Hyper-partisanship & Friendship

Back in 1999 when I was attending college I had a friend named Bob*. We used to hang out with mutual friends; watch movies at the cinema; play pool etc. 

Then the Reformasi period happened - Anwar’s trial; PKR’s formation; preparation for election etc. I became an Opposition (PAS) supporter - then after its formation, a PKR member.

When Bob found out I supported Anwar, he immediately ended our friendship. Apparently he and his family hated Anwar with a passion. His brother even mimed sodomy with another guy in the college compound, saying ‘Look at me! I’m Anwar!’. 

Bob refused to speak to me. Whenever I said hello, even when bumping into him years later, I would just get a cold hard stare. 

Bob’s response is an example of hyper-partisanship.

In American politics its a phrase commonly used to describe partisan politics that focus on helping fellows and destroying the enemy, where the enemy is anyone who disagrees with your position.

In Malaysia I feel that its a form of extreme partisan thinking where not only are opinions, policies and events somehow linked to a political side, but anyone who disagrees is ‘placed’ into the opposing side. There’s less focus on helping fellows, and more focus on attacking the enemy.

When dealing with hyper-partisan people, there is no option to remain neutral, support an alternative view or support a balanced view. You either strongly support their view or you are their enemy. And sad to say, like Bob, they only socialise with people who agree with their political views. 

Why should friendship depend on, or be affected by, political affiliation? Its not like I personally wronged him. I wasn’t bothered by Bob supporting BN or hating Anwar, because until today I don’t see why it should affect me. But for some reason he saw it fit to cut ties with me.

I think deciding who to be friends with based solely on political views is just plain silly. A difference of opinion should not lead to such action.

I wonder if any of my friends today have this mentality.

*not his real name

Is Islam The Official Religion?

There is a debate going on now regarding the status of Islam in Malaysia. Is it the official religion? Some experts say that Islam is the ‘religion of the Federation’ and the word ‘official’ is not mentioned in the Federal Constitution. Some NGOs and political parties disagree. I’m just confused.

Nobody bothers to explain what ‘official religion’ even means. Honestly, what’s the difference if Islam is or isn’t the official religion? I interpret it to be a question of whether there is a relationship between the government and Islam that accords Islam special treatment. It sounds analogous to the debate over ‘separation of church and state’ that is sometimes brought up in American politics.

To answer the question, I look at the relationship between our government and Islam. Some points to consider:

  • Taxpayer money is used to build Muslim places of worship, and Islam-related activities
  • There are government departments dedicated to the administration of Islam-related matters, such as morality checks on Muslims e.g. close promixity (khalwat), adultery (zina), consumption of alcohol etc.
  • We have an Islamic judiciary (Syariah) existing in parallel with the civil judiciary
  • The individual states maintain legislation in regards to Islam, and control the appointment of imams and the content of their sermons
  • There is legislation forbidding the use of certain Islam-related words by non-Muslims, e.g. Allah. This also led to the ban on Bahasa Malaysia bibles.
  • Practitioners of other faiths are forbidden from proselytising to Muslims
  • There are limitations to the size and look of places of worship for non-Muslim faiths

So in practice, the government supports Islam and applies limits to other faiths. There is a concept of state-endorsed religion in practice, therefore Islam is the official religion. The religion does not control the state, so it Malaysia is not a theocracy. But neither is the religion separated from government, so Malaysia is not secular.

Some groups have tried to link this official religion concept with the position of the Prime Minister. But there is no link. It remains a complete fabrication. PERKASA’s claim that the phrase, ‘agama rasmi’ is used in the Bahasa Malaysia version of the Federal Constitution is false. PAS’s Nik Aziz claim that the PM must be Muslim is false.

There is only one reason why this issue is being brought up, which is to scare people away from voting for DAP. Being a pre-dominantly Chinese party with the potential of winning more seats than its partners, there is a chance Malaysia will have a Chinese PM should PR take over. But in order to do that, PKR and PAS have to agree or DAP has to win 112 Parliament seats so it can form a government without Pakatan Rakyat. Is either event likely? No.

