Islamist Politics: The Making of Fascists?

What I do know is that I’m looking for is a book that will give me a sense of what Islam is, the real version as opposed to one that has been unjustly hijacked by extremism and media alike.
-Abby Wong, Seeking the truth, BOOK NOOK WITH ABBY WONG

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The above is a very compassionate perspective of a "revolutionary" philosophy from the time of Mohamed. Well written, by a searcher, I must say.

(Frankly - I'm not so kind to the "religious world" ..... even where the Christian doctrines/dogma are concerned). However, I do believe that the prophets of old were real visionaries, were geniuses in their own right and really did have some "divine inspiration" - just as many of our modern "prophets" in politics, philosophy & the sciences of today. In their time, they were all, nothing short of radical and revolutionary - and had to be "guided by some force", considering the absence of "education as we know it.

There is obviously a spiritual aspect of religion - but religion per se doesn't need spirituality to condition men to its dictates. Beyond spirituality, they tend to raise more questions instead of providing answers - and it is these unanswerable questions that evoke fear in the hearts of the ignorant and gullible, and render them ripe for psychological manipulation by "religious predators". As such, what I wish to address here isn't the spiritual aspect of it, but rather the religiosity advocated by the clerics.

Religion to me is simply a guideline on morality and ethics, meant to create a proper social order - other than that, they are excellent tools of exploitation when politics is added to its "divine flavour". The evolution of every religion has to be understood within the historical context in which they evolved - or else, we tend to misinterpret the meaning of the words used to narrate the incidences, or decisions that were made into laws. Much of what Mohamed preached was in response to the cultural & socio-political trappings of the time. What is practiced today however, often don't take these factors into consideration - and hence the literal interpretations we get. The Quran is indeed a magnificent book (revealed or not) which reflects much of the Judeo-Christian ideas/philosophy in creating social order out of the chaos of pagan Arabia.

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"Where is the life we have lost in the living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information ?
The cycles of heaven in twenty centuries
bring us farther from God and nearer to dust."
- T.S. Elliot
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However, the sad fact is that what may be true academically (as you & I may see it), is far from the reality that is practiced by our religious brothers/sisters in their attempt to "out-do" one another. More often than not, they advocate political authority for the clerics who haven't the faintest clue about statecraft. Meanwhile, we of course, have the more intellectual & rational ones cowering at the sight of the imbeciles who make up the clerical hierarchy and dish out edicts like they were the word of God him/herself. Scant regard is payed to the fact that they are usually less than educated or intellectual, and have an inherent inability to think beyond the confines of their skullcaps. - it was what led to the dark ages of the "Holy Roman Empire".

There are many parallels that we can draw between the Christianity of the middle ages and the Islam of today. Nations in the "east" which are "Muslim" today, IMHO, are doomed to regress, due to their psychological subservience to the Arab-Muslim mindset. The "enlightenment" of the Muslim ummah will come from the "evil west", who are more "innovative and creative" in their thinking, due to their lack of reverence for the clerics in their "fashionably pious outfits". Any religion that depends on the clerics for its philosophical evolution is doomed to fail socially, economically and politically. We can only wait to see how our Malaysian intellectuals react to the mindless clerics, who seek to stifle society in their straight-jacket of religiosity.

Lately we had the son of the late Yusof Rawa from PAS (pretending to be very intellectual -while telling all others to "use your brains"), trying to give his perspective of the Islamic State in "Islamic state debate, revisited and revised" and "Islamic State 2: Revised and Revisited". He claims that Islam is "a way of life" (like as if all other religion aren't!!) and thus, inseparable from politics. He makes it sound like with what he proposes, he could create for us a heavenly Malaysia - just as we saw in all the Islamic states of the past (and present, too).
In all their arguments for an Islamic state, never will they articulate how the rights of citizens (as per Universal Declaration of Human Rights) will not be trampled upon. The philosophy of "Liberty" and "Legitimacy" are the farthest things from their minds. Their arguments are usually quite simplistic - that these laws are "God-ordained", even if they were made by man "based on study of the scriptures". There used to be plenty of debate on this matter (those days) in Malaysia Today, and RPK did come out with an article (after March 8, 2008) saying that he isn't for an "Islamic State". (The article on "Islamic state" in TNG did draw some interesting perspectives).

