Oh oh oh yes, I'm the great...defender (of Malay rights)

I don't know about the Malays, but I don't think this is whom I want to be running the streets defending my race. But hey, to each it's own.

And just in case we forgot what the precedent was, here it is for your viewing pleasure.

Just showing displeasure.

Nothing more.

Nazri calls Dr. M a racist.

By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 7 — Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz has called Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad a “bloody racist” for defending the Biro Tata Negara (BTN) courses, and reasserted the Cabinet’s earlier decision to overhaul the programme.

Nazri pointed out to reporters in Parliament today that patriotism was not meant only for the Malays but for all Malaysians.

“You must be a Malaysian whether you’re a minister or not. You must walk your talk. Don’t just because when you were PM, you wanted everyone to support you, you’re Malaysian and the moment you’re no longer PM, that’s it, only talk about the Malays so I cannot accept his comment. When you read his blog it is bloody racist.

“I strongly feel the BTN courses must be in line with the 1 Malaysia slogan by the PM,” he said.

Dr Mahathir had said yesterday that there was no need to revamp BTN’s training modules in the current form and that it was suitable for instilling the patriotic spirit among Malaysians.

Nazri also slammed Umno’s Utusan Malaysia newspaper today, saying its “denial syndrome is making me laugh.” The minister in the prime minister’s department repeated his stand that “everybody knows what the BTN is,” so there was nothing to hide.

“I just want them to know, they should not go on a denial syndrome because their syllabus is known to everybody. Don’t think that people outside do not know about the syllabus based on patriotism for Malays. I just want to remind them that among those in the opposition, Hasan Ali was a former deputy director of BTN and Sungai Petani MP Johari Abdul was a BTN former director and Anwar Ibrahim’s father in law was involved with the BTN.

“They all know what the syllabus is all about so who are we to say that it did not happen? You want to lie? You make people laugh. I mean there are people who attended the courses who came out very angry. There were many instances of the use of words like Ketuanan Melayu (Malay supremacy). It is ridiculous so I want them to tell me where did I go wrong in supporting the revamping of the BTN syllabus. Tell me where I went wrong?” he asked.

Nazri stressed that BTN was funded by public money and that the funds should be spent properly for the betterment of all communities.

“The BTN’s allocation is mentioned in the PM’s department’s budget. So it’s public money. So if it’s public money then we need to ensure that it is spent properly, not to have courses only to concentrate on one community in the country.

“You talk about patriotism, love for the country. Patriotism is for all Malaysians regardless of race. Therefore, the money spent on BTN to have courses must reflect the 1Malaysia slogan by the PM. It should not only be to raise patriotism among the Malays. Malaysia is for all races so I disagree with any syllabus which only concentrates on patriotism just on one community, I disagree. If they have a problem with that, I want to know what is their problem,” he said.

Nazri questioned if Utusan Malaysia, which has been at the forefront of defending BTN courses, believes that Malaysia belongs only to the Malay community.

“Do they want to say that Malaysia belongs only to the Malays and the government is only a Malay government? Should only the Malays be given the spirit of patriotism? Other races are not patriotic about their country? So I want them to point out to me where is it that I’ve gone wrong If I disagree with the past syllabus,” he added.

Nazri also denied the claim made by Utusan that it was only him who wanted BTN to be revamped and not the Cabinet.

“The moment PM took over, when he introduced the 1 Malaysia slogan. It was soon after that because courses run by BTN using public funds must be used properly and it amounts to millions so if you want to talk about patriotism, patriotism for all, not just the Malays, for all Malaysians. It’s not because of the Selangor state government that we changed the syllabus so it’s long before that,” he said.

Nazri also questioned Utusan for deceiving Malaysians on BTN.

“You tell me, can I lie? I can’t. They must use their head lah. If they want to deny and all that. If the other side they do not know, it’s different but all these people were involved with BTN before. They were facilitators and directors so they know what’s going on.

“Come on lah, please, this is not 1961 or the 1970s. Information is freely available. I want them to get out of the denial syndrome, admit it and that’s in line with the PM’s slogan so why shouldn’t we change?” he asked.

The PR-led Selangor government recently imposed a ban on its civil servants and students within its state-run educational institutions from attending BTN courses, while Penang — another PR- governed state — is said to be considering similar action.

But the hawks in Umno, through Malay-based dailies like Berita Harian and Utusan Malaysia, have moved to defend BTN and attacked its critics as “traitors” who are trying to politicise the issue.

Utusan yesterday urged the government not to “bow down” to the opposition on BTN and said that it was Nazri who wanted the programme to be revamped even though the move was decided by the Cabinet.

