Where I Was During Bersih 3.0

April 28th 2012 must have a been a great day for many Malaysians who took part in the Bersih 3.0 rally, however physically demanding.

I must confess that at the same time, I was having a luncheon buffet with my family and we got our news feed of the rally on our handphones. The rally was peaceful so we heard up to 3pm.

What is interesting is the conversation i had with my father about China’s tragic history in the 20th century. Dad said all the problems of the world can be traced to ideology and the conflict between people of different ideologies.

I disagreed. In my opinion, most if not all political conflicts stem from the human need for power whether for oneself (dictator) or for an elite (a fascist regime that feeds off economic profits). I brought up the example of China: when China was about to become a republic under its first provisional president Dr Sun Yat Sen, one of the generals - Yuan Shi Kai - was promised the position of President if he could get the Qing court to step down. After the Emperor Pu Yi abdicated in 1912, Yuan Shi Kai became president and then in 1915, he declared himself Emperor of China. In his subsequent struggles against Yuan Shi Kai and other warlords, Sun Yat Sen later died of lung cancer in 1925 with the disappointment he could not unite China.

What ideology was it that justified Yuan Shi Kai’s actions? Simple greed for power in a time of political instability, international intrigue and uncertainty. China then became a battle field between two tyrants - General Chiang Kai Shek and comrade Mao Tse Tung with the Japanese war intervening briefly in between their conflicts. To the Chinese people, especially farmers, Chiang Kai Shek was a hard task master of a leader and they clearly put their trust in the new liberator and reformer Mao. What an irony that Mao is now recorded in the history books as the worst genocidal dictator (including willful starvation of the population) with 50-80 million deaths during his regime.

To a different degree, the same moral crisis is heading to Malaysia and the 21st century political landscape when politicians vy for power (does Unify Europe at all costs sound errily the same as unify China or Weimar Germany?).

We must be careful even in our demands for democracy and be more circumspect of our politician's personal ethics. Whoever becomes the next prime minister must be an ethical person who has all Malaysians’ sovereign interest and well-being at heart. All politicians are opportunists. Let us choose the one who is God fearing and capable. Even a fairly average PM surrounded by good advisors is better than a maverick who is a law unto himself.

Finally, Bersih 2.0 and Bersih 3.0, despite the subsequent eruption of violence, is the most blessed social phenomenon for this nation because Malaysians of all races can stand together for country and for God, whatever their individual faiths and beliefs.

The human spirit of love triumphs over ideology and communal politics on one fine day. It is my daily prayer that our government is aligned to lead ethically and morally so that we can peacefully rise out of our politicised communal strongholds.

A Speech Every American (Malaysian?) High School Principal Should Give

If every school principal gave this speech at the beginning of the next school year, America would be a better place.(with some minor provisions, Malaysia too would have a much better future).

To the students and faculty of our high school:

I am your new principal, and honored to be so. There is no greater calling than to teach young people.

I would like to apprise you of some important changes coming to our school. I am making these changes because I am convinced that most of the ideas that have dominated public education in America have worked against you, against your teachers and against our country.

First, this school will no longer honor race or ethnicity. I could not care less if your racial makeup is black, brown, red, yellow or white. I could not care less if your origins are African, Latin American, Asian or European, or if your ancestors arrived here on the Mayflower or on slave ships.

The only identity I care about, the only one this school will recognize, is your individual identity -- your character, your scholarship, your humanity. And the only national identity this school will care about is American. This is an American public school, and American public schools were created to make better Americans.

If you wish to affirm an ethnic, racial or religious identity through school, you will have to go elsewhere. We will end all ethnicity-, race- and non-American nationality-based celebrations. They undermine the motto of America, one of its three central values -- e pluribus unum, "from many, one." And this school will be guided by America's values.

This includes all after-school clubs. I will not authorize clubs that divide students based on any identities. This includes race, language, religion, sexual orientation or whatever else may become in vogue in a society divided by political correctness.

