Earthquake strikes Beijing Olympics?

Is the Beijing Olympics to be held in August 2008 a target of derailment by certain groups using the recent earthquake in Sichuan province as the reason?

This possibility should not be dismissed if based on previous efforts to link the Beijing Olympics with the monks peace marches in Myanmar, the unrest in Tibet and disturbances affecting the Olympic Torch run in some countries.

Those groups highlighting the human rights record and foreign policies of China and Tibet issue might take a leaf from the natural disaster and caution the athletes from risking their safety by travelling to China to participate in the Olympics.

What a pity if certain people take this route to create uncertainty on the Olympic Games when the whole world is waiting for the best athletes to compete for the glory of mankind capabilities.

UN Day of Vesak 3

The UN Day of Vesak celebrations held in Vietnam this year provided me some interesting observations....

First and foremost is that no decisions are considered final unless approved by the government. Whatever the organising committee discussed, debated and decided upon will still need the final green light from the powers-that-be.

It seems the Vietnamese had one thing in common with our country's spirit of "Malaysia Boleh" in breaking records, they practically tried to break as many records as possible. They even had a huge "Little Buddha" balloon floating on the convention center ground. Did I missed their version of the "Vietnamese Books of Record"?

There is no problem in getting youth volunteers from the universities for the celebration but don't expect the volunteers to know much about Buddhism. Even getting local participants to fill up the 4,000 seats in the convention throughout the 3-days conference is easily done. I salute them.


Never can I imagine an ordinary chap will be given VVIP treatmet by a socialist country? A Buddhist worker from Malaysia, Goh Seng Chai (pic), was provided a chauffeur driven car with traffic police escort during the week-long event!
Does this guy sounds like or looks like a Malaysian minister? Maybe to the Vietnamese, he sounds like and looks like a minister!


Group photograph means you go to a same spot like everyone else and then take your own picture with your own camera. There is no such thing as a group photo taken by a officially appointed photographer.

Exhibit scholarship recipients

Each year around this period of time there will be many heartbreaks. It's not due to the breakoff of love affairs or the passing of love ones but receiving letters from Public Service Department (PSD) that begins with "dengan dukacitanya dimaklumkan".

Yup, those rejected straight "As" aspirants youths of the nation whom achieved excellent results for their SPM that has expected a scholarship to study overseas from the PSD was the heartbroken ones. With just 2,000 scholarships available, it is just not enough to cater to so many applicants.

It is just not possible for all qualified applicants to be given a scholarship but it is not acceptable that those with much better grades lost out due to low points obtained during interviews which transparency is questionable and decisions can be influenced due to human weaknesses.

So what's the problem for the government to exhibit publicly the lists of those selected for the scholarships with full results of their SPM, points obtained for interviews, co-curricular activities, area of origin and course of study applied for? Let the rejected applicants sees for themselves if there are any truth in the suspicion that their so called "rights" of scholarship had been given to other less qualified applicants due selective human bias or discrimination.

Isn't meritocracy, tranparency, integrity and fairness to all the clarion call of the government? Did I miss anything or is it the government has been sleeping on the job?

Non-Muslim Liaison officers

The requests by various religious groups especially by the Buddhists and Hindus communities for the government to establish an Department for the Non-Muslims in the Prime Minister Department has been in the news for many years already. I even spoke to the former PM many years ago. The recent call was by the Federation of Malaysian Indian Organisations (Prima). The response from the government is always in the negative.

There are many reasons to support the call for this department for the non-muslims to be established. For many years problems regarding land allocation and building of places of religious worship for the non-muslims has been a long stretch out situation. Most of the times, the non-muslims leadership will approach politicians from various political parties for help but usually these matters will dragged on, sometimes for more than 10 years or even more. The Puzhao Vihara in Ayer Hitam dragged close to 20 years and the Catholic Church in Shah Alam was settle out of court after pending more than 10 years.

Politicians are just too busy with other matters or just don't have the persistent, commitment, clout or authority to sort out the problem.

There are also cases regarding the difficulty in obtaining visa permit for entry of overseas religious teachers like monks, priests or temple musicians to serve congregation of viharas, kovil or churches.

