I Blame The Water

Five

2009-11-19T03:10:00.000-08:00

Dedicated to all the lost souls out there.....

Eyes that betray an emptiness for a thousand miles,
the cigarette that burn to the end of all notion of feeling,
How much you were the bright sun of our lives,
The silent murder of the blackening eclipse,
Circumstance be the bloodied daggers in their hands,
The numbness of our souls be the walls that shut us in.

And you are but a ghost to all,
with blank stare against traffic,
with one broken arm raised for salvation,
You signal the alarm in your defense,
Is there any of us willing to listen,
We with our libraries of conceit and respectability,
We, like you, who are as dead to our own guttural madness.

And to you who roam Stockholm bleeding on the alleyways with abject misery,
warbling old songs like a bird with it's wings hammered to the ground,
With tears you tried to access...
the cold ashes of dreams deferred,
Wasting away to cadaverous LSD parties in Cambridge,
A roman candle burning to the oblivion of all excesses,
'No shelter!' Screamed the radio as the whole the world burns,
Even more so now as we all don the bloodied masks of our politics,
Another pathway to the dream,
Empty sterile clinical white as good as a morgue.

But there perhaps others that are willing to breach it all,
The last man standing against the post modernist jugernaut fueled by litanies of tears,
With fists clenched and heads up high to the blood red skies,
Death be of no consequence to the man that wishes to lose it all,
Indeed he had lost it all,
From hospital corridors of Cheras
to the Elysian Fields of eternity,
No wall keeps us down,
The rusted cage of our own list of personal self hated broken down.
We all wear the new robes to a Greater Righteousness,
The past of our despairs be buried never to return,
We who have now found relevance!
We who have now found closure!

23/10/09

2009-10-23T21:13:00.000-07:00

I am surprised. I guess I shouldn't be... considering I should know their inherent pattern of their conceit. A certain local politician's maintainance that ' too many parties may only split the people' hits another nail the the proverbial head. of their wishes for a silent majority for their bidding.

I have said it again, and I shall say it again; these people have no inkling of what democracy is. Their conceit, tempered with the dogmatism of Asian autocracy, decrees that they are the true 'light' of the people; assuming for us the decisions and even intellectual thought so that the powers that be could be consolidated by means of repression. You may say I am drastic for saying this , but the pattern is same everywhere. From a Noam Chomsky anarchist standpoint, every power seeks the legitimize and justify power through every means, be it in unscrupulous means.

To say that we do not need to many political parties is one way saying, in not to many words, 'shut-up and get on with your life.' Every sector of society has their own grouses and needs to be addressed . In this, political parties an special interest organizations are formed to meed the needs ; to even bring about a voice of representation in government. for their individual communities. More than often, political groups are borned of malignant self interest. In view of this, let us strong remind ourselves the true idea of setting up an political party.

I take into task all you practicing politicians and those aspiring to be one the reasons why you are here... I have stated this over and over; that the politician are not over-glorified civil servants privy to any perks of the jobs. YOU are to serve the people, to meet the needs of the Rakyat that has taken their time and effort during election day to elect you. All this in the simple hope of making a difference in the scene. If you are found not doing your job, you might as well go clean away your offices and prepare to go over to another lucrative vocation. For the role of an elected official requires a radical sense of selflessness and sacrifice which even transcends even the rules and regulations of the party itself. For you are not a slave to the politics of the party, but a servant of the people!

And to say tha to many parties may split the people... one cannot simply say that the whole general consensus is united in unformed thought. I suppose its wishful thinking that would make the job easier for them. But alas, it is not the case!
To assume this is a gross miscalculation. for the views of the people are varied and more so reflecting of their individual concerts for their very own situations. Marginalize them and you will get a situation ripe for open revolt. . We have seen how this ignorance had played a part in the forming of Hindraf last year., in which the needs of Indian community was not addressed . In this the right of the individual to voice out and organize is extremely vital, not for protest and revolutions sake but merely the democratic right of the public to inform the government of the needs to be addressed. The government should not fear it as the question of their authority. But simply as a reminder and constructive criticism in which all stands to benefit from it.

A Note of Encouragement to All

2009-10-19T10:12:00.000-07:00

I know things are looking dismal, particularly in the political scene in this here shores.
But I urge you all to be optimistic and move on to the next objective. We are done crying over the spilt milk. We have bickered far too often for our own good. The fight against justice and hatred is still in the air. Let us all fix our eyes to the greater prize.
We can look at the defeat at Bagan Pinang as a bitter pill to be taken. Do not underestimate the tactics of BN. Theirs is an well oiled machine that cynically appeases the populist sentiment. We know dammed well they themselves are only capable in just name checking the crucial issues without actually doing anything in the long run. In this, Pakatan needs to avail themselves in being hands on. No pussy-footing the issue. We want action now!

This also goes to show it is also up to us the voter to take note in what is happening in the world outside. I know you all are discouraged. You should know better not to; for true power lies not at the hands of elected officials. Here is the role of democracy that we are simply ignorant about. It is not, by right of culture, privy to those living in the first world countries; But a general right to all to voice their collective grievances. That is what constitutes to be a working efficient democracy, this privilege we call THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH.

It's Time to Re-evaluate!

2009-10-15T03:56:00.000-07:00

It’s been something that in my mind for a very long time... Recent events in this here country has very much strengthened this. The notion of the masses being held sway to the movement and the party at the expense of plain common sense is something as old as human fallacy itself. We place our faiths in the party and the men in office, hoping in their hands the rules of class and destiny might be reversed, only to have these dreams crushed blatantly in compromise after compromise. We could have learned, through the passages of human history that the individual man would progress into a being capable of individual though and discernment. Not so, for it would seem time after time we make the same mistake again. The mistake of blind faith towards mere mortals capable of turning to the bad, a mistake all to human in all of us.

Mind you this is not piece I write now in frustration. I cannot really say the recent defeat in Pulau Pinang could attributed to electoral conspiracy or whatnot. But here I give you my earnest take on the general idea of the cult of personality. We pride ourselves in being a democratic nation, of every individual exercising their liberal right in actually having a brain in making the choices that matter. We may pride ourselves in being socialist or conservative. But what are the motives for our beliefs? Does it hit a raw nerve in our psyche or are we simply mesmerized by a leader that oozes populist charisma? In this carries a greater responsibility. We chant the slogans and carry the banners not for the sake in looking fashionably radical but to serve of the greater purpose in bridging the divide between class and individual. It is all a collective effort in which even the party leader could not idly watch by the sidelines. I dare ask them this, if you are for a legit democracy, why are you not out there making a difference?

No political party, be left or right, mainline or opposition have a full say to the matters in the heart. In the core of it every moment desires the better life for every individual. It would only take feeble minded PR people to use populist sentiments such as race and religion to stir up a reaction which would only be detrimental to what is considered positive progress. It is simply another low method of propaganda in which the powers that be in the medieval ages controlled their serfs. The method of divide and conquer which would only fester into cancerous xenophobia. In this, it is wise to read between the lines and know what is concocted and what the plain truth is. What is printed might not be necessarily the full story.

I urge you all now to break off with the nonsense that is partisan tribalism. We would all be clamoring in issues that come time to time, briefly united to fight the common foe. We may also speak of revolutions and change. But where is the resolution? Let it be known that the real players in this system are US, the Rakyat! We do not bow to a political party’s statements and aims or even their covert agendas. This is what constitutes to be the truest form of democracy, where one would be able to make up their minds and voice their agreements or grievances. Yes. We have our idols and leaders. But they too are human. To elevate them to a godlike status is nothing short of a great overstatement. They are here for a time and season. But what matters most is the fundamental aims of fairness, equality and justice amongst all. It is not just something us South East Asians are seeking , but the fundamental right of all.

Open Door?

2009-03-15T08:24:00.000-07:00

Batang Ai is up for grabs. No one is doing any speculating for now.But if the rakyat gets their heads together, this might as well be the first crack at the domination of White Beard's BN backed empire. You might as well scoff at the notion. But one never expect miracles until the very defining moment.

Have we been so dammed content being under White Beard's beck and call; all this as he
and his cronies suck whatever resources out for their own financial gains? It is rather amusing
they are confident of their eventual 'win'. But countless Sarawakians cannot be wrong; for
the joke is starting to get old.

It is fair to me to say that Malaysia as a whole is at the crux of unspeakable change that will shakewhatever we are taught to believe. Yes. Peg me as a uncurable optimist. But to stand there and be self-rightiously cynical about things will not amount to shit. It is the old order's culture to keep the young from dreaming big things; to settle for an inferrior immitation of the good life while all the insides of your soul rot away to the state sponsored malaise of fickle gossip-entertainment.

Call me guilty of being a dreamer. If I were a sin in your eyes, i'll definetely take the mantle of being of what you deem a heretic.

How much our local Sarawakian media is trying to paint a rosy picture! Laughable! Ha! How much people like Alfred Jabu would use his stock down-to-earth roots talk to cajole voters from the interior; at times tapping at pantang to perhaps give them the heebie jeebies. The Nietzchian
idea of politics holds sway in the hearts of these hopelessly morally bankcrupt lap dogs. " Give me your votes so I can live on the rakyats federal revenue! " It's ironic it is these types of conservatives who complain and moan of federal welfare as a means of making the people lazy!
Elected slackers in office? Hell yeah!

What one sees in Perak is merely the infantile attempts of dying regime to legitamalize itself. Talk about their profuse sweats of desperation as they scramble for damage control. Even in Kuching town, forces are at play to try to discredit Chong Jien Jen right as a fairly elected representative of the Rakyat. You may accuse of me being in conspiracy theory overdrive. I do not have any smidgen of proof. But ask a man down the street that. It's obvious to us its the very rancid stench of politricks in the air.

Good news, for once.

2009-02-19T04:28:00.000-08:00

And the brave and righteous fight back.

V Sivakumar, to most, seems to be a man bent desperation. You can say he is trying to break
the democratic process by barring the new BN MB. I shall resprect you stance of taking the middle ground. I have one problem with your argument though... the notion that recent events in Perak were all fruits of democracy is frankly laughable and highly misleading. The BN spin machine has tried tried to paint a picture of Truth prevailing for the sakes of the noble BN party. Wishfull thinking my dear sirs, even a fool could figure the glaring lie behind your PR smiles.

I shall make my stance in this very plain; Sivakumar has gone to the point where he shall not stand for this very obvious contempt the House... the total disrespect of democracy itself; all this by means of money politics and selfish ambitions at the expense of the Rakyat. BN may argue that it's rights as 'legally elected' officials has been demeaned. But it does takes any criminal to try to paint himself as the victim. BN was never the victim. It just so happens that the crook has found himself an oppsotion, what better way for a coward to defend himself by using the time honored 'oppressed do-gooder' ticket!

News of Elizabeth Wong's plight is making it's rounds as the most talked about topics, even here in Sarawak. Instead of giving BN the needed ammo to discredit Pakatan, it has ellicited a surge of sympathy from the public; as well as opening up to them the true nature of BN's running dog tactics of sleaze and corruption. We have seen now how individuals like Khir Toyo try to profess viritue and morality, only to have it back-fire to their faces, even earning ire from their colleagues from the ranks. Such politricks could only carry the proud and conceited far. But in the day, these same people would have to find a dammed good excuse to explain to multitudes who are right now reaching the end of their wanning patience.

Don't mess with us, mr. politician. For we have the right of the to VOTE YOU OUT!

It's Not Gonna Work, Bro.

2009-02-07T08:07:00.000-08:00

How could you sleep saying all this things,
To say that we should "face the facts"
To let the powers rob us blind,
Making mockery to Law and common sense?

Do we have the right to question question?
To ensure that our vote is not in vain,
be it the left or of the right.
The fact is the MP is supposed to do their job!

So do you'd think we stand by the coup of the eventual defeated,
their ploys to buy the seats of this fair land,
Quantity over the obvious lack of quality,
How much the mark of their dirty politics
will be the shoes that will slam them out!

For they do not have armies to answer to,
But the whole lot of us unwashed,
the Rakyat of the Common Malaysian,
You have brought us down for the very last time,
Hear us! For we will have our redemption!

Perak (Part 2)

2009-02-06T07:04:00.000-08:00

Arrogance that would anyone's blood boil.

I can think of any other words to say this; What the fucking deal? The rakyat goes out to the street
to voice their dissent. Text-book brute police force is what they get in return. BN has a shitload of bad pressed heaped on them. For Najib and co. to respond in this manner is not gonna get any sympathy, even from the devil himself!

You'd think for all the talk BN is making of trying to rehabilitate their image will actually come to fruition. Yeah right... such lip-service will only do them in as their actions clearly clash with their supposed ploys to reconcile with us frustrated members of the rakyat. Talk about shooting youself in the foot with you contradicting choice of morals.

As for the four assembymen who chose to seal Perak to it's fate; you'd think you've raked in the moolah as token for your dupilicity and conceit. But are you so shallow to underestimate the rakyat's collective intelligence? A criminal who claims repentance and goes out to do his misdeed again can never be trusted again. In fact he shall be seen with even more suspision, even if he is so brazen enough to claim repentance once again. Call me judgemental, but this is basic human behavior. Those who seriously would want to vote for you again would be either a ignorant or just plain retarded; for no one in their right minds will support pathological liars like you all.

Your treachery may have gotten you the much kick-back for your personal indulgences. But bear in mind, I say it as a matter of plain fact, that you have only served to drive the nails to the coffins of your lofty political goals. No one likes criminals like you, so why should they even remotely entertain the idea of casting the ballot for you?

For let it be known that we. the Malaysian people are not in the mood of bullshit. We are only interested in you, Mr. MP, to serve us; to represent us and our families in our best intrest. To fight not for the privilaged sectors of society but those who do not have your luck of even knowing the basic needs and privilages. YOU are supposed to bridge the divide, not to serve to widen them in the best intrest of the corrupt and greedy. Apparently you need a heart and brain to do your job; not to be mindless drones for the elite to serve their perverse ideals of what they blatantly call the Malaysian Dream.

2009-02-05T06:03:00.000-08:00

Sad news.

A basic run-down of the crisis so far.

Here's Psalm 37 from the Bible:

1 Don't worry about the wicked. Don't envy those who do wrong.

2 For like grass, they soon fade away. Like springtime flowers, they soon wither.

3 Trust in the LORD and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper.

4 Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart's desires.

5 Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust him, and he will help you.

6 He will make your innocence as clear as the dawn, and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun.

7 Be still in the presence of the LORD, and wait patiently for him to act. Don't worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes.

8 Stop your anger! Turn from your rage! Do not envy others-- it only leads to harm.

9 For the wicked will be destroyed, but those who trust in the LORD will possess the land.

10 In a little while, the wicked will disappear. Though you look for them, they will be gone.

11 Those who are gentle and lowly will possess the land; they will live in prosperous security.

12 The wicked plot against the godly; they snarl at them in defiance.

13 But the Lord just laughs, for he sees their day of judgment coming.

14 The wicked draw their swords and string their bows to kill the poor and the oppressed, to slaughter those who do right.

15 But they will be stabbed through the heart with their own swords, and their bows will be broken.

16 It is better to be godly and have little than to be evil and possess much.

17 For the strength of the wicked will be shattered, but the LORD takes care of the godly.

18 Day by day the LORD takes care of the innocent, and they will receive a reward that lasts forever.

19 They will survive through hard times; even in famine they will have more than enough.

20 But the wicked will perish. The LORD's enemies are like flowers in a field-- they will disappear like smoke.

21 The wicked borrow and never repay, but the godly are generous givers.

22 Those blessed by the LORD will inherit the land, but those cursed by him will die.

23 The steps of the godly are directed by the LORD. He delights in every detail of their lives.

24 Though they stumble, they will not fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand.

25 Once I was young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly forsaken, nor seen their children begging for bread.

26 The godly always give generous loans to others, and their children are a blessing.

27 Turn from evil and do good, and you will live in the land forever.

28 For the LORD loves justice, and he will never abandon the godly. He will keep them safe forever, but the children of the wicked will perish.

29 The godly will inherit the land and will live there forever.

30 The godly offer good counsel; they know what is right from wrong.

31 They fill their hearts with God's law, so they will never slip from his path.

32 Those who are evil spy on the godly, waiting for an excuse to kill them.

33 But the LORD will not let the wicked succeed or let the godly be condemned when they are brought before the judge.

34 Don't be impatient for the LORD to act! Travel steadily along his path. He will honor you, giving you the land. You will see the wicked destroyed.

35 I myself have seen it happen-- proud and evil people thriving like mighty trees.

36 But when I looked again, they were gone! Though I searched for them, I could not find them!

37 Look at those who are honest and good, for a wonderful future lies before those who love peace.

38 But the wicked will be destroyed; they have no future.

39 The LORD saves the godly; he is their fortress in times of trouble.

40 The LORD helps them, rescuing them from the wicked. He saves them, and they find shelter in him.

And justice for all? yes... for ALL.

2009-02-03T08:31:00.000-08:00

The articles that has inspired this thread. Here and Here.

Its no secret of our police's standard practice of excessive force. I know there are some of you would be saying that Kugan got what he deserved; that a criminal like him bears no hope of redemption and therefore needs to be eliminated by all means from being a festering cancer in society.

Pardon my french, o rightious one, but I don't see you doing better in your daily life as mere erring humans.

It takes one so conceited in his track record to judge and condemn, so much so he is too dammed blind in acknowledging his own black marks. Attitudes like this bears no difference to the Pharisees in the bible, who in addition to crucifying Christ, were party to the corruption and debauchery of social & political hypocrisy. It negates basic compassion to those, who despite whatever crime or weaknesses, have the basic urge to make something for themselves in the pecking order. This in fact explains why they do the things they do, all this to escape the social order imposed on them by the powers that be. Something that makes no diffrence between those who go legit or dable in crime.

A high flying CEO and petty thief have in common in their pursuit of wealth and happiness. They may even be in agreement to whatever dubiousness in their practices. Which brings into question who is really rightious; everyone is capable to be culpable of any deviant practice. Everyone also have their moments of moral clarity; acts of selfless sacrifice and kindness. To be jaded and make blanket clasifications on which class is the most perverse is callous and immature. If God were to seriously judge humanity for every iota of corruption, it would be really safe to say the boundries of Hell itself would exceed even eternity itself.

