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Chinese New Year and the Worlds Between This One
The decline and fall of Najib
Is Taib-Jeffrey alliance in the making?
New voters add mystery to Perak contest

Chinese New Year and the Worlds Between This One

Posted: 07 Feb 2013 04:27 PM PST

Ang pows, like everything about Chinese New Year, remind us that forms and rules cannot be ignored. Just because those dancing lions aren't real, it doesn't mean they don't matter for what's real.

Alwyn Lau

This Sunday the Year of the Snake begins and getting an ang pow is the only time people love to see red. These flaming packets though, come with rules. For example, you never give an ang pow if you're not married and for those who tied the knot less than a year ago, it's two packs per pax. It totally isn't cool to give cheques or coins. Don't ever give an empty packet; like most symbolic gestures, the thought isn't the only thing that counts. Don't ever commit the Ibrahim Ali boo-boo of giving a white packet thus turning a family celebration into a death in the family. Never give ang-pows before the first day of CNY or after the fifteenth day; kick-off begins on the dot and there is no extra time.

Also, always accept the ang pow with two hands; the giver isn't a TESCO cashier handing you change. Never send or receive electronic ang pows; 'virtual' ang pows makes as much sense as virtual air. Finally, no matter how much the Chinese talk about wealth and prosperity, one does not simply give CNY cash to people without the red packet (it's safer to walk into Mordor naked).

'Pointless' Yet Productive

Ang pows, like everything about Chinese New Year, remind us that forms and rules cannot be ignored. Just because those dancing lions aren't real, it doesn't mean they don't matter for what's real.

Firecrackers, the Mandarin oranges, not sweeping the floor for fifteen days, winning at Black Jack - and even the colour red – they mirror a world (of spirits, of convention, of the virtual) co-existing with our 'everyday' world (of cheese-burgers, traffic jams and Windows crashes).

The 'fiction' of giving money in a shiny crimson paper envelope upholds our being 'wrapped up' in roles and identities not quite our own. This is a game of Pretend at its communal best – it may be 'fake' (or so we think), but it still 'works'.

For isn't it true that every day we play pretend and it's not all fun? We pretend to care, to bother, to know, to be thinking. We pretend to be more than we know we're not. Every hour we struggle with roles like 'parent', 'spouse', 'leader', 'activist' - even 'human'. We're wearing so many hats we sometimes wear another hat simply to minimize the trauma of hat-wearing.

What's more, we also need to be pretended to - life would be unbearable if everyone was completely honest with us. Our world would shatter if people smiled at or greeted us only 'if they felt like it'. The financial world would collapse if bank brochures told the truth that everybody pretends they don't already know: that the only thing worse than robbing a bank is starting one (i.e. one makes thievery an anti-social felony, the other makes it a politically protected privilege). The social world would be in disarray if 'pointless' statements like "How are you?", "What's up?", "Hi/Bye" (or our all time favourite, "I love you") were probed too deeply for their essences and sincerity.

We're all in this together. Yet by feigning, we commit ourselves to each other even if we 'really' don't want to. We help others create fantasies for their world even as we rely on everybody else acting as if they believe what we do. These are the worlds 'in between' this one: The mutually constructed yet non-negotiable holograms we need in order to exist socially.

They are pseudo-realities everyone makes and half-breaks every day and moment. They appear through our words, his façades, her cries, their hand-shakes, those emails and everybody's silences. We survive by pretending and we cannot live if others don't. Occasionally, our fragile veils are taken off and we detect strange things in others but also - thankfully - the desire to be loved and to contribute despite having had their innermost lives exposed (or status-updated).

Worlds Dark and Divine

Of course, the worst kind of feigning – and thus the blackest of realities produced - is by leaders who make it a point to deceive or incite all in order to strip society of its resources and values. This is the most insidious sort of masquerade because it hides the wilful exclusion of others, especially the least of the least.

Thus, Tun Dr Mahathir can pretend to care about the citizenship status of immigrants to Sabah whilst hardly pretending to care about the living conditions of the orang asli and the poorest in that very same state. Our dear PM himself can pretend to care about Chinese and Christians whilst he allows folks like Ibrahim Ali to continue being entirely honest about how much he hates them. The only good news from all this is that the veils can't hide the darkness anymore. In such a rot, the people are forced to throw off all pretenses, not to mention the gloves (think HINDRAF, BERSIH).

And then there is a more sublime kind of unveiling, showing off a better kind of world. It's the kind that Michelle Ng alluded to in her Feb 5th essay, written in the context of the on-going 'Allah' controversy. She, a Christian, declared to her Muslim friends that:

"(Even if) the day comes when Christianity is prohibited in Malaysia, when our churches and bibles are forced to cease to exist, I can assure you that we will still welcome you into our homes with open arms; we will feed you when you're hungry and we will care for you if need be; and we will pray for you every day."

