A Very Wise View by Datuk Dr Agoes Salim on the State of Malaysia

Datuk Dr Agoes Salim is an an economist and first secretary-general of the National Unity Ministry. He is also former chairman of Bank Pertanian. He was on the public service secretariat of the National Operations Council following the riots and helped draw up both the Rukun Negara and the NEP.
What started as a noble objective to redistribute wealth for the poor (regardless of race) has gone wrong and misinterpreted in every sense with biased application by overzealous UMNO officials and civil servants to dominate and enrich a select few instead of the dominant underprivilege poor regardless of race.
Of late we are beginning to see many Malay intellectuals speaking up on this unhealthy UMNO dominanation policy under the pretext of wealth distribution (NEP) policy by recent generation of leaders to enrich only a select few  UMNOputras who are politically well connected for contracts eg AP
anizad@nst.com.my
 
 

A Very Wise View
Dominating role not healthy for nation,

 
I THINK we are farther apart now than we were in 1969.
 

But you have to remember that I grew up going to an English school, to a university where there were people of all races. At that time, although we did think in terms of race, it wasn't in the way people do now. We felt that we were Malayans. We socialised much better than we do now.

Bahasa Malaysia can be a unifying factor. But it can be a factor separating people, too.

As Sukarno would say, "The important thing is the jiwa."
You don't have to have a common language, if you have the same jiwa (heart, spirit, passion, devotion). This is what we don't have right now.

In 1956, the historical society of Universiti Malaya went to India.
There were lots of Indians in the group, but they didn't think of themselves as Indians, they thought of themselves as Malayans.
 

That's the jiwa.
 

But later on, because of certain reactions, suddenly people stayed away from this jiwa — they don't feel as though they are fully Malaysian. They are made to feel that way.

When I was in the service, there were lots of non-Malays in the civil service, holding good positions. But do you see them now? If you go to the universities, where are the non-Malay professors?

After 1969, suddenly there was this drive to make sure that all university vice-chancellors and faculty deans were Malay. So, in the end, we chased away all the best brains among the non-Malays.

When schools say you must start school with a doa (Muslim prayer recitation), you push away all the non-Muslims. When I was at school, we never had any prayers. Whatever we learnt in religious class was a separate thing.

I think it's more important that we bring people together, rather than pushing religion so hard that it alienates other people. This is what's happening. I can't blame the Chinese and Indians; why should they go to a sekolah kebangsaan (national school), when they have to do all these things?

All the things are breaking down. Our school system is not as it used to be. We are producing supposedly so many students with so many As, but what do they know? Are we happy about it? The leaders seem to be happy about it.

We came up with the Rukun Negara because, after 1969, there was the feeling that the nation was breaking down. People had forgotten what it was all about. So, we thought we could bring people back together — unite them. That's what the first part of the Rukun Negara is about: the objectives of the nation.

Unfortunately, we did practically nothing to promote an understanding of the Rukun Negara. And when schools make mistakes, nobody corrects them. That should have been the role of the Department of Information.

In the beginning, Tan Sri Ghazali Shafie did try to apply the test of whether something was in consonance with the Rukun Negara or not. But then, the government just forgot about this.

We are supposed to be a united nation, not only in terms of state, but also in terms of people: that they would all consider themselves as Malaysians, and that this was their country and their nation. We wanted all these people to share the wealth of the nation.

One of the things we thought contributed to '69 was the economic disparities, joblessness.

The New Economic Policy was a policy for all Malaysians; not just for the Malays. But we wanted to restructure the economy so that the Malays would come out of the rural agriculture sector into the commercial sector.
 
We wanted Malay participation at all levels of economic activity. We wanted to uplift the Malays without reducing the position of the others.. — "eradicating poverty regardless of less".

And this was supposed to be in a situation of growth. Not just sharing the existing cake, but the cake must grow, so that these people also have the opportunity to grow.

At the same time, we also hoped that the Malays would grow a little faster. So, they set this target of 30 per cent equity in 20 years. I was not much in favour of that because I didn't think it was achievable. I felt that participation was more important than wealth.

We never thought that we would produce multi-billionaires. That was never the intention of the NEP. If some people can come up as everyone comes up, it's okay. But it wasn't supposed to be about some people getting contracts.

We did say that we should have Malay millionaires just as we should have Chinese and Indian millionaires, but not so much so that you don't have to do anything.

