Dear Mom & Dad, What's My Future?

Technorati tags: MY4C, Malaysian Youth 4 Change, Difficult Questions

The video below asks some very difficult questions. And it is something that every Malaysian should watch.

These are questions that are probably on the minds of many, young and old. Does any one care to answer them? Our politicians, perhaps?
(questions, and more questions, in the full post)

Hat-tip to Johnny Ong, Walski’s Facebook friend, for giving him the heads up.

Seriously – anyone out there reading this post, and who has watched the video, care to comment? Better yet, answer some of these questions? Things being the way they are, is 2020 looking rosy, or are we headed down the path towards failed statehood?

Anyone able to answer these questions?

Here’s an honest disclosure: Walski definitely can’t.

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

How to spot a racist

Technorati tags: That Effing Show, How To Spot A Racist, Racism, Malaysia, Race Consciousness

It’s been a while since Walski blogged about the best effing show on the Malaysian cyberspace frontier. Well, no time better than the present to talk about it, because That Effing Show has just released their latest episode, in which they provide us with a useful guide on how to spot a racist.

Well, kind of… 
(some racist thoughts, and more, in the full post)

By the way, before Walski forgets, many thanks to Christopher Tock for the heads-up on That Effing Show’s latest episode.

Okay, so parts of the video might seem a tad juvenile, but one thing is for sure – hope of a true One Malaysia (versus Najib’s 1Malaysia which nobody understands anyway) lies with the younger generation. Walski has said this before, and he’ll say it again. Here, and anywhere else that warrants him saying it.

Walski’s not sure how it happened, but Malaysia today is definitely more race-conscious in many respects than it has ever been in the past. It’s not uncommon for someone to ask him the first time he or she meets him, “You are what race ah?”

Disclosure: Walski is a hybrid of many cultures and therefore cannot be easily categorized visually as being a member of one specific ethnicity or another. That doesn’t stop folks from making assumptions, however.

When met with such a question, Walski’s usual comeback is “I’m human – what race are you?”

Which is usually met with a another follow up, like “No lah… you Malay, Indian, Chinese, or what?”

The correct answer, by the way, is “Or what”. However, when pressed as to why said questioner needs to know, and if it makes any difference to him/her, the response would usually be “No, just curious”.

But why are Malaysians generally race-obsessed? It’s as if someone’s life isn’t complete without knowing the ethnicity of who we deal with on a daily basis.

Walski thinks it’s probably because we’ve been conditioned to think along racial lines. Be it through our school system, our political status quo Barisan Nasional, and through the increasingly race-centric political rhetoric in the media, both online and off.

Speaking of Barisan Nasional, it’s major component member UMNO is incessantly labeling the DAP as being a “Chinese chauvinist party” every opportunity it gets. Yes, it is true that the DAP’s membership is predominantly ethnic Chinese, but at least the Democratic Action Party doesn’t restrict its membership to one, and only one race.

Interestingly enough, UMNO doesn’t apply the same standard to Gerakan, whose membership is ALSO predominantly ethnic Chinese. And Walski naturally has to ask: does UMNO secretly feel the same way about Gerakan?

Seriously, if you ever hear an UMNOphile utter the comment about DAP being nothing but Chinese chauvinists, you really should ask that person back about Gerakan.

In any case, such is the way Malaysia has evolved – race being an important aspect of how our brain functions. No thanks, for the most part, to the kind of politics we practice. We are so damned obsessed about what our roots are, we lose sight of where we should be headed as a nation.

The big hoo ha about the supposed plot to make Malaysia a Christian nation? It’s roots are based on race. Perkasa’s raison d'être? Race. Hindraf? Race. They may not be racist in the bigoted sense (though some may say they are), but at the end of the day it’s all about race.

Race, race, race. As if nothing else matters. And that’s one subtle point the That Effing Show episode above makes: Malaysians are all racists – the only difference between individuals is the degree of how racist.

That’s how fucked up we’ve become. The reason Walski states that is simple: no one has ever been able to give him a good and logical explanation as to why race is so bloody important. The best reason that has ever been offered: we always take care of our own. And that is nowhere close to being a good reason, as far as Walski is concerned.

The real reason why the idea of race is continuously being drilled into our psyche, Walski thinks, is power. Rather, the preservation of the status quo national power equation, which is very much race-based.

If that’s the way we want it to be, then that’s the way it shall be forever after. And the fact that things have come to be what they are today tells Walski that it’s exactly the way we want it to be.

Change is, of course, possible, but only if we want it. The question then becomes: what do we really want?

So, how to spot a racist? Simple – just look in the mirror. It’s very likely a racist will be staring right back at you.

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

Adopting the Blogger’s Manifesto

Technorati tags: Blogger's Manifesto, Responsible Blogging, Opinion

Despite Facebook and Twitter having dominance over the social media scene (disclosure: Walski has accounts on both platforms), blogging isn’t dead. Not by a long shot. It’s still the best avenue for expressing one’s thoughts more verbosely.

To him, each of the three – Blogs, Facebook and Twitter – are complementary, as each platform addresses a specific need. For someone like Walski who cannot afford to be a very active online participant (for time constraint reasons), he uses all three platforms regularly. Twitter’s great for spur-of-the-moment thoughts, Facebook is the avenue for posting news and articles that Walski doesn’t intend to elaborate too much on, and this blog is for him to rant profusely.

And then, of course, there’s Amplify, which acts as a hit-and-run type of blog platform. Sort of like mini-blogging, for lack of a better term. As you may have noticed, quite a number of posts on this blog came from Amplify, which comes in handy when Walski doesn’t have the luxury of time, but wishes to blog about a news item or something else of interest.

