Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Cabinet Members go cycling-carnival in the face of a looming crisis?
- Stop the Same Old BN Bullshit!
- Untalented TalentCorp
- Victims and villains of Ladah Datu
- Longer campaign period: for message or mischief?
- My political thoughts during the Hunger Viratham Day Eighteen 27th March 2013
- MRT
- Opposition not fit to govern
- My political thoughts during the Hunger Viratham Day Sixteen 26th March 2013
- Malaysian Agriculture – Among the Best in the World
- If BN loses it does not mean Malaysia does not have a government
- “Ajaran Sesat” by the Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya
- I need MRT Campaign - Waste of Public Funds
- Malays must avoid being a Broken People -- Re: Chinese Malaysians, Too, Have Died For ...
- My political thoughts during the Hunger Viratham Day Fifteen 25th March 2013
- PR bans cyanide, BCAC Joins Pahang Green Corridors to overthrow BN Government
| Cabinet Members go cycling-carnival in the face of a looming crisis? Posted: 27 Mar 2013 02:16 PM PDT
What would it take 10,000 or more people to drive to Putrajaya with their bicycles strapped to the rooftops? What would it cost the government (i.e. the rakyat's money) to even assure that there would free bicycles to spare? J. D. Lovrenciear The planned 1Malaysia Patriotic Cycling program at Putrajaya on April 3, 3.00 pm, 2013 which hopes to see "more than 10,000" rakyat and all Cabinet Members cycling around a 12 kilometre loop to "promote 1Malaysia spirit" and "appreciate the scenic views" probably should qualify for the 'Believe-it-or-not' series. Yes, can you believe it?! When the nation is gripped with a general election fever, battling the unending threats, uneasiness and even reported and witnessed incidents of physical harm, our Honourable Cabinet Members see great wisdom in a mammoth cycling public relations stunt. Who is the genius behind this public relations idea? Do we not have a single member within Cabinet to see through this flawed strategy - or rather, gimmick? When a nation is pregnant with the labour of going to the polls in what already is widely accepted as the 'mother of all battles' since 1957 and with the rakyat pendulum-ing between despair and hope that is punctuated with bells of alarm, we have a carnival of sorts to gocycling. Whom are we hoodwinking? Or is this the season forHoudini acts? In the first place, what would it take 10,000 or more people to drive to Putrajaya with their bicycles strapped to the rooftops? What would it cost the government (i.e. the rakyat's money) to even assure that there would free bicycles to spare? Mind you, given the sweltering heat and sudden downpours these days, what would it take from the participants to accomplish this seemingly brilliant solidarity showmanship? Would it not give more dividends to the BN politicians if the Cabinet Members left the comforts of their cosy abodes, donned working jeans, rolled up their sleeves and walked the many Tamans and busy marketplace across the nation to be with the rakyat and to appreciate the concerns, despairs and hopes of the rakyat? Take a leaf from the books of strategic public relations, will you Sirs: In the face of threatening crises - (i.e. as in this case of a 'if we loose...' as preached by BN and drummed by Tun Dr. Mahathir, time and time again), the people do not go to the mountain. The mountain (i.e. Cabinet) goes to the people. Remember that episode beamed across the globe on George Bush when the horrific Katerina hit New Orleans? The President of the United States of America went to the grounds in the stark face of a national crisis, in jeans and rolled-up sleeves with the wind blowing into his face ruffling his ever combed hair as he reached out to a black citizen huddling her child. That won kudos and reinstated hope and trust in the face of a crisis. It returned patriotism to 'One USA'! Please Members of our Cabinet, think! Patriotism is not secured through cycling sojourns and scenic views. Party feelings and goodies bags do not enable patriotism. On the contrary, patriotism is chiseled out from trust-creation, empathy-demonstration and responding to going concerns with convincing capacity-building. Address the concerns of the rakyat; not create make-believe carnivals to show a might of power. Remember public relations is not about pulling stunts orrazzmatazz showmanship. It is about strategic trust building anchored on the ability to identify issues clearly and provide remedies through transparent and accountable communication and communicative behaviour. Does your glorified mass gathering of cycling showmanship therefore address the looming crisis affecting BN? And by the way, how much did it cost the rakyat to pay for this seemingly brilliant public relations event and your consultants?
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| Stop the Same Old BN Bullshit! Posted: 27 Mar 2013 02:13 PM PDT
With the former opposition PR coalition in power now in the state of Penang, we are quickly witnessing the use of the same demagogy that we have been accustomed to from the BN all these years.
Dr Kua Kia Soong, SUARAM Adviser
For years now, concerned Malaysian NGOs have been performing a service to the nation by raising concerns or criticising the BN government for projects that are destructive to the environment, socially disruptive or blatantly not in the interests of the people. Often, we have had to put up with the taunts of BN leaders that Malaysian NGOs are either foreign agents or supporters of the opposition. The recent BN harassment of SUARAM for pursuing the Scorpene scandal in France is probably the most thoroughly absurd episode in Malaysian history of NGO bashing.
This line of reasoning – that NGOs are partisan - is clearly "bullshit", or as I put it in my 1986 publication, "Malaysian Political Myths", "taurus turdo". My old friend, the late K. Das in the Foreword to my 1989 title, "445 Days behind the Wire", called it "bovine excreta". They all amount to the same malodorous heap of cheap demagoguery intended to appeal to popular prejudice but surprisingly, some people only see one side of the dung heap. Others who live in the middle of it simply can't see it!
With the former opposition PR coalition in power now in the state of Penang, we are quickly witnessing the use of the same demagogy that we have been accustomed to from the BN all these years. Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has recently accused one of the most consistent and responsible NGOs in Malaysia, namely, the Consumer Association of Penang, of being selective in its criticisms and – worse still - of being aligned to the BN. Lim had called on the people to be wary of "hostile and dangerous NGOs that were now adopting the BN line" to oppose the state's RM6.3 billion tunnel and four-stage integrated road system.
True NGOs work for the people
Anyone who has followed the investigative journalism of Utusan Konsumer all these years will know that CAP and its sister organisation, Sahabat Alam Malaysia, have been the most tireless and consistent torch bearers of consumer and environment protection in Malaysia for decades now. No other organisation in Malaysia – political party or NGO – can claim that distinction.
With both coalitions competing to see which can attract more foreign investments and mega projects, Malaysian NGOs will have to be even more vigilant to protect the interests of the people, the environment and taxpayers. Whichever coalition is in power in Malaysia, they will be subject to the same level of monitoring by NGOs to ensure that they adhere to the norms of good governance.
You can expect concerned and vigilant Malaysian NGOs to be here for the long haul, ready to point out any let-down by BN or PR.
Real democracy will never be attained merely through periodic general elections and relying on parliament alone. To make democracy work, the people must step up their demands from outside Parliament. NGOs play a crucial role in articulating the interests of the people against the marauding capitalists who are bankrolling both coalitions. Democracy is more than simply voting once in five years for as the saying goes, "If voting in the general elections ever changed anything, they would have abolished it by now!"
Politicians would be wise to steer clear of demagoguery in their political ambitions by appealing to popular prejudices rather than by using rational argument. Equating the peoples' opposition to the Penang tunnel and highways projects to "adopting the BN line" is the height of dishonesty and pure bullshit.
