internet is the mainstream media

A lot has changed in Malaysia. Traditional thought and belief that a government knows best what is good for its people is gone. A bit too late for Malaysia but it is better late than never. While other democracies flourish, Malaysia remains backward in term of discharging her duties towards the citizens. People were made fools by those in power and for now at least there is hope. This is evident in events prior to the March 2008 general election. For once a party that rule the country for half a century conceded that there is a more powerful medium of reaching to the people, the internet, and people for once chose not to let absolute power continues it corruption of basic rights of citizen to voice discontentment and take fate in their own hands. In a world where democracy continues to be shoved forward for the masses to swallow, many find it hard to ignore that this western style democracy is firm in the hands of the haves and not the haves not. Money still rules but for now democracy is the only acceptable system that is touted as the answer to the world’s turmoil, albeit this shortcoming. Money in turn allows aspirants to buy access to the second “M”, machinery that will see to it that it will mobilise forces to fight the enemies and work days and nights for its candidates. In this information era, the third and final ingredient to propagate ideology is of course access to media. Traditional media has been overshadowed with the advent of the internet. And in case of Malaysian politics, the internet has become the mainstream media. This is the main reason on the part of the archaic ruling party of Malaysia to scramble madly towards acquiring this coveted media. It has this notion that everything can be bought at the right price. Attempts are made at rounding up this coalition of internet writers. Little that these unscrupulous lots comprehend that this coalition exist because of a common cause of propagating reforms, fight for injustices and promotes transparency and good governance on the part of government that are missing components of civil societies. A few falls into traps set by these shameless lots. As with any struggle for that matter, there will be those who succumb to pressure or simply not committed enough to usher into a new dawn of information freedom. And there are those who realise that it is virtually impossible to buy into internet portals that carry credible news and commentaries choose to get themselves involved in setting up portals that do their bidding for them. In an era where free expressions thrives and prospers, websites that do not go along a mainstream of political freedom fall like monsoon rain or disappear into oblivion the minute it goes on cyber space. Enter a jungle where the only rule that applies is the namesake law. In this dense jungle the game played by these scumbags is the one with no rule. Those that we cannot conquer, we will imprison with fear. Those that have the courage to fight, we will break with draconian rules and oppressive laws. Will this curtail struggle for freedom? Recent blunder of internet censorship and disruption by the Malaysian government proved to be costly and self serving. But as with other repressive regimes, this budding regime learns very little. Persecution against dissents will continue even though this will serve only to bring destruction to all. But it only goes to prove that the internet media can no longer be ignored and as for battle ground of the future, these internet wars are wars of the future. troubadour

