a judge ruled that five men had had their assets frozen unlawfully after being labelled terrorists by the Treasury.

The five, all British nationals, have never been convicted of any terrorist offence and said the orders had had a “humiliating and devastating” effect.

Mr Justice Collins, sitting at the high court in London, ruled in favour of the men, saying a “fair and just” consideration of who should have their assets frozen was impossible in most cases. He said that the government had bypassed scrutiny by parliament in introducing the orders.

Judges are all that stand between you and hostile government should the government choose to make life shitty for you.

Don’t you think they are a very crucial means of checking a hawkish government? I know there are pros and cons to the decision above, but hey, the judge said it was unconstitutional didn’t he? He knows what he’s talking about.

That he made that decision while living in a country that is an Al Qaeda target and has been subject to acts of terror, would tell you something about upholding the spirit of the law and justice through the most trying times.

We certainly have something to learn from these lions of the law. You know guys, we had some too. Let’s bring them back.

Yessssss.

Read here .  The newspaper, the youngest and the most vocal of the three Tamil Language newspapers in Malaysia, will now be back on the stands come Saturday, its GM said today.

A little background.

The paper ceased publications for about a week from 16 April 2008, when its management received a letter saying that its publishing permit would not renewed by the Home Ministry.

SEAPA quoted CIJ and Malaysiakini in this report that tells us that Makkal Osai’s licence actually expired on 15 October 2007, but they continued publishing “upon informal assurances from the authorities that it could while its application for a fresh licence awaited approval.”

I have a theory that this newspaper, which has been a pain in the ass for a lot of different parties. I think the real reason the permit wasn’t renewed was due to the church pressure over the Smoking Jesus Christ picture. This had already earned the paper a 30-day suspension.

However, I was told that a lot of these church types wanted to make sure this paper that offended some people’s religious sensitivities, does not flourish.

Makkal Osai’s suspension brought a lot of people together with the similar cries of Be Fair and Save Makkal Osai. This included well known pressmen like Syed Nadzri and M Veera Pandiyan , Aliran and even PAS Youth coming together in an uncanny gesture of solidarity across many differences of race, religion and ideology. 

 Maybe it worked because sociopolitical climate is very very different today to the same date last year. Makkal Osai would have been quietly relegated to scrap heap of history with the insulting One-paragraph letter from KDN.

They did not count on such a big outcry over a small vernacular paper. Such united cry from the people.

They did not count on so many parties asking them what guidelines Makkal Osai had breached. If there was a guideline that it breached that the paper hasn’t paid for, then please, Mr Home Minister, tell us

WHAT GUIDELINES DID MAKKAL OSAI BREACH?

Tell us, and tell all these media folks, so it is clear. Now is not the time for you to have “discretionary” policies that leaves the media hostage to the whims and fancies of a Home Ministry official.

Remember who put you guys there in the first place! 

Yup, the tone and manner of this article from The Star is not quite right.

The woman who alleged that a former Cabinet minister had outraged her modesty now wants to withdraw her report, claiming she “misunderstood” the incident. Really?

The 30-year-old promoter at a lounge in a five-star hotel here, in a statutory declaration sent to Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail through her lawyer Datuk Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, said she was “sensitive and moody” at the time of the incident last Thursday. Were you trying to fix him, and  changed your mind or do I detect coercion here?

She said she had known the former minister over the past five years, and that he had acted in jest without any bad intention. However, she said she felt offended at that time due to her “complicated mood which led to her lodging a police report the next day. Hmm…

The woman also said she regretted lodging the police report, as there was no intention on the part of the former minister, who is still an MP, to outrage her modesty or act inappropriately. You can read minds eh?

She said she was used to the VIP’s jokes and “rough ways” and had never objected to his actions nor felt offended by it previously. Mmm…someone plays rough eh?

“I cannot remember exactly the conversation between me and the VIP although in my statement to the police I may have said something else. Selective amnesia?

There is more to this than meets the eye.

Update:

The police report has apparently been withdrawn. Hmm…

Me wonders, just why some politicians seem to have more trouble with skirts that others.

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Endau Rompin (straddles Pahang and Johor) apparently is quite a dense tropical rainforest and it could be kinda dark and leafy inside, people who have been there told me.

