renovatio

World Bloggers and Social Media Awards!!!

2012-01-26T11:28:00.002+08:00

I have never entered my blog for an award before, feels kind of strange to promote my own blog, but what the heck if Madey can do it, why not me :)

So pls vote, click on the icon on the left of my page that has World Bloggers and Social Media Awards link and vote for my blog.

If you like what I write of course ;)

Remember, if I don't win, its all your fault :p

The Poor Malaysian Consumer!!!

2012-01-26T10:06:00.003+08:00

If you're active on social media, you'd be aware there isn't a day in Malaysia that goes by where a Malaysian would not be disgusted or pissed off at the service he/she received from some company or rather. Most of these companies, it seems are of the GLC/monopolistic type.

It appears that in Malaysia these companies act with impunity. Quick on the draw when payment is in default but slow to respond to complaints or even refunds when service or product is poor.

An efficient, inexpensive and informal redress machinery is essential for consumer protection. In Malaysia the court system is rightly or wrongly generally perceived to be unable to satisfy consumer needs. This was the reason for the establishment of the Tribunal for Consumer Claims in 1999 and the Tribunal for Homebuyer Claims in 2002.

And yet still it seems that Companies in Malaysia regularly take advantage of Malaysians for the simple reason that Malaysians do not seem to possess a culture of redress. I do not know why, maybe it has to do with our culture of deference to authority (some call it feudalism)

Whatever it is, time to simplify the process, if only we had a system where a person could send a complain via SMS, and we had an efficient agency that would swing into action and set up a sting to verify the complaint.

But then again this is Malaysia, its still only 50 years since Merdeka and I may be asking too much :)

An Ad for an Ad!!!

2012-01-25T11:39:00.002+08:00

One, If you have to take out a TV Ad to prove that you have done good work, then you're either insulting the intelligence of people who chose not to vote for you or the good work you claim to have provided may not have meant much after all.

Two, it is not for you to claim credit for the work which you are paid to do, it is for the voters to decide if you deserve the credit and they do so with their votes.

Three, claiming that the ads were the work of your supporters and not of your own does not absolve you from the sin of spending money on ads when the money could have been better spent on the poor.

Shame on you.

Gerakan Matters!!!

2012-01-20T10:12:00.005+08:00

I must admit, I have a very low opinion of Malaysian politicians, there are exceptions of course, but like I said, exceptions.

Believe me when I tell you, I speak with 20 years of experience and up close. I have been a member of Gerakan for 11 years now.

I joined Gerakan because it was supposed to be multi-racial, it was supposed to be a party of intellects, it was supposed to be the Conscience of BN. WRONG on all counts. Its mostly mono-racial, hardly any evidence of intellect left and the party is mostly unconscious.

Why I do stay? I am hoping for a revival. Of course I know this will only happen if Gerakan loses badly again, and all the insincere blokes feel there is little point in hanging around. It's ok, I am in no hurry :)

Time to just say No! - Proton

2012-01-19T14:23:00.005+08:00

Malaysians pay more for locally-made Protons here than they would if they bought them overseas.

Why do Malaysians allow themselves to be conned in such a manner? National Pride?

The world over a local car would cost locals cheaper or as the very least of the same price if they were to buy it elsewhere, but not Proton. Malaysians have to pay a much higher price just to own their own national car, whereas a Proton is made cheaper for a foreigner in a foreign land.

ILLOGICAL?

If not you must at least appreciate the irony...

Proton is no longer a joke, it is a tragedy. People who support this 'project' claim it benefits a few thousand Malaysians by providing them jobs, so therefore this is a case of millions of Malaysians having to suffer so that a few thousand can continue getting a salary.

Whose great big idea is this? Whose legacy are we continuing to support? At what cost?

Time to just say NO!

Protons more expensive in Malaysia than overseas

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2012/01/18/protons-more-expensive-in-malaysia-than-overseas/

Patrick Lee

PETALING JAYA: Saudi Arabians pay less for Malaysian-made Proton cars than we do, an independent think-tank revealed.

Citing the Finance Ministry, the Research for Social Advancement (REFSA) said that Saudis only needed to fork out at the most RM43,570 for a brand-new Proton Waja, Gen-2 or a Persona between 2008 and 2009.

Malaysians, on the other hand, were expected to cough up RM52,999 for a “standard Waja or Persona”, and RM52,988 for a Gen-2 in 2011.

“The fact that local cars are cheaper overseas makes little sense,” REFSA said in a statement.

“Proton cars are locally assembled, and utilise a good amount of locally-made spare parts. These Malaysian cars are not levied import tax, so what is impregnating the price tags?”

A quick search on the Internet showed that Saudi Arabia was not the only country selling Protons cheaper than what Malaysia offered.

According to Australian vehicle listing website RedBook (www.redbook.com.au), the cheapest 2011 Gen-2 model (GCM, 1.6 Manual) was priced at AU$15,990 or RM51,727.

The cheapest automatic Gen-2 1.6 M-Line, on the other hand, according to Proton’s website (www.proton-edar.com), was priced at RM54,538. Manual Gen-2 1.6 H-Lines were priced at RM57,038 onwards.

Those prices, according to the national car website, were just prices in Peninsular Malaysia. Protons sold in Sabah and Sarawak were found to be at least RM2,000 more.

Citing Malaysian Automative Association (MAA) president Aisha Ahmad, REFSA said Malaysians were paying more for their Protons because of painfully high taxes.

“The burden comes from excise duty and sales tax, which are a minimum of 65% and 10% respectively… Aisha said in January 2011 that every car sold in Malaysia had been levied 65% to 105% excise duties, not including 10% sales tax,” the think-tank said.

This, it added, meant that Malaysians could expect to fork out a minimum of RM15,000 every time they bought a RM35,000 car.

In comparison, Thailand’s excise duty, REFSA said, was a mere 35%.

According to a Malaysian Insider report, Malaysians were paying an estimated RM6 billion through excise taxes on cars every year. Quoting the MAA, the report said that the government had imposed these taxes because it “needed the money”.

Open letter to PR leadership council

2012-01-03T17:25:00.002+08:00

Dear Sirs,

I am writing this open letter so as to ensure that it is widely read and with the hope that someone who is capable of representing at least some of you respond.

It has been sometime now that I have had this feeling that as a federal opposition block with the opportunity to govern in some states in Malaysia, there is much more that you could do in dispelling some doubt among Malaysians that you can be better than the little that you present of yourself currently. There is this large body of doubt among Malaysians that we have not seen the best of you nor the worst.

In many developed countries around the world, its citizens have a fairly good idea of what each political party stands for on many key issues. This does not seem to be the case in Malaysia, we seem to know what the ruling federal party is about as we are still governed by many of its policies, for better or for worse. But in the case of the federal opposition in many cases, especially in issues deemed sensitive, you have chosen to be silent.

It is only in the economic sphere that we seem to have some information of what you intend to do if you come to power, but in many other key areas you seem to have been strangely silent. This may seem like a good strategy now, but it is in my humble opinion that it is this lack of transparency that makes people hesitant about who they intend to vote for.

I am sure that a principled coalition as yourself would want to win for what you represent rather than winning sorely on the basis that the other side has overstayed their welcome.

I fervently hope that you can make your position clear on the following issues that have been nagging me in these past few years and I am sure they are of concern to many right thinking citizens as well, as they would provide an insight into the true motivations of your coalition.

1. Capital Punishment

Most developed countries consider the death penalty as barbaric. States and countries around the world are slowly but increasingly abandoning the death penalty as an instrument of punishment. In Malaysia, of course, the death penalty still exists and is still used. Indeed, people are constantly exhorting that its use should be extended.

What are your views? I hope you can be specific and not provide an answer that is neither here nor there as politicians are fond of doing.

2. Canning as corporal punishment
Some developed countries view this punishment as cruel as it leaves a permanent physical and psychological scar on the recipient. It is in some countries considered uncivilized for a state to carry out such punishments.

What are your views on the matter?

3. Islamic law

Over the last few years this subject has generated much interest. Most would agree that some of the laws implemented have been lopsided, and thus are considered manifestly unjust. An example would be how drinking and khalwat in 5 star hotels mostly go unpunished as they appear out of reach unlike the raids often conducted on establishments frequented by people who cannot afford ‘protection’.

What are your views with regards to this lopsided implementation of Islamic laws? How would you do things differently

4. Civil Service
It seems there is a tendency to mollycoddle and provide preferential treatment for those working in government when compared to those working in the private sector, although the private sector contributes to nation building just as much.

It has become common knowledge that the size of the civil service workforce has become difficult to manage where in some positions there is one person doing the job of two and yet in other positions two or three persons doing the job of one.

How would you recommend overcoming these problems and improving the benefits of private sector workers?

5. Non-governmental organization personnel
For years these dedicated group of people work for below average salaries and sacrifice themselves for the nation. And yet their needs are rarely addressed, no government recognized benefits, rarely any recognition. And yet they pay the same taxes and contribute no less.

How would you make working for an NGO less of a burden?

These are just some of the many questions I feel would give an insight into how your coalition can win peoples trust if answered sincerely, at the very least they would provide a barometer of your thoughts on other key issues. The list is never ending, maybe there will be other forums, your views on abortion, euthanasia, healthcare, aging and host of other key issues would be most welcome.
I do not ask this of the Barisan Nasional as most people already know them for what they are, but I ask this of you as you still remain an unknown quantity, in most developed countries by now, they would already more or less know who would be their likely ministers even before an election, unfortunately even this is a luxury to us.

I pray for a speedy response and wish you all the best.

Yours sincerely

Stephen Doss

Concerned Citizen

Tengok cermin!!!

2011-08-09T13:35:00.000+08:00

Menunding jari tanpa muhasabah diri
oleh Jahamy

"Oh umatku,
mengapa asyik menunding jari,
tiada erti kah muhasabah diri?

tiada melekat kah dihati
firmah Maha Ilahi
tiada ditukarnya apa yang pada suatu kaum
sehingga mereka menukar apa yang dalam diri sendiri?

Masih kah tidak difahami
firman Maha Suci
Tidak diubah rahmah yang diberi
sehingga diubah apa yang dalam diri?

Tengok cermin, tanya sendiri,
tak kan asyik menunding jari?

Salam.

Allah by any other name....

2011-04-19T20:24:00.002+08:00

By NH Chan

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com

Q: Why do Christians use the word ‘Allah’ in their Malay language Bible and not ‘Tuhan’?

A: It is because Christians, Jews and Muslims worship the same God as the God of Abraham.
Before we all get confused, it is necessary to point out at the outset that the word which is spelt ‘Allah’ is an English word because it is written in English.

The word which bears the same spelling in the National Language is a copy of that word which was first spelt in English in the sixteenth century. The English word ‘Allah’ is the phonetic spelling of the Arabic word for God.

We all know that the Malay word for god is tuhan. We also know that the God of the Muslims is Allah which is actually what this word sounds like in Arabic.

Since most of us do not read or write Arabic, we tend to take the phonetic spelling of the Arabic word for God as used in English dictionaries.

However, from the point of view of Christians, Christians worship the same God as Muslims do. The God of Christians and the God of Muslims is the same God as the God of Abraham.
So that if you are a Christian, the choice of using the word ‘Allah’ in their Malay language Bible is obvious since Christians also worship Allah which is the Malay language equivalent, since Malay uses the same English phonetic spelling – of the God of Muslims. In this country to be Malay is to be a Muslim.

Christians will not use the word ‘God’ in their Malay language Bible because God is an English word and therefore it is an inappropriate word if it is used in a Malay language Bible.

In a Malay language Bible only Malay words should be used. But ‘tuhan’, although it is a Malay word for god, is not an appropriate word to use in the context and sense of the Bible.

Christians who use Malay in their Bible will never use ‘tuhan’ for their God because ‘tuhan’ is other people’s god; it is not the God intended in the Bible.

Just as Malay Muslims will never use ‘tuhan’ for their God even though it is a Malay word for god because their God as well as the Christians’ God is the same God that Abraham (Ibrahim) worshipped – no one really knows exactly when Abraham lived – a traditional view is 1750 to 1500 BC.

Here is an example why ‘tuhan’ is unsuitable to Muslims and Christians. Taoism is common among the Chinese – not all Chinese because there are also Chinese Christians and Chinese Muslims – indeed there are more Chinese Muslims in China then the entire population of Muslims in Malaysia and Indonesia combined.

In China a Chinese Bible is written in Mandarin and ‘Allah’ is written in Chinese phonetic characters to represent the sound of the Arabic word.

A Taoist worships many gods both in heaven and in hell – I always think it is because the Chinese people want to play it safe, because either way they have appeased the deities.
I don’t think any Christian or Muslim who uses Malay would worship tuhan even if you say tuhan is a Malay word for god! This is because they only worship their own God who was the God of Abraham (Ibrahim).

