QUIS CUSTODIET IPSOS CUSTODES? PART III

or WHO GUARDS THE GUARDIANS?
by platonicaristotledupopulous, donplaypuks® intrepid sentinel for guardians’ affairs

REDEMPTION

There are two main reasons for this quandry we find ourselves in. We are at a cross-roads and we need to understand why we are where we are. How did we arrive at this helpless state when we are one of the few nations on God’s earth with a quintuple cushion to our Economy – Oil, Commodities, Fair Weather, Strategic Location between East and West and a United bi-lingual, multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-religious hard-working People?

The first reason for this debacle is the indiscriminate implementation of the New Economic Policy (NEP), especially after 1980. Doctrinaire politics!

This has resulted in the lowering of educational standards to such a degree that many who once may have been hard pushed to secure jobs at general administration levels, and there is no monopoly on race here, today sit in the higher echelons of the civil service, judiciary, police, schools, universities and medical boards. Others enjoy plum, cushy sinecure posts as Chairmen and Corporate Captains with absolutely no insecurity as regards tenure of office or having to measure up to internationally acceptable performance standards.

We foreswore MERITOCRACY to spite our own faces! And this has encouraged legions of mediocrity resulting from a home-grown breed of Rent Seekers and Mr. 10%’s, curiously touted as Glocal (Global + Local) Towering Entrepreneurs, who risked not a single cent that could be defined as their own! From here, to acceptance of corruption as a way of life, was inevitable, a logical step.

The second reason for our failure? We did not realise who guards the Guardians.

IT IS US! WE SHALL GUARD THE GUARDIANS!

Yes, I, You, We and Us. THE PEOPLE. WE SHALL GUARD THE GUARDIANS!

We did not read the American Declaration of Independence carefully. We did not realise that Kings and Prime Ministers derive their just powers to govern from the legitimacy granted by THE PEOPLE. US !! Why else do we have Constitutionally guaranteed mandatory General Elections? They absolutely need our swoosh on the ballot papers to give them the LEGAL AND MORAL RIGHT to govern us. We almost forgot about that, until the General Elections of 8th March 2008, which after 31st August 1957 (Independence Day), 16th September 1963 (Malaysia Inauguration Day) and 13th May 1969 (Race Riots?), must rank as the most defining date in our post-Independence political history.

From the inner recesses of the deep reserves that God has blessed each and everyone of us with, we dredged up the courage to vote according to our convictions.

We now know that Prime Ministers and Governments, if they do not do their jobs well, can and must be booted out by the seat of their pants. You would not tolerate such gross incompetency if it were your own Company, would you, if the losses amounted to billions of $, and there was no end in sight of it?

They shall rule only by our consent, the Cornerstone of which shall be MERITOCRACY, which by definition includes affirmative action programmes to assist, not provide a permanent crutch, to ALL the have nots.

We have yet another General Election to look forward, to do battle. And we must make sure that the Demagogues, the self-appointed and Benevolent Dictators, the Doctrinaire Politicians, the Wolfish Race Supremacists in Liberal Sheep’s Clothing, the Looters, the Rent Seekers and the Mr. 10%’s shall never endure.

NEVER AGAIN!

donplaypuks with my rights, guardians!

QUIS CUSTODIET IPSOS CUSTODES? PART II

or WHO GUARDS THE GUARDIANS?
by platonicaristotledupopulous, donplaypuks® intrepid sentinel for guardians’ affairs

PUNISHMENT

In Singapore, Chia Thye Poh lost his freedom for 32 years between 1966 -1997, when he was arrested and imprisoned under the Internal Security Act (ISA). But during all those long, long years of wintry discontent, he was not charged with a single offence or brought to trial, making him the longest-serving prisoner-of-conscience in the modern history of Mankind. It ranks right up there with Nelson Mandela’s 27-year incarceration (1964 -1990) in Robben Island under White South Africa, as among the most heroic of stands by individuals against the concerted onslaught of brutal, dictatorial regimes out to impose their will at all and any costs, on the masses. Burma has its own with the home arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi.

And we are no exception to these now almost daily assaults on constitutionally and lawfully enshrined guarantees on civil, other legal and human rights issues.

The recent recommendations of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the Lingam tapes suggests a frightening systematic dismantling of the independence of our Judiciary over the last 20 years, by possibly an unholy cabal from the Executive branch of Government and Big Business, in particular those owned by so-called Croneys. It goes so far as to suggest a former CJ may have lied and may have possibly been involved in corrupt acts, and that the appointment of CJ’s and judges to senior positions in the Judiciary hierarchy may have been manipulated by ‘invisible hands,’ securing the promotion of many inept but compliant junior judges and magistrates, over the heads of their more competent and senior colleagues.

That much was also perceived by the general public and the legal fraternity from peculiar decisions delivered in our courts in a number of prominent cases, such as the Boonsak land-transfer fraud and the Insas ex-parte hearing. The tone of the Executive had already been heard with the sacking of the then CJ, Tun Salleh Abbas by a Commonwealth Tribunal, in 1988, for purported abuse of power and disrespect to the Royalty. In direct contravention of the principles of the Separation of Powers and the independence of the Judiciary, an ex-PM who had recommended the Tribunal, had at first summoned the CJ to his office and there demanded his resignation, forthwith.

An ex-PM rails with customary acerbity about being unfairly hung out to dry by the RCI on mere hint of ‘possibilities’. Forgetting (selectively, we hear, as of late) in the process, that in 1987, he himself had ordered 106 citizens be hauled off to Kamunting Prison by the drag-nets of the infamous ‘Ops Lallang’ and the ISA, without charge or trial. The leader of the opposition, Lim Kit Siang, and his No.2, Karpal Singh, were only released after 2 years. They were imprisoned on the perceived judgement of the ex-PM that they may have contributed to ‘possible’ racial tension and of ‘possible’ fomenting of racial riots!

Perception of endemic corruption, unaccounted for cell-deaths, numerous alleged assaults of suspects while in police custody, relatively low arrest and conviction rates and escalating serious crime rates prompted the appointment of the Royal Police Commission which in 2005 recommended, among other things, that an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) be established. An immediate response from the Inspector General of Police/Police was the publication of ten reasons why the IPCMC was not needed. The IPCMC has not been set up till today, which is as sure as if the IGP had stood on the roof of Parliament House, stuck two fingers in the air and said ‘I will not be the one to hang my own officers.’