That's our new world right there. An in-breaking imaginary which not only brings hope to the country's politics but also redefines the political. Ng's promise to forgive and pray for those who persecute her is undoubtedly too Christian for many Christians; we should only hope it's not too un-Malaysian for Malaysia. Her remarks proclaim another world so blindingly beautiful that most folks can't deal with the shock of taking Ng seriously. Maybe this proves that the best kind of world is that which has to remain obscure for now, and presented to us in drama, sign, gesture and spectacle - like a wooden lion turned on by cymbals and drums, suddenly needing to gyrate and eat oranges and lettuce.

Chinese New Year is not only a celebration of a new twelve months under the Lunar calendar, but it can also be a declaration that enjoyable fiction begets new realities. The noise, the food, the colours - they all point to the casting out of evil and the inviting in of the good. It's a 15-day nation-wide concert to ask the universe to do it again – better this time. Red storm rising, new worlds coming.

Happy Chinese New Year, Malaysia.

The decline and fall of Najib

Posted: 07 Feb 2013 03:40 PM PST

The prime minister had the perfect opportunity to act, but he neglected to do so. Consumed by greed and power, like many politicians in Malaysia, he looked the other way.

Mariam Mokhtar, FMT

As soon as Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak announces the date for 13th general election, it will probably sound his political death knell.

For the benefit of the rakyat, and in front of the television cameras and news photographers, Najib and his Cabinet present a united front; but behind the scenes, another story emerges.

Damaging leaks about the shortcomings of his leadership continue to undermine Najib. His grip on the party is tenuous. His strongest ally, the self-styled First Lady Rosmah Mansor, will do her utmost to ensure he succeeds.

Last month, the independent organisation, the Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research, found that Najib had high popularity ratings of 63% among voters in Peninsular Malaysia.

For the sake of "completeness", why not a survey among voters in Sabah and also, Sarawak? It would have been interesting to gauge Najib's popularity in Sabah, before and during the proceedings of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) for Sabah.

If the same survey had been conducted among ministers in Najib's own Cabinet, the results would be a good gauge of their confidence in his leadership.

The war that is being waged against Najib is on two fronts – he has to defend himself against the opposition and fight off guerrilla raids from invisible enemies, within Umno.

Najib, the son of Malaysia's second prime minister, has had a poor grounding in life. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he is only exposed to the suffering of the rakyat, in the months before election. To alleviate their pain, Najib distributes bags of rice and food, and tars their roads, rather than sorting out the issues which have plagued the people, over the past five years.

The prime minister's privileged schooling is denied to the ordinary Malaysian. Najib may have been a product of a mission school, but mission schools are dying a slow death, deprived of money and support from the Education Ministry.

In his secondary schooling at Malvern College, a Church of England school, Najib would have attended daily chapel services, compulsory Sunday service, Remembrance Sunday, and Carol services in the Christmas term.

Najib has remained a Muslim despite attending these services, but he would have gained a thorough understanding of Christianity. Despite that, he has said nothing to persuade the extremists in Malaysia to practise tolerance and moderation.

He missed the chance

What can one expect from a career politician? When he defended his father's seat, which had become vacant on his death, he won, presumably because of the sympathy votes.

How can a man who has not experienced the perils faced by the unskilled worker, the struggling graduate, working man and father know what it is like to live in Malaysia, where house prices are beyond most people's reach, where car prices are jacked up, where justice is sold to the highest bidder and where most services require a sweetener? Najib's education has not been put to good use to help his fellow Malaysian.

READ MORE HERE

Is Taib-Jeffrey alliance in the making?

Posted: 07 Feb 2013 01:32 PM PST

Will wily old Taib Mahmud, who has kept Sarawak out of Umno's greedy clutches all these decades, outmanoeuvre Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak?

Joseph Tawie and Pushparani Thilaganathan, Free Malaysia Today

Speculations of covert conversations between "cornered" Chief Minister Taib Mahmud and Sabah State Reform Party (STAR) chief Jeffrey Kitingan gained ground in Kuching following Jeffrey's call to Sarawakians to "support local parties".

During a recent visit, Jeffrey advised Sarawakians not to support peninsula-based Pakatan Rakyat but instead to give their backing to local parties.

The call, while confusing to some, has lent credence to rumours that Taib was keen on Jeffrey's Borneo Agenda and had met with him to discuss an "alliance".

Local parties in Sarawak are Taib's Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu, Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP). All of them are currently aligned to Barisan Nasional in the federal capital.

However, in recent months this "allegiance" has become suspect, partly due to the goings-on in Sabah and the peninsula.

Within Taib's PBB and BN coalition itself there appears to be those who have sold their souls to Putrajaya and who are working below the line to ensure he is forced out "once and for all" and this "includes using the occult".

But a PBB insider said Taib was well aware of these moves and the people involved.

"He has his own plans and finds in Jeffrey and [Pakatan's Opposition Leader] Anwar [Ibrahim] a common agenda.

