The purpose of this blog has, and always will be about Malaysians spewing forth from their mouths their idiocy and hypocrisy. And during the time that this blog was inactive, there has been so much that has been bloggable, and from both sides of the political divide.

But I stayed silent. Seriously, if 50 other bloggers were gonna write about it, and I didn’t have a fresh opinion, I see no point rehashing the same arguments that can be read elsewhere.

But some events leading up to the state assembly sitting in my hometown Ipoh on May 7th has awakened my desire to write and to just get things off my chest.

First, was last night’s arrest of Wong Chin Huat, an activist, for organizing a campaign called 1BlackMalaysia. It was to be a campaign of ‘civil disobedience’ and encouraged people to wear black as a sign of protest during the assembly sitting called by the BN government.

His crime? Sedition. What was seditious? Inciting people to wear black.

Then, it was today’s arrest of 3 people for sending a birthday cake to Najib’s office to mark Altantuya’s birthday (video here). Pointless gesture? Yes. Illegal? Absolutely not.

Sani Md Shah, Saufi Mihat, and Yasir Sheikh Abdul Rahman, I feel for you. Note to self: Do not bring cake near PM’s office.

Then came the arrest of opposition politician Mohd Sabu, purportedly for organizing a prayer session tomorrow morning in Manjoi, near Ipoh.

Finally, just an hour ago, 14 people were arrested for holding a candlelight vigil for Wong Chin Huat outside the Brickfields police station. I assume that the police will probably investigate them for illegal assembly.

I bring you back to Najib’s inauguration speech:

In the coming weeks, I will be consulting with people around our country, as I begin to reshape the leadership and priorities of the Government. I am mindful that we should build on the successes and lessons of the past. It must be a government with new approaches for new times – a government that places a priority on performance, because the people must come first.

What Najib doesn’t realize is that the people are trying to give him feedback, and he just happens to be ignoring them. All pretense of him listening to the people is now obvious for all to see.

Oh, and what is the point of this post, if there weren’t any stupid quotes? I leave you with the chief of police, Musa Hassan, a favorite character around this blog:

Police have today obtained a court injunction which will empower them to arrest on sight any member of the public seen within the vicinity of Perak state secretariat building.

The court injunction bars all supporters of political parties from gathering within 500 meters of the building, where the controversial state assembly sitting will be held tomorrow.

Supporters from both Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional are expected to turn up to support their respective sides in the on-going power struggle to control the state.

Inspector general of police Musa Hassan (left) has warned the public not to wear black tomorrow or to gather to protest against the assembly sitting.

“The police will not hesitate to take action including arresting those who gather to protest or tried to stop the state assemblypersons to thwart the assembly.

“We will ensure that no one can create trouble by foiling anything that has been decided by the law. We also assure safety for all the assembymen.”

Source: Malaysiakini

Apparently, wearing black is now illegal. To those members of the public planning to wear black tomorrow, I suggest you don’t tempt your fate like those 3 poor chaps who delivered the birthday cake. If you’re just planning to go for the slimming look, I suggest wearing something with vertical stripes instead.

Musa Hassan says the darndest things!

Above image from my traffic tracker. Come on guys, what the fuck? Go Google for Chua Soi Lek’s sex video, it’s probably more interesting lah. Geez.

And yes, if your pidgin Malay sucks and you don’t get the hint, there are no Elizabeth Wong sexy/nude/naked pictures here ok?

But today, something blog worthy came about. Today, politicians from both political divides finally agreed on something. I can’t for the life of me recall the last time most of them agreed on anything.

By now, you must have heard about the case where Selangor assemblyperson, Elizabeth Wong had her nude pictures circulated. Apparently, her pictures were of her sleeping naked, and taken without permission (and obviously distributed without permission).

The press and TV are having a field day, terming this as a “nude pic scandal”. I beg to differ. This is not a scandal, this is a crime. And the victim is a woman who has had her privacy violated in her own home, or certainly a place where she felt safe, since she was sleeping. I can only hope that the government-owned media do not paint the victim as the guilty one, but I can only expect papers like Utusan Malaysia to draw parallels to Chua Soi Lek’s case (which was actually a scandal) and call for her resignation.

And politicians from both BN and Pakatan have jointly condemned the person(s) who took the pictures and distributed them, in a rare show of solidarity:

Quotes from Malaysiakini:

Teresa Kok

I truly feel sad and sorry for (Wong) after she told me about it yesterday. I had a bad dream last night and I can understand how this kind of thing can haunt a woman. I urge the police to take this matter seriously and I hope the culprit can charged.

