As I flipped through the newspaper yesterday morning, I must say I was taken by surprise to see the headline news that SUPP President, Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam would not be seeking re-election in the coming state election.
In fact the news of him not defending his Piasau state seat had been splashed in some vernacular Chinese newspapers few days earlier when other English papers were still on the Chinese New Year break.
With this announcement, it will mean that the illustrious political career of Dr Chan is in its final lap.
But his decision not to seek re-election has been met with skepticism from the Opposition members who seem to take the news with a pinch of salt.
This is all because of Dr Chan’s decision to remain as the president of this oldest political party in the state in its delegates conference end of last year despite him signing a contract in 2006 in the aftermath of the party crisis not to defend the post.
The Opposition may seem to take this news as another chorus of Britney Spears’ Oops I Did It Again, but whatever it takes, Dr Chan must be brave enough to revamp the party despite it is long overdue.
Party members may perceive Dr Chan as a lame duck president from now onwards with this announcement but bear in mind that Dr Chan is still holding the power.
With all the resources available to him, Dr Chan has to make full use of his remaining days in politics to bring positive revamps to the party.
Therefore, with the state election due in the second half of 2011, Dr Chan must not take life easy if he really means what he said and to make drastic changes to the party which has lost the faith and confidence of the people.
In 2006, it lost eight state seats out of 19 seats it contested and thereafter it found itself in a crisis which led to factions within the party.
One senior party member told Dr Chan in a dinner recently that the party needs to show to the people some changes within 100 days after its delegates conference.
Indeed it needs to do so for the people have lost confidence with the party leadership after they saw no change in the line-up with all the existing leaders still cling on to power.
Dr Chan must make sure that the whole party is revamped from top to the bottom though in reality this is almost a magnanimous task to do.
But if there is a will, there are always ways and means as people say and Dr Chan should not wait any longer for change to happen.
Change must not only be done but it must also be seen to be done.
A political scientist had said before that the party candidates in the 2006 state elections were too old as compared to the Opposition and therefore it did not appeal to the young voters.
The coming state election must produce a team of young candidates with the right qualification to present to the voters a new sense of hope.
Failure to do so will mean a foregone conclusion to the party which is fighting for its survival.
SUPP must also be more daring to speak out without fear or favour and not be seen as a toothless partner within the BN coalition.
All this while, the party has been seen as not speaking out for the people and this perception must be changed.
Whenever there is any policy which does not serve benefit to the people, the party must be quick enough to speak out and not remain silent as silence is not always golden.
The party must also engage young and energetic people to run its machineries.
Politics nowadays is not like in the past when it was sufficient for a politician just to attend functions or officiate events.
Now it must be run like a corporate organisation where it is managed by a set of people with all sorts of expertise and qualification and not by those who only appear when the bosses are there.
If monetary profit is the main concern of any corporate organisation, then the number of votes gained is the paramount concern of a political organisation.
So Uncle George there you are my few sincere suggestions although I still have lots to say.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
A Chinese New Year story
This is a good read extracted from Malaysiakini news portal and written by former DAP MP for Bandar Kuching, Sim Kwang Yang.
On this yet another eve of another Chinese New Year, it is only appropriate to skip comments on the serious and often ugly business of politics, and reflect upon the most auspicious festival for the Chinese citizens in Malaysia.
Times are hard and the market is slow. The CNY goodies imported from China are not selling well. The Chinese people have a long and painful collective memory of their suffering in the past, and their knee jerk reaction to hard times is to tighten their belt, even if they have the money to spend.
I too have my personal memory of hard times in the past. I was born in the Year of the Rat, in an address at Jalan Padungan in Kuching, shortly after WW2. My birth was a bad omen for my family, for my father’s business failed.
Kuching was a two-horse town then, and right after the war, there was hardly any economic opportunity to speak of. In 1946, the last Brooke Rajah had ceded Sarawak to the British colonial office for a million Pound Sterling.
He had escaped to Australia when the Japanese army poured into Kuching in 1941, leaving his people to suffer the long years of occupation. His departure that ended the 100-year Brooke rule in the Land of the Hornbill was not missed.
Our difficult situation compelled my family to move into a dilapidated rickety two-storey wooden house that accommodated 18 families, each to one room that served as living room, bedroom, and kitchen at the same time. If I remember correctly, the rental was 15 Sarawak dollars per month. Some tenants would miss payment for a few months at times. Money was a rare commodity indeed.
The tenants were mostly Teochew, because this property near the Sarawak General Hospital along the old rail road running from Kuching to the 7th Mile Bazaar was owned by the Teochew Association. This was how one Chinese association had played the critical role of providing welfare for its members in the form of relatively cheap housing, and the spiritual solace of a temple nearby.
The respected Mr Siaw
I still have varied memories of that over-crowded large house. Inevitably, there were spates of discord among the tenants, but by and large, there was a lively spirit of community solidarity. Deprived materially as they were, they tended to be generous in helping their neighbours.
The most respected figure was Mr Siaw, a Chinese primary school teacher. I was actually born as Sim Keng Soon. Before I was to start schooling, I had to have a school name, a custom practised in old China. My parents consulted Mr Siaw, and he named me Sim Kwang Yang. Years later, when I was studying in Canada, I was happy to play host to his daughter, who had gone to the Land of the Maple Leaf for further education.
