The Guerilla Style

When news approaches you from vague sources saying that some product may contain non-halal material, how far would you go beyond skepticism? Its halal and haram at stake, ini serius!

Another day and another routine to check the e-mail inbox. Like usual, I went through mail which mostly notifications send by Facebook. I picked and deleted them to keep my inbox clean. From photo comments to tagged photos to friend requests, a whole bunch of them back to back all into the trash. Then, I stumbled upon a mail that is not from Facebook. It must be some forwarded e-mail. I usually deem forwarded mail as unpleasant, unoriginal or junk. It’s a way of lazy people to reach out during hari raya or new year, I rather not receive these messages and start aching my eye reading a lame crafted message which intended to look snazzy yet sleazy (remember? Sir lump mart harry raya? Saya baru pulang dari London? )

There is something different about this particular e-mail content. Indeed, it’s a forwarded message. As soon as I opened it, I had to scroll so many time as the content lays so far below. What filled the upper part of the mail was lists of e-mail addresses which the mail had been send to. Judging by the hundreds of mail addresses with all swanky names like famous footballer and anime superheroes, I assume the mail had been received by many recipients. Finally when I reached the content part, I began to realize, it is not a spam neither a link to a get-rich-quick scheme. I wasn’t infuriated, but felt compelled how we had to resort to guerilla tactic to point out certain message.

The mail I received that day contains several pictures of Old Town White Coffee, a local franchise which food themed on pre-independence big towns of Malaysia when eateries were prone to fire because they were made of wood. They serve local selections of black coffee, tea, nasi lemak and roti bakar. The accompanied statement pointed out that those food served are not halal and shouldn’t be consumed by fellow Muslims in Malaysia. Followed by pictures of retail packed instant noodles which labels had been blurted (libel laws?) having halal label but being sold at non-halal section.

I wouldn’t elaborate much on the mail I had received; I bet some of us had received such mail. I did not pay much attention, but I wonder no matter how much research or investigation done by the initial sender, does the Jabatan Kebajikan Agama Islam Malaysia (JAKIM) took notice of this issue? The initial sender mail claim may still remain as accusation/hearsay not until an official, fully recognized agency and professional body like JAKIM conduct test and verified the halal status . No matter good or bad the initial sender intend, this forwarded mail may smell, look and feels like one of old tantrums usually thrown by some unsatisfied consumer with somewhat hidden intent. I vividly remembers when KFC allegedly slaughtered its livestock in inappropriate manner against the syarak practice, did JAKIM issued any action against them?. Starbucks mixing some sort lard in their product to enhance the ‘creaminess’ of their beverages, did JAKIM put those beverages under their microscope? Dubious Yellow Mee and Sausage which are made of pork belly? Does that all belonged to quick foods for college students, don’t they?. Now, these tantrums had turned its face on locally established footstalls like Old town White Coffee. All those claims are frail and supported by statements like “my auntie/uncle is some high ranking who works with the officials, and confirmed its not halal” How can we take by word such claims?

Emasculated or hikmah?

Finding Halal food is a paramount importance among Muslim. Its compulsory .No matter what the reason is, we must avoid consuming them except in times where life is at risk (eg. you are trapped in some Pandora like island and the not any vegetation can be consumed, but the only thing present was a pork chop) I’m not being paid by Oldtown to write this kind of entry, but what are the odds me, as a muslim, taking this kind of mail beyond benefit of doubt? I have friends working in Oldtown and Starbucks, I did interviewed the latter and they responsibly claimed that they had to bare with the accusation. “Biasalah, benda macam tu memang selalu orang kata” said a former barista in my local Starbucks. But I did not further scrutinize him out of wonder if he knew any content contained any non-halal material. He is doing his job. The mixing products delivered to his Starbuck outlet then he prepared them according to instructions. His job is akin to taxi driver which provide services to ordinary patsy and hobos without knowing their intent, or lawyers who defend guilty person and won the case, thus making money out of it. There is always a hikmah in all of God arrangements.

Or should Malaysian Muslim consumer which lived in self proclaimed Islam state (Negara Islam) must practice caution like they were wandering tourist in Shanghai or Moscow? They were told to do their own homework carefully because halal food is not easy to find, and halal food had become so scarce that they need to buy live chickens and slaughtered them behind some bushes? Can JAKIM pounce into our consciousness us to do homework instead of relying onto them 100%. Would JAKIM scream at us telling that we take them for granted and it’s partly our job to determine the halal-ness of mass manufactured food.

This ultimately means, the initial sender of the mail may be a concerned muslim. Trying to pull all of us out of trouble and wrath of non-halal food. He is responsible and successfully chained that mail without threatening the receiver that their parents would be dead if they fail to resent within 20hours or so. Hurrah for the sender. But in an age of information freedom, internet is proven to be easily abused. The initial sender has got nothing to lose. He may just send it and relied on receiver fear/sentiment for the mail to gain momentum throughout the digital realm. Who wouldn’t freak out when a meal contains something non-halal, especially those restaurant that you can easily find at the corner of your neighborhood.

Who is this person to be taken by word? If he did quote by some mufti statement, would that lend some credibility? My family had some time upheld principle that we have reached a certain maturity where opinion must be shaped independently, not by mere one-two line statement by high-power people. Its clear that a collective body like JAKIM must play its active role by implementing stricter implementation. Set-up a website where we can confirm the halal status of manufactured foodstuff ( I know it had existed, but its unheard as whisper) . Create an iPhone application called ‘iHalal’ (or whatever Arabic sounding words) where people can have an instant access of the halal food reference. Make newspaper announcement displayed image of that product from all elevation and state that product is not halal. If possible, any company that uses fake halal label, make them apologize just like what Microsoft make some hardware company do when they were caught selling fake software.

But it seems JAKIM is emasculated, leaving words of non-halal product somewhat ‘sendimented’ below the streams of public knowledge. Worst, they had to be dispersed the guerilla-style. Shoot and hide. Maybe its true, the hastily constructed e-mail with disproportioned photos might be a brave truth from a mouth which had nothing to lose. On the other hand, JAKIM is a government agency, and the government had many many many interest to take care of. Starbucks? Which Malaysian corporate body that brought them in? Maybe its likely to be a hikmah behind all this.

The Things We Watch

Cinema were once regarded as 'den of evil' for their gloomy and dark situations watchers are engaged in. But things changed, now, positive message can be spread through the dark rooms of cinemas.

