And, because of that, the owner of this blog would like to emphasise a few things here:
1] This blog is a one man show;
2] This blog has never accepted any form of monetary assistance or received any income from anyone or any organisations;
3] This blog is bilingual but stresses the use of English as the main medium;
4] This blog is certainly not run by cybertroopers of the government nor the opposition;
5] This blog do not condone excessive use of foul language or derogatory remarks;
6] This blog does not have any patron or any ‘guardian angel’. Therefore, it does not answer to anybody except to the Malaysian Laws;
7] This blog upholds the concept of Rukunegara and “Bersih, Cekap, Amanah”;
8] This blog propagates the pursuit of knowledge and information;
9] This blog requires an open mind in order to read it; and
10] The owner of this blog has many passion. But the passion most paramount is seeing Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi resign immediately from all political and governmental posts.
From the bottom of my heart, I thank all the past, present and future visitors of this blog.
So what drives your blog by the way?
jebatmustdie 
Hi JMD
i Like ur no 10….guess that the most popular reason for all thinking minds in Malaysia…..donno how u hav the time for no 1(i kinda gave up after a few post..too much work) unless the info is readily available…on no 6 need to link back to no 1 u could either be in the thick of the info flow or have good deep sources….but must say ur framework of analysis is logical n sometimes spot on….n ur visitors like lekiu add a wee bit of spice to the discussion……
Nowadays…with all the euphoria surrounding anwar…pretty hard to find good source of info……just look at the herd mentality around…knee-jerk reaction to any so called “credible” sources…..the only thing legible is “plan to do police report”……cant imagine being a pharmacist….
Anyway…keep it coming….
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Hi JMD,
I’ve no blog, but I’m driven to a few blogs for the owners clarity of thoughts, passion and sincerity.
Excellent writing is a bonus. Yours is such a one.
Thank you, and may your brain continues its controlled hemorrhaging.
If DSAB and his bandits and DSAI and his mob are no more, I hope you will consider running for office. I think the country is going to need all her smart and sensible sons and daughters to help pull her out of this quaqmire.
JMD : Thanks Mekyam. Your comments are greatly aprreciated. As for your suggestion, I don’t think I’m qualified enough to run for any office. There are many Malaysians more qualified and deserving to be running office than I am.
But thank you for the honor.
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hey, what’s this listings for? Somebody come over to your house and marah you ke?
Anyways, i fully support your motion on item 10.
Remember if nobody bail you out, I could put my RM1 to your account, (macam RPK la gitu..) he he..
Your blog is the best so far and two thumbs up! (mcm stail siskel and eibert)
JMD : 🙂 No lah Cam, sometimes we need to be reminded our reason for existence sometimes.
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JMD,
Informative and to the point. Syabas. I had written in my blog about ethical blogging. I am driven by the pursuit of knowledge/enjoyment for myself in general and in recent time for truth, honour and justice for our nation. I have visited many blog sites and found many vulgar and caustic postings and comments which borders upon hatred. Some blog owners even encourage foul language by the tenor of their postings. One news magazine even carried an article of a blogger who proudly admitted to be foul mouthed (sorry to use this phrase). She is supposed to be some glamourous celeb! What examples are they setting for their kids. Do they realiise that their kids and their friends may be reading the same blog? We may differ in opinion and beliefs but surely comments can be expounded in a gentlemanly and cultured manner. This is much more becoming of us who are proud to be Malaysians. No hatred,slandering,racism and vulgarity – anything else is game. Welcome to cyberworld.
Thanks and have a great day
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JMD,
That is how blog should be run, free, independent, without fear or favor. A blogger must always be mindful of the original purpose of running a blog, that is to write his/her thoughts. One’s thought is not dictated and should not be funded for a purpose. A blog should always be maintained and written by the blogger himself, not outsourced as what political bloggers are doing now.
Nevertherless, a blogger is also a responsible person. He takes responsibility of what he/she writes and is aware of the limit.
I do not have a blog site as I am not that disciplined in maintaining it. I am too lazy in doing it!. My intetrest is reading “non-ISDN” materials. Blogs, like yours, captivate me as the opinions written are based on well-researched & publicly available materials.
Keep up the good work JMD!
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JMD,
I don’t have a blog but I do share your passions and wanting DSAAB to resign immediately is the greatest of all.
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Kini setiap usaha menentang arus akan di anggap penulis upahan, bukan bloggers sahaja, begitu juga dengan forum-forum, dimana forummers yang menentang arus dan juga yang menepis hujah PUNAI, dia anggap bloggers dan forummers upahan.
If is so true, the i would have make tons of money!!
Wak kayo!! Wak kayo!!
Well, happy blogging and forumming.
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JMD
Yours is an interesting Blog. Thanks for the write up on Hang Tuah and Jebat. Just to let you know that the story of Hang Tuah is a myth. Are there historical records of them?
It is interesting that Jebat’s son was Khoja Hassan. Khoja is short for Khwaja which is an Indian Muslim Shia Ismaili name popular among Indian Muslims. Why would Jebat name his son Khoja? Possibly because Jebat was also a Khoja.
Hence the arguments about who were the ‘Hangs’? Was Hang Tuah Chinese? I dont think so. Tun Ali was Tamil. The Melaka Sultans were Tamils. Lekir, Kasturi, Lekiu were all Tamils. Bendahara Tun Perak was possibly Tamil too.
Abdullah Munshi was Tamil.
We shall not base our struggles on myths.
The PM needs to leave town today. I think we are all agreed on this. The question is : i. how? ii. who replaces him?
JMD : I do not think the word ‘myth’ suits here. At most, Hang Tuah is a legend. Myth exemplifies something which only exists in tales. But we do have historical findings on the existence of Hang Tuah or his friends. One such eg is Hang Jebat’s and Hang Tuah’s tombs.
By the way, Tun Ali was indeed a Tamil Muslim. Sultan Muzaffar is half tamil muslim due to his mom being the daughter of the previous Sultan’s advisor (Mani Purindan).
But from Sultan Mansur onwards, the blood has been diluted further away from Tamil Muslim. Tun Perak was the son of Bendahara Tun Perpatih Sedang. I doubt he is a Tamil Muslim as the reason he became the Bendahara under Sultan Muzaffar was to neutralise the Tamil Muslim influence of Tun Ali in the royal court.
As the possibility of Khoja Hassan being a Tamil Muslim, first, we shall look at who was his mother (Jebat’s wife). There is a possibility that Jebat’s wife is the granddaughter of Tun Ali.
Another possibility is, since there was much integration between the culture of Tamil Muslim and the Malays in Melaka at that time, there should not be any peculiarity with the name.
Thank you.
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Salam JMD,
The Main and ONLY reason…
10] The owner of this blog has many passion. But the passion most paramount is seeing Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi resign immediately from all political and governmental posts.
Thats the main reason but currently i am not sure where my blog is heading to..too many things going on in my mind right now!Even though I have a lot of opinions to share with others but when I started to write..it ends up being deleted over and over again!Must be bloggers block!haha .Whatever pun Pak Lah MUST resign immediately to stop further destruction to all of us!I wonder who could actually make this wish of millions of Malaysians come true…..
Told you that you have done a great job with this blog of yours…now I know I am not the only one who knows that your blog are of great quality in terms of your writings and the way you present your opinions to others!See…so many said so!Told you!hehe..but hope this won’t get over your head ya!
Keep up the good work!Your blog is an example to new bloggers like myself..other than chedet.com(..cause Tun M’s writings in his blog is way ahead compared my standards in writing!)
Anyhow, keep on writing and stay blogging!
lord musan
Still benci Pak Lah No Matter What I do….
JMD : 🙂 I thank you from the bottom of my heart. And of course, nobody can compete with TDM’s blog. His writings come from years and years of wisdom. We are so much blessed to be able to read the mind of a renown statesman.
Thank you very much.
