Part1 -Tripartite Hydra

Once again it’s on. Looking back in time, PAS was telling all its supporters to ponder and think about this statement: Which is much more important, race or religion? Now a similar question arises; but in a different tone by broader range.

UMNO is fighting for the bumiputras. Do these bumiputras come from pure Malay linage? With all the mixed parentage of Zeiglers, Danishes and Karins does bumiputras exists?

It wasn’t much of a trivia. It’s a statement that emphasize that PAS was fighting on the right political platform. A holy path which nobody can deny or mock. If u deny any cause that is justified under the reason of God, you will be regarded as jahil (narrow minded) , zalim (unjust) or musyrik (imposter).

Our reasoning will be regarded paralyzed if we state that race is more important than religion. Na

turally religion comes before race. Yes, religion is important, in any way how can we deny it? Without any intention of cynical, we lived the five pillars of Islam and six pillars of Iman. The ‘one million dollar’ question is like a chain bomb; it comes with a plethora of other question like: Siapa yang akan menyelamat kita di dunia dan akhirat? Bangsa atau agama? ( Which of the two will save us? Your race or your faith? ) and Apakah malaikat soal bangsa kita apabila mati? ( Will they question your race when you are dead?) Yet, the question subtly referred to political preference between UMNO and PAS.

At the time, UMNO did not take that lightly, they responded and casuallyagreed that religion is the most vital part of anybody life which would made PAS smiling due to the credo. Yet, the idea of religion before race does not mean that someone has to be in PAS camp regarding it as the blessed political platform. With a billion over Muslims in the world in a state of instability and prejudice, we had to come to realization that binding medium of Muslims in 

Malaysia shall be that of ethnicity.

Smaller, manageable units of Muslim society – that is the way of UMNO.

The UMNO affair with the second most accounted religion is breaking it down to smaller, manageable part. Just like how family institution (dad authority, mom approval) can contribute to 

the success of the nation. Where is unity when this ‘breaking down’ happens? Though, Muslim brotherhood knows no geopolitical border, yet, Muslim seems to don bad face due to ethnic malfunction. Just like Saudi giving United States sponsorship to attack Iraq in 1991, an example of how brother spilt another brother blood. All of this due to ethnicity malfunctions; the Arabs failed to agree on commonality amongst themselves and allowed external influences to intervene.

It seems the idea of questioning race or religion first has backfired towards the other camp. UMNO starts questioning: What kind of sign tells us that UMNO way of fighting for religion through ethnic platform is invalid? God guarantees that each good deed done towards the sacred religion is being accounted, no matter how small it is. Did they mention deeds of PAS members received magnified values or triple bonus point? Worst, If UMNOs deed were deplorably unacceptable; they have got to be kafir? Don’t they?

Now, UMNO has to respond to the broader range of rakyat. PAS whom fundamental aim seeks to create Islam Statehood had join forces with unflinchingly outspoken ‘Malaysian Malaysia’ party to pose another one million dollar question: ‘Does Malay itself a race that is original or had become impure due to cross-breed?  A hard rhetoric considering the fact that Tun Mahathir father himself is an Indian from Kerala. How did former Selangor MB Khir got his Toyo? There are some whom admitted that there is no such race as Malay; as they explained: “semua darah sudah campur, Melayu takdak“ This is a salvos of question seeking to refute the platform which UMNO stood now.

Probably, Im well aware about UMNO mechanics after the 8^th March political tsunami. They are trying to tell the rakyat that there are two different way of thinking within PAS members. The so-called modern, much versatile, coat donning, blackberry utilizing ‘Erdogan’ sect and the conservatism ulama (Muslim clerics) sect. There is no use breaking up PAS because in the end of the day, PAS can be the Malays only salvation. Weakening it now may result in a quickening of Malays downfall as the demographically dominant ethnic in Malaysia. Thus, quicken the transformation of Malaysia into republic and quelling Malay hopes to reside in cities pushing them back farther into the depths of outskirts. Making the wicked orchestration come to its fruitation.

As I see it, there’s big possibilities of this unflinchingly brave ‘Malaysian Malaysia’ party becoming the dominant entity amongst the Pakatan Rakyat. Dominant, not in the sense that they will sweep many seats, instead, dominant as they will hold key seats – the populous, more cultured urban folks. This is apparently true as what we saw in recent election. The rich states shall fall under their hands. PAS on the other hand, will get the votes of Malay belt states ( such as Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Perlis ), which economic output were still based on agriculture. That’s fine, early in the days; both parties can harmoniously form an alliance government

Epicenter of Republic in the high-hopes of domino effect

Hence, when the Malaysian Malaysia party had an upper hand, with their dominant seat they shall allocate meager funding to masjids and suraus, PAS will somehow become infuriated, yet they powerlessly obey. A furious uproar from PAS grassroots leaders from the corners of kampongs and desa sends chills to the upper echelon of PAS. PAS higher council shall asks the Rockets.

