Category: Politics & government

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Politics & government Sports

[767] Of differing point of view and non-existing NPOV

In Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Obi Wan Kenobi says “So what I have told you was true… from a certain point of view.” That scene along with the quote is a tribute to relativism.

The truth in that is undeniable (at risk of committing circular reasoning), especially when it concerns Parti Sosialis Malaysia‘s current case in the Court of Appeal of Malaysia. Utusan Malaysia says:

‘ROS wajar tolak permohonan PSM’

Oleh NORZAINAH NORDIN

PUTRAJAYA 12 April – Mahkamah Rayuan hari ini diberitahu bahawa Pendaftar Pertuduhan (ROS) bertindak wajar ketika menolak permohonan Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) untuk didaftarkan sebagai parti politik peringkat kebangsaan atas alasan PSM gagal mengemukakan dokumen dan maklumat yang lengkap.

It practically means Registrar of Societies is right to reject PSM’s application because the party didn’t have representative from at least seven states. The title of the article itself roughly translates into “ROS is right to reject PSM’s application”.

In The Star however:

ROS policy on party invalid, court hears

PUTRAJAYA: The Registrar of Societies’ policy requiring Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) to have representatives in seven states before it could be registered as a national political party was an invalid criterion, the Court of Appeal heard yesterday.

I first read The Star’s version. When I saw Utusan’s, I was about to shout “liar!” Only after I read both articles carefully did I realized that The Star was quoting PSM’s counsel while Utusan was quoting ROS’ instead. Neither are lying but both are telling half of the truth.

Because both are not reporting from a neutral point of view, this makes me wonder – does Utusan suffer from phobia of socialism? Is The Star a commiephone? Stretching it further, is UMNO still stuck in Malayan Emergency worldview? Is MCA a commie wannabe?

Ridiculous questions but what else is there to conclude from the two radically differing pieces that report on the same subject?

p/s – w00t! Ajax won against Vitesse while Utrecht lost to Groningen! This enables Ajax to climb up to fourth and force Utrecht to go down to fifth. Ajax needs fourth placing in order to qualify for UEFA Champions Leauge playoff. One more game to go and all Ajax needs is a draw against Willem II Tilburg to secure a spot in the playoff. Sweet!

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ASEAN Politics & government

[766] Of crooked bridge cancelled

While I’m relieved that the Malaysian government has stopped the bridge talks with Singapore and directly crossed out the possibility of Malaysia acceding to unacceptable Singaporean demands, I’m extremely disappointed with the Malaysian government’s decision to cancel the bridge altogether . I found it out through TV3. Bernama has more:

KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 (Bernama) — The government has decided to stop the construction of the bridge to replace the Johor Causeway that links Malaysia and Singapore, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced Wednesday.

He said the government had also decided to stop all negotiations pertaining to the bridge. Construction of the bridge, also known as the “scenic bridge” began early this year, to replace half of the Johor Causeway on the Malaysian side.

Though the reason for quitting the negotiation has been given, reason for the bridge cancelation is still a mystery. Hence, tomorrow’s local papers will be of extraordinary interest. The Malaysian government must clear out the air.

Before tomorrow comes, I’d like to say, historical heritage is not a proper reason and I will not accept such incoherent reasoning.

As stated earlier, I’m for a bridge, straight or otherwise. And no, if there’s still anybody that thinks the bridge would be a cul-de-sac, it is not. At the same time, I’m against bowing to Singaporean impossible demands. You could say, I’m being hawkish on this matter.

p/s – ReCom.org is down (again!) but it should be back up in less than a day.

pp/s – as if one disappointment is not enough, Malaysia lost 1 – 0 to Japan in Hockey World Cup Qualifier in Changzhou, China. This makes it hard for Malaysia to qualify for the World Cup.

ppp/s – the Prime Minister answers the mystery:

PUTRAJAYA, April 12 (Bernama) — Malaysia decided to stop the construction of the “scenic bridge” meant to replace the Malaysian half of the Johor Causeway because of its legal implications and complications, said Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Wednesday.

The Prime Minister said the Cabinet deliberated on the project at its weekly meeting today and felt that there would still be legal implications and complications to resolve afterward should Malaysia proceed with the project.

“Problems will arise when we have to cut the causeway, the water pipes and railway track and connected them to the new bridge. The problems will continue,” he told Bernama when asked to explain why Malaysia did not just build the bridge in its own territory without negotiating with Singapore.

So, does this mean we could only have a bridge in 2060 when the water contract ends?

Categories
Liberty Politics & government Society

[757] Of Jill Carroll is free

Yes, she is. I saw a report on Bloomberg just now and Bloomberg says Al-Jazeera and Reuters have confirmed the news. I however have yet to see an online report. Should be up soon, I presume. She’s from Ann Arbor and would probably be on her way to Ann Arbor soon.

