Merdeka 曖昧

Last night, Alvin who changed his template asked me, what are the codes of “Recent entries” for Wordpress blogs.

Eventhough Blogsome is running on Wordpress content management system (CMS), its codes are very different from a true Wordpress blog. We searched through the Wordpress support forum but couldn’t find anything helpful.

Finally, I asked Idlan, who was kind enough to help us before getting ready for breaking fast. Thank you Idlan !

For anyone who need the codes, you have it here !

<!–This will show the last 10 posts, including the last one. To change the number of post shown edit the ‘nuberposts=x’ to whatever value you want, and to skip the last one (or last 2, 3, etc.) increase the value of ‘offset=x’ (default is “0″ so it will start by the last post)–>

<ul>
<?php $posts = get_posts(’numberposts=10&offset=0′); foreach ($posts as $post) : ?>
<li>
<a href=”<?php the_permalink(); ?>” title=”<?php the_title() ?>”><?php the_title() ?></a>
</li>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</ul>

<!– End of Activity –>

Also, thanks to Budu that solved my problem on how to display raw codes here. Before this, the codes couldn’t be shown as raw codes, because they were translated into the effect of what the codes represented. Thus, Budu suggested me to change all the < and > into their respective Html codes, namely & l t ; and & g t ; … It works ! Thanks Budu !

We’ll be missing you, Allahyarhamah Yang Amat Bahagia Datin Seri Endon Mahmud, the beloved first lady of we Malaysians.

Surely you have had a meaningful life, Datin Seri. Your kid, Kamaluddin Abdullah, tauke of Scomi, has helped many in the street seeing their accounts multiplying.

And your son-in-law, Khairi Jamaluddin. He could’ve contributed ideas to the nation in much better ways, had the warlords not ridiculed his young age. Similarly, they blocked his way to becoming CEO of Khazanah Nasional Bhd at the last minute. What a loss for the nation.

And you have your adorable daughter, Nori, who, like Datuk Paduka Marina, supports and promotes liberalism. I sincerely wish you gals could do more. Our country need progress. I pray for her becoming the next Marina, outspoken and fearless.

I wonder who else will succeed you in promoting Nyonya Kebaya and Songket. Will your successors also support breast cancer awareness campaign, or help starving kids in North Korea, Bosnia Herzegovina or Kosovo like you ?

You have laid the foundation of such a fine legacy. I offer my deepest condolence to Datuk Seri, Nori, Kamaluddin and Khairy. May you rest in peace. May God bless your soul. Farewell, my dear first lady.

All of you us who wish to offer your condolence to PM, please visit this PMO page :

Ucapan Takziah Kepada YAB PM Di Atas Kembalinya Allahyarhamah YABhg Datin Seri Endon Mahmood Ke Rahmatullah Pada 20 Oktober 2005

Thank you to all of you who criticized the previous version as distasteful (Bob), bad taste (Din), unfair and dissappointing (Lyn), bad taste and not at the most appropriate of times (David) and imporper (Ninetnine). The criticism is very much appreciated.

Yesterday around 5 pm, Po Kuan told me that the Parliament would sit until 11 pm, wow ! At that particular moment, it was Agriculture minister’s turn to take on the stage. According to Po Kuan, many were shooting questions regarding subsidies or assistance given by Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (Fama) or Lembaga Peladang Kebangsaan (Nafas). However, those are beyond the reach unless if you are an Umnoputras, she added.

I asked her about the free fertilizer given by federal government, with a Dacing logo on it. Po Kuan was somehow suprised to learn that I have acually seen it before. Yes, I did. I have seen it a few times when I went to lepak in our Lake Gardens in KL with a woman (my mom lah, idiot!). Workers there throw the fallen leaves into empty sacks such as this.

Po Kuan told me that she had never seen it before, only heard it from Mohamad khalwat Sabu in the House, in the good old days when there were 32 Barisan Alternatif MPs. Therefore, I have been searching for its picture, and found it in the RSF Freedom Blog. It was given to him by his little bird, Wong PY.

So you have it, Skim Baja Padi Kerajaan Persekutuan. Without these free fertilizers, there won’t be enough rice for all of us. As it signifies, yes, we are living in the grace of Umyes. It can’t be the other way round. Bersyukurlah !

