Prefect Democracy

I've not been writing about technology for a while, so I thought that I should do that. However, seeing that I'm still a bit swept up by the election results in Malaysia, I thought that I'd do an entry on technology and politics. I've recently read The Prefect, by Alastair Reynolds. It's SciFi but it had an interesting idea on democracy in action, in the future, which I'd like to explore here.

The story in the book centred around a society, which was built around democracy. The job of a Prefect was to ensure that the voting system throughout the system, which covered many thousands of habitats, was fair and not tampered with. The book begins with them discovering a flaw in the system and the chaos that ensued later. But what is interesting is the concept of a weighted vote.

The idea that caught my attention was the concept of a weighted vote. In the story, the citizens voted on almost every decision. Actions are then taken based on the outcome. It is a crime to deny a person the right to vote, but people who made accurate judgements and whose decisions brought a positive result, are rewarded with a higher voting weight.

This idea sounded good to me, as it would force voters to make informed judgements as random votes would just cause their voices to be filtered by the system as noise. So, I was just wondering if it was feasible to implement such a system from a technical point of view. And from a pure technology perspective, the different bits are already in place.

Voter Anonymity
One very important aspect of democracy is the idea of voter anonymity. This seems to contradict the idea of assigning weights to individual voters. The two can be reconciled by using hash functions, which are one-way transformations. A hash function is often used to store passwords in databases because, while it is possible to verify a password against it's hash, it is not technically feasible to reconstruct the password from it's hash. So, we can use it to check a voter against their weights but not be able to identify a specific voter from their weights.

Voter Verification
Another seemingly impossible task is voter verification. Not only do the voters need anonymity, their votes need to be verified to prevent phantom voters from voting. This can be done by using a shared secret between the voter and the core computer system, such as a PIN or secret password. And just like present, the voters would be required to periodically change their passwords to prevent anyone from stealing it. Or a second channel authentication could be used to verify the vote.

Vote Secrecy
Each vote is considered a secret. So, public key infrastructure can be used to protect an individual's vote from being intercepted by anyone, while in transit. It is still possible to tamper with the message and spoil the vote, but that flaw can be policed using normal laws. The only party that will ever be privy to the vote, is the computer system that receives the vote. If hashing is done the moment a vote is received and verified, the vote remains a secret to the rest of the core system.

Voter Cost
This leads us to the ultimate cost of the system. It goes without saying that the core will need to be policed and reviewed openly by everyone, just like how it is done with open source software. Any voter who wishes to check the system, can feasibly learn how to do so. The cost of voting itself, is not an issue as voters could use any technology to vote, depending on whatever is convenient at the time, such as mobile phones. In the story, voters have got implants in their brains and vote just by thinking about it. The network itself is divorced from the vote as it's job is merely to ensure transportation integrity.

Voter Knowledge
Anyone who wishes to cast a vote would need to cast it wisely. Hence, the cost of disseminating information is not an issue either, as voters who are too lazy to find out about the issue will ultimately end up being weighted into nothingness. So, as long as the Internet is around, and everyone is given the opportunity to access that information, that will not be a problem.

So, feasibly, such a system can be implemented from a technical viewpoint. Whether it's socially or politically viable is beside the point. Obviously, the weights must not be assigned linearly. Even fools deserved to be heard, although their views may only garner a smaller weight. In the story, every average person has a weight of 1.0 and wise voters are people who average above 1.25 points. There a a reverent few who have 2.0 to 3.0 weights and are considered people with prescient abilities.

Funnily, in the story, there is a whole habitat whose chief source of income is their vote. Most of the residents there have a higher than average voting weight. So, lobbyist will pay money to have their cases heard by the people of this habitat. Money politics doesn't play a role because it would be impossible to buy the votes. If the people of this habitat voted by who pays them more, they would very quickly lose their weights.

The Dream is Failing

I have had a long suspicion that Lim Kit Siang, one of our most prominent opposition leaders for the last few decades, has gone senile. Now, I believe that I have confirmation that he really has. I'd like to dedicate this open letter to him:

Dear Uncle Kit,

I know that I do not have any authority to speak on this matter but I thought that I should just let you know what I think about what's happening in Perak. I can assure you that I'm not the only one who thinks this way. Obviously I'm not privy to the matters behind the scenes but I'd like to raise your attention to the harm that's potentially being done there.

I read with consternation a MalaysiaKini report that you are asking Perak DAP to boycott the Menteri Besar swearing in ceremony. I think that this action will cause more harm than good for everyone in the long run.

The Perak Regent had selected whom he felt would be best suited as the MB. From what I have read from the report, the person seems to be well educated, a professional and a businessman. At face value, the credentials seem to put him in good stead to run the state. PAS obviously knows that they cannot go overboard in Perak simply because DAP gets the bulk of the state seats.

Before the decision, all sides had said that they would respect the Regent's decision and work together on common ground. But now that the decision has been made, you comes out to make harmful statements like this. This calculated boycott does not only make DAP look like sore losers but also disrespectful children. It seems like you are giving the Regent "the finger" and I doubt that it will go down well considering that many people like the Regent and think of him as a well educated, moderate and sane person. You want to have that man on your side.

