211212: Part II

From the NST today, a columnist elaborates on the Armageddon scenario predicted by the Mayan calendar....Let's read it WIT' AN OPEN MIND, yours and mine:)~~~~~~

29 November 2012 | last updated at 10:42PM

Let's hope the Mayans were wrong

  By Chok Suat Ling  | sling@nst.com.my


Chok Suat Ling is New Sunday Times editor. 

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JUST one more month and 2012 will be a footnote in history. The year seems to have passed by at the speed Mat Rempit take to the highways. Perhaps it has to do with age -- it's faster when you are going downhill.

Not everything that has happened this year has been a hazy blur, however. Much happened, some so catastrophic and others so bizarre that they have been enough to raise eyebrows and this question -- is the end of the world nigh?

According to Nostradamus and the Mayan calendar, the End of Days will be on Dec 21 this year -- just 22 days away. It has been interpreted that on that day, the Great Cycle ends, and time ends, so the Earth must end as well.

If disasters are any indication, there was "Frankenstorm" Sandy in the United States late last month. It was relentless, bringing major cities from New York to Washington to a standstill. Bus and train services were suspended up and down the coast. Subway services, buses and commuter trains were also shut down. For many, all they had were blown or washed away, or smashed to smithereens. At least 50 people lost their lives.

So ferocious was Sandy that the scenes of destruction were reminiscent of those in 2004 American disaster film The Day After Tomorrow. (It, however, didn't stop a Brazilian model, Nana Gouvea, from posting now viral pictures of herself posing amid the destruction caused by Sandy on Twitter).

Some experts have argued that the superstorm was climate-change driven. Scientists and activists have in its wake urged for swift action as they believe extreme weather and climate events will continue to increase. Indeed, overdevelopment and climate change have wrought havoc on many nations across the world, and Malaysia has been no exception. Pay no heed and apocalyptic repercussions may not be entirely far fetched.

Some say the various inexplicable phenomena this year may perhaps be harbingers of the Armageddon, too.

In the entertainment scene, there was the curious case of South Korean rapper Psy, or Park Jae-Sang, who became world famous almost overnight just by doing it Gangnam Style.

People around the world are now aping the dance moves in Psy's ludicrously popular music video, which just became the most-viewed ever on YouTube, beating that other monstrosity -- Justin Bieber's Baby.

In Malacca recently, people were intrigued to see "jellyfish" clouds -- a patch of white clouds with stripes of lightning blue, pink, green, red and yellow against a blue sky. The clouds, could be seen from almost all parts of Malacca, before they disappeared after about an hour.

The superstitious hearkened it as an ominous sign but weather experts have pooh-poohed it, saying it was something which occurred when the sun is at a low angle and there is moisture, dust and pollutants in the atmosphere.

I can't predict whether or not this might be the last month of our existence, but 2012 has indeed, in more ways than one, marked the end of an era.

Those who achieved historical milestones passed on, among them the one who took that giant leap for mankind in 1969. If not for Neil Armstrong, we would not have had that moonwalk that changed the world as we knew it then.

The entertainment world was also beset by the deaths of many of its luminaries. Just one was the passing of TV's supreme villain, Larry Hagman last week. Nobody will likely be able to fill up the vacuum left by scheming, blackhearted J.R. Ewing in the reboot of Dallas, which is still currently being filmed. The deaths of Robin Gibb, Donna Summer, Andy Griffith, Ernest Borgnine, and Michael Clarke Duncan were also mourned.

Legendary British hair stylist and entrepreneur Vidal Sassoon, too, is no more. The "founder of hairdressing" who created the renowned "bob" haircut died in May at the age of 84.

Eighty-year-old magazine Newsweek will cease print publication at the end of this year and move to an all-digital format. This provoked much hand-wringing over the death of print as a medium.

So, will 2012 just pass as all years before it did? It would be a shame if the Mayans were right and it didn't.

We'd miss a host of interesting events next year -- foremost being the 13th general election.

A worker collecting hazardous goods from burnt houses in Queens, New York, a month after ‘Frankenstorm’ Sandy brought major cities in the United States to a standstill, leaving thousands homeless. Reuters pic

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Chok Suat Ling is New Sunday Times editor.

Read more: Let's hope the Mayans were wrong - Columnist - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnist/let-s-hope-the-mayans-were-wrong-1.178171?cache=03D163D03edding-pred-1.1176%2F%3FpFpentwage63Dp%3A%2Fhe3D03Dn63Frea-rti3D19.3D163D03edding-pred-1.1176%2F%3FpFpentwage63Dp%3A%2Fhe3D03Dn63Frea-rti3D19.111w5ii%2Fed-1.117%2F7.184676%3Fkey%3DKuala+Lumpur%2F7.18%3Fpage%3D0#ixzz2DainJ400

We have oft heard "Beware the Ides of March!", now Desi's

warning: BEWARE THE 211212!

Take me seriously OR take it with a grain of NaCl, it's your choice. If life has been treating you fair and square thus far, be thankful and ENJOY your life. IF you feel shortchanged thus far, you don't have to worry for too long, for soon Life doesn't hand us down any choices. Many have seen the movie "2012", and others have read of the Mayan calendar predicting the end of this "world" as we know it in a month's time.

