Christmas and the Year behind us

I had the mellowest Christmas ever.

By the way, heres a list about 2008:

• Best song - The Kooks - See the Sun
• Best music I listened to - Feist, The Kooks, Kings of Leon
• Dream crusher - Nick Cannon
• Best magazine - Off The Edge, my first subscription
• Best book I read - George Orwell - Nineteen Eighty-Four
• Worst moment - Passing out at Freedom Elite, Mont Kiara - 11.30pm
• Best news story - The one where a dog saved four kittens from a burning house in Melbourne.
• Best sports story - Manchester United continuing being the best football team in the world.
• Worst sports story - How Manchester United fields teams without a single Mancunian in them, and looks like its heading towards a fully-outsourced player list.
• Best movie I watched - Rocky Balboa
  
• Worst movie I watched - The Value of My Sanity (Goat Films) Indie movie.
• Worst music - Lil Wayne. There's no Jay-Z, Dr.Dre, Outkast, or even Biz Markie around this year, so they can't be giving out Grammy's to Flo Rida can they?
• Best liquor company - Hennessy
• Stupidest news : Mawi finally getting to fuck Ekin. I wish there was a video, as she's pretty hot.
  

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year ;)

Nilai sesat

Mum keeps HIV man in coop

NST - 22 Dec 2008

"...mereka yang tergolong dalam kategori pembawa HIV dianggap sebagai social outcast atau sampah masyarakat."
Mohamed Yusoff Ismail

Utusan Malaysia - 23 Dec 2008

----
Nilai-nilai yang telah diterap dalam masyarakat kami dicontohi oleh orang-orang sebegini. Entah bila boleh berubah.

A Really Large Number

US$ 700 billion.

"It's not based on any particular data point. We just wanted to choose a really large number."
Treasury spokeswoman,
23rd September 2008
Forbes.com

Confessions of a teenage communist

When I was a child (i.e. a couple of years ago), I decided I was going to go into economics, after seeing the work done by Jeffrey Sachs (who wrote The End Of Poverty, a high profile book endorsed by Bono, among others), Joseph Stiglitz (who wrote Globalization and Its Discontents, besides being a Nobel economics laureate, and widely credited with Clinton's now-revered economic policies) and Suze Orman (who does a personal finance talkshow, helping ordinary people with their financial problems, a modern-day financial Mother Teresa, in my books).

A couple of years ago, I was against free trade, globalization and capitalism ;and for redistribution, protectionism, socialism, and maybe a little bit of Marxism.

A couple of basic economics lectures later, I dropped all my principles and ideals, and now am a dyed in the black supporter of economic freedom.

Anyone who hasn't done Econs 101, would be excused to be in the state of mind I was in a couple of years ago. I remember the worldwide protests against globalization in the early part of this decade and wishing I was there, fuelled with Rage Against the Machine angst and Michael Moore delinquence.

Now, I'm nearing the end of my degree, which should put me in good stead to answer the economic conundrums we face. Should, right? But no, I still can't understand much of what goes on in the world. There are too many players, too many different ways of understanding civil, political, social, cultural and economic rights.

The only thing to do is to learn, read, read, and read some more, learn from the people who know what they're doing.

Last year, I found myself seated across from Malaysia's pre-eminent social scientist, a Fulbright scholar, a pioneer in Islamic finance and a few scholars in their own right, listening in open-mouthed awe, to Joseph Stiglitz delivering his ideas on the way forward in growth and development. I had just read his book on how the IMF is pure evil, and how everyone else in the world's institutions could do things better.

I just read another perspective, which serves as a lesson in how diverse economic thoughts are, thoughts I will not be able to get a grasp on at least for another few years.

An Open Letter to Joseph Stiglitz
by Kenneth Rogoff,
Economic Counsellor and Director of Research,
International Monetary Fund

19/12/2008
Utusan Malaysia

BISIK-BISIK AWANG SELAMAT

AWANG terharu dengan rayuan penoreh getah di Sik dan Baling yang meminta kerajaan membantu mereka menghadapi keperitan hidup akibat kejatuhan teruk harga getah sekarang. Rata-rata mereka adalah penduduk kampung pedalaman yang daif dan miskin.

Mereka ini tidak memberontak dan sebaliknya menyalurkan rayuan secara berhemah kepada pemerintah.

Sementara satu lagi senario, sebuah pertubuhan dipercayai dinaungi pembangkang dikenali Jaringan Rakyat Tertindas (Jerit) telah berarak dengan mengayuh basikal untuk mendesak kerajaan memenuhi kehendak mereka. Rata-rata mereka diwakili oleh satu kaum sahaja.

Semasa tiba di Parlimen semalam - ahli Parlimen pembangkang menyambut mereka bagaikan satu pesta. Ahli-ahli Parlimen itu turut ‘tumpang sekaki’ mahukan publisiti murahan. (Lihat gambar di muka 7).

Lebih dikesalkan kumpulan itu turut mengeksploitasi remaja untuk menyertai mereka.

Awang faham dengan kedua-dua senario itu. Cuma kita berharap biarlah rayuan itu disalurkan secara betul dan berhemah - dan bukan untuk menyusahkan semua pihak.

Awang – Pakar tersurat, tersirat.

_____________________________

Pakar betul si Awang, kira golongan intelek-tua-l, isi tersurat dan tersirat boleh ditafsirkan, macam pelajar Tingkatan Lima buat rumusan Bahasa Melayu. Awang tidak pernah mengatakan dirinya buta, jadi agaknya Awang ini menutup matanya tiap-tiap hari. Kasihan sungguh Awang, bagaimana nak menggelar dirinya intelek-tua-l jika terus menutup mata? Entah siapa sebenarnya Awang ni, mungkin dia memang buta, tetapi kita tidak tahu. Jika En. Awang ni betul-betul buta, saya meminta maaf. Jika mempunyai mata yang berfungsi, sila lihat gambar di bawah. Satu-satunya kaum yang disebutkan di atas nampaknya pelbagai rupa dan warna.

The Zeitgeist Movie

I watched this at Palette Palate's Anything Goes Anything Shows night, last night.

This movie may change your life.

Or it may not. Or just may widen your perspective. Make sure you watch all three parts.

Pak Lah's lapses - the pandora's box of freedom

“There has been a lack of leadership to bring divisive forces under control, which emboldened religious extremists”
Lim Kit Siang on Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (18/12/08)


Worsening race relations are not manifesting themselves on the ground. The rhetoric we hear from communal leaders are divisive, yes, but of influence, no. Freedom of information has allowed people to obtain all they need to make informed decisions. Take a good, hard look around you, and you'll see race relations are the same as they always have been. There have been weakening ties, but at the same time we can see strengthening; the Makkal Sakti cry has been adopted by all races, Islam is no longer a purely Malay issue, human rights no longer the rallying call of the rich and English-speaking.