To many "Islamist" politicians, the proof of their Islamic credentials lie in their ability to persecute (legally or otherwise) those who do not share their convictions. They take potshots at those who do not agree, as being "kafirs", "munafiqs", "liberals" or "secularists" (like it is such a bad thing). But of course - we have proponents of an imaginary "Islamic State" in PAS who will go on saying that Islam cannot be separated from politics, and hence should be able to govern (despite all the historical evidence to the contrary).
Yes - in the Islamist's vocabulary, these are "four letter words" which are supposed to translate to being "unIslamic" - when it is the secular and liberal states that are progressive and practice human rights - which are more "Islamic" than many an Islamic nation worldwide.

What many readers who agree with these "Islamist" views don't realize is that these apologists for the "Islamic State" often support the Fascist state in a very subtle way - but of course, it will be in the name of "God". It means that they have to do away with the Federal Constitution and Democracy as we know it. They also forget that under the medieval "Islamic State" concept, they strive to create a tiered society that advocates "apartheid". This is definitely not the the end - and these voices advocating "Islamist" dominance of the Malaysian political landscape would only grow louder as time goes by (especially when corruptions permeates the system and the intellectuals seek to hide themselves - lest they face the religious edicts of unthinking clerics).

There is a very real possibility of Malaysia descending into the world of mediocrity and orthodoxy, should the poor governance and hypocrisy advocated by our "leaders" be perpetuated. We will without doubt see the rise of the Fascists & extremists within Umno and the likes of Hadi, Nasha & Hassan Ali in PAS. Until and unless PAS refuses to play the "trojan" for Umno (in advocating the "Islamic State"), the Malaysian political landscape is bound to be very divisive and unstable - and the Pakatan Rakyat coalition is doomed to be shaky at best.

Let's just keep our fingers crossed ....

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"Guilt that is expressed in irreverence is unliveable,
Guilt smothered by pride is unjustifiable and,
Guilt smothered by fear is unbearable"
- Ravi Zacharias, "The Haunting Spectre of Guilt"

Eid Mubarak!!

Will be back after the Hols ...... till then:-

It's not the System - it's the Culture it Created ...

For some time now, I haven't been able to write much - whatever I started never got finished, or I felt, was unfit for publication. However, a "kind soul" humored me, and I just couldn't resist a quick entry before taking my annual Raya break tomorrow.

Before I go on - I must say that much like Mahathir's thinking, the title is what NH Chan might call "gobbledegook". So here it goes .....
Firstly, I must thank Mahathir for giving me some insight into his twisted mind, and inspiring an early entry on this blog. It was truly rib-tickling to read what the MalaysianMirror reported on the words of Mahathir in It’s not the system but those who practise it, says Dr M . So, it isn't the system within Umno that has destroyed the party - it was the people they have within the party that destroyed it.
Very interesting indeed - now it means that since he took over, the people who came to power were all, all of a sudden, corrupt - poor ol' Mahathir.

In saying “By some specific means, the president can force the divisions to only nominate him," he has admitted that the President of the party has almost absolute power to dictate to the party, the leaders he wanted, to be working with him - and hence, dictate the qualities required of them. That ultimately means that it was he himself who was at fault for creating this system that encouraged corruption, and hence kept him in power for 22 yrs.
But of course he has to defend himself - and so says that no system is perfect, and it depends on those who practise it .....
True enough, it depends a lot on the people, but it is the system that nurtures a culture within the system - and Umno under Mahathir created a bunch of unthinking barbarians who will not tolerate dissent.

To me, what he's saying is essentially this:-
"The system was created by him, for himself - and in his opinion, worked well under him. Everyone else who tries to work on it will fail, because it was designed solely to facilitate his stay in power - so it now wouldn't function anymore, as they cannot master his art of dictatorship to keep those lower down in check.
Now you have to design a new system that would work for you, while it can take care of my interests."

What he fails to see is the fact that he had stifled dissent and debate to such an extent, that he created a pool of servile apple-polishers for the leaders in power - and hence created warlords who cannot be dislodged from the hierarchy. To make up for their lack of intellectual input, these warlords simply compensated their dissatisfied followers with money - and lots of it. Ultimately, the one who got to rule and make the most money and dispense with it, got his seat secured.
This of course corrupted the people - so much so, that corruption had become their culture.

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It is what happens when one chooses to rule by law - make them, enforce them, break them and amend them at liberty, devoid of ethics. It was the system that created these monsters to take on the role of leadership - and now they wish to change the rules once again, hoping for a better outcome. All I can say is that none of them in the leadership will dare to make any drastic changes, for they all wish to remain there unchallenged. It will somehow be manipulated to help those aristocrats in power, to dominate.
The "changes" they propose will be nothing more than window-dressing, with added powers given to their agents in the disciplinary committee to indulge in persecution of genuine challengers.

