ROCKET SCIENCE

Got back from Singapore - picked up Malaysian Insider's (MI) piece on "DAP tapping on overseas Malaysians' voices with  'Ubah Networks'  "   See:http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/dap-tapping-on-overseas-malaysians-voices-with-ubah-networks

DAP will start 'Ubah Networks' , a programme to garner additional support from over 500,000 Malaysians eligible to vote overseas. 

A scheme to "garner.... support" from "Malaysians eligible to vote overseas"  has a long-term objective,     looking towards GE 14.

As I see it there are three issues relating to this Ubah Network: the numbers game, the chosen ones and  "the serial liars". 

HOW MANY?

Let's look at three sources.

Firstly, according to myoverseasvote.org  the Electoral Commission reported that only 6,298 Malaysians overseas registered to be postal voters.  Of course it was all to be blamed on the EC for 'deliberately' limiting the numbers of postal voters.  Read: myoverseasvote.org/page2/

According to this website Malaysians in Singapore, Brunei, Kalimantan and southern Thailand were prevented from registering.  The biggest losers according to them were the "400,000 Malaysians living in Singapore, or 40 % of overseas Malaysians".  Anyway what's to stop Malaysians from nipping across the Causeway in their tens of thousands like they do for Chinese New Year, Hari Raya and Deepavali?

Secondly, an article by Leong Sze Hian in Malaysiakini reports :  See : leongszehian.com/?p=4438

The Singapore Census of Population 2010 Advance Census Release revealed some surprising statistics about Malaysians in Singapore.

It says about 1 in 4 ( 23 per cent) of the resident population - Singaporeans and permanent residents (PRs) - were not born in Singapore.  Of that 23 per cent, about half  (45 per cent) were from Malaysia.

Leong further added - 

What the census does not say is how many of the 386,000 Malaysian-born residents are Singapore citizens and how many are PRs.

Thirdly, Philip Schellekens, a senior economist in the World Bank  ( See: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/nep-brain-drain-holding-back-malaysia-says-world-bank  )   stated that :

More than one million Malaysians live abroad.

He added :  

Migration is very much an ethnic phenomenon in Malaysia, mostly Chinese but also Indian.

With regards to Singapore:

Singapore has absorbed 57 per cent of  Malaysia's overseas citizens, with almost 90 per cent of those crossing the border ethnic Chinese.

All of the above figures can look very confusing.  However, one can deduce that:

1.  There are one million Malaysians abroad, mostly Chinese and some Indians.  But of these 1 million, what percentage of them are eligible voters and not citizens of the country they are residing in?  Malaysia, Singapore and several western countries like UK do not accept Dual Nationality.

2.  The vast majority  ( 90 percent ) of Malaysians working in Singapore are Chinese.

3.  According to Leong the figure of 386,000 Malaysian born residents in Singapore does not clarify how many are Singapore citizens and thus not eligible to vote.

4.  myoverseasvote.com claims that 400,000 of Malaysians living in Singapore or 40 percent of Malaysians overseas  were prevented from voting.  How many of them are still holding their Malaysian passports and Identity Cards?

With all these numbers swirling around, how did MI and DAP arrive at the figure of 500,000 Malaysians overseas "who are eligible to vote"?

THE CHOSEN ONES

According to the Ubah Network, set up to gain  "support from over 500,000 of Malaysians eligible to vote overseas", the Network "seeks to channel concerns of Malaysians overseas especially in Singapore, Europe, the US, and Australia".

But why only "Malaysians overseas, especially in Singapore, Europe, US and Australia" ?  What about  Malaysians overseas in Egypt, Indonesia, India, Russia, China?  Will they be courted and wooed assiduously  by DAP's Ubah Network?  Or are the latter 5 countries the wrong sort of "Malaysians overseas", like of the wrong hue, wrong language and lack financial clout?

If the above countries represent the core of DAP's clientele, what kind of  'Ubah'  are they pursuing?  Certainly the beneficiaries of this change will be well-heeled and well-serviced English-speaking ( albeit with an accent ) urbanites.

If, with the support of these western-based expatriate Malaysians overseas, the DAP/Pakatan succeed in wresting the reins of power from BN, will these professionals  ( medical, and IT specialists and engineers etc)  "jom, balik kampung" to  contribute to the well-being and development of the Rakyat, including those living in the rural areas?  Or will they prefer to remain ensconced in their comfort zones in the cool climes of US, Europe and Australia and pontificate about freedom, democracy and social justice in "my beloved country" from a distance?  As for the Malaysians overseas in Singapore they will certainly stay put - at the current  exchange rate, they would be fools to leave!

