The National Education Blueprint, an epic fail

By
S.Ramakrishnan
 | JANUARY 09, 2014

The Malaysian Insider

It is no longer a point of contention: Our education system is indeed failing and failing the economy.

Even a member of the cabinet, International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Mustapha Mohamed, has called for a total overhaul of the education system if Malaysia were to reach the goal of being developed by 2020.

The 2012 international student assessment (Pisa) results point to the stagnant bottom position held by Malaysian students in mathematics, science and reading.  The Pisa results rank Malaysia at 52 out of 65 countries.

Even the launch of the Malaysian education blueprint does not seem to make any impact to allay the fears that the education standards are slipping and slipping badly.  All the Economic Transformation Programme and Government Transformation Programme initiated by Pemandu since 2009 have not brought about any significant achievements.

Bottom of the class

Malaysia came out 55th out of 74 countries in terms of reading literacy, 57th in Mathematics and “only marginally better” in 52nd position for Science literacy.

How can we achieve vision 2020 developed status when we are languishing at the bottom of the world’s classrooms in our education standards?

The irony is that the Education Ministry is always considered the stepping stone for all our prime ministers.  A country in search of growth must invest in education.  And the double irony is that ministry receives the highest allocation in every budget.

Despite the generous spending on education, Malaysian students are getting a poorer and poorer quality of education, says the World Bank report. The Ministry of education is more focused on schooling the students then educating them. I wonder whether the ministry ever thought what education is.

Emperor with no clothes

Malaysia urgently needs to revise the ways it formulates and implements education system. So much is written in the media about the shortcoming in the Malaysian education system. Much like the emperor with no clothes, the Education Ministry appears oblivious of the situation and goes about as though all is well in the system.

Education policymakers do not seem to pay attention to the numerous works, writings and positive contributions by people outside the ministry. Indeed it’s such a pity that many people who can identify and articulate well about the problem are outside the system.

And people who don’t seem to understand the problem, or uneducated about the problem, are in the system and holding high positions. In this stalemate and mismatch, the ministry ignores the services of people who can turn around this dire situation. The ministry is all for indoctrination to make the whole education system dogmatic inculcate a non-questioning attitude among students and regurgitate what has been given in notes and lectures.

Perpetuating ignorance, not education

Good teachers and real educators could never survive in our backward education system that seems to perpetuate ignorance rather than knowledge.  In this highly centralised system, only the mediocre and those that slavishly follow instructions will thrive and even get promoted to their level of incompetence. Creativity, skill, original and critical thinking are alien concepts in our system.

Vietnam, which was war torn for decades, has overtaken Malaysia in the Pisa assessment and even the recent SEA games medal tally. Foreign investors too seem to be moving to Vietnam and Myanmar.

Garbage in, garbage out

While others are running forward, Malaysia seems running on the same spot, or even running in reverse and watching other nations pass by. Malaysia is already a facing brain drain and lacks skilled workers. One thing consistent in the ministry of education is the flip flops in policies despite having spent billions setting up the hardware and software.

It is also puzzling that all these shortcomings and failures do not seem get any counter or corrective action or open consultation. There is no learning, relearning and unlearning by the education ministry.

The World Bank report also highlights that “Most countries whose students perform well on international student achievement tests, give their local authorities and schools substantial autonomy over adapting and implementing education content or allocating and managing resources”.

The Malaysian education system is too centralised, with schools and teachers having very little autonomy. In the 1960s and 1970s Malaysia had headmasters who were par excellence and made their schools the envy of others. Alas, those bred of educators faded away with heavy heart with what is coming in the later years.

Can Malaysia become a developed nation come 2020? A failing education system can never lead the country to developed status. But the Umno-led ruling coalition will never admit that our education is substandard. If the others don’t agree with them, they will be asked to migrate. And this is an incentive for the very brain drain they are trying to prevent. Irony of ironies!

Quo Vadis educare? (NB In Latin, Where is the education system going?) – January 9, 2014.

*S.Ramakrishnan is a former senator.

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The Battle for GE14 in Peninsular Malaysia begins and ends in Johor

In November, 2013, I outlined a 12 point strategy on how Pakatan can capture Putrajaya in GE14.

In Peninsular Malaysia, Johore holds the key in unlocking the gates to Putrajaya. For Pakatan to win Putrajaya, this strategy must first and foremost work in Johore.

The Battle of Johore for the Battle of Putrajaya in the 14GE is the greatest challenge of the DAP State Convention to be held in Batu Pahat on Sunday.

In GE13, Pakatan has shattered the fixed deposit state of Johor by winning 5 parliament and 18 state seats, a worthy achievement given the resources that were spent by the BN in this state.

But this is not enough. To achieve the goal of winning Putrajaya in GE14, Pakatan must set a target of winning half of the parliament seats in Johore. To do this, we must firstly defend our marginal areas (Bakri and Batu Pahat) and our newly won areas (Kluang, Kulai and Gelang Patah). And then, we must go on the offensive to capture the marginal BN areas including Segamat, Sekijang, Labis, Ledang, Muar, Tebrau, Pasir Gudang and Pulai. If we have won all of the marginal BN areas, Pakatan would have won 13 out of 26 parliament seats in GE13.

Achieving this goal will be far from easy but will require the adoption of the following points in the 12 point strategy:

1. Full and immediate commitment by all three Pakatan Rakyat parties of DAP, PKR and PAS, whether at national, state or local level, to enhance public support in next four years for Pakatan Rakyat’s quest for federal power in Putrajaya in 14GE.

2. Ensure a fair delimitation exercise

8. Emphasize rural outreach

10. Enhance Pakatan cooperation at all levels

11. Emphasize inter-generational leadership

12. Counter the lies and propaganda of BN

Point No.2 is especially necessary in Johor given the unfairness of the current system. The smallest constituency in Johore, Labis, had only 37,714 voters in GE13 compared to 106,726 voters for Gelang Patah, meaning that Gelang Patah had almost 3 times the number of voters as Labis.

It is not enough for the Election Commission chairman, Tan Sri Abdul Aziz, to promise not to have any seats with more than 100,000 voters in the next delimitation exercise.

The Election Commission can keep to this so-called promise by redrawing boundaries to reduce the number of voters in seats like Gelang Patah, Pulai, Pasir Gudang with over 100,000 voters to ‘merely’ 80,000 to 90,000 voters but  still be unfair and undemocratic if, at the same time, it creates new seats with less than 40,000 voters each.

This was exactly what the Election Commission did in the 2003 delimitation exercise when it created Pengerang from the then Kota Tinggi seat resulting in two parliament seats with 32484 and 30420 voters respectively while leaving seats like Johor Bahru with over 90,000 voters.

To ensure a fair delimitation exercise, the Election Commission must not only add new seats in areas with a large number of voters, especially in the southern Johor area which is experiencing significant development and an increase in population, it must also give a commitment that existing disparities between rural and urban areas are minimized.

A fair guideline would be that the smallest parliament seat in Johor cannot have less than half the number of the largest parliament seat in Johor. Adopting this maximum 2:1 urban:rural ratio would go a long way in ensuring a fair delimitation exercise.

(Media Conference Statement in Kluang on Friday, 10th January 2014)

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Unholy row: Malaysia’s ‘moderate’ religious agenda in ‘Allah’ use wrangle

Nile Bowie
 | January 09, 2014 13:46

RT

Religious authorities have boldly confiscated hundreds of Malay language bibles over their use of the word ‘Allah’, a signal that the Malaysian government is backpedaling on its highly flaunted program of moderation and inclusivity.

Malaysia has garnered much international attention in recent years for being the only country in the world to regulate the use of the word ‘Allah’ and other terms deemed to be exclusive to Islam among its non-Muslim citizens.

The term ‘Allah’ is borrowed from Arabic and is used to describe ‘God’ in the language used by the nation’s dominant Malay ethnic group, who practice a brand of Islam that is deeply interwoven with Malay nationalism. Malaysia’s Christian minority has used the term ‘Allah’ in Malay language bibles and daily prayers in churches to refer to the Christian god for centuries, but a controversial court ruling in 2013 prohibited a Catholic newspaper, The Herald, from using the word. Despite the prohibition of the term applying only to The Herald and not to other publications, religious authorities recently took the unprecedented step of raiding a Bible Society and confiscating over 300 Malay language bibles on the basis that public disorder would ensue unless the term ‘Allah’ remains exclusive to Islam.

Prime Minister Najib Razak has put much emphasis on his ‘1Malaysia’ slogan in an attempt to showcase Malaysia’s brand of political Islam as being moderate, inclusive, and capable of sustaining harmony among the country’s complex multi-ethnic and multi-religious landscape. However, the inherent contradictions of the leadership’s official message of moderation and co-existence have become increasingly more apparent as many Islamic jurists, who have adopted exclusivist positions on sensitive inter-faith issues, have been handed sizeable authority by the ruling establishment to influence policy.

The issue may appear to outside observers as a trivial row over religious semantics, but this controversy has proven capable of enflaming tensions between the Malay, Chinese, and Indian ethnic groups, and has even provoked communal violence in the past.

An ‘ethnic-quake’ in the making?

Though many commentators accuse the government of intentionally intimidating minority groups, the religious authorities’ widening reach over the affairs of non-Muslims has more to do with the ruling coalition’s increasing unpopularity in the polls, and the government’s inability to mediate communal squabbles, which stems from a lack of leadership at the top of the political structure.

Lim Guan Eng, a key opposition figure, has accused the government of deliberately heightening tension between people of different faiths to distract the masses from the economic bite being caused by price hikes, as the ruling coalition significantly reduces long-held subsides on sugar, petrol and electricity. More precisely, the ruling coalition – which suffered one of its worst performances in history during last year’s general elections – is wholly dependent on securing its voter base among the Malay community by means of safeguarding Malay national identity, which requires that the ruling party uphold and defend the sanctity of Islam.

In trying to broaden its Islamic credentials, it has had to compete with PAS – the main opposition Islamist party, which has led to the government’s brand of political Islam becoming more conservative and increasingly pandering to the fringes.