In the English Bible the name for God in Christianity is spelt with a capital G to mean the only God.

‘Allah’ is Arabic for God. Monotheism is the belief that there is only one god. In today’s world, the reality is only Jews, Christians and Muslims worship only one god who was the God of Abraham.

The Muslim God is spelt in any English dictionary as ‘Allah’ since the sixteenth century and it means ‘the name of God among Muslims’.

In Malaysia it is also spelt exactly the same way as the English spelling when the National Language came into being after Merdeka. Both languages use Roman letters in their alphabet.

Glossary
Allah is Arabic for The God – for al-Ilah, i.e. al (the) Ilah (God): see Collins English Dictionary which gives the etymology of the Arabic word for God:
[C16: from Arabic, from al the + Ilah god; compare Hebrew eloah]

If you do not already know, Arabic is the language of the Arabs who is one of a branch of the Semitic race. Aramaic pertains to the northern Semitic languages, the biblical name for ancient Syria. And Hebrew is a person belonging to the Semitic race descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; Jewish is their language: The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology.

Also in the same Dictionary of English Etymology you will find:
Semite Hebrew, Arab, Assyrian or Aramaean, regarded as a descendent of Shem (Gen. X): see The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology.

Collins English Dictionary:
Semite or Shemite n. 1. a member of the group of Caucasoid peoples who speak a semitic language, including the Jews and Arabs as well as the ancient Babylonians, Assyrians and Phoenicians.

Semitic or Shemitic n. 1. A branch or subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic family of languages that includes Arabic, Hebrew, Araimaic, Amharic, and such ancient languages as Akkadian and Phoenician.
Shem n. Old Testament. The eldest of Noah?s three sons (Genesis 10:21).

NH Chan is a former Court of Appeal judge. This article first appeared in Loyar Burok.

Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God?

2011-03-05T00:16:00.002+08:00

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/miroslav-volf/god-versus-allah_b_829955.html

Doesn't matter whether you're Christian,Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist all Malaysians should READ the article above, copy and paste it in your browser to read :)

Peace, Shalom, Salam

Dice!!!

2011-01-28T21:39:00.000+08:00

'But, my friend,' demanded Blowbroth, ' in what way do you determine the degree of obsurity of the claims put forward by the litigants?'

As you other gentlemen do,' replied Bridlegoose, 'that is to say by the number of bags [of documents] brought in by either party.And then I use my little dice, as you other gentlemen do, to conform to the law. Of course I have large dice as well, fine and most proper ones, that I use, as you other gentlemen do, when the matter is more fluid; that is to say when there are fewer bundles.'

‘And after that,’ asked Blowbroth, ‘how do you pronounce judgement, my friend?’

‘As you other gentlemen do,’ replied Bridlegoose, ‘I pronounce in favour of the party to whom fate first awards a good throw of the judiciary, tribunian, and praetorial dice. So our laws ordain.'

‘Yes, my friend,’ said Blowbroth, ‘but since you settle your judgements by chance and by the fall of the dice, why don’t you put things to the hazard on the same day, at the precise hour when the parties at variance appear before you? Why all this further delay?

'Like you other gentlemen, I consider that time ripens all things; with time all things come to light; time is the father of truth. That is why, like you other gentlemen, I suspend, delay, and postpone judgment, so that the case, being well ventilated, sifted, and debated, may in course of time come to its maturity, and so that the decision by dice, afterwards ensuing, may be borne more patiently by the losing party.'

François Rabelais (c. 1494 - c. 1553),

Pantagruel (1532)

Reason!!!

2011-01-22T20:05:00.000+08:00

'Reason!' exclaimed Janotus; 'we use none of that here. You wretched, worthless traitors, there isn't a more depraved bunch than you on the whole face of the earth, as I well know...'

At these words they framed a charge against him; and he, in his turn, served them a summons. In the end the case was adjourned by the court - it is before them still - and at that point the Masters made a vow not to clean off their dirt, and Master Janotus and his supporters vowed not to wipe their noses, until a definite judgement should be delivered.

True to their vows they have remained dirty and snotty to this day. For the court has not yet fully sifted the documents; and the judgement will be given at the next Greek Kalends, that is to say never ... These swallowers of the morning mists [judges who get up early to get the bis cases] make the suits pending before them seem both infinite and immortal; and by so doing have recalled and confirmed the saying of Chilon ... thet misery is the companion of lawsuits, and that those who plead in them are wretched creatures, since they come to the end of their lives long before they attain the rights they lay claim to.

François Rabelais (c. 1494 - c. 1553),

Gargantua (1534)

TWO QUESTIONS!!!

2011-01-20T19:42:00.003+08:00

"Before I take your case," said the lawyer, "you'll have to give me a $50 retainer."

"All right, here's the $50," agreed Nyman, handing over the money.

"Thank you," the lawyer said. "That entitles you to two questions."

"What! fifty dollars for just two questions! Isn't that awfully high?"

"Yes, i suppose it is," said the lawyer. "Now what's your second question?"

by Larry Wilde

INTERLOK!!!

2011-01-17T02:07:00.001+08:00

SHAH ALAM: Seorang penulis keturunan India menggesa Sasterawan Negara Datuk Abdullah Hussain tidak dibabitkan dalam kontroversi buku ‘Interlok’ sekarang.

Uthaya Sankar SB, Presiden Kumpulan Penulis Kavyan, berkata ini kerana buku yang dibicarakan ialah edisi murid yang disunting Ruziati Abdul Rani dan Baharin Aiyob yang dicetak kali pertama pada tahun 2010.

Terdapat kesilapan fakta dalam buku komponen sastera dalam bahasa Malaysia tingkatan 5, edisi murid Interlok. Begitulah pandangan Uthaya dalam majis taklimat buku Interlok edisi murid di sini hari ini.

Kesalahan fakta yang diketahui ramai ialah kasta Paria dan kasta Brahma kerana menurutnya kasta Paria dan Brahma tidak wujud.

“Kamus Dewan mendefinasi kasta sebagai pengelasan kumpulan manusia secara berperingkat iaitu Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaisya dan Sudra.”

Menurutnya lagi, Brahma dalam agama Hindu merujuk kepada dewa.

Mengulas watak dalam keluarga Maniam, Uthaya menyatakan bahawa novel itu tidak jelas dalam menyatakan keturunan Maniam ialah Tamil, Malayali atau Telugu meskipun kisahnya bermula di Kerala. Tambahan pula nama Maniam bukan nama Malayali.

Menurutnya Malabar dan Kerala dirujuk sebagai dua tempat berbeza sedangkan Malabar ialah nama lama negeri Kerala.

Penerangan kepada tarian Kathakali juga adalah salah kerana dijelaskan sebagai tarian menggunakan topeng sedangkan ia menggunakan ‘make-up’.

Dari segi geografi Kerala digambarkan sebagai negeri yang terletak di ‘utara sedikit dari Tamil Nadu’ sedangkan negeri yang terletak di utara Andhra Pradesh.

Suasana di negeri Kerala juga digambarkan dengan sawah padi walhal ia terkenal dengan pohon kelapa.

Uthaya turut menyenaraikan sebab lain orang India berhijrah selain dari perbezaan kasta. Antaranya peluang pekerjaan, peningkatan cukai tanah dan tekanan British terhadap industri tempatan yang menyaingi industri tekstil.

Selain itu buku tersebut turut menggambarkan masyarakat India di Pulau Pinang dengan pecahan 50% Malayali dan bakinya orang Tamil dan Telugu sedangkan hakikatnya ialah 80 peratus masyarakat India ketika adalah orang Tamil.

Uthaya memberitahu hadirin di Perpustakaan Shah Alam bahawa bab keluarga Maniam menunjukkan ‘world view’ bukan India yang tidak menghayati budaya India.

Watak Malini memanggil suaminya Maniam dengan nama sedangkan wanita zaman tersebut tidak berbuat demikian.

Uthaya turut hairan mengapa watak Malini memanggil bapanya Perumal sebagai ‘papa’ dan bukan ‘appa’.

Watak Mariama pula dikatakan’ membujang selepas kematian suami’ sedangkan perkataan yang lebih sesuai ialah balu

Dalam buku tersebut Maniam dikatakan datang sendiri ke Tanah Melayu pada tahun 1910 sedangkan buku Pengajian Malaysia menerangkan bahawa kemasukan buruh bebas terbantut pada 1859 kerana tambang terlalu mahal.

Perbuatan sujud kaki oleh watak Suppiah juga disalah gambarkan seperti memperhambakan diri kepada orang putih sedangkan ia hanya dibuat kepada ibu bapa untuk mendapat restu.

Penulis tersebut turut mempersoalkan cara berubat ‘menggunakan tengkorak’.
“Mengapa NGO Melayu membantah? Ia menyesatkan.”

Beliau turut mengulas komen Abdullah yang mengaku menjadi pengikut ajaran Gandhi.
“Gandhi merujuk kepada mereka sebagai Harijan yang bermaksud Anak Tuhan.

Sebagai respon kepada resolusi Gapena yang ‘tidak mahu buku Komsas diubah walau sepatah perkataan’, Uthaya menyatakan terdapat beberapa ayat yang ada di dalam edisi khas tetapi di dalam edisi murid.

Beliau menggunakan contoh sajak Gagak Hitam tulisan Sasterawan Negara A Samad Said.
Sajak tersebut bukan sahaja dialih bahasa ke bahasa Inggeris, malah sebaris sajak diubah.

Beliau turut menjawab persoalan kolumnis Utusan berkisar mengenai protes terhadap buku Mulk Raj Anand, Untouchables.

“Adakah buku tersebut digunakan sebagai komponen sastera bahasa Inggeris atau sastera Inggeris di Malaysia?”

Penulis Lim Swee Tin yang turut hadir dalam sesi taklimat ini berpendapat,”adalah baik sekiranya jika Abdullah Hussein sendiri membuat perubahan dalam buku tersebut demi kepentingan pelajar sekolah’.

Lim berkata begitu kerana sebagai penulis seseorang akan rasa perit sekiranya karyanya diubah begitu sahaja.

Source : http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com

New York Times/IHT interview Lee Kuan Yew

2010-09-20T10:33:00.000+08:00

The following is the transcript of the interview Seth Mydans had with Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, for the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune. The interview was held on 1 September 2010.

Mr Lee: “Thank you. When you are coming to 87, you are not very happy..”

Q: “Not. Well you should be glad that you’ve gotten way past where most of us will get.”

Mr Lee: “That is my trouble. So, when is the last leaf falling?”

Q: “Do you feel like that, do you feel like the leaves are coming off?”

Mr Lee: “Well, yes. I mean I can feel the gradual decline of energy and vitality and I mean generally every year when you know you are not on the same level as last year. But that is life.”

Q: “My mother used to say never get old.”

Mr Lee: “Well, there you will try never to think yourself old. I mean I keep fit, I swim, I cycle.”

Q: “And yoga, is that right? Meditation?”

Mr Lee: “Yes.”

Q: “Tell me about meditation?”

Mr Lee: “Well, I started it about two, three years ago when Ng Kok Song, the Chief Investment Officer of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, I knew he was doing meditation. His wife had died but he was completely serene. So, I said, how do you achieve this? He said I meditate everyday and so did my wife and when she was dying of cancer, she was totally serene because she meditated everyday and he gave me a video of her in her last few weeks completely composed completely relaxed and she and him had been meditating for years. Well, I said to him, you teach me. He is a devout Christian. He was taught by a man called Laurence Freeman, a Catholic. His guru was John Main a devout Catholic. When I was in London, Ng Kok Song introduced me to Laurence Freeman. In fact, he is coming on Saturday to visit Singapore, and we will do a meditation session. The problem is to keep the monkey mind from running off into all kinds of thoughts. It is most difficult to stay focused on the mantra. The discipline is to have a mantra which you keep repeating in your innermost heart, no need to voice it over and over again throughout the whole period of meditation. The mantra they recommended was a religious one. Ma Ra Na Ta, four syllables. Come To Me Oh Lord Jesus. So I said Okay, I am not a Catholic but I will try. He said you can take any other mantra, Buddhist Om Mi Tuo Fo, and keep repeating it. To me Ma Ran Na Ta is more soothing. So I used Ma Ra Na Ta. You must be disciplined. I find it helps me go to sleep after that. A certain tranquility settles over you. The day’s pressures and worries are pushed out. Then there’s less problem sleeping. I miss it sometimes when I am tired, or have gone out to a dinner and had wine. Then I cannot concentrate. Otherwise I stick to it.”

Q: “So…”

Mr Lee: “.. for a good meditator will do it for half-an-hour. I do it for 20 minutes.”

Q: “So, would you say like your friend who taught you, would you say you are serene?”

