The 55 Books Challenge

Countering the notion that Malaysians don't read enough, here's a challenge to myself. 55 books in one year, beginning from 1st of Oct of last year to this year's. Since I've already read 21 books since then, it might not be that hard after all. I'll be keeping track with the help of the Shelfari Bookshelf Widget that I've just installed. Nifty little thing.

Wish me luck!

Cakap Tak Serupa Bikin

When Hindraf and Bersih rallied to protest, the PM opposed vehemently to their actions, saying that it is 'not our culture to demonstrate openly' and that demonstrations would only lead to violence. Some of the protesters was even detained under the ISA. Apparently, there are other avenues for them to voice out their disgruntlements.

Then, barely a week after DAP took over Penang, UMNO held a 1000 strong protest in front of KOMTAR after Lim Guan Eng made a statement about NEP. Through all this, Pak Lah never said anything.

When Lim Kit Siang made a pact to boycott the swearing-in ceremony of the new Perak MB from PAS, Pak Lah defended the Sultan's decisions by demanding Kit Siang to respect the Constitution.

Yesterday, 22 BN state representatives decided to boycott the Terengganu Sultan's to apppoint Ahmad Said from BN as the new MB. Their first choice, Idris Jusoh, also from BN was snubbed by the Sultan. The drama deepens Ahmad Said was sacked from UMNO for not rejecting the Sultan's proposal.

And now Pak Lah said that the appointment is 'unconstitutional'.

I'll leave it to you to decide the moral of the story.

The New Cabinet: Smells Like Shit

Pak Lah had just unveiled his new list of Cabinet Ministers and (surprise, surprise) Muhammad Muhammad Taik... oops i meant Taib is on the list.

For the uninitiated, Mr Muhd. Taik (damn, I meant Taib) was caught some time ago in Brisbane, Australia trying to smuggle out a total of RM 2.4 million in cash (apparently, the money was intended for furnitures for his new plush Gold Coast home).

Well, if you think that's all, you definitely do not know Malaysian (specifically, UMNO) politicians very well. Further investigations revealed that:

• he was building a RM2 million Gold Coast home at Sovereign Islands in the name of his wife, Asbi Rohani Binti Asnan
• he had (and still has) a RM5 million ranch in Queensland in the name of his wife, Asbi Rohani Binti Asnan
• he had paid RM16 million as a divorce settlement with Tengku Puteri Zahariah Bte Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah (Ku Yah).

***obtained from Lim Kit Siang's webpage

How did a humbly-paid Malaysian politician manage to posses that amount of personal properties? The ACA was then sent to investigate but staying true to the Malaysian way, the whole thing was swept under the carpet and forgotten in no time.

And now, Muhd. Taik (GOD!!! TAIB! TAIB!) is being made the Rural and Regional Development Minister. Maybe Pak Lah hoped that he will donate some of his properties to develop the rural areas and their people?

Read this article to get to know more of our prolific new minister.

See You in Hell, Muhammad son of Muhammad

DAP: Stop Acting like Cina-peks!

Seriously DAP, stop acting like Cinas from the 60's. For humanity's sake you guys are not impressing anyone by posing as Chinese heroes.

What's with the outburst? The problem is with DAPians like Teng Chang Kim. It all started when he defied royal ruling and refused to wear a songkok for an official palace function. Apparently, wearing songkok will erode his Chineseness and make him a Malay. So, he refuse to put a songkok on his head less he will be labeled a 'Chinese traitor'.

How about wearing a Western suit? That won't make you a mai kok chak, huh? Why don't you go around wearing Mao-suit from this day onwards to protect your Chinese identity (Mao Zedong would be proud I'm sure). Yeah, that means no T-shirts, jeans and basically anything on sale in departmental stores for you since they are all not Chinese too.

Please fucking wake up. How long does DAP want to go on with its Chinese agenda? How long does it want to portray itself as a protector of all Chinese rather than of Malaysians? And to make a fuss out of a headgear? OH PUHLEESE!

Dear Mr. Teng, you might feel proud of upholding and protecting your 'Chinese roots', but I am just ashamed that I share the same skin colour as you.