He reckons the same general opinion is held by other bloggers who are active on Facebook and Twitter.

A few days ago, Walski was alerted to the Blogger’s Manifesto, an initiative put together by Brenda Gaddi (who blogs at Mummytime), on behalf of Digital Parents Australia, an online community for blogging mums and dads.

Simply put, the Blogger’s Manifesto is a simple set of rules to promote responsible blogging, something that Walski personally feels the Malaysian blogosphere lacks. Despite what some people will try to otherwise convince you. 
(the 7-point manifesto, and more, in the full post)

Try browsing through the political blogs and you’ll see exactly what Walski means. Particularly those that are partisan to political parties. Even the members of Bloghouse Malaysia (set up to promote good blogging, among other things) are sometimes guilty of not blogging responsibly, because of their party partisanship.

On his part, Walski will try to adhere to these seven simple rules:

Of course, when it comes to satire, those posts will be identified as such. Namely, the HENN (Hell-on-Earth News Network) series of posts that appear on myAsylum from time to time.

Blogging responsibly doesn’t mean that one has to lose one’s sense of humor. And Walski, for one, doesn’t intend to turn unnecessarily serious.

So, what do you think – are these guidelines that form the manifesto reasonable ones to adopt? If you are a blogger yourself, would you adhere to these guidelines?

These question are probably some that can lead to further discussion, Walski’s quite sure. And if you have your thoughts on the Blogger’s Manifesto, feel free to leave a comment, and we’ll take it from there.

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

Faith, Tradition or Confusion?

Technorati tags: Religion, Tradition, Confusion, TED, Mustafa Akyol, Zan Azlee

One of the things that Walski tries to do on weekends is to catch up on his reading. While doing that today, he came across an article  in The Malaysian Insider written by Zan Azlee, well-known Malaysian documentary filmmaker, who writes a regular column for the online news site.

The article is entitled Let us be blasphemous!, and essentially talks about how anti-intellectualism is nurtured in young Muslims by their ustaz and ustazah. What makes the piece interesting is that it is one of the few times a Muslim in Malaysia writes about natural enquiry when it comes to religion. In particular, the religion we know today as Islam.

Going through the comments section of the article, one commenter left a link to the video you see below, via the very excellent TED site.

For iPad users who can’t view the video, download the free TED application here

Do give the video 17 minutes of your precious time. It raises the very interesting question: is Islam today more to do with faith, or tradition? 
(traditional faithful confusion, and more, in the full post)

The speaker in the video is Turkish journalist Mustafa Akyol, deputy editor of the Turkey’s Daily News, better known as Hürriyet. By and large, Turkey is a secular nation, although Islam is the dominant religion. It is also about the only country in the region that was never colonized.

If you did watch the video, Walski, too, has many questions about how certain cultural particularities became part of “Islam”. For instance – and this was brought up in Zan Azlee’s article Walski mentioned earlier – the prohibition on touching dogs. Essentially, when it comes to dogs:

• It's okay to touch a dry dog, but not a wet one
• It’s not okay to get licked by a dog (and them canines are fond of doing this if they like you)
• Angels won’t enter your home if you have dogs

The strange thing is, not a single one of the three appear anywhere in the Quran, considered by Muslims as the primary reference of their faith. More importantly, the Quran is considered by Sunni Muslims as the primary reference for jurisprudence.

But oddly enough, when it comes to Shariah Law, over 90% of it comes from extra-Quranic sources (source: Zaharuddin.net). It’s one thing if this is something Walski alone claims. Well, it’s not.

The Quran, in fact, does not prescribe any punishment for personal sins like consuming pork or alcohol, or even apostasy. One exception to this is adultery, but that is arguably not a personal sin per se, but more a social sin since it can give rise to a plethora of other problems. But even then, the prescribed punishment is NOT stoning, which is not mentioned in the Quran as a punishment at all for any sin.

And yet, when it comes to the Shariah, proponents will immediately state that it is “God’s Law”, and therefore must never be challenged or questioned. But if Shariah is “God’s Law”, then why is the bulk of it not contained in God’s User Manual?

We’re not going to debate this here, but this is a question that Walski knows is on the minds on many, Muslim or otherwise. It’s just that the mere act of asking such questions invites all kinds of condemnation. “It’s just the way it is, and therefore can never be questioned” is the kind of answer one would probably get.

In the video, Mustafa Akyol postulates that “Islam” as we know it today evolved and incorporated a number of things that have more to do with culture, and not necessarily divinely ordained.

The culture of suppressing enquiry is certainly not unique to Muslims in Malaysia. In one shape or form, it exists in just about every Muslim community across the globe. But here in our country, this mindset has creeped into things outside the realm of religious discourse.

Politics, for example, is rife with this – particularly in the ongoing argument that PAS should come back into the UMNO fold. All kinds of religious justifications are given – “unity of the ummah” being the most popularly quoted. But history tells us that “Muslims” have been fighting and killing each other – almost non-stop – since the demise of Prophet Muhammad. So, what “unity” are we talking about if not political unity?

Religion is a potent tool, and when used with political ends in mind, it becomes a formidable one. When religious reasons are given why certain things must be so, very few are willing to question such assertions, even though deep down inside there is doubt.

Of late, there have also been murmurings on the ‘Net about it being forbidden for Muslims to involve themselves with DAP, complete with “religious” justifications. What most people probably don’t realize is that it’s all politics. Nothing more, nothing less.

It's easy to use religion for political ends. Particularly on a populace that has been conditioned to not question things that are religious in nature. But that’s another subject for another day.