Mr Lee: “Well, not as serene as he is. He has done it for many years and he is a devout Catholic. That makes a difference. He believes in Jesus. He believes in the teachings of the Bible. He has lost his wife, a great calamity. But the wife was serene. He gave me this video to show how meditation helped her in her last few months. I do not think I can achieve his level of serenity. But I do achieve some composure.”

Q: “And do you find that at this time in your life you do find yourself getting closer to religion of one sort or another?”

Mr Lee: “I am an agnostic. I was brought up in a traditional Chinese family with ancestor worship. I would go to my grandfather’s grave on All Soul’s Day which is called “Qingming”. My father would bring me along, lay out food and candles and burn some paper money and kowtow three times over his tombstone. At home on specific days outside the kitchen he would put up two candles with my grandfather’s picture. But as I grew up, I questioned this because I think this is superstition. You are gone, you burn paper money, how can he collect the paper money where he is? After my father died, I dropped the practice. My youngest brother baptised my father as a Christian. He did not have the right to. He was a doctor and for the last weeks before my father’s life, he took my father to his house because he was a doctor and was able to keep my father comforted. I do not know if my father was fully aware when he was converted into Christianity.”

Q: “Converted your father?”

Mr Lee: “Yes.”

Q: “Well this happens when you get close to the end.”

Mr Lee: “Well, but I do not know whether my father agreed. At that time he may have been beyond making a rational decision. My brother assumed that he agreed and converted him.”

Q: “But…”

Mr Lee: “I am not converted.”

Q: “But when you reach that stage, you may wonder more than ever what is next?”

Mr Lee: “Well, what is next, I do not know. Nobody has ever come back. The Muslims say that there are seventy houris, beautiful women up there. But nobody has come back to confirm this.”

Q: “And you haven’t converted to Islam, knowing that?”

Mr Lee: “Most unlikely. The Buddhist believes in transmigration of the soul. If you live a good life, the reward is in your next migration, you will be a good being, not an ugly animal. It is a comforting thought, but my wife and I do not believe in it. She has been for two years bed-ridden, unable to speak after a series of strokes. I am not going to convert her. I am not going to allow anybody to convert her because I know it will be against what she believed in all her life. How do I comfort myself? Well, I say life is just like that. You can’t choose how you go unless you are going to take an overdose of sleeping pills, like sodium amytal. For just over two years, she has been inert in bed, but still cognitive. She understands when I talk to her, which I do every night. She keeps awake for me; I tell her about my day’s work, read her favourite poems.”

Q: ‘And what kind of books do you read to her?”

Mr Lee: “So much of my time is reading things online. The latest book which I want to read or re-read is Kim. It is a beautiful of description of India as it was in Kipling’s time. And he had an insight into the Indian mind and it is still basically that same society that I find when I visit India. “

Q: “When you spoke to Time Magazine a couple of years ago, you said Don Quixote was your favourite?”

Mr Lee: “Yes, I was just given the book, Don Quixote, a new translation.”

Q: “But people might find that ironic because he was fantasist who did not realistically choose his projects and you are sort of the opposite?”

Mr Lee: “No, no, you must have something fanciful and a flight of fancy. I had a colleague Rajaratnam who read Sci-Fi for his leisure.”’

Q: “And you?”:

Mr Lee: “No, I do not believe in Sci-Fi.”

Q: “But you must have something to fantasise.”

Mr Lee: “Well, at the moment, as I said, I would like to read Kim again. Why I thought of Kim was because I have just been through a list of audio books to choose for my wife. Jane Austen, Emily Bronte, books she has on her book shelf. So, I ticked off the ones I think she would find interesting. The one that caught my eye was Kim. She was into literature, from Alice in Wonderland, to Adventures with a Looking Glass, to Jane Austen’s Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility. Jane Austen was her favourite writer because she wrote elegant and leisurely English prose of the 19th century. The prose flowed beautifully, described the human condition in a graceful way, and rolls off the tongue and in the mind. She enjoyed it. Also Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. She was an English Literature major.”

Q: “You are naming books on the list, not necessarily books you have already read, yes?”

Mr Lee: “I would have read some of them.”

Q: “Like a Jane Austen book, or Canterbury Tales?”

Mr Lee: “No, Canterbury Tales, I had to do it for my second year English Literature course in Raffles College. For a person in the 15th Century, he wrote very modern stuff. I didn’t find his English all that archaic. I find those Scottish poets difficult to read. Sometimes I don’t make sense of their Scottish brogue. My wife makes sense of them. Then Shakespeare’s sonnets.”

Q: “You read those?”

Mr Lee: “I read those sonnets when I did English literature in my freshman’s year. She read them.”

Q: “When you say she reads them now, you’re the one who reads them, yes?”

Mr Lee: “Yes, I read them to her.”

Q: “But you go to her.”

Mr Lee: “Yes, I read from an Anthology of Poems which she has, and several other anthologies. So I know her favourite poems. She had flagged them. I read them to her.”

Q: “She’s in the hospital? You go to the hospital?”

Mr Lee: “No, no, she’s at home. We’ve got a hospital bed and nurses attending to her. We used to share the same room. Now I’m staying in the next room. I have to get used to her groans and grunts when she’s uncomfortable from a dry throat and they pump in a spray moisture called “Biothene” which soothes her throat, and they suck out phlegm. Because she can’t get up, she can’t breathe fully. The phlegm accumulates in the chest but you can’t suck it out from the chest, you’ve got to wait until she coughs and it goes out to her throat. They suck it out, and she’s relieved. They sit her up and tap her back. It’s very distressing, but that’s life.”

Q: “Yes, your daughter on Sunday wrote a moving column, movingly about the situation referring to you.”

Mr Lee: “How did you come to read it?”

Q: “Somebody said you’ve got to read that column, so I read it.”

Mr Lee: “You don’t get the Straits Times.”

Q: “I get it online actually. I certainly do, I follow Singapore online and she wrote that the whole family suffers of course from this and she wrote the one who’s been hurting the most and is yet carrying on stoically is my father.”

Mr Lee: “What to do? What else can I do? I can’t break down. Life has got to go on. I try to busy myself, but from time to time in idle moments, my mind goes back to the happy days we were up and about together.”

Q: “When you go to visit her, is that the time when your mind goes back?”

Mr Lee: “No, not then. My daughter’s fished out many old photographs for this piece she wrote and picked out a dozen or two dozen photographs from the digital copies which somebody had kept at the Singapore Press Holdings. When I look at them, I thought how lucky I was. I had 61 years of happiness. We’ve got to go sometime, so I’m not sure who’s going first, whether she or me. So I told her, I’ve been looking at the marriage vows of the Christians. The best I read was,” To love, to hold and to cherish, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse, till death do us part.” I told her I would try and keep you company for as long as I can. She understood.”

Q: “Yes, it’s been really.”

Mr Lee: “What to do? What can you do in this situation? I can say get rid of the nurses. Then the maids won’t know how to turn her over and then she gets pneumonia. That ends the suffering. But human beings being what we are, I do the best for her and the best is to give her a competent nurse who moves her, massages her, turns her over, so no bed sores. I’ve got a hospital bed with air cushions so no bed sores. Well, that’s life. Make her comfortable.”

Q: “And for yourself, you feel the weight of age more than you have in the past?”

Mr Lee: “I’m not sure. I marginally must have. It’s stress. However, I look at it, I mean, it’s stress. That’s life. But it’s a different kind of stress from the kind of stress I faced, political stresses. Dire situations for Singapore, dire situations for myself when we broke off from Malaysia, the Malays in Singapore could have rioted and gone for me and they suddenly found themselves back as a minority because the Tunku kicked us out. That’s different, that’s intense stress and it’s over but this is stress which goes on. One doctor told me, you may think that when she’s gone you’re relieved but you’ll be sad when she’s gone because there’s still the human being here, there’s still somebody you talk to and she knows what you’re saying and you’ll miss that. Well, I don’t know, I haven’t come to that but I think I’ll probably will because it’s now two years, May, June, July, August, September, two years and four months. It’s become a part of my life.”

Q: “She’s how old now?”

Mr Lee: “She’s two-and-a-half years older than me, so she’s coming on to 90.”

Q: “But you did make a reference in an interview with Time magazine to something that goes beyond reason as you put it. You referred to the real enemy by Pierre D’Harcourt who talked about people surviving the Nazi, it’s better that they have something to believe in.”

Mr Lee: “Yes, of course.”

Q: “And you said that the Communists and the deeply religious fought on and survived. There are some things in the human spirit that are beyond reason.”

Mr Lee: “I believe that to be true. Look, I saw my friend and cabinet colleague who’s a deeply religious Catholic. He was Finance Minister, a fine man. In 1983, he had a heart attack. He was in hospital, in ICU, he improved and was taken out of ICU. Then he had a second heart attack and I knew it was bad. I went to see him and the priest was giving him the last rites as a Catholic. Absolutely fearless, he showed no distress, no fear, the family was around him, his wife and daughters, he had four daughters. With priest delivering the last rites, he knew he was reaching the end. But his mind was clear but absolutely calm.”

Q: “Well, I am more like you. We don’t have something to cling to.”

Mr Lee: “That’s our problem.”

Q: “But also the way people see you is supremely reasonable person, reason is the ultimate.”

Mr Lee: “Well, that’s the way I’ve been working.”

Q: “Well, you did mention to Tom Plate, they think they know me but they only know the public me?”

Mr Lee: “Yeah, the private view is you have emotions for your close members of your family. We are a close family, not just my sons and my wife and my parents but my brothers and my sister. So my youngest brother, a doctor as I told you, he just sent me an email that my second brother was dying of a bleeding colon, diverticulitis. And later the third brother now has got prostate cancer and has spread into his lymph nodes. So I asked what’re the chances of survival. It’s not gotten to the bones yet, so they’re doing chemotherapy and if you can prevent it from going into the bones, he’ll be okay for a few more years. If it does get to the bones, then that’s the end. I don’t think my brother knows. But I’ll probably go and see him.”

Q: “But you yourself have been fit. You have a stent, you had heart problem late last year but besides that do you have ailments?”

Mr Lee: “Well, aches and pains of a geriatric person, joints, muscles but all non-terminal. I go in for a physiotherapy, maintenance once a week, they give me a rub over because when I cycle, my thighs get sore, knees get a little painful, and so the hips.”

Q: “These are the signs of age.”

Mr Lee: “Yeah, of course.”

Q: “I’m 64. I’m beginning to feel that and I don’t like it and I don’t want to admit to myself.”

Mr Lee: “But if you stop exercising, you make it worse. That’s what my doctors tell me, just carry on. When you have these aches and pains, we’ll give you physiotherapy. I’ve learnt to use heat pads at home. So after the physiotherapy, once a week, if I feel my thighs are sore, I just have a heat pad there. You put in the microwave oven and you tie it around your thighs or your ankles or your calves. It relieves the pain.”

Q: “So you continue to cycle.”

Mr Lee: “Oh yeah.”

Q: “Treadmill?

Mr Lee: “No, I don’t do the treadmill. I walk but not always. When I’ve cycled enough I don’t walk.”

Q: “That’s your primary exercise, swimming?”

Mr Lee: “Yeah, I swim everyday, it’s relaxing.”

Q: “What other secrets, I see you drink hot water?”

Mr Lee: “Yes.”

Q: “Tell me about it.”

Mr Lee: “Well, I used to drink tea but tea is a diuretic, but I didn’t know that. I used to drink litres of it. In the 1980s, I was having a conference with Zhou Ziyang who was then Secretary-General of the Communist Party in the Great Hall of the People. The Chinese came in and poured more tea and hot water. I was scoffing it down because it kept my throat moistened, my BP was up because more liquid was in me. Halfway through, I said please stop. I’m dashing off. I had to relief myself. Then my doctors said don’t you know that tea is a diuretic? I don’t like coffee, it gives me a sour stomach, so okay, let’s switch to water.”

Q: “You know you had the hot water when I met you a couple of years ago and after I told my wife about that, she switched to hot water. She’s not sure why except that you drink hot water, so she’s decided to.”

Mr Lee: “Well, cold water, this was from my ENT man. If you drink cold water, you reduce the temperature of your nasal passages and throat and reduce your resistance to coughs and colds. So I take warm water, body temperature. I don’t scald myself with boiling hot water. I avoid that. But my daughter puts blocks of ice into her coffee and drinks it up. She’s all right, she’s only 50-plus.

Q: “Let me ask a question about the outside world a little bit. Singapore is a great success story even though people criticize this and that. When you look back, you can be proud of what you’ve done and I assume you are. Are there things that you regret, things that you wished you could achieve that you couldn’t?”

