An Unscratchable Itch

The chaos machine

2011-01-28T23:45:00.000+08:00

Actions speak louder than words but we never understand anyone’s actions. The problem isn’t that we can’t hear whatever that is being expressed but we just don’t understand what’s going on which caused a certain action to take place. Hey probably its because actions speak so loud that whatever intended result of the action gets drowned in the chaos of an action.

Humans are just like Americans. The world is whatever they see around them. We only go as far as acknowledging the fact that EVERYTHING we know is based on our senses. And our senses are inferior receptors compared to the vastness of the world or the universe if u will. We do nothing to remind of ourselves that whatever we discover isn’t what it is, that is if its anything to us. Its just simply bottom line, no more complicated than,whatever you see, hear, touch, feel, smell and think. Our senses only receive a narrow bandwidth of whatever there is. Our minds use that to build whatever we know. So if we think we see all that there is, damn child, hawks see more than we do, dogs smell and hear more than we do, plants feel more than we do, and we....we just think too much. Our ego tells us that we are the only ones thinking in this world so we overdo it just so we feel like we are, in a fantastical way, a contributing, if not superior, being in this world. Lets not even argue on the intellectual capacity of animals and plants. We think our capacities are extended by what we build and, yeah sure, we may be able to see what we cant see with our bear eyes, hear that we can't with our bear ears, feel that we can't with our bear skin but when we go beyond what we are ready to accept, we bight more than we can chew and get overwhelmed in the immense chaos which ironically is actually just in our minds and hence, for obvious reasons, we can’t accumulate that which enters in it the first place.

My point is this, why do we feel like we have found all and every reason to draw conclusions on the world and each other when EVERYTHING is greater than what it is? We only focus on what our senses give us and with pride, fuel our minds to conjure an abomination we call justice and hence we conjure all reason, all judgement, all perceptions and conclusion, all in vain. We live in a world of our own and as a result all the mess we live in is a result of our conjuring and meddling.

Choose damn it!

2010-10-28T16:44:00.002+08:00

Wrote this in the train a few days back:

Law and all the rules that we place over us are but figments of our statutes. Most people are aware of this in fact. We all realize that the values that we possess are according to the standards which we are taught or a result of our environment and the interaction wenhave with it. Eventually, as we live our lives, we have a set of rules that we adhere to. All that is obvious but what we probably don’t realize is that it is always a question of choice. This is to say that we always choose what we hold on to. Sure...we all agree and realize it but it is larger and stronger than what we probably think. Or maybe some of us just haven’t given it a lot of thought and hence its lingering somewhere in the back of our minds...a place most shrinks would call the “subconscious”. Wherever it may be in the mind, it is inevitable that whatever we believe in, hold true to, adhere, disregard, detest, adore is based on NOTHING but choice. Choice is the result of will. We make a choice as a reaction to our will. We want something so we choose to get that something. It is no more complicated than that.

We constantly consider our thoughts, morals, beliefs, actions to be something of a larger source. That it is always for or from something greater or beyond us. If not so, one would consider it to be as a result of another action, or an inspired thought, or granted truth and of course not forgetting everything else around us. Basically, there is always a source for everything, regardless if we acknowledge it or not, we tell ourselves that everything comes from something and if we don’t know what it is, we use all that we have to come up with something that fits. Leaving something in our minds without a reason or a source would make us distressed and we are ever searching for a reason or a source. And once we find a reason or a source, we claim it as the truth. Something isn’t the truth when there is no reason or source that defines it.

But here’s the beauty of it, if we choose to believe in something, we never fail to find a reason or source behind ANYTHING. In a nutshell, if we want it we have. Yeah, thats exactly what all of us have at the back of heads somewhere, if i want something ill get it somehow, all i gotta do is find a way, a source, a reason and i have it. Hence, anything we do, say, think, believe is a matter of will. If one wants to believe in something, one will and rest assured that one will fine a reason or a source that he agrees upon which will finally evolve to a truth he holds on to.

The sad part about all this is, we give in to the power or that reason to dictate our will. We never allow ourselves to cut the crap of searching for reason or a source to justify or define whatever we do, say, think, believe. We don’t realize that after all that ‘soul searching’ or ‘deep thought’ it all comes down to YOU. What YOU want. We go on a journey looking for a destination. We never let ourselves go on a journey without a destination. The destination doesn’t matter because it is wherever u make it to be. It is never a road that arrives at a point. Its just a ROAD. Just choose where u want to stop. If u choose to continue, then get up and walk again. The destination is nowhere and everywhere hence anywhere. Choose.

Since charbs is working on prostitution and the laws that bind it, i’ve read JUST some stuff on the philosophical, social and political aspects of prostitution. Its amazing how people continue to struggle to figure out wether or not to legislate it. Mainly because they’re not sure if they like it or not. Nobody really knows what they want to do with it. They can’t decide if they should or should not want it. But as time goes by, people ‘evolve’ and come up with new ideas and reasons to accept it or reject it which leads to another amendment of the law. We can accept pornography in the most part, well because many people have found a reason or a justification for it. But does that really matter? Anything that started in this world was accepted proportionally to the amount of change it will cause in the environment. If there’s a big change ppl find it hard to accept it...why? because the source or reason of that change is harder to grasp. When that happens it creates the same effect of darkness where we get stricken by fear and just freeze. When things are more subtle, we tend to be able to swallow it with ease. Prostitution, like many other ‘taboo’ has the same effect on ppl as darkness. Although it has been around for so so long, it is something that most people can’t accept openly. Simply because we do not choose to. For those who do accept it, they’ve chosen to accept it only after having found a suitable reason to support it. But if you look at it,reason doesn’t really amount to anything. It is just a means to an end. Since we choose such a means, we are bound to its consequences.

Anyways, it proves that there isn’t anything behind everything. In fact, everything is nothing so u can make it anything you want.

WATCH THIS!!!!

2009-11-30T22:50:00.005+08:00

Thanks to Suresh and Saurav, my friends from college, i have been introduced to this extremely eloquent and comprehensive documentary that would in a way correct or more like elaborate that which i've been trying to convey in the first article, No Better Than Ass Wipes and it is also relevant to the article The Rise, The Fall, and The Resurrection. The documentary is called Zeitgeist: Addendum. One can get it free from its website....watch it....its good stuff..

Immortal

2009-09-21T20:41:00.005+08:00

Guess what...i have finally got my extremely lazy ass to type something out in this blogspot cyberspace that i got myself. The reason i've not written anything as of now may be long enough for an entry in this blog but eventually it all boils down to me being a bum. Speaking about procrastinating, yes i may have been busy and i may have denied myself some certain luxuries that i enjoyed while doing a-levels but that is no excuse for my inconsiderate withdrawal from Royal Rangers. I still have some guilt because i joined them before getting into ICOM thinking i would at last go back to the blissful days of being part of this awesome youth group but i gave in to the pressure of college and left Royal Rangers. So for whatever it is worth, i would like to sincerely apologize to Cmdr. Terence and the rest of the group for my cowardly withdrawal from the Royal Rangers. Now moving away from that.......

