Thursday 22 May 2014

Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah

We live in a country where the law has it that an accused is supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. What more if the accused has been labelled the accused just because investigators are grasping at straws trying to justify their own inabilities and failings in a case that is classified a crime merely because there seems to be no other conclusion...or is there? Is the real truth being concealed by parties yet unknown and unseen?

Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah was the man at the helm of MH370 when the plane disappeared without a trace. To many at the time, it was so easy to be smug and insensitive to point to pilot suicide or complicity. All others in the plane by default became victims. My own tongue in cheek postulation was that in an absence of a wreckage, extra-terrestrials took them. Indeed, this may well be the only chance all on board could still be alive as opposed to the conspiracy theories that surfaced; dead man tells no tales! Then again, UFO!?!

It was so easy to overlook the fact that the man was living a life; as a father, a son, a husband, an uncle, an in-law, a colleague and likely, an endearing friend to many who continue to miss him. The following is a poignant video compiled by such Friends of Captain Zaharie MH370 that puts matters in perspective. Please watch and share.


Sunday 18 May 2014

Teluk Intan Parliamentary By-Election

This Malaysian Malay woman... 













...must beat this Malaysian Chinese man 












...for the sake of a Malaysian Malaysia!

Liverpool FC: All 101 Goals 2013/14 Premier League Season


Those Were The Days........

From Colonel Mike Naser Taib:

Those were the days, my friends ....
Wong Peng Soon was our favuorite badminton player



Ghani Minat was our favourite soccer hero, and




Rose Chan was our favourite entertainer.


You are not cool if you do not have a long side burn, greasy hair (held together by Brylcream) with a floppy "bun" in front. Then you are either an Elvis fan or a Cliff (Richard) fan. You cannot be neutral.



Films by P Ramlee always enjoyed by all Malaysians. How can we forget classics like Do-Re-Mi and Bujang Lapok, and seeing P Ramlee dueting with Saloma on "Gelora", aaaaah ... that was something else.

Because we reared Siamese fighting fishes, the seller was our idol.




Driving license renewal was by pasting an additional slip at the back of a small red booklet

Susu lembu was house delivered by our big friendly and strong Bahiii ............. on his bicycle in a stainless steel container. The container cap served as a funnel.



Kacang puteh man came a-peddling, walking and balancing on his head 6 compartments of different type of murukus ...and we barter our old exercise books for a paper cone of kacang putih.



We can enjoy monthly credit "facilities" from our friendly neighbourhood sundry shop by using the little "555" book. This was the "credit card" of the day.



F&N orange was served in wooden crates and displayed on the table in the homes during Chinese New Year.



M&M 's was called Treets ..



Eating chicken was a treat that happened only once on Chinese New Year and once on "Chap Goh Meh", Deepavali, Christmas or Hari Raya.



We always carried in our pocket a packet of fire crackers during the Chinese New Year.



We always carry a one ringgit note at night in case we are stopped by a mata-mata (policeman) for not having tail lights on our bicycles.



One noodle 'chow kway teow' cost 30 sen and we bring our own egg.



One 'roti canai' cost 15 sen and one banana for 5 sen.



We bought bangkali bread from the Indian roti man who paddled his bicycle around the neighbourhood with the familiar ringing sound from his bicycle.



Sometimes we bought cold storage bread wrapped in wax paper. Spread the bread with butter and kaya wrap with the wax paper and take to school.



Crop crew cut by the travelling Indian or Hockchew barber; 30 sen a haircut, all the way to the top. Reason?.. easy to dry when curi swimming.



During weekends, went swimming in the river, no swimming trunks, only birthday suits. No one laugh at you whether your "kuku bird" is small, crooked, etc.



On Sunday morning, listened to Kee Huat Radio's "Fantastic Facts and Fancies", andSaturday, "Top of the Pops", both hosted by DJ Patrick Teoh who always ended his show with, "Here's wishing you blue skies."



Saturday morning, go for cheap matinee shows at the Cathay Cinema, usually cowboy shows or Greek mythology like "Jason and the Golden Fleece".



The Cathay Cinema at Jalan Bukit Bintang [opposite the Federal Hotel]. First opened in 1959 with the film, "Campbell's Kingdom".

Father gave 70 sen for cheap matinee shows which normally started at 10.30 am on Saturdays and Sundays - 50 sen for the ticket and 20 sen for return bus fare, makan not included. Nobody paid 1 ringgit for the 'Reserved' seat.



Believe it or not, we had double-decker buses owned by the Toong Foong Omnibus Company. Whenever we boarded the bus, we would run to the upper deck to get a view of the journey.



The familiar double-decker Toong Foong bus

5 sen for kacang putih and 10 sen for ice "ang tau". Sometimes, ice ball only 5 sen "pau ang tau" and half red sugar, and the other half black sugar or sarsi.



Never, never, never talked or mixed with girls until Form 5. Learned the Waltz, Cha Cha, Rhumba, Foxtrot and Offbeat Cha Cha from a classmate's sister. First time dancing with a girl, nearly froze and the heart went "botobom, botobom ..."



