All the Wishes and Greetings

To all my dear friends who are celebrating Hari Raya, Selamat Hari raya Aidil Fitri, Maaf Zahir dan Batin.

Semoga your Raya is filled with lots of family and friends, lots of love and lots of ketupat dan rendang.
To those who are going to balik kampung, have a safe, smooth trip and may you not feel like terkencing on the trip because the highways and byways toilets will be terribly full.
Have patience because the jam will be horrendous and get some foods because the pit stops are packed.
 
And since I have sent my early wishes to you all, you can also send your wishes to me.

Things on my to-do list are :
1) go bungee jumping
2) go parachuting, not para gliding, that one not counted
3) go on the scariest roller coaster ride in the world, not genting, I did all that
4) touch more hearts
5) bring more smiles

Write, Delete, Write, Delete

I tend to practise self-censorship.

Then, there is the spur of the moment rant which I can do on Twitter and Facebook and do not need a blog to deal with that part. I am several years late to be excited over blogs, sorry to say that.

Blogs aint’ hot anymore. They are yesterday. No one looks up to a blogger anymore. Blogs don’t make you rich. But of course, some bloggers still earn some money because they are packed with keywords and Google have indexed their pages.

In the previous general election, blogs have helped a lot. In the coming general election, blogs are irrelevant. Twitter has taken over. Facebook will accommodate the more detailed stuffs while Twitter will give the up to the minute updates.

So, what has my title gotta do with all these paras I wrote above?

Nothing. It shows how fickle I am. This is my fifth title, because I had deleted off some earlier things that I had wanted to say.

Actually, only with Twitter can you ambush and hijack a person’s thoughts. You can’t do that with blog. It is not quite the same. Frankly, I don’t see why people still want to read blogs. They are just so boring nowadays. I don’t know if those few bloggers are still stuck in their same old routine of showing what they eat, what they just bought, etc etc etc.

Maybe I will just put a tombstone on this site and says my blog has gone to eternal rest. But then, not yet. I want to rant and Twitter or Facebook cannot accommodate that.

Najib Letak Jawatan Presiden UMNO



"Datuk Onn kemudian berasa kecewa dengan apa yang beliau menganggap sebagai dasar-dasar perkauman UMNO, dan mencadangkan bahawa keahlian parti dibuka kepada semua penduduk Tanah Melayu, tanpa mengira kaum, dan nama UMNO ditukarkan menjadi "Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Penduduk Tanah Melayu Bersatu". Oleh sebab cadangan itu ditentangkan, Dato Onn meletakkan jawatan sebagai presiden UMNO apabila persidangan Majlis Mesyuarat Agung Keenam diadakan pada 25 - 26 Ogos 1951."

Sekiranya matlamat perjuangan Pribumi Perkasa itu adalah bercanggah sama sekali dengan matlamat perjuangan parti UMNO dan sekiranya DS Najib memperjuangkan perjuangan pelbagai kaum menerusi konsep 1-Malaysia, maka wajarlah DS Najib meletak jawatannya sebagai Presiden Parti UMNO.

Sepatutnya DS Najib bersifat lebih berani dengan mengikuti jejak langkah Datuk Onn Jaafar yang keluar parti untuk menubuhkan Parti Negara supaya perjuangan 1-Malaysianya dapat diteruskan tanpa menjejaskan keutuhan parti UMNO yang memperjuangkan matlamat perjuangan orang Melayu dan Bumiputera sebagaimana MIC dengan orang indianya dan MCA dengan orang cinanya.

Apabila kembalinya UMNO kepada matlamat perjuangan asalnya, maka tidak perlu lagilah Pribumi Perkasa bersusah payah mengisi ruang yang dikosongkan oleh UMNO. Tidak perlu lagilah bagi orang-orang Melayu mengalih pandangan mereka dari UMNO. DS Najib bersama-sama orang-orang kuatnya mampu menubuhkan sebuah parti politik baru, dengan mencontohi Datuk Onn Jaafar, bagi memperjuangkan wadah 1-Malaysianya.

The Acquisitive Society

 

 

 

Every year, we hear the same story about the ugly Malaysian. At open houses, people scrambled and dashed for the food. Adults behave like undisciplined children. If the PKR people think, they are immune from the ugly Malaysians, think again.

At the recent Hari Raya Open House at the IT City, there was the same mad scramble for food. You would think these people are starving refugees. My friend's children were queuing up for duit raya. Only to be told, we have no more money to give out. No surprise as adults too were lining up to get raya money. 

But I will leave it to others who can tell better stories than I about the ugly Malaysian. As for me, I want to tell the story about people's acquisitive tendencies. Since it is commonly believed, that the basis of a prosperous society is an acquisitive society. A society that has a lower quotient of acquisitive tendencies will undergo a slower pace of economic advancement. It is further believed that the deficiency in acquisitive quotient can be corrected by cultural engineering.