Many especially in Penang will still remembers the issue of the "shorthening" of the Kuan Yin statue at Kek Lok Si. The controversy of the Mazu statue in Kudat, Sabah is already in the court.

What about those seeking conversion from one religion from another and body-snatching? When there is a problem, most of the time when this issue arises it creates unnecessary negative feelings amongst the religionists. Can it be handle in a more humane and respectful way?

While on one side there are people who are for the department, there are those who are against it although their arguments may reflects sign of arrogance and lacked of universal justice.

While the proposal are been argued upon, all those problems will still persists. In the meantime can the government consider appointing non-muslims liaision officers for each religion that reports to the PM. These officers are specifically tasked to handle any matters discussed above so that it will have a proper channel to seek for a amicable solution minus the usual publicity and unnecessary attention.

I suggested this approach to certain people including a federal minister and religious leaders including the Prima president. The minister was very receptive to the proposal and I hoped he will take it up with the PM.

Don't Forget Cyclone victims

Few days after Cyclone Nargis brought disaster and sufferings to people of Myanmar, I sms'es two political leaders from two different political parties suggesting they should use their good office to help the cyclone victims. The next day, one State government which one of the politician is an exco member announced a RM 1 million contribution to help the victims in Myanmar.

I did not received any response from the other politician who is a minister in the federal government. Few days after the sms, earthquake strikes Sichuan province in China and news with photos of destruction caused by the earthquake spread wide and far. The latter politician's party whose membership comprising those with historical and cultural link with China sprang into action to raise fund for the earthquake victims. Many people with economic interest and cultural link with China also join in the band wagon to raise funds for the Sichuan earthquake.

And the attention on victims of Cyclone Nargis was slowing down mainly due to lack of information and pictures showing the suffering of the cyclone victims compared to the earthquake victims which was widely published in local vernacular chinese newspapers.

The Myanmar junta need to take responsibilities on the increasing suffering of the cyclone victims. By virtue of stopping relief workers and international media from going into disaster areas, the actual impact of the disaster was not really been gauged and estimated. A picture speaks a thousand words and these pictures were not easily obtained in the military junta controlled state. It resulted that less people emphatised with the Myanmar victim compared to the earthquake victims.

At current state of increasing cost of living, people will still fork out some cash to help out but most will channel to the earthquake victims because seeing is believing. Pictures of school children trapped and killed in Sichuan most probably will moved a person to chip in for the earthquake fund rather than the cyclone fund as many might not be comfortable donating to Myamnar junta because they are still having strong reservation on the junta handling of the fund.

Whatever it is, please do not forsake the victims of Nargis, continue to help them. There are many channel to help them thru the NGOs who are already inside Myanmar to help the victims.

Youth Act not in action

The Youth Organization and Youth Development Act 2007 was adopted by parliament end of last year. This Youth Act which requires all organization using the word 'youth', 'young' and any other similiar wordings need to be registered with the Registrar of Youth(ROY) of the Ministry of Youth and Sports. Existing youth organizations which are currently registered with the Registrar of Societies (ROS) are given a one-year grace period to re-register with the ROY with a year.

The announcement by the new Youth Minister Ismail Sabri that until 21 May 2008, there were only 112 youth organisation applying for the registration with ROY and of that number 16 applications already been approved.

The figures provided by the minister in his keynote speech during the National Youth Consultative Council meeting on Saturday shocked many members of the council, myself included.

During the meeting I asked the minister why this can happened when there is an estimated existing 8,000 youth organisations registered with the ROS. Why the youth organisations are not forthcoming to register their organisations?

The Youth Act took more than 5 years to materialised and most of the youth organisations should be aware of this Act and the need to be registered with ROY. Many issues were already discussed, adjusted, changed, dropped and settled during the many meetings, discussions, consultations and drafting sessions between the ministry and all the stakeholders especially with the Malaysian Youth Council.

Are the youth organisations not taking this Act seriously or having a wait and see attitude? Some may have to adjust the structure of their organisation set up to adhere to the Act but for whatever reasons , it will not help if these youth organisations procrastinate or taking a "tidak apa" attitude on a government policy which affects all their members in the long run. It's better for them to look into this matter seriously rather than pressing the panic button when the ROS takes their organisation names off from the ROS register while they are still not registered with ROY.