You must differentiate between dominance and domination. As Tun Dr Ismail said, "We want to be dominant, but we don't want to dominate."
Dominant in the sense that we wanted the Malays to be everywhere; but not to dominate all the others.

But we seem to be dominating; and I don't think that's healthy for the nation. It's not about taking your share and not caring about the rest.

A Malaysian Poem

Previously…

 
Get Vietnamese workers, dogs missing.
Get Bangladeshi workers, Malay girls missing.
Get Indonesian workers, money missing.
Get Indian workers, jewellery missing.
Get Chinese workers, husbands missing.

And now…


Call the police, the evidence goes missing,
Call the lawyers, the judge go missing,
Call the ministry of transport, the reports go missing
Change the government, funds go missing,
Say something and you may be missing.

Malaysians Disgusted with MACC

If I were Wong Chuan How, I too would resist arrest by the Malaysian Anto-Corruption Agency (MACC). I think both Wong and I didnt want to end up dead, like Teoh Beng Hock.

It amuses me, and the world, to see how the Malaysian ruling part is trying so hard, in vain, to win back the state of Selangor. The Prime Minister thinks that Malaysians cant see his ulterior motive. I understand, that as a ruler, he wants to be secure and do his best. But cant he see that his actions so far as back firing. Does he really think the MACC has helped his cause? I think not. In fact, I think the MACC has knocked a large nail in the Prime Ministers re-election hopes.

I look forward to the opposition mounting a BIG, BIG win in the next election!

MISSING 3 YEAR OLD - Please Help Me Find Her

A 3-year-old girl named Reachelle Marie Smith  is missing   

You never know where  this e-mail could end up and I'm not going to stop passing this one around  if it means a little girl can be found!!!

Please spread this picture far and wide....You just never know someone you know, might know her!

HOME ADDRESS:

LT. COL. (R) ANTHONY J. SILVA
NO.26, JALAN A8
TAMAN MELAWATI
53100 KUALA LUMPUR
MALAYSIA

TEL      : 603-41073316
FAX      : 603-4147 3315
MOB    : 6012-379 1317
PRIVATE EMAIL:ajsilva.defcom@gmail.com
SKYPE :ajsilva1932


OFFICE ADDRESS;

DEFCOM SERVICES SDN BHD
NO. 332 JALAN B-7
TAMAN MELAWATI
53100 KUALA LUMPUR
MALAYSIA

TEL      : 603-41472241 (DL)
TEL      : 603-41474914 (GL)
FAX      : 603-41473315
MOB    : 6012-3791317
EMAIL  : ajsilva@streamyx.com
SKYPE : defcommil

H1N1 - Is This The Start of the Superior Race?

Is the H1N1 flu a systematic removal of the weaker ones among us humans?

Could this ultimately be the superior race that Hitler was aiming for?

Look at the facts. The virus can attack anyone. But only those who are weak are dying. Those who are strong recover from the flu.

I have a strong believe that this virus was manufactured and left in the open as a test. Just like what hackers do with their programs - most programs don't cause much damage but then once in a while you get a program that causes massive damage.

Could the H1N1 virus be something similar - some mad scientist experiment gone wrong?

Scotland Yard Police London Wants To Give Me Money

Well, it now looks like the Scotland yard Police wants to give me money. And their using Microsoft's MSN email to send out emails.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Scotland Yard Police London <news-scotmx19@msn.com>
Date: Fri, Aug 7, 2009 at 10:43
Subject: Arrest of Two expatriates/Scotland Yard Police London
To:

Greater London                                                                                                                                                                                  Date.......08/07/2009(Code;MPL/3114)     Attention!!!   Re: Arrest of  one expatriate, Presently in our Custody Charged with an Offence of Money Laundry. This is to inform you that, the above subject matter is related to you which lead to the arrest of one expatriate a suspects at Heathrow Airport here in London who are in possession of a huge amount of Monies($USD) awaiting transit to Switzerland, During our interrogation with them ,it was disclosed to us that it was a long time claim payment meant to be delivered to you, but it was routed London-Switzerland, Secondly the documents found on them bear your name as the sole beneficiary of the said fund and your full contact address .But due to all the irregularities in their statements we discovered that they are fraudulent, for this reason we are contacting you for verification and confirmation if you have any long outstanding claim with any country in the past or any bank/security Finance company.   We urgently demand a response to this letter to enable us advice you, and follow up this issue with the accused persons and the country concerned for justice to be done if you are a victim of their fraudulent activities.   Note that  the said fund has been deposited with Anglo Irish Trust Bank London for safety, if we do not hear from you soonest we shall have no option than to repatriate the accused and return the money to the country of Origin.   Thank you   CLARK (SP) Anti Terrorist Operation Officer. Scotland Yard Police. Greater London DL: Tel: + 447035989461

Beware of these SCAM Cases

1.         Subject: Duped by credit card scam upon check in at Hotel

You arrive at your hotel and check in at the front desk.

