fish rots from the head down (Pt. 3)

The education system in our country under Anwar and his Madani (whatever crap that means) government, needs to be urgently addressed. The attachments below were from my daughter's school and my concern is why are primary school children being coerced in promoting one politician's personal agenda to remain relevant? And when our economy is hitting rock bottom while Anwar is the new Nero.

Here is the letter I wrote to my daughter's school headmistress, pleading her to exempt my daughter from participating in this political and religious activity of a known egomaniac politician. 

For God's sake my kid is ONLY 12 years old! Don't use my daughter for your political survival, Anwar!

And a bonus video clip of what went down in one school today. Teachers seem to be in a state of euphoria playing "warriors" with scarfs and flags and sloganeering for a country that's not our concern, instead of teaching little children morals and life lessons about respect and love. 

I know it's been a long while since I took to blogging because I've been fairly active on other social media platforms like X (formerly known as Twitter) and Facebook. I apologise. 

In case you're wondering why this post is titled as Pt.3, here's the earlier parts of:  

"fish rots from the head down''  (pt.1) in September 2008 and 

"fish rots from the head down" (pt.2) in June 2011

 
 

Sam Haris. This is not a eulogy.

 

                                                          

   This is my favourite photo.

UPDATE: Just realised  my last post is exactly 1 year ago today!

This post was started on the 22nd June 2022 and I've been adding photos to build up a good story but I just can't seem to further the story each time and so it goes into abeyance again. He is Haris to some, Sam to others or even Singaram to a few. Few may know but I have actually seen his full name written and plastered right across his identity card that ends at the back with Ibrahim or something. But he is a brother to me. We met for teh-tarik near my condo and talked for about an hour or so about many things including the excruciating pain in his back and how he was coping with pain-killers and all. My family joined us for a bit and then he took his leave. 

4th July 2022

It was about this time Haris told me of his health condition casually like he was announcing another Spurs win. It didn't sink in at first and then it hit me like a ton of brick. Here was my brother who tells me his days are numbered and he's been undergoing massive treatment and losing weight and looking frail. Will stop here to add more photos.

1st May 2023

Its close to a year now since that news of his condition and I don't get to see him as much as I'd love to.

I've been gathering photos of my run-in with Haris over the years together at by-elections and drinking sessions and what you see here are randomly arranged photos and not in any timeline sequence. There are also photos of some people who have been close and I thought it befitting to be added in this post too. And the quality of some photos are grainy and blur (what did you expect from cheap camera phones of yesterday?) 

And to Haris if you are reading this, it is certainly my honour to be of acquaintance with you brother. 

All these years you fought tirelessly for the little man and you are the reason we have a change of government since 2018 and if PH screws it up royally again, its not your fault but their own fucking arrogance and ignorance for not listening to the voices of the rakyat on the ground. 

Each photo must be viewed with a smile and a happy memory of what happened during that time. From candle-light vigils to protest walks to by-elections and social gatherings and sharing personal stories and many more, it was all good. 

Today being Labour Day, I think its also befitting to publish this post for all that you have struggled with all these years. Thank you Haris.

Cheers and peace to you bro.

 

Striking a pose of a gun-slinger as Bernard's counsel.

Sometime in March 2023, I had breakfast with him in Jaipur in TTDI.

Jaya and Ismail Boom in attendance on Bernard's release.

As recently as March 2023

Talking to reporters outside the police station after Bernard's release.

Just from another angle...

In Bernard's den plotting the next move.

Well it has a date here. At the Mahasiswa sit-in at Dataran Merdeka.

Estrelita or Lita at the Blog-house after a SABM gathering. 

 

At KL High Court for another of Haris' case. Pictured here with him are his 2 biological older brothers and Arthur.

Read the info.

Rare photo of him actually listening. 

Listening to another fishy joke of Bernard's at my condo balcony during one of those drinkie nights.

At one of the Bersih walks. Can't remember which one as we have walked in all. 

Making a toast to the newly married couple at the NPC.

The brief  "window" opening during the Covid19 pandemic.

Rogue's Gallery at the NPC.

On the night of Bernard's passing we raised our glasses in his name at Backyard fulfilling Bernard's wish. 

At the Saints with some drinking buddies. 

(l-r: Agustin Gan, Ismail Boom, YB Ronnie Liu, Arthur Toh, Haris himself, yours truly, William Arul, Kashvinder Singh and Francis Yew.

After another successful court case.

The wedding of the year party at the NPC for yours truly.

With a fan at the Bloghouse during the launch of SABM.

