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.)

Sunday, May 19, 2013

What could happen when a Malay boycotts Chinese products and services


Unless he lives in town where there are 24/7 24-hour convenience shops like 7-11, KFC and so on, he might find his local Malay shop closed on Friday afternoon; or during puasa month, he might find some shops closed for the month!

Thanks to Petronas, Malay owned or operated petrol stations are all over the place. But if he thinks the Chinese-operated Esso/Mobil stations should be boycotted, think again, they are slowly being renovated to show Petron, the name of the new owners, San Miguel, owned by Tun Dr Mahathir's son Mirzan. Similarly, Chinese-operated BHP stations are actually owned by Boustead which is controlled by LTAT.

In case he had a tyre puncture, chances are the nearest tyre shops which are likely to be open are run by Chinese. Of course, his car if under warranty might include a towing service provided by an authorised list of car service centres. He might have to inform the call-centre, that only a Malay serviceman is welcome to attend to him, definitely not a Chinese.

In case he is feeling ill, he has to go to the local government clinic or hospital. Again, with his deep-seated 'boycott Chinese' instilled in him, he might ask to be attend to by a Malay doctor. After treatment, he should insist on drugs manufactured by Malay pharmaceutical companies or more expensive imported drugs from the West.

In case he needs blood transfusion, he must insist on non-Chinese blood, with proper verification that this is so. Need anti-biotics? I am afraid those drugs are likely to be invented and/or manufactured by Jews, another group of people seriously boycotted by Malays.

The moral of my story which came to mind this Sunday afternoon is that life is already stressful, why make it more difficult? If we are more open, chances are much better in getting goods and services conveniently, and in certain critical situations, even lives could be saved by timely treatment.

Update:
At a shop, sometimes, we don't have a choice...


Link

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

How to get your Air-con serviced?

Anonymous said...

Some of those bee end supporters in village areas buy things by credits(hutang) from Chinese shop. Some did not pay back and turn to other shop. Malay shop cannot give credits. How can they boycott??? May be their leaders still dreaming...

Tiger said...

Better don't use Iphone and Samsung too because they're made in China!

ahmad said...

Dear Sir,

I coincidently drop by your blog. Digesting your note and the above 2 comments, These are my 2 cents.

I am doing this BCL. Me and my family have successfully done that during recent Gaza War. We stopped buying:

- McD
- Coca Cola
- Loreal
- Nestle based products

And we still continue doing so until now. On a serious note, if the Chinese think that my action will not have a dent in your business, please think again.

We have started not even to patron any Chinese based businesses 2 days in a week - 1 weekday and 1 weekend. That number will go up accordingly.

Yepp, I can sense that most of you think this is all pointless, etc, etc. What ever, lah ya.

Remember, you guys worship wealth.

You guys also know at what level your day on day, month on month, year on year sales comparison.

With the power of social media now, the possibilities is limitless.

Sad, indeed. It has already come to this.

Ah Mah said...

Ahmad,

I don't think it is rational to boycott any communities , just because they are exercising their democratic rights. Not all people are yes-men and cannot think for themselves.
If this escalates due to narrow thinking, does that mean Malays will all resign from non-Malay companies? Citibank and HSBC etc will not have any Malay staff and CIMB will not a accept single cent of non-Malays deposits?
The election is over and everybody should move on and build a better Malaysia and not create division among the communities.

KoSong Cafe said...

The gist of my examples is to show why we should think hard before embarking on boycotting anything.

The economy consists of a multitude of businesses providing goods and services. If we look at just one company, we have to think of the employees and suppliers of that company too. If the target is the big boss, the worst that can happen is for him to close shop. He can jolly well do some other businesses, if necessary, in another company.

Even a haram company like Genting Bhd employs tens of thousands of employees and probably hundreds of thousands are dependent on Genting as a customer or buyer (think of the property development projects, equipment and maintenance). Even the government collects hundreds of millions in the form of gaming tax and income tax, and the chairman, Tun Haniff is paid several millions a year in remuneration. If it is so straight forward, do you think our PMs would not close it down to meet Islamic values?

Anyway, don't be surprised if the company you intend to boycott employs someone related or close to you.

On balance, because of stricter halal requirements, Malays are already not frequenting non-Muslim shops or using non-Muslim products and services (except GROs and masseuses?), but non-Muslims buy from Muslim traders at pasar malam and pasar minggu.

ahmad said...

Ah Mah, Kosong Cafe.

I understand from where you guys are coming from. I also take note on your logic of argument. And I'm not going to counter that.

I stand with my CONVICTION. I have chosen my CHOICE. That is why I said it's indeed SAD it has come to this level in my earlier post.

I'm airing my view to you guys, my fellow Chinese readers. Post GE13, I felt betrayal. Honest.

