Saturday, May 31, 2014

The most dangerous woman in Malaysia


Her smile radiates scintillating beams of thousand volts
It’s said on the Dacing she weighs more than a vampire
Her straight messages to the foes are like thunderbolts
O Dyana, you’re the most dangerous woman in Malaysia


A Doctor was galvanized into admonishing the parents
He was followed by an army of doomsayers in the rear
Including thugs on motorcycles with their vicious stunts
O Dyana, you’re the most dangerous woman in Malaysia

Lahad Datu had nothing on a photo-ed bikini-ed recruit
Who wasn’t even aware she was coopted most unfair
Desperate sinister forces misuse the dear Pinoy beaut
O Dyana, you’re the most dangerous woman in Malaysia




Not since our Hellenic sweetie, wakakaka, she from Troy
Has there been so much consternation, worries and fear
Forcing the Sith Lord’s Goebbel-like battalions to deploy
O Dyana, you’re the most dangerous woman in Malaysia

A Sylvester Stallone wannabe mumbled about ingrates
It’s a wonder he wasn't donned in pseudo military gear
Spewing with spit-freckled vile venom his pretend hates
O Dyana, you’re the most dangerous woman in Malaysia

The evil Empire worries that the Heartland dam may burst
Taking away unsullied youths upholding democracy dear
Rejecting all versions of deformasi (wakakaka) accursed
O Dyana, you’re the most dangerous woman in Malaysia



Good luck sweetie, win or lose, we all still love you.

Friday, May 30, 2014

Ahmad Zahid, the real ingrate

My letter to Malaysiakini today:


5:32PM May 30, 2014

Ahmad Zahid, the real ingrate

I refer to your Malaysiakini article ‘Don't repeat ‘ingrates’ remarks, MIC tells Zahid’, in which Health Minister Dr S Subramaniam, a better minister than many others in the cabinet, chided Ahmad Zahid for categorising Chinese who voted DAP as 'ingrates' and advised him against using that remarks on Indians in Teluk Intan.

Dr Subramanian gave good reasons for Ahmad Zahid not to antagonise non-Malay voters in Teluk Intan which could jeopardise the BN candidate’s prospects in the by-election at the end of this month, just a mere one day away.

But Dr Subra has probably wasted his breath because it was likely Ahmad Zahid’s target audience for his patronising and insulting remarks about pro-DAP Chinese was not the Chinese.

For a start, Ahmad Zahid knows most of the Chinese in Teluk Intan will be voting for the DAP candidate, though admittedly there may a number of older Chinese who will vote for Gerakan’s Mah Siew Keong because of the BN candidate's family name andconnections in the constituency.

Secondly, ‘gratitude’ in the way Umno people like Zahid mean it is a not word that is likely to find traction with today’s Chinese Malaysians. I am not just talking about the Chinese grievance against the Umno-led government’s alleged cronyism and favouritism.

Thus, we can gather that for Zahid to realise full benefit, to wit, his desired political outcome, of his accusation of pro-DAP Chinese as ‘ingrates’, his target audience would be those with an obligation towards a society, one in which they would feel compelled to owe allegiance to their ‘liege lord’ and consequentially, to harbour guilt in not being ‘grateful’ to their ‘liege lord’ if they had voted for someone other than those due their allegiance, namely the Umno government and its cohorts.

In a feudalistic world, the ‘liege lord’ hands out various forms of largesse to their vassals and serfs who should then be suitably ‘grateful’ for their master’s generosity, even though in the modern democratic world which Malaysia purported to belong to, the so-called lord’s generosity draws heavily on and completely from public taxpayers’ money.

Though Chinese were once among the most feudalistic societies in the world, I’m afraid today Chinese Malaysians like most of their overseas modern ethnic counterparts (with perhaps the sole exception of Thai Chinese) have stopped believing in feudalism some time ago. Thus the Chinese among the ethnic groups in Malaysia are probably the ones least likely to subscribe to the feudal concept of being ‘grateful’ to the authority.

Ahmad Zahid knows that, too.

But if so, why has he then made that seemingly worthless comment?

Intended for the Malay Heartland

We come back to my earlier suspicion he hadn’t intended the ‘ingrates’ remark for the Chinese, but rather the Malay Heartland where his pretend-anger (in campaigning for Mah) would have found resonance with some of his target audience, well at least among the more conservative factions, for if Yang Berhormat, Menteri Pertahanan Malaysia Dato’ Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has deemed Chinese as being ‘ungrateful’ for voting DAP instead of the BN government, the thought ‘what more for orang kita’ would probably have coursed through the Heartland.

Was he helping Mah then? I have my personal doubts as I suspect he had taken the occasion to buttress his own position within Umno, but which nonetheless has worried Dr Subra enough to issue his public ‘advice’ to Zahid.

Currently there are three Umno vice-president (VP) positions, occupied by Shafie Apdal, Hishammuddin Hussein and the most-belligerent and most ethnic-centric Zahid.

