Rooting the Cause

Technorati tags: Politics, Sociopolitics, Malay Problem, National Problem, AB Sulaiman

Ever since March 8, 2008, slightly less than 3 years ago, much has changed in the Malaysian socio-political landscape. The 12th General Elections, which saw Barisan Nasional lose big – albeit not big enough to be booted out of government – should have been a wake up call for BN. It has been, in a sense, and in another sense it hasn’t.

BN has admitted that it needs to change. Or at least that’s what they’ve said. The observed reality, however, is that change, if it is at all happening, is happening in mysterious ways. Walski says this because as far as he can see not much really has.

But that’s just one person’s observation, which you’re more than welcome to dispute.

Sentiment we've been seeing more and more of post-March 8, 2008

What is blatantly obvious, however, is the emergence of Malay rights NGOs since March 8, most notably Perkasa, champions of the nebulous concept of Ketuanan Melayu. Almost as nebulous as the concept of 1Malaysia (Najib’s, not Walski’s), since no one seems to be able to decisively define it.

The natives, as it were, are today more restless than ever before. And that restlessness, fueled by the likes of Perkasa, doesn’t seem anywhere close to being abated. The question that remains is, why?

Yesterday, Walski came across an opinion piece, originally from Malaysiakini, published on senior DAP politician Lim Kit Siang’s blog. It was written by one AB Sulaiman, credited as being “an observer of human traits and foibles”.

The first question that may come to your mind: who the hell is AB Sulaiman? To Walski, that question is irrelevant. What is relevant: the essay written by AB Sulaiman.

Why the essay is not only relevant, but important as well, becomes obvious if one reads the piece in its entirety. To do that, one needs to read beyond the headline, especially when the headline reads "Malay problem root of nation’s problem".

Because if you merely read the headline, then go, “See, I told you so” (which someone actually has said to Walski, in not so many words), then perhaps you’re part of the problem, too.
(a no holds barred root-cause analysis, and more, in the full post)

Walski makes it a policy to refrain from doing a cut & paste job on this blog. Occasionally, however, he makes the odd exception. This is one of those times. And the reason for this is obvious: it’s a piece that everyone should read.

Malay problem root of nation’s problem
by AB Sulaiman
(originally published at Malaysiakini on January 6, 2011)

COMMENT About a year and a bit ago, the Old Boys' Association of the Royal Military College otherwise known as 'Old Putras' organised an evening of discourse.

The forum noted that the Malaysian people were fragmented, the economy at a virtual standstill, and democracy eroded by dictatorship, returning feudalism, and theocracy. Those present wanted to analyse the degeneration and like good citizens we were to come up with some solutions.

It was then that one speaker, Mohd Dahan if I remember correctly, who stood up to say, “Solve the Malay problem, and you solve the country's problem.” Now we are in the first month of the second decade of the 21st century, the ring of truth in his statement still prevails.

But at this time, 53 years after independence and 10 years to becoming a high-income country, it appears we are still embedded deep in a long list of unsolved national problems, with many getting worse than before.

Here are but some of them: A restive and fragmented population, high migration rate, poor rate of growth, broken public institutions like education and the judiciary, high crime rate, degenerating personal and public morality, price increases, inflation, and a generally authoritative, intimidating and arrogant government. Our comparative indices with other countries like in areas of transparency, human rights, education, are all on the downward swing.

And corruption, the perennial social cancer, taking place at the highest possible level, involving amounts that would make Carlos Slim (currently the richest man in the world according to Forbes) and Bill Gates almost poor by comparison.

Hope lies eternal, so let's see whether we can try to solve at least some of the national problems, by first solving some Malay problems, for this coming year.

But first, what exactly is the 'Malay problem'?

Unable to break the inertia
My observation of this matter stemmed from the collective Malay lack of knowledge and of modern technical skills and thereby negatively reflected in the country's wealth distribution scenario.

In 1957 the record books indicated that Malay economic involvement was no more than at a paltry 2 percent. This is not good at all as viewed and agreed on by the founding fathers and every meaningful citizen of whatever ethnic background.

Since then the Malays have been given all opportunities to be more fruitfully involved in the country's economic activities. In 1970, a name was given to this ground-breaking exercise known as social engineering under the New Economic Policy.

Lavishly-funded government policies and programmes were introduced to even the playing field for Malay incursion into the national economy.

But try as they might, the Malays could not manage to break the inertia and achieve any planning targets. (Please spare me the need to repeat even some of the details for they have been pretty well and regularly documented by proponents, supporters and critics alike.)

This was to me the first time the Malay problem surfaced. It's that the perception that Malay economic backwardness (and 'problem') is solely economic in its cause and could largely be solved under the NEP.

