MCA president Chua Soi Lek appears to be on a warpath, defending his criticism of Muslim women who chose not to shake hands with the opposite sex for religious reasons.
In an angry reaction to questions from reporters, Chua insisted that the norm practised by many Muslim women to avoid skin contact with the opposite sex during handshake was contrary to “basic culture and manners to shake hands”.
“I have been in the public life for many years. It’s part of the basic culture and manners to shake hands,” said Chua, who also scolded a reporter from online portal Malaysiakini, which first broke news of Chua’s attack on PAS candidate Normala Sudirman.
Mat Sabu is dangerous. The Chinese like him. DAP likes him. So, having him as the deputy president of PAS is not good for Barisan Nasional. It might make the Chinese more comfortable with PAS. That is why he needs to be brought down. And that is why they are going all out to get him on charges from being a communist to being a philanderer. And Joceline Tan is one of the many ‘mechanics’ being employed to assassinate Mat Sabu.
Debra Chong and JOCELINE TANthe prostute s with big pussy When you wrote as pressure piles on Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim over his sex video scandal did you watch
that doctored blue filem doctored by non then two Bastards Sex Doctors Dr Mahathir and Dr Chua
This not a political blog. I understand that politics pervades everything, but I’m not pushing a political agenda. I’m pushing a human agenda.
As a journalist for decades, I avoided making political statements at all costs. Back then you lost your job for it. Today, it’s nearly a prerequisite for employment in mainstream media.I avoid stories that make blatant political statements because they only diminish the potential impact. Improving your health, chasing your dreams and improving your community shouldn’t be about politics. Of course, the current battle over ANWAR IBRAHIM is highly politicized. My goal is to simply relay a perspective about Dysfunctional Fame Whores from my very specific vantage point.Our that encourages people of all ages, all colors and every socioeconomic status to become all that they can by pursuing their passions, improving their well-being and helping others. Malaysia Insider Star ,Sun Utusan NST clogged with contrived formulaic writting. Give dysfunctional fame whores national exposure and the very clear understanding that only outlandish behavior ends up on
COMMENT By JOCELINE TAN, The Star
THERE were many who thought this would be Mohamad Sabu’s lucky year when he beat the odds to become PAS’ new deputy president.
But his luck seems to be running out. Mat Sabu, as he is better known, has been hit by another controversy even as a firestorm is still raging over his remarks that the communists were the real heroes of the Bukit Kepong massacre.
Unlucky: Mat Sabu’s luck seems to be running out as he has been hit by another controversy.
A video titled “Skandal Seks Mat Sabu” has made its way into the Internet and is set to shake the party.
The video contains some very sexy conversation between a man and a woman, whom the commentator in the video claimed to be Mat Sabu and Normah Halim, the woman with whom he was caught for khalwat in 1994 in Kota Baru.
That was a long time ago, but his past has returned to haunt him.
At this point in time, it is hard to tell whether the sexy phone talk, which appeared to have been secretly taped, is genuine or staged.
But Mat Sabu’s dilemma is that this is one issue which he and his friends in PAS will find hard to address or defend because the khalwat incident involving him and Normah has never been denied although it was thrown out by the syariah court.
Mat Sabu and Normah were caught in a hotel room but were acquitted because two of the witnesses gave conflicting accounts of the hotel room’s number in which they were caught for khalwat.
Mat Sabu was then a rising star. He was Nilam Puri MP and PAS deputy Youth chief.
Normah was a local beauty who in her salad days was regarded as the belle of Melor, the area where she hails from.
At the time of the incident, she was married to Bukhari Noor, a handsome and wealthy businessman, also from the area.
The scandal rocked the party which had just come to power in Kelantan.
A lawyer in the case remembered the packed courtroom and how one of the witnesses had even fainted during the proceedings.
Mat Sabu had told a close associate then, “mampus aku kali ni” (I’m finished this time), but it was not to be.
He scraped through and even survived the general election which was called shortly after.
The khalwat incident is etched irrevocably in the memories of the adult generation who had followed the case.
In fact, most Kelantanese with some interest in politics would have watched the uploaded video by now and formed their own conclusions.