IMHO, no matter what they do, Umno is doomed as long as it remains hypocritical, bigoted, intellectually bankrupt, racist, fascist and elitist. To Mahathir, Najib, Hisham, Mukhriz and gang - all the best in perpetuating your political dynasties, guys ...... your days are numbered, and we may all be doomed together if we have the rise of the unthinking "Talibans" you fellas nurtured (within and without Umno), in a few years.
Lastly, we shouldn't forget to thank Tun Razak for his "vision/foresight" of a truly racist BN, living with the haunting spectre of May 13.

See you guys again after I take my break, reflect and "reboot" .......
Selamat Hari Raya.

RPK SPEAKS - On "Islamic" Justice in Malaysia

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Happy Malaysia Day

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Umno - Nurturing Intolerance/Extremism?

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“Extremists think ''communication'' means agreeing with them.”
-Leo Rosten
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There is nothing wrong with "extremism" per se - one can be extreme in a good way. Most prophets of old were "extremists" in their own way, in their search for justice and truth. As for me, there is no way that perpetrators of unprovoked violence, can convince me that their violence can be justified, when they themselves defile the tenets that they apparently hold dear.

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The question is not whether we will be extremists,
but what kind of extremists we will be.

-MLK
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The point here is this - it isn't exactly the extremism, but the unrestrained intolerance to differences, which sparks the violence which we see in Malaysia today. The worst among these, are those who themselves do not believe in that which they claim to speak for, and only wish to exploit the gullible and silent masses, or a situation, for their own selfish agendas. It is what breeds the "violent" demonstrations we see in our country today - which despite the claims made, are quite obviously sponsored by "certain elements" in the leadership.

In Malaysia, we do not have extremists bearing arms or bombs (at least not yet, unless they belong to security forces, or have connections to the C4 stores) - they are of a more "sophisticated" breed of fascists. They often walk along the corridors of power.

Yes, sir - today, the extremists who espouse intolerance reside even in the hallowed halls of the parliament, government, judiciary, civil service and apparently, even the security forces - a big "thank you" to Mahathir for this "achievement", I should say.
They seek to exploit the insecurities and vulnerabilities in society to exert their authority on the peaceful people of the country.

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Earth's dispossessed are vulnerable targets for extremists:
those who teach that global justice is meaningless;
that satisfaction can come only in violence, division, and intellectual isolation.
-Abdallah II
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What is obvious here is the fact that the extremists in our political circles, having lost hopelessly in the intellectual debates that have hogged the news lately, intend to "up the ante" and indulge in the provocation of violence. Actions that stand for blatant racism or religious bigotry are defended by these "leaders" of a "master race", in their attempt to intimidate dissenters and a peace loving public. It is quite likely that they wouldn't hesitate to have the best thugs and hooligans that money can buy, do their bidding - to create chaos in the public realm to create fear, for fear is a very potent political tool.

All these events, do not in the least inspire confidence among the people or the business community. This brings to mind what Ayn Rand said on how to judge the state of the nation - "watch the money" i.e. flight of capital ...... the drop in our FDI over the last 5 years, is hardly inspiring. It is only Petroleum (despite Petrona's very secret accounts) that is keeping our economy afloat.
When things get tough, man start looking for hope - and soon enough, turn to religion- which in turn can can be explosive when mixed with politics.

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At least two thirds of our miseries spring from human stupidity,
human malice and those great motivators and justifiers of malice and stupidity,
idealism, dogmatism and proselytizing zeal on behalf of religious or political idols.
-Aldous Huxley
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Things will probably explode on the streets, they day the economic fallout of corruption and bad governance hits the belly - for a hungry man is an angry man. Going by events that have developed over the last 18 months, that is a very likely scenario in the coming days......... and no amount of armored personnel can stop the human spirit - unless of course they want to do a "Tiananmen or Saddam Hussein".
We cannot nurture extremist/terrorism, cling to the cause, and wish the results away - so fasten your seat-belts (or flak jackets), guys ...... we've got a roller-coaster ride coming right up!!! But of course such a prospect can be averted, provided Umno can be dislodged from power - but that ain't gonna come easy, no matter how much Malaysians rant and whine about the impotence of PR in making "instant" changes.

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Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.
And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.
-Barry Goldwater
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The Moronic Bigot subtly defending "Cow-boys"?!

