Used: the Mainstream Media 27 February 2008

If you’ve been reading the mainstream media lately, you’d be forgiven if you think that all the opposition parties are rubbish and the ruling coalition is the best thing to come out of our country since nasi lemak.

Without any ounce of shame nor of any semblance of journalistic integrity, the mainstream media these days publish the most biased of news. We were told that everything good is to be associated with Barisan Nasional, and everything bad with the opposition parties.

It’s one thing being served with ‘Undilah Barisan Nasional‘ advertisements on radio, television and the print media, but to actually use the media as direct propaganda tools is something a wholly different level altogether.

Just flip through the ‘opinions’ column in your local dailies; it’s difficult to find the relatively impartial views amongst the swathes of BN-skewered ‘commentaries’. Or turn on your television and watch the 8pm news to see how the manifestos of the opposition parties is systematically dissected, along with ‘views’ from ‘prominent’ intellectuals on how the manifestos supposedly, pardon my French, suck.

It’s enough to make you stop reading the papers or watching the news.

How come no space is allowed for opposition voices? Are you telling me that the opposition cannot come up with enough money to buy a full page advertisement in the newspapers?

The allegations that the votes are rigged, phantom voters and mala fide use of postal votes all remain allegations. No concrete proof has been offered so far, so we do not know for sure the truth in those claims. But if someone was to ask me whether I think the elections are fair, I’d say this: it’s not.

Why? Because of the blatant use of the mainstream media by the ruling coalition.

An evening at an eatery in PJ 21 February 2008

Let me tell you a true story.

Earlier today, I spent time with two of my friends at an Indian eatery in Petaling Jaya. The Chinese restaurant next door had a lion dance performance and before long, they started lighting fireworks. Apart from the fact that my friend’s car alarm kept going off, we weren’t really disturbed by the loud noises.

We were already on our way back to our cars to adjourn for the night when suddenly, a police patrol car showed up, sirens and all. It drove past the restaurant and made a turn near where we were standing. The car then stopped, and out of the car a police officer stepped out in a huff.

He was a young man, in his twenties. What caught our attention was the rifle he held in his right hand, he held it such a way as if he would need to utilize the weapon soon. He almost ran to our direction, and with a serious face, he asked us:

“Siapa yang bakar mercun tadi?! Siapa? Cina eh?“

Bemused at the young police officer with a gun, we answered that we don’t anything and that we were just minding our own business. Which was true, of course, we had no idea who lit the fireworks. Our answer clearly frustrated the policeman, he left us without saying a word and made his way towards the restaurant.

We saw him enter the restaurant, creating a ruckus and clutching his gun like he was entering the enemy’s den. We could not believe that he would bring the gun into the restaurant, especially with children running around the place. Before long, probably because he did not getting much change from the people there, he left the place and made his way towards the burnt out fireworks on the ground.

His partner, who was in the car, drove next to him. Our young law enforcer ‘examined’ the site for a while, touching the burnt out fireworks (with his hands, I might add, throwing 30 years of television police dramas out the window) and looking through the parked lorry just beside the ’scene of the crime’ (the lorry was the one that carried the lions).

No one seemed to care about his antics, they left him to his own devices. He kept glancing back to the restaurant, trying to find the ‘dangerous criminals’ that threatened the security of the nation, the same dangerous criminals that he will bring down with his gun…

But all he saw were families having their dinner, kids playing badminton, a few old men drinking away their sorrows and half a dozen or so Thai waiters.

After a while, probably realizing that everyone there was silently laughing at him and his partner, our young law enforcer left the crime scene.

As the police car drove away, my friend remarked:

“Tell them to go find Sharlinie-lah.”

Some 2004 statistics 20 February 2008

Malaysians will go to the polls on 8 March 2008.