Myanmar Relief 2

The following information I received via email on organization with international links which are also collecting funds for relief work in Myanmar.

1. The Ven Sayadaw Rajinda is doing relief work in Myanmar and the Selangor Buddhist
Vipassana Meditation Society (SBVMS) is facilitating the collection
of donations for this purpose.
Payee name: Selangor Buddhist Vipassana Meditation Society
Maybank Account number: 5141 7814 1667
Kindly fax (or scan and email) the bank in slip to our Society's
Treasurer, Bro Lim Mong Seng. (h/p: 012-2131686, fax: 03-7729 0370,
email address: limongseng@yahoo.com ) Alternatively, you could send
the bank in slip to him at 143 Jalan SS 2/72, 47300 Petaling Jaya.
Kindly take note that we will only be collecting till 31st May 2008.

2. The World Fellowship of Buddhists already co-operated with the medical team and relief workers of Thai Red Cross Society and Thai Royal Army to distribute food, basic necessities, medicine and medical supplies including other additional apparatus such as electric generators thru the border of Thailand-Myanmar to help the Burmese people.

Beneficiary’s name: WFB FOR HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE
Account number: 0 0 3 – 2 – 3 0 2 6 3 - 9
Bank: Kasikorn Bank Public Company Limited
Attention: Kasikorn Bank Sukhumvit 33 (Bangkapi) Branch
Address: 1 Thai Farmers Lane,Ratburana Road,Bangkok 10140, Thailand
Swift Code: KASTTHBK

3. The Triple Gem Society is a non-profit, Buddhist, humanitarian organization that uses a spiritual message to promote world peace. Bhante Wimala, Triple Gem’s Spiritual Director, travels the world sharing his guidance and wisdom with people of all faiths. Bhante has devoted his life to helping others, and through the Triple Gem Society he is involved in many humanitarian projects throughout the world such as providing medical care, supplies, and equipment; basic shelter; schools; scholarships; and many other basic necessities that so many of us take for granted.
Those who wants to help out the relief work in Myanmar may obtain more information at http://bhantewimala.com/html/help.html

The 16th Floor

The so-called MCA "snoop squad" was alleged to be based in the 16th floor of the Ministry of Youth and Sports in Putrajaya. Interestingly the 16th floor is the office for the Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports which current and previous occupiers were Wee Jeck Seng and Liow Tiong Lai respectively. Both were implicated as members of the snoop squad. The third member was alleged to be Tee Ann Chuan, a colorful figure who was a former president of the Gerakan Belia Bersatu Malaysia, a chinese-based youth organisation with strong link with MCA.

The "youth" link seems very strong here. All the alleged snoop members are linked to youth organisations. Hopefully no other current or previous youth leaders names will be smudged as I knew quite a number of these chinese-based youth leaders in this country.

About the 16th floor, I has been there countless times since Ong Tee keat was the youth deputy minister. Don't get any fancy ideas, I was not there to snoop around. As a youth leader and vice president of the Malaysian Youth Council, I visited the 16th floor often to meet up with the deputy minister or his officers to discuss on youth programs. When Liow Tiong Lai replaces Ong Tee Keat as the Youth deputy minister in Feb 2006, I met Liow quite regularly to discuss with him on youth related matters especially on the drafting of the Youth Act since he was new to the portfolio. Now, after retiring from the Malaysian Youth Council, I rarely drop in the 16th floor.

All visits to the 16th floor are recorded at the Ministry lobby reception counter since visitors need to obtain the specific 16th floor security pass to enter the 16th floor office. So, if Tee An Chuan has been there often, isn't his name will shows up in the registry of the security tag? Not too difficult to check isn't it?

UN Day of Vesak 2

The UN Day of Vesak 2008 at the National Convention Center, Hanoi, Vietnam were attended by about 4000 participants.

I was there as a member of the International Organizing Committee.

