Lu lagi, lu lagi!
By Zan Azlee

Last week, I was in Jakarta on a working trip. The work was mainly corporate in nature, of which is very unfamiliar terrain for me. But it’s good to explore new things once in a while. Of course, being a highly intuitive journalist (oh yeah!), I decided to look around for stories that I could tell back home in Malaysia. Hence, the topic for this week’s column.

Malaysia has just concluded it’s 13th General Election and I was still in the mood for all things political. So I decided to check out what was brewing in Indonesia. The love-hate relationship that we have with our distant cousin nation (really more of like a direct irritating sibling, I have to say!), has always interested me.

However, I have to admit that their brand of politics isn’t very familiar to me. Maybe it’s because they’re a more sophisticated republic and have had several revolutions that it surpasses my understanding. [Go to English.AstroAwani.Com to read the full article]

Serve all races
By Zan Azlee

MAY 17 — Yesterday, I got back from a working trip to Jakarta and in the taxi from KLIA, the driver started chatting with me about the recent general election. And just for context, the driver is Malay and looked to be middle-aged. I’m guessing around 50 years of age.

At one point, he said to me: “Tengok Kabinet baru yang Perdana Menteri sudah lantik. Langsung tidak ada wakil orang Cina. Biar padan muka mereka. Cina sekarang dah banyak songeh!”

At first, I wanted to blurt out and say that he needs to be certain who he’s talking to. I may look Malay, and I may sound Malay, but I am in fact Chinese (part of me, that is!).

Then I would have continued to condemn him and his racist ways and, hopefully put him in his place and educate him a little about the ways of harmonious living.

But I immediately caught myself before I did anything drastic. And I think it paid off quite well judging from the taxi driver’s reaction. [Click to read the full article at The Malaysian Insider]

The ‘Good vs Evil’ trap
By Zan Azlee

I disagree with the interviewees (forum panelists) in an article published in the Free Malaysia Today website on 14th May 2013 which called for the people to take to the streets and topple the BN government.

In a brief overview, the article quoted three panelists at a forum, Haris Ibrahim (ABU – Anything But Umno), Adam Adli Halim (student activist) and Hishammuddin Rais (Bersih) calling for the rakyat to take to the streets and topple the government.

Apparently, another five years is just too long to wait to vote Barisan Nasional out of the federal office, and according to these three individuals, we have to take it by force.

Here’s the deal. I think they’re on their own. [Click to read the full article at English.AstroAwani.Com]

Remember ‘In the Heat of Battle: The Story of Lembah Pantai‘ which I did during the campaign and election period last week on AstroAwani.Com? Well, the TV version is all done – it’s a 4-episode mini series starting tonight (Wednesday, 15th May 2013), every night until Sunday (19th May 2013), at 9:30pm, on 501 Astro AWANI!

The entire 2-week campaign and election period condensed into 4 episodes of TV time… it doesn’t get better than that! It’s like being there without being there yourself! Hahaha!

The race factor
By Zan Azlee

MAY 10 — The race factor definitely played a role in the voter swing in the recent GE13. No doubt about it. So when Umno-owned newspaper Utusan published the front-page story “Apa lagi Cina mahu?” last Tuesday in response to the voter swing, it couldn’t have been a surprise.

Barisan Nasional consists of many component parties and most of these parties (if not all of them) are all race-based. And, of course, the three main parties that make up the coalition are Umno (Malay), the MCA (Chinese) and MIC (Indian).

The logic to it is that Umno will attract the Malay voters, the MCA will attract the Chinese and MIC, the Indians. Hence, they should have it all covered in Malaysia.

Then we look at Pakatan Rakyat, who is constantly preaching multiracial politics, claiming that they aren’t race-based. [Click to read the full article at The Malaysian Insider]

‘Apa lagi Ridhuan Tee mahu?’
By Zan Azlee

This debacle with the headline written by the Utusan newspaper last Tuesday has got me thinking – which side is Ridhuan Tee on regarding this matter?

Okay, for those who are oblivious ignoramuses, Utusan published the very irrational and racist sounding headline which read ‘Apa lagi Cina mahu?’ last Tuesday.

Then page after page carried articles that talked about how the Chinese were being racists by voting for other than Barisan Nasional. What is this Umno-owned newspaper trying to do? Create disharmony and spark an upheaval of the people?

Come on! They already won the election. What else do they want? (Did you see what I just did there? Haha!) Sure, they did win. But it is the worst showing the coalition has ever received in its entire 56 years of rule in the country. [Click to read the full article at English.AstroAwani.Com]

My top 5 issues when dropping my ballot
By Zan Azlee

MAY 3 — What can I write about today that would help you make a decision when Sunday comes? I doubt that any of you are still undecided at this eleventh hour.

I can harp on and on about the things that I have seen over the years as a journalist following Malaysian issues or in these past two weeks of heated campaigning.

I can even outright tell you who I’m going to vote for and the reasons why I am going to do so. But I’m not going to do that since it won’t serve any purpose.

No more opinions, just hard facts before we vote
By Zan Azlee

Last Monday, I went into Lembah Pantai as usual for my journalistic duty and to find stories for my multimedia project ‘In The Heat Of Battle: The story of Lembah Pantai’. Being the first day of the second week of campaigning, I was pretty sure that I would find some interesting stories or issues that can be talked about.

Lo and behold, I did stumble on to some interesting events. The first was the launch of BN’s candidate, Datuk Raja Nong Chik’s, Lembah  Pantai report card. And the second, the people’s Malaysian Spring. [Click to read the full article at English.AstroAwani.Com]

Part 9 – ‘A Malaysian Spring’ and ‘Report Card Day’ – you make the choice!

The second half of the campaign season started with a bang. On one side, the huge campaign machinery went into full gear and came up with an event fueled by much fanfare, while the other side relied on community-based people power.

Click to hear to view/read/watch/listen/smell the full story!

Part 8 – Taxi!

While on the Lembah Pantai campaign trail, I bumped into two taxi drivers, James Sundram and Navanathan, who offered to tell me their story over coffee in a stall in Lucky Garden, Bangsar. Apparently, things still aren’t as hunky dory as it seems even after 1,000 individual taxi permits have been issued by the government.

Click to hear to view/read/watch/listen/smell the full story!