I don't think we can bring divisive forces under control and still maintain freedom of expression. There is no control over free speech. Pak Lah allowed for more discourse, ultimately leading to his own downfall; but we cannot chastise him for this.

The Nut Graph: Rakyat Malaysia Poyo?

Rakyat Malaysia poyo?

18 Dec 08

Oleh Fared Ayam dan Zahiril Adzim
editor@thenutgraph.com

“KENAPA” — satu perkataan yang paling kami kagumi. Kami percaya bahawa segala apa yang berlaku atau ingin dilakukan harus dikaitkan dengan “kenapa”.

Kenapa harus ada kenapa? Cuba perhatikan, perkataan yang sama boleh digunakan dua kali di dalam satu ayat. Menarik bukan?

Graf menunjukkan kadar Kebenaran dan kesempurnaan
dengan soalan Kenapa?

“Kenapa”, pada pendapat kami, merupakan satu perkataan berbentuk soalan yang takkan pernah selesai. Seperti sesuatu kejadian buruk yang berlaku berulang kali, dan ia mungkin juga boleh dikategorikan sebagai absurd. Seperti air sungai — tetap mengalir dengan tenang walaupun dihalang dengan satu empangan.

Namun, apa yang cuba kami ketengahkan di sini adalah, perkataan “kenapa” itu ada sambungan dan kesinambungannya. Ia bukan tentang membuat keputusan, tetapi lebih kepada mendekati kebenaran dan kesempurnaan.

Begitu juga dengan pegangan, pendirian atau ideologi yang dipegang, digenggam dan diperjuang. Tidak kira ianya datang dari segi demokrasi atau sosialis, globalisasi atau anarki, haluan kanan atau kiri. Pada permukaannya, itu semua hanya istilah yang dicipta demi membezakan sistem, falsafah, dan cara. Segalanya tetap akan berbalik kepada kenapa.

“Kenapa kita memilih itu? Kenapa kita mendukung ini? Kenapa kita memperjuangkan sesuatu?” Mesti ada kesinambungan yang akan membuatkan kita sedar kenapa. Kemudian, barulah kita boleh bersedia untuk menerima konsikuansi daripada pegangan dan kepercayaan tersebut.

Bagi kami, inilah pendirian yang sudah kurang kewujudannya dalam diri dan jiwa rakyat Malaysia. Sebaliknya, semuanya ingin dijadikan fesyen. Segalanya ingin dijadikan trend. Maka lahirlah segelintir manusia yang suka bercakap tentang sesuatu yang mereka sendiri tidak tahu. Manusia yang berjuang tanpa mengetahui atau memahami sebabnya. Tanpa mereka sedari, mereka sudah jatuh ke dalam golongan yang dikatagorikan sebagai poser. Istilah tidak rasminya “poyo” — bodoh tetapi berlagak pandai.

Diagram Venn

Bila fenomena begini berlaku, dalam apa sistem sekalipun, korupsi akan berlaku. Apa ideologi sekalipun akan menjadi sia-sia. Dari dunia aktivisme hinggalah ke dunia politik. Semuanya sama, jadi tunggang-langgang jika dibiarkan mereka yang poyo ini terus mendukung atau mencumbui sistem yang ada. Buktinya, kita lihat segala gerakan yang pernah dan sedang berlaku di Malaysia ini. Tidak kira dari sudut sosial atau politik. Kita dapat lihat betapa terumbang-ambingnya sebahagian mereka. Seperti satu sarkis.

Kekadang secara tiba-tiba, akan muncul satu kumpulan atau gerakan besar-besaran yang akan mempersoal atau menuntut sesuatu, kemudian, secara tiba-tiba, ia akan hilang begitu saja. Cepat naik dan cepat jatuh. Sebab apa? Bagi kami, ini semua terjadi kerana majoritinya hanya sekadar ikut-ikut saja, bukan benar-benar kental. Ikut suka-suka kerana mungkin pada waktu itu gerakan tersebut sedang jadi ikutan, trend terkini, serta hip.

Hip hop, indie, dan blog

Seperti zaman kebanjiran budaya hip hop di Malaysia pada penghujung 1990an. Semua remaja nak jadi hip hop, belajar menari breakdance, main skateboard. Lepas itu senyap.

(© Maciej Brzana / sxc.hu)

Kini zaman indie katanya. Semua yang konon-kononnya remaja dan golongan muda hendak buat band indie, bila pergi gig masing-masing punya SLR kamera, skinny jeans serta menari shuffle di pusat bandaraya. Semua ini berlaku kerana mereka tidak pernah ambil tahu apa yang mereka buat dan lakukan. Mereka buat bukan kerana mereka benar-benar kental dan faham. Tapi sekadar ingin nampak cool. Kalau tak cool, awek tidak suka, katanya.

Jika gerakan itu mendapat tentangan dari kerajaan atau tidak disokong majoriti rakyat, maka ramailah ahli atau pengikutnya yang tiba-tiba bertukar arah, berubah wajah, malah hilang entah ke mana. Tiba-tiba mereka ada falsafah dan kepercayaan lain. Maka makin lama makin berkurang dan kecillah gerakan itu hingga tinggal segelintir saja yang masih kental percaya dengan perjuangannya. Jadi akhirnya mereka menjadi gerakan minoriti yang tidak mampu melunaskan perjuangan mereka.

(© Craig Jewell / sxc.hu)

Seperti juga menulis blog yang sedang jadi budaya terkini. Tidak sama sekali kami menentang fenomena ini. Kami juga suka dan gembira dengan kelahiran suara-suara alternatif ini. Ia bagus kerana kita mampu menyedarkan media arus perdana, yang sering penuh dengan propaganda dan dusta dalam berita, bahawa mereka tidak selamanya akan berkuasa ke atas minda kita. Akan tetapi bila muncul blogger yang kami rasa menulis untuk suka-suka dan entah apa tujuannya kami masih tidak jumpa, kami rasa ralat, gusar.

Siapalah kami untuk mengatakan yang mereka tidak patut menulis begitu begini? Apa hak kami untuk mengatakan itu dan ini? Kami akui setiap manusia punya hak untuk bersuara. Tapi kami tidak mahu menjadi individu yang tidak belajar dari perkara yang sudah berlalu. Kami tidak mahu pisang berbuah dua, tiga kali.

Kalau terus wujud dan lahir individu yang melakukan sesuatu tanpa sebab, tanpa kenapa, maka pasti saluran alternatif seperti blog yang kita sedang ada ini juga akan jadi tidak berguna. Sekadar menjadi mainan gila-gila remaja yang hanya meminta dikomen gambarnya.

Utusan Malaysia - Purveyors of Fine Free Speech

From Utusan Malaysia, 16 Dec 2008

Kaum India mesti bersatu angkat taraf hidup

AGAK pelik juga apabila Presiden MIC, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu mendakwa hak kaum India telah diabaikan termasuk sukar menyertai sektor awam, gagal memasuki universiti awam, tidak diagihkan rumah murah dan tersisih daripada tender kerajaan.

