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• A quick reaction to Malaysia’s RGDP growth for the fourth quarter: it is ironic and there is ...
• Aliens in the land – Indian migrant workers in Malaysia (part 1)
• Treachery in Johor?
• Western "Exceptionalism" Crumbling as Aussie Senator Deported from Malaysia
• Najib’s time ends now
• Demo Zoo Taiping: UMNO jadi Direktor
• On Fatwas: Ten Questions

A quick reaction to Malaysia’s RGDP growth for the fourth quarter: it is ironic and there is ... Posted: 19 Feb 2013 09:48 PM PST So, the Malaysian economy grew by 6.4% from a year ago in the final quarter of 2012. [Malaysia's economy grew 6.4% in Q4, 2012, fastest in 9 quarters]  When I first saw the headline figure, I was pleasantly surprised. Upon closer inspection however, the whole growth figures appeared weird. After I figured out why it was weird, I became uncomfortable with the high growth rate. Domestic demand growth slowed significantly (it slowed by 3.9 percentage points in fact from the last quarter). That was the first sign that something was not right. The private demand growth figure is particularly worrying. I had expected its growth to moderate slightly but it slowed by 2.4 percentage points. That is a lot. Here comes the ultimate irony: trade saved Malaysia. Despite the bad trade numbers we saw throughout the quarter, the one that pushed growth way above market consensus was net exports. This is where the weirdness comes in: both exports and imports contracted. How was that possible? Read more at: http://maddruid.com/?p=11287

Aliens in the land – Indian migrant workers in Malaysia (part 1) Posted: 19 Feb 2013 03:07 PM PST These workers migrate to Malaysia because they and their governments believe that temporary labour migration is a pathway to development. Predictably, most have also become trapped in circulating contract labour regimes. The debate on the developmental impacts of migration meanwhile continues to exclude discussion on the risks involved and the longer-term consequences of temporary migration. There is no conversation either on integration of earlier cohorts of migrant workers in society, let alone recent migrant workers who are increasingly referred to as aliens. The outlook is particularly gloomy for Malaysia's marginalised South Indian plantation workers who became "orphans of empire" when hardliners in the ruling United Malays National Organisation legislated to deny them citizenship rights. Commodities of empire and migrant labour, 1880s – 1970s Britain's 'forward movement' in Malaya after the 1870s resulted in the country's greater integration into the international economy and facilitated the production of mineral and agricultural commodities. Concurrently, labour migration became a fundamental component of Malaya's economic growth model and related social structures. Malaya's main's commodity exports were tin, coffee and sugar. Chinese entrepreneurs monopolised tin production, recruiting workers from China for their mines. European planters were chiefly involved in coffee and sugar cultivation and they relied on indentured labour from India for their enterprises. In the early 20th century, the planters switched to rubber and it subsequently became the main agricultural commodity. However, they lacked the capital to establish large properties and British trading (agency) houses in Singapore consequently played a vital role in bringing together planters and overseas financial interests (mainly in Britain), to convert the estates into joint-stock companies through flotation on the stock market in London. The 1909-10 rubber boom led to further changes and the proprietary estates largely disappeared, with their former owners often taking up shares in the new corporate entities as part of the sale price. These events foreshadowed major changes in the industry since rubber production necessitated the development of a distinctive agricultural 'complex' with inter-connected operations and a particular cultural milieu. Moreover, the development of the rubber industry reinforced the connections between Indian labour mobility and capital and both the Indian and Malayan colonial administrations strategically planned and organised Indian labour migration to Malaya. The plantation production system effectively established the Indian workers' subsequent employment circumstances and contributed to their marginalisation in Malaysia. The plantation system has since continued into the 21st century and has been adapted for oil palm production. Analogous to colonial frameworks, the Malaysian government and labour-sending states presently organise