Obama tongue-tied?

  Those of you who watched the inauguration attentively, you would have thought why did Obama stammered during the oath-taking.  My wife and I did curiously questioned: was the new President too excited or what?  On second thought it is unlikely Obama being the great orator would falter in such a simple citation.  Subsequently I found out that it was due to the mistake of CJ John Roberts who used the word “faithfully” out of sequence ie not in accordance to the Constitution.  Several analysts and commentators criticised such a silly mistake.  Unknown to many yesterday President Obama retook his oath again and this time it was a flawless recitation.  Orang Amerika pun takut, retook just in case ada orang challenge or object – like our opposition in Malaysia.  Congratulation again Mr. President.

A New Birth of Freedom

     Last night I was overwhelmed while watching the CNN live telecast of the 44th US President  inauguration and swearing in of Mr Barack Obama.  I booked the TV for almost 3 hours.  The atmosphere was fabulous, fantastic and awesome – estimated 2 million people watching at the Capitol and hundreds of millions around the world.  Indeed it is the defining and historical moment.  He is a man who has sets out his political convictions and inspires me to trust in the dogged optimism that there is a hope in going forward.  His vision being a new kind of politics has pull the Americans together.  A great day in history, it is this process I wish to be a part of.  In Malaysia?  Someone told me this morning do not be a laughing stock.  At home there is little pride nowadays.  Cynicsm, apathy and alienation reign.  More and more younger generation profess no love for our country anymore.  Leaders are still playing by the racial cards.  We are rule by fear and arrogance instead of freedom.  When will I see that day coming…

Mr. President dancing with the First lady at the inauguration ball.

SELAMAT TAHUN BARU CINA

“GONG XI FA CAI”

BEST OF HEALTH & WEALTH!

Snippet on P36 By-Election Results

Well, the atmosphere started off BN as the underdog but most of them believe it will be a close fight, indeed it is.  Mahathir again condemned over the selection of the candidate.  Hudud law issue was not a concern at all to most local non-Malay voters, in fact some of them even supported it by saying the thief’s hand deserves to be chopped off and the husbands need to be punished if committed adultery.  Over the last week, the sentiment remained the same with some are confident that Pas will win.  I personally did not come across anyone who believe BN can win.  Analysts believe the young and idealistic voters are likely to vote for the opposition.  They will also convince their folks and the older generation especially those who are working in the capital city.  Conversely other older generation and ‘cronies’ who feel the need to be grateful or have established their financial stability will somehow remain loyal.  Hours before closing of vote just now, the Opposition alleged that there were about 10 buses carrying phantom voters which was strongly denied by the EC chairman.  Now it is clearly proven those are again their usual political accusation.  At least the majority is 2631 votes out of 63000 plus turnout.  Najib said BN will not be discouraged by the result as it is not a major setback, whereas Anwar believes his plan to Putrajaya is on the right track.  Apparently people are buying his ideals to reform for a better government free from corruption and fair to all races.  Are the rakyats more mature and responsible now?  Whatever it is, this is a victorious outcome for our democratic system.

Personally I take this as a positive results, as it reaffirms the arrogance of UMNO whom many of them are still in the state of denial.  Is money the solution?  Or do UMNO actually knows what is the problem?  Hopefully they’ll realised the repercussion now…

Survey

 

‘Don’t worry, Hudud laws are not applicable to non-Muslims’?

Yesterday when I found out that the 2 top students of the recent O level exams in Singapore are Malaysians, my immediate reaction was there goes our talents.  Very likely their government will offers scholarships to attract and persuade them to stay for a brighter future.  Of course this is not something new, many non-Malay students and professionals who are highly qualified in the medical, engineering and computer industry have long migrated there.

 Nik Aziz once said he cannot see there is anything wrong even if hudud laws apply to non-Muslim as it is a fair one.  Some Kelantanese Chinese friends also commended the latter as they are happy with Pas ruling in the state so far.  Is that so?  One thing for sure, Karpal Singh is not prepared to accept such notion (DAP’s threat  to leave PR clearly proves ‘gabungan tahi ayam’).

Although Islam is the religion of the Federation, our Constitution guarantees other religions to be practised in peace and harmony.  Given the different views and narration of facts, it is clear that Islam has played a key role in our system long before independence.  The federal and state constitutions also assert the centrality and importance of Islam in our system.  Thus, while there is room to argue that Malaysia has never been a perfect and full-fledged Islamic state it is not a complete secular state either.

