THE INFORMATION DEPARTMENT

THE INFORMATION DEPARTMENT 6^th February 2010

On 11^thJuly 2010, The Tan Sri Mohamed Rahmat Complex in Pulai, Johor will be officially opened by YAB Datuk Seri Najib Bin Tun Abdul Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia and I think it’s appropriate for me to re-post an article that I’ve written about 6 month ago, just to remember the legendary Tok Mat of Pulai.

General Election 2008 will be long remembered by every Malaysian as the day of reckoning for the BN government. It shook the nation at 11.0 Magnitude on Richter scale, and followed by a great Tsunami that almost wiped out a ruling coalition of 60 years. Everyone felt the tremor and the possibility of a backlash month’s before the election but the PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi went on with an early election. I am not sure why but it was definitely a wrong time and the consequences were a total disaster. Everyone anticipated a fierce battle between BN coalition and the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) new coalition. The opposition’s quest for change and their brutal campaign nearly won them the Coveted prize but somehow BN were able to squeeze through with a weak majority and formed the government. It was a wake up call and they know that if they don’t sort out and correct the wrong, there won’t be a BN government after the next general election. That is quite certain and all BN component parties are aware of the uphill battle that awaits them to bring back the voters that deceived the party. The 2 main components party MCA and MIC was shredded to pieces and GERAKAN were completely wiped out.

It was a heavy defeat and recovery will take a very long time but the work must start now if we want to win back the voters and restore our 2/3 majority in Parliament. The loss could be narrowed down to a single movement, Hindraf and how the opposition capitalized on the emotion of Indians and secured a big victory for them. In the earlier days, Indians in Malaysia doesn’t have any opposition party to choose from except MIC, PPP, IPF and Gerakan, who are part of the BN coalition. There was only one opposition party that was made available for the Indians, DAP but it failed to lure the Indians because it was completely controlled by the Chinese and their own ideology. The Indians were somehow fixed in a situation where they have to vote for BN, but everything changed when PKR emerged as a multi-racial party and the charismatic Datuk Sri Anwar Ibrahim as the opposition leader. With the emergence of Hindraf and their mega rally on the 25^th Nov 2007, PKR took centre stage as the savior for the Indian community and DSAI was hailed as a “Hero” and The Chosen One” by the people.

I wouldn’t believe it in thousand years if someone tells me that Indians are supporting PAS. On the nomination day at my own division in Pulai, Johor, I witnessed the unthinkable, about 100 Indians carrying PAS flag and walking towards the nomination center. I could see their anger and frustration; it was a very sad scenario, looking at them being fooled by the opposition party that was purely a religious party. What happened, what went wrong and why are all these Indians with PAS. It will be absurd to say that the Indians are synonymous with PAS ideology but rather showing their protest against the government by associating themselves with PAS. One thing I’m really certain, those people are there not because they love PAS but because they hate us.

There were many theories as of why BN fared badly at the pools and everyone pointing their fingers at each other, GERAKAN was wiped out completely, MCA & MIC lost almost 75% of their contested seats and UMNO took a severe beating with a large number of MP’s and Cabinet Ministers lost their seat. The opposition’s had the media at their control and they totally monopolized the Electronic Media to their advantage and that is the cause of our heavy defeat. The “Rakyat” started to believe that the electronic media is the real deal because they come up with the news first and our printed media carries the same news 12-24hours later. The human mind has the tendency to register the first news as the real news, anything else after that is just additional information where the brain compares it with the real news it had registered. Well, it’s very difficult to convince the brain that the information registered earlier was inaccurate and that was what happened to the “Rakyat”, and they voted the opposition.

It is the job of the Information Department / Information Ministries to ensure that a proper system to streamline the news and media and only the truth reaches the “Rakyat”. The Electronic Media has the least restriction, therefore anyone can write and post their news without fear and confusion arises as to which is the real news. The opposition has no problem with that, by putting various character’s to news, the Rakyat will be at a crossroad, not knowing who is telling the truth, as far as the “rakyat’s”, doesn’t believe the government, the opposition is on the right track. I think in order to relate to the “Rakyat”, the government should come up with an independent channel on TV & Radio to give the people all the news that they require. Whenever someone tells us about latest news around the globe, the first thing we do is to check on CNN/BBC, because we believe that this channel only gives the right story and truth. Our own Truth Channel will eventually command a huge crowd, just because we are giving them all the news without compromising the truth.

There was once a man; he has many names, Tok Mat, Mat Setia, Mat Umno, Mat Bulat and Mr. Propaganda. Tan Sri Mohamed Bin Rahmat was not the Minister of the Information Ministry but Information Ministry was Tan Sri Mohamad Bin Rahmat. He was the walking news, information, media and the face of Barisan Nasional. He also maintains a very cordial relationship with journalist, reporter’s, artists, Radio Televisyen Malaysia and Press to collect and share information about anything. He kept himself available and very approachable at all time and this enables him to know everything that is going on in the country. He is also the true party man, a LOYAL servant to his superiors and to the people. His friendly nature is not the yardstick to measure his character; he is a total disciplinarian and takes his work very seriously. He won’t hesitate to take action on anyone in regards to the party; many were suspended or sacked when he was Secretary General of UMNO for breaching the party rules. He also never hesitates to make new rules and bring discipline and good image to an organization, ask Amy and Awie about their hair and scissors.

He was the most important Minister during the early years of Dr. Mahathir’s reign as Prime Minister and it’s duly due to Tok Mat’s loyalty, sincerity and his ability as the information minister. The de-registration of UMNO and sacking of the Lord President Tun Salleh Abbas almost derailed Dr. Mahathir from his position as President of UMNO and Prime Minister. UMNO split into two fractions and many cabinet minister and senior UMNO members cut ties with the PM and joined Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah in his newly formed Semangat 46 party. Tok Mat’s loyalty was a blessing in disguise for Dr. Mahathir and since all the UMNO assets were frozen due to the de-register of the party, the going gets tougher. It was written in an article that Tok Mat and a few UMNO stalwarts were at Sri Perdana, the residence of the Prime Minister to discuss about the formation of a new party. They collected RM274 and went on to register a new party called UMNO BARU. Well, when you have Mr. Propaganda on your side with every information at his fingertips, the newly formed party couldn’t fail. The party’s strength was soon restored and Dr. Mahathir won the UMNO Presidential Election against Tengku Razaleigh with a narrow margin. UMNO and BN were back on track but the split in the party severely affected the “Rakyat” and something need to be done to get them to support the PM and BN. That was the time Dr. Mahathir popularity was at the lowest and the man who was handpicked to restore the PM’s image was the Information Minister/ Sec Gen of UMNO, Tan Sri Mohamad Rahmat.

