Where to, BMSM?

The oft postponed AGM of the Buddhist Missionary Society Malaysia (BMSM) scheduled on Sunday, 2 August 2009 in Kuala Lumpur is expected to see at least two aspiring candidates to square it off for the presidency.

Ang Choo Hong

The current president Ang Choo Hong is expected to step down after serving as president since 2001. In the absence of other interested unseen hands, the vacancy will most probably see two old friends challenging each other to lead BMSM for the next two years.

Chee Peck kiat

Chee Peck Kiat who is currently the Secretary General will be one of the candidates while Goh Seng Chai, a central committee member will be the other candidate offering themselves for the seat expected to be vacated by Ang. Chee Peck Kiat was formerly the president of the society from 1996 - 2001 while Goh Seng Chai has served as the Secretary General of the society intermittenly from 1982 and 2002.

Goh Seng Chai

Both candidates who are in their sixties are not new to the Buddhist community and has been involved in Buddhist organisational activities since early 1960s. Co-incidentally both began to be linked to Buddhist activities during their youth days in Kuala Terengganu during the early days of Buddhist youth activism under the inspiration of the late Venerable Sumangalo (Robert S. Clifton) or more affectionately known as Father Sumangalo to those who were close to him.

Ven. Sumangalo

The Terengganu Buddhist Youth Circle (TBYC) was one of the active youth circles during that period. TBYC even hosted the Federation of Malaya Buddhist Youth Fellowship convention in 1964. While Buddhist youth conferences nowadays focus on discussion and planning, the said conference in 1964 focuses on sporting events, social visits and feasts, a reflection of the youth lifestyle during that time.

Ven Dhammananda

BMSM was form in 1962 by the late Ven Dr Kirinde Sri Dhammananda Nayaka Maha Thera or fondly known as "Chief" to his devotees and the Buddhist circles. One of the main objectives of the society is to encourage the study and propagation of Buddhism. Since its inception, to achieve its stated objectives, two of its main activities were conducting religious talks and publication of booklets and books in Buddhism for free distribution and sale.

Ven Dhammananda played the pivotal role in developing BMSM to a respectable and influential Buddhist organisation. He was a prolific writer and most if not all of the local titles in BMSM publication list were written by him. He gave Dhamma lectures practically in very nooks and corners of Malaysia.

No village is too rural or too far for him to travel, no crowd is too small or too young for him to address. He speaks the Dhamma to all. He speaks gently but firmly with compassion and wisdom. He carries the message of the Buddha and also BMSM's logo everywhere he goes since his publication is widely distributed. The late Chief is endeared by many and a Buddhist icon to many all over the world.

Ven Dhammananda gained his freedom from this world on 31 August 2006 and bequeated his wisdom and knowledge to the people through the millions of publications spread all over the world in multi languages. With his passing, BMSM also lost its Spiritual Director and General Advisor who always touch base with the developments and functions of the society.

After three years of his demised, it is time to review to gauge if BMSM still moving progressively based on the solid foundation laid by Ven Dhammananda or the society is now slowing down and began to live on past glories, surviving on the late Venerable's publication by repackaging its cover without releasing any new and comparable publication.

Within the BMSM circle, other than the limited number of lay persons who still vigorously contributes their time and efforts in delivering Dhamma talks especially in the English language in the name of BMSM, clearly there is no one in the robes that comes close to the late Venerable's stature in propagating Buddhism to the masses and plays the pivotal role in providing spiritual leadership to its members.

Most of the time we only realised our loss and began to grief when a person left and no more with us in this world. That is the reason we need to show our appreciation and gratitude when the person is still with us. It is due to this reason that in 2002 three individuals took the initiative to mobilised the Buddhist community all over Malaysia to confer the Lifetime Achievement Award to Ven. Dr K. Sri Dhammananda.

The three Buddhist workers Goh Seng Chai, Sarath W. Surendre and the author, has been closely associated with the venerable for many years. In less than two months they managed to collect more than 100,000 signature and messages from Buddhist devotees in Malaysia via postcards and a specially dedicated website. The Lifetime Achievement Award from the Malaysian Buddhist community was presented to the late Venerable on 9 December 2002 in front of about 600 Buddhist leaders from 20 countries.