Mr Lee: “Well, first I regret having been turfed out of Malaysia. I think if the Tunku had kept us together, what we did in Singapore, had Malaysia accepted a multiracial base for their society, much of what we’ve achieved in Singapore would be achieved in Malaysia. But not as much because it’s a much broader base. We would have improved inter-racial relations and an improved holistic situation. Now we have a very polarized Malaysia, Malays, Chinese and Indians in separate schools, living separate lives and not really getting on with one another. You read them. That’s bad for us as close neighbours.”

Q: “So at that time, you found yourself with Singapore and you have transformed it. And my question would be how do you assess your own satisfaction with what you’ve achieved? What didn’t work?”

Mr Lee: “Well, the greatest satisfaction I had was my colleagues and I, were of that generation who were turfed out of Malaysia suffered two years under a racial policy decided that we will go the other way. We will not as a majority squeeze the minority because once we’re by ourselves, the Chinese become the majority. We made quite sure whatever your race, language or religion, you are an equal citizen and we’ll drum that into the people and I think our Chinese understand and today we have an integrated society. Our Malays are English-educated, they’re no longer like the Malays in Malaysia and you can see there are some still wearing headscarves but very modern looking.”

Q: “That doesn’t sound like a regret to me.”

Mr Lee: “No, no, but the regret is there’s such a narrow base to build this enormous edifice, so I’ve got to tell the next generation, please do not take for granted what’s been built. If you forget that this is a small island which we are built upon and reach a 100 storeys high tower block and may go up to 150 if you are wise. But if you believe that it’s permanent, it will come tumbling down and you will never get a second chance.”

Q: “I wonder if that is a concern of yours about the next generation. I saw your discussion with a group of young people before the last election and they were saying what they want is a lot of these values from the West, an open political marketplace and even playing field in all of these things and you said well, if that’s the way you feel, I’m very sad.”

Mr Lee: “Because you play it that way, if you have dissension, if you chose the easy way to Muslim votes and switch to racial politics, this society is finished. The easiest way to get majority vote is vote for me, we’re Chinese, they’re Indians, they’re Malays. Our society will be ripped apart. If you do not have a cohesive society, you cannot make progress.”

Q: “But is that a concern that the younger generation doesn’t realize as much as it should?”

Mr Lee: “I believe they have come to believe that this is a natural state of affairs, and they can take liberties with it. They think you can put it on auto-pilot. I know that is never so. We have crafted a set of very intricate rules, no housing blocks shall have more than a percentage of so many Chinese, so many percent Malays, Indians. All are thoroughly mixed. Willy-nilly, your neighbours are Indians, Malays, you go to the same shopping malls, you go to the same schools, the same playing fields, you go up and down the same lifts. We cannot allow segregation.”

Q: “There are people who think that Singapore may lighten up a little bit when you go, that the rules will become a little looser and if that happens, that might be something that’s a concern to you.”

Mr Lee: “No, you can go looser where it’s not race, language and religion because those are deeply gut issues and it will surface the moment you start playing on them. It’s inevitable, but on other areas, policies, right or wrong, disparity of opportunities, rich and poor, well go ahead. But don’t play race, language, religion. We’ve got here, we’ve become cohesive, keep it that way. We’ve not used Chinese as a majority language because it will split the population. We have English as our working language, it’s equal for everybody, and it’s given us the progress because we’re connected to the world. If you want to keep your Malay, or your Chinese, or your Tamil, Urdu or whatever, do that as a second language, not equal to your first language. It’s up to you, how high a standard you want to achieve.”

Q: “The public view of you is as a very strict, cerebral, unsentimental. Catherine Lim, “an authoritarian, no-nonsense manner that has little use for sentiment”.”

Mr Lee: “She’s a novelist, therefore, she simplifies a person’s character, make graphic caricature of me. But is anybody that simple or simplistic?”

Q: “Sentiment though, you don’t show that very much in public.”

Mr Lee: “Well, that’s a Chinese ideal. A gentleman in Chinese ideal, the junzi (君子) is someone who is always composed and possessed of himself and doesn’t lose his temper and doesn’t lose his tongue. That’s what I try to do, except when I got turfed out from Malaysia. Then, I just couldn’t help it.”

Q: “One aspect of the way you’ve constructed Singapore is a certain level of fear perhaps in the population. You described yourself as a street fighter, knuckle duster and so forth.”

Mr Lee: “Yes.”

Q: “And that produces among some people a level of fear and I want to tell you what a taxi driver said when I said I was going to interview you. He said, safer not to ask him anything. If you ask him, somebody will follow you. We’re not in politics so just let him do the politics.”

Mr Lee: “How old is he?’

Q: “I’m sorry, middle aged, I don’t know.”

Mr Lee: “I go out. I’m no longer the Prime Minister. I don’t have to do the difficult things. Everybody wants to shake my hands, everybody wants me to autograph something. Everybody wants to get around me to take a photo. So it’s a problem.

Q: “Yes but…”

Mr Lee: “Because I’m no longer in charge, I don’t have to do the hard things. I’ve laid the foundation and they know that because of that foundation, they’re enjoying this life.’

Q: “So when you were the one directly in-charge, you had to be tough, you had to be a fighter.”

Mr Lee: “Yes, of course. I had to fight left-wingers, Communists, pro-Communist groups who had killer squads. If I didn’t have the guts and the gumption to take them on, there wouldn’t be the Singapore. They would have taken over and it would have collapsed. I also had to fight the Malay Ultras when we were in Malaysia for two years.”

Q: “Well, you don’t have a lot of dissidents in prison but you’re known for your libel suits which keeps a lot of people at bay.”

Mr Lee: “We are non-corrupt. We lead modest lives, so it’s difficult to malign us. What’s the easy way to get a leader down? He’s a hypocrite, he is corrupt, he pretends to be this when in fact he’s that. That’s what they’re trying to do to me. Well, prove it, if what you say is right, then I don’t deserve this reputation. Why must you say these things without foundation? I’m taking you to court, you’ve made these allegations, I’m open to your cross-examination.”

Q: “But that may produce what I was talking about, about a level of fear.”

Mr Lee: “No, you’re fearful of a libel suit? Then don’t issue these defamatory statements or make them where you have no basis. The Western correspondent, especially those who hop in and hop out got to find something to show that they are impartial, that they’re not just taken in by the Singapore growth story. They say we keep down the opposition, how? Libel suits. Absolute rubbish. We have opponents in Parliament who have attacked us on policy, no libel suits against them and even in Parliament they are privileged to make defamatory allegation and cannot be sued. But they don’t. They know it is not true.”

Q: “Let me ask a last question. Again back to Tom Plate, “I’m not serious all the time. Everyone needs to have a good laugh now and then to see the funny side of things and to laugh at himself”.”

Mr Lee: “Yes, of course.”

Q: “How about that?”

Mr Lee: “You have to be that.”

Q: “So what makes you laugh?”

Mr Lee: “Many things, the absurdity of it, many things in life. Sometimes, I meet witty people, have conversations, they make sharp remarks, I laugh.

Q: “And when you laugh at yourself as you said?”

Mr Lee: “That’s very frequent. Yeah, I’m reaching 87, trying to keep fit, presenting a vigorous figure and it’s an effort and is it worth the effort? I laugh at myself trying to keep a bold front. It’s become my habit. I just carry on.”

Q: “So it’s the whole broad picture of things that you find funny?”

Mr Lee: “Yes, life as a whole has many abnormalities, of course.”

Q: “Your public life together with your private life, what you’ve done over things people write about you and Singapore, that overall is something that you can find funny?”

Mr Lee: “Yes, of course.

Q: “You made one of the few people who laugh at Singapore.”

Mr Lee: “Let me give you a Chinese proverb “do not judge a man until you’ve closed his coffin. Do not judge a man.” Close the coffin, then decide. Then you assess him. I may still do something foolish before the lid is closed on me.”

Q: “So you’re waiting for the final verdict?”

Mr Lee: “No, the final verdict will not be in the obituaries. The final verdict will be when the PhD students dig out the archives, read my old papers, assess what my enemies have said, sift the evidence and seek the truth? I’m not saying that everything I did was right, but everything I did was for an honourable purpose. I had to do some nasty things, locking fellows up without trial.”

Q: “For the greater good?

Mr Lee: “Well, yes, because otherwise they are running around and causing havoc playing on Chinese language and culture, and accusing me of destroying Chinese education. You’ve not been here when the Communists were running around. They do not believe in the democratic process. They don’t believe in one man, one vote. They believe in one bullet, one vote. They had killer squads. But they at the same time had a united front exploiting the democratic game. It gave them cover. But my business, my job was to make sure that they did not succeed. Sometimes you just got to lock the leaders up. They are confusing the people. The reality is that if you allow these people to work up animosity against the government because it’s keeping down the Chinese language, because we’ve promoted English, keeping down Chinese culture because you have allowed English literature, and we suppress our Chinese values and the Chinese language, the Chinese press, well, you will break up the society. They harp on these things when they know they are not true. They know that if you actually do in Chinese language and culture, the Chinese will riot and the society must break up.”

Q: “So leadership is a constant battle?”

Mr Lee: “In a multiracial situation like this, it is. Malaysia took the different line; Malaysians saw it as a Malay country, all others are lodgers, “orang tumpangan”, and they the Bumiputras, sons of the soil, run the show. So the Sultans, the Chief Justice and judges, generals, police commissioner, the whole hierarchy is Malay. All the big contracts for Malays. Malay is the language of the schools although it does not get them into modern knowledge. So the Chinese build and find their own independent schools to teach Chinese, the Tamils create their own Tamil schools, which do not get them jobs. It’s a most unhappy situation.”

Mdm Yeong: “I thought that was the last question.”

Q: “This is the last part of the last question. So your career has been a struggle to keep things going in the right way and you’ve also said that the best way to keep your health is to keep on working. Are you tired of it by this point? Do you feel like you want to rest?”

Mr Lee: “No, I don’t. I know if I rest I’ll slide downhill fast. No, my whole being has been stimulated by the daily challenge. If I suddenly drop it all, play golf, stroll around, watch the sunset, read novels, that’s downhill. It is the daily challenge, social contacts, meeting people, people like you, you press me, I answer, when I don’t…. what have I got tomorrow?”

Mdm Yeong: “You have two more events coming up. One is the Radin Mas Community.”

Mr Lee: “Oh yeah. I got it.”

Mdm Yeong: “And then you have other call, courtesy call on the 3rd.”

Mr Lee: “We are social animals. Without that interaction with people, you are isolated. The worst punishment you can give a person is the isolation ward. You get hallucinations. Four walls, no books, no nothing. By way of example, Henry Kissinger wants to speak to me. So I said okay, we’ll speak on Sunday. What about? We are meeting in Sao Paolo at a J P Morgan International Advisory Board. He wants to talk to me to check certain facts on China. My mind is kept alive, I go to China once a year at least. I meet Chinese leaders. So it’s a constant stimulus as I keep up to date. Supposing I sit back, I don’t think about China, just watch videos. I am off to Moscow, Kiev and Paris on the 15th of September. Three days Moscow, three days Kiev, four days Paris. Moscow I am involved in the Skolkovo Business School which President Medvedev, when he wasn’t President started. I promised to go if he did not fix it in the winter. So they fix it for September. I look at the fires, I said wow this is no good.”

Q: “It’s not going to be freezing if there are fires.”

Mr Lee: “No but our embassy says the skies have cleared. Kiev because the President has invited me specially and will fly me from Moscow to Kiev and then fly me on to Paris. Paris I am on the TOTAL Advisory Board together with Joe Nye and a few others. They want a presentation on what are China’s strengths and weaknesses. That keeps me alive. It’s just not my impressionistic views of China but one that has to be backed by facts and figures. So my team works out the facts and figures, and I check to see if they tally with my impressions. But it’s a constant stimulus to keep alive, and up-to-date. If I stop it, it’s downhill.”

Q: “Well, I hope you continue. Thank you very much, I really enjoyed this interview.”

Robert Kuok - the past sixty years

2010-09-15T11:02:00.002+08:00

Robert Kuok Hock Nien's notes on the past sixty years
(On the occasion of Kuok Group's 60th Anniversary, April 2009)

(1) My brothers and I owe our upbringing completely to Mother. She was steeped in Ru-Jiao â€“ the teachings of Confucius, Mencius, Laozi and other Chinese sages. Ru-Jiao teaches the correct behaviour for a human being on his life on earth. Mother gently, and sometimes strongly, drummed into the minds of her three boys the values of honesty, of never cheating, lying, stealing or envying other people their material wealth or physical attributes.

(2) Father died on 25 December 1948 night without leaving a will. Following the Japanese surrender, he had re-registered the firm as a sole proprietorship. We went to court to get an appointment as managers, permitting us to continue to manage Tong Seng & Co. The judge said that, as there were two widows, the firm and the estate should be wound up.