Most of the children walked to school, the Chung Hua School Number 4 along Palm Road, since very few people owned a car in those days. The only chap in my neighbourhood who drove a car was a taxi-driver, one of the very few in town. Most of the cars were British models, the most popular among them being the miniscule Morris Minor. The Vauxhall was considered a prestigious sedan, and I think it is no longer in production. Japanese cars did not make it in a big way until the late 1970s.
We were used to walking to school on foot. Even a bicycle was a luxury that parents could ill afford. For school uniforms, we would just inherit those outworn by elder siblings. It was the same with text books. The school fee was a mere three dollars, and there were times when I had to be shamed in front of the class by a reminder of my lateness in payment.
On those days when there was money, my parents would give me five or 10 cents for pocket money. The small coin was so precious that I would tie it in the deepest corner of the pocket with a rubber band. With it, I could afford to buy a piece of kueh, to be washed down with water from the pipe during break time.
The biggest problem I can remember from those days was the lack of facility for decent sanitation. The toilet was an outhouse, a wooden structure with a hole on the floor overlooking an open drum. As I did my business, I tried not to look down to avoid staring at the maggots below. My other friends picked up the filthy habit of smoking at that young age; they said the smoke would relieve the stench in the toilet.
I hated going to the toilet so much that I developed haemorrhoid, which was to haunt me until I went to Canada for my college education.
Auntie lent rice to Mum
Money was in short supply, and so was food. My father had left to work in Brunei, and he would send some money back to my mother in Kuching. Sometimes the money would come late, and my mother had to borrow rice from our neighbour.
There was this kind auntie whose husband was working as one of those labourers at the Kuching wharf carrying sacks of rice or whatever goods consigned to him on his shoulders. They were both illiterate, and had many children, all of them girls, making the auntie very unhappy. Without my mother’s advice, she would have given the girls away for adoption.
This kind auntie would lend my mother a cigarette tin of rice a day, even though she was very hard up herself. With that small amount of rice, my mother would serve up two meals of porridge, sometimes mixed with sweet potatoes. My brothers and I would whoop down those meals in one minute flat, and feel hungry a few hours later.
Meat was hard to come by, and I could count the number of days when chicken or pork was served in a year.
That was why Chinese New Year was so special. There would be a whole chicken, produced as if by magic on CNY eve. There would be cakes and kueh, produced by the women in the neighbourhood collectively to save cost. We children would squat around the ladies in great anticipation, as they rolled the dough, and baked them over hot plates over charcoal fire, and then storing them in tins.
On New Year Day, we would receive an ang pao containing one dollar, if we are lucky. We would proceed to play poker with this small fortune. Gambling was always banned, except during CNY, during which time parents would never scold their children.
Our living conditions improved somewhat when I was 10. We moved to a one bedroom flat at the Kuching Municipal Council housing estate along Ban Hock Road. At least, there was a clean flush toilet.
There, night and day, my mother taught me that life was an eternal struggle, a battlefield on which one could triumph only if one studies hard. I excelled as a student in school.
Our life took a turn for the better only when my second eldest brother went to study in the University of Nottingham in the UK on a generous Shell scholarship. He would send some of his English Pounds back, and even that was a great contribution to our livelihood.
My brother returned to Sarawak as a qualified electrical engineer in those days when there were very few university graduates in Sarawak. He served the Sarawak Telekom all his life, and was its Director and then General Manager upon privatisation. For that, he was awarded a Datukship by my political foe Abdul Taib Mahmud, the CM of Sarawak. His eldest son is a chartered accountant from London School of Economics, and the younger son, a doctor from Cambridge University. They remain my best friends in the best and worst of times.
Why I tell my personal story
Meanwhile, my childhood friends – those children of illiterate parents – had all gone on to become successful businessmen, professionals, academics, or technicians of various grades. They had all become affluent or middle-class; their children have repeated this success story by outdoing their parents. They are all Chinese, and have no need of the NEP.
As for the auntie who lent us rice everyday, she and her husband are still healthy and alive. Their children treat them very well, in accordance with the Confucian teaching on filial duty. They have many grandchildren and great grandchildren. I pray for them every year around this time.
Looking back, I realise the person at the centre of my childhood was my mother. She could read, and had great strength of character. For that, she was treated like an unofficial Tua Kampong in my neighbourhood. She was the one who held my family together. God only knows how much she had to sacrifice just to give her children a decent education and food on the table everyday.
My mother died in 1991, in the small hours of Christmas Day. I was by her bedside when she exhaled her last breath. I had never felt greater grief in my life.
I seldom get personal in these Malaysiakini essays. I tell my story on the eve of CNY this year, because I know many Chinese people of my generation throughout Malaysia have a similar story to tell their children.
It is a story of hardship and struggle, of thrift and self-discipline, of perseverance in the face of adversities, of family bonds and neighbourly love, of studying hard and smart come what may, and of enjoyment of delayed reward.
For those of you readers whose parents are still alive, remember this commandment for all races: honour thy father and mother! That is the real meaning of CNY.
