BN, return the booty, bread and butter to Malaysians

So today we have a situation where foreign workers are not only talking back money by the millions from the country but are also leaving us with a youth population that knows nothing about housekeeping, building and construction, harvesting the fields, trading, and a long list of economic activities, survival skills and know-how.

J. D. Lovrenciear

After five decades of BN governance, what have Malaysians gained and at what price and what have we lost in exchange?

To begin with, where is all of this nation's booty? There was a time when the colonial masters (rather raiders) came and took all our rubber and tin. But at least they gave us education, healthcare, roads and rails without asking us to pay toll and taxes. Right?

But what can we say of our post-independence masters? They lorded over us and sold us the 'nationalism' mantra. They sang 'Look East' and 'Buy British Last'. Later they seemingly sold us that piped-dream of a modern Malaysia with jobs for all and wealth to be shared by Malaysians.

And so we ran the race at full throttle for the local masters and helped them build their own cartels and fortunes. Today, not only are we left in serious debt but have also pawned our bread and butter jobs that are enriching neighboring countries at the expense of the 27 million citizens of this land.

The factory jobs have gone to foreign labor. The petrol kiosk attendant and car wash jobs have gone to the illegal labor. The maid jobs are sold too. The construction industry is no more an easy entry for locals. Let us not forget the plantation sectors.

We are not even talking about the thousands of massage parlor workers and sex workers coming in under the cover of tourist visas.

Even pasar malam stalls, taxi driving, retail outlets – and many more have all gone to the foreign labor. Just take a tour of Petaling Street or any pasar malam all across the nation to see the reality.

And mind you, there must be truth in the perception that while there may be two million legalized (or authorized) immigrant workers here, it is everyone's guess that that figure could just as well be doubled given the illegal workers coming and going and the recently 'Malaysianized' foreigners. 

So today we have a situation ! where fo reign workers are not only talking back money by the millions from the country but are also leaving us with a youth population that knows nothing about housekeeping, building and construction, harvesting the fields, trading, and a long list of economic activities, survival skills and know-how.

And let us cut the bull out of that argument that the nation is advancing and therefore Malaysians will not take on menial tasks. Take a look at the West or the East if you will. Their retired folks are gainfully engaged. Their youth population Has the option to go into any of the industries that BN has 'pajak' to the foreign cheap substitute.

No small wonder then that we are now wrestling with mat rempits, drug addiction – including steroids, aesthetic and designer dugs, house break-ins, street crimes and what have you.

The BN led government has failed to ensure technology transfer to all Malaysians. They have failed to build alternative industries to keep Malaysians as economically viable. They have failed to keep the wealth of the nation within its borders. True?

Instead they absorbed the compromised-graduates into the civil service and we all know that half of them are only clocking the punch cards as there is no work. Or if there is work, much of it is redundant, repetitive and unproductive. Ask the traffic cops who man the stations and they will tell you many more stories of doing 'bodoh punya kerja'.

Have we also not heard the all too often song that Malaysians are shying away from the jobs available and so we have to give it to the foreign workers?

It is indeed a wonder how the politicians can get away with such answers. Either Malaysians are all fools or they are far too exhausted to even whimper.

We know that unhealthy profit taking is the only motivator for all those hiring foreign workers. Not nationhood. Period.

In any case, if the BN campers knew that Malays! ia would not be an attractive cheap labor market eventually, then there are two questions that beg serious answers:

Firstly, then why did the Tun Dr who helmed the nation for 22 years pawn our citizens into the cheap labor marketplace in the first place? Why did he take this short cut if not to push his own agenda for power and control?

Secondly, what were all the BN campers doing all these 30 years – why did they not map out a strategic masterplan to re-engage and transform our labor market into self-reliance?

We could have created our own knowledgeable workforce of construction and plantation workers, maids, traders and cottage industry hands by institutionalizing these sectors. We could have made it if the lords of contemporary Malaysia had kept the interests of the rakyat as a priority above profit-taking and self enrichment in that process.

Today, our friends from neighboring countries are enriching their own nations with wealth brought in from the global market place. More. They are also enriching their nation with crafts and skills that will keep the country in good stead should the world economy crash.

But we – what have got? The Abu, Ah Chong and Muthu can hardly bang a nail in concrete; the Siti, Swee Wong and Meenachi hardly know much about housekeeping and knitting yarn let alone growing chili in the back yard.

You can have all the skyscrapers. You can have all the flyovers. But when corruption and self interest has blinded you, you leave the population paralyzed in the face of a global meltdown. And when the tides hits our shores do we blame the Soros and Jews again just like the Tun did before?

Thanks to BN. And thanks to all Malaysians too for believing the Tun Doctor's dream for far too long out of fear and passive submission.

Today while half the working population is clinging on to their jobs for dear life, another half is drifting without much hope given! the eco nomic and financial storms brewing across the globe. And between these extremes is a tiny fraction enjoying the spoils of patronage for the new gurus of Malaysia – the politician turned tycoons.

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Appeal against Anwar’s acquittal: A fatal error — Kim Quek

JAN 23 — Prime Minister Najib Razak seems to have made a U-turn in his position on the much lauded acquittal of Anwar Ibrahim from the sodomy charge.

When the totally unexpected acquittal was stunningly announced on January 9, Najib together with senior Umno leaders were quick to bask in the compliments that poured in from around the world for finally having done justice to Anwar despite the preceding perverted process that was seen as plain political persecution.

Najib, in particular, seemed proud of this High Court verdict, citing it as proof of the transformation that he had brought to the country. In an interview published by the influential Wall Street Journal on January 13, he told interviewer James Hookway that this verdict "underscores the depth of the reform process". Najib said he was serious about the political reforms — to the extent of risking his chance of winning in the election.

Najib also expressed relief that the Anwar issue was finally over, and that the nation could henceforth tackle more serious issues such as the economy. He said:

"What is important now is that we move forward".

There is no mistaking from this conversation that the prime minister was seizing this much approved ending to the trial as a positive development that would propel his reform agenda. In fact, he even told Hookway that through these changes he hoped to open up a new chapter with the US as "a partner in promoting democratic politics and free trade across Asia and the Islamic Middle East."

U-TURN HAS DAMAGED NAJIB

With these words still ringing in the ears, it therefore came as a shock that the Attorney-General filed a notice of appeal against the Anwar acquittal on January 20. Even more shocking was Najib's complete dissociation with this appeal the next day. The New Straits Times quoted him as saying that the appeal was something strictly between the complainant and the Attorney-General, and has nothing to do with his government and Barisan Nasional (BN).

Extending this Najib rationale, it must follow that High Court judge Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah's decision to acquit and discharge Anwar should have even less to do with him, BN and the government. Then on what basis was Najib claiming that judge Zabidin's decision was proof of the extensive political reforms that he claimed he had carried out for the country?

Isn't it obvious that when Najib claimed the verdict as proof of his reforms, he was in fact telling the world that a) he had undue control over the investigative and judicial process, b) he realised it was wrong for exerting such control for illegitimate political purposes, and c) he had agreed to cease such interference as a step towards restoration of democracy and rule of law?

In fact the whole world knew as much that it was political persecution right from the very beginning of Anwar's ordeal 3½ years ago, when he was savagely arrested and subsequently charged without an iota of evidence, save the complainant's obviously dishonest claim. Otherwise, why should the whole world be shocked by the verdict?

If the police had been fair and prosecutor and judge had conducted themselves above board, shouldn't the world have expected rather than shocked by the verdict?

It is high time that Najib and his colleagues moved out from their self-induced delusion that the people do not know. It is for their own good that do not misjudge the extent of the people's awareness of the truth in this Internet age of instant information.

If there is any message that we can read from this latest move to appeal against Anwar's acquittal, it is that this appeal is proving for the umpteenth time that Najib's words are not to be trusted; and it also shows up once again that his so-called political reform is more an illusion than reality.

A-G FISHING IN MUDDY WATER

Now, let us turn to the Attorney-General who seems to me to be trying to fish in muddy water in submitting the notice of appeal. Let me explain.

On the day that the A-G's Chambers submitted the notice of appeal on January 20, national news agency Bernama released a bulletin at 1936hrs, quoting an unnamed official in the A-G's Chambers as saying that "the trial judge was required under the Courts of Judicature Act 1964 to provide a written judgment to enable either the prosecution or the defence to file the notice of appeal within 14 days". Bernama then quoted the unnamed official:

"After perusing the written judgment, they will decide whether to file the petition of the appeal."

However, two hours later, another Bernama news bulletin released at 2151hrs reported the A-G's Chambers making a different statement. Bernama stated:

"The Attorney-General's Chambers said today that the decision to file an appeal against the High Court's decision to acquit and discharge opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was based on evidence and the law.

"It said that in making any decision, the department acts solely on the evidence and in accordance with the law, not influenced by any emotion or parties."

Bernama further quoted the A-G's Chambers' statement as saying:

"The decision to file this notice of appeal will enable this department to obtain the full written judgment of the learned judge and the record of the proceedings from the High Court; and accordingly will be able to appreciate the grounds considered by the learned judge in arriving at that decision."

It is obvious that the A-G's Chambers realised the mistake in the first statement for having only mentioned its decision to appeal as being dependent on the content of the written judgment, without the ritualistic recital of "fact and law" as its basis. The second statement was to make up for these deficits.

Even with this supplementary statement to add "fact and law" as its rationale for appealing, the A-G's Chambers continued to emphasise that what motivated the filing of notice was to avail itself of the chance to peruse the written judgment.

There is the unmistakable impression that the A-G would await the written judgment before making the final decision to appeal.

