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Indians given a Deepavali present by government, yet again

by Jaya

A week prior to Deepavali 2007, can you remember how the Indian community were greeted by their BN leaders? Their adored place of worship, the Padang Jawa Temple in Klang was cruelly demolished. Wonder if it is a decision that the previous Selangor MB regrets? Many Indians believe that it was ‘divine wrath and punishment’ that gave a trashing defeat to BN in the State of Selangor.

Now fast forward to 2008, this year the community got a wonderful present for their Deepavali festival. Our Government has banned and declared Hindraf illegal!!! None can say it better than F E Smith “There is more credit in being abused by fools than praised by rogues .”

One wonders if all this came about because the Big Boys were not happy that Indian families went to PMs open house in their orange Tee-Shirts. The delegation was led by a little 6 year old girl who handed over a greeting card and a teddy bear!!! By Gosh, by a stretch of any imagination, could the Malaysian population consider a little stuffed toy, as a threat to national security?? Continue reading “Indians given a Deepavali present by government, yet again”

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Game’s Up, Gani, Time To Go!

By Martin Jalleh

Lady Justice haunts and hounds Bolehland’s Attorney-General (AG) Abdul Gani Patail over his hidden hand in Anwar Ibrahim’s trials 10 years ago. The skeletons in his cupboard hang out. He can no longer hide behind the skirt of the Executive. The naked truth has caught up with him.

The latest expose on the AG having abused his power to fabricate evidence in Anwar’s trials was made by Lim Kit Siang in Parliament yesterday (Malaysiakini, 15.10.08). The veteran politician likened Gani to a “criminal” and demanded that he “resign immediately”.

Quoting unnamed sources, Kit Siang said that he understands that solicitor-general Idrus Harun had carried out an investigation into the claims (in a police report filed by Anwar) in July and “has concluded that the AG had indeed abused his power to fabricate evidence” against Anwar.

Several days before Kit Siang’s revelation, the public got to hear the startling claims by Mat Zain Ibrahim, a retired senior police officer who probed the infamous “black eye” incident involving Anwar in 1998, on Gani having allegedly tampered with evidence in the case (Malaysiakini, 10.10.08). Continue reading “Game’s Up, Gani, Time To Go!”

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The Poverty of Riches and the Riches of Poverty

By Farish A Noor

As an aside to the academic work I normally do, last week I was given the opportunity to meet with Tuan Guru Nik Aziz Nik Mat, the Spiritual Leader (Murshidul Am) of the Malaysian Islamic Party PAS at his office in northern Malaysia.

Despite the frail health of the man and his taxing schedule, we managed to pack in close to two hours worth of interview on tape and this will now be my headache for the next week as all of this information has to be transcribed for publication purposes.

One thing, however, struck me somewhere during the second half of our meeting. I remarked to the Ulama that his home was suprisingly similar to that of Ho Chi Minh’s in Hanoi, Vietnam, and that both he and the revered ‘Uncle Ho’ chose to give up their stately government mansions to live in humble wooden houses.

I also remarked to him that he was using the same cheap, plastic BIC ballpoint pen that I had seen him use when we first met in 1999. This occassioned a laugh and a smile from him, but it struck us both that these observations were far from pedestrian. Continue reading “The Poverty of Riches and the Riches of Poverty”