To fathom what i am about to write, one may need to understand that which may seem cliche to those who think they have it, but laughable to those who deny it, nonetheless nobody, including me, can describe it hence it is utter faith that i and all of us who embrace it recognize it; so no creature can claim that you do or don't have it simply because they do not recognize it.It is the soul. The tragedy is the oldest one we know, that is if you believe in the Bible or the story of Eden. Adam and Eve have denied themselves of the soul when they ate the forbidden fruit which was and still is why we are supposed to be in God's image. That's what being in His image was and is all about. It is what allowed Adam and God to have a bond and it is also the same thing that allows us to have faith and hence a bond with God. Man and God were one because they were the same and they had a bond called love which is the what happens when two souls meet. Now it is written that Adam was yet lonely and was still wanting, why? It is not that Adam didn't love God anymore neither was it the other way around heck it wasn't even the probability that they got bored of each other. So God told Adam to try to find what he's looking for with all the other creatures that He has created on Earth. Yet Adam couldn't find it. So at that point God was certain that it was a longing of Adam to spill his soul physically for Adam had a body, he had flesh, and God is void of the flesh for flesh is his creation and not He Himself. Thus, Eve was created by God to be just in the image of Adam which is hence the image of God. Eve had a soul so Adam could love her the same way he love God and Eve, like Adam is also of the flesh so Adam and Eve could both physically express their love to each other.

Now before i move on, let me clarify firstly, that it did not mean that now Adam loves Eve more than God and etc. NO. There is no quantity for love for it is of the soul and love is not of the flesh, furthermore, speaking about love, sex is the physical manifestation of the love between two souls. Fucking is just fucking and it is not the physical manifestation of the love between two souls and since sex is of the soul no creature can judge if a man or woman are fucking or having sex. It is between them and Him who knows. Sex is never appalling to God but fucking just pisses Him off. Simply because it is not of the soul. I will hopefully elaborate on that pretty soon. Second, Eve was not a possession that God gave Adam to have. Eve was made to be WITH and not FOR Adam. Same way Adam was created to be WITH and not FOR God. The beasts on the Earth and all the other creatures are for God and Man(adam and eve) for they were one and the same. It was a union of the soul and love kept them together. Thus, love is love and there is no quality and quantity of it. The Greeks were flawed when they said had 3 different qualities of love; agape,the love between a divine entity and man; eros, the sexual passion between a man and a woman; phillia, any form of love which is non-sexual. Love is the same love as the love between God and man, man and woman, and man and anyone or anything else.

When Adam and Eve had the fruit, they were stripped of the soul. They as a result were only of the flesh and felt naked because they were of the flesh and that which is of the soul has left them. The serpent was right in a way, they did become "wise". Adam and Eve now perceive and reason. They were now intellectual beings. They were just like every other creature on the Earth and have lost the image of God. And when God wanted to see them, they, like other creatures of the Earth perceived God to be feared, the One with the power and they glorified God like the other creatures do. With that in mind, they also know that they have wronged Him by having the fruit hence being of the flesh, they were struck with fear and fled. The fact that God lost his beloved made Him upset and broke His heart. Adam and Eve were banished not because of a law that God had put for Man, but it was because Man after being of the flesh, placed a law upon himself which in turn caused him to loose his soul. It was not the act of eating the fruit but it was that which has become of Adam and Eve after they had the fruit that caused them to loose their love for God. After the fruit, the bond between Man and God was not love but was the bond between a superior being and his subordinate and God didn't want that for Man for that is of the flesh. Hence following that great fall, since every man after Adam and Eve are of the flesh and void of a soul, God had no choice but to introduce to man the law. For the flesh is about perception and reason and if man were to live according to the flesh, man would never sustain to have a chance to find his soul again. This brought rise to everything that affects the lives humans live today. We adhere to the laws that we perceive and to the laws that we find has sound reason. The laws of science and nature are the laws we perceive and the laws which govern our behavior and conduct, our interaction with each other is what we call justice. God loves us that he has not allowed the laws of nature to subdue humans and he gave humans a stepping stone for justice that we may not cause our own demise. But, those laws were not going to bring man any closer to his soul and thus any closer to God. In fact, it is the law that has caused man to not be able to face God let alone love Him. The law has made man fear Him instead. It is what we have become and it is the basis of every religion, including Christianity. Heck its the basis of everything that governs us wether one believes in God or not. We have put above us a set of rules which we call the law so we can have order and we live because that's what our flesh drives us to do. Yes, we are governed by the flesh, by our reason and perception. Everything that we do and are has to have reason and not because we simply just desire it. Look at nature and we will understand the flesh. We need to be at the zenith and above everyone else so we get the power and glory that we desire just like every male lion must defeat the other lions to be an alpha male. It all makes perfect sense to adhere to the law because it is natural to us. It is natural to us because we are void of that which makes us what we truly were made to be. It is also because of the flesh that we have religion, heaven, hell and etc. which is the law because we need a reason to do what we do. And we need to constantly feed our perception with religion or justice(there is no difference in either) so we get what we think we want, what our flesh perceives as our desires. For those who impose and exploit the law, use it again for the same reason which is to acquire what the flesh perceives as our desires. For example, many if not most Christians or followers of any other religion for that matter do according to what is told, or in other words a law, and they get to enjoy a blissful, never-ending reward of eternal and "abundant" life without any sorrow and blablablablablabla.... if not u get the total opposite and each and everyone of these religions are hardly any different than the other....reason being they are ALL of the flesh. The flesh desires an eternal life of abundance and no sorrow and balablabalbalbalbalba..not the soul.

Thus in due time, God sent Jesus Christ, who, like Adam before the fall, was both of the flesh and had a soul. Jesus Christ is the one who is sent to save man and allow man to find his soul again. You see, Jesus Christ came not to give us a set of new and improved law that every man should follow to acquire the great treasure of eternal life. Neither did he come to reiterate the good old laws of Moses and etc to get the kids to behave again. Heck he didn't even come to give us eternal life like many Christians think he did. He come here to get man to recognize his soul. To have faith. For it is the only way we can recognize that we have one and as the faith grows you gradually will have one and it will be you and that's how Jesus Christ reunites Man with God. We all know Christ's message was of love and redemption and forgiveness and etc.... but hardly anyone actually got it and to those who understood. The whole message of God's love has been defined according to reason and logic. That is why Christianity isn't what Christ and his early church set it out to be. It has been made into another religion preaching kindness, compassion, with an added touch of so called faith and miracles(not that i am belittling miracles) that God's message to man has been obscured. It is supposed to be about being redeemed of your soul so that one could be rid of the law; so that one can be one with God. And eternal life? Who cares...we have our souls and that never dies....and that allows us to love and that's all we need....it is the sweetest thing of all to be able to have that bond....it doesn't matter how long we live, heck life isn't and issue anymore....it is infinity...it is.......well.......i don't know how to say it.....like i mentioned earlier....nobody can describe it because its beyond us...its beyond our flesh......it may seem cliche to those who think they have it, but laughable to those who deny it, nonetheless nobody, including me, can describe it hence it is utter faith that i and all of us who embrace it recognize it; so no creature can claim that you do or don't have it simply because they do not recognize it....i can go on trying to explain it but it will be just in vain because.........It is the soul and only those who have it recognize it....

The Rise, The Fall, The Reason and The Resurrection of The Revolution

2008-11-18T21:03:00.005+08:00

This is a post which is way behind its scheduled publication. I meant to post this up in July but i got petrified after receiving my AS results, which weren't as savory as i would've liked it to be mostly because of my distractions; and this article is about one of them. So now with A-levels out of the way i can finally post this without being stricken with a phantom guilt i burden myself with.

