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.