So, is there a definitive answer to the question that forms this post’s title? Probably not. There will be those who will defend their “Islam” as being God-ordained in its entirety, despite the glaring inconsistencies. There will also be those who go along with what’s socially acceptable, so as not to stick out like a sore thumb, despite having doubts and confusion in their hearts and minds.

And then there will be those – like Walski, Zan Azlee and Mustafa Akyol – whose paths take them to much further enquiry, rather than accepting things the way they are.

It’s a path less traveled, and definitely not a popular one. And sometimes, it can be a very lonely journey, too.

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

Have our parents generation caused the rift between races in Malaysia?

Technorati tags: Malaysia Today, Letter To The Editor, Racial Rift, Malaysia

A letter, written by Nitya Kamalanathan, a Malaysian student currently in the UK, asks the pertinent question of why is the racial rift among Malaysians growing.

She postulates that it is partly our parents' generation to blame...

Amplify’d from www.malaysia-today.net

I am currently a PhD student in the United Kingdom, my first time in England. When people ask me about Malaysia, I beam, telling them how wonderful our country is and our food! Oh that is my favourite topic of discussion.

We come from a country bursting with flavour, warmth, culture and diversity all of which have been the building blocks of the country. The three representing races of Malaysia each have rich traditions and cultures, which have blended together to produce a Malaysian culture of which I am proud to say I am a part.

I remember as a kid celebrating the lantern festival with my neighbours, buying little lanterns and watching them float away into the darkness of the night; I remember in school making ketupats during Hari Raya and hanging them around school and I remember for Deepavali having little girls dance bharata natyam in school, and sharing murukku and mixing with my friends.

As I grew older, I felt the rift between the respective groups. What caused this? Read more at www.malaysia-today.net

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a140gy

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

Opinion Poll: General prognostication of Elections

Technorati tags: Opinion Poll, General Elections, Prediction, Malaysia

Of late, there’s been quite a bit of talk surrounding the next General Elections, or GE13 as it is otherwise known.

A Malaysia Chronicle article today touched on the possibility of an early GE13 (as early as July), while BN has been upping the election campaign preparedness message (via The Star). Not to mention the numerous conversations in social media, and most likely at the mamak stalls across the nation as well.

So, the question on the minds of many is: when will GE13 be?

And when the minds of many ask, myAsylum does its bit: a straw poll. When do you think GE13 will likely be?

Will it be this year, next year, or when the mandate naturally ends in 2013? 
(more poll prognostication, in the full post)

The poll was release earlier this week, but unfortunately Walski didn’t get the opportunity to officially announce it until this evening.

A few have already voted, and thus far close to 43% think that GE13 will be next year, despite the innuendos we hear/see in the news.

As usual, the poll-sharing options are the same as with previous polls, and also as always, Walski would appreciate it if you could let your friends, family and domesticated wildebeests know about the straw-poll so that participation can be more representative.

Officially, the poll is scheduled to close at midnight on May 31, 2011 – but since the response has been slow, Walski may consider extending the closing date/time.

So, why don’t you take some time and Bite Walski’s Poll?

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

What's worse that a regular size Bin Laden?

Technorati tags: Humor, Satire, The Onion, 500ft Osama

Trust The Onion to come up with funny shit like this. Yes, New York once again becomes the target of larger-than-life monsters. After Godzilla, now the Big Apple has to contend with Giant Bin Laden!

Someone should really consider making a movie out of this...

Amplify’d from www.theonion.com

UPDATE: Giant Bin Laden Destroys New York, Washington

500-Foot Terrorist Emerges From Sea To Wreak Havoc On U.S.

Just weeks after his body was buried at sea, Osama bin Laden burst forth from the ocean depths early this morning, rising to the monstrous height of 500 feet and rapidly making his way down the East Coast of the United States in a rampage expected to leave hundreds of thousands dead and easily eclipse 9/11 as the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history.

Currently, much of New York City and Washington, D.C., including the Empire State Building, the White House, and the Capitol Building, lay in ruins, with overwhelmed rescue crews struggling to assist a country ravaged by the gigantic, irate al-Qaeda leader.

"Our nation faces its gravest challenge yet," a visibly shaken President Obama said, interrupting his prepared remarks to both houses of British Parliament in London. "I cannot say that we will prevail, only that we will fight to the last." "May God help us all," Obama added as the walls and ceiling shook around him.

The first stirrings of bin Laden were felt in the form of early morning tremors off the Atlantic Coast that reportedly rattled windows as far inland as Ohio. Shortly thereafter, stunned witnesses from a nearby fishing vessel reported that bin Laden, in full robes and with a beard described as "at least 100 feet long," suddenly rose from beneath the water. Read more at www.theonion.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a13vuv

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

Kit Siang pwns Mooyidin

Technorati tags: News, Ignorant Politicians, Muhyiddin Yasin, Lim Kit Siang

Frankly, Walski's never had much regard for Muhyiddin Yasin - not exactly the sharpest tack in the bundle.

And this is the guy helming our education system. Yes, it's worrying. All Muhyiddin knows is talk, apparently. Whether or not the talk is factual or sensible is secondary.

And he's BN's next in line? What a joke!

Amplify’d from www.freemalaysiatoday.com

Kit Siang rockets ‘ignorant’ Muhyiddin

The DAP stalwart takes the deputy prime minister to task for claiming that DAP has never fielded a Malay candidate in the general election.

In what is perhaps one of his most hard-hiting responses to date, Lim Kit Siang buries Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin under an avalanche of criticism.

Among others, the DAP stalwart dismissed Muhyiddin as a politician with “no class or standard” and as someone “utterly contemptuous and ignorant” of the truth.

