1Malaysia, People First?

1Malaysia, People First, Performance Now. How nice, but wait. What do 1Malaysia government mean by people first?

If 1Malaysia is truly People First, why is it that the 2009/2010 Budget is looking to introduce new taxes some with fancy names to tax more people and to tax people more? GST, RPGT, and Credit Card Tax are the prime example of a 1Malaysia government way of taking care of the people: By taxing more people with more taxes. To widen the government tax base, said the 1Malaysia government. What does that mean?

Let see, before GST, short for Goods and Service Tax, only 1.4 million of the 26 millions of Malaysians have to pay tax. With GST, a baby just out of the womb of its mother will have to pay tax. The moment the mother buy diapers for the baby, the baby is taxed. So, is this people first?

Before Credit Card tax, small business owners and many income earners rely on the Credit Card to pay bills, outstanding payments, and even salary. It's one of the most convenient micro-credit services available from Malaysia Financial Institutions for the people. Now this service has become taxable. Out of nowhere, suddenly there is extra taxes ordinary people on the street have to pay. So, this is how people is becoming first according to 1Malaysia budget.

RPGT short for Real Property Gain Tax, it is not enough that the people have to service a life long loan just to own a roof over their heads, now this has become taxable, adding more burdens to the people. On average, we pay installment of 20 years for a house, after 20 years finish paying the mortgage, when we want to sell the house, we have to pay tax. The cost of the house might be RM200K when we buy it, but after counting in the interests of the house it might have gone up to RM400K, and when we sell it for RM400K, the government is going to tax us for RM200K profit, conveniently forgotten that the RM200K is not profit at all, they are cost incurred by the interests we service in the long 20 years loan. So, this is what 1Malaysia people first mean: tax them of their houses.

NAP, short for National Automotive Policy, a policy that allow the continuation of AP until 2015. What guarantee that the 1Malaysia government would not extend the life of AP in 2015? From the track records of 1Malaysia government, APs of NAP will most likely be continued way beyond 2015, while people have to pay more for cars. With NAP, the people have to pay double of what our Neighbor up north (Thailand) to own the same type of cars. The people have to take up to 9 years loan to own a car now. So, this is how a 1Malaysia government taking care of the people. By making the people to pay double to buy a car and to have to pay life long loans to own a car. Great!

So, we are too poor or too old to own a new car, never mind we still have our old trusty car to use. Wait! 1Malaysia government Budget say we have to have our old cars inspected annually or else, the road tax will not be renewed. So, we will have to cramp through the ever crowded and slow PUSPAKOM inspection before we could renew the road tax of our old cars. That is still not enough, 1Malaysia wants to stop importing second hand car parts to prevent us from repairing our old cars with used parts. It's safer that way, 1Malaysia government said. But wait, how about old cars that can't find new parts? Sorry, we didn't think of that, 1Malaysia government said. So, that's what People first means to 1Malaysia government.

When the Selangor Chief Minister wanted to declassify documents to tell the people what really happens that causes a landslide, costing people to lost homes, money and properties, the 1Malaysia government is threatening to sue the Chief Minister stopping him to tell the people what the people should know. So, this is people first mean, don't let them know the truth according to 1Malaysia. We stop the Chief Minister for National Security, that's what 1Malaysia tells the people. Why is documents detailing a landslide is matter of national security, no one in the 1Malaysia government bothers to tell the people. So, that's how people become first.

1Malaysia government is going to privatize more public services in the future. To cut cost, they said. But wait, 40 over years of privatizations records have shown only 1 trend. Services become worse and become more expensive to the people. So, this is how people first means, by making us pay more for our rubbishes to be collected, making us pay more for water, making us pay more for electricity, making us pay more for using tolled roads, making us pay more for Indah Water to service our Septic Tank, which should have been covered in our water bill in the first place, like in most other country. Well, what could we do? But 1Malaysia is people first.

So, I wonder, if 1Malaysia people first really means people pay first.

Accept but will Appeal?

Politicians really have a way with words. I am speaking of Barisan Nasional's official stands on the High Court Decision of declaring Kota Siputeh Kedah state seats vacant. The High Court had ruled that Datuk Abu Hassan Sarif is no longer the assemblyman for the constituency and declared his seat vacant because he was absent for two consecutive assembly meetings this year.

The consequences of the High Court decision is that there will be a re-election to be held in Kota Siputeh, Kedah.