On this yet another eve of another Chinese New Year, it is only appropriate to skip comments on the serious and often ugly business of politics, and reflect upon the most auspicious festival for the Chinese citizens in Malaysia.
Times are hard and the market is slow. The CNY goodies imported from China are not selling well. The Chinese people have a long and painful collective memory of their suffering in the past, and their knee jerk reaction to hard times is to tighten their belt, even if they have the money to spend.
I too have my personal memory of hard times in the past. I was born in the Year of the Rat, in an address at Jalan Padungan in Kuching, shortly after WW2. My birth was a bad omen for my family, for my father’s business failed.
Kuching was a two-horse town then, and right after the war, there was hardly any economic opportunity to speak of. In 1946, the last Brooke Rajah had ceded Sarawak to the British colonial office for a million Pound Sterling.
He had escaped to Australia when the Japanese army poured into Kuching in 1941, leaving his people to suffer the long years of occupation. His departure that ended the 100-year Brooke rule in the Land of the Hornbill was not missed.
Our difficult situation compelled my family to move into a dilapidated rickety two-storey wooden house that accommodated 18 families, each to one room that served as living room, bedroom, and kitchen at the same time. If I remember correctly, the rental was 15 Sarawak dollars per month. Some tenants would miss payment for a few months at times. Money was a rare commodity indeed.
The tenants were mostly Teochew, because this property near the Sarawak General Hospital along the old rail road running from Kuching to the 7th Mile Bazaar was owned by the Teochew Association. This was how one Chinese association had played the critical role of providing welfare for its members in the form of relatively cheap housing, and the spiritual solace of a temple nearby.
The respected Mr Siaw
I still have varied memories of that over-crowded large house. Inevitably, there were spates of discord among the tenants, but by and large, there was a lively spirit of community solidarity. Deprived materially as they were, they tended to be generous in helping their neighbours.
The most respected figure was Mr Siaw, a Chinese primary school teacher. I was actually born as Sim Keng Soon. Before I was to start schooling, I had to have a school name, a custom practised in old China. My parents consulted Mr Siaw, and he named me Sim Kwang Yang. Years later, when I was studying in Canada, I was happy to play host to his daughter, who had gone to the Land of the Maple Leaf for further education.
Most of the children walked to school, the Chung Hua School Number 4 along Palm Road, since very few people owned a car in those days. The only chap in my neighbourhood who drove a car was a taxi-driver, one of the very few in town. Most of the cars were British models, the most popular among them being the miniscule Morris Minor. The Vauxhall was considered a prestigious sedan, and I think it is no longer in production. Japanese cars did not make it in a big way until the late 1970s.
We were used to walking to school on foot. Even a bicycle was a luxury that parents could ill afford. For school uniforms, we would just inherit those outworn by elder siblings. It was the same with text books. The school fee was a mere three dollars, and there were times when I had to be shamed in front of the class by a reminder of my lateness in payment.
On those days when there was money, my parents would give me five or 10 cents for pocket money. The small coin was so precious that I would tie it in the deepest corner of the pocket with a rubber band. With it, I could afford to buy a piece of kueh, to be washed down with water from the pipe during break time.
The biggest problem I can remember from those days was the lack of facility for decent sanitation. The toilet was an outhouse, a wooden structure with a hole on the floor overlooking an open drum. As I did my business, I tried not to look down to avoid staring at the maggots below. My other friends picked up the filthy habit of smoking at that young age; they said the smoke would relieve the stench in the toilet.
I hated going to the toilet so much that I developed haemorrhoid, which was to haunt me until I went to Canada for my college education.
Auntie lent rice to Mum
Money was in short supply, and so was food. My father had left to work in Brunei, and he would send some money back to my mother in Kuching. Sometimes the money would come late, and my mother had to borrow rice from our neighbour.
There was this kind auntie whose husband was working as one of those labourers at the Kuching wharf carrying sacks of rice or whatever goods consigned to him on his shoulders. They were both illiterate, and had many children, all of them girls, making the auntie very unhappy. Without my mother’s advice, she would have given the girls away for adoption.
This kind auntie would lend my mother a cigarette tin of rice a day, even though she was very hard up herself. With that small amount of rice, my mother would serve up two meals of porridge, sometimes mixed with sweet potatoes. My brothers and I would whoop down those meals in one minute flat, and feel hungry a few hours later.
Meat was hard to come by, and I could count the number of days when chicken or pork was served in a year.
That was why Chinese New Year was so special. There would be a whole chicken, produced as if by magic on CNY eve. There would be cakes and kueh, produced by the women in the neighbourhood collectively to save cost. We children would squat around the ladies in great anticipation, as they rolled the dough, and baked them over hot plates over charcoal fire, and then storing them in tins.
On New Year Day, we would receive an ang pao containing one dollar, if we are lucky. We would proceed to play poker with this small fortune. Gambling was always banned, except during CNY, during which time parents would never scold their children.
Our living conditions improved somewhat when I was 10. We moved to a one bedroom flat at the Kuching Municipal Council housing estate along Ban Hock Road. At least, there was a clean flush toilet.
There, night and day, my mother taught me that life was an eternal struggle, a battlefield on which one could triumph only if one studies hard. I excelled as a student in school.
