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.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Sunday, July 6, 2008
A subliminal invasion of our ethics..
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.
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.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
A loop-hole to profit in these seemingly hopeless times.
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.
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.
Friday, June 6, 2008
2-70...the number on EVERY Malaysian's lips
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.
"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.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Observing from a peep-hole
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
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
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
We don't need identity
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.
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.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Politicians are dogs but they are our dogs
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)