Repression in the name of my feudal lord

Once again, Home Minister Hishammuddin Tun Hussein (note the last 2 names being that of his illustrious father, the late former Prime Minister Tun Hussein Onn) is threatening and gesticulating wildly only this time without physically brandishing a keris in his hand. The Home Minister has been actively encouraging people to lodge police reports so that police will have an excuse to crack down on bloggers. And he says he will not let detained blogger Aduka Taruna off the hook that easily even if others will. All in the name of upholding the institution of the monarchy that was precipitated by bloggers dissing the late Sultan of Johor who was in truth a ruler enmeshed in many "incidents" during his time as the boss supremo of Johor. Hishammuddin, you should be ashamed of yourself. You are the total opposite of the man your father was and had he been alive today, he would surely disapprove of your rough-and-ready actions. How do you justify clamping down on bloggers? Are you saying that the rulers are beyond reproach no matter what they do? Do you expect people to remain silent in the face of abuse and tyranny? Shame on you.

Kingdom of Fear

I use this title which was the late American gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson's book on post-911 America, to describe the current atmosphere of fear in Malaysia.
Barely a week after the Human Rights Watch group released its report on Malaysia's dismal record of human rights, aptly describing the Malaysian standing on human rights as "More Rhetoric than Reality", than police moved in to arrest a blogger for insulting the late Sultan of Johor. Granted that Information Minister Rais Yatim says that blogger Aduka Taruna's apology should be accepted and the matter laid to rest, but the fact is that members of the public, and i mean ordinary folks much like you and me, have deemed fit to lodge over 25 (yes, 25!) police reports against Aduka Taruna for his alleged insults against the late Sultan. And why must Rais suggest a pardon, are malaysians incapable of holding their own opinions? There is currently an atmosphere of fear justified by slavish pronouncements of "asians don't normally insult a dead Sultan", "we don't do this, we're not supposed to do that". The fear-feeders/mongers have scored a penalty kick goal against the cause of freedom which is growing dimmer by the day. Dimmer and dimmer under the watchful, baleful eyes of this current administration. Without freedom there can be no innovation. Without innovation there can be no growth. Without growth there is only a slow lingering death. I ask myself why mere words against a public figure can be so powerful as to attract the penalty of losing one's freedom. Even if detention is for 24 hours, that is a big deal. You do not deprive someone of his liberty unless you have sound, solid reasons for doing so, such as to protect the public or to prevent harm. But what harm has Aduka Taruna done except to express his personal opinions against a public figure, insulting or crude notwithstanding? Protect the public from what? And why do the Sultan's rabidly ultra-loyal subjects insist on an apology? Why after apologising is there still such a cry for blood? Why apologise? Apologise to who? Aplogise to the unthinking, hate-crazed mob.
Words have the power to sway opinions and the powers-that-be are deathly afraid of it. They won't have it and they have the power of fear in their control. The organs of government can be used to horrific effect to deprive individuals of their freedom at the whim and fancy of the top dog (pun intended). But i am less surprised at the government's use of such coercive powers than i am disappointed that so many Malaysians are so intolerant and unable to embrace the idea of freedom for freedom's sake. Of course, freedom is not free, freedom comes at a price. And it seems now that many of my fellow Malaysians are unwilling to pay this price. They are content to trade freedom for the badge of slavery because that is all that they have known all their lives. And, so it seems they are content to stay this way. Are we too afraid to be free? Which begs the question: Are we worthy of freedom?

In the name of God Part 4

Just read today that police have arrested a few people after getting a tip-off about a guy seeking medical treatment at Kuala Lumpur Hospital for burnt/scorch marks on his arms and chest. People likely responsible for the church burnings in Kuala Lumpur. The Home Minister has said there will be no let-up in action. I'm feeling greatly comforted by this and i hope that the authorities will remain steadfast in their commitment to uphold the law no matter which quarter breaks it. This is encouraging development and a step in the right direction. I am eagerly following events as they unfold. Also breaking news this afternoon: A couple of suraus in Muar were vandalised, i wonder if they were deliberately timed as a distraction from the case to discourage the police from pursuing the church arson case further since suraus were also attacked? i won't be surprised if the suraus were also vandalised by the same group of people behind the church arson attacks.

Are you loyal to...

