Hantu Laut,
First, it was Lim Guan Eng who banned what he called government-sponsored newspapers from covering his press conferences.
Now, the wise old man, the highly revered Nik Aziz is breathing fire against bloggers whom he says only interested in vilifying others and baneful to the soul.
Better a lie that soothes than truth that hurts.
See, sooner or later the same ghost will come to haunt you.
The very same thing they accused UMNO of intolerance is now causing them much distress.
Do you see any difference between what the present government is doing and what this government in waiting would be doing when they sit in Putrajaya?
Everybody loves freedom.
Without freedom there would be a palpable sense of loss of personal liberty.
In this country the Muslims are in worse position when it comes to personal liberty.We are subjected to two sets of law,the Sharia and Civil Law.The non-Muslims have only one to worry about. Muslims also have to be beware of two law enforcements, the snoop police and the real one (which is least worrying unless you breaking the law).
Muslims can't go to nightlubs,discos,pubs,can't consume alcohol, can't have sex before marriage,can't be homesexual,can't show their love and effection in public even to their loved ones and I can tell you hundred and one things Muslims can't do that many non-Muslims can do in their daily existence.
Actually, I am not all that correct.Some Muslims can.If you are in the elite class you can.Have you ever heard of any elitists or any of their children being dragged to the Sharia court.Kartika Sari Dewi Sukarno did not carry the VIP badge except for namesake of the famous former Indonesian president.Not good enough to get her out of trouble.
Unfortunately, freedom always come with a price.A price some have to pay heavily for.Ask Nelson Mandela, he knows best what freedom means.He is probably the longest incarcerated prisoner of conscience in modern history.
As in Paul McCartney song 'Freedom' he says is God given right and no one should take it away from you.
Here's the lyric.
This is my right, a right given by god
To live a free life, to live in freedom
We talkin’ about freedom
Talkin’ bout freedom
I will fight, for the right
To live in freedom
Anyone, who wants to take it away
Will have to answer, cause this is my right
We talkin’ about freedom
Talkin’ bout freedom
I will fight, for the right
To live in freedom, ah yeah, comon now...
You talkin’ about freedom
Were talkin’ bout freedom
I will fight, for the right
To live in freedom
Everybody talkin’ bout freedom
Talkin’ bout freedom
I will fight, for the right
To live in free----------dom
Here's the song.
That's MacCartney's simple mind on freedom.
In Philosophy, freedom means one can act according to ones will without constraint, servitude or held by the power of others.Quite close to MacCartney's simple version.
So, how many Malaysians think they have lost political freedom?
At least most of those in the left wing, accusing the government of infringement of basic human rights.Of not being able to express themselves freely (except on the blogs) and indulge in their new found delicious dish of nasi lemak and of going to the streets to eat their hearts out.
Most grouses, according to the political anarchists (not analyst), were against the absence of freedom of the press, freedom of expression, freedom to assemble and demonstrate on the streets (their favourite dish).However, when the MSM lashed out at some of the wrongdoings in Pakatan states they say it's unfair, they only want the goose not the gander, accusing the newspapers as running dogs of the government.
Malaysia, to them is a totalitarian regime.An illusion born out of frustration and the insatiable wanting of political power.Would Malaysia be better under a new regime? Those in the opposite camp that I have met say, for better or for worse, we must give it a try as the present one is rotten to the core.
As they say "Revenge is a dish best served cold."Is this want of political power comes with an irresistible menu of witch hunting?
One should not judge a book by its cover? There are always the good, the bad and the ugly. It happened in Sabah when Berjaya took over from USNO. The painful and costly lesson was paid by the state government recently, after over 30 years of legal tussle, paid RM120 million to an individual whose land was acquired by the then Berjaya government.Musa Aman's government is now poorer by RM120 million.
When you can't get what you want it easier to blame others for your own inadequacy.The political anarchists differ in what they see as true 'political' freedom.
Is there such thing as absolute freedom?
Absolute freedom is anarchism.
If PAS can sell the freedom of the use of 'Allah' which I am not against at all but have my suspicion of the real motive.Political or religious? A show of liberalism? Or a process of endearing to the non-Muslims?
Is that the real PAS?
Surely, there is price to pay for freedom and Nik Aziz is feeling the pain from the same blogger who, before falling out, did his best to castrate UMNO for him and his party.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
'Allah' By Any Other Name
By PAUL MARSHALL
Religious violence is rare in Malaysia, and so its people are rightly alarmed at the current spate of attacks on churches, which can conjure up memories of the 1969 race riots. The government has strongly condemned the attacks, but its policy of trying to coddle its Muslim population undermines its stated goal of an open Islam and stokes the very religious tension that it wants desperately to avoid.