Today Ahmad Zahid has also become the post powerful Umno VP in a mere 15 years after he had had his wrist slapped for being naughty in 1998.

Let’s rewind back to then, when he was Umno Youth Chief, and was resoundingly trounced, nay, humiliated by then 74-year oldPrime Minister (PM) Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Nearly two decades ago, Zahid was Deputy Anwar Ibrahim’s vanguard to oust Dr Mahathir out from the prime-minister position well ahead of schedule by voicing allegations of the PM’s cronyism and nepotism. On June 1998, The New York Times (NYT) reported in its World Business page:

In what was seen as a jab at Mr Mahathir’s 17-year leadership, the head of Umno’s youth wing, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, had called for an end to cronyism and nepotism during a speech to delegates.

“Why were big loans to big businessmen approved so easily when small guys had to wait so long to get a loan of RM50,000?” (US$12,500) Mr Ahmad Zahid asked.

Abdul Razak Hussein might have been the PM who launched the National Economic Policy but no other PM of Malaysia than Dr Mahathir had taken so much effort to ensure its real term benefit for bumiputeras, especially Umno-ites like Zahid.

Indeed, the NYT reported that the PM responded to Zahid’s allegation the next day by posting hundreds of names of peoplewho have won government projects in recent years, a list which included his accuser, Zahid.

But in Dr Mahathir’s wily turning of the cronyism table against Zahid, he showed Zahid had benefited from his largesse as PM.

Ingrate to Dr M?

Didn't that make Zahid an ‘ingrate’ to Dr Mahathir?

Subsequently, Zahid’s superior survival skills [laughter] had him confessing that Anwar was the person who instructed him to attack Dr Mahathir with allegations of cronyism and nepotism.

The New Straits Times (June 19, 1999) informed us that Zahid finished his confessional by apologising to the then PM, and with a flamboyant flourish, acknowledged Dr Mahathir’s rebuke of him as a father-to-son advice.

I wonder whether Dr Mahathir was repulsed, revolted and repelled by Zahid’s smarmy volte-face, considering he was Anwar Ibrahim’svanguard in that intra-party power manoeuvre. Hadn’t Zahid heard of the words ‘loyalty’, ‘principle’ and ‘honour’?

But didn’t that make Zahid an ‘ingrate’ to his party factional leader, Anwar Ibrahim?

Good lord, in a short span of time this man had assumed status of serial ‘ingratitude’ or in more straightforward parlance, ‘treachery’ to his Umno superiors. Oh, that fabled Malay loyalty!

But it has to be said he had the thick skin to be able to do what he did.

He knows he lacks Umno pedigrees like Najib Razak, Hishammuddin Hussein, Khairy Jamaluddin and Mukhriz Mahathir so it would seem his career strategy appears to be heavily invested in being the poster boy for the more conservative elements in Umno.

And it has been to his credit and also his 1998 thick skin that today he has become the most powerful Umno VP, a mere two heartbeats from the party president position and by default, becoming the PM of Malaysia .

He does this by assuming a hardline right wing stand (for the benefit of the Heartland) which included endorsing the police policy of ‘shoot to kill’ when arresting dangerous criminals, and of course insulting and admonishing the Chinese in patronising fashion at periodic intervals as he has just done to Chinese In Teluk Intan who had voted DAP.

Note also how Zahid played the role of the rampaging right wing bull in the ‘celaka’ china shop when Najib and Hishamuddin were both attempting to hose down the rightwing flame.

In late 2010 Zahid in Parliament stated in response to a question on the low number of Chinese and Indian recruits in the military, that it could be due to the Chinese and Indians being ‘not patriotic enough’, and this from a man who couldn’t even be loyal to his Umno superiors!

I have more to say about his insult to Chinese ‘patriotism’ soon.

As we are aware, Zahid has been observed to wear celoreng(military camouflage fatigues) 
complete
 with a paramilitary beret and a pompous tag on his dress to indicate he is a ‘menteri’, as if his military officers and men are clueless about his ministerial status. I hope he wasn’t insulting their intelligence.

Unauthorised wearing of camouflage fatigues?

I would not be surprised if he as a civilian had been the only Malaysian defence minister to have the nerve to cloth himself in battle fatigues as if he was a regular military man. In Malaysia’s earlier days of the Emergency he would have been thrown into prison under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for unauthorised wearing of military camouflage fatigues.

Ironically for a person who obviously likes combat uniform, he appears to be unaware that when he was in diapers and in his teens, there were already Chinese Malaysians who served valiantly in Malaysia's service and were awarded by His Majesty our nation's highest bravery award, the Seri Pahlawan Gagah Perkasa, brave policemen and soldiers like former Superintendent of Police Paul Kiong and former Deputy Superintendent of Police Sia Boon Chee.

Where or what was Zahid then?

