Definite Maybe

Last night I had dinner with an old bunch of friends from my college days. It was a mix of ages. Beginning from mid twenties to earlier thirties. A few young married couples. And at one point in the night the topic of conversation came to the deterioration of education in Malaysia. The married couples have been considering things like home schooling, private education or public schools for their children in the future. And how beginning from their parent’s time the rot begun and how deep would the rot be by the time it reaches their own children.

After lenghty discussions about how American/British/Private education/Home schooling benefits or denies the child of certain values and opportunities and also how inept the Government has been at ensuring a good education system, it struck me that no one had mentioned that it all boils down to politics. We were all complaining about the bad system but not what is ultimately ensuring that a bad system is in place. And the fuel to the inept system is us. The voters. Our parents started the rot by voting in Barisan Nasional election after election for 50 years even though things got worse and worse and we just kept the same inept politicians in charge. No one in that room actually realised that yes we can change the system to a better one until I had pointed it out. Most people had the line of thinking of oh well. What to do?…….. Sigh sigh sigh. The fact is we can actually change the system, by voting and voicing our displeasure alot more vocally. Not just in the comforts of our living rooms. That what a democracy is for!

Never before has dissent been stronger. I watched as my fellow Malaysians were gassed and hosed down with chemicals on Saturday. At least the chemicals did not discriminate unlike a certain ruling Party. Young, old, Malay, Chinese, Indian, crutches, spectacled, doesn’t matter. I watched a man with horror etched on his face as he carried his two young chilidren on his shoulders and ran away from the oncoming red trucks. The police didn’t care about the tourists, weekend shoppers, young children. It looked as if they were pretty happy to get a chance to finally use those cannons and guns they’ve been training to use in their camps.

My starting point was Masjid Jamek. When enough had gathered, we began the procession. Barely taking 20 steps and BOOM. We ran helter skelter away from the gas into the little lanes surrounding the Lrt station. Making our way thru little lanes and side streets wiping away the tears and washing the sting with water, most of us found our way to Sogo. And hundreds at a time, more people arrived. When we managed to fill up the entire junction of Sogo with people it felt like a moral victory. I felt the job was pretty much done. We’d had made a statement. Even after all the obstructions set in place by the authorities and chemicals, we’d made it thru. So many of us. Seeing all those people united for one cause made me feel more Malaysian than ever.

Yesterday Zaid Ibrahim, Tony Pua and Zulkifli Ahmad spoke at a forum in Bangsar Village. The topic was “Is Pakatan Rakyat sustainable?”  At the beginning of the forum, half the upper middle class crowd of about 400-500 responded that they had doubts of whether PR could become a viable coalition and maintain their momentum to evolve Malaysian politics into a two party system. By the time those three were done, I would say most if not all barring the Special Branch officers were convinced that PR would not let themselves to let the Voters down.

Zulkifly Ahmad from PAS mentioned something probably stuck in everyone’s minds. Bearing in mind the different ideologies the three parties in PR have, those ideologies are secondary when it comes to our common goals.

So the question above is answered simply by, Pakatan will have no other choice but to ensure that Pakatan is sustainable because the Voters will not settle for any less. We have been given the responsiblity and ‘die die’ we have to see it thru. – lest we want to continue being chucked in prison by BN every other week for the next 50 years and my children graduating from high school with an IQ of negative.

“…. liberty, freedom and dignity are not free vouchers posted out to each household. They do not come to those who just sit and wait. They have to be fought for, and gained. “
- Yeo Yang Poh

Does the Kuala Lumpur Draft Plan affect you?

You have seen advertisements in the papers and on the city lampposts that DBKL has been promoting the KL Draft Plan. But what is it actually? Does it affect you as the ratepayer? Does it affect you as a citizen of Kuala Lumpur?

Your Rights as a Ratepayer

We all pay taxes. Therefore DBKL is accountable to us who ultimately pay their salaries. But, in Kuala Lumpur, the Federal Territory Minister (who is the only BN MP ‘elected’ in KL) and the Datuk Bandar have full powers over what happens to Kuala Lumpur without having to be accountable to any other party or ratepayers. They make unilateral decisions that no one can object to all the time and this is the case now with the KL Draft Plan. The plan is for public scrutiny now but however DBKL has full authority to decide whether any objections or feedback will be considered. Based on past dealings with DBKL, it is likely that they will ignore you.