It's hard to predict how these "500,000  eligible voters" will respond because we don't really know why and how they chose to migrate to these comfortable watering holes.   Is it for love or for money?  The Malaysians overseas in Singapore are there because the exchange rate more than doubles the size of their earnings and the movement of Singaporeans into Malaysia to work is not such a rarity.

On the other hand, these "500,000 eligible voters" have the power of money to  sustain and maintain the flight of the Rocket, or at the very least, provide very articulate and very loud moral support. This will not be dissimilar to those Friends of Israel residing outside of Israel.

As for this magic word 'Ubah" what is DAP's blueprint for change?  Will it take the shape of what they idealise as their chosen society - that of Singapore?  What if 'Ubah' means this, as in Singapore?

Extract from the Singapore Straits Times, 4 June 2013.

Earlier last week, the Media Development Authority  (MDA)  introduced a new licensing framework for news websites.

Under the new rules, sites which report an average of at least one article per week on Singapore news and current affairs over a period of two months, and reach at least 50,000 unique visitors from Singapore each month over a period of two months, must apply for an individual licence.

MDA has said that the rules  ........  are designed to give parity to regulations concerning mainstream and online media

If this is applicable in Malaysia,  the Malaysian Insider will be subject to the same regulations as  Utusan Malaysia, Lim Kit Siang's bete noir .

But it all depends on the timing.  If this happens under BN, there would be mayhem in the media and in the streets.  

Lucky old Singapore can get away with it but Malaysia "Mana Boleh"?

THE SERIAL LIARS

The final paragraphs of this MI news  reported :   

Lim Kit Siang was reported on Wednesday accusing Utusan Malaysia of hiring a team of "serial liars"to help the newspaper in its alleged role as the mouthpiece for UMNO's  "DDD Brigade", a campaign he claimed was masterminded by the ruling party to destroy the DAP.

The 4 categories of "serial liars"in Utusan Malaysia (UM) are  (1) editorial ranks of the paper,  (2) former DAP leaders, (3) a group of BN party hacks and (4) "guest serial liars" - LKS's term for Utusan's pro-UMNO guest columnists.

It looks like in LKS's Little Red Rocket Book, anyone who criticises DAP is a "serial liar". That must also include the ex-DAP leader and founder of  the Malaysian chapter of Transparency International Tunku Abdul Aziz, who was reportedly offered a bribe of 50,000MYR to persuade him to stay.  Only last week Tunku Aziz reported receiving a death threat by phone.

As for "serial liars" in Utusan coming from ex-DAP leaders, LKS cannot complain.  DAP's/Pakatan's  biggest catch is their own leader, ex-UMNO  Dato Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim.  Would they call him a "serial liar".  

Remember what George Bush said about the 2003 Invasion of Iraq?  "If you're not with us, you're against us".  And so, according to LKS, any Malay who speaks up for his fellow Malays is pro-UMNO and  hence anti-DAP - with an avowed wish to exterminate the DAP.

However DAP is not averse in citing The Economist  ( which had once been successfully sued by Lee Kuan Yew for lying about his family).  This paper's  credentials should be taken with a large dollop of salt.  After all, the accusations of cronyism and corruption that The Economist throws at Malaysia and UMNO are nothing compared to those circulating around the British establishment of which The Economist is such a hallowed part.  See :  www.counterpunch.org/2013/05/17/the-descent-of-britain/

Aaahhhh  -  the  plot thickens ......

Utusan Malaysia, according to LKS is "the mouthpiece of UMNO".

LKS's rant on the relationship between UM and UMNO is old hat.  That's nothing new.  The British Conservative Party is supported by The Telegraph, the Mail and the Daily Express, while the Daily Mirror is a hardcore Labour Party supporter.

Blue is Conservative, Red is the Labour Party and yellow is Lib-Dem

  

In the US, the Washington Post is for the Democratic Party and the Washington Times is Republican.  In China, Renmin Ribao  (Peoples Daily) is the organ newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party.  As for Singapore,  self-censorship is an acquired skill and habit.

Utusan Malaysia has never deceived anyone about its beginnings, as a paper speaking for the Malays even before the DAP saw the light of day.  There are also Chinese and Tamil language papers speaking for Chinese and Tamil rights. 

Utusan Malaysia is no clone of any foreign political party and certainly no running dog of any external interests.  Shall we instead query the pedigree of DAP and its audience - of how the lightning became the rocket - just a touch of political cosmetic surgery?

DAP

PAP

More relevant is this question.  If the DAP is innocent of any connection with any mainstream paper in Malaysia, how did they manage to co-ordinate and organise massive Chinese support at home and abroad to gain their seats and keep Penang and Selangor under the Rocket?