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| Posted: 27 Mar 2013 02:04 PM PDT
TalentCorp was initiated by the government and as part of the government they must be aware that employees in the public sector are dominated by one group of people. It would be quite hypocritical for them to preach about diversity in the workplace when they too practice selective hiring. Fairuz Ahmad In early 2011, the Malaysian government took a bold step by setting up TalentCorp, an agency designed to streamline the performance of the Malaysian labour market. One of the primary goals of Talentcorp is to attract Malaysians working abroad to return home, thereby reversing the outflow of highly skilled Malaysian professionals to foreign countries—a phenomenon proverbially known as 'brain drain'. As a Malaysian working in the Middle East for many years, I am one of the candidates with whom Talentcorp actively seeks to engage. I read on the internet about the results achieved by TalentCorp. In its first 12 months of operation, TalentCorp claimed to have attracted 680 professional Malaysians to re-locate to Malaysia. This is a small number considering the estimated 700,000 Malaysians currently residing abroad. In its second year, TalentCorp managed to encourage 923 highly skilled Malaysians to return home. This year, TalentCorp targets 1000 Malaysians to return to Malaysia. Two years since its inception, it is quite obvious the performance of TalentCorp has barely improved. Recently, members of the Malaysian expatriate community in the Middle East were invited to attend networking events organized by TalentCorp. These events were held in several major Middle Eastern cities--namely Doha, Manama, Muscat, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Since they were planning to drop by my city, Doha, I saw my chance to gain further insight into TalentCorp. I was not sure what to expect from the networking event, but I had a feeling it would be rather grand as the venue chosen was the meeting hall of a luxury hotel. The event started with a presentation by Puan Sherene Azura Azli, general manager of TalentCorp (CEO Johan Merican was curiously absent). She spoke rather optimistically about TalentCorp's ambitions to improve the performance of the Malaysian labour market. Puan Sherene clarified to the packed audience that Malaysia's goal of becoming a high income nation was impeded by the talent and skills deficit. Senior representatives from the petroleum and healthcare industries also gave presentations to drive home the point that in order for Malaysian corporations to succeed, individuals with skill and influence are needed to participate in the local job market, especially in the private sector. Overall I was impressed with the presentations and the professional nature of the event. However, there was no formal discussion about the realities of the Malaysian job market. There was no presentation about the systemic discrimination among employers, the disparity in salaries and the difficulty among fresh local graduates to gain employment. Puan Sherene alluded to the issue of disparities within the labour market when she gave the statistic that 67% of local university graduates are women, of which only a small fraction make it to managerial positions. She did not further elaborate the point she wanted to make. I could only assume that she wanted to keep to the script, which was to portray Malaysia with optimism rather than negativity. When the event was opened up to the floor for questions and answers, no one raised any query. Apparently, the audience was keener on the Malaysian style buffet than raising issues about discriminatory hiring practices and wage unfairness. Challenges that face the Malaysian labour market was not a topic that people wanted to discuss openly. Personal interactions were different. I witnessed one assertive guest approach TalentCorp senior manager, Adele Lim, to highlight the issue of quotas, affirmative action and unfairness in hiring practices. He remarked that foreign expatriates have been critical of Malaysian talent, claiming they lack the skills necessary to succeed in technical roles. He spoke specifically about the oil and gas sector, which he claimed is dominated by engineers from India. Adele denied that there was bias. She opened the conversation to a HR manager from an oil and gas company to get his feedback. To her dismay, he concurred that there is bias in the Malaysian oil and gas sector that allows certain foreign nationals to dominate various technical sectors. The harsh and competitive nature of globalization has allowed such a phenomenon to exist. Although I am veteran in my industry, I still remember the difficulties of trying to look for a job in the late 80's. Even today during a period of stable economic growth, there are many university graduates who find it difficult to find jobs in Malaysia. It has been said that Malaysian universities churn out nearly 20,000 engineering graduates a year. But the perception among hiring executives is that they are not sufficiently competent.There could be many reasons why the private sector has been slow to absorb the local graduates, many of whom come from the Malay ethnic community. But the prevailing belief among many experts is that there is an element of bias. A study conducted by two Malaysian professors, Dr Lee Hwok Aun and Dr Muhammed Abdul Khalid, discovered that Chinese graduates are far more likely to get call backs for interviews than their Malay counterparts with similar curriculum vitae. TalentCorp, with its lofty goals to help Malaysia's labour market, should encourage the government to take action on this issue. After all, this is an easy matter to solve-- job agencies and HR managers should be encouraged to hide the names of applicants before submitting résumés to prospective interviewers. Accordingly, companies should be asked to create interviews that are standardized, so that the same set of questions are asked to all candidates, regardless of ethnicity, gender, age or other discriminatory criteria. I am not naive to think that TalentCorp has all the answers. TalentCorp was initiated by the government and as part of the government they must be aware that employees in the public sector are dominated by one group of people. It would be quite hypocritical for them to preach about diversity in the workplace when they too practice selective hiring. I am also sure government workers are fully aware of the wage differences between the private and public sectors. Another topic TalentCorp failed to touch upon during the event was the issue of salaries. An economic census conducted in 2011 showed employees in the mining sector were among the highest paid at RM7,772 per month on average, while the average monthly wages in the services and manufacturing sectors were RM2,126 and RM2,040 respectively. This disparity in salaries drives many people in less lucrative economic sectors to seek employment outside Malaysia, where salaries are much higher. TalentCorp is squandering the opportunity to improve the Malaysian job market. Their goal seems to be about appeasing the private sector while striving to reach an arbitrary key performance indicator (KPI) set by the government. They do not seek to challenge the private or public sectors. This was apparent in the networking event. TalentCorp should not try to promote their objectives to individuals working in the Middle East or Western countries, but to the Malaysian employers themselves. They have to change the misguided perceptions held by the employers and encourage them to be more proactive in their search for the right talent. It should be TalentCorp's goal to minimize or eliminate the artificial barriers created by the private sector. The incentives given to foreign nationals with skills should be extended to all eligible Malaysians, with added bonuses, as they are more likely to re-invest their money into the local economy. Likewise, the public sector should be asked to actively participate in TalentCorp's future networking events. They should send the message to Malaysians all over the world that they too can contribute to the government . The message should be about social and civic responsibility ahead of financial reward. If Puan Sherene could wonder why more women are not occupying senior management positions, she should be challenging the employers and not raise this issue as a rhetorical question to a disaffected audience. New ideas need about how to promote greater participation of women at all levels to be introduced and shared with the public. For example in Norway, a quota system was introduced that requires 40% of corporate board members to be women. Puan Sherene should ask her employer, the government, if Malaysia needs to introduce similar ideas to promote fairness at the workplace. The issue of foreign nationals preventing the rise of local Malaysian talent to senior levels is another matter that needs to be addressed by TalentCorp. They should not deny the existence of such a phenomenon. They should try to tackle it by asking the government to put stricter conditions on visas issued to foreign nationals. They should also seek to have foreign nationals undergo yearly assessments that prove they are contributing to Malaysia's economic growth and transfer of technology. These assessments should be audited by third party agencies, so that the companies do not try to circumvent the issue. Most companies hire primarily based on financial considerations. If they cannot gain the productivity from the Malaysian workers, they tend to place the blame squarely on the employees. It is about time those in management positions take the responsibility, and not judge the employees too harshly. I think in the case of TalentCorp, maybe it is time for their managers to be judged.
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| Victims and villains of Ladah Datu Posted: 27 Mar 2013 12:32 PM PDT
How come we are unable to nab one chieftain with our twelve battalions, i.e. some 7,000 of our security personnel, not to mention all the artillery we unleashed? J. D. Lovrenciear The incident of the Sulu Sultanate attacks in Sabah and our duty-bound security counter-attacks has brought to the fore a barrage of very serious allegations and issues that demand immediate reflection, investigation and more importantly the courage, integrity and determination to put national security, national sovereignty and citizens' sanctity above all else. Political party strategies, priorities and profiteering thereof are a definite act of treason against nation, King and citizens. Just take a re-cap of the many statements, allegations, speculations, and all kinds of shady finger-pointing going on between and by the politicians, and you cannot help feeling that there is massive iceberg out there. In the fist place, why blame or even insinuate that 'opposition' may be behind the support for the Sulu Sultanate? Why is the media not contributing to aspired harmonization but seem so engrossed in creating alarm after alarm? Are the media being exploited for and by self-serving interests? And then what about news that burst out detailing about an UMNO-instrument who was into discussions with the Sulu Sultanate? Do the UMNO leaders not have that same sense of serious concern for nation, King and rakyat to immediately investigate and expose the truth without prejudice or favor? Lest we forget, what was the Sulu Sulatnate doing as an important VVIP at UMNO's own Assembly? Now that this very person has turned the tides on Malaysia, does UMNO – and even its component comrades of BN, not sense that investigations, accountability and explanations need to be forthcoming without any shades or colors? Or how about the allegations surrounding the Libya arms that reached the shores of Muslim militants in Philippines via Malaysia's Sabah? Was this another of our classic 'tutup satu mata' stance? Do we also not get immediate answers to this? Next, in case we overlooked, what was a former Prime Minister – now common citizen and retired out of official power doing in Lahad Datu? He was flashed all over the media meeting with our soldiers who are answerable to the General and King. What gives him excess to otherwise security matters that are privy only to those in the right office? The commoner-citizens are not wrong is showing so much of apprehension and concern over the Lahad Datu incident that now appears even more mysterious. Yet the politicians preach that rakyat must not politicize the situation. What kind of threatening is this? Does it not smell akin to a gangster - where the strong and powerful shut up the weak (for lack of 'inside information') and unarmed (for lack of positions in office)? Do citizens not have a right to know what is right and wrong? Do citizens who will finally fight the war against any intrusion and attack on their sovereign status and safety cordons not have a right to demand that politicking has no place in this Lahad Datu incident? The rakyat are reading outside of the main stream media loop these days. One such report is that which appeared in the Manila Standard Today (MST). So we ask in defense of our armed personnel and their grieving families, how come we are unable to nab one chieftain with our twelve battalions, i.e. some 7,000 of our security personnel, not to mention all the artillery we unleashed? We managed to kill 63 of the 200 band of armed 'terrorists' but lost ten of our loyal, brave men in uniform. That is a high price to pay when you only had foot-intruders running ambush in the plantation (not jungles, mind you) against our battalions armed to the teeth. Come to think of it there have been far too many incidents in Malaysia these past many years where the citizens are merely left to speculate for the lack of transparent accountability. They are left high and dry in the absence of believable justifications. It ranges from tolls and highways, mega projects and sand selling, rail and island cessation – name it we have had it all didn't we? That was the high chaparral days of the OSA – Official Secrets Act, mate! We do not have to go far – even till this date and hour we cannot speak and agree openly about the real truth of the May 13, 1969 horrors. There is so much of politicking. Likewise for the Altantuya grisly murder – we are left with a judgment verdict which concluded that although motive is essential, it is not necessary for this case. Now are these not of national interest to concern the caring citizen? With the media pledging allegiance to either political parties or to individuals within the corridors of power, it is not helping situations either. With some media playing safe owing to political party allegiance although they would be quick to cloak their reporting with the label of 'self censorship' is just as bad doing damage to nation building. So much so we have degenerated into a deep well of darkness where we cannot see the distinct difference between political parties and government. This then is the malaise – the very cancer that is making our borders vulnerable and our future fragile. Perhaps there is some food for thought here in what the Philippine Defence Secretary, Voltaire Gazmin is reported to have said: "when you are hunting fish, the water becomes your enemy."