In fact its architect, Abdul Razak Hussein (right), asked for 20 years for the project implementation; surely thinking that this period was enough to see the Malay through.

Sadly, history has indicated there has been a fundamental flaw in this presumption. In reality, his economic ineptitude being one, but far more is his psychological or mental deficiency.

Psychological or mental? Yes. He has this innate inability to realise that upon independence the country was morphing progressively into a new era: From old to new, rural to urban, agrarian to manufacturing, ancient to modern. From a life aligned with nature and the natural featured by myth, magic, miracle and mystery, to one surrounded and led by technical principles and science. It was an era of change.

Change requires a few mental subtleties. First there must be awareness or consciousness of the advent of change, and second, it requires a willingness to adapt to it. Without these two, any change is but a natural progression. The mind must therefore be equipped to be conscious and be aware of change. This is what the Malay did not have.

Ketuanan Melayu
History tells us that the Malay has not been able to produce the thinking faculty to recognise the coming of change to begin with. Hardly surprising therefore for him to show an inability to adapt at the appropriate time. He has no ability to accept and adapt to change.

So this is to me the root of the 'Malay problem'.

This inability to change again to me reflects the inner features and characteristics of Malay thinking:

i) It is ethnocentric: it believes in the superiority of its own type over all other types.

ii) It is non-scientific: it believes in not yet ascertained truth and in non-provable ones.

iii) It is quick in denial.

iv) It is not aware of its mistakes.

They would produce the following end-product or behaviour patterns:

v) The Malay is a superior race.

vi) Islam is the one and only religion that gets approval from God Almighty.

vii) These are irrefutable truths.

viii) Anyone denying the above is a traitor to the race and an apostate to religion.

Items (i) to (iv) indicate that the Malay is racially conscious and highly religion bound. Items (v) to (viii) reveal his racism and religious tendencies. They in turn at least partially explain the favourite Malay ideology 'untuk agama, bangsa dan negara'.

They have also been personified by the ketuanan Melayu entity, and giving rise to the Perkasa movement.

Doubters to this contention might wish to counter check: Are ketuanan Melayu and Perkasa not ethnocentric? They are for championing 'Malay rights' when the constitution says it's only Malay 'special privileges'.

They are also non-scientific for championing Islam, or at least the government-approved version of Islam: Sunni sect, Imam Shafie line, and until recently, Islam Hadhari variety.

Who then are ketuanan Melayu members? To me, the ketuanan Melayu entity comprises those who generally harbour the eight features just mentioned above. As individuals they are:

i) The ruling party members, especially Umno leaders;

ii) The civil servants running the government machinery;

iii) The officers and personnel running government agencies like the police, military, customs, immigration, etc.;

iv) The ulama whose job is to protect and propagate Islam;

v) Political chiefs aspiring to get to the top of the party ladder.

It's eerie to think the obvious - that this list would net almost the entire educated, urban, middle class, Malay population. And they are the embodiment of the Malay problem!

In other words, the root, core, essence of the Malay problem is the Malay collective culture!

Shameful performance
How has this collective culture been performing as the top leaders and managers of the country? Well, unless I am grossly wrong, you can't create something good out of something rotten. Ketuanan Melayu (i.e. racism and religious fundamentalism) to me is something definitely rotten. So Malay supremacy has been able to create in the last decade or so the following:

a) Bending the laws to suit Malay interests. In this case the constitution has been amended a record 40 times (with 650 individual amendments) since 1957. Compare this with the US that has amended its constitution about 27 times since its founding. Or, Singapore, four times. Racism is institutionalised in this country!

b) Breaking the thin line between Syariah and civil laws. The supremacy of the constitution has been eroded.

c. Breaking down of institutions like the check and balance features of democratic governance. Democracy is all but dead. Have the periodic general elections, and that's it, democracy is observed. Whatever happens in between is another matter altogether.

d) The flagrant use of lies, deceit, hooliganism on the part of the ruling elite against its own people. There is this massive breaking down of individual and public morality.

There are countless thousands of others.

We come back to Dahan's wisdom. Now that we have re-acquainted ourselves with the Malay problem, how do we go about solving it?

This is no easy task for the obstacles are enormous. On the one side we have a people under the ketuanan Melayu ambit digging deep into the fortress of race and religion and not at all ashamed to use the political power available at its disposal. To the Malay, the saying that the ends justify the means is enshrined in gold.

The government and ketuanan Melayu are not about to let go easily. They are deep in the quagmire of lies, deceit, corruption, even sin and criminality. Only by them staying in power will they be able to prevent the law from taking its course.

