Entries Tagged 'Politics' ↓

Credit of dark_mephi

Come dance with me!

Lets tango! Swap your partners and swap your portfolios too!

Twirl your partner. Oops too hard - they’ve flown out of the dance floor!

Maybe its time to learn a new dance. What do you think?

Isn’t everyone getting ants in their pants?

Everyone’s so jumpy now that September 16 is looming (even if its just a hypothetical date) that they have decided to bundle off all potential kerropi to Taiwan to study agriculture. (source) All 50 potential kerropi. So fun. I also want to be kerropi - get surprise holiday to Taiwan (maybe even to a fun farm? I’ve never been to Taiwan) where the end of summer sales abound and beef noodles are a-plenty!!

Kerro Kerro Kerropi

I don’t know why only 50 went to Taiwan. Maybe the others have been and didn’t feel like leaving the country at its hour of need? Or maybe its hard to go to a country where non-halal eating joints abound. Wouldn’t Indonesia be a better bet? The Kerropi could have gone to see rural agriculture in Java and Sumatra. Perhaps even learn how to grow rice on hill slopes to supplement our local rice crop so rice prices don’t soar?

Anyway, Taiwan visits aside I’m surprised and not a little upset to read this article especially this little excerpt:-

The Kota Belud MP said the people of Malaysia voted for a two-party system in the last general election.

“Anwar should accept his role as Opposition Leader and carry out his duty of checks and balances,” he said.

“If Sept 16 does occur, it will not be a surprise if Barisan supporters go to the streets to challenge the legitimacy of a government formed through undemocratic means. And all this is because Anwar wants to be Prime Minister.”

Worrying indeed. Is that why I found that the shelves of tinned tuna, baked beans and sardines were bare? Or is it a mere coincidence?

p/s Kerropi is a Sanrio frog

A year ago, I complained about the bad traffic in the lead up to the National Day celebrations. At the time, Malaysia was to celebrate our 50th year of independance. Then, I complained some more on the 31 August itself, feeling quite unpatriotic.

At the time, the fires of resentment were already spreading slowly through the Malaysian population, displeased at the way things were going, the way the country was heading and in general, displeased with the ruling party.

Perhaps we felt that at 50 it was time to stand up on our own two feet and use our heads to vote instead of just voting on partisan lines as before. Perhaps the fear of voting for the Opposition had passed when we hit the half century mark. Perhaps the petrol hike to RM2.70 did it. Whatever it was, 7 months later on 8 March 2008 Malaysians stood up and went to the polls, turning in a decision that they felt was enough to send a message to the ruling party - We don’t quite want you, but we will give you a simple majority only because we don’t have much of a choice yet.

The problem is that at 51 the country is nothing if not more fragmented than it was pre-Merdeka. At least at the time, there was a common goal for the citizens to work towards - independence. Malaysians in the 1950s were a much more united bunch transcending race and religion - just ask our parents, products of the Merdeka era - everyone was working towards one common goal.

A mere 51 years after Merdeka, I’m seeing the racial unity that was once held in great esteem by the world fall apart. 51 years down the road and we are individually Malays, Chinese and Indians. We are not Malaysians.

We have politicians (leaders of the country mind you!) telling the Chinese that they are squatters and temporary residents in the country they are born in and which they call home. All in the name of trying to garner votes in a by-election. Votes that never translated into votes for the BN anyway. Are the people perhaps not as uneducated as the leaders try to make them out to be?

I have walked into a predominantly Malay part of town and I always find that the people are pleasant and friendly. They will stop and help and they are not all monsters out to slit our throats and drink our blood just because we aren’t of the same race. Yet, the politicians try to stop this integration from happening by waving race and religion in our faces, reminding us that we are different and should not mix. They aren’t fostering goodwill and “perpaduan” but are instead dividing to conquer. So much for being a model of racial integration and racial harmony.

The leaders of our country are not practicing what they preach. Our slogans read “Perpaduan Teras Kemajuan” and yet our leaders exalt in their status and there is no racial harmony practiced or preached. Minority races are side-lined, protests are held (with police permit too!) when a proposal is made to include other races in an institute of higher learning, there is racial discrimination everywhere. Because of national policies, the present crop of youth are more racially aware than ever which is wrong and which is sad to see.

We don’t have to learn to live with discrimination. We should be learning to eradicate it or at the very least, reduce it.

In the early part of the  21st century, with the world getting smaller and smaller, the USA is preparing to inaugurate their first non-white President (at least it looks to be that way). The world’s greatest superpower which has seen some of the worst racial tensions has learnt after 400 years that just because a person isn’t white or isn’t from the majority race, he isn’t any less qualified to lead the country.

Malaysia is turning 51 in a few days.

Perhaps we too will need 400 years to learn or maybe we will just never learn.

Malaysia turns 51 at the end of this month of August in one of the quietest Merdeka or National day celebrations I’ve seen so far. Just 5 days before Merdeka Day is the Permatang Pauh by-election which promises to be something of a thriller.

That is not the irony however.

On this evening’s news, it was reported that tourists enjoy coming to Malaysia because of the multi-racial multi-cultural country that is Malaysia. Everyone lives in harmony. Just imagine the scene in a Merdeka Day advertisement that is unfortunately only the stuff of tv,

If that is what the tourists find attractive about our country, why aren’t we proud of it? Why is racism rearing its ugly head everyday? Why are we not tolerant towards other races and religions anymore? Why is there continued favoritism and/or protests towards selected races for admissions into universities and higher institutes of learning?

Honestly, I’m puzzled. In our parents’ generation, all races were relatively friendly towards each other. In my generation, we still had friends from all races although it wasn’t as prevalent.

In this generation, we all seem to be living in our own compartmentalized worlds; not interacting, not tolerating.

51 years isn’t all that long and it did not take long for the multi-cultural, multi-racial country that is Malaysia to break down.

Sad isn’t it?

Lame silly title

First off. We have a new cabinet - do we wave flags and shout hurrah?

Go read the official list of ministers and deputy ministers in the new 2008 Malaysian cabinet. Faces noticably missing are: Rafidah Aziz (surprise!), Ong Ka Ting (brothers don’t count) and Samy Vellu (but of course!). Sons in law too have gone undercover and the post of parliamentary secretaries are scrapped. Not enough BN MPs to populate the cabinet maybe? hehe…

Faces that appeared out of the blue are: Zaid Ibrahim and Muhammad Taib, both of whom did not even stand in the past elections. I think its fitting that Muhammad Taib is Rural and Regional Development Minister. After all, he embarrassingly failed an English test in Australia didn’t he? *snigger*

So that’s the new cabinet.

And here’s the reason for the wide smile on my face this morning when I got into work.

A Hello Kitty Mobile! How perfect if it was pink!

My favourite Hello Kitty accessory for this car however, is the bit I highlighted in yellow and enlarged - a Hello Kitty exhaust pipe! All together now - “Aiyo! So cute!”

What a cheery start to the morning. I was actually thankful for the jam so I could snap this picture! hehe…