A far-reaching religious authority that undermines non-Muslims’ constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion is not so much the intention of government policy as it is a consequence of the ruling coalition playing the Malay voter base. Religious anxieties have become more prominent in recent times, even within the Islamic community itself.

Despite being an overwhelmingly Sunni nation, Malaysian muftis have played up the ‘threat’ of Shiites propagating their brand of Islam in the country to strengthen cohesion among Malays. Another case involved religious authorities successfully pressuring a Muslim Singaporean to demolish his privately owned surau (a Muslim prayer space), after he allowed a group of Buddhist monks to meditate in the space. Given how race and religion are so intimately connected in Malaysia, the increasing propagation of exclusivist policies by the Islamic authorities is a recipe for communal unrest.

Tensions simmer in Malaysia’s melting pot

Muslim Malays see ‘Allah’ as an exclusive religious symbol and fear that its use by other religions will undermine Islam and make the community more vulnerable to being converted by missionary oriented Christians. This rationale of vulnerability stems from a complex history of Malays being colonially subjugated and economically subdued by Chinese and Indian communities following independence.

Christians, Buddhists, and Hindus also cherish their constitutionally protected rights to practice their own faiths and culture freely. Rather than letting courts and religious authorities enforce decisions on contentious inter-faith issues, the government should have taken more steps to educate the various communities involved in the historical backstory of the term ‘Allah’, which has pre-Quranic and pre-Abrahamic origins. Arab-speaking Christians have used the term freely for centuries.

Rather than enforcing sweeping and impractical prohibitions on a term, gentler and wiser council could have been used to ensure various communities that the term would not be misused.

In a country with a complicated ethnic and religious landscape like Malaysia, the state should actively facilitate inter-faith dialogue initiatives, but various religious authorities oppose such programs on the basis that Islam is the constitutionally protected state-religion, and should not be associated on a level playing field with other faiths.

It has also become clear that religious figureheads and muftis in Malaysia have become steadily more influenced by the hardline brand of Islam practiced in the GCC countries such as Saudi Arabia, which have always donated generously to Malaysia’s Islamic missionaries and may be partially responsible for eroding the less-conservative interpretation of Islam that the country was known for decades ago.

UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Heiner Bielefeldt, has called on Malaysia to reverse its decision on ‘Allah’, while minority communities and opposition parties demand guarantees that illegal and unconstitutional raids will no longer be permitted.

Rather than taking measures to strengthen national unity and reconciliation, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyidin Yassin recently condoned protests by Muslim groups to demonstrate outside churches that defy the ‘Allah’ ban on Sundays. If Malaysia’s ruling party continues to preach moderation to international audiences and foreign investors while pursuing exclusivist positions at home, the inconsistencies of their message will eventually catch up with them in the polls and on the streets.

__

Nile Bowie is a political analyst and photographer currently residing in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He can be reached on Twitter or at
[email protected]

                This entry was posted on Friday, 10 January 2014, 4:44 pm and is filed under
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A Face to Launch a Million Hardships

By Kee Thuan Chye

msn.com

10 Jan 2014

Are Prime Minister Najib Razak’s consultants conspiring to escalate his downfall? The latest idea of having his picture appear on limited edition ang-pow (red packets) for Chinese New Year (CNY) to be distributed through his Chinese Facebook page is making him look increasingly like an egomaniac hankering for cult status. Did he dream it up himself or did they?

Unfortunately for him, the very community he is reaching out to has already come to hate him all the more. Its members are more likely to stamp on the face on the ang-pow than put money in it to give to their family members during the festive period. So, instead of improving Najib’s public relations image, this ang-pow move will only make it worse.

Apparently, Najib’s consultants have not learned from the beating Najib took when his picture appeared on 100Plus cans in June 2102. On that occasion, netizens lambasted him and the company that produces the isotonic drink, some calling for a boycott of the product.

Among the printable comments are “100Plus sales figure definitely will drop.”, “Boycott 100Plus!”, “Najib, why must your face be on 100Plus? A lot of people hate you. Haha!”, “Dalam tin ada cacing.” (There are worms in the can.)

It caused the company enough concern for it to respond with a statement clarifying that the picture on the can was a sticker printed for Najib when he visited the company’s booth at an event in Putrajaya. In other words, it wasn’t promoting Najib.

Netizens, however, were not placated. “Sorry, boycott already on because of that sticker,” said one. “I love 100 plus so much … but I will boycott 100Plus now,” said another. “I’ve loved 100Plus lifelong. Until that sticker was there. Some things you can’t un-see,” said yet another.

Najib’s consultants have also not learned from last year’s public relations exercise conducted during CNY. Then, Najib also appeared in a video dressed in Chinese costume and beating a Chinese big drum, followed by his wishing Chinese viewers “Gong Xi Fa Cai”. Instead of drawing applause for that effort, however, he was pelted with brickbats. Some were as derisive as “Stupidest video ever” or “Aiyer … geli!” (Makes one’s hair stand on end!) Numerous commentors called him “an absolute clown”.

Ang-pows bearing his face were also given out then, much to the horror of Chinese traditionalists who believe that having a human face on an ang-pow can presage bad luck. It also prompted feedback on social media ridiculing this unprecedented act. One of the worst (printable) comments I can remember went like this: “If you want to give your family bad luck, give them the ang-pow with Najib’s face!”

Ah, well. Perhaps we have a prime minister who is a sucker for punishment. That’s why he has agreed to a repetition of last year’s folly. Already, some comments by netizens on his Facebook page (under his Chinese moniker Ah Jib Gor, which roughly translates to Elder Brother Najib) responding to this year’s ang-pow stunt have reportedly been deleted, presumably because they were full of abuse and ridicule.

On Malaysiakini, readers commenting on the online news website’s report about it say things like “Please … enough is enough! 2014 is already going to be a bleak year for us. Let us enjoy our CNY without having to be constantly reminded of your double-talk … Ajib, have you no shame at all?” Or “Another shameless gimmick done in poor taste aimed at self-promotion using public money. Fill the ang-pows with hell notes and burn them.”

The comments reflect much anger, but in some of them, there is good sense as well, such as “The Government should save money and not do silly things like this. The PM will get more support if he effectively addresses the issues raised in the Auditor-General’s report.” Or “How can you win with tricks when everyone sees through them? Try doing genuine and sincere work instead by implementing just policies with strong enforcement. The Chinese will definitely flock back to you.”

It’s pathetic, on the whole, to see a prime minister try so hard to be popular when it’s obvious he is not. In fact, even his detractors might be moved to feel embarrassed for him.

But then, he’s had it coming to him, especially of late when, only several months after his Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition won the 13th general election with a slim margin (and losing the popular vote, to boot), he cut petrol and sugar subsidies and raised electricity tariffs, thereby adding to the financial burden of Malaysians. These are actions that are ill-advised for a prime minister with a tenuous mandate. It must mean that the country’s reserves are nearly depleted for him to resort to such measures.

Besides, if he had acted thus while demonstrating that he has been practising austerity himself, he might be hated less. But from reports, he has instead been extravagant in spending public funds. Furthermore, over the new year period, he was away overseas, apparently in the U.S., and that prompted speculation that he was having a good time while the rakyat were bracing to face a dismal 2014.

At this rate, the odds for Najib to gain any amount of popularity in the near future are incredibly slim. If he thinks he can succeed, he is deluding himself. Talk to people on the streets today, people of any race who have to work for their daily living, and you can bet that a high percentage will have something negative to say about Najib and his government.

If he were to call for a snap general election now, he will be in for a nasty surprise. Or, perhaps, not quite a surprise. In fact, if he can’t weather the pressure that is currently mounting against him from many sides, he himself could be in for a fall. With or without the help of his consultants.

Perhaps it’s time for a change then. Of consultants, I mean.

* Kee Thuan Chye is the author of the book The Elections Bullshit, available in bookstores.

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Can the national unity council be sustained?

 – Lim Teck Ghee

The Malaysian Insider

January 11, 2014

When news of the establishment of the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) came out, many sceptics felt that this latest government effort to bring in a larger group of stakeholders – ostensibly to help resolve the rapidly growing divisions in society – was simply a hollow exploitation of public opinion. In fact I had written to a colleague who was named as one of its members to say “congrats, or is it condolences, if the NUCC proves as most expect it to be, another political wayang”.

Whether the area of concern has been in economics, the police, interfaith relations or education, all previous consultative councils, panels and task forces have failed to produce decisive action and genuine reforms to arrest the deterioration in governance – the main cause of the fault lines in the country’s social cohesion.

The recent statement by the chairman of the NUCC, Tan Sri Samsudin Osman on the latest religious controversy, however, does offer a glimmer of hope that the NUCC may be the exception among the various bodies appointed during the last decade – all of whom have been failures in pushing back regressive policies which are plunging the country into insolvency, political turmoil and social strife.

Stepping up to the plate in pointing fingers at guilty parties

In a rebuke to the government, the NUCC chair called on Putrajaya to “ensure” adherence to its own 10-point solution drafted in April 2011 on the ‘Allah’ row and to prevent a repeat of the “regrettable” raid by the Islamic authorities and seizure of bibles.  Further he slammed the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) for its “blatant disregard” of the cabinet’s solution.

In view of the potential for a serious escalation in religious hostility arising from the bible seizure, even this – what many see as a minimalist stance in responding to the seizure outrage – is welcome. The reprimand of government and Jais is also an encouraging sign that the council is prepared to speak out in a timely manner.  It will reassure the public that they will not have to wait for the release of a final report in the far future while the foundations of our national unity are being undermined before our eyes.

Hopefully this is the first of several urgently needed press statements and position papers to be issued by the NUCC. Hopefully too, it indicates a willingness to openly identify and implicate wrong or badly conceived policies – and the authorities responsible – that are dividing Malaysians rather than bringing them closer together.

Is a successful outcome for the NUCC achievable?