Apakah tujuan sebenar Samy Vellu hendak memburukkan kerajaan Barisan Nasional dan di mana semangat setiakawan yang dijunjung sebelum ini.

Jika semasa menjadi menteri, beliau menyatakan telah melakukan yang terbaik untuk kaum India di Malaysia, tetapi mengapa sekarang lain pula nada nadanya.

Sepatutnya Samy Vellu, MIC dan parti-parti yang mewakili masyarakat India berkerja keras untuk memperbaiki taraf hidup kaum India serta membendung penyakit sosial di kalangan mereka supaya tidak menjadi wabak.

Samy Vellu pun tahu beberapa tempat di Lembah Klang, penduduk setempat hidup dalam ketakutan akibat gangguan daripada kumpulan-kumpulan haram.

Hindraf sendiri dalam salah satu tuntutannya mendakwa pihak polis tidak mengambil inisiatif untuk mengatasi masalah sosial kaum India. Mereka menyalahkan pihak polis kerana tidak melakukan apa-apa.

Dan apabila pihak polis bertindak agak keras dan tegas, mereka menuduh pihak polis cuba menghapuskan kaum India. Dengan sebab itu timbullah satu laman web yang diberi nama police watch oleh Hindraf sendiri dengan matlamat untuk mengawasi pergerakan polis. Inilah Hindraf yang dikatakan memperjuangkan hak asasi kaum India di Malaysia di mana Samy Vellu sendiri sudah mula terikut-ikut rentaknya.

Sebenarnya masalah masyarakat India hendaklah diselesaikan sendiri oleh orang- orang India seperti ketua-ketua masyarakatnya. Samy Vellu mungkin telah cuba sedaya upaya semasa beliau berada di dalam Kabinet.

Malangnya, masalah terbesar di kalangan pemimpin-pemimpin India adalah kerana mereka tidak boleh bersatu. MIC dengan Samy Vellu-nya, IPF dengan ketua barunya, PPP dengan Kayveas-nya manakala MIUP dengan Nalakarupan-nya.

Walaupun mewakili penduduk minoriti iaitu lebih kurang 2 juta dari penduduk Malaysia, namun pemimpin-pemimpin mereka tidak boleh duduk semeja untuk berbincang. Masyarakat keturunan India Malaysia sebenarnya masih kuat berpegang dengan 'sistem kasta' seperti yang diamalkan di negara India itu sendiri.

Perkara itu memang tidak boleh dinafikan. Kita boleh lihat sendiri cara-cara golongan bertaraf sederhana dan tinggi (kasta atasan) berinteraksi dengan golongan bertaraf rendah. Golongan bertaraf tinggi pada kebiasaan akan memandang rendah golongan bertaraf rendah.

Agak sukar untuk dipercayai apabila ada kalangan masyarakat India yang masih berpegang kepada amalan ini. Sebab itu kita boleh lihat orang kaya dari golongan bertaraf tinggi akan bertambah kaya, manakala yang miskin dari golongan bertaraf rendah akan menjadi bertambah miskin.

Yang kaya agak sukar untuk membantu golongan miskin. Mereka tiada kata sepakat dalam mencari jalan untuk membantu kaum mereka sendiri. Mungkin di atas sebab-sebab inilah mendiang Tan Sri Pandithan keluar dari MIC dan menubuhkan parti IPF kerana kecewa dengan tindak tanduk MIC tidak mahu membantu golongan miskin di kalangan penduduk keturunan India. Contohnya penduduk-penduduk India di estet-estet di seluruh negara.

Selagi ikatan 'kasta' tidak terlerai, selagi itulah masyarakat India akan berdepan dengan masalah kemiskinan tegar dan masalah-masalah lain kerana di kalangan mereka sendiri tiada kata sepakat.

'Sistem kasta' inilah yang sebenarnya menjadi batu halangan kepada masyarakat India di Malaysia untuk bersatu dalam memajukan bangsa mereka sendiri.

Dan apabila mereka gagal, mereka akan menyalahkan orang lain terutamanya UMNO seperti yang didakwa oleh Hindraf kononnya kerajaan BN yang ditunjangi oleh UMNO gagal membantu mengatasi masalah kaum India di Malaysia.

Hakikatnya orang India sendiri yang gagal membantu kaum mereka sendiri. Akhir sekali satu soalan kepada Datuk Seri Samy Vellu. Mengapa hendak mendapatkan bantuan dari luar setelah anda sendiri berasa gagal memimpin kaum India di Malaysia?

TAMINSARI
Shah Alam

The Nurin debate

A follow-up to the debate on the Nurin alert.

From tembam.wordpress.com:
What?? After Nurin still not enough thinking??

My original letter to the editor appeared in the NST on the 11th of December:

On the 16th of November, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen was quoted saying that the Nurin Alert was not part of the Child Protection Policy to be submitted to the cabinet for approval. The system was supposed to be a mechanism to disseminate information on missing children so that it reaches the public in the shortest time possible and ultimately help locate the children.

On the 23rd of November, the minister claimed that the system was in place but not with the name Nurin Alert.

The ministry should show more sensitivity and consider the requests of Nurin's family for the alert to be named after her. After all, it was an idea mooted by Nurin's uncle Jasni Abdul Jalil and his group of blogger friends following the tragedy. Also, the American AMBER alert system it is based upon was named in honour of Amber Hagerman, a nine-year-old who was abducted and murdered in Texas.

The minister followed by saying that it was inappropriate to "splash the news of a missing child in newspapers for the first few hours". I recall a case last year where a child was found within a few hours after the parents sent out text messages about the kidnapping to the public. It would seem obvious that the dissemination of information would be the priority after a child goes missing, and this is in line with the aim of the alert system.

The minister is totally out of depth serving a ministry that is expected to show sensibility and care in these matters. She should change her ways or resign.

Just a cleaned-up version of my earlier rant on this blog.
The crux of the matter was how the minister in question just brushed off the suggestion that Nurin's name be used.

“I’ve said it clearly that the name ‘Nurin Alert’ is not in our programme or part of our plans on child protection. But the whole mechanism and processes from A to Z have been discussed and is already in place” NST 23 Nov 2008

I felt that statement was uncalled for.

Should read an earlier post by Tembam too:
Will Someone Wake This Minister Up Please!!


Good to note that there is a healthy debate going on.

Fatwa on yoga: What about belly dancing?

From the NST - 27/11/2008

WAN ABU BAKAR WAN TEH IBRAHIM, Petaling Jaya

SO the National Fatwa Council has ruled against yoga for Muslims ("Yoga ban" -- New Sunday Times, Nov 23). The reasons seem clear.

Perhaps we should also look into tai chi. It may have hidden religious elements, perhaps borrowed from the rites of Shaolin monks?

