WWW And What It Means

Everybody knows what www stands for. Even a three year old child can tell you that it means the world wide web that we all can't live without nowadays.

Doodle By Ordinary Malaysian

So, a vehicle bearing WWW1 no plate would carry some cachet.

But I suspect that some old timers with eye-sight problem might mistake WWW1 as World War One and think that it is suey (hokkien for unlucky or ill luck)

I digress.

Since the news that the Sultan of Johore had successfully bid for the right to use the WWW1 no plate came to light that even Washington Post picked up, there has been much twitter and comment in the internet on the news, much of which is negative.

I don't want to add to the noise, because you never know what will happen to you next and I don't want to get into trouble over a car no plate.

In Bolehland, anything you say can be considered sedition and you can be investigated and charged in court for it.

But please don't bother to look into your dictionary for the definition of sedition.

It is not what your dictionary says sedition is. It is not even what the law says it is. It is what the powers that be consider it to be. And it is a favourite and convenient tool to silence your political enemies or perceived ones.

As former Mentri Besar of Perak Nizar Jamaluddin has just conveniently or inconveniently found out.

See, I told you a no plate can get you into trouble.

Only in Bolehland can this happily happen.

Wah lau! Really cool!

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Who Is The Trash?

The GOM said that Bersih 3.0 was kotor (dirty).

I don't know.

You judge for yourself.

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Assad's Game: Is There One For Him?

The lack of strong American leadership to the Syrian situation has probably led Syria's Assad to continue in his merry rounds of bombardment of the Syrian people, while playing along with the UN six-point peace plan agreed to earlier with UN special envoy Kofi Annan.

The latest massacre is the one at Houla where some 90 Syrians were killed, including 32 children as young as under the age of 10.

Altogether some 9,000-10,000 Syrians have been killed since the Syrian people's uprising more than a year ago

Like I had said earlier, Assad is not serious about the peace plan. He is only interested to buy time for himself and his regime. But like I had also asked, what time is he buying for?

He has passed the Rubicon and checked into Hotel California and there is no checking out for him.

However, if America is not fully committed to see Assad out by taking stronger action other than imposing sanctions on the Assad regime, and the situation in Syria gets worse and it surely will, terrorist organisations like Al Qaeda would just love it and exploit the situation .

One senior Free Syrian Army colonel was quoted by BBC to have said

I tell the UN and the UN Security Council, the Syrian people can't take it anymore. Our children killed; our women raped; our houses destroyed. If no one helps us, we will turn to the devil himself 

But what about China and Russia? It seems that every time the international community wants a universal consensus on dealing with the Assad regime, these two play the devil's advocate.

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God And Einstein: Subtle Or Malicious?

Hands of God And Adam Wikimedia commons

Albert Einstein was an undoubted genius when it came to science. He was also regarded by some as almost a mystic.

But when he said that

God may be subtle, but never malicious

I have to knock his head. That was why Einstein was an almost mystic, but never really was one.

God might have been subtle, but might God have been malicious too?

The human condition is conviction enough.

And you cannot escape responsibility by the mere expedience of free will.

You created it and the capacity to sin.

Now, that is not even subtle.

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The Rakyat Have Spoken!

The Najib administration can do what it wants to demonise Bersih 3.0. Sue the organisers of Bersih 3.0 rally for damages as it has done.

Charge Anwar and a few others for taking part in the rally as it has done.

It can say that Bersih 3.0 (bersih means clean in Malay) was dirty because it turned violent. It can blame anyone it wants and try to divert the message of Bersih 3.0 in any way it wants.

It does not matter. The people have spoken.

More than  90 % of those surveyed by Merdeka Center, said that they want the Malaysian electoral roll cleaned up before the coming 13th  general election.

That was one of the crucial demands of the Bersih 3.0 rally that took place last month on 28 April.

So, Najib and Co can do anything they want and try to divert attention away from themselves and blame others. For what?