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| Longer campaign period: for message or mischief? Posted: 27 Mar 2013 12:21 PM PDT
The call for a longer election campaign period is a double-edged sword. It can have both favourable and unfavourable consequences. But if the latter outweigh the former, there is merit in keeping the campaign period to the barest minimum. James Ang So far, the call for a 21-day campaign period was made by Pakatan Rakyat which claimed it needed more time to reach the voters. Is this a reasonable request? The campaign period permitted by law runs from the date of nomination day until polling day. The Election Commission (EC) has already said it will increase the previous period of seven days to 10 days for GE-13. So, is 10 days sufficient time? There is only a thin line between a campaign period and a pre-campaign period. In law, a "campaign period", means the period during which any candidate or his election agent is allowed to hold election campaign in the candidate's constituency. This includes, among others, the right to print posters, open offices, hold public rallies, meetings and displays; and distribute election campaign material. These activities are restricted to a candidate's constituency. The pre-campaign period extends from the end of one general election to the start of the next. There is even a thinner line between an "election campaign" and "electioneering". Electioneering is defined as activities that politicians and their supporters carry out in order to persuade people to vote for them or their political party, like making speeches and visiting voters. Given this blurred distinction, it is true to say that political parties have in fact been campaigning from the last general election in 2008. It is common knowledge that some political parties have been campaigning long and hard over the last five years. If during this period, they have not been able to get their message across to the voters, they probably never will. Leaders of these parties have held political ceramahs, held politically-motivated public rallies, used the compliant social media, and have even actively campaigned overseas. It was not too long ago when erstwhile election observers came-a-knocking from the Muslim community in the US. The aborted attempt by an independent senator from Down Under is another case in point. On top of all these, the Opposition parties are also demanding fair airtime on government radio and television. The Information Ministry has said this would be allowed. So, wherefore is the need for a longer campaign period? Truth be told, fatigue is already setting in among the people who wish to see the back end of elections so that they can go back to living life without the hype and hyperbole normally associated with excessive politicking. There are media reports of people, especially the younger voters, who say they are put off by the incessant political bickering so much so that they are wondering whether or not they should vote at all. Businesses are also being affected. Hotels claim that polls uncertainty has impacted their business. Room reservations, and seminar and wedding bookings have suffered since people are adopting a wait-and-see attitude. By now, most people have already made up their minds whom to vote for. They know which political parties have the capacity to deliver and are aware of their track record. They also know which politicians make excessive claims and promise the unattainable Utopia. A few are still undecided, and it only needs a brief period to convince them one way or another. So, a 10-day campaign period is sufficient to put the finishing touches to what has been a protracted campaign. However, as I said, if after five years the parties have not got their act together and still have not got their message across, they are probably not yet ready to govern. But, if an extension of the campaign period is being sought with mischievous intent, then no period will be long enough....
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| My political thoughts during the Hunger Viratham Day Eighteen 27th March 2013 Posted: 27 Mar 2013 12:18 PM PDT
Today there is still a lot of residual anger against UMNO among the Indian poor. Pakatan is capitalizing on this and is thinking that the votes of the Indian poor have nowhere else to go but to them. This thinking shows in the way they have treated the Indian electorate recently in their Election Manifesto flip flops.
P. Waythamoorthy This is the eighteenth day of my Hunger Viratham.
In this tenth part I will be penning my thoughts on the option of strategic abstention by the Indian poor in the forthcoming elections.
PART 10
Strategic Abstention as an option for the Indian poor in the forthcoming General Elections.
Today there is still a lot of residual anger against UMNO among the Indian poor. Pakatan is capitalizing on this and is thinking that the votes of the Indian poor have nowhere else to go but to them. This thinking shows in the way they have treated the Indian electorate recently in their Election Manifesto flip flops.
Pakatan believes they should get a majority of the Indian votes – not maybe as high as the last time, but still the majority. Barisan for their part believe they can buy the Indian vote with the goodies they have planned. Hindraf's analysis however is this – the urban educated Indians will largely go for Pakatan. Add to that the beneficiaries from the last election who have personally gained and all those who potentially stand to gain in the forthcoming elections. These votes are with Pakatan. Then on the Barisan side, the MIC machinery is preparing to reach out to the local warlords and through them to the poorest among the Indians. They will be throwing a lot of money in the process in doing this
In our estimate all of that will all probably account for 50% of the Indian voters. You can argue about the accuracy of that number, but it surely is in that ballpark give and take a few percentage points.
The leverage for the Indian poor does not come from those foregone votes. When we say leverage, we mean leverage as in getting the politicians to commit to the specific bottom up plans laid out in our 5 year Blueprint for the Indian poor. This is the key point on which the decision as to where the remaining Indian votes will go will be determined. Hindraf will make sure of that. This is the key point that BN and PR should focus on.
We have a few more days left for BN and PR to take their respective positions, either explicitly or by default on the question of the endorsement of the 5 year Blueprint. If they remain silent or ambivalent then we in Hindraf will project it to mean they do not support a program of comprehensive and permanent correction to the socio-economic problems of the Indian poor – that they do not care about the Indian poor. This therefore will form the central message from us to our base.
On the contrary, if either, and I reiterate, if either PR or BN comes up and is willing to endorse the 5 year Blueprint in a clear binding way, our message to the Indian poor will be to throw their support behind them – whoever they are –PR or BN.
What if Pakatan and BN have not endorsed the Blueprint by the time Parliament is dissolved? The message that this sends to the Indian poor is that they both do not have the interest of the Indian poor in their minds. The proposals in the 5 year Blueprint are entirely justifiable. And if they do not want to adopt them and do not show the necessary commitment to implement them, then it does not really make any difference who wins in these elections. We will make absolutely sure that this is the message that the Indian poor will hear.
Under these circumstances, abstaining from voting either BN or PR becomes a real option for the Indian poor. Both PR and BN cannot complain on any count on the adoption of this option by the Indian poor. To the Indian poor, the logic is simple. Neither care, so neither deserves anything in return.
What will be the consequence of this move? This strategic abstention effectively means a pullback in the number of votes for both BN and PR in this GE. What this means in turn is that, all those seats that were won marginally will all be affected. The uncertainty increases. If you take Selangor alone, we see at least (at least) 20 State seats that fall in this category – easily. The same logic and formula apply in Kedah, Penang, Perak, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang and Johore. All marginally won seats in the last elections with an Indian voter population of more than 10% are candidates to come into this category. And not all the Indian poor need to abstain. Even if 20% of the Indian voters abstain, the impact will be significant. Strategic abstention can prove to be quite impactful.
By this strategic abstention, the Indian poor will be determining new winners and new losers. The winners will know they won without those votes and the losers will know they lost without those votes. To both the winner and the loser the significance of the vote of the Indian poor would have become clearer. This adds to calculations for future elections. Will the contenders want to treat the Indian poor vote so cavalierly? Yes they can, but only at a cost. That will become plain.
