Incisive opinion on the current situation of the US market

Speaking of nerves..

Nerves in the face of bigotry, terrorism, hypocrisy, and political opportunity

When the Perak MB Nizar decided to replace a civil servant in charge of Islamic affairs under his administration, the Sultan essentially vetoed the move. Subsequently, Karpal Singh attempted to defend Nizar’s actions. For his troubles, Karpal received death threats and a live bullet in the mail.

Hang on a second.

Nizar acted against the Sultan’s wishes. Karpal defended Nizar. Karpal gets death threats, and Nizar gets pretty much nothing? How does that work? Surely if the sensitivities of the Muslims were offended then the more fierce reaction should have been towards the perpetrator of the “wrongdoing”. Instead the target was the individual who spoke out in defense of the perpetrator. I’m not suggesting that Nizar should have been the target of threats as well, I’m just pointing out the apparent hypocrisy.

Lets rewind to April 2007, when Gerakan called for the Perak Mufti to be replaced due to his role in stoking racial tensions. The response from UMNO and PAS was swift and decisive, and we heard the all-too-familiar refrain “don’t play with fire”. Now, let’s consider this gem of a video on youtube:

So PKR’s Badrul Amin basically makes a joke about killing the Mufti of Perlis (in addition to calling him gila, bapak syaitan, etc) and as far as I can recall nothing happened. Gerakan calls for him to be replaced, and there’s a major outcry. Once again I am left scratching my head.

Now the latest installment is Teresa Kok’s skirt-gate scandal, which was triggered by the image on this blog entry. The climax of this episode has been an act of terrorism – let’s be clear, that is exactly what it was, despite the fact that nobody got hurt. A molotov cocktail was flung into the home where her parents and siblings live. This is the third time a molotov cocktail has been used since 308; the first time was against DAP Perak, the second time the target was Bar Council President Ambiga, and now it’s Teresa. Supplementing this act of terrorism are statements denouncing Teresa as biadap. Here’s an example that I obtained from some avenue online:

Saya sendiri sebagai salah seorang umat islam, merasa terhina dengan perbuatan TERESA KOK yang nyata menghina ugama kita dengan petisyen beliau jangan AZAN di PUCHONG dan kini strategi terbarunya penghinaannya kepada ISLAM dengan memakai SKIRT di Masjid. Yang lebih menyedihkan saya bila Mat Sabu orang kuat PAS blh bersetongkol dengan TERESA KOK yang tidak sedar diri itu dengan bersaing masuk kedalam rumah ALLAH. SUBHANALLAH…….Tidakkah menteri menteri kita yang berugama islam membuka mata, halang perbuatan beliau yang nyata nyata menghina ugama kita?????

Kenapalah dilepaskan beliau dari tahanan ISA, tengok sendiri selepas dilepaskan, beliau mula menyalak seperti anjing. Renung renungkanlah wahai umat islam Malaysia, jangan dibiarkan ianya terjadi lagi…. Musibah bagi kita umat Islam, bangunlah, bukalah mata luas luas jangan ada orang kafir lakhnat menghina kita umat islam lagi. Bisukah kita atau pekakkah kita sehingga dia bolih memporkotak katikkan ugama kita? memang ugama kita mengajar kita berlemah lembut tapi bukan berlemah lembut dengan manusia biadap seperti TERESA KOK ……ALLAH SWT sendiri pun membenarkan peperangan itu demi menegakkan ugama…Wallahualam

* Renungan buat MAT SABU -
- Larangan berteman dengan orang orang yang memusuhi Islam
- Surah AL-Al-Mujaadillah – Surah 58 ayat 14
” Tidakkah kamu perhatikan orang orang yang menjadikan suatu kaum yang dimurkai ALLAH sebagai teman? orang orang itu bukanlah dari gulungan kamu dan bukan (pula) dari gulungan mereka……”

* Untuk Umat Islam Khususnya -
- Keharusan umat islam mempertahankan ugamanya dalam barisan yang teratur
- Surah ASH SHAFF Surah ke 61 Ayat 4
” Sesungguhnya ALLAH menyukai orang orang yang berperang dijalanNya dalam barisan barisan yang teratur seakan akan mereka seperti suatu bangunan yang tersusun kukuh”