Jill Carroll was kidnapped sometimes ago in Iraq and was feared dead earlier.

p/s – remember my post entitled [754] Of the strengthening role of religion within the government?

Well, in that entry, I wrote in jest that “through extrapolation, maybe, the government would send Muslims to jail for missing prayers in the future.” I didn’t quite believe it was possible. Apparently, I was wrong.

There is already such provision in Kelantan. It’s Section 101 of the Kelantan Islamic Council and Malay Customs Enactment 1986 (Amendment 1994). More:

In a rare case, a 68-year-old man was fined RM300 or one month’s jail for not attending Friday prayers in his mukim (sub-district).

Mohamad Taib, from Kedepal here, pleaded guilty to not attending Friday prayers at a mosque in his area three consecutive times, an offence which in Kelantan carries a maximum RM1,000 fine or a six-month jail term.

Religious prosecution is not all. Civil liberty was also threatened; privacy intruded:

The labourer was caught by Pasir Mas Religious Affairs Department officers after two months of surveillance at the mosque.

Pasir Mas Lower Syariah Court prosecutor Rohani Kadir said the officers and mosque officials found that Mohamad had not attended Friday prayers at the mosque between June and July last year.

And I thought the presence of CCTVs in Kuala Lumpur is already bad. Thank goodness, Kelantan is not my home. In a way, I’m grateful that Malaysia is a federation. If it were a unitary state, it would get really ugly to have such law.

If there a similar federal clause on that, those green cards would start to be overly attractive. Imagine the reason to emigrate: escaping religious prosecution. LOL!

Or maybe, it’s not so funny after all.

pp/s – two hours to the tabling of the Ninth Malaysian Plan and what am I doing? Trying to convince my mom into buying equities of major Malaysian construction-based firms. Well, correction – a buying frenzy.

ppp/s – alright. Not A2 but Boston.

Categories
Politics & government Society

[754] Of the strengthening role of religion within the government

I read a disturbing article in Utusan Malaysia (in Malay) earlier this week. A bill known as Enakment Zakat (literally, Tithe Enactment) is set for enforcement next year at the latest in Selangor. The bill will enable the state’s Islamic religious authority to imprison any person that failed to pay alms or zakat; zakat is obligatory alms on Muslims and part of five pillars of Islam. The troubling part here is the power the state government has to enforce religious tenets on its citizens. The state is enroaching on private citizens’ life in the name of religion.

The past few years have seen the strengthening of role of religion, specifically Islam, within the Malaysian government. Not too many months ago, we saw how certain religious authority had the audacity to form moral police squads despite public disapproval. It took several hard no’s to convince that religious authority to abandon that idea. More recently, policewomen had been ordered to wear headscarf at an official function regardless of belief. The police stated that it was for the sake of uniformity but I suspect something more sinister going on. Though this enactment is only effective at state level, it may well be another step taken to further erode secularism in Malaysia.

This trend is definitely the effect of intense UMNO-PAS rivalry that started in 1999. PAS managed a stunning win in the year’s general election. In effort to counter PAS, UMNO tried to be more Islamic than PAS, enticing conservatives that would normally vote for PAS. It worked and in the 2004 general election, UMNO gave PAS a severe beating.

The “I’m more a Muslim than you” policy may have accomplished what UMNO desired but they’re disfranchising the more moderate Malaysians. For such reason, I hope to see UMNO’s current policy to backfire in 2008 or 2009, the year the next general election is due. Such backlash would halt UMNO and indirectly, the government’s march to the right. PAS suffered somewhat similar backlash during the Pengkalan Pasir by-election, or not.

Else, soon, through extrapolation, maybe, the government would send Muslims to jail for missing prayers in the future. Hey, they’ve already sent those that don’t fast during Ramadan into a “timeout”. That could happen unless we stop giving those in the right more power to impose their self-proclaimed superior moral and other religious rules on the masses.

The problem is, of course, we have a commie wannabe as an alternative to UMNO and PAS and that makes things tougher than it ought to be. In the end, it’s all about the lesser devil, unfortunately. And that lesser devil is currently somewhere on the left.

Categories
Politics & government

[753] Of scandal in MSA election

Whoa! Scandal!

The results of this year’s fierce Michigan Student Assembly election almost weren’t released last night.

The Michigan Progressive Party, clearly the loser by the vote count, accused Students 4 Michigan of violating the election code.

People affiliated with S4M attempted to overload and shut down MPP’s website Monday night as the polls opened. That night, a computer program downloaded a single file from MPP’s website more than 200,000 times in an attempt to crash the website at a crucial time.

S4M admitted involvement.

This is the most interesting campus election yet!

BTW, Students 4 Michigan won. MPP was promising but too bad they didn’t manage it.