(NST) PUTRAJAYA: Parti Keadilan Rakyat member of parliament Zulkifli Noordin has questioned why no action was taken against Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng's chief of staff Ooi Chuan Aun, for linking Jemaah Islah Malaysia (JIM) to religious extremists.
"Until today, he refuses to apologise over his statements," Zulkifli, who is also Kulim Bandar Baharu MP, wrote in his blog.
"He is still free and so far no legal action has been taken against him. Why is the attorney-general not acting against him?
"And why can't he be charged under the Sedition Act or Section 298A of the Penal Code?"
Ooi, who is also Jelutong MP, was reported to have brushed off attacks from Forum Penyelarasan Umat (Forum) to compel him to resign.
The DAP leader had claimed that Forum was not a registered entity and it was backed by Umno, which was looking to cause trouble within Pakatan Rakyat.
Forum had launched a campaign to collect 100,000 signatures to pressure Ooi to step down as chief of staff for allegedly labelling JIM an extremist group.
Zulkifli touched on legal action taken against 12 people over the cow-head incident in Shah Alam when he raised Ooi's case.
He also wrote that in Selangor, there were 647,000 Indians but 810 registered Hindu temples.
"Statistics also show that Selangor has 4.3 million people, of which 2.5 million are Muslims. However, there are only 259 mosques in the state."

Jibby falling ......

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Recently, Judge Azahar Mohamed rejected V. Sivakumar’s suit to seek damages from R. Ganesan for the Perak fiasco (aka coup d'etat) which was orchestrated by Najib's BN.
The recent judgement by Judge Azahar was at best stupidity par excellence, his rationale, mind-boggling and his grovelling before his Umno masters, disgustingly pathetic!!
While Zorro Unmasked contributed the above two images, Kim quek asks in "Judge slapping his own face?"- "By declaring Ganesan as the rightful speaker, Judge Azahar is in fact making a legal judgment. Is that not a breach of Article 72?"
Then comes CPI ridiculing the absurdity of the judgement in The Perak Speaker chair: Contradiction in judge's decision.

There is a problem with the Government's definition of "Legitimacy" as it is peddled to the public - under the Najib leadership, it believes that it can be achieved to "legal gobbledegook" and contradictions. It believes that having "learned judges" making silly judgements in kangaroo courts, can grant it the legitimacy that it craves for in Perak, under its henchman Zambry. It believes that cheating through the usage of the legal machinery under its thumb grants it that legitimacy - and no amount of reason can change that fact, where Umno is concerned.

Of course - Najib and his henchmen of course goes out to town saying that Pakatan Rakyat refuses to respect the rule of law by denying Zambry the legitimacy it hopes to get from its legal machinations, brute force and intimidation using security forces at its disposal. They have the audacity to demand that PR "play its role as an opposition" - while forgetting that it is in actuality the legitimate government, which did its duties according to the Constitution and Parliamentary convention!!

Najib and his BN minions refuse to acknowledge that PR is actually defending the rights of the citizenry to have proper representation in the duly elected Government. They're attempts at seeking justice through all relevant avenues have failed miserably due to the failure of our institutions of democracy- and hence they're performing its role through activism. While it is perceived as an inconvenience, BN refuses to admit that it is what the people want and expect them to do.

What suffers here is none other than "Liberty" - the liberty that people have in giving rulers their mandate. That Liberty, has been taken away from the people through the rape of the Perak State assembly, the subservience of the Police force and the emasculation of the Judiciary.
As this legal charade plays out, the Jibocracy aspires to capture Selangor using the same "democratic" tactics he used in Perak, while the Terengganu BN govt languishes and is in danger of falling apart. Najib fails to realize that the more they try to defend the indefensible, while subverting the democratic institutions of state (as Mahathir did) or light bushfires for the PR govts - the more he will be despised by the people of Malaysia. He refuses to heed Tun Dr. Ismail's warnings against the abuse of power .....

