Monday, February 23, 2015

No free political lunch, please sign this!

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/make-release-malaysian-opposition-leader-anwar-ibrahim-prison-top-priority-us-policy-toward-malaysia/fBrTzvBz

各位親朋戚友,如果政府隨便抓人再來個‘莫須有’罪名把一個個願意為大家仗義執言的在野黨領袖關進牢里,而你又不會生氣,也不愿花一兩分鐘來簽名支持釋放政治犯安華,那麼我們就集體繼續乖乖聽話地生活在一個國家大的牢房里吧!

維繫一個貪腐的政權很容易,就是什麼都不做!繼續讓羅大媽用1200大元理髮洗頭,買包包鑽戒和環遊世界吧,反正錢也是你們的!

何時為正義挺身而出?就是在對的時候做對的事情!

快點點進以上網頁簽名支持釋放安華吧!

I feel rather sad over the fact that the petition could not garner enough signatures after 2 weeks, to get over the threshold to bring to US government attention. 100,000 signatures, a high barrier though, but looking at how many people had turned out at political rallies/ protests prior to 505 General Election, I still find it too surprising the petition campaign falters. Why? In the face of gross violation of justice to the opposition leader of our nation, Anwar Ibrahim, I am aghast why this time not so many people express their anger like last time? To support the call, one just need take a minute or two to fill up the online signature form. It does not even require anyone go down to street nor taken to lokap, why not sign?

The person who initiated this petition is no other than the ex-US ambassador himself John Malott. I know some still are very sceptical and doubt whether this petition would change anything at all. I don’t know, but at least I know every signature is real, at least the online support and the call for justice is also real and solid. This forms the collective voice of conscience and moral authority. Even if Obama-administration chooses to overlook this issue, we can use the petition to go around and signal to the world that we have got a serious issue back home. If the people in the respective nations know that their democratic leaders still hypocritically support a regime who throws their political opponents in jail, what do they think of their leaders? But if we ourselves are not angry enough, seemingly agree with the authority over their political moves and ‘content’ with the status quo, then why would any government and people in the world voice up for us, if not even 100,000 people back in our homeland bother about it?

One issue I can understand is that the language used in this petition is English. This could already be a language barrier to some rakyat who are not so good in understanding the content of this petition and therefore refuse to sign. I hope some would take this to their circle of friends, translate the basic message of this petition in their own native language, and finally urge people to sign! Sign, please just sign. Do it not just for Anwar, but for a free and fair political competition. Don’t make opposition politicians pay any political cost, no one should deserve that kind of injustice.


There is no real reform for Malaysia without having free and strong opposition which can win the election by real support and implement their political visions.

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Reform is a long march... now the opposition leader is in the lokap, talking about the long term strategy is not timely.

There are people building the nation by strengthening the opposition, not just in terms of political influence, but also substance.

Policy formulating will take time , especially expert consultation. I see that some parties and NGOs are doing that, and there are things still ongoing, to put on the plate.

Not to smear BN, but the federal government is doing the opposite, and earning more and more discredit.

You should also understand that policy reform will go hand in hand with the political power. If the current political power doesn't want to shake our hands, then we should go to another platform which would take our ideas as their vision too and at the same time politically powerful enough to challenge the problematic one.


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so, at this junction of time, we must do what is required at the crucial moment. I don't mean signing this petition is enough, no it is not, but doing this costs us nothing and can probably bring advancement to the movement

To act or not to act, it is up to the occupant in the White House. But we want the world to see White House's reaction to injustice and anti-democratic measures done by a leader he played golf with

Sunday, February 01, 2015

Short comment on NEP

The true core shortcoming of NEP is not the so-called "crutch mentality" but NEPotism. No one is really depending on the NEP to survive. The proponent of "crutch mentality" is to help sustain the policy by letting some others in society believing that this policy does really help their race and without it their race cannot survive. So criticism using that phrase will nevertheless strengthen rather than weaken the need for such policy. I remember that Dr. M did like to use this phrase many times during his tenure, but never really did anything substantial to do away with this policy (and the similar policies).