Truth and justice are no longer a Malaysian way

Interesting read i received from cyberspace


Michael Backman
The Age
THE Government of Australia will probably change hands this weekend. There will be no arrests, no tear gas and no water cannons. The Government of John Howard will leave office, the Opposition will form a government and everyone will accept the verdict.
For this, every Australian can feel justifiably proud. This playing by the rules is what has made Australia rich and a good place in which to invest. It is a country to which people want to migrate; not leave.

Now consider Malaysia. The weekend before last, up to 40,000 Malaysians took to the streets in Kuala Lumpur to protest peacefully against the judiciary's lack of independence, electoral fraud, corruption and a controlled media.

In response, they were threatened by the Prime Minister, called monkeys by his powerful son-in-law, and blasted with water cannons and tear gas. And yet the vast majority of Malaysians do not want a change of government. All they want is for their government to govern better.

Both Malaysia and Australia have a rule of law that's based on the English system. Both started out as colonies of Britain. So why is Malaysia getting it so wrong now?

Malaysia's Government hates feedback. Dissent is regarded as dangerous, rather than a product of diversity. And like the wicked witch so ugly that she can't stand mirrors, the Government of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi controls the media so that it doesn't have to see its own reflection.

Demonstrations are typically banned. But what every Malaysian should know is that in Britain, Australia and other modern countries, when people wish to demonstrate, the police typically clear the way and make sure no one gets hurt. The streets belong to the people. And the police, like the politicians, are their servants. It is not the other way around.

But increasingly in Malaysia, Malaysians are being denied a voice — especially young people.
Section 15 of Malaysia's Universities and University Colleges Act states that no student shall be a member of or in any manner associate with any society, political party, trade union or any other organisation, body or group of people whatsoever, be it in or outside Malaysia, unless it is approved in advance and in writing by the vice-chancellor.

Nor can any student express or do anything that may be construed as expressing support, sympathy or opposition to any political party or union. Breaking this law can lead to a fine, a jail term or both.

The judiciary as a source of independent viewpoints has been squashed. The previous prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, did many good things for Malaysia, but his firing of the Lord President (chief justice) and two other Supreme Court judges in 1988 was an unmitigated disaster. Since then, what passes for a judiciary in Malaysia has been an utter disgrace and the Government knows it.

Several years ago, Daim Zainuddin, the country's then powerful finance minister, told me that judges in Malaysia were idiots. Of course we want them to be biased, he told me, but not that biased.

Rarely do government ministers need to telephone a judge and demand this or that verdict because the judges are so in tune with the Government's desires that they automatically do the Government's beckoning.

Just how appalling Malaysia's judiciary has become was made clear in recent weeks with the circulation of a video clip showing a senior lawyer assuring someone by telephone that he will lobby the Government to have him made Lord President of the Supreme Court because he had been loyal to the Government. That someone is believed to have been Ahmad Fairuz Abdul Halim, who did in fact become Lord President.

A protest march organised by the Malaysian Bar Council was staged in response to this, and corruption among the judiciary in general. But the mainstream Malaysian media barely covered the march even though up to 2000 Bar Council members were taking part. Reportedly, the Prime Minister's office instructed editors to play down the event.

Instead of a free media, independent judges and open public debate, Malaysians are given stunts — the world's tallest building and most recently, a Malaysian cosmonaut. Essentially, they are given the play things of modernity but not modernity itself.

Many senior Malays are absolutely despairing at the direction of their country today. But with the media tightly controlled they have no way of getting their views out to their fellow countrymen. This means that most Malaysians falsely assume that the Malay elite is unified when it comes to the country's direction.

Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, a former finance minister and today still a member of the Government, told me several weeks ago in Kuala Lumpur that he could see no reason why today Malaysia could not have a completely free media, a completely independent judiciary and that corrupt ministers and other officials should be publicly exposed and humiliated.
According to Tengku Razaleigh, all of the institutions designed to make Malaysia's Government accountable and honest have been dismantled or neutered.

It didn't need to be like this. Malaysia is not North Korea or Indonesia. It is something quite different. Its legal system is based on British codes. Coupled with traditional Malay culture, which is one of the world's most hospitable, decent and gentle cultures, Malaysia has the cultural and historical underpinnings to become one of Asia's most civilised, rules-based, successful societies.

Instead, Malaysia's Government is incrementally wasting Malaysia's inheritance.

Where's the democracy?