YESTERDAY, my hometown I fondly call Furong (Seremban, you nincompoop/ ignoramus -- you haven't been reading my blog or SMS izzit!:( Wella, making hay while the sun shines, I'm gonna write a short SMS 4Community Service Message, addressed to Furongknights, but it applies to all Malaysans, even world citizens OK!

Today I SMS-ed some mateys and my sunnies:)~~~~~~~

"Dear mGf and buddies of Furong: THE TREMEDOUS THUNDER AND LIGHTNING that struck last night from 8 to 9PM looks like a rehearsal of Armageddon. I wonder if Dec 21 would WITNESS complete darkness as predictd by some scientists as they said NUCLEAR STRENGTH SOLAR FLARES MAY DISABLEALL POWER SYSTEMS WORLDWIDE, ie PLANES MAY HV ENGINES GOING DEAD, so don't flydec 21 to 26! Well, mygood friends, i m 'resuming' my curries and meaty delights, THINKG OF CHUKIOKsin! 4i ve nothin to lose:)! YL, Desi"

Changing of the guard in China -- It's Asia's decade to watch!

WHETHER one is a Communist sympathiser or democratic believer, the next superpower that is CHINA will pose the main challenges in the power balance that has been in the main for the last three deacdes centred around the UNited States of America. With the USA and European Union very much caught up in an economic conumdrum that seemingly won't go away, China's econmoy buttressed by a home market of 1.3BILLION is about the only stable economic system remaining -- and the major trading partners just need to adjust accordingly to the new leadership that has just transitioned in the recently concluded China's Communist Party Congress.

Desi monitors the world socio-political landscape in order to understand how the adage is again proven: No man is an island, and no nation can escape GLOBALISATION, for good or bad. -- YL, Desi

China’s princelings come of age in new leadership

November 26, 2012

BEIJING, Nov 26 — In China they are known as “princelings” — the privileged children of the revolutionary founders of the People’s Republic of China. And in the generational leadership change that just took place in Beijing, it could not have been clearer that having the right family bloodlines is among the most important attributes an ambitious cadre could possess.

Of the seven men who now comprise the Communist Party’s new politburo standing committee, the apex of political power in China, four are members of “the red aristocracy”, led by the new general secretary of the party, Xi Jinping.

The thriving of the princelings should not be a surprise, analysts and party insiders say. Rarely in its six decades in power has the party been under more stress. Public anger over widespread corruption, widening income inequality and vast environmental degradation have chipped away at its legitimacy.

The party’s over-arching goal is to maintain its grip on the nation, and moving so many princelings into top positions is akin to taking out a political insurance policy.

“Fundamentally, princelings advocate maintaining one-party dictatorship,” said Zhang Lifan, a Beijing-based political commentator. “This is (their) bottom line.”

The rise of the princelings comes despite the fall of one of their own ambitious brethren, Chongqing party secretary Bo Xilai, himself a one-time contender for the standing committee and a son of one of Mao Zedong’s closest comrades. Earlier this year, Bo’s wife was convicted of murdering a British businessman in one of modern China’s biggest political scandals.

Bo himself faces possible charges of corruption and abuse of power.

But in the wrangling over the new leadership, the princelings got a boost from former president and party elder Jiang Zemin, 86, widely viewed as a backroom powerbroker. Jiang had long supported Xi’s rise and helped get another princeling onto the standing committee.

Jiang sees himself as a princeling as well, party sources say. His uncle, who died in 1939, is hailed as a martyr of the revolution that brought the Communists to power in 1949. Jiang additionally hopes that backing Xi will preserve his legacy and protect his family.

Party insiders say Jiang wants to make sure his two sons, both of whom are successful businessmen, are protected at a time of enhanced scrutiny of the wealth accumulated by the families of the country’s top leadership.

The new standing committee is the first to be dominated by princelings. Jiang’s successor, outgoing president Hu Jintao, was the first among equals in the previous line-up, which comprised mainly technocrats and bureaucrats.

But now, according to several analysts, most senior party members have fallen in line with what late economic tsar and one-time standing committee member Chen Yun once said: “The land under heaven should one day be handed to princelings, who can be trusted not to dig the party’s grave.”

Princeling in chief

In addition to Xi, 59, those on the committee with familial ties to the country’s red founders are Vice Premier Wang Qishan, who will lead the party’s efforts to contain corruption; former Shanghai party secretary Yu Zhengsheng, 67, the oldest member on the committee; and Zhang Dejiang, who studied economics in North Korea and replaced Bo as party boss in Chongqing.

Beyond their commitment to party rule, insiders say the princelings’ inclinations on the critical issues facing China - especially political and economic reform — are harder to discern. Xi has used standard party rhetoric since taking the top job, saying China must “continue reforming and opening up”.

The princelings, analysts said, tend to be bound not by strong policy preferences, but by their privileges and the conviction they were born to rule.

“The way they rode to power is very similar, but whether they share the same outlook, the same preferences for policies, I think that’s not really the case,” said Damien Ma, an analyst at political risk consultancy Eurasia Group.