Nazri Aziz

I sympathise with the executive councillor, this thing should have not happened as she the people’s representative and she had been performing her duties.
Therefore, to foil what she has done for the community in this manner is not good. But I hope her spirits (remain strong) and she will not bother about what has happened.

Chew Mei Fun

We condemn the actions, firstly because the taking of photographs of body parts without their consent or knowledge is against the law and punishable under the Penal Code (Act 574).

Secondly, posting such pornographic materials in the public also constitutes a violation under the same Act.

Thirdly, any member of the public who circulates, distributes or passes on such photographs should also be condemned as this is tantamount to pornography, which is also illegal under the Malaysian law.

However, I will save the best for last. After all, this blog is called Malaysians Say The Darndest Things.

I present to you, no other than Khir Toyo, the opposition leader of the Selangor State Assembly, and also former Menteri Besar of Selangor:

From The Malaysian Insider:

KUALA LUMPUR, Fen 16 – Selangor Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Mohd Khir Toyo urged state executive councillor Elizabeth Wong to resign immediately after her nude photos were circulated.

Describing the scandal as embarrassing, Khir said Wong is no longer fit to remain as a member of the state administration or a lawmaker.

“This is about morality, whether the pictures were taken with or without consent is another matter, I cannot accept a lawmaker whose morality is questionable,” Khir told The Malaysian Insider.

“This is very embarrassing for the people of Selangor. This is about leadership, the people will not be able to accept this,” he added.

“In Barisan Nasional we asked Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek to resign after his video was circulated,” said the Sungai Panjang assemblyman, referring to the MCA deputy president who was forced to resign last year after his sex video was distributed to the public.

Khir added that the latest scandal was a reflection of PKR’s failure to provide good leadership and hoped that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim would clean up the party.

“They have been talking about integrity and morality I also hope the Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid will take stern action against the assemblyman,” said the former Menteri Besar. “The longer they wait the worse the damage will be to the state.”

Holy shit. This crap coming from the mouth of Malaysia’s self-appointed top moral crusader. The same guy that got Teresa Kok stuffed into the ISA because he got his facts wrong. The same guy that denied the tearing down of Indian temples 3 days before Deepavali. If God had a wicked sense of humor, he would get someone to break into Khir’s house and take naked pictures of him and post them on ILoveGayMalaysians.com or something. Then we’ll see him resign in shame, eh?

And to compare the morality of a woman whose photos were secretly taken while sleeping, against a man who got caught doing the dirty deed with another woman who was not his wife. What the fuck?

Someone slap me, because I feel like I’m in a dream sequence where politicians say stupid things and get elected as UMNO Youth presidents. Oh wait, I’m not dreaming, I’m living in Malaysia.

And to Elizabeth Wong, you’re probably not reading this, but you have my support. I have been reading your blog for more than 2 years, and you were one of my role models when I started this blog to voice my grievances. Please don’t quit, and do not allow them such an easy victory, whoever they are. Ipoh people support each other right

Here is why I think the Sultan actions have shown that he might not be acting in the people’s best interest:

1) On March 8th 2008, 443354 (53%) people voted for Pakatan Rakyat in Perak, while 400682 (47%) people voted for Barisan Nasional. The Sultan is indirectly telling 53% of us in the state to live under a state government that we did not elect.

2) Instead of affirming BN’s majority in the state assembly via a no confidence vote against the sitting MB, Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin, the Sultan has basically asked the Menteri Besar and the entire state exco to tender their resignations immediately, or their post will be declared vacant. Whether or not this is legal under the Perak Constitution, I am not certain.

3) Has the Sultan gotten reports from the ground that the people of Changkat Jering, Behrang, Bota, and Jelapang still agree that the people representing them in the state assembly is still who they want, after what has transpired?

4) The haste in which the Sultan is swearing in the new Menteri Besar is shocking as well (according to some rumors, it is actually happening right as I am typing this now), without even bothering to wait for the decisions in the court on whether the resignation letters of the ‘independent’ assemblypersons were valid or otherwise.

The right thing to do was to let the people decide again. Instead, with the powers vested in the Sultan to do the right thing, I can only say he dropped the ball on this one.

The Sultan has lost the respect of many of his subjects today, me included.

I shall end here now, because the grapes are tasting real sour, but suffice to say, me and 443353 other people will be feeling disappointed and angry today.

Daulat Tuanku, and if it’s any consolation, I think the best thing to do is still to allow the state assembly to be dissolved and power to be returned to the people, if it is not too late already.

I think it is fair to say that this is BN giving the PR (especially Anwar Ibrahim) a taste of their own medicine. The only difference would be that BN took us all by surprise, while Anwar chose to announce his grand plans to the world and even set a date for his supposed defections.