That begs the question: shouldn't the A-G's Chambers have a stand of its own, being the party which initiated the charge and laboriously built up the prosecution case? It should be more knowledgeable than anybody else on the strength and weaknesses of its evidence, and there is no reason why it cannot decide whether the verdict is fair or unfair without the full written judgment, unless of course it is waiting for an opportunity to pounce on any possible technical flaw in the written judgment.

PROSECUTION CASE TERMINALLY FLAWED

The judge has made it clear that he was discharging Anwar because there was evidence of tampering in the only corroborating evidence of the trial — the DNA. 

And he was fully justified to make that remark, as it was scientifically impossible for any sperm to have survived more than 100 hours for DNA identification under tropical room temperature as in the Anwar case, as rightly pointed out by the Australian DNA expert Dr Brian McDonald.

Does the A-G agree or disagree with this view?

If he answers in the negative, can he name one authority that would support his opinion?

If he answers in the positive, can he tell us why he is appealing? 

And what "fact and law" he was talking about when the DNA evidence had already been exposed as fake?

Is it not obvious that by filing the notice of appeal, the A-G was in fact reserving his right to appeal in the hope that he might later find some technical loophole in the written judgment to knock out the verdict, hence the repeated emphasis on these documents as essential for its decision-making?

Does such unprincipled conduct that disregards justice befit the chief legal adviser to the King and the Cabinet, sworn to uphold the Constitution? Or is such conduct more reflecting that of someone who is faithfully continuing the undertaking to eliminate the chief rival of his political master?

The answer is self-evident from the earlier proceedings and now from the latest move to appeal against the acquittal.

TRAGEDY FOR UMNO

It is indeed a tragedy for Najib and Umno that just as Justice Zabidin's judgment has opened up a small window of opportunity for Najib to make a baby step in his bumbling attempt to bring some reforms, that window is quickly shut with this opportunistic attempt to appeal.

Worse, it has now proven beyond reasonable doubt that Umno is beyond salvation.

And that is fatal for Umno, in the present ambience of people power sweeping away entrenched corrupt regimes — a tidal wave of change that has transformed the Middle East, swept across the region, and now already landed on Malaysian shores.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication. The Malaysian Insider does not endorse the view unless specified.

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Pelbagai kejutan diramal warnai Tahun Naga — Manja Ismail

23 JAN — Hari ini adalah tanggal pertama Tahun Naga Air, yang disambut oleh masyarakat Cina di seluruh dunia termasuk di Malaysia. Malah, di negara ini, sambutan Tahun Baru Cina menjadi perayaan kedua terbesar selepas Aidilfitri dengan cuti rasmi dua hari, menyebabkan lebuh raya dan jalan Persekutuan sesak kerana warga kota tanpa mengira kaum pulang ke kampung atau keluar bercuti. Kebetulan cuti Tahun Baru Cina kali ini bersambung dengan hujung minggu, maka berlakulah kesesakan dan jumlah kemalangan yang lebih daripada kebiasaan.

Naga ialah haiwan kelima dan satu-satunya binatang dongengan daripada 12 haiwan dalam zodiak Cina. Bagi masyarakat Cina, Tahun Naga ialah tahun bertuah kerana haiwan itu menjadi lambang kejayaan dan kebahagiaan. Setiap kali kedatangan Tahun Naga juga mencetuskan fenomena kelahiran bayi lebih tinggi, khususnya dalam kalangan masyarakat Cina. Ini kerana kepercayaan bayi Tahun Naga kononnya bakal memiliki keberanian dan kebijaksanaan selain mempunyai ciri positif — keusahawanan, artistik, inovatif, berkuasa, bertuah, bersemangat dan intuitif, walaupun bersifat angkuh, tidak berhati perut dan cepat marah.

Walaupun Tahun Naga sering dikaitkan dengan tuah, kedatangan Tahun Naga Air disambut dengan kebimbangan oleh masyarakat Cina dan pakar Feng Shui. Ini kerana energi kehidupan naga air menurut kepercayaan Feng Shui, sentiasa mencetuskan perubahan besar sama ada berunsurkan positif atau sebaliknya.

Menurut kebanyakan pakar Feng Shui, Tahun Naga Air 2012 (berdasarkan perhitungan mereka bermula pada 4 Februari) bakal membawa banyak perubahan kerana berlaku pertembungan antara unsur air dengan unsur bumi. Selain meramalkan berlaku bencana alam besar, ekonomi dunia yang tidak menentu, Tahun Naga Air juga diramalkan menyaksikan beberapa perubahan dalam bidang politik di seluruh dunia.

Kali terakhir Tahun Naga Air muncul ialah pada 27 Januari 1952 hingga 13 Februari 1953. Antara peristiwa besar dicatat pada tempoh itu ialah Ratu Elizabeth II ditabalkan dan bersemayam hingga kini; drama Mousetrap yang diadaptasi daripada karya Agatha Christie dibuka di London dan memecah rekod sebagai produksi drama terpanjang dalam sejarah. Tahun Naga Air pada 1952 juga menyaksikan penciptaan dua senjata pemusnah terbesar dalam sejarah — bom hidrogen dan pesawat pengebom B-52 yang kemudian digunakan dalam Perang Vietnam.

Di Malaysia, beberapa pakar Feng Shui tempatan meramalkan sektor hartanah dijangka lebih memihak golongan pembeli kerana harganya yang dianggap keterlaluan sekarang, agak lebih stabil tahun ini, manakala keadaan ekonomi negara walaupun agak perlahan, tidaklah seburuk negara lain. Pakar Feng Shui terkenal, Kenny Hoo daripada Good Feng Shui Geomantic Research menamakan Tahun Naga 2012 sebagai "Revival Year" kerana negara bakal mencapai tahap lebih tinggi selepas mengalami pelbagai kesukaran. Beliau meramalkan berlaku pelbagai perubahan dan kejutan dalam semua bidang termasuk politik, sosioekonomi, cara berfikir, perkhidmatan dan perhubungan.

Walaupun air turut dikaitkan dengan suhu yang lebih sejuk, tiada siapa dapat meramalkan mengenai suhu politik negara pada Tahun Naga Air ini. Yang pasti, "gurauan" Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak ketika berucap pada program Turun Padang di Parlimen Wangsa Maju pagi Jumaat lalu, memanaskan lagi suhu Pilihan Raya Umum Ke-13, yang dipercayai ramai akan diadakan tahun ini. "Mudah-mudahan Tahun Naga ini tahun yang beruntung. Tahun Naga tahun baik untuk buat pilihan raya," katanya sambil menambah sejurus selepas itu "... Ataupun tahun depan."

Apa pun ramalan mengenai Tahun Naga Air dan sama ada kita mempercayai atau tidak, harapan sempena Tahun Baru Cina ini ialah agar rakyat tanpa mengira kaum dan agama, dapat terus hidup dengan semangat muhibah serta mengecapi nikmat keamanan, kemakmuran dan kestabilan. Gong Xi Fa Cai. — Berita Harian

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication. The Malaysian Insider does not endorse the view unless specified.

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ABU event disruption – Police must act professionally

 

• I saw the video which was put up by Malaysiakini on which showed the rowdy and barbaric actions by some people that had encroached a private event in Jalan Kebun Klang. No matter how distasteful the program may be and no matter how one disagree with ABU, it is wrong for anyone to take such a provocative action.  I read the Selangor CPO short press release. I believe he had downplayed the issue to avoid people from speculating further on the matter. Unfortunately, his short press release did not contain and any reassuring statement that the police would act impartially and be fair to all parties. The missing element of his press release is further angering the people and led to further speculation.

• I saw the video. It clearly shows that a private event was being held. It also shows the disgrace action of some Malays wearing BN t-shirts taking laws into their own hands. There evidence is on YouTube. The picture of the perpetrators can be seen clearly. It should not be difficult for the police to act. Evidence is available on silver platter. It is my expectation that the police to take a decisive action. Any failure on the part of the Selangor police would lead to unnecessary reaction which would further damage the government reputation.

• I quote Haris Ibrahim in his post where said, "Rest assured, we will be well prepared for any lawlessness at our forthcoming ceramah". I feel that based on the initial reaction of the RMP, his statement is justified. In fact everyman deserves to protect themselves when threatened. It is only natural. Going by the situation, if the police fail to react and if there is another similar commotion elsewhere, I expect serious confrontation and consequences. If that happens, then no one other than police should take the blame.

 

Image of head honcho shown below is  from : http://kafesantai.blogspot.com/

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Nak tengok Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah? ... ada di Pulau Pinang — Aspan Alias

Nak tengok Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah? ... ada di Pulau Pinang — Aspan Alias

23 JAN — Ada sesuatu perkara yang saya mesti kongsi dengan rakan-rakan yang mengikuti blog saya. Sejak saya menyertai parti berbagai kaum DAP baru-baru ini, saya telah mendapat kutukan dari beberapa orang termasuk seorang dua rakan blog saya yang saya kenali, dan itu memang telah saya jangkakan dari awal lagi.

Tetapi sebagai empunyai blog kecil ini saya telah mendapat lebih galakan dari yang mengkritik saya. Yang mengkritik saya itu pun adalah kebanyakannya dari mereka yang masih baru dalam Umno itu atau hanya sebagai penyokong pemimpin dan "warlords" dalam parti itu. Yang mengatakan saya seorang yang bangkerap politik itu merupakan budak hingusan belum merasakan pengalaman bergiat di dalam Umno itu.