For every "serial liar" in the form of party hacks and guest columnist in Utusan Malaysia, you can find the same DAP lackeys in the website papers, the same  'hacks' from the NGOs, from the yellow and black T-shirts Brigade, the neo-liberals  and racist-extremists.  But I would not describe them as "serial liars".  They know what they are doing and  how to get there!

No, they are far more slick and sophisticated in putting the knife in and blurring the line between fact and opinion. 

 
_____________________________________


JUST A BIT ON THE SIDE

An extract from Hui Mei Liew Kaiser  (April 18, 2013).  http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/18/why_i_m_flying_back_to_malaysia_to_vote

(The underlined parts are my own)

Amongst other stories of Malaysians overseas speeding home to vote, she mentioned that the local branch of Bersih in Shanghai has initiated a "Go back to vote campaign" that is offering 500 renminbi  (about $82) for airfare to Malaysians in the city who might not be able to afford the trip home ....Bersih's   Hong Kong chapter has launched a similar campaign, offering 500 Hong Kong dollars (about $60) towards a plane ticket".

Note :  500 renminbi = 256 MYR and 500 Hong Kong dollars = 202 MYR

Atap Genting, Atap Rumbia.

Since I cancelled my last posting I found myself with a problem.  How am I going to deal with the barrage of self-righteous accusations and arrogant posturings about UMNO  ( a useful ploy to denigrate the bumiputera) by Malays and non-Malays both here and abroad.

I have been exploring Mr Lim Kit Siang's  (the DAP's Chairman Mentor) blog and I must take off my hat to him  for the way he has cleverly selected articles from many sources, but mainly from the Malaysian Insider, to feed his political agenda.   He's truly a sifu in the art of data collection and some people in Barisan should take a tip or two from the LKS team. 

There is of course the Malaysian Insider's (MI) Clara Chooi taking a piggy back ride on the Economist.  See   blog.limkitsiang.com/2013/05/11/rapprochement-tough-after-bns-divisive-campaign-says-the-economist/

Then there's the article by Penang-based Aliran waxing lyrical about Dr Bakri Musa and his book "Liberating   the Malays".  blog.limkitsiang.com/2013/05//18/umnos-unpardonable-sins-against-the-malay-rakyat/#more-24191

On 24 May LKS  revived John Pang's 4 May 'holier-than-thou'  article in the New York Times, (meant for the American market, both the locals and the Made-in-Malaysia groupies).  See blog.limkitsiang.com/2013/05/24/in-malaysia-a-historic-chance-for-reform/#more-24280  

On 9 May, LKS cast his eyes over an article by Dr Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied (assistant professor of Malay Studies at National University of Singapore) taken from the MI (where else?)  Read blog.limkitsiang.com/2013/05/09/how-malays-voted-at-ge13/#more-23941 .

The Professor from Singapore did say something nice about Malays in Malaysia, that "they have and will continually move along the path of moderation, shunning the extremist and communalistic tendencies ......"

He went on: "The new breed of Malays have their eyes now set on cosmopolitan leaders (???),  regardless of which party they are from, leaders whose forebears have had Malay interests in mind and, above and beyond that, the interests of all Malaysians at heart".

What about the 'new breed' of Chinese and Indians, Prof??? 

On 21 May LKS featured an article byYang Razali Kassim (senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University) entitled  : "The de- racialisation of Barisan National" in of course the Malaysian Insider. He had this to say,  "While BN was relieved to have been returned to power, the results were a body blow that sent it into deep introspection.  A significant upshot has been a proposal to transform itself from the current model of a coalition of communal parties into a single, merged multi-racial party".  blog.limkitsiang.com/2013/05/21/the-de-racialisation-of-barisan-nasional/#more-24258

Aaaah - a resurrection of the PAP's (when Singapore was  part of Malaysia) and DAP's clarion call of 'Malaysian Malaysia'?

Well, if  the Malay Peninsula  had over 75 % Malay majority and the economy was in their hands right from the beginning without hindrance or competition from abroad and were tolerated and encouraged by the colonialist powers to lubricate the wheels of the Empire  ( like down south - just change the race and the country) then we could all be a happy-clappy multi-racial Malaysia!  And should the dominant proportion of Malays begin to dwindle, just import a million or more Malays from the Malay Archipelago.  But make sure they're healthy, young and well-educated.

                                           *                *              *                *

In 1954, my mother packed me off to stay with her best friend at a kampung in Bukit Panjang, Singapore over the December school holidays.  On the 25th of December I said to Macik Ayik, "Macik Ayik, hari 'ni hari Krismas".  She looked quizzically at me and asked, " Krismas 'tu apa, 'nak?

I thought of this when I read Aliran gushing over Dr M. Bakri Musa's book  "Liberating the Malay mind".

Here's a quote.

