Thanos wouldn’t ask this question, he would just snapped and be done with it. However, we need to think about it. Or the Avengers will come and kick our collective asses.
Based on what our Interim PM said yesterday, “The King has asked all MPs to make a statement… in front of him. The result is that he can’t find anyone with a distinct majority. Since there isn’t a distinct majority, he says the right forum would be the Dewan Rakyat”.
This is very astute of our King. He understands that the power belongs to the people. This is one of the many reasons why I love our current King. He’s a people person who doesn’t think he’s a know-it-all, clairvoyant and above the people like some other royalties. He believes that the people have elected these representatives to represent them, and that they are the best group people to decide on the next step. A true example of the saying “Raja dan Rakyat berpisah tiada”. Meaning the ruler and the subjects are inseparable. The King knows that we the people have chosen our representative for each of our constituency. So he let these representative decides.
Our King, Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin of Pahang wants the people to decide.
Unfortunately, our representatives are at an impasse. Who should be PM and lead them. One minute it was Dr. Mahathir, then it wasn’t, then it was Anwar. Then we hear Hishamuddin Tun Hussin, and now we hear it’s may be Muhyiddin though I think that is just Mahathir saying it as an example. I don’t believe that is what he wants. Why would he want’s someone who betrayed him? Knowing Dr. Mahathir, he probably wanted it for himself. Whoever it is, the impasse is, who should be PM?
You hear these politicians talks about, this is what the rakyat wants lah, they want this PM lah, and that PM lah, this mandate lah, and that mandate, this manifesto and that manifesto lah, this party lah and that party lah. This is all what they, the politicians want.
In actual fact, many of the manifestos and promises have now become secondary. We are now facing a much more immediate problem that needs fixing. It may have overtaken many other promises that was made more than 2 years ago.
Our economy is tanking
We now have a tanking economy, Stock market is at a 10-year low. Our 2019 GDP growth was at 10-year low. BNM even had to unexpectedly announce a cut in interest rate recently. Crude oil prices are at a one year low. The list go on and on. When this happens, everybody loses and we the rakyat lose more the the politicians and the rich people. Jobs creation halted, people loses jobs, purchasing power weakened, more shops will lose sales, means more jobs lost. The cycle is vicious.
The tanking economy is now made worse with the impending epidemic of Covid-19. It’s not yet an epidemic, just at pandemic level now. However, with Japan closing their school through March, North Korean is following suit by extending school break, and the latest even Saudi have halts pilgramage over Covid-19. What all these point to is a bigger negative impact on our economy. IMF will downgrade global growth. This is like a double whammy for our economy, or as the saying goes, “it never rains but it pours”. I like it more in Malay, “Dah jatuh ditimpa tangga, dan terpalit tahi ayam”, the “terpalit tahi ayam” is me adding on to it.
We will need the best people to steer the ship through these dark waters. We will need to be working together in getting through these dry spell. This is above party politics, this should be a bi-partisan issue that everybody agrees above anything else. Yes, even above who should be PM. If the person can’t steer us through this, then he better not be PM. Let the leaders think who is the person. Use this one thing that we all can agree upon to decide who’s the best person.
What if we can’t decide and we go for snap election?
What if Thanos snaps and we have a snap election? Let’s hypothetically entertain this idea. First of all, it will probably cost upwards of 800 million ringgit. That’s almost a billion. These are money that our government doesn’t have. Heck, even the recently announced Covid-19 stimulus package have already put a dent to the projected fiscal deficit from 3.2% to 3.4%. This isn’t even including political parties spending several hundred millions to fund the snap elections. More money down the drain. Do you really want this my dear leaders and readers?
How fast can the EC organise the snap election? I reckon between 1.5 to 2 months including a 1-2 weeks campaign period. This means the country will be without a fully functioning government for another 2-3 months throughout this dangerous waters that we are going through. You really want this my dear leaders and readers?
And assuming we have this snap election, this effectively means we will have two full months of campaigning. The politicians are desperate for power, things will get ugly. Race relation in Malaysia is worsening. Think of what 2-month long of desperate campaigning will do tous? Think of just how much race and religion fanning sentiments will be thrown all over the place. Do we really want this my dear leaders and readers?