"Both want to get rid of Najib [Tun Razak] and Umno-BN.

"It works for Taib because now all three have a common agenda. Taib has nothing to lose at this point," the insider said, adding that it was a bonus for Jeffrey and Anwar that Taib could be a "generous man" when the need arose.

The insider also said the latest rejection by Kuala Lumpur to his demand to be appointed Yang di-Pertua Negeri Sarawak (head of state) in return for stepping down was pivotal to his decision to engage Jeffrey.

"Taib wants the head of state's post but Kuala Lumpur has again rejected his demand.

"By becoming the head of state, he can control state affairs, appoint the chief minister he wants, and escape the long arms of the law," said the insider.

Jeffrey's remarks, which incidentally also had PRS president James Masing's reported support, came at time of great political confusion. Never before have so many political players been in so tight a race.

According to FMT's sources, Taib is fully aware of a federal-funded attempt to oust him before the 13th general election and making use of his deputy Awang Tengah Ali Hassan to execute the plan.

"The plan is to cut him off at every turn," said a source referring to Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's declaration that only (federal) BN-sanctioned candidates and incumbents can contest in the general election.

This, the insider said, spoilt Taib's plan to field his own men and outmanoeuvre Najib who is trying to pick his own PBB lineup loyal to Umno-BN and not to Taib personally.

"Najib wants to ensure that Taib does not play a double game so he [Najib] wants to have his 'loyalists' in PBB fielded. But Taib wants his men on the ground. He is ready to field his own people who are aligned to him but are currently independents.

"Najib wants Awang Tengah and his boys to remove Taib before 13th general election to ensure support for BN in Sarawak is intact and ensure the other BN components will remain loyal to Kuala Lumpur," said the source.

New voters add mystery to Perak contest

Posted: 07 Feb 2013 01:26 PM PST

"I would say that the surge in the number of voters in Pasir Panjang, Bukit Gantang and Gopeng is very troubling because these are not areas with large numbers of new housing developments and new voters moving in.

Chen Shaua Fui, fz.com

FOR the very first time, Abri Yok Chopil, 34, wants to cast his vote in the general election.

Abri, an Orang Asli from the Semai community who lives in Kampung Chang, Bidor, Perak, registered as a voter last year.

Previously, he had not taken his vote seriously because he was not aware of the importance of voting, Abri told fz.com in a phone interview.

Abri, who is an activist for Orang Asli rights, says no one from the government, especially the Orang Asli Development Department (Jakoa) that is in charge of the community's affairs, had briefed the villagers on their rights as citizens and their role as voters.

Instead, programmes like karaoke singing competitions are organised or handouts distributed to the families to keep them happy, he says.

The Orang Asli in the kampung, which is about 5km from Bidor, rely on subsistence agriculture and collect forest produce to earn a meagre living, says Abri. When the elections come around, the politicians come around to distribute provisions and pay for a community feast, he said.

However, Abri and many of his friends had a gradual awakening to the importance of their votes after going through an empowerment process organised by a group of activists. They believe there is a need to have a change.

"The people can choose the leaders they want," he said, expressing confidence in the power of democracy.

Abri belongs to a growing number of young people who are shedding a long-standing Malaysian trait of staying on the sidelines of political developments. A series of public rallies in recent years have drawn tens and hundreds of thousands of people, showing that there is a mood of popular empowerment afoot.

These rallies would strike a chord with many young Perak voters, who turned out in droves to protest when the Pakatan Rakyat state government was ousted in a dramatic political crisis in 2009.

In that event, the Barisan Nasional took control of the Perak administration after three state assembly members quit the Pakatan coalition just one year after it unseated the BN state government in the 12th general election in March 2008.

Straw polls suggest that many young Perak voters are waiting for the 13th general election to make a stand on the issue at the ballot.

The question on many minds is whether this young tide of support for change is strong enough to decide the outcome of the upcoming general election.

According to the Election Commission, there will be three million new voters in the next election, out of an electorate of some 13 million.

Merdeka Centre Research Manager Tan Seng Keat said that out of these new voters, half of them fall under the age group of 21-25 years old.

However, he pointed out that new voters are not necessarily young voters or first-time voters; they could be voters who have moved into a constituency due to labour or social mobility.

As political parties from both sides had been working very hard to register new voters since the 2008 general election, it is normal to have an increase of new voters in a constituency.

However, political analyst Ong Kian Ming pointed out that the surge of new voters is above the average rate of increase in several closely contested seats in Perak.

Ong, who recently became a DAP member and is the party's election strategist, has been compiling the data of new voters in Perak. The number of new voters in the electoral roll up to the fourth quarter of 2012 shows an increase of 217,796 (18%) new voters in Perak, compared with 2008.

Kredit: www.malaysia-today.net

Jumaat, 8 Februari 2013

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

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