Razak Baginda Acquitted

I guess you may have read or heard about Abdul Razak Baginda was acquitted today by the court as the prosecution has failed to prove a case against Abdul Razak! Justice Mohd Zaki Md Yasin also mentioned that he find there is no prima facie case for Abdul Razak to answer his charge and therefore acquitted and discharged!

Well while having dinner today someone broke the above news to me and went on to say that there is no justice in this country. I guess it was in the writing from the begining for two reasons namely this case was dragged for too long, to be exact 151 days and some high profile individuals were also implicated to this case.

Malaysiakini quoted that the court however ordered chief inspector Azilah Hadri, 32 and corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, 37 - from the elite Special Action Force (UTK) which guards the prime minister and deputy prime minister - to enter their defence to the charge of murder.

Let's ponder for a while and ask some right questions?

1) Why are they ordered to enter defence for murder
2) What were their motives behind Altantuya's murder and how do they benefit from her death
3) Why is that the elite Special Action Force which guards the PM and the Deputy were involved in this case?

Will the “rakyat” ever know the truth? I guess the truth is some where out there!

Zaid: Ketuanan Melayu has failed

Read today an article in Malaysiakini by Zaid Ibrahim former defacto Law Minister that the concept of 'Ketuanan Melayu' model has failed, in an incisive speech at the LawAsia 2008 conference in Kuala Lumpur this morning.

"It has resulted in waste of crucial resources, energy and time and has distracted from the real issues confronting the country," said Zaid, who criticised the race-based policy despite being a member of the ruling Umno party which was set up to safeguard Malay interests.

Read more :http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/92213

Does it really matter?

I have not been writing as much as I want to due to some development at home front, anyway nice to be back.

Recently there was a protest in Selangor where six staff bodies of state agency Selangor Development Corporation (PKNS) objected to the appointment of a senior official as acting general manager on grounds that she is Chinese. They even stated that as PKNS conducts activities that are spiritual in nature, its leader must understand and practice Islamic values. In other words it must be a Malay!

I guess we can take a monkey out of Africa but not Africa out of the monkey!

Does it really matter what race the individual is shouldn't it be it be based on the right person doing the job.

Why is the government looking for candidate based on race rather than track record and performance? Shouldn't this officer be sacked for question the decision of the MB? While that world is heading for an economic melt down these jokers are talking about which race should head a state and the federal government.

The late American president John F Kennedy who picked cabinet members who were the ‘best and the brightest’ of whatever colour or creed or religion or gender. He wanted the best people to run the US government. We also should be open-minded and pick the best for our nation and not being selfish with narrow minded interests.

It was not long ago that UMNO leaders were crying loud demanding that the CEO and managing director of MAS should be a Malay! Why is that UMNO cares that it must be a bumiputera or a Malay if this is not driven by racial agenda? Shouldn't we be driven by a national agenda? The PM of past and present as usual during festive seasons of non-bumiputeras would praise in public how the " pendatangs" contributed in nation building but when it comes to appointments of key positions, that notion takes a back step and race being the front runner! Shouldn't they be thinking that the most important point is that we should choose the right person with the right talent for the right position?

Where are we in the sports now i.e football, hockey as once we use to be on par or even better than Korea and Japan and where are they now? Look at our 18 public universities and look at their rankings in the world. The best Malaysian university, University Malaya, is ranked 246. The joke is that the education ministry is justifying that the criteria used were different but we have the best teaching staff and facilities. I may agree with the facilities claim but best teaching staff, that is questionable. When I was attending my MBA at a local university, a PHD lecturer could not utter proper English even after spending great number of years abroad doing his PHD! I leave it to your imagination on the lecturers ethnicity. Worst still I was told recently that he is the dean of that faculty! I wish them all the best in striving to be the top 100 in future.

Don't you think that we should drop this crutch-mentality and head-hunt for the best vice- chancellors, the best professors, the best lecturers and equip the universities with the best materials and take in the best students ( yes best students and not based on race or backdoor entrance to universities), if we want to be in the top ten of the world’s rankings.

Encore Hamid

Read this from Malaysiakini about how Hamid lied in the Parliament!

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 - Hindraf sympathisers today handed over a document to the Opposition coalition which they claimed to be evidence of a senior minister providing false information in the Dewan Rakyat.

