Saturday 26 May 2007

IDEA, Incredible? #13: Old media embraces new media?

AllMalaysian Bloggers Project (AMBP) listed this blog! It is part of The Star's AllMalaysia.info online portal. It's also having a contest sponsored by Genting.........
Old media embracing and engaging the new media?
What an idea! Incredible! Or an incredible idea?

Friday 18 May 2007

IDEA, Incredible? #12: All-Blogs 'representing' bloggers without a mandate?

WOW! Something happened. Looks like some bloggers like Poli101 are not happy that "the National Press Club kakis successfully staged a coup d etat , formed a junta, and the generals made themselves the voice of the Malaysian blogosphere."
Journalist and blogger Susan Loone also posed a pertinent question, "Who does All-Blogs really represent?"
Even ex-blogger Jed Yoong of Freelunch 2020 was quoted saying, "All Blogs must come clean that they HAVE no members, is an UNREGISTERED society with a pro-tem committee elected by about 40 bloggers (figure according to the STAR report), most of which appears to be pro-BN (Barisan Nasional), part of an anti-pak lah (Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi), pro-najib (Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak)/Tun Mahathir Mohammad (ex-Prime Minister) faction. Then we have the outliers, loose cannons."
"So if I was still blogging, I would like All-Blogs to change their name as it is a misnomer, to quote KTemoc."
KTemoc also not happy with state of affairs as he wrote, "...at this stage, the title ‘All-bloggers’ may be a bit of a misnomer."
Old-timer and respected socio-politcal Mahaguru is also not pleased writing, "All Bloggers need to take our feelings into consideration and do not assume that they speak for the entire Malaysian Bloggers Community without taking a referendum as to where we stand on any such issues especially when it involves our liberties to be able to blog as we please."
Apa jadi? What happened? How to represent bloggers without a mandate? Democracy or junta?
What an idea! Incredible! Or an incredible idea?



Senior General Than Shwe, 73, is the head of the ruling junta and controls the army in Burma, which has been ruled by a repressive military junta for the last decade and a half, prompting economic stagnation and international condemnation. (BBC)

Monday 7 May 2007

IDEA, Incredible? #11: Use hair colour to define "race"

To demonstrate the government's "progressiveness", race should be defined by hair colour. All citizens who wish to be considered bumiputera should be required to dye their hair (head only ;)) a certain shade of brown specified by Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara. Bald people would be classified as non-bumi. Wigs not allowed.
Hair colour to define "race"?
What an idea! Incredible! Or an incredible idea?

Saturday 5 May 2007

IDEA, Incredible? #10: Zam defines new terms

Information minister Zam said there should be "professional" and "non-professional" bloggers to "facilitate the action to be taken against those found to have violated the country's laws".
He believed that professional bloggers were those who were more responsible in ensuring that their web content was based on the truth and not rumours.
Zamspeak for "professional" and "non-professionals"? Non-professionals = amateurs?
Label us? Will there be separate "professional" and "non-professional" EXAMS too?
What an idea! Incredible! Or an incredible idea?

Thursday 3 May 2007

IDEA, Incredible? #9: Anwar moved from a RM2mil home to a RM7mil home!

According to Sang Kelembai,

[...] "kami difahamkan" rumah Anwar Ibrahim yang berharga RM 2 juta di Damansara kini sudah berpindah ke rumah bernilai RM7 juta di Segambut, ini bukan orang sosialis. [...]

Anwar Ibrahim a reformed humble man in a new humble home?
What an idea! Incredible! Or an incredible idea?

Wednesday 2 May 2007

IDEA, Incredible? #8: People's Art Fest - World Press Freedom Day in KL

Art, poetry, music to celebrate World Press Freedom Day at Central Market this weekend (Sat May 5 & Sun May 6)! Organised by Centre for Independent Journalism. They have a blog too!
What an idea! Incredible! Or an incredible idea?

IDEA, Incredible? #7: Anwar, a Blackberry salesman now?

Anwar Ibrahim may have sniffed the winds of change where he would have to remain in the Opposition. He has been flaunting his Blackberry at ceramahs in Ijok. Most recently in the photo below from Malaysiakini.

ANWAR IBRAHIM, a Blackberry salesman now?
What an idea! Incredible! Or an incredible idea?

Tuesday 1 May 2007

IDEA, Incredible? #6: Early general election

Pak Lah dah cakap dan Utusan dah lapor hari ini. PM kata "bila-bila masa" je.

Agensi berita antarabangsa Reuters juga laporkan kekalahan Anwar le. Mungkinkah Anwar dah habis? Sedih la macam tu.