DAP is probably trying to show that you are not in bed with PAS but it doesn't work because it is obvious to everyone that you need to work with PAS in order to run the state as you do not hold enough seats in the assembly. And it won't work with any voters older than 25 who still remember 1999 when you openly worked together. So, I don't really know who you are trying to send the message, of distancing yourself from PAS, to. If you are worrying that the MCA will make an issue out of it, don't. Don't let them pull your strings.

By doing things like this, you will make it seem like the Perak state government is weak and divided and that the opposition parties cannot work together. Perak should serve as a model of how racial politics isn't an issue, but it's turning into a disaster. It should be evidently clear by now that the average Malaysian voter is not entirely stupid. This simple act of sabotage may come back to bite all of you later.

I hope this makes sense. Please do not ruin this beautiful opportunity given to you by the rakyat.

with metta,
Shawn Tan.

Perak was supposed to serve as a shining beacon of what Malaysia could be. The state has a sane and well educated royal family whom everyone loves. There is a good mix of the major races in the state and the political parties are not able to monopolise the government. Please do not shatter this dream.

Merdeka!

We have a new beginning in Malaysia. News is also beginning to filter in on the reactions by various parties. I thought that I'd put down what I think are some good ideas for the Opposition 2.0 to try to think about. I'm hoping that the opposition will not disappoint but I have a sinking feeling that they will.

Local Elections
I am hoping that the local councilors in the opposition states will now be elected democratically instead of being appointed. It should not be too difficult to implement a form of local elections for people like the mayor too.

Shadow Cabinet
The rakyat have been asking for this for ages. They have no excuses now. The opposition has enough numbers in parliament to form an effective shadow cabinet and create a real check and balance for the ruling government.

Real Proposals
Now, the opposition can no longer make random promises as they have to deliver on the promises. If they want to get rid of the NEP, please give a solid proposal on what to replace it with. Meritocracy and fairness are not proposals.

Racial Politics
Personally, I find it kind of disappointing that the opposition are playing the same racial game that nobody is interested in anymore. Multi-racial politics is still racial politics. They have a chance of changing the political landscape totally, but they seem to be oblivious of it.

Work Together
Instead of cultivating an us vs them mentality, the opposition should invite participation from the ruling government. In fact, the government should do that too, by inviting opposition MPs into the cabinet. People should be selected based on experience/skills, and not who they kowtow to.

Let's all hope that our dreams don't turn into nightmares. Let's not fall back into the same rut that we've just managed to dig ourselves out of.

Malaysian General Elections 2008

Reflection

The shock waves are still coursing throughout the world (France24, BBC, FT, Reuters, TIME, WP, NYT) today. Yes, we can. Change is within our grasp. We have shown our rejection for politics of the old to both our ruling and opposition coalition. However, at this point, I shall quote another line from Lord of The Rings:

The Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little, and it will fail, to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains while the Company is true.

These are interesting, unpredictable times that we live in. After the euphoria settles, everyone will need to get down to work. The rakyat have spoken and we will now be keeping score. The playing field has never been as level as it is now. And nobody really knows what it means.

I don't really care what it means at the moment. I just want to blog about how I feel at the moment. Yes, it's precarious times and if we are not careful, we will shoot ourselves in the foot. Sectarian politics seems to have been rejected, but the results could be further division. However, I am sure that hope remains, because the rakyat have spoken true.



As the report says, the dynamics of local politics has changed. I am happy that the people are more than just aware, but are capable of taking their awareness to the next level, and bring about change. Talk about the silent majority. You never hear a peep from these people until the time comes to cast their ballot. I don't think that we can ever assume that silence means consent any more. We are silent only because we do not wish to stir up any trouble.

Regardless of the political results, it is now time for us to come together as a nation and work together to fix the problems of the past. We need to focus on improving the welfare for everyone, and not just a small political elite. I am a strong supporter of accountability and transparency. I want the government that has efficacy and efficiency. No more sleeping heads and misinformation, please.

Now for an announcement from our dearest Pak Lah. Note the lacklustre cheering. I know that you are dejected, but do not be depressed. Take this as a kick in the behind that you all sorely needed.



PS: I find it rather cute that our former PM has already apologised for selecting a noob as his successor and our current PM is still in denial over what has been a rout. Let's just hope that the internal UMNO power struggles do not spill into the streets. Let's keep it all nice and civil, yar!

Malaysia Boleh!

Well, it's just a matter of waiting for the official results. But we have already shown to everyone in the world that we can do it. Malaysia Boleh! I was supposed to get some work done today, but obviously, the excitement was too much for me to take.

I am glad that the young have won against the old everywhere. Incumbents, Chief Ministers, Ministers and Deputy Ministers were completely slaughtered in the elections. The latest news is that four states had fallen into opposition hands. Our PM had already conceded defeat in Kelantan, Kedah and Penang. However, Selangor came as a big surprise to everyone. Our opposition claims to have secured 40% of parliament. Let's just hope that no more magic ballot boxes disappear and reappear anywhere.

