Of Marital Pimping & Branding

Two seemingly unrelated news pieces arose recently to shine a light on our society's understanding of women. The first involved the agriculture-inspired identification technique of Penang police, and the second, a club formed on the basis of an obscene interpretation of a wife's role in marriage.

While both reflected a blatant disrespect of human rights, the one-dimensional view of women from a public agency and a religious organization was disturbing. Even more disturbing was the subsequent debate where arguments were made against values which previously were thought to be universal in a supposedly healthy society like ours. The mere fact that these arguments saw print shows that a certain chunk of society, a group which would include leaders and voters, are plainly misguided.

Further examples abound. A popular one would be the weekly screenings of vice raids on television news and reality crime shows. Why is it that the same outlets are raided time and again and every week scantily clad women are shown being led out cowering in fear into police trucks without any sign of what happens next. If the focus was on law enforcement, perhaps someone could recommend that overalls be provided before they are paraded in front of the lights and cameras waiting outside. It speaks volumes on our so-called religious and cultural values that the apparent purpose of the exercise is to humiliate and objectify the women in question. If this is not the case, why are the operators and clients of the outlets provided so little airtime?

Relatedly, on the Internet, one may find an non-televised recording of a vice-raid conducted by religious police. In the recording, the woman facing arrest is rudely spoken to by the enforcement team and is made to put her clothes on in front of the male officers. Again, the reduction of women to subjects is the theme.

It is apparent through conversations with both the young and old, that this affliction we have as a society in dealing with women is not one that is isolated.

In popular media, there are few young women known for their eloquence or strength. The women who do have these qualities abound, but are not given the stature they deserve in society. Who is the equivalent of Oprah Winfrey in Malaysia? An unfair comparison, but even the figurative roasting of Hillary Clinton on an Arab woman's talk show some years back would not happen here with our fondness for submissive superficial interviews by cutesy presenters.

We are still a long way from accepting women as equal members of society. This is apparent in numerous issues women face here, from job discrimination to blatant disrespect. On the basis of these latest news reports, things are not likely to change soon.

Travis - Driftwood

Everything is open
Nothing is set in stone
Rivers turn to oceans
Oceans tide you home
Home is where the heart is
But your heart had to roam
Drifting over bridges
Never to return
Watching bridges burn

You're driftwood floating underwater
Breaking into pieces, pieces, pieces
Just driftwood, hollow and of no use
Waterfalls will find you, bind you, grind you

Nobody is an island
Everyone has to go
Pillars turn to butter
Butterflying low
Low is where your heart is
But your heart has to grow
Drifting under bridges
Never with the flow

And you really didn't think it would happen
But it really is the end of the line
So I'm sorry that you've turned to driftwood
But you've been drifting for a long, long time

Everywhere there's trouble
Nowhere's safe to go
Pushes turn to shovels
Shovelling the snow
Frozen you have chosen
The path you wish to go
Drifting now forever
And forever more
Until you reach your shore

You're driftwood floating underwater
Breaking into pieces, pieces, pieces
Just driftwood, hollow and of no use
Waterfalls will find you, bind you, grind you

And you really didn't think it would happen
But it really is the end of the line
So I'm sorry that you've turned to driftwood
But you've been drifting for a long, long time
You've been drifting, for a long, long
Drifting for a long, long time

Roger Helmer and the MPOC

I was an attendee at the Malaysian Palm Oil Council's recent “Reach & Teach Friends of the Industry: Challenges and Opportunities in 2011”. I work for the world's largest listed producer of palm oil; and am directly involved in green technology projects, focusing mainly on reducing carbon emissions while also being involved in reducing electricity and water consumption and reducing waste.

Throughout the conference, it was pleasing to note that the palm oil industry as a whole is working to lower their carbon footprint and taking environmental concerns seriously. This can be seen in the addition of emission requirements to the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) initiative, renewed focus on environmental protection and engagement with NGOs on social and environment issues. Most palm oil companies are working on carbon mitigation efforts and under the National Key Economic Area (NKEA) palm oil lab, biogas capture has been identified as a key driver of emission reductions.

A puzzling inclusion to the roster of speakers, however, was Mr. Roger Helmer of the United Kingdom, a Conservative Party Member of the European Parliament (MEP). Interestingly, Mr. Helmer is self-described as a 'eurosceptic', working to limit the integration of the UK with the European Union while being an elected MEP.

