BAB 3 (End of the trilogy)

Setelah berehat sekian lama untuk menulis Bab 3 setelah Bab 1 dan 2 selesai, maka terdapatlah banyak perkara atau isu yang hendak di'highlight'kan. Kali terakhir trilogi ini akan saya ulas tentang beberapa scenario yang melanda negara yang menjadi percakapan umum. Pertama, krisis ekonomi yang diwar-warkan akan berlaku pada tahun 2007 atau 2008 ataupun 2009. Ini berkenaan dengan kunjungan George Soros, seorang spekulator mata wang asing yang dikatakan menyerang ekonomi Malaysia pada tahun 97-98 di mana bantuan IMF telah ditolak oleh Dr M ketika itu. Saya amat yakin bahawa sekiranya tindakan tidak diambil oleh kerajaan ketika itu menambat USD 1 =RM3.80, negara mungkin merosot jauh lebih dalam lembah kegawatan ekonomi. Sekiranya kita meminta bantuan IMF maka terdapat syarat-syarat yang akan dikenakan. Dari segi globalisasi dan 'free trade', memanglah ini akan menguntungkan kuasa-kuasa besar tetapi ini akan menyebabkan negara dilanda ketidakstabilan. Kemungkinan peristiwa di Indonesia akan berlaku di Malaysia dengan berlakunya rusuhan kaum dan kejatuhan kerajaan yang berdaulat. Akibatnya, tampuk kepemimpinan negara akan dipimpin oleh pemimpin yang pro-kuasa besar seperti yang berlaku di Iraq dan Afghanistan kini. Menurut Raja Petra Kamarudin, editor M'sia Today.net, beliau berkata bahawa Soros ingin 'menguji kestabilan' Malaysia kerana Soros ingin melihat tahap kekukuhan kewangan negara. Akan tetapi, sebelum Soros menyerang negara pada 1997, beliau tidak pun datang berkunjung ke negara kita. Soal kedua ialah mengenai perjumpaan Dr M dengan Soros. Memanglah dalam politik atau ekonomi, tiada musuh yang selamanya. Ini dibuktikan dalam UMNO sendiri apabila Dr M membuka pintu kembali untuk membenarkan Tengku Razaleigh dan para pengikutnya dari S46 untuk menguatkan UMNO. Demikian juga di Sabah yang mana Joseph Pairin Kitingan yang suatu ketika dahulu Ketua Menteri Sabah dari parti pembangkang PBS kini adalah parti BN. Ini membuktikan bahawa Dr M sudi menerima kumpulan-kumpulan yang dulunya menentang beliau tetapi sudi masuk ke dalam pangkalan BN. Memanglah ini adalah satu strategi politik yang bijak kerana kerajaan BN akan menjadi stabil sekiranya lebih kurang pembangkang yang menentang kerajaan. Dengan pemecatan Anwar Ibrahim sebagai TPM, ramai rakyat tidak berpuas hati dengan Dr M, mereka bereformasi di jalanraya, meminta bantuan Amerika, dan macam-macam lagi. Sebab itu, pilihanraya 1999 BN kalah teruk di Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah dan negeri lain. Pada masa itu, KeADILan tidak menang banyak, hanya PAS yang berjaya 'hijack' kes Anwar untuk mendapat simpati rakyat. Contohnya pilihanraya kecil di Lunas yang dimenangi oleh Saifudin Nasution dari Keadilan memaparkan calon BN yang berada dalam pakaian paderi banyak mempengaruhi undi orang Islam yang majoritinya orang Melayu. Jika Dr M benar benar mengamalkan pemerintahan kuku besi, sudah tentunya keputusan pilihanraya akan lebih cantik memihak kepada BN. Dr M is a no nonsense man. Sebagai pemimpin, kenalah ada sifat mengambil keputusan yang berani. Sudah tentunya gaya pentadbiran Dr M mempunyai kelemahan. Beliau dikatakan 'bail out' syarikat anak-anaknya ketika krisis 97. Beliau dikata sebagai 'Mahazalim', 'Mahafiraun' dan macam macam lagi. Akan tetapi ini tidak mengubah semangat beliau. Beliau tetap Dr M dan beliau membawa perwatakan 'the cunning fox' dan 'the OLD wise man'. Tindakan membawa Anwar Ibrahim ke dalam UMNO adalah satu tindakan yang bijak. Namun, kini, Anwar sudah tidak lagi dalam UMNO. Anwar, jika hendak menjadi PM, kena masuk UMNO. Ini bukan hanya sentimen saya, tetapi sentimen orang lain juga. Tapi ada satu masalah, iaitu Anwar kini telah 'pledge his loyalty to the opposition cause'. Perlantikannya sebagai presiden AccountAbility mengaburkan tujuan politiknya. Mana ada ahli politik yang memegang jawatan yang berkaitan dengan ketelusan. Jika benar hal ini berlaku, maka saya menabik Anwar sebagai reformis yang tulen. Khairy Jamaluddin mengatakan yang Anwarlah UMNOputra yang terkaya apabila Anwar menegur pemuda UMNO. Sebenarnya ini bukan perkara baru, sesiapa yang memegang teraju UMNO akan mendapat habuannya. Anwar sudah