What about aerobic dancing? Probably no religious element there, but there may be a touch of hedonism.

Then there is belly dancing. If done vigorously, it can have aerobic benefits. The gyrations should also help loosen tense muscles and promote flexibility.

Belly dancing also has an Arabic flavour, and that may make it somewhat acceptable. According to one former member of parliament, even RTM inadvertently played belly-dancing music when announcing breaking-of-fast times a long time ago.
Furthermore, some belly dancers wear veils. That should find favour with those who subscribe to this apparel over the normal head-covering. The rest of the costume is rather skimpy, but one can always wear a tracksuit over it.

Belly dancing should be performed by women among women away from the prying eyes of men. Men should avoid doing belly dancing as that may be considered effeminate behaviour.

In short, if done under certain conditions, would not belly dancing be a suitable alternative to yoga?

Fareed Zakaria interviews Colin Powell

"I believe that the greatest political force at work today is economics."
Colin Powell
Fareed Zakaria : GPS (CNN; 14/12/2008)

Read the full transcript by clicking on the title of this post.

Lets keep it moderate

The Bukit Antarabangsa tragedy was something everyone seemed to expect. But could do nothing, it seems, to prevent. We've heard it from everyone inside or outside government how it was an accident waiting to happen, but nobody has stood up to say they did anything to stop it from happening (even though they knew it was going to happen) or take the blame (even though they seem to know exactly who to blame).

It seems the only thing unspoken about the tragedy was how the affluence of the area might affect the post-tragedy actions.

The government today announced that they might take the unprecedented step of putting the evacuees in hotel rooms if they don't have family or friends to live with. I don't think this idea was ever mooted when there were floods and landslides in areas in Terengganu, Johor, Pahang, among others.

Maybank has also announced financial relief plans for the victims of the disaster.

These steps are good, solid ways to help the victims. One only hopes that these steps will be taken in the future when dealing with other disaster victims from lesser known areas.

*The Star on Sunday carried an article which mirrored the thoughts in this post.

Another thing I blame you for

You, the government.

I am no fan of government, I believe (quite like American Republicans) that government should get out of our way, and let us get on with living our lives freely.

But there are numerous things we need government for, safety and justice are a couple but certainly not to control the price of nasi kandar and teh tarik.

Nurin's death struck me hard, I am not related to her, but I feel for her family and as I write this my eyes are welling up. Reading about what happened to her, how the pictures came out, pictures I did not and would not see, I just can't accept how justice has not prevailed.

Nurin's uncle had proposed an alert system to be named after her, just like the US' AMBER alert which was named after Amber Hagerman who was abducted and murdered in Texas in 1996.

What in fuck has been going on the ministry for this to not have been implemented. The minister in charge, Ng Yen Yen, came out and said there was no proposal a few weeks ago on the 16th of November, and a week after that on the 23rd, claimed there was a system in place but it was not to be named after Nurin. If we had had a system like this, we might have saved numerous lives. Yes the word is might, and we might not have had a child killed in such a manner.

Yen Yen should resign, shut her fucking trap and when another avoidable case comes up, I hope she has blood on her hands. Her apathy sickens me.

Sexism and Racism : Recent Developments

Two events occured recently which augured in arguments over discrimination. The election of Barack Obama saw many proclaiming the end of racism, while Rafiah Salim's demotion from her post as the de facto head of Universiti Malaya saw a revived discussion of sexist tendencies in communal male-dominated Malaysia.

Mr. Obama's victory will be celebrated for years as a new dawn in world history. It was a quantum leap in terms of the general view of the stereotypical American. He was voted in in most part over his rhetoric. Promises were made, and the people took in the words, and who could blame them, for he was certainly forceful. Thirty minutes of canvassing before one of America's most heavily-watched television events, the Superbowl, must count for something.

However, the aftermath of the revolution resulted in wildly off the mark feelings. The fact remains that Mr. Obama was voted for by significant numbers of the population on the basis of the colour of his skin. In some parts, this would qualify as reverse racism, preferring a certain race over another instead of discriminating against. However, it would be fair to say that any form of discrimination, whether positive or negative, qualifies as being racist and degrading. A key example would be patronising behaviour; this is frowned upon by all minority groups from the disabled to adolescent Goths.

Racism will not be dead, until all judgements made on others are made objectively, without brownie points for the colour of their skin. In this, it could be argued that while Mr. Obama's victory will usher in an era of greater objectivity, it cannot be said that the death of racism as a card to be played is upon the Americans, nor for any nation.

Rafiah Salim was a respected academician and corporate leader. To evaluate her after two years on the job, and finding her work unsatisfactory is to do her a disservice. The fundamental flaw of judgement is to account for all failings through internal factors, i.e. the candidate's ability, and ignoring external factors, i.e. the freedom given to the candidate, the intrinsic will to change of the institution, the existing structural strength of the institution's intellectual capacity, and so on.

It was comical how some MPs had put the failings of our public institutions down to their administrators, only three of whom are women. It was interesting to note, from Ms. Rafiah's later outbursts, that her fellow female VCs were all offered two year contracts with a view for an extension, a departure from the three-year norm. It smacks of a double-standard. In terms of performance, Sharifah Hapsah, the UKM VC has been doing a stellar job, even having UKM usurp UM as the nation's highest ranked university by the Times' top 500 university ranking last year. One only has to look at the performance of the lowest ranked Malaysian research university, UPM, to see how a male VC has no bearing on performance. Nik Mustapha is in his third year of service. The structural flaws of our public institutions will be discussed in another review.

Racism and sexism are human traits, irreversible in terms of the unconscious. We are programmed to discriminate, through irrational judgements based on physical attributes and conscious judgements based on experience. The first step towards getting past these intrinsic failings is to admit them, and then work to remove them. Denial would mean desensitizing the effects of sexism and racism and allowing them to cloud our ethical and moral judgements.

Obama time

Monumentally wrong. There's a monument being erected in honour of how wrong I was about the US election.

Obama will be a beacon for the US, certainly. The US will be a better nation in the eyes of the world, obviously. It ended good and I'm happy with the outcome.

On the reasons why McCain should have been president, as was detailed in a previous post, time will tell how those come out.

A victory for the idealists, less so for the realists.

why McCain should win, and why he will

Come Wednesday, Malaysians will be thinking and saying, "The stupid Americans did it again, they went Republican." But they would not realise how much better off they will be.

The main argument against the GOP is that they are confrontational, foreign policy hawks. The war against terror was wanted by many as a reaction after 911. The argument should have ended there. War or no war. Once war started, there shouldn't have been more arguments. War is like a cancer. You have to finish it off once it starts. Obama will end the war in Iraq, putting even more Iraqi lives at risk.