Which brings me to the rights of anyone in polide custody. It is the job the police to do their job to protect. How much more a common criminal that needs to plead his case; to be proven guilty or innocent. Is it right for them to have a vigillante shoot-first-ask-questions-later atttitude, terrorising the detainee before they could even present his story to the courts. Again you would say criminals like Kugan don't deserve a chance. But imagine if you were in his shoes; locked up in your skivies and even innocent from whatever charges leveled at you. Would you say its 'justice' if those same cops terrorise you in ways never imagined your easy comfortable universe? Would you say you even deserve a chance?

Let be known that in general, be in local war enforcement and every major war, that violence and terror only serves prolong a viscous resentment that would subsequently explode at the expense of innocent bystanders. In this case, it would only fuel a sense of distrust to the police force, whom I'm very sure has some who are sincerely dedicated in their fight against the every deathly spectre of social chaos. Like it or not, the rakyat in the end depends on a police force to look after them and their children. To manifest their authority in brainless macho violence only serves to plant the black seeds of hatred. If the defenceless could not trust their protector, who else can they trust?

On Power and The Dangers of Subdivisions

2009-01-29T02:08:00.000-08:00

The next piece of the domino shelf falls... its now or never, man!

Let admit this. It is so dammed easy to be swayed by the mainline media. The desperation of the status quo has made it go on the offensive to actually play up small misunderstandings between component parties within PR. Its really funny that BN itself is suffering from its own internal bickering. Yet nothing has been said. It's like a mortally weakened animal attempting to reassuming its dignity by roaring at the enemy. Face it, the amount of damage done by them in years past could not be redeemed by costly PR campaigns at the expence of the rakyat's tax money.

A bit of anecdote:

I was helping cover the SEDC relaunching of the Riverside Majestic and Grand Margerita just weeks ago. It was to be attended by Old White Hairs and his cronies, naturally Riverside went on the extreme in the perperation details. Nothing was left to chance, almost it was to befit someone of royal pedigree. I was really astounded at the attention to detail and prescision; it would have been great that this could have been utilized in the public service works here in this state. For someone important like White Hairs he could have used such influence to command efficientcy of the bueracracy for the rakyat. But itstead it all goes into tactless functions that frankly is made more to kiss ass and nothing more.

Call me naive or being snide. But I really feel political influence in general is just more about comanding the audience at some two-bit corporate function which in most case is more about filling the pockets of the politicians and the corporate sector. Perhaps it needs to be reminded that polticians and corprate entities are SUBJECT TO THE PEOPLE. We vote for the politicians. We make money for the corporations. We have so much so , consciously and unconsciously, went out on the limb to support them by providing the capital for their growth and also their personal luxuries of their CEO's. In fact, we are the real share-holders, making much of their logo. Yet in most cases their lackdaisal attitudes to even the basic human rights of their workers is really common place, giving the the definition of corporations and politicians as a collective of cold hearted individiuals cappable of even the basic human emotions.

March 8th perhaps was a wake-up call to all them. Perhaps they are really daft to the truth that the rakyat has had it up to here with the contradictions and lies funneled forth by the news media (which FYI, has their stock bought by the mainline BN parties). Just this month Kuala Terengannu is now under the Opposition; another death knell to BN. If the Barisan Nasional are keen to reinvent itself, the task that needs to be taken is the complete re-evaluation of the people and the policies. That itself calls for a major make-over; no amount of the verbal professing of reform and that could mirror the realites of total reform.

Bear in mind its not for the sake of electorial figure, rather it for the rakyat themselves. It needs to be noted while most of you would state that there is nothing wrong , underlying racial tesions and festering economic/social decay is the cold fact. You might say it is not your problem and get on with your gentrified lives of privelage but such selfishness would ultimately be the bullet that will hit you in the back. It is funny that in the ideal process of collectivism that every strata of society depends on each other to run the scene. I'd say say once the rot sets in one strata the whole nations will die together in the chaos. The working class needs the elite class and the elite class need the working class. We who blatantly profess to believe in democracy need to know that every member of society is vital to the whole process. Be it the street weeper or the MP, the chain reaction of duty runs the country in its full; bringing a sense of stabilty and income to all.

I'd think the best quote that sums it up is from suprisingly from metal god,Ozzy Osborne; "be good the everyone on your way to the top, because you'd never know you're gonna meet on the way down" True words. For once a nation goes belly up, it's not just the people but everyone, be it scum or king that feels the chop. Selfish elitism serves more as a grounds for fascistic dogmatism. To say that one particualr group is the be overlord for the greater good will only serve divide. There is no real peace and progress in division. At that very case there will be no real cause to even consider ourselves a true nation at all.

Let me say this very frankly.....

2009-01-16T03:16:00.000-08:00

Empty feelings like a gutted house in the rain. He looks on in the emptiness of the room. A neatness that mirrors the giant void in life. The silence is frightening. It's just enough to make you squirm in your pants.

Was there any hope in the routine? Go to school, Go to tuition; to serve your role in the system. To deny all dreams and to mutate into some eyeless, earless drone incapable to feel?

It had been same before 1998. The calm around Malaysian soil. All thisvmasking the rot that was to explode like some corpse on a cremation chamber. The sheer abject silence from his peers was all but a plastic mask that hid the gaunt weariness etched by a silent vicious law drawn up in racialist fears and paranoia's. Still none of us stirred.

We just pretty much let it bleed.

We die in our own excess in idleness and pleasure. We all hope it just might kill the pain. To bring us to frontiers beyond loss and rejection. All this as the hypocrisy bleeds the rakyat dry. All this as we secretly crack snide at the outsiders and our fellow "pendatangs".

We fuck ourselves in our own self-righteousness. We think we are better than each.... still the fact remains.... the criminals are still the same.

Silence can be the worst enemy... It's hypocrisy can be the bloody dagger it holds.

Would one stand by, with all our qualifications and status in society to see our working class brothers being stiffed of their wages. To some of you it not your problem; for the screams are oh-so conveniently insulated by the garden walls of our closed world. "It's their problem" we reason. "Why rock the boat?" Perhaps it's really ironic considering that was the same logic taken by most Europeans as they watched the neighbors and friends of Jewish descent herded to the gas chambers, graciously submiting to the Third Reich's rule before following to a path of complicit destruction and guilt.

Question: Have we become so obsessive of our place in the machinery that we forsake our brother's and sister's who are oppressed and deemed not fit the ulterior motives of this hypocrisy.

What makes us so dammed sure that our place in the system would take us far from this nightmare? For corrupt men see no reason in the misdeeds to value the individuality of every single worker. For in their insecurity to find relevance and status they are willing to exploit, exploit and exploit. They use the cliches of friendship and family to motivate in their slavery. Once one ceases to be any use, he/she will be tossed aside like a used condom. to be shunned and ostascised for he simply has no use for the machinery.

So much for your glory now, ye of high repute! For the king and the peasant are of the same blood.

For even the Lord himself is no respector of men.

Notes In This Here Times (Part 3)

2008-10-22T07:28:00.000-07:00

Note: I actually wanted to talk about my take on the state of affairs in Sarawak in my last post.
But I seriously didn't think the rushed nature would be of any justice. So yeah...heres my dua sen regarding this.

The fact is clear even to the most dumbest of idiots living in this here state; that the family economy of old White Beard has done more to stunt any real progress, be it cultural and economical. Sure.... stay home and don't talk about politics. Live your lives in a state of ignorance even a mute would hint at. But te fact stays the same: the systematic plunder of the state by the so-called leaders that be.

It's really amazing at the deafening silence we Sarawakians are making. We bitch and moan about the corruption thats rampant in the corridors of power. But we are also fearful enough to be chicken shit; to quietly take the payoffs by the YB's for them to have you vote for them. You'd think you are fucking brave to actually be smart in your skills of survivalism. But what happens when self interest becomes party to watching everything crash and burn. All the sudden your 'luck' in the hierachy means nothing. Rome is left burning to ashes. And here you are roasting to death in your beds screaming.

Perhaps the notion of not causing is too ingrained are all to genteel Asian psyche. To oblige and be doormat as the thief breaks in and fucks your girl. You suck it up and tell it it's just part of life. You are just scared to speak out in fear of retribution. All the while in your silence the YB's and Wakil Rakyats live of their extravagances on our taxes.

Silence works both ways. It other comforts and consoles. But in this case we comfort ourselves to the resignation to a life thats obviously unfair. It is unfair not because of the how it really is in the world. It is unfair because that the powers that be has made it this way to serve their selfish needs. I have earlier mentioned in my posts that my dear brothers are very much underpaid with only $500. It really astounds me even now that my employers (Lord bless them.) could seriously get away with such travesty. Clearly no system or trade unions is in place to fight for their rights and convince them it is actually a wise investment to pay the workers more. All this talk about the lessening of the percentage of poverty; still the the money all goes to the private parties and vacations of the powerful. They let small hearted capitalists go unchecked (even dealing with them!) with their cruelty. To think it's the same system that teaches nilai bertimbang rasa and berbaik hati in their children's Pendidikan Moral classes. How much telling is their government in their blindness in this matter.

I seriously wish all this was just another bad dream. I really wish this country is as good as what the TV and papers had it out to be. But the truth is the divisions are still as apparent as ever. No matter how much we hire the best graduates from places like Lim Kok Wing to paint a rosy picture about Malaysian life; to those brothers and sisters living on the other side the answer is so fucking obvious. They are pretty much doomed. It would really take a miracle to really get them out of this cycle.

Perhaps it is indeed coming after all....

Notes in this here times. (Part 2)

2008-10-22T01:22:00.000-07:00

Let us remember a few things here; while all you are safe in the relativecushy comfort of your homes and cushy jobs.....

The vast numbers arrested past and present under the ISA. Those who dare totell the truth and paid for it dearly in incarceration and torture. People such as Raja Petra Kamaruddin and the Hindraf 5. These were the people that would like us could have watched the shit unfold and remain silent overthe issues that clearly shows the abject rot in this so-called 'harmonious' nation
and the men that claims to be our leaders. They, with all their power and conceit, silenced those voices of conscience. Sure... another topic well avoided for the public peace and investors. But it's basically serves to dig their graves ever so deep. To actually fall from grace will be the death will kill them us all.

To actually say we're better of talking about things in this country is no better like a wife who stands an abusive marriage. To let BN just get away with bloody murder would no better be an abject act of complicity. No better than the Germans with the atrocity of World War 2 and the Holocaust. A man may be put behind bars for the truth; that a whole lot better than the rest of the population losing their rights and lives to the ever racist political machine.

All this talk of the component parties of BN 'reforming' and 'reevaluating their priority' has reccently been shown as cosmetic and mere lip service. Trust MCA to get in dubious individuals like Chua Soi Lek. Never mind what he does with his privates in his spare time, but mere fact that he plays to the tune of generic Malaysian practice of corruption ( a friend of mine says that to most people in Johor, its common knowledge to where he gets his extra income)is one thing not even a fool like me could possibly ignore. Do seriously we, the Malaysian Rakyat, would take you seriously?

A Bullet By Your Window

2008-10-11T07:29:00.000-07:00

Would it brazen for me to say,
The dreams of the greater good of His Kingdom,
These things you say is dangerous and mad?
These blasphemies that contradict
to the vacancy of your empty traditions.

Would it be insanity if I stood up and speak,
The open rejection of the oppressors that be,
The truth that deems me to be a criminal of the state?
The truth so blotted out by their culture of idle leisure?

Would it be suicide if I were throw away the good life,
a luxury at the expense of the million innocents,
subdivided because of race and creed and class,
all this for it was never the will of God and Christ?

For to you I am a fool and a dreamer,
But to the silence that rings in your hearts,
lies the heartbeat of the greater good wishing to react.

Memoirs of A Pending Factory Intern

2008-10-11T04:37:00.000-07:00

I actually consider this to be the time actually bloomed in terms of my professional skills. Not only in making dinky little artwork for thegentrified classes but also in terms of office politics and the general nature of humanity itself. School isn't as same as work, where you pretty had a safety net to muck around with. I know a few of my classmates Lim Kok Wingthat actually knew the brutality of the corporate world. I had actually went there with expectations that I might understand the mind of the Corprate Man. Instead all whatever biases is confirmed. The fact that an alarming majority arevain-glorious imbeciles with zero empathy to masses. Funny... I figured theycorporate elements with the rakyat. For they are the people that just might be
the ones needed to do the job swiftly.

But this is not the case. I've personally seen for myself the bad apples of corporate sector act out their insecurities by overworking the staff with indecisive demands only to personally insult them for 'shoddy workman ship' while it was their retarded indecisiveness in the mental faculty which brought upon delays and made a wonderful rushed job of it.

I did actually made sketches after sketches for approval, only to have changes after changes right to the 11th hour. I remembered being extremely worried to the point I no appetite for breakfast. We did finish it in time. But the charming person in charge of this project had the audacity to bleat out his dissatisfaction. He asked which of us designed this. My colleague shifted the 'blame' to one of my Bangladeshi co-workers. He proceeded to make the most snarkiest of coming regarding shoddy workman ship, not realising the whole lot of us, including the Bangladeshi, put our all in this.

My Bangladeshi co-worker just smiled broadly and nodded. If he actually knew what that twat said he would have decked him on the spot. I know... for I was really change in the actual construction.

I still feel bad that the blame was shifted to the Bangladeshi. My colleague was doing this to protect a newbie like me. Still I really felt the sting of the insult. More appropriately the workshop staff has the right to take absolute offense. Almost all of my mates there took the time to help me out. To them, it was just a plain gesture of helping out a friend. I was simply an over-educated middle class goof that was still learning the ropes. But still, those guys simply saw me as a friend in need.

I still think of think those blokes who are still there; working their asses all for respectable salary of only RM 500 a month. I certainly did have to worry because I was very much well off in my middle class cloud nine. But to them it is just a matter a challenge bringing home the bread to the table; which would also mean taking an extra jobs.

Even more ironic was the fact that my employers were all getting plum contract from the pillars of Kuching society. By right they should be getting a handsome sum out of this. But still this case of obvious exploitation. There was even a time that they even worked overtime to install a rather austentatious looking piece of garbage which turned to be a gift to Old White Beard himself. Imagine how much work they had to do, sandblasting a piece of imported crystal, instaling pieces were made of expensive metals. By right every one of them should get a commission out of this. So far, I've heard nothing of this sort.

But whatever the case, still there was a nagging insecurity in my employer's heads that they do not have enough money; the abject poverty mentality that mirrors the dementia a chronic anorexic that still thinks she's overweight. Thus giving a sorry justification to be tightfisted with the money. Perhaps this is the symptom of the typical Asian capitalist.

In the midst of this we all had good times. We'd have tea breaks at around 3pm.;Feasting on the food and drinks brought by a kindly old man. I was actually told he used to have a van but somehow was screwed over to sell it off. He was also a proud member of Amway, perhaps hoping one day he'd just might earn enough from them to get a new working van. For the time being he was using a bicycle which was stacked to overkill with all his good. There were times I'd see him
at the traffic ridden roads of Pending just braving the sun and rain.

A my colleague actually asked his friend from Amway why his company is not helping members like him. I guess he could not get a satisfactory answer from him. I would naively assume that that in the mad rush to get rich, fellow members like the old man are left in the dark, for he does not fit the successful image the to be profiled in their monthly digests. It is funny that society in general talks about the winners as if they are a breed of perfect supermen, while all the while treating the weak and short-changed as 'social problems' and 'degenerate boogey-men' not worthy of charity and love. We seem to forget even God makes the most out of the losers and drop-outs. Tis a nature of man of self-rightiousness: We seen always content to look down on the weak and the fallen while knowing damned well we too are capable of doing the same. Perhaps in their eyes we see ouselves in the midst.

Notes in this here times.

2008-10-11T03:11:00.000-07:00

Well, it's big news of the week. Good ole' Boy Najib dreams of being Prime Minister
seems to be nearer than before. Come March 2009, Dollah will step down, leaving
Najib being named the next PM.

Probably a good time to get worried. Ha.

My summary of Najib is far from rosy. Taking into consideration to his tendency for racial supremacism, plus his possible complicity in the Altantuya case (not to mention word of his hand in RPK's arrest.) it is really sad for me to conclude that Najib, like Mahathir before him, is a good as typical fascist leader having no qualms in silencing the opposition voices who are more than often just doing their duty of being concerned citizens.

Fascism in our doorstep? You all might disagree. But if you were to be observant to how the country has been run the past few decades, I don't think you have any reason to say otherwise.
It's funny that even my indigenous race brothers even get the rawest of deals, despite being politely classed as 'bumiputera'.

The system obviously has a cancer. The cancer is called racism. To call ourselves multiracial is plain out hypocrisy and a lame joke. Even America, for it's gaping divide between the Caucasians and those of African descent, could be considered a lot more progressive in slowly accepting that it has a problem.

The first step to recovery is accepting you have a problem. Our leaders, Najib especially, need to realize that. Racism, since the days of the British, was clearly the structure that seemed to hold the structure. The were really devious in their admistrative layout; planting seeds of fear and defeatism in the sweet and clever guise of being nurturing. All this an irony in their high society parties where the only presence Malays, Chinese, Indian and indigenous had were plainly as objects of curiosity and snarky parlor jokes.

Even more so in this times. Our parents would silently whisper racist innuendos about their neighbours, while in the same time hang with them flashing the most fake of smiles. Don't tell me you are not guilty of that. I did my share of racist jokes before ultimately learning recently
I'm just as equally blessed as everyone in this here country; let alone this whole rock we call earth.

Why do we fear and loath each other?

Is it because of arrogance of being in th right path?

Or the fruits of the worm-like hated of our own selves...

...all this a pathetic search for a scapegoat to justify our failures as humans?

I'm back, kids!

