Malaysians Should Take A Leaf Out Of Obama's Book Of Failures

Hantu Laut

US President Barack Obama made hundreds of promises during his 2008 Presidential Campaign.Watchdog organisation Politifact has been keeping track of Obama's promises and put the list at a staggering 506.

As most politicians would know, and most level-headed citizens would expect, it is not possible to fulfill all campaign promises and Obama is no different from the rest but Obama is also not what he is.

I am not concerned with what he promised the American people on the domestic front but with what he promised the world he would do to improve decades of American belligerent foreign policy that have wrecked untold miseries on the rest of the world particularly the US initiated wars that have killed hundreds of thousands of civilians in mostly Muslim nations.

The Afghan War began in 2001 when America commenced its war on terror as retribution for 9/11.Hardly 2 years later it invaded Iraq under the pretext of dismantling Saddam Hussein's WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) which later was found to be a big lie perpetuated by the US and her close ally Britain to justify the invasion of Iraq.

It is now over a decade and the US is no where near winning the two wars.The contagion of war has even spread to Pakistan where the Talibans have regrouped and more determined then ever to drive the American out of Afghanistan and put an end to its military influence over the Pakistani government, which has become a beggar's state, a failed state and not able to resist American aids in exchange for its soul.

For the last century the US has reversed its own "Monroe Doctrine" (the restraining of European powers from continuing hegemonic influence and control over the Americas) using military intervention in any trouble spots, anywhere around the globe that they deemed might endanger American global interests, without due consideration for the massive collateral damages they might inflict on the country concerned. Their military excursions had taken them to the Korean War,the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the Afghan War and the Iraq War not taking into consideration other skirmishes and stealthy wars in some Latin America countries.

The biggest torn in the Islamic world is the Palestinian issue. Since its abrogation as a state and the making of a Jewish state in 1948 by the Western powers the issue of an independent Palestinian state have been sidelined by every US President in favour of Israel.The Palestinians are in complete limbo because the big guns are on the side of Israel.

Obama made a number of universal promises which are listed below and which he has clearly failed to fulfill.

1.Guantanamo Bay

Within days of his inauguration, Obama signed executive orders to close down the military prison within one year and to end torture in interrogation.

Gitmo is still operating and torture of prisoners are still on the suspect list.

FAILED!

2.Iraq

He promised to end the war in Iraq in 16 months and to withdraw all combat forces from Iraq by August 2010 and remaining troops by end of 2011.

For almost a decade of American occupation the country remained a war zone with highest probability of returning back to sectarian violence the moment US troops left Iraq.There are 3 more months remaining to the dateline.

FAILED!

3.Palestine/Israel States

He made a promise to make sustained push for the existence of two states - a Jewish state in Israel and a Palestinian state.

The Israeli government as usual is the spoiler of any peace negotiation, resisted Obama's calls to stop settlement construction in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.Construction freeze was a condition set by the Palestinians for the peace talk.Like all past presidents the talk remained a talk ending up in a deadlock because the President can only provides lip service, have no sincere intention of creating a Palestinian state.

FAILED!

During the campaign period in 2008 Obama was nothing less but impressive.His oratory skill was intensely felt by those watching him speaking, his style immaculate and his extemporaneous speeches gave air of confidence. The American people, overtly impressed, voted him as president.Still in the honeymoon period, by January 2009 his approval rating jumped to 69 %, by August 2011 declined to 38 % and the latest rating hovering around 41 %.

I was personally impressed by Obama's messianic orations during the 2008 campaign period and was hoping he would be elected. I now realised he, not unlike our Anwar Ibrahim, is just a smooth "Yes, we can" talker and a non-performer.

His lack of purpose, lack of direction and lack of leadership made his administration slow on action losing precious moment initiating major reforms domestically and in its foreign policy.

His bumbling and slow response to the Gulf oil spill which has caused major environmental disaster was a picture of his slowness and incompetence.His expended war effort in Afghanistan has failed so miserably even his General in charge of operation openly admits "nobody is winning" the war.