The legendary campaign called “SETIA” was launched to educate loyalty among the “Rakyat” and followed up with the “SEMARAK” campaign. Tok Mat made the platform for Dr. Mahathir to go on a nationwide campaign to meet the people and strengthen his support and it was a tremendous success. Dr. Mahathir stayed on as PM for another 15 years and the credit should go to Tok Mat for his effort and service to the President and Party.

He was an Icon and the most outstanding Information Minister ever; the Tsunami of 2008 GE would not have taken place if he was at the helm. We have to change our system and restore the Information Department to its previous glory, every branch, division, state and federal Information Head should be well equipped with knowledge, access and freedom to be able to move around and restore the trust of the “Rakyat”. We have seen an excellent Information Chief, Tan Sri Mohamed Rahmat and I being the Information Chief for MIC Bahagian PULAI, the birth place of the legendary Tok Mat feel’s ashamed for not being able to follow his footsteps. If we want to restore our party to its glorious days, the Information Department and Information Chief’s need to function and not kept as a ceremonial appointments as what it is now. We have many leader with many recognitions to their name, Tunku Abdul Rahman as Bapa Kermerdekaan, Tun Abdul Razak as Bapa Pembangunan , Tun Hussein Onn as Bapa Perpaduan, Tun Dr. Mahathir as Bapa Permodenan and I agree with some of the article written on Tok Mat claiming that his contribution to the party and country is nothing less than the 5 Prime Minister he had served in various capacity, therefore he is also should be honored as Bapa UMNO Baru, the party he formed with Dr. Mahathir in 1987. His UMNO membership number was 00000003, after Dr. Mahathir and Dr. Siti Hasmah respectively. Even his membership number indicates his contribution and his position within UMNO at that time. I personally prefer the title Bapa Informasi, because that was what he was, information, news and facts.

Captain.....

NATIONAL TREASURE, DON'T LOOSE THIS GIRL

The father was an orphan, raised by the grandmother for less than a year before she died, he was sent to an orphanage in Durian Tunggal, Malacca until he was deemed old enough to leave. He left the orphanage and started working at various places and finally found a job at a shipyard in Singapore. His education level is not much and he was suffering from diabetic for a long time.

The mother comes from Muar, a big family of about 14 siblings. They are not from a rich family, therefore the girls usually sacrifice their education in order for the boys to get proper educations. She didn’t go beyond LCE (PMR) and later in life got married to the man above.

They were blessed with a daughter, Sharmila A/P M Sivam, who grew up without much luxury. She is the father’s pet and very attach to him. The mother was the strict one, I can see her fear towards her mother, fear in the sense of doesn’t want to disobey or make the mother upset. Sharmila is a very pleasant girl; I sat and talk to her for hours, just trying to investigate what makes her so special. In-fact I recorded the so called interview that I did with her and played over and over again just to come up with a firm conclusion of why she could do it. Let me tell the whole story first.

The parents were not professionals or highly educated, her father could only secure a job at a shipyard to support his family. Her mother was a housewife and they lived a moderate life without much luxury but full of happiness. In 2007, her father was put on dialysis twice a week and couldn’t work at the shipyard anymore. He manages to secure a job as a security guard in Plentong, Masai. Luckily he was doing the night shifts; therefore he could go for his dialysis without fail during daytime. They stay in Taman Pulai Emas, Skudai but the government dialysis center is in Kulai, which is quite a distance from their place. I wonder why there’s no government dialysis center around this area, the private one is obviously very expensive for them.

Year 2009 was an important year for Sharmila, she’s sitting for her SPM examination and she is not only carrying the parents hope but her school’s hope as well. She was the school’s top student and scored a perfect 16A+ in her SPM trial. She was really excited about the exam and couldn’t wait for it to start, but, life is full of twists and turns, disaster struck her family. Her father was transferred to day shift at his work place because he was not very alert at night, according to his superiors. He couldn’t get his dialysis done regularly and at times only once a week, so his health took a beating and about one week before her SPM, he collapsed. They rushed him to the hospital and after a few hours of waiting, the hospital staff’s finally attended to him. He was placed in the Intensive Care Unit and slowly slips into a coma. Her mother mother had to stay with her husband, so Sharmila was alone at home preparing for her SPM.

Sharmila was getting ready to go for her exam when her mother called from the hospital; she said that someone wants to wish her luck. Her father was on the phone and spoke to Sharmila for a while, told her to do well and don’t worry about him. Halfway through her exams, she was getting ready to leave to school, she felt something amiss, her mother calls her every morning to see if everything is all right but that morning she never called. She went for her exams and during the break she manages to call her and she told that everything is fine and ask her to finish her exams and come back home early.

When she arrives home, she saw a small lorry in front of her house and she asked the man what he wants. The lorry driver told her, he came to fix the tents before the body arrives and only then she realized that her father had passed away. She got the news from the lorry driver and her whole world collapses at that instance. Later, her mother told her that her father’s condition worsens in the early hours of the morning and finally pronounced dead at 10am.

The screaming and crying were inevitable now, nobody could console her, and she was basically lying beside her father’s lifeless body throughout the night. Her SPM was over, she gave up and her mother didn’t have the strength to ask her to go for the exams. She still has 7 papers to go and tomorrow morning is an important paper, Chemistry. Early morning her teacher came to her house and force her to get ready to go to school, the teacher pleaded with her to just attend the exam because if she didn’t sit for the chemistry paper, the entire exam will not be counted, chemistry is a principle subject. She did sit for the exam on condition that they keep her father’s body till she comes back home. Her last paper for the day was Chemistry 3 and it’s a 1 ½ hour’s exam but time is running out, she need to be heading back home by 3:30pm. Well, she sat for the exam, within half an hour she finished the paper and were on her way back home to bid farewell to her father.

She did her father’s last rite, very unusual for a girl to do this ritual, but the priest allowed her to do it and she did score A+ for her Chemistry. She was full of praises for her teachers who took so much effort in picking her up and made sure she sit for all the papers without fail and saved her future. Sharmila topped the country with 16A (12A+, 3A, 1A-) but all the media claims that a Sarawakian girl were the top student in the country with 12A+. I think it’s because she took 12 subject and scored A+ in all the subject but what Sharmila achieved went unnoticed. She scored A+ for Tasawwur Islam and the additional 7 subject’s; she studied on her own without any guidance from her teachers. Attending Tuition is a must for everyone nowadays but Sharmila never attended tuition in her life, maybe it’s too expensive or she is just too good on her own.

She also secured a JPA Scholarship to do medicine, but not at any of the top universities in Europe. She will be doing A’levels at a college near Shah Alam and continue her medical degree in Malacca Manipal college and Manipal University in India. Those were the days when we hear top students doing medicine in UK, Ireland and Australia. I wonder who are the JPA student’s selected to do medicine in those glamorous universities, must be the less intelligent one, of course. Let’s not complain, at least she got a JPA scholarship, that itself is a blessing for a poor girl. She want’s to become a doctor and specialize in the disease that killed her father, without a doubt she will achieve it and probably more.