Tetapi yang paling saya seronok ialah sokongan dari orang-orang biasa dan menzahirkan sokongan mereka melalu ribuan teks pesanan ringkas (SMS) yang datang bertalu-talu serta sokongan melalui e-mail dan sebagainya. Sembilan puluh peratus yang memberikan sokongan itu adalah dari kaum Melayu yang saya kenali dan yang saya tidak pernah mengenali mereka.

Apa yang saya seronokkan bukannya kerana saya mendapat sokongan secara peribadi, tetapi kerana mereka sudah faham sebenarnya yang DAP itu bukanlah seperti yang dimomokan oleh Umno dan media masa perdana sejak berdekad-dekad dahulu. Saya merasa sedikit bangga kerana mampu membuatkan mereka menilai secara ilmiah yang mendalam serta sudah mengetahui yang parti DAP ini telah secara deras mendapat sokongan orang Melayu akhir-akhir ini.

Sebagaimana yang saya sebutkan di dalam posting saya yang lalu, saya adalah penyokong kuat kepada slogan Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah yang di popularkan oleh Dr Mahathir. Tetapi apabila setelah beliau menerajui negara lebih dari dua dekad, saya tidak nampak di mana bersihnya pentadbiran beliau. Saya tidak nampak kecekapan pentadbiran kerajaan kita dan amanahnya memang jauh sekali dari penglihatan kita.

Malahan dalam pentadbiran beliaulah bermulanya isu-isu rasuah yang besar dan tidak ada bersihnya. Melalui projek raksaksa runding terus itu telah mengembangkan budaya rasuah yang besar malahan ahli keluarga beliau sama-sama menggunakan kedudukan beliau untuk mengumpul kekayaan. Malahan kecekapan pentadbiran terdahulu itu bertambah lemah dengan isu-isu yang buruk yang tidak pernah kita lihat telah berlaku. Keseluruhan jentera kerajaan tidak beramanah.

Pendeknya Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah itu hanyalah retorik besar yang di ungkapkan semasa Perhimpunan Agong Umno sahaja guna untuk membuatkan perwakilan bertepuk tangan sehingga merah-merah tapak tangan. Dr Mahathir bijak memainkan sentimen orang Umno kerana beliau amat faham kelemahan yang ada pada kebanyakkan orang Melayu yang mudah terlena dengan alunan lagu yang berlirik indah dan mengkagumkan.

Tetapi sebahagian rakyat di negara ini telah mendapatkan nikmat dari slogan itu akhir-akhir ini. Kerajaan PR yang di tunjangi oleh DAP telah berjaya melaksanakan slogan Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah anjuran Dr Mahathir itu. Walaupun kerajaan tunjangan DAP itu baru menghampiri empat tahun sahaja, banyak dari apa yang dimaksudkan oleh slogan Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah itu telah dapat dilaksanakan dengan sepenuhnya.

DAP tidak pandai untuk mewujudkan retorik dan slogan besar, tetapi parti ini pandai untuk mencapai matlamat kepimpinannya; iaitu pentadbiran yang Bersih, Cekap dan Beramanah.

Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah yang di wujudkan oleh Dr Mahathir ini, di amalkan oleh DAP kerana DAP mengikut formulanya dengan betul. Seperti kita menjawab soalan ilmu hisab, kita mesti mengikut formula ilmu hisab itu. Jika kita hanya menghafal formula tersebut tetapi tidak mengikut formulanya dengan terperinci, kita tidak akan mendapat jawapannya dengan betul dan tepat.

Itulah sebabnya Umno tidak berjaya mendapatkan jawapan kepada soalan-soalan penting dengan betul kerana tidak mengikut formula yang mereka wujudkan sendiri itu. Dalam formula Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah itu tidak ada terselit elemen rasuah dan salahguna kuasa.

Tetapi apabila perlaksanaannya formula ini telah dikotori oleh rasuah dan salahguna kuasa itu, maka slogan BCA itu telah gagal sama sekali, malah wujud pula elemen-elemen negatif yang melumpuhkan negara dan pentadbirannya dengan rasuah yang begitu besar dan menakutkan rakyat. Maka slogan BCA itu hanya tinggal slogan dan telah pun dilupakan dan tidak hidup lagi dalam pentadbiran negara di bawah Umno ini.

Rupa-rupanya slogan itu tidak mati. Ia masih hidup segar. Rupa-rupanya DAP Pulau Pinang dan PKR Selangor dan kerajaan-kerajaan pimpinan PR telah berjaya melaksanakannya dengan baik dan penuh dengan ketelusan. Perlaksanaannya tidak diheboh dan di gembar gemburkan. Dalam diam-diam DAP Pulau Pinang bersama rakan-rakan PRnya telah melaksanakan segala-gala yang di impikan oleh rakyat melalui slogan Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah itu.

Sekarang kita lihat yang fitnah serta momokan terhadap parti DAP yang "multi-racial" ini ternyata kian menumpul. Pulau Pinang merupakan negeri yang pertama dalam Malaysia yang akan bebas dari miskin tegar di kalangan rakyatnya dalam setahun dua lagi. Adalah dijangkakan yang Pulau Pinang akan merupakan negeri yang pertama dalam mana apa yang dikatakan sebagai perpaduan berbilang kaum itu akan tercapai dengan sepenuhnya.

Pulau Pinang juga merupakan sebuah negeri yang akan melupuskan segala hutangnya kepada Kerajaan Pusat. Dari RM630 juta hutang Kerajaan BN Pulau Pinang dahulu, Kerajaan PR Pulau Pinang telah mengembalikan sebanyak RM600 juta kepada Kerajaan Persekutuan dalam tempoh tiga tahun pentadbirannya. Kejayaan ini bukannya kejayaan yang kecil tetapi ia merupakan satu pencapaian yang "outstanding" jika dibandingkan dengan negeri-negeri lain di Malaysia ini.

Walaupun begitu besar tohmahan terhadap DAP dan kerajaan Pulau Pinang oleh seterunya dalam BN, Kerajaan Negeri tetap melaksanakan apa-apa yang telah di juruskan oleh Perlembagaan Negara. Dikatakan oleh Umno yang DAP adalah anti Islam, tetapi dalam jangkamasa hampir empat tahun DAP dan PR mentadbir Pulau Pinang peruntukan untuk majlis agama Islam telah meningkat kepada RM62 juta dari RM12 juta semasa BN memerintah dahulu.

Kerajaan Pulau Pinang telah diperakukan oleh badan-badan penilaian antarabangsa sebagai sebuah negeri yang paling bersih dan beretika kepimpinannya. Pandangan ini bukan diberikan oleh saya atau sesiapa dalam PR, tetapi oleh badan-badan penilaian antarabangsa yang terkenal di peringkat antarabangsa.

Banyak lagi yang dicapai oleh pentadbiran Lim Guan Eng tetapi satu soalan yang mesti diketahui umum; kenapa PR Pulau Pinang berjaya melakukan segala-galanya ini? Apa yang berjaya dilakukan oleh Lim Guan Eng ini jugalah janji-janji Umno sejak 30 tahun yang lalu, tetapi tidak juga kunjung berjaya. Apabila PR Pulau Pinang berjaya melakukannya dalam tempoh kurang dari empat tahun, ia tidak menyenangkan Umno pula.

Daripada berlumba-lumba untuk menjadikan kejayaan kerajaan Pulau Pinang sebagai contoh yang patut diikuti, Umno dan BN mengambil sikap menafikan kenyataan yang jelas tentang kejayaan PR (DAP) itu. Kejayaan DAP di Pulau Pinang dan PKR di Selangor dan PAS di dua buah negeri yang lain itu amat menyakitkan hati pimpinan dan penyokong Umno dan BN. Tetapi orang ramai faham, kejayaan PR itu adalah kegagalan bagi BN/ Umno.

Kita sama-sama menilainya dan ambilalih keputusan setelah berfikir dan berfikir. Asalkan kita mengambil sesuatu tindakan setelah berfikir dengan sungguh-sungguh, apa-apa keputusan itu kita hormati.

Kata agama kita, "berfikir sejenak itu lebih baik dari beramal sepanjang malam". — aspanaliasnet.blogspot.com

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication. The Malaysian Insider does not endorse the view unless specified.

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Whatever happened to plain English? — Yow Hong Chieh

JAN 23 — I read an essay yesterday on someone's recommendation which made no sense. The syntax was correct but there was little meaning to what had been written. 

The sentences were convoluted and the language verbose; the intention unclear. I'm not the sharpest of tacks but if I can't summarise a story in one sentence — as was the case with this article — then that usually means the writer has failed to communicate his or her thoughts clearly. 

It reminded me of the project summaries produced by a graduate programme at a renowned architecture school in London which, when stripped of jargon, said very little, if anything. 

If imitation is the best form of flattery, the students enrolled in this programme were world-class brown-nosers, slavishly reproducing the linguistic contortionism of Deleuze, Derrida and Foucault without entirely comprehending what they were doing. 

One word was never enough. If what was to be said could be padded with pseudo-intellectual gobbledygook, then puffed up it would be with stolen lexicon from French philosophers. 

Example: "Our research interest lies in the employing of non-linear systems to actively delineate the interface between hardspace and softspace. Hardspace is the implementation of an architectural materiality, providing infrastructure for the softspace, which is the realm of human interface. 

"The nature of this interstitial condition was explored through the study of the interactions exhibited by multi-agent systems, their resulting organisational patterns and the implementation of agency through material actuation. In projecting a mixture of human behaviour within an agent-based system of interactions, our prototypical system aims to provide an architectural rethinking of the temporary and distributed event network. 

