Author: Hafiz Noor Shams

For more about me, please read this.

Categories
Liberty Photography

[598] Of towering lamp post

A little bit over eight more days to 42 years of Malaysian Federation.

But heh, I wonder if that lamp post works. That lamp post stands right beside this crosswalk light.

Seeing how things are being done here makes me feel gloomy. But hey, about 400 years ago, somebody said A sable cloud turns forth its silver lining on the night. That is where every cloud has a silver lining originates from.

I wonder if that guy ever got to see his silver lining.

Anyway, I doubt an awful lot will feel anything like August 31. I do think however Xia Xue could change that. Anything coming from Singapore will be able to rile up almost any Malaysian. Heck, she manages to make a Brit stands up for Malaysia.

Well, internet soap opera in the making.

p/s – wtf? Gold Lego bricks?

Categories
Activism Photography

[597] Of some water, a couple of flowers and a cup

Voila!

Finally, 500px instead of 400px. Looks good.

Anyway, it seems to me that, University of Malaya’s application form for master’s degree is as thick as Princeton’s undergraduate application form. Somehow, it makes filling up tax return form a walk in the park. Well, it depends on how large the park is.

And forgot the mention something for the sake of my vanity. I sent something for theCicak. The stuff is essentially a modification of my earlier post. I notice that there’s a grammatical problem that slipped my eyes when I sent it. And apparently, it also slips theCicak’s eyes. Hah.

And I’m not ReCom.org’s founding fathers as stated in the sort of footnote. But hey, is UMNO really our freedom fighters? Or is it they and the commies and everything in between? Increasingly, it’s becoming, who cares.

So, who cares if I were one of the founding fathers…

Hmm, maybe somebody out there might.

Categories
Politics & government

[596] Of Khairy challenges Lim Kit Siang to a debate in the Parliament

UMNO strongman Khairy Jamaluddin challenges leading Malaysian opposition Lim Kit Siang to a debate in the Parliament on whether who actually is, or are the Father(s) of Independence of Malaysia/Malaya. It all started when Ronnie Liu Tian Khiew of DAP questions the legitimacy of accepting early UMNO leaders as freedom fighters. I found out about the challenge from an article by Utusan Malaysia. It’s on the front page.

Lim Kit Siang, of whom maintains a blog, gives a prompt reply. My favorite point is:

Firstly, Khairy should not challenge anyone to a debate in Parliament until he has become a MP himself.

In chess, people call it check, Khairy.

The truth is, everybody back then fought for an independent Malaya. Well, almost. Whether they were communists or Malay nationalists, radicals or moderates, apologist or whatever, they all fought what they thought best for our country. With that’s said, in many ways, the Malayan Communist Party and many others did contribute to an independent Malaya. They did fight the our independence, regardless of their political slant.

Still, I don’t agree with Mr. Ronnie Liu when he says Tunku Abdul Rahman and UMNO aren’t the real fighthers for Malaya independence. It’s foolish to discredit Tunku Abdul Rahman and anybody else for that matter based on whether they worked with or against the British.

What really needs to be addressed here is Barisan Nasional’s – and in particular UMNO – monopoly on Malaysian history. Instead of overlooking UMNO leaders, communist party or everybody elses’ contributions, we should acknowledge all Malayans and Malaysians’ contributions.

But, heh, thank god for the Malayan Emergency. It would suck to live under communist rule.

p/s – the shame is on me. I call myself a green but had never really gave a thought for the other victims of Katrina until now. Salutation to Primate Noise.

Categories
ASEAN Liberty Politics & government

[595] Of Thai refugees and a job well done, so far

Malaysia is doing the right thing by not sending the Thai refugees immediately back to Thailand. I’m especially glad that the Malaysian government is acting so despite the country doesn’t officially recognize refugee status. This is especially so when Thaksin insists that those 131 refugees are separatists while Thai foreign minister believes that the group consists of innocent Thais instead. The Thai upper echelon does little to guarantee the refugees’ right to safety by issuing contradictory statements. Hence, it falls on Malaysia’s shoulder to provide the refugees such assurance in the name of human rights.

The conflict in southern Thailand may well indeed be Thai internal matter. ASEAN members at the same time practice non-interventionist principle. However, it’s clear that Thailand has been unable to contain its internal problem and now, it’s spilling into Malaysian northern state of Kelantan. According to some sources, about 1000 more Thais are planning to cross into Malaysia. The presence of 131 refuge seekers in Kelantan and the possibility of another exodus of refugees make the conflict as a Malaysian matter too, regardless of Thaksin’s opinion.

Thailand in recent past accuses Malaysia of shielding some of Pattani separatist leaders. Malaysia denies that and some within Malaysia have hinted that Thaksin might be looking for a scapegoat. Whatever it might be, southern Thailand crisis is rocking the relationship between the two countries and the recent refugee development is rocking the boat even further.

Malaysia is stuck in a quagmire – return the refugees back to Thailand and face possible domestic and international criticisms, or, keep the refugees safe for the moment and take the Malaysian-Thai relationship to a new low.

I personally prefer the latter to the former option. It is simply so because, as stated in an earlier entry, I believe Malaysia has a moral obligation to do so. To me, it’s simply a matter of human rights. To me, the gain from sheltering the refugees is greater than the cost.

Hence, again, I am glad that the Malaysian government refuses to handover the refugees to Thai authority just yet. Those that have interest in Malaysian human rights issues should be glad too. So, let’s applaud the Malaysian government just this one time.

p/s – w00t! Malaysian Federalism: Pattani coming soon. Heh, read Brunei and Sumatra to anticipate the fun of a greater federation!

Remember though, this is for fun, not my official standing. I might not mind having Brunei as the new 14th state however. =p

Categories
Photography Travels

[594] Of Kuala Lumpur: first world and third world

I ran a little errand yesterday. My eyes were a bit wilder than usual, ceteris paribus (read: controlling for sexy girls factor). While wandering almost aimlessly, I saw a couple run down wooden squat houses with modern highrise as backdrop.

Two images of Kuala Lumpur in one shot. In my opinion, a good juxtaposition of two realities.

I can’t wait what Selangor – the only self-declared developed state in Malaysia – has to offer. Fantasyland should be better than Kuala Lumpur.

It’s ludicrous for Selangor to declare itself as a developed state. And I still think it’s ridiculous to call Selangor capital of Shah Alam as a proper city. Forgive me for comparing but I think Ann Arbor is larger and more exciting than Shah Alam. Shah Alam doesn’t even have a cinema to start with.

And I think I need a better camera. Or maybe, I just need to stop scaling down my photos for posting purposes. Yeah. Next time, I’ll use 500px for width instead of 400px. Or I just need Photoshop instead of some stupid imaging software.

Argh! I want my old computer!