What DBKL wants you to believe with the KL Draft Plan

DBKL mentions a few reasons as to why the plan has been formulated the way it is now.

1. To be a World Class City

- The infrastructure, public transport system and maintenance of Kuala Lumpur currently is already inadequate to support the current status of the city

2. City Living Environment

- DBKL envisions the population of KL to increase by another 600,000 persons by the year 2020. They propose this by increasing and changing the existing the population density in many parts of Kuala Lumpur. This means that instead of controlling the congestion in the city, DBKL will be purposely increasing the congestion level in the city

3. Connectivity and Accessibility for the City

- They intend to build the infrastructure needed AFTER they increase the population of Kuala Lumpur and DBKL intends to achieve this by ONLY building new LRT lines

4. Protecting and enhancing the environment

- DBKL once had a plan for Kuala Lumpur to be a Garden City. However, what we see today is the constant destruction of our green areas, green belts, playgrounds and parks to accommodate the 600,000 more persons DBKL wants in Kuala Lumpur. The National Physical Plan implemented by the Federal Government calls for 2 hectars of open space per 1000 persons in an area. The current level in KL is 0.38 hectars per 1000 persons and this will go down even further to a level of about 0.20 when the KL Draft Plan is implemented.

5. Enhancing Green Network and Blue Corridor

- Proposals for green areas and parks are barely visible in the plan. DBKL has already cited the lack of land in Kuala Lumpur as a reason for increasing population density. In fact many residents have already noted that the green areas in their neighbourhoods have been converted to commercial and luxury home developments. These developments are already going on even BEFORE the Draft Plan is implemented. Does this mean that the Draft Plan is only a means of legitimizing DBKL’s ad-hoc development? The current sorry state of Kuala Lumpur’s rivers and parks are currently proof of DBKL’s inability to take care of issues currently at hand.

Why We must Reject this Plan

The hidden focus of this Plan is evidently not to make Kuala Lumpur a world class city but only to increase the profitability of DBKL by allowing more uncontrolled development to take place. IE:- more taxes, more ratepayers.

Kuala Lumpur currently faces too many problems that need to be remedied before any more development should be allowed to take place. Every KL-ite is unhappy about the congestion, inadequate public transport and the pollution that goes on unchecked in the city. DBKL’s solution is to increase population and decreasing green areas BEFORE addressing these issues.

Malaysians have over time lost their capacity to stand up for their rights. Time and again bullied into a studied silence, reminded at every occassion that ‘big brother knows better and rules with a big stick’ and that it is ‘not the Malaysian culture to challenge the powers that be,’ a vast majority of Malaysians have resigned into speechless, un-opinionated zombies. Not surprising therefore that when it comes to being proactive in community concerns and common responsibilities educated Malaysians rate rather poorly, apart from the 10 – 15 % odd that rise to the occassion. Is it right for the remaining 80% to be indifferent and unresponsive?

What can be the reasons for this? Perhaps ‘not wanting to get into trouble’ or ‘attracting unnecessary attention ? … yes the last 38 years may best be characterised as the very, very, sensitive years, when anything and everything seemed to be within the ambit of the OSA, which included highway concessionare contracts, atrocious road tolls increase, cracked bridges, spurious defence deals, judiciary in the docks, sports scandals, port building, destruction of green lung, scandalous railway projects, un-working steel mills, oil revenues unaccounted by the treasury, repeated bankrupting of banks, national car on life support, MAS on skidrow etc etc.

Perhaps Malaysians have gotten used to seeing disasters happen with clockwork regularity and their rights to protest emasculated, or see protesters marched off to jail … perhaps all these have lead to a pervasive sense of ‘indifference is the best policy’.

But things are changing … 8^th March has shown that the country is waking up and it is time we took back what is ours! We cannot let an unelected body like DBKL continue to ravage our city for their own interests and treat the ratepayers like cash cows anymore!