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Yours is one of the few blogs I frequent and since I do not have a personal blog to project my political views I can’t anwer your question on what drives my blog.
But I do have a short story sent by a friend to share.
It’s a normal morning in KL and Ayah Ngah was driving to work when all of a sudden he got trapped in an unusual trafic jam. An hour passed and the traffic hasn’t moved an inch when suddenly he heard someone tapped on his side window. Rolling down the window he asked ;
” What? What’s going on up front?”
” Weren’t you listening to the news? Some terrorist held our PM hostage…asked for RM100 million ransom or they’ll pour petrol and burn him. So people stopped to contribute what they can over there” said the man.
“Er, I can’t afford much. I’ll give what the other are giving on average.” said Ayah Ngah.
” Well sir, everybdy is giving out about 1Lt. each.
JMD : Thanks Pak Andak. I like the joke by the way. 🙂
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Dear JMD,
I really admire your writing skills. I enjoyed each and every article you wrote. I was intr oduced to your blog by one of my siblings. Everseen then, I think it worth to spend sometime reading your articles. It is mind bogling……
I support your motion no. 10, can’t wait to see him to step down. I wonder why have to wait so long!
Keep writing, and I will keep reading!
Queen B
JMD : Thank you Queen B. I appreciate the comment.
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Dear JMD,
I enjoy your blog because you seem to have a clear mind with a captivating writing style.
And I do love your witty rebuttals to misinformation.
Also yes I do share the same passion of not having Badawi as our Prime Minister as soon as possible.
Oh yeah and one more thing, when I need to check the many perspective of a news, I find yours helpful as you present many reasonable arguements.
Hope you continue writing.
Regards.
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JMD, I dont have blog and after reading what you wrote, it scares me even more to have my own. I am just too far behind. I am impressed by your knowledge on local history. Even your answer to Pointman up there impressed me! It made me realized that I may not even have enough knowledge to defend my own faith and race. Your blog helps alot in that department.
Continue with the good job.
On Badawi, I am yet to find a single soul who wants him to stay. May be I am with the wrong crowd but I do believe that its him who is at the wrong planet.
JMD : Blogging can be a form of release. Help you ease away any pent up feelings you have inside 🙂 So blog away. That would be my advice to you. What is important is to write on things that gives you the passion. Passion will become your motivation. Motivation will give you satisfaction in the end.
So, before I sound more and more like Yoda, I would anxiously wait for your first blog article! 🙂
But you must have the desire to read. And read a lot. When I was about 10, I received an English Oxford dictionary as a present for 1st place in class. I would read that dictionary everyday just to learn new words. Yes I read the dictionary. Page by page. Haha. I read just about everything since I was small. Knowledge can be your friend.
If you feel you don;t have enough of it, you can always look it up in the net. During my younger years, before the birth of internet, knowledge is hard to come by. We had to go to the library just to read about Shakespeare etc. Now its just a click of a button.
But as the saying goes, you are as good as the teacher who teaches you. If what you read is from a misguided source, then your knowledge could be tainted. So, you need to have a second opinion or further reading on the same topic. So, you do not have to believe in everything that you read, even from this blog! 🙂
Goodnight.
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u are one of the best…
a lot of quality info & reliable data being supported for the article
i glad & i hope u will continue standard of your writing which is based on facts.
honesty is the best policy…. keep it up…
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JDM
I don’t blog simply because I don’t have the flair for writing but I am addicted to only two – TDM and yours. Contrary to what you think I feel that these two really compliment each other. Keep writing!
p/s I echo Lord Musan’s “Still benci Pak Lah No Matter What I do…”
Issa
JMD : I am honored with the comparison. But I am so not in the league with TDM’s blog. Waaay not in the league… But I thank you for the vote of confidence. Will try my best to come up with more articles [if I can shake of these writer’s block I having currently! 🙂 ]
Apart from the blogs in my blogroll, I think you should read this blog too – http://novandri.blogspot.com/
I think Dr Novandri’s blog is very good. I read it diligently.
Thank you.
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A Rising Tide Lifts all Ships
This principle guides our team in generating content for our BLOG. We hope the material you find helps you with your personal and corporate goals.
http://roihunters.wordpress.com/
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JMD,
You have my VOTE!
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Maintaining a blog concerning current political scenario is a big task. The amount of thought and research that goes into must be quite monumental. Which is why I stick to reading your’s and Bakri Musa.
I used to like reading Din Merican’s comments at Bakri Musa. But since Din Merican’s political move, I don’t really spend much time at Bakri Musa’s blog and hardly ever at Din Merican’s new blog.
As I said before, you are performing a public duty. I dont know how you do it, but keep it up and thank you.
JMD : Thank you Lekiu 🙂
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Hi,
I fully support all the points.
Cheers.
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JMD,
Since your post this time is about your weblog to remind you
of your reason for existence may I take this opportunity
to request something from you. I am new to this blog
thing. I may have also missed out on your complete profile
when you started out in Blogspot. If it’s not against your
wishes, could you please let us commentators ( new
ones especially) know more about you besides the
introduction you gave in “About” in your weblog.
At least I would feel comfortable to know who I’m
expressing myself to.
No harm right?
JMD : Dear Sujini,
I’m a professional. Worked in several GLCs before. Started out as an auditor in one of the Big 6 firms (at that time) before moving on to a greener and less hectic pastures. Lives in KL. Studied in Victoria Institution once upon a time ago before finishing studies in Accounting in London.
I hope that would suffice? Anyway thank you for reading this humble blog.
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Dear JMD,
I love TDM very much too, he is a real statesman…
Keep on going JMD, will support you forever……
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hi jmd,
love your writings and feedbacks, heard that youve got writer’s block. If its possible, why don’t you write about your fantasy government and the players. Thanks
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Dear JMD
As I said earlier,I’m addicted to only TDM and JMD.Both blogs are based on facts (reliable sources).Ienjoy to read your good postings.Keep up your honest work and I give you my fully support!
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JMD,
Good effort. Must be interesting to know you personally.
A.
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Thank you JDM. You are right – Dr Novandri’s blog is very good. I have read it diligently too – took me the entire night. I wish more people will read this.
Goodness!! I finally found another person who read the dictionary page by page! As for your writer’s block – can’t help you there as mine is innate (sighs…) Hope you will swing out of it ASAP!
p/s I continue to echo Lord Musan’s “Still benci Pak Lah No Matter What I do…”
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p/s In case you haven’t noticed – you have 87,698 (and counting!!) people poked in the eye! Almost doubled last month’s. Not bad JDM!
So keep writing!
Issa
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JMD,
Thanks for your biodata.
Hei, you are an X-VI boy? I did my lower six for a short while there. That was
in 1972. I quit when I got an offer to enter ITK ( at that time) later called UTM.
Guess we are both professionals but I’ ve turned homemaker now.
You are experiencing a writer’s block, I see. Why don’t you write what you
know best, i.e. accounting. Maybe tell Abdullah how to budget for the country.
Looks like he really need the help.
Well, like the saying goes, if you can’t fight them then join them.
Nite.
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lekiu said… I used to like reading Din Merican’s comments at Bakri Musa. But since Din Merican’s political move, I don’t really spend much time at Bakri Musa’s blog and hardly ever at Din Merican’s new blog.
gosh, me too, lekiu!
i used to enjoy reading din merican at doc bakri’s too till he proved himself to be just another ai “groupie”. what a disappointment! i still visit doc bakri’s blog regularly though.
kadir jasin’s blog is another daily haunt for me.
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JMD,
I am absolutely certain the reasons that all of us who visit your blog can be attributed to the following:
1) Your posts are well thought of and researched
2) Posts are contemporary and historically juxtaposed
3) You come across not only as a learned person but a cultured and humble one at that
4) You benefit us with courtesy to reply to our comments
5) In replying, you have sacrificed your time,energy and resource and in doing so WE feel appreciated
Have to get back to work so have a nice day:)
Freddie
JMD : Thanks Freddie
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JMD,
Thank you very much for writing. You sure have good grasp of history. Not common in most people nowadays. Me included. That’s why your talent is appreciated. we learn something new when we read your blog.
