Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Gwo Burne Offer his seat to Anwar

It takes two to tango.

Now the news already came from the horse's mouth, or should it be camera's LCD, that the MP for Kelana Jaya Loh Gwo Burne offered to vacate his parliamentary to enable Anwar Ibrahim the ticket to parliament and possibly the coveted Prime Ministership!

Loh was quoted in Parliament on Monday that he had offered his seat to Anwar. As I had wrote earlier, Kelana Jaya is high on the list as the seat for Anwar's entry to parliament.

On the other hand, Loh was busy taking pictures and videos on his first day in Parliament. Maybe it is a sign that he is taking all the necessary photos as momentoes in anticipation of his quick exit from parliament?

Monday, April 28, 2008

Adios Ramli Ngah Talib

The 222 newly elected MPs took their oath today. It will be an exciting Parliament this time around with 82 opposition members against 140 BN representatives.

History was made today with the appointment of a Sabahan Pandikar Amin Mulia as the new Dewan Rakyat Speaker. Adios to Ramli Ngah Talib, the immediate past speaker. Now he can fade away quitely to his kampung in Pasir Salak after a long service to the nation and the state of Perak. Even the parliament official website was very prompt in updating Pandikar Amin as the new Speaker as of today!
My first impression from afar of Ramli Ngah Talib was during my school days in the early 80s' when he came as the acting Perak Menteri Besar to officiate my school Annual Speech Day.
I remembers my school headmaster was very proud to announced that the Menteri Besar was a former student of the school, albeit only for his Form Five. Being a kampung boy, I was awed with this "big man" from Ipoh but as years past I starts to look at this big man as just another Umno politician with agenda of his own.

But no matter what, this guy really a political survivor. After being dumped as the Menteri Besar in 1999, he gentlemanly accepted appointment as the deputy transport minister after contesting a parliamentarian seat that year. Many politician his stature would have balked at this junior position as a slap in his face. But he persevered and was duly appointed the Dewan Rakyat Speaker in November 2004 after the demised of the long serving speaker Zahir Ismail.

Ramli was reluctant to let go of the speaker's post but at the end of the day he has to accept the political manouvering by the BN leadership. The BN leadership in KL had to submit to pressure from the East Malaysian BN politicians to allocate more positions to Sabahans and Sarawakians as a goodwill gesture to their contribution in providing 54 parliamentary seats to ensure the continuity of the BN federal government.

For this time around, it's the end of the road for Ramli Ngah Talib. Unless of course if he is appointed the next Dewan Negara Speaker!
For political parties, no one is indispensable. You played by the game rules and kick-out by the same rules!

Academician or Politician?

As I was walking into the Tan Sri Uda Library building in Shah Alam I bumped into one of my former political science lecturer during my university days, Dr Sanusi Osman. I duly introduced myself to him as his former student. We had a quick chat while going to the lift taking us to the 3rd floor to attend the launching of two books by a former lecturer of UKM, Rustam A Sani, who passed away three days earlier.

The book launching also becomes a memorial for this late academician, writer, political analyst and former deputy president of Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) which Dr Sanusi was also a former Secretary General.


I attended this event as a mark of respect to my former lecturer since I missed the funeral few days earlier and I know pretty well that I will be having the opportunity to meet other lecturers from my student days.

Some of the my university lecturers who left the academia for politics includes Ting Chew Peh, former MCA's Housing and Local Government Minister; Toh Kin Woon who was with Gerakan and former Penang Exco member. Dr Sanusi did contest in the Batu and Lembah Pantai constituencies under the PRM banner but failed to be elected.
During that time it did not cross my mind that these lecturers will jump into active party politics and I am amused of myself when I thought of some of those questions that I asked them as a freshie. One of those question that I posed to Dr Sanusi was, "why Barisan Nasional need to have so many ethnic based parties as members when BN can be a party for all?", without knowing he was an active member of the opposition PRM!

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Where is Your Cousin's Apology?

At last Umno Youth chief Hishamuddin finally apologized for wielding the keris during Umno general assembly that cause discomfort amongst the people especially the non-Malays which duly affected the Barisan Nasional's performance in the 12 General Election. It's better late than never for a person to feel remorse for his actions and antics and seek forgiveness from everybody.


Every right thinking and cultured person should give a chance to themselves to accept his apology disregarding the actual intention behind the apology or the the level of sincerity carrying the remarks.

Tracing back the keris wielding and kissing incidents, I still can remembered vividly my thoughts during that time in response to the Education minister's antics. I was thinking," Hey, what is the Education minister trying to potray and teach the school children? Is he telling the millions of students under his watch that is it alright to brandish your weapon as you like? " What moral authority is left with him to set policies to educate our children and execute disciplinary actions on wayward students when the head of the education ministry himself are inviting a serious diciplinary case against him?