2008-10-02T13:04:00.000-07:00

First up, to all that bother tuning in, I'd like to apologize for my
long absence of leave. A lot of things happened in this past two months: School,
Fucked Up Drama, Assignments la la la la Bada Bing Bada Boom. Well... it's not
worth harping under the sky about the sheer amount of shit piled up by reality.
But God does loves us much to turn all the crap into things that actually build you.
I actually find absolute truth in this saying: What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
It aslos worth nothing to know that I believe in a God and Savior that has took the fall of the
stupid mistakes that I make. That's just enough grace to inspire a mere fuck-up like me
to just walk in His peace and overflow with the Love. Too super-spiritual for ya? Never mind.
All I know is.. he justs makes me glad to be alive.

The recent spate of arrests by the BN fascists does nothing but serve to dig their grave even
further. Even more frustrating is people's over expectant anticipation for high drama on Sept
16th. Yeah, It does do them a bit of discredit, but all in the process of waiting for the right moment to strike. It takes a sheer character of wit and wisdom like Anwar to actually wait
for the right moment to reveal his new opposition cabinet. The enemy wants high drama to
show it's overblown testicullar fortitude to us, the rakyat. hence, the quasi-Gestapo like tactics.
They are just plainly just jumping like monkeys handling a hot piece of cucur pisang. But clearly they are going down.

I actially had the privallage of meeting my friend Jack and his fiancee yesterday for Hari Raya. We generally has a nice talk on esoteric philosophy and made weird jokes. Seriously, Jack has fianlly met the right girl for him. I cannot seriously understand why some people I know bitch and moan the fact that Jack is getting hitched the girl he loves, who just so happens to be Malay, Sure... some of them meet the textbook stereotypes. But personally these people count to be my good friend, one owhich helped me carry my school bag when I was just recovering from my appendics surgery.

Anyways, I leave you all with double whammy poem about this whack times:

1. (a brief note of remembrance)

For I came in with the best expectations,
But here I was in my pool of blood,
The bullets of rejection had done cutting me up,
Was I the victim of my actions?
Or just another number left to dry?

For it was love I had seek all this while,
the slap in the face was the seal of it all.
You could have done me a favor
by sending me to hell,
At least you had mercy...
the best conceit of hypocrisy,
To have let me live to rot
in your accusations and empty guilt.

But what was the motives?

What were the causes?

For was I the examining of social standing
that determined my selection?
To be worth as company so cool, so exotic,
How much substance to be sucked dry
by your pop-culture whoring,
When all the while declaring
you're nothing new under the sun!

For there was nothing more to say,
But the empty futility of your hipster fucking,
Yet I am glad I'm on the outside,
For the depravity of your parties
boasts your emptiness that's big,
Your charms shall fade away the night,
The aftertaste of cigarettes and wine
your prison gruel now,
Thank God I was safe from the whole lot of you.

2. (A Testimonial of Blood & Thunder)

For what can the epitome of MTV-cool
could do to save this country?
The saccharine drugging of the youth
to the emptiness of hypocrisy,
Our leaders take take and take,
The slow cancer of the death of Malaysia,
The innocents die as they are strangled
in slumber.

For you try to shut us up for telling the truth,
The force of your fascism compensating
for marvelous impotence,
A standing ovation for the indifferent classes
for grinding our bones for their tea-time milk.

For are you that damned blind
to think is as good as before?
The easiness of childhood days
that warms the hearts,
The summertime bliss and joy
amidst the silent rot this nefarious color game?

For your silence leaves the gap,
the knives of elected murderers that now
line by our beds,
Wake up, now!
For life is too short to be a dead sea!

For gaze up they sky now, brothers and sisters!
The sun burns ever brighter in His glory now!
For we who believe shall have the change,
What power can these fascists have
against the hand of His grace?
Sick are we of these politics that be!
Sick are we of the lies that justify this oppression!
Like the rising crests of waves
the silence seems almost deafening,
The growing power against all adversity and pain,
Oh, big brother fascist! Your days are indeed,

2008-08-06T03:45:00.000-07:00

Sure signs of BN's miserable desperation

Try if they want. But they could not stop this ball from rolling. It was proven to us on March 8th that the public has had it up to here with corruption and racism that is prevalent in the culture of Barisan Nasional politics. This is enough for these crooks (together with the police, those criminals in uniforms) to go up in arms in what they perceived as the day of reckoning for all their blood in their hands. They have been talk after the election for BN to go 'find their roots', to learn from whatever mistakes so to speak. But it's really bloody clear to us all that they are still tied to their habitual dirt mongering, just get their points across.

It would be really fair to say that they only do this to dig their own graves. Public opinion has been in all time low and the police force has the gall to actually arrest Anwar without a warrant. Nat Tan had said that is was ploy for the coppers to tell the goverment that they (the govt.) are not to bring the police down with them once the shit hits the fan. Pretty much going to a defensive survivalist mode I must say, but in reality THEY ARE GOING DOWN. With all their focus going to investegating the alleged 'sodomy' case, little has been said about the progress of solving who kidnapped Sharlienie (refer to the link on my last article). Talk about a gross case of priortisng... no wonder we all don't look to our policemen very highly.

Do not take this that I'm a hater of all the boys in blue. They are good people eere and the goverment it's really hard to make real positive progress. And it's about high time we say "Ënough is enough!". We are not take the abuse of power at the expense of us rakyat anymore!

Dubious allegations in Anwar's sodomy trial.

RPK hits it spots on stating that it was as if UMNO was mirroring the CIA in trying to sabotage Anwar and him. THe whole thing is a case of smoke and mirrors, the degree of conspiracy and deceit that even Survivor would be very proud of. The weird part that peaked my interest was Pete's mention of the setting up of the special police operations center before the alleged sodomy case took place. Dubious isn't it. It's as if they were really psychic there and then to see it coming. Even more intriging is the fact that the special police operations took place the office of a Shafee Abdulah, a UMNO legal hatchet mannoted for fixing trials involving the people implcated in the Altantya case. TO the faint hearted it's really sickening to know that the judiciary sytem is athte mercy of the unscrupilous higher-ups bent on concealing their guilt.

It's all in the goal from preventing the tsunami of change fast rising to wash all the corruption that BN has built. It's really understandable; for in their own sense of condemantion they try to hit out faster and meaner than before. At what cost, I ask? Athte expese of the rakyat? At the emotional toll of their own family members who probably (if thats the case) in the dark about all the injustices that their loved one has commited in power. Corruption, no matter how big or small dooms the best of all ideas and dreams. It is a cycle that comes back at one with an unspeakable vengence. Definetely they are no one spared in this. Not one.

2008-08-04T00:18:00.000-07:00

Sordid details of our leaders value system. How low can they go to protect their interests.

Bad police priortising at the expense of young lives (in the expense of criminal perverts)

Btw, kudos to Captian Zahar for spilling the beans in the first link. THis vry much goes to show that for all the dubiousness in this world, there are good people that actually have integrity and values which is fast becoming a dying thing in modern society. Sure... we may lump people of dirrent race, creed or party affiliation in stereotypical character profiles just make thing easy for our own personal clasification. But the truth is... it's really far from the truth. They are people , regardless from Pakatan or BN who are actually sincere in making a diffrence in their communities. The only thing that totally fucks it up is the sheer abject abundance of personal politcics that in the end turns most into the hardest of cynics and survivalist manipulators.

It's really sad considering that even Pak Lah himself gets himself in the rut at the expese of his own party's code of ethics.Perhaps it's growing insecurity that he and his party is numbered. Destined to be on the voter chopping block. You can not blame the rakyat being so exasperated with BN. 50 years after merdeka it's still the same with the the racial and economic divide. This is very much coupled with the growing revelations of corruption (does any remeber VK Lingam, anybody?) which only serves to twist the knife even further.

Yeah. Times are really getting dire. It's really depressing if you really think of it. But lest you are. Here's a poem for you to consider:

And I am still despite the violence of the storm,
Our leaders take the newest low at the expense of us,
the world burns aflame in its destruction.
Still I am calm, in the very sanctity of peace that is You.

For what can the corrupt do to dispense their own justice,
like blooming flowers the just rise to bring them down,
For out of the mouth of babes comes the revelation,
the Word, The Truth, the Grace, The Ultimate Bullet.
Broken are the hardest of hearts,
Crumbed are the barricades of color and hate,
We are now saved from the foolishness of self.
We are all saved so we may all live again!

Again, do keep our freedom fighters in your prayers, especially for the coming by-elections. May
evil and corruption be stopped in their tracks! May rightious and just prevail always!

What the f...

2008-07-29T11:28:00.000-07:00

A glimpse to the UMNO/ Pas talks.

A commentary on that by Nat Tan.

Under no circumstances should Pas be in bed with the devil himself. Let also be noted that discussions should not be a on the future of one particular race but of the whole of the populace of Malaysia; be it Malay, Chinese, Indian etc. The fact that UMNO made the talks at the expense of the other component parties is nothing short of insensitive and callous towards their prevailing doubts to their feelings regarding Pas. This also serves to expose on how self serving are their agendas; the promotion of mono-racial unity which only alienate voters of the other racial demographic. Is it fair to say that we, of the other side of the fence are unimportant and not fit for any mean of consideration? Wake up for fucks sake! This idea of racial dominance is just pure delusion and empty egotism. We must realise that everyone, regardless of race and creed is equally as important to the social process. We call ourselves a muhibah nation. For pete sake... do act like one, man!

Pas on the other had is risking screwing up their credibility rto their brother parties of PKR and DAP who, may I remind them, are in this fight against BN and all that it stands for. To say 'don't meddle with our affairs' to their brother in arms makes me marvel at Pas' seeming inability to negotiate and work around their differences. No person in his good state of mind would abuse their ally. Do they even remotely remember their elder's teaching them to work together; to keep each other in check and build each other up in giving out constructive critiszm rather being some spoit brat autocrat and mess things up with their aimless bravado?

The whole idea of these negotiations, to me, is a pathetic farce by BN to undo the 2/3 majority garnered by the opposition in Selangor during the last elections of 2008. To have Pas jump to an obviously sinking ship would be futile and would do no contribution to all the rakyat in Selangor. We need no more of these cloak and dagger and politics. We need a goverment more concerned to bridging the gaps in the socio-economic divide. You would say it makes a damn good telenova to a average housewife. But has it ever put food to the table? To alleviate the sufferings of the hardcore poor? Enough bullshit and more work I say! Just serve the rakyat and don't be so bloody content of having the rakyat serve you!

45

2008-07-26T10:29:00.000-07:00

1.

45 years they came and take.
45 years they brainwashed and silenced.
To all the years that came and went,
Here now is an episode of a country divided,
Here now cracks in the wall; here comes the collapse!

Do not tell me all is well!
Do not tell me to put up with all this shit!
For here as the men in suits feast on the flesh of the living,
Paid in full are our so-called guardians,
Paid in full the pound of unsury that we all are chained to!

Here commences the whitewashing of history.
The perfect distraction the electric TV eye,
The perfect puppeteering of the comatosed learned.
How fine the color lines are cut...
How fine now veins of commerce to their common interests.
The saccharine distraction to all things material,
Check out the glossy magazine for the truth in style,
Fashion disguising the bloodied noose.
Fashion disguising the shortening fuse.

For outside now is the ghetto of a million sorrows,
The blackened trees rooted to the crux of the corrupt,
How much more? How long now?
The nation bled dry at the surgeon's tables for the vampires,
We keep quiet...here now is the most perfect of crimes!

2.

For here amidst the ruins blooms the first all all flowers,
45 years under the heel of those exalted liars,
45 years for the bayonets to be sharpened.
For blessed are those who speaks in Him,
For not in mere politics or force they shall trust,
The single bullet the millions of prayers spoken,
A blast skyward that shall destroy the graying skies,
Here is His mighty hand! Here is He who vanquishes all evil!

For we feareth not the lions that roar without teeth,
the millions the clenched fists the single Voice for the tired,
Sick are we of the brutality of shadows,
Sick are we of the cowardice of the powerful weak!

Raineth down now... Raineth it ALL down...
His grace is sufficient enough to bring down Nimrod,
The killer of giants, The breaker of the proud and spiteful,
Dare not cross with us, o ye of corrupt politricks!
For our Christ has forever decreed;
Broken are the sword of hells legion!
Broken are the hands that dares navigate all malice!

2008-07-18T03:02:00.000-07:00

Invisible Hands: Digging Out the True Motives of Anwar’s Arrest
Posted on July 18th, 2008 by Nathaniel Tan

Malaysiakini was kind enough to publish a piece I co-authored. Thanks guys! -

“When you eliminate the impossible, that which remains - no matter how implausible - must be true”

“In the kingdom of the blind, the one eyed man is king”

Since Saiful’s accusation, things have moved so hard and so fast that real, considered analysis of the bigger picture has been difficult.

Reflecting on the 24 hours of Anwar’s arrest allows us a good chance to take a step back and make some responsible and analytical suppositions.

Let us begin by highlighting some of the more salient features of Malaysia’s current political climate: a leadership vacuum.

Abdullah is universally - and the word “universally” is not used lightly - perceived as weak. Najib either refused to go for Abdullah’s jugular when he could have, or has been held back both now and then by threats of solid proof emerging to validate what are already widely believed implications of his involvement in a certain crime.

Let’s also be perfectly honest. Neither of these men command any serious popularity; I can barely think of any significant group of people who get excited about Abdullah/Najib as their “hero.”

That kind of accolade can only perhaps be given to Anwar Ibrahim, whose single largest failing appears to be not having a total of about 130 parliamentarians on his side at the moment - another considerable obstacle.

Other contenders for the throne are quite simply unrealistic and hardly worth mentioning.

The last few weeks appear to indicate a stalemate, based in large part on the limitations described above to be facing the three men. Abdullah can’t make himself appear strong and popular, Najib can’t shake his ghosts, and Anwar hasn’t yet pulled the rabbit out of his hat.

Invisible Players

The question we should now ask is: what does this mean for other, less visible players and stakeholders in this game?

In conducting this analysis, we must move beyond front page politicians and examine the other power brokers in the country.

For today’s purpose, let’s concentrate on some heads of law enforcement and perhaps take a glance at some former prime politicians.

For these gentlemen, two things are extremely bad for business: a power vacuum, and Anwar coming to power (let us not forget the subject matter of the ACA statement Anwar gave literally minutes before his arrest).

It is worth noting that of the two factors, in circumstances of the former, the latter becomes ever more likely.

As long as Abdullah and Najib continue to fight, Anwar’s chances of achieving the premiership become higher and higher. It appears that some were less than convinced by Abdullah’s and Najib’s 2010 deal - which plausibly was announced to buy time, placate the Umno masses and give the false impression of stability.

Some could very well view that the stalemate that exists is neither a peaceful nor stable one. In the absence of a domineering power ala Hobbes’ Leviathan, warring parties are always likely to continue fighting their war, bringing everyone down with them - the parameters of the game make it such that there is simply too much at stake to act otherwise.

Refusing to be taken down together

One problem that arises is that the “everyone” that stands to be brought down together with the sinking ship may have ideas of their own.

The conclusion that the police were merely flexing their muscles in Anwar’s arrest as a show of brute strength is overly simplistic. The signal was not to Anwar, but to the factions in the ruling party: “Don’t forget that we are players too, and don’t think that we will let you take us down with you.”

Abdullah may have even gotten wind of potential disloyalty where he disengaged the safety locks on the ACA and gave it its own prosecuting powers, independent of the police or AG’s chambers, introducing another player into the law enforcement game because he cannot effectively control the existing players.

This is not a Mahathiresque landscape, where literally everyone in government comes under the premier’s thumb. Abdullah’s weakness makes for a free for all, one which law enforcement actors appears to have taken advantage of on Wednesday.

Far-fetched? Let us not forget that Umno looked ridiculous the day Anwar was arrested. Pakatan and other social movements have successfully painted a picture of the police wherein they are mere blunt instruments constantly misused and manipulated by political power. This is no longer as true as it once was.

Law enforcement nonetheless capitalised very successfully on this perception; few now blame the police for what happened, they blame an Umno that was embarrassed after the debate from the night before; an Umno perceived to be desperate to defend itself against crossovers and Anwar coming in to Parliament at all costs.

As the arrest developed, the terms “own goal” and “public relations disaster” were bandied about liberally; people could barely believe that Umno would be this stupid.

Maybe it was just made to look stupid by forces incognito.

Indirect Attacks

Too much of a conspiracy theory? Perhaps.

One of the oddest aspects of Anwar’s arrest was its timing and manner. Both of these precipitated maximum elicitation of public anger.

Circumstances? Hours after the debate, minutes after an ACA report, an hour early without any plausible reason whatsoever, and with a squad of fifteen cars. Balaclava masks were used as well, but close inspection of the pictures suggests that the mask wearers were in fact overweight, sloppy, everyday cops who were given ski masks to wear along with their goofy vests and plain clothes at the last minute, rather than professional special-ops personnel (they also appeared fully prepared for their photo-ops, never straying far from Anwar).

Was this by design?

What if KeADILan had failed to maintain control over its angered membership, and riots had spilled over into the streets? Would we be looking at an Emergency situation?

Conveniently, law enforcement would find itself extremely empowered, and political leadership may have been forced to consolidate.

Let us also examine Raja Petra’s case. We notice that while we always suspect Najib of behind behind action against RPK, we should note that Najib himself has never been inclined to do anything whatsoever that may call attention to the Altantuya case (such as initiate criminal or legal proceedings, which would bring the matter to court).

More self-indulgently, let’s recall Nathaniel Tan’s arrest. Some may suspect that Johari Baharom was behind it, in an attempt to exact revenge for “lies” published about him on the internet. However, remember that he was (successfully) trying to stay out of the limelight and avoid further mention of his bribery accusations. Recall as well that at the time, Johari and Musa Hassan were engaged in a bitter war.

Same tactics by the same parties?

It is worth investigating on a procedural level exactly what led to the charge against RPK - was it a police report by Najib? Or a police report by some unknown police officer?

Note further that RPK’s trial - in which he can finally reveal to the world on record all his hidden proof and dirt on the Altantuya murder - is set for the exceptionally early date of August 15 (magistrates are appointed directly by the AG’s chambers), whereas his other sedition charge, months ago, is only set to be heard in early October. Presumably, if Anwar is ever charged with sodomy, his trial is likely to take years before it is heard.