Some analysts are cautiously optimistic that a leadership dominated by Xi and the other princelings might move with surprising boldness.

One Beijing-based political analyst, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity surrounding discussions on the leadership, said princelings believe it is their birthright to rule, and act accordingly. Analysts contrast them with leaders from a rival political faction, the Communist Youth League which produced President Hu.

“(The princelings) are naturally more confident and bolder than the children of commoners like Hu, whom they see as a mere caretaker, or a hired CEO,” the analyst said. “The CEO is more prudent. The stakeholders are more anxious than the CEO if the company is not doing well. Princelings are likely to be bolder in pushing for change.”

Some members of the political elite believe the party, after a decade of stagnation on political reform, needs to move quickly to improve government transparency, accountability and the rule of law, as well as allow more freedom of expression. They point hopefully to Xi’s princeling bloodlines.

His father, Xi Zhongxun, who gave refuge to Mao during the Long March from 1934 to 1936, was a liberal. As party secretary of Guangdong in 1980, the elder Xi convinced Deng Xiaoping to allow him to set up market-oriented special economic zones in the province, the first place to do so in the Communist era. He also opposed the army crackdown on student protesters at Tiananmen Square in 1989, and championed the rights of Tibetans and other minority groups.

Others believe Xi junior’s public comments and writings, however rare, indicate he and the other princelings are pragmatists.

A tale of two princelings

Xi’s ascension, along with the other members of the red aristocracy, came at an awkward moment for the princelings.

Their princeling comrade Bo Xilai was ousted in March as party boss of Chongqing, lost his seat in the wider Politburo in April and was expelled from the party in September.

But the downfall of such a high-profile princeling, analysts suggested, was not necessarily unhealthy. At a time of deepening cynicism about the leadership among many Chinese, it showed that when a princeling breaks the law, “his crime is the same as that of a lawbreaking commoner”, commentator Zhang said, quoting a Chinese proverb.

The different outcomes for Xi and Bo also suggest that even for the offspring of well-connected families, the way they wield power matters. By all accounts, Xi mostly kept his head down and did what was asked of him as he rose through the party’s ranks.

Bo, by contrast, was flamboyant by Chinese political standards and played the family card if he thought it could help.

Bo’s father, Bo Yibo, was one of the so-called “eight immortals,” and helped guide China away from some of the most disastrous policies of the Mao era. He died in 2007.

At one point before the elder Bo’s death, President Hu summoned Bo and Xi and offered them the same job: to run the landlocked province of Inner Mongolia, an economic backwater.

Bo, then commerce minister, was reluctant to go and told Hu he would have to ask his father first, one party insider told Reuters. Xi, then party boss of prosperous Zhejiang province in eastern China, said he was not familiar with the ethnic issues in Inner Mongolia but was willing to go.

“It was a test, but Bo used his father to pressure Hu,” the party insider said, requesting anonymity to avoid repercussions for discussing secretive elite politics. “Xi was willing to accept whatever the party arranged.”

All along, Xi understood intuitively that “the higher the profile (of an up and coming official), the more difficult promotion will be”, even for a princeling, said Zhang, the political commentator.

In 2000, as governor of Fujian province in the southeast, Xi gave an interview in which he quoted an ancient Chinese military strategist:

“Do not try the impossible. Do not seek the unattainable ... Do not do the irreversible. Taking up a new government post is a relay. Don’t drop the baton and run your leg well.” — Reuters

211212: a DESIcation to DPP and SC...

mGf DPP's recently launched book TIGER ISLE has an interesting second chapter titled 2211. I'm seldom a believer in Superstition, faith or religion or fable-based, BUT ONCE IN A W'ILE COMETH ALONG a Mayan prediction that Armageddon befalls December 21, 2012 maketh Desi sit up to take note.

Basically trained in science, I had recently chatted on this historic day to soon come with a friend of the Buddhist faith - let's call him SC for he works in an industry related to the Securities Comm!:) -- who educates me lots on KARMA. We also discussed the 911 Conspiracy Theory much promoted by former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad and several American academics and writers. Whether you agree or disagree with Dr M's politics, it is NOT relevant here when we discuss 911 and the possibility of the FBI/CIA as the key masterminds of the event -- Dr M even claimed the Arabs -- AlQueda, Taliban et al! --were NOT intelligent enough to have been able to pull 911 off. I have also visted the LINKS put up by these Conspiracy theorists, and I still am not able to come to a conclusion one way or the other.

This Sunday my Rumination is on the Q of BELIEF. It's a matter of faith so it's NOT just the "intettect" at work when it comes to "believing" in something or a cause. But at the end of the day, GOD -- howver you deem HIM to be -- gave us each a unique mind to ponder, and ponder we must. A Buddhist will tell you he/she pursues knowledge to the highest posssible levelf consciousness -- the 18th level? -- so that a human is more or less as KNOWING as a DEITY, howver one deems Him to be. At that level of consciousness, mGf says, the kowledge gained through the years maketh the privileged few see the past, the present and the future.


