Food for Thought 5

To begin with lets look at some interesting definitions. Some of these definitions seem to be very synonymous with what is happening in our country. A few are very scary terms that I hope will never ever define Malaysia.

Banana Republic: The phrase banana republic was coined (ca. 1904) by the American writer O. Henry (William Sydney Porter, 1862–1910). Banana republic is a political science term for a politically unstable country, whose economy is largely dependent on exporting a limited-resource product, e.g.bananas.

Money Laundering: The process of creating the appearance that large amounts of money obtained from serious crimes, such as drug trafficking or terrorist activity, originated from a legitimate source.

White-Collar Crime: White-collar crime refers to financially motivated non-violent crime committed by business and government 

professionals. Within criminology, it was first defined by sociologist Edwin Sutherland in 1939 as "a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation". Typical white-collar crimes include fraud, bribery, Ponzi schemes, insider trading, embezzlement, cybercrime, copyright infringement, money laundering, identity theft, and forgery.

Pugilist: A pugilist is a person who fights with the fists: a boxer, usually a professional.

Failed State: A failed state is a nation in which the government has lost political authority and control and is unable to fulfil the basic responsibilities of a sovereign state.
Common characteristics of a failing state include a central government so weak or ineffective that it has little practical control over much of its territory; non-provision of public services; widespread corruption and criminality; refugees and involuntary movement of populations; and sharp economic decline.

Sidekick: A person closely associated with another who is usually more important and powerful. The sidekick helps and spends a lot of time with the powerful, more important person.

The following article is taken from the blog Sakmongkol AK47 (written 24 July, 2015) which is one of my favourite blogs for its clear, concise and spot-on writing. The rajah mentioned in this piece of writing is at the bottom of the page together with a little info on the writer.


Menuju Repablik Pisang-1

Setelah peguam WSJ jawab.
Lihat rajah diatas. Apa carta diatas tunjuk? Kecuali kita buta, aliran wang semua masuk dalam akaun Najib. Ini isiu yang Najib kena jawab.

Dari sumber mana? Duit siapa? Duit sumber sah, duit haram, duit rasuah yang disalurkan? Untuk apa? Kenapa dalam akaun saudara? Saluran ikut tapisan seperti dalam rajah, memungkinkan ini aktiviti mendobi wang- money laundering.
Jadi Najib ingat dia PM dan Menteri Kewangan dan tuan kepada segala hamba sahaya Melayu- dia boleh buat apa sahaja.

Sehingga ada penafian yang meyakinkan, maka kita pegang Najib sebagai bersalah sehingga dibuktikan tidak bersalah.
Kerja mungkar ini telah didedahkan oleh WSJ dan The Edge. Apalah bengap sangat peguam, tulis surat kepada WSJ tanya, apa maksud mereka?

Kenapa tidak hasilkan video dibintangi oleh Ramesh Rao dan Lester Melanyi untuk pertikai peribadi WSJ? Kenapa target hanya SR dan Claire Rewcastle Brown? Sebab Najib dan geng serta kunco2 nya ingat, membuli rakyat sendiri lebih mudah.

Mesej yang disampaikan oleh WSJ dan SR amat jelas. Maksud mereka tidak lain bahawa PM Malaysia kemungkinan terlibat dalam pengaliran wang haram, rasuah atau penyumbang utama kepada aktiviti jenayah kewangan. Sebab itu wang masuk dalam akaun nya.

Sebagai pemilik akaun tersebut, dialah yang bertanggung jawab menerangkan mana duit itu datang, untuk apa, mengapa masuk dalam akaun.
Sehigga sekarang PM tidak disiasat. Yang kena siasat oang lain. Perkara lain disiasat. Justo lah. Orang2 yang dinamakan oleh Lester Melanyi. Kecoh di lowyat. Kecoh di Berjaya Timesquare.
Tokoh utama dalam kes ini yakni Najib Tun Razak tidak disiasat dan di caj.

Ertinya, kita jangan taruh keyakinan sangat dalam integrity pasukan penyiasat khas walaupun ianya dianggotai oleh 4 orang Tan Sri.

Saya harap pihak penyiasat memperlihatkan mereka buat kerja2 remeh ini tapi mereka sebenarnya menyiasat perkara yang sebenar nya. Iaitu adakah Najib penyumbang utama dalam isiu ini. Adakah dia actor dan pengegrak utama dalam skendel kewangan 1MDB dan akaungate RM2.7 billion dan jika ya, adakah ini asas untuk mendesak Najib letak jawatan?

Ini sebetulnya isiu yang mesti kekal dalam kepala dan minda rakyat. Bukan isiu kekalkan Najib atau tidak. Jika tak bagus, buang. Mudah. Bukan negara kiamat pun. Bukan rakyat Malaysia mati bergelimpangan atas jalan jika Najib dikeluarkan.

