How should we judge a government?

In Malaysia, if you don't watch television or read newspapers, you are uninformed; but if you do, you are misinformed!

"If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing." - Malcolm X

Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience - Mark Twain

Why we should be against censorship in a court of law: Publicity is the very soul of justice … it keeps the judge himself, while trying, under trial. - Jeremy Bentham

"Our government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no
responsibility at the other. " - Ronald Reagan

Government fed by the people

Government fed by the people

Career options

Career options
I suggest government... because nobody has ever been caught.

Corruption so prevalent it affects English language?

Corruption so prevalent it affects English language?
Corruption is so prevalent it affects English language?

When there's too much dirt...

When there's too much dirt...
We need better tools... to cover up mega corruptions.

Prevent bullying now!

Prevent bullying now!
If you're not going to speak up, how is the world supposed to know you exist? “Orang boleh pandai setinggi langit, tapi selama ia tidak menulis, ia akan hilang di dalam masyarakat dan dari sejarah.” - Ananta Prameodya Toer (Your intellect may soar to the sky but if you do not write, you will be lost from society and to history.)

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

I can see clearly now...

the hype is gone. Imagine the catchy beat and tune of the song sung by Johnny Nash.

Thanks to the internet and online news portals like Malaysiakini and Malaysia Today, and numerous blogsites, the public is getting the true picture of how unfair our present political system is.

For every seat in parliament, on the average, the following number of Malaysians voted for each party:

GOVERNMENT PARTIES
UMNO - 22,782 voters
MCA - 34,652 voters
MIC - 24,616 voters

OPPOSITION PARTIES
DAP - 57,278 voters
PAS - 150,211 voters
PKR - 617,518 voters

(Testimony of the great work of art by our EC Chairman and his legacy for the past six General Elections and the coming Grand Finale)

According to the previous GE (2004):-

UMNO received 35.9% of the popular votes but has 109 parliamentary seats or almost 50% of all parliamentary seats. In total, Barisan received 63.8% of the popular votes but has 198 parliamentary seats or 90.4% of all parliamentary seats. The opposition received 36.2% of the popular votes but has only 20 parliamentary seats or 9% of all parliamentary seats.

The decision-making power process within our present cabinet (euphemised as ‘power sharing’) is as follows:-

1. UMNO not only controls the parliament via Barisan, it has allocated itself 24 cabinet positions or 71% of all cabinet positions.
2. MCA has 5 cabinet positions or 15% of the cabinet positions.
3. MIC has 1 cabinet position or 3 % of the cabinet positions.
4. Gerakan has 1 cabinet position or 3% of the cabinet positions.
5. Other component parties hold 3 cabinet positions or 8% of the cabinet positions.
6. The opposition with 36.2% of all the popular votes is not given a single cabinet position. (due to the ‘first past the post’ system which requires a free and fair election the lack of which the people in Bersih are complaining about)

"According to Nazri, the defective law minister, the majority of Malaysians, the likes of you and I, are responsible for this.

On 26th July, 2004, in a debate between Nazri and Yang Berkhidmat Lim Kit Siang entitled “ISA - Yes or No?”, Nazri said that the BN’s victory in every election was proof that the rakyat was saying ‘Yes’ to the ISA.

Read Lee Ban Chen’s take on the debate HERE .
You know what? I think Nazri is right.

Every Malaysian who has continued to vote in BN whilst there have been human beings detained at Kamunting, have been guilty of denying their fellow human beings the basic right of liberty and freedom; the right to be charged and to defend themselves at trial.

After Ops Lalang in 1987, we failed the detainees then by giving BN the vote in 1990.

Let’s not fail our 75 brothers and sisters now languishing in Kamunting.

Nazri says a vote for BN is a ‘Yes’ vote for the ISA.

Well, now vote ‘No’ for the ISA."

