Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Malay Nationalism and Development
- Petition for Truth Behind Jobs Commissioned and Cost Breakdown for the Tourism Malaysia fan page
- Home Is Where My Heart Can Be At Ease To Serve
| Malay Nationalism and Development Posted: 19 Jun 2011 11:23 AM PDT Internal unity is therefore extremely important if not crucial. UMNO admits this fact and sincerely believes that foreign investment will not flow in if Malaysia does not have peace and political stability. Yet it indulges in Malay nationalism. By batsman The western countries have already gone through their own phases of nationalism. Some have already adopted great power chauvinism while others have settled for civilized power chauvinism after having tried and failed to be great powers (Belgium, Germany, Spain and Portugal among these). Still it was the nationalistic phase that allowed western countries to grow rich and become civilized and "free".Having become rich, they are now touting "globalization" in various degrees to become even richer. Where it benefits them they champion "human-rights, democracy, free speech, globalization and free-enterprise" but where it is disadvantageous, they have no qualms about imposing barriers to protect themselves. (eg. burqa bans, Patriot Acts, bombing and murdering others in the name of human rights and making useless apologies when their bombs kill innocents, stopping ex-Gurkhas from becoming citizens, invading others in the name of freedom, protecting the world from fanatics and tin-pot dictators or using the excuse of searching for WMD, etc.) Malaysia has set targets for joining this glorious club and becoming a developed nation (by implication – civilized) by 2020. In the meantime, it is still free to be uncivilized and abusive towards its own citizens just like many other 3rd world countries while playing generous hosts to others in international conferences such as the Langkawi initiative and making nauseating speeches about good governance and being people-friendly. Of all the countries which are struggling to be developed, some have succeed, some are still struggling and many others still seemed to have failed. Their cases need to be studied seriously, but this is beyond the scope of this write-up. For our purpose, it is sufficient to make some crude observations. Of the countries which have succeeded are Japan and S. Korea. These countries are characterized by their homogeneity (Japan more so than S. Korea). Their citizens are united and have a strong sense of purpose. Domestic capital accumulation accompanied by foreign capital injections (investments) provided the final necessary conditions for their success. Brazil, India, Russia and China are showing great promise. These countries have more or less settled their domestic conflicts, domestic capital accumulation is proceeding rapidly and foreign investments are flowing in (some countries have advanced more rapidly in these directions than others). Still some doubts remain. China for example in spite of it being the richest country in the world in terms of spare cash, is still not accepted as a civilized country and excluded from the civilized countries club. This is because many of it domestic conflicts have not been properly resolved. In fact in some famous cases eg. Tibet and Inner Mongolia, there are forces that try to guarantee that it cannot be resolved. Besides, even the Han Chinese, in spite of their great reputation for chauvinism, are hardly united in nationalism (their communist history may have something to do with this, but check out this link, Huge scale of corruption among Chinese government officials, for good measure). It would seem that the mainland Chinese, like Malaysians are ever ready to take out money (whether theirs or belonging to others) and emigrate at the drop of a penny. Otherwise, if they have no money then they either willingly or allow themselves to be hoodwinked into being trafficked abroad, just to get out of the country. This disunity and lack of mutual respect and maybe even lack of self-respect causes obstacles on the road to becoming a civilized and developed nation even if one has great wealth. Internal unity is therefore extremely important if not crucial. UMNO admits this fact and sincerely believes that foreign investment will not flow in if Malaysia does not have peace and political stability. Yet it indulges in Malay nationalism. As a governing party, which believes that internal unity, peace and political stability is crucial to development, why is it not championing true Malaysian nationalism but instead promotes divisive Malay nationalism? After all it is not an external colonial power ruling the country by divide and rule tactics. I guess Malaysians of all races have to answer this question correctly if they are to develop as a truly united nation. In the west, they have united their countries in competition against the rest of the world. Their internal political systems are characterized by sportsmanship and mutual respect even if they are using drones to murder innocents in poor countries (with apologies no doubt). Unfortunately, our political system is characterized by abuse of power and dirty tricks while we are quarrelling amongst each other without any limits in the hostility. There is no mutual respect and sportsmanship, yet we dream of becoming civilized and developed in 9 short years time. Yet there are promising signs. Since the tsunami of 2008, the government has become more responsive and has come up with initiatives like 1 Malaysia, Government Transformation, Economic Transformation, Key Performance Indices, etc. There Still, all is not yet well. The Prime Minister arrogantly and without bothering to offer any explanation takes advantage of government paid trips to advance a personal agenda such as the marriage of his daughter. Some Malaysians may want to close one eye, but this is dangerous and short sighted. Even top government servants now perform expense-paid hajj by offering some miserable receipts to counter accusations without anyone digging deeper than referring to a miserable minion. If politicians can get away with taking advantage of small things, who is going to stop them from taking advantage of big things? There are no longer any institutional guarantees and not much of any checks and balances. If Malaysian institutions are There are no longer any checks and balances nor any institutions of any strength and integrity and if there are none, the road is surely down the road to ruin, not to developed civilized nationhood. Bersih 2.0 is just demanding that we have clean elections. This is trying to strengthen our institutions and not destroy them. They are trying to make a complacent and unresponsive government more accountable. They have no choice but to take their demands public since the government ignores all calls for improvement and clean up of the electoral system. Is Bersih 2.0 bad or is the government bad? Or is it just that our own values, thinking and culture are bad and selfish and corrupt politicians are taking advantage of our weaknesses? Do we deserve to be civilized and developed or are we just trying to become rich – like the Chinese? |