In March last year I had also written a letter to Malaysiakini titled ‘Chinese M’sians too have died for one Malaysia’ in which I wrote that, apart from the above two Pahlawan Malaysia, three other Chinese police officers were also awarded the nation’s highest gallantry award, the Seri Pahlawan Gagah Perkasa, with two, sadly, posthumously. Yes, where was Zahid the smartly uniformed warrior with the tag on his chest telling the world he’s a ‘menteri’?

Then there were those like 2nd Lieutenant Fu Chee Ming of the 4th Ranger Battalion who was awarded the Pingat Gagah Berani (PGB) for leading his men in engaging the enemy for seven hours of heavy firefight in Zahid’s home state. Two RMAF officers, Choo Yeok Boo and Chan Tat Ming, who perished in their fight against the insurgents near the Malaysian-Thai border, were awarded the PGB posthumously. And where and what was Zahid then?

There were the incalculable services of former (belated) Perak police chief Khoo Chong Kong who during his service was assassinated by communist terrorist in 1975. He was replaced by Yuen Yuet Leng, the Perak-born Sarawak police commissioner (and also Rascom Special Branch Chief and Head of Joint Intelligence), who took over to win the insurgency war in Perak as he did in Rascom, Sarawak. Was Zahid anywhere?

Apart from the above who were awarded gallantry medals by His Majesty, there were many Chinese policemen and soldiers who were killed during operations. Pray tell me, where was Zahid?

Additionally, Zahid as a son of Perak, in questioning the patriotism of Chinese Malaysians, failed abysmally to recognise that Superintendent of Police Paul Kiong was also awarded his home state’s (Perak) highest bravery award in 1988 for three other operations. Mana dia, Zahid?

What is now obvious is that Zahid, in the full glory of his celerong and beret - and don’t forget that pompous ‘menteri’ tag, has been the real ingrate in not showing respect to the Chinese contributions in Malaysia’s war against its enemies.

And coupled with his ingratitude to both former PM and Umno party president, Dr Mahathir Mohammad and his own party mentor, former DPM and Umno deputy party president, Anwar Ibrahim,  Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has to be a serial ‘ingrate’.

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Déjà vu Chegubard

HEALTH WARNING: Readers who may suffer medically from kaytee's wakakaka-ing are advised not to read this post as there's mucho wakakaka's, wakakaka!




The Star Online - PKR polls: Chegubard suspended from party

PETALING JAYA: Fiery PKR orator Badrul Hisham Shahrin has been suspended from the party with immediate effect following his media outbursts, which criticised the party's election process.


In a statement issued on Wednesday, the PKR disciplinary board chairman Datuk Dr Tan Kee Kwong said that Badrul who is better known as Chegubard has also been issued show-cause letter as why he should not be sacked from the party.

"He made a press statement claiming the election process is dirty and not transparent. He also publicly claimed that the party's disciplinary board are agents to Azmin Ali on May 12, which was published, in several online portals,” he said.

Dr Tan said that Chegubard's membership has been suspended with immediate effect until investigations into the matter have been completed

Meanwhile, PKR has sacked one member and suspended another for six months for breaking campaign rules in the problem-riddled party election.


As erstwhile PKR party member and erstwhile (wakakaka) Anwar devotee, Gobalakrishnan, would/might have said: Aiyoyo, PKR atau Parti Kurang Reformasi lah, Pordah - wakakaka.

And then Dr Wan Azizah, PKR party president has the face to say there’s room for dissent despite Chegubard’s suspension. Wakakaka.

Do you believe her, assuming you're not one of those PKR diehards otherwise known as M-cube (mindless moronic Myrmidons, wakakaka)?

Now, before you answer my question, let me take you back to another, wakakaka, PKR party election and review what had happened, wakakaka.

In late November (2010) as reported by Malaysiakini, Chegubard (real name Badrul Hisham Shahrin) wrote a letter to PKR party president Dr Wan Azizah accusing Anwar of intervening in polls.


I suspect that Chegubard wrote that letter so that his complaints would be etched in black and white as oral complaints could drift away into the ether on a windy day or swept away like my footprints on a beach, which I wrote about in my other blog, as follows: wakakaka.

I was all alone on the beach
strolling towards the red sun
lying on the western horizon;
T’was when night had begun.

Every step I took on the wave
beaten beach, the silver sand
rose up between my wet toes,
and thus leaving on the land

my footprints of the evening,
till the murmuring waves swept
away the tracks I made, leaving
no memory of where I stepped.

Years later I went to that beach.
To hear the waves roar cheekily:
‘Ah, you’re back’, hinting again
I'd leave no footprint as memory.


Wakakaka, guess who would have been the roaring waves in PKR?



Chegubard wrote to Dr Wan about Kota Marudu PKR Youth chief, Dr Jurin Gunsalam, who was informed by his division chief Anthony Mandiau that Anwar had instructed him who to vote for.

