Thursday 25 August 2011

Tribute to Steve Jobs

"Your time is limited,
so don't waste it living someone else's life.
Don't be trapped by dogma —
which is living with the results of other people's thinking.
Don't let the noise of others' opinions
drown out your own inner voice.
And most important,
have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
They somehow already know what you truly want to become.
Everything else is secondary."
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Wednesday 24 August 2011

Alright Editor- We can forgive ... but you're still an idiot!


The apology issued by the management and editorial department of Sinar Harian was published on page 8 of today's issue.

"We admit the error in the publication of 'Objectives of the Christian movement' in the Info column on page 9, edition Aug 23, 2011, yesterday.

"The information published is not accurate.

"Therefore we retract the Info and apologise to all Sinar Harian readers, especially Christians, over the error committed."


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A despicable piece of journalism
Rev Dr Hermen Shastri
Aug 24, 11
3:55pm

The Council of Churches of Malaysia welcomes the apology tendered by the Malay language daily Sinar Harian over its article 'Matlamat Gerakan Kristian' (Objectives of the Christian movement) published on Aug 23.

They have admitted that the information published in the article is inaccurate and in error. However we note that there has been no expression of remorse.

The suggestions that Christian groups would encourage immoral activities as part of an attempt to propagate their faith is clearly preposterous, erroneous, inflammatory, and a flagrant attack on another religion.

It is our view that any reasonable person would have found the article totally offensive, not just to the Christians in our country but to all decent-minded and peace-loving people.

This despicable piece of journalism, and other stories like it, should never be repeated. The management and the editorial department of Sinar Harian must now prove the sincerity of their apology by publicly stating what measures they are taking to ensure that stories of this nature are never published again in their newspaper.

Unless there are systemic changes in their editorial processes, and proper procedures and guidelines are put in place, there is no guarantee that the newspaper, or others like it, will not repeat the harm done on another occasion.

A respected and responsible newspaper must ensure at all times that it is never a party to callous and insensitive reporting bent on destroying the good relationship among the religious communities in our country.

Rev Dr Hermen Shastri is general secretary, Council of Churches of Malaysia.

Tuesday 23 August 2011

Police Molesting Civilian Women?

Sodomy II: Exposing a Sham Trial with an UnSworn Statement.

"By refusing to testify and daring them to do their worst,
Anwar Ibrahim has put the legal and
political establishment itself on trial.
Through this single, public act of principled defiance
he has demonstrated the shocking extent
to which our justice system has been reduced
to being a tool of those who are in power now".

Press Release

Why Anwar Ibrahim Made an Unsworn Statement From The Dock

On 22nd August 2011, Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim made an unsworn statement from the dock during his second sodomy trial in just over a decade. He chose to do so knowing that less weight would be given to his testimony as compared to sworn testimony from the witness box. This decision not to testify from the witness box is at once a searing protest against an unjust legal and political system, an eloquent indictment of that system and a powerful call for reform and change. By refusing to testify and daring them to do their worst, Anwar Ibrahim has put the legal and political establishment itself on trial. Through this single, public act of principled defiance he has demonstrated the shocking extent to which our justice system has been reduced to being a tool of those who are in power now. His act echoes that of Nelson Mandela, who in a bygone era also chose to give an unsworn statement from the dock during his political trial. Mandela used his now famous statement in the Rivonia sham trial to expose the evils of the apartheid regime to the scrutiny of the world.The stirring conclusion to Mandela’s speech is quoted by Anwar Ibrahim in his own statement from the dock. Like Anwar after him, Mandela realised that the only possible verdict was ‘guilty’ and preferred to make a full and coherent statement of his struggle rather than let his argument emerge in ‘bits and pieces’ during cross-examination.

The unsworn statement as it is today is the fruit of several hundred years of development of the common law. In England accused persons were not allowed counsel in felonies until 1836 and the practice thus grew up of allowing the accused person to make an unsworn statement from the dock. When the Criminal Evidence Act 1898 finally allowed sworn evidence to be accepted by the court, the right to make an unsworn statement from the dock was expressly preserved so as not to compel an accused person to go into the witness box. This hallowed and time-marked right is invaluable to the victim of a political trial, fighting against the entire might of the State. What Nelson Mandela did in 1963, Anwar Ibrahim did yesterday. Used in a righteous cause, the unsworn statement from the dock is a powerful tool against an unjust legal and political establishment. Anwar Ibrahim has rightly said that the outcome of his sodomy trial is a foregone conclusion. Now he has taken this judicial persecution and turned it into a weapon for the betterment of the nation.

N SURENDRAN
VICE PRESIDENT
KEADILAN

Monday 22 August 2011

UMNO- Time to Reflect, Repent & Reboot.

Sunday, 21 August 2011

Where has Malay Nationalism gone to?

SAKMONGKOL

It is moving away from immovable UMNO.

The doleful and almost pleading wish of UMNO people generally is for all the nightmares affecting their political future will go away. As a self-reassuring measure, they tell themselves, things will be all right. The people will come back to UMNO because UMNO fights for Malays. So, UMNO leaders everywhere say, things will be ok. Zahid Hamidi says, UMNO will win back the Malay ground and it will do so overwhelmingly.