So please SPEAK UP! No one else is going to fight for your City other than YOU!

Faith and fundamentalism
by Petra Gimbad

I FELL in love with the concept of constitutional law a few years ago; the rights it enshrines are based on principles every man and woman must uphold in order to ensure human dignity, yet, in such a way that we are able to live together harmoniously.

It makes sense that if we wish others to respect our way of life, we must also be willing to do the same for others.

Therefore, it follows that if we expect others to uphold and fight for our right to live in the way we choose, we must also be willing to uphold these same rights for them.

My flatmates recently recommended that I read the book The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins. I plowed through it at a snail’s pace for the last few weeks, which is painful for someone who can breeze through 10 books in a day.

I just completed Chapter Three. Kiasuness decrees that I finish Chapter Four, even though I had a headache the last time I read the book. I cannot say for sure what it is about (I have not read even half of the book) although it is clear that the writer does not think much of religion.

My flatmate tells me that it is a convincing treatise on how the world will be a better place without religion. It was difficult to explain to him how my cultural upbringing as a Catholic woman has made me a more compassionate person. This does not mean that an atheist cannot be just as loving as a person who professes a faith. I just think that after a while, labels are useless in labelling a person as just or unjust.

The problem, as I see it, is this insistence we have on claiming an identity. How can an identity represent entirely who a person is? Therefore, how does being a Christian tell you who I am, or a Chinese for that matter? Or in the author’s case, an atheist British man?

Being Chinese does not make one filial, neither does being a Christian make one charitable. My atheist flatmate seems to love his parents and has worked in an area which was ranked one of the poorest places in Britain. Something which most of the people I used to attend church with would never contemplate doing, for all their posturing on how Jesus of the Bible transforms you.

Primarily, what disturbs about religion is not so much the concept of spirituality. My personal definition of spirituality is this: that there is a force out there called Love, which is the God I believe in. How we learn to embody this force is a personal journey. We experience Love along individual paths.

Instead, what disturbs is fundamentalism and the institutionalisation of religion.

Fundamentalism takes the view that “it is my way or the highway”. It means imposing your perspective and will on others. Faith, to me, can only be carried by one who realises that he or she knows nothing. True humility decrees that what we know goes as far as our best knowledge, which can only be experienced.

Words fail to describe experience.

Words, anyway, are a mere invention to describe what we perceive. What we perceive is only one perspective that may be inaccurate. Language can further distort this perspective. More truthful is, therefore, the truth that is felt with the heart.

Institutionalisation of religion is another form of the “my way or the highway” approach. A friend once pointed out that only a secular country can truly enable a religion to flourish.

With a political system that institutionalises religion, there can be only one interpretation of the Quran, the Bible, the Buddhist scriptures or the Mahabharata and Ramayana.

History has shown, time and again, that this approach had led, for example, to the murder of children during the Christian Crusades and the mistreatment and violence that both men and women suffer on a large scale.

One fails to see the God in this.

One must therefore ask, will we ever learn? Do we have the courage to acknowledge these historical occurrences?

Theology has shown how, with time, interpretation changes with society. Our interpretations of whatever scripture we subscribe to therefore hold no guarantee of perfection.

To the best of our knowledge, even with the most loving intentions, there is never any guarantee that we know exactly what we are doing in the moment. The consequences of our actions carry across miles and through the cosmos, far beyond the boundaries of what we can foresee.

This is what I believe the Constitution protects: the freedom to pursue our paths of choice, but without impinging on the freedom of others or in a way that leads to the detriment of one’s neighbour. How well this freedom and system of mutual respect is protected is up to us.

Who we are as human beings must inevitably evolve. We are constantly moving towards increasing complexity. As opposed to a more complex bigoted and violent reality, hopefully, towards a direction of increasing compassion – for love, truth and peace.

Petra is studying law.

She wants to become the first lady of Malaysia. Yesterday she and the C4 bomber were in Parliament.

Karpal wanted to ask a question to Najib during question time. Here’s what the wannabe First Lady said.

“Why don’t you stand up and say it!”

Tut tut.

Poor guy. Malaysia’s justice system is really just pathetic. Put me off it completely.

p.s…..Look! i’m in that photo!