Be that as it may, if such laws are to be implemented even it may not applies to non-Muslims, it will eventually de-secularized  the constitution for the simple reason that our nation has Islam as its faith or ideology.  Even with our current position, cases like Subashini, Lina Joy and Che Omar had already caused disgruntleness among the non-Malays.  Not to mention there are certain quarters who feel that the Malay interests are under siege.  Put it simply, if Pas is to become the government of the day, one can easily anticipate that hudud law will somehow affects the non-Malays in the event of uncertainty of any cases to be decided.  As the world is moving towards globalization, it is certainly illogical to consider such issue in our multi-racial society.

By right we should be allowing to take part in the democratic process operate with less restrictions or the so-called political rights such as freedom of speech and expression etc.  Indeed the way forward is maintaining the status quo or remove the more anachronistic elements from the constitutional structure.

Perhaps I should propose Christian laws to the country and see the reaction…

‘Nebermind, olen jut also can’

A Chinese man went for a job interview in a multinational corporation.  Graduated with honours from Hua Lian University of Taiwan, he seems to be very confident.  In addition he had also been an outstanding student, scoring As in most subjects at the Xiao Hua Secondary Chinese School.  During the interview, when he was asked to introduce himself, he started:  ‘My lame is Ah Beng, whether I can or not hire by the company, I must tell that I am vely hardworking…’.  The interview lasted less than 5 minutes and he was asked to go.  Similarly couple of years back, while waiting for a friend at a posh restaurant, a very elegant and beautiful lady walked in.  Most guys in the restaurant (including myself) can’t took our eyes off her.  When a waiter approached her, she said: ‘ Eh, can I hav a olen jut pease?’, … within seconds I lost interest.  Our national sports hero Chong Wei was also a shame when interviewed in English after his recent victory.

  Parents are concern with the decision whether to use English to teach maths and science in schools.  Many of them (feedbacks from radio and newspaper) supported the idea as they realise the importance of such global language.  When I had my first badge of accounting students last year, listening and marking their assignments was a real pain in the ass, why?  Horrendous handicap of English language as most of them were Chinese-educated.

Yesterday some Chinese groups including Dong Zong and other associations called the government to abolish the usage of English in the subjects.  They even give an ultimatum and plan a massive rally against the same.  So what now?  Is it all about the quality?  Unity?  I can understand the need to maintain vernacular system due to the poor condition and quality of the public schools but fighting against English in maths and science?  So what if China is going to be the power house in future?  Nebermind lah?

The Babi and the Narrow-minded Politicians

A friend emailed me a letter written by his fellow colleague, which I find it interesting:

 ”First of all, I am appalled at the narrow minded politicians who made the issue of building a centralized and modern pig farming an issue.  It is beyond doubt that the real issue here is economy, environmental pollution and improving quality of life in the surrounding community.

BN are making a mockery of this just because of political mileage.  I feel when something is being done; it should be promoted by all parties.  I have travelled to St. Louis, USA where it is also known as capital pork of the world.  I have visited and stood 3 feet away from a pig pen.  There was no smell.  It was so clean.  It is even cleaner than most public toilets in Malaysia.

How many of this politician has visited such a farm and how many are involved in goat farming in Malaysia.  While goat is halal in Malaysia, please enter many farms there are in Malaysia and you will see how dirty it is.  Islam only prohibits the eating of pork.  There is no prohibition of looking at eat or standing next to one.  In fact I have yet to find anywhere in the Quran that prevent Muslims from rearing it.  During my 15 months tour with UN in Cambodia, many Malay Champa who are strong Muslims rear pigs under their house for economic reason even though they dont eat them.

From an economic perspective it is better to rear pigs than cows or goat.  It is simply more profitable.  The pregnancy duration is about 112-115 days compared to goat which is about 150 days or a cow 290 days.  At the end of each pregnancy the pig produces between 12-15 piglets, the goat about 1-2 kids and the cow 1 calf.

From the environmental perspective, it is definitely better to have a central farm where small farmers join hands and run one big and clean farm.  This way the cleanliness of our water will be maintained.  Waste management will become epicentre of the operation.  It is more economical to sun one big farm than many small farms that is polluting.  Overall it is a win-win situation for everyone.