Malays have been addicted to the comfort of life underneath the coconut shell for far too long.  Now with the shell breached  by globalisation and the digital  waves, it is dawning upon us that our  'comfort' is anything but.  There is a far greater, more open, and definitely more wondrous universe out there that we have been missing.

I guess I must be missing out a lot on this 'wondrous universe' thingy.  And so would Aisha, our road sweeper who comes from a kampung near Kampar, Perak.

If I mention globalisasi and gelombang ombak digital as a catalyst for  'improving' the Malays, she would look at me quizzically and ask,   " Digital dan globalisasi tu apa, kak?"

Aisha is about 55.  Her father died when she was quite young and her widowed mother worked as a rubber tapper and 'tangguk udang di-sungai' to sell at one ringgit a tin ( a cigarette tin size) to feed the family.  At 15, Aisha went to work as a farm labourer at a Chinese farm in Cameron Highlands.  She was allowed to go home once a month.

She became an 'urban Malay' when she married Osman and moved to Kuala Lumpur.  They both got jobs as road sweepers in the Setiawangsa area and were employed by Osman's aunt who was given the Job Contract because of those 'nasty' affirmative-action policies for bumiputeras.  Such policies of course are the bane in the lives of LKS and his acolytes and according to some urban middle class Malays, in agreement with their Chinese/Indian counterparts, should be dispensed with.  After all, we should all be equal in Malaysia and have the same rights notwithstanding.

Aisha and Osman having lunch  al fresco by the roadside.  Note the cat behind Osman.  They also feed the stray cats in this area.

Osman and Aisha decided not to bring up their son and daughter in KL because they were aware of the problem of drugs among Malay teenagers.  They feared the consumerist temptations of urban life which they cannot afford, unlike those of the urban middle class, who deplore the electoral weightage given to people like Osman and Aisha.   It should, of course, be one man, one vote.  All Malaysians are equal!

Their daughter died 3 years ago, aged 16, just after her SPM.  The kampung clinic was not equipped to diagnose what was actually a cancer.  Their son completed his SPM 2 years ago, but jobs were scarce where he was.  Getting further education involved too many logistical problems  ( his mum can't ferry him  about in the family SUV like the middle class urbanites) and he was not brilliant enough to get 10  'A' s  ( his mum and dad could not afford to give him tuition you see, - unlike the middle class urbanites, and the "one man, one vote" mob? ).. He now works for a Chinese taukeh transporting oil palm fruits from the estates.  He has been promoted - from coolie to lorry driver - even though he has no driving licence.

They are both diabetics and they are grateful to the (Barisan) Government for they pay only 2 ringgit  for their regular medication at the Government clinic.  This was part of the reason why they voted BN.   It was certainly not because they were swayed by racist propaganda emanating from UMNO.  Osman is bright, he is concerned  (like the middle class urbanites)  about the malfeasance of the BN Government, about Malay malingerers who 'tak sedar diri '.  Yet he sees Indonesians working so very hard in Malaysia and wishing they could have what Malaysians have, back home in Indonesia.  

Osman and Aisha have their grumbles but theirs are a world away from middle class urbanites' complaints.  Middle class urbanites complain about heavy construction work too close to their gated communities.  They're almost neurotic about crime.  They rant and go to the law sometimes to stop the construction of low-cost flats in their vicinity - but they do get their rubbish removed 3 times a week  (it's only once a week in Leicester and Osman and Aisha  have to dispose their own rubbish in the kampung).

Osman and Aisha on the other hand are waiting for a macadamised road in their kampung.  In this hot season, the dusty road adds to their discomfort  on their way home. Public transport from the village to the nearest town is abysmal.  Would the one man, one vote system solve their problems?

As a matter of interest, these two recipients of the rural weightage system, especially Aisha the magpie, managed to pick up all sorts of goodies discarded by the middle class urbanites - stuff like rucksacks, lamps, sliding glass windows, crockery, potted plants, ladies' and men's shoes  (elok-elok lagi kak, says Aisha), jackets and windcheaters meant for cold climes, and even 3 bicycles!  They collected so many discards from the townies they had to be stored in our porch.  I was relieved when their nephew brought a lorry to send them back to the kampung.

It is people like Osman and Aisha that 'rural weightage' should be all about.  Yet the call goes on from the liberal, political pundits and middle class urbanites, to end  the 'disgraceful gerrymandering' which only serves the "Malay heartland' and perpetuates 'Malay supremacy'.  So the middle class urbanites felt disadvantaged, and demanded that this injustice should be abolished for the sake of a clean and fair election - because we are all equal, like Osman's family in the kampung and the well-heeled (social activist) professional  and his BMW 7 Series in Taman Kiara.

One man, one vote - very democratic.  Rural weightage - how very racist!