"The contemporary megaevent scenario necessitates the employment of an adaptable system that negotiates between typological needs, temporary material deposition and the temporal but radically different ways that crowds occupy event spaces. Due to its systemic and prototypical nature, our agent-based system provides for design adaptability within large data sets, mapping infrastructure and interface for an event-based architecture." 

In other words: People can change the physical aspects of our building through interaction. Structures will be defined by use, not predetermined functions; this is well-suited for large-scale events like the Olympics. 

I am reminded of George Orwell's essay, "Politics in the English Language", in which he lamented the spread of "ugly and inaccurate" writing, which he said was a means to disguise fuzzy thinking. 

He was, of course, referring to how the political language of the time was geared towards hiding unpalatable truths from the public, but the point remains: Keep it simple, stupid. 

Language is about illuminating meaning. It is about conveying force and clarity of ideas, not just the mere appearance of thought. Good ideas can be described plainly - and, in fact, are made better by such treatment - while weak ones need gussying up. 

There's enough nonsense and rhetoric out there clogging up our bandwidth. So let's all of us please try to put our ideas across effectively and not give in to this disease of embellishment.

* Yow Hong Chieh is a journalist with The Malaysian Insider

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication. The Malaysian Insider does not endorse the view unless specified.

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Nak tengok Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah? … ada di Pulau Pinang

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 23, 2012

23 JAN — Ada sesuatu perkara yang saya mesti kongsi dengan rakan-rakan yang mengikuti blog saya. Sejak saya menyertai parti berbagai kaum DAP baru-baru ini, saya telah mendapat kutukan dari beberapa orang termasuk seorang dua rakan blog saya yang saya kenali, dan itu memang telah saya jangkakan dari awal lagi.

Tetapi sebagai empunyai blog kecil ini saya telah mendapat lebih galakan dari yang mengkritik saya. Yang mengkritik saya itu pun adalah kebanyakannya dari mereka yang masih baru dalam Umno itu atau hanya sebagai penyokong pemimpin dan "warlords" dalam parti itu. Yang mengatakan saya seorang yang bangkerap politik itu merupakan budak hingusan belum merasakan pengalaman bergiat di dalam Umno itu.

Tetapi yang paling saya seronok ialah sokongan dari orang-orang biasa dan menzahirkan sokongan mereka melalu ribuan teks pesanan ringkas (SMS) yang datang bertalu-talu serta sokongan melalui e-mail dan sebagainya. Sembilan puluh peratus yang memberikan sokongan itu adalah dari kaum Melayu yang saya kenali dan yang saya tidak pernah mengenali mereka.

Apa yang saya seronokkan bukannya kerana saya mendapat sokongan secara peribadi, tetapi kerana mereka sudah faham sebenarnya yang DAP itu bukanlah seperti yang dimomokan oleh Umno dan media masa perdana sejak berdekad-dekad dahulu. Saya merasa sedikit bangga kerana mampu membuatkan mereka menilai secara ilmiah yang mendalam serta sudah mengetahui yang parti DAP ini telah secara deras mendapat sokongan orang Melayu akhir-akhir ini.

Sebagaimana yang saya sebutkan di dalam posting saya yang lalu, saya adalah penyokong kuat kepada slogan Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah yang di popularkan oleh Dr Mahathir. Tetapi apabila setelah beliau menerajui negara lebih dari dua dekad, saya tidak nampak di mana bersihnya pentadbiran beliau. Saya tidak nampak kecekapan pentadbiran kerajaan kita dan amanahnya memang jauh sekali dari penglihatan kita.

Malahan dalam pentadbiran beliaulah bermulanya isu-isu rasuah yang besar dan tidak ada bersihnya. Melalui projek raksaksa runding terus itu telah mengembangkan budaya rasuah yang besar malahan ahli keluarga beliau sama-sama menggunakan kedudukan beliau untuk mengumpul kekayaan. Malahan kecekapan pentadbiran terdahulu itu bertambah lemah dengan isu-isu yang buruk yang tidak pernah kita lihat telah berlaku. Keseluruhan jentera kerajaan tidak beramanah.

Pendeknya Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah itu hanyalah retorik besar yang di ungkapkan semasa Perhimpunan Agong Umno sahaja guna untuk membuatkan perwakilan bertepuk tangan sehingga merah-merah tapak tangan. Dr Mahathir bijak memainkan sentimen orang Umno kerana beliau amat faham kelemahan yang ada pada kebanyakkan orang Melayu yang mudah terlena dengan alunan lagu yang berlirik indah dan mengkagumkan.

Tetapi sebahagian rakyat di negara ini telah mendapatkan nikmat dari slogan itu akhir-akhir ini. Kerajaan PR yang di tunjangi oleh DAP telah berjaya melaksanakan slogan Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah anjuran Dr Mahathir itu. Walaupun kerajaan tunjangan DAP itu baru menghampiri empat tahun sahaja, banyak dari apa yang dimaksudkan oleh slogan Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah itu telah dapat dilaksanakan dengan sepenuhnya.

DAP tidak pandai untuk mewujudkan retorik dan slogan besar, tetapi parti ini pandai untuk mencapai matlamat kepimpinannya; iaitu pentadbiran yang Bersih, Cekap dan Beramanah.

Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah yang di wujudkan oleh Dr Mahathir ini, di amalkan oleh DAP kerana DAP mengikut formulanya dengan betul. Seperti kita menjawab soalan ilmu hisab, kita mesti mengikut formula ilmu hisab itu. Jika kita hanya menghafal formula tersebut tetapi tidak mengikut formulanya dengan terperinci, kita tidak akan mendapat jawapannya dengan betul dan tepat.

Itulah sebabnya Umno tidak berjaya mendapatkan jawapan kepada soalan-soalan penting dengan betul kerana tidak mengikut formula yang mereka wujudkan sendiri itu. Dalam formula Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah itu tidak ada terselit elemen rasuah dan salahguna kuasa.

Tetapi apabila perlaksanaannya formula ini telah dikotori oleh rasuah dan salahguna kuasa itu, maka slogan BCA itu telah gagal sama sekali, malah wujud pula elemen-elemen negatif yang melumpuhkan negara dan pentadbirannya dengan rasuah yang begitu besar dan menakutkan rakyat. Maka slogan BCA itu hanya tinggal slogan dan telah pun dilupakan dan tidak hidup lagi dalam pentadbiran negara di bawah Umno ini.

Rupa-rupanya slogan itu tidak mati. Ia masih hidup segar. Rupa-rupanya DAP Pulau Pinang dan PKR Selangor dan kerajaan-kerajaan pimpinan PR telah berjaya melaksanakannya dengan baik dan penuh dengan ketelusan. Perlaksanaannya tidak diheboh dan di gembar gemburkan. Dalam diam-diam DAP Pulau Pinang bersama rakan-rakan PRnya telah melaksanakan segala-gala yang di impikan oleh rakyat melalui slogan Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah itu.

Sekarang kita lihat yang fitnah serta momokan terhadap parti DAP yang "multi-racial" ini ternyata kian menumpul. Pulau Pinang merupakan negeri yang pertama dalam Malaysia yang akan bebas dari miskin tegar di kalangan rakyatnya dalam setahun dua lagi. Adalah dijangkakan yang Pulau Pinang akan merupakan negeri yang pertama dalam mana apa yang dikatakan sebagai perpaduan berbilang kaum itu akan tercapai dengan sepenuhnya.

Pulau Pinang juga merupakan sebuah negeri yang akan melupuskan segala hutangnya kepada Kerajaan Pusat. Dari RM630 juta hutang Kerajaan BN Pulau Pinang dahulu, Kerajaan PR Pulau Pinang telah mengembalikan sebanyak RM600 juta kepada Kerajaan Persekutuan dalam tempoh tiga tahun pentadbirannya. Kejayaan ini bukannya kejayaan yang kecil tetapi ia merupakan satu pencapaian yang "outstanding" jika dibandingkan dengan negeri-negeri lain di Malaysia ini.

Walaupun begitu besar tohmahan terhadap DAP dan kerajaan Pulau Pinang oleh seterunya dalam BN, Kerajaan Negeri tetap melaksanakan apa-apa yang telah di juruskan oleh Perlembagaan Negara. Dikatakan oleh Umno yang DAP adalah anti Islam, tetapi dalam jangkamasa hampir empat tahun DAP dan PR mentadbir Pulau Pinang peruntukan untuk majlis agama Islam telah meningkat kepada RM62 juta dari RM12 juta semasa BN memerintah dahulu.

Kerajaan Pulau Pinang telah diperakukan oleh badan-badan penilaian antarabangsa sebagai sebuah negeri yang paling bersih dan beretika kepimpinannya. Pandangan ini bukan diberikan oleh saya atau sesiapa dalam PR, tetapi oleh badan-badan penilaian antarabangsa yang terkenal di peringkat antarabangsa.

Banyak lagi yang dicapai oleh pentadbiran Lim Guan Eng tetapi satu soalan yang mesti diketahui umum; kenapa PR Pulau Pinang berjaya melakukan segala-galanya ini? Apa yang berjaya dilakukan oleh Lim Guan Eng ini jugalah janji-janji Umno sejak 30 tahun yang lalu, tetapi tidak juga kunjung berjaya. Apabila PR Pulau Pinang berjaya melakukannya dalam tempoh kurang dari empat tahun, ia tidak menyenangkan Umno pula.