It is insulting the way some politicians look at the issue.  I believe from Islamic perspective it is quite clear.  It is the narrow minded politicians that played up the issue that makes it into Muslim  and non-Muslim issue and trying to create a bigger racial divide among Malaysians.  Sometimes I wonder, which has the lower image, the babi or these politicians…I ask all level minded Malaysian to re-look at the babi issue again.  Study the real issue properly and make a proper judgment.  Overall it will benefit Malaysian from the economic,environmental and quality of life perspective”.

Researched and written by:  Dr. Mohd Rafick Khan bin Abd Rahman.

Chinese voters to decide P36 Kuala Terengganu?

Over the weekend I was at a dinner down south attended by many politicians of various parties.  As usual those senior fellas discouraged and questioned my ’struggles’ in a ’sinking ship’.  Anyway I am impressed that more and more Chinese especially the younger generation are showing great interest in politics nowadays.  So they are either ‘money-minded’ or idealist.  The latter are usually the supporters of Pakatan Rakyat.  If Chinese votes could be a deciding factor, would the results decide BN’s future?

  Do the Malay leaders and its community really show genuine concern to the Chinese in Malaysia?  Do the Chinese really have the impact to influence the decision-making process?  Or do such issues should be a concern at all?  During the olden days the Chinese had no problem with the Malays, which I believe because of several reasons; being many saw themselves as visitors thus a need to respect.  Some considered themselves as sojourners, always planning to return to China or migrate when make a fortune.  Others adapted and adjusted to consider Malaysia as their home and they want to live peacefully.  Subsequently they formed political organisations to protect their rights and freedom.

There are about 8000 Chinese voters, accounting for almost 11 per cent of the electorate.  Frankly speaking, it doesn’t matter whether the Chinese can make any difference or not to the coming 17/1 results.  What is more worrying to the Chinese is the growing inequality in the society.  They want to have a merit-based system.  They want justice and equality for all Malaysians in its distributive system.  It is apparent that the Chinese have had a lower approval for Pak Lah and UMNO’s performance.  They are less confident with the government’s ability in fulfillling the people’s aspirations.  They feel that the problem of the sluggish Malaysia economy can be addressed by more opposition participation in Parliament.  In short, they are more concern with the national issues.

Can MCA or Gerakan change their mindset?  We shall see…

Israeli-Palestinian: Whose fault?

Since last week politicians around the world have been talking about the war in Gaza.  Locally our politicians mostly condemned the attack and finger-pointing at Israel being a bully.  Pak Lah said “excessive deployment of military power”.  Irrelevantly, Anwar Ibrahim accuses Malaysian government acting like Israel, Muslim restaurants boycott US products, demonstration and press releases to condemn the act.  Some friends discussed about the continuous offensive, most queried the reason behind it.  I have been reading the newspapers and listening to CNN to update myself of the situation.  This morning I sat in silence and reflected on it.

  Is Israel really at fault?  In a nutshell, Hamas started firing rockets at Israel during the last ceasefire ie they broke the rule first.  Israel retaliated and started bombing on the strategic base used by Hamas.  Hamas launched missiles from schools and mosques which in a way planned to use the civilians as a shield.  Israel dropped ten of thousands of leaflets, warning people to leave their houses before counter-attacking.  So whose fault now?

Obama is wise enough not to comment except by saying that it is justifiable for one to protect his family from attack.  Ok another ceasefire may be on the way or to sanction Israel, what if the Palestinians broke the rule again?

I am not saying what Israel did is correct but our politicians, NGO and social groups leaders should not blindly make remarks simply on the figure, latest being 720 deaths in Palestine against 10 deaths in Israel.  Based on such numbers of fatality, I know many will argue on humanitarian grounds that it is unjustifiable for Israel to take such action.  Think about it.  The question of degree or proportionate is very difficult to justify.  What do you expect Israel to do?  Keep quiet as a ‘moral duty’ to allow your enemy who first to kill your family?

American government are blamed due to their non-active response and being the main suppliers of the weapons to Israel.  Why is Saudi Arabia as the taiko in Middle East did not provide the financial back-up?  For that matter why Saudi did not have that amount of weapons even they have the money?  Why Americans controlled Saudi’s weaponry force but supplied to Israel?  But then again where did Hamas receive their financial aid to purchase their bombs, missiles, rockets and weapons.  Who is behind them?  Leaders in Muslim countries around the world are merely paying lip-service, why dont they (especially those in Middle-East) combine to assist in the war?  After Arafat stepped down, the people chose Hamas to lead knowing that this group are militants, why?  I strongly believe if the Americans want to take a stern action to stop the war, they can but why not?  To that perhaps they may ask what for?