YB Fong Po Kuan, MP for Batu Gajah, has moved into her new home in the blogging world. Alvin must be frustrated, as Bob failed to inform him that you can use Wordpress here in Blogsome for free, and instead made him bought his own domain and hosting

Po Kuan’s entries are really fantastic. A lot of everyday problems have been disclosed, especially the red tapes and bureaucrazy of our Cemerlang, Mohd Isa Gemilang, Khairy Jamaluddin Terbilang govermnent. Things that marhaens like you and me can relate to.

Yes, you know what I wanted to say. Exactly ! I just wanted to say, Po Kuan’s blog is much more interesting than that of her *Thank you for parachutting on us* tauke, whom the expired medicine labelled as “expired medicine“. I first thought Kit’s blog would be a mahligai of kenyataan akhbars. I was proven wrong. It was actually mostly commentaries on currents events, cuma, written in kenyataan akhbar style

As I have said earlier, voters do know that things such as human rights, press freedom etc are somehow important too, but they failed to contextualize it into how are they going to suffer, due the absence of these rights. By raising the everyday local issues, it will be easier for laymen to realise how are they exploited by the rejim kuku besi. So politicians, make your priorities right !

Selamat naik umah baru, Po Kuan !

This is a community service announcement by ShinShin for the benefit of all. Just received this in e-mail from Atok of Tuturan Alambina

Assalamualaikum all,

On Sunday 16hb yg lalu, adik saya telah dengan selamatnya memulakan perniagaan beliau di Carrefour Subang Jaya Food Court. Jika ingin menikmati hidangan tradisional Kelantan, sila ke Stall No. 10 - ‘Rasa Kelantan’. Alhamdulillah, first day hari tu, semua habis waktu berbuka; nasi kerabu, nasi dagang etc. Keropok lekor pun ada. Most probably he won’t be there during office hours though (still keeps his day job).

Selamat Berbuka.

Wasallam,

Azam Ashari
Reading, Berkshire
http://atok.me.uk

I have just talked to YB Miss Fong Po Kuan, MP for Batu Gajah this morning. YB told me that Minister in the Prime Minister in-charged of Parliament Affairs, Datuk Seri Mohd Nazri Aziz was melatah-ing and merepek-ing on the so-called “misundestanding” of his intention to set up a Parliament Department (Jabatan Parlimen), which he later dramatically denied and claimed to be just a post of Director. Thus, “the incident of big J and small j”.

It’s simply idiotic ! Or should I say, it’s so Malaysiana !

What did Nazri have in mind for this department ? Just to look after the administrative stuff, or to put the legislative branch under the fangs of the Executives ? If the latter, surely Malaysia will be the pariah of democracy in the world again by going against separation of powers between Executive, Legislature and Judiciary. Quoting Azizah, it’s an insult to our intelligence !

The House Committee of the Senate has made a stand on bringing back the Parliament Service Act 1963 (PSA) that Tun terminated in 1992. PSA had allowed the Parliament to run their own administration, but since 1992 that has come under Public Service Department. Nazri claimed that if the House of Representative longs for PSA, their House Committee should decide, for being Parliament’s own aspiration, the bill should not be initiated by Cabinet.

He is right. Rightly getting rid of his responsibility. The House Committee is chaired by the Speaker, Datuk Seri Tan Sri Ramli Ngah Talib who severely lacks political will. He’s reluctant to call the meeting eventhough the DAP member in House Committe has been asking for it for numerous times.

Chairman of Backbencher Club (BBC), Datuk Shahrir Samad has been talking and acting aloud to the press outside Parliament, as if they are the champion. However, without pressing Ramli to call the House Committee meeting, all that he has done is cheap talk di bibir aje. It’s also pointless for anyone else to propose it as a private member’s bill, for its chance of getting through is slim.

The way I see it, our Parliament may only regain its independence (and society’s respect for it) if we have a majority of democrats sitting in it, be it from DAP, Keadilan or others, who knows the ABCs of democracy and separation of power. Better if they also understand the importance of separation of church and state. Do Malaysians hope for a better future ? Don’t just hope, the choice is in your hand !

