Kacang is Nuts!

Alright, I’m a bit late getting on the bandwagon of posting about the election results, but here is my take. Malaysia is truly going through historic times. Now that the National Front has been denied the two thirds majority, we are in totally uncharted waters of our democracy. With Penang, Selangor, Perak, Kedah and Kelantan being held by the opposition, and the power to arbitrarily modify the constitution no longer belonging to Barisan Nasional, it will certainly be exciting to see how the next five years play out.

One thing’s for sure though. This election has been a resounding and well-deserved blow to Barisan Nasional. It has also proven that Malaysians are not as bigoted and as cowardly as UMNO thinks, that we are now wise enough to see that the system needs to be changed, and mature enough to choose change without being uncivilized about it. This truly shows that people have great power, while reminding current and future leaders of Malaysia that “People shouldn’t be afraid of their government, governments should be afraid of their people.”

For now, the opposition rejoices, but they must too remember their promises to the people. Running a government (even at state level) is much harder than talking about how it should be run. Five years from now, if they mess up, the people will be as pissed as they are now with Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. And trust me, opposition or not, they too will be shown the door.

To end on a positive note however, as of these elections, Malaysia has passed the point of no return. In the future, the people will likely pick leaders for their merit and leadership, rather than being convinced by lies or out of fear of instability and violence. We as Malaysians, have truly grown up as a nation. What better present for Malaysia, just past her 50th year of existence?

A government should never have absolute power. Power, of course, corrupts. Absolute power, therefore, corrupts absolutely. In democratic countries, methods of checks and balances are required to ensure that the government of the day does not overstep its boundaries. These include the media (newspapers, TV, radio, etc.), the judiciary, and last but not least, the opposition political parties. However, most of these check and balance mechanisms in Malaysia have been corrupted by the ruling Barisan Nasional.

The people rely on the media to give an accurate picture of what is going on in the government. However, this is obviously not happening. The media has become Barisan Nasional’s mouthpiece. What we get from the media these days is unmitigated groveling and sycophancy of unholy proportions. Every other report expounds the virtue of BN, what great achievements they have made, what dreams they have for the future, and what the people will gain by voting for them. Contrarian views are twisted to sound extremist or blacked out completely. At the same time, the media has been publishing advertisements subliminally threatening those who would dare vote against BN with violence, 1969 style. Media credibility? Sorry mate, these days a Disneyland fantasy has more credibility than that.

The judiciary also has a role to play. An independent judiciary is also necessary to ensure that the government does not break or misinterpret laws. It is the final place for citizens to seek redress if the government has wronged them. However, after Mahathir broke the judiciary in 1989, what have are now more rightfully called BN lapdogs rather than judges. These days, the judiciary we know has more to do with corrupted promotions, controversial decisions which trample on basic human rights and cartoon characters making fools of themselves and everybody else at the so-called Royal Commission hearing to determine the authenticity of the judicial position fixing video. Correct? Correct, correct, correct!

This leaves the opposition. The final check and balance of a democratic country. I mentioned earlier that the opposition were basically making fools of themselves this elections. Well, they do seem to have bucked up in the last week or so. Like them or not though, they are an important check and balance measure for a Barisan Nasional government. While the current opposition are unlikely to do well in running a country, they will play an important role in curbing the excesses of the rulling coalition. Wasteful projects and ludicrous attempts to keep on controversial figures in the system can at least be countered. The opposition may not do well as country leaders. But in combating the corruption and impunity with which BN runs this country, let us remember that the saying that “The enemy of my enemy is my friend”.

I hope that Barisan Nasional does not win the majority this time. This will allow the people to be properly represented, and opposing views given voice to in parliament. It will ensure that all future government undertakings be approved based on merit and not the wishes of a few puppet masters. Only then can we hope for the real progress for Malaysia.

It is now voting day folks. Let’s make every vote count. Good hunting!

Being a fan of the Star Wars series, I can’t help but find the following spoof terribly hilarious. This is “Darth Vader’s Canteen Incident”, something I came across on YouTube.

When life gets hectic, a plate of nice, home made, ham and cheese sandwiches never fails to slow things down and give a little perspective.

That’s honey baked ham, heated up with slices of cheddar cheese on top, held between layers of butter head lettuce and whole meal bread. Add a touch of thousand island sauce for a slightly more exotic taste.

Dinner was good.

The title sounds like a pretty familiar tag line, doesn’t it? It originates from the Aliens versus Predator movie (OK OK, I’m a movie buff). But just think. It actually describes Malaysia’s current political scene quite accurately.