United Nations Day of Vesak

The United Nations started to observed the Day of Vesak at UN Headquarters and other UN offices since 2000. The resolution on international recognition of the Day of Vesak was adopted by the UN General Assembly at its 79th plenary meeting on 15 December 1999.

In 2004, Thailand was appointed to coordinate with other Buddhist countries to celebrate the Day of Vesak both at the United Nations in New York and its regional office. Since then an International Buddhist Conference on the United Nations Day of Vesak (UNDV) has been held every year in Bangkok, Thailand.

The most recent UNDV conference was held from 13-17 May 2008 at the National Convention Center, Hanoi, Vietnam. About 4,000 participants including 700 foreign participants from 74 countries attended this year's conference with the theme "Buddhist Contribution to Building a Just, Democratic and Civilized Society".

HAPPY WESAK

Happy Wesak to everyone.

Just came back from Hanoi after attending the United Nations Day of Vesak celebrations from 13-17 May 2008. Will write about it later.

May 13 Masih Hantui

Hari ini merupakan ulang tahun yang ke 40 insiden 13 Mei di mana berlakunya rusuhan kaum yang mengorbankan ramai mangsa. Dikatakan negara kita masa itu telah berpecah belah akibat rusuhan perkauman ini. Untuk mereka yang kehilangan orang tersayang akibat insiden itu, pasti dalam hati yang masih belum sembuh ada lagi persoalan yang belum dijawab sepenuhnya. Apakah sebenarnya berlaku 40 tahun lalu? Laporan rasmi telah dikeluarkan oleh pihak berwajib tetapi masih ada berpendapat persoalan-persoalan tertentu belum dijawab lagi. Mengapakah ia begitu?

Selagi ada persoalan mengenai insiden 513, pasti ia tidak akan berkubur begitu sahaja. Patutkah pihak pemerintah ambil perhatian perkara ini dan adakan satu suruhanjaya diraja untuk jalankan siasatan untuk melenyapkan hantu 513 ini yang masih menghantui ramai orang termasuk kalangan ahli politik yang masih suka menimbulkan insiden ini pada musim-musim pilihan raya. Mungkin ada baiknya perkara ini diselesaikan agar ia tidak menjadi duri dalam daging yang mungkin mengekang proses perpaduan rakyat yang utuh.

Once and for all. Settle all the questions so that life can move on.

Kebetulan pula Ahad lepas saya telah dijemput membentangkan kertas kerja mengenai perpaduan rakyat Malaysia dalam satu konvensyen belia. Saya telah menekankan bahawa perpaduan yang berasaskan persefahaman bersyarat tidak akan kekal kerana diadakan demi kepentingan diri setiap golongan yang terlibat. Perpaduan sebenar perlu mempunyai keikhlasan untuk memajukan masyarakat dan negara berdasarkan prinsip keadilan dan kesaksamaan untuk semua tetapi .

Perpaduan rakyat boleh bermula dengan fahaman bahawa terdapat orang lain yang mempunyai corak dan pegangan hidup yang berbeza dengan kita dan kita harus bersedia menerima perbezaan itu secara hati terbuka.

Fair Policy for All

The Selangor State government will be reviewing the guidelines on building of places of worship by the non-Muslims. This was conveyed by the State Exco in charge of the non-muslims places of worship committee, Dr Xavier Jayakumar in a meeting held last week at his office in the state secretariat building.

This indeed a good news as cases of viharas, kovil and churches facing various hindrances in their development plan due to existing guidelines like restrictions on height and number of storeys, usage area for main shrine hall limited to 10,000 sq ft, land allocated under high tension wires and industrial areas etc.

Hopefully a new guidelines that reflect the freedom of religious practice, fairness and justice for all religions will prevail as the intention of our nation's constitution.

National Service : Suspend, Review and Improve

As one who had been involved in the National Service Training Program(NS), initially as a member of the Curriculum Sub-Committee, then as a trainer for the Nation Building module for the first batch of trainees in 2004, I was very supportive of the programs objectives and implementation. I also initiated the arrangement for the NS trainees of Buddhist faith from camps all over the country to attend religious sessions in local temples during the weekend .