It was clearly put together by his enemies out there, with a running commentary in between segments of the conversation.
However, the commentator was quite understated and had referred to the sexy exchange as “bermain cinta” or “flirting”.
It is not exactly phone sex, but it is what polite society would call “intimate talk” and in less polite society, “dirty talk”.
There are references to the sexual liaisons between the two speakers, all of which are conducted in the local patios and slang terms.
Those who have heard Mat Sabu speak at political ceramah and are familiar with his voice think that it does sound like him.
“The male voice sounds like that of Mat Sabu. I know Normah and her husband; they have come to my restaurant.
“But the woman in the tape is speaking in a whispered tone throughout; quite hard to say if it is Normah.
“I have heard her speaking, but not in a whisper,” said restaurateur Juhaidi Yean Abdullah who is also from Melor.
Mat Sabu may find himself quite alone in this issue.
Not many of his associates from Kelantan will be able to defend him with an open heart.
“I have heard about it (the video) but I have not listened to it, so I can’t say if it is true or false.
“It’s so difficult to know what is true or untrue in politics because so many things are happening now that the general election is getting nearer but if this is done with bad intention, then it is not right,” said Kelantan PAS deputy commissioner Datuk Nik Amar Nik Abdullah.
Besides, he added, the khalwat case is no longer an issue in Kelantan.
“Many people believed it was a plot by Umno even though they were found together in the room,” Nik Amar said.
Mat Sabu’s friends in PAS are angry that these cerita lama or old stories are being dredged out to discredit him.
They said if the phone conversations were authentic, then they would have been used against Mat Sabu at the height of the scandal.
A lot of it has to do with the Internet and also the fact that Mat Sabu is a major star today.
All eyes are on him and everything he says or does has become newsworthy.
After all, if anything happens to Datuk Seri Hadi Awang, Mat Sabu will be the next PAS president.
But at the time of the khalwat scandal, he was just on the way up.
“He was then known as an ayam tambatan (a fighting cock) that PAS used to peck at the other side,” said Juhaidi.
“The ulama leadership in PAS was so sure that no one like him could ever go so high up.
“He was then just an orator, not a threat to anyone inside or outside the party.”
The stakes, said blogger Syed Azidi Syed Aziz, were much higher now and both sides were using whatever they have against each other.
Mat Sabu’s response to the latest issue has been “no comment,” which Syed Azidi, who used to work for a PAS politician in Kelantan, finds ironic.
“It’s really funny for someone who makes a living out of talking to have ‘no comment’.
“I’m not sure how people will take this, but it is certainly extra bullets for his enemies,” said Syed Azidi.
PAS members took a leap of faith when they elected Mat Sabu as their deputy president.
They were aware of his personal baggage but they thought that unlike the ulama leaders, he would be able to take the party to another level.
Instead, he has led the party from one controversy to another.
And, as Juhaidi pointed out: “Instead of explaining the Negara Kebajikan (welfare state) concept PAS is promoting in place of the Islamic state, the party is spending time defending their deputy president.”
The ostrich is a very peculiar creature. When faced with danger, it buries its head in the ground. The reasoning is that if the ostrich can no longer see the source of danger then the source of danger can no longer see the ostrich.
a more deadly and vicious threat to our society than all-pervasive corruption. But, as in the case of corruption, successive sarkars have done virtually nothing to protect the country from this dire menace. This failure indicates more than sheer bungling and gross inefficiency; it suggests a wilful blindness to a clear and present danger.
— have their own dedicated security personnel who in no circumstances can be posted elsewhere. Symbolically, however, the closure of Parliament was in perfect consonance with ostrich-like behaviour: the best way to deal with threat is to shut your eyes to it.
Neoliberalism’s audit culture is more of a threat to values than terrorism
Ever since the West was deprived of the Soviet Union, Western right wingers have been inventing dire threats to the future of the West: Islam, immigration, abortion, gays and lesbians, atheists, and even Hispanic Catholics, these last responsible for undermining Protestant values according to Samuel Huntington.
At least the Soviet Union actually had the capacity to destroy the West.