Standard cure for headache, take Aspro. We took a lot of sweet stuff like candy floss, fizzy drinks, shaved ice with syrups .... and diabetes was rare. Salt added to Pepsi or Coke was a remedy for fever. Tonic water always taken at the first hint of Malaria.



First time used a modern toilet, I squatted on it as I was used to using the "bucket system" toilet. Our children will not know the danger of visiting the outdoor toilet at night, nor jumping in fright when the man collect the bucket while you are doing your business.


Toilet paper is torn up newspaper on a hook which you have to crumple first before applying. White toilet paper was an unknown luxury until I left home.

With mere 5 pebbles (stones), we could turn it into an endless game. With a ball (tennis ball best), we boys would run like crazy for hours.



We caught guppies in drains/canals and when it rained, we swam there.





We ate salty, very sweet and oily food, candies, bread and real butter, and drank condensed milk in coffee/tea, iced kacang, but we weren't overweight because we ran, cycled or climbed trees all day. We fell from the trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth, and still we continued the stunts.



We never had birthday parties until we were 21.



We never heard of "bumiputra" and neither "1Malaysia", because we were already one Malaysian.





When parents found out we were caned in school, it's certain we would get another round at home. Parents always sided with the teachers.




We fly kites with string coated with pounded glass powder and horse glue, and we cut our hand on the string. Happiness is winning a kite with a local samseng. I forgot, we also have to make our own kites to suit our "fighting styles".



We are the last generation to know how to use logarithm tables and slide rulers.



We had telephones which were really, really heavy weights.



And I believe, this generation produces the best parents because we remember the hard times.

Saturday 17 May 2014

Silent No More? Is Iskandar Fareez Part Of The Minority Or Majority?

Found this in the Malaysian Insider:


The Malay phobia: Isma fearing its own shadows – Iskandar Fareez

MAY 17, 2014

I grew up listening to various Malay folklore and legends. Among them were the stories of Si Tanggang and Hang Jebat. Si Tanggang was a poor boy who grew up and ventured out to be the captain of his own ship and married a princess. As the legend goes, when Si Tanggang returned to his home village, he was ashamed of his humble origins and refused to recognise his elderly mother. Then, he was cursed by his mother to turn into stone.

Hang Jebat was the closest companion of the legendary Malaccan hero Hang Tuah. Hang Jebat turned against the Sultan of Malacca when he believed that Hang Tuah had been executed by the ruler. After learning that Hang Tuah was still alive, the Sultan ordered him to kill Hang Jebat. Hang Tuah managed to stab Hang Jebat after a long and challenging battle. Until today, the death of Hang Jebat is often cited as an example of the price one pays for disobeying a ruler.

Listening to these stories in school, we were made to study the lessons that we can learn from them. I realised that these folklore are merely stories passed down from one generation to the next and interpreted in a way to instil fear in the hearts of listeners so they will be in good behaviour.

They do not teach us to love our mothers. They teach us to fear the consequences of defying her. They do not teach us to respect our leaders. They teach us to fear the consequences of going against them. In the end, being conditioned from the beginning, fear motivates every single one of our thoughts. Fear becomes the guiding inspiration for every single one of our actions.

I believe it is this fear or phobia that motivated the president of Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma), Ustaz Abdullah Zaik Abd Rahman, to label the Chinese as trespassers brought in by the British to Tanah Melayu to oppress and bully the Malays. He also went on to suggest that these “proxies to the Jewish Zionist evangelists” are seeking to dissolve Malays' racial construct and bury Islam as the national identity.

Abdullah Zaik is not alone in his quest. Recently, Abdul Rahman Mat Dali, vice president of Isma, questioned the loyalty of non-Malays and suggested that when they came to Tanah Melayu, they could not even speak a word of Bahasa Malaysia.

These statements show that Isma suffers from a major issue of inferiority complex. This issue evolved into a severe case of xenophobia, "an irrational or unreasoned fear of that which is perceived to be foreign or strange". Unfortunately, this not only true for Isma but permeates within the majority of the Malay Muslim community in Malaysia.

Extreme paranoia has led us to believe that everything in the world is against us. All things foreign or different are considered as a conspiracy agenda of the Illuminati, Freemasons, Jewish Zionist Evangelist, Shiites, Wahhabi, communist, socialist, capitalist and Red Bean Army. It is more worrying when we start to justify these phobias along religious lines.

Indeed, this is the danger when we mix religion with race. In Malaysia, a Malay person must be Muslim but a Muslim may not be Malay. In Isma’s struggle to defend Malay supremacy, they have overlooked this reality. They have portrayed a version of Islam that is racist and unjust. By taking the extremists' view, they may be isolating those who want to learn more about Islam. How then can Islam thrive if we take this extreme approach?