I attended both days of this event. It ended bad today with this in the press. Deputy Mayor Saravanan ended the so called round table meetings by claiming he will sort out the problems of Kuala Lumpur himself and DBKL will by pass the ‘opposition’ MPs.

Firstly, remember folks that in the Federal Territories, Pakatan has got 10 out of the 13 seats offered. Yet it is BN who controls the state. It is BN who appoints the Mayor and it’s officials. Our 10 MPs have NO SAY in the governance of the state and HAVE to resort to such ’round table’ meetings for DBKL to even consider what the people’s chosen representatives have to say.

The Citizens of Kuala Lumpur have clearly given the mandate to Pakatan to govern Kuala Lumpur.

I’d like to comment on the two news articles you will see below. Firstly, Tengku Adnan storms off.

1. All the Pakatan MPs gave speeches, gave views on matters that effected their constituencies. None of the BN MPs gave anything.NST comments that undi-pos MP of Setiawangsa* Zulhasnan has to be given credit for staying the full nine hours. Well, what did he really do? Neither did he contribute, nor did he bring up issues that concerned his constituency. Adnan just storms off. And he’s right. It was rubbish. I attended the thing and i can honestly say that it was all just DBKL’s usual rhetoric and empty promises. When he was leaving the room, someone did shout, “What a rubbish MP!” The other BN MP i think didn’t even bother showing up. The other thing the press did not mention was, there was a retreat for ALL BARISAN NASIONAL MPs going on at the same time upstairs! So how were all the MPs for FT supposed to attend when the BN MPs had two functions at the same time!

2. This was rightly brought up by Lim Lip Eng that why was it held in Hotel Istana. I’m sure the costs of having a two, all day function complete with lunch and refreshments in such a place is not cheap. Who will ultimately be bearing the costs? You the taxpayers. Remember, DBKL’s budget Per Annum is RM2.4 Billion of taxpayer money. DBKL has so many buildings and so much space. Auditoriums and what not. Why not use those instead?

3. Saravanan claims the forum was for the MPs to bring up constructive issues to improve the lives of city folk. Really want to improve our lives? Stop the corruption. If you really honestly believe DBKL is NOT corrupt, why did Pakatan win 10 out of 13 seats?

4. The MPs did bring up many issues. But somehow these were dismissed as petty. However, these issues have been ISSUES for a long time now. If DBKL say they are doing their jobs and listening to the public, why are these issues still issues after 20 years?

5. 3 out of the 10 Pakatan MPs were reported to have launched attacks on DBKL. Rightly so I feel. Anyway, why did Saravanan focus on the 3 only? What about the other 7’s constructive views? Sadly, Saravanan has again done what he did last week when Pakatan MPs met with Datuk Bandar. DBKL invites us to ‘meet’ him. Asks us for our views which are the views of the people but neither gives any replies nor any commitment to solve such things, and then when the Pakatan MPs are not there, tells the press a wonderful story. Saravanan and his boss did it before when they asked us to prove they were corrupt. Saravanan failed to mention that in the meeting just 10 minutes before, the Pakatan MPs had produced the evidence in hard copy. Photographs and reports were given to them just 10 minutes before claiming to the press otherwise.

6. I also attended a session where matters about Public Service was discussed. Matters such as rubbish and floods were ‘discussed’. However sitting thru 2 hours of it, i found it to be an excellent waste of time. When asked about matters about rubbish collection and the state of litter in Kuala Lumpur, DBKL just passed the buck to the private contractors such as Alam Flora. They handle all rubbish collection so please contact them instead. We just pay them a fixed amount, how effecient they are, complaints so forth should be directed to them. Same scenario with the local drains and such. Alam Flora. Also they just further put the blame on the citizens for not having a civic minded mindset as to keep the city clean etc. Not much was discussed on how DBKL was going to encourage recycling, on how it is also part of their task to encourage people to change their habits. On floods, nothing was mentioned regarding the over development in KL, the ridiculous bad planning by DBKL, the destruction of our green areas that retain water and the bad design of roads and drainage that just cant cope with all the traffic and water.