Extending this logic to the next level, strategic abstention can also be applied to individual candidates in the elections. If they will announce their stand on the Blue print, whether they support it and what specifically they will do in support of the programs for the Indian poor and put it down formally to Hindraf. Hindraf can then endorse some of these candidates in return. The logistics of this has to be worked out, but this is also another option.
My conclusion therefore is that strategic abstention does become a purposeful option for the Indian poor in this election. By this act the Indian poor would have taken the opportunity to show the significance of their votes, whether we will issue the call for it will be determined over the next couple of weeks, depending on when Parliament is dissolved.
Our position is very clear. We do not want to see just changes in faces at the helm of our country; we also want to see real changes in the lives of the Indian poor. And we will take any position that supports our motives.
We will make our decision on what we will do soon as the dust settles for us.
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| Posted: 27 Mar 2013 12:15 PM PDT
What this has resulted in is the retro-fitting of major urban public transportation network into existing, established residential and commercial areas. Since it is retro-fitting, the existing laws also do not adequately cover all the scenarios arising from such construction. Jee Ping It is unfortunate that in the race to push Malaysia to become a developed nation, we chose to focus on the building of buildings, car plants, a new government center and many other catalytic projects. What we forgot to do was adequately connect these job and leisure hot spots to communities with world-class public transportation. What this has resulted in is the retro-fitting of major urban public transportation network into existing, established residential and commercial areas. Since it is retro-fitting, the existing laws also do not adequately cover all the scenarios arising from such construction.
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| Posted: 26 Mar 2013 09:17 PM PDT
Narinder Pal Singh, Shah Alam, Selangor LAST Saturday there was a session with an opposition leader in one of the hotels in Petaling Jaya. Being an ardent follower of politics and an eligible voter, I went to hear what the opposition leader had to say. Upon reaching there, one of the opposition's henchmen, a youth in his 20s, rudely demanded my age, citing that if I was not a "youth" then I must wait outside, as the event was not for elders. I was disgusted at the high handed attitude of the youth, who claimed he had been instructed by his party to do so. But then, I saw there were other senior citizens in the ballroom. I realised then, I was being discriminated because of my appearance. I guess they could not make out if I was Malay, Chinese or Indian. I guess they did not know what a Sikh looks like as they had been shrouded by their political masters, too. His explanation, unacceptable though, was that this event was for the youth. He said it was stated on their website. I disputed it and said the condition for entry to the event was not stated on their website. It was mentioned that the youth will have an opportunity to throw questions to their leader but there was no mention that only youth will be allowed for the session. I was then surrounded by their people and I felt intimidated. But as a voter and knowing my rights, I challenged them to state where they had put the conditions for attendees or the public. The episode left me, my relatives and friends with one major apprehension on the issue of how the opposition is trying to empower the youth of today. I have nothing personal against the youth, as I was once in their shoes, too. However, manners and respectfulness must always be there in whatever age group they belong to. If this is the kind of arrogance and grooming that is championed by the opposition, then the lasting impression is bitter in all aspects. The public must be reminded repeatedly that merely changing for the sake of change, as championed by the opposition, may land ourselves with more problems. The opposition does not appear to have the right mix of leaders to progress in the future. Where is the structure of management? They propagate that the youth will lead but if they are nurturing the ideology of governing through might, we may be heading towards more turbulent times. A simple session with their leader has so many obstacles and red-tape, with discriminative thug-like attitude controlling the guests. What can the rakyat expect in return? I do not feel safe, how is the rakyat going to feel safe and assured with the future of Malaysia in their hands? Governing a nation is not a trial and error virtual game. It takes far more than just emotions and will to administer. It's time for the rakyat to think not only locally, but globally and in a holistic manner. The future of Malaysia is not for gamble. Your single vote essentially decides the future of all. Opposing just for the sake of opposing will not bring you far.
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| My political thoughts during the Hunger Viratham Day Sixteen 26th March 2013 Posted: 26 Mar 2013 01:37 PM PDT
This is the sixteenth day of my Hunger Viratham. Yesterday was a tiring day. I left the temple for Putrajaya for a meeting with the Prime Minister on his invite.
Now, let me share my thoughts with you on this meeting.
P. Waythamoorthy
PART NINE
OUR MEETING WITH THE PRIME MINISTER
My journey into Human Rights activism started in 2005 with the formation of Hindraf. Hindraf was formed directly as a response to the accelerating demolition of Hindu Temples by the UMNO-led Government of the day. We gave expression to the extreme anger of the rural sections of the Indian community at this stage and we led the resistance to the demolitions. Then when this converged with the rampant killing of Indian youths in police custody, the cauldron really began to boil. The stage was set for an explosion. The explosion began with the first demonstration in Putrajaya in August 2007 where several thousand Indians gathered to submit our 18 point demands to the Government. The big explosion took place at the Grand Hindraf rally of November 2007. The Indians in the country were at war with UMNO.
UMNO was HINDRAF's nemesis. They hounded us, harassed us and went to extreme measures to kill us off. They jailed our activists, they linked us to the LTTE, they confiscated my passport and put me in effective exile, they banned us and they used the Police to harass us at every turn, they refused to recognize us or have anything to do with us at all. Yet we did not buckle. We resisted, we fought back, we got better organized as a group of activists and we kept going. Then after reaching a crescendo, UMNO started to roll back on all of that when Najib took over. They released the activists from Kamunting, they reduced then stopped the harassments, they lifted the ban on us, returned my passport and allowed me to return, and now reaching a new peak of this trend Najib invited us for a meeting yesterday.
Hindraf has come a long way to this point of being able to agree to this overture and to sit at the same table with its nemesis and to talk to them. This was something that was never considered possible. A lot of bad blood had flowed in these last five years and Hindraf has had to set aside all of that to accept the invitation. Hindraf had been the trigger for change and accelerator of new political developments in the country. Hindraf has been a vocal and leading opponent of many fundamental policies of the UMNO-led Government. Najib for his part had also come a long way to meet us at this point - he probably had to overcome significant resistance from various segments within his domain to get to the point of inviting us for this meeting. This was indeed a risky move for him personally. So, it can be said that the meeting yesterday was truly a historic meeting.
This meeting, historic as it may be however, has to be understood for what it really represents. It is effectively only a preliminary meeting to decide if we should proceed. Subsequent meetings are really the key, should they take place. They will provide opportunity to explore the possibilities of meeting respective objectives by movements of positions on both sides. Those meetings are yet to take place and there is no certainty they will take place at all, as all we have up to this point is a verbal undertaking. If there is a true commitment for rapprochement on Najib's side, then this is the first place that it will tell. The rest will become apparent during the talks. We go into the talks with our eyes and minds wide open.
Our focus is the proposals in our Blueprint. We have been very consistent on this point.
I reiterate, whichever of the two coalitions accepts and endorses the Blueprint will get our total support. This is not decided as yet. There is still some time before Hindraf will come off this ambiguity and take a firm position in this issue.