Your clubs will be based on interests and passions, not blood, ethnic, racial or other physically defined ties. Those clubs just cultivate narcissism -- an unhealthy preoccupation with the self -- while the purpose of education is to get you to think beyond yourself. So we will have clubs that transport you to the wonders and glories of art, music, astronomy, languages you do not already speak, carpentry and more. If the only extracurricular activities you can imagine being interesting in are those based on ethnic, racial or sexual identity, that means that little outside of yourself really interests you.

Second, I am uninterested in whether English is your native language. My only interest in terms of language is that you leave this school speaking and writing English as fluently as possible. The English language has united America's citizens for over 200 years, and it will unite us at this school. It is one of the indispensable reasons this country of immigrants has always come to be one country. And if you leave this school without excellent English language skills, I would be remiss in my duty to ensure that you will be prepared to successfully compete in the American job market. We will learn other languages here -- it is deplorable that most Americans only speak English -- but if you want classes taught in your native language rather than in English, this is not your school.

Third, because I regard learning as a sacred endeavor, everything in this school will reflect learning's elevated status. This means, among other things, that you and your teachers will dress accordingly. Many people in our society dress more formally for Hollywood events than for church or school. These people have their priorities backward. Therefore, there will be a formal dress code at this school.

Fourth, no obscene language will be tolerated anywhere on this school's property -- whether in class, in the hallways or at athletic events. If you can't speak without using the f-word, you can't speak. By obscene language I mean the words banned by the Federal Communications Commission, plus epithets such as "Nigger," even when used by one black student to address another black, or "bitch," even when addressed by a girl to a girlfriend. It is my intent that by the time you leave this school, you will be among the few your age to instinctively distinguish between the elevated and the degraded, the holy and the obscene.

Fifth, we will end all self-esteem programs. In this school, self-esteem will be attained in only one way -- the way people attained it until decided otherwise a generation ago -- by earning it. One immediate consequence is that there will be one valedictorian, not eight.

Sixth, and last, I am reorienting the school toward academics and away from politics and propaganda. No more time will devoted to scaring you about smoking and caffeine, or terrifying you about sexual harassment or global warming. No more semesters will be devoted to condom wearing and teaching you to regard sexual relations as only or primarily a health issue. There will be no more attempts to convince you that you are a victim because you are not white, or not male, or not heterosexual or not Christian. We will have failed if any one of you graduates this school and does not consider him or herself inordinately lucky -- to be alive and to be an American.

Now, please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of our country. As many of you do not know the words, your teachers will hand them out to you.

Source: http://www.dennisprager.com/columns.aspx?g=07f08515-be95-4197-955e-327f6a0b98f8

The Mirage of Democracy: The Elected and The Electorate

Every four years or so, Malaysians (and other citizens) go to the polls to elect one of two parties to govern their country. Ideally, the elected government should represent the electorate's aspirations, values and bring their country into a more progressive era.

Important as they are, elections should be more than a way of establishing the people's choices and wishes. If choosing between two parties is akin to the consumer choosing between two alternative products/services, then the democratic process of free and fair elections is indeed highly superficial and mundane.

The problem with the consumerist approach to elections is that (a) it assumes the product does not affect our financial and emotional well-being even if it is faulty because we can throw it away (i.e. vote the incompetent government out in four years' time). Unfortunately, truly bad policies often destroy our financial and emotional health for many more years beyond what the next administration can undo; (b) this view assumes that the consumers/voters are to a large extent powerless in affecting the destiny of their country and its leadership in so far as they are faced with two candidates/products whose views and ideologies (i.e. product features) are invariably fixed.

A reversal of roles

The irony about democratic elections in the age of the Internet and instantaneous communications is that the elected leaders are actually not the ones that are being chosen. Instead, voters are themselves voting their thoughts, their intellectual life, their values into the political life of their candidates. Thus, an election should not be a matter of choosing the best leader and the best party to lead your nation but one of choosing wisdom and foresight as qualities that are needed for both the citizen and the government, both the electorate and the elected.