On the other side we have the 21st century world demanding a 21st century open and flexible mind. Some of them are: Technical ability, professionalism, openness, honesty, fairness, justice, morality, transparency, responsibility, accountability and integrity.

Solutions
Whatever programme we have to solve the Malay problem, two elements must be present: The secularisation of the Malay mind and the restoration of basic human rights to the peoples of Malaysia.

It has to be repeated that it won't be easy.

But hope against hope, the government must restore power to the people; the ulama must come to terms with universal realities. Civil servants too should reorient their thinking to serve the people rather than the politicians.

And the people, the average Malay down the road, must come to realise that the world is not an oyster, that individualism is the key to any personal or national development.

How can all these be achieved? Thinking influences behaviour - the ketuanan Melayu Malay mind must change from its ethnocentricity and non-scientific features to one of openness, fairness, rationality and respect for other men.

Develop the sense of the individual in him. Secularise Malay thinking. Open his closed mind. Go for secular education. Teach philosophy in schools. Do not teach children about religion until they are able to think for themselves.

Do anything to make the Malay more receptive for change. Then perhaps we can begin to solve the Malay problem, in 2011 and onwards.

AB SULAIMAN is an observer of human traits and foibles, especially within the context of religion and culture. As a liberal, he marvels at the way orthodoxy fights to maintain its credibility in a devilishly fast-changing world. He hopes to provide some understanding to the issues at hand and wherever possible, suggest some solutions. He holds a Bachelor in Social Sciences (Leicester, UK) and a Diploma in Public Administration, Universiti Malaya.

If UMNO (or any other BN component) wants to know what true soul-searching means, they should read this article. Every single member, from Jibby on down. So, too, should any other organization, political or otherwise, that lays claim to championing the Malay cause.

Soul-searching can be painful. For an organization, it requires baring the collective soul, asking difficult questions, and not being afraid of encountering possibly hurtful answers.

Walski went “wow” when he read the piece. It is not often you come across such honesty (Walski is assuming that AB Sulaiman is of the Melayu demographic), and quite frankly, a good root-cause analysis.

And it was then that he decided everyone should have the opportunity to read it, too. Beyond the headlines, that is, all the way to the end.

Click here for the full post......

Keep It Secular, Stupid

Technorati tags: Religion, Politics, Subang Jaya, MPSJ, Third Power Column

Like it or not – and for Walski, not – we live in a country that’s becoming increasingly conservative. It wasn’t always this way, and for quite certain, not something our founding fathers intended for Malaysia to be. Regardless of what the conservatives tell us.

On the onset, Malaysia – or, at the time, Malaya – was formed on the basis of being a secular nation state. Now Walski doesn’t know for sure if the Encyclopedia Galactica defines the word secular or not, but if it did, it would very likely define it in pretty much the same way the Oxford Dictionary does: not connected with religious or spiritual matters.

Secular does not mean anti-religion, or anti-God. In that respect, this country was formed on the basis of being secular. It was never intended that Malaysia be an Islamic state, despite the fact that Islam is the official religion, as defined in the Federal Constitution.

Regardless of what the conservatives believe, and insist that we do, too.

So why is it that religion – Islam, specifically – is becoming more and more prominent within the public sphere? And by public sphere, Walski means public policy.

Walski wonders if much thought was given before this overzealous ruling was forced through. And not just the MPSJ ruling, but the Selangor state Syariah Criminal Enactment, which the MPSJ seems to be so eager to bend over backwards to enforce.

There are damned good reasons why our forefathers formed this country as a secular state. The MPSJ enforcement of this ruling is a living example of why.
(Christopher Hitchens is right, and more, in the full post)

The various state Syariah criminal enactments do one thing very effectively: they create “criminals” out of otherwise law abiding citizens. Every “sin”, if these Islamists have their way, becomes a crime against the state.

Okay, so JAIS and MPSJ want to enforce this idiocy.

Fine. Let’s look at the impact. What these soldiers of God only see are Muslims working in pubs. That’s probably as far as their blinkered vision allows them to see.

Now. what about convenience stores, mini-markets, supermarkets, hotels (there are at least 4 international hotels in the Subang Jaya municipality off the top of Walski’s head), and restaurants?  Is the MPSJ going to enforce this on all businesses, or practice selective persecution? And has MPSJ even considered the potential overnight unemployment?

And once these out of work Muslims (the vast majority of whom are Malays) have been “saved”, who’s going to fill up those vacant positions? Already the Food and Beverage industry is lamenting that without capable foreign labor, they can hardly operate. And what’s going to happen to these out of work Muslims, saved as they may be?