Palestine is a country with nothing ie no oil.  Get it?

I am convinced that it is a matter of greed, religion and politics, thus the current chaotic state may not be as straight forward as it seems.  So please,  local politicians should not release statement just for the sake of doing it or for any ulterior reason, but that’s realpolitik!

Grrr…lawyers or doctors?

A friend who works as a real estate agent often says that the three most important factors in assessing the value of a property are location, location, location.  Well as a litigation lawyer, I will say the three most important factors in assessing the liability of a case are evidence, evidence, evidence (even you have a very strong case).  There was a provocative experience for me to state the latter.

  vs 

Anyway this morning when I bumped into a friend who is a doctor (Dr.Q), we sought of argued over the betterment of the 2 professions:  lawyers or doctors.  Both of us have almost the same years of experience in our respective practice.  At the heart of our ‘debate’, the issues involved who works harder, who should get paid more and whose job is most important.  Of course he sided his profession and I defended mine.

Dr.Q felt that doctors worked harder than lawyers.  That medicine is a profession with no restrictions to work hours and that law is a corporate type of job with restrictions.  He did made some reservation by saying that in every profession there are difficult specialties.  Radiologists, psychiatrists and dermatologists are all doctors but they definitely do not work as hard or as long as surgeons or traumatologists.  Similarly litigators are under a lot of stress and must work after hours to prepare for cases.  If clients get in trouble after hours, lawyers must attend them (although it is lessening gradually in my case).  On the other hand, there are conveyancing or corporate lawyers that review/draft contracts and dont spend time in front of judges or polices officers.  So in the present situation we are even.

Subsequently Dr.Q insisted that the key difference is that doctors are responsible for care at all hours of the day and night.  If your doctor doesn’t see you when you are in need, you can die or suffer (as if such compassionate doctors exist in our country).  Hence what Dr.Q was trying to emphasize is if your lawyer doesn’t see you, perhaps something bad would happen, but you can always get another lawyer and it wont takes your life away.  So to him is that lawyers dont really have the same sort of torture and deprivation of sleep and have less important jobs than doctors.  His final note claimed  the truth that across the world, we can live without a lawyer, but we cant live without doctors.  People need doctors to stay healthy.

Well, all I can say is the fact that my friend is driving a new E-Class and lived in a 3-storey semi detached, simply tell us that their job is definitely more rewarding but not necessarily more important.  It is the professionalism and passion one must have, thus the job will be fulfilling instead of being stressful.  Try admitting someone in a nearby private hospital during an emergency with insufficient money/deposit.

Cruising on 2009…

Grand finale, countdown celebration, fireworks display, sex party, PR cracking, Gaza attacks, Bangkok blast, to buckle up rear seatbelts or just couching by the box with a glass of beer alongside my wonderful wife, 2009 here we come…”What do I really want to achieve?  What are my dreams and desires?  What sort of person do I want to be?”  Hmmm, this year I seriously want to read more books and drink more water than 2008.  Externally to handle my jobs with Energy, Enthusiasm and Emphathy…ya all those craps lah! (no, it’s about being positive)

Perhaps it is also time to put aside any hatred and differences among the political leaders of BN and PR, for at least the first 6 months now, get down to governing the country/states for the people of Malaysia in all aspects.  We know that global competition, not to mention any genuine commitment by them to the values of democracy, hardworks, meritocracy, equal opportunity, transparency and integrity – require us to revamp our judicial, corruption, health & education system, and civil servants’ attitude.

We think of faith as a source of comfort and understanding but find our expressions of faith sowing division; we believe ourselves to be a tolerant people even as racial/religious and cultural tensions roil the landscape (vernacular schools, protecting Islamisation, social contract, NEP).  And instead of resolving these tensions, our politics seem to exploit them and drive us further apart.  To those politicians who still insist to practise such ball game, f**k off !  So above all WE MUST build the gap between the magnitude of our challenges to foster unity and harmony between Malaysians of all races/religions.

We need a government that truly represents all Malaysians.  It will have to be constructed from the best of our traditions and will have to account for the darker aspects of our past.  We need to remind ourselves, despite all our differences, just how much we share for common hopes and dreams.  If the next PM, ok let say Najib can resists temptation from friend and foe or his party’s orthodox culture and make good on his pledge to be a different sort of PM from Pak Lah or Dr. M, our chance of advancement and prosperity will be more than the hope we feel now.  Let makes it a super-Ox year!