Three tales of Tom & Jerry

Apart from ensuring that elections are conducted in a free and fair way, there are 3 errors that voters should avoid: (1) the first error is to elect a leader who changes course and values after being elected. This error is called chameleon risk. (like current US President Obama who was voted in on a ticket of change and reform has changed his stripes and remain a Wall Street elitist at heart behind his socialist and interventionist facade).

(2) The second error is to elect a leader who represents the voter's values but fails to carry out the policies competently. That is called execution risk. (former PM Abdullah Badawi is a good example of a leader with good intentions but poor execution skills).

(3) The third error is to have voted someone who represents what we believe in, who carries out the policies effectively and, in due course, destroys the country because what we believe in is actually bad for the country. This is called voter incompetency risk. (e.g. compliant citizens of the Eurozone were sold the ambitious Euro project ten years ago by European leaders only to reap the fruits of economic despair today.)

It is the third error - voter incompetency risk- that is the most dangerous because it reflects on the voter's lack of intelligence, wisdom and sincerity. To paraphrase Deng Xiaoping: chameleon risk is when the cat you bought decides to catch squirrels instead of mice. Execution risk is when your cat fails as badly as Tom to catch Jerry the mouse. And voter incompetency risk happens when you bought a special cat to catch a poisonous type of mouse and after eating it, the cat dies of sickness that causes your household to be infected and eventually the whole country as well. 

While it appears suicidal for people to adopt policies and values that destroy their countries' economy, social infrastructure and institutions, there are many instances of democratic people selfishly doing so as they are often motivated by vested and ideological interests: the socialists will appoint a socialist leader; the elite will appoint their elitist wall-street leaders; the middle-class consumerist will appoint leaders who trade short term economic gains for long-term stagnation and burdensome debt levels that will be passed on to future generations.

(And in the case of Europe, there is increasing evidence that the powerbrokers behind the Eurozone are not aiming for a united peaceful Europe but a European political superstate that subsumes national sovereignty).  

To avoid voter incompetency risk, voters should not only examine their politicians fishing for their votes, but also re-examine their own personal values and aspirations vis-a-vis the nation and the global community.

1. Are they willing to make trade-offs between short term gains for long-term pain? (cash transfers and debt-financed consumption today but higher interest rates and fiscal austerity tomorrow)

2. Are they willing to support one group of vested interests at the expense of other groups/communities? (e.g. race-based economic privileges)

3. Are they able to see themselves as active participants in the democratic process using the tools of the Internet and mass communications rather than passive consumers/voters choosing their leaders once in every four years?

4. Are they willing to engage their politicians, test them, challenge them intellectually and philosophically to ensure that they are governed by people who deserve a government of the people, for the people and by the people?

In other words, voters’s expectations can influence their politicians' standard of ethics and leadership especially before and during an election campaign period. If we expect mediocre leadership and half-baked policy solutions, we will get them no matter how capable the politicians are.

As Malaysia approaches its 13th General Election, slated to be in June 2012, we, the people are indeed facing a major cross roads. On the one hand, we continue to be divided, not so much by ideology but by the ethnic pattern of voting for the parties that represent our race-based interests. This is a sad and tragic countervailing social reaction to the institutional race-based policies of the incumbent government for five decades. However, on the other hand, we are becoming more and more united by several positive trends:

- increasing activism by ordinary citizens (mostly urban professionals) in criticising government policies in blogs, facebook, tweeter, etc.

- increasing sympathy for the poor and the lower middle classes in their struggles to earn a decent living in a society that enriches the politically well connected elite.

- increasing empathy for those who are on the losing end of the rising disparity between the poor and the rich.

- increasing contempt for corruption among politicians and the elite.