The Malaysian Malaysia party shall pose trivial questions like “ How many of you are pure Muslims? Why I can see a few/lots of you drinking alcoholic beverages? Why not many of your female is not wearing Hijab since it’s compulsory? “,in a way to justify the need to lessen allocations, further sidelining the Malays. If a revolt starts, the Islamophobia messages will spread through the arms of information channels. Whatever cause PAS and its followers fought for is considered futile.  Once Islamophobia were spread amongst city folks which will widen the gap, PAS have this image of recklessly backward thinking party which resorted to violence. While Rockets are sitting on their offices further suppressing PAS.

It is no harder to see, the ‘Malaysian Malaysia’ party will firstly play the racial card. We see them trying to create an ‘epicenter of republic’ in Perak, hoping the domino shall fall and rakyat realize that the grass is greener and laughter is filled with joy in Perak after the lost of Sultanate Intervention. They never succeed in doing so, yet they achieve a small degree of success giving tremors to Malaysian politics about their unwitting will to wipe the Sultanate in order for democracy to run smoothly according to their liking. Their action should be punished severely, neither; it is not a matter of faux pas and sensitivity of Malays (which they would gladly disregard, because their life run on the books of akta). This is a matter of Kings Prerogative and judgment when disputes occurred. 

As co-belligerence, Is PAS ready to be backfired? Does PAS ready to be seen as a party that represents a group of people which are non-existent? Is PAS really ready for the prejudiced Islamophobic gaze? Just like today opposition trying to tell people that UMNO represents an ethnic group that is nonexistent. Like some says “darah sudah campur, Melayu takdak” Does God assurance that Islam is a religion that shall be forever dignified, so does this let PAS rest on its laurels? PAS for all this while never agreed to become minorities of UMNO, then, PAS are willing to let itself being overcast by a more horrid shadows.

Not bridging the gap

If today we lauded the ideas Malaysian without ethnic identifiers (with intention to irrationalize UMNO), who might guarantee the Rockets might barred their thrusters from blowing fire about Malaysian without religion? The Rockets shall held the book of akta in their hands, spit out to the faces of PAS delegates that how once they refuted kesetiaan kepada raja dan Negara, now they are gleefully refuting kepercayaan kepada tuhan. Remember PAS,any force exerted, it shall heed with the annoying Islamophobic gaze. The Islamophobic is an easily available prejudice weapon which The Rockets will never think twice to use, especially against its non-like-minded ally-PAS

Like UMNO people admitting they are plain mad being regarded as chauvinist. How do PAS delegates responded when they had extremist tag on their forehead?

For Malay belt states, they shall prepare themselves to be gazed as regions that breed terrorists. Be prepared as our beloved nation split into two regions between the angry north and dominant south peninsula. Malaysia at that moment shall have a bigger problem to deal with; not more of ethnic unity, but national unity. Something that had been tackled since the Tun Abdul Razak generation.

“Kau ingat ini negeri bapa kau punya? “ this is what the late Tunku Abdul Rahman gets when he arrived in Johor to collect signature of all Malay Rulers as a sign of unity which paved way to the formation of Persekutuan Tanah Melayu. Now that is shameful and hard to swallow, Yet, today there is a party within Malaysia itself, for the sake of democracy to run at its liking, wanted to re-introduce regionalized Malaysia. It’s no secret; their daring first steps would be to create an epicenter of republic. Countless times said, they regarded the Sultanate as Malay Achilles heel, and it’s a joy to throw acid at them.

This is how the Pakatan will play their games and ploy the road to victory: breaking apart Malaysia between the urbanites and non-urban. When they imposed their holier-than-thou so-called ‘economic justice’, they widened the gap between the affluent and poor. With their self-righteous principle that a nation cannot wait for those who are uncompetitive and poses liability they retracted special rights and bumiputra privileges. Does anyone have to re-explain the consequences of widened income gap? Never regard this as a vile threat; this orchestrated effort shall face a vain consequence.