What is so special about her?

1. She is just an average girl born to a working class family with just basic education
2. She was good in her studies since small, always first in class
3. Never went for any tuition
4. She has read over 1000 books, novels, fiction,history or anything that interest’s her
5. Her parents buy her books but most of it she borrows from school and public libraries
6. She doesn’t like watching TV, she told me she never completed any movie she watched, always a bit here and there. It just shows that she is not interested in TV and movies
7. Her first theatre movie is after her PMR results, she went with her cousins and parents to watch a Tamil movie, VEL, her first movie at the big screen.
8. Her mother is very strict with her, always checking and making sure she is doing her work. Her mother also sacrifice watching TV when she is at home.
9. She doesn’t have a hand phone
10. She doesn’t have a computer at home or go to cyber café to surf the net
11. She opened her email account when the application for JPA Scholarship demanded for one.
12. No face book or chatting
13. She has a few friends at school and they regularly discuss about studies
14. She was active in her co-curicular activities
15. She was the Head-Prefect in school
16. Very active in games, sports and uniform societies
17. She is not a nerd, a normal girl
18. She doesn’t have a favourite hero or an idol, she’s not interested in all these at all
19. Her father died halfway through her SPM and she still had 7 subject to complete
20. She had great teachers, they cared for her
21. She completed her exams, great results and made her father in heaven proud

How she studied, her secrets revealed?

1. She concentrates in class, full attention to what the teacher teaches
2. Comes back home about 3pm, sometimes 5pm. Relax for a while, bathe and do homework
3. She do revision and goes to bed about 11pm
4. Wakes up at 4am just to do Mathematics, she said she can focus on math only at that time
5. Constant study is her secret, even in form 4, she was doing the same routine.
6. She said that there is nothing more interesting or exciting than her studies.
7. She loves to read and won many competition
8. She doesn’t have any other interest in her head, just her studies
9. Her will power and determination to succeed surpass everything

My Conclusions;

She was a girl who was not influenced by the world, she loves books and that's all that matters to her. She is not a book worm, but even when she was not studying her passion were novels and other books. Her mother played a huge role in raising the girl who only loved books, everything else is boring for her. She has no stress or worries over boys, movies, songs, favourite singer, actor, friends, shopping, make-up, clothes, hand phone, computer, chatting etc. I have not seen a girl like her before, she is so simple, down to earth and very cheerful. She is destined for greater things in life and while she is still around, students all over Malaysia should call her and get some tips on how to get great results.

A lot of my friends ask me, why i am singing praises for her when there are many who achieved similar results in the past. Well, i told them, it's not the same. I seen a similar story about a boy who studied through hardship, determined to succeed and changed the future of his family, siblings and his generation. His father was a JKR lorry driver, stayed in a very small house with a single 40 watts bulb to light up the whole house. He will study day and night under that bulb, the younger siblings need to remind him if its time for lunch or dinner.His will, to be the best eventually brought him glory and fame, he was one of the top students in the country and a very successful O & G doctor in Malacca.That boy was my eldest brother and it was my job to remind him to have lunch or dinner. My father is still around but the hardship and suffering my brother faced during his schooling years were beyond words. Maybe i write about his success story one day. I saw the similar quality in that girl, probably that's why i was so excited about her achievement.That's the reason why i wrote this article, to tell everyone that there are hope and possibilities in our life if we were determined to succeed.

Sharmila with my daughter

Sharmila, her mom and datuk Nur Jazlan(MP for Pulai) at prize giving ceremony.

PULAI MIC Agm, we presented Sharmila with awards and cash.

That is a result worth framing

THE INVASION OF MALAYSIA

What do people think of Malaysia?

If you are a foreigner and looking to go for a holiday, if you are an investor and wanting to start a business or if you are a senior citizen and looking for a retirement home, would Malaysia be in your list of choices. If the same question were thrown at us, which country will be in our lists, it's easier to choose which country that will not make our lists because you don't have to crack your head. Countries like Thailand, Iraq, Burma, Laos, Congo, Uganda, Afghanistan, etc. What are the similarities between these countries, they all are in political turmoil and basically referred as unstable. A few month ago, one of Malaysians favourite country was making headlines about foreign students being beaten and stabbed. I think there were 2 fatalities and a couple of injuries but the news had momentarily halt everyone from traveling to the country.This is a very small incident compared to the devastation that takes place elsewhere but people are paranoid and they are not going to travel until they feel it's safe again. If tourism is the main attraction of that country, can we imagine the loss. (My sister in law lives there and she is going to be very unhappy with my example)

What is our current situation?

Let's look at Malaysia, for the last 10 years we are in a political turmoil and it's all about one person, his ambition, his quest, his vision, his aspiration, his justice, his abuse, his black eye, his medical condition's, his sexual preferences, his foreign connections,etc, etc, etc. Well, it's either he is equal to 28 million people or our fear and misdeed's made him the unsung hero for the people. Whichever way you put it, they have screwed the country in the name of "Reformasi". The foreign media has a soft spot for DSAI and always in-favour of him by exaggerating the situation and propagate our country as troubled, corrupted, injustice, violence's, brutal and marginalisation. Mr. Al Gore was a perfect example, on November 16th 1998 at the APEC Forum in Kuala Lumpur he said this, “Democracy can give the stamp of legitimacy that reforms must have in order to be effective, and so, among nations who suffer economic crises, we continue to hear calls for democracy, calls for reform, in many languages. People power. (Reformasi). We hear them today, right here, right now, among the brave people of Malaysia". Well, he is pleading to all Malaysian to revolt against the government and proclaims that those on the streets are the brave people of Malaysia. Well Mr. Gore, most of the guys on the streets are not Malaysian, but illegal Indonesian and for you to loose the Presidency to Bush, sums up your intelligence.I was overseas and watching their local news and there's a news about a big demonstration that took place in Kuala Lumpur. Based on the news, all hell broke loose, many were injured, innocent people were sprayed with chemical water and about 200 people arrested. Immediately I called my friend in Kuala Lumpur to verify the news. He told me, it's the usual stuff, about 100 people carrying placards and shouting for Reformasi and they quietly dispersed after 2 hours. I hung up the phone and waited for the next news segment and there it was, the technology of editing. They have taken the footage from the BERSIH and HINDRAFF rally month's ago and edited it with the latest footage to make it look as though it's current news. The media suppose to report the news as it is, they are not to speculate or make their conclusion but i suppose Malaysia is exceptional. Why the media is doing this, who is asking the media to do this, and who will benefit out of this?.