inter-state labour mobility. Additionally, since the 1980s Indonesian and Bangladeshi migrant workers have mostly replaced the former Indian workforce on plantations. These new migrant workers face a similar marginalisation progression. This paper compares past and present plantation labour regimes in Malaysia and frames the subject in the broader context of the plantation complex to suggest the larger, wider significance of the plantation management system and its institutional frameworks. Indian workers and rubber     The rubber production system that was developed in Malaya was centred on cultivation of a single crop– rubber; an imported workforce mainly from India; and capital for the enterprise came from Britain, the United States and Europe. By 1910, rubber plantations covered approximately 225 000 hectares, rising to 891 000 hectares in 1921. This accounted for 53 per cent of the total land under rubber in South and Southeast Asia; and Malayan rubber exports also rose from 6500 to 204 000 tonnes between 1910 and 1919. As stated previously, rubber cultivation necessitated recruitment of a large, cheap and "disciplined" workforce that had be settled and organised to work under pioneering conditions in the country. British India with its teeming poverty-stricken millions and caste-ridden society was the preferred provider for this labour. The state and planters (as employers) essentially regarded the Indian labourer headed for Malaya as another tradable commodity in the production cycle. All the essential arrangements for his sojourn abroad – recruitment, transport and employment – were made by four parties: the sub-imperial Indian Government (or India Office); the Colonial Office in London; the Malayan (Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States) Government; and the employers. Since most Indian emigrants lacked the funds for spontaneous mass migration, Indian labour recruitment was managed by the India Office and sponsored by the Malayan administration. Governance arrangements for the plantation labour regime rested on two pillars – the mobilisation of a largely migrant labour force that facilitated the use of economic and extra-economic measures to maintain low wage bills; and an ethnic (and gender) differentiation of the labour force that enabled the manipulation of both workers and wages. READ MORE HERE

Treachery in Johor? Posted: 18 Feb 2013 03:24 PM PST CJM left the MCA party for PKR ONLY AFTER he was unsuccessful in his attempt for a deputy presidential post. He knew with Chua Soi Lek and Liow Tiong LIE controlling the party delegates he would have diddly squat chance of ever getting into the MCA top two posts. So he left for what he hoped would be greener pastures in Pakatan's taxi sapu, PKR. But in leaving MCA for PKR he forgot to inform many of his MCA supporters, abandoning them to gasp for air when they heard of his shock departure from MCA. I know one of these supporters who had been so faithful to him - bloke expressed his utter frustration with such a 'leader'. Politicians casting off or abandoning supporters (after using them) reminded me of a Chinese kungfu movie where the warlords were playing f* with their respective supporters who fought valiantly for them. The movie had the two opposing warring warlords having a friendly get-together, indulging in an orgy of women, wine and feast while gambling on fighting crickets - the bet was for the loser to withdraw from an agreed sector their men were then fighting over. Of course the movie script called for the loser of the cricket game to vacate his sector which many of his soldiers had just won after dying fighting for. Such could be the callousness and lack of considerations of some 'leaders'. Hmmm, I wonder whether Gobalakrishnan is reading my post, wakakaka. In a previous post Malaysia's Papal 'Indulgences' I had written about the medieval Catholic Church selling 'indulgences' which were religious 'pardons' for sins extended by the Church to those who could pay for them. I stated that a papal 'indulgence' released a sinner from bearing the spiritual burden of all his or her naughty thoughts and misdeeds. The more money one paid, the more sins were pardoned, until there was a belief that sinners could buy their way into becoming a saint and thus allowed automatic entry into heaven ... ... which then led to the Great Reformation in Europe, and its subsequent similar* problems, especially in America. * similar in many ways to medieval papal 'indulgences', wakakaka In Malaysia we have such 'sanctified indulgences' too but of a political kind. But whether one needs to pay and in what form would depend on the political party.  