What the heck? It is already over and the person was given a lashing by millions of voters recently. So, we forgive him-lah but as a teacher usually tells a wayward student after giving him a disciplinary action," be a good boy and next time don't do it again, O.K? If not, be prepared for more lashing.

BTW, when is your cousin going to apologise for his speech in 1987 where he vowed to bathe the keris with Chinese blood? Since he said you would not lose the dignity by apologizing, when is his coming? People can forgive you but still cannot forget your cousin's action. Hopes he still has the dignity to be PM.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

My Songkok, Your Serban

People doesn't like to be forced into doing certain thing which they don't like or can't readily accept.

The issue of wearing the "songkok", a Malay traditional headgear by DAP politicians during the ceremony to sworn in the new Selangor State Excos and appointment of the new Selangor State Assembly Speaker, Teng Chang Khim created a "temporary" challenge for the political party.

At the end of the day, protocol and common sense prevails and the songkok was on the head of these DAP politicians, maybe for the first time in their lives.

Retrospectively, what's the fuss it is all about? Every community had their own traditional headgears and they are always proud to share it with others. For instance, if we participate in an Orang Asli traditional function, don't spoil the atmosphere by declining to wear the headgear made of nipah by the Orang Asli community.
Mahathir, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and Abdullah Badawi worn the Kadazan traditional headgear when they visited the Kadazan Dusun community in Sabah.


Even Lim Guan Eng put on the serban when he celebrated the Vaisakhi with the Sikh community recently.

It is the state of the mind. We do not change our own traditional practices by just wearing traditional headgears of others. On the other hand, we should not force others to accept our tradition. It is up to them. It is their choice and they have to live with the way they deem fits.

We just need to respect each others way of life, tradition and practices. Period

Political Trappings and Idealism

Attended a lecture on "New Governance" and followed by discussion last night. The lecture was delivered by a newly minted deputy minister and first term MP. About 40 participants from a broad spectrum of background were there. These includes businessmen, professionals, academicians, social activists, student leaders, government servants and politicians.

The lecture topic is not something new so I will not elaborate further but what is interesting which I need to highlighted is the initiative to have this sort of session. This deputy minister is not the usual politician that we are exposed to, meaning those that are arrogant and too engrossed with power going into their pea brain and acting as seems they are holier or brainier than we the ordinary rakyat. He is down to earth and easily approachable from the many years I knew him.

I think he is trying to ensure his newly found "power" do not morphed him into a typical politician who lost their ideals and aspirations for the society once they are comfortable in their cushy armchair in the corridors of power. And those people at the lecture who are his circle of close networking friends are expected to keep on reminding him to keep track of his idealism and agenda for society.

We, which included his supportive wife, hopes that he will not fall into the political trappings which many politicians before him already did once they detached themselves from their self conscience and the ordinary folks. All the best to you brother!

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Rustam Sani - The Teacher

Academician, writer and blogger Rustam A Sani passed away early this morning at his home in Kuala Lumpur.

He taught me when I was in university years ago. I last met him end of last year at a wedding dinner of the son of a mutual friend. He was a little surprised when I addressed him as "cikgu".

Well, once a teacher (lecturer) will be a teacher and he shall be treated and respected as one.

After the meeting I thought of dropping him a note via his blog Suara Rakyat but I never did. Now the only thing I can do is to pray for him to journey on peacefully. May all the good deeds he had done be well remembered by all.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

End of Lavish Functions?

The Second Finance Minister recently asked all government departments to avoid spending lavishly for functions and ceremonies. At the same time the new Youth and Sports Minister was reported to have said that he prefers not to use event organisers for his ministry programs.

Both the statements is indeed refreshing but I hoped it will be sustained for long. I had seen programs which can be easily organised by the Youth Ministry and the youth NGOs but were contracted to event organisers to the tune of millions. And some years ago I attended a HIV and AIDS prevention launching program organised by a government agency which I was told costs closed to a million ringgit.

I am not doubting the intention of the minister concerned but time will tell whether this instructions will becomes a reality. Basing on the tenure of the previous youth minister which by now are well known to be a big spender, either renovating the minister office or in over glorified promotional programs and activities and entertainment expenses, the ministry really need to re-ignite the passion of youth work by putting the trust to the youth themselves to run minor and major programs. If these major programs are contracted to the event organisers, how can the youth gain experience? It will benefit them if given the opportunity to run the show themselves?

The National Youth Day are celebrated on 15 May each year and I hoped for the coming Youth Day celebration next month, youth organisations will be given the task to run it. Good or lousy, at least the youth are given the opportunity to learn and improve themselves.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Anwar Starts his First Step?