Who is more important, a single person or a government?


The who and why is an ambiguous question, everyone has an opinion on who or which country supports this dirty tactic's but the fact remains that "Malaysia is in trouble, people are not happy with the corrupted government and they are venting out their anger on the streets asking for a change. We don't have to crack our head to figure that out, the foreign media will narrate it beautifully and will conclude their own interpretation of what is happening and what need to be done next. The man of the hour was former deputy prime minister and 2008 Time Magazines "100 most influential people in the world", Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who was sacked from the cabinet and thrown into jail for asking the government too many questions. He seems to be the only hope for a country of 28 million people. Is that true? Is he that powerful or we were weak than.
We always had oppositions and i personally believe that we should have a reliable opposition or a shadow government to keep the present government on toes and efficient.The only big opposition we faced since Independence were PAS & DAP and they were not much of a threat but the emergence of PKR paved the way for a stronger opposition's and greater threat to BN's authority. We lost our 2/3 majority in the last GE and that is the wake up call for everyone, now they are doing their best to fulfill their promises to the people. They are well aware that BN is not invincible anymore and they need to have a clean, credible, transparent and talented people to govern, in-order to convince voters. The sudden change in principle's and core value's among the opposition party are the very reason why they will destroy themselves in the future. A party like PAS should not compromise their principles just for a victory, i was shocked when Datuk Nik Aziz came to Hulu Selangor to campaign for Datuk Zahid when the latter was bombarded about his past drinking habits. They just brought him to assure the voters that the candidate accepted his mistake's in the past and he is a changed man. Well, they thought if these words were coming out of Tok Guru's mouth, Datuk Zahid's drinking legacy will be washed clean but the voters thought otherwise.

There was a time when PAS were the voice of Islam and DAP was the voice for the under privilege but with the sudden rise of PKR, they realise that this is the only chance to take over the government. They collaborated as a unit and Pakatan Rakyat was born. Anyone with half a brain can see that the pact had nothing to do with their core struggle or principle, it's all about Power & Glory. The next GE will be the the furthest distance PR will ever go, if they fail, then that is the end of PKR but PAS & DAP will still be around waiting for another opportunity or another hero to come along and bring them some additional seats in Parliament.

Let's be realistic, the present PM is not a push-over, he's tough, smart, versatile and very experienced man, it's not going to be easy for the opposition from now onwards. If DSAI is the saviour for the opposition, then PM Najib is the saviour for the BN. The fact is, PM is not passing his responsibility to other's, he is taking charge of everything and he is in full command. "Bring it on, is that all what you got", that is the sentence that is echoing in my head and i believe the PM is well prepared for this.


Are we ready for an Invasion?


The Americans invaded Iraq, even after UN rejected their intention for a holy purpose, that is to bring "PEACE" to Iraq and Middle-East. They went in and destroyed everything, killed thousands, wiped out the economy, brought the people to their knees, bombed every facility/communications and after killing the sons they successfully hanged the President. Then they introduce democratic election and let the Iraqis choose their next President.The American soldier's are slowly being shipped out and soon the Iraqis will have the country for themselves. The Americans had finally restored "PEACE" into Iraq and people are rejoicing on the streets in celebration and the Americans are still looking for the Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD). Please go to the Internet and see the devastation of the country, they will need another 30 years to get back on track, who is suffering now? The people, they are the victims and the helpless ones.

The Americans spend about 1.5 trillion for the war (not accurate) , they decide to act on their own because they are the Peacemakers of the world. Did they do it for free in the name of Love & Peace, well we need to see how many ship's departing the Iraqis port laden with crude oil and for how many decades. I'm just speculating, because Iraq has the 2nd largest oil reserve and you don't need to be an Einstein to figure that out.

All the spent bullets, missiles, rockets and bombs are products from the USA and these companies are giant's and probably our country's yearly budget is their yearly investment for R&D. Well, you cannot wind down these companies, they are the one that creates latest weapons and defense technology, if you still want to be known as a superpower then they need to spent a lot of money to keep this companies afloat.

If there is a war, once every 3-4 years, it will be good enough to generate income for these companies to sustain for another couple of years. In simple words, to maintain the superpower status and be better than any other country, their R&D on weapon technology, aircraft, submarines, ships, satellites, radar etc must be ongoing, they cannot shut down anything and to maintain all these R&D facilities, billions are needed. Well, what is the point of creating a new bomb without exploding it. How do you market your latest weapon, blasting on an isolated island or deserts are the old methods, the defence ministers all over the world want to see it in real-time so we need to start a war. We test all our equipments and have a recording and the readings as a mean to convince countries to place an order. These manufacturers, not only selling their products to the US Army but also advertising to the whole world about their new weapon. Whatever that had been spent for the war including additional charges will be sucked up in the form of Crude Oil for another 20 years or so. Did America loose anything in the war, they gain ten fold and every 3-4 years we will have a display of new weapons and fire-power and hopefully the next chosen country is not ours. I am sure everyone from everywhere around the world can make a simple conclusion like what i did but why are we keeping quiet, because we are not united. If 50 countries join together and say, enough, I'm sure we can evade wars and all these companies close down permanently. Earth will once again be in peace.!!!!!


What Iraq have in common with Malaysia?


Well, there we see gunfights, bombs and mutilated bodies and in Malaysia, we are very fine. Apart from monthly street demonstration, handing over memorandum and flowers,the continuous negative coverage by the foreign media worked well for the opposition's. Iraq was a straight forward fight but we don't even realise that we are at war, our water and food are being poisoned slowly (figure of speech). The irresponsible power driven leader's and the lying foreign media are slowly crippling our economy. We have lost billions from the foreign direct investment (FDI), tourism Industries, Manufacturing Industries etc, etc. The country is suffering and the opposition is pressing it down further. They knew, if they want to take over, Malaysia had to fail economically and declared bankrupt.

Their tactic of Economic Suffocation, to weaken the country economically and then tell the people that the present government failed to deliver is a smart move but an irresponsible one.


What PR going to do when they crippled the country and take over the Government?


I am sure the De-Facto Leader has his plans, his connection with the western world, world bank and Hedge Funds are very cordial and there will be an immediate fund injection to boost the economy. The transformation with the new government will be called Investment and basically more power but for us it is an INVASION. Aren't we done with that, we been ruled by Portuguese, Dutch and British for 446 years, they have exhumed everything that is valuable and left us with nothing but Independence. What are the PR government going to do in returning the favour.

I think they will have a ready solution, Penang could be the US Naval Base, A few of our oil blocks could be given to the highest bidder, Petronas could merge with Exxon Mobil, Singapore can buy outright of the Iskandar Development Region, Sell East Malaysia to Brunei, Philippines or Indonesia of even the Brook's Family might be interested. I am not simply writing for fun or speculating something out of nothing.

