For Once, Hassan Ali May Be Right

Immediate Reactions


The recent JAIS raid on Damansara Utama Methodist Church reveals one thing, that people who are KL Centric do not know what they are talking about and some politicians loves to comment without thinking, which is immediately lapped up by their equally stupid hardcore supporters and spread wide through the web and twitter.

No correction are made when they are proven wrong. That's the strategy all along, hit the headlines first with full impact so that their supporters and public takes notice but when clarifications (when they are proven wrong) comes later, they are likely to be in back pages in small columns.

One of first to react to the raid was Tian Chua, who says although Jais is under Selangor State Government, they take instructions from Putrajaya. He says this without any shred of evidence and presumeably without checking with his counterparts in Selangor.


Many other Pakatan Leaders including Khalid Samad reacted angrily, mainly to show that they respect other religions and more importantly, they want their hard won Christian (read non-malay) votes to stay with them. They did this without checking with their own Pakatan colleague in charge of Jais, Hassan Ali. I wonder how would they react when something like this happens when they are in power at federal level. You will have Pakatan Ministers giving their immediate reactions without checking with necessary ministry, confusing the rakyat.

MCA President also caught the (Tian) 'Chua' disease by demanding DAP to answer for the raid, mocking the silence of DAP leaders. Here, what really happened does not matter to Chua Soi Lek as to him, what is at stake are just Chinese votes. How stupid.


Attempts to Proselytise Muslims.

While it has been quite well known that any attempts to proselytise/convert muslims are illegal in Malaysia, I will not be surprised that such activities has been going on for a very long time.
If you look at Hassan Ali's comments on the so-called raid, it may be vaque and demands further clarifications. But if this report from Malaysian Insider is true, then Hassan Ali/Jais maybe right.


“It is not a Christian prayer ... it is more like thanking God almighty,” he told The Malaysian Insider today.
He confirmed that two Malay-language thanksgiving songs were also sung at the dinner — “Allahu Akbar” and “Alhamdullilah” — but similarly denied they were religious in nature.
Annou also brushed off claims by Malay dailies and blogs that the quiz on Islam conducted at the dinner was meant to disparage the religion as the questions were “very general” in nature and “not insulting”.
“It was not to convert anyone, it was not to influence anybody ... They thought this is Ramadan month, they thought let’s have a quiz on Islam,” he said.


If the NGO is all about Helping the poor and HIV patients, why would anyone need to include religious songs especially “Allahu Akbar” and “Alhamdullilah” when the crowd is racially mixed?


If they really want to thank god, they could have asked everyone present to thank their respective god, maybe in silence. Why cant they do this?

Introducing questionaire on Islam just because it is Ramadhan is laughable. Why not have a quiz on HIV so that everyone present can be more well versed on the disease?

The above events, if they really took place ( I have seen the copy agenda of the event in other sites), raises many questions on the intention of the NGO.


Admission of Guilt

Another report here from Malaysian Insider, again if they are realiable, confirms that there are some Christian groups who attempts to proselytise/convert the Muslims. Their modus operandi is to identify the poor, needy and those who have been shunned by the community (eg HIV), help them with their needs, introduce the religion by the way of having various mind enlightenment courses and to cut is short, brainwash them into eventual conversion.
Read here and some sort of denial here


If you think the whole issue is about Christians attempting to proselytise/convert Muslims, you are dead wrong. Even Catholics and other Christian groups are not spared apart from Buddhist, Sikhs and Hindus.


I do have close relatives and friends who are Christians and mostly do not agree with activities of certain Christian Evangalist groups, whose main agenda is seek new followers. I have a Catholic friend who complained that his mother was influenced by Pentecostal movement which practises (I stand corrected) extreme form of worshipping. He was helpless as his mother has become detached from the family, placing importance on activities by the movement above everything else.

If my recollections are accurate, similar groups have in the past managed to convert large number of Indians in the rubber/Palm Oil estates in the 70s and 80s by giving cash, bags of rice and other daily neccesities . Now they are targetting urban poor and this perhaps explains why Muslims are targetted as well. Even recently, I saw a van transporting people to and from a low cost flats bearing name ' XXXX (can't recall) Harapan.


If you ask around, you realise these groups do exist but in it unfair and ridiculous to blame Christians as a whole. This is where Malaysians are lacking after half a century of independence and almost a century co-exisitng in this land. We simply don't know each other well and are fond of generalising.

If you look at other religions, you will realise that there are equal number of deviant groups or cult movements in the name of said religion.

What Now?


Instead of carrying some toilet bowls and brooms to the MB's office, carrying banners, making hundreds of police reports, the so called concerned NGOs and political party should ask themselves, why would Muslims, in this case, or others seek assistance from such groups in the first place. Where were the assistance from NGOs and government (State and Federal) welfare bodies and like what was highlighted by Dr Asri, what happened to the Zakat collections, controlled by state governments, and are they being distributed appropriately to the target group?

And finally, all religious group should just focus on their existing believers/followers. There is no need to seek more believers. Just ensure that the current believers are following and demonstrating the true teaching of respective religions. Get this right first.

You may also wonder why I have not touched on Hindu's. Oh! Yes, I am a Hindu Fanatic. Please....To me, it a gone case. Hindus in Malaysia themselves are not sure of what they are doing in the first place, so do not expect Hindu groups to go around trying to convert others and this will never happen for thousand years unless someone gets enlightened for some reason, like the Mat Sallehs you see in the Thaipusam festival carrying Kavadis. I am not defending Hindus or the religion, its just that they are a confused lot and simply not capable of brain washing others to convert. Get to the below links for my take on Hindus and temples.



http://balankumarpremakumaran.blogspot.com/2008/10/recap-temples-hinduism.html


http://balankumarpremakumaran.blogspot.com/2010/09/stop-building-hindu-temples.html


http://balankumarpremakumaran.blogspot.com/2010/10/selangors-hindu-temples-warisan-merdeka.html


http://balankumarpremakumaran.blogspot.com/2008/08/hindraf.htmlhttp://balankumarpremakumaran.blogspot.com/2008/09/hindraf-i-rest-my-case.html


http://balankumarpremakumaran.blogspot.com/2008/09/hindraf-part-2-memorandum-to-british.html


http://balankumarpremakumaran.blogspot.com/2008/09/ampang-sri-maha-mariamman-temple.html


http://balankumarpremakumaran.blogspot.com/2009/03/found-solution-for-long-suffering.html

Malaysian Indian’s Brains Interloked!

'Pariah was not a fashionable word to insult anyone anymore until this issue surfaced. Therefore Indian leaders, Murugiah, MIC and other Pakatan Indians are equally responsible in revival of this word, which until recently was regularly associated with dogs rather than Indians'

'The day Indian Malaysian themselves reject caste system, seeks equality in social standing and work towards making it non existent in Malaysia, only then the word Pariah will become meaningless and do no harm to anyone, except for maybe the dogs. It's all their own doing and solution is in their own hands therefore, they should not blame the others'

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I received sms today from a lizard brained fellow Indian (I am getting more and more ashamed of being associated with these fellows nowdays). It sounds like this,’very very urgent, please go to Berita Harian online bancian section. Please select batal penggunaan Interlok as currently batal is at 7% and to terus guna is at 67%.

The deputy PM has already announced that some editing might be made to remove allegedly insulting references, Pariah, therefore the bancian and all those sms will benefit only one party, the telcos.

Malaysian Indians, their political leaders from both ends have proven one thing with this episode, they can be hypocrites of the highest order and sometimes, as in this instance, they outdo their counterparts in India. I don’t have to say more about those equally well horned racist and self declared religious extremist, HINDRAF.

Why Now?

The book Interlok has been there for almost 3 decades and no one had any complains. There are many Malaysian Indians who are expert writers, lecturers and even examiners in Bahasa Malaysia. 2 of my high school (early 90s) Bahasa Malaysia teachers were Indians, and I really thought their Bahasa Malaysia were superb and far better than their Malay counterparts. People like them would have certainly come across this novel but chose to remain silent; probably they knew that the word Pariah was relevant, existent and a fact during those years.

As for the masses, Malaysian Indians, except maybe for the youth in national schools, rarely read anything other than a Tamil daily, it is no surprise that only now they have realised the existence of this novel.

I see no reason to remove the Pariah word from the book. Read this to get some idea why.

While I agree that some students may, on purpose use the Pariah word to insult fellow Indian students, it is not a good reason to edit, reprint and distribute the novel all over again. Let’s be realistic, Form 5 student, from my experience, have in their vocabulary , far more degrading, insulting and vulgar words that they could possibly use to insult others.

Pariah was not a fashionable word to insult anyone anymore until this issue surfaced. Therefore Indian leaders, Murugiah, MIC and other Pakatan Indians are equally responsible in revival of this word, which until recently was regularly associated with dogs rather than Indians.

The Maniam family story of coming from a untouchable class or caste is real as many Indians that time thought that they would be able run away from the archaic caste and slavery system in India to start a new lease of life in Malaya. This is true and cannot be denied despite the other reason being better life, survival and nothing else.


Wake Up MIC, Indian Political Leaders, Hindu Sangam & Hindraf.

Caste Politics (MIC & IPF)

I wonder why, suddenly everyone wants to champion the lower class when caste system is still alive in Malaysia. Why these so-called leaders aren’t criticizing existing caste based social structures prevalent in the country, though they are diminishing by the way of mix marriages and ignorance of the better educated lot.

It is a known fact that MIC and it’s leadership are controlled by people of certain upper class or caste. Can they deny this? During the last MIC election, caste was a definitive factor and there was even a group who openly called themselves ‘Nammavar’ which when loosely translated as‘our people’ but silently means ‘our caste’.