Of course, some shall regard this entry as very prejudice and full of hatred. Butter thick with sinister and racism. Wanting to saw seed of angst. The ideas of ‘silent orchestration’ would just be a by-product of my extreme paranoia. I guess I’m just being vigil to the mesra rakyat solutions offered. Could they become a more effective alternative option for incumbent ruling National Front?

This reminded me of Hydra, a Greek mythology which tells about multiple headed dragon-like monster. What happens when Hydra with all three minds of its own start biting each other? Yet they existed on one body. By the fact, it doesn't take Hercules to slay this type of conflicting monster. 

After all speculation, I guess, there is matter still left hanging here. How UMNO is going to respond a query regarding Malays are not being authentic anymore?

The Words of Our Fathers

Ayah as I call him, usually gives short advises that make my ear glow red, sometimes for weeks and months. They are simple words yet bear the deepest meaning. I call it ayat-ayat berapi

Ayah is magnificent. I could not imagine how he grew up from a poor, rice farming family in Tunjang, Kedah with many siblings and thrived to give me what I had now. From a kampong boy which television and radio were barely available to a car driving man. I fondly remember ayah telling me that his first car was a Mazda 323 he got somewhen when he was 27. On 29, he purchased a land along Jalan Telok Wan Jah, Alor Star and constructed our little house. At 30, he married my mom. I do not mind what car model he bought, I wondered how he has this striving spirit to jump out of his little box of slumber. I could not imagine myself fully funding to acquire such vehicle let alone erect a house out of the bare soil.

Being in Kampung akin to being in total slumber. Espescially when farming season comes only twice a year. Other times were filled with societal activities held together amongst the kampong folks. Paddy is a fragile plantation, too much water they die and lacking of water they dry. If you ever been to Kedah, there will be a place in Jitra (further north of Alor Star) which areas were named ‘Pida’. The British came here and colonized our nation just to become sunken amongst the vast paddy field in Kedah. Stubborn to adapt, they were hesitant to call those vast paddy field to its original name (Kg.Tuk Uban, Kg.Ketoi, Kg.Darat, etc.etc.), so they divided the sectors and name them according to irrigation feeder numbers. In turns, the locals just named it ‘Pida’ followed the numbers. My dad is in ‘Pida3’

It was here when dad told me that going to Pekan Alor Star makes him feel relieved. He fondly remembers Tun Mahathirs’ Klinik Maha since it is close to Pekan Rabu, yet he never went there for any sorts of treatment. It was in pekan when he remembers dancing with his fellow friends to ‘Black Magic Woman’ at a funfair, loud music seems to rattle ayahs heart. When it is closing to dusk, ayah will cycle back with his friends 30km north back to his home. A 45-minutes long journey through the long and winding earthen road.

Ayah past story is both inspiring and thoughtful. Let alone his present advises which are sometime mind boggling. Ayah imposed a strict ruling of ‘anti-sensationalizing’ in the house. He deemed people who talk ‘sensational’ things as cheap talk and flimsy minded. He advises my family that human is imperfect and any bad stories we heard about someone shall ends with us. He never wants us to be part of the chain of gossipers. I once mentioned that Sheikh Mudzaffar our first astronaut could probably be a gay. Ayah first smiled at me and mentioned: “He would have been the most successful gay on earth to become an astronaut”, then he looked at me in disgust. Yes,I realized I’m sensationalizing petty matters.

He banned me from reading Mastika for reasons of mysticism and invalid reading material, I stepped forward and defended my action solely stating the benefits of reading without considering the content. He banned us from reading tabloids like ‘Harian Metro’ which highlighted cheap stories, yet, my mom at times enjoyed fresh copies of Metros.

Ayah had passion for reading. For a young man like me, I cannot apprehend the sight of my dad reading 3 titles of newspapers during weekends back to back ( that is The Star, News Straits Times and Utusan Malaysia). Ayah had a huge collection of books which mainly focuses on economics matter. It is what he majors in University Malaya. In turn, his expertise in economics made me squeeze myself in tight corners as they will be loads of question to answer when I make claims. As every cents count for him.

Money Matters, Style and Informed Decision

Regarding money matters, my dad barred the family from entering the pyramid scheme ( he calls it Ponzi scheme), as a financial manager, he knew the scheme were deemed to collapse in matter of time. He tells me a story that a nation (somewhere in Africa or South America) had collapsed due to Ponzi scheme, becoming incapacitated and fell to bankruptcy. He tells me the story of Carlos Ghosn, the Operation Executive of Nissan which helped the company to turn its fortune during turbulent times. He emphasizes the importance of good management, damage control and win-win situations. He talks the importance of leadership in which at times, the usage of persuasion skill and force needed to be balanced.

