Latest news is that Teresa Kok has been arrested under the ISA.
My suspicion is that it is due to the Azan case that has emerged recently.
Read here for more info, in Malaysiakini.
Who else is going to get picked up?
Note again: the Chinese must remain calm. Do not be easily provoked.
Now the Sin Chew Daily reporter has been arrested from her home in Penang. This is from Malaysiakini:
Sin Chew journalist arrested Sep 12, 08 9:38pm Sin Chew Daily journalist Tan Hoon Cheng has been arrested today at 8.30pm at her home in Bukit Mertajam, Penang. It is unclear whether she has been arrested under the Internal Security Act, which allows for detention without trial.
It is learnt that she has been taken by the police to the Penang police headquarters.
Tan had reported that local Umno chieftain Ahmad Ismail had allegedly said that Chinese Malaysians are “squatters” in the country.
Her report sparked a nationwide outcry, resulting in Ahmad being suspended by Umno for three years.
Sin Chew had three days ago came out strongly to defend Tan, who was accused by Ahmad for misreporting his comments.
What is becoming of our country?
Raja Petra Kamaruddin has been arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA).
This is the latest from Malaysiakini.
What next?
Speculations are rife that the “big leap” is going to take place, perhaps not precisely on September 16th, but at some point near it.
My take on it is published in The Nut Graph, accessible here:
By Tricia Yeoh
AS 16 Sept 2008 looms ever nearer, this seems to be the main question on all minds: will the current government be toppled?
Investors, business managers, civil society, politicians, and Malaysians at large are understandably concerned over the increasingly tense political situation unfolding, each for his or her respective reasons.
Opposition leader and former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who leads the Pakatan Rakyat, has set himself a deadline of 16 Sept (also Malaysia Day) to take over the federal government. To do this, he will need a minimum of 31 Members of Parliament (MPs) to cross over from the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, forming a simple majority.
However, even Anwar has indicated that his plans for 16 Sept probably need to be postponed, “due to anticipated problems delaying the transition of power” (The Star, Wednesday, 10 Sept).
Over and above the question of “will it happen”, the more important question Malaysians are asking themselves is whether or not this is a desirable act in itself. There have been numerous arguments for and against the “jump”, and the consequent effects of taking over government in this manner. It is worth exploring each of these arguments on either side. Read more here.
I am appalled. See the latest from Malaysiakini:
Three dailies issued show cause letters Sep 12, 08 11:55am The Home Ministry has asked three newspapers to show cause on why action should not be taken against them over their news coverage on a number of political issues.
Confirming this, the ministry’s Publications Control and Al-Quran Texts Unit secretary Che Din Yusof told Malaysiakini today that the three papers were English daily The Sun, Chinese newspaper Sin Chew Daily and opposition PKR’s party organ Suara Keadilan.
He said the ministry has issued the show-cause letters yesterday and the three papers had been given a week to reply.
According to him, The Sun was asked to show cause for allegedly “manipulating and playing up numerous sensitive issues”.
Meanwhile, Sin Chew has been targeted for its recent reports on the racial slur controversy involving Umno division leader Ahmad Ismail.
Whereas for Suara Keadilan, it was over its report in its latest issue which quoted sources alleging that inspector general of police Musa Hassan was paralysed after a heart surgery.
The Sun is targeted as well now. For manipulating and playing up numerous sensitive issues. I suppose the other papers will be let off scot-free. Great.
All us political junkies talk about is well.. politics, in Malaysia. The following sums up the bulk of our conversation these days:
This is the mania that is Malaysia. Many of us are either sickened by the cathartic period we are going through, although it is necessary when any wound implodes – the crap comes out first before healing – or extremely excited at the prospects of changes about to take place. Whichever the case, everything is at an extremely politically pumped pace this week.
This is the mania that is Malaysia, one that I have grown frighteningly fond of. Perhaps this is where some thrive – in an environment of chaos, liquid, fluid mess, a mass of twistedness – from which emerge a sliver of beauty, balance and hope. This fragile slice of peace we need seek ourselves, and many a time elusive. But I choose to continue because I am here. Nothing can take away my choice, my firm decision to claim Malaysia wholly as mine.
I will fight for the nation because I am its citizen and it is mine – mania and mess included.
This has to be one of the coolest experiments ever conducted. After close to 20 years of research, a huge team of scientists has put together equipment that will replicate conditions of the Big Bang – or at least, it will attempt to do so.