Breakfast in Kampung Baru after one of the earlier protest walks. Don't ask me which one. Can't remember.

This I remember is sometime in mid 2000s. The time Jeff Ooi was inducted into DAP politics and after a small makan.

(l-r: Nuraina Samad, yours truly, Haris, Jeff Ooi and Rocky) 

At the Saints with publican Jerry Chong.

Yet another Bersih walk I think with Jason T. Ahhh....how I miss those smoking days.

About a year ago below my condo.

Arthur and Haris having lunch recently. 

 

Ashok Kandiah and his lovely family too are close to Haris.

This is the Special Bunch. 

Another very recent photo of Haris. 

Drug mules, NGOs and a donkey.

                                      

There are 9 drug related Malaysian prisoners in death-row in the Changgi Prison in Singapore at the moment. All awaiting their appeals and if the Singaporean courts rejects their appeal, its game-over for them. 

Despite having the strictest drug trafficking laws in the world, why would these traffickers knowingly try their luck as mules and couriers to smuggle those illegal substances into the tiny but rank 4th. least corrupt nation in the world (tied with Sweden and Norway and according to Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index(CPI) 2021) and Malaysia is ranked 62 out of a 180 countries (a surprising figure in the same report, if I may say so!) for love of monetary rewards? Yes, the lure of making fast and easy big money is irresistible. And the greed consumes these mules or traffickers into taking that risk. All in death row will swear on the holy book it was their first offense BUT how would we know how many successful trips they would have delivered their merchandise and collected huge returns? How many children turned out as addicts in Singapore? And these same mules will also now plead insanity as a final resort?   

Now in Malaysia we have 1,042 in death-row including 413 foreign nationals. (I can't say how many are for drug related crimes) Does it not reek of hypocrisy when so many Malaysians and NGOs are joining in protesting the death verdicts dished out in Singapore by their courts when they don't give a rats arse of the same sentences being passed out here like sweets? Perhaps these fakes and frauds feel up-lifted to be in the same protest as Sir Richard Branson and some Hollywood personality joining in the same cause? 

Let me ask you a question. Do you have a drug dependent member in your family? Simply put, an addict or junkie with serious drug problems? If you don't, good and thank your God for that. But do you know of someone who has a junkie in theirs? Have you spoken to them about that one child of theirs who turned out a junkie? Did you ask how they are coping? Once a child of teenage age is a junkie, chances are he/she is either kicked out of the house or he/she chooses to live off the streets scrapping from dustbins and stealing anything they can get their hands on to sell and support their daily addiction. I am talking of the ordinary person's child and not the children of the ultra-rich with strong political connections. A ride around the back roads of Chow Kit will give you a general idea of what I'm talking about. Parents who cry every night to sleep thinking how their kid got into this habit of drug abuse. Blaming and cursing others will not suppress their torment. A child who steals money from pockets and purses of parents or steal anything from their house to sell to maintain their addiction? The family is shattered and broken and nothing can stop their grief of having a stray child. 

Yet recently in Ipoh, the funeral of one such mule was given a hero's burial with much celebration. Only one other rogue on the same token, (I digress here and it's not drug related!) who is still alive and free is given an even more carnival-like pomp for stealing insane amounts running in the billions from the rakyat's coffers and seemingly treated like a king is Najib the ex-premier and a convicted felon. 

It just begs questions on where our morals compass points and the future of this country is heading when so many idol-worship criminals, drug dealers and gangsters as role models!   

Perhaps the parents of these death-row mules and all NGOs who protest to end the Mandatory Death for Drug Trafficking laws (I'm not against their protests because its their absolute right, even as I agree to disagree, to their cause) should go and seek forgiveness from all those families whose lives and families have been displaced and hearts broken because their child became a junkie!   

*I do apologise for the long absence from active blogging but today being Labour Day let me salute those who do an honest days work and have perfect families to celebrate with. Cheers!   

Rogue's Gallery (Pt.II)

 I can honestly say this is the BEST political joke for the year 2021! 

The face of the world's greatest kleptocrat Najib and his band of brigands in modern times are asking you to join them in their fight against corruption! 

Surely they have absolutely no shame or self worth even though they are known to be not mere millionaires BUT billionaires through corrupt acquirement and who have got the entire judiciary and enforcement in the country their pockets. Its also ironic these same thieves always begin their speech in any ceremah, reciting phrases from the Holy book as if all they have  done is quiet halal. 

Perhaps in their own interpretation whatever they have done is considered kosher only because they've been led to believe by their partner in crime, a green-robed towelhead named Hadi, the "spiritual" leader of the Islamic party PAS. 