Our life took a turn for the better only when my second eldest brother went to study in the University of Nottingham in the UK on a generous Shell scholarship. He would send some of his English Pounds back, and even that was a great contribution to our livelihood.
My brother returned to Sarawak as a qualified electrical engineer in those days when there were very few university graduates in Sarawak. He served the Sarawak Telekom all his life, and was its Director and then General Manager upon privatisation. For that, he was awarded a Datukship by my political foe Abdul Taib Mahmud, the CM of Sarawak. His eldest son is a chartered accountant from London School of Economics, and the younger son, a doctor from Cambridge University. They remain my best friends in the best and worst of times.
Why I tell my personal story
Meanwhile, my childhood friends – those children of illiterate parents – had all gone on to become successful businessmen, professionals, academics, or technicians of various grades. They had all become affluent or middle-class; their children have repeated this success story by outdoing their parents. They are all Chinese, and have no need of the NEP.
As for the auntie who lent us rice everyday, she and her husband are still healthy and alive. Their children treat them very well, in accordance with the Confucian teaching on filial duty. They have many grandchildren and great grandchildren. I pray for them every year around this time.
Looking back, I realise the person at the centre of my childhood was my mother. She could read, and had great strength of character. For that, she was treated like an unofficial Tua Kampong in my neighbourhood. She was the one who held my family together. God only knows how much she had to sacrifice just to give her children a decent education and food on the table everyday.
My mother died in 1991, in the small hours of Christmas Day. I was by her bedside when she exhaled her last breath. I had never felt greater grief in my life.
I seldom get personal in these Malaysiakini essays. I tell my story on the eve of CNY this year, because I know many Chinese people of my generation throughout Malaysia have a similar story to tell their children.
It is a story of hardship and struggle, of thrift and self-discipline, of perseverance in the face of adversities, of family bonds and neighbourly love, of studying hard and smart come what may, and of enjoyment of delayed reward.
For those of you readers whose parents are still alive, remember this commandment for all races: honour thy father and mother! That is the real meaning of CNY.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
London Bridge is falling down?
So now that the Kuala Terengganu by-election is over, with Opposition once again toppled the BN in by elections with a convincing victory of 2631 votes majority.
On the day of the by-election last Saturday, I received calls from as early as 5.30pm asking about the results.
Such was the enthusiasm shown by the people although the by-election was held far away in the east coast of West Malaysia.
By 8.30pm, I received a text message from a senior journalist based in Kuala Lumpur while sipping a cup of cappuccino at a coffee chain in town and the SMS went like this- “London Bridge is falling down. PAS wins with 2631 votes against BN.”
One may say the result should not be a benchmark for the looming state election which has to be called the latest by fourth quarter of 2011.
But I beg to differ as the Kuala Terengganu by-election result has confirmed one thing, that the political tsunami or avalanche as some people may fond of calling it, is for real and that it should not be taken as what the former Gerakan president, Tan Sri Lim Keng Yaik who brushed it off as just a breath of fresh air.
After the March 8 general election, the Permatang Pauh by-election had been seen as a barometer for many political parties and analysts on the effect of the so-called wind of change blowing in the country which has been ruled by the Barisan Nasional for five good decades.
The overwhelming majority obtained by the Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who is instrumental in the formation of the Pakatan Rakyat consisting of PKR, DAP and PAS confirmed that change is the making in the nation’s political landscape.
The KT by-election result has doubled confirm that the people of Malaysia is ready and have no qualms of having a change of government for the better.
A doctorate student, Ong Kian Ming in his analysis on the KT by-election noticed that there was a surge in the number of young voters voting for the Opposition.
Despite the swing in Malay votes towards PAS which he regarded as insignificant and the strident claim by MCA that they have maintained or even increased the Chinese votes, Kian Ming cautioned that the result should be worrying for BN for the fact that the younger voters are more inclined to vote for Opposition.
Two million young new voters are expected to register with the Election Commission by the next general election and this group of Generation Y will be the determining factor of who will rule the country.
In his analysis, Kian Ming found out that the percentage of those age 35 and below voting for BN has decreased by 4.4% while those from 35 to 55 decreased by 1.5% and those age 55 and above decreased by 0.8%.
He also found out that younger voters are less susceptible to vote buying.
So let us come back to the looming state election.
I was very blunt with a former state assemblyman recently when he asked my opinion on the sentiment on the ground as I did it in good faith with no malicious intention.
With 71 state seats up for grabs, my prediction would be that the urban Chinese seats would see a disastrous outcome for the BN component SUPP which lost eight seats out of 19 seats it contested in the 2006 state election.
A senior journalist lamented to me once that this oldest political party had missed many times to change but its leaders were just being ignorant of the call, a death wish which sent the DAP jumping gleefully as one senior writer penned it in a national paper.
With PBB likely to contest in more than half of the state seats, a former political secretary predicted that a skeleton few may fall for the PKR should the latter take on PBB.
The former political secretary is not so optimistic with the view that the Opposition would form the next state government but he did not overrule that the state BN may be denied its two third majorities by the Opposition if no urgent or drastic effort is taken to remedy the already red colour alert beaming.