The group of 20, led by R.S. Thanenthiran, who was the national coordinator for the recently outlawed Indian rights movement, met up with several Pakatan Rakyat MPs including senior DAP MP for Ipoh Timur Lim Kit Siang and PKR MP for Subang R. Sivarasa at Parliament House today.

In a press conference, Thanenthiran told reporters that Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar had"misled Parliament and misled the nation" when he announced in July this year in the House that he had not revoked the international passport of Hindraf's self-exiled leader P. Waytha Moorthy who is now in London.

"We have solid evidence he lied," Thanenthiran claimed, referring to Syed Hamid.

Distributing copies of a letter to the MPs as well as to the press, Thanenthiran said they were part of an email commucation dated September 23 2008 that Waytha Moorthy's lawyers had received purportedly from the "UK Border Agency" in response to their client's queries.

Thanenthiran pointed out that the what the letter said was contrary to what Syed Hamid had said.
He also said Waytha Moorthy's sympathisers had lodged 42 police reports against Syed Hamid to date.
They want the authorities to detain the Home Minister and to investigate him for statements linking Hindraf to international terrorist groups.
They called on the government to return Waytha Moorthy's passport to him as it is his personal property and to lift the Home Minister's ban on Hindraf.
"Hindraf is one organisation that really wants progress," Thanenthiran said.
"Return to Waytha Moorthy his rights as a Malaysian citizen," he added.
The Hindraf sympathisers had arrived in four vehicles including a taxi at about 11.30am. They left without much untoward incident about one hour later.

However, upon their exit from the Parliament compound, they were stopped by police who took down their MyKad details and inspected their vehicles.

They were not arrested.

Earlier upon arrival, the group had freed several pigeons in the Parliament compound in a symbolic gesture asking the government to release the five Hindraf members detained under the Internal Security Act.

- The Malaysian Insider

So, Hamid what you gotcha say to this?

The Hundraf of UMNO

I read this article in MT By Helen Ang and found that it was well written and wish to share with all.

There is no typing error above; I did spell ‘Hundraf’ for Human Rights Action Force. Hundraf is the twin spirit of Makkal Sakthi, an expression translated as People Power, not Indian Power.
Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar is reported by Bernama as saying the Indians are not neglected in Malaysia. What he implied is that Indians have little cause for complaint and thus the complaining Hindraf have no basis for their struggle.

Syed Hamid in announcing the ban on Hindraf said the Indian community was quite well represented with 14 Members of Parliament, 21.4% in the legal fraternity, 18.4% in medicine and their income was 1.2 times higher than the Malays.

Out of his count of 14 Indian MPs, only three are from MIC compared to six from DAP. There are three from PKR and one from PSM — Samy-slayer of Sg Siput, the redoubtable Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj. If Indians are ‘well represented’, it is no thanks to BN. (I could only recognise 13 Indian names, maybe I missed someone or perhaps there is a Malay Dilemma-ed MP in the House.)

Regarding the statistics Syed Hamid cited, may I ask how many Indian lawyers and doctors got their degrees from Malaysian public universities? And secondly, how many had their education paid for by the state?

This is what blog commentator Parameswara tells me about one of the Hindraf-5 lawyers: “To my knowledge. R. Kengadharan the eldest son of a postal worker and housewife, completed his law studies on the meagre proceeds of a single storey house that was hocked to a financial institution to procure a study loan. Having returned from his studies, he not only paid off the loan but educated his siblings through the same house and earning from his law practice.”

And DAP’s Tony Pua says of another Hindraf-5 lawyer V. Ganabathirau:

“Gana never manage to have the privilege of completing his education at one go. After finishing Form 5, he had to take up various odd jobs to help support himself and his family. That however, did not prevent him from investing his earnings and taking up part-time courses to pursue his ambition of becoming an officer of the court. His dream came true in his late twenties when he graduated with a law degree from the University of London external programme.”Those who hold external or foreign degrees are required to additionally have the Certificate of Legal Practice, a hard-to-pass Malaysian exam designed to block entry into the profession.

SPIN ON STATISTICS

Syed Hamid conveniently forgot other professional fields where Indians are under-represented. From the same table of statistics that he drew his figures, here’s what the Minister omitted: Of architects, 45.3% are bumiputera, 1.4% are Indian. Of engineers, 46.0% are bumiputera, 5.4% are Indian.

I have statistics as well: While Indians accounted for 9.8% of civil servants in the 1980s, they were 5.2% in 2003. Malays are fast increasing in numbers in the skilled professions and dominating government and GLC posts, while the Indians are regressing in proportionate numbers.