TBH's inquest is still smoldering, attempts are made to get the High Court to interfere in it and suppress justice. Lately, through Najib, PKFZ has been granted a "super task-force" to tackle the problem of shit hitting the fan.
JJ is made exile-Ambassador to USA, an idiot goes to the UN, Idris Jala is made a KPI minister and Ahmad Said is offered a backdoor Minister-ship (an offer which is rejected).
Let us not speak of SHAM - The Suruhanjaya Hak Asasi Manusia (better known as Suhakam) - they're more like 'anjing suruhan' to the BN govt ....
Meanwhile, all major component parties in the BN are in a mess - MCA, MIC, Gerakan, PPP - they're all having their own internal strife as a result of the blow they suffered in the last GE. Cow-heads are paraded as a symbol of resistance to allegedly "unIslamic" actions of the PR govt. Note that Mr. Chris claims that it was legitimate and flip-flops before having them charged - that too, for "Illegal assembly" (which nobody complained about, considering that "freedom of assembly" is a very constitutional right) and the silly, archaic and outdated "Sedition Act" (pardonnez moi, mon ami - just WTF is that??!! Doesn't the Penal Code provide for actions against these hoodlums?)
Now we have Selcat revealing abuse of funds by BN rats abandoning the previous Selangor govt, while the aging IGP (who is apparently totally inefficient) stays on and the Altantuya case is still alive.
In my earlier post, I had put up RPK (who as he himself claimed, is apparently very much in the country with the knowledge of certain authorities) speaking against the subversion of justice seen in the Altantuya-C4 case. This meanwhile, hangs like the "Sword of Damocles" over our dear old Mr. & Mrs "1-Malaysia" - Jibby & Rosie.

All these political intrigue points to one thing - the Najib administration is fighting tooth and nail to defend and prop-up the Kleptocracy which is falling apart ...... it is supposedly no secret that there are spanners being thrown in the works - especially by the Mr. Sleeping Beauty group, which apparently is working with Mr. Moohyiddin in Umno terBaru.
It remains to be seen if Jibby would resort to "undemocratic actions" (read - violence/chaos by design, culminating in "emergency") in coming days, to get their hands on more power........
and most importantly, the the Cash COWS of the nation.

RPK Speaks His Mind - The Altantuya SD

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Bagan Pinang : Take off your race-tinted glasses

by Vijay Kumar Murugavell

I write this in response to Subramaniam Bharathy's article entitled What Position Should the Indian Voters of Bagan Pinang Take?
published on Malaysia Today linking makkal.org link here http://www.makkal.org/content/what-position-should-indian-voters-bagan-pinang-take

There is an idiom called "seeing through rose tinted glasses" which means seeing things as more positive than they really are,
this is not good as the beholder is totally detached from reality. On the other hand seeing through "race tinted glasses" is also dangerous
as it tends to afflict one with racial myopia or looking at every issue from a racial viewpoint.

The pitfalls of race based politicking :
I am not saying that racial discrimination does not exist, I mean to say no such thing but playing up race based sentiments will only
invite others to take up a counter challenge and guess what ? The race based party with the biggest numbers usually wins, in Malaysia
that biggest race based party is UMNO who while imploring subservient component party's to toe the line controls the BN ruling coalition.
They use convoluted or non-existent logic to please a certain segment who are defensive that their political dominance is threatened.
The soup was left in the laundry bag and it is beginning to stink.many of the maladies the writer speaks of stems from BN getting
re-lected continuously for the last half a century, sending a message that their policies are acceptable.

The majority of the Malaysian Indian community gave their vote to BN since independence until March 08,2008 when they joined
a broad based revolt that denied the BN its cherished two-thirds majority in parliament.
This was a joint effort by Malaysians of all creeds, so for some segments of Hindraf to say that Hindraf played a key role is akin to
a cocky rooster crowing at dawn then claiming that its crowing caused the sun to rise.
As to his statement "PKR, DAP, MIC, UMNO, just want our votes – that’s all", wake up and smell the coffee -ALL political party's without exception strive
to increase their membership and obtain votes, show me one that does not, Even NGO's like Hindraf strive to increase their numbers
that is part of the democratic process - get with the program.
Some Hindraf members were posturing that they may vote for BN next elections and other pronouncements that infer that they will decide who rules Penang State government after turning a controversial land issue in Kg Buah Pala into a racial one.Racist posturing only invites others to take up a similar stance.