So I guess it would be understandable, even necessary, for one to raba raba or feel your way around.

But to do it in Brickfields?

Hard-T is more direct with this juicy piece that I’m sure will blow all over town today, if it hasn’t already.

Whatever it is, I hope the woman involved, who is brave enough to lodge a report, doesn’t end up dead with her hands tied up behind her back with her own bra.

With 42% of the precints reporting, the American media heavyweights felt comfortable enough to report the feisty Hillary Clinton as the winner in the Pennsylvania Democratic Primary.

This means the New York Senator is very much in the running to be chosen as the Democratic Presidential candidate over the charismatic Barack Obama of Illinois.

Washington Post has more here.

And a look at this map tells you how the score is between Clinton and Obama so far. (Not inclusive of the Pennsylvania results). No prizes for guessing who is leading, but the US is funny in terms of which electoral college counts more. Baffling.

Must say though that this will be a tight race…and it gets tighter as the weeks advance. Some zippers are gonna burst soon

Personally though, I don’t mind either of them at the helm.

It’s that GOP hawk that does the Bomb Iran jig that scares me. Yeah, the fact that John McCain was a Vietnam Vet makes it all the more unforgivable for him to take the stance he does.

Americans though, are a strange lot. Some (hopefully not that many) are so willfully insular that you get statements like this.

Who knows, they might decide they want neither a skirt nor a coloured in the White House and decide to choose McCain. In which case, America would have regressed.

But that is just the opinion of me, a humble Netizen. One, in an ocean of 75 million blogs (and growing).

On April 22, Earth Day is celebrated in various ways throughout the world.

Even Google went Green.

Yahoo?  Yahoo got involved.

And Me? I shall take this opportunity to revisit a topic i raised more than a year ago. Read Logging Destroying Lojing.

The issue was first reported in The Star, and it gained heat in blogosphere until it became a farce with a lot of finger-pointing going on by Umno and PAS fellas. Raja Petra Kamarudin had more dirt that you should read to refresh your memory.

The cast included Sazmi Miah, then the Parliamentary Secretary for Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment,  Annuar Musa, then Umno flag-bearer in Kelantan, PAS’ Husam Musa who clarified the issue.

Fast forward to November 2007. Sazmi Miah said he would meet with the Attorney General to deliberate charges on those responsible for the rape of Lojing.

This year arrived. March 8 arrived, and Sazmi Miah, as well as Annuar Musa and Awang Adek are all tsunami-ed into oblivion.

So, what has happened regarding the Lojing Highlands in Kelantan? Is logging and farming continuing to erode the hills? Is conservation and the environment in general, something that the government will pay attention to only if there is political mileage to be gained?

It would be nice to have answers. I wanna be optimistic, unlike the Penembak Badak who was prophetically sure last year the issue will soon be forgotten. Why don’t we keep it alive Sheih?

Those who rape the earth must pay. And the rape must be stopped.

The widespread coverage given by Malaysia’s Tamil language newspaper Makkal Osai to the Opposition parties is probably they got banned by Home Ministry today, says Malaysiakini.

The editors at Makkal Osai probably expected this. Their publishing permit was up for renewal and it wasn’t renewed by Home Ministry. No explanation given.

Publishing permits for newspapers in Malaysia are renewed annually, under the draconian Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984, subject to the absolute discretion of the Home Ministry. Your proverbial Sword of Damocles.

I suppose this is Syed Hamid Albar’s “absolute discretion”. Since the Indian votes in Malaysia swung almost en masse to the Opposition on the March 8 General Elections, the paper gets blamed.

You wanna know what powers are vested in the Home Ministry in relation to printing and publishing? Let’s take a 10-minute break for a Hari Ini Dalam Sejarah.

You can read the entire Act here.  Do read it, and pay particular attention to the dates the Amendments took effect.

Dr Mahathir said Melayu Mudah Lupa. I don’t think so. I’d like to think Malaysians in general are not to be dismissed so easily under the “mudah lupa” category.

So, you read the Act? Can you see that this Amendments took effect 8 January 1988? It happened a couple of months after the infamous Operasi Lalang that saw the arrest of many DAP people under another draconian law that is the Internal Security Act (ISA).

