Sigh Of Relief

The Prime Minister has finally decided to step in and settle the issue of the Guidebook on Ethnic Relations used by University Putra Malaysia. The book will be withdrawn and replaced by one drawn up by a panel of historians.

After meeting his Cabinet behind closed doors, a unanimous decision was reached and the view taken was "the guidebook — which assigns blame on incidents to race groups and political parties — had no place in a course aimed at breaking down the walls of prejudice and suspicion among races." This is good for Malaysian politics and a sign of maturity among some of the leaders. I can't say the same for the Minister of Higher Education though.

The Prime Minister announced the decision himself and also said "There is no need for us to hurl accusations at other races. We should not blame a race simply because a group or individuals of that race have done something wrong. For instance, if there is a group of Muslim terrorists, we cannot accuse all Muslims of being terrorists." Hear hear.

I hope he sends this message to all his ministers and at the same time instruct his ministry to send circulars to all the universities, schools and government departments regarding this matter. This has to be done to help the small minds to see the bigger issues.

Racial Unity or Disunity?

It was reported in one of our local dailies, New Straits Times that "a noble approach in tackling racial polarisation in universities has backfired."

The article was refering to the newly introduced course on Ethnic Relations in University Putra Malaysia. What is the furore about? It seems the 'authors' of the book who were supposed to write about the various races in this country in view of bringing a better understanding of each other have instead writtem some things which could ignite hatred and distrust which in turn could worsen the polarisation that already exists.

This issue was also brought up by the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz who even lamented what these 'writers' were trying to prove. He went to the extent of saying that anyone who wasn't happy with the book could make a police report. What was the reply from the Higher Education Minister, Datuk Mustapa Mohamed? "the Government was prepared to make amendments if there were factual mistakes in the book. However, he said the contents were based on facts. The Minister then told the House(our Parliament) that the Government stood by its stand that incidents listed in the textbooks were correct."

How did the authors of this book come to know 'the facts of the case'? Take for example the May 13th incident. No arrests were ever made and as of 2004, the official report on May 13th is still covered under the Official Secrets Act. So, how is it a couple of 'education material writers' have been able to get the so called 'facts' and managed to publish it without being arrested? What about the Kampung Medan incident? There was no information given to the public by the Malaysian Human Rights Commission or from the Police. Where did these 'writers' get their material and who gave them the clearance? Something fishy is going on.

The government has been emphasizing on the importance of having good race relations and encouraged racial intergration in the schools. It seems there is a different story at the university level. The Higher Education Minister must have missed out or played truant during the short courses given by the PM on "The Importance of Racial Intergration, Open Houses during Festivals, The Natianal Service, etc... How on earth could the government support something like this? Is this minister out of his mind?

One of the reasons for forcing young people of various races to live together under the Nationa Service program was to encourage intergration and to foster better understanding among the younger generation who are our future leaders. It is a good plan and I applaud the government for introducing it. But what are these 'writers' trying to do? Just look around us and see the carnage that comes from hate and distrust. What happened in Bali and recently in Mumbai. The bombing at Kings Cross and now the shelling of Lebanon and Haifa. Do we want something like this to happen here? When those students graduate from University Putra Malaysia after having learnt the 'facts' they might end up being teachers. What do you think they are going to teach the impressionable minds of the young ones? The same distorted 'facts' that they have learned from the university! The vicious cycle goes on.

The Prime Minister hasn't made any statements regarding this issue as yet. He is too busy with his 880 projects worth RM15 billion. Sooner or later he has to make a stand on this issue! Our country's peace and harmony is at stake here.

Below are some photos of atrocities committed because of racial and religious intolerance.

Bali

Lebanon

Mumbai

Something Interesting!

Can You Read This?

cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg.
The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid,
aoccdrnig to arscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy,
it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are,
the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.

The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.
Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef,
but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?
Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Will the spelling bee contests be terminated? I geuss not. You stlil need to konw the wrods beorfe you can raed tehm in whtaever oredr. heh heh....

RM4 Billion On Liquor And Gambling???

I didn't know that the Malays in this country could spend RM4billion a year on liquor and gambling! Most of the Malays are Muslims. At least 99% of the Malays I know do not drink. In this country they are not allowed to enter casinos. There are those who buy 4 digits but the amount they spend is peanuts compared to what the other communities spend on gambling. So, where did the State Mufti get his data? The Income Tax department should contact him for the details as they would be missing on a lot of revenue!