Malaysians do not realise how favourable US economic policies have been towards them. Sure, there are many barriers against trade enforced, but they were only recently deposed as our largest trade partners. US companies have an enormous presence here, in manufacturing and services. Many US companies outsourcing contracts provide employment for thousands of Malaysians. Obama will stop this, closing up trade. He will also increase spending, increasing US borrowing, and increase the budget deficit. If Obama comes through, the ticking time bomb of burgeoning US external debt will be left to explode.

Latest US opinion polls show Obama leading slightly with 51% of the numbers. The Bradley effect might come into play, unfortunately for idealists like myself. The race is too close to call. But for purely selfish and nationalistic reasons, I would go McCain.

My internet connection is down, I'm a noisy cafe writing this, and have finals looming over my head. Sorry for the lack of depth.

Glazed Dreams

Bridges - Dialogues Towards a Culture of Peace is a running event held by the International Peace Foundation. So far, the biggest news out of this is the drama surrounding Shrin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace laureate from Iran.

This event will bring the best academic lectures we have seen in this country, from James D. Wolfensohn to Robert Mundell, a pioneer of neo-classical economics.

What I am most perplexed by is the failure of my alma mater, Universiti Putra Malaysia, to be part of this event. The rest of the so-called top 4 Malaysian public universities are hosting events.

So much for improvement.

Freedom I

We live for the pursuit of happiness. Freedom will bring happiness. Believe me. If you're free to work, to not work, to live, to speak, to love, to not love, to do; you will be happy.

Freedom has brought the world's economies to their knees, you would have read the headlines. But believe me, the lack of freedom has caused this.

to be continued...

The Stale Politics of Datuk H

*Disclaimer: Please read this (Politik Baru YB J) before reading the following entirely fictional short story.*

Datuk Halil cringed as he pulled his pants up, left leg first. The shirts he wore seemed smaller everyday, his toes would be out of sight by the time he reached his 60th birthday and the smoking had to stop. He had lost the vigour of his youth a long time ago, as he very well knew, and would tell his confidants the same about his wife. It was 7 in the morning, and since it was the weekend, he was headed for the hills, to catch up with his mates.
“Loga should have the car ready. He’s never late”, he muttered to Belenguviya, still in her towel brushing her straight jet black mane. She was Russian, and expensive, but that was irrelevant for YB Halil, who was well taken care of by his superiors. She put on her clothes and made for the door, private card-key in hand. She was a shadow, on paper she was in the country with her consultant husband for a week, in real terms she had been in service for four months now. She did not need any documents, all arrangements were in secrecy.
He was now fully dressed, and picked up his mobile phone to call the hotel reception. He needed another ride, no chances were ever taken. He poured himself a coffee and sat down with a copy of the party newsletter which he had been given the night before at a rally. Smiling at the headline in large bold type, Jangan Mencabar Kami , he felt pleased that his efforts over the past few weeks had been well received by the members. He was heading for a comfortable future with the party, one which would certainly bring rich rewards. The wife would have to be even more accommodating now, lest he entertain thoughts of wooing a pretty young thing, a minor local celebrity perhaps who would be regally accepted within social circles.

He made his way out of the room and headed to the lobby; warmly greeted as usual by the butlers and smiles all round from the pretty female front staff. The black BMW pulled up at the front of the main entrance to the hotel. The jockey got out of the driver’s seat and came round the back of the gleaming black car, his reflection bouncing off the shiny new dark-tinted glass. With a nod of mischievous respect at the good Datuk, he made his way to the front office. A tall well-built man with dark sunglasses showed up from the other side of the Datuk and made his way to the driver’s seat.
“Sila masuk, tuan”, came the voice of the hotel manager as he made his way past the Datuk and put out a hand to open the back door of the car.
“Siapa drebar ni, Man? Pasti dia ni OK ke? Datuk nak sampai selamat lepas ni, Man.”
The manager assured the Datuk about the safety of his chosen employee and eventually the Datuk made his labouring way into the car.
“Bukit Damansara, ya tuan?”, asked the driver.
“Ya, betul.”
Datuk Halil was surprised at the driver’s petulance at not addressing him ‘Datuk’, even more the fact that he actually was talking to him.
The ride was quiet and smooth from the city centre to the suburb thirty minutes away. The driver was evidently unaware of the unwritten rules against engaging the passenger, one as highly posted as the Datuk.
“That was a good speech yesterday. I see a lot of people supporting you.”
“Yes.”
“I have to say, I agree with your views.”
The Datuk refrained from responding.
“Those Hindraf buggers, who do they think they are? Ha, if you want to work, work. Don’t go blame people for this and that. Look at my family. I come from Sentul. My brother is a bloody labourer, and with the pittance he gets, he goes and drinks. Comes home smelling of cheap alcohol. The fella has a young wife and three young kids. And he was there marching for Hindraf. Almost got put in jail, should have been, in fact. Actually lucky he didn’t, my mother would have forced me to bail him out. Another brother of mine, he’s in jail. But that I don’t wanna talk so much.”
Datuk Halil did not want to say anything to this man, he considered him extremely uncouth. However, he was curious. “Tell me why he’s in jail.”
“Aarrhh, that one was a funny case, funny judge. He was fourteen. Went with a group of friends somewhere, somehow involved in a gang fight. The police said he was part of the gang, their word against his. Sickening. He’s in for something like 5-6 years. Good fellow, actually. Studies hard. Not that that matters very much, how to get university anyway, isn’t it. Wasted, lah.”
Datuk Halil felt his tongue roll back in his mouth. He didn’t need to listen to this.
“Anyway, the opportunities are there. Most of these fellas don’t listen to good advice. Just do what they want, follow their friends. Don’t want to get themselves out of what they are in. I tell you, my father was not there also, only my mother. Even with that at least I got a steady job now. No education, myself. Look at those Hindraf, they say got ethnic cleansing. Then they say they want to stand up for the Tamil schools.
My foot, la! Damn Tamil schools are the reason I am where I am, and where so many of these fellas are. Come out, join the secondary school, can’t speak the language properly, have to go remove, people look down on you. I cannot tahan-lah that time. After I failed PMR properly, I started working. Anyway, basically, had to do it for my family, anyway.”
Datuk Halil swallowed. He was only talking to his people in his speeches. The party elections were just weeks away. The nominations were very important, each vote carried his hopes. There were many things he knew, things he could not understand, things he believed in. But he knew of the fears his comrades were sowing in the minds of the party faithful. He had to compete, he had to show that he was on the same side. He could not be seen to be weak.
“If I was in your party, Datuk, I would be a strong supporter. Need someone tough talking like you. My fellas, hah, all got no shame, stay until they become stale. Basi, orang cakap. Maybe-lah, in the future, will come a time when we all become one party, isn’t it Datuk. I know got many people talking about that.”
He was surprised at the man’s startling view. He hadn’t expected it. He held all his meetings behind closed doors. The news that filtered out was mostly watered down by the media machinery his party held on to.
“But Datuk, that’s why. We still look at everything in colours. Must not mix. If one gets campur with another one, he will lose out, yes or not? We must make our people rich, educate our people, support our people. If we try and help anybody else, we will lose out. That’s the only thing I don’t agree so much with your gang-lah, Datuk. But that’s the reality, yes or not.”
He was indifferent at the man’s temerity to keep his monologue going. Maybe the driver saw through the rhetoric, seeing his true values beyond his words. He probably saw that he was not really one of the xenophobes who considered the people outside the party as just that, outsiders.

