Sing Chye's Blog

Ethnic/Racial Nationalism is the way of life in Malaysia, every politician uses it, even in the West.

2026-07-15T23:28:53.727+08:00

By: Choo Sing Chye

16-7-26

Let me start this article with this very honest description of nationalism by Charles de Gaulle (1893-1976) : “Patriotism is when love of your people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own, first.” (1)

What Charles de Gaulle meant in his quote is racial/ethnic nationalism.

Seemingly, the word nationalism sounds innocent, but when paired with the word racial or ethnic, it is not.

Nevertheless, it is the go-to word to use by politicians when they run out of ideas, or when they want to climb to the top quickly.

Even the West is using it without knowing the fact that it tarnishes their moral poster image as Liberals.

As it seems, the West is already fast losing its pole position as a liberal enclave, and they readily lean towards (ethnic/racial) nationalism as their first choice solution to their immigrant problems.

I do not know whether Trump, the leader of the free world, knew or had any clue on the negative connotation attached to nationalism when he naively called himself a nationalist while giving a speech at the United Nation some years ago.

Western leaders, as a fact, almost never call themselves nationalist, for they know, it runs contrary to their liberal image.

In Malaysia, the context in which nationalism sits, is always racial in nature.

The conclusion of the Johore State election has shown that this is true.

Consequently, in Malaysia, racial/ethnic nationalism is a way of life, and it never dies or fades away.

And, in almost every election, whether state or federal, one would never fail to see a sudden appearance of the so-called self-appointed race saviours/protectors/heroes coming out of every woodwork, far and wide, throughout the country.

Although these self-appraised race heroes cannot stop a bullet or leap over very tall buildings, they sure can sow a lot of hatred and insults along the way.

They certainly do not care who they hurt, they will try to out-hero one another for the “tuan-ship” or the race hero title.

What they are preaching, breed the feeling of spitefulness towards people other than their own.

In the Johore State Election, they had persistently put their entire political emphasis, fixated on wading into the shallow waters of ethnic/racial nationalism, and they literally ignored the larger economic issues at hand.

They always say that they are defending their race and all that jest, but deep inside, they are only interested in raising their own political profile.

So, just think of it, this whole deceptive act is Machiavellian at best.

In sum, the people should not be afraid to question the motives of these shenanigans, and call out for what they are, be they Malays, Chinese, Indians or others.

Reference:

1) Battle Cries, James Inglis, Murdoch Books Pty., Limited 2008

Members of The Quill (Brandon University paper) 1982 (Canada)

Dr. Akmal Salleh's Extreme Right politics and Kakistocracy are becoming the common denomination in the post modern politics in Malaysia

2026-02-23T22:02:00.006+08:00

By: Choo Sing Chye

23-2-26

When politicians drift towards the Extreme Right, their faculty to think becomes straight jacketed and inevitably becomes constricted, narrow and inferior.

So, in their quest for power, bigotry and racism become the only two effective tools in their tool box that they will use in an unrestrained manner to run down the minorities.

They would unknowingly, find themselves on top of a slippery slope which they would eventually slide down into the abyss of kakistocracy.

Kakistocracy is where politicians’ incompetence, shallowness and nonsense thrives in the running of governments.

Kakistocracy has now found itself entrenched in many governments across the world and the Western countries are not spared.

In Malaysia, the situation is no better, we have plenty of these incompetent and parochial leaders stepping into the forefront of politics and the chances of them forming the next government is frighteningly high.

If this happens, Malaysia will be badly governed by these leaders and unavoidably, become a Kakistorcracy.

The recent “Keluar Sekejap” (episode 188) interview with Dr. Akmal Saleh, hosted by Khairy Jamaluddin and Zeidai Baharuddin, had exposed this very fact that incompetency and parochialism is very much alive and kicking in Malaysia.

Regrettably, Dr. Akmal’s performance in the interview, fell short of expectation, and his grasp in Malaysian politics, which in my opinion, is shallow and possessing at best, a few intellectual moving parts in his political repertoire.

Zeidai Baharuddin’s pointed questions had exposed Dr. Akmal’s inadequacy in keeping pace with the fast moving political trend in Malaysia.

It seems that none of his ideas proffer any intellectual wisdom or novelty that Malaysians keenly seek in him as a youth leader. All his proposed ideas are unsophisticated and parochial which, I supposed, had found a cozy niche in the yelling-right politicians and Right Wing NGOs.

Racial politics is a dying trend, I do not understand why he makes this as his main priority.

Political Extreme Right is never an ideology of compromise or intelligence, and for this reason, I am not keen to have Dr. Akmal beating a path for the future of Malaysians.

I cannot divorce his path towards Malay (Civil) Nationalism and that of Ultra (Ethnic) Nationalism.

Our path to the future should not be cut from the same cloth as the Nazis’ political agenda where the “Strength through Unity,” slogan is used to create the idea of “Volksgemeinschaft” (national community) exclusively for the Aryan master race.

Now, let’s not get bogged down with the Extreme Right formula, ‘Everything for the state, nothing against the state, nothing outside the state’.

On a final note, we need to have intelligent and competent leaders, not too far off to the Left or Right, to drive the Malaysian future away from Kakistorcracy.

Please see this exciting video which clearly describe the world we live in.

Provocations and falsehoods have no place in the realm of free speech.

2026-01-15T20:52:00.013+08:00

By: Choo Sing Chye

15-1-26

Politicians must accept the fact that not all expressions or speeches are free, and particularly in Malaysia, being a multiracial country with many different religions and cultures that come into play, it is pertinent that there must be caveats.

But in reality, politicians often behave as if they are somewhat endowed with a “privileged tongue”.

Little wonder, they fall into a false pretentious belief that they can say or do whatever they like, even when they sound silly, provocative and false.

For them, it is all about being popular and nothing else matters.

They just wouldn’t care to think about the consequences after speech.

David Lewis in his book, Convention: A Philosophical Study, more or less said it well on this subject:

“It is the profession of philosophers to question platitudes that others accept without thinking twice. A dangerous profession, since philosophers are more easily discredited than platitudes, but a useful one. For when a good philosopher challenges a platitude, it usually turns out that the platitude was essentially right: but the philosopher has noticed trouble that one who did not think twice could not have met. In the end the challenge is answered and the platitude survives, more often than not. But the philosopher has done the adherents of the platitude a service: he has made them think twice. “

Yes, we should think twice.

Unfortunately, with the advent of the social media like “Tik Tok,” “Facebook,” “X” and other popular online media, has made thinking less important, faulty ideas and arguments are disseminated to thousands and millions of viewers in a matter of hours.

With this lightning speed, there is not much time for politicians to ponder about caveats, they just shoot and publish, and if there is any backlash afterwards, they could easily slither away by just blaming his/her clerk or political assistant and sometimes AI.

Inadvertently, this media has perpetuated the habit of speaking or acting first and then do the thinking later.

As a matter of fact, this is one of the most taunting problems that is plaguing our society today.

Gone are the days, where refine and qualitative persuasions matters and not loudness, insults, provocations and nonsense.

Under the banner of free expression, Yeo Bee Yin’s action to celebrate Najib’s failure in his addendum case, in her own personal space is not wrong, but not in a public space.

As being a top leader in the DAP (Democratic Action Party), anything said or done carries a lot of weight in a public space and her above action, in my opinion, is like throwing away the Queenbury's rule book.

Even one of the greatest minds in free expression, John Stuart Mill (1806 – 1873), had acknowledged that not all speeches or actions have immunity.

He wrote in one of his famous work, “On Liberty”, which I find some similarity to the Yeo Bee Yin’s issue:

“An opinion that corn-dealers are starvers of the poor, or that private property is robbery, ought to be unmolested when simply circulated through the press, but may justly incur punishment when delivered orally to an excited mob assembled before the house of a corn-dealer, or when handed about among the same mob in the form of a placard."

Finally, we should not stop thinking critically, and our response to political issues should not be laced with insults, falsehoods and provocations – we should think twice.

Japan has yet to exorcise its brutal militarist past.

2025-09-02T21:15:00.021+08:00

By: Choo Sing Chye

Republished on the 2-9-25

More often than not, this question usually pops up every now and then about its past - has Japan repented or apologised for its wartime atrocities?

In reality, no, and I fail to understand why?

I had met with a couple of Japanese journalists who came to Malaysia over 30 years ago, to lend support to the protesters against a Japanese company. This company had haphazardly constructed defective radioactive waste dumps near a large residential area in Bukit Merah. They, as I witness, were kind and considerate people.

The biggest mistake that the Japanese government had done was to whitewash what had happened during the Second World War. They shouldn't have done it, for they will forever bear the burden of the war crimes that their forefather had done.

The war crimes had nothing to do with the present generation and the action of whitewashing these events is very unfair to them.

Meanwhile Nazi war criminals in Germany were hunted down and brought to justice, in the case of Japan, many high-ranking wartime Japanese officials went unpunished and some even prospered and held high positions in power.

The Germans had, on their part, detached themselves from Nazism and have come to terms with their past. They have included the Holocaust in their school curriculum.

Further, the German government has paid RM22 billion in compensation and reparations and will pay another RM50 billion by the year 2005.

In contrast, Japan has paid out less than one percent of the amount that Germany has paid.

The approval of revised history textbooks by the Japanese government which intentionally plays down Japanese wartime atrocities has given that country's ultra-nationalists an impetus - never before possible in the open - to continue their dirty work of whitewashing Japan's past.

Over the years, many liberal Japanese had called on their government to apologise and come to term with their past.

One such Japanese is Ono Kenji, who in 1988 interviewed more than 200 wartime veterans from the Aizu Wakamatsu Battalion during the infamous Rape of Nanking.

His research was hailed as the first Japanese account of the Nanking massacre but unfortunately his work brought into conflict with the ultra-nationalists. Today, Ono Kenji lives in seclusion and for fear of retaliation from the fanatical ultra-nationalists.

