The Problem with Islamic Leadership

      This is not the typical article on why Islamic Leadership is going south. From Sudan to Somalia, nations where Muslim are at the helm of leadership are branded as fail leaders leading failed states. This is not the typical article because most articles call for a return to leaders who are piety( Ulama) and more "Islamic" in their worldview. Well the writer is not saying that Ulama shouldn't lead, than would be mere generalization that won't serve any purpose. Rather, the writer is calling for the right leaders, whether Ulama or not, to lead Islamic nations.

The leaders must be equipped with knowledge of economy, world affairs, science and technology. Having a strong grounding in Islamic theology is a huge plus. The leaders must also be of sound character, not evil and corrupt leaders. The Muslims must accept that in order to progress, leaders who are progressive must lead, not traditionalist. Only then can the Ummah be a force to be reckoned with, not bullied like we are today.

Another problem with Islamic Leaders today is their lack of inclusiveness. We can see that in Egypt, President Morsi failed to get the support of the Liberals and the Non-Muslims. He relied heavily on the Islamic Brotherhood to cling to power. The revolution that dethroned Mubarak was the result of a unified Egypt, the Islamist, the Liberals and the Non-Muslims.

 The pillars that lead to Morsi's Presidency were abandon that led to the collapse of the Morsi's short Administration. Egypt is now back to a pseudo-military administration under General Sisi, back to square one.

Another example is Iraq. The Sunnis and Shias are fighting each other instead of rebuilding their nation into the glory of what used to be. Iraq was a beckon of knowledge, Science and Technology until the Mongols invaded. The leaders of Iraq should tap into that rich history and its oil money to bring back the glory days. Instead, Iraqi President Nuri Al-Maliki chose to use the Sunni Vs Shia narrative.

He didn't include Sunni Leaders in his administration, and ignored the Kurds. Now both the Sunni and Kurds are creating damage in Iraq due to the sectarian violence in that country. Again lack of inclusiveness is causing damage to an Islamic country.

It is poignant to point out that one of the major stories of the Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) is how he united the Ansar and Muhajirn during Hijrah. The Ansar and Muhajirin are to different types of people.

 Similarly, the Prophet(PBUH), also created a unified people, united in the worship of Allah S.W.T instead of the tribal nature of the society there before the arrival of Islam. The Muslims and Non-Muslims prospered under the rule of Prophet Muhammad and his successors. So it is sad that being inclusive is a major weakness in Islamic leadership today.

Finally, Islamic Leaders must not depend on others for help, instead they must strengthen their nations and ensure that these countries can rise up to the challenge of Globalization. The economies of their nation shouldn't rely on western powerhouses like US and UK, instead they should strive to make it the opposite, just like when Muslims control world trade and the spice trade. The same can be said in foreign policy.

Islamic Leaders must encourage their people to equip themselves with knowledge in the sciences, just like past Islamic leaders had done that saw the rise of the great doctor Ibn Sina, the great mathematician Al-Khwarizmi and so on. Muslims must be experts in their respective fields. Only when Islamic leaders start to do the above and more can Muslims pull themselves out of the malaise that they are in today.

Religious Zealism

     There have been many instances of overzealousness when it comes to religion. No, this is not one of the articles that blame religion for all the ills in the world. The writer believes that religion is a force for good that can definitely make the world a better place.

But religion, although a question of faith, must also be paired with reason. God must have reasons when God endows humans with the faculty to think. When religion is used together with our ability to think, then we can achieve a lot more here on earth.

In Malaysia recently, there are events that show the effects of religious overzealousness. Firstly, the act of the Penang Islamic Authority in seizing a the remains of they claim as a Muslim. The court later ruled that the person was not a Muslim. This caused severe embarrassment to the country.

 Not only that the objective of "dakwah" will not be met as people will view Islam negatively, it also caused unnecessary tension between Muslims and Non-Muslims. If religion is paired with reason, then the authorities would have done a through investigation and approached it differently than just storming in and confiscating the body. That is not what the religion is teaching the followers to do.

 In a hadith where Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) stood up in respect of the dead in a funeral eventough the body was a person of Jewish faith( Sahih Bukhari-1250, Sahih Muslim- 961). This is one of the beauty of Islamic teachings, we are thought to respect others.

 However when one is too extreme, we shut down our faculty to think and just act aggressively and insensitively on the precept we are being defenders of the religion, but the opposite is true. Therefore if the authorities had stop and think how the Prophet( PBUH) would have acted, they will not had gone through with the raid. They would have thought of a different way, a way that will show the light of Islam to the Non Muslims.

Another case is the raid of a wedding said to be involving transgenders. Again, the objective of "dakwah" has been lost. The raid cast Islam as an insensitive religion, uncompassionate towards another human being. Instead of taking the opportunity to dakwah and show the light of Islam, the authorities just acted in a belligerent manner that had the opposite effect to the already bad image of Islam.

What would the Prophet(PBUH) do in such a situation?, raid, arrest and charge? Did he do that when he was facing strong resistance in Mecca and when he went to Madinah. The way I see it, he went a do Dakwah feverishly, with strong persistence and tenacity, as can be seen in his efforts to make his beloved Uncle Abu Talib to embrace Islam. We should follow the Prophet( PBUH) on how he handled many issues and being belligerent and overzealous are not the way.

I hope that the Islamic authorities will learn and change their ways. They are seen as arrogant and oblivious to the feelings of Muslims and Non-Muslims alike. Their ways will weaken the respect they have as Islamic authorities among Muslims and will scare away Non-Muslims in embracing the religion. Muslims in the world in general and particularly in Malaysia must adopt new ways in dealing with cross religious issues if we are to be respected and our ways to adopted by others.

 But first the Islamic model of governance that is practiced by Muslims must bring fairness and justice to mankind in a way no other models can. No point saying to others that this is not what my religion is teaching their followers to do when they see Muslims themselves doing it without a care in the world. Action speaks louder than words.

Ordinary People Should Write and Speak Up

     Of late, there has been a lot of confusion on issues that are of concerns to ordinary citizens. Ranging from the burning Bibles to water shortage in Selangor. Issues like those have been given the spin by both sides of the political divide. Some of the spin are ludacris bordering moronic. Yet some still believe in it. Weird.

      However, to the citizens, why let spin define the issues? Why let the supremely bias mainstream media dictate the opinions of the mass majority? Why allow bloggers with political interests lie through their teeth, sweeping the real problems that need solution for the welfare of the people?

     If you read most political bloggers, they are not writing objectively, they are writing party rhetoric, half-truths, spins and personal attacks. Some even use rude language. Although I'm partisan, I'm for the real thing, issue-based discussions, not the script written by party bosses. We are singing to their tune, singing their praise, paying them taxes and suffering due to their mistakes. So if there is the probabality that we will suffer, why are we letting them dicate the issues, we should dictate it shouldn't we? Or maybe we should be thier puppets and just follow the puppetmaster, well if I'm a politician, I will definitely love that.

     This is causing them to misslead the discusion we ought to have as we ended up playing to their tune, publiczing their rhetoric, badmouthing possibly innocent personality, giving the wrong information to fellow Malaysians, drifting them away from the real issues by talking about the wrong things, a national barking at the wrong tree disease and worse, we might commit fitnah( slander) in the process. So we shouldn't let the politicians and thier army of bloggers dictate issues, we should.

     So what is the solution, well, normal ordinary people, who are not on the payroll of either parties, who will not stand to gain favours from the politicians, should speak up and write. They should take advantage of technology where now everyone can write a blog, post a video on YouTube and so on. Hopefully, Malaysians can listen to the people who really face the problems and they only want solutions to it, not political diatribes or vitriol. Definitely not more rhetoric, we have plenty of those.

      I would like to hear from experts on, say, the water shortage issue, who he himself lives in Klang Valley experiencing water problems, what is his take on the issue? Is Syabas to be blamed for, as explained by the Selangor state government, not reducing water leakages, of not honoring the concession agreement, or is the Selangor state government to be blamed for refusing to give the go a head for the Langat 2 Water Treatment plant. Or is there more to it.

     What say the lawyers out there, the opinionated political pundits? Malaysians should listen to them, not just to the politicians, and definitely not to Syabas( as they are making a ton of money out of this agreement regardless). It is okay for the politicians to prolong this issue, they have the financial means and political clout to do so. But the people don't, and they end up suffering the most, just like the Malay saying "Gajah sama gajah bergaduh, pelanduk mati ditengah". Guess who is the pelanduk here. But surprisingly, it is the politicians that are making the most noise while they are enjoying their nice water supply. The suffering Rakyat are the ones that are silent on this issue.

     The rakyat should organize themselves and tell all parties what they want, nationalize Syabas as proposed by Selangor state government(takeover)? Force the construction of Langat 2 as proposed by the government, or something entirely different. The Rakyat should let all parties know of thei wishes for this issue. And please don't say " saya berharap pihak-pihak tertentu akan menyelesaikan masalah ini" you have tried that years ago, and this issue is nowhere near " akan menyelesaikan masalah ini". The Rakyat must be more proactive. Forget about the NGO's that are "claiming to be neutral" to solve the problems, they are just politicians disguising as members of NGO's, they don't have your best interest.

