Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Helen Ang's black dots

As always, sweetie Helen Ang has written a great reading piece in Malaysiakini titled Little red dots and blind spots where she demolished Dr Mahathir’s claim that the country was at risk of being overrun by the local Yellow Peril.

She validated good olde wise Confucius' adage that a picture is worth a thousand words by illustrating via a image taken from the blogsite of Sharifuddin A Latiff the paucity of Chinese Malaysians among the top echelon of Malaysian civil and military servants.

Chinese officials highlighted in red - rest are Malays


Sharifuddin’s image (above) was a slap in the face for the dodgy postulation of Perkasa ultra Ibrahim Ali – many suspect his bigoted scare campaign has the covert backing of UMNO or/and even Dr Mahathir.

Perkasa’s aim and indeed those of other UMNO mouthpieces like Utusan, Berita Harian, Najib’s former aide (the one who said Indians are beggars and Chinese women are hookers), and occasionally the top UMNO guns like Dr M and Muhyiddin, have been to marshal the support of the heartland back to UMNO. Fear is a wonderful motivator, though of course we know the consequences of crying ‘wolf’ too often.

However, much as I love sweetie Helen, I disagree with her on several points in her most readable article.

First is her criticism of Lim Guan Eng. Sweetie slammed Lim for his cakap ta’serupa bikin (no walk de talk lah) as shown in his “… appointment of Mohd Fairus Khairuddin as deputy chief minister – who has since been ousted – smacks of the very same communal approach Lim claims to reject. The incompetent, inexperienced Fairus was given the job for no other reason than he is Malay and to fill the PKR quota.”

And so, argued sweetie, where’s Lim’s ‘Malaysian First’?

Either the darling girl is politically very naïve or ….. quite frankly matey ..... I’m not sure what Helen wants, to wit, ..... who Lim ought to have appointed as DCM in order to avoid accusation of being communal?

There is of course Dr Rama as another DCM – now, would this too be communal, over-favouring the Indians?

The reality is that DAP didn’t alone capture the Penang state in the March 2008 general election. It did so in collaboration with PKR and to a lesser extent, PAS. Surely, sweetheart has heard of ‘power sharing’, where the DAP has to include PKR in its state government?

The DCM position was allocated to PKR and as to whom the party selected to fill the seat was up to PKR (Anwar effectively). And if Fairus turned out to be a dud, why blame Lim GE?

Does Helen have someone else in mind for that post?

Secondly, Helen has borrowed a sneer from blogger Shuzheng to hurl at “DAP people like Ng [who] cast the impression that they think of Muslims every moment of their waking hours”.

I could tell you a little something or more about Shuzheng. But I’ll leave most of it aside for now as I don’t want to digress (which alas I have a habit of doing so wakakaka).

I first came across Shuzheng's name and writing in the Centre for Policy Initiatives website. He ripped into me for my (attempted humorous-sarcastic) poke at Kadir Jasin who wrote an article stating he wishes to remain a Malay (rather than become a Malaysian).

Pak Kadir like Ibrahim Ali and Dr Ridhuan Tee are in the group which doesn’t want the concept of Bangsa Malaysia as that would (horror of horrors) make every Malaysian equal. They want to cling on to their Malay special privileges. I deem Ibrahim Ali, Pak Kadir and Ridhuan Tee as the 3 P’s - respectively the pseudo-pahlawan, propagandist and priest of the Ketuanan Melayu ideology.

Surprisingly I find Dr Ridhuan Tee as the sole genuine ideologist while I consider the other two as mere opportunists. If Dr Tee wants to be a Malay, well, constitutionally and by his own practice and personal preference, he is entitled to call himself one. And why should we deny him that, much as we like to tease, torment or tug his tail.

Back to Shuzheng's criticism of me - I accept that as a blogger I am liable to be flayed and I am open to that, including from Shuzheng; mind you, not that I agree with his very well written views. Alas, I don’t have time to debate them in this post. But I’ve observed that Shuzheng has an invincible bias against Christians, more so if they happen to be DAP members ;-)

But more than Christian DAP members, his bête noire is Christian Josh Hong wakakaka. I was informed by a friend that in one of his (Shezheng’s) more recent posts he grouped me together with Josh as Christians. While I consider his categorization of me with Josh Hong as an honour, I find his labelling of me as a Christian as lamentable and lazy scholarship.