Where is UMNO’s main appeal? It appeals to the Malay ground that adopts the cruder form of Malay nationalism, the sledgehammer variety so enthusiastically expounded by organizations like Perkasa. But that variety of base and crude nationalism is dying. The new generation of Malay voters adopt different values and have different expectations.

You can see what form of nationalism they subscribed to- making out the case that Bersih march for example was masterminded by Malaysian Indians out to topple the Malay government. They thought that would turn the Malay ground xenophobic until they discovered the majority of the marchers were Malays. You get disappointed that you can no longer reduce the issue to a simple Malay- non Malay clash.

What’s the other important thing to the Malays? Their religion- comes the answer. So UMNO leaders came out accusing homely Ambiga as a threat to Islam. Still no go as that would assume the Malay faith in their religion is so fragile that even the appearance of Ambiga who is probably remotely interested in another person’s religious denomination, is sufficient to shake the religious fiber of the Malay ground. Still no one buys that argument as it died out as quickly as it was raised.

Hmm, let’s try communism, that godless creed. The Malay’s hatred for communism seemed to be a possible source to limit empathy from the Malay ground. So pictures of Shamsiah Fakeh a member of the Malay communist regiment of the 1940s were resurrected and given prominence. The idea was to say that Bersih marchers were communism inspired.

The feeble attempt was non impactful because the attempted association with communism goes against mainstream logic; no one country in the world is sticking around communism. Even China has gone free market. Why would a band of marchers, marched in the cause of communism?

Face it. UMNO can’t appeal any longer to the cruder form of xenophobic nationalism or group pride.

Let’s ask calmly, where has Malay nationalism migrated to? The answer to me is it hasn’t migrated anywhere. But Malay nationalism has mutated into the finer form of nationalism which finds expression in variegated forms of universal causes. Example. The abhorrence for corruption is one reconstituted form of the previously crude form of nationalism. Revulsion towards other races has tuned to a more universal revulsion for corruption for example. Because corruption cuts across and affects the interest no longer of distinct groups, but the whole country. It undermines the moral fiber of the whole nation.

Wasn’t the principal idea of the original nationalism was to inculcate one’s love for the country and one’s love for the country finds expression in a more universal desire to protect the country’s interest as a whole? The crude form of nationalism which is essentially irrational chauvinism exist as an insignificant subset to the wider and more universal nationalism. It exists among the inhabitants of the lunatic underworld.

Revulsion towards economic thievery and corporate pillaging is another example. The Malays despise their own kind for doing a sting on the country with equal vehemence as if economic con jobs are inflicted on them. I have in mind of course the lightning fast deal between MAS and Air Asia. I am left with the bitter after thought that all these so called Malay corporate chieftains should be sent to reeducation schools to be taught the meaning of nationalism. Where is that sense of overriding concern to put things right as a matter of probity and correctness without doing corporate shenanigans to profit from the man-made miseries of MAS?

MAS belongs to the nation as a whole, the pride of Malaysians. Appreciation of that alone is sufficient to preclude it being treated as a pawn in an elaborate corporate board game. More disturbing and unsettling, is the more malignant inference that the government is playing along with the game the business elite plays.

Therefore if UMNO continues to peddle the cruder form of nationalism, while the Malay ground has shifted forward, how will UMNO justify its relevance? UMNO will go the Goklkar and LDP way not because some prominent bloggers will be masterminding cyber-attacks on its leaders. UMNO will be rendered irrelevant because it refuses to change its ideological format. You need to reformat or even reboot your, raison d'être

Print

Tuesday 16 August 2011

A collapsing grand narrative- Azly Rahman

"We have a philosophically dead society by those who could not
even see the need to look at society through the lens of
political economy but rather see the bastardised version
of specialised functions of governance as the only way
to run society as a political entity.


We need to groom philosopher-rulers - not as an elitist
Platonic or Confucian type of ruling elitism,
but to create the everyday philosopher-ruler
in our project of grooming future leaders
in virtually all sectors of our lives. "

A collapsing grand narrative


Azly Rahman
Aug 15, 11


What is ailing our society? Are we moving into the final stages of social, political, and moral annihilation, judging from the levels and forms of violence we are seeing emerging?

We see no respect for the rule of law, an increasing gap between the rich and the poor, conspicuous consumption at the highest level of vulgarity, a continuing massacre of the voice of critical sensibility, a direction-less educational progress, production of public statements championing racial and religious bigotry, prostitutionalisation of the electoral process, drunkenness of politicians in attacking pluralists and multiculturalists, fear and trembling upon hearing the words “socialism” and “communism” - all these are indicators of the chaos Malaysians are experiencing in their attempt to understand where their leaders are taking them and why this nation is being torn apart.

Has Malaysia made a wrong turn in conceptualising its economic, social, and political policies, merely transplanting a system left by the colonials?