Regardless of anything, no one should take the KT by-election for granted as we have seen that the old politicking method is as good as a nostalgia which is no longer appealing to the young voters.
Handing out of monetary fund and casting fear of racial tension do not buy anymore for the voters who have the access to the internet who aspires for a corruption free, transparent, accountable and a fair and just society.
As one senior politician said before that changing the people may not be the best solution as what matters most is a change of mindset.
But there is this old saying which says we cannot teach a dog new tricks.
On the day of the by-election last Saturday, I received calls from as early as 5.30pm asking about the results.
Such was the enthusiasm shown by the people although the by-election was held far away in the east coast of West Malaysia.
By 8.30pm, I received a text message from a senior journalist based in Kuala Lumpur while sipping a cup of cappuccino at a coffee chain in town and the SMS went like this- “London Bridge is falling down. PAS wins with 2631 votes against BN.”
One may say the result should not be a benchmark for the looming state election which has to be called the latest by fourth quarter of 2011.
But I beg to differ as the Kuala Terengganu by-election result has confirmed one thing, that the political tsunami or avalanche as some people may fond of calling it, is for real and that it should not be taken as what the former Gerakan president, Tan Sri Lim Keng Yaik who brushed it off as just a breath of fresh air.
After the March 8 general election, the Permatang Pauh by-election had been seen as a barometer for many political parties and analysts on the effect of the so-called wind of change blowing in the country which has been ruled by the Barisan Nasional for five good decades.
The overwhelming majority obtained by the Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who is instrumental in the formation of the Pakatan Rakyat consisting of PKR, DAP and PAS confirmed that change is the making in the nation’s political landscape.
The KT by-election result has doubled confirm that the people of Malaysia is ready and have no qualms of having a change of government for the better.
A doctorate student, Ong Kian Ming in his analysis on the KT by-election noticed that there was a surge in the number of young voters voting for the Opposition.
Despite the swing in Malay votes towards PAS which he regarded as insignificant and the strident claim by MCA that they have maintained or even increased the Chinese votes, Kian Ming cautioned that the result should be worrying for BN for the fact that the younger voters are more inclined to vote for Opposition.
Two million young new voters are expected to register with the Election Commission by the next general election and this group of Generation Y will be the determining factor of who will rule the country.
In his analysis, Kian Ming found out that the percentage of those age 35 and below voting for BN has decreased by 4.4% while those from 35 to 55 decreased by 1.5% and those age 55 and above decreased by 0.8%.
He also found out that younger voters are less susceptible to vote buying.
So let us come back to the looming state election.
I was very blunt with a former state assemblyman recently when he asked my opinion on the sentiment on the ground as I did it in good faith with no malicious intention.
With 71 state seats up for grabs, my prediction would be that the urban Chinese seats would see a disastrous outcome for the BN component SUPP which lost eight seats out of 19 seats it contested in the 2006 state election.
A senior journalist lamented to me once that this oldest political party had missed many times to change but its leaders were just being ignorant of the call, a death wish which sent the DAP jumping gleefully as one senior writer penned it in a national paper.
With PBB likely to contest in more than half of the state seats, a former political secretary predicted that a skeleton few may fall for the PKR should the latter take on PBB.
The former political secretary is not so optimistic with the view that the Opposition would form the next state government but he did not overrule that the state BN may be denied its two third majorities by the Opposition if no urgent or drastic effort is taken to remedy the already red colour alert beaming.
Regardless of anything, no one should take the KT by-election for granted as we have seen that the old politicking method is as good as a nostalgia which is no longer appealing to the young voters.
Handing out of monetary fund and casting fear of racial tension do not buy anymore for the voters who have the access to the internet who aspires for a corruption free, transparent, accountable and a fair and just society.
As one senior politician said before that changing the people may not be the best solution as what matters most is a change of mindset.
But there is this old saying which says we cannot teach a dog new tricks.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Interesting Conversation
An Atheist Professor of Philosophy was speaking to his Class on the Problem Science has
with GOD, the ALMIGHTY. He asked one of his New Christian Students to stand and . . ..
Professor : You are a Christian, aren't you, son ?
Student : Yes, sir.
Professor : So, you Believe in GOD ?
Student : Absolutely, sir.
Professor : Is GOD Good ?
Student : Sure.
Professor : Is GOD ALL - POWERFUL ?
Student : Yes.
Professor : My Brother died of Cancer even though he Prayed to GOD to Heal him.
Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill.
But GOD didn't. How is this GOD good then? Hmm?
(Student was silent )
Professor : You can't answer, can you ? Let's start again, Young Fella.
Is GOD Good?
Student : Yes.
Professor : Is Satan good ?
Student : No.
Professor : Where does Satan come from ?
Student : From . . . GOD . . .
Professor : That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this World?
Student : Yes.
Professor : Evil is everywhere, isn't it ? And GOD did make everything. Correct?
Student : Yes.
Professor : So who created evil ?
(Student did not answer)
Professor : Is there Sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness?
All these terrible things exist in the World, don't they?
Student : Yes, sir.
Professor : So, who Created them ?
(Student had no answer)
Professor : Science says you have 5 Senses you use to Identify and Observe the World around you.
Tell me, son . . . Have you ever Seen GOD?