Daripada berlumba-lumba untuk menjadikan kejayaan kerajaan Pulau Pinang sebagai contoh yang patut diikuti, Umno dan BN mengambil sikap menafikan kenyataan yang jelas tentang kejayaan PR (DAP) itu. Kejayaan DAP di Pulau Pinang dan PKR di Selangor dan PAS di dua buah negeri yang lain itu amat menyakitkan hati pimpinan dan penyokong Umno dan BN. Tetapi orang ramai faham, kejayaan PR itu adalah kegagalan bagi BN/ Umno.

Kita sama-sama menilainya dan ambilalih keputusan setelah berfikir dan berfikir. Asalkan kita mengambil sesuatu tindakan setelah berfikir dengan sungguh-sungguh, apa-apa keputusan itu kita hormati.

Kata agama kita, "berfikir sejenak itu lebih baik dari beramal sepanjang malam". — aspanaliasnet.blogspot.com

This entry was posted on Monday, 23 January 2012, 3:31 pm and is filed under Corruption, DAP, Mahathir, UMNO. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0.  

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Hasan Ali Tidak Pernah Bentang Program Murnikan Akidah Kepada PAS Pusat

Mengikut maklumat yang TUlang Besi perolehi, Dato Hasan Ali tidak pernah membentangkan agenda memurnikan akidah yang sedang beliau kempenkan kepada seluruh Selangor. Maka, tidak hairanlah PAS tidak memberi sokongan kepada HIMPUN mahupun agenda beliau sewaktu beliau berada dalam PAS.

Berulang-ulang kali beliau dipanggil mesyuarat dan berdepan, namun beliau tidak mahu hadir.

Malahan, tiada satu kertas kerja pun yang dibentangkan oleh Hasan Ali baik kepada PAS Pusat mahupun PAS Selangor berkaitan dengan agenda melawan murtad ini.

Hanya sekali beliau hadir selepas serbuan JAIS ke atas DUMC. Itupun beliau gagal menyakinkan majoriti AJK PAS Pusat bahawa serbuan tersebut bukan agenda UMNO melalui JAIS.

Bagi TUlang Besi, agenda memurnikan akidah yang Hasan Ali juarai sekarang ini, sekiranya ia benar dan ikhlas, tiada masalaah untuk beliau mendapat sokongan dari PAS Pusat ataupun dari Perhubungan PAS Selangor.

Juga, sekiranya agenda HAsan Ali ini tiada motif politik mahupun berkaitan dengan UMNO, tiada sebab untuk PAS mahupun ahli2 PAS untuk menyokongnya.

Namun persoalanya adalah mengapa Hasan Ali tidak pernah membincangkan agenda ini baik dengan PAS Pusat mahupun PAS Selangor?

Tiada siapa dalam PAS menyedari projek Hasan Ali ini. Semuanya dirahsiakan oleh beliau dari pengetahuan PAS Pusat dan PAS Negeri Selangor.

Bagi Tulang Besi, ini sudah menjadi bukti kempen memurnikan akidah tajaan Hasan Ali ini adalah agenda politik UMNO semata-mata.

Ia bukan bertujuan menentang murtad mahupun mahu menjaga akidah ummah. Ia hanya lah kempen untuk memburukkan PAS sahaja.

Manusia Hasan Ali telah terbukti menipu. Dia dakwa Anwar kotor, padahal mahkamah membebaskan Anwar Ibrahim.

Dia dakwa dia tidak diberikan hak membela diri, padahal dia telah banyak kali dipanggil mengadap tapi dia tidak mahu hadir.

Dia dakwa dia dipecat kerana Anwar. Padahal Anwar tiada kena mengena di dalam proses pemecatan beliau. Anwar tidak hadir pun dlm mesyuarat yang memecat Hasan Ali itu.

Si pembohong mahu memperjuangkan murtad di Selangor.

Biarkan biarkan

TUlang Besi

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Gong Xi Fa Cai, Xin Nian Kuai Le, Kong Hee Fatt Choy!

Some rights reserved © Antares/Magick River You may borrow and/or modify content for your own blog but please credit and backlink, thanks.

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Did Hang Tuah ever lived? Was there a historical Jesus?

The season inside the hollow of history remained. In another reversal of Malayan history Professor Tan Sri Khoo Kay Khim, an emeritus of the subject, reportedly want removed from the textbooks the spirit (semangat) of the Malay warrior (satria) the indomitable Hang Tuah, saying he is nothing but a myth. The folk hero, however, long grown into a geist, though he was not mentioned in the Ming records, is appearing like he refuses to go.

Hang Li Po was a Chinese princess Sultan Mansur of Melaka (Malacca) was said to have taken as a fifth wife. Nothing else about her was significant and hence, fact or fiction could not and cannot matter more than a dime. Prof Kay Khim wanted her out too.

But Hang Tuah is a folk spirit, a zeitgeist of the Malay, him declaring 'Never shall the Malay disappear from the face of the earth,' making the Melayu an eternal substance, i.e. if they can find themselves apart from the Arabic religion that has damned, in their own society, most things Malay as khurafat, superstition.

It's a lasting confusion Malays face. The Malay Muslim has an obvious religious problem about accepting the pentacle in the Hindu epic, the Pandavas, which Hang Tuah and his four compatriots, Hang Jebat, Hang Lekir, Hang Lekiu and Hang Kasturi obviously reflect.

The same five is to be found in Prophet Mohammad with the four Khalifah Rashidun (Rightly Guided Caliphs), Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali mentioned every Friday in the mosques of Malaysia.

"Rightly Guided Caliphs"? Where's the line between the fact and the fiction?

To be Malay or to be essentially Muslim had bee! n and st ill is an existential choice the Malays must make to find self and therefore the "I AM".

When they finally made it they insisted constitutionally the Malay must be a Muslim and compressing that into power they refused themselves the freedom of religion. It's sad.

Sadder still, Hang Tuah and his friends enjoyed their drinks (hic!), and thus become inadmissable to the hardening sinews of Islam in Malaysia. Islam damns alcoholic drinks as haram (forbidden). How do we appreciate Hang Tuah and his comrades who have been described occassionally drunk?

Yesus Kristos!

Yes. Yesus Kristos would pose a larger problem to Khoo Kay Khim. The wondrous Son of Man has hardly any documentary evidence to support the belief that he was indeed a person that had walked the earth, preached, taught, healed, is The Way to more than a billion Christians in the world and miraculously turned water into wine on one occassion before the heart warming stuff was forbidden centuries later by Muhammad. But it is evidently not a historical fact, making for a twain between history and religious belief and so Jesus may stand a chance in a Shariah Court.

Here in Malaysia you can go to jail drinking miraculously made wine, beer or stout if you are a Muslim. Therefore, choose!

Hang Tuah


Hang Tuah was a myth when this writer was in school. Growing up he found the mix of facts and fiction a common grace in the Malay Hikayat. It's folk history but devised for good purposes, like the Hikayat Muhammad Amir Hamzah, which was about Amir Hamzah who was a son of Ali and as real as you or me.

But the said Hikayat was mostly fictitious, used as a means to keep up the struggle of the Prophet's family for Islam following the demise of Ali and his sons, Hasan and Husayn from Fatimah Zahrah al-Batul.

It became a description of heroism, of glorious fights and fighters, a little bit on the art of war and the excel! lence of Jihad the Malays themselves had required for a time.

Later they devised their own in the romances of Hang Tuah, Jebat the alternate Ego. But the Malays were never able to decorate their own group of five as well as the Javanese had done with the Pandavas in the Kakawin.


No Vote

The good professor's view isn't going to affect a single vote in the awaited general elections and is therefore free of political perversion. It is unlikely the Ministry of Defence will rewrite the names of our frigates from KD Hang Tuah, KD Jebat and so on to Michelle Ma Belle or something like that.

As for the Ministry of Education wanting to remove the name of Hang Tuah from our history text books, this writer suggests we take a deep breath, count to ten and stay as we are. Hang Tuah was and is real.

Hang Tuah was Laksamana Bentan, once the capital of Johor-Riau-Lingga. Megat Seri Rama who krissed Sultan Mahmud of Johor was also Laksamana Bentan, himself from the island of the Orang Laut, once before written as Sea Gypsies but who must be billed as a great people who led the other Malays through the thousands of islands and intervened decisively in history time after time.

One of them, having had enough of the extravagance and the debauchery of the court in Jambi, stormed the palace and raped the queen before the eyes of her consort, the king, a fitting justice indeed for a ruler who had no control of his wives spendings and himself kept raising taxes till they surpassed 30 per cent of trade items on top of port charges he levied at will.

And you would have read about Lapu Lapu, of course.

How do we treat the stories we read about the exploits of these great seafarers and warriors? Is there no place for a little romance for them like those we have in volumes about Alexander The Great?

"History must be based on empirical records. Historians must only accept written records," Khoo Kay Khim was rep! orted to have said, adding that empirical records available here were at best "scanty"."There is no evidence in the Malaysian records," he said. "These are stories. Early Malaysian history is based on stories."

The "stories" Professor Khoo meant must be the Hikayat, a genre that is well-known to any and all students of our history. But the "written record" thingy has a kink in it. Because we are a story-telling community, we have to consider using oral recordings to augment the need for tangible evidence in the study and writing of history.

The Malaysian National Archives in 1972, led by Datuk Alwi Jantan and Datuk Zakiah Hanum, deliberated over the question of "oral history" and decided to keep oral recordings to provide for the gaps in the written documents.

This writer then worked on the Aziz Ishak Archives and after reading through the documents and letters in the former Minister's files, the National Archives decided to have the points in them clarified and augmented in recorded interviews, starting what Professor Zainal Abidin Wahid of University of Malaya had termed "essential oral documentations".