So what about that DAY OF DESTINY dated December 21, 2012, less than a month hence. My position is that enough ARMAGEDDON-like events will take place on planet Earth given the right time, not necessarily November 21 of this fateful year. We have seen the worst of floodings and storms hitting New York, Beijing, just to name two prominent centres of population, to see the OMENS of things to come. But can the human race really prepare for such DOOMSDAY scenarios (as is show on television under the titled of Doomsday Preppers)? Frankly, momentous events on such a scale as predicted by the Mayans cometh Nov 211 will be nigh impossible for the present human race to prepare. It's like the Acheh-like TSUNAMI hitting Penag or Langkawi and Port Dickson -- are we Malaysians well prepared for such an eventuality? And how sure arewe Malaysia is protected from such a Tsunami because Sumatra forms a frontline barrier? We underestimate the forces of Nature when we upset the eco-systems in ways we individually may not be aware of their "destruction" BUT COLLECTIVELY, Nature's fury is like a million women's scorned and wrapped up in one nice Christmas package ... everything looks serene one minute, and the next all hell will break loose.


So I'm rambling with an OPEN-ENDED piece because it's a subject way too deep for an individual to fathom, and I don't wish to flag myself off as an expert on the future.

I know deep within me I can go placidly into the night hours if only I do more good than bad while transiting this planet earth. Don't rush to judgment of others -- I often tell those holier-than-thou preachers. You cannot even save your spouse's or children's souls, so DON'T  TRY TO PREACH SALVATION TO OTHERS quoting that "MINE IS THE ONLY RIGHT WAY!" Oh no, cometh Armageddon or Apocalypse or dieOFjudgement, whatever you call it -- be it this Nov 21 or later -- we will see that the hallowed grough six feet underground and beneath the ocean waves is the only LEVELLER OF JUSTiCE AND EQUALiTY. Yes, DPP, I endorse your motto: "We are all of one race -- the human race."

POSTsript: This is awe writ in RED because it's a warning -- take it wit' a pinch of NaCl or sugar to make it palable! -- the common event surrounding 2211 or 2112 predicted is that SOLAR FLARES of such immense intensity and energy that the end-result that day is that WORLDWIDE, ALL THE POWER SYSTEMS WILL BREAK DOWN. So is that period leading from December 21-26, you are offered free tickets to fly airAsea or AIRcolumba, DON'T ACCEPT THE FREE RIDES. Becuase you don't want to tempt fate -- your plane's engine may just shut down all of a sudden -- and Desi doesn't want thy plane to free fall vertically to land on top of my FuRong bungalow and turn Desi into ashes. I wanna live to at least Dr M's age of 87 OK! I haven't finished my blockedbustier novel to match DPP's TIGER ISLE  -- his maketh a whole island of 30million disppear, mine will make an olde tribe re-APpear in awe its mornig and night glory -- yes, it's a sigh to behold, to hold on to, till second life do we ascend. If up dare is Heaven, will be all da SINners go -- down under? It's all so unfair to my OZ friends then, won't it be? Me, I prefer to be suspended in that place that rimes wit' Lavatory -- hey, we then have the best of two worlds! When we like it, we head upwards, on our downdies, we descend.

PPS: This is jest for laffs, OK! Don't label Desi blasphemous K!

One of my gOod friends went for a preview of what Heaven or Hell is like. So first the Warden took him up, up and away. There he toured the socalled paradise -- all the men and women and children were spending lots of time in prayer. Prayer at BF, prayer at lunch, Prayer at dinner, Prayer at Supper, and all the meals consisted of plain bread and margarine -- No jam or butter, so don't talk peanut butter!

Then the Guide took mGf to Down Under. Wow, there was all-day, all-night partying -- kaRAlalalaOK, dancing queens and gals, cowboys and cowgals and even the inbetweens having the dime/time of their lives. Well educated about that Hellish hole, mGf went back to planet earth, and abided his time.

Then the constant called Death appears mGf requested for a wan-way ticket to that place called Hell -- because he wanted to party awe night long with Dolly Parton, Marulyn Monroe and Madonna. No, the hallowed halls of prayers wit' Mother Teresa and Hail Mary and Sisdar Charity were too mush to bear.

So he followed the Chief Warden with a s-MILE as wide as the rianbow, wit' much anticipation of the party-awe-night-long-till the-day-dawns...

They arrived at da place. But all mGf saw were the cutting of tongues, amputation of limbs (like what Hudud-law offenders were made to believe were standard rewards...) and no, not even crumbs of bread for BF, lunch or dinner, so forget supper.

mGf:" Hey, Mr Guide, you brought me to the wlong place. In my preview tour, Hell was a HAPPY PLACE with ine, women and Song -- and I can yodel ike a cowboi!"

"NO, mGf which is for myGOoDfriend, sometimes with the R silent -- YOU ARE AT THE RIGHT PLACE. You aRsEk for Hell, so here/hear is hell!"

mGf protested. "No, the lust time I came, I saw Dolly Parton, Marilyn Monroe and Maddon!"


"OH, I THINK DAT PREVIEW TOUR WAS CONDUCTED ON HAPPY HOURS' DAY. -- ONLY ONCE A YEAR!" the gOod Chief Warden nodded his head. "Sorry, you were knot foolly briefed by my assistant..."