In 1987, Azuma Shiro, the first Japanese veteran to admit openly his crimes in Nanking, was blasted by the ultra-nationalists followed by death threats. Fearing for his life, he retired to a remote village outside Kyoto.

The mayor of Nagasaki, Motoshima Hitoshi, was shot by an ultra-nationalist for merely saying that Emperor Hirohito bore some responsibility for World War II. And the most frightening thing was that a substantial number of Japanese approved of the action and called it 'divine punishment'.

Inasmuch as the above are concerned, the atrocities committed by the Japanese soldiers during WWII have been systematically purged from Japanese school textbooks by the authorities.

In 1977, the Japanese ministry of education reduced the historical content on WWII in the standard history book from several hundred pages to only six pages. These six pages gave the impression that the Japanese were victims of fire-bombs and the two atomic bombs.

As the product of this impeachment of vital historical facts, one Japanese newspaper in early 90s published an article quoting a Japanese high school teacher who claimed that his students were surprised to learn that Japan had been at war with the United States. They wanted to know who had won.

In 1991, the ministry ordered textbook authors to eliminate all reference to the number of Chinese killed during the Rape of Nanking. In 1994, three years later, the ministry forced a textbook author to reduce the number of the said killings by Japanese soldiers from 25,000 to 15,000.

This without even scrutinising the already available fact that the experts at the International Military Tribunal of the Far East (IMTFE) had come up with. The experts put the figure at more than 260,000.

Nobukatsu Fujioka, a professor of education at the Tokyo University went beyond human dignity when he likened compensation for 'comfort women' (zyugun-ianfu) as 'striking the lottery' and demanded that the Japanese government retract its apologies to them and strike out any reference of them from Japanese history textbooks.

It is estimated that well over 200,000 Koreans, Taiwanese, Chinese and Filipinos were forced to become 'comfort women' to provide sexual services for the Japanese soldiers during the war.

Coming to the final question, has justice been done? Not all Japanese war criminals have been brought to book. The most notorious of them all was General Shiro Ishii. He was best known as the father of germ warfare.

He was a doctor and the 'murderous mastermind' of Unit 731, a biological warfare complex in Pingfan, northern China. He apparently used 3,000 Chinese prisoners to incubate germs like anthrax (which can kill in three days), plague, dysentery, cholera and so forth. When they died, his assistants harvested the germs from the dead bodies and subsequently placed them in the drinking wells of Chinese villages.

As these murderous experiments progressed, more complexes were set up in Manchuria, Burma, Thailand and Singapore. Shiro and his team were never brought to justice. He died of cancer in 1959 in his home and a memorial was erected to honour him and his henchmen in Tokyo.

It is sad that Shiro the hostic humanus generis (enemy of humankind) should die without justice being done. The only consolation to his victims' families is that he died a painful death.

These injustices still linger in our minds and to forget what Japan had done during from the early 1930s to the end of the Second World War is to allow the seed of militarism in Japan to germinate.

One must not be blinded by the unseen danger that is lurking behind the phenomenal economical success of Japan - that is the discreet resurgence of ultra-nationalism in Japan.

Finally, the conduct of the Japanese soldiers during World War II should not be impeached from our memory and of our future generations as history tends to repeat itself when one forgets.

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The US Tariff trade war - Is Trump justified to impose it on the world?

2025-08-14T23:14:00.012+08:00

By: Choo Sing Chye

14-8-25

Needless to say, that in Trump’s world, we are living in a “twilight zone” and it is getting stranger and confusing each passing day.

The rationale in which Trump unceasingly used to paint the world as the exploiter of America, had distastefully spawned into a new narrative that oddly portrayed the world as a villain, and America, as the victim of this diabolical exploitation.

With this narrative being freely tossed about in Trump’s world, doing business with America had become a jumbled mess.

Anyway, whatever Trump’s talking point is, not one president that came before him had argued on this point or believed that America is being cheated or taken advantage of.

This is patently Trump’s narrative.

So, is there any validity in Trump’s claims that “America has been taken advantage of by "cheaters" and "pillaged" by foreigners,” (1) or just his mischievous way of legitimizing his tariff war on the world?

If any of Trump's claims is true, then America will be on the right side of history, but the fact of the matter is far from the truth.

Frankly speaking, the opposite is true, it is not the world that has treated the US badly, but it is the US that has treated the world badly.

Like always being the case of many Trump’s narratives, they cannot survive the test of reality and truthfulness.

Similarly, this particular narrative of his, can easily be debunked by looking at the two most important post war policy documents formulated by the US State Department and the Council of Foreign Relation shortly after the Second World War.

These two documents spelt out the very purpose and direction of the new US policies in the postwar world, even until today, these policies are still very much alive and kicking.

The first document is the Policy Planning Study 23 (PPS 23), written by George Kennan for the State Department in 1948.

Here is what PPS 23 said:

“...We have about 50% of the world’s wealth and only 6.3% of its population…In this situation, we cannot fail to be the object of envy and resentment.

“Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity…

“To do so, we have to dispense with all sentimentality and daydreaming; and our attention will have to be concentrated everywhere on our immediate national objectives...We should cease to talk about vague and...unreal objectives such as human rights, the raising of the living standard, and democratization. The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts. The less we are then hampered by idealist slogans, the better.” (2)

The second document, the National Security Council Memorandum 68 (NSC 68) was written by Paul Nitze two years later in 1950, developed on the hard-line views of Secretary of State Dean Acheson.

This NSC 68 called for a “roll-back strategy” that would “foster the seeds of destruction within the Soviet system”. (3)

“The policies recommended by NSC 68 would require ‘sacrifice and discipline’ in the US..(means) huge military expenditure and cutbacks on social services. It would also be necessary to overcome the ‘excess of tolerance’ that allows too much domestic dissent.” (4)

Even before the end of the war, “the study groups of the State Department and the Council of Foreign Relation (heavily influenced by US business groups) developed plans for the postwar world in term of what they called the ‘Grand Area,’ which was to be subordinated to the needs of the America economy.” (5)

The “Grand Area”, are the Third World Countries, meaning South East Asia, Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

Apparently, the “US policies in the Third World are easy to understand. (The US) consistently opposes democracy if its results can’t be controlled. The problem with real democracies is that they’re likely to fall prey to the heresy that governments should respond to the needs of their own population, instead of those of US investors.” (6)

A noteworthy research done by the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London on the Inter-American system, concluded that:

“...while the US pays lip service to democracy the real commitment is to (US) private, capitalist enterprise. When the rights of the investors are threatened, democracy has to go; if these rights are safeguarded, killers and torturers will do just fine.” (7)

In the end, America has no permanent friends, but permanent interests of the American business community.

Henry Kissinger’s famous aphorism that to be a “friend of the US is fatal,” although taken on a very different context, in Trump’s case, it snuggled well with his behavioural repertoire.

Honestly, there is no better way of demystifying the whole essence of the American politicians’ way of dealing with the world, is to read into the words of Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, telling President Eisenhower on how to keep Latin America in line, “you have to pat them a little bit and make them think that you are fond of them,” (8)

In sum, it is not the whole world exploiting the US, but the unflinching pursuance of these two policies, PPS 23 and NSC 68 had plunged the US into a vortex of endless wars and in the end, bled her dry.

References:

1) What tariffs has Trump announced and why?

4 June 2025 BBC.

2) “How The World Works,” Noam Chomsky, copyright, 1986 - 2011 Penguin Books Ltd., Strand London.

3,4,5,6,7,8) ibid.

Thirty years of P. Patto's passing - 12-7-95

2025-07-11T19:37:00.007+08:00

By: Choo Sing Chye

11-7-2025 (A repost)

On this day, 12-7-25 is the thirtieth year of P.Patto's passing.

Thirty years has gone by, and I can still remember the day that DAP stood firm on its Leftwing perch, believing that the poor and weak of our society should not be left behind - this was what the late P.Patto firmly stood for.

The recent announcement by Anthony Loke that the Democratic Action Pary (DAP) will be setting up of a new Educational Fund under P.Patto’s name, is the most befitting commemoration bestowed on a man who had devoted his entire life in the fight for the rights of the common Malaysians.

After Thirty years of his passing, DAP is still indebted to him, the late Karpal Singh and Lim Kit Siang for steering the party from its early turbulent formative years to what is today, and most importantly, made DAP a home for the common people in Malaysia.

I truly missed the after-office hours political chats with P. Patto. P.Patto was without doubt, an ideologue.

Personally, as I gathered, he had a sound footing on the British new Labourite politics of the 1990’s, which had a sprinkling influence of the Trade Unionists, Fabians, Clause IV Socialists and an exacting large dose of the controlling influence from the Near-Center Socialists - the Social Democrats.

The Social Democrats in the British Labour Party seek reform and equity in the capitalist system rather than state ownership – this became Tony Blair’s New Labour manifesto which went on to win a landslide victory in the 1997 British general elections.

P.Patto’s politics also rhymed with the European Left which has very little, or no elitism embedded into it. His close friendship with the then Chancellor of West Germany, the late Willy Brandt, was indicative of this leaning.

P.Patto displayed none of the ‘elitist’ deposition that the British Left or Right had often shown.

His main political trust was commonality.

After he was released from detention (Operation Lalang), for the next two Deepavali, he celebrated in the homes of Railway labourers and the Ipoh General Hospital (now Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun) labourers and not some big shots’ home. I know this, because I was with him on these two occasions.

There was practically not one Rubber Estate in Malaysia that P.Patto had not visited and particularly in Perak, I had accompanied him to all.

In his constituency, he had visited all the roadside “Roti-Canai” stalls and wet markets and what’s more, he often made house to house visits.

Under his Chairmanship of DAP Perak, I was able to start a DAP branch in FELDA Bersia situated in the Malay heartland, north of Perak. This feat was never repeated elsewhere again in Malaysia even until today.

This was the heart of P.Patto’s politics i.e., to be with the common people of all races.

It is without doubt, the late P.Patto together with the late Karpal Singh, Lim Kit Siang had made DAP a brand, synonymous with the common people in Malaysia.

