The PKFZ Scandal on Al Jazeera

For those of you who missed this special edition on 101 East, Al Jazeera, here it is in two parts.

A non-Muslim wing in PAS

PAS plans to turn the PAS supporters club, which also accepts non-Muslims as its members, into a party wing to further strengthen the party.

PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang said the support from non-Muslims for the party appeared to be on the rise and this was proven by their eagerness in helping the party machinery in facing several by-elections previously.

“We have succeeded in breaking the barrier that separated us from the non-Muslims. We have not only reached a stage where we cooperated with the non-Muslim parties, but also non-Muslim individuals,” he said.

He said this to reporters after opening the 13th Terengganu PAS Leadership Conference at the PAS headquarters, Kubang Lembik, Manir, near here today.

The conference was also attended by Terengganu PAS commissioner Datuk Harun

Taib and PAS national secretary Datuk Mustafa Ali.

[Source: Bernama]

Geronimo's Take: Although it is good to receive the above news, let's hope there will be no more talk of banning this and banning that from now onwards. Many non-Muslims can only take so much. When it finally comes to one ban too many, the non-Malays will start deserting the party and PAS will be back to square one. Leverage your Islamic humanism against the arrogance and corrupted UMNO.

So, we are not an Islamic State after all?

Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah made an impassioned plea today for ordinary Malaysians to defend the supremacy of the country’s secular Constitution. He also urged the public to demand from political parties the adherence to such constitutional principles like equality of rights, separation of powers and the prevention of discrimination.

The veteran Umno leader appeared to take aim at his own party, as well as other politicians, in his speech at the launch of the book “Multi-Ethnic Malaysia” edited by Dr Lim Teck Ghee and published by UCSI University.

Tengku Razaleigh said ordinary Malaysians should demand that all political parties should not be allowed to propagate economic and political policies which discriminate against any citizen.

Political parties should also refrain from involvement in business, he said.

But, he said, Malaysians should rise up to defend the Constitution because it is the ultimate safeguard of fundamental liberties.

“One view put out by those who are impatient with these safeguards is that our Constitution is an external and Western imposition upon us, that it is the final instrument of colonialism.

“People have drawn on this view to subject the Constitution to some higher or prior principle, be it race, religion or royalty. Of course, the proponents of such views tend to identify themselves with these higher principles in order to claim extra-constitutional powers.

“These are transparent attempts at revisionism which erode the supremacy of the Constitution. We should have the confidence to reject such moves politely but firmly, whoever advocates them, whatever their social or religious status.”

Tengku Razaleigh pointed out that the Constitution was built by a deliberately consultative process aimed at achieving consensus.

In his speech, he also focused on the question of Islam and the Constitution.

“The question of whether the Federation should be an Islamic state, for example, was considered and rejected by the Rulers and by the representatives of the people. Had we wanted to be ruled by syariah, the option was on the shelf, so to speak, and could easily have been taken, because prior to this the states were ruled by the Sultans according to syariah law.

“The fact that we have a Constitution governed by common law is not an accident nor an external imposition. We chose to found our nation on a secular constitution after consultation and deliberation.”

He added that for Malaysia to continue to grow up as a country, its people needed to understand the Constitution and defend it.

“Today, in the aftermath of the scene-shifting election results of March 2008, people are restless and uneasy about the ethnic relations, and about their future. There is a sense of anxiety about our nation that is often translated into fear of ethnic conflict.

“I think we should not fear. On an inviolable foundation of equal citizenship, the rights of each and every community are protected. These protections are guaranteed in the Constitution.”

He said that what Malaysians should be uneasy about was the subversion of the Constitution.

Such subversion, he said, was only possible if Malaysians forget that the Constitution “belongs to us, protects us all, and underwrites our nationhood and we fail to defend it.”

Ordinary Malaysians, said Tengku Razaleigh, needed to demand from their political parties reforms that would embrace the spirit of the Constitution.

He said the entire political system needed reform to be in line not just with the Constitution but also the principles of the Rukun Negara.

“We should not expect our political parties to reform of their own accord. Leaders who owe their position to undemocratic rules and practices are the last people to accept reform.

“The people must demand it. I say we need a movement embraced by people at all levels and from every quarter of our rakyat to establish a national consensus on how our political parties should conduct themselves from now on.”

He said what was needed now was an empowered public because democracy in Malaysia was fragile.

Hope for a more democratic future, he said, depended on the ability to build a strong public opinion.

“It’s good news that a vigorous body of public opinion, aided by information and communication technologies, is in the making on the Internet. I myself rely on it through my blog.