In our frenzy to embrace the upcoming 12th General Elections, perhaps it is prudent for us to reflect on the polls 4 years ago. Let us mull over these statistics:

• Barisan Nasional, the ruling coalition, won 198 out of 219 parliamentary seats.
• Out of 505 state seats on offer, Barisan Nasional won 453 seats while the Opposition only won 52 seats (including 1 independent).
• Opposition parties won 21 seats; DAP 12, PAS 7, PKR 1 and 1 seat held by an independent.
• Barisan Nasional garnered a whopping 63.9% of the popular vote.
• By winning 198 seats out of 219, Barisan Nasional has 91% of the seats in Parliament while the Opposition only control 9% of the seats.

91%, by anyone’s standard, is an overwhelming majority.

That ‘Islamic’ Label 11 February 2008

According to a report in the New Straits Times, a so-called ‘Islamic hotel’, the first of it’s kind, will be built within 2 years in Kuala Terengganu. The report states that the RM20 million hotel will include such ‘Islamic’ facilities like separate swimming pools for both genders and rooms with copies of the Quran as well as prayer mats.

Apart from the segregated swimming pools, I do believe that these days hotels in Malaysia come equipped with the Quran and prayer mats. In fact, certain hotels in Western countries even provide for such facilities. If such is the case, then what separates Hotel Wakaf (as it will be known) from other hotels? What gives it the right to use the moniker ‘Islamic hotel’?

It’s like the supposed ‘Islamic car’ that Proton plans to produce. What in the world is an Islamic car?! Well, it appears that an Islamic car is a car with a compass and extra glove compartments to store your head scarves, prayer mats and other religious apparels. Viola! We have a halal car.

Seriously, I know that we’re supposedly at the forefront of Islamic nations, in terms of development, tolerance and diversity, etc… but I do believe that we’re going overboard with this whole ‘Islamic’ concept. Trying to capture the international halal market with the ‘halal hub’ is one thing, but slapping the Islam tag on every other thing like it was some cheap moniker is just too much for me.

If we truly want to produce an Islamic car or build an Islamic hotel, why not do something that can truly make Muslims proud? A car built from scratch by Muslim engineers, perhaps. A building, rivaling the splendor of the Taj Mahal, designed by a Muslim architect, maybe? Heck, come up with a workable plan to eradicate poverty in Muslim countries or something. You don’t even have label it as ‘Islamic’, it will speak for itself. Do not simply use the tag Islam as an advertising tool, hoping to cash in on the lucrative Middle Eastern oil-money.

What’s next? An Islamic political tagline? Oh wait, we already have hadhari, don’t we?

The rise and rise of commercial kopitiams 10 February 2008

The Wikipedia entry on ‘kopitiam‘ states:

“A kopitiam or kopi tiam is a traditional breakfast and coffee shop found in Malaysia and Singapore in Southeast Asia. The word is a portmanteau of the Malay word for coffee (as borrowed and altered from the Portuguese) and the Hokkien dialect word for shop (店; POJ: tiàm). Menus typically feature simple offerings: a variety of foods based on egg, toast, and kaya, plus coffee, tea, and Milo, a malted chocolate drink which is extremely popular in Southeast Asia, particularly Singapore and Malaysia.“

Traditionally, the term ‘kopitiam‘ refers specifically to Chinese coffee shops. Yet recently, a new breed of ‘kopitiam‘ has emerged: a shinier, cleaner and more commercial breed of kopitiams, no longer traditionally housed in street corners but in shopping malls.

One must surely notice the rise of these kopitiams lately. Every self-respecting shopping mall must have at least one such enterprise, the Midvalleys and One Utamas boasting several in their vicinity. Old Town White Coffee, Kluang Station, Uncle Lim’s, Kai Fen Dien, Kemaman Coffee… the list goes on and on.

The ‘mushrooming’ of these kopitiams is due to their popularity. Malaysians simply cannot get enough of them. It is my personal observation that these kopitiams are usually the most packed amongst all food outlets in any given shopping mall, especially so during breakfast and tea time.

