Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin defended the controversial Biro Tata Negara (BTN) courses today as a form of nationalism in line with the 1 Malaysia concept despite growing criticisms of racism and political indoctrination.
The deputy prime minister denied that the courses, which are compulsory for civil servants and public university undergraduates, are aimed at “converting” participants to the political ideology of Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN).
I’ve heard *so* many BTN horror stories, it’s not even funny.
In that same article, Nik and Amir say it well:
Seri Setia state lawmaker Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, speaking from his own experience, said they were told that PKR members were Jewish agents, that DAP was a Singapore party, while PAS was labelled a deviant movement.
Batu Caves lawmaker Amirudin Shari said a big part of the programme had nothing to do with nation building or education but was an Umno and BN race-based programme where participants are indoctrinated with propaganda about “Ketuanan Melayu”.
I consider BTN one of the most shameless institutions of BN’s unholy rule – and that’s saying a lot.
I’ve heard stories of hate-mongering, sowing divisiveness and spite, preaching supremacist mumbo jumbo, and so on.
Even Idris Jala – the new minister assigned to make this 1Malaysia stuff a reality – came out strongly against it, a man willing to call a spade a spade. I wonder if he will meet the same fate as Zaid Ibrahim.
Idris, not being a man steeped in politics, saw a problem, and he set out to fix it, in line with ideals espoused (albeit clearly not practised) by his boss.
Muhyiddin, on the other hand, the consumate politician, seemed perfectly willing to tell exactly the kind of baldfaced lies that they spew in BTN sessions.
But don’t take my word for it – why don’t you tell us some of your own horror stories in the comments?
I think we really should be raising alarm bells when Menteri Besars start siphoning out huge amounts of cash, especially illegally.
We all know the famous case of Mat ‘no speak English’ Taib, and now, it appears that Negeri Sembilan MB Mohamad Hassan appears to be following suit.
Negri Sembilan Menteri Besar Mohamad Hasan has refused to answer a claim that he had transferred RM10 million to London through a moneychanger in 2008.
Yesterday, when Mohamad was winding up on points raised during debate on the 2010 state budget, (N9 Opposition Leader YB Anthony) Loke again demanded an explanation.
“I don’t have to answer you. I answer to the authorities concerned,” said Mohamad, reiterating under pressure from Loke that he did not want to answer the question.
Tsk tsk tsk, sounds guilty as sin to me. Why would the N9 MB refuse to answer such a simple question on a matter so clearly within the ambit of the public interest?
And the cocky ‘fler should know that the ‘authorities concerned’ at the end of the day are the rakyat, so he damned well has a responsibility to answer the Wakil Rakyat.
Putting aside the very considerable issue of what he’s doing with such large sums of cash, let’s not forget that the manner of the money transfer itself could have been illegal, making Mohamad Hasan guilty under the law.
If Tian, who brought this matter up long ago, can be found guilty of kononnya biting a cop, I think our friend should at the very least face an investigation.
The most recent to bring this up was YB Anthony Loke, who I had the honour of collaborating with briefly recently. I must say I found him to be a very gracious and capable gentleman, and it looks like he’s doing his job very well in the N9 state assembly.
He certainly played a good leadership role in defusing a situation involving some BN ADUN screaming Tamil profanities.
Saddened to hear of another upcoming demolition >:(
I’ve been spending a bit of time in Sentul not far from this place lately, and recognise the area. The villagers insist they won’t move until they see our 1Malaysia PM.
My friend who lives them commented on how kurang ajar it was to go and spray paint ‘roboh’ on someone’s house.
“We should go to PM’s house and spray paint ROBOH there, see how he likes it,” she said. Yeah man.
Seems like it’s quite a muhibbah village, but it looks like 1Malaysia is more like 1Malaysia dirobohkan.
The families there say they’ve lived there for 100 years. That’s before Najib’s father was born.
What would it take for these flers to have some damned compassion?
Nov 242009
Newspaper headlines today on Muhyiddin and his seven day mission.
I think we’re looking at a considerable difference between the Pakatan and BN model here .
Umno has taken it upon itself to ‘sort out’ the internal problems of another party. What they think gives them the right is anyone’s guess.
I guess the ‘sovereignty’ of MCA and the democratic wishes of its members as demonstrated in its last EGM can be disregarded at will by ‘Big Brother’ Umno.
But I guess that’s always been BN’s way: Umno says jump, the rest say how high.
Pakatan seems to follow a different route. I happened to be at a Pakatan press conference today, where this Agenda Daily journalist kept pestering DSAI for a comment ‘selaku Ketua Pembangkang’ as to the affair involving Tok Guru Nik Aziz and his son in law in Kelantan.