I wonder how the hell did Zam become our minister of (mis)information. If any of you had watch the Al Jazeera interview with our beloved minister regarding the recent BERSIH rally, you would be shocked by his choice of words. Let alone suffer his constant stammering.

He kept contradicting his words on top of his constant insult of other nations. Lets make a TOP 3 list of his nonsensical chatter which to me is nothing more than 'hot air' coming out of a moron...

1. he said its ok to protest (because we are a democracy), then he said its illegal to have protest because we have erection (election)

2. he said we have 'ERECTION' once every 5 years... i'm not sure about him, but i think i get enough erections!

3. he mentioned burma and myammar as being 2 different countries... err... so i take it he thinks beijing and peking are 2 different states?

perhaps English is not the first language in Malaysia - i guess we could pardon him for being english challenged.... however - as the minister of INFORMATION... the nation's spokesmen.. WTF?????

however, his contradictions are worse than Mclaren's decision iro the England Football team... (come on Russia!).... the dude keeps digging and the hole inevitably gets deeper...

anyhow... i'm just really ashamed of the whole fiasco... my views on BERSIH are as follows:

1. why is the protest / march illegal in the first place? don't you remember that if Malays did not march (peacefully) against the Malayan Union in white scarf... we might still be under British rule? (not sure if that's a bad thing.....

2. why is our legal system so fucked? i dont get it? i read somewhere that a recent World Bank survey on resolution of commercial disputes that ranked Malaysia 63rd among 178 countries, and a report by the US State Department warning American businessmen that cases before the Malaysian courts take inordinate amounts of time to be adjudicated. One case of medical negligence, he said, took 23 years to reach the Court of Appeal.

countries such as Singapore and Hong Kong have very similar legal system as us... similar laws, and whose judges and lawyers are trained as ours, are ranked in these surveys as amongst the best in the world (Hong Kong is placed first and Singapore ranks fourth). The reason is obvious: these countries have undertaken major reforms in their court structure and procedures and have introduced more efficient and transparent commercial courts so as to attract the foreign investor.”

3. why did the local press not cover the protest? why no mention of tear gas and water cannons? How come all write ins from the public to public newspaper were 'anti-protest'.....

4. how did Malaysia get to this state?

5. i'm still not ready to vote - as i dont know who to vote for... all i want is a govt that FOR the RAKYAT... and not just themselves and playing mindless stupid 'war of words' and name callings... such as the stupid asshole who used words like 'sam seng' 'stupid' 'babi' etc in parliament (because he couldnt find words to construct proper sentences).... i'm not sure if the opposition can help me.... but one thing's for sure... the govt isnt...

anyhow... i'm too sick to write anymore.... the RAKYAT needs to realise that the powers that be arent supporting us.... its SICK SICK SICK i tell you.... sigh.... i think Namewee should write another song telling these morons such as Zam to FUCK OFF and go back to grammar school...

guys... the comedy doesnt end there.... there's gonna be another Al Jazeera interview tonight at 10.30 this time with the 3 stoogers... Khairy, Imzat and Nazri... better get your popcorns ready for i hear that its gonna be the COMEDY of YEAR!!!!

anyhow... please take the time to watch the following videos...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1_GQ-K7P_w this is the link to mr Zam's stuttering

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9S0W4iyegs - the prime minister and his nephew tokkok

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9zmRMoDt58 - Malaysian's at the crossroads....

BRING THE POWER BACK TO THE PEOPLE! GET UP STAND UP.... DONT FORGET YOUR RIGHTS!!!!

What is Malay?

my brother in law recently had an interesting post entitled 'i,Malaysian'.... This post had led to a pretty interesting series of comments on marginalisation and questioning is Malaysia truly 'muhibah'?

i was planning to blog about it myself but must stress that I have been extremely busy of late. As such, I'll just cut and paste the comment i left on his blog here below. It would probably make more sense if you read his post before reading my comment below... aiya... u mite as well read all the comments to that post...

i think there's a small community be it in blogsphere, broadwalk or whereever, where the concept of 'Malaysians' represents a harmonious multi-racial society. However only in our beloved Malaysia can the concept of race and religion mean the same. and by virtue of Article 153 / 160 of our Constitution, 'Malay' in a Malaysian context is defined as a Muslim Malaysian citizen born to another Malaysian citizen. so in other words, since my parents are Malaysian citizens, and should i wish to practice Islam, wouldn't that make me Malay?

