Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
| Posted: 13 Mar 2013 09:38 AM PDT
TRY and Google for images of a chameleon, and the results are mostly photos of the reptile in green. M Hamzah Jamakudin, NST The unique animal is famous for its ability to change colours to blend into the surroundings and trick its predators. Some species can change to different combinations of colours, including green, red, light blue and yellow. Interestingly, there are also people who can change their 'colours' when the need arises, as being demonstrated by Himpunan Hijau chairman Wong Tack. Since the inception of the green movement two years ago, Wong has always stressed its main aim was to fight against harmful projects such as the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) in Kuantan and Raub Australian Gold Mining (RAGM) which uses cyanide at its facility in Bukit Koman, Raub. As green is Himpunan Hijau's favourite colour, it is no surprise to find on Google search various photos of Wong in a green T-shirt. Soon, we can expect to see more colours of Wong's shirts after he announced his candidacy for the Bentong parliamentary seat under the DAP ticket. He may don DAP's white-and-red T-shirt, or even the light-blue and darker shade of green preferred by PKR and Pas respectively. It is not the colour of his shirts that matter most but his shifting stands, particularly on the issues he had been championing before. Acting more like a politician nowadays, Wong has made an about-turn on his opposition towards the Lynas rare earth refinery - agreeing with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's statement that the plant would be allowed to operate should a new public inquiry prove it to be safe. His latest statement came as a total surprise to many as Wong made headlines last month after he threatened to burn down Lamp if the newly-elected government failed to shut it down after the 13th general election. This will also apply if Pakatan Rakyat managed to wrest control of Putrajaya but did not fulfil its promise to close LAMP. In a statement posted on the movement's Facebook on Monday, Wong claimed that he had no choice but to utilise the political platform to make way for Pakatan to fulfil its promise to the people. In its manifesto, Pakatan has pledged to close LAMP if it took over Putrajaya. The anti-Lynas groups have always pressed for the closure of LAMP. Kuantan member of parliament and PKR vice-president Fuziah Salleh, for example, has told reporters that her main aim was to ensure that Lamp would never operate in the country. The sudden change in Pakatan's stand however, is expected as on March 8, Anwar was quoted by Australia's Sydney Morning Herald as saying that he would fast-track an inquiry into the safety of Lynas' operations should the opposition take over as government in the coming general election. "If Lynas can come out with a convincing argument that there is no risk to public safety and security, I will be the first to champion the plant there," said Anwar. The latest development proves that both the anti-Lynas and anti-RAGM campaigns are actually a political ploy to make the people hate the government and therefore, vote for the opposition. For those who care to learn about LAMP, they will know that both local and international experts have endorsed its operation. Some have even said that it is the safest rare earth plant in the world. United States government rare earth adviser Jack Lifton, after visiting LAMP recently, said the plant became operational behind schedule not because of technical issues but rather because of political ones. "An environmental activist group claimed first that LAMP would release too much radioactivity, and would not be able to manage this waste. This argument has been overcome by multiple expert panels and site surveys and finally by the Malaysian courts and government, so the anti-Lynas group has now switched to the cry that the plant will emit toxic chemical wastes (as well as radioactive ones)," he wrote. The latest turn of events involving Wong may not go down well with all Himpunan Hijau supporters. In an immediate reaction, Himpunan Hijau steering committee member Clement Chin suggested that Wong relinquish his post to allow the committee to re-elect a new chairman to run the movement as a formidable people and not political-centred non-governmental organisation (NGO). "Himpunan Hijau supporters will be put off with the dragging of the NGO into the political arena. The environmental issues will end up so politicised and muddled up that it loses its essence and truth with all the mud-slinging thrown at it," he commented in the movement's Facebook account. Like Chin, most Malaysians have also had enough with all these chameleons who will change their colours for political expediency. Most Malaysians would rather have the real reptile although some may find its look quite disgusting. Unfortunately, half of the world's chameleon population lives on the island of Madagascar and not Malaysia.