Sabah CM's "alleged can of worms" can be opened with aid of a HK opener!

And Malaysians are better served when "corruption" in the country gets onto the international radar. Locally with one ye closed, the government agencies tasked with fighting corruption are too embedded with their political masters that they choose NOT to see the wrongdoings when their own "fly" is opened when bedding down with the same women with their cronies they are supposedly taked with investifgating.

Here/hear it from the Malaysian Insider and whistle-blower extraordinaire:)~~~~

ICAC wants ‘transactional’ info for new probe, says Rafizi

UPDATED @ 07:55:55 PM 23-11-2012

By Zurairi AR

November 23, 2012

Rafizi (second left) said PKR was in possession of documents that would satisfy the ICAC’s requirement. — Picture by Zurairi AR

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 23 ― Hong Kong graftbusters may renew their probe into the murky RM40 million “political donation” to Sabah Umno if provided with evidence to show the funds were transacted on the island, PKR’s Rafizi Ramli said today.

“I’m very confident that the case will be re-opened. From our discussion with ICAC, they have given an easy evidence test,” the PKR strategy director said in a press conference here, referring to the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

“And we do have evidence, documents. That’s why we need to return in two weeks,” said Rafizi, who led a team of PKR lawmakers to Hong Kong on Wednesday in a bid to get authorities there to renew their investigations into the matter.

Rafizi and his team were reluctant, however, to divulge details on the evidence, other than to say it met the ICAC’s requirment, for fear of jeopardising their sources and the investigation.

“There are like three or four files,” Rafizi said, refusing to elaborate further.

Yesterday, the PKR team furnished fresh evidence to the ICAC on Datuk Musa Aman’s RM40 million graft case and were invited to return with more proof on the Sabah chief minister’s alleged money-laundering link with businessman Michael Chia.

According to Rafizi today, the team had met with the Acting Chief Investigator of ICAC Martin Chan Chi-wah, after an immediate appointment was requested by senior Hong Kong legislative councillor James To Kun-sun.

The PKR lawmakers also met with their Hong Kong counterparts To, Leung Kwok-hung and Raymond Wong, who are part of the legislative council’s Security Panel, to which the ICAC answers.

In PKR’s report, three reasons were listed to encourage the world-renowned ICAC to reopen the RM40 million graft probe against Musa and Chia — separate claims from two Sabah MPs that the money was not a political donation to Umno as claimed; and the receipt of a luxury vehicle from Chia by Umno minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz, possibly for corrupt reasons.

“They did give us a reference number and I think that by practice here, all cases are opened once a report is lodged,” Rafizi said yesterday in a phone call to The Malaysian Insider.

The fact-finding mission, which had just touched down from Hong Kong, also included PKR MPs William Leong and Lee Hoy Sian, and Perak assemblyman Chang Lih Kang.

Chang and Leong also revealed that HK representatives whom they met were greatly concerned that the island’s image as a financial capital will be tarnished by allegations of graft and money-laundering.

“They hope we can bring justice in Hong Kong and Malaysia,” Leong said.

“It is the responsibility of anyone to help ICAC in investigating money laundering cases ... so that Hong Kong will not be made into a ‘paradise of money-laundering’,” Chang added.

Chia’s alleged link with Musa first exploded in the media following an April article by whistleblower site Sarawak Report, which had claimed that former was caught trying to leave the Hong Kong International Airport with the RM40 million in Singapore currency.

At the time, Chia had allegedly told the authorities that the money was meant for Musa, kicking off a probe on the series of funds transfers from Malaysia to Hong Kong that was then believed to be the possible laundering of monies generated from illegal logging activities in Sabah.

The issue hit headlines again last month when Nazri told Parliament that Musa had been cleared of corruption in the matter after Malaysian and Hong Kong anti-graft authorities found that the money was a “political donation” to Sabah Umno and was not meant for Musa’s personal use.

But in the ensuing debates on the issue, Pakatan Rakyat (PR) lawmakers chided Nazri for declaring Musa innocent without providing proof that the ICAC had cleared the chief minister of its own accord.

According to Nazri, the ICAC had closed the case after the MACC discovered in its probe that the money in Chia’s possession was meant for Sabah Umno and not Musa.

After Nazri’s denial, Rafizi held a press conference in Parliament revealing what he said was photographic proof that Nazri had allegedly received kickbacks from Chia to clear his name, in the form of a RM459,000 Hummer given to his son.

Nazri later countered by saying his son’s dealings with Chia were unrelated to his duties as a minister.

Fellow Scribe KimQ Poses a Q to PAS:

To PAS: Whither your direction?

By Kim Quek

The just ended PAS annual general conference (Muktamar) has landed Pakatan Rakyat into trouble waters again.  What started off on the right footing with Hadi Awang’s presidential address that reflects PAS as a matured partner in solidarity and harmony with Pakatan Rakyat in hot pursuit of Putrajaya has ended in near disaster.

On the first day of the main conference on Friday,Nov 16, Hadi gave much cheers to the entire Pakatan Rakyat alliance and its supporters with a speech that hammers on common agenda and and centered on issues conducive to winning the electoral battle ahead.  Even delegates debating Hadi’s speech largely skirted the controversial issues of Hudud and Islamic  State that could potentially disrupt unity within the Pakatan alliance.