Socialism or communism is a political and social system or if you may,a philosophy, which comprises of the ideas of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels of Germany. I won't go too deep into what communism is about and the ideas that define it but let me explain its basic principles. Lets take for example two blacksmiths, one much younger than the other with the older one having a family of four children and a couple of elderly parents and in-laws under his roof but the younger one who hasn't got married to anyone yet and is living alone. The younger blacksmith being stronger than the older one would obviously be more productive than the older one. In a capitalist regime, one gets what he earns so the younger one being the more productive one would be much more better of than the less productive, older blacksmith. Whereas, in a socialist government, EVERYTHING that one earns belongs to the nation and EVERYONE gets what they need hence in the case of the blacksmiths, the older one being the one who needs more to provide for those who are dependent on him would receive more than the younger blacksmith although the younger blacksmith is more productive. This is simply because the older blacksmith needs more than the younger blacksmith. Also take into consideration a corporate company in current times, has many employees and would pay its employees according to the employee's services or his/her "value" to the company. If the company were a socialist company, so to speak, EVERY employee would receive an equal amount of the company's profits no matter what position the employees hold or his/her 'value' to the company. I studied American syllabus for a year and according to the books i used at that time, i was told that such a system(socialism) is biased and unfair because the yield doesn't balance with the sweat of the worker's brow hence socialism will lead to a decline in productivity because the workers will loose motivation and drive to be more productive. That being said, socialism is at its roots is a system of equality and all levels. Karl Marx believed that everybody who is playing a part in the economic machinery of a nation, is essential; and whatever that is being achieved would not be achieved if even one of the laborers were compromised. So everyone no matter who or what they do has the right to receive an equal amount of the yield because it was the product of the collective effort of everybody in the nation. That is what i believe to be equality void of adulteration. Another major misconception of socialism is the issue on religion. Yes it is true that the communist principles explicitly forbids religion and me being my God's disciple stand firmly against religion. Karl Marx stated that a god is a yoke humans puts upon him/herself so that the community is in fear and would be under the scrutiny of dogma which will effectively maintain order and control to those who hold the power. Religion, just like race, wealth, and other social classes, divides the people giving them a sense of superiority. Socialism will die if it is enforced in a population who disregard the well being of everyone else as a whole. It is hard to grasp it but just look around and one can find that every man is for his own and would only consider the other man who is in the same group(religion, race, and other social classes) as him. Believe it or not, religion is the biggest divider of populations in the world today. Besides, it breaks my heart to see that humans walking on this beautiful earth do not realize that religion is what humans have made it to be what it is now and it is not about God AT ALL!!!! And that's exactly why i can understand the need to rid ourselves of religion. A believer in the Bible should agree with socialism. In fact, the first people to practice socialism were the first church of Christ after the death and resurrection of Christ. The church submitted ALL that they had to the church and those who wanted to be part of the church but wouldn't submit would be smitten to death(the story of Anais and Sephira in the book of Acts).

The Rise

Communism grew somewhere between The Renaissance and The First World War. It was a time when Europe was rapidly growing and as it would happen in any form of growth, groundbreaking revolutions and reformations were taking place. It was a time when the zeal of the Renaissance was still evident. European monarchies were being overrun to make way for a more justified and civic government. For example, the morbid years of the French Revolution was the fall of her monarchy and the rise of democracy where the voice of the masses is that which decides the fate of France. In Germany, there was a slight struggle between the Germans and the Jews who inhabited Germany. The Jews were unsatisfied of their rights and were demanding the government to act on it. The Germans however were somewhat insecure because the Jews being Jews(even until today) have claimed territory on almost every economic field in Germany(sounds pretty familiar considering the current national climate...don't you think?..hahah). But as far as i know there weren't anything violent that brewed up from it...until the World War of course. Bruno Bauer, a German theologian, had a reply to a petition sent to the German government demanding the emancipation of the Jews and Karl Marx wrote an essay en titled "On the Jewish Question" criticizing Bauer's reply. Nonetheless Karl Marx, being born in a Jewish family himself, didn't write the essay in support of the Jews but he drew out an explanation to be rid of Judaism and generally any religion. [If you would like to read the essay i would gladly email it to you, my email address is stonedbohemian@yahoo.com . The essay will serve as well defined, auxiliary explanation to why religion can't be part of a socialist society]
Marxism quickly spread in parts of Europe after the composition of The Communist Manifesto. The communist movement in parts like France and England did not see much fruit and was much criticized by Marx himself. Russia however, being the last standing monarchy at that time was experiencing a revolution. As a result the fall of the Czars led to the rise of a charismatic leader Vladimir Ilych Lenin who brought a socialist revolution in Russia and uniting the Eastern European nations under a banner we know now as the Soviet Union. Lenin, after laying the foundations of the Soviet government, was replaced by Joseph Stalin and thereafter a brand of communism called Lenin-Marxism was born. Meanwhile, Stalin was faced with another socialist who disputes Stalin's regime and his name was Leon Trotsky. Trotsky's Fourth International organization failed to bring Stalin down(i'll get back to Trotsky's ideas shortly). Now of course, as the World War ended and with Soviet Union roaring majestically in the East as Mao Zedong of China successfully brings Communism into China, and also other regions in South America, Middle East and Africa joining the socialist cause, the Soviet Union had made the Americans run for their money and thus ignited the Cold War.

The Fall and The Reason

In a war, its hard to really define which side has won or lost but in the case of the Cold War, we can clearly see that America has in a way "won" the war, especially in the present age when globalisation can easily seem to be Americanization and much social, technological, and economical standards have been calibrated with American standards. Many would claim that it was when America sent a man to the moon before the Soviets could marked the end of the Soviet Union and consequently, the Cold War. But i strongly disagree because i believe that the Americans won the Cold War by winning the minds of the global population which is due to their extraordinary gift of marketing and selling the idea of capitalism sugar-coated with democracy to the world. What amplified America's efforts were the support of the Allied nations(United Kingdom and France) who endorsed capitalism and implemented it into their governments. The problem with the Soviet Union, China and Korea was their system, which incorporated tyranny and spartan lifestyles obviously did not(and won't ever) appeal to the masses thus allowing the Americans to spread their propaganda more effectively.

This brings me to Marx's dispute against the Russian communist movement. Karl Marx mentioned clearly that before a revolution of the proletariat can take place, the nation must be under a bourgeois system. It basically means that before a people would accept socialism, they need to know the climate of a capitalist reign. Soviet Union and China embraced communism as a substitution of monarchy and not as a result of a putrid capitalist reign. This would mean that the revolution was a reformation of the leadership and government system but not in the hearts and minds of the people. The hearts and minds of the people need to be revolutionized before a revolution of a nation could take place. A capitalist reign would eventually give humans a reason to reform for they know that capitalism will eventually fail. Unfortunately the people of the Soviet Union fell victim to there covetousness of the capitalist having a comfortable and lofty lifestyle. Of course the leaders of the communist movement at that time are to be blamed because they gave a reason for their subordinates and consequently the global population to reject the socialist system due to their corruption. One would say that any man with the power held by the leader of Soviet Union and China would succumb to corruption but this corruption arises in an individual when the individual covets the wealth of the bourgeois and doesn't posses a revolutionized heart and mind. So i think it would be safe to say that the fall of Soviet Union is because the people were not absolutely reformed due to their premature acceptance of socialism. We can see certain countries who still stand as true communists today have been through a fair era of bourgeois domination. Take for example, Cuba. They were under, what Che Guevara and Fidel Castro believed to be, a suppression by the Americans and it was their goal to rid Cuba and the rest of Latin America of the suppression. That is why until today America and Cuba have a mutual hatred for each other. Of course, Fidel Castro had insurgents who weren't, as i mentioned earlier, revolutionized in their hearts and minds so they demanded Castro to make Cuba a nation that they felt Cuba should be which was a capitalist nation. Castro dealt with them by giving them exactly what they wanted which was by deporting them to the United States of America.