It has been said that transparency is the best disinfectant in exposing “misgovernance”. However, the BN government and its allies are experts par excellence in feigned transparency through foot-dragging; side-stepping; dodging responsibility; blame deflecting; and in implementing outcomes that are meaningless.

NUCC members must know that BN are the masters of power preservation. Hence they must be prepared for an array of tricks (including by BN cronies embedded in the council) aimed at ensuring that the final report downplays the government’s role in re-infecting the country with the present virulent strain of racist and religious bigotry.

There will be promises made at the highest level that the report’s recommendations will be implemented or taken seriously. These promises are likely to be forgotten once the report is in and the council disbanded. As example, towards the end of 1988, the prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad after announcing the formation of a council to draft a replacement policy to the NEP, stated that “the government promises that it will implement the policy approved by the council as the basis of the national economic policy after 1990”. This is now 2014 and there is still no sign that the NEP is dead and buried, or that a replacement policy is in effect.

NUCC members must ensure that their work does not suffer the same fate and that they are not made use of as tools, or fools, by a cynical and authoritarian regime, bent on ensuring the continuation of its power.

Checklist for NUCC Members

Having sat in the NECC in the 90s and having fought to overcome its impotency, I hope the advice below is of some use to members:

1. The NUCC members will be working through a secretariat whose role is crucial as it will be preparing the minutes and decisions arrived at; identifying background papers; assisting in drafting summaries; etc. Know that the secretariat is comprised of staff seconded from the civil service, is not neutral and will function as the handmaiden of the BN and especially its senior partner Umno; keep a lookout for possible dilution or exclusion of key issues/decisions; and keep out the bureaucratic content and verbiage that is used to obscure or conceal difficult truths.

2. Do not permit the Council’s work to be confined to the sub-committees which have been arbitrarily decided on by others. Members have the right to request for the inclusion of new sub-committees to focus on key issues excluded from examination. Issues such as the influence of a multi-ethnic civil service in fostering national unity; the impact of the national history curriculum (and textbooks) on fostering the right facts and values relating to national unity among the young; etc. are important to include as part of the final report’s recommendations.

3. The role of the religious-cultural apparatus (state and quasi-state) must be exposed. The effect of extremist forces and their media allies pushing hardline views has been stultifying and disastrous. The NUCC must find a way to name and shame these anti-national unity groups and ensure that they are not given continued opportunity to poison society with the warped interpretations of their power and authority.

4. The role of East Malaysian members is especially critical. Unlike their peninsular counterparts, East Malaysian communities have been less torched by racial and religious strife. Their success in building tolerant and diverse communities provides a practical model for the rest of the country to emulate.

5. The Chair and Deputy Chair also play crucial roles. They can act as catalysts or dampers to clear analysis and strong consensus. They can help mould inconsequential or substantive reports. Resist them if they appear to favour the government or are working towards a watered-down report. But do so from a position of substance arising from work and research. Many members will think that their contribution is confined to making speeches. They are wrong.

6. Members will be inundated with official papers and publications of the Government pertaining to national unity. Most of the papers are a waste of time as they propagate the failed policies of national unity which have brought the country to the brink. More useful are the papers and press releases from NGOs such as Comango, Suaram, Gabungan Bertindak Malaysia, Kempen Sejarah Sebenar, Islamic Renaissance Front and others. These should be distributed as background papers to everyone in the NUCC. Citations and proposals from them will add to the rigour and breadth of the NUCC report and ensure that the views of marginalized stakeholders can find a place in future policy making.

7. Insist that the final report be published in all languages and are widely disseminated. As the final report will be lengthy, make sure that the major recommendations and substantive summaries can reach the public through all possible avenues as well as are put up for quick implementation by the government.

Go for the truth

Malaysians from the professional and highly educated strata of society have in the past operated under self-imposed, repressed and overtly safe limits of dissent even when provided with the opportunity to critique the government. This has enabled the BN to get away with new wrongdoings, excesses and mistakes.

The public expects a frank, hard-hitting, no-holds-barred report. The NUCC has the opportunity to make an impact on the country’s national unity direction. For this to happen, it must push well beyond every member’s comfort zone and the outer limits of dissent. To do otherwise is to guarantee failure in their work.   – January 11, 2014.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 11 January 2014, 10:53 am and is filed under
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Ironical and ludicrous that Utusan is clamouring for restoration of draconian laws like ISA when it is the most guilty of being most insensitive on race and religious issues like the baseless allegation about non-existent DAP conspiracy to create a Christian Malaysia

It is most ironical and ludicrous that Utusan Malaysia has joined the chorus clamouring for a restoration of draconian laws like infamous Internal Security Act when it is the most guilty of being most utterly insensitive on race and religious issues like its baseless allegation about a non-existent DAP conspiracy to create a Christian Malaysia and the lies that the DAP is anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Malay Rulers.

The call for the restoration of the ISA was started by none other than the former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad who said that such a detention-without-trial law would be most useful to control the actions of the “extremist minority” which he said has undermined the country’s stability.

Mahathir  said the group was immature and willing to make statements that touched on the sensitivities of other races as well as disrupted harmony in the country.

But the former Prime Minister has been  most biased and selective in his public pronouncement  like the infamous catalogue of selective prosecution and persecutions during his 22-year premiership and his infamous selective amnesia on major events during the decades he was Prime Minister after he stepped down from the highest office in the land.

Extremism and insensitivity of race and religion must be deplored, regardless of coming from whatever quarter.

But the former Prime Minister had never checked or reined in the extremists in Utusan, leaders of  UMNO and Perkasa, of which he is adviser, when they were guilty of the most insensitive, provocative, incendiary and seditious statements, speeches and actions heedless of Malaysia’s plural society and stability.

Mahathir’s call for the restoration of ISA was immediately welcomed with open arms by the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar who declared “I wish so.  I welcome it very much”, who asked:

“The Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) is enough, but what’s wrong with also having the ISA?”

Today, Utusan has piled on the pressure for the restoration of ISA, warning “certain quarters not to touch on sensitive issues concerning Malay rights and Islam or else the ISA will be reintroduced”.

In all these flurry, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is conspicuously absent. In fact, he does not seem to exist or to figure in any important decision-making in the country.

These are ominous developments as there appears to be a convergence of reactionary and undemocratic forces  to create a “hothouse” atmosphere to justify the restoration of draconian laws like the ISA.

In this scenario, the Prime Minister seems to be totally irrelevant and his promise to make Malaysia “the best democracy in the world” utterly academic and inconsequential.

Is there a convergence of reactionary and undemocratic forces, led by the former Prime Minister and enlisting the support of the Police and the UMNO media, for a “putsch” in Putrajaya – even if not yet to  nominate their own Prime Minister but to dictate the policies that must be adopted by the Umno/BN government, like the restoration of ISA.

What is the stand of Najib on these reactionary and undemocratic developments like the undemocratic and indefensible ban on Comango, which has even attracted the condemnation of the United Nations, and which is calling for the revival of the ISA detention-without trial law and abandonment of Najib’s “Malaysia as the best democracy in the world” pledge?

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 11 January 2014, 12:06 pm and is filed under
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Penang Free School  “free”

by Lim Wee Seong

Dear YB Lim,

There was an article written on your blog by Mr. Allen Chee titled
“Unfree Penang Free School”
 regarding the jawi writing on the main entrance to Penang Free School.

Many attempts were made for many years to remove but no one had the guts to do it. It is my great pleasure to inform you and readers of your blog, in 2013, with the new headmaster En.Jalil Saad (an Old Free) together with The Old Frees Association (PFS Alumni), manage to do the school justice by changing the jawi signage to a new one signage, announcing the celebration of 200th year Anniversary in 2016.

Thank you.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 11 January 2014, 10:09 am and is filed under
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Police must explain why it practises  double-standards in the handling of the Father Lawrence and Harussani cases

The Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar has said that the police have taken a statement from the Perak Mufti Harussani Zakaria on his remark that it is permissible to spill the blood of those who protested in the New Year’s Eve anti-price hike rally.

But  the Police must explain why it practises double-standards in  the handling of the Father Lawrence and Harussani case.

There is no doubt that swift and drastic action would have been taken against Father Lawrence if he had said anything about spilling blood, but the same urgency is absent in the Harussani case.

The police have recommended that Father Lawrence Andrews, the editor of the Herald, be charged with sedition but  the police  must explain why it has not made similar recommendation for the prosecution  of Harussani.

The Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail said today that no decision has been made on the sedition investigation against Father Lawrence.

Would he inquire of the police as to what has happened to its investigation against Harussani?

The Police, the Attorney-General and the whole administration of justice must not only be fair but must be seen to be fair.

Unfortunately, this is not the case in recent years and decades, especially during the 22-year premiership of Tun Dr. Mahathir and this is why public confidence in the administration of justice, which included the judiciary, the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Police, has suffered such a major blow in the nation’s history.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 11 January 2014, 5:04 pm and is filed under
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They are citizens, stupid

KJ John

Malaysiakini

Jan 7, 2014

I am sick, tired, and disgusted with some Malaysians who tell others to leave the country, just because they do not like some views expressed by them. Worse still if they are elected members in public life; i.e. those who are expected to be the ‘representative leaders’ in this nation-state we call a democracy.

Therefore, my question is, Why do we tolerate ‘such idiots and idiocrats’ who are stupid to the core, and cannot reason for themselves, but make comments which declare to the world their stupidity?

If elected representatives do not know the meaning of the democracy we strive for; why are they even those ‘selected to be elected’ to develop and nurture our fledgling democracy? After all, who is that irrational Wanita Umno member from Pahang who obviously did not deserve to have been elected, in the first place?

Who are the idiots who elected her to insult their intelligence now? Does the PM who originates from the same Umno state as this woman tolerate her antics?

She abhors everything he preaches with his 1Malaysia campaign, or is that no more halal since he has been re-elected?  Why then did he back the Wanita Umno president against his own Pahang-based Wanita Umno challenger?