However, this politically pragmatic approach has caused unease with the conservatives, who were disturbed by the lack of mention of implementing Hudud and other Islamic agenda, and construed such trend as deviation from PAS’ original struggle which was to realize an Islamic state. 

Spearheaded by the Ulamas and the Youth wing, the conservatives mounted a fight back that culminated in delegates vowing to work towards a resounding electoral success that would allow PAS to assume the leading role in the Pakatan Alliance with Hadi as prime minister.  Such clamour eventually won the apparent approval of the assembly with Hadi tacitly going along with such ideas.

Little did the delegates at that hour of jubilation realize that such an ending to the Muktamar has sent a shock wave through the Chinese community, with which I am in close contact.

The first thoughts that come to their minds are notions of a PAS-dominated government with Hadi as prime minister in the post-Barisan Nasional era.

What follow are uneasy thoughts associated with a country veering towards Islamisation, things like restriction to alcohol and pork consumption and entertainment, and general conformity to Islamic practices such as gender segregation, dress codes in public places, etc.  Above all these is the implementation of the much feared but little understood Hudud and the Islamic legal system, with all its vague implications. In short, such a new Pakatan rule is envisaged to adversely alter their present way of life.

Accuracy aside, these are common perceptions and initial reflexes of many in the Chinese community.

Needless to say, the electoral backlash to Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in general and to PAS in particular is predictable.

Many a common Chinese PR-supporters must have been jolted into reflection and self-doubts:

·         Am I in the right track in voting PR to power?

·         What if PAS really becomes the dominant political force with its leader as prime minister?

·         What if the country is transforming into an Islamic state?

These thoughts and doubts, if allowed to nurture and no doubt inflamed by relentless BN propaganda, will culminate in the ultimate question:

To take risk with PR which may lead to Islamisation of our way of life

                                                         OR

To keep the status quo, which no doubt is unpalatable with all its evils of racialism, corruption and abuse of power, but undeniably familiar or even comfortable (to some), having been ruled by such a political power for ages?

My bet is that a sizable portion of this electorate will prefer to remain in the comfort zone which is ruled by “the devil we know”.

But of course, those well informed of current politics will remain steadfast in their determination to support PR, knowing that the chances of Islamisation in the foreseeable future are slim.  This is because the Pakatan alliance works on consensus, and DAP and PKR would continue to want Anwar Ibrahim to take the premiership in a triumvirate, where PAS is unlikely to predominate.

And yet, there is the third camp of current Chinese PR-supporters, who would take the cautious approach of continuing to support PR, but will vote in such a way that PAS will not become dominant.  This would mean that these voters, while continuing to vote for PKR and DAP, will refrain from voting for a PAS candidate to avoid PAS becoming dominant.

Thus PAS will become the first casualty in such an electoral backlash triggered by the Muktamar.  Many PAS candidates, who may otherwise be able to squeeze through due to overwhelming Chinese support, would now be felled by BN.

Under this scenario, PKR and DAP may not suffer as much as PAS, but their hopes of reaching Putrajaya will be similarly dashed, as any electoral set-back of this size to any of the partners will prove to be fatal to the alliance’s chances of winning a simple majority in such a tight race.

My estimation is that three quarters of Chinese are currently supporting PR, discounting the adverse impact of the Muktamar.  On this level of Chinese support, PR will win in the next poll, unless electoral frauds far exceed those of the last election in 2008.

My sincere advice to all those who yearn to see real changes taking place in this country is to recognize the reality that this is a multi-racial country with Malays forming ony slightly above 50% of the population.  It is hence totally unrealistic to force Islamisation on such a country without multi-racial consent.

There is only one future for this country, and that is the the government and the people's full acceptance of multi-culturalism and happy co-existence of religions under a governance that practices universal values of justice and equality.

To those exuberant Muktamar delegates who champion PAS as the new ruler with its leader as PM, I urge them to give serious thoughts to the hard truth that they can only have ONE of the following two options:

EITHER to rule the country in equal and equitable partnership with PKR and DAP on the currently agreed common agenda

                                                                    OR

To continue to force the pace of Islamisation without the expressed consent of other races, in which case, all the three partners of PR will continue to remain in the opposition for God knows how long.

The clock for the next election is ticking, and it is now up to the wisdom of the leaders of Pakatan Rakyat to undo the damage in the shortest possible time.