In thirty minutes, he had arrived at the café where his good friend was waiting with a cup of coffee. Dr. Kwan was a paediatrician; he had grown up with Datuk Halil in a small village outside Kangar. He was small, almost frail, and showed his age even more than the Datuk. Long hours were put in at the Chinese Maternity Hospital, near Puduraya. This plus the daily stress of commuting home in his 1995 Mercedes E-Class were clearly showing on him, and he was just counting down the months to retirement.
Kwan was a high achiever, and after high school had gone to Singapore on scholarship. At the time, he was angst-filled enough to think of not coming back. After again acing his pre-med, he was offered the chance to study in the U.K. It was here he had met Halil again who was on a government scholarship, and a long shelved friendship had been revived. It was Halil who convinced him that change could happen and as soon as his bond expired, he settled in Kuala Lumpur again. He had seen other places, and he knew this was his country. He couldn’t imagine being anywhere but here now.
“Good morning, Hal.”
“Yes, Kwan. How are you?”
“Well, there are a certain few things bothering me, but I’m alright. Yourself?”
“Haha, Kwan, you know things couldn’t look brighter. You might be looking at a new minister come December. Anyway, what are you worried about? You have a pretty comfy retirement coming up.”
“Yes, but no fun and being chauffeured around like you, Hal. Hey, that was quite a speech last night.”
“How would you know? You weren’t there.”
“A small article in the papers today. Says you really got the crowd going.”
“I suppose. I really need the support, Kwan, if I’m going to get there. Those people are quite an enigma, they show support in front of you, but when push comes to shove, you never know where the vote is going to go. I have to pull out all the stops. I’m putting a whole lot of my money on this.”
“Alright, Hal. Its good they didn’t know you in university, huh?”
“Yeah, right. What else did they say in the paper?”
“Nothing much. It focused on what you said on the protests; flavour of the month I suppose.”
“Yes, I had to get that in.”
Kwan paused for minute, pondering something.
“You know, Hal. My son can’t speak any Chinese.”
“OK. Why didn’t you teach him?”
“Well, I was barely home enough, and Karen doesn’t speak the language.”
“That’s alright. It’s not that important nowadays.”
“Makes it rather hard for him to go to China.”
“You want him to go to China? For business?”
“No. He says you wanted him to go there.”
“Excuse me, Kwan?”
“Look, Hal, all that you said is clear as day online. Just because there’s nothing in the papers doesn’t mean anything. Anyone can get anything online. You know what my son said last night? He said he’s sick of this. He loves this country, he loves his friends, people, he knows no other. But he’s seen and heard a lot and that makes him sick. What do I say to him, Hal? Look at Josephine. You know as well as I that she did not do anything wrong. You know she sees beyond race, she’s just not that kind of politician. But you don’t think things through, Hal, do you?”
“Kwan, I just need to say those things now. It’s the psyche battle, everyone may know better, but the herd decides. If you’re not running in the same direction, you’re out.”
“Don’t you have courage, Hal? I really thought you’d know better.”

Kwan left shortly after. Datuk Halil made his way home after paying the bill. He held on to his beliefs. When he gets into power, he will do what is right, but for now, he needs to do all he can. The rest of the day was filled up with golf with a group of party insiders. He was driven home at 9 pm that night, after drinks.

He received the news, and calls were coming in faster than he could answer them. He couldn’t think straight and was pondering turning off the phone. It was a repulsive feeling to have, after the confident past few weeks. He had never expected this.
The family were in front of the TV. The kids were out, probably partying, said his wife. Except Suhaila, she was in her room, and "upset over a guy".
He went upstairs, and decided to check in on her. Suhaila was a sixteen-year-old who he sent to a private school, as with all his children. He thought it was better for their development than national schools. There was a time when he pondered sending them to a vernacular school, but that would have looked bad, politically. She had her face in her hands and was sitting at her dressing table. As he approached, she looked up at him with red eyes;
“I wasn’t expecting to tell you this; I’m with this guy named Bryan. His mother just got shot. I suppose you already know.”

its a who-i-am thing

My sister and I had dinner in our grandparent's house; and for the first time I asked my grandma where she was born. We speak in English, though my mother tongue is Malayalam, and she says she was born in India. I never knew, thought that she was born in Malaysia. Tonight, I officially declare myself a second-generation Malaysian-born Malaysian.

Apart from that, I found out that she arrived with her parents on 11 August 1957, the date on which I was born exactly 30 years later. She had come for a defined reason: to get married. My grandfather, she said, had come to Malaysia 10 years before, to work. He was a government servant, I recall from memory, last working in the agriculture department. He's a story on his own.

The next time I see her, I am gonna ask if its possible for us to go back to where we came from. I have read and heard in many places that that is exactly what I should do. A little hard, considering I embarrassingly can't speak my mother tongue, being bilingual, and the fact that I do not have an international passport; plus the fact that I truly have tertumpah darah di tanahairku.

I just watched a teen flick called Its a Boy-girl Thing.
I swear off mindless movies, and have had the misfortune of having to sit through quite a few stupid teen flicks since the last one I liked: 10 Things I Hate About You. But this was a good movie with a real sort of heartiness. And to think it was executive produced by Sir Elton John.

Black & White Fest at Annexe, CM

Seems like everything at the Annexe is now called a festival. :)

This one was not quite a festival, more a sombre ode to nice photos, preserved for austerity in monochrome.

In fact, the actual photo section was just one of three parts of the festival; Diversity, Constitutional Amendments and Wayang Kita-kita, respectively.

• Diversity featured the work of 10 Malaysian photographers. The people who run the place, Lim Hock Seng and Pang Khee Teik, also featured in the exhibition, although one has to stretch to imagine them as photographers, per se, a bit like Bernice Chauly, who by most accounts is a writer-cum-poet. The 7 other names featured were rather unknown, therefore it was uncertain if they too were known as anything but photographers in a previous life.
  The images were quite esthetically pleasing, if not provocative, as festivals in the Annexe tend to be. The prices were not quite a bargain, RM 500 up to RM 4000, but the prints were one-off pieces. I quite liked one with a family road-trip theme and Khee Teik's print, displayed in the overhead platform.
  
  
• Wayang Kita-kita seemed to be a pretty simplistic line-up of posters. On closer inspection, however, one could feel for the endeavour taken to source the stills from old Malay movies, some of which had been lost in time. Full marks for value.
  