Have we nurtured a culture that ensures the continuation of a system of exploitation adorned with a façade of nationalism and patriotism derived from the much contested ideology of ketuanan Melayu that is fast losing its force of populism and gaining an image of neo-colonialist Sartrean nausea offering a “no-exit” route to a collapsing grand narrative of an Asian despotic form of deformed developmentalism?

Why are we experiencing this phenomenon? Why are our elected officials becoming corrupted to the core - both in the way they use power and the way they display the image of being in power?

What has crept cancerously into the cognitive faculties/thinking process of our leaders in these five decade of unilinear developmentalist agenda that necessitates such a brutal image of arrogance in the way the leaders react to the voices of discontent as in the Bersih rally and in investigations on corrupt practices?

Have Malaysians failed to examine their lives, borrowing the Socratic maxim “the unexamined life is not worth living”? Are we summoning our greatest enemy - ignorance - to lead us to the path of developmentalism and putting knowledge in front of the firing squad circa Merdeka/Independence, borrowing again another Socratic maxim “the greatest enemy of knowledge is ignorance”?

I suppose we have installed rulers who are not philosophers.
We continue to install exploiters and abusers of power that use the ideological state apparatuses to allow a certain paradigm of human and material development to reign supreme. We have installed robber barons who speak with a two-pronged tongue of national development; skilled users of Orwellian doublespeak.


What we have is now, after over 50 years of independence, are a broken education system; a population that does not read books that help in the improvement of the soul, mind, and spirit; a ruling regime that is holding its last dying breath by chanting the mantra of racial and religious bigotry in the hope that it can continue to live in luxury for the next decade or so.

A philosophically dead society


We have a philosophically dead society by those who could not even see the need to look at society through the lens of political economy but rather see the bastardised version of specialised functions of governance as the only way to run society as a political entity.

We need to groom philosopher-rulers - not as an elitist Platonic or Confucian type of ruling elitism, but to create the everyday philosopher-ruler in our project of grooming future leaders in virtually all sectors of our lives.

We need to reconceptualise the way we run our universities and public institutions in the training of the mind to lead organisations. We need to help members of society understand what knowledge is, its origin, its transformative power, and how it should be applied for the good of those that are potentially marginalised, alienated, or even mentally enslaved in newer and more subtle ways.

Through education conceived differently to meet the needs of a degenerating society, members of society need to be taught how to analyse complex social, ethical, technological, and social issues in this post-industrial and informational age and offer scientific ideas to effect humanistic and social change in virtually all sectors of human intellectual-macro level activities.

To save this nation from total destruction, we must go back to philosophy and through a rigorous curriculum adaptable to varying contexts of learning, teach our future leaders the following:
  • To understand the nature of knowledge and the history of its conceptualisation.
  • To understand the differences between knowledge, information, understanding, application, and able to articulate how these conceptions differ from one another.
  • To utilise the understanding of the philosophical, cultural, and political-economic aspects of knowledge as a basis to create newer and synthesised understanding of these and craft frameworks to offer perspectives to social and moral problems.
  • To develop logical, creative, moral, and futuristic ideas for social and organisational change; ideas informed by the deep rooted and broad-based understanding of knowledge in the most inter-disciplinary and cross-cultural sense of the word.
  • To develop a set of cognitive skills to be recognised as effective, respectable, well-informed, philosophically-trained members of a think-tank group of social organisations and social frontier thinkers able to generate innovative solutions to complex problems.
  • To explore varying cultural philosophies and draw universal themes of ethics and social reconstructionism to affect changes that will benefit the poor, marginalised, and alienated of all ethnic groups.
Such is the newer design we ought to explore to renew our intellectual prosperity.
We must begin to become a nation of philosophers more than a nation of plunderers.




DR AZLY RAHMAN, who was born in Singapore and grew up in Johor Baru, holds a Columbia University (New York) doctorate in International Education Development and Master's degrees in the fields of Education, International Affairs, Peace Studies and Communication. He has taught more than 40 courses in six different departments and has written more than 300 analyses on Malaysia. His teaching experience spans Malaysia and the United States, over a wide range of subjects from elementary to graduate education. He currently resides in the United States.

Friday 12 August 2011

It's Tajudin's, It's Jibby's- No, it's just more Madey Bullshit!!


It's a "directive"?
Nope- it's an "advice"!


It's a "bail-out"?
No- it's a
"win-win situation"!



It's a "settlement"?
No way, Jose
- it's called an

"off-site solution"!!

not settlement!!



***This post is Closely Related (an encore production actually) to:-

Thursday 11 August 2011

Bolehland's WTF moments....

Case 1


The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department told The Malaysian Insider that his directive ordering all government-linked companies to withdraw their suits against Tajuddin earlier this month was merely to buy time for all concerned parties to reach a “win-win” agreement and put an end to the prolonged financial saga involving Tajuddin.The Malaysian Insider reported this morning that Putrajaya, through Nazri’s letter, had directed all GLCs, including MAS and the national debt restructuring company Danaharta, to cease all civil suits against Tajuddin, the former chairman of the national carrier and protégé of Tun Daim Zainuddin.
“Since it involved the law and I am the minister in charge of law, Husni told me, why don’t you look into this. It is not a cloak and dagger move ... we knew this would come out somehow and there is nothing to hide. I wrote that letter using my letterhead,” said Nazri.
It was therefore not compulsory for the companies to settle their suit, but it was conveyed to them that it was advisable, given the possible scenarios the new situation had presented, said Nazri.

