On New Straits Times’ front page today: Analysis reveals tap water in Klang Valley safe to drink.
I think it’s safe too. Nobody has died so far.
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[755] Of a very slow day
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(di-di-dah-dah di-dah di-di-dah-dah di-dah dit di-dah di-dah-dit dah di-di-di-dit)
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.
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.
It’s one of those weeks again when aspiring politicians at Michigan try to get themselves elected into the Michigan Student Assembly. And that means solicitation.
Yes. To put it bluntly, spam and tons of them.
While I was a student there, I’d put a “no solicitation” sign at my door. Worked pretty well. Unfortunately, there’s nothing as effective as that in the virtual world. As of right now, I’ve already gotten seven emails, most of them are about “vote me, vote me”. Even Environmetally Justice Group, which I was part of, mailed me, asking me to vote for Michigan Progressive Party:
The Environmental Justice Group fully supports and urges everyone to vote for all candidates in the Michigan Progressive Party in the UM Student Government elections. MPP is the only party which clearly supports the Coke ban, fair trade coffee in the dorms, LEED certification for new campus buildings, and money for student group to do lobbying. Voting begins tonight at midnight. Vote MPP.
Who’s MPP? I’ve no idea. And I bet a majority at Michigan don’t give a damn about it. Whatever the outcome, chances are that the Assembly is going to be dominated by left of center candidates. In 2005, I suspect almost all representatives positioned themselves as left of center. That’s probably why the Coke ban motion was passed with ease a couple of months ago.
Anyway, I can’t vote anymore since I’ve graduated. For those who can, er, vote for MPP. Or not. But whatever you do, don’t vote for Student Conservative Party (psst, they’re Bush lovers) and Defend Affirmative Action Party (these guys are just annoying).
Heh. Let’s see if the next representatives would waste $20,000 by inviting Ludacris back to campus all over again. But if you don’t want to see that again, vote Students 4 Michigan Party out of office.
And opss… that leaves only MPP behind, doesn’t it?
Just vote for MPP. Even the Daily endorses MPP. BTW, the Daily still suck.
The result is due on Thursday, eastern standard time. Michigan Daily’s poll currently looks like this, if you are interested. Vote here. For candidates’ statement, go to Michigan Daily.
p/s – LOL! I can still vote! Well, I’m doing EJ a favor and voting for MPP. But my guess is that, my vote would probably be discounted later.
pp/s – as I thought so. An email from ITD:
Anyone with a uniqname and password can submit ballots. Ballots are
not counted unless they are submitted by a voter registered in the
appropriate academic program for a particular election.If your uniqname is “***”, you are not currently registered,
according to our data, and any ballots you submit will not be counted.
Let us know if you believe your registration status is not accurate.
Oh well.