What the Soviets might have done from outside, with a barrage of nuclear missiles, self-licking ice cream cones do from within. Their work was far advanced in nearly every sector of professional life.
These insidious and destructive ice cream cones come in many flavours in private and public organisations. I am most familiar with those in military and academic life, but people who work in other professions may experience a glimmer of recognition.
Bombing Vietnam
As far as I am aware, the phrase came into usage among knowing observers of the Vietnam War. A self-licking ice cream cone is a programme or policy that costs money and resources, generating a great deal of activity; producing indicators of its own success, preferably quantitative, but does not actually achieve its announced goals. Indeed, a proper self-licking cone undermines the very purposes for which it was created, while at the same time sucking in ever more resources from worthy and effective activities.
In the early 1960s, the US Air Force (USAF) advisory mission was trying to expand its role in South Vietnam. For this it required targets that were helpfully supplied by South Vietnamese officers. The targets were labelled “VC arms factory” or “command and control facility”, but were in fact peasant huts or the most prominent building in a village. The fighter bombers would go out and blow up these “structures”. Damage assessments duly reported a high rate of “success” - blown up huts.
To really grow this cone and set the self-licking in motion, an ever expanding list of targets had to be invented.
"The corruption of development assistance is a recruiting sergeant for insurgency."
More targets meant more bombing, and more bombing meant a bigger role for the USAF. The result was more budget, more planes, and career advancement for all concerned.
The only problem was that the bombing was helping lose the war. Predictably, the peasants turned against Saigon, leading to the introduction of US ground forces in 1965. Like the “body count”, the number of “structures” destroyed had no relation to actually winning the war. It was an indicator of organisational “success” wholly divorced from reality, and from the values that the organisation was supposed to be serving. The USAF was killing the very peasants it was there to save from communism.
Self-licking ice cream cones can arise in any modern organisational environment. People dedicated to the values of their vocations have had to struggle against them, always - as did more than a few US officers in Vietnam.
Today, however, the problem is exponentially worse. Neoliberalism, with its audit culture and fetish for short term quantitative indicators, is a mass production facility for self-licking cones. Everywhere bottom line measures of “efficiency” shape the activities of organisations and determine career advancement, selecting the kind of people and personalities who prosper in the system.
In the British National Health Service, general practitioners are assessed in part by the number of completed patient visits. Consequently, one has to go to the doctor several times for simple ailments so that statistics can be massaged.
In Iraq and Afghanistan, much of the development aid provided by the US was outsourced to the private sector. In one electrical generation project outside Kabul, $40m of $300m were lost to contractor delays and other difficulties in order to build a plant that mostly sits idle. Without competitive bidding, the same contractor somehow has been given a new contract to the tune of $266m.
From the point of view of those living in Kabul, the reality is a melting cone that cannot be licked; for the contractors, it is like a bottomless tub of Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream, reward for inventing indicators of “progress” amid farce. As with the USAF’s bombing in Vietnam, the corruption of development assistance is a recruiting sergeant for insurgency.
The fall of the British academy
Over remarkably short periods of time, self-licking ice cream cones corrode professional integrity and set in train dynamics that undermine core values. For the last fifteen years, successive governments have sought to turn the British higher education system into 31 flavours of self-licking cones. Various forms of audit have been imposed on the sector concerning research output, rate and time for completion of PhDs, student satisfaction, grant income, and so on.
In common with the USAF in Vietnam or contractors in Afghanistan, the “indicators” used in these audits - applied as ham-fisted national-scale policies - have little direct connection to what they purported to measure, much less to the values the academy is supposed to serve.
Initially, the professoriate tried to game the system, and did so with some local success. Under good leadership, the necessary scores could be achieved while staff still acted according to traditional values. But with each audit, resources flowed to those who scored highest; to those who most fully adapted to the surreal indicators; to those who either came to believe in them or - effectively the same thing - acted as if they did.
A new class of manager-academic arose, whose careers prospered by “modernising” university departments and staff, making them perform in accordance with bottom line indicators. A university system that took decades to build was dismantled by its own hands in less than a generation. As for principled resistance, one was more likely to find it among the US officer corps in Vietnam than among British academics.
