Rigged

How else would you describe a debate that has a sudden increase in the number of people supporting the Malaysian government's ideas? This shows that even in Australia, the long scary arm of Malaysia still lurks behind shadows.

The MASCA Annual Debate had a good motive behind it. Unfortunately when discussing motions involving government policies, a debate is not the best solution. People have varying views on the topic at hand; some fully support the policy, others fully oppose the policy, and there are many who fall somewhere in between the two extremes. A debate, being fully black and white in having "For" and "Against" teams, does not work well to support the full spectrum of views. Hence, I say that a good idea was tripped up by its execution.

I have other reasons to view the debate as flawed. Bad imagery on the program booklet and advertisements - are we really all monkeys living in trees? Not the best imagery I'd say. Furthermore, regarding the program booklet handed out, there is nothing inside regarding any of the 6 speakers or the moderator. No credentials, no photos, no details about what makes them suitable candidates for the debate. And why aren't there any engineers on either of the debating teams? Something to think about there, since some people say that "Engineers make the world go round, politicians come and stuff things up".

As for the handling of the debate itself, the moderator was not subtle when it came to reminding debaters about their time limits. Visual cues should have been given, or a less intrusive ringing bell would have worked.

On the debate itself, the participants had weak points overall. A single government policy does not always directly cause something, especially since you need to trace all the policies to get to the root cause of something. How do you know that the NEP directly assisted the progress of Malaysia?

Also, when it came to defining progress, I feel that the speakers could have used the following analogy: Progress is an upward-sloping line. It's not a flat line.
Thus, if you're anywhere below that line, then there is not enough progress. Really, we should be looking at natural progress as well as assisted progress. None of the speakers took into account natural progress, which would have been more meaningful.

Overall, I feel that the opposition speakers of the day are still making excuses for the Malaysian government, such as "We are still a young nation" [Young? Pfft.], "We don't want to be lapdogs of the USA" [Um. How do you progress if you don't want learn from the best?] and "If you aim for the stars and you miss, at least you still land on the moon" [Very comforting, I know, but useless when you look at the "cold hard facts", as their own speakers put it].

NB: The topic of the debate was "Malaysia has failed to progress since the inception of the NEP". Opposition speakers on the topic think that we have progressed, government speakers think that we have failed to progress.

Random thoughts

It's coming to the end of January. One thing that surprises me is that summer here in Melbourne is kinda idyllic. It's not as hot most days, unlike what some people think.

So.. the first month of 2010 ending. Why the sudden focus on politics, you might ask? Well it all started with a court ruling on religion, which then inflated into a political as well as a race issue. And then there was the influence of the missing jet engines. In short, a lot of fishy things were going on, mostly attributed to the ruling coalition's mischief. Whether that is true is still open to debate. So, adding the thoughts of an observer too far away to directly probe things, it should prove interesting to see how I'm thinking about the problems.

42

If only the darned supercomputers we have now could tell us that.

Anyway back to reality for a while. Dr M has decided to say that 9/11 was staged. "If they can make Avatar, they can make anything," he said.

Well Dr M, sorry to jostle your brain, but you had a heart attack. Your family decided to bring you here to the States for expert medical treatment. Unfortunately you were slipping into a vegetative state, so we had to pull your brain out, transferring it into a vat. Everything you've heard so far is a fantasy, cooked up by one of our major supercomputers. Hmm? Did you say something? Oh yes, we definitely staged 9/11. Someone had to put the Muslims in their place after all.

Sarcasm wins when people start spouting their brand of nonsense.

Things...

...just aren't the way they seem. I think it's time the youth started speaking their mind. After all, we are the future generation. Let the future generation have more say in what sort of a country we want to inherit.

We don't want a country plagued by infighting. We don't want a country ruled and divided along religious lines. We might want some measure of equality. But we sure as hell don't need the nonsense passed down from you guys in power right now.

Contemplations

I once had a discussion with a friend of mine regarding the existence of God. My friend pointed out that there were several reasons why we can safely discount the existence of a creator for the universe.

Later on, I started reading books on philosophy. One of the major questions they had in common was "Does God exist?" Many thought experiments were suggested to the readers, and some solutions were proposed, amongst which Occam's Razor stood out to me.

So.. if there is a good reason not to believe that God exists,
then.. why all the fighting over which name we should call him by?

inb4 religious people start hating on me

What some Malaysian academicians do during their free time

>>Link<<

My take: The person writing this so happens to be a Chinese-Muslim, and appears to be a convert by marriage. I do not have any preconceptions about his political leanings, or his religion leaning either. Hence I do not know anything about why he decides to write such an article - an article which may, and probably has, inflamed a number of people.

