Kudos to Lim Guan Eng, the new Chief Minister of Penang..

As soon as he was appointed, he immediately targeted the central government’s long-standing New Economic Policy favouring ethnic Malays. “We want to run the state government administration free from the New Economic Policy that only breeds cronyism, corruption and systematic inefficiency,” he told reporters. “This is also a government that believes in equal opportunity and social economic justice. We are here to build a dynamic Penang for all,” he said

The policy was started in the early 1970s, to increase opportunities for the often poverty-stricken ethnic Malays - giving them preference in jobs, university seats and access to services. But many Malaysians - even some Malays - say that it has only benefited an elite few.

Excerpt taken from BBC

So many promises broken by so many other aspiring politicians, but it now seems like Penang’s CM is well on his way to fufilling his promises. Penang’s UMNO branch has, of course, come out to say in not so many words that this will end in bloodshed and that Mr Lim should rememeber that he represents the whole of Penang, not only the non-Malays.

Good luck Penang, may this be the first step to total democracy and may your example be repeated around the country in the years to come.

Is the fear of the unknown PAS led government unnesacarry, or are businesses in Kedah (one of the states that PAS gained in the elections) doing the right thing?

The realities of living and working under a PAS-led Kedah are beginning to take effect.Hotels and entertainment outlets are already making “adjustments” they deem necessary to suit the unprecedented political environment here.

A top hotel in the town centre here has removed its beer till at the coffee house

Another hotel is reviewing the dress code for staff.

Other establishments used to hosting lavish events are worried that they may have seen the last of such functions under the new PAS-PKR government.

The article in its entirety can be found here

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Another piece of news that caught my eye in today's news is the death of Zakaria Deros. An extremely ironic time to pass away seeing that the elections have just ended. For those not in the know, he is the BN assemblyman of Port Klang. His far reaching power enabled him to build a castle comprising of 16 bedrooms and 21 toilets without planning permission. Other evils including operating a satay restaurant illegally on government reserve land and not paying property assessment fees (council tax) for 12 years.

And he got away scot-free even after this was all made public. I wonder whether the same thing would’ve happened if he was a representative of one of the Opposition parties.

He was ,of course, not nominated again come this election. However, the top dogs decided to nominate his daughter in law instead to take over his place. No, this is sooooo not cronyism. Happy to report that the daughter in law lost.

This post is my response to Skipps’ comment on my previous post

Can a modern democracy really co-exist with Islam?

As someone with extremely limited political knowledge about Malaysia ( I know more about the English & American political climate) , I am very inclined to answer no. Modern democracy will not survive with leaders that utter daft comments i.e.:Ugly women should have first dibs at jobs, as it is easier for prettier women to get married and be supported by their husband. BOLLOCKS to that

PAS’ dubious connections with Jemaah Islamiah and al-Qaeda also puts them in the hotspot of the international press - and I have no doubt that if PAS were to ever get their wish of a pan-Asian islamic State; the country I love will literally sink into hell with international businesses leaving it in droves and tourists afraid of stepping foot in KLIA.It also does not help when Parliamentary representatives hurl insults of an Opposition woman MP’s monthly ‘leakages’ and manage to go unpunished as demanded by BN….which part of real democracy condones putting women down?

I agree with Skipps that religion has to become less important to allow people to benefit economically and socially. Irregardless of what the religion is be it Christianity/ Hinduism/ Confucianism, governing with a religious intent ultimately sacrifices real democracy as in many ways religion supresses true freedom.

Traditionally, both PAS and UMNO had always utilised religion as a way to garner Malay support and keep them toeing the line - by separating the Malay, Chinese and Indian, they have instilled fear in the Chinese and Indian about voting for the opposition and thus lowering the number of representative from their own race in the government. By separating the races, they have also instilled the ideaology of ‘Ketuanan Melayu’, or Malay Lordship over all other races in Malaysia. What better way of uniting the Malay race than the obvious tie that bind all Malays together irregardless of class or caste - Islam.

And how does Malaysia deal with its richer island neighbor down south?

For all its political dictatorshipstability , I will always prefer Malaysia for cultural purposes, more laid back attitute and delicious food. Fair enough, most Singaporeans prefer Singapore and will always turn their noses up at their ‘poorer’ relations, forgetting that we were once the same country. And I believe that Malaysia lost its global competitiveness with the backward movement in radical islamic values spearheaded by our previous PM, Dr M. A very easy example would be the way Malay women dress. 40 years ago, the national dress is a tight fitting and often low cut kebaya.Fast forward to the ‘modern ages’, the national dress of baju kurung is now a shapeless sack-like dress all the way to the ankles and the head fully covered by the tudung (chador)

That aside, I think Malaysia should not compete with Singapore - there is never an end to keeping up with the Joneses. I think Malaysia should concentrate on promoting its abundant natural resources, its unique heritage and stop the pilfering by BN. The squeaky clean image of Singapore is just hiding a country ruled with an iron fist; intelligent citizens a product of the strict education system but no one brave enough to stand up to the iron fist government.