Excerpt from a Malaysiakini letter,

Kayveas dares attack Samy, not Rustam
Vijay Jan 15

"But where was this valiant streak when Malacca Menteri Besar Rustam Ali came a-calling at your own annual conference and in public, figuratively spat on PPP? You sat there and simply lapped up all that Rustam had to spew out. You did not even have the self-respect to at least walk out of the hall, let alone take Rustam on. Were you scared that such a demonstration of temerity against even an uncouth Umno Mat Rempit leader would be the death knell of your political career? When it comes to Umno, none of you in PPP, MIC, or MCA have the pluck to stand up. Instead, you grovel and continue to invite them. Oh, I forgot. To respond in like vein would not be in keeping with the Barisan Nasional ‘spirit’.Kayveas’ only consolation is perhaps that he is not alone in his shameless sycophancy. When Selangor Menteri Besar Mohd Khir Toyo attended a recent meeting with Hindu temple representatives to discuss the issue of temple demolitions, the committee - unbelievably - presented a shawl to him, a symbol of respect in the Indian culture."

Raja Petra is fond of saying that 191 division leaders of Umno decide who shall be PM and we know why PM has to treat them with velvet gloves.

There is talk that Khairy might stand in Putra Jaya (where the number of constituents is just over 5,000 and most of them are government servants who are known to follow orders), not only because it is physically nearer the PM’s office.

I summarise them as follows:-

A vote for BN is a vote for ISA
A vote for MCA, MIC, Gerakan, etc. is a vote for Umno
A vote for BN is a vote for Umno is a vote for status quo
A vote for Umno is a vote for Khairy as future PM…
scary isn’t it?

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

I will definitely not vote BN as I do not want to bring devils, wolves and idiots into this 'home'!

Anonymous said...

No for BN, is a betterment of the country..

No for BN, is development of Malaysian Society on a non-racial based..

Say NO to BN for coming election...

Anonymous said...

That's why Nik Aziz was right to say "vote for BN, you go to hell... vote for PAS, you go to heaven... because one of the reason is they're guilty of "denying their fellow human beings the basic right of liberty and freedom; the right to be charged and to defend themselves at trial."

Anonymous said...

A vote for BN is to vote for state sponsored racial discrimination.

And if Khairy does stand to run in Putrajaya, I will laugh at him cuz don't forget he challenged Anwar last time.

Mushrooms::Arise said...

The time is ripe for change. The time is ripe for Mushrooms-Arise. It is time to stop the rot and the BN bullshit. Vote wisely when the next election comes. Vote alternatives this time around. Give them a chance to effect changes, anything is better than the rotting BN bullshit.

Anonymous said...

No to BN (Barang Naik)
No to ISA ( Idiotic Security Act)
Yes to DAP ( Daring Active People)
Yes to PAS ( People Are Secured)
Yes to PKR ( Perang Kutuk Khairy)

Anonymous said...

This is what happen to a good country ruled by a bad ruling party.

Enriching themselves and forget the rest. Those greedy and selfish Umno are to be blamed.

Anonymous said...

Firstly, the NEP is severely outdated. Even during youth many were against it, mainly of course non-malays. Almost 40 years after, even the malays are discontented with it. It is outdated. The theory is severely flawed.

The NEP is the reason why Malaysia cannot reach its full potential with regards to GDP and will always keep falling behind its more successful neighbour, Singapore.

Our Malaysia country is sinking……….what a shame.

I was lying down having a deep reflection last night. The last time I was in Singapore was in the year 1996. As I compare Malaysia with them today, we are not even at their level in terms of progress. Singapore's 1996 status is still better than Malaysia's 2006. We are some 10 years behind our neighbour.

With this prime minister leading us, we will even fall further behind. I think he will resign after 1 term. He should be giving talks which to me inspirational talk is the most appropriate.

As a pro-reformist of Malaysia today, I believe Pak Lah as the 21st century prime minister should break new grounds and demolish old synaptic connections with regards to the way we run our country.

The Ninth Malaysian Plan will be based on the NEP. Hence, from what I have seen so far there is no change and promise executed in the 21st century. What makes us think that there will be any in year 2020! After all, the 'old' stalwarts will still be running the country, i.e. Hisham, Najib.