But I still do have a couple of questions regarding his article.
1. Why does Dr Tee choose to use a census that is almost a decade old? Should he not have used an updated version of our national census?

2. Related to question 1, why does Dr Tee think that the non-Muslims have "taken over"? Are there relevant statistics to show for the claims he makes in the post/article?

It is a baffling article. And I feel that it has the potential to incite the very things that he may have sought to quell in the first place.

Mixed feelings over switch, eh? Go screw yourself, says the wise one

Yet another change to the education system, yet another way of wasting taxpayers' money.

Define "mother tongue". Is it:

a) the language you first spoke at home?
or
b) the language of your race?

I remember some of us trying to debate this question with a lecturer last year. Sadly, to some people, as long as:

a) you aren't white,
b) you don't have a white parent,
c) you weren't born in an English speaking country, and lived there for more than 3 weeks,

you automatically don't qualify to say English is your mother tongue. Which is really unfair for those of us who've spoken English more than any other language since young. Hey, in case anyone high up reads blogs from the masses, understand this: we demand our rights too. Don't leave us out just because we aren't the majority. Our parents still pay you taxes, and I simply hate to see their hard-earned money going down the drain caused by the government changing plans every decade or so.

And why do the politicians need to come out to welcome the move? This seems like a sign that political pressures still rule this country of ours, that students are just pawns in the chess game of politics. So, in future, if you really want to change the lives of people, don't be an engineer or architect or scientist. Go and be a POLITICIAN. Even though you'll be cursed by everyone for failing them, you get to see your stuff implemented. You'll be happy, your supporters will be happy, your enemies will be happy, it's all a win-win situation, eh?

English is, and will be, the language for disseminating information throughout the world. General English is for communication purposes only. If you can't read and write technical terms in English, don't dream of going to any white man's land. Stay at home. Do your degree locally, feed the local education industry, earn lots of ringgit and make Malaysia proud. UTAR needs students. UiTM needs students. Go make them happy. Stay at home and make more champs. Then at international meetings, the only Malaysians you'll be seeing will be those who fit any one of these categories:

a) went to international schools
b) were born overseas, educated overseas since young
c) were through some distant relative, linked back to Malaysia

In short, the ones who will make us proud are the ones who ran away from the hopelessly failing education system. They will carry our flag, hidden in the shadows of another bigger flag.


To Muhyiddin, I don't know whether you enjoy this switch, but have fun facing criticism. To the Cabinet ministers who voted "Nay" to the change, I'm with you. To those who voted "Aye" for the change, I hope that your next trip in a bus ends up over a cliff. Hopefully while your contingent goes up to Genting, your driver fucks up. Good luck with facing rotten eggs anyway. Don't forget, the ones who understand more will end up with the world. Like Jesus, Moses, Muhammad, Buddha. Not politicians.

of police stations and ISA

It seems that this country has not much to offer lately. So there is nothing much to comment about. Except for 2 things.

#1. The police station in Chow Kit has many reasons for being moved. First it was to protect the police from unhealthy elements. Now according to Syed Hamid Albar it is because the owner wants the building back. How interesting. How many more original excuses can we hear from this Home Minister of ours?

***

#2. RPK is out of ISA detention. It seems that he has a massive following. When I watched the night news, the camera showed hordes of people massing around him. With such a large fan base, we now await further revelations from him as he exposes more misdeeds of the current government. Hopefully he doesn't disappoint his fans, because we want the present government to change its tack, or at least, be kicked out and be replaced with Pakatan.

the Malay problem [not dilemma]

Some quarters will never give up their rights to be stupid. First we had the young Malay graduates who didn't like one Gerakan VP's words because those words were "historically true, but hurt us much". Then now we have the accountant who's trying to block the Penang state government from putting up those multilingual road signs. Apparently it "was against Article 152 of the Federal Constitution, which made it clear that the Malay language was the country’s national language." This blatant abuse of the law is becoming more and more common among our citizens.
We non-Malays can also take some people to court for what they have said:
#1. Ahmad Ismail for calling us pendatang [most famous case]
#2. all those fellows who kiss the keris and call for Chinese blood

Actually these fellows should have been ISA-ed a long time ago. But these are not the only offenders. It will take a long time to find the rest of the culprits. Sad for us then.

views of a slacker during the exams

I will not be commenting too much on the ongoing SAM '08 finals, since any views published now will be biased. Rather, the ongoing fiascoes in the country seem to be more interesting to discuss. So, here goes.
The PAC has cleared the government of any wrongdoing in the Eurocopter deal. I wonder whether the ACA will come out with a similar report. If they do, there are 2 distinct possibilities, one of which is the truth:
#1. The present government is squeaky clean. All the ministers involved in the decision are not at fault for making the [expensive] decision.