Sekarang apabila peguam WSJ dah jawab apa dia 2 pilihan yang PM Najib akan ambil? Saman atau tulis mohon pencerahan lagi?

Saya menulis satu artikel mengatakan, apa pasal lawyer PM najib memohon keterangan lanjut daripada artikel WSJ. Sepatutnya saman malu sahaja lah. Sekarang peguam Dow Jones pemilik WSJ sudah jawab. Panjang lebar. Saya harap peguam PM Najib faham. Jawapan nya disini. Saya membaca surat jawapan peguam WSJ. Nampak nya mereka dalam combative mood.
Mengecutkan telor kata orang Pekan.

Sila fail saman itu dalam mahkamah Amerika atau Singapura. Kita hendak lhat kejantanan PM dan peguam nya. Dalam negara bolehlah buli orang kerdil. Orang miskin.
PM Najib ingat dia tunjuk hero suruh peguam nya menulis kepada WSJ dan Dow Jones. Najib bukan Lee Kuan Yew. Lee Kuan Yew is a pugilist. Najib?

Sebenarnya bukan kepada WSJ dia kena jawab- dia kena jawab kepada kita rakyat Malaysia.
Kita tahu langkah tersebut hanya tektik buang masa. Mungkin Najib ingat jika ada ruang masa, pasukan penyiasat khas yang dianggotai 4 Tan sri dapat membersihkan nya. Penyiasatan tersebut memakan masa dan mungikn hasilan nya nanti tidak memihak kepada Najib.

Pesong perhatian rakyat.
Jadi apa patut buat? Tuduh ini angkara Cina? Angkara DAP? Komplot Dr Mahathir? Buat video orang bercakap seperti orang mabuk? arahan seorang mabuk juga? Dan pengakuan dan rakaman video inilah diangkat sebagai ‘bukti’ untuk mempertahankan diri. Satu pengakuan sesiapa boleh bikin arahan individu yang mencurigakan dijadikan ‘bukti’ mendedahkan kepalsuan lapuran Sarawak report, The Edge dan pencetusan isiu oleh tokoh politik pembangkang seperti Rafizi dan Tony Pua.

Saya rasa minda dan pemikiran rakyat Malaysia lebih sofistikated seperti yang disangkakan oleh orang seperti Rahman Dahalan, Shabery chik dan mereka yang meremehkan azam rakyat mahu memecat Najib.

Sakmongkol AK47 is the nom de guerre of blogger Dato' Mohd. Ariff Sabri bin Hj. Abdul Aziz. He is presently the elected MP for Raub, Pahang. He studied Economics at University Malaya and University of Manchester(Owens). Sakmongkol was a legendary Muay Thai fighter and AK 47 is the Russian made firearm.

Food for Thought 4

The following is taken from The Star

Updated: Sunday July 19, 2015 MYT 7:51:17 AM

Keeping an open, diverse mind

BY HARIATI AZIZAN

Opening up minds: Buku Jalanan encourages the reading of every and any type of material, but priority is given to books that can generate intellectual discourse through analysis and group discussions.

 

Buku Jalanan is growing in popularity nationwide but it has reportedly been accused of being one of the ‘masterminds’ of an anti-establishment movement influencing youths on how to vote in the 14th general election.

READING alfresco with Buku Jalanan in Taman Tasik Titiwangsa is something that student Arni A. looks forward to every fortnight.

“They even had readings and discussions of books by our National Laureates including Keris Mas, Shahnon Ahmad and Usman Awang.

“There are magazines too, but it’s all mainly literary and people just come here to read,” says the 20-year-old.

Arni was shocked when the free book library movement was red-flagged as subversive by the National Civics Bureau (BTN) recently.

“Yes, most of the books at Buku Jalanan are thought-provoking, but I have not come across any that are overtly revolutionary or radical or extreme,” she shares.

In a series of leaked slides, BTN had reportedly accused Buku Jalanan of being one of the “master­minds” of an anti-establishment movement influencing youths on how to vote in the 14th general election.

This allegation has made Arni wary of being called for the controversial BTN course.

“I’ve already heard so many stories about its political propaganda and was hoping that I will not have to attend it. Just think, if they find reading anti-establishment, I really don’t want to know what they consider acceptable,” says Arni.

First held in 2011 in Shah Alam, Buku Jalanan is growing popular nationwide, especially among tertiary students.

As it states on its Facebook page, the open-air reading activity is aimed at cultivating a reading culture in the country by “bringing books down from exclusive shelves and out to public spaces for all”.

