1Malaysia even more hollow now

Muhyiddin, the second in command in UMNO made a huge bobo last week when he exclaimed he is Malay first and Malaysian second after being challenged to support 1Malaysia concept. Inexplicably the PM defended this absolutely braindead statement, apparently saying this does not mean you are not fully supportive of a 1Malaysian concept (I guess Malays just are more 1 than the rest).

Let's look to what was said and analyze it, Muhyiddin said that he is Malay first and Malaysian second.How then can you be for a unified nation that is color blind and welcoming to all religions? If he is malay first he will fight all changes that takes away benefits to the Malays and equalizes the standing in society. Would you take away your families privileges and give to your neighbor?

If 1Malaysia is to have any chance of success (not that I believe it's anymore than a PR stunt to attract Indian and Chinese voters) then all proponents need to be Malaysians first and nothing second. As long as the goverment keeps preferential treatment for Malays and insists of dividing themselves from 45% of the population there is no chance of success.

In a predictable move the PM blamed the person questioning Muhyiddins sincerity to try and drive a wedge in their relationship. Sure I can understand since Muhyiddin is the "kingmaker" by ousting Abdullah but seriously, how is anyone to take the concept seriously now?

The whole shift from looking at UMNO sincerity to the "kill the messenger" has been seen before, remember Tan Hoon Cheng? The Sin Chew Daily reporter that got taken by the police under the ISA for reporting what UMNO member Ahmad Ismail said at a political rally.

Obviously it is just illegal to report that a UMNO member mentions that the Malaysian-Chinese are squatters, not to actually say it. In addition, Ahmad never apologised for the comment but rather defiantly tore up pictures of chinese leaders, great stuff Ahmad, that's the stuff of 1Malaysia...

On a sidenote, Ahmad was barred from competing in elections for three years and got kicked off his political job. However in a turn of event that surprises absolutely no one, Ahmad's suspension got lifted recently. Apparently the PM want's to have people that really embodies the 1Malaysia concept front and center.

Now, we could just say, sure, he can contest but the elections are far away, yet again we can then see UMNO's real commitment to 1Malaysia when the whole political organization simply resigned to give Ahmad a clear path in to politics again!

Najib is in for one major faceplant!
















Lastly I just want to say as long as Malaysia's politicians are talking about Malay's, Malaysian Indian's and Malaysian Chinese there will be no healing or progress. As long as the goverment records race and religion there will be no brotherhood. As long as a roti cennai is 1 RM there will be no escape from poverty.

If Najib is serious about unity then he should drop everyone that is in favor of Malay rights over Malaysian rights! As long as he accepts this Malaysia will remain an apartheid state.

Kartika, pardon?

You remember Kartika, the divorcee that had a beer at a hotel in Malaysia?

The sultan of Pahang has commuted her sentence for drinking that beer from caning to public service, one can wonder if this is really what Kartika wanted. When she was sentenced by the Sharia court and convicted of drinking alcohol she stoically said that the caning should be public.

We all know what happens if that caning had been done publically, the outcry from everyone except UMNO officials would have been deafening. While UMNO is trying to portray themselves as a party for everyone they have turned amazingly fundamentalistic when it comes to local islam. The Sultans in Malaysia are usually more sensible, as we could see from the strikedown of the fatwa against yoga.

Of course, the whole system of being born into a religion you can't leave, that has a parallell legal system you can't challenge or change democratically is ludicrous but used extensively to keep the bumis in line. UMNO's lip service to OneMalaysia is of course only a PR stunt to try and regain votes lost to PKR from last election. Not even the second in command believes in the initiative, yes you Muhyiddin!

Anyway, I had hoped that the caning would have been performed on Kartika but I guess I should not want that unless I get caned first. What is really absurd with this whole story is that while the Kartika affair was ongoing three other women got caned, you know what they got caned for?

The three women had sex out of wedlock, one couldn't find her father in time to get married before giving birth, one had a stillborn and the third simply had a baby. They got caned for giving birth to children while not being married, how stupid is this? Where is the crime? Why wasn't the fathers punished?

The Perak mess

In Malaysia there is a stark power struggle between the two emerging factions, BN and PKR. It is starting to be very ridiculous for the people watching, what are they actually doing?

Two assemblymen for PKR stood accused of corruption, just before their date in court they decide to quit their party and join BN. For people standing on the other side it seems to be very clear what is going on. PKR asked the two corrupt politicians to step down, they most probably talked to BN and made sure they were going to be aquitted, then simply put BN back in to power in Perak.

Now there is of course no hard evidence that this is the facts, however circumstancial evidence seems enough. Why would two politicians simply quit and start supporting the other party? That does not just happen, there is more to it. They would have to gain something from switching, we know that PKR has a zero tolerance for corruption, at least publically, hey they are politicians after all. The zero tolerance is necessary in order to have the higher ground in the political landscape that is mired in corruption, racial bias and nepotism.