- Malaysian Insider

Comments will be made available after I've finished rolling on the floor, bent over by spasms of incessant laughter.

Answer to Tun M part 2

In Tun M's 18th and 19th concluding paragraphs of his oh-so-exciting article, he says this:-

18. Dengan rencana ini saya tetap akan di cap sebagai racist oleh racist bukan Melayu. Tetapi kalau mereka sanggup menerima yang benar, mereka boleh banding korban orang Melayu pemilik asal negara ini dengan korban mereka untuk kepentingan negara ini.
(many racist Non Malays will label me racist because of this article. However if they can accept the truth, they can compare the sacrifice of the Malays, the original owners/citizens of this country with their own sacrifices for the good of this country)

19. Saya berpendapat jika negara ini hendak aman dan maju, agihan kekayaan dan kualiti hidup semua kaum hendaklah adil (fair) walaupun tidak sama (unequal). Janganlah hendaknya mana-mana pihak atau kaum tanggung beban kemiskinan yang keterlaluan, sementara kaum lain hidup mewah. Mengumpan sokongan dengan mengambil hak satu kaum untuk diberi kepada kaum lain bukanlah caranya - lebih-lebih lagi mengambil dari yang kurang berada untuk diberi kepada yang sudah lebih berada.
( It is my opinion that in order for this country to be peaceful and successful, the wealth and quality of life between the races have to divided fairly but unequally. There should not be any party or race which will bear extreme poverty, while other races are rich. Taking the rights of one race to be given to another is not the way- what more if it is taking from the poor and giving to the rich)

Now, time and again Non Malays have been reminded that we are merely immigrants in this country. Time and again we are reminded that the original citizens of this country have been kind enough to ALLOW us to stay. Time and again, we have been told to stop asking for the right to be Malaysian and expect fair treatment from the Government because the Malays have sacrificed so much to let us stay here.

If only all us Non Malays would pack up and leave. Then the Malays will have no issue in this country because then it would be fair play as they will all be given equal opportunities and will obtain the same aid from the Government.

Before I go any further, let me list down the top richest men in Malaysia:-

1. Robert Kuok USD 10 billion, 84.
   Kuok Group, Pacific Carriers Ltd, Transmile Group, Wilmar International
2. Ananda Krishnan USD 7.2 billion, 70.
   Maxis Comminications, Aircel Ltd, Astro All Asia Networks
3. Lee Shin Cheng USD 5.5 billion, 69.
   IOI Group
4. Teh Hong Piow USD 3.5 billion, 78.
   Public Bank
5. Lee Kim Hua & family USD 3.4 billion, 79.
   Genting Group
6. Quek Leng Chan USD 2.4 billion, 67.
   Hong Leong Group, Guoco Group, Rank Group
7. Yeoh Tiong Lay and family USD 2.1 billion, 78.
   YTL Corporation
8. Syed Mokhtar AlBukhary USD 1.8 billion, 56.
   Malaysia Mining Corporation (MMC), Malaysia Johor Port, Malakoff, Gas Malaysia
9. Vincent Tan USD 1.3 billion, 56.
   Berjaya Group
10. Tiong Hiew King USD 1.1 billion, 78.
    Rimbunan Hijau Group, Tri-M Technologies
11. Azman Hashim USD 700 million, 68.
    AMCorp Group, Ambank
12. William H. J. Cheng USD 660 million, 65.
    Lion Group
13. Lee Swee Eng USD 495 million, 52.
    KNM Group
14. Ong Beng Seng USD 470 million, 63.
    Hotel Properties Ltd, Natsteel
15. Lim Kok Thay USD 345 million, 56.
    Genting Group, Star Cruises. Alliance Global
16. Vinod Sekhar USD 320 million, 40.
    Petra Group, Green Rubber Global
17. Lee Oi Hian USD 300 million, 57.
    Kuala Lumpur Kepong, Crabtree & Evelyn
18. Yaw Teck Seng USD 295 million, 70.
    Samling Group
19. Anthony Fernandes USD 290 million, 44.
    AirAsia, Tune Hotel, AirAsia X
20. Mokhzani Mahathir USD 285 million, 47.
    Kencana

Tun M is right. The rich in Malaysia are Non Malays. And these rich ones are contributing to the country's wealth through their taxes. So technically, by giving aid to Malays and Malays alone, that would be indirectly doing the very thing Tun M said not to do- to take from one race and to give to another. But that is another story for another forum.

But how did these people become rich? They worked hard. Simple as that. Robert Kuok started off as an office boy. Lee Sin Cheng started off helping his father in their own small chinese food shop and to support his family he sold ice cream for four years while he was in his teens. As for Lim Goh Tong (who has since passed away and is now replaced on the list by his wife) he worked as a carpenter and survived the Japanese invasion of Malaya while working as a vegetable farmer. That is but three of the many stories of these rich successful men. Clearly from these stories, it is matter of perseverance and hard work that has brought these men wealth and success.