tentu tidak akan menafikan perkara ini kerana beliau memang menggunakan sumbernya dengan baik sekali untuk menyisih Tun Ghafar Baba suatu ketika dahulu. Ini telah diterangkan dalam bab sebelumnya. Anwar kini ada peluang untuk memimpin negara. Sama ada beliau masih menjadi pembangkang atau kerajaan, saya sukar nak ramal, tetapi jika mahkamah mendapati Anwar tidak bersalah, keputusan Lembaga Disiplin UMNO juga mesti mengikut keputusan mahkamah, iaitu Anwar mestilah didapati tidak bersalah maka segala haknya sebagai Timbalan Presiden UMNO dan Timbalan Perdana Menteri harus dikembalikan kepada DSAI. Jika begitu, apa akan terjadi kepada Najib Tun Razak? Najib dilantik oleh Pak Lah sebagai PM, walaupun khabar angin mengatakan Dr M sebenarnya yang mahu Najib dilantik dan telah mengumumkannya terlebih dahulu. Dari segi karisma, Anwar memang tiada tandingan. Ini adalah pandangan saya. Gaya berpidato dan ucapan Anwar adalah sesuatu yang memberangsangkan. Abdullah, Najib, Hisham dan Khairy (yes even this Oxford grad) tidak mampu mengadakan face-to-face debate with Anwar. If they were to have a live debate just like John Kerry and George Bush in USA, Anwar will be the default winner. Anwar has a choice. It is either now or never. He can still be stuck in his academic world forever or he can make a difference. It is very hard to do both. During his interview with Prof Don Emmerson from Stanford Uni, Don suggested that he can be a role model for leaders to be active and analytical as well (meaning activist and analyser). But so far, I have never heard of any academician-cum-politican, have you? if you have, by all means, do enlighten me, i would love to share information). People who are in the academia never touch politics and vice versa. Maybe that is why there is so much stupidity in the governments around the world, but hey, i don't mean that all the professors and lecturers in uni's should quit from their posts and join political parties now, haha. Anyway, i just put it in jest. Anwar kini berada di crossroads, ya, persimpangan hidupnya. Beliau hanya berkata 'I'm not prepared to rejoin UMNO' tetapi beliau tidak berkata 'There is ZERO possibility of me rejoining UMNO'. Maknanya, peluangnya untuk kembali semula ke UMNO masih ada, itupun kalau gandingan Najib-Hisham membenarkannya. Seperti yang Raja Petra katakan, Anwar adalah senjata terakhir Abdullah dalam membiaskan segala kritikan Dr M. Jika Dr M terus mengkritik PM, maka Anwar adalah senjata strategik. Dengan ini, selepas Abdullah, Anwar boleh lagi menjadi PM dengan Khairy sebagai TPM. Dengan ini, it's a win-win situation for Khairy kerana dia sudahpun by-pass Najib dan Hisham. Apatah lagi dengan kes Mongolian Model yang dikaitkan dengan TPM dan orang dekatnya Razak Baginda. Setakat ini, saya tidak lagi melihat TPM berkata apa-apa mengenai kes tersebut. Namun, PM Abdullah ada berjanji bahawa pihak polis akan menyiasat perkara ini dengan penuh teliti. Najib sebagai Menteri Pertahanan harus menjelaskan bagaimana bahan letupan C4 mampu digunakan kerana memerlukan kelulusan Kementerian Pertahanan, ya lah..mungkin beliau sendiri tidak 'authorize'kan penggunakan C4 tersebut tetapi mesti ada orang lain, jadi Menteri kena explain. Di negara seperti UK dan US, the minister under scrutiny will resign temporarily to clear his/her name first while pending court case. Dan seperti pembunuhan high profile yang lain lainnya, banyak sangat misteri di sebalik tabir. saya tak nak pergi jauh ke dalam tetapi banyak blog yang menyentuh isu tersebut. cukuplah sekadar di permukaan. Bagi saya, kepentingan rakyat harus diutamakan. Banjir besar yang menenggelamkan banyak bandar di Johor merupakan satu petanda dari Tuhan. Saya percaya ini merupakan petanda bagi situasi yang lebih buruk. Seeloknya kita berhati hati dan 'menyediakan payung yang lebih besar+kuat sebelum hujan turun sekali lagi'. Ini amaran dari Mother Nature. Jadi prinsip 'dun play play' ala Phua Chu Kang harus dipegang. Christmad pun sudah..Tahun Baru bakal menjelang. Saya berdoa dan berharap semoga 2007 membawa kebaikan, kebenaran, kejayaan, kekayaan dan kesihatan serta segala yang lebih baik berbanding 2006, tetapi apakah saya akan silap...Sekian.