Ayah once applauded the Bangladeshis in Malaysia because they dress sharp. They had high sense of style that a drop-by to grocery stall to make international calls had them wearing slack pants and well-ironed shirt. Their hairs were groomed to the max and never seen them wearing flip flops except for silky black official shoes. My dad even gave early approval if my sister wanted to marry that kind of machismo Bangladeshis. No problem, as my dad believed that what people wear reflects their personality. He keeps persuading me to tug in my shirt. Oh, humanity!

He always told me about the importance of ‘informed decision’, in which, whatever I shall have, I need to ensure it is the best I can possibly get. He enthuastically reminded my mom to purchase any item in limited quantity but the one that gives highest satisfaction level. Rather than having many of a single item but varies in satisfaction. Perhaps, this is one thing ayah and mama cannot agree for sometimes. Mama should have known that ayah ‘informed decision’ had resulted him to get married at an extreme age of 30 and never, till now, committed to polygamy.

Ayah personally commissioned me to survey specifications of LCD TVs deemed suitable for our home, and that was three years ago, until now, ayah still have not acquired any of them. I fully understood his action of waiting and see. It’s his nature. He objected family request for the subscription based Astro as he frantically mentioned “ Free to air channels is too much for us, why pay for Astro? “. This had been a subject of debate between me and one of my friends as he regarded this as ‘outrageous’ and added that ‘dalam hutan pun ada Asrto’ ( even in the jungle, there’s access to Astro)

I fondly remember washing my bicycle inside the house compound. On the sight of a few young girls cycling across the street, I whistled. The usual ‘boy-call-girls’ whistle. Without noticing ayah was behind me packing the garbage bag to throw it out. He quickly smacked the rubbish bag to my face and tell me “that’s not the right way to court a girl”, and yes, I got that disgusted gaze.
Until today, I wonder whether I can continue the legacy my dad had left us. There are tonnes of wisdom that are lost in time and I know there is few more wisdom within my dad thoughts that I have not yet know. But when shall he let me know? Only time will tell. Happy Fathers Day.

The Punchline

1Malaysia. It still hasn’t capture either yours, mine and millions of other Malaysian attention. Why ah?

When Tun Mahathir took the prime minister seat in 1982, he mentioned the importance of three factor that needed to be brushed up by the government service and administrative arm as a whole: Bersih, Cekap, Amanah. (Clean,Skillful and Trustworthy )

In fact, there were earlier punchlines that were well understood by the people of Malaysia. They are not much of verbal lines that would become phenomenal like Raja Lawak “lu pikirlah sendiri” or Phua Chu Kangs “dun play play”, instead, they are like words of mementos. A promise or commitment that leaders made when curtain had just opened and people had their ears anticipating the first word from a leader. Tun Abdul Razak did mention about ‘ketahanan nasional’ (national resilience) which focuses of national stability through political stability. It is Ketahanan Nasional, other political party were invited to join Barisan Nasional for the benefit of whole nation.

Back to Mahathir’s era.

Bersih, Cekap, Amanah. It was the three things that kept echoing in people’s ear. People were expecting a paradigm jump in government service with this three words being kept murmured from mouths of Pak Cik in Kedai kopi and Mak Ciks when they had to grab their clothes from the drying post behind their homes. The introduction of nametags amongst administration staffers, usage of by-then hyper bulky computers, and mandatory punch cards were tangible testaments to the government commitment towards the those three factors.

It was in 1994 when I still see the tin plaque of “Bersih, Cekap, Amanah” hung along the cement floor, corrugated zinc shaded walkway of my previous school in Mentakab, Pahang. I was registering myself for primary school and honestly had nothing to look at as I was dragged by my parents to the class.

Then came the economic boom of the mid-1980s when Tun Mahathir once again created another line that somehow remained sticky in our mind. “Malaysia Boleh” is the new cool. It convinces Malaysian that we can somehow match what developed countries could do. They mass-produce vehicle, we had ability to mass produce, promote and sells our vehicle proudly carrying our brand name. They had iron and steel smelting complex, we had ours too in the form of Perwaja in Kulim and Kerteh. They had petroleum refineries, we had them too in Kerteh. “Malaysia Boleh” become the zealously chanted words when our athlete compete in any sporting competition.