All that being said, the world wasn't, and still isn't ready for Marxism simply because people are too selfish and divided for a revolution to take place. The population needs to evolve to finally embrace Marxism.

The Resurrection

The world may not be ready for socialism but a day will come when the world will be reformed and accept socialism as the system. We can already see it happening during the American Presidential campaign when Obama's economic plan was criticized by McCain's camp as socialist which is true. Obama's idea of "sharing the wealth"(which was made evident during the Joe the Plumber fiasco) is a form of Marxism, although a very subtle form of Marxism, but Marxism nonetheless. Now, with Obama winning the elections we can draw a fine conclusion that the udea of Marxism is starting to be accepted in the population and the revolution of hearts and minds is taking place at a very very gradual state.

But i have a theory, which is founded on Biblical prophesies, on how Marxism will resurrect itself from the ashes of the Soviet Union. Consider the current economic pandemonium and recognize that this is a result of capitalism greed and disregard. Not surprising, a time will come(i'm afraid its sooner than later) when money will be stripped off its value and there'll be a global economic lockdown. This will call for a unanimous agreement in the, lets say, United Nations, to withdraw all borders, and bring the world under one nation. This will then give way to a unified currency, philosophy, and etc. Hence it is this time when Marxism will rise like a phoenix and bring about a revolution. The world will be under one leader, who will share whatever wealth that can be compiled. This will require everyone to be dedicated to the cause and so i believe this is when the dreaded Mark of the Beast shall be enforced. Take note, that the mark would of course most probably not be called the mark of the beast but it shall be a mark whereby if you are for the cause, you'll take the mark if you aren't you shall be an infidel and banished from those who are for the cause; just like the Bible said that those who do not take the mark shall not be allowed to buy nor sell. Indeed there those times will be blissful and there will be world peace as the beauty pageant contestants have wished for. As much as i would like to be part of this Marxist utopia of mine, i personally shall not be part of it based solely on faith. The cause is good and i couldn't agree more with the Marxist principle more but i love my God and my faith is for Him no matter if He's evil or good.

So as a summary, communism is ideal but unfortunately a philosophy ahead of our time. The public perspective of communism is tarnished because of both the in inadequacy of communist leaders that preceded the revolutionists(the people who brought about the revolution (Lenin, Mao and etc) and the iron grip that America has on the media of the world today which makes it easier for her to spread her propaganda of capitalism. We can see it happening all the time for example Cuba is always being degraded as a country filled with poverty and how everyone wants to leave Cuba because of the socialist dictatorship that reigns there. But what we do not see is how Cuba has the best medical service in the world for her people and how the people there can be at most times almost care-free. Until the day comes when there will be a global economic meltdown, this shall remain an unscratchable itch for i still walk among neanderthals. LOL!

A reply to Dr. Azly Rahman's article "To Malaysian music fans -- is Black Metal a threat to our mental security?"

2008-07-13T14:31:00.007+08:00

My friends wouldn't expect any less from my reaction to Dr. Azly Rahman's article in his column at Malaysia today, A Republic of Virtue, entitled To Malaysian music fans -- is Black Metal a threat to our mental security

Yes it is true about Aarseth from the band Mayhem took a picture of Dead's blown up corpse as a picture for their album Dawn of the Black Hearts. In fact , what also happened was, Euronymous, another band member, was said to eat some of the fragments of Dead's brain (Dead killed himself by shooting a shotgun to his head). I don't know how far that's true, but either ways, its pretty sick of them to even make up a story like that and be glorified for doing such a thing. Nonetheless, Mayhem's fans do not listen to Mayhem because of what they did when Dead died...sheesh. That way, we should say that all Eric Clapton's fans (before the awful death of his son) liked his music because he was always high on cocaine. Or, Queen's fans enjoyed their music because Freddy Mercury was swinging on the other side of the team. To those fans of Mayhem's who like Mayhem cuz of what Aarseth and Euronymous did, they are what metalheads like to call "posers". They don't like the music, they just like the fact that black metal is all bad-ass and etc. In fact i would agree that many poser "black metal"-heads out there think they are so cool because they are grim and necro but its not the music they are truly enjoying, just the "attitude" they think people who enjoy such music have.

It is heartbreaking when i get remarks that " ooo metal is unsophisticated and noisy so it is bad...and yeah it has evil messages in its music too, so its evil...". Music doesn't need to be all complex and sophisticated, like Dream Theater(who are by the way my favourite), to be nice. It is a matter of individual opinion. Popular music is utterly unsophisticated, so does it mean that it sucks? Well, of course if one asks me if pop sucks i would say yes. But that's me. I used to be that person who thinks that just because a piece of music doesn't have weird time signatures and complex solo's, it is shitty music. Thank God i've finally matured out of that nonsense and realized that music is something where, truly, its beauty is in the eye of its beholder. That's the reason not EVERYONE appreciates the same style of music. We listen to whatever music that ignites our senses whether it is jazz, classical, pop, rnb, world, traditional, trance and yes...metal. An individual who really likes certain kind of music listens to it because he or she likes the music and not necessarily the conduct or personality of the musician. I have a friend who really enjoys hip hop but he looks nothing like those "brothers from the West-side" with the huge pants and over-sized shirts, talking like he's from the "hood". I am a metalhead but i don't have locks running down my back or chains around my waist. I listen to death metal but i don't have the desire to burn anybody or start a massacre to glorify "Almighty Satan". NO! Once again, my point is, its not the music that makes the character but its the character who finds him or herself akin to the music. And if the only reason he or she listens to the music is to because its all violent and brutal, then that is just sheer bullocks and its not the music he or she truly enjoys. Say a violent person listens to death metal because its brutal and "grraaawww" then maybe in another life, that same person would be listening to gangster rap instead..who knows.

Threat to mental security?- Indeed the titles and lyrics of metal bands might raise a few eyebrows especially in an extremely conventional society like ours. If we were to analyze other works of art the same way, then works like David and Creation of Adam by Micheangello Bvonarotti should be considered pornographic and blasphemous to God. Music like any other form of art is a form of expression. Now metal bands are just really blunt and frank when it comes it to their music. (I'm reiterating)Metalheads listen to metal because they like the music not just because its demonic or kvlt(cult). In fact, if one wanted occult music, metal isn't the only genre which plays such music, but so does the nursery rhyme "Hot Cross Buns". In witchcraft, the covens give out hot buns to everyone after the Great Rite which has a cross on it which is the symbol of Thamuz the Babylonian god who was the son of Baal(weird huh..). Metalheads listen to metal because we like the style of music. Art isn't suppose to be about the matter being expressed but the expression itself. Thus one can't blame music for a society being plagued by decadence. It is the decadence itself which gives rise to decadent individuals and if they turn out to be metal musicians, they would be expressing their decadence. In short, it is the man who makes the art and not art the man.

Besides, most metal bands have very poetic lyrics and beautiful(as i said, beauty is in the eye of the beholder) music to accompany them. Take lyrics from bands like Opeth, Kalmah, and Dark Tranquility for example(if you're really interested, go to Dark Lyrics). Yes their music may be dark and lyrics quite disturbing, but once again, it is not about the matter being expressed but the expression itself that makes an artwork.

A Culture of Thrash- Metal is not an effective way to invade the minds of the masses....not anymore. It would be a much more profitable and effective to use a form of music that appeals to a bigger portion of the young population. Metal is now labeled as alternative and underground especially in Malaysia reason being most young Malaysians do not listen to metal. Hip hop and RnB are even bigger in Malaysia and everywhere around the world. Pop is called pop for a reason. The reason is because, well , its popular. Hence if anyone wanted to poison the minds of the youth, it would be through these channels. And for argument's sake, 'mainstream' music is no different than metal when it comes to its message and etc. Its just that mainstream is much much more subtle. Its all about the presentation and packaging. Like a capitalist would say, "Its half sold when it has a good packaging". So why all the fuss about metal....isn't mainstream, in that sense, a bigger threat to the minds of our youths?

