Looking back on one helluva year

It seems rather unpalatable to have my last posting of 2008 be one on Samy Vellu. Hell no!

So I take this opportunity to revisit this year and all that happened in my horizon.

First of all, I would like to salute a bunch of fellow bloggers who actually stood up to be counted. Many of them got persecuted in some way. Nathaniel Tan disappeared into police custody earlier this year for a “friendly talk”. Kickdefella got into trouble and spent more than a week as a guest of the govt. Raja Petra Kamarudin did almost two months in Kamunting. All of them for their words.

Tai kor blogger Jeff Ooi went to Parliament in March this year. The March elections was where voters dealt an unprecendented blow that sent BN reeling. My fourth time voting and never had I felt so empowered as a citizen of Malaysia.

The disappointing part was that the likes of Bung (Dung?) Mokhtar Radin returned to Parliament together with a new, virulent foot-in-the-mouth strain named Tajiddin Rahman.

Anwar Ibrahim entered Parliament again after a hiatus of 10 years after a very eventful by-election in Permatang Pauh. Five states in Malaysia now has Pakatan Rakyat governments running them.

CheDet started blogging and hit a million mark in a month or less, I was told. That was bloody historic. Looks like Malaysia’s Internet penetration level has risen exponentially since last year. Malaysia Today’s traffic has hit the roof and continues to soar at unbelievable millions thanks to people who have largely lost faith in mainstream media.

Some local daily’s rabid espousal of ketuanan this and that, totally eschewing any semblance of journalistic integrity, resulted in an MP’s and another journalist’s detention under ISA. Theresa Kok is suing Utusan Malaysia for RM30 mil and, though lots of detractors call it excessive, I say “Way to go, Theresa”.

The Hindraf boys are still rotting away in Kamunting along with other older prisoners without a chance for them to defend themselves in a trial. The good thing that came out of this national shame is that more and more people are turning up for the candlelight vigil at PJ civic centre every Sunday night in a show of peaceful dissent.

If they bring their kids to the events, well why not? You have less chance to losing your child at a vigil than you do at our local pasar malam. Remember our dearly departed Nurin Jazlin Jazimin? I will never forget her.

Of course if things turn ugly at vigils, I will only blame those hyenas and jackals in uniform and their bloodlust. Pavlovian-style conditioning have also turned our boys in blue into murderers, so attacking unarmed people in public cannot be too hard.

We lost Pulau Batu Putih to Singapore. I can’t blame any parties but lackadaisical governance. The Singaporean folks had a little more ground to argue.

Ineptitude and loss of control prompted a rebellion in Umno where the powerbrokers issued an ultimatum that ended in a fast-track power transfer from Abdullah Badawi to his deputy Najib Razak. This development also seemed to halt the acsension of the most talked-about son in law, who is now clearly usurped by Mukhriz Mahathir in the race to head Umno Youth.

Everything in Umno turned topsy turvy following the March 08 election massacre, but  the party looks like its consolidating and may yet rise again. MCA underwent a total leadership change. MIC and Gerakan were wiped out. The Sabah and Sarawak folks are sabre rattling. I hope the BN leadership knows how crucial those East Malaysians are to their survival.

Anwar’s September 16 remained a rhetoric, to a lot of people’s disappointment. But I think it is time for all the elected Pakatan Rakyat MPs to prove their mettle. Several Bills went through Parliament  that needed thorough looking at. MPs are legislators and they are supposed to read, digest, understand, debate, pass Bills that are necessary and oppose Bills that would serve to screw us who elected them.

That cannot be done if a lot of MPs are missing during house sessions. As it is, Parliamentary sessions are being talked about for all the wrong reasons. The only thing we haven’t done is throwing shoes at each other or ending in fisticuffs like those Taiwanese MPs love to do.

Speaking of shoes, I must go international. The adage “you reap what you sow” must be ringing in Dubya’s ears after the ignominous incident where an Iraqi journo threw both his shoes at him. What a twistedly fitting way for an internationally unpopular President of the United States to exit the scene.

November brought about a historic occasion when Americans elected its first black President, Barack Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois. The guy will take presidential oath on Jan 20. For now, he is content to sun away the holidays in Hawaii, showing off his buff bod, much to the consternation of  some super-sized, burger munching Americans.

This month has not been very pleasant. The Bukit Antarabangsa landslide served again to remind us that while the monied can choose to live an elevated existence, death is the great equaliser. It does not pay to continue to ignore mother nature.