People are also fed up will all these politicking, back-door government, power tussle and the likes. A snap election may very well have the lowest turnout ever. Politicians will display their worst due to desperation, people will get more fed up, and may ended up not voting. Do we really want this my dear readers and leaders?
What I’m proposing is, all parties must work out theirdifferences. Put the immediate and real problems ahead of your ego, your vengeance, you hatred and whatever it is that is clouding your better judgment. Put the well being of the people going through the dark waters first.
Use these few days before the parliament sitting on March 2, and work out your differences. Present to the King a workable solution that will not end up in a snap election. Show to the people that you, the elected representative, knows better. That you will put the country and the people well being ahead of your own self.
This is what I implore you the readers, to tell your representative. This is what I implore you the leaders to do. This is what I, the rakyat wants.
Several friends asked why hasn’t I written anything on Pakatan Nasional (now known as Perikatan Nasional as what has been mentioned by LGE in DAP press conference). I have actually written a long one but decided not to publish it. Why? because I felt that people aren’t ready, and also perhaps partly because I felt I’m not ready. But after what has happened yesterday, I felt I may want to get it out there as a sign of support to Dr. Mahathir. What was the point of the article? Well, the gist of it is that I myself am not really a fan of all-powerful-all-Malay coalition.
I’ve, all my life, lived in a home where I have a Chinese family home next to us, and in front of my home I have another Chinese home. Not even five doors away I’d have an Indian family living and somewhere along my street, I’d have a Singh, Mamak, Malays families. I’m fortunate enough that, when I bought my first and only home more than a decade ago, I know beforehand, that the unit will have a Chinese owner next to it. The salesman said people usually wants to know that detail. Damn right we want to know, because we want to live in a multi-racial neighbourhood. I told my wife that let’s get this unit, it will be perfect for our kids.
Even in my career, I’m blessed to have great non-Malay bosses, superiors and colleague. One non-malay lady was such a great person that I decided to call her Mummy. Till today, I still address her as Mum or Mummy. I’ve been blessed to have both Malays and and Non-malays helping me to be better as a person in my life. So to have one all-powerful-all-malay political entity is not something I want to be looking forward, much less be a part of. I’d like to have an all-powerful-multiracial political entity that cares for the all Rakyat in fairness.
If you don’t love the fact that we are all different people. There must be something wrong with you.
Now that the question of Perikatan Nasional is out of the way, let’s move on to the big elephant in the room.
PH reduced to 92 seats (minus 26 Bersatu and 11 Azmin bloc)
Perikatan Nasional or Opposition is the same with 83 seats
Independent bloc have 47 seats (26 Bersatu, 9 Warisan, 1 Upko and 11 Azmin)
Important to note that DAP, Amanah, Bersatu, Warisan, Upko and Azmin still supports Dr. Mahathir as PM.
Dr. Mahathir Resigns as PM
King wanted Dr. Mahathir to be interim PM
DAP, Amanah, Bersatu, Warisan, Upko and Azmin still wants Dr. Mahathir to be the PM even after he resigned.
The big thing that wasn’t discussed or mentioned a lot yesterday is the fact that Dr. Mahathir has fulfilled his promise to let go of his position as the Perdana Menteri Sementara under Pakatan Harapan Manifesto. He has done his part. Through and through. He clearly resigned and king accepted. He has fulfilled his promise as a Prime-Minister-in-waiting under Pakatan Harapan Manifesto.
Anwar Ibrahim can, today, go to the King and said that he has enough support from 112 MPs or more for him to become PM. Nobody is stopping him to do this.
Yesterday that Anwar stated “I am satisfied with his stance that we must give priority to the continuation of the reform agenda”. Anwar didn’t mention that he will go to the King to seek and discuss his succession and 112 MPs supporting him
Mohamad Sabu. I like him. No, I really like him. I do. No, I actually do like him!