ISA muzzled the opposition. PPPA muzzled the newspapers. The judges balked at this, of course, initially. 

At least, then High Court Justice Harun Hashim did in the case of Persatuan Aliran Kesedaran Negara v. Minister of Home Affairs, saying that the Home Ministry’s decision not to allow the Aliran to have a Malay language publication should be subject to judicial review.

The case went to the Supreme Court where Harun’s decision was reversed by the magical Justice Ajaib Singh who recognised the ouster clause (Sec 13A of the PPPA)  that came in in 1988, Sec 13A that states (drum roll please….)

Any decision of the Minister to refuse to grant or to revoke or to suspend a licence or permit shall be final and shall not be called in question by any court on any ground whatsoever.

How did such a restrictive action become law in Malaysia? Because there was no one in the Barisan Nasional with the balls to stand up to Dr M on this issue at the time. Or perhaps they were all in it together.

The MPs that you, your mom and dad etc.. elected screwed you yet again by voting the party line. That is what two-third majority does to you.

Now that there is an unprecedented 82 Opposition MPs in the 12th Parliament (whose members will be sworn in on April 28), and with BN in relative chaos, it will be more difficult to pass such noose-like laws, i’m sure.

You and I have exercised the only check and balance option that the people of Malaysia had left, last month.

Put your MPs to work. Make sure whoever you elected knows and acts on your collective issues.

Don’t let your MP become a Party Line Lembu! 

Sometimes I think mankind is like a blight on Earth’s surface. We have been raping and pillaging this world for ages. Sometimes we hear of things like “they behave like animals”.

Believe me, that statement is actually a grave insult to animals.

No animal would commit this atrocity. They kill for food, or when threatened. Us? We kill, maim and commit other assorted cruelties needlessly.

Some tow kays in Sarawak are very rich. Rich enough that they want their own zoo. With rare animals theat they pay trappers to get them from the lush forests of Borneo. Is there no end to this kind of rubbish?

No. There won’t be until we Malaysians as a collective decide that, it is not ok to wipe out our wild animals for self gratification.

Of course, most of you Malaysians know that there is healthy demand for things like Rhino Horn (powdered), Tiger Testicle (dried) not only Malaysia, but the entire East Asia. Tiger parts are not even guaranted to work and are mistakenly thought of as part of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Let this site tell you otherwise.

Why? Some men think these are either aphrodisiacs or can help them “improve performance” or increase the size of that all-important organ.

See? We kill for sexual gratification, for status, for power, for money.

 pic from WWF Malaysia

For the record, let me tell you this. There are FIVE types of tigers now in existence.  All of them are on the Asian continent. All of them are dwindling in numbers.

Bengal Tiger (Panthera Tigris Tigris) - Endangered status, due to poaching and habitat loss

Siberian  Tiger (Panthera Tigris Altaica) - Critically Endangered due to poaching.

Sumatran Tiger (Panthera Tigris Sumatrae) - Critically Endangered, due to habitat loss (agriculture) and poaching

Indochinese Tiger (Panthera Tigris Corbetti) - Endangered status, due to hunting for Chinese medicine

Malayan Tiger (Panthera Tigris Malayensis) - Endangered status, due to habitat loss.

As for the Rhinoceros….

Malaysia used to be home to both Sumatran Rhinos and Javan Rhinos. But the Javan Rhinos no longer exist in Malaysia. Apparently there are a few in Indonesia and they are critically endangered.

 pic from http://travelmalaysiaguide.com/

Sumatran Rhinos will suffer the same fate within my generation because of habitat loss and poaching. Attempts to breed them in captivity has also been disastrous.

Sun Bears such as the one that suffered such a cruel death last week in Sarawak, are considered Vulnerable. That is not as bad as Endangered or Critically Endangered, but still, it is a threatened species.

To hear two pieces of new pieces of negative news concerning wildlife in Sarawak in one week is terrible. That journalist did good in exposing this shoddy state of affairs in Taib Mahmud country.

The UNDP said laws are all fine, but enforcement sucks.

Something is indeed rotten in the Sarawak.

It stinks more than the carcass of that poor dead bear.

For 50 years, (ok, maybe more since the first elections was held in 1955), Malaysians have been returning the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition to power with this two-third majority. Even in 1969. Until March 8, 2008 that is.