Kim Quek

20.11.2012

  

When I Again Read Muhyiddin's Concern for Malaysian Diapora...

in one of the mainstream papers++++ yesterday ( I only read the print copy at a kedai today!:( --The DPM was lamenting the loss of Malaysian talents abroad in the 1.2million diaspora overseas and urging them to come back because (paraphrasing here/hear!...) the "nation needs you and your expertise"! I DID NOT KNOW WHETHER TO LAUGH OR CRY.. ++++ I will track down an extract from one/wan OK! Be patient as Desi otten urges, for Ms Patience is also Mr, Miss Virtuous!:) OK working heART for my ER, updated from Star Online on its updated: Sunday November 18, 2012 MYT 2:21:42 PM

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Malaysian experts abroad urged to return home

Muhyiddin at a press conference

GOLD COAST: Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin Sunday urged the Malaysian diaspora of experts abroad to return home and help Malaysia progress at even faster pace through their expertise.
The diaspora estimated to number some 1.2 million with most of them in Australia, he said their expertise and skills could be harnessed in the nation's interest.
Malaysian experts abroad were no longer limited to the fields of medicine, accountancy and law as before as the diaspora was now also involved in other fields like specific branches of science and were researchers at universities, he said.
"The Malaysian workforce needs more specialists. Malaysia needs you to come home, the country needs your expertise," he said at a dinner with students and Malaysians living in Queensland here Saturday night.
On Thursday, Muhyiddin had launched the Malaysian Scientific Diaspora Network (MSDN) to serve as a key platform to connect Malaysian scientists worldwide and promote collaborative research in their areas of expertise for the country's benefit.
Muhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, said the tranformation plans and programmes currently undertaken by the Malaysian Government opened vast opportunities for the diaspora.
He said if before they might ask what were the prospects if they returned home but this no longer was the case as they would be able to flourish in their careers.

******************************** I'm truncatng the report here BECAUSE I DON'T THINK THIS GUY IS ANY SINCERE  AT ALL -- he also stood by when Malay extremists eg Perkosa and its chief mischiefmaker ALI the chief froggie had regularly made inflammatory statements on the Chinese Malaysians, others were bold enough to tell "you balik TongSan jika tidak suka disini!"

Hey, Mr DPM, your lament reminds me of the saying: Bolting the stable door after the horses have bolted!

The DPM waiting-in-UMNO-wings to take over the clueless Najib as PM except Opposition Leader DS Anwar Ibrahim is growing MORE&MORE formidable with more clowning and play acting by the UMNO-centric wooden cabinet often caugfht LYING THROUGH THEIR TEETH and yet still hold on to their seats because their (onw and family's) livelihood depends on it!:.

I had once likened these UMNO leader's acts as those UMNOputra daylight robbers of shedding crocodile tears that we are seeing a constant migration of Malaysians -- mainly Chinese and other non-Malay, sorry I have to have an ethnic breakdown reference point  -- as the countries who accept them make THEM FEEL APPRECIATED AND ACCEPTED. Yes, back n NegaraKu they rttreat some foreigners who are ILLEGALLY STAYING ON in Malaysia BETTER than local born-and-bred! Similar efforts like what TalentCorp is now doing -- how BIG is your BUDGET ah, can Desi ask, or is this covered by OSA? -- a decade or so ago, some 100-plus Malaysians working overseas returned to their homeland to SERVE. BUT  WITHIN ONE YEAR, all these returnees EXCEPT for wan miserable ONE, remained in Malaysia.

Is the TalentCorp reprising aulti-million act here? Again, and again -- carrying out tokensim of their UMNOputra Ministers and Menteri Besar 2B before the crucial 13th General Elections.


I quote from one poem dedicated to this topic in my Midnight Voices & Other Poems:~~~~

INTIMATION4:

A Reluctant Lament in May!
May 13, 1969 -- do we remember?
Countless Malaysians shed their blood
Life's fabric is oft strong, yet tender
Can withstand the elements even in a flood
But man's foul mood, tearing all asunder
I want to make this my motherland
Many of fellow Malaysians chorus in similar trend
But ill mouths and ill minds
They can't see our love 
Sight closeted within their racial blinds
Some slog to get by with two jobs
Others born into privilege behave like mobs
Ninety percent of us shed 
Blood, sweat and tears
So that the other 10 percent gallivant 
in wine, women and bed
They then question our loyalty
Meanwhile they reap the oil royalty
We dutifully pay our taxes
Meanwhile they squander in madness
Monuments are built to meet the sky
They see gods and goddeses on high
Wrapped around karaoke lasses' bosoms 
Behold, lo and hi
With our blood, sweat and tears
At the slightest sign of trouble
To safer havens they and lovers flee
Meanwhile they "yam seng!" in glee
They ask: Why art thou overseas?
Come back to serve your Motherland
Meanwhile, they who stay, they smother
Oh Mum's the Word
The majority lament
Why bother?

The Publishing Experience, or Lack of...II

No, I did NOT suffer a near-death experience the past few days although a fictional character Mac Taylor did.SIRvived because a million-$ character can not be allowed/aloud to die off quietly, TOO MANY OTHER PARTIES' LIVELIHOODS DEPEND ON "big" MAC.

I just want to continue my PR on my REPRINT of "Midnight Voices & Other Poems..." to continue from last Saturdie's post. YES, I promised an understanding of what DDC is about... so here/hear goes:~~~

Examples of DDC -- a sort of word game I play under Blogspeak licence self copyrightedORlefted:) -- are words in foregoing introduction italicised.