The fate of values in a world of organisations
The great danger in modern life is the detachment of ultimate values from the organisations and institutions that are supposed to serve them. Bureaucracies, despite their bad press, are enormously efficient forms of organisation in the public and private spheres - they get things done and make the trains run on time. The problem is deciding upon and directing them towards what they ought to be doing.
Seductive measures of efficiency, the kind of personalities who thrive upon them, and the army of neoliberal self-licking cones has been unleashed on all walks of life, threaten to overwhelm the West. We are so busy fulfilling our quotas that we have no energy to act on the values that should define us.
We are inviting applications from young and dynamic reporters who can write about sex, and also generate ideas pertaining to the subject. Salaries will be tailored according to professional experience and market conditions.
Imaginary ad of course. But, possible. And, necessary. For, my experience with Indian newspapers has taught me two things. Most newspapers carry articles on sex, and few can write about it. Mind you, I am not saying that newspaper articles ought to have the classiness of literary erotica. If they do, they will have very few dedicated readers. What I have experienced with time, however, is that articles on sex have repetitive ideas, stereotyped language, and, when they seem intelligently written, mostly originate from some relatively unexplored corner of cyberspace. But people read. They want more. Newspapers give more. Life goes on. Few complain. Those who do don’t matter.
Writing about sex isn’t easy. Many good writers of fiction are known to huff, puff and pant while trying to describe the progression of the act in its relatively simple avatar. Such writers have the required words in their arsenal; but, somehow, their pens tend to choke when they embark on the journey. What we have, as a result, ranges between the clichéd and the comical. Smarter writers who know their limitations play it smart. They announce the inevitability of intercourse, take a suggestive break, and return with a description after the act is over. So, the reader knows it has happened, although he doesn’t know what exactly has. He has the freedom to speculate, or not bother at all.
Writing for a newspaper is far more problematic. Although writing about sex allows some space for imagination – or, creativity with the language at least – newspaper articles aren’t descriptions of intercourse. They are based on ideas. But what we see is the recycling of a set of themes. Is she getting it? Is he getting it? Why isn’t either getting it? How do you know if your girl is going out and getting it? How would you know if your man is going out and getting it? How can you spice up your sex life, get rid of that seven-year itch, make things happen, find a way out when things aren’t happening? The same set of subjects. Time and again.
Why does this happen? The answer is easy. Most sex writers make the mistake of thinking that writing about the performing art is child’s play. The copy is a lazy quickie: having a few paragraphs, the odd hot line that leaps out of somewhere and intends to surprise you with its boldness, and of course, a boring idea. There is very little effort to think beyond the obvious. Say, if you have spiced up your sex life, or so you think, and still it’s not happening, then what? A writer on sex need not be a master in the subject. In fact, he seldom is. What he needs to do is discuss the idea with somebody who is, quote the person, get a grip on the subject and write it stylishly.
Not that every idea needs a specialist’s touch or reference, there being many that can be developed on one’s own. For, if a writer is speaking from experience, he can be sure that many others will relate to what he might have written. Say, a piece on my ‘real wedding night, or the day I messed up and lost my virginity.’ That will get you readers, and also the satisfaction of knowing that some will connect with what you said.
Writing about sex is serious business. It requires flair, and a lot of hard work. That is why we need people who deal with the subject naturally instead of generalists who churn out copies to meet their targets. Since the subject has readers, isn’t it important that we do?
functional Fame Whores : Debra Chong the prostute with big pussy & Malaysian Insider Dysfunctional Fame Whores House The Kill Team GETTING READY TO TO SELL HER PUSSY
The sensationally titled “Urban renewal a time bomb for Selangor government” article by Debra Chong, The Malaysian Insider is littered with factual errors and allegations.
As coordinators of the Maju Jaya Pilot Urban Regeneration Project, Petaling Jaya, we are dismayed that Debra Chong, despite being given generous amount of information and time by the residents, architects and coordinators, chose to ignore almost everything discussed from the three hours of conversation in total spent with her during and after the launch of the project.
After reading her article, we requested for a meeting with Debra Chong, the writer. Below are our responses as well as questions to her and The Malaysian Insider.