They may succeed in fooling the kampung folks, for the time being, clearly not forever.

Still I agree that some credit must go to the man. But the media is still not free, although there seems to be a kind of preference not to do anything to change the natural course of events - but more out of a loss of what to do than anything resembling policies.

The laws that give rise to government control of the media are still securely in place. The draconian law that allows detention without trial is still very much in place.

Human rights abuse by the immigration, police and the special branch is still rife - and it is not going to go away just because there are several royal commissions set up to 'whitewash' the handling of such issues by the government. And one can go down the laundry list - like forever.

The country's courts are still very much a laughing stock of the whole world - dispensing justice to suit the needs of the ruling government. The fact that of late there seems to be a 'renegade' appeal judge of sorts who chooses to be vocal about extra-judicial issues, does not mean there will be more judges like him.

Still his trail blazing ways provide some glimmer of hope that others may follow in his footsteps - although I am quite sure that his early retirement is being discussed as we speak.

The country's parliament and the legislative process are a joke - and an embarrassment. Need I go on?

We need a leader to lead us out of this mess! I am sorry for not being able to see the leader in the man. What we do not need is an apologist for the excesses of previous administration. So far he is unable or unwilling or both to take on the heavyweights within his rank for corrupt practices.

I do not have confidence that meaningful change will come and, if does come, the ability for such 'change' to sustain itself in the long run is seriously in doubt.

We need to achieve political maturity, like that in Britain, France, Germany, USA and other countries. We also need a totally free press to inform the people, to check and balance, as a watchdog to the government. Sadly, it is not the case in Malaysia yet.

I call upon the directionless, heartless, hopeless, intelligentless, listless, mindless and soulless prime minister to just quit - and spare Malaysians further agony of having to read more about his management by inspiration - now replaced by sclerotic mismanagement.

Anonymous said...

The BN has criminalised all our freedoms.

We cannot walk as a group, we cannot put up a banner on our own building, we cannot have equal radio and TV time for all registered political parties to reach out to citizens to explain party policies, we cannot have access to information, we cannot have a reasonable campaign period prior to election, we cannot have a licence as a matter of right to publish, we cannot challenge any ministerial decisions in any court of law,

Our basic fundamental rights and freedoms have all been taken away through subsidiary regulations and laws.

Anonymous said...

My understanding is so long as there is discrimination against one party, there will never be trust among each other. Let take for an example, imagine a person work so hard each day to support his family, and at the end of the day, he/she realize that the tax paying to the government will fully used to subsized and assist another party systematically.

Given that the economic share cake has now been totally controlled by the malays (more than 50%) and couple with all those systematic discrimination action taken by the government, I wonder how the unity of Bangsa Malaysia is going to exist.

In fact, my personal view is all has to do with the malays self, I find malay is very disgruntled and never satisfied, and with disgruntled behavior that is built in subconsciously, no wonder all the malay employees work in the government institution or any government link company will systematically bias when comes to approving some decision that involve "malay" and "non-malay", for example, we always see our leader talks about racial harmony and education scholarship should based on merit and fair.

However, little did he realize that when come to execution of his talking is not actually implemented by the middle management people in those institution.

A general truth is high dependency behavior will not make you growth!

Anyhow, don't be so naive, I hope you malay can read more newspaper and open up your eyes to see things more clearly. Quite clearly you have no idea what is going on in this country in term of the policy that have been implemented by our government.

Did you realized that your income that you earned is being divert to systematically assist the already affluent malay community!

I recently bought a condo at PJ, and one of the buyer next to me is a malay and was driving a brand new Honda Accord, and during conversation between him and his family that they can be granted a discount of 10%.

This is a real discrimination and obviously the government would have been taking to the court if this happen in the USA (unfortunately our legal system is also not discrimination entity).

Did you realize that nowadays that most of the people buying the branded staffs in Kuala Lumpur is dominated by malays, just take a scroll one day to KLCC and ask the branded shop personal about the majority of their community customer, you will be surprised.