When checking in, you give the front desk your credit card (for all the charges for your room). You get to your room and settle in.
Someone calls the front desk and asked for (example) Room 620 (which happens to be your room).

Your phone rings in your room. You answer and the person on the other end says the following:

"This is the front desk. When checking in, we came across a problem with your charge card information.
Please re-read me your credit card number and verify the last 3 digits numbers at the reverse side of your charge card."

Not thinking anything you might give this person your information, since the call seems to come from the front desk.
But actually, it is a scam of someone calling from outside the hotel/front desk. They ask for a random room number.
Then ask you for credit card information and address information. Sounding so professional that you do think you are talking to the front desk.

If you ever encounter this problem on your vacation, tell the caller that you will be down at the front desk to clear up any problems.
Then go to the front desk and ask if there was a problem. If there was none, inform the manager of the hotel that someone called to scam you of your credit card information acting like a front desk employee.

If you feel that the tips are useful, please forward it to your relatives, friends & colleague.


2.         Subject: Driving to JB

If you get RM10.00 in your car door handle, use tissue paper or cloth to remove it without opening it and if possible bag it.
Drive away immediately.

Don't check the note until you are in the company of your friends or relatives. The note could either contain powdered drugs to knock you out
or make you wonder if some guilty motorist compensating you for a knock or scratch on your car , while you are still wondering, the robber(s)
will attack you as you check the car.

This had happened in Johor. Please circulate to your friends and warn them!



3.         Subject: Bangkok International Airport

Folks, be warned and be really careful, check the items you bought and give back what does not belong to you even when the shop assistants
claimed it's 'free'. I believe the duty free shop assistants would also get a share.......so, be very, very careful. Read below

My Dept. secretary informed on this. Her cousin was detained in Bangkok for stealing a box of cigarettes in a duty-free shop in Bangkok
International Airport.

He had paid for chocolates and a carton of cigarettes. The cashier put a packet of smokes into his bag and he thought it was a free pack.

He was arrested for shop-lifting and the Thai Police extortion price was RM30,000 for his release. He spent two nights in jail and paid RM50 for
an air-con cell, 200-300 baht for each visitor, and RM11,000 for his final release.

The Police shared the money in front of his eyes. On top of that, he was charged in court and fined RM2,000 by the magistrate and handcuffed and
escorted to his plane.

His passport was stamped "Thief". While there, his relatives requested help from the Malaysian Embassy and was told that they are helpless, as
Malaysians are victimised similarly daily and letters and phone-calls to the Thai Authorities are ignored.

He shared a cell with a Singaporean the 1st night who paid RM60,000 for his release.

The 2nd night was an Indian national who paid USD70,000.

Mind you this is not in a shag downtown Bangkok but in a duty free shop in Bangkok's Int'l Airport.

Share this experience with all your friends!

Malaysian Buses

A bus stuck right in the middle of a busy junction.

This is not an uncommon sight. Okay, not all buses make such a dramatic statement but this is typical of the Malaysian transportation industry. They run their vehicles - buses and lorries included - right to the ground. 

Unlike the Europeans, Malaysians dont really believe in preventive maintenance. We believe in maintenance only when the vehicle breaks down - not before that. This is just one of the many cases where buses fail. I have seen and read numerous stories where the long haul buses break down in the middle of the night, forcing passengers to wait in the dark for another bus, which usually takes around 1~2 hours to arrive. This is okay if it was a full load but what about those buses that only carry a few people. Imagine your daughter having to wait for a replacement bus in the middle of nowhere at midnight.

The bus industry complain that the fares, which are government controlled, are too low. The Malaysian government controls everything, to the point where competition is stifled, just so that the poor can survive. This is good. But the government should also allow new breed of buses that charge more for better service. The poor can still rely on the government subsidized buses while those who can afford can take the more expensive buses.

But the government will not do that because most people will take the new buses, if these buses can provide prompt, clean and fast service, and the government subsidized bus company will fail, as it always has been.