According to Buku Jalanan ­co-coordinator Zikri Rahman, although they encourage the reading of every and any type of ­material, ­priority is given to books that can generate intellectual discourse through analysis and group discussions.

“In that sense, you can say that Buku Jalanan is political, but it is not partisan to any political parties,” says Arni, adding that she feels that she understands more about Malaysian society and its workings after joining the free library.

“I now feel ready to become a voter when I turn 21 next year, but isn’t that good for the country? Now at least I know how to get the information I need to make the right decision at the polls. It is also up to the candidates in the next elections to prove that they deserve my vote,” she says.

Alternative voices are only good for the growth and development of the country, agrees Faisal Mustaffa, managing director of local indie book publisher Merpati Jingga.

Faisal is another one of the ­movers and shakers in the local indie arts and literature scene to be branded by BTN as “enemy of the state”.

First exposed by a local English daily which reported that BTN had highlighted in its course the Malay subculture deemed as a threat to the Malay community, from publishing house Studio Anai-Anai to Sinaganaga of Sindiket Sol-Jah, Amir Muhammad of Buku Fixi, Aloy Paradoks of Selut Press and Sang Freud Press, Aisa Linglung of Lejen Press and Mutalib Othman of Dubook Press.

With BTN getting rapped as an alleged racist and indoctrination mechanism by its critics, the leaked slides looked suspiciously like an attempt to stifle freedom of expression and freedom of thought.

The authorities should have nothing to be scared of with alternative voices, says Faisal.

By definition, “indie” means independent from the mainstream movement but it does not mean that it is anti or against the establishment.

“The indie or alternative voices can open the minds of individuals and stimulate their intellectual thinking.

“Unfortunately in Malaysia, we are used to listening to the voice of authority and following their orders, and our main knowledge is still distributed from one official source.

“But now you can’t do that any more with all the sources of information available online – it’s out there, regardless whether the facts are real or not. The old tactics of controlling information and telling the young what to think do not work any more,” he says.

Crucially, not all of the so-called subversive indie Malay voices highlighted by BTN are politically tinged.

Buku Fixi, for one, reportedly counts Kelabu as one of its best sellers – and the “urban Malay” pulp fiction tells of a girl who hires a fake boyfriend to make her current one jealous.

Lejen Press is known for Awek Chuck Taylor by Nami Cob Nobbler (pen name), which is about a college dropout playboy who got his comeuppance when he falls in love with a mysterious girl (awek) in a pair of Chuck Taylors (sports shoe brand by Converse).

The most “anti-establishment” aspect of the two novels is probably the casual language they are written in which contains a lot of Malay street and online slang, and its frank take on sexuality in a Muslim society.

Ultimately, the powers that be need to accept the fact that Malaysia is multiracial and even the Malays are diverse, not homo­genous, Faisal opines.

“Having different opinions and thought does not mean that we are betraying our race, religion and nation.

“The Malays need to lose their individualistic and egoistic notions that the Malays ‘are the supreme race in the world’, which make us think we are greater than others, putting off the other communities in the country, including some of the Malays themselves.”

To be fair, BTN has tried to clarify that the leaked presentation slides critical of the Malay arts and literary groups were used only for internal “academic discussions”.

Urging them not to “feel slighted” for the “anti-establishment” tag, BTN director Datuk Raja Arif Raja Ali stated in a press release that the slides were merely for a discussion module.

“All must be clear about it. It was only a subject for internal academic discussion and I am baffled because it was spread publicly.”

Faisal and his fellow publishers and writers, however, are adamant on making a stand against what he calls “defamation” by the bureau, especially when their allegations are “baseless, not based on facts with research not from valid sources”.

For Faisal and some of his fellow indie book publishers, however, the damage is already done.

“Calling me a ‘dangerous element’, even as an academic discussion, is a waste of time and money, so we need to make a stand against it, we can’t just keep quiet – it’s not a question of ‘feeling slighted’,” he reiterates.

Earlier, they had sent a legal letter demanding for an apology from the BTN within two weeks for their “false allegations”. Now that the two-week deadline for a public apology is up, says Faisal, their lawyers are working on the next course of action, which is a possible defamation suit.

With a new batch of government scholars at various levels raring to begin their studies, many have been registering and attending BTN courses.

While the indie publishers may not have been on BTN’s agenda, as claimed by its director Raja Arif, Faisal strongly urges the Government to scrap the bureau.

“I strongly believe it’s a waste of public funds.”

Crucially, the idea of a state-funded course to instil nationalism and patriotism is just out­dated, he stresses.

“For Malaysia to be developed and civilised, it’s not based on race, but our mindset and maturity. The Malays should stop blaming other people for our failures or lack of success and development,” Faisal says.