Malaysians have shown that we want change. We want something different. So, it's time that the government sat up and listened to the people. I'm emotionally tired now. I'll just take a break.

Malaysia Boleh!

PS: I'll not analyse the situation yet for a few more days. Things are still fairly volatile and anything can happen in politics. We will see the shape of things to come in a while.

Tales from the Front

It isn't over till it's over. But, following the election results live on MalaysiaKini, I am intrigued to imagine what must be going through the heads of our top politicians. Early results seem to indicate that many of the big guns are headed for slaughter. However, at times like these, I am constantly reminded of this quote from BattleStar Galactica:

There's always a backup plan for victory. -- Tory (S2E20)

This may seem rather lame, since I'm taking political advice from a fictional television programme. A friend of mine has just called my cynical. All I can say is that my enthusiasm has been tempered by experience. Victory can always be ensured if someone wants it badly enough.

So, as for the dude in the picture on the right, his name is Mortanius, a necromancer from the Legacy of Kain video game. He is like our necromancer in chief. A necromancer is someone who dabbles in the magic of the dead. Now, this is going to seem doubly lame now, since I'm using a video game character to talk about our politics. But this has something to do with the backup plan for victory.

I can still remember a famous scene from the 2004 general elections that showed a particular MP in tears in the operations room. Initial counts had shown that this MP had lost. It was only after the recounts that the MP was declared a winner. This is the point that I am trying to raise.

After consulting the oracle, our necromancer in chief realised the extent of the troubles. Ill wind was blowing in from the north. Phantoms had to be summoned to the front lines to affect the results at targeted locations. But these phantoms tend to float around in flocks and can be detected with the use of a magic ink. So, In order to ensure victory, the ink had to be gotten rid off. Some minions were dispatched to the north, to disrupt the supply of the magic ink by any means possible and to achieve this task.

However, even that may not be enough to ensure victory. So, an undead army needs to be summoned in order to help resurrect the ailing fortunes of certain leaders. The problem with deploying the undead at the 11th hour is that their numbers are finite. Some parties have estimated their numbers to be in the thousands only, and most of them liked to sleep together in tight little coffins. But the way that things seem to be turning out, chances are that they are not enough and some leaders will fall today.

News is filtering in slowly and what I have read is sketchy. However, it is beginning to emerge that the fight is almost won. A night elf priestess seems to have inflicted a 36,600 point damage and staked her ground. This is quite possibly the highest damage score I've seen before. The combined armies of the Alliance have managed to secure two key states in the north and seem to be on the way to conquering more.

Rumours are whispering that a fiery, young, beautiful blood elf princess has gracefully slain an evil old hag. I just hope that the old hag does not try to repeat her act of recounts till victory of 2004. Another state has almost fallen as well, with 43% of the land taken. They only need another 8% to capture the state and are on the way to doing so.

Several oracles have predicted before the election that up to five states in the north will fall into the hands of the Alliance. It seems that they are on their way to fulfilling prophecy. Warnings are being issued everywhere, to show humility in victory and not take to the streets. We would not want to give anyone any excuse to play the 1969 card and impose martial law. Stay home! Stay safe!

PS: You can tell that I am excited!

Polling Closes

Darn it, I told myself that I was not going to blog about this election anymore. But as a result of the lively political discussions that I had yesterday with a bunch of friends, I had been kicked off my lazy behind to talk about this election. There are just too many facets of it to talk about but I would like to talk about how it makes me feel.

I am excited. For a long time, I have not been as excited over Malaysian politics in my life. I see this election as a measure of our country's future because it is turning out to be an election of new versus old. There is an electrifying air of change, storming through our nation. It is a signal from the people, especially the younger generation, that the old politics no longer appeal to us and we wish to have something different.

For the last few years, I have often blogged about my feelings of despair and dismay at the changes being wrought to our beautiful nation by the ruling government. Our Constitution was being openly trampled upon by the judiciary, our social contract was being one-sidedly reneged by the growing dominance of a single political party, and there did not seem to be anyone who had the ability to stop the rot.

It had seemed that the Malaysia today is nothing like the Malaysia that I grew up in. The country that I love was slowly changing into something so ugly and vile that I was ashamed of being associated with. But even through this transformation, I believed that not all hope was lost. Through all the political rhetoric, I constantly remind myself of the types of people that I have met through my life. I believed in my fellow Malaysians.

I will tell anyone who asks me, that Malaysia is truly a paradise (if we discount the politics). We have a beautiful natural environment with challengingly high mountains, soft sandy beaches, calm blue seas and luscious rainforests. The food is the greatest in the world and the people are nice and, most importantly, tolerant of each others misgivings. There is definitely no better place to call home.

So, that is why I wish for a good election day. I want the results to show me hope that, the Malaysia I know and love, is not lost. I want to be able to believe in the ideals that we were once striving towards together. I want to know that regardless of the noises at the top, the foundations are strong and stable. I want to dream of a future together and I want to love again.