All this stereotype about metal is just a result of a lack of understanding metal or, as a matter of fact, art in general. Enough said...i'm hungry after all this typing...and i can't think now when i'm hungry.

A subliminal invasion of our ethics..

2008-07-06T02:17:00.000+08:00

I was in the LRT about 3 weeks back carrying out my usual commute back home after college. Like most times i was accompanied by Kabin and Chins(my classmates) up to KL Sentral. On the opposite side of where we were sitting, there was this lady with her daughter(who was around her early 20's i suppose) overhearing my conversation with Kabin and Chins and of course like always, we were talking about local politics.

After KL Sentral, the lady, after saying some very nice things about my conversation with Kabin, commented that to be fair, people shouldn't be constantly bringing the government down and that we should also put the private sector under the same scrutiny that we put the government in. I didn't really understand her point so she clarified by saying that even the private sectors have biasness when employing, for eg. many local graduates don't get a job although they're well qualified for it. So i replied by saying that a job doesn't only require one to have the paper qualifications but communication skills (most prominently the mastery of certain languages especially English) is also a much sought after criteria and many graduates, sadly, lack to fulfill that criteria. She then rebutted by saying "But those people employed by the private sector can hardly speak English when there are many graduates from the local universities who have proper command of the language being rejected the job" and she went on giving more examples corroborating her point. However as our conversation(which soon turned out to be a debate) carried on, i found that she was actually expressing her dissatisfaction against private organizations which are mostly owned and managed by non-Bumi's being unfair to those Bumi's who, although are very well qualified(yes who also speak English perfectly), are rejected jobs and etc offered by the private organizations. Instead, those jobs are handed over to the non-Bumi who are hardly qualified. Of course the lady didn't deny that the government sectors plays the same game just that instead of favoring the non-Bumi, they favor the Bumi but her point was to prove that the private sector does the same thing hence to be fair, private sectors shouldn't be left out of the bashing when we get mad at the government for giving Bumi's special treatment.

I totally agree with her but looking deeper into the situation, we should ask "what caused such a frame of mind in all Malaysians, both in the private sector or the government sector?". This brings me back to one of my earlier entries entitled R-A-C-I-S-M is not how we spell cronyism .
Most, if not all, Malaysians face the racial marginalization demon not necessarily because we are naturally that way but because of the conditions and the factors that shape our lifestyle which can ultimately dictate our attitudes towards a certain subject. What i mean is the policies, not forgetting the other factors which usually go unnoticed, have caused us to behave this way. As sad as it sounds, its true. Those in authority have ingeniously devised plots to cloud our minds so that we remain divided and they in turn sustain control over us. Hence the only way to break out of these shackles is to enter an age of "Renaissance".Before we can break this vicious cycle of biasness and etc we need to be aware of the factors which allows the cycle to go on. In my opinion it all starts with the attitudes and mind frames we have in us.

The problem though was that the lady just wouldn't let me convey my argument. She kept cutting me off when i was trying to prove my point almost as if she felt like i was disagreeing with her because i didn't really understand her, when that's not the situation. I did understand what she was saying and yes i did agree with her but i was merely trying to express how i look at it and what i feel is the reason behind such unfairness. Hahaha...it was a classic case of misunderstanding but no hard feelings taken. I enjoyed the debate nonetheless.

A loop-hole to profit in these seemingly hopeless times.

2008-06-07T20:23:00.002+08:00

While we are still in the fever of fuel prices(at least that's what i think), i would like to share a conversation i just had with my father over the dinner table just now. My dad was saying that there's gonna be many people who will get rich...n get rich fast. And yeah, its because of the fuel price hike that occurred recently.

The government will be giving a rebate of RM625 to those who own a low c.c. car, which basically means those with tiny, economic cars are going to receive Rm625. That's why you can see that smile on the faces on drivers of Kancils, MyVi's and etc. Good for them.

However they aren't the only ones who are smiling because of the rebates. Car dealers have come up with a brilliant scheme to loot of the government by buying a shit load of second hand, low c.c. cars which are in the same condition as those cars we see in Mtv's Pimp My Ride before they get "pimped", for dirt cheap prices(I'm talking about Rm300 to Rm450 per car). Lets say a car dealer grabs 1000 units of such cars. Cost: RM300,000 to RM450,000 and they leave those cars in a junk yard and get it scrapped but continue paying road tax for them. Hence when they pay the road tax, they get that sweet rebate of RM650 per ride. So that would come up to RM650,000 for those 1000 cars. This would mean that they could collect a rough profit of RM150,000 to RM300,000. Not too shabby aye...hahah.

This just makes me laugh. Its not only the government who's looking for ways to pick off the tax-payers money but even the tax-payer has ways to loot of the tax-payer's money...a somewhat entertaining scenario i would say.

2-70...the number on EVERY Malaysian's lips

2008-06-06T01:48:00.003+08:00

This might be the shortest post i'm gonna come up with thus far cuz well much of what that needs to be said on the petrol price issue has already been over-said.

"RM2.70 for petrol....die liao.....price of petrol go up, kenot do this...kenot do that....lifestyle all have to change.... haiyooo stupid government ar!!"

Those are the words that have been in almost every conversation i hear around me. Everybody freaking out on the fuel price increment...lol. I mean seriously i laugh at such comments. Moreover comments like " Wei u can't be driving just anywhere u like ar....the price of petrol go up very high already...u have to change your lifestyle..." and "shit..price of petrol increase means everything else also increase....everything gonna be expensive dy.." Those would be the words of a typical Malaysian when such a thing happens in our country.

We Malaysians are very tolerant and accommodating people. We change our lifestyles according to the situation around us. But as for me...i dismay at such an attitude. I mean c'mon, why should we let those goons,the executives of this country, put this burden upon us, the people? Why should we suffer the consequences of a mismanaged gold mine?Let me clarify. Malaysia is a net exporter when it comes to petroleum so when the price of oil in the global market goes up so should the revenue acquired from selling our precious petrol. But what do we have now?....An increase in the already expensive(comparatively to other petrol exporting countries) price of petrol. This has bullshit written all over it. Most Malaysians even know that the increment in the price of petrol is due to the mismanagement our most prized natural resource,petrol(i don't think i need to explain how our petrol has been mismanaged).

But all we Malaysian are doing is complain, curse, cut corners and compromise on a lifestyle which we should be freely enjoying. I wonder, why can't we stand and stop those who are ruling our country from dictating our lifestyles by placing upon us the burden of overpriced petrol. A fine example would be Europe. Those countries have what seems to be every reason to increase the price of petrol but yet the people would not stand for it and hence causing their governments to yield to them. we on the other hand yield to what the government has imposed on us but at the same time complain and curse....pshaw!!Shut the hell up man....if u really have a problem bring it forward or else just LIVE WITH IT!!! That's what a free world is all about. That's what democracy stands for. The power of the people to demand the government to yield instead of being pushed around and exploited. I don't think i can say anymore...we,the people, need to reattach our balls and get the government to hear our voices. It is no use to just talk about how ridiculous it is that our prices of petrol are unbelievably higher than the other petrol exporting countries when we do nothing to stop those who impose such a price of petrol on us. Sheesh i thought we were better that that.