Student : No, sir.
Professor : Tell us if you have ever Heard your GOD?
Student : No , sir.
Professor : Have you ever Felt your GOD, Tasted your GOD, Smelt your GOD?
Have you ever had any Sensory Perception of GOD for that matter?
Student : No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.
Professor : Yet you still Believe in HIM?
Student : Yes.
Professor : According to Empirical, Testable, Demonstrable Protocol,
Science says your GOD doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?
Student : Nothing. I only have my Faith.
Professor : Yes,Faith. And that is the Problem Science has.
Student : Professor, is there such a thing as Heat?
Professor : Yes.
Student : And is there such a thing as Cold?
Professor : Yes.
Student : No, sir. There isn't.
(The Lecture Theatre became very quiet with this turn of events )
Student : Sir, you can have Lots of Heat, even More Heat, Superheat, Mega Heat, White Heat,
a Little Heat or No Heat.
But we don't have anything called Cold.
We can hit 458 Degrees below Zero which is No Heat, but we can't go any further after that.
There is no such thing as Cold.
Cold is only a Word we use to describe the Absence of Heat.
We cannot Measure Cold.
Heat is Energy.
Cold is Not the Opposite of Heat, sir, just the Absence of it.
(There was Pin-Drop Silence in the Lecture Theatre )
Student : What about Darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as Darkness?
Professor : Yes. What is Night if there isn't Darkness?
Student : You're wrong again, sir.
Darkness is the Absence of Something
You can have Low Light, Normal Light, Bright Light, Flashing Light . . .
But if you have No Light constantly, you have nothing and its called Darkness, isn't it?
In reality, Darkness isn't.
If it is, were you would be able to make Darkness Darker, wouldn't you?
Professor : So what is the point you are making, Young Man ?
Student : Sir, my point is your Philosophical Premise is flawed.
Professor : Flawed ? Can you explain how?
Student : Sir, you are working on the Premise of Duality.
You argue there is Life and then there is Death, a Good GOD and a Bad GOD.
You are viewing the Concept of GOD as something finite, something we can measure.
Sir, Science can't even explain a Thought.
It uses Electricity and Magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one.
To view Death as the Opposite of Life is to be ignorant of the fact that
Death cannot exist as a Substantive Thing.
Death is Not the Opposite of Life: just the Absence of it
Now tell me, Professor, do you teach your Students that they evolved from a Monkey?
Professor : If you are referring to the Natural Evolutionary Process, yes, of course, I do.
Student : Have you ever observed Evolution with your own eyes, sir?
(The Professor shook his head with a Smile, beginning to realize where the Argument was going )
Student : Since no one has ever observed the Process of Evolution at work and
Cannot even prove that this Process is an On-Going Endeavor,
Are you not teaching your Opinion, sir?
Are you not a Scientist but a Preacher?
(The Class was in Uproar )
Student : Is there anyone in the Class who has ever seen the Professor's Brain?
(The Class broke out into Laughter )
Student : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's Brain, Felt it, touched or Smelt it? . . ..
No one appears to have done so.
So, according to the Established Rules of Empirical, Stable, Demonstrable Protocol,
Science says that You have No Brain, sir.
With all due respect, sir, how do we then Trust your Lectures, sir?
(The Room was Silent. The Professor stared at the Student, his face unfathomable)
Professor : I guess you'll have to take them on Faith, son.
Student : That is it sir . . . Exactly !
The Link between Man & GOD is FAITH.
That is all that Keeps Things Alive and Moving.
NB:
That student was Albert Einstein.
with GOD, the ALMIGHTY. He asked one of his New Christian Students to stand and . . ..
Professor : You are a Christian, aren't you, son ?
Student : Yes, sir.
Professor : So, you Believe in GOD ?
Student : Absolutely, sir.
Professor : Is GOD Good ?
Student : Sure.
Professor : Is GOD ALL - POWERFUL ?
Student : Yes.
Professor : My Brother died of Cancer even though he Prayed to GOD to Heal him.
Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill.
But GOD didn't. How is this GOD good then? Hmm?
(Student was silent )
Professor : You can't answer, can you ? Let's start again, Young Fella.
Is GOD Good?
Student : Yes.
Professor : Is Satan good ?
Student : No.
Professor : Where does Satan come from ?
Student : From . . . GOD . . .
Professor : That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this World?
Student : Yes.
Professor : Evil is everywhere, isn't it ? And GOD did make everything. Correct?
Student : Yes.
Professor : So who created evil ?
(Student did not answer)
Professor : Is there Sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness?
All these terrible things exist in the World, don't they?
Student : Yes, sir.
Professor : So, who Created them ?
(Student had no answer)
Professor : Science says you have 5 Senses you use to Identify and Observe the World around you.
Tell me, son . . . Have you ever Seen GOD?
Student : No, sir.
Professor : Tell us if you have ever Heard your GOD?
Student : No , sir.
Professor : Have you ever Felt your GOD, Tasted your GOD, Smelt your GOD?
Have you ever had any Sensory Perception of GOD for that matter?
Student : No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.
Professor : Yet you still Believe in HIM?
Student : Yes.
Professor : According to Empirical, Testable, Demonstrable Protocol,
Science says your GOD doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?
