cookie-cutter comments

luthien and zero are coming over so i’m very excited!

i can’t decide between sushi or just plain sushi. i’ve got a few phonecalls to make and a few things to arrange over my end, first (unfortunately). i’ve had to suffer the delightful ministrations of this manager from kl who’s down for an.. internal audit of sorts. unfortunately, that means each and everyone of us are passed through his grinding-machine of an intellect. but it’s great, though. [more..]

En Zainul Arifin has written some remarks regarding the whole Police abuse scandal in the NST today, and you can find the link to the article here: “Let’s not miss the wood for the trees“. I’m wondering whether any of his points are fair; I’m sure they are, if we read his remarks without qualification. I tend to believe that the truth is stranger than fiction, and that when examined properly, it does appear that generalizations have a basis in some truth (who woulda thought I’d say this…), that is to say, confirming the perception of the people who either make these generalizations or believe these generalizations.

Anyway, I’ve got some spare time, so I thought I’d look at his article properly (or as much as my liquified brains can tahan).

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Blogsome was down and I feared… (cue drama)!

Anyway, a bit of Pengkalan Pasir confusion. At 8.46pm I get a Star/Maxis sms, as follows:

“6/12 BN’s Hanafi Mamat has won the Pengkalan Pasir seat by a 133-vote majority.”

Then, later at about 9.47pm, I get this:

“6/12 BN has unofficial 129-vote majority in Pengkalan Pasir. There will be automatic (sic) recount at 10am tomorrow as margin is less that 2% of voter turnout.”

Should we wait or start waving white flags?

I thought things in Malaysia will tend to lean toward certain responses, mostly due to our government’s tendency to sit on its arse. My post is over here. Have things become depressingly predictable? Maybe not, but we should fear the coterie of geniuses running things here, shouldn’t we?

Maybe it’s time to take stock?

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I could hardly believe what I was reading. I got several links purloined off SingaporeAngle’s blog, here. It appears that Singapore’s hangman, recently ‘forced’ into retirement, is threatening to sue to Singapore government for wrongful dismissal. I.. I don’t know: I’ll allow you a few moments to let that sink in. Oh, and you can find the articles here and here.

Amid the debates and the storm of opinions from both countries, we have a situation where one man is making complaints about losing his job, which just so happens to be at the very heart of the controversy. Nguyen’s been hanged, now, but I’m hard-put to think my way through the absurdity: one man’s life hung (sic) on the balance, and the excutioner was having an argument about not being able to perform the execution. It’s worthy of a Monty Python skit, at the very least. [more..]

Section 12 of the Amnesty International report has a series of recommendations for the reform of the Police in Malaysia, starting right at the top with calls for the reform and/or repeal of restrictive laws that help maintain the oppressive regime perpetrated by the police.

Let’s suppose, for a while, that the general reasons for the continued oppression by the police is a function of a lack of transparency and the overt threat of force against citizens.

This overt threat of force is maintained by, among others, the ISA and the various emergency laws still in effect in Malaysia. There is also no oversight, and/or no avenues provided for legal representatives and/or NGOs, for repressive practices such as torture or ill-treatment. [more..]

I kicked up the dirt with my safety boots, walking through the puffs of sand and dust. It was overcast and the air smelled of rain, and the day was still young. I shuffled through a stack of papers on my clipboard, thinking about the sheer drama some people are willing to put up with - most of all in themselves. Hyperbole I can take: I’m prone to impressing little cousins and grand cousins that way. Melodramatizing the issue I cannot take.

Enter offending article A: Mrs B, let’s call her. Cute in that 40-plus, worn out way with highlighted hair and the usual layer of gunk on her face. She looked like she still had a body to impress, but knowing how elegantly-cut clothes and push-up bras do wonders, I remained skeptical. That doesn’t mean I didn’t pay close attention to her, of course. She had her hair tied up and wisps fell across her eyes as she frowned in the effort to speak BBC english: mangled, accented and completely ah lian. Endearing, ya? [more..]

Cowardice is defined as an ignoble fear in the face of danger or pain. An ignoble fear, a base, mean fear in the face of danger or pain. It surprised me. I don’t know anything enobling about fear; it turns your knees to water; you feel your stomach churn; your mouth goes dry, not an ounce of spittle left. If you have loved ones, your fear turns into fear for them.

I wonder how far outrage really outpaces fear. Outrage is all well and good, but when you’re allowed to think things through, I wonder how fast conclusions are drawn about your own fate. I wonder how long the government will continue to encumber us with outrage, but maybe I’m more concerned about how long the government intends for us to fear them.

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