- increasing unhappiness with government educational policies that reverted the teaching of maths and science to Bahasa Malaysia instead of the international English.

Hopefully, in the coming months, Malaysian voters will engage their politicians vigorously and challenge them to solve the decades-old dilemmas and overcome the simple yet enormous stumbling blocks that keep the nation from its true potential.

Of course, all these concerns and issues could very well be side-stepped if Malaysian voters are distracted by the hyped up economic gains of the government's half-baked Economic Transformation Program (which does not remove the source of the decline in our nation's productivity - social distribution policies based on race and a reliance on oil resources to subsidise and bail out failed government projects).

Only Divine Intervention and Wisdom Can Avert An Explosive Middle East War

We all need to pray continually and fervently that God will intervene to prevent a war between Israel and Iran. This prophetic event may be the event that was written about in Ezekiel and Daniel in the Bible. But we can pray that God will intervene, postpone or change the course of events leading to a third world war.

Things are heating up in the Middle East as confirmed by many media coverage and the Nomura Middle East analyst Alastair Newton who told us two weeks ago an attack by either Israel or US on Iran’s nuclear mountain facilities may happen depending on the likely outcome of the US elections.

If Obama is ascendant in the polls towards spring (April May June), then Israel will hold quick elections and then attack. If Republicans are ascendant, then Israel will wait it out until perhaps next year.

Whatever the outcome, this potential war is very bad for the world economy and markets because it will not just involve Israel/US vs Iran. There will be a cascading effect of countries worldwide joining either sides. Russia and China will clearly be backing Iran and may join the war. Do we have insider proofs or is it mere conjecture?

The best course for world leaders is that Israel and Iran negotiate and sit down and discuss it out. The US elections and the populist rhetoric of the candidates including the president are not helping to cool the tensions. If there is a black swan for 2012-2013, it is not that the world will be surprised by a Israel-Iran war but that the scale of the war will be unprecedented in human history. Exactly the kind of insanity among world leaders that was shown in Dr Strangelove.

 

Why would world leaders be so foolish as to encourage and condone a war between Israel and Iran when the implications are so dangerous? The article below is not my view but may link this regional conflict to the globalist conspiracy to form a New World Order.

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America, Persia, And Israel Are Being Sacrificed For A One World Order

Saman Mohammadi

Infowars.com

February 19, 2012

“If the Washington/Tel Aviv-promoted hysteria is already at fever pitch, wait for March 20, when the Iranian oil bourse will start trading oil in other currencies apart from the US dollar, heralding the arrival of a new oil marker to be denominated in euro, yen, yuan, rupee or a basket of currencies.

That would suit Asian clients – from BRICS members India and China to US allies Japan and South Korea, not to mention NATO member Turkey. But that would also suit European clients, to pay for oil in their own currency. Tehran – as well as many key players in the developing world – does want to sink the petrodollar. That may be the straw to break the American camel’s back.” – Pepe Escobar, “US wants SWIFT war on Iran,”February 17, 2012.

“Most of all, it was a war that probably brought about more long-term changes than any other in history. Nothing demonstrated more the central position of Persia as a world power. With this war we see the end of a succession of ancient empires in Iran that began with Cyrus. It was also the end of over a thousand years of a complex interaction with the west. Persian civilization was, of course, soon to demonstrate its resilience by emerging phoenix-like out of the ashes into the brilliance of medieval Islamic Iran. But that would be a changed new Persia and a changed interaction with the west: with the ending of the old Persia, the old world also ended.” – Warwick Ball, “Towards One World: Ancient Persia and the West.” 2010. East & West Publishing: London. Pg. 134 – 135. The quote is from the chapter, “Two Super-Powers: Recovery, Expansion and the War That Changed the World,” about the century-long war between Rome and Persia in the sixth and seventh centuries A.D. Officially, the war began in 529 and ended in 629.

