Deny, Deny. Blame Others!

"Malaysia downgraded in US human trafficking report 

The United States has downgraded Malaysia to the lowest ranking in its annual human trafficking report, to the same category as Zimbabwe, North Korea and Saudi Arabia." 

This was the headline and first paragraph of a report in the Star news online, which is widely known as a pro-government media, that was published on June 21, 2014. I was sad to hear that Malaysia had gotten worse in its work to reduce "this heinous crime" of human trafficking. I immediately asked myself what would the response be from this Malaysian government. My guess was 'Deny, deny. Blame others'. I was not surprised to see the following denials from Malaysian government:

1. Malaysian government claimed that information used by the Trafficking in Persons Report 2013 was “flawed, inaccurate” and “provided by dubious organisations”.
2. Malaysia has taken substantive measures and the work by Malaysian government to combat human trafficking was “still a work in progress”. In this light, the US State Department should reconsider its assessment on Malaysia.

Since the denials were serious yet rather typical of this government, I went to the internet to search for more information. I managed to gather the following details for both of the above denials .

Denial 1

Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director of the New York-based watchdog, Human Rights Watch, said the following:

"The US, UK and Australia and even UN representations had sent over experts to engage with various Malaysian ministries to tackle human trafficking, providing technical assistance and improvement plans. Malaysia failed to respond to assistance from international communities on the persistent problem. Malaysia has only itself to blame for being relegated to the lowest rank in the US’s annual human trafficking report."

"There is no lack of effort from the international community, but frankly Malaysia simply ignored it. It was the sound of one hand clapping. There was no substantive or continuous response to deal with it."

The US's Trafficking in Persons Report has stated the below:

"Some immigration officials were accused of being involved in the smuggling of trafficking victims, yet the Malaysian government did not investigate any such potential individuals or cases."

The statements made by the report and the comments by Robertson show that the report has not been hastily prepared without consultation or working with Malaysian authorities. Malaysian government should not treat international community the way they treat their own citizens. The lesson from MH370 must be learned. They must provide evidence on the “flawed, inaccurate” parts of the report and how was it based on information “provided by dubious organisations”. Please do not just talk, Malaysian government. Go and provide evidence. Unlike Malaysians, international community do not accept empty talks.

Denial 2
On this denial, the parties have stated that Malaysian government has done some talking and perhaps some work too. It was clear that there was little success. It was a half-hearted implementation or mere lips-service.

"While Malaysia has increased its preventative efforts against trafficking via public service announcements, there were fewer identifications of trafficking victims, fewer prosecutions and fewer convictions in 2013 than the previous year."

"While Malaysia had taken up the trappings of combating migrant exploitation via human trafficking with committees, billboards, and brochures; it failed in its implementation."

"Malaysian authorities not only failed to investigate cases brought to them by NGOs, they also failed to recognize victims or indications of trafficking, and instead treated cases as immigration violations"

"Aegile Fernandez, director of Tenaganita, said her group had been handling an increasing number of worker abuse and trafficking cases. “We see very little progress” to fight this, she told AFP. “If you look at the human rights violations, it’s terrible. You cannot deny that. We are really going down and down.”"

One will not be faulted to think that the words from the representative of Malaysian government can not be entirely trusted. We can still recall that there were 2 fake passport holders who aborted the ill-fated MH370 but Malaysian authority failed to check those passports against Interpol database. Interpol database would have revealed the fake passport holders. Malaysian authority brushed aside the necessity to check against Interpol database by saying that it would cause delay to potential 40 million verifications by Malaysia . It was a computerized database verification taking less than a few seconds to as fast as 0.2 seconds without manual work. How cumbersome could it have been to cause delay? The United States used the database 230 million times a year, while the United Kingdom checked 140 million times a year. From the MH370 incident itself, it did not seem that the Malaysian government were serious in tackling human trafficking or illegal immigrants .

Why is Malaysian government official calling human trafficking a "heinous crime" but the government is not serious in resolving the problem? Is someone close to or within the powers that be making lots of money from human trafficking in Malaysia?

Despite more money and time spent on committees, billboards and brochures, this maybe the same old story of some people in this government administrative system benefiting from the publicity against human trafficking, and at the same time, benefiting from human trafficking activities. The word corruption can be smelled all over the air. Human trafficking is not new to Malaysia, the country has been fairly successful in tackling it over the years until 2013.