of cutting and of pasting..

Consistent with the phrase intellectual discourse and constructive criticisms, I will try not to cut and paste articles, instead will come out with my own analysis and thoughts. to everyone who links me to their blogs, my heartfelt appreciation and thanks. meanwhile,i'll keep the interesting posts coming up shortly..cheerio! :)

Linked...

so far 2 active political bloggers have linked me on their sites..one is 2020freelunch.blogspot.com and the other one is kickdefella.wordpress.com

i personally do not know who is this kickdefella, only know him by his name Sheih.

anyway, i hope more active bloggers out there will link me to their blogs and hope we can share information and spread ideas among each other.

intellectual discourse and constructive criticisms are indeed vital for a country like us...especially to achieve Vision 2020, mooted by Tun Dr Mahathir and continue on as the National Mission by PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. it is hoped that by the year 2020, Malaysia will become a developed nation, God willing.

Fiddling while Rome burns...

Legend has it that Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, the fifth and last Roman Emperor of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty, fiddled while Rome burned. Though this may be the popular belief, some historians say that this is fitnah (malicious lie) spread by his enemies, namely Suetonius, Cassius Dio and Tacitus, to ‘smear his reputation’. Hmm....sounds very much like modern-day Malaysia does it not?

Anyway, whatever the case may be, as in most so-called historical accounts, it would be quite impossible to completely separate fact from fiction regarding Nero’s rule. Nevertheless, on the night of 18th July in the year 64, the Great Fire of Rome erupted and burned for five days, destroying almost half of Rome’s 17 districts. The fact that the fiddle had not been invented yet in the year 64 means that there are probably some untruths in the story. But no one can dispute that Rome did burn, and in five days was almost reduced to ashes.

Anyhow, legend or otherwise, ‘fiddling while Rome burns’ is a most apt phase to use on any ‘emperor’ who is either in bed (though not necessarily sleeping, if you know what I mean....wink, wink), partying, fiddling, singing, or as the Malays would say, berpesta (having a ball) while the country goes down the drain. And would not Malaysia and its sleeping ‘emperor’ fit this bill like a hand in glove? What better way to describe Malaysia than as a ‘burning Rome’ and its ‘emperor’ as fiddling while it burns?

Everything works in cycles. The world itself has a cycle determined by its seasons and the 365 days to complete one yearly cycle. Power is cyclic -- you go up, then you come down again. Our life is cyclic -- we are ‘dead’, then we are born, then we die again. Nothing escapes the cycle, which the scientists would label as the natural course of nature and the religionists call God’s grand design. The Quran, in fact, is full of verses that talk about God’s predetermined cycle of ‘nature’ if anyone would care to research it.

One such cycle that is of concern to and which would affect most Malaysians would be the ten-year economic cycle (some say the cycle is 12 years). In mid-1970 (1974), mid-1980 (1985) and mid-1990 (1997), we saw downturns in the economy. Every decade or so, we go through an economic slump. The recovery period for the mid-1970s slump was not that long. I think within three years (by 1977) we were back to normal. The mid-1980s slump took a bit longer though. And the mid-1990s slump was even longer still.

I suppose the mid-1970s episode was our first ‘heart attack’ (at least as far as our generation goes because there were others before that, including the Great Depression before the outbreak of WWII). We were younger then, so we recovered faster. By mid-1980 we were slightly older, plus it was our second heart attack, so the recovery period took longer. And by mid-1990 we were even older still, plus, being the third heart attack, we have sort of just recovered only recently.

But if we get another heart attack, the fourth in our generation, how long now will it take us to recover or will we never recover but continue to be bedridden for a long time to come? The Chinese have this thing about the number ‘four’. They don’t like the number four because four also means die by way of pronunciation. That is why seat ‘14’ (or is it seat ‘13’?) in the MAS planes do not exist plus the 14th floor becomes floor 13A followed by the 15th floor. Can we recover from this fourth slump like we did the first three in mid-1970, mid-1980 and mid-1990? Or will it be like the drowning man who can surface just three times, and the fourth time he goes under he will go down for good and never come up again?

I do not want to sound like the Prophet of Doom but the writings on the wall are certainly not good signs. Investment managers tell me that we are not due for a recession yet. The recession will come, they say, but it will only come in 2009. And before that there will be a short Bull Run before the great crash sets in. Watch the stock market, say the experts. It is only about 1,100 points. Considering the height in 1993 was 1,300 and the Ringgit then was 2.4 to the USD, this means -- taking into consideration the Ringgit is now 3.7-3.8 to the US dollar -- this would make the 1,100 index only about 900 in comparison. Therefore, we still have a lot more to go to break the 1993 record, they argue.

Great news! But then why aren’t I elated? How come this does not make me feel like rushing out to buy up all the ‘undervalued’ shares? Why instead do I feel like cashing out so that I can feel the hard cash in my pocket (figure of speech of course)? I really don’t know. Maybe gut feel? Or educated guess? Whatever it may be, something tells me that the silence is deafening and the quietness may just be that lull before the storm. And I have been in three ‘storms’ over the last 30 years since mid-1970 to know that whenever everyone tells me to buy, then that would most certainly be the time to sell -- because those who are asking me to buy are actually selling and they want me to buy to facilitate them selling. (If no one is buying then how can they sell?).

I admit that I am not an economist (some say I am also not a religionist so I should stop talking about Islam). I am certainly not an investment manager either. And gut feel has no place in making economic decisions. You need to use fundamentals and you must make your decisions based on sound research. So, before anyone starts phoning their stock broker to issue a sell order, maybe they should first seek expert advice. After all, would you not consult a heart specialist if you want to know whether you should have open heart surgery?

Nevertheless, I have my reasons for feeling uneasy about the state of the economy. For starters, as I have mentioned, would be the ten-year cycle and the ‘schedule’ for the next downturn -- though this would be as sound as using the RAHMAN ‘theory’ in forecasting who is going to be the next Prime Minister of Malaysia. Next, and maybe equally unsound, is the ‘fiddling while Rome burns’ theory. I feel that any country that is ruled by an ‘emperor’ who is constantly fiddling (or sleeping) is a strong recipe for disaster.