If you imagine a situation where all our citizens see each other as equals and don’t care about racial or religious differences… then yes, in that situation we could have a non-Muslim MP that commands the majority of the House of Parliament and can be made the Prime Minister. But our society hasn’t evolved to that point yet. So why waste time and energy on this non-debate?

Did anyone watch Raja Petra’s interview with TV3? I just saw part 1 and I was stunned. Like, at the starting where he’s walking by the sea..and again when he’s in the hotel room continuing the interview. I never knew it would come to this for RPK. I just couldn’t believe my eyes. I kept staring at my monitor, it was so unbelievable. He’d become FAT! And not just a few extra pounds, but OMG so incredibly fat! I mean, I’ve been chubbier before, but for me I started having bulldog-face besides the tummy bulge. But in RPK’s case, from behind he looks ok, his face looks ok, his arms look ok, but the tummy..I couldn’t even move, it was that shocking! I couldn’t take my eyes off it. Horrific ideas flew thru my head. Could this happen to me one day? How did it happen to him? Why did it happen? Was it on purpose? What can I do to stop it from happening to me? The interview continued but I couldn’t hear the words anymore. There was just the bulge staring back at me. It almost seemed to speak inside my head..”watch out Gerdih..one day you’ll have one just like meeeee…..”. The horror will continue tonight. I just know it. Time to put in some extra miles on the treadmill… *** I hope you enjoyed that, politics can be so serious I figured we could use a laugh. But I must admit, that tummy was a shocker for me.
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Did anyone watch Raja Petra’s interview with TV3? I just saw part 1 and I was stunned. Like, at the starting where he’s walking by the sea..and again when he’s in the hotel room continuing the interview. I never knew it would come to this for RPK.

I just couldn’t believe my eyes.

I kept staring at my monitor, it was so unbelievable.

He’d become FAT!

And not just a few extra pounds, but OMG so incredibly fat! I mean, I’ve been chubbier before, but for me I started having bulldog-face besides the tummy bulge. But in RPK’s case, from behind he looks ok, his face looks ok, his arms look ok, but the tummy..I couldn’t even move, it was that shocking!

I couldn’t take my eyes off it. Horrific ideas flew thru my head. Could this happen to me one day? How did it happen to him? Why did it happen? Was it on purpose? What can I do to stop it from happening to me?

The interview continued but I couldn’t hear the words anymore. There was just the bulge staring back at me. It almost seemed to speak inside my head..”watch out Gerdih..one day you’ll have one just like meeeee…..”.

The horror will continue tonight. I just know it. Time to put in some extra miles on the treadmill…

***

I hope you enjoyed that, politics can be so serious I figured we could use a laugh. But I must admit, that tummy was a shocker for me.

Professional people cannot work in political parties. That’s because they are more interested in getting the job done, whereas a majority of party members want titles and position and actively engage in betrayal and intrigue to get it. Because the professional-minded can’t survive, political parties remain unprofessional.
paraphrased from my dad

Malaysian Politics Will Undergo Radical Change

Back in 2003 I met with many real estate agencies regarding an idea I had to develop a centralised property listing website. They turned it down, preferring to stick with newspapers. They also strongly opposed the idea of sharing listings, because even the location was considered a trade secret.

Today we have iProperty.com.my, which is exactly what I was talking about. I don’t regret not self-funding my own site because 2003 wasn’t the right time. Mobile web access was barely WAP, let alone HTML. We didn’t have Google Maps either.

Since March `08, there are times I have felt like starting a fact-checking website like Politifact.Com or FactCheck.Org for the Malaysian market. But once again, I’m being ahead of my time. Most Malaysians don’t care about fact-checking right now. I need to wait for the government to change over to Pakatan Rakyat (PR), and let PR screw the people. Then the voters will demand for such a site, so they can play the role of check and balance for our government. That will be the right time for me.