=======================

Case 2

KUALA LUMPUR: The Selangor Islamic Affairs Department's (Jais) decision to raid a multi-racial dinner at the Damansara Utama Methodist Church's Dream Centre should not be politicised or blown out of proportion, said Muslim groups.


Jais director Marzuki Hussin added in a statement today that Jais officers did not interrupt the event and only inspected the venue after the dinner had ended.

“Accusations that Jais raided, used force and trespassed are wild accusations,” he said, adding that no arrests were made even though he claimed that it was within Jais’s legal bounds to do so.




Wednesday 10 August 2011

Article 11: Come again, Zaid ....

".... also said that the Pakatan Rakyat component parties would not
support the true meaning of Article 11 for different reasons."

~Zaid: Raid is against Federal Constitution

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Just read properly what this fella is saying:

First he says plenty of nice things and whacks PKR (Note that UMNO is not mentioned at all) then ".. the issue would be dealt with differently under a Kita-run government as the party was the only one in the country fearless enough to defend Article 11.
“We would refer Article 11 to a properly constituted Constitutional Court,” he said.
"

Fine. You impressed? Excited? Wanna shout out for KITA?
Hold the applause just for a minute, mate - and read on .....

Then he goes on to say:
We would insert an all empowering Article stating that all laws must conform to the Quran, and that laws contravening Islamic tenets and practices would be void. Islamic tenets and Islamic practices, in this case, would be those that are approved by the Conference of Rulers,”

By default, the Quran becomes the Supreme Law of Malaysia- but only parts approved by the "Conference of Rulers" (meaning the PM's office la).
Now who is going to interpret the Quran and that make sure the FC subject to it? You guessed itm, mate- JAKIM, JAIS, MAIS and the whole jing-bang ....

So, since Non-Muslims cannot decide/interfere in matters of Islam (even if you can pass the Syariah exams) - effectively, it means that non-Muslims wouldn't have a say ....
Now all the infidel lawyers can go fly kites with the knowledge about the law- because the Syariah lawyers can upstage you based on their qualification (and kulit-fication) in Islamic Jurisprudence!!

Now all you Kafir Laknats- please applaud this horse-loving lawyer from KITA who claims to defend the FC as the supreme law of the land ....
Bravo you infidel KITA-philes - Under KITA, maybe we can hope for an Islamic Republic a la Pakistan!!

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"What you applaud, you encourage;
Be careful what you celebrate .."
~ Peggy Noonan.

The Jais Raid Controversy:- A case of "Taqlid" vs "Ijtihad"?

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WIKIPEDIA:-
Ijtihad
(Arabic: اجتهاد‎, ʼiǧtihād) is the making of a decision in Islamic law (sharia) by personal effort (jihad), independently of any school (madhhab) of jurisprudence (fiqh).[1] as opposed to taqlid, copying or obeying without question.

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"We realise that this conflict stems from the static
and stagnant approach to understanding Islamic law.
The codified law in Islamic jurisprudence derived
through the exercise of juristic reasoning of the latter years
was considered sacred and beyond reproach.
Hence the most rigid and literalist interpretations tend to prevail."


Raid by Jais an 'uncivilised' act

Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa
Aug 10, 11
6:23pm

We, from the Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF) read the news regarding the proposed Faith Crime Act by the deputy education minister yesterday with trepidation.

The proposal came about as a response to Jais' unwarranted raid of Damansara Utama Methodist Church last week.

The raid conducted by Jais was purely based on suspicion that the Methodist Church was involved in an act of proselytisation. The Malaysian Aids Council however reiterated that the dinner was actually a fund-raiser for HIV/AIDS support programmes.

The whole issue boils down to one main issue. The so-called defenders of the faith believed that their action was espoused by the religion of Islam in preventing the believers from apostasy.

This uncivilised act of storming into a sacred place accompanied by the Mafia-like police was endorsed by none others than the insular and xenophobic NGOs like Perkasa and Pembela.

We believe that such an act of storming into a church without any warrant and based on mere suspicion was a travesty of justice and democratic principles. Freedom of assembly is enshrined in Article 10 of our constitution. Any act that violates this freedom is reprehensible.

We realise that this conflict stems from the static and stagnant approach to understanding Islamic law. The codified law in Islamic jurisprudence derived through the exercise of juristic reasoning of the latter years was considered sacred and beyond reproach. Hence the most rigid and literalist interpretations tend to prevail.

The defenders of faith failed to look at ample evidence in the Quran that gives the liberty to the people to freely follow their conviction.

Any individuals are given the right to accept or reject a particular faith based on his personal conviction.

