I started blogging in February 2003 and have made it habit to blog almost everyday. This page is where I note down my thoughts, opinions and critique of almost everything. Please note that this is an adult blog and would require the reader to be thick-skinned. Oh, and some of the stuff here may be gay related so proceed at your own risk. No refund given for offence taken.
...A seminar on Syariah Law review wants non-Muslims found committing khalwat (close proximity) with Muslims to also be held liable.
This was among the proposals made at the two-day seminar organised by the Islamic Institute of Understanding Malaysia (Ikim) and the Syariah Judiciary Department Malaysia.
Syariah Court of Appeal Judge Datuk Mohd Asri Abdullah said the seminar had proposed that non-Muslims committing khalwat with Muslims should also be sentenced accordingly, but in the civil courts...
This is not all; they have also proposed increasing the penalty (including whipping) on a range of "moral" crimes like prostitution, consuming alcohol and involvement in gambling activities. And on top of that, they would like to set up a rehab centre for those convicted of offences such as prostitution and effeminate men.
Rehab centre for effeminate men??!!! And how do they intend to butch-ify them? Put them through deportment classes to teach how to swagger like cowboys? Electric shock therapy to wean them off colour coordination and accessorisations? Duh...
And do you know what makes this even more interesting? The jokers above are NOT from PAS. Ikim and the Syariah Judiciary Department of Malaysia are government institutions and agencies created by and operating under the auspices of the UMNO-led government.
I can go on and on about it, but I think Farish and Marina Mahathir have done a good job commenting and criticising the above so I shall not add anymore to it.
Anyway, while I was reading Farish's posting, I came across an earlier article attacking the destruction of Hindu temples in Malaysia. Even though this was written in 2006, the destruction is still happening and hence the article is still current. In this piece, he argues that these are not Indian Hindu temples being demolished, but rather Malaysian temples that belong as much to the Malaysian cultural, historical and religious landscape as mosques, churches and Buddhist and Taoist temples. As such, the destruction should not be just a concern of Malaysian Indian Hindus but all Malaysians regardless of religion. And lest we forget, Hindu predates Islam in the peninsula and the larger archipelago by centuries.
And for something slightly off tangent and funny, check out Karipanas' post on fun things to do in a "Guided Democracy", some can be applicable in Singapore too. Number 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9 and 10 cracked me up badly!
Well, the Malaysian general election has come and gone. The results have sunk in and the country is now in the dawn of a new era. Whether it will last till the next election or longer is anyone's guess.
But now that the country is slowly starting to return to normalcy after the euphoria of the past few days, the opposition parties have a huge task ahead of them.
First and foremost is to form a good working relationship with each other. This to me is the most important task if they are to succeed. After all, the three different parties have their own ideologies and agendas. So they will really need to find a common ground and either compromise or chuck out those that stand in their way.
To me, the wild card is the pan-Islamic PAS. Being an Islamic political party, it's natural that their interest is the promotion of Islam. But one of the biggest issues (I gather) facing Malaysia now is the balancing of Islamic interest with that of the other religions.
There have been too many cases where unproven (or claimed by third parties) conversion to Islam has been used to rule against the family who are adherents of other religions. And of course, we also have the civil courts refusing to rule against or get involved in cases where the Islamic courts have jurisdiction in, thus giving primacy to these courts and their rulings.
I am not criticising or attacking PAS, but I really cannot see how they can divorce their politics from Islam. I mean if they do it, wouldn't they be betraying the very religion that they based their existence on? But if they don't, then how will the alternative coalition formulate policies that are equitable to all.
Tough call. But it will be interesting to see how it will all work out for next four to five years. Will they out-perform BN or will they go for each other's throat and implode?
Personally, I really want them to succeed and out-perform BN. And in the process, help the country move away from the parochial race-based politics that has created more divisions than unity and has exceeded its shelf life by years.
Maybe UMNO (United Malays National Organisation) can learn from this and surprise us all by transforming itself from just the United Malays National Organisation to the United Malaysians Organisation.
Barisan Nasional (BN) of Malaysia loses its two thirds majority in the Dewan Rakyat (the lower house of the federal parliament) and has only managed to cling on with a small margin.