Since "History must be based on empirical records [and] Historians must only accept written records," we have now to ask whether the National Archives had done wrong to allow for oral recordings?

We need to question that again. Does oral recordings of witnesses to an event betray the purity of history?

I had gone to Beruas, Perak, to interview a few living witnesses of the 1944 Sino-Malay clashes and especially when Sheikh Osman and his men had gone there to free the son of Panglima Hitam who had been taken captive.

Then, as the story went, when I followed a thread on Datuk Bahaman after some people had thought Tok Guru Peramu was the great warrior of Pahang, I found Hang Tuah still alive in some spiritual exercises in Pahang, which led me to trace the same in some Malay and Orang Asli villages along the Pahang, Bera an! d Sertin g Rivers, involving members of the Semelai and Temuan tribes.

In short, in Hang Tuah we may be dealing with a Malay archetype, like Arjuna of the Mahabharata who was and still is to some Malays in Jawa a warrior archetype.

To the Malays (including Asli of course) Hang Tuah was born in Kampong Sungai Duyung, Melaka, to Hang Mahmud and Dang Merduwati. There are still families in the kampong who believe they are descendants of Hang Tuah.

There he grew up with his four comrades. Their teacher was Adi Putra. Many among the Asli of Serting and Bera said he had studied some silat from them too.

He learned to meditate and had his meditation cleft on the seaside of Cape Rachardo (Tanjung Tuan). That samadhi has since been demolished by the religious authorities because it is deemed a khurafat (superstition), of course. Never mind if it is indeed a historical site.

He had had a girl friend or fiance in Melor, daughter of his Asli teacher in Ledang and of course there is a Hang Tuah mausoleum in Tanjung Kling, Melaka.

Are these notifications of the legendary figure real or are they merely incurred by the story-tellers for special effects?

But Hang Tuah is about blind loyalty. Why oh why do we need such a myth or an archetype of such an extraordinary feat of loyalty?

There has been a lively debate about who ought to be the hero, Hang Tuah or Hang Jebat, a question raised by the Bugis, Raja Ali Haji, in the 19th century.

That question, raised in Tuhfat al-Nafis, still resounds in our classrooms and even across tables in coffee shops.

Why would such a debate be deemed unhealthy? Because it is about a myth?

And there was a recent movie and a stage show by Tiara Jacquelina on the subject. Why then do we want to hollow out Hang Tuah from the history textbooks? ----a. ghani ismail, 21 January, 2012

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Paid to write hatred?

FMT LETTER

From Amdee Sidik, via e-mail

I refer to the article 'Party dogged by irrelevance' by Joe Fernandez on Jan18 in FMT. When we talk about SAPP it isn't all about Yong Teck Lee alone but the entire organisation. Joe Fernandez should learn how to write like an adult instead of spraying it like bullets all over the place.

What grind has he with Yong Teck Lee I wouldn't know. SAPP has been consistently bringing up issues of unfair treatment by the federal government to Sabah, among the highlights, we asked for Royal Commission of Inquiry of Illegal Immigrants in Sabah.

We asked for the increase of Petroleum royalty, we asked for change of cabotage policy and many more. It's SAPP which brought these issues up, later picked up by others, even by BN component parties – no other political parties are as energetic as SAPP in Sabah. What we see today is many of our leaders from other political parties, out jealousy are dwarfing SAPP leaders' ability.

Unfair treatment by the federal government to Sabah continues to exist in many shapes and forms, for example, a new Mykad holder originally not Sabahans are treated by the government of the day far better than the natives of Sabah. Compare those who live in urban areas with those who live in the interior. These new Sabahans get access to facilities, like medical services by virtue of the fact that they're living in the city or towns, but less or none at all in some parts of rural areas.

Batu Sapi by election was the yardstick used by Joe Fernandez to measure the failure of SAPP. If he can be analytical enough in looking for faults, I would think he could also be capable of striking the balance of fair reporting

Population of Sabah voters in Batu Sapi is different compared with other areas in Sabah namely in the West Coast and Interior.

Illegal immigrants and those obtained Mykad under project Umno are rest assured wouldn't vote for SAPP that is known, they are the fixed deposit of Umno and the MyKad is the key. The Umno politicians would just say this…'vote opposition, we'll take back the MyKad'; and that would be enough to torture them with sleepless nights.

I found a 58-year-old Sabahan lady who hasn't yet got a Mykad in Sipitang, whilst the new arrivals got it as easy as buying pisang goreng. No Sabahan would want to be robbed of his or her statehood arbitrarily, yet it happened.

As one of the leaders in SAPP, though rather new both in the party and in politics I wouldn't like to hear cheap accusation by a writer who is malicious, who is also seen to be willing to be used by someone to defame others.

SAPP's friendly approach to its fellow local opposition's political parties including PR, is well intended, the very idea is to topple BN-Umno. If only all oppositions can solidify among themselves, there would be a greater chance of getting rid of Umno, any disagreements should be best put aside and sorted out later.

SAPP has many new leaders who now play a dominant role in shaping the party. New ideas have been injected into the party to make it very relevant today contrary to what Fernandez claimed.

One such idea, lauded by SAPP, is Malaysia should do away with the communal or racial politics mentality of Umno. Sabahans by far are more tolerant dealing with race and religion; we don't need to exhume the dead just because some are confused about their religious belief.

Any decision for the party isn't entirely from the President. Since I joined the party three years ago, no single person dominated decision-making. Thus Fernandez shouldn't shut his mind if he were to understand better about Sabahans' culture.

Looking at the current mood all over the world, the Federal government can't afford not to heed people's want; they (the government of the day) can be as stubborn as stubborn can be, but if the price doesn't come soon it will later.

Fernandez thinks highly of DAP. Let me say this, DAP is born in urban areas with an urban make up, they have zero agenda for kampungs, their struggle isn't designed for rural people, little do they know what Sabah rural's dreams are.

Therefore no need to be rhetoric. Its ability in Sabah has a ceiling and it is still a long way from forming a Sabah state government unlike SAPP a local and non-communal political party.

The writer is deputy president of SAPP

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Ramayana: Valmiki vs Hanuman

Ada suatu kisah yang kurang diketahui umum mengenai apa yang berlaku selepas cerita dalam teks Ramayana berakhir.

Salah satu versi mengatakan bahawa Hanuman pergi ke Himalaya dan mula menulis semacam autobiografi mengenai segala apa yang berlaku dalam hidupnya.

Kemudian, apabila Valmiki melihat hasil karya Hanuman, maharishyi itu kecewa kerana Hanumad Ramayana (Ramayana Versi Hanuman) jauh lebih hebat berbanding Valmiki Ramayana (Ramayana Versi Valmiki).

Perlu diingat bahawa Hanuman terlibat secara langsung dalam segala peristiwa penting yang berlaku dalam Ramayana sementara Valmiki hanya mendengarnya kemudian daripada Sita.

Valmiki dikenali di seluruh dunia sebagai pengarang epik Ramayana. Beliau digelar "adikavi" iaitu "penyair agung" manakala Ramayana digelar "adikavya" iaitu "karya agung".

Nama asal Valmiki dipercayai ialah Ratnakara. Pada suatu hari, beliau mengikut bapanya, Prachetasa, seorang alim ke hutan. Ratnakara sesat lalu ditemui seorang pemburu.

Maka, Ratnakara membesar dalam keluarga pemburu itu dan menjadi seorang perompak jalanan.

Suatu hari, dia didatangi Naratar, orang alim yang menyedarkannya bahawa perbuatan merompak adalah tidak baik. Ratnakara bertapa bertahun-tahun lamanya sehingga tubuhnya ditutup sarang semut ("valmika" dalam Bahasa Sanskrit).

Apabila akhirnya dia keluar, Ratnakara digelar "Valmiki" dan dia menjadi Bhramarishi, iaitu ketua orang alim. Valmiki memulakan ashramam iaitu tempat bagi orang-orang alim berkumpul. Di situlah Valmiki mendengar kisah mengenai Rama, Sita dan Laksamana.

Apabila Rama mencurigai kesetiaan dan kesuciaan Sita, dia dihantar ke ashramam yang dikendalikan oleh Valmiki. Sita yang sedang mengandung, melahirkan Lava dan Kusa di situ.

Sementara itu, Valmiki menghasilkan epik Ramayana dalam bentuk puisi klasik Sanskrit, iaitu sloka, berdasarkan apa yang diceritakan oleh Sita mengenai pengalamannya.

Apabila siap, sloka itu diajar kepada Lava dan Kusa. Suatu hari, Rama sendiri berpeluang mendengar sloka itu dan menyedari kesilapannya menghalau Sita dari istana.

Walaupun maklumat lengkap mengenai Valmiki tidak diketahui, sumbangan beliau dalam menghasilkan epik Ramayana yang kini tersebar ke seluruh dunia dalam pelbagai bahasa dan versi tetap dihargai.

Panduan hidup

Dalam pada itu, berbalik pada kisah Hanuman, demi menjaga hati Valmiki, Hanuman kononnya mencampakkan hasil karyanya iaitu Hanumad Ramayana ke laut.

Maka, seolah-olah, umat manusia hilang peluang membaca sebuah karya hebat dan dokumentasi tepat berbentuk memoir atau autobiografi mengenai apa yang berlaku.

Sesungguhnya, Ramayana adalah epik India yang tersebar luas ke seluruh dunia, khususnya sebagai tindak balas terhadap penyebaran agama Buddha secara meluas semasa pemerintahan Asoka di India.