Just look at the recent Umno General Assembly. With all the ‘endorsed-by-the-top’ anti-Chinese rabble rousing, I can only label this as fiddling while Rome burns. And what about the RM3 billion Second Penang Bridge that they are building, the RM600 million ‘Christmas present’ to the 191 Umno divisions, the RM11 billion bailout of badly-run state agencies, the RM1 billion donation to Cambridge plus the UK Sports Complex, the RM1 billion a year White Elephants and ‘Taj Mahals’ in Terengganu which includes the RM300 million a year Monsoon Cup....sigh....the list is just too long. Maybe it would be easier for me to list down what they are not spending rather than what they are spending.

Then we have the media and plantation company mergers. The size is one thing, more than RM30 billion, but the fees to the ‘lucky’ consultant would be in the region of RM100 million to RM200 million -- again our hard earned money. What about the disposal of the RM700 million motorcycle company investment to an unknown ‘two dollar’ company for just one Euro? And then we have the losses in Proton and MAS. Okay, Petronas is going great guns. But then aren’t all oil companies the world over as well? So there is nothing to shout about here. What we want to hear about is the performance of thousands of other state and national agencies. They are bleeding profusely and even with all the ‘creative accounting’ they still can’t hide the disaster. And this is not just about bad business decisions and poor judgement but about corruption down to the core.

Malaysia is ripe for a ‘correction’. And when it comes it is not going to be pleasant. Blood will be drawn and it will be our blood, the rakyat’s hard-earned money taken from us by the government by way of taxes. We now pay more for petrol and it will be going up again pretty soon. We also pay more for water, electricity, and toll charges -- which are going up again by more than 50% in a few days’ time. There is nothing that we touch which is not taxable. In the case of petrol, the tax is three times or so the actual cost of petrol -- so when we fill up with a full tank of RM100, the tax is about RM70-80. The same goes for cigarettes and all the other ‘sins’ that we indulge in (and don’t we all have many sins?).

Over the last two or three years, investors have been slowly moving to other countries like Thailand, China and Vietnam. Malaysia is no longer the favoured investment destination. And I am not just talking about foreign investors but Malaysians as well who no longer have confidence in this country. Even those who are staying put are not increasing their investments but would rather set up new businesses overseas while keeping their Malaysian operations as they are without pumping in any more money.

The exodus of Malaysians seeking greener pastures has increased many-fold. Malaysian students who are already overseas prefer to seek employment in their adopted countries rather than return to their motherland to a bleak and uncertain future. We are presently seeing a brain drain of proportions never seen before. No longer is it hujan emas di negeri orang, hujan batu di negeri sendiri, negeri sendiri is far better, but a case of the grass is greener on the other side.

Yes, the emperor is fiddling while Rome is burning. And the predators are moving in for the kill. They are seeing Malaysia about to burst at the seams and they want to be around to pick up the pieces. And one such predator is Soros who is like a shark circling its prey when it smells blood. Why did Soros come to Malaysia last week? It was certainly not to laze in the sun while feasting his eyes on the sailboat race during the recent Terengganu Monsoon Cup. It was to case the joint. He wanted to see how strong or weak Malaysia’s defences are. If he did another raid on Malaysia like he did a decade ago, would he be able to get away with it?

Soros wanted to meet Abdullah Ahmad Badawi but Khairy Jamaluddin, his son-in-law, advised against it. So he met Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad instead, his one-time nemesis. Surprisingly, Mahathir not only agreed to meet Soros but even absolved him of the 1997 disaster. Has Mahathir gone bonkers? Every man and his dog know who Soros is and what he did. Soros himself has never denied it. He just justified it but he never denied it. And he justified it the way Edmund Hillary justified climbing Mount Everest -- because it was there. The Asian currencies were ripe for picking and whenever anything is ripe for picking then any picker worth his salt just goes ahead and picks it.

No, Mahathir is far from bonkers. He knows who Soros is. After all, was it not Soros who created a dent in his legacy and almost brought his government down? Malaysia has never been the same since. Malaysia would have been very different from the Malaysia today if not because of Soros. So what is Mahathir really up to?

Mahathir is just being a good strategist. Mahathir is just being a good general. He knows that Malaysia is ripe to be brought down, yet again. And he knows who is most capable of doing this. Is it not a good strategist and general one who knows his enemy? Soros is a Trojan Horse. And one must beware of Trojan Horses. Sure, he talks about world peace and he shares Mahathir’s aspiration for world peace. But Soros wants to see world peace in the American model.

Malaysia is but a small canoe amongst a sea of super tankers. Just the wake alone is enough to sink this canoe called Malaysia. China and the US are currently eyeballing each other and are engaged in some serious sabre rattling. Is our Finance Minister cum Prime Minister aware of this? Read what the two reports in the ADDENDUM below have to say about this matter:

“In an unusual move, the Bush administration is sending virtually the entire economic ‘A-team’ to visit China for a ‘strategic economic dialogue’ in Beijing Thursday and Friday (two weekends ago). Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke are leading the delegation, along with five other cabinet-level officials, including Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez. Also in the delegation will be Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, Energy Secretary Sam Bodman, and U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab.”