The funny thing is that BN, correction, UMNO decision is to accept the High Court decision (read ruling) but will appeal. Hmmm... I mean, if you accept a decision (read ruling), will you appeal against it? If you are going to appeal against a ruling, doesn't that mean you do not accept the ruling? So, where is the logic in accepting the ruling then appeal against it? Or put it in another way, why accept the ruling if you are going to appeal against it? Or put it in yet another way, if you are going to appeal against a ruling, can you say you accepted the decision (read ruling)?

Is NAP a Policy of BN to milk the people?

Since the inception of the National Automotive Policy (NAP), Malaysians have been burdened with tolls, expensive cars, lousy public transport system, and debts.

When Proton was launch, we were told a dream that we would owe a car that is our National Pride and that it would be affordable. It turns out to be a nightmare where the car that is affordable is not affordable at all, the car that is suppose to be our national pride is more like an international laughing stock.

Why then is the ruling party: Barisan National continue this people impoverishing NAP?

With the continuation of the NAP, Malaysia have to pay fines to ASEAN as the policy violated ASEAN AFTA, and us, Malaysians have to pay double for what it is worth to owe a car. We have to ask: What is the benefit of NAP to the rakyat on the street?

The answer is clear, the benefits of continuing the NAP is not for the people on the street. NAP would protect Proton and NAP would continue to give NAZA many APs to rack in many billions. It is a Policy that BN cannot do without, they need it to "earn" their billions for their cronies and themselves.

The people cow continue to be milked.

Islamic State is Oppressive to non-Muslims.

Muslims all over the world, be it due to their ignorance or religious fervent, most aspire to form Islamic state in their respective nations. If you ask them why, they will tell you that it is their Allah given duty.

Google Islamic State, you'd hit a lot of websites and blogs dedicated or attempted to explain and describe Islamic States. Sieving through all the information found on the internet, it eventually becomes clear to me that an Islamic State in both it's ideological form as well as its practical form, is inherently oppressive to non-Muslims. Let me show you.

From http://www.readingislam.com in their article the purpose of Islamic State, it said:

every Muslim is to be regarded as eligible for positions of the highest responsibility in an Islamic state without distinction of race, sex, color or class.

There were no mentioning of whether non-Muslim should enjoy the same eligibility. To find the answer I do not have to go far. From http://www.parvez-video.com in its Quran - State Affairs page, it said:

since the very purpose of the existence of this (Islamic) state is the establishment of the Divine System and the enforcement of the Quranic status, it is apparent that those who do not believe in its ideology i.e. the non-Muslims, cannot be admitted to participate in the affairs of the state.

Then I found this written in a Muslim blog describing Quranic State:

The State which is established on this concept is called the Quranic State or you can say Islamic State, which encompasses two groups of people:

(i) The group whose members believe in the Quranic concept of Ideology and

(ii) The group whose members do not believe in this Ideology.

The members of the first group run the administration of this State and also look after the human rights of the second group so that the members of this group are not deprived of any human right.

So, here you go, in an Islamic State only Muslims are entitled to be elected to run the country, non-Muslims are automatically disqualified. This is a form of discrimination, the non-Muslims are discriminated base on their religion.

So, what happened to non-Muslims in an Islamic state? If you were denied the opportunity to be elected so that your voice could be heard in the nation that you are residing in, you have been denied your right to freedom of speech and your right to be represented in the running of the state. There will be no one to fight for your rights and to protect you from any oppressive measures or policy to be taken by the state. This in itself is another form of oppression and discrimination.

It is idiotic to say that the Muslims will be able to understand the needs and rights of the non-Muslims via consultations. The very essence of the ideology where an Islamic State could only be run by Muslim is itself a manifestation of the inability of Muslims to respect the right of the non-Muslims to be represented in the affair of the state. When one of the most fundamental democratic right of the non-Muslims to be represented is automatically denied to them, how then the Muslims would be able to treat the non-Muslims fairly and would be able to protect the rights of the non-Muslims in an Islamic state?

Just take a look around the world today, you could see Alberto Fujimori (a Japanese) elected as the President of Peru, Manmohan Singh (a Sikh) elected as the Prime Minister of India, and Obama elected as the President of USA but have you ever heard of a non-Muslim being elected as the leader of any Islamic state? There is none. In the ideology of democracy, Muslims are entitled to be elected as representative just as the non-Muslim, but in an Islamic "Democracy" non-Muslim is automatically disqualified. In this regard, democracy is definitely a fairer ideology compared to Islamic "democracy".