I have to admit, I watched Avatar a little bit too late, precisely 16days after its release. There was a saying that film rolls had began to get loose the along the many times it’s been played. Assuming the firm rolls were loaded 5 times a day, I watched Avatar, presumably on the 80^th roll, which come to think of it, must be pretty suck. Yet, watching Avatar is nothing short of amazing.

Lately there have been strings of failure/lukewarm responses towards movie involving big budged, star driven, big name directors or 3d intensive movie. Zack Snyder failed to fascinate me with Watchmen after shining in 300. Inglorious Basterds never appeal or making it into some of Tarantinos’ greatest classics despite the director admission that this project took him years of delay, so to say, in order for it to fester, I mean develop. But, Avatar is a leap forward. James Cameron took the death leap venturing into new filmmaking technologies and with a total budget of 400million dollar to make the film. Industry analysts were eager if such super-ambitious film would tremble and shook the realm of filmscape.

James Cameron is like a seasonal sensation. Initially he does robot assassins from the future, then deep water beings, semi-documentary love-epic Titanic, He isn’t a champion of particular sub-genre, until today this director had made two of the biggest budget film in my lifetime, each outranking the other. First, the iconic Titanic, the love story between Jack and Rose on a destined-to-sink behemoth named you-know-what. Secondly, The Avatar, an alien civilization which ride six-legged horses with an uplink made through their ponytail infused with living fiber optics. I couldn’t help thinking telling my kids “when I was your age, these are the big-bombs of Hollywood”

Even, in the event of Avatar failure, Hollywood seems to have endless resources to develop sometimes reckless, unsellable, feeble and crappy titles. Alien versus Predator (both), Alvin and Chipmunks, Garfield are some of those lame films that can be dejected straight away into junkbin. Yet, they have sequel made for them which fared no less better or degraded from chronic to critically fatal. Hollywood either had an attitude of not learning from the past or hoping to do phoenix-rising stunt out of bombed-out film ashes. Or perhaps, the existence of elaborate Jewish propaganda apparatus within the Hollywood circles to make youngsters sway from their studies? Yipes!

On the local front

In Malaysia, the debut of Upin&Ipin Pengembaraan is a giant leap in local film industry. For the first time Malaysian began to open their sleepy eyes on the homefront creative industry. It fared off good with collection reaching approximately RM6 million, while the highest collection of 2009 were handed to ghastly mystic ethereal title: Jangan Pandang Belakang Congkak at 6.1million. A record breaking collection which can eclipse several times Yasmin Ahmad Talentime collection of measly 0.6million. Afdlin Shaukis’ Papadom raked approximately 3.5million. But like Hollywood, we are engulfed in syndromes of making movies that are easily understandable where good triumph over evil naturally in a linear style.

There is never heavy substance injected into film plot which producers/director would risked their films becoming titles only available in archive somewhere in old government building blocks of Kuala Lumpur. Films like U Wei Shaaris ‘Buai Laju-laju’ (starring Betty Benafe and Eman Manan) and ‘Isteri, Perempuan dan …’ are mere study subjects for cinematography students when these are close/true reflections of life and social occurrence of Malaysia. TV serials are obsessed with teen wearing bright tights and fringe involved in family business that has millions in asset values around the globe. Don’t matter whether its shipping business, car sales, stock holdings, poultry or construction (any business that only involves filming within office compound), they all ended up in power struggle and infighting usually involving a single hot babe in the middle of crisis. Not until Jelatang came and dragged me in. With a strong cast, the series covered a subject which challenges the directors to create something original without reference from Hollywood: Sumbang Mahram (close proximity)

Surely, anybody can argue that Hollywood had released plenty takes on close proximity. Hollywood may made it into a comedy, where stepfather-daughter sex romp were done through curi-curi tulang. To avoid the knowledge of the mother. Hell, Hollywood can possibly portray the mother as a psychotic killing machine which overtime gathers momentum into murdering both stepfather and daughter before a heroic cop came and shot her in the arm. But jelatang took a path where a Muslim family with a Malay background which emphasizes on secrecy and decency. The close proximity festered amongst the family (involving daughter played by Intan Ladyana and younger-beefier stepfather played by Fezrul Khan ), a rebellious brother, a patient mother and concerned ex-husband accompanied with jealous new-wife. This all adds up. A problem ‘proportionalized’ according to local social scenario. Series ended with mother willingly accepting daughter’s sin with intention to quarantine the problem out of people knowledge. The mother is never ready for another divorce. The installment of this series is very highly anticipated.

Back in the days jabatan penapisan lifted sanction on ghost/mystic themed film, I was beleaguered thinking if jabatan would also lifted sanction against stories that would depict corruption/misused power among authorities. The Hindustan had long depicted rotan wielding cops becoming jaguh kampong and blackmailed villagers for protection money. This indeed a true reflection of Indian caste-based rampant corruption artistically ported inside their movies without cuts or whatsoever fear of foreign investors being chased off. Its relaxing to know that the film censorship board over there may regards this as creative freedom rather than feeling guilty as it would ‘tarnish’ the image of somebody/someone. Relax! The government had given their assurance that they do their job with upmost transparency, why fear fictuous movie on corruption?

Instead, jabatan agama had been ashamed. Their leniency had led to many ghost/mystic stories being made and released into theatres. All under the pretext of ‘watch and learn’. Earlier into these movies remarks were made that the shown movie was mend for pengajaran purpose, telling anyone who owns/petted a ghost shall receive a punishment akin to the movie. While the true driving force behind almost endless release of ghost/mystic film were not to educate people, but the cash load it brings. Upin&Ipin were just lucky to play with children power of persuasion. If not, the entire top ten film gross in Malaysia will surely owned by a bunch of ghost versus ustaz duel movies. This all translated to cari makan.

Above all, I strongly supported the linearization of our local movie industry. Our directors can prove their movies can become the alternatives to the many Hollywood titles that arrived to our shores. Our citizen is rich enough, even mat rempits can take their girlfriends for movie treat each weekends, if properly spend, can avoid the flux of our money to other country instead thrive the local cinema market. Added with relaxation on rulings and censorship, our creative industry is a bright furred bird never mends to be caged.

The Frailty of Politics

Ever watched alien themed movies? They came and reign terror to the planet with their apocalyptic weapons and defeated by single human hero.