Democracy is a citizenship right

Every Malaysian, regardless of political affiliations or leanings, has all rights of citizenship. These include

*The right to vote at every election as a citizen to define their candidate of choice;

    *The right to express views regarding their choice of candidates and political philosophies they support;

    *The right to free and accurate, factual information from all public and licensed agencies of communication;

    *The right to be associated with and support financially all legitimate political parties with stated political aspirations;

    *The right to stubbornly support even the minority party at the general election with the hope of change later on in the life of the nation; and

    *The right to be not politically abused by anyone else for their views and opinions about candidates, parties, and their philosophies.

Therefore, and when every Malaysian is accorded such rights, we will be moving towards a mature democracy. But, that cannot happen, unless our elected representatives also know these rights and thereby the limits, too. One wonders if these elected candidates are ignorant, or why were they even selected to stand as representatives of a party; and, worse still why were they even elected?

Nurturing national unity

If an elected Member of Parliament does not understand Malaysian democratic ideals, and does not appreciate the necessity for a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-lingual reality that is ‘Malaysia Truly Asia’, then we are in serious waters. They, and their negative talk (or verbal abuse) of others can form the basis for the next most severe ethnic backlash. I lived through the May 13, 1969 incident and can see signs of some attempts in this direction.

Frankly, when I look at other Malaysians, after 50 years, regardless of ethnicity or religious affiliation, I cannot say that I agree or can fully appreciate or celebrate all ‘others cultural traits and habits’. But does that make them any less Malaysian? Can I simply tell them to migrate because I do not like their views or traits? Can I dictate how they think or what opinions they express?

Even in my nuclear family of nine, at our most recent family holiday, I began to observe that within the same family (plus spouses), there are distinct and severe differences of opinions and perceptions about life and living. Is that good, bad or ugly? I do not think it is bad or ugly, unless one has not learnt the way to express oneself without emotions bent out of shape.

It is the dignity and human right of each unique member of any family to have views different from others, especially if we are all adults, and well above the voting age.

Therefore, as in a family, so also in a nation-state as small as ours. It takes all kinds of personalities or different hues and colours to make for a nation-state. I believe that there is a verse in the Quran which says exactly this; that God in his wisdom made people different so that they learn to live in unity with each other? Did this Umno woman not understand her own scripture on this?

Anti-bigotry legislation

I have never really supported any kind of anti-bigotry legislation this far. But, given the lead up to the last general elections, when media agencies and public citizens berated and abused others so severely, with words that did hurt and injure, I am now rethinking if we do not need such legislation?

Maybe it is time for the government of Malaysia (i.e. federal government) to put that ‘draft legislation they already have framed for a public discussion of the matter’. Maybe a public policy dialogue on this matter can help educate and inform ignorant MPs/ assemblypersons and other public officials that certain types of verbal abuse will not be tolerated in Malaysia; regardless of who is the agent of such bigotry and hatred.

May God continue to bless Malaysia, regardless.

KJ JOHN was in public service for 29 years. The views expressed here are his personal views and not those of any institution he is involved with. Write to him at
[email protected]
 with any feedback or views.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 11 January 2014, 10:26 am and is filed under
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‘Allah’ row the product of concocted ‘siege’, observers say

The Malay Mail Online

January 12, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 12 — The religious tussle over “Allah” that threatens to rend apart Malaysia’s interfaith ties is a contrived issue, according to observers who pinpointed political motives for fomenting communal friction over the Arabic word for God.

Despite appearing to be theologically different to outside observers, chief executive of Global Movement for Moderates (GMM) Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah saw right-wing groups that were cultivating a mentality that Islam was “under siege” as the root of the “Allah” problem that is unique to Malaysia.

“Some sectors of the Malay population, they are acting as if Islam is under siege,” he said when appearing on Al-Jazeera’s The Stream news programme this week.

But his remark led host Femi Oke to prod him for examples of how the perceived siege on Islam was propagated.

“When people make the pronouncements that we should burn the bible if it is translated to Malay… or something like that,” he responded.

Although Saifuddin did not identify the group by name, president of Malay rights group Perkasa Datuk Ibrahim Ali made such a call in January last year, drawing outrage from Christian and civil society groups.

But another speaker on the programme, journalist Kean Wong, suggested that it was a confrontation that was manufactured due to ruling Malay party Umno coming under siege, rather than Islam, as is widely perceived.

“Since last May’s relatively poor outing by Umno and its ruling coalition, there have been a whole series of incidents which — some may allege — is trying to distract from the very real problems of political and economic reforms that are not being addressed over the dramatic thunder and fury of the ‘Allah’ saga,” Wong said.

The journalist later expanded on this by pointing to lingering questions over the legitimacy of Barisan Nasional’s Election 2013 victory over Pakatan Rakyat despite the loss of the popular vote.

Wong’s assertion prompted Saifuddin to concede to the existence of sections within Umno who believe that shoring up support among Malay voters was the best strategy to ensure the party’s political survival.

“I don’t deny the fact there are my friends in the party who thought that the way forward for the next GE is to secure the Malay and Muslim votes.

“If Umno and Barisan is of the opinion they can win the next election by doing this, I think we are on the wrong track,” the former deputy minister of higher education added.

During Election 2013, Umno saw its share of parliamentary seats rise from 79 to 88, even as nearly all its BN allies lost ground. The result also led to calls from within the party to concentrate efforts on the Malay vote that propelled it to dominance.

Simmering tension over the “Allah” tussle boiled over at the start of the new year when the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) raided the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) and seized over 300 copies of Malay- and Iban-language bibles; two BSM officials were also arrested.

But the contentious raid was also preceded by mounting public anger over the rising cost of living that was partly blamed on Putrajaya’s painful measures to trim its chronic deficit, which culminated in a mass rally on New Year’s Eve here to protest the subsidy cuts and prices hikes approved by the government.

Since October, Christian-Muslims ties have been strained following the Court of Appeal ruling then barring “Allah” to Catholic Church, during which it also ventured that the word was not integral to the Christian faith.

The current “Allah” row dates back to a 2009 High Court ruling upholding the Catholic Church’s constitutional right to publish the word in the Bahasa Malaysia section of its Herald weekly, but has its roots in laws from the 1980s limiting the non-Muslim use of the Arabic term.

The ongoing legal dispute between the government and the Catholic Church over its right to print the word “Allah” in the Herald’s Bahasa Malaysia section is still pending before the Federal Court, which is set to hear arguments from both sides on February 24 before deciding on whether it will hear an appeal by the Catholic Church.

Muslims are Malaysia’s dominant religious group and account for over 60 per cent of the population, while Christians make up about 10 per cent or 2.6 million.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 12 January 2014, 7:29 am and is filed under
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Gross governmental failure over religious issues

by Tommy Thomas

Malaysiakini

Jan 10, 2014

COMMENT
Last week’s raid by the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais), a government agency, on the office of the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) must be condemned in the strongest terms by all right thinking people.

Apart from being unconstitutional and in violation of the rule of law, it represents the worst kind of behaviour by government bureaucrats flexing their awesome powers over minorities. Occurring in a multi-ethnic, multi-religious society compounds the problem.

Twentieth century history across the globe is replete with examples where the safety of minorities is threatened by a majority abusing coercive state power; Nazi Germany being the most extreme.

Post-colonial developments since 1950 in Burma, British Guyana, Uganda, Fiji and Sri Lanka have illustrated the consequences of harsh treatment of minorities and the resultant irrevocable damage to the entire nation state when governments controlled by majorities abuse their power.

In other words, any historian will warn a plural society that it is a tinderbox insofar as ethnic and religious matters are concerned, and such issues must therefore be handled carefully, delicately and with sensitivity to minorities. One therefore cannot over-emphasise the responsibility of leaders to ensure fairness in such matters.

Since Jais has purported to rely on a law passed by the Legislative Assembly of Selangor, I shall consider whether that law authorises its actions.

The subject of Islam, and especially criminal enforcement of offences, is a complex matter under the Federal Constitution, with the Agong and the Malay rulers being the heads of Islam in their respective states, and legislative and executive power being shared by the federal government and the 13 state governments.

Fundamental liberties of all Malaysians (and indeed foreigners, however short-term their residence is in the country) are given entrenched protection in Part II of the Federal Constitution, the supreme law of the land.

BN, Pakatan to blame

Paramount among these liberties is an individual’s freedom of religion in Article 11(1) and the collective freedom of a religious group in Article 11(3). Additionally, the Jais raid should not have occurred because of the 10-point Solution reached by the federal government in April 2011.

Finally, the Selangor state government should not have permitted Jais, as its agency and subordinate to it, to carry out the raid. Hence, both the BN federal government and the Pakatan Rakyat state government are responsible for this state of affairs.

At the very least, the people of Malaysia are entitled to better political governance than that provided by both coalitions.

Perkasa, Utusan Malaysia and other extreme fringe groups propelling such drastic steps by the state agencies are insulting the intelligence and faith of millions of Muslims in Malaysia.

A student of history will point out how impressive is the faith of our Muslims despite the onslaught by successive foreign colonial powers from 1511 to 1957. The Portuguese, Dutch, British and Japanese occupiers of our land did not convert Muslims. That is the historical reality.

Having hundreds of Muslim friends and acquaintances for more than 50 years since primary school, I can personally vouch for their commitment and piety to Islam. None of them are shaken in their faith.

Muslims are secure and confident in their faith; they do not need the protection of the ultras. Hence, it is an absolute affront to Muslims to contend that Islam in Malaysia would be threatened because copies of the Bible in Malay containing the word ‘Allah’ would be used by some Christians in some churches.

This is especially so when not a single respectable Islamic scholar across the Islamic world outside Malaysia has supported the reasoning and conclusion of the recent Court of Appeal decision in The Herald case that the word ‘Allah’ wholly and exclusively belongs to Muslims.

They have all condemned the purported acquisition by a group of people of a word in a language that belongs to everyone and to no one.

The Selangor enactment

The Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Amongst Muslims) Enactment of 1988 is a law passed by the Legislative Assembly of Selangor to control and restrict the propagation of non-Islamic religious doctrines and beliefs among persons professing Islam.