Read these posts by Raja Petra in Malaysia Today to get a clearer idea of the whole story.

Small things please small minds

A storm in a songkok

The Struggle for Power

Well, well, well. Looks like the oppositions are showing their true colours.

After winning big in the GE as a result of a 3-sided alliance, supposedly putting their differences aside, cracks are beginning to show in the pact. The first of them could clearly be seen from the Perak MB soap-opera.

It all started when Lim Kit Siang of DAP openly rejected the appointment of PAS' Mohd. Nizar Jamaluddin as the new MB of Perak. Apparently, PAS went behind DAP's back and nominated Nizar to the Sultan without DAP's consent. Kit Siang even went as far as to plan a boycott on the swearing-in ceremony. Although a day later Kit Siand made a formal apology and retracted his statement, the damage has already been done. Personally, I've had enough of DAP's PAS and Islamo phobia. When will DAP realise that it could not thrive as a Chinese-centric party in a multi-racial country?

Then it's PKR's turn to stir up some drama. After DAP accepted the decision to appoint Nizar as the new MB, PKR decided to pull out from the state's executive council on the basis that DAP made a secret pact with PAS and now, DAP holds 8 out of 10 places, leaving the other 2 for PKR and PAS. Apparently, the original deal was DAP 6, PAS and PKR both 2.

What the hell is this? It's barely a week after the rakyat had given you the mandate to take over the state and this is how you repay us? By fighting like kindergarten kids? Give me a fucking break. It's time to focus on the welfare on the people, and not bitching about who gets what. What happened to the promise that the opposition will work together regardless of ideologies? When they were campaigning, DAP, PKR and PAS were seen happily holding hands and now they are are stabbing each others' backs?

Stop this bickering at once. Remember, just like we voted out BN this time, what makes you think we can't do the same to you the next time around? Start proving that we made the right choice.


Side note: PAS will never be able to make an Islamic state out of Perak. First of all, it doesn't hold a majority in Perak. Second, PAS has ditched the idea of forming Islamic government since the last election (where they lost heavily) It's simply not their agenda anymore. Third, to create an Islamic state (with fully implemented Islamic laws *cue chopping hands and penises* and etc), PAS needs to change the Constitution. Which means it needs at least 150 seats in the Parliament. It doesn't and will never hold that amount of seats. So stop the paranoia now!

Time to Stop Thinking 'Race' and Start Thinking 'Malaysia'

I am still recovering from the aftermath of the mother of all shockers 3 days ago. I still could not believed that the oppositions won this big, even denying the 'all-mighty' BN 5 states and 2/3 seats in the Parliament. This is definitely a new dawn in Malaysia's political scene.

But the biggest achievement of this GE is not that the opposition were able to prove themselves to be substantial alternatives to the ruling coalition, but rather the emergence of a new kind of political party in Malaysia. For the first time, a truly multi-racial party proved victorious in finding relevance in the hearts of Malaysians. Yes, I'm talking about the Anwar-led Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

PKR is not the first party in Malaysia that is constituted by the nation's all 3 major races. Formed initially as a protest against the unjustified arrest and conviction of our ex deputy PM Anwar Ibrahim on charges of corruption and sodomy, it had matured into the strongest opposition party in the country. The proof? It won 31 seats, as compared to the predominantly Chinese's DAP (28 seats) and the Islamic PAS (23 seats). It single-handedly shattered the concept of 1 race 1 party concept held by most politicians. This shows that all Malaysians, no matter colour or creed, believe in one thing; justice for all. PKR should be the model of all political parties in the future. Stop fighting for causes along racial lines. Stop using cultural and religious diversity as an excuse to true national unity. Stop the racial stigmas and stereotypes. The future of Malaysia belongs to all of us.

I look forward to the day when I will stop calling myself a Malaysian Chinese, but just a Malaysian.

Finally, thanks to all of you who voted for a change. Malaysia Boleh!!!

The Aftermath

As the dust settles, let's look at a few interesting facts of the GE, courtesy of Malaysiakini.

2008 polls - interesting facts

Barisan Nasional only gained about 51 percent of the popular vote from the 7.9 million ballots cast on Saturday.

