Democracy is dead. Yesterday, while ATC and Help University College were debating on the motion for abolition of death penalty as it violates basic human rights, how ironic it was that outside there, the Malaysian government were committing a clear act of human rights violation with the arrest of Raja Petra Kamarrudin, Teresa Kok and Tan Hoon Cheng under the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA).

As a law-abiding citizen who have preferred to stay apolitical, I vehemently condemn this vicious act by the government. This is a clear case of double standard and hypocrisy. Ahmad Ismail (I refused to address him with his honorary title), who called the Malaysian Chinese “immigrants” in the presence of the Deputy Prime Minister, was let off easily, whereas Tan, who was merely reporting the truth was deemed to be the guilty party. 

You, the ruling party, UMNO, have committed an unforgivable act, not only against the Chinese community in the country, but also against every single peace loving Malaysian. You have tried to instill fear into the hearts of the people, but we will not bow down. Your arrogance will lead to your fall.

Do not insult our intelligence. We shall not allow you to trample on the democracy that has been built by our forefathers. I join the united voice of millions of Malaysians who are demanding the release of these ISA detainees. Democracy will live again, and we shall live to see that day.

Many people have seen it coming, but the federal government, still living in the state of denial have failed to anticipate this. Today, the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) announced its intention to support a motion of no-confidence against the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. The PM was reported as being unaware of such move by SAPP, but none to many were shock by such action by one of the main Barisan component parties in Sabah. The only shock perhaps, is that the decision has come too early. In fact, Datuk Yong Teck Lee, the SAPP President had intially given an ultimatum to the federal government until this September to resolve the problems in Sabah.

No one would blame the SAPP for taking such a radical move. It is the worst kept secret in Sabah that many Filipino Muslims in Sabah have been granted Malaysian citizenship in an attempt to tilt the religious balance in Sabah, which had previously been a Muslim-minority state. A common misconception is that such policy was brought about by UMNO when they made inroads into Sabah government after the 1995 state elections. In fact, the policy has been in existence even before that, in the early 1970s druing the era of former USNO President, the late Tun Datu Mustapha, who was himself of a Suluk/Muslim origin. The BN government, led by UMNO, however, have failed to reslove this issue, and may indeed have encouraged the continuance of it. This is however, not the only cause of dissatisfaction among Sabahans. The state has been underdeveloped, and it is probably one of the poorest state in the country. Over and over again, tha federal government have overlooked the state when it comes to funding and development. Apart from Kota Kinabalu, and to some extent, Sandakan and Tawau, the condition in other parts of Sabah is hardly reflective of a developing state. Many would have scoffed at Sabah for begging for funds from the federal government, but such was not the case. The state has been stripped of most of its reserves by the federal government, and only a minute amount goes to the state reserves.

That is not the only problem. The economic climate there is not exactly booming, but yet, prices of items can be 50% higher than those in West Malaysia. I do not know whether this is still a problem there, but when I was in Sabah, there was an apparent lack of schools, classrooms and teachers. A class would normally average between 55 to 60 students. Teachers would normally have to teach two subjects in each classes. The usual problems of basic roads, water and electricity in the rural areas are still prevalent.

Since taking over as the PM, Abdullah has not make any effort to improve the situation in Sabah. Hence, it would come as no suprise that SAPP shall vote in favour of such motion. In effect, it may be inevitable that the SAPP would resign itself from the coalition. The bigger question is of course, whether it shall remain independent on its own, or rather, join the Pakatan Rakyat.

Readers of this blog would known that I have my reservations on the Pakatan Rakyat, mainly because of its de facto leader, Anwar Ibrahim. Those who have any memory of his tenure as the Deputy Prime Minister and his time in UMNO would known his extremist and racist approach to politics. After being released from the prison, he has attempted to style himself as a father of reformation of Malaysian politics. However, he is still the cunning and calculative Anwar we have come to know of. His attempt to buy over Members of the Parliament from Sabah especially has left a bad taste in my mouth. Excellent orator he may be, but I will not be fooled. Pakatan Rakyat, looks as if it is merely a flavour of the month. Electing someone who was formerly the No. 2 man in a regime of corruption would be redundant. Malaysians need a revolutionary leader, and Anwar Ibrahim is not that leader. He is merely hypocrite, who is serving his own political purposes, who wants nothing than a revenge against the government who ousted him. He is a man who wants to fulfill what he thought was his destiny, by hook or by crook.

During my time in Sabah, I have came to known Datuk Yong as an excellent politician who serves the rakyat well. I remembered that he used to set up a booth around Likas using his van to allow people to channel their greviances. I would think that by defecting to the Pakatan Rakyat will deal a severe blow to his reputation, and also to Sabahan politicians. They would be looked as a lap dog by others, someone who is only willing to serve those who would give them benefits in return for a benefit. Defecting to a person who promises you windfalls would not benefit your state in a long term as you are only their pawn in their war. When the time comes that you are no longer useful, you will be cast aside and left to fend for yourself.

