Bombs kill three on Thai-Malaysia border
At least three people have died and another 60 wounded after three bombs detonated on Friday in a Thai town near the border with Malaysia.
Jan
13
Bombs kill three on Thai-Malaysia border
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Jan
13
Insulting Muslims 101
Shape of a Pocket by Jacqueline Ann Surin | 05 September 2011
HOW does one insult Islam in Malaysia? And how does one insult Muslims in Malaysia?
Over the past few years and increasingly over the past months, the state, politicians and pressure groups like Perkasa have demonstrated just how to do either one or both. For the most part, these incidents are an insult to Muslims in Malaysia, rather than to the world’s fastest growing religion per se.
Here’s my take on how these groups have been giving lessons to the nation, and to the world, on Insulting Muslims 101.
Step 1: Weak and wavering
Here’s how to portray Malaysian Muslims as weak and easily swayed by all manner of external influence:
The film Babe, about a little pig who wanted to be a sheepdog
Ban a movie about a pig because it may just convince Muslims to eat what their faith teaches them to be haram. Don’t stop there. Discipline a child for bringing to school the pork lunch his Christian mother prepared for him. Similarly, make sure alcohol can’t be sold in Muslim-majority areas.
Tell Muslims that if they practise yoga, they might be tempted to worship Hindu gods. If there is a Hindu temple in their neighbourhood, their faith might be threatened.
Ban the use of “Allah”, and three other Arabic words, in non-Muslim worship. Send a message to Muslims in Malaysia and in other parts of the world, where incidentally “Allah” is used by non-Muslims in their worship, that Malaysian Muslims are easily confused.
Step 2: Intolerant and judgemental
This is oh-so-easy to execute especially post-Sept 11 when many fear Muslims to be violent and irrational terrorists. Within that global context, adding “intolerant” and “judgemental” to the cocktail of bad traits Muslims purportedly have doesn’t require very much effort.
Projecting an image of Malaysian Muslims as intolerant and judgemental can be done in several ways. For example, show them in an 8TV Ramadan ad as being affected by a non-Muslim Chinese Malaysian who wears a sleeveless top to a Ramadan bazaar. Let them be police and judge in these TV ads who can tell non-Muslims what good, moral behaviour is all about and how non-Muslims should dress.
Step 3: Constantly needing state intervention
If Step 1 is effectively executed, Step 3 is a logical next step. Because Malaysian Muslims are purportedly so weak and easily swayed, the state must step in to protect Muslim faith. And so apostasy is made a crime under syariah law in Malaysia. Not fasting during Ramadan is a punishable offence for Malaysian Muslims. Never mind that in Indonesia, in the most populous Muslim country in the world, no such regulation is needed.
Ostensibly, it’s also because Muslims are so weak in Malaysia that should a non-Muslim marry a Muslim, she or he must convert. No such legal requirement is imposed on non-Muslim couples of different faiths who marry each other. Neither is this legal requirement in place in Indonesia where Malays can even be Christians and yet this poses no threat to Indonesian Muslims.
Yes, and because Malaysian Muslims are weak, they need a Faith Rescue Unit in Selangor and at the federal level, they need an Islamic Affairs Ministry in an already over-bloated cabinet. Without the state watching over how Muslims live out their faith and intervening in both their public and private lives, woe is sure to follow the ummah.
Step 4: Afraid of Christians and Christianity
Are Malaysian Muslims so threatened by Christians and Christianity? Apparently, they are or even if they really aren’t, they need to be.
And that’s why Christian events should not be held during Ramadan. And of course, Muslims must be shown that that it would be disastrous for them to attend any event held on church premises. Muslims who do attend such events must go for counselling so their faith can be protected.
How is this insulting? Well, I’m reminded of my own experience living as a Catholic with other non-Muslims in Third College in Universiti Malaya where the boarders and administrators were predominantly Muslim. And where the loudspeaker for the azan was just outside the bedroom I shared with a Hindu senior. Even though we were bombarded with the call for Muslim prayer five times a day, every single day, and surrounded by Muslims and their practises, that didn’t stop us from going to church or the temple or from practising our faith. Somehow, we were not tempted to apostasise.
So, if even stepping onto church premises for a community dinner can so quickly turn their faith on its head, Muslims must be particularly vulnerable to Christian influence. We must remember though, that this vulnerability may not be applicable for Muslims, including Malaysian Muslims, in other countries where Muslims can visit cathedrals and temples and not feel compelled to apostasise.
