Things are easier said than done - Part 2

Okay, as I put it, I'm in the lazy mood now.

Tomorrow is the last day of 2016.

So, I'm just going to post this rather interesting ongoing debate between commentators in my previous posting,

Things are easier said than done

Anonymous24 December 2016 at 23:45

M Zin,

//Why quote ISIS whose summary kilings universally condemded as murder,//

Why NOT quote ISIS?

Many of their practices have solid foundation in Islamic jurisprudence.

As you can see from the above example by Annie, stoning an adulteress is EXACTLY what is in Islamic jurisprudence.

Another example is the cutting off of limbs.

Or how about the blood of kafir harbi?

And so the list goes...

So, what is the difference between the practices of ISIS and that which is in Islamic jurisprudence?

ISIS is an example of what many non-Muslims, and no doubt many Muslims themselves, fear about Islamic jurisprudence.

And Hadi Awang is seen as nothing more than an advocate of ISIS ideology and ISIS practices.

In fact, I am willing to bet that most of the Malaysians fighting for ISIS in Syria and Iraq started off as PAS supporters.

Gladiator

1. 
   Anonymous25 December 2016 at 10:51

   Hudud is a very small area of Muslim jurisprudence, Sdr Gladiator
   and as explained above that unlike ISIS there are legal processes through courts before the Kadi judges passes sentence. We can continue this doscussion here on LoA, and OK if you already passed your judgement
   
   Not ISIS not even Fiqh laws however give a comprehensive picture of Islam Syaria which more emphasises direct and personal Tauhid conections with Allah SWT, and Sufism to strive for best character among others.
   
   M Zin
   Alor Gajah DPH
2. 
   Anonymous25 December 2016 at 17:43

   The "comprehensive picture of Islam" is justice and loving-kindness by means of deliberating on the "maqasid al-syariah" to mould and mend civil society.
3. 
   Anonymous25 December 2016 at 22:59

   M Zin,
   
   //Hudud is a very small area of Muslim jurisprudence//
   
   So, because it is a small area, we should not discuss it?
   
   Sounds more like you are trying to avoid discussing it or even drawing attention to it :)
   
   Never mind that barbaric practices are being carried out in the name of Islam?
   
   So, what happens when your so-called "legal processes" are heavily skewed towards punishment as in the case of ISIS?
   
   Let's be honest, the people who run ISIS probably have a much better understanding of Islamic jurisprudence than you do :)
   
   Many of those ISIS people are very likely graduates of the same universities as Hadi Awang and others in PAS.
   
   Will you be one of those who would stone "your lil sis" Annie if she was found guilty of adultery?
   
   Gladiator
4. 
   Anonymous26 December 2016 at 13:37

   ISIS is not supported by Muslims in general, Sdtr Gladiator
   and their killings mainly warfare expediency which is not Islamic. Just ask your Muslim neighbours
   
   With or without your support majority Muslims want Bill 355
   ( although will not pass for political reasons?)
   
   M Zin
   Alor Gajah DPH
5. 
   Anonymous26 December 2016 at 21:55

   M Zin,
   
   //ISIS is not supported by Muslims in general//
   
   Well, the punishments ISIS hands out like stoning for adultery seem to be supported by Muslims in Malaysia.
   
   So, will you stone your "lil sis" Annie if she was found guilty of adultery under Islamic law?
   
   Gladiator
6. 
   Anonymous27 December 2016 at 11:01

   Yes in-sya-Allah, Sdr Gladiator
   subject to due court process and really against current social sanctions
   
   The Prophet SAW reminded:
   " What destroyed your predecessors was just that when a person of rank among them committed a theft they left him alone,
   and when a weak one of them committed a theft, they inflicted the prescribed punishment on him. I swear by Allah that if Fatimah daughter of Muhammad should steal, I would have her hand cut off"
   
   -- Hadith Sahih Ibn Majah
   ( Book 40 on Hudud)
   
   M Zin
   Alor Gajah DPH
7. 
   Anonymous27 December 2016 at 19:31

   Yes I was distracted here from Maqasid al-Syaria, TQ Sdr ANON 17:43
   which are the highest and more comprehensive 5 objectives of Syaria way of life for the biggest communuity
   
   Fiqh prosesses support the objectives
   
   M Zin
   Alor Gajah DPH
8. 
   Anonymous27 December 2016 at 22:47

   M Zin,
   
   //Yes in-sya-Allah, Sdr Gladiator
   subject to due court process and really against current social sanctions//
   
   So, you are saying that you will kill your "lil sis" Annie for adultery, right?
   
   We have already agreed that "due court process" have been met.
   
   I have no idea what you mean by "and really against current social sanctions" in that sentence.
   
   It sounds like a jumble of words and no matter how many times I read it, that phrase is meaningless.
   
   You need a reality check in regards to your views.
   
   You are going to be involved in killing a person for a matter which does not involve you at all.
   
   You are not your "lil sis" Annie who committed the adultery, you are not your "lil sis" Annie's husband, you are not the person with whom your "lil sis" Annie committed the adultery with.
   