When there is rampant acknowledgement of caste politics within the party, why do they suddenly want to defend the untouchables (pariahs) or is it that they feel insulted because they belong to a upper caste and not because the word is insulting to all Indians. I suspect, deep in their heart, the former is the main reason.

MIC’s decades of indulgence in caste politics finally came to open or rather conflict when MG Padithan came to the fore. He managed to become a Vice-President and leadership thought this is the most an untouchable should achieve in the party.

Pandithan’s ouster from MIC in the 80’s revived the caste politics and IPF was born. Pandithan managed to get substantial support from the lower class and caste in estates and other rural areas. If this is not caste politics, I don’t know what is! This is not in an way dissimilar from situation in India where political parties exist mainly to champion respective caste and receive overwhelming support from particular caste. That’s the world’s biggest and flawed democracy at work.

MIC should just shut up and work towards abolishing caste based politics first before thinking of banning any book.

Hindu Sangam Should Just Shut Up

Hindu Sangam’s new leadership found this issue a good opportunity for some cheap publicity for it’s new office bearers. They have chosen to ignore the fact that Hinduism itself is riddled with discrimination based on caste and that even certain gods are associated with certain class and caste. Can they deny this? Why must only people from Brahmin caste can be a temple priest? Until this day people from upper class refuse to enter or even eat in other people’s house deemed to be those in the lower class.

Why don’t Hindu Sangam revolutionise the religion and declare that anyone from any caste can become a priest? I have written to Hindu Sangam on many issues closely related to abuse of religion, cult movements, Thaipusam mayhem , batu caves etc and never received any reply. Hindu Sangam should focus on issues such as this that will benefit the Hindu as a whole. They should just shut up and focus on what they are suppose to do and not waste time on something (Caste) that they themselves legitimize.

Why Don’t They Do This

This Interlok issue provides a golden opportunity for Hindraf and other like minded Indian leaders to reclaim their fast losing support from Indians. If they are insulted with the word ‘Pariah’ they should also be insulted with certain community who identifies themselves by caste. There’s this temple hall at Jalan Ipoh which belongs to a certain caste.

Why don’t Hindraf, who always slams UMNO using the phrase ‘Malay Muslim Terrorist’, go and demolish this hall to prove that they support equality and rejects caste system within the Indian community.

Why burn the books. The book burning incident clearly proves that Indians deserves to be called Pariahs as sometimes they behave like one. Why not burn thousands of books on Hinduism that directly and indirectly promotes and justifies the caste system. Why can’t they discuss and argue this issue in a rational manner rather that becoming emotional.

Why don’t they go and demand that all caste based societies (there are hundreds of them registered with ROS) deregistered.

If Hindu Sangam, MIC , PKR, DAP and Hindraf is really interested to eradicate identification of Indians by caste, they should seek for abolishment of all caste
based societies, temples and NGOs.

They should also demand that Indians should not use their caste names in official documents such as Identity Cards, Birth Certificates and non-official ones such as wedding invitations. I have seen many of those who add caste to their names in the wedding cards although their Identity Cards do not carry one. That’s how particular these people are.

The day Indian Malaysian themselves reject caste system, seeks equality in social standing and work towards making it non existent in Malaysia, only then the word Pariah will become meaningless and do no harm to anyone, except for maybe the dogs. It's all their own doing and solution is in their own hands therefore, they should not blame the others.

Stop Building Hindu Temples

I read recently that Selangor State Government is planning to rebuilt the controversial Kampung Jawa Hindu Temple which was demolished in 2007. It must be acknowledged that the demolition has lead to the Hindraf demonstration and is also one of the main emotional reason why Indian Malaysians chose to vote for Pakatan Rakyat in the 2008 General Elections.

Recent sentiments suggest that Indians have been slowly returning their support to Najib, rather than MIC and the fact that Pakatan Rakyat have not done much for the Indians has prompted some Indian leaders to take some race centric actions to shore up the support for Pakatan Rakyat as well as promote themselves as champions of the Malaysian Indians.

One of the easiest way to fool Malaysian Indians and get their support is to do any good for their Hindu Temples. Even if you are a well known crook or gangster, temple committees will welcome you with open arms as long as you donate to new temple building or maintaining temples.

Selangor Executive Councillor, Xavier Jayakumar knows this well and has taken full advantage. The generous Selangor state government reportedly allocated RM 4million grants to be distributed specifically to Hindu Temples in Selangor.

With cash in hand, there is no other easier way to shore up support and also promote oneself. Xavier, armed with a cheque book has been to every nook and corner of the state, visiting every other temple he could find and donate specific amount depending on the size of population and temple in a specific area. He has reportedly even provided grants to illegal temples in certain locations just to please the Indians.

Wherever he goes, he never fails to invite all 3 major Tamil newspapers with him. His face can be seen in all major Tamil dailies on a daily basis (this is no exaggeration). His face is even more popular and recognizable as compared to other BN or Pakatan leaders.

There are questions though over his conduct. If he is sincere enough in assisting the temples, he could have just allocated the RM 4million accordingly and distribute it at one go in his office or perhaps a function attended by MB Khalid and other Exco members. Why the need to go to every other temples and ensure that the whole press entourage is there with him if not for the reason of regular publicity.

Coming back to the proposed rebuilding of Kampung Jawa temple, there are many questions to be answered before the state government embark on building yet another Hindu temple in Selangor.

Personally, I do not agree with using tax payers money ( I am a rate payer in Selangor) to provide grants to temples for building of new temples or even for the purpose of maintenance.

As we all are well aware, the number of Hindu Temples in Malaysia far outnumber the mosques and churches or Chinese temples, though the population percentage of Hindus are less than 1.5 million.

It must be noted that unlike other religions, it is not a must for Hindus to go temples to pray. It is more of a objective of community bonding, therefore there is no need for temples to be built everywhere.

In Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, the number of temples is far more than sufficient and majority are hardly patronized unless there are some so-called religious events or festivals. You don’t have to go far, just drive along Jalan Ipoh where there are at least 5 temples or go to Batu Caves where there are at least 15 other temples of various sizes apart from the humungous Batu Caves temple.

Questions For The State Government

The first question a responsible government should ask is, aren’t there far too many temples in the state.

Why there are new temples continue to be built or rebuilt when there are sufficient temples readily available to the so-called pious Indians to pray.

Why should government allow new temples to be built if the temple committee have no funds or rather no clues on how the finance the building.

Why taxpayers money is being spent annually to upkeep the temples? Why built the temples in the first place if the temple committee or local residents has no clue on how to finance the upkeep of the temple.

Why aren’t the so-called devotees of the temples contributing to the upkeep of the temples. This is the usual case everywhere where, Indians want temples within the vicinity but refuses to even contribute RM 10 every month.

Don’t we know that contributing funds to temples will only result in temple committee and local residents becoming complacent and end up begging the government every year?

Why is there a need to rebuilt Kampung Jawa temple. Has the residents in the vicinity been deprived of opportunity to fulfill their religious obligations due to unavailability of temples?? Obviously the answer is no.

Is Xavier Jayakumar trying to stir up Indian or rather Hindu emotions and be their ultimate champion by rebuilding the kampong Jawa temple?

Has Selangor state government reviewed the existence of both legal and illegal temples in the state?

Has the state government acted against illegal temples in the state and taken some action to remove those temples?

Or are the State government and Jayakumar waiting for landowner of the illegal temples to raise eviction notices before they jump in to defend the temples, find altenative site and eventually turn themselves into the heroes of the Hindu community is the affected areas?

Where would the grants for the temples end up? It would be usually used completely for the temple annual celebrations, with no other benefits for the community. In another words, it will end as a sheer waste of money finished for a one day event. If they can conduct the annual celebrations without state government’s assistance before, why would they need it now?


Despite calls to utilize temples as community centres with activities for youth and children, very few temples do so. If this is the case, why should tax payers money is spent for the benefit of few temple committee members to spend and finish the funds for the annual celebrations?


Use the funds for Long Term Productive Purposes

The state government could well focus on uplifting the economic condition of the Indian community.

The RM 4 million could be well spent on assisting the community by providing loans for small businesses, single mothers and more importantly on youth whether in the form of scholarship or even technical training for secondary school drop outs.

Imagine how many students or youth could benefit from the RM 4 million annually? Imagine how many families could benefit in the long term if one of their family members are accorded scholarship or more importantly technical training.

Why can’t the state government and a learned Exco think wisely and act prudently with tax payers funds and use it for productive purposes which would provide long terms positive returns to the community.

Pakatan Rakyat and it’s Indian representatives continue to play the same BN tune and use the same strategies, which is to fool the community by playing religious sentiments without any long term benefits to the upliftment of the community.

Hindus and Indians needs leaders to inspire them to do the right thing, which is to focus on improving their educations levels of their children , attain necessary skills suitable at current times and viable businesses.

Indian leaders should scold, cajole and inspire Indians to invest in education and not on temples and unnecessary religious and non-religious events and celebrations that does not bring about any benefits to the Hindus.

It is a well known fact that Indians spends thousands on weddings, cultural events and celebrations but don’t even subscribe to any newspaper or books at home.

Has the hundred of years of building temples and worshipping them resulted in Hindus living above poverty line with reasonable living standards and known to be a respectable community?

The answer is obviously no? Hindraf blames BN, Pakatan also blames BN for the poverty and marginalisation of Indians. Why not blame the Hindu gods for not bringing about any improvement to the socio-economic well being of the community despite building thousands of temples and worshipping them for more than hundred years??