However, it took 63 percent of the seats contested - or 140 of 222 seats in Parliament.

Interestingly, its peninsula-wide popular vote was only 49.79 percent, which effectively means that the opposition received the majority vote in this part of the country.

However, when converted to parliamentary seats, BN has 85 of the constituencies in the peninsula, while the opposition bagged 80.

Almost 40 percent of the BN's seats are in Sabah and Sarawak - 55 out of 140.

In 2004, BN won about 64 percent of the popular vote nationwide and 92 percent of the 219 parliamentary seats on offer then.

As the dust settles on the 12th general election, we highlight a number of quirky facts and figures.

Election trivia

• The youngest candidate was PKR’s Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, who is 26. He defeated Seri Setia incumbent Seripa Noli Syed Hussin.
  
  

• The oldest candidate was grandma Maimun Yusuf, 89, who contested in the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seat. She lost her deposit.
  
  

• 56 also-rans from opposition parties and independent candidates lost their deposits after failing to secure one-eighth of the votes cast.
  
  

• The largest majority was won by DAP’s Teresa Kok against BN’s Carol Chew, by 36,492 votes in the Seputeh parliamentary seat in Kuala Lumpur.
  
  

• The smallest majority was just 14 votes for BN’s Hamdi Abu Bakar who beat Abu Bakar Haji Hussain of PAS in the Pengkalan Baharu state seat in Perak.
  
  

• Four pivotal players in the Lingam tape scandal also won: Loh Gwo Burne (who recorded the footage), Wee Choo Keong (lawyer who represented VK Lingam’s brother during the inquiry) and R Sivarasa and Sim Tze Tzin (listed as witnesses but eventually not called). All four are from PKR.
  
  

• There will be two ‘lone rangers’ in Parliament: Zulhasnan Rafique, the sole BN survivor in Kuala Lumpur’s 11 parliamentary seats - he took Setiawangsa; and DAP’s Chong Chieng Jen who won Bandar Kuching in Sarawak - the remaining 30 parliamentary seats went to BN.
  
  

• The biggest number of candidates was in the Sukau state seat, Sabah, where eight candidates ran, including five Independents.

Debutant politicians

Prominent blogger Jeff Ooi - whose campaign was done online and funds were raised through his website - won the Jelutong parliamentary seat in Penang for DAP.

Other bloggers are Tony Pua (DAP, Petaling Jaya Utara parliamentary seat), Elizabeth Wong (PKR, Bukit Lanjan state seat) and Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad (PKR, Seri Setia state seat).

Civil society activists who succeeded were Charles Santiago (DAP, water-privatisation issues), Edward Lee (DAP, local community), Elizabeth Wong and R Sivarasa (PKR, human rights).

Biggest blows

The losses in BN component parties will result in vacancies in various ministries, forcing a cabinet reshuffle.

Ministers

• S Samy Vellu (Works Ministry)

• Shahrizat Abdul Jalil (Women, Family and Community Development Ministry)

• Zainuddin Maidin (Information Ministry)

• Abdul Aziz Shamsuddin (Rural and Territory Development Ministry)

Deputy ministers

• Chia Kwang Chye (Information Ministry)

• G Palanivel (Women, Family and Community Development)

• Tan Chai Ho (Home Ministry)

• V Veerasingam (Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry)

• S Sothinathan (Natural Resources and Environment Ministry)

• Donald Lim (Tourism Ministry)

• Fu Ah Kiow (Internal Security Ministry)

• M Kayveas (Prime Minister’s Department)

Parliamentary secretaries

• Chew Mei Fun (Women, Family and Community Development Ministry)

• P Komala Devi (Education Ministry)

• Lee Kah Choon (Health Ministry)

• Ng Lip Yong (Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry)

• S Vigneswaran (Youth and Sports Ministry)

• Rahman Ibrahim (Home Ministry)

• Dr Mohd Ruddin Ab Ghani (Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry)

• Yew Teong Look (Federal Territories Ministry)

The full team from the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry all lost in the polls.

All top MIC leaders were wiped out - president, deputy presidents, two vice-presidents, women's chief and youth chief (one of the three vice-presidents, KS Nijar, did not contest).