Simply, the two accused politicians were facing sure ruin, part of the opposition, the BN lapdog MACC (Malaysian Anti Corruption Comission), were sure to throw the book at them. On their own side they also knew that PKR would not support them should it come to light any questionable affairs, obviously they had them because they did leave PKR. So, what was left for them? Only to talk to BN and cut a deal, we will give you back Perak if you shield us from the MACC and make sure that whatever punishment we will get is no more than a slap on the wrist.

So, here we are now, BN is in command and PKR is trying to oust them by declaring the state legislature null and void. It is also funny (sad) to see how the state goverment is using the police in order to stop the now opposition from having a gathering. The action banning assemblymen from meeting in the parliament building just shows how BN thinks of the state, they are a part pf BN. If they had been smart they would have simply let PKR gather and let them do whatever decision they wanted, it will be taken to court any which how but by barring assemblymen and using the police to prevent a gathering they had no hope to prevent they have given PKR the best fuel for an eventual re-election.

I dare say that the way things are going right now, there will be a new election and I do not believe that BN will be so lucky in the sequel...

Stimulus, but for who?

Obama reveals the latest stimulus package, last one is apparently finished already, I mean the bonuses had to be paid...

Why the goverment has to pay failed businesses is beyond me, it would make more sense to let these guys fail and allow new forces to take over the market. It is painfully obvious that the older ones has a wrong business model. Although the government has to assume responsibility for creating laws and regulations that worsened the crisis it is no argument to spend even more of tax dollars to keep these guys in play.

One of the worst decisions must have been to provide the Detroit four with money, they haven't been making money for the last decade. They build cars no one wants and now they want the goverment to fund their failed business. This is just wrong!

Global warming and human effect

There is much talk about global warming right now, however what people don't see are events that do not fit in to the consensual image brought forth by politicians and groups with clear agendas.
Even the UN's climate group (IPCC) does not claim that humans have any significant impact on greenhous effect and the ensuing global warming, in fact there are no significant trends showing that the increase is anything but natural.

A lot of the talk around global warming has been around the melting of glaciers, however what the politically driven groups fail to tell all of us is that the glaciers are growing, not melting.
Check this interesting list of growing glaciers worldwide and this image showing record low temperatures in Siberia

Salman row

Pakistan joins Iran in threatening the UK after Queen Elisabeth knighted Salman Rushdie. If there ever was a brave soul deserving a knighting it is Rushdie. I would say that Rushdie really put the attention on the issue of freedom of speech not only in the Middle East but also for Europe.

I really hope that explitives like:

"If someone commits suicide bombing to protect the honour of the Prophet Muhammad, his act is justified,"

is properly handled and that the EU along with all european union members foreign ministers send a clear message to ul-Haq and Iran that the position of Iran and Pakistan is unacceptable and that any and all suicide attacks on any U member nation will be considered a hostile act by these two countries and they will be held accountable.


Technorati Tags: Iran, Pakistan, Rushdie, UK, suicide attacks

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Thaksin wants Sven

Former Thai primeminister Thaksin Shinawatra is in the process of buying up Manchester City with all th ebillions he made from the sale of the family company just prior to a military coup ousting him from power.

If Thaksin takes over then Sven will have a job there apparently, Svens agent vehemently rejects any such statement, he who lives will see I guess...

One interesting note however is the comment from the City fanclub:

He has a good record at club level but you cannot ignore all his mistakes with England.

Mistakes??? It was a mistake to be the coach with the best winning record of all coaches? Apparently if you don't win the WC you are a loser as a coach in the UK, I beg for a quick reality check and I also pose this question:

If Sven made mistakes during his tenure, is McLaren a disaster then?




Technorati Tags: Sven-goran Eriksson, Thaksin, Manchester City

Palestinians try yet again to provoke war

During the internal fighting between Hamas and Fatah in the Gaza strip there are many that are nervous that the west will turn away from the "struggle" by Palestinian organisations to create the country they said no to in 1947.



It has become apparent that the warnings that Israel had regarding Gaza has come true, no one can today dispute the necessity of the border fence and the occupation of these areas for security reasons, since the pullback of Israeli troops the city of Sderot have sustained multiple attacks with Qassam rockets.



Now Palestinian activists in the northern parts are shooting rockets in to Israel trying to provoke Israel into aggression. We should all today support Israel in their attempt to defend their nation and their citizens against Hamas attacks.





Technorati Tags: Israel, Hamas, middle east

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Jeltsin dies

News today tells us that the former Russian president Boris Jeltsin has passed away. The first democratically elected president in Russia has probably succumbed to alcoholrelated diseases.

No official cause of death has been released but it was known that Jeltsin had heart troubles. Jeltsin should always be recognized for the fact that he brought democracy to Russia, a democracy that since have been abused by Putin but still lingers in the hall ways of Kremlin.

Rest in Peace Mr President.
Sincerely
Mr Silence Dogood