Mr. Helmer was to speak on “The Global Climate Change Debate and Taxpayer Funded Environmentalism”. In an hour-long speech, he made it clear which side of the debate he was on, finding all evidence of anthraepogenic (human-activity-driven) climate change to be false. He accomplished this with the help of vague unscientific pseudo-facts taken from the propaganda files of climate change deniers. With an audience possessing little encyclopedic knowledge of climate change and its drivers, it was quite clear that he had found the attention he was seeking.

It was quite unfortunate for Mr. Helmer that the debate on climate change is taking place in the 21st century. It would have been much easier for him to propagate his views if information was difficult to come by, but with the existence of 3G Internet on my obsolete cellphone, I was able to dismiss his 'facts' and vitriol towards climate change. Unsurprisingly, his was the only speech made without the backing of presentation slides and data. Perhaps this would have made it too easy for the audience to check his facts. To complete the irony of the hour-long monologue, it so happened that a climate change workshop was taking place right below the conference hall with the attendance of scientists affiliated to the United Nations who have spent years researching the cause and effects of global warming.

That the MPOC would allow a speaker like Mr. Roger Helmer a platform at a highly-visible industry forum without the presence of an unbiased referee and actual scientific facts raises questions on its motives and role in “promoting the market expansion of Malaysian palm oil and its products by enhancing the image of palm oil and creating better acceptance of palm oil through awareness of various technological and economic advantages (techno-economic advantages) and environmental sustainability”. Does the MPOC believe that the industry is throwing money down the drain by implementing emission reduction initiatives? Does the MPOC agree with Mr. Helmer on climate change being pseudo-science driven by thousands of scientists who receive financial gain by asserting that climate change is indeed human-driven? Does the MPOC regard methane capture a foolish endeavour despite its inclusion under the palm oil NKEA?

It must be said that the industry has progressed from a defensive, deny-at-all-cost approach to social and environmental concerns, to an action-driven facts-based approach against the attacks of NGOs and anti-palm lobbyists. Associating with pseudo-science only denigrates real strides the industry is making in addressing those concerns.

Crime and Morality

In discussions concerning Malaysian crime in terms of severity and frequency, an often suggested argument is how morally degraded society has become when seen in context of a rising crime rate. I have always found this argument rather underwhelming, despite having known victims and having been a victim of crime.

It is a fatal flaw to regard crime as a moral indicator. Morality is a relative concept, one that has no static definition and rule. It has no grounds to fall back on when seen in a solitary state, as morality on its own lacks substance. The moral identity of one man bears no significance on the face of another. Even a fundamental rule of thumb; do no harm, is important to many a moral man but is not present in the morally upstanding bodies of other men.

Conversely, crime has shown itself to be an embodiment of moral values in certain instances in humanity. Consider the infamous members of organized crime, the most popular examples being the mafia of Italy and America and the Yakuza of Japan. A common tie between these gangs, which include the Russian mafia and the Chinese secret societies, is that they have evolved and nurtured in mature societies and powerful nations. While these nations may not be at the forefront of development today, it has been noted that the height of organized crime in each of the said examples coincided with the height of development of their respective societies.

Organized crime has shown itself to be a benevolent occupation, one that places morality, albeit with inbred values, above all. Common humanistic virtues, the main one being family ties and support triumph within each criminal organization.

Considering this however, organized crime is more dangerous a specter than common criminal behaviour. In rich countries, flourishing organized crime indicates that people are forgoing opportunities to prosper through legal activities, and instead are turning to crime purely as another business avenue.

To further expound on this idea, a comparison can be made to countries which have a high crime rate. Good examples are South Africa and certain Latin American countries. In these nations, crime is purely a function of available opportunities, i.e. the less opportunity available to a person, the higher his propensity to engage in criminal activity. Which is why there isn't a Zimbabwean Yakuza or Argentinian mafia. The same seems to apply in Malaysia, where crime is most often committed by poor ethnic minorities and immigrants who face discrimination through racism, xenophobia, lack of skills, etc.

Thus it is clear that to lower the crime rate in medium and lower income countries, the simple answer is to increase opportunities, which is a direct consequence of a liberal and open economic policy. The technicalities of what constitutes this type of policy aren't hard to find.

