Of Not Politicising Issues

Whenever someone links a current issue to the state of political affair, some kind souls would make their routine appearance and quote this line: "Hey don't politicise the issue"

Well, I don't understand.

I don't understand how it is not appropriate to link anything to politics, when politics is linked to everything.

I don't understand how it is not appropriate to talk about politics, when effecting a change in the political scene is able to improve the issue in hand.

Consider what happened in Lee Nian Ning's facebook memorial group:

A: One way of not having this happen again is to vote the current government out... It might be for a better... Vote for a responsible government!

B: A, let's not try to politicise this. I might not be a fan of our current government, and I do think that their policies has indirectly led to such an accident (see, e.g. price controls on bus operators, forcing the drivers to drive a lot more to get an acceptable salary, few people wanting to work as bus drivers, leaving bus companies not being able to hire more able drivers who would naturally demand a higher pay)

Let this remain as a memorial and a reminder to the others.

C: I'm with you B, lets keep this friendly and politics free. Accidents happen.

To begin with, I agree that a solemn memorial group may not be the best place to bring about a political discussion. I wouldn't want to talk about politics to Nian Ning's parents or her boyfriend when they are grieving. I would commiserate with them, and offer comfort if I am able to. I can imagine that they wouldn't feel too good coming to a memorial group only to be inundated by lots of finger pointing and fiery tirades.

Also, I do not fully agree with what A said - voting the current government out in a single election brings about more harm than good, as I have always maintained.

However, I disagree with some of the sentiments expressed by B and C, in that they vaguely imply "not politicising the issue" is the attitude we should hold in this tragedy. C says "accidents happen", as if the inefficient government has no role to play with this VERY AVOIDABLE accident. B seems not to understand the issue in hand - I am not sure whether that particular damn driver is suffering from sleep or salary problems, but the main issue here is a driver with 13 summons still driving at large with his SMS habits, culminating in the death of three young souls. THIS, is the very DIRECT consequence of the complacency and leniency of our public agencies.

Or in other words, satu lagi Projek kerajaan Barisan Nasional.

Now I am not saying that Dato Seri Chan Kong Choy or Abdullah should step down for this accident. Nor am I saying that if Lim Kit Siang or PAS President becomes the PM or transport minister tomorrow, the bus accident incidence will be reduced to zero immediately. However, I am saying that, this AVOIDABLE tragedy is the deadly manifest of our lembik enforcement authorities, which is in turn bred and spoilt by the current government. And for this reason, it is absolutely appropriate to link this accident to politics.

If I am voting for the opposition tomorrow, I will do it not because I want them to replace BN. In fact, they may very well be equal to BN, if not worse, for all their inexperience and disorganization. However, if I vote for the opposition, it is to steer the country to a better track. Curbing BN's domination should be seen as the first step in lifting this country out of the pit of pseudo-democracy.

We should mourn for the loss of the resplendent lives, and we should sign the petition for improving bus safety. However, let's think about it - bringing about a positive move to our politics is yet another thing we could, and should do to save lives like Nian Ning. And saying that "We should not politicise it" does not quite justify not linking this to politics.

胡渐彪

我： 也许胡渐彪想要打入国阵，纠正国阵吧！
YP: I think more likely 国阵 will 纠正 him.

WTF Anwar

From: New Straits Times

Anwar sets sights on by-election

KUANTAN: Opposition politician Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said he would contest a by-election if he was not allowed to be a candidate in the upcoming general election.

The Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) adviser said he would ask one of the party's elected representatives to vacate his or her seat to enable a by-election to be held after April.

"I have enough friends who are willing to surrender his or her seat to allow me to contest a by-election," he said after attending separate meet-the-people sessions with the Chinese and Indian communities before holding a ceramah in Kampung Pandan 2 here on Tuesday night.

[snippet]

I don't know how sincere you have been since your "repentance", but with this news, you have just ruined your integrity, your party's validity and even the whole opposition camp's impression in the eyes of the public. You can justify that by saying that your presence in the parliament is paramount to the opposition, or that you are more important than one of your pawns; but doing so implies that you are gaming election and do not hold any regard on trust and legislation.

In fact, it reminds me of the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix where Rubens Barrichello let Michael Schumacher pass him in the very last second due to team order.

Shame on him.

A New Year Message from MCA

Update 21 Jan: Other commentary on this email - Education in Malaysia, Dr. OWL, John Lee, Chen Chow.

