Michael Backman again

Michael Backman is not only an eloquent writer. His views would usually shine a light right through the thickest fog, especially on Malaysia.

Of course the truth hurts and Malaysia is not exactly utopia. Far from it.
This is his latest article, extremely very pertinent points and some very basic question raised.

Michael Backman
www.michaelbackman.com

Ethnic rivalry in Malaysia usually is portrayed as rivalry between the majority Malay population and the large Chinese minority. But sandwiched between the two are Malaysia's Indians. They make up about 2 million or 8% of the population but according to some estimates they account for around 2% of the nation's corporate wealth. This disparity is leading to rising tensions from a group that the authorities normally take for granted.

The Indian community is split into Muslims and Hindus. The Muslims, known locally as the 'Mamak', tend to blend more easily with the dominant Malays - both being Muslim means that intermarriage is not uncommon. (Former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad is the product of such a union.) The Hindus on the other hand are far more marginalised. Politically weak and disorganised, they tend to be largely ignored by the government.

Original post here and here

Simply atrocious, Res ipsa loquitur

Res ipsa loquitor - the thing speaks for itself. It signifies that further details are unnecessary; the proof of the case is self-evident.

Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin cannot string a sentence in proper English to save his life.

On the topic of democracy and freedom of expression, the Minister continuosly cuts and buts in on the interviewer. In no way was she allowed to string a coherent sentence.
Res ipsa loquitor - it speaks for itself, if there's no freedom of expression in Malaysia, it definitely is. Even interviews cannot be conducted in a civilised manner, the Minister lacks any substance nothing except constantly butting, shutting up the interviewer and drowning every other question in unintelligent rhetoric.

Yes, this is the Information Minister of Malaysia, and why are the opposition crying out for avenues for expression, minority voices to be heard and better democratic processes ?
res ipsa loquitor.

Bersih Rally Police Brutality

The March and Rally by The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) to present a memorandum to His Majesty was a clear cut success on all grounds.

Malaysians have endured the tyranny, suppression and total disregard of their demoractic rights long enough.

On November 10, almost as a last salvo, close to 100,000 marched from City Centre to present a memorandum to HM.

Barisan Nasional and UMNO controlled media have literally stranggled to death any avenues for democratic reforms, checks and balances and or press freedom in this country.
On November 10th, my fellow brave Malaysians has decided that this is their country, and they have had enough of UMNO and their plundering cohorts.

I present to you real life accounts as Police fired tear gas on their fellow Malaysians. No unruly behaviour, violence or any semblance of a riot happened (as opposed to what the official press will want you to believe). It all began when the police fired.

Account 1

Her eyes reddened by tear gas and her clothes soaking wet from a heavy
downpour, Hamidah Ibrahim, a 23-year-old undergraduate from the northern city of
Ipoh, huddled against a shop wall in Tun Perak Road, a main thoroughfare in
Kuala Lumpur that is usually clogged with vehicles but on Saturday was crowded
with thousands of protestors. Across the street, red-helmeted officers of
Malaysia's Federal Reserve Unit fired several rounds of tear gas at the crowds
before a baton charge that sent protesters running helter-skelter. Hamidah wiped
her eyes and adjusted her tudung, the Malay headscarf that is obligatory for
Muslim women. "This is like being in hell," she says amid the thud of smoke
grenade launchers.

Account 2

There are two indisputable facts about the rally on Saturday. The first is
that all the chaos on that day was caused by the police. It was the police who
set up the road blocks disrupting the movement of traffic all over KL. It was
the police who adopted an aggressive stance towards the crowd of demonstrators.
It was the police who precipitated all the acts of violence and without any
provocation. It was the police who sprayed the extremely well-behaved crowd with
chemical laced water cannon and tear gas and it was the police who cannoned
sections of the crowd standing inside the gate of Masjid Jamek. I know because I
was standing inside the gates of the mosque and got saturated and was left
standing in a pool of foaming water.Sure, the crowd made plenty of noise and
there were many fists being shaken at the police but whenever threatened the
crowd backed off and took alternative routes to seek their destination. I
witnessed no attempt by the police to warn off the crowd using loud hailers even
though I was at the front line of the crowd.In Jalan Tuanku Rahman, it was the
police who again used tear gas and cannon and resorted to baton charges, beating
their batons on their shields to further break up an already dispersed crowd.
And it was the police who were seen to violently manhandle members of the crowd.
It was the police who closed off access to the LRT stations within the city area
thus causing disruption to many non-participating citizens

Account 3

Once we exited the station at Masjid Jamek, we were greeted by
the ever heart-warming sight of riot police. Here they call them the Federal
Reserve Unit, but they are nothing more than mercenaries in uniform. Zealots
armed with batons and gas launchers, completely apathetic to the growing crowd,
swollen by passer-bys and passionate Malaysians. The police sprayed preliminary
water-cannon fire on the crowd, which I wasn't to concerned about. It was only
upon reaching home that I found out they were contaminated with chemicals.Now
there is something of great importance that I need to stress; in no way,
absolutely none, did the demonstrators aim to incite the police. There was lots
of chanting, of slogan shouting, of crowd rallying, but there was no hatred or
contempt hurled against those in power. In short, we did not merit the treatment
we received. One may say, "But it was an illegal gathering anyway." How can the
executive issue a decree banning the people in a democracy from voicing their
opinion? We are not looking for a riot. We're not looking for impeachment. We're
not looking for a revolution. We want clean elections. After all, if the
government did its job efficiently, without corruption,racism and wanton
aggression, why would we want to vote for the opposition? The demonstration
today was truly a model demonstration. A peaceful, passionate crowd standing
defiant, in a completely passive manner. It was a moment to remember, the
solidarity on the f aces of others as we stared down the threats in the hope of
a better tomorrow. All until the police became violent.