Observing from a peep-hole

2008-05-13T01:34:00.001+08:00

War and chaos was, is, and until the beginning of the end, will be the climate between Israel and nearly every other region in the Middle East. Many in Malaysia(particularly Muslims) tend to hate the Jews, claiming that they are persecuting the Muslims in Middle East(mainly the Palestinians) by causing all the war and turbulence over there. This hate against the Jews have led to our government to stop not only Jews to step into this country but for us to freely, without any red-tape, enter Israel. For Israel is the homeland of the Jews and we as Malaysians can't go there, even more if you're a Muslim cuz (to the Muslims here) it is a form of apostasy to walk in the land of the Jews. Aiyo!!! Doesn't all this drama sound absurd and over zealous?Lets perform a biopsy on the basis of this hate against Israel and the Jews.

The war between Israel and Palestine....It has set aflame in many Muslims in Malaysia a hate for the Jews just because the Israelis are dropping bombs into Palestine and not letting the Palestinians live in peace in the land which people here think should belong to them. Many of us feel that there is injustice there and the plight to capture Jerusalem has seen Israel doing very unjustified deeds against the Palestinians. So.... who do we blame? THE JEWS!!! Am i not right? I mean to most ppl here.... Israel=Jews and Palestine=Muslims and this war is a war between the Jews and Muslims....right? My brothers...WAKE UP!!! It is not so! The war between Israel and Palestine is purely a struggle for land. Its a fight to capture Jerusalem not because the Jews want a hold on the city neither is it because the Muslims want to have the city in their hands. It is because Israel and Palestine want it. Period. The whole idea about the Jews are killing the Muslims and Muslims killing the Jews there is folly. War is both Israel and Palestinian's economy. They can't go without war(the situation is more corrupt than we think). Now i'm not saying that because its a war for land that the whole fray is justified...no. I'm just saying that we should have a proper perspective on the situation there to keep us from making assumptions and brewing unfounded hate against the wrong things. One can't say for sure that most of the population of Israel is Jewish neither can one say that most of the population of Palestine is Muslim. Both have their fair share of Jews, Muslims and Christians(yes, MANY Palestinians are Christians and Jews).

Another good example would be the Hezbollah frenzy in Lebanon some time back. If you don't remember, there was some chaos in the beautiful country Lebanon due to a clash between Israeli forces and the Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. The ppl here went crazy saying that " The goes the Jews again..killing more Muslims in Lebanon!" and it was also at that time when i was aware that there were people here who are the extreme opposite of what i've been describing so far in this article saying "I support Israel if they bomb the Muslims in Palestine or in Lebanon...in fact i'm gonna donate some money to them to continue their war"...now hold on to that for a moment, i'll get to that later. About the previous statement, it reminded me about a conversation that my father told me about when he was in a conversation with two political figures, one a local minister and the other was a minister from Dubai(both Muslim). The Malaysian minister asked the minister from Dubai, " What do you think about the foolish Jews from Israel bombing our Muslim brothers in Lebanon?". So the minister from Dubai replied "Seems to me the only fool is you. It is not a matter of Jews from Israel bombing Muslims in Lebanon." . He later explained that Hezbollah is a party of radical Muslims in Lebanon who were disturbing the peace in Lebanon(Lebanon is also doesn't have a majority of Muslim population...half of the Lebanese are Christians) . The Hezbollah are like the Abu Sayaff or the Jemaah Islamiah in this region and the Lebanese government was having a hard time keeping them at bay. So they called for the aid of the Israeli military. Now the news reports showed much collateral damage by the Israeli military when in Lebanon but why is this so? The Hezbollah were hiding their arms and ammunition in schools and hospitals and used them as their bunkers and hide-outs. This gave the Israeli military a terrible time wiping the Hezbollah out and hence the collateral.

Moving back to the statement which i told to keep in mind, the(fucked-up) man who said that is NO different from the others who blindly hate the Jews for the Middle Eastern pandemonium. Both characters don't understand that this is no war between the Jews and Muslims. It is purely a political war between Israel and the others. Thus if anyone is to be blamed for this, its the politicians and governments who refuse to end the violence in the Middle East and not faith!! The local media has led many of us to think that it is a war of faith when its not. And those who buy those scenarios are observing the situation from a peephole, missing out on the bigger issues at play. So please i urge all Malaysians to get our perspectives right and stop living in this world of religion-ism. Stop thinking that Jews=Israel and Muslim= All the other Middle Eastern countries cuz its absolutely WRONG. Its the same as saying that Caucasian=Christian. I don't know how we can come up with such equations but i know that its about time we brake these social inferences and get out perspectives right.

p/s
there is an interesting (pretty outdated) article by Helen Ang which touches on the Caucasian=Christian issue. Its entitled Holy smoke! They're Godless in the West

We don't need identity

2008-04-23T00:06:00.005+08:00

Sad to say, many if not most Malaysians don't realize that an Identity Card is not a norm in nearly the rest of the world...especially Europe. In fact, it is abolished in the rest of the free world but almost all Malaysians feel that MyKads are a must for the sake of order and coordination. We think its for a better, more efficient system which we hope would lead to our convenience. Sure we may say that helping the government keep record of civilians and making crime fighting a less difficult ordeal are few of the benefits of I.C.'s. What we do not realize is that it is at the same time an exploitation of our human rights, not to mention its potential to invade the sanctity of our private lives (but i'm not going to touch on that now). The government of Malaysia indeed had a very good reason for the implementation of the identity card. It was introduced to eradicate Communists in Malaysia. I guessed it did play a part in aiding the government's efforts to completely wipe Communism out, although i don't know exactly how the I.C. helped fight the communist guerrilla warfare at that time. It has already been declared that Malaysia is free of communist guerrilla for some time now but the identity card still remains in the system. We have been told that it is necessary to have the I.C.'s for the convenience of all and for the greater good.

The question now is, why do the rest of the world refuse to enforce identity cards? Wouldn't it benefit them the same way the I.C.'s benefit us? If it indeed improves the system, why not? To answer these questions we need to look back at history. It was during the pandemonium times of World War 2 and the Nazi's had control in almost all of Europe. They then enforced the use of an identity card upon the civilians of Nazi-controlled Europe. It was a form of a ration card its ultimate purpose was to separate the Jews and the other ethnic groups who suffered the wrath of the Nazi's during the Holocaust. The identity cards were a major tool in the Holocaust and it became a symbol of persecution and segregation. Thus its clear that identity cards do lubricate government machinery in their administrative tasks. The Nazi's needed something to help systematically separate ethnic and religious groups in Europe and the I.C.'s proved to be effective.

Lets also look into the civil war/genocide that took place in Rwanda more than a decade ago. It was a bloody feud between 2 apparently ethnic groups who were the Hutu's and Tutsi's. During their Belgian occupation, the Rwandans were separated into these 2 groups mostly according to their wealth(number of cows) and the length of their nose. German colonists thought the prominent nose of some of the Rwandans were evidence that they may be genetically linked to the Europeans and hence they (who at that time having the Aryan superiority mind-frame) considered the Rwandans who were richer and had more prominent noses to be superior than the blunt nosed, less wealthy Rwandans. So the colonists decided to divide the prominent nosed Rwandans to be Tutsis and the blunt nosed Rwandans to be Hutu's(yes they actually measured their noses) and they did so by issuing identity cards to the Rwandans. So every Rwandan had a "Hutu" or "Tutsi" stamp on their identity cards. The Tutsis enjoyed speciality by the European colonists but when the Europeans left, the leadership of the country was taken over by the Hutus. This gave a chance for the Hutus to take "revenge" on their apparently "superior" brothers, the Tutsis. Of course like always, it was the Hutu politicians who sparked the fray of killing the Tutsis and sooner than later, it grew into a genocide. Hutu militants massacred those who had the "Tutsi" stamp on their identity cards. We can see that the identity card turns out to be an instrument of segregation among the people of Rwanda and indeed the Belgian colonist are to a certain extend responsible for the bloodshed in Rwanda.