In a final note, politics in Malaysia can be summed up simply as the Malays would likely to join UMNO or PAS; the Chinese, the MCA or Gerakan; the Indians, the MIC but only Malaysians join the DAP.

An Open Letter to DAP Party Veteran AR Krishnan and all DAP members.

2025-03-14T14:49:00.011+08:00

By: Choo Sing Chye,

14-3-2025

The Democratic Action Party (Malaysia) internal political construct is a snapshot of a Westminster Parliamentary framework.

The first 30 members who received the highest votes from the delegates all over the country are deemed elected as Central Committee Members. All these elected Central Committee (CEC) Members are equal, notwithstanding their number of votes they get.

And from here, the 30 members will amongst themselves choose the Chairman, Secretary General and so forth. This is often referred to as the second level voting.

An open reply to Jason Chin’s article, “Does the Selangor DAP election mean anything at all?

Likewise, in our parliamentary system, all elected 222 Members of Parliament are deemed equal even though some get a higher majority of votes than others. And from all these 222 equals, they will choose a first among them – the Prime Minister and subsequently from here, a level down, the cabinet ministers.

It is not proper for the party veteran VR Krishnan to call for the exit of Lim Guan Eng from the DAP’s Sunday polls on the account that he has been too long in the party and should give way for the young.

My forty odd years in the DAP, which I held only one belief that I held until today, i.e., let the delegates from all the DAP branches in Malaysia democratically decide on whether he should remain or not in the CEC.

The young members should be given encouragement and support from the party but not a free ticket to the top, they should on their own merits and strength, garner enough votes for themselves to be in the CEC. In short, the young will have to prove themselves.

My position as a DAP leader then was to inculcate the members on the need to choose future good leaders based on the Left ideology, morality, honesty and intelligence and not empty shell fast talking and patronage seeking, populist leaders.

Guan Eng did not get a free ticket to the top; I have known him since he made his first speech as a very young man at a DAP Convention meeting many years ago. Life was not a bed of roses for him while he was in the DAP. The worst part was that he was jailed for fighting for justice for the people, and he did not stop, he still lumbered on and worked his way to the top – it was not a fluke.

As for Chow Kon Yeow, the present Penang Chief Minister, he is still an effective Chief Minister. I first met him while the late P.Patto and I were summoned to Penang to come out with a Penang DAP state newspaper, primarily, for the upcoming election in the 90’s.

Chow Kon Yeow, who I found then and now, is a humble, intelligent and a very hard-working leader and he will be a very effective leader for many years to come if he is allowed to carry on.

The ideological stance of the DAP at the present moment is fuzzy.

A few months ago, a DAP leader came up to me and said, “Choo, me and my colleagues, really do not understand you and we believe that you are old-school politics.”

I looked at him in disbelief, and replied to him instantly, “there are no such things as old-school or new-school politics, it is only Left and Right politics. The reason that you do not understand me is that you and your colleagues have moved from the Left (DAP position) to the Right (Barisan Nasional position) and I am still on the Left. For this reason, you do not act and talk like DAP politicians anymore, now you talk and act like the Right Wing Malaysian Chinese Association, (MCA) politicians where money means everything.”

The very concept of Plato’s “Philosopher King” and Aristotle’s concept of the “many” leaders should not be lost in search for patronage and position in this coming Sunday DAP’s CEC election.

Philosopher King means that our leaders chosen must be brave and intelligent and Aristotle's concept of the “many” means that we must have many leaders so that the number will dilute any potential shift in power to a single person and a single small group.

So, Mr A.R. Krishnan, lets the thousands of DAP delegates throughout Malaysia decide upon Guan Eng’s fate and for that matter, the young members' fate.

Trump’s MAGA Politics – The Death of American Idealism

2025-01-26T21:05:00.017+08:00

By: Choo Sing Chye

26-1-25

The most freakish thing about MAGA politics is the willingness of the American people to accept Hard Right politics which was apparently, yanked off from the fringes of the American political landscape, and effortlessly infused into the mainstream by Trump and his followers.

All these MAGA Hard Right Wing political jests had put a smile on the face of fascism.

Gone were the days of the late J.F. Kennedy’s liberal politics, where the American call for freedom in the world was filled with idealism.

The late J.F. Kennedy’s "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech in the heart of West Berlin had thrust the very ideals of American freedom and inclusiveness to the forefront of World’s politics. Have we forgotten this?

All these, to which I found, more often than not, missing in the speeches of the present American leaders.

Now the call for freedom and inclusiveness comes with a large dose of Machiavellian intrigue and imbecility.

This speech of Kennedy had so rattled the Soviet Union’s leader, Nikita Khrushchev, that the following week, he made a “how he love” the wall (Berlin Wall) opposing speech in East Berlin.

Donald Trump’s dream for the American, wallows into the likes of Arthur Miller’s “Death of the salesman,” simplistic version of the American Dream – a recipe for failure.

Bob Dylan - Blowin' in the Wind

The David Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye,” sensitivities that displayed predominately in the post Kennedy era had all vanished.

The Civil Rights movements and the anti-war marches had given way to the shallow Post-Modern Woke culture.

Now, what left of the American Dream is greed and arrogance.

Trump wants Greenland, the Panama Canal and Canada is indicative of the trend of insensitive politics which is fast gaining popularity in the World.

Trump’s calls for Canada to become the 51st State of America, is reminiscent of the demand made by President James Knox Polk (1795-1849), an ardent proponent of Manifest Destiny, that the border of Canada should start from latitude 54°40′; and he was willing to go to war against Great Britain with the battle-cry, “Fifty-Four Forty or Fight”.

Trump’s MAGA politics is a watered-down version of the Manifest Destiny (1845).

Today, the ushering of the Trump’s MAGA politics into the mainstream had spelled the death of idealism in America and in the end, all these had inadvertently added another ugly political hue to this new century of wacky Post Modern politics.

For more information about Manifest Destiny, please go to

https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/manifest-destiny

An open letter to all Unity Government Members of Parliament and Members of the State Assembly.

2024-12-23T13:39:00.027+08:00

By Choo Sing Chye

23-12-24

Shouldn’t it be wise for us not to get into the mindset of the dark ages of European politics while framing a new bill or to debate its merits and demerits in Parliament or in the public sphere.

The idea to monopolize news and information by the state and elite politicians is not something new, for it can be traced back to as far as 1695, when the first ever book was published in Europe.

The book “Zeitungs Lust and Nutz” (Newspaper's Pleasure and Use) published in Germany in 1695, in which the author Kaspar von Stieler (1632-1707) called for the strict control of the press and argued:

“in favor of state monopoly over the press and censorship in order to prevent newspapers from spreading false, mocking, and noxious news that could mislead, anger, and deceive a simple man. (1)

“not everybody should be allowed to print news and sell it without their concordance. If this grew into a habit, newspapers would perhaps become a bit more scarce and expensive for the buyer, but also much more reliable and worth of reading.” (2)

Now, like the new bill on multimedia, the government should put a lot of thought into it, because it is difficult to license something like an opinion.

Also Read:

So you say you know Liberalism - really do you?

A satirical look at Chin Peng’s and Lee Kuan Yew’s close relative in Malaysia.

Malaysia does not belong to us, we belong to Malaysia.

Is PAS Dr Azman Ibrahim expounding kindergarten history?

Opinions are subjective and it is difficult to affix a right or wrong label to it and as such, criminalizing an opinion by licensing, is just not the right thing to do.

We cannot criminalize opinions just because certain elite politicians from the ruling and opposition parties do not like it.

If we allow ourselves to be equipped with a shallow and crude knowledge, our thoughts would consequently be confined to a very narrow bandwidth which would ultimately encumber our ability to shy away from arguing in a petty, crude, rude, insulting and lewd manner.

Literally speaking, we must learn how to swim before entering into political deep waters.

Wishing readers of this blog a very happy
Merry Christmas and peace to you all

We should echo Pythagoras’ idea of winning over opponents through better, effective, intelligent and refined arguments, and avoid the usual practice of hiding behind censorship, licensing and the threat of violence.

What we are getting now is that when an opinion irks a certain elite group or individual, we would certainly see swamps of supporters making police reports demanding arrest.

The making of police reports on one’s opponent because of his/her opinion hurts, insults, offends some elite politicians is not universal, it is a unique phenomenon, it only happens in Malaysia.

For an example, the multiple police reports made on Lim Kit Siang in Malaysia after he had given a speech in Britain which touched on the constitutional fact that any citizen could become a prime minster, goes on to show that we are capable of acting in the most silliest manner by letting ourselves to be sucked into a vortex of shallow, unuseful and unintelligent debate.

I am sure the Unity government meant well in pursuing the idea that debates should be civil and not cause any misunderstanding or unrest between races.

Apparently, when we debate or comment on issues, especially on religion, the biggest mistake that we are prone of making is that we tend to treat these issues as opinions - religions are based on beliefs, not opinions.

This is a fundamental flaw that we must avoid.

Since we have copied the Westminster type of Parliamentary system, we should also copy its convention to debate gentlemanly and intellectually so as to smooth out all the rough edges of a bill without any shouting matches and any claims of being offended and or being insulted in the process.

But unfortunately, very too often, debates and arguments get veered off to the likes of a primary school yard chatter or arguments.

We must understand that although we have a Westminster Parliamentary system, we still have many rough and tough roads to travel before we could create an environment whereby a proper, refine, polite, respectable and free intellectual discussions/debates could prevail, without the fear of being licensed or censored or even the threat of violence.

For an example in Britain, even after the dropping of the Press Licensing Act (1662) in 1695, the danger of prosecution under the Blasphemy laws still looms over their heads.

“The statute of 1698 enacts that if any person educated in the Christian religion “shall by writing, printing, teaching, or advised speaking deny any one of the persons in the Holy Trinity to be God, or shall assert or maintain there are more gods than one, or shall deny the Christian religion to be true, or shall deny the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be of divine authority,” is convicted, he shall for the first offense be adjudged incapable to hold any public offices or employments, and on the second shall lose his civil rights and be imprisoned for three years. This Statute expressly states as its motive the fact that “many persons have of late years openly avowed and published many blasphemous and impious opinions contrary to the doctrine and principles of the Christian religion.” (3)

References:

1) Slavko Splichal, Principles of Publicity and Press Freedom, Rowman and Littlefield, UK.