If there is any doubt that the intention of the state assembly to enact this enactment, and the purpose of the enactment is to prevent proselytising Muslims to change their religion, such doubt will be removed when it is noted that express reference is made in the enactment to Article 11(4) of the Federal Constitution which states just that. It is critical to always keep in mind this limited purpose of the Selangor enactment.

Under the Selangor enactment, a person commits an offence if he persuades, influences or incites a Muslim to become a follower of a non-Islamic religion or forsakes Islam, punishable in Section 4, on conviction, with one year’s imprisonment.

A person commits an offence if he persuades, influences or incites a Muslim minor to receive instructions or take part in any act of worship of non-Islamic religions, punishable under Section 5, on conviction, with one year’s imprisonment.

A person commits an offence if he approaches or arranges for a Muslim to subject the latter to any speech on any matter concerning a non-Islamic religion, punishable under Section 6, on conviction with six months’ imprisonment.

Sections 7 and 8 create offences dealing with the sending or delivering of publications of any non-Islamic religions to Muslims or distributing in a public place any such material to Muslims.

It would be plain and clear that all the offences created in Sections 4 and 8 of the Selangor enactment have the object of prohibiting the conversion of Muslims to other religions.

Whether they can be the subject of criminal prosecution of non-Muslims is unclear from a reading of Article 74 and Item 1 of the State List in the Ninth Schedule of the Federal Constitution.

One assumes that Jais relied upon Section 9(1) of the Selangor enactment to seize the 300 copies of the Bible because they contain the word ‘Allah’. But Section 9(1) is plainly and clearly not enacted for the purposes of prohibiting the proselytising of Muslims because it goes far beyond that objective.

A person commits an offence under Section 9(1) if, in any publication or speech, he uses any of the words in Part I of the Schedule to the Selangor enactment to express or describe any fact or thing of any non-Islamic religion. Among the words listed in Part I is ‘Allah’.

Section 9(1) is not restricted to using the 25 prohibited words to convert Muslims, which is the whole purpose of the Selangor enactment. It is drafted in much wider terms, and covers an indeterminate and open-ended category of potential offenders.

The vital question that follows is: can the officers of the Bible Society, who are non-Muslim, be subject to criminal prosecution under Section 9(1)?

In my opinion, it would be unconstitutional for Jais to purport to extend the criminal jurisdiction of Section 9(1) over non-Muslims in circumstances where the Bible is being used solely for Christian worship among Christians, with absolutely no evidence of any attempt to convert Muslims to the Christian faith.

As the president of the Bar Council stated in his Jan 3 press statement: “It is alarming that the religious body or enforcement agency of one religion would purport to have jurisdiction or purview over other religions.”

This fact is so elementary, and yet so profound. It has been totally disregarded by Jais.

Najib’s letter to bishop

The impounding of the Bible in the Malay language in East and West Malaysia in early 2011 triggered religious concerns in plural Malaysia, prompting the federal government to discuss resolution mechanisms with Christian leaders.

The result was the 10-point Solution set out in the letter dated April 11, 2011, from Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to Bishop Ng Moon Hing, the chairperson of the Christian Federation of Malaysia.

The prime minister was at pains to point out that the 10-point Solution was “a collective decision by the cabinet”. Although this letter has been in the public domain for some time, and was relied upon by the Catholic Church during the hearing of the recent appeal of The Herald case before the Court of Appeal, it deserves to be reproduced so that every Malaysian can read it for himself or herself.

The Malay Bible referred to in that letter had been impounded by government agencies in Kuching and Port Klang because they contained the word ‘Allah’. Hence, the 10-point Solution was the product of complex negotiations to resolve the overriding problem of the use of the word ‘Allah’ in the Malay Bible. That was the factual basis of the letter.

Indeed, the prime minister’s letter cannot be interpreted in any other manner. Points 1 and 2 are of crucial significance because the government announces its policy of permitting the importation into and the printing in Malaysia of the Bible in Bahasa Malaysia/Indonesia.

Point 6 recognises the impossibility of having separate rules for East and West Malaysia; accordingly people travelling to and from either side of the South China Sea are free to bring along their Malay Bible. Point 8 contemplates the release of the impounded copies of the Bible: 30,000 in Kuching and 5,100 in Port Klang.

It would be reasonable for anyone to assume that once the 10-point Solution had been announced in April 2011, the problem of the use of the word ‘Allah’ in the Malay Bible would have been resolved once and for all. That is certainly the only interpretation one can reasonably give to the letter, read in its entirety against the background of the tension then prevailing in the country, and which it was intended to resolve.

Hence it would be reasonable to ask: why was this problem not resolved three years ago? The only reasonable response is that there is no political will to resolve this issue.

Indeed, there is short-term political gain to be made by fermenting the problem because it serves as the ideal distraction from the real ills facing Malaysians, particularly, rising costs of living caused by price hikes of nearly every basic item without any increase in salaries, wages or incomes.

Malaysians in the thousands must urge the Najib government, which issued the April 2011 letter, to comply with it immediately. It is as plain and simple as that.

Decisive past leaders like Tunku Abdul Rahman, Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, Hussein Onn, and indeed Najib’s late father Abdul Razak Hussein, would have done just that. So, Najib, please act as the prime minister by acting at once on your own letter.

MB should issue apology

From the legal perspective, one should remind Jais, as a statutory authority, that it is subject to the law, as this eloquent statement from Chief Justice Raja Azlan Shah (as His Royal Highness the Sultan of Perak then was) in the Sri Lempah case in [1979] 1 MLJ 148 indicates:

“Unfettered discretion is a contradiction in terms… Every legal power must have legal limits, otherwise there is dictatorship. In particular, it is a stringent requirement that a discretion should be exercised for a proper purpose, and that it should not be exercised unreasonably. In other words, every discretion cannot be free from legal restraint; where it is wrongly exercised, it becomes the duty of the courts to intervene.

“The courts are the only defence of the liberty of the subject against departmental aggression. In these days, when government departments and public authorities have such great powers and influence, this is a most important safeguard for the ordinary citizen: so that the courts can see that these great powers and influence are exercised in accordance with law…”.

(my emphasis)

It is significant that Point 7 in the prime minister’s letter contemplates disciplinary action being taken against civil servants who do not comply with the directives requiring proper implementation of the cabinet decision in that letter. Accordingly, all the Jais officers who participated in the raid must be subject to such disciplinary proceedings.

From a political perspective, it is very disappointing that the Pakatan state government of Selangor allowed Jais to act in this arrogant and high-handed manner. It is absolutely unacceptable for proper political governance for the menteri besar and his executive council to wash their hands off this affair.

The menteri besar, as the duly elected head of government of Selangor, is responsible for the actions of all his state agencies. If these steps were taken without his knowledge, it would be shocking because it would mean that Jais is a rogue elephant – a state within a state.

If he knew about these actions before they were undertaken, he should resign. The voters of Selangor gave him a second mandate just eight months ago. But it was certainly not on the basis that he would allow a state agency to behave this way.

At the very least, a full public apology by the menteri besar is warranted, and a public undertaking that such conduct will never be repeated under his watch.

TOMMY THOMAS is a senior advocate and solicitor specialising in constitutional law.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 12 January 2014, 8:05 am and is filed under
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The Empire strikes back – the plot for a putsch by reactionary anti-democratic forces thickens with the call for a return of Dr M to Putrajaya

The Empire strikes back – and the plot for a putsch by reactionary anti-democratic forces thickens with the call for a return of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad to Putrajaya.

The blog by former Information Minister and one of Mahathir’s top propaganda minions, Tan Sri Zainuddin Maidin, for the return of Mahathir to Putrajaya to help the Barisan Nasional federal government “tackle raging racial, religious and economic issues” is not only a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak but marks a new stage in the conspiracy and plot by reactionary anti-democratic forces in UMNO and Barisan Nasional government for a putsch.

Recent signs  and developments  that the plot and conspiracy of the reactionary anti-democratic forces in UMNO and Barisan Nasional government for a putsch, whose objective seems to be still fluid ranging from a minimum programme for a halt and change of the various transformation programmes launched under the Najib administration regardless of the extent of their implementation to a maximum programme for a change of Prime Minister, include the following:

*Growing disenchantment of the public at the lack of leadership and direction by the Prime Minister, who seemed to have lacked the political will and vision to end the spate of highly divisive racial and religious issues in the country;

*The escalation of a campaign to create a “hot-house” atmosphere of national instability and unrest caused by a slew of racial and religious controversies, the latest being the illegal and unconstitutional raid by Jais on the Bible Society of Malaysia;

*The demand for restoration of the Internal Security Act, first made by Mahathir himself but immediately supported by the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar who was prepared to hazard the charge of being insurbordinate to the Prime Minister and the fulsome support  by the UMNO media, Utusan Malaysia; and

*Call for the return of Mahathir to be the “de facto” Prime Minister before the ultimate call for a new Prime Minister.

Zainuddin Maidin is testing the waters whether the country is prepared for a return of Mahathir to Putrajaya.

Malaysia does not need a return of Mahathir to Putrajaya or a resurrection of the past Mahathirish policies which have caused the loss of millions of the best and brightest talents from Malaysia who could have taken Malaysia to a higher and faster rate of economic development, even ensuring that Malaysia would have already become a high-income developed country as is the case with Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan which were more backward and underdeveloped than Malaysia in the early decades of Malaysia’s Independence.

Mahathir and Mahathirism must bear the greatest responsibility for Malaysia’s failure to fully exploit its natural and human resources, resulting in  the lack of good governance; rampant corruption, cronyism and abuses of power; the destruction of institutional independence of the civil service and important bodies like the judiciary, the police, the anti-corruption agency, the Elections Commission; disregard for human rights and a catalogue of national ills in the 22-year premiership of Mahathir.

The return of Mahathir and Mahathirism will be the worst answer for the solution of Malaysia’s many problems, which stem from the lack of political will and vision to steer the country towards a new direction as a united, harmonious, just, democratic and competitive Malaysia.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 12 January 2014, 4:41 pm and is filed under
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14 GE: Towards Putrajaya! Towards Nusajaya!