The crux of the issue is that as the reasons behind our high crime rate are clear, it is less frightening than having criminals whose only motives are self-fulfillment. Crime is not a social indicator of morality and thus the Malaysian situation is one that is temporal and relatively insignificant in nature, with the caveat being that economic progress takes place.

The end is nigh

If sport falls apart, the world as we know it falls apart. Say goodbye to values, morals and everything in between because sports are the only form of pure competition that exists now.

Florian Mayer cheated when he knew Lampard's goal was in but played on anyway; the spotlight was not on in him as he got away with it. Suarez cheated when he boxed away Asamoah Gyan's shot, the spotlight was on him because he got caught.

And now even Lance Armstrong, the man who overcame cancer to win a thousand-km bicycle race and is arguably the world's most inspirational sportsperson, could be caught cheating.

Some facts on Massa's case of overwhelming magnanimity; one, the race engineer said sorry after Massa let Alonso pass, and two, the graphics showed clearly that Massa was not on full throttle after coming out of the corner, allowing Alonso to pass easily, three, Alonso was heard saying 'this is ridiculous' after Massa leads him for 2-3 laps after a pitstop.

Post race:
Q: Then Fernando got past you. Was that your decision to let him past?
Felipe Massa: Yeah, definitely.

Q: Yes, definitely?
FM: (No verbal answer)

Cheats kill sport. And the end is nigh.

Living

So here we are living lives of anonymity and insignificance. And there they are looking at us from the outside in and dreaming of living our lives.

Thoughts at the moment

Remembering how we all had different ways of saying "Deutshce" at RBC Dexia.

How I am stuck in the middle-class trap of not being smart enough to excel at anything, and being smart enough to be considered above-average.

OMFG Book the men

Somehow, there are people who believe that girls who dump their babies have all had immaculate conceptions.

If the law has no provision to hold the father responsible in baby dumping cases, don't charge anyone.

Cervical cancer vaccines: A step forward, maybe

It is good news that cervical cancer vaccinations are now provided for free by the government.

The only hope is that certain quarters do not equate this with a licence for promiscuity, an equation that only those with ignorant minds could make. Those that make these particular inferences will gladly ignore all the good that the decision in question will bring, in the defence of often antiquated moral high grounds.

Having this initiative approved would hopefully help drown out the voices against sound ideas. For example, in the interest of saving lives, the baby hatch idea remains a viable, if not desirable, first step.

To further extrapolate an argument in favour of rationalism versus blind conservatism, perhaps personal rights and dignity should eventually defeat outdated moral policing. Which would bring the end of television news showing footage of raids at massage parlours and hotel rooms where often only the masseuses and female companions are on film.

Les Misérables Lite: A posit on a solution

Q: A man escapes from jail one year into his ten-year sentence. He lives on a new name, starts a business, gives to charity and is a good citizen for 8 years after. You find him and know what he did. Should you report him?

To judge or not to? How do we balance a respect for the judicial system and the inherent human virtue to not judge your fellow man?

In respecting the judicial system, it follows that we respect that society has assigned the task of judging to the learned, as the case may be; judges in courts of law. A jury of peers is the closest we get to community-agreed judgement.

As the judicial system is one that is separated clearly and is independent, all acts of judging are reserved for the few, and all consequences of a judgment are assigned and dealt with by the executive; another independent institution.

For the commoner, to report the man would be to take over from the independent societal institutions. The argument is bounded by this, therefore making the man's crime*, his subsequent actions and his character utterly irrelevant.

A: No.

*In respecting the judicial system, it suffices to say that he was given a fair trial. A common contradiction while claiming to respect the judiciary is to pass a second judgment based on the severity of the man's crime, which is subjective.

On Pudu

In response to X no longer marks the spot in Kuala Lumpur, by Rehman Rashid, NST 4 Dec 2009.

The murals outside the Pudu Jail, at least, cannot and should not be destroyed. They reflect a deep sense of compassion and respect for the rights of the prisoner, a sense which we seem to have lost over years since. There used to be football games played outside the grounds among the prisoners, the field where you now see overgrown weeds.

The significance of a jail that allowed its prisoners these expressions should be kept by at least preserving its gates and walls. Now we have modern white-washed facilities in remote areas, which drain the will of the prisoner. Gone is the face of the prisoner, the hope that they can be rehabilitated, returned to society as functional human beings; replaced by cost-per-prisoner accounting and the dehumanization of the criminal.