Extracting from page7 of my REPRINT, hey, now be an obedient student, go place an ORDER!:)

"My writing horizon expanded over the last two years after I started my weblog -- desiderata2000.blogspot.com -- on the Ides of March 2005, and the chief benefit flowing from this joyful  journey still in progress are the many new people I have become acquainted with. The section of poems sub-headed Blogosphere -- Beauty and the Beast -- is culled mainly from My Blue Haven. At this blogospheric abode, I indulged a lot in wordsmithry, and myGOoDfriend (mGf) from Ipoh, host of allofhelen.blogspot.com, termed it my DDC(Da Desi Code). Should you not catch on this special licence of Blogspeak, don't be afraid for you are not alone! Helen initially said she could understand only 30 percent of what Desi wrote. Curio cat that she is -- or is she an Olivia (sister of Oliver Twist)? -- she keeps coming back for more. I was tempted to say aMore but I refrained. I felt pretty proud when Helen intimated that I had won her over with some poetry, and she repays with some Note the words in italics are some examples of DDC, hope you do see, even with one eye closed!" 

**********************************************

MORE on my publishing experience noteworthy of sharing relates to my adding some value in my updated copy, so I stole THREE quotable quotes -- I learnt from early school days reading Reader's Digest always works. From Albert Einstein some more, on the reverse of frontpage cover.

But horror of horrors when I took delivery of the books last week, staring at Desi with some beads of perspiration showing already on his shining forehead, WERE UNCORRECTED HOWLERS WHICH I HAD SPOTTED IN THE PROOF two weeks earlier. I personally saw the personable PRINTER -- whom I shan't name because I don't wish to see his cheeks turn lobster red! -- make the changes to the mistakes as shown in the proof. BUT WHAT HE OMITTED TO DO WAS HE DID NOT ERASE THE ORIGINAL COPY WHILE SAVING THE IMPROVED COPY IN HIS COMPUTER!


When he sent the copy for plate-making, he pulled up the ORIGINAL FILE with the TYPOS beautifully and nakedly intact to tease us! So after sweating our eye-brows and cooling down with teh-iced limau -- the princely Printer even buttered Desi down with three-layered-peanut-buttered-toast! -- we conceived with a sext-best solution. We re[laced the third Einstein quote with "stick-on" reprint. No, the Printer and Desi can assure buyers that they did not use their tongue to wet the glue, only fingers' DNA in taggingon the sticker. If they don't really make out an exact rectangle, put that down as a piece of modern art variant OK!:)

As I say, eve this "mistake" may enahnce the value of an autographed copy post writer's death, jest be patient. Did I mention Vincent van Gogh's SUNFLOWER sold for several hundred AUD million? Mine, I hope to be s-MILING fom sex foot underground if my Midnight Voices... could fetch 20million. Even in Rupiahs, oso cun-lah! LOL! ~~~~~~~~~~

BEST NEAR-DEATH NARRATIVE I'VE READ/SEEN...

Yes, it's from my fave TV series,THE CSI. The particular episode was aired this MIDNIGHT when the spiritual or after daeth realm is best felt or narrated by the adventurer/narrator lucky to live TO TELL THE TALE.!  Actually, thanks to AXN's repeats, tonight I saw this episode the second time around. SEE HOW COINCIDENTAL WITH the reprint of my "MIDNIGHT VOICES and OTHER POEMS"...?

To make my telling easier, I just googled CSI NY 8: Mack Taypor, NEAR DEATH, and presto, my job of narration is made like squezzzing orange to make squassssh (words in italics are Amore examples of DDC which I will write about in the next post, K! InsyaAllah!~~~~~~~~~

CSI NY 8.18 “Near Death” Review

Submitted by Alexis Rosales on May 24, 2012No Comment

The penultimate episode was titled ‘Near Death’ and it started with death in a pharmacy. Among the victims lying about was Mac Taylor; the head of New York Crime Lab. Now it would be almost impossible to believe that Mac would be killed off the show unless some issues have taken place without any body knowing. Besides, it was the beginning of the show and they won’t just kill him, will they?

But it was a near death experience as he laid down there dreaming of those people he is involved in. The very first person he got to talk with was his dead wife Claire. And then the whole team had a role call as he talked with everyone of them.

In the real world, Flack and Jo were the first to reach the hospital but his girlfriend was not far behind. It was Christine that helped Jo out to fill the form because she just realized that she really did not know that much about Mac. She knew his middle name and probably filled her own name as the next of kin.

Fans got to know in this episode some things that had been left hanging. The reason behind Lucy and Mac seemingly let Flack off the hook after his girlfriend was killed. But Jo’s case that she swore that she would solve remained unresolved. But there was a case Mac was on before the shooting incident occurred. Just the day before he and Flack were on the heels of a robbery suspect that had killed someone in his last robbery.

But Luke Sheldon swears to being innocent and claims that the sunglasses that ties him to the place had been missing for a while now. They did not have much time with him before his grandfather showed up with a lawyer.

Lindsay said it would be conclusive if they mapped his veins with that of the robber on the CCTV. They took up the advise and the results came out negative. He wasn’t the one but the shocking reveal that later came out was it was his grandfather with a couple of his friends that did it! They did not want to pay for home care and wanted to avoid being sent to a home.

Mac got shot in the pharmacy because he walked in on a robbery when he went to get Luke’s grandfather’s prescription. Flack track down and arrests the girl. At the end of the show, the flash forward six months ahead and Mac is alive and kicking.