Isn't it now clear why identity cards are an abomination in the free world? It was the tool of segregation and genocide as history has clearly revealed. If I'm not mistaken, Malaysia and Singapore are the only 2 countries which makes the identity card mandatory. If we notice, the MyKad we carry states the bearer's religion(non-Muslim or Muslim). If bearer is Muslim, "Muslim" will be printed on the card below the bearer's picture but that space will be void if the bearer is non-Muslim. Also, but i don't really remember, we are required to write our race in the MyKad application form. I've been trying to find a copy of the JPN.KP01 form which is the form to be filled when someone applies for a MyKad for the first time but i can't find it on Google.

Now please don't get me wrong....of course I'm not saying that the government intends to bring about an ethnic cleansing or what not. But why have the MyKad in the first place? So that the system can be more efficient?..Bullocks! Countries like USA and Japan don't have identity cards...are they suffering inefficiency? In fact, shameful to say, Malaysia lacks efficiency in many administrative areas hence the Mykad doesn't seem to be serving its supposed purpose. There are tonnes of other ways to identify a person. We have passports, credit cards, driving licenses, and etc. The I.C. is not the ONLY way a person is acquire so called "identity". I end saying that we should abolish the MyKad. It may not be harmful to Malaysians but I don't see a reason besides segregation that we are required to hold a MyKad.

*If you would like to know more about the Holocaust and the Rwanda genocide, i recommend watching Schindler's List or Hotel Rwanda.

Politicians are dogs but they are our dogs

2008-03-21T22:00:00.004+08:00

If you were to read on the recent events taking place in the parliament and basically the general situation of political Malaysia(if you get your daily dose of news from the local main stream media...then i have to say that YOU R A FOOL...cuz you've been fooled), you would've notice that the bomb strapped around our current Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi is ticking and its no long wait until we get to watch him blow himself up. Of course when he leaves, someone will come and take his place, and the air is blazing with two names; they are Anwar Ibrahim and Tengku Razaleigh(Ku Li). I'll spare the details on their plans and what are the doing to bring down the PM but i would rather take a look on how it might affect the country(this is purely my opinion and if you think otherwise then please just leave a comment or better yet start a blog...that also applies to all my previous and future posts).

Now Anwar Ibrahim, a man of radical change and reformation, has a chance to finally be on the paramount of his career and yes he is doing all he can to grab that chance. What if he comes into power? Well, firstly the whole cabinet will be changed(duhh!) and maybe...just maybe.. he might start to walk the walk by applying meritocracy and what not to appoint cabinet ministers. That might result in lets say...an eligible finance minister who happens to be Chinese and an experienced deputy finance minister from PAS, or a notable education minister who happens to be an Indian or also maybe a just deputy prime minister who happens to be Kadazan. And after he's done with the cabinet, who knows he will star abolishing tamil and chinese schools so that every student will be under a standard education system. Now thats what i call a reform. Of course, the situations i mentioned earlier were just examples and i am not saying that he is planning to do so but think about it, if he and his allies such as DAP were fighting for fairness, racial equality and meritocracy, then changes like the ones i mentioned earlier could possibly happen. But how will we Malaysians embrace such a change? I think, if not all, then most of the Malaysians won't take it positively. As i've written in the previous post and as what RPK said in the Ugly Malaysian article, Malaysians are racists. For example, The Chinese and Indians would be elated when they see their kin holding major portfolios in the cabinet but they will go against the abolishing of chinese and tamil schools because they feel that their heritage is threatened(i won't start talking about these chinese and tamil school issue unless i need to)..HAHA!! And then we might have the UMNO bitches barking away about Ketuanan Melayu and call Anwar a traitor and blablabla. Eventually it might end with poor Anwar frustrated and getting a kick in his ass by the rakyat...once again history might repeat itself(aiya...that time when Anwar got kicked off our shores...do u know why mahatir did that to him?). Sure some of us may laugh at it and say that it won't happen cuz we are more matured now and the racism issue is not an issue anymore. That's great if it ACTUALLY isn't a issue anymore but the depressing truth is that there are still too many fools out there with the old primitive mentality in their brain and as the saying goes, You can't teach an old dog new tricks. Looking at the opposition parties, one would actually find that PAS has the most experience in governing and they also have the most prudent financial plans. This can be proven by looking at their track record in Kelantan. They have managed to run Kelantan on the dimes and pennies that the federal government grants to the state. After considering this, do you think DAP will allow PAS to have their way to run this country...at least the financial aspect of it? Even if they want to, the wouldn't or couldn't. Why....because the DAP supporters might feel betrayed and might call DAP sell outs or weak. Just witness how DAP reacted during the nomination of Perak CM or the songkok issue. Kudos to them for apologizing and eventually cooperating but we can't say the mentality is once and for all eliminated.

My point here, is that we may vote a visionary or a party of change and justice into our government but the politician can't do anything if we don't support their views. We must understand that politicians are where they are because we put them there. So all that they do needs to be appeasing the masses or else the people will be upset and fire the politician hence the politician, whether he or she likes it or not, has to do what the people demand although it may be detrimental to the people. That's what democracy is all about...a simple case of employee(politician) and employer(the rakyat).

If we want change, we must change and automatically, to appease us, the politicians will need to change things for us cuz their livelihood is on the line if they don't. It is a powerful concept and we need to be wise to harness and use it for our good. It might take a whole generation or more to pass before Malaysians can change but until then, this will be an itch unscratchable to all of us who dream of a better nation.

R-A-C-I-S-M is not how we spell cronyism

2008-03-18T21:41:00.017+08:00

Racism, racism, racism,....a never-ending feud between ethnic groups. It has been an issue not only locally but globally. The worst part is that it seems there is no solution to cease ethnocentric mentalities amongst a people.

But lets leave the rest of the world aside and lets focus on my beloved country, Malaysia. Indeed we can be assured that we don't have ethnic tensions as serious as countries in Africa and Europe, places like Bosnia and South Africa. Nonetheless, we do have racial friction, especially politically, in Malaysia. After the not-so-recent elections, i personally had the conception that racial issues would be the last thing to worry about since we have a "colorful" racial representation in the opposition camp. But it wasn't exactly so when we see what happened during the nominations of CM's and EXCO members of the opposition controlled states(of course the BN controlled states had no less turmoil trying to settle those matters in their states). The main stream media has obviously taken advantage of the so called "inexperienced" opposition CM's and sadly there were times when they conceded. For a bigger picture of what i'm talking about read the articles in these RPK's articles A storm in a songkok, Compromise works both ways, Small things please small minds, and May 13? What May 13?. Yes, thankfully the CM's and EXCO members of Perak, Selangor, Penang, Kedah and Kelantan have been settled.