Among the arguments put forward by the Police was that they should not be singled out for independent control and accountability, given that corruption was prevalent in other government departments such as Road Transport and Customs & Excise as well. And there we have it! Is it not the duty of the Police to ferret out these criminal elements from the corridors and labyrinths of Government.

But the ACA is not without its own problems. It had once recommended prosecution of a Minister, only to have it put in cold storage by an ex-PM. The same ex-PM was himself accused in testimony in open court by a senior investigating police officer, of interfering in another police investigation over a huge wad of unaccounted for cash found in the office desk-drawer of a former Governor of Bank Negara! Many also have misgivings over the ‘all clear’ reports given by the ACA over a Minister’s involvement in the allocation of 9 million Telekom shares meant for ‘Maika’ to other parties and the release of the names of informants to directors of a company in a case in Penang. Recent testimony of an ACA officer at the Lingam Tapes RCI, suggests reluctance on the part of the ACA to investigate without fear where Big Wigs are concerned, with a very narrow focus on the area and time-frame of investigation. To put it mildly, the (lady) officer’s testimony at the RCI was embarrassingly torn to shreds by lawyers acting for the Bar Council and other interested parties! Such results are predictable, when the ACA and its Head report to the PM and not as an Independent body reporting to Parliament.

This region is (in)famous for the arbitary application of the draconian ISA, Official Secrets Act (OSA), Rural Restriction Banishment Order, The Printing Presses and Publication Act (PPPA with mandatory licencing requirements ), Sedition Act, Simultaneous Multiple Defamation Law Suits and invoking of Globally applicable Mareva Injunctions and extended Remand without charge in some cases for over a year!. The principal aim of the Establishment is not only to stifle legitimate public dissent over ill-conceived profligate Government spending and promotion of billion ringgit White Elephant development projects; it is also to prevent corruption from being unearthed and to cover up shoddy investigative procedures and incompetency among the purported sentinels and guardians of our democratic nations. Not to mention keeping the same Leaders in power for 20 or 30 years at a stretch.

When all else fails, and just when you think you might finally cast your vote elsewhere, you will be warned by the full machinery of the State to ‘Vote wisely, you do not want something untoward to happen do you? Remember 1969?’ The majority of Main Stream Media (MSM) are all owned and/or controlled by members of the coalition-led Government or their croneys. Elsewhere, as though to mirror the events here, not two days ago, Robert Mugabe, that fanatical guardian of all things Democratic and an admired friend of our ex-PM, having been defeated at the elections, remarkably engineered another Presidential run-off. He warned Zimbabwians that if necessary ‘we are prepared to go to war to defend our hard earned freedom.’ Like fucking to restore virginity!

WHEREVER OUR GAZE RESTS, JUSTICE IS IN CRISIS!

This is the woven tapestry we assemble when we pull together all the loose strands that lie carelessly strewn across the length and breadth of our five continents, the forests, oceans, the skies and even beyond.

It is the one-armed killer, the rigged jury, the White, Yellow, Black & Brown Supremacist, the benevolent as well as the murderous dictator and his big-business croney, the crooked cop, the thieving Minister, the Taliban & Al Qaeda extremist and fundamentalist who all seem to be in control, have the upper hand and who seem to triumph alarmingly, time after time against the ordinary little man and woman.

How is it possible to have laws against Double Jeopardy, and then be convicted of the same crime (however semantically-spun) under Civil Laws which allow for a ‘lower standard of proof’? Lower standard of proof! What does it mean? It sounds suspiciously like Double Jeopardy! Can public sentiment be a reason to require a man to prove his innocence in court, or dictate that a person found innocent in one court be compelled to prove his innocence again in another court.? That juries can be selected on race or gender bias in cases involving the super rich or the well-connected?

But if more and more a trial by a jury of one’s peers is found wanting, those conducted by ‘learned’ judges have been found to be equally unsatisfactory. The findings of the Lingam Tapes RCI have proven this to be so beyond a shadow of a doubt. The integrity of the entire legal system and its players appears to have been seriously compromised!

Who do we turn to when our Judges, Police, ACA, Ministers and Great Leader all fail in their duty of care in the exercise of their ‘just powers derived from the consent of the governed?’ Where do we run to for their oversight? Is it so easy to change the Government?

It was Plato who first raised the question of ‘Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?’ or ‘Who guards the Guardians’ 2,300 years ago in Athens, Greece. Ancient Greece, with its city states, and Athens, are proudly held up by all as the birth-place of Democracy. Mind you, when you dissect the ‘Republic’ you will find Plato’s Ideal State, and Aristotle’s as well, ruled by a select group of philosopher-Elders, remarkably like a modern tyrannical, oligarchic Communist state!

I have, in my private musing often wondered that just as there is no such thing as a half pregnant woman (either she is or she isn’t), there can be no such thing as a half or quarter Democracy (either it is a Democracy or it isn’t). Dr. Mahathir is of course right in that East of Greece, no country has understood or attempted to practice Democracy before 1945. Certainly not China, India, Pakistan, Russia, Africa, Japan, Iran or Iraq who for the better part of their histories for well nigh 5,000 years, remained disparate kingdoms within their borders, and were ruled by self-appointed Kings who claimed divine right to their thrones, aided and propped up by self-appointed direct-line-to-God Priests. The facades erected across so many of the capitals of Asia, are just that. Facades. Meant to attract Foreign Direct Investments. Tokenisms. To Hyde Park, Westminster and The White House.