The Malaysian Indian Congress (a component party of BN) president Samy Vellu lost to his opponent. Tragically, the day of the election and his resultant electoral loss is also his birthday. As a result, he will lose his ministerial seat which he has held for three decades. Unless of course he gets appointed to the senate and reappointed as the federal works minister as a senator, but I'm not too sure if the Malaysian constitution allows that route.
Meanwhile, Anwar Ibrahim's wife has successfully defended her seat and his daughter won her first election, both on Keadilan's slate for the federal Dewan Rakyat. Out of all the opposition parties running for the federal parliament, Keadilan has won the most seats. And in the state polls, the opposition has increased its control of state governments from one (Kelantan) from the previous election to five (Kedah, Penang, Perak, Selangor and of course Kelantan).
Wow! After five decades of BN dominance, the entire political landscape has changed. Of course BN will still form the new government but they will have a more powerful opposition to deal with in parliament.
Analysts say that this time, it wasn't just the Chinese and Indian voters who abandoned BN, but Malays as well. So will we see a repeat of post-electoral violence and death like the one that happened in 1969? I hope not. If things remain peaceful and transfer of state governments are smooth, then Malaysia and Malaysians have acquired a political maturity that does them great credit.
You know what would be even better? That the opposition comprising DAP, Keadilan and PAS can ditch the racial politics of BN and forge a new all-inclusive opposition coalition that really represents the interest of all Malaysians regardless of race. To expect them to merge and form one party would be too much of a fantasy lah. First, they will need to heal the recent racial and religious fissure that has erupted across the country. Once they have dealt with that successfully, then maybe a merger would be more possible.
Ezra directed me to this video by a Fahmi Reza of Malaysia entitled "Sepuluh Tahun Sebelum Merdeka" (10 years before independence). Looking at the current state of affairs and relations between the races in Malaysia (what with the recent protest in KL by Malaysian Indians), this show strikes me as rather sad. Sad, because of what might have been.
On one hand, you had the (then) somewhat pro-British UMNO with a rather limited constitution for the Malayan Federation (enforced in 1948) that saw Malaya continuing as a British protectorate with not much political rights. And on the other, you have the People's Constitution drafted by a group of left-leaning parties under the banner of PUTERA-AMCJA that was so much more progressive.
Not only did this constitution demanded independence, it gave everyone equal political rights and equal citizenship, provided for an inter-racial council that was tasked to screen and filter out racially discriminating laws and policies, and surprisingly, created a new nationality called "Melayu" that would apply to everyone regardless of race. This last bit was whole-heartedly endorsed and accepted by Tan Cheng Lock (representing the Chinese community) with no questions asked.
I really wonder what Malaysia (or maybe even Malaya) would be like today if PUTERA-AMCJA had succeeded in getting through their constitution.
But as anyone can tell, the People's Constitution was unfortunately consigned to the wastebasket of history. And not only that, the British jailed or banished members of the PUTERA-AMCJA under the pretext of fighting communism.
There's so much that could be said about what could have been, but I guess it's too late for that now. And perhaps, I guess HINDRAF has a point when they wanted to sue the British government for their historical complicity in the present plight of the Malaysian Indians.
Anyway, if you have the time, do watch the show below. It has been very enlightening for me, even as a Singaporean.
Last Saturday, I was chatting with my friend who is a Malaysian Indian doctor practising in Singapore about politics and current issues in Malaysia when he mentioned a certain Perak prince and heir apparent creating quite a stir. Of course the first name that came to my mind was Raja Nazrin Shah, the Raja Muda or Perak. But my friend disagreed. Anyway, that's beside the point. The point, or rather the stir, is what the Raja Muda has been saying publicly about the state of the federation.
Now I am not writing this to gloat about what is happening in Malaysia. But rather, to highlight the fact that this prince, a Malay Muslim who most probably has more interest to defend the status quo has taken a stand to defend the rights and status of all Malaysians regardless of race or religion. This to me is rather impressive and speaks a lot about him.
First, he refused the offer of state funds for his royal wedding a few months ago and politely insisted that businesses donate their money to charity instead of paying large sums for advertisements to celebrate the royal wedding. And now this.