Further, what really upset is the education scholarship not granted to other races. Big hope, I am fervent believer of God, and my church always pray for Malaysia. Do me a favor, wake up yourself, or stop disguising yourself.

I thanked God today because he has woke me up from my foolishness. Now it is my duty to wake you all up if you are still sleeping.

Yes, I can make a change! From now onward, as much as possible, I will not support any organization or body that worship racial discrimination. I will start this from petrol station and fast food restaurant. I do not have to wait until general election to decide what type of government I want.

And as for you, my beloved people, you have to decide today whether you want to reject, ignore or accept, my invitation to make a change in our country for the better future of our children and their next generation.

May God's wisdom be with you all.

It is sad and those of us who chose to stay pay the price for ourselves and our children, but I prefer they learn and choose what is best for themselves in their future. As for me, my destiny is here, no matter what. We walk with God, pray, do our part, and be secure in him. We can influence, small it may be, but never underestimate the power of love, hope and faith.

Anonymous said...

To me, Malaysia is run by institutionalised bullies, corrupters, gangsters, goons, infidels, liars, monkeys, scumbags, thieves and all that are mentioned in the Book Of Hell!

Anonymous said...

The myth is sustained by the idea put forth that prior to the coming-into-being of this nation called Malaysia there was once this mythical land called 'Tanah Melayu'.

Yet the historian would be hard pressed indeed to find a source to back this claim, for the embarrassing thing about our epic histories and hikayats of old is that there is scarcely a mention of the word.

For years - if not more than a decade by now - I have been looking for this mythical land so loved and cherished by the young hotspurs and bloods of Umno, yet I have never discovered it.

Having taken it home, I looked it up in the reference books I had only to discover that it was one of those hybrid coins of dubious worth that were used in the trade between European colonial companies then stationed in Singapore and Malacca with malay traders from the (then weakened) malay sultanates on the Peninsula.

Used as loose coinage in commercial transactions that were at best unequal and at worst exploitative to the malay traders then, the coins had a decidedly counterfeit feel to them, and while registering the lightness of its weight in the palm of my hand, the thought came to me:

That this coin, with the word 'Tanah Melayu' stamped on it in Jawi alphabet, sums up the irony of the past and the painful realities of colonialism then.

The malay kingdoms had been sidelined, colonised and diminished, and all that was given back to the malays was a dull copper coin with the myth of 'Tanah Melayu' stamped on it in so casual a manner.

Anonymous said...

History has shown that the most "biadap" and "kurang ajar" people in Malaysia are from Umno Youth. If other people dare to be more vocal, Umno Youth would brand them as terrorists and detain them under ISA.

Anonymous said...

Results speak louder than anything else in the world. Our Malaysia university standing keeps on dropping. The stock market is declining, while our currency continues to weaken. So what does it matters if it is 30% or 100%? No quality, only quantity!

So long as the government continues to spoon-feed the malays, the nation will eventually collapse like so many that we have already witnessed up till now. We cannot stop the ruling party from doing what they want to do, can we?

They are so used to doing the wrong thing that they simply cannot undo what they are enjoying. Singapore is doing the opposite. They are virtually addicted to doing the right thing, just like what all the successful countries have been doing.

Good genes breed even more powerful genes. Our culture will surely bring us down and out, unless some drastic changes take place. It is already happening, like "rotten food". We are definitely rotting away like gangrene attack. After amputation, we just wait to die!

Anonymous said...

It is been interesting to read such free-flowing comments on an all "Malaysians" free for all.

The "malays" are not a race. I am so sorry that you are only hearing this now. The rest of the academic world has known it for years.

From Yunnan to Taiwan, to Philippines, to Borneo, back to Cambodia, then to Kelantan, mixed with Achenese, Pattanis, Negritos, Jakuns, Javanese, Indians, Chinese and Arabs again.

In short, a Chinese mixed sub-race. Why not just say Chinese?

Anonymous said...

Exactly, a government change is what we need, not a lifestyle change as suggested by our idiotic money sucking Najib. We have the biggest cabinet in the world (where - Malaysia Book of Records!). And with every problem up pops a cabinet committee. For that also we have the most in the world.