On the night of Budget 2006, Alvin, Bob and our friend from bahagian Kelana Jaya had dinner in the mamak near my home. Alvin called DAP being sometimes a tit-for-tat party, only reacting to Umno when troubles take place. Fine, they might be realistic and pragmatic enough to realise that they will never come into power, yet, I don’t think it’s a good excuse for them not to present a long-term comprehensive policy.

While Pas fish for votes by claiming whatever they do is in the name of God, they actually offers very little apart from alternative legal, entertainment and clothing systems. For PSM, it is a Socialist (some say Marxist) system that seems so utopian to most of us. DAP, which no longer monopolise the anti-Ketuanan Melayu sentiment, falls back on the little comfort zone of anti-Islamic state hardcore.

Shall we in Keadilan also “monkey see monkey do” ? Instead of only reactively attacking BN at times, I propose we draw up a wholesome plan, to show the voters that we are a capable, trustworthy and most importantly, a better alternative to Umno. Our non-ethnic set up has avoid us from falling into the never ending dilemma of horse trading, compromise and discrimination that is part and parcel of BN, thus, cutting off a lot of BN’s never ending dilemma.

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Bob has agreed with Charles F Moreira who pointed out that oppositions had so far not matched their manifesto to the voters’ expectation. So do I. In a society as primitive as ours, voters can’t see how rights or civil liberty will improve their life. For these people who vote by stomach, to put food on table is paramount.

Charles was right in observing that,

“It is high time we face some unpalatable facts in that the Western concepts of democracy, free speech, free press and human rights are not an Asian tradition. Asians have mostly known feudalism, patronage and cronyism, and which places priority on economic well-being.”

Concuring, Bob disclosed that without pursuing further on rights, freedom and liberty, coupled up with the absense of a comprehensive policy on national issues, oppositions has already been reduced to merely reacting to Umno’s mistakes point-by-point on “bread-and-butter” issues. What if Umno makes less mistakes ? Many claimed that the autocratic PAP in Temasek is good, to the extent of claiming that oppositions are unnecessary, just because economic is not too bad. They have forgotten that without civil liberty and press freedom, there is no way to prevent PAP from going astray.

Not that rights and freedom are not important. However, Malaysians failed to see that many of the problems today have arisen due to the lack of these rights. We must help them to contextualise how these rights are going to affect them in issues close to their heart, for example, cost of living, fuel, housing, public transport, national car etc. We should emphasis that democracy, rights and freedoms are all means to ensure that our ends, including social stability and economic well-beings, are attainable.

Yes, mediocre Umno is still far from awarding us starvations. Yet, the opportunity cost to keep Hudud at bay should not be surrendering our constitutional rights and let BN milk us as much as they wish. It’s high time for us recapture our rights, else, we and our descendents will be living by the grace of Umno forever. Rights and freedom are instrumental in ensuring our economic well-being, Keadilan should emphasis on this !

My dad just called me. Among others, he has visited my blog, albeit just a short while.

He was busy as usual, had little to go through my entries. Some more, mixing up with writings of Farish Noor and the likes, he was confused if I was so capable of writing such masterpieces, hahaha. (To minimise confusion, all third party articles syndicated here have been moved to the Superb Stories menu…)

Instead of commenting on my entries, he chose to show his dissatisfaction regarding my design. Yes, especially the party logo, which he is very uncomfortable with. According to him,

“You should not position yourself as such…”

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YB Datin Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Presiden Parti Keadilan hari ini membidas Kementerian Keselamatan Dalam Negeri kerana enggan mengeluarkan permit penerbitan kepada akhbar parti, Suara Keadilan, serta mengancam dan mengganggu agen-agen Suara Keadilan. Beliau mengumpamakan tindakan Kementerian ini sebagai menafikan hak parti untuk bersuara, suatu hak yang diperuntukkan Perlembagaan. Parti akan melancarkan gerakan seluruh negara untuk membantah penafian terhadap kebebasan akhbar kita.