If there is one thing I really wish for to happen in 2009, it is greater transparency and accountability in governance, because history has shown us again and again that sloppy governance can lead to a lot of death, damage and misery.

An effort to put things right was demonstrated recently after the passing of the Yang Di Pertuan Besar of Negri Sembilan, Almarhum Tuanku Jaafar. All my years, I’ve only known only him as Yam Tuan. My condolences to the Antah family.

As someone who hailed from Negri Sembilan myself, I was gratified when Tunku Mukhriz Tunku Munawir was named as the new Yam Tuan. He should have succeeded his late father, but his uncle Tuanku Jaafar took office then ostensibly because Tunku Mukhriz was too young then.

Many years later, it seems that the Undangs did the right thing by appointing him as the rightful ruler over Tuanku Jaafar’s three sons, including first-born Tunku Naquiyuddin who presided as Regent during the late Tuanku Jaafar’s reign as Yang Di Pertuan Agong.

Let’s hope more people will do the right thing in 2009.

Happy New Year, folks!

Maybe Samy Vellu Should Sack Himself

That thought seems to have never occurred to this MIC dinosaur.

Couple of days ago, this guy made the news again by sacking party treasurer,  M. Mahalingam. I am sure that many people would not mind Mahalingam leaving the scene anyway, as the man has scarcely done anything to distinguish himself through decades in politics.

But then Mahalingam is hardly the exception.

MIC has long been a party of relics, suck-ups and yes men. Sorry for repeating myself. But the politics of MIC has been such that for one to succeed, one has to be the President’s man, toe the party line and basically make himself scarce while carrying out the president’s wishes.

That is perhaps the recipe that his deputy, G. Palanivel thought will work for him. That was before the voting public rendered MIC obsolete.

Nobody’s fooled by the talk of rebranding MIC. In fact, apart from the presidential motley crew, no one gives a damn.

Such humiliation would have driven lesser men to suicide. But our “Datuk Seri” is an exceptional man with tremendous confidence, a really thick skin, bullying ways and thugs at hand, ready to “silence” any opposition to his rule.

As such, his reason for sacking Mahalingam “I want to appoint a younger man” doesn’t wash. Especially since talk is brewing that Maha had objected to a certain deal that rewards a “presidential crony”, hence the axing.

Now there is talk about sacking old-party hand Muthupalaniappan from Negri Sembilan for speaking against party interests. Muthu is no saviour of the Indians and is as trustworthy as any politician out there. (u know what I mean)

However, all he seems to be against is Samy himself. The guy has challenged Samy to party presidency and why not? Samy himself said earlier this year that anyone is free to stand against him in the party elections.

Sacking a pretender to the crown at this point would just further illustrate how much Samy has lost the plot. But he is not beyond that, I’m pretty sure.

I read somewhere that Dr M said last year that he was powerless to remove Samy. Hear that? I laughed out loud. Tun Dr M? Powerless? He states his reason though. Here it is. (I kapak this excerpt from Lim Kit Siang’s blog)

This is how former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad explained why Samy Vellu, who first became a Cabinet Minister more than 27 years ago on Oct. 21, 1979, and who served in his Cabinet in his entire 22-year administration, cannot be sacked in a recent  exclusive Malaysiakini interview:

Q. We still have people like (works minister and MIC president) S Samy Vellu there. We know of the complaints against him.

A. You ask MIC what they would do if I removed Samy Vellu. MIC is scared stiff of Samy Vellu.

Q. So it’s political repercussion factor then? It’s got nothing to do with…

A. When it comes to the head of a component (Barisan Nasional) party, I don’t have that much liberty to pick who the head should be or to remove the head from being in the cabinet. You can see that all the heads of all the component parties are in the cabinet, not because I chose them, but because they were chosen by their party.

Q. What you’re saying is that you have to appoint them (the leaders of BN component parties) to the cabinet. There’s very little choice. So what does that reflect about our political system today?

A. There is a saying – a country gets the government that it deserves. If you are a member of a party and you are unwilling to say that your leader is wrong, to choose a better leader, then you deserve a bad leader. Whether it is fear of the bad leader, or whatever…

Even if it is a dictator, if they (people in other countries) really want to remove their dictator, they are prepared to stick their necks out. Here, it is not even a case of sticking your neck out. You won’t even stick your little finger out. Everybody is playing safe. If I go against the chief, he’s going to hammer me. Then I won’t get contracts, I won’t be ‘ketua bahagian’ (party division chief).