Actually, the argument that Islamic State is a democratic state is based entirely on the Khalifa (khilafah or Khilafat depending which Muslim Scholar source) of early Islam Community. Since the Khalifa were elective in nature, so the Muslim Scholars argued that an Islamic State is democratic. This is a severe distortion of the word: democratic. Let me use an analogy: The leader of the Communist party are also elected, but you don't call Communist Country Democratic. The reason is obvious, only those from the Communist Party (those who subscribe to the communist ideals) are eligible to be elected. Just as in an Islamic State only the Muslims are eligible to be elected. So, to me Islamic Democracy is as oxymoron as the term Communist Democracy.

If you have been told by Muslims that in an Islamic State, non-Muslims would be treated fairly and they would not be oppressed or trampled upon, then you should read what is ordained In the Quran.

(Sura 6:109): "You revile not those whom they call upon besides Allah, lest they out of spite revile Allah Almighty in their ignorance". The problem lies in exactly that there is an escape clause.

(Sura 9:29): "Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued." This justified Dhimmitude.

As is seen in what is already happening in Malaysia, there are bound to be inter-religious conflicts, as we all live together in the same country. When conflicts happened between the believers and the non-believers, any questioning of the "Islamic" practices would be deemed insulting to the said religion. So as ordained in the Quran, it would be state sanctioned that the non-believers be put down by force. As the non-believers would be accused of reviling against Allah. As it's seen happening almost daily around the world.

Also, given the ultra-sensitivity of the Muslims today, any attempt at initiating an intellectual dialogue on all things Islam, would be automatically classified as attempts to insult the religion, as is seen in the Malaysia Bar Council forum entitled "Conversion to Islam: Article 121 (1A) of the Federal Constitution, Subashini and Sharmala Revisited" .

Then if you have been told that the Sharia law would not be imposed onto non-Muslims, you would have been lied to. Think about it, if the Sharia Law become the state law, how would non-Muslims being citizen of the state be exempted from such state laws? In fact, from http://www.parvez-video.com:

The non-believers being the citizens of an Islamic State, Islamic laws shall be applied to them. In their personal affairs, they shall be allowed to take their own decisions, subject to the laws of the Islamic State.

Also from http://www.readingislam.com:

In Western democracy, the people are sovereign; in Islam sovereignty is vested in Allah and the people are His caliphs or representatives. The laws given by Allah through His Prophet ( Shari ‘ah) are to be regarded as constitutional principles that should not be violated.

So, these website has already spelled it out explicitly or implicitly for us. Being the citizen of an Islamic State, Islamic Law will be imposed to the non-Muslims. This is a form of Oppressions as the non-Muslims are subjected to religious laws that they do not subscribe to.

Lastly, the formation of an Islamic State would not be completed until the practice of Dhimmitude. All non-believers would eventually be made Dhimmis in an Islamic State as is ordained in the holy Quran (Sura 9:29).

From Wikipedia. Being a Dhimmi in an Islamic states means that you will have less right compared to that of a Muslim, you would be subjected to state sanction humiliation, your house can not be seen bigger than that of a Muslim's house, your testimony in the court is only as good as half of that of a Muslim, you would have to wear distinctive clothes to differentiate yourself as a dhimmi and you would be the first target of attack of any uprising as is seen throughout the history of all Islamic Empires, and your life would worth as best one half of that of a Muslim. In modern day definitions, being treated as a dhimmi in your own country is definitely a form of oppression.

My conclusion that Islamic State is inherently oppressive to non-Muslim is then verified by an article in http://www.islamfortoday.com/. The article said:

Islamic states inevitably treat non-Muslim citizens as less than equal curbing their access to power and religious freedom.

With this, I end my article here.

If you have reached here, you should note that I use no internet source that is anti-Islam or websites that propagate Islamophobia. Feel free to check them out to verify my claims.

Single stream School in Malaysia would not solve racial polarization problem in Malaysia

Tun Dr Mahatir (TDM) is at it again, this time the target is the Vernacular Schools.

What TDM conveniently forgotten to mention is the religious bigotry and racial discrimination being practiced in the national schools.

Ask any parents who had sent their kids to Sekolah Kebangsaan (the National Schools) and ask those who had attended those school. You would hear story how a kid is denied selection into the school football team because he's not a Malay. Some stories are even being published in the newspaper, like the teachers calling pupils names because these kids are non-malays, and stories like how the non-muslim kids are forced to hear Islamic preachings and how their religions being ridiculed in the open. Last but not least, the Biro Tatanegara (BTN) racist propaganda being shoved down the throat of those unfortunate enough to have to go through the indoctrination "courses".