What most Malaysians have done is basically give carte blanche to a government that increasingly thought our job is to elect them and no one else, and then shut up for the next four years.

Because we gave them the two-third majority, the BN government saw it fit to repeatedly rape the Federal Constitution; the sacred covenant of the people of this country.

Not one, not even 10, but a staggering 650 amendments have been made 42 times over the 50 years since Merdeka. So much so, scholar Dr Shad Salim Faruqi stated beyond doubt that the spirit of the original document has long been diluted.

How was that possible? Your two-third majority, dear Malaysians. Most of the MPs you elected sold you out, just to toe the party line.

These legislators have put party first, pocket second (or is it the other way around) and you, the elecorate, last. How does constitutional amendments and passing of laws affect your life, you ask.

For one, since the 90s, a Malaysian accused lost the right to be tried by a jury of his/her peers. Parliament did away with it. So, your fate as an accused rests solely with the judge.

Get a judge like ”Irrelevant” Augustine Paul, and man…you are screwed. Ask Anwar Ibrahim, he learnt first hand. I must tell you though that Anwar’s was not a capital case so he would not have had a jury trial anyway.

Jury trial for capital cases was the norm in Malaysia until it was abolished on 1 Jan1995.

 The Official Secrets Act was an effectively used instrument to shut the more vocal of you people. This has ranged from an NST journo in the 80s to Ezam (formerly of PKR) in the 90s and blogger Nathaniel Tan of Jelas.net just last year.

All the toll concession agreements came under OSA, so you cannot question why you have to pay more toll every year.

Some reading on Human Rights in Malaysia, just to refresh your memory and to remind you voters NEVER EVER give any political party/coalition an absolute majority.

Your mandate gave among others, the power to Dr M to detain Lim Guan Eng on a technicality, under the Printing Presses and Publications Act, mostly because he championed the cause of an underaged Malay girl who was the victim of Lolita-loving Rahim Thamby Chik. Rahim should have gone to jail for screwing a minor but Lim Guan Eng did for publishing a pamphlet saying he did.

We still don’t know the exact nature and the details of the AP scandal. We still don’t know how much crony companies have kapak-ed us Malaysians. You know why? All those sweetheart deals you cannot read, they are OSA-ed.,

Any questioning of people in power gets the individual in trouble. They beat, black-eye, torture, intimidate people into silence. They used to regularly seize the

All because you and I have given the same gahmen mandate again and again. Umno folks thought ruling Malaysia was their birthright.

You have, on March 8, told them “No Such Thing”.

I’m telling you why you shouldn’t support them unequivocally.

Think.

Don’t ever write away your rights as citizens again.

Nearly a decade ago, work took me to Europe for a week. In the course of the events which took me there the organisers presented me with an ice hammer. Not that I needed one, but with a certain logo on it, the hammer made a nice souvenir.

Threw it in my hand luggage for got about it. The day came when I had to fly back. Waiting at the Zurich airport, I remember being rather shaken when a fellow traveller told me that the rather worse-for-wear Mc Donnell Douglas aircraft we were staring at, was in fact the plane taking us home.

“I need Dutch courage to fly that,” I said with nervous humour, still staring at the plane. Turned around and found the guy missing. Sat down to read for a while and the guy reappeared at my side, with two bottles of Heineken. Heheh! He took that Dutch courage bit a little too literally.

Back to my flight. I made it back to Changi without incident in the ancient plane (Asian fleets are much younger and more comfy, I was to learn later) with Viking-like Swissair stewardesses with varicose veins. You won’t dream of messing with these women.

Connecting flight back to KL was Singapore Airlines. At the boarding gate, I was stopped and asked if I had a weapon in my hand luggage. That was a rhetorical question by a somber-faced SQ chick. “Ah! The hammer.”

“I’m sorry miss but you will have to check in the hammer”. I said fine. Dumb old me even joked “You can’t think I’m gonna hijack the plane…with a hammer”. In retrospect, I have to concede I was one dumb bitch. You get arrested for saying such things  n America, or pretty much everywhere in the world, after 9-11. But this was two years before that.