During the first year of implementation, as many had read in the newspapers that time, there were many challenges and problems affecting the NS. Either on trainees transportation or payments for the bus drivers, condition of the camps or disciplinary problems, it was headlines for many weeks.

After all the camps were based in sites with facilities for classrooms, ground, highlands and water-based trainings, NS was not on the main radar of the press and public anymore other than the usual open days weekend for parents.

But then from time to time, cases of NS trainees drowned, seriously sick and died during and after attending the training was the news of the day. The NS Training Department will respond with relevant actions each time cases arises. To be fair, the NS training Department, lead by no less than three Director Generals since its inception had been very concern and took actions to address these problems.

And the foremost, the hands-on NS Council Chairman Lee Lam Thye had put in a lot of hard work and commitment to ensure the NS proceed smoothly with as little problem as possible. But then things do happens and when it does, fingers will be pointing everywhere but particularly the NS Training Department and specifically on Lee Lam Thye as he has been "the face" of the NS for the last four years.

The most recent incident affecting NS was when a trainee at the Geo Kosmo camp in Kuala Kubu Bahru, Too Hui Min died after complaining of abdominal pain. The blame game begins again and it seems that Lee Lam Thye got "whacked" by many people because of this incident. It would be unfair to make Lee Lam Thye the punching bag as the NS is the country's official program adopted by an Act of Parliament for the those in the 18-35 age group but something need be to done. It need more than just another statement or two from the NS department or even the Deputy PM and Health Minister.

What is required is a comprehensive review of the whole NS, from the policy on intake of trainees and trainers to the syllabus and modules and the medical standard operating procedure. To enable the review process to be more holistic, all stake holders are to be involved including current and former NS trainees and trainers, camps sites operators, affected parents, NGOs, relevant government departments and etc. The last time a public review and feedback session was carried out on the NS was in mid 2004. Its time to have another one.

While planning for the review and to avoid further unwanted incident and a loving youth sent home to their parents in a body bag, I hope the government will suspend the NS until the review is done and to produce recommendations to further enhance the program to minimalize the "risks" in NS.

Myanmar Relief Thru Thailand

International media has been highlighting the displeasure of western governments on the reluctance of the Myanmar military junta to allows foreign aid to enter the country to help the cyclone victims.

On the other hand, information originated from the World Fellowship of Buddhists(WFB) which is based in Thailand, stated that the Myanmar military junta allows foreign aids to go into Myanmar via Thailand. These humanitarian aids were coordinated by the Thai Red Cross Society and the Royal Thai Army.

The WFB Secretary General, Phallop Thaiarry was quoted as saying,
"the Burmese government has expressed sincere gratitude to His Majesty the King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s expression of concern for the people of Burma. Furthermore, Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn has ordered her personal secretary to check what basic necessities were in demand so that relief could be granted thru the border. The Burmese government allows that outside assistance will come through Thailand only (processed by the Royal Thai Army and Thai Red Cross Society) and Thailand will act as intermediary."

The WFB also announced the formation of a special Task Force to coordinate and provide humanitarian support and care to the cyclone Nargis victims. The WFB has already arranged aid to the Myanmarese since May 6, 2008. The relief unit was sent to distribute medicines, canned food and drinking water to those victims. Medical team were also despatched to help those who needs medical care.

WFB is seeking financial support and donation can be transmitted thru the account below.

Beneficiary’s name: The World Fellowship of Buddhists
Account number: 116-1-20131-5
Bank: Bank of Ayudhya Public Company Ltd.
Address: Sukhumvit 35 Branch
593/7-9 Sukhumvit Road, Wathana
Bangkok, Thailand
Swift Code: AYUDTHBK

Buddhists "Chiak Too Bak"?

The Penang Syariah High Court today allowed an application by Muslim convert Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah aka Tan Ean Huang to renounce Islam and officially revert to her Buddhist faith.

This is no doubt a landmark case but I was wondering what's the connection between praying to Tua Pek Kong and Thi Kong in declaring oneself a Buddhist? Only this morning during a meeting with a State Exco in charge of non-Muslims places of worship that I try to impressed upon the Christian YB that Buddhist temples do not includes Tua Pek Kong and Dato Kong etc. Now, will the good YB thinks I am pulling his leg when he read this breaking news.