Okay. This blog has been a little thick. Now, for some political jokes from our main opposition party leader:

Malaysian General Elections - Nomination Day

With nomination day just around the corner, I felt like saying something about my thoughts on the utterly non-democratic nature of our candidate nominations. I shall begin by quoting our Election's Commission Chairman:

"In an election you have to produce what is called an informed choice. That's the principle."

Now, let's see how we have failed utterly in this respect. Let us start with the picture at the top.

At the national level, the National Front (BN) candidates are all going to face a one-to-one run off against the opposition candidates. I cannot imagine the amount of back-room dealings that had to have occurred in order for this to happen. This reduces the choice that the voters have. Try to imagine a similar situation, where a number of companies decided to split the market by offering only one-to-one choices of their wares. The key thing is to reduce competition by coming to an agreement on only selling the products of two companies in a market. In the real world, this would be an illegal conspiracy. Companies behaving like this would have heavy fines levied on them or worse. But for some reason, this is perfectly acceptable in politics.

Both DAP and PAS handed over a few constituencies over to PKR in order to help them grow into a stronger party. But I question the wisdom of this decision. It is important for PKR to grow as it purportedly represents the hope of centrist, middle-class urban voters. However, helping it to grow by giving hand-outs just stinks of the crutch culture that is endemic in our social system. There is no democracy in this decision. If they are to become a bona-fide opposition party, they should have to put in the hard work with the people and wrest the support away from everyone else (including other opposition parties).

At the local level, the voters are all screwed. The decisions to field candidates in an election are decided from the top, and once again, the people have no choice in the matter and are told to tow the party line. In an actual democracy, the lower party members should be the ones who decide whom they would like to field in their constituency. Such a decision should never have to get the approval of anyone in the central committee. Instead, what we have now are elected officials who are beholden to the will of the central power structure and couldn't care less about what their constituents think.

Democracy is the government of the people, by the people and for the people --- Abe Lincoln

So there, I give you, we are not even a paper democracy on nomination day.

Us vs US

The DAP just released a campaign video. I watched it and felt kind of let down by the quality (rather, the lack of).

1. The voice over was weak. Granted, it's Uncle Kit's voice but his voice is not suitable for ads. It's probably gone hoarse from shouting too much in parliament. They should really have just done away with it entirely if they couldn't get professional voice work done.
2. The use of the "swoosh" is questionable. I doubt that Nike would throw a fuss about this. But still I'm pretty sure that it's a trademark. They really shouldn't blatantly steal a logo and modify it's slogan. It smacks of childishness. Use the rocket, it's a good logo.
   
3. The (mis)use of old fat ladies running a relay race through the street. If you're going to make someone run on camera, at least find someone fit enough for the job. I'm not sure I'd trust these old ladies enough to pass them my baton.
4. Using a kid to run the last leg of the race. Obviously, this was meant to symbolise hope for the future. However, it's a cheap sell.
   
5. Oops! Uncle Kit gave us the finger when he accepted the baton. I guess that he didn't learn how to receive a baton correctly in school. The cameraman should have caught onto that. It's so glaring.
   

The video was obviously a budget production. Now, contrast it with this campaign video from the other side of the world. A world of difference.



PS: I know that sticking up the video here is just helping the DAP spread their video. But I just felt that I needed to comment on it. Commenting on the video without context isn't quite right.

Communications Blackout

Last week, it emerged that three (some say four) submarine cables that ferry the Internet around the world had been cut, over just as many days.

Having one cable cut isn't usually very interesting news. Yes, it would cost a bundle of money to fix it, but it isn't really news worthy as the Internet was designed to withstand exactly this sort of problem. Packets may take longer to travel around the world, but they will still get there.

But, having three cables lost one day after the other, is very mysterious indeed. It was initially attribute to some stupid captain of a random ship who might have forgotten to raise her anchor. A big ship dragging it's anchor across one of these cables is the most obvious way to cut these cables. It has happened before.

However, recent reports have emerged from the Egyptian Ministry of Communications, which say that this is an unlikely scenario. Analysis of video surveillance of the shipping lanes around the area show that no ships were in the vicinity when the cables were cut. Also, the cables are a designated no-go zone, ruling out any commercial ship as the possible perpetrator of such stupidity.

As a result of this massive loss of bandwidth, countries around the region had lost a lot of capacity. Egypt issued a call to all it's citizens to ration their own bandwidth usage and to reduce downloading too much porn movies music unnecessary data. India complained of affects on it's technology business as network connections had to be rerouted.

Amidst all this, one thing that has gone unnoticed by most mainstream media is this: Iran has dropped off the map. Yes, that's right. With the cuts, Iran is no longer connected to the rest of the world, via the Internet. Quoting a /. reader:

Once is accident.
Twice is coincidence.
Thrice is enemy action.

This story will be another conspiracy theorist plum. According to reports, no surface ships were in the vicinity when the cables were cut. There is another kind of ship that could possibly cut these submarine cables, which would not appear on any surveillance as they are designed to evade them. Not many countries operate them, especially anywhere near the middle east..