Anwar Ibrahim was in Subang Jaya tonight to celebrate the victory of their PKR new MP for Kelana Jaya, Loh Gwo Burne. Other than top guns from PKR, community leaders in this constituency was also invited for the dinner.

Is this part of Anwar's campaign trail for a Kelana Jaya by-election?

Buddhist Supports Beijing Olympics

A group of Buddhists in Malaysia issued a statement (below) supporting the Beijing Olympics and urged everyone not to disrupt the Olympic Torch Run in Kuala Lumpur to be held on 21 April 2008.

I just hoped no one will take any drastic actions that will create unnecessary negative impact on the Buddhist community. It seems that some Buddhist leaders already been summoned to Bukit Aman and told not to do anything which will disrupt the Torch Run.

My take is that Buddhists in Malaysia are peace loving people and usually abstained from taking any actions which might irked the police and the government. My hope is that the police and government will not look upon the Buddhists as potential trouble makers especially in relation to the Olympic Torch Run. In the history of modern Malaysia, the Buddhist citizens in this country have not even once or in any way created problems or incidents to the authorities. Even in the run up to the recent elections, while others were very vocal, which community kept their silence and did not publicised their needs and constraints publicly? It's the Buddhists!

So, please treat the Buddhists citizens with greater respect and gratitude!


***************************************************
Press Statement

The Vajrayana Buddhist Council of Malaysia would like to support the call (NST report dated 16 April 2008) by the Chief High Priest of Malaysia Rev. K. Dhammaratana Thera that politics should be kept out of the coming Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Hence, in conjunction with the arrival of the Olympic torch to Malaysia on 21 April 2008, and as consistently advised by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, we would like to urge all our Member Organizations, all other Tibetan Buddhist Societies/ Centers in Malaysia and the general public, not to disrupt the Olympic torch relay.

Instead, the Vajrayana Buddhist Council of Malaysia would like to urge all our Member Organizations, all other Tibetan Buddhist Societies/ Centers in Malaysia and the general public to show our concern over the recent deeply saddening and tragic events in Tibet and the surrounding regions in China in a peaceful way.

Therefore, we pray that the Beijing Olympics will be a peaceful and most successful Olympic Games in its series and achieves the Olympic Charter goal in contributing towards the building of a healthy, peaceful and better world through sports.

In conjunction with this message, we encourage our Member Organizations and all other Buddhist organizations to embark on a month of prayers culminating with the occasion of the Wesak Day Celebration on 19 May 2008, for the following purposes:

That there may be continual peace and harmony for all the citizens and residents in Malaysia and all countries in the world.
That there be peace and harmony, compassion and equality for all the trouble spots in the world, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur, Gaza, Myanmar and Tibet.

Yours in the Dharma,
Pek Chee Hen
Secretary
Vajrayana Buddhist Council of Malaysia

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

The Boomerang Effect

The law of cause and effect is not something that we should take it likely. The saying," you reap what you sow" is a familiar line to many but how many really take it seriously until it strikes at us?

It seems some politicians do not take a leaf out of the recent lesson from the rakyat and still act arrogantly and do whatever they like at their whims and fancies. Just because the Pakatan Rakyat took over the government of some of the states, some childish politicians took upon themselves to issue directives to give these new state governments a hard time.

The decision to terminate the MOU on tourism with the PR state governments was uncalled for and very short-sighted indeed. Tourists, especially those from overseas do not really bothered with who rules the states. What they want is to make sure every dollar they spent is worth it. If this emotional decision by the powers-that-be affected the number of inbound tourists to these states, which draws in a large number of visitors especially Penang and Selangor, isn't these will affect the nation as a whole? The Malay proverb says," marahkan nyamuk seekor, dibakar seluruh kelambu". Because of one mosquito, burn the whole mosquito net.

Yes, those allocations will be directed to federal agencies based in the states to implement tourism programs but will it really be effective if there is no cooperation with the state governments? Are these politicians expect the rakyat to support them by punishing the rakyat? Are they saying it is ok for the PR to do the same if PR becomes the federal government and terminate all MOUs with Johore, Pahang, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Perlis and Terengganu and withdraws all allocation?

This mentality also exists in another ministry helmed by a minister who co-incidentally was also a former youth and sports minister like the current tourism minister. As someone who has been actively involved in join programs with the youth ministry for many years, I am really dissapointed with these fellas behaviour.

The enforcement of the directive to all schools that only Vips from the education ministry can officiate in schools functions smells of a rat lurking around to ensure the PR elected representatives will be barred from gaining access to the schools. This is another action which will haunt them if there is a change in the federal government in the future.

The people's interest should be upheld disregarding who is the ruling party. What the people wants is to allow normalcy in their life. Don't these politicians understand that the general election already over more than a month ago! If they have any axe to grind, for goodness sake, please don't do it at the people's expense. You don't win the heart and mind of the people by punishing them but by prooving your worth by providing outstanding services to the rakyat and out-performed your challengers!