Yesterday, the DAP Johore State Convention decided on a twin-engine turboprop Johor DAP state leadership led by Liew Chin Tong as Johore DAP State Chairman and Dr. Boo Cheng Hau as Johore DAP State Assembly Opposition Leader to continue to position Johore as the front-line state of Pakatan Rakyat in Peninsular Malaysia in the 14th General Elections to ensure Pakatan Rakyat’s victory in Putrajaya to form the federal government of Malaysia.

The immediate task of DAP’s twin-engine turboprop Johore leadership is to work out a strategy with Johore PAS and PKR to achieve the first step in Pakatan Rakyat’s Battle of Putrajaya in GE14 – to win over Barisan Nasional’s eight marginal parliamentary and eight marginal  state assembly seats in Johore.

Marginal Seats are defined as seats which are won by 55% or less votes.

Based on the 2013 General Elections results and present constituency redelineations, the Barisan Nasional eight marginal parliamentary seats are Labis, Pasir Gudang, Segamat, Muar, Tebrau, Ledang, Sekijang and Pulai.

The eight marginal Barisan Nasional state assembly seats are Paloh, Gambir, Makhota, Pemanis, Bukit Naning, Sungai Balang, Senggarang and Nusa Jaya.

While working out a strategy to win over the Barisan Nasional’s eight marginal  parliamentary and eight marginal state assembly seats, DAP and Pakatan Rakyat must also ensure that we fortify the five PR parliamentary seats, in particular the three marginal seats of Batu Pahat, Bakri and Kluang and the 18 PR State Assembly seats, with special focus on the nine  marginal state assembly seats of Jementah, Bekok, Tangkak, Parit Yaani, Puteri Wangsa, Johor Jaya, Stulang, Pengkalan Rinting and Pekan Nenas.

Let the new year of 2014 start with a renewed commitment by all DAP, PAS and PKR leaders and members for GE14, fully conscious that the 14GE battle for Putrajaya in Peninsular Malaysia begins and ends in Johor.

The second step for the GE14 strategy is not only to win Putrajaya, together with the Malaysia Dream campaign of Impian Johor, Impian Sabah and Impian Sarawak, but to win more than half of the Johor State Assembly seats to make a serious bid to form the Johor State Government in Nusajaya.

The clarion call of DAP and Pakatan Rakyat in the next three to four years before the the 14GE must be: Towards Putrajaya! Towards Nusajaya!

                This entry was posted on Monday, 13 January 2014, 1:13 pm and is filed under
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Is Pakatan no different from Barisan?

– Richard Loh

The Malaysian Insider

January 13, 2014

Is this equation true:

90% positive + 10% negative = 90% negative + 10% positive

With Malaysia claiming that its education system is among the best in the world there can be no argument that many educated Malaysians would say that this is true.

The above equation is an example of Malaysians learning when they see the 10% of Pakatan Rakyat’s negative performances as equal to Umno-BN’s 10% positive performance – hence terming PR no difference from Umno-BN. The 90% positive performance against Umno-BN’s 90% negative performance is ignored.

Malaysians are using the Selangor Assembly salary hikes, the Jais raid and Penang Chief Minister’s Mercedes-Benz to justify and conclude that PR is no difference from Umno-BN. You have the right to argue that the three issues were wrong, depending on how you judge them and from whose point of view you are hearing and reading from.

There is nothing wrong with the Selangor Assembly salary hike and the Penang Chief Minister’s Mercedes-Benz which I have given my point of views in my earlier two articles
here
 and
her
e.

Up till now I do not really know who or what is Jais. There are so many different arguments as who is running Jais and the power it holds. Some say it is under the Selangor state government, some say it is under the Sultan’s purview, while others say it is under the federal government.

Those who are angered by the Jais raid (mostly the Christians and social activist groups) and those playing politics, like Gerakan de facto president Tan Keng Liang, are blaming the Selangor state government.

No one in the state government, federal government or the palace would want to come out with a full guideline and explanation as to the official function, power and limit, and under whose jurisdiction does Jais fall under. This is the second time that Jais has conducted a raid unofficially, without warrant to enter, and confiscate items. They most likely did it illegally.

The Selangor state government, federal government and the palace must issue a joint statement on details about Jais to avoid any more such raids. Jais must be held responsible for any illegal activities and be warned that they are not above the law, where it is an Islamic concern or not.

Malaysia’s next generation has risen – brave, knowledgeable, connected. They even blame the older generation for doing nothing for allowing the nation to be in such a dire state. They claim to stand on a non-partisan platform and want checks and balances – but to what extent can they really achieve this? Sorry, but we have to be realistic.

You lost the keys to your house, either you call a locksmith or you have to break the lock. Either way you still have to change the lock. The lock is of no use without key and the locksmith cannot be there at all times to lock and unlock whenever you want.

Umno-BN is like the lock and they have already thrown away your keys a long time ago. The opposition MPs that you elected are just locksmiths that can just help in a small way but not in the long term. You protest, hold rallies and demonstrations in order to break the government so that you can enter in the hope that they will listen to you. This is like breaking the lock so that you can enter but without the keys – you can’t lock and unlock as and when you like, to enter or leave. The lock has to be changed and so does Umno-BN.

Malaysia has come to this point where standing on a non-partisan platform no longer works in forcing the government like Umno-BN to do the right things. When Umno-BN government institutes like PDRM, MACC, and the judiciary can unashamedly show their partisanship in performing their duties, what is wrong for to stand on a partisan platform? Umno-BN is like the lock without key, useless and needs to be changed.

You may see me as a blind opposition supporter but I am not. What I see is that Umno-BN is no longer fit to govern and that Pakatan Rakyat,though may not be 100% perfect, is a better choice and we cannot equate PR as no different than Umno-BN because of a few wrongs (this is my personal opinion).

You stand on a partisan platform so that you can have a better view on the checks and balances. Yes, you can easily check but surely you won’t be able to have a balance no matter how you try when it comes to a lock without keys like Umno-BN.

You still can stand on a partisan platform, not necessarily with PR, but sharing the same agenda to change the useless lock without keys and that is Umno-BN come GE14.

From now till GE14, PR is bound to make a few more mistakes (whether they are real or unintentional or created by Umno-BN). But  we have to judge them with an open mind, unless PR has really gone the Umno-BN way of cronyism, large scale corruption, wastage and leakage – ultimately, becoming a lock with no keys. – ousel.blogspot.com, January 13, 2014.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 13 January 2014, 3:04 pm and is filed under
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Penang
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Knives are being sharpened for the Night of Long Knives in the conspiracy by  Umno reactionaries/anti-democratic forces to remove obstacles in the way of their putsch

Yesterday, I titled my blog piece
“The Empire strikes back – the plot for a putsch by reactionary anti-democratic forces thickens with the call for a return of Dr M to Putrajaya”.

The online
Star
 today carried an interesting item which is not unrelated to the tale of
“The Empire strikes back”.

The online Star report by Martin Carvalho  titled
“Hasan Malek denies again rumours of resignation”
 states:

KUALA LUMPUR: Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Hasan Malek denied recent talk of his resignation, saying that he was not bothered about such rumours.

“There is no need for me to answer the question as the issue does not arise at all.

“For me, what is important is that I am here to discharge my duty and responsibility to the rakyat and will continue to do so sincerely and in the best of my abilities,” he told reporters after a walkabout at the Pudu Urban Transformation Centre on Monday.

Earlier, before the press conference, members of the media were requested by ministry officials to refrain from asking on the rumours and to confine their questions to ministerial issues.

Last Friday, the ministry issued a media statement denying rumours of Hasan’s resignation which were circulating among bloggers and Facebook users on Thursday.

Is this story about Hasan Malek related to
“The Empire Strikes Back”
?

Definitely yes.  Knives are being sharpened for the Night of Long Knives in the conspiracy by  Umno reactionaries/anti-democratic forces to remove obstacles in the way of their putsch and Hasan is one such target from the Najib Cabinet.

Recently, UMNO’s own cybertroopers have reached a new ferocity turning their attacks on the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak who have become the target of attacks and butt of  jokes of UMNO cybertroopers, some even comparing Najib unfavourably with his predecessor, Tun Abdullah.

Although these attacks by the UMNO cybertroopers have yet to reach for Najib’s jugular, confined  for the moment to Najib’s army of highly-paid consultants and his ministerial and political appointees like Hasan Malek, it seems only a matter of time before these attacks jell into an unified and  central demand for Najib’s resignation and his replacement.

Who is orchestrating the plot and conspiracy of
“The Empire Strikes Back”
?

                This entry was posted on Monday, 13 January 2014, 4:10 pm and is filed under
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M’sia as advanced nation: Are we ready?

By Kee Thuan Chye

Free Malaysia Today

January 13, 2014

Come 2020, Najib – if he’s still PM then – might have the dubious honour of proclaiming Malaysia an advanced nation, but the reality could be far from that.

COMMENT

As we begin the new year and realise that we are only six years away from the magical 2020, when – as Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has promised – we will become an advanced nation, it might be apt to speculate whether we are ready for it.

From where we stand today, it doesn’t look likely that Malaysia can meet the per capita income and GDP criteria to be considered an advanced nation by then, but if – by some miracle – we manage to, does it mean that, economics aside, we will truly meet the grade of what being an advanced nation is?

I’m looking at it from the layman’s point of view, and what I see now doesn’t convince me that we will. Where we will fail miserably is in the socio-cultural aspect.

We are too tidak apa (in the Malay sense), too chhin chhai (in the Chinese sense), too lax. And while this may be a virtue when it comes to personal relations and avoidance of bickering over trivialities, it is a failing when it comes to performance, achievement and continued success.

We also prefer to take the easy way out, also to avoid conflict. And we generally like to lepak, some even to ponteng.

The culture is fostered in the home, and also in schools. Teachers who are strict and demand perfection are loathed, so they are not encouraged by the system. Students are also not encouraged to think critically. Merely to be spoon-fed and to regurgitate what they have learned by rote.