Post-election quotes

Anwar Ibrahim, PKR de facto leader, quoted in Star today

Some mentris besar in the past spent half-a-million ringgit to renovate their offices. Such things cannot be an example in this new administration.

Nurul Izzah Anwar, Lembah Pantai MP at a press conference yesterday

(On whether she will vacate the seat to force a by-election so that her father, Anwar Ibrahim, can re-enter politics after a five-year ban): I have already started working in my constituency. The question does not arise.

PPP president M Kayveas, quoted in Star today

Prior to the elections, Barisan Nasional had kept on telling people to show their dissatisfaction through the ballot box. Now they have really shown it.

Sungai Petani losing BN candidate Zainuddin Maidin, quoted in Star today

It is not that they love PKR or PAS more that they voted against me.

The Chinese showed their resentment because of the economic backlash they often complained about. So, PAS and PKR should not be overly proud of their win (in Kedah).

The people may have to pay a price for their decision.

From Malaysia Today

This is from Malaysia Today, today (damn that sounds weird).

Views of political analysts and politicians

The official election result is available at the Web site of the Election Commission of Malaysia http: pru12.spr.gov.my/spr/

SANI HAMID, DIRECTOR OF SOVEREIGN RATINGS, STANDARD AND POOR'S 'In my point of view there is no immediate effect on the sovereign rating, but the focus will actually be on two fronts, one is a decision-making process, i.e. what is the impact from the loss of the two-thirds majority on parliament?

'If that is going to lead a more difficult push to pass legislation, especially those measures that relate to the economy, one can imagine that if the government wants to raise oil prices, the other parties could create some opposition and the process would be more protracted.'

'Secondly, the opposition states, Kedah and Penang, are key states in the northern corridor story, so how this is going to impact those states with regard to investment and public funds will have to be seen as well.'

MALAYSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER ANWAR IBRAHIM: 'All Malaysians regardless of race, culture and religion are a nation of one. The people have expressed in no uncertain terms that they want accountability, transparency and the rule of law.'

'Today unity, consensus and mutual respect thrives. Tomorrow we will start building a brighter future. This is a new dawn.'

TIM CONDON, HEAD OF ASIA RESEARCH, ING: 'This is probably not good news for the equity market or the ringgit. I think the consensus was that the BN coalition would soldier on and have a sufficient majority to push through their spending programmes and the development of their corridors (economic development zones) ... but this puts in doubt that they will even be able to implement their spending programmes.

There really was no feel-good factor before (the election) and this really reduces the likelihood that there will be one in the near future.'

BRIDGET WELSH, POLITICAL ANALYST, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: 'It was a phenomenal shift. They lost up to potentially four state governments. I think the PM will potentially have to resign. This is unprecedented. The only other time this happened was in 1969 and that's why everybody is very nervous now because of the uncertainty.'

DAVID COHEN, ECONOMIST, ACCESS ECONOMICS: 'I guess the question now is, 'Is it going to be peaceful?' If they are able to control it, then that would at least avoid one potentially negative reaction ... Maybe it's an encouraging sign that real contested elections can be held without violence.'

'If they had won overwhelmingly, I think there would have been suspicions that there was fraud, so the fact that they did allow the opposition to make these gains is encouraging.' Cohen doubted that rising prices alone would account for a heavy backlash against the ruling coalition.'

'Frankly, I don't think that that's what would have been to blame for the opposition doing so well. People are certainly nervous about the economic outlook for the world economy right now, but I think that's more a function of what's going on in the US.'

IBRAHIM SUFFIAN, OF MARKET-RESEARCH FIRM THE MERDEKA CENTER: 'I think the opposition is 20 to 30 seats away from forming government and that's what the unofficial count is revealing. I think it's a combination of many factors. I think, number one, is the economy - the economy is doing well, but it's not translating into a better standard of living for ordinary Malaysians.'

'The level of campaigning that's being done by the opposition is phenomenal, much, much better than previous elections. It's not just the result of being better organised and better prepared, it's also the support of the people who are a bit fed up. There's also infighting within (main ruling party) Umno.'