The violence is the latest consequence of attempts to ban the use of the word "Allah" by Christians. In 1986, the Interior Security Ministry barred the word from non-Islamic publications on the grounds that it could confuse Muslims, but the ordinance was usually not enforced. However in December 2007, the Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association and the Islamic religious councils of seven states invoked it in a lawsuit against the Malay language weekly, the Catholic Herald. The government sided with the councils, saying that Christians' use of the term "could increase tension and create confusion among Muslims." Authorities also asked the Herald to put on its front page the word terhad, "restricted," meaning solely for distribution to Christians.
Christians and others responded that "Allah" has been used by Christians for centuries to refer to God, including in Malaysia. No other country has such a ban; even the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) says it opposes one. "Allah," the Arabic word for God, is used by Christians in Egypt and Syria, and, of course, neighboring Indonesia. On Dec. 31, 2009, the High Court ruled that Christians had a constitutional right to use "Allah." The government called for calm, but quickly said it would appeal and, on January 6, the judge suspended her ruling pending an appeals court decision. Subsequently, nine churches have been attacked, most of them firebombed. There have also been attacks on the Catholic Herald's legal team, whose offices were vandalized yesterday.
This is not the only federal government attempt to repress anything that could be perceived as deviating from the state-sanctioned version of Islam. In 2005, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi proposed that Malay-language bibles have "Not for Muslims" on the front. In 2003, the government banned publication of a Bible in Iban, an indigenous language, although the ban was later lifted. In March 2009, customs officials seized Christian books and other materials containing "Allah," and now some 15,000 volumes have been impounded. Since Indonesian Christian books in Bahasa contain the word "Allah" they cannot be imported. The government has also rebuffed calls for a state interfaith advisory council.
The censorship is not restricted to non-Muslim material. Using guidelines issued by the Islamic Development Department and with the consent of the Shariah courts, the federal government has prohibited over 50 "deviant" interpretations of Islam, including Shiism, the faith of over 10% of the world's Muslims. In 2007, the Internal Security Ministry banned 37 books, mostly by Muslims, after the Publications and Quranic Texts Control Division said they "twisted facts and true Islamic teachings." In 2008, other books were banned, including "Muslim Women and the Challenge of Islamic Extremism" by Norani Othman, published by the Malaysian Muslim women's organization Sisters in Islam, and Amina Wadud's "Quran and Women: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman's Perspective." Read more.
Si Tanggang The Ungrateful Son
Hantu Laut
A heartless bitch of a wife and a henpecked husband.The wife wears the balls and he the pussy.Abandoned the father in his darkest hour.A time when the old man needs love and care.Would he abandoned him if he had fortune to hand over to this ungrateful son? The story here.
Although, as parents we shouldn't expect payback from our children, filial piety has always been a strong Asian culture and preserve.
This bring me back to the story of Si Tanggang (Malin Kundang in Indonesia) that we heard of or were told by our parents when we were kids.The Malay folklore about retribution on an ungrateful son.How the poor son sailed to faraway places to seek his fortunes, became rich and married a princess.On his return home to his village, ashamed of his humble origin, refused to recognise the poor elderly woman as his mother.The mother cursed him.As he sets sail he and his ship turned to stone.
The moral of the story is never abandon your parents in their hour of needs.
Hope he rots in hell.
A heartless bitch of a wife and a henpecked husband.The wife wears the balls and he the pussy.Abandoned the father in his darkest hour.A time when the old man needs love and care.Would he abandoned him if he had fortune to hand over to this ungrateful son? The story here.
Although, as parents we shouldn't expect payback from our children, filial piety has always been a strong Asian culture and preserve.
This bring me back to the story of Si Tanggang (Malin Kundang in Indonesia) that we heard of or were told by our parents when we were kids.The Malay folklore about retribution on an ungrateful son.How the poor son sailed to faraway places to seek his fortunes, became rich and married a princess.On his return home to his village, ashamed of his humble origin, refused to recognise the poor elderly woman as his mother.The mother cursed him.As he sets sail he and his ship turned to stone.
The moral of the story is never abandon your parents in their hour of needs.
Hope he rots in hell.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Malaysia's Runaway Money
Malaysia's Disastrous Capital Flight
Asia Sentinel
Money leaves the country on an unprecedented scale
Churches are not the only thing to have been going up in flames in Malaysia. Take a look at the nation's foreign exchange reserves. They fell by close to 25 percent during 2009 according to investment bank UBS even though the country continued to run a huge surplus on the current account of its balance of payments.
Says UBS: "Question: which Asian country had the biggest FX losses in 2009?" The answer is Malaysia and by a very large margin; we estimate that official reserves fell by well more than one quarter on a valuation-adjusted basis". It describes the situation as "bizarre" and contrasts Malaysia with other countries with large current account surpluses – Thailand, China, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong – which have seen their reserves increase – as should be expected.
In short there has been an exodus of money from Malaysia on a scale which surpasses that which occurred during the Asian crisis. Nor is this just a mirage. The decline is also reflected in a sudden decline in base money supply – even while, thanks to Bank Negara, broader M2 has continued to grow modestly.