I'm often confronted with the question of my loyalties by people sympathetic to the Malaysian government. It's like they expect me to be stumped by the question. And my answer to them is just this: I am loyal to Malaysia. All the way. Absolutely. I love Malaysia. Malaysia is my home and I never want to live anywhere else.

BUT I am NOT loyal to the ruling party that is Barisan Nasional. I am not loyal to the people who moved the goalposts since Independence to criminalise our liberties by various religious enactments be they at state level or federal level. I am not loyal to those goalpost movers who cite the social contract which as far as i am concerned were breached again and again by the same people citing it all the time.
I am not loyal to people who snoop on their neighbours to spy on their private affairs and play the part of the moral police. I am not loyal to people who scream at me when i go to the beach and hold my wife's hand. I am not loyal to people who desecrate churches or temples or other houses of worship. I am not loyal to people who threaten me by brandishing the keris. I am not loyal to people who proclaim that Malaysia is an Islamic state and deny Malaysia's secular origins. I am not loyal to people who undermine the independence of and denigrate our judiciary. I am not loyal to judges whose decisions reek of collusion with the Executive arm of government or fear of hellfire due to their particular religious faith. I am not loyal to people who incite racial hatred and then call on others not to incite racial hatred. I am not loyal to people who exhort us lesser mortals to do as they say and not do as they do. Last but not least, I am not loyal to people who are government servants/elected officials who treat the organs of government as their own personal fiefdom to do as they please and milk the system and taxpayers for all it's worth.

Ok this is just a quick, off-the-cuff shortlist of my lack of loyalties. The next guy who questions my loyalties please read the above and eat my last week's worn underpants. Salut.

English-ed vs Chinese-ed

All my life i've been in the middle of a big row which i didn't start and which probably wouldn't end even after i'm gone, to wit, the eternal rivalry between the English-educated and the Chinese-educated. i am English-ed and i have friends who are English-ed who hate the Chinese-ed with a passion. And vice-versa. Personally, i don't understand what is the big deal. Both my parents are Chinese-ed and i can speak Chinese though i can't read or write Chinese save for a few simple chinese characters and my own chinese name. The reason that i was educated in English was simply because English was and still is, the language of international commerce, science, culture etc and it was thought then that this would be better for my future advancement. Nothing personal here and no loyalties questioned. I was often left feeling puzzled by the depth of the animosity that flares up now and again. Recently Singapore's Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew riled up the feelings of Chinese-ed everywhere by saying that he regretted not having closed down Nanyang University earlier and that "Nan-tah" graduates were effectively student "bums" whose quality had deteriorated beyond the point of no return by the time action was taken to close down that university. And before that, professor Khoo Kay Kim on the Malaysian side said that Chinese-ed students were nothing better than copy cats with not an original thought between the lot of them. There is a lot of bad feeling stirred up by talk like this and i wonder why the Minister Mentor talks like he does sometimes. Or Professor Khoo for that matter. What is the point of opening up old wounds? Does it matter in what language you were educated? I thought we left that all behind us after both countries across the causeway declared their independence from Britain back in the 50s and 60s. I can get along just fine with both the English-ed and the Chinese-ed without having these animosities which by the way are quite quite meaningless, brought up. Now that China is on the ascendency, i suppose some people might think that the Chinese-ed may or may not have a few "old scores" to settle with the English-ed. I don't know if i am correct in this but it seems that people are re-opening old wounds maybe precisely because of China's pre-eminent position in world affairs today. I personally don't feel threatened by China's ascendency and i don't see why anyone should. Things change. China today may be a different place 50 years from now. I hope. I don't appreciate the current system of government in China and i don't appreciate some of the things that the Chinese government does such as internet censorship, but so do lots of other people, Chinese or non-Chinese. But i wouldn't go so far as to say that just because someone is educated in Chinese that their qualifications are therefore somehow inferior. The Japanese study in their own language and they have mastered western technology very well. In fact, they beat the west at their own game. I think learning one's own mother-tongue is something to be encouraged, not demeaned or belittled. Whatever but please must the old feud carry on and on and on and on ad nauseum? I'm really getting sick and tired of it.