Hit Anwar to embarrass Abdullah, hit RPK to embarrass Najib, and all in all, show them who’s boss.

Resisting

The civil servant class of power brokers almost don’t care who is in power; they just want a strong boss who can secure the current regime, and ensure that ‘business’ can be run as usual.

There’s simply too much at stake - and we are talking entire lives and careers forever besmirched and some serious prison time here - for business not to run as usual, or for any type of new order based on integrity, transparency and justice to take over.

Also in the same boat are certain former prime politicians still alive and kicking in the country, actively egging on a return to the old order.

These civil servants seem to have taken a leaf from Wong Chun Wai’s whiny “We’re sick and tired” book and decided to speed things up and facilitate the dominance of one Umno faction over the other.

Just as in 1988, twenty years ago, the movement for change was identified as an easy target to facilitate the achievement of unholy goals.

Unfortunately for these agitators, they are still oblivious to what was written on the wall last March 8th. The good news is that the the voices of those seeking a better Malaysia for all, have matured and wisened up to these manipulations as well as learnt the value of holding fast to Gandhian principles in their struggle.

The movement has also reached out and expanded beyond its original circles to all right-thinking Malaysians, who will no longer stand and watch all that is decent and honourable stolen from beneath their noses.

I think schemers and plotters will find a stronger, more united Malaysia willing to resist peacefully to the very end.

DATO’ SALEHUDDIN HASHIM and NATHANIEL TAN

Dato’ Salehuddin Hashim is the Secretary-General of Parti Keadilan Rakyat; Nathaniel Tan is facing constant distraction in his efforts to start a new career in finance.

The plot thickens, as they say...

I had this thought when the news came out. Would UMNO be really thick to arrest Anwar knowing it would seriously mean that they would be risking large scale riots not seen since May 13th 1969? Surely they would have the remotest sense of foresight not to do such a thing knowing it would mean going against public opinion which by the way is fast getting fed up with the dirty chicanery of BN politics.

Hmmm... it seems evident that certain powers (the police force, as implied above) are trying to show their teeth; telling the embattled goverment of ours that 'we are not to be dragged down your sinking ship'a case of a game of politcal smoke and mirrors. That's really scary if you think of it. It's something worth notoing from any Shakespearean drama or a Oliver Stone movie (think JFK or Nixon)

Here now is text book example of shadowy politcs od conspiracy. You might think in the most sunniest of political idealogies it would be free of this; a system that is transparent and honest. I think not... for politics, in my present thinking, is far more complex than idealistic partisanship.
A mere network of Machiavellian scheming no better than the afternoon Malaysian sandiwara or Mexican telenovela. Personally I have no time for this. Why lie cheat and kill? Why compromise your ideals for a chance in the hot-seat? You, o'Mr. Politician, should be serving the rakyat... not your party. The basic idea of leadership is for someone to represent the common interst of everyone in the state; to fight for all that is unjust. To see to it every single man has a piece of the pie. It such a bloody shame that the noble idea of leadership has degenerated into a game of egoist wankering. All this for personal gains of wealth and prestige. All this catering to the insecurities of individuals that in early life, could have been neglected attention from their parent's and peers.

But bear this in mind. Do not be swayed by sacharine promises by leaders of either side.
Choose those who are genuinely FOR THE PEOPLE and NOT FOR THE PARTY. The common
man will not be saved by knowing who back-stabbed who, or who fucked who. The matter of uttermost concern is GOOD GOVERNMENT; one that actually listens and solves problems, rather than making it. Who are you working for? Who do you serve in the end of the day. Tyrany may get results that you'd want. But in the end of the day any ill gotten gain will crumble and dissipate. To use force would do nothing but foster hate and ressentment from the people. Did the iron fisted rule of the Romans and the Nazis last? Was the true socialist spirit survive in mother Rusia with the KGB? You can beat someone into submission to force him to your ways and custom. But it only breeds more of his contempt towards it.

There is obviously a reason why we consider ouselves a democracy; the rule of the people, by the people (according to George Washington) Where no one...not the politician, not the police or army is above the voice of the people. Their decision should be in line with the interest of the people. It also needs to respect those who disagree and dissent, for every man has the right to voice his/her displeasure. Therefore it the job of the goverment to listen to thier grivences and solve the problem. Why do nyou think every goverment has it's opposition counterpart? Certainly not for a hypocritcal show of bi-partisan window dressing; for they are there to debate and give unbiased feedback!

To seriosly shut out voices of dissent would be considered fullhardy and counter-productive for the nation. Malaysia is not a fascist state and should not be one. We all need to co-operate with one another. I know that sounds textbook Pendidikan Moral but this is the truth. Back stage politics and rumor milling is hardly productive to true democracy. We the people want plotics to work for us, NOT turn on us!

2008-07-16T09:36:00.000-07:00

Malaysia's Anwar Ibrahim arrested

Mr Anwar is a key figure in a resurgent Malaysian opposition

Profile: Anwar Ibrahim

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has been arrested in connection with allegations of sodomy, a crime in the Muslim country, made by an aide.

Mr Anwar is due to spend the night in custody in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, following his arrest by armed police near his home earlier, his lawyer said.

The arrest came shortly before Mr Anwar was due to give a statement to police over the allegations, which he denies.

The former deputy PM says they are aimed at ending his political comeback.

The move is likely to exacerbate the political tensions that have emerged since the opposition's unprecedented gains in the general election of March 2008.

Tian Chua, information chief for Mr Anwar's People's Justice Party (Parti Keadilan Rakyat), said his leader appeared to be in good spirits:

"He's quite cheerful. He's fresh, relaxed and hoping this will be over soon."

Armed police

Mr Anwar has been in a tense stand-off with police since a former male aide accused him of sodomy two weeks ago.

The manner in which they surrounded our vehicle, it put a lot of fear and intimidation into us

Sankara Nair
Lawyer for Anwar Ibrahim

Sodomy, even between consenting adults, is punishable by 20 years' imprisonment in Malaysia.

The 60-year-old opposition leader had been scheduled to report to police on Wednesday to be interviewed over the allegations.

But an hour before the meeting, armed police wearing balaclavas took him into custody outside the gates of his home, his lawyer said.

"The manner in which they surrounded our vehicle, it put a lot of fear and intimidation into us," Sankara Nair said.

Mr Nair added that he did not know how long his client would be held in custody. He quoted police as saying they needed to take further statements.

Deputy National Police chief Ismail Omar said Mr Anwar was being questioned at police headquarters.

"We have to record his statement to complete our investigations," he told the French news agency AFP. "Once the facts are in we can make a decision."

Police can detain the opposition leader for 24 hours, after which they must apply for a court order for further detention.

Political challenge

Mr Anwar's arrest will be seen as provocative by Malaysian opposition groups.

Police used tear gas and water cannon against Mr Anwar's supporters in 1998

When he was arrested on similar charges 10 years ago, his supporters staged large demonstrations.

A BBC correspondent in Kuala Lumpur, Robin Brant, says it is almost certain that the same thing will happen again now.

The allegations come only weeks after Mr Anwar said he was in a position to launch a challenge to the ruling coalition, with the help of government defectors.

The opposition leader made his claim at a time when Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi is already under intense pressure to resign over poor election results and high fuel prices.

Mr Abdullah has said he will leave office in 2010, defying pressure to step down this December.

(Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7508805.stm)

It really amazes me to no end that the government, seeing the rise of a dissenting voice amidst the racism and cronyism of this country, has chose to use force to deal with, rather opting for civil democratic means to attain to the rakyat's growing voice for a more accountable government. Is this seriously how they address the grievences of those who dissagree? To use Gestapo/KGB tactics on them and hope, in them minds of our 'benevoloent' goverment, hope it will go like some bad dream?

Those vainglorious twits need to wake up and smell the coffee! They should have made positive steps to address the problem. It took the Opposotion Parties to magnify the problems of economic and social instabilty which is steadily simmering for the last five decades. But what did they do? Shut them up, of course! Bribe and jail them to worm-like submission. A slap to the face and it's back to the goverment ordained tradition of being a country of walking contradictions.

Yes. You all might say that Anwar was being arrogant for not coming to the station as summoned by the police. Well, I have news for you: He did go to the police station! (" The arrest came shortly before Mr Anwar was due to give a statement to police over the allegations, which he denies." ) It would seem this has been done in a feeble attempt to silence the man, while all the while he is fulfiling the order of law to make a police statement! Tell me if it's a blatant act of defiance against the police if all he did was just to what they exactly told him?!

Another instance of arrogance and dogmatic pride:

Now seriously... hats off to Wan Azizzah for being civil and polite, this in stark contrast to the whole lot of BN people making rude and unkind interruptions as she bravely pleaded to the speaker to reconsider the motion. The Speaker himself is himself a conceited man of the moment, weakly declaring his fear of being considererd the laughing stock of all who has seen this. Perhaps it is true... he is making an ass of himself; choosing to kow-tow to his master as well as his inbred insecurity of being reckoned as the man of the moment.

When will this attitude of dogmatic pride go away from politics? You, the politician are supposed to be subject to the people. Perhaps V (from the comic/ movie V for Vendetta) said it best; People should not fear the government, the government should fear it's people!
After, it is us , that gotten you into power. Consider your position also as a God given chance for you to lead the people. No, it's not a matter of the sheer thrill of being exalted. for you are chosen by God to beiagents of His good and blessing. Do not for one minute think you got this job by the sheer merit of your own labor or connections. YOU HAVE A RESPOSIBILTY. AND IT IS A DIVINE ONE TO BOOT!! Perhaps those sober and humble enough should consider this. Perhaps it would be the perfect time for you to pray to God for perfect wisdom and revelation, rather be influence by personal pride or peer pressure!

Much Needed Sobering Truths.

2008-07-15T02:47:00.000-07:00

When the ‘Dirty Dozen’ left PKR to rejoin Umno just before the 2004 general election, everyone knew that Ezam and Najib were behind this move. Of course no one said anything about Ezam’s role.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

It is not surprising that one-time PKR youth leader Ezam Mohd Noor rejoined Umno. What is surprising is that he waited until after the 8 March 2008 general election to do so. Long before 8 March, Ezam had already been flirting with Umno. In fact, it was an open secret that Tun Daim Zainuddin was financing his NGO, Gerak. And Daim is behind Najib Tun Razak -- so it was the Deputy Prime Minister and not Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who was instrumental in Ezam rejoining Umno.

Actually, most people already knew that Ezam was about to take that final plunge. Photographs of him with Muhammad son of Muhammad and Aziz Shamsuddin, etc., had been floating around the Internet for a couple of years -- even during the time when Anwar Ibrahim was still in jail. The problem at that time, though, was that Ezam was PKR’s blue-eyed boy, the darling of the party, and any negative comments about Ezam, or Azmin Ali for that matter, was considered a treacherous act. You are a traitor to the cause, a traitor to PKR, a traitor to the opposition, a traitor to the Malay race, and a traitor to the entire nation -- all in one -- if you badmouth one of the PKR darlings.

That is the trouble with PKR. They dabble in cult personalities. When you are the current hot favourite, the flavour of the day, even your fart smells sweet. But once you fall out of favour then they even curse your poor innocent mother who has nothing to do with your political business and does not even know what is going on.

The PKR crowd is one emotional group of people. I suspect that if Anwar was to order them to commit mass suicide they might just do so. And that is dangerous, as time and time again history has proven. If Anwar could get a religious scholar somewhere in the world to come out with a fatwah (religious decree) that if you die for PKR you will go straight to heaven where 70 virgins are waiting for you, I bet we will not be short of candidates who will volunteer to undertake suicide missions.

Whether it is Anwar, Dr Wan Azizah, Nurul Izzah, Azmin, or Ezam, they all have their cult followers. The PKR people revere their idols and appear to lose their senses when in the presence of these demigods. So how to tell these PKR herds that Ezam is not what he appears to be and that he is a plant, a Trojan Horse, a termite meant to weaken the ranks of PKR? Try doing that and you will get a beer bottle broken on your head. So it was best to just keep quiet and watch. Time would reveal the truth. And, true enough, the truth has now been revealed.

I remember when I was once the sub-editor of the party newspaper, Suara Keadilan, and I published a letter from a reader that criticised PKR’s Youth Movement. The letter was about the high-handed manner the Youth Movement ‘security squad’ handled the crowd. Even Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, when he was still Prime Minister, was not that well-guarded and his security team did not push and shove the crowd the way the PKR Youth boys did.

It was not my comment. It was a letter from a reader and I allowed it to get published. Wow, you should have seen the SMSess I received. The PKR Youth boys cursed me and one of Ezam’s ‘groupies’, Jo, even challenged me to a boxing match. I was having dinner with Johari Abdul and Dato’ Kamarul at that time and I showed them the SMS.

The next day I turned up at the party headquarters in Shah Alam where PKR Youth was having its monthly meeting. I waited at the bottom of the stairs for Jo to see if he really wanted to Kungfu me. Okay, he may be half my age, but I could still deliver a punch that can floor someone 30 years younger than me. Jo walked up to me and I was ready with clenched fists. Only one of us was going to walk away from this fisticuff and I had planned that that would be me. Instead, Jo reached out to shake my hand and he apologised, so I allowed the matter to end there.

Yes, you can criticise Islam. They will allow you to get away with that. But try criticising Ezam or PKR’s Youth Movement and all hell will break loose. Look at what happened to Lokman Adam. He too revealed a lot of dirt on Ezam and they threw him out of the party. Lokman is a good man. He is fearless and would sacrifice his freedom for the party, which he did when he was detained under the Internal Security Act for 26 months in April 2001. But make one negative comment about Ezam or the Youth Movement and you are history.

While on the subject of Lokman, one day, while covering a demonstration in front of the Dang Wangi Police Station along what used to be called Campbell Road, Bakri Zinin, the then OCPD who is now the CID Director, arrested me. I was taking photos at that time when Bakri grabbed me by the neck and asked me where I was from. I replied that I was from Seruan Keadilan and he ordered one of his men to immediately arrest me.

As I was being dragged into the police station I shouted out to Lokman that I was being arrested. Lokman pushed the police officer and he fell to the ground. I almost fell as well but Lokman grabbed me to prevent me from hitting the tarmac. I was too shocked to react. I mean; there was this police officer sprawled on the road trying to get up as quickly as he could and I did not know what I should do. Lokman shouted at me to run and I did, with the hapless police officer hot on my heels.

I escaped and five minutes later sneaked back into the crowd and took all the photos I needed while making sure that Bakri did not spot me. Lokman stood in front of the police station gate and refused to move even when they threatened to arrest him. He wanted to make sure that no one got arrested that day and he was going to stand guard in front of the police station. Yes, there used to be three of them -- Lokman, Tian Chua and Gobalakrishnan -- one Malay, one Chinese and one Indian loose cannon. Today there are only two left.

But Lokman was thrown out of the party not because he did not do his job but because he criticised Ezam and the Youth Movement. Ezam and the Youth Movement can do no wrong. Even their fart smells sweet. And if you criticise them you are dead meat. So no one says anything even though everyone knows the inner dark secrets of Ezam and his Youth Movement.

When the ‘Dirty Dozen’ left PKR to rejoin Umno just before the 2004 general election, everyone knew that Ezam and Najib were behind this move. Of course no one said anything about Ezam’s role. They cursed the Dirty Dozen and called them traitors who sold out for money. But no one dared say that Ezam was behind the Dirty Dozen rejoining Umno. To do so would incur the wrath of the entire party. So everyone kept quiet and did not mention Ezam’s name. They focused on cursing the Dirty Dozen and kept Ezam’s name out of it while in their hearts they knew that this was merely Ezam’s first move in his eventual re-entry into Umno.

Yes, cults are dangerous. If there is one thing that will be the death of PKR it will be the cult culture. People refuse to see things for what they are. Common sense no longer prevails when you look at things from the angle of cults. And Ezam was one such cult figure. And Ezam could do no wrong. Even when Lokman revealed the truth and exposed Ezam for what he is, it was Lokman and not Ezam who was punished.

Today, Lokman can look the entire PKR in the face and proudly proclaim, “I told you so!” But what good will that bring? The damage has been done. The fake Ezam has revealed his true colours while Lokman has much earlier been kicked out of the party for ‘bad-mouthing’ Ezam. Are we going to see more of this as time goes by? Will we finally see the fakes being exposed while those who had exposed them long ago were sent out to pasture?

PKR owes Lokman a huge apology. Lokman had warned the party what Ezam really is but it was Lokman instead of Ezam who was thrown out of the party. And PKR Youth has not changed. It is still high-handed as the recent ‘pesta’ at the Kelana Jaya stadium proved. But try criticising PKR Youth and see what will happen. They will send you a SMS and challenge you to a boxing match. PKR Youth is a sacred cow, which must not be criticised. And, in time, another PKR Youth leader will resign and will rejoin Umno on the excuse that Anwar is gay and has committed sodomy. And then this ‘sacred cow’ will be called all sorts of names although before this you criticised him at your own peril.

When will PKR ever learn? Ten years on and it is still so immature and can’t seem to understand that you just can’t build a party based on personality cults. And PKR will get burned many more times before it wises up. If the survival of PKR is centred on personalities, then it will not go far. Personalities come and go. And if the party’s future is tied to these personalities then the party will disappear when these personalities do.

RPK hits this spot on. Do away with the cult of personality in politics. You never know who turns out to be the biggest snake or poseur ( in this case Mohd Ezam, with his shadowy cloak and dagger firtations with the real enemy) The truth is, the personifcation of mere humans as demigod ambassadors of change is very immature ( according to RPK) and callous.

Was this the same mentality that plagued the Germans in the 1930's and of the Americans in the opening days of the War on Terror. To trust leaders with such naive blindless is nothing more a benign neglect of thinking indivually to make a diffrence. As much that I admire men like Che and Malcolm X, one has to realise these people are like you and me; all of them trying to find the geist of change and progress by stumbling in the vacum of popular ignorance. Let it be noted that Malcolm X was himself a puppet of the Nation of Islam; spouting of racial segregation against the whites before, after visits to Mecca and the African continent, realising that racism itself comes in many shades (How true it is in this so-called 'muhibah' nation.)