An independent Sabahan MPs bloc would be the route I would favoured the most. It retains the integrity of Datuk Yong and his counterparts. It avoids them from being played as a pawn by either side of the party.

As for the current government and Abdullah, spelling out a succession plan to Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak would do nothing in your favour. Najib may be a slightly more charismatic and a less sleepy leader, but the amount of his dirty laundry exceed those of all ministers combined. This brings me to a very sad political scenario in Malaysia. We do not have one single leader capable of making a change in this country. We do not have a Barack Obama, we do not have people who are brave enough to step up an make genuine changes, not changes driven by political devils. Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, in his glorious days as the Prime Minister has snuffed out too many talented leaders in an attempt to consolidate his position, and we are reeling from the effects of it now.

Okay. So I woke up this morning happily surfing The Star’s website, wanting to know what’s the latest news around the country. But my happy morning was a little spoilt after reading this piece of news “British Royal family happy with our men”.

If you have The Star newspaper with you now, try reading it and I bet it is placed in an obscure column in the paper. Surely, because it was such an embarrasing piece of news. Well, of course it’s embarassing! A freakin’ 122 personnel from the prestigious Royal Malay Regiment being flown halfway across the globe to guard some palace belonging to some royal family who couldn’t care less if Malaysia were to be bombarded by missles from some terrorists. They call it “London Public Duty”. For goodness sake, send them to Sichuan or Myanmar for some relief work, and I’ll call it a “public duty”.

If you read the news, you would have noted that the “proud” Datuk Seri Najib noted that each members of the Regiment received RM1,300 gratituous payment for their honourable “public duty”. The news conveniently omit from mentioning the cost of sending the troop there. Several sources quote the cost to be between a whopping RM 1.8 million to RM 2 million, but if anyone has a figure from a reliable source, please do tell me, but I bet it’s not cheap.

Seriously, even if it doesn’t cost a single cent, you have to agree that sending your best troops, your Royal Army to guard some other Royal family’s gate is a shame. If my memory serves me right, not long ago, some local town councils attempted to replace some of the English names of some roads and streets in Malaysia to weed out any colonial influences left in the country; a move which was definitely unnecessary and ridiculous because the names are part of our history and to remove them is to deny our history. But come on, sending the troops to guard Buckingham Palace? Doesn’t that look like kow towing to some colonial influence? Perhaps this is an elaborate scheme by “some people” to siphon some cash out of tax-payer’s money. Gosh, all the government taxes I have paid while buying McDonalds and KFC.

I have always been a proud Malaysian and I will always be a proud Malaysian. But this morning, for ten minutes of my life, I felt a tinge of embarassment to tell the world that I am a Malaysian.

You would have been mistaken that the petrol stations in Malaysia were having some Big Sales yesterday. Technically, maybe…but seriously, no. Unless you have been out of the country or in Mars for the last few days, you must have known that the fuel prices was increased by a whooping RM0.78 per litre at the dot of 12.00 am this morning. So, chaos reigns as Malaysian drivers hustle their way into the nearest petrol station to get their tank full.

So, Malaysian drivers, you must have been condeming the Prime Minister now. You must have thought that he is out of his mind. You must have thought that what he was doing is technically a political suicide, after a major loss in the last general election. Somewhere far in your heart, you must have thought that he was in a mission of vengence against Malaysians who turned against him in the last GE?

In the spirit of objectivity, I beg to differ. Whilst Pak Lah has made a number of questionable decisions (or rather, lack of decision) in the past, this move must have been one that I fully support, not because i”m not a driver.

See, the government can no longer afford to subsidse the fuel prices. As global fuel price soar to an all-time high of US$135, the price of fuel in Malaysia remained the same. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that this simply means that more money have to be pumped in (no pun intended) by the government in order to maintain the price. The projected amount of saving through this measure will be RM13.7 billion, and after deducting the RM5 bil to be spent on rebates, that leaves the government with RM8.7 bil.

Indeed, on the surface, it may seem that the hiking of price is unreasonable. Nevertheless, this is inevitable. The effects of fuel hike will no doubt be negative on the prices of other goods as well. I, for one, believe that the subsidy scheme should have been scrapped ages ago. It is eating into national reserves and it is creating a culture of dependence amongst Malaysians. To take a metaphor by Lord Denning in Blackburn v Attorney General, “Freedom given cannot be taken away”. “Rights” given cannot be taken away. Malaysians have treated the subsidy as a right, when it should be a privilege.