I also believe it to be a moot point to argue about the ethics of whether it was right or wrong for the PKR and DAP reps to jump over to the other side. After all, this blog writer, and most of its readers were clamoring for Anwar to parade his BN frogs on September 16th 2008.

However, some questions which beg to be answered:

1) How can the Bota assemblyman jump from one party into another, then back again, all in the space of one week? I will be very very surprised if this man would still win an election under any party banner, after taking his constituents for a roller coaster ride.

2) Did the Behrang (Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi) and Changkat Jering (Osman Jailu) assemblymen declare their independence because they were promised that their pending corruption cases would be thrown out of court? Or did they really feel ostracized by their own party? If their cases were to be thrown out by court, would BN be suspected of influencing the case? Does BN even care what people think of them?

3) The Jelapang (Hee Yit Foong) assemblywoman has been a DAP member for 22 years. Her story on why she jumped would be the most intriguing, as I cannot imagine how a long-time party member would choose to now leave the party, after declaring in the newspapers just a few days ago that “I have never had any intention of leaving the party and would feel very heavy-hearted if I did”. Was it her disagreements with the Perak DAP leadership that did her in? Or was she threatened in any way by BN? Or was it pure greed over maybe financial reasons or was she promised more power? I would like to know what her story is.

4) Was money involved? Well, with BN, you never know, since there is never any concrete proof (except for vote-buying during elections, of which there has been ample proof, but no action taken by the Election Commission).

I think with those questions hanging in the air, it would be wise for our Sultan of Perak, Sultan Azlan Shah to consider them before making a decision. Would he tolerate the people of Bota being represented by a man with absolutely NO principles? Would he allow the people of Behrang and Changkat Jering to be represented by men with dubious records (even if the courts found them innocent, their innocence would unfortunately be disputed till kingdom come for their alignment to BN). The Sultan should also be curious on why a loyal DAP party member of 22 years can just jump ship without any clear reason given.

With such uncertainty surrounding these assemblypersons, especially when these assemblypersons are the one providing BN with a majority, I believe the best decision that the Sultan can make for the people of Perak is to accede to the request of current Perak MB, Nizar Jamaluddin, to dissolve the state assembly and let the people decide once and for all who they want leading the state.

I await his Highness’ decision with bated breath.

Daulat Tuanku.

P.S. Najib must be smelling like a bed of roses now.

And this is what our government is proposing:

PUTRAJAYA: Those living in multilevel residences will no longer be allowed to dry their clothes in the open “where the whole world can see,” effective next year.

This follows a government decision to tackle the eye-sore problem once and for all, and to clean up the image of Malaysian cities by coming up with a guideline for both developers and residents of such buildings.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said a guideline should be in place so that developers would be made responsible for preparing a special area or the proper facilities in its properties for drying clothes.

“We can see today that most people living in multilevel residences like flats, apartments and condominiums dry their clothes in the open. It is unsystematic and affects our efforts to portray a modern image for Malaysian cities.

“For the moment, we will have a guideline so that necessary action can be taken by parties concerned, including residents to have proper equipment and facilities so they need not expose their laundry,” he said after chairing the National Council on Local Government meeting on Tuesday.

The Deputy Prime Minister however said there was nothing punitive about the guideline as the aim was to encourage the public to be more sensitive about the issue.

“For the time being, it is more on making the moral switch. It it does not work, then we have to consider amending existing laws,” he said, adding a circular would be issued by the ministry next year to inform local authorities of the decision.

Najib said it would be the duty of local authorities and the Commissioner of Buildings to inform developers and managements of flats, apartments and condominiums to see to it that the guideline was followed.

– TheStar.com.my

If I stay in Gombak, or Puchong, I really couldn’t give a rat’s ass what kind of modern image we want to portray. Get your priorities right, Prime Minister in waiting. Or perhaps Mr. Najib would like me to purchase a dryer, and foot my electricity costs.

While the public was increasingly worried by the rise in crime, statistics however showed that the crime rate in Malaysia was far lower than Japan and Hong Kong, said Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak today.

“Based on the statistics given by the police, it indicates that the crime rate in Malaysia is lower than Japan and Hong Kong.

“It is also just slightly higher than Singapore to the basis of per hundred thousand of population… but the perception of the public is not the case,” said Najib at a press conference in Parliament after the economic council meeting.

– Malaysiakini

May I remind DPM Najib, our soon to be 6th Prime Minister of Malaysia that changing of perception does not change reality.

Imagine the increased number of snatch thefts if people started taking the security of their bags for granted, due to an altered perception that Malaysia is safe. Or the increase in the number of rapes and assault if women had the perception that the country was safe and did not arm themselves with some knowledge of self-defense.