For example, PAS' Pak Haji Nik Aziz had in an earlier election (2004) promised those who voted for PAS would virtually get a ticket to heaven.  Chinese and Indian towkays also had enjoyed, are enjoying and no doubt will enjoy 'indulgences' from UMNO and friends, where their 'heaven' is presided by the God of Wealth, wakakaka. During PKR's wooing of MIC wannabe defectors*, MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek had expressed puzzlement as to how the supposed sinners (MIC wannabe defectors) who leave BN to join PKR could become overnight saints. * wooing MIC wannabe defectors is essential as there has been a high turnover of Indians in PKR - don't believe me? ask Nallakaruppan, Gobalakrishnan, wakakaka. Overnight saints? Mucho 'indulgences' then, wakakaka. I also recall RPK had once written a piece that raised this same question about CJM, formerly one of MCA top leaders and now a PKR Vice President. In fact, CJM is PKR's top bloke in Johor. RPK has not only pointed out CJM's 'record' as BN Health Minister but also posted this. But let's ignore RPK lah since many of you who previously adored him now detest him, wakakaka. On the basis that CJM has been entrusted by none other than the Great One to spearhead PKR's campaign in Johor, a state identified by Pakatan (not just PKR) as a vital election battle ground in GE-13, we have to accept that CJM, despite his not inconsiderable MCA background and what RPK has written about him, has no doubt been beatified and then canonized, and is now a saint, all thanks to the Great One who has already granted an 'indulgence' for lucky CJM, wakakaka. Alas, we now have Karpal complaining about St Chua JM. Is Bhai Karpal playing Dr Mahathir's role, namely, that of the Devil, wakakaka? No, it's just that CJM misread Anwar's appointment of him as head of PKR's campaign in Johor. He thought he was head of Pakatan's campaign in Johor, wakakaka!  Don't you think he and Azmin Ali share such similar mistaken beliefs, wakakaka - thunderous applause please, wakakaka again. In another post Fixed deposits? What interests? I wrote of CJM as follows: I am reminded he was once in MCA, and while we shouldn't hold that against him as we shouldn't hold an UMNO past against Anwar, there are conditions for excusing his MCA background, equally as there would be for Anwar Ibrahim's UMNO lamentable track record. READ MORE HERE

Western "Exceptionalism" Crumbling as Aussie Senator Deported from Malaysia Posted: 17 Feb 2013 12:20 PM PST Senator was to meet with Wall Street-London funded faux-democracy front Bersih, IMF frontman Anwar Ibrahim.  February 17, 2013 (AltThaiNews) - The Australian reported in its article, "Xenophon deported by Malaysia," that Australian Senator Nick Xenophon has been detained and then deported in Malaysia as part of an "unofficial parliamentary delegation to review the electoral system." In reality, Senator Xenophon was part of a Western effort to assist Malaysia's Wall Street-London backed opposition into power as part of a wider geopolitical strategy to align Southeast Asia against China's emerging regional influence.   Confirming this, the Australian also reported that:  "He and other Australian MPs were to meet opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, as well as Malaysia's minister in charge of parliamentary affairs, Mohammed Nazri, and members of the group Bersih, the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections." Image: (RT) Despite Bersih's best efforts to portray itself as apolitical, it is clearly led for and by Malaysia's US-backed opposition, with the IMF's Anwar Ibrahim leading the coalition. Here, Anwar Ibrahim (center) can be seen speaking to a Bersih rally in Malaysia.  .... Bersih of course, is admittedly funded by the US State Department through the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) as well as convicted criminal George Soros' Open Society. According to a Malaysian Insider report on June 27, 2011, Bersih figurehead Ambiga Sreenevassan herself "admitted to Bersih receiving some money from two US organisations — the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and Open Society Institute (OSI) — for other projects, which she stressed were unrelated to the July 9 [2011] march." Image: NDI's website in 2011 before taking down any mention to Malaysia's Bersih movement. (click image to enlarge) .... Xenophon's planned meeting with Anwar Ibrahim, who with Western-backing has in fact created Bersih to propel himself into power, is also indicative of Australia's insidious meddling in Malaysia's sovereign, internal