SAM ZARIFI, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, WASHINGTON: 'First of all, we saw several attempts by the coalition to try and not have these elections free and fair. Clearly, they were worried about the possibility of losing, more than any other time. At the same time, it was clear that there has been some discontent with the state of affairs in Malaysia and that the people of Malaysia really wanted an end to what has essentially been a state in which they don't have freedom of press, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.'

'There is no excuse or reason any more for Malaysia not to have that freedom. For a country that has made so much of economic progress, it is time to catch up politically. ... What we hope to see is that parliament will begin dismantling some of the authoritarian laws and systems that have been in place for too long, starting with the Internal Security arrangements. ... Opening up of Malaysian society to allow it to flourish.'

YAP SWEE SENG, ACTIVIST WITH HUMAN RIGHTS BODY SUARAM: 'This is a victory of people who were fed up with Barisan Nasional's mismanagement and abuse of power. People have sent a very clear message that they are fed up with racial politics.

HUSAM MUSA, VICE PRESIDENT OF PARTI ISLAM SE-MALAYSIA: 'This looks like a revolution. The people have risen and are united. The message to government is, 'Enough is enough''. - THE STRAITS TIMES

From New York Times

Just checked out NYT and this is what I found:

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia’s governing coalition, which has run this multiracial country without any major challenges for the past four decades, suffered a string of election defeats on Saturday, losing control of three major states and all but surrendering urban areas to the opposition.

Results early Sunday showed that the coalition of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi won 136 of 222 seats in Parliament, enough to be able to remain in power. But unexpectedly strong gains by opposition parties, which quadrupled their seats in Parliament, are likely to challenge the longstanding paternalistic practices of a government that controls the mainstream media, bans most street protests, bars students from taking part in politics and jails political opponents without trial.

Stripped of their long-held two-thirds majority in Parliament, the governing coalition will no longer be able to freely amend the Constitution, which it has done more than 40 times since independence from Britain in 1957.

Anger among ethnic Indians and Chinese over religious disputes and economic preferences for the Malays, the majority ethnic group, appeared to play a major role in the opposition’s gains.

“I don’t think Malaysian politics will ever be the same again,” said Anwar Ibrahim, a former deputy prime minister who was expelled from the governing party a decade ago and is now one of the leaders of the opposition. “There is a wave, an outcry for democratic reform.”

The opposition parties unseated several political veterans by fielding fresh but inexperienced candidates, including a political science professor, a popular blogger and a human rights advocate.

Opposition candidates did especially well in urban areas, winning 10 of the 11 seats in Kuala Lumpur, the commercial capital, and capturing the relatively prosperous and populous states of Selangor and Penang. The opposition also made inroads into the rural heartland. The Pan-Islamic Party, one of the three main opposition parties, strengthened its control over the northern state of Kelantan and won control over the states of Kedah and Perak.

Losing control of those states is a blow for the governing coalition because states have jurisdiction over land allocation, local matters and Islamic laws.

Voters showed their anger over a recent government crackdown against ethnic Indians by electing to a state legislature M. Manoharan, one of five advocates jailed after a street protest by Indians. It is unclear how Mr. Manoharan, who is being detained without a trial, will carry out his duties.

The loss of Penang, which alone among Malaysia’s 13 states has a majority of Chinese voters, is a major blow to Mr. Abdullah, whose constituency is based there. The state is an industrial center, producing microchips, cellphones and computer parts in factories owned by Intel, Dell and Motorola, among many others.

The departing chief minister, or governor, of Penang, Koh Tsu Koon, lost his seat on Saturday to a dissident university professor, P. Ramasamy.

The leaders of the two ethnic Indians parties represented in the government also lost their seats, including the only ethnic Indian in the cabinet, Samy Vellu.

Those losses call into question the future of the country’s race-based coalition, a system in place since independence in which each major ethnic group — Malays, Chinese and Indians — is represented by a political party.

Opposition leaders have vowed to move Malaysia away from the system, with the National Justice Party of Mr. Anwar the loudest proponent of the change. Mr. Anwar, who many see as a possible future prime minister, is barred from holding public office until April because of a conviction for abuse of power in a politically charged trial. But his wife and his daughter won seats in Parliament on Saturday.