Aliens. They are beings that Hollywood ‘characterized’ to gain billions of dollars. In their movies, they came travelled light-years to planet earth inside their huge monolithic spacecraft. Once here, they unleashed several smaller craft and wreck havoc.Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day showed how ordinary human pilot found alien spacecraft vulnerabilities. In Spielberg’s’ War-Of-The-Worlds, the alien was struck with an unknown disease and went killed-in-action on their way to conquer earth. Tim Burton’s Mars Attack, a class-B movie that depicted brainy aliens getting irritated by a tune accidentally played by a blurry kid. Peter Jackson produced District9 took a different approach; he described the alien as refugee-seeking beings. They came here and seek refuge before humans find them too close for comfort. Then, the aliens were destined for one thing: Deportation to their home planet.

Luckily, Hollywood was never given the power of God. In which we shall never see those apocalyptic human-alien battle anywhere beyond silver screen. Fate seems a lovely couple with irony. Malaysia, a nation which majority consisted of Malay ethnic were amongst the poorest and least developed ethnic. This ethnic claimed that they are the indigenous, but their claims were many times disputed. Defenseless their claim are merely toyed around like a turkey in the wild drawing more shots each and every step it takes, alas without an effective deterrent actions. Favor never tip for Malays in a country where it ‘allegedly’ originates.

If they really grasp the pinnacle of economic dominance, they perhaps had highly resorted to District9 plot: Deportation. Yet, the nation balances with the existence of highly affluent and hard working Chinese. Small in quantity they thrived the economy, stir the growth and thrive the nation with progress. It was said that if buildings in Kuala Lumpur were to be plucked one by one, with the Chinese building singled out, Kuala Lumpur would be more or less bland as it was in circa 1880s.

Datuk Hishamuddin Tun Hussein Onn revealed that it would take another 150years for the Malays to reach income parity with the Chinese. Today, each ringgit a Malays earn, equals to RM1.20 earned by Chinese. Proponents of colour-blind Malaysia seek to rebuke this debacle, after all, the money never lost to anyone else except our Bangsa Malaysia/Rakyat itself. Its not that hard to see they might replace incumbent government and abolishes jabatan perangkaan graft which categorizes its data according to races. Now, that’s a lighter work for jabatan perangkaan staffers without racial profiling.

As they will probably never be any data available regarding income number according to ethnic due to the holier-than-thou colour-blind ideal under the future coalition. Data can still be categorized according to states. Its never hard to see the obvious which cannot be forever swept under the rug, Malay-belt states ( Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu) shall have lower income per-capita. As usual, these states under the future coalition shall be held under the religion-centric PAS, the party which alleges itself as vanguard of Islam teaching in Malaysia. They embrace Islam wholeheartedly and vowed to transform Malaysia into an Islamic country. Imagine young girls walking in Pavilion being handcuffed by so-called ‘moral police’ with a warning ticket: Hey! Baju awak nipis sampai nampak coli.

Yet, the above mentioned scenario will not likely occur. PAS can keep that as wishful thinking as Wilayah Persekutuan itself would never wholly fell into their rule. The ever-changing and potent Klang Valley itself is teaming with Chinese. Businessmen, Doctors, Lawyers, Engineers, Architects, Accountants, DVD-sellers. Their presence cannot be underestimated as they held the incredible spending power that incite economic activity. They pay better taxes. A region so volatile that each month you’ll see a new stretch of road branches out of somewhere. A region where citizen who don’t mind about their daughters or wife wearing an outfit too thin as what matters is they remain competitive in real-world agenda of surviving the concrete jungle. Areas which the incumbent National Front fielded MCA candidate instead of the domineering UMNO.

These big cities had long eyed assemblymen from ‘The Rockets’. A more independent and hard-hitting representative which is never to become a Yes Men. Above all, these area shall record higher income per-capita. Without much natural resources, they are driven by the fire of industries and services. Out shadowing the Malay belt states. City folks had long realized that did not get the value for what they paid for. They knew their money flowed into a pool which is never properly maintained, leaks everywhere.Here and there.

In the end of the day, Malaysia will get regional. The north and east-coast shall fell into the hands of PAS, thus enforcing strict moral policing and hand-chopping penalties. While, big thriving cities will be held by The Rockets/Malaysia Malaysian party. The demise of National Front will make clear the fog of confusion that these two parties will look for new enemy: like chickens in crowded barn, they started scratching among themselves.

The catalyst

Like a rebirth, Anwar has to be the luckiest man in Malaysian politics. Emphasizing in unjust treatment of him getting bared naked, kicked and punched selectively forgotten his pro-bumiputras, pro-affirmative action stance during his UMNO hey days, Anwar has been accepted into the opposition with open hearts. Meteoric rise from both polarity of politics, he had been the deputy prime minister for the government and now he sits on the other polar as the head of opposition. Although the rooms of parliament had been renovated several times, people would notice nothing more than Anwar bench switchover from one side to another.

A political scientist, Anwar formulated a catalytic cocktail that resulted Tok Gurus and Rocket taikos seated under one roof, delivering talks on the same stage. Now DAP-man can deliver speeches in places they can never imagined, the depths of kampongs near madrasah whereThanks to Anwar Ibrahim andhis inception of KeADILan (later known as Parti Keadilan Rakyat), he had started a party which serves more than just a flag to vote. They are the catalyst that made DAP and PAS possible to mix. Like oil and water, they refuse to mix no matter how hard you stir, but in chemistry, two element which hardly mixes can be softened through the presence of a third element: catalyst.

local folks used to play takraw in the late afternoon. PAS with their PAS-for-all scheme can never be successful without DAP-man inviting them over to big towns such as Ipoh, Kuching and Georgetown. When this happens, PAS-khalifahs were never seen as hand-choppers/shariah-enforcer with the glimpse of Rocket emblem on the stage.Anwar must have been an asset to the coalition he formulated. His hands-on experience and coming close with the government he is trying to tumble, made him an instant darling and valuable strategist. His ambitious ploy to take on Putrajaya on 16^th September 2008 had almost everyone grasping their breath in anticipation ofharapan baru. When all that comes is only statements put up on SuaraKeadilan.com.

Rising from the ashes of UMNO fracas, former politicians(some prominent, some not) came to join him. Zaid Ibrahim of UMNO and former Health Minister Chua Jui Meng of MCA. They all had been welcomed with garlands of flowers, certificate of rebirth into truth and justice. Intellectuals had stood by him, names like Chandra Mudzaffar. Now he is not regarded as intellectuals anymore; at least by PKR members.