#1. When asked where she got the information of this “RM10 billion plan” by the Selangor Government “for vote-buying”, she could not answer with certainty. Did The Malaysian Insider conjure it up or pluck this astronomical figure from thin air? Unless factual information can be provided this allegation is slanderous.
#2. Time bomb? If there were indeed a RM10 billion, or even just a RM10 million allocation to rehabilitate low-cost housing and communities, would this not be a good policy for the Selangor Government to have? To “bail out” the poor and needy rather than the rich? Shouldpublic money not be used for the benefit of the people who need it most? In what way is it a “time bomb”?
#3. The truth is that this urban regeneration pilot project does not even amount to RM500,000. It is a public-private initiative between MBPJ (local government) and Veritas Architects and Sususan Baru Sdn Bhd. MBPJ is only allocating a small amount whereas the private sectors are coming out with about three quarters of the total expenses through their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) allocations.
#4. This pilot project was initiated by as far back as July-August 2010. This can be verified by checking the minutes of MBPJ meetings. It has nothing to do with “vote-buying”. It was only launched in May 2011 because many legal and logistical issues had to be ironed out among all the stakeholders as well sourcing for more sponsorship.
#5. Debra Chong also claimed “physical work has yet to start”. During the launch of the project which she attended, she could see with her own eyes that the roads were newly paved and the broken public lights repaired. She was also briefed that seven loads of waste from the septic tank was pumped out. Why deny what is out there for all see?
#6. After the meeting with her, she sent an SMS asking: “Why pick a private housing development for the pilot project instead of public housing project?” in what she claims to be a “massive rejuvenation exercise”.
Again, the truth is often more prosaic. Block C Maju Jaya Flats was listed as one of 10 low-cost flats among the 300 plus – both private and public (i.e. PKNS) — in Petaling Jaya which needed urgent attention. It was also selected because it involved only a five–storey low-rise with 60 flats. As a pilot project with no precedent in Malaysia, we had wanted to start small and not make it a “massive exercise” as the writer claims.
Many private low-cost housing have been left in disrepair by developers. Some developers have gone bust, especially in the late 1990s. Others have sold off their companies. In the case of Block C Maju Jaya, the former developer is involved in this rehabilitation initiative and will be contributing both labour as well a new community hall. For all these reasons, Block C Maju Jaya flats was selected by MBPJ to begin a pilot private-public engagement.
It is indeed sad to see a journalist who chose to ignore practically all the information and facts provided to her. We hope that Debra Chong and The Malaysian Insider will print this response in full so the public can judge for themselves; right what is wrong and retract the unfounded allegations and factual errors. And instead, engage and challenge all local governments, architects and developers in Malaysia to develop better social housing policies and developments for the future
MCA president Chua Soi Lek appears to be on a warpath, defending his criticism of Muslim women who chose not to shake hands with the opposite sex for religious reasons.
In an angry reaction to questions from reporters, Chua insisted that the norm practised by many Muslim women to avoid skin contact with the opposite sex during handshake was contrary to “basic culture and manners to shake hands”.
“I have been in the public life for many years. It’s part of the basic culture and manners to shake hands,” said Chua, who also scolded a reporter from online portal Malaysiakini, which first broke news of Chua’s attack on PAS candidate Normala Sudirman.
Mat Sabu is dangerous. The Chinese like him. DAP likes him. So, having him as the deputy president of PAS is not good for Barisan Nasional. It might make the Chinese more comfortable with PAS. That is why he needs to be brought down. And that is why they are going all out to get him on charges from being a communist to being a philanderer. And Joceline Tan is one of the many ‘mechanics’ being employed to assassinate Mat Sabu.Debra Chong and JOCELINE TANthe prostute s with big pussy When you wrote as pressure piles on Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim over his sex video scandal did you watch
that doctored blue filem doctored by non then two Bastards Sex Doctors Dr Mahathir and Dr Chua
This not a political blog. I understand that politics pervades everything, but I’m not pushing a political agenda. I’m pushing a human agenda.