I also hopes the lady remembers to recite the Ti-Sarana to affirm her commitment as a Buddhist. During Buddha's time, a General Siha who was a Jains, was asked by the Buddha to recite Buddham Saranam Gacchami thrice to ensure he knows and understands his intention to take the Triple Gem as his refuge. Only after General Siha recited the Ti-Sarana that the Buddha accepts him as a follower.

While many will take this landmark case as a sign of freedom of religious practice, what's the impact on Buddhism? Does it means anyone can walk in and out of Buddhism as they wishes? And implying Buddhists also prayed to many deities and also "chiak too bak"?

It's Time to Share

The wrath of Cyclone Nargis had brought tremendous pain, sufferings and lost to the people of Myanmar. While over here in our country, the Buddhist community are busy preparing to celebrate the Triple Sacred Day of Wesak on May 19, 2008.

During Wesak, many devotees will be visiting Buddhist temples and Dharma centres to join in the congregation for the most important occasion in the Buddhist calendar to have prayers, meditation and merit-making.

While doing all these good deeds, do remember those brothers and sisters whom had lost everything if not all due to the natural disaster that strikes Myanmar few days ago. If we still remembers the tsunami disaster in 2004, the recovery process for the victims will take a long time; economically, physically and pyschologically. Hence, the initiative to help the cyclone victims must be a long term plan.

It is usual for many aids agencies swamping in to help the victims as an immediate response after the disaster but when all the media hype and publicity drained out, these aid agencies will pull out leaving the victims to fend for themselves, without any post disaster recovery program to help them to claim back their normal life.

It is my fervent hope that some of the Buddhist centres in Malaysia will adopt certain temples or villages affected by the cyclone for at least 3 - 5 years to enable the villages/temples in Myanmar to stand on their own in the post disaster period.

In the spirit of Wesak, I like to proposed that Buddhist centres allocates certain percentage of their Wesak collection for the next three years to help these villages or temples in Myanmar.

Buddhist brethrens need to care for and support each other especially in times of need and challenges. If the Buddhists do not reach out, are we leaving it to others to reach out to the suffering victims?

Malaysian Buddhist Relief Fund for Myanmar

Public Service Message

The Malaysian Buddhist community started to response to the natural disaster in Myanmar. I was informed by Most Venerable B. Saranankara, Chief Adhikarana of Malaysia that a team will be going to Myanmar the earliest possible to survey and have a better understanding on the needs required. The Tzu Chi Buddhist Merit Malaysia will be despatching their team too.

In the meantime, the organisations below are collecting funds and some also accepting foodstuff etc to help the cyclone victims in Myanmar. Please circulate to all your contacts to support these relief efforts.


1. Buddhist Missionary Society Malaysia
Donation may be sent by post to Buddhist Missionary Society Malaysia, 123, Jalan Berhala, 50470, Kuala Lumpur. Please make all contribution by cheque only made payable to "Buddhist Missionary Society Malaysia." Please write "Myanmar" behind the cheque.

2. Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia
All cheques are to be payable to "Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia". Please indicate "Myanmar Relief Fund" at back of the cheques. You may bank in the cheques to YBAM Public Bank account: 3063802219 and send the bank in slip for our record at YBAM Secretariat, 9, Jalan SS25/24, Taman Mayang 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

3. Subang Jaya Buddhist Association
Lot PT 12593, Jalan Kewajipan, SS 13, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor D.E.
Please donate dry foodstuff (noodles, biscuits, etc), canned food, mineral water, medicine etc. at SJBA for us to send to Myanmar. Cash donation is also welcome.(Tel: 03-56315299, e-mail: sjba@streamyx.com)

4. Buddhist Maha Vihara
123, Jalan Berhala, 50470, Kuala Lumpur.
The Buddhist Maha Vihara temple has initiated the Myanmar Cyclone Relief Fund to help alleviate the suffering and provide immediate aid to the people of Myanmar.
We accept CASH DONATIONS ONLY. CHEQUES payable to 'BUDDHIST MAHA VIHARA'.
For further information please do not hesitate to contact Ms Lilani at 03-2274 1141 extn 211. (updated 9 May 2008)