According to sweetie’s article Shuzheng made a caustic remark against Lim GE’s aide Ng Wei Aik. This was what sweetie Helen wrote:

Then there is Lim's aide Ng Wei Aik who complained that Najib Razak took a full 12 hours to register his anger at Israeli commandos for boarding one of the Gaza flotilla ships. In contrast to Najib who was slow on the uptake, Ng's quick draw has been interpreted (by a writer calling himself Shuzheng) as his heart touchingly being at one with the Palestinians, and “DAP people like Ng cast the impression that they think of Muslims every moment of their waking hours”.

A crime against humanity as was the case of Israeli commandoes illegally boarding an unarmed civilian ship carrying peace activists and killing 9 of them called for unhesitating and outright condemnation. Even Israel’s normally blind ally, the USA, was horrified enough by the sickening senseless slaughter that both its President and its Secretary of State were compelled to add their unusual contributions to the global outrage.

Thus, does one (the DAP) have to “… think of Muslims every moment of their waking hours” in order to do so?

But that’s the pompous polemical style of Shuzheng. It’s not unlike Dr Mahathir’s and Ibrahim Ali’s scare campaigning of alluding the Chinese would be taking over control of Malaysia [with the armed forces, police, civil services all in Malay hands?], or another irresponsible piece of scare propaganda that Pakatan’s registration of new voters has outnumbered UMNO’s by a preposterous 40 to 1.

In stating that “DAP people like Ng cast the impression that they think of Muslims every moment of their waking hours” Shuzheng has made a disgraceful allusion to trivialise a serious condemnation of Israeli arrogant aggression.

Finally my criticism of sweetie Helen, much as I adore her, has been her adoption of the Uthayakumar Doctrine, of questioning someone’s expression of sympathy or concerns for Party A or B if they haven’t openly expressed such concerns for Indians.

Sweetheart wrote “… about a vagabond found dead in a pool of blood on a shoplot corridor in Georgetown. It was three days before last Christmas that the murder of the 68-year-old mentally unsound Indian vagrant was filmed on CCTV camera. Footage showed the assailant covering the victim's head with a plastic bag and punching him.”

Uthayakumar-ishly, she asked of the DAP: While DAP joins the Umno and PAS chorus that the Israelis must be punished, what about justice for the elderly Indian? The homeless, defenceless C. Veerasamy - who was killed in such a callous and horrifying manner - used to be a Penang municipal council road sweeper.

My dearest Helen, there have been and will be many crimes and injustice in our troubled world. There are some we have to voice our condemnation loudly and immediately while others we just have to leave to the actions of other parties to address, for example, the police. And indeed there had been and will be many others we won't even comment on, for example, the death of three 13-year old boys crushed to death by the collapsed roof of an old abandoned building in a low-cost housing scheme in Changkat Tin, Tanjung Tualang

But it doesn’t mean that we do not care.

However, we need to bear in mind that it’s not a mandatory prerequisite to express sympathies for the marginalised Indians before we may do so for others.

12 comments:

  1. saya rasa helen ang sponsored by israelist, thats why dia cakap macam tu...wakakaka...nanti tak dapat gaji bulanan susah....wakakakak

    pity her...saya suka banyak artikel dia mengenai mahathir

    thor

    ReplyDelete
  2. There's not a single Indian in that list of top Govt officials. So much for 1 Malaysia.

    Anyway I've taken Mahathir to task for all his sacremongering at:

    http://donplaypuks.blogspot.com/2010/07/i-accuse-drmahathir-mohamad-jaccuse.html

    dpp
    we are all of 1 race, the Human Race

    ReplyDelete
  3. Aiya...Ridhuan Tee is a Malay ?
    I thought the bugger dying to turn into a Malay instantly upon conversion to Islam, but but the gomen didn't recognise him being a Malay as he is not allowed to dump away his ancestral surname.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You wrote: "... Dr Mahathir’s and Ibrahim Ali’s scare campaigning of alluding the Chinese would be taking over control of Malaysia"

    I have followed your blog long enough to know that you have always had a high regard for the Great Pharoah.