Nevertheless, i have this urge in me to give my 2 cents worth on this whole racism issue in Malaysia. What actually caused the ethnic fray in this country? Before our nation was a sovereign one, the colonist were using their divide and conquer methods not only to keep the colonized within their grasp but also to keep unwanted friction between ethnic groups in this diverse country. The latter though sounded more like an excuse to me. Anyways, when they left, we were lead by the government of the people.... democracy...so to speak. But somewhere along the way, Malaysia fell into an enormous social ditch. The May13th incident. That incident is history now...so lets conduct an autopsy on it. What caused it? (Shamefully, i did horribly for my high school history and yes i know its hypocritical to talk about history when i am supposed know about it but bear with me a while.) BN lost Kuala Lumpur, their stronghold, to opposition party DAP. Keep in mind that at that time, ruling party represented Malays and the opposition represented non-Malays. So now the politicians forged a brilliant plan to weaken the people's confidence on the opposition...how? Stir up racial conflicts! They blew a minor situation, which had NO racial implication, out of proportion and BOOM we had Malays chopping the Chinese and Chinese "chin-chang" ing the Malays. The blood-shed took a huge toll on Malaysians as a whole and every Malaysian was somehow scarred from what happen on May the 13th. But this was good for the ruling party because people were afraid that the May13th ghost might resurrect itself and haunt Malaysia once again if they voted for the opposition. So now we can understand the sheer shock on the BN party members' faces after hearing the 2008 election results(They didn't think they were gonna loose so badly mah). Again in this year, BN tried using its old tricks on Malaysians again. With the mainstream media kissing up the the asses of the BN ministers, they started to twist many things around trying to conjure up the flame that was burning during the May 13th massacre. Thank God that the people now have learned to embrace the wind's of change and not fall for the propaganda of the mainstream media.

Now the May13th incident is not a big issue anymore....and to a certain extend it is a non-issue, so what has caused the racism plague, although not as lethal before, to endure in Malaysia even until today? BN for as long as we can remember has been holding the title of being the sole government and political voice in this country. The opposition seemed to be non-existing parties that had no say in anything. That would mean that BN was king and could dictate anything at its whim and fancy. So they came up with something called the NEP. The rise of that policy brought unsatisfactory feelings to the non-Bumi's of the country. The deception though was when all the non-Bumi's thought that the Bumi's were enjoying wealth and opportunities that this country has to offer. Well, they were wrong. The truth was, NEP was exploited by the cronies and family members of people in power and it so happens that they were all Bumi's. So what happens to the rest of the Bumi's? They sit around thinking that the policy is on their side and later find that they are in the same ditch as everyone else. And to keep their mouths shut, the politicians compensate by giving more scholarships to their children and the other small stuff while the "big guns" and those affiliated to them enjoy the wealth and comfort of lords. To make matters worse those not-so-lucky Bumi's have non-Bumi's screaming "Injustice!" to their faces. The Bumi's on the other hand were making matters worse by lashing back at the non-Bumi's. So now the politicians go "weeee!" we have a spark! Now all we gotta do is put in some fuel and have another more subtle racial inferno. We can clearly see them " keeping the flame" when their youths were pulling out keris' and telling non-Bumi's to "go back home".

Looking at it now, i feel that the dissatisfaction between non-Bumi's and Bumi's seem to be deliberately driven by the megalomaniac politicians of this nation. I remember when i went for a political talk by Lim Kit Siang (an opposition political figure) , at a point he hailed " The Chinese are marginalized!" and it was followed by a loud cheer by the audience. Then he said " The Indians are marginalized!" and that too was followed by a cheer just as loud as the previous one, then he said " Even the Malays are marginalized!" yes it was also followed by a cheer but there was a clear hesitation in the crowd almost to say that the crowd wasn't to sure but since Kit Siang said it lets just cheer anyway. See that's the problem, the people don't know that our enemy are those politicians up there who sit and plot ways to divide the people so that they can conquer us and keep us in their grasp and they are the ones we should be pissed off at. Not a Bumi or a non-Bumi.

Yes, the people to a certain have extend realized this and made a move by giving a kick in BN's ass during the election. Nonetheless, a reformation for the good of all Malaysians can't take place if we don't change our perceptions. Scratching this itch may be something too hard to accept by most. Hence we wait for the day when a generation void of racial divide rises to lead this country. Until then this itch remains unscratchable.

Added:24-03-2008,10.09pm
A Racist Heritage? This is another article touching on the racism issue. Its written by Haris Ibrahim there's a link to his blog The People's Parliament in the link list on the right side of my blog.
Added: 22-03-2008,11.32pm
p.s. This is a must read article by my favorite blogger out there. Its amazing how he puts this issue in perspective The Ugly Malaysian by Raja Petra Kamarudin.

No better than ass-wipes

2008-03-16T17:12:00.013+08:00

Don't we all need it...money? To some, its one of the only things in life which we love and need at the same time.To the rest it is something that we most definitely need but it wouldn't be any harm if we had more of it. To me...its no better than ass wipes.

What is money in the first place. How did it come about?...the way i look at it, it is value we put on everything that we can possibly evaluate. It is absolutely virtual. Although to most ppl it is as concrete as it can be but i beg to differ. Money has value because we put value on it. It is us humans who came up with a plan to reserve gold and distribute its value on highly sophisticated printed papers so that everyone can have a share of the gold. But why do we even do that in the first place? What good comes out of it?

Some time back i engaged in a debate with my mother(actually it turned out to be more of an argument as it went) about how money has destroyed us as humans. I mean think about it. ALL the decadence that we witness has one way or another to do with money. Off course one may say that it is not money itself that has destroyed us but it is the greed of acquiring it that has caused such a decay. But wouldn't the absence of money stop this chaos altogether? A pretty obvious example would be poverty. Lets take Darfur for instance. There are people there who are suffering as hell because the guy who lives in the city has too much to eat. In a wider scope one would find that the reason a man is suffering of poverty is because the other has acquired too much of money that in actual fact the economic balance of the people as a whole has tipped off. Simply put, the only reason there's the poor is because there is the rich or even those who are living comfortably like us. So can a man still be blamed for providing for himself a comfortable life? The need for money for every individual collectively sums up to the lack of providence for another man. Hence it has turned to be a dog-eat-dog world and it doesn't take a greedy man to deprive another man.So we can say that it is possible that the very need for money can cause depravity and not only the greed or the love of money.

But i say, why don't we just RID OURSELVES OF MONEY!! That's right kill the very idea of money. Wouldn't life be sweeter without the burden of money? Won't we be able to enjoy life the way we should with the absence of money? We don't realize that our childhood was a blissful time because we had no care of money or acquiring it. The very machinery of education is built for the sake of acquiring money. The distasteful pressures on getting educated and the need to have a so called "good" job is nothing but the drive to acquire money. A man would have a more satisfying life if most of his life he didn't have to worry about making money.My mum said that i'm just a fool rambling about abolishing the "very thing that makes the world go round". "It will never happen...people won't let go of it", she said.

So why won't people get rid of it? The very next day in college i brought this topic up while chatting with a good friend of mine. Summarizing our conversation, we reached a conclusion that ppl won't kill the idea of money simply because we are the most khiasu beings on earth. The very reason why ppl strive, risk their lives or even do something inhumane to acquire money is to ultimately be on top of his fellow man. Lets face it. Most, if not all, can't resist being better off than the other guy. We would need to be able to accept EVERYONE is at the same level if money was to be abolished. The sad truth is not everyone is willing to accept that.

Everyone as equals....i'm sure most of you would recognize that phrase. It is the very backbone of Communism. I admire Karl Marx for coming up with such a utopia but cursed are those in history who propagated and in turn distorted his vision, such as Hitler and the Soviet Union. It is clear evidence that man just can't live as equals. It is a bitter truth but the truth nonetheless. Man is corrupt.

Me being an annoying defiant creature still can't bear the existence of currency and money but killing that idea is easier said than done. Thus till that beautiful day comes when man can finally forget about money...it remains an unscratchable itch.