For a major examination like Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), the passing marks for important subjects are even lowered to allow more students to get through.

According to Leanne Goh, writing in The Star of Oct 27, 2013, “One SPM Add Maths examiner believes that the passing rate for the subject could be as low as the mid-teens … teachers say that they have come to the conclusion that the passing grade for certain subjects could be as low as 20 marks, or possibly lower, especially for Maths. … It gets easier to score and harder to fail.”

In the workplace, except for those who serve multi-national companies, banks, accounting firms or private companies that are tightly run, employees can generally get by with minimal work and mediocre performance – and even get promoted! Many are in the civil service, which, significantly enough, is staffed by 1.4 million Malaysians.

We celebrate mediocrity. And mediocrity results in low standards, low expectations. Many of us are merely satisfied with doing what’s needed and not more. We don’t take enough pride in our work, and we don’t strive to do better. Without the attitude of wanting to improve, to innovate, to even think, would we be able to help this nation achieve true advanced status?

And what about our notorious disregard for a maintenance culture? Former prime minister Abdullah Badawi once said that we had “First-World infrastructure, Third-World Mentality”. He tried to upgrade our mentality but failed. We continue to come up with beautiful government buildings only to see them decay to a sorry state after just a few years.

In some cases, the buildings are probably Third-World from the start, like the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium in Kuala Terengganu. A major part of its roof collapsed in 2009, and early last year, while undergoing repairs, it collapsed again.

Another example is the Serdang Hospital. Between January 2011 and December 2013, the ceilings of numerous sections of the hospital have collapsed five times!

Third-World mentality

The root problem lies in the lack of accountability and the granting of projects to people who are not qualified to carry them out. This stems from a political culture that is corrupt and unjust, and seen by the public as so.

Political leaders are also noted to abuse their power, to have been exonerated for crimes they allegedly committed, and to make millions through dishonest means.

They also bend the law to allow for double standards. Thus, Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar Mohamad Hasan got away with allegedly transferring RM10 million to London illegally in 2008 while the moneychanger involved in the transaction got fined and lost his licence.

Unfortunately, the political leaders’ disregard for the strict application of the law rubs off as well on the populace. We see wrongdoers getting away with crimes, murder, corruption, and we say to ourselves, “Well, if our leaders can go unpunished, why should we follow the rules?”

The most obvious manifestation of that attitude is our disregard for traffic rules. You could be driving normally in your lane while nearing a traffic light and suddenly have a car from the next lane cut into yours so it could squeeze past the light without having to properly queue up.

Or you could come across a large SUV double-parked right at the corner of a busy junction and causing a nuisance, blocking traffic. You try to ease your car out from the adjacent road and manoeuvre around it to avoid crashing into cars coming from another direction, simultaneously cursing at the bloody inconsiderate driver of that bloody SUV.

Worse, you could be driving along a one-way street and suddenly find a car approaching from the opposite direction!

Or walking on a pedestrian pavement only to encounter a motorcycle coming up behind you and honking to get you out of its way. When it goes past you, you notice there are three passengers on the motorcycle, one of them a child sandwiched in between and not wearing a crash helmet.

You shake your head. How do we achieve advanced-nation mentality?

I could go on. About people showing no respect for no-smoking zones, like the toilet of a cinema or a shopping mall.

About derelict areas in affluent cities such as Kuala Lumpur and Penang that look decidedly Third World, like those behind the City Stadium off Jalan Datuk Keramat or the Jalan Perak-Jelutong vicinity.

About ad hoc stalls that can pop up overnight, with no business licences and no regard for standards of hygiene. About the odours and the filth in commercial places due to poor drainage and rubbish disposal.

In Selangor, even in affluent areas like SS2 and Puchong, you can smell rancid odours in the air where food shops are located.

You don’t get this in advanced countries like Singapore or Taiwan. I’ve been to small towns in Taiwan like Yuanlin and Lukang and didn’t see or smell this kind of filth there. Even the street stalls look clean. And of course in Singapore, you’d be hard-pressed to find mosquitoes!

Culture. Mindset. Political leadership. Rule of law. Civic consciousness. These count as much as economic criteria in determining the status of a nation.

Come 2020, Najib – if he’s still prime minister then – might have the dubious honour of proclaiming Malaysia an advanced nation, but the reality could be far from that.

By then, we might be a First-World country, but one with a Third-World mentality.

Kee Thuan Chye is the author of the book The Elections Bullshit, available in major bookstores. This article first appeared in the January 2014 issue of ‘Penang Monthly’

                This entry was posted on Monday, 13 January 2014, 8:53 am and is filed under
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Will liberalism cure malaise-ism?

Dr Azly Rahman
 | 6:00PM Jan 11, 2014

Malaysiakini

What we are seeing in Malaysia these days is a path towards destruction unfolding as a red carpet of a Hollywood show of a movie called ‘Wolves of Putrajaya’. We are seeing hell freezing over – of our own American polar vortex of the failure of our educational, cultural, and political system to mediate dangerous contradictions which may bring us down, tsunamied by the acts of those paid to search and destroy this imagined community of peace-loving Malaysians.

Borrowing a Socrates maxim, at the core of the issue is ignorance and the will to be stubborn to remain ignorant.

We need a multi-culturalist, multi-vocalic, multi-accepting, and multi-diverse brand of liberal democracy to save us. We need the entire nation to embrace what many are fearful of: liberalism. Liberalism will remove the glass coconut shell that has become a comfort zone, especially for the Malays and particularly of the Malay Muslims.

Liberalism might be the long-awaited cure for this neo-feudalistic malady called ‘malaise-ness’ that hath plagued the Malays since they were enslaved first as ‘hamba sahaya’, by their own rulers of ancient times.

In speaking of seeking knowledge and in trumpeting Islam as a religion of high learning, progressiveness, and democracy that upholds the principles of human rights, Muslims in Malaysia too often quote the words of the first revelation, ‘Iqra’, ‘Read’, or “read in the name of Thy Lord who created thee… who created thee from a clot” as a signature of religious advocacy par excellence.

*Notice that the word ‘Rabb’ or ‘Creator’ or ‘the Lord’ is used in the translation and not the world ‘Allah’ in the first revelation ‘Iqra’. Maybe the concept of ‘Allah’ is a later formulation borne out of a philosophical quest to construct the meaning of god in Islam. Perhaps the idea of ‘Allah’ was already there in the texts of the Jews, Christians, and the Sabeans and the later Muslims had to invent a philosophically distinct one.*

Not to be off-tangent on the topic of ‘reading’ nor to go into the scriptural-historical debate whether the Quran (The Readings/Book of Recitation) is revealed or actually a set of narratives inspired by the stories heard by Muhammad from the Jews, Christians, and Sabeans in his soul-seeking and knowledge constructing days; verses heard and committed to memory and then compiled later by his companions – that is not the matter of discussion here.

A time of utter ridiculousness

The question is on ‘reading’ or the ‘Iqra-ness’ of the cognition of especially the Malay-Muslims at a time that tries one’s soul these days and certainly a time of ‘malaise-ness’ and utter ridiculousness when one is threatened to be prosecuted and imprisoned without trial for uttering the world ‘Allah’ – or ‘the God’, or ‘the Rabb’, or ‘Thy Lord’ in one’s sermon conducted in a different geographical of gerry-mandered region.

As if god, supposedly the limitless and the boundless and bound by nothingness, now suddenly has boundaries drawn by human beings whose idiocy know no limits.

And now there is a war not only on the word ‘Allah’, but on ‘liberalism’ without understanding what “being a liberal”, “humanism”, “freedom to think”, “expanded consciousness” and other forms of denotations and connotations of “reading and thinking and speaking and contemplating freely” mean.

Largely, besides the money spent on manufacturing chaos and consent and confusion in order to produce and propagate Malaysia’s penultimate idiocy in the case of the ‘Allah’ controversy at a time of massive corruption and national piracy, plutocracy, and economic plunder-acy under the shibboleth of the much-trumpeted niceties of constitutional monarchy…

Besides this crisis of legitimacy, we have a problem of a populace not reading enough to understand even the idea of a cure for ‘malaise-ness’ such as ‘liberalism’ as a potentially good legal hashish for the hard-headed and articulately arrogant addicts of political money.

Let us illustrate how a liberal mind would approach the linguistic problematique of the use of the word ‘Allah’.

I wonder where I should start – with etymology, philology, or linguistic philosophy as my lens?

Should I start by analysing the pre-Muhammadan origin of it in the early Babylonian use of ‘Allah’ which corresponds to the god ‘Bel’, or the Hebrew use of ‘Elohim’. Or the Aramaic use of ‘elohi’, or the pagan Arab god ‘al-Lat’ or the relationship between the sister moon-god, or even ‘Allah’ as commonly used even before Muhammad was born (as we know Muhammad’s father is Abd-allah?

Abdullah/Abdillah or ‘the servant of Allah’ to signify the widely used term and not exclusive as how the Muslims, especially the Malay Muslims would like it to be used, patented, and even claimed territoriality?

Islam is a religion of knowledge as claimed, and Muslims must be open to those perspectives excavated; there is something called research, even in the origin of the word “god” as it is said in the Islamic scripture:

“Read in the name of thy Lord who created thee … created thee from a clot … and taught thee with a pen/kalam … which does not mean … just follow blindly in the name of ignorance that is passed down to thee … from your ancestors … passed down from those who hunger for power/knowledge … and taught thee to accept everything as truth as decree shoved down your throat forcefully…”

‘Come back to our senses’

Malaysians: let us come back to our senses. Instead of running amok all over towns and villages over the word, why don’t Malay Muslims begin by simply analysing the meaning of the word in its entirety and then figure out how human beings are taught by the ‘kalam’ and to think of wherein lie the form and appearance in the doctrine of the ‘kalam’.

This would probably have nobody running around for a year at least, studying something simple yet profound.