“If not for my blog, what I say would scarcely get out in the mainstream media. We need a freedom of information Act, and I call for the repeal of the Printing Presses Act. It is silly that we limit the number of newspapers while every person with a blog or a twitter account can publish to the world.”

[Source: The Malaysian Insider]

Geronimo's Take: For once, it is comforting to hear a voice like that of Tengku Razaleigh emitting from UMNO. But the fact still remains in not what Tengku Razaleigh thinks but what the other bozos in UMNO think. There was never a doubt that Malaysia is never an Islamic State despite Mahathir's proclamation in September 2001. It was a matter of political expediency to compete against PAS. Lim Kit Siang was right when he said, immediately after the 1999 GE, that UMNO would be more Islamic than PAS and it had come to past. UMNO did not realise that in doing so, it provided the non-Muslims a chance to compare the type of Islamic practice by UMNO [depicting corruption, arrogance and waste] and PAS [depicting universal values]. As it turned out, PAS was found to be more palatable as a result of its kinder and softer approach. In fact, some non-Muslims said it was not bad if an Islamic State was in place then they could witness for themselves the hands of corrupts being hacked off. Then we have moderates in leaders like Khalid Samad and Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad who took upon themselves to be with the non-Muslims at their places of worships. That warmed the cockles of the Malaysian hearts. The image of Tok Guru Nik Aziz also changed dramatically and non-Muslims could see him as a respectable elderly person that one could do business with. If UMNO insisted that the country was an Islamic State, then would it go the way of Somalia where women are not even allowed to wear bras? See news report here. I can really imagine the 2,000+ male delegates at an UMNO general assembly fantasizing what is behind those silky baju kurang worn by the ladies of Wanita UMNO and Puteri UMNO. Food for thought, eh? So can we put the matter to rest that Malaysia is a secular state, period?

Let the Festival of Lights shine!

To all my Hindu friends and readers ...

The Bagan Pinang results - the implications

Right from the outset, everyone knows that Pakatan or PAS will not be able to win this by-election even if Mohd Isa Samad of UMNO was not fielded. The army postal votes were enough to dash such a hope of another hat trick by Pakatan, but what was shocking was the increase in the majority of the BN which shot up by 137% compared to that of the March 2008 results. So, the final analysis by our political scientists and bloggers indicated that it was the non-Malays who did the switcher-o. Everyone said it was bread and butter issues that prompted the Chinese and Indians to vote for the UMNO candidate, but let's face, whether it was Isa or any other UMNO candidate, life will still remain the same after the by-election. Are we to say that the income of the people in this backwater constituency will suddenly start to enjoy an income quadruple the amount to that before the by election period? Nay, the income will still remain static and Isa will not be seen till the next election. This fact can be proven by us asking - was there a significant change in the economic well-being of the electorates during the post March 2008 period when the seat was won by an UMNO candidate? Quite frankly, I don't think many of the BP electrorates knew who the candidate was until the day he kicked the bucket and a by-election was called for. Maybe, it was Isa's stature (not his physical being) as a former MB that swung the votes?

Now that we know who won the BP seat, what are the implications?

1. As far as the Indians are concerned, it was between the Kg Buah Pala issue (purportedly caused by DAP) and the cow head incident (purportedly caused by UMNO). The former being a community issue and the latter, a religious issue. By voting for Isa, the Indians are now telling the public at large that a community issue by far is more serious than a religious one? Heck, UMNO can now say, since the Indians are not that really religiously sensitive, I guess we can now continue with our Hindu temple demolition exercise when we deem fit. Have the Indians of BP even given a thought to Tan Sri Khalid and Khalid Samad for putting their lives on the line for the community? I guess not. Well, guys, that's gratitude for you. In case, the Indians of BP forget, it is also a community issue because it involves the Indian residents in Section 23 of Shah Alam. The matter which slipped their minds is that the Kg Buah Pala issue has already been resolved with each family receiving a RM600k property (against BN's offer of a RM75k flat), UMNO not only did not apologise for the cow head incident, but the incident was even condoned by certain UMNO leaders too.

2. Ahhh, the Chinese. Since certain pro-UMNO person has classified the Teoh Beng Hock's death was a racial (read Chinese) incident, shouldn't the Chinese of BP then rise to the occasion by sending a clear message to UMNO that death in the hands of one of it's apparatus is a no-no? So by voting for Isa [read UMNO], sad to say, Teoh Beng Hock has died in vain and that taking the life of another human being is a-ok.

3. Isa was found guilty of corruption. For any person with good morals, should not be standing for an election. Even if he was asked, he should turn it down. But Isa saw this as an opportunity to make a come-back to the big times and walk the corridors of power again. Many bloggers said UMNO, by nominating Isa for the by-election, have legitimize corruption. IMHO, it was not UMNO but the good people of Bagan Pinang who legitimize corruption when they inked the ballot paper on that fatal Saturday. So a corrupt politician is now back and I guess it will be business a usual but what about the implications?