The real problem is that the Law, like Taxation, has become too complicated. No modern business entity can realistically harbour any hope of filing on its own, its Tax Returns, just as any individual could not, of drafting and filing by one’s self a writ and defending one’s self in court without the representation of a lawyer or solicitor. The Law has become the nightmarish preserve of legal experts. No doubt, John Grisham’s legal thrillers might plant the kernel of a seed in your desperate mind, that out there are Multi-National Legal Firms just champing at the bits to do pro bono work for you, the butcher, the baker and the candle-stick maker. Or that the off-the wagon crusty, but tooth-sucking wise in a way your grandfather or grandmother could never have been, Alcoholics Anonymous reformed salt-of-the-earth Perry Mason or Clarence Darrow, sole practitioner and reformist, is waiting to ride in on a white stallion and do one last battle against the Sith Jedi forces to secure billions of $ in compensation from Class Action law suits for you and the tired, the poor, your huddled masses, the wretched refuse and the homeless! Well, if you are prone to such dreams, please divest yourself NOW of such somnambulistic illusion, and get back to the REAL WORLD.

In days of yore, taxes were only raised to assist and make reparations to Kings to finance their wars. Imagine the burden on the farmers for the 100 Years War! Modern Taxation is another beast that is actually founded on some very basic principles:-

1. No taxation without Representation i.e. if there is no specific law for taxing something, there can be no taxation which is contradictory to the somewhat widely-held belief among Income Tax officers that ‘if it moves, whip out a tax assessment!’
2. Taxation must be equitable i.e. there must be a sound reason for it and the rate of taxation must be reasonable.
3. Taxation must be fair i.e. it must apply to all uniformly. Exemptions cannot be given arbitarily.
4. Taxation must be simple and easily understood by taxpayers.

We all know that 2,3, and especially 4, have failed miserably and as for 4, it is all gobbledygook anyway. Even those who draft bills very often have no idea what the published versions of tax and statute laws mean in practice. So, millions more are spent on Inland Revenue Interpretations, Advance Rulings, Special Commissions, Tribunals and appeals to the Federal Court to resolve disputes. So, we have laws and agreements couched in legalese (or the streaming steaming language of rabid pariah dog’s leg-up stinking amber urine on lamp-post) that few understand. But it is deliberately designed to create gas-out asthmatic smog everywhere, for all. You know what I mean:

‘…the party of the 1st part, herewith, heretofore, hereafter, hereunder and thereafter shall be referred to herewith, heretofore, hereafter, hereunder and thereafter as the 1st party, and the party of the 2nd part herewith, heretofore, hereafter, hereunder and thereafter shall be referred to herewith, heretofore, hereafter, hereunder and thereafter as the party of the 2nd party AND the party of the 1st part herewith, heretofore, hereafter, hereunder and thereafter and the party of the 2nd part herewith, heretofore, hereafter, hereunder and thereafter shall collectively herewith, heretofore, hereafter, hereunder and thereafter be referred to as ‘The Parties’ where the singular also refers to the plural and the male gender to the female, neutral and indeterminate gender as well herewith, heretofore, hereafter, hereunder and thereafter and Time is of the essence herewith, heretofore, hereafter, hereunder and thereafter and that nothing in this Agreement shall constitute an Agreement for a Partnership, notwithstanding, without prejudice and including but not limited to anything under the sun(s) and/or moon(s) and/or star(s) and swear on your mother’s grave if not may your unborn child have Spina Bifida and Elephant Man disease, caveat emptor and res ipsa loquitor… herewith, heretofore, hereafter, hereunder and thereafter.

(sign here in blood)’.

You could not just say ‘In this agreement dated …at…..Mr.A and Mr.B agree to… and shall together be referred to as ‘They’?

Be warned of possible coronary attack when you read ‘The User Agreement From Hell’ and ‘The Adoption Statute’ at: http://www.partyofthefirstpart.com/hallOfShame.html .

God forbid there should be more than two parties to a fairly simple and innocuous legal agreement lest we have to mow down a tropical forest or two for the paper to merely accommodate the preamble!

So much so that some highly unqualified lawyers, magistrates, judges and a chief justice or two have been known to have ‘farmed out’ (illegally) their judgements to have them written for them by some of their ‘less than equal’ brothers.

The cost to the nation of a corrupt Judiciary and Administration may well exceed $100 billion.

NOW, CHEW ON THAT !!

QUIS CUSTODIET IPSOS CUSTODES? PART I

or WHO GUARDS THE GUARDIANS?

by platonicaristotledupopulous, donplaypuks® intrepid sentinel for guardians’ affairs

CRIME

There is a palpable trail of an important series of events which stretches across our planet. The strands of it have to be pulled together from hither and tither for us to understand the apocalyptic nature of an endemic Global debacle. The Hydra-like tentacles of this plague spread out to just about every nation, from every tin-pot Latin-American dictatorship and from every dictator (some of whom claim to be of the benevolent species) pretending to lead Democratic nations of, by and for the People in Asia and Africa, to those who have replaced any pretensions to a secular polity with religious zealotry. And surprisingly too, its slime slakes its ooze across the very nations which claim to be the discoverers and sentinels of our inalienable human rights.

Unfortunately, the task is made difficult as it is not quite paint by numbers, or connect the dots, and so the search and the odyssey are arduous and onerous. But it is there just the same. The vigilant and watchful can see it clear.

In the late 60’s, hundreds of millions in English speaking countries all over the world had their eyes glued to their tv sets week in, week out, enthralled by that man on the run, ‘Dr. Richard Kimble, an innocent victim of blind justice!.’ Or as a wit at school, Victoria Institution, blurted out in a moment of inspiration ‘An innocent victim of QM Production.’ In hot pursuit of our favourite Fugitive was that tough-as-nails, gaunt, crass, obdurate, crusty, obsessive Lieutenant Philip Gerard whom we all loved to hate; the cop who would possibly not have accepted Kimble’s innocence even if the one-armed killer had sworn on a stack of bibles and confessed in open court to murdering Kimble’s wife!

In the 1993 movie version of ‘The Fugitive’ of course we had to have the New-Age Tommy Lee Jones’ version of Lt. Gerard, that tough-as-nails, gaunt, crass, obdurate, crusty, obsessive, but caring dick who actually broke out into a smile in the end, which reminded you of a grimacing Rottweiler just before it sank its fangs into your hind end. But nothing changes much; the new age dick was also three steps ahead of his minions, but always two behind Kimble.