It’s called the “Large Hadron Collider“, where the experimenters are trying to shoot protons into each other, hoping that their collision will show results similar to what happened when the universe started.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and highest-energy particle accelerator complex, intended to collide opposing beams of protons charged with very high energy. Its main purpose is to explore the validity and limitations of the Standard Model, the current theoretical picture for particle physics. It is theorized that the collider will confirm the existence of the Higgs boson, the observation of which could confirm the predictions and missing links in the Standard Model, and could explain how other elementary particles acquire properties such as mass.
It’s really interesting to watch documentaries of this thing, because it’s actually built UNDER the surface, in a circular-like makeup. It lies under the French-Swiss border near Geneva, Switzerland, and is 27 kilometres long.
This is pretty historical, phenomenal (yes, more historical than September 16th 2008, even). The only thing is that it will take several years before any real answers will emerge. The team of physicists will be poring over the numerical data, running analyses and such.
Initially there was some fear that particle collisions might lead to negative effects, but that’s been pretty much cleared up.
In a couple of years, when the conditions and actual replication of the Big Bang can be thoroughly analysed, this may lead to some tearing apart of preconceived notions – about life, death, beginnings and endings of the world.. not to mention faith… and potentially, God. Maybe it’s time religious groups had better start getting prepared for questions and answers! (Mine included)
But I am generally excited about this awesome venture into science and discovery 🙂
I’ve been asked my many people why I decided to fast this month, so I shall write out my reasons why. I won’t write about my experiences yet, although I have been keeping a journal (my usual journal) to keep a log of what it’s been like. Plus, KLUE magazine found out I am doing it – and apparently I shall be writing an article on it after!
I’m fasting for the month of Ramadhan, for several reasons:
One, I am attempting to do it in solidarity with my Muslim friends around the world. I think it’s a great way to understand and emphathise with Muslims this unusual once-a-year experience.
Two, I actually wanted to quieten down this month to ponder over several personal decisions. (Quite impossible with the political ruckus in Malaysia now!)
Three, this comes at a time in Malaysian history which actually needs a lot of prayer and reflection. I’m not sure how much of this I am able to do right now, though, seeing as I am actually more greatly frustrated with the likes of Ahmad Ismail’s antics.
Four, again it is a good spiritual discipline. In our harried lives, (or mine specifically), it is not easy to keep a regular schedule especially in terms of sleeping, waking, eating in general. Discipline is good for the body, and hopefully after the month I shall keep to it.
Still, and despite his frailties, when the Tun casually mentioned “politics”, Samad was roused. This organiser of the Chinese-educated in post-War Singapore and, later, co-founder of the now ruling PAP, with some gusto, reached for his cigarette.
It is a source of inspiration to think that Samad had bequeathed us multi-ethnic disciples to help negotiate the heightened debate on race and politics that has coincided with his passing. This has during bad times mirrored an inquest or even bordered on the acrimonious.
Two Umno leaders have had to apologise for race-related matters. Additionally, newspaper reports suggest a sizeable percentage of the rank and file of Gerakan would prefer the party exit the Barisan Nasional amidst muttering of Umno’s stranglehold in the BN by some members of component parties.
Also, while Internet literature has long aired a plethora of discontent, the writing has become more persuasive and credible. Tricia Yeoh, director of the Centre for Public Policy Studies, writing on colour blindness in The Nut Graph (www.thenutgraph.com/articles/big_picture/2008/09/colour-blindness.php) made her case recently: “Scholarships are more easily accessible to the Bumiputera community. Priority is always given to contracts tendered by this same group by law… …the promotion of university lecturers and public servants has been largely criticised as being determined by race. Likewise, the appointments of key corporate positions like chief financial officer or general manager of GLCs”.
First published in The Nut Graph, here is my column piece:
By Tricia Yeoh
Portraits of Malaysian people (Pic by Bangash Khan)
WHEN Raja Nazrin Shah, the Crown Prince of Perak, burst onto the public scene in early 2006, he said: “Malaysians of all races and religions need to believe beyond the shadow of a doubt that they have a place under the Malaysian sun.” Not long after, people started to repeat the phrase “colour blind”, an apt prescription for any racist tendencies among us.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi seems to have caught on. Addressing the Malaysian Student Leaders’ Summit held on 2 and 3 Aug 2008, he said the civil service is colour blind. Had I the opportunity (I am, after all, no longer a student), I would have asked a more pressing question: could he also kindly confirm to us that government policies are similarly colour blind?
Read more here.
My most recent activities are found on my LinkedIn page here.