• Do we still need the MACC?
• Do we still need the TI?
• Do we still need SUHAKAM?
• The IPCMC has been put into cold storage for some time now. Will it enter the shredding machine as it is no longer required?
• Do we need to review our school textbooks on Moral Studies that corruption is a good culture to adopt?
• How are we to teach our children to be successful? To be as corrupt as possible?
• Do we need to review our laws that corruption is no longer a crime?
• Will our mata-mata change their approach of asking for money whenever a driver is caught committing a traffic offence? [Currently, it is "So Encik. Sekarang macam selesai itu?" to "So Encik. Berapa awak nak bagi saya?"]
• Will the commission rates be increased many folds for the awarding of projects?

Bagan Pinang, like I said earlier, may be a back water constituency but the way its electrorates voted last Saturday, will have a long lasting impact on the way we go about with our daily lives dealing with the authorities and how the authorities treat its citizens.

God bless Malaysia!

My Hotmail account has been "hacked"!

Please be informed that my Hotmail account has been "hacked"! Many of you who have received emails, purportedly from me, saying that I am now in London and was in need of RM2,000.00 advance, please ignore the message. Do not bank in any money into the two banks mentioned in the email. I am actually in KL and doing fine.

For those of you who have been sending me emails to my Hotmail address in the last two days, can you please re-send them to my Gmail box at billyolh@gmail.com

All the claim by Microsoft about the sound security features is evidently not true. My apologies for the embarrassment caused.

Monday Humour

Coming into the bar and ordering a double, the man leaned over and confided to the bartender, "I'm so pissed off!"

"Oh yeah? What happened?" asked the bartender politely.

"See, I met this beautiful woman who invited me back to her home. We stripped off our clothes and jumped into bed and we were just about to make love when her damned husband came in the front door. So I had to jump out of the bedroom window and hang from the ledge by my fingernails!"

"Gee, that's tough," commiserated the bartender.

"Right, but that's not what really got me," the customer went on. "When her husband came into the room he said 'Hey great! You're naked already! Let me just take a leak.' And damned if the lazy son of a bitch didn't piss out the window right onto my head?"

"Yeech!" the bartender shook his head. "No wonder you're in a lousy mood."

"Yeah, but I haven't told you what really, really got to me. Next, I had to listen to them grunting and groaning and when they finished, the husband tossed his condom out of the window. And where does it land? My damned forehead!"

"Damn, that's awful!" says the bartender.

"Oh, I'm not finished. See what really pissed me off was when the husband had to take a dump. It turns out that their toilet is broken, so he stuck his ass out of the window and let loose right on my head!"

The bartender paled. "That would sure mess up my day."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," the fellow rattled on, "But do you know what REALLY, REALLY, REALLY pissed me off? When I looked down and saw that my feet were only SIX inches off the ground."

-----------------------------------------

An English professor wrote the words:
“A woman without her men is nothing”
On the chalkboard and asked the students to punctuate it correctly.
The males in the class wrote:
“A woman, without her man, is nothing.”
The females in the class wrote:
“A woman, without her, man is nothing.”

Moral of the Lesson:
Punctuation is powerful.

The sad state of affairs of our institutions of higher learning

Why are we not surprised? On September 29 2009, I blogged about the top 30 universities in Asia and the ranking of our own institutions which begs only one question. Why are our people still in denial that we are the best when we are not. Now comes more revelations. Despite the fact that University of Malaya and Universiti Teknology Malaysia showed some improvement over the 2008 ranking, there is still no cause for celebration as we are ranked in the top 300. Yes, top 300 not top 30. With this, can we see a correlation in the unemployment figures [see below] which happens to be a government response to MP William Leong in Parliament recently?

[Screenshot from The Star, Sept 26 209]

Unemployed Graduates

• In 2004, there were 4,594 unemployed graduates of which 163 were Chinese, 207 were Indians and 4,060 were Malays;
• In 2005, there were 2,413 unemployed graduates of which 31 were Chinese, 70 were Indians and 2,186 were Malays;

• In 2006, there were 56,750 unemployed graduates of which 1,110 were Chinese, 1,346 were Indians and 50,594 were Malays.

• In 2007, there were 56,322 unemployed graduates of which 1,348 were Chinese, 1,401 were Indians and 49,075 were Malays.

• In 2008 (as of June) there were 47,910 unemployed graduates of which 1,403 Chinese, 1,569 Indians and 49,075 were Malays.