Chegubard also revealed that some candidates were allowed to contest even though their names were sent in after the deadline. Reformasi, wakakaka.

He stated: “When a verbal complaint was made to the election officer, the complainant was asked if he was a supporter of Badrul Hisham. A written complaint has since been ignored.”

He added that though the Tampin division had nominated him and running mate Chang Lih Kang, somehow, wakakaka, that nomination went to their contenders, Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin and Khairul Anuar Zainuddin. Wakakaka.

As with other polling complaints, his report too has thus far elicited no response. Wakakaka.

His election agents reported the same mystery we've already heard, that the number of counted votes at a station were more than the actual turnout, wakakaka, which led Chegubard to remind us that in Kubang Pasu (see my earlier post Zaid Ibrahim - suffers no fool gladly), the number of counted votes was almost 3 times more than the actual turnout – wakakaka! EC eat your hearts out.



Chegubard told us the same story, that the phantom votes were actually (indirectly) admitted by the election committee when they had to call a Zaid Ibrahim’s representative to negotiate on how to split the total votes wakakaka.  EC, again eat your hearts out.

Indeed, Chegubard, at that time I did ask the same question too, namely what kind of solution was that, negotiating on how to split the total votes which were more than the actual turnout, wakakaka. In fact let's go one step further, what kind of PKR poll was that?

He gave us more horror stories about the polling in Teluk Intan and Sabah, where the actual turnout at Sandakan and Libaran was only about 200, and not the official figures of 898 in Libaran and 456 in Sandakan, wakakaka.



Incidentally Azmin Ali was the winner where he ‘swept’ virtually (almost) 100% of the votes at Libaran, Sandakan, Tawau and Tenom, wakakaka.

Chegubard said the votes for Sandakan and Libaran were not tallied at the polling centre and, like at Kubang Pasu, the candidates' agents were not allowed to be present during the counting process, wakakaka!

Did Dr Wan take any action? That was a rhetorical question, so no answer required as the question was also the answer, wakakaka.

Shall I say again: EC eat your hearts out. Wakakaka.

Also recall in my much earlier post Zaid Ibrahim - suffers no fool gladly, I mentioned Jonson Chong writing to Dr Wan to audit just the Libaran polls. Now we know why. But I doubt Jonson is still holding his breath waiting for the okay from the party president.

Sabah party deputy chief Christina Liew said:
"I checked with the headquarters and was told that they are currently investigating ... I understand that the majority of the (complaints) have been lodged with the headquarters, although I don't know how long the probe will take."


Christina Liew

Meanwhile at headquarters, Dr Molly Cheah, head of the JPP, the so-called central election committee was reported by Malaysiakini as reluctant (wakakaka) to say yes or no to Christina Liew’s report that HQ was investigating.

But when MKINI pressed her, she said: "If Christina Liew says it's under investigation then it is under investigation."

Wow! HQ investigating eh? And the head of the PKR JPP quoting someone (Christina Liew) who had quoted the JPP, who then quoted the quoter? Wakakaka.

No wonder Terence Netto (of Malaysiakini) described her like a deer caught in the headlights (meaning startled into inaction) wakakaka.



Chegubard said Dr Molly Cheah refused to confirm whether the number of complaints was 162, as claimed by Liew and deputy president hopeful Mustaffa Kamil Ayub. Refused to confirm? wakakaka.

I wonder whether she pleaded doctor-patient confidentiality? Wakakaka. Or just that she didn't know!

Chegubard sighed: “I am adhering to party discipline by using internal means to make this complaint (but) it is as if I have been pushed to the wall. As a member of Parti Keadilan Rakyat, I am seeking keadilan (justice).”

Keadilan (justice)? Hmmm, well-known journalist and lawyer Art Harun did ask in his post what does the ‘K’ in PKR stand for? I have an answer for Art, but why don't you guess! wakakaka!

Art had written: I don't know about how they feel and think. But frankly, in my perception, PKR is so full of crap than it would even dare to admit. And if the farce that PKR calls and labels as party elections is to be a yardstick of its ability to govern this country, I would rather vote for the Siberian Husky in front of my house. And by that, I don't mean to insult the dog.

Wakakaka.

According to Chegubard then (in 2010), Saifuddin promised in November that investigation into Chegubard’s complaint had been initiated and the finding would be revealed in a couple of weeks’ time. At the end of the year, well over a month since Saifuddin’s deadline promise, Chegubard was still asking about the finding of that so-called investigation. I'm sure you know the outcome of that, wakakaka.



The party leadership then attempted to appoint Chegubard to the position of party deputy secretary-general, for whatever reason wakakaka but good old Chegubard refused the appointment, insisting on first knowing what the finding of the so-called investigation was, wakakaka.

As Penangites would comment, with some people, yes, you can cheet haw ch’ooi (keep the tiger’s mouth closed by filling it with goodies), but with others you just can’t!