Let me state this clearly: from the facts of the case, Teresa Kok has done nothing wrong, not just from a legal perspective, but from a social perspective as well. I simply haven’t seen any evidence suggesting that she’s done anything impolite/ignorant or whatever. As far as I know, she didn’t set foot into the mosque itself, only into the mosque compound, where she was invited in by the mosque people. If her attire was unacceptable, she should have been told by the mosque people. How can she be expected to know what is proper and what is improper? If the mosque people invited her in surely she is entitled to believe that it’s all good. And hey, PAS’ Mat Sabu was there too, sure he knows a thing or two about Islam, especially since he recently went on the record blasting the crop of new ulamas.

But skirt-gate is a secondary issue, the molotov cocktail is serious. I distinctly recall when DAP Perak HQ was firebombed, I was freaked out. It was very worrying. There was tension. In short, people were terrorized. When Ambiga’s former house was firebombed, most of us were amused by the case of mistaken identity, but there was also a sense of underlying alarm. In this third installment the sense of alarm is tempered by the fact that the device was poorly constructed and therefore did not explode. But the fact is there is less alarm now than there was before. People are outraged, especially non-Malays, but people are not really that worried about anything (besides, obviously, Teresa and her family).

What chills me is this: if the intention of these wannabe “pejuang” is to spread fear in order to control the agenda, then clearly the next firebomb that doesn’t go off isn’t going to do any good. If the intention is terrorism, then the next firebomb has to hurt someone.

Finally! On with the show… let’s take on the ISA!

I litereally LOL’d at work when I read this piece in Malaysiakini. Okay then, alls well that ends well, and Tian Chua is a real trooper for putting up with this kind of dicking. The word “tool” does come to mind, doesn’t it…? But never mind, what’s done is done.

I am glad all that’s over, and I regret not taking the few bets that some people put to me. Now it’s business time.

I’ve been fairly critical of Anwar Ibrahim, for two reasons: 1) lompat parti, 2) turun harga minyak esok. I was not going to compromise on (1), but (2) is very much negotiable. If he can make a case that such a move is necessary and likely to shield the economy from damage in a way that does not jeopardize the long term health of the country, then by all means let’s debate it.

But that’s not really the biggest issue right now. At the moment the big issue is the ISA. I think Pakatan Rakyat should move a motion in Parliament to immediately repeal the ISA. I’ve been told by some people that this is a silly idea because it won’t actually happen. I agree it’s very unlikely that ISA would be repealed in the near future, but let’s look at the scenarios:

1. The speaker doesn’t allow the motion. In doing this, the speaker must say why he is denying the motion. Barring the possibility of a technical fault, the speaker needs to essentially go on the record and put his reputation on the line in deciding to knock off the motion.
2. The motion will be defeated by the BN’s simply majority in Parliament. Okay then, let the MCA/Gerakan MPS go on the record – the VOTING RECORD – as voting against the repeal of the ISA, and let their constituents demand answers from them in the next election.
3. Even if it gets through Dewan Rakyat, Dewan Negara will block the motion. This could be a very serious issue. But, we better start testing these boundaries now. If Pakatan wins a simple majority in the next election, with Barisan still having control of the upper house, we will have to deal with these issues anyway. I think the sooner we push the envelope in this regard, the better. And anyway… let’s make some senators famous. Let them go on the record as supporting the ISA. Senators enjoy too much comfortable anonymity. Who are these guys, what exactly do they do, and how much do they get paid?

This is about accountability and taking responsibility. Let the voices be heard clearly, and let the votes be taken. Let the ayes be identified, and let the nays be identified. Sometimes, it is necessary to play things in black and white. Sometimes ambiguity and shades of gray are the source of evil. When some people can say “oh we try to push for reforms in cabinet, but what to do”, let’s give them something to do.

For the first time in history, Malaysia has an opposition leader that all Malaysians can get behind (no pun intended). Surely that’s something to feel positive about.

Now let’s start making things happen! I will write to my MP, Nurrul Izzah Anwar, asking her to raise such a motion in Parliament.

Crazy idea #857: Can ISA realistically be repealed by the end of the year?