All this reminds me of a scene from Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace, which I shall link to here:


** image from The Times Online **

Anti-Lies

Any sane person will know that the Internet is filled with lies. I used to tell people that they should not believe 9 out of 10 things that they read on the Internet, and they should know that 9 out of the 10 things that they believe, will turn out to be lies. So, be very careful of what you read on the Internet.

People tend to believe anything that is in print. That is why newspapers have always had such a sway on public opinion. If a newspaper claims that a scientist had discovered a way to make pigs fly, most people will believe it without question. Hence, journalists have had to maintain a certain level of integrity, in order to protect the public trust. The Internet has changed all that though.

This new age is filled with strange new words like blogs and wikipedia. Some have dubbed the Internet as the new or alternative media as opposed to legacy and mainstream media. This is a reflection of how people have come to consume media. We are increasingly looking to the Internet as an authoritative source on everything, especially that which the regular media chooses not to report.

As a result, we turn to citizen journalists, who are really just a bunch of regular people like you and me, for the truth. How these people could possibly discern the truth from the spiel that gets spewed out by the establishment, really boggles the mind. In reality, most bloggers just end up writing biased views on what is perceived truth. This concerns me because bloggers have strength in numbers. When a lie gets repeated oft enough, it starts to sound awfully like the truth.

Therefore, I have always been troubled by one simple fact: that the Internet is filled with opposition blogs and anti establishment news sites. I would prefer a more balanced Internet, where I could read views and opinions from both sides of the fence and draw my own conclusions. I have previously suggested that bloggers are fallible. Sadly, the pro-establishment writers don't seem to have a strong presence. They are probably too busy just trying to keep on top of their own biases in print.

So, I applaud our Minister of Energy, Water and Communications, Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik, who has called for the setting up of websites to counter these counter establishment lies. I would go further and even suggest that he start the ball rolling by setting up his own personal blog. He is the Minister of Communications. It doesn't take 15 minutes to set up a blog. He can choose to use any one of the many public and free online services. If he is confused, he should just ask his fellow opposition politicians about which service to use. They have got a wealth of experience in this area.

Personally, I really look forward to reading the anti-lies from our ruling coalition. With some of the jokers that we have in parliament, I'm sure that it will make excellent reading for a dull afternoon.

An anti-lie is the opposite of a lie. It should not be mistaken for, an entirely different creature, truth, which is alien to politics, the progenitor to both lie and anti-lie, where spin is it's highest form.

PS: Maybe our ruling politicians are just afraid of what they may end up saying. They cannot really blame their own blog for misrepresenting what they say or mean, especially when they don't really know what they actually mean to say.

Google in Malaysia

Recently, there have been rumours that Google was looking for a place in Asia to set up their world's largest data centre. Then, two days ago, TheStar reported our PM as saying that Google was planning to set up shop in Malaysia. When I first heard this, I was hesitant to believe this, for several reasons. That's why I didn't blog about it immediately.

All reports indicate that we're in direct competition with India and Vietnam for this Google project. Skilled labour isn't much of an issue as skilled IT workers aren't exactly essential for data centre maintenance. So, regardless of what people may think of our local graduates, they are not a factor. Our PM mentioned that the largest base of Google users in SEA are from Malaysia. But I don't think that this is even a consideration.

Personally, I believe that the decision will ultimately boil down to energy costs. Data centres are notorious guzzlers of electricity. In this respect, we are cheaper than Vietnam. I can't find the numbers for India, but I'm guessing that we are probably cheaper, as we are an O&G producer. So, assuming that the price of electricity does not go up significantly, there is a possibility that we are in serious contention for the project.

But then, there has not been any form of confirmation from Google on this matter. I feel that our PM might have jumped the gun and announced this prematurely. Unless of course he made them some promises behind closed doors to seal the deal, this might just be some feel-good news that we sorely needed before the GE.

Is Google going to benefit the local tech industry? Like every other technopreneur, I pondered on this matter a little. I can see how the initial inflow of $600 million in capital expenditure for laying the physical infrastructure would be useful to the local construction industry. But beyond that, I don't really see any direct benefits. Google wouldn't make a dent on our local unemployment statistics. Neither are they likely to engage local technical partners. However, having a giant like Google, put it's stamp on the MSC will help rejuvenate the ailing project. This is quite possibly the only benefit.

UPDATE@+2: There's now reports that 18 countries are in competition and that Google may be eyeing more than 1 data centre.

Parti Mahasiswa Negara

There's been an interesting development in local Malaysian politics today. TheStar is reporting that a bunch of young graduates have come together to form a new political party, called: Parti Mahasiswa Negara. According to the article:

Its pro tem president Azlan Zainal said the multiracial party, comprising young graduates, would not join any existing party but its candidates would stand as independents. Matters like funding and the areas we will be contesting will be looked into later.

So, I asked myself, who were these people and what did they want. It all sounds good on paper, but I have never trusted any politician, not even naive, aspiring ones. So, I sat down to think about this thing a little. After a while, I decided that this blade could cut both sides. Regardless, it would be interesting to see how things pan out in the coming GE.

On one hand, I can see how this is a good thing. If you've been reading Opposition blogs, you will see that they have all had a common slogan that they like to chant i.e. Vote for Change, Vote for Opposition. The trouble with this is that if Malaysians really want to see true change, they shouldn't vote for the Opposition. There are other alternatives.