The next torchbearers

Anyone who had been in-line with UMNO ideals of ethnic supremacy and nationalistic movement now had an option to follow the path of Anwar. Set for rebirth into a more liberal and free-thinking atmosphere, they too can own certificate of rebirth into truth and justice. Anwar had subscribed to political-portability (through cross-overs) when some UMNO members with inclination towards change and liberty were wooed into PKR. Names like Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, Anifah Aman, Tun Musa Hitam(perhaps) and a few others.

PAS ideals never actually appeal to most UMNO leavers. Their fight of vanguarding the religion is sacred and putting God as the foremost sight can be frighteningly patronizing, yet, as proven by Mahathir-era during the UMNO-PAS 98’ duel mirrored PAS as party of no-substance. Quality of their supporters can reflect the party itself; they talked about Siti Hasmah not wearing hijab,Rafidah not wearing hijab, and Ministers going to America but not performing Haj (indeed they went to America for diplomatic reason). On serious note, the issue of Hudud they brought up never wooed any interest by the Chinese.

Instead Mahathir pulled the right string. Rather telling Marina and Siti Hasmah to wear Hijab which can be done in minutes (failure to do this had some folks from the depth of PAS hardliner supporters infuriated) He dedicated most of his time to shaping up economy which was in turmoil. Thinking outside the box, Tun knew a weak Malay means a weaker Islam. Chinese never mind about Hudud or no-Hudud, they look for benefits of whoever had the best offering.

The Chinese saved UMNO in 1998 election, when Malay vote was split between PAS and UMNO. From that moment on, the term pengundi atas pagar (on-the-fence voters) was coined. In moments of critical, small number really counts.

Old Guards, New Mentality

With the creation of PKR, the argument is much solid, richer and mind-engaging. There is no more whose not wearing hijab issue, instead, they talked about widespread corruption and Malaysian university drop in ranking. They talked about displaced corporate governance and its eventualities of lowered FDI. They brought up issues of brain drain of Malaysian professionals and influx of low-skilled foreign workers into our workers pool. They invited people to think, categorizing each problem into different faculty instead of ‘kuatlah agama, kuatlah akhlak, kuatlah negara’ one-fits-all solution

Anwar kept telling the unsuspecting Malaysian about courage. Courage to uproot the incumbent government. Courage to change 50years of same rule. Courage to rise against inequality, oppression, discrimination plus a whole load of words that brought music to the ears. All packed into a single manifestation: harapan baru (new hope)

New is the new cool. Back to Hollywood, New and unheard studios that produces Slumdog Millionaire can rake more moolahs than big-name long-established studios. New actors brought vibe to movies. New American president is Barack Obama. He is black and its something new. Young people like me are exposed to a whole game-changing ‘news’.

UMNO can be saved if they take Anwar word-of-advice seriously: courage. Courage to quaver off its additional baggage of cronies. Courage to make professionals for its top ranks. Courage to admit its blunder and mistakes. Courage to dispose corrupt leaders. Because the consequences can be bad in short term, that is why Anwar used the word courage. It may take time to adapt. Like a boy who had been circumcised, it takes time to get used of the lighter load and the next thing, they’re a man.

Courage is the word used since things are better said than done. An UMNO leader maybe cursed for life, lost its constituents or come to political career full stop. Yet, they should expect ‘mentality-of-war’ where whoever loses in war shall be charged like criminals. They will be charged and secrets revealed. MACC would come to its sense of purpose when revealing fraud, graft, CBT and corruption worth hundreds of millions each, At the moment, MACC success in tackling RM5000 blacksheep cases seems to be a waste of taxpayer money. It takes tens of millions annually to run that commission.

In the wake of equality and same-field competition, UMNO leaders could heed calls for new mentality. Tun Musa Hitam once recalled the party should have drop off its alarmist strategy of telling Malays how awfully slow they are thus inciting inferior insecurity. UMNO should be bold and taken its first steps to unleash minds/talents that it had nurtured through NEP/Affirmative actions for the last few decades. Tun Musa Hitam wants UMNO to instill the mentality that speak: Malays are ready for the real world.

The question is; are we really ready? Experience rich but not yet battle hardened, it will be akin to releasing rookie private into the frontline of Omaha beach. An onslaught.

It really takes courage after all. For me, my naïve vision for the ideal UMNO would be a pool of Malay intelligentsia. From philosopher, economist, scientists, academicians and even dieticians (Dr.Mahathir once pointed out the Malay eating habit as one of the cause of the ethnic widespread malnutrition). Gathered under a single powerhouse, aiding the Malays in broader sense rather than helping only the cronies and target group with kepentingans (interests).

Government contract may still be able allocated towards bumiputra contractors. But, contractors has somewhat to be united under a single politic-free chamber of commerce. The chamber shall proceed to award the appropriate projects towards any contractor which had met its merit. Creating an atmosphere of competitiveness no-matter you’re son-in-laws or brother-in-laws of any kings or queens. Through this, UMNO shall break free from the cronyism image it had projected for quite some time. UMNO will be a mighty think tank which its lawmakers shall paint the underlying background; the rest, its up to the Malays to alleviate their standards within the land they claim theirs.

UMNO and its friends in the alliance can shift towards a new mentality. In these hard times, National Front occasionally calls for people to remember their good deed done for over half century. Yet, retelling old stories is never enough for most Malaysian which grew fond towards progress and development. Malaysian today is well exposed towards good governance and welfare. They travelled all over the world.

UMNO must allow young professionals to play active role within the party. Pemuda itself should become suara membangkang ( dissent voices ), so that senior leaders obliged to think twice of whatever they decide to do. Pemuda can replicate the ‘storm-from-all-sides’ situation, a situation which opposition would like government to be in. The hey days of UMNO and its undisputable sense-of-purpose were the time when the party had dissent voices so-called the ‘young turks’ in the form of Tun Mahathir Mohammad, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and Tun Musa Hitam.

Lacking of these dissent voices made UMNO a mundane party. Instead, party members can be punished for pointing out blatant mistake and naked truth.