DSAI gracefully deferred to Tuan Guru Hadi on the matter, and only commented on the manner in which the media hungrily goes after Pakatan ‘scandals’ while ignoring the billions that BN is piratising away.
Throughout this issue, there was no question of one Pakatan party telling another how to run their business. Rather, a policy of mutual respect holds sway.
Not having some leviathan big boss can make life difficult sometimes, no doubt. It certainly isn’t easy getting consensus without some Mahatiresque dictator bringing down his heavy hand on everyone.
But that’s the essence of democracy – struggling to find common ground. It makes life hell for Pakatan sometimes, but I think they at least respect the spirit of consensus building and equality amongst partners.
Jelas is finally updated to WP 2.8.6, woohoo! That’s been partly the cause of no postings for so many days, sorry! Hopefully a new theme before too long :P
Meanwhile, Gobind said Pornthip had told him that she was being trailed by unknown individuals since her arrival here.
He said he had verbally informed the police on this and also arranged for personal bodyguards for the Thai pathologist.
Selangor police chief DCP Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar, when contacted, said if Pornthip felt her safety was under threat, she should lodge a police report and can be assured police will look into it.
>:| I guess no defenders of justice are safe in Malaysia.
As for our old friend DCP Khalid, I don’t think it should come as any surprise that those who feel themselves likely being followed by cops are likely to lodge a report with the same said cops :P
Anyway, I hope the second post-morterm answers the questions that need answering, and that the reburial tomorrow goes as planned.
Sorry for the late notice! This is shaping up to be a very busy week.
Anyway, a panel of Harvard grads (including next year’s interviewers) will be giving a presentation at MACEE today (Friday 20th Nov) at 3pm on the admissions process for good schools, etc.
Do come by :)
Firstly, congratulations to Dr. Syed Husin Ali! I’ve had the honour of working with him on a number of occassions, and am delighted that a man of such integrity and caliber is being elected to our Senate.
Secondly, I may be doing some maintenance on this blog later tonight, so please forgive any interruptions you may experience.
Now, like everyone else, I was incensed at Hishamuddin’s utterly idiotic statement that crime is on the rise because we demonise the cops.
I think the degree to which this defies logic and makes no rational sense whatsoever a) shows us once again who exactly is running our country (I mean, I know you have to suck up to the cops, but not to the point of assuming anyone would actually swallow such bullshitla), b) exempts me from ranting too long about it.
Let’s look instead for the real reason crime is on the rise in some good figures YB Tony has produced:
From the above chart, what stands out is the fact that only 7.65% of the police force is specifically dedicated fighting crime, while 33.1% of the force is dedicated to “internal security”, that is the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU), the Light Strike Force, and a “Pasukan Gerakan Am”, which was originally intended to fight the Communists in the jungle! It is almost as if the country is in a state of emergency to the extent that more than 40,000 police officers are tasked to “internal security”.
(If I’m not mistaken, we are technically indeed in a state of emergency still)
Wahhhhh. So almost five times the amount of personnel assigned to investigating crime in Malaysia are assigned to fighting ‘riots’ and… communists? >:|
This is infuriating. Nevermind that we also need almost five times that same amount to manage cops (a figure which apparently does not include ‘logistics’ – a department which also has more cops assigned to it than criminal investigations).
We are a country of some 27 million people. We have only 9,379 cops investigating crime, and almost as many (short only by 249) cops in the Special Branch.
To quote Jubal Early (I recently read this with interest) – Does that seem right to you?
Just a quick note to say that it looks like I’ll be giving an interview on BFM 88.9 this Wednesday, November 18th at 3pm, which will most likely cover some salient points regarding American education, getting into top schools, etc. Tune in if you’re free :)
We’ve done it again.
Politicians stir up hate, reporters get arrested.
Cop punch a detainee, detainee gets convicted.
And now? Lawyer fixes judges, Bar Council gets fined for investigating lawyer:
The Bar Council must pay RM70,000 in costs to lawyer VK Lingam in connection with the decision to set up a tribunal to investigate a complaint against him over an alleged vacation to New Zealand with former chief justice Mohd Eusoff Chin in 1994.
The quantum was awarded to Lingam, following the Federal Court’s refusal of the Bar Council’s appeal over the Advocates & Solicitors’ Disciplinary Board’s decision to set up a tribunal after Lingam failed to reply to the Bar’s complaint over the New Zealand holiday trip.
Wah, is Malaysia trying to win some sorta prize for unbelievability? FML.