"There shall be no coercion in matters of faith" [Qur'an, 2:256]

“And [thus it is] had thy Sustainer so willed, all those who live on earth would surely have attained to faith, all of them: dost thou, then, think that thou couldst compel people to believe” [Qur'an, 10:99]

This message of freedom of belief and the call to religious tolerance is reiterated time and time again in the Quran and through various Prophets. This has been the call of all the Prophets even before Prophet Muhammad. Refer the Quran [7:85-87, 39:39-40, 17:84].

Faith is a personal conviction. The state has no authority to interfere in one's choice of faith. One is answerable to God for the decision he or she makes in her life. Hitherto it is very perturbing that a lawmaker proposed for Faith Crime Act to be enacted by the government.

This act infringes on God given right for us to believe on our free will. No one has the authority to take this right from us. We are answerable to God alone in the life to come. We must ensure that our community embraces this freedom of religion and we will not succumb to any threat to remove this freedom away from us.

The principle of reciprocity is to be upheld since it gives a meaning to the concept of justice. In a modern multiracial society like us, where different faiths lives together, we have to respect the right of an individual to choose and convert to a faith that he or she believes in.

There should not be undue pressure or coercion for a person to believe in a faith he or she has no belief anymore. It would be a real tragedy and disaster when a state started imposing its authority in matters of faith.

The writer is chairman and director of Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF).

Monday 8 August 2011

Why we left .....

Why we left and why we will continue to leave...

Citizen's Blog- StarOnline
Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Posted by: MS Mohamad

I read an interesting article today about a few prominent figures addressing their concern over the increasing UKM and UM medical graduates who have left the country to continue their medical practice overseas.

After reading the news for 3 times, I called a very close friend, an MD (UKM) graduate to ask his opinion on how the news might have affected him. He has been working in Singapore for more than a decade as a Consultant Surgeon with a certain sub-specialty

"Why be a slave in your own country, when you are a king in another?" He replied.

Indeed, if anybody would want to find a reason why all of us left, either after housemanship, after being a specialist, or even after sub specializing, and now, even prior to doing housemanship, they need not look at our payslip, or the wealth that we have gained overseas, but only to the Medical System that has been rotting in the ignorance and politic-based stupidity that Malaysia has been well-known for (in the medical field).

I have served the system for nearly 2 decades of my career, waiting for it to improve for so long, and only finding myself in despair, quitting with a 24-hour notice and serving abroad. The system is, in my opinion, keeping doctors, since the beginning of their career as House Officers to the end of it, in the lowermost priority. When I was working there, doctors are so ill-treated, while the nurses and the medical assistants are overpowering us.

I still remember the days when I was doing seeing patients and rounds as an MO, while the staff nurses would mind their own business, having breakfast in the pantry, or having gossip chats at their own leisure. My House Officers would then have to do merely all the labour-work, up to the extent of setting intravenous drips, and serving medications. If I am to expect the nurses, my patients would have been dead, or the work would have been too slowly or incompletely done.

When I was a House Officer, I had to run down 4-5 floors just to review a blood investigation of a dying dengue patient. The ward staff would either be nowhere around, or will say that he is busy (busier than the doctor?) or the answer I got at that time:

"Doktor nak cepat, doktor turun sendirilah, gaji doktor lagi banyak dari saya"

Even when I was a Specialist, the staff nurses had to be called again and again just to make sure the management plan for the patient would be done. I was already used to answers from them:

“I’m busy with something else"

“My shift is already over"

...it was routine for me.

The Medical Assistants were worse. They would hide behind their so-called boss, the Head of Medical Assistant. They feel hiding behind him would make them not under our jurisdiction, that we have no power to instruct them in managing the patient, that they have power to manage own their own. I've seen them giving medications not as we prescribed, performing procedures without our knowledge, as if they are the actual "Doctors". They are in their own world, and we have to do their job, taking blood, labelling samples, and even cleaning gadgets from the procedures that we have done.

Oh, but the ministry loves this group. They even let them run a clinic now, instead of upgrading the clinics already run by doctors. The government feels that the MAs are very important and should never be ill-treated by those big bad doctors. One time when I was a District Hospital Medical Officer, I was conducting a delivery of a baby. An MA insisted that I remove my car which was block-parking his car. I answered through the phone that I was busy.

He came to the labor room and yelled "Semua orang pun sibuk jugak, macamlah doktor seorang yang sibuk!”

It is insulting that an MA or a staff nurse claims that they are BUSY, as busy as a doctor? As a Malaysian Doctor, I have even worked for 72 hours straight. I have experienced working until my 6 month old daughter did not recognize me at the end of the week.

Is that how busy they are? I am very sure that they are so busy, that they can only spend 2 hours at the nearby Mamak stall, or can only leave at 5:10 PM instead of 5, or can only have 1 hour of lunch.

The management staffs are worse. I have to beg and plead so that I can get my on-call claims, of RM25 per 48 hours of work. While sitting in an air-conditioned office, they will at their own leisure, process my call claims so that I will receive them by the next decade.

The state health or Hospital Director would just give another inspirational talk (of bollocks) on team effort and beauty of teamwork.

That is how Malaysian doctors are treated in the government sector: without respect, without dignity and without significance. Why?