Sometime ago, I read what a sociologist named Judith Djamour wrote about Malays. She did some research on Singapore Malays in the 1940s and 1950s. what she wrote was used by the Singapore government in devising policies to handle its Malay population. Of particular interest was Djamour's interpretation on the differences between a Malay and a Chinese. The Chinese, says Djamour considers the acquisition of wealth as almost an end by itself. So he becomes an indefatigable worker and a keen businessmen. So the Chinese is always in attack mode. Business, social interactions, competing for parking bays and eating. 

The Malay on the other hand attached importance to easy and graceful living. He doesn't see the acquisition of wealth as an end by itself and so avoids becoming an unrelenting worker and a less keen businessman.

So the Malay is usually in a passive mode, diffident, hesitant and withdrawn. 

It is only now that I can picture clearly the significance of these two different character types. I am not at all pleased with the implications of the picture above. I am asking myself, could the two differences cited by Djamour be reflected in the way we reach out for our food? Could it be, that a simple act of acquiring food in a competitive environment, where thousands and thousands of people are looking for the same thing, forces the basic acquisitive instincts to be put on display? 

The Malay with one outstretched hand is less acquisitive than the Chinese with two outstretched hands?

Shall we say then, the Malay does value graceful living more and the Chinese aren't shy to show his acquisitive tendencies? 

Further, how shall we Malays make the acquisitive tendencies our second nature?

Money Motive of Multiple Murders

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vyk4KHmWGs0&feature=related

KUALA LANGAT, 13 SEPTEMBER, 2010: Greed is believed to be the motif of the gruesome murders of Datuk Sosilawati Lawiya and three of her acquaintances. Investigations revealed that the three other murder victims, bank officer Noorhisham Mohammad, 38, Sosilawati’s driver Kamaruddin Shamsud¬din, 44, and lawyer Ahmad Kamil Abdul Karim, 32, were accompanying the cosmetic mogul to Banting to ask for a refund from a land-buying deal from the Datuk lawyer suspect. The refund is reported to be in the millions belonging to Sosilawati and was for a purchase of a land in Pulau Pinang. It is believed that, while negotiating on the amount to be refunded, the suspect tricked Sosilawati and her three acquaintances to follow him to his farm Ladang Gandong in Tanjong Sepat and killed them here. Police are not omitting the possibility that hired killers and gangsters were involved in the murders. Police are still searching for evidence to prove that the four victims were murdered. A 30.5 centimetre metal rod with a hoe at one end is believed to be one of the murder weapons used against the victims. Police divers are searching for the long hoe in Sungai Kanchong Laut. Among other things found in the river were burnt remains, gold watch and jewelleries believed to be belonging to the victims. Incidentally, investigations also revealed that the suspect is a life-member of a political party and had previously provided legal aid to Hindraf. Investigations also revealed that the Datuk suspect had also been involved in several four other murders. One of the victims includes a 19-year old woman from India and the other three were businesspersons. A source said that the Indian national came to Malaysia early this year to open up a restaurant. The Datuk is said to have murdered her after a disagreement between the two. The argument is believed to arose after the victim realised the Datuk had swindled her.

Pelik Tapi Benar : Tengku Muhammad Faris Petra Sultan Baru Kelantan

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

SEJAK kegeringan Tuanku Sultan Ismail Petra Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Yahya Petra dan Tengku Mahkota, Tengku Muhammad Faris Petra dilantik sebagai Pemangku Sultan pada pada 14 Mei 2009, institusi keistanaan Kelantan agak berkemelut.

Pelbagai perkara yang tidak sepatutnya berlaku yang mana perkara seumpamanya tidak pernah berlaku di negeri-negeri lain, telah berlaku di Kelantan yang secara tidak langsung memberi kesan negatif kepada pentadbiran negeri.

Semalam tercipta sejarah yang tidak dicipta oleh negeri-negeri lain apabila Tuanku Muhammad Faris Petra sebagai Tengku Mahkota dan Pemnagku Sultan telah diisytiharkan pemasyhuran sebagai Sultan Kelantan ke-29.

Pengumuman telah dibuat oleh Menteri Besar Kelantan, Dato' Haji Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat setelah 15 daripada 17 anggota Majlis Perajaan Negeri (MPN) Kelantan yang dipengerusikan Tengku Abdul Halim Sultan Ibrahim yang juga Tengku Laksamana Kelantan telah bermesyuarat pada pukul 9 pagi di Pejabat Setiausaha Kerajaan Negeri Kelantan, Kota Darul Naim dan memutuskan supaya peristiharan pemasyhuran dibuat.