Chegubard wasn't the only person in the party to complain. Leaving aside people like Zaid Ibrahim, Gobala, even Anwar’s personally (last-minute) nominated candidate for Kelana Jaya Loh Gwo Burne (who wrote an open letter to Malaysiakini heavily criticizing the Dwarf, wakakaka, and thus sealing his fate and party career, wakakaka), another erstwhile PKR member Jonson Chong wrote a personal letter to Dr Wan Azizah about the questionable party polling process – see my earlier post Dr Wan Azizah ignores Jonson Chong's plea?

Renowned socio-political activist Haris Ibrahim (the real reformer) praised Jonson for his constructive approach to personally fund an audit into the Libraran polling, but alas, not so Dr Wan who ignored Jonson completely.


Jonson Chong

Fast forward to 2014 to remember that Dr Wan said there's room in PKR for dissent, and we wonder why she had in 2010 ignored Jonson Chong's proposal which wasn't even a dissent but an attempt to constructively resolve the party polling turmoil then?

Yes, let's ask ourselves why did the party president ignore a constructive proposal from a sensible, fair and balanced gentleman like Jonson Chong which would have put to rest all complaints if his proposed audit (funded by Jonson himself) showed the polls had been conducted fairly?

Could it be she was worried Jonson's proposal might open the PKR Pandora Box? Wakakaka.


WTF, shut the box before the stench overpowers everyone

wakakaka

Anyway, Jonson was so disappointed by both Dr Wan's rather discourteous cold-shouldering of his constructive and valid proposal and the arrogance of the inner coterie in its refusal to truly investigate into party members’ complaints about the dodgy party polls (the JPP was asleep zzzzzzzzz ..... wakakaka, or as Netto wrote, frozen stiff like a deer caught in a car's headlights, wakakaka) nor provide any answer that, as I had predicted, he left PKR - mind you, not that they care two hoots as Jonson was not/never a member of the PKR inner coterie, wakakaka.

There have been times I wonder why PKR allocated Chegubard the Sungai Aceh federal state seat to contest in the last election (rather late in the game) which led to a bitter intra Pakatan fight (literally) with PAS, whose members tried rather violently to prevent him from registering his nomination papers in April 2013. And mind, that was pre PAS current hudud insistence, wakakaka.

FMT reported that: Blogger and an official from Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM), Edy Noor Reduan, said members of PAS youth wing from Penang had attempted to stop Badrul from filing his nomination papers in Nibong Tebal yesterday.

“The PAS youth members and their voluntary unit members tried to stop Badrul from entering the nomination centre yesterday morning.

“He was also assaulted by these people, his wife and children were shoved…all this so that he would not be able to submit his nomination papers.”

Couldn't PKR have allocated a better seat for him, like say, Kulim Bandar Baharu? I suppose not, wakakaka.

Dr Wan is one of the sacred cows, in fact the MOST sacred cow in PKR, more so than her daughter or husband, not unlike a Mother Teresa and Joan of Arc combined, but her inaction in 2010 has led many to question her reformasi credentials. Furthermore her incredulous description of hubby as 'God's gift to the people' had left many breathlessly flabbergasted, wakakaka.


Moo: Have you seen Shahrizat? Tell her I wanna go back to Malaysia

wakakaka

So, do you still believe Dr Wan when today she could even bring herself to say there's still room for dissent after she condones suspending Chegubard, a party member who had not only complained about the party polls in 2010 (without receiving an answer as was experienced by many who had left the party since) but also about the current 2014 party polls?


from 2010? wakakaka

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Who has been the ingrate?

Malaysiakini - Don't repeat 'ingrates' remark, MIC tells Zahid


defence ministers are NOT entitled nor supposed to wear armed forces uniforms - also pompous of him to tag he's a menteri

Dr S Subramaniam, a better minister than many others in the cabinet, chided Ahmad Zahid for categorizing Chinese who voted DAP as 'ingrates' and advised him against using that remarks on Indians in Teluk Intan (TI).

Dr Subramanian gave good reasons for Ahmad Zahid not to antagonize non-Malay voters which could jeopardize the BN candidate's prospects in the by-election at the end of this month, just a mere 4 days away.



But Dr Subra has wasted his breath because Ahmad Zahid had not directed his patronizing remarks against the Chinese to the Chinese.

For a start, Ahmad Zahid knows most of the Chinese in TI will be voting for the DAP, though in TI there are a significant number of older Chinese who will vote for the Gerakan candidate Mah because of the BN candidate's local family connections and name.

If the DAP can exploit Zahid's rude and patronizing remarks against the Chinese, the party can possibly swing some of the pro-Mah voters across. In that Dr Subra has been correct ... but as I have said, Zahid didn't and won't give a sh*t about Mah losing some votes because of his 'ingrates' remarks.