(3) We decide to establish Kuok Brothers Limited. In mid-January 1949, five of us met at a small roundtable in our home in Johore Bahru.
Present were my MOTHER, cousin number five HOCK CHIN, cousin number twelve HOCK SENG, my brother HOCK KHEE nicknamed Philip (a.k.a. cousin number seventeen), and myself (a.k.a. cousin number twenty). We sat down and Mother said, â€œNien, would you like to start?â€ I said, â€œFine, yes I will start.â€ To cut the long story short, we got started, and commenced business from a little shop house in Johore Bharu on 1 April 1949.

(4) As a young man, I thought there was no substitute for hard work and thinking up good, honest business plans and, without respite, pushing them along. There will always be business on earth. Be humble; be straight; don't be crooked; don't take advantage of people. To be a successful businessman, I think you really need to brush all your senses every morning, just as you brush your teeth. I coined the phrase 'honing your senses' in business: your vision, hearing, sense of smell, touch and taste. All these senses come in very useful.

(5) Mother was the captain of our ship. She saw and sensed everything, but being a wise person she didn't interfere. Yet she was the background influence, the glue that bound the Group together. She taught my cousins and my brothers and me never to be greedy, and that in making money one could practise high morality. She stressed that whenever the firm does well it should make donations to the charities operating in our societies. She always kept us focused on the big picture in business. For example: avoid businesses that bring harm, destruction or grief to people. This includes trades like gambling, drugs, arms sales, loan-sharking and prostitution.

(6) We started as little fish swimming in a bathtub. From there we went to a lake and now we are in the open seas. Today our businesses cover many industries and our operations are worldwide but this would not have been possible without the vision of the founding members, the dedicated contributions and loyalty of our colleagues and employees, and very importantly the strong moral principles espoused by my mother.

(7) When I hire staff I look for honest, hardworking, intelligent people. When I look candidates in the eye, they must appear very honest to me. I do not look for MBAs or exceptional students. You may hire a brilliant man, summa cum laude, first-class honours, but if his mind is not a fair one or if he has a warped attitude in life, does brilliance really matter?

(8) Among the first employees were Lau Teo Chin (Ee Wor), Kwok Chin Luang (Ee Luang), Othman Samad (Kadir) and an Indian accountant called Joachim who was a devout Roman Catholic and who travelled in every day from Singapore where he lived.

(9) I would like on this special occasion to pay tribute to them and in particular to those who were with us in the early days; many of whom are no longer here. I have already mentioned Lau Teo Chin (Ee Wor) and Kwok Chin Luang (Ee Luang) and Othman Samad (Kadir), there are others like Lean Chye Huat, who is not here today due to failing eyesight, and Yusuf Sharif who passed away in his home country India about one and a half years ago and the late Lee Siew Wah, and others who all gave solid and unstinting support and devotion to the Company. It saddens me that in those early difficult years these pioneers did not enjoy significant and substantial rewards but such is the order of things and a most unfortunate aspect of capitalism. However through our Group and employee Foundations, today we are able to help their descendants whenever there is a need to..

(10) I have learnt that the success of a company must depend on the unity of all its employees. We are all in the same boat rowing against the current and tide and every able person must pull the oars to move the boat forward. Also, we must relentlessly endeavour to maintain and practise the values of integrity and honesty, and eschew and reject greed and arrogance.

(11) A few words of caution to all businessmen and women. I recall the Chinese saying: shibai nai chenggong zhi mu (failure is the mother of success). But in the last thirty years of my business life, I have come to the conclusion that the reverse phrase is even truer of today's world: chenggong nai shibai zhi mu. Success often breeds failure, because it makes you arrogant, complacent and, therefore, lower your guard.

(12) The way forward for this world is through capitalism. Even China has come to realise it. But it's equally true that capitalism, if allowed to snowball along unchecked, can in many ways become destructive. Capitalism needs to be inspected under a magnifying glass once a day, a super-magnifying glass once a week, and put through the cleaning machine once a month.

In capitalism, man needs elements of ambition and greed to drive him. But where does ambition end and greed take over? That's why I say that capitalism, if left to its own devices, will snowball along, roll down the hill and cause a lot of damage. So a sound capitalist system requires very strongly led, enlightened, wise governments. That means politician-statesmen willing to sacrifice their lives for the sake of their people. I don't mean politicians who are there for fame, glory and to line their pockets.

(13) To my mind the two great challenges facing China are the restoration of education in morals and the establishment of a rule of law. You must begin from the root up, imbuing and infusing moral lessons and morality into youth, both at home and from kindergarten and primary school upward through university. Every Chinese needs to accept the principle of rule of law; then you have to train upright judges and lawyers to uphold the legal system.

(14) Wealth should be used for two main purposes. One: for the generation of greater wealth; in other words, you continue to invest, creating prosperity and jobs in the country. Two: part of your wealth should be applied to the betterment of mankind, either by acts of pure philanthropy or by investment in research and development along the frontiers of science, space, health care and so forth.

Tan Sri Robert Kuok Hock Nien (born 6 October 1923, in Johor Bahru, Johor), is an influential Malaysian Chinese businessman. According to Forbes his net worth is estimated to be around $10 billion on May 2008, making him the richest person in Southeast Asia. He is media shy and discreet; most of his businesses are privately held by him or his family. Apart from a multitude of enterprises in Malaysia, his companies have investments in many countries throughout Asia. His business interests range from sugarcane plantations (Perlis Plantations Bhd), sugar refinery, flour milling, animal feed, oil and mining to finance, hotels, properties, trading and freight and publishing.

Selamat Hari Raya Eid Mubarak

2010-09-08T14:14:00.000+08:00

ORANG YANG CIPTA TEORI KONSPIRASI-PENIPU, ORANG YANG PERCAYA- BODOH !!!

2010-09-08T13:06:00.006+08:00

artikel ini diambil dari blog :
http://suhaimiramly.wordpress.com/2010/09/06/teori-konspirasi-itu-bodoh/

Sebelum saya mula, biar saya tekankan pendapat saya supaya para pembaca jelas di mana duduknya saya. Ini pendapat saya:

ORANG YANG CIPTA TEORI KONSPIRASI ADALAH PENIPU DAN ORANG YANG PERCAYA TEORI KONSPIRASI ADALAH BODOH.

Itu pendirian saya. Saya tak bersifat apologetik dengan pendapat saya yang tegas ini. Saya takkan “buka minda”, “celikkan mata” atau “pandang dengan mata hati” atau apa-apa lagi euphemism yang anda gunakan yang bermaksud “percaya kepada teori konspirasi”.

Agama Islam yang saya anuti adalah agama ilmu, bukan agama dengar-dengar, agama khabar angin, dan agama “maksud tersirat”. Setiap yang betul adalah jelas, tak perlu disokong dengan teori konspirasi yang gila dan jahil.

Ya, saya percaya semua pendokong teori konspirasi adalah jahil, bebal dan menyesatkan. Sama ada anda percaya 9/11 dirancang oleh CIA/FBI/Mossad, atau percaya bahawa tsunami dibuat oleh Amerika menggunakan HAARP, atau percaya dunia ditadbir oleh Illuminati dan Freemason, semua teori konspirasi adalah bertentangan dengan bukti sebenar.

Siapa yang mengaku percaya teori konspirasi, anda bermasalah. Jangan pandai-pandai tuduh orang lain termakan dakyah Yahudi kononnya. Tak ada pun dakyah yahudi. Anda yang saja reka-reka benda ini dalam otak anda.

Kenapa kena percaya teori konspirasi? Kita percaya teori konspirasi kerana kita lemah. Kita percaya teori konspirasi kerana dalam hati sanubari kita ingin “percaya” pada sesuatu, walau benda itu karut sekalipun. Kita nak percaya bahawa wujudnya satu “big picture” di dunia ini, dan jika big picture itu kehilangan bibit-bibit tertentu, kita mahu isikan lubang-lubang itu dengan naratif kita sendiri (ini adalah motivation orang mencipta teori konspirasi)

Orang kuat tak perlu teori konspirasi. Orang Yahudi yang menguasai politik dan kuasa ketenteraan di Middle East tak perlu sebar-sebarkan teori konspirasi yang pelik-pelik untuk santapan rakyat meraka. Orang Arab yang lemah dan berpecah belah yang sibuk menyalahkan yahudi untuk semua kekurangan mereka.

Rokok? salah yahudi. Bukan salah budaya arab yang ketagih khat dan tembakau. TV? salah yahudi lagi. Bukan salah orang arab yang suka berhibur dan suka kepada rancangan hiburan barat yang bermutu tinggi (berbanding rancangan tempatan mereka). Pendek kata, semua salah yahudi, sehingga Pokemon pun adalah senjata yahudi menyerang akidah umat Islam. Di dalam kegilaan menyalahkan yahudi ini, tak ada kah yang fikir bahawa kehinaan dan kekalahan orang Islam adalah kerana diri mereka sendiri?

Itu cerita timur tengah. Di negaraku ini, yang tak pernah ada kaitan dengan yahudi pun, semua kita salahkan yahudi. “Eh Bal, kau tak tahu ke yahudi ada di mana-mana? sehingga dalam kerajaan malaysia pon banyak spy yahudi.” Ini lah fikiran mereka. Suka sangat reka hantu yahudi dalam otak mereka sampai kalau jadi masalah di ceruk kampung di pedalaman Kedah pun itu Yahudi punya salah. Lepas tu macam-macam teori dibuat — semuanya tanpa bukti yang sahih, cuma cerita-cerita orang sahaja.

Dulu saya dengar pelbagai teori konspirasi. Maaf, dari keluarga saya sendiri pun ada pelbagai cerita karut yang saya dengar. Seorang ahli keluarga saya pernah cakap, Tun Dr M adalah Freemason tahap ke-33 (tahap paling tinggi) sebab itu dia tak perlu takut kena assassinate walaupun lantang mengkritik Barat. Hahaha…apa lagi lepas ni? Pak Lah ahli Illuminati? Dato Seri Najib ahli New World Order? Kah kah kah, aktif sungguh imaginasi mereka.

Penyakit yang banyak menghinggapi geng-geng ini ialah kecenderungan mencari benda-benda yang “tersirat”. Di Amerika, mereka lah yang membawa cerita karut bahawa piramid dan mata yang terdapat di matawang US dollar adalah bukti Illuminati mengkontrol ekonomi dunia.

Antara orang bijak yang pandai mengambil peluang ke atas geng-geng konspirasi ini ialah Dan Brown, penulis novel yang banyak menggunakan elemen-elemen teori konspirasi dalam novelnya. Terus dia jadi jutawan, sebab geng-geng konspirasi ni pakat beli buku dia, kononnya nak tahu pasal konspirasi di Vatican, Paris dan Washington (ya, saya juga baca ketiga-tiga buku tersebut, cerita nya macam sampah, buang duit sahaja beli. Kalau anda mahu cerita teori konspirasi yang lebih intelek, cuba baca buku Foucault’s Pendulum karangan Umberto Eco).

Di Malaysia golongan “tersirat” ini juga ramai. Dalam semua benda, mereka nampak agenda yahudi atau anti-Islam. Dalam pokemon ada yahudi. Dalam colgate ada yahudi. Sudahlah ini menunjukkan kejahilan mereka terhadap dunia, tetapi juga menunjukkan kejahilan terhadap agama juga. Agama tidak mengajar merekacipta benda-benda karut kemudian berkata bahawa ini semua benda “tersirat” yang kami sahaja nampak kerana kami ada “pencerahan”.

Mereka ini tak ada kerja lain, semua benda nak analisa tak tentu hala. Contohnya orang ini yang kononnya menggunakan nama Kalamul Haqq. Tapi penulisannya jahil dan karut, jadi lebih baik tukar nama jadi Kalamul Auta. Dia menulis mengenai perkara-perkara tersirat di dalam iklan TV3, yang kononnya dipengaruhi Freemason dan Illuminati (*yawn*):

http://aulakalimah.blogspot.com/2010/09/kebenaran-di-sebalik-penipuan-dan.html

Kenapa saya sibuk sangat dengan benda-benda konspirasi ni? “Biarlah orang nak percaya apa-apa pun, yang kau sibuk kenapa?”

Hehe…biar saya ceritakan kenapa saya kisah. Sebabnya mudah sahaja. Virus ini dah menular ke kalangan orang muda, terutama yang berpendidikan. Saya tak kisah kalau orang tua di kampung-kampung percaya bahawa Mahathir adalah agen Yahudi, atau pelajar-pelajar institut vokasional percaya bahawa ekonomi dunia dipegang oleh sekumpulan manusia sulit yang menyembah Iblis, semua itu saya tak kisah.