As I exhorted to you all... pray for your leaders to have the wisdom and revalation. For He is the true source of inspiration and postive wisdom. These are things that is very much sorely needed not in Malaysia but int the world.

A word from the our friends the Dung men!

2008-07-14T04:37:00.000-07:00

Mari nyanyi menjilat

Wahai pemuda, wahai pemudi
Jadilah kamu rakyat yang berbakti
Kami berjanji akan tepati
Semua impian yang anda hajati

Rumah yang besar, kereta yang mewah
Semuanya ada di tangan anda
Hidup yang senang penuh jaminan
Jangan bertanya, serahkan pada saya

Jilat, jilat, mari semua menjilat
Jilat, jilat, jilat sampai berkilat

(sax)

Jilat, jilat, mari semua menjilat
Jilat, jilat, jilat sampai berkilat

Wahai pemuzik, underground rockers,
Jangan bermimpi, jangan idealistik
Kalau nak kaya, nak jadi rockstar,
Marilah mari, sain kontrak kami,

Nak masuk radio, masuk MTV
Kenalah kamu menari macam kami
Tengoklah saja, Carburetor Dung
Cakapnya besar, tak kaya-kaya
Padan muka!
(stop)

Jilat, jilat, semua nyanyi menjilat
Jilat, jilat, mari semua jilat
Jilat, jilat, jilat jangan tak jilat
Jilat, jilat, jubur korporat sedap!

Carburetor Dung 2005

I can't help listening to the song on and on again. It's a pity there were some narrow minded
folks that did not take kindly to the song during the July 6th protest. This song, to me exemplifies the REAL punk rock. No, not the saccharine bubble gum styling's of Good Charlotte and Avril and their ilk. Nope, kids... this is the punk rock that comes up at you and spits you in the face and says @!#$ you in total gratitude. It's music with grit, guts and, in this case, brains.
While other bands opt the option of selling out, bands like the Dung winged it for over a decade, fighting the good fight for good music to saved from the clutches of overzealous moralist politicians and money mad record execs with a vampiric blood lust for the latest trends.

You have no idea how much this song hits me to the core. In my years in the graphic design line, i've been told over and over by companies that I need to tow the official line; to forsake my ideals for consumer acceptability and in most times, bear with the demands of high class twits with no inkling of design logic and even the remotest of common good taste. Do we really need to sell ourselves short? Do we really need to compramise all that is virtuous and good for so-called Darwinian survival instinct? I think not!

Here is my Born-again Christian take on this... the Lord provides for me. I do not need to kow-tow to the corrupt to prove my worth. I do not have to stoop to dirty tricks to get ahead. Knowing thatI am secure in Christ, needs not me to do stupid crap like that. In fact, He anoints me to do good. I say this not as an overt boast of my moral fortitude, for I certainly do not have one at my own strength! As one song by a certain American Idol winner says it all; "Jesus take the wheel!"

This goes the same to anyone given the chance to run for office. Does implementing Machiavellian tactics really give fruit to your policies, be it for personal gain or for actual good.
Some people would reason that a little white lie could get the gears runiing. I'd think not, for
the simplest and seemingly benign of corruption could kill everything in it's path. Take a look
at Bill Clinton's health care program. It would have been great if, implementing this system,
that the American health care system would be saved from the greed of the private insurance companies. But it was by the sheer fickleness of Hillary and Bill selling out to the lobbyists that the plan was scrapped (refer to Michael Moore's documentary SicKO. You'll get the full story.)
A little kickback won't hurt, one would reason, just a little pocket money at the side. But bear in mind simple things like this would seriously destroy the publics confidence in you. For bear in mid that YOU, the politician are subject to the people, and you must make all your actions accountable. To make some side income, it has to be clean and even-handed. You are not a demi-god or a King. This is the rule of law; everyone, including the adminstration, has to obey it.

But perfection in the law is actually difficult. For one to actually follow it 100% to its specification is really impossible if not hard. But to any Christians in office I have only one sure advice for you regarding this: SEEK HIM. Let Him be your anointing to do the best. As I said earlier, you are blessed and greatly loved by Him. What for do you have to compromise your principles for a corrupt piece of the pie? There is no point kissing ass (as the Dung would say) to get ahead in the pecking order. Trust in Him for the favour. But most importantly, trust in Christ for your wisdom to do what is right for the people. It is proven in the bible that He had guided King SOlomon and his father King David. Why not you, public servant of the Malaysian people!

Here is some light reading for you all. YOU be the judge of this.

2008-07-13T09:35:00.000-07:00

(source: http://violetyong.blogspot.com/2008/06/cool-info-on-bakun-dam-and-cms-family.html, originally published in www.asiasentinel.com on 15 August, 2007 )

"The Dam that Wouldn’t Die":-

Sarawak’s politically motivated Bakun Dam has a new Australian friend to help keep it going.

The resuscitation of the controversial Bakun Dam as the result of an agreement to build a nearby aluminum smelter is the latest chapter in a long running saga to push forward the environmentally sensitive project closely linked to the longstanding Sarawak chief minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, and his family.

The mammoth dam, one of the cherished mega-projects of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad, has already wiped out 23,000 hectares of virgin rainforest, delivered the timber into the hands of timber barons and displaced 9,000 indigenous people. It is also a textbook example of how the New Economic Policy, Malaysia’s affirmative action program to improve the economic wellbeing of its bumiputera, or ethnic Malay majority, instead concentrates riches in a few hands.

On August 7, Australia-based Rio Tinto Aluminum signed a deal with Malaysian conglomerate Cahya Mata Sarawak, whose principal stakeholders are members of the Taib Mahmud family, for a joint study to build a US$2 billion smelter in Similajau, near Bintulu, 80 km inland from the dam itself. Expected to open in 2010, it will be one of the largest in the world, with initial production capacity is projected at 550,000 tonnes a year with the capability to expand to 1.5 million tonnes later.

Rio Tinto, with its projected takeover of Alcan, Inc., of Canada, is already expected to become the largest aluminum producer in the world. The smelter, which will use power from the Bakun dam, is expected to be the fifth and biggest aluminum plant for Rio Tinto, its external affairs manager Jim Singer told The Associated Press. Rio Tinto picked Sarawak for the project due to strong government support, a credible local partner, abundant electricity supply from the Bakun dam and robust demand in the region, Singer said.

Critics are livid. In a forum early this month organized by the United Nations Development Program in Kuala Lumpur to mark World Indigenous Day, Colin Nicholas, the coordinator of the Center for Orang Asli (Indigenous People) told local reporters that "From our point of view, by allowing the Rio Tinto project to go ahead, it is just like trying to cover up one natural disaster with another.”

“There was no open tender for the (aluminum smelter project) and no public announcement of it,” fumed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim in an email to Asia Sentinel. “Combined, the smelter and the dam raise serious concerns about environmental impacts and the treatment of indigenous populations.”

Just as disturbing, to some observers, is the way Cahya Mata Sarawak, which means “light of Sarawak’s eye” in English and goes by the acronym CMS, has maneuvered itself into position to benefit from the dam.

Begun in 1974 under the name Cement Manufacturers Sarawak Bhd, the company originally produced Portland cement as a state-owned firm. Its transformation has been remarkable, according to a doctoral thesis submitted to the University of London in 2002 by Andrew Aeria, currently a lecturer in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University Malaysia Sarawak in Kuching.

“The rapid growth and transformation of CMS since the 1990s has been nothing short of phenomenal, and is due to two main factors, namely the privatization and restructuring of CMS from a state-owned public-listed company into a private sector public-listed conglomerate owned by the Mahmud family, and the huge amount of state rents CMS secured for itself and its subsidiary companies from 1992 through political patronage,” Aeria wrote.

Aeria’s study tells the story in voluminous detail. Beginning in the early 1990s, Cement Manufacturers Sarawak Bhd, a state-owned company, bought major stakes in three highly profitable subsidiaries of the Sarawak Economic Development Commission – PPES Quarry, Steel Industries Sarawak and PCMS, for 117.4 million Malaysian ringgit, 50 million of that in cash, the rest covered by 13.48 million shares. For that, CMS got, in addition to the assets, 30.94 million ringgit in cumulative retained profits, according to the company’s annual reports. That moneyproved helpful, allowing CMS to acquire two other companies owned by the Mahmuds, namely Syrakusa Sdn Bhd and Concordance Sdn Bhd, via cash and share swaps. This resulted in the "privatization to the Mahmud family via a reverse takeover. Bank Utama, Sarawak Securities and Archipelago Shipping -- all Mahmud family companies -- were subsequently injected into CMS.

The CMS takeover also reflects the politics of New Economic Policy privatization exercises in Malaysia, which tend to favor hiving off profitable public enterprises instead of loss-making ones to well-connected individuals in the private sector, Aeria claims. Apart from cultivating cronyism and promoting rent-seeking, such privatizations deprive the state sector of lucrative sources of income end up raising the tax burden of ordinary taxpayers, he writes.

During the privatization and restructuring of CMS, numerous public-funded infrastructure projects also were channeled to CMS. These helped CMS maintain an extremely healthy cash flow and high annual turnover. They bolstered its restructuring efforts, hiked up the share price of CMS and helped CMS raise funds easily from banks and other money markets.

By 1996, the Mahmud family had consolidated the cement business, Bank Utama, Sarawak Securities, and Archipelago Shipping, turning the firm, now named Cahya Mata Sarawak, from a publicly-owned cement producer into a private-sector diversified conglomerate involved in stock brokering, road construction, water, quarry operations, steel bar manufacturing, trading, cement production and investment holdings.

“Taib Mahmud’s control over the levers of power and resources in Sarawak saw the SEDC (Sarawak Economic Development Commission) privatize profitable state enterprises to his family,” Aeria wrote in his thesis. “Similarly, his position of favor with the federal government meant that his family received various rents, principally a stockbroker license (to Sarawak Securities) that became a lucrative monopoly, and waivers on mandatory general share offers. Taib Mahmud’s powerful political position also meant that the companies linked to his family easily raised loans from the capital market.”

Taib Mahmud’s 26-year tenure as the chief minister of Sarawak also gave the company at least the appearance of having ready access to government power and favors during a time when the family company had a healthy cash flow and high annual turnover that drove up the share price. The company also got involved in numerous infrastructure projects.

“What is notable about these infrastructure projects is that most of them were secured via negotiated tender from the Sarawak government and its agencies without going through a process of competitive tenders,” Aeria writes. “Not only were many public sector projects channeled towards CMS but CMS also actively undertook a process of seeking out profitable public sector jobs like the maintenance of federal and state roads by the Sarawak Public Works Department estimated at between RM300-RM500 annually, and negotiated for their being transferred to CMS on a turnkey basis.”

Born in relatively modest circumstances, Taib Mahmud now is locally famous for wearing double-breasted suits and driving around Kuching, Sarawak’s capital city, in a cream-colored Rolls-Royce. According to Aliran Monthly, the reformist Malaysian magazine, Taib Mahmud’s spouse Laila and his children are the majority shareholders of Sitehost Pty. Ltd., Australia, which owns the Adelaide Hilton Hotel. Company records dated December 2000 show them holding 95 percent of the company or 9.5 million fully paid up shares, the magazine said.

Onn Mahmud, Taib Mahmud’s brother, his daughter Jamilah Hamidah Taib and her husband Sean Murray are listed as director-shareholders of SAKTO Corporation, a major real estate operator of non-residential buildings in Ottawa, owning and managing more than half a million square feet of prime office space with affiliate offices in the US, Asia, the UK and Australia. They also own SAKTO Development Corporation, a multi-million dollar development and construction company in Ottawa. Jamilah is the sole director of SAKTO Investment Corporation.

“Now, it may well be that the Mahmud family is one of the best and most astute business families in Malaysia,” Aliran wrote. “And more power to them on that account. But much of their known wealth has arisen during the tenure of Abdul Taib Mahmud as Sarawak chief minister. Is there then any wonder why there exists so much public skepticism about the sources of Abdul Taib Mahmud’s family wealth? Would not a transparent audit do well to quash such obviously unscrupulous rumors once and for all?”

The construction of the dam, which had been under development in fits and starts since the 1960s, began to mesh with Cahya Mata’s capabilities in 1994, when construction began, led by a privatized joint-venture consortium called the Bakun Hydroelectric Corporation comprised of Ekran Bhd, the national power company Tenaga Nasional Bhd, the government of Sarawak, Sarawak Electricity Supply Corporation (Sesco) and Malaysian Mining Corporation Bhd (MMC).

The dam project itself is part of a grandiose plan to meet electricity demand in peninsular Malaysia, nearly 700 km away, via a high voltage direct current cable, since the entire island of Borneo, where the dam is situated, is unlikely to be able to use the amount of electricity it is projected to produce.

Thus an additional 300km line was also envisioned to feed power throughout peninsular Malaysia. Because of the distance of transmission, the underwater cables are expected to leak more than half of the wattage before the power reaches peninsular Malaysia. Even without Bakun, Sarawak’s installed electricity reserve capacity was estimated at 25 percent two years ago. At one point, the massive operation was projected to tie up the world’s entire cable-laying capability.

In 1996, Cahya Mata expanded its steel and cement production capacities in response to a massive economic boom in the construction sector. CMS’s new steel and cement plants were financed by large short and long-term loans from both local and international offshore money markets.

The Asian financial crisis, however, brought the Bakun dam project to a halt and forced the government to assume control from the consortium at an estimated cost of 1.6 billion ringgit to Malaysian taxpayers. It was revived in 2000 through a wholly owned-government company, Sarawak Hidro, along with the Malaysia-China Hydro JV consortium. (This also isn‘t Bakun’s first flirtation with an aluminum smelter. One was previously proposed for Similajau, to be funded by the international financier Mohamed Ali Alabbar as a joint venture between Dubai Aluminum Co. Ltd and Gulf International Investment Group. Those plans collapsed due to construction delays and squabbles over contractual terms. By 2004 most of the minor partners to the consortium posted losses or substantially decreased profits.)

The Asian crisis of 1997-1998 also resulted in a spectacular 439 million ringgit pre-tax loss for Cahya Mata for the year ending December 1998 and a reversal of fortunes to the tune of 670.7 million ringgit, primarily because of severe nonperforming loan losses in the company’s banking and financial services arms. By 1999, the company’s total debt burden ballooned to 787.33 million ringgit and resulted in a downgrade of its bonds.

Cahya Mata’s cumulative debts and financial troubles at the turn of the century meant that Bakun took on added importance. A large portion of its debt was secured by pledges of securities as collateral, the share price of which was tied directly to the terms of its debt. CMS’s share price dropped below RM3.00, Aeria wrote.

The revival of Bakun became an overnight confidence boost to Cahya Mata and strengthened the financial status of its majority owners as well as numerous other shareholders. But Bakun was more than just that. From a political standpoint, the dam was a major lifeline thrown at a very crucial time to Taib Mahmud, other client businesses having dealings with the conglomerate, and ordinary shareholders in Sarawak. This lifeline was thrown back in the form of a Sarawak majority party that delivered all 28 of its parliamentary seats to offset the federal Barisan Nasional’s losses of seats in national elections and helped Mahathir to maintain his critical two-thirds majority in parliament.

Taib Mahmud himself has faced numerous corruption allegations by critics over his 26-year career as chief minister, most recently earlier this year when Japanese media reported that he had been implicated in a 1.1 billion yen timber export kickback scheme involving a cartel of nine Japanese timber shipping companies through Hong Kong-based Regent Star, which is linked to Taib Mahmud and his family. He has not been charged and has publicly denied any wrongdoing. He recently said he would sue several Malaysian publications for defamation over articles relating to the case.

When Abdullah Ahmad Badawi came to power in 2003 as Malaysia’s prime minister, he vowed to cut back on the number of mega-projects that Mahathir had lumbered the country with, telling delegates to the 57th United Malays National Organisation’s 57th general assembly that he would turn away from Mahathir’s economic strategies. “That era is over,” he told the delegates. But Abdullah Badawi has been weakened by a series of missteps and scandals, and meanwhile Bakun dam soldiers on.

Carry On, Carry On

2008-07-13T06:40:00.000-07:00

And the ridicule you for your ideals and thoughts,
Belittling every notion of your say,
But In Him I say carry on,
For their words hold no sway.

For what do cynical and proud have to offer?
What do the smart have in place for their vacant eyes?
With their weak sarcasm they try to tear us down,
With their complacency they die choking in their conceited peace.

For what do they have that could break this union?
What more could they offer except the excrement's of their 'better' lives

For those who believe is the greater peace,
The anointing of Him that brought down Jericho,
The anointing now that can rebuild this nation.
For was it His wisdom that guided Solomon,
His wisdom that liberated Paul,
For layeth down your broken weapons of your labor,
In Him alone, the corrupt shall be brought to their knees!

Malaysia's True Metanoya

2008-07-12T07:41:00.000-07:00

We are still sleeping. We do not hear the fires raging as we sit on our collective behinds
as this country is choking under the Establishment's sanctioned complacency. Sure enjoy life
and drown out the screams with pointless entertainment. Go about your ways and think it's
all alright while the system squeezes us dry with their racist, cronyist legislation. All it's not fine
here. Wake up and smell the bitter coffee.

Certainly no amount of clever politicking could save us all. Not even revolution could do the trick.
We've seen it time and time again that for all good idealogies (lest I repeat myself again, btw) are
doomed to failure with us humans. The cult of personality and the sacharine promises made by all leaders, whatever their political predisposition are... is the Archilies heel that kills a good movement. The stupidity of individual pride goes into their heads and BANG! You're very much
faced with the same enemy: a big dumb politician full of wind-bag rhetoric with nothing more to offer.

But DO NOT be cynical and give up. For all you Christians for change, look to Christ... look to Him to inspire your leaders to bring those who are corrupt. We now may get a lot of crap heaped us, we may be called crazy or naive. But what do those bitter old fogies know? They just sit in their fancy restaurants and spend our tax money on making private vacations to overseas or stuff their bloated faces with their french cuisine. Do not be content to be subject to these evil men. To all children of Christ, PRAY and ABIDE! SEEK His wisdom and revelation to make a difference!