affairs. Image: Taken from the US National Endowment for Democracy's 2007 Democracy Award event held in Washington D.C., Anwar Ibrahim can be seen to the far left and participated as a "panelist." It is no surprise that NED is now subsidizing his bid to worm his way back into power in Malaysia on the back of Bersih's serial protests. (click image to enlarge) .... Anwar Ibrahim was Chairman of the Development Committee of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1998, held lecturing positions at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, was a consultant to the World Bank, and a panelist at the Neo-Con lined National Endowment for Democracy's "Democracy Award" and a panelist at a NED donation ceremony - the very same US organization whose subsidiaries are funding and supporting Bersih - casts irrefutable doubt on their official agenda for "clean and fair elections." Claims by Bersih members that Anwar Ibrahim is "hijacking" their movement ring especially hollow when looking at both his and Bersih's entwined foreign financial and political backers. Two Years of Western-Engineered Chaos in Arab World Justifies Malaysia's Decision.   Clearly Senator Xenophon's visit to Malaysia was not one of "monitoring," but of checking up on a group of clearly compromised, openly foreign-funded, subversive elements operating behind the guise of disingenuous principles - making the Malaysian government's claims that Xenophon constitutes a security risk absolutely justified. The last two years of Western "democracy promotion" in places like Egypt, Libya, and Syria, have left devastation, rising despots, and extremists in its wake and has justified similar moves made earlier this year by Russia who has begun purging itself of the same meddlesome, disingenuous "NGOs" that are backing Bersih and Awar Ibrahim in Malaysia. From the West's "human rights" observers, to the United Nations itself, all have been demonstrably abused to pursue the agenda of Western corporate-financier interests, many times both causing and compounding the alleged abuses they set out to "stop" in the first place. Read more at: http://landdestroyer.blogspot.de/2013/02/western-exceptionalism-crumbling-as.html#more

Najib’s time ends now Posted: 16 Feb 2013 04:10 PM PST At a media function nearly four years ago, he publicly stated that "there is a vital place… for a vibrant, free and informed media" and that "we need a media – both old and new – that is empowered to responsibly report what they see, without fear of consequence". Now, turn toUtusan Malaysia, Berita Harian, the New Straits Times,The Star and the Najib-friendly Sinchew Daily, and read for yourself their coverage on the fiasco at the Chinese New Year celebration in Penang, at which the crowd shouted "No!" loud and clear – not once, but three times – to Najib early this week. There is no better way to put Najib's sincerity to test, and it is found utterly wanting. Najib also admits that "the era when the government knows best is over". Still, his party and coalition partners continue to exercise a tight grip on the mainstream media, with Utusan arguing flagrantly and atrociously that there is no need to verify negative news concerning the opposition parties. And my sources told me that with Chinese support almost bottoming out with no hope of being revived before the upcoming general election, there is now a team of people at the Prime Minister's Department directly monitoring all the Mandarin news on TV to ensure that 'undesirable' elements are edited out before they are aired. Even the Malay elite are beginning to feel the heat of Umno's hegemony, and Azrul Azwar, the chief economist at the Islamic Bank suspended from duty over his 'politically incorrect' predictions, is a case in point. Facade is actually a worse form of politicking than spin-doctoring. Whereas the latter is meant to interpret favourably words and actions of a certain politician to convince the public, and may contain half truths in it, the former is a sheer exercise of deception with a clear goal of fooling the people. Najib's rubbing salt into wounds Hence, when Najib bowed to mounting public pressures and set up a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) into the mysterious and tragic death of Teoh Beng Hock, all that it culminated in was a verdict that only rubbed salt into the wounds of the victim's family, while the death of Ahmad Sarbaini Mohamed had been completely erased from public memory. Despite that the RCI did identify 'institutional racism' as being pervasive in the public sector, Najib has done nothing to address the issue, choosing to blow