Secondly, 'gratitude' is a word that won't find traction with the Chinese. I am not just talking about the Chinese being pissed off with the UMNO-led government's policies, alleged corrupt practice and cronyism.

For Zahid to realize the full impact of his calling a group of people or even an individual 'ingrates' and thus to achieve the desired outcome, his targeted recipients need to have a feudal mindset where they would feel obliged or compelled to owe allegiance to their 'liege lord' and thus would be guilty of not being 'grateful' to their 'liege lord' if they had voted for someone other than their due allegiance, which in the political sense would be to the BN (but effectively UMNO) government.

In a feudalistic world, the 'liege lord' hands out various forms of largesse to their vassals and serfs who then should be suitably 'grateful', even though in the modern democratic world the so-called lord's generosity draws on taxpayers' money.



Thus in Malaysia, for recipients of government largesse to be suitably 'grateful' they have to be largely ignorant about the concept of people's representatives in a democratically elected government and the administrative process, to wit, that government assets are actually owned by the rakyat and the government managing such assets are nothing more than administrators (or servants) only, nominated (or hired) by the rakyat for a period of five years, or ...

... the recipients possess a highly indoctrinated state of belief that they exist within a feudalistic structure where the government is the 'liege lord' and they, the voters, are the serfs.


Chinese were once in one of the most feudalistic societies in the world, but today Chinese Malaysians like most of their overseas modern ethnic counterparts have stopped believing in feudalism, in fact ages ago.


Who did you serfs vote for?
But do we have voting rights, my Lord?
Yes, you have the right to vote for me as your liege lord.

wakakaka

Thus the Chinese among the ethnic groups in Malaysia are probably least likely to subscribe to the feudal concept of being 'grateful' to the authority.

Ahmad Zahid knows that too.

If so, then why has he made that seemingly worthless comment?

His message was really meant for the Heartland where his pretend-anger (in campaigning for Mah) would have found resonance with his target audience, well at least among the more conservative factions. And if those bloody Chinese have been deemed 'ungrateful' for voting DAP instead of the BN government, what more for orang kita?



Was he helping Mah then? I have my doubts as I suspect he has taken the occasion to buttress his own position within UMNO, and which has worried Dr Subra enough to issue his public advice to Zahid.

Today Ahmad Zahid has become the post powerful UMNO VP in a mere 15 years after he had had his wrist slapped and buttocks caned for being naughty in 1998, wakakaka.

But he did not and could not become the most powerful UMNO VP through party pedigrees like Najib, Hishamuddin, KJ and Mukriz.


greatest threat to KJ, wakakaka

Thus he has to be the most rightwing UMNO warlord so as to warm the cockles of the conservative elements within his party. And he obviously has succeeded.

In fact he has been following the party-political footsteps of his erstwhile mentor, wakakaka, who too had taken a rightwing approach during his time in UMNO but who, alas, now languishes outside UMNO.

Note how Zahid played the role of the rampaging rightwing bull in the 'celaka' china* shop when Najib and Hishamuddin were both attempting to hose down the rightwing flame.

* excuse the pun - to understand what the English idiom means, look at picture below



Ahmad Zahid knows he is a mere two heartbeats from being the president of UMNO and by default the PM of Malaysia. I suspect he'll continue to be as rightwing as he possibly can, as Dr Mahathir, Anwar Ibrahim and Najib had been, wakakaka, during their respective ascendancy up the UMNO hierarchy.

The question we love to ask is: Will Zahid make the same mistake as he did in 1998 of being an 'ingrate', wakakaka, when he became party to his erstwhile mentor's impatient and premature move to seize the top position from his political mentor-godfather Dr Mahathir?


Datuk, there's no one more 'loyal' than a Malay - that's our culture
Datuk, you're absolutely spot on

wakakaka


aisehman, dua orang Kedah

wakakaka

And if he does, will Najib be as wily and deadly effective as Dr Mahathir in neutralizing the 'ungrateful' would-be kings?

Chinese Illuminati

Narinder Singh is one of my 'favourite' columnists ... for laughs ... the others being Ridhuan 'Lost Identity' Tee, Ustaz Abdullah Zaik Abd Rahman (President of ISMA), Ibrahim Ali (Perkasa), Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, etc.


In his article for FMT titled The gamble with Dyana may backfire he wrote (extracts only):

The Chinese are already in control of all major industries in Malaysia, from finance, manufacturing right up to retail. The economy is in their palms. Imagine the floodgates opening to them.

Other races will be brought to their knees as they will by default ‘fail’ to meet the financial strength of the Chinese.

If I may humbly add on the following points to Narinder's erudite summarisation of our local Illuminati, the nefarious Chinese Malaysians:

Tao - the Chinese Illuminati

The Chinese are also in control of the government including the police, military and civil service.

The Chinese are also in control of all taxpayers' subsidized universities. Apa lagi Dong Zong mahu lah?