Though, the American people are more concerned with domestic affairs and don't really care about America's foreign policy, let's hope this man don't get re-elected for another wasteful term.

Since Jimmy Carter he would probably be the next biggest Democratic disappointment in the White House.

PAS/Pakatan Leaders Should Visit Chin Peng ( National Hero)

Hantu Laut

PAS leaders, particularly, Mat Sabu should visit national hero Chin Peng lying critically ill on his death bed in a hospital in Bangkok.

If Mohmmad Indera is a national hero than Chin Peng must be one even bigger national hero because he was the leader of the CPM that tried to liberate Malaya from British colonial rule and Mohammad Indera came from the same organisation.

In the past some opposition leaders have asked the government to allow Chin Peng to return to Malaysia but to no avail.Maybe, they should appeal for his body to be brought back so he can lie in state for Malaysians to show their last respect to this mass murderer.

Travestying history is their next sophistical project to fool the foolhardy Malaysians.

Rais:Why Ban Something Good ?

Hantu Laut

I do not agree with Rais Yatim's reasoning for taking off the airing of this video on TV.It is a good public message to bring awareness to Malaysians to discharge their rights to vote and it's free.

The video is also free, the government need not fork out any money for its production and, thankfully, they did not, otherwise, it would have cost a bomb.

Rais, should tell us Malaysians, which segment of our society would be offended by the video and what is the subliminal message?

The unspecified negativities he asserted of the video is lamentable because they are non existence.I can't find any subliminal message other than the presence of some opposition's superstar like Nurul Izzah.To be fair to the maker of the video he has also invited and included in the video BN ministers to sing the same message.

Is the government haunted by its own shadow?

Is it because of Namewee?

Frankly speaking, I do not agree with many of his antics, he is just a publicity maniac using politics as cheap publicity. We should not be bothered by his appearance in the video, we should look at the content and context of the whole video and its ultimate message.

Is it because of Tengku Razaleigh who says Malaysia has many problems?

Isn't it true we have many problems ? Which country don't have problem?

We have political problem, economic problem, corruptions problem, crime problem, widening racial divide problem, religious problem, FDI problem and last but not lease the Anwar Ibrahim's problem.

Instead of finding solutions to the many problems, why not sweep them under the carpet, in the typical fashion of UMNO leaders.

I hate to generalise or stereotype people, but ONE'S SUPPORT CAN WEAR THIN when the objects of your support keep shooting themselves in the foot. Many UMNO leaders are suffering from this malady.Even my hero, former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohammad, disappoints me when he contradicts himself by saying Malaya had never been colonised. There is nothing to be ashamed of being colonised, almost three-quarters of the globe was colonised by European powers.

When he was prime minister he said the Malay sultans sold their souls to the British now he says the sultans invited the British as advisers but the British acted as colonialists.I forgive him because of his age and fading memory but how do you forgive a learned man, a professor named Zainal Kling who sing the same song referring to some obscured document saying the sultans never signed any treaty agreeing to be colonised.

Ask the African countries,India,Indonesia,the West Indies, how many of them have signed documents to allow the European powers to subjugate them? Ask the Sultanate of Malacca did he sign any treaty before the Portuguese armada came with their gun blazing to take Malacca?

In some cases treaties were signed after subjugation either by force or intimidation.In the case of Malaya the British used subtle intimidation on the sultans to accede to their demands.It is called "gunboat diplomacy", a display of superior military power to intimidate.

Malaya was colonised that way and that's why we have "independence day" and our northern neighbour Thailand do not have any because they have never been colonised.Incidentally, Thailand was also never invaded by Japan in World War II.They became allies and signed a secret military alliance with Japan for safe passage to invade Malaya on condition the Japanese helped them to get back the 4 northern states in Malaya formerly under Thai rule.

It appears that some UMNO leaders are still living in past glory.Some of the excuses given are so pubescent, like a growing child's fantasy, ONE WOULD NOT KNOW, whether they are REAL, IMAGINED or just PURE BULLSHIT.

