M.A.C.C. is C.R.A.P.

With the Teoh Beng Hock case, now I’m really pissed off with the Malaysian “Anti-Corruption” Commision (MACC).

I’ll dive right in to show you how the only difference between the MACC & the ACA (Anti-Corruption Agency) is just a change of name.

Lingam tape case – big inquiry, no action, no arrests.

Altantuya case - not thorough, two dudes still not executed, main culprits (They who must not be named…..Najib & Rosmah) escape.

Kugan case – bloody slow case seems to have faded out, no arrests.

Khir Toyo’s mansion – inquiry formed, bloody slow as usual.

PKFZ scandal – inquiry formed, bloody slow as usual, no arrests.

Teoh Beng Hock – inquiry formed, bloody slow as usual, no arrests.

UMNO’s countless reported cases of corruption – what has been done so far ? Have Mahathir, Badawi, Najib, Khairy Jamaluddin, Samy Vellu, Ong Tee Keat, Ling Liong Sik..etc...ever been investigated seriously ?

Even the son of MACC chairman, who’s a pilot, was found guilty in Australia for bringing child porn into the country!!

Anything else I’m missing ? Plenty I’m sure, but I bet I’ve made my point.

Typical of MACC to be lightning quick with arrests when it investigates the Opposition….but bloody slow when it comes to investigations on BN politicians. So much for transparency, accountability, bla la bla.

Reverting Maths & Science to BM Makes No Sense

Finally the government has made up their minds. After 6 years, they’ve decided to revert the teachings of Maths & Science subjects to BM. I find the decision to be stupid & senseless.

Firstly, I remember the reasons they changed it to English in the first place 6 years ago was because of the lack of proficiency in the English language among students, globalization, & many graduates were unemployed due to reasons among which graduates were poor in English.

So has the proficiency of English among students improved ? Have we become more competitive ? Are our graduates now more employable ? The scrapping of the policy doesn’t mean that these questions result in a no. To me all these questions are unanswered & no way can you get these answers in 6 years. It takes a full education cycle (kindergarten > primary & secondary school > graduate) to know these facts. That takes about 20 years to get the answers.

How has this policy failed exactly ? Since 2003, every single year it is announced that the number of straight A’s students have increased drastically. Every year the government brags about how students have improved in this & that. So how has the policy failed ? What statistics have the government shown to prove that the policy is a failure ? Show me please. Basically our education system is in a mess. I’ll talk about this in another post.

Then they talk of increasing English lesson hours in schools, bringing back retired teachers, hiring some foreign teachers & so on. Haven’t they announced all this before ? Haven’t they already spent tons of money on training teachers ? While I was in school, half the time some of my teachers were away on training. Yet, they came back the same!

Then they talk of upholding the Malay language. Malay is our national language. Case closed. You want to uphold it, do so during Malay classes or other ways. Don’t jeopardize the education & future of our nation when you know the importance of English. In tertiary levels of education, most things if not everything, is taught in English. Even the reference books are mostly in English.

Besides, almost all scientific & technological terms in Malay, are derived from English! Oksigen, kalsium, karbon dioksida, ekonomi, krisis..etc. Need more examples ? Face the facts that scientific & mathematical knowledge are better conveyed in English than BM. It’s the language of science & technology worldwide.

Plus, it’s clear that the majority prefers the policy of maths & science being taught in English. So why can’t we be democratic about it ? At the same time, the government must be smart on how to implement the policy as effectively as possible.

I feel that this matter is more complex than it seems. Many people have different views & perspectives on going about this issue. Even if the majority (including me) supports the teachings of these subjects in English, there are many things for the government to look into & work out. With our messy education system & politics, solving this to effectively implement the policy is easier said than done.

Honestly, I won’t be surprised if they change their decision again. BN is a flip-flop government & I have proof. Moreover, desperate BN + active Tun Mahathir + pissed majority of people + Opposition = troubled BN. The full reversion would also only take place in 2012. In that time, many things can happen & change…& I’ll just see how things go for now.

In conclusion, if you have a problem, fix it until it’s fixed. Don’t kick the problem out & go back to square one. Don’t quit half way & ignore the problem. All the statements mentioned above are simply my rough opinion.

Michael Jackson (1958-2009)

On June 25^th 2009, the world heard a tragic & shocking news. Michael Jackson (MJ) had passed away. Even I was flabbergasted when I heard it. I didn’t even believe it at first. I thought it was just another one of those dumb rumors about him. Everybody was talking about him & even radio stations were playing only his songs. I went to the nearest computer & checked the news. Sadly, it wasn’t a rumor.

Anyway, MJ is without a doubt one of the biggest artists of the century. He’s a legend & a global phenomenon in his own right. He ranks among the greats such as Elvis Presley and The Beatles, & he’s definitely the world’s greatest entertainer.

While MJ was alive, he began singing with his brothers at the tender age of 5. Years later his dad discovered that MJ was the talented one & literally pushed him to stardom. Therefore, MJ never had a childhood. He spent his whole life performing. His entire life was publicized by the media. Come to think of it, he’s probably also the world’s biggest workaholic.

MJ was also full of controversies. His changing appearance, occasionally weird acts & outfits in public, the child molestation case to which he was acquitted, his lavish spending, also made him famous in the public eye. Yet, I doubt many would think or remember him for all that. Most people will definitely remember MJ as the man who entertained & touched the hearts of millions with his mesmerizing music, amazing dance, & great showmanship.