Original 1 Jan:

From: MCA President
Date: Dec 31, 2007 5:12 AM
Subject: President's New Year's Message
To: 594 chinese JPA students' email addresses (including yours truly)

Greetings to all JPA students all over the world! Its certainly a privilege to be a star student, standing tall as young Malaysians living overseas. I am sure you do your family proud, and I hope you will cherish this moment for the rest of your life, especially at this time of the year when the cheerful holiday mood is abound.

2007 has been a year of many lessons learnt for many nations. As other cities burn in turmoil, violence and disruption, Malaysia has thankfully weathered our difficulties in a peaceful manner to ensure that we have continued harmony and unity among the races. Amidst some tough economic times ahead, with worries of escalating global oil prices, every day living will increasingly be challenged. Similarly, Malaysia will also need to brace itself for such a period by remaining economically relevant and globally competitive.

The Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) has worked hard over the last eight years to ensure that the community's best and most talented receive top class education for deserving people such as yourself. While it is understandable that the world over is also vying for the best that it can attract into their labour force, it also our hope that our own students and graduates return to their homeland to serve their country.

MCA is also actively playing a role to help returning graduates and local talents who have a special interest in serving in the government. Civil service diversity is critical to address moderation, fairness and balance in the implementation and enforcement of our nation's laws and regulations at all levels. So important is this point that MCA has set up a secretariat/service centre to handle first hand the enquiries and issues pertaining to application, entry and even promotion in the Malaysian civil service.

MCA hopes that our efforts to build the nation and community can be realized with your appreciation as well as your service so that you, your family as well as your friends can enjoy the fruits of our peaceful nation forever.

MCA wishes you a good year ahead! And Happy New Year!


Ong Ka Ting
President, MCA

My year 2008 was heralded by a "personal" email from a bigwig. Words can't describe how proud I am! You see, we don't get letters from our government leaders everyday, do we. So Dato Seri Ong Ka Ting's personal email came as a big surprise. I am sure that with his lovely message, I will brave through the new year with absolutely high spirit and vigour.

In order to thank him, I decided to write a fisking-style reply over here.

Greetings to all JPA students all over the world!
Greetings to you too, Dato Seri. You made a typing mistake there. You should say "Greetings to all Chinese JPA students all over the world" instead.

Its certainly a privilege to be a star student, standing tall as young Malaysians living overseas.
I appreciate the privilege, although I believe that Malaysians who live locally would have the privilege to receive equally high-level education if not because of the ever-deteriorating standard in the local universities.

I am sure you do your family proud, and I hope you will cherish this moment for the rest of your life, especially at this time of the year when the cheerful holiday mood is abound.
Wait wait wait. While I would love to do my family proud, I am not sure which moment you are telling me to cherish for the rest of my life. The first day of year 2008? Or the very memorable date when I received a personal message from the leader of the second largest political party in Malaysia? While every new year may be a good time for celebration and parties, I don't really think it deserves a lifetime of cherishing.

== paragraph break ==

2007 has been a year of many lessons learnt for many nations.
Agreed. For Malaysia, for Australia, for US, for Pakistan, for Burma, and for every nation.

As other cities burn in turmoil, violence and disruption, Malaysia has thankfully weathered our difficulties in a peaceful manner to ensure that we have continued harmony and unity among the races.
There have been some irresponsible antics both from the political leaders and some rakyat. I am thankful that most Malaysians are still moderate and do not engage in violent behaviours.

Amidst some tough economic times ahead, with worries of escalating global oil prices, every day living will increasingly be challenged.
Yes.

Similarly, Malaysia will also need to brace itself for such a period by remaining economically relevant and globally competitive.
Ahmmph... For example, by having income-level-based policies instead of racial policies?

== paragraph break ==

The Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) has worked hard over the last eight years to ensure that the community's best and most talented receive top class education for deserving people such as yourself.
Thanks a lot, although I fervently hope that this is not the best thing MCA is doing for the country.

While it is understandable that the world over is also vying for the best that it can attract into their labour force, it also our hope that our own students and graduates return to their homeland to serve their country.
Ahmm. Okay I am starting to get confused. Is this a new year message or not?

== paragraph break ==

MCA is also actively playing a role to help returning graduates and local talents who have a special interest in serving in the government.
Tell me. Why should a Chinese political party be busy with helping people who actually want to serve the country, when there are more urgent issues in the country like taxi driver telling unhappy passengers "you ni orang cina saja; aku siapa tau tak"?