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| Malaysian Agriculture – Among the Best in the World Posted: 26 Mar 2013 12:08 PM PDT
We have five million hectares of oil palm. If, like the Thais, we are able to produce their fruits and not grow oil palm, 10,000 hectares of each type would saturate the country. What are we going to do with the rest of our land? Yet, it is true that we do not grow much food. Is it Malaysia's fault? I don't think so. KC Chang Many brickbats have been thrown at Malaysian agriculture - at how bad it is not being able to produce food. As an agriculturalist, I would like to defend it as I think that it is amongst the best in the world. Basically, Malaysians are quite competent people and will do a good job if left to it e.g., look at how good the country was before UMNO messed it up. And agriculture in Malaysian is the least messed up economic sector by the politicians because if they want money, better and simpler to get shares in, say, Public Bank than a plot in the jungle which they'll then have difficulty selling to realize the cash ... and get into trouble for doing so as did the cousins of Taib in Sarawak. Whatever crop the country deigned to grow has produced just about the highest yield in the world - rice, jagung, cocoa, rubber, oil palm. Yes, including the food crops. In our granary areas, we get 7 t/ha for rice, while the Thais get only 1 t/ha, and yet they get the kudos of having better agriculture in being able to produce more food crops – rice, jagung, mango, longan, etc. What is not said is that the Thais have about 100x our area in rice and produce only about 5x as much. I think that if God were to offer the Thais a choice of Malaysian vs Thai agriculture, they would choose ours without blinking an eye. We have five million hectares of oil palm. If, like the Thais, we are able to produce their fruits and not grow oil palm, 10,000 hectares of each type would saturate the country. What are we going to do with the rest of our land? Yet, it is true that we do not grow much food. Is it Malaysia's fault? I don't think so. The agriculture of every country is constrained by its climate and, of course, economics. In Form 3 basic geography, we learn that there is no discernible drought at the equator although some times of the year are wetter/drier than others. As we move away from the equator (both N and S), more and more marked wet/dry periods occur, culminating in the great deserts on the Tropics of Cancer/Capricorn. Even in Penang/Kedah (only about 4o – 5o N), there is already an annual dry season in January/February, although not very serious. This hot and humid clime throughout the year is ideal for plant growth (although some, like apples and pears, will not fruit because there is no cold stimulus to trigger their flowering process). Thus, all the crops we have tried have given very high yields, but we settled on oil palm, rubber, cocoa and coffee because they give the highest returns and are the least bother, e.g., tree crops, plant once in 30 years; annual crops, plant 2x or 3x a year. Thus, all the world over, in the humid tropics (say, 10oN - 10oS), the agriculture is tree crops, which is technically horticulture. Our continuously hot and wet climate is ideal for oil palm which cannot stand drought for high yields although the palm will survive very harsh conditions. Thus, Thailand cannot grow oil palm (economically) except in the very south, and even then their yields are generally not high. In the middle and north country, where the dry season is 6 or even 9 months, it can only grow 'drought-escape' crops – in the 3 or 6 months of the rainy season, the country is as wet as any other so any crop can grow; but the crop must start and finish during the rains to escape the drought. Hence, their high production of rice and jagung ... because they can't grow anything else. Another, possibly even more important, reason for tree crops is potential environmental damage. In Malaysia, it rains, on average, every 2 – 3 days, and the rainfall is often heavy and very erosive. In the 1980's there was a housing boom, and there were so many (uncovered) construction sites that there were complaints throughout the country of the environmental damage wrought – rivers turning brown from sediment loss, landslides, blocked drains, etc. Now, at any one time, what would be the national area of uncovered building sites? I don't know, but suspect only about 1,000 hectares (about 4 square miles). To grow any meaningful food crops for the country, say jagung, there would need to be 500,000 hectares, and this land would be uncovered (during in-between crops and the young crops) for half the year, every year. In contrast, tree crops, once established, will protect the soil for the next 30 years. They'll also have to be replanted eventually, of course, and it may take a year to establish full ground cover from felling the previous crop (by cover crops/weeds, not by the tree crop itself which will take longer for full canopy cover), or about 12 days in the year. All this talk about insurance is fine, which is what food security is all about. But the insurance can be overdone. In the extreme, it can be like a person spending all his money on insurance, and having nothing to live on. Of course, it will be Happy Day (for his family, not him) when he dies and the millions flow in. But the logic of this is clearly dubious. I think the 60 – 70% self-sufficiency in rice seems reasonably sensible. In a war, we suffer a bit by having to eat some sweet potato which won't kill us. Even tapioca with its cyanide content shouldn't do us in! In peace, which is most times, we get to buy our Ferraris. Actually, the food insecurity goes further than rice. We also cannot produce protein. Officially, we produce only 10 - 20% of our beef, mutton and milk, but are 'self-sufficient' in chicken, eggs and pork. But the 'self-sufficiency' is predicated on a 'screwdriver plant' operation - we bring the chicks/piglets and (imported) feed to one place and 'screw' them together. If in war we cannot import rice, we would equally likely not be able to import jagung (the base for most animal feed) too. So, there goes our protein ... which may not be a bad thing, actually. If all we have is plain rice, then arguably, plain sweet potato tastes better. We cannot produce beef/mutton/milk because we are too hot. If we are too hot we don't want to eat – can you eat immediately after playing badminton? – and if we don't eat we can't grow. Cattle are large animals, and by their sheer bulk and lower surface area (= skin) compared to humans, have difficulty dissipating heat. The naked human is comfortable at 80oF, but the equilibrium temperature of a cow is about freezing. So the continuously hot cattle won't eat much and grow in Malaysia. Under 'good' management in Malaysia, a cow/bull will put on 0.25 kg/day. The run-of-the-mill equivalent in a temperate country, grazing roadside grass will put on 1 kg/day. It is a physical problem, and I don't know why the government agricultural authorities are wasting their time seeking biological solutions – testing new breeds. It'll never work unless the cattle are human size. Sheep and goats are smaller, but have thick coats so the heat problem remains. Pigs are about the size of humans (slaughter at 100 kg liveweight), so ideal size-wise, but we cant produce their feed. Poultry are smaller and also ideal for our climate, but again we cant produce their feed. There are a lot of myths in Malaysian agriculture, and to formulate policy, we first have to see through the fallacies. For example, Sarawak is reputed to grow the best pepper because of its suitable soils and climate. I pondered this for 30 years before finding out that it grows pepper because it has no roads! Same reason why the Golden Triangle is so hooked on growing opium.
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| If BN loses it does not mean Malaysia does not have a government Posted: 26 Mar 2013 12:00 PM PDT
If that is the whole truth and nothing but the truth, then for Malaysia's sake dismantle all opposition parties; arrest all opposition politicians; and cage all those who support these parties lah. J. D. Lovrenciear What are our politicians from the BN quarter teaching our young and old these days? Each time they open their mouths the scream is all about 'Malaysia will be destroyed if opposition comes to power' and 'do not go against the government' and 'vote for the government'. With the general elections' fever rising to unprecedented notches, such rubbish distortions and nonsensical misrepresentations are becoming a generously daily diet dished out in all our mainstream media. Now let us get this nonsense straightened out once and for all Mr., Miss. and Mrs. politicians of Malaysia from the BN fortress. BN or UMNO, MIC and MCA is not the government. When Parliament is dissolved, the governing of the nation continues without the ministers and their band-wagon of party fries. Next, to vote BN is not patriotism. Likewise to vote opposition is not treason against the nation. Get it! It is not only shocking but even beats the daylight out of any dimwit to keep hearing from all the BN entourage and loyalists that the rakyat must think Malaysia; must safeguard Malaysia; must this and that for Malaysia; and therefore they must vote for BN. Hello, what rubbish are we frothing these days? If that is the whole truth and nothing but the truth, then for Malaysia's sake dismantle all opposition parties; arrest all opposition politicians; and cage all those who support these parties lah. Just have BN only for Malaysia and Malaysians. Stop even claiming to label the country as moderates. Stop even having a Parliament lah. Then it makes sense to all that the BN leaders and their paid stooges are clamouring these days. And let the PM and all his other comrades in arms be told too - including the Home Minister: You are a minister on the government's service. Not the government on your service. So when you speak - for as long as Parliament is not dissolved, cut your party allegiance and serve all Malaysians. If you want to speak of party matters and in defense of your political party, go by all means to your party events and speak, scream, or raise a mile-long sword before your political party members. But when you address the nation on matters that are of importance to all citizens, like in the case of national security and defense and public safety, don't you dare segregate the nation along party politics and allegiance. Can the professionals, the learned, and the heads of clear thinking organizations please tell our salaried public servants who are wearing the hats of ministers and leaders about the stark difference between political parties that win an election to form a government and that of governing a nation. Right minded citizens, please rise from your cloisters and tell it to these politicians loud and clear before we sink deep into the recess of a politically immature and incapacitated mental block, not knowing the difference between politics, governance and leadership or nationhood. Otherwise, let us all remain as the proverbial frog-in-the-well and bury the much sought after crown of 'developed' status. Then we must accept the trophy of 'The Laughing Stock of South-east Asia'.