  
• The Constitutional Amendments section was a text installation, featuring some of the 600-700 changes in the Malaysian Constitution since independence. The feature was interactive in that it wanted the audience to post little green stickers on the parts they preferred, either the unamended or amended part. It was an imaginative little row, but smudged by misspelled words.
  A little feature in the corner was a quite nice touch, one that marks the Annexe as unique among its peers. The audience were encouraged to scribble their views with crayons and paste them on the wall. Nice to see the civilised and uncivilised side of people shining through.

Below are some shots I took at the festival, not withstanding copyright issues, the images aren't that clear so I don't think those will come up; interspersed with pictures I took on the way from the KL train station.

Resign, Albar : This is where we are as a nation

Syed Hamid Albar should resign immediately to salvage the little pride he has left after publicly excreting on the collective intelligence of Malaysians.

This is on the basis of the following acts:

• A couple of weeks ago, he defended Saiful Bukhari not being charged, even though the criminal act of consensual sodomy has to involve two parties being charged.

• Yesterday, he defended Tan Hoon Cheng’s arrest under ISA, saying the police had to get information from her.

• Also yesterday, he defended the non-action taken on Datuk Ahmad Ismail. Confirming that ruling party members receive special treatment, he claimed that Ahmad as a member of UMNO has been sufficiently punished with his three year suspension.
  

Footnote:
There is a cloud of injustice hanging over our country at the moment. I am glad to know that the ruling coalition is so out of touch with the sentiments of the people that they have muddled their aims. A PAS youth leader came out in public support of Tan Hoon Cheng right after she was arrested. If the aim was for racial unity to break down and a state of emergency declared, the BN are wildly off mark. We are truly a mature nation after 51 years of independence.

Dr. Mahathir's view on affirmative action

36. There is a tendency among Malays to regard the discrimination in their favour as a privilege, as a recognition of their superior status. I think this is wrong. The discrimination is in order to give them a kind of headstart so that they can catch up with other races. To me, it is shameful to have to be protected because we do not have the capacity to compete. We are not Red Indians to live on reserves. We should regard it as a temporary expedient to be done away with once we have achieved the capacity to compete on our own.

37. However, we must give time for ending the NEP and it should be done in stages. I hope that the time will not be too long. In the meantime, serious efforts by the Bumiputeras must be made to avail themselves of the opportunities. If this is obviously not being done, then, as with entrance into the universities, the discrimination must end.
Tun Dr. Mahathir

Tun Dr. Ismail, one of the architects of the NEP famously (or infamously, according to people who actually deny this quote) once said,

“…as more and more Malays became educated and gained self-confidence, they themselves would do away with this ‘special position’ because in itself this ‘special position’ is a slur on the ability of the Malays and only to be tolerated because it is necessary as a temporary measure to ensure their survival in the modern competitive world.”
Tun Dr. Ismail from Ooi Kee Beng's "The Reluctant Politician"

I believe many of you have read both of these. For those of you who haven't, well now you have.

ISA : End it now

Teresa Kok, Sin Chew daily reporter Tan Hoon Cheng and Raja Petra Kamaruddin have joined the ranks of political prisoners detained under ISA.

It is an insult to the intelligence of Malaysians when the Prime Minister says that the ISA will not be used without concrete reasons.

These arrests are an affront to human rights.

I am disgusted with what my government has done. I am outraged and sorry for the detainees. I am ashamed to be a citizen under this government. I am appalled.

To the people in power, end it now.

A test for Utusan Malaysia readers

Utusan Malaysia has posted a cryptic IQ test for its readers. I'd like to refrain from commenting on the intelligence of others, therefore make your own conclusions.

Freedom Film Festival '08 Saturday

This past weekend marked my first visit to the Freedom Film Festival. The FFM is a showcase for films and documentaries not usually made available on mainstream distribution platforms. These are pure independent films, made not for money (at least not mainly money), but to highlight certain issues, and in some cases quirkiness. It was a personal embarrassment, after seeing two of the award winners that I hadn’t made it here before in the past five years. Entry to each show was by email reservation, and the process was refreshingly efficient. I was supposed to be here on each day this time around, but due to unforeseen and unavoidable circumstances, only made it for Saturday night’s screening of two of the award-winning documentaries. Below I will post a short review of each, as well as a summary of my opinions on the subject matter.

FFF 08 – Winner
Who Speaks for Me?
Director – Justin Johari

The crux of this short film was the use of music to highlight and voice opinions on issues deemed sensitive. Justin Johari heads a hip-hop band calling themselves D&A (unexplained acronym) who try to infuse activism in their beats. The film starts out with highlights from Namewee’s infamous Negarakuku, and explores the commotion which surrounded it, while getting reaction from several Malaysian intellectuals, as well as the man on the street, the street being the town of Muar, Johor. Justin portrays Namewee as a person willing to exercise his freedom of speech by creating a music video to voice out his opinions. The aftermath of which, as we know by now, saw liberals being pitted against Malay-Islamic conservatives, mainly in administration. There were calls at the time for his citizenship to be revoked with heavy criticism levelled at him, all the time tempered by calls from the left for his freedom of expression to be protected, and a few prominent voices in administration calling for him to be left alone after apologising. Next came scenes of certain issues being raised, including the Bar Council’s Article 11 forum. Justin accompanied these with intermissions of discussions among his band mates, excerpts from a song they perform, and musings by intellectuals including prominent academics Farish Noor and Azmi Sharom. Despite the initial theme of freedom of expression, the discussion gradually moved into the domain of religious contradictions, and the use of religion as a means of suppressing freedom of speech. The final scenes showed the full song created by the band, in which Justin raps in Malay, while another member raps rather comically in English. The treatment felt slick in general, with economical use of screen time, and simplistic angles allowing the overall focus to be maintained on the issues at hand. It was good to see opinions from the different sides of civil society and its stakeholders, and it was on this that the film was ultimately built upon.

Inferences:
It is slightly alarming to note through this film that one can sit on only two sides of the intellectual spectrum, that of a conservative right-winger or a red-blooded liberal. Ex-health minister, Dr. Chua Soi Lek, in his argument for pressure on Namewee to be ended was the only voice which dared stray onto the fence. No one on the liberal extreme of the spectrum dared take a similar dissenting stand from their peers. It must be noted that Namewee used the national anthem to create buzz for a piece of rap which was ignorant at worst and snobbish at best. Negarakuku was pure sensationalism. The fact the video was called so, implied that this was his version of the national anthem, Negaraku-ku, or my Negaraku. It should be noted also that there is no precedent for this kind of work, indicating it might not be acceptable for a national anthem to be used in this way. A proposition I would like to put forward is this: if someone snipped the Jalur Gemilang into a dozen pieces and interspersed it with colours of her choice and sewed it back together calling it Jalur Gemilang – ku, would that be acceptable? Or interspersing the Rukunegara with tenets of their choice? Let it be clear that I don’t believe that Namewee should be punished beyond what he eventually got, but that there should have been voices in support of free speech also recognising that he was not completely innocent. The heart of the matter remains, that there are more than two viewpoints to every story. In raising issues deemed ‘sensitive’, all voices have to be heard, whether they echo with yours or not.