The man is no more physically with us but we can cherish the good memories and follow the wisdom of the great man by continuing his good work started and consolidated by him. It is in this sense that the new leadership of BMSM need to continue the great work by Ven Dhammananda. BMSM as an national organisation with good links to the government and other local and international bodies need to live up to its name as a missionary society and focus on the core duties and obligations to the Buddhist community in Malaysia.

As members of the society, it is not too much to ask the next leadership to be more focus on the study and propagation of the Buddha-Dhamma. As usual there will be different opinions but if we keep to the main life-line of the society which is missionary work, the society should be able to do well to strengthen and protect the Buddhist presence, interest and influence in this country. - Loka

Changing color of your blood

It is normal to hear of people changing their religious beliefs, political stand or even switching support to another football team. When to comes to race or ethnic origins, is it possible to change that?

Can a person who is born to true blue ethnic Japanese parents in Japan but now lives and works in Saudi Arabia, speaks fluent Arabic, converted to Islam after her high school and married a true blue Arab man after her graduation, morphed into an Arabic lady?

One shall not confused citizentry with the cultural lineage of her ancestors. No matter how hard she changes her appearance, improves her Arabic linguistic skills or even trying too hard to aped the locals in their way of life, the blood that flows throughout her body is still very much ethnic Japanese. No matter how hard she tries she will not be able to change that, even to the extend of behaving more than the Arabs themselves. Or even to the extend of putting in every possible effort to run down or suppress her own ethnic Japanese ancestry so that she could gain the acceptance of the Arabs.

Incidences like the fictitious Japanese lady above are not alien to many of us. During World war Two, there were many who had forsaken their own ethnic ancestry by aping the Japanese or their masters to gain favours or brownie points. These people may have a good time during the three and a half years of Japanese occupation by betraying their own community which caused deaths, undue harm and unnecessary sufferings to their friends and villagers. In the eyes of the people that they betrayed, these double faced agents are traitors and shall be destined to the 18 levels of Hell, literally.

Are these sort of people stil exists nowadays? Open our eyes and we shall see them in the guise of different shapes and colours, professions and organizations. They may be just lurking around the corner or may have studied or work in the same place as any one of us. We just need to be vigilant and cautious with their existence and not to fall into any of their manipulation. We cannot do anything to help them.

It it their own choice of trying to hard to change their ethnicity even after knowing they can't change the colour of the blood that flows within them. The harm that they might possibly cause to the community and themselves, we will leave it to karma to take its own course. - Loka

Tee Keat VS Evil Forces

MCA president Ong Tee Keat

Ong Tee Keat declares that he is a follower of the Buddhist faith. He religiously wears a prayer beads on his left hand wherever he goes to protect himself from negative forces. The rosary was given to him by his spiritual master some years ago. It seems to work so far. He had gone through the Team A and Team B political wars. When he was MCA's Youth chairman he went through unscathed during the 803 Incident. The incident during the Youth AGM held on Aug 3, 2001 at the Flamingo Hotel in Ampang saw the youth supporters of the rival teams throwing chairs at each other. Ong Tee Keat just sat firmly on the stage during the fracas and later took control of the situation.

The blogger with Ong Tee Keat during a function when he was still the Deputy Youth Minister. The rosary is on his left wrist.

Tee Keat is known as a politician that strike things on his own disregarding whose tail he steps on. He openly demands explaination from the MCA leadership when Ling Liong Sik was the then president regarding the Chang Min Thien Foundation issue. He even criticized his own party leaders in 2002 for acquiring the Nanyang Press Holdings Bhd. At one time he even claims there are hidden black hands involved within MCA. He was elected as MCA's vice president in 2005 and subsequently as the president in 2008, standing on his own platform without openly alligning himself with any factions in the party.

Winning the MCA presidency

His recent claims that there are negative forces which are trying to bring harm and dethrone him from the MCA presidency cause alarm at least within MCA and the Chinese community if not the nation. The message he is trying to convey to the public is that he is besieged from all corners, from internal and also external forces. The situation must be so serious that it entails all MCA ministers and deputy ministers to issue a joint statement to support his leadership, of course minus his estranged deputy president who is not a minister.