Its about time the 2 thieves in the middle Najib and Zahid (both with numerous criminal charges for corruption and embezzlement already passed by a court of law - whatever that means in Malaysia!)  be thrown in jail to rot for the rest of their pathetic lives instead of parading themselves like peacocks in heat!  

ABU! ABU! ABU!

 

Stupid parents OR failed government?

Of course as the header goes, both will deny and be the apologist for one and the other. 

Are these parents so hard-up for a holiday at the beach, rivers and water-falls in the middle of this dreadful pandemic? We hit a high of 592 deaths in a single day! Still not afraid, aye?

As the saying goes, a few moments of pleasure and a lifetime of regret and sorrow. How then? 

Opps...am I talking about shot-gun marriages? No, seriously to the folks who were there on the beach, rivers and water-falls, ask yourself this. Will it be worth it, if God forbid, you or any of your family members , especially little  and innocent ones contacted this deadly virus in that crowd? How? 

Still not afraid?

That being so, you better start praying. 

Happy Malaysia Day.

Pay heed, morons.

 

Queen's English anyone?

Time and time again I have been bitching about the FAILED education system in our once colonial ruled nation wherein our leaders spoke the Queen's English eloquently and could even throw in a hilarious off-the-cuff joke injected in a speech during a serious world matter on an international stage full of foreign dignitaries without embarrassing our country-folks who are watching on some remote electronic black and white screen back home. That was in a time before instant technology and smart phones. That was back in the 60s and early 70s. 

Yes, there are still a handful today who can sway an audience of foreigners in a forum or convention hall with their good English but they are certainly not representing the government but maybe some international company or firm who had head-hunted them here in Malaysia for their intelligence, proficiency and command of the English language. 

And do you want to know who represents us today at international forums and conventions where cameras from all over the world are focused on the speaker and broadcasted to their respective countries, who were never once ruled by England nor did they even speak English as a second language. What became of our colonial English standards? Who do you blame for this rot since the mid-70s onwards? I blame the racist old MahaFiraun and his then lackey Anwar for this rot that's both beyond repair and redemption. They were the belligerent recalcitrants who did away with English and altered our colonial history in our schools text-books to instill a false sense of "shiok-sendiri" Malay pride that denied the Malays of a good English education instead while they, the elitists sent their children to boarding schools in Europe and merry old England to study.   

Today, Malaysians are embarrassed by the likes of ministers who fumble pathetically in front of a hall full of foreigners and cameras, and who's only medium of getting their country's message across to the wider world is in ENGLISH! Plain simple English would suffice. No need for bombastic words even you cannot pronounce. Is there any chance to better our education system? You tell me.

   

Kindly listen to 2 such embarrassing moments and an extremely bungling signboard below, wherein our so-called highly educated but non-elected ministers struggled to appear like bright sparks! The entire speech itself sounded like that off-the-cuff joke I mentioned earlier above. Sheeesh!

Enjoy your weekend. God bless Malaysia. My Malaysia! 
 

My April 'ghost-writer'.

From: Owen Jones 

To: Anwar Ibrahim: 

Don’t talk cock. I am a stout defender of you but I am certainly not averse to giving you a piece of my mind if it is needed. First and foremost Anwar Ibrahim - Why were special privileges for Malays written into the Federal Constitution? 

It was simply because the Reid Commission which drafted it believed that the Malays were backward and needed particular attention for them to catch up with the rest. The British had not seen the Malays do hard work as they had seen the Indians and Chinese do.

The fact is Anwar Ibrahim there is racial and religious discrimination even in the most advanced societies. Why do you think the ‘Black Lives Matter’ and ‘say no to racism’ campaigns are happening? It is because of racial discrimination. But what is worse is that in Malaysia - there is not only racial and religious discrimination but they are official policies. 

If a country has laws that promote racial discrimination that nation is labelled as one that has an APARTHEID policy. The truth is that the Reid Commission had included a moratorium on the ‘special privileges’ - they were to end in 1990. But the CC with a two-third majority in Parliament amended the Constitution to read as “for as long as deemed necessary” so that he and his cronies could continue the rape and plunder of the nation indefinitely. 

Please do not pretend that you do not know this Anwar Ibrahim. 

Yes there is racial discrimination by other communities. But this is at the individual level. It is not policy. But why is it happening? 