   And yet, you would kill your "lil sis" Annie? For a matter which is none of your business?
   
   You need to re-assess your sense of values and humanity.
   
   Do you understand why non-Muslims think your beliefs are primitive and barbaric?
   
   Gladiator
9. 
   Anonymous28 December 2016 at 10:58

   You asked and I explained above, Sdr Gladiator
   Due court process(?) will be judged case by case
   
   You are entitled to your beliefs and the majority will in-sya-Allah carry on with Syaria
   
   M Zin
   Alor Gajah DPH
10. 
    Anonymous29 December 2016 at 10:04

    M Zin,
    
    //You asked and I explained above//
    
    Explain why you are getting involved in a matter which has nothing to do with you?
    
    Explain why you are going to kill your "lil sis" Annie when it is none of your business what she does with her life?
    
    You have really not explained anything.
    
    Gladiator
11. 
    Anonymous29 December 2016 at 22:28

    Sure not personally my business, as sentencing for adultery is by YA Hakim in court. Is that still confusing you?
    
    M Zin
    Alor Gajah DPH
12. 
    Anonymous30 December 2016 at 00:13

    M Zin,
    
    //Sure not personally my business//
    
    So why are you going around killing your "lil sis" Annie, for something which is "not personally your business"?
    
    Gladiator
13. 
    Anonymous30 December 2016 at 15:19

    if anyone doing adultery, its going to cause damage to society
    if you are not punished here by stoning, you will suffer in hereafter
    if you refuse punishment then your relationship with allah can be questioned
    therefore dont commit adultery and control your lust
14. 
    Anonymous30 December 2016 at 22:38

    Anonymous @ 30 December 2016 at 15:19,
    
    //if anyone doing adultery, its going to cause damage to society//
    
    Nonsense!!
    
    Adultery has been going on for thousands of years and society is still around.
    
    In fact, countries where adultery is not punishable by stoning to death are, arguably, way more advanced than countries which advocate stoning adulterers.
    
    //if you are not punished here by stoning, you will suffer in hereafter//
    
    My unicorn god promised me a great hereafter no matter what I do here.
    
    //if you refuse punishment then your relationship with allah can be questioned//
    
    Really?
    
    So one who is adulterous need to accept being stoned to death?
    
    Which moron came up with that idea?
    
    Which moron would want to accept such an idea?
    
    //therefore dont commit adultery and control your lust//
    
    That is just your view.
    
    What if a person wishes to indulge in their lust?
    
    Are you going to go around imposing your views on him/her by stoning them to death?
    
    Gladiator
15. Well, interesting isn't it?
16. Maybe they can continue the debate here at this fresh posting.

But really. Stoning someone to death is quite scary.

I think it's not only scary for the one being stoned but also scary for the ones who have to cast the stones.

I think I would be traumatised if forced to stone someone to death.

Here, I'm again putting up this video of a depiction on how someone is being stoned to death,

Why can't they just shoot her to death or chop her head off?

I think those are more humane ways of killing someone.

If I'm not mistaken, under hudud, a convicted murderer will have his/her head chopped off.

That seems a better deal.

Is adultery worse than murder?

Sorry. My knowledge of hudud is very sketchy. 

Plans for 2017 and missing Anita

The year is coming to an end and I'm getting lazier than ever.

It's always like this for me.

Relaxing as I wait for the new year.

Well, I can't be jumping all over the place all the time.

I also don't feel like getting too serious around this time of the year.

So, do excuse me for writing simple stuff for now.

Just bitching a bit, okay.

As I wrote in my last post, 2016 has not been a very good year for me.

For one thing, I didn't get to travel overseas this year.

Singapore doesn't count, okay.

Last year I was in Japan twice.

I really need to travel again.

Priority is to fulfill my promise to visit my friend in Tokyo next spring.

Hopefully I have the time.

Hopefully also the ringgit will improve.

Some people are saying the general election will be called next year.

They said it's because BN is confident of winning as the opposition parties are now in a mess.

I'm hoping instead for them to shut up and wait all the way till the deadline in August 2018.

Don't say anything please.

That way they will not disrupt my traveling plan for next year.

How to book plane ticket and hotel room if everyone keep saying the election will be held tommorow lah, next week lah, next month lah all the time.

It was like that before the last general election in 2013.

The nonsense dragged on for months till actually the end of the deadline.

So tiresome.

I'm also planning to revisit some of my favourite local destinations.

Pulau Rawa is one of them.

Been there only once and was happy there.

Sweet memories.

Promised to visit it again but never did.

Maybe this time I really get to be there again.

Wonder whether the coin I placed at the cracked spot of the wooden jetty is still there.

Other than traveling plans, I'm also hoping to change a bit for next year.

I want to be more quiet and just minding my own business.

At work, I just want to do my job the best that I could and not be so kepochi about the rest anymore.

Must remind myself that I'm there just to earn a living and nothing more.

Sometimes I care too much about my work place and make noise about it.

It happened before.

In the end they kicked me out.

That's quite troublesome, okay.

So, no more of that.

Next year anyone ask, I'm going to say "Saya cari makan saja".