Don't you think that the opposition knows exactly what they are doing, how the economy is affected and how bad the real situation were. They also must have a contingency plan to revive the country with huge amount of money promised outside.

Why the Peacemaker's never invaded Somalia, Congo, Uganda, Thailand or Yugoslavia when there was war and heavy casualty. Well, when you decide to Invade, a question of who is going to finance or how are we going to recover our money is the key issue. The country listed above has nothing that interest them. Iraq was special, the world's oil reserve is depleting and Iraq owns the 2nd biggest oil reserves in the world.

OK, so Iraq has oil and there's a logic behind the Invasion but why Malaysia, what we have that interest them so much. Definitely not DSAI, they only interested in thing's that has value, so my guess is as good as yours. We will know, eventually.

The Present Government?


When we watch a football match at the stadium, it's always nice to sit at a higher place so to have a birds-eye view of the entire field and players. When we watch the game, we can see the mistakes, wrong passing, crosses and goals. We can actually see where the mistakes were and how the goal was scored and who is the culprit etc. Well, take the same critic and throw him on the field, we can see his flaws and errors.

The moral of the story is: When you are the opposition and never once govern the country, you can give so many stories and promises because you have no idea how the financial and budget of each and individual department or organisation operates.You can promise anything because if you loose, you have nothing to loose anyway but if you happen to win accidentally, who cares what you promise the people.
The present government couldn't afford to do that, because they are the ruling government and probably will rule again. They have to be right in their pledge's and promises because they cannot escape. Therefore, they will give a much responsible answer and promises during elections.

Why the government need to be funny?

The debate between DSAI & Datuk Sabri Chik, was the icing on the cake. I really don't understand why it took place and for what reason. DSAI just came out of jail and looking for a platform to address the nation and BN government at that time were so supportive of him or they really thought Datuk Sabri could upstage the Master and humiliate him in front of the entire nation.

There's no one at present who is even rated equal to DSAI in oratory skills, that is a fact and when watching the panel of analysis trying to determine who won the debate was even funnier. Do you think that DSAI care about the outcome of the results, He already celebrated his victory on the day the government agreed to a debate. It's simply shows the government's fear towards him and finding way's to pacify him.

He was not interested in the questions and answers but his focus were on the rakyat. With his skinny figure, skinny cheekbone and humble voice he captured the entire nation's audience with his sad and pleading voice, "Can't the government take out RM1 Billion from its coffer and use it to ease the burden of the rakyat's from the petrol/diesel hike". He said it about 3 times and won everyone sympathy. Maybe the government had a brilliant tactic in doing so, please let me know because if i don't get an answer, i will not rest in peace.

The present government is showing improvement and hopefully in the near future they will be a good and balanced government. There are many flaws in the system that we can argue till "the cows come home" but they are performing and the entire nation seems like evaluating their performances. I remember an elderly man back in Mersing who used to boast, even if we put a songkok as a BN candidate, the opponents will lose their deposits. It might be fitting at that time but GE2008 showed otherwise. That quote fitted the opposition's candidate in GE2008, various type of character's won and sitting in the Parliament now. As a rakyat, we thank the opposition for making the government more efficient and as a citizen of this country, we also like the opposition to find an alternate method to oppose the government and convince the voters, their present tactic of "destroy and then build" will not go down well with the rakyat when they realize it. So please Be aware?

Thank You.


Captain.....

Master's & Commander's

There are many options in life to be successful and my story is just about one profession I was forced into but came out good. This profession is not talked about very much but millions of people are working and make a good living out of it. In Malaysia, I’m not sure why our Indians are not aware of this profession or maybe they are mislead into believing that they need a high qualification to be able to join this field. If you want to be an officer, you need good results, an engineer also needs basic engineering knowledge but to become deck, engine or galley crew, there is no qualification. You just need to complete 2 safety course, Basic firefighting and Survival Craft which is conducted in many places in Malaysia. If you have these 2 certificate, you can go to the marine department and get a Discharge Book, which is you seaman's passport. With that, you are entitled to sail on any ship as a crew and get yourself some experience and work your way up. I have sailed with a Singaporean Officer who was a crew for 8 years and decided to study and becomes an officer. I had the honor to sail with him twice, once as a cadet when he was a 3rd Officer and once as a 2nd Officer when he was the chief Officer. He was eventually promoted as a captain and the last I heard, he was in charge of NOL fleet in Philippines. That is a real success story, not many in the world have done that these days. That guy was an Indian; his name is Captain Siva Subramaniam.

I am not so sure about how parents motivate their teenage kids nowadays but back in my school days there were only three options to choose from as a career, Doctor, Lawyer and Engineer. I'm sure there were many other professions available but Indians generally loves these three professions and since small we are being programmed to believe that only this profession exists. It is no exception that my family brought us up in the same manner, of course they sacrificed a lot, my father was a JKR lorry driver for 36 years, an obedient government servants and my mum was a housewife. Well, there were 4 of us, I was the youngest, I have 2 elder brother and an elder sister and all of us were schooling. Later in life, my mum had to work in a fertilizer factory to support our education and expenses. We went through hardship but my parents had a goal, to make sure we all excel in our studies and become professional.

My eldest brother was an exceptional student and his results were worth framing on the wall. He was one of the top students in MCE and HSC in Malaysia and obviously fulfilled my parents dream on becoming a doctor. He is a very successful O&G Specialist at Mahkota Medical Centre, Malacca. I was motivated by his success and drive myself to emulate him but not smart enough to get into the local university for Medicine as there is only certain number of Indians allowed for the medical seat and we Indians are competing among us for the seat. We don’t compete with nationwide students for courses in the university; we compete among ourselves to get the 20 or 30 seats available to our race. It was the turning point in my life and I decided not to burden anyone anymore, my brothers supported me when I sat for my form 6 exams and I decided I will go on my own.

I told myself, if I couldn’t secure anything in Malaysia then I try Singapore so I bought the newspaper and start looking at the offers in Singapore. They have numerous courses available and many are fully funded/scholarship and that is exactly what I was looking for. I saw an ad saying "A Career At Sea" with a picture of a cadet looking through an Azimuth mirror. The cadet looked nice in the white uniform and the ampulettes on his shoulder which signifies his ranking. I immediately liked it, something different and they pay you allowance to study. This is the first job that I applied and following day I applied for SIA pilot. I manage to complete my 2nd interview as a pilot and almost certain to get into SIA when Neptune Orient Lines (NOL), Singapore National Shipping Line called me for an interview. I asked my father if I should go for the interview and he told me "why not" and he took me to Singapore for the interview. I didn’t know head and tail of what I’m getting into but I’m determined to work and support myself without asking anything from my family. I got through the interview and was selected to join the PRE Sea Induction Course as a cadet officer in Singapore Polytechnics. The GM of NOL at that time was Mr. Goh Chok Tong, who later becomes Prime Minister of Singapore.