The veteran politician, who locked horns with many deputy prime ministers in the past, noted that Muhyiddin was shaping out to be the “worst deputy prime minister and Umno deputy president in history”.

“I will not yet say that he is destined to be the nation’s worst education minister although he is undoubtedly leading the pack in a more competitive field,” he said in a press statement.

Lim was irked by Muhyiddin’s comment yesterday that DAP, which Umno leaders describe as a Chinese-chauvinist party, had never fielded a Malay candidate before. Read more at www.freemalaysiatoday.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a13vtq

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

Time to Curb Malaysia's Racial Attack Dogs

Technorati tags: Amplify, Opinion, Perkasa, The Jakarta Post

by Salim Osman – Straits Times Indonesia

Yes, not only is Perkasa annoying the hell out of Malaysians with their broken logic political rhetoric, it's getting attention elsewhere, too.

One good thing about the Indonesian press - they don't mince their words. They don't have to, in fact. They are free to report and write as they see fit. Unlike their Malaysian counterparts who have to be more circumspect and compliant.

Because if the Malaysian government doesn't get your ass, Perkasa will make sure any press they don't like gets persecuted.

That's the kind of power and sway Ibrahim Ali and his gang of idiots have, it appears, over UMNO and BN, both too chicken-shit to dismiss this ultra-right wingnut NGO, the way wingnut organizations deserve to be dismissed.

Amplify’d from www.thejakartaglobe.com

As racial tensions rise in Malaysia, one organization causing ripples in the country is Pertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa Malaysia (Perkasa).

The group pushed the political temperature to a new high when its president, Ibrahim Ali, on May 14 threatened to wage a crusade against Christians if they turned Malaysia into a Christian state, as claimed by Utusan Malaysia newspaper in a report on an alleged Christian conspiracy.

Christian leaders accused the newspaper of fabrication. Utusan, which is owned by the United Malays National Organisation, the dominant party in the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, is being investigated for the report, which it maintains is true.

Perkasa has become the new player in race politics with Ibrahim, 59, a maverick politician, able to make seditious remarks with impunity. Read more at www.thejakartaglobe.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a13uqo

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

Scott Adams' Rapture report

Technorati tags: Humor, Amplify, Scott Adams, Rapture, Hello From Heaven

Apparently one person did get Rapture'd - Scott Adams, the man behind one of Walski's favorite syndicated cartoon strips, Dilbert.

Yup - Scotty got beamed up, and he sends us a report of what Heaven is like, plus a "taste" of Hell.

If you like Dilbert as much as Walski does, you'll probably enjoy the Scott Adams' prose, too. Too funny to do it justice by writing about it - you gotta read it for yourself.

Meanwhile, us mere mortals remain in this "elaborate marinade" called Earth...

Amplify’d from dilbert.com

Hello from Heaven

Heaven is great! I came here unexpectedly at 6 PM on May 21st. One moment I was petting the dog, and the next I was ascending to Heaven without my fillings. As far as I can tell, I was the only person on Earth to qualify for the Rapture. My strategy of remaining a virgin is starting to look pretty smart. And I guess I can admit my other little secret: When you thought I was taking the Lord’s name in vain, I was really saying “gob.”  I know, right? It’s so clever. I totally beat the system.

Anyway, let me tell you what it’s like up here, since apparently you won’t be visiting. For starters, the Internet is blazing fast, and I’m typing this at 1,000 words per minute. No typos, ever! And I’m not the only one up here maintaining a website that you can see from Earth. Most of the angel-run sites are nothing but home videos of our everyday life. It’s easy to tell which sites are run by angels because everyone in Heaven is young and fit. We have no clothes, no shame, no disease, and no need for contraceptives. I believe you sinners call these angel videos “porn.” By the way, we can all see what you do when you watch angel videos. And let me tell you – that will not get you to Heaven. But you seem happy, so whatever.

Satan runs a website too, but I can’t tell you the URL. There’s some sort of rule that Satan is supposed to mask his activities on Earth. That’s so you’ll never know when he’s pranking you and when your problems are your own gob-damn fault. But when it comes to his website, he doesn’t even try to hide what he’s doing. He thinks people aren’t perceptive enough to know the difference between a site run by angels and one that is run by the Prince of Darkness **COUGH COUGH  Gawker.com COUGH**.  He calls it “hiding in plain sight,” which he thinks is hilarious, because he’s sort of an asshole.

Everything is opposite up here. You know the spam email you get from people who are trying to con you? We get that too, but up here all the offers are real! When a Nigerian banker offers to share his millions with you, he does! And every offer for penis-related pills is legitimate too! All of the guys up here are popping them like crazy, except for Saint Peter, for obvious reasons. Angel trivia: His real name is Larry. Read more at dilbert.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a13t3u

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

Indian government comes under fire as Salafis turn their attention eastward

Technorati tags: Humor, Amplify, El Koshary Today, Satire, Muslims in a previous life

Before you start jumping up and down in anger and indignation, El Koshary Today is what Walski would describe as Egypt's version of The Onion.

Muslims, though, are not particularly known for their sense of humor. Particularly the stauncher ones. And so while the rest of us enjoy the silliness (and it's pretty good silly most of the time) that EKT dishes out, one does wonder what kind of backlash they may face in the future.

In the meantime, check this site out - it really is funny!

Amplify’d from www.elkoshary.com

Salafis demand Hindus & Buddhists who were Muslims in a previous life to reconvert

The Egyptian Salafi movement has accused the Indian government of holding captive millions of Hindus and Buddhists who had allegedly been Muslims in a previous life.