And more statistics: In the present Abdullah cabinet, there is one Indian out of 27 Ministers — 3.7%. The Indian share in 2004 of corporate wealth (ownership of capital at par value) is 1.2%.

Now with regard to those living under the poverty line, Syed Hamid said Indians comprised 2.9%, Chinese 0.6% and Malays 8.3%. Again, he has deliberately obscured the truth. He said ‘Malays’. Wrong, it’s bumiputera 8.3%. These figures come from the Ninth Malaysia Plan. The poorest, least helped among bumiputera are the Orang Asli of the peninsula and the indigenes of Sabah and Sarawak who are not Muslim.

How did the statistics measure ‘poor’?

Over 300,000 Indians have been displaced in the last two decades after they lost their jobs in the plantations. In 2005, it was reported that more than 30% of Indians did not own a house. Indians are squatters in urban centres or the periphery; Indian vagrants sleep in the street — you have seen them.

The poverty line income used for 2004 in Peninsular Malaysia was RM663 per month for urban areas, and RM657 for rural areas. The Department of Statistics, ior year 2000, reported that out of approximately 1.68 million Indians, some 80% were urban and the remaining 20% rural.

If one lived in his own house in the kampung, he does not have to pay rent. If one planted vegetables on his land and reared chicken, he spends less on food. The use of household income as a single yardstick (RM663-urban and RM657-rural; the RM6 differential fails to reflect the cost of living gap between the two regions) does not signal the true level of deprivation.

While on paper mean household income may look more for Indians, it is an average jacked up by the earnings of Indian professionals, and Ananda Krishnan. But the figures also indicate class differences within any one community. Just as the Tan Sri Chinese tycoons have absolutely no bearing on my daily life, how much does the monthly income of RM3,456 attributed to Indians reflect their salary overall?

Yayasan Strategic Sosial in 2005 put 30% of Indians in the bottom strata of society, and 20% in the top strata. My analogy would be that for the one doctor and one lawyer Syed Hamid mentioned, you have three low-wage earners in the labourer, cleaner and production worker. Drawing from the same statistical pool dipped by the Minister, while Indians made up 7.5% of Malaysia’s population, they constituted 14.7% in the elementary occupations.

Next, Syed Hamid said the overall income of the Indian was 1.2 times higher than Malay. Heck, if I’m Indian and took home RM3,456 a month, why would I want to go out and demonstrate? So where does the Tamil underclass that is the backbone of Hindraf come from then?

TEMPLES IN A ROW

Are the Indians a community in distress? How about looking at this set of social indicators? There were 2,555 suicides nationwide [Health Ministry report cited by NST in Sept, 2005], and 21.1 suicides per 100,000 Indians, 2.6 per 100,000 Malays. They are killing themselves in despair, it would seem.

Syed Hamid further claimed that there is a ratio of one temple to 149 Hindus and one mosque to 2,300 Muslims in this country. Aaah, the good Minister must have gone around the country tallying the little Hindu shrines under trees and altars lodged in rock crevices. I hope these ‘temples’ — one for every 149 Hindus — are marked on maps because tourists may like to visit them.

He also equated action against Hindraf to action taken against Al-Arqam, Al-Ma'unah and Kumpulan Militan Malaysia in the past, saying “The government's priority is to protect the security of Malaysians”.

As a Malaysian, I do not feel threatened by the Muslims of Al-Arqam as I know the Malays to be a race full of kindness and budi bahasa. And as for the KMM, Syed Hamid as Home Minister should sign the order for their immediate release from ISA; prove their militancy in open court. Otherwise, I could think that Syed Hamid has committed fitnah, a grave sin in Islam, to allege his fellow ummah are militants.

Lastly, Syed Hamid said the government “cannot tolerate groups that propagate extremism and stir up racial and religious tension” and accused them of having “created fear among the people”. Yet it appears to me as if he is describing Umno factions. Is Umno going to be declared illegal soon too?

The PM Cycle

Who shall be the next PM? Would it be Najib or someone else? That is the million dollar question. Did Mahathir shook hands with Najib and is he determining the current political scenario?

He was basting Pak Lah from the beginning thus creating unrest among the UMNO members, blamming Khairy as “ budak tingkat 4” influencing his father in law, and calling Anwar as you know what. Is it because he wants Najib to be the next UMNO President and the PM for some reason.