2) ibid.,

3) J. B. BURY, M.A., F.B.A, A HISTORY OF FREEDOM OF THOUGHT, 1913.

Corruption in Malaysia – Are we degenerating into a Rotten Borough Politician?

2024-11-22T04:53:00.015+08:00

By: Choo Sing Chye

22-11-24

Frankly, every now and then, whenever a corruption scandal erupts in Malaysia, we would, with much certainty, witness a charade of contemptuous crap talking which would effortlessly encroach into the precinct of buffoonery and arrogance.

Most of the time, these buffoonery rants are meant as a defense for the wrong doers

So, amazing it may seem, they do not even know that all their acts of buffoonery would degrade their moral standing in our society.

To the common folks in Malaysia, the way our politicians go about dealing with these corruption cases is utterly shameful, and it had made the clean government shibboleth, empty and meaningless.

The many narratives that they gave to the press, and the online news had totally strayed from commonsense and moral values – it is truly a disturbing trespass.

But what I marveled most, is the fact that they were able to put up a defense by spawning new meaning to corrupt practices that they had been involved in and make them sound innocent and politically correct.

What they are pursuing is not legal, and definitely not politically and morally correct.

There are no two ways about it.

I do not understand why these crooked leaders sometimes are hailed as heroes by their supporters and some even go as far as to claim to be victims of political persecution, but none showed the bravery of the Japanese and the South Korean leaders who would bow in public and say, “sorry” for what they had done, and then go silently to jail to serve their time.

To them, if they are brave enough to take bribes, they are brave enough to go to jail if caught.

So, believe me, at the rate we are going, we would surely catch up with the shenanigans of the yesteryear’s British Rotten Borough Members of Parliament.

Read more : No man can get rich in politics unless he's a crook! - President Harry Truman

Here is the fact, over two hundred years ago, the constituents of the snobbish and obstinate Anthony Henry (Member of Parliament) wrote asking him to vote against the budget. He scathingly replied to the constituents with this letter:

“Gentlemen, I have received your letter about the excise, and I am surprised at your insolence in writing to me at all. You know, and I know, that I bought this constituency. You know, and I know, that I am now determined to sell it, and you know, what you think I don't know, that you are now looking out for another buyer, and I know, what you certainly don't know, that I have now found another constituency to buy. About what you said about the excise: May God's curse light on you all, and may it make your homes as open and as free to the excise officers as your wives and daughters have always been to me while I have represented your rascally constituency. (1)

To Read more about Rotten Borough Please go to:

https://spartacus-educational.com/PRrotten.htm

Refences:

1) Weidenfeld and Nicolson, The Tory Leaders-Their Struggle for power, Weidenfeld and Nicolson London, 1977.

Is the present destruction of Gaza and the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto during WWII, a parallel?

2024-11-09T19:01:00.005+08:00

By: Choo Sing Chye

9-11-24

Regrettably, we had moved away from an idealist Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s (1712-1778) philosophy of “men are born neighbours,” (1) towards a more antagonistic world of the realist Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), where “men are born adversaries.” (2)

The ever-widening war in the Middle East World, in recent days, has proven that this dictum, “we are born adversaries,” has become a dominant aspect in the daily transactions between countries and politicians.

Thus, instead of a tit-for-tat, diplomatic words; it is tit-for-tat, bombs and rockets.

We cannot honestly believe that we can find peace in the Middle East without diplomacy at play.

Hence, by premising Israel’s overkill response as a targeted and legitimate retaliatory reaction to the Hamas’ October 7th raid into Israel which killed over a thousand of its citizens, confounds this issue even further.

Apparently, the prevailing idea that this act of unrestricted bombing of Gaza where over 40 thousand perished, is a needful and rightful response to rid of Hamas from Gaza, has found a very strong niche support from many political commentators and elite politicians in the West and the US.

What’s more, it is bad politics to set the 3-day continuous fire-bombing of Dresden by the British and the Americans during the Second World War which killed over 20 thousand people as an example of Israel’s bombing of Gaza. But the actual price to pay in Dresden and Gaza is innocent lives, old men, women and children, which is the only similarity that we can honestly get.

Nazism has no place in the Palestinians’ Struggle for their homeland

This is a foolish argument as far as it goes, and it does not augur well with the international community to sanitize Israelis’ leveling of Gaza by comparing it to that of the Dresden bombings during the WWII.

We cannot have a runaway perception that Hamas is equal to the Nazis – it is not.

This comparison is not valid.

Whatever the arguments or comparisons that we may convey on this issue, one thing for certain is that we shouldn’t blind ourselves to the fact that this Gaza’s inference does not fit into the overall description; but perhaps, in the case of the Jewish Warsaw Ghetto uprising during WWII, it does, if we are not lazy or bias to dig a little bit deeper into this event and comparison.

To make Hitler’s Final Solution for the Jews more efficient, the Nazi corralled all the Polish Jews into Ghettos so that they could be easily separated from those who could work in the Nazi war factories and those deemed to be useless i.e., old men, women, children. Inhumanly, the latter group of Jews were sent to the Extermination Camps scattered around Poland.

The Extermination camps were Bekzec (10 thousand a day capacity), Sobibor (6 thousand a day capacity), Majdanek (10 thousand a day capacity), Chelmno (oldest extermination center since 1941), Auschwitz (in excess of 40 thousand a day capacity) and Treblinka.

As a consequence of this, the Warsaw Ghetto Jews rebelled against the German. The Uprising (19th April to 16th May 1943) was instantly met with tons of incendiary bombs dropped upon them by the German Bombers high up above. In addition to the incendiary bombs, tons of coal were rained down to the ghetto below to further stoke the intensity of the fire which was already burning ferociously throughout the day and night killing scores of Jews.

So now, let us put this uprising in mind and fast forward it to the present conflict in Gaza, and it wouldn’t be a surprise that the overwhelming destructive force unleashed by the Nazi then conveyed the same imagery that we are seeing today in Gaza.

Unflatteringly, the portrayal of the Jews as victims of the Holocaust during WWII has been reversed now to that of the NAZI’s.

Whether a solution can be found on the Gaza war under the new Trump’s administration, it's anyone’s guess for this moment in time.

References:

1) Patrick Watson & Benjamin Barber. The Struggle For Democracy, Toronto: 1988

2) ibid., - Thomas Hobbes’ philosophy does not advocate violence but he lived through the most violent English Civil War.

Is Pierre de Gaulle, a disgrace to the late Charles de Gaulle?

2024-09-17T19:49:00.024+08:00

By: Choo Sing Chye

As we go by the saying that “the Apple doesn't fall far from the tree,” to which, Pierre de Gaulle did not fall far.

His critical view on NATO is reminiscent of his grandfather’s - Charles de Gaulle, but becoming a citizen of the Russian Federation, I suspect, it is Pierre’s way to poke the American Eagle, France leaders, and NATO.

Also Read: Nazism has no place in the Palestinians’ Struggle for their homeland

Charles de Gaulle was not an ordinary run the mill Right Winger like Marine Le Pen, he was a Bonapartist, passionately all things French, and he was also a committed Continentalist (like Bonaparte).

In 1957, he suggested for a “Franco-Anglo-American Directorate: the recognition of France as the spokesman for continental Europe, the establishment of mechanisms for joint political and strategic planning, even possibly a French veto over the use of American nuclear weapons.” (1)

In 1966, de Gaulle shocked the world by pulling France out of NATO.

Charles de Gaulle always had misgivings with NATO, and he reiterate to John F. Kennedy during his visit to France, in no uncertain term that NATO had outlived its usefulness as a military organization.

According to de Gaulle:

“NATO was of two things: an alliance and an organization. No one questioned the need for the alliance, but the organization in its present form had outlived its time. Its essence had been the defense of Europe by American nuclear weapons; its occasion, the weakness of the Western European states; its result, the integration under American leadership of European contributions to the American defense of Europe. But the world had changed. Washington no longer possessed its nuclear monopoly, and this fact reduced the value of the American nuclear sword. Moreover, America had commitments in all parts of the world. And in Europe the revival of national pride, especially in France, meant that integrated defense under American command was no longer acceptable.” (2)

On the possibility of war with Soviet Union over West Berlin:

“President de Gaulle himself had questioned whether the US was ready to defend Paris at the risk of obliteration of New York.

“He remarked that the West simply could not retreat; it could not withdraw its troops or accept obstacles to access or permit a change in the status of West Berlin…

“If Khrushchev wanted war, he must understand that he would have it at the first moment he used force against us. De Gaulle added that the West could not win a military victory in Berlin; Khrushchev must be made to recognize that fighting around Berlin would mean a general war. The General insisted again that this was the last thing Khrushchev wanted.

“(He) commented that all this would be fine if the Russians really believed that America would use its nuclear weapons in defense of other states; but he doubted whether Moscow did; he even doubted whether the Americans believed it.

“No state could be expected to place atomic weapons at the disposal of another state. That is why he do not ask the US for atomic weapons or even for assistance in developing French atomic power.

“The US, in de Gaulle judgment, would use nuclear weapons only when its own territory was directly threatened; and why not?

“This was the way states behaved. France or Russia would do no differently.

“If Kennedy said that America regarded Europe and the US as the same, “since you say so, Mr. President, I believe you,” but could anyone be really certain? If he sat in Kennedy’s place, de Gaulle said, he would not be certain himself when or where he intended to use these weapons.” (3)

References:

1) “A Thousand Day, John F. Kennedy in the White House”, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., A Fawcett Premier Book, Fawcett Publications, Inc., Greenwich, Conn US 1965.

2) ibid.,

3) ibid.,

Thomas Paine - profiting from wars with Russia.

2024-08-04T02:17:00.008+08:00

By: Choo Sing Chye

What Thomas Paine said about countries profiting from wars had not changed until today?