| Petition for Truth Behind Jobs Commissioned and Cost Breakdown for the Tourism Malaysia fan page Posted: 19 Jun 2011 10:57 AM PDT We request Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen to present the details of jobs commissioned and the breakdown of costs for the fan page and campaigns. The time given to Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen to prepare the report is 72 hours, starting at 12 midnight, 20th June 2011 and expiring at 12 midnight of 23rd June 2011. By Curi-curi Wang Malaysia
YAB Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Cabinet Ministers and Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), YAB/YB 19 June 2011
According to the answer provided by the Deputy Tourism Minister, James Dawos Mamit in Parliament, each of the 6 Facebook applications cost RM293,072 — Cuti-Cuti 1 Malaysia, Citrawarna 1Malaysia, Karnival Jualan Mega 1 Malaysia, Festival Pelancongan Seni Kontemporari 1 Malaysia, Kempen 1 Malaysia Bersih and Fabulous Food 1 Malaysia. James Dawos Mamit explained that the almost RM1.8 million included costs for designing, flash programming and coding, testing and debugging, uploading and launching the application, system server deployment and campaign management. Nevertheless, a Facebook fan page does not need most of the above. The cost for testing and debugging, uploading and launching of application and system server deployment is negligible since these are processes done by Facebook itself. So the amount may account for the non-Facebook sites that the ministry had commissioned for. Until and unless the Tourism Minister releases the details of jobs commissioned and completed, we will never know how the expenditure was allocated for work done on the fan page. We request Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen to present the details of jobs commissioned and the breakdown of costs for the fan page and campaigns. The time given to Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen to prepare the report is 72 hours, starting at 12 midnight, 20th June 2011 and expiring at 12 midnight of 23rd June 2011. If Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen fails to present a satisfactory written report on her personal website (http://www.drngyenyen.com/) within the abovementioned period, we strongly request her to step down from her position as Tourism Minister immediately. For this reason, we urge the Prime Minister, Cabinet members and MACC to investigate if there is any mismanagement of funds or corruption involved. If it is found that the expenses cannot be justified for the work to be done, we strongly request for suspension of the contract and an immediate refund from the beneficial company, Impact Creations Sdn Bhd. And we strongly request the Tourism Minister, Datuk Seri Ng Yen Yen to accept responsibility and resign from her position as Tourism Minister immediately. We trust and hope that the Prime Minister, Cabinet members and MACC will take these actions through liberalistic, transparent, accountable and professional procedures. "SEMOGA MALAYSIA MAJU JAYA"
(English version) http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=161146723951078 (Malay version) http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=161143110618106
Update: We reached 120k fans at 23:17pm 19 June 2011. Letter sent to PM 1malaysia email account. Link: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=161190490613368
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| Home Is Where My Heart Can Be At Ease To Serve Posted: 19 Jun 2011 10:48 AM PDT I came from a poor and dysfunctional family. My father was a rubber tapper and my mother was a homemaker. Despite the challenges to survive in a family of 9 siblings, all of us were able to finish tertiary education with 3 holding doctoral degrees. We helped one another and the last 5 siblings were able to attend the same universities in the United States. By Kang HoIn the 1980s, I received 8A's for SRP. Thereafter, I transferred to a technical school and received 3A's for SPM with Grade 1. My Malay schoolmates who received Grade 1 were sent overseas for further study and those who received Grade 2 were placed in local universities. My other Malay schoolmates who received Grade 3 were left behind in the same class as I in Form 6. Back then, I knew something was not right and I lost focus to invest in studies in Malaysia. My teachers told me that the reason I was not treated the same as my Malay schoolmates was because of "kulitfication." I decided to try my luck in Singapore by enrolling in a parochial college and providing tutoring to support myself. Meanwhile, I saved enough money to go to the United States to finish my university education. I was also fortunate to have opportunities to receive my master and doctoral degrees. To sustain myself in universities, I worked in janitorial jobs, farmlands, cafeterias, restaurants, and libraries. I came from a poor and dysfunctional family. My father was a rubber tapper and my mother was a homemaker. Despite the challenges to survive in a family of 9 siblings, all of us were able to finish tertiary education with 3 holding doctoral degrees. We helped one another and the last 5 siblings were able to attend the same universities in the United States. Life in the United States is not without struggles. I encountered various hurdles during the process — family (divorced but happily married now), career (change of profession due to unethical politics), and health (I have 3 kidneys, the original 2 are dysfunctional and 1 belonged to a White friend!). I am currently a clinical psychotherapist counseling a variety of individuals who need guidance and support to put their lives back together. These individuals include former inmates/ex-criminals, drug addicts, alcoholics, domestic violence offenders, marital couples, as well as mental health patients. I enjoy my career through empowering these individuals to change their lives and bolstering them into good citizenship. My school education, career training, and life experiences are able to equip me to assist people who are less fortunate than I am regardless of their race, religion, socio-economic status, and lifestyle. Coincidentally, most of my clients are Whites and Hispanics and I have no qualms accepting and treating them as one of my fellow human beings by providing them with hope and pointing them to a better future. My wife is internationally recognized for her exquisite concerto performances in Asia and North American and has received numerous prizes and scholarships. She has a doctorate degree and teaches at a local university. She was from Hong Kong and used to play masterpieces with the orchestra on the National Day of China in Hong Kong. She performs at many concerts on university campuses and community festivals. She frequently receives rapturous acclaim and standing ovations for the performances. In spite of our culture, language, and country of origin, we are well accepted and respected in our White majority community. We are able to contribute to our local community and live a meaningful and productive life. We are also able to own a big house with over 2 dozen fruit trees and a vegetable garden in our yard. Where is home? Home is where my heart can be at ease to serve without being discriminated or sidelined due to my parental heritage, spiritual value, and lack of opportunities to attain my dreams. |
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