Gone away my moderate way of thinking. The ULTRA MALAY emerged. Didn't know I had it in me all these while. Guess politics can do wonders, eh?

I will not post comments after this. I've said enough. Now is to follow through via actions. Doesn't matter to me if this boycott will yield whatever results.

I am doing my part. Only that matters.

:-(

T.T

SharonKaur said...

The jist of the matter is that the Chinese electorate chose between MCA and DAP. How were the Malays sidelined or "Tsunamied" in the last elections? Most of the educated voters and practically 70% of urban voters voted against corruption and abuse of power. Has that become a Malay thing now? I seriously doubt that when even the Malays in my social circle cannot stop bad mouthing the BN and it's newly minted thief minister of Home Affairs. If the BN want's the voters to support them, they should stop stealing money. Is that too difficult to do? I guess it is when the mechanism is deeply entrenched to cover up and bury corruption.

Anak Malaysia said...

Dear Ahmad,

You can go and do what you want. But do remember, many Malays who are employees of Chinese owned businesses will suffer. I doubt if the Chinese owners will be as narrow-minded as you and sack the Malay workers. However, hurt them you will.

What if the Chinese are as narrow minded as you? Let's figure... What if all Chinese move their money to Chinese owned banks? What if Chinese will no longer buy expensive items such as cars from Malay owned companies? What if Chinese do not borrow from Malay owned banks? What if....

We do not want that to happen because we do not think it will help anyone. If you think you are so principled, please dump your handheld and PCs - you'll be shocked how much of Yahudi IP is in there. Stop using the Internet, you'll be surprised how much of Huawei and other "Cina" products are making it work.

So, let's grow up.

Anonymous said...

Let the boycott escalate. Eventually, the Malays will learn a painful lesson from it and the boycott will end. It's like playing with fire, they will get burnt.

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kiawin said...

It is rather disheartening reading comments on this blog.

Conviction, at times are deceiving if we chose to embrace it with prejudice.

As a Malaysian, often labelled as Chinese, the reality behind the great numbers voting against BN, was against absurd day-light robbery styled corruption and never ending intellectually insulting racist sentiments.

For your information, like it or not, BN does not represents any particular community or ethnicity. Same applies to PR.

A vote for PR, certainly is not a vote against Malay.

This is just an outright demeaning excuses planted by our ministers and political party controlled dailies.

This is why it is very important and significant for us to say no to anyone, which includes BN and PR, who uphold and glorify corruption and racism like nobody's business - repackaging as their rights.

Say no to corruption, say no to racism.

kiawin said...

It is rather disheartening reading comments on this blog.

Conviction, at times are deceiving if we chose to embrace it with prejudice.

As a Malaysian, often labelled as Chinese, the reality behind the great numbers voting against BN, was against absurd day-light robbery styled corruption and never ending intellectually insulting racist sentiments.

For your information, like it or not, BN does not represents any particular community or ethnicity. Same applies to PR.

A vote for PR, certainly is not a vote against Malay.

This is just an outright demeaning excuses planted by our ministers and political party controlled dailies.

This is why it is very important and significant for us to say no to anyone, which includes BN and PR, who uphold and glorify corruption and racism like nobody's business - repackaging as their rights.

Say no to corruption, say no to racism.

tjay said...

Dear Ahmad, you are an educated Malay so I am surprised that you believed what UMNO said about the Chinese Tsunami and about what Utusan Malaysia prints. Why do you think like the rural Malays that UMNO=Malay and Malay=UMNO. Isn't PAS and PKR Malay? I am sure that an internet savvy person like you must have read about all the UMNO's corruption, abuse of power and cronyism. Why do you believe that if Pakatan wins, Malays will lose all their benefits. UMNO's rule only benefit their cronies and the ordinary Malays only get crumbs. If Pakatan rule, the ordinary rakyat will benefit more because they will probably be less corrupt, more transparent and more fair to the poor regardless of race. Just look at Penang and Selangor. Cut out corruption and the state have surpluses which are channeled back to the rakyat instead of cronies. Is your main worry that the Chinese will take over the country if Pakatan wins. Just do your maths. How can DAP seats be more than PAS and PKR combined plus the Chinese cannot be Menteri Besar or Prime Minister. The Chinese, Malays and Indians voted against blatant corruption and abuse of power, not against the Malays. The Chinese (not all bec. majority of us are just wage earners) have economic power but no political power. In the future, Chinese population will be less and less so why are so afraid. Don't just listen to UMNO's divide and rule propaganda.

Unknown said...

Ahmad,

What indeed is sad is how you've drawn your boundary along racial lines and your definition of betrayal in a democratic nation is by how less the political party of your preference get elected by a certain group of community defined by race.

If you could see and actively participate against the injustice of Zionisms towards the Palestinian, I believe that if you've done enough research, you could see the injustice perpetrated by the ruling power, not that I'm saying that the injustice that we face here is equal to what is happening in Palastine.

