Saturday, August 7, 2010

Unity Consciousness & Bi-Polar Politics


Some of us feel drawn to the noble notion of Unity Consciousness - which I define as a transcendent perspective wherein one is increasingly aware of a greater, more inclusive context of our existence. Indeed, Unity Consciousness implies a pluralistic view of reality that reconciles, redeems and integrates apparent conflicts and contradictions.

Fashionable phrases like "unconditional love," "non-judgment," "loving allowance" and "oneness" get bandied about in New Age circles, making some of us feel unworthy every time we experience a bad hair day and find ourselves using foul language on people or situations that irk us and impinge on our sense of justice.

Meanwhile, within the 3D Matrix, atavistic and recalcitrant egos descended from fallen angel bloodlines with pronounced criminal tendencies continue to call the shots in economics and politics by setting themselves up as the ruling elite. It's all very well to acknowledge that these destructive and diabolical elements are ultimately an aspect of our greater self - but does this mean we remain passive in the face of their virulent abuse of power and tyrannical exploitation of the semi-conscious masses?

Fortunately I've learned how to dance between the third and fifth dimensions, occasionally venturing beyond to catch a glimpse of existence beyond the semantic universe. This frees me from being overly attached to outcomes on the 3rd dimension and allows me to build energetic links between these realities. In the third, we are conditioned to think in terms of either/or, win or lose - but in the fifth we begin to intuit the beauty of both/and situations and the possibility of win-win scenarios.

The 3rd dimension creates a great divide between hero and villain, white hat and black hat. Looking at events from the 5th dimension, we easily perceive the transitional effect of various behaviors. For instance, what appears to be a vile and vicious act on the 3rd dimension reveals itself as a catalytic incident with positive precessional effects (90-degree spin-offs that trigger evolutionary transformations).

Expressed in simple terms, no matter how evil one's intentions may be, the outcome of one's misdeeds invariably results in some unexpected good - the silver lining that offsets even the darkest cloud.

What good came out of Mahathir's megalomanic 22-year misrule? Firstly, he politicized and activated a few million previously apathetic citizens like myself with his excesses. Secondly, he equated the Internet with accelerated progress and installed the very mechanism that would soon reveal Umno/BN to be a monster of Dr M's own miscreation.

And, thirdly, his ruthless, vindictive and violent retaliation against his erstwhile deputy Anwar Ibrahim's rebellion effectively planted the seeds of a two-party parliamentary system that would germinate ten years later as the 8 March 2008 political tsunami.

Similarly, Najib Razak's inevitable rise to power in accordance with the Umno Agenda would fulfil the "RAHMAN prophecy" and mark the end of Umno misrule. And since Umno has always equated itself with Malay vested interests, the warlords can only spin the end of their era as an unbearable loss of political power to the pendatang or "immigrant races."

The more xenophobic fear the bigots whip up amongst the ignorant and illiterate, the stronger the desire for radical transformation will grow in the hearts and minds of the intelligent, the young and free-spirited. Indeed, the crude and imbecilic rantings of political troglodytes like Ibrahim Ali only serve to enhance the appeal of enlightened cosmopolitanism and universal, rather than local, values.

It took an Adolf Hitler and his Third Reich to liberate the German people forever from narrow-minded racism and cultural insularity. I'm counting on Ibrahim Ali and his ilk to force the more intelligent and honest Malays from under their monolingual, monocultural coconut shells... and into the light of a far greater vision of unity that totally transcends race and religion.

Perhaps we will emerge as a nation of truth-speaking justice-lovers from our collective nightmare of being saddled for more than a decade with moral anomalies like Abdul Gani Patail as Attorney-General and Musa Hassan as Inspector-General of Police.

Bear in mind, nevertheless, that all those who have tacitly or overtly endorsed this obscene state of affairs - from the despatch rider to the Yang Di Pertuan Agong himself - bear equal responsibility for allowing the nation to be dragged into the depths of depravity.

In 1998, at the height of Dr M's vicious campaign to destroy Anwar Ibrahim (his No. 1 political threat), Gani Patail (then a senior prosecutor with the AG's Chambers) was exposed by veteran lawyer Manjeet Singh Dhillon as a blackmailer who attempted to force a false statement from Nallakaruppan (an erstwhile Anwar ally arrested and charged with possession of live ammunition) who was offered a token sentence in lieu of death by hanging if he agreed to testify to having procured the services of prostitutes on Anwar's behalf.

Now that is indeed a very serious offence punishable by at least 10 years' jail - particularly so when the blackmailer is doing so in his formal capacity as a senior officer in the Attorney-General's department. That is a clear-cut case of betrayal of the public interest and gross abuse of power. And yet, Gani Patail was never indicted for this dastardly act. Instead, he was promoted to Attorney-General after Mohtar Abdullah suffered a stroke. This was undoubtedly on Dr Mahathir's recommendation, with the Agong's silent acquiescence.

Can we simply shrug and say, "Let bygones be bygones"? Most certainly not when self-serving, morally compromised flunkeys like Gani Patail and Musa Hassan are put in charge of law enforcement in this country.

We might as well appoint a cold-blooded murderer as prime minister!

No amount of Unity Consciousness can ameliorate the absurdity and utter insanity of such a situation. We have to surgically remove the bullets from our gunshot wounds before we can begin to speak about healing from acute trauma.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Violent death throes of a rotten regime...



I salute Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh (president of Gerakan Mansuh ISA) for his courage, perseverance and impeccable integrity. Thank you, sir, for keeping your faith in the possibility of reform - and for continuing to demand justice on behalf of all those without a voice.

