Freedom: Too much or too little?

Read a NST news report on Tuesday, Feb 16 that Kelantan Menteri Besar and PAS spiritual leader Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat also known affectionately as "Tok Guru" observed that: "cases of babies being abandoned are the result of too much freedom among the youth". I can't tell whether he is mis-quoted and after all, this is the NST we are talking about, the government mouthpiece, but i'd like to share some thoughts on the subject of freedom in Malaysia. I don't think that too much freedom is the cause of social ills. Rather, it is the lack of a good educational system that is to blame. Freedom does not mean wanton disregard for morals. Freedom does not mean abandoning one's values and condoning acts of mindlessness. It is rather the opposite. True freedom leads to enlightenment and into the light away from the darkness. Freedom means achieving one's true potential as a human being. Freedom means getting closer to the truth. The word "freedom" is much abused and our understanding of it through popular media is warped. We confuse freedom with chaos. the two does not mean the same thing nor does one inevitably lead to the other. The problem is one of culture. In conservative Malaysian culture, freedom is not a top priority. Observance of rites, social graces and customs are top priority. Not freedom which is almost alien to Malaysia. But herein lies the paradox. Our observance of the culture of obedience and adherance to authority does have its positive points but it also means that our leaders are given awesome powers and we have seen in recent years how this power has been wielded to serve only the narrow interests of the vested few. So in retrospect, and with all due respect to Tok Guru who is an honest, pious and humble soul, i beg to differ. Our social ills are due to our lack of education and lack of guidance which comes partly from the lack of freedom, true freedom. Freedom to information and freedom to seek the truth. We need more freedom, Tok Guru, not less. We need guidance and more education to go with that greater freedom. Some hiccups will occur in the process but it doesn't blacken the worth of true freedom. Let's have some more in-depth perspective here.

heightened political and economic risk

Deputy Prime Minister Muyhiddin Yasin dismisses the Hong Kong-based political and economic risk consultancy (PERC) report in Jan 2010 that Malaysia's risk index has risen up a notch from December 2009 as coming from people who know not about Malaysia. I wish it were so. But with the Anwar Ibrahim trial for sodomy charges and what looks likely will be his eventual conviction next year, one fears for the worse in malaysia. If Anwar is convicted and goes to jail again, one can expect a showdown between Pakatan Rakyat supporters and Barisan Nasional's. All of which is bad news for Malaysia. As things stand, foreign direct investments to Malaysia are at an almost all-time low and there has been a precipitous outflow of funds from between 2008 and now. Bank Negara Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz has brushed aside these concerns and attributed them to the world economic slump. But Malaysia alone has experienced these remarkable outflows. None of our other neighbours who are also affected by the world slump, has seen such outflow of funds. If the political stability which Malaysia has long been credited for has become our past glory sans post-March 2008 general elections, one can see where everything is headed. If there is an Anwar Ibrahim conviction and there are civil disturbances, the government WILL clamp down on civil liberties and use all available means to rein in anyone perceived to be linked to those disturbances. And past experience tells us that they tend to do so indiscriminately and with sledge-hammer blows instead of finely-tuned, accurate and just. It will be an excuse to crack down and for the government to re-assert control and hopefully (for the government) that by doing so, it regains its lost two-thirds majority in Parliament, that psychologically all-important water mark for the government to re-claim its legitimacy. One hopes that it will not come to that. But forces going in that direction have already been unleashed and it is hard to stop them once cut loose. It's a sad but all-too-familiar scenario for Malaysians. Our liberties will be pawned for the benefit of the minority ruling elites. At the end of the day, ordinary Malaysians, whether conscious of it or not, will bear the price for it. And what a terribly steep price it will be.

the great bust of 2010 (coming soon to an economy near you)

I'm writing this with 6 days to Chinese New Year ("CNY") and counting and the Malaysian stockmarket is so down that the bottom is nowhere in sight. Gone is the usual pre-CNY rally or maybe there could be a feeble run-up in the dying days of the year of the Ox. Frankly, i'm not surprised. I am in agreement with some economists who take a very dim view of events of the past couple of years, to wit, the pump-priming of economies world-wide with cash that ain't there. You see, when you prop up a corpse with no matter how much stuffing/binding ala "Heart of Darkness" John Malkovich the ending scene, the corpse sits upright but it's STILL dead meat. The vitality of the American economy is - how shall i put it - a thing of the past. We can count ourselves lucky that China and India are on the up and up thanks to their enormous domestic economies and that picks up a little of the slack. But don't hope too much. The Chinese economy is still but a third of the USA and India is even smaller. So all that pump-priming is wasted effort in my humble opinion. Let the corpse fall to the ground and let the shit hit the fan. At least we'll all get that short sharp shock (hopefully) needed to correct whatever inefficiencies in the world economy so we'd be re-aligned truly and better afterwards. Throwing money when you have no money to throw around is always bad business, me thinks. It leads to governments getting heavily in debt and that would drive long-term bond rates up per se. So logically they HAVE to raise interest rates in the US from the zero now. They have to, no choice about that. Well, we (Malaysia) are going to soon anyway. Hmmm, at least now i can afford to buy an economy meal with my interest from my savings. I hope.