Despite Isma’s claim that Islam is under threat by foreign elements, it seems that it is Muslims themselves who are taking this narrow and extremist approach that are threatening the religion. It is unfortunate that those who are as well educated as Isma, most of which are who Muslim professionals who pursued their studies abroad using taxpayers' money mostly contributed by non-Muslims or non-Malays, are very regressive in their thinking.

Phobias like this motivate us to act reactively to issues that arise without discussing the crux of the matter. This approach causes us to resort to extreme measures such as the banning of Faisal Tehrani’s novels and Darwin’s translated works, out of fear that these materials will corrupt the mind of the community.

We are reduced to becoming a superficial society where we judge one another by how Islamic they portray themselves to be. Muslims nowadays are satisfied to practise only the ritualistic part of the religion while abandoning the essence of Islam that preaches peace and acceptance.

As much as I disagree with Isma’s statement, I do not wish for them to be charged under any laws of the country. In a democratic society that aspires to practise freedom of speech, any idea, no matter how racist or idiotic, has to be given space. It is then up to us to provide constructive counter arguments so that a healthy discourse can flourish. We have to speak up and voice our concerns. If our voices are not heard, extremists like Isma and Perkasa will continue to speak on our behalf.

The western civilization achieved progress because they embraced knowledge. Knowledge is like a beacon of light that brought the western civilization out of the midst of the dark ages. When we choose to remain ignorant, we will forever dwell in the shadows of fear, suspicion and doubt. If Malay Muslims want to progress, we have to stop blaming others. Embrace knowledge and learn, as it will be a guiding light for a brighter future.

"I went to the West and saw Islam, but no Muslims; I got back to the East and saw Muslims, but not Islam." - Muhammad Abduh. – May 17, 2014.


* Iskandar Fareez reads The Malaysian Insider.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.


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Watch This:


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Dr Asri Zainul Abidin weighs in:

Ex-mufti slams extremist Islamist groups, says Christianity and Islam closely related

BY HASBULLAH AWANG CHIK
MAY 17, 2014




Islam is not under attack in Malaysia, and extremist Islamist groups that constantly warn of alleged Christianisation are only shaming their own religion, says prominent Islamic scholar Dr Asri Zainul Abidin (pic).

The former mufti of Perlis said efforts by any religious community to spread their teaching was a natural phenomenon in all countries, and it did not merit knee-jerk reactions from Muslims in Malaysia‎.

"I want to remind Muslims not to be shocked if there are people who invite them to join Christianity. Of course religious leaders will feel that theirs' is the true religion, and would want to invite others to join them.


"Some Muslims are so shocked by this, as if it's the end of the world... (but) Muslims in the UK, the US and Europe also campaign for Christians to join Islam.

"So the same is being done here. It is a normal phenomenon that does not require us to react in such a chaotic manner, as if our country is in a state of emergency," Asri told The Malaysian Insider.

"The closest people to the Muslims are Christians. The Quran‎ says you will find that the people who love Muslims the most are Christians."

Asri was responding to the controversial seminar on Christology and the use of the word Allah, held‎ last week at the Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM).

Several speakers had warned Muslims against the threat of Christianisation and belittled the Bible as containing "tales‎", while copies of a book titled "Exposing the Christian agenda" were distributed among the students.

The recent events had strained ties between the two biggest religious communities in Malaysia, which were already in conflict over the decades-long tussle over the use of the word Allah.

Christians make up 2.9 million of Malaysia's 30 million population, with two-thirds of the adherents residing in Sabah and Sarawak.

Asri reminded Muslims in Malaysia that they had no reason to be worried about the fate of their religion, as no attack had been launched against Islam.

The Islamist group Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) had fanned the flames of religious intolerance when it called Chinese migrants brought to Malaya as "trespassers", and warned of "foreign races" and Jewish Zionist evangelists who were intent on burying Islam.

The groups' remarks have triggered outcry among Malaysians‎, but Putrajaya ‎has remained silent over Isma's statements.

Asri said extremist Islamist non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were tarnishing the image of Islam and spreading confusion among Muslims over the true teaching of the faith.

"We must not be so extreme. There are NGOs‎ which want to promote themselves, but are over the top in doing so," said Asri.

"They make Islam look as if it is so weak. Islam has strong arguments that proves it is the true religion. ‎(The NGOs) should not be so worried. We are worried because we are not doing our work properly," he said, although he did not mention the name of such groups.

Asri added that while Islam does not stop its adherents from criticising other religions, it should be done academically and not be based on emotions or simplistic arguments.

"If we spark enmity in a peaceful environment, eventually people will fight one another, despite the fact that they were originally living in harmony.

"This is not allowed in any religion, unless someone has initiated a war," said the scholar.‎ – 
May 17, 2014.

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This Malay girl must beat the Chinese man in Teluk Intan! The country needs her to win.

Friday 2 May 2014

May Day Anti-GST Rally. YNWA

5,000? 10,000? 20,000, 30,000, or 50,000? More? Will it matter?

Have attended so many such rallies protesting this and that, in the past few years. Did they stop the government from doing anything? NOT EVEN ONE THING! Certainly there must be more effecting means of protest when even the ballot box failed.