Anonymous said...

I have met many of such 'Ahmads'....'educated', internet savvy, and able to expressed himself in english well. However, one common theme about such Ahmad mentality is that they are all graduates of regular, intensive BTN brainwashing courses caught at the right impressionable age intended to mold them to a certain way of thinking. Added to this, they are invariably impressed upon to be eternally beholden and to be GRATEFUL for all the handouts given all through their lives. Therefore, it is no surprise at all, knowing where they are coming from, that they would behave and think in a certain way, notwithstanding all the counterpoints and arguments against their set thinking that they might come across, however logical or reasonable. The mind, once they are 'programmed' such, will automatically dismiss any premises/notions that run counter to their set thinking. That is why you will see them spewing about 'principles' and 'betrayals'.....all basically arising from unsubstantiated emotive reaction rather than logical reasoning. In conclusion, we are actually seeing the end result of the very damaging BTN courses conducted by our government meant for only a certain race.....chinese, indians, dll are all exempted from attending such courses.

Anonymous said...

Kosong is right. All business and financial system is intertwined like an ecosystem. You can't isolate one business from the other. Even the small nasi lemak sellers are dependent on other races to survive. Even for banks, if one race withdraw from a bank, imagine the havoc. Durians sellers or even the guy selling young coconuts will go bankrupt.
I hope all Malaysians be matured enough to look at the core of the issue that the result of GE13 is an URBAN shift and not based on race.

KoSong Cafe said...

To those who insist on blaming Chinese for voting opposition, this is Dr Hsu Dar Ren's calculations:

'There are 13.3 million voters for GE13, out of which 29.68 percent or 3.94 million are Chinese Malaysian voters.

Assuming the turnout of the Chinese voters are the same as the general population which is 80 percent, the number of Chinese casting votes would be 3.15 million.

Assuming that 90 percent of the Chinese voted for Pakatan (this is actually improbable), that would be 2.83 million votes.

But Pakatan received more than 5.62 millions votes, which means that even if 90 percent of the Chinese voted for Pakatan, they comprise of only 50 percent of the support that Pakatan receives.

At a more realistic 80 percent Chinese support for the opposition, Pakatan would get 2.5 million votes from the Chinese ethnic group only.

The fact that it received more than 5.62 million total votes means that more than 3.1 million votes were from non-Chinese Malaysians.

The tsunami against BN is more an urban tsunami than putting the blame on any particular ethnic group.
This is clearly reflected that in two of the most urbanised states, Selangor and Penang, BN lost more ground than before.

If not for Sabah and Sarawak, and to a lesser extent Johor and the gerrymandering, BN would have lost this GE13.'

Anonymous said...

It is obvious that what happened in GE 13 is not one between Chinese against Malay. Seriously, prior to GE, some of my sibling had the intensional to voted for BN, while some other vouch for PR. However, we do not quarrel.

Eventually, majority of us voted for PR. Why is this so? Are we choosing to vote along racial line?

Mind you, all the candidate at my area were Malay. Yet, we still voted for PR, PAS included.

Why? It is becaused based on all information that we obtained from alternative media that we are convinced that BN had become corrupted to the core. While PR had committed to fight against it.

In addition, we also believe that PR alliance, that include PAS in it is a trustable alliance, amid the speculation that chaos will take place after GE if PR win big. There are quite a bit of faith against PAS unit amal's capabilities as stabilizing forced too.

Anonymous said...

Dear Ahmad,
If you adopt this "boycott Chinese" thing because of the words uttered by our PM, "Chinese tsunami" in the recently concluded election, I believe you are misguided or disillusioned by a few of ultra-Malays' defeat in that election. I am of the opinion that it is not about Chinese tsunami which causes the shift in power balance, but rather it is the actual sentiment on the ground that everyone wants a change for a better Malaysia, but unfortunately, this "everyone" here only refers to all educated, literate, well read Malays, Chinese, Indians who oppose the corrupt, power abusive regime of BN (UMNO, MCA, MIC, Gerakan etc.) but BN (especially UMNO) has the vote bank luxury from these people who still believe that they cannot survive without the patronage of UMNO.. and as long as they have this sort of mentality, it will also guarantees the survival of UMNO.. well.. as long as we have racial line drawn in our politic, UMNO fights for Malays, MCA for Chinese, MIC for Indians etc. let me tell you this my friend.. it is very difficult to achieve national unity..

Not Chua said...

Umno is also at fault as it didnt properly advised MCA or especially Chua Soi Lek that you cannot challenged your community when you yourself is tainted. Imagine if Najib tells the same to the Malay community, i.e. Umno will not take any cabinet posts if all Umno candidates did not win and keep asking the Malays what the Malays want? I am sure if Najib utters such remarks the election results would have been different.Why must the Chineses be associated with such a tainted MCA president? Not all Chineses are MCA members and not all Chineses whether MCA members or not can accept adultery as openly as CSL. The women in my family definately will not.