Repression in the name of my feudal lord

Once again, Home Minister Hishammuddin Tun Hussein (note the last 2 names being that of his illustrious father, the late former Prime Minister Tun Hussein Onn) is threatening and gesticulating wildly only this time without physically brandishing a keris in his hand. The Home Minister has been actively encouraging people to lodge police reports so that police will have an excuse to crack down on bloggers. And he says he will not let detained blogger Aduka Taruna off the hook that easily even if others will. All in the name of upholding the institution of the monarchy that was precipitated by bloggers dissing the late Sultan of Johor who was in truth a ruler enmeshed in many "incidents" during his time as the boss supremo of Johor. Hishammuddin, you should be ashamed of yourself. You are the total opposite of the man your father was and had he been alive today, he would surely disapprove of your rough-and-ready actions. How do you justify clamping down on bloggers? Are you saying that the rulers are beyond reproach no matter what they do? Do you expect people to remain silent in the face of abuse and tyranny? Shame on you.

Kingdom of Fear

I use this title which was the late American gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson's book on post-911 America, to describe the current atmosphere of fear in Malaysia.
Barely a week after the Human Rights Watch group released its report on Malaysia's dismal record of human rights, aptly describing the Malaysian standing on human rights as "More Rhetoric than Reality", than police moved in to arrest a blogger for insulting the late Sultan of Johor. Granted that Information Minister Rais Yatim says that blogger Aduka Taruna's apology should be accepted and the matter laid to rest, but the fact is that members of the public, and i mean ordinary folks much like you and me, have deemed fit to lodge over 25 (yes, 25!) police reports against Aduka Taruna for his alleged insults against the late Sultan. And why must Rais suggest a pardon, are malaysians incapable of holding their own opinions? There is currently an atmosphere of fear justified by slavish pronouncements of "asians don't normally insult a dead Sultan", "we don't do this, we're not supposed to do that". The fear-feeders/mongers have scored a penalty kick goal against the cause of freedom which is growing dimmer by the day. Dimmer and dimmer under the watchful, baleful eyes of this current administration. Without freedom there can be no innovation. Without innovation there can be no growth. Without growth there is only a slow lingering death. I ask myself why mere words against a public figure can be so powerful as to attract the penalty of losing one's freedom. Even if detention is for 24 hours, that is a big deal. You do not deprive someone of his liberty unless you have sound, solid reasons for doing so, such as to protect the public or to prevent harm. But what harm has Aduka Taruna done except to express his personal opinions against a public figure, insulting or crude notwithstanding? Protect the public from what? And why do the Sultan's rabidly ultra-loyal subjects insist on an apology? Why after apologising is there still such a cry for blood? Why apologise? Apologise to who? Aplogise to the unthinking, hate-crazed mob.
Words have the power to sway opinions and the powers-that-be are deathly afraid of it. They won't have it and they have the power of fear in their control. The organs of government can be used to horrific effect to deprive individuals of their freedom at the whim and fancy of the top dog (pun intended). But i am less surprised at the government's use of such coercive powers than i am disappointed that so many Malaysians are so intolerant and unable to embrace the idea of freedom for freedom's sake. Of course, freedom is not free, freedom comes at a price. And it seems now that many of my fellow Malaysians are unwilling to pay this price. They are content to trade freedom for the badge of slavery because that is all that they have known all their lives. And, so it seems they are content to stay this way. Are we too afraid to be free? Which begs the question: Are we worthy of freedom?

In the name of God Part 4

Just read today that police have arrested a few people after getting a tip-off about a guy seeking medical treatment at Kuala Lumpur Hospital for burnt/scorch marks on his arms and chest. People likely responsible for the church burnings in Kuala Lumpur. The Home Minister has said there will be no let-up in action. I'm feeling greatly comforted by this and i hope that the authorities will remain steadfast in their commitment to uphold the law no matter which quarter breaks it. This is encouraging development and a step in the right direction. I am eagerly following events as they unfold. Also breaking news this afternoon: A couple of suraus in Muar were vandalised, i wonder if they were deliberately timed as a distraction from the case to discourage the police from pursuing the church arson case further since suraus were also attacked? i won't be surprised if the suraus were also vandalised by the same group of people behind the church arson attacks.

Are you loyal to...

I'm often confronted with the question of my loyalties by people sympathetic to the Malaysian government. It's like they expect me to be stumped by the question. And my answer to them is just this: I am loyal to Malaysia. All the way. Absolutely. I love Malaysia. Malaysia is my home and I never want to live anywhere else.

BUT I am NOT loyal to the ruling party that is Barisan Nasional. I am not loyal to the people who moved the goalposts since Independence to criminalise our liberties by various religious enactments be they at state level or federal level. I am not loyal to those goalpost movers who cite the social contract which as far as i am concerned were breached again and again by the same people citing it all the time.
I am not loyal to people who snoop on their neighbours to spy on their private affairs and play the part of the moral police. I am not loyal to people who scream at me when i go to the beach and hold my wife's hand. I am not loyal to people who desecrate churches or temples or other houses of worship. I am not loyal to people who threaten me by brandishing the keris. I am not loyal to people who proclaim that Malaysia is an Islamic state and deny Malaysia's secular origins. I am not loyal to people who undermine the independence of and denigrate our judiciary. I am not loyal to judges whose decisions reek of collusion with the Executive arm of government or fear of hellfire due to their particular religious faith. I am not loyal to people who incite racial hatred and then call on others not to incite racial hatred. I am not loyal to people who exhort us lesser mortals to do as they say and not do as they do. Last but not least, I am not loyal to people who are government servants/elected officials who treat the organs of government as their own personal fiefdom to do as they please and milk the system and taxpayers for all it's worth.

Ok this is just a quick, off-the-cuff shortlist of my lack of loyalties. The next guy who questions my loyalties please read the above and eat my last week's worn underpants. Salut.