China is the largest ‘hoarder’ of American dollars. It is estimated that China holds about USD1 trillion and if it releases it onto the market the US economy would collapse -- followed by the world of course, in particular countries like Malaysia which depend on exports to the US. The US knows this and it is not sitting still. So it sent a team to China to talk to them but the Chinese told the Americans to go fly kites. The US knows what it must do if China makes its move. It will just abandon the USD and create a new currency called the AMERO. That will catch the Chinese with their pants down.

When these two economic giants eventually clash, and it may be a matter of time before they do, Malaysia would be pushed back into the beginning of the last century.

Abdullah Badawi is fiddling. He is not fiddling metaphorically speaking like Nero did as Rome burned. He is fiddling with our money. The bottom is about to fall out of our economy and they are still enjoying Monsoon Cup pestas in Terengganu and spending billions -- of money which we do not have -- on all and sundry. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. And remember, you heard it here first. The party will soon be over. As Rome burned to the ground so will Malaysia unless Abdullah stops fiddling and starts running this country. We are about to crash and the pilot is having a snooze while the country flies on autopilot. But it will soon be time to land the plane and you can’t do that on autopilot. You have to take control of the plane and land it in one piece. But the problem is: you do not even know where the hell we are and where the airport is. All you can see is the sea below and we may not have enough fuel to fly around in circles looking for the runaway.

What happens if the US attacks Iran? The US has sent a delegation to the pro-American Middle Eastern countries to discuss this and to get their support. President Bush has personally phoned Abdullah Badawi, the Chairman of the OIC, to also get his support. What happens if China unloads its USD1 trillion or even part of it? What happens if the US abandons the USD and creates a new currency? What happens if the investors cash out and the Kuala Lumpur stock market comes crashing down? How is Abdullah Badawi going to handle all this? Does he know what to do? In the first place, does he even know that an economic Tsunami is about to hit us?

Do you know the extent of Malaysia’s non-performing loans problem? The unsold properties, unsold cars, overdue car instalments, repossessed cars, overdue credit card payments, and much more are colossal and Bank Negara is keeping everything very quiet lest there is a run on the banks -- which is how recessions start. If they were to classify anything above 60 days as non-performing loans and place them under the bad and doubtful debts column that would be the end of the Malaysian financial market.

Things are getting very critical and those who walk through the corridors of power are sleeping; not figure of speech but literally. There are many unanswered questions such as in the Razak Baginda murder trial. Why has Umno taken charge of the trial and why was Razak’s defence counsel sacked? Isn’t this most bizarre? And why did the Attorney-General make a statement saying that only three people and no one else are involved in the murder? Isn’t this most irregular and can only be because there is talk that more than three people are involved? All these shenanigans only add to the crisis of confidence factor and convince foreign investors that there is something fundamentally wrong with this country.

In his presidential address during the recent Umno General Assembly, Abdullah Badawi said that the investors are waiting to hear his speech. He then drew our attention to the fact that the stock market went up resulting from his speech. Dear Sir, the stock market went up because at the end of every year they push the market up just before they dump their shares. This is the only way to make money and service the dividends due at the end of the year. It has nothing to do with your speech, Mr Prime Minister. Now, after going up 15% over two months, the market is going down again amidst profit taking. Do you want to know what the investors are really talking about? They are talking about the RM30 million yacht under construction in Turkey, the five million dollar mansion in Perth, the stable of luxury cars in the UK, the private jet in Australia, and much more. And they are asking how a Prime Minister who is clean could afford all this.

Yes, the emperor fiddles while Rome burns. Well, do they not say that history always repeats itself? They tell me that 2009 will be the year that the bottom falls out of the economy. The next recession will be in 2009, say the experts. Others swear it will be in 2008, after Globalisation and after we sign the FTA with the US. I would put my money (pun intended) on next year. Yes, 2007, that will be when we will all know what it feels like to live in Indonesia a few years back. I always like to say “I told you so”. But I hope this time, I really do, that come Christmas 2007, you will tell me, “Ha! You were wrong!”

Virtuous Republic

Dreaming of a republic of virtue
Azly Rahman

Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains – Jean Jacques Rousseau

There is a natural aristocracy among men. The grounds of this are virtue and talents – Thomas Jefferson

Malaysia is approaching her 50th birthday. But it is middle age characterised by bipolarism, schizophrenia, amnesia and illusions of grandeur.

In essence, we are a troubled nation, hyper-modernised by half-backed sense of democracy, paying lip service to the idea of a civilised society and insincere in our pledge to create equal opportunity for all.

Consider the latest problematic phrases we are living with: Keris-wielding sandiwara. Altantuya brutal murder. Scorpene-Agosta submarine purchase. Kampong Berembang demolition. Istana Zakaria . Hypocrisy. Monsoon Cup inquiry. RM600 million year-end ‘funding’. NEP calculation controversy. Mahathir-Abdullah power struggle. Mat Rempit and its glorified status.

These and many others are unresolved. The essence of these lies in the erosion of virtue.

We no longer have virtuous leaders in our political system. We have many who are corrupt to the bone and in their souls, interested only in plundering the national wealth in order to survive the next general election. We also have leaders who still do not understand what ‘development’ means. And we continue to breed new leaders who think that politics is about buying votes and selling the nation.