But note that this was in the era of the 60’s of the Vietnam War, of ‘Where Have All the Flowers Gone,’ Flower & Student Power, Hippies, Dylan, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell & protest singers, Woodstock, Santana, Hendrix, Pot (Marijuana), LSD & Psychedelic drugs, Heavy Metal Rock music of Led Zeppelin & Deep Purple, Beatles, Mahesh Yogi & transcendental meditation, Martin Luther King & Civil Rights, Black Power & Black Panthers, Cold War, MI5, KGV, Profumo & Christine Keeler, John & Robert F.Kennedy Assassinations and Kent State students’ shooting-deaths when a cop became a pig!

We had the 1969 ‘Race Riots?’

In 1994 I was holed up in a hotel in NY while on a business trip there. Coincidentally, it was also the week of the FIFA World Cup Soccer Finals played out in the USA. As much as I am a rabid, fanatical Brazil supporter, what made that trip memorable was the live transmission on tv of the Symphonic Concerto No.2 ‘Flight of OJ Simpson in his Ford Bronco SUV.’ Later, OJ was found not guilty on the ground of reasonable doubt by a jury of his peers for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend, one Ronald Goldman. The jury comprised 10 women and 2 men, of whom 8 were black, 2 Hispanic, 1 Red Indian and 1 White. Public polls revealed that 65% % of whites believed OJ was guilty against 30% for blacks.

Three years later, OJ was found guilty of the wrongful deaths of Nicole and Goldman, and fined US$ 8.5 million, by another jury of his peers, this time comprising 6 men and 6 women, of whom 9 were White, 1 Hispanic, 1 Asian and 1 Black/Hispanic! This was a civil trial where a lower standard of proof is apparently acceptable, but not at a criminal one, and where the accused can, and was, compelled to testify.

Fast forward to June 2005. Michael Jackson was found not guilty of all 10 charges of child molestation by a jury of 4 men and 8 women, none of them black! However, there have been several allegations of juror misconduct, including one where a juror’s lucrative book deal was aborted when the proverbial spanner was thrown into the works with MJ’s ‘not guilty’ verdict! Another juror confessed she felt MJ was guilty, but thought the prosecution had botched the case and so, she had voted against conviction.

Over 200 years ago, in 1776, a group of 56 men crafted and signed one of, if not the most important document in the history of the World, The American Declaration of Independence, which reads:

" When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another……..

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (and women of course) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. "

Of course King George of Britain and Louis XVI of France did not exactly break out in wild, enthusiastic applause and rush forth to stamp their seal of approval on these new-fangled theories of ‘a Government of The People.’ The cheek of it! Let them eat cake! Neither did such enlightened idealistic humanity in the USA abolish slavery for over a hundred years nor grant equal rights in practice to blacks in their own country till well into the 20th Century. In complete and hopeless contravention of the Bill of Rights, the principles of equality and ‘the Constitution is colour blind’ conferred by single citizenship was tossed out of the windows of the Supreme Court, when American Japanese were ordered to be sequestered in anticipation of the confrontation with Japan during World War II. Wherefore, patriotism, one People?

Post 9/11 2001, we have the Patriots Act, Prevention of Terrorism Act, Gitmo and illegal detentions, all of which clearly have no legal foundation or basis in the laws of the lands of the champions of democracy. The law extending remand without charge to 42 days was just passed in London.

Not that pre-9/11 did not have its fair share of assaults on civil liberties and international laws. In 1973, Chile President Salvador Allende was overthrown in a CIA-backed plot, while in 1995 General Noreiga was kidnapped from Panama to stand trial in the USA.

parts II and III to follow soon!

TOWARDS A THEORY? ER, HYPOTHESIS? RUMOUR? OF ROJAK?

by abelincolncontinental, donplaypuks® intrepid correspondent for political affairs.





There are clear, unequivocal differences between Theory, and Hypothesis, Belief and Rumour/Gossip/Tattle-tale. Yet often, even the educated who ought to know better tend to create utter confusion in the practical usage of these words.

Thus, scientists talk about The Big Bang Theory and Theory of Evolution when what they really mean is The Big Bang Hypothesis and The Hypothesis of Evolution. Until Kepler, Copernicus and Galileo appeared in the 16th-17th Century, for nearly 2,000 years the Western World believed whole-heartedly in a Flat Earth, Geocentric Universe and the Biblical ‘Genesis’ version of Creation and Evolution, as Theories, championed by the Pope and the Catholic Church. The first two of these beliefs were originally mooted by Plato and confirmed by Aristotle who was also convinced that the planets followed circular orbits since only that geometric shape could represent the Perfection of God!

Of course what the Pope proposed, God had already disposed with Elliptical orbit, Round Earth and a Heliocentric Solar System!

Cosmology Abstract and Pure mathematicians today claim that they have calculated with precision what happened up to a billionth of a billionth of a second after the birth of our Universe about 14.423163378 billion years ago!.

But unfortunately, the real mystery lies in the billionth of a billionth of a billionth of a second and who fired the spark plug that set it all in motion, giving us an arrow of time

Since we do not see a chaotic Universe in which the suns, moons, planets, stars, comets all crash repeatedly into each other daily, helter-skelter, we must Theorise that the Invisible Hand that turned the key in the ignition system pretty much knew within +/- of a billionth of a billionth of a billionth of a billionth % that an orderly Universe would emerge when the Galactically super hot primordial soup started cooling down.

Similarly, while A Theory of Evolution may explain Giant Tortoise on Galapagos and how birds modified their beaks to adapt to the type of food available on nearby islands, we still do not know why Sharks never evolved, or the purpose of the existence of Elephants.

And especially, Whales. So that the French perfume industry could one day evolve Chanel No.5 to keep rabbit and white mice population from exploding? Or, the Eskimos might have become extinct for want of blubber and whale rib barbecue?

Why and how did the Cockroach, Snake, dirty black Rat, Bee and Fly survive but not the Dinosaur, Pterodactyl and the Dodo. So, we have Theories? of a Great Flood, Ice Age and deadly Comet/Meteorite Shower. Any proof? Oh sure, Noah’s Ark, the Rift Valley and that explosion in Tunguska that lay waste 2,000 sq. km. or 80 million trees of the Russian Tundra forest in 1908 with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima Atom Bombs.