7. “If I invite you to my house and you keep hitting me, do you expect me to just sit and and watch?” Saravanan asked. Well, if DBKL ran things well, there would be nothing to hit. Your job as a civil servant is to be hit and listen to what the people are not happy about. What you organised this meeting so we’d come and sing praises to you in the hopes that you’d only do the work if i sucked your dick?

8. DBKL serve the people. Not BN. Why is Saravanan going so far to bend over for the BN MPs and going so far as to stick up for them? Are you not supposed to be impartial?

9. Sitting thru the forum for two days and listening to issues the NGOs and the MPs brought up, I found it quite tedious. It was the same old issues that have been going on and on for years. I would like to know, WHAT HAS DBKL AND THE PREVIOUS BN MPs ACUTALLY BEEN DOING ALL THESE YEARS?

I sat at the same table as Lee Chong Meng during lunch . He said this. “You know, those issues the Pakatan MPs have been bringing up, are the same issues i’ve brought up with DBKL time and time and time again. But as usual DBKL do nothing.” Even the BN reps can’t get DBKL to do anything. Great.

The seasoned NGOs as well said the same thing. We’ve had all these discussions with DBKL before. Nothing ever gets done anyway. But we have no choice. We still have to come. We will die trying.

So really, I honestly thought the past two days were a waste of time. Hearing DBKL spew it’s rhetoric over and over again, honestly made me sick. I get reports about ppl having to pay DBKL to remove fallen trees in front of their homes, more reports about mamak shopowners having to pay off DBKL to keep their tables on the pavements etc.

DBKL needs reform. The Federal Territory Act needs reform. How FT is run need total reform. Did you know Labuan and Putrajaya are run under a body called Perbadanan Labuan and Perbadanan Putrajaya. In essence it’s a company. They need not report to ANYONE. Directors have full control. As usual, no accountability.

Tan Sri Robert Phang brought up this issue. We have 10 Pakatan MPs, yet the single BN MP in KL is the Minister that RULES us all.

Also, NST continues it’s rubbish reporting. How does Minderjeet Kaur and Irdiani Mohd Salleh sleep at night after writing such ridiculous praises about Zulhasnan? *He’s the FT Minister who organised the whole exercise. It’s his job to be there all day. You don’t give credit to someone who’s is doing what he is already supposed to do. You give a person credit when he can actually win a Parliamentary seat without needing to resort to postal votes. He didn’t even speak up on issues regarding his constituency so…..you guys in Setiawangsa really f-cked up. Pak Ibrahim is such a great guy. Would have done a much better job. But then again, it was the cheating. Not you.

And oh yes, have some nuts Saravanan. I dare you to say these things right to the faces of the MPs. You only ever say it to the press when the Pakatan MPs are long gone. At least we have the guts to say it out in full view without FEAR because we know it’s the truth. Spineless.

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By Sally Ong

April 13, named “Global Day for Darfur”, marks the fifth anniversary of the genocide in Darfur, a western region of Sudan. Since the conflict in Darfur erupted in 2003, at least 200,000 people have died and more than 2.3 million people have been displaced from their homes. Most of the displaced Darfuris are now living in refugee camps in neighboring Chad and in a network of internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Darfur.

Although the conflict began five years ago, it has its roots in decades of neglect, oppression, drought and small-scale conflicts in Darfur. The current crisis began when two rebel groups attacked the central government in Khartoum. The two groups represented agrarian farmers who are mostly “non-Arab black African” Muslims from different tribes. In response to the rebel movement, the Khartoum government increased arms and support to local tribal and other militias, who later became known as the Janjaweed. Members of the Janjaweed are mostly “Arab black African” Muslims who herd cattle, camels and other livestock. Janjaweed mean “devils on horseback” and are thus named because members of the militia would arrive on horseback to systematically murder, torture and rape hundreds and thousands of Darfuris. In addition, armed bands of Janjaweed have destroyed food and water supplies, effectively wiping out entire villages.