Ask any old forks whom are fortunate enough to have attended schools in Malaysia in the 60's and you would hear why parents then prefer to send their kids to the national school. You would be told that the vernacular schools were not popular in the 60's as they were seen backward and low in standards. Whereas the National School were the choice of the day and many leaders were nurtured there.

Actually, Singapore have shown us that if we had good national schools, vernacular school would die a slow natural death. And that was what happened in the 60's. The vernacular schools at those time were dying a slow natural death, as parents rejected those school and kids were going to the National Schools.

It was BN's education policy that have given life to the Vernacular Schools. The politicized education policy adopted by BN made the standard of the national schools falling faster than a rock sinking to the bottom of the lake hence driving the parents away and the kids to the Vernacular Schools.

If you have bothered to check the history of all these "popular" vernacular schools you would noticed that their surge all started in the 70's. All thanks to BN, lead by the likes of TDM, who politicized education and in the process butchered the national schools.

Long gone the days when the National Schools were the pride of the nations, now when we speak of national schools, we speak of Islamization, racist slurs and discrimination, low professionalism teachers, and low in standards. These are the real reasons that parents do not want to send their kids to these schools, not because they don't want their kids to mix with other races as told by TDM. So TDM is lying through his teeth to cover up his own failure. He's the one responsible for the falling standards of national school as this was happening while he's at the helm of the government as The Education Minister and later the Prime Minister.

It's TDM's Education Policy that have cause the falling and the failing of the national schools that drives the parents away. That's why he is making racist comment now, just to pull wools over our eyes, just to stir up emotions so that we would overlooked the mess that is caused by none other but him: Tun Dr Mahatir, the butcher of our once prided national schools.

Dream of a Safer Road in Malaysia

Roads in Malaysia is not safe. Most roads are built without shoulder and even more built without an emergency lane.

Malaysia Highway Codes and Road Transport Acts are so outdated that, most of our roads and highway looks more like deathtraps than medium of moving from point A to point B. One of the reason why many Malaysians perished in our tarmac roads is that our road is really dangerous.

On the back of my head I could list 6 dangerous features that is found in our roads, expressway or highway:

1. No separate lane for Motorbikes.


2. Dangerous fixtures erected too near to the roads.


3. Lack of emergency lanes on most roads.


4. Lack of pedestrian or cycling paths.


5. Poor quality of construction.


6. Poor planning.

1. Separate lane for Motorbikes

It is truly dangerous to have motorbikes sharing the same roads with cars, trucks, and buses. Every festive season, during the police Ops Sikap, it is always motorcyclists ranked top in number of accidents fatal or non-fatal. And every time, the blame is put on the road users.

It might be true that the road users should bear certain responsibility, but it is also true that there were no concerted effort on the authority part to rectify the issue to help reduce such accidents. In fact, the solution to this problem has been in existence in Malaysia: separate Motorcycle lanes.

Unfortunately, such facility is only found in part of Kuala Lumpur and not anywhere else in Malaysia. Guessed it is easier to ask motorcyclists to drive more carefully than to provide them with a safer road.

2. Dangerous fixtures found near roads

You don't have to spend any effort to find them, they are easily spotted on a lot of roadsides. Lamp posts, electrical and telephone poles, drains, billboards, and towers can be found erected right at the road sides, junctions or in some cases in the middle of the road. Cars, motorcyclists, trucks, buses and vans have to drive with utmost vigilance to avoid crashing into them. In one of the tolled highway on the east coast, drains were built right next to the over taking lane without any space or shoulder to separate the drain away from the road. This is dangerous especially on the highway.

The national Highway Code needed to be updated that not only there must be a guideline specifying minimum distances such fixtures like drains or poles should be positions away from the road, there should also be guidelines established how such fixtures to be erected so that in case of a vehicle crashing into them, the vehicle would not be split into half, killing everyone on boards. Our highway could really be made safer for the user, if poles at road sides are not made from concretes or stainless steel like they are now.

3. Emergency Lane

There should be two emergency lanes for highway and 1 emergency lane for trunk roads and expressway.

The reason is obvious, for highway, one emergency lane for vehicle breakdowns and one for the use of law enforcement or emergency units. For expressway and trunk roads, there should be at least 1 emergency lane for well, you know emergency. Currently, most trunk roads and expressway, do not have such facility.