Didn't he had some doubt about Najib being the next PM but now he is supporting Najib. He may have had a change of heart after his meeting with Najib and he has hrown his support for Najib saying that Najib could not be involved in any scandals and is a capable leader. He went on to say that Najib had good track record under his administration. Wonder what were his achievements during Mahathir's tenure?

Mahathir further reiterated that during his tenure he too was accused of many things but found to be untrue later. Could it also be that an agreement was reached between Najib and Mahathir that Muhkriz be allowed to be the next UMNO youth leader? This is my hypothesis;
1) Najib becomes the PM and Muhyiddin his deputy
2) Muhyiddin may be forced to step down later to make way for Hishamuddin to take over as Deputy PM (poor Muhyiddin)
3) Upon Najib’s retirement we don’t know when Hishammudin will become the PM with Muhkriz as his deputy.
4) Eventually Muhkriz will be the PM
How about that? All in the family circle, only in bolehland!

Hamid again!

I was reading Patrick Teoh's blog and found this article both hilarious and also awed by the intelligence of our beloved Home Affairs Minister.He did it again, double century!Here it goes...

" This morning I almost had a coronary I was laughing so hard. I never for a moment believed that Syed Hamid Albar, Malaysian Minister of Home Affairs and stand-up comedian par excellence could top what he's done in the past few months. But true to his form he did!

The headline of the news story was "KL area 'unsafe', so police base closed".

Alright, I'll let you catch your breath before I continue...................

Okay? Here's the story. A police beat base in the Chow Kit area of downtown Kuala Lumpur was closed down recently. When questioned about it in Parliament our world-class comedian said it was because the beat base was located in an area considered "unsafe". HUH???

Ok, ok, ok....hold your laughter first. There's more.

Why unsafe ah?

It was located in a 'dirty' area where there is a possibility of being exposed to contagious diseases. HUH???

Wait..............here comes the great punchline.................

"The presence of criminals also posed a threat to the safety of the police officers"

HUH??? And this time the clown did his act without even having to be physically present. He just sent in his funnies in a written form!"

So the ministry closed the police base to protect the policemen from "dirty" diseases and due to the presence of criminals. Hello why are they employed as policemen then or why aren't the PDRM and the government not doing anything knowing well that Chow Kit is a notorious area? I guess the rakyat did a great mistake by electing this guy and BN to parliament!

Syed Hamid did it again!

Syed Hamid did it again, with all intelligence or whatever left of it he has banned Hindraf which is an unregistered organization. He cited that the decision to declare Hindraf as an illegal organisation was made following the ministry being satisfied with facts and evidence that showed Hindraf had and was being used for unlawful purposes and posed a threat to public order and morality. Hey Hamid when did you became the Minister of Morality or is it a new portfolio under Pak Lah’s premiership? I guess it may be covered by Utusan Malaysia as they are one and only local media that covers unbiased news. Did any other newspapers cover the recent ministerial changes?

Syed Hamid went on to say that if it is left unchecked, Hindraf would continue to pose a threat to public order, the security and sovereignty of the country as well as the prevailing racial harmony. No wonder that the government also banned UiTM students for marching on the streets recently, arrested Ahmad Ismail under ISA for his famous “ Pendatang” statement against the Chinese and arrested and detained Khir Toyo for falsely accusing Teresa Kok for the azan incident or even the Utusan Malaysia writer who wrote a fictitious character of YB that was killed by a Malay youth was reprimanded unlike other news paper that were let free. Well this is bolehland, anything is possible here where scoundrels, criminals and racist will walk free in Malaysia! Malaysia Boleh.

Coming back to Hindraf, since it is banned now does it mean that people can’t wear an Orange T-shirt or organise prayers at the temple? Would the police arrest them for carrying out such an act? I guess they’ll arrest anyone spotted wearing a Hindraf T-shirt, so beware you have been warned. Long live Hindraf oops… long live Makkal Sakthi (people power)!

The rakyat is suffering

I was unable to update my blog for a while as I was busy with some urgent matters back home. My mum was taken ill last week and we need to rush her to a public hospital even though it was not our preferred choice but two private hospitals could not accept her as one did not have a specialist and the other does not have a bed! Yes it is true and I am not kidding.