As for this blog, I'm hoping to tone it down even further.

It's too serious as it is now.

Actually, I have wanted to do so for a long time.

Around this time last year I wrote that I don't want to write about politics anymore.

I was tired of it.

But then some clever and famous people went to town saying I have been banned and banished from these and those.

So, I started writing a bit about politics again just to show them the middle finger.

Maybe next year I can write more happy stories instead of all those political nonsense.

See lah how.

Oh, one more thing for next year - I think I want to start a small online business.

I think I can sell perfume.

Got a relative who is doing it and said he can help me with it.

Wearing perfume is good, okay.

Especially for people who have problem taking shower in the morning...hahahaha

Okay, I'm kidding :)

It's just good to smell good, seriously.

Anyway, I think I need to have something on the side like that.

Just in case I kena sacked for bitching too much :)

You know lah these days, so many people got retrenched.

So many ended up becoming Uber drivers.

That reminded me of a Chinese friend whose Malay husband took up a VSS offer from the company they were working for last year.

The husband wanted to  become an Uber driver but my friend vetoed him.

"I'm not going to sleep with a taxi driver," my friend said. I had a good laugh at that.

That's funny, okay.

I'm not sure what my friend's husband is doing now.

Eh, enough la of my rambling nonsense.

Need to eat some lunch now.

Here is a beautiful song for the day,

Sunset is splendid, but only lasts for a minute, and disappears with the cloud,

brightness that passed would never return again.

Year by year, month by month, all changes during this life just like the floating clouds

gathering together and then dispersing in different directions.

what left is weariness

The road is so long ahead, but the light is getting dimmer

Joy lasts so short and will never return

who would see through (or understand) me that my dream is only to be simple (simple life)

Once have encountered so my troubles

interlocked with my dreams and fantasies

once in your arms of sincerity, accompanied by you during time of sufferings

During the life journey, I feel disappointed

road is difficult and trouble awaiting at another turn

One day, when I think of returning, but already too late!

Ai.....I was born lonesome

I feel dismal, encountering winds, frost, laughter and cry on the road

One day, when I think of returning, but already too late

I miss Anita. May she rests in peace.

A special UNSC's resolution, remembering Rachel Corrie and Palestinians

On Dec 23, the United Nation's Security Council passed a resolution demanding Israel to stop the building of more illegal settlements in the Palestinian occupied territory.

It's the first of such resolutions in 36 years.

The last one was in 1979.

The resolution was put forward by New Zealand, Venezuela, Senegal and our Malaysia. Special salute to our team in the UN and Wisma Putra.

All the member countries of the council supported the resolution with United States, the main defender of Israel abstaining. 

The fact that the US didn't apply its veto power to block the resolution was evidence on how the world was so fed-up with the arrogance of Israel over the matter that even its big brother can't continue to ignore the atrocities committed against the Palestinians anymore.

I would like to believe that to a certain extent, Malaysia's good relations with the outgoing Obama administration helped in persuading Washington not to veto the resolution.

You all can read about it  in this report ;

US lets UN denounce Israeli settlements

Yes, the Israelis will ignore the resolution and US, under Donald Trump's presidency will revert back to blindly supporting them, but I'm still proud and happy that Malaysia didn't waste its mandate as a non-permanent member of the UNSC by moving forward the resolution together with same minded nations.

It is still a victory for those who want peace and justice for the Palestinians.

As stated in the report, it was a significant resolution because,

"It formally enshrined the international community’s disapproval of Israeli settlement building and could spur further Palestinian moves against Israel in international forums."

The fact that the resolution was not vetoed by US, reminded me of the American girl Rachel Corrie who died 13 years ago trying to defend a Palestinian home in Rafah, Gaza.

This is her story,

We will never forget Rachel Corrie and the Palestinians.

Still a pleasant Christmas Day outing, next time Aquaria

I think it was a rather quiet Christmas today.

Well, maybe it's just me, but there seems to be less enthusiasm in its celebrations this year.

For instance, compared to previous years, not many of the blogs which I checked today made the effort to post Merry Christmas greetings for their readers.

I have mine at the top right corner of the web version of this page for today.

Just a small one.

Maybe because this is not a very good year for a lot of people.

Nothing much to really cheer about, I guess.

Actually, it's not a very good year for me too.

I got quite a number of problems this year.

A lot of uncertainties too.

But it's okay.

That's life.

It has its ups and downs.

Hopefully things will be better next year.

Anyway, today I took a boy, who is with autism and his sister on a drive around KL.

They are from outside KL and just here for the school holiday.

Just jalan-jalan.

I thought of taking them to the Aquaria at KL Convention Centre, but when we arrived there we discovered that the place was packed with people and the queue for the tickets was too long.

I estimated that it would take at least an hour at the queue to get the tickets to enter the Aquaria.

I can't do that as the boy would get restless.

His autism is of the moderate level.

He can't speak much too.

His sister had given him a T-Shirt with autism paraphernalia to wear for the day so that people would be more understanding when they see him acting differently.