Yang saya kisah, budak2 universiti, budak2 yang belajar oversea, pekerja2 professional, bakal2 pemimpin, para pensyarah dan profesor, pun percaya kepada konspirasi-konspirasi yang karut. Luluh hati saya bila menerima email-email forward berisi teori konspirasi karut oleh eksekutif Petronas, oleh penjawat tinggi kerajaan, oleh pensyarah-pensyarah IPT, oleh pelajar-pelajar luar negara. Kalau golongan ini pun percaya kepada perkara karut, apa lagi harapan yang kita ada dengan rakyat jelata.

Jangan anggap anda mendapat “pencahayaan” atau bijaksana atau bermata hati atau berkebolehan melihat yang tersirat, kalau anda cuma mereka cipta benda yang tak wujud. Jangan bersorok di sebalik nama agama, gunakan hadis dan ayat-ayat yang tak jelas kaitannya dengan teori konspirasi anda. Jangan pandai-pandai tuduh orang lain tidak nampak yang tersirat kalau kami tak mahu percaya karut-karut rekaan anda.

Maaf kerana saya agak keras, tapi saya tak akan berganjak. Tolong jangan percaya lagi teori konspirasi. Jangan sebarkan teori konspirasi melalui email dan usrah anda. Periksa asal usul sesuatu dengan sumber yang sahih, bukan melalui mat-mat dan minah-minah konspirasi yang lain. Buka mata anda.

Jangan percaya sesuatu hanya sebab yang cerita itu ustaz, atau abang usrah atau naqibah atau anda baca dalam buku sekalipun. Dulu saya banyak baca buku-buku mengarut, terutamanya buku mengenai dajjal. Dulu pada tahun 1990an, ada “ularmak” yang mempunyai ijazah syariah, mengatakan bahawa Dajal itu adalah USSR kerana gah nya empayar USSR dan kecanggihan teknologi mereka.

Ini bukan calang-calang buku, buku ini dijual di toko-toko buku Islamic dan dihebahkan di ceramah-ceramah agama. “Dajjal sudah muncul,” kata mereka, sambil memberikan berpuluh-puluh “bukti” bahawa dajjal itu adalah USSR. Ada “bukti” yang berbunyi sebegini: di hadapan pesawat-pesawat perang USSR, ada tertulis KFR. Ini bermakna KaFiR. Dan Dajjal punya muka ada tanda yang menyatakan Dajjal itu Kafir. Jadi USSR adalah Dajjal. Hahahaha…mengarut bukan? Tak ke sakit hati baca? Cuba bayangkan 50 “bukti” sedemikian dikumpul dalam satu buku. Buku itu layak dibakulsampahkan sahaja, walaupun ditulis oleh seorang yang bergelar ulamak.

Sekarang ni bila USSR dah pecah, apa sudah jadi dengan dajjal anda? Dajjal duduk di Moscow ka, atau di St Petersburg? Atau dah guna passport Belarus atau Ukraine? Dajjal dah tukar kerakyatan jadi People’s Republic of China ka? Atau Dajjal sudah jadi American citizen? Kalau dajjal itu kuasa besar, ini lah kuasa-kuasa besar sekarang. Mana pegi bukti KFR atas kepada dajjal?

Saya hari tu terbaca di MPH (tolong lah malu sikit wahai pengurus MPH, kenapa kedai anda banyak tajuk karut? mana QC?) ada buku yang menghuraikan “bukti-bukti” bahawa dajjal itu adalah Satya Sai Baba. Kah kah kah, dulu USSR, la ni saibaba pulak jadi dajjal? Lepas ni siapa pulak? Amitab Bachchan?

Ini semua adalah kerja gila dan sia-sia mereka yang tiada kerja lain selain daripada mencari benda-benda yang “tersirat” sehinggakan kepercayaan karut mereka sudah sampai peringkat kepercayaan kartun. Sudah tentu di chapter pengenalan buku tersebut mereka menonjolkan bahawa merekalah yang mempunyai “mata hati” dan mempunyai ilham yang agung dan orang lain di luar sana adalah buta dan tak berkasyaf seperti mereka.

Merekalah yang paling bijaksana kerana berjaya menjumpai “bukti” dajal ialah sai baba. Yang peliknya buku ini sampai jadi bestseller. Wah, lucrative sungguh market buku teori konspirasi ni. Apsal saya pegi tulis buku matematik, lepas ni baik saya tulis buku “Obama adalah Dajjal”. Sure jadi bestseller.

Ini penyakit yang dialami ramai orang. Saya panggil self-aggrandizement. Seakan mereka lah yang memperolehi kebenaran agung, dan yang nampak akan benda-benda tersirat, sehingga benda karut pun mereka anggap benar. Seakan orang lain itu berkomplot untuk menolak kebenaran sejati dan berusaha menyoroknya dari pandangan awam. Mereka sahaja betul, orang lain sesat.

Yang “tersirat” ini semuanya karut sahaja. Untuk menjadi seorang yang terhormat anda kena jauh jauh dari benda karut. Ulama-ulama yang saya hormati di Malaysia, tak ada pun yang kaki konspirasi. Mereka menekankan peri pentingnya ilmu dan kebenaran. Segala yang diujar perlu mempunyai bukti kukuh. Ini disiplin ilmu. Atas dasar ini agama tertegak.

Agama ini mudah. Jangan disusahkan dan disimpul-mati kan dengan konspirasi yang bukan-bukan. Jangan cemar keindahan agama dengan huduhnya cerita-cerita karut yang anda lemparkan. Jangan kelirukan rakyat dengan cerita-cerita bangang dan basi mengenai illuminati, freemason dan sebagainya.

Saya tak kata freemason tak wujud, di KL dan Penang pun ada Freemason Lodge. Saya pernah masuk Mason Lodge di Boston. Saya pernah berkenalan beberapa orang Freemason, dan saya pernah lihat dengan mata kepala sendiri “secret handshake” mereka (tidak lagi secret, kerana dah banyak website menghuraikan ritual-ritual Mason di Internet. Tapi mereka cuba mengekalkan secret itu dengan mencipta handshake yang tersendiri di setiap lodge).

Jangan ingat anda sudah tahu mengenai Freemason kalau cuma baca buku-buku nukilan ustaz-ustaz Maggi mee atau Harun Yahya atau membaca buku Dan Brown sahaja. Cuba kaji cara ilmiah. Kalau anda kaji secara ilmiah, anda akan tertawa dengan kenyataan bahawa “Freemason menakluki dunia”.

Begitu juga dengan yahudi. Tiada sekumpulan yahudi di dalam bilik gelap yang berkomplot menguasai ekonomi dan politik dunia. Itu semua fantasi sahaja. Elders of Zion tak wujud. Yang ada cuma kerajaan Israel yang kelam kabut dengan politik mereka (seperti mana-mana negara di dunia). Itu lah insitusi yang paling berkuasa di dunia Yahudi, beserta dengan tentera dan intelligence agency mereka. Ya, saya faham tentera Yahudi dibiayai Amerika dan intelligence agency mereka hebat, tapi kalau mereka ni hebat sangat sampai menakluk dunia, takkan mereka boleh disepak keluar oleh Hezbullah pada tahun 2006? Mana pergi tokey-tokey Illuminati yang berkuasa itu?

Tolong jangan obses sangat dengan konspirasi yahudi ni, mereka ni sama juga macam kita. Saya tahu ramai percaya yahudi kontrol media melalui rupert murdoch, tapi ini bukan bermakna mereka mengkontrol dunia seperti diwarwarkan oleh mat-mat konspirasi ini. Tahukah anda syarikat media Rupert Murdoch itu antara pemegang saham terbesarnya adalah orang Islam, seorang putera Saudi? Kenapa tak kata Fox News dalang konspirasi Islam?

Saya juga faham yahudi banyak memegang kuasa ekonomi. Saya tahu CEO Goldman Sachs adalah bekas pelajar yeshiva di New York. Saya tahu Alan Greenspan dan Ben Bernanke, Fed chairmen adalah yahudi kedua-duanya. Dan banyak firma Wall St dan Fortune 500 company yang CEOnya adalah yahudi. So what? Adakah mereka ini tiap2 bulan akan meeting di dalam bilik rahsia dan membincangkan cara menghancurkan umat islam melalui pokemon dan colgate? Ini adalah karut semata-mata. Jangan biar fantasi mencemar pemikiran logik anda.

Orang yang bising menggebangkan konspirasi yahudi ni, adalah orang yang paling jahil mengenai negara Israel. Bagi mereka Israel adalah negara yang diduduki oleh monster berhidung besar dan bergigi taring dan kerja mereka sehari-hari ialah berfikir cara menghancurkan umat Islam. Ini lah fantasi geng-geng konspirasi ini. Pernahkah mereka melawat Israel? Berapa rakyat Israel yang mereka pernah jumpa? Pernah kah mereka membaca akhbar Yediot ahronot atau Haaretz? Sudah tentu tidak, buat apa nak percaya propaganda yahudi kan. Yang mereka percaya apa yang mereka dengar-dengar dan baca-baca dari sumber yang entah sahih atau tidak. Jauh sekali membuat kajian mengenai Israel. Yang mereka tahu, Israel = mengkontrol dunia melalui kumpulan sulit.

Tolong lah saya merayu anda, cukuplah obses dengan Yahudi dan konspirasi menawan dunia oleh Yahudi ini. Cubalah sedar bahawa kelemahan kita adalah disebabkan kekurangan kita sendiri yang perlu dibaiki, bukannya disebabkan yahudi yang buat. Cuba usaha kuat, belajar rajin-rajin dan amal agama sungguh-sungguh, nescaya anda akan jadi kaum yang kuat lebih kuat daripada yahudi. Masa itu tak perlu teori konspirasi lagi.

Saya kelakar apabila mendengar orang Amerika pun kuat konspirasi. Dalam satu survey yang dijalankan oleh Pew Research Centre baru-baru ini, 12% orang Amerika percaya bahawa Obama adalah seorang Muslim. Ini juga karut. Obama ialah seorang pengikut Kristian dan berkali-kali telah menyatakan perkara itu secara umum. Bayangkan 20 juta orang masih percaya teori konspirasi itu. Superpower my ass.

(Ada tak orang islam yang masih percaya Obama itu seorang Islam? Jika ada sila basuh muka anda, anda sedang bermimpi dan masih dibuai imaginasi indah.)

Saya seorang realist. Saya percaya hukum alam ini sama dari dulu hingga sekarang. Dunia ini bukan dunia yang ideal, dunia ini dunia yang cacamarba. Human nature adalah sesuatu yang buruk, bukan elok. Saya bukanlah idealis yang percaya dunia ini hitam putih. Saya tahu dunia ini tempat yang teruk.

Tapi saya tak perlulah pujuk perasaan saya dengan mempercayai pelbagai jenis teori konspirasi untuk menyedapkan hati saya. Untuk saya percaya akan sesuatu, perlukan bukti yang kukuh. Saya tak percaya semata-mata kerana sentimen.

Sentimen saya adalah sebagai orang Islam. Saya INGIN sangat percaya orang Islam adalah baik-baik belaka. Saya INGIN sangat percaya orang Islam ni tak buat kerosakan yang besar. Kalau ikut sentimen dan emosi (dan fantasi) saya, memang orang Islam ni tak buat salah.

Tapi bukti sahih menunjukkan orang Islam yang buat 9/11. Yang merancang dan menjalankan rancangan itu adalah orang Islam. Bukti dah jelas dalam pelbagai dokumen dan rakaman yang telah didokumentasikan. Samada saya suka atau tidak, orang Islam yang buat 9/11 itu. Saya realist. Saya terima hakikat yang pahit.

Bukannya saya reka cerita yang menyedapkan hati: oohh, sebenarnya yang buat adalah yahudi, atau CIA atau FBI. Orang Islam ni cuma dijadikan kambing hitam supaya mereka boleh serang negara Islam. Ini adalah emosi dan sentimen semata-mata. Tak ada satu bukti pun bahawa 9/11 dibuat oleh CIA atau FBi, walaupun sentimen dan emosi anda INGIN percaya pada benda itu. Telan lah realiti walaupun pahit, wahai saudara Islamku sekalian. Jangan buat-buat pejam mata.

Ramai yang terpedaya dengan teori konspirasi kerana mereka dimain angan-angan dan fantasi bahawa orang Islam ni baik baik belaka, tak ada yang sanggup buat terrorist attack. Jadi mereka salahkan pihak yang lain. Siapa lagi kalau bukan yahudi. Sikit-sikit yahudi. Bila kita nak terima kelemahan kita sendiri.

Teori konspirasi ini banyak mudaratnya jika dibenarkan bermaharajalela dalam masyarakat. Sebab itu saya ambil pendirian tegas dalam isu ini. Siapa menyebarkan teori konspirasi adalah menipu. Yang percaya adalah bodoh. Simple saja. Pahit untuk ditelan tapi straightforward. Hidup saya aman, hati saya tenang, minda saya puas dengan pendirian saya ini. Tak ada contradiction antara worldview saya dan realiti sebenar. Mat-mat konspirasi ini, selalu berlaku percanggahan antara worldview mereka dan realiti sebenar dunia.