It about time they wake up to the real world.....and it's ABOUT TIME THE PRIME MINISTER LEARN HOW TO SACK THE BELLIGERENTS, THE INCORRIGIBLES AND THE INTELLECTUALLY CHALLENGED......or ALL OF HIS EFFORTS WOULD GO DOWN THE DRAIN, HE AND THE WHOLE UMNO BATTALION WITH IT.

HUDUD:To Be Or Not To Be ?

Hantu Laut

No laws are perfect including secular laws but there are vast differences between humanistic and God's law.While God's laws are purportedly to be perfect and set in stone, secular laws are always evolving.

The world has progressed under humanistic laws and would continue to do so as long as humans care about their future and preservation of the human race.

Much as I hate to say, religious laws are archaic, retrogressive and not suitable in this modern world.

I was compounded in astonishment and shocking disbelief when I read Anwar Ibrahim's statement supporting hudud law to be implemented in Kelantan, short of him saying, on condition they would make him prime minister should Pakatan win the 13th General Elections.

There is now a general consensus among the general population, except in PKR's camp, that Anwar would not be prime minister even if Pakatan takes the Federal government in the coming elections.PKR is expected to be the worst performer among the 3 partners.The party with the most seats would choose one of theirs to be prime minister with appointment of two deputies, one Malay and one Chinese.Would Anwar settles for a deputy?

The support for hudud is to boost his supports from right-wing Muslims without which he would see his dream of helming the nation vapourising into thin air.

This is a man who portrayed himself as the "Asian Renaissance Man". Like the chameleon he has the versatility of changing colours.His supporters in the West, particularly, the obnoxious and arrogant John Malott , are probably having sleepless nights trying to decipher his most unexpected statement which sounds as unpleasant and displeasing as when he went on his anti-Semitic overdrive trying to disparage the Najib's government of being Jew-lover for engaging APCO, a purportedly Jewish controlled consulting firm, hoping that the anti-Semitic diatribes would bring him a resurgence of right-wing Muslim supports.

What is a "renaissance man"?

In a nutshell, it is the intellectual transformation of an individual.

Those who went to school during the colonial days would have studied European history and learned about the "European Renaissance", the intellectual transformation of European societies that started in Italy and spread to other parts of Europe between the 14th and 17th century and with it the rise of humanism and secularism.Christendom was still a violent religion then carrying out inquisition of heretics, using torture and death, and anti-Jewish pogroms.During this period the Catholic Church was at the peak of its influence, exerting its power to create a religiously uniform community.Although, most rulers were secular the church virtually controlled state's politics.The period also saw the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the renaissance and Protestant movement, the breakaways from Catholicism.

The West have learned that religion in whatever form have not been and will never be compatible partner in the running of a nation, that church and state are like oil and water, they are not miscible, one would have to subjugate the other and the church has, for hundreds of years, ruled most European states.

The Western nations have grown wiser and separated the two. There are no more theological influence in Western democracies.There may be religious humanists in government but they do not bring elements of religion into the administration.

What is Anwar trying to do? Is he leading the nation in the right direction? He is trying to turn the clock back? More shocking is his affirmation that hudud would be fair and would not be applicable to non Muslims.How exactly is he going to implement two different sets of law for a nation that is multiracial, multi religious and have existed under secular laws for yonks.

We are not Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan or Pakistan where the populations are homogenenously Muslims.One law for all.In most cases they are not even Islamic law but law of the jungle, tribal law under the guise of Islamic law.Honour killings of wayward daughters for saving of one's family honour and rapes of women as form of revenge are rampant in these God's forsaken countries.The ignorant person would think those are Islamic practices when they are not.

In a hudud system, say in Malaysia, what would happen if a Muslim girl fornicated with a non-Muslim man? Would the justice system stone her to death and let the man go free or get away with only a small fine?

Since Anwar has affirmed that non-Muslims would not be affected, he and Nik Aziz, the two strong proponents of hudud should give their views on this issue.

Take Pakistan, Afghanistan and Somalia as examples. These are predominantly Muslim countries that have become despicable "failed states" and the most dangerous places on earth to be in at the moment.