Other then providing a united stand for their besieged president, the supporting statement also implies that Ong Tee Keat is not getting the necessary open supports from his non-MCA cabinet ministers. Umno ministers has been eerily silent on Tee Keat's handling of the PKFZ issue which creates an impression something is brewing within Umno's inner circle. Even Prime Minister Najib Razak had announced all matter related to PKFZ will be handled by Tee Keat. Wow! how statesman-like.

Maybe non-MCA ministers or deputy ministers are washing their hands off from the PKFZ issue because they are in the position to know it involves many big guns within the BN family. These politicians are just playing it safe i.e. do not throw stones if you are staying in glass houses. It seems Tee Keat will have to do it alone in facing the PKFZ debacle. Even if his comrades openly gave their open support it will not means anything if his other cabinet colleagues are just watching from the sidelines. Furthermore the open support from his comrades can be suspected knowing that his downfall will provide an opportunity for his comrades to move up the party hierarchy. That's the reality in poltical parties.

It looks like Tee Keat is fighting the war alone and need to watch his back more seriously. Maybe his prayer beads will protects him from the evil forces, just as it has been all this while. - Loka

Leadership in plagiarism

Nowadays it is so easy to search and retrieve information from the internet. Any primary school children can submit pages of assignment within a day or two. If the little kid can do wonders with the click of the mouse, imagine what the adults can do. Just googled or wikipaediaed, wallah, all the information will be there - to be cut and paste!

Plagiarism is a non-entity and respect for intellectual property seems only exist in the past. Even if the information is easily available, it will be a courtesy to at least acknowledge the source or author of the article or references used.

Recently I received a forwarded email from a friend with an attached short article. The original writer of the article was actually me but in the email, the writer's name of the article has been changed to another person. It seems this plagiarist has been doing this sort notorious act of article hijacking for sometime already.

I told my friend this is not the first time my writings has been plagiarised. Sometimes copycat is the highest level of flattery. Frankly, I am getting used to it. But then sometimes plagiarism can be very notorious and makes us dumbfounded when we found out the background of the person who did it. There was one case which was actually very shocking and sad for me at the same time.

Some years ago I wrote and presented a paper for an international leadership training program for youth leaders. The paper was distributed to all participants and soft copies were available freely to all who wants to download it. I was not sure how many people downloaded the file but certainly there are people who did it.

Fast forward to a couple of years later where I was sitting attentively in a convention room in downtown Tokyo. I was attending an international seminar for Buddhist leaders. As one speaker after another presented their paper, I was enjoying the sharing of intellectual discourse from different continents. Then it's the turn of a speaker from the same country of origin as me to present his paper. As he presented eloquently line by line, it comes to a point where I felt very familiar with the text projected on the screen. Those points were written by me! Word by word. Line by line.

I was flabagasted!

I should be proud of myself since someone who is the president of a national level organisation was unashamedly presenting his "view" using exactly the text which I presented earlier.

At the end of his presentation there were applauses throughout the hall and the speaker basked in the atmosphere. But one thing was clearly missing. Throughout his presentation, he never once mentioned that he uses somebody else's points as his!

Usually I would have taken this lightly and forgets about it. But the problem lies in that was a conference for Buddhists and I think all speakers are Buddhists who should know plagiarism is also one type of stealing which is tantamount to breaking one of the Buddhist precepts. Or maybe the plagiarist concerned knows it was plagiarism but do not think he was breaking the precept by stealing intellectual property of others.

I dread to think what will be the direction and future of the organisation the plagiarist leads. I only can wish all the best to the organisation members. - Loka

A brother's call

Last weekend I attended a dinner organised by the Young Malaysians Movement (YMM) in conjunction with their 37th AGM. No doubt one of the hottest topic discussed around the dinner table is the tragic death of DAP's Teoh Beng Hock at the MACC Selangor headquarters.

Amongst the guest was Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai (3rd right) and many YMM former leaders and advisors. Even though Liow Tiong Lai did not comment on the tragic incident in his speech, the link between Teoh Beng Hock with some of us present at the event is always there. Liow, YMM president Ng Chin Long (2nd right), former president Lim Joo Kiat (3rd left) and myself were educated at UKM, just like the deceased.

The YMM during their AGM supported the called for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate the shocking death of Teoh Beng Hock. Many groups has been calling the government to establish the Royal Commission of Inquiry. Liow Tiong Lai being a Cabinet Minister and also a university senior of Beng Hock should use his good office to press for the commission and to uphold justice for his fallen junior, disregards of political affiliation. - Loka

Will justice dies too

Life is Uncertain, Death is Certain.