Sudahlah cari benda-benda tersirat. Tak perlulah setiap bentuk pangkah (X) atau tambah (+) dianggap konspirasi Nasrani kononnya. Nanti kepala jadi mereng kalau setiap masa nak pikir pasal benda ini. Tengok benda dalam-dalam nanti mata pijau. Bukan semua benda ada maksud tersirat. Most of the time, what you see is what you get.

Jangan terlalu paranoid. Paranoid ini penyakit mental. Orang pandai juga boleh paranoid yang bukan-bukan (contohnya, Unabomber seorang profesor matematik lulusan Harvard yang anti-kehidupan moden, yang telah membunuh mangsanya menggunakan pipe bomb untuk menegakkan manifestonya). Bukannya semua orang nak attack kita. Kita ni entah siapa-siapa pun, orang pun tak ambil kisah. Tak ada kerja yahudi nak gondol orang kat malaysia ni. Baik mereka pikir hal-hal middle east. Kita je syok sendiri konon yahudi ni sibuk pikir hal kita. Sedangkan kita ni dalam radar yahudi, takde keluar signal langsung. Jangan paranoid lebih-lebih. Jangan perasan.

Teori konspirasi ni menyakitkan hati saya, jadi maaf kalau saya tulis penjang lebar isu ini dan saya ulang benda-benda yang saya pernah cakap sebelum ini. Anggap lah ini luahan hati saya yang lama berbuku. Yang trigger entry panjang lebar ini ialah apabila rakan saya Alif forward pada saya link Kalamul Haqq di atas. Habis naik blood pressure saya, so saya terus tulis entri panjang ini. (thanks Alif, for depriving me of my sleep…kekekkeke)

Saya tulis ini tanpa ada niat buruk atas sesiapa. Saya tak mengharapkan kemusnahan sesiapa, kerosakan sesiapa, kehancuran sesiapa. Saya cuma nak tunjukkan kecelaruan logik di sesetengah pikiran manusia. Kalau ada bahasa kasar saya pakai, itu untuk emphasis sahaja. Saya tak minta maaf kalau hati anda terguris (padan muka), bagi saya lagi penting bercakap benar daripada menjaga hati orang. Saya cakap kasar sikit tapi saya tak mahu bermusuh dengan sesiapa, kalau anda terima baguslah, kalau tidak, sikit pun saya tak susah.

Tak perlu nak menjelaskan kepada saya teori konspirasi ni mungkin ada yang benar, mungkin ada kebarangkalian 0.001% ianya bukan direkacipta, etc etc. Saya faham itu semua. Saya ambil jalan yang tegas kerana secara umumnya teori konspirasi ini menggoyahkan masyakarat dan memomokkan pemikiran kita.

Alright, maka terburailah apa yang terbuku dihatiku ini, terima kasih atas kesabaran anda membaca sampai ke akhir.

RIDHUAN TEE MAKES AN ASS OF HIMSELF!!!

2010-08-17T14:50:00.001+08:00

By Kee Thuan Chye

COMMENT The Mingguan Malaysia columnist Ridhuan Tee Abdullah is a PhD holder, but, judging by his recent assault on Helen Ang for her piece ‘Enforcing NEP on Minority Religions’, his thinking seems hardly logical.

Some of the points he makes in his column ‘Jangan Terlalu Berani Mencabar’ (Don’t Be Too Brave to Challenge) are reflective of a bankrupt intellect.

He does, however, make a case for Islamic values and the tolerance inherent in the religion’s teachings, which I agree with. I believe that Islam preaches tolerance and does not oppress. I have high respect for the true Islam. It is the people who misinterpret its tenets and practise it in unsavoury ways who give it a negative image.

Such people include those who would make it hard for non-Muslims to form religious societies in national schools, which is the crux of Helen Ang’s article. They also include those who would remove Christian icons from missionary schools and confiscate crucifixes worn by students. True practitioners of Islam would not do these things.

Neither would true Malaysians, those who abide by Articles 3 and 11 of the Federal Constitution which guarantee freedom of religion and the peaceable practice of all religions.

But how does Tee defend these unconstitutional acts? He says, “It’s not a big issue if the identity of the colonialists, like the symbol of the cross, is changed for a local one. Isn’t it necessary to Malaysianise such attributes in line with the local identity? Why do we still want to maintain the colonial identity?” [Bukanlah menjadi isu besar jika identiti penjajah seperti lambang salib ditukar kepada identiti tempatan. Tidakkah ia perlu diMalaysiakan sifatnya sesuai dengan keadaan masyarakat di sini? Kenapa masih mahu mengekalkan identiti penjajah?]

Is he being dense or is he deliberately confusing the point? The symbol of the cross is not colonial identity, it is the symbol of Christianity. How do you “Malaysianise” that? He is obviously speaking out of turn, if not rubbish.

Worse, he extrapolates it into something bigger, something that was never an issue in the first place: “Do we simply reject assimilation, even a little bit? Does the majority not have rights in the view of the minority?” [Apakah kita langsung menolak asimilasi walaupun sedikit? Apakah majoriti langsung tidak ada hak dalam masyarakat minoriti?]

No one has ever said anything about rejecting assimilation, or that the minority consider the majority as having no rights. All Ang is asking for in her article is that non-Muslim religious societies be allowed in schools as they used to be before. This kind of extrapolation is a tactic we have often seen being used by alarmists and ultras. Perhaps it’s a first here for a PhD holder.

There’s more. In response to Ang’s remark that if she were a mother, she would not send her children to national schools to have their race, traditions and faith beliefs disparaged, Tee says: “She doesn’t need to send her ‘children’ (if she has children who are legitimate) to a national school, if she has no confidence in national schools …” [Beliau tidak perlu menghantar ‘anak’nya (jika ada anak sah taraf) ke sekolah kebangsaan, jika dia tidak yakin dengan sekolah kebangsaan …]

Tee’s insinuation that Ang may have illegitimate children is a low blow, and totally uncalled-for and irrelevant. And insulting.

Unfair comparison with Singapore

This comes after he has made an obnoxious sweeping statement: “There’s only one thing I ask of her and her community – practise the teachings of their religion by eschewing gambling, adultery, free sex, etc. Then this country will be peaceful.” [Satu sahaja yang saya pinta agar beliau dan sekutunya, beramal dengan ajaran agama mereka dengan menjauhi judi, arak, zina, seks bebas dan lain-lain. Barulah aman negara ini.]

What does he mean by this? Which community is he insulting? What is the relevance of this remark to the debate at hand? Is this person who holds a doctorate so incapable of dealing with the points related to the issue that he has to resort to personal insult?

Is he alleging that non-Muslims gamble, commit adultery, indulge in free sex and bear illegitimate children, and that that is the cause of the lack of peace in the country? Is he provoking non-Muslims to cry sedition? Does he not realise that he is insulting Ang’s morality and her religion by making these absurd and uncalled-for assumptions? Is that the strategy for a civilised intellectual debate?

Is it also Tee’s strategy to make a personal attack on Ang? “To say that she’s proud of her ancestry would not be right either, because she prefers to use a white man’s name although she has slit eyes.” [Nak kata beliau bangga dengan keturunannya, tidak juga, sebab beliau lebih gemar menggunakan nama Mat Salleh walaupun matanya begitu sepet.] You mean, he’s not aware of the existence of Christian names?

That aside, there are at least a couple of other things that he needs to be enlightened on.

One concerns the Malays of Singapore. He alleges that Singapore was stolen (dirampas) from them and that they have accepted it quietly, even though Muslim and Malay rights are gradually being withdrawn (dicabut) and eroded (terhakis). He even says these rights are being diluted (dicairkan) by the Singapore Malays themselves.

This shows Tee’s lack of understanding of History 101. Singapore was not stolen from the Malays. In 1965, it was agreed to that Singapore would secede from Malaysia, a move that in fact caused its leader, Lee Kuan Yew, to shed tears. It was a move agreed to by the Alliance, spearheaded by Umno, which was led then by Tunku Abdul Rahman.

Now that Tee has been duly informed, perhaps he should take up the case against Umno, the Alliance (which has since become Barisan Nasional – also History 101) and the Tunku.

Why does he sneer at the Singapore Malays? By all accounts, they are happy being where they are. Hasn’t he read the recent testimonies of Malays in Singapore saying how much better off they are there? How about the one by the Berita Harian editor Guntor Sadali? For Tee’s benefit, here are some excerpts:

“For Malays in Singapore, power is not about wielding the keris. For us, knowledge is … THE real power … We do not believe in getting any special treatment, because it would only reduce the value of our achievements and lower our dignity … Dr Mahathir [Mohamad] and some Malay leaders across the Causeway do not like the way we do things here and have therefore warned Malaysian Malays not to be like us. On our part, there is certainly no turning back. Meritocracy has proven to be a good and fair system. It pushes us to work hard and makes us proud of our achievements. We can see how it has benefitted us by looking at the growing number of doctors, lawyers, magistrates, engineers, corporate leaders and other professionals among us … So, the question is: Shouldn’t our friends and relatives across the Causeway be like us – Malays in Singapore? … We need to help and strengthen each other while at the same time reach out to the other communities in multi-racial, multi-religious Singapore. A successful and prosperous Singapore can only mean a successful and prosperous Malay community. Can we do it? Well, to borrow US President Barack Obama’s campaign slogan, ‘Yes, we can.’”

That is truly positive thinking, which is so refreshingly different from the chasing-at-shadows, dog-in-the-manger mentality demonstrated by Tee. So who is Tee to tell the Singapore Malays what to do?

Stop the narrow compartmentalisation

And who is Tee to tell Helen Ang to go back to her homeland, meaning, to him, China? Ang has no other homeland than Malaysia. She was born here, raised here, has lived here her whole life. This is her homeland as much as it is Tee’s. What makes Tee so special that he can tell her to go home?

If one wants to get personal, one could even say that Tee’s ancestors also came from China and therefore his homeland, by his own reckoning, should be China. But that would be going down to his level, and I’m not a PhD holder. Perhaps he hasn’t heard the saying, “People who live in glass houses should not undress.”

CIMB’s CEO, Nazir Razak, recently told the Chinese Economic Congress that the family of Tan Siok Choo whose grandfather was Tan Cheng Lock, one of the leaders of Malaya’s independence, came to settle in this country even earlier than his own.

This means that Tan’s family was here even earlier than our prime minister Najib Razak’s family, since Nazir is his brother. Doesn’t it make nonsense of Tee’s point that Najib can become prime minister when a Chinese person like Ang cannot speak the truth without being told to go back to China?

And what is this hogwash he says about Lina Joy? That since she cannot be considered Malay any more by leaving Islam, because the Federal Constitution defines a Malay as being someone who professes the Islamic religion, she is no longer eligible to live in this country because she has no race? Where is it written that you need to belong to a race to live in Malaysia?

Really, it is this fixation on the issue of race that has brought our country into a fine mess.

As Tee came from an ethnic Chinese background, he should understand this quite well. If he is a true scholar, he would celebrate diversity rather than settle for narrow compartmentalisation.

After all, Islam celebrates diversity and accepts all the different kinds of people and cultures that God created on Earth. Shouldn’t Tee follow that Islamic spirit?

RIDHUAN TEE MAKES AN ASS OF HIMSELF!!!

2010-08-17T14:50:00.000+08:00

By Kee Thuan Chye

COMMENT The Mingguan Malaysia columnist Ridhuan Tee Abdullah is a PhD holder, but, judging by his recent assault on Helen Ang for her piece ‘Enforcing NEP on Minority Religions’, his thinking seems hardly logical.

Some of the points he makes in his column ‘Jangan Terlalu Berani Mencabar’ (Don’t Be Too Brave to Challenge) are reflective of a bankrupt intellect.

He does, however, make a case for Islamic values and the tolerance inherent in the religion’s teachings, which I agree with. I believe that Islam preaches tolerance and does not oppress. I have high respect for the true Islam. It is the people who misinterpret its tenets and practise it in unsavoury ways who give it a negative image.

Such people include those who would make it hard for non-Muslims to form religious societies in national schools, which is the crux of Helen Ang’s article. They also include those who would remove Christian icons from missionary schools and confiscate crucifixes worn by students. True practitioners of Islam would not do these things.

Neither would true Malaysians, those who abide by Articles 3 and 11 of the Federal Constitution which guarantee freedom of religion and the peaceable practice of all religions.