Penang with a population of 1.3million is made up of roughly 60% Chinese, 30% Malay and 10% Indians, lets not also forget its 80% urbanized.
How would Hindraf feel if 800,000 Penang Chinese who are fed up retaliate by saying :
"To hell with you WE will decide who rules Penang with or without your vote"
Even the mighty UMNO cannot rule in Penang without Gerakan's help.
Posture when you are in the position of strength, negotiate when you are not.
Roosevelt said " carry a big stick and talk softly NOT "carry a small twig and shout loudly"


Kampung Buah Pala, Hindraf and LGE :
I will not go into a ten page explanation regarding Kampung Buah Pala except to say that it is irrefutable that the previous BN
government alienated the land for a miserable sum without consulting the residents.
Lim Guan Eng (LGE) may be many things but to call him a liar or evil is pushing the buck a bit too far, in the worst case he was probably
not well informed or inexperienced in running a state in some aspects.As to the assertations of LGE sending "Indian mandores" is a cheap shot, he sent two of his Deputy Chief Ministers to meet the villagers one of whom happened to be Prof Ramasamy.At the height of Hindraf protests did for PM Pak Lah send his Deputy Prime Minister to meet Hindraf on the streets ? No, instead they were met with water cannons.

I was am truly disappointed with Hindraf's stunt of threatening to burn LGE's effigy, a memorandum of protest would have sufficed, LGE would have gladly accepted the memorandum and explained his side of the story.
Hindraf aimed its vitriol at LGE from the beginning, had they joined LGE in the beginning to pressure the previous state government to account for their
actions and failing that compensation for the settlers the outcome may have been very different.

Hindraf advisor K Maran said Hindraf campaigned against Barisan Nasional because the Indian community wanted a better caring government to help them.
However, he slammed the DAP government for purportedly not showing any difference from the previous one.

Malaysian's mudah lupa (forget easily) including Hindraf. let me take you down memory lane.

Please view this video :Guan Eng: Indians Rich? Please prove it (Dec 13th 2007) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLt3QARQ1HA
barely a month after the Hindraf Nov 25th rally, LGE stood up for you guys.
LGE is now the villain ? How about the still unresolved Kugan case ? Dare Hindraf burn effigies of the IGP and Health DG ?

Pakatan Manifesto vs Hindraf 18 point Manifesto :
Lets get something very clear, the Pakatan Manifesto is meant as a framework if Pakatan takes over the Federal Government not at state level,
Pakatan Manifesto promises to take care of all Malaysians based on NEED not BREED.
It does not promise special quota's for Malaysian Indians or any other ethnicity.
If we look at a cross section of Malaysians below the poverty line, the Malays are likely to make up the largest portion in absolute numbers
followed by Indians in numbers disproportionate to their total population, then smaller numbers of Chinese and others in respect to their total population.
All should be given help regardless of their ethnicity, if the Malays and Indians make up most of this number so be it.

Lets look at the 18 point manifesto the writer is talking about http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/24064/84/
Excepts from Hindraf 18 point manifesto

Quote 1
End Racism, end Islamic extremism and end Malay privileges on the 50th year golden jubilee mega Independence celebrations of Malaysia on 31st August 2007.
Quote 2
20% of the Government top most level postings (Secretaries Generals), Middle level Management (Directors) and management level (Managers) postings, and the same for the Private Sectors, and positions of District Officers; Foreign and Diplomatic Service positions, civil service positions are reserved for Indians for the next 15 years.
Quote 3
A minimum of 20 Opposition members of Parliament are elected exclusively by the Indian Community

Do you see a contradiction between 1 juxtaposed against 2 & 3 ? You cannot fight racism on a raced based platform, whether you do it offensively of defensively
When I first saw the 18 point manifesto I saw many points of contention within the manifesto interspersed between universal values,
above is just an example, I picked many such contentious elements in the manifesto.
Do you also see how this cannot fit in with the Pakatan manifesto ? I will just politely say that the 18 point manifesto proposed by Hindraf is "surreal".
In my humble opinion Hindraf should do some soul searching and revise its manifesto to stick to propositions that are unique to the Indian community
and not foray into areas of universal governance.Goal setting whether for individuals or organizations should incorporate the following elements: -
It must be realistic, achievable and have a time limit upon which it must be reviewed to remain current.

Pakatan State Government inefficiencies and the mainstream media :
With the exception of Kelantan all other Pakatan State governments are new, who while trying to run their states face relentless sabotage
from the Federal Government in terms of funding and various other aspects.many have taken bold initiatives in transparency unheard of previously.
There were cases where the state government was blamed for issues under the ambit of the federal government simply because the complainant/s
were ignorant on jurisdictions.
Sometimes the temple demolitions that some made a brouhaha in the mainstream media turned out to be relocations that the state governments
already discussed with the respective temple committee's and obtained their blessings, but the mainstream media (MSM) being aligned to BN gleefully
ran provocative articles playing up ethnic sentiments and consequently when the truth was exposed they did not bother publishing an apology
or retraction, the MSM just stopped informing on the follow up action being taken and looked for the next controversy to drum up.
Does this mean I am saying that PR state governments are faultless and perfect ? No way, they make mistakes just like you and me.
In cases where the PR State government did not perform their duty it would be useful to send a memorandum to your elected representative.
If he/she fails to take action ask for explanations , if the answers are not satisfactory send a copy to the Menteri Besar, if you have exhausted
all avenues and still have grievances then no one will blame you for going to the press.
You must however have specific grievances,not vague ones like the writer quoted ie "lying DAP Chief Minister " ,"string of broken promises ",In PKR we have a bunch of wimps for MPs and Aduns"so on and so forth, it just sounds like typical sensationalist headlines published by garbage pile tabloids.