OR

#2. Someone very high up instructed the PAC to report that nothing was amiss.
I can tell you that any thinking Malaysian will know which is the truth.

***

Recently some people did a survey of our school children to find out whether they support teaching Science and Maths in English. From what I read, I am inclined to suggest to the Education Minister to continue the program. There is no use going back on the decision, especially if it only benefits him politically. Unfortunately, our people are disunited. Some Chinese quarters want mother tongue [Chinese], most Malays would like it to be in Malay [for unity purposes they say] and some Indians would like it to be in Tamil. So there is no win-win situation. Unless we continue teaching Maths and Science in English, there will NEVER be a win-win situation.

Ok, now back to studying Physics. Must stop ranting on about this [unstable] country. The only thing to thank God is that we are not Zimbabwe.

-There are 2 things in life that are infinite: the universe and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe.- [slightly paraphrased, Einstein]

two things plaguing me now

#1. Music
#2. Social contract

Lets look at #1 first. Somehow, some psychologists have tied musical influence to creativity and better academic performance. I beg to differ. Does it really mean that if you learn to play the piano you will be inclined to better performance? I really have to disagree on that. Although my classmates will disagree with me, I think most of the ability comes from innate ability, then perseverance.
A second question I have is somewhat simpler. Why is the piano the favoured instrument for most music learners? Why not drums or guitar, especially when you take into account the cost of a piano compared to a guitar or drum set? It doesn't really make sense to me.

Now to the social contract. This is actually a very complicated issue, made worse by the government's various interpretation of the said contract. It is known that the initial contract said that the Chinese and Indians would be given citizenship in M'sia, but that they must respect the Malay special rights. The crux of the problem is that this is enshrined in the Constitution, and most of the younger generation live in bliss ignorance of any contract. So we wouldn't know if the government decided to amend the Constitution. Besides, the social contract should be renegotiated. Times have changed a lot since the 60's.
To those people who dislike historical facts, are we going to consider all history to be seditious? Because the fact remains that the same event will give one party happiness and another party will be unhappy. Are we going to deny our younger generation the right to know the truth? It doesn't make any sense.

Quote: The truth hurts, doesn't it?

This is our next PM

This is the deal cut by Najib when he was Defence Minister. Interesting what power does to people nowadays.

http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/13721/84/

With him as our next PM, I wonder how we are going to deal with the people next. Especially if he is not put away for his involvement in the Altantuyaa business.

stupid ahmad ismail part II

The saga continues. Idiot Ahmad Ismail is being a pain, so are his supporters. What do they do on national TV? Tear up the former Penang CM's picture. How childish of them. So. Sedition Act doesn't work on them. Bodowi can't do anything, cause he accepted the Racist One's explanation. Bodowi is too soft, he's better as a good father. But he fails as a leader of a country.
All we need is for MCA and Gerakan to pull out of BN and join Pakatan. Not because of spite, but rather to stand up for their principles. Are we going to lie down because of "quotes out of context" and "historical facts"? No. We will not bow down to idiots like him. Many of us already hate the BN government because of the miserable handling of the country.
Crossover Day is next week. Hopefully if Anwar's new government works, then our lives will be improved greatly. Hopefully.

immigrants

Ahmad "Immigrant Chinese!" Said is on the news again. Not to apologise or what, but to reiterate the rubbish he has in his mind.
"I am not going to apologise."
What a bloody Malay he is. Let's us look at a historical parallel, since he likes his history so much:

America: White immigrants came and took the land from the Indians.
Malaysia: Indonesian immigrants came and took the land away from the orang asli.

America: White immigrants call themselves Americans, after the country they took over.
Malaysia: Original Indonesian immigrants [circa 1400] call themselves Malays after taking over most of the country.

America: The Indians are a suppressed minority in their country, but are given some rights.
Malaysia: The orang asli are a minority in their country, but enjoy bumi status.

America: Other immigrants are assimilated into the country.
Malaysia: Other immigrants are assimilated into the country, but reluctantly.