    This issue is just one example of many other issues I would like to hear from ordinary Malaysians. So that I can know the truth, not political BS that dominates our discourse. I'm happy on the issue of Miss Listen3,( refer last posting if you are in the dark), many students came out with their opinions on the state of academic, intellectual and student freedom in this country. Malaysians will benefit from that as they are hearing it straight from the Cow's mouth and not some unscrupulous politicians that will say anything for their benefit.

    We can do the same with other issues like the Teaching of Math and Science in English. Let us bring forward students who are struggling with their studies due to the language difference at overseas tertiary institutions as claimed by the proponent of it, and let us bring the rural people who will not do so well in the subjects due to the level of their English as claimed by those opposed to this policy and let us hear them out. They should write, speak up as they are there the ones that will sleep on the beds we make. So they should break their silence and say something so that Malaysian can gain insight from them and decide to support or reject the policy.

     This is better than just listening to politicians who claim to champion the National Language but their children are sent overseas and have excellent command of the English language but not their national language or their mother tongue language. Why the Rakyat want to listen to hypocrisy?

     So, in conclusion, let's the Rakyat, dominate the discourse of this nation. We shouldn't copy paste our positions on issues simply based on politicians or their bloggers. We listen to them. But most importantly, we listen to ourselves, our fellow Malaysians, that are true to themselves, Malaysians that want to see the country move forward, not just to score political points. We will dictate the issues, and they should respond accordingly, not the other way around. We the Rakyat are the masters, so we make it onto ourselves, the worth of a master. Don't be a master but behaving like a servant, they are the servant, not us. So when the politicians begin to do their thing, you not the que, tell them excuse me YB, I think you are trying to BS here..... A better Malaysia will definitely be created.

Listen, Listen, Listen.....Let Me Speak, Let Me Speak, Let Me Speak

       A video clip( link at the bottom) where a student was berated  by what I think was the moderator of an event went viral on the Internet. Many forms of mockery and parody not to mention outright criticism were thrown at the moderator for her rude behaviour towards the student who was just airing her views. So this is the problem of our society, where people with strong opinions are attacked and not allowed to speak simply because their opinion stand against that of ours.

     Firstly, the main point to be conveyed is not the jokes on the Internet, the criticism against the moderator, the parody and so on. What must taken note is that the event is done to indoctrinate students. We can see the "ikrar" at the event as prove among others. The government, despite their claim of transformation (Political Transformation), still conducts such an event to propagate their views unfairly on students. This is called government propaganda to impose their thinking on students.

 This is prove that despite the amendment to the laws restricting students from participating in politics, there are still a lot to be done for students in this country. This also proves that the government is half- hearted in their political reforms. Such an event shouldn't be held in the first place as students should be taught to think, allowed to seek different views and arrive at the conclusion on which is best by themselves. While guidance should be given, the decision is theirs and theirs to make only.

     So what am I proposing, well as a citizen of Malaysia, I am proposing that students be allowed to listen to different views so that they can make an informed decision. University authorities should invite BN representatives to talk, PR representatives to talk, an even independents. The format should be either a forum or debate with different political representations, on even a one speaker event.

 I am not happy that the government is using taxpayers money to fund propaganda. It is bad enough that government-linked companies( partially belonging to the Rakyat) like Media Prima, through its TV channels have attacked the rakyat's rationality by airing constant propaganda( I'm sure our money can be used on more constructive ventures), now public universities are also joining the bandwagon. It is propaganda galore for the rakyat while our pockets are getting thinner and cost of living is getting higher.

 The government has lost its priorities. They are more interested in having propaganda events in our universities instead of improving the education standard( which means encouraging critical thinking) and accessibility to it. Hence we should heed the advice of the Deputy Prime Minister that there is nothing wrong with BN continuing to govern, why change when BN is good? Never mind the corruption and abuse of power, BN is good, keep it. Don't change for the sake of change as what our former PM said.

     Secondly, we must  include in our education system, the need to evaluate differing views and reach a conclusion. Is communism all bad?, even the welfare for the poor part?, is Capitalism all bad?, like the need for individual to strive for personal success? Is all things western bad?, hypocrites like to claim that but just look at them and we know that is not the case. So make evaluating different views part of the pedagogy of teaching by teachers and syllabus must be designed to incorporate differing views.

 Our history textbook is filled with what UMNO and to some extent alliance did to attain independence for our country, but very little on the role played by the political left like the role of PKMM( Persatuan Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya) to fight for our independence. Our exams shouldn't have one right answer when there are many. Textbooks should be nothing more than a guide, not a source of definite answers. Teachers must encourage students to do research.

 Though I acknowledge the limitation of this proposal where students from poorer backgrounds might have trouble obtaining some materials as compared to the better off students, the government must rectify this by utilizing technology like the Internet and having good libraries in school and other ways to bridge the gap.

     Finally, I propose politics be more professional, no more attacks on opposition with wild allegations like Anwar being an American agent and so on unless concrete prove can be provided. The same goes for the opposition. The allegation against Rais Yatim shouldn't be done simply based on hearsay. Use constructive economic, social, religious and issue-based political arguments instead of sentiments like Malays vs Non-Malays, Solar Bible to convert the Muslim is a big no no.

 This is especially important when dealing with students. We want to expose them to constructive politics not sentimental politics. Hope that Malaysians from both side of the political divide will rise up and change their political ways by adopting all, if not some of the proposals. If they can find a better proposal than mine, even better, make sure its is really a better proposal than mine, not those moral relativism or political expediency ones. We must do so, for the sake of Malaysia and her people.

-https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MJs6_j0rfi8

Malay political unity through a political party, good or bad?

It's unavoidable if you're Malay, you will hear the sigh of other Malays, feeling distraught due to the lack of unity among Malay political parties. You will hear in the the many open houses, hear it from the taxi man, read about it from comments in cyberspace. Even intellectuals and religous leaders are calling for it. It's everywhere.

 It's like the ultimate yearning of the Malay race is for there to be unity among the political parties representing them. That once that is achieved, the Malays will not be in harm's way and will progress by leaps and bounds. The path to political unity for the Malays is akin to achieving panacea.

I am the one of the few contrarian that feels otherwise. The reason being is simple, just like in the field of economics, a monopoly tends to be bad for consumers as the consumers are forced to accept the offering of that monopoly, regardless of their satisfaction. The consumers are powerless as they cannot show their dissatisfaction by buying products or services from a competitor as they are no viable ones. So the consumers will continue to suffer at the hands of the firm that holds the monopoly.

Similarly, in politics, political monopoly can happen and it is bad for voters. Imagine if Malays are only represented by UMNO, there are no PAS, PKR or  others. The Malays will have to accept whatever UMNO is offering to them as there are no viable alternative for them( most Malays won't vote for DAP). The Malays cant show their displeasure on poor polices by UMNO, the Malays can't protest poor behaviour by UMNO leaders. The Malays can't use other methods to develop themselves. Only the UMNO method for the Malays. So we pray to Allah S.W.T that UMNO will always come up with good policies, that UMNO leaders will always be on their best behaviour and UMNO method to develop the Malays is the best there is.

Unfortunately, as with what can be seen happening to UMNO today, that is not the case.
As a matter of fact, the Malays 100% reliance on UMNO over the years has brought the Malays into a deep hole where they have to condone UMNO many misgivings like corruption, abuse of power, cronyism and so on. Most of the misgivings will harm the progress of the Malays.

 A corrupt UMNO means that the Malays will be led by incompetent leaders as they are leaders not because of their merit rather because of corruption culture prevalent in UMNO. Thus the party will less be able to help the Malays and develop the nation. Therefore to safeguard the Malays, there must be a viable alternative to UMNO as whenever UMNO falls, they won't bring the entire Malay population with them.

The roots to this faulty belief that for Malays to be strong, they must unite other UMNO came from the fight against Malayan Union. As the Malays then discard their parochial identity and embrace the Malay identity, they manage to pressure the British to withdraw the Malayan Union system.

 It worked then because UMNO is not the government then, rather they are fighting against a very powerful colonial government. They are not doing the abuses nor are they giving any policy offerings then. UMNO is offering the viable alternative to Malays then, they are offering a better alternative to the colonial government Malayan Union system that will not benefit the Malays.So whose is offering an alternative to the Malays now? I believe it's PAS and PKR.

 The Malays then fought for an alternative to the unjust Malayan Union system, will the Malays now fight against the unjust government policies that encourages cronyism, that is leading to a bigger divide between the haves and the haves not, policies that are exclusive for UMNO putras instead of society as a whole. The Malays fought against injustice then, will they fight against injustice now?

So I hope that the Malays will not be trapped into following an outdated thinking outside of the context to the challenges that we are facing now. It is an accepted fact that for democracy to mature, competition among political parties is a prerequisite. A competitive political competition will mean that political parties will have to compete on who can serve Malays best, in order to get our votes.

Only that way, the political parties will be forced to improve themselves, thus improving their services to us Malays, thus leading to an improvement to the condition of the Malays in this country. That is better than political domination of the Malays by a single party. Make them improve their service to us, than vote the best. That is the way to go.

NGO's and political influence

I'm happy that the role of civil society in shaping policies in this country is improving. More often NGO's have use their own way, whether it be street demonstration, complaining through the proper channel or somewhere in between to forward their objectives. The days of government knows best is coming to a close. New politics( Politik Baru), here we come.