Civil service diversity is critical to address moderation, fairness and balance in the implementation and enforcement of our nation's laws and regulations at all levels.
You confused the cause and effect, Dato Seri. Civil service diversity is not critical to fairness and moderation; moderation and fairness is critical to the racial diversity in the civil service. Just wondering, have you ever talked to Chinese who have worked in the government agencies, about the injustice and rampant discrimination in the workplace? Oh yeah I forgot, you are one yourself. Tell me, how often are you asked to shut-up by the UMNO youth chief when you are voicing your discontent?

So important is this point that MCA has set up a secretariat/service centre to handle first hand the enquiries and issues pertaining to application, entry and even promotion in the Malaysian civil service.
I appreciate the efforts MCA made in helping Chinese in need. I seriously do. I just think that band-aids given out by MCA is lamentably not going to solve the long-term issues of racial categorisation and

== paragraph break ==

MCA hopes that our efforts to build the nation and community can be realized with your appreciation as well as your service so that you, your family as well as your friends can enjoy the fruits of our peaceful nation forever.
Thanks for finally coming to the main theme of the letter, Dato Seri. Sometimes I wonder: while it's impossible and non-beneficial to have an total overhaul of our current government, is it worthwhile to continue our support for a political party that gives out band-aids to its categorically discriminated people but is itself handcuffed in the political arena? Honestly I am still undecided regarding this, to give more support or not to MCA, the only political party that can give me tangible short-term benefit.

Your rare email comes uncannily near the general election, and I can't help but to connect the dots. Unfortunately they would not shake my own evaluation of the current political atmosphere nor influence my vote.

== paragraph break ==

MCA wishes you a good year ahead! And Happy New Year!
I wish you a good year ahead too, and hope that you are not having too serious of a headache over Dato Seri Chua's latest news.

By the way, it's a shame that you did not use BCC when you e-mailed all the Chinese JPA students. It's disconcerting to see my email addresses being exposed together with 593 other students. Think about privacy, my dear.

The Bigger Picture

When we were young, sometimes we fuss over little misfortunes, jump in petty rewards or bog ourselves down with small details. When the elderly see that, they would come and say, "Hey, don't be so short-sighted. Look at the bigger picture!" For example, when we failed an exam, we were often so devastated that we thought the world was going to end. But then someone would tell us, "Exam is not the only thing that matters in life. Look at the bigger picture!"

As we grow up, we gradually relinquish some of our nearsighted lenses, and learn to view the bigger picture in our lives. However, when it comes to socio-political decisions, lamentably some people continue to see the world through their small, aberrant lenses. Sometimes we can't help but to ask, "Why can't they look at the bigger picture?"

One of my friends' relatives went to the voting booth in one of the elections. They were the fence-sitters, or in other words they were undecided which candidate to vote for. When they arrived at the voting station, one of the MCA candidates were standing at the entrance, smiling, shaking everyone's hands, giving everyone a pat on their backs. Feeling surprised and flattered, their votes went to that candidate.

Why can't they look at the bigger picture?

Whenever there is a by-election, the ruling parties often inject millions of dollars into the "development" of that particular district right before the election day. Road surface is repaired and polished, drains are unclogged and bleached, temples permit that were shelved for twenty years is approved in a blink, and the dilapidated schools are given tons of funding from the government. Feeling overwhelmed and grateful, some people forgot about the decades of neglect and decided to vote for the government with the new-found generosity.

Why can't they look at the bigger picture?

2008 election is coming, and as usual, our taukeh-taukeh suddenly become very nice, friendly and warm. After some hubbub about the usage of the word "Allah" in a Malay-version Christian newspaper, the government reversed its earlier hostility and in the end approved the permit renewal of that paper. Meanwhile, chinese schools suddenly got a durian-runtuh ten-million funding from the Minister of Education. There was no price hike (yet) on petroleum despite the doubling of crude oil price in year 2007. Hishamnuddin suddenly loves his fairer and tanner friends again.

Despite the usual grunting and complaints on the non-election days, for some reasons the so-called election candies have always worked so well on the rakyat. In the election, the rakyat seem to support the corrupt and incompetent leaders again, trusting that the leaders have changed for the better because of their warm-and-fuzzy gestures before election.

Why can't they look at the bigger picture?

Some racial political parties strive hard to convince the rakyat that they are the stalwart for their race, and that they are the best hope for the people to ensure the continued prosperity. These parties provide supports for people to get into the civil service where racial prejudice often exists. They help you get scholarships. They give you free educational counseling.