I'm not being racist and you guys should know that I'm not one. But this master - people(slave) relationship does damper my spirit in believing that Malaysia is for Malaysians and not minus 'sians'.

For the record, i love this country and enjoyed my childhood. but the more i learn about our constitution, may 13, business privileges, AP, NEP, etc,etc... it does makes me wonder 'why' should i be a loyalist when the powers that be can say as they please in paliarment and abuse their rights.

I just conducted a course on Malaysian tax incentives etc, etc today... and explained the rationalisation of these incentives since the 1960s. Most of it was due to compete with Singapore. However i realised that we hardly achieved any targets since whereas Singapore has progressed by leaps and bounds. Now we complete with China (whom have just overtaken us)... even Vietnam is better than us. Aint that sad?

all i wanna say is that - dear powers that be - u fuckers suck! stop thinking of urself and ur birth rights and start fucking saving this country from self destruction. Amen.

it now brings us to today... i read something very interesting this morning. I have been trying to understand the logic of 153/160 etc, etc for some time now.... i'm trying understand more about where Malays came from... are they truly the owners of Malaysia... let alone the Masters of my home...

even if you wikipedia Malays and the malay achipelago, etc, etc... you'll find origins from taiwan, australnesia, etc... so question is... who came to my birth land (where i have virtually no birth rights) first???

please read this post on the Origins of the Malays.. i think the puzzle pieces are starting to fall into place....

ps: i write based on what little i know... but i write because i feel the heat... i.e. in terms of education, opportunities, work, business.... etc....

Footie talk

I missed last weekend's football matches as I was away to Penang for PwC's annual treasure hunt. My team came in 2nd. I was kinda dissapointed as I personally felt that I zoned off towards the end which i felt caused us 1st place and an addtional RM1,000 to our current prize money of RM 2,000. Anyhow, I wanna blog about football today but i'm feeling extremely tired and lazy. As such, I am gonna steal some things i read about last weekend's matches that truly speaks my thoughts exactly.

Arsenal
There can be no doubting their title credentials now.

ManYoo
An eighth successive Premiership victory and the fourth match in a row in which the champions have scored four goals.

how the fuck do they do it?? fergie's formation of lining nani, ronaldo and teves in support of rooney has produced breathtaking football. thank god the fucked up the carling cup!!!!

Avram Grant
He is still reaping the rewards of his inheritance. A true test of a manager comes when he is required to build his own team (or teams). The integral role of Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba in the 6-0 win that surpassed anything Grant's predecessor achieved underlined the scale of the task the Israeli will encounter next summer when both players are expected to request transfers.

Reading
Despite reputedly suffering from Second Season Syndrome, Reading have precisely the same amount of points this season that they had at the same stage last year.

Liverpool
Liverpool remain an indefinable work in debatable progress. Consistent only by their inconsistency, they are a plethora of contradictions: Undefeated yet unconvincing, powerful but bereft of authority, resolute without inspiring confidence. A mirror of their manager, Liverpool are impossible to work out.

Rafa's first surprise of the afternoon was the introduction of a new formation. Designed to harass, it was vindicated by Steven Gerrard's sixth-minute opener. Yet the benefits were merely temporary, and the Gunners subsequently simply played out of their opponents' reach. That Benitez felt compelled to change his side's formation in order to obstruct their opponents was instructive. That is not generally the method or mentality of a title-aspiring team.

The absence of authority in the Liverpool team - depending on your point of view, either the cause or the consequence of the change in system - was obvious and, ultimately, telling. The loss of the under-rated Xabi Alonso was critical and deprived Benitez of one of the few technically-accomplished players he possesses. That the Spaniard has apparently suffered a reoccurrence of his broken metatarsal added considerable insult to literal injury.

Yet injuries are a smokescreen for Liverpool's wider problems, summed up by the deployment of Dirk Kuyt and Andriy Voronin, neither of whom had the pace or trickery to cause bother, out wide. What were the thoughts of Ryan Babel and Yossi Benayoun as they looked on from the bench?

Somewhere at Liverpool, a good team is threatening to break loose. It would be a relief if Benitez finally unleashed it.

Fernando Torres
Given the speedy attributes of William Gallas and Kolo Toure, it was strange that Liverpool, in the words of Rafa Benitez, "wanted to use Torres' pace" in preference to the height advantage of Peter Crouch which destroyed the league's smallest defensive partnership in April. Even before suffering his own repeat injury, the Spaniard was a virtual bystander. "Crouch was very good," Benitez reflected of the second-half substitute, partially acknowledging his own mistake.