The existence of emergency lane would make most of our trunk roads much more safer than they currently are now.

4. Pedestrian and Cycling Paths

Our cities and rural areas are not safe for people on foot and people on bicycles. Try walking in any town in Malaysia. Most of the time, you would find yourself walking on the shoulder of the tarmac road or on the road itself because there were no pedestrian paths built. This is dangerous. When will the authority wake up from their slumber and offer the man on his foot or the woman on hers a safe path on the road? Hey, people on foot are road users too!

5. Poor Quality of Roads Constructed.

Aside from pot holes, sinking manholes, dangerous corners and dangerous junctions. We also have to deal with roads with uneven surfaces. A well built and properly maintained roads will go a long way in offering road users a much safer road.

6. Poor planning.

How many times when you are driving, and you found the road merges, not from two lanes to one, but from six lanes to two? Such abrupt lane mergers are extremely dangerous.

Then, when the road are diverging from one lane to two, it diverges in such a way that if you don't change lane, you are ended up in the fast lane on the right, not the slow lane on the left. This contributes to traffic jam. Common sense would tell us that when a road diverges from one lane to two lanes, it should diverge naturally so that the car need not change lane to end up in the slow lane. But alas, you would find the contrary in many roads in Malaysia. This is a manifestation of poor planning, poor designs, and poor construction quality on the part of the authority.

Malaysia Budget Blues

It's that time of the year again, the announcement of the Malaysia Government Annual Budget. This time it is one of those slightly special Budget announcement, as it is the maiden Budget of PM Datuk Seri Najib. However, as usual, do expect to hear a lot of rhetoric and praises from sycophants. And without fail, the "special" occasion turns out to be quite ordinary.

As expected, the media (read Government mouth piece) is filled with many praises and empty rhetoric, like the people budget, or that this is a budget that gear Malaysia towards a high income economy etc etc...

But on closer examinations, there are nothing really new in the budget. It's all same old same old infrastructure development which only benefits developers that have connections with the ruling elites. In fact, there are more bad news than good ones.

The Goods, Sales and Service Tax (GST) is coming. This is bad news, this would means that everyone would be taxed, regardless if you were earning a living or begging for a living. If GST is introduced, the poor would get poorer. Personally I am against the implementation of GST, as it only works to widen the government tax base, in layman terms, collect taxes from more people. GST is a bad tax as it betrays the original intention of taxes, that is to even out wealth distribution in a country. The intention of the first modern tax collected was to collect money from the riches and redistribute the money to benefits the poor. GST done nothing of that sorts. The introduction of GST is in no way would push Malaysia towards a High income economy, it would only burden the poor and forces more people to pay tax.

One of the key ingredient of high income economy is human resource development i.e. education. Malaysia education system is seriously handicapped by BN's New Economy Policy. The racist NEP have costs Malaysia much. The most obvious is the falling standards of Malaysia local universities and also the falling employ ability of the university graduates. These have created another vicious negative cycle: the government is forced to absorb these unemployable graduates into the public sector. Making the bloated civil servants even more bloated, hence costing the government an even higher operating expenditures. In this budget, the government is spending RM 138.3 billion to run the country comparing to only RM 53.2 billion for development. The operating expenditure would continues to grow if the government does nothing to reverse the trend.

What makes me very sick is that out of the RM 138.3 billions operating expenditure, many billions would be lost to corruptions. Every year the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) would report the blatant abuses in government spending. And yet nothing is done to address the problem. In fact, base on the PAC reports, corruptions is so bad in Malaysia that, it is safe to predict that the budget is going to overrun by as least 33%. In other words, expect the government to spend RM 184 billions instead of RM 138.3 billions by the end of 2010 for "operating expenditure". With such blatant mismanagement, the citizen would only suffer as the government would have to find more ways to tax us.

Then I do not know how the government have the chick to call this the people's budget, when GST is introduced, the government is going to make living even harder for the people. Yes, there is the raising of the personal tax relief from RM 8,000 to RM 9,000, but this would only be translated to an extra of maximum RM1,000 x 26% = RM 260 per year or RM 0.71 per day. Not even enough for a teh tarik. And that's for the highest income tax bracket. Then this "grand" relief has to be offset by the credit card tax. I have asked around, on average, Working Malaysian executives are owning 2 credit cards, that's RM 100 per year gone. So that's left RM 160 per year extra money if you are earning RM 100,000 per year. For those lower income earner, tough luck.