Now, I have 2 jobs waiting and I’m not sure which one to choose from, my mother made it easy for me, she said if ship gets into trouble, you can jump into the sea but if plane get into trouble you will crash and die. So, it's done, I am going to become a sailor and hopefully a captain in 10 years time. This is one profession where you need to start from the bottom, no matter how good your results were, you still need to go through life as a cadet and gradually climb the ladder based on your performances onboard and examination results. I successfully completed my course and was ready to join my first ship as a cadet officer. I need to clock 2 years of sea time as a cadet to be able to sit for my class 3 COC exam. The day arrived and I was taken on a boat from Clifford Pier to the anchored vessel at Eastern Anchorage, I was not alone, there was another guy by the name of Siva Subramaniam joining the ship as 3rd Officer. It was about 2am and after about 45 minute boat ride, I saw the ship and it was huge although later in life I realize it was the smallest ship I sailed on. The ship was a product tanker called MT Pacific Challenger and I am part of the crew now, I have duties and responsibilities as a cadet and I was very, very scared.

When we did our initial course, none of the lecturer's ever told us that the cadets are the cheap labor onboard, although we were there to learn and work at the same time; it was too much for me. The day I climbed the gangway onboard the ship and signed the papers, I have to abide by the rules and the superiors. Everyone on the ship is superior to me and I was the most junior, it was really tough, the ship sails all over the world and very rarely calls Singapore so whenever it reaches its home port, it takes in spare parts, deck stores, provision stores, engine room stores, cabin stores etc. I and the other cadets were arranging all these stuff for 24 hours nonstop, didn’t even realize that the ship already pass straits of Malacca and into the Indian ocean. Cadet’s life was tough, at least during my time and apart from doing the daily chores on deck we need to keep navigational watch on the bridge for 4 hours every day. My first port of call was Madras and I have to keep watch on deck, opening valves and pipes for the discharging of cargo. The captain is signing off from the ship and somehow I never liked him, I don’t think he liked me either. I was happy he signed off but worried about his replacement, just praying that he is at least human.

The next morning I was on duty at the manifold, where all the pipelines connected to shore and the gangway, Madras tanker terminal is really ancient, they don’t use any kind of machinery even to pull the ships wire-rope, about 20 people will pull the wire-rope and placed it on the bollard. Everyone wants to come onboard the ship by claiming his brother, uncle or nephew is working on the ship. Keeping them at bay is already a difficult task. I can talk Tamil therefore I have the task to talk to them and chase them away. It was about 4pm, a fair, tall and slightly bolding man clad in jeans and a white t-shirt with a big bag walk up the gangway and I stopped him halfway and told him he cannot come onboard. He ask for my name and rank and I told him I’m cadet Raghu, he told me he's Captain Imam, i laughed and told him you are the tenth guy claiming to be a captain so don’t waste my time and please go back down. He looked at me and smiled, turn back and walked down the gangway and went to the cargo control room and called the chief officer onboard, said to him that the cadet is not letting me up so I don’t think the ship could sail without a captain. My walkie-talkie started raining with flowery words, the chief officer was basically running on deck towards me and shouted every holy words that is in known to human, that when I realized I actually chased the real captain away, my heart sank, I’m dead meat, I screwed my career up, everything is over, I’ll be sent back home, end of my sailing career and the other cadets were just conforming what I have thought in my mind, not much of a help anyway. Captain Imam signaled to the chief officer asking me to come down and carry his luggage, of course in lightning speed I went down and without looking at his face I carried his bags and walked behind him. When we reached the ship's deck, the Chief Officer greeted the captain and apologized on my behalf saying that I’m new, just 5 days onboard, will give him extra work for his misdeeds etc, Captain Imam turn and looked at me, smiled and told the chief officer, why are you shouting, he did his job well, I didn’t show any papers or Id that I’m the captain so he chased me down, give him a break, let him arrange my stuff in my room.

Well, that man is my godfather and I am grateful to him for eternity, He is Captain Farhat Imam, an Indian citizen from New Delhi, his father was working with the late Prime Minister Indra Gandhi, or something like that but he made me what I am today. My life changed overnight, he was a good man, caring, intelligent, discipline, neat and very knowledgeable. Twice he tear of my resignation papers, first when he just join the ship and secondly when the ship came back to Singapore and I was allowed to signoff to attend my brother’s wedding. That day is still fresh in my mind, I was standing at the bridge wing with tears in my eyes, and I’m so close to home but cannot leave the ship to attend my brother’s wedding. Captain Imam came and ask me why I want to quit, he was holding my resignation paper in his hand, and I told him that I made a mistake, this profession is not for me, I am not that tough and I’m very attached to my family so leaving them and sailing across the ocean is not as easy as I thought. He shook his head, you don’t know what sailing is, you are sad because you cannot attend your brother's wedding, you should be happy that something joyous happening and be grateful to almighty, I was in the middle of Pacific Ocean when I got the news that my father passed away, I was the only son and they waited for me to come home. I wanted to jump into the sea and swim but I know there's nothing I could do except to pray and I did just that. The last thing a son wanted is to see his father's face before they buried him and I don’t have that privilege also. Now, tell me cadet Raghu, are you going to whine and curse your fate or get back to your duty. I looked up to him and said sir, now I’m more determine to quit because I don’t think I can go through what you went through. Let me signoff and I’ll find another career because this is not it, I know it. He became serious, ok he said, I cannot keep someone who doesn’t want to sail, you won’t be able to work thus you will burden everyone else, I will telex the office for a replacement and you can leave at the next port of call, that is in Aden, Yemen. I thanked him not knowing what his motive is and went on doing my work. The voyage to Yemen is about 2 weeks and I was doing my duty well and in the process learning much faster than anyone else. When the ship reached Yemen, the captain told me that my replacement didn’t arrive and have to wait until the ship reach Okinawa, Japan. That is another 20-23 days voyage, I cannot complain because the captain is helping me and I have to follow the rules. The ship reached Okinawa and again my replacement was not there, many other crew, engineers and officers sign-off and sign-on but no cadet, I was thinking how come there was no cadet, afterall they are the lowest rank person and easiest to find. The captain again told me, this time there is no more excuse from the company, ship is going to Singapore and definitely they will take you out.