30.04.2007 (Reuters) - The Malaysian government celebrated on Monday a symbolic defeat over its most feared political opponent in a weekend by-election, hardening expectations of an early general election.

The government struck a triumphant note after Saturday's election, which dealt a blow to Anwar Ibrahim's opposition party and gave the ruling coalition a morale boost as it geared up for a general election expected late this year or early 2008.

"Democracy is still alive and fresh," Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, who led the coalition by-election campaign, told reporters with obvious satisfaction on Monday.

The by-election in Ijok, a semi-rural seat outside the capital, was a proxy battle between Najib and Anwar: both widely thought to have burning ambitions to lead the country.

The government pledged at least $10 million in spending in the tiny seat, whose 12,000 voters witnessed a campaign that was out of all proportion to the actual prize -- a seat in a state assembly where the big issues include local bus services.

Najib and Anwar campaigned on behalf of rival candidates, trading allegations of corruption.

At one point, thousands of their supporters clashed in the run-up to the vote, hurling bottles and rocks at each other before riot police stepped in.

On Saturday, though, the coalition emerged triumphant, holding onto the seat and seeing off Anwar's Keadilan party with 58.6 percent of the vote, up from 57 percent previously.

For Anwar, the result was a blow to his efforts to revive his political career and the spirit of his decade-old "Reformasi" campaign, which rocked Malaysian politics to its foundations in the late 1990s, political experts said.

'BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD'

"The opposition has to go back to the drawing board and analyse the implications," said another opposition leader, Lim Kit Siang, whose Democratic Action Party holds most opposition seats in federal parliament and backed Anwar's campaign in Ijok.

"It's a blow for him but it doesn't mean that it's a knockout. It will be a fatal error for anybody to conclude that it will be a walkover for Barisan Nasional in the next round and that it will be the end of Anwar," Lim added.

Asked if the Ijok result made an early general election more likely, he said: "It will be sooner rather than later."

Most political experts expect an election early next year, though one is not due until 2009.In jail for most of the last decade, Anwar is banned from standing for parliament until April 2008 because of his criminal record. He was jailed for six years until 2004 for corruption and sodomy, charges he says were concocted to kill off his career.

Police first arrested Anwar under internal-security laws in 1998 after he split from then premier Mahathir Mohamad and led an anti-government street protest in the capital, demanding reform.

When he was finally freed and his sodomy conviction quashed, politics seemed to have passed him by. Mahathir had handed power to his deputy, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who had gone on to score a landslide election victory for the coalition by promising to clean up corruption -- part of Anwar's own "Reformasi" agenda.

Anwar was not immediately available for comment on Monday but he had complained that his Keadilan, or Justice, party never stood an even chance in the by-election. He accused the coalition of both intimidating and bribing voters, a charge it denied.

In the end, said political analyst Chandra Muzaffar, Ijok voters backed the stability and development agenda that Barisan Nasional has used for decades to hold onto national power.

And they ignored Anwar's smears against Najib, he added."That goes to show yet again that when it comes to issues like development and stability and so on, the ruling coalition has always had an edge over the opposition," Muzaffar said.

Barisan is a multi-racial coalition comprising parties that represent Malaysia's three major ethnic groups, Malay, Chinese and Indian. Opposition parties are still split along racial and religious lines, despite Anwar's attempts to unify them.

EARLY ELECTIONS? What an idea! Incredible! Or an incredible idea?

IDEA, Incredible? #5: Malaysia's GRAND PALACE of JUSTICE falling apart

Looks like Malaysia's democratic institutions are really falling apart.
The latest one being the grand court complex in Jalan Duta.
Deteriorating democracy?
What an idea! Incredible! Or an incredible idea?

IDEA, Incredible? #4: Tian Chua, Member of Parliament

KeADILan Info Chief Tian Chua (photo below) in parliament!
NO! OH NO! NO!
This guy was held by the POLICE for attempted murder in March "after he nearly hit a man when he drove his car through a barrier during a demonstration."

What an idea! Incredible! Or incredible idea?

IDEA, Incredible? #3: Anwar banned from UMNO forever

What will Anwar do now that he is permanently banned from UMNO double-sealed by the supreme council yesterday?
Is he still relevant in today's politics?
Are Malaysians still hanging on to too many old skool politicians?
Where are the Anwars/Mahathirs or Mahatma Gandhis of today?
Anwar is pushing 60! Anwar Ibrahim, the next prime minister?
What an idea! Incredible! Or incredible idea?