I salute each and every one of you who assembled on 1 August 2010 with candles in Petaling Jaya, Ipoh and Penang to remind the rest of us that all is hardly well in any country that clings ferociously to cruel, unjust laws to subjugate the spirit of freedom. Many of you were roughly mishandled by red-helmeted robots who serve the corrupt and criminal UMNO/BN agenda rather than democracy and the public good.

And then there were many others - in London and in Sydney - who gathered in support of the Abolish-ISA Movement in Malaysia.

Cruelty, tyranny and gross injustice - Dr Mahathir's evil legacy - will inevitably bring down Jibby the Hutt's rotten regime. Patience and fortitude, folks!


Monday, August 2, 2010

The Fatal Curse of Tempurungism


They say an idle mind is the devil’s workshop and this is especially evident in the case of Malaysian bureaucracy in general and the Jabatan Hal Ehwal Orang Asli in particular.

I have resided in and around Kampung Pertak for more than 18 years. During this period I have witnessed how the Orang Asli Affairs Department favors diabolical initiatives that strengthen their psychological and political control over the Orang Asli - while creating opportunities for stuffing their own pockets.

Whether it be logging concessions, dam projects, turning ancestral lands into leasehold lots, or tarring roads that lead nowhere (except to environmental degradation), the JHEOA invariably finds a sneaky way to corrupt, oppress, intimidate, exploit and ultimately devour the Orang Asli.

Sagong Tasi of the Temuan tribe wins a landmark lawsuit (courtesy of Suaram)

The JHEOA ought to have been dismantled and abolished 20 years ago, following the surrender of the Malayan Communist Party in 1989. Instead, it became a tool to assimilate the Orang Asli into mainstream Malay culture - by pressuring them to embrace Islam and systematically pillaging their ancestral lands under the guise of kemajuan or “progress.”

Recently there has been talk of the JHEOA being “corporatized” into the Perbadanan Orang Asli (Orang Asli Corporation) using the Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) as a model. Blurring the boundary between business and politics facilitates hanky-panky on a massive scale. As we have seen in the case of FELDA, feudal-style top-down management by aristocrat-politicians results in the ignorant peasantry being robbed totally blind without their knowledge. In most cases the public only finds out when it’s already too late because the thefts occur in remote rural areas.

Photo: Colin Nicholas/COAC

This, of course, has been UMNO’s modus operandi since the era of Mahathir and Daim. Leveraging on an atavistic appeal to bangsa and ugama to promote the fascistic notion of Ketuanan Melayu, UMNO warlords have siphoned off a great deal more than 30% of the nation’s wealth since the nefarious NEP was launched in 1970.

The JHEOA – like so many government agencies – has long served the UMNO agenda instead of the Orang Asli’s genuine interests. That’s nothing new. What has become alarmingly obvious is that they no longer bother concealing their narrow self-interests and their deeply ingrained racism.

Photo: Antares

During the Ulu Selangor by-election that ran from April 17-25, the JHEOA openly stage-managed the Barisan Nasional campaign in Orang Asli communities throughout the region. In one or two villages the Orang Asli batin (headman) called the police to prevent Pakatan Rakyat campaigners from entering their settlements.

In Kg Pertak the JHEOA facilitated the entry and encampment of dozens of UMNO campaign workers recruited from various ethno-fascist groups like Pekida and Perkasa. They were annoyed to find Pakatan Rakyat insignia proudly displayed in a couple of houses. What irked them even more was that a bunch of pro-Rakyat bloggers were comfortably embedded in Kg Pertak’s “diplomatic enclave.”

The JHEOA/UMNO faction reportedly handed RM7,000 in cash to one of the village security officers with instructions to distribute it amongst 70 registered voters as incentives to vote BN. I later heard complaints that the money never left the security officer’s pockets. This is how UMNO corrupts the Orang Asli via the JHEOA – by dragging them into the politics of greed, betrayal, and xenophobia.

Photo: Max Koh

On the eve of the by-election, the UMNO contingent instructed a few young Orang Asli to set up a roadblock at the entrance to the village. Later a skirmish broke out and one of the pro-Rakyat bloggers was assaulted by a Pekida thug. When the police arrived on the scene 30 minutes later, the UMNO thugs were nowhere to be seen. This small outbreak of violence was reported in Malaysiakini the next morning. In terms of negative publicity, JHEOA/UMNO came out with a black eye and began plotting revenge.

Xenophobia can also be called tempurungism – a regressive psychomental condition akin to acute jingoitis that commonly afflicts those who have never left the provincial and parochial confines of a monolingual, monocultural matrix. Those suffering from xenophobia have great difficulty accepting people with different linguistic and cultural imprints as close friends or family. They tend to label others as pendatang (immigrants), orang asing (outsiders), or Mat Salleh (Caucasians).

Working through a couple of Orang Asli agents, the JHEOA reactivated its xenophobic agenda by pressuring Asli families who had rented out their houses to “outsiders” to evict their tenants. The Asli were given to understand that the houses they were living in was government property – when in truth it was the dam developer that built the houses.

What the JHEOA had done in 2004 was to cheat the Orang Asli of their ancestral hunting grounds by issuing them 99-year leases instead of formally gazetting the whole area as a permanent Orang Asli Reserve (as promised in 1965). The Orang Asli have never seen a land grant in their life – nor have their ancestors. They don’t understand what a 99-year lease means – but they do know they have very little power over their own destinies as long as the JHEOA exists as an extension of UMNO.