Virtuous leaders are made and not born. They are created out of good religious/moral upbringing and a clear sense of altruism – prioritising needs, not wants, and certainly not greed. Economic conditions too can create virtuous leaders. It is a question of Man and the environment, Man and his circumstances, or Nature versus Nurture. But religion is the driving force of virtue.

Oppressive institutions

If every family reflects upon the beauty of each religion they were born into, it would preserve the tenets of religion and use these to guide their children. But this requires a strong family that is not fragmented and destroyed by poverty. If families are busy working two or three jobs because of economic designs (conjured by a dehumanising political ideology that dictates so), how would ‘virtuous children’ be raised?

Even if one does not believe in God and its existence, one can be as ethical and virtuous as defined by Plato, Socrates, Pythagoras, Buddha, Lao Tzi or Einstein.

Master Kung (Confucius) often talks about the breeding of the chuan tze or ‘the gentleman’ and the importance of respect. The ‘Bhagavad Gita’ speaks of the beauty of the self and for one to follow dharma. Islam speaks of the beauty of the self in relation to its contribution to a peaceful and just society. Sufism, Buddhism, Jainism, Hassidism, and many a path to deeper spirituality promote the development of the ‘just and virtuous self’.

These cultural philosophies and religious doctrines attempt to bring human nature closer to God and Nature.

But we are living in a world designed by greedy human beings who themselves do not know their own true nature.

One might ask: does ‘true nature’ exist? Or will we be comfortable living a life of the Epicurean – eat, drink and be merry? Or, is our good life guaranteed of happiness determined by market forces? Even if allow market forces to dictate our spirituality, do we know who owns the means of creating markets and producing goods?

Greed and materialism are the prime motivator of the destruction of family values. We are primarily reduced to homo economicus essentially and less of homo spiritus . We spend time either making ends meet or making our millions multiply. We keep making decisions that alter and transform the economy and impact the lives of millions who are at the disposal of those who own the means of economic and intellectual production. With our wealth, we oppress each other as we build oppressive institutions of power and control.

We have created a matrix of complexities and a rat race of no winners; a rat race of Chinese complexities as the informational scientist Alan Turing would term it.

Seeds of destruction?

Our society seems to be heading towards destruction. The seeds are rapidly germinating. Already we are seeing even the Malaysian police force threatening ‘to vote for the opposition’. We are now puzzled: who do the police serve? Who will protect the citizens then? Do we then need to set up a non-partisan or a neutral police force?

We are seeing public universities becoming more and more politicised. There is no virtue in the way they are run. They have become a complex and well-funded system of hegemonies that is revolving at different transitionary stages. This simply means that our public universities, paid by the taxpayers of all races, are serving the interests of the political parties of the day.

Our vice-chancellors are not elected from the pool of experts from other races although our student population is of a multi-racial mix. The concept of ‘affirmative action’ that emphasises policies to promote diversity is almost non-existent. There is no virtue in such a practice in our public universities.

We are seeing people getting edgy and agitated – higher crime rate, more robberies, snatch thefts, hideous crimes related to merciless kidnapping, our youth of all races getting high on all kinds of depressants and stimulants that all religious upbringing has taught us to avoid.

Virtue is eroding even at the highest level of public office. We set up all kinds of bodies to combat corruption. But what has been the success rate so far if we are still trapped in a complex political-economic system that is producing more and more creatures of greed that plunder the nation’s wealth.

‘Virtue’ itself is a corrupted word these days. People are finding it difficult to be virtuous. They want to be pragmatic and rational economic beings that rationalise everything in the name of profit, at the expense of the moral development of the generation we are to leave behind.

We can understand why there are now a growing number of snatch thieves in Kuala Lumpur. They want to emulate the lifestyle of our local robber barons. The culture of materialism has tempted us all – from the untouchables of the upper class to the silenced poor who labour for the world’s aristocrats.

Our politics, our economics, our culture, our institutions and our language have been internally laced with the language of competition.

We cannot escape from the idea that there ought to be winners and losers, whether it is in the way we give grades to students, design economic policies, organise the political system or, ironically, even in the way we understand religion and God and how these relate to what Mohandas Gandhi would call the harijan (children of God).

The continuing issues of succession plaguing the leadership of the major components of all the ruling parties, for example, reflects a virtue-less leadership. It even reflects the system of dictatorship and authoritarianism that we have allowed to take root in all parties. We are seeing the development of another dangerous excess of authoritarianism – the development of political dynasties. We continue to see this culture in the Malay and Chinese political parties as well.

Ethnicity and poverty

If all that energy is used to design a better system of participatory democracy and philanthropy, and to reach out to other ethnic groups to collaborate in solving the issue of poverty, we, as Malaysians, will become a miracle nation. Poverty is not the problem of Indians or Malays or Chinese – it is the problem of Humanity.

How can the rich be saved if the poor are multiplying in large numbers? We will have a society that will need more sophisticated surveillance system in order to reduce robbery, kidnapping, etc.

The poor look at rich and ask themselves: “Am I poor because I am lazy? Or is he rich because he works a hundred times better? Or is it the system we build that will continue to make the rich richer and the poor poorer?”

What resources do the rich and their children have vis-à-vis the poor to compete in a world that is increasingly technological and technicist and informational? We have created a system of ethically-based structural violence. It is a complex problem but one can certainly make sense of it all.

