Let’s give a thought to the unfortunate in these trying times

These are truly trying times, especially with the economic downturn, coupled with deadly flu infection worldwide. Business is down. People are losing their jobs everywhere. To make matters worse, some are weighted down with further troubles, over and above their existing problems.

Take this man for example – Shahidan Kassim. He used to have a comfy job. He was the Menteri Besar of Perlis, from 1995 till 2008. The job came with a secure position, lots of clout, a decent salary and lots of perks. Shahidan has an official car with a driver, an official house with lots of other “official what-not”. It is a job better that a CEO of a multinational company.

But all good things must come to an end. Or to put it another way – in these trying times, one can fall from grace. This was what Shahidan had to go through. He fell with a loud thud. He lost his job.

Though now in his wilderness, a man would still do what a man has to do to feed his family. That was what Shahidan did. Instead of complaining bitterly about his hard luck, he quickly set out to look for another job. But for Shahidan’s case, he was a tad bit lucky. He was the president of the Perlis Football Association. So, he decided to devote his time and effort to being a good and full-time president of the PFA.

But as luck would have it, the PFA has fallen on hard times as well. No grants were channelled to the PFA. Their football stars were not paid their salary. The players sold their cars and cycled 25 miles to the stadium to play matches on empty stomachs. A benevolent Shahidan would see none of this. Although himself on hard times, he took it upon himself to pay the players salary from his own pockets. He claims to be now pokai because he has to spend up to RM200, 000 a month.

When Shahidan’s cash withered away, he carried on to help his players. He sought funds elsewhere. In the local Kosmo daily, he was reported to have said, “”Sekarang saya terpaksa berhutang untuk tanggung PFA, saya sudah keluarkan wang simpanan dan kini saya betul-betul ‘kering’ dan kena berhutang lagi untuk bayar gaji mereka (pemain dan pegawai). Saya menanggung PFA lebih daripada saya menjaga keluarga saya. Akibat tidak cukup wang untuk sara persatuan ini dengan ah long pun saya dah kena pinjam sekarang.”   

Poor Shahidan! He has already lost his job, he has lost his money and now he owes the Ah Long!

We Malaysians do hate the Ah Longs. Why are they messing up the lives of good hardworking Malaysians? What can we do to stop the Ah Long menace? Will they take over the Perlis Football Association and turn it into Ah Long United FC and turn it into a world class club? 

I strongly urge Michael Chong and the government to step in to help honest hardworking Malaysians like Shahidan Kassim (who have contributed so much and ask nothing in return) to combat hard times and to eradicate the Ah Long social ill once and for all. Please give Shahidan the chance that he deserves.

Let’s take a cue from the British Monarchs

Catherine Masters is a nice old lady from Oxfordshire, England. Age 109, she is a grand old dame. Like all British centenarians, she receives a royal birthday card from the Queen. She got a card when she turned 100 and another when she turned 105, and every year thereafter.

But like most elderly ladies, Miss Masters can be a little picky. She wasn’t too happy about the birthday card. It has the identical picture year in year out – with the same image of Queen Elizabeth II, in the exact pose, and in the same yellow dress.

Perhaps Miss Masters was bored receiving the same type of card every year. Perhaps she felt it was impersonal. Perhaps she didn’t like the yellow dress. Whatever it was, she was inspired to write to the Queen to express her displeasure – which she did.

The letter reached Queen E. Did the Queen feel slighted? Did she feel upset, offended?

Hardly, in fact the Queen send her grandson, Prince William to apologise personally to Catherine Masters. Prince William visited Miss Masters at her nursing home and they both had afternoon tea. Not only did the Prince apologised, he assured Miss Masters that he will see to it that the image in the congratulatory card will be changed in time for Catherine Masters’ 110^th birthday.

Following that, Catherine Masters have also been invited to a garden party with the Queen at Buckingham Palace in July.

Now, isn’t that something!

What do we Malaysians get from our monarchs?

For the people in Perak – they don’t need any birthday cards. They don’t need any congratulatory notes. And I don’t think they yearn for Raja Nazrin to have afternoon tea with them.  