I don’t know, let us be fair to our two-pound universe sitting on our shoulders and refrain from calling for ‘jihad’ for everything one disagrees with. And our role as human beings is to expand our consciousness by enriching ourselves with more words and concepts across cultures, across lifespans – not to ban words used to signify religiosity and become a world-class laughing stock of a nation.

Christians in Malaysia should be allowed to use the word ‘Allah’ however they please, as they see religiously meaningful.

I have argued for this in my previous columns and we should move forward to discussing more pressing issues of, say, the preparation for a regime change so that Malaysians can thenafter begin charting frontiers for a more intellectual approach to inter-religious dialogue. As it is now, there is no demonstration of knowledge of the cross-breeding, hybridity, and universal agreement even on the use of to denote and connote the self in relation to a much larger Self.

Fellow Malaysians: what do you think? How do you think we should proceed – towards a peaceful resolution? With calls for the revival of the Internal Security Act, more threats against the ‘unconstitutional’ use of the word ‘Allah’, more of these nonsense instead of our focus on solving pressing problems… I think we need to end this malaise by cleansing ourselves with the progressive ideas of liberalism.

But first, we must lift our veil of ignorance. Let us explore the possibilities of enlightenment and renaissance of cultural cognition, through liberalism.

Let us cure this ‘malaise-ness’ once and for all.

__

DR AZLY RAHMAN, born in Singapore and grew up in Johor Baru, holds a Columbia University (New York City) doctorate in International Education Development and Masters degrees in four areas: Education, International Affairs, Peace Studies and Communication. He has taught more than 40 courses in six different departments and has written more than 350 analyses on Malaysia. His teaching experience in Malaysia and the United States spans over a wide range of subjects, from elementary to graduate education. He has edited and authored four books; Multiethnic Malaysia: Past, Present, Future (2009), Thesis on Cyberjaya: Hegemony and Utopianism in a Southeast Asian State (2012), The Allah Controversy and Other Essays on Malaysian Hypermodernity (2013), and the latest Dark Spring: Ideological Roots of Malaysia’s GE-13 (2013). He currently resides in the United States.
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                This entry was posted on Monday, 13 January 2014, 11:53 am and is filed under
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Bersyukurlah kangkung turun harga!

 – Izmil Amri

The Malaysian Insider

January 14, 2014

‘Orang Melaka suka makan kangkung yang tidak dikerat-kerat’. Ini helah Tun Perpatih Putih ketika rombongannya sangat teringin melihat wajah Maharaja China.

Tun Perpatih Putih adalah adinda kepada Tun Perak dan dilantik jadi bendahara menggantikan abangnya itu setelah beliau meninggal dunia. Sebelum jadi bendahara, Tun Perpatih Putih yang dihantar Sultan Mansur Shah ketika mahu dijalinkan hubungan diplomatik dengan China. Delegasi itu begitu berjaya sekali sehinggakan maharaja China menghadiahkan Melaka puterinya, Hang Li Po.

Alkisahnya di zaman itu, adatnya ialah orang kebanyakan di China dalam zaman pemerintahan dinasti itu tidak boleh melihat wajahnya sang Maharaja. Kalau tandu maharaja lalu, jalan harus dikosongkan, dan kalau ada yang masih tersisa berdiri, mesti tunduk sujud di hadapan baginda.

Dan ketika sang maharaja perkenan mengadap mana-mana utusan dari luar negara, duduknya baginda itu dalam suatu mungkur kaca yang diletakkan di atas platform yang agak tinggi. Makanya sukar sekali mahu melihat wajah sang maharaja ini. Sehinggalah tiba akal Tun Perpatih Putih ketika ditanya apa makanan kesukaan orang Melaka.

Katanya, orang Melaka amat suka makan sayur kangkung. Dan dimasaknya sayur kangkung ini tanpa dikerat-kerat.

Arakian maka apabila dihidang sahaja makanan itu, delegasi Melaka pun mengambil peluang menjeling ke wajah sang maharaja. Dikepitnya sayur kangkung dan diangkat tinggi, lalu disuap ke mulut dengan kepala yang terdongak; sambil mata menjeling ke arah maharaja.

Tun Perpatih Putih dilantik jadi bendahara kepada Sultan Mahmud Shah, sultan terakhir kerajaan Melayu Melaka; sebelum jawatan bendahara diberikan kepada Tun Mutahir anaknya Tun Ali, yang mencetuskan ketegangan dan membolehkan negeri itu diserang, dijajah dan akhirnya kehilangan pemerintah.

Ini kisah kangkung di zaman Melaka masih bersultan. Di zaman harga kangkung tidak ditentukan naik turunnya oleh kerajaan.

Saya bukan penggemar kangkung. Meski sewaktu sekolah asrama, kangkung adalah sayuran dan sumber vitamin (kalau pun masih ada) yang paling utama. Rasanya dalam satu minggu, kangkung wujud dalam menu dewan makan hampir sepanjang masa. Kecuali Sabtu. Yang pernah duduk asrama pastinya tahu.

Kangkung akan menjadi makanan ruji umat Malaysia khabarnya. Harga kangkung sudah turun. Kita mesti bersyukur kepada kerajaan kerana menurunkan harga kangkung. Ini indikator kerajaan prihatin dengan sengsara rakyat yang adakalanya tidak ada duit nak makan, dan terpaksa berlapar sampai dua tiga hari. Jadi kangkunglah jalan selesainya.

Malah, kalau tidak mampu beli kangkung, cari sahaja di tepi longkang. Kangkung tumbuh liar. Cabut sahaja berapa banyak mahu. Percuma.

Siang boleh masak kangkung buat lauk nasi lemak (kalau ada nasi lemak). Tengah hari boleh makan sup kangkung. Kalau hendak dipelbagaikan sikit, dan kalau ada belacan, bolehlah tumis dengan sambal. Malam pula boleh bikin kangkung tiga rasa. Rasa marah, geram dan menyampah dengan betapa entengnya pandangan kerajaan terhadap kemandirian hidup rakyatnya yang dituntut bersyukur apabila kangkung turun harga.

Kita boleh menghidu betapa teruknya keadaan ekonomi apabila seorang perdana menteri boleh bertanya, mafhumnya ‘bila harga kangkung turun kenapa tak puji kerajaan?’

Ini perdana menteri yang pada masa sama tahun lalu menyewa bukan satu tapi dua pesawat Airbus untuk kegunaan pasangan pertama Malaysia di saat partinya, Umno bersama-sama Barisan Nasional memerah kewangan negara untuk berkempen pilihan raya.

Blog pro-Umno sendiri melaporkan bahawa Perdana 1 sebuah jet korporat Airbus ACJ319, dengan nombor ekor 9M-NAA menelan belanja sewa tahunan sebanyak RM29 juta, selain kos selenggara RM5.5 juta serta kos ubah suai RM15.5 juta.

Perdana 2 model ACJ320, disahkan wujud oleh Pejabat Perdana Menteri serta disewa antara Februari dan Disember 2013 pada anggaran kadar RM28,000 sejam. Alasan yang diberikan Pejabat Perdana Menteri ialah mereka kekurangan pesawat kerajaan.

Dalam jawapan kepada Parlimen November tahun lalu, Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim memberitahu bahawa kerajaan berbelanja hampir RM15 juta untuk bahan api dan lebih RM160 juta untuk menyelenggara penerbangan VVIP pada 2012.

Itu belum diambil kira perihal skandal penipuan Zon Bebas Pelabuhan Klang (PKFZ) bernilai RM12.85 bilion yang hari ini terbukti bahawa tidak akan ada sesiapa pun yang dipertanggungjawabkan.

Dan kita rakyat marhaen ditanya kenapa tidak bersyukur apabila sayur kangkung harganya turun. Macamlah kangkung itu boleh diganti buat bayar tol, bayar tiket LRT, bayar yuran anak sekolah, atau disumbat ke tangki minyak kereta jadi ganti bahan api. Rasa macam hendak sumbat saja kangkung ke kerongkong orang yang tanya begini. – 14 Januari, 2014.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 14 January 2014, 8:48 pm and is filed under
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From McKangkung to World Kangkung Day

K Pragalath| January 14, 2014

Free Malaysia Today

Netizens make fun of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s endorsement for water spinach.

PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s endorsement for the fall in the prices of water spinach (kangkung) continues to prompt Malaysian netizens to join the fray to “support” the premier’s endorsement.

A page called Hari Kangkung Sedunia has been created on social networking website, Facebook while Jan 13 is now officially declared World Kangkung Day.

Among others the page speculated that major fast food outlets would have to rebrand some of the popuar selling products, citing as examples Kangkung Fried Chicken, Burger Kangkung and McKangkung.

The endorsement for kangkung have gone viral via a 1:24 minute on YouTube. The video with 44,235 hits is a result of combining two video clips.

The first part depicted Najib delivering an official speech. The second part is where he speaks of kangkung.

“Today I read in the newspaper that the prices of some things that have dropped. The price of kangkung increased before this and now it has gone down.

“When this happens, they don’t want to praise the government. But when it rises, they blame the government… This is not fair as it is due to weather conditions,” Najib was quoted as saying in the video which was posted on Jan 12.

Online mocking

Among the many criticisms levelled at Najib included one from this Twitter user, @rb_poetry who mocked Najib: “Kangkung brains. Najib’s makes fun of kangkung prices and it becomes national comedy.”

On Facebook, Facebook user Arlene Tan even wrote a pantun as the “kangkung” made waves among Malaysians on cyberspace.

Tan wrote:

Lenggang kangkung mencari Rosmah,

Sambil bersyukur kangkung murah

Harga naik, takde Bajet beli rumah,

Tapi takpe, setahunya kangkung ku jamah

Even Urban, Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan took the jokes in a good stride.

In a Twitter message to PKR vice president Nurul. Izzah Anwar, he said:

“@mpkotabelud: @n_izzah Ok2.. Enjoy the kangkung joke while it lasts. Don’t type #kangkang, like my friend typed. It spoils the punch line.”

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 14 January 2014, 5:24 pm and is filed under
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