So, we went on a walk along the Bukit Bintang - KLCC Pedestrian Walkway  instead.

It was quite fun.

Actually, it was the boy who led his sister and me along the walkway, and without planning it, we ended up at the Pavillion.

It was my first time there.

We walked around a bit before resting at a Baskin & Robbins for ice-cream.

After that we walked back to the KL Convention Centre.

The queue at the Aquaria was still very long.

So, we abandoned the thought of watching the fishes and drove off for makan elsewhere.

All in all, it was still a satisfying Christmas Day outing for me and the kids despite not being able to get into the Aquaria.

Maybe I will try taking them there again some other day.

I have never been in there myself.

Someone recommended it to me a few years ago.

For now, I will just show the kids the video of the place,

Okay, hope it was a pleasant Christmas Day for you all too.

A song for grandfather

Grandpa, please get well and be yourself again.

Miss your smile and laughter.

Ma and the others miss you talking loudly as usual.

Cheer up, okay.

We love you very much.

Here's a song for you,

Weary, with no words or tears, I look at the endless sea,
Confused, I look at the endless sky
Like a small boat, my heart is tossed in waves,
I look at my days and wonder
Where am I going?
I can’t see, but I’m willing to keep on

Just who is steering this tiny boat
Struggling to stay afloat in this sea of sadness
My heart mourns
The years flow by like water
The past is gone, forever

All I have now are memories, chains and chains of memories,
I long for yesterday, but time cannot turn back
My youth is gone, all is changed
But not my love
My love will stay, forever

Things are easier said than done

It's Friday.

I'm not well and not really in the mood to write.

Just that something happened just now that reminded me of a debate among my friends quite a while ago about the hudud law, some people are so anxious to implement in this country.

The subject was focused on the stoning to death of adulterers.

I was quite surprised that many of my friends are supporting the idea that such punishment should be implemented among Muslims in this country.

They said it's Allah's law.

I kept mostly quiet throughout the whole thing except towards the end.

I asked a single question to my friends,

"Let's say I'm convicted of adultery, who among you all are willing to stone me to death?"

I asked because from what I understand, according to the law, it's the responsibility of everyone to stone an adulterer to death.

None of my friends replied.

Not even those who just earlier fiercely argued in favour of the law.

Maybe it's easier to say things than actually doing it.

For a depiction of how an (alleged) adulterer is stoned to death, you can watch this video which is an excerpt from the movie

The Stoning of Soraya M.

A bit more on the Media Prima war

I heard that former DAP vice-chairman Tunku Aziz had a press conference yesterday.

He was again repeating his demand for Media Prima chairman FD Iskandar to sue him or resign.

As most of you all probably know by now, he was accusing Iskandar of telling lies about him to PM DS Najib Razak and based on those lies wanted to remove "independent minded" editors from the media group.

Ok, just rewriting that makes me feel tired

Never mind, for more background you should just read this past posting of mine,

• Media Prima at war

You can also read this theory of mine on the origin of the whole stupid quarrel,

• FD Iskandar's trump card

I guess, Tunku Aziz needed the press conference as he has to renew the attack on Iskandar and broaden its coverage by the media.

Heard the press conference was attended by several journalists, some of whom were from the Media Prima group.

Didn't bother to check on the stories coming out of it though, but I'm quite sure it won't come out in the Media Prima's newspapers and television channels.

After all, it's their chairman Tunku Aziz was whacking.

I also received this rather interesting comment on the matter yesterday evening,

azizhassan20 December 2016 at 20:08

I will touch only on the print side. The decline in most of the NSTP's titles became obvious in the late 1980s and for many2 years, despite changes in editorship, failed to check the drop. For the most part there were no compelling plans. If there were, the plans were dropped into the waste bin by succeeding editors. U can't really blame the present management team bcos the decline has been too big. Once u lose your market share, it's almost impossible to go back up, especially when the decline happened over a long period of time.

But following Malaysianisation in 1972, not a single of the chairman had tried to interfere with the editorial management, knowing fully well that the appointments of the editorial number 1 comes from the Umno president or via his nominee/appointee. In fact so does the appointment of the chairman!!! Thus it would be naive fro any chairman to want to know differently now, because it's not as if the Umno leadership is not aware of the decline or the reasons for it. Yes the chairman/board must answer to the shareholders but it is what the controlling shareholder wants that decides, no two ways about it. Umno must surely be aware of the business perspective and the position Media Prima is in, just as it must be aware of the dire financial position of the Utusan Group, another of its business interests.

I think the commentator really know the subject matter very well.

If I understand it correctly, the decline of the Umno-linked newspapers started after Operasi Lalang in 1987, when the then perceived pro-opposition The Star, Sin Chew and Watan were suspended.

Watan didn't survive the suspension, but The Star after that took over from NST as the number one English daily while Sin Chew took over from Nanyang Siang Pao as the best selling Chinese newspaper.

Since then, Umno-linked newspapers such as NST started their decline and it continues till this day.

The funny thing was that , as correctly put by the commentator, the Umno leadership know about what ails those newspapers which are friendly to them but did nothing to improve the situation.