They just want their right to choose their own government. Is that too much to ask?

Malaysia’s Week of Anarchy

When the three Pakatan assemblymen “defected” to Barisan Nasional in February 2009, the Sultan of Perak had two choices at hand: – either to dissolve the state assembly or to hand power to the BN. The Sultan opted for the latter; dismissing Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin, which caused the fall of the Pakatan government in Perak.

Why he did this, no one knows. Some argued that the Sultan was merely exercising his discretion. Others say that he has no right to do so – as the state constitution does not empower the Sultan to dismiss a Menteri Besar. One line of contention says that the Sultan did not agree to dissolution as this would involve a state election, which curtails a lot of cost and expense.

If economic issues are the deriding factors, then the Sultan is resolving the issue at the expense of democracy. There can never be a price tag placed on democracy. Policy reasons – such as time, costs, expense, convenience and even legal technicalities – cannot be used as a trade-off to democracy and justice. That is why we have paid dearly for it. As a trade-off to democracy, we now have a week of anarchy, lawlessness, chaos and disorder.

IMAGINE THIS – Bersih’s representative Wong Chin Huat was arrested for urging the public to wear black as a sign of protest of the Perak state government takeover. Just when is it an offence to protest against something? Protesting was never an offence.

There are many types of protest – there are many ways to protest – and there are many causes to protest. I can protest against violence to whales; against the use of fur coats; or against bank interest. It is not an offence to protest. The only offence is the mode of protest. If I run naked across Dataran Merdeka to protest against the whales – then I should rightly be charged – for indecent exposure.

But Wong Chin Huat’s case is beyond reasoning and logic. Just by telling people to wear black is now an offence? What next? What if I hold a press conference asking people not to eat sharks’ fin during wedding dinners? Am I going to be arrested as well? What about those blokes who asked people to protest against the Zionist regime by not buying goods manufactured by the west? Why were they not arrested?

AND IMAGINE THIS – persons getting arrested for actually wearing black. Colour coordination is now a criminal offence in Malaysia; and black is definitely not in. In the good old days – not wearing clothes in public is an offence – today wearing clothes is an offence. What next? Can I be arrested if I wear a Save the Whale protest t-shirt? What kind of law is this?

AND IMAGINE THIS – five lawyers from the KL Legal Aid Centre were similarly arrested when they went to the Brickfields Police Station to represent those arrested earlier. On what grounds were the lawyers arrested? Isn’t legal representation central to the rule of law? The Criminal Procedure Code guarantees access to lawyers. One has a constitutional right to legal representation. But no sir, Malaysia is now a state of anarchism. Not only one is denied lawyers, the lawyers are also arrested.

AND IMAGINE THIS – scenes of scuffle and mayhem in the State Legislative Assembly; and the State Speaker being replaced, not by proper means, but by physically and brutishly manhandled and carried away. Is this what we call law and democracy? The BN government has aptly described the incident as jungle law; and I can’t help agreeing to it. What else can you call the power-grab debacle – when all else fails, brute force is all that is required to overthrow the government.

What next? Why not physically throw out a judge when a ruling is not in one’s favour? The law of the jungle prevails anyway. The moment the High Court Judge declares Nizar the lawful Menteri Besar, just shut down the microphone; immediately have a load of unnamed personnel (not court officials) swarms around the judge before carrying him / her away; and replacing with a “friendly” judge to give a decision?

THIS, MY DEAR FRIENDS – is the things that we saw during Malaysia’s week of anarchy. There will be no price tag in substitution of democracy – to do so will cost us dearly – and Malaysia have dearly paid the price for it this week.

The Hero of Malaysia – V Sivakumar

Dear Mr. Speaker,

We, the Dandelions salute you. You are the hero – You da’ man – Jantan Tulen.

Just when we – the citizens of Malaysia – thought there is no one else worthy in the realm of politics, you prove to us that a Malaysian can be a hero. Better than any Rajnikanth … ever.

You have shown great courage – standing alone in battle – against the mighty combined forces of the Federal Government, the Monarchy and the Police.