My anwer is simple, God do not help anyone who does not help themselves. Therefore Mr Jayakumar, do Selangor need more temples?

Hulu Selangor : No Winners

Now that the battle is over, various armchair analyst and critics from both ends have provided their take on the Hulu Selangor by-elections. Let me provide my view now.

Having been to some of the campaigns as well as talking to mostly Pakatan Supporters throughout the campaign period, the results came as a shock. I was constantly told by Pakatan Supporters that Zaid is very likely to win although from the events that unfolded during the campaign period, I reminded them that it was still 50:50.

Pakatan Supporters, some of whom are local PKR leaders in Serendah with contacts in other small towns like Batang Kali, Kuala Kubu Baru, Sg Choh etc , were confident that PKR will definitely win over Chinese and Indian votes. This is despite Millions that were thrown around by Najib and the BN battalion. They were also confident that Indians will still vote for PKR despite the candidate being another Indian.

They were largely correct. Indians and Chinese took whatever BN gave and still voted for PKR’s Zaid although there is a marginal shift in Indian votes towards BN. Character assassination on Zaid did not really work amongst the non-malay voters. Chinese and Indians still remember Zaid as a man of principles.

So what actually went wrong for Pakatan.

1. As for the candidate, for once Pakatan looked quite arrogant as compared to BN. Kamalanathan did his walkabout in simple attire and running shoes while Zaid went about in his luxury car, says a friend of mine. Perception matters, have we heard enough on this about UMNO leaders before. It appears that PKR is also muda lupa..

2. As for the campaigns, there were largely not interesting. While Chinese can appreciate national issues, the malays and Indians did not. Who cares about APCO when the state government can even resurface the road next to my house, says a Pakatan Supporter. Stolen jet engines, Submarine, Teoh Beng Hock , Kugan etc did not resonate well with the Malays. This is where they lost.

3. Anwar’s association with Jewish leaders were already well known, therefore Malays did not buy his APCO argument.

4. Who will buy your argument when you have people like ‘lori sampah’ Gopalakrishan of Padang Serai talking nonsence half the time. Issues were not carefully chosen to suit the audience.

5. Campaigns were ad-hoc, not well coordinated and at times, the speakers were either not on time or never turned up.

6. PAS campaigns were more focusing on defending Zaid. ‘Allah menyanyangi orang yang bertaubat’ goes one of the sentence. PAS talking about lack of development in Hulu Selangor since independence till Pakatan took over in the last elections does not hold water. Hulu Selangor is far more developed than Kelantan.

7. Local PKR leaders were too demanding, especially Indians. These leaders were holding their sponsors (upper PKR leaders) to ransom. First they were given RM 10,000 to run their operations centre (Bilik Gerakan) and also persuade voters in that particular area, then when Zaid’s drinking issue came about, they went on to demand another RM 10,000 claiming that it would be difficult to persuade voters.

8. Some local PKR leaders were also involved in negotiating with MIC and even Makkal Sakhti party, seeking cash in return of support, even after claiming their dues from PKR sponsors.

9. Some PKR Indians supporters claimed money from both Pakatan and BN for putting up posters around their towns. Talk about party loyalty.

10. PKR and Pakatan Rakyat state government did not do much in Hulu Selangor since the last general elections, despite promise of change for better during the campaign. Being a regular visitor there, even the basic infrastructure was not maintained.

11. Giving out land titles and funds to schools and temples, while were accepted by the residents in Hulu Selangor, they were thought to be no different from BN in terms of vote buying since they are only seen during the elections.

11. Pakatan Rakyat state government did not bother to do anything about the land issue in Felda Sungai Buaya, despite promising to do something in the last general elections. Here they lost about 700 votes to BN.

12. MB Khalid hardly visited this area since taking over the state government. He came to Felda Sungai Buaya for the first time ever on Saturday Morning, asking residents to be cautious and not sign any documents. The same afternoon, Najib came and gave out compensation to some residents and more importantly a plan to develop the land, something viable now since a new highway exit will be constructed by PLUS nearby.

13. PKR Indian leaders were more involved in the Ceramahs rather than site and house visits while MIC leaders were more hands on and were more on the ground, despite facing hostile and sometimes abusive crowd.

14. Pakatan Rakyat and it’s economic advisor did not have any plans on improving the living standards, investments and more job opportunities in Hulu Selangor. They were mostly interested in politicizing everything in their campaigns.

BN on the other hand, in my opinion, did not win anything. Votes for them that really made the difference were from Felda Sungai Buaya (700 votes) and also postal votes, another 700. Other than this, there was no significant shift in votes.

BN is still the champions in the Felda area, however they have failed to win over the Chinese and Indians in the townships. Throwing around millions should have resulted in at least 7-8,000 majority. It didn’t, therefore BN should learn that money can’t buy votes any longer. The Chinese community, despite benefiting millions, did not favour BN at all. Their anger towards UMNO and their leaders are still present.


Najib’s various initiatives such as Government Transformation Plan, New Economic Model, walk about may have brought about a feel good factor but the Chinese appear to want concrete results, more than mere rhetoric. They are also clearly offended with various slip of the tongue and racial slurs by UMNO leaders.

As for the Indians, they are generally still anti-MIC, although they are warming up to Najib. Most of them in Hulu Selangor are blind Pakatan Supporters who are now complaining about Pakatan Rakyat state governments failure to live up to their promises.

Only the PKR ‘Mandore’ Xavier Jeyakumar is popular for giving out funds to various temples and schools. But there were general discontent that that is not what they actually want. They want a better living standard and more job opportunities, something that is not very evident in Hulu Selangor since Pakatan Rakyat took over. One disappointed hardcore Pakatan Rakyat supporter from Felda Sungai Buaya lamented that the comments from one UMNO leader on ‘Indian being beggars’ was proven during the elections when many Indians took money from BN and voted blindly for them (BN).

In the end, this is no vote of confidence for Najib and certainly not for his deputy not this is a victory for Pakatan Rakyat in many areas as claimed by their supporters. Both parties have to remember that during the general elections, they will not be able to have such resources to go around with in the first place. They will also not have all their heavyweight leaders around for all ceramahs around the country within the traditionally short campaign period.

Therefore what they do between now and the next elections matters. If anything, the clear winners were Kamalanathan, who can hold his head high for a very decent debut while Hulu Selangor residents were the main beneficiary from the goodies thrown at them by opposing sides.

Anwar Need Not Apologise...

Recently, Opposition Leader apologized to his audience during one of the ceramah. It is very rare to hear Anwar apologise to his supporters or the Malaysian Public. He never apologized for his Sept 16 Opera, which destablised the country for months. He also never apologized for all his conflicting statements and also his corrupt past when he was in BN.

Now all of a sudden he apologises for something petty such as selecting the wrong candidates for the past general elections. His hard core supporters will definitely forgive him, as Malaysians ‘mudah lupa’.

I think Dr Mahathir is the one who should apologise. He did the country no favours when he first invited Anwar to UMNO and as a result, the country political situation has always been unstable ever since Anwar was sacked in 1998.

No opposition leader has inflicted such damage to the country’s image as Anwar did. He criss-crossed the globe saying nothing nice about the country and its leaders. Never mind that he himself got elected by very same undemocratic election system. Never mind that for 16 years, he did nothing to reform the government’s various institutions, never mind that for the same number of years, he controlled the press and helped to build a ‘racist’ newspaper.

Never mind that using the same patronage system, he, his family and friends became rich. Never mind that he defended malay rights to the hilt, BTN, all the repressive laws and the NEP. Has he ever apologized, never. He just reformed himself overnight, just because he was sacked and could not achieve his ambition to become the Prime Minister. He would have never changed anything that was favorable to him if he eventually became the Prime Minister.

The weak opposition then took advantage to befriend him, knowing well Anwar has got substantial grassroots Malay support. Never mind that the first person to accuse Anwar of sodomy and abuse of power is none other than Anwar’s lead counsel for the current trial, Karpal ‘the lion’ Singh. For political power, anything goes. Malaysians ‘mudah lupa’, so Malaysian politicians can change their colours, minds and parties whenever they want.

Apart from Mahathir, the voters who blindly voted for PKR candidates should apologise. You deserve the candidates you voted for. Why ask him/her to step down now. Why no one demanded that the Bota assemblyman to quit when he first crossed over to PKR. Such hypocrisy in Pakatan Rakyat. Elected representative shall remain just that. If people vote for the party, then we don’t need candidates, just vote for the party symbol and let the political party place any representative and have options to change them as and when they like. With this, even by elections will become unnecessary and we can save loads of money.

Malaysia deserves a better opposition leader. There are many within Pakatan Rakyat but I think many talented leaders simply can’t talk and act dramatically like Anwar, hence they are sidelined. Some of them are doing impressive work in their constituency but as they say, in politics, perception matters, not facts. If one were to compile all the facts and track record, rather than rhetoric, Anwar’s achievement as Opposition leader is nothing but a disappointment.

He would probably get some Oscars or Anugerah Seri Angkasa for his stage play, dialogue and (mis)direction, but records show he has not done much since he became the opposition leader. Every state that is governed by Pakatan Rakyat has nothing significant to show eg The same system of political patronage is in place, local councils are filled by mostly local party leaders and race based.

Like Karpal Singh said (telling the truth, emotionally) Anwar should just step down and make way for others. Pakatan Leaders always ask government officials to quit even when they are just being investigated for something. Perhaps, they should ask Anwar to step down until his trial is over. Lim Kit Siang would have done a better job, of course if he avoids calling for Royal Commission of Inquiry for almost everything that goes wrong, everyday and if he can brush up his verbal communication skills.