It must be this special vulnerability to Christians in Malaysia that forms the reason for Perkasa wanting Christian teachers to be barred from teaching in national schools or at least, to have them monitored. Never mind that our prime minister and other notable Malaysian Muslims attended Christian missionary schools and today remain Muslims. Or that Datuk Seri Najib Razak was at the Vatican with the head of the Catholic Church and did not recant his faith. The prime minister must be in a league of his own compared to other Muslim mortals who don’t hold such high office.
Is Najib’s faith in danger after meeting the pope? (source: insightsabah.gov.my)
The sting of the insult
Why are these insults really insulting?
Well, because Malaysian Muslims, at least most of them, are far more certain about their faith, and less susceptible to non-Muslim influence and lifestyles, then they are made out to be.
During Ramadan for example, I stayed in a Muslim household for a week to help a good friend with her new-born. Guess what happened when I had breakfast and lunch in front of the fasting Muslims? Was I chastised for tempting these Muslims and endangering their faith? Not at all. Even though they could not eat, they made sure food was available for me, even cooking for me.
On another occasion, a non-Muslim friend who was dressed in a spaghetti strap top didn’t receive stares or rebukes at the Ramadan bazaar we were at in Section 3, PJ. The Muslim vendors and customers weren’t interested in looking at her bare arms and shoulders, nor did they find it offensive. They were more interested in the food so that they could break fast.
So who are these people who would insult Malaysian Muslims and make them out to be so weak and so much in need of state support? And why would they want to do that?
The politics of fear
Super Straw Man: helping you solve the problems he made up?
One way to answer this question is to ask: Whose interest would it serve to have Malaysian Muslims believe they are weak and under threat from non-Muslims, and hence need constant rescuing?
Seems to me it would serve the interest of the politicians and state and non-state actors who insist that without them, Muslims in Malaysia would indeed be lost souls.
Who might these be? Well, Umno and PAS for certain, who demonstrate repeatedly just how much they would like to control the lives of Muslims — even to the point of disrupting the lives of non-Muslims — in Malaysia. That Utusan Malaysia, TV3 and TV1 — all of which fall under Umno either through ownership or government control — have published and broadcast inaccurate reports about Christian proselytisation of Muslims is yet another sign of what is at stake. The possibility that the religious beliefs of the majority in Malaysia are being threatened by the minority is surely one of the easiest ways to fester disharmony and distrust in multi-racial Malaysia.
And of course, there’s Perkasa which, in the name of Islam, would emasculate all Malaysian Muslims with their politics of fear and animosity, and threat of violence against non-Muslims and non-Malays.
If Muslim and non-Muslim Malaysians were to believe everything that is done from Steps 1 to 4, this country would have crumbled a while ago from the strain of having a fearful, besieged Muslim majority reacting to every external influence as a threat.
That we haven’t become a Humpty Dumpty nation suggests that we are all far more resilient and respectful of each other than what has been portrayed. And yes, that includes the Muslims who live among us. Question then is, what will we do to stop this campaign of insulting Muslims in Malaysia?
http://www.thenutgraph.com/insulting-muslims-101/
Jacqueline Ann Surin wonders just how the revived Inter-faith Relations Working Committee will address the phenomenon of Muslims insulting Muslims and Islam in Malaysia.
Jan
13
Bila rogol dikatakan halal
Asam Pedas oleh Norhayati Kaprawi | 26 September 2011
“SEKUMPULAN WANITA BERSKIRT MINI BERHIMPUN DI JAKARTA”,
“PAKAI SKIRT BANTAH GABENOR”
Bila baca tajuk berita sedemikian, imej apa yang terus terbayang di fikiran pembaca? Mungkinkah: “Whoo, perempuan seksi!” Atau: “Teruk betul wanita yang berdemo itu kerana pakai mini skirt.” Mungkin: “Inilah bila wanita kebaratan sangat…!”
Tetapi, berapa ramai agaknya yang merasa mahu tahu isu apakah yang membuatkan wanita-wanita itu berdemonstrasi?
Berita mengenai wanita berdemonstrasi di Jakarta baru-baru ini tersiar di akhbar-akhbar perdana di Malaysia. Mereka memprotes kenyataan gabenor Jakarta yang menyalahkan cara perempuan berpakaian sebagai punca mereka dirogol.