Kuala Lumpur

islamic movement / harakah islamiah

Ahhh.. They bite the SB bait. The SB that set up the site on Kumpulan Erdogan must be laughing mad and at the same time languishing in sheer satisfaction. Time and again they prove themselves to be geniuses. In the first place there is no Erdogan Team at all. The SB lot studied the success of Turkish “Islamists” methodology. Not only Malaysian SB, even the CIA and Mossad marvel at Turkish approach to propagating Islamic rule. It was brilliant. Simply outstanding the way the whole Turkish team operates. Not many people are aware that this Turkish group is the product of true Islamic teachings, the way of the Muslim Brotherhood or “Ikhwanul Muslimin” pioneered by Hassan AlBanna in Egypt. In Malaysia, these true Muslim fundamentalists are all in PAS. That is why UMNO and its subversive machineries the SB unit of the police force are afraid of. Their mentor, CIA and Mossad taught them so. They will wage war at PAS at all costs. They truly believe that with PAS gaining a lot of ground politically in Malaysia, it spells trouble for them. In actual fact, PAS success in becoming mainstream party or any Islamic movement whatsoever is a “threat” to the Jewish state, Israel. This so called threat is a fringe of their imagination. True Islamic parties will oppose crazy Jewish propaganda of enlarging their territory at the expense of other people, be it Muslim or Christians. This has nothing to do with religion but rather it is actually a crime against humanity. Turkish “Islamists’” party did so well that their method becomes a blueprint for others to emulate. They truly move according to the law. Turkey is very secular and yet the so called Islamists manage to come to power in a lawful manner and continue to respect the law and abide by the very law that was enacted when they embrace secularism. However, there is a reason that many simply fail to notice. Their success comes after a long period of education. The party follows steps laid down by the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt then as to how to build strong and long lasting Islamic movement. PAS in all its existence tried very hard to do this. Their constitution is an exact copy of the Muslim Brotherhood but their failure to strengthen their movement through this institution of education systematically is causing them to take a tumble time and again. What more with assault from the SB unit through subversive work and immense infiltration deep inside the Islamic party. We will witness time and again these deep agents shoot themselves in the foot. For keen observers, this is too obvious but then the one that cast the first stone normally disappears and situation is quickly seized by spin doctors that ignite it into such a frenzy and euphoria that everybody is lost in the confusion and objective of demonising a particular entity or movement becomes a real success. Fifty years is half a century. It is a very long time for a political party to remain in power. Such a grip onto power give rise to massive resources both manpower, institutions and instruments to not only maintain power base but enlarging it to such an extent that it is virtually unshakeable and what we can only hope is that their success will breed their own downfall as their members engage in excesses and for get the very reason of their existence in the first place. As other empires that perish before, UMNO/BN will follow the same route. We are seeing it happening already. They coined the term money politics as opposed to the right and internationally accepted terminology of an act of bribery as corruption. Let them taste their intoxicating savouries. PAS is still caught in this time capsule. They engage in infighting and this is precisely what the enemy wants. They must quickly wake up and be back on track. It is the quality of its members that will determine their success. Numbers delude you into believing that you are mighty. Early Muslims succeed not because of numbers but because of the level of commitment and quality of its people. So, if you truly believe that there is this Erdogan Team, they will appear in droves. Perception is by the way, a reality.

dimwits at the gates

Listening to or reading statements made by ministers these days just simply spoil my day. I would cringe in anger and if I am alone driving I would be screaming mad. That idiot Hamid Albar’s statement on police practicing no double standard was one such statement. Bloody stupid moron! Whenever there is an opposition leader making some “incriminating” remarks, he is summoned to the police station for the police to record his statement but when an UMNO or BN man make “seditious” statement, the police goes to his house to record a statement. If this is not double standard, it must be psychopathic rule of this ugly home minister. Looking at those in power in UMNO now and will be our “tuan” leading the nation to ruin, you will notice a bunch of idiots. Birds of the same feather flock together. It is understandable that they behave the way they do. They mix among themselves and when a bunch of morons sharing their thought, it was a real stupid mayhem. They are so daft and the only thing that they care is money and women. If you are to do a thesis on this species, you will discover that inbreeding is really creating these unique characteristics of men-beasts. We have come full circle as far as this lot is concerned. With the exception of the late Tunku, other former PMs inbreeding programmes give rise to a number of progeny, and all without exception inherit this dim-witted thick skull moronic features and behaviours. Just look at Najibultantuya, the moment he opens his mouth, you smell foul scandals from a mile away. Even though the softie Lower Education Minister is quiet these days, you have to agree that he is one daft offspring, yet another product of years of inbreeding process. How about the other bald-headed fool, the third son of the longest serving elected dictator? His stereotype remarks that echo his father’s past only goes to prove that this sibling is also a tainted one. He brought disgrace to his Ansara group, except for a few that worship the ground he walks. He distanced himself from “money politics” (read corruption) and spoke of its grave danger but of course this was easy as it was someone else that was doing the bidding for him. He walked tall but Tun “Dime” hurried from behind with planeloads of crispy greenbacks. The Albar’s may not be that famous but the late Jaafar of the Albar’s will turn in his grave if he were to witness his son’s senseless ranting. Pundit says, nepotism is killing the industry. If indeed politics can be considered an industry by virtue of it being process oriented with input and output, it too will be destroyed beyond recognition. Unfortunate it seems that this politics manifests itself as a country and a country is made up of people and its obliteration is an annihilation of Malaysian citizens. Goodnight Malaysia, your days are numbered. troubadour