Dr M has seriously misread the MIC and Indian sentiment then. If he got rid of Samy then, the Indians would have still voted BN this year. Perhaps. But like all hindsight, this is cheap speculation on my part.

After all, the local Indians themselves rendered the MIC irrelevant, thanks not so much to Hindraf championing their rights…no not really. It was simply how they (the Hindraf group) were treated and indeed, how Indian interests were addressed (ignored, rather), that broke the proverbial camel’s back.

Today, he cuts a pathetic figure with his empty talks and posturing.Pitiable really. I was told that he had helped lots and lots of people. Good for him.

I just hope someone could actually tell the truth to his face. That it is best that he retires from politics. Just fade away man. Do yourself that favour.

What kind of implications, JKR?

Update: The Selangor MB actually received the said report today at 12.45pm, says The Star

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I would like to ask the Public Works Department the question.

I refer to this article in Malaysiakini.

What kind of implications do you expect when four people have died, I don’t know how many animals, and thousands of lives disrupted in the recent Bukit Antarabangsa landslide.

You, the Jabatan Kerja Raya, are public servants! It is your job to carry out orders in the interest of the public.

In this case, not disclosing their report to the Selangor government is plain irresponsible!

Why, Pak Lah, and Najib? Why are these civil servants behaving this way?

When the landslide happened, both the PM and DPM “turun padang” to survey the damage, accompanied by the local MP, assemblymen, Mentri Besar and local government folks. I saw this on TV.

So I naively though that when there is a national disaster like this, these idiots can put aside partisan concerns and address the issue at hand. Looks like its just for show.

And while we are on the subject of Bukit Antarabangsa, I would like to bring up the subject of EIA reports.

About 10-12 years ago, then Ampang Jaya Municipal Council Abdul Karim Munisar (the guy is with Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Bhd now) said that the law then had only made it mandatory for companies developing land measuring 50 acres and above to carry out a proper environmental impact assessment and submit a report.

The loophole is that it exempted those developing land less than 50 acres. Now, imagine ten adjacent developments of say, 30 acres each. That’s 300 acres in total. But on their own, they are not required to do the cumbersome reports.

Karim said that MPAJ is looking at making the concerned developers do a macro EIA that will answer that problem.

Now, I don’t know if that recommendation actually became policy, nor if it was enforced even if it was policy, but it bloody well should have been, pardon my French.

In Malaysia, as we all know, we have to wait for a big boulder to fall on our heads before we sit up.

Yes, like the TV3 report during the recent landslide inferred, we still haven’t learned our lesson. Bukit Antarabangsa is a time bomb that exploded a few times already, but we still sit on our collective asses.

If even the Selangor MB faces a brick wall in dealing with these “makan gaji” civil servants, what hope do you think you and I have?

Paternalism. How far do we go?

This is a question I cannot answer even today.

Paternalism has always been present in governance and indeed, philosophy, since the early days of civilisation.

However, the idea that the government decides what is good for me or not, certainly gives me the creeps, not because I am a rebellious sort, but simply because governments are often seperti ketam mengajar anaknya berjalan lurus.

The government takes the role of our parents in telling us what’s supposed to be good for us and not. They make it into law and hey, it becomes and offence….provided you are caught doing it.

Which brings into discussion the issue of enforcement, and enforceability of such laws. I mean, any type of gambling is not allowed for Muslims in this country. That means they can be charged. But they still do it, despite the signs at your neighbourhood Kuda Toto Magnum shops that say Muslims and those under 18 cannot buy the numbers.

Now, looking at it from the paternal point of view, gambling benefits few. And the cost, both in money and social terms, is quite disproportionately high.

There is an urban legend that goes around saying how the hotel windows in Genting Highlands can only be opened a few inches, because in the past, too many losers threw themselves out the window after saying bye bye to all their money and sometimes their shirt.

I don’t know how much of this is true, but gambling has a serious social cost that leads to broken families, poverty, suicides and crime.

Hey, even those folks at Genting recognise it. You must have passed the lightboxes in the casinos advertising their gamblers’ helpline some time. I saw them. So it is clearly a concern.

So, gambling is supposed to be bad for society. Yet, a large part of Malaysian society wants the choice to go destroy itself. And the government allows it. It doesn’t want to be paternal here because I guess, of the potential political fallout.

Choice. You as an individual, say that the authorities do not have a right to dictate how you live your life. That’s your own bloody business, you say.

But no, that is no longer quite true. Unless you live in a cave, alone, with no ties to the outside world whatsoever, you are deemed as a cog in the huge wheel called society. Whatever the choices you make in your daily life, it will have some effect on your surrounding. Remember the Butterfly Effect?