Even if I were to rally my support to any political ideology in the event of National Front yet unforeseeable demise, PKR shall be the one. The party is the most viable torchbearers of Malays plight. In their forceful calls for equality and economic justice, the UMNO genes shall subliminally exist to continue supporting the ethnic left behind. PKR they are indeed the true faceless and colour-blind politics which fulfill Onn Jaafars dream. The free-for-all membershipallowed for a solid collective vocal reaching throughout the various social fabric of Malaysia. Unlike PAS with its Islamic-nation ambitions and deep-rooted ‘The Rockets’ character of over-my-dead-body/ultrakiasu.

Be kind, press rewind

Professor Ridhuan Tee once reminded Malays through the obviously bias daily publication, Utusan Melayu, that Malays should never be too complacent and happy with recent Malaysian Malaysia party top figures mentioning about governance in accordance to the khalifahs (caliphs). He warned that the party can go as far as fielding Malay candidates and putting Malays to helm some of its higher posts.

It is truly understandable in my short analysis of politics, Malaysian Malaysia party who seek to become colour blind and enforce economic justice are merely dominated by a single ethnic. Their act of putting other ethnic on higher ranks would just be periphery and decoration-purpose, probably part of a well coordinated effort in their long aim towards their ultimate goal. A party with a single-ethnic majority who does not have an upper hand in quantity, they play it safe by being kind.

They are kind to other ethnic majority of Malaysia. They showed compassion, care, respect and determination to protect the rights of this ethnic. Minority survival method had been mirrored by Dr. Bashar al-Assad the Syrian Premier. He belongs to Alawi sect of Shiites Muslim which counted less than 13% of Syrian population. Indeed, he maintained his authority and power though making friends with other ethnic/sects in Syria (Christian, Kurds, Druze, Ismaili, Yezidi etc. ), leaving 75% of Sunni Muslims of Syria off the power zone.

Its apparently clear, without being kind, a small number cannot amount any force to push themselves into helm of power. They’ll play nice for some time. Added with Anwar cooperation and seal of trust, a chunk of support had just been gained. Worst still, PAS utilized the unifying power of religion for the benefit of a coalition that half-heartedly listens to their aspiration. Together, with Anwar continuously mentioning ‘courage’, led this party to become menacingly brave to question other provisions made under the constitution for the Malays.

Its not shocking if they won the upper hand, they will redraft the constitution and rename it something that they’re obsessively into; like Perlembagaan Rakyat. They’ll make the day historic as if the current constitution were drafted by evil and tyrants. To show things were in the place where it should belong. Everything will be renamed with the word rakyat as suffix or prefix as a sign of transparency. Mahkamah Rayuan Rakyat, Gagasan Satu Rakyat, Suruhanjaya Rakyat Membasmi Rasuah, So on and so forth.

Thank You for reading The Frailty of Politics, this would probably be the last entry related to politics. Politics has always been the fuel that propelled Tudya! in the last few years, yet it’s a sensitive topic to discuss with most people try to avoid it. As a replacement, next Tudya entries will feature things that are more rational to my course of study: architecture. A dedicated segment called ‘Atelier’ will feature subject related to architecture currency local and abroad. Thank You for your support and keep visiting Tudya! Happy New Year 2010.

The Web of Knowledge

Some may think, at tender age of 22, where do I build myself up to become very politically conscious? Some might silently lambast: Budak berhingus baru nak cakap pasal politik.

Its no shocking when people may admit they wanted to be forensics because CSI looked like a rugged job with applied intelligence. Some may want to become filmmaker after seeing how Amir Muhammad or Yasmin Ahmad led a cultured lifestyle surrounded by refreshingly creative people or DSLR wielding youngster venturing into photography because they’re simply impressed by graceful photograph. But one thing I believe about these great people that inspire others. The great things they had achieved today were not the first thought they had in mind, initially.

Datuk Lat, a local cartoonist famous for kampong boy admitted he never had ambitions of becoming a cartoonist. He was keen on becoming a trainman because it gave a sense of adventure going about here and there. Yet, he ended becoming a brilliant cartoonist, sensitive to his surrounding and supporter of ethnic integration.

My political consciousness never kicked in when I saw UMNO people walking into venues and project such a tremendously vibrant halo of influence. Never had I put myself in politic alter-ego as a result of disillusion due to UMNOs elitism and connection with istanas inner sanctum. Neither when my Pokok Sena Khidmat Negara comrades reffered me as ‘Datuk’ (since I was bald and I resembled Datuk Hishamuddin Tun Hussein), and never did I become politic-conscious during the Reformasi uprising of 98’/99’

My knowledge of politics is never due to any family connections. Neither members are of silver spoon fed or related to the istanas. If I could trace back, I would see on my mother’s side, they are mostly from Penang and moved up to Southern Kedah taking jobs as government servants. I inherited the tastebuds of everything spicy through the mamak (Indian muslim) blood which might have flowed into me. On my father’s side which originates from as far as Northern Kedah, mostly rice farming or farming, they speak thick northern accent which I assume my Mongolian eyes were of the Siamese genome. None had been active in politics.

My father is a banker and he neither keeps books related to politics (not until recently). He subscribed to Utusan and stopped doing so since 2000 due to economic constraints. I wasn’t keen reader of Utusan either since its relatively huge size and limited cartoon section compared to those featured on The Star and Straits Times. No reading materials inside our home would have brought me into the realm of politic consciousness.

Neither statehood pride did bring me to become a keen analyst of politics. Even if I knew Tunku Abdul Rahman, the Malaysian first prime minister, amongst spear headers of the Malaysia formation hails from Kedah. Not forgetting, Tun Mahathir Mohammad that braved the uncertainties of politics for 22 years and had tons of admirers till today, that has not become the prime reason to persuade me into putting my line of sight into politics.

As of today, I had taken time pondering back into my past. This is due to some quarters which justified my interest of political subject was a result of mere disillusionment.Then; I would realize my path towards politics pointed towards the wonderful web of knowledge. I used to joke around with my housemates about the wrath of Wikipedia and their sets of hyperlinks. It made our little research on single subject of architecture a devastating procrastination routine. You would know how Wikipedia would take hours of time when we ‘accidentally’ clicked hyperlinks related to thesubject we originally wanted to study.