From its very inception, Israel was created to be destroyed in a third world war against the forces of Islam, the result of which will be a one world order. It is a cruel and miserable fate for the Jews and the people of the Middle East.

The people of all countries involved in World War III are victims of the worldwide and generational conspiracy which is loosely referred to as a one world order/world government plot. This global plot/conspiracy is satanic in nature, and includes the leaders of both the Zionists and Islamists, who are secretly working for the globalists in America and England to create a one world order.

In 1979, the Persians and Kurds in Iran were hijacked by Western-backed political Islamists from the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran’s religious fundamentalist community who are deeply involved in the secret global conspiracy to bring a one world government into being. The top Mullahs of Iran wear Muslim attire, but underneath, they are Freemasons part of the Illuminati who were placed into power by the shadow CIA and MI6.

Neither the leadership of Israel nor the leadership of Persia care about the well-being and security of their people. They don’t have any spiritual or psychological ties to these two ancient and sacred lands which share a rich and deep history. They view the people as animals to be tricked and slaughtered, not as subjects to be ruled and well-fed, or as citizens to be represented and respected.

In ancient times, the rulers wanted to increase the productivity and population of their lands. But in modern times, the rulers want to kill their slaves in mass wars. And this is most true regarding the rulers of America and England, where the Illuminati runs the whole show, in politics as well as in entertainment.

The leadership of America and the West is a giant death cult. George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, and Barack Obama all share dangerous New Age beliefs, and they have all talked about the need for a “one world order,” in different speeches and in various of ways.

But they don’t mention the fact that they are secretly conspiring with the totalitarian leaders of Israel and Islamic Iran to start one last world war before the coming age of universal peace and world harmony, which they promise will dawn after the ritual of bloodshed.

They keep the people in the dark and feed them totalitarian lies because in their warped minds the people are worse than animals or slaves. To them, the people are a cancerous plague to be wiped off the planet like lice, while they are the gods and creators of a new world.

The dark agents of Satan who want to create a one world dictatorship view themselves as friends of mankind, but they are deluded and disturbed mental patients. In reality, they are the greatest enemies of humanity in the history of the world.

They belong in Hell, not on Earth, and certainly not in positions of power where they are able to control the minds of the people in secret and dictate the collective destiny of the human species.

Saman Mohammadi is the writer and editor at The Excavator Blog

Guan Eng-Soi Lek TV Debate: Will Key Election Issues Be Probed Deeply?

The TV debate between Lim Guan Eng and Chua Soi Lek on 18th Feb is getting national coverage. But will the key issues facing the electorate be discussed? What are these issues?

1. What does Pakatan Rakyat truly stand for - equality for all races and a non-racial part system?

2. What does Barisan stand for - continued race-based politics or will internal reform be driving the parties forward?

3. It may take electoral defeat or a second straight loss of the two thrids majority for BN to learn the lesson of making genuine reforms.

4. The weakness of Pakatan Rakyat rests on PAS's stand on the Islamic state and hudud. How can their policies be accommodated in a multiracial multi ethnic country?

The whole world is watching Malaysia as ethnic and religious violence has shaken the Middle East and the Israeli-Iran conflict is back in the forefront of international news.

Will A War In The Middle East Involving Iran Erupt in 2012?

In an November 2011 interview with currency and poltical analyst Jim Rickards with King World, there is an interesting view that the "War With Iran has Begun" and that "Gold to Break $2,000."

With oil near $100, gold and silver on the move and many people worried about what is going to happen with Iran and the Straits of Hormuz, today King World News interviewed resident expert Jim Rickards. Rickards negotiated the release of US hostages from Iran in 1981. His advisory clients include government directorates around the world and he is heavily involved in US national security issues and the Department of Defense.

Rickards has also gained international recognition for his deadly accurate predictions regarding moves by central planners. This is what Rickards had to say about the situation in Iran: “Eric, this really could not be more serious. The fact that we, meaning the United States, are on a path to a war with Iran is very clear at this point. It does seem the countdown has begun and it’s coming to a head sooner rather than later.”