As Ramsey Clark, the former U.S. Attorney General and human rights advocate said, “There are few better measures of the concern a society has for its individual members and its own well being than the way it handles criminals”. The Pudu Jail remains the last symbol of our lost sense of respect for human expression, the reality of crime and punishment, and our responsibility towards criminals.

Malaysians and Free-markets

I have been to Waubebas' Akademi Merdeka, this is not an unbiased opinion. Malaysians don't yet understand free-markets and capitalism. We have a translucent wall, in our minds, which equates capitalism and Americanism. We want cheaper cars but we don't want foreign workers. We frequent McDonalds but we don't want free-trade agreements. We expect the most from home-grown companies but we reject privatisation of everything from healthcare to highways.

There is valid reasoning behind some of these contradictory viewpoints, but it always seems easier for us to reject non-intervention in the face of planned actions which more often than not, result in unplanned outcomes.

In response to:
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/opinion/wan-saiful-wan-jan/42688-dua-puluh-tahun-robohnya-tembok-berlin--rayakan-keranapan-sosialisme

On education

I was once on the mono-stream schooling brigade, until I realised freedom also includes the freedom to choose to where and how you want your kids to be educated. I studied in an SK and SMK all my life, and barely knew the Chinese-educated students. It wasn't their fault, and after high school, I became very close friends with a kid from my SMK, Chinese-educated, in university. It is not a fault of the education system if we are racist. It is the demarcation on ethnic lines which has been drilled into Malaysian society, from parents imposing their views on race on children, and the government with their hypocritical drawings of Malay,Chinese,Indians in primary school textbooks.

The best model we have, and the one that has proven resilient for decades is the East Malaysian model. Race is clear-cut,people are proud to affirm their race, but race relations are of no consequence to this. Restaurants, halal or not, are frequented by everyone, people get along anywhere anytime.

The real issue here is to stop inculcating racial lines, and start looking at schools from a purer perspective; that is centres of childhood development. The language and constituents of these schools should not play a part in determining our views of them. Right now, from a purely educational perspective, Chinese schools present the best model of academic achievement among the three streams we have. Their weaknesses and those of all non-private schools in Malaysia, the rote-learning system and the inadequate non-academic learning structure are not subjects of this debate.

At this moment, the heart of the matter is that Chinese schools present the best case for a good primary education, and it would not be a problem if all of us choose Chinese schools for our kids. Which would mean the end of racial separation at primary level.

On maids

A good measure of how civilized a nation is in the treatment of fellow human beings. The ongoing debate on the treatment and wages of Indonesian maids puts shame on our people.

It seems that what we want are slaves; to be paid as little as possible, and doing as much as possible. We denigrate our domestic help, criticizing their every move, but when enough is enough and they decide to leave we say we can’t live without them. We expect them to do everything, yet we pay them pittance wages, which we know are degrading to their very existence.

A family man with two young daughters once told me with satisfaction on what happened after he complained about his maid’s alleged incompetence. The maid was 16 years old, from a small Indonesian town far from the city. He told of how the agent beat and tortured her for 3 days before returning her; in a state of numb obedience.

I know of many people who intend to not comply with any ruling requiring maids to be given a day off. There are also those who feel that for RM 800 a month, they would expect their maids to feed themselves. These are the same people who can’t keep the same maid for more than 6 months without them running away or being ‘exchanged’ for a new maid.

However, the fact that these maids are willing to work for the RM600 they currently receive shows how few opportunities there are back home. For the authorities to raise the minimum wage would reduce work opportunities here as people stop taking in maids. This would punish prospective maids far more than the ill-treatment many of them have experienced while working in Malaysia.

What should happen is tightening of rules in regards to the treatment of maids and proper enforcement of them. Agencies should be properly regulated and the rights of maids should take greater precedence.

On a greater scale, we should begin putting perspective on how we treat foreigners in this country. The apartment where I live recently introduced a rule barring foreigners, mostly factory workers, from using the amenities, including swimming pools, playgrounds and gyms, despite the fact that they pay the same maintenance fees. On the other hand, we seem to be extraordinarily hospitable to foreigners of certain origins and wealth.

Xenophobia is rampant and selective racism seems to be the accepted order. It smacks of rotten values and a disrespect of human dignity. And it marks where we are as a self-described modern nation.