My precursor to politic interest began with something which is out of this world. As early as 1995, my interest at the time was for Astronomy. I gazed upon the stars during the night and wondered how the mechanism of universe worked. I read a lot about Neutron stars (a super dense star which rotates quickly to emit radio waves) and nebulas (packed gases masses that eventually give birth to stars). I remembered a few stars, Sirius A and B, the red supergiant Betelgeuse, The blue giant Polaris and a few stars named after Muslim scholars; Altair (probably Al-Tahir) and Aldebaran. On the other side, I was busy drawing cartoons, I fondly remember naming one of my female characters as ‘Andromeda’ - named after our neighboring galaxy. At primary school I joined the Astronomy Club which did nothing but meetings at certain intervals

After studying distant objects, I read about close objects, like our moon, sun and comets together about space probes that were sent to explore them. I knew about the US-made Pioneer space probes going to the outer extent of our solar system with a golden plaque depicting humans in their naked form. American Mariners went to Mars and heavy and bulky Russian Venera went to Venus. American Galileo and Cassini went to explore our gassy giants; Jupiter and Saturn respectively. Then, I knew something very peculiar about space exploration: They were initiated by either the Americans or Soviet Union (present day Russia); with little contribution by European Space Agency (ESA)

Then, I began to delve into human space exploration. I was introduced to the word space race. A series of space exploration achievement made by both Soviet and United States. It all started with Soviet simple yet significant foray into space through the launch of beach ball sized Sputnik in 1957. The US, shamed and time constrained launched Explorer which merely orbited the earth. Sputnik2 brought Laika into orbit but sadly the dog perished. Yet it provided vital information life support system in space which later paved way for Vostok1. The weird name spacecraft successfully transported Yuri Gagarin into orbit for a complete six rounds around earth in 1961. A few months later, in a hasty bid to show its capability, US Alan Shepherd was sent to space for a trans-America mission (his mission is actually venturing from East to West America, not orbiting). Vostok6 mission sees Valentina Tereshkova made into the first woman into space and finally Voskhod1 conducted the first spacewalk in 1965 completing a series of blow towards US lagged capability in space technology.

But that did not hinder United States from retooling its space program and intended to put the first man on the moon through Apollo mission. By 1968, the Soviets had been busy launching series of Zond/N1 test rockets, a humongous 24-engined rocket set to bring first communist citizen to the moon. On the other side, United States had prepared to test the-most-powerful-rocket-engine-in-the-world (should have been accompanied with drum rolls?) The Saturn-V engines. Only four of these needed thus reducing chances of failure in respect to Soviet smaller but numerous rocket engines. By July 1969, the US overtook Soviet in the space race by putting the first human on lunar surface. Soviet manned moon landing program crippled with technical faults and test-fire mishaps were put to an end months later without any men brought to the moon.

Soviet reluctantly admitted to a defeat in the space race. Yet, space race is only a small picture when in fact, its part of a larger scheme of things. Back on solid ground, United States and Soviet Union were involved in the brewing Cold War. The infamous Nikita Khrushchev “We will bury you” punch line had provoked both superpower intensify propaganda. The space race they indulged in is a showpiece to smaller nations that their ideologies are more dominant than the other. Imagine two men trying to win heart of a girl, its akin to The Illusionist as both were determine to proof they are better than the other, yet, they never got involved into fist to fist fight. Not because they were afraid, but its something in the dictionary of diplomacy called deterrence.

In deterrence (or détente), both Soviet and US had been stockpiling nuclear warheads. In event of whoever struck first, the latter is determined to retaliate with a larger magnitude of damage. Both superpowers knew this and decided to formulate MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) programs. They wanted to assure the survivability of their weapons in an event of full-scale nuclear war. This means nuclear delivery had been diversified, they can be launched from land, air and sea and nuclear weapons became ludicrously portable that they can be mobilized by foot infantry Although these two nation had capacity to annihilate the other, they had been patiently waiting for whomever to throw the stone first. As the rest of the world hold their breath in suspense. The Doomsday clock was introduced in the US. It’s a clock face showing 5 minutes into midnight, hypothecally means that humanity was in the brink of extinction.

Outside their geopolitical borders, Cold War showed its true face through Korean War. Its here when two superpower nations sold their weapon at dirt cheap price just to have it tested against foes military equipment. Soviet MIGs doing dogfights with American F/Hawk jets. American cruisers avoiding soviet-made torpedos. During Cold War, pledges of smaller nations were never to fall on deaf ear. Egypt seek Soviet help to build its Aswan dam as America refused to offer help. Germany was split into two due to incoherent ideologies. The peak of this war is when Soviet covertly transported nuclear missile to communist Cuba which lies few hundred miles to southeast US coast of Florida. I was crazy about Cuban missile crisis that I persuaded my father to buy a book on it, my father replied: Ini konflik zaman tok nenek, dah habis dah, lagi mau baca ka?

Series of Interest

On the other side, I remained physically passive – which is never a choice. As my thirst for knowledge kept spinning through series-of-interest (from astronomy to international relations), my appetite for sports had been shunned by my father attitude that could never accept interest is disposable.

He initially bought me a pair of football boots. Yet, as sports became seasonal among the kids, never in a year we played the same sport. But my father firm belief that I should remain dedicated to a single sport rather than hopping around had left me singled out as my friends move to another sport/activities. My father might have regard my voyeur of sports hoping as a wastage since I had yet to find my type of sport through exploration, thus, my interest in physical activity ended prematurely instead developing parallel with what I have gained through reading.

My father strongly disagree that interest is something disposable and replaced with something else. He perhaps had adapted the idea that a man found their interest through some sort of osmosis, which I myself am perplexed.

Imagine, if my interest in astronomy needed a specialized apparatus/gear instead of mere reading, I would have stuck there and would never move gain a single inch of access into other subject related to space exploration. Since then, I had pledged to myself to become more lenient to let my kids (if I had one) to indulge into ‘series-of-interest’ provided it is self-initiated and self-motivated. It’s the unavoidable human nature of trial and error.

Yet, it’s better late than never. Rather than bickering about the past, I shall make learning a lifelong process. Cold War led me read more about Malaysia taking side in the bloc (Malaysia declared its neutral, yet sided with the affluent West bloc), which later joined in the formation of created-to-doom SEATO and eventually a more peaceful allegiance of Mapfilindo (Malaysian, Philipines and Indonesian pact) which today matured into ASEAN. Years before cold war ended, glasnost was conducted to let Soviet become less secretive about its economy, military and relationship plans. Cold War ended with the collapse of Soviet Union,

Cold War made me read about communism and capitalism. And subsequently the usage of prefix ‘–ism’. A complicated term which I simply understood as differences in managing state wealth. Former, strictly lets the state own all resources and manages accordingly, while latter let private riches to trickle down the hands of citizen. My father famously termed capitalism as ‘you are hardworking, you’ll get rich’ while communism as ‘either hardworking or lazy, you’ll earn your wage/pay’.