will to survive

What does it take for one to depart away from old, obsolete and incorrect practices of yesteryears? The answer is simply humility. Looking at the ills we are facing, it is apparent that we are good at installing an excellent system but fail to equip our people with the right tools and techniques to perform our tasks. What constitute the right tools? Right tools and techniques are those that proven effective and systematic. Why is it so difficult for people to make the change? It is this fear of the unknown that kept people away from change, even it is actually for the better. People always have this tendency to move, as electricity does, along path of least resistance. Understanding this and myriads of other issues will enable us to lead and manage change. How about leadership? What constitute a good leadership? Leadership does play an important role in instituting a change. Generally there must an acceptance as to the leadership in question. If people readily accept the leader, then it is relatively easier to lead and manage change. Acceptance comes with a meeting of perception and expectation with reality. Generally a good leader is perceived to possess many positive attributes, charisma and strong sense of commitment may top the list. Many leadership gurus agree that a good leader always own up a failure and when success comes all the people gladly proclaim that they did it themselves. A true leader will be forgotten in euphoria of success and also when things return to a state of relative calm and harmony. He will only be remembered and missed when turmoil comes in and everything is in a state of disarray. That is looking at a company level. As always, event happening in a company is similar to going-on in our country. CEO of a company is comparable to a CEO or premier of a country. We Malaysians have been sitting (ducks) for many years. We go about doing our chores with little regards to the direction the country is heading to. It is understandable. We are a selfish lot. We pretended not to notice a neighbour coming out his door going to work daily, all in the name of maintaining our privacy. A little nod would suffice but we choose to look elsewhere. This is a shameful practice. It is time we make the change. Be a caring society. For all you know, your neighbour has not had a single meal for the day. He could be facing tons of problems and his world could be tumbling down. Make that first move. A little humility goes a long way. Look for that will to change. Open up your eyes to the sorry little state we are in today. Crimes abundance, chaos everywhere, innocents imprisoned, laws trampled on, kangaroo courts mushrooming, honour disrespected, truth silenced and all of us have been taken as fools. Where is the great leader? Will he come forward and lead. Armed us the tools and the techniques! Let us march together towards greatness. Or have we lost our faith and continue to wallow in our disgrace. This time around it is going to be a merciless wave. Rich or poor, able or disable, young and old, we will face a depression never seen before in the history of mankind. We may as some say approaching doomsday. Whatever the fault is, it does not matter as this depression will get the best of us. We will suffer and this will continue to generation yet to come. When justice means nothing anymore to us and good governance is a mere slogan and economic recession to top it all, we are but at His mercy and compassion. Raving of a troubadour! Pattaya, the sin city: November 25th, 2008