It took a divine miracle to have the five states under Pakatan Rakyat. It's actually unheard off.
To those who have prayed this is sure proof we going from glory to glory. Bob Dylan once sang that the times are a-changing. I guess it's fair to me to say that he pretty much nailed it on this one. But to those who are in fear and in the dark... do not despair! Lest I sound like a broken record, I exhort you to pray and believe. Your prayers do carry weight and in all positiveness, from personal experience, it has and ALWAYS worked.

I know you all scoff at my outrageous exhortations. But to those who believe in a God. Why do you believe in Him the first place? If we knew how to sort it out in the first place, how come for all of human history did we screw up bad?; from the atrocity of religious war to plain racism (even here in our fair country!) My exhortation to you all is the change of the heart, not 2-dimesional behavior modification. I believe, in all sincerity...that only God's unmerited love for us can save us all, even from ourselves.

True love kills hate
True love kill hypocrisy
True love kills corruption
True love kills racism

2008-07-11T08:12:00.000-07:00

Detention Without Trial: The Ultimate Obscenity

If you thought Bung Mukhtar was obscene, well, this is even more so. This is the epitome of the BN/Umno's obscene rule.

The above is a picture (I scanned from Harakah) of ISA detainee Shahrial Sirin, detained for 7 years and counting, WITHOUT TRIAL, touching his eldest's daughter Aina Mardhiah's face for the last time as soon as he arrived from Kamunting, Perak at Sg Serai, Hulu Langat, at 9.40pm, on the 3rd of July.

The authorities intentionally delayed the decision to allow him to return home to visit his daughter who was in a coma at the Kajang Hospital after falling at her dilapidated house on the 2nd of July.

Aina died 3 1/2 hours before her father arrived.

Above is a picture of the father forced to say goodbye to his one of the remaining four children after burying his daughter...forced to go back to detention so soon after.

His wife Fatma is a strong woman. I can only imagine what she is forced to go through. And her kids...

I can't write anymore. I am crying. I feel really sad at the continually injustices being perpetrated on our fellow human beings... I know many of these detainees' wives, some even if just as acquaintances, and I am sorry I have not made the time to visit them.

Two of them are teachers at my kids' school. Norlaila, is outspoken, going all out in her pursuit to abolish the ISA. Her husband Mat Sah has been detained for over seven years too, and was recently handed another 2 year unjust extension without trial. Another teacher, just prefers to leave it to Allah SWT and His justice, and does not wish to come out in the open. She is a jovial woman on the outside. On the inside, only Allah knows. My daughter came home one day, and told me, "Umi, I saw Cikgu J praying dhuha in the library, and she started crying badly...she didn't know I was in the room...I am so sad, Umi."

What can we do too, but pray. Pray that Allah metes out His Justice to the past and present unjust leaders and helps to us bring change for the better to this country.

Please doa for Aina's family. They need it.

Aina is the one on the right...her mother's "tongkat" as her mum put it...she was among the brightest students in her school, Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Dusun Nanding..

(Source: http://moionlybetter.blogspot.com/2008/07/ultimate-obscenity.html)

Words fail me at this very moment. A man is denied visitation rights to be with his dying daughter.
Is this how they treat those who disagree and dissent? Is this how they treat a fellow human being who
is obviously aching to be with a suffering love one?

Is this how they to 'rehabilitate' them? To break their spirit second by second. To make them cynical
and bitter against the dreams that are good? Keep breaking them down with every possible malice and cruelty? Then they finally relent and cop-out. It's a tactic no better than those of Hitler or Stalin.

Keep this country in your prayers, people. We definitely need it.

2008-07-10T07:14:00.000-07:00

Witness: I abstained from voting for ‘bonus’
By Churchill Edward

Self-declared BN supporter testifies against Chong

KUCHING: A self-declared supporter of the Barisan Nasional (BN) told the Election Court here yesterday that he abstained from voting in the last parliamentary polls because of the lure of the ‘Malaysia bonus of RM6,000 for those having a household income of RM6,000 per annum’.

SECOND WITNESS: Jukai going to the courtroom.

Merdrict Jukai Empaka from Tabuan Ulu along Foochow Road No.1 here said the bonus was stated in the Democratic Action Party (DAP) manifesto which he alleged was given to him on March 4, 2008.

Appearing before Judge Datuk Clement Allan Skinner, Jukai - the second witness in the election petition against Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen - testified that supporters of the DAP gave him a copy of the manifesto at a coffee shop in Tabuan Jaya.

He brought the manifesto home, read it repeatedly and was attracted by the promise of the bonus of RM6,000, Jukai said when examined by the petitioner’s leading counsel Datuk Muhammad Shafee Md Abdullah.

The petitioner is Kho Whai Phiaw, a 64-year-old voter.

Jukai, 56, said even his wife abstained from voting in the last election due to the same reason as his.

He told the court that on polling day he and his wife were given a bottle of mineral water each by DAP supporters at the polling station at SK Tabuan Ulu.

He said the supporters then brought them to the ‘electoral clerk’ who then checked their names against the electoral roll.

He said the supporters asked them to vote for the DAP candidate, Chong, in return for money but they decided not to vote.

A week after the election, he said he went to look for Chong - who had won the election in Bandar Kuching - at the DAP office in Chong Lin Park to demand for the bonus.

Upon reaching the office, Jukai said he was told by a ‘lady clerk’ that Chong was not available, adding that after that visit he never returned there.

When cross-examined by Chong’s counsel Wong Ho Leng, Jukai said he was jobless and was living on the earning of his wife - which is about RM300 per month - and a RM15 commission for each work done for friends.

Wong asked: “You wanted to get RM6,000 for not voting, am I right?”

Jukai: “Yes.”

Jukai said he became a witness because Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Youth vice chairman Sih Hua Tong had asked him to.

It was also Sih who introduced him to Shafee and another lawyer Frankie Tieh Kah Siang, he said.

But he regretted coming to court yesterday because of “these people” and that Wong’s line of questioning had caused his blood to boil and temper flare, he said.

Jukai, however, said he did not mean to threaten anyone and when inside the court he said: “… bullet cannot enter me (as) I am Iban”.

The witness kept silent several times when Wong asked him (Jukai) some pertinent questions, including whether he agreed to the suggestion that he was a liar.

But on some occasions he said: “If you (Wong) said I am a liar, I am a liar, lah.”

To another question by Wong, Jukai insisted that he came to court voluntarily but after the proceeding he would be telling Sih what had happened in the court.

Wong asked: “Are you telling me the truth? You have no money, you want money and yet you volunteered to come?”

Jukai: “That fellow (Sih) asked me to come together with this lawyer Datuk Shafee.”

He then handed to court Sih’s business card.

Wong asked: “When he asked you to come, did you ask him whether you would be paid or not?”

Jukai replied: “No such thing. He asked me to follow these people, introduced me to this lawyer.”

Wong: “I put it to you that you came to this court for one purpose only and that purpose is to earn some money.”

Jukai only kept silent and the court recorded that as “witness does not answer”.

Wong: “I put it to you that you came to court to lie.”

Jukai: “That was because of these people. Actually I don’t know… This is my first time.”

Wong: “Tell us who ‘these people’ are who had asked you to come to court?”

Jukai: “Sih Hua Tong. He introduced me to Datuk Shafee and Mr Frankie. If not because of that, you can never see my face appearing in court. I already am 56 years old.”

The witness also requested for a short stand-down twice to ease himself.

On another matter, Judge Skinner said he could not tolerate any interference with witnesses.

He was referring to an allegation by Shafee that Chong’s witness, Yong Kim Mui, harassed one of the petitioner’s witnesses namely Subramaniam, outside the courtroom yesterday.

Yong was alleged to have threatened Subramaniam by saying that if he (Subramaniam) was to lie in court, God will punish him; “they” will check his ballot paper and; that he may be facing 10 years’ imprisonment for perjury.

Shafee said such threat on his potential witness was clearly a contempt of court and he therefore urged Wong to take the matter seriously.

Wong then told the court that he undertook to talk to Yong so that he would not be talking to the petitioner’s witnesses anymore or go near them “should the complaint be the truth”.

Judge Skinner said: “In view of the assurance given by Mr Wong, I will leave it to him to advise Mr Yong of the very serious allegation that has been made. He should be informed that the court will not tolerate any interference with witnesses. I hope I will not need to take the matter any further.”

In the petition, Kho alleged that Chong, or with his knowledge or consent, had insinuated or made a warning, threat or intimidation of the infliction of fear and injury or harm to Chinese voters if they wanted to vote for BN candidate Alan Sim Yaw Yen.

The allegations stated in the pamphlet had compelled voters to vote for Chong or refrain from giving their votes to Sim, Kho said in the petition.

He also alleged that Chong was guilty of corrupt practice of bribery by making promise to give voters in Bandar Kuching a ‘Malaysia Bonus of up to RM6,000 or less per annum’ contrary to Section 10 (a) of the Election Offences Act 1954, in that Chong or with his knowledge or consent published and distributed ‘DAP 2008 Election Manifesto’ as advertisements for Chong in February 2008.

On April 28, Kho filed the petition at the High Court Registry seeking a court order to declare the result of the March 8 election in Bandar Kuching parliamentary constituency, null and void so that a by-election would be held.

In the March 8, 2008 parliamentary polls, Chong garnered 22,901 votes to defeat Sim by a 9,952-majority in a straight fight.

If he didn't bother to vote for Chong why did he come back for the bonus? Something does not add up here. If you'd ask me it smells like someone has a motive. It has been stated above that he was not well off and was in need of finance.

Now on a personal level, it really pisses me off when certain individual tries cause havoc, fueled with nothing only but corrupt materialistic intent. I can understand if he is desperate for financial support. But to stoop to such lowlife drama really makes me speechless.

They think they are doing themselves a favor by claiming themselves a slice of the financial pie. Probably a little publicity; to put themselves as the David against the Goliath. Perhaps they are no better than the persecutor Goliath... serving to the wiles of certain individuals, only to have themselves thrown out and cast aside like the snitches they are.

It is extremely upsetting that people act out their cynicism and greed by stooping to worm-like tactics to oppress and discredit. This is the symptom of the world; the so-called Darwinian need to kill or be killed. There is no hope for a tommorow. Rely on your strengths and cross your fingers for a miracle. If that's how life really is...why do we need faith? Why do we need God? If we are so smart as we claim...how come is there still suffering and grieviences in this world? By right our énlightement'should have saved us all.

We are indeed striving to a better place. But do not be faithless and stoop to the negatives to grab any gain. Yes, we would have the results. But for anything borned out of corruption will certainly die and collapse. What would seem like a little lie would fester forth into a damage where it would seem impossible to repair.

KICK OUT THE JAMS!

2008-07-09T08:57:00.000-07:00

http://jelas.info/2008/07/08/strike-what-we-should-be-doing-in-face-of-the-political-ugliness-surrounding-us/

Indeed we need to stop complaining and take to the streets. For good men do more damage in their silence to engage present situation. As someone once said; ïf you are not turned on to politics, politics will turn on you" To remain placid and still have the gall to complain about it is akin to sitting in a burning house while all the while the door is clearly open.

Perhaps, that is the case... we probably do not know how to act out. Our hearts are still hard and cynical; declaring that it's all messed up and that. It is one thing to make aware the rights of the common the man. But the real battle is in the mind of Malaysians everywhere. True change comes from the heart.

And indeed we are on the brink of that....

For in this times more and more are seeking transparency and relevance in their governments. The people now are coming to a point of not sitting put and carrying on with their lives while society steadily burns to the ground with corporate greed and even more insidious cosumerism rotting out the mind of the masses. Cynics would declare this to be youthful idealism; a flash in the pan instance of youthful rebellion. But friends... DO NOT BE SWAYED. These ideas are God given! For all things from God are exceedinglly good!

Triumph (Glory to Glory )

2008-07-07T00:17:00.000-07:00

Victory - http://harismibrahim.wordpress.com/2008/07/06/jangan-lupa-kena-ingat-rakyat-bersatu-takkan-kalah/

To tell you the truth, I was very much pleasantly surprised and humbled by this. The stunning
accounts of the rise of the Malaysian people taking to the streets in one act of peaceful protest
is awe inspiring. What's even greater was the fact that the powers that be were warily keeping
their distance from making any act of unnecessary violence. I guess all of us, those who have prayed, has their prayers answered in full. The power of God is upon all us in Malaysia. He definitely stopped evil in it's tracks.

But by no means this would be the last victory the rakyat will have. For definitely change is
now nearing to it's genesis. Look at America... it would seem that the traditional corruption
of lobbyist politics is now consigned to the chopping block with Obama. Although it's just my
optimist point of view but one has to notice the feeling in this here times; the fact something big
and grand is about to happen. The fact that this could be the defining moment in history itself.

But for all this, one must not look towards human leaders as a kind of demi-god that would make
fast reforms and changes. We are all prone to erroneous fallacy and corruption. To have everyonelook to God (the leaders as well) for a source of incorruptible wisdom is the only way. It may seen naively deistic but to me that is the only way. If humans can be corrupt... is it right for us to put total trust in them in the first place.

To all believers in Christ, keep our freedom fighters in prayer. They definitely need it.

2008-07-05T02:42:00.000-07:00

Of Rats and Stooges:

http://www.theborneopost.com/?p=37835

http://themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysian-news/34-malaysian-news/1375-voter-tells-friend-he-was-paid-rm1m

Question: If Kho Whai Phiaw, the man behind the litigation of Bandar Kuching
MP Chong Jien Jen for alleged corrupt election practices, is adamant in setting
the record straight? Why on earth would he had to make things worse for himself be
'sarcastically' declaring that he was paid of RM 1 billion. Obviously no man of
perfect coherence would do such a thing; for this only puts his motives in serious
question. Perhaps this is very much a story of someone trying his darndest to
cover his tracks. Talk about sheer cowardice...

A follow up on my previous post... the statement by the cop involved in the Altantuya
case has been retracted. Now... this smells fishy to me... I seriously don't know jack
even with the abundance of material online. But I just read this from Nat Tan.
If this is the case, it pretty makes some sense: http://jelas.info/2008/07/04/threatened-bribed-lied/

Cowardice and greed. I don't blame them. For the bigger snakes are playing them with
fear and bribery. They think they'll be in the benefit and the good books of the powers to be...
only discover later they would be played out like mere pawn pieces of a political chess game.

May the evil in this country be stopped in their tracks. Only the Lord brings true justice against
the liars.

Greeting Here In No Mans Land (Hope Awaits...)

2008-07-03T18:32:00.000-07:00

Before I start ... news of importance - http://jelas.info/2008/07/03/statutory-declaration-proves-najib-knew-altantuya/

I had been pondering the situation for way too long. I guess this is the cream of all that is corrupt and decrepit about the system of things in this fair country. First of all I really salute folks like Nat Tan, Raja Petra as well as countless of others to take to the blogs to speak out the truth. It's very obvious even to the creeps in power that the dailies are nothing more but over-glorified bastions of shameless biased reporting. To tell you the truth, I can't bee certain that the exact sources for the attached address above to be credible. But the joke plainly is clearly getting old. The festeering of feudalist politics to the promises of democracy. And all we do is complain and do nothing....

I say this in remeberenace of the complacentcy of all of is in Sarawak. For so long we have been lapdogs and slaves to the 'ruling class' of old white hairs. The fact that we are making apologies as they strip us of our lands and livelyhood... what for do we have to do that?! Clearly we, are giving the thieves they key to our homes (and giving them a smile as well!)

But as much the powers that be dare to silence the whole lot of us, the inevitble would sure to come. I'm sure for all who believe in a higher power (me especially) dreams of retribution to all abusers. I have news for you: THE DAY WILL COME. We may plan revolutions and protests to
make the diffrence, rest assured the final coup de etat would be from God above. How he works, we can't explain... but it's either this: He Has the power to bring the corrupt to justice. He also has the power to actually change the hearts of the corrupt. Either way. Either path. But if He chooses to ignore the later; I have to say it's nobody's fault but him.

The sheer self-rightiousness and blind arrogance is the ultimate archiles heel that brings the giants down. Hitler, with his delusions of matrydom clouding his reason destroyed himself as well as the nation of Germany. Sukarno, relishing on fantasies being the next Che Guevara of the South East only ended being deposed from power. Absolute power corrupts. It's is only the notion of me, myself and I in the realm of reasoning. You are so full of yourself and your professional abilities, that you fail to notice the small cracks that would beyour ultimate demise.

Bloody Knuckled Rants of Unexplainable Life #1

2008-04-03T09:13:00.000-07:00

Interesting events in this fair town of Kuching. Some fat-cat politico's house was robbed yesterday. I didn't exactly read the whole story. But that's enough to elicits some snickers and gags from me and Ralph. It's really to immortalize the culprits as modern day Pancho Villa's or Robin Hood's. It's obviously still a farking crime. Still, for any person that has spent their life being stiffed and stiffed again by the system, the obviously grand irony is very much inescapable.
The thief coming to steal from a bigger thief. A case of chickens coming home to roost.

It's funny that men like him siphon millions in state revenue to line the intricate existence of their privileged lives. It's already common knowledge in this here streets of Kuching. No one dares to say it. Most don't give a crap and waste away their lives in dull meaningless existence of trivial privileges. Trend and fashion is king shit. Forget about the movement... forget about your dreams. Accept practicality as the ruler of your life. Be cool or be square.

You'd might things these are the tenets that you are supposed to live for. Forget it. Even God would disagree otherwise. What are the laws of this carnal world? To be accepting of shit and fate? To be pragmatically realistic? To be cruel to be top of the food-chain? Well, tell the world they can take it and shove it. The God of Abraham surely has something more better in store that what I have now. You'd probably think it's whack for me to brazenly say that. But yeah.... do not forget my Abba father was 'brazen' enough to say 'let there be light!'