Mangsa yang diperkosa adalah seorang mahasiswi yang masih berpakaian seragam dalam perjalanan pulang dari kampus. Gabenor terus menuduh punca wanita diperkosa di dalam bas pengangkutan awam adalah kerana wanita memakai skirt pendek. Apakah kenyataan itu benar dan patut?
Justeru, para wanita berdemo dengan memakai pelbagai jenis pakaian untuk menunjukkan bahawa pakaian bukanlah menjadi penyebab wanita diperkosa.
Masyarakat memangsakan mangsa
Antara faktor pemerkosaan adalah kerana penjenayah merasa mempunyai kuasa untuk melakukan kekerasan ke atas orang yang lebih lemah dari dirinya.
Hakikatnya, bayi, kanak-kanak kecil, nenek-nenek dan wanita yang bertudung labuh pun ada yang dirogol.
Malaysia masih ingat kes Nurul Huda Abd Ghani, murid Tahun 4 yang dirogol oleh tiga lelaki di pondok pengawal TNB di Johor Bharu. Juga kes Noor Suzaily Mokhtar, jurutera komputer yang dirogol dan dibunuh dengan kejam oleh pemandu bas. Noor Suzaily tidak memakai skirt pendek semasa beliau menaiki bas tersebut. Beliau bertudung kepala.
Apa yang sering berlaku, reaksi spontan ramai orang adalah untuk terus menyalahkan si mangsa. “Mesti kerana dia berpakaian yang menjolok mata”, atau “Gaya dia membuatkan lelaki tergoda”.
Jangan terperanjat jika reaksi sebegini turut datang dari orang-orang yang berpendidikan tinggi, termasuk yang dikatakan tinggi ilmu agamanya.
Bila rogol dianggap halal dalam Islam
Seorang pemimpin parti politik bergelar ulama berkata wanita yang tidak menutup aurat memang layak dirogol. Ceramah beliau tersiar di YouTube, ditonton lebih dari satu juta kali.
Baru-baru ini juga seorang pemimpin tertinggi di Acheh Barat juga mengeluarkan kenyataan yang serupa, iaitu wanita yang tidak berpakaian menurut Shariah layak diperkosa.
Fauzi Bowo Canisius, gabenor Jakarta (Wiki commons)
Mesej apakah yang diberi oleh tokoh-tokoh Islam ini? Ajaran Islam apakah yang disampaikan? Apakah pelaksanaan negara Islam mereka lebih kepada untuk menghukum? Adakah menurut kefahaman mereka, merogol wanita yang tidak menutup aurat itu hukumnya halal?
Dalil apa yang mereka pakai? Apakah ada ayat al-Qur’an yang mengatakan hukum perempuan tidak berpakaian sopan adalah dirogol? Apakah Rasulullah pernah mengeluarkan hadith yang sekejam itu?
Bercakap atas nama agama
Ini yang menjadi ironisnya. Orang Islam marah benar bila orang Barat atau bukan Islam menuduh agama Islam sebagai mengamalkan diskriminasi, keras dan tidak berperikemanusiaan. Akan tetapi, orang Islam seperti mereka jugalah yang mengatakan perempuan memang layak diperkosa jika pakaiannya tidak sopan.
Mereka bercakap atas nama agama. Walaupun mereka mempunyai ilmu tentang Islam, namun mereka tetap merupakan manusia yang pemahamannya tentang agama dan kemanusiaan masih terbatas mengikut kadar pemahaman, tafsiran dan pengalaman mereka sendiri. Lantas, ternodalah nama Islam akibat pemikiran sempit dan sikap sadis mereka.
Teramat jarang sekali saya dengar tokoh agama di Malaysia yang kritikal tentang punca masalah keganasan seksual dan menawarkan pemikiran yang membina dalam usaha membanteras jenayah rogol. Usaha penyelesaian memerlukan pemikiran yang berupaya mengharmonikan objektif Shariah dengan konteks masyarakat moden.
Di Indonesia, saya berkesempatan bertemu beberapa tokoh Islam yang menawarkan cara pandang baru untuk masyarakat Islam di Malaysia.
Konsep dan objektif mahram
Ibu Nyai Masriyah Amva adalah seorang ulama wanita yang memimpin sebuah madrasah di Cirebon, Indonesia. Di dalam sebuah buku karangannya, beliau menceritakan pengalaman semasa di tanah suci Mekah dan Madinah.