gravy train

I had the (unfortunate) opportunity to meet with a NEW “Razak Baginda” (NRB) recently in Thailand. At that point in time, the OLD Razak Baginda (ORB) (Yes, the one that got the knack to say publicly today that his one time master and his wretched wife never knew his one time lover and that bloggers are making the accusation worse!) was still under prison authority’s custody. NRB was apparently despatched to Thailand by the premier-in-waiting (PIW) to verify certain matters relating to a company that was bidding for a sizeable contract from Malaysian government. He was to ascertain whether the company was worthy of its getting such a lucrative contract. The existence of this NRB is indeed alarming but not a surprise. I was sure someone would assume the role as there is much to do. How else could lucrative contracts be awarded to the right parties that fit these daylight robbers’ profiles of brother-cronies then if not using this shameful approach? NRB is relatively young and a true blue UMNO man. He spoke with much authority and his constant blind admiration for the PIW reflects his overdependence on the PIW for his needs. Like ORB, NRB is deeply involved in “Defence Equipment Supplies”. He carried a consultancy business card, milking government-owned companies under the pretext of helping these companies to break into the world market. These companies provide a fat income base for NRB and the likes of him to live and travel the world comfortable at the expense of other fitting “consultants”. In the first place, these NRG and the likes are the very people that convinced unsuspecting but corroborative partners to aim high, think big and be optimistic in conquering the world. They are still living in a dream world created by the previous premier, the champion of privatisation. Majority of the Malaysians were caught in this euphoria only to wake up and found that their world come tumbling down. They lost everything including their sanity. And when things begin to subside and order is about to return, off they go to start another madness. This NRB is a classic example of how things are done in UMNO. It goes to demonstrate how difficult it is to bring down a long-established institution despite it being corrupted to the core. When will this all end? As long as we have the current government ruling at federal level, we can expect the same things continue to happen and the masses be ignored a taken on a ride. There is however some change happening in the country. With a stronger presence of oppositions in parliament, we are witnessing a number of moves by the government are being questioned and scrutinised by them. This slows down these robbers activity and many are crying. Used to lavish lifestyles, they suddenly finds that their pockets are thinning and their coffers are drying at such a fast rate. A friend put it quite interestingly to me that “the gravy train is simply not moving and when it moves, too few are getting a fat meal of it”. This causes a real panic. Rome is about to fall. Generators of income are not running. The robbers are now running. Helter-skelter it seems. Can this provide an impetus for a revolution? Not quite it seems. As long as people can still scrounge around and still get their three times a day meals, we would see more and more NRB being borne out of this sordid state of affairs and we continue to ride this roller coater heading for nowhere. Goodnight Malaysia, you are but a pain in my one that lives under (read it with a rhyme mate)! Kuala Lumpur, November 20th, 2008 – it’s raining cats and downing dogs!

malaysia my second home?

It is a vast continent. Population is barely 21 million. Premier Kevin Rudd is the Labour government's head. He is approaching his first full year in office and even though clamouring for continuation of a Howard’s American alliance policy he is actually moving tangentially away from his predecessor’s direction. His policy is more Obama’s than Bush’s and prefers to pull out of Iraq quietly. Australia began to reform even before Rudd’s appearance in her political scenery. The country continues to prosper. Of course the credit crunch is affecting Australia as well but the country’s foundation is solid and it will be able to weather the storm fairly easily. Shortage of manpower to support the nation’s growth is addressed with proactive emigration policy that is fluid and strategically addressed current needs. It started with professionals from strategic discipline and permeates through to blue collar manpower. A caring government is elected and this greatly helps nation building. This is in complete contrast to selfish and self serving governments that are elected in countries where voices of the people are muffled and truth concealed. Australia embraces globalisation. Government steers the economy up the value chain. The country is strategically positioned to enable it to compete globally. The people have been made to go through an education system that sees through colours and creeds. Meritocracy sees to it that equal rights breed citizens that fuel the nation’s growth. Intellectual properties are abundance. Innovations are apparent in all areas of government and economy and this propels progress. The government is managing the economy very well instead of engaging in destructive politics. Relationship between public and private sectors is a hand-in-glove and unassailable. Supports and incentives are poured into the private sector by the government. Niche businesses sprout throughout the nation. Press freedom is evident. This gives birth to a civil society, generally devoid of hatred and discord. Although one may not be fully agree with western democracy practiced here, one has to admit that it is far superior to distorted democracy being promulgated in countries like Malaysia. Environmental protection policies are well in place. Awareness level is very high. Citizens chip-in in making Australia greener and ecologically balanced and safe. How about healthcare then? Well, a friend that migrated recently put up his thumb and proudly boasts his healthcare programme and benefits that is cheap and first class. Social benefits make one cringes as they make Malaysia look like hell on earth. So much for paying taxes regularly without fail only to be short-changed by the morons that rule the country! One wonders also with a twin tax system of conventional system and the Islamic “Shariah” system of zakat (alms) prevalent in Malaysia and yet hardcore poor are increasing in number and majority are still living in poverty. Providing shelter is perhaps another area where Australia scores a high point in our analysis. Housing for the people is given top priority and couple with environment conservation plan people are living in harmony with other God’s creatures in peace and harmony. Given a political turmoil and economic uncertainty in Malaysia, one is tempted to seriously consider Australia as a home and make Malaysia on the other hand a second home. Not a bad proposition indeed considering Malaysia is inept in taking care of her citizens and chooses to lead them astray. The significant other’s suggestion for one to seriously look at possibility of migrating for good does not sound that foreign now. Goodnight Malaysia or maybe it is a goodbye soon, now that you push me to the brink of poverty and I am slowly loosing my sanity. troubadour A chilly summer in Melbourne and tired from combing it in an attempt to “spot the Aussie”! Aussie Spotting, a new favourite past time since train spotting is no longer fashionable! (Bruce Dickinson, eat your heart out!) November 14, 2008.