It's known to almost everyone that the party bosses demanded certain kind of stories to be published which didn't help the newspapers to be good business entities or even make their products reader-friendly.

As I was told, things apparently got worse as the years went by.

While back then the top editors only entertain requests by the PM, or at most his deputy, these days they seem to be scared of even state assemblymen, division chiefs and bloggers.

I know of an incident several years ago when a bureau chief of a newspaper was almost suspended just because a prominent blogger complained to the big time editor about a small mistake in his story.

Well, do Umno leaders care about all these?

I don't think so.

Probably they just want to wake up in the morning and before breakfast read the newspapers to feel good about themselves.

Some of them may even enjoy ordering the editors around.

It probably doesn't matter to them that most Malaysians don't really read the newspapers anymore.

People got smart phones these days, okay.

Maybe the editors knew this and they designed the contents of their newspapers just to serve that purpose.

Keep the Umno leaders happy. The rest don't really matter.

Actually, I don't really blame the editors as they need to keep their job to feed their family or take their girlfriends for holiday to Pattaya.

I would probably do the same if I'm in their position.

Hey, like most of those editors, I'm not even an Umno member. Why should I care too much about perjuangan and stuff?

Ethics, ideals, dignity....do they really matter?

We are just humans after all.

Anyway, as I put it in my theory, that Iskandar guy was probably trying to change the whole thing.

Well, good for him....that's if he survive lah.

Oh, by the way, someone suggested to me yesterday that Iskandar came under attack because he is a sympathiser  of TS Muhyiddin Yassin.

I think that's weird because he was appointed as Media Prima chairman in September last year.

The Najib-Mahathir war started much earlier. Why then appointed him to the post in the first place if he is a Muhyiddin's guy?

Another thing, if Iskandar was just being silly in whatever he is doing as there's no way he is going to win the fight, why the people attacking him have to make the whole thing public such as in yesterday's press conference?

That's so unnecessary, I think.

If I'm them, I wouldn't be bothered.

PM is on my side what. Sure win one.

TNB not to be blamed for timing of water cut and a lesson from Kluang

Today is the start of another major water supply disruption in the Klang Valley.

The stories about it are all over the place.

This is one of them,

Water supply disruption for 3.9 million can’t be avoided

If you care to read the story at that link you would noticed that the National Water Services Commission (SPAN) put the reason for the water supply disruption on maintenance work by TNB at its Bukit Badong substation in Kuala Selangor.

That, as expected, puts TNB on the firing line as consumers pour their anger over the problem in social media especially on the timing of the disruption, particularly among those celebrating Christmas as the problem was expected to persist till Christmas eve.

However, reading further down the story, we can understand the TNB's position better.

Excerpts :

TNB is aware of the grouses by consumers particularly those celebrating Christmas but said the maintenance work could not be delayed further.

It said the condition of equipment at the substation was at a critical stage where any delay would be detrimental to ensuring uninterrupted power supply.

TNB said the scheduled date for the shutdown was decided collectively at a meeting with SPAN on Oct 31, which was also attended by water sector representatives, among them, Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor) and
Syarikat Pengeluaran Air Sungai Selangor Sdn Bhd (Splash).

The shutdown was initially scheduled for Sept 27, it said.

The explanation by TNB appears quite clear.

It had wanted to do the critical maintenance work starting much earlier on Sept 27.

I'm quite sure that TNB had been told by SPAN and the others to delay it.

As stated by TNB, they only agreed for it to be done on Oct 31 upon which the current date for the works was fixed.

The TNB's statement was very careful not to say it was forced to delay the works, but my reading indicates that was what actually happened.

To put it simply, TNB doesn't want to be blamed for the timing of the problem, which SPAN seemed to have ti-chied to it.

It's anyone's guess as to why SPAN and the others had wanted TNB to delay its maintenance works in the first place.

Mine is that, I think around that time when TNB had wanted to do the work, there were too many water supply disruptions in Klang Valley due to pollution at several main water processing intake points.

That's probably why they had asked TNB to delay the whole thing.

I think SPAN should had made the whole thing clear in their earlier statement.

It's just not nice to make it as if TNB should be blamed for the timing of the water supply disruption.

On another note, the whole thing reminds me of another water supply disruption incident in early 2010.

It was around the time of the Chinese New Year celebrations and there was no water supply in my hometown Kluang.

There was an uproar with some saying SAJ, which was in charge of water supply in Johor was not being sensitive enough for causing the disruption at such an important date.

At one point, it even became a racial issue.

It however turned out that there was a severe drought at the water intake points in the district.

Sungai Mengkibol which runs across the Kluang town had turned into a longkang. The other main river of the district which is Sungai Semberong was not doing very well too.   

I have several friends in SAJ and at that time I found them working round the clock to ensure Kluang residents were supplied with water using tankers.

They worked very hard and from my observation, I dare say that there was no element of racial prejudice in the distribution of water for the people.

I hope the people of Klang Valley can be patient and learn from what happened in my hometown back then.

I'm sure the water supply disruption was unavoidable and not intended in any way to coincide with the Christmas celebrations.