Keep up the good work.
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Dear JMD,
A cursory glance at your scary blogroll gives the impression of Malay-racism-Mahathirism.
I wish I had the time to read you more comprehensively, but sadly time not permitting I’ll nonetheless hand you a bouquet for this present post on its fine sentiments & also add I was pleasantly surprised by your June 17 rumination ‘Umno perlu berwajah baru!’
You wrote, “Yang fundamental ialah tindakan UMNO ini [melaksanakan DEB] TIDAK menggugat dan menyekat hak kaum-kaum lain”. But do you really, truly believe this from the bottom of your heart?
Isn’t the categorization of people into ‘non’ – you use the term ‘bukan Melayu’ – a negation in itself and an affront to human dignity?; inasmuch as Malaysians cannot avoid this divisive labeling because it has been surgically injected into the country’s DNA by the party I presume you support.
I willingly admit to belonging to Category 5.4 of your segmentation and would just like to clarify on one point you raised, i.e. this category’s wish that there is “wujudkan banyak peluang pendidikan”. Largely due to the policies of the man you so admire, the said education opportunities are indeed already available.
In fact, this country is cleft in twain at tertiary level, with the IPTA monopolized by Malays and the IPTS ‘free-for-all’ in terms of being open to any race though in point of fact accessible only to those who can afford to pay the taxing fees.
This country has sinned against its young, and the biggest sin is not depriving the deserving ones of higher education but planting a cynicism that promotes the credo ‘Idealism must die’. This sin I lay squarely at Umno’s door for its mala fide governance of this country.
Anyway, it will be unproductive for me to quibble with you over our respective perceptions of Umno. And I do laud you for being willing to admit and concede this telling observation: “Sebab utama golongan ini [Kategori 5.3] menyokong parti pembangkang adalah kerana kesilapan sebahagian pemimpin UMNO di peringkat bawahan dan pertengahan yang berperangai buruk yang membuat mereka meluat untuk mempunyai apa-apa hubungan dengan UMNO”.
You forgot to mention pemimpin UMNO di peringkat atasan yang perangai mereka tiada tolok bandingannya (I do not wish to cast slurs, so I leave the description to your imagination) which makes Umno an anathema to conscionable souls.
But in any case, what I hope will be more productive is if you’ll consider fulfilling two requests of mine:
(1) Can you pls point me to your past writings where you have cogently expressed your opinions on Umno,
(2) Can you cite me economic studies to substantiate this statement that you made, i.e. “DEB telah berjaya mengangkat taraf hidup semua kaum walaupun tidak mencapai objektifnya seratus peratus.”
Thank you for reading [and posting] this comment. As a last word, pls allow me to record my appreciation of the intelligence, breadth of knowledge and rationality expressed in your writing (what little I’ve read of it), even if the worldview and inclinations I perceive you to harbour sit uneasily with me.
Best wishes & shalom.
JMD : Welcome to my blog. I appreciate you had spent some time reading it. As to my blogroll, please don’t feel apprehensive about it. I do not see it as trying to be ‘Malay-racism-Mahathirism’. For one, I chose them because they are quite fascinating to read. If you read the likes of Jed Yoong, Anilnetto or Audie, I reckon they are not Malay oriented at all. Blog like Lily the Liverbird and the Askmen website are entertaining to me. And some of the blogs in the blogroll are quite anti establishment. Please do not see everything as racism. Being paranoid over nothing can be quite tiring.
As for calling the non malays as well, ‘non malays’, I give you full permission to call the Malays as Non Chinese or Non Indians. It shall not be an affront for me. Because, I use the term non Malays because it is far easier to write ‘Melayu dan Bukan Melayu’ than ‘Melayu, Cina, India dan Lain Lain kaum’. As you know, we Malays are lazy to write something that long 🙂
But on a more serious note, the term Malays and Non Malays has been around for so long that it was not brought up since the 70’s (as I remember it). Why was it brought up now?
But I do believe from the bottom of my heart that the DEB could work for all races. That’s why I wrote that para 9, 10 and 11 in that article. As you know, the essence and the spirit of DEB is good. But the enforcement had gone disarray. Recently, the powers that be had been too corrupt and the Malay leaders themselves had backstabbed even the poor Malays.
Anyway, as for your requests:
1) I guess almost 80% of my blog articles has expressed my opinion on Umno. Just browse through from the 1st post.
2) Please read it here:
https://jebatmustdie.wordpress.com/2008/06/17/when-all-else-fail-samy-vellu-whacks-his-former-boss-while-other-umno-leaders-lost-their-balls/. Please reas the accompanying comments as well.
Thank you very much. It’s really nice to have new readers.
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Dear JMD,
First off, a caveat: For any perception gaps informing my reading and understanding of you that may inadvertently occur, let me take the fault and blame. I have not had time enough to read your writings in totality to do it justice – a shortcoming I hope to remedy.
What I write below is a response confined to our Comments exchange contained here and I will give you my thoughts on Samy Vellu & RM9 [your recommended reading] separately and later.
You have rejoined: “And some of the blogs in the blogroll are quite anti establishment. Please do not see everything as racism. Being paranoid over nothing can be quite tiring.”
Here’s my 2 sen. Nowadays the demarcation between establishment and anti-establishment has blurred. For instance, in the good old days and in the larger scheme of things, being against Dr Mahathir would be considered anti-establishment. Today, the party stalwart himself is ex-Umno as well as patently anti-establishment.
Therefore, where the blogs in your roll sit along either side of the divide is to me, neither here nor there; even though Malaysian blogosphere is conceived as being in the larger part pro-Opposition.
Secondly, one should also draw a distinction between racist thinking and a racialized mindset, the latter an inescapable feature of the Malaysian landscape. Racialism is state-conditioned in us from cradle to grave [e.g. the fear of non-Muslim next-of-kin of their loved ones being bodysnatched at death).
I’ll give an example. Let’s say Ali bin Abu wants to buy a luxury car or some other big ticket item and expects a 7 percent discount on his purchase. He’s not being racist, i.e. directly offensive to and holding offensive opinions of other races, but merely having a structure to his thought processes that is predicated on the racialized realpolitik of this country.
To extend my illustration, let’s say that the car dealer, reluctant to knock down the price, fobs off Ali by giving the excuse that the marque he’s interested in is sold out. Ali reacts by demanding that he be given priority in making his order because there ought to be the 10 percent quota reserved for bumiputera. Again, he is not exhibiting racism but racialized behaviour.
So I hope that you will reappraise if it had occurred to you that I “see everything as racism”.
Nonetheless, I do not hesitate to say that in my opinion, the Tun Teja blogger is replete with racist thinking in terms of the material she posted. And some of the others are abrasive, from what I can tell from the very little that I’ve skimmed through.
Next, with regard to your statement: “As for calling the non malays as well, ‘non malays’, I give you full permission to call the Malays as Non Chinese or Non Indians. It shall not be an affront for me.”
It is particularly for this reason that as a ‘new reader’ (to be more precise, virgin commentator) to blogs, that I elected to leave my debut comment in your blog instead of say, the excellent Anil Netto’s. Because you signally fail to see the affront and I’m curious as to WHY.
But before that, let me acknowledge that I do comprehend you were attempting to introduce some levity and once again, I’m pleasantly surprised by your sense of humour.
I shall give an analogy of the use of ‘non’. Supposing you were to call me a ‘non-vegetarian’, I shall not feel affronted. Purely because in the context of my social milieu here and now, there’s no baggage attached to the description. However, if I were an observant Brahmin in a rarified high-caste society where it is expected that I practise strict vegetarianism, then your calling me a ‘non’ would impute something pejorative.