I later read about socialism, the significance of proletariat and human responses towards power and rules. Eventually thrived my superficial interest in social sciences, thus this includes politics. Here I am today, 14 years entertaining my series-of-interest. Now where did my architecture interest branches out? I need another day to think about that.

The Thornberries

There was a cruel joke that tells about Singapore buying Malaysian grown fruit at dirt cheap price

Once there, they repacked/rebadged the fruit and exported it, selling at a premium price especially to the European.Some quarters of European cherishes tropical fruit. It turns out this cruel joke is indeed true. Our fresh exports to Singapore has long been a golden opportunity for Singapore to turn it into fortune beyond what thought possible.

Realizing this, Malaysian ministry of agriculture under Muhyiddin Yassin made a swift effort to introduce the ‘Malaysia’s Best’ campaign. As far as my graphic memory can confirm, there is a logo created for it. This logo was mend to be like badges similar to what Intel would do on personal computers/notebooks that is embedded with their processors: Intel Inside!

Malaysian Best logo had a kampong man silhouette resembling a farmer holding a fruit basket with both hands . A cloth is wrapped around the farmers forehead telling people the time/manpower consumed caring a tropical fruit. Encircling the fruit farmer and his fruit produce is the ‘Malaysia’s Best’ itself encased in dark brown lettering and soil brown underlying colour. It seems like a pride waiting to happen and chart Malaysian name in international consumer preferred list. Like Caviar from Russian lakes, Diary products of New Zealand or high-grade chocolates of the Swiss, Malaysia is poised to be the origins of exotic tropical fruits soo yumilicious as hollywood would portray it in its island gateway movies.

Our dash of hope is gone as ‘Malaysia’s Best’ are nowhere to be seen today. If it had been famous elsewhere, word of buzz shall bounce and return to our shores. Neither that occur, we are shunned by the mysterious fate of the glad farmer with the pineapple in his hand. He must be lost or drowned in the waters where trade ship passes. Pity his pineapple.

Recently, if most of us can recall, there was a marketing campaign promoting wood products. It was simply named ‘Malaysian Wood’. The logo featured nothing fancy, just the marketing name itself in kindergarten writing style with a leaf growing out of an alphabet through some kind of lab-manifested scary photosynthesis process.

Its been months since Malaysian wood appeared on architecture digest and has even made it into airtime commercial for television. The multipurpose and highly-durable plus highly esthetic quality of our wood can create wonders, from little furniture, pond bridges, intricate carved doors to a big bungalow made of timber. Giving the same impression that Malaysia will mark itself in global map as exotic wood producer. Like Russia with caviar(and vodka), like swiss with its chocolates(and army knife).

Again, joke has surfaced that Singapore had, for decades, imported felled timber from us turning them into marvelous furniture and selling it to continental upper crust society for a fortune. How and why this had occur? Are we lacking in craft skills? Local school syllabus had greatly emphasizes on carving since secondary level, but we still lacked passionate carvers?

Complaints only, need solution?

Tiger Woods may be troubled with sex-scandals, but what had troubled ‘Malaysian Wood’?The lackluster in promoting our woods may lead this marketing campaign into another bomb initiative following the fate of Sekolah Kluster, PPSMI, backseat safety belt, insulated iceboxes, children toys safety classifications and not forgetting Malaysia’s Best. Timber can be another source of high income for the government and the nation as a whole. It’s a natural resource that is irreplaceable, so to say, we need to give it a special attention. Like our oil wells being systematically managed by PETRONAS, we need to centrally manage our wood as a valuable resource.

Ask an SPM student to prepare an essay of how to promote our fruit or wood industry, and they will nicely lists down brilliant suggestions. Their suggestions are so brilliant that they shall be awarded with A. Yet, almost all Malaysian citizen knew these ideas are of no value to the people above; they’ll be too much bureaucracy and interest to protect which halt the implementation those suggestions. There are people who were given import permit to bring in cheap fruits at huge quantities. There are people given the timber felling rights, these ‘sacred cows’ made Malaysia’s Best and Malaysian Wood campaign as mere showpiece to the public that the government is keen on promoting. Where else, God knows.

Earlier entries had me several times mentioning about spoilt kids wearing overgrown shades of Prada,Gucci and Dolces, those are not mere words of hatred thrown to those privileged kids. These kids Im referring to are of those gained comfort of life through other sufferings. Vegetable planters and fruit farmer’s cried foul knowing their produce are no more needed in the market which had been flooded with imported fruits and vegetables. Importers who pocket in big money. Importers kids who later would speed off through LDPs with their Volkswagen Golf GTIs while poking fun at his pretty girlfriend in the passenger seat. Since last year I had stopped using this ‘verbal tantrums’, yet Im compelled to use it again to refer to our planters/farmers sufferings.

Fans of statistics, numbers and figure would shake their head off reading my allegations. They want to see the tons and metrics of veges/fruit imported and gross consumption. This data may look fine and dandy, although without analytical research the real situation may show the reverse. Big planters sell their produce to Singapore. While appointed importers shall make up for the loss with cheap baulk produce. What’s left is small and medium scale planters succumbed to make into rapid streaming outgoing and incoming flux of commodities.

A party like UMNO should have taken note realizing majority of Malays is still doing agriculture. If they desperately need to repair their image, this is the time. Sadly, telling their ‘people’ to stop importing agriculture produce is no easy business. Its akin to pouring sand into the rice bowl of a few people while the massive number farmers/planters had long felt the sharp noise of sand laden rice. This kind of situation is what we call it is: favoritism.

Pertanian satu perniagaan. Perniagaan untuk orang atasan. Might as well play FarmVille on Facebook. Not forgetting, the cruel jokes of Malaysian Wood and Malaysia’s Best

The Altered Native

There was a time when we hail American bands, brands and ideas as uber cool. While some may still subscribe to pax-americana, some begun to seek alternative ways and led an interesting life.