Now not having a proper childhood, working his entire life, going through scandalous child molestation trials just to make money out of him, surely must have brought MJ mentally, physically, & financially down. He was suppose to make his big return just under 3 weeks before his death…& now he’s gone.

In another perspective, his death can also be seen as a blessing in disguise for him. To be 50 years old, over worked, to do 50 strenuous concert shows, to be in huge financial debt & nearly bankrupt, to live up to all the hype & expectations, the pressure, it must be better to just die.

Since his death, the Internet slowed down, Google slowed so much & thought they were under attack, Twitter crashed, downloads for his songs & purchases of his albums skyrocketed, & the media worldwide is covering his story heavily. Suddenly, the global financial crisis, Iran’s political crisis, global warming, the war in Iraq, North Korea’s nuclear threat to the USA,…none of it seems as important anymore. That alone is enough to show how gigantic MJ is. Who else can get as much media coverage as him ?

In conclusion, MJ united many with his music, he broke down barriers for many especially for the black community, he shattered & created world records, & he danced like nobody else. Elvis, The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Aaaliyah, James Brown, & now MJ who must be moonwalking on the clouds. Heaven must be having one hell of a party.

1 Malaysia - Good Slogan, Poor Implementation

When Datuk Najib became PM in April, he introduced his concept of 1 Malaysia: People First, Performance Now. To me, this is just political rhetoric. Just like when Tun Mahathir became PM, he came in with the slogan Bersih, Cekap, dan Amanah. Similarly, when Tun Badawi became PM, he introduced the slogan Cemerlang, Gemilang dan Terbilang.

Ironically, as lovely as Tun M’s slogan was, & as much contribution & development he brought to Malaysia, Tun M is also the root cause of corruption within UMNO & BN. As for Badawi’s slogan, under him, BN suffered its biggest loss ever in our history of general elections. As much as Badawi tried, he’s definitely the most underperforming PM yet.

Now how about 1 Malaysia ?

Najib’s 1 Malaysia talks of 8 values. They are:

• Loyalty

• Humility

• Meritocracy

• Integrity

• Acceptance

• Education

• Perseverance

• Culture of excellence

Loyalty is good, but it must not be blind loyalty. We should be loyal to those who are loyal to voters, trustworthy & not corrupt.

Humility is related to respecting one another. This requires understanding between the multiracial communities of Malaysia. To understand one another, we need to learn to listen & have more open dialogues.

Meritocracy will only be achieved once racial quotas are removed completely in every sector. Race is not a criterion for merit. Only then we will have the best of the best. For those who are not up to standard, they’ll have no choice but to improve themselves & be better.

Integrity is something that can’t be reached if there’s still so much of corruption. Fix corruption & then only talk of integrity.

If we intend to achieve acceptance, first there must be understanding and awareness. People should be willing to talk & be allowed to talk to attain this. At the same time, the government should be able to accept the wishes of its people.

Education can be given to people, but the educator should be of quality & the contents of the subject should be proper. Education itself should not be politicised so much as it is now.

Perseverance can be gained only if you’re willing to compete to be the best. If you’re given special treatment along the way, don’t ever expect to be able to compete or perform well or accomplish genuine success in any way.

To achieve a culture of excellence, we must adhere to the 7 values above first. Only then a culture of excellence will fall into place.

I personally feel that BN is silly to even talk about 1 Malaysia. BN is not even one. BN = UMNO, UMNO = BN. MCA, MIC, PPP, GERAKAN & the other component parties clearly have hardly any say in any matter. They’re just slaves & puppets of UMNO. Najib himself is full of mega controversies & that makes him highly untrustworthy.

Where is 1 Malaysia if BN keeps talking about Malay unity ? Why is MCA, MIC, PPP, & the other components so quiet about this matter ?....Puppets!! The only reason they’re talking of Malay unity is because they’re losing Malay support to the Opposition. Malay unity is good, but Malaysian unity is better. There should be Malaysian talks instead of Malay talks.

Besides, why talk of 1 Malaysia when BN doesn’t even have 1 Perak ?! Najib & BN do not respect the right of the Perak people to elect a government of their choice. Doesn’t his 1 Malaysia sound like a sham now ?

Where’s 1 Malaysia when there are discriminative policies in areas like education (scholarships, entry quotas), bank loans, NEP, AP, contract distributions, etc..? 1 Malaysia will only show if equal rights are practiced & not the illusion called “special” rights. The excuse of hypocritical BN that non-Malays are threatening the “special” rights of Malays is rubbish. What’s the basis ? The only threat is globalisation. Nothing else.

Where is 1 Malaysia when you have a newspaper like Utusan Malaysia ? A newspaper that is so racist, so pro-UMNO, & consistently publishes articles to incite racial hatred among Malaysians. It’s newspapers like Utusan that is a hindrance to unity.

Where is 1 Malaysia if Najib says that DAP’s Malaysian Malaysia (created many years before) concept is different from Najib’s concept ? What’s the difference ?! One concept is from BN, the other from the Opposition. That’s the only difference I see. Even the excuse given by Najib on its difference is so lame that I’m not going to waste my energy typing it.

In conclusion, I believe 1 Malaysia always existed. I don’t see Malaysians fighting with each other on the streets, but I’ve seen Malaysians protesting over BN and their policies. It’s only BN that is confusing us with their divide and conquer methods of governance. So to solve this, I’m sure you know what should be removed and how.