Azizah menerangkan, setiap parti berhak menerbitkan akhbar parti untuk menyebar ideologinya. Akan tetapi, apabila parti memohon dengan Kementerian Keselamatan Dalam Negeri, parti asyik diganggu oleh Kementerian. Semenjak mula diterbitkan Jun lepas, Kementerian telahpun sebanyak 12 kali membuat kacau terhadap agen dan penjual akhbar parti kita.

Pada pukul 2:15 petang tadi, Azizah ditemani Naib-naib Presiden Sivarasa Rasiah dan Mustaffa Kamil Ayub serta Ketua Penerangan, Tian Chua untuk mengadakan sidang akhbar di Parlimen, demi menerangkan gangguan yang dihadapi dalam memohon permit, serta membantah tindakan Kementerian yang menafikan kebebasan akhbar.

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What is my blog without politics ? I am sure you guys are hungry for my attack on baddies whose cruel intentions are to Talebanise Malaysia, aren’t you ?

The issues at hand is pretty much the same, on how to achieve a better Malaysia. For me, the solution is simple, but not the strategy. Solution will be, let Keadilan rules. But the question is, how ?

You know why everyone keeps notty BN in power ? Not because they like it, but, because they don’t wish to rock the boat by inviting in the wolf. The entrance of wolf will open up a pandora’s box, or to be more specific, a can carton of worms in which a lot of devils will come out, including religious discrimination, Hudud and Syariah. Coupled with corruption, human rights abuse, racial discrimination and moral policing that are already the order of the day, Malaysians will suffer another dark age.

Therefore, when we ask Malaysians to support reform, we must first alleviate their fear. The fear of a takeover by Talebans. And it is our responsibility to guarantee them such, else we should not blame them for not supporting reform.

Pas should realise what ball game it is playing. As for now, Keadilan wants to win elections by offering what Malaysians want. We will assure the people that corruption will be curbed, and human rights will be upheld, not the other way round.

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Dalam dialog MCA bersama Persekutuan Lembaga Pengurus Sekolah Cina Malaysia / Persekutuan Guru Cina Malaysia (Dong Jiao Zong), MCA mengakui pada masa kini “memang tak kuasa nak tambah bilangan SJKC”, susah betul, cuma boleh cuba sedaya upaya. Setakat ini, yang MCA mampu hanya menuntut “pemindahan SJKC” yang tidak begitu sensitif.

Menurut seorang peserta dialog, MCA tidak mampu memberikan jawapan yang memuaskan terhadap 11 masalah yang dibangkitkan DJZ, cuma dapat menjawab dengan kabur, yang dapat dijanjikan hanya “akan cuba sedaya upaya”, langsung tidak dapat cadangkan penyelesaian ke atas masalah-masalah pendidikan bahasa ibunda yang penting.

Di dalam pertemuan yang berlangsung di Wisma MCA, Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur pada pukul 4 petang, 10 Oktober 2005, Isnin, empat isu utama yang dibangkitkan DJZ termasuk 1) Pengajaran Sains dan Matematik diinggeriskan, 2) Hak lembaga pengurus, 3) Menambah SJKC dan peruntukan kewangan dan 4) SJKC Damansara (asal).

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Certain quarters in the country, including, and especially, but not limited to those from Taman Melewar, believe in banning certain undesireable elements in the society as the magical cure to every problem.

Smoking is bad ? Sure, just get Mufti to issue a fatwa stating smoking is haram. Akademi Fantasia allows boys hugging girls ? Issue a fatwa to ban it. They failed to look at Akademi Fantasia from the perspective of average Malaysians. But then again, as if they care.

There are two issues at hand. First, do we have a Malaysian population here that cannot think for themselves and decide on what is good and bad ? Second, do we want a gigantic administration which interferes every aspect of our life, while the modern trend in the world is to keep the government as tiny as possible, in order to award as much liberty as possible to its citizens ?

I believe Malaysians are smart. We have companies like Kompakar that are capable of attaining Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) Level 5 within 2 years, while there’s none from our archrival Singapore so far. We have rights activists like Madame Irene Fernandez who have bagged 2005 Right Livelihood Award, the alternative Nobel. The earliest alternative media initiative in the region, Malaysiakini, bears the name of our nation. Even the winner of Reporters Sans Frontier (RSF) Freedom Blog Asia is a fellow Malaysian.