Or to flip the analogy, say that I were to call a Pak Haji a ‘non-believer’. Do you think he would be affronted?
Implied in the ‘non’ label thus is the ‘negation’ I was hinting at about Malaysians being categorized as ‘non-Malay’.
If there should be any segmentation of society at all for admin purposes, then the categories should be Malaysian citizen and foreign residents, not this dividing people in the dictionary sense of ‘apartheid’. That is why to me, ‘non-Malay’ classification in all our documentation and official requirements, including children sitting for public exams, is an affront.
As to your musing: “But on a more serious note, the term Malays and Non Malays has been around for so long that it was not brought up since the 70’s (as I remember it). Why was it brought up now?”
You are unaware of how the ‘nons’ feel or complain about in private but in any case, can I venture to reply ‘March 8’ upheaval?
Never before has the 2/3 iron grip of the ruling cabal been loosened until the so-called tsunami. The Malay and non-Malay segregation and all the socio-political inequities deriving thereof created the faultline that led to the tsunami. For the first time, because of PRU12 results and other factors like ICT [which you and I are utilizing now in this platform], we have a public avenue to bring up these issues.
You reaffirm: “But I do believe from the bottom of my heart that the DEB could work for all races. That’s why I wrote that para 9, 10 and 11 in that article.” Yes, I do believe in your good intentions. If I hadn’t, I would not have bothered to leave my comment.
And I concur that there is nothing objectionable to ‘the essence and the spirit’ of NEP affirmative action as it was drafted in 1970. I will not elaborate on the failures of its implementation (in this already too-lengthy comment), and I grant that the policy has achieved a fair measure of success in uplifting Malays.
When I initially asked if you really, truly believed from the bottom of your heart, it was on whether you believe “DEB tidak menyekat hak kaum-kaum lain”.
As for 80% of your blog articles being on Umno, can you favour me with a ‘refined search’ – to use search engine jargon. I ask because I have a genuine interest in reading (but am pressed for time & priorities) and it would be a kindness to me if you could identify a handful of JMD posts in the vein (topic/history/prognosis) and similar frame of discussion as the one on which I gave you feedback.
Lastly, before I consider your Samy Vellu post, if you could cite me any corroborative study to supplement the conclusions reached on the Indian socio-economic condition laid forth in RM9, it would be appreciated.
Thank you for your time in moderating. Shalom.
JMD : Thank you for the commentary. Racist thinking and a racialized mindset are something that need to be defined.
Even when there is nothing wrong in a racialized mindset, racist thinking however should be abhorred at.
In a multi racial country like ours, racialized mindset has been inculcated in our minds since we were young. Even in the US where there are plenty of races within its populace, the demarcation between the whites and non whites (hispanic, african americans, asian and native american) is very much prevalent in their societies.
As for the DEB, the essence of it is that it shall not be run in perpetuality. Like its original aim, the objective of the DEB should be fulfilled by the year 1990. I for one, do not wish it to be running forever. Most of the races in Malaysia think that it will be installed indefinitely. In fact, the DEB was replaced by Misi Nasional in 1990 when Wawasan 2020 was first introduced.
The DEB was originally created to address the problems which had surfaced in the years precedent to it. What was the problem? The problem was unfair income distribution whereby the two thirds population of Malaysia is the poorest people in the nation.
I would like to comment more here but I believe most of the questions has been addressed in the commentary section of the Samy Vellu link I provided.
As for the other Umno related articles, I believe you should skim through articles which are published in March 2008 onwards.
As for the corroborative study, I think you should also check with the Statistics Department on the said data – http://www.statistics.gov.my/
Thank you Aniseed.
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JMD, pls strike out the calling Pak Haji a ‘non-believer’ example. On second thought, I see that it is irrelevant to the argument. TQ.
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Dear JMD,
Briefly, to elucidate on why my calling you (if I should avail myself of the permission granted) a ‘non-Chinese/Indian’ is immaterial, it’s because such a labelling is non-contextual in our political scenario. Our lived reality is Malay dominance, so you can shrug off such a categorization with utter indifference.
On the other hand, your calling me a non-Malay (unless I’m a native Iban, Kadazan or Orang Asli, etc, and even so), such labelling situates my exclusion from my country’s socio-political benefits conferred — i.e. list of ‘privileges’ that are withheld from me on account of race, not to mention opportunities.
I think the above explanation is more apt than ‘non-vegetarian’ although that too is indicative of the loaded semantics of a majoritarian will.
Once more, thank you for your time & willingness to engage. Shalom.
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Dear JMD,
Thank you for taking the trouble to reply to my comment of 07:37:02-Hours.
You wrote: “Even when there is nothing wrong in a racialized mindset …”
On this, and placing the matter within the ambit of our populace’s multi-racial composition, I have to admit I’m grey … it’s something requiring deeper thought, so I can’t say for sure whether I think a racialized mindset is anachronistic or acceptable.
In ‘Hamlet’, Act II scene ii, the Prince of Denmark muses: “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”
Such relativistic moral ambiguity as expressed by Hamlet is – if you’ll allow – applicable as well to the highly polarizing TDM. People either love him or loathe him. If the latter, they would insist he’s a racist who has denied his bloodline; if the former, then his racialized mindset has been a boon where it pertains to the Perjuangan Yang Belum Selesai.
May I ask (?) if your blog name has anything to do with TDM, as I’m guessing that you’ve put Tun in the picture viz-a-viz in the manner that the Hamlet ‘thinking’ quote might obliquely glance at both the warriors Tuah & Jebat.
The following is another Hamlet quote from the same Act and Scene which I personally like. “I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space …” – and here’s to the hope that with our (yours & mine) antipodean takes on TDM, we do not abrade unforgivably in this nutshell that is your blog, and where you as blog owner are the king of this cyberspace, and me, your intrigued visitor.
I’ve bookmarked your blog & recommended to friends, btw. Shalom.
JMD : Nelson Mandela once said – “I hate racial discrimination most intensely and all its manifestations. I have fought all my life; I fight now, and will do so until the end of my days. Even although I now happen to be tried by one, whose opinion I hold in high esteem, I detest most violently the set-up that surrounds me here. It makes me feel that I am a Black man in a White man’s court. This should not be I should feel perfectly at ease and at home with the assurance that I am being tried by a fellow South African, who does not regard me as an inferior, entitled to a special type of justice.”
He put it eloquently with regards to the situation he was in in South Africa during the Apartheid period. Another form of racism at its worst was during Adolf Hitler’s reign whereby his anti semitism view killed millions of Jews in the Holocaust. To him, the Aryan people is chosen by God and is the best race in the world. Racism had been one of the biggest problem since time immemorial. Even the pharaohs in Egypt practices racism especially during the time of Ramses II The Great where he enslaved millions of Jews until the day of their Exodus.
Even Shakespeare could not escape racism as illustrated in ‘Merchant of Venice’ and ‘Othello’.
Some quarters here in Malaysia feel that the affirmative action guided by the Constitution is racist in nature. One thing for sure, the Malays do not regard the Chinese or the Indians as inferior. Far from it. In fact, the majority (except for the pompous Umnoputras) feel that they are lagging far behind. Certainly they do not feel as a 1st class citizen when in the first place, many could not even afford cars or pay for life insurance. Even to have an Astro subscription would be a luxury they could not afford.
Certainly the perceived racism in Malaysia do not entail any genocide or something to that effect. I remember reading a story by the Yam Tuan Besar Negeri Sembilan. In his diplomatic visit to South Africa during the height of the Apartheid regime rule in the 60’s, all other delegates could visit the tourist spots except for the Emperor of Ethiopia who had to stay on the bus just because he was black. Here, we do not see any deliberate racial discrimination of this nature.
But I digress. My point is, if due to the DEB, other races than the Bumiputras feel that they are being short changed, it was not the Government’s stand to do it deliberately. In 1970, when the DEB was first introduced, it was agreed upon by all the political parties in the Alliance at that time that the affirmative action was necessary to prevent any further upheaval.
