Dispute? They can't help but laugh

Again, my attention is drawn to all this discussion about the fatwas.
First, there was the one about female Muslims dressing and behaving unlike a "woman". In these modern times, one should be practical. If they wanted to enforce this fatwa strictly, the first person they should charge in Syariah Court is our Tourism Minister.
Then, about yoga. This one was more serious as it involved the customs of another race / religion. But heck, yoga isn't even a custom. It's just a form of exercise that has it's roots in Hinduism. It's like what the Chinese call Tai-Chi, but not the government servant version of passing the buck.
The police and other authorities have warned non-Muslims not to interfere or dispute this fatwa. But they don't want to do that at all. It's just that they're in stitches, laughing at the mockery JAKIM has made out of Islam.
Islam is a good religion. In fact, there has never been such a thing as bad religion. It's just that a minority of people who happen to be in power are interpreting Islam on their own whims and fancies. The effect is that, they are making Islam sound terribly medieval, horribly out-dated and impractical in this day and age.
So, please, hopefully these kind of people will lighten up. Female Muslims can THINK on their own, how they want to act and behave. I think Muslim lesbians are the least of things troubling this country now.
I don't hear reports or any news of mass conversions to Hinduism at any fitness centers, so I believe the MODERN Muslim's faith is sound enough not to be affected by heavy breathing and exercise.
Now, if only the Rulers could knock some sense into some people...........

Wow, 2 posts in a day

Suddenly, so productive and efficient.
Must be the silly newspapers stoking up racial tensions again. Also, the NST and Star editors should be congratulated for having the same headline on the same day "Yoga Ban". Must've been a deal done over a quick cuppa tea, eh, fellas?
The past few days, thoughts have brought me back to the time when I was doing audit. I was assigned to perform a statutory audit on IKIM, Institut Kefahaman Islam Malaysia. My manager, who is currently one of the country's invesment banks bosses, commented.
"Bob, had I known you were the party animal you are, I wouldn't have sent you to IKIM". I asked, why. He said, as per strict interpretation of Islam, even smoking is prohibited.
Wait a minute, but look around you, I said. He said yeah, but some people don't care about going to hell. He wasn't talking about UMNO leaders per se, but you get the point.
Funnily enough, of all papers, on the same day, the NST ran an article on "Champion Bartender", who's a Malay by the way. Hold on, hold on, I thought liquor was haram, but there was this guy, flaring for all his life was worth. (Flaring is the art of bartenders throwing the bottles up and around in the air to fool drunk people at the bar that they're still sober)
So, my conclusion can be taken from this quote (yes, I absolutely love quotes):

"The last thing the men behind the curtain want is a conscious informed public capable of critical thinking which is why a continually fraudulent zeitgeist is output via religion,the mass media and the educational system." - Zeitgeist

Go ahead, Tun M, make our day

So Tun M has decided to name the persons responsible for money politics in UMNO. Very good, except it won't change the fact that no one from that party is qualified to lead this country save for the fact that they are a member of UMNO and that's that.
I believe the UMNO members now face a genuine dilemma. They are now demanding,
"I either want less corruption, or a chance to participate."
Either way, UMNO is dead. It cannot run without money, because no one in the party is genuinely interested in serving the people unless they make a lot of money from it.
Let me give you a rough calculation.
UMNO has about 2,000 delegates, am I right?
If you were a delegate, would you be satisfied if UMNO paid you, say, RM5k a month? You would be? OK, good! That's only 60k per annum. I mean, it's a small price to pay to hoodwink your fellow kampung villages to vote BN every 4-5 years.
Now, listen carefully. 2,000 delegates multiplied by 60k. What is that?
It's a staggering RM 120 MILLION a YEAR!
ok, time for the hard question. Where the HELL does this MONEY come from???
It comes from the PEOPLE!
It comes from the people you swore to enrich through your crooked policies.
The saddest part is that I heard with my own 2 ears that the corruption is accepted by everyone in UMNO.
I met my schoolmate at another schoolmate's wedding last Saturday. Out of curiousity, I asked, hey, you still working with the UMNO division? Yes, he said.
Is it true. that branch chief's post cost RM50k? Yes, he said.
The strangest was yet to come. He said division chief now is at RM1.5 million. He said, how are people supposed to "afford" that?
Hmm, "afford", eh?