To Burn, To Destroy and To Fight

This is a good advice of prominent leaders, Muhyiddin Yassin and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister respectively in Malaysia from the ruling party, United Malays National Organisation (UMNO).

When you are 'angry and feel hurt' (Malay: kemarahan dan rasa terhiris), it is a 'natural course of reaction' (Malay: reaksi secara semulajadi) to do something bad against not only that person, who is deemed to have hurt you, but also to many others that are not involved.

This advice came after members of Umno reacted to a member of another political party, called Democratic Action Party (DAP), who said, "Umno Celaka". Celaka is a Malay word that primarily means unlucky, unfortunate, disaster. It can be seen as an obscene word or an insult, like "damn you". For instance, "wah so celaka lah - my car broke down yesterday" or "celaka you!".

The below were the reactions of the Umno members which were considered natural reaction:-

Reaction 1- To Burn:

Reaction 2- To Destroy:

Reaction 3- To Fight:

One would have thought that the natural course of reaction would have been to report the matter to the police or to pursue legal action against that DAP member or leader in courts of law. Anger, agitation and sorrow are no justification to commit arson, property damage and criminal assaut. There can be no law and order in a country where the people can react as they wish based on personal feeling. Umno should exhaust all legal means against that particular DAP member should what he has said be wrong. Is there still rule of law in Malaysia?

If Reaction 1, 2 and 3 above were all acceptable due to anger and feeling hurt, should the people who are angry or hurt by the following demonstration then retaliate in some form of 'to burn, to destroy and to fight'?

DAP CELAKA. No definition is found for Rasict

SIAL CINA. Sial means something like "stupid dumbass". Cina means Chinese

PUKIMAK DAP. Pukimak means "Mother's cunt or pussy"

Fortunately, there has been no untoward incidence caused by Chinese community or DAP as a result of the above remarks by Umno. There should be law and order in Malaysia. Nobody, be it from the ruling party or opposition party, should be allowed to do what he or she wishes based on personal feeling. Anger and sensitive feeling are not basis to take law into one's own hands.

More peculiarly, what has the Chinese community in Malaysia and the world has got to do with political party DAP? Can DAP as a party or all its members a whole be made a victim for a doing of an individual member?

It should be a natural reaction for Umno to take action against that particular DAP member, if so wish, and not against anybody else. I can only recall the ancient medieval times when the whole family members were punished or killed for a crime committed by one of them, matters not how distant the family relationship was. This surely cannot be the way of life of modern day civilized society in Malaysia. 

There has been more provocative racial remarks and irresponsible religious issues instigated in this country over the last 5 years than the last 30 years. It all happened since Najib took over as Malaysian Prime Minister. His government lost the majority popular vote but remained in power via gerrymandering, phantom voters and dubious electoral practices. One can not help but to wonder if Najib is resorting to use the excuse of racial tension and religious intolerant to stir up chaos in Malaysia. He can then implement martial law to remain in power for a long time.

His father was believed to have used racial unrest to take over the leadership of Umno and became a prime minister. Malaysians must see through the lies created to help Najib and his party in power and not believe in incidences deliberately incited by Umno. Malaysians must not allow Najib and his party to turn Malaysia into a Thailand 2.0.

A Guessing Game

Lets' start a guessing game. 3 questions. Guess which country; which top leader, and which leader based on quotes made by others.

A Country

"The nation has long been hobbled by a political culture that places the ruling party's needs over those of the people"

"For six decades, the [ruling party] has appeared to have only one goal: to maintain its hold on power. It's thus promoted -- and recently reinforced -- racial policies that benefit its political base"

"The side effects, including stagnant living standards, waning competitiveness, and the humiliation of [the country's] sizable minority populations, are all overlooked in the service of [holding on to power]"

"[This country] is ensnared in the middle-income trap that South Korea and Thailand escaped years ago."

"Rather than free the economy from race-based quotas and business preferences, the ruling party has expanded them. Never mind that these policies make [the country] even less attractive to multinational companies and encourage so many of the nation's best and brightest to move to Singapore and Hong Kong"

"Philippines and Indonesia are surging ahead as this country looks backward"

"The country is proving to be all hardware and no software"

"For years, [the ruling party] acted as though top-quality roads, state-of-the-art ports and bridges, iconic skyscrapers and a swanky new capital would inevitably pave the way to prosperity."

