This article appeared in the New Straits Times, Oct 1, 2013

1. Attempts to declare Chin Peng a patriot, nationalist and freedom fighter reflect how far derailed some Malaysians are from what the Communist Party of Malaya represented and what was its real objective.

2. Firstly, it must be pointed out that the CPM continued with their insurgency long after Malaya and then Malaysia had gained independence in 1957.

3. In their fight against the Government of independent Malaysia, the CPM killed civilians and security personnel by the thousands without considering their role as defenders of independence or their innocence. Senior police officers were assassinated and police patrols were ambushed and gunned down.

4. Nationals of an independent country do not kill fellow nationals who were only doing their duty to provide security for the citizens who wanted just to earn a living, who wanted to live a normal life. Yet the CPM ignored the independence of the nation, the democratic rights of the people in its single-minded desire to create a Communist dictatorship in Malaysia. The CPM were prepared to use extreme violence so as to install its leader Chin Peng, as the authoritarian ruler of the country.
Continue reading Chin Peng →

1.      The British parliament, to the surprise (and probably relief) of Prime Minister David Cameron, rejected British armed intervention in Syria.  Then Barack Obama, President of America, decided that he would ask for Congress approval even for what he called limited military action against the Syrian Government despite his right to declare war without the approval of Congress.  In other words he is   not really willing.  It is a smart move on his part because if the venture fails Congress cannot blame him alone.

2.      It looks like the Western Powers have learnt something from their experience in Afghanistan and Iraq.  They once thought that it would take only a few months of shock and awe to achieve regime change in these two countries.  In the event after ten years of war, after losing thousands of their own soldiers while killing hundreds of thousands of Afghans and Iraqis, devastating these countries, the regime changes have not resulted in the democracy they expected.  If at all the present situation in these two countries is much worse than before invasion and the regime changes.

3.      The hesitation over a military adventure in Syria, even a limited one is understandable.  Yes, the use of chemical weapons probably killed over a thousand innocent Syrians.  But already about 200,000 people have been killed.  Is it acceptable to kill unlimited numbers of innocent people with bombs, rockets and bullets but not with chemical weapons?

4.      If a military invasion is to take place surely it would cause more deaths, definitely more than the number killed by chemical weapons.  And supposing the arsenal of chemical weapons are hit, would it not cause even more deaths.

5.      Supposing limited war takes the form of assassination of the President, would the war stop?  Would the opposition take over the Government and set up a democracy?  The killings of Saddam and Ghadafi have not resulted in stability for their countries.  Even the removal of Hosni Mubarak has not resulted in Egypt being stable and democratic.

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1.  If you want to fight then pick on someone you can beat.  If you do this you will always win.  But then you will be called a bully.  That is alright.

2.  The weak of today are the Muslims.  And the Muslims are weak because they choose to be weak.  I say they choose because Allah has not just given them a good religion, a religion of high values which when practiced would make them strong and respected but Allah has also given them resources of wealth which enable them to have a good life doing nothing.  With money they can get others to do their work for them.

3.  Because of all these the Muslims are weak and can be bullied by anyone. And when they get bullied no one, certainly not their Muslim brothers will come to their help.  So whenever a bully wants to bully he will always pick on the Muslims.

Continue reading THE ROHINGYAS →

1. The Government has withdrawn subsidy for petrol by 20¢ or roughly by 10% of the pump price. Businesses are already talking about raising the prices of goods they sell. They say that they have to pass on the price increase to their customers.

2. How does the price increase affect business? That depends on how much oil including transport cost enters into their business or products.

3. Assuming oil makes up 10% of the input into their products or services. This will mean 10% of 10%, that is 1%. It is a percentage in terms of increase in cost which most business can easily absorb. There need not be any increase in prices of their products or services.

4. Of course some products or services may have 50% or more of fuel needed. For example transport business. Even here the fuel needed is not 100%. There are other costs to bear. The increase in cost should therefore not be 50%. It should not be even 10%. It should be only 5% or only slightly more.

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1. Sejarah Islam dipenuhi dengan permusuhan antara Sunni dengan Syiah. Kerapkali peperangan berlaku di antara mereka. Hari ini kita baca dalam akhbar dan TV berkenaan dengan letupan bom yang membunuh dan mencedera beratus-ratus daripada pengikut kedua-dua mazhab ini semasa mereka sedang sembahyang Jumaat di masjid dan di lain-lain tempat di mana mereka berkumpul.

2. Melihat akan permusuhan dan bunuh-membunuh diantara Sunni dan Syiah, musuh-musuh Islam, Yahudi dan sekutu mereka amat gembira. Bagi mereka, samada Sunni atau Syiah, semuanya adalah orang Islam dan seteru mereka. Kerja mereka untuk melemah dan musnahkan Islam dan orang Islam sedang dibuat oleh orang Islam sendiri.

3. Permusuhan antara Sunni dan Syiah ini tidak berlaku di Malaysia kerana buat sekian lama semua orang Islam di Negara ini terdiri daripada Ahli Sunnah Wal Jamaah, iaitu Sunni pengikut Imam Shafei. Mereka semua berpegang kepada ajaran Islam yang sama. Walaupun perbezaan politik memisahkan diantara orang Islam di Malaysia, tetapi ia tidak sampai kepada membunuh dan berperang.

Continue reading SUNNI DAN SYIAH →

1. After Parliament was dissolved on the 13th April 2013, I was interviewed by a BBC journalist. He appeared quite convinced that race-based parties such as those in the National Front would be rejected by a more liberal electorate which believes in democracy, freedom and non-racial politics. Also the idealistic young would reject the BN.

2. I had to disagree with him as I believed that racial polarization in Malaysia had become more pronounced now than ever before. I may not always be right but after 60 years involvement in Malaysian politics I felt strongly that the race factor will continue to dominate the politics of the country.  The quality of the candidates or parties, the ideologies and the desire for change will always be secondary to race.

3. The election results showed that I was right. The DAP playing on racial sentiments drew the Chinese away from BN by depicting the MCA as lackeys of UMNO. The DAP won 38 seats, reducing the MCA’s seats from 15 to 7. The Gerakan won one seat out of two. All the DAP Chinese contested in Chinese majority constituencies.  A few of the MCA, Gerakan and MIC candidates contested in Malay majority constituencies.

Continue reading RACIAL POLARIZATION →