Comedy of errors

It makes me laugh to hear an ex-Prime Minister say something that is akin to putting his foot in his mouth. He should have known better than to open his mouth about RM5 million paid to a judge he himself sacked in 1988.
He says he "only" earned a basic salary of RM240k a year when he was Prime Minister. I'm sure that will go a long way in explaining why he is living in a multi-million dollar mansion in a gated community.
Everytime I play a round at the Mines Golf and Country Club, Tun Mahathir's house is something that I always look at. It's at the end of hole no. 8, where you can see a few cars parked. There used to be 20 or so cars parked there, but he must have returned them to Proton in disgust during that spitting the dummy episode.
After you finish hole no.8, at the teebox for hole no.9, you can see his balcony and the house inside. Very nice, very nice indeed.
You half expect him or the wife to be there, I mean, it's their house, isn't it?
Then, you tell yourself, "It must be DARN GOOD to be the Prime Minister of a country".
I'm sure engineers in oil and gas also earn around 240k annually, and I really doubt that they can live in a mansion.
Tun M must have been a really thrifty person to afford that house.

Forget Islamic state, Malaysia is FASCIST

When I was in Form 6, we had this subject called General Paper, or Pengajian Am. There and then, we also learnt about the formation of the country we are born in, and have grown to love. The only distinction in STPM that I got was this paper.
For some reason, I loved the subject. And we all know that you will do well at something you love.
One of the main points we learnt was separation of power between the 3 branches.
In Malaysia, however, it is intricately linked and there is no clear jurisdiction between them.
The past week has seen the persecution of a Selangor state councillor for his involvement in a candelight vigil. He was arrested that night, but understandably, he took offense at being manhandled by the police. Now he is being arrested for something he allegedly did a year ago.
This is because he DARED to ask for the badge number of the policemen who roughed him up. The image of the Royal Police of Malaysia is in tatters, if not shredded to nothing already in the past 10 years. Corruption, criminal intimidation and other crimes have been linked with the police. It is an open secret, to say the least.
It also serves the current government that the councillor is from the Opposition.
The entire purpose of separation of power is to provide a system of check and balance. This is what we learnt in our textbooks.
The Judiciary is supposed to be the balancing act and neutral to either branch. Reformation of the judiciary is also SUPPOSED to happen. But it will not, at the rate things are going.
All in all, it boils down to private interests in this country. And with that, I provide you with a quote from a former US President.

The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism -- ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Change our country's name to Maysia

UMNO's election is generating interest, but for the wrong reasons. So far, there have been more than 900 reports of corruption and "money politics", the moniker made famous by UMNO.
So, this is the party deemed fit to lead our country? On what grounds? Because they are superb leaders? With a true desire to serve the people?
UMNO is a disgrace to the country. They are a black mark on the Malays. Under them, Malaysia has seen an economy becoming not unlike Indonesia and India, where the poor grow poorer and the rich get richer.
I remember Maybank used to be called Malayan Banking. A lot of non-Malays refused to put their money in because of their name and their policies. Then one of the management was somehow smart enough to hire someone to re-brand their bank. It became Maybank.
I propose that our country changes it's name to Maysia. To call it Malaysia would associate it with the UMNO despots who think they own the country and everything in it.
For all the talk that UMNO stalwarts spurt out about being a good Muslim, it seems everything they do proves they don't care about going to hell.

What is supremacy? Nothing but the Samy Vellu syndrome

Seems to me there is too much talk on Malay supremacy.
To me, it's an issue that is blown out of proportion.
The Malays are not out to say their blood is better than others.
The non-Malays just want to put a decent meal on the table without giving away another meal for nothing.
I remember telling someone, that you are great not because of the number of people who served under you, but because of the number of people YOU have SERVED.
There are a few people out there with rational heads, ex-Senator Zaid being one of them.
With the BN (actually UMNO) politicising this issue, they are again committing political suicide.
I call this the Samy Vellu syndrome. Someone who thinks they speak on behalf of the WHOLE community.
Hello, UMNO, what makes you think you speak for the Malays? Half of them didn't even vote for you on March 08.
If the NEP had worked, we wouldn't see most of our rural villagers still living in wooden houses on stilts.
Yes, UMNO, I'm sure they live like that cos' they love it. Only you can save the Malays from themselves and poverty.
You can have your elections in March. That's only to determine who will try to save your party come 2013.
I said,"He'll TRY".