One just have to look back and remember the Malays’ economical plight in the 60’s to fully understand the birth of DEB. It is sad that after 30 years of the affirmative action, the Malays still have not taken its advantage to full use. This, I blame the Malays. They had so much going on but the Malay leaders themselves failed to guide them to be more independent by the time DEB ends in 1990. Instead, as TDM had pointed out time and time again, the rich Malays had forgotten to look after the poor ones. He also ranted that he had failed to change the mindset of the Malays to be more resourceful and hungry for success.
Since it is unfair for other members of the BN for the DEB to continue on, the Misi Nasional had replaced the DEB with more wholly approach. As I had commented before, I do not wish to see the residual affirmative action to run indefinitely. But in order for the creation of Bangsa Malaysia to be a probable reality, all races must be equal in its economical strengths before we do away with the ‘crutches’. If not, then the more economically dominant race will engulf the other poor races.
With that, I implore the Malay leaders to look into the economical problems of the Malays so that in the future, everyone in Malaysia can embrace each other without any ill feeling towards each other.
On another note, this blog does not have anything to do with TDM. He does not know who I am nor was I directed to include him in any of my blog postings. All articles in this blog is my personal view on the particular issues of the day.
Thank you Aniseed.
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Bravo! JMD,
for living up to the post headline, ‘This blog is purely driven by passion’. You’ve spoken with eloquent passion indeed replying to my comment of 07:09:52-Hours.
And thank you for the disclaimer on any connection between this blog and TDM — in reply to my question.
To presume on your continued indulgence of giving me an airing;
You wrote: “Instead, as TDM had pointed out time and time again, the rich Malays had forgotten to look after the poor ones. He also ranted that he had failed to change the mindset of the Malays to be more resourceful and hungry for success.”
I would reverse the order of your two sentences. True or false: ‘Resourceful’ as in the Malay learning how to milk the rentier economy, how to create opportunities for kickbacks and commissions, and how to cut corners … you think not, ah? I think Yes-lah.
True or false: The Malay hungry for the trappings of success, as displayed recently in the placement for the T’ganu state exco Mercedes fleet. Also Yes-lah.
‘For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?’ (Matthew 16:26)
Now, what the Tun has done is dilemma-ed the beautiful nature (or ‘adab’) of the Malay.
TDN spearheaded the headlong Malay economic catch-up with the resourceful-and-hungering-for-success Chinese. But how come unlike these Chinese-to-be-emulated who have their ‘guanxi’ (business & clan networks), the Malays made rich by DEB do not set up a similar informal networking to look after their own?
The way I see it, it’s been a sorry case of determinedly expelling what’s gentle in the Malay to copy what’s tough in the Chinese (i.e. resourceful and hungry for success) without taking on board the concomitant Chinese ethos of ‘guanxi’.
TDM had failed to foster a mindset whereby rich Malays learn to look after the poor ones because he inculcated the resourcefulness and hunger for success without the needful values to temper the Gordon Gecko effects of Malaysia Inc.
You write: “But in order for the creation of Bangsa Malaysia to be a probable reality, all races must be equal in its economical strengths before we do away with the ‘crutches’. If not, then the more economically dominant race will engulf the other poor races.”
I ask: You realistically think Chinese in Malaysia 2008 can engulf everyone else?! And why this preoccupation with doing race math?
I’m sure you’re all too familiar with the arguments of (1) intra-racial income disparity, rather than inter-racial wealth comparison, (2) concentration of Malay wealth in the hands of the upper stratum, or Malay elites, whereas the Chinese and Indians have a broader swathe of middle class.
And in that event, who’s to say race parity per se has not been reached, but only that it’s not filtered down and remaining concentrated with the Umno cronies?
The crutches mentality is when it is suggested to the phantom-cripple (i.e. think the ‘imaginary limb’ syndrome to understand my use of the word ‘phantom’) that his leg has healed, c.f. bumi ownership could really be as high as 45 percent.
The phantom-cripple is urged to throw away his crutches, yet he persists, “I’m not fit enough to walk much less run”, c.f. the govt deliberately if not disingenuously halving estimates of Malay corporate & equity success.
Tell me now, what sort of government it is, that when congratulated on its success, insists contrary to statistical evidence, we have FAILED? (All because it wants to keep the excuse to perpetuate the gravy train.)
I concede your points that in Malaysia, we do not have genocidal racism nor the humiliating discrimination of the colour bar that kept the Emperor of Ethiopia on the bus.
However, I cannot agree with your examples of affording cars, paying for life insurance (such as Chinese thing!) or having an Astro subscription to claim Malays are not 1st class citizens of this country.
If the government of the last half century had provided a better public transport system, better public healthcare, welfare and social safety net, and better broadcasts over terrestrial TV (but is watching TV even all that necessary?), then these lifestyle indicators should not feature as a gauge of progress.
My preferred measure of social development is how ethical a society has schooled itself to be. And as such, my debate proposition is: ‘Umno should be relegated to the Opposition benches’. Do you support or oppose the motion?
It is not only Malays who have economic problems to be looked into, JMD. All the poor of any race have the same problems. We must abide by a means test, not racial qualifier, to address economic woes of the have-nots.
Shalom and have a good Sunday.
JMD : I think you had misconstrued the word resourceful in my comment. Surely I intended to wrote it without any malignant meaning to it. Even the term ‘hungry for success’ was intended to mean what it means literally, without any spin towards it 🙂
Anyway, most of your comment above I have replied in https://jebatmustdie.wordpress.com/2008/06/17/when-all-else-fail-samy-vellu-whacks-his-former-boss-while-other-umno-leaders-lost-their-balls/ especially under the comment by Woody at 17:04:29. Some of the comments after that had also addressed the issues brought up by you.
You are right about the Chinese’ guanxi. This is where the Malays lack. Even through the creation of Malay business council, the rich Malays were trapped in their own feeling of gandeur and failed to take care of their other struggling brethren. You were right to say that TDM failed to inculcate the right values in most of the successful Malays. Even when he had also recognised his failure in that area, he must not be held 100% responsible because ultimately, the responsibility lies on the shoulder of those Malays who are successful. Please read my remarks in that Woody commentary.
Thank you.
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Oops! both the smiley emoticons were an accident because of my use of the round brackets. Sorry.
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Dear JMD,
I did not misconstrue you but I beg your pardon for my writing giving the impression that I might have.
To clarify for you and for the record, I agree that you did not attach any malignant meaning to the word ‘resourceful’. I also agree that when you used the term ‘hungry for success’, it was intended to mean what it means literally, without any spin.
It was avowedly I who took the discussion a step further and in the direction it did. I’ll confess that my desire to push the envelope was what prompted me to leave my comments here when I’ve resisted the temptation to do so in other blogs.
The reason is this. I see you as a Mahathirist (pls correct me if I’m wrong). And I’d like to try and understand why you see Dr M, Umno and Anwar the way you do. And I specifically mean ‘y-o-u’ because if I had wanted to read about Mahathirism, I could have turned to the professional writers and scholars like Prof. Khoo Boo Teik.
Basically I’d like to fathom why a decent, educated and intelligent Malay believes Dr M did more good than bad, and why he thinks Umno should continue to lead the government. And my assessment is that you are one decent, educated and intelligent Malay it would be possible to conduct a civil discourse with in a public forum.
Earlier I said people either love or loathe Mahathir. No prizes for guessing which camp I belong to. But you have a favourable appraisal of him, all things considered even though you acknowledge some of his mistakes and faults.
Some see the ex-premier as hero, some as villain (same dichotomy with Jebat the Malaccan warrior). And I thought your point of view was worth drawing out, because of the tantalizing name you have given your blog.
I shall be away the next few days & offline. If you’re still agreeable to continuing our discussion, I will see you at ‘Samy Vellu’ when I return. Shalom.