Once upon a time, there were the pink mini buses that were run mainly by the Chinese. While some of these bus drivers and conductors ran the roads like thugs, atleast things were moving - people got to where they wanted to, quickly and relatively safely. But once the government took control of everything, Malaysia slowed down.

And yet the government wonders why people use cars to get to work. Duh!

We have great trains and buses - but their all un-integrated. We have to literally come out of the train station to get to our connecting train. Go figure.

Why Are There Moron Drivers Like This One?

Why are there such stupid drivers like this moron lady on Jalan Kuching this morning?

She was going for a stroll this morning on the fast lane, busy on the handphone! Come on - you would think that such people are atleast educated enough to know that if you're on the fast lane, you drive fast. There were no cars in fron of her. The least she could do was to go to the middle lane and allow the fast moving cars to speed ahead.

But NO! She had to hog the fast lane  to everyone elses inconvenience. It's a wonder how people like these go through life - they must be bothersome to everyone they mix with.

I am done with today's ranting, what next? :)

Malaysia Down In The Drains

This is an excellent article by Farish Noor on how Malaysians are growing further and further apart, despite the government claiming that we're a united nation.

I wish that we're going closer but we arent.

15 years ago, before I went to the US to study, I could shake hands with my Malay female school mates. Coming back home after my 5 year course, I was so surprised to find out that I cant shake hands with them anymore. Apparently, Muslim women cannot shake the hands of non-Muslim men. Maybe its because someone becomes horny. I am fairly sure its not the non-Muslims.

Some blame it on Tun Mahathir. They say he was the cause of all this rotting in our country.

I dont know who is at fault. All I know is my country is going down the drain.

Malaysia will never grow as a developed country. Bickering by the majority narrow minded people is bringing this country to the dark ages.

Do A Little More...

"Do a little more than you're paid to. Give a little more than you have to. Try a little harder than you want to. Aim a little higher than you think possible, and give a lot of thanks to God for health, family, and friends."
-- Art Linkletter

Creating Man From a Petri Dish

We can now create man solely in the confines of a science lab. 

With the help of stem cells, scientist can now produce healthy sperms.

Hmm... I guess this is the start of the Amazon Women rule where man becomes secondary.

Joe Jackson - A Man After Fame

Joe Jackson, the father of the late superstar Michael Jackson, is lining up Michael Jackson's three young children to tour the country as the Jackson 3.

No wonder Michael Jackson hates his father so much. And no wonder he put his loving mother as the guardian of this children.

While credit should be given to Joe Jackson for making Michael famous, the lost childhood may have cost Michael his life.

How to Filter Through the Massive SPAM that comes through your Jaring and Streamyx Emails

I just found the perfect cure to all the SPAM message that comes through daily from my Jaring and Streamy emails - just run them through Gmail!

Gmail's spam filter is very, very good. Now I dont have to weed through a thousand spam emails per day.

Just go to your Account Settings in Gmail and add in your other email accounts. Gmail even offers the capability of sending emails through the other accounts. This helps when you have to be mobile. Now I can check my Jaring and Streamyx email from anywhere I wish, all through one interface.

Bye, Bye SPAMMY!!

Would You Get Upset at These Cleavages?

Would you get upset at work if your female colleague comes to work dressed in this attire?

I wouldnt!

But apparently South Korean men do!

Almost three-quarters of South Korean male office workers feel uncomfortable when female colleagues show too much leg or cleavage in the workplace, a survey has revealed. A poll of 1,254 employees by the job portal site CareerNet found that 74 percent of men felt upset with the attire of their female co-workers.

Would you get upset or distracted at work?

 

How To Get a High Salary in Malaysia

The opportunity for high salaried jobs remains high after the Malaysia's ruling Cabinet reversed its decision to teach Mathematics and Science subjects from English to Bahasa Malaysia.

This provide more opportunities for the Chinese and Indians to be employed with MNC's requiring people to be proficient in English.

Well done Malaysia! For a while there I thought that my children will have to compete with Malays who will be good in English!


<START OF QUOTE>
KUALA LUMPUR: The Cabinet has decided that the medium of instruction for Maths and Science will revert to Bahasa Malaysia in national schools and mother-tongue languages in national-type schools from 2012 onwards.

The reversal of the Teaching of Math and Science in English (PPSMI) policy will be done in stages, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said on Wednesday.

He however added that there will be greater emphasis on learning the English language.