After that, what other un-kosher work will Muslims be prohibited from engaging in? Here’s a suggestion: Muslim employees of banks that charge conventional interest. Yeah, force them into unemployment as well, while we’re at it.

And what of the Muslim stewards and stewardesses on MAS and other airlines that make Malaysia their hub? They serve alcohol on these flights, don’t they? Force the Malaysian Muslim crew into unemployment as well?

That, sports fans, is the real impact of what MPSJ has initiated. Potentially, saving the Muslims to enjoy an economically broken nation.

Okay, so Chief Minister Khalid Ibrahim says that a special fund would be set up to assist “Muslim workers who are forced to resign from entertainment outlets serving alcohol” (via The Malaysian Insider). For how long, and at what quantum? Very creative use of zakat funds, incidentally.

Typical, though – spend more funds and create more bureaucracy to overcome problems that were self-inflicted in the first place.

How long is it going to take until Muslims in this country realize that the longer they tolerate this Islam-as-I-say-tion wars between PAS and UMNO, the more they will be on the short end of the bargaining stick. Yes, folks, newsflash – at the root of this stupidity is none other than the ugly face politics.

These two anachronistic parties go all out to out-Islam the other in their quest for support from the Malaysian people. And Malays – who by virtue of the indelible stamp of their MyKad, are Muslims – have no choice but to endure the stupidity inflicted upon them time and time again. Worse, many relish it. God bless their gullible souls.

By the way, here’s a suggestion – these unemployed, saved individuals could be absorbed into the Civil Service. It’s not like half of our national budget goes into the upkeep of the civil service, right? Oh, wait – doesn’t some of the tax revenue also come from not-so-kosher industries like gaming? The devil, as they say, is in the details, and the Malaysian way is to close one eye to inconvenient truths. When it’s convenient, of course.

And seriously, the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled off is to convince us to do the most incredibly stupid things in God’s name.

Thinking about it, Christopher Hitchens was spot on – religion poisons everything. Hey, Malaysia could be a modern day case study at the rate things are going. Maybe one day we can be a proud member of The Club of Doom.

While certain political personalities lambast the MCLM (Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement) for being a third force to dilute the political process – which, incidentally, they are not – what most people are totally blind to is the very REAL third force – the elephant in the room, so to speak. Walski here refers to what he calls the Third Power Column. Unelected religionistas, in collusion with elected persons across political divides, whose agenda is to turn this country into a theocratic state of some undisclosed model.

In the context of Malaysia, what would result, should this happen, is a religious apartheid, where you have different sets of laws for different sets of people, depending upon what religion you have the misfortune to be born into. Civil liberties, as in bad shape as they are today, will be something we may only read about in prohibited history books.

And this is pretty much 180-degrees from what our forefathers intended. Regardless of what the conservatives insist that we believe.

Most, if not all, of our founding fathers are dead and gone by now, but if they were alive, Walski is pretty sure that they would want for us to KISS – Keep It Secular, Stupid.

Regardless of what the conservatives may want to think, and the delusions necessary to believe what they believe…

Click here for the full post......

Youdecide

Technorati tags: Teoh Beng Hock, Humor, Coroner's Inquiry, Royal Commission of Inquiry

Earlier this week, the much awaited verdict on how Teoh Beng Hock died was delivered. The nation would know once and for all whether Teoh took his own life, or his death was a case of murder. And at least, in one small aspect of our troubled and often convoluted minds, we would finally be at peace, and that there would be closure.

Right?

Well, apparently not. The coroner’s verdict, in a nutshell: it was inconclusivicide. That’s Walski’s assessment anyway. But if you’re one of those humorless types, the good people at Loyarburok.com have put together a more serious summary of the verdict.

And after all these long months of drama, the wacky theory of self-strangulation (via Tony Pua’s blog), and an assortment of court theatrics, we’re pretty much back to square one. We still don’t know for sure.

But both homicide AND suicide have been ruled out. In layperson’s terms, he didn’t take his own life, nor did someone do it for him. Not sure about TBH, but it seems that the Coroner’s Court certainly was a victim of cantdecide, that well known mind killer.

So, what the heck really caused Teoh’s untimely death?
(the many possible “cides”, and more, in the full post)

Yes, smart ass, we know that he fell off the tower block of Plaza Masalam, which was the proverbial trigger that killed the guy. So, was it gravitycide? Obviously, the answer to that is yes. Any object in free fall accelerates at 9.8 meters/sec². Unless you’re on a different planet. In which case, Walski’s glad that you get Earth Internet access there, and can actually read this.

But gravitycide is merely the smoking gun. Gravity itself holds no grudges. What we’re more interested to know is whatcausedTeohtofallcide – who or what used gravity to off Teoh.