"But economic software is even more important. And on that front, this country has never bothered to cut red tape, level the playing field for [the minorities], or introduce the competitive forces necessary to stimulate entrepreneurship."

"[This country] governing elite has clung to power without interruption since ... almost six decades ago through a combination of tight control of information, intimidation of the opposition and, until recently, robust economic growth."

"Many newspapers and television networks in [this country] are controlled by the government directly or indirectly."

"..worldwide bafflement at [a tragedy] has challenged the country’s paternalistic political culture and exposed its coddled leaders to the withering judgments of critics from around the world"

"[This country], aspiring to become a developed nation in six years, is finding that more than 50 years under one coalition and tight control over information is a mismatch for handling a rapidly growing crisis followed across the world"

"The crisis has fully exposed the dangers of allowing one party to rule a nation for six decades."

"This country is blessed with enviable natural resources. But it is willfully squandering its equally enviable human capital."

"These affirmative-action policies [of this country] stifle innovation and drive away investment. They disenfranchise the country's minorities, forcing many of them to seek their fortunes overseas."

"Civil-service and cabinet appointments should be about ability and nothing else -- not race, not sex, not age. Until and unless every lawmaker, ministry and government-linked corporation realizes they will have to answer for their actions and failings, the trust gap between the people and their government will only widen."

"It is also an ethnically polarized society where talent often does not rise to the top of government because of patronage politics within the ruling party and a system of ethnic preferences that discourages or blocks the country’s minorities, from government service."

"The longer [this country] sticks with the racial preferences, the more graft and opacity will worsen and undermine growth. The only way to unshackle the economy -- which should be performing a lot more like South Korea than Vietnam -- is to end such policies."

"[This country was recently] hailed by [the president of a superpower country] as 'an example of a dynamic economy' and touted its 'diversity, tolerance and progress' as 'a model to countries around the world'. Today, amid the global outcry over the [handling of the tragedy], such praise sounds naive. The past month has highlighted [this country]'s deepest flaws, and all-too-few of its strengths."

"Ordinary people in [another country] feel the work [of the government of this country] has not been professional.”

"Another neighboring country expressed concern about coordination effort. [This country]’s cooperation has not been positive and their officials are not responsive to requests for information"

"The government [of this country]... also released imprecise, incomplete and sometimes inaccurate information, with civilian officials sometimes contradicting military leaders"

"Information issued publicly from [the government] had been extraordinarily chaotic."

"The government [of this country] seemed evasive and confused, and [an expert] questioned why, if the remarks attributed to [the government official] were true, the government took so long to reveal evidence"

"The government (of this country)’s inconsistencies in the handling of the crisis were further highlighted when the country’s top official contradicting what other officials had said for the past three days."

A Top Leader

"Why bother when all the [this top leader's] party needs to do to stay in power is redraw voting districts, bribe the masses with fat handouts, invoke religion when necessary, and muzzle any pesky publications that dare to write about corruption and privilege?"

"It's a full-time job: For years populist handouts, gerrymandered districts, and political arrests secured the party comfortable majorities, but in last year's election the ruling coalition lost the popular vote for the first time"

"All this explains why per-capita income in a resource-rich nation with an enviable geographic position in Asia has stalled at near the $10,000 mark. [This top leader's country] is stuck in the middle-income trap because its leaders are stuck in time."

"His government has been clamping down on internal political dissent. One opposition leader once again faces the specter of jail on sodomy charges; [and another] is defending himself against sedition allegations."

"Authoritarian laws have helped keep the governing party in power — and an ascendant opposition in check."

"Early on, [he] thrilled global investors by hinting that he would scrap his party's 40-year-old affirmative-action policies, which favor [one race]. But [his party]'s troubles prompted him to expand rather than eliminate such apartheid economics."

"Since rising to the top job, he has had to divert his attention from revitalizing [the country]'s economy to maintaining [his ruling party]'s long hold on power. 

"[His] government's handling of [the tragedy] was no fluke. The fumbling exposed a political elite that's never really had to face questioning from its people, never mind the rest of the world."

"The international press has pilloried [his] government for its initial response to the crisis, which was marred by conflicting information, poor coordination with neighboring countries, defensiveness, and an apparent lack of transparency"

"His government’s lack of a clear message, compounded by a series of false leads... risks undermining its image internationally."

"The families of the victims of [a tragedy] deserve better. But then, so do [the people of the country] whom [this leader] claims to serve."