“These people had converted to Islam at some point in the distant past and they are now being kept hidden inside Buddhist temples and ashrams all over South Asia,” said Salafi leader Mohammed Hareeqa while ominously playing with a box of matches.

“We have given the Indian government a one month ultimatum before we smoke these captives out and reclaim them as true, properly bearded Muslim men and women,” Hareeqa told EKT, unaware that a small section of his own beard had caught on fire when he dramatically ignited a match while saying the words "smoke them out."

Meanwhile, nearly two thousand Salafis are planning to travel to Bangkok next week to protest against the huge number of Buddhists who were allegedly Muslims in previous lives but now either don’t remember or don’t seem to care.

Interestingly, when EKT pointed out to Hareeqa that Islam does not recognize reincarnation, he contracted his eyebrows: “I admit I never actually read the entire Koran -- have you seen how heavy that book is? -- but if their own religion says reincarnation exists and they believe they were Muslims previously, then we have to respect … uhh, wait … obahhh.”

The Salafis’ shift towards Asia comes after two incidences where their members were incensed by separate rumours of Christian women converting to Islam before being abducted by reportedly Mossad-trained Copts and hidden inside churches. Read more at www.elkoshary.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a13szm

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

Poll Position: And the most reputable news source is...

Technorati tags: Poll Position, Opinion Poll, Malaysia, News, Trusted News Sources

Yes, this post is late. By about a week, and then some. Polls being polls, though, Walski had to announce this formally.

There were a total of 16 news outlet choices given in the poll, and only 8 received your votes. The ones that weren’t chosen – at all – were Harian Metro, Kosmo, The Malay Mail, MStar, The New Straits Times, Sin Chew Jit Poh, Tamil Nesan, and (surprise, surprise) TV3.

Well okay, Walski’s being a tad sarcastic here – TV3 is regarded by some as the electronic equivalent to Utusan, which got 0.84% of the votes.

But congratulations are definitely in order for The Malaysian Insider, voted the most credible and trustworthy local news source.
(some thoughts on the results, and more, in the full post)

Once again, Walski suspects that those who bothered to vote, maybe save for the couple who voted one each for Berita Harian and Utusan Malaysia, are from the usual demographic – either regular readers of this blog, or like-minded folks from Twitter.

Which is okay, one supposes, but Walski would have liked it to be more representative. But if his guess is right, those who bothered to cast their opinion would have come from the more urban living environs.

This is reflected by the fact that the majority of you who participated chose online-only news sources over print – almost 75% of the votes going for The Malaysian Insider and Malaysiakini, one of the pioneers in Malaysian online news. Of the remainder, another emerging online news portal, Free Malaysia Today, got about 6.5%.

The demographic assignment is purely Walski’s guesstimation, and there’s no real way to know whether the three-quarters were from the urban or non-urban areas.

But what is rather telling is how badly the traditionally print-based media fared – a total of only about 15% voted for Berita Harian, The Star, The Sun, and Utusan Malaysia combined. Not one single vote was cast for the other print-based news sources. And of these, The Sun emerged as the most trusted newspaper (9.76%).

On a slightly humorous aside, 2 persons voted for the BBC and New York Times – how these are “local” Malaysian news sources is anybody’s guess, but it does go to show that the foreign press sometimes holds more credibility compared to Malaysian news sources. Apart, of course, from ‘coffee shop talk’ which made up the remaining “Other” demographic.

The fact that someone suggested ‘coffee shop talk’ as a news source does bring up an interesting point – how many Malaysians prefer to believe unofficial news as opposed to what news they get from ‘official’ channels. This probably has something to do with the perception that since most of the mainstream media outlets are owned by BN-affiliated entities, the news they get isn’t the real deal. Particularly when it comes to news related to politics.

While these straw polls may not accurately reflect public opinion, for reasons Walski stated earlier, the findings can be interesting and thought-provoking. Like the level of trust the mainstream press & electronic media have with Malaysians.

And that is good enough reason for Walski to continue with these polls.

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

Finding Emo

Technorati tags: Humor, Emo, Music, Metal, Fashion, Standup Comedy, Emo Phillips

First of all, Walski apologizes for disappearing from the face of the web for the good part of the last week and a half or so. Yes, it was due to work. No, it’s not because he’s been Raptured – which, apparently, was supposed to have happened yesterday at around 6pm local time everywhere around the globe, starting, apparently, with Kiribati.

Suffice it to say, apart from the random earthquake (via stuff.co.nz) and a sad landslide tragedy (via The Star) closer to home, there was no Rapture, as such. At least, no Christians Walski knows personally disappeared without a trace yesterday.

In any case, this post is not about the silliness of this Rapture business, but about something totally different. But probably equally as silly. And it all started with this tweet from real-world friend and Twitter buddy @CKGord (do follow him, by the way – he’s one really cool and interesting dude).

A short exchange ensued, namely about how Walski thought that Emo Metalheads weren’t the first Emo people on the scene. Walski contends that Emo Phillips (more about the guy later) was around first, long before them sob, sob, sob metalheads. Gordon, though, was adamant that they were.

When situations like these arise, it becomes incumbent upon Walski to do some research. And a totally inconsequential blog post, naturally. 
(Emo, Emo, on the wall, who’s the first Emo of them all, and more, in the full post)

Urban Dictionary, according to one of about 5 definitions you can find there, claims that Emo Metal is a non-existent genre. Walski hasn’t broken this bad news to Gord. Yet. But Urban Dictionary being Urban Dictionary, Walski decided to delve a little bit deeper into this. No, can’t be that it’s a non-existent genre if everybody’s talking about it, right?