I made this remark in observing the recent trend in our political landscape. Firstly, the claim by Malay-rights group Perkasa that they will be ''Kingmakers" in the next general election and that candidates that don't support their agenda will be defeated with their help.

Whether the statement is true or not is secondary, but of primary interest to me is that the role of a NGO is finally understood. NGO's are suppose to be  pressure groups. Meaning that there are not suppose to bow down to the government when their agenda is at risk. Not just the government, any other parties for that matter. It is only by imposing their political clout that they can alter the political landscape favouring their agenda.

Any other ''weapons" at their disposal aside from political influence that can forward their agenda are welcomed. In the US, certain groups that are known to help in raising funds for politicians, use their financial clout in advancing their agendas. There are known as PAC( Public Action Committee) that at one time are used by the Republicans effectively. Now even President Obama is using it.

Even, PAGE( Parents Action Group for Education) and MTUC( Malaysia Trade Union Congress) have warned the government that they may lose votes if their demands are not met. PAGE is trying to convince the PM to change the policy regarding the teaching of Maths and Science in Malay to English whereas MTUC is fighting against government move to amened law(s) that they deemed as damaging to workers.

All of these organizations compromise the Rakyat but the only difference with others is that they are taking action in what they believe as good for the country or the groups they represent. This can only bring empowerment to the Rakyat in deciding their political fate.

Having said that however, some NGO's are still clueless about their role in society. I still think that the union for the civil servants, CUEPACS are not firm enough in fighting for civil servants. That they are perceived( at least by me) as kow towing to the government. They should have been more vocal on the death of Sarbani, a civil servant, and offer a helping hand for those who is fighting in his cause.

 Maybe their are tough behind the scenes. I don't know. But there are many ''weak" NGO's to pick from. That are afraid to fight for the people they represent or simply are not interested to do so. Therefore they are no justice for the Rakyat when the system failed them.

As for politicians, they job is simply to engage and try to understand their position. Shutting them up like what the governmnet did to Bersih won't do any good. It is important to note that they represent the Rakyat, at as the saying goes '' Suara Rakyat, Suara Keramat". So listening to them is important  to any government to remain close to the people. The same goes to the opposition. Try to engage Perkasa as they represent the Rakyat that are part of that NGO. Engaging doesn't mean compromising on your values. It just give you greater understanding of those who don't share your views.

 In Conclusion, new politics demand that NGO's assert their authorities to the government and any other parties that stand in the way of their agendas. This trend should be encouraged as a way for politicians to gather feedback from the Rakyat. It's a form of people empowerment. That people, can, if they are willing to take action, decide on their fate. Fighting for self-determination is a right of all citizens, as long as it is done in a manner that is acceptable. Malaysia belongs to Malaysians, thus we should play a part in how Malaysia is governed. Kudos to all the NGO's...:)

Middle Malaysia or 1Malaysia, a Win for All

I'm somewhat optimistic about the direction that we are heading now. The pressure from both sides of the political divide have been enormous but our politicians showed political will. They showed that they will not bow to the pressure and the interest of ordinary Malaysians will come first.

Firstly, our Prime Minister showed tremendous political will in announcing the end of repressive and restrictive laws like the ISA, the need for renewal of permit for media and so on. He chose a grand occasion in announcing the such move, his Malaysia Day address to fellow Malaysians.

Let us hope that he will fulfil his promise and that the laws replacing those outdated acts will not be the same or worse than the current acts. Despite certain groups within his party that are calling for continuation of such acts, he showed the cynics and sceptics that transformation is indeed his agenda for this country. Hopefully it is transformation for the better.

On the other hand, the opposition too, was under pressure from from politically strong pressure groups within their respective parties. The recent row over Hudud, where the hardcore secular and Islamist group clashed with bravado over their respective beliefs, to the extent of threats to leave Pakatan Rakyat by some was defeated by level-headed leaders of Pakatan Rakyat.

Together they stood their ground and say it's okay to disagree, but Pakatan Rakat will only move with the consensus of all parties. This is similar in relationships where a good relationship is not that there is no disagreement at all, rather the ability to move beyond the disagreement and build consensus. DAP had in the past talked about Middle Malaysia, this is a clear indication that indeed there are seriuos about it.

This proves that Pakatan Rakyat is more than a marriage of convenience, but rather a romantic marriage with all the twist and turns, conflict and drama not forgetting the I'm going to leave you threat that is commonplace in relationships. Where else can you see a marriage between secularists and Islamists that can last this long, this is truly a Malaysian story. Malaysia Boleh!

With Perkasa running around shouting racist rhetoric, pressuring the government to be ethnocentric, and the conservatives whether in PAS or DAP that is imposing their way of doing things in the opposition, one wonder whether change can happen in this country. But with the way these leaders from both the government and opposition handle these pressure groups, I can say we are headed towards the right direction, whether it is Middle Malaysia or 1Malaysia...:)

In Conclusion, we must remember that Malaysia is a country that is diverse, therefore we cannot be dogmatic in our thoughts and actions. This country is successful and will only continue to be successful if we follow the footsteps of our forefathers that used the melting pot approach rather than create hegemony in this country.

Malaysia is a "rojak nation", a mixture of a little bit of everything. The same goes to all of us Malaysians. It is important that we remember that. We, the people of Malaysia must defend this Malaysian way, because this is the only way, this is our way....:)

The Right of Assembly As A Weapon Against Tyranny And Injustice

Hey, sorry for not writing for quite sometime, been quite busy lately. Anyway, despite being busy with work and stuff, it is hard to ignore the heightened political tension now. The tension is caused by the BERSIH 2.0 rally not to mention Perkasa and UMNO Youth that will have similar counter-rally at the same place and time as BERSIH 2.0.

I'm not a fan of street demonstrations. I don't believe in demonstrating for the sake of demonstrating. However, I plan to take part in the BERSIH 2.0 rally. The reason being is that BERSIH 2.0 is a rally for democracy, a cause close to my heart.

However some quarters have demonise BERSIH to the extent of equating it to communism, foreign imperialism and what not. It is expected especially from the government seeking to continue their manipulation of the electoral system for the sake of their hold on power. It is not national security as much as it is maintaining political order and preservation of power. Draconian ways in the name of national security have been used to contain the rally including arresting those who are in any way associated with BERSIH ( eg wearing, selling or using BERSIH goods, promoting BERSIH).

It is funny how the ones accusing BERSIH of communism is practicing ways of the communist. Communism states are known to crash dissent using fear and torture and apparently, to a certain extent, the BN government seems keen to use the approach of communist states instead of the ones used in developed nation democracies that allow peaceful protests. We are behaving like a communist nation so much so that even wearing a BERSIH shirt warrants an arrest. Chin Peng must be laughing at us right now. Demokrasi acuan sendiri kan.

Despite the legitimacy of security issues, we must remember authoritarian nations tend to use this argument to crush dissent due to their own tyranny and unjust way of governing. I have seen it so many times. The Mubarak, Suharto, Mugabe and other autocratic regime have used the excuse of national security in legitimizing their unjust crackdown on those who are opposing them.

Even fear-gripped USA voted for Bush in 2004 due his national security agenda. Look what happened to the United States due to their decision, illegal detention of so called terrorist, the waging of expansive wars that resulted in lost of innocent human beings, cruel methods to gain information such as waterboarding and other atrocities never imagined possible, especially from the US. We must not lose our humanity in the presence of fear as the ultimate fear is losing our humanity. That is when injustice begun.

Finally, the use of assembly and demonstrations have brought down tyrant regimes like the regime of Suharto, Mubarak and many more throughout history.

The use of demonstrations also have managed to get the government to react in a positive manner. For example, in Malaysia, the last BERSIH rally managed to get the government to agree on few electoral reforms such as the use of transparent ballot box instead of the metal ones and the presence of independent officers during the counting of the ballot. The government even agreed on the indelible ink proposal but aborted in last minute due to technical issues. The election conducted by the government after BERSIH's first rally is cleaner compared to previous elections.

Even the Anti PPSMI( Pembelajaran dan pengajaran Sains dan Matematik dalam Bahasa Inggeris) movement managed to put pressure to the government to overturn the policy of teaching English in science and mathematics whether the move is right or wrong. The point is, sometimes the use of demonstrations are necessary to pressure the government to act accordingly and to bring down tyranny and unjust government.

In conclusion, the right of assembly in a peaceful manner should be protected as it can be used as a weapon by the people to ask the government to change their ways or to change the government itself. It is the manifestation of people power or Ketuanan Rakyat. Let me end this article with the famous quote in the movie V for Vendetta with the hope that we, malaysians demand the same from ourselves and our government '' The People Should Not Be Afraid of The Government, The Government Should be Afraid of The People".

Supporting Poltics of Merit and Values, Battling Slander Politics

In embracing technology as a device for social change, I have sign up to blogspot to communicate my ideas and views on the need for reform in this country.

However, the advancement of technology also has a big downside as we recently witnessed in the supposedly Anwar sex video scandal. Technology is misused to create slander and spread lies. This development is certainly unhealthy for our democracy as the ability to reach an informed decision on who is the best to lead is imperative to a functioning democracy. With lies and slander at the forefront of our political space, blinding the masses with incorrect facts, one wonder how can the people reach the correct informed decision.