    But reading those words of yours above made me think - aha, so you, KT, have at last woken up and recognized the Great Pharoah's true character!

    Mahaketawa

    ReplyDelete
  5. Excerpt:-

    ...I find Dr Ridhuan Tee as the sole genuine ideologist while I consider the other two as mere opportunists...

    -----------------------------------------------

    Eh.. KT , I think you are
    wrong, the bugger (RT) is the biggest opportunist of them all.

    I bet that if he moves to another country , the bugger will immediately cease to have anything to do with 'Malayness' and may even abandon Islam altogether as there are no more 'kangtou' to have had with Malay or Islam.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anon. July 14, 2010

    You wrote: ... if he moves to another country , the bugger will immediately cease to have anything to do with 'Malayness' and may even abandon Islam altogether as there are no more 'kangtou' to have had with Malay or Islam.

    Oh dear, what's he gonna do about the missing foreskin then? I have read that there are surgeons who can do hymenal resurrections and thus issue forth born again virgins. But I have never heard of born again prepuces!

    Sunatohahaha

    ReplyDelete
  7. ktemoc should emulate Herr Reinhard Werner

    http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,706201,00.html

    ReplyDelete
  8. Helen Ang and shuzheng have received a lot of support from readers for their well balanced views, which I think is a cut well above the others. In most other writers we do detect some race or religious prejudices. Besides DAP has not yet proven itself to be above race. It has clearly shown itself to favour capitalism (read pro chinese business) now, and only secondarily to social justice.

    Regarding Fairus, she has clearly said, "..AND to fill the PKR quota."

    Again, regarding DAP, we are waiting to see if they handle the Tg Tokong squatter removal in the same manner as KBP. Then we can say they are fair.

    Regarding support or outrage on local and international issues, one has to be seen to be fair or even handed - a universal policy. That is not seen in those condemning Israel, supporting Palestine, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  9. quote In most other writers we do detect some race or religious prejudices unquote

    What did I say about Shuzheng's invincible bias against Christians, more so if they happen to be DAP members? Is that not religious bias? - wakakaka

    Shuzheng also has a reckless habit of labelling people, like he did Haris Ibrahim (and Josh Hong and even poor kaytee wakakaka), which if he had taken the trouble to read the Anak Malaysia manifesto would have found himself to be grossly incorrect. That's what I meant by lamentable and LAZY scholarship!

    And not only that, reckless hatred in labelling people this and that without proper substance is like one drop of black ink in white milk, so what's the point of writing "a cut well above others"?

    Israel most certainly deserves to be condemned for its Deutronomic violence in its heavy handed oppression of the Palestinian people. Even Helen Ang, a staunch supporter of Israel, has admitted to Israel's racist policies.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Much like Uthaya (called a racist for pointing out racism), if shuzheng points out religious prejudices, he is labelled anti-christian, etc.

    We value Helen and shuzheng for their deep independent thinking, expressing viewpoints seldom heard in the media. Far from being mere journalists their writings sounds philosophical even.

    Israel needs to be condemned for the recent boarding and killing on the mercy ship but at the same time the arabs needs to be condemned for so many of their prejudices, aggressiveness and killings.

    ReplyDelete
  11. And pray, tell me my prejudices as, to use Shuzheng'swords, an Anglophilic 'Christian'? wakakaka!

    What is the point of writing well when one doesn't even get one's facts correct but instead have been reckless and indiscipline in mis-labelling others?

    As I said: one drop of black ink in white milk ruins the content - that's the tragedy, the wasted talent of Shuzheng.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Your worldviews are not sino-centric Kaytee (although you try I see) therefore you miss the character and spirit of the civilisation, which is very much 'asian' as opposed to euro-centric or judeo-centric. Therefore you are not speaking 'our' language, so to speak! haha

    ReplyDelete