Then again, you have Ibrahim Ali screaming the light fantastic about Malay Rights and the Federal Constitution. And nowhere in the FC is ‘Malay Rights’ even mentioned. Inferred, yes, but one really needs to stretch the noodle to buy Perkasa’s extent of understanding the august document. In any month of the year, in fact.

But Walski digresses…

And then you have trendy (or so they think) kids with nothing better to do than to become Japan – meets – Emily Strange – meets – the Doraemon generation – meets – badly-dressed fashion terroristas… oddly enough, called Emo Kids.

Identities obscured to protect the badly dressed...

But if you thought Emo Kids were bad enough, Walski uncovered something even more sinister:

Emo Cows...

… that bear a strange resemblance to Ju… Oh, nevermind...

The point is that there is something more to this Emo thing that meets the eye. Particularly the part about Emo metal. Had Gord uncovered a strange phenomenon of Rapturous proportions? Or was Gord just being his usual silly self? This is stuff of the Richter-scale magnitude Mastika uncovers month after sordid month.

For sure, Walski had to find out more.

Surprisingly, as it turns out, all he really had to do was to Google up “Emo Metal”, instead of getting all emo’d up himself. Surprise, surprise, but there really is indeed a genre of music called Emo Metal (via Spirit of Metal).

When did this genre emerge? According to sources that undoubtedly know better than Walski, Emo ‘originated in the mid-1980s hardcore punk movement of Washington, D.C., where it was known as "emotional hardcore" or "emocore" and pioneered by bands such as Rites of Spring and Embrace’ (via Wikipedia).

And what good is a genre if it doesn’t spawn sub-genres of its own, right? Walski also stumbled upon the fact that out of Emo came Screamo. You cannot make up shit like this, folks.

Hmmm… mid-80s, eh? It so happens that it’s also in the early to mid-80s that another Emo emerged – one that Walski contends is the original Emo – Emo Phillips. If you’ve never heard of this comedian, here’s a taste (from 1987).

Some might find him annoying. Creepy even. Especially when Emo still maintains his style till this very day (ok, he may not work Sundays, but…) – imagine a 50-plus year old doing the style of comedy you see above. Heck, better yet, watch this skit, from last year in Edinburgh.

Be that as it may, to Walski, Emo Phillips is truly one of today’s living comedy geniuses. Which other comic do you know who can work Archimedes’ Principle of Fluid Displacement into a comedy skit? None, Walski tells ya. Emo is absolutely the most brilliant comedian he knows of.

Well, it appears that Emo Phillips started his career in the early 80s, doing the Chicago comedy club circuit, at the start of the Comedy Boom (source: The New Shayne-Michael.COMedy). That got Walski thinking… early-80s versus mid-80s for the rock variety of Emo… the question of who came apparently would remain inconclusive.

So, Walski reckons that in the case of himself versus @CKGord, the two of us would have to settle for a draw. That said, Walski knows he’s right. Much like how time flies like an arrow, and how fruit flies like a banana.

Walski’s somewhat Emo but not meaning to be judgmental footnote: As far as those Emo Kids are concerned, Walski doesn’t particularly care that they’ve chosen to dress the way they have. While he may think they’re silly for dressing up like that, he’s not at all being judgmental. They can be silly all they want, and have every right to be badly dressed. That said, Walski using them as the butt of a joke is one of those occupational hazards that come with bad fashion sense. So don’t get all Emo over it, okay?

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Zombie teambuilding

Technorati tags: Humor, Savage Chickens, Cartoon, Zombie Teambuilding

It's been one hell of a busy week for yours truly, but here's something Walski came across that he thought he absolutely MUST share... thanks to Doug Savage, author of what must be one of Walski's most favorite of comic strips.

A very relevant bit of humor, for a very turbulent time in Malaysian history. Yes folks, at times Walski DOES think some Malaysians are zombies, at the immediate beck and call of their zombie leader... that's about the only thing that can explain Ibrahim Ali's appeal.

Amplify’d from www.savagechickens.com

Go Team!

See more at www.savagechickens.com

 

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Muslim lawyers want Islamic law to be made by Malay Rulers

While everyone bickers about the so-called "Christian Conspiracy", here's one group that every Malaysian should be wary about.

In essence, what they're asking is the first step towards religious apartheid, and an up-front attack on the democratic process, eventually making this nation a bona fide religious despotic state.

Don't be afraid, be VERY afraid - the 3rd Power Column is starting to rear its ugly head...

Rational Muslims in Malaysia must step up an openly oppose this suggestion!

Amplify’d from www.themalaysianinsider.com

Muslim lawyers will ask the government to remove Parliament’s legislative powers over Islamic affairs and to hand them to the Malay Rulers instead.

The Muslim Lawyers Association of Malaysia’s (PPMM) proposed memorandum comes even as a raging debate swirls over whether Muslim-majority Malaysia can be headed by a non-Muslim prime minister.

“This is to avoid debate on Islamic laws by non-Muslims, including Muslims who do not have knowledge in Islamic law,” PPMM president Datuk Zainul Rijal Abu Bakar was quoted as saying in Utusan Malaysia today.

“Approval from the Conference of Rulers or the Yang di-Pertuan Agong will be obtained first before they (the laws) are brought to the Cabinet and Parliament. They only need to be extended to the Cabinet to be confirmed without being debated as they have already been approved by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. When they are submitted for first and second reading, they also do not need to be debated as they have already been approved by the Conference of Rulers,” he said.

Currently, proposed laws or Bills are first discussed by the Cabinet, after which they are submitted to Parliament and undergo three readings before the Dewan Rakyat chooses to pass them or not.