He said in an interview that he would not rule out asking a member of his party to resign so he can run in a by-election. “I’m not in a hurry,” said Mr. Anwar, whose party won 32 seats, up from one seat in the last election in 2004.

OH MY GOD!!!

BN lost 5 states! Perak, Selangor, Penang, Kedah and Kelantan are now in the hands of the oppositions!

And, BN no longer holds 2/3 seats in the Parliament!!!

OH MY GOD!!! Am I dreaming? Someone slap me awake please.

A Black Mark in the Election

The Election Commission has cancelled the use of indelible ink for this general election, citing public order and security issues.

The stunning announcement was made at a press conference in Putrajaya this afternoon - four days before polling.

EC chairperson Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman said the commission was obliged to make a "firm and final decision to ensure the smooth conduct of the 12th general election".

-Malaysiakini, March 04

What the fuck!? Did i read it correctly? The use of indelible ink in the election will cause public disorder and security issues?

WHAT THE FUCK!!!?

How could those innocent black inks cause public unrest!? What kind of lame-ass excuse is that? And that Abdul Rashid guy actually has the guts to say this:

"Following legal advice and looking at the issue of public order and security, the EC... has decided not... to introduce the use of indelible ink," he said.

Legal advice? Who's legal advice? Your slave master, BN's?

And these final statements are just... just... oh crap, I'm speechless. Read:

"The EC views these issues seriously, as the election process and public order and security cannot be compromised," he added. "The EC deeply regrets its decision." (yeah right, who the hell do you think you're kidding?)

Abdul Rashid said the use of indelible ink would not be effective as the country's constitution allows those who refuse to have their fingernail marked with the ink to still be issued with a ballot. (it was the EC itself who first proposed that the marking should be made optional. If you don't want what you said to happen, then just make it fucking compulsory you moron!)

He added that the use of the indelible ink could infringe the constitutional right of a voter to cast his vote, especially if the commission tries to bar someone from voting for having an ink marked in his finger.(HUH!!? WHAT THE... oh, never mind)

"From a practical point of view, the issuance of a ballot paper to such a voter would render the EC's proposal meaningless and will not bring about a positive result, whilst having the potential to create misunderstanding as well as altercations and arguments at polling stations," he said. (from a practical point of view, I think you are a waste of space in the universe. Again, just make the whole damn ink-applying thing compulsory and this would not happen!)

He added that the Federal Constitution gives Malaysians the right to vote and a black mark on the fingernail should not bar people from exercising this right, he said. (oh, does that mean the Constitution also guarantees a person to vote multiple times? You have no fucking idea what the fuck you're fucking talking about, do you? Or maybe you're running out of idea on how to fool us into believing this whole hogwash?)

The loophole can only be removed with a constitutional amendment, which requires a vote by parliament, which has been dissolved for elections to take place. (wow, convenient)

Mr Rashid, you might want to consider to stop screwing your brain (if you actually have one) to come with these excuses and just hold a press conference to declare you are a BN crony and that the EC will do anything to secure a win for BN. Wait, hasn't he done that already?

When the EC first came out with using indelible ink as a prevention of phantom-voting, I'm not really a big fan. After all, why do we have to resort to using such third-world method when we could easily have gone digital; just register our MyKad when we vote to prevent multiple voting. But then again, looking at how easily this method can be tampered with by you-know-who, I thought to myself that the ink might not be such a bad idea after all.

Then the EC decided that the application of ink will be optional.

Optional? Why make it optional? On what authority does a voter have a right to refuse to be marked? Isn't the whole point of introducing the ink is to prevent phantom voting? If so, then why make it optional?

And now, this bullshit.

This is one of the things that shows how low democracy in our country has fallen. It has come to a point where the government thinks that it could say and do anything it wants and nobody would dare to oppose, and would just blindly accept it. I hope the international press is paying attention and reports this whole farce to the world. Let everyone know what a fucked-up government we have.