Ah, this really is Bolehland, everything also can. Shake head……….

In previous BN government, there always had been widespread corruption and come election season, they will hand out sweeteners to the voters who will happily cross the box beside despite complaining about the government for the previous 5 years.

But I am under the impression that this is the first time these BN politicians (including their local councils) are showing the irony of spending lavishly and yet tell the people to buck up. Am I correct, everyone?

In Malaysia, the purchasing power of the whole country seems to be going into the drain together uniformly. From the economical meltdown until these days, have you seen any significant recovery yet?

My point of view is, I see the economy becoming even more stagnant and dying a slow death in Malaysia. Hence the sinking purchasing power all over the country. Coupled with competitive markets from neighbouring countries life sure is getting harder.

The government however played active ineffective roles to 'help' the situation. Everybody knows they are trying to divert the funds to save their arise in their so-called businesses when Soros began the assault.

This is where a lot of the tax money has gone to. But it didn't help because of corruptions and more money spent on useless mega projects - hence the wealth of the country is once again being abused time and again.

So with the raise of petrol cost, are they still expecting the people to just sit idly by and let them be trampled with? We are drilling petrol for goodness sake, and to have things so expensive flinging at us is just shit……….I don't know what to say.

Do you really think we are lucky? Yes, if you want to compare it to Africa. But look - our country actually have money. But where did they all go?

Alright so now is your chance to change, in the next election. Many people get carried away by the 'buying' over tactics used by BN. If the next election the BN (robbers) still win big, then the people do deserved to be punished.

The amount of taxpayers money they wasted on those mega projects are not even funny if you calculate it. The amount of money they spent for their lavish lifestyle is ridiculous.

It all boils down to the productivity, the real income per head. In Malaysia, one person works, and many parasites have to suck from him.

Now Pak Lah says with the 9th Malaysian Plan to be materialized, they need to increase the civil servants by a certain number. Come on, we have already had enough parasites and yet more has to be added on because of the problem of the unemployable graduates.

We have a king size cabinet and yet we have to increase the already oversized civil servants further. How not to get our purchasing power shrinking!

Who else you want to blame! After living on handouts for lots years or maybe after a couple of generations how to change.

Sigh loudly……….felt so sorry for this country.

Perhaps we should convey this to the people who are not reading this matter or have so little knowledge about what is really going on in our country.

Hopefully more people will be concerned and in time be active in politics. Who knows we may get another Lee Kuan Yew from among the young people. We may start to build Malaysia although it is already 50 years too late.

Anonymous said...

If you turn on BBC, there are fair and equal coverage on the UK opposition parties.

So is NHK (Japan), so is KBS (Korea), so is CNN (America), so is CBC (Canada), so is ABC (Australia).

Even in our neighboring Thailand, their TV coverage is fair for both ruling and opposition parties!

Only in this Umno hijacked country that you find most lop-sided idiotic coverage on Umno and its running dog partners!

Anonymous said...

Lying, incompetent, hypocrite, faking, denial, crook, corrupt, unjust, stupid, pretending, all these words are apt to describe them Umno.

How on earth Malaysia could sink low low low!

KoSong Cafe said...

Thanks to all who took the trouble to comment. 18 comments is considered a record in my blog!

Most would agree that it was because of the obviously unfair election system and the mainstream media that we have to shout to be heard.

We have to encourage voters to vote opposition just to restore the obviously unfair advantage of BN to make it fair to start with!
For eg. if a constituency has been gerrymandered with a bias of 15% in favour of BN, we need 15% of the votes just to make the competition fair. Hopefully, anything above would show BN the wishes of the people.

Similarly, because MCA, MIC, Gerakan and so on, are not expected to withdraw from the coalition, despite being humiliated by Umno leaders (including Youth!), the only way to show the voters displeasure is to vote them out! It is sad but necessary. Hopefully, the political system would re-align towards multi-racialism. No harm in dreaming on.