The trouble with the various Opposition parties in Malaysia is that they are the same creature as the ruling Government. They are all cut from the same cloth. They're all being led by people from the same generation who have the same outmoded ideas of national unity. Voting for the Opposition will just give us the same problems, from the opposite side. The reason that I say this is because they all bank on race/religion as their main platform.

Centrist and logical Malaysians would be totally fed up with both sides of the fence. If you vote for the ruling coalition, we will continue to have the same old divisive politics in place. They will carve us up by race/religion and rule each sub group that way. If you vote for the Opposition, they would still carve us up by race/religion and rule each sub group that way. Hence, if you truly want change, you cannot vote for either of them.

So, maybe this new political party was made up of just that, people who are fed up with existing political parties and want some real change in Malaysia. However, seeing that they have not made any policy decisions and such, I am hesitant to speculate on their intentions. But, this could be the start of a new chapter. Voters who want to vote for change, may actually vote for independents.

On the other hand, there is also a darker possible side to this new group. They could be planted there to disrupt the Opposition's support. The ruling coalition may have sensed the shift of support away from them. So, in order to prevent an Opposition victory, I wouldn't put it past them to plant independents in order to split the votes. One could easily see how independents can severely disrupt the situation in tightly fought constituencies.

So, maybe this new political party is a red herring, designed to distract people from the primary focus. The fact that they had only suddenly appeared at the 11th hour is very mysterious. That the main stream media covered their formation, is also suspicious. But then, a coin always has three sides, doesn't it.

There is always the faint possibility that they're a bunch of political optimists, who believe that they can fast track their way into politics by exploiting the volatile political climate present. Malaysian voters aren't known to be particularly logical people. Otherwise, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in now. So, maybe they will succeed, maybe they won't.

The only way to tell is to see how well the perform in the up coming GE.

PS: You can read their press statement on what's supposed to be their official blog.

Walk Hard, the MCA way!

I just read about this from a couple of different blogs. Regardless of the authenticity, it is obviously very interesting. According to these blogs, our momentary Health Minister had sent the following email to all the Malaysian JPA scholars of Chinese ethnicity studying overseas.

Greetings to all JPA students all over the world! Its certainly a privilege to be a star student, standing tall as young Malaysians living overseas. I am sure you do your family proud, and I hope you will cherish this moment for the rest of your life, especially at this time of the year when the cheerful holiday mood is abound.

2007 has been a year of many lessons learnt for many nations. As other cities burn in turmoil, violence and disruption, Malaysia has thankfully weathered our difficulties in a peaceful manner to ensure that we have continued harmony and unity among the races. Amidst some tough economic times ahead, with worries of escalating global oil prices, every day living will increasingly be challenged. Similarly, Malaysia will also need to brace itself for such a period by remaining economically relevant and globally competitive.

[1] The Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) has worked hard over the last eight years to ensure that the community's best and most talented receive top class education for deserving people such as yourself. While it is understandable that the world over is also vying for the best that it can attract into their labour force, it also our hope that our own students and graduates return to their homeland to serve their country.

[2] MCA is also actively playing a role to help returning graduates and local talents who have a special interest in serving in the government. Civil service diversity is critical to address moderation, fairness and balance in the implementation and enforcement of our nation's laws and regulations at all levels. So important is this point that MCA has set up a secretariat/service centre to handle first hand the enquiries and issues pertaining to application, entry and even promotion in the Malaysian civil service.

MCA hopes that our efforts to build the nation and community can be realized with your appreciation as well as your service so that you, your family as well as your friends can enjoy the fruits of our peaceful nation forever.

MCA wishes you a good year ahead! And Happy New Year!

Ong Ka Ting

President, MCA

Now, let's see what issues I have with the bold sentences above.

1. In that single sentence, he has just insulted every one of the scholars. He implies that without the hard work of the MCA, they would not have been able to receive their top class education even though these scholars deserved it. I guess, the fact that the scholars probably put in some real work does not count. I'd really like to know what kind of hard work any MCA man had put into helping the JPA scholars: (a) gain entry into the top class universities, (b) get a scholarship.
2. With this single sentence, he stresses that the MCA is helping more Malaysian Chinese to secure civil service jobs. Considering our government's racially blind recruitment policy mentioned by our Chief Secretary to the Government today, I'm not sure how much the MCA can help anybody. Also, he has openly condemned our civil service for being immoderate, unfair and imbalanced. Touche!
   

Regardless, he must not be interested in the scholars here. I've asked some of my friends and they did not get the email. So, I guess that the MCA isn't interested in helping anyone here get a civil service job. Or more likely, he did not dare tell anyone here that they owed their present privileges to the MCA. Anyway, I'd recommend everyone to go watch the real "Walk Hard" in cinemas. It's strangely funny!

UPDATE@18/01: One friend informed me that he has actually received the email and there are like 700+ emails listed in it because our MCA president did not BCC them. Must've been very hard work to type in those 700+ email addresses. That must be what he meant by the hard work that MCA had put in for them.