Never mind, Malaysians have spoken.

Najib and Co can ignore Malaysians anyway they want, but at the end of the day, it is the people as a whole who will decide their fate in the coming 13 GE.

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Islamic State Or State Of Islam?

Tarek Fatah in his interesting book "Chasing A Mirage" mentioned "Islamic State" and "state of Islam".

The Book

He said that since the Prophet died in 632 CE, some Muslims took the path of strengthening the state of Islam while others embarked on the establishment of the Islamic State.

He defines the phrase "state of Islam" as

the condition of a Muslim in how he or she imbibes the values of Islam to govern personal life and uses faith as a moral compass

In contrast, he defines the "Islamic State" as

a political entity of a state, caliphate, sultanate, kingdom or country that uses Islam as a tool to govern society and control its citizenry

This is interesting because in Malaysia we see that Umno is not using Islam for the establishment of an Islamic State nor a state of Islam (Umno is too closely associated with the perception of corruption and  scandals like the "cow-gate" and "submarine-gate" to have any traction or credibility here even if its tries to)

Instead, it seems that Umno is trying to use Islam to scare the Malays into supporting them by claiming that Umno is the only true champion of bangsa, agama dan raja (the Malay race, religion and king) and that without Umno the position of Islam will be threatened.

Pas, on the other hand, obviously is keen for the establishment of an Islamic State and ostensibly a state of Islam too.

However, Tarek Fatah also noted that

At times, these two objectives overlay each other, but most often, they clash. Islamists obsessed with the establishment of the Islamic State have ridden roughshod over Quranic principles and the Prophet's message of equality. However Muslims who have striven to achieve a state of Islam have invariably stepped away from using Islam to chase political power, opting instead for intellectual and pious pursuits. These are the people responsible for what is glorious about our medieval heritage and Islam's contribution to human civilisation

Interesting.

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Oh Dear, Where Am I: Now Here Now There!

I came across this video from lifeafterchina blog and I thought I had share it with readers here.

There is probably a lesson to be learned here.

Watch your steps and DON'T be too enamoured with your hand-phone.

What the....Haha

But then, it wasn't really her fault. There was no indication at all of danger lying ahead.

Talk of being caught unawares!

Poor girl!

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The Najib Administration Logic!

It is difficult to understand the logic of the Najib administration. Actually it is easy, but more of it later.

When Bersih 3.0 wanted to hold a peaceful duduk bantah (sit-in) at Dataran Merdeka last month to call for changes to the electoral process and for clean, free and fair elections, the Najib administration did everything it could to frustrate it.

First, Bandar Raya (City Hall) said the the venue could only be used for national events, although this was clearly not true since several commercial events had been held there in the past.

Then the police went to the extent of obtaining a court order at the penultimate moment to make the Merdeka square off limit to Bersih 3.0 and even had the place locked down and barricaded.

Thousands of police personnel were deployed to control the crowds on rally day itself, April 28, even though Home Minister Hishamuddin himself had said the event was not a security threat and did not have any traction with the people.

Now, some two million people are expected to "invade" Putrajaya from today to Sunday for the "Jutaan Peluang, Ribuan Kerinagan" (Millions of Opportunities, Thousands of Happiness) carnival organised by the Najib administration.

By the way, the billing of the event "Jutaan Peluang, Ribuan Keriangan" sounds very much like North Korean stuff. Is the Najib administration trying to learn a thing or two about personality cult promotion?

Now, even though some two million people are expected to turn out for the event, there is nary a bother about whether this would pose any problem. There is nary an obstacle put in its way.

But when an event like the Bersih 3.0 rally that the main stream media said only attracked some 22,000 people, all sorts of obstacles were placed in the organisers' way.

Earlier I had said that it was actually easy to understand the Najib administration's logic. Well, it is this. If an event is organised to make Najib and his administration look good, then it is all right. But if it is an event that may be inconvenient to him, then it is not and you do everything you can to frustrate it.

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