The 4-4-2 Formation
There were four different formations used by the Big Four this weekend - a 4-2-3-1 for ManYoo, a 4-3-3 for Chelski, a 4-1-4-1 for Arsenal, and a 4-2-1-3 by Liverpool - and not one of them was the traditional formation of choice in English football.

Alan Hansen
"It is no exaggeration to say that they could have scored ten," opined the MoTD pundit after Chelski's 6-0 win over Man Citeh.

Total number of shots on target by Chelski: Nine!!!! (9)

WTF?

i just got read this from zewt's blog... please take the time to read this post. If it doesnt upset you... i'm gonna smack you!

FB blues.....

Sigh....... if you're wondering why i havent been blogging.... well, there are 4 very logical explanations.

1. I do have alot of work.
2. I have been busy clearing up my room. (its finally clean! - sort of)
3. Been busy drinking every nite.
4. Facebook!

I do have alot of work
I am the original Slacker. Long before the movie or the comic character, I was the Slacker God! Slacker has been me nickname since i was in primary school. It all started when when a teacher called me so (as I was caught sleeping in class), and the boys in my school started teasing me with that title. They obviously didnt know what it meant. But i loved it. It made sense.

Many years on.... I'm the dude who slept trought secondary school and college. In fact, i sleep in office almost everyday.

Anyhow, back to the fact that i do have alot of work... as some of you already know, i've been contemplating my future in this career path alot recently. I think i'll do better in sales or marketing and surely a success business (as proven before).

As I was very undecided on what to do, I became a Grade A Slacker in office. I almost virtually did jack all at work for months until the news about me passing me ACCA caught the attention of the bosses. Prior to that, my bosses were trying to counsel me out, now they are giving me quality work to prove my worth. Furthermore, rival firms have come a knocking on my door. Therefore, i do have work, and alot of it! As such, i dont have much time to blog.

I have been busing clearing up my room
From my previous posts, you guys know that i was then in the process of cleaning up my room. Since i'm such a slacker, i probably spend an hour a day cleaning up my room, but another 6hours watching Dvds....

anyhow... its OVER... its CLEAR.... I CAN BREATE and see the end of the room! there's plenty of space to get to the bathroom. in fact you can dance your way there instead of having to squeeze through.... woo hoo....

It was quite a tall order for me to discard many 'precious' items... but once u found heart to throw away '1' item... the rest is really easy! (however, i do miss certain items) sigh

Been busy drinking everynight
As most of you know, my biggest hobby at the moment is probably drinking. Its some biological defect in me construction that allows me to consume so much alcohol. I'm not bragging but I think i can outdrink alot of people. The irony is, i dont drink alot to challenge people (in fact, i dont challenge people at all, but i never back out of a challenge).... I drink alot because i naturally do drink alot. In fact, I drink on average about 5-6 litres of water a day and i do drink em very fast. Each water break i take equates to the consumption of 500 mls of water... and i drink that much like in a matter of seconds.

Similarly.. i drink alcohol real fast... and the more i drink, the thirstier i get. Funny thing is, no matter how tired i am, once a bit of alcohol gets into me body, I BECOME ALIVE... just like frankenstien! as proven during the rainforest festival and salsa festivals i attended recently (and have yet to blog about)

Anyhow, i've been drinking everyday for some time now. Its ironic cause I dont want to, let alone do i call for a booze up, however, friends call me almost every day for a 'quick one'.

I hope to find some time to blog about me recent alcoholic adventures.... as there's loads of laughs... plenty of scandals... loads of pics to share!

Facebook!
Ok ok ok... the truth as to why i havent been blogging much of late is because i am so freaking addicted to facebook. if you dont know what it is well just click here. I've been a member for some time now, but havent really used it. Until my cousins who were down from London recently (bout 3 weeks back) said that it was the best way for us to stay connected. So i decided to revive my membership. Next thing you know, I was so freaking hooked!

Its a medium similar to 'friendster', cept that its much more user friendly, better interface and more fun applications. Through facebook, i'm met so many friends from past and present. Its amazing. Furthermore, the applications such as 'funwall', 'pokes', 'messages', 'photo tagging', etc, etc... keeps everyone in the loop of things. Of all their functions, i find the 'photo tagging' to be extremely good. As I get to know who's who and it sorts of leads me to their relevant pages. Furthermore, i get to see pictures of ME... woo hoo!