To the best of Walski’s knowledge, Plaza Masalam is not one of those hyperactive paranormal activity hotspots. Some might opine that the way MACC operates is in itself paranormal activity, but let’s leave that speculation simply at that.

That said, ghosticide could possibly explain how Teoh, at the time presumably bruised and somewhat battered, could have been magically been transported to a big enough window to be thrown out of. Apparently, the window of the MACC office (on the 14th floor) right above where Teoh’s body was found was also ruled out as being the exit point.

Walski wonders what Uncle Seekers would have to say about this ghosticide theory. If he can get time off from his new flame, that is.

So, what now? With the verdict in this ongoing mysterycide being open-ended, at least in the foreseeable future, it looks very like that a Royal Commission of Inquiry will very soon be called. Whether or not this RCI will find anything out we don’t already know is another open ended question. What we can be sure of is that, like the previous recent RCIs, it is likely to be another prolonged wasteoftimeandresourcecide.

The family of Teoh Beng Hock, not surprisingly, is disappointed with the verdict. But Walski thinks that they can at least take solace in the fact that suicide has been ruled out. The guy had everything to live for – marriage in a few days, and a baby on the way – when his body was found.

In the meantime, Walski also thinks that the Coroner’s Court has inadvertently given a conclusive verdict. And the verdict?

Death by youdecide.

Potential Uproar Circumvention Post Footnote: Walski hopes that no one misconstrues this post to be making light of the memory of Teoh Beng Hock. It doesn’t. What it does poke funny holes in is the idea that the system of justice we have is perfect. Or sometimes even believable. In the matter of TBH’s unntilmely death, the truth is still out there somewhere.

When or where that truth will be found is something Walski dare not predicticide…

Click here for the full post......

Another year older...

Technorati tags: 2010, New Year, Retrospective, Happy New Year 2011, Looking Ahead

It’s been about a month and a half since Walski’s posted anything, and it seems another year has gone beyond the time horizon in the meantime.

First off, Walski would like to wish everyone a great 2011… hope that it’s better than the rollercoaster 2010 we’ve just left behind.

So, what makes a good year? Or bad year? Or, for that matter, a so-so year that’s easily forgettable? One thing’s for sure – 2010 was certainly not a so-so year. It had some good, more bad, and more than it’s fair share of ugly.

Think of this post as both a retrospective of the year gone by, and what Walski would like for the 365 days ahead.

Post-length warning: since this is many posts all rolled into one, what lies beyond the break is a long-ish write up. Now would probably be a good time to go get your cup of java topped up… 
(ok, so it’s technically 364.25 days, and the retro-prospective,  in the full post)

Incidentally, myAsylum will soon celebrate 5 years of being online. Who’d have thunk that when Walski started this blog in 2006 it would still be around at the turn of a new decade? (And for you grammar nazis, “thunk” was intentional)

Granted, it’s not been as successful, traffic- and readership-wise, as other more sensationalist blogs, or blogs written by sensational people, but myAsylum has been getting a steady stream of visits throughout it’s almost 5-year lifespan (give or take a couple of weeks). And, it has an audience, presumably from a small group of people with like-minded sensibilities as Walski has.

Perhaps it’s time to go back to the blog’s more controversial and outspoken roots. Walski will be the first to admit that in the last 18 months or so, he’s exercised a lot of restraint, and to call a spade a spade, self-censorship. Frankly, he doesn’t feel safe speaking his mind like he used to. And that’s a bad thing Walski will try to rectify this year.

The irony is that the same people wanting to shut you the fuck up are the same ones who have no qualms about what they have to say. Which brings us to another facet of 2010 – the year of Ibrahim Ali and Perkasa. They have not only been reported in the media a lot – and by a lot, Walski means A LOT – in an unspoken and un-admitted way they have helped shape UMNO’s political posturing.

Here’s the thing Walski simply doesn’t get – among other things, Perkasa is opposed to a needs-based NEP, claiming that the NEP is a constitutional birthright of the Malays – if the Malays are indeed the most needy of Malaysians en masse (as Perkasa often claims), wouldn’t a needs-based policy cover Malays by default? Logical, no?

But logic is something that is totally redefined when it comes to Perkasa. Their logic is based on birthrights, purportedly enshrined in the Federal Constitution. And by inference, so is the NEP. You won’t actually find any mention of the NEP in the Federal Constitution, but that, as far as Perkasa is concerned is not important. What is important is that they are right, and anyone who cares refute them are traitors. And repeat an inference enough times, loudly, and it starts to become accepted as the truth.