Adam and Eve, first man and lady? Er, what about all those limestone caves, cavemen, missing link, cro-magnon jaw, Java Man and drawings of bison hunt, fertility dances and merry hay making, stretching from Africa to everywhere? Theory of Evolution! Out of Africa!

Okay, we understand the Indo-European Theory and possible links among Babylonians, Sumerians, Indians, Iranians, Greeks, Germans and Europeans, barring the Nordic Peoples.

But where exactly did the Chinese come from? Africa Man – 2 million years old, Peking Man – 400,000 years old. Yet all these ancient inventions, FACTS – paper, printing, toilet-paper, paper money, compass, gunpowder, porcelain, ship-building, steel-sword and copper vessel forging, jade mining – came from China. How does that compute, Mr.Spock?

Oh, you really mean A Hypothesis of Evolution because you have not looked long enough or hard enough, perhaps?

Roswell, the Aliens kidnapped my mother-in-law (and you should complain?), Big Foot, Yeti, Loch Ness, Baghdad Battery, Nazca Plains & Lines. Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind. Grainy photos and fuzzy videos maketh a Conspiracy Theory? And the last atom bomb invented by the Iraqis and exploded in Peru was?

Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby, Sirhan B. Sirhan and James Earl Ray. There’s no need to Theorise. The assassinations of JFK, Oswald, RFK and King were plots conceived at the highest levels of Governments, Secret Service Organizations and Organized Crime. Conspiracies Galore. FACTS. Only in the good old US of A, the world’s most Democratic and FREE nation, could the real killers have got away scot-FREE!

Conspiracy Theories are therefore all things to all men, and more so in Malaysia than anywhere else. Sorry, I mean, Conspiracy Hypothesis. No, Conspiracy Belief. No, Rumour/Gossip/Tattle-tale. Here, a rumour can be more reliable than a fact. Once, the local bourse was christened as the ‘buy on rumour, sell on fact’ bourse!

It’s all a Rojak anyway, which is that uniquely Malaysian Mamak (Indian Muslim) delicious mixed salad of pineapple, sengkuang vegetable, bean sprout, to fu, boiled egg, squid (optional) and flour fritters topped swimmingly with sweet peanut sauce. Washed down with delicious Chendol. The ‘bes-in-der-worl’ hawker Rojak stall in KL could be found until 2000 under the now slain Angsana tree near the bus-stop opposite Pasar Road English School at the junction of Jalan Pelandok/Jalan Davis. It’s not there no more, but a good substitute can still be found in the shade of the Angsana tree, across the Esso Petrol Station at SS 17 Subang Jaya, opposite Wisma Consplant.

The ‘Reporter’ Mamak proprietor is still Tamil-speaking, cheerful, friendly and chatty as his counterparts of an older world and bygone era; but, the whack on your wallet will be RM5 per plate Rojak & and bowl of Chendol combo!

Fate is neither a Theory nor Hypothesis. It is clearly a belief. The Indians still live by it!

Ancient Greeks embraced it and were held hostage by the Lady of Pithias, the Oracle at the Temple at Delphi which you can still visit today. In Homeric times, Delphi was worshipped as the site of the Omphalos Stone, believed to be the centre of the Earth AND the Universe! The Chinese believe the same of the Forbidden Palace and the Arabs, of the Ka'aba. The Olympic Games has its origin in the Pithian Games

It was on such a Fateful day in 1978 that the mummified body of a Pharoah was exhumed from the Mound of The Dead, the bandages removed and life breathed into it. Who the Mages were, what ancient pagan rites and hocus pocus magic was invoked, what rituals performed, we will never know. But, it resurrected the political career of The One and altered the course of Malaysian history for all time.

It is no coincidence either that there is a Mound of The Dead in Egypt, and that it’s older brother is to be found at Mohenjodaro, now part of Pakistan, but once part of Saptha Sindu, The Land of the Seven Sacred Rivers, Land of King Bharat. Bharatvarsha. India!

The reign of The One was an unmitigated Economic success, transforming a once sleepy backwater of English-controlled rubber estates and tin mines, into an industrialised, diversified economy and Nation with an internationally respectable per capita income and GDP.

So proclaim those who embrace without reservation or question Western Economic models and standards of what determines ‘success.’

In passing judgement and breaking into rapturous applause, many chose to ignore increased racial polarisation, endemic corruption, widening of the income gap between the rich and the poor and appalling decline in standards of education. Most damning was the erosion of the doctrine of Separation of Powers resulting in an unprecedented assault on civil liberties and the independence of the Judiciary. The Guardians of our inalienable rights - Judges, Police, Attorney General, Anti Corruption Agency - all defected to the side of the Executive. Big Business grasped quickly which side its bread was buttered on, and followed suit. Ministers and others in the Inner Circle helped themselves with both hands as did well-connected Croneys.

A Nation lost its Cojones!

Genuine entrepreneurship was stifled and replaced with Ali Baba and Rent Seeking looters. Competition and competitiveness did not matter. The interest of minority Peoples, like those of the politically unconnected, was consigned to the bottom of the economic pile and forgotten. What emerged was a Dependency Culture which became paralysed when Government hand-outs were not dished out in gay abundance following the 1997 Asia Currency Crisis.

When push came to shove, Race, Religion and Race Supremacist cards were all waved about publicly and played with impunity and utter contempt. Those with their backs to the wall responded in time honoured fashion. They eventually hit back with deadly vengeance only in 2008 long after The One, to his credit, retired without prompting, voluntarily in 2003.

It is still too early for us to confidently pass complete judgement on the legacy left behind by the Rule of The One. But his retirement has seen much coming out of the woodwork. In response, The One has furiously embarked on ‘attack is the best form of defence’ and has even taken to active Blogging to disseminate his views to a wider audience. The Mask of Tutankhamun has slipped, and the face behind it is not entirely a pretty One. Lamentably also, as Shakespeare said,

“The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with the bones!”

But as Phil Collins crooned “Aha, but they say thunder, and they say lightning, ‘twill ne’er strike twice?” On the same spot?