Apa yang menarik, penganut ajaran Buddha pula membuat sedikit pengubah suaian dan mengatakan bahawa Rama adalah inkarnasi Siddharta Gautama Buddha.

Malah, hikayat klasik Xi You Ji (Journey to the West) karya Wu Cheng'en pada Dinasti Ming di China menceritakan kisah seorang sami Buddha bernama Xuan Zhuang.

Beliau bersama-sama beberapa pengikutnya – termasuk Sun Wukong, raja kera sakti – pergi ke benua Tian Zhu (India) untuk mendalami agama Buddha dan membawa pulang kitab-kitab suci.

Dua versi terkenal Ramayana dalam kalangan masyarakat India adalah versi asal Valmiki (Bahasa Sanskrit) dan versi Kamban (Bahasa Tamil). Terdapat juga pelbagai versi di Gujarat, Maharashtra, Assam, Orissa, Andra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Goa dan Kashmir.

Melalui adaptasi dan interpretasi setempat, maka lahir pula Hikayat Seri Rama di Malaysia, Kakawin Ramayana di Indonesia, Ramakien di Thailand, Reamker di Kemboja, Phra Lak Phra Lam di Laos, Rajah Magandiri di Filipina, Yama Zatdaw di Myanmar dan Siddhi Ramayan di Nepal.

Tarikh sebenar Ramayana ditulis sukar dikesan, tetapi dipercayai antara abad ke-4 Sebelum Masehi dan abad ke-2 Masehi. "Ayana" bermaksud "perjalanan hidup" atau "panduan hidup".

Maka Ramayana tidak hanya dilihat sebagai sebuah epik tetapi sebagai kitab suci agama Hindu. Ramayana juga merupakan karya sastera agung (adikavya) dan karya sejarah (itihasa).

Tema umum Ramayana adalah mengenai kebaikan menentang kejahatan. Cerita asas adalah mengenai penculikan Sita, isteri Rama, oleh Ravana. Lalu, Rama, Laksamana dan Hanuman berusaha menyelamatkan Sita dengan bantuan pelbagai pihak.

Kisah bermula dengan bab/bahagian "Bala Kanda" mengenai Dasaratha yang memerintah Ayodhya. Isterinya ialah Kausalya, Kaikeyi dan Sumitra. Bab ini berakhir dengan perkahwinan Rama dan Sita.

Bab "Ayodhya Kanda" pula mengisahkan apa yang berlaku 12 tahun kemudian. Kaikeyi mendesak supaya Rama dibuang (buang daerah?) ke hutan selama 14 tahun manakala anaknya, Bharata, menggantikan tempat Dasaratha sebagai pemerintah.

Bahagian seterusnya iaitu "Aranya Kanda" menceritakan apa yang berlaku sehingga "memaksa" Ravana menculik Sita.

Dalam bab "Kishkindha Kanda", Rama dan Laksamana bertemu Hanuman. Berlaku perebutan kuasa antara Sugriva dan Vaali. Bab berakhir selepas Hanuman mendapat maklumat bahawa Sita dilarikan (diterbangkan) ke Lanka.

Bab "Sundara Kanda" sering disebut sebagai bahagian paling penting dan paling menarik dalam Ramayana. Kisahnya mengenai pengalaman Hanuman ke Lanka untuk bertemu Sita.

Kisah perang Rama-Ravana mendominasi bab "Yuddha Kanda". Sesudah perang, Sita terpaksa menjalani "ujian api" untuk membuktikan kesuciannya. Kemudian, Rama, Sita dan Laksamana pulang (terbang) ke Ayodhya.

Telaga ilmu

Bagaimanapun, beberapa tahun kemudian, dalam bab "Uttara Kanda", Rama kembali mencurigai kesetiaan dan kesucian isterinya. Maka Sita dihantar ke hutan dan dia tinggal di ashramam milik Valmiki.

Epik ini sentiasa diubahsuai dan diberi interpretasi baru. Misalnya dalam versi di Tibet, Sita dikatakan anak Ravana. Hikayat Seri Rama (Malaysia) dan Ramajataka (Thailand) menyebut Hanuman sebagai anak Rama.

Dalam versi agama Buddha pula, Rama, Laksamana dan Sita adalah adik-beradik kandung, iaitu anak kepada Kausalya, isteri sulung Dasaratha.

Dalam Ramayana versi agama Jain, Laksamana yang membunuh Ravana. Kemudian, kedua-dua mereka masuk neraka! Manakala Rama yang ada empat isteri (Maithili, Prabhavati, Ratinibha dan Sridama) menjadi sami Jain dan akhirnya mencapai "moksha".

Hikayat Seri Rama di Malaysia menyebut Dasaratha sebagai cicit kepada Nabi Adam dan beragama Islam. Watak Laksamana juga lebih penting berbanding watak Rama yang digambarkan sebagai agak lemah.

Versi Ramakien di Thailand pula memberi keutamaan kepada watak Hanuman. Sita dikatakan anak Ravana dan Mandodari.

Dalam kalangan penganut agama Hindu, Rama dipercayai adalah inkarnasi (avatara) Dewa Vishnu. Penganut agama Buddha pula percaya bahawa Rama adalah inkarnasi Siddharta Gautama Buddha.

Hanuman pula inkarnasi Dewa Shiva yang kesebelas dan terakhir iaitu Rudra Avatara.

Ramayana juga menjadi bahan cerita bagi drama tari Kutiyattam, Kathakali, Yakshgana, Ramlila dan Therukuttu di India. Di Kerala dan Mysore, India, teks berkenaan menjadi sumber pertunjukan wayang kulit; seperti di Malaysia, Indonesia dan Thailand.

Bentuk-bentuk seni persembahan seperti Wayang Wong dan Tari Puteri di Indonesia serta Nang Yai, Nang Talung dan Khon di Thailand turut mengambil kisah daripada pelbagai versi Ramayana.

Epik ini boleh didapati dalam pelbagai edisi dan bahasa. Ada edisi ringkas yang dipenuhi lukisan bagi bacaan kanak-kanak. Ada juga edisi yang sesuai bagi bacaan remaja dan dewasa.

Malah, pada setiap kali kita membacanya dengan fikiran terbuka, kita boleh mendapat pengalaman serta ilmu baru yang mampu merangsang pemikiran dan minda.

Ramayana – sebagaimana juga Mahabharata – adalah umpama telaga ilmu yang boleh terus ditimba airnya. Makin kita menimba, makin jernih dan segar air yang diperoleh.

Sepertimana saya tekankan dalam sebuah rencana di akhbar Utusan Malaysia pada 9 Mac 1996, Ramayana sentiasa diberi interpretasi baru dari semasa ke semasa oleh para pengkaji dan pengarang yang peka serta berfikiran kritikal.

Misalnya, novel grafik Sita's Ramayana (2011) oleh Samhita Arni dan Moyna Chitrakar di India menceritakan kisah itu dari sudut pandangan Sita.

Sementara itu, di negara kita sendiri, novel Kembang Kanigara (1992) oleh SM Zakir adalah sebuah karya hebat dan penting yang cuba menghalusi jiwa Indrajit, anak Ravana. Novel Hanuman: Potret Diri (1996) pula menghalusi jiwa Hanuman, si kera putih bermata hijau.

Novel retorik parodi Hanuman: Potret Diri bukan bacaan ringan. Sebaliknya, pembaca diajak untuk mentafsir, menginterpretasi serta menghayati potret diri Hanuman dan watak-watak lain dalam Ramayana secara kritikal. – Bersambung minggu depan

Uthaya Sankar SB yang menulis secara profesional sejak 1992 turut menggunakan nama pena "Hanuman O".

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Rushdie affair: The shame of it all

The Salman Rushdie case has not only got stranger as the Jaipur Literary Festival enters its final days, but also shameful.

It now seems that the Congress government of Ashok Gehlot in Rajasthan played dirty to keep the Booker Prize winner out of his state by reportedly fabricating a threat to his life from paid assassins.

(The initial call to not let Rushdie enter Jaipur came from Islamic groups, which felt that his The Satanic Verses had hurt their faith.)

Rushdie said he had found on investigation that he had been lied to.

The India-born British author's assertion came in the midst of snowballing controversy that included police warnings against those brave enough to openly exhibit their solidarity by reading out passages from Rushdie's banned book, The Satanic Verses.

Interestingly, Rushdie also had his opponents. Best-selling writer Chetan Bhagat and Congress member of parliament Mani Shankar Aiyar minced no words when they declared that it was wrong to hurt religious sentiments. Every freedom is firmly tied to responsibility.

Admittedly, this is a point that can be endlessly debated. But what is certainly beyond dispute is that the government appears to have given in to sheer radicalism.

We have seen that years ago in the case of Toronto-based film director Deepa Mehta, who was virtually driven out of Varanasi by extreme right-wing Hindu political organisations. They felt that Mehta, all set to shoot Water (about the horrific plight of widows in the holy city's "widow homes"), had scripted a work that was against Indian culture.

The view could not have been more hypocritical, given the fact that such homes had existed since time immemorial with widows leading miserable lives, in utter poverty and in humiliation.

India looked the other way when Hindu and Muslim fanatics hounded out the late (artist) MF Husain and Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen.

Disgraceful

Rushdie's case is particularly disgraceful. Attempt after attempt was made to stop the literary giant from flying into Jaipur.

First, the issue of his visa was raised. But when it was found that he did not need one, because as a person of Indian origin he was free to come and go, the Rajasthan police "invented" an "assassination plot".

The "plot" turned out be far more amateurish than the pranks youngsters play. The two purported Mumbai-based killers cited in the security threat to Rushdie were unknown to the police.