Student : Nothing. I only have my Faith.
Professor : Yes,Faith. And that is the Problem Science has.
Student : Professor, is there such a thing as Heat?
Professor : Yes.
Student : And is there such a thing as Cold?
Professor : Yes.
Student : No, sir. There isn't.
(The Lecture Theatre became very quiet with this turn of events )
Student : Sir, you can have Lots of Heat, even More Heat, Superheat, Mega Heat, White Heat,
a Little Heat or No Heat.
But we don't have anything called Cold.
We can hit 458 Degrees below Zero which is No Heat, but we can't go any further after that.
There is no such thing as Cold.
Cold is only a Word we use to describe the Absence of Heat.
We cannot Measure Cold.
Heat is Energy.
Cold is Not the Opposite of Heat, sir, just the Absence of it.
(There was Pin-Drop Silence in the Lecture Theatre )
Student : What about Darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as Darkness?
Professor : Yes. What is Night if there isn't Darkness?
Student : You're wrong again, sir.
Darkness is the Absence of Something
You can have Low Light, Normal Light, Bright Light, Flashing Light . . .
But if you have No Light constantly, you have nothing and its called Darkness, isn't it?
In reality, Darkness isn't.
If it is, were you would be able to make Darkness Darker, wouldn't you?
Professor : So what is the point you are making, Young Man ?
Student : Sir, my point is your Philosophical Premise is flawed.
Professor : Flawed ? Can you explain how?
Student : Sir, you are working on the Premise of Duality.
You argue there is Life and then there is Death, a Good GOD and a Bad GOD.
You are viewing the Concept of GOD as something finite, something we can measure.
Sir, Science can't even explain a Thought.
It uses Electricity and Magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one.
To view Death as the Opposite of Life is to be ignorant of the fact that
Death cannot exist as a Substantive Thing.
Death is Not the Opposite of Life: just the Absence of it
Now tell me, Professor, do you teach your Students that they evolved from a Monkey?
Professor : If you are referring to the Natural Evolutionary Process, yes, of course, I do.
Student : Have you ever observed Evolution with your own eyes, sir?
(The Professor shook his head with a Smile, beginning to realize where the Argument was going )
Student : Since no one has ever observed the Process of Evolution at work and
Cannot even prove that this Process is an On-Going Endeavor,
Are you not teaching your Opinion, sir?
Are you not a Scientist but a Preacher?
(The Class was in Uproar )
Student : Is there anyone in the Class who has ever seen the Professor's Brain?
(The Class broke out into Laughter )
Student : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's Brain, Felt it, touched or Smelt it? . . ..
No one appears to have done so.
So, according to the Established Rules of Empirical, Stable, Demonstrable Protocol,
Science says that You have No Brain, sir.
With all due respect, sir, how do we then Trust your Lectures, sir?
(The Room was Silent. The Professor stared at the Student, his face unfathomable)
Professor : I guess you'll have to take them on Faith, son.
Student : That is it sir . . . Exactly !
The Link between Man & GOD is FAITH.
That is all that Keeps Things Alive and Moving.
NB:
That student was Albert Einstein.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Mission possible for Opposition
I was passing through Jalan Penrissen at 4 ½ Mile last Friday evening amid pouring rain which at first I thought had resulted in the traffic hitting a snag.
But as my quantity surveyor friend drove further up the road, we saw a large crowd gathered at an empty land, right opposite the Chan Furniture shop, sitting at dinner tables and listening attentively to a speech delivered on stage with a huge backdrop of Change We Can.
As I wound down the car window, we could see a man on stage who clad in batik addressing the crowd, estimated at about 3,000 to 4,000 with blaring speakers which made his fiery speech audible even across the street.
That man is none other than PKR de facto leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who came here for a Friends of PKR dinner.
PKR state assemblyman for Padungan, Dominique Ng Kim Ho who had earlier cast doubt whether his party chief would be allowed entry into the state was proven wrong when Anwar and his entourage whom among others included the Menteri Besar for Selangor, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, PKR secretary general, Sallehuddin Hashim and several MPs were all let in by the Immigration Department without hindrance.
Many including some of his closest allies may have called him bluffing when Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the Opposition could wrest at least five states and denied the BN coalition its two third majorities in the March 8 general election last year.
But his prediction caught many by surprise when his prediction turned up to be no bluff at all but a reality, the true sentiment on the ground that people have turned tired and simply wanted change in this country which has long ruled by the BN since independence.
The PR coalition found itself forming the state government in five states in Peninsular while denying the BN coalition of its two third majorities in parliament, a feat which is very much attributed to the charismatic Anwar who binds the PKR, DAP and PAS into a formidable coalition.
Recently, this once heir apparent to the premiership and protégé of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad before his sacking as the latter’s deputy in 1998, said the Opposition would be eyeing the state election which could be held anytime from now until 2011.
And who on earth this time could brush aside Anwar should he once again were to say that the Opposition could deny the two third majorities or even toppled the state BN to add Sarawak into its feather?
And yes he did it again, this time saying that the Opposition would capture the state in the coming state election.