This is like a boomerang effect. What you throws out will come back to you. If you can't grab it rightly, the boomerang will smacked you in the face!

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Are these Bloggers for Real?

The 308 historic moment, ie the 12 general election produces interesting spill over effects. One of them is the sudden surged of politicians, especially BNs, creating their own blogs and issue continuous press statements.
One of the latest blogger was former Selangor MB Khir Toyo. His blog was visited by more than 100k visitor within few days!
The other political chap, the good ol'doctor Chua Soi Lek started his bilingual blog early April. For those still keen on the developments in MCA, you might want to retrieve some inside story there.

And the UMNO Youth already required all their excos to have their own blogs. If some of them don't know how to set up one, its ok! Their secretary will do it for them. But I am not sure if the excos will be doing the updating though!

That cause me to be curious if these people are managing the blogs by themselves or by their cyber ghost writers!

It is usual for DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang to issue daily press statements since years ago but I think Kit Siang will be having a good match soon. It seems MCA president Ong Ka Ting, who relieved himself from ministerial duties by opting out from the Cabinet has make good use of his "freedom" to issue regular press statements. And based on the contents of the press statements, if I don't read the author's name I might think it was issued by Kit Siang!
Way to go man, Ka Ting!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Politics and Sports - a New Event in Olympics?

Last September I convened a meeting of Buddhist leaders in Kuala Lumpur to discuss and respond to the situation in Myanmar. The meeting under the coordination of the Malaysian Buddhist Solidarity Group decided to submit an appeal to Government of Myanmar via their embassy in Kuala Lumpur. The appeal urged the Myanmar government to adopt the path of compassion and wisdom for a peaceful and non-violent solution to the problem in Myanmar.

What is significant on the stand of the Malaysian Buddhist Solidarity Group is that we seek the Myanmar Government to act in accordance with the teachings of the Buddha.

There was no suggestion or proposal for the boycott of the Olympics in Beijing as others had demanded due to China's influence in Myanmar. I for one will not agree to link the situation in Myanmar to the Olympics.

In recent days, the movement to link the Beijing Olympics with the riots and protest in Tibet began to gain ground. The Olympic Torch relay runs were met with protests along multiple cities route including London, Paris, San Francisco and so on. Based on press reports, more protests by pro-Tibet activists are expected in the remaining Olympic Torch relay cities. And the European Union planned to boycott the opening ceremony of the Games.

Most people would agreed to differentiate between sports and politics but when incidents like those in Tibet and Myanmar are linked to Beijing Olympics, those who took issue with China grabbed the opportunity to highlight the needs of the monks and people in Tibet and Myanmar. These actions unintentionally derailed the hopes and aspiration of the people of China whom eagerly looking forward to the largest sporting event on earth.

Recently I was asked on my response to the incidents in Tibet.

For this time around, as a Buddhist, I was very clear that I am not going to convene any meeting to response to this matter as this are to be shouldered by Buddhist-based NGO. Secondly, as in the Myanmar issue, I totally not in favour of any intention or action to drag in the Beijing Olympics.

When did the Olympics adopted a new event by the name of Politics and Sports?

The USA and his allies had boycotted the Moscow Olympics in 1980 in protests of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and the former USSR and her Eastern Block allies revenged with boycotting of the Los Angeles Olympics four years later.

The victims at the end of the day was the sportsmen and women. They won gold medals without stiff contests and the sports enthusiasts lost out in seeing top of the line competition amongst the best competitors.

So protest if you may but please leave the Beijing Olympics aside. There is no event for Hu Jintao and H.H. Dalai Lama to compete and the only medals for grabs are for the best sportsmen and sportswomen of the world.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Why Only Islam?

The intention of the Federal government requiring potential Muslim converts to declared their choice to their family as announced by the Prime Minister is laudable and a pre-emptive step to address incidents of body-snatching and other related issues.

I would like to further enhance my earlier comment on the need of a fool-proof law to ensure the declaration will not be challenged by any parties in later years.

The cases of body-snatching that were widely reported in the media in recent years focuses on non-Muslims converting to Islam without informing their immediate families. Hence, these causes unnecessary heart breaks to the deceased convert family, headaches to the authorities and brewing tension amongst the Muslims and non-Muslims.

On the other hand, did the media highlighted cases of conversion amongst the non-Muslims namely those were converted at their death bed from one non-Muslim religion to another? Have we not heard or come across cases of "vultures of death" seeking out potential candidates to be converted to their religion in hospitals while the critically ill patient is most vulnerable and unable to think wisely and with reason?