Anonymous said...

Guys...org melayu marah what you guys did to Najib....kena tikam belakang. itu saja...

Anonymous said...

I am a non-Malay and a non-Chinese. For the life of me I cannot understand why the Malays feel betrayed by the Chinese. The Chinese merely exercised their democratic right to vote for the party (or coalition, as many Chinese voted for Malays and Indians under PR) which they felt best represented their values and aspirations.

I voted for a PKR MP in my area because I am tired of being taken for granted by the BN Government who think it is their God given right to govern in perpetuity in Malaysia. I am fed up of the racial politics that is being played out everyday and the one-sided way in which the law is applied. If you are in the opposition or a non-BN/UMNO person action is swiftly taken against you for any perceived slight. But is swift action taken against people like Ibrahim Ali or organisations like Utusan when they are deliberately seditious? - No.

It never entered my mind that DAP or the Chinese will take over the Government if the Opposition came to power (which I did consider unlikely given the Gerrymandering that goes on and the sense of gratitude that the poor uninformed rural folk feel for the crumbs that they are given). So I went out early and cast my vote to let the Government of the day understand how displeased I was with what they were doing. The election is the only chance that the majority of us have to give 'feed-back' to the Government on their performance over the last 4 to 5 years.

So why should the Malays feel so offended and betrayed? Was it because Najib went around making all sort of "You tolong I, I tolong you" promises? Did the Chinese ask for Psy to be flown in to Penang to perform at some concert? Najib already knew the feelings on the ground so why did he waste so much effort on them in the first place? Is this why the Malays feel betrayed? because they felt embarrassed by the way BN/UMNO conducted their campaign?

Grow up lah people like Ahmad and accept the results of the democratic process.

I have accepted that BN has won the elections (and PR should stop the rallies as they do not add anything to the current situation but unnecessary contention and race baiting). I want us to all move on.

The Chinese (I mean the ordinary ones) have already accepted that they won't have representation in the Government. Frankly, they had minimal representation even with MCA and Gerakan there; so I don't think it makes much difference to them.


Just saying.

KoSong Cafe said...

Just an eg. of the complexities in the manufacture of a product...

'Speaking at the CeBIT conference and exhibition in Sydney today, Huawei Global chief information security officer John Suffolk said:

"Many people who will look at any equipment will make an assumption that what's in that equipment comes from that country. If you open up a Huawei box, what you will see [is] 70 percent of the components in that equipment come from non-Huawei, comes from outside of Huawei, and come from actually outside of mainland China. The biggest provider of components in Huawei's equipment is American companies, at 32 percent," Suffolk said.'

Anonymous said...

I agree there should be no boycott based on racism. However remarks stating that in the event Malays will suffer if the boycott take place is in fact a rasicm statement. A boycott based on racial business will mean a new opportunity for one race to eliminate competition. If theres no chinese aircond service guy or car repairman, it will just mean a new business opportunity for a Malay to penetrate. If theres no mamak to serve Chinese, i believe there'll be heaps of chinese making roti canai and teh tarik. Low Yatt will be closed and malays will start selling handphone and computers. Afterall they are just trade items, imported and with some knowledge to assemble or configure, there should be no issue in selling it. If the Chinese close their business and it means malay employees will be terminated, then it will be a new business opportunity for the others. Remember your employees are the asset of the business. They run the day to day operations. A malay working for a chinese doesnt make them less superior. There are many foreign corporations in Malaysia and i dont think the multi racial employees feel inferior working for a foreigner. It would be a double standard if that happens.

In our country, there are capable people, there are incompetent human resources, intelligent people, hardworking, lazy, criminals, talented and many more. Theres no specific colors of skin for that. The negative perception towards one race should be eliminated and from there we can grow as one.

Say no to racism.

Anonymous said...

I LOLed at all replies to Ahmad. Not being racist, the buying power of Meles and Chinese says it all. Meles boycott Chinese product will NOT impact anything and it's a whole different story if the Chinese were to boycott Meles businesses. Economy power is still in Chinese hands whether you like it or not and it's a fact.

So Ahmad, do enjoy your narrow minded effort while we all continue to enjoy the multiracial benefits....

Anonymous said...

I agree with ahmad. I am an ultramalay too, have not visited chinese owned companies for quite sometime now and it's not difficult. If the chinese business man wants to terminate malay workers let them be, the pay is bad and malays will never get to top positions no matter how smart we are. Better they work for mat salleh and others. I am also encouraging other malays to do the same.eg. I dont go to chinese hair salon there are malay n koreans mych better service n well priced