With the advent of the so-called ‘coffee culture’ worldwide and the arrival of Starbucks, it was only a matter of time until a localized version of these ‘coffeeshops’ emerged. And whilst these kopitiams guised themselves as preserving the spirit of the ‘original’ kopitiams, in truth, these kopitiams are actually cheaper, localized versions of your Starbucks and Coffee Beans.

The operative word here, apart from ‘local’, is ‘cheaper’. Yes, commercial kopitiams are cheaper alternatives to Starbucks and its ilk. Coffee in a commercial kopitiam would set you back around RM3-4, whilst the cheapest caffeine drink in Starbucks would cost you around RM10.

These kopitiams also reflect the rise of a group of Malaysians: the young executives. They are typically in their 20s and 30s, having a degree and earning a salary in the region of RM2,000 to RM4,000 a month. They want to drink coffee at a place that reflects their perceived ’status’ in society, yet frequent visits to Starbucks not be very healthy for their wallets. Commercial kopitiams fill this void; they are more respectable than your typical mamak nasi kandar yet much cheaper than Starbucks.

Of course, when it’s all said and done, nothing beats a proper diabetes-inducing teh tarik at your local mamak.

The Indian ‘Charm Offensive’, part II 8 February 2008

I’d like to ask our leaders this: are Malaysian Indians marginalized or not?

Our leaders, not so very long ago, would have us believe that there is nothing wrong with the state of ethnic Indians in Malaysia. That Indians, along with all the other ethnic communities, have enjoyed the bountiful fruits of this fair nation. That this is a country of equal opportunities. Statistics were produced as evidence to show that there is no such marginalization. And that there was nothing wrong, legally and morally, with the demolition of the temple in Selangor.

In short, we were told that there is absolutely no justification for the illegal assembly that day.

Over the weeks, the the response started to change. Whilst stopping short to actually admitting that Indians were marginalized, the government started to ‘listen’ to the community’s ‘grievances’. Recently, during the MIC assembly, Mr. Samy outlined ‘7 issues affecting the Indian community’, to the endorsement of Mr. Najib Razak who promised to ‘look into’ these ‘issues’.

So forgive me for being confused, at first we’re told that all good with the community, and now we’re told that there are at least ’some’ issues affecting it.

This whole ‘Indian charm offensive’ thing is to me, a facade purported by the government. The government’s immediate response to the HINDRAF rally was one of arrogance and heavy-handedness, rounding up ‘attempted murderers’ (the HINDRAF 31), terrorists (the HINDRAF leaders) and a nationwide vilification campaign against those involved directly or indirectly with the rally. Malay dailies went even further, portraying the issue as a case of ‘traitorous’ and ‘ungrateful’ ethnic minorities. How the government handled the situation back then was a poignant lesson on how NOT to handle a sensitive situation.

The resulting backlash was the widespread loss of support from the Indian community for the ruling coalition. According to the research by Merdeka Centre, as at December 2007, support for the prime minister was down a whopping 41% amongst ethnic Indians. None from the government would dare to admit it, but there is a real fear that the ruling coalition would lose the support from Indian voters.

And so, slowly yet surely, the government mounted it’s ‘Indian charm offensive, which I covered here.

I doubt however, that this ’semi-charmed life’ will last. It’s an election gimmick, a facade of the highest order, and as far as I can tell, no one is buying it. Whether it will translate into lost votes, is of course, a different matter altogether.

 

New Home 8 February 2008

After more than two years of blogging, I’ve decided to move Refleksi Minda from it’s Friendster home. Blogging on Friendster was good to put forth my views to friends and acquaintances, but if I wanted my opinions to have a wider reach, then shifting to a new blog home was necessary.

Of course, that’s not to say that people are going to start reading my blogs (if there were people reading it before anyways). But the possibility is there. I’m not trying to change the world, I just want the possibility or the potential that the world reads as to what I have to say.

And besides, this new home gives far better customization options compared to the Friendster one.