Will he be a leading voice that will bring Malaysians to a new level of acceptance and unity? I sure hope so. And given his royal pedigree and privileged position, I think he is in a good position to make use of his background to help realise the dream of Malaysia's founding fathers.
...In paying tribute to Dr Ismail and the past leaders, the prince said:
"They took responsibility to voice out and defend the needy and the people. This is the spirit which enabled this country to be stable politically and economically prosperous."
He said while Dr Ismail was known to be a Malay nationalist, he was not a racist and did not practise racism
"Tun Dr Ismail envisaged a Malaysia for all without colour lines, without ethnic borders and without any one group feeling a sense of inferiority," Raja Nazrin said.
And in other news: Malaysia's Conference of Rulers has rejected the government's choice for the position of Chief Judge of Malaya. This is one of the rare times when the rulers refused to endorse a government's decision. I guess this could be in retaliation for Mahathir and UMNO stripping away whatever powers they have. And in this area where they still have some constitutional powers, they have decided to reassert themselves.
Interesting times indeed for the 50th anniversary of the Malaysian federation.
Now why is a Singaporean like me writing about, or being even remotely concerned about Malaysia? My link to that country is rather tenuous - through my mother who was born and raised in Perak. Other than that, I should have no interest whatsoever except for the times when they lash out against us.
I guess I would like to see Malaysia becoming a beacon of true plurality, both racial and political. Where everyone regardless of ethnicity and religion is not just tolerated but truly accepted and respected. And in the process, possibly teaching us a thing or two.
This is hilarious. Singapore's EDB sends the best of the best of the best to get the $32 million lent to the University of New South Wales for their now defunct campus in Singapore.
Their imitation of the Ah Beng tua ah long's accent really set me off. "Kangadoo!" HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! "Kangadoo Dundee, brother of Cockadile Dundee!" ROTFL! Whee... And they did an brilliant job with the Ozzie accent too.
Now check out their imitation of the Malaysian English accent:
Since Malaysia's 50th birthday is coming up on the 31st of August, I thought it would be a good time to see what was on the minds of their founding fathers when they drafted the constitution with the Reid Commission. So if you're interested in what's happening religiously up north, I would like to direct your attention to this very interesting article. It gives a historical perspective on the current issue/controversy about the country being an Islamic state even though the constitution says otherwise.
The first and third PM of Malaysia say "secular", then the fourth and the fifth's DPM say "Islamic". So when did it change? I think it was during the tenure of the fourth when he tried to out-islamise PAS.
This is very interesting. According to what I studied in school, history in Malaya began when Parameswara established Malacca in the 1400s. What I did not know was that there were other political entities prior to that time. For example: the Kedah Sultanate (which is still extant), Srivijaya (which I did study in school but thought to have only existed in Sumatra), Pan Pan, Langkasuka, Gangga Negara, etc.
And now, a Thai filmmaker by the name of Nonzee Nimibutr ("Nang Nak" and "Jan Dara") is making a film entitled "The Queen of Langkasuka". The story is supposedly about three sister queens of Pattani and their efforts to acquire a powerful cannon to protect their kingdom from a rogue prince and his pirate allies. "The Queen of Pattani" was the proposed original title, but was dropped because of the sensitivity of it in relation to the present separatist movement in southern Thailand.
It's kind of strange to see characters dressed up in old-style Malay clothes speaking Thai, but I dare say this movie might prove to be quite a hit. And it's also nice to see an Asian filmmaker making a movie about a culture and history that is not his. Then again, knowing how intertwined the ancient history of Thailand and the Malay peninsula is, it might be presumptuous of me to assume that the history and culture of Langkasuka is foreign to him. After all, the northern part of this ancient kingdom stretched all the way into the south of modern day Thailand.
"The idea came when I was researching my last film, Okay Baytong, which took me around the southern provinces. I became aware that we knew so little about the place, the people and the history of the region. There are so many stories worth telling." - Nonzee Nimibutr
And what is "OK Baytong"? It's his 2003 movie that tells the story of a Thai monk going south to settle his late sister's affairs after she was killed in a train attack by separatist insurgents. There, he learns that his sister had married a Muslim man who lived across the border in Malaysia and had a daughter by him.
Looking at the present situation in Southern Thailand, I think this might be a touching and moving story.