It really funny the powers that be are trying their best to recoup what is lost. Still theres till a sense of arrogance in their little beady eyes. The sense of racist-nationalistic dogmatism that is still stuck with all the ideas consigned to the dustbin. Perhaps they never believed it in the first place.... all the while using it as leverage for their black-toothed motives of financial and political gain. They may have won in many rounds past. Next round dude.... you'd better start planning your farewell speech ( Perhaps a last stab at eloquence a'la Churchill or Lincoln might be in order... )

Well times up, mate.... your fun ride has just finished. You can tag the underdogs and the conscientious as trouble makers but at least they see what you try not to see. The greater issue that you have long since neglected. The very rot that will kill you in the bones. How long will they keep play up their arrogance and greed? How long will they continue to be victims of their own undoing? Do they think their insecure paranoiac survivalism is doing anyone favors? ... I'd think not! For bear in reference that it was the French royal family's survivalist indulgence that got them to the guillotine. The French weren't as dumb than expected. What more any citizen of any lowly or great country in this planet!

Anyway... a poem to summarize my rambling thoughts....

Blackened hands for the sakes of posterity,
Open eyes for a threat that was of their conjuring.
How long must we be subject to their lies?
Those insecure men with their daggers at our faces,
A right to their kind they feed to their own pockets.

It seem cool for us to be blind then,
Privilege like in a pool of your own clouded delusion,
But to wake up screaming to a cold blast of adult reality,
Tis the knives that stabs hard to our tender longing hearts.

What is left then...what is left more to mourn?
Nothing but the fists we all shout for a change,
A dream given only by my God,
A possibility made firm by Him alone!

Do we sit and ignore all this?
Do we die and forget all hope?
Cast aside the pain and raise the hands to His wisdom,
The glory of a God that vanquishes all evil.
The glory of a God that makes a heart perpetually pure!

For numbered are the days of all who are evil,
The coming judgment to all that's unjust,
Broken now the chains all who are oppressed.
No longer the bind of suffocating politics,
No longer the hindrance of man made religion,
Free now is the man that chooses to believe in The Grace alone,
The personification of the Lamb on the Cross,
Begin now a chapter as pure as the white!

Such Great Heights

2008-02-24T04:54:00.000-08:00

And I count to ye the value I have to myself,
the sheer weakness aplenty,
to what left do I have to boast?

And to what can all the politics of snakes can do?
the twitching of heads to Readers Digest asininity,
here's to the poison that is the organization of insipid religion.

What is there to save you? What is there left of any relevance?
The sheer vast emptiness of thousand bars and a million streets,
The naked scream for a better life amidst the deafening madness,
Sorry are the masses that stand dead in their eyes.

To think the houses of the holy were there to comfort,
Enter now in this festering den of a million barking dogs.
Men who profess to be upright in their eyes,
Treatises of theology and sociology from their mouth's they begat,
Where is now the mention of the Lamb that would solve it all?

To you all, I spout forth the nonsense that bears no relevance,
to what God could do to your lives?
surely the work of my sweat could water the seeds of my worry?
How long...How long....
To what possible merit could you say to all your trouble?
The sweat of my own labor? Are you seriously fooling yourself?!

For here now is the symptom of the world,
the fruits of supreme human logic!
the sheer hypocrisy of their pig headed politicking!
I marvel now at the sheer blunder of your arrogant intellect!
The mere insinuation of academics and experience,
the combination merits nothing but the strife in your hearts!

How long will you all sit and be blind?

How long would you suffer in your dead end torments?

To what else could compare to the hipness of your status?
Shaky pedestals that destine to crumble to your own weight!
See now the collapse of all your personal religions.
For what matters now but of the sheer majesty of the Christ,
the missing link to all things unattainable,
can you all see the catalyst that you have just missed?

Wake up! For you shall know that you are loved!
The unspeakable absolutes in the manifestation of His own blood,
Dead are the ailments that bound you prisoner to your personal pains!
For you all talk of a release..... Here now is your release!

Blessed are ye, my dear friends... for the condemnations of sins
are the agenda that's been already paid,
the land hung to dry to the bitterness to human injustice,
behold now the ruse that smashed the evil one's grip!
Look now the overflow of His bread,
Look now the overflow of the blessings!
For once we all lacked in the comfort of our wretchedness,
No longer now! For entereth now the Kings of Kings!
Entereth now are we into this anointed Hill of Zion!

A musical journey from the pit

2008-02-23T07:56:00.002-08:00

I had my my idea what other music was. Admittedly it was pitifully shallow and myopic. For a song to betray a sense of tenderness and sentimentally was 'pop' or 'touchy-feelly' I could have been more honest to admit that i was merely repressing my emotions; to be a hard bitten hard rock/ blues fan devoid of any emotion except hate and anger.

Yeah, I did not have the best of deals. To me, my peers were the inside crust where else I was the public enemy. The degenerate outsider that has better things to do rather than indulge in all things that were the light. I had my scars to validate my hate. Those years in church and school. They had taken one look at me and decided that I wasn't worth their time.

Enter my plans for revenge.

To surround myself things that were brutal and grim. To be in a state of siege and betray not the weakness that you actually have. I did admittedly alienate a lot of my peers. My fault. My mistake. There is no justification for that.

I guess I suffered needlessly for my mistakes. While I suffered I buried all I had left of myself in the vast collections of music I had collected. From the lone suffering guitar of the blues to the outsider chic of indie rock. To think I used to think It would bring a revelation to my life. How naive I was. I professed to be cooler than all the kids in campus while all the I am just as dazed an confused as they are.

It all started with a little ol' band from Seattle, Washington which later got big in the early 90's
It was only during the summer of 96 (two years fresh after Cobain's suicide) that a bespeckled fat outsider from Kuching got hold of a compilation tape from his cousin amidst the secrecy of illegal school peddling. The sheer audacity and outrageousness in Cobain's lyrics blew away that kid.. so much so it brainwashed him to think that being tortured was the zenith of artistic development.

The kid eventually went though counseling, which in turn had him referred to the elders of his own anglican church. After a lengthy deliverance session the kid stayed clean for a while, joining the youth only to be cast out by the gears of youth politics.

Amidst all that... he still remembered the sound: the brutality, it's honesty, it's seeming solutions that could have been the key that would deliver him from this world.

He would also delve deeper to the past. Discovering bands like Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple which in turn inspired him to pick up the guitar.

He practiced hours on end. Playing the same bloody riff over and over again much to the annoyance of his friends. For all their jeering and insinuations, he was very hell bent on being the next Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton.

No one dug the music unfortunately. By Form 4, the world was held sway to Limp Bizkit and Korn. Hip-hop was fast making the bucks. Everyone else wanted to be just like them and it was very hard to find like minded folks to even sit with you and listen. Some would really salute you for sticking to your guns. But most would see you as nothing: a lone anachronism fighting for a lost cause.

You'd think things might pick up in college. Nope.

This kid by then grows his hair long and goes to college. He spends more time on Napster than actually doing precious research and assignments for class. He rarely gets any sunlight for he only goes out from his room only pig out at the local fast food joint or to buy albums or guitar mags. He still dreams to make it big. But for all this, he's just a rebel without a clue. College deadlines pile up so much that he freaks and goes into a nervous breakdown.

It comes to the point he can't even play the guitar... let alone to live.

He returns to his hometown in Kuching. Spends a good part of the day just lying in bed just plained zonked by medication. He tries to make a fast chromatic run on his guitar but he hardly could do it right. Outside he knows very well his friends and relatives are talking behind his back; passing condescending judgments and spewing out patronizing pity so they may look the part of the exalted hero and saviour. He's totally at a dead end. To most, there is no going back from him.

He is lying in bed with all the lights shut. He had earlier on just bought an album which seem to elevate him from where is was then.

The title was 'New York City Ghosts' by the band Sonic Youth.

He plays a track 'Small flowers, Cracked concrete'

It was about a doomed poet named DA Levy

He listens to it. Imagining the lights of night time Cleveland and the monsters which lurked in Levy's skull.

It really impressed the kid...so much so he actually checks out DA Levy's website to figure more about him.

He also got to know about the Beats: men like Ginsberg and Ferlinghetti who were madmen in their own right; fighting the system with their prose.

Poetry as a weapon. The kid thinks it over.

Before you actually know it...he actually begins to write his poetry.

By then the kid has gone beyond metal and the blues. By then he had gotten himself hooked to the BeBop gods of old. Swing cats like Miles Davis, Coltrane and Mingus. The kid even got himself back appreciating to the concept of melody; that you need not trying to prove yourself by atonality and grind.

It could be any chord: natural or flat, clean or distorted.

So long it had the power to invoke.

But for all that growing knowledge of music. It was still self serving. The poetry was a lot better than the first initial tries. Still it had the monotony of angst. He was still pissed at the world for his treatment. The epic graphic details and the dripping sarcasm seemed like a nice touch of prose. But still it was all empty.

But then it made sense in one moonlit night. By then He had been feeding on some good soul food: the true cornerstone of what is Christ. The answer that even Douglas Adams failed to notice in his dying days.

The piece that actually makes the fullest of all chords. The Root note that brings life to all that was dead.

This was the perfect sound forever. The answer to all things in this entire plane and beyond.

To think the music I had could ease the pain and bitterness. This was the truest of all songs that set the hardest of hearts free. No longer all my dealings, be it music and art, be it poetry and life itself be something of any empty end. It was like the life blood has flowed back to my shriveled soul veins. The real purpose in all I have in life. In Christ alone!

For His poetry now has a greater purpose now.The word flows like a rivers, with the deadlines of bullets. The music now is thousand times more fuller with the Lord's anointing. Here is the unending flow of His love flowing through Him now. The people all wonder where he gets it all. Was it intense tutoring, was it by some Faustian pact. He smiles as they all congregate to analyze. All he says it's by the Lord alone, I could do all things.

So here now was a outcast thats become the king among men. For it was by one virtue of a sacrifice by one God. To take the place of humanity for His judgment. To suffer all that we deserve. All for us to be in His righteousness. All this so we may not suffer nor lack.

It's really easy to deny it all as hogwash or just plain ramblings of rabid Calvinist with nothing better to do but to talk about metaphysical concepts and such. This is not a matter of doctrine or ideas. This is the truth. The mere belief in a Redeemer that delivers is enough to elicit change to this broken of worlds. No nned for the sheer wiles of diplomacy or politics. One trust in the Father and all things in Him shall be done.

For it has come a time all will believe. Not by force, fear or guilt. But only of a warmth that humanity sorely lacks: the embrace of Father that has never once forgotten us all.

Past Remeberance, Past all things that were Old

2008-02-18T10:08:00.000-08:00

There are various parts of my life that I wished to forget. But the more I think about it longer it's really these incidents that shaped my life as a whole. I still bear the slight scars. But then again, in Christ I'm constantly healing. That's the thing about grace, you may fall, you may mess up big time, but it is He who lifts you up...an no matter of travesty could nullify this.

I never really was satisfied with my lot in this pecking order. The desire to surpass them all and prove them all in all things; this is why I took up art and music. To formulate the skills to actually say fuck you in the face. But there is where the rot comes in... it had all been self serving. It had all had the elements of a primal cry for help from the personal hell I felt so long ago.

To think all the waking moments of going to high school and planning my revenge. My 'poetic' end from this mundane world. I'd try causing a stir: streaking across the road from my college, to actually feign retardation for the sake for a few laughs. You'd think I was a revolutionary. But difference between individuals like Che and Malcolm with goof balls like me is at least they had a cause. For my case it was all sound and fury. But to what end? Nothing. Nil. Nada.

But what was relevant was the pain. It still comes back as a ghost. But I'm really happy to say it's relevance to my present day is dying away bit by bit.

Do I slip back and relapse. Oh yes...certainly. My friends are in line to make a crack or two. But this is the symptom of human behavior. Old habits die hard. But they certainly die faster in Christ.

But those days, man... the remembrance of teenage angst stalking the school corridors like a blood thirsty wolf.....

It was always a routine of going to school and looking at the pecking order from the outside. I had a handful of close friends. Most of them were acquaintances that I actually respected or just plain fucking hated. I guess of them some of them respected me for my open act of rebellion. Somewhere just plain annoyed by it. Understandable. But it had already became a point that it was actually my way of getting though the divide. Before this I had total abject fear of my peers. And rightfully so.... some where total jerks. I wonder how they feel now in this real world. The sheer pressure of the system now at their necks. It's their turned now to be the mocked.

The teachers were a mixed bunched though. Some were like the saergant in the movie 'Full Metal Jacket'; reining everyone with their militaristic rules and routines until you got it right. One guy I knew was Mr. Lawrence Lau who taught English. His weapon was the cane and usually quized any random student about the verbs and prepositions. You'd had to be dammed lucky to get if right because if you don't your punishment would come in a swift lash of the rattan cane.

Funny about the rattan can though....

We had so longed been bred to submission by this arsenal so much so that it became a way of life. The pain was stinging and sore but once you'd get past primary 3 you'd already consider yourself a veteran. I had the distinction of having to go to my principals office at Form 3 to join a roundup
of almost a dozen of academic misfits for a session of canning in the glueteus maximus. Still it's not as bad as being whacked at the hand. That, by the way, was agonizing.

It's really amusing now to see the clever and popular kids being bunched up in the top two classes. Even as I'd bumped into them once in a blue moon, I'd still consider the stuck ups of the highest order. They are the ones that sneer at the rest of us as if we're the future employees destined to be enslaved. You'd try get near to them and all you'd get a reception worthy as someone talking to himself at the hospital morgue. They never did seem to treat me, as well as my other fellor miscreants as humans with any feeling or heart. I really felt it when I made the attempt to join the Science and Astronomy club. Of all the feelings to have at a very impressionable age...to actually feel the sense of isolation is the worse feeling than actually being left dead at a ditch.

You'd really think you could escape all this on Sunday at he sanctity of church community. Wrong again! Still the same thing at sunday school and youth. the same damn subdivision in church for the same reason. The hip kids with the other hip kids. The geeks with the other geeks. You in the other hand? Well.... excuse me while I talk to myself!

It didn't help when the church was pouring heaps of guilt and condemnation to all of us kids. Telling us to live right and believe right. Here now the fascists of the peace. You'd better try damn hard not to tell anyone that you'd listen to Led Zeppelin or Deep Purple, for they'd absolutely would haul you to a deliverance and pound you until you are a mindless vegetable.My mom, for her misguided intentions, had sent me for deliverance prayer several times to cast me out of this demons of depression, not knowing that their dead end religiosity was the one that drove me to the edge. I had gotten rid of so many album cassettes in hope all things might change. Still...I always seemed to slip. It was back to square one again.

There wasn't any promise in life when you look at it. To be under the law and to be a social outcast was a lethal mix. To think all the subsequent trouble that could be avoided if I really know the grace of my Christ. But still I do consider myself an outsider. I know damn well there are people who scoffing at me because of my fallacies and of my faith. But what do they got that could nullify all this. You can see now I was nothing then. But now in Him I've already have His favour t even calm all storms. Consider those who were dreamers that became the rulers of this earth. Consider their meager circumstances to their God given glory. You all may say I'm piss but my Father has proclaimed my blessed. For all that I have lost now I have regained tenfold.

And He Clears The Broken Glass from Under My Feet

2008-02-12T21:31:00.000-08:00

listening : Norma Jean
mood : recovering

It had been a hell of a festive week. Had a bout with the flu as well as an annoying case of the cough which had me go into a melodramatic weeze each time there is an irritation in my throat.
I could go on with a certain people getting on my nerves. I would be lying to you if I said that I had the spirit of long suffering to withstand every crap and bullshit thrown my way. I'm still guided by daddy Jesus as we speak. But the feel of wanting to bite of someone's head is almost real; the beastly urge to assert myself in the worst possible way ever. I thank daddy Jesus that He's actually holding my tongue.

Face it. If it wasn't for Him, I'd probably would go ballistic now. All the self help books can say I could master my emotions though some esoteric means of control. The futility of human effort alone. it is no wonder we see all around us fall like a collapsing deck of cards.

The poem I did last night was actually two sets of trilogies which I actually joined up to make a complete epic. I added a few verses, expounded on the epilogue section and retitled it as 'Voices: The Chronicles of Life Unto Death'. I'd think it's called voices because it represents a varying sections of the human condition: from the anger and betrayal of parts 'The Rejected' & 'The Murdered', the defeat and the hopelessness of 'The Defeated' & 'The Undead' to the restoration
and confidence of the epilogues. It was really mind numbing to write this, profanity and all.
Almost like therapy for all the fury I had, especially writing the epilogue, which itself is a confession to all the words of love wisdom and blessing that Christ has in store for me.

Voices: Chronicles from Death into Life

2008-02-12T10:00:00.000-08:00

1. (The Rejected)

Cold solitude amidst the the presence of millions,

The look in the high handed sneers said it all.

Never was the dammed human to the whole lot of you

You posturing inspired me nothing but a blackened hate.

And to my dying days I shall spit at you all....

And to the depths of hell I scream vengeance in the black,

Weep not... for I am already one with all the dead,

Forget about putting flowers in my grave...

for the boy that you once knew no longer dwells with you all!

Every face of the past like the ghost that dares me,

Arrogant fucks of privileged upbringing!

Are they the least bit satisfied with the subdivision of the weak?

For here now my mind resides like a bullet in a revolver,

the mental steeling to bring me up from the mire.

To those that say nay, I'm sorry to disappoint you all!

My tears was the water that nurtured the seed.

Behold now! the silent iron man that shall begat your doom!

2. (The Murdered)

The dead and buried filled up with festering worms,

the repugnance of a society and it's gallows rope conservatism.

Do they honestly believe that we're still hoodwinked by the lies?,

posturing men of hardened hearts and zero brains,

Only time will tell with their cracking black wings,

the transference of power to the ones that's meek,

the drying of reservoirs that were the tears of our mothers.

I am dead to the whole lot of you.

A shred of humanity you have denied from me.

Nothing matters but the submission to the molochs that be,

So much about beating the system at their own fucking game,

Like Malcolm, Martin and Che....all of them that dared to take the stand,

Dead are the generation that are dry in their tears.