JMD : I harbour no hard feelings towards your commentary and thus, no apology is needed. I welcome feedback in any of my articles as long as it is done tastefully. I had so many adverse/favourable comments and meaningful discussion with some of the more engaging readers and it is always interesting to learn another’s point of view.
Looking forward for you to drop by in my blog once again and thank you. As for me being a Mahathirist, I hope this article will clear the air –
Thank you and God bless.
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JMD,
Please allow me to comment on the very interesting repartee vis-a-vis aniseed. As this is your blog, I believe it is not out of order that permission was not solicited from aniseed. In this very intellectual discourse, I await in anticipation the eventual outcome, if any, of what has being queried. Being inquisitive and as is already apparent where my political inclinations lie, I seek the true motive in his/her engagement to dichotomous matters posed. Why I say this is that the very ambivalent nature that this person comes across intrigues me. Please forgive me for being intrusive and the physis in me that instinctively wants to profile a persona mala or bona fide.
Best regards
JMD : Not a problem mate.
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I suppose the problem with identifying whether Mahathir’s legacy is good or bad would depend on the bar of expectation one sets on his administration.
Most of us agree that Mahathir has propelled, transformed and thrusted Malaysia on to the world stage. He is to be credited for creating Malaysia’s middle class which proved to be a significant achievement.
For the Malays, it is the first time in five hundred years that we have become unbound from being beholden to the monarchy. The liberating episode has unwittingly transformed the monarchy and the respect that each accords to the other is refreshing. A far cry from we Malays being the “pacal yang hina”. JWW Birch would be smiling in his grave knowing that his opposition to malay debt slavery by the aristocratic class and his death was not in vain.
I know from little reading i do while surfing the net that PAS “credits” Mahathir for the social ills in the country. A very easy scapegoat for the complexity of urbanisation, social mobility and the economic shift and trend in income. It would not do PAS any favour to also remind its followers that Mahathir’s administration conincide with vigorous policy of inculcating Islamic values in the people.
In situation much like the above where Mahathir spearhead such campaign, the public wasn’t ready for a wholesale change in lifestyle, thus we see cosmetic application of religion. The net result of which would be in our search for God we allow ourselves to trample on the rights of others, which is of course not what God would have wanted. Having said that, it is unfair to heap the blame on Mahathir.
Mahathir’s focused need to change the economy resulted in the creation of a different kind of capitalism. In the West, capitalism has been propelled by changes in technology through the industry of its people. In Malaysia, capitalism is orchestrated by the state. Therefore its stability was rocked by the Asian financial crisis with much ease. Mahathir tried to implement his “konsep payung” that later turn up to be a rent seeking business by the unscrupulous.
For every turn for change he tried to make, we Malaysians have never been fast enough to catch on and in our haste to keep track of whatever he had planned, we tried finding shortcuts. We created the problem for ourselves. And having landed face flat on the mud, most of us choose to throw every dirt we can get our hands on at the poor old man.
DAP, being the socialist party they are have opposed every economic project Mahathir have tried to implement. If one bothers to take a score on whether such opposition was in hindsight valid, perhaps DAP and Pak Lah can walk shoulder to shoulder and call one and the other dUMB and DumbER.
I am asking those who question Mahathir’s legacy to do so bearing in mind that Mahathir is a human being.
He has his faults especially his unyielding belief that democracy must be guided by the State (personally, I have no issue with this). But had he tried to transform the economy and on the other hand do whats popular and allow a free for all democracy, surely his economic agenda would never have taken off. China as opppose to India is prime example.
Yet I know, those decent souls out there who would sacrifice economic prosperity for freedom. When I was younger, I championed such idealism but as someone with financial obigations hanging by the coat tails, such idealism must remain a pretty thought left in the mind on young restless men in universities raring to be let out into the world, guns blazing, believing that “demi cinta makan pasir pun tak pe”.
JMD : Thank you for the excellent commentary Lekiu. My thoughts exactly. Your comments complimented with what TDM had written in his blog today : http://test.chedet.com/che_det/2008/08/cronyism-and-the-nep.html
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Dear JMD,
Permission pls to address Lekiu?
Since I’m still out of town, only a brief note:
Lekiu,
After Mahathir
Oct 30th 2003 | KUALA LUMPUR
From The Economist print edition
“There was too much bad mixed in with the good in Dr Mahathir’s long reign.”
http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_NTSSRSN
As for the chedet post cited, here’s my conjecture.
The Old Man expects evaluation of his legacy to correspond with the view purveyed by the battalion of glorifying ampu-bodek comments in his blog. He’s blogging with gusto to self-justify all that he’s done, or in other words, so that history does not remember him badly.
But it’s all steadily unravelling after his rupture with AAB. M’sians have finally gotten the leeway to think & say things about TDM never permitted before, whether because earlier, the public space was clamped or if because of self-censorship.
But can I have an analysis of chedet on Aug 6, if either or both of you would care to lend your insight?
Also note that Dr M uploaded his post at 8.49am. The first comment came in at 8.57am.
It took the first commentator calling him/herself ‘pue’ all of 8 minutes — and this timing EXCLUDING his own typing speed & presuming he was either flashed Tun’s upload which caused him to immediately rush to his PC or he had his page already & ready tuned in to chedet — to digest TDM’s 30 points, reflect on their import and veracity and proclaim “YESS TUN.. IM SUPPORT U”.
Also note that the subsequent two comments came in at 3-minute intervals. Malaysia Boleh (?)
Anyway, now I’m caught out sneaking a read of JMD even when I’m away from home. Such a devoted interest in your blog! … 🙂
Shalom.
JMD : First and foremost, thank you for the time spent in this blog. I read the article you provided. Sorry to say as I do not subscribe to it, I was unable to read the whole article. Only the 1st two paragraphs was available to me and therefore, my subsequent comment on it will solely based on those paragraphs.
I would give compliments to the author as what was written was quite factual in nature such as ‘TDM stated the perils of democracy’ (which is true as democracy can often be abused and caused much chaos in some countries), ‘he rekindled war of words with Australia’ (due to the OZ wanted to be the US deputy sheriff in the region and chose to be in Asia but decided to go against the spirit of Asia etc), ‘Bush is a bare faced liar’ (as in the case of Iraq invasion) and ‘Jews rule the world by proxy’ (of course they do and there was nothing wrong in stating a fact. Note that TDM said this to push the Muslim world to be as powerful as the Jews).
Of course the Economist cherishes the opportunity to lambast TDM as I think TDM was often right in his assessment with regards to his point of views above. People at the receiving end of it wouldn’t like it hence, the said article was written. It is their right to criticise anyone and this should be extended to TDM as well.
The 2nd para contradicts the Western view of our affirmative action. The article seemed to criticise TDM for dismantling some of the affirmative action towards the end of his rule. Are they now supporting the affirmative action? Nevertheless, what it said was true. In the beginning, when TDM saw that the Malays lagged in almost all areas in the economy, he pushed for the development of the Malays but at the same time, TDM ALWAYS stated that this ‘crutches’ must stop one day and must not remain forever.
Now why do I defend TDM? What good does it do to me? Maybe it’s ‘Fardhu Kifayah’. I do not know. Perhaps the reasons are not too dissimilar with those who must criticise him at every turn.
But I will tell you this, TDM doesn’t expect people to remember him. I wrote an article about this here: https://jebatmustdie.wordpress.com/2008/04/09/apology-accepted/
TDM said in the prologue of his book – “Whether I was good or a bad Prime Minister is, of course not for me to say. When I am dead and gone, the judgement would be more accurate. Since I will not be around then, it would be quite meaningless to me. My children and friends would be the ones to savour the truth of bear the pain of whatever I am condemned for.”