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| “Ajaran Sesat” by the Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya Posted: 25 Mar 2013 01:18 PM PDT
Tindak Malaysia For the past one month, the EC Chairman and Deputy Chairman have been flogging the meme 'ajaran sesat' . See The Borneo Post 20th Feb 13 and The Star 22nd Mar 13. It has clearly become a pattern that should not be left unchallenged as it appears designed to mislead the public. Having accused unnamed NGOs of confusing the public with "ajaran sesat", the SPR continues its program of confusing the public even more by making public pronouncements that come apart upon careful scrutiny. Let us see how much that clarification is worth. First, they are implicitly admitting that there is double registration! Second, will the indelible inkprevent double-voting as claimed by the EC? The UNDP Procurement Guide For Post-Conflict Electionshas recommended that indelible ink has a reliable lifetime of 3 days! [By the way, indelible ink is used for post-conflict elections. That is how bad our electoral system has become.] We have no idea what kind of indelible ink will be used by the SPR. Independent parties have not been given any demonstration of the durability of the ink nor have they been given any samples of the ink for testing. In the absence of other evidence, we have to take the UNDP recommendation as valid. Regulation 3 (1A) of Elections (Conduct of Elections) Regulations 1981requires that the "advance polling day shall be fixed not less than seven days after the day of nomination and not less than 3 days from the date or dates of the polling day". There is a window for Advance Voting, 7 days after nomination and 3 days before polling. This is very strange. The indelible ink for Advance Voting cannot meet the minimum recommendation of the UNDP unless they use very high quality ink and have stringent procedures to prevent fraud. Thus the SPR cannot guarantee that indelible ink applied on Advance Voters will remain visible on polling day. There are additional factors that the SPR chooses to ignore although these factors have been publicly discussed during the alleged "ajaran sesat", some of which sessions were attended by persons suspected of being SPR officers and even Special Branch members: 1. What measures are being taken against a voter coating the finger with a transparent substance such as transparent nail polish to prevent the indelible ink from sticking? 2. What solvents has the SPR tested on the indelible ink to ascertain the indelibility of it? How certain are we that a person who knows the chemistry of the ink cannot devise a way to reduce, if not remove, the ink stain? 3. Has the indelible ink been tested on a variety of skin types to ensure that its indelibility applies effectively across all skin types? 4. Polling Agents are currently positioned where it is very difficult for them to inspect the fingers of voters. There is a comedicvideo circulating on You Tube that demonstrates this. Comedy notwithstanding, there is a very real fear that voters who have voted before can be allowed to vote again, especially given that the SPR itself stands accused of colluding with the incumbent leadership. 5. In a training video released by the SPR, the KetuaTempatMengundi (Presiding Officer) is given instructions on how to cope with a long queue at the Polling Station by processing voters two-by-two. If this were to happen, how effectively can the Polling Agents screen fingers for indelible ink? If collusion is suspected, the double processing can be expected to be implemented just when voters with stained fingers come to vote, thereby ensuring that specific persons succeed in voting twice. 6. Even if the identity inspection is conducted one voter by one voter, we must remain aware of the time constraint – in each Polling Station (Saluran),700 voters need to be processed in 9 hours. This means each voter has to be processed in just over 46 seconds. In those 46 seconds, the following need to be done: a. The voter's finger needs to be inspected and verified. b. The voter's identity document needs to be inspected and the photograph matched with the face. c. The voter's record needs to be located in the Electoral Roll d. The voter's name and identity number need to compared between identity document and Electoral Roll e. The voter's name and identity number need to be read out for the Polling Agents to verify. f. Time must be allowed for the Polling Agent to raise any objections g. If there are any objections, the time remaining for the remaining voters will become even less. How effective can the screening by the Polling Agent be? Yet the Deputy EC Chairman dare to publicly claim (TheStar 22nd Mar 13) "It only takes three minutes for a person to vote, unless he or she creates chaos and refuses to follow instructions," he told reporters after chairing a special session with election and police officers in the state here yesterday. To date the SPR has done nothing to assure Civil Society that the implementation of indelible ink is expected to be effective. All we have seen are potentially chaotic situations and no credible answers to the questions that have been raised. There is one other very significant factor that has conveniently been ignored by the SPR – there is a class of voter on whom indelible ink will not be applied! Yes, there is no provision for indelible to be used on Postal Voters. We understand the impracticality of applying indelible ink on persons who could be anywhere when they vote. But most of the local postal voters can vote as Advance Voters! But they are not assigned as such. This is why it is critical that any person eligible to be a Postal Voter must be scrupulously removed from the Electoral Roll of regular voters. Otherwise indelible ink CANNOT guarantee that double registration does not mean double vote. Remember that any member of the Police and Military forces can, at any time, opt for postal voting. This means the infamous Papagomo could have used both his military and civilian identities to vote. So let us not be fooled and lulled into complacency. There is a massive loophole in the system. Postal voting is also available for all EC officials –some 300,000 of them. This potentially creates 300,000 double votes.This is no trivial number considering that sometimes seats are won or lost by a margin of a few hundreds or even tens. It only takes a majority of one to win! Journalists on duty are also eligible to be Postal Voters. We can expect that, if the suspected collusion turns out to be real, those journalists allowed the double vote would be selective and dependent on the political alignment of their parent organisation. We are not suggesting that this will happen. We are simply saying that this loophole in the system has not been plugged effectively. We should not be so naive as to depend on the honesty of the people involved. Systems should be designed to be secure. There is one other element that many people remain blissfully ignorant of – with the use of a Borang717, an SPR officer can cast his Postal Ballot at any Polling Station. This is even provided for in the Conduct of Election Regulations 15(1)! Provided that where an elector for any constituency is employed as a presiding officer or in any other official capacity at a polling station within that constituency and it is inconvenient for him to vote at the polling station to which that part of the electoral roll which contains his name has been assigned, the returning officer may authorize such elector to vote at any other polling station in the constituency. Such authorization shall be given under the hand of the returning officer and shall state the name of the elector and his number in the electoral roll, and the fact that he is so employed as aforesaid and shall specify the polling station at which he is authorized to vote. Since the issuing of such Ballot Papers is not witnessed by any independent agent, any number of such Ballot Papers can be issued to the officers. And these Ballots can be cast in any Saluran so long as they are accompanied by a Borang 717. If there is no validation system in place, SPR officers can vote any number of times. And this is why NGOs teaching about Election Laws and the Electoral Process are accused of "ajaransesat" – too many of the SPR secrets are being exposed. We have said this before and we will say it again – WE HAVE NO CONFIDENCE IN THE CURRENT SURUHANJAYA PILIHAN RAYA. Article 114 of the Federal Constitution provides that an Election Commission be appointed "which enjoys public confidence". The public has lost confidence in this Election Commission and calls upon His Majesty the Yang di PertuanAgong to sack this Election Commission. We can only have democratic elections if the body charged with conducting the elections is capable of acting in a fair and impartial manner. The present Election Commission has shown time and again that it is both biased and incompetent. Enough is enough! More here: http://www.tindakmalaysia.com/showthread.php/5508-Indelible-Ink-UNDP-Guide?p=15312#post15312
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| I need MRT Campaign - Waste of Public Funds Posted: 25 Mar 2013 12:56 PM PDT
Even the total cost of the MRT line has not been finalized or revealed. And here in typical fashion, we spend money on some contest advertisements that I am sure no one can even recall now. Teoh The MRT was first introduced to the public at the open day held in February 2011. Since then, it has conducted many community engagement sessions to explain the need for the MRT, rationale for its alignment and adherence to environmental guidelines, all to obtain community support. |
| Malays must avoid being a Broken People -- Re: Chinese Malaysians, Too, Have Died For ... Posted: 24 Mar 2013 12:26 PM PDT