I would however reserve my judgment on how the money saved would be used. One thing I am utterly disappointed is that none of the money would be channelled towards improving the public transportation system. If the government wants Malaysians to be frugal in their fuel usage, they must do something to improve the sorry public transport that we have. Let’s all pray they do.

5.13 am: Hillary Clinton - 241; Barack Obama – 169

It’s 5.13 am, and I am still wide-eyed awake, as I, with millions of other Americans (and non-Americans) worldwide awaits the name of the person who will have the chance to take a shot at making it into American hisotry

It’s strange, considering my recent apathy and self-induced ignorance of local politics, that I am taking an interest in American politics, which, I must say will have at most a 0.1% bearing on my current life. Logic dictates that I should care more on local politics than foreign ones (Gee.. do I sound like a Vulcan? Blame all those Star Trek: Voyager eppies..). But logic tells me that if taking interests in local politics make me feel sick, pathetic, and nauseatic, I shall stay away from them. Indeed, I have been trying to avoid my main indulgence (other than coffee and tea), the LOCAL NEWSPAPER (more precisely, The Star), or to the very least, the first few pages, and the ”NATION” section. Friends will notice that everytime when I get the papers, my first move will be to turn to the Sports section at the back of the paper. No, not because of my sudden deep interest in all sporting events, but rather that I couldn’t bring myself to read all the headlines.

You can run, but you can’t hide. Just when I thought it was possible to avoid it, I was reminded of every single piece of sensational, and non-sensational local politics issues by my fellow brethen in my college; the bane of being surrounded by well-informed people. And to add salt to the wound, I have my politically-informed mom and most of the time politically-incorrect dad ringing their opinions every now and then.

Am I running away from the problem? You bet I am. Quite uncharacteristic of me you may say. But I reckon I am not the only one. I have grown tired and disinterested of the circus surrounding the local political scene, thanks to the soap opera and sometimes “too-good-to-be-true” and “udang di sebalik batu” drama served by the ruling party, the Barisan Nasional (BN). What? Did I hear “Vote for the opposition, then!” shout coming from somewhere? Please don’t get me started…

Strangely though, contrary to the cynical and sarcastic feeling most people have when they view the nation’s current affairs, I feel as if there is a huge burden being put on my shoulder. I guess I love the country too much to see it fall, and indeed it’s falling. Unlike a lot of people I know, who at the first chance would jump of the next plane to any of the White-Anglo-Saxon countries, I could see myself staying in Malaysia for the rest of my life, and I guess this is what bothers me the most. The nation is declining, and I ask myself; “What can a law student, who is depending on a government study loan, who has no source of income, and particularly naive do?” What? Did I hear “Vote and make a change!” cry coming from behind? 

Making a change…through the election system in Malaysia? Well, here’s the cold truth. Firstly, I do not believe that the government has been planting phantom voters, or outlawing voters in the manner that the Bushes did against Al Gore in Florida in 2000. Nevertheless, I strongly believe that the government is manipulating the election system to their advantage to the extent that they will still win with a 2/3 seat majority if they get less than 50% of the majority popular votes. A look at the previous General Election results in 2004 will reveal that such was the case. The BN won an overwhelming 90% of the Parliamentary seats, but most overlooked the fact that their popular votes were only at about 60%. Quite disproportioante, I must say. I think the BN have perfected the art of gerrymaking.

I do not believe in the system.     

Well, having said so, just for the record, I will hereby announce and shall I add, unashamedly, that I WILL NOT VOTE in the incoming election (huh, bet you didn’t see that coming). Yeah, call me a disloyal Malaysian for all I care. It’s my right, and it’s yours too. Exercise your rights not to vote!

6.03 am: John McCain – 111; Mitt Romney – 94; Mike Huckabee – 47

Ciao

There was a rally in the city a yesterday that was organized by BERSIH, an organization comprises of non-governmental organization and opposition that calls for a fair and free election for the country. A friend of mine has been talking about it for weeks and come that day, damn, I missed it! Gosh, I hate it when I’m out of civilization.

I’m not much of a political activist or extremist to tell you the truth. Consider me a political observer. Well, I thought of going because I wanted to see it with my own eyes the fact that the political situation in our country has become quite volatile. It may seem very much so even for an outsider (by outsider, I mean a “politic outsider” like me). Quite honestly, I don’t remember seeing the federal government led by the Barisan Nasional to be in such an unfavourable position since the short-lived Reformasi in 1999 led by the then newly-sacked Deputy Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim.

Yes, I think even the government is feeling so. The UMNO General Assembly concluded a few days ago too, and for the whole duration of the Assembly, the UMNO delegations and politicians had swayed away from touching any controversial and racial issues (notwithstanding, for some, Hishammudin kissing the keris, which I don’t see much of a controversial in there). It was far cry from the last year’s assembly; there was no repeat of the ketuanan Melayu debate this year. The reason?  