Oh yes...NOW you notice my pain,

To what are the pearls you cast upon my open wounds?,

What is there to gain of your pitying words?,

An open declaration of a coming doom to the whole wide world!,

You might as well be digging my my own dammed grave to the worms!.

And what of emptiness of the hall at where my corpse had laid,

Hushed voices of condescending know it alls that
has analyzed my fallacies,

Why don't YOU take the scalpel o' good doctor of moralities!

And do proceed on to parlay your esteemed findings
to the vast cows of the genteel audience!

For who I do have left now, my friend....

for even you have gone to take the plunge with your knife,

the pain of abandonment like the nails bulging in the heart,

ti's a torment I know all so fucking well.

3. (The Defeated)

The cold breeze for another beginning of the grind,

The fists bleeding from the previous vengeance,

to what broken kingdom I have left to protect?

For here in my defiance I strove to define

Only in the trail of bloodied tears,

I have found I've lost it all.

To what end my anger could bring me to?

To what grave would be the nullification of it all?

For I am lost in my sea of yellowed resentments,

Every second eats away my years of prime,

The only thing that keeps me be,

is the bullet of a sublime martyrdom.

The anger, the beacon that rallied my defiance to all of you,

Here now the flame that now incinerates me whole.

4. (The Undead)

And I am to blind to notice you anymore,

test emergency signals to the flooded despair in my brains,

call not to me, for I have ceased to exist.

And across vast roads and alleyways I have walked
myself to an emptiness,

the beauty of my Father all there for the taking,

Still...dead am I to all that is light.

And under a million labyrinth I feed on the piss and shit,

the respectable all shudder when they see me,

For all they could know, it could be one of their own
they could be dealing with,

And for all mounting failures I cut my soul
for every validation for a sign,

A stray eye that dares to rise and care,

A faint light that calls forth to me,

But alas, alas...for the whole lot of humanity are failures like me.

And don't you all hear the tears that falls in still of night?

Another day wasted for a days revenge,

Another fucked up day of wanting to get even,

Here am I friend, the man you see as the villain,

A shadow at your every party and dinner,

Why do you even bother considering me as alive?

For once there shall be a liberation at the tip of the razor,

One stroke of it all...and all aspirations shall go down in the dirt,

Dead are they dreams you have all killed

Permit me to do this...at least I can go out with style.

(Epilogue)

1. (The Restored)

Awake suddenly I am....

A breath of the freshest of air to this bloated of corpses,

A sting of newness like dew to open flesh,

the harshness of an ever fluorescent glory blinds me,

How long have I been in this sentence to merit this lease?

How long have I have been forced face down
by forces that wished all but a glory of a love?

At the coldness of abattoirs I am the first to be alive again,

By me is the Man that has made the difference,

deep wounds in His hands says He had payed the price,

To a wretched he says, "Come, and follow Me!"

For what else do I have to lose,

Desperation is the worm that cries for a better life,

This escape from my throne of nails that I have long resided,

Could this all be complete redemption for all my crimes past?

But all this, the motives, the doubts, the guilt,

Still He accepts all that dares to take the plunge,

From the searching pilgrims to criminals eager for a change,

No man is excepted from this greatest of love.

No man... for all humanity in Him is actually deemed precious.

And for all things that were lost are returned a thousandfold,

like spring bloom at the death of an icy winter,

blessing upon blessing, miracle upon miracle,

crippled and torn I was in my mind,

in glory now both in spirit & possessions!

definitely a blessed comeback to all you all shalt behold!,

You had long written me off with you eulogies back then,

Look now, my friends! ....for my finest hour in the hand of my Lord!

And for what good morals, past present & future, have I done
to deserve such a restoration, then?

For up till now, the oldness of flesh comes back like a ghost,

A simple err like the dog that I was,

Pardon to you all if some way offended you,

Still... He's with me, building me more like an impenetrable fortress,

He crowns me with His anointing, He Blesses me with his riches,

A man like me feels he deserve nothing but the dirt he's ought to be buried into,

But still righteous am I in His eyes alone!

For was it His blood that washed it all totally?

Was it all scorn He endured was a totally for your all?

To say we all deserve nothing, that is indeed correct!

But He has already have paid the judgment in full,

In Christ alone, truly liberated is the man that says He believes!

2. (The Resurrected)

For amidst the death there was an open door,

climb across the stairs, here now the hill of the judgment,

for here is the place of my condemnation...

like the common rotten dog that I was.

Perhaps all karmic debt could be settled fair and square.

Yet, Someone has already taken over the proceedings,

Here now he hangs mutilated for we all to see.

And they buried him to be forgotten,

a rock to seal of all known existence,

For what could he do for me?,

It would seem I was as screwed as Him.

But Arise Shine, said a voice,

Here was the Conqueror, scars and all.

Every stripe for every mess up,

Every wound for all the sickness,

Here now before me is the payment in full,

For what do I deserve all this...nothing

Yet He all but died me.

No longer the tears to the midnight sorrows,

No longer the despair like cigarette smokes with negativity,

Washed now I am In Him

Repaid back in full I am in His wealth,

No longer the wretchedness

of scraping my wounds for a pittance

In my place, A God has payed the cost for me,

A clean exoneration to the one that was damned,

For today I now live in Him,

Blessed is the man who is reborn again to His love!

For was it Law and Penance that could turn a man around,

Or was it pure Love that melt the stoniest of all hearts,

For this is decree very alien to most,

The truth that set the most just to shame,

But here now is the missing link to all the questions asked,

the eternal catalyst to the Last Great Revolution,

Abide now in Him, for though all things are possible!

3. (The Victorious)

For bloodied are the hands that toiled,

Dry now the tears that were shed for all that was lost,

Yet in His glory I am forever restored to an infinity,

Tis a wonder that I did not lift a figer to fight for this piece of heaven,

Only One God dared to die for us all,

For I am amongst now the seas of the meek that dareth to dream,

a banner for every man and woman, in pride of His name He is exalted,

roareth the enemy from the ashen of wilderness,

powerless is he, for crushed is the head of this loathsome serpent!

For what end of human power could change this world?

The slyness of tongues, the mightiest of will: the sheer advancement of the human mind,

all this pales in comparison to the glory of our Lord,

a vast cathedral of universe it's finery,

Yet the fury of a thouands sounds it an infinite numbers it surpasses.

For what do you have to question, oh teacher of the world?

These contraptions of self, mere vanities in the piety of religion?

You proclaim your arrogance in your guise of logical wisdom,

As the rest of your Babylon cracks forth to the Revelation.

Abide! Rest! For here is the genious that gets the work done,

For the vastness of His angelic soldiers and architects are pised to their kill,

To speaketh forth in His peace without fear or terror,

Feareth now are the slugs that dare wretch in their deeds of evil!

For no snake or scorpion dares harm me,

The mighty fist of the Son ended all principalities,

Hereth now the land ripe for the taking,

No longer the sweating of bullets for a day longeth dread,

No longer the sting of rejection by world gone cold,

The terror of a death in both the mind and body,

Pure now is the river that were once was blackened blood.

For gone now the hatred bred by the seeds of paranoiac distrust,

nuclear disarmament not by the politics of diplomacy & skill,

a greater revolution far bigger than Marx or Lennon,

a mass melting of hearts to the fires of His Love alone,

a string of bitter pears coming undone now,

washed away are the blackened tears that was our generation's tears,

For who is He.... the man that shall put this coup to action?,

The man that was rejected on your behalf,

The God that died so we shall live again,

To say that it's a fantasy, you have indeed missed the point!

For what end your religion your piety has saved your from the grief?

The tangling noose of condemnation and guilt,

What sense did all the ways of the world bring you too?

For I sayeth now, in all bravery in my Father....

the days cometh now we all knees shall bow!

the meryc and love to a world left to the dogs,

the only hope man has....

For in Him restored now are the broken and dead!

Pre Lunar New Year Spiel

2008-01-15T03:49:00.000-08:00

listening : Citizen Fish - Active Ingredients LP
mood : relieved

A few more weeks to go to Chinese Lunar New Year. I still like the firecrackers... enough festive pyrotechnics to make Kuching sound like downtown Baghdad. Still, there enough wanton commercialization and politics that has made me a tad cynical towards this. It's still a great day though...but just don't expect me to go 'pantang' and shit.

As we are speaking now, my mom and dad are in the process of cleaning up the house. My aunt is as usual is making infantile demands; all this due to her Alzheimer's disease. Basically I'm still learning to be a lot more understanding towards her. But yeah, there were times i just totally lost it. Oh well... a blessed work in progress I suppose.

Here's some stuff that I did just two nights ago:

Was actually listening to Bush's Greedy Fly when I was working on this piece. Gavin Rossdale's have since been fronting a band called Institute. I don't know whats the status of his project these days, considering most post-breakup bands never seem to outlive their previous outfit's potential. There exceptions though; Mars Volta (from At The Drive In), Led Zeppelin ( from the Yardbirds) and Foo Fighters (from, of course, Nirvana). It would seem they have either made a name for themselves or just simply overshadowed their predecessor in terms of legacy.

I was actually thinking more about the politics of the punk movement. I really dig what guys like Jello Biafra and Ian Mackaye are doing. They have really taken punk rock from being an exercise in Malcolm McLaren's armchair cynicism to a progressive movement dedicated to destroying the hypocrisy of the government and religion. But there are times I am very wary of the self -righteous elements of the movement totally blowing all that is good of this movement. Their critical attitudes towards bands that supposedly sold out is no better than the legalistic elements of Christianity who condemn just because they themselves are insecure of their own fallacies. This is not just punk rock i am talking about. Every popular culture sub-genre ( be it rock, heavy metal or hip hop)has their inbred class of 'religious zealots' that thing highly of themselves. Whatever they cannot understand, they feel obligated to subjugate and criticize, while all the while not knowing they don't know they are steadily becoming the autocratic pigs that they were led to hate.

This is the symptom of humanity.

We hate because we have the innate instinct of fear. That fear rooted of a deep condemnation of being nothing. Take away the money and hipness and here we are naked with all our sins and flaws. We dare to stomp on other people because we need to make ourselves feel better. To make ourselves of authority and class. I guess most of you people are feeling dammed offended if I say this...but it's true. What else can you account people like Hitler and Jeffrey Dahmer committing their heinous deeds. The universal feeling of fear and loathing in all of us. The fact that for all our achievements, humanity is nothing more but a species of posturing monkeys.

But for all this, I am happy I am nothing. Because in Christ I am actually something. You can say I use 'religion' as a crutch to my pointless existence. But here's the catch, dude.... the real Christianity was never a religion in the first place. It is a walk with a God that cares very much in all your affairs, be it trivial or profound.

To tell you bluntly to all of you... I would have been dead if it wasn't for Jesus. It's funny that one point I was like you refusing Christ like the embittered atheist would have done. But to think that He does not answer in moments of severe desperation .... that never the case! He hears, man. He heard me a long time ago when I was in trouble. I tell you, dude....never in my wildest dreams I'd dream to be where I am now.

Remember This....

2008-01-07T06:19:00.000-08:00

We had one heck of a night on Friday. Basically it's the blessed tradition of talking about Christ to the early hours of the morning. I think by 3 am we could hear the rooster crow by then... in a sense you are starting the day. What better way to start the day is hearing about Christ's love for you.

It's not the scenario of getting high and beating the brains out of each other all in the name of cool. To most of the blessed people cool and hip enough, that's a boring party not worthy of attending. But better this than the artificial trappings of superficial socializing. Just an nice quiet night with the people you care about.

I've been getting back on my Pastor Joseph Prince recordings. Talk about the best spirit food the Father has to offer to you! It's a wonder why people put the message of Christ's grace off as naive and radical. The fact that they have to at least 'do' something is the real reason they are screwing up big time. Man's self-righteous effort to achieve it all by his own. What an unfixed deal!

Revolutions and Wars were done in the name of perpetuating progress and religion. "We got the brains, We got the muscle...therefore we could do everything we can set our mind on" In the end they are left bitter and burnt out. The idealistic end up as corrupt as the kings that they have sought to depose. The seeds of the pride gives way to stress and fear. They either crack up to disillusion or just plain compromise their values. No trust to a God that has done it all. Just plain old pride and arrogance to plain mess it up.

Moses thought he could liberate his countrymen with his princely titles and training. He only ended running to the wilderness with his tail between his legs. He only achieved this by returning with HIS anointing; crossing over the vast depths of the Red sea that eventually buried the multitudes of the pursuing battle hardened Egyptian army. Was it by his skills? Nope! Remember... he had been burnt out and disillusioned, but indeed... he came back with a vengeance.

But it was though in Christ, he was giving that fire for that vengeance.

How much more He could do it for you and me now.

Lest We Forget: An Outsider Remembers

2008-01-03T04:28:00.000-08:00

Yay. My Citizen Fish album has just finished downloading! So far it has the ingredients of righteous street alley anarchy which shamefully most pop punk bands of today lack. Pardon my old school bias towards punk rock but there was a time the music had a lot to say; from the gritty alleyways of Thatcher's England, to the desolate streets of Reagan's America. It was during the day when MTV held sway over every kid in the confines of their living rooms; pre-packaged fantasies of the ideal hipster life playing to the newsreels of AIDS and wars in foreign countries.

It's no different now......

We got new wars now; war against the third world in interest of American national security as well as clandestine forces of corporate greed. The rising feelings of dissent everywhere, even on Malaysian soil, where the powers that be scramble for damage control in view of recent allegations of judicial malpractice. Punk rock in the other hands has pretty much gone to sleep, resting on their laurels and being gradually seduced by fat-cat record companies. Even the born again Christian bands are enticed by the almighty dollar; forsaking their values for a better tomorrow. It's survivalism at it's blatant low. Keep playing the fiddle as Rome burns to the ground.

Face it, punk is dead...and rock...it's a bloated corpse.

The revolution it promised to espouse has been left with nothing but empty shells of pre-packaged rebellion. It's now cool to be the outsider now. What was the last weeks mockery is now the toast of the new cool. How it's so easy for us to forget.....

But before I mouth off at the sad state of things (there is still a lot of hope mind you!)
Let us take this time to remember those who are actually still carrying the flame despite the sneers of the cooler than thou trend-whores. Guys like Mike Watt for continueing the econo tradition, Carburator Dung for still rocking on in the streets of KL for all this years, Roystone Johnny (of Kuching) for being an absolute maverick ( and for actually quiting in principle rather be liar in the local mainstream market), Steve Albini for defending the rights of the artist against s the covert motives of the industry,......many more that I've yet to gladly discover and enrich me! A vast army of me of anonymous Hendrix's and Bob Dylan's just waiting to tear up the stifling capital centered tradition of the industry.

Happy New Year's ...and yes....it's not the apocalypse....yet.

2007-12-31T23:17:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all that tuned in. I probably would assume you'd be waking up from a nights worth of festivity and wanton hedonism. I can't say the same to me; just went for karaoke...belting to out to a random selection of songs, murdering every shred of it with off key yarbling and screams that make the demons of hell sound like cherub faced choirboys. Yes....it was that bad...but who cares....we had our fun. :D

My Git's discography finished downloading yesterday. It's very easy to understand that the soul of the late singer Mia Zapata very much embodied the spirit of the band. Listen to "It all Dies Anyway" and you'd feel the goosebumps in your skin rising. The question of mortality has not been asked in this very intense of very manner. It's like she's asking an urgent question which had been tormenting her every moment of her nights.

Also noted in my play list would be my Flipper discography. You kids would probably recognize
this band from the late Kurt Cobain's shout outs. It's rather ironic that Flipper had initially started with the rather dubious aim of being the band everybody hated. In mere listing , you'd probably agree, for the vast amount of atonal feedback they employ in the guitar work could pass for the soundtrack of the apocalypse. Any so-called connoisseur of good music could give it a pass and argue as an article of artistic pretension (blablabla). But somehow, despite all my better judgment and that, I turned out to be a fan. The track "Hahaha" is an indictment to the callow materialism of suburbia done in the crudest of sarcasm. It however takes the turn to the creepy by the end when loop samples of the vocalist's feigned laughter goes on a surrealistic overdrive.

But one song stands out from the usual nihilism of Flipper's post-punk leanings. "Life" is actually a repetitive loop of a song, complete with sparse lyrics (this is not Bob Dylan here, folks!). But I can't help remembering a forum post by an ex-junkie saying that the song actually was the catalyst for his redemption from substance abuse. This, to me, nails whatever argument I have
towards punk music being a negative trend. You might say that genres like death metal or hardcore fuels the aggressive psyche in individuals. But music means different things to people.
These days I can't help noticing the allegories of Jesus and his saving grace in some secular songs. It's true that most of them don't know what they are writing about but I believe it's very much a response to the God-shape void in their lives; the search for a man or God that would change lives forever.

It's not fair to generalize music content based on the trend they belong. Music was never meant to be sorted to neat little categories for easy identification. To say a particular music is depressing or negative or to low-brow or whatever..... to me it's a tad elitism if you ask me.

First post and other formalities.....

2007-12-29T16:51:00.000-08:00

Yeah...first post.....yeah...............

yeah......

Well to tell ya the truth, as I do this, I'm pretty strapped for time. In a few minutes I will be going out for breakfast, feasting on my usual kolok mee with prawns and liver at the expense of my cholesterol level ( something that seriously never bothers me.)

I had a scarce nights sleep. But seriously I'm fine. Nothing better than the neighborhood stray dogs howling at goodness knows what at 3am; possible at passing hipster drunkards staggering home after a solid night of getting wasted at Mojo. It's kinda ethereal if you were in my position. Nothing but the silence punctuated by the occasional sound of passing automobiles. A typical Kuching night I must say.

I've got one more month to go for my term holidays. Seriously am looking forward to going back to school to start new classes. Damn. I must sound like a study nerd but I guess several years in the workforce has kind of open my eyes to the holes I have in my my knowledge. Talk about the last several years of jacking off in the name of prestige. I had no clue why I was in school then. And yeah...it takes a swift kick to the ass to make you wake up to your inherent self-rightiousness.

Anyhoo... gotta be going now. Will keep you kid's posted for more. :D