That’s the main problem with Perkasa – they’re not necessarily logical, but they’re loud, and insistent. And when their logic is challenged, out come the less than complimentary epithets, or worse, police reports. Walski reckons that no less than 20 unique police reports were filed by the organization against various parties during 2010. It’s almost as if filing police reports was Perkasa’s official hobby. Probably their organizational KPI, but that’s just a guess.

And so, one of Walski’s to-do’s this year is to refute the mumbo-jumbo spouted by these folks. To assist him in this effort, if there’s anyone who writes well in Bahasa Malaysia, and wishes to contribute their time, do let Walski know. He’s serious about it.

Religion, too, became a big talking point in 2010. The incidences involving religious disputes and controversies would occupy a sizeable list, and Walski won’t bother. Suffice it to say that during 2010, the religious authorities kept themselves busy in their effort to curtail as many rights and civil liberties as they could. Another KPI thing, in all likelihood. Funny enough, the same citizens who fight tooth and nail in support of more power to the religious authorities are the very same ones most at risk of having their civil liberties nipped.

While Perkasa’s preoccupation is making police reports, and a nuisance of themselves in the process, the religious authorities, on the other hand seem to be preoccupied with wanting to play God. Especially when it comes to being ever so eager to criminalize personal sin.

The biggest mistake Malaysia ever made was to move away from being a secular (and more civilized) state, and to make religion a prominent part of public policy. In Walski’s perspective, Malaysia is headed full steam ahead towards being a religious apartheid.

Now, some of you will probably take offense to that notion, but when you have different sets of laws for different sets of citizens, and when being unfortunate enough to profess a certain religion may make you liable to become a “criminal”, what else would you call it if not religious apartheid?

If religion is supposed to be a person’s personal bond with his/her perceived maker, who is the state to judge one’s level of bonding? But we’re definitely heading in the direction of other nation-states that have attempted to use religion to rule. And looking at other nation-states in the modern era that have chosen that path, the prospects for Malaysia are not at all encouraging.

Incidentally, the religious authorities, although NOT elected, have very real powers. Including the power to make your life a living hell if you wish to not comply with their wishes. Whether or not these powers are actually legal or not is another matter. The reality is that they exert the powers perceived to be theirs, and continue to push the envelope with what they can get away with.

With the momentum set in 2010, Walski doesn’t expect any less discord this year. No surprise whatsoever if religious disputes increase over the next 355 (or 364.25, if you wanna nit-pick). On that front, he foresees 2011 to be worse than last year, and will continue to worsen with each subsequent orbit around the Sun.

Politically, 2010 was an interesting year to observe. To analyze and comment on what went on the previous year in detail, and to prognosticate what this year has in store, would take several very long posts. In a nutshell, however:

• the Pakatan states, namely Kedah, Kelantan, Penang, and Selangor, continue to come under unrelenting attacks by UMNO/BN, through the mainstream print and electronic media, as well as online through the numerous pro-UMNO/BN blogs and websites. Walski expects this to continue this year, as well.
• there is speculation that snap general elections will be called in 2011, and some even suggesting that the next GE will coincide with the Sarawak state elections, which has to occur this year. There are a few reasons, however, why Walski doesn’t think that GE13 will be this year:
  • the amount of resources required for BOTH to happen concurrently will be too significant for even the UMNO/BN machinery to cope with.
  • the Sarawakians are beginning to get restless… and therefore retention of Sarawak under BN rule would be the primary focus. Indications are that the urban vote is slowly swinging to DAP, and the rural folk are starting to get antsy over what’s perceived to be the continued infringement of Native Customary Land Rights.
  • Tenang by-elections will be held at the end of January. Walski suspects any decision on when to call GE13 will likely be made only after the Johor seat has been contested
• going by what's been reported in the mainstream press, UMNO/BN seems to be gaining the support it lost during GE12. At the same time, it would appear the mainstream print and electronic media have somehow been given a mandate, of sorts, to attack Pakatan Rakyat whenever and however they can. This means that the perception of increased support is just that – perception
• the recent PKR election fiasco, which resulted in the departure of controversial politician Zaid Ibrahim, is being used against the party by their opponents, who are capitalizing on the mess. This has been capitalized to the fullest by UMNO/BN, and Walski suspects that their renewed confidence is based primarily on this.
• speaking of Zaid Ibrahim, since leaving PKR, he has gone to head  KITA – Kesejahteraan Insan Tanah Air – a political party that splintered away from PAS back in 1995 (source: Wikipedia). How well he does in his political career is something that’s left to be seen.
• DAP, too, got more than their fare share of bad press, due to rivalries within the party. This, too, adds to UMNO’s growing confidence. PAS on the other hand is on the constant receiving end of consternation, but seem to be chugging merrily on their own way.
• there were 4 by-elections held in 2010. Three were parliamentary by-elections: P-094 Hulu Selangor (April 25), P-212 Sibu (May 16), and P-185 Batu Sapi (November 4). The fourth, held concurrently with the Batu Sapi by-elections, was for N-45 Galas (Kelantan). Of these, BN won the Hulu Selangor, Batu Sapi and Galas by-elections, while DAP won Sibu.
• on the cyber battlefield, the pro-UMNO bloggers and Tweeps continue their attack on Pakatan. But these attacks are usually based on sentiment, with blogposts being circulated as “evidence”. In other words, nothing that could be considered to have much substance. But Malaysians at large are known to be gullible, and so whether or not these cybertroopers are having much success in gaining mindshare is rather questionable. For Walski, they are irritating more than anything else
• every little thing ends up being politicized – this is perhaps the one underlying characteristic of 2010. And that is not at all a good thing.
• quite late in the year, the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM) emerged, helmed by dissident blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, better known as RPK. Touted by the press as the Malaysian political “Third Force”, MCLM’s aim in a nutshell is to bring quality back into politics. In a sense, calling MCLM a third force is rather misleading, as their purpose is not to splinter Pakatan Rakyat, but rather to strengthen it. To date, the organization has announced two upstanding individuals – renowned civil rights lawyers Malik Imtiaz Sarwar and Sreekant Pillai (whose late father is none other than the awesome MGG Pillai). MCLM’s first foray will be the upcoming Tenang by-election.