So, the question is more, like the title of this post suggests, how far do we go, who should be bound by the rules dictated by this school of thought and, most importantly, WHO SHOULD DICTATE THE TERMS?

Like Jesus suggested, none of us have clean hands, for us to cast the first stone of righteous punishment or sanction. In fact, most of our so-called society and political elders have dirty, even bloody, hands.

In a plural society that often is part of the same political unit, imposition of rules that affect all must get the consensus of the majority. If it doesn’t, you get at best disenchanted grumbles and at worst riots and even civil war.

Take the much-talked about yoga fatwa for instance. The fatwa looks to me like the Muslim elder statesmen in this country telling their brethren that it is against the tenets of Islam to practice yoga and hence, Muslims who do, should stop it.

Whether they are right or wrong to impose the ruling is a question for the Muslims in this country to discuss or argue.

So I feel that in this case, Malaysia Hindu Sangam president Vaithilingam’s saying the Hindu community is hurt is somewhat misplaced. His statement takes the issue on a different trajectory of how the minority groups are often trampled when policies are declared for the majority. Business as usual in Malaysia, but that is not the point here.

In any case, today, all this is moot because the fatwa is “overruled”. The Prime Minister stepped in and basically said

“I wish to state that a physical regime with no elements of worship can continue, meaning, it is not banned. I believe that Muslims are not easily swayed into polytheism,” he said when contacted by Bernama here.

And then the Royals came into the picture and reminded the National Fatwa Council of its place in the pecking order.

Here’s a sample.

The Regent of Perak Raja Dr Nazrin Shah has again reminded the National Fatwa Council that its primary role is to decide and issue a fatwa or edicts after referring them to the Con­ference of Rulers. — reported here

Here’s another

The Regent of Negri Sembilan has joined his royal brothers in Perak and Selangor in proposing the National Fatwa Council consult the Conference of Rulers before issuing edicts in future. reported here

The Sultan of Selangor too made his stand clear on this issue.

However, it had more to do with jurisdictional authority over Muslim matters than the applicability, relevance or whether it was the right thing to do.

All the brouhaha over the yoga fatwa made me look closer at fatwas in general. I was struck by this article .

Zainah Anwar writes..

A young friend googled fatwa and found in every piece of writing she read that fatwa is an advisory opinion only; how has it come about in Malay­sia that it becomes a criminal offence to violate a fatwa that has been gazetted, she questioned?

This echoes my own uneasy realisation that here in Malaysia, the NFC can issue an edict that becomes law. That means the NFC is a law-making body, making rules that don’t need debate and discussion before it is gazetted to become law.

That means, my friends, you have laws being created with impunity, that you or your elected rep wasn’t consulted on, which will and does affect you.

Don’t you want to know about it?

Granted, as a non-Muslim, it will not apply to me, but it alarms me that most of my Muslim friends are not aware of the equal enforceability of fatwas.

Here’s more cause for concern, from the same article..

As early as 1997, Sisters in Islam (SIS) submitted a memorandum to the then Prime Minister about the shocking provisions in the Syariah Criminal Offences Act (SCOA), many of which have no precedence in Islamic legal history and practice, violate constitutional provisions on fundamental liberties and conflict or overlap with the Penal Code.

Among the most outrageous are two provisions which state it is a criminal offence to defy, disobey or dispute a fatwa, or to give, propagate or disseminate any opinion contrary to any fatwa that is in force! This really tantamounts to thought policing that criminalises differences of opinion! Not even Saudi Arabia makes it a crime to violate or dispute a fatwa.

Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamed ordered the Attorney-General’s Chambers to review the SCOA. But we don’t know the outcome of that process, or if it ever took place.

SIS commissioned two research papers examining the SCOA on constitutional and Islamic juristic grounds. Both experts concluded that the SCOA is a deeply flawed piece of legislation. We have submitted our report to the Govern­ment.

The late Tan Sri Harun Hashim who sat on the Syariah Technical Committee said he had recommended to the committee that criminal law be taken out of syariah jurisdiction and all criminal matters should come under the Penal Code. That was why the SCOA was not submitted for review in the government exercise to establish uniformity of all state Islamic laws in the late 1990s.

But it is obvious that over the past few years, the strategy is to expand syariah jurisdiction, not limit it according to law.

I think Muslims in this country should sit up and take notice. They should have a serious look at this trend of banning this and that without reason.

Most of my Muslim friends, I know, are confident enough in their faith without having to ikut telunjuk some myopic elders. This is a case of paternalism taking an ugly turn.