We need to bring back ‘virtue’ to the forefront of our political philosophies and into our economic paradigm, and next use it to design a virtuous foundation of our economic system. From a virtuous foundation we will then see a healthier characterisation of how we design and reorganise our lives as economic beings.

Education, and education alone, though slow and tedious as a process of transformation, will be the most powerful tool of cognitive restructuring and the teaching of virtue. Education for peace, social justice, co-operation, tolerance and spiritual advancement will be the best foundation of this mode of operation.

How do we even begin creating a republic of virtue if we do not yet have the tools of analysing what a corrupt society is and how corrupt leaders are a product of the economic system created to reproduce more sophisticated forms of corruption?

We must engineer a revolution of our very own consciousness. From the revolution in our minds, we move on to the revolution of our consciousness, and next to our collective consciousness. Gradually, as we realise that a better collective consciousness can be created, we will be aware of the oppositional forces that are making real human progress disabling.

We must now become makers of our own history and help others do the same. We must first learn to deconstruct ourselves and draw out the virtue within ourselves, even if the process can be terrifying. We must then each create a manifesto of our own self and de-evolve from then, until we tear down the structures within and outside of ourselves and reconstruct the foundations of a new republic.

In 2007, we will have become ‘independent’ for 50 years. Are we a republic of virtue? Are we emotionally stable enough to be one?

enough said!! videos explain everything..

video which supports my earlier post

Why is PDRM = Polis DiRasuah Malaysia and NOT Polis DiRaja Malaysia

For these few posts coming soon, I am going to launch an attack on the men-in-blue. As the saying goes, 'kerana nila setitik, rosak susu sebelanga'. so this counters the argument that the police force is still good overall as mentioned by the authorities. i dun care about the fact tat in a good school there are bound to be some bad apples. tats not the point. policemen are supposed to serve the people and NOT bribing us!! kanasai..some of the traffic police personnel are so corrupt that even RM5 left in a driver's wallet also they wanna take...so u can see that obviously writing an RM 300 official kertas saman doesnt give them a shit for their living. and i damn fucking hate police officers acting as 'moral custodians'. super dooper ultra fucking hate them.AND I FUCKING HATE THE POLICEMEN ASKING FOR BRIBE WHEN A TOURIST MADE A MISTAKE IN U-TURNING (STANDING AT THAT JUNCTION JUST TO EYE ON PREYS KNOWING TAT A LOT OF FIRST TIMERS WILL MAKE THAT MISTAKE). kan nee naa boh chao chee bai TO THE MAX!!!!!!! AND FROM NOW ON, USAGE OF F-WORDS AND PROFANITIES WILL BE MORE OFTEN, AFTER ALL, ITS SEMBANGKOPITIAM AND U CAN FUCKINSEMBANG ANYTHING U LIKE, NO HOLDS BARRED AT ALL TIMES.

Sandiwara Wayang Kulit

The following is a work of fiction and any resemblance or similarities to events or people dead, still alive, or about to die is purely coincidental.

“And where will the setting be?”

“Well Ken, I thought that maybe the setting can be in Polynesia.”

“No Tim! Not Polynesia. That would involve too many location shots and it will jack up the cost. Make it a fictitious country, one that doesn’t exist. Then we can shoot the whole thing on the set. That would be cheaper.”

“Okay, how about we call it.....ah.....Bolenesia, yeah, Bolenesia. That sounds almost like Polynesia.”

“Great, let me look at the script.”

“I’m still working on the script, Ken. But it’s about 90% finished.....just a few loose ends to tie up.”

“When can you get it to me?”

“I can get it out by next week. But I thought I would discuss the plot with you first and add whatever inputs you may have to the script.”

“Okay, no problem. Does it have any sex scenes?”

“Sure, plenty of sex, plus also defence contracts, kickbacks, intrigue, and plenty of political conspiracies.....oh, and murder as well, one high profile murder.”

“That sounds good. Okay, run me through the salient points.”

“Alright, we open the scene with the police CSI team combing the area looking for clues. A jogger has discovered a dead body in an isolated field and called the police. We shall build up the plot to eventually show a cover-up and complicity by the police.”

“No, change that to.....ah.....yes.....the police actually committed the murder.”

“Yes, that’s great, the police committed the murder. Why not we make it the SWAT team committed the murder? That has more punch.”

“Okay....I got it.....no body.....forget the body. The SWAT team blew up the body and the CSI team is combing the area picking up bits and pieces of the body.”

“Wow! That’s even better. But then what motive? We need a motive. What’s the motive for the SWAT team murdering the man and blowing up his body? Furthermore, would not blowing up the body just scatter the evidence all over the place? Why not bury the body or melt it down in acid? Then there would be no evidence.”

“Good question. Okay.....motive.....what motive? Ah, I got it! They want to frame someone so they want the remains of the body to be found. That’s why they blew it up instead of melting it with acid or burying it.”

“The conspiracy angle that I have thought out is a power struggle between the President and his Deputy.”

“Alright, then why not we make the President the conspirator and he ordered the murder to frame his Deputy.”

“No, I am working on another angle. The chief conspirator in my script is the son-in-law of the President. He is behind the whole thing.”

“Why the son-in-law?”

“Well, he wants to take over as President so he wants the Deputy out of the way. So he plans this murder to frame the Deputy.”