There is another 10 days voyage and by the time the ship reached Singapore I would have sailed for almost 2 month already, I was on the bridge duty when the ship reached Singapore anchorage, while the captain busy looking for a spot to drop the anchor, I was at the bridge wing looking at the night skyline, the millions of lights sparkling through the night and the fresh breeze that brushes my hair, it’s the day I am saying goodbye to the sailing career which I chose and accepted defeat for the first time in my life. I lost not because I cannot work but I couldn't stay away from my parents, brothers and sisters, the toughest thing in life is not about working, it's about leaving the loved one's and lives alone. Loneliness is the toughest test a man can go through and I failed because I couldn't’t cope with it. The ship anchored and I hand over my duties to the other cadet and went down to my cabin. it was pass midnight and I was not sure what to do, to pack my things or to just lie down and wait, there was a knock on my door and when I open it, Captain Imam was standing there, so Raghooo, that's how he calls me, you have not packed yet, don’t you want to go back, you are just half hour away from land, and another 1 hour you will be in JB and back home, you don’t look happy. Sir, I don’t think I want to leave yet, I already clocked 2 month and I have another 4 month before I can sign-off officially, I don’t know what to do now. He pass me a paper, my resignation paper actually, and told me, baiya, I also never called for your replacement and for your information the ship cannot sail only when there's no captain, anyone else is not that important especially a cadet, I could have let you go in Madras itself but I saw your courage, hard work and your duty consciousness and I thought the company should not lose a good Captain in years to come so thank me and go to sleep. I looked at him and cried, I told him I will be the best that anyone can be, and I will make him proud. He smiled and told me “I know".

That day onwards, I become a true sailor, I loved my work, I am the first to volunteer for any risky job (like entering the tank, doing tank cleaning), organize sports activity, football, table tennis, darts competition, cross country (running around the ship, one full round is about 600 meters, OK) and anything that is deemed safe to do on board an oil tanker. We work like dogs, we have to clean 8 COT (cargo oil tanks) when there is a change in type of cargo to load, such as from diesel to naphtha (the tank is about 7 story high and 50 meters wide, when you are at the bottom of it, it like the alien movie, Smokey, dark and scary noises) . We have to gas free the tanks and once the hydrocarbon level is within the safe limit and the oxygen is 21% we enter the tank to wash and clean it thoroughly, even though the reading shows it’s safe to enter, there are bound to have poisonous gases in the tank and we are to immediately go up the ladder if we become noxious, and it happens on a daily basis and there were many fatalities occurred during tank cleaning, including one of my friend who died due to inhaling poisonous gas inside the tank, he was Paul Selvam, a Singaporean boy). They kept his dead body in the vegetable room for a few days until the ship reaches the port and many of the crew has told me they hear his voice saying he is cold, take him out of the vegetable room whenever they go down to the galley to eat after midnight. We get special allowance for cleaning the tanks, about USD100-USD200 per voyage. When I reach my 6th month, the company send telex about my signing off in the next port but I was already the senior cadet and all the other cadets signed off so I didn’t want to sign off and stayed on the ship for 11 month, it was the most joyous days of my life when I get to give the new cadets a lesson in sailing. I perfected and learned everything on the ship, now the chief officer will call me only when there is something important or when there's problem because I’m the only one who know every valves (thousands of valves), taking the reading of oil in the tanks, taking soundings and securing the ship prior sailing. Captain Imam signed off on my 7th month and he quit sailing because he was offered the important job as the safety master for the entire fleet in NOL. He moved to Singapore with his family and living there ever since and I kept in touch with him, he even gave me money when I came back for my class 3 COC examination and I have not paid him back till now, he is a father to me, the person I placed next to my father because I am what he made me believe I am. During my 6 month with him, many things happen which will drag this story to another 10 pages but he saved me more than once, there was one incident where the terminal crew in Pulau Bukum attacked my boatswain (bosun) who is a 60 year old man, I and another Chinese cadet were upset and attacked those guys and when the ship is about to sail, those guys gathered about 30 gangsters and demanded the captain to stop the ship, well if the captain listened to them, we are dead instantly but he refused and sailed out to Japan, those guys were so angry and start throwing sampling bottles on board and the entire ship's deck was filled with broken glass. We cleaned it the next day and when the company called to inquire, the captain defended us and refused to sack us for our doings, he said they defended their crew and nothing wrong with that.

Our bad luck, the ship completed discharge in Okinawa, Japan and our next load port is Pulau Bukom, Singapore. Hymn, both of us were pissing in our pants, that was the first time I shaved my moustache, hopefully those guys don’t recognize me but the captain has called for security and there were about 10 policemen guarding our ship while loading and we can see the Chinese gangsters cursing and swearing at us and we just show the peace sign. The entire ship’s crew was swearing at us because none were allowed to go shore or even to go down to the jetty to make a call. We took all the verbal abuse gracefully. I also had a privilege to follow Captain Imam to his mother in Law house in Karachi, It was Aidiladha (Hari Raya Haji) and every street were stacked with cow’s intestine and other inedible stuff, they were everywhere. We wanted to see Benazir Bhutto House so the taxi driver took us there, she was under house arrest then and at least we saw her house la, something is better than nothing. I had my first camel ride, a very painful experience, if you know what I mean. The bottom line is, I am not complaining am enjoying my life and that when I called my brother who is a doctor and told him, thank god I didn’t become a doctor, life is so much more than that.

Every profession has it's pros's and con's and the bottom line is whether we are into it or not, if I quit on the second month, I probably would have done something else and probably happy with my achievements but nothing would have replaced my achievement on board the ship, I struggle, suffered, cried, homesick and bullied but I manage to take it and eventually emerge victorious and never looked back since. I won the battle of running coward and made a hero out of myself, there are a thousand more stories to it on my quest to become a captain, I just talked about one ship, I sailed for about 12 years and guess what kind of exposure and situation I could have been, I was in Kuwait when Iraq invaded them in 1991, many oilfield at sea were torched, visibility were zero, we have to navigate by radar, two American battleship escorted us out of Persian gulf and we have to paint all the portholes black so that in the night there won’t be any lights emitting out, fearing the aircraft might drop a bomb on us. We were stranded in the Mississippi river near Baton Rouge when the great flood occurred, couldn’t sail out because don’t know where is the river, everything was water. We were hit by a bad weather at Australian bight near Tasmania where the waves were higher than the ship, the ship could not be steered and the captain decided to let the ship drift until the weather subside, eventually when we got control of the ship, we were few hundred miles away from Australia and heading towards the south pole. We have encountered numerous force 5/6/7 winds, tornado, hurricane, water sprout, tsunami and x-files (mysterious and un-explainable) but every day is a new day and ship never stops, work goes on and we still get paid. We know 75% of earth is water and I am proud to say that I probably covered about 80% of the earth.

There is something we need to know, god exists and nothing that man can create will stand against the nature and act of god. When you are at sea, you will know when the sea is so calm and you go down for tea and when you come up again, it looks like a battlefield, the sea can change within minutes from calm to a monster. I become close to god when I went to sea, no matter how big your ship is, how latest your equipment is, if the sea wants to swallow you, it just take less than a minute to send you to the bottom.