It is because we are bound by ethics to try our best to save lives, despite how ill-treated we are. We hardly have time to complaint because we are too busy or tired, and we would rather spend the precious time resting or seeing our loved ones. The burden of trying to save lives is on our shoulders alone. No MAs or Staff nurses would shoulder it with us. They have their own bosses: the Sisters, Matrons, or Head of MAs, which job description is to ensure that the big bad doctors will not ask their underlings to do extra work.

This is how the Malaysian Ministry of Health have treated their doctors. I am very sure that in each and every doctor, there is a slowly-burning patience in serving the Malaysian people, which will eventually fade and cause them to surrender to serving a place that treats them better.

A few colleagues who graduated from UK choose to serve there:

"The pay is more, and we get the respect we deserve"

Another works in Brunei:

“Here the staff nurses respect Malaysian doctors, and they are very co-operative" (He ended up marrying one)

A few are consultants in Singapore (working with me):

"Here we are treated well, we spearhead the management, and every else do their work to the best of their capabilities".

A few even enjoys working in Indonesia:

“The work-load is horrible since there are a lot of patients, but we are well respected by every hospital personnel" (They have migrated there for nearly a decade)

I am sure that people will see doctors as power-hungry individuals who want to be the boss in the hospital. Trust me, after having graduated 6-7 years of medical school, earning a DEGREE, and subsequently MASTERS, and SUBSPECIALITY, you would expect a degree of respect and being considered important. We are trying our best to improve patient's quality of life, or making sure he lives another day. Is it too much to ask from the system that we are important?

I find that Malaysia is the only country that is making doctors' lives miserable and treated like rubbish. It was never about the pay in the first place. It is about the treatment we are getting and the false political-based promises. Do you know that the so-called circular about doctors can have the day off after working 24 hours straight released JULY 2009 is not yet implemented? Do you know that the raise of UD 41 to 44 does not involve every doctor in the government service?

We are waiting for improvement. We have waited a long time when we were working in the system. Somewhere along the line we decided to leave and wait outside the system. Until the system changes, we will continue to work overseas, in countries which are appreciative of us. Trust me, Malaysian-graduate doctors are considered highly skilful and competent in neighbouring countries, and the 15 % brain drain is more significant than you think.

We will return when the system prioritize us and gives us the quality of life we deserve.

If it stays the same, Malaysian Hospitals would end up having Staff nurses and Medical Assistants as "Doctors", and we would have to send patients to Indonesia for an appendicectomy.

Hear our voice. We hardly speak, but will usually fade away from conflict (and fly to another place).

Friday 5 August 2011

Banning "Temptations"- What "Abstinence" then?

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After the "Kelantan Lotteries" and the "Kedah Ramadan entertainment" issues, many thought these actions using "Islam" as justification for their chauvinism would be confined to these places- these states being largely Muslim/Malay majority.
Not that we forgot about the "ban on Muslim workers in alcohol serving outlets" or "ban on alcohol issues" in Selangor- but now there are raids at Churches if there are Muslims at a dinner!! Saying words like "Quran" & "pray" is now deemed "proselytization" by certain quarters.

Interesting view of PAS, this Khalid gives ... "Hasan’s view on church raid not PAS’s". Some thought is was "brave", some thought it "hypocritical", some said "spineless" and others, "questionable".
I however believe that there is deeper underlying malady which brings forth the confusion- namely envy, selfishness, denial & hypocrisy- and it infects every facet of society today.

Whatever said & done- people now don't know what to make of the "realities" in Malaysia now. What was right, is now wrong. What was legal is now, illegal. What was illegal, can now be legal. What was acceptable, is now "immoral". What is legal here, is illegal there, etc etc etc
Never mind all that .... thanks to the "holier-than-thou" competition between PAS & UMNO, this is the 1-Funny-Malaysia (sorry, Zunar- couldn't resist it) we have today.
Now, I wish to address another issue, (being the holy month of Ramadhan)- that of penance/ abstinence. Just my perspective ....

There appears to be a certain worldview which is gaining popularity these days- it goes like this,
"When I abstain from some things, the accessibility to all these things I abstain from should be removed from my world. Should I fail, it is the fault of the temptation, and not my weak faith/will"
.
Now- should all things I "abstain" from be made inaccessible, wouldn't that mean that effectively, I do not really abstain from anything?
Isn't it also rather hypocritical of me to blame others for my failure to rein in my desires?
This reminded me of a rhyme by Anne Russell ......

"At three I had a feeling of ambivalence toward my brothers,
and so it follows naturally that I poisoned my lovers.
but now I'm happy I have learned the lesson this has taught,
that everything that I do that's wrong is somebody else's fault".

Some believe that they should demand "respect" and assert their religious convictions every now and then. They believe that they should play "God" and remove "temptations", instead of resisting them by strengthening their faith.In some places, eateries & entertainment outlets should be closed. Punishment of children who do not conform isn't unheard of. School canteens are shut. Others shouldn't have fun, lest the "brothers" are tempted. The idea used to justify all these is- "Those who abstain "shouldn't be tempted" ... lest they lose their heavenly rewards"! It's either that, or "We should be able to depict the "character" of the country

Sometimes I wonder ...... Maybe- just maybe, could it be that in doing their "penance/abstinence", many are actually consumed by envy, frustration and anger- which makes them impose these "requirements to conform" upon others who do not possess political power, and consequently feel good about themselves, for being able to exert their will as retribution upon who do not conform?