his own horn of '1Malaysia' ad nauseam. But what '1Malaysia' is he boasting? His wife, the infamous 'First Lady' Rosmah Mansor, graced a fundraising event hosted by Ibrahim Ali of Perkasa exactly a year ago, over which Najib was conspicuous by his elegant silence. I still remember someone describing it as, "as if Michelle Obama is endorsing the Ku Klux Klan". What a fitting analogy! Najib's being beholden to the ultra-conservative forces within Umno can be clearly seen from his failure to chastise Ibrahim Ali (right) over the latter's recent threat to burn the Bible. While Mahathir rushed to the defence of the Perkasa head, Najib just played dumb as usual. As a believer in free speech, I disagree with those who call for Ibrahim Ali's arrest in the wake of his remarks, incendiary though they may have been. But as a politician aspiring allegedly to national leadership, Najib should have at least had the courage to rebuke them. Born with a silver spoon, Najib is no risk-taker. He prefers, obviously, to indulge in his own fantasies of 'transformation' while the extremists are becoming bolder by the day. READ MORE HERE

Demo Zoo Taiping: UMNO jadi Direktor Posted: 15 Feb 2013 09:25 AM PST RAMLI SUDIN menjadi jurucakap dan mengaku sebagai Ahli dan Penyokong PAS Taiping telah membuat Demo semalam. Hasil maklumat yang didedahkan oleh kakitangan director itu sendiri menyatakan HASMADI ISMAIL ini ialah seorang peniaga satay disebuah gerai cina bersebelahan bangunan Kamal Bina di Taman Tasek Taiping. Lakonan beliau semalam sebagai RAMLI SUDIN telah mendapat reaksi dari beberapa pimpinan PAS Taiping.   Jika benar Hasmadi Ismail ini ahli PAS mengapa perlu menyamar dengan nama Ramli Sudin..???  Kisah lakonan Zoo Taiping  Demo Zoo Taiping : UMNO Taiping Jadi Director 12 Feb 2013 -- Zoo Taiping Perak : Musim cuti sekolah, Zoo Taiping menjadi tumpuan orang ramai kesini untuk beriadah bersama keluarga disamping bergembira bersama keluarga melihat binatang-bintang didalam Zoo Taiping. Tapi lain pula dengan sekumpulan manusia hari ini yang hanya berkumpul didepan pintu Zoo Taiping, tapi tak masuk Zoo pun, mungkin mereka ini setaraf dengan yang dalam kadang Zoo. Mereka mengaku konon-nya penyokong PAS dan Ahli PAS Cawangan Aulong,tujuan mereka berkumpul dihadapan pintu Zoo kerana berdemo berkaitan Isu Kalimah Allah: Penyokong PAS Taiping Desak Guan Eng Minta Maaf Kepada Umat Islam. Kejadian demo mereka sudah tentu menjadi hidangan bagi blog pro UMNO BN dan didalam sebuah posting yang dikeluarkan oleh laman blog upahan UMNO BN (Kalau tak silap aku kat TV3suku pun ada) telah menyiarkan berita seperti berikut: Jurucakap kumpulan itu, Ramli Sudin, berkata pemimpin DAP iaitu Karpal Singh dan Lim Guan Eng tidak menghormati keputusan Majlis Syura PAS kerana terus mempertikaikan perkara itu. Jurucakap kumpulan Demo Zoo , Ramli Sudin "Kami sebagai ahli dan penyokong PAS berasa kecewa kerana pemimpin PAS termasuklah kepimpinan negeri Perak tidak mengambil tindakan sewajarnya untuk mempertahankan keputusan Majlis Syura PAS. "Isu ini sangat penting kerana ia membabitkan soal akidah dan kita mahu Guan Eng meminta maaf kepada kepada umat Islam di Malaysia dan juga di seluruh dunia," kata Ramli yang menjadi ahli PAS sejak 1996 lagi. Beliau berkata, Pakatan Rakyat (PR) juga tidak sepakat dalam menangani isu kalimah Allah sekaligus menyebabkan penyokong PAS menjadi keliru dan serba salah. Menurutnya, PAS Perak perlu tampil menyatakan pendirian tegas terhadap isu kalimah Allah dengan segera. Read more at: http://www.tranungkite.net/v12/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3517

On Fatwas: Ten Questions Posted: 15 Feb 2013 09:03 AM PST 1. if the argument is that only experts can issue fatwas, who then are the experts in matters of human spirituality and from which (legitimate) school of thought ought an expert come from? 2. in addition, on what ideological basis will the fatwas be produced? 3. in matters of "ijtihad" or reasoning (accordingly, preferable sources of construction of knowledge after the Quran and hadith) to arrive at the fatwas, what method is used and where would the source of information come from?  4. in addition, what is the nature of the "sociology of knowledge" would the non-legal-binding-religious opinion. a.k.a. fatwas emanate from and in addition, what constitute the idea of an "Islamic scholar"?  5. does this mean one can only draw his/her arguments from "purely Islamic sources"? (what are 'Islamic sources," in this case) Read more at: http://azlyrahman-illuminations.blogspot.com/2013/02/on-fatwas-ten-questions.html

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