                              *           *               *               *                  *

We've been hearing a lot about how disgraceful it is, that BN  could win 60% of  seats when they have won only 47% of the votes.  

I think this is more disgraceful!!

SOURCE :  Economic Planning Unit

TABLE 1 - Mean monthly gross household income by ethnicity, Malaysia 2009

MALAYSIA                                                   4,025

     Bumiputera                                                 3,624

     Chinese                                                      5,011

     Indians                                                       3,999

     Others                                                        3640

URBAN                                                         4,705

RURAL                                                         2,545

Look at these figures, and read what The Economist has to say:

    "..... if UMNO is to have a future in a prospering Malaysia it needs young urban voters, not poor    rural ones".  

See www.economist.com/news/leaders/21577390-after-tainted-election-victory-najib-razak-needs-show-his-reformist-mettle-dangerous/print   (para 6)

"For their part DAP leaders argue that the result was not so much the consequences of a Chinese tsunami as an urban one. The heartland of the party is in urban and semi-urban seats, where it increased its share of the Malay as well as the Chinese vote."

See  www.economist.com/news/asia/21577375-government-scrapes-homeallegedly-aided-vote-rigging-tawdry-victory/print  (para 6)

                          *                         *                          *                           *

REFORMASI  AND  UBAH

TABLE 2 - Mean Monthly Gross Income by State 2007

STATE                                                 RM

Johore                                                   3,457

Kedah                                                   2,408

Kelantan                                                2,143     *

Melaka                                                  3,421

Negri Sembilan                                      3,326

Pahang                                                  2,995

Perak                                                    2,545.

Perlis                                                     2,541.

Pulau Pinang                                          4,004      *

Sabah                                                    2,866

Sarawak                                                3,349

Selangor                                                5,580      *

Terengganu                                            2,463

Wilayah                                                 5,322

                                                         _________________________

TABLE  3     Mean Monthly Gross Household Income for the Top 20% of households by ethnicity 2007

ETHNICITY

Bumiputera                          7,666                                               

Chinese                             11,878

Indians                                 9,119

Others                                10,830

     MALAYSIA                   9,173

                                               _________________________

TABLE  4    Mean Monthly Gross Household Income for the Bottom 40% of households by ethnicity 2007

ETHNICITY

Bumiputera                         1,194

Chinese                              1,805

Indians                               1,545

Others                                1,025

    MALAYSIA                  1,345 

                                             _________________________

TABLE  5

                                                   

                                               _____________________________________________

Over the past 50 years, it could be argued, the greatest beneficiaries of  BN Government policy have been the middle class urbanites and the captains of Commerce and Industry , who are mainly located in Pakatan territory.

The need now, is to swing development more in favour of the Osmans and Aishas in the kampungs and their cousins in Sabah and Sarawak.

It is time that  BN  (especially UMNO)  clean up their act and seriously undertake to serve those in greatest need and not those in greatest want!

As for the successful Malays, their responsibility to those in need goes beyond paying zakat and fitrah and visiting and bringing parcels of food to the destitute during Ramadan and Hari Raya.

And all anak anak Melayu worth their salt (or belacan) should get off their backs and read and write to rebut, expose and counter the half-truths, the crooked thinking and the insidious mockery of their tong pao (of the same womb), that is, their keturunan  and not their ketuanan.  And do this in the English language.  No more ceramahs and seminars - just get cracking.     

A Cancellation.

I regret to say that I have decided to cancel my last posting  "Lim Kit Siang, Malaysian Insider, The Economist" - because of problems to do with writing styles in journalism.  This posting referred to blog.limkitsiang.com/2013/05/11/rapprochement-tough-after-bns-divisive-campaign-says-the economist/

On re-reading the posting I realize an error  in Part (a)  'On the issue of UMNO turning GE13 into a nasty and divisive campaign'  when I stated that Clara Chooi did not attribute her Para 2 to The Economist.  For this I offer my apologies.

However, I take the stand that sentences and phrases in the same para 2, extracted verbatim from The Economist, should be within quotation marks.  Nevertheless I may face dissent and  confrontation from some quarters because that might be acceptable in the realm of modern journalism.

I hold firmly to this view because I was taught and I also taught my students that any inclusion of words and sentences that are not your own should be within quotation marks.  Any deviation from this could be seen as plagiarism.

To spare myself any hassle I have thought it best to delete this posting.

But this I must emphasise.     My second thoughts certainly do not apply to the rest of my posting regarding (b) The reference to the Chinese Tsunami,  (c) Mr Anwar Ibrahim and Mr Najib ,  the hatchet job on UMNO and the Malays, and The Economist's propensity to diminish the one Muslim country that is peaceful, strongly multi racial and not a failed state or a basket case.