The Chinese are also in control of the GLC, Felda, etc and especially Petronas - Oh! does this mean that the Chinese are afterall the biggest taxpayers? wakakaka. My dear Narinder, it's best you inform/update our dear Ridhuan, wakakaka.

Illuminati's Fallen Angel

Dear readers, you may wish to add on to my short list. Thanks.

Wakakaka.

Sunday, May 25, 2014

The Minangkabau lesson

Two days ago the Malay Mail Online published an article by Tunku Abidin Muhriz titled Negri Sembilan’s democratic pledge of allegiance.



I am sure by now most of us know who this bright young Malaysian royal is as he writes so eloquently in (previously) the Malaysian Insider and (now) the Malay Mail Online.

His tale is that of Negri Sembilan, its Minangkabau people and their adat, and the state's history and uniquely democratic royal institution where a ruler would be 'elected' as (or invited to be) the leader or Yang di-Pertuan Besar (Yamtuan).



It must be from such a sui generis royal institution that Allahyarham Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra al Haj, our nation's 1st PM, had adopted for the election and selection of the Federation's King, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (a title that must have been also adopted from Negri Sembilan's royal institution).

But it's NOT so much the history of Negri Sembilan but more that of its Minangkabau people and their adat that I detect an important message within Tunku Abidin's narration. Yes, he did take pride in his people's democratic institution in selecting their leader, and while the message I've detected, or claim to have detected, wakakaka, cannot be divorced from the Minangkabau's democratic tradition, it's more than that and something most germane in today's Malaysian political landscape.

In the 3rd and 4th paragraphs of his narration, Tunku Abidin Muhriz wrote:

The next two rulers, Yamtuan Hitam (1795-1808) and Yamtuan Lenggang (1808-1824) were similarly invited from Pagar Ruyong. Unfortunately, a war broke out at the time in Minangkabau homeland over religion: a new Wahhabi-inspired faction called the Padri took issue with the matrilineal, decentralised and democratic system that had developed since the formation of Pagar Ruyong in 1347, and tried to take over by force.

The Adat faction, in alliance with the Dutch, managed to defeat the Padri, but most of Pagar Ruyong royal family had been killed in 1815.


Imam Bonjol Mudo
one of the leaders in the fundamentalist Padri

I'll come to the above shortly but let's start by understanding that today the Minangkabau people is the largest ethnic group in the world with an adat (or custom/tradition) of matrilineal succession.

cannot claim to know much about the origin of this adat other than through some readings I learnt that the Minangkabau adat was laid down by two of their forefathers, Datuak* Katumanggungan and Datuak Perpatih Nan Sabatang who were half-brothers (same mum but different dads). 

* some scholars claim that today the 'Datuak' would be known as 'Tunku'

The Minangkabau kingdom had its beginning in the 14th Century when a Majapahit bloke by the name of Adityawarman became its king. Apparently he was related to King Jayanegara of Majapahit, which made him (Adityawarman) probably a Javanese and a Hindu though some historian argued he was a Buddhist. He seated his new kingdom in Pagar Ruyung on the west coats of Sumatra.

Adityawarman

he was Majapahit ambassador to China before he became King of his Pagar Ruyung Kingdom

Do you reckon he spoke some Mandarin, wakakaka?

A major part of his Majapahit-assigned remit was to eliminate remnants of the already vanquished Srivijaya Empire, then centred at Palembang. But by then, good olde Parameswara (also a Buddhist) had wisely scooted off to Malacca.

It would appear then that in early days the Minangkabau developed their adat based on Hindu, Buddhist and animistic beliefs, and which were to be later articulated by the two Datuak siblings.

Today many western female anthropologists and/or feminists get orgasmic about the Minangkabau, a people (some 10 million strong around the world) with such a powerful tradition of matrilineal succession, and many studies have been made by them, extolling the wonders of a matrilineal system within an Islamic society.

But perhaps they might have missed the important 30-year Padri (Minangkabau) War between the Wahhabi-Islamists and the Minangkabau traditionalists.


Some mullahs having returned from their haj in Saudi Arabia had wanted to cleanse the Minangkabau Kingdom of any form of adat that was deemed to be un-Islamic such as their uniquely matrilineal system of succession, leaving us to believe that nothing pissed the findamentalist Islamists more than women having any bloody say at all, let alone property.

Thus if those fundamentalist mullah had prevailed, there won't have been any unique Minangkabau tradition.

Don't think so? Well, look at what's happening in Malaysia?

Hasn't PAS prohibited the showing of the wayang kulit and makyong in Kelantan? And even for a brief moment the Chinese koe-tai and Samson-&-Delilah salons, wakakaka? I wonder what else? What about the tarian menora? All disappearing!


And we notice that other than newsworthy people such as sweetie Marina Mahathir, sweetie Dyana Sofya, auntie Rafidah Aziz, auntie Rosmah Mansor (wakakaka), and sweetie Zainab Anwar (S-I-S), very few other prominent Malay women nowadays wear traditional Malay dresses, the graceful baju kurung or the yummy sarung kebaya.