All the time I was made to understand(from the Muslim religious groups) that only the 'infidels' (unbelievers) indulged themselves in these worldly pleasures. This statement regarding the RM4 billion was issued by the Perak State Mufti, Datuk Seri Harussani Zakaria. He is the same guy who came out with the statement that we should not practice kongsi-raya celebrations because it was detrimental to the faith of the individual Muslim. Talk about putting your foot in your mouth!

Somebody is bent on dividing this country along religious and racial lines. Will we become another Kashmir? or Palestine? or Sri-Lanka? If these religious leaders are given more power, we will most definitely end up having suspicion and distrust among the races leading to the dissapearance of peace and harmony which we boast to the international community every chance we get.

These religious people like to make general statements without facts just to project themselves as champions of their religion or race. They would issue statements like "Muslims in the country also face other threats such as pluralism, hedonism and liberalism." or " the worrying trend to the secularism that had crept into Islamic society here." The simple people will immediately believe every thing he says because of the bombardic words condemning everything that is not Islamic. At the moment religious intolerence is rearing its ugly head everywhere. People who used to be friendly and considerate are now changing to being arrogant and rude.

There was a time in my younger days when we mixed freely among all the races without worrying about losing or the weakening of our individual faiths. I guess we were stronger and more faithful to our respective religions then.

Sports Fever

The World Cup has come and gone like a hurricane even though it went on for one month. There's a lot of crying and gnashing of teeth worldwide. This state of affairs can be seen in Brazil, England, Portugal, Germany and now in France. Penalty shootouts can be nerve wrecking. It is a nightmare for the English team and now the French have joined them. I still think that a field goal like the header from a corner kick by the Italians would have been a glorious way to win rather than penalty shootouts.

A lot of people made money on the sidelines and thousands more lost a lot of money. The business community had a good time, especially the media people. I wonder if it is possible to estimate just how much money has been made from an international event like this.

Anyway, on the Wimbledon front, the French still have something to celebrate about. Amelie Mauresmo has taken the ladies event at the Wimbledon Championships. She is now the undisputed queen of tennis. I thought Henin would be the champion but after taking the first set she just choked up. Her game collapsed as she started making too many unforced errors. The other reason could also be the fitness factor. Amelie looked very fit as she moved around the court tirelessly. Kudos to Amelie.



In the gentlemen's event Roger Federer has again emerged the champion for the fourth time, defeating Rafael Nadal 6-0, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3. It was a fantastic game of tennis. Although I watched it live on TV, I wished I could have been there to soak up the exitement at the courtside. I know Roger has made someone very happy. Happy enough to 'belanja' cold beers.. heh heh..

The Chinese have something to celebrate about too. The Chinese pair of Zi Yan and Jie Zheng took the ladies doubles title making it the first Wimbledon title for China. The Chinese seem to have a good master plan to produce world class tennis players. We will be hearing more of Li Na and other Chinese players in the coming tennis tournaments.

Humour - Another Funny One

Sounds ridiculous but neverthless a funny story.

Subject: Diary of a young wife

Monday:Now home from honeymoon and settled in our new home. It's fun to cook for Tim. Today I made an angel food cake and the recipe said, "beat 12 eggs separately." Well, I didn't have enough bowls to do that, so I had to borrow 12 bowls to beat the eggs in. The cake turned out fine though.

Tuesday:We wanted a fruit salad for supper. The recipe said, "serve without dressing." So I didn't dress. But Tim happened to bring a friend home for supper that night. They both looked so startled when I served them, I think it was the salad.

Wednesday:I decided to serve rice and found a recipe which said, "wash thoroughly before steaming the rice." So I heated some water and took a bath before steaming the rice. Sounded kinda silly in the middle of the day. I can't say it improved the rice anyhow.

Thursday:Today Tim asked for salad again. I tried a new recipe. It said, prepare ingredients, then toss on a bed of lettuce one hour before serving."I hunted all over the place for a garden and when I got one, I tossed my salad into the bed of lettuce and stood over there for over one hour so the dog would not take it. Tim came over and asked if I felt all right. I wonder why? He must be stressed at work, I'll try to be supportive.

Friday:Today I found an easy recipe for cookies. It said, "put all ingredients in a bowl and beat it." Beat it I did,to my mum's place. There must have been something wrong with the recipe, because when I came back home again, it looked the same as when I left it.