More so with my piece on how able Malays must learn how to deal with such negative portrayals from home and abroad.

To my readers who have read this posting and written very thoughtful comments, I can only offer my apologies and a big thank you.

Maria - Cucu si Hamid - Anak Melayu Sejati

Maria - seen above with her cousin Shah - decided to share her thoughts with ma'ngah.  I have watched her grow from the messy and slightly shy kid in Batu Pahat to the cautious and curious young student in Liverpool, and to what I thought was the grand finale - her marriage and motherhood.

But this year, she has done her Atok 'Antan proud.  Together with her spouse Nadzim,  these two will lift up and re-invigorate the UMNO torch that had been blown out by the winds of greed, egoism, selfishness and ingratitude of the Malays both within and without UMNO - the original and only UMNO that her grandfather's generation had nurtured.  Here are Maria's thoughts.

Tribute to the Backbone of UMNO - the Wanita!

It never crossed my imagination that I would be involved in the country's 13th General Election.  And I didn't know how such an involvement would change how I look at things.

Let me briefly introduce myself:  I am what you would classify as a middle income earner, a graduate,  a mom to 5 growing children, comfortable in our own ways.  My world revolved around my family, including the extended one, and my work.

Now, my husband is a little bit different.  On top of his day job, he is passionately involved in politics.  So we drew up an arrangement, he will have the politics, I'll take care of the kids.  It worked beautifully.  But there were times when I could not understand why politics would take so much of his time and arguments would follow.

Things were just as usual until that fateful day in April this year when he was nominated to become a candidate in the General Election.

Needless to say our lives changed.  But I remained the contented and, now I realised, a selfish me.  Again another fateful event, an eye opener.

It started from the Introduction Event where the candidates and their respective spouses were introduced to the 'Jentera' or the campaign machinery.  The hall was packed, the crowd was huge, people were cheering,  the room was energised.  There were men, women, lads, young ladies all ready to take up the final sprint of the 2 weeks to polling day.  The crowd of ladies and their energy overwhelmed me as a newcomer.  I wasn't aware before this of the numbers of people who were involved, especially the ladies!

This was the beginning of seeing the women in action.  Throughout the campaign period in the constituency, be it in the break of a new day,  the scorching heat of the afternoon sun, till the wee hours of night, the BN machinery worked continuously.  And in that 'Jentera', the Wanita and the Puteri were leading the way in numbers, in spirit and in full commitment - knocking on the doors, giving out hand bills, cooking and so on.  It gave a knock to my heart seeing them every time.  They gave so much and asked for so little.

You see, most of them lead a humble life, even mine looks luxurious.  And they are not young either.  Most of them are in their late forties.  And these are the people who are convinced, who wanted a change in the Selangor State Government, who wanted a better future.  And it's not  just for them, it's for you and me, for our children and their children and more,

I can't find an English word to describe my feelings every day on that campaign beat, meeting them and joining their effort - the experience  "menginsafkan" and it humbled me.

The ladies of Jalan Enggang who cooked the 'bubur  lambuk' and then distributed the handbills from 2pm onwards.  We were with them for an hour, it was like being in a sauna!

Viva the UMNO ladies.  Nobody paid them $1 or $100 !

  So, pay attention please - to the people at the top - where you are driven everywhere in comfort and everyone is looking after you :  remember these people, these Wanita who worked tirelessly to make sure that you stay in power, to make sure that the Government of the day remained.  So when ever you're making your decisions, spare your thoughts - lots of your thoughts - for them.  For your  future and my future lies with them.  Without them, you are nothing!

Salute to all the Wanita and Puteri UMNO.  ' Perjuangan belum selesai'  my dear ladies and now you have me too. 

ps.  If I may, a special thank you to my partner for the journey.

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

Thank you Maria and Nadzim.  The fulfilment  of the dreams and aspirations of the UMNO pioneers like Abdul Hamid bin Jala now depend on people like you.  I am sorry that my generation did not do a good job and left you to pick up the pieces.




Langkah se rentak, ala sayang, sama bergerak,
Sikap gaya, ala sayang, pendekar puteri.
Bertepuk tangan , amboi tangan, tanda berani,
Tiada gentar, ala sayang, hai membela diri. 

MAYONNAISE MALAYS and BELACAN MALAYS.

   
To Anonymous, thank you for your comment  ( Whither the Malays? and Wither the Malays) which I reckon requires an airing as a posting.  Now and again I like to highlight an anonymous comment - especially when it is negative, and especially when it illuminates part of the problem.   This one is a good example of the rather smug half-baked thinking that bedevils so much of our country's political conversation, especially its 'cyber-conversation'.