Recently, i scanned some of my old sailing pictures and uploaded in my Face Book, many were asking me why i am called a Captain so i put these pictures for everyone to see. There are also a few guys asking me if they can go sailing and how is the job scope. That's why i decided to write these article, hopefully it will give a idea what sailing is all about.

We are just the masters and commanders of a ship but god is the masters & commanders of the sea and the universe. I want to thank the Almighty for letting me see and experience the world he created and keeping me alive throughout my sailing days.

Captain.....

AGM MIC TAMAN PERLING (CHAIRMAN'S SPEECH)

AGM MIC CAWANGAN TAMAN PERLING


CHAIRMAN’ SPEECH


We are living in a multi-racial society where there are different culture, different language, different religion and different practices but our heart and mind must be on only one agenda that is to uphold “1 Malaysia”. Everyone was curious and puzzled when the Prime Minister launches this concept after taking over as the CEO of Malaysia. We were just hit by a Tsunami in the name of GE 2008, our worst defeat since Independence, the three main races in the country were divided and at loggerhead, waiting to erupt into a full blown annihilation of Malaysian. The opposition’s were protesting everything just for the sake of protesting, The Indians and Chinese quietly showed their unhappiness by voting the opposition’s. The ruling government just started picking up the pieces and trying in vain to restore order in the country, the situation was chaos.

Well, it’s almost 2 years since the Tsunami hit our ruling coalition but all the talk and dates given to topple the government didn’t materialized although BN was at it’s lowest since the coalition was formed. Why the National Coalition (BN) couldn’t be kicked out by a force so overwhelming and being supported by many Malaysian of all races. The opposition was so threatening and able to put up a shadow government within a few weeks to keep the pressure on the ruling coalition. If they wanted “change”, that was the time to take over but they missed the boat by a big distance. Why they failed, what was the cause of this failure? I ask myself a thousand times, trying to see what went wrong and analyzing the whole situation over and over again.

Tunku Abdul Rahman was the UMNO president who was pushing the British government for Independence; he eventually went to London to discuss on that matter. The British told Tunku, that there are also Indians and Chinese who lives in Malaya and they should be given a fair chance to live in Malaya so they ask Tunku to go back and find an amicable solution about the position of the other two races. Well, Tengku has no choice, they have to sit and discuss with the Indians and the Chinese, if they want independence. The day came and all the three leaders, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Tan Cheng Lock and Tun V. Sambanthan sat dawn and discussed. That discussion was the ultimate deal that will change the entire history of Malaya. Tengku requested that bumiputra should have certain privilege, Malay will be the national language, Chinese & Indians will be given 1 million citizenship for a start, they are allowed to practice their religious rights as long as they don’t disturb other religion, Chinese & Indians can have their own schools to learn their own language, and many more issues. That discussion among the three great leaders was known as The Social Contract. It was done in a very subtle and harmonious way and the whole coalition of BN was born and it’s just based on respect and trust.

When you build something with that kind of essences it will be hard to break, the bond between the races or the concept of 1 Malaysia were born on that faithful day. There will be extremist in any multi-racial party or government anywhere in the world but they are just a handful of people who has a different thinking or agenda. Of course the bond between the three races were tested on that bloody 13th may 1969, they tried to separate the three hands that was glued together but eventually they accepted defeat and given up. Although there were blood spilled, bodies massacred, and the country was under curfew the victory was eventually ours. God bless all the Malaysian’s who died on that day, their death was the proof that we are a nation united by just a simple handshake. It’s almost 50 years now but we are still not free completely from racial sentiments because out of 26 million people we bound to get some rotten eggs who believe he can break the Bond. The country has developed tremendously over the last three decade and the bumiputra has risen and caught up with the Chinese for a fair share of the country’s economy, nevertheless the Indians are still quite behind but the Prime Minister is putting a lot of effort in reviving them. There won’t be another racial riot because everyone in Malaysia is aware of the backlash if it actually happens. Only people who have nothing to loose will want to create a racial riot, but at present we have everything to loose if we indulge in these sorts of activities, the economy, peace and harmony will be disrupted and eventually will destroy our country.

Let me end this with simple incident that I personally witnessed somewhere in 2008, when the country was in chaos and in political obliquity. I use to go Bukit Bintang just to eat the chicken rice in my favorite Nasi Hailam Restaurant. I parked my car at the parking space and walk about 150 meters to the restaurant. When you walk towards the restaurant, you will pass federal hotel across the road, which has an Indian pub at the basement. Obviously at the foot of Federal Hotel, a lot of Indian guys will be standing or talking or waiting for friends. Across the hotel, we have many foot massage parlors, spas and a lot of Chinese guys standing at the road side and ask if you want woman. I was hungry and walk straight to the restaurant and ordered my food, while eating I heard a loud commotion, the owner told that there’s a fight outside. I went cold, because the first thing that strike my mind was the Indian boys outside the pub, I was hoping they didn’t hit a malay or a Chinese, because that was around June 2008, and the country was still under duress with election and racial tension. As every Malaysian, I also want to see what’s happening (sibuk le) and ran outside. There were three huge black guy’s, drunk and refuse to pay their taxi fare, the taxi driver was a small size, Malay guy in the early 50’s. He was pleading to them to pay and one of those guys punched the taxi driver on the face. The driver collapsed and went unconscious, my blood shot up but before I could even move, three Indian boys from across the road ran and started beating the guys, the black guys are huge, and they are gaining over the Indian guys, from nowhere two Chinese guys jumped into the party and they finally overpowered them. They made them sit on the road side on their knees and waited for the police to arrive. One of the black guys started to talk, he was a bit shaken up and asks the Indian and the Chinese guy, why u want to help a Muslim, you guys are fighting for your rights to be equal citizen and you want to help him now. What is wrong with you?

The “Pimp” answered, with some bad words, he said, lu luar punya orang, lu mau pukul Malaysia punya orang ka, kita gaduh ke, mati ka,bukan lu punya hal, ini kita punya hal, gaduh pun macam suami isteri la. Tapi orang luar cuba kurang ajar, lu tengok bukan, India, Cina sama Melayu, satu team la, bodoh. I don’t know weather the black guy understood what the “Pimp” was saying but all the busy onlookers were somehow touched and we all look at each other and started shaking hand like it was a victory. Those guys fought and have bruisers o their face and here we are shaking hand and being proud of them.

My example might not go well with many because it resembles violence and fight but the patriotism shown by the Indian boys and the “pimp” is the unbreakable bond that was sealed 55 years ago by three gentlemen with a golden handshake. The love and patriotism for my country still burns inside of me and it is also in you, so stop this nonsense’s and let’s build a beautiful Malaysia.


God Bless 1 Malaysia.


Captain……