“Things are moving very quickly. General Martin Dempsey, who is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has arrived in Israel and Israel is integrating itself with the U.S. European Command or EUCOM. So, at this point, the integration of the Israeli and the US operational capability, including NATO based in Europe, is very far along.

There are an enormous number of US troops in Israel. I don’t know if people realize that, but they are operating the THAAD system (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense). They oversee weapons that will shoot down incoming Iranian missiles.

There are joint exercises going on between the US and Israel. At the same time Iran is conducting war games. There are a lot of moving pieces on the chessboard at this point. This is not just war gaming or thinking about what might happen, the pieces have actually begun to move on the chessboard.

For Israel this is really existential. The US would really like to see a world where Iran did not have nuclear weapons, but for Israel it is not a preference. If Iran gets nuclear weapons, Iran has said they will burn Israel to the ground. So, this is not just a strategic rebalancing, this is life or death for the Israelis.....

“All of the information I have is that the US is going to do it (attack Iran). So the tension between Israel and the United States is being resolved in favor of letting the US actually launch the attack.

Part of the reason for this is the retaliation vector. If the US attacks and Israel keeps out, then Iran has no justification for attacking Israel. They (Iran) will attack US targets in the Middle-East, but we’re ready for that, we’re prepared for that. We will suppress the missiles and their air force is a joke, we’ll take that out in the first day.

But they do have a serious missile capability. We’ll need anti-missile warfare and we will need to strike those bases. We will need to do a lot of other damage to Iran, cyber warfare, take down the power grid, take down the command and control structure. Do whatever we can to stop them from attacking our assets in the Middle-East.

This war will be fought with air power, sea power, cyberwarfare, financial warfare, sabotage, special operation, assassination, things like that. This is already going on. As an example, yesterday a prominent Iranian nuclear scientist had an unlucky encounter with a magnet bomb.

So this war is already being fought. The other day the United States sanctioned the Central Bank of Iran. By the way, we’ve been sanctioning them for years, but we’ve been dialing it up little by little. It’s like the frog that’s boiled in a pot of water and doesn’t know until it’s too late that the water is getting hot.

President Obama sanctioned the central bank about a week ago. The Iranian currency, the rial, dropped 30% in a single day. Hyperinflation has broken out in Iran. This is financial warfare.

My point to the listeners is this is not theoretical, this is not a war game, not an exercise, it’s happening now and the clock is ticking.”

Rickards had a great deal to say about gold, investor psychology, the coming war, how it will impact key players, markets and more. Here is a quick snippet: “If you see the war with Iran happening, and I definitely see it happening, then gold will blow right past $2,000.”

This is an extremely important interview with one of the top individuals in the world of national security. Rickards also described how this war will be fought and how it will impact major players and countries. The KWN Jim Rickards interview will be available shortly and you can listen to it by CLICKING HERE.

Welcome 2012 and the Year of Creative Harvest

This is the year of harvest in the spiritual realm where years of sowing seeds into the soil of our souls will be reaped. Good seeds will bring good fruits while bad seeds will reap bad fruits.

After going through many prophecies for the year and shaken by the tumultuous events of 2011, I think 2012 will be the year the hidden plans and things of the heart will be unveiled and crystallised. This is the year of action, of deep prayers and thoughtful deliberation into the political process between citizens versus elected administrators, between employers and employees, between leaders and their followers and between God and mankind.

For the Chinese, this is also the year of the mythical Dragon but judging by the catastrophic and fast-changing events of 2011 (the Arab Spring and Japan's triple disaster) which was the year of the Rabbit, the Dragon year could either be extremely docile (as polar opposite of the preceding year) or it could be even more volatile. As one who does not believe in astrology but who is a keen observer of global trends, I think the latter is likely to be the case.