By a curious and strange twist of Fate again, The One’s successor was another Pharoah, a scion of impeccable credentials going back to those who engaged the enemy, the colonial British, in the struggle for post-WWII Independence. The Pharoah is dead! Long live the Pharoah! Yet again another Pharoah emerged, whose mummified body was disinterred from political obscurity and eventually raised to the Throne.

That he is a graduate in Islamic Studies, that his paternal grandfather was a founder member of the Islamic fundamentalist PAS, and that his maternal grandfather was a Chinese Muslim from Hainan in S.China, are not entirely irrelevant either.

Recently dubbed Rip Van Winkle for his perceived somnambulism in public and for his apparent ignorance of the machinations of his son and son-in-law, the new Pharoah had once plotted to overthrow The One and just failed. Rip was sacked as Defence Minister in 1987 for pitching his tent with the break-away and unsuccessful Team B then led by a Prince who was also sacked as Finance Minister.

Perhaps, lightning may strike an unprecedented third time, should The Team B Prince take over the helms of Government, now seemingly in disarray following its shocking loss of support at the General Elections held on 8th March 2008. How the worm turns!

That The One should have anointed Rip in preference to the form horse of that day, is itself like Churchill’s assessment of Russia, a “riddle wrapped in a mystery folded inside an enigma!"

There is a fairly widely-held local belief in what has been coined the RAHMAN PROPHECY.
Its promoters will have you believe that RAHMAN is the acronym for the initials of the first six Prime Ministers of Malaysia. Thus:

R - Tengku Abdul Rahman Putra Al Haj
A - Tun Abdul Razak
H - Tun Hussein Onn
M - Tun Mahathir Mohamad
A - Dato Sri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (incumbent PM)
N - Dato Sri Najib Abdul Razak (son of Tun Abdul Razak and currently DPM)

Rip’s ascension, many believe, was therefore foretold. But, you can see the flaw right there at the beginning, with th e inconsistent choice of 'R' for Rahman where it should be 'A' for Abdul! Nevertheless, the crowds lined the streets and cheered as never before. Pharoah The One was equated with Stalin. Rip garnered an unprecedented 91% endorsement for his party and Government in 2004, from an adoring electorate.

Today, “uneasy rests the head that wears the thorny Crown.”

Where did it all go wrong? How did Rip, who had scaled impossible Olympian and Himalayan heights, manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory? Rip is vilified daily, equally for the apparently slow pace of promised reforms as for the initiated reforms themselves. Equally by his Party as well as the Opposition and the general public. Compounded by the orchestrations of The One, his little ones and a straggling band of ex-lieutenants and sycophants who perhaps harbour hopes and visions of one last hurrah! Robbed of their daily handouts, these loyal-to-the-tomb followers of The One have found the withdrawal symptoms unbearably, excruciatingly painful.

But Rip is an old hand at it, the Art of Politics, of taking from the People, short-changing them and making the feel grovellingly grateful. His almost first act in assuming the reins of power was to set in motion the release from prison of Anwar Ibrahim, The One’s sacked ex-DPM and political nemesis. The One predictably frothed at the lips!

When The One’s artfully directly negotiated non-tendered out contracts for fancy crooked bridges, fibre-optic cables, telecommunications equipment, O & G platforms, rigs and fabrication projects for little ones and croneys were frozen by Rip, The One took his battle to the Nation. You can cast any aspersion on the character of The One. You can call him a liar, a thief, a plunderer. He will not respond. But when you try and cop a feel of his wallet, and especially those belonging to his little ones, then, beware! You have crossed the holy of the holies. The One declared Holy War!

The final straw was that 'not an apology and I'll sue you if you say so' unofficial ex-gratia compensation announced for 4 Judges removed from office during The One's reign, publicly announced at a dinner-gathering which included Rip and members of the Bar Council, but not serving judges. The One predictably went berserk and stratospherically apoplectic!

But The One has no real objection to Rip and his coterie of little ones or croneys pursuing the uniquely Malaysian brand of planted Entrepreneurs and directly negotiated contracts. The One believes there are many cakes and pies and they are big enough for many shares; “just do not poke your grubby little finger in my pie, do you mind?”

So, it has come to this. Yet, Rip knows history. Leaders of his pedigree emerge after long years from the tumultuous, testing character-shaping gladiators’ arena, having been bruised, battered and bled by the vicissitudes of the political battles, in-fighting and treachery.

Once, General McArthur re-wrote history that Hirohito had not commanded his people to go to war. That Tojo, Yamashita and the Generals had illegally usurped the Royal prerogative and held the Emperor captive to their traitorous ambitions, which of course were not 'made of sterner stuff ' and knew no bounds. The Generals were hung while Hirohito went on to become a prominent Biologist. McArthur proceeded with the firm conviction that without the focal point of a Monarchy, Japan would tragically descend into civil war from which it would never recover. I disagree.

Because, Divine Sun Kings do not ever make the elementary mistake of surrendering their crowns to peasant Generals, voluntarily or otherwise. They know how to pull the strings of the marionettes, a role to which they are introduce when still in the cot. The hand that rocked baby Alexander’s cradle might have been that of his mother’s, but he was not exactly napping, was he! Thus are baby-whole swallowing Generals seduced by the romance of ‘seppuku’ or ‘hara kiri.’

So, there are two possibilities.

EITHER

What you see is what you get. (Forgot Flip Wilson and Geraldine, did you?)

OR

And this is where Theory, Hypothesis, Belief, Rumour/Gossip/Tattle-tale all converge into that much-loved Malaysian favourite, Rojak.

But first, tuck into your favourite Tandoori Chicken Bryani with Kurma Curry dinner. When sated, retreat to your study and relax on your favourite couch. Pour yourself a stiff, double Bacardi Coke and then take a long, long, hard suck at the bottle! Light up a Cohiba, take a deep puff and blow a couple of smoke-rings at the ceiling fan. Put your feet up on the cool, leather-back foot-stool and unlax.

Then lean back and dream a Big IF, so you can:-

Hold fast to dreams,
For if dreams die,
Life is like a broken-winged bird,
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams,
For when dreams go,
Life is a barren field,
Frozen with snow.