Always reminded on this,
no one can escape death.
Not then, now or ever,
Death calls anytime, anywhere.

Life is precious,
regardless size, color or status.
How much humans worth,
without dignity, love or care.

Love for others,
beyond lines, shapes or color.
When a life lost tragically,
wondered why it need to happen?

If Death already Certain,
will justice died with it too?
When Life is so Uncertain,
will truth still prevails?


Loka SK Ng
17/07/09

PPSMI - another rally?

Gapena and Dong Zong must have felt a sense of glory and victory. Both organizations campaigned vigourously for the teachings of Mathematics and Science in English in schools to be scrapped and revert to Bahasa Malaysia in national primary schools and Mandarin and Tamil in national-type primary schools. The policy has now been reverted to pre-2003 by the government.

The government can now claimed they listened to the voices of the people while both the organizations can declare they are the rakyat heroes. Really? Are the views of the actual receipient stakeholders, the parents and students has been really taken into consideration when decision on this matter was made.

The policy to teach Maths and Science in English was launched during Tun Mahathir's tail end term as PM. He was very eager to get the policy implemented as fast as possible. Leaving no stones unturned, his machinery works to the fullest to ensure all system goes as planned in time.

There were opponents to this policy change but I can't recalled Gapena as one of them or even those in the Gerakan Mansuhkan PPSMI (GMP). The more vocal opposition to the PPSMI came from the Chinese educationist group Dong Zong.

To neutralised the opposition from Dong Zong, a mammoth gathering to show the Chinese community supports for the PPSMI was organised in 2002 at Stadium Putra. The crowds were there but the audience consists mostly those mobilised by Malay-based organizations. The so-called Chinese community's support was all-over the indoor stadium - but in the shape of standard banners and buntings with names of many unheard of Chinese-based guilds and clans. These banners parade was actually coordinated by a Chinese clan leader. C0-incidentally he was awarded a datukship months later for his service to the nation.

Now the policy is already reverted and expected to be fully executed by 2012, voices of dismayed especially from parents who are in favour of PPSMI are getting louder by the day. The question is why these voices of concern were not heard or taken into considerations by Gapena and Dong Zong when both organizations campaigned against PPSMI? Can it be these organizations are just speaking for themselves, meaning the committee members, without the imvolvement of the real stakeholders - the parents and students.

Maybe it's the parents themselves that have to take the blame. They did not voice out loud enough to be heard. Maybe they should have rallied all parents and marched to the Agong's istana to submit a memorandum in favour of the policy. Is it too late to have one now? From previous incidences, it seems that's how one get noticed and have the ears of the government nowadays if you have any issue that need the government's attention.

Or maybe other than the online survey, Mahathir can get the Chinese clan guy to organized a rally at the stadium? Maybe not, Mahathir is no more the PM and do not have the clout and power as in 2002. Those NGOs which supported his policy the last time had turn against him this time around. Maybe the real stakeholders, the parents and students affected by the turn around policy might attend in person to rally behind him and bring along banners of support too. - Loka

Second oldest profession

It has been some months since I last commented on the political development in the country. Just as the feelings of many in this country, people are just fed up and tired with the continuous bickering and mud slinging between these politicians. But then whether we like it or not, politicians are here to stay. The former USA president Ronald Reagan even termed it as the second oldest profession in the world. I am sure most people are aware what is the oldest profession.

We may think we can escape from having any contact or business with the politicians by avoiding from having any dealings with them in whichever way possible. The truth is - we can't. Policies that affected our life are still being made by those in power known as politicians. Like it or not, in certain circumstances we need to seek their assistance to help us to sort out some problems one way or another, either with the bureaucrats, local authorities or the garbage collectors!

Any businessmen who bumped into difficulties in getting their projects or licence approved will be seeking help from politicians whom they might or might not voted as their MP or assemblyman. Any parent with a straight As child will be seeking the politician's letter of recommendation or intervention to secure a good scholarship or a place in the top universities.

Everyone that seeks the politician assistance to sort out their problems will expect the politician to take their case as the most urgent and important even though there are hundreds of cases awaiting the politician to look into. It maybe one of the many cases for the politician but for the complainant, their problem is the only and most important and wanted it to be settled now and there.