Even in a better functioning democracies like in the US and UK, where lies and slander can be countered by disseminating the correct information( as media is free there, unlike here), forget about lies and slander, even the tampering of fact led to Americans and Brits in endorsing leaders that brought them to two costly wars that people from both sides later regretted( Bush won in the 2004 reelection and Blair's Labour Party also won at the 2005 General Election).

Malaysians irrespective of political affiliation must denounce this act and call for politics that are based on merit and values where one ability to lead and values like integrity and honesty be the measuring stick for potential office bearers. For this to happen, all Malaysians must reject any politics that can impair the ability to judge the candidates merit and values like slander politics, race politics and many more.

Having said that, doesn't mean that we should ignore the claims of "Datuk T", rather we incorporate in speech and deed in ourselves and others the principle of justice like innocent until proven guilty and everyone has a right to defend themselves from any accusation in a court of law( I will also add outside too). Not forgetting another Important principle of justice, the concept of supremacy and rule of law meaning the law is below no one including the opposition leader. If found guilty fairly, he should step down from any posts and face the punishment accorded by law.

In echoing the stand by controverisal blogger, Raja Petra, "Datuk T" must not be prosecuted either as it is important that whistle blowers be protected by law so that other whistle blowers will not fear for the legal consequences if they reveal discrepancies of whatever sort. However, if the allegation is proven to be a lie, then they should be punished for their action of making false accusation and fabricating evidence against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Hopefully that in doing so, it will deter others in engaging in such acts, so that the honour of individuals will be respected in this country.

In conclusion, we should not support nor engage in slander politics and embrace merit and values politics. Anwar is shall be presumed innocent until proven guilty. It's time we drop the kind of politics that are practice by third world countries an adopt the development world kind of politics, in line with our aspiration to be a develop nation. Hopefully we can achieve that in full, physically, mentally, emotionally( I might add spiritually) and not just partially. Only then we can truly prosper and excel in the long run. Sent by DiGi from my BlackBerry® Smartphone

The Failure of US Foreign Policy.

The recent upheaval in the Middle East recently that saw protests in that region especially Tunisia and Egypt are in part either partly caused and/or damaging to the US. The reason for that fact can be traced in US foreign policy towards nations in that region and the rest of the world.

Whether rightly or so, US world image has been further tarnished due to the protests as some people especially in that region have perceived that US somehow was involved in the streghtening of the unpopular dictators there like Egypt President Hosni Mubarak despite them being a contradiction to US values like freedom, democracy and so on.

The Middle East is obviously an important region to the US and the rest of the world. There lies most of the oil fields that if disrupted, can cause major economic unrest. Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran being the world top oil producers( Saudi is no1 followed by Iraq at no2 ) are only a few nations in the Middle East being major oil producers.

Besides that, the major trading route, The Suez canal( no1 trading route) is also located there. Any disruption there will lead to a standstill in international trade causing also economic unrest.

Finally, the nation of Israel which is influential and important to the US due to the strenght of Jewish lobbyists is also located there. So it isn't surprising for world powers to meddle and have leaders in that region being subservient to their demands as their interests lie on the region being stable despite the leaders poor humanitarian records.

The US, the British and the French and others have had a hand in the region affairs while nicely closing one eye or even supporting the brutality of the regimes there so that they can continue to have leaders who are supportive of them and can take care of their interests.

This approach to foreign policy while pragmatic, is always damaging in the end as the unpopular regime will further inflame anti-American sentiments among the people and give rise to an alternative that is hostile to the US( case in point Cuba, closer to the Middle East is Iran) and its values.

Human rights, democracy and other US imports are deemed as the evil western ideologies that must be fought against despite its advantage in uplifting the individuals in that country. Anti-American sentiments trumps these important people empowering values as it's advocated by the US even though the action that created the ill-feeling is actually is in direct contradiction to the values.

The result will be the rise of extremism and violence( Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah being the example) and the creation of nation-states that uphold such beliefs( Cuba can be used as an example with its many political prisoners, and the popular support garnered by assertive leaders advocating war and terror like Benjamin Netanyahu and his party in Isreal, Hamas in Palestine and Hezbollah in Lebanon, whether the call is justified or not) which will bring the region on a state of turmoil eventually thus creating the economic unrest the US and the west feared so much.

So, the US must now change its foreign policy from the pragmatic one to the one base on it's values so that there is a consistency and clear representation of what and why there are trying to persuade the world to follow their lead. The US must stop supporting dictators just because the dictators supported them and their interests.

Rather, US must influence and persuade the nations there to follow the values they are advocating and US must respect the outcome of such move.( US decision not to support Hamas and Hezbollah despite those two movement through the practice of democracy are representing a large section of the population will only benefit undemocratic leaders and the exremists) If US are not happy about certain outcome, their only way to redress is to have a dialog with the democratically elected leaders.

Another way is to support and give the right amount of power to international bodies like the UN, WTO and so on to be either mediator or arbitrator to the problems between nations be it US or others.The US must not use violence and regime change to benefit their interests as these will lead to oppression and the US and her people will eventually be the target of the people's anger. The fight for important values against extremists like the fight for human rights and democracy that can benefit everybody will also be negatively affected as they are seen as the US or the west ideology.

Finally, it is time for the US to learn and respect other people's beliefs in how the should be governed as long as it is done through the democratic process and are not harmful to its citizens as the govern is legitimate due to the attainment of the mandate from the people and disrespecting it will mean challenging the sovereignty of the country and her people( The government of Iran is a great example).

The US should engage with different groups like the Islamist movement and the Oriental movement and hopefully through the engagement both sides can benefit from one another either through exchanges of practices and value systems or simply through understanding how the different groups can work together despite their differences for the benefit of all parties.

That is what plurality and diversity truly means. The US and west and should advocate such dialog as they believe in plurality and diversity, unless that is another of their many values and actions contradictions where they disguise hegemony as plurality. If that is the case, the one at the losing end is the US and all the people that stand to benefit from its values. It is worth nothing that the end of cold war where US is the only world superpower is over. The US will do well to note that if they want to continue to lead the world or if they will lose that position to China. Only time will tell.

Restore Our Parliament's Supremacy And Dignity

I have to write this article after seeing the symbol and function of democracy here in Malaysia being attacked. It was attacked by madness, incompetence and abuse of power by the speaker and the majority. The speaker has suspended the Opposition Leader and 3 others from Parliament for 6 months. All of these started with the issue of Anwar exercising his rights by bringing up the link between APCO and the Israel regime.

The issue got worse with the handling of the case by The Special Rights and Privileges Committee chaired by the speaker himself which denied Anwar a chance to defend himself from the suspension. The decision was also made without evidence from the Opposition on the viability of Anwar's statement.

Firstly, this is not the first time that Parliament under the speaker, caused an uproar. MP from Puchong Gorbind Singh Deo was suspended in Parliament for 1 year for bringing the Altantuya murder case in Parliament. I believe that the Parliamentarians, as representatives of the people have the right to ask question they deemed important for the public. The case of APCO, which consults the government on enhancing its image and the murder of Altantuya, obvious these two cases are of public interest.

It is the duty of Parliamentarains to act as an representative amd indirect informer to the people about the ongoings of the country. But the government decided not only to keep it in the dark, they also punished severely those who talked about it even in the hallowed halls of Parliament. How can a government claimed itself to be transparent and accountability when we the people don't know what's going on and whose accountable?

Secondly, diverting from the APCO issue, our Parliament must be given independence from the executive branch. The Parliamentary allocation is given from the federal government to the Parliamentarians through the party branches instead of Parliament to the parliamentarians. This creates the current situation where constituencies under BN are given allocation while PR constituencies are left to fend for themselves.

Therefore, voters who voted for PR collectively in a constituency will be punished with no development at worst, while at best the PR elected representatives can't decide how the area is to be developed when federal agencies will do the development work themselves. This is mockery of our Democratic practice when voters will be punished for not voting the government.

I believe it is time Parliament is empowered with the right to disburse allocation to all MPs equally where they are given a fair amount of freedom to decide on how the money is to be spend.

Furthermore, the cabinet here in Malaysia is very powerful where they made most of the decision. This is in sharp contrast with the US where the President must even get the consent of the Congress on the choice of cabinet ministers to the Supreme Court Judge Leader.

The Congress can even have a committee hearing on the conduct of the President like the one that happen to President Clinton involving Monica Lewinski case and President Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal.Such hearing can even lead to the President being impeached.

It would be ideal for Malaysia to see the power of the cabinet limited by the giving more power to the people through the Parliament. As a result, Parliamentary Committee in Malaysia is either as powerful or slightly less powerful than those in the US.( The Parliamentary Committee should at least has a representative from the Opposition, if not equal representation for it to be fair)This will allow Parliament to curb excesses by the government, may it be excesses in executing its power or otherwise or even vice versa where the government is granted more power for a specific puropse.

Finally, it is desirable for the Parliamentarians not to be just legislators, but be involved indirectly in policy making instead of the current practice of the bureaucrats doing the policy work. They should at least be allowed to make contribution in any policy with the help of the bureaucrats. For example, the Senate Committee of Banking and Finance in US will call anybody it deemed necessary to testify on the bailout of the financial Sector due to the Economic Crisis in 2008 where recommendations will be made for serious consideration for the President and his team.

