Anwar and the Politics of ISA – Hysteria & Humbug

(from the department of i’m-not-braindead-i-want-to-think)
====================================

[Update-30th Sep: Zaid Ibrahim's open letter to PM asking ISA to be repealed, with reasons]

In 1946, George Orwell ended his essay, “Politics and the English Language“, with this:

“Political language—and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists—is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”

Back then Allies had just won the war but Eastern Europeans, and quite a few Russians, were still being sent to mass graves. The target of Orwell were gutless leaders of Allied states who couldn’t stomach another war, this time against the Soviet empire.

Today, 62 years later, in his tradition, but not his place, I too say to our leaders and young Malaysians:

In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible. Things like the decision of our government to imprison lawmakers and journalists, our Ministers’ lack of sincerity in justifying these arrests, the abandonment of political ideology

Anwar vs Badawi: How do I keep going?

With so much at stake in Malaysia, as Anwar dream and Badawi cringe, I check out some Classifieds for inspiration:

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

1) Slugs for lease

Date: 2008-05-29, 8:52PM PDT

I have some banana slugs I will lease out for $1.00 per day.

You just come catch them, and keep sliding dollar bills under my front door.

I also have some worms availabe for .50 daily, and a few spiders as well.

I am trying to save up for a flat screen TV.

Thank you so much in advance.
≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

2) Beautiful Persian or Ugly Husband

Date: 2008-08-01, 2:57PM CDT

20 years on – Malaysians still blinking like Magoo

I know I said I’m going quiet.

But this is where we are today – 20 years after the dismissal of our Lord President Tun Salleh Abbas and 2 other Supreme Court judges (Tan Sri Wan Suleiman and Datuk George Seah).

A report was released 2 weeks ago, ‘Review of the 1998 Judicial Crisis in Malaysia (26 July 2008)‘ and 20 years on, Malaysians are still like blinking Magoo, the famously nearsighted character who always admonished himself, “Oh Magoo, you’ve done it again!”. Sound familiar?

Oh Malaysia, you’ve done it again - Raja Petra of Malaysia Today was detained today under ISA (Malaysiakini).

There are many who see the event in 1988 as a political cause celebre – the famous Karpal Singh asking Mahathir to apologise, a blogger believing Mahathir has every right to condemn the report, and Malaysia’s Bar Council members posing for photos and getting authographs on the report.

Is that it? Politicians writing letters, Bar Council Presidents (current and former) taking photographs and others issuing statements? Let’s not pass the buck so much anymore, and raise the bar a little this time - let’s understand what happened in 1988 and repercussions it has on Malaysia today, 20 years later.

Gone quiet

Think I’ve been a doing bit too many posts. Will be mucking around and rebuilding a few servers for awhile. Unless there’s something to blog about I’ll be doing the home project. Meantime, I’ve made my recent posts available on the top right.

The post “For a better Malaysia” is popular – click on ‘Disconnected‘ category on the left below to read.

Finally, I’m running out of ideas so anyone would like to give me requests / ideas / thoughts would be good. Don’t hesitate – have a go, tell me.

mike.

PS. Politically, it’s a mess at the moment, so I’ll post on politics after the dust settles.

Off the Table: Geeks 1 and 2

With all the politicking going on, I thought its’ a good idea to lighten the load. I need a break. So, let’s change topic.

Reading thru’ my feeds, I came across this and its funny to me ‘cos in our world of latest, hottest gizmos … we’re fashion tragics. Here’s one from Logic + Emotion:

David Armano <http://darmano.typepad.com/>

Recognise anyone – yourself now, myself now, yourself-in-the-future, myself-in-the-future, friends and family?