Or rather, Pakatan Rakyat should emulate BN, where their leaders are replaced (except for Samy Velu) and more importantly, inclusion of young leaders. Except for Guan Eng, we are tired, forced to see and hear from the same old faces in Pakatan Rakyat.

In summary, Anwar need not apologise, Malaysians ‘mudah lupa’ voters should!, Pakatan Rakyat leaders should apologise, for accepting and supporting him all these years, knowing well his track record in BN and current performance and failures in Sept 16 project and losing Perak state government.

Indian Stupidity- Part 2

Stop the unruly acts during Thaipusam
The Star- 3rd February (letters)

BATU Caves is one of the more popular tourist spots in our country. It is also a holy place for thousands of Hindus who flock there during the Thaipusam festival to fulfil their vows.
I was at Batu Caves during Thaipusam this year, and was saddened by the many unsavoury incidents I witnessed.
First of all, the behaviour of some teenagers in the crowd who did not even care about pregnant women, babies and small children irked me. Where have their values gone?
Another sad thing was the consumption of alcohol which caused great discomfort to others who could not concentrate on their prayers.
I think people who visit the Batu Caves temple during Thaipusam without any intention to pray should not enter the holy site.
UTHAYAKUMAR TECHINAMOORTHY,
Kuala Lumpur.
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The above lament by one devotee is not a new phenomenon. I wrote about this in 2002 and not much has changed, which also means the Indian Malaysian public manners and attitude never changed much over the decades.

This year, I have seen things which are even worse. For example there was a group who was carrying the ‘kavadi’ for fun, parading it around until the compound with no intention to complete the prayers. They made lots of noises to attract attention. It was already chaotic, but the public, the bystanders, were more interested to view the antics of these stupid Indians, who have no respect and regards for the religion. In a way, instead of condemning them, the public were in fact encouraging such act, as a form of entertainment.

As for the Temple authorities, they were more interested to make money, who cares if the so-called devotees are adhering to the religious norms. No representative from the two rival Hindu Councils and Hindu Sangam ( why two! Indians what - Have to be divided) were making any statements or reminders asking devotees to behave or adhere to religious norms. What we see at Thaipusam in Malaysia differs from those of in India, hence most of the so-called religious practices are man-made, here by creative Malaysian Indians.

While the above writer mentioned about behavior of teenagers, the adults are no different. It’s their own despicable attitude that encourages the young to emulate them in the first place. Most of the rituals and practices presented for world view that day are never forced upon by the religion. It was on their own will and creativity. Last year there were kavadi’s with Liverpool and Manchester United. So much for Indian creativity. I can only wish that the Indians channel their creativity towards other meaningful endeavors, like their children education.

Some spend thousands on kavadi that is never compulsory. Imagine how much funds that can be accumulated and channeled towards more meaningful causes from just one day.

As for the temple authorities at Batu Caves, they were more interested in reaping profit from the biggest show in Malaysia. They allow stalls to be put up almost ¾ of the temple compound, leaving little space for people to walk about. They also put up a huge fun-fair to add some light hearted entertainment following to some serious religious undertakings by the devotees.

Who is listening? No one, because nobody likes change and nobody wants to change. What about it leaders, even they, including the higher educated ones, don’t want Indians to change. Because as long as Indians remain stupid, these equally stupid politicians can continue to fool them and take advantage to advance their narrow agenda. The religious leaders on the other hand, does not want to make enemies with politicians, who controls most of the temples in the country, hence they tend to keep quiet.

Indian Stupidity

Group seeks divine help on SPM issue, The Star, 27th Jan 2010

KUALA LUMPUR: Members of several non-governmental organisations are seeking “divine intervention” during Thaipusam for the Tamil Lan-guage and Tamil Literature papers to be made core SPM subjects.
They plan to fast and carry the pal kudam (milk offering) on Thaipusam Day at Batu Caves.
The NGOs behind the protest are calling themselves the SPM 12 Subjects Retention Group.
Committee chairman A. Thiru-venggadam said the fast and pal kudam offering would take place from 8.30am to 3.30pm.
Speaking at a press conference at the management office of the Batu Caves temple grounds here yesterday, Thiruvenggadam said they also hoped to hand a memorandum to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak when he launches the Thaipusam celebration on the eve of Thaipu-sam.
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This is what one would call, stupidity in the name of religion.

I did not know that Hindu god, Murugan at Batu Caves can influence the DPM to change his stance on the issue. If this happens to be true, then I would lbe likely to do the same for reinstatement of Teaching Of Science and Maths in English.

Why is there a need to handover memorandum to the Prime Minister when the Hindu God can help is beyond me. The same group, if I am not mistaken held hunger srike few months ago. So what happened? Hunger strike nowdays is from 9 am to 5pm it seems, taking cue from various hunger strike held the same way almost every day back in Tamil Nadu.

The HINDRAF did the same in 2008 praying for release of their beloved leaders. In fact, there’s another group, Sri Murugan Centre who organises annual education pilgrimage to Batu Caves, an event which gathers about 100,000 student who will be sitting for various exams for the year.

Another cult group, have their cult leader’s birthday at Batu Caves seeking better times for their followers, some of whom are in dire situation despite all the rituals and prayers, spending thousands of ringgit in the process.

All these illustrates the stupidity of Indians in this country. Every other year they carry our prayers, wows, harms their body with various sharp object, walk on fire , carry heavy ‘Kavadi’ (some with liverpool and Man Utd logos, another example of their religious stupidity) and it appears like their prayers are not really answered, if you listen to what PKR, DAP and Hindraf politicians has to say about situation of Indians in the country. Who do the Indians blame.. who else but BN. Why not the lord Murugan, who appears not to be answering their prayers. Not wanting to repeat myself, the answers are here. Perhaps they should go here.

Subsidy : One rate for whole economy is better

T.K. CHUA of Kuala Lumpur wrote this in today's Star

SOMETIMES I wonder how the Malaysian market economy is being managed. I am referring to your news report “Fuel Cap” (Sunday Star, Jan 17). My issue is not on how the fuel subsidy should be managed. My issue is should we have this kind of multi-sector and multi-categorisation subsidy system in the first place.

We know for a fact the Malaysian economy has been distorted and dissected into numerous groups and sectors already. Each distortion and categorisation has created more controversy, inefficiency and avenues for corruption. How we could have managed a market economy with total disregard for basic market principles is simply beyond my comprehension.

Malaysia is one principal customs area. If there is any subsidy or taxation, the rate should be uniformly applied throughout the whole economy.

To dissect, to discriminate, and to categorise into different groups or sectors for subsidy entitlement or taxation burden could only result in more hardship, unfairness, inefficiency, arbitrage and corruption especially by those administering such schemes.

We have fleet cards, subsidies for taxies, buses and boats for fishermen. As if this is not complicated enough, now we want to dissect passenger cars into different categories. We spent hundreds of millions in subsidy on fishermen. Did the amount of fish landed really increase?

How much of the petrol and diesel were really used by fishermen to catch fish? Did the subsidised fuel really translate into lower prices of fish in the market?

How much of the fish we consume were supplied by foreign fishermen who enjoyed no subsides from us?

When a subsidy is given, we can’t guarantee complete fairness. Sure, the rich and the wealthy may have gained more from the subsidy, but they have also contributed more in the form of higher taxes?

When they buy a vehicle, the extra taxes (in the form of sales tax, excise duty, and annual road tax) they pay is probably many times more than the extra fuel subsidy they enjoy. What fairness can we extract from them further? Don’t forget they have also paid higher income taxes.

In managing a market economy, we must allow capitalism and market mechanism to work.

We may tinker a little here and there to make it less painful for some but the objective is not really to achieve complete parity or equality.

Didn’t the communists try to do that but we know the result was disastrous for everybody?

They tried to make equality their priority, but the policies made almost everybody equally poor and today communism is history.

A market economy, albeit with limited government intervention, has made people unevenly rich, which is better than making everybody poor.

To minimise distortions and to enhance efficiency, the Government must first decide whether to subsidise or not to subsidise the fuel.

If the decision is to subsidise, it is better to have just one rate for the whole economy. Multiple subsidised rates for different sectors or different groups of citizens only cause high administrative cost, profiteering, inefficiency, corruption and arbitrage.
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I can't but agree with Chua's comment and arguements on subsidy and how it is managed.

The planned fuel subsidy based on mykad and car engine capacity is obiviously flawed and bound to fail especially knowing very well the capability of our enforcement agencies, level of corruption prevalent and the availability of world class, highly skilled home grown fraudsters in Malaysia

Those in high income bracket are already paying high tax rates and those luxury cars are purchased with one of the highest taxes ion the world, how fair is it that fuel subsidy is only given to those who don't pay tax and only pay considerably low tax and duties for the vehicle that they own. As it is only 15% individuals in Malaysia pay tax. The government should find out why is this the case, when based on per capia income figures, those in taxable range should have been substantially more. They should go after this group of people rather than try to figure out and mess up this multi-level subsidy plan.

Chua's questions on the effectiveness of subsidised fleet card to transporters and fishermen is valid and deserves a review. We should allow market forces to determine fish price and cost of transportation, never mind that public transportation is already subsidised in many other forms.

Looking at the Minsiters lack of clarity when replying to the questions on the subsidy plan, all points to a disastrous implemetation of the fuel subsidy plan in May, which will definitely shunned by the people, and Najib will end up like Badawi, whose popularity went down the drain when he drastically raised the fuel price.

In the end, no one will not die if we do not eat fish, especially those caught with fuel subsidy..