FD Iskandar's trump card

Got a call from a friend who is with the PMO yesterday morning.

The guy was asking me what the hell was this last posting of mine was all about,

• Media Prima at war

Me : I'm not really sure la Datuk. I just picked up what RPK had written.

PMO friend : Hey, that FD Iskandar guy is not as bad as what RPK wrote about him. Why did  RPK write all that nonsense about him? Come on. Tell me what you know.

Me. Really. I don't exactly know what it was all about. You are in PMO Datuk. You should know.better than me.

PMO friend : Don't irritate me by saying that. Tell me what you know.

So, I apologised to my friend for irritating him and told him what I think it was all about.

Of course, I first cautioned him that it was just my personal theory based on what I heard from other people.

1. Media Prima is in difficulties. TV ratings are down, newspapers circulation very bad. All likely due to serious credibility issues, and of course competition from new technologies - the smartphone era where news are at the fingertips.
2. FD Iskandar as group chairman felt he needs to do something to arrest the decline. The first sensible thing that he could think of was to change the way things were being done and this requires the change of people in charge of the TV stations and newspapers.
3. FD Iskandar's initial moves to initiate the change sparked the war. He is encroaching into other people's territory.
4. Those he intended to replace to enable the change are serving the interests of someone else who acts all these while as their "controller". This is the person everyone said to be Habibur Rahman. I'm not even sure what he looks like but I was told that he is close to PM DS Najib Razak.
5. So the fight back begins.
6. RPK as everyone can see is siding with those fighting against FD Iskandar. Thus those angry articles about the Media Prima chairman posted at his website.
7. I think the outcome of this fight will determine how BN will conduct its defense for the next general election.
8. I believe that if FD Iskandar wins, BN campaign method will be more refined and subtle than what it is now. Definitely no more interviews with Tunku Aziz on Buletin Utama.

Well, again, that's just my theory.

Another friend later in the night asked me who did I think will win the fight.

I said FD Iskandar was likely to lose if it is true that he is up against Habibur Rahman because everyone said that Habibur is very close to the PM.

"Not necessarily," said my friend. "FD Iskandar can still win because he has a trump card".

My friend, who is quite in the know about all these things told me what is the FD Iskandar's trump card and I believe him.

It's a powerful trump card indeed. Almost as powerful as Donald Trump :)

Nonetheless. I'm not going to tell you all what it is as I don't want to spoil the suspense for those who are interested in this fight :)

Sorry ya.

Let them find out about it themselves and get shocked.

Still, I think this is going to be quite a balanced fight. Can go either way,

Well guys, relax, okay. This is Saturday.

I need to get ready to go out now.

A cousin is getting engaged today. Ceremony in Putrajaya. Going there.

Cheers.

Media Prima at war

I have been reading these posts by RPK with quite keen interest,

Chairman Media Prima, Dato’ Seri FD Iskandar, is a common liar, says Tunku Abdul Aziz and demands a public apology

FD Iskandar: delusional and pathological liar

I think those were quite serious allegations.

I really don't have any opinion on them but my guess is that there must be some serious infightings going on in the Media Prima group.

When I read those RPK's postings, they somehow reminded me of Mus Kamil, the former New Straits Times group editor.

I think I'm the one who broke the story about him resigning from NST in this post,

• BlackGold and a bit on Mus

and confirmation of his resignation in this one,

• Mus' story

I wondered what Mus has to say about the latest development in that organisation which he was once a player.

So, I checked out his now said to be quite famous (or for some infamous) Facebook page.

This is his comment on RPK's posts on the Media prima thingy that I found,

Mustapha Kamil

13 December at 14:50 · 

Now this is indeed interesting. Since the writer has made this public, I suppose we can all read it.

I have no comments relating directly to the issue the writer writes about here. But as someone who was once an insider, I can tell you that be it TV ratings or newspaper circulation, the Media Prima group is suffering due to the excessive political interference from outside parties.

Both the corporate and editorial divisions of the group knows this. However, they each are answerable to different masters.

While the corporate people have to answer ultimately to shareholders, the editorial side answers largely to the political masters. Which explains why, on the newspaper side especially, despite the dozens or so efforts to revamp the group's publications, at all times with inputs from the corporate side, such efforts were frustrated by the editors who almost always reverted to blind loyalty to the establishment.

The public, in turn, made their judgement and the results can be seen in the ever declining circulation of all the group's newspapers despite the numerous revamps. I suspect TV3 is heading in the same direction although the station offers other programmes than just news.

I don't know Dato Seri FD Iskandar well but if what the writer here say about him is true, then I'd say FD Iskandar is doing the right thing. Whatever the Media Prima group stands for, it must first survive as a commercial enterprise.

I think I agree with what Mus wrote, especially the last sentence.

Are we willing to risk hell?

Some people can be so sure of themselves that they actually amaze me,

Whenever I read political articles or comments which contain serious allegations against certain individuals, I do ask myself - Are these people very sure of what they are alleging?

I mean, these allegations were very detailed and not mere general statements normally associated with people who were just venting out their anger and frustrations.