- langston hughes, a black poet. 1932. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langston_Hughes

What IF you remembered an ashen-faced Rip, then Foreign Minister, stammering on tv, trying to make sense of Anwar Ibrahim’s (AI) over-night sacking by The One on 2nd September 1998. You write down this date on a clean sheet of A4. You then ink in 2nd September 2004 next to it, the date on which the Federal Court over-turned AI’s conviction for ? (expunged, with gratitude to St. Augustine). Coincidence? Rip had sent his son-in-law as emissary to talk to and negotiate with AI, prior to his release from prison and travel to Germany for medical treatment.

What IF Rip had reached that turning point in his life on 2nd September 1988? What IF on that fateful day, he had a searing, blinding insight into the nature of the beast he had battled all his life. Like Paul on the road to Damascus? What IF that was the pivotal moment when he had an out-of- body experience and managed to peer into the soul of the Nation, and saw that it was teetering on the brink of the Tipping Point?

And then, he took a vow, and made a pact with one, Anwar Ibrahim!

What IF billions had been wasted on white elephant projects with no recurrent income, corruption was endemic and irreversible in all three arms of Government and Croney-controlled big business had looted the national coffers with crippling road toll, water, sewerage and power charges, doubly-protected with generous traffic compensation clauses and ‘take or pay’ contracts. All tucked away under OSA lock-and-key to shield them from curious eyes. And oil was drying up and the only way to ward off wide-spread revolt and revolution was to be increasingly ham-fisted and lock up more and more people under the ISA, OSA, PPPA and Sedition Act . And the rampaging, malignant cancer was bone-deep?

What would you do, IF you were in power? Effect radical change or face the certainty of shuffling off your mortal coils? Hobson's Choice. An October Bolshevik-type Russian Revolution is not a real option for a People that has rarely resorted to violence to resolve its national problems.

So, you know the problem and you know the enemy. You know the desired end-result. You have to, with Machiavellian cunning and stealth, set about correcting past injustice. Sanitise and Mummify the disease-ridden corpse. Dismantle the rotting, creaking roof, ramparts, foundation and tainted structure of the compromised institution. Brick by brick; atom by atom. Flush out the looter. Promote the builder and architect. Plan, design, execute for a new dawn.

So, you walk softly, talk softly and carry a big stick. You might like Abe Lincoln, have been slaving quietly at three a.m. away from the gaze of prying eyes, while a Nation slept.

There is no other way. Easy if you know how. Easy if you were born for it. Easy if you have been in politics for thirty years.

ALL FROM WITHIN. MACHIAVELLI. ‘THE PRINCE.’

Too Far Fetched? When sharks sprout wings and begin to fly?

All ROJAK?

But think about it. Can any PM be that naïve?

donplaypuks with politics, man !! donplaypuks at: http://donplaypuks.blogspot.com

VOCIFEROR LUPUS!

by logan weirdowolf red ridingwolfowitz
donplaypuks® intrepid correspondent for wolverine affairs

Most Asians have a healthy disrespect for the very (same) Governments they themselves regularly elect. Over and over again, for sometimes fifty years at a stretch.

It is not that they do not know the electoral system and process are tainted or that it is never fixed because 'it ain't broke' as far as the roll call of usual gerrymandering suspect incumbents are concerned. Or that they do not recognise the inherent danger in not securing by legislation that no Great Leader or his anointed compliant (to the will of the Great Leader) Ministers or CEO’s of Government-Linked Companies shall warm the seat of their chairs for more than two terms.

No, they derive great vicarious thrill in submitting themselves to the masochistic pleasure of approving 20 & 30-year tenure of office for Prime Ministers, Presidents, Ministers & CEO’s; and then flip-flop about raving and ranting about abuse of power, lack of accountability, transparency and the unaccounted for Midas-like wealth of the Peoples' Representatives.

Which reminds me of the masochist who begs ‘Whip me, Whip Me!’ and the sadist who smiles slyly and whispers back in a sexy, hoarse tone ‘No, no, never.’

Such a State of neglected affairs lends itself to the logical extension of a Government which bleats 'ask me no questions and I will tell you no lies.' Which is as subtle a warning as you can get to lull you into a true sense of security!

Across the southern Causeway at an unknown neighbouring island, it is the more bulldog-like bark of 'ask no questions or where is the food on your table? Plato knew better.'

Yet across our northern border is the crisp military-like staccato 'ask no questions or be accused of lese majeste.' Getting to know you, Sawadikap!

Elsewhere it might be ‘ask no questions. As for Formosa, as for the RamaLamaDingDong. So it is written, so it shall be done!’

Eastwards? ‘Ask no questions, blame the Yankees.’ Or ‘Ask no questions, we will not make war reparations.’

In the land of a thousand Buddhas? ‘Ask no questions, the lady’s not free for answering today!’

In the land of Pancha Sila? ‘Ask no questions. 'Bang, the Dictator’s dead. Long live the Dictator. 'Bang!’

We are a borderless continent of 'ask no question' regimes and juntas. We worship the facade of Democracy, that’s all, the facade. Fascia, Truly Asia!

Thus, we are told inflation is chugging along just fine at under 3%.

Fine, but bread, rice, meat prices and electricity, water, telephone, bus fares, even parking charges went off the top of the charts and our roofs?

Ask no questions. We have the statistically correct bloody basket and (ssh) body count!

Per capita income grew by 40% in 4 years. Hooray!!

Fine, but that would imply, our single-digit GDP growth rate exceeded the double-digit rates for China & India?

Ask no questions. You should not give too much credence to pre-election hype. Anyway, you can never trust the Commies or Indian lawyers!

Special Rights Groups’ 30% Equity targets have been exceeded. They actually have 45%?

Ask no questions. Ten hutt! Sack da rumour-mongering Chinky bugger!!

9 million Telekom shares were siphoned off?

Ask no questions. Look, ma, Clean hands, clean head. NFA!

Was the land deliberately over-valued? Did the Hon. Minister have the authority to issue letters of support for the $ billion project now over-blown to $4 billion and requiring State bail-out?

Ask no questions. My predecessors were responsible. We are (forever) looking into it.

Will our oil reserves be exhausted by 2025? Will we be a net importer of oil by 2011, 2015, 2020 or 2025? Is the balance sheet healthy? What else have you subsidised and are not telling us about?