Lee Kuan Yew's Take On Chinese Education

SINGAPORE, Jan 5 — Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew was interviewed by Mark Jacobson of the National Geographic in July last year. Read the full article here

While most of the social issues confronting Singapore may be the same as in Malaysia, such as growing immigrant population, insecure original Singaporeans, Race and Religious issues (he spoke about the rise of Evangelical Christians) and others, what caught my interest was his comments about Chinese Education.

Read excerpts from the article below ;

Bilingualism and Chinese schools

We’re losing part of (Chinese culture) because the Chinese schools have disappeared. We’re trying to preserve it in English-speaking schools, but the teachers now were also educated in English-speaking schools and have lost the old traditions. So we’re trying to get them to go to China and see how they preserve these qualities. But we find that in the (Chinese) cities, they’re also changing.
But (I’ve no regret emphasising English). I’m a pragmatist and you can’t make a living with the Chinese language in Singapore.

The first duty of the Government is to be able to feed its people. Singapore has no hinterland and no farming. You have got to trade. You have got to get people to buy your goods or services and get multinationals to come here and manufacture for export.
So we brought the semiconductor factories here. We became a vast centre for the production of computers and computer peripherals. But they all speak English — (including) multinationals from Japan, Europe.

The Chinese-educated were losing out. They were disgruntled because they got the poorer jobs and lesser pay. Eventually, our own Chinese-educated MPs said we have got do something. We’re ruining these people’s careers.

By that time, (Nanyang University) was also losing its good students. Because they took in poor students, they graduated them (with) lower marks and so the degrees became valueless. So when you apply for a job with a Chinese university degree, you hide your degree and produce your school certificate.
I tried to change it from within. Most of the teachers (at Nanyang) had American PhDs. They did their theses in English but they’d forgotten their English as they’d been teaching in Chinese. It couldn’t be done. So I merged them with the English-speaking university.

Great unhappiness for the first few years. But when they graduated, we put it to them: Do you want your old university degree or do you want the English university degree? All opted for the English university degree. That settled it.

(China’s ascent would) make no difference (to the emphasis on English). We are not going to tie ourselves to China to the extent that it makes us hostage. We have many investments there because the older generation are Chinese-educated, they feel comfortable. But the younger generation, they have enough Chinese to go there and do business and they can ramp up (their language skills) if they want.

And not everybody wants to go there. We’ve been offering scholarships to their top universities — Beijing, Qinghua — but very few takers. They say: “Nah, I want to go to America or Britain.” They know they’re coming back here and competing in English.

I can only wish that vernacular education champions back here in Malaysia, most of whom are in awe of Lee Kuan Yew, would realise that in the current century and decade, we are simply losing out. Lee’s assertion that feeding the people comes first makes lots of sense. What is the point of preserving and dying for language and culture if there’s no food on the table.

While we complain that taking away English Medium schools saw the beginning of the decline of education standards in Malaysia, coming from a national school, I could always argue that the rise of vernacular schools also contributed to the decline in English as well as unity in this country.

Further to the decline of English, we are fast losing our competitiveness. Having worked in a MNC before, I have had numerous negative comments on both English and education standards of our graduates. For them, apart from whatever degree that the students graduate in, leadership qualities and ability to communicate effectively (not just speaking English) is more important than say, whether you can count.

Even in National Schools back in 80s and 90s, the quality of English education was quite good as the teachers were from English Mediums. Now with each races segregated in 3 major school streams, we get 3 types of accents and not to mention, less united as a society. The rejection of Vision Schools and the end of teaching of Maths and Science in English can only further deteriorate the quality of our students and our overall competitiveness.

I also wonder why Chinese Schools never reject large number of Malay students in their schools. As champions of mother tongue education, they should have rejected Malay and Indian students and advised them to enrol in national and Tamil Schools.

On the other hand, while Singapore is open to accept more immigrants as their future citizens, we in Malaysia appears only interested in segregate ourselves further.

GST : Focus On Tax Evaders First

I was amused with the comments above from readers of both Malaysian Insider and Malaysiakini for this article

Comments

written by maha, December 16, 2009
the implemintation of GST by the B.N govt clearly shows to what extend the govt of the day is interested in the welfare of in particular the middle and lower income group. So I beg rational voters to bring in pakatan in 13 GE &. we will see what pakatan CAN DO. Pakatan have proven in Kedah, penang,selangor,kelantan and to certain extend in perak.KEEP IT UP PAKATAN!

written by siong, December 16, 2009
GLCs making lost. BN now worried all the economics corridors they promised will bring development, hitting big rock and sink. So, go and collect money from poor rakyat to bail out GLCs linked with BN politicians. 1Malaysia rakyat diutamakan, I mean first to get robbed.

written by i_love_malaysia, December 16, 2009
When come to collecting money, the BN govt is super efficient!!! The govt should stop all the leakages and not just want to collect more and more and more!!! No wonder the Thais and Singaporeans drivers and smugglers are laughing all the way to the banks for our generousity out of govt stupidity!!!

written by lowxinpui, December 16, 2009
Bloody well make sure all the PR MPs are present when the votes are taken.

written by Ahmad Ismail, December 16, 2009
BN is short of money?

then how come can pay so high dividend to Amanah Saham Bumiputera?

GST will be a waterloo for BN inthe next election.

written by Apa Khabar, December 16, 2009
What GST to Najib may just turn out to be like Badawi's petrol price hike, with its repercussion on the next General Election.

No worries, mate!
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From Similar Article in Malaysiakini

by kgan - 30 minutes ago
Some proponents of GST have touted the 4% rate as lower than the 10% Sales Tax which it will replace. But sales tax is levied at source on manufacturers and importers on nett prices so the GST rate must be multiplied by the markup from source to consumer. Furthermore, GST will affect a far wider range of goods and services than sales tax. Don't forget 4% is only the starting rate, it is set to go up as oil revenue decreases and BN needs ever more money to fund its corruption.

by Habib RAK - 41 minutes ago
Tony Pua from DAP had already articulated this matter very well. He has clearly pointed out that it is not timely to introduce GST as this juncture. What needs to be done first is to get rid of the all the wastages, overpricing, plundering, stealing from the national coffers. The savings from these areas will generate more revenue than from GST.

by M'sian - an hour ago
From next year onwards we can expect more opposition politician to change camps. Government will have more money to buy these people, while tax paid is wasted for white elephant like PKFZ, double rail project and this will be additional income for thief & team (PM & Team).

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If this is the quality of their cyber troopers, don't expect much when Pakatan takes over the country, as these stupid cyber troopers will hardly object any wrong doing by Pakatan in future as these cyber troopers appears to be dumb enough to be taken in by anything that Pakatan does. There's hardly any intellectual debate on the GST issue in the comments section except for one Habib RAK. These rest are just some emotional outburst from hardcore Pakatan Rakyat supporters. Just look at the comment by Ahmad Ismail and you would realise how stupid can Pakatan Cyber troopers be.

i_live_Malaysia is also completely wrong, Malaysian government is pathetic is collecting taxes, hence the introduction of GST. While we do not know much of the impact of GST, we should hear more on what the experts have to say rather than what politicians like Tony Pua has to say .

I agree completely with Tony of saving money elsewhere but there's never a wrong timing of GST implementation. Even if the economy has recovered, nobody likes taxes, hence it will be still opposed by those who like to oppose. Will Pakatan Rakyat implement GST when the economy recovers. They are likely to do so, when pressured by economist and foreign experts. See some expert views here, , here , and here

I suspect after the second reading of the bill in March, and if ever Najib decides to implement the policy, Pakatan Rakyat and NGO's aligned to them will take to the streets (as they did against PPSMI policy) The politicians who are strongly against certain government policies could well do something wiser that will be well accepted by Rakyat.

They moan about increased prices all around resulting in higher cost of living. They could well go to the streets when traders increase prices. Why not take consumer's concern to the streets. They could well mobilise consumer association and their hardcore supporters to boycott certain unscrupulous traders, companies and monopolies. Why can't they do that? Why only take the streets only if they do not agree with BN. This is where Pakatan loses its credibility and aptly supported by idiotic comments by their hardcore supporters and cyber troopers, clogging comments section of all online news sites.

What we need to tackle seriously in the immediate terms is to ensure those who are actually taxable pay taxes and this will immediately increase the nation's coffers. And to appease those who swore to live by rule of law, we should charge those who deliberately evade tax.

It was estimated that only 7% Malaysians actually pay tax. That's rather pathetic as I believe many who are in the taxable range are not paying tax at all. Efforts must be made to ensure those who are supposed to pay tax do so. It is so unfair that only salaried people are tracked and forced to pay tax. There are many more out there, such as hawkers, retailers, self-employed individuals (including professional such as lawyers, Doctors, Accountants, Engineers who run their business under Enterprise license) who do not pay tax at all. They evade tax by simply cooking up their accounts, aided by chartered accountants every year. They do pay nominal amount which is usually not reflective of their income.

I am also disgusted that while I pay maximum tax, and many people, who speak loudly about abuse of power, corruption and human rights do not actually pay tax. This includes many of the so-called proponents of rule of law, those who question police's credibility, those who cry about PKFZ and other scandals without any sense of guilt that they are also cheating the authorities. I have, in the past, have been asked to submit documents for audit purposes by LHDN after filing via E-Filling. I asked around those who always under declare taxes, none of them have been asked to do the same. This is why I mentioned that LHDN is pathetic on collecting taxes.