After the recent elections, I can now say that Malaysians have the guts to stand against the status quo and protest in what they believe is wrong - the question is does Singapore?

In the past weekend, I had felt more Malaysian than I ever had. I can at last see the rakyat polling their voices of discontent instead of whinging to each other at the local mamak or coffeeshop. I had always been proud of my heritage, but this weekend’s events have made me truly proud of the rakyat - and being part of the rakyat that makes up the country I so desparately call home. There is hope after all, and it is a very comforting thought.

This warm and fuzzy moment is, however, marred by my innate fear of PAS ( Islamic Party) and its’ insistence of implementing islamic laws in Kelantan. PAS is now in charge of 3 states and I fear for the people of the states and what would become of the pork-loving Chinese. I fear further association of PAS with international terrorist organizations and radical agama schools. I fear the removal of unisex queues, the banning of all forms of entertainment as was implemented in Kelantan.I fear the closing down of Chinese/Tamil schools and the compulsory covering up of head to feet of women - fine if this was Siberia, but being so close to the Equator, this equates to smelly clothes and skin diseases.

The joint opposition of PKR-PAS-DAP at the moment seems slightly shaky with no united direction, and I fear for them as well. However, by ‘gaining balls’ in this election (incidentally Malaysia’s 50th birthday), I have no doubt that the rakyat will give the opposition coalition a chance to prove themselves - and kick them out if they do not perform.

One can only hope:

No more keris brandishing

No more proclaiming the country as an Islamic state in the lines of Middle East countries

End of sexist remarks by BN stalwarts

A proactive attitute towards the needs of the rakyat rather than blame-shifting

Acknowledge that bloggers are here to stay and no more suing them for sedition

A honest and open media, reporting everything without fear rather than asskissing BN

No more wasting taxpayers’ money with unnesacary

With most of the bigwigs in Malaysian politics voted out, hopefully the demise of cronyism

One can hope for the demise of NEP - but I don’t think that would happen in this lifetime.

Good luck PKR-DAP-PAS. Now’s your turn.Please do not dissapoint.

Earlier this week I told bacon that I sense a change of wind - something is happening and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it. The winds of change are disturbing the peace, unmasking what lies behind the fallen leaves.

I have refrained from political commentary for as long as possible - thus not many readers know that the past two months I have been reading up vocariously on Malaysia’s moment of truth - it is election day!!!

And news is now streaming through that the Opposition, for the first time in history, has managed to upset the scales of justice represented by the ruling party, Barisan National (BN). At the moment it is predicted that the ruling party will lose their 2/3 majority required to change the constitution - with key states like Penang (where I was born) and Selangor (where I live) falling into Opposition’s ruling party. The undercurrent of fear now is that the last time BN failed to achieve 2/3 majority but still enough to form a government was in 1969. Racial riots erupted in Malaysia and the whole country was in a state of emergency until 1971. This is one of the reasons my parents had always voted - having experienced the last time the country was in ‘real deep shit’ , they understand the need for democracy.

Other interesting news includes Malaysia’s premier blogger winning a Parlimentary seat! The winds of change are indeed strong - Jeff Ooi had been my major source of political commentary since I started blogging and it is extremely heartening to see him doing something to better our beloved country - winning is the cherry on top.

For more election news, click here. Lillian does a very good job covering the election day frevor that swept through Penang as well - always a contentious state anyway due to the large presence of the main Opposition party, DAP.

On a more personal note, I am extremely upset that I am unable to vote due to BN’s rules that unless you are in the army, postal votes do not exist. I had been hoping since early this year that election day may coincide with my trip home, but no such luck. If I knew it was going to be today, I would have even postphoned my trip so I can be one of the minions in this machinery called democracy.

I realized something disheartening when I was last back home - most people my age are not even registered to vote!!! The only person I know of that had actually bothered to register was dreybee….with all my other friends raising their eyebrows in suprise when I told them that not only was I registered, I had voted once in the 2004 election. China Post summarizes my feelings much better than me.

The apathy is appaling. Registering to vote was one of the first thing I did when I returned from California. Due to me belonging to a Commonwealth country, I am also proud to say that I had voted here in the UK in the local elections - again, one of the first thing I did when I moved here was to put myself on the Electrol Roll.

I do not understand.Saya tak faham. Wo pu ming pai. I do not understand the people of my generation complaining about the state of the country, the recent riots, the horrible civil service and the world’s worst police force. They dream of a day when Malaysia is the harmonious country it claims to be, the day when the ethnic chinese and the indians are treated like part of the country rather than second class citizens trodden by the obvious reverse affimitive action designed to give the bumiputeras an upperhand advantage in education, housing and jobs. And what do they do about it other than rant? Nothing. Cannot even be bothered to register to vote.

So I challenge you my readers. No matter where your passport says you belong to, put yourself on the Electrol Roll of your country. Democracy only works if you lend a helping hand, no amount of endless whinging will change the world.

Reportage from the land of Roti Canais will commence soon — my gazillions of pictures are proving to be a burden to upload and I seemed to have lost a whole CD full of pictures as well!! AAAARGHHH!!!