Once the Bills are passed, they are sent to the Senate and then to the King for royal assent.

Zainul Rijal suggested instead that Islamic Bills, which are drafted by the Islamic Development Department’s (Jakim) Syarak and civil law technical committee, be forwarded to the Attorney-General’s Chambers to be legislated.

After that, the Bills should be brought to the National Council of Islamic Religious Affairs Malaysia (MKI), and then forwarded to the Conference of Rulers to be approved, he said.

Some Malay-Muslim groups have been pushing the view that the federal constitution proclaims Islam to be its “official” religion and that only a Muslim can be the prime minister. Read more at www.themalaysianinsider.com

 

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Google unveils first Chromebooks

The battle for mobile computing devices is hotting up! But will Google's foray into the market be a success, being that it is priced in the same region as IOS and Netbooks?

Amplify’d from news.cnet.com

Google announced its first commercial Chromebook laptops Wednesday at its annual Google I/O conference here.

Samsung and Acer will each be offering Chromebook laptops starting June 15. The Samsung Chromebook will cost $429 for the Wi-Fi only version and $499 for the 3G version. Acer's Wi-Fi only Chromebook will cost $349.

The devices will be available for sale in the U.S. from Amazon and Best Buy. Google will also be selling these Chromebooks internationally in the U.K., France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and Italy.

Specs for both machines are available here. Read more at news.cnet.com

 

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Hata Wahari provides behind the scenes insights on Utusan Malaysia

It is one thing to have people on the outside express their dislike for Utusan Malaysia, particularly after their recent incendiary "conspiracy" report. But when pretty much the same sentiment comes from a former senior journalist, Malaysians should really take notice.

In this revealing article from Free Malaysia Today, Hata among other things discloses UMNO's involvement with the paper's content, placing doubt in Walski's mind the veracity of the idea that because UMNO is Utusan's majority shareholder, "it did not mean the party condoned whatever was printed in it" (as stated in a New Straits Times report).

Amplify’d from www.freemalaysiatoday.com

Utusan Malaysia: Behind the print

Many uncomplimentary descriptions have been accorded to Utusan Malaysia. The more common of those include “irresponsible”, “mischievous ” and “dangerous”. Of that trio, Utusan Malaysia’s former senior journalist, Hata Wahari, says that the third is dead-on.

The mainstream media, for as long as they pander to the government, enjoy immunity from public prosecution. But Utusan Malaysia has earned a special place within this untouchable clique simply by the virtue of being owned by Umno.

This privilege has spawned relentless attacks on the opposition and increasingly frequent inflammatory reports on race and religion. But while most urbanites can see right through Utusan Malaysia’s thinly-veiled propaganda, its rural readership remains staunch believers. For this reason alone, Hata warned that giving Utusan Malaysia the brush-off would be a very bad idea.

“People should worry about the slander it publishes because it is taking root in the rural areas,” he told FMT. “KL and Selangor are multi-cultural and able to discuss Utusan’s reports among themselves to seek clarification.”

“But the rural community is predominantly Malay-Muslim. Who are they going to cross-check their facts with? Neither is there another Malay-language paper to counter Utusan’s reports. The only media they are exposed to is government-owned media.”

“The racial flames are being stoked there and one day it will explode. I’m very afraid of that. If anything were to happen, it will begin in the rural areas. I have said before that another May 13 is likely if Utusan is allowed to continue playing up rubbish issues.” Read more at www.freemalaysiatoday.com

 

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The Siege Mentality End-Game - Season Tickets Now Available

Technorati tags: Utusan Malaysia, UMB, Unit Media Baru UMNO, Controversy, Conspiracy, Marahku, Big Dog

There’s a phrase that Walski’s been thinking of a lot lately. And that phrase is siege mentality.

Here’s how siege mentality is defined by Wikipedia.

Siege mentality is a shared feeling of victimization and defensiveness. It is a state of mind whereby one believes that one is being constantly attacked, oppressed, or isolated and makes one frightened of surrounding people. This can cause a state of being overly fearful leading to a defensive attitude.

Last Saturday, Utusan Malaysia ran a front-page story about this “conspiracy” to make Christianity the “official” religion in Malaysia, replacing Islam (as enshrined in the Federal Constitution).

As it turns out, calling this a “story” is pretty accurate. Of the fairy tale kind, specifically. The true story of how this became front-page news, in all honesty, is kinda funny in a very mundane sort of way.

As far as Walski can tell, It all started with a blog posting from the pro-UMNO Marahku blog, entitled “Agong under threat? DAP wants to make Christianity the official religion of Malaysia?".

The posting essentially revolves around some information that blogger received – unverified and from an unnamed source – that a a group of 35 pastors, during a fete thrown for DAP in Penang, "formed a circle and touched each other's shoulder and vowed in English to make Christianity the official religion of Malaysia and put a Christian Prime Minister in office".

To lend credence to this, a picture was posted, supposedly from the same gathering, showing a group of folks, some with their hands on the shoulders of the person next to them. Don’t know about you, but that could have been a picture of anything, including a badly formed conga line.

The same “story” was also featured in another rabidly pro-UMNO blog, that of the one who calls himself Big Dog. The posting there was entitled “Making Christianity the official religion?”, and was posted some 24 minutes after the Marahku posting. 

It can be safe to assume, therefore, that both bloggers were relating the same incident based on the same anonymous information that both received. Or it could be that they were in the same room – who knows? Frankly, it doesn’t really matter and is totally beside the point.