Have we not heard children who has converted to another religion tries to convert their parents without the knowledge of their other siblings. When the parents died, a tussled develops between siblings of different non-Muslim religion on the method of the last rites for the deceased funeral. There was even an incident some years ago of opposing siblings of different religion physically fought it out to ensure funeral rites for their deceased father are conducted as per their respective religious choice!


To do the right thing right at the right time, the Federal Government are urged to deliberate further on the need to require all types of conversion, non-Muslims to Islam; Hindu to Christianity; Buddhist to Hindu; Christianity to Buddhist etc. requires a declaration and written consent from the parents, guardian or next-of-kin before the conversion of the individual is considered valid.


Although the need of consent might be taken as impeding the individual's freedom of religious practice and personal liberty, a challenging decision need to be taken to address challenging circumstances. The decision can be implimented by enacting a new law, let's say the "Religion Consent Act" which spelt out the requirements to be fulfilled for a non-Muslim person to convert to another religion.

To ensure this Religion Consent Act applies to all, the government will need to look into amending the Article 11 Clause (1) and Article 12 Clause (3 & 4) of the Federal Constitution.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Converting to Islam, Declare It!

The national news agency Bernama headlines on evening of April 10.

The Federal Government will soon make it a requirement for non-Muslims converting to Islam to declare their new religious status to their family members, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

And The Star breaking news:

PUTRAJAYA: The Government plans to introduce a regulation requiring non-Muslims wanting to embrace Islam to inform their family before doing so.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi suggested that there be a form or letter from the person declaring their family had been told and have understood his or her decision.
This, he said, was to prevent problems of families disputing the conversion of their parent, spouse, child or sibling especially upon their death when they are unable to bury or cremate their bodies.
Stating that currently there was no such regulation, he advised all who wanted to convert to inform their families to make things easier for everyone.
"We will have a regulation. When a person wants to convert to Islam, we have to ask them whether their wife knows about it.
"If they want to convert (to Islam), there is nothing wrong, why must they hide (the fact of the conversion); tell (the family).
"We don't want problems later when the man converts and converts the children also whereas the wife has rights too," he told reporters Thursday after chairing a meeting of the National Council on Islamic Religious Affairs here.
Abdullah added that withholding the information from the families also posed a problem to religious authorities performing their duties.
He said he had informed in the meeting earlier that religious issues were very sensitive and should be tackled wisely to avoid religious tension including the demolition of places of worship.


The above announcement came five weeks after this blog issued a Candidate's Compatibility Checklist on March 4, 2008 which include the following statement:

Without prejudice to the generality of Article 5 (Liberty of a person), Article 8 (Equality), Article 10 (Freedom of speech, assembly and association) and Article 11 (Freedom of religion), are you prepared to advocate and support an amendment to Article 12 Clause (4), which requires all individual intending to convert to another religion to seek consent from his/her spouse, or parents if he/she is not married?[ ] YES [ ] NO

The decision by the Federal Government requiring all non-Muslims intending to convert to Islam to declare their intention to their family is laudable but may not necessary avoid problems in the future.

Although the Prime Minister did not elaborate on the legal mechanism to ensure this requirement will be adhered by all parties, I hoped the government will seriously look into amending the respective laws to ensure there will not be any loopholes which can be challenged later by anybody or agencies.

There is a vast difference between a declaration and getting a consent before converting to Islam.

Even if those intending to convert to Islam declared they already informed their families, how can it be foolproof that the declaration has really been done by the convert and the family are truly aware of the conversion? What if in later years the Muslim convert died and the family denied they were informed of the conversion in the absence of an acknowlegement or consent letter? If consent is required, how to ensure it was obtained in accordance to the law?

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Buddhists Apathetic?

Before and after the general election on March 8, I was asked a similiar line of question by Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike. Why Buddhists are so quiet on issues affecting the people?

This was raised because in comparison to the other major religious groups, which in one way or another has been voicing our publicly their views and concern on the state of the nation.

The Hindus' was actively putting across their views and demands via Hindraf, the Christians were having forums in their churches and advocating their rights via sms'es and internet and Muslim groups issuing statements on their views and concerns.

What did the Buddhists do?

Nothing. Form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Right. Spot on!


When one aspiring politician raised the same issue with me few days after the election, I commented the Hindus and Christians already make their positions very clear and no one would doubt who they voted in the election. But what will be the implication if the Buddhists jumps into the bandwagon and be vociferous in their quest for their needs. Will it create a situation of the "nons" on one side of the field and the others on the opposing side? So, the Buddhists just kept quiet.

Well, this line of justification is only to pacify ourselves (the Buddhists) that we are peace loving and status-quo people and do not like to start any inkling of possible confrontation with the authorities or powers-that-be.