This should be advocated as the bureaucrats have no mandate from the people and are not answerable to the people. Here in Malaysia, some civil servants put too much loyalty to the government over the people, thus despite their incompetence, they are given top post in the government. If Parliament can rein in this practice by giving consent or rejecting the appointment of MACC Chief or Inspector General of Police, that will enhance their performance and loyalty to the people.( Again voices of the Opposition must be heard for this to work effectively).

In conclusion, is time the government add meaning to their Slogan of 1Malaysia, Rakyat Didahulukan, Pencapaian Diutamakan whcih means people and performance are of importance. One way this can be realised is giving power to the people and Parliament is where this power should be placed being the function and symbol of people sovereignty( Keadaulatan Rakyat).

Reform in our Parliamentary system must be carried out so the voices and aspiration of the people can be heard and realised and no one, including the speaker, should be allowed to stop it as only then can we, the people, be truly sovereign. Only then we will be treated in the manner that we deserve.HIDUP RAKYAT!

Real Ketuanan Melayu!

The Ketuanan Melayu issue certainly got the headlines currently with a few quarters calling an end to it like for it to be'' di bakul sampahkan"(thrown in the thrash) while others defended it. There are various reasons for these people stating their stand but my view is that what's more important is not the slogan but rather the actual state of the Malays in this country.

I will let the opportunistic politicians to fight for Ketuanan Melayu for it to stay or be replaced as deep down I'm convince most of them are uninterested about the real issue here and the Malays must survive and thrive regardless.

Firstly, the reason I state that this slogan is irrelevant is because you can yell and shout this slogan all you want, but the malaise of the Malays stays. The Malays will still be drivers, sewage workers and other low-paying jobs with or without the slogan. So, if one truly care about the Malays, I will rather ask all of us to focus on solving the problem of the Malays as with "Ketauanan Melayu", we are still the lowest in terms of income compared to other races, highest drug addicts and many more things that will shake any illusions about us being ''tuan".

If one is to study history of the dominant races like the Greeks, Romans, Jews and so on, they all don't rely on slogans to be successful, some of them are even a minority in the country. What brought them there is through instilling of values like love of knowledge, hard work, curiosity, emphasis on one survival and so on.

For example,the Greeks, enquiry into nature brought them the gift of philosophy that created a comparative advantage for them against other races as they use philosophy to create better individuals, society and country. Therefore, their advantage lies in their minds, not sloganeering. The way they carry themselves and govern themselves brought the Greek civilisation as the best in the world at one time, and all of these are because of their minds.

So the Malays, for them to be uplifted, must be willing to change their behaviours and more importantly, their thinking and start to act like a ''tuan" by instilling some good values and behaviours instead of behaving like a ''tuan" wannabe but incapable of showing their worth as a ''tuan".

Secondly, the slogan has long been misused by certain quarters calling on for the Malays to be protected as ''tuan" with economic benefits while the same quarters work with their non-Malays counterpart to ''steal" the so-called economic benefits for themselves. Many of these Ali Baba businessesman make millions doing nothing just because he or she is a Malay with contacts to the powers that be that can give him or her lucrative contracts.

I believe that is unethical as the ones deserving that contracts are the hardworking Malays despite the lack of the right know-who. These heinous act is protected under the guise of ''Ketuanan Melayu" and Malay poverty but the rich Malays and their rich non-Malays partners are the ones that gains the most.

Furthermore, it has also been misused by politicians who yelled the''Ketuanan Melayu" slogan for their political gain while using that as a way to excuse their corrupt practices, abuse of power and incompetence in governing. Some of these politicians even sell out to the Malays when they themselves are Ali Baba businessman or acted in ways similar to it. The Malays deserve better politicians representing them, but their fear of the other race due to the influence of these politicians cause them to be shackled by these phony ''pejuang melayu".

Real Ketuanan Melayu can only happen when the shackle is broken and the Malays are truly free from them and their patronage. For that to happen, Malays must first start to be independent and stop the dependency on the entitlements that they give to gain the support of the Malays as the entitlements as a whole pale in comparison to the riches, influence and power they receive.

Finally, I have never been a fan of symbols, illusions and superficiality. I prefer functionality as it is real and long lasting. The Malays are known for their obsession for symbols. Why else there are so much fuss about the waving of the keris being questioned or the fact that some suggest ''Ketuanan Melayu" to be deposed.

History can show how the colonial master made use of the Sultans in ceremonial function to trick the Malays into the illusion of power when in fact the colonial powers are the ones who have the real power. The Sultans acted merely as a symbol for the Malays to feel good. Hundreds of years later, one can wonder whether we truly has change as based on many events on how the Malays behave, the answer is unfortunately, no.

In conclusion, let us ignore these polemic of ''Ketuanan Melayu" and focus on solving the problem the Malays truly has like rampant corruption among the politicians, lack of economic power and so on. Values also must be instilled for the Malays. In my view, the most important value is making education important in the Malay mentality beside from the usual hard work, perseverance and so on.

If we are focus in solving our problems and instilling good values, then maybe we can truly live the ''Ketuanan Melayu" slogan no matter who is ruling the country or no matter where we are in the world without kidding to ourselves as the ''Ketauanan Melayu" in us are not superficial, rather they are real ''Ketuanan".

The Lack of Dignity and Honor Among Present Leaders

Great leaders are important to the development of nations and its people. Therefore it is essential that Malaysians are wary of the lack of quality leadership here in this country especially among the Malays.

One can wonder what happened to the golden age of Malaysia where Malaysia is filled with great leaders like Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Tan Cheng lock, Tun V. Sambathan and other giant personalities of Malaysian where their places are waiting to be filed be other capable leaders. Unfortunately, presently, the same can’t be said.

One possible reason for the lack of good leaders presently is the lack of good virtues among the present leaders that used to be the hallmark of leaders in Pre-Independent leaders. One of the virtues that I would like to touch is showing dignity and honor in ones conduct. Present leaders trade dignity for power and positions where as the older generation leaders tend to be more mindful of dignity and honor as it reflect their self-worth.

One example would be the corruption case of former Selangor Menteri Besar Dato Harun Idris corruption case where despite being offered to be sent to UN to escape from the charge, Dato Harun insisted on facing the trial as it is the honorable thing to do that resulted him being jailed. He made a mistake and accepted responsibility for it as that what leaders with dignity and honor will do.

Presently however, despite some leaders being caught for corruption red handed, they refused to take responsibility for it and serve the punishment. Just look at the corruption cases involving the last UMNO elections where certain personalities caught for money politics remained in their positions without doing the right thing like what Dato Harun did. They are more concerned about power and positions instead of honor and dignity.

Another example is the unfair sacking of Tun Salleh Abbas, where some of his colleagues like Supreme Court judge, the late Tan Sri Azmi Kamaruddin, show great honor and dignity and defended their boss despite the circumstances they face as they where later suspended. They are willing to risk their positions for the sake of upholding justice in which they are entrusted to do as judges. Upholding their oath and duty as judges are more important than their positions.

The same can’t be said with the current judiciary with the Linggam Tape scandal, not to mention the public perception of the judiciary being corrupt. Some of the personalities involved in the Linggam Tape scandal including judges that even serve as Chief Justice didn’t even apologize or show remorse publicly for their actions. They should at least preserve whatever dignity and honor they have left and apologize for the injustice that occurred due to their action.

In developed countries like US and Japan, public official who don’t perform or they were involved in an unethical act will step down for the sake of preserving their honor and dignity. For example, even the President of USA, Richard Nixon step down as President after the Watergate scandal involving a break in of his political party rival office by Republicans.

In Japan, a lot of ministers even Prime Ministers have step down to preserve their honor and dignity. Japan former finance minister even step down just because he appeared drunk in one press conference eventhough he actually was affected by medicine he took.

Here in Malaysia however, many underperforming ministers are still unashamed with their incompetence and unethical act, even worst, they will get upset if they are dropped from the cabinet. They don’t care about other things except their power and positions despite them being there are detrimental to the people well being.

Finally, the current leaders want positions but not the responsibility that comes with it. Older generation leaders are the ones who what we call ‘’Leaders Without Title” as they don’t care about position but instead focus on enhancing the well-being of the people by serving them.

Ghaffar Baba, the former Deputy Prime Minister is great example where he served the people despite not been given an important ministerial position before becoming Deputy Prime Minister( even then his portfolio is still not that important compared to other Deputy Prime Miniters) despite being elected as Vice-President of UMNO with the highest votes at one time.

That never deterred him from serving the people as his duty id to serve other not his self-interests as it an honor to serve the ‘’rakyat” compared to serving one-self. This important leadership trait is absent in the current leadership and most probably future leadership if nothing is done to instill in them such a trait.

In conclusion, we as Malaysian must instill in others and ourselves especially our leaders to take care of our dignity and honor above anything else. We must make it part of Malaysian culture just like the Japanese where the person dignity and honor is worth that person life, not power of positions.

The Malaysian public must be willing to think and act likewise in their everyday dealings especially in their voting exercise as by doing so can Malaysia be clean of politicians who are unhonorable that have no dignity despite their race, political affiliation and others. When we can carry that out only we will good leaders that we deserve. Remember, ‘’People Get The Leaders They Deserve”.

Merdeka, National Integration and Polarization.

Last month, our beloved nation turned 53 years old. The watershed date of August 31st marked the occasion where on that very date, 53 years ago, our nation achieved it’s independence from the British.