A Coin has THREE Sides!

Most people in the world live with the idea that there are two sides to a coin. Many are even taught this in school. Unfortunately, this is patently untrue. Believing in such lies will only get one into trouble. There are at least three sides to a coin: look to the picture on the right for the truth.

With recent events, we have seen the shadow of growing Islamisation, enveloping our nation. There are plenty of such examples, like the recent intellectual property claim on the word Allah by some idiots in our Government. But this problem isn't only happening at home. For some unknown reason, there is a gradual creep of increased religious piety worldwide. For example, Christian extremists in the USA are challenging evolution with intelligent design and believe that they are a Christian nation. Sigh, where are the centrists?

I tried to do my bit recently, on the blog of our opposition leader. A parent had written to him, to ask for advice, and he decided to politicise the issue for no good reason. I found that fairly irresponsible. The issue was about the school principal madating the prefects to wear a songkok as part of their uniform. As a Chinese Christian family, the parent felt that this was an attack on their race/religion. From many of the comments, you can tell that most people see it in the same way.

I tried to point out the fact that it was not a race/religion issue, but an issue of personal freedom. I asked one comment, how wearing a songkok is against the 10 commandments as none of them mention attire, and got called an agnostic. I asked another, if the male prefects had been mandated to wear skirts to school instead, would it be a gender issue, and got called illogical. I find this fairly comical as I've also been called the exact opposite. Seems like I must have hit a nerve.

The thing that I find sad is that most Malaysians will see this issue as a race/religion issue. I cannot blame them as we have been conditioned from young to see everything through the lens of race/religion. As a result, politics in Malaysia will not change. Our National Front (BN) will continue to rule by divide-and-conquer and our Opposition will exploit exactly the same thing. On the surface, it does involve race/religion as the songkok is a Malay traditional head wear and Malays are, by definition, muslims. But dig deeper, and you'll see that it's a crime of stupidity, not hate.

I have always hoped that our Opposition will grow up and handle real issues. I have blogged about this many times before. The problem with Malaysia is that, through the many decades of conditioning, our fellow countrymen have become mostly bigots. The centre is growing thin and crumbling. When the centre becomes too thin, the coin falls over.

When that happens, as a nation, we are so screwed.

Our government needs You!

When I read this, I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry! According to the article, "parents who have already paid non-mandatory fees to school should treat the payment as a kind of contribution to the institution instead of seeking a refund." To get a better perspective, let's look at the story from a couple of months ago.

In early November, our Education Minister announced that the government was, "prepared to forego RM160mil next year (RM130mil to provide free textbooks and RM30mil for abolishing school fees) as the quality of education cannot be compromised." Presumably, this great selfless act was as a result of the government's great love for the rakyat. In the next breath, "Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said the ministry would source for alternative revenue."

Okay, that should have set off a whole bunch of alarm bells. But, we were all too happy with the whole idea of free education that nobody really understood what our humble minister meant, when he said that. Now, things are becoming all too clear, how the whole scheme is supposed to play out. Just like a casino, our government holds all the cards and so, they'll always win.

Parents, nationwide, were treated to a rude shock at the beginning of this school year by an unexpected hike in the cost of education. "Parents ended up paying extra charges on the first day of school although the Government has waived school fees this year. Many parents complained they had to pay up to almost RM200 just for extra charges, which were well over the Education Ministry’s regulated ceiling charges."

As a result of the great generosity of our government, they expected the rakyat to be equally as generous. Therefore, people like this single mum "in Alor Star had to send her four children a day later to school because she had to go around asking for donations to pay more than RM750 charged by the schools." According to her, "donations payable for her two secondary school children came to more than RM150.For her two primary school children she had to fork out a total of RM192.50 while for her two secondary school children, she had to come up with more than RM560."

I don't know whether to laugh at the exceptional scam scheme or to cry at the plight of the poor.

Imagine what you would do, if you were told by the government that income tax is now abolished. But when you go to collect your pay check, you find that 50% of your pay had been deducted as a personal contribution. In your anger, you demand for an explanation, only to be told to see this as a donation, that will be used as alternative funding towards nation building.

From the article, "Hishammuddin said that the ministry had no plans to streamline the payment of these additional fees because there were some parents who actually wished to contribute to the schools. Some of them may be millionaires and can afford to give the sum or in fact, more than what the schools ask for. We don't want to hinder them." I truly wonder how many millionaires send their kids to government schools instead of private ones.

With the rising cost of oil subsidies, falling corporate taxes and giga-project scandals, maybe our government is running out of funds. Therefore, it has to find alternative sources of funding, i.e. personal donations by the rakyat. This is like an IPO, just without any shares issued. Looks like the investors are planning to exit.

We are so screwed.

Where's our Barrack Obama?

I mean, please watch this video and tell me, where is our Barrack Obama? Let's not even talk about anything else but the single most important quality that a leader needs, unity. We need a unifying leader, not more divisive ones.

PS: Watch this one too. Very funny!!

Goodbye, virile old man!