Buddhist leaders in this country has the tendency of solving arising issues or problems affecting the community in a "closed-door meeting" and non-confrontational approach. Most Malaysians will not even notice, because it was not in the press or blogs, that issues affecting development of Buddhist temples can take nearly 20 years to solve! In some cases, the Buddhist leaders always hoped that when the general election is looming, the powers-that-be will fast-tracked the approval for the temple development. Occasionally the wishes became a reality but sometimes it turns into another round of nightmare after the election. The actual approval are not forthcoming and will take another term of government before the matter is seriously look upon again before the next election.

Buddhists are really very patient. We will meditate and have prayers over the matter again and again. Year in, year out. We always hoped the solution will be forthcoming during the term of the current menteri besar, if not we would have to start all over again if a new MB came along.

Going back to the subject matter, are Buddhists really too soft on issues affecting the community?

It's not really the case but it's just that Buddhists especially the leaders are usually low risk takers and are not keen to rock the boat. They prefers the "follow the usual way" approach. When they faced any problems related to temple lands or visa for missionary monks, they will approach politicians from MCA to help them to solve it. How often have we heard of Buddhists approaching non-MCA or non-Gerakan political parties for help to solve problems related to their community? With the MCA and Gerakan washed-out from the west coast states, will the Buddhists shift their source of assistance to parties from Pakatan Rakyat? We shall wait and see.

Buddhists need to be aware of their rights just like any other religionists of this country. We are not seeking to be treated better at other peoples' expense nor be given special treatment. We just need to voice out our concerns and needs to the powers-that-be, whichever side of the political divide.

The Barisan Nasional need to take cognisance that the only religious group that did not openly state their demands and show any sign of their political stand is the Buddhist community. If BN is wise, they better do the needful to ensure this community will maintain their non-political stance. Buddhists has been keeping a low profile in the recent general election. No public demands or press conferences to demand for anything at all. As seems the Buddhists are very contented indeed. Is that so? Or the Buddhists has been taken for granted?

Bear in mind that while the Buddhists is the second largest religious group comprising 20.2% of citizens of Malaysia, we are only accorded ONE religious public holiday while the others like Christians and Hindus are having at least one and a half public holidays. Christians are having Christmas and Good Fridays in Sabah & Sarawak. The Hindus public holidays includes Deepavali national holiday and Thaipusam in five states and Kuala Lumpur.

Maybe the government want to consider Ullambana, Kwan Yin Birthday or Kathina? Maybe not. Already too many public holidays! Just provide us suitable tracts of land and a matching grant to develop our Dhamma education centres.

For many years the Federal government has funded official events to celebrate Hari Raya Puasa , Chinese New Year, Christmas, Deepavali, Gawai (Sarawak) and Kaamatan (Sabah). What about Wesak Day? When will the Federal and State governments, BN or PR , realised they forgotten or conveniently forgotten to sponsor an official event to celebrate Buddhists most important religious event?

Shall we as usual, keep quiet and wait and see which government, BN or PR, to be the first to response to this matter! Or shall we take this directly to the states and federal governments?

I am looking forward for the PM, Chief Ministers and Menteri Besars for all Malaysians to attend a Wesak Open House this year.

Monday, April 7, 2008

Mahathir to be Prime Minister again?

In politics, to gain and retain the position of power needs a continuos and difficult struggle but to be able to let go of the hard fought position of power requires another set of determination and understanding on the art of detachment.



After leading the nation for 22 years with a strong grip on every inch of political developments in this country, it is obvious former premier Mahathir Mohamad still finds it difficult to move on and live a life of a retiree statesman.



Since his retirement in 2003 he continues to basks in the limelight with continuos criticism of the current government especially the current premier Abdullah Badawi. Mahathir has been very vocal on the policies and direction of the government and UMNO and the momentum is gaining more speed since BN lost 5 states and the Parliament 2/3 majority in the March 8 election.



He may be very concern with the developments in BN and UMNO that were once his political playground but he ought to understand that you can't eat and keep the cake at the same time. Since he already gave up the nation's premiership and UMNO presidency, he should just move on and let others do their job albeit with occasional statesman-like advice.



If he can't live without those power and way of life, maybe he should just contest for the UMNO presidency again in December and if he wins, be appointed the sixth prime minister of Malaysia. then he can do something on whatever he has been complaining about for the past four years.



Of course assuming Anwar Ibrahim failed to convince al least 30 BN MPs to cross over to Pakatan Rakyat and he himself won a parliamentary by-election, paving the way for him to be premier.



It is up to Mahathir himself to decide whether he wants to be prime minister again and proceed with whatever he left behind in October 2003.



To be given power to rule is a responsibility with trust,

To be able to let go of the power needs courage and determination.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Connectivity

Cheng Beng is an important occasion for family members to get together especially for grandchildren of the deceased grandparents.