Saturday:Tim went shopping today and brought home a chicken. He asked me to dress it for Sunday. I'm sure I don't know how hens dress for Sunday. I never noticed back on the farm, but I found an old doll dress and it's little cute shoes. I thought the hen looked really cute.


When Tim saw it, he started counting to ten. Either he was really stressed because of his work, or he wanted the chicken to dance.When I asked him what was wrong he started crying and shouting out "why me? why me ?" Hmmm....It must be his job.

hehehehe....

A Little Humour

This is one of the best jokes that I have come across. Everytime I read it I can't help bursting out in laughter.

New Wives

Three men were sitting together bragging about how they had given their new wives duties.

The first man had married a Bengali girl, and bragged that he had told his wife she was going to do all the dishes and house cleaning. He said it took a couple of days but on the third day he came home to a clean house and the dishes were done.

The second man had married a Tamil girl. He bragged that he had given his wife orders that she was to do all the cleaning, dishes and the cooking. On the first day he didn't see any results, but the next day it was better. By the third day, his house was clean, the dishes were done and he had a huge dinner on the table.

The third man had married a Punjabi girl. He boasted that he told her that her duties were to keep the house cleaned, dishes washed, lawn mowed, laundry washed and hot meals on the table for every meal. He said the first day he didn't see anything, the second day he didn't see anything but by the third day most of the swelling had gone down and he could see a little out of his left eye.


hehehehehe......

School Bullies

A 14 year old girl from St. Joseph Secondary School,Miri was assaulted by a few girls from another school over a remark about the boyfriend of one of the girls. The victim was punched, kicked, slapped and pushed around. Someone had time to capture this scene and post it on the internet but didn't have the heart or mind to stop this foul deed. It has now become a police case.

We seem to be hearing more of such cases in recent years and they are getting more and more violent. There was the case of a school boy who died after being assaulted by several of his schoolmates. What is the reason for these assaults. Why so violent? It is not about drugs or taking someone's lunch money. Something is wrong with our school system but the top management does not want to admit it. One of the reasons is the poor management of the school personnel by the top management.

We had bullies in our time but the problem was not so serious because it was attended to immediately. Action was taken against the guilty party but most importantly, the person who was assigned to this task was always there and did their job promptly without fear or favour. The present school system with its shady method of promoting its staff based on racial quota leaves much to be desired. No wonder the teachers look the other way when there is trouble between the school children. There is no motivation from the top. I must admit there are teachers who care but solely because of their own principles, but these are few and far in between.

The other reason could be the parents themselves. Nowadays you hear of parents marching into the school to see the Principal or the teacher concerned for punishing their child and threatening to take them to court. In one case in Penang the mother came with a pair of scissors and attacked the teacher who had disciplined her daughter. Parents also have to take part of the blame for this decay. The children's upbringing would play a very important part in the way they handle themselves socially. If they learn hatred for others in the house, that's what they bring with them to the school.

In some schools the teachers are the culprits for segregating the students with regards to race and religion. The government is always talking about intergration but this is only lip service during election and for the foreign media. The selection of students to represent the school for a competition or for receiving awards or for getting scholarships tells a different story. All these factors could also contribute to the tense nature of these students who then take it out on some of their own schoolmates who might not be part of a gang.

When I was in Standard 2, we did have a bully from Standard 3 going around giving us a hard time. One day I gathered all my classmates(about 35 I think) and chased him around the school. He was smart enough to hide from us that day. He never disturbed us after that. Sometimes we have to learn to protect ourselves.

'Hot' Member of Parliament

The 'honourable' Member of Parliament from Jasin has come out strongly against the 'corrupt' Customs officers who he said were selling seized luxury cars to their friends in the palace and government offices very cheaply in return for other favours. It could be true, but coming from him! Why? Why now? The customs have been seizing luxury cars that were illegally brought in for years. Something is fishy!

Remenber this guy? He is the one who tried to import sawn timber illegally from Indonesia and was reported to have asked the customs to 'close one eye' over the matter. When the customs refused to oblige and it became known to the public, he is now on a warpath against the customs.

Who is he to talk about corruption? When he intervened to help the company that imported the sawn timber, everyone thought that he was trying to help his constituents as he also claimed. After further investigations by our local reporters we find out that the company belongs to him!

This is what is going on in this country, but this guy must have rubbed someone the wrong way, otherwise we would never have heard about this issue or even this MP's name. We'll see if he survives in the next election. Most probably he will be bringing up racial issues like the rights of bumiputras and about religion to cover up his activities and most probably he will be elected.