So, in one fell swoop, the good Doctor have TOLD OFF, all of those PKR and DAP, Umno and whoever else that have questioned his willingness to resign and let Anwar be the PM. He did resign and fulfilled his promise. It’s a masterclass stroke
We have seen before so many people asking for Mahathir’s transition date. Be it from PKR, DAP, Umno, PAS. So many lah. So now, all of you lot have your answers. Dr. Mahathir have resigned and fulfilled his promised under Pakatan Harapan to be the Prime Minister in waiting. Oh and Lim Kit Siang can still be in politics since Dr. Mahathir did quit and give way to Anwar. It’s just that Anwar didn’t have the balls (or seats) to go and see the King about it.
So what happens next? Assuming Dr. Mahathir still have the support of Bersatu, Amanah, DAP, Azmin and Pas. And since the Sheraton-gate, probably Perikatan Nasional supports Dr. Mahathir as well.
This effectively means Dr. Mahathir can be the PM again. This time it won’t be under the mandate of Pakatan Rakyat PM in waiting. This time he can be the PM based on a new mandate from Bersatu, Amanah, DAP, Warisan, Perikatan and whoever else that supports him. This time he can be a more effective PM because he wont’ be asked to resign or pass the baton to Anwar or anyone else anymore. He is then free to govern however he sees fit. Which is what I personally wants.
I’m so blessed to have seen this happen in my lifetime. He is the good Doctor indeed.
Editors Note: It’s a long one this round. Please bear with me.
We all know by now that for the first time in Academy Award History, a non English movie won the most coveted award Best Picture. Not only that, it won arguably second most coveted award Best Direction as well. Altogether, it won 4 Oscars (the physical award itself, the gold bald standing guy, is nicknamed Oscar) including Best International Picture and Best Original Screenplay.
Personally, I love Parasite. I’ve watched 7 out of the 9 nominations for Best Picture and in my non-academic and non-expert opinion, it deserves the Award. They are all great films but Parasite is indeed on top of the heap.
Not everybody agrees with Parasite being a great movie though. Flipping through social media timelines and talking to friends, many believed 1917, Joker, Marriage Story or the Irishman should’ve won instead. Many saw Parasite as something you can get easily on TV3’s Cerekarama slot. Not even good enough for a proper film. Just a telemovie.
I don’t know much about Malaysian movies to be completely honest. I do however have a few favourite Malaysian Directors. They are P. Ramlee, Mamat Khalid, Yasmin Ahmad and Aziz M. Osman. That’s all I will say about Malaysian film industry.
This creation of Mamat Khalid really hit me hard. I love it so much.
The Politics Surrounding Our Arts
On the politics surrounding our art however, I have much to say. Let’s start with the big elephant in the room. Censorship. This has been the bane of art and freedom of expression in Malaysia since forever. I still remember in my younger days when Malaysian can no longer appreciate ghost movies just because someone in FINAS/Jakim/Cabinet believed watching ghost movies can somehow cause Muslim’s to distort their belief in God. This is a load of bulls
I’m sure those who lived through the 80’s and 90’s remember the time when we can no longer enjoy those great Chinese ghost movies from the 80s. I was too young to understand politics back then but to have ghosts stories banned is still something that I feel was unwarranted.
The great Lam Ching-Ying as the One Eyebrow Priest. He was in so good in many of these Hong Kong horror movies that everybody in school wanted to be him back in the day. We all wanted to either be him or Jackie Chan.
Fortunately today we no longer have that ban in effect. Since the ban was uplifted we had an explosion of creativity with all those Blok 404, Kem 505 and more recently with Hantu Kak Limah franchise.
Ghost stories is a part of our culture here in Malaysia. Ever since we were a small kid, our parents would tell us, “Haaa! Pi la kat situ, ada hantuuu”. During slumber parties we exchanged ghost stories with our friends. During our days in boarding school we heard lots of ghost stories, some even dated back during Japanese occupation of Malaya. Everybody must’ve heard of Hantu Jepun (Japanese Ghost) in the form of dead Japanese soldiers marching down the street. We have all sorts of ghosts. These ghosts in our culture is very charming and interesting to me.
Hantu Pocong, one of the many types of ghosts in Malay culture.
