His eye on Malaysia

It was a far, far cry from that other Eye; those collection of empty gondolas of a certain ferris wheel at Taman Tasik Titiwangsa. This one was piercing, it had depth and history, it had pride, and above all, compassion.

Yesterday morning Sultan Azlan Shah shared, via the on-going Malaysian Law Conference, his Eye on Malaysia. In some ways, you may say it was his State of the Union address. Or malunion, depending.

And if in today's world, content - more than clothes - makes a man, you can say the silver-haired Sultan of Perak and former Lord President no less is a fine man indeed.

But don't take my word for it (I'm a blogger; I write rubbish, no Nazri?). Read for yourself. Read slowly and savour the intelligence. Square that with a certain de facto Law Minister who touched on just about the same topic a day earlier in the New Sunday Times.

Fetch, Fido

How do you trust the ACA when it is not honest even in small matters? Correspondingly, can you blame an informant for being wary about entrusting his/her safety on such an agency? All that hogwash about being independent, fair, and blablabla... everything points to it being a pathetic running dog.

Your ever-faithful propaganda pipe (Bernama) reports:

October 26, 2007 01.28 am

Anwar Failed To Meet Video Clip Deadline, Says ACA

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26 (Bernama) -- The Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) said Thursday that Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) advisor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim failed to meet the deadline given to him to surrender the original recording of a video clip purportedly showing a prominent lawyer trying to broker the appointment of judges in 2002.

In a statement issued here shortly before midnight Thursday night, it said the original recording was to be submitted by him to the ACA by Thursday (Oct 25), failing which he is liable to court action Under Section 59 of the Anti-Corruption Act 1997.

The statement added that the onus lay with Anwar to deliver the clip at the ACA's headquarters in Putrajaya and not ask ACA officers to come to his office to get it.

According to the ACA, the clip Anwar wanted to hand over was only a copy in the form of a 'pen drive' of the missing eight minutes of the original, which is 14 minutes long.

Anwar had earlier provided the ACA with a copy of a video clip lasting six minutes allegedly showing the lawyer having a conversation with a senior judge regarding judicial appointments. He claimed to have left out the eight minutes to protect the sources who had given the recording to him.

The ACA also denied that its action to get the original recording was politically motivated as alleged by Anwar. It is assisting a three-man independent panel set up by the government to verify the authenticity of the video clip.

Umm, didn't you agree to come over to Anwar's office in the first place? And didn't you call up Anwar at the last minute telling him the trip's cancelled (dibatalkan) and that he should hang on to the clip for the time being? At least that's what Anwar told the people present at his office yesterday; heard that with my own ears. Unedited. If he was the one lying, well then, charge him. Charge him like now, and send him to the slammer.

Otherwise the ACA is nothing but chickenshit. Independent my boney ass.

Slowness

This here was what i thought we'd begin to evolve in little pockets under the Badawi admin. No need for superheroics - that was supposed to be a narrative of an era past. A maha-era.

IDR without the narcissism of the Nusajaya Administrative Center, the NCER without the ostentatious Penang Global City Centre; no need for spaceflights and the massive but leaking Duta courthouse, no need, no need.

To live an let live the Sg Buloh Leprosarium, not pummel it to bits. To be able to continue cycling along the lovely tree-shaded streets of Kuala Kubu Baru or Taiping. To cherish an evening walk along the Klebang coast in Melaka and still see the sea.

Slowness is a fine virtue indeed.

Buying it vs earning it

It's plastered on the highway billboards. It's on the RapidKL buses, newspapers, TV and all possible paid media. Dreams Are Possible goes the tagline. Come Wednesday our space program participant will fly up into the blue yonder in a Russian Soyuz and come home a week or so later to a possible datukship.

Ho-hum.

I wish the promoters in govt dished the same fervour on Nicol David, world's No1 woman squash player. I wish her face had been on billboards and buses and newspapers and even documentaries.

I wish i had seen Karamjit Singh's face on billboards too, back when he was the world's best rally driver instead of being punked by local sponsors. I wish he had been on Proton and Petronas ads.

I wish they had pumped up the great achievements of our badminton dudes with a ten-storey banner instead of making 'em play exhibition games during the Machap by-election campaign.

Sports personalities, soul folks, writers, artists... heroes one and all living and breathing on this very tanah tumpahnya darah ku. There are just so many things from ground zero Malaysia which we could pick to "...captivate and unite us all".

Yet we decide to throw in the big bucks and pump up the volume on this trip fully manned by the Russians. With that we hope to be associated with the big boys. Like the waterboy among jocks. Like groupies hoping they'd be groped by rock stars.

Will we someday truly deeply appreciate ourselves for who we are, do you think?

Confident enough that we do not have to have an Eye on Malaysia just because there's an Eye on London. Confident enough that we do not have to force a theme park at the IDR just because Singapore's doing its Integrated Resorts.

Just confident. Confident that we have the creativity and resolve to chart our own way with class. Will we get there? Will we finally earn it, do you think?

Pak Denial

The Prime Minister is set on outdoing himself yet again. Some gems from his speech at the Gerakan National Conference yesterday:

"We do not want to pretend and say that everything is okay. We do not want to be in a state of denial. Tell the truth, even if it is painful."

When the 2,000-strong Bar Council's March for Justice up to your doorstep that Wednesday morning, what do you think they were telling you? Like, hey keep up the good work? And yet buses were stopped at entry points into Putrajaya and the passengers made to walk. Security measures it seems. The FRU was there, hundreds of them, with water canon, chopper. Seems like you didn't want to get the message that day.

"The prime minister must have the courage and readiness to listen even to the worst stories, whether it is related to the country or himself. Never allow yourself to sink in a hole of denial and feel that everything is alright."

Your machai Nazri has this to say about the VK Lingam tape and subsequent Bar Council march: "No crisis, no problems. I don't see any scandal.” Now you help me out, Abdullah - define denial.

"I know, you know that I have never been inconsistent. I am firm in my stand. We have been entrusted to lead at the national level. Our duty is to all citizens regardless of race."

Whoa, go easy with the self-praise. Best to let others make that judgment. I can think of one Zakaria Deros who got off lightly for building without a permit, yet dozens of Hindu temples have been torn down for the same reason. I can think of you declaring RM600 million in federal development funds for all states except Umno-less Sarawak.

Who's playing race, Abdullah? Who's in pathetic denial?