As prophetical as it is, the writings of Thomas Paine, Volume II, about 200 years ago, appeared to have shed lights on the greed of countries that seek profits from wars.

We all know that the present Biden Administration had poured in billions of dollars into the Russian -Ukraine conflict which ultimately ends up in coffers of the huge US arm manufacturers. They do not want peace as peace does not profit anyone.

Here is the part that says it all :

The English government (the Superpower of the day) presents, just now, a curious phenomenon.

Seeing that the French and English nations are getting rid of the prejudices and false notions formerly entertained against each other, and which have cost them so much money, that government seems to be placarding its need of a foe; for unless it finds one somewhere, no pretext exists for the enormous revenue and taxation now deemed necessary.

Therefore it seeks in Russia the enemy it has lost in France, and appears to say to the universe, or to say to itself. "If nobody will be so kind as to become my foe, I shall need no more fleets nor armies, and shall be forced to reduce my taxes.

The American war enabled me to double the taxes; the Dutch business to add more; the Nootka humbug gave me a pretext for raising three millions sterling more; but unless I can make an enemy of Russia the harvest from wars will end.

I was the first to incite Turk against Russian, and now I hope to reap a fresh crop of taxes."

If the miseries of war, and the flood of evils it spreads over a country, did not check all inclination to mirth, and turn laughter into grief, the frantic conduct of the government of England would only excite ridicule.

Also read: Nazism has no place in the Palestinians’ Struggle for their homeland

About Thomas Paine 1737-1809:- An Englishman migrate to America at the age of 37 in 1791 and stayed there for some time. He later came back to England where he wrote “The Rights of Man” which sold over 200,000 copies in just a few months. He calls for the reformation of the parliament. His ideas were instrumental to the changes on how English parliament were to operate in the Reform Bill of 1832.

The Malaysian Identity Politics - Just a Political Philosophy Chat on the Current Issues

2024-03-23T23:03:00.060+08:00

By: Choo Sing Chye

24-3-24

A doctor asked me recently, "what does Fahmi Fadzil (Minister of Communications) meant, in the context of Political Science when he called himself a democrat, and what is your take on the current issues plaguing Malaysia?"

My answer was that I was surprised to see Fahmi Fadzil calling himself a democrat. It’s not that I disapprove of his declaration, but it’s rare, to find a Malaysian, high up in politics, affixing himself a political label.

Certainly, it is a good start, knowing the political position of a politician, whether, Left, Center or Right is crucial to the people, because it takes out the guesswork on type of policies that politicians wish to pursue.

At the same time, it also creates a paradigm for a higher level of intellectual political engagement and interaction.

So, in order for this idea to flourish and to succeed in Malaysia, our politicians should not prioritize and center-staged the Bak-kut-teh, the New Village and the Socks issue (Allah word printed on the socks). Leave or treat them as non-political issues, period.

But instead of propagating these good values into our political discourse, the opposite had happened, our politicians had lowered their intellectual bar to such an unhealthy level on these issues that they had descended into the abyss of frenzied emotion devoid of intelligence, reason and civility.

Unsettlingly as it is, this is the political persuasion of our politicians today and their incompetency, fanaticism and the crude handling of all these issues had produced a political quagmire in which our economic progress is made difficult.

Now, let’s go back to Fahmi Fadzi’s case, because of the absence of an adjective in front of the word democrat, whatever he meant will not go far. So, it is difficult for me to be exact on his political leanings in a precise political context.

Generally, I know what he meant; he was implying that he was not going to put limitations on the Opposition’s political discourse on the Internet.

But, by the way, my Blog was partially blocked during the Perikatan Nasional administration (now in the opposition) and not now, under Fahmi Fadzi.

So, let’s continue, if someone comes to me and declare that he is a Socialist, he is like telling me, he bought a Toyota car, and I would incline to ask, “what Toyota model did you buy, a Vios, a Corolla, a Camry or some other model?” My university professor had identified 9 types of Socialism, so Socialism without an antecedent is a common noun.

For an example, if Fahmi Fadzi makes this declaration in the United States, he is considered a member of the Democratic Party, but if he says it in Britain to the Liberals, Conservatives and the Labour, he would get this answer, “we are all Liberal Democrats not just democrats.” The same goes to Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

But, if he goes to Europe, which is steeped in Socialism, and declare himself as a democrat, he will get a dissatisfying look, he will get this frosty respond, “only democrat, Mr. Fahmi Fadzi, we Europeans, are more than a democrat, we are Social Democrats - Socialism through the ballot box not revolution (communist style)?”

Amusing as it seems, the British Left never call themselves, Socialists, they call themselves, Labourites, if they are from the Labour Party, and Liberals, if they are from the Liberal Party.

Thus, finally, the last time I heard of self-political labeling was from Khairy Jamaluddin. During one General Elections, many moons and suns ago, I must admit, I forget which one, declared himself, a Radical Centrist in the midst of Screaming Right in UMNO, in which he was the member of, not now.

At that time, he was everything a Radical and anything, but a Centrist.

Today, Khairy is beaten to the Centre by Zahid Hamidi, his nemesis, the Deputy Prime Minister, a Hard Right Winger, when he called for civility on the “Socks” issue.

Apparently, Zahid Hamidi has mellowed a lot, but after all, in a Post Modernist world, anything can happen in politics, like throwing soup at the Mona Lisa painting, just to make a political point.

Nonetheless, after saying all these, I still believe Khairy is a potential Prime Minister in future.

*Note - please to go this site for more local issue - Cakap Hup

Politics in Malaysia - A simple philosophical take

2024-03-06T21:07:00.013+08:00

By: Choo Sing Chye

6-3-24

The political discourse in Malaysia and also the West is high on racism, radical nationalism and low on substance and quality.

Unfortunately, this current trend runs parallel with the political drift to the Right in the world today, particularly, the US and Western Europe.

It doesn't need any deep thought or intelligence from these politicians to whip up racist, radical nationalistic and anti-immigrants sentiments and made it their central theme to win elections.

In fact, the further one tilts to the Right, the faculty to think becomes straight jacketed and inevitably becomes constricted and inferior. The proof is in the pudding - The Ukraine and the Gaza war. The solution would have been found years ago, if politicians there use their intelligence and will, but they didn’t.

It is pretty obvious that the quality of some of our politicians and the speeches that, had nosedived to such a worrying stage that it leads one to believe that these wannabes had in the past, done very little or a lot of wrong schooling.

One shouldn’t blame the people from taking a poor view of these politicians or this line, as it is not rare to find a PHD or a Degree holder saying silly, trivial and untrue things, particularly in the press and social media.

At times, it is so mind boggling to hear nonsense coming out of these seemingly comical characters that it cannot stop one from wondering whether or not they had ever weaned off comics books from their childhood days.

Now our politicians, especially from the opposition, the Perikatan Nasional, demand that they should be given a free pass to say whatever they like and whoever they wish to direct to.

Actually, what is missing in these opposition politicians’ speech is intelligence not freedom.

So, to have a better understanding of this particular concept of free speech, we must turn back the clock to the era of ancient Greece where speech and intelligence came hand in hand. These two were inseparable parts of their political discourse.

For a starter, Ancient Greek politicians were tutored by the best sophists of the day when they were young, because their parents knew that the “hearers“ (people or council members) of their sons’ speech were obsessed with intelligence rather than the freedom to make it.

Thus, their parents would spare no expense to hire the best sophist to tutor their sons, so that they would not make a donkey of themselves in a debate or any public discourse.

Speech to the Ancient Greeks is different, they branched out their speech into three categories with different priorities.

According to Aristotle, speech comes in three different categories, namely, a) Forensic, b) Ceremonial oratory of display, and c) Political oratory.

Forensic speakers either attack or defend somebody. They stay neutral on the subject matter. They needed no research or to prove whether the statements they made were true or false. It didn’t matter.

Ceremonial speakers either praise or censure somebody and it is in this category most of our politicians fall in. It is the tit for tat type of engagement which our politicians are so fond of using that it has seeped into every corner of our daily life in Malaysia, even the parliament is not spared. Unfortunately, the press and the social media too, are full of this tit for tat politics.

And lastly, Political Oratory, one would find that the ancient Greeks took this category of speech very seriously and primed it with a large dose of intelligence and substance.

So to be qualified as a Political Orator, one must be an expert in a vast range of subject matters, namely, 1) Ways and Means, 2) War and Peace, 3) National Defence, 4) Imports and Exports, and 5) Legislation.

1) Ways and Means:

The Speaker must know the number and extent of the country’s sources of revenue and also its expenditure. This is the work scope of a modern Finance Minister.

2) War and Peace:

The Speaker must know the actual and potential military strength of his country and of his enemy’s. From the knowledge of the history of war fought, he must have a contingency plan for further peace and war.

3) National Defence:

The Speaker ought to know the inner workings of the actual defensive strategy used, its actual strength and character of the defense force and also the positions of all the defensive forts.

4) Import and Export:

The Speaker must know what his country’s food production and what is imported. Treaties must be made with foreign nations on the import of food or export.

5) Legislation:

The Speaker ought to know different types of constitutions from different nations to be able to formulate a good set of legislation which would put the welfare of the nation at heart and also would leave very little for the judges to adjudicate upon. Here our MPs could learn a thing or two from these ancient politicians. They were also aware that if they pushed legislation too hard and extreme, the nation would become an oligarchy. Moreover, they were intelligent enough not to monopolize political power and turn the state into a dictatorship.

My simple wish is that our politicians should do more thinking and reading and opt for facts and truths, not fancy and falsehood.

Anybody can give speech, but the content must hold a certain level of intelligence that should not involve trivial matters like “bak kut teh,” "ancestors," “short pants” and so forth; and worse, to debate these non-essential matters in Parliament or in the mainstream media. It is a waste of time.

Please leave these trivial matters to where they belong, in the Pasar Malam (Night Market), Five-Foot way and Tik Tok.

In sum, politicians should pool all their intellectual efforts together to make this nation a better place for all citizens.