Ask no questions. How can we know what is it you do not know? We are not mind-readers, are we? The accounts are filed in the library at Parliament.

Did learned Judge holiday with learned bar-prop Shyster?

Ask no questions. Pure coincidence. A monologue between 2 consenting adults. NFA.

Did Hon. Pharoah issue veiled threats to Hon. Judge? Was there an attempt to indoctrinate apanama, learned judges?

Ask no questions. We forget! NFA.

In the wake of institutionalised blatant obfuscation and systematic scorched-earth tactics employed by our Governors, we, the People have to learn to scream at the top of our lungs.

VOCIFEROR LUPUS!

For, when you see a WOLF in sheeps’ clothing, do not adjust your lenses, rub your eyes or blink in confusion. There is nothing wrong with your vision, senses or innate instincts. Head at full tilt to the top of the hill and scream ‘WOLF! WOLF!’ Even at the risk of crying WOLF! once too often.

BUT DO NOT STOP VOCIFERING LUPUS!!

But there is no known defence against a WOLF IN WOLF’s CLOTHING, is there? Silver bullets?

GOD SAVE US. HURRY. PLEASE!

donplaypuks with the X-men, man!

RUMBLE FROM REMBAU OR THE QUALITY OF MERCY

by Thun Sri Then Datok Mat Salleh Denning, ex-Master of the Rocks, Rolls & Jams, donplaypuks® intrepid correspondent for legal affairs

The verdict of the High Court in dismissing without trial our own Bard's case
against the election outcome in Rembau and the elevation of one, the Hon. MP Khairuddin Jamaluddin (KJ) to Parliament, must, by any standards, rank among the most extraordinary of decisions to have emanated from our Halls of Justice.

As our MSM's report:

QUOTE ‘ There were too many allegations made. To me, all the petitioner was doing was to cast his net wide enough, hoping to strike something. It is not enough for you to say that there was an irregularity. The petitioner, in this instance, failed to prove that the alleged irregularity could have changed the election results. These twin requirements are a must. To me, the petitioner failed to provide evidence to substantiate any of the allegations he made.’ UNQUOTE

Bad enough that one should hope to ‘strike’ as opposed to catch, something by casting a net! Presumably fishing these days is done with huge dumb-bells attached to nets, so as to raise the bar in the time-honoured sport of angling, to sand-bag and sap these snarling, sneaky, evasive denizens of the deep. Shame on these unsporting Pisceans that they will not leap willingly into our nets without forcing us to resort to extreme measures!

Chegu Bard is deemed to have failed to comply with Rule 4(4) of the Election Petition Rules 1954, on the grounds that his allegations had not proved that bribery, intimidation, non-compliance with the relevant laws etc., etc., had occurred. Or so the learned judge opined in his dismissive revelation.

Huh?

Chegu Bard’s petition to the High Court was based on 4 issues, that:-

1. there was a serious discrepancy of 745 ballot papers.
2. there were various irregularities in the issuance and handling of ballot papers after the counting exercise.
3. he was not given the Return Form on the number of postal votes
4. that Election Commission had failed to ensure the Hon. KJ and his agents adhered to the election laws.

Granted that item (4) may have been strikingly cast on a wing and a prayer, but 1,2 & 3 seem pretty serious enough? So, how did His Honour decide there had been no irregularities without a hearing in open court?

Especially in the wake of ‘No, they said it’ and ‘No, it was only an informal advice, he did it’ public row and finger-pointing between the tenure-extended Election Commission Chief and the Cabinet over the 11th hour cancellation of usage of indelible India Ink for the 2008 General Elections?

In recent years, there have been several cases here and in an unknown Island (no, not Pedra Branca) immediately across the Causeway where prosecutors have filed scores, if not hundreds of charges, and simultaneous multiple suits and Mareva Injunctions, flinging their strike-force leaden nets with gay abandon, with the sure intention of intimidating and/or overwhelming a single defendant, or at worse, securing a plea-bargained sentence.

In particular, the postal votes issue in Rembau has been the subject of much public attention and disquiet. With a standing army perhaps of about 200,000 nationwide, is it likely that 5,000 or 2 ½% of that total should have their homes in the sleepy backwaters of Rembau, but that they were on Defcon Alert 10 at our nation’s borders against possible invasion by hordes of frothing Mongolians (led possibly by Genghiz Altantuya Khan?), Barbarians or Huns pretending to be nuclear ICBM (missiles), that they should cast their votes by post?

We have been brought up to believe in the Doctrine of Separation of Powers and that this 3rd arm of Democracy, the Judiciary, provides the safety valve against the excesses of the Executive and The Legislature, especially for the protection of the ordinary citizenry. This is symbolised by The Lady of Justice with the sword of fearless decisiveness in one hand and the scales of justice in the other for balance. There is also that all-important blindfold, meaning Justice for All, without prejudice or bias!!

Our Judges are meant to be Guardians and Sentinels, to protect the weak from being struck and being trampled underfoot by the excesses of the strong and powerful. But, if their Honours will not let us get even a toe-hold in the doorways of the Halls of Justice, where do we turn to?

Note also that other peculiar court decision which allowed to stand the construction of illegal barricades on State-owned land in Cheras by a toll-highway concessionaire, forcing residents to use toll-paying roads!

A grumbling, sour, sullen embattled former Prime Minister will not take his grievances to Court. Instead he lobbies for 3, not 1, Royal Commissions. What next? Royal Commissions to resolve each and every domestic dispute between husbands and wives or those between kachang putih (peanut) sellers and City Hall? Our Courts, it would seem, are no longer good enough for refereeing even the most mundane of legal disputes.

This public disquiet is not merely over the state of our Judiciary. There is that same unease over the credentials, behaviour and intentions of the top tier of our Cabinet, Police, Office of the Attorney General, Anti-Corruption Agency, Civil Service, Statutory Bodies & Government Agencies, Scholarship Boards, Schools, Colleges & Universities, Election Commission, to name but a few.

THE REAL BARD, Shakespeare, once wrote 'The quality of mercy is not strained, it drops as the gentle rain from heaven. It blesses twice; the one who who receives AND the one who gives, as well.'

Whither, A Few Good Men?