“And they arrest the Deputy?”

“No, they arrest the Deputy’s key man, the man who is holding the Deputy’s ill-gotten money under trust.”

“The Deputy is crooked?”

“Everybody in Bolenesia is corrupted, even down to the priests in the Church.”

“No, change that. Make Bolenesia a Muslim country. That would be more real-life.”

“Yes, that’s right, most Muslim countries are corrupted anyway so it would be closer to reality.”

“Okay, the Deputy’s key man, how are you going to implicate him?”

“Well, in my script there is a girl, a French girl, who is the conduit for the illegal money. She sort of handles the money laundering for them using foreign bank accounts.”

“Hmmm.....no, change that. Make it a.....let me see......yes, make it a Tibetan girl. And she is very close to the Dalai Lama. So she has access to those in high places......oh, and it is the girl who they murdered. It is her remains that they find in the field. Changed the murdered man to a girl.”

“Okay, and what if we make her the Miss Tibet beauty pageant winner. But she lives in France. And that’s where they met.”

“Great, that too, plus she is close to the Dalai Lama. But why did they kill her?”

“Well, first of all, she is holding all the money for them in a Swiss Bank account. And with her out of the way then all the money would be stuck. The Deputy now cannot get to the money. Plus they manage to frame the key man for the murder as well. So it is like killing two birds with one stone.”

“Great, and what about the sex scenes?”

“Well, we will do a flashback and show the Tibetan girl in bed with the Deputy. Then she comes out of the Deputy’s hotel room and gets into a chauffer driven car and we cut to the scene showing her knocking on the door of another hotel room. The President’s son-in-law opens the door and she goes in for the second sex scene. So we have two sex scenes back-to-back.”

“Great! So she is having an affair with both the Deputy President as well as the President’s son-in-law. Great plot.”

“And I thought we will end with the Deputy President resigning because of the sex scandal and the President appointing a CIA agent as the new Deputy.”

“Hmm.....the CIA.....yes, we cannot leave them out. Whenever anything happens the CIA must always be involved somehow. But how will we show the connection?”

“Well, the CIA video-records the Tibetan girl and the President’s son-in-law having sex and they show the video to the President who almost collapses.”

“But for what purpose?”

“Well, Bolenesia is rich in oil and the US wants the oil cheap.”

“Yes, that will work. We can show the Bolenesian President having tea with Bush in the White House and he asks Bolenesia to supply them oil at below market price but the Bolenesian President declines. Then, when he leaves the room, Bush summons the CIA Director and asks him to ‘fix it’. The CIA Director then speaks to two of his operatives in Bolenesia and asks them to fix the President so that he has to go running back to them.”

“Why not we make the Tibetan beauty queen a CIA agent as well?”

“Yes, that’s right, and her assignment is to penetrate the Bolenesian government and have affairs with their key people. Sort of like Mata Hari. That would be very exotic.”

“And that could be another reason why they kill her. And the money is not actually in a Swiss back account but in a CIA dummy account. And they find out so they have to kill her.”

“Fantastic. Great plot. Okay, finish your script. And throw in some Russian defence contracts as well, maybe Russian submarines or something like that. That’s how they got their kickbacks.....and maybe also the supply of some nuclear components to North Korea. Maybe the President’s son can be the one supplying the nuclear components. So that implicates the Bolenesian President’s whole family. And Bush threatens to expose this if they still refuse to supply the oil.”

“I’ll get the script to you next week. I just need to write in these new ideas. I think we have a great plot. Of course, none of this can actually happen in real life. It is too far fetched. But that’s movie business anyway. We deal in fantasies, not realities.”

“Yeah.....ha, ha, ha.....which stupid SWAT team would blow up a body?”

“Well, they are not really that stupid actually. They want the evidence to remain so that the CSI team can find it. It’s all part of the plot to frame the Deputy.”

“Hey, I’ve got an idea. Maybe we can have the President falling instead. Then the Deputy takes over. It’s a CIA plot to remove the President so that the Deputy can take over.”

“What for?”

“For the oil of course. The Bolenesian President refuses to sell Bush the oil but the Deputy agrees.....I got it.....Forget about the son-in-law. The CIA video-tapes the Deputy having sex with the Tibetan girl and they blackmail him instead. He agrees to sell the US the oil but can’t because he is the number two. So they get rid of the President so that the Deputy can take over and sell the US all the oil they want at a cheap price.”

“Wow! Okay, that sounds good. It’s getting even better. Okay, I will make the changes and get back to you next week.”

“Okay, chow, I’ll speak to Tom and try to get you the budget. Can you work with RM100 million?”

“Sure, since we will do all the shots on set and there will be very little location shots. But I haven’t lined up the cast yet.”

“Don’t worry about the cast. I will work on it. Let me have the script and I’ll pass it around. With this plot we can get many interested stars. We can get Jennifer Lopez to play the Tibetan girl.”

“But she doesn’t look Tibetan.”

“Never mind. She can have a Tibetan mother with a French father.....maybe a French diplomat who used to serve in Tibet. In fact, he is also a CIA agent and that’s how they managed to recruit her.”

“Okay, will do. Hey, I better get out of here or else we will never end. The possibilities are just too great.”

“Well, that’s the beauty of fiction. You can write the script any way you want. After all, none of this would ever actually happen in real life anyway.”