Bagi wanita yang berasal dari negara yang secara amnya menyediakan ruang kebebasan untuk wanita bergerak ke mana saja, beliau hairan bagaimana wanita seperti beliau yang berada di kota-kota suci Islam malah lebih terdedah pada gangguan lelaki. Betapa kota yang menempatkan rumah Allah sangat tidak ramah pada perempuan.
Ibu Nyai Masriyah Amva (Sumber: kebonjambu.org)
Beliau justeru sedar bahawa perempuan adalah korban dari budaya dan undang-undang yang membunuh kekuatan-kekuatan wanita, yang membuatkan wanita terpaksa bergantung pada lelaki untuk jaminan keselamatan dirinya. Beliau lalu menyeru kerajaan Arab Saudi untuk menyediakan suasana yang aman dan kondusif agar wanita dapat bergerak bebas dan beribadah pada Tuhannya tanpa perlu bimbang dari gangguan lelaki.
Kiyai Husein Muhamad, seorang ulama tradisional di Indonesia yang berkelulusan dari universiti Al-Azhar, Mesir, memahami keadaan sukar yang dialami para wanita termasuk Ibu Nyai Masriyah.
Beliau lalu menjelaskan bahawa pada zaman Nabi yang masyarakatnya mengamalkan hidup nomad serta keadaan tanah Arab yang berpadang pasir, dengan kedudukan bandarnya yang berpuluh-puluh atau beratus-ratus batu jauhnya, memang boleh difahami mengapa wanita perlu ditemani mahram, yang biasanya adalah orang lelaki. Tujuannya agar keselamatan wanita terjaga dari anasir buruk seperti dirompak, diculik, diperkosa atau dibunuh.
Akan tetapi, di dalam sistem negara moden seperti Malaysia dan Indonesia, beliau berpendapat bahawa negaralah yang seharusnya berperanan sebagai mahram dalam memastikan keselamatan semua rakyatnya terjamin.
Ia boleh dilaksanakan dengan menyediakan sistem yang baik dan efisien. Ini termasuklah menyediakan lampu-lampu bagi memastikan jalan terang, sistem pengangkutan yang cekap yang mana kesemua kakitangan dan pemandu bas hendaklah berdaftar dan tiada rekod jenayah.
Negara yang berperanan sebagai mahram juga termasuk pasukan polis yang cekap dan mesra rakyat, dan sistem perundangan yang cekap dan tegas dalam menghukum pelaku jenayah. Penting juga dari segi pendidikan ialah memberi ilmu mempertahankan diri, menerapkan dalam sistem pendidikan agar manusia saling menghormati antara satu sama lain walaupun mereka berbeza dari pelbagai segi, termasuklah agar lelaki menghormati orang perempuan, dan sebagainya.
Menggunakan akal dalam agama
Ramai ulama mendakwa dalam Islam tidak boleh menggunakan akal fikiran, harus berdasarkan keimanan. Pada saya, kenyataan sedemikian bertentangan dengan wahyu Allah yang pertama, iaitu “Bacalah”. Tentu saja membaca memerlukan akal fikiran yang tajam bagi memproses informasi yang dibaca dengan menghubungkannya dengan alam dan hidup kita.
Dalam hal ini misalnya, apakah beriman atau meyakini itu adalah dengan meyakini apa yang dikatakan oleh pemimpin-pemimpin Islam yang mengatakan perempuan boleh dirogol? Bukankah pandangan mereka juga hasil dari menggunakan akal fikiran mereka?
Jika kita benar-benar meyakini Islam adalah agama yang baik, adil, penyayang dan mencintai keamanan, maka umat Islam harus mengelak dari mengambil sikap menyalahkan, tetapi menggunakan akal fikiran dalam mencari jalan penyelesaian terbaik terhadap masalah yang dihadapi oleh masyarakat kita di zaman ini.
Norhayati Kaprawi adalah seorang aktivis wanita dan juga pembuat filem. Filem dokumentarinya Mencari Kartika dan Aku Siapa menimbulkan perbincangan yang rancak dan menjadi bahan mengajar di banyak universiti di dalam dan luar negara.
http://www.thenutgraph.com/bila-rogol-dikatakan-halal/
Jan
13
Who needs a Race Relations Act?