The way things are going with Mahathir still around, the next May 13 won't be between Malay and Chinese. It will be between Malay and Malay. Malays (Umno) will be killing Malays (PKR) and/or vice versa Joe Fernandez If Malays want to avoid being a Broken People, they and others as well, should not get into rhetoric and polemics and the politics of disruption and distraction. The media, in that sense, is doing a great disservice to the people. They should focus on helping make a difference for the better, not run back and forth between Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim to manufacture news. Every fart from Mahathir is in the news. We should focus on what brings us together as a people. The first step here is not to accept the authorities forcing non-Muslims to convert and become murtads, their spouses as well, when they marry Muslims. The children of parents who are both Muslim and non-Muslim are being denied Malaysian personal documents, even birth certificates, by the National Registration Department (NRD). This is unconstitutional, and thereby unlawful and illegal. Quite a number of stateless Indians are in this category. Many leaders and managers don't know what leadership and management are all about (definition, role, functions, strategies, responsibilities, obligations, duties), what is authority, delineation, delegation, responsibility (as distinct from responsibilities), prerogative and discretionary powers, insubordination, service, power, mvimoga (motto, vision, mission, objectives, goals, activities) incorporating plans and programmes. This is the reason why many leaders and managers in Malaysia are appaling failures and are reduced to kulitfication, sycophancy, and politicking to cover up their failures, save face and survive. They swear by self-preservation. These are the people driving Malay companies and GLCs to bankruptcy and dependent on perennial government bail-outs. If we knew what leadership and management were all about, some people wouldn't insist that the Prime Minister must be a Malay and Muslim for all eternity. We wouldn't insist on the quota system and the like and swear by racism, prejudice and opportunism. We wouldn't tolerate the lack of goodwill. We would accept a Culture of the Brightest and Best from around the world, as in America, leading the way for all of us. While education should be liberalised and democraticised and made available to all, how can the Government hand out degrees left, right and centre to any Tom, Dick and Harry even in critical disciplines and impose restrictions on non-Malays and non-Muslims in this field under the policy of "state secret"? This is unprecedented in world history. Thanks to Mahathir, who by the way was not qualified to enter the Medical Faculty of Universiti Malaya in Singapore and had the worst marks among the five Malays accepted by the University on British advice, the private sector doesn't accept any Malay with a degree from a Government university. Those taken in are not because of qualification but kulitfication. Having said all that, I wouldn't worry so much about the NEP and Article 153 of the Federal Constitution. I even advised Waythamoorthy many times that he must not call for Article 153 to be abolished. It's politically incorrect. It's not really necessary for its removal, no easy matter, from the Constitution. However, I would agree with Waytha if he says that he sees no reason why the Malays should be covered by Article 153. The Malay-speaking communities in Malaya -- Bugis, Javanese, Minang, Acehnese, Arab Muslims, Indian Muslims etc -- are not Orang Asal (Original People). They are a nation bound by language and religion and existing as a people without territory in Malaya and South Thailand. It's evident in the "Malay as a nation" definition in the Federal Constitution. I am not saying all this because my family is Orang Asal and most of my relatives on both sides are Orang Asal. The Malays are not the only nation in Malaysia. The Orang Asal, Indians and Chinese are nations too. Bumiputera (sons of the soil) is an administrative fig leaf created as an umbrella term by Tunku Abdul Rahman to allow the Malays to be included in the same category as Orang Asal for the political purpose of Government handouts meant only for them and at the expense of others. The Orang Asal are already Orang Asal. They don't need terms like Native and Bumiputera to describe them. Incidentally, the Orang Asal don't benefit from the Bumiputera term unless they are Muslims or agree to become Muslims. This tantamounts to ethnic cleansing and cultural genocide and a defiance and violation of the Malaysia Agreement. In fact, all citizens who are born in Malaysia are Bumiputera. All citizens by operation of law and born in Malaysia are Natives. This spirit can be found in the uncodified Federal Constitution of Malaysia. What we have now is the codified Constitution of Malaya being passed off as the codified Constitution of Malaysia. What we should focus on, as I advised Waythamoorthy, is on Umno usurping the power of the King over Article 153, and the deviations and distortions in the implementation of the said Article and the NEP. What we should focus on is abuse of the terms Bumiputera, Islam, Syariah, Syariah Court, Fatwa and Article 3 of the Federal Constitution. What we should focus on is administrative laws -- not law at all but government policies in action -- which are anti non-Malay minorities and therefore unconstitutional, and thereby unlawful and illegal. What we should focus on is Umno twisting and turning every issue into a racial and religious issue in order to scare the Malays in Malaya, the 55 per cent majority community, into circling the wagons and gathering under one political platform -- Umno and Ketuanan Melayu -- to splinter the 45 per cent non-Malay minorities. Ketuanan Melayu (Malay political supremacy and dominance) is a sick combination of Apartheid (Waytha is right), Nazism, Fascism, Communism, Political Islam, and the anti-upward social mobility of the evil Caste System of ancient India. It's ketuanan Melayuism which has facilitated the distortions and deviations in the implementation of Article 153 and NEP, making them into Sapu Bersih clauses. It's all the Malays gathering under Umno and the two-third majority in Parliament which has facilitated the ruling elite, a tiny minority, to run up the National Debt Burden so that they can put their hands in the National Cookie Jar, at the expense of us all, under the guise of affirmative action and bringing so-called development to the people. Putrajaya rules Sabah and Sarawak through local Muslim proxies, their non-Muslim stooges, and rogue elements who issue MyKads to illegal immigrants and pad the electoral rolls with them, marginalising and disenfranchising the Orang Asal and other citizens -- especially local Muslims including Orang Asal -- in the process. The Malays in Malaya should take a good, long, hard look at the Chinese and Singapore and not continue on the path of self-destruction and Malaysia's eventual bankruptcy, like a nuclear bomb ticking away, laid out for them by Umno Baru under Mahathir. The Umno Baru leaders especially Mahathir and Family, in a desperate bid to survive and continue to leech off the people as parasites and bloodsuckers, are poisoning the minds of the Malays behind closed doors against the Chinese. The Malays, as a people with maruah, should not allow this charade to continue. The way things are going with Mahathir still around, the next May 13 won't be between Malay and Chinese. It will be between Malay and Malay. Malays (Umno) will be killing Malays (PKR) and/or vice versa. The Opposition will not allow BN to form the Federal Government if the latter gets less votes collectively nationwide than the former in the forthcoming 13th GE and/or less than 50 per cent of the votes. Umno Baru will probably use the illegal immigrants from Madura, Indonesia, to do their dirty job as Mahathir did during the Kampung Medan killings of Indians. This is ethnic cleansing and genocide which has so far gone punished. Mahathir, along with Harun Idris and Razak, were involved in fomenting the searing Sino-Malay Fri 13 May, 1969 race riots. Mahathir had just lost in Kubang Pasu to Pas when the Chinese voted against the Alliance. Penang had fallen to the Opposition and Selangor and Perak were 50:50. May 13 was used to create BN. No nation in the world talks about a national car, about this or that race having so many per cent of this or that, high income economy, developed nation status, Towering Malay; demi bangsa, agama, negara; pemimpin yang di sanjung tinggi, pemimpin yang menjadi contoh kepada negara lain, negara yang menjadi contoh kepada negara membangun, economy dan negara yang pesat membangun, negara maju, best administrative service in the world, best police in the world, cleanest electoral rolls in the world, Tongkat Ali ini itu, Kacip Fatimah ini itu etc etc. Why do the Malays allow all this? Why do the Malays allow themselves to be ridiculed, humiliated and insulted in this manner? It's because of the womb to tomb dependency syndrome foisted on them over the last 56 years by Umno. We all know what happened to the Indians in America after the US Government foisted the dependency syndrome on them. A once proud people, warriors, became a Broken People. Do the Malays want to become a Broken People? Don't be lulled into complacency by the developed nation status by 2020 mantra of Umno. This is a Great Lie! In 1990, Mahathir said that he had worked out that Malaya/Malaysia had been growing on the average at 6.3 per cent per annum since 1957. So, he reckoned that if Malaysia could grow at 7 per cent per annum over a 30 year period, 1990 to 2020, the economy would grow eight-fold and we would emerge as a developed nation. Wawasan 2020! Perfect vision. Is that utopia? No wonder Tengku Razaleigh described Wawasan 2020 as a gimmick during one talk in Australia during which he charged that Umno leaders were awarding Government contracts to themselves. The US by the way is a developed nation, the richest country in the world, but it has a National Debt Burden equivalent to its US$ 16 trillion GDP -- fortunately 90 per cent of it denominated locally -- poverty, homelessness etc etc Malaysia has never grown at 7 per cent per annum since 1990. In 1997 the Asian Currency Crisis intervened to send our growth rate into negative territory, many businesses into bankruptcy forcing government bailouts, the ringgit dropped to RM 5 to US$ 1 etc etc. So, how is Malaysia going to be a developed nation by 2020 since the 1997 crisis flushed all the 1990 projections of one man down the toilet bowl. Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak initially didn't mention developed nation status when he took over. Instead, he harped on a new gimmick: High Income Nation. More recently, he has been mentioning both developed nation status and High Income Economy by 2020. Mohd Nor Yakop, the man responsible for listening to Mahathir's hare-brained ideas and losing billions of Bank Negara reserves on the forex market, even thinks Malaysia will achieve Mahathir's vision of a developed nation status well before 2020. I put it to you that Umno leaders think that we are morons and can continue to ridicule and humiliate us and insult our intelligence in this manner. Mohd Nor Yakop is a bugger who never learnt to count just like his master Mahathir. Joe Fernandez is a mature student of law and an educationist, among others, who loves to write especially Submissions for Clients wishing to Act in Person. He feels compelled, as a semi-retired journalist, to put pen to paper -- or rather the fingers to the computer keyboard -- whenever something doesn't quite jell with his weltanschauung (worldview). He shuttles between points in the Golden Heart of Borneo formed by the Sabah west coast, Labuan, Brunei, northern Sarawak and the watershed region in Borneo where three nations meet.
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| My political thoughts during the Hunger Viratham Day Fifteen 25th March 2013 Posted: 24 Mar 2013 12:06 PM PDT
When the estates gave way for development and these displaced workers were laid off, they found themselves in a terrible lurch. Many parts of their social system just vanished. They were, to start with, an impoverished community. How could they afford to rebuild their social system all on their own?
P. Waythamoorthy
This is the fifteenth day of my Hunger Viratham. The past fourteen days have given me a great opportunity to grow. Thinking, writing, listening and observing during this period of the fast has allowed me to push my thoughts further and deeper into issues that otherwise I would have passed over summarily. This Hunger Viratham has become a significant opportunity for me not only to demonstrate my commitment to the cause of the marginalized in the country but also to deepen my understanding of how things work or should work in our universe.