Who is responsible for this massive outflow? And where has it gone? The questions cannot be answered from the data and probably will not be by a government that knows its own state-controlled enterprises, headed by Petronas, may probably be responsible for part of it. The more certain reason however is the outflow of local private capital has been taking place on an unprecedented scale in response to political instability, massive official corruption and discrimination against non-Malays.
This capital bloodletting has as yet attracted little attention because Malaysia's foreign debt levels had declined dramatically since the Asian crisis and its reserves reached very healthy levels. So the outflow has not disturbed the financial markets, and Bank Negara has easily been able to keep interest rates low and the currency strong.
But unlike 1998, when the exodus of hot foreign money was a major contributor to the crisis, foreigners cannot be blamed. There is little speculative interest in the ringgit and the Malaysian bourse has rather fallen off the map as far as foreign institutional money is concerned. The BRICs, India, China, Russia, Brazil have taken the merging market lead once dominated by Southeast Asia.
Nor is there much evidence that the Middle East money which was supposed to be flowing into Muslim Malaysia, into holiday apartments or Johor's massive Iskandar development zone, has been much in evidence. Malaysia's one recent success, the development of its sukuk (Islamic bond) market may have caused more capital outflow than inflow. At any rate any overall net inflow of foreign capital whether into bonds, equities, factories or real estate has been dwarfed by the exodus of Malaysian money.
The latter is reflected in the weakness of private sector investment, which now trails public investment. Indeed it explains why the economy remains weak despite very healthy prices for most of Malaysia's commodity exports. The nation has been running a current account surplus of more than 10 percent of gross domestic product for the past decade and hit about 17 percent of GDP in the year just ended. Initially this surplus was needed to pay down debt accumulated during the mid-1990s Mahathir boom years and to rebuild foreign exchange reserves to healthy levels.
But subsequently it became simply a consequence of the weakness of private investment. Domestic investors were discouraged by the corrupt and warped system and foreigners moved to China and elsewhere. GDP growth has become ever reliant on government stimulus – again racially biased in its allocation -- financed by a persistently large budget deficit. Read more.
Asia Sentinel
Money leaves the country on an unprecedented scale
Churches are not the only thing to have been going up in flames in Malaysia. Take a look at the nation's foreign exchange reserves. They fell by close to 25 percent during 2009 according to investment bank UBS even though the country continued to run a huge surplus on the current account of its balance of payments.
Says UBS: "Question: which Asian country had the biggest FX losses in 2009?" The answer is Malaysia and by a very large margin; we estimate that official reserves fell by well more than one quarter on a valuation-adjusted basis". It describes the situation as "bizarre" and contrasts Malaysia with other countries with large current account surpluses – Thailand, China, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong – which have seen their reserves increase – as should be expected.
In short there has been an exodus of money from Malaysia on a scale which surpasses that which occurred during the Asian crisis. Nor is this just a mirage. The decline is also reflected in a sudden decline in base money supply – even while, thanks to Bank Negara, broader M2 has continued to grow modestly.
Who is responsible for this massive outflow? And where has it gone? The questions cannot be answered from the data and probably will not be by a government that knows its own state-controlled enterprises, headed by Petronas, may probably be responsible for part of it. The more certain reason however is the outflow of local private capital has been taking place on an unprecedented scale in response to political instability, massive official corruption and discrimination against non-Malays.
This capital bloodletting has as yet attracted little attention because Malaysia's foreign debt levels had declined dramatically since the Asian crisis and its reserves reached very healthy levels. So the outflow has not disturbed the financial markets, and Bank Negara has easily been able to keep interest rates low and the currency strong.
But unlike 1998, when the exodus of hot foreign money was a major contributor to the crisis, foreigners cannot be blamed. There is little speculative interest in the ringgit and the Malaysian bourse has rather fallen off the map as far as foreign institutional money is concerned. The BRICs, India, China, Russia, Brazil have taken the merging market lead once dominated by Southeast Asia.
Nor is there much evidence that the Middle East money which was supposed to be flowing into Muslim Malaysia, into holiday apartments or Johor's massive Iskandar development zone, has been much in evidence. Malaysia's one recent success, the development of its sukuk (Islamic bond) market may have caused more capital outflow than inflow. At any rate any overall net inflow of foreign capital whether into bonds, equities, factories or real estate has been dwarfed by the exodus of Malaysian money.
The latter is reflected in the weakness of private sector investment, which now trails public investment. Indeed it explains why the economy remains weak despite very healthy prices for most of Malaysia's commodity exports. The nation has been running a current account surplus of more than 10 percent of gross domestic product for the past decade and hit about 17 percent of GDP in the year just ended. Initially this surplus was needed to pay down debt accumulated during the mid-1990s Mahathir boom years and to rebuild foreign exchange reserves to healthy levels.
But subsequently it became simply a consequence of the weakness of private investment. Domestic investors were discouraged by the corrupt and warped system and foreigners moved to China and elsewhere. GDP growth has become ever reliant on government stimulus – again racially biased in its allocation -- financed by a persistently large budget deficit. Read more.
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