I struggle to find  anything intelligible in what you wrote.  You seem to think that the election results reflect a generation gap, which (according to you) is best described in the form of music tastes.  Seems a bit simplistic to me.  If that's what you're saying, you make my point perfectly about a dumbed-down generation.

If your obsession with pop music is silly in this context, your rabbiting on about the British National Party (BNP) is equally (and more dangerously) stupid.     In particular, your attempt to characterize the Barisan Nasional as somehow akin to the BNP is a sick joke indeed.    Especially so, given the nature of the opposition in this country - a squalid amalgamation of Chinese chauvinists, Muslim fundamentalists and a mainly Malay  'Alternative Party'  led by a proxy of US neo-cons and Zionists, who's driven by the desire to lead the next Government in Putrajaya.

IZNOGOUD , a Comic character by  Goscinny and Tabary , 1978

You clearly know very little about the British National Party.  But at least the reference to it shows that you have read a few articles and can drop a few 'useful'  names.  But perhaps that's all you wanted to do.

There is no doubt that some? many? Malays, especially today's middle-aged middle class liberals have been spoilt  - compared to the Chinese and Indians in the same economic league - and they do not appreciate this fact.  They were hoisted and pushed and pampered as a result of UMNO's  NEP.  Now they live in 'gated' communities, in glorified terrace and semi-detached 'palaces', drive macho 4WDs and continental cars and in turn cosset their beautiful children.  My point is simple : too many of such Malays have forgotten who spoon-fed them, how they progressed on the backs of the Rakyat and how little they have ploughed back into the Malay community.

Some time ago I met this Malay post-grad student in Leicester and he said,  "From Form 1 in the Sekolah Asrama' to my first degree in the United States and a post-graduate degree in UK, it was the Government (the Rakyat) that spooned the rice into my mouth".  At least  he appreciated and recognized that privilege.

Your last paragraph is glib nonsense.  "The kids will be alright"??  Well, if this cut and paste Opposition is your blue print  for the future - to apply to all 'kids 'in this country - then heaven help them.  An uglier example of short term political opportunism would be hard to find - anywhere in the world.  But certainly YOUR kids will be alright.

This is not about a gap between generations, between cultural groupings.  This is a revival - with a vengeance  - of the British-made, pre-Merdeka gulf between the well-heeled, well-serviced  urbanites and the subsistence, hand-to-mouth  'Malayans'  on the urban fringes and in the boondocks.

Today, as for the Malays, it is the turn of the fat cats and the self-righteous in the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the People's Justice Party (PKR), and the Pan-Malaysian  Islamic Party (PAS) - each with their own agenda - to screw and manipulate the rights and security of others.

And by the way, it would be the liberal and right thing to do - especially given the nature of your comment - to have the courage of your convictions, and to give us your proper name, the name that your parents gave you.



BUTA HURUF DAN BUTA AKAL.

Let my country awake.

In January 1975, I came back to resume my studies at London University.  My father passed away in December 1974 and I had gone back home for over a month to be with the family.

When I went for my lecture, my lecturer Lady Rosemary Firth glared at me and angrily asked  "Where have you been?"

I broke down and cried and uttered  " My father died.  I went home."  I wasn't angry with her.  It was because she cared.

When class was over, she took me by the arm and said,  "Come with me."  We went to her room and she  told me how she dealt with the loss of her father. She wore black!

She had been in Trengganu for some time where her husband researched and wrote the book  " Malay Fishermen :  Their Peasant Economy, 1946 ".  She told me she was aware of how Malays, as Muslims, dealt with bereavement.   But as I was alone in London, she wanted me to see the University's counsellor.  It was my choice.

She further added,  "Come and see me when ever you feel like it".   In fact she invited me to her house at Highgate and for me , that was one of the kindest and enriching visits in my life.  There I learned from her about "Wayang Kulit" .  They had been  presented with the whole set of puppets and she reassured me they have all been  'de- spiritualised'.  She understood the reasons why this had to be done and I think somewhere in her she also believed in the spirit of the need to do so.

So I went to the University Clinic at Malet Street, to see the psychologist/psychotherapist .   It helped me tremendously.  After about five sessions I thanked the doctor  ( I've forgotten his name) and told him that I  did not "need him any more".   He smiled and said  " Good, remember my door is always open".

That's a long preamble for what I actually wanted to post.  My father, up to his death,  kept up a correspondence with me about what was going on in the Federation ( his way of referring to his tanah air) in the 1970s and how he was concerned about what was happening to the Malays.

When I saw this poem  at the University Clinic, I thought about my father and his love for his homeland.

And now, when I receive comments from my readers about their sadness and despair over what's happening in their motherland , I recall Rabindranath Tagore's  Let My Country Awake.