They took the hammer, and I had it returned to me after I got to Kuala Lumpur and retrieved my checked-in luggage. Can’t fault SQ where efficiency is concerned.

The point of this whole meandering story is, that Swissair either didn’t see or take issue with me carrying an ice hammer onboard, while Singapore Airlines, even back then, were uncompromisingly strict where security is concerned. So was Changi Airport. I won’t say much the same about their prison security though.

With all the hijackings and bomb plots making headlines, I would have thought airport and airline security would be even tighter these days. I mean, the airport is a major gateway into and out of a country and safety & security would be of paramount importance.

So I’m very much alarmed when the Malay Mail reported that there were no CCTV recording of that moneychanger robbery that took place at yesterday.It was an audacious act by the robbers, no doubt well-planned and with some inside knowledge.

 Don’t care so much about that moonlighting cop; that is Musa Hassan’s headache. Anyway, providing security escort service sounds infinitely more honest than hitting on motorists for duit kopi to me.

We’ve heard of a lot of places where there are CCTV cameras, but no recording going on. But it is scary  when it happens at the iconic Kuala Lumpur International Aiport. Now it is hampering investigations.

This happens just a day after a Bangladeshi guy wielding a fruit knife forced the emergency landing of a Biman (Bangladesh Airlines) plane in Bangkok.

That guy checked in at KLIA. He checked in with a knife.

Malaysia Airports Bhd! Apa dah jadi? You think suspending three employees is the end of story?  I’m sure those folks at Airports Council International who awarded KLIA with the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Assured cert last year, will not be so nice now.

Never have I seen the back being given such a workout.

First of all, Anwar Ibrahim who rallied massive crowds on the pre-polls campaign circuit, is back in the national political reckoning after the shock results on March 8. Apparently his back to back ceramahs packed the crowd and help galvanised many into voting Opposition, no matter what party.

The results must have pleased not only Anwar but his erstwhile persecutor, Dr Mahathir, who got his own back against Abdullah. Now he could say, I told you so.

Pak Lah wanted to win back Kelantan with his big Tahun Merawat Kelantan, but thanks to backroom maneuverings of his SIL, he lost favour with the electorate, and Kelantan told him to pegi main jauh jauh.

Barisan Nasional almost swept the whole of Perlis, and had two thirds majority in Terengganu, but the respective Sultans stabbed his back, rejecting both his men Shahidan and Idris Jusoh.

 Zaid Ibrahim was left behind during nomination day by BN. After elections though he was back in favour with an embattled Abdullah Badawi. 

As a payback for this favour, he immediately launches a rear offensive at former PM Dr Mahathir, saying the guy has to apologise for playing the back of Tun Salleh Abbas and five other judges back in the late 80s, effectively emasculating the Malaysian judiciary.

You think the Macchiavelian Dr M will take that lying down? No way, Jose. He launches a counter-attack, saying, “Lu sapa mau cakap besar brader? When you were in the Muslim Lawyers Association, you supported this move too.”

Just because a man is old, you can’t assume that his faculties are waning, Mr Zaid. Dr M has had his engine overhauled TWICE. So beware.

On this side of the ring, Samy Vellu says the Hindraf #$%$#$ stabbed his back. What he didn’t say was the Sungai Siput constitiuents that includes Malays, Chinese and Indians, screwed him too.

Now he wants to still head the MIC and says only MIC can represent the Indians in Malaysia.

What can I say?

 Dr M has been consistently hitting Pak Lah, but now Pak Lah fights back. He said a whole lot of things, but then, no one seems to give a damn except his own people. And recently Karpal Singh, who’s tired of the Old Man’s acid remarks.

Khir Toyo, Ali Rustam and Chua Soi Lek have turned bloggers. Ali Rustam doesn’t allow comments. Khir protests that many commenters are nasty. Maidin will be scandalised to know of this blog phenomenon among these BN types, but then who cares about Maidin these days.

Raja Nazrin wants a judicial rennaissance. Cool enough statement, but can you do something to help it along, ah, Yang Mulia? All post ‘88 judicial appointees are suspect. Some of the capable, straight judges were sidelined, like KC Vohrah and Syed Ahmad Idid. And what happened to the stooge Augustine Paul, I wonder?

