I chance upon the main page of Utusan yesterday and seemed that they are egging ISA against the BAR council. Go ahead and do it. It will bode well with Rais Yatim’s trip to countries to assure other nations that our judiaciary ( and legal) system are of the highest standing. This certaintly will help him. Is the government setting up the Bar council to nullify them in the face of the Anwar sham?

And on the same page in the online edition, Utusan did a recap of the olmpic highlights. It is ironic to find "Prestasi athlet kita" side by side with another racial posting on " Khalid hina UITM, (hina) orang Melayu" where KJ affliated minister of higher education lambasted Selangor MB for even suggesting that Uitm allows 10% of its quota to be non Malays. The irony is that the country is hoping to strike gold from people from a combination of different races in the olympic and at the same time, makes the non Malays feel that they are second class citizen. How is this going to motivate our atheletes when you know that it is ultimately the colour of the skin that this UMNO-led government looks at?

Damn if you do, damn if you don't

Update: So, the conference got shot down by a group of mobs and supported by police.

I was disappointed with what happened today, even more with PKR and PAS.

Anyway, i got thinking and contrasted that out with the attack on Christianity by the Da Vinci code phenomena. And i remember reading an email written in BM with the intention of teaching its reader to use the book to challenge christians.( for those who think that Muslims are 100% above board, here is an example) Anyway, my reflection is to the Malaysian Christian leaders who ask us to be calm and came out with forums and Q&A sessions. In these, we learn about the book, the author, the truth, half truths and creative stretches, the backup from secular findings, church history and theological explaination. I think it was an immensely mature way of handling challenges by educating and role modeling. There is no protest, book burning and name callings. Soon, the phase passed over and everybody is wiser, even those friends who tried to make the mountain out of molehill.

If Muslims felt that they have been incorrectly attacked, so does other religions. In my religion, Christ ask us to be forgiving to the extend of giving the other cheek. Christians are not perfect as we are only human. I think that is the difference. Please be more confident in your religion and mature in your response.

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(The Star) - The Bar Council Malaysia’s proposed forum pertaining to conversion to Islam is unsuitable for discussion in an open manner, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said.
He said an open forum could incite emotions among those with differing views. ( Is this a statement? of course emotions are part of human beings. But a mature human can handle their emotion and articulate that out, not resorting to pickets ala UMNO)

“Forums on sensitive topics are best discussed in closed sessions,” he told reporters after the launch of VistaJet’s charter services into Asia via Subang airport and the opening of SkyPark FBO in Malaysia here yesterday.
“We are not stopping public debates. It is something healthy, but (the proposed forum) should be a closed session.” Najib seemed to like to do things behind closed doors , with selected people. If Bar council is more inclusive and not exclusive, why put your own preference forward?

Asked whether the Government would stop the Bar Council from holding the forum, he said: “I don’t know. They have their own mind.”

Umno Youth exco member Datuk Pirdaus Ismail said the movement strongly opposed the Bar Council’s plan.
“Don’t play with fire! Don’t ever touch on religious and racial sentiments,” he said in a statement yesterday. “Whatever the excuses given, the forum still provokes Malay sentiments and creates uneasiness and public disorder, particularly among the Malays.” - Why can an UMNO leader make a 'lets go to war' statements like this and continously gets away it. I think his statement of 'excuses' is an excuse itself belittling the real mature people in Malaysia. When UMNO and PAS talks about Islam and Malay, it also created uneasiness among the very people that they are talking about to protect.


PAS spiritual adviser Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat questioned the Bar Council’s move to organise a forum that touched on Muslim sensitivities.
However, he would support a special forum between Islam and other religions, he told reporters in Kota Baru. - Untill now, there is no real initiative in this area. The fact that the government came out strongly and later back down on these engagements deprive avenues to engage constructively. And i doubt PAS can do better in this area.

Foreign minister Datuk Seri Utama Dr Rais Yatim, asked for his opinion on the Home Minister telling the Bar Council to call off its public forum, said: “This is not the Government’s decision. That was the Home Minister's personal view. - Syeh Hamid, you got that!?
“There is no need for us to place restrictions right from the start. If Syariah intellectuals want to discuss, surely we won't say no.
“If an issue needs to be discussed by certain parties, it should have a strong basis for that.”
- Finally, a wise man who dares to say what should be said. And probably because of that, he is not the most powerful race based warlord in UMNO. But again, lets look at a Malaysian context and not on one race, and you will find this argument valid. If the Islamic intellectuals can do it, why can't others?

Bar Council vice-chairman Ragunath Kesavan said in a statement: “We are not challenging or questioning the provision of Article 121(1A) conferring jurisdiction on the Syariah courts.”
The council was of the opinion that conflicts were best addressed in an open, frank and mature manner by all the parties involved, he said, adding that it had put together a panel of speakers representing the views of various parties.
“We believe that the forum will promote an in-depth examination of the issues involved, and will help create a greater awareness of the complex issues that we need to resolve together as a nation.”

When UMNO and PAS talks in secret ( khalwat) over Islam and ketuanan Melayu, it is right thing to do and have no impact towards other people's interest and emotion. At least the Bar council is transparent. UMNO decides based on its on skewed needs and sold them as ' good thing'. The government has clearly failed by side stepping this judicial crisis and does not have competence nor the political will to solve. If people then cannot engage to get clarity without threats of national security, it would mean that we are forced to accept this meekly.

Damn if you do, more damn if you don't.