If grievances are consistently not addressed satisfactorily, then go ahead and exercise your democratic right at the ballot box, just as you
do not like governments only paying attention to you during election time, it is also incumbent upon citizens to give feedback to governments
on a regular basis so they have an opportunity to correct themselves not join the bandwagon and scream together with the chorus when elections are near, about issues you have not bothered to understand.You must educate yourself on the issues and repercussions of policies before you cast your ballot, not base you decision on emotion, rhetoric and hearsay.THIS IS YOUR DUTY AS A CITIZEN.

Bagan Pinang by-election
The writer implores the Indian voters to boycott the abovementioned by-elections as a sign of protest against both Pakatan and BN.
There are some 5,000 Postal votes involved are of concern, in US armed forces tend to vote Republican, here they tend to vote BN.
This makes the by-election already lop-sided in favor of BN.There is a chance pakatan may win Its dicey, if they can win by 1500 votes -I would be happy,
In 2004 BN won 75% of votes in 2008 it went down to 59%,
This is good but to counter the postal votes, more people must come out to vote, there are about 14,000 voters, I think its possible but difficult, but I hope they can repeat the feat in Kuala Terenganu by election where they seized a BN incumbent seat.So far in the last 8 by elections all were status quo except KT where seats changed .There is also the factor of Independent/s contesting who may act as "spoilers " who have no hope of retaining their deposit but directly benefit BN.A high voter turnout will favor PR, a low turnout will favor BN.

Repercussions of Indian voters boycotting the by-election :
I will just bluntly say that if the Indian voters (est 2000+) follow Subramaniam Barathy's rationale of boycotting the by-elections, they are handing victory on a silver platter to BN, the very same party that the writer is upset with as he quoted "Hishamuddin the Home Minister says it is alright to slight the Indians in the country by desecrating their religious symbol, the cow. The Federal Government has done nothing on the Indian issues"
The BN will then use the results of the by-election as a referendum that the Indians still prefer the BN, because the boycott gave them a victory.
BN will also be very happy as such actions are likely to sour ties between Hindraf and Pakatan grassroots NATIONWIDE, which falls in very nicelywith their divide and rule plans.
To do this would be to damage the very interests one is talking about protecting.

There is an idiom for idiots who do this, it is called "shooting yourself in the foot"

The defender of Civil Rights is HERE!!

The man with the tall songkok who carried the cow's head to the Selangor State Secretariat building threatens the Menteri Besar:
"Hoi Khalid (Samad), kau duduk. Kau belum kenal aku siapa?
Selepas ini, kau jangan turun Seksyen 23, kalau tidak, kau mati.
Ini kawasan majoriti Melayu!"

Meanwhile, of course - the demonstrators didn't know who the third party that brought the Cow's head was .....
- but the Toyol of Selangor did , and even knew why they brought it!!

Read also Art Harun's "Who's Pinochio?"

Hisham - Did Somebody LIE?

Hindu Sangam denies meeting cow-head protestors, wants them charged

SHAH ALAM, Sept 4- Malaysia Hindu Sangam said today it had no intention of meeting the cow-head protesters and have called on authorities to take immediate action against them.

It’s advisor Datuk A. Vaithilingam said the name of the national body for Hindu affairs had been misquoted in the press as having met the cow-head protestors.

“There were no such meetings,” he said today.

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Meanwhile, Khir Toyo has gone on the offensive and out to town today with the press. He showed a plot of land that was prepared for the temple at a "strategic location in Section 18"!!
That too, complete with "Infrastructure" since 2007, mind you!!
It is quite Strange (and bigtime, too), that the transfer or construction of the temple never took place during his time, if you ask me ...

Well - what has Khalid and the Hindu Sangam got to say about Khir Toyo's "magnanimity"?