Elsewhere, the sweet stench of pigs have become a bone of contention in Selangor and Perak. Self -contained babi farms? No says Khir Toyo. Yes, says Khalid Ibrahim. Both won’t back down, but Khalid is at the helm….

MCA and DAP will have their own sideshow on the Babi issue. The only thing both will agree on is that Babi Sedap!

Zahid Hamidi wanted to save Sufiah the Prodigy Prostitute. Sufiah is happy the way she is. She’s getting handbags as payoff for working on her back. Who’s complaining?

DAP fellas n Perak said they are offered money to join BN. Lots of money, but these guys have thus far refused to turn their backs on DAP.

Blogger Sang Kelembai, one of Pak Lah’s most vituperative critics online, has gone kissy-faced with Pak Lah and now wants to go back to Umno.

I guess some people just tak tahu malu. 

 This came in the mail.

Hilarious!

 These two women never had an easy relationship, if there was a relationship to begin with.

Imagine a showdown between a butch and a battleaxe? grrr….

Nice Photoshop job, must say.

I have always hated pet shops. But it didn’t escape my notice that the residents of pet shops has become more exotic over the years. On one hand, I have reservations about people who buy these exotic pets like the Star Tortoise below that I “borrowed without permission” from whozoo.

You know, there are people out there for whom pets are moving playthings, or worse, fashion statements. Abhorrent? I agree. Now, being self-indulgent is one thing, but when it threatens an entire species…well, time to be alarmed. I was, until recently.

In those heated weeks prior to the epoch-making General Elections 2008, most Malaysians can be forgiven if they didn’t see this bit of good news from Tan Cheng Li at The Star.

Yes, the government had passed a law late last year, that makes it illegal to for Malaysians to buy/sell/own certain imported species of animals and plants in Malaysia.

It is hoped that the International Trade in Endangered Species bill that went though parliament, will be gazetted and enforceable soon. This is a pressing need, and I hope that in the political turmoil that’s affecting Umno and the Barisan government, this Bill will not be forgotten.

The Bill not only covers individuals but also corporations within its ambit, so as to make entire outfits liable for trading in endangered species. Hundreds of species, that include mammals, reptiles, birds, plants and trees, are mentioned in this bill.

The bill would also make it an offence to sell/buy products made from these endangered flora and fauna list.

So, ladies, double check that exotic-looking handbag before you even entertain the thought of telling your mahjong friends about your latest acquisition. It might land you in jail.

To read the bill and the list, go here

The bill, once it becomes Act, has fines up to RM100,000 and a jail sentence up to 7 years for those caught flouting the law on this score. Of course the this bill came into being only after tremendous pressure from the United Nations Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Read more on CITES.

 Why we need laws like this? Because it takes punishment for people to toe the line. This is where enforcement comes into play. Trading and smuggling of flora and fauna is just one reason for the species decline.

We human beings are responsible in other ways. We have been responsible for loss of habitat that results in  bad news like this.

The Slender Billed Vulture below will be a memory if their habitat loss continue, since it is critically endangered.

There are 45 bird species that Malaysians will not see anymore in a decade. Imagine that, 45 species!

Whats with Oral and Anal? Plenty of connotations there apparently, as a made in Malaysia toothpaste was found objectionable by a local noosepaper.

TV Smith went investigating…….

Kera di hutan disusukan, anak sendiri mati kelaparan. So said a friend while discussing the Sufiah issue, especially in the light of the report that the Malaysian govt gave her scholarship.

Now everybody, including the who’s who in the government wants to save Sufiah. Who is Sufiah?

Prodigy turned Prostitute according to news reports. There are some salacious pictures purportedly of her, floating around on the Net. I don’t want to capitalise on this sudden interest in this girl who went from one extreme end of society approval to the other in 10 years. I want to state my thoughts.

I can understand the how and the why. Before we begin though, some basic information about Sufiah Yusof to put you in perspective.

Sufiah is a British subject. Her link to Malaysia is that her mother is Malaysian Muslim woman from Johor. Her father is a British subject of Pakistani descent. Sufiah is today reported to be 23 years old.  She was a Maths prodigy who gained a place in Oxford when she was 13. She received a Malaysian government scholarship in 1997.