In the name of God Part 3

News just in. Now stupids OUTSIDE the Klang valley have started vandalising churches. The latest victims were in Seremban, Taiping, Miri and Malacca. Home Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Mahmood Adam in typical brilliant flash of gubmental wisdom had this to say after briefing foreign envoys and dignitaries: "...They tried to compare the situation here with other countries, but i said, be fair, you have to compare an apple with an apple and an orange with an orange. The landscape here is different." "Muslims here may be from a different sect with Muslims in their countries. The Malay community here is different from elsewhere in the world".
Errr hello Datuk Seri, just what is it that makes Malaysia such a unique and different country from the rest of humanity? Sorry, we don't buy that "unique", "different" argument. You want to do something useful? Go and nap the vandals, throw them in jail, whip them and fine them. Publish their pictures all over the newspapers just like you did when some people threw a demonstration against Dr Mahathir. Then you can talk what is or what isn't fair.

In the name of God Part 2

I've just gotten off a chat with a friend based in Australia and the impression they get of Malaysia from reading the news is CHAOS. People from Singapore ask me how we are, are we ok? Well, couldn't be better in fact. After some vandalism from a bunch of brainless dimwits, the fall-out effect is mainly bad PR overseas. The fact that these sneak vandals wrecked their unholy vengence in the Klang valley only is lost on most overseas observers. What with all the negative publicity coming from Malaysia in recent and not-so-recent times, i can't blame em. We've had a rabid former prime minister who bites anyone western and hates them to pieces (God he's like Mr. Jinx the fucking cat: I HATE MEE-CES TO PIECES!!! and till today the fucker still can't stfu), we've had some Al Qaeda wannabes join some shadowy outfit and doing their stupid shit in Indonesia and getting caught and shot to death eventually. We've had periodic stupid pronouncements from some of our mini-Hitlers here, a brandishing of the keris there and a let's put-them-in-their-fucking place pronouncements here there and everywhere. Yes that'll do the trick. Now everyone thinks Malaysia is some kind of unstable, high-on-Allah, can't-control-themselves freakazoid land. There, you stupid motherfuckers HAPPY NOW?

In the name of God

The recent hoohah over the word "Allah" has culminated in a court decision upholding free speech and then the government stepping in to appeal against the high court's decision, obtaining a stay of execution without objection from the Herald lawyers then protests after Friday prayers at the National Mosque and Kampung Baru and then damage to properties all in the Klang valley. The government was quick to move in to stem the damage and offer police protection to all churches though there was little that police could do to stop sporadic isolated acts of violence and damage to cars etc that bore Christian stickers.
Allah or Tuhan or God or Jehovah or YHWH or whatever that we chose to call the Almighty, would probably be amused that his fan club here on earth has gone out fighting for who's right it is to use one particular version of His name.
At issue is the question of free speech and tolerance. The word Allah has been used by native east Malaysian Christians for years before the recent hoohah with no problems. No one cared. The worries now are mostly west Malaysian, typically the conservative, fervent, mostly young malay muslims who object to its use mainly because they fear that it will lead the faithful astray. But what's in a name? When Jacob wrestled the Angel and the Angel was overcome, Jacob asked the Angel what was his name to which the Angel (God in disguise) replied: "why do you want to know My name? It is too wonderful to know". But no, we must give Him a name and that name shall be the holy of holies. OK i can accept that us human beings lack the capacity to understand many things, more so things divine. But the real victims of this past week's violence albeit tame in comparison to other countries, is the body blow to moderates across the racial and religious divide. Just a small miniscule minority of muslims are responsible for the violence but the damage to the image of Islam has been done. Islam will more than ever be viewed as a religion of intolerance and violence due to these few rotten apples. As usual, the victims here are the moderates be they moderate Muslims or moderate Christians.
God, Allah, Tuhan, YHWH, whatever that you chose to call Him, is just fine. He doesn't need your muscle to back him up. Thanks but really, no thanks.

in the wilderness again

Would I that I was more intelligent, more careful, more observant, faster, wittier, all of the above and more. But i'm stuck in this shell of a person with few accomplishments and zero prospects. i look around me and all i see is more suffering, more misunderstanding, more tediousness and falseness. The world is a pretty messed up place. As am I. We'd like to change things but things don't change easily. Seldom. i'm all prepared for another round of recriminations and my mind is stuck on second gear as always. i don't see any goodness. i don't see God. Maybe God is just our selfish need for shelter from the ever-darkening and angry skies. All trapped in this life and with nowhere to go but home.