Many people I know that participated in the Bersih and Hindraf rallies do not pay tax at all. Some of them live luxurious life with fast cars and have the cheek to proudly claim that they do not pay much tax. I always feel cheated when I see my pay slip with huge amount of deduction especially when knowing well that people who earn more under-declare their income and some do not pay tax at all.

LHDN will have to improve their monitoring system and ensure that those who are taxable declare their income accurately and pay the required taxes. LHDN should be as tough as their counterparts in the west. In US for example, Inland Revenue are more feared by the public than any other government agency. They work their way to ensure taxes are paid.

They do go to the ground and investigate, unlike LHDN who sits in the office and assess tax submissions just based on documents presented, never mind those duplicate / imitation documents such as DOs. Invoices, Bank Statements, salary slip, EPF statement, EA Forms are easily available for a fee. Have we ever heard someone being charged for tax evasion in Malaysia? LHDN appears no to realise the well known fact that Malaysian fraudsters are one of those in the World's best category.

If taxes are effectively collected, apart from improving the nation's coffers, it would reduce our dependence of oil money and corporate taxes.

As for GST, again how sure are we that traders and businessman don't cheat by increasing their prices. This is something that was raised by opponents of the policy. I think more pertinently, we have ask how sure are we that these traders do not cook up their sales figures and swindle whatever GST meant to be remitted to the authorities. If we do not have an efficient system to track all these possible abuses and without proper monitoring system, we ought not to have the GST in place.

Alkisah India di India dan India di Malaysia — Zaini Hassan

This is the controversial article, said to seditious and belittling Indians in general.

My comments are in bold Alkisah India di India dan India di Malaysia — Zaini Hassan

DEC 11 — Berada di kota raya tua India, Hyderabad selama seminggu minggu lalu amat memberi kesedaran kepada diri ini. Setiap inci persegi tanah di kota-kotanya dihuni oleh ratusan insan. Setiap kilometer persegi dihuni oleh ratusan ribu insan dan setiap bandar raya di negara keramat itu dihuni oleh jutaan manusia. Dan India ialah tanah bagi 1.2 bilion umat manusia. Angkanya bertambah setiap saat.

I have been to Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai (and the whole of Tamil Nadu). What makes it more relevant is that I have stayed in Hyderabad on job assignment for 5 months.

Berada di India bererti kita berada dalam satu realiti kemanusiaan yang sebenar. India ialah tanah bagi manusia ramai. Jurang hidupnya adalah antara langit dan bumi. Yang papa terlalu papa, yang kaya terlalu kaya. Yang kaya, tidak pandang ke bawah, yang bawah tetap di bawah.

Very true, the rich are extremely rich in India while there are still beggars and those who live on USD $1 a day. An average rich person in India is definitely richer than millionaires in Malaysia.

Kasta, darjat atau keturunan masih diamalkan secara tebal di seluruh India. Ia semacam satu agama. Kasta atas tidak boleh bersatu kasta rendah.

Another fact despite all the rhetoric spewed by heroes in Tamil Movies and Indian leaders in general saying all are equal. Caste, Status and Race are very much important in the society.

Jalan rayanya haru-biru. Suasananya hiruk-pikuk. Bas, lori, kereta, basikal, teksi roda tiga, kereta lembu, kuda bersimpang siur. Bunyi hon adalah wajib. Pegang sahaja stereng, bunyi hon dulu. Di belakang bas dan lori tertulis “tolong hon”. Tiada siapa marah jika dia dihon. Hon ialah nyawa.

Very much a true reflection on happenings on any road in India. Horns are really a necessity in India. You have signs such as ‘Horn Please’ at the back of a lorry.

Semasa dalam perjalanan menghadiri makan malam perpisahan di Istana Chowmohalla (dibina pada 1780 oleh Nawab Nizam Ali Khan, Asaf Jah II), pemandu bas yang membawa kami tiba-tiba turun lari meninggalkan bas yang dibawanya. Hilang dalam lautan manusia dan kenderaan. Kami terpinga-pinga. Dua lelaki preman masing-masing memegang submesingan jenis sterling yang mengawal keselamatan kami dalam bas berkata “jangan bimbang”. Pemandu tadi sebenarnya turun untuk meleraikan kenderaan-kenderaan yang sudah berpintal di atas jalan raya. Dia bertindak menjadi polis trafik. Sambil dia menyelesaikan kekusutan itu, saya melihat di seberang sana seorang penumpang turun dari teksi roda tiga yang dinaikinya menolak kenderaan itu yang mati di atas jalan raya. Tiada rasa marah pun di muka penumpang itu yang menolong menolak teksinya yang rosak. Tiada siapa peduli apa yang berlaku di sekeliling mereka. Polis trafik pun menjalankan apa yang terdaya, tanpa memperlihatkan sedikit pun kekerutan di dahinya. Trafik lalu lintas tetap berjalan lancar, walaupun dalam suasana kekecohan.

The real difference is that apparently there are no road bullies in India, people are extremely patient despite the chaotic situation in the roads. It is perhaps that everyone realises that they are equally guilty of breaking the rules all the time.

Sebelah malam, di tepi-tepi jalan insan-insan tidur merata-rata. Ada yang telah nyenyak membungkus tubuh dengan kain selimut daripada kedinginan kota itu. Yang belum tidur, duduk mencangkung sambil memandang ke satu tujuan yang tidak diketahui.

You can see them at five foot way, open parks and even in roundabouts.

Hampir dua jam bergelut kami tiba di istana bereka bentuk masjid itu. Di sepanjang dinding tembok istana tertulis tulisan dalam bahasa Inggeris “Ini tempat suci jangan kencing”. Kencing berdiri sambil si anunya memancut ke dinding adalah pemandangan umum yang biasa. Mungkin kerana terlalu ramai manusia, tandas bukan lagi pilihan. Awas, setiap pagi berhati-hati berjalan di kaki-kaki lima kerana terlalu banyak jerangkap samar dari isi perut manusia berlonggok di sana-sini. Suasana serupa juga juga khabarnya boleh dilihat di bandar raya lain termasuk di Mumbai.

This is a norm in India, Clean toilets are hard to find, one has to get into some hotels or some up market restaurants in India to find some decent toilets. Urinating in public is a norm, something that is decreasing by the day, but still prevalent in most towns and cities.

Sampainya di istana itu, kami dibawa masuk ke dalamnya. Satu suasana antara langit dengan bumi. Kawasan istana lama itu diwarnai dengan lampu-lampu berwarni yang menyenangkan perasaan. Bagaikan berada dalam kisah Hikayat 1001. Tarian-tarian Bollywood dari era 50-an hingga kini dipersembahkan kepada kami. Selesai persembahan kami dijamu dengan juadah Hyderabad tersohor di dunia, nasi beriyani.

Hotels in Hyderabad are much more costlier than those in Malaysia. Even a 1 or 2 star hotel can cost up to the minimum charged by a 5 star hotel in Malaysia as generally there are shortage of hotel rooms throughout India.

Kami makan beriyani kambing dan ayam, tanpa mempedulikan apa-apa lagi. Ia terlalu sedap tanpa boleh ditandingi oleh mana-mana restoran Malaysia, waima Hameediah di Campbell Street, Pulau Pinang mahupun Mahbob di Bangsar. This is the only food I would recommend in Hyderabad. Di luar tembok sana, suasananya adalah terlalu kontras. India yang penuh warna-warni. India yang penuh dengan drama. Di dada-dada akhbarnya konflik di mana-mana. Di Parlimennya pun haru-biru seperti di atas jalan rayanya juga. Televisyen memaparkan bagaimana seorang speaker dewannya tidak diendahkan oleh ahli-ahli Parlimen yang memboikot sesi soal-jawab. Akhbar Deccan Chronicle dalam karikatur muka satunya (macam Senyum Kambing) keesokan harinya mencuit: Mengapa mereka tidak mahu buat sesi soal-jawab dalam kantin saja, kan di situ tempatnya ahli Parlimen selalu melepak?

Parliament and State assemblies in India as more chaotic than Malaysia. As in the case of non-existence of road bullies in India, parliament and state assemblies are noisy but rarely end up in violence. Walk outs, hurling abuses, caste sentiments, race rhetoric are a norm. Not much different from Malaysia.

India tetap India. Orang India ialah masyarakat yang begitu unik. Jika kita sering tengok wayang Tamil atau Hindi, itulah budaya mereka. Kecoh, kecoh dan kecoh.

There’s nothing wrong with this comment. Indian Malaysians are equally kecoh. One need not go far, just look at the prayers, religious events, processions, weddings and other ceremonies. It’s always noisy and chaotic. Thaipusam is a very good example. Only the more educated and civilised Indian Malaysians are trying to change by doing things in a more orderly manner. Those who object to this particular comment are those in denial and they are the ones who are unlikely to change or become more civilised.

Namun, kita di Malaysia pun ada orang India. Kecohnya pun lebih kurang sama. Mereka ini rata-ratanya terdiri daripada ahli-ahli profesional, peguam dan kini menjadi ahli politik. Di Malaysia hanya orang India yang pandai-pandai sahaja yang sering buat bising. Mereka menguasai Majlis Peguam dan kini mereka sudah ramai di Parlimen, bukan mewakili MIC, tapi mewakili DAP dan PKR.

I quite agree, Indian Politicians so far are seen to be more noise than substance, be it Samy Vellu or those from the opposition.