Nor Yaakob's Conspiracy theory

Photo taken from http://thestar.com.my/archives/2007/7/19/nation/n_25nor.jpg

Almost anything in Malaysia would come with a conspiracy theory nowadays. Sure, there are some real conspiracies and some are well imagined. The others are rethorics that was formed from coffee shop talks. It takes a person who is mature to know how to distinguish between more credible talks than angan -angan (inspiration). For example, the Home Minister decided to lock down Kuala Lumpur on the basis of 2 sms, 2 blogs and 2 speaches that he is still unable to produce as 'credible evidences". Till he is able to produce these 'evidences', it would be in the domain of speculative decision making.

I was on the plane to another country where the economy is booming and everything is being built at the same time. In contrast to that, the Malaysian economy seemed to be uninspired, rudderless and lethargic at best. Against this backdrop, it is even more harder to digest the Star newspaper headline that screamed "Nor Mohamed: Economy under attack every 10 years ". He claimed that " these “attacks” could be either coincidental or attempts by “unseen hands” to sabotage the economy". I do want to know who these attackers are and if indeed, the current mess in our economy is a product of external factors than internal mismanagement and inefficiency.

The BN's mouthpiece in the web also came out with an article " Policy Flip flop due to flops" where it decided to investigate the issue of competency and performance of our ministers.

"The decades of sacrificing meritocracy and having a political system which views smart individuals as a threat is hurting the country like never before.

Just run through the list of Cabinet ministers from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi downwards. Only a clutch of them have a strong grasp of economics and understand how the market works. Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop. Datuk Amirsham Aziz, Datuk Mustapa Mohamed. Perhaps a handful of others. Perhaps.

The rest are, well, politicians. They rose up the ranks in Umno, MIC, MCA because they are astute politicians; they are adept at working the ground, are good orators; are powerful warlords in their respective states and are the best that their component party can offer"

This piece should be written prior to Nor Yaakob's unsubstantiated revelation of conspiracy. Perhaps he was trying to go to the level of Tun Dr Mahathir when he tackled the 1997 Currency exchange related economic challenge. The difference between then and now is that there was a consensus that indeed the currency speculation and subsequent domino failings of national currencies ( baht, rupiah etc.) is real. And the fact that Nor Yaakob is not Tun Dr. Mahathir.

Would suggest few reading materials for our distinguished Finance Minister. I for one do not hold highly a Finance Minister who are not able to articulate his strategy on the cuff and remarked that Tony Fernandes ( CEO of Airasia) did a better job responding to Bloombergs' line of questioning and came out stronger. I have not seen this minister attempting such a rudimentary skill of an economist and probably would not want to see another minister shooting themselves in the foot.

> Finance 101 - business cycle or economic cycle via wikipedia

> The Kondratieff Theory - slightly wordy but good grounding to know that these theories have been around for some time.

> Generating economic cycle by HL Moore

So, unless that this minister provide more insight into his allegation, would this just be another speculative uttering from a supposedly authority in economic policy driving?

Would the Real Police force please stand up .. please stand up ..

Image from http://english.people.com.cn/200512/09/images/1209_A20.jpg

Today is Sunday. I have managed to avoid blogging on any hot subjects of last week. 3 big events that happen last week that created a lasting impression and knocked KLCI further down the rung. First, the paranoid decision on Monday that created mothers of all traffic jams in Klang valley, estimated at millions of ringgit in opportunity lost. Then the debater who won the first televised debate was captured ala SWAT style on Tuesday. On Wednesday, blogger extraordinaire of Malaysia Today was captured and charged. And we are only halfway thru the week.

However, I would wish to bring out the need to reform in our police force. Indeed, some joked that PDRM ( Polis Di Raja Malaysia) should be called PRDM .. Polis Raja Di Malayisa ( Police, the king in Malaysia). The mind boggling actions of our once respected law enforces turned into despair and frustration. Selective enforcement and random decision making makes it tougher for the Malaysian citizen to give them the benefit of doubt. Indeed, the writting by Tunku Abdul Aziz today "Arrest police's fall from grace" reflected many people's grievence over the week.

"This confirms what I have always said about our sloppy management of public relations and information generally.The severely-battered police image took another self-inflictedbeating, which could have been avoided without sacrificing the objectof the whole exercise, which was to take Anwar into custody.The right of arrest under the law, in circumstances that warrant it,is not in dispute here.

As we all know, police powers are wide andoften abused with impunity, but surely, the manner of the arrest wasexcessive.One of the most important tenets or doctrines of ethical policing is the principle of proportionality. It is about time police training gave greater emphasis to human rights issues so as to create publicconfidence.The police cannot succeed without the cooperation and support of the public, and as long as the police continue to over-react, they willnever be accepted as friends and protectors, to the detriment of lawand order in our already crime-ridden towns and cities."

-"Contemporary policing demands much higher standards ofprofessionalism, ethical behaviour, self-worth and honesty than in the past".

-"The police need strong, visionary leadership that is prepared tosubordinate individual preferences to the larger interests of thenation".

'".... have convinced me more than ever thatthe most important recommendation of all, the setting up of anunadulterated Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission,must not be delayed any longer."

Indeed, the cost of incompetence is very high and the time is nigh for the police force to look at itself and do better. The millions of taxpayers's ringgit have been invested into buying new techonologies, cars, etc. , and there is a need to make the best use of the resources that the people have paid for. We also paid for your salary ( though not much) and other benefits. Some housing residences are now paying guards to guard their neighbourhood. May we not see the day that the taxpayer paid organised thugs for protection and instead of the police.

Would the Real Police force please stand up?