And that's a quickie highlight of things political in 2010. Not comprehensive, by any measure, but just to give you some idea of what happened. You know, just in case you’ve been under a rock the last 12 months.

On a more personal level, 2010 was a year when Walski didn’t get to blog a whole heck of a lot, managing to publish only 77 blogposts. That count may seem like quite a few, but bearing in mind that between 2006 and 2009 he managed to publish 1,066 posts, 2010 was a very slow year.

The reasons, of course, were primarily work and his personal life taking precedence, plus the amount of traveling Walski had to do last year. He can’t promise that the same regularity of posting seen in 2006 to 2009 will be resumed, but Walski will try to post more often this year.

But blogging aside, 2010 will be a year he’ll remember for musical reasons – it was the year Walski finally managed to catch Nine Inch Nails live, in Singapore. It’s just a shame that many quality and non-Bieberish live shows give Malaysia a miss, with Paramore – tolerable pop – being the infrequent exception (via joshuaongys.com). Hopefully Tune Talk, the folks who brought Paramore to town will continue their support for music, and sponsor more credible music acts this year.

Despite being ultra-busy in 2010, Walski did manage to watch a few films last year, although mostly NOT in theaters. Here are some of the films released last year that Walski managed to catch, ordered by when in 2010 they were released (all links go to IMDB.com):