It has been almost a year after the general election and it seems that the PR run states have been receiving accolades from the people, for instance the CAT (Competency, Accountability and Transparency) practised by the Penang state government and the issuance of perpetuity titles to new villages in Perak.
And recently, state assemblyman for Ngemah, Gabriel Adit and former Members of Parliament, Jimmy Donald and Jawah Gerang joined the PKR together with thousands of their supporters.
State DAP chief and state assemblyman for Bukit Assek, Wong Ho Leng has claimed that the party was in talk with some disgruntled SUPP members over possible crossover after the state oldest political party remains stagnant with all its leaders still cling on to power despite endless call for change within and outside the party.
The PKR and DAP will go into talk soon on the possible avoidance of multi cornered fight and if the talk goes smoothly and without any hiccups, we can expect straight fight in all the state seats.
With the state BN controlling two third majorities in the legislative assembly and the Opposition eight seats which all came at the courtesy of SUPP, the coming state election will be a huge task for Pehin Sri Taib Mahmud to maintain the feat.
The rural areas will no longer be the bastion for the BN with the PKR making its presence felt while the urban seats needless to say will most likely see further casualties especially those under the SUPP.
The current economic climate will further erode the people’s support to the government coupled with the rising cost of living and the possibility of job losses and pay cuts.
The protracted land issue will be a contentious one in the coming state election and Anwar was quick enough to seize the sentiment on the ground by saying that land would be returned to its rightful owners.
PRS president and Minister of Land Minister, Datuk Seri James Masing is not so optimistic with the PKR’s presence and he had rung the alarm bell to the state BN in his recent New Year message.
All eyes will definitely be on the state election and with Anwar convincingly told his crowd that PR would give state BN a run for its money, we better take him seriously this time.
But as my quantity surveyor friend drove further up the road, we saw a large crowd gathered at an empty land, right opposite the Chan Furniture shop, sitting at dinner tables and listening attentively to a speech delivered on stage with a huge backdrop of Change We Can.
As I wound down the car window, we could see a man on stage who clad in batik addressing the crowd, estimated at about 3,000 to 4,000 with blaring speakers which made his fiery speech audible even across the street.
That man is none other than PKR de facto leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who came here for a Friends of PKR dinner.
PKR state assemblyman for Padungan, Dominique Ng Kim Ho who had earlier cast doubt whether his party chief would be allowed entry into the state was proven wrong when Anwar and his entourage whom among others included the Menteri Besar for Selangor, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, PKR secretary general, Sallehuddin Hashim and several MPs were all let in by the Immigration Department without hindrance.
Many including some of his closest allies may have called him bluffing when Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the Opposition could wrest at least five states and denied the BN coalition its two third majorities in the March 8 general election last year.
But his prediction caught many by surprise when his prediction turned up to be no bluff at all but a reality, the true sentiment on the ground that people have turned tired and simply wanted change in this country which has long ruled by the BN since independence.
The PR coalition found itself forming the state government in five states in Peninsular while denying the BN coalition of its two third majorities in parliament, a feat which is very much attributed to the charismatic Anwar who binds the PKR, DAP and PAS into a formidable coalition.
Recently, this once heir apparent to the premiership and protégé of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad before his sacking as the latter’s deputy in 1998, said the Opposition would be eyeing the state election which could be held anytime from now until 2011.
And who on earth this time could brush aside Anwar should he once again were to say that the Opposition could deny the two third majorities or even toppled the state BN to add Sarawak into its feather?
And yes he did it again, this time saying that the Opposition would capture the state in the coming state election.
It has been almost a year after the general election and it seems that the PR run states have been receiving accolades from the people, for instance the CAT (Competency, Accountability and Transparency) practised by the Penang state government and the issuance of perpetuity titles to new villages in Perak.
And recently, state assemblyman for Ngemah, Gabriel Adit and former Members of Parliament, Jimmy Donald and Jawah Gerang joined the PKR together with thousands of their supporters.
State DAP chief and state assemblyman for Bukit Assek, Wong Ho Leng has claimed that the party was in talk with some disgruntled SUPP members over possible crossover after the state oldest political party remains stagnant with all its leaders still cling on to power despite endless call for change within and outside the party.
The PKR and DAP will go into talk soon on the possible avoidance of multi cornered fight and if the talk goes smoothly and without any hiccups, we can expect straight fight in all the state seats.
With the state BN controlling two third majorities in the legislative assembly and the Opposition eight seats which all came at the courtesy of SUPP, the coming state election will be a huge task for Pehin Sri Taib Mahmud to maintain the feat.
The rural areas will no longer be the bastion for the BN with the PKR making its presence felt while the urban seats needless to say will most likely see further casualties especially those under the SUPP.
The current economic climate will further erode the people’s support to the government coupled with the rising cost of living and the possibility of job losses and pay cuts.
The protracted land issue will be a contentious one in the coming state election and Anwar was quick enough to seize the sentiment on the ground by saying that land would be returned to its rightful owners.
PRS president and Minister of Land Minister, Datuk Seri James Masing is not so optimistic with the PKR’s presence and he had rung the alarm bell to the state BN in his recent New Year message.
All eyes will definitely be on the state election and with Anwar convincingly told his crowd that PR would give state BN a run for its money, we better take him seriously this time.
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