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| Posted: 13 Mar 2013 09:35 AM PDT
We should be grateful that the war of words doesn't actually spill blood because otherwise the cyber sphere would be strewn with dead bodies by now. Still, there must be a lot of wounded. Marina Mahathir, The Star IN 1982, two largish nations went to war over a tiny group of islands. One of them, Argentina, decided to assert a long-standing claim over the islands they call the Malvinas. Unfortunately, the islands had long been a British "dependent territory". One country saw it as a "re-occupation" while the other saw it as an invasion. And so the Falklands War began, ending only 72 days later with 649 Argentine military personnel, 255 British military personnel and three Falkland islanders dead. I don't want to go into the politics of that war but it was between two countries trying to protect their sovereignty. Unlike the Iraq-Kuwait war in 1990, the war between Great Britain and Argentina remained between just those two countries. Eleven years later, a group of people representing no country "attacked" the United States and set off wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and basically changed the world for the worst, with many deaths, mostly of innocent civilians. All of this to me seems to point to one thing, which is that war doesn't make sense. Which is why we should be careful when declaring war on anyone. In the last few weeks, a ragtag band of people have occupied a bit of our territory mostly to draw attention to their alleged claims to that piece of land. We took a while to realise that they were serious, and seriously armed, and once we did, suddenly it was war. Now I use the word "war" loosely here, meaning that our authorities finally decided that they had to deal with this group aggressively. We could not actually declare war on another country because no country had invaded us, only the delusional citizens of a neighbouring one. This fine point seems to have been lost on some. All at once, "war" broke out, mostly online. We should be grateful that the war of words doesn't actually spill blood because otherwise the cyber sphere would be strewn with dead bodies by now. Still, there must be a lot of wounded. Suddenly, otherwise mild and liberal people turned belligerent and the baying for blood abounded. Patriotism morphed into nationalism, then into plain old-fashioned jingoism. Flags flew high and fervent prayers for victory were said. Those of us who were shocked by the gall of these people scrambled around to get more information. The appalling lack of it on our side pointed to one obvious deficit in our country: there is hardly anyone here who can explain what this is all about. This invariably led us to scour the news sites in the Philippines for some explanation of these people and their claims. While some of the Philippine media are just as sensationalist as ours, the more serious ones published several articles by academics with a good grasp of the historical background of those islands where the invaders come from. On our side, we have only one academic who, at this time of writing, has done 26 interviews on the subject. Unfortunately, not everybody is interested in nuance and historical background. Suddenly because it is "war", everything becomes acceptable, including violent name-calling. I began to understand the real effect and relevance of Bush's "war on terror", how it made jingoism in the United States acceptable and how democracy could be so easily suspended. Already we are possibly seeing some "collateral damage". In times like these, talking about peace becomes politically incorrect. To be properly patriotic, one must shake one's spears and not hold out bouquets of flowers. Yet this was what a group of young people did last Friday in a project called Ops Bunga. They went to the Philippine embassy to place bunches of flowers as a gesture of peace towards our neighbours. A tiny gesture but a much needed calming one, a moment of solidarity among Malaysians and a hand extended in friendship. It is instructive that in moments of tension, it is almost always young people who think up positive ideas to smooth the waters. Resolutely apolitical, these young ones refuse to allow any hijacking of the issue by politicians. Indeed, they could be said to be a response to the political grandstanding that often accompanies these events. Meanwhile, I have to wonder where our usual rabble rousers are, the ones who are ever ready to pick fights with their fellow citizens, yet who have become strangely silent. Confused maybe?
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| BN the underdog? But is the maths correct? Posted: 12 Mar 2013 05:52 PM PDT
There are so many discrepancies about the outcome of the 13th general election. By Syed Nadzri Syed Harun Dossier 1: Anwar Ibrahim, says Pakatan Rakyat which he leads, will win the election, beating the ruling Barisan Nasional by at least 10 parliamentary seats. Dossier 2: Leading think-tank The Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (ASLI) says BN is expected to win 123 to 135 of the 222 parliamentary seats but could reach as high as 150 if Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak could attract Indian and undecided Chinese voters as well. Dossier 3: The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), which is part of the respected London-based magazine, The Economist, predicts that BN will win the election and that Pakatan will finish a "distant second". Dossier 4: Many independent observers say there are actually about 60 parliamentary seats considered very much in the air still, and these are key to detemining the overall outcome as they could fall either way. Anwar's bold declaration, made during an interview with international business news site Bloomberg, is very interesting, not only because it came five years to the day when BN lost much ground in the last election, which had then led him to try a shot at power through defections, but more so since it now actually shows that he considers the tripartite alliance of PKR, PAS and DAP to be the favourites this time around. So does that mean, as far as he is concerned, BN is the underdog? It appears so because he had told Bloomberg: "I don't want to sound over-confident, but I believe looking into the trend now it will be a comfortable majority. Beyond 10 is comfortable." He also said Pakatan could take six states, up from four now. So that explains why, unlike the last round when PKR had to scrounge for suitable candidates, there is now a mad scramble among those who want to stand, causing serious bickering in its ranks. But Anwar, as a former Umno deputy president, should be reminded that Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, who had led an opposition foray through the Semangat 46 splinter party, was supremely confident as well in the 1990 general election. Tengku Razaleigh, when asked by reporters not long before that election whether the opposition group could give a good challenge to BN, his immortal reply was: "What good challenge? You are out of date, we are forming the government." He was serious because he was barking at the poor reporter. And we all know the outcome of that vote. Some people think that even if Pakatan does not win, its "Malaysian Spring" strategy could be activated. They say it would even live up to its name since the polls would come by next month, "springtime" in the West. As for the ASLI prediction, it is based on its latest research and reported about a fortnight ago, which said much of the support among rural Malays, which was absent in 2008, has returned to Umno and BN.
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