But this also shows us something; that BN has reached a level of insecurity of its political dominance, and it would do anything to win this GE, including advocating phantom-voting (like always) and making an ass out of the whole electoral system and the people. But it failed to realise that we are not that fucking dumb to fall for this. BN will pay, big time.

You can read the whole report in Malaysiakini, if you can stand the smell of shit.

Dates of Extreme Significance

Over the years, thanks to history textbooks, politicians and main stream media (MSM), we've been told to remember the May 13th incident that was (supposedly) triggered by a certain opposition party, causing bloodbath and racial rift and thus, marking it as a black date in the history of Malaysia. Time and time again, we are reminded of this dreaded incident as a warning not to cause racial tension, successfully preventing discussions of certain sensitive issues, questioning of certain rights and voicing of injustice (directly prohibiting us from practicing our freedom of speech). More recently, the PM used the date to warn his fellow citizens not to vote for the oppositions to prevent history from repeating itself. In fact, this is a popular tactic used by the ruling party to stir fear in the hearts of Malaysians during each General Elections. However, is May 13th still relevant in today's society? It has been used and misused by the power hungry government to bully us into submission, monopolising our thoughts with its hidden agenda. Here, I proposed a new set of dates for all Malaysians to remember instead.

May 28 2006 - Bloody Sunday
500-strong crowd ranging from everyday men and women to opposition leaders demonstrated against the 30-sen petrol price hike. The protest met a brutal end when police attacked the peaceful crowd, spraying them with chemical water (sounds familiar) and violently beating some of the protesters. 2 were hospitalised and some of the opposition leaders were arrested. The incident went unreported by the government-controlled MSM.













November 10 2007 - Bersih Rally
Around 40,000 people in yellow rallied in Masjid Jamek, KL demanding for a fair a corruption-free Election Committee for the upcoming General Election. Again, the peaceful crowd was sprayed by chemically-laced water and bombarded with tear gas. The MSM went into spin-doctoring mode the next day, dumbing down the number of protesters to a mere 4,000 and wrongfully accusing the protesters of property damage.













November 23 2007 - Hindraf Rally
The first protest demanded the government to listen to the plight of the repressed Indian communities after a 100-year-old Hindu temple was abolished. As a result, 5 of the Hindraf leaders were arrested under ISA for an undetermined period of time. MSM demonised the protest as an attempt to incite racial unrest.

February 16 2008 - Hindraf Rose Rally
Held as a plea to the PM to release the detained Hindarf leader. Around 200 men, women and children attempted to walk peacefully to the Parliament armed with roses, only to be greeted by the police force and their water canons and tear gas (the sense of deja vu is getting a little scary). Women and children were not spared by the police's brutality. MSM again demonised the demonstration, alleging the protesters of putting the children's lives at risk.












All these incidents make us realise us of the increasing public awareness and desire to voice our distaste of the current government. Although the ruling party would do anything in its power to crush and demonise the opposing public or politicians, it could not ignore the pent-up anger in us anymore. Also put in mind that in each of these protests, the culprits of unrest are the authorities; the police force, not the participants of demonstrations. Let us learn to recognise the real ugly heads of our hypocritical government through its actions against peaceful demonstrators, not to mention its blatant disrespect of our fundamental rights. And I believe we are matured enough to discuss previously tabooed subjects; it is the ruling party that refuses to come out of their tempurung. If you don't agree that we are capable of debating certain issues without resorting to killing one another, you are basically submitting to the idea that we are uncivilised barbarians incapable of reasons and intelligent thoughts, living under an oh-so-fake pretext of racial harmony. Finally, let us not be fooled by the May 13th propaganda any longer, but use these new incidents instead as lessons and stepping stones to demand for a (genuinely) free, equal and democratic nation.

Do not forget these dates. They mark a turning point for Malaysia.

Pictures courtesy of Jeff Ooi's Snapshot and Meshio.com

A Reminder of the Type of MPs Representing Us Currently

I feel this will make a good reminder to all of us before we decide if we want to continue voting for morons to represent us in the Parliament. The original article can be found in Aliran's website.