• Daybreakers – vampires happen to be one of Walski’s favorite movie genres, and so this was a must-watch, so to speak.
• The Book of Eli – is there any role Danzel Washington can’t play?
• The Spy Next Door – ok, so Walski likes Jackie Chan… apart from that, it was a fun kiddy flick
• From Paris With Love – isn’t amazing that the same smile can be both warm and menacing, depending on the situation?
• Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief – this is one of those Walski would never have watched if he weren’t stuck on a long flight…
• The Wolfman – apart from vampires, it’s werewolves. Oh, and Anthony Hopkins.
• Shutter Island – Leonardo DiCaprio has surely come a long, long way as an actor. An excellent film, by the way.
• The Ghost Writer – perhaps one of the more overrated films of last year. Not that it was bad, just not that great. Still, when Roman Polanski makes a film, it will be something that won’t entirely disappoint.
• Alice In Wonderland – Jack Sparrow with crazy eyes. Is it just Walski, or does the Mad Hatter in this one look just like Madonna?
• Green Zone – a good war thriller, focusing on faulty intelligence, and Weapons of Mass Deception
• Kick-Ass – a surprisingly good film. An unpretentious, and good fun flick. Plus, Chloe Moretz (Hit Girl) is simply adorable, in a totally evil way. Incidentally, Kick-Ass 2 has been announced, and scheduled to be released in 2012.
• The City of Your Final Destination – when Anthony Hopkins is in the cast, you can expect a quality film worth your while. This one certainly did not disappoint.
• Iron Man 2 – yes, Walski is a self-professed geek, and secret lover of comic books. The first Iron Man was really good, and the second one, while not better, was good enough to make you look forward to The Avengers, another films scheduled for 2012.
• The Karate Kid – Jaden Smith, like his father, is a fine actor, and Walski predicts much great things from this kid. Add Jackie Chan to the mix, and what you have is a very watchable film, almost equaling the original. Truth be told, Walski takes Jaden over Ralph Macchio any ‘ol day. That said, Pat Morita will always be more memorable…
• The Twilight Saga: Eclipse – you’re probably wondering why this film is on the list. More later (see below)…
• Predators – sometimes, not knowing much about a film helps make it more watchable. Predators is one of those films…
• Inception – hands-down, this has to be the very best film Walski watched last year. It is also the ONLY one he watched at the cinema the first time around… Mind-boggling, almost like The Matrix, and with an engaging plot – Christopher Nolan continues to prove why he’s perhaps one of the best living film directors around today…
• The Expendables – he’ll be blatantly honest; about the only reason why Walski watched this is the cast. Sometimes, though, too many stars in one outing makes a film more of an eye-strain rather than be memorable. Especially, when the story line is predictable. Ironically, “expendable” would be an apt one-word review for this one. Not that it was bad, just not very memorable, and not a disaster if you didn’t get a chance to watch it.
• Scott Pilgrim vs. The World – one word for this film: superb. And since you probably won’t get to see it in Malaysian cinemas any time soon (film distributors are utter idiots sometimes), Walski encourages you to go look for the DVD… If you liked the comic book series, the film will not disappoint you.
• Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps – despite the fact that Walski considers Oliver Stone to be a living legend as far as film directors go, this film was a tad disappointing. Not because it is a badly crafted film, because it was actually a very well made one. And not because of the casting, which is as good as it probably gets. Okay, the pace certainly didn’t have the intensity of the original Wall Street, but that’s okay too. The real disappointment for Walski lies in how the story pans out, especially towards the end. And the ending? Well, not to give too much away, but “not very credible” would be one way to describe it… Essentially, the tipping point at the end just felt way too rushed, and could have certainly used a bit more development. But that aside, this is still an exceptionally good film, and one that Walski would recommend, with some minor caveats.
• The Social Network – there are two things you need to be armed with to watch this film: a penchant for dialog, and an undivided attention span that lasts for at least an hour and a half. If you liked Jesse Eisenberg in Zombieland you’ll like him in this film, too, cast to play Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg. The story is engaging, and certainly not boring, despite it being very heavy on dialog. As an added bonus, the soundtrack was the crafty handiwork of Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) and Atticus Ross (musician/composer/producer who also composed the score for The Book of Eli).

Now, a bit about why Twilight: Eclipse is even on the list of movies Walski watched last year. Just like Percy Jackson, he watched in on the numerous KLM flights he was on plying between KL and Jakarta. It just so happens that Walski did watch the first Twilight film at a friend’s place, and has since watched both sequels while on his travels, courtesy of the in-flight entertainment systems. Oh, and Walski did mention about the vampire and werewolf film genres before.

So there… For the record, he has NOT read any of the Twilight books, which, by the way, are utterly dreadful – just read Reasoning With Vampires if you don’t believe Walski. Nor is there any desire to read ‘em anytime in the foreseeable future.

But hey, good news for Twilight fans – bad news for the rest of us – two more films are on their way, one in November this year, and the other a year later in 2012. And Edward, can you PLEASE fucking turn Bella already?

Well, so much for 2010. Yes, Walski’s probably left out a number of things about last year. But since this post is probably already quite long, he will instead focus on what 2011 holds for him. Not so much about politics and other things on a national level, though. That we will cover in future posts.

Personally, Walski greets the new year with new work challenges, courtesy of a number of resignations within the company he works for. Challenges are good, and keeps us on our toes to drive us towards excellence. In all likelihood, Walski won’t be travelling abroad that much this year. Instead, it will be more domestic travel. And with a product group now under his wing, the challenge will be to grow the business.

Apart from work, Walski would also like to focus some attention to the one area in his life that has been neglected – his music. Now that he has a new tool at his disposal – the iPad – chances are that Walski will use it as a composition tool. In addition, of course, to using it for work, and playing Angry Birds during the slow moments in the day (it’s a superbly addictive game, he might add).

On the home front, Walski will work towards having more time with the Mrs. Not just time, but quality time. It will mean a lot of time-juggling, but it’s a priority that Walski intends to focus on.

As for blogging and being online, Walski’s intention is to definitely maintain this blog. Perhaps there won’t be as many posts as there were between 2006 and 2009, but he definitely intends to post more often. To facilitate that, and to maintain his other time commitments, the posts are likely to be shorter in length. Walski will just have to learn to be less verbose.

To one and all, have a great year ahead… Happy New Year 2011!!

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