This is where the multi-tasking politician that can proves his or her worth in trouble shooting and solving problems faced by his constituents will be gaining extra brownie points. There is no place for a politician to complaint of overloaded with other peoples problem. The politicians volunteered for it when they stood for election. Other people's problems are their problems. If one can't take it, then better leave the job. Someone else will be waiting to take over. There is just no dearth of people wanting to be elected as MPs and addressed as YBs or honourable so-an-so, disregarding whether they really have the passion, capabilities and commitment to be one.

I met with some politicians from both sides of the political divide recently. It is refreshing to meet up with elected officials that always think of ways to make the life of the ordinary folks better. Ideally, the priority is always the welfare of the people and betterment of the state rather than filling up their private coffers or war chest to fight their way up their party political hierarchy. But then, it happens sometimes every idealism and principles in a politician's mind has a price. Sooner or later the politician themselves might be enticed to shift or re-designed their ideals or principles in exchange for continuous political power or something else.

One of the YBs I spoke to is a first-term assemblyman. She is one of the newbie in her party and the last election catapulted her to the limelight of political life. When I met her that day, I noticed she looks very tired. It was shown all over her face. She has been pushing hard for her political idealism and welfare of her constituents for the past 16 months non-stop. She is very energetic and always touch base with the people. If she is able to continue and sustain her current service to the people until the next election, her opponent will have a tough time to dislodge her if she is again fielded to defend her seat.

I also dropped by to pay a courtesy visit to a senior politician whom I have not met for some time. His party is now part of the coalition that governs a premier state in this country and official protocol provides that his current status is second after the chief minister. He is still in his usual self. Unassuming but stern and serious in his political beliefs. I think he would be able to deliver much more if given more space and responsibilies to serve the people. But then his political colleagues must have other things in their mind when they gave him a highly respected position but without much executive power.

A first-term MP and deputy minister from a dominant party which I had known for more than a decade invited me to a think-thank group discussion on issues related to his newly assigned ministry. The small group comprising academicians, politicians, civil servants and businessmen had a very open and fruitful two-rounds discussion. The deputy minister was very receptive for ideas to improve the delivery system and key result areas in one of the department under the purview of his minstry. He has been an idealist and broad-minded person since the first time I known him during our involvement in a non-profit organization. His political future will depends on how much his party is prepared to have some radical policy changes in governing a multi-racial society. If his colleagues are still reluctant to embraced change, he can be deemed as going against the current and his survival in the political arena will be like walking on a tight rope.

Whatever the future lies ahead for the politicians above, the second oldest profession in the world need more that just a pretty face, good oratorical skills or deep-rooted idealism but always commited to firstly serve the people and develop the state with integrity, justice and fairness to all. - Loka

Demand for temple land

During the public hearing on the MPSJ Draft Local Plan last month, the Buddhist community requested for 39 plots of land to be allocated for the building of Buddhist temples. For many Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike, include those elected officials and local council officers, it may come as a shock that a religious group ask for "so many" plots of religious land.

It may looks like the Buddhists are very demanding but on the contrary it was the opposite. Basing on the Ministry of Housing and Local Government guidelines which stated that a plot of land for the building of a place of worship shall be allocated to every 2,600 adherents of the respective non-Muslim religion.

Based on the official census and projections by the state government there are about 220,000 Buddhists within the MPSJ administrative areas. Translate this figure in tandem to the guidelines for land for places of worship, the Buddhists community should be asking for 85 plots of land!

Another matter that might arise is the question whether the Buddhist community are capable of managing this number of religious land if the state government agrees to allocate it. No one will really know for sure what will happen next but one thing is definitely very clear. If not enough land are allocated, the Buddhist community will be facing the lack of space for the devotees in 20 to 30 years down the road.

Once the Local Plan has been gazetted and not enough land for temples was allocated because the Buddhist did not asked for it, the community will be left out in the cold in the local land development. It is better to demand for it now rather than not having enough space to cater to future needs of the people. If we don't ask for it now, our next generation might not have any land to ask. - Loka

RM1 for Religious Land

Those responsible for the management of places of worship should take the necessary action to ensure their land where the viharas, temples, churches or religious centres are erected are designated for religious purposes ( tanah untuk kegunaan rumah ibadat). This is especially important for centres which conducts regular religious service and sermons in their premises.