PS: An interesting fact that cropped up during my search on "Langkasuka" was that it was one of the names being considered for the new political entity that would emerge after UK granted independence to what we now know as the Federation of Malaysia.
*** Added on 3 Aug 2007: Here's more about the queens of Pattani (Langkasuka). There were four queens regnant (queens who rule in their own right) whose reigns saw great prosperity for their kingdom. They were the Rajas (or should it be Ratu?) Hijau (Green) who ruled for 31 years, Biru (Blue) who ruled for 7 and Ungu (Purple) who ruled for 12. All of them were sisters and succeeded each other after the older one died. When Ungu passed away, she was succeeded by her daughter, Kuning (Yellow) who ruled the longest, about 50 years in total.
I came across two interesting sites last night while surfing the 'net. The first is by this guy by the name of Pete Biggadike who used to be with the Royal Air Force (UK) and served in Singapore in the late 40s (I think) and early 50s.
What's interesting about the site are the original black and white photographs he has taken of Singapore back then (look for the links with the name "Singapore" in the above link) and the more current ones which he took when he came back here for a visit in 2001.
The differences are obvious and the poor guy could no longer recognise the country anymore. The only thing that has remained is the street names.
Anyway, it is interesting to see what our little red dot looked like back then and I could faintly recognised some buildings in Sembawang that still existed when I was in navy school.
The second site hosted the pictures and video clips of the recent wedding of DYTM Raja Dr Nazrin Shah, the Raja Muda of Perak (crown prince) and Zara Salim Davidson, now DYTM Raja Puan Besar Tuanku Zara Salim of Perak. It is interesting because for once, you get to see how royal Malay weddings are conducted (much like your ordinary Malay ones) with all the accompanying pomp and pageantry (toned down somewhat for this wedding at the request of the Raja Muda).
Both of them are quite successful academically, Raja Dr Nazrin Shah has a PhD in Political Economy and Government from Harvard and Tuanku Zara Salim has 1st Class Honours in Chemical Engineering from University of Nottingham, and both are also rather successful in their careers.
Well, the Perak royal family (descendants of the last sultan of Malacca) has always been relatively more accomplished, polished and civil compared with some others. And I guess it's only natural that the Raja Muda would marry someone well-educated and accomplished like Tuanku Zara.
Her surname reflects the fact that her father is British, William Davidson who is a lawyer practising in Malaysia.
Incidentally, she also happens to be the great-granddaughter of Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah of Kedah through her mother's side. You can check out the rest of her lineage and personal history at her wikipedia entry.
One thing's for sure is that she is pretty. Check out the wedding at this site.
It would be interesting if Singapore still has its own constitutional monarchy. At least it would make things more glamorous than a colourless and dour "elected" president.
Woo! Hoo! I just found Marina Mahathir's blog. Quite a good read I must say.
And yes, I find her political views appealing. That's because I think I lean the same way as her. I like the fact that despite her famous/notorious father, she is still very much her own person in terms of her beliefs and opinions. Plus she is pretty fearless in articulating them and taking on the might of the rigid and dogmatic traditionalists in her country.
Then again, some might say that it is precisely because of her father that she is able to get away with certain things.
But whatever it is, at least she is using and building on her share of the Mahathir brand and influence for the benefit of her country and all Malaysians regardless of race.
When I read the report that Dr M was pepper-sprayed while visiting Kelantan, I couldn't help but stifle a giggle. And I am sure lots of my friend reacted the same way. I feel kind of bad for feeling that way, but at the back of my head, I believe he deserves it. And of all the places, it had to happen in a PAS-held state. Poetic justice?
After 22 years in power as the prime minister of Malaysia, he has pissed off hundreds of thousands of people (excluding the few million on a little red dot) and probably made just as many enemies. It's a wonder that it did not happened earlier.
I guess this incident has shown that if ever our SM or MM retires, those bodyguards of theirs will never go away. As Dr M's recent experience has shown, you can never really retire from politics. You may leave it, but your enemies will never leave you. And of course it didn't help that the senile old man was bitching and whacking his chosen successor, whom I think is probably laughing to himself when told about the incident. But as a leader of his country, he has ordered an investigation to avoid speculation and rumours at ground level. Good for him.
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