Where the mind is without fear and the head held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by Thee into ever-widening thought and action;
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Rabindranath Tagore  (1861-1941)

Whither the Malays? - and - Wither the Malays

That badge could even be earlier because the photo below, of Abah setting up an UMNO Branch at Kampung Abu Kassim,  Pasir Panjang, Singapore showed him with my brother Mus who was five or six years old.  That would date it around 1952.  The other founding members were made up of local Malays from the 4ms (milestone) to 7ms Pasir Panjang Road and soldiers from the Federation of Malaya serving in the British Army.  Remember this was a few years after the end of the Malayan Union of 1946 when the Malays realised what their fate would be if they allowed the British to erode their rights and heritage.  Also this was at the height of the insurgency by the Communist Party of Malaya which started in 1948.   Read my postings - (1) http://anaksihamid.blogspot.com/2011/10/romance-of-history.html
   (2)http://anaksihamid.blogspot.com/2011/10/between-python-and-cobra-csh.html
   (3)http://anaksihamid.blogspot.com/2011/10/between-python-and-cobra-csh.html
   (4)http://anaksihamid.blogspot.com/2011/04/raking-cupboard-under-stairs.html
   (5) http://anaksihamid.blogspot.com/2010/04/school-books-i-have-known.html

But my father and all those men were no wild-eyed Malay fanatics.   This was their tanah air..... it was all they had - there was no other 'motherland' to return to.  They did not want their people to end up like the natives of North America, Australia, New Zealand, or the indigenous tribes in Taiwan.  They wanted a future for their children and grandchildren.  It was not an easy ride but the dreams of these brave men did materialise albeit in a form they would not recognise and accept.  They, for those who are still here, now see their anak and cucu and cicit - the beneficiaries of their struggle and sacrifices - biting the hands that fed them.   For a good many of those who prospered under the NEP have sold their souls to the very people that their forefathers were worried about.  It's all right for them because their children's futures are secure - huffing and pouting they can migrate to Australia, New Zealand, Canada and USA, bringing their high qualifications which were paid for by the rakyat.

And there are other ways they use to show their contempt and discontent.  I know of academics in USM who refuse to buy Proton because that will profit the UMNO cronies, so they buy a French Peugeot (sports model) instead - truly vanity dressed as principle!  The cost of a car like that would be enough to pay for part of their post-graduate studies overseas, paid for through an NEP instituted by the 'bad' and  'good 'in UMNO.  Then there's another self-hating Malay who failed after several attempts to obtain his PhD (paid for by the rakyat) and then demanded PhD pay - as he had been working for several years sans the PhD.  Then there's the Malay PhD who threatened a student and retorted  " Ingat, aku ini Professor dan Doctor.  Kau ingat senang nak dapat  PhD?   Ingat siapa durian, siapa timun!"   He forgot to mention he got to be a durian on the backs of the rakyat and the despicable NEP!

Yes, there are bad apples in UMNO, worms and cankers of the worst sort - another bye-product of  so-called progress.  Yes, for some of the Malays what they've been given is like "kera di beri bunga".  But the Brits have a term to describe this propensity.  "Yes, they are bastards, but they are our bastards".  So it's up to the beneficiaries of NEP to take up the cudgels to rid society of these "Melayu bangsat" and do what their forefathers did.    And to remember: their forefathers did not  'run with the hare and hunt with the hounds'.

My father often reminded us:  " 'Kau orang adek beradek tak ramai, jangan bergaduh sesama sendiri."  Transfer that to the bangsa :  "Orang Melayu tak ramai ......"  This beautiful country, unlike any other country in the world,  has a racial makeup (set up by the British so as to maximise their profit ) that can be toxic if not handled properly.  Western ideals of freedom and equality  have to be tempered  by local soils and temperature.  Do not ever believe that Westerners practise in their own countries all those lofty ideals they sell and  preach to others not of their kind - especially the brown and liberal middle classes of the world.

The Chinese, wherever they are - in Singapore, USA, Australia, Britain, South Africa, and Malaysia preserve their unity in the concept of tong pao (of the same womb), of themselves as a family.  Now they are inspired in their commitment by their conversion to Christianity.   The unity born of Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism had no global agenda.   You can't say the same about Christianity.

If this complacency, smugness and disunity of the Malays persist then they  deserve to be Lunchais and Lebai Malang.  

Teras terunjam, gubal melayang.  ( The core of the tree is fixed deep in the ground, but the sapwood is blown away.)

When the upwardly mobile Malays have risen - to be sapwood - then shall the Malays wither.

This has been a hard and painful piece to write - seperti meludah ke langit.

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NOTE :  Comments are welcomed.  Racist statements, allusions and connotations will be publicised if they will submit their names as well.  I know anyone can call themselves Mat and Minah, but they cannot escape the intent of their words.