Words with Teeth

I’ve been getting an education in Islam, more than before, in some of our law classes. It was during our last Consti class that I learned of another common mistake made by people who do not understand the true meaning of treason.

It is quoted that the first Muslim Caliph after the death of Muhammad (pbuh), Abu Bakr, said that:

Behold me, behold me, charged with the care of government. I am not the best among you; I need all your advice and all your help. If I do well, support me; if I make mistakes, counsel me. To tell the truth to a person commissioned to rule is faithful allegiance; to conceal it is treason.

To me, that just makes total sense.

That is why I complain and fuss so much about the bad things that are happening in my country. I even offer myself to serve on government committees to help shape the direction and discourse. However, I come in a thorny package and not everyone can handle me.

I was recently asked by a colleague to help out with an overseas job application. This colleague said something to me that made me laugh a little inside. I’m paraphrasing but it went something like this: “your comments are very sharp, but they are very good.”

When I’m asked for my comments, I usually put my honest opinion forward. They can be sure of one thing – that my comments will be sincere and true. I don’t waste my time with platitudes though and my comments usually come out raw, which is why others sometimes think them sharp.

Some people think that it’s unprofessional of me to sting and hit out strongly but I disagree.

To me, being a professional means being able to check your emotions at the door. We must all be able to go into the room, trash things out truthfully, curse each other honestly, and come out of the room to share a drink after. However, there are usually plenty of people with very fragile egos in the room.

So, I must wonder whether it would be better to speak softly instead of bluntly.

Unfortunately, I’m my mother’s son and it’s been said by others that her words have teeth, so do mine I guess, and I have no intention on changing that any time soon. I would not be honest to myself if I did and that would be doing a disservice to others too.

Once I stop stinging and start lacing my words with honey, you should know that I no longer care.

Take Action

You don’t get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it’s building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play. That’s the challenge I’m raising in this book. It’s a call to ‘Action’ for people who, like me, believe in America. It’s not too late, but it’s getting pretty close. So let’s shake off the crap and go to work. Let’s tell ’em all we’ve had ‘enough. – Lee Iacocca

I like that quote for a simple reason, I believe in it.

F**k You TM!

Telekom Malaysia physically disconnected my phone line on the 21/Nov/2011. As my office is in a high-rise building, the standard installation for Unifi is using VDSL, which meant that TM would have had to physically disconnect my old line to install the Unifi line.

I diligently went to TMPoint on 23/Nov/2011 to inform TM of the upgrade from Streamyx/BizLine (D94501-606-0109) to Unifi (1004255475). Don’t ask me why it is that I have to do this since both systems are within the control of TM. Thank goodness I still have a yellow copy of the date-stamped form (SN: 101175) with me.

Unfortunately, TM decided to continue to bill me RM187 for Dec/2011 and another RM13 for Jan/2012. Don’t ask me where they invented these numbers from. I also don’t understand how they can issue two ‘final’ bills. As a result of these charges, my RM400 deposit got reduced to RM200.

I made two complaints for the two months (1-2255081038, 1-2466161140), and today, they informed me that management has approved an adjustment of RM90.

WTF??!!

I cannot accept the adjustment of RM90. I’m very clear about Section 64 of our Contract Act that allows for part-payment of the consideration as full settlement. I’m not going to get cheated by TM on this.

I fully expect to get back the full RM400 deposit that I have with them. I don’t understand why are they screwing up royally?

F**k you TM!

PS: Might I remind you that you were the one who disconnected my phone line physically on the 21/Nov/2011. The service was terminated on that date, which is clearly reflected in your records. Bloody hell!

PPS: I’ve since made another report about this as a follow up for my earlier reports. I’m sure that you will be able to check the report numbers on your own system. I’m also sure that you can clearly see the installation dates of Unifi and cancellation dates of my phoneline along with the various pink bills that I have received.

PPPS: If you wish to get a copy of my yellow form, feel free to contact me. I’ll email you a scan copy.

Kashgari v Malaysia

Here is our government’s conundrum – it has lost the trust of the people by its blatant abuse of power. In the most recent case of the GOM arresting and deporting Kashgari as he was on his way out of the country, fleeing Saudi authorities to New Zealand.

Our government claimed that this was a request from Interpol. Unfortunately, Interpol has vehemently denied playing any role in this sandiwara. I wanted to believe that our police were merely following international law in assisting Interpol but the speed at which things happened made me doubt it. I should’ve known better.

Our government further showed its disdain and contempt of court when an injunction issued by the High Court was ignored by the government. Lawyers for Liberty contend it was inappropriate to send him back home because they had obtained a last-minute injunction on Sunday to stop his forced return.

Both the IGP and Home Minister’s offices have claimed that they were not aware of any such injunction and faxed copies did not arrive at their offices. Honestly, I can’t take their words seriously any more as the above denials from Interpol show. They are just not very good at spinning stories.

This is further evident with the Home Minister saying that, “I will not allow Malaysia to be seen as a safe country for terrorists and those who are wanted by their countries of origin, and also be seen as a transit county.”