This brings up the opportunity for me to write today about the role of Government in human affairs in a multicultural and multiethnic environment.
PART EIGHT
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN MANAGING THE SOCIAL SYSTEM IN A MULTICULTURAL AND MULTI-ETHNIC SOCIETY LIKE OURS?
Tarmar Raj is a young 29 year old man living in Kuala Ketil in Kedah. His recently deceased father, late Mr. Maniyan was an active social worker in that area for most part of his life. He was a well known spokesperson for the displaced estate workers in that area. Their lives had revolved around that area since their forefathers had been sent there by the British Colonial Administrators.
In Tarmar Raj's own words "We have resided in or around Ladang Batu Pekaka for over 50 years. My paternal grandfather who passed away in 1965 is buried here at the Ladang Batu Pekaka Hindu Burial Ground. My uncle, brother of my father passed away in 1987 and my grand aunt who passed away in 1984 are also buried there. My father when he was alive had told me on several occasions that he would like to be buried at the same Burial Ground when he died. He wanted to be buried by his father and he wanted his mother, his wife and the rest of the family to be buried alongside him. But by the time he passed away in May 2011 the Ladang Batu Pekaka Hindu Burial Ground had been demolished by the Kedah State Development Authorities. We therefore could not fulfill his desire. His wishes will never be met."
The Burial Ground that Tarmar Raj speaks about has been a Burial Ground for the former and current estate workers of Barlow Boustead Co and its subsidiary Selangor Coconuts Sdn Bhd for more than 60 years. The Burial Ground which has about 300 graves is situated on a one acre piece of land within the former estate premise. The Burial Ground has been administered by the local temple and assisted by the association of Hindus in the area. There used to be annual functions held to upkeep the Burial Grounds and this was a lively social event of the community in Kuala Ketil. In addition families gathered and held prayers on Death Anniversaries, Deepavali and Aadi Ammavasai for their ancestors in fulfillment of their filial duties. In 2005 the land was acquired by the Kedah State Development Corporations and talks were begun for the relocation of the Burial Ground. Then in 2008 with the change in the Government things took a different turn. The process of removing the Burial Ground acquired greater urgency. The tactics used to convince and to coax the people out, were the usual divide and rule, manipulation, threats and using Mandores to intervene. In this respect the PAS led government did not behave any differently than the BN Government before them. The PAS State Government effectively paid a small sum of RM 3,000 to each next of kin and gave them a date by which to relocate the graves without any offer of an alternative location for the Burial Ground. They then went ahead with the demolition of the Burial Ground in December of 2009, in what appeared to be great haste. The late Mr. Maniyan who stood in the forefront of the representation for a just and fair resolution was ultimately defeated by these machinations of the PAS State Government. In Tarmar Raj's own words, 'We watched helplessly as the graves of our ancestors were demolished never to be visible to us anymore.' This was a great disappointment for the late Mr. Maniyan and he really did not recover from this episode and eventually passed away of a heart attack in 2011 May at the age of 61. The point of this story is simply this: social amenities such as Burial Grounds are a necessary part of the social system of any community. These rural Indian communities transplanted from Deep South India a long time ago were provided with such amenity as long as the rubber estates functioned. When the estates gave way for development and these displaced workers were laid off, they found themselves in a terrible lurch. Many parts of their social system just vanished. They were, to start with, an impoverished community. How could they afford to rebuild their social system all on their own? In our country, these displaced estate worker communities are spread all over from north to south. They all are faced with the same or similar problems – the demolition of the various structures that are part of their social system –Temples, Shrines, Burial Grounds and Schools. This problem is unique to this community but because of its scale we consider it a national social problem. The Hindraf Blueprint clearly proposes a robust solution to address this situation. To call initiatives such as in the Blueprint to address these problems as narrow and racist is extremely anti national in my opinion. Does the State have any role in the provision of these amenities to the citizens of the country? Does Tarmar Raj have a natural right to such amenities? Do the communities such as those that Tarmar Raj comes from have a natural right to amenities like the Burial Ground? Or are these situations not to be considered natural rights and are to be handled by the community themselves with no aid or assistance from the State? Even if the community is an impoverished and small community? My opinion about all this is that the role of the state is not just to disburse the resources of the nation and to formulate and administer the process of the creation of wealth. Their role also includes quite clearly, getting into the details of the human affairs of all the ethnic groups in our country and to establish robust solutions for the social needs of each community. There is much that needs to be done to come up with solutions, to systematize and streamline, to adjust according to changing national situations so that all these needs are well satisfied and are sustainable. This is a critical role of Government in a multi racial, multicultural society. They must provide the necessary support, resources, procedures, laws, enforcements and education to play this role out effectively. The Government needs to recognize this and needs not to lose important perspectives because of the politics. There is great need in our country to reform these procedures of administration of social services. We have such a mix of socio-cultural practices that makes the situation more complex. The Government cannot take a simplistic approach or operate in denial. We all have our genes running through in Malaysia, till eternity. There is no other location for our genes.
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| PR bans cyanide, BCAC Joins Pahang Green Corridors to overthrow BN Government Posted: 24 Mar 2013 12:02 PM PDT
The Barisan Nasional Government Leave Us with No Other Choice But To Fight Back. The People of Raub Rise Up To Reclaim Justice! We shall specifically assist the Pakatan Rakyat to win the parliamentary seat of Raub as well as the three State Legislative seats (DUN) under the said parliamentary constituency. Pahang Raub Ban Cyanide in Gold Mining Action Committee (BCAC) The Ban Cyanide Action Committee of Bukit Koman Raub hereby declares that in the coming 13th General Election we shall coordinate our efforts with the Pahang Green Corridor which is a civil society initiative. We shall specifically assist the Pakatan Rakyat to win the parliamentary seat of Raub as well as the three State Legislative seats (DUN) under the said parliamentary constituency. We are determined to bring to an end the rule of Barisan Nasional. The Ban Cyanide Action Committee has been in close consultation with the Pakatan Rakyat leaders for the past month. The Pakatan Rakyat of Pahang has agreed to include in the Pahang State Pakatan Rakyat Manifesto the banning on the usage of cyanide in gold mining. The Pakatan Rakyat national leadership has also confirmed their consistent stand to ban the use of cyanide in gold mining and will further elaborate this position in the Pakata Rakyat 13th General Election Manifesto. Such an action will help to alleviate the skin diseases and other physical illness which has afflicted the residents of Raub. It will restore green and clean homes to Raub. The "Ban Cyanide, Protect Our Homes" movement has been going on for seven years. Every resident has suffered great physical distress and mental anguish. Not only do we have to endure the poisonous hydrogen cyanide gas, we have to travel afar to seek justice and fairness so that we may protect our environment and conserve it for our future generations. We walk from our village to another; we travel from Raub to Parliament; we sought justice at the law courts; we organised a 20,000 strong Himpunan Hijau Raub on September the 2nd 2012. The MPs and ADUN of Barisan Nasional YB Liow Tiong Lai, YB Ng Yen Yen and YB Ho Kai Mun have never help the residents in their fair and just struggle. On the contrary, they have repeatedly slandered the Ban Cyanide Action Committee by maliciously accusing us of "politicizing" the issue of cyanide in gold mining, or the committee" being used and manipulated by opposition political parties" etc. They have refused to deal with the real issue of the diseases afflicting the residents of Raub. Under the rule of the Barisan Nasional, both the federal and state agencies have hidden the fact that the ambient air in Bukit Koman contains hydrogen cyanide gas exceeding 33 times the maximum upper limit in New York. The Federal Court had also dismissed a judicial review filed by the Ban Cyanide Action Committee in September 2012. Having exhausted all recourse in the executive, legislative and judiciary arms of the Barisan National administration, we cannot help but despair and lose confidence in the Barisan Nasional. The Barisan Nasional had left us with no other choice but to join the Pahang Green Corridor to defeat the Barisan Nasional in the coming General Election. Only when the people of Raub rise up to fight for justice, can we save ourselves! The people of Pahang must rekindle the spirit of Mat Kilau who had bravely fought the British Colonialists to defend the interests of the local residents. We must continue to fight back and break free from the chains of oppression forcibly imposed on us. The spirit of Mat Kilau transcends not only racial identities, but also the time frames of colonialism to the present era. It augurs well for the people of Pahang to bring back to life the demand for self determination as championed by Mat Kilau and to demand for " Free and Prior Consent" of the community before any developmental project is approved. In accordance with such principle and practice, we must unite to oppose all toxic and harmful industries.
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