Mahathir - A Racist or A Hard Right Winger?

2024-01-30T15:17:00.017+08:00

By: Choo Sing Chye.

Actually, what’s the point in interviewing Mahathir and making police reports all over Malaysia after what had been said?

Why burden the police on these political matters?

To know Mahathir, just go and read his book, “The Malay Dilemma” and you will get all the parasitical Hard Right Wingers racial ranting of the highest order.

But calling him an outright racist is confusing, as the facts of the matter is that the core premise of his many arguments is squarely based on uplifting his own race, the Malays?

Thus, we must not ignore the fact that there are many politicians from all races, whether they are in the Opposition or in the Unity Government, who commonly use this premise as the main denomination for their argument in support of their own community.

As Mahathir started his political career as a Hard Right, he is not going to budge from this position anytime soon, even to the end.

We can’t expect him as a Malay Hard Right Winger to utter good things about the non-Malays. He certainly will not do that.

He is just doing what other race Hard Right Wingers usually do. He is not going to change, because it is an innate behaviour of the Hard Right Wingers to appraise one own race to a higher plane.

In fact, all these nasty behaviours come naturally to them without having to read Hitler’s Mein Kempf.

But at times he does wander off blissfully into the orbit of the extreme Hard Right that if we happen to give him a tiny Lilliputian nudge, he will glide into the arms of fascism effortlessly. This means that he can blend in well with the likes of Geert Wilders of Netherlands and Marine Le Pen of France.

But in the 2018 General Elections, he did an unbelievable thing, he did a Machiavellian somersault shift to the Centre.

Mahathir, after 20 over odd years as Prime Minister, knows that the Centre is the sweet spot for the non-Malays votes.

Difficult as it might seem, he went ahead against everything he believed in, a little uncomfortable at that time, but it was a very small price to pay. The price of the second Prime Ministership is worth all the discomforts.

Well, Machiavelli's advice to the prince was well taken by him. About four centuries ago, Machiavelli advised his prince to be “brave as a lion and cunning or sly as a fox” as opposed to Plato's “Philosopher King”.

But, within months, he flipped back to his normal self, a Hard Right Winger.

In sum, labeling him as a Hard Right Winger or a Machiavellian will be a much better identifier to use in his case than a racist.

But in the end, what bothers me most is that Mahathir lacks the decency to acknowledge the fact that many Indians, Chinese and other East Malaysians in the army had given their lives defending this nation of ours.

Do we need to change our Constitution?

2023-12-16T22:43:00.016+08:00

By: Choo Sing Chye (16-12-23)

It is very perplexing to hear politicians making silly demands that our constitution be amended to allow only a Malay to be the Prime Minister.

Any political scientists or politicians worth his/her salt would easily understand why the framers of our constitution did not want to specify any race to be the PM of Malaya.

It is technically difficult to encapsulate the term “Malay” correctly.

Let us ponder a little bit further on this issue, if the framers decided that only a Malay could be PM and framed it into our constitution, we would then see former PM Mahathir whose paternal grandfather came from Kerala, India, could be called upon to prove that he is a Malay and not an Indian Muslim before assuming the PM post.

I could still remember the main campaign trajectory of Semangat 46 in the 1990 General Elections was that Mahathir was not a Malay, but an Indian Muslim. Photostat of alleged Mahathir’s ICs with the word “Anak Lelaki” (Son Of) instead “Bin” were disseminated throughout the campaign.

Also read:

Malays too, suffered.

Are UMNO leaders fit to wear the badge of ketuanan?

Malaysia does not belong to us, we belong to Malaysia

Thus, if the Constitution had this non-Malay restriction, Mahathir could be barred from becoming PM if he was proven that he was not a Malay.

So the final arbitrator is the court, and not the Malays or Agong to decide whether he is to be PM or not, just to satisfy the condition set by the our Constitution.

Therefore, this was the main reason why the framers did not want the Constitution to decide who would be PM based on his race.

They wanted the Malays who form the majority in the country and the Agong with his Royal Prerogative to decide who would be PM. They wanted the person who would be PM be elected through the ballot box by the Malays themselves.

The recent opinion on this Malay only PM by Muhyiddin Yassin is a very dishonest one.

He knows that there will never come a day that Malay MPs even though they are from different parties could be forced by non-Malays into choosing a non-Malay PM.

Don’t forget, the Agong with his Royal Prerogative has the final say in this whole episode, period.

So the rakyat is not so naive to fall for Muhyiddin Yassin’s bluff, perhaps members from Bersatu and PAS could.

Another silly comment made by PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man who said that this amendment should be carried out to ensure the country’s “stability and harmony”. (Free Malaysia Today)

Surely Tuan Ibrahim should have known that the people have been relatively living in peace and harmony all these years without the Malay-only PM etched into our constitution.

Perhaps Perikatan Nasional politicians should tone down their racial rhetoric.

Now look at Lebanon which had a somewhat straight-jacketed convention where the appointment of its president and the whole cabinet is based on religion and race.

In Lebanon, conventionally the President is a Maronite Christian, the Prime Minister is a Sunni Muslim and the Speaker a Shia Muslim. (1)

A total of 99 deputies were elected to a unicameral legislature in 1960 with Maronite Christian securing 30 seats, Sunni Muslims 20, Shia Muslims 19, Greek Orthodox 11, Uniate Greek 6, Druses 6, Armenian Orthodox 4, Uniate Armenian 1 others 2. (2)

Based on Tuan Ibrahim logic, Lebanon must be a very stable and harmonious country, but the fact is that the people of Lebanon had been fighting and killing each other to this very day.

Reference:

1) Florence Elliott, Micheal Summerskill, A

Dictionary of Politics, Penguin Books, 1966.

2) Ibid.

I sincerely hoped that all the hypes in Chemor is not rare earth mining - Video.

2023-12-10T12:18:00.012+08:00

I hoped all the hypes happening in Chemor is not rare earth mining! If it is so, we should not go through once again on this issue.

A Repost from a 2010 article:

By: Choo Sing Chye
24 - 5 - 2010

Tun Dr. Mahathir had at last admitted, but not all, what the foreign experts (engaged by the residents 27 years ago) had been saying all along i.e., the danger posed by the radioactive waste from the Asian Rare Earth (ARE) company near Bukit Merah and the waste dumps near Papan was indeed genuine and serious.

What Mahathir said a few weeks ago in the Star Online (15-5-2010): "In Malaysia, we do have nuclear waste which perhaps the public is not aware of."

The answer is that the public is well aware and informed of this nuclear waste and the danger it posed. This was the reason why they took ARE to court. On the 11th of July 1992, more than 3,000 residents from Menglembu, Bukit Merah, Papan and other affected areas were present at the Ipoh High Court where the judge, Mr. Peh Swee Chin granted eight plaintiffs an injunction to restrain ARE from operating and storing toxic and radioactive waste. ARE was given 14 days to comply with the order.

Subsequently ARE appealed to the Supreme Court. Barely a month on the 5th of August 1992, the Supreme Court allowed the application by ARE to suspend the Ipoh Court's order to cease operations pending an appeal by the company.

The parent company in Japan, Mitsubishi Kasei Corporation immediately wrote a letter to the residents expressing regrets over the application by ARE.

The letter reads, "…since the court ordered the plant to be closed down, we believe that the plant should not continue its operation without the harmonization with the local people, whether this ruling is right or wrong."

"Consequently, we believe that ARE should not apply for stay of execution of the injunction to stop operation, etc."

On the 23th December 1993, ARE finally won its appeal in the Supreme Court. Lord President Tun Abdul Hamid Omar order that the Ipoh High Court decision on the 11th of July 1992 be set aside with costs.

Then on the 19th January 1994, to everyone surprise, ARE announced that it was closing its plant in Bukit Merah. And according to them, the closing of its plant was inevitable because of the unavailability of raw material.

Mahathir: "We have to bury the Amang, a by-product from tin mining."

The Truth is, Amang (a tin trailing which is found in an abundance in Kinta Valley) is not buried but is used as a raw material from which Monazite (high value mineral) is extracted. Monazite is a rare earth Othophosphate, containing significant amounts (up to 10%) of the radioactive element Thorium Hydroxide which is the end product. Thus, radioactive waste Thorium Hydroxide is buried not Amang.

Mahathir: "It is not radioactive but it is not good to handle. We had to bury it in Perak, deep in the ground.

Thorium Hydroxide waste derived from Amang is radioactive! The radioactivity present in the waste is from the naturally occurring Thorium and Uranium series which will take millions of years to decay.

Mahathir: "But the place is still not safe, and we have almost one square mile that is dangerous."

The public already knew that! Twenty seven years ago, Dr. Sadao Ichikawa, a professor from Saitama University in Japan found highly dangerous level of radiation. On the surface of on the drums at the dumpsite produced a reading of 9,000 urad/hr and on the nearby farm the reading was 140 urad/hr.

The mandatory level agreed between the Perak State government and ARE was only 200 milli-urad/hr.

Mahathir: (He) did not know exactly where in Perak the Amang was buried. "Maybe it is a national secret but I know for a fact that we buried this activated material," he said in a press conference yesterday at the Al-Bukhary Foundation.

In sum. after a grueling decade long battle against the Barisan Nasional government led by Mahathir himself, the people of Perak should be told of the whereabouts of these alleged illegal dumps.

For Mahathir to claim that he had no knowledge of the new dumpsites is fetched, because the State Government had already informed the Federal Government about the site earlier on.

The act of keeping these radioactive waste dumps a secret is downright immoral.

Is there a problem with Anwar holding two posts - Prime Minister and Finance?

2023-11-23T16:23:00.015+08:00

By: Choo Sing Chye (23-11-23)

One should not have any qualms with Anwar Ibrahim holding two posts - the Prime Minister and the Finance posts

The British do not.

The British Prime Minister is the head honcho of the Treasury office of the Lord High Treasurer in which he is officially known as the First Lord of the Treasury in the United Kingdom. And apart from these two roles, he is also the Minister for the Union.