And what about the three lone Malays in this top 20 list? One of them is Tun M's own son. Obviously this man did not grow up with hardship, his father might have, but not him.
What about the other two men? Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar grew up poor. He helped his family in the cow breeding business. As for Azman Hashim? He did not grow up with a lot, his father was a disciplinarian and his mother was a headmistress. He grew up with strict discipline, which had obviously served him well in his life.

Now, despite what Tun M has said about the Malays, these two Malay men have somehow defied the odds. They were not given any handouts. They were not told that it was their birth right to have the Government hold their hands and lead them to wealth and success. These two men worked hard for their wealth.

So the striking similarities between the Malays and Non Malays? It is a matter of working hard and perseverance. Nothing to do with their race. So its utter rubbish for Tun M to say give a Malay MYR1m and he would not know what to do with it. He would know what to do with it, if only he had been given the opportunity to actually have to THINK of being competitive. Think of being an entrepeneur. Instead, the Government has instilled in him the idea that he needn't had to work so hard. It is already his birth right to be given all that he needs.

You want land to farm? Felda will give you land. Let the Non Malays work their arses off to buy land. You want money to start businesses? Let the Government give out Bumiputra loans, let the Non Malays save their money from their measly wages and start their businesses. You want to open up a restaurant overseas? Let us the Government give you grants to do so, let the Non Malays work their way up from dish washer to cleaner to a managerial position and lastly restaurant owner. You want to go to universities? Let the Government create a quota and let you in despite your bad results, let the Non Malays study hard and fight for one of the few places. You want a scholarship to go overseas to study? Here let me give 100 to the Malays, and let 2 of the Non Malays fight for the last two places and as for the rest, let them get disheartened and work somewhere else. Less Non Malays in Malaysia, better for us! You want to buy a house? Let us make it cheaper for you while the Non Malays pay full price.

The Government has patted itself on its head and said "Good Job!" in maintaining the necessary Malay quota and the necessary Malay wealth. But you know what all that it has done in this mission?

They've killed the Malay competitiveness.

And once you're no longer competitive, you perish.

"If you're soft and fuzzy, like our little characters, you become the skinny kid on the beach, and people in this business don't mind kicking sand in your face."
- Michael Eisner, Walt Disney.

Answer to Tun M Part 1

Back when Tun M just retired (after a teary emo charged goodbye at the UMNO General Assembly) I bumped into him at KLCC. He was with his wife, and a bodyguard (who was dressed in plain clothes and kept a short distance from the couple). I rushed up to Tun and his wife and asked if I could snap a picture with them and they obliged. Til today, that picture is one of my prized possession.

Til today I respect Tun M for his vision and his ideas.

But I read this today:- http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2009/07/kaki-dalam-kasut.html and I cannot help but wonder how his statements are so horrendously wrong.

"Tokoh bukan Melayu yang cuba duduki tempat Melayu (in the shoes of the Malays) jika ikhlas, akan rasa kekecewaan Melayu melihat hampir semua perniagaan dan perusahaan serta kekayaan yang diperolehi darinya dimiliki oleh bukan Melayu. Segala estet rumah mewah juga diduduki oleh bukan Melayu. Sikit benar orang Melayu yang tinggal di estat mewah ini. Lebih ramai yang tinggal di kawasan setinggan."
(roughly translated to mean: Non Malay leaders who try to put themselves in the shoes of the Malays, if there were sincere, will understand the frustrations of the Malays when they see that all the businesses and industries as well as the riches are all in the hands of the Non Malays. All the affluent townships are dominated by Malays. Only a few live in those townships)

Mungkin semua ini disebabkan kesalahan orang Melayu sendiri. Mereka tidak guna peluang yang disediakan bagi mereka. Ada yang salahguna peluang-peluang ini pun. Tetapi jika seorang pengayuh beca diberi sejuta Ringgit, apakah ia akan dapat berniaga dan berjaya dalam bidang ini.
( Perhaps these are all the faults of the Malays themselves. They have not utilised the opportunities that have been given to them. And some have misused these opportunities. But if a trishaw man is given a million ringgit, can he start a business and be successful in it.)

Does this not give you the impression that Tun honestly and sincerely think that Malay people are useless? Because it sure as hell sounds that way to me. He states if you give a million ringgit to a (presumably Malay) trishaw man, what is he going to do with it? Do you think he will be able to be successful? A chinese man will say, well if I had a million ringgit, by sure I will start a business and be successful in it! An Indian man may state the same. But Tun M thinks the Malay will find it impossible. And hence, because of their sheer genetic impossibility of being successful, the NEP must exist to reduce the big gap between the riches of the Non Malays and the Malays.