Making candidates accountable

Election fever has really set in as polling day draws closer. There was quite a bit of negotiation, discussion, cajoling, posturing and gnashing of teeth over the allocation of seats to candidates, both within the ruling coalition and the opposition. It was not an easy task. The chosen candidates were then unveiled to the public on nomination day. The candidates are now making their rounds to obtain our votes.

But do we really know what they stand for? Let’s take a look at some of our representatives using the example of parliamentarians’ views on women. A leaflet ‘Vote for a Sexism-Free-Parliament’ was produced by the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) in late 2007, highlighting some of the sexist and discriminatory comments made by parliamentarians over the years. Some of these statements are reproduced in the table below.

Types of sexist and discriminatory comments	Comments	Culprit
Comments about women’s bodies and biological functions as an insult	Where is the leak? The member for Batu Gajah also leaks every month. Like a menopausal women in reference to the debate of another male MP	Bung Mokhtar Radin (BN –Kinabatangan) Badruddin bin Amiruldin (BN-then MP for Yan)
Comparisons of women to inanimate objects	Toilets are like new brides after they are completed. After some time, they get a bit spoiled. Even if you do not use them frequently, you need someone to clean them very 25 minutes.	S Samy Vellu (BN- Sungai Siput)
Sexual innuendos and double entendres	It is unusual for women’s issues to be touched (raised) by men,” and after a pause, he added, “but women are supposed to be touched by men.” Can I push through a little?	Mohamed bin Aziz (BN- Sri Gading) Bung Mokhtar Radin (BN –Kinabatangan
Blaming women for sexual crimes perpetrated by men	The women’s dressing menggoda (lures) and mencabar (challenges) men	Shabudin Yahaya (BN- Permatang Berangan) Datuk Jasmin Mohamed (BN- Sg Dua)
Using references to children’s behavior and or saying women are ‘emotional’ to minimize their views.	Referred to a fellow women MP as a little girl and told her to go home and suck on a pacifier.	Male MP
Commenting of women’s marital status as a put down.	Widows are humble… but divorcees, most of them are gatal (randy)	Abdul Fatah Harun (PAS – Rantau Panjang)

The list of comments and culprits here is by no means exhaustive, but it just shows the mindset and calibre of some of our representatives in parliament. Clearly, with these attitudes, there is neither any respect for women nor an understanding about gender equality or violence against women. How can we expect proper debate in parliament on any issue when parliamentarians cannot even observe basic non-sexist language or even understand that their comments are sexist and are not jokes? Their colleagues, while not guilty of uttering these sexist comments, are nonetheless guilty for joining in the laughter or not challenging their colleagues or worse still not even understanding the issue.


They are our representatives

So how do we make our representatives accountable for their thoughts, words and actions? The JAG leaflet sends a clear message – sexist candidates should not be fielded and sexist candidates should not be voted into the next government. Voters should send this message via the ballot box to these representatives and their parties if they have been chosen to stand again.

As a friend recently reminded me, the elections are just one part of the whole democratic process. This means that we, as citizens of a democracy, have a right to express our views and hold our representatives accountable on a variety of issues on a regular basis and not just once in five years. We should make our wakil rakyat accountable for the corruption in the country, the lack of transparency and accountability, repressive laws, development without consultation, the denial of freedom of assembly, the privatisation of healthcare and water, the lack of suitable housing for low and middle-income groups, the marginalisation of the disabled and the indigenous peoples, the lack of a minimum wage for workers, environmental degradation, the plight of refugees and migrant workers and so on.

Lest we forget, representatives are just that and no more: they are people chosen to represent our views and concerns. They can only do that if they understand the issues and are committed to being part of the struggle for positive change. It is meaningless to vote for political opportunists who do not have the welfare of this country’s people at heart. In the coming elections, candidates will no doubt give fiery speeches and make extraordinary promises. But it’s up to the voters to discern fact from fiction.

Will the candidate you plan to vote for be committed to working for a transparent and accountable government? Will he or she be willing to commit to some if not all of the issues listed above? Will he or she represent your views? Will he or she be willing to be held accountable to the people of this country?

Candidates should be trustworthy and accountable people who will nurture the democratic process and principles. They should help bring forth just and meaningful development for all and not just for the few. Hold your candidate to account. Let your vote send out that message.

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