Shape of a Pocket by Jacqueline Ann Surin | 09 January 2012
SO it would seem Malaysians can look forward to having yet another piece of legislation in their lives in the brand new year of 2012. This time around, the Barisan Nasional (BN) government has promised it will introduce a Race Relations Bill, to be tabled in Parliament in March.
The Race Relations Bill, according to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, is meant to replace the Internal Security Act (ISA). Presumably, this is in keeping with the prime minister’s Malaysia Day promise last year that the ISA would be abolished and replaced with new legislation.
But what exactly is the BN’s intention in introducing a Race Relations Act? And can we really trust that the government of the day knows what it is doing and has the people’s best interest at heart?
Yes! No! Yes!
Malaysians actually have little reason to trust that the BN knows what it is doing. In fact, the administration has been veering from one position to another, like a drunken teenager behind the wheel, regarding the need for a Race Relations Act.
The BN mooted the idea for a Race Relations Act in September 2008. Then Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Datuk Mohd Shafie Apdal stressed that the cabinet was united about having such a law because race relations were “not a small matter to be taken lightly”. The bill was meant to be co-drafted by Shafie’s ministry together with the Home Ministry.
Then Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said the bill would be consistent with the constitutional guarantee that all persons were equal before the law. Syed Hamid, like Shafie, stressed that the cabinet had unanimously agreed on the necessity for a law to govern race relations.
But within four months, the cabinet had a change of heart. In January 2009, Shafie announced that the government was opposed to a Race Relations Act. “Race relations is something that cannot be forced upon the people through legislation … That’s why everyone in the cabinet agreed there was no need for such an act,” he announced, adding that many experts also had misgivings about such an act.
Sounds definitive, right? But fast forward three years later, and it would seem the cabinet is yet again pulling out a Race Relations Act from its gunny sack of solutions for the nation. At the end of last year, Nazri declared the need for such an act “to combat racial extremism” and promote interaction and mutual respect among the races.
And when the federal opposition raised concerns about having such a law, guess what happened? They were rapped for their failure to understand the need for it.
(Wiki commons)
Any well-adjusted person who values his or her own safety would not get into a car driven by someone drunk who veers from one edge to another. And if we don’t trust a drunk driver to get us safely to our destination, why should we trust a government that acts like one?
A higher bar
Nazri has also said that Malaysia’s Race Relations Bill would be modelled after the UK’s Race Relations Act. Others have also suggested that the BN’s Race Relations Bill will be top-notch because it’s modelled on the UK’s law.
That’s funny. It’s funny because the UK’s Race Relations Act has already been replaced by the Equality Act 2010. The UK decided that it was not enough to have an act that governed only racial discrimination. It decided that it was far more important to talk about equality not just from a racial point of view, but also from the perspectives of age, disability, gender, religion, belief and sexual orientation.
So what’s really happening is this: BN leaders today talk about preventing race-based discrimination through a Race Relations Act and pretend that it’s ahead of the game by modelling UK legislation. But surely that is disingenuous when even the UK decided that its Race Relations Act was outmoded and needed to be replaced with legislation that sets higher standards for equality and justice.
And yet, we are expected to buy into the BN’s proposal and cheer the ruling coalition on for being far-sighted enough to replicate the UK. Like I said, it’s funny season. And it’s just the start of the new year!
Malaysia already has equality set as a benchmark in Article 8 of our Federal Constitution. Article 8(2) even prohibits discrimination “against citizens on the ground only of religion, race, descent, place of birth or gender”. And we do already have enough laws, and open-ended laws at that, to sanction and penalise those who stoke racial fires and threaten violence against a person or community of a different race or religion.
So, why the need for another piece of legislation when the government already has what it needs to prevent race-based discrimination and foster good race relations?
The bread war
The truth is, the BN, especially Umno, will not act against racial, and by extension religious, discrimination. It has not and will not – not in the foreseeable future – taken to task those who demand for Malay supremacy in their construct of the social contract. It has not and will not sanction Utusan Malaysia, which it owns, for the racist falsehoods and vicious conjectures it spreads about non-Malay and non-Muslim Malaysians. It has not and will not replace affirmative action based on race with affirmative action based on need. It will not remove the quota system for Malay Malaysians and bumiputera even though there are limitations for such quotas in the Federal Constitution.