There’s another thing I realised: as technology usage by the the common man becomes widespread, politicians will be forced to change or drop out.

We’ll have less hypocrisy because a voter will only need a few keystrokes to expose it. Good or bad, politicians will have to be consistent in what they say and do. No more flip flops.

They will have to choose racial rhetoric and stick with it. Its going to be a big disadvantage for the supposedly non-racial PR. At least Barisan Nasional is racially divided. PR’s leadership will change to one comprised of Malaysians fighting for Malaysians, instead of Malaysians fighting for Malaysians, but don’t worry, I’ll make sure my own race is taken care of too.

I’m looking forward to that day. I know there are many factors working against this idea, but I remain optimistic.

I’m getting a sneak preview of that already by watching the American political scene. Within hours video footage contradicting a just-given speech by a politician hits the airwaves. Amazing. Imagine that power in Malaysia.

This photo clearly illustrates the damage done by the logging industry in Sarawak. Its sad to see the logging roads spreading like a cancer through a part of my country. Environmentalists claim 90% of the forest is gone. The Chief Minister, Taib Mahmud, claims its only 30%. I think both parties use different definitions of ‘forest’ to suit their agenda, but look at the photos! Read the article for more.
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This photo clearly illustrates the damage done by the logging industry in Sarawak. Its sad to see the logging roads spreading like a cancer through a part of my country. Environmentalists claim 90% of the forest is gone.

The Chief Minister, Taib Mahmud, claims its only 30%. I think both parties use different definitions of ‘forest’ to suit their agenda, but look at the photos!

Read the article for more.

Source: news.mongabay.com

I hadn’t thought much about gender equality as part of 1Malaysia’s campaign. I’m not sure if it even is (or if so, if its being taken seriously). I don’t know the blogger’s views (as the original post is in Swedish) but the translation got me thinking about it. Translation via Google Translate: 1Malaysia campaign sight almost everywhere. As an example on local traffic travel card, which you see in the picture.Man tries above all to reach children and young people, so 1Malaysia seen a lot also in the social media. Gender equality is important and it is good that children and young people learn it early, but I‘m afraid 1Malaysia not provide a sufficiently critical view of how gender equality in the country really looks like … lagendasecret: 1Malaysia-kampanjen syn nästan överallt. Som t.ex. på lokaltrafikens resekort, som ni ser på bilden.  Man försöker framförallt nå fram till barn och unga, så 1Malaysia syns mycket också i de sociala medierna. Jämställdhet är viktigt och det är bra att barn och unga lär sig det tidigt, men jag är rädd att 1Malaysia inte ger en tillräckligt kritisk bild av hur jämställdeheten i landet egentligen ser ut…
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I hadn’t thought much about gender equality as part of 1Malaysia’s campaign. I’m not sure if it even is (or if so, if its being taken seriously). I don’t know the blogger’s views (as the original post is in Swedish) but the translation got me thinking about it. Translation via Google Translate:

1Malaysia campaign sight almost everywhere. As an example on local traffic travel card, which you see in the picture.

Man tries above all to reach children and young people, so 1Malaysia seen a lot also in the social media. Gender equality is important and it is good that children and young people learn it early, but I‘m afraid 1Malaysia not provide a sufficiently critical view of how gender equality in the country really looks like …

lagendasecret:

1Malaysia-kampanjen syn nästan överallt. Som t.ex. på lokaltrafikens resekort, som ni ser på bilden. 

Man försöker framförallt nå fram till barn och unga, så 1Malaysia syns mycket också i de sociala medierna. Jämställdhet är viktigt och det är bra att barn och unga lär sig det tidigt, men jag är rädd att 1Malaysia inte ger en tillräckligt kritisk bild av hur jämställdeheten i landet egentligen ser ut…