What is less known is that this hot-housed child made two suicide attempts when whe was 11. Behind that facade of an educationally-advanced family, lies this disturbing insinuation.

Two years later she fled her home and ended up finally in the care of social services. Refusing to return to her family, she blamed her father for making her life hell.

In 2004 she married fellow Oxford undergraduate Jonathan Marshall. They split in 2005.The guy was shocked by the press reports. But these quotes tell you certain things.

“I can’t fathom why she would do it – especially someone in her situation. Despite the problems with her family she had many advantages, which other people don’t have,” he said.

“It’s a particular shock – her coming from a Muslim background. To see pictures of somebody doing that – somebody I knew very closely – it makes me think, how did she get to that stage. Quite frankly she knows well enough what she should and should not do.”

And here’s more…

Marshall went on to say: “My view is that people can blame childhood to a certain extent, but there also comes a point where you have to take responsibility for your own actions.

“She had her advantages: she had someone willing to support her while she was at university. One newspaper told me that it had offered a substantial amount for her story. Personally, I’d rather sell my story than sell myself.”

Here’s a little about how they met and how/why the marriage ended.

The two fell in love and married in 2004. Marshall, a law student, had already converted to Islam. He was 24 and she was 19. The marriage lasted less than two years.

“The reason we split was that I became more observant and Sufiah became less so,” The Daily Telegraph quoted Marshall as saying.

“That took her in the wrong direction, away from the direction in which I wanted to go. The teachings of Islam are fundamental to your everyday life, so when paths diverge in that respect it is a major issue.”

She seemed to have suffered through her childhood. Maybe didn’t have a childhood. I can empathise there. I didn’t either. Her marriage at 19 seemed to be to a decent enuff guy. That wasn’t enough to heal her? I don’t know.

Maybe she was too scarred? Sometimes, when you are scarred at such a young age, it changes a lot of things. Hell it can screw up your entire life. When your spirit or sense of sense is so badly broken, your sense of value and values can be pretty fucked up.

What is one’s body worth, people like this may think, when your heart is blasted to smithereens, your soul is wretched? Yeah. She must have suffered a lot, but that descent into selling her body was a voluntary one.

Back to the question of why everyone in Malaysia is up in arms; expressing shock, and immediately after, making plans to “save” her? Just because she is a Muslim girl? Just because she is half Malay?

To Zahid Hamidi I’d like to say this, “You have no locus standi, macha!” What if you guys approach her and she tells you to F**k Off? Mana nak letak muka? By the way, whose money are you using for this Save Sufiah Campaign? Taxpayer’s money?

Already, I’m sore (many of us are, I’m sure) that this Malaysian govt gave this British girl scholarship to study in Britain when many deserving Malaysian students can’t even continue their studies to local public universities because there are not enough places.

Lulu is right when she wished Malaysian govt would show more compassion to its own people. I am more cynical. I know it is things like these that made the tide shift against the BN government. It festers inside when you are made to feel like anak tiri in your own country.

You want to save Sufiah? Why don’t you start a campaign to save the many young girls in Malaysia prostituting themselves in their teens. That Putera Umno fella Abdul Azeez Rahim who were so concerned about the Mat Rempits, should perhaps try to help the bohsias who are given away are prizes.

They are right here in Malaysia. They are part of the social problem.  So jaga tepi kain sendiri lah.

This Harian Metro report says Persatuan Melayu UK is bringing an Ustaz from here to help the girl. I see no problem with that. Pretty laudable of them to help their fellow citizen. However, this paragraph in the article made me gag with disbelief.

…berdasarkan perbincangan dengan Trimizi dan beberapa petunjuk, pihaknya percaya Sufiah di bawah pengaruh tertentu terutama ilmu hitam.- Harian Metro

The assumption that this girl was under the influence of black magic, and that’s why she is selling herself, beggars my comprehension.

By that score, is it to be inferred that women who sell themselves are under some hantu influence? Then we must send score of religious people to help rehabilitate the teenage prostitutes in Chow Kit and Bukit Bintang who are slashing prices like crazy. We must use these religious people to cure those Bohsias and Bohjans in the streets then.

What a farce!

Hasn’t it occured to anyone that the people mentioned here might just like to F**k? Those bohsias apparently charge nothing.

Sufiah at least does.