The Second Lord of the Treasury is the Chancellor of the Exchequer and in Malaysia, he is known as the Finance Minister.

Harold Wilson once said whichever party is in power, the Treasury is in power”. (1)

Given the fact that the Malaysian political system is a Westminster’s hybrid, it is possible that some British political conventions may sometimes overlap with our political conventions.

Thus without doubt, for us and in Britain, the most important ministry in the government is the Treasury and in Malaysia, the Finance Ministry.

Also read: Khairy, it is not irresponsible to vote down the Budget.

No man can get rich in politics unless he's a crook! - President Harry Truman

I do not want to see Anwar to perpetuate his role as the Finance Minister. But I believe that he is doing this to get rid of corruption in Malaysia which has become so rampant that it would have destroyed every fabric of our society if it is not stopped.

Malaysia needs a very strong hand to eradicate this prevailing problem of corruption.

In conclusion, I would like to acquaint Malaysians to Harold Lasswell’s book, “Politics: Who Gets What, When, How (1936)”. The title itself served as the standard lay definition of politics.

In Anwar’s case, the “WHO” represents the poor fishermen, the poor padi farmers, the poor road side hawkers, the poor rubber tappers, the poor factory workers, the poor FELDA settlers and those living below the poverty line, and definitely not the political elites, millionaires or billionaires. These group of people had been heavily represented by the previous administration.

1) J. Denis Derbyshire, The Business of Government, W & R Chambers Ltd., Edinburgh, 1987

The Ancestors of mine - Mark Twain

2023-11-15T10:13:00.014+08:00

Compiled and paraphrased by Choo Sing Chye

(15-11-23).

After Siti Mastura Muhammad's thing about Kit Siang's ancestors, the net is bustling with all thing's ancestors. I hope my tiny contribution by paraphrasing Mark Twan's satire speech on his ancestorial roots would help Siti Mastura in her quest to find new surnames for DAP leaders.

ADDRESS AT THE FIRST ANNUAL DINNER, N. E. SOCIETY, PHILADELPHIA, DECEMBER 22, 1881 BY MARK TWAIN.

PLYMOUTH ROCK AND THE PILGRIMS

Pilgrims were a hard lot. They took good care of themselves, but they abolished everybody else's ancestors.

I am a border-ruffian from the State of Missouri. I am a Connecticut Yankee by adoption. In me, you have Missouri morals, Connecticut culture; this, gentlemen, is the combination which makes the perfect man. But where are my ancestors?

Whom shall I celebrate? Where shall I find the raw material?

My first American ancestor, gentlemen, was an Indian—an early Indian.

Your ancestors skinned him alive, and I am an orphan. Not one drop of my blood flows in that Indian's veins today. I stand here, lone and forlorn, without an ancestor. They skinned him (alive)!

Later ancestors of mine were the Quakers William Robinson, Marmaduke Stevenson, et al. Your tribe chased them out of the country for their religion's sake; promised them death if they came back; for our ancestors had forsaken the homes they loved.

The Quaker woman Elizabeth Hooton was an ancestress of mine. Your people were pretty severe with her you will confess that. But, poor thing! I believe they changed her opinions before she died, and took her into their fold; and so we have every reason to presume that when she died she went to the same place which your ancestors went to. It is a great pity, for she was a good woman.

Roger Williams was an ancestor of mine. I don't really remember what your people did with him. But they banished him to Rhode Island, anyway. And then, I believe, recognizing that this was really carrying harshness to an unjustifiable extreme, they took pity on him and burned him. They were a hard lot!

All those Salem witches were ancestors of mine! Your people made it tropical for them. Yes, they did; by pressure and the gallows they made such a clean deal with them that there hasn't been a witch and hardly a halter in our family from that day to this, and that is one hundred and eighty-nine years.

The first slave brought into New England out of Africa by your progenitors was an ancestor of mine—for I am of a mixed breed, an infinitely shaded and exquisite Mongrel. I'm not one of your sham meerschaums that you can color in a week. No, my complexion is the patient art of eight generations. Well, in my own time,

I had acquired a lot of my kin—by purchase, and swapping around, and one way and another—and was getting along very well. Then, with the inborn perversity of your lineage, you got up a war, and took them all away from me. And so, again am I bereft, again am I forlorn; no drop of my blood flows in the veins of any living being who is marketable.

O my friends, hear me and reform! I seek your good, not mine.

However, chaff and nonsense aside, I think I honor and appreciate your Pilgrim stock as much as you do yourselves, perhaps; and I endorse and adopt a sentiment uttered by a grandfather of mine once—a man of sturdy opinions, of sincere make of mind, and not given to flattery. He said:

"People may talk as they like about that Pilgrim stock, but, after all's said and done, it would be pretty hard to improve on those people; and, as for me, I don't mind coming out flatfooted and saying there ain't any way to improve on them—except having them born in, Missouri!"

A satirical look at Chin Peng’s and Lee Kuan Yew’s close relative in Malaysia.

2023-03-12T12:35:00.049+08:00

By: Choo Sing Chye

13-11-23

It would be a momentous surprise to Lim Kit Siang to wake up one morning to find out that he is a close relative to the famous Lee Kuan Yew and the infamous Chin Peng.

All these revelations had me baffled big time, because all this while I never once thought that Chin Peng’s full name is Lim Chin Peng or Lee Kuan Yew as Lim Kuan Yew.

Also Read - Of Spy Squads and Beggars - A political satire

Is DAP a communist party?

Is Riduan Tee safe to be stupid?

Had it not for the young PHD holder and MP from the North, who goes by the name of Siti Mastura Muhammad, Lim Kit Siang would have gone away without knowing this.

Just think of the years that Lim Kit Siang had lost without paying homage to his lost ancestors or the many missed reunion dinners, it is utterly very sad indeed.

Okay, let’s put jokes aside. Either the history books had me taught wrong or the PHD holder and MP Siti Mastura Muhammad had pulled a fast one on the Lim’s family and us.

Obviously, it is a commonly held belief that Malaysian history often changes every now and then without facts whatsoever, but lots of fancies.

But the biggest change would manifest itself every five years during the heat of the election campaign where politicians tend to beat their chests and show their prowess in historical matters which I suspect they know very little about.

Seemingly in the case of our honourable PHD and MP Siti Mastura Muhammad, the speed of the historical change was blistering fast.

In just one night’s ceramah (public rally) she had managed to conjoin three families into one, if this is not lightning fast, furious and fake, I don’t know what is?

I do not know whether she is faking the facts about Kit Siang’s family link to Chin Peng and Lee Kuan Yew or she really believes in it.

If she really believes in the link, she is ignorant, and she urgently need to go back to her university or better still go to another university, to take a refresher course. If she is faking it, then she is a dubious politician.

Which is which? I do not know.

But anyway, Perikatan Nasional politicians are plenty smart fellows, they know the fastest way and the easiest way to demonized DAP is to spread false and fact free narratives to the public that DAP is a communist party, anti-royalty, anti-Malays and anti-Islam. No deep thinking needed, just as simple as that.

Actually, these communist party, anti-royalty, anti-Malays and anti-Islam accusations are the trademark of the Barisan Nasional and is a must use construct for every General Elections.

Anyway, I would like to see the day in the near future, I hope, that the Barisan Nasional would take Perikatan Nasional to court and sue them for this blatant patent infringement.

Is Anwar Ibrahim waging a Class War or an Anti-Corruption War?

2023-03-08T20:54:00.019+08:00

By: Choo Sing Chye

8-3-23

Seeing the unabated corruption happening among the Perikatan political elites during the last two governments; and the existence of a real danger from it spilling over into the new administration, hesitancy to give support to Anwar Ibrahim is not an option.

By doing so, the victory over corruption will always remain an illusion.

As a starter the rakyat should be vary of the smear that Anwar’s effort in fighting corruption rhymes with the communist slogan of the “Class War”. His fight against corruption has nothing in common with the “Class War”.

It does not make sense when Wan Saiful postulated in parliament that Anwar’s 2023 budget had a sniff of the classic communist "Class War", within its folio. As clear as daylight he is trying his very best to spin the 2023 Budget in such a way that it looks like a “communist purge”.

If Wan Saiful wants us to believe in his “Class War” dichotomy, at least he should provide us with some knowledge about this subject and proof that Anwar is waging a “Class War”.

He gave zero facts on how Anwar is conducting a “Class War”, and this exposes him to the fact that he does not know what he is talking about, the whole time in parliament.

But it is certain that the whole affair of the “Class War” he brought into the August House was a thinly veiled innuendo to discredit Anwar. This, he probably hoped could cast aspersion on Anwar’s Islamic credentials.

It is political suicide in Malaysia to be a communist.

His silly revelation of the “Class War” is not meant to be debated intelligently because it offered no substance, but a crude smear.

One cannot debate on smear or falsehood which the Perikatan politicians are so fond of.

Thus, if we take Wan Saiful’s revelation not with a pinch of salt, but a large handful, shouldn’t Anwar’s 2023 “Class War” Budget be laced with these communist economic ideals.

1) Shouldn't there a hint for all banks to be nationalised and amalgamated into one huge single bank just as it is done in a Communist State? And this one single bank will not act as a normal commercial bank, but act as a book keeper for the nation.

So, no more Public Bank, May Bank, Hong Leong Bank, CIMB, RHB, Bank Rakyat, Affin Bank and so forth. In place is one huge bank doing the “work of book-keeping, control, registration, accounting and counting...(for the)…proletarian existence.” (1)

2) Shouldn’t there in the 2023 Budget to create a state ownership of the means of production and exchange? “Machinery, loco-motives, steamships, factory buildings, warehouses, grain elevators, mines, telegraphs and telephones, the land, sheep. horses and cattle, must all be at the disposal of society.” (2) This mean that all these means of production must be under the control of the State.

3) Shouldn’t there in the 2023 Budget to restrict the printing of the Ringgit and create a time frame for its elimination from the Malaysian economy.

These are a few features that must happen if we see victory in a “Class War.”