Seems like my preliminary analysis of the situation was right. Our Health Minister, has been completely ousted, not just from his government position, but also his political seat and all his party posts within the MCA. All this, within 24 hours after he publicly declared that he was the man caught in the recent sex DVD scandal in Malaysia.

According to our opposition leader, in his blog:

The first betrayal was the very orchestrated and professional manner in the surfacing of the video DVD. Who was behind it? All fingers point to his political enemies from within the MCA.

The second betrayal was whether he had been misled into believing that his admission in his Labis statement would suffice, and he could continue to keep his government and party posts, when in fact, his Labis statement would be the basis to force him to relinquish his government and party posts – as has now happened.

As I had inferred earlier, this was internal party politics, being dragged into the open. It became fairly obvious, once you consider the source and distribution methodology involved. Somebody wanted him out, and devised this strategy to get him out. It's only sad that the only political scandal in Malaysia, worthy of publication, had come to such a quick and painless end. Or has it? Regardless of all this speculation, it's unfortunate that he was forcibly removed.

Firstly, I think that it's undemocratic, to remove him from his position as MP. It makes a mockery of the whole democratic process. He was a democratically elected leader and by that virtue, he should only lose the position through democratic means. He is there because the electorate put him there, not his party. So, if the people still want him, regardless of his infidelity, he should be kept in his seat. If they want him out, the people can kick him out.

Secondly, I think it's unprofessional to have him resign as Health Minister. A person should only be judged professionally, based on their job performance. I can certainly think of several incompetent ministers, who should be dragged out and burnt at the stake. For some reason, our Health Minister isn't on the list. He's probably one of the very few ministers we have, who actually knows something about his job.According to the IHT, "Chua had been praised for cutting bureaucratic delays in medical services and working to combat AIDS, smoking and junk food consumption."

Thirdly, I think that it's kind of sad when other dirtier politicians, are still behind the reigns of power, while he got caught with his pants down, literally. Seriously, if the worst thing they could hit him with was infidelity, he's probably one of the cleaner politicians in government. It's sad when politicians who're caught having sex are forcibly removed, while corrupt and incompetent ones are kept on. It seems that, "some Malaysians have a holier-than-thou attitude."

So, we should just sit back, and watch the rest of the show. The best way to figure out who the dalang is, is to observe the food chain and see who benefits. Nobody goes through all this trouble for nothing.

PS: Maybe now, he can consider going over and working for Pfizer or Bayer!

After reading this interview, now I'm really sad that he has to go. He's very tajam in his answers. He's obviously seething. We're so screwed.

Finally, a scandal worthy of publication!

Finally, we have a scandal in Malaysia, that is worthy of publication. Not some artificially inflated issue that is then solved by doing nothing. Our Health Minister must've gotten a belated Christmas present this year. Now, he's got international fame, with the publication of his antics in Reuters. Maybe he should pen a book about how he got caught on video, screwing around.

Personally, I think that it's a good thing that he's still able to get it up at his age. His plumbing must still be in fairly good shape. Low cholesterol, healthy heart. Either that, or he has a free supply of little blue pills from Pfizer. Maybe, it's one of the privileges of being the Health Minister (HM), a lifetime supply of little blue pills.

Also, I don't think that it's anybody's business, what he chooses to do on his own time, who he chooses to have sex with. As long as it was consensual sex between two adults, I don't see why anyone else should have any say in it. If we really wanted to persecute every adulterer, our whole society would be crippled.

Moreover, I do think that it'll be better to have a minister that is still virile and strong at such an age, than to have one that spends most of his time sleeping and too exhausted to think, even without a young lady to drain him. As long as he practised safe sex, that's setting a good enough example. Any parent who thinks that this is setting a negative example for the children needs to be shot in the head for being dumb enough to ask the kids to emulate a politician!

The deeper question that needs answering is who manufactured this scandal. According to reports, this sex DVD was allegedly distributed by the pirates. To me, this suggests that someone within his own party was involved. So, I believe that this is an internal MCA power struggle, being dragged into the open. That's why the dalang has yet to be unmasked. As for his parliamentary seat, he'll still win it as long as he runs. It's only if he's barred from running, does one need to ask who benefits.

As I understand the Law, adultery isn't illegal in Malaysia. It merely provides the spouse a clear legal justification to seek divorce. What is illegal in Malaysia, is the possession of porn. So, it's fairly obvious that the mass media (i.e. TV channels) broke the law by, not only possessing but also broadcasting, the said material. Also, the people who manufactured, distributed and sold the DVD, have broken the law. Also, I don't think that we have privacy laws in Malaysia, but it's still going to be bad for business when people realise which hotel it is that secretly records it's clients antics.

The lesson to take away from this issue is that there are no such things as secrets in today's world. If you're afraid of being caught doing anything, just don't do it.

PS: Might I suggest that he become a spokesperson for Pfizer and endorse the little blue pill.

UPDATE@1645: I love the BBC take on him: "Mr Chua said he had taken no part in the making of the DVD recordings, one of them said to be almost an hour long." and "As health minister, Mr Chua has advocated giving out free condoms to reduce the spread of HIV, in the face of religious opposition."