On one hand, we have the incumbent political alliance. One party here is famous for its corruption, abuse of power, cronyism, nepotism, and bungling up of anything and everything possible. An Iranian friend once commented that they’ve turned Malaysia into the second Apartheid (Someone from Bush’s so-called terrorist state thinks we have an Apartheid. How much worse can things get?). The other member parties, well… The apples they sell on behalf of the main player are sure polished so shiny you can see your face in it like a mirror. Ah well, but this is all old story. Not unimportant, but it’s not as if anyone doesn’t know about it.

Strangely enough however, the opposition isn’t exactly doing any better either. There isn’t a united opposition front per se; more like a rag-tag, mish-mash collection of parties whose only common goal is to unseat the incumbents. All of them have very different primary objectives. One party wants to create an Islamic state; another, a dynastic Malaysian Malaysia (sorta like a certain small island down south); the third is obsessed with personal vengeance against a system which wronged it’s leader. All are goals which are virtually incompatible with another. And the splits are already showing with the protracted “negotiations” over who should contest at which constituencies. Hell, if this is how they try to win the elections, imagine how they’d try to run the country.

For the opposition, winning against a dug in opponent such as the incumbent requires superb strategy and coordination. There is no way to win by sheer strength, only by sheer skill. Had David walked up to Goliath with only a stick in hand, David would have had his head bashed in soundly and deservedly. Unfortunately, there is a decided lack of any such finesse and skill among the opposition. After the BERSIH and HINDRAF rallies, they thought they “smelled blood”, and are circling the “wounded” incumbent in the hopes of delivering the killing blow. Instead of coordinating on actually doing the killing though, they’re squabbling on who should deliver the blows. All of them want to get to be the hero. This is apparently going on even intra-party (Think DAP). Politics to get rid of Fong Po Kuang? Old foggies complaining that too many new and young faces have been brought to Penang? The incumbent, of course, is sneaking away and laughing at such sheer foolishness. And they’ll probably win the elections. Again.

What a country we live in. We have idiots and nincompoops running the country. And the alternatives are the fools and donkeys trying to take over from the idiots and nincompoops. The poor folks who suffer for all this? Everyone else, of course.

In another case of “Die die also must do, do do also must die”, work has been somewhat overwhelming this week. Will get back with something in a day or two. Or three. Or four. Definitely.

It’s official folks! Malaysia’s Parliament has been dissolved today, and we can expect the elections to be held in less than 60 days. Most predictions put it closer, saying it will likely be held within 30 days.

This announcement comes from Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who only yesterday denied that Parliament would be dissolved today. The reason for the flip-flop is probably some strategy to confuse opponents, but it just comes across like some petty, girlish, little kid act. At any rate, it probably confused as many allies as enemies in this case.

No surprise here though, that the PM’s final act before dissolving the government is to prove once again, that he is a liar.

Time sure flies when you’re pigging out on New Year goodies! Everyone I know has started work/studies already. My holiday ends tomorrow (Yep, I took a slightly longer one than most), and after that it’ll be back to the rat race for me too. That’s right, watch out yer scrawny rodents, this rat is back with a vengeance and hungry for some big cheese!

It’s the Rat’s turn this time I hear,
His job to bring in the cheer,
May your loved ones always be near,
Here’s wishing all success in career,
Good health and skies always clear,
Have a Happy ‘n Prosperous New Year.

Deputy Internal Minister Datuk Fu Ah Kiow says that the customs officer who confiscated 32 English Bibles from a Malaysian woman traveling back from the Philippines stepped beyond the bounds of his authority. Distancing himself from the fiasco, Datuk Fu said that the matter did not involve the ministry and directed that the Bibles be returned to the victim.

In December last year, the Publications and Al-Quran Texts Control Department under the Internal Security Ministry confiscated Christian children’s books, claiming that the illustrations of prophets were offensive. The same deputy minister was also the one who had to issue instructions for the books be returned.

There are two very worrying trends here. The first and foremost is the fact that some elements in the government are attempting to censor religious material of the non-Muslim faiths in the country. This, of course, explicitly runs counter to the guarantee of freedom of religion, as enshrined in the Malaysian Constitution. The thought that anyone in the government sees it fit to ignore the Constitution is troubling indeed.

The second pattern is also cause for concern. If, as the Deputy Minister of Internal Security says, the ministry is not responsible for such offensive actions, then it seems that the ministry has lost total control over its departments and agencies. How else do you describe a situation where subordinates do as they like, while the superiors have to stamp out the fires and say “It wasn’t me”?

Dangerous precedents have been accumulating in our country of late, especially in regards to the freedom of religion. Unless the currently perceived lame-duck government of the day takes concrete action, things will likely go downhill from here.