It was an important event for our nation however, aside from having a free nation, our nation building stalled there as many of the problems facing us as a nation then remained with us now at best, at worst things are actually better of than compared to now, economic consideration aside. One of the main hindrance of national integration in our country is the state of polarization among the races that persisted from pre-independence until now, 53 years later.

Most of the way things were then, remained now despite we achieving independence like the social order that caused polarization during the colonial time due to the divide and rule policy they used against us. It's ironic then that now, the same policy is still in force and are administrated by our own government now claiming it as ''acuan sendiri".

An example of such problem in national integration among the different ethnic groups, we remain as divided as a nation despite being together for a long time. The Malays, Chinese, Indians and East Malaysians have their own communal interests at heart instead of having the Malaysian interest. Efforts in integration have been hampered by those yelling racial supremacy and racial togetherness.

Our Deputy Prime Minister Muhyidin Yassin himself led the charge of ethnicity over nation when he proclaimed he is a Malay first, Malaysian second. Many of our top leaders when press whether they are Malaysians first, either decline to comment or claim that they identify with their race first. That shows what we are having here is not nation building but ethnic ‘’building’’ within these nation which is not the effective way to go.

Having touched the issue of separation among the races among the leaders, let us look at among the common people. We remain as polarized as ever as we can see we are separated in different sector or groups.

The public sector consist of mainly Malays and the private sector is dominated by the non-Malays. In education, many Malays will go to national schools while the non-Malays will go to their respective vernacular schools and when they go to pursue higher education, majority of the Malays will be in public universities or colleges and most non-Malays will be in private ones. There are also specific industries which are race-dominated like the Chinese in the car workshop business.

Even when we are born, we are already divided into the Bumiputera and non-Bumiputera with each group having different benefits from the other. So it’s difficult to have a common interest and values, an essential ingredient for nation building, when we are polarized like this.

Furthermore, our political and social system are designed to ensure the continuation of such polarization as any effort to change the way things work by any means will most likely have serious consequences on the individual or group that are doing so. We have laws such as the Seditious Act and Internal Security Act to stop anyone from preaching against the current norm as they are deemed to sensitive and can disrupt the harmony among the races.

So we swept the problem of national integration under the carpet and assume ignorantly that there is no conflict among the races despite the writing on the wall such as the Namewee video clip, the Hindraf condemnation of the Malays and the “pendatang” tag given to the non-Malays by the Malays. Anyone caught questioning it will be incarcerated so the norm with it’s many problems persists.

We live in a nation of make believe where national integration is only manifested in the many commercials where we ‘’makan’’ together despite mentally and emotionally there is some serious discontent among us and there is now way of solving it as we are deemed to sensitive based on the absolute discretion of the powers that be.

In conclusion, as stated above, we are independent but we have not build our nation state(Negara Bangsa) of Malaysia where we our salience and loyalty is to the nation and not race, instead we have in Malaysia, many states with different interests competing with each other, each placing their interests above the interest of the nation as a whole. What we have is instead, a ‘’ state-nation”.

Therefore in conjunction with the 53 years of our nation’s independence, let us ‘’ask not what our nation has done for us, but ask instead what we have done for our nation”. That famous remark by President Kennedy is the cure to our cancer as many of our leaders are asking what their community deserves from the nation as being the sons of the soil ( Bumiputera), being a small minority, being the largest economic contributor and what not, instead of what the communities should do for the nation as a whole.

Let us change our paradigm and think as a Malaysian and what we can do for our nation so that we can put our past and self-prescribed sensitivities behind and begin the construction of our nation state where we all belong irrespective of our differences. That is my dream, and I think it should be part of the still non- existent Malaysian dream.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY MALAYSIA!...:)

Stop Race Politics!

I am deeply disappointed by the actions of some politicians and the mainstream media in politicizing in a racial manner the Friday prayer sermon in Penang which some quarters claimed that the name of the Yang Dipertuan Agong had been replaced with that of the CM Lim Guang Eng. The state government has deny this allegation but the issue is still being politicised.

In this holy month of Ramadhan, why are there individuals who are miss using the sanctity of religion for their political gain. Statement made by Datuk Zahid Hamidi is uncalled for as instead of investigating the matter, some quarters prefer to politicised it out of proportion.

It must be remembered by Malaysians especially Muslims that slander in Islam is worst than murder, therefore, if the allegation happens to be untrue, one is committing a sin worst than murder. This allegation if not properly handled, might lead to religious and racial uproar in this mentally-induced racial and religious hyper-sensitive nation that can disrupt the harmony between the races.

This is not the first time such racialisation of an issue is being done nor will it be the last if we continue to reward race politics and racist politicians. This issue is worst as aside from race, it also involved religion.The issue of Hindraf, the cow head protest and so on is the result of practising race politics

The only way to move beyond all this is by the electorate to reject race politics as it does more harm than good, it creates disunity and takes our attention away from the real issues of the day like the menace of corruption, the inequity in economic distribution between the rich and the poor and so on.

If this trend continues, then there is the possibility that another May 13 might create havoc in this beloved nation of ours. Let us be responsible Malaysians and reject any politicians with such tendencies in all elections, be it national elections or party ones.

Failure to do so, as a result will lead to extremist force taking over the country. Look at the public support of Perkasa among the Malays, and how politicians for both side of the divide that is empty content wise but due to wilingness to be ''pejuang bangsa"(race warrior, in other words, racist to an extreme) is going up the ranks.

We certainly don't want such people to lead or be influential in managing this nation, thus before it's to late, let us do something. Moderates politicians that are trying to bridge the divide like Zaid Ibrahim( Malay-Non Malays) and Khalid Samad( Muslims-Non Muslims) require our strongest support as they are being attacked by Ultra Malays and Muslim conservatives respectively. We need such politicians to lead and influence the direction of this nation, not racist demagogues in Perkasa and so on.

The sanctity of religion and race must be protected and not be miss used as a divisive tool to enhance one's salience to a political party so that votes can be gained. The practice of such politics is irresponsible. A more humane alternative is to vote based on humanistic values such as empathy towards the ''others" and try to understand their rights, religion and culture. Lets us create a Malaysian society where one can live in harmony, individually and collectively where one is not punished because of his or her identity.

Let us strive for Martin Luther King's speech where he talked about his dream for his nation,
'' I have a dream, that my four little children will live in a nation where they will not be judged by their colour, but by the content of their character".

Here in Malaysia, such word such echo in our hearts and mind as here, we are not judged by our content of character, but by our colour instead. Let us stand up and be counted to stop such practices, let us vote based on character and not colour.

Let us vote for the party that have the right values to guide our nation forward in a way that will not dampen our spirits and not the party that fight for narrow racial interests that create a society that is racist instead of a humanist society. Let us vote for the party with the best ideas for the nation and the ability to implement it well, not the party that talks of race supremacy or race solidarity.

In conclusion, we must demand the end of racial politics and ask instead for real issues-based ones-politics based on things that truly matter for our nation like the nation economic state,(sharing fairly of our nation wealth),social state(the polarisation among the races) , education state( is our education system producing the right human capital to steer this country in the 21st century) and many more.

The first step is for Malaysians to demand for such practice by at least using the ballot box, other measures that can help is the public advocation of such politics and for research on the subject to be conducted and information gained to be disseminated to the general public. We can only clean up our country if we clean up our politics and so let the'' Gotong Royong" begin for a cleaner politics that will lead us to a cleaner Malaysia.

A New Dawn for Malaysia's War Against Corruption?

The PKFZ(Port Klang Free Trade Zone) project fiasco continues to dominate the headlines when former MCA President and Transport Minister, Tun Ling Liong Sik was charged in court for misleading the cabinet about the said project. Personally I'm shocked that the government is taking such action but obviously they did and congratulations to them in having the guts to do so. For the first time in a long time, a big wig is charged in court for something, by Malaysian standards, it's a revolution indeed( a Tun some more). We all know that corruption is Malaysia's number 1 enemy, so this is our biggest attempt in attacking this enemy.

However, before we jubilate and celebrate this milestone in the battle against corruption that, thus far has been won by the corrupt over the people of Malaysia until this happened, I would like to remind all of us that the battle is not over yet, let alone the war. Past battles had shown us that the corrupt are not so easily defeated to warrant a premature celebration. Memories of the Lingam and the judiciary case, Eric Chia and Pewaja case and many more that the prosecution and justice system failed to nail should remind us of how the battle is far from over.

Just like Napoleon in the Battle of Waterloo who mistook a group of army approaching the battlefield as his reinforcement, which in actual fact happened to be his enemy Blucher leading the Prussian army, we should also be wary and not be disillusioned by this case until it is truly over and those guilty is charged.

I would not like to think the government of BN-prosecution team as an ally in the war against graft until they prove that they are worthy of being so as they might be reinforcement for the corrupt to blind Malaysians into thinking that the war is turning in our favour when it's not, worst is the opposite,just look at what happened to Napoleon( with the help of Blucher, Wellington defeated Napoleon in that battle that completely ended Napoleon's career and his dream of conquering Europe).

Excuse me for being cynical but after so much hope are dashed in the past, one will naturally behave in that manner. Nonetheless, I'm still hopeful that this might not be the'' same old, same old" story, but until the outcome of the case is determined, let us focus on other battles in this war against corruption.