Its been a year since I initiated an effort to de-americanize my iTunes playlist. Not as a means to totally wipe all American songs from my playlist, neither a way to protests any foreign policy made by Uncle Sam. Nothing political, I’m just keen to reduce made-by-America tunes and instead turn my ears upon songs by different nations (sometimes in its indigenous language). As it turns out, music is universal. I personally met a person who had playlist packed with Korean songs, a true success of off-relying on American far-influential entertainment industry. Kudos

Our nation once had the ‘look-east-policy’ which seek to study ways of eastern countries like Japan achieve such as tremendous success par to the western nations. The policy made Japan as exemplary/ role-model nation. Rather than settling for conformity of looking up towards western nations. Yet, not all western countries are developed in such a domineering manner.

German is another nation which I personally regard as ‘a woman who maintained her honor after being gang raped’. I apologize, those words could not be more offensive, yet, it’s the most vivid word for me to describe German perseverance after the devastating war. Post World War II Germany had been divided into four sectors ruled by former military foes of Soviet, United States, France and Great Britain (that is how the gang rape derived from). Later years, Germany was still divided into two in the form of east and west. Until 1991 when Berlin Wall fell, the unification of Germany comes into full circle. Yet, small engineering marvels such as photography optics spell words like Carl Zeiss or Vario Tessar. Spark plugs that driven our cars are never too familiar with the word Bosch. Pencils and erasers, Steadler and Faber Castell. These are small things which not all nations had citizen committed in doing it.

As an architecture student, I’m acknowledged of German strings of brilliant architects whom owe a lot to modern architecture. A friend of mine who studied medicine recalled that medical apparatus such as scalpel, scissors and needle were mostly manufactured by German. The American could not be more thankful towards a former German military scientist, Von Braun and his research in rocket science that made stars and stripes proudly planted on the lunar surface.

Look Elsewhere

As for individuals, we can somehow seek different sources of influence for our lives. Maybe American brands, trends or bands used to drive us mad. If nations like Malaysia can ‘look east’. We can perhaps ‘look elsewhere’.

For instance, a man who once owned a Volvo, shall- for a long time- own a Volvo and seek to find another Volvo in his/her life. Why these brands can be so patronizing? Maybe, it had projected such qualities which only limited number of people can understand. It takes lots of thinking and judgment to appreciate a Volvo over the more prominent brands like BMW and Mercedes.

Obviously, BMWs and Mercedes, are brand commonly associated with luxury. Drop a bag of cash on ten common people on the street, eight of them shall hurrily go to these marquee showrooms. It takes a certain class and thinking divergence to appreciate a Volvo. And choose a Volvo. Let’s delve into the mind these people. Why Volvo when Beemers and Mercs can project much more ‘class’. Why? Why? And why?

The recent call to boycott all American and Israeli brands, I did not go all for it. Not because I did not pity neither I devaluate the struggle of my Muslim brothers in Palestine. I personally think the call for all this boycott is much more thrived by angst. It lacks ingenuity and much more towards a gimmick.. Safe to say, it rather brings more damage than good. Surely, in the end of the day these fiery boycotters shall fell back into the clasp of these ‘devil’ brands. Not to mention how vast American/Israeli conglomerate can exist in every inch of industries there is on earth. Our money shall somehow trickle into their pockets. I’ll be an instant darling if I blindly join the boycott, you know it feels good to be darling of a certain society heh?

Ingenuity only happens when someone like my fellow friend whom had her ears turned to Korean songs or a man who remained patronized to Volvo for as long as his lifetime. They had learn to naturally appreciate things that are non-American thus indirectly boycotted them. Their appreciation for non-American things were not done forcibly (just like the current government forcibly wants us to embody 1Malaysia ). These people does not expect to be a darling of society because they did not chose American products. They did not expect to be cool and tell people around them: “hey! I’m anti-America! Its easy to hate America! “.They had long found alternatives.

Nations like Sweden is one that achieved developed status with ethics and positive imagery. They never initiate war or disregard moral in its path to rapid development. Its achievement in the entertainment industry played pivotal roles which position where America is today. NSync and Backstreetboys undoubtedly had Swedish producers for their songs, virtually their brainchild had almost half of world teen population crushed during the boyband heydays. Britney also sang hits produced by the Swedes. ABBA was an alternative choice of 80s Discos, their expertise in weaving ‘electronica’ element is simply surreal at times. Robyn, The Cardigans, The Sounds, Royksopp(Norway) and Sigur Ros (Iceland) are worth while listening.

IKEA had brought affordable, practical and quality furniture. IKEA introduces policy which allowed exchange of products if we are not satisfied, currently no known local furniture seller does this (they instead punishes us for making incorrect choices) How generous. If Germans are keen into making imagery optics and spark plugs, Swedes had submitted themselves into making metal bearings. SKF is known as world’s largest bearing makers today. Small things, big pride.

Swedes military superiority is a result of nation innocence. The Swedish JAS39 ‘Gripen’ fighter aircraft are capable of landing on normal roads instead of dedicated airstrips. This is due to the fact of Sweden inevitable fear of being invaded by Soviet Union during the cold war (1950s till 1990). They feared Soviet superior number of troops can paralyze their country. Soviet forces can easily wipe Swedish airfields which had the latter exhaustively develop an aircraft than are capable landing on roads. Sweden perhaps can be easily granted NATO protection against such dreadful enemy. instead, Swedes took a path which is somehow reflect its true stance of sovereignty: neutrality.

I may sound unpatriotic, yet It’s sort of acceptable for me to meet people who have ‘altered’ natives. Simply because we doesn’t own ‘that’ attitude which can lead us to greater magnitude of success. Ever noticed some Malay families goes to an extent of calling themselves ‘ana’(me) and ‘anta’(you), might be due to the fact that our prophet was born there? I can never justify their ways. Some may subscribe themselves of listening to American bands, buying American brands and praising American Ideals, living the American dream because it seems pretty, I can never justify that too.

But those day of American idealogy imperialism had long declined, instead I began to ‘look elsewhere’, to nations to draw inspiration. Perhaps, my altered nativity would be Sweden? Those ‘ana-antas’ had Saudi Arabia as their altered natives? My Korean listening friend had Korea as her altered natives? Nevermind. As long as it’s not Uncle Sam.

I admit America stranglehold in our daily life, from entertainment, food & beverages and hawkish way of thinking is real and happening right now. But its not that hard leave them. The New World Order had us constantly exposed to them from the very beginning. It takes time to definitely say goodbye towards first-love. . Its always the first-love hard to get over.