Through facebook, i finally met up with me long lost 'kai mui' whom i've not seen in years. Met up with my friend's cousin who 'poked' me on facebook. I havent seen that girl since the day i met her exactly 1 year ago. I've met up with so many people based in Malaysia or abroad. Its way way fun... This interface also makes the sharing of information very easy indeed. U can start a very user friendly discussion thread or forum through a simple click of the mouse.

Lastly, you get to challenge your friends to loads of online games such as scrabbles, chess, reversi and even some no brainers (yet i keep winning) like the simple game of 'rock-paper-scissors'. All and all... i'm addicted to facebook.

However, sad to say... the fuckers in IT fucking banned the site. WHAT THE FUCK? IT WAS MY MOMENT OF SANITY DURING WORKING HOURS (before the pubs).... sigh.... I HATE THE BASTARDS IN IT.... come on..... un-firewall it la.. we need to escape every now and then.... sigh....

btw - if you guys are on facebook... look me up and poke me or bodyslam me or something - ruben enba.

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

on another note.... JOSE FOR ENGLAND! muahhhaaa... i'm quite sure you footie fans will know what i mean! hmm... i think that shall be the title of my next post!

Fooking rubbish!!!

As you probably already know, I'm a huge fan of Liverpool Football Club. I have been one since i was 7 years old. Sad to say, our recent performances have left me nauseated. One would think that with the new owners and the arrival of new stars, the club was destined for success. Afterall, we did reached the European Cup final and ended up 3rd in the EPL last season with a 'not so strong' team.

This season sees the introduction of Torres, Voronin, Babel, Youssi, etc,etc.... Pre-season match results were encouraging with all the strikers doing what they are paid for. However it is sad to note that we lost in the final of the EPL Asia Cup to Portsmouth on penalties. On the bright side, we were the better team on the day and Pompey had good ol' David James to thank.

The first few matches to the season including the champions league qualifiers were promising. Kuyt was ever hardworking, Voronin scores at ease, Torres' sheer pace was brilliant to watch, Pennant, Babel and Youssi terrorised the flanks, Gerard took control of midfield, Masherano and Momo kept attackers at bay and our mean defense has NOT conceded any goals from open play in the league this season.

With all this in play, we were winning games with scorelines of 3-1 and 6-0 and for the first time in a while, we were perched at the summit of the EPL. It felt good to know that we are ahead of everyone with a game in hand!!!!

Then it happened, the fooking stupid curse. Do you guys remember the last time LFC was sitting on top of the EPL? It was during GH's time, the season (or 2) after the trebel. After sitting at the top of the EPL... we went on a 10-13 match winless streak! GH got so desperate that he resulted in long balls for Owen to chase.

The last few LFC matches were painful to watch. Firstly, we couldnt score against Portsmouth at Fratton park though we had loads of opportunity to bury Pompei.. On the plus side, at least we played and attacked. Voronin hit the woodwork a couple of times and Torres nearly won it for us. To be fair, i wasnt too disappointed for we played well.

Then came Porto. I missed the match but apparently we were outclassed. If it werent for the clinical header of Kuyt, we would've lost the match (deservedly so). Then came the Birmingham game at Anfield. That was truly painful to watch. Though the blues had 10 men behind the ball at all times, the 'mighty reds' could not come close to penetrating! We did have a few chances to score, but didnt take them.

Last week we beat Wigan at the JJB. I missed that match as i fell asleep at kickoff. Apparently we werent that great, in fact we were lucky and grateful to the brilliance of Youssi. However, i did watch this morning's match. A match which I predicted a 3-0 scoreline for the home side. Not a bold prediction considering the fact that we do have a mean defense, fresh strikers, talent on the flanks, generals in the midfield, undefeated in all competitions, 4th spot in the league, won our carling cup match, and our opponents have a new manager, doing poorly in the french league, with a negative lineup of a lone striker and a packed midfield which means the french team has too much respect for the reds and came to Anfield fighting for a draw. However your humble narrator was amazed as to how organised they were compared to our crappy team of stars. They deservedly won the match. If Torres had scored at the death, it would've been cruelly unfair to them. I was disgusted at the way we played as we kept losing the ball with the greatest of ease.

Why are we playing so badly? did the international break really fucked us up? rafa's rotation system not working to plan? WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY????? ARRGGGGGG!!!!!

Is our season over????????