You did not step aside – you did not budge – you did not waver. I had expected you to falter. After all, any ordinary man would.

But you held on, demonstrating nerves of steel.

And held on you did – from morning till three in the afternoon – before you were physically removed from the speaker’s chair.

Had you not been so roughly and bodily manhandled, I bet you can stay in that chair till all others drop dead from no water, starvation or sheer exhaustion.

I come to understand that you were mildly injured during the scuffle. Worry not, for you shall wear those physical scars proudly as your crowning glory for the people of Malaysia.

You are someone that our soldiers should emulate. Fight on – hold post – and never say die. They should erect a statue of you in every markas tentera, to instil on our young tentera’s heart the qualities of courage, bravery and valour.

I bow to you, dear sir, for you richly deserve my praise.

Thank you, dear sir. God bless.

Black Thursday (7th May)

I received an email that calls out for everyone to wear black to express our dissatisfaction concerning the constitutional issue in Perak. Us Dandies propose, do wear black if you believe that the ruckus in Perak’s downright malicious and a nuisance (and I don’t mean one-sided, I mean on both sides of the issue). I certainly do. =)

Oh, we might prowl around with a camera capturing people wearing black, or not. How about everyone publishes pics of themselves (faces conveniently photoshopped out of course) wearing black together?

See ya!

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KUALA LUMPUR, May 5 — The Coalition for Free and Fair Elections, Bersih, today called on Malaysians to protest the power grab in Perak and put on a show of civil disobedience by wearing black on May 7 in conjunction with the sitting of the state assembly.

In a press conference today, Bersih accused Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak of orchestrating the political coup in Perak and lambasted him for allegedly failing to keep his promise made under his 1Malaysia philosophy which puts people first, saying that putting people first would mean giving the voters of Perak the chance to determine the state government.

Taking a leaf from other civil obedience movements such as those organised by Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and even Umno’s “berkabung” movement to oppose the Malayan Union, Wong Chin Huat, a spokesman for Bersih, urged Malaysians who oppose the power grab to “let everyone see a sea of black walking into an office, market, mosque, temple, church, college, park, bus… let us be united in one black colour to show the world that the 1Malaysia under Najib Razak is 1BlackMalaysia living in darkness.”

Bersih also criticised the BN for practising “old politics” and trying to clamp down on media coverage and peaceful gatherings.

The Perak government had initially allowed only selected media to cover the assembly sitting. However, the decision was later reversed by Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Zambry Abdul Kadir.

The police have also warned political parties against organising mass gatherings in front of the state secretariat.

Teo Nie Ching, DAP’s federal legislator from Serdang, says that she was queried by the Police Special Branch after she tried to organise a bus to ferry supporters to Ipoh and expressed her disappointment with the Special Branch.

“Why stop us from going to witness the assembly?” she told reporters.

Lim Teck Ghee, who represented the Centre for Policy Initiatives, urged solidarity despite “a propaganda war” to tar dissenting views as unpatriotic and treasonous.

“It is the duty of Malaysians to oppose illegal and unconstitutional acts of power grabbing,” he declared. “We are the patriotic ones.”

Lim was referring to accusations from BN that Nizar was committing treason by going against the Sultan of Perak’s wishes that he resign as mentri besar.

The political crisis in Perak was triggered by the defection of four state representatives from Pakatan Rakyat (PR) to BN earlier this year, giving BN an edge in numbers over PR in the state assembly.

The Perak state assembly speaker however, claimed that three of the representatives who defected had resigned but this was disputed by the latter, who got the backing of the Election Commission.

Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin, who maintains he is the rightful mentri besar, then sought permission from the Sultan of Perak to dissolve the state assembly to pave the way for a state election but his request was rejected and he was told to resign instead.

Nizar refused to resign but at the same time, Zambry was sworn in as the new mentri besar by the Sultan on February 6.

Since then, PR and BN have been locked in a struggle over who is the legitimate government of Perak and whether or not to dissolve the state assembly.

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Sourced from MalaysianInsider.com