Pot, Kettle, Rot

I am not sure if Zaid is a trojan horse or not, as some parties are insinuating. However, I know that he is at least saying and doing the right things. After reading the letter in MT by Sivarasa, I decided to look up Zaid’s original piece. Needless to say, I did not find anything remotely wrong in the original statement entitled, “Empowering Keadilan”.

I am totally disillusioned by PKR simply because it is unable to get it’s act together. When I say that, I mean – focus on the plot – and not unite and close ranks. Internal dissent is actually a very good thing for a political party. I hate all these ‘tow the line’ and ‘behind closed doors’ crap, which is totally against the spirit of democracy and freedom of speech. Now, the trouble is that PKR stands for Parti KeAnwaran Rakyat in my mind. It has always been that way to me, which is a shame. PKR could be so much more.

Unfortunately, Zaid is one of the few leaders inside PKR whom I think would be able to actually steer the party away from self-destruction. The party must realise that our present government seems quite determined to lock Anwar up, regardless of whether the charges are trumped up or not. So, any rational person will focus on the next logical thing, which is the bigger picture and the main plot – to save the country! That is the only way that Anwar can ever be redeemed. He may never see himself on the seat of Prime Minister but he will leave his mark on history.

That said, PKR needs to get its act together, now! They are far from the democratic ideal that they espouse. There is just too much of the ‘old ways’ inside PKR. As many people have alluded, they are the weakest link inside Pakatan Rakyat. While having direct elections for top party positions is a good start, manipulation of candidacies is just lame. While the mainstream media may be blamed for inflaming their nomination blunders, PKR must accept the fact that there is no smoke, without fire.

I am certainly at a loss to understand Zaid’s campaign strategy as he seems bent on publicly and continuously criticising the party and its leadership (which I must remind he is also part of) instead of strengthening the party, and championing the party’s policies, processes and issues including that of UMNO-BN’s persecution of Anwar.

The answer to that is a simple one Sivarasa. And if you are unable to ascertain it, you no longer deserve to be at the top.

Sigh.

Free Condoms

I was at the Freedom Film Fest 2010 last weekend and came across a booth, which was advocating HIV/AIDS prevention/awareness programmes. Among the stuff that they were giving away, were free condoms, lube and a small information booklet. I found that quite cute.

Unfortunately, they did not seem to believe me when I mentioned that condoms do not really do much to prevent most STIs although they do play a role in preventing the transmission of HIV/AIDS through one of its vectors – sexual intercourse. Therefore, the use of condoms should be advocated as a form of safer sex and not safe sex, which may yield unexpected results.

Then, when I mentioned that there was medication that one could take for HIV/AIDS, they thought I was out of my mind. They quickly referred to their guide booklet and seemed quite smug in their knowledge that there is no medication for it. Well, while there is still a lot of work needed in the search for a cure, there is already a lot of progress made in controlling the spread of the disease through the use of anti-viral drugs.

The one thing worst than being uninformed is being misinformed. Needless to say, I did not get any free condoms, lube nor guide booklet.

After the event, some friends and I went for some supper outside and to talk-cock. Then, at one point, someone agreed that their idea of an ideal sex-education system in this country is abstinence. I got a little impassioned with this as I have a problem with people who would think that ignorance is bliss, sex is bad, homosexuality is evil.

Beware the person who denies you knowledge, for s/he seeks to dominate you. Good thing I’ll unlikely meet this person ever again.

Nurul Izzah Anwar

The soon-to-happen PKR party elections just seems to be fraught with so many scandals that it is turning into a farce. While I am not a member and have zero interest in the well-being of the party, I am a concerned citizen watching the drama. There are many things to be said but I will just say one tiny thing.

Izzah would make one heck of a Deputy President.

An article in TheStar said that, “Nurul Izzah has many hurdles to clear to convince her party why she deserves this important seat.” I see things differently.

Firstly, nobody deserves the seat. That is the wrong mentality that is plaguing our country. However, she is rightly qualified for the seat, more so than most of the other party members who think that they are her better.

She has balls. I do not see anyone else from within the party who has the guts to take on giants from the other side. She took on Sharizat, a senior cabinet minister, to seize her constituency. More recently, she has challenged our dearest Tun Dr Mahathir to a debate, which has gone unanswered. The fact that she is even running for this position says that, she has got cohones. We need leaders who are able to take on the old ways, if we want real change.

She has been with the cause from the very inception. Nobody can deny that fact. On the day that her father was first detained, she may have just been studying for her math paper at university. But since, she became the pillar of strength that held up the cause – the Puteri Keadilan (Princess of Justice). This is baptism by fire and is a credential that nobody, not even any of the others running for office, can claim to have.

I do not claim to know what is happening inside PKR but if I was a member, she would have gotten my vote, over all the others. While I do not fancy her chances of winning, I am sure that she would have at least given everyone else a run for their money. A shining beacon of hope is a very powerful intoxicant.

It fantasy was reality and she won the seat fair and square, it would have been a Good Thing for the party. She would have signaled the entry of a whole generation of young leaders – Mahathir’s Children – into leading roles within our country. She would have opened the flood-gates for other women to seek for highest office that even Tun Rafidah Aziz and Ng Yen Yen failed to do. She would have rocked the boat and changed things.