Firstly,they are many corrupt individuals in government as we speak. One good example is Malacca Chief Minister Ali Rustam who the UMNO Discipline Council found guilty of money politics in the last UMNO General Assembly Election. So while the trial of Ling proceeds, we the public should increase the pressure on the government to act against such people and not be satisfied until corruption is at the minimum level in this country(if possible zero-corruption).

Besides that, to ensure continuation and acceleration of such act against graft, the public should demand the MACC, the country graft busting agency, to be fully independent from the control of government to avoid the interference of political power in the war against graft.

It will be tough for the agency to fight graft effectively if the government can decide the fate of it's agents and bosses, so by doing what is said, the political constrains that the body faces will be lightened as they don't need to answer to anybody except the people, thus enabling them to arrest, prosecute and charged anybody involve in corruption despite their political power or influence.

Furthermore, Malaysians must also ensure that the system that this country uses such as the government way of awarding contracts are corruption prove as at this moment, there are still many discrepancies in the way they do so such as the Defense Ministry way of paying commissions on equipment purchases( I'm not asking the ministry to divulge the military intelligence, just the tender process and whether there is a need for a middle man, if so, the selection process of such middle man) and so on as according to the Auditors General Report on the government, more than a billion are lost in government operations that shouldn't be lost.

In conclusion, as we observe the outcome of this case, our mind must not lose it's focus on other corrupt activities at large irrespective of who is committing it and how large it is, as corruption is corruption no matter how large the sum involved. One must remember the wise word from scholar Syed Hussein Alatas that" corruption is the mother of all sins as it is the enabler of other sins",thus corruption shouldn't be taken lightly.

The battle rages on in this war against corruption, some have suffered in the war while others are still suffering but I call on Malaysians not to rest until the war is over and winning a battle is not winning the war, but winning the war itself.

There are many battles ahead that must be won in order for Malaysians to finally slay corruption and win the war against corruption for the sake of a just and fair Malaysia that corruption inhibits for us and the future generation. As one of the famous saying in World War 2
"Your Country Needs You", are Malaysians responsible enough to answer the call? Time will tell.

The Real Anwar Ibrahim

Of late, the blogersphere has been buzzing about the so called ''chameleon", on how he is an American agent, Islamist radical, martian and what not. I think that Anwar is missunderstood, locally and internationally, of course the local mainstream media bias against him is one factor, coupled with the western media cynicism about him due to his Islamist ties, what we have is a man with great intentions but missunderstood by many.

Firstly, Anwar is not an blind ally of the west, we can see it from his support of the western-perceived terrorist group Hamas. In the west, Hamas is labeled as a terrorist organization where as in the Muslim world, Hamas is seen as a group of freedom fighters fighting for their rights as Palestinians to reclaim their lost land that the Israeli regime occupies currently.

Besides that, respected counter-terrorist expert Ilan Weinglass claimed that Anwar has ties with the Muslim brotherhood which is said to have members like fame Ulama Yusof Qardhawi which of course is an Islamist. Anwar even supports Iranian nuclear ambitions which the west and the Isrealis are vehemently against.

Anwar is also a close friend and supports Turkish PM Erdrogran who himself has attacked Israel a few times recently. So, from the above arguments an many more, he is not a an American puppet or agent as some politician claimed as branding Anwar as such is only a political ploy by his detractors to cut his appeal among voters especially Malay Muslim.

Having said that however, he is not an Islamist cup of tea either, as he also has ties with a few ''non-friendly" to the Islamists allies in the west. The architect of the Iraq war, the neo-conservative Paul Wolfowitz is a good example that will send shivers to his Islamist allies. He worked with Wolfowitz as Chairman of the Foundation of the Future where he served as chairman. The foundation is created to promote democracy, transparency and popular political participation( I didn't like the sound of the last one) in the middle east.

He was also involved in other bodies like the NED( national endowment for democracy) and International Crisis Group which in some cases can be viewed by the Islamist conservatives as an attempt to realign the Islamic values that accept liberal western concepts like secularism, freedom and so on thus a treat to conservative Islam( in the west it can also be called extremist Islam or radical Islam). So calling him a radical or extremist wouldn't fit in the picture too, as his above work contradicts the extremist and radical beliefs thus how can one call him as such when obviously he clearly is not.

My analysis of Anwar and a sentiment shared by many including the Foreign Policy Magazine is that he is a unique moderate individual who is able to bridge the gap between Islam and the west, even the east and the west. Many leaders seemed to prefer to play it safe by choosing one side and demonising the other, as they say, those in the middle will only get trampled by two fighting sides, but Anwar showed courage in this case by trying to be the mediator of the two worlds.

Not many leaders in this world have an understanding of Islamic principles and Western principles or Western principles and eastern principles which Anwar has, so he is in a position to be the bridge between the two civilisations, thus creating not a world in which one dominates with hegemony, but a world with the two civilisation living side-by side enlightening each other, creating the best of both worlds so to speak.

Thus he is accorded a ranking in the 30s by the magazine of world thinkers that is shaping foreign policy and world affairs. A clash of the two civilisations will only create disasters for both sides as can be seen in Bush war on terror where innocent civilians end up becoming the victim, so Anwar has a unique leadership role in this world to prevent such clash from occurring.

That is why he continues to be courted by western leaders and Islamist leaders alike, despite what is said about him by people suspicious of him, from Western nations to eastern ones as he can offer them the other side of the story like how the Islamic countries should embrace democracy and how the west should not fear Islam( Islamophobia) as the religion is peaceful in nature.

In conclusion, while Anwar's work should be commended as a great commitment for the future of this planet, it must be noted that despite all that, some in the west and in the Islamic world might not be to fond of the two worlds co-existing thus he might end up failing to prevent the clash of civilisations. Worst than that, he might unknowingly be missused by some extremists and western imperialists for the race to create a new world order in which winner takes all.

Anwar must be cautious of such event occurring as failure to do so will lead to the sancity of Islam as religion and sovereignty of nations to be destroyed or it will lead to extremists elements taking over the moderates ones on this earth thus creating havoc to mankind. His success will lead to a greater world where as his failure will lead to a destroyed one.

I wish him the best in his pursuit and may Allah S.W.T guide him on his journey which filled with trials and tribulations at home and abroad, of course, all great struggles will involve such elements, but the task of a great leader is to lead fellow man through such trials and tribulations so that they can create a greater world for all man.

Links
Him being an extremist or a radical-http://newledger.com/2010/07/unholy-alliance/
Him being an American agent or involved in western activities-http://asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2596&Itemid=178
(ps, there are many such links, type Anwar and NED and googled it for example, I just picked a few that have been making headlines in the blogersphere.)

Malay Unity?

Recently, many quarters are calling for Malay unity among the largest race in Malaysia, citing failure to do so might lead to the Malays being weak and vulnerable, thus allowing ''others" to take advantage of them. This siege mentality, from my point of view, is the very reason why the Malays are left in the current state that they are suffering from. It is this mentality of the Malays, that they are under siege, that they justify the act of their''protector" despite it being unjust or unlawful.

First of all, for the sake of discussion, for Malay unity to come to fruition, they must be an underlying value(s) that unites and binds all of us, this value(s) must be able to precede other values including political ideologies and so on. With no doubt is better if it is a positive value rather than a negative one. Now in our present state, the Malays lack this much needed value. Assuming that PAS and UMNO unites and creates another entity, without values, the combined entity is useless as history had shown in the 70s when the two joined hands under the BN. It was a failure.

The secular nationalist and the Islamist values that UMNO and PAS holds respectively pitted one against another and that coupled with distrust and so on lead to the break up. Furthermore, their core voters consist of the same group, the Malays, thus fueling further competition.

A second assumption I would like to make is that if the two party joined hands again, it will create a political context in which the largely Malays( UMNO and PAS), VS the largely Non-Malays( PKR and DAP), this will only lead to a hegemony in our political space and extremist in both group will prosper which is not good for Malaysians in the long run. Malay supremacy can be pushed to an extent where is damaging for the country race relations as there is no way MCA or MIC can stand up to UMNO and PAS no matter how strong they are.

A hegemony political space will lead to the creation of a hegemony government that will implement policies that are hegemony in nature. Plural Malaysia will not prosper if a hegemony Malaysia emerges, rather the effect is rather destructive than a constructive if one is to use the Malaysia's point of view than a Malay one.

Furthermore, in an event that this new combination is not performing in the interest of the Malays as the propagators of Malay unity hope it would, they will no check and balance from the microscopic context of Malay politics. The Malays will be trapped and be forced to support this new entity irrespective of whether they are performing or not( look at the state of reliance of the Malays to UMNO now, the reliance will be bigger if the party will merge or join hands with PAS) with no alternative for the Malays.

To me it is not upliftement of the Malays if UMNO merges with PAS, rather it is the opposite. I would prefer the Malays unite not under a combination of political parties, rather unite under common values and principles irrespective of political inclination( like in the west how they unite in upholding principles of freedom, human rights and democracy).

The Malays will be better of that way as politicians can't misuse Malay unity for the sake of personal or political gain not to mention it will lead to a well served Malays as politicians from both side of the divide will compete to serve the Malays for votes thus leading to a better served Malays.

In conclusion, I would encourage for the Malays to dissemble the siege mentality and think progressively about this PAS-UMNO merger of sort as it will not really help the Malays, rather it will only make the problem worse. In my opinion, for the Malays to be uplifted, the Malays themselves must take action that uplift themselves, than the politicians will must likely follow suit.