English literature will be re-introduced, as will subjects on grammar and composition.

Beginning 2012, students in Year One and Year Four in primary schools, and Form One and Form Four in secondary schools, will learn Math and Science in Bahasa Malaysia.

The change will not affect those in Form Six and Matriculation.

The two subjects will be taught in two languages until 2014 for other students, he said.

"The gap between rural and urban students has widened since PPSMI started.

"Only 19.2% of secondary teachers and 9.96% of primary teachers were sufficiently proficient in English," he said, explaining the Government's decision to revert to the old system.

On efforts to emphasise the learning of English, the number of English teachers would be increased by 13,933 — retirees would be hired, as well as foreigners if need be.

Primary schools will also increase English classes by 90 minutes a week.

There have been calls from various groups for the policy to revert to before 2003, when the subjects were taught in Bahasa Malaysia in national schools, and either in Chinese or Tamil in national-type schools.

The issue has seen a rare alliance between Malay and Chinese educationists, who are against the switch, although there are also calls by many parents and entrepreneurs for English to be maintained.

<END OF QUOTE>

Google to Develop Own Computer Operating System

After the last post, Google heard my rambling and quickly said that it will have its own PC-based operating system soon, based on the slow Chrome browser.

Well done Google, its time someone applied the fundamental rule of Business 101 - money goes to those who offer superior servies.

Why We Should Punish Microsoft by Using Pirated Copies of Windows

Why?

Ask someone who has paid a premium to buy Windows Vista Ultimate and if he/she doesnt slap you, they will tell you about how Microsoft cheated them, promising them so much more if they were to get the Vista Ultimate version of the software. And what did they get? Nothing much!

Read this article and you will find out why exactly Microsoft created such a farce with Vista that they had to bring out Windows 7 in order to recoup the money they have been losing!

Basically, Microsoft conned the buyers of Windows Vista Ultimate big time. You would expect Microsoft to be humble enough to give these Ultimate users a discount to Windows 7 but NO, Windows Vista Premium (the equivalent to Vista Ultimate) is even more expensive! Talk about hitting someone when their down!

But how can you punish Microsoft. After all, you rely on their operating system and softwares. And yet, do they care about you? They are more concerned about increasing their revenue after their blunder with Vista. They couldnt care less about you because they know you're forced to buy their software anyway - you're trapped.

Unless you opt for the illegal version of Windows. This is the only way to punish Microsoft so that it will feel the pain. I hope they will feel enough pain to realize that we're not stupid.

Read PCMag's article.

Firefox Over Chrome

While Google can toot its Chrome as being the faster browser, I tried it and now am back with Firefox.

Tthis article supports my view that Firefox seems to be the better browser. If you're not sure, trying opening up 11 tabs in Chrome and in firefox and see which one becomes sluggish.

Being a die-hard Google supporter, I was one of the first to download Chrome when it was first launched and used it constantly until about a week ago when I decided that enough is enough - Chrome tends to not display pages when it runs out of memory - all opened tabs become white, blank pages. And it becomes very sluggish.

So, good bye Chrome and welcome back Firefox!

Latest Public Scam/Threat in Malaysia

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I drove to Maybank Seapark branch PJ last Friday evening at about 5.30pm, 29May09.  I was pleased to find a vacant bay just outside the bank.  I parked my car and went to do some banking at the machines, then I walked cross to Watson to get some toiletries.  I came back to my car and noticed that the front right tyre was almost flat.  Immediately I drove to the tyre shop nearby, which is about 100m away.

I told the shop keeper I had a flat tyre.  His prompt response: "Did you go to the bank?"  He told me a few similar cases happened.  It was a clean cut on the side of the tyre, about 1 cm long.  

I guess these evil-doers' tactic was to follow my car (if I had not noticed the flat tyre) until I could not go further with the flat tyre.  Then they would either rob me on the spot or force me to go back to the bank to withdraw money for them.  

This reminded me of another time when I also parked in front of a bank in Uptown, Damansara Utama.  I did not go to the bank that day.  I had lunch with a friend near the bank. I sent her back to Taman Tun and came back home.  One of the tyres was flat.  There was a brand new nail stuck to the tyre.  I suppose that evil person did not follow us as he noticed we did not go to the bank.

Please be extremely careful when you go to the bank.  DON'T PARK NEAR THE BANK YOU ARE GOING TO!!!  You don't know who is watching you!!!

I thank God for His protection.

Regards,

Tharani