(Source: mumsgather.com)
Perhaps one of the most current examples of just how much people feel the state is discriminating against non-Malay Malaysians is evidenced by a racialised marketing campaign’s success in promoting Massimo bread over Gardenia loafs. So strong was the belief that a Chinese-owned company was being discriminated against that a call to boycott Gardenia loafs actually worked.
Racial discrimination and the sense of inequality among citizens are deep-seated issues that are a result of more than 50 years of BN’s race politics and an Umno hell-bent on ketuanan Melayu. Clearly, what is needed is an overhaul in the system and not just a new legislation that is suspect in intention and unknown in content.
And yet, to undo the years of racial discrimination it has itself upheld and expanded, the BN is only capable of offering us breadcrumbs for solutions. Surely, we could do so much better as a nation than to settle for just crumbs.
Jacqueline Ann Surin is not surprised the BN is trying to come across as offering just what the nation needs to prevent racial discrimination. It used the same modus operandi of being “saviour” when it offered churches money and was suddenly open to interfaith dialogue after some places of worship were torched over the use of the word “Allah” two years ago.
http://www.thenutgraph.com/who-needs-a-race-relations-act/
Jan
04
‘I know I’m a woman’
December 29, 2011
A video story of a transgender undergoing rituals to dedicate her life to provide service to Bauchara Matha, the protector deity of the transgender community.
PETALING JAYA: This is a video story of a person who wants to feel liberated. Sharan wants to live her life in her own way, without any pressures from the prying and judgemental society.
Sharan was born as a man but in the following years, she realised that she had more female attributions in her.
“I was born differently…and I have decided to embrace it (the female attributes) instead of fighting the two genders,” she said.
And now, after having decided on how she wants to live her life, Sharan has opted to become a nun by dedicating her life to Bauchara Matha, a deity who is known to be the protector of the transgender community.
“I am getting married to God…to provide services to God and the people. I have no room for any man or any relationships,” she said.
“Legally my MyKad might say I am a man. I am not bothered by it. You can’t take away how I feel about myself…I know I am a woman,” she said.
Filmmaker Arvind Raj followed Sharan on a journey of several rituals that are rarely performed and never recorded on film before.
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/12/29/i-know-im-a-woman/
Jan
04
RM500, RM250 million – what madness is this?!
Selena Tay
January 4, 2012
Can anyone understand why Shahrizat Abdul Jalil’s family gets RM250 million for a project while those households with the income of less than RM3k get only RM500?
Perhaps it is better for us, the average Joe to go into the cattle business too so that we can also get RM250 million and with that amount of money we can bring our family members, relatives and friends on that Caribbean cruise we have always dreamed about.
It is the epitome of cronyism the way the project was awarded to Shahrizat. No two ways about it as after all she obtained the contract from her Umno colleague Muhyiddin Yassin who was the Minister of Agriculture at that material time.
For the average Joe who only gets the one-off RM500, this is an insulting joke! Perhaps RM500 can last for a month in the remote rural areas but in the city, an extremely stingy person can survive on that amount for one month only if he is single and does not need to pay the rent, the utilities bills and is not servicing any loan repayment.
In short, he is living-off his parents’ wealth or depending on others. Otherwise, the situation of a KL person who earns RM500 is termed as ‘die-standing’.
This is clear evidence that the wealth of the nation’s elite (read: the cronies) is beyond comparison. They have posh cars, properties galore and a jet-setting lifestyle while we have to slog day-in day-out for a better future.
The elite can afford to go for breakfast in Paris, lunch in London and dinner in Vienna all on the same day while the poor and the low-wage earner struggle daily to put food on the table and this situation of extreme income and wealth disparity is perpetuated by the BN system of governance.
Thus, the ‘People First’ slogan is a blatant lie to con the poor and the marginalised.
The BN federal government does not care two hoots about the oppressed. In addition to that, the government have failed to read the pulse of the nation which can be summed up in one word for the year 2011 and that word is none other than ‘lembu’ or cattle in English.
‘Lembu’ stands for three things:-
* Cronyism;
* The fact that the rakyat have been taken for a scandalous fast-moooooving ride; and
* As the cow is revered by the Hindus, it also serves to remind us that even after 54 years of Merdeka, the Indians continue to be marginalised.
BN just bungling along
It is the Chinese tradition to sum up the year in just one word and ‘lembu’ is on par with Bersih as the keyword of last year.