Bekas Pengerusi MPN, Tengku Sri Utama Raja Tengku Abdul Aziz Tengku Mohd. Hamzah menyufatkan peristiwa yang berlaku merupakan sejarah baru dalam kesultanan Kelantan. Ttidak pernah berlaku dalam sejarah sebelum ini seorang sultan baru dilantik ketika sultan yang sah masih hidup. Sebelum ini pelantikan sultan yang baru hanya dibuat selepas baginda sultan mangkat. Apa yang beraku adalah sejarah baru.

Kekanda kepada Tuanku Ismail Petra, Tengku Merjan Sultan Yahya Petra mendakwa adindanya itu masih merupakan Sultan Kelantan yang sah kerana baginda tidak melepaskan takhta. Beliau sebaliknya mendakwa, pelantikan Tengku Muhammad Faris Petra sebagai Sultan Kelantan yang baru tidak memenuhi syarat dan melanggar Perlembagaan negeri yang menyatakan pemerintah Kelantan hanya boleh digantikan dengan tiga cara sahaja.yakni sekiranya baginda mangkat, menghilangkan diri dari negeri tanpa alasan yang munasabah dan atau pun jika sultan turun takhta.

Beliau yang mendakwa hanya mengetahui upacara pemasyhuran tersebut melalui berita yang disiarkan di televisyen dan tidak menyangka pihak berkenaan sanggup dan berani memperlakukan Tuanku Ismail Petra sedemikian menegaskan beliau tetap mempertahankan kenyataannya yang dikeluarkan sebelum ini bahawa mereka yang terlibat dalam usaha menyingkirkan adindanya sebagai penderhaka.

Baginya sebarang usaha yang dijalankan untuk menyingkirkan sultan daripada takhta adalah suatu penderhakaan dan menyalahi undang-undang. Beliau akan mendapatkan khidmat nasihat perundangan daripada peguam dan akan membawa perkara ini ke tengah agar segala kekeliruan akan terungkai.

Sukar untuk dipastikan sama ada perisytiharan pemasyhuran Tuanku Muhammad Faris Petra akan meredakan kemelut atau sebaliknya apabila dua orang kuat MPN yakni Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah dan Tengku Amalin Auisyah Putri tidak hadir. Apakah mereka tidak hadir kerana membantu atau tidak mahu terlibat dalam apa yang berlaku, juga sukar untuk dipastikan.

Apa puun sama ada ianya akan meredakan keadaan atau sebaliknya, terutama kemelut istana, Tuanku Muhammad Faris Petra kini adalah Sultan dan Yang Dipertuan bagi Negeri Kelantan dan jajahan takluknya yang sah di sisi kerajaan dibentuk ekoran mandat rakyat. Baginda kena akur kepada perlembagaan dan Undang-Undang Tubuh Kerajaan Negeri kerana atas kapasiti baginda sebagai Tengku Mahkota dan Pemangku Sultan, maka bagindalah yang paling layak menggantikan Sultan jika keadaan memerlukannya.

Yang membuat keputusan pemasyhuran baginda adalah Majlis Perajaan Negeri Kelantan yang pastinya arif tentang tanggungjawab dan peranan mereka. Lagi pun bagi negeri yang mengamalkan sistem pemerintahan beraja, negeri perlukan raja atau sultan sebagai tunggak pemerintahan. Tempoh pemangkuan ada tempoh masanya.

Pastinya, pada pendapat saya, walaupun apa halangan yang baginda akan hadapi dari angkara pihak-pihak yang menentang perisytiharan pemasyhuran baginda sebagai Sultan dan Yang Dipertua bagi Negeri Kelantan dan sekalian tanah jajahan takluknya, kerana sifat baginda yang serba sempurna di mata rakyat, pasti rakyat akan berada di hadapan baginda untuk menentang segala rintangan dan hadangan.

Sejak diisytiharkan sebagai Pemangku Sultan, belum ada bari buruk tentan baginda, sebaliknya baginda sentiasa dipuji, malah hubungan institusi keistanaan dengan kerajaan negeri menjadi sangat mesra.

Apa pun, yang pastinya menjadi harapan rakyat Kelantan sama ada yang bermastautin di negeri kelahiran mahu pun yang berada di perantauan, malah tentunya menjadi harapan seluruh negara juga, supaya keamanan serta kemakmuran dan ketenteraan awam dipelihara dan terpelihara.

Mungkin apa yang berlaku itu pelik bagi rakyat negeri-negeri lain tetapi kepada rakyat Kelantan ianya bukan pelik sebagaimana mereka boleh tukar ganti kerajaan yang juga belum pernah dibuat oleh rakyat negeri lain sebelum pilihanraya umum ke-12, membuktikan bahawa orang Kelantan sanggup buat apa yang orang lain tidak sanggup buat.