This is the time of the year when family members who lived in different parts of the country meet up at the tombs of the departed parents or relatives for the traditional sweeping and cleaning of the graves (although nowadays these tasks has been taken over by paid workers especially in privately managed cemeteries) and prayers at the site.



With addition of the younger generations, visiting the graves of grandparents is an opportunity for the younger ones to meet up and learn to carry out the tasks during this important event for the Chinese.



Every kindergarten children can help out the preparation for Cheng Beng. One of the more easy and interesting task is the folding of joss papers in "gold and silver " nuggets. This origami style paperfolding job can be performed by those kids and they do love it, albeit in the initial stage. But when the "nuggets" that are required to be folded runs into the thousands, these kids will cleverly devised excuses to avoid doing it.



Anyway, those in the joss paper and prayer items business are surely very good copycats in producing new items each year and they are very advanced too. Sometimes I wondered what will happen if we put these people in the R&D of the MNCs. Maybe some scientists will lose their job!



Anyhow, I was wondering with the internet being part and parcle in the daily lives of our human realm, what will be the broadband penetration in the other realms? Maybe someone will develop a software and a domain name for those in different realms to connect to each other and surf realm wide web? What about "burning" an email address to those in the other realm who wanna go online? Any takers?

Respect Others of Different faith

Living within a society with different cultural background and religious practice is an opportunity for us to understand, share and appreciate our practice better.


Last Friday was Cheng Beng Day, the day for children, grandchildren and relatives to visit, clean and pray at the tomb of their late parents or relatives. I still prefers to use the Hokkien term Cheng Beng, a term which I has been accustomed to since I lost my father when I was five.


This year the whole lot of my siblings families and my family visited our parents tombs this weekend to pay our respects. This is the first Cheng Beng for my late mother who pass away last year.



Two pertinent comments were raised by my eldest boy during this Cheng Beng season which I took as an opportunity to advised on the importance of respect to the elders and family ties.


The question or comment he raised with me when I told him about our plans to visit and pray at the graves of Ah Kong (grandfather) and Ah Mah (grandmother) was that some of his Christian friends will not be visiting their grandparents grave. I told him that no matter which faith we adhered to, we need to respect our elders and our ancestors as this is not determined by our religion but our practice of fillial piety which is an important culture and traditions for people of Chinese descent. The practice of fillial piety is also an important teachings in Buddhism.



Another observation my boy notice is that my other siblings still practice the usual Chinese traditional and folk practice of offering and burning of joss papers and other Cheng Beng accessories. I am sure he raised this because my children has been taught the difference between Chinese traditional folk practice and the teachings of the Buddha. We do not burn those joss papers at home and the local Buddhist temple that my family congregated adhered to the Buddhist approach to devotion.



He must be curious why we participated in those offerings when we are together with my siblings families?



I explained to him that we need to respect other people beliefs and traditions. Furthermore what is important the relationship among our relatives are intact and stay together. It is not wise to push our beliefs upon others and causes friction and breakdown in the family. As long as we understand and be strong with our Buddhist teachings, these Chinese traditional practices will not undermined our faith and practice as Buddhists.


To be a Buddhist did not mean we have to severe ties with others of different faith or traditions. In contrary it should be taken as a responsibility and opportunity to share the Teachings of the Buddha.

Friday, April 4, 2008

Free Cheese and Yogurts

When Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders produced a short film which has been perceived to ridicule Islam by Muslims and also non-Muslims alike, it creates uproar amongst certain segment of world community especially Muslims. The film was responded with the usual condemnation, demonstrations and protests by people who are upset with it.

I am curious. How many of those that reacted so strongly to it actually watched and understands the contents of the production. Or it is just the herd mentality, just following the one in front without really knowing the head or tail.

Or should we just put the blame to the regular punching bag – the media, for focusing on selected parts of the film and creates unnecessary tension, again, between the Muslims and the western world.

In this case, the target was the Dutch – the film maker, government and ordinary folks all lumped into one. Pity the Dutch Lady and the Cow. All will be boycotted.

The calls to boycott produce from Holland even reaches one of our local hyper mart which displayed red cards on products from the country. Is this also an attempt to seek cheap publicity? If someone is dead serious on boycotting certain products, wouldn’t they take all the necessary precautions not to be linked to those products and cleared those stocks from their shelves and warehouse immediately and stopped future consignments?

But to put the blame on the consumers by stating the consumers need to be given a choice show signs of a hypocrite. Do they give a choice to all those innocent people (farmers, milkman, deliveryman, transporters etc and not forgetting the cows that has no connection whatsoever with a publicity seeking lawmaker in the land of windmills and dykes?

So, will the hyper mart put the money where it is worth and announce free distribution of dairy products like cheese, yogurts and milk to the needy to clear any trace of still supporting the Dutch!