Did you know that immediately after his retirement, there are so many people wanted to name this building or that school after his name but was adamantly shot down by him? He does not want any quarters to use his name since it is not his nature to be glorified by the people. That is TDM. Whatever he does, he did it sincerely and for the nation.
I would state here that I would see things objectively. Credit should be given when it’s due.
As for your notion that TDM blogs just to self glorify himself, I would say that in my opinion you, made the wrong conclusion. Firstly, his first grievances was when in 2006, Pak Lah cancelled the scenic bridge and Pak Lah did not even justify it convincingly. The cancellation caused the country more money than if it were to be built in the first place. Tha act of submitting to Singapore’s wishes really annoyed TDM.
Now, as a citizen of Malaysia, should his grievances and criticisms of any wrong doings be stifled? What irks him and the rakyat more was the inability of Pak Lah’s administration to provide credible answers. Mistakes after mistakes were made by Pak Lah which are disastrous for Malaysia. Surely you can see those mistakes?. If it’s not for TDM to highlight the issues, then the public would be oblivious to any wrong doings by the govt what more with the environment of ‘ampu-bodek’ in the cabinet who could see no wrong.
When you said his blog is only to self justify his past decisions, well I would say if it was not due to the concerted effort by the ‘4th floor boys’ to demonise the ex PM, and the overwhelming desire by those people who wanted an explanation from him, then TDM won’t trouble himself to explain to the masses in the first place. When you are being criticised for things which you believe is correct in the first place, wouldn’t you at least defend yourself? How else can you air your defense if the purportedly ‘freer’ main stream media chose not to lend any coverage to you?
To me, TDM does a lot better in defending his past decisions than Pak Lah would (Mr ‘I don’t know’ and ‘I am not aware of it’).
My dear Aniseed, you are greatly wrong when you said things are clamped or subjected to self censorship in the past. The things you just said are in fact more rampant during Pak Lah’s time. Just compare the cabinet meetings during TDM’s time and Pak Lah’s time and you will know the difference. The fact that the cabinet under Pak Lah lacked energy and deliberation shows how their cabinet meetings are devoid of any contructive arguments and how bleak our state of affairs have been for the past 5 years. Please read here – https://jebatmustdie.wordpress.com/2008/05/06/the-ceo-and-the-pegawai-tadbir/
If TDM was authoritarian as some would believe, then the existence of KeAdilan political party may not even be approved by the cabinet in April 1999. Now would a so called dictator be so magnanimous in giving his political enemy that much advantage? Ask Lee Kuan Yew if he agreed with that move. But TDM has his principles. And that goes beyond his personal interests.
As for the swift comments in his blog as soon as he posted them, well I think a lot of blog portals out there subscribe to TDM’s blog and as soon as a new article is published, those portals would be alerted. And it doesn’t take 2 minutes to read his latest article and to post that one liner comment. Why is this a contentious issue anyway? It just shows that with an average of 50,000 hits per day, his blog is very popular and browsed at every minute. It should not surprise anyone as TDM’s thoughts are highly anticipated and sought after. Some quarters cannot comprehend why TDM has so many supporters inside and outside Malaysia. They often asked themselves why on earth are people supporting him and not Anwar Ibrahim or Lim Kit Siang.
Bear in mind, TDM, if he was a celebrity, would have a very poor fan based. Why? Because he does not humour his fans. He doesn’t entertain much. His no nonsense attitude will turn off any apple polishers. He doesn’t go around the world and tell everyone how great he is or telling everyone he is the saviour etc. And the TDM that I know, when he was not yet in power, do not go around telling people that he would be a better Prime Minister than any other person. He doesn’t seek self glorification. All the gifts he received, he donated them so that the public can see in Langkawi. In 1996 Umno general assembly, he told the delegates not to glorify him or give excessive compliments. What is important is working towards achieving the nation’s aspirations. Quite different from Pak Lah’s style of hogging accolades and compliments don’t you think? Yet, TDM has more supporters and fans than any other public figures.
As for his Aug 6 article, it coincides with my commentary in my Samy Vellu’s article and my comments in https://jebatmustdie.wordpress.com/2008/05/09/the-ceo-and-the-pegawai-tadbir-explored-further/
Okay enough said. Thank you Aniseed. For your reading pleasure, may I recommend TDM’s articles for you to read while you’re away?
1. http://test.chedet.com/che_det/2008/05/a-weak-government-is-not-good.html
2. http://test.chedet.com/che_det/2008/06/cancellation-of-bridge-to-sing.html
3. http://test.chedet.com/che_det/2008/07/judges-misconduct.html
4. http://test.chedet.com/che_det/2008/07/the-apologists.html
5. http://test.chedet.com/che_det/2008/07/siapa-lantik-abdullah.html
Oh and another of my article – https://jebatmustdie.wordpress.com/2008/04/16/the-two-sides-of-a-coin-the-crisis-of-1987-1988/
Ok before this become tiresome, I bid you good day! 🙂
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Aniseed,
I doubt that those who paid compliments to Tun at his website are trying to “ampu bodek”. It serves no purpose. “Ampu Bodek” is done in the expectation of something. What could someone gain from such futile exercise ?
There are a lot of people out there who for some reason or another feels that Tun has contributed so much for the country. Paying him compliments is not wrong.
I believe Tun has a right to defend his legacy. Most politicians do exactly that, defend their legacy. Kissinger did it, Thatcher did it, Clinton tried, Bush will probably in the near future justify his Iraqi invasion in a published memoir.
As for saying things about Tun, I think during his administration PAS, DAP and KeADILan have been calling him all sorts of names. He has been accused of all sorts of things. From the libertarians in society, Tun is dubbed as a dictator, from the Islamists they called him an apostate, from the West they call him rascist, from the free marketeers they call him an international pariah in 1998.
All said and done, Mahathir has largely contributed to a democratic Malaysia more than Karpal and Lim Kit Siang ever did, albeit in an indirect fashion. By elevating the standard of living of Malaysians, we have been able to spend money saved by sending children abroad for education which contributed to higher expectation of the nature of government. His multimedia super corridor has contributed to freedom of speech in an unprecedented manner and ironically almost brought his own party down. He has done more for the cause of Islam than Nik Aziz and Hadi could possibly have done.
Granted, there have been some failures in his implelentation of projects, but that is something expected of a man who tried to change practically everything about Malaysia.
He even synchronised the time between Borneo and Peninsula Malaysia ! Every facet of living changed and our lives have been touched by this man in one way or the other.
Apart from Mokhtar Dahari and P Ramlee, Mahathir has been the best thing that has happened to this country.
JMD : It’s quite a conundrum when those who labelled him as an apostate did not see that TDM was the main propagator of the birth of UIA, Bank Islam, champion of the Muslim world against the West etc. He was also responsible to stop the consumption of liquors in military officers’ masses back in the early 80’s.
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Dear JMD,
The Economist article I cited is reproduced in full (url below),
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-11/04/content_278370.htm
The UK econs magazine also did a comprehensive critical appraisal in its special on TDM upon his retirement, and there were other good articles in that series.
Can I request the favour that you pls explain two items:
(1) What is ‘Fardhu Kifayah’?
(2) You said TDM was the main propagator of the birth of UIA, Bank Islam, etc. The general public is under the impression that it was DSAI who was responsible for Islamisation. Are we wrong?
On your rejoinder: “And it doesn’t take 2 minutes to read his latest article and to post that one liner comment.”
Well, the commentator responded within 8 minutes. Let’s minus one minute for logging on to the webpage and two minutes for typing his/her response, leaving about 5 minutes to read Tun’s 30 points or about 10 seconds to each point. Like wow! M’sia Book of Records for speed reading.
But that works out to near zero time for reflecting and pondering before the commentator proclaims, “YESS TUN.. IM SUPPORT U”. Don’t Che Det’s legion of fans stop to think before they speak, or is the ‘Saya sokong’ a Pavlovian conditioning [LOL! ]
The super swift response to Che Det is not really a contentious issue to me. Just funny-ha-ha and I wanted to share the joke with you & Lekiu. And to think the ex-premier targeted a 70 million population … all rolled from the same assembly line.