Then, when all else looks bright and promising, we moved to ‘Wawasan 2020’ , a national aim to join the league of developed nation by the year 2020 soonest. It was the anticipation of 2020 when Twin tower spurned out together with the hosting of 1998 Commonwealth games, Formula1, Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) and finally the administrative capital of Putrajaya. Wonderful reason why young generation tends to look at Dr. Mahathir as an icon is because we used to write about Wawasan 2020 for BM karangan most of the time. When, we wrote those karangan, there were plenty of examples to write about. F1, KLCC, KLIA they all become the generic content (isi lazim) of our karangan. We were thought that our nation is reaching out to become a somewhat ‘shining star’ among the plenty of nations we seen in Geography. There are hundreds of nations out there!

It was the evil Western fascination of categorizing nations between ‘first worlds, third worlds’ that made us played their games to achieve that ‘first world’ status without ever knowing where the heck the second world had gone missing. Utusan even had daily countdown towards 2020 printed on the frontpage some when in 1998. It counted for 7000 over days over and I was giggling and pondering will Utusan give out free editions when the countdown finally reached its destination. Or a mega party?

Yes, that was some of famous utterance that ran out of Malaysian lips nearing the late 20th Century. In 2004, Tun Abdullah Badawi took over and his first lines that were adapted for mass-information were “ Cemerlang, Gemilang dan Terbilang” (Excellent, Glorious and Respected ). It did become famous for a moment because people favor for Pak Lah were somewhat high. Yet, as people woke up each morning, this utterance clearly had no meaning or whatsoever purpose. It serves as verbal impetus without any destiny or reward at the end of road, or at least had any tangible effect. It sure rhymes, but its merely becoming too subjective to what intend those three words could bring. Of course, the slightest idea would to improvise whatever available at the moment for the better. But did it happen? Where is the big-bang of Cemerlang, Gemilang and Terbilang? Did Pak Lah impose death penalty to those who came late for work? Did Pak Lah assembled all government servant and asks them to adjust their clock to a standard time?

Government agencies building began to display huge posters bearing “Cemerlang, Gemilang, Terbilang “, something that had given two unreasonable advantage; beautifying the agencies compound and adding pocket money for those contract banner printers. Yet, I had to admit, being in architecture line, I had noticed government graphic designers were weak in employing the most effective graphics. They were more likely conformed to the presets. Maybe those banners played a small part in government dissipation of information; yet, the government should have known that graphic played a significant impact to attract and persuade anyone. They leave a psych footprint just like McD with its golden arches and bright red, yellow writing theme.

It seems Suara Keadilan Online had better graphics – never downplayed the importance of graphic – even Procter&Gamble had spent enormous time and energy into changing the cover of its shampoo bottle in such short period. Why?

Most had gone bored and began to realize that Pak Lah maybe needed some time. Instead, the three rhyming words became mere gimmick as Pak Lah came out with another punchline; this time in a form of religion-centric calls for “Islam Hadhari”. The Islam Governing agency had given the task to inform the public on the concept of Islam Hadhari which until today puzzles me. What is this Islam Hadhari? I dare not to comment. Did the Pendidikan Islam syllabus were changed to accommodate another bab regarding Islam Hadhari? Did the SPM students were forced to elaborate in a 3000word karangan on Islam Hadhari? I would have failed by then as there will be no content to elaborate. Am I a bad muslim because I do not understand this ‘Islam Hadhari’? Wauallahualam.

Now, come Datuk Seri Najib and the ideals of 1Malaysia. But what are the gains and benefits of 1Malaysia has yet to be seen. Is it a concept that is too vague and subjective that a layman just couldn’t understand? Where is the big bang of 1Malaysia because the billion-repeated already-archaic word of perpaduan has become too lame that any given Sunday, hold a poster making competition, the kids will surely draw three main races in Malaysia holding hands. The theme of perpaduan hasn’t moved beyond that.

Lets not pollute 1Malaysia. Limit its usage and educate the public with its concept first. Kementerian Belia dan Sukan recently had initiated this SatuBelia (OneYouth, not to be mistaken with OneU in Damansara Utama), I’m compelled by how many ‘Ones’ will pop out within the cabinet ministers out there. If tourism ministry came out with OneDestination campaign, then, I lose faith with the bodek-ness and lack of ingenuity of these jet-setting well exposed ministers. At least Rais Yatim were rational enough when asked to comment why P.Ramlee movies were enjoyed by all races, he openly refused to refer to it as OneMalaysia concept because its apparently clear that P.Ramlee did not come from Najib Tun Razak generation. He is just himself. Unless, the government had some sort of time travelling machine to brief P.Ramlee about OneMalaysia. Different story lah.