I am not saying the film is correct or just an attempt by an opportunist seeking cheap publicity on other peoples expense or those responding to it might also has their own intentions. I just don’t know, because I have not watched it.

But one thing I am sure, everyone is entitled to their opinions and also to voice out their dissatisfaction. But do it with dignity and respect, without ridiculing and disrespecting someone’s faith, create public disturbance and encourage violence.

May all beings be well, be peaceful and be happy.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Chicken Rice and Rocket

Is there any relevancy between chicken rice and rocket. Most of us would think there is no connection. I thought so until one guy enlightened me today.

I was at my regular chicken rice stall buying dinner for my family this evening. When I asked how much I need to pay for the rice, the chicken rice seller told me I have to pay extra for the chicken rice as cost of chicken per kilogram has gone up. Then he added, "looks like price of goods went up even though the Rocket won the election."

As I drove home, I thought," the Rocket and other partners in Pakatan Rakyat (PR) will be in deep chicken shit if every man in the street thinks the same." Why is that so?

During the recent election voters were convinced to equate higher cost of living with Barisan Nasional. There were propaganda and banners written with the wordings, BN = Barang Naik. Now, with BN not in power in Kedah, Perak, Penang, Selangor and Kelantan, the ordinary folks are expecting prices of basic items not to rise. If the price of food stuffs keep on increasing, the equation will then be change and people will be upset with PR then. The new equation will be:

BN = Barang Naik
PR = Pasti Rugi

Barisan Nasional Pakatan Rakyat =BNPR = Barang Naik Pasti Rugi


So, all the PR people better ensure my regular chicken rice price stays the same until 2013 or there will be chicken shit on many faces!

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Local Councillor, Anyone?

Hey, the Pakatan Rakyat coalition state governments are looking for prospective candidates to be appointed councillors in the local governments (Majlis Perbandaran/Bandaraya)

Do you want to offer yourself as a Local Councillor in your respective Majlis Perbandaran/Bandaraya?
Are you interested in making decisions and influencing what happens in your town/city?
Do you think you could represent the people of your area?

Read on to see if you or someone else can fit into this job as a councillor.


The role/s of a councillor
The main role of a councillor is to represent their area and the people who live there. Councillors help make decisions about the way local services are provided, and how the council tax and government grants are spent.

A councillor:
provides a voice for and help to all members of the community
makes decisions on behalf of residents
contributes to council policy and strategy
has responsibility for scrutiny (checking and monitoring what the council does)
has regulatory duties (making sure laws are kept to, e.g. planning and licensing)
is a community leader

What does a councillor do for us?
holds service clinics, where local people can ask for help or advice
follows up on issues raised at these service clinics
represents the community within the council and to other organisations
develops links with all parts of the community
supports local partnerships and organisations
campaigns on local issues

Scrutiny
To review council policies and activities. Scrutiny takes in a varied range of activities. These are:
Review and development of the council's policies
Make policy and budget proposals to the council
Review of proposed executive decisions
Call in or review of decisions before they are implemented
Performance monitoring and review

Regulatory Powers
All councils have various committees which councillors sits in as a member.
planning permission
Finance
licensing
Tender
etc

Community Leadership
Councillors take a comprehensive view of the needs and priorities of local areas and lead in the work that is needed to meet these needs. This often takes place in partnership with other organisations and councillors may:-
be involved with other voluntary organisations
participate in joint working with other local authorities
serve on a range of regional, health or local partnership groups.

Are councillors paid?
They do not get salaries or wages (they are not employees of the council), but are entitled to allowances, which are designed to partly recompensate them for the costs they face in carrying out their public duties.

What is the difference between a councillor and a council officer?
A councillor is an appointed, unpaid representative, who usually belongs to a political party. An officer is a non-political paid employee of a council. Elected councillors provide the policies which officers then put into practice.

What is the difference between a local councillor and an ADUN/MP?
The job of a Member of Parliament (MP) is to represent the people of his or her constituency (area) in the Dewan Rakyat. Your MP is there to help you with all matters for which Parliament or central government is responsible.

The job of a Assemblyman/woman (Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri-ADUN) is to represent the people of his or her constituency (area) in the State Assembly. Your ADUN is there to help you with all matters for which State Assembly or State government is responsible.

Local councillors in Malaysia is currently appointed by the state government to sit in the local Council. For instance, Selangor State Government which is currently controlled by the new coalition Pakatan Rakyat comprising PKR-DAP-PAS appoints all the members in the local councils in the state.

A councillor makes decisions affecting the wider council area (eg. MPSJ/MBPJ/MBSA) and acts as a focus and leader for the local community.They are responsible for making decisions on behalf of the local community about local services, such as land use, refuse collection, licensing, parks and leisure facilities, recycling, social housing, planning and development control, cemeteries and crematorium, car parking, food hygiene and environmental protection.