Fellow Malaysians, firing on their countrymen. It wasn't so much as the
actual shooting which was horrendous, but seeing them take their line of sight
made my stomach turn. These uncompassionate robots, protectors of the society
shooting against the people they swear to protect. Here they are, ladies and
gentlemen, "dispersing crowds", while paedophiles run riot, pun very much
intended. When they fired, they shot directly infront of the crowd. Shaz and I
happened to be caught in between a mass of bodies and a drain barrier. Just like
some bad war movie, everything seemed to happen in slow motion, as the cannister
rolled to a stop barely 10 feet away. Time sped back to normal as the people
around me started scrambling into the nearby station. Shaz and I were stuck
outside, but fortunately, my brother was pulled in by a fairy-tale hero. "Give
Me Liberty or Give Me Death", but don't give me tear gas. The following account
is in no way dramatisation, it is, as it is. Maybe it was my severe
underestimation of the pain, both physical and psychological, that caused my
hesitation. If not for the rain, I shudder to think of the potential pain. Had I
known... Completely immobile and covering our faces with wet cloths, we were
powerless for a good 45 seconds to the gas. Initially, you feel a sting in your
nose. As the pain increases, it ignites your eyeballs into blindness. As the
pain mounts unbearable, tears streaming uncontrollably out of your eyes, the gas
enters the pores on your face, the sensation acid to the pH. As you try and
escape the gas, running literally blindly, with your skin aflame, the gas enters
your lungs, constricting respiration to almost nil. Every inhalation you take is
void of oxygen, and soon you will not be able to breathe. More than once the
thought of death surfaced in my mind, as I moved with, not fought against the
crowd to clear the area. Shazee later told me she thought she was as good as
gone as well. Tear gas brings you to the edge of death, only for you to be
resuscitated back into Hell.

Little known fact

If I had any semblance of authority in the world I live in, I would nominate the following writer who goes by the name Colin Nathan an award. His letter here to Malaysikini so aptly and succinctly summarised to paint a picture of patriotic desparation. Some may brand him otherwise, but he could have written about Zimbabwe, Uganda, Indonesia or whatever basket-case of a country in this world we live in. But he chose Malaysia, the country he has called home, that his father has called home and I think a country he would like his children to inherit and to grow up in.

Read it here in it's original form
This is a small snippet from his original letter..

In 2004, global financial services firm Morgan Stanley issued a report that
estimated that over US$100 billion (RM360 billion) had been lost to Malay
patronage in the 20 years preceding 2003 (from 1984 to 2003). One economist
estimates that in the 36 years of its existence, the New Economic Policy has
been used to channel over one trillion ringgit to the Malay community through
ASN (Amanah Saham Malaysia), ASB (Amanah Saham Bumiputera) and other related
government schemes. Since 1970, the government has used the NEP to divert
education, employment and every other conceivable benefit to the Malay
Malaysians. These measures have largely been successful with all the top posts
in government-linked companies (GLCs), the government, universities,
public-listed companies and practically every single area that the government
has any control over being reserved for one race.

Asian Strategic and Leadership Institute’s estimate of 45% for bumi share of the
nation’s equity is opposed to the government's 18.9%, firstly, because the
equity value is calculated at par value. For example, if you hold 1,000 Maxis
shares of RM5 market value each, the government says that it is only worth RM250
as these shares have a par value of 25 sen each. If you owned a company with a
paid-up value of RM2 but conducted business worth millions of ringgit worth of
transactions, the government values that company at RM2.

Will this stupidity never end ?

WTF

You all have to see this and I say WTF ?

I am tired, it's like cleaning an overflowing toilet

Trying to write and blog about Malaysia, is like trying to clean an overflowing toilet.
Where do you even start ? Before one has a chance to digest an issue, another one comes up. Every single one, stankier and a few rungs below common morality than the previous one.

Before I had a chance to digest the ramifications of the V.K. Lingam video which has rocked the Malaysian Judiaciary system up to the point, that the Malaysian BAR may now consider boycotting the Judiciary, we now have the RM 27 Million police officer.

V.K. Lingam was caught on tape, bargaining with a senior member of a Judiaciary for key appointments (this member has since been promoted to be the Chief Justice of Malaya). The Government does not call this a crisis, the Government first set up a 3-man toothless committee to determined the authenticity of the video. The first act of the committee was to call up the source of the video and for him to turn over the original footage.

Firstly, we all know, this is Malaysia and whistleblowers will be dispensed with. Secondly, the committee is bent on protecting those in public office, should it not be to protect the public from those in office ?

They have threatened to jail Anwar Ibrahim if he does not turn up his source.
If the can send a man to space for needless reasons, they can, determine the authenticity of the digital footage. That is a technological issue. But no, they must have the whistleblower's name.

More has been written on this notably on Malaysia-today, Lim Kit Siang, who am I, but a mere mortal looking pathetically at the system, I have nothing more to add.

Read : CJ say bye, bye,

Then the most interesting read is this man, Commercial Crimes Investigation Department director Comm Datuk Ramli Yusoff. HE is presently charged or to be charged to be in possession of RM 27 million in assets. He was charged by the Anti-Corruption Agency.
However, to those uninitiated, it seems this charge happened after he and his men made a move on major Malaysian underground triad/mafia bosses.

The Malaysian police is divided and played out like pawns by the underworld kingpins and by their political masters. Again, who protects the public ?

Read more here : The land of Walt Disney






In the end, it's an overflowing toilet, one piece of excrement after another trying to better itself that the previous one. We all will bear the stench.