As reminded many times here, real change happens from the bottom-up and not the other way around thus for the Malays to be better of, we must look at ourselves and make improvements on us rather than rely solely on the politicians who most of them have their own political agendas to fulfill.

Remember what history had taught us before, when the Malays rely solely on the the Sultans or other leaders, we end up losing more than we gain( many states in Malaysia were lost this way, just look at Perak) but when we as a people unite, even the mighty British concurred with us( the rejection of Malayan Union), please remember that when considering UMNO-PAS unity and Malay unity.

Genuine or Cosmetic Change?

I'm have no idea what proper tittle should be given for this article so I decided to simply write Genuine or Cosmetic change as the title for this article as from my point of view, many of the so called ''change" advocated by the politicians in these country are cosmetic in nature and not genuine change which Malaysians really need right now.

I would like to comment on the effort of Malaysia's political parties, in trying to win votes from voters, have done some pretty remarkable things considering their past histories and so on in changing themselves.

Firstly, the fact that PAS is considering to field a non-Muslim in an election is pretty remarkable. This move is testament to PAS effort to reach out to the non-Muslims voters, further distancing themselves from the hardline Islamic image that they have been perceived by many non-Muslims voters. This should add meaning to PAS creation of the PAS supporters Club which they establish to bring PAS closer to the non-Muslims voters as members now may be chosen to contest for office despite the fact that the club has no full membership status and are not allow to vote in party election.

Then there is the effort by DAP to invite Malays to join the party. The party had set up a new exclusively Malay branches and they are also trying to recruit them in existing branches. The appointment of Tunku Abdul Aziz, the former head of Transparency International Malaysia as the party's vice chairman is testament to DAP's effort in bringing the party closer to the Malays after long being perceived as a Chinese chauvinist party.

Despite all that, the party must do more to shed it's anti-Malay image and the appointment of Tunku Abdul Aziz as Vice Chairman of the party while it helps, will not bring much change of perception among Malays of DAP as Tunku is not rely an influential Malay figure that can help court the Malays to join or vote DAP.

Finally,there's the recent move by UMNO in publicizing the entrance of 40 young Ulama's into the party in which Najib, the UMNO President himself was there to receive their memberships. The move can be seen as UMNO's way of boosting is Islamic image after long being seen as a secular party especially to the Islamist. Even former Perlis Mufti, Dr Asri name appeared although he didn't enter UMNO. This will probably help UMNO steal some votes from is traditional nemesis PAS especially the moderate Islamic-conscious Malays.

In conclusion, I would like to remind all parties that although these changes are a welcoming sign, I am also fully aware that our politicians are masters at making cosmetic changes in order to gain votes. I am not implying that these changes are cosmetic in nature as these moves are a good first step for the respective party. The benefits that awaits them are huge, the political gains aside.

PAS can formulate policies that are Islamic while taking into account the non-Malays feedback and ideas, not to mention a perfect way to have a two-way communication between PAS and the non-Malays in explaining issues associated with the party like the extremist image and so on.

We can learn from Prophet Muhammad S.A.W never alienates the non-Muslims in his administration as they views and concerns are always taken account to in his administration thus creating an inclusive society that unites all Muslims and non-Muslims alike, so there is no reason for PAS not to try to emulate Prophet Muhammad S.A.W in their approach in handling the non-Muslims.

DAP can be really aspire for Malaysian Malaysia with the inclusion of the Malays in it's party struggle rather than judging by the current make up of the party of non-Malays Malaysia or worst, Chinese-Malaysia. The party can push the concept and it's democratic socialist principles higher if the Malays are in DAP so that the party can be more inclusive thus hopefully can be accepted by the Malays at least to a certain extent.( I would like to add that I am against communal politics as it's overshadowing progressive politics where issues that bring us progress like economy, education and so on are at the forefront not race.)

Finally, UMNO can certainly gain by the influx of Ulama in the party as they can suggest how to incorporate Islamic principles in it's political struggle and the administration of the state and federal government. UMNO can be Islamic to the core( not being an extremist, but truly practicing Islam) and not simply pretending to be Islamic as some of it's politicians are trying to do.

The incorporation of Islamic principles can hopefully help UMNO tackle corruption, fund mismanagement, lack of integrity and many moral issues the party and the government that the party led are having problem in solving.

It's struggle to up lift the Malays can also be boosted by applying Islamic principles and values like amar marauf nahi mungkar( the Malays are not criticism friendly as it's often regarded as "biadap'' nor are the Malays the type to offer criticism as it will be called "jaga tepi kain orang" despite the criticism is to invite to do good deeds and avoid evil ones.) and many others.

The developments are certainly a positive one, let us see whether it is purely cosmetic change for political gains or a genuine reform for the betterment of the party's ability to serve the people. They can fool us once, but not twice, unless we are fools, if that is the case, I will offer my deepest regret and sympathy to our fate as a people of a nation where, despite being fools we are either unaware of how foolish we are or simply too ignorant to enlightened ourselves. May God help us if that is the case as fools are powerless to create positive changes for themselves, let alone for society as a whole, so God is our only hope then.

A Reformist

I'm called to write this as recent and past events had shown me that the word reformist is often misused by certain quarters to gain political popularity for their own political agenda. The event, the recent one where UMNO's Youth Chief Khairy Jamaludin claimed that he and Prime Minister Najib are reformist which strucked me as a surprise as how can the prestigious tag ''reformist'' bestowed by history to man and women who change the course of civilization, the likes of Lenin, Gandhi,Jefferson, Elanor, Catherine The Great be simply referred to any Tom, Dick or Khairy( or is it Larry?).

First of all, reformist must bring about real change in a society that, the change itself so powerful that it can overcome a political or economical structure lasting for thousand of years, it can inspire people to throw away common beliefs and wisdoms and accept and new way of thinking and behaving, thus rewriting the social and political landscape.

Lenin is an example of a man who achieved this feat. He overturned the thousand years old Tsar regime which before this is an institutional structure of the Russian society, the old established economic structure of peasants who worked for aristocratic landowners or later capital owners for as long as the Russian society existed also didn't escaped his reforms where they were finally freed from the chain that locked them to the aristocrats as the nation strive for a society without class. Calling Lenin a refomist might be an undersatement as the proper tag should be a revolutioner, as some may consider a reformist as tame if compared to revolutioner, but from my thinking, one must be a reformist first then move on to the next level of revolutioner, thus there's a refomist in Lenin before he move up to being a revolutioner that he is. Khairy, who is a smart guy can evaluate whether such feat is comparable to his or Najib's achievement, but my view is that both of their work combined can't match Lenin's feat.

Mahatma Gandhi is another reformist. Before him there's an India, divided along the lines of religion, race, language and so on and then there's the empirial British who colonized them benefiting from this division which they manipulated well by using the divide and rule way of administration. Beside the already prevalent division, there exists a mental barrier inside all Indians at that time that independence is impossible as the British is unbeatable. Despite all that, Gandhi managed to unite the nation, against all odds, introduce a concept of non-violence resistance which is a revolutionary concept used by other great leaders like Marthin Luther King and Nelson Mandela. He managed to discard the commonly held beliefs at that time that the British are unbeatable and India can't gain independence from them which by discarding such beliefs lead to the independence of India movement where although the other nationalists of the time are calling for the picking up of arms and riffles to fight against the colonialist, Gandhi insisted in non-violence resistance thus going against the tide of the time.

Unfortunately for the self described reformist Khairy and his boss, not only they are advocating more of the same, like they are advocating the continuation of the social order that existed during the British colonial period here with policies that divides rather than unite us, but they are doing so by way of force, manipulation, deceit, using sedition to scare the different races and so on, thus automatically tarnishing the word'' reformist'' by describing himself and his boss as one.

Finally, there’s an act of changing the social landscape to a positive one. That, to my thinking is the major aim of a reformist. In both the example given, there's a change in the social landscape, for Russia, it ended the aristocratic grab of the wealth of the nation where all Russians can better enjoy the wealth of the rich country irrespective of class and for India, despite their differences, they all unite as Indians and gained independence, but nothing can compare to the feat that Nelson Mandela achieved when he ended apartheid in South Africa. Years of slavery and colonialism didn't stop the country that he lead to embrace the whites as their own where together they are joining hands to build a better nation for all of them so that the next generation can enjoy the effort of their forefathers irrespective of their race. The dark past are buried as they toiled for a brighter future.

Here in Malaysia, the past still haunts us, just look at the May 13 incidence as a case in point where instead of burying the dark past and working together for a brighter future like the South Africans are doing, we are living in the dark past, denying ourselves a brighter future thus passing the darkness to future generations. Real reformist will not sit down and let this happen, but UMNO which the party that Najib leads and Khairy belongs are ensuring that the dark past is forever with us so that their party will continue to be relevant to Malays who are scared that the siege by the ''others" will lead them in a state of diaspora thus ensuring the continuation of the party's rule of this country.

In conclusion, it's best that Khairy reexamined his statement and make correction to it as by my thinking, there's absolutely no way that he and his boss can be called a reformist, however for Khairy, he is still young and is not too late for him to change his ways and work towards reforming this country so that he can be called a reformist by his countrymen and who knows, maybe by mankind themselves just like the likes of the heroes mentioned above. Only time will tell if that will happen or not.