FFF 08 – Winner
Pecah Lobang
Director : Teng Poh Si

Poh Si’s amazingly raw work was the highlight between the two screenings. A thought-provoking insight into the lives of Muslim transsexual workers in Malaysia, it managed to do what the other winner couldn’t, that is to break new ground in dispersing knowledge on the subject matter. The filming location was centred around the transsexual red light area of Lorong Haji Taib. Poh Si revealed the dangers of filming alone in the area, armed with an extra-large piece of equipment. The act of Pecah Lobang, literally to break a hole, put the Mak Nyah in the area at risk of being found out, and this was the hardest part in the filming process. Eventually, a Mak Nyah named Natasha was kind enough to reveal the inner workings of the clandestine ‘sisterhood’ and it was he who provided most of the insights. Poh Si also went to great lengths to interview representatives of both sides, providing a well-balanced perspective. The PT Foundation provided a human side of the story, balanced with the strict interpretations of religious leaders. There was plenty of new ground broken in the presentation, from the revelations of legal sex-changes in the past to the only academic studies of Malaysian transsexuals available today. This documentary will become a significant standard-bearer for future explorations of attention-deprived segments of Malaysian society.

Inferences:
In the interest of basic human rights, it was shocking to know how the rights of transsexuals, mainly Muslim ones, were being brazenly trampled upon in modern Malaysia. The documentary raised numerous fundamental questions. For example, if Iran and Saudi Arabia can allow sex-changes, what religious understanding are we following that we can’t allow them? As the judge in a landmark court case where a transsexual was allowed to change her sex in official identification asserts, the right of a person to his/her sexual identity is a component of his/her constitutional liberties. It is an anomaly that despite the literature and judgements in favour of transsexual rights, we are still taking them away.

Post-Screening
Tikar Talk

The tikar talk is an opportunity for stakeholders in activist film-making, i.e. audience and filmmakers to have frank discussions on the direction of future undertakings. In the discussion of the night, there were a myriad of issues raised, with some applicable only to the producers of content with a significant amount of audience input. It was sad that only a fraction of the almost 300 people who attended the screenings stayed to watch, but it was a step-forward nevertheless. On distribution of films, the fine line between producer compensation and open distribution was discussed. It is safe to say that one has to choose between the activist inside, or the filmmaker. If the issue raised is more important to you than the actual distribution method, whether it being through films, music, websites, etc. take the activist approach. If you are a filmmaker looking for as many eyeballs as possible, the only way is through wide, uncontrollable distribution channels. Either way, profits take a backseat. On the engagement of more Malaysians on social issues raised through filmmaking, it is imperative that producers and activists realise that the onus is on them to reach out to their audience. In modern times of information overload, there are way too many channels fighting for a piece of the pie. In this, the FFF is a major step forward. In engaging the margin, the people who wouldn’t watch movies of this type without a platform as such, the FFF does a good job. Stakeholders must work harder to engage people though, through barbaric publicity. The issues at stake need to be heard by a wide audience, not just urbanites. Especially in KL, the festival needs a wider reach.

UiTM

Until recently, my view on the state of the Malaysian construct was one of misalignment. The voices of the people are misaligned with the thoughts and wants of our leaders. Today, those views have disintegrated with the scene of UiTM students demonstrating for their right to remain exclusive.

My first thought on the negative reaction to the Selangor MB’s suggestion was one of natural indifference. Politicising and attacking mere thoughts are a trademark of Malaysian mainstream psyche. But watching the student’s protest cast a dark shadow over any hopes of a new outlook for our country.

Being a student of UPM, and seeing the people around me shaping a new Malaysia, I have held on to a feeling of optimism on the future. To know now that my compatriots in UiTM are against a new dawn, I am broken. But I have close friends there and I know the views of those demonstrating are not shared by everyone. There could have been an element of herd mentality causing thousands to turn up.

It is a travesty that politicians have encouraged the demonstrations, and the minister in charge even fanned the flames with his statement soon after Khalid’s. I find it hard to imagine that any of the students demonstrating will have any action taken against them through the AUKU.

I guess the only way to show these people is by hitting them where it hurts. I know for a fact that UiTM grads are the least in demand of any public university for jobs except for government posts. Any company believing in a new Malaysia should freeze employing all UiTM graduates.

But let me put it bluntly to UiTM.

Even if you open up 1% intake to non-bumiputras, I don’t know one non-bumi who’d even consider walking through your doors.

Machines

If you want to show the world that you’re stupid, get straight As in your SPM, and get in the newspaper saying you want a scholarship.

We seem to be living in a world of wants today, with less care for needs. We want everything, when we need nothing. It comes with progress. When you have your first-order needs satisfied, you tend to go higher-order. Read more.

When there is no food on the table, nobody thinks about injustice. When you don’t have a proper roof over your head, you’re not thinking about the constitution.

RM 3000 a month doesn’t give you the right to anything more than the next person. In fact, you’re privileged.

Now, the education system is broken. I can say that having been a product, an input and an observer for most of my conscious life. It’s not all broken, I’ve said before, being a pretty alright product myself and knowing quite a few pretty alright products.

Real poor students.

The part that’s broken is the sense of entitlement people seem to have being products. The SPM is a nothing exam. Its nothing. STPM is said to be the 4^th hardest in the world, but I’d like to think it is the hardest, the government papers say it’s the 4^th hardest to cool people down.

What the system has done is encourage kids to work hard, memorizing (a dirty word, isn’t it), rote-learning, and closing their eyes to everything but money and pride. Machines of a vibrant society? And these are the kids who believe deeply that they are entitled to having their dreams made true for them.

The Public Services Department should concentrate on what they are, the hirers and firers of government servants. Our vibrant society machines believe deeply that they should be rewarded for the irO-level efforts with a bond to public service out of taxpayer’s pockets.

No one is entitled to anything. You work for all that you have. The government gives out 2000 scholarships overseas out of 6000 applicants every year. The Kuok Foundation gives out a few hundred to ethnic Chinese Malaysians every year. Dozens of corporations give out scholarships.

For O-level achievers to hold the government to ransom are symbols of stupidity, and what they have become - machines.

The solution is for the government to be a lot more fair when dealing with these people and everyone going through Malaysian education.

• Raise standards on SPM.
• Be fair in pre-university. Matriculation is a fallacy. STPM should be the standard.
• Put smart people in public universities. We need better people in our local institutions to get them out of the worst universities list.
  
• Stop giving scholarships to kids out of SPM. Focus on the higher-standard STPM, and focus on post-graduate study.

Get the machines to shut up.