“There are big issues -- transparency, information sharing, questions associated with security. [The leaders] are not in control of the discussion and the problem is they’re not instilling confidence. Everyone wants to give them the benefit of the doubt but this is a crisis of credibility for [his] administration.”

"The crisis has led to introspection about why the government has appeared uncoordinated and unable to pin down seemingly basic facts about the [tragedy]"

"What can his government do, post-crisis , to improve its image at home and abroad? This isn't a mere PR challenge. The country needs nothing less than a political revolution."

"They’re handling a huge global issue as if it was domestic politics"

"[His] administration is sending the message that people should let [his] government tell them what they need to know, when they need to know it, and not before"

"Local media outlets critical of [this leader] are on the defensive. [His] government has by contrast been silent on efforts by Islamic conservatives to limit who can use the word "Allah" -- a campaign that has eroded [this country]'s reputation for religious tolerance."

A Leader

"Even with his nearly 20-year stint as a legislator and more than a decade in ministerial posts, how does someone like this become a transport minister in Southeast Asia's third-biggest economy?"

"He's also the scion of a powerful political family."

"He is the nephew of the country’s second prime minister, [who is also the current prime minister]’s father

"[He] was elected a vice president of [the controlling party], putting him in line to possibly succeed [the country's top leadership]."

"The lamentable manner in which [this leader] has fielded questions underscores how unaccustomed the country's leaders are to being questioned by anyone"

""It’s only confusion if you want it to be seen to be confusion," he said at a news conference that unfolded before an international audience. [He] rejected a reporter’s assertion that the search [in the tragedy] had been disordered."

--------------
Remarks -

Feel free to give your answers in the 'comments section' in red color below. Guess one answer for each of the above 3 questions. Namely which country, which top leader, and which leader based on quotes made by others.

This guessing game it is based on quotes from respectable personalities who work in internationally credible organisations. Minimalist editing is made to preserve choices of word by the original authors and to ensure this guessing game a success. The original articles can be found below:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-11/malaysia-failing-to-manage-plane-crisis-exposes-leadership-limit.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/12/world/asia/malaysia-jet.html?_r=0

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-03-13/a-plane-disappears-malaysia-s-flaws-emerge

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/13/world/asia/missing-jet-exposes-a-dysfunctional-malaysian-elite.html?_r=0

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-04-08/missing-plane-will-haunt-malaysia-s-future

Pray For MH370. Pray For Malaysians.

In 2009, we were told the below:

It was a AFP (Agence France-Presse) news. It must be a fairly credible report quoting Malaysian naval officials. The 'magic' happens in 2014 when we are told that the same Scorpene submarines are not suited for search and rescue. I call it 'magic' to put it politely. You will agree that we may as well call it a lie.

Magic happens frequently in Malaysia. A news of 4 passengers with fake passports boarded the tragic MH370 airplane quickly became 2 passengers with fake passports. The source of information came from the same authority and the person. The now infamous, Hishammuddin Hussein Onn, gave us his 2 versions of news without a blink of an eye. He is the same person who has been telling the international community that MH370 had purportedly disappeared in various locations from earlier Vietnam to South China Sea, Strait of Malacca, Andaman sea and now in Indian Ocean, somewhere near Australia. I am not arguing that it was his fault but merely pointing out magical moments in Malaysia.

Hishammuddin's cousin, Najib Razak, who is also the Prime Minister of Malaysia, is supposedly even more capable of pulling off magic than Hishammuddin. The press in Hong Kong was less patience with Najib in comparison with the Malaysians.

Hong Kong Daily News did not mince its words when it called Malaysian authority a lie. The headline can be loosely translated to mean "MaLIEsia lied to the whole world" when the authority changed the time of losing contact with MH370 from initially stated 1:30am to 8.11am.

In fact, a Taiwanese newspaper was even more bold to call Najib Razak a 'Master Magician' for numerous alleged electoral fraud and abuses during Malaysian general election in 2013.

CNN, BBC and even Vietnamese news could not stomach the inconsistencies, to put it politely, or possibly lies made by Malaysian Government under the stewardship of Najib Razak in relation to MH370 investigation, search and rescue. Is it not magical to have so many discrepancies in a matter of days?

