Posted on

Olympics Opening Ceremony: Lessons for Malaysia

blog.nikicheong.com
Posted on Jul 30, 2012

Last night, I watched the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games for the second time, in the solitude of my room. I had a great time watching it with friends at their place for the first time on the actual night, and in general really enjoyed it. That night, I posted this updated on my Facebook account:

I admit that I’m a sucker for all Olympic Opening Ceremonies but today’s was special. It was patchy as a production, didn’t necessarily like the video/live action stuff, but can Danny Boyle tell a story. The underlying narrative was genius and hats off to him for giving so much credit to those who would never usually get attention – from the NHS to the miners, construction workers who built the stadium to the seven young athletes who lit the gorgeous cauldron. Amazing.

I watched it again because I was still reeling from the show the night before. Plus, having spent the better part of the day reading commentaries and reviews about the event, I realised that there were so many little things I missed. Watching it alone again, and being able to listen to all the commentary, it really did feel like I was watching a different show.

And I still loved it. Continue reading “Olympics Opening Ceremony: Lessons for Malaysia”

Posted on

Are We Celebrating Barisan Nasional Day?

By Kee Thuan Chye | Tuesday, 31 July 2012 09:53
Malaysian Digest

BARISAN Nasional (BN) has already started campaigning for the general election – even though it has not yet been called – and the Election Commission (EC) is doing nothing about it.

What’s more, BN is campaigning on a large scale and everyone can see it. It has done this by unabashedly hijacking the National Day celebrations and using it to promote its own propaganda.

The theme for the celebrations is Janji Ditepati (Promises Fulfilled) which does not sound at all like a National Day theme. It instead speaks for BN, which desperately wants to tell the rakyat that it is a government that delivers.

The National Day theme song is glaringly partisan – but for BN, not for the country. Also entitled ‘Janji Ditepati’, it highlights BN’s latest initiatives and hints that it’s time for the rakyat to show its gratitude to BN.
Continue reading “Are We Celebrating Barisan Nasional Day?”

Posted on

Like shooting fish in a barrel

By Rom Nain | 10:40AM Jul 26, 2012
Malaysiakini

When it comes to public figures, mainly BN politicians and their families, making a quick and dirty buck or two in this blessed land of 1Malaysia Boleh, evidently nothing, absolutely nothing, is sacred.

Sure, we could go back to the decades of pillage and plunder of the 1980s and 1990s for illustrations, for examples of ‘corruption’, ‘cronyism’ and ‘nepotism’ that appalled and galvanised civil society not only across the sea, in Indonesia, but also closer to home, leading to many thousands marching on the streets of Kuala Lumpur demanding reformasi.

But, really, we don’t have to go that far.

Recent history quite simply is full of such disgraceful tales of greed and the betrayal of the rakyat.
Continue reading “Like shooting fish in a barrel”

Posted on

Perilous in Perak

By Sakmongkol AK47 | July 31, 2012
The Malaysian Insider

JULY 31 — Perak has 24 parliamentary seats. In 2008, BN won 13 of those seats. Most of them were won on the slimmest of margins. So the argument goes, the opposition also won on slim margins. The counter argument is, the victory by the opposition was won on the courage of convictions while the victory of BN was won as a result of the erosion of confidence. These are two different things. One won as a result of convictions is hard to slip back while the one won as a result of erosion of convictions is extremely difficult to sustain.

Will the people of Perak forget that during the reign of Zamri, he has given out more land than Nizar did when the latter was MB? Many landless people who were without land titles and who have worked the land got it during Nizar’s stint as MB. What wasn’t told was that more Malays got their titles too during Nizar’s time.

During Umno’s time the grant of land was the hijacked prerogative of Umno divisional heads, Umno reps and merciless pengerusi JKKK. During Zamri’s time, more land was given to companies and cronies rather than people.
Continue reading “Perilous in Perak”

Posted on

Letter from Tom Pepinsky

Dear Limkitsiangblog,

I want to thank you for including my recent post on your blog. However, I would like to ask you to edit the post in a way that shows proper attribution of the source. I would be grateful if you could make a short editorial comment prior to the post that acknowledges that the text was originally posted at blogs.cornell.edu/indolaysia, and that what you are posting is a reproduction.

This is important for two reasons. First, as a foreign observer of Malaysian politics, it is important that I not be considered to be endorsing any Malaysian politician or political party. Second, it is good blog etiquette to be as clear as possible about the sources of your web links. You do this very well for other posts–for example, your post “Formation of 1 Malaysia national culture in the ‘new regime’” make it clear that that post was originally from The Malaysian Insider. I ask only that you extend the same courtesy to my humble blog.

Thank you for your attention,
Tom

[Admin’s Note: In reproducing above the email from Tom Pepingsky, this blog extends fullest apologies to him for the oversight to provide the proper attribution to the source of the stated article, namely blog.cornell.edu/indolaysia. It is never our intention to claim or suggest that Tom was writing for this blog or giving implicit endorsement of LKS or his party’s program. The oversight in the article “Malaysia and the Perfect Storm” has been rectified.]