Do you see where I'm going with this? If not, then I'll put it clearly. The Malays are a mixed lot, with Indonesian blood, Javanese blood, Bugis blood, even Arab blood, Indian blood and Chinese blood. There is no such race as the Malay race, because there is no Malay blood. If there is a Malay race, then the current Indonesians will also be considered as Malays.
Don't call me intolerant or insensitive. Don't ask for me to be charged under the Sedition Act either. The politicians say this sort of stuff "in a personal capacity", but at a public gathering. So, this is a public blog, but I will also say this in a personal capacity. And if you want to bandy historical facts, I have my Sejarah Tingkatan 1-5 textbooks to use as reference to clearly point out my points to you.
I'd rather wish that all of us could set aside our differences and try to help the country, but the fact is that the politicians aren't helping much. Dammit.

late Merdeka post

Independence should be for the people and the nation, not for the nation only. Right now, only the country has achieved independence. The people of the country have been cast aside in the progress of the country. So, this is one man's dream or Merdeka wishes:

1. Reduce corruption in the country, no matter whether it involves small fry or big sharks. So far, the ACA has done a reasonably "good" job. To the ACA: Keep it up! Make sure you get the big sharks or face the people's displeasure...

2. Make the MCMC follow its own rules to the letter. It says that any ISP providing <70% of advertised speeds can be shut down. So, TM, do something! Or face closure.

3. To Mr. PM: Be consistent. We the people hate leaders who chop and change things every 2 days.

4. To BN: Stop playing the race card, it won't help you get more votes in the next general election. The younger generation has grown up harmoniously with friends of different races, but as we get ready to vote, we tend to ignore leaders preaching about race.

5. To Pakatan Rakyat: You've been a good opposition so far, keep it up. Just beware of PAS a bit, in case they turn into the next UMNO. Don't let the PAS leaders become fanatics, that's what we don't want.

Merdeka

1 more day to Merdeka [as of time of writing]. The problem with Merdeka is the fact that the leaders keep repeating certain facts, such as national integration, unity, Malay supremacy, etc. etc. etc. even after Merdeka, after the citizens are supposed to have united and integrated. Can the BN keep their coalition together? MCA is against certain UMNO ministers who have made stupid insensitive comments. Gerakan may leave BN, same with SAPP, or so the talk goes.
But is the Pakatan Rakyat a better substitute? I don't know for sure at the moment. Anwar is charismatic, everyone seems to like him as the new PM. Even then, I hope PAS will not be the next UMNO, where its leaders make insensitive statements for the fun of it. That is, if the PR is going to be taking over as the next government. It is entirely possible, as only 30 BN ministers are required to cross over in order for the PR to form the next government.
Sabah is a hotbed for crossing over, due to the friction between the state and the federal government. If Anwar can really get the support of 30 ministers, then it will be the PR's turn to be the government. Interesting times ahead, watch out for the 16th of September.
That's all the ranting for now. To all Malaysians, abroad or local, happy celebrating the nation's 51st birthday!

Results of by-election

Anwar won Permatang Pauh with a 16k majority. This in spite of the fact that BN was gunning for a comeback after losing Permatang Pauh to both Anwar and his wife, Wan Azizah.
So. Parliament will be much more lively than before with Anwar in there. Personally, I think that BN may lose the next general elections if they don't show any sign of trying to improve our standards of living. Hopefully with Anwar back in the Dewan, the BN government will try to help us positively. Otherwise, they are preparing to be kicked out of the ruling seat.
It is a known fact that when the government needs to save its own arse, they will do things to help the rakyat. Oh well. Either some good will come of the by-election results, or else nothing much will result from it.

m'sia my country

I must say that the M'sian ministers are a funny lot. On one hand they tell the US not to interfere with the justice and legal system in M'sia [regarding the Anwar sodomy charges], on the other hand they advise the German NGO not to hold the anti Islam congress. Fine, so NGOs aren't part of the government. True. But doesn't this sort of go against the policy of non-interference?

By the way, if we talk about religion, then I must say that Islam has been tainted by a group of people who are, shall we say, selfish. Not all Muslims are fanatical terrorists.

On the topic of religion still, I must also comment on the Bar Council forum. It was an "open" forum. But there were still those who were not supportive of the openness, and decided to demonstrate. Are all Malays that close minded? I think not, and I hope not. Even if the PM and DPM think that religion should be a closed topic, I think this is a wrong move.

Ok, now onto the topic of demonstrations. The Universities and University Colleges Act [UUCA] does not permit students to participate in activities outside of the campus. Anyone violating this Act can have disciplinary action taken against them.
Where is the Selangor MB's office building? Is it near to the UiTM campus? I doubt it is anywhere near the campus, maybe within marching distance. So, why were the demonstrators not disciplined? Police permit was given to the demonstration. Fine, so the police can't take action against the students. 5000 students marched. I wonder why these 5000 students weren't disciplined by the university authorities in accordance with the UUCA.