It further puzzled many Malaysians as to why the supposedly last statement made from MH370 that was "Alright. Good Night" had changed. It has now become "Good Night. Malaysian Three Seven Zero".  Equally intriguing that it is now unclear as to who has made the last statement. We were told 2 weeks ago that the last statement of "Alright. Good Night" came from the co-pilot. Would you not call this some form of magical change of event?

Magical moments never fail to puzzle Malaysians from food price to election procedure. It looks like they will continue to be amazed as long as the same people are still in power. Malaysians after all have been treated that way for tens of years in case the communities outside of Malaysia do not know this.

It is most saddening to know the tragedy of MH370. The people who manage the crisis are just not making it any easier for family and friends of the passengers. These people in power have neither made it any easier for fellow Malaysians all these years on a list of many other issues.

Pray for MH370. Pray for Malaysians.

Malaysians Need Help

One of the most talked about personality in Malaysia is Rosmah Mansor. Wife to the Malaysian Prime Minister, Najib Razak. Rosmah is immensely attention attracting in Malaysia. You wont miss her and the crowd certainly react to her presence. You can look at how she has become the centre of focus in a stadium when she appears:

She obviously caught plenty of her husband's attention. Najib talks a fair bit about her. The exact words of Najib are quoted below:

"I have never shared this before. When one of our students was arrested in Egypt after being accused of being a spy, my wife made a call to the president's wife and within two hours the student was released.

"Not just that, during Ops Pyramid, when our students were stranded in Egypt during the Arab uprising, my wife used her good relations with the royal family to allow the students to return home without visas.

"In a normal situation, this is impossible but with the relationship she has with the royal family, we managed to bring the students home.

"These were among my wife's contributions to the people of Malaysia," Najib said recently in December 2013.

Rosmah must be very worthy of mentioning for the Prime Minister of Malaysia to sing praises for her in public. Rosmah has also claimed to have done a lot for Malaysians. She went on record to say these:

"... the rakyat (people of Malaysia) have taken everything from me. Everything has been taken away from me, including my time, including my hobbies. I don't get to play badminton now because I am very busy doing things for the rakyat.

“If that is still not right then I don't know what to say,” she said in her official public speech recently.

You can see Rosmah in action in the below video:

Malaysians are facing 2 very difficult situations now. They may need Rosmah to come to the rescue.

The Crisis Level Problems of Malaysians are:

1. Mosquitoes- Denggi and Malaria

The whole country seemes to have been infested by mosquitoes. Dengue fever is on the rise very rapidly. Deaths from dengue fever have nearly tripled in Malaysia this year compared to the same period in 2013. Malaysia dengue cases so far top 18,000, experts predict 60,000 cases for the whole year. Adding insult into injury, a new form of Malaria infecting human being is taking form in Malaysia. The country is now facing the mosquito transmitted diseases during a dry spell and not even a rainy season in Malaysia.

2. Dry spell- Lack of Water Supply and Haze

Malaysians are faced with lack of potable water supply and serious water rationing since the beginning of a dry spell about one month ago. It was still raining heavily before that. On top of insufficient water, the air in Malaysia is also severely polluted with haze. Haze level has exceeded unhealthy level in many places.

We know that Rosmah has 'Midas Touch' from the way Najib talks about her. It is time for Malaysians, especially Najib, to call upon Rosmah to exercise her magic now to help fellow Malaysians who are suffering.

Rosmah to the Rescue:

1. Mosquitoes- Denggi and Malaria

The problems with mosquitoes and mosquito transmitted diseases are human's doing. It is failure of our government to take adequate actions to tackle these problems. Perhaps, the people have a role to play but the government must initiate and lead the people. We must find and eliminate breeding grounds of mosquitoes be it in construction sites, schools, drainage system, commercial, housing and industrial areas.

Rosmah is known to be able to mobilize any cabinet ministers and senior civil servants when she wishes too. She could get the Malaysian Foreign Minister and Special Adviser to Prime Minister to go along with her in her overseas trip to Doha in Qatar, where she attended a fashion show. Now, Rosmah can certainly mobilize Health Ministers, Home Ministers, Defence Ministers, etc to help Malaysians to alleviate the suffering of our people from mosquito problems.

2. Dry spell- Lack of Water Supply and Haze

We can not expect Rosmah to exercise influence over weather and rain falls. She can however help us to resolve problems of water supply and haze. Being a tropical country, Malaysia is one of country with the most rain in the world. How can we be short of water supply just because there was just one month of dry spell? 