Personally, I do not believe that something can be perceived as a temptation, unless you have a desire for it. Last I checked, vegetarians do not complain about meat eaters, nor do the male Gynaecologists complain about sexy women- nor do they view them as "temptation".

Sexy women tempting you? No problem- get a hobby to get your mind working on something productive, or just don't look beyond 10-feet ahead of you while in a crowd (but please do look ahead if you're crossing the road). Still couldn't resist an armpit? Just look away using the wonderful creations called muscles in your eye/neck- you don't have to cover your kid's eyes with your hand, while you indulge in the fetish you suffer from.

Me personally- I'm no saint. Though I do fall, I do my best to stand up again- and I believe that is what makes all the difference. If ever I chose to "abstain", I've never expected others to "conform". In fact, in my worldview, we shouldn't be advertising the abstinence- and are supposed to carry on with life as usual. No working slow, going home early, cancelling appointments or taking "time-out" while on duty because of "pening lalat".

If one failed to resist the "temptations", one is supposed to strengthen one's faith and try again- not become a monk & hide all temptations! I'm not supposed to admonish the fella hogging it out, or the lady showing her legs/armpit in front of me ....
Breaking fast? Not an issue at all- I'm supposed do it my own time (and not drool when I'm on duty just thinking about it).If all these "temptations" should be removed- what is there left to abstain from? Then, probably it would be a blessing if we were all in Kamunting every time we need to abstain ....

Lastly- although I have given examples of intolerance in Malaysia, I must say here that this isn't about "Islam" per se. All schools of thought are involved here- Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism etc etc etc. (I know of some fundamentalist churches which are even intolerant of other churches- and believe that they should zombify you into submission to their dogma ..... for "God". Yes- I've been told that I'm Lucifer incarnate too!).

It is about the concept of abstinence and one's perspective in carrying out ones convictions in an imperfect world- without expecting the world to conform to one's self.
After all, had God willed it- we wouldn't be having all these "diversity & temptations" which some of us deplore today, right?
Yet some wish to play "God" ....

********************************

"It will not do to cling to the cause
and wish the result away.

Reality does not play mind games.
What is more, to anesthetize the mind
in order to abort what comes to birth

when wrong ideas are conceived
and borne in the womb of culture,

will only kill the very life-giving force
of the nation that nurtures the idea."

- Ravi Zacharias
*********************

Wednesday 3 August 2011

Just Thinking ....

*******************************
"Umno people are losers.
They want to blindfold us .... before they fight us.
And when we hit back and hurt them they cry.......
Brader...... This is about ABU
(‘anything but Umno’ or ‘asal bukan Umno’).
This is about kicking Umno out come the next general election.
Anything but Umno!
So let the game begin!"
~
RPK, "A taste of your own medicine"

"Amanah is seen as pro-govt and MCLM as anti-govt.
At this point, both must form an alliance and
become non-partisan for the good of the rakyat."

-masterwordsmith-unplugged: The Last Tango

**********************************

Philosophy, like art...
It has no survival value;

rather it is one of those things
that give value to survival.

-C. S. Lewis


"I find the great thing in this world
is not so much where we stand,
as in what direction we are moving
- we must sail sometimes with the wind
and sometimes against it
- but we must sail,
and not drift,
nor lie at anchor."

-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.


"One ship drives east and another drives west,
With the selfsame winds that blow.

'Tis the set of the sails, and not the gales

Which tells us the way to go.

"Like the winds of the sea are the ways of fate,

As we voyage along through life:
'Tis the set of the soul which decides its goal,

And not the calm or the strife."

-- Ella Wheeler Wilcox (Poet, 1850-1919)

Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised
for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.

-C. S. Lewis

Tuesday 2 August 2011

Instant MyKads: Is this "Project 70 million" in action?

Note: My apologies to Malaysiakini for lifting this article ... this is just too good!!

PR becomes citizen ... in four hours
Kuek Ser Kuang Keng
Aug 2, 11
3:45pm

Less than four hours after Malaysiakini reported that a permanent resident (PR) holding a red MyPR card had been registered as a new voter, she has apparently become a citizen.

NONEShe now has a blue Mykad, based on a check of the same online system of the National Registration Department (NRD) where her identification details are recorded.

A check of the NRD online verification system twice - at 5.48pm yesterday and 11.30am today - had shown that a person named Mismah was a PR holder who had collected her MyPR card (No. 640704715238), an identification card for PR.

When the same number was entered into the Election Commission (EC) online verification system, Mismah appeared as a newly-registered voter.

However, another check with the NRD system at 3pm returned a shocking result - the same Mismah has become a citizen who has collected her blue Mykad.