If the NEP continues to exist, generation after generation of Malays will become LAZY as they are of the opinion that it is their birth right to be given all that their ancestors have been given. Sure it may be true that other races who come from Empires who have existed long before the Malays and have been more successful may have had more experience in being successful and may at one time in history, be ahead of the Malays. But times have changed. The Malays are now educated, sophisticated and advanced. Many have now acquired the knowledge that were once upon a time, available only to the minority few.

If you use the statistics of Malays living out of town as part of the statistics to show that a majority of them are living in poverty, then one can only say this is because there are clearly more Malays in the country than other races. That's one. Number two, the other races have suffered these discrimination for so long, many have moved away. Number three, the Chinese do not register that they are poor because frankly, they are much too egoistic and proud to do so. While the Malays do not hesitate to do that as it means government aid. Number four, if poverty continue to exist in the Malay community, only the Malay leaders are to be blamed for hoarding all the money for themselves and their people. (Have you ever met a poor Minister? Or a poor Mayor?)

To be continued....

It's sad to know, you have to attend courses to instill loyalty to the Government.

At first they say, no, the BTN (Biro Tatanegara) courses aren't there to condemn the Opposition. Then they have the media cover speeches and statements by Ministers in the Government saying Selangor is the one "afraid to expose its weakness" by banning all it's civil servants from attending the 5 day course to instill patriotism to the "Raja, Kerajaan dan Negara" (among others).

But I do not see how this course is not aimed at condemning the opposition and asking for the civil servants to have blind loyalty to the current government. Clearly the "misi" (mission) of the BTN is "BTN berdedikasi melaksanakan program-program memupuk semangat patriotisme dan ketaatan kepada kerajaan yang dipilih."
(roughly translated it means BTN is dedicated to establishing programmes to encourage patriotism and loyalty to the elected government)

And it's vision is "Menjadi sebuah organisasi awam yang unggul dalam memupuk semangat patriotisme serta menjadikan rakyat setia kepada Kerajaan."
(BTN's vision is to be the ideal public organisation in instilling the spirit of patriotism and to ensure the citizens are loyal to the Government)

Clearly, when the BTN was set up, March 2008 had yet to happen. Hence the opposition were merely background noise, and did not play any part in State Government. (Obviously Kelantan could not even be bothered to send anybody for the BTN course) When March 2008 happened and Selangor (and now demised Perak) was taken over by the Opposition, the BTN course instantly fell foul of "intergrating the nation". Because the opposition is clearly not the ELECTED GOVERNMENT per se. But they are merely the elected Government of Selangor, Perak and Kelantan. So, logically speaking, the Selangor Government is right. By sending their civil servants there to be indoctrinated with loyalty to BN, it clearly is a condemnation of the Opposition.

Isn't it? It sounds about right to me.

What a lot of people had also noticed was the fact that these courses were also very very racist.

Today the headline screamed that the civics course will undergo a revamp. Nazri (Minister in the PM's Deaprtment) says " the Curriculum must match 1Malaysia concept and be inclusive of all races."

I wonder. What have they been teaching all these while? If it is undergoing a revamp only NOW, does that not mean all these while the modules did not include all races? Apparently yes. Mr. Nazri himself says " You have the BTN courses for students mostly from one racial group..."

A survey at the website will show that this course never took into consideration other races in the first place.
Clearly women had to attend the course in baju kurung and bertudung/berselendang. Hence, if this course were open to all races, does that mean the Chinese/ Indian/ all other races have to be dressed in the baju kurung?

Does it not make you wonder where all your tax monies go? Well I am guessing a chunk of it goes to these programmes, the other chunk of it goes to running the rubbish course called the National Service. And if Selangor had not blown the cover of the BTN, nothing would have been done. What rubbish is it to say "we are revamping to be more in line with 1Malaysia?" So the PM comes up with a moniker 1Malaysia and everyone thinks is the best thing since sliced bread.

1Malaysia is NOT NEW. 1Malaysia is supposed to exist since 31st Augusy 1957. 1 Malaysia is but a reiteration of what every right thinking citizen want in their lives. We are ENTITLED to have racial intergration and our rights as citizens of MALAYSIA, to live the way we want, to practise the religion we choose, to elect the government we believe in and to condemn the politics we abhor. It is OUR RIGHT. It's not something that you have graciously given to us when the new PM so cleverly coined "1Malaysia."

So please. Spare us the Bullshit.