We can realistically say that we can not expect Rosmah to be able to call for rain for she is only human although some will disagree with me. Rosmah can however help us to pull politicians aside and coach the water treatment and distribution companies to get on with real work. Leakages in our distribution pipes and failure to ensure cleanliness of catchment areas are the main reasons for our lack of water supply to households. Building over-priced water transfer project and treatment facilities is short term 'relief' and not a long term answer.

Haze in Peninsular Malaysia usually happen between June to August where Malaysians would put the blame solely on Sumatra, Indonesia. It seemed that Malaysia was never at fault. Malaysian can not do the same this time around. The current northeasterly wind is not blowing any haze from Sumatra, unlike southwesterly wind. In fact, the current wind direction should be blowing haze from Peninsular Malaysia to Sumatra if at all. Malaysians must at least stop open burning and other polluting activities during this hazy period. 

Rosmah can ensure that the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment is working rather than talking. Department of Environment can be assisted by police and other government agencies to put a stop to all these irresponsible behaviors that are polluting the environment.

A Malaysian Dream?

Malaysians hope that Rosmah will hear them. Officiating events; launching fashion functions; and glamorous celebrations are just not sufficiently making use of Rosmah's talent. She can do much more for Malaysians. There are so much more to be done. The problems caused by mosquitoes and dry spell are published on the front page of the Sun newspaper. The Sun newspaper is owned by Rosmah's close friend, Vincent Tan Chee Yioun, a billionaire businessman associated with Najib and other Barisan National politicians. Perhaps Vincent Tan can help to convey the problems and the wish of Malaysians to Rosmah. 

It is a dream of many Malaysians that any problem with mosquitoes, dengue, malaria, water shortages and haze can be a thing of the past very soon. Malaysians need help.

Any Kangkung in North Korea?

I have heard of cruelty of an authoritarian regimes in ill treating their fellow country men simply because these fellow country men do not agree with the authoritarians. Nonetheless, Reading the reported open letter of Shin Dong-hyuk, an ex-political prisoner of North Korea, to Dennis Rodman, a former NBA star, is an eye opener to me. I was shocked to know how badly he was treated in prison and the poor reason for his imprisonment. North Korea is perhaps a classic authoritarian regime on the extreme. You can find the full version of the open letter here.

This open letter has kept me thinking. When I recall all the incidences of how Malaysian political prisoners are being treated in jails, perhaps Malaysian political persecution is not that far from the extreme North Korea. Malaysian Government will arrest and detain you for the weakest imaginable allegation of wrongdoing under some draconian laws like ISA, sedition, etc.

Adam Adli

Many students and opposition political leaders have served their time in Malaysian prisons. We can see the case of how Adam Adli was detained and charged.

The Allah issue is still a hot on-going discussion in Malaysia. Allah issue is big in Malaysia and it crops up every so often, especially when the ruling regime is facing some form of issues, be it impending election or price hike. You can follow this issue by clicking on the below links:

http://rt.com/op-edge/malaysia-bans-word-allah-368/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24516181
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/allah-row-a-non-issue-look-at-bigger-picture-say-experts
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2014/01/22/pakistani-cleric-slams-“ignorant”-allah-ruling/
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303848104579308180235121604
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/390354/allah-row-thrusts-malaysian-priest-into-spotlight

There are more than just religious or political pitfalls in Malaysia. One can potentially be detained if he makes a joke of kangkung in Malaysia. A Malaysian must not get too creative with kangkung. A music remix on kangkung price going up and down may just get you questioned by the police in Malaysia, with an arrest probably follow suit.

Despite the perilous nature, it does not stop Malaysian creativity from popping up on the cyberspace:

Although Youtube might have terminated the above video clip, you can still find the video here:

http://video.malaysia.msn.com/watch/video/new-lenggang-kangkung-remix-ft-najib/2sl51msjf

Kangkung or Ipomoea aquatica is a common vegetable that can be found in Malaysian diet. It is after all a popular vegetable in tropical countries. It is also known as water morning glory, river spinach, water spinach or even swamp cabbage.

BBC, British Broadcasting Corporation has learned the perilous nature of kangkung in Malaysia recently. A piece of #BBCtrending news article posted on BBC website was blocked or filtered by the authority in Malaysia. The authority however denied such doing and apparently released the censor thereafter. You can see that piece of news here and the information on how the censorship had been done can be found here.