It’s not so much the ghosts that fascinates me but it’s more of the expression of creativity. How one sees horror, how one interpret these ghosts and how it interacts with our daily lives. How much they influence the way we lives. From there we would have the Pawangs, the Bomohs, the good and the bad. It’s nothing more than an expression of art.
People would ask, what if people really believe in ghosts and bomohs and pawang Shaik? Well, we have been having ghosts movies and stories since the beginning of time. If we were to compare current situation to say 50 or 100 years ago, we actually have less and less people believing in them. Is it because we have less ghost movies in cinemas and TV?
No, it’s because of the advancement in technology. We now have lights, camera, and all sort of technological advancements. So much so that ghosts are finding it hard to exists. That’s why. We are more educated. We now realised it’s not what it is. No amount of movies will change our mind. And we certainly don’t need someone in Finas/Jakim or Cabinet to protect us from these ghosts movies.
The Royalties, Politicians, Ulama and Race censorship
The second part of censorship, which has a bigger impact on our lives, is of those people who have a higher status or caste in our lives. God forbid if we do a story, movie, book or even painting on the politicians, royalties, ulama and race.
These four topics are off limits even today. There are so many ways we can express ourselves with these four topics and from there everybody can learn a thing or two. Unfortunately, nobody can come close to these four topics. Till today have not seen much art concerning some of the more pivotal times in politics, be it during Malayan Union times when the people opposed what has been agreed and approved by the Royalties and British nor the more recent stuff like Memali. I hope we will one day have a movie with Malayan Union and the royalties as the central theme.
Similarly, God forbid if we ever make movies on corrupt politicians of yesteryear or even of today. Some of these stories we hear could really make it big in the movies. Some of the big corruption and abuse of power cases would’ve made some darn good movies. If you complained about our film industry not making enough money, these are the stuff that will make the money rains.
Then we have the issue of equality among the people of different races. There has been many work of arts regarding the conflict between the black and white in Hollywood. Stuff like blacxploitation and black power. Change it to Malay, Chinese, Indian. Heck, we should have more coming out from Sabah and Sarawak fighting for their rights to be equal on all field. All of these are off limits it seemed.
Why are these topics off limits?
One has to wonder, why are these off limits? Politicians keep saying we are not there yet as a society. We, the rakyat, apparently, can’t handle it yet. We apparently will start killing off each other if we have all of the above topics be made movies the way we want it.
Are we really that weak that we can’t handle any of these stuff? Let’s take a look at some of the more contemporary art that may help to tells us whether we can handle it or not.
First up, Drama Band performance during AJL. It has a spin on social and political commentary touching on Najib and Rosmah and their handbags, PU Abu and the issue of him leaving his wife while she’s still pregnant with his child. Dai’e Farhan who got married with his second wife in Makkah and lastly all the people who love/hate the above folks.
The public were up in arms about the show. Furious! TV3 took down the Band’s performance on their YouTube channel. Censored. Saying they are checking with MCMC if this is in their performance is against the code or not. Just tell the truth that you don’t want to piss off your lords Najib and Rosmah please. This is just a load of bull.
Drama Band at their best to showcase Malaysia (or Malay to be exact) most viral/controversial stories. #AJL34pic.twitter.com/Ad0J7SP42h
Next, we have these art pieces by Ahmad Fuad Osman. Apparently National Art Gallery (Balai Seni Negara) removes 4 pieces of art that portrays Anwar Ibrahim in it. Ahmad Fuad learned that National Art Gallery justified its decision based on the complaint of a single board member who found the works obscene and political. One person of power didn’t like what he sees and he removes them. Censored. Again, this is a load of bull.
One of the four art pieces taken down. This is entitled ‘Missing’.
Fortunately, Deputy Minister of Arts, Tourism and Culture have instructed NAG to reinstate those art pieces.
Next, who can forget the shitstorm that Fahmi Reza had to go through for the infamous Clown poster of Najib. He was expressing his politically charged opinion of what a clown Najib is. That is all. And yet the shitstorm he has to go through is crazy. Censored. A load of bull indeed.