Just a few weeks ago a Malaysian journalist was shot death in Somalia.The country has a stooge central government that is hardly functioning.The country is run by criminals, warlords and high seas pirates, who, probably, have collected more money out of hijacking and kidnapping than the government collecting revenues for administration of the states. These criminals and warlords have their own mini governments dispensing their own form of sharia .The country had become a beggar's state surviving on foreign aids.

I can understand if an ignorant non-Muslim writer here blindly trying to justify PAS brand of hudud, because he knew no better, but coming from people like Anwar "The Renaissance Man" is undoubtedly for his own political expediency and a political trap he set for Najib, which, unfortunately, was taken hook, line and sinker by Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin before Najib could respond.

For whatever reasons, Muhyiddin was quick to the draw when it was Najib that Anwar asked to make a stand on the issue, is a mystery. Najib has responded that there would not be hudud law in Malaysia, certainly not under his leadership.East Malaysians showed a sign of relief when Najib said there would never be hudud in Malaysia.Sabah and Sarawak have very significant Christian population.

Can you trust governments in underdeveloped and developing countries that say democracy and human rights exist in their countries but behave otherwise, blatantly running autocratic or totalitarian regimes with total disregard for human rights.

The Arab nations are the worst offenders when it comes to protection of basic human rights.The countries are run by maniacal despots and tyrants who have no considerations whatsoever for human rights and human dignity.The only interest they have are to fill up the family coffers as much as possible by robbing the state treasuries.Some used Islam to control the people. Making comment against the government could end you up in prison and in worse case scenario, imprisonment and torture, and if you are unlucky, death.

For decades the Arab people prayed and looked forward to wake up in the morning for deliverance from the evil regimes and the dawn of a new era of true democracy and freedom, they never came, every succeeding government produced even bigger monster, until the day the straw that broke the camel's back arrived and the people snapped that led to conflagration of uprisings sweeping the Arab nations that is now popularly known as the "Arab Spring". The region was known as the land of jahiliyyh in pre-Islamic era, unfortunately, it still is.

I will not elaborate further on the Arab Spring as it is still ongoing in Libya and Yemen and is common knowledge everywhere but would like to highlight the hypocritical nature of Arab nations.

When the UN laid down its Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) for its members, some of the OIC (Organisation Of Islamic Countries) members accepted and signed the declaration but some rejected the UDHR saying it has not taken into account the cultural and religious context of non-Western nations and a serious divergence from Islamic Sharia. They can only accept a declaration that used Sharia as its sole source.

On 5 August 1990, 45 OIC members met in Cairo and presented, as an alternative to UDHR, a guidance to human rights named the "Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam"(CDHRI) based on the shariah which was accepted and adopted by all the 45 countries including those that have signed the UDHR. You can read the full text of the declaration here and form your own opinion whether any of the Arab countries complied with what they have jointly declared.

Though, I don't support them politically I have high regards for people like Lim Guan Eng, Lim Kit Siang and Karpal Singh who have stayed unwavering in their beliefs and stood by their principles on issues close to their hearts.They don't have the versatility of a chameleon that can blend with the colours of its surrounding to protect itself for predators.

We are only about 60 % Muslims and huge minority of non-Muslims, which, incidentally, is the bigger economic engine of this country.The big businesses may even move their capitals outside the country, foreign investors and foreign tourists may also give us a miss in the event Malaysia, which I hope not, join the league of Islamic nations that went down the chute because of politicians greed for power.It is also against the Federal constitution to implement any other law other than the existing ones allowed under the constitution, unless Pakatan Rakyat can get two-thirds majority in Parliament to change the constitution which is most unlikely.

Did Karpal Singh not say "over my dead body" if PAS tried to implement hudud in this country?

One thing I know for sure Anwar had done a great favour to BN........after his great revelation Pakatan will never get Sabah and Sarawak.

The hudud issue will sit on the back burner for a while but it will keep coming back till PAS get the clout to implement it...........which will forever be a pipe dream.