The third "would be murderer" was Saqib Hamid Nachan, a former activist of the Students' Islamic Movement of India, now living near Mumbai.

Why did the police not arrest Nachan?

Gehlot tried his best to defend himself by saying that it was not his state alone that provided the inputs. There were half a dozen advisories from Mumbai in Maharashtra.

The blame game has begun, fingers are moving, fast and furious, pointing at just about every direction — with a call by social activist and Arya Samaj scholar Swami Agnivesh for an official probe.

Crying wolf

In all probability, the truth will never emerge. For it is inconvenient, and has perhaps to do with coming elections in several states and the need to garner as much Muslim support as possible for the Congress Party, which is desperately trying to come back to power in Uttar Pradesh, politically the most important Indian state.

A real worry, however, in this whole sordid business is the manner in which security has been transformed into a plaything in a country where hundreds of innocent men and women have lost their lives in terror attacks.

By crying wolf – like in the proverbial fairy tale – New Delhi and Jaipur (Rajasthan's capital) have not only made a serious issue into a joke, but have also damaged India's ideals of democracy and secularism by failing to assure Rushdie that he would be safe in Jaipur.

The nation's heritage now stands battered!

Gautaman Bhaskaran is a Chennai-India based author, columnist and film critic, and can be contacted at gautamanbhaskaran@yahoo.in. He is an FMT columnist.

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Rights in Malaysia – No action, talk only

PETALING JAYA: The state of human rights in Malaysia is filled with promises of reforms and politicians backtracking their words, according to Human Rights Watch's 22nd annual report entitled World Report 2012 that was released yesterday.

The report looked into eight key issues in Malaysia but the one main issue was Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim's Sodomy II trial.

HRW noted that Anwar's legal team was denied access to the prosecution's witness list, critical forensic samples for independent examination, and medical examiners' notes from hospital examinations of the accuser – all in violation of international fair trial standards.

Anwar has since been acquitted on Jan 9 due to questionable DNA evidence and the Attorney General's Chambers has filed an appeal last week.

Violations against freedom of expression, association and assembly are also well documented in the report, through the Bersih rally on July 9 last year and the detention of six political activists under the Emergency Ordinance.

"Malaysia's leaders are fooling themselves by thinking they can backtrack on public promises to respect the rights to demonstrate peacefully and criticize the government without fear.

"The more Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and government politicians play their game of big talk, with little action on rights, the more they should expect popular pushback," said Phil Robertson, deputy director for Asia region at Human Rights Watch on these violations.

Media censorship

Under the sub-heading of media censorship, HRW stated that Home Ministry has continued to deny online news portal Malaysiakini rights to publish newspapers on the grounds that publishing permit was "a privilege," not a right.

It also criticised the proposed reforms on the Printing Presses and Publications Act. Under the reform measures, annual licensing for print has been revoked but the Home Minister retains broad authority, without judicial review, to refuse permission to publish anything he determines "likely to be prejudicial to public order, morality, security … or national interest."

The report also highlighted Najib's announcement to repeal the controversial Internal Security Act 1960 and the revocation of the three emergency proclamations and the review of the Restricted Residence Act.

"However, he committed to introducing two new laws under article 149 (Special Laws against Subversion) of the Federal Constitution, which allows parliament to enact sweeping security provisions that deny basic freedoms.

The Malaysia – Australia refugee swap deal signed on July 25, but eventually cancelled, was also criticised in the report because Malaysia has not ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention which means that Malaysia had failed to differentiate refugees, asylum seekers, trafficking victims, and undocumented migrants.

The swap deal would have permitted Australia to send 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia for refugee screening in exchange for 4,000 refugees. However an Australian High Court judgment deemed the swap deal as illegal.

The Malaysian Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act was also rubbished as it failed to provide protection to the victims

Sexual orientation

Under the topic of sexual orientation and gender identity, the government's refusal to repeal Article 377B of the Penal Code, which criminalizes consensual "carnal intercourse against the order of nature", was criticised.

HRW highlighted the banning of Seksualiti Merdeka which was a seven day festival for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community to express their issues.

It also highlighted the case of Aleesha Farhnan Abdul Aziz who failed to compel the National Registration Department to recognise him as a female.

The HRW was also concerned about the freedom of religion among the minorities following a raid by the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department on Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC).

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UMNO, & PDRM, at their sterling best

By now, you would all have read the various news reports and seen the video clips in cyberspace of the disruption of the ABU ceramah in Klang 2 nights ago.

Just a few things I want to say.

First, Krishnan, the young man who was beaten and assaulted, has had a CT-scan done, is still hospitalised and a second scan is expected to be done to ensure that he has not sustained any serious internal injuries.

Second, I want to pay tribute to the tremendous restraint demonstrated by the folk from Hindraf who were present that night in the face of the aggression on the part of the UMNO mob, coupled with the racial slurs that were plainly made to provoke a retaliation.

Gandhi would have been proud of you guys.

Now to PDRM.

FreeMalaysiaToday reports that Selangor police chief Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah denied that there were any attacks at the ceramah that night.

FMT reports, however, that Shah Alam OCPD Zahedi Ayob 'confirmed there was "shouting and pushing" at the ceramah but everything calmed down after the arrival of the police'.

Zahedi, however, seems to blame the whole incident on the ABU ceramah being held in a Malay area.

Now, when the police finally arrived after the mob have left the ceramah hall, I pointed out one of the mobsters who was still there to the uniformed police officers.

Later, this individual was seen leaning against the squad car and chatting with the uniformed officers.

Inquiries later revealed that he was a plain clothes police officer.

SB.

Some of the local residents, PAS members, then assured the organisers that they would make sure there was no repeat of the mob barging into the hall, and that we should proceed with our ceramah.

We were making ready to proceed when 2 special branch officers asked to speak to us.

Sambulingam and I, in the hearing of many others, were asked by the officers to call of  the ceramah so as to allow the tensed situation outside to ease.

I repeatedly asked him if we were to undrstand from this request and advise that PDRM were unable to deal with the mob so as to allow a legitimate ceramah to proceed in the hall.

The officer just kept repeating himself : please call off the ceramah to ease the tension outside.

My sense by then was that there was collusion between the mobsters and the police.

There was a quick discussion between the several ABU leaders.

We had not provided adequate security to ensure the safety of those attending to listen to the ceramah.

We would call it off to ensure the safety of the packcik and makcik in the hall.

Rest assured, we will be well prepared for any lawlessness at our forthcoming ceramah.

From any quarters.

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Year of the Dragon roars into Asia

BEIJING: A billion-plus Asians welcomed the Year of the Dragon on Monday with a cacophony of fireworks, hoping the mightiest sign in the Chinese zodiac will usher in the wealth and power it represents.

From Malaysia to South Korea, millions of people travelled huge distances to reunite with their families for Lunar New Year — the most important holiday of the year for many in Asia — indulging in feasts or watching dragon dances.

As the clock struck midnight, Beijing's skyline lit up with colour as families across the Chinese capital set off boxes and boxes of fireworks to ward off evil spirits in the new year — a scene repeated across the country.

Pollution levels in the city, which has come under fire for its bad air quality, spiked in the early hours of Monday morning as fireworks filled the skies with particulates, before falling back down again, official data showed.

Those living in the Philippines, meanwhile, were able to sleep in on Monday after the Lunar New Year became an official holiday for the first time, despite objections from some in the business community.

The dragon is the most favourable and revered sign in the 12-year Chinese zodiac — a symbol of royalty, fortune and power that is also used in other cultures that see in the Lunar New Year, such as in Vietnam.

As such, hospitals across China and in Chinese communities are bracing for a baby boom as couples try to have a child this year.

Nannies in Beijing and neighbouring Tianjin are charging more in 2012, and the beds in the capital's Maternity Hospital are all booked up until August, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong even took advantage of the Dragon to call on the country's residents to boost a stubbornly low birth rate, in an attempt to reduce the government's heavy reliance on foreign workers.

"I fervently hope that this year will be a big Dragon Year for babies… This is critical to preserve a Singapore core in our society," he said in his new year message.

Natural disasters warned

But in Hong Kong, where tens of thousands of pregnant mainlanders come to give birth every year to gain residency rights for their babies, the Dragon may not prove such a boon as it could exacerbate problems such as limited beds and soaring delivery costs.

And according to some astrologers and geomancers, the Dragon may bring natural disasters and financial volatility to an already destabilised world.

Hong Kong feng shui master Anthony Cheng warned a "scandalous corruption case" would rock China in the second half of 2012, and also said high-ranking Chinese officials would be forced to step down, thrown behind bars or even die.

But people across Asia disregarded the doomsday predictions over the holiday, preferring to feast and celebrate with their families, and pray at temples or pagodas.

Highways in Malaysia, where 25 percent of the population is ethnic Chinese, were clogged at the weekend while the capital Kuala Lumpur became almost deserted as people travelled home.

In South Korea, which also celebrates the Lunar New Year, more than half of the entire population — or some 31 million people — took to roads, railways and planes for the holiday.

But stores in the capital Seoul — normally quiet at this time of year — bustled with activity as tens of thousands of tourists from China swamped major shopping areas to spend an expected 100 billion won ($ 88 million) in January.

"I feel like I'm walking on the street in China. There are so many of them," Park Eun-Yong, a South Korean college student, told AFP.

Chinese tourists also flocked to Tokyo, where interpreters in Mitsukoshi — one of Japan's most prestigious department stores — were on hand to help with purchases and announcements were made in Mandarin.

- AFP

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