Look into my eyes and believe me. Statistics do not lie.

Also, it is easy for the police to claim that officially, crime is higher in Hong Kong and Japan per 100,000 people. That’s because they are telling the truth.

# of crimes per 1000 people
#34 Japan: 19.177 per 1,000 people
#43 Hong Kong: 11.6817 per 1,000 people
#50 Malaysia: 6.97921 per 1,000 people

The untold story is of course, the rankings do not mention what crimes are tabulated into the statistics (crimes that do not affect a person’s personal safety like white collar crime are probably included, thus the higher rates in HK or Japan). We could also argue on the effectiveness of enforcement, but let’s just put that aside. So let’s be slightly more objective and look at some of the crimes that cause us to have a negative perception on crime in this country:

# of murders per 1000 people
#34 Malaysia: 0.0230034 per 1,000 people
#59 Hong Kong: 0.00550804 per 1,000 people
#60 Japan: 0.00499933 per 1,000 people

# of rapes per 1000 people
#38 Malaysia: 0.0505156 per 1,000 people
#54 Japan: 0.017737 per 1,000 people
#55 Hong Kong: 0.0150746 per 1,000 people

When compared that way, the statistics given by the police and comparisons given by the DPM don’t seem too credible anymore does it?

All I can say is, even if the public changes their perception, it does not mean that violent crime, which has been on the rise in this country the past few years will magically disappear. The public cannot just wink their eyes, nod, and wish away all the crime.

I would certainly advise my loved ones to ignore Najib, for he really says some of the darndest things!

Although the fatwa has not been endorsed by the state religious authorities yet, I get the feeling that we will be deprived of a Malaysian who can do the following:

(Image sources: Here, Here, and Here)

It is unclear if the religious authorities will start issuing fatwas against bomohs due to the supernatural nature of the practices. Maybe there will be a fatwa against susuk berlian as well.

(Sorry for the fluff posts. I am really busy at work, and I am not able to articulate my thoughts very well on the latest going ons)

SHAH ALAM: Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Kamaruddin is to be freed Friday.

He succeeded Friday in his bid to obtain a release order from detention under the Internal Security Act (ISA) via his habeas corpus application.

The High Court here also allowed Raja Petra to be brought to court to be released today.

He was detained for a second time under the ISA on Sept 12.

Since I had tons of time on my hands, I decided to try making gulab jamun, which is my favorite Indian sweet dessert. So after some consultation with Togo’s mum, I went off to Giant to get the ingredients. I bought milk powder, self-raising flour, butter, and full-cream milk to make the dough.

For the syrup itself, I was looking for this particular spice called cardamom, and I had no freaking idea what it was and what it looked like. After searching high and low for cardamom and not finding any (also because I had no idea what the Malay name was), I drove to the wet market to and consulted the spice lady, and found out that cardamom in Malay is pelaga. So now you know what to look for if you want cardamom.

Happily, home I went with the ingredients, and making the syrup was awfully simple. Just 2 cups of sugar, plus 1 cup of water, crush the pelaga slightly, and boil until all sugar dissolved. I had a quick taste, and found the taste pretty similar to what I had outside. I was pretty happy that everything had started so well. Unfortunately, it was all downhill from then on.

I mixed 2 cups of milk powder (btw, milk powder is f-ing expensive! I had no idea! Poor parents!), 1 cup of self-raising flour, some butter, and slowly added the full cream milk while mixing it to make the dough. Unfortunately, I added too much milk and ended up with a liquidy paste instead of dough. I decided to throw that away and start again, this time, added milk tablespoon by tablespoon to make sure I didn’t overdo it again.

Once I had the dough and rolled it into balls, I dropped it into the oil for deep frying. After half an hour of experimenting the right temperature and right ball size (I burnt a few balls due to excessive temperature), I finally came up with a few nicely fried balls. Off it went from the wok into the syrup.

So anyway, here is what gulab jamun is supposed to look like:

Pic taken from Wikipedia

Here is the result of my experimentation:

Pic taken from my cellphone, so blur a bit

So how would I rate my creation? Appearance-wise, let’s just say if I get served this in a restaurant, I would throw it back to the waiter. Taste-wise, well, the sugar syrup was pretty overpowering. And I realize I should really keep my day job.

So anyway, I ate 4 biji, and now, I feel sick to the stomach because of the syrup (ugh). Ah well, cooking is fun. And if someone asks what I did during Deepavali, I could tell them I made gulab jamun, instead of telling them I did nothing.

Oh, and by the way, I’m looking forward to the Miss Universe 2008 broadcast on TV tonight, for this reason alone.