In 2008, PKFZ was DAP’s keyword in the general election campaign and this time PKR will surely use the ‘lembu’ keyword in their polls campaign.
Shahrizat should not blame the Pakatan Rakyat for targeting her on this issue as the same was originally brought up in the Auditor-General’s Report which described the project as ‘messy’.
Shahrizat’s family has dug up a goldmine in the cattle business while the average-man-in-the-street has to wait for a miserable RM500.
Some of the applicants for this one-off aid were told that they will be getting this money on Jan 15, while others were told that they would get it between mid-January to mid-March. This shows that the logistics have not even been thought out by the BN federal government and they are just bungling along.
Still, the RM500 for more than the five million people earning less than RM3k will come in useful due to the ever-rising cost of living.
Anyway, the applicants need not jump for joy yet because although funds have been allocated for this piecemeal aid project, the money may still go to some unscrupulous peoples’ pockets instead of being distributed to the rakyat.
As for the poor wage-earner, he may not get the RM500 but he thinks his friend got it and vice-versa and no one is the wiser as everyone is kept dumb and ignorant. This is Malaysia Boleh where the BN government is concerned unless the rakyat were to wake up and say: ‘this madness must be stopped right now’.
But Malaysians, sad to say, are a gullible lot and they have always believed wholeheartedly in the government’s words as the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. This is what made BN entrenched as the federal government and things look set to continue unless the insipid rakyat are suddenly inspired to wake up to the present-day realities.
However, this is highly unlikely due to the citizens’ mind being constantly bombarded and brainwashed by BN propaganda.
Even the Americans have woken up to the fact that income and wealth disparity is for real when a disproportionate amount of the nation’s wealth is in the hands of an elite few and thus the movement of ‘Occupy Wall Street’ was born with the average citizens holding up placards telling the world that ‘we are the 99%’.
But due to our rakyat always being in a stupor, it is not surprising that BN will the 13th general election. Therefore, the twin-ills of corruption and cronyism will continue to the end of eternity.
Selena Tay is a FMT columnist.
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2012/01/04/rm500-rm250-million-what-madness-is-this/
Dec
25
New version of RM50 notes will be ready to open the year of 2012. Bank Negara Malaysia through it’s statement had confirm it.
http://www.gvishnu.com/new-rm50-notes-in-2012/
Dec
25
Bank Negara Malaysia has released the latest new coins and banknotes today. The Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib and the Governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz have launched the release of the third series of Malaysian Coins & Banknotes carrying with the title of “Distinctively Malaysia”.
http://www.nbc.com.my/blog/third-series-of-malaysian-new-coins-banknotes-in-2012/
Dec
25
MOF issues FAQ on RM500 cash aid (download registration form here)
December 11th, 2011 by nbc.geoffrey in Malaysia Budget 2012
Malaysia Ministry of Finance (MOF) open up a toll-free hotline 1-800-222-500 to answer enquiries and provide clarification in relation to RM500 cash aid for Malaysian earning RM3,000 or less a month.
Toll-free hotline : 1-800-222-500
Operation hour: 9:00am to 5:00pm (working day)
Email: belanjawan2012@treasury.gov.my
Hotline start from: 7 December 2011
Online form download: click here to download the Registration Form
Bilik Operasi Bajet
Aras 10, Blok Tengah
Kompleks Kementerian Kewangan Malaysia
1-800-222-500 (Hotline)
03-8882 3786 (Faks)
Frequent Asked Questions (FAQ)
Ministry of Finance issued a FAQ in relation to RM500 cash aid, of which the content is very similar to the Media Release released earlier.
It also added that the registration form can also be downloaded from Ministry of Finance’s website www.treasury.gov.my. However, as of 10 December 2011, the form does not appear to be available on MoF website yet.
Click here to view the MOF’s FAQ on RM500 cash aid.
We managed to obtain a hardcopy form and we uploaded here for reference. Should you wish to download the registration form, please visit MOF website www.treasury.gov.my to download the official form when it is available.
UPDATE:
The official form is now available for download from MOF website.
Click here to download the RM500 cash aid registration form or here if case MOF website is inaccessible again.
Click here to http://www.treasury.gov.my/pdf/br1m/Borang_BR1M.pdf
http://www.nbc.com.my/blog/mof-issues-faq-on-rm500-cash-aid-provides-telephone-hotline/