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Was surfing around and found this Hong Kong blogger, Matxela.

With the fall of HK to the Beijng butchers, more and more of those who celebrated Double Ten went over to pro-Beijing cocktail parties. Is it so wrong to commemorate Wuchang Uprising, the revolution led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen ?

Perhaps national identity is not that strong among Hongkies, yet, prior to 1997, there were many who voluntarily put up ROC flags all around town, which, according to them, was “10 times more than Commies flag now come October 1…”

Even so, according to them, in the earlier years, the flags were mostly displayed outside everyone’s house. Over time, fewer people do that, and the flags had to be placed around public areas such as roadside, pedestrain bridges or playgrounds, by only a handful of patriots.

All that remains now is nostalgia…

Dr. Sun Yat-sen

Hari ini, 10 Oktober 2005, merupakan ulang tahun ke-94 Kebangkitan Wuchang yang diketuai pengikut-pengikut Dr. Sun Yat-sen untuk menggulingkan Dinasti Ching yang korup dan boros.

Dinasti Ching yang diasaskan orang Manchuria pada tahun 1644 telah menjadi amat lemah pada hujung abad ke-18. Pada tahun 1841, British yang berdendam kerana candu yang diimport dimusnahkan oleh pegawai tinggi China telah menyerang China. Tentera Dinasti Ching gagal mempertahankan negara, menyebabkan Pulau Hong Kong, Semenanjung Kowloon dan New Territories dijadikan tanah jajahan British pada tahun 1842, 1860 dan 1898 masing-masing.

Empress Dowager (Bonda maharaja) Cixi yang merupakan tok dalang kepada maharaja budak pada masa itu telah membina taman rekreasi mewah peribadi dengan peruntukan untuk memperkembangkan kapal-kapal tentera laut. Oleh yang demikian, dalam Peperangan Sino-Jepun 1895, tentera laut dengan peralatan yang uzur terpaksa menerima cabaran tentera laut Jepun yang moden. Akibatnya, tentera laut Dinasti Ching dihapuskan sama sekali, dan Taiwan dijadikan tanah jajahan Jepun.

Dr. Sun Yat-sen, seorang doktor perubatan, telah mengetahui bahawa kerajaan yang begini mesti digulingkan. Beliau menjelajah ke sana sini untuk mendapatkan sokongan ramai, termasuk Tokyo, London, Pulau Pinang, Singapura dan Honolulu. Di Pulau Pinang, Dr. Sun telah menerbitkan akhbar Kwong Wah Jit Poh, yang merupakan suratkhabar tertua di antara suratkhabar berbahasa Cina yang masih beroperasi di dunia kini.

Akhirnya, pada 10 Oktober 1911, revolusi telah bermula di kota Wuchang, dan diikuti dengan ledakan rakyat yang sama di seluruh negara. Akhirnya, pemerintah maharaja telah digulingkan dan digantikan dengan sistem republik. Pada 1 Januari 1912, Republic of China telah diasaskan, dan 10 Oktober ditetapkan sebagai hari kebangsaan untuk memperingati Kebangkitan Wuchang. Badan-badan yang ditubuhkan Dr. Sun pula distruktur semula dan dinamakan Kuomintang (Parti Nasionalis) dan menjadi pemerintah.

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Thanks for still remembering this day. I am so happy to get this greetings from you, meimei dear.

Oh yeah, you get to see how I look like, which is rare in this blog. The pic was taken outside a kopitiam in Jalan Telawi, the row where our Policy Research Institute (IKD) is located. That’s before Faisal Mustaffa and I went to shoot pictures of Anwar meeting DAP Chairman Karpal Singh at latter’s home in Jalan Buloh Perindu, on the afternoon of June 29th, 2005.

Still listening to the Tak Ingin Sendiri you sang for me. I must say it’s much more fantastic than Hetty Koes Endang’s version. Can I have more ?

Dearest all,

I have been away for a while. That’s why I stuffed my blog with writings by Dr. Farish Noor, Datuk Paduka Marina, Rustam Sani etc. As you may realise, all are on the more liberal side. Now, they have all been relocated into my Superb Stories archive, where you will find many more interesting articles.

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