If the land use is still designated as commercial, residential, industrial or agriculture, the religious bodies will be paying quit rent rates based on the respective type of land usage which can be substantial if the size of the land is big. Land designated for religious purposes usually do not have to pay quit rent but just a nominal fee as low as one Ringgit per year for each lot.



For instance, the states of Selangor and Penang charges only a nominal fee of RM1 per year on land for places of worship. Therefore, the management of places of worship other than Islam should take the opportunity to convert their land to 'tanah kegunaan rumah ibadat" if there is a place of worship erected on that particular piece of land. The amount saves from the annual quit rent can be use for other religious education or welfare services. - Loka

University for dummies

Is the purpose of enrolment into an university is just to earn an academic qualification? Or is it a challenge and opportunity to equipped oneself with the necessary knowledge and other softskills to face the real world beyond the ivory tower upon graduation?

Is the trend of achieving academic excellence and scoring string of As in the school education system since the last 15 years or so already penetrated the universities? Are undergraduates getting too exam oriented and missed out on the golden opportunity to really experience life as a student in a university?

Participating in activities which do not contribute to their CPGA are just not in their daily calender. Maybe with the exception of those students who aspires to be in the political arena after graduation. But then not everybody wants to be a politician nowadays. It is just not on their list of " What I want to be when I grows up".

The much maligned occupation and political parties being regarded as one of the most corrupted certainly will not attract those undergraduates who are getting use of swearing at politicians whenever something went wrong in the country.

Do not get it wrong. Being active in campus activities does not means the person wants to be somebody in the political arena in the future. Getting involved in campus activities is to educate onselves to be more wholesome in their personal development and able to look at things with a bigger and clearer perspective.

Those who are prepared to accept the opportunity and challenge to stand on stage speaking to tens or hundreds or even thousands of people will find these experiences beneficial in the working world later. Most if not all the jobs in the world need us to open our mouth and talk to living persons. Maybe except the cemetery night shift caretaker.

Leadership skills can be derived from the books and the lecturers, theoritically. To really learn and practise it, it need oneself to experience it personally. The triumph, despair, glory and failure in crisis management and trouble-shooting need the actual participation of the person seeking the experience. It is through self experience that enables oneself to understand the strength and limitation within onself and to strive harder to be better the next time.

University is the place to pursuit academic excellence and also capacity building. There is no doubt about it. But does the authorities and undergraduates realized this? - Loka

Malaysian or Indonesian kids?

Recently I attended a district level Bahasa Malaysia speech contest for students of Chinese-medium primary schools ( SJKC) to provide moral support to my son who was representing his school.

After few contestants had presented their speech I realised something odd is happening. If I closed my eyes and just listen to the speeches, I would have thought there are some representatives from Indonesian schools!

Some of the contestants spoke with great confidence but the way they speaks sounds like those Indonesian that we meet at coffeeshops or construction sites or maids in Malaysian homes. The Malaysian Chinese kids are speaking like Indonesians!

I suspect these child speakers with Indonesian slang must have learned their language from their Indonesian maids at home. These Indonesian maids living under the same roof as their employers spend a substantial time with these kids since they were babies and it is not suprising if these kids are learning spoken Bahasa Indonesia rather than Bahasa Malaysia.

The only time that the kids are expected to learn and speak Bahasa Malaysia at school was during the class lessons for the language but it is only between three to four hours a week. The learning opportunity will be lesser if the Malay language teacher prefer to speak in English or Mandarin to their students.

The ongoing debate on the ill treatment of some Indonesian maids and the decision of the Indonesian government to stop sending their maids to Malaysia is not the only maids related issue that need attention. The tendency of the Malaysian kids especially those of Chinese descent speaking Bahasa Indonesia rather than Bahasa Malaysia is something the powers-that-be and other interested parties need to ponder when addressing the Indonesia maids issue.

Unknowingly, Malaysia is already been slowly colonized culturally by Indonesia from within the comfort and security of our own homes. Maybe it is a blessing in disguise if the Indonesian government decides to stop sending their women as maids to the Malaysian homes.

As for my son, he did not win the speech contest but neither did he speaks in Bahasa Indonesia. We do not have an Indonesian maid. - Loka