Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha

Sloonepixs: Mosque @ Gelugor, Penang.

Aidil Adha or Hari Raya Korban is the Festival of Sacrifice for Muslims world wide. It shows the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God.

I wish all my Muslims friends and family Selamat Hari Raya. May Allah bless you in peace and love. Happy holidays as well

Give me back my RM100bil !

Someone finally said it. Mahathir Mohammad squandered billions of money while he was Prime Minister.

I am sure, without checking its merits, without even reading the book, Mahathir’s Machais (you know who you are), will denounce the soon to be launched ‘Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times’ by Barry Wain as a worthless piece of crap.

And  Wain, have you got yourself a lawyer? Coz the old man’s definitely gonna sue the pants of you. Or maybe, he’s just gonna ignore your book and label you a CIA agent, or Zionist that’s out to wreck Malay Muslim unity or Malaysian sovereignty. That you are jealous of the successes of Malaysia, that maybe, just maybe, you’re Anwar Ibrahim’s gay lover. Ignorance is after all worst than ridicule, or is it the best form of ridicule. Insulting.

Whatever! I want to do a review of this book! Palgrave Macmillian, send me a copy quick!

 

Will you forgive Teoh Beng Hock’s killer?

Fatimah Zuhri asked this question in my Facebook note “Who will Chin Peng turn to now?”. She says:
1. Regarding this Chin Peng issue, I’ll give one analogy.
2. Let say la we found out who killed TBH. Let just name him Mr RL.
3. By the time we found out who killed TBH, Pakatan Rakyat (PR) is the govt of the day.
4. Since TBH killer is a high ranking member of PR, some people in PR asked the public/govt to forgive Mr. RL for killing TBH.
5. My question to the chinese ppl, would you forgive Mr. RL?”

And so I replied:

Fatimah, I’ll give you three real life stories which happened to my family, and in away, did affect my consciousness, about the era of the Japanese occupation in Malaya:

1. One of my grandfather’s finger was chopped off by the Japanese because a few Malays snitched on him and informed the Japanese that he had a radio, and was transmitting information about the British to the people. My grandfather was never able to work that properly again with a severed hand and his seven children, including my father, suffered a lot, trying to make ends meet.

2. My mother’s family (she was only 5 then) lost their entire house to an Eurasian woman, who had a Japanese soldier as her lover. The soldiers came to my grandfather’s house, threatened to kill him, with the sword over his neck, and demanded to be given the house including the grant of the house. My grandmother, at the verge of being raped in front of her children’s eyes, begged her husband to give up the house and he did. My mother’s family (she had 7 brothers and sisters) were left homeless after that, for years….

Who will Chin Peng turn to now?

TIADA MAAF BAGI MU, CHIN PENG

Who ever advised Chin Peng to ask forgiveness from the Malaysian Government/Malaysians is a FOOLl.

Now Muhyiddin says “no forgiveness for you”, what will Chin Peng do? Take up arms again? Or go crawling on his feet to beg more forgiveness? Silly, silly…

Chin Peng refuses to be interviewed by the alternative media but …instead chooses to speak to the mainstream media. This again is a clear indication of following the advisory, thinking he can gain some sympathy from Najib Razak et all.

New York, I love you!

New York, I love you!

Is this an official visit or honeymoon? Looks like no entourage, and no US officialdom meeting the couple at the airport.

Only JJ to meet them at the airport. Kesian.

Then at the hotel where they are staying, only Malaysian officers and businessmen.

Aiyoh, then why make a story like that?

Waste of space lah.

TBH: What media game is this?

A ‘very reliable source’ pointed me to this story on China Press and translated it to me. It was an exclusive report, quoting ‘sources’ in Thai media and the police.

It was clearly meant to discredit Dr. Pornthip as the story questioned her credentials. While it is acceptable to quote sources, the story provided no evidence, in fact it sounded very much like baseless allegations against her work.

What is more interesting is that the report came out the same day Teoh Beng Hock’s body was exhumed (Sunday, 22 Nov 2009). Everyone is questioning the timing. What’s the motive/agenda behind this media game?

If you have friends who can read Chinese, ask them to translate this story for you: CHINA PRESS SLIP SHOD STORY ON TEOH BENG HOCK.

Well, a facebook buddy, Daniel Liang, did some translations. He said:

Now who’s carrying Najib’s balls?

Yucks! The STAR aka the paper that is MCA is drooling all over Najib Razak, just because he says he ‘has a plan to end the MCA crisis’ and that he has a proposal.

I guess, it is for this that the STAR is unashamedly carrying Najib’s balls in their latest story: NAJIB WORKS HIS CHARMS @ APEC.

“Reflecting his confident demeanour and his no nonsense approach, the soft spoken Najib said emphatically: “Well, it had better work. Otherwise, you won’t see me around for too long.”

“His spontaneous reply drew loud laughter from the hundreds of people comprising top business leaders and captains of industry among the packed audience at the Suntec International Exhibition and Convention Centre”.

Could people be laughing because Najib sounds like a clown? Najib is so greedy for publicity, and very cheap shot at that.

Recommended reading: Velvet & Cinder Blocks.

(Note: Get a copy, you’ll enjoy reading about Malaysia from the eyes of a foreigner who have come to know us so well. Some chapters will shock you too!).

I have just finished reading * Ioannis Gatsiounis * latest book of fiction “Velvet and Cinder Blocks” – a collection of 10 cleverly crafted and engaging short stories which centers around the quest for a sense of belonging in a world that is fast collapsing due to intense polarization and politicization despite years have passed since the 9-11 tragedy rocked our lives.

[Here, I must thank Lori Lee from ZI Publications for contacting me and sending the book my way for review].

He doesn’t say it often but the events in this book is mostly based in Malaysia, or deals with Malaysian characters and centers around relationships between the different identities, communities, and ethnic groups.

I felt, in a most intimate manner, how through the events and characters in this book, Gatsiounis confides in his readers his personal discoveries of the various facets of life in this previous British colony, once occupied by the Japanese during World War II.

Having known the atrocities of war, have we learned to cope with its tragedies and terrorism, or allowed our prejudices to divide and dissect us further, mar our relationships with others? Did this happen to the Americans, too, post 9-11? Gatsiounis will show us that we are not very different from the rest of the world.

Round 1: High Court upholds Kedah Constitution

ALIRAN welcomes the Kuala Lumpur High Court decision declaring that the Kota Siputeh seat has been vacated.

In doing so, the High Court has upheld the interpretation of the Speaker of the Kedah state assembly that under Article 51 of the Kedah Constitution the incumbent assemblyman for Kota Siputeh Abu Hassan Sarif was no longer an assemblyman.

Abu Hassan, the assemblyman, had inevitably forfeited his seat by being absent from two consecutive sittings of the assembly without the permission of the speaker.

This simple fact was very obvious from the outset but the Election Commission took a position that not only differed from the speaker’s interpretation but it totally ignored Article 51 of the Kedah Constitution with regard to the definition of ‘two consecutive sittings”.

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