quality of a party worthy of supremacy

A product must be of certain level of quality to be able to command a premium pricing. While quality itself is subjective, benchmarking will enable subjective matters be made objective and considering other competing products’ attributes, one can ascertain quality level of a product to a reasonable level of confidence. Effort can then be directed towards perfecting the product to beat competition. Perceived values are responsible for a product to be sought after. Values generally refer to functional value and aesthetic value. Functional value is the primary function of a product. A policemen’s truncheon or baton must be able to perform its primary or main function of knocking someone head senseless with. If the “copper” cannot use his baton to clobber someone, the weapon is said to be failing to perform its primary function. It then has no value. Having been able to be used to bash someone alone is not good enough. The weapon must have other values such as aesthetically pleasant enough to make a cop wants to own it. To make it more appealing, it has to be shiny yet sufficiently provocative to scare a potential demonstrator from staging a candlelight vigil while singing the national anthem. These secondary values must be able to entice intended user or buyer to wanting to own it and more so as far as a sadistic law enforcer is concerned as he cannot wait to break this Hindraf Makkal Sakhti dissent. A political party is comparable to any product in the market. A good quality political party must perform its primary function of helping the people and for those who are real “user” will look at other “aesthetic” functions such as sound constitution, noble causes and objectives, leaders’ charisma and members’ conduct as secondary values that a progressive party must have. Looking from viewpoint of value, one is able to see the kind of political party that appeal to the masses. Understanding values will enable one to look at a party he belongs to and help in restructuring his party to draw support and increase membership. If a political party is ancient, outdated and antediluvian, it will not be long before it meets its end. A political party must have a political will to depart from the past and move with time. UMNO as a political party is no longer able to perform its primary function of helping the people. It attempts to continue to hoodwink people into believing that it has the peoples’ welfare at the top of its agenda whereas in actual fact it just uses the people to legitimise its hold onto power. How about secondary values? These are virtually non-existent. UMNO constitution puts Malay agenda at the pinnacle of its list of major plans. UMNO is simply a racist party based on this agenda alone. It does not comprehend the fact that racial divides that separate the various races and ethnics in Malaysia has collapse. A new era has emerged where there is a genuine understanding and tolerance between these different groups. In other words, political landscape has changed and UMNO failed to understand let alone react to this transformation. This is what happens to the majority of the lower rank UMNO members. The leaders realise this change but as they themselves are the main problems, solving their problems would be at their expense. Members leave in droves. Exodus began in 1998, trickling in numbers henceforth but gained momentum again as the country moves towards the last (March 08) general election. This trend will continue and we will see a demise of once a formidable political party that has people at its heart. It is sad for those who truly subscribe to its ideology and continue to hang onto it but it is sadder still to those who have been betrayed. Nothing is everlasting and so is UMNO in this new world devoid of racial hatred. troubadour Rainy day Thursday, Melbourne! 141108