My family decided to take our mum to a government hospital and I was surprised by the attention given by the hospital staffs. The doctors and most of the staff were very professional except for two nurses who should not be there in the first place. They should be either transferred out to another ministry or be sacked. They just did not belong in the health ministry or the hospital. I guess there is still some baggage from the past! What ticked me was the waiting period in the hospital. I checked in the emergency ward at 11.30am and had to wait till 5.45pm for my mum to be admitted in the ward as I was told repeatedly that they could not do anything thing as there was not even a single bed available to accommodate my mum. Guess where my mum spent her waiting hours, by the corridor between the emergency room and walkway!

She was at the corridor until 5.45 pm before she was moved to the ward and by the way she was not alone, there were also other patients as well and all of them were from the emergency ward! I wonder how abou those who registered at the usual counter?My mum spent some 6 hours at the corridor while waiting for her bed to be available. This is how the government hospitals are managed, over crowded hospitals with insufficient beds and equipments for patients, stressed out doctors working long hours. Our government would rather recognise some universities from Indonesia but not reputable foreign universities from other countries.

The joke is that our PM is seriously talking about the changes in premiership and endorsing someone to be his successor and futher claiming that he has some unfinished business like his predecessor. Hello, knock..knock the rakyat is suffering and you jokers are running this country like your own backyard.

Why is there a need to buy two submarines and fighter jets and Eurocopters ? What bloody threat is the country facing now? What’s the urgent need for us to purchase them now?

Pak Lah look at the state of government hospitals, fungus problem, aircond system not functioning, unusuable operation roomand lack of doctors. What the @#*& were you doing for the last 5 years? The public road system is bad, public transportation is shitty; cost of living is high even with the fuel price has come down, worst still you’re saying the government can’t lower the consumer product price hike alone. Don’t you always claim that you have the mandate to run the country and why are you pushing the buck elsewhere. Either you perform or step down now and make way for a new government! Let the RAKYAT decide their future.

Superior Race

Race relation and race supremacy has been the utmost discussion in Malaysia politics recently in particular. Ahmad Ismail, Khir Toyo have been in the lime light for speaking up not to challenge the Malay race superiority, dominance and special privileges. Even before both of them trying to champion their race yet this idea and notion of “Ketuaan Melayu” has been around for a while during Razak, Hussien Onn and made worst during Mahathir’s regime. So which is the superior race in the world or is there a superior race?

It was an article in STAR by Veera pandiyan that intrigued me to write this article “ if we trace our lineage back to 60,000 years, we are all Africans”.

I saw this National Geography episode during my days in Spore a long time ago titled , The Journey of Man, hosted by geneticist Dr Spencer Wells, shows that all humans descended from a group that walked out of Africa about 60,000 years ago (or perhaps another 40,000 years earlier, if the opinions of dissenting archaeologists are taken into consideration).

His study is based on DNA the scientific historical link that we carry in our blood and Dr Wells has traced our common DNA to the Y-chromosome of this man, our veritable Adam, who lived in the eastern or southern part of Africa.

He suggests that our early ancestors could have looked like the bush people of the Kalahari, whose facial features make up a composite model of people from all over the world. Archaeologists, however, say the first wave of migration could have occurred about 100,000 years ago, based on fossil records. Earlier this year, three studies that looked at human diversity through genetics, supported Dr Wells’ contention that humans left Africa, walked into Central Asia and fanned out east and west to populate the planet. They also confirmed that the ancestry of many seemingly “purebred” ethnic groups were traceable to more than one continent.
What does all these tell us? We now know that scientifically, there is no such thing as a pure race as not a single characteristic, trait or gene distinguishes members of one “race” from members of another.

Genes influencing skin colour have nothing to with the genes influencing blood types, type of hair or shape of eyes. As Dr Well explains, humans who first evolved in Africa had dark skin because they needed protection in the form of melanin, our natural sunscreen.Those who moved into the northern hemisphere 40,000 years ago did not need such protection and lost some of their pigmentation to allow sunlight to synthesise Vitamin D needed to grow strong bones.“Our differences are only skin deep as we are all African cousins separated by, at the most, some 2,000 generations,” he says.

Throughout human history, the concept of race or the assumed superiority of one over another, have been used to justify territorial wars, hegemony, slavery, ethnic cleansing and other abominations and more so in Malaysia where we have a diverse race and each claiming to be superior than the other.

So there you have it all, we are distantly related cousins from Africa, and there is no such thing as “Ketuanaan Melayu, Cina, India” dan lain lain! The next time someone like Ahmad Ismail barks at you telling that you that you are a “pendatang” just turn to them and say, you must be my distant relative from Africa. So Ahmad Ismail, my cousin how is the family?