Two words: GENERAL ELECTION

Unless you have not been watching local news, you would have known that there is a talk about the Parliament being dissolved to make way for the polls early next year. The last general election was in the first quarter of 2004 (forgive me, hazy memory; I don’t remember the exact month), of which the BN won a landslide majority. Since the life of each Parliament is 5 years, that would make the next election to be in early 2009. Nevertheless, it would be highly unlikely that the government will wait until the 5^th year for the Parliament to automatically dissolve before calling for the election, because the standard practice is normally four years. This of course brings us to the first quarter of 2008, but it’s not absolute, I must say.

Why not the first quarter of 2008? Imagine that you are in a football match, and you are down by 1-0; wouldn’t you want extra stoppage time after the 90 minutes is up? The government has become quite unpopular due to the doing of its own men (Nazri’s antics, Khairy’s rhetoric, Syed Hamid’s BBC stint etc.). The current issues of the “judiciary in crisis” and the independent of the judiciary have further put them into a bad light. Of course, their action, or shall I say inaction in resolving that issue has not help them at all. The government would want to regain the confidence of the public first before going into the election.

Why the first quarter of 2008? Well, this could be the flip side of the football match analogy as above. Imagine that you are up by the slight margin of 1-0 and your opponent is playing their best bit of the game in the final 10 minutes; wouldn’t you want the game to end as soon as possible? Although the government is unpopular, I must say that they still hold the majority of people’s support, however slight it is. The presentation of the Budget 2008, and the launching of the Southern and East Coast Economic corridors have at least earned them some dignity, notwithstanding what people may tag them as “political agenda”.

Of course, what concerns me of course is not “when” but “who”. Who do I vote? I would like to say that this is between me and (hopefully), the Electoral Commission. Yes, I admit it; I’m a fence-sitter. People have been pestering me to vote for the opposition. There was this one speaker who came to our college a few months ago to speak about freedom of press in Malaysia. She had pointed out that the freedom of press has been more curtailed now under the current Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi compared to the era of Mahathir Mohammed, to the extent that there is nothing such as the freedom of press in Malaysia now (of which I vehemently disagree). The way that she spoke about it was as if we are in Pakistan, under the command of General Musharraf. One of the audiences than asked if such was the case, what are the remedies? Her replies was, “What’s going to happen this year? The general election. Vote for the opposition.” Bang! Immediately, any respect I had for her went down into the drain. What a cheap way to get support!

I guess what she had done highlighted the fact why I do not vote for the opposition. I know, politics are hypocrite; but what the opposition is doing is bolding and underlining the word hypocrite into their code of practice. We have an opposition leader, supposedly their saviour, who only a decade ago is the champion of the New Economic Policy and an extremist for Malay rights, now condemning the very principles of NEP, and asking non-Malays to support him. How pathetic! We have an opposition leader who vehemently claimed that they want Malaysia as a secular nation, not an Islamic nation, but overlooked the fact that they have, in the past general election formed a coalition with the very opposition party that is fighting for the full Islamisation of Malaysia. Double the pathetic! And don’t get me started on the debate on how our dressing can entice people to rape us.

As for the government, I cannot bring myself to vote for them too. While I’m a self-confessed fence sitter, friends back in high school would have known me as someone who is slightly pro-government rather than pro-opposition. Nevertheless, as I venture out from school, I have gained a more holistic view of the whole political situation in the country, and this has made me what I am today, a fence sitter. The issue of lack of transparency has made me lose so much confidence in the government (e.g. the Auditor General report). What more is the rhetoric of the government’s MPs in Parliament (Dear Bung Mokhtar, to say that I come from the same state as you do is an insult to me, as it is to the people of Sabah). How could I vote for people with IQ less than George W. Bush? Furthermore, their “sweeping under the carpet” skills, I must say is of the highest.

So, here’s my dilemma. I do not think that neither the BN nor the opposition will make a good government. Isn’t it great if we are like the United Kingdom, where they have always a very strong ruling party and a strong opposition (Labour v Conservative) or United States (Republican v Democrats)

My advice to my friends who will be eligible to vote in the next general election? Do not be prejudicial from the start. When you get an e-mail saying that Khairy is siphoning the country’s oil money, do not immediately fall for it (I got one such e-mail recently, as much as I do not like Khairy, I do not agree with this kind of slanderous stuffs). Conversely, if the same thing that was done to the opposition, do not believe it outrightly too. Evaluate the whole political situation, listen from both sides and decide who you want to vote for, and not who people ask you to vote for.