Malaysia is, unfortunately, complicit in the genocide. We are currently the second largest investor in Sudan after China, and thus funding Khartoum’s genocidal activities. Petronas, Malaysia’s state owned oil company, is a major player in Sudan’s oil industry. As of April 2007, Petronas had invested approximately RM 4.8 billion (or US$1.45 billion) in Sudan. Petronas’ involvement has also facilitated significant investment of other Malaysian companies in Sudan. Ranhill Berhad, Muhibbah Engineering Berhad, Kencana Petroleum Berhad, Kejuruteraan Samudra Timur Bhd, Scomi Group Berhad and PECD Berhad are other Malaysian companies that have major stakes in Sudan’s oil industry.

All these companies have been identified by Sudan Divestment Taskforce, a U.S. based non-profit, as companies with highly problematic practices in Sudan. They are thus labeled because their business dealings 1) involve engagement with the Government of Sudan, 2) provide little to no benefit to the disadvantaged populations of Sudan and 3) may be inadvertently contributing to the government’s genocidal capacity.

Because of these business dealings, Malaysia has also strengthened bilateral relations with Sudan. Malaysia has provided military assistance and political protection to Sudan. A memorandum of understanding between the two countries signed in February 2004 included an agreement to cooperate on military matters. Although Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has expressed concern about the conflict in Darfur, he has not called for increased pressure on the Government of Sudan. Instead, he appealed to Muslim world leaders to provide help to the Sudanese government. When he visited Sudan in April 2007, Pak Lah also urged western governments not to impose sanctions on Sudan.

Malaysia’s involvement in the killings in Darfur, whether direct or indirect, is shameful and must stop. The Malaysian government must use its economic leverage to pressure the Sudanese government to stop the killing and destruction of Darfuri lives. Malaysian owned companies in Sudan should also do the honorable thing and withdraw completely from Sudan if Khartoum refuses to restore peace to Darfur.

I urge all concerned Malaysians to protest our government’s role in empowering Khartoum. To learn about the lives of displaced Darfuris, please visit here , a website with videos and journal entries posted by volunteers who visited sites in Darfur and Chad. Lim Yuen-Ling, a Malaysian, visited refugee camps in Chad last year as a volunteer for Stop Genocide Now. To sign an online petition asking the Malaysian government to unequivocally oppose the genocide, please visit here

No one should have to die because of our economic interests. How many more thousands of people must die before we will speak up?

Bukit Gasing is being destroyed. Well. The KL side of Bukit Gasing anyway.
DBKL has allowed construction to go ahead on our side of the hill.
Selangor has already banned any construction AND gazzetted Bukit Gasing as protected land!

This affects every citizen in KL. Why?

The reasons as to why the Local Council has allowed this construction to go is extremely questionable.

It has happened in Bukit Damansara, Federal Hill, I hear another problem is happening in the other end of Bukit Damansara, Bukit Tunku, and i’m there are more which i personally don’t know of. It also happened in Bangsar, Jalan Medang Tanduk.

Shame on the people who end up living at these places. Destroying the neighbourhoods of other residents, buying these ridiculously expensive homes so you can assert your social status.

With all these so called developments, The local authority has ignored resident’s objections, denied residents the right to public hearings to discuss these matters and so forth.

The mayor said the other day on malaysiakini, prove that were corrupt. Okay people. Lets do a poll. If you believe DBKL is corrupt, leave a comment. If you don’t, leave one as well. Explain WHY you believe they are or not.

In my line of work, i can tell you, they are taking it out on the residents.

If they are NOT corrupt, why all the destruction of our hillsides and green lungs. why the ignorance of the law. why are you always somehow biased towards the developers?

Come on fellow citizens of Kuala Lumpur. It is time for these idiots to be accountable. DBKL has an annual budget of roughly RM2.4billion ringgit!!! half of it comes from our taxes/land rates. WE PAY THEIR WAGES. what are they doing to us?

Neither are DBKL accountable to us as tax payers, neither do they care about what we think how the city is run.  DEMOCRACY?

No TAXATION without REPRESENTATION!

I will be attending the Family Day at Bukit Gasing as representative for my Boss. I hope you will be coming to. Even if you don’t live there. Give support. Let DBKL know. Kuala Lumpur’s residents are watching.

10 of the 11 seats in KL belong to Pakatan Rakyat. It’s time you listened to us.

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