I’m no Parliamentary expert la… all I know is, Parliament is supposed to make laws. But this idea just occurred to me… don’t know if it’s possible, but I do wonder if it may work…

We’ve all heard the story that Anwar has enough BN MPs to topple the Federal Government. That means, he has support from more than half of Parliament (simple majority).

He claims that he is ready to take over, and wants to do so in a peaceful, orderly fashion. I am skeptical, but he seems adamant, so maybe it’s true.

So, how about a show-of-force, that will also benefit the rakyat? How about Pakatan calling for the immediate repeal of the ISA, and putting it to a vote in Parliament? I think with the bad press the ISA has garnered in recent days, it should be no problem getting a majority of MPs to support the motion; those BN MPs who are ready to crossover should have no problem voting for the motion, and even some who are not contemplating a crossover may vote for the motion.

If Anwar really has the numbers, how about putting them to good use now?

ayam beg (+ season recap)

I can’t leave you people alone for one week can I! Look at the mess you made. September 16th came and went, and now the theories are:

1. It was always a bluff, meant to apply pressure on Badawi. Some people defend this theory as being both probable and somehow a good thing. How this is good for the country, I have no idea… attrition is rarely good for anybody.
2. Anwar got played – he got pledges by BN people who were never actually interested in crossing over. Just see how la… you know… career advancement, you wanna see what the environment is like, so you talk to other companies even though you are not really keen on getting poached. Either that or Anwar got played by cunning jerks who simply wanted to make him look bad.
3. Those who pledged to cross over changed their mind for the time being, which according to some was because Mahathir decided to kambing beg.

In the meantime, Teresa Kok got detained for a week because of a faulty PA system or some shit, and RPK got arrested because he called Najib bad names (and of course the whole time RPK had talked a whole lot of cock and bull, but whatever, there’s certainly no grounds for detaining him). And in order to seem “more sincere” about handing over power to Najib, Pak Lah hands him the Finance Ministry, and takes over MINDEF himself – which I initially thought may have had something to do with Pak Lah wanting to keep a closer eye on the military especially after one of our Jenerals succumbed to the urge to give us his armchair 2 cents worth on race relations, which only PAS had strongly criticized… PKR and DAP were relatively muted, as far as I am aware. Anyway, it may be the case that MINDEF doesn’t really have that much oversight on personnel, perhaps just procurement and whatnot, so I’m not sure if that theory really holds water. And Karpal is suing Utusan for 10M, showing that what goes around might come around… MGG Pillai smiles down from the heavens.

All this you achieved in about a week. Are you feeling proud of yourselves?

The Katak Khronicles

The title of this Malaysiakini piece says it all (sort of): “‘Get people’s approval first for 916′”

If you are true DAP supporter, repeat after me…

NO TO 911

NO TO 929

YES TO 1957

YES TO 308

NO TO 916

(REPEAT AD INIFINITUM.)

I know the theory that this is all a bluff bla bla… but I say you can’t be too sure. DAP leadership can’t take a stand against this, so grassroots should do so, for the sake of the party, and in the long term for the sake of the coalition too.

Anyway, ayam bz now, and will be outstation for a while, so all the best Malaysia, and try not to make a fucking mess of yourselves. Brb, in about two weeks!

oh and p/s: Mahathir kambing beg.

Crazy Idea #856: all step down!

It would be good if MPs wanting to cross over could step down from their seats, change party, then stand for re-election under a new party banner. However, some people have said this is not possible because the rules specifically prohibit it.

The other alternative is for Pak Lah to try to get the King to call for fresh general elections, but that assumes that a) BN wants to go down the election route, rather than trying to bribe/blackmail/coerce some of their MPs to come back, and b) the King wants fresh elections.

But, what if more than half of Parliament is made vacant?

I’m not clear on the election rules, but what happens when Parliament has fewer than half it’s seats filled? By definition there will never be quorom. How to arrive at this state? All MPs wanting to crossover, step down first. Then, all Pakatan MPs step down. FORCE A GENERAL ELECTION. And every incumbent dan defend his/her seat, and every crossover can join the race as well. Would this be possible?

Pakatan has momentum, so it should feel pretty good about it’s odds. And the issue of legitimacy will be pretty settled then.

So how Pakatan? Wanna roll the dice? :P

(Of course I already know the answer to this question, but I thought I’d ask it anyway)