5. Sri Jayanti Association, Sentul
The Siri Jayanti Association is setting up a " Myanmar Disaster Relief Centre" at the Sri Lanka Buddhist Temple, Sentul. Any persons who are keen to donate anything in kind can deliver the items to the Temple. (updated 9 May 2008)


Please take note the organisations above will have their respective arrangement to forward the funds or foodstuff, medicine etc to Myanmar. You are advised to donate directly to the temples/association and request for receipt for every donation made.

Cyclone Nargis Strikes Myanmar

The following is the latest news from Associated Press on the Cyclone Nargis that hit Myanmar last saturday.

Myanmar cyclone death toll soars past 22,000: state radio
1 hour ago

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar state radio says the cyclone death toll has soared above 22,000 and more than 41,000 others are missing.

Up to 1 million people may be homeless after Cyclone Nargis and some villages have been almost totally eradicated, according to the World Food Program.

Cyclone Nargis tore through the country's heartland and largest city, Yangon, early Saturday.

Aid agencies reported their assessment teams had reached some areas of the largely isolated region. But they said getting in supplies and large numbers of aid workers would be difficult.
***********************************************************************************

Are we going to do something to help out the people of Myanmar? After losing their homes; food, personal effects and medicines will be scarce and outbreak of disease will be looming. Some friends in the Buddhist circles are already in the move to get going some sort of relief to help the cyclone victims.

Do whatever you can. Ask your Dharma centres to have donation drive to collect funds for the victims. Will keep you all posted once I got the necessary information on the modus operandi to sent the funds/medicine/food/etc to Myanmar.

Economy or Business, ETA the same!

The blogsphere was abuzzed with the story of Penang CM Lim Guan Eng flying on economy class. Maybe it was not Guan Eng's publicity stunt, but maybe there are other elected officials who flies economy class but were not photographed by anyone?

On a flight related matter, sometime ago I happened to travel in a same flight with a deputy Minister. It is nothing unusual on bumping onto a deputy Minister in a flight but the flight was on AirAsia. Out of curiousity I asked him why he travels on a low cost carrier when the government can pay for his full fare flight on MAS?

It was his party election campaigning season and he explained that it was due to timing as he had to campaign in different places on the same day. Furthermore, the fare is from his own pocket. At least he knows party campaigning is not government official duties! Later, during queueing for boarding I was surprised when his personal assistant make a request to the air stewardess for his boss to jump queue and boarded first!

There was no express boarding that time and I think maybe similiar incidences gave Tony Fernandes the idea for the AirAsia Xpress Boarding for those prepared to pay extra RM20 two-way to board the aircraft first!

Chinese and Tamil primary schools exclusive?

Minister of Education Hishammuddin was reported as saying that the current 10% quota for non-bumiputras students in government fully residential schools will not be increased. He justified this by saying that it is difficult to have a formula that can please everyone. He added if this matter is raised, people will also asked about the exclusivity of the religious schools, Chinese (SJKC) and Tamil(SJKT) national type primary schools.

I am not sure what the minister meant by exclusivity but I do know that the Chinese and Tamil primary schools welcomes anyone who wants to enrol their children in these schools. The exclusivity that I know of is that parents of Chinese primary schools have the "privilege" to contribute continuously to the financial needs of these SJKCs. I wonder if parents of Mara Junior College need to provide financial support to their children's respective government fully aided residential schools to upkeep the building and facilities in the schools?

To raise an irrelevant link between fully residential schools and the SJKCs and SJKTs based on presumption that "people" will make an issue out of this exclusivity, maybe is only in the mind of the Education minister himself. So, please address the issue directly and don't dragged innocent people to your shallow arguments!

If you are serious in creating a harmonious society amongst the Malaysian childrens, do the real thing by opening the enrolment of all government residential schools to all based on merits, just like the public universities.

Clown Around at Your Own Perils

The Cabinet decided to continue having live telecast of parliamentary sessions even though the antics and "performance" of some of MP during the initial live show last Wednesday prompted some, the PM included, asking the live telecast to be cancelled.