Of unfair questions and unholy books

A common question in interviews with celebrities, A-list or not, is one I believe to be the world's most unfair one. You know it, the one about what book you're reading now. I for one have had numerous moments where after reading an epic, I need a brain-break and settle for some nefariously childish or immaturely crass literature. And having a question like that thrown at me at that moment would elicit a Simpsonian 'Doh!'. I am coming to the end of Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, a novel which to read is to dig your nails into your backbone and crack your ribs, yes, excruciating, and after this I am going to read another modern classic, Catch 22. If there was a better time to do interviews, I can't think of one. I once was answering a interview questionnaire for a job vacancy when I was reading Richard Dawkin's The God Delusion. It was for a Malaysian bank, so I could not possibly write the truth, but it was a book that pushed me from being a liberal Catholic to full-on agnosticism, and nearly-there atheism. Yes, it did influence me a lot, but yet I am searching for more. Which is why I don't think losing God over one book is particularly intelligent. And is why I do not respect people who quote Dawkins in justifying their liberally cool non-beliefs. Its like the people who claim they are serious readers when their favourite books are by Sophie Kinsella or the Chicken Soup series. Long way to go, like the song.

The Malaysian football mental block

Malaysian football should be over its tried-and-failed gimmicks of hiring English coaches and adopting English training methods. There seems to be a long-running strain of colonial veneration in the upper echelons of our football association always looking for help from the past masters.

We need to remind ourselves that England last won the World Cup in 1966, haven’t come close since, and are themselves experiencing problems with their grassroots setup; having a league over-run by better foreign players, lack of playing space and starry-eyed youngsters.
We have more than 150 countries ahead of us in the FIFA rankings, yet we keep calling on that one country for help.

As an avid player and observer of the game, I can testify that the players in the national team are the best of our crop technically, which is why coaches and managers change, but the team remains the same. What we have are problems in the mental department, specifically toughness, belief and determination.

What we need to do is send our players to the Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Ghana and all the African nations ranked higher than us to learn these attributes from those who live on a tenth of what we live on. Send them to Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar to learn how they play at our level with the poverty they face. Send them to Brazil, Argentina and South America to discover the real love of the game.

But before that, start with accountability lessons for the upper management. They were in charge of hiring coaches and managers, but just can’t stand taking responsibility for their decisions. The CEO who hires bad managers and employees is accountable when they fail. Ministers are accountable when people under them fail. Change needs to start from the top.

Freedom II

Men fight for liberty and win it with hard knocks. Their children, brought up easy, let it slip away again, poor fools. And their grandchildren are once more slaves.
D.H. Lawrence

Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
Patrick Henry

The cartel and the working class

It begins on the premise that everyone is good. Only then can you judge people for what they are worth.

I take the train usually to and from UPM, Serdang. Last year, a consortium of Putrajaya taxi drivers took over the taxi service from the KTM Serdang station under the guise of a co-op. A more brazen cartel I have never seen. Overnight, taking a taxi went from paying RM10 for a 5 minute drive, and in the process finding 2-3 people willing to share the cost, or looking for the one in five gem of a taxi driver who will use the meter, to a RM10 coupon taxi ride – no sharing.

I took a taxi home last night from Kepong at 11.00 pm. An African girl, a young female office-worker and myself squeezed into the Proton Iswara. We approached an interchange, and the conversation between the African and the driver went like this;

“I think you can use this way, left.”
“How many ways do you know?”
“I said I think, I didn’t say I know”
“How many ways do you know?! I’m driving taxis, I know. Just sit and don’t argue! There are so many ways.”

Uncomfortable to say the least.

Her fare came to RM 3.30, and later we went pass the interchange she thought she knew. It was jammed, and the man told me it would have cost all three of us more if he had used that way. He didn’t charge me the RM 5 shown on the meter when we came to my house, and just asked for the usual fare, which was RM 4.

In my almost three years of taking taxis in Serdang, only once did I find a taxi that used the meter, and the driver was a saint. He picked up one more person on the way (there were already two of us), and used the meter all the way; I payed RM3 for a ride which would cost me RM 10 now.

To the socialists crying out for the right of taxi drivers to fleece customers, I say keep your voices. There are more than enough taxi drivers who are honest enough to put in a decent day’s work for a decent day’s pay.

I wonder how they, the honest ones, feel when they know they have to fleece ordinary people in the name of a koperasi.

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 ;)

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.