In another development to the above incident:-
Malaysiakini asked to remove ‘cow’s head’ videos

Friday, 04 September 2009 17:43

(The Star) - Independent news portal Malaysiakini has been directed to remove footage and videos of the controversial “Cow’s Head Protest” from its website. In a letter, the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission requested Malaysiakini remove what it described as provocative and offensive videos following “numerous complaints from the public.” “These videos contain offensive content with the intent to annoy any person, especially Indians,” monitoring and enforcement division senior acting director Abdul Halim Ahmad said in the letter dated Sept 3. He added that this was an offence under Section 211 or 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998. The affected videos are: Hisham: Don’t blame cow head protesters Temple demo: Residents march with cow’s head

Mercury Rising in 2-Malaysia!

"It goes back to the fundamental contradictions in Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Vision 2020 ..... It offered the image of an economically and technologically modern society,
but failed to recognise that you cannot simply create a modern economy with modern technology and keep everything else pretty much unchanged."
-Clive Kessler, Bumpy stretch ahead for Malaysia

Six months down the road, it appears that Najib is losing his grip on party matter - and he needs another "war" to prop him up.
Everything Umno does, seems to be going wrong - from the proposed Internet Filter, to Rohaizat's candidacy, to the caning of Kartika, to the beer issue, to the reversal of the Non-Muslims only ruling for the Black eyed Peas concert, to the Visit Malaysia advertisement. Let us not forget Najib's address to the media - encouraging it to be bolder in its journalism, and to report without fear or favour, while at the same time retaining the PPPA....... and of course Moohyiddin's lie at Permatang Pasir, that Singapore threatened to go to war over water.
Morale in Umno is low - bigtime - and he needs a reason to have his Umno minions to rally around him.

As usual, Umno looks for a "bogeyman" to attack, in its efforts to unite Umno that appears to be very much shaken after last year's mandate - it is a party so weak, that cannot feel at ease unless it gets a two-third majority in Parliament.
In search of a bogeyman to blame their failures on, we now hear that our former Information Minister, Zainudin Maidin saying (in Utusan, of course), “If 50 years of independence have given a deeper understanding of the poison sowed by Kuan Yew 40 years ago, the recent events mentioned would not have occurred.” “Singapore sticks to a Third World democracy despite having a developed world mentality, while Malaysia has a Third World mentality but a developed world democracy.”

We had plenty of racist rhetoric from the fascists/extremists. Candle-light vigils disrupted. We had cycling children apprehended. Then came the Perak coup in which hooligans took control of the State assembly with the support of Najib. Then the threats of violence by a group of hoodlums disguised as NGO at the anti-ISA rally. We had Teoh Beng Hock die with the "cooperation" of MACC. We had some two-bit "Islamists" threatening violence and blood using a cow head, with an "inexperienced" police force looking on. Lately. we had Najib openly announcing that he "wants" Selangor, despite the people's mandate. And today, we have Aduns arrested in Perak. (That's the "developed world democracy" Zam speaks of!)
All these, while he goes around proclaiming a "1-Malaysia" - devoid of Law & Order.

To me, there is a very obvious pattern of events that are taking place - "somebody", it appears, is desperately trying to subvert the the whole system that holds the country together. This "somebody" needs to rally one sector of society against all the others, whose support they have lost (and have no hope of regaining).
The temperature is being raised, and those on the offensive are now bent on creating a very nervous society which can one day "snap", and then run riot. This will bring about calls to curtail civil liberties and "stern action". It is being made increasingly obvious that the lazy Home Minister isn't too keen on the "review" of the ISA, as it was a convenient tool to be used on dissenters on the pretext of "national security".

To make it possible for them to retain ISA and other draconian laws (like the Police Act, PPPA, Sedition Act, UUCA and the OSA), they seem to need some level of "insecurity". The people (mainly the Malays) need to feel insecure - and only then can these archaic laws be retained. They need to feel like they are defending something that means everything to the Malays - and "hang the other Malaysians", and hold them at ransom (that includes the "bumiputeras or pribumis" in the penisular or Sabah and Sarawak).
They need to raise the temperature of politics and threaten the public with chaos and trouble. The Malays must be made to feel that they will lose everything, when they never did gain much - beyond the political hogwash and racist rhetoric peddled by their Umno masters. They want us to ask for "stern action" against dissenters.

So what we have now is the creation of 2 Malaysias in "1-Malaysia" .... one has to hold the other by the balls. That is the "Pekan Formula" .... that is Ketuanan UmnoPutera.