But how does Tee defend these unconstitutional acts? He says, “It’s not a big issue if the identity of the colonialists, like the symbol of the cross, is changed for a local one. Isn’t it necessary to Malaysianise such attributes in line with the local identity? Why do we still want to maintain the colonial identity?” [Bukanlah menjadi isu besar jika identiti penjajah seperti lambang salib ditukar kepada identiti tempatan. Tidakkah ia perlu diMalaysiakan sifatnya sesuai dengan keadaan masyarakat di sini? Kenapa masih mahu mengekalkan identiti penjajah?]

Is he being dense or is he deliberately confusing the point? The symbol of the cross is not colonial identity, it is the symbol of Christianity. How do you “Malaysianise” that? He is obviously speaking out of turn, if not rubbish.

Worse, he extrapolates it into something bigger, something that was never an issue in the first place: “Do we simply reject assimilation, even a little bit? Does the majority not have rights in the view of the minority?” [Apakah kita langsung menolak asimilasi walaupun sedikit? Apakah majoriti langsung tidak ada hak dalam masyarakat minoriti?]

No one has ever said anything about rejecting assimilation, or that the minority consider the majority as having no rights. All Ang is asking for in her article is that non-Muslim religious societies be allowed in schools as they used to be before. This kind of extrapolation is a tactic we have often seen being used by alarmists and ultras. Perhaps it’s a first here for a PhD holder.

“
Why does he sneer at the Singapore Malays? By all accounts, they are happy being where they are.

There’s more. In response to Ang’s remark that if she were a mother, she would not send her children to national schools to have their race, traditions and faith beliefs disparaged, Tee says: “She doesn’t need to send her ‘children’ (if she has children who are legitimate) to a national school, if she has no confidence in national schools …” [Beliau tidak perlu menghantar ‘anak’nya (jika ada anak sah taraf) ke sekolah kebangsaan, jika dia tidak yakin dengan sekolah kebangsaan …]

Tee’s insinuation that Ang may have illegitimate children is a low blow, and totally uncalled-for and irrelevant. And insulting.

Unfair comparison with Singapore

This comes after he has made an obnoxious sweeping statement: “There’s only one thing I ask of her and her community – practise the teachings of their religion by eschewing gambling, adultery, free sex, etc. Then this country will be peaceful.” [Satu sahaja yang saya pinta agar beliau dan sekutunya, beramal dengan ajaran agama mereka dengan menjauhi judi, arak, zina, seks bebas dan lain-lain. Barulah aman negara ini.]

What does he mean by this? Which community is he insulting? What is the relevance of this remark to the debate at hand? Is this person who holds a doctorate so incapable of dealing with the points related to the issue that he has to resort to personal insult?

Is he alleging that non-Muslims gamble, commit adultery, indulge in free sex and bear illegitimate children, and that that is the cause of the lack of peace in the country? Is he provoking non-Muslims to cry sedition? Does he not realise that he is insulting Ang’s morality and her religion by making these absurd and uncalled-for assumptions? Is that the strategy for a civilised intellectual debate?

Is it also Tee’s strategy to make a personal attack on Ang? “To say that she’s proud of her ancestry would not be right either, because she prefers to use a white man’s name although she has slit eyes.” [Nak kata beliau bangga dengan keturunannya, tidak juga, sebab beliau lebih gemar menggunakan nama Mat Salleh walaupun matanya begitu sepet.] You mean, he’s not aware of the existence of Christian names?

That aside, there are at least a couple of other things that he needs to be enlightened on.

“
Really, it is this fixation on the issue of race that has brought our country into a fine mess.

One concerns the Malays of Singapore. He alleges that Singapore was stolen (dirampas) from them and that they have accepted it quietly, even though Muslim and Malay rights are gradually being withdrawn (dicabut) and eroded (terhakis). He even says these rights are being diluted (dicairkan) by the Singapore Malays themselves.

This shows Tee’s lack of understanding of History 101. Singapore was not stolen from the Malays. In 1965, it was agreed to that Singapore would secede from Malaysia, a move that in fact caused its leader, Lee Kuan Yew, to shed tears. It was a move agreed to by the Alliance, spearheaded by Umno, which was led then by Tunku Abdul Rahman.

Now that Tee has been duly informed, perhaps he should take up the case against Umno, the Alliance (which has since become Barisan Nasional – also History 101) and the Tunku.

Why does he sneer at the Singapore Malays? By all accounts, they are happy being where they are. Hasn’t he read the recent testimonies of Malays in Singapore saying how much better off they are there? How about the one by the Berita Harian editor Guntor Sadali? For Tee’s benefit, here are some excerpts:

“For Malays in Singapore, power is not about wielding the keris. For us, knowledge is … THE real power … We do not believe in getting any special treatment, because it would only reduce the value of our achievements and lower our dignity … Dr Mahathir [Mohamad] and some Malay leaders across the Causeway do not like the way we do things here and have therefore warned Malaysian Malays not to be like us. On our part, there is certainly no turning back. Meritocracy has proven to be a good and fair system. It pushes us to work hard and makes us proud of our achievements. We can see how it has benefitted us by looking at the growing number of doctors, lawyers, magistrates, engineers, corporate leaders and other professionals among us … So, the question is: Shouldn’t our friends and relatives across the Causeway be like us – Malays in Singapore? … We need to help and strengthen each other while at the same time reach out to the other communities in multi-racial, multi-religious Singapore. A successful and prosperous Singapore can only mean a successful and prosperous Malay community. Can we do it? Well, to borrow US President Barack Obama’s campaign slogan, ‘Yes, we can.’”

That is truly positive thinking, which is so refreshingly different from the chasing-at-shadows, dog-in-the-manger mentality demonstrated by Tee. So who is Tee to tell the Singapore Malays what to do?

Stop the narrow compartmentalisation

And who is Tee to tell Helen Ang to go back to her homeland, meaning, to him, China? Ang has no other homeland than Malaysia. She was born here, raised here, has lived here her whole life. This is her homeland as much as it is Tee’s. What makes Tee so special that he can tell her to go home?

If one wants to get personal, one could even say that Tee’s ancestors also came from China and therefore his homeland, by his own reckoning, should be China. But that would be going down to his level, and I’m not a PhD holder. Perhaps he hasn’t heard the saying, “People who live in glass houses should not undress.”

CIMB’s CEO, Nazir Razak, recently told the Chinese Economic Congress that the family of Tan Siok Choo whose grandfather was Tan Cheng Lock, one of the leaders of Malaya’s independence, came to settle in this country even earlier than his own.

This means that Tan’s family was here even earlier than our prime minister Najib Razak’s family, since Nazir is his brother. Doesn’t it make nonsense of Tee’s point that Najib can become prime minister when a Chinese person like Ang cannot speak the truth without being told to go back to China?

And what is this hogwash he says about Lina Joy? That since she cannot be considered Malay any more by leaving Islam, because the Federal Constitution defines a Malay as being someone who professes the Islamic religion, she is no longer eligible to live in this country because she has no race? Where is it written that you need to belong to a race to live in Malaysia?

Really, it is this fixation on the issue of race that has brought our country into a fine mess.

As Tee came from an ethnic Chinese background, he should understand this quite well. If he is a true scholar, he would celebrate diversity rather than settle for narrow compartmentalisation.

After all, Islam celebrates diversity and accepts all the different kinds of people and cultures that God created on Earth. Shouldn’t Tee follow that Islamic spirit?

INSTALLING THE HUSBAND!!!

2010-06-09T10:47:00.001+08:00

INSTALLING HUSBAND
A woman writes to the IT Technical support Guy

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and I noticed a distinct slowdown in the overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewellery applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0..

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as
Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as NEWS 5..0, MONEY 3.0 and CRICKET 4.1.

Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and House cleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system..

Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5..3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Signed,
_______________________________________________________________________________
Reply

DEAR Madam,

First, keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system.

Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme. html and try to download Tears 6.2 and do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update.
If that application works as designed, Husband1..0 should then automatically run the applications Jewellery 2.0 and Flowers 3.5..

However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Silence 2.5 or Beer 6.1.
Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta.

Whatever you do, DO NOT under any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.)

In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly.
You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance.
We recommend: Cooking 3.0 and Hot Looks 7.7.

Good Luck Madam!

SOURCE : The Idle Hours Blogspot

Kalimah Terakhir !!!

2010-06-03T17:55:00.000+08:00

Ramli Sarip - Kalimah Terakhir

Jauh sudah perjalanan
Pahit manis dirasakan
Kini kau sudah di penghujung jalan

Di waktu yang sangat sempit
Di saat hampir terhimpit
Gerak bibir mu tanpa suara
Tenangkanlah jiwa mu
Di kalimah akhir mu

Tua, muda, miskin, kaya
Pasti kembali kepada Nya
Rumah, harta, gedung, istana
Tiada lagi berguna
Hanya amal, budi, bakti, suci

Oh... oh... oh...

Jauh sudah perjalanan
Pahit manis dirasakan
Kini kau sudah di penghujung jalan

Yang jauh semakin jauh
Yang dekat semakin dekat
Berbaktilah sebelum terlambat
Bimbinglah kami ini
Ke jalan Mu Ilahi Ya! Rabbi

Oh... oh... oh...
( ulang )

Myself!!!

2010-05-24T14:33:00.000+08:00

I have to live with myself and so
I want to be fit for myself to know.

I want to be able as days go by,
always to look myself straight in the eye;

I don't want to stand with the setting sun
and hate myself for the things I have done.

I don't want to keep on a closet shelf
a lot of secrets about myself

and fool myself as I come and go
into thinking no one else will ever know

the kind of person I really am,
I don't want to dress up myself in sham.

I want to go out with my head erect
I want to deserve all men's respect;

but here in the struggle for fame and wealth
I want to be able to like myself.

I don't want to look at myself and know that
I am bluster and bluff and empty show.

I never can hide myself from me;
I see what others may never see;

I know what others may never know,
I never can fool myself and so,

whatever happens I want to be
self respecting and conscience free.

Myself
Poet: Edgar A. Guest

The Ant, the Grasshopper and the NEP!!

2010-04-09T15:06:00.002+08:00

Older Version

An ant worked hard in the sweltering heat all summer, building its nest and laying up supplies for the winter.

A grasshopper thought the ant was stupid not knowing how to enjoy life. It spent its days laughing, singing & dancing thoroughly enjoying the summer.

Came winter, the ant was warm, comfortable and had no shortage of food.

The grasshopper had no proper shelter, no stored food, and couldn't find anything to eat from the snow-covered ground. So it died and the story ended.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!

______________________

Malaysian Version

An ant worked hard in the sweltering heat all summer, building its nest and laying up supplies for the winter.

A grasshopper thought the ant was stupid not knowing how to enjoy life. It spent its days laughing, singing & dancing thoroughly enjoying the summer.

Came winter, the shivering grasshopper called a press conference and demanded to know why the ant should be warm and well fed while he was cold and starving.

TV1, TV2 & TV3 showed up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper alongside to a video clip of the ant in his comfortable home with a table full of food.

The majority of the Malaysian Parliamentarians were stunned by the sharp contrast. How could this poor grasshopper be allowed to suffer?

Ibrahim staged a demonstration in front of the ant's nest.

Nazri went on a hunger strike along with other grasshoppers demanding that they be relocated to warmer climate area during winter.

The Malaysia Government immediately passed a law forbidding all ants from working hard in the summer so as to bring about equality of poverty between ants and grasshoppers.

Hishammudin increased 'More Special Reservations' for grasshoppers in Educational Institutions & in Government Services..

The ant was fined for failing to share 30% of his food with the grasshopper. The Prime Minister announced that this was part of the NEP. No ant should question it. (Don't forget, Tax Audits were introduced and targeted at cer tai n individuals who were eventually penalised heavily for not contibuting enough to the well-being of the grasshoppers).

Many years later...

Some ants migrated to the US and set up multi-billion dollar companies there while thousands of grasshoppers still died of starvation despite the 'More Special Reservations'.

Losing significant number of hard working ants and free loading the grasshoppers, Malaysia remained a developing country, despite its abundant natural resources.
All because the remaining ANTS were still doing their work .............................

Latest finding showed that almost all the grasshoppers in the political arena and civil service were hoarding corrupt wealth which they refused to share with fellow grasshoppers.

received via email from Raj Kumar Dheri

NEXT STOP MELAKA - SAYA ANAK BANGSA MALAYSIA!!!

2010-03-22T16:11:00.002+08:00

Date: March 27, 2010 (Saturday)

Time: 2pm sharp-6.30pm (Registration begins at 1pm)

Venue: Pay Fong High School

Email: events@sayaanakbangsamalaysia.net

Tel: +603-2095 0435; Wed-Sun, 12 noon-7pm

URGENT-SAYA ANAK BANGSA MALAYSIA!!!

2010-03-11T12:48:00.002+08:00

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED TO ATTEND THESE EVENTS.

You can register via:

email: events(at)sayaanakbangsamalaysia.net

tel: +603-2095 0435 (Wed to Sun; 12noon-7pm)