Not so long ago, Foreign Minister Datuk Rais Yatim, an intelligent man who is somehow, inexplicably, prone to spew some really idiotic stuff, said that young single girls should not travel overseas.

Sure, it was in response to so many young Malaysian women becoming drug mules and ending up behind bars in foreign countries, but isn’t it rather shortsighted of Rais to say that?

Censoring the Internet was mulled in its early days. Hell, our own Mat Tyson was a proponent. Of course, some 10, 12 years later, it was the blogs they wanted to censor because it is deemed to incite people to be anti-government.

I was laughing to myself when the powers that be, in its worst imitation of paternalism, blocked public access to Malaysia Today. Then it occurred to me, paternalism in Malaysia is just an extension and a tool of political expediency.

I mean, they always mess with the likes of Malaysiakini and Malaysia Today, but ain’t it funny that no one bothers to block access to porn sites?

Alternative political views are more evil compared to pornography. Go on…snigger away. It is true, in Malaysia at any rate.

Why not a fatwa against domestic violence? A fatwa on violence against women and children? A fatwa against Muslim men who abandon their wives and kids and don’t pay alimony?

Kak Zaharah whose husband abandoned her with six kids to raise on her own (she was heavily pregnant with the last one when he left) would appreciate a fatwa like that. Paternalism would have helped there.

But then in Bolehland, bullshit walks proud while reason suffers terminal weariness.

Murder, Massacre, Mayhem…Misery

For a couple of weeks now, I have been unable to blog.

Yeah yeah. Bitch…bitch, rant, whine. 75 million blogs in the world. Who bloody cares if you don’t write?

Sorry, alter ego escaped.

Anyway, the reason I’ve been unable to blog is that I’m speechless. Marinate that in dumbfoundedess, add a fistful of shame, and lastly, stir in a dollop of futility. Coat it with a sprinkle of sadness and deepfry.

Voila! Abject misery, ready to serve.

Why?

Too much misery in this world. Contagious. Late last month, some Pakistani blokes decide to teach Mumbai a lesson. Jihad is fashionable these days and these GPRS-toting gunslingers wanted to check out of life while making a big statement. Death to the infidels of the west, the filthy Jews and idol-worshipping Indians!

I have loved ones in Mumbai. Even if I didn’t, I still would have been aghast at the impunity with which some people kill and maim their fellows.

Nothing new. Murder and mayhem has formed the piquant sauce that greased the mill of human civilisation through the ages.

That battle-weary, desert kingdom that was Iraq was trampled to the ground under the guise of “Freeing the people from the despot that was Saddam Hussein”. Yet the Nisour Square massacre of last year proved that an average Iraqi’s life matters even less to the occupiers.

It is interesting to note that it is the five trigger-happy Blackwater employees that were indicted couple of days ago, but not Blackwater Worldwide. Not the company.

This outfit must have serious clout remain unscathed despite mounting criticism and calls for oversight, even from the ranks of the US military that it claims to support.

This is a company that won USD1billion contract from the Pentagon to render security and logistics services related to postwar reconstruction in Iraq.  Erik Prince is one of the many pigs feeding at the huge war trough made possible by the Bush administration featuring cowboys like Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Bremer and their likes.

While I join the Iraqis and a lot of people around the world in welcoming the news, I wonder if in the end, all the legalese and the manoevring by the defense lawyers will get these murderers off, scot free.

After all, there is that interesting CPA Order 17 that reads

Contractors shall not be subject to Iraqi laws or regulations in matters relating to the terms and conditions of their Contracts, including licensing and registering employees, businesses and corporations; provided, however, that Contractors shall comply with such applicable licensing and registration laws and regulations if engaging in business or transactions in Iraq other than Contracts. Notwithstanding any provisions in this Order, Private Security Companies and their employees operating in Iraq must comply with all CPA Orders, Regulations, Memoranda, and any implementing instructions or regulations governing the existence and activities of Private Security Companies in Iraq, including registration and licensing of weapons and firearms.

Sure. They are charged in the United States now. But hell, I don’t have much faith anymore in authorities doing the right thing.

Meanwhile, it is business as usual for Blackwater and the rest of the hyenas for whom the heightened security concerns in post 9/11 world has presented a capital opportunity.

I mean, the dogs of war has gone private in a big way.

On the other side of the coin, people who will bomb everybody else to kingdom come, so they check into the heaven of 72 virgins a little early.

Both parties have guns and bombs.

God help this world.