Fair game – both bloggers are rabidly pro-UMNO, and both bloggers hate DAP. The stupid chapter of this story really began when Utusan decided to front-page it.
(the intermediate end-game, and more, in the full post)

Subversive Conniving Pastors, Boring Dinner Party, or Badly Formed Conga Line?

And from there, our fairy tale takes a further tumble downhill.

You see, once something is reported by Utusan, no matter how far-fetched it may be, it becomes the gospel truth. In this instance, an unverified story, from an unknown source, reported by two blogs, suddenly becomes a nation-threatening conspiracy of gargantuan proportions.

So unfathomably credible is Utusan regarded in certain circles, that even our ministers accepted the report without question (via The Malaysian Insider). Okay, granted Hisham & Rais aren’t exactly the sharpest tools in the shed, but you’d have thought our cabinet ministers would be a tad bit more circumspect.

The only plausible explanation that Walski can think of as to why Utusan holds such high levels of lethal credibility, despite been proven time and time again that their reporting borders on the tabloidish, is siege mentality. Either that, or UMNO has been brainwashed by extraterrestrials – which, admittedly, is an explanation that also borders on the tabloidish, so that can’t be the real explanation.

So, this great revelation of conspiracy, once reported by Utusan, is suddenly absorbed, internalized, and regurgitated by all and sundry associated with UMNO as fact. Pembela, the undisputed champions of siege mentality, called on the police to immediately investigate the validity of the Utusan report (via The Malaysian Insider). Walski won’t elaborate on why he regards Pembela as such in this post, but if you’ve been following their goings on, you’ll probably know why.

But if you thought that unverified information reported by blogs, then blown totally out of the Proportion Ocean by Utusan was bad enough, enter Perkasa, with another strange twist.

Perkasa now blames ex-Reds for presumed Christian plot

Perkasa now believes former Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) members are using local groups for an unsubstantiated plot to replace Islam as Malaysia’s official religion. Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali said he suspected CPM supporters had infiltrated political parties, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), religious groups and business associations after the party laid down arms in 1989 in order to carry on their activities.

“I believe there are (former) Communist Party members who still hold communist beliefs and want to see the country descend into chaos,” he told reporters in Kampung Baru here today.

The Pasir Mas MP had earlier given the government two weeks to verify the plot’s existence.

Ibrahim warned Malaysians who have forgotten about the communists to be wary of statements made by certain parties which contained anti-national and subversive elements rooted in the ideology, which he blamed for the increased racial and religious tension in the country.

“If it’s subversive, this is the work of communists hiding behind certain organisations,” he said.
(source: The Malaysian Insider)

These must be Christian Communists, Walski reckons, and not the usual kind that have no special regard for any religion. Of course, as usual, Ibrahim Ali shoots his mouth off without the need to back up his claim, probably thinking that it’s okay to lay unsubstantiated accusations on unsubstantiated plots.

But the point here is not Perkasa’s degree of silliness and density – the organization’s continued shenanigans makes their brain-matter deficit self-evident.

It is how something that isn’t much more than hearsay can become “fact”, just because it is reported by Utusan. Apart from Utusan, which acted as a conduit, Walski thinks the main factor that contributed to this is the underlying siege mentality that evidently has a choke-hold on Malay-Muslims in Malaysia.

The question is then, why is this so? Granted, the continued fear-mongering by the likes of Utusan, Pembela, Perkasa, and a long list of like-minded organizations, is definitely a contributor to the continued siege. Being the majority, and having the biggest say, is apparently not sufficient. So what is enough?

Walski isn’t entirely sure what the ultimate goal is, but based on the current political scenario, he thinks that there is at least an intermediate end-game. This he surmises purely based on his own observation of what’s going on in the country right now, and through the tell-tale signs as seen through popular social media vehicles, such as blogs, Facebook and Twitter.

And that objective is to entrench UMNO as the de facto and ideally only Malay political voice in the country.

To do this, all other predominantly Malay political entities not in cahoots with UMNO/BN must be eliminated. And the path towards this elimination: discredit these entities in any way possible.

If you’re on Twitter, you’ll notice how UMB postings get re-tweeted by those within the UMB network. This was true of the Big Dog and Marahku postings as well – the two postings were RT-broadcast through Twitter, then other UMB blogs posted either links to the two, or augmented the “story” further.

And because DAP is involved, PAS gets the blame for not championing Islam. Whether or not there was any conspiracy to begin with becomes moot. PKR has their own special place in UMB hell, and while they were mentioned in passing, the focus this time around was on PAS.

Interestingly enough, the Marahku blog, as of yesterday, took down ALL of its postings, including the one that started the ball rolling. Apart from an obvious panic that the posting had become more viral than expected, why did the blogger take the posting down? In fact, the entire blog has been wiped clean. The blogger, who also happens to be on Twitter (as @bshamsul), has apparently deleted his Twitter account as well.

There are other associated developments as well, primarily involving Perkasa, premised upon the basis that what was posted on the two blogs, and reported by Utusan, was fact. Among them, Perkasa calling the Bar Council racist for picking on Utusan, and the right-wing nut organization filing a police report against MyConstitution’s chairman for pointing out that there is no mention of an “official religion” stated in the Federal Constitution (all links above via The Malaysian Insider).

Walski’s observation of the intermediate end-game, incidentally, is based purely on his own observation, and so if you disagree, do feel free to leave a comment to tell him why. That the end-game is fueled by siege mentality is also a conclusion that Walski has made on his own accord, based on his observation. That conclusion, however, is shared by more than a handful of other Malaysians.

And as things stand, the siege mentality fueled end-game is still in progress, with no clear sign that the final whistle will be blown any time soon.

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