Kerana mereka lantang dan suka buat haru-biru, suara mereka sering kedengaran. Salah seorangnya ialah N. Kulasegaran yang kini memegang jawatan Naib Pengerusi DAP Perak. Beliau lantang mempersoalkan hak-hak orang Melayu. Katanya, beliau tidak faham mengapa setelah bertahun lamanya masih ada kelompok manusia percaya kepada warna kulit atau penampilan yang lebih tinggi daripada satu kaum lain. Kita tidak pasti apakah beliau ikhlas dengan kenyataannya itu. Dia tahukah apa yang dia cakap? Tapi yang pasti kenyataannya itu cukup sensitif dan akan membuat kumpulan lain marah. Tapi seperti biasa orang Melayu marahnya tidak lama. Tak apalah. Orang Melayu tidak seperti orang India, walaupun ada juga Melayu yang darah keturunan Keling (DKK), tapi darah Melayu yang lembut banyak menguasai mereka.

I dont understand why the need for the writer to use derogatory term here, though I am not offended. The point is if compared to India, where certain race and castes are suppressed, there’s nothing much to lose here with Malays having Malay rights & privileges. I am sure Kulasegaran must be aware of the discrimination towards certain caste and within certain races in India. He must be in denial. Even in Malaysia, certain Indian race and caste are strongly against mixed marriages within Indians and you will never see Indian Malaysian leaders denounce this because some of them are guilty of the same.

Jika di India, mungkin kita akan sentiasa dikawal oleh pengawal bermesingan. Kulasegaran perlu mengambil cuti. Pergilah melawat ke India, dan hayatilah erti kehidupan di sana, hayatilah erti kasta dan darjat, miskin dan kaya, seperti yang saya alami minggu lalu. Seburuk-buruk Malaysia, inilah tanah tumpah darah kita. — Utusan Malaysia

Agreed, Indian Malaysian Politicians should visit and study the situation in India. I am just most of them must have been there. It’s just that they are living in denial. I must repeat that most of the problems associated with Indians in Malaysia is of their own doing. These politicians continue to deny the existing problems within the community and pin the blame on the government and the rich. For example, Job opportunities are plenty, but Indian politicians blame the government for falure to tackle urban poor and problem of Indian youth turning to gangsterism. How long are they going to hide behind their own weaknesses are beyond me.

I yearned to come back to Malaysia just after a month of staying in Hyderabad. I really struggled to stay there for 5 months. Never in my mind had the thought of living there forever. No way, Malaysia is heaven on earth and despite all the issues and problems, this is certainly not a country where the citizens should ungrateful of.

Generally, the article presented true account of situation in India, Hyderabad in particular and the similarities found among Malaysian Indians, which I quite agree. . The only issue would be perhaps the use of derogatory term on Indians.

We Are All Racist!!

It’s quite funny to see Malaysians accusing each other of being racist. This, is from the Ministers right up to the working class ( the cow head group).

I think we Malaysians are in denial. We are all racist. I will outline below why I say so..

All Malaysian political parties are somewhat race based; this includes those who claim to be multi racial. Multi-racial political parties while claiming to be all equal, conduct their ceramah targeting particular race at various spots usually frequented by a particular race.

For example, DAP, MCA and Gerakan have their ceramah at Chinese restaurants, complete with dinner and drinks. UMNO and PAS like to have their campaigns near mosques and open areas within usually a Malay majority area while MIC and Hindraf like to do this in Indian Majority areas and even temples.

The only time these political parties do otherwise is when they campaign for candidate from another party, only then they share the same stage. This is quite evident during by-elections where campaigns are more focused one various ethnic groups apart from the customary door to door campaigning.

Why is that certain political party leaders give their speech in Mandarin and Tamil, aren’t we supposed to be communicating in Bahasa Malaysia or English. The whole objective cannot be other than delivering messages targeted at certain race.

We have various school streams based on mainly race and not really actual mother tongue. We have so called vernacular school champions, whose statement and overall outlook are racist in nature, supported vehemently by MCA, MIC, and not surprisingly self appointed multi-racialist, Gerakan, PKR, DAP and various other mosquito parties.

Why PKR and DAP supports vernacular schools, even to the extend of marching the streets in pressuring government to reverse the Maths/Science in English policy, is beyond me. They were also the first to denounce single stream school idea put forward by a racist party, UMNO (Mukhriz brought it up first in the parliament).

Of course, everyone, including UMNO, MIC, MCA and multi-racial parties often rely on the clauses in the federal constitution which guarantees vernacular education as well as special privileges for the Malays. While Multi-racial parties wants Malay rights to be abolished and the government to treat everyone equally, they are unwilling to accept the idea of having children study in the single school system, even though Mandarin and Tamil will still be taught.

When Vision School idea, a compromise of sorts to maintain Chinese and Tamil schools in it’s current form while sharing a common venue/building, the same racist vernacular school champions objected and not to our surprise again, their objection were supported by so-called multi-racial parties such as DAP. Why, because DAP’s support is mainly derived from one race, hence race is a main factor in DAP’s political strategy. Why is that there are hardly any Malays in DAP, the answer is the same, the actual focus is on RACE, RACE and RACE.

What is the reason for Selangor state government, helmed by a multi-racial party back track on their decision to appoint a Chinese as the head of PKNS. Why is that their representative line up for EXCO and councilors are various local council in all states (including those helmed by multiracial parties ) is based on racial quota, not on basis of experience and competency.

Why do ‘Malaysian Malaysia’ leader Lim Guan Eng, who want equality, and champions ‘Competency, Accountability and Transparency appoint a Malay and Indian Deputy Chief Minister, who have no administrative experience, if not for the reason none other than the candidates RACE!

Why is that DAP is very much focused on the PKFZ scandal and not say MIED or Maika or even the roof collapse of the stadium in Terengganu, if not for the fact that the scandal is linked to MCA, their arch-enemies in vying for Chinese votes.

It’s also normal for all these politicians to take advantage of certain incidents to become champions of certain race. Good example is Kugan and Teoh Beng Hock’s death, though Malaysians as a whole deplored such tragic events, certain politicians found it fit to use it to their advantage and in the process, become hero of the particular race.

In Kugan’s death, Indian politicians from both opposition and BN came to the fore but when innocent and not so innocent Indians are dying on almost daily basis due to violence perpetrated by fellow Indians, these Indian Champions are no where to be seen. I am not exaggerating here, almost one Indian is killed everyday by usually fellow Indians, due to fights, gang fights, crime gone wrong etc. Those who read Tamil newspapers will agree. In fact, I had a relative who became a victim, whose case is never resolved until today.

The same applies when known criminals are shot dead by police, more than usual, only politicians of certain race comes forward to slam the police but when policemen are killed or injured while on duty, the same racial heroes are nowhere to be seen. You must have realized that similar scenarios prevailed in Teoh Beng Hock’s case.

Actually I need not go far to illustrate this point, just go and have a look at the vernacular newspapers. They are full of reports on certain race only. A non-record breaking Sea Games gold medal win by an Indian were glorified by all 3 Tamil newspaper while a double gold medal win by A Sarawakian were left in a small column of the back page in two of the 3 newspapers. Another just highlighted it in the summary.

I pity most of our Malay friends who can’t read these vernacular newspapers. Even for Chinese or rather Mandarin newspapers, one need not know the language; you can know what’s going on, where the focus is, what the main issues etc are by looking at the generous amount of pictures in the pages. You will never go wrong if you conclude that the main issues are about Chinese and key personalities are none other than MCA, leaders as well as Chinese leaders from the so-called multi-racial parties.

In Tamil newspapers, you can also easily detect the media conduct of Indian politicians from so-called multi-racial parties. People like Manikavasagam, Sivanesan, Gobalakrishnan and even Dr Ramasamy (DCM, Penang) . They pander to Tamil media, appearing almost daily basis on stories exclusively focused on Indians. The war between politicians in the Tamil newspapers, who are generally more independent than English or Malay mainstream papers are quite ferocious and these politicians from so-called multi-racial parties use the papers to slam MIC and BN leaders. It is so obvious that the only reason they do this is of course to slam BN but on the other hand, to be seen as a hero to their own race. They hardly invite Tamil Media to cover events involving other races.

On a personal basis, it is common for Malaysians to criticise and make racially insensitive comments about another race when their own kind get together. We would be lying if we deny this. We deplore the habits of certain race and the only opportune time to talk about it is when the same race get together. We make all kinds of accusation against another race when we can easily find similar deficiencies or weaknesses within our own race.

It was apparent in the case of Indians, where all the blame for their misfortunes are leveled against the government and Malays in general when the actual fact, most of the problems faced by the community is their own doing but none of the racial heroes have come forward to criticise their own community for their failures.

I had similar feeling when reading ‘The Chinese Dilemma’ where the community, despite being quite well of in general, was portrayed is being in denial of their own weaknesses. Most of the facts presented were quite true, says a Chinese friend of mine.

In summary, we are all racist and politicians should accept this fact and stop accusing each other of being racist. No country in the world is without racist or people with such tendencies. We just have to minimise such rhetoric’s and focus on bridging the divide.

How Things Have and Have Not Changed

Further to the March 8 elections, leading to the anti-climax on Sept 16 last year, things were looking good for Pakatan Rakyat, where we also saw Pakatan winning most by-elections and it’s leader Anwar Ibrahim, returning to Parliament. There also appeared to be too much of politics in the country leading to Sept 16.

Pakatan Rakyat as a whole was also in their element by setting up state governments in 5 states and handing out freebies while Barisan Nasional were in the brink of collapse, especially UMNO, while MCA took the opportunity to renew itself by the way of Ong Kah Ting not seeking another term. MIC became irrelevant with it’s leader going on a mission to re-brand the grand old party. MIC should have been renamed Samy Vellu & Family Party as part of the re-branding exercise.