Even Eli Wong of PKR was once seen to be wearing what Wan Azizah and Nurul Izzah are wearing, and that was NOT baju kurung or sarung kebaya. However I have to say to Miss Muffet's credit, thank goodness, she had only boasted about donning the baju kurung, wakakaka.

I also wonder whether the lovely joget will one day become just a footnote in Malaysian history books? Once a (Malay) visitor to my blog told me he was stunned by a photo he saw in an old Malay language magazine (I think it was Mastika) which showed Malay schoolgirls doing their morning physical training (PT) in shorts and short-sleeve shirts. I guess he had been so used to most Malay women wearing the tudung that females in shorts and short-sleeve shirts would have been shocking.

And I wish he had heard my uncle telling me of the once highly synchronized Malay style of western dancing at public ballrooms (or dance halls) where it was still very Islamic no-touch for the dancing partners (half a metre apart) but who nonetheless performed the waltz, rumba and foxtrot gracefully as a partnered unit. 

Will the nasi lemak and tapai be under serious threat? Maybe in future we can only eat falafel and shawarma if some people have their ways, wakakaka.

tapai

once a Malay pakcik joked: “kaytee my boy, we Muslims would usually be taking a walk on the edge of sin whenever we have tapai because just that extra iota of percentage proof would tilt us over into haram land”, wakakaka

for more of tapai, see my post Abang Tapi

Anyway, back to the 19th Century Pagar Ruyung kingdom in western Sumatra where the fundamentalist mullahs started a civil war with the adat-ists by their treacherous act of regicide where they murdered most of the royalty during a ceasefire peace-talk.

T'was a murderous act as stated by our Malay Mail writer Tunku Abidin in his "most of Pagar Ruyong royal family had been killed in 1815".

Tunku Abidin has so understated his message "Unfortunately, a war broke out at the time in Minangkabau homeland over religion: a new Wahhabi-inspired faction called the Padri took issue with the matrilineal, decentralised and democratic system that had developed since the formation of Pagar Ruyong in 1347, and tried to take over by force" that it might have escaped our notice.

But let us again recall the essence of his point, namely, "... a new Wahhabi-inspired faction called the Padri took issue with the matrilineal, decentralised and democratic system that had developed since the formation of Pagar Ruyong in 1347 ...".

I read it as those mullahs having issues with women's rights, democracy and decentralized control (or greater freedom and autonomy). It's hardly surprising as the clerics (of most religions) want the opposite: women in their 'places' as mere inferiors or chattels, and of course highly centralized authoritarian control with no biadap talk back by the rakyat lay people.


Scholars have written that the Minangkabau would only accept/assimilate 'foreign' influence if their core adat were not imperilled, as the Padri War had so bloodily demonstrated for 30+ years .

They were (and still are) mightily intelligent and innovative people in coming up with a post Padri War syncretized saying, perhaps to appease the Islamists within their society, namely: Adat bersendi hukum Islam, Hukum Islam bersendi Al-Qur’an.

Now, being the bastard that I am, wakakaka, I am not only reading more into the above Minangkabau saying but also recalling that RPK wrote about a misogynistic Caliph who wrote most of the Hadith, which didn't and by default don't favour or treat women as equals.

So I wonder whether the clever Minangkabau by asserting that Hukum Islam bersendi Al-Qur’an were in fact saying that unless it's in the Al-Quran itself (and thus not just the Hadith) they won't accept any (Hadith) ruling that went against any of their adat.

And if indeed they had such an intention, to wit, to ignore any extra-Quranic ruling, then it must be within such an innovative syncretized doctrine that has allowed the Minangkabau matrilineal system of succession (and other forms of democracy) to exist within a religio-social Islamic environment, but which alas, came at a bloody price with a 30+ year war, one which saw most members of its royalty slaughtered treacherously by the fundamentalist Islamists during a ceasefire peace talk.

Anyway, I dare say not much has changed in the no-compromise or intolerant attitudes of the Muslim clerics since, especially those of the fundamentalist variety.


In today's Malaysian religio-politico-social environment I think it's up to the Muslim Malays to decide what they want: the status quo with its higher degree of socio-religious tolerance (and I am NOT talking about which political party forms the government) and preservations of Malay adats, which we have all benefited from in varying degrees during the last 50+ years, ...

... or a non-democratic system of totalitarian government by an elitist group of clerics whose only claim to their right to rule is NOT from universal suffrage but from a god who for some reason only talk to them (as claimed of course by them, wakakaka), and who probably want to Arabize everyone ... and perhaps fantasize for Malaysia to become a Saudi-like desert, complete with camels, dry winds and hot days-cold nights? Wakakaka.

But then, isn't one of Malay peribahasa 'biar mati anak, jangan mati adat', wakakaka.