Those who studied in the English medium schools never saw their fellow students as anything else. But all this changed when the conniving chameleon Mahathir became PM. English went out and in came a racist brand of education clearly intended to segregate the people. What Mahathir started in the 1970s is what we see today and what most of us including Tommy Thomas have seen. It was so easy for TT to make a comparison because he worked with the crème de la crème in his legal profession and law firm. When he entered the civil service the disparity in standards shocked the life out of him. 

This is what the CC’s racist policies have brought about. Malays in high office and high positions who are there simply because they are Malay. When people are given positions by virtue of ‘special privilege’ and not out of merit for their knowledge, experience and intelligence then we know the nation is in trouble. 

Don’t forget Anwar Ibrahim that you were tried and jailed by an incompetent judiciary that was just acting on the instructions of its political masters. And pray tell me, Anwar Ibrahim, how many Malay lawyers defended you? Yes the bloated civil service is full of unqualified people who are otherwise unemployable outside. The mediocre education with low marks earning high grades has produced Malays holding certs that are not worth the paper they are printed on. Pray tell me Anwar Ibrahim, how many non-Malays are employed in the civil service? How many non-Malays are holding senior positions in the civil service? How many non-Malays are holding senior positions in GLCs? Why are the GLCs all such financial disasters? Why is it that only Malays can lead GLCs and govt depts? How could you expect TT not to talk about the Malays only when there is practically nobody else in the civil service? Isn’t the absence of non-Malays itself damning evidence of the prevailing racial discrimination in this country? TT has stated it as it is. 

The civil service and the GLCs are prime examples of the blind leading the blind or where mediocrity is the order of the day. Don’t try to defend the indefensible Anwar Ibrahim. The fact is that truth is often the most bitter pill. TT is a brave man to stand up for it. So, Anwar Ibrahim please do not lose the respect of non-Malays and right thinking Malays by attempting a puerile cover-up of the truth just to score some political brownie points. Anwar Ibrahim - today you have sown the seed of doubt as to your leadership qualities. Perhaps the MC is right after all - that you have no idea at all about what to do next - apart from theatrics that appeal to the gallery. I am truly disappointed. 

OJ!!

NOTE: 

Posted as received via WhatsApp.

MY TAKE: 

Okay, folks, here's  what I really think. This posting may actually be a Malaysian using a pseudonym of the Guardian's columnist's Owen Jones' pen name.  If only, for the life of me, some one can tell me what CC means, then perhaps I might get a clearer picture. 

As much as it may ruffle more then just a few feathers, mainly by those living in denial or are too young to have followed our "REAL" history, a lot of what this ghost writer writes about Anwar and his then "master" the MahaFiraun I concur, they both had a big hand in altering, amending and skewering the Federal Constitution with a Malay agenda uppermost in their list of priorities. That's a given. But let's not lose sleep over what we, the non-Malays have come to understand the true nature and lip-service of our politicians. We don't need a "mat salleh wannabe" or a poser to tell us what we already know of.  

Thank you. 

  

Betrayers of the Rakyat - 1st. Anniversary.

Presenting the entire "out'' cast of the tragic downfall (in order of appearance) of what Malaysians, the gullible and naïve tax-paying rakyat, who only 20 months before a year ago, were made to believe, with hopes dashed, a year today. 

And I had warned years before this day (if you care to go and read my earlier postings from 2007!) of why everyone was especially so forgiving of the numero uno character in this dastardly produced 'play' who I continue to focus and refer to as always, The MahaFiraun. 

It was a most painful day for many a year ago like me, who had tirelessly fought the system ala 'David against Goliath' for years and had taken to the streets like me too, so many many times, I forget now, only to be betrayed by a fork-tongued racist, who cleverly conned every politician of the then PH to appraise him up to the highest position in government again. And to have all their trust sold and their "hopes" betrayed by this same  scheming old man! 

I have never forgiven Anwar and Lim Kit Siang nor their families who fell prey to this lying old man, the MahaFiraun. I noticed the unease and fore-brooding body-language of both Anwar and Kit Siang every time they were in this monster's presence. A hypocrisy of sorts. 

But then, so too were the entire PH politicians and their supporters taken in and pitied this harmless old man with a 'blurred-vision' when he cunningly released the photo of his dear old wife, Siti Hasmah, (honestly, I have nothing against this fine old lady.) seated with her head hung low during an investigation in a police station and bingo!... all hearts was "SOLD"! And that folks, is how the devil works.

But who'd have been bothered to have taken a mere blogger's views, thoughts, warnings and voice in the wilderness, seriously then? Really!

         

P.S.- I don't know who created these posters below, with an apt summary therein but I, for one, tip my hat to this  candid literary critic. Remember thine faces. Thank you, who ever you are!