One year later, we are seeing the situation reversed. BN’s win in Bagan Pinang brought back some cheer to Barisan, though it can be solely attributed to Isa long service to the constituency, more than a reflection of support for BN. It can be also said that Pakatan Rakyat was also disorganized throughout the campaign period.

Najib , who started with the lowest popularity ratings ever by a PM has regained some support of the Malaysians.Some of the policies changes and other economic measures received support from the corporate sector as well as the public. The upcoming budget is likely to have some people friendly measures that would definitely spur Najib’s popularity.

Pakatan Rakyat, on the other hand, is seen as in chaos. No discipline whatsoever, that would sum up the attitude of their leaders. Their decline started with the BN takeover of Perak. However unfair it may be, Pakatan Rakyat leaders behavior was nothing but crude, rude and unbecoming, no matter that they felt that they were victimized. Kugan and Teoh death brought back the anger of public, but then BN is not to be blamed entirely.

Conflicting statements from their Pakatan Rakyat leaders are nothing but an example of a coalition in distress. While Lim Kit Siang does, from time to time indicate that Pakatan Rakyat has to buck up, however their supreme leader has been forever in denial, claiming that BN and press are to blame for everything.

PAS revealed their true colours while PKR leaders continue to squabble in public, the recent being Zaid decision to take leave, when there is no need to, if ever he wants to concentrate on forming a formal coalition. PKR, whose leader dreamt of taking over as PM by the way of luring (or rather, buying) the support of mainly MPs of both Sabah and Sarawak, are now facing serious crisis in the very same states. DAP on the other hand, remains the only sane party in Pakatan Rakyat despite the drubbing they received over the Kampung Buah Pala issue.

From becoming a government in waiting, Pakatan Rakyat is now seen as a coalition that is found wanting. Nothing substantial has been achieved in the states that they govern. Election promises remains as texts in their manifestos while their leaders continue to behave like opposition. In the area that I am staying, I saw no substantial differences, except for increased dengue cases.

BN is also seeing crises within their coalition. MCA is still reeling from the decision of delegates to the EGM. No solutions seems to be in sight. I would have preferred the level headed reformist, Ong Kah Ting remained for another term. Chua Jui Meng headed for the problematic PKR. My prediction is he would not last long there as he is not the person who can survive rough politics. He should have joined DAP, where at least they would have respected.

PPP is also still affected by the continued defiance of Murugiah, who refuses to acknowledge that he is no longer in PPP or definitely not the President. Najib is also appears to be unsure as to how to handle Murugiah’s case. In general, Murugiah is seen to be effective and popular in his role as Deputy Minister, regardless of the problems with the party leadership.

MIC rebranding exercise last year has resulted in President renewing his term with the support of his own men at helm in the Central Working Committee. Samy Vellu was also pressured to leave, mainly due to the insistence of influential Dr Mahathir that he has overstayed his welcome. As defiant as he has been, Samy insists that he will hand over the reign to largely ineffective deputy before the next party elections.

Najib, not wanting to rely solely on MIC for Indian support, agreed to do something unprecedented, launching Malaysia Makkal Sakhti Party, run by a former Hindraf coordinator. The PM usually do not even attend AGMs of parties who supports but not a member of BN.

The recent UMNO general assembly showed that UMNO can also be rational when their leaders want to. No fiery speeches, except for the ones by Najib. ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ appears to have taken a backseat as this grand old party risk losing their grip on power for the first time ever if they do not change.

In summary, both BN and PR are in a mess and indirectly, the Malaysian public suffers due to selfish and irrational attitude of some leaders. Imagine how many policies, approvals and economic measures could have been stalled due to politicians holding government posts (both federal and state) distracted by internal political problems in their respective party. This is where party politics and democracy does not benefit the general population and we, Malaysians have seen a bit too much of this lately.

MIC : In Their Own World

That would summarise what happened over the weekend during the MIC Annual general Assembly. In what should have been a major change in party structure in order to rejuvenate the party, what we saw was the same old faces helming the top leadership.

Almost all other BN parties have seen changes in their leadership but despite massive failures in the general elections, MIC members are adamant that the current failed leaders are still needed.

Datuk Subramaniam failed challenge of Datuk Palanivel has been expected but this is certainly not a measure to rejuvenate the party, as these two politicians are nothing but spent force. Many thought Subra’s win can bring some hope of change, but this is not to be. Sothinanthan worked as the spoiler to Subra’s plans. While Sothinanthan is still young, Subra’s political career can be considered as good as over.

Subra may still have some options but he is unlikely to move to opposition, not after decades in BN.

Samy Vellu can proudly claim that he still commands support in the party, but the fact remains that more than half did not vote for his choice for Deputy. Even the vice presidents of his choice, won due to their own popularity, owing to decent performance in their respective government post, though they were nominated to the government post by Samy Vellu.

My only regret is that Dr Subramaniam ( the Human Resources Minister) should have contested the Deputy President post. He is credible, fluent in all three languages and appear to be well liked by all, not only in MIC.

The only consolation is that some young leaders have been appointed as Secretary General, Information Chief and Treasurer.

With this development, things can only go down hill for MIC. There’s nothing for Samy to be proud of. Almost approximately 70% of Indians voted for the opposition in the March 8 elections, and even with the Najib feel good factor, more than half Indians voters, mostly young voters, are still leaning towards the opposition. The main reason is they hate Samy Vellu and to a lesser extend BN.

Najib and even Mahathir’s hint for change was not heeded by the delegates. My interaction with the grassroots, right after the MIC elections, indicates that none will return if Samy remains. That’s a fact and majority Malaysians would agree. Many Indians only have harsh and disgusting words for Samy Vellu. His son and daughter-in law’s involvement in the party has only further infuriated many. They see this an attempt to turn MIC into Samy Sdn Bhd.

Pakatan Rakyat’s further decline in performance and lack of initiatives for Indians will ensure some votes return to BN. With this development, it is as if MIC has chosen to keep them out of the equation.

Rightfully members should be discussing on their lost of support and perhaps the outcome of the post mortem further to the general elections in the annual assembly, none happened and Samy Vellu summed up the issue by saying MIC lost support due to BN and not him. And the MIC delegates accepted that. That says a lot about their ability to gauge public sentiments. No further debates on this and they appear to be contented with President’s argument and some BN bashings throughout the assembly.

They appear to be happy with their current standings in the eyes of people. They appear not to be bothered with various criticisms and onslaught by Hindraf and Pakatan Rakyat Indian leaders. They appear to in their own world.

Unless some drastic change happens, MIC is likely to be completely wiped out in the next elections and they will eventually be where they want to be, in their own world.

1Malaysia Overdose

I am increasingly irritated by the 1Malaysia campaign. Not sure why people are so into this slogan as if this is something new. Even the corporate sector joined the bandwagon and riding on the catchy slogan with their glossy advertisements in the mainstream television.

While Najib’s massive campaign may have been positively welcomed by the rakyat, it has become an irritant and more so when his own party members are still within the old mindset as reflected in some of their speeches and not to mention various articles in Utusan Melayu.

While everyone blames Utusan Melayu for racist centric articles, the same can be said with Tamil newspapers and I was told, even Chinese newspapers. It’s just that all Malaysians can read Utusan while not all Indians or Chinese Malaysian can read Tamil or mandarin newspapers, what more Malays.

Unless Najib’s own party members reflect the slogan in their actions, this 1Malaysia will soon end up like “Gemilang, Cermerlang and Terbilang” in the next general elections.

1Malaysia maybe nice and catchy to some people, especially the kids, but it’s pointless if people chose to segregate themselves and the fact that we have a system that segregates children from young. And we all know that this systematic segregation is well supported by the same people who champion for 1Malaysia, Malaysian Malaysia and others similar slogans that are not popular.


On the other hand, if Malaysians really wants to be united, not just be seen to be united, they have to make sacrifices, I mean big sacrifice here. That would be the current generation’s biggest contribution to the next, and they will certainly be remembered centuries to come.

I am, of course, referring to the single stream school idea which has been reignited, read here.

If Najib and Muyiddin is serious about 1Malaysia, they should do their best to float a workable idea towards establishing one single school stream. It may not be appealing to Chinese and Indian educationist, or rather chauvinist, but an attractive and quality national school may work to attract non Malays back to national school. This may include introduction of English medium schools, which I believe will definitely attract all races.

With the race and racist sentiments hitting high notes recently, I had a first hand look on old 1Malaysia in one small cowboy town called Paloh in Johor. I attended a function held by my father’s friend, an Indian Malaysian. Whilst it was a small function, it was well attended by multi-racial crowd within the neighborhood. What was surprising it that, the non-indians outnumbered the Indians.

I had the opportunity to have a chat with the folk there. I gathered that most of them work in saw mills, estates, factories, transportation and small businesses catering to the residents there. I also realized that being in a small town, they, regardless of race, depend on each other for job, business and daily needs.

When they started talking about politics, one of them turned to me and said that ‘you educated people are the ones who are creating all kinds of problems for this country’. He further added that there have not been any racial problems in the small town ever. He also mentioned that their biggest problem ever was with the communist insurgency back then when Paloh was known to be one of the communist stronghold back then in Johor.

I was taken aback but not surprised with the accusation against KLites as there are certainly lots of truth in that statement. Throughout the conversation, everyone showed genuine warmth towards each other, as they have been for decades, something that I hardly see in KL. Life there is simple and slow but people are enjoying themselves and would not want a complicated life such as in KL even if given millions of Ringgit.

So 1Malaysia is certainly not new, but an old wine in a new bottle. And according to the folks in Johor, educated Malaysians chose to deliberately crack and eventually break the old bottle over the years.