Were they not scared that they might be wrong?

I do worry about that sometimes, when I'm writing this blog.

That's why I always try to be very careful over such things.

Well, I did sometimes come up with accusations such as, " Lim Guan Eng is not a very handsome guy", but I don't think that was too bad.

I don't think even Guan Eng would be angry that I wrote that. It's only my opinion and indeed, by a reasonable woman's standard, Guan Eng is really not a very handsome guy.

Of course Betty would disagree, but she would also probably be glad that her husband doesn't have me as an adoring fan.

Anyway, this is also a concern of mine whenever I have a conversation on politics with people who have lot of complaints and accusations to share.

Normally, I just kept quiet when the other person started to rant and rave about some allegedly corrupt leaders or other people.

It's because I'm not sure whether what were being said were true or false.

But sometimes it did happen when the subject of accusations is someone I'm familiar with and thus I felt the need to say something.

In an incident that happened quite a while ago, a friend was criticising me for being so supportive of former Johor menteri besar TS Abdul Ghani Othman.

Our conversation went something like this,

Friend : Alah, engko ni naive sangat. Kalau dah namanya orang politik mana ada yang bersih. Aku tau la Ghani tu ada kes masa jadi menteri besar.

Me : Kes apa?

Friend : Dia songlap duit jual tanah orang kampung masa buat highway yang kat CIQ baru tu.

Me : EDL (Johor Bahru Eastern Dispersal Link Expressway) ?

Friend : Ya la.

Me : Siapa beritau engko cerita ni?

Friend : Kawan aku kat Umno JB.

Me : Siapa kawan engko tu?

Friend : Ada la. Mana boleh bagitau engkau.

Me : Bagitau la. Boleh aku check dengan dia sendiri.

Friend : Eh, mana boleh.

Me : Okay. Tanah orang kampung kat mana yang Ghani songlap?

Friend : Tanah kat tepi highway tu la.

Me : Ya la, tapi yang kat sebelah mana. Highway tu kan panjang.

Friend : Ada la.

Me : Engko bagi tau la the exact location. Aku betul-betul nak check ni. Setahu aku Ghani tak buat kerja songlap menyonglap ni. Engko dah tuduh dia, aku nak check la betul-betul.

Friend : Alah, betul la. Kawan aku dah confirm dah kes ni.

Me : Engko ni pun. Aku tanya siapa kawan engko yang pandai sangat tu engko tak nak bagitau. Aku nak check location tanah orang kampung tu pun engkau tak nak bagi tau juga. Habis, macam mana ni?

Friend : Alah, memang betul. Ghani tu pun kaki songlap juga.

Me : Engko sure ke ni? (At this point I was already getting quite pissed off)

Friend : Memang lah aku sure. Kalau tak, tak kan aku nak cerita benda ni.

Me : Okay lah. Nak bagi senang cerita kita buat macam ni - kita sama-sama bersumpah atas nama Allah yang kita ni betul. Aku bersumpah atas nama Allah Ghani tak buat apa yang engko tuduh dia buat dan engko bersumpah atas nama Allah juga yang dia memang songlap duit tanah orang kampung tu. Macam mana? Engko berani tak?

My friend went quiet after that.

Some of you all may think that I was being childish for making that dare but to swear on Allah's name is not a trivial matter for Muslims.

If you got it wrong, you will definitely go to hell.

Well, actually in Islam if you wrongly accuse someone even without swearing on Allah's name, you are going to hell.

I think it's basically the same in one way or another with the other religions too.

Anyway, I was just trying to scare my friend at that time.

My friend is actually a good person and devout Muslim.

He is definitely better than me in those sense.

He probably just forgot about the fact that it's a sin to make false accusations that day.

Whatever it is, I think we need to be a bit more careful when it comes to accusing others.

MRT better than KLCC

Sometimes I really don't understand why the defenders of DS Najib Razak have to resort to whacking Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in defence of the prime minister.

I don't believe that whacking the handsome old man helps Najib, especially when the whacking went overboard.

This only make a lot of people pity the 91 year old statesman.

Whacking Dr Mahathir was exactly the tactic used by the people of Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in the runs up to the 2008 general election.

It simply didn't work.

In fact, it backfired.

I really sometimes wonder why they never learn from that.

Whacking your enemy in cyberspace feels good, but that's only as far as ego was concerned.

That's all.

I think a better way for Najib's defenders to win the fight in cyberspace is by highlighting the prime minister's achievements which surpassed that of Dr Mahathir's.

I'm sure that there are many things that Najib did which are arguably better than what had been done by Dr Mahathir during his 22 years as prime minister.

Paused a bit and think, okay.

Don't simply assume there's none.

Okay, let me give an example.

The soon to be operational Mass Rapid Transport system is one of them.

Just read this story, okay,

MRT projects 160,000 cars less after SBK line operational

Imagine this - much less congested roads in KL.

I'm sure that will make life better for a lot of people.

KL will soon catch up with Singapore, London, Seoul, Tokyo, and other major sophisticated capitals in term of public transport system.