BBC TV News has subsequently made a short report on the kangkung gate in Malaysia. This is a must watch for a quick details of the matter. Click here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25754548. 

This kangkung affair has also been featured in BBC world service radio as reported by Yahoo:

http://my.news.yahoo.com/bbc-covers-kangkung-issue-popular-world-radio-show-122713298.html.

The French has also taken an interest in Malaysian kangkung here:

http://www.france24.com/en/20140116-malaysia-internet-najib-razak-kangkung-water-spinach/

Do you not think that Malaysian Govt is behaving more and more like North Korea? It is scary to think of that. All these terrible world class news are happening right on your own home ground.

From MALAYSIA With LOVE

From Malaysia with Love?

Official  Business = National Interest = Personal Trip

Some background information. Malaysian Prime Minister, Najib Tun Razak, has a wife, Rosmah Mansor, who has never failed to impress the ordinary Malaysians. She shocked the world with her comments by blaming the devastating tsunami that hit north east Japan 2 years ago on Japan's rapid development; failure to study climate change and use green technology. She further emphasized that the tsunami was to be a lesson for Japan and all other countries too.

Rosmah has recently stunted Malaysians again. She does not have any official function in the Malaysian Government. Nonetheless, she flew to Qatar with an entourage of Malaysian ministers, their wives and several UMNO political leaders. She was of course leading the entourage. They traveled in a Malaysian Government jet plane. The government jet is supposedly reserved for the use of Malaysian Ruler, Agong; Prime Minister; and Deputy Prime Minister.

Rosmah is the wife of Prime Minister Najib. She was not appointed officially to represent the government nor was she holding any official posts in Malaysian Government. Rosmah used the goverment private jet on the basis of cabinet ministers' approval chaired by Deputy Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin. Rosmah went to Doha, Qatar for the International Business Women Forum, as well as Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The sequence of events that has unraveled is no less impressive.  Initially, Minister Shahidan Kassim said Rosmah went on “official business”. He even went as far as saying, "She built this country". Rosmah's own special officer Siti Azizah said , “It was not for personal reasons. Rosmah does not represent the Government, but she went there for the sake of the Government’s interest. She is the prime minister’s wife, she went to give the keynote address (at the International Business Women Forum). So she made the address not as a government representative, but in the name of national interest.”

Out of a sudden, Azalina Othman, a member of parliament who was part of Rosmah's entourage, told the Dewan Rakyat of Malaysian Parliament that the Rosmah was invited to Doha in her personal capacity, and that the use of the jet was approved by Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and members of the cabinet despite it was a personal trip. This is a truly Malaysia Inc (incorporated) with a family touch? Malaysia is now managed like a family affair.

If you think of Malaysia as a company, it has a situation of the chairman's wife went on a personal trip but she used the company's private jet without paying for it. The board of directors approved the personal use of the company private jet in a meeting chaired by the deputy chairman. Chairman's wife does not have a role or a post in the company. What she has is that she is the wife of the chairman. I wonder if the regulators, Securities Commission in Malaysia and the stock exchange, Bursa Malaysia will find this situation as an abuse of power and wrongful use of the company's funds.

Even if the Securities Commission and Bursa Malaysia refuse to act on this situation, surely the shareholders of the company are entitled to question and demand return of the company's funds which has been abused. This is one form of related party transactions or abuse of power that the regulators should prevent.

In Malaysia Inc, the situation is very different. In response to the public outcry over Rosmah's abuse of Malaysian govt facilities and funds, she said, "“I’m happy. I don’t talk, I don’t comment, I don’t go down to that level,". Rosmah deemed the response of the people to her abuse as 'that low' and she would not responded to such 'lowly' people. Rosmah felt that ordinary Malaysians belonged to a much lower class of people. These people were undeserving of her attention. I have no doubt Malaysians feel insulted by the comments of this self-styled First Lady of Malaysia. The First Lady that disparaged her own people.

Rosmah oh Rosmah, you may be the prime minister's wife. You may call yourself first lady and demand others to identify you to be so,  but you do not deserve to abuse this country's money more than anyone else. You may think that ordinary Malaysians are 'lowly' people but they are paying for the expensive government jet in your personal trip and for your personal pleasure. This executive jet plane by the government cost RM15 million for fuel and RM160 million for maintenance. Think about it. Who is more low class?