She would have been the distinction that sold PKR as an agent for change. Instead, plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose.

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Update: seems like she is now eligible to run! While I am jubilant that she will have the chance to kick arse, the way that PKR seems to be running this election just perplexes me. Go Izzah!

Zee Avi!

I had just bought her debut album today in support of local artistes (shame on me!). It’s really good! Took out my FTIsland album and started listening to this instead.

Blaming Mahathir

I have a Dream!As much as some quarters would like to blame our country’s ills on Tun Dr Mahathir, I do not subscribe to this view. In fact, I think that our dear old Tun is merely the product of his time and circumstance. If I were to assign blame for all our woes, I would assign it to an entire generation of Malaysians, those above the age of 50.

This was the generation that put Mahathir into power almost 30 years ago. This was the generation that was entrusted with building a lasting legacy on top of the solid foundation laid by our grandparents, but stood by and did nothing as our country was raped and plundered instead. They squandered the wealth of their parents and now leave a mountain of debt for their children.

As I read Barry Wain’s book, this was the thought that kept popping into my head. I just did not understand how an entire generation could have allowed such things to happen on their watch. How they turned a blind eye to all that was happening around them as long as it did not affect them. They are complicit of the crime, if not implicit.

So, if I was asked to direct my dissatisfaction somewhere, I would direct it at a bunch of geriatrics instead of our dearest Tun.

Our parents’ generation has failed us thoroughly. As children of the Mahathir era, it is now up to us to pick up the pieces and fix this. If all the children of Mahathir put our resources together and work collectively, we can hopefully still save our country before it is lost forever. I do see positive signs in some of our political leaders like Izzah, who gives me hope that all is not lost.

However, people like her cannot do it alone. The rest of us will need to do our parts as well. We need to be the change that we want to see. We need to lead by example. We need to walk the talk. If we want to see racial unity, let us start by making friends. If we want to stop corruption, let us stop greasing the wheels. If we want to change the system, let us stop towing the line.

Change is difficult, but it is necessary.

There was a dream once, of our grandparents, called Malaysia. Let it not end in nightmare.

#1 on Facebook!

Hey, Malaysians are world #1 at something useful for once! According to research done, Malaysians have the largest number of friends on Facebook, and we spent the most time on Facebook! We averaged 233 friends while the Japanese only averaged 29 friends per person. I know of many people who easily have more than 233 FB friends. So, I am not surprised by this result.

What does this say about us as a society?

I think that it is actually quite reflective of ourselves. A friend once told me that in Malaysia, we have about a 2-degree of separation between any two people. After observing for the last few years, I am coming to the same conclusion myself. Now that a study has shown that an average Malaysian has 233 FB friends, it does not surprise me if I what my friend said was true.

It also shows that we have far too much free time on our hands, until we end up doing silly and potentially illegal things on FB. An example is the case of a man who claims that his doctored photographs appear randomly on FB. He has since resorted to making a police report on the issue.

I thought to myself – this is crazy! People really need to learn how to handle these kinds of situations online. It’s like the wild-wild-west online (why do you think it’s called the WWW?). You need to learn how to handle yourself so that things do not go the wrong way; and if they ever do, you need to know how to take care of it as well.

It is quite difficult for Malaysian police to do anything about these sort of things unless the perpetrator is traced and found to be a Malaysian residing in Malaysia. Otherwise, it is nearly impossible to take any sort of legal action as no real harm has been done, except to someone’s online reputation.

Weird and crazy sh*t happens!

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Talent Corp

Our government has recently been trumpeting Talent Corp, an organisation dedicated with the task to head-hunt Malaysians working and residing overseas and enticing them to return to Malaysia to contribute to nation building. While I do appreciate the whole idea of fishing our people back home, I am highly skeptical of the success of such a programme for one reason as identified by TheStar:

True meritocracy has to be practised in every sphere of activity, with transparency in every stage of discussion and negotiation. These would range from open tenders for public projects to full accountability for a range of activities, including government departments and agencies as well as the selection process of student scholarships for families.

There should be no favouritism on any basis other than material need. Where such things as academic achievement and promise are equal, any advantage or preference accorded to individuals must be founded only on personal need and family capacity.

Our government has had similar programmes in the past but they all focused on money – through the offer of APs and other incentives. However, the harsh reality is that things are more than just about money. Focusing on monetary incentives only delay the inevitable as these expertise will quickly grow jaded with the local work culture and decide to return to foreign shores.

Also, while bringing home talent from overseas is important, I hope that the government does not neglect those talents who are already at home. There are a lot of skilled people in Malaysia who are also being subjected to the inane local work culture and grow jaded by the day. It becomes harder and harder for such talent to justify staying home and they will leave after a while.

To succeed in luring them home for good requires Malaysia to replicate the same kind of standards all-round. Recognising the importance of the contributions of these Malaysians and their spouses, regardless of race, religion and nationality, is an important step forward.

I honestly hope that this proves to be a catalyst in improving our local work culture. If it does, we will be able to exploit both sets of talents – those returning from overseas and those whom are already here. We need to be ready to cast aside a lot of our perceived Asian values if we are to succeed in this.

Ageism, racism, and xenophobia must all GO.