On the subject of race, we have Engku Iman excellent experimentation on labeling our beloved Lee Chooong Wei as Jaguh and/or Pendatang. This is an excellent piece of art experimentation and how it makes us think and react. Quite a few folks were taken aback by her experiment. Why were you taken aback? Triggered? And she was called out on it. It’s a load of bull.
One of the few local authors and writers I like, Dr. Faizal Musa or his pseudonym Faisal Tehrani. He has written several books and many of his books has been banned by Jakim on the basis of having Shia elements. He has denied it multiple times but you know lah. Censored. It’s all a load of bull.
Lastly, the drama caused by a movie made by the wealthy businesswoman Sajat while she was in Mekah performing umrah. The whole nation went apeshit. Everybodytalksabouther. I don’t need to share more as the whole nation just went totally apeshit and I’m sure you got to see it all unfold as well. People were and still are so angry because she has apparently insulted Islam, Mekah and the whole ritual of umrah all in one fell swoop. Everybody was asking for Sajat to be taken out of Mekah. And they succeeded. Sajat Banned. Censored. It’s a load of bull indeed.
Apparently the politicians are correct. The Rakyat can’t handle it.
Let’s prove we can handle it
It’s up to us, the Rakyat, to be able to be clear-minded and be open. Many believes to be open is a western thing, hence not a good thing. Being open is often labelled as liberal and it carries this negative connotation with it. What many ulama have said is Liberal Islam is bad. I’m not sure if there is such a thing as ‘Liberal Islam’. Islam is Islam, there shouldn’t be anything else right?
Now to me, Liberal is a good word. To me, liberal means the notion or idea of liberty and equality. Anas Zubedy have written about how Liberal in Islam is a good thing. Go read it. The point is, we need to encourage others to be able to listen better and be emphatic to others. Encourage others to explore and discover their potential.
What if the art insult YOU Shaik?
What if that piece of Art is an insult to you Shaik? Would you just listen and be emphatic still Shaik? Well, I got a simple answer for that. Islam teaches us how to handle insult. It’s very easy to follow.
The Quran tells us how to handle insult in 33:48.
And incline not to the disbelievers and the hypocrites. Disregard their noxious talk, and put thy trust in Allah. Allah is sufficient as Trustee
Quran 33:48
So easy right? We just need to disregard their noxious talk. We just need to ignore their insult. It’s so easy, we basically just need to DO NOTHING. Just a simple nothing. Ignore them. It can’t get any easier than this. Literally do nothing.
Then what do we do?
The good deed and the evil deed are not alike. Repel the evil deed with one which is better, then lo! he, between whom and thee there was enmity (will become) as though he was a bosom friend
Quran 41:34
It’s so easy, repel, push away, reply the bad deed with a good deed. If you do this, you and the person who insults you will become good friends. When someone insults us, we shouldn’t go and kick him in the balls. We shouldn’t scold him/her. We also of course shouldn’t jail the person. Those are not a good deed. We just need to reply the insult with good deeds. Very easy to do as well.
This is exactly where the problem lies
The problem lies with us the Rakyat. Quran tells us to ignore the insults. Quran tells us to repel bad deed with good deeds. However we continue to not ignore the insults and use more bad deeds to repel bad deeds. We continue to care about the insult and throw some more insult back to them, ban, scold, get angry, hit them, or worse threatened to kill the person who insulted us through their words, movies, paintings, comics and whatever form of art they use.
Let’s all learn to ignore these insult and repel bad deeds with good deeds. Rise above enmity and insult. Go back to what the Quran says.
So the next time you read a comic, or watch a movie, or see someone performed some form of arts in a manner that insults you, your religion, your mom, your family, your whatever lah. Remember, to ignore them and reply the bad deeds with good deeds.
Take a look these non-believers, non-muslims. They actually do what the Quran says and see how it results in something great.
It’s great to see what Allah says works on everybody be they muslims or non-muslims. But we, decided not to do what Allah have said. That ladies and gentlemen, is where all bullshit is.
Peace be unto all.
Editors note: If you made it here, a big big thank you. I apologise for the super long one this round. I’ll try to keep it shorter next time.
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