However, they make hardly any mention about solving the irreconcilable racial divide in the country due to the divide-race-and-conquer policy. Instead of gearing towards the "bangsa Malaysia" championed by their former leader, they are forced to stick to the old "three big races" module, and believe that the "bertolak-ansur" and "cake-dividing" between races are going to be the way of future despite its failure everywhere in the world. Despite being forced to obey the more dominant racial party obsequiously on almost every single issue, they tell us [recommended reading - food for thought] that such a lopsided dacing is going to balance itself somehow.

Many people continue to give them full support through their wishful thinking that race-based politics is somehow going to work better one day. Or that "I love you, you love me, we are happy family" is going to work in a country where affirmative action is being abused by the rich and powerful.

Why can't they look at the bigger picture?

An interesting next step in the scale of bigger picture can be observed in religious parties like PAS. Don't bother with those worldly and secular policies, some of them tell us. If we obey every single command and enforce every single law from the One-True-Religion™, we would be better off, and also receive bountiful rewards in afterlife.* After all, they say, the afterlife should be the biggest picture for everyone regardless of the scale of the worldly matters.

It seems that they win at the biggest picture.


* Note: This is not targeted at Islam in particular. It's targeted at every single party with a church-state integration policy.
Image Credit: The Bigger Picture

An Introduction to Gerrymandering

Malaysian 2004 General Election Results

	Votes	% of vote	Seats	% of seats	+/-
National Front (Barisan Nasional):	4,420,452	63.9	198	90.4	+51
United Malays National Organization (Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Bersatu, UMNO)	2,483,249	35.9	109	49.8	+38
Malaysian Chinese Association (Persatuan Cina Malaysia, MCA)	1,074,230	15.5	31	14.2	+2
Malaysian Indian Congress (Kongres India Se-Malaysia, MIC)	221,546	3.2	9	4.1	+2
Malaysian People's Movement Party (Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia, Gerakan)	257,763	3.7	10	4.6	+4
United Traditional Bumiputera Party (Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu, PBB)	383,664	5.5	11	5.0	+5
Sarawak United People's Party (Parti Rakyat Bersatu Sarawak, SUPP)			6	2.7
Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (Parti Demokratik Progresif Sarawak, SAPP)			4	1.8
United Sabah Party (Parti Bersatu Sabah, PBS)			4	1.8
United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Pertubuhan Pasok Momogun Kadazandusun Bersatu, UPKO)			4	1.8
Sabah Progressive Party (Parti Maju Sabah, SAPP)			2	0.9
United Sabah People's Party (Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah)			1	0.5
People's Progressive Party (Parti Progresif Penduduk Malaysia, PPP)			1	0.5
Liberal Democratic Party (Parti Liberal Demokratik, LDP)
Democratic Action Party (Parti Tindakan Demokratik, DAP)	687,340	9.9	12	5.5	+2
Alternative Front (Barisan Alternatif) coalition:	1,668,998	24.1	8	3.7	-24
Islamic Party of Malaysia (Parti Islam SeMalaysia, PAS)	1,051,480	15.2	7	3.2	-20
People's Justice Party (Parti Keadilan Rakyat, PKR)	617,518	8.9	1	0.5	-4
Non partisans (and others)	139,438	2.1	1	0.5%	-2
Overall total	6,916,138	100.0	219	100.0	+26

Source: Wikipedia

Read the bolded red numbers. This table alone explains BERSIH campaign, and the meaning of gerrymandering.

Did You Really Say This?

“The Government has been kind and considerate towards the people for the past 50 years. It will continue to do so for as long as the people give their support to the Barisan Nasional,” he [Abdullah Ahmad Badawi] said.

(source: The Star)

Someone quoted this line from his highness, and I can't believe my eyes until I read it in the paper.

Doesn't it go to show the truth? For as long as you support Barisan Nasional, you will be treated nicely; or else, get ready to be slapped labels like "threat to national security" for exercising democratic rights, be charged with attempted murder when you are confronting the unnecessarily violent police, and be arrested in parliamentary precinct for a memorandum against obscene modification of the constitution.

AAB is being honest here. I am surprised that nobody makes much noise about this statement, but his blatant ignorance to the spirit of democracy makes me nauseous. I guess this point has always been implied by all his actions, but now he's putting it all on the table - "YES I am in defiance of democracy, but so what? The people are still going to give me the power I need to do whatever I wish, including stripping them of their democracy rights."

Scary.