My take is, disregarding the live telecast or not, those antics and clowning around by some MPs are not the first time and I doubt it will be the last. It's a matter of who will be the star clown during the particular session. Although many are pointing to the Opposition MPs as the main players on last Wednesday's show with Kinabatangan MP Bung Mokhtar as the BN striker, many TV audiences I assumed, misses the antics of former BN MPs Badrulruddin of Jerai and Raja Ahmad from Perak.

Saying that the MPs are taking the opportunity to play to the gallery during the live telecast are not totally correct.It can be observed that quite a number of policitians survived their lack of wisdom, intellectuality and well research arguments by playing to the gallery most of time, not only during parliamentary or state assembly sessions but also their meeting with the media, with their constituents or political parties!

The live telecast of parliamentary sessions not only should be continued for 30 minutes each day but should cover throughtout the parliamentary sessions. Lets see if those publicity seekers verbal and physical antics can outlasts the technical strength of RTM broadcasting department. If an MP do not put in extra efforts to undertake well documented research to support with facts and figures to back up their debates in parliament, sooner or later they would run out of steam and people will lost interest and confidence on them.

The voters will outsmart those clowns in the long run. Keep on clowning around at your own peril!

Enter the Big Brother

Brothers speaks the same language!

MCA President Ong Ka Ting suggested today in his maiden speech as a backbencher in parliament some measures to address issues related to the religious rights of non-Muslims. The Sun today reported Ka Ting's saying:


“In situations involving non-Muslims who became a Muslim due to marriage, they should be allowed to renounce Islam when the marriage has ended.

“Similarly, if a child who was unilaterally converted to Islam by one parent without the consent of the other parent, the child should be allowed to maintain his or her own religion.

He also brought up incidences whereby statements were made that the proposed legal amendments will affect and protect both Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Urging the government to be transparent to avoid a repeat of the cases above, Ong said non-Muslims are not to be subjected to any form of Syariah law.

“And, for any disputes or overlapping areas between the jurisdiction of the civil and Syariah courts, civil laws must prevail,” he added.

Ong said in the case where one parent embraces Islam, the religion of a minor must be decided by both parents.
“Should a dispute on the child’s faith arise, the religion must remain as status quo until the child reaches the age of majority that is 18 years upon which the child decides.
“In the event the convert dies, the property comprised in the estate of the deceased prior to the date of conversion should be subject to the civil laws of inheritance and succession for the time in force,” he added.

If we can recall two years ago on 15 March 2006, his political brother Loh Seng Kok who was then the MP for Kelana Jaya spoke in Parliament on problems faced by non-Muslims in regards to places of worship, prayers recital guidelines and "imbalanced" history textbooks. Seng Kok's speech attracted strong reaction from his BN counterpart especially the Kelana Jaya Umno Youth division which stormed his service centre and demanded explanation from him.

Ka Ting and Seng Kok both had served as political secretaries to the then MCA president Ling Lion Sik. This means both of them having the same political father. While it was Ka Ting as the "Lao ta" (big brother) that gave the opportunity to Seng Kok to contest the Kelana Jaya parliamentary seat in 2004, it was also him that dropped his "Shih ti" (brother) as a candidate in the recent general election.

Anyway, the dropping of Seng Kok as a candidate was a blessing in disguise for him as the Kelana Jaya seat was won by PKR's Loh Gwo Burne a.k.a Videoman, beating the favorite candidate Lee Hwa Beng. At least Seng Kok knows that he was not rejected by the people of Kelana Jaya but his political brother!

As karma dictates it, now Ka Ting has to wear Seng Kok's shoes and speak out the same language loudly for the non-Muslims in parliament. Whether the situation will come full circle as two years ago awaits us in a week or two to see. The same sign already there. An Umno backbencher MP for Pasir Salak already ticked off Ka Ting in parliament. The next will be a visit from the Kulai Umno Youth to Ka Ting's service centre to confront him!

Hopefully by now Ong Ka Ting will understand why he need people like Loh Seng Kok to hold the frontline.