Sir, might I remind you that there are rules to follow and that while I agree that we must keep Malaysia safe, we must do it with due process and respect for the law. Arrest Mr Kashgari if you need to and lock him up to keep our country safe. Then, put him through the system. There are extradition rules to be adhered to and hearing processes.

He had already entered the country legally and was subject to the laws of the country just like any other traveller who enters into our country on a tourist visa – even drug traffickers. If he has committed a crime, he has to be put through the process. We don’t even do this to drug traffickers – we still put them trough the process before we hang them.

Our country is now regarded as a pariah in the world’s eyes. People now know that the GOM cannot be trusted to follow its own laws nor to speak the truth in any matter. They aren’t even very good at spin. All they are good at is abusing due process.

The one good thing that I learned from this is that there are good judges in our country who are willing to work on weekends when necessary. Kudos to HCJ Datuk Rohana Yusof who did her duty, even while at home on a weekend.

Wedding Diary, The

Oh man.. This movie was sooo funny. I laughed from start to finish!

I mean, what could possibly go wrong with a wedding between a Malaysian fisherman’s son from Penang and a Singaporean real-estate mogul’s daughter. As any S’porean and M’sian can imagine, this is a recipe made for all kinds of fun.

Ah Niu was just so funny throughout the film and Elanne Kwong served as eye-candy (unlike The Grey, which was decidedly starved of eye-candy and plot). This film had all kinds of languages in there – largely Mandarin, Cantonese and Hokkien, mixed in the way locals talk.

Even his famous song wasn’t let off the hook.

Perfect V’day fare.

Parah


Parah is the name of the play that brought tears to my eyes tonight. I would strongly recommend anyone reading this to catch it while it’s still showing at the KL Performing Arts Centre until Sunday (5th Feb). It’s a big story with a moving Malay dialogue (comes with English sur-titles).

As the synopsis says:

Melur, Hafiz, Mahesh and Kahoe are Form 5 students studying in Kuala Lumpur. Best friends, they always find themselves in Melur’s house hanging out, mucking about and sometimes, even studying. Whenever the four friends are together, they really do look like the poster children of 1Malaysia.

One day during their group study session, Melur discovers that a page from a literature novel belonging to her schoolteacher mother has been torn out. Thinking that it is a silly prank one of the boys have played, she questions them about it, but they all say the had nothing to do with it. Though Melur feels that one of them is definitely the culprit.

As Melur investigates further, the boys become as curious as Melur as to the contents of the page that was torn out from this novel, Interlok. Questions come up. Questions on their collective histories and personal identities. Questions that neither Mahesh, Hafiz, Melur nor Kahoe know the answers to.

Does a word really have the power to shape reality and change the course of their friendship?

The actors were brilliant and their emotions weren’t contrived. At times, we laughed at them and at times they provoked us into becoming mutes. Some of the things that they said in the dialogue truly resonated with me and teared my eyes at many points through the play.

Deep down, I hope that racist members of our community would watch the play and to emote the kinds of pain and suffering that it causes but I quietly fear that the message of the play would be thoroughly lost on them. But there is hope if this play can be staged for the young who live through it.

Anyway, if anyone has the time to spare, catch it before it ends. It’s going to be the best way to spend your 2-hours this weekend.

PS: The title – Parah – is extremely apt. It’s a play on the ‘P’ word that brings great pain and suffering.

Institutionalised Racism

I had a heated argument with someone recently, on racism, which reminded me of a recent forum that I attended on institutionalised racism that was such a negative experience for me that I have lost all faith and respect for Hindraf.

Regardless, I just want to write down a few items to note here.

All these people, are complaining about being victimised and being at the receiving end of unfair treatment. In one case, they claim that their situation is the way it is because their race is too weak and make excellent soft targets. In the other case, they claim that their race is too strong, and is victimised because certain people are jealous at their success.

I find it extremely stupid that these people are be asking for fair treatment while framing everything in terms of the strength/weakness of their race.

If one claims that their race is too good, one cannot also ask for equal treatment in the same breath because the two does not reconcile except to an individual. If we think that our race is superior, then we must agree to the affirmative action policies and institutionalised racism because that helps to level the playing field. Otherwise, the superior race will end up wiping out the inferior one and genocide is generally considered a bad thing.

If one claims that their race is too weak, one cannot also ask for equal treatment because their own race would be wiped out otherwise. What they are not happy with is that the affirmative action policies are not for them but for the other group. Again, this is a stupid argument because they only oppose institutionalised racism because they are not beneficiaries but if protection was afforded to their weak race, they would need it to survive.

Seriously, I think both these arguments are equally stupid.

If you claim that your race is superior, then you’re supporting the justification for institutionalised racism. If you claim that your race is inferior, you’re also supporting the justification for institutionalised racism. The only way to do away with the justification for institutionalised racism is to do away with racist views ourselves.

PS: One person even attributed my personal success to my race. That would totally ignore the amount of hard work that I have put in and sacrifice that I have made throughout my life to get where I am today. I took it as a personal insult and told the other person off.