Isn't that better than the KLCC Twin Towers, KL Tower, and all the other landmarks built during Dr Mahathir's time in the federal capital?

Seriously, defenders of Najib should highlight these sorts of achievements rather than wasting their energy trying to run down Dr Mahathir.

And the nicer the way they do it, the better the impact would be among the people.

They need to say it as a matter of fact, rather than trying to show off or being boastful.

Be nice about it.

People like nice people.

They should try saying it like this:

"See, Najib's MRT actually helps make life better for the ordinary people in KL.

"Dr Mahathir's KLCC Twin Towers don't.

"We are talking about direct benefits here, okay."

Simple isn't it.

People will likely say, "Oh, ya lah, less jam now, easier to move around, okay lah true also."

And if want to add, can say la "Hey, where got Najib steal all that money. See, he got the changgih MRT built what. If Najib is really bad, he would had stolen the MRT money and buy Rosmah more handbags with it, isn't it?"

Make sense, isn't it?

Really, I think that's better than going around calling Dr Mahathir names or writing long winded sophisticated thesis on 1MDB in support of Najib which people can't be bothered to read.

You go around saying Dr Mahathir is a senile old man, and people will likely cringe.

That's because they know Dr Mahathir is not senile.

They will likely instead see you as kurang ajar (ill mannered) for saying that about an old man.

Seriously, it's better to highlight the good of Najib rather than the bad of Dr Mahathir.

And please do it without sounding trying to ampu and bodek. That only put off people, okay.

Be sincere.

People want to hear good things for a change these days.

They are fed up with the fightings and all the bad talks.

Hey, on the other side, do you think everyone really like it the way they whacked Najib upside down like that?

It's the same the other way around also.

Everyone tired of the whacking.

At least that's how I see it.

Think about it, okay.

Doa for grandfather

Dear Allah, please also give strength and patience to my mother and family.

Please don't go overboard

Reached home past midnight just now.

Did the necessary and then finished up some works which I should had done earlier.

I was delayed from doing them because I was tied up outside with an old friend the whole evening.

We had dinner and after that a very long teh tarik session.

We talked about a lot of things and of course they include politics.

Of all the things that we talked about, a story that he told me made the most impression as far as I'm concerned.

It's about what happened in a Wassap group that he is a member.

The group focused on organising a Quran reading schedule among the members.

Each member was to read a portion of the Quran for a whole month and those portions in total covered the whole holy book.

That way, their combined effort made the Quran being wholly read every month.

My friend said the conversations in the Wassap group were almost strictly on reading the holy book.

He said as more members were included in the group, the conversations started to veer bit by bit to other topics.

It got to a point where politics were also discussed by some of the group members.

My friend said a particular member became so vocal at whacking PM DS Najib Razak that it cause quite a lot of discomfort for most of the others in the group.

Some of them repeatedly but gently reminded that particular member that the Wassap group was actually meant for them to discuss the reading of Quran and not politics.

Their reminders were however ignored and that particular member continued with his tirade.

It reached a point when one of them, who can't stand it any longer, posted a message which sounded something like this ;

"Haji ni marah sangat kat Najib sebab dulu haji punya kem PLKN kena tutup ke?"

It turns out that the anti-Najib guy was an operator of a National Service camp which was closed because something was not right at the place.

That post opened the floodgate for many other not so nice queries from the other Wassap group members such as whether the guy was still being chauffeur driven in a Mercedes and even how he got the contract to operate the camp in the first place.

Please don't get me wrong. I'm telling you all this story not because I want to highlight how bad is the anti-Najib guy but rather to share a reminder for all of us not to go overboard when we whack someone that we dislike or even hate.

Honestly, I'm quite concerned with the tone of comments that I received for my postings in this blog but I still published most of them because I believe in freedom of expression and speech.

I hope you all can reflect on the story above and try not to go overboard like that guy in the Wassap group.

As the religious Muslims often say,

Tutup lah aib orang lain dan Allah akan tutup aib kita

Roughly translated ; Do not shame others and Allah will not reveal our shame.

Sorry, I'm not very good on religious matters, but that's more or less how I understand it.

I also understand and believe that Islam encourages Muslims not to go to extreme in anything.

This, for me applies in politics too.

Really, it's not good to go overboard because the bad things we said now about others will likely later on reflect back on ourselves.

This applies to all sides. Pro-Najib, pro-Mahathir, pro-Anwar, pro-Hadi or even pro-Kit Siang people.

We as humans are not perfect.

So, before we say bad things about others, we should first ask ourselves whether we ourselves are so clean of sins.

Maybe that will help us remember not to go overboard with what we want to say.

Berpada-pada lah, as a Malay saying goes.

One day, we are all going to die.

Maybe at a point, towards the end of our life, we may regret what we said about others.

At that time, we may want to say sorry.

I'm sure it will be very hard to do so if what we had said was so terrible that it hurts the other people so much.

I think if it's me, I may not be able to die in peace if the person whom I seek forgiveness from refuse to accept my apology because what I said was too terrible and unforgivable.

Well, that's my thoughts this early morning.

I better go to sleep now.

Peace.