Her status on the EC online verification system remained the same as at 3pm - a newly-registered voter in the latest supplementary electoral roll draft which is now on display for public scrutiny.

Despite the fact that non-citizens cannot be registered as voters, she was registered in the Ijok state constituency and Kuala Selangor parliamentary constituency, which are respectively held by Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid from PKR and Dzulkelfy Ahmad from PAS.

It appeared that Mismah's is not an isolated case.

Federal Territory PAS has claimed to have encountered 52 such cases when filing complaints with the Federal Territory EC today about the supplementary electoral roll draft .

Titiwangsa PAS division secretary Hedzer Ibrahim, who went to the EC office with other party leaders, said the first check with the NRD online verification system from 9-10am today showed that the 52 were PR who had collected their red MyPR card.

However, when the PAS team conveyed the result to the Federal Territory EC officials about 3pm, the latter checked the NRD database and found the 52 names to be those of citizens.

NONEHedzer then instructed the party technician to check the NRD online system again and obtained the same surprising result.

Fortunately PAS had screen-captured the result accessed this morning and a copy was given to Malaysiakini.

The 52 voters are registered in six parliamentary constituencies in Kuala Lumpur that were won by the opposition in the last general election.

These are Lembah Pantai (6 voters), Bandar Tun Razak (1), Segambut (5), Titiwangsa (28), Batu (8) and Wangsa Maju (4).

Malaysiakini is attempting to seek comment from the NRD.

Voter registration procedures

According to election laws, the EC updates the electoral roll every three months with a quarterly supplementary electoral roll draft.

The names of all newly-registered voters, voters who have changed their residing addresses and voters who have been removed from the electoral roll, are compiled in the supplementary electoral roll draft.

The roll is then displayed usually for one week, for public scrutiny, before it is gazetted and used in the next election.

NONEDuring the display period, members of the public can raise their objection to the names listed in the supplementary electoral roll.

Allegations of foreigners being illegally registered as voters to shore up the support of certain political parties have been continually raised by the opposition parties but constantly denied by the EC.

EC chairperson Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof has said that only citizens are allowed to be registered as voters, and that verification is done through the Agency Link-Up System (Alis) of the NRD.

Through the system, the EC cross-checks with NRD and employs 33 types of vetting before any application to become a voter can be approved.

“During the registration process, the applicant's identifier will be cross-checked with the NRD through Alis. The EC will only process the application if the details tally with the NRD records," he said.

“The system will automatically reject any fraudulent attempts to register a voter."

Less than four hours after Malaysiakini reported that a permanent resident (PR) holding a red MyPR card had been registered as a new voter, she has apparently become a citizen.

BRAVO!! How "Inspiring", Mr. Education Minister!!

Comment on Facebook:-

"There should have such camp for the ministers- at kamunting camp."

Star Online
Tuesday August 2, 2011

Camp-in-prison for 33

By DESIREE TRESA GASPER and SRI VIGASHINI


JOHOR BARU: Thirty-three naughty students who were sent for a 3D/2N motivation camp with their parents’ consent had a shock – the camp was in the Kluang Prison!

The boys from SMK Bandar Baru Uda claimed they were treated like inmates and had their heads shaved bald during the camp which ended last Sunday.

Rude shock: Some of the students who said they were duped into attending a motivation camp at the Kluang Prison posing for a photo after the press conference in Johor Baru yesterday.

Student Syed Amirulkhir Syed Khadit, 16, claimed that he was assaulted by one of the programme’s facilitators.

“I have a bruise on the back of my neck,” he said while showing the mark.

He said teachers had informed the group, made up of students with disciplinary problems that they would be attending a motivational course.

“They told us we would be staying at a hotel but we were shocked to see the prison.

“Our personal belongings, including mobile phones and wallets were taken away.

“We were asked to wear a white uniform and took turns shaving each other’s head,” said Syed Amirulkhir at a press conference at Dewan Umno Taman Skudai yesterday organised by Johor Baru Umno Youth.

It was attended by more than 15 students who were at the camp as well as some parents.

Firdaus Mohammad, 16, said they had to wake up at 4.30am and perform sit-ups, push-ups and squats.

“We were treated like criminals and one man even threatened to electrocute us with a taser,” he said, adding that those who tried to speak up were slapped or kicked.

Firdaus said they were only given plain rice and bread, had to sleep on thin mattresses and were not allowed to switch on the fans.

He said that although they were accompanied by several teachers, none of them intervened.

Kamsatun Abd Ghani, 51, said that she was very upset with the school for allowing her son, Mohd Aminuddin Hashim, 16, to be treated in such a manner.

“The school has betrayed our trust and those involved should be investigated immediately,” she said.

Johor Baru Umno Youth chief Khalid Mohamed urged the Education Ministry to look into the matter.

“The consent form signed by the parents did not state that their sons would be sent to a prison,” he said.

The school’s parent-teacher association chairman Samsol Bahri Jamil said the programme was aimed at allowing students to experience life in prison.

“We will hold a meeting with the parties involved,” he said, adding that 12 other schools had previously taken part in the programme meant for students with disciplinary problems.