Before I end this article, my advice to all Malaysian politicians is that they should read more because a little knowledge would eventually lead to falsehood.

Just for the starter, do read this President Harry Truman’s book, “Give ‘em Hell Harry,” and are some excerpts from the book:

1) You know, a fella could get rich in this (president) job, if he really wanted to.

2) But I found out something a long time ago: that when you play ball with the money boys, you pay!

3) Oh, I've done some favors for friends down through the years, just like any other influence peddler in Washington, but I never got anything for myself out of it.

4) And I'll tell you something else: No man can get rich in politics unless he's a crook! It can't be done.

References:

1) Socialist Economics, Alec Nove and D.M. Nuti, Penguin Books, 1971.

2) Ibid.

Is PAS Dr Azman Ibrahim expounding kindergarten history?

2023-02-20T21:42:00.012+08:00

By: Choo Sing Chye.

20-2-23

I can't believe myself that the PAS (Islamic Party) Terengganu State Executive Councilor (Exco) Dr Azman Ibrahim, a man of his stature, could lower himself to make up stories from an old photograph which he published in Twitter.

Anything that is expropriated from the old photo of a rich Malay and the Chinese rickshaw puller without any historical facts to explain its content, is just opinion, not truth.

What is most disappointing is that his opinion is laced with racial innuendos.

Thus, he certainly needs guts to call a spade, a spade, when it is not a spade.

Here is some real history which is based on primary source of information about the terrible suffering of the Malays.

Below is a ‘1875 Report on Debt Slavery’, by F.A.Swettenham, addressed to the Colonel Secretary in Singapore:

Few subjects in a Malay country are well off. Thus, when a ra'ayat is in want of money, he goes to his Raja or Chief to lend it to him, because he alone can do so.

Either money or goods are then lent, and a certain time stipulated for payment. If at the expiry of that time the money is not paid, it is usual to await some time longer, say two or three or even six months.

Should payment not then be made, the debtor, if a single man, is taken to the creditor's house; he becomes one of his followers and is bound to execute any order or do any work the Raja as creditor may demand, until the debt is paid, however long a time that may be.

During this time the Raja usually provides the debtor with food and clothing, but if the creditor gives him money, that money is added to the debt.

Often, however, the Raja gives nothing, and the debtor has to find food and clothing as he can.

Should the debtor marry—and the Raja in all probability will find him a wife—then the debtor's wife, his children, his grand-children, all become equally bound with himself to the payment of this debt.

Should the debtor be originally married, then not only he, but his wife and children, are taken into the Raja's house, and are his to order until the debt is paid.

Should the debtor be a woman, unmarried, or a widow, the same course is taken and whoever marries her becomes jointly responsible for the debt; and this goes on through generations—the children and the grand-children of the debtor being held in the same bondage by the children and grand-children of the creditor.

Should at any time the debtor succeeds in raising the amount of the debt and proffer it to the creditor, then it would be customary to accept it. If, however, a large family were in bondage for the debt, one whose numbers seemed to the Raja to add to his dignity, then he would probably refuse to accept payment, not absolutely, but would say 'wait' and the waiting may last for years. (1)

If we really dwell into the real history of our country, we could see countless of sufferings that the poor Malays, Indians and Chinese had to go through.

As for Dr Azman’s, his tweet can be best answered by the wise old Sultan Abu Samad of Selangor 130 years ago.

During one conversation between Frank Swettenham and Sultan Abu Samad regarding the regular meetings between him and his Rajas. He enquired:

“I took the liberty of asking his Highness what it meant. He promptly pointed out that each of these Rajas in turn came to him, state his case, and asked the Sultan if that is not correct. His Highness always replied, ‘Quite correct,’ but he explained to me, ‘benar kapada dia, bukan kapada kami’, which means,…’correct in their view, not in mine.’ “ (2)

From my brother Choo Ah Chye talks about NJ Ryan the author of Malaya through four centuries.

NJ Ryan was the last British Headmaster of Malay College KK. He was a teacher at Anderson School before being posted to MCKK as headmaster. He made MCKK powerful at rugby. He was the president of Perak Rugby Union in the early 60s. I was in the game when he was the President.

References:

1) N.J.Ryan. Malaya through four centuries. Oxford University Press, 1959. With cooperation from the Malay College, Kuala Kangsar.

2) Ibid,.

Unity Government - a Royal Prerogative?

2023-02-16T10:31:00.012+08:00

By: Choo Sing Chye

16-2-2023

The opening speech by HM the Agong in the Second Session of the Malaysian Parliament laid down the fact that the Royal Institution is apolitical.

Last year, the nation was in turmoil again because the 15th General Elections resulted in a hung parliament, with no coalition having the absolute majority to form a government.

And on this very backdrop, HM the Agong decided to use the Royal Prerogative to call on the amalgamation of all coalition parties to what to be known as a Unity Government working towards the betterment of Malaysia.

Now let’s flip back a few pages to the time when Muhyiddin rudely opted out from the idea of a Unity Government by signing off on the piece of document which was presented to him by HM the Agong.

He had insisted all along that HM the Agong should declare him as the 10th prime minister by virtue of the fact that he had the number.

But little did he know he was doing a “Harold Macmillan” on HM the Agong and if he had succeeded, he would have removed HM’s Royal Prerogative unknowingly. (1)

During the late 50’s and early 60’s, Harold Macmillan the then prime minister of Britain, started the conversation and ball rolling on whether there was a need for the Queen prerogative to choose a prime minister. He believed that the prerogative should be in the hands of the victorious parliamentary party.

In the 1964 General Elections, Harold Macmillan (1957-63) lost his premiership to Harold Wilson.

By then, the prerogative had already eroded so far to a point that when Harold Wilson resigned in 1976, “the prerogative was effectively terminated by the Labour Party’s choice” - Jim Callaghan- its new leader.” (1)

Thus, bypassing the Royal Prerogative which would mean that the Queen would not be involved in the traditional consensus in choosing a prime minister.

So, from that day onwards the Queen had lost her prerogative powers and now “she was obliged to accept as Prime Minister whoever had been chosen by the majority party as its leader.” (2)

This means that no sovereign will be involved in any way in the choice of the prime minister, it is party business from that day onwards.

But luckily, the Royal Prerogative in Malaysia is still intact, and it gave the rakyat a stable Unity Government which effectively ended the era of the back-door quarrelsome Perikatan Nasional government.

Reference:-

1)Weidenfeld and Nicolson, The Tory Leaders-Their Struggle for power,

Weidenfeld and Nicolson London, 1977.

2)Ibid.

Western Philosophy and “Malaysia Madani”, are they the same?

2023-02-02T22:38:00.010+08:00

By: Choo Sing Chye

3-2-23

To Hadi Awang, any concept which he suspects had any link to Western philosophy is unacceptable even though the term Madani is an Islamic term and many of its core values come from Islam.

To propose that Malaysian Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim’s Madani concept is not Islamic enough to be palatable to Malaysian Muslims, because of the linkage to Western philosophy, ancient or modern, is a silly proposition.

Nearly 40 percent of the Ancient Greek philosophers’ works that fueled the Renaissance in the West came from the Islamic World which had survived the ravages of Western religious extremism at that time.

Thus, Hadi Awang apparent effort to cage all these “Western philosophers such as Thomas Paine, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Adam Smith, and Karl Marx” (1) in such a trivialized simplicity had pauperized the value of his argument and blurring it to a point that the real issue is being misinterpreted.

Hadi Awang is not wrong when he said that “the modern civilisation … is burning itself now” (2) in the West as seen in the vivid example of the Ukraine War, LGBT and the immigration issue; but all these issues are not sparked by the teachings of these philosophers nor the Civil societies.

The teachings of these philosophers are the building blocks of Western Civil Societies. But what is happening now is that Civil Societies in the West are decaying, and they are collapsing under the weight of corruption, violence, hatred, extremism and intolerance.

It is people like Rasmus Paludan, a Swedish-Danish malicious right-winger who is fast tracking its decay - turning the Swedish Civil Society into a Rogue Society and the malicious burning of the Quran is the proof of this trend.

Thus, when corruption, violence, hatred, extremism and intolerance seeped into Civil Societies, they stopped being civil, they become rogues.

Without doubt, these were the same factors that felled mighty “civilisations” in the past. And in this similar manner, our modern civilization is following suit, “burning itself” (3) out with the same fuel of corruption, violence, hatred, extremism and intolerance.

“Malaysia Madani” broadly speaking is an idea to bring together all races to live in harmony, peace and prosperity where humility and compassion is aplenty.

We, Malaysians, had gone through 4 tumultuous years of Perikatan Nasional rule, now let us give Pakatan Harapan a chance to govern the nation in harmony, peace and prosperity.

Reference:-

1) Hadi claims ‘madani’ concept based on Western philosophers doomed to fail

2) Ibid.,

3) Ibid.

Index:

Aristotle (384-322 BCE) :- Cataloged over 150 constitutions and found that most of them had some form of restrictions placed on the rulers. He was critical of Plato's concept of Philosopher King, which he thought would lead to dictatorship. Aristotle proposed a sharing of power and believed that the diffusion of power would safeguard freedom.

Thomas Paine 1737-1809:- An Englishman migrate to America at the age of 37 in 1791 and stayed there for some time. He later came back to England where he wrote “The Rights of Man” which sold over 200,000 copies in just a few months. He calls for the reformation of the parliament. His ideas were instrumental to the changes on how English parliament were to operate in the Reform Bill of 1832.

John Locke (1632-1704) :- His celebrated “Letter on Toleration” spurred the idea liberty of expression, and this idea was included in Britain's Bill of Rights of 1689. One hundred years later, it was codified in the American Bill of Right, (The First Amendment) after independence.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778):- He expounded the idea that the lust for private property was the root of all injustices and inequality. Powerful individuals had enslaved others and stolen land. He was referring to feudal lords.

Adam Smith (1723-1790):- Father of Capitalism. It brought England to the height of Economic power in 18th to 19th Century. Today the two biggest economies, the US and China benefited from his idea of a free market economy.