On the other hand, since me-tak-sokong and being much, much slower on the uptake, I shall require more than 8 minutes before my response to your input can be uploaded (alas for M’sia Boleh).
Thanks ever so much for penning your further thoughts on TDM — looks like I’ve come to the right place to hear views diametrical to my own — but I shall need to seriously muse on what you and Lekiu have written.
I do appreciate your reading list; will read your writing with pleasure and take Che Det’s as painful homework and a punishment. And get back as promised.
In the meantime, if you can access this two-parter article ‘Stop nonsense over half-bridge’ by Kim Quek (April 19, 2006), it covers the drawbacks of the half-baked idea comprehensively.
http://www.malaysiakini.com/opinions/49958
Shalom
JMD : Thank you Aniseed.
There are reasons why TDM last time wanted Malaysians achieve 70 million people by the 2050. The most paramount is military manpower. Currently we have only about 600,000 military personel in the army. Thailand and the Philiphines have millions of people in their army. Indonesia have even more than that.
At least we should be at par with them. It’s not that we are going to launch any attack to anyone anytime soon but we have the security in numbers in the future should anything happens. A good leader should be farsighted enough to see these things.
There are many other reasons why he wanted Malaysia to have 70 million people. I hope somebody out there can come up with other advantages this country can benefit without me telling it all.
As for the half bridge issue, Kim Quek was writing that article without feeling the pulse of the Johoreans. Tambak Johor needed to be pulled down. It’s damaging the eco system and dampening the economy of Johor. If Kim Quek’s only defense was – ‘grandiose, high-cost and crony-driven for bumper profits without a tender being called and with no proper rationale’ then Kim Quek is one of the people who is short sighted and can’t see the bigger picture. He was just opposing it just for the sake of opposing. And to cancel the bridge and to incur an amount far bigger than to actually build it in the first place was really dumb act.
Mind you, in the 80’s even the Penang Bridge was considered grandiose. Even the PLUS highway was considered wasteful by the people like Kim Quek. If we have many Kim Queks in this nation, then nothing will be built. Kim Quek should really study the need of the new bridge to replace the Tambak Johor and why through the failed discussions with the recalcitrant and the selfish Singaporean Government, we had to think outside the box and come up with the next best solution, the half bridge (Scenic Bridge). And Kim Quek should really, really study it before writing that article. Eternal hatred towards TDM should not cloud the issue on the vital decision which was to be made as it was not all about TDM.
As for your first 2 questions, the closest meaning I can find to Fardu Kifayah would be ‘public duty’.
And for the birth of UIA and Bank Islam, well, it was a common fallacy that DSAI was knwon to be the main propagator of these two institutions.
Bank Islam was established in 1983. Other than TDM, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah should also be credited as he was the Finance Minister at that time. There are other people but certainly not DSAI. He just came into the government a year before. He was only 36 years old. Not even a full minister yet.
Same goes for UIA which was established in 1983 as well. But of course, DSAI was APPOINTED by TDM as the Education Minister in 1986 and he helped developed UIA further. His stint as the finance minister since 1991 also propelled him to be closely associated with Bank Islam.
DSAI when he was in the govt, was known to lace his speech with Islamic values and thus the general public thought that he was the main factor in the Islamisation of Malaysia in the 80’s and 90’s. I leave it to the public to ponder. But the truth is, with regards with the two institutions I mentioned earlier, no way in hell DSAI can claim that he was the main force behind the setting up of UIA and Bank Islam.
Thank you.
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Thank you! JMD for your thoughtfulness.
A friend in whom I confided joked that there is a lesson to be learned, i.e. people (critics) should be careful when they hentam Dr M dengan sewenang-wenangnya … nanti ditimpa bala pula.
Like ‘Curse of the M-ummy’. He also said those who support Mahathir intelligently are actually liberal and kind, wink. Hope you had a good laugh; he was kind enough not to.
JMD : Not a problem Aniseed 🙂 Also, no bala will come your way I assure you. You have the right to have an opinion and I had fun discussing it with you.
Thank you again and goodnight.
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Dear JMD,
I wrote a reply to Samy but encountered technical difficulty posting. Maybe it was too long! (?)
JMD : Will look into it. If it’s too long, it may end up among the spam comments! 🙂
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Dengan izin tuan empunya blog,
ingin saya tujukan sepatah dua (tertera di bawah) kepada Hang Lekiu,
Tapi terlebih dahulu, biar saya minta seratus ampun kerana lewat membalas nukilan Lekiu, yang telah sudi memberi maklum balas. Sepertimana yang diketahui JMD, ada aral melintang ataupun dengan kata lain, saya menghadapi sedikit masalah teknikal taktala cuba membuat posting awal tadi.
Pendapat yang dianjurkan Lekiu bahawasanya para peminat Che Det menyampaikan puji-pujian melangit bukan kerana hendak mengampu bodek tetapi sebagai tanda penghargaan terhadap budi dan bakti TDM yang melambak-lambak kepada negara … itu boleh diterima saya.
Tak salah kalau segerombolan besar Che Detters acapkali menyanjung tinggi, meluahkan sepenuh rasa kasih sayang ataupun asyik melepas rindu kepada Tun yang dijulang khalayak ramai. Dan sekiranya mereka tak sempat menyuarakan ‘Saya sokong’ dalam lingkungan tempoh masa 8 minit … kempunan nanti!
Perihal TDM blogging kerana terdorong untuk membela warisan dan penilaian sejarah dirinya; “a man who tried to change practically everything about Malaysia” — itulah perkara yang paling menakjubkan! Cita-cita berserta azam TDM tidak pernah mengenal had batasan bilamana beliau membentuk kerangka Malaysia Boleh mengikut acuan unik Mahathirisme-nya.
Pada hemat saya, perubahan yang dibawa TDM lebih memudaratkan daripada memanfaatkan masyarakat umum. Memang saya menongkah arus di laman web ini, tapi saya fikir ada faedahnya juga jika diketengahkan pendapat yang sebaliknya. Memandang dari pelbagai sudut akan memberikan pemahaman lebih menyeluruh sebab kalau sekali imbas, blog JMD macam-lah suatu keseragaman sahaja — everybody here loves Tun.
Ayo-yo, mana boleh kan? Diversity is the spice of life.
Shalom.
JMD : I’m flabbergasted bt nevertheless very impressed w ur ability 2 write in near perfect BM! 🙂 I leave ur comment 4 readers 2 ponder. Will b back soon. BTW, u dun knw hw many ppl r anti TDM here. Bt all of them filled w foul languages bt no substance. Kids might read this blog! 🙂 U hv kindred w similar inclination here 2 in d form of Andipool, Woody etc so dun worry.
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Dear JMD & Lekiu,
I forgot to say Thank You earlier.
Just one minor clarification: JMD, you were mistaken to think, “As for your notion that TDM blogs just to self glorify himself, I would say that in my opinion you, made the wrong conclusion.”
If you re-read, you’ll find I had meant his commentators glorify him, while TDM self-justifies his past actions in office.
Lekiu read me correctly in that I said Che Det visitors mostly pay the Tun compliments rather than contribute fresh insight, and that he writes to defend his legacy.
Salam
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Interesting debate going on back here. Carry on, folks.
I’ll be back periodically to see if there’s further developments.
Meanwhile, I’m just wondering if the word ‘mahathirism’ is a new terminology only applicable for de-constructing TDM’s legacy or will it have the opposite effect. Future historians sifting through internet archives will probably come across exchanges such as these here and try to derive a proper meaning to the word.
Let’s not disappoint them, shall we.
“The Net is written with indelible ink”.
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JMD,
Accounting in London? what year was that?
Just wondering whether we have crossed the same path..
Cheers.
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