As a journalist for decades, I avoided making political statements at all costs. Back then you lost your job for it. Today, it’s nearly a prerequisite for employment in mainstream media.I avoid stories that make blatant political statements because they only diminish the potential impact. Improving your health, chasing your dreams and improving your community shouldn’t be about politics. Of course, the current battle over ANWAR IBRAHIM is highly politicized. My goal is to simply relay a perspective about Dysfunctional Fame Whores from my very specific vantage point.Our that encourages people of all ages, all colors and every socioeconomic status to become all that they can by pursuing their passions, improving their well-being and helping others. Malaysia Insider Star ,Sun Utusan NST clogged with contrived formulaic writting. Give dysfunctional fame whores national exposure and the very clear understanding that only outlandish behavior ends up on
COMMENT By JOCELINE TAN, The Star
THERE were many who thought this would be Mohamad Sabu’s lucky year when he beat the odds to become PAS’ new deputy president.
But his luck seems to be running out. Mat Sabu, as he is better known, has been hit by another controversy even as a firestorm is still raging over his remarks that the communists were the real heroes of the Bukit Kepong massacre.
Unlucky: Mat Sabu’s luck seems to be running out as he has been hit by another controversy.
A video titled “Skandal Seks Mat Sabu” has made its way into the Internet and is set to shake the party.
The video contains some very sexy conversation between a man and a woman, whom the commentator in the video claimed to be Mat Sabu and Normah Halim, the woman with whom he was caught for khalwat in 1994 in Kota Baru.
That was a long time ago, but his past has returned to haunt him.
At this point in time, it is hard to tell whether the sexy phone talk, which appeared to have been secretly taped, is genuine or staged.
But Mat Sabu’s dilemma is that this is one issue which he and his friends in PAS will find hard to address or defend because the khalwat incident involving him and Normah has never been denied although it was thrown out by the syariah court.
Mat Sabu and Normah were caught in a hotel room but were acquitted because two of the witnesses gave conflicting accounts of the hotel room’s number in which they were caught for khalwat.
Mat Sabu was then a rising star. He was Nilam Puri MP and PAS deputy Youth chief.
Normah was a local beauty who in her salad days was regarded as the belle of Melor, the area where she hails from.
At the time of the incident, she was married to Bukhari Noor, a handsome and wealthy businessman, also from the area.
The scandal rocked the party which had just come to power in Kelantan.
A lawyer in the case remembered the packed courtroom and how one of the witnesses had even fainted during the proceedings.
Mat Sabu had told a close associate then, “mampus aku kali ni” (I’m finished this time), but it was not to be.
He scraped through and even survived the general election which was called shortly after.
The khalwat incident is etched irrevocably in the memories of the adult generation who had followed the case.
In fact, most Kelantanese with some interest in politics would have watched the uploaded video by now and formed their own conclusions.
It was clearly put together by his enemies out there, with a running commentary in between segments of the conversation.
However, the commentator was quite understated and had referred to the sexy exchange as “bermain cinta” or “flirting”.
It is not exactly phone sex, but it is what polite society would call “intimate talk” and in less polite society, “dirty talk”.
There are references to the sexual liaisons between the two speakers, all of which are conducted in the local patios and slang terms.
Those who have heard Mat Sabu speak at political ceramah and are familiar with his voice think that it does sound like him.
“The male voice sounds like that of Mat Sabu. I know Normah and her husband; they have come to my restaurant.
“But the woman in the tape is speaking in a whispered tone throughout; quite hard to say if it is Normah.
“I have heard her speaking, but not in a whisper,” said restaurateur Juhaidi Yean Abdullah who is also from Melor.
Mat Sabu may find himself quite alone in this issue.
Not many of his associates from Kelantan will be able to defend him with an open heart.
“I have heard about it (the video) but I have not listened to it, so I can’t say if it is true or false.
“It’s so difficult to know what is true or untrue in politics because so many things are happening now that the general election is getting nearer but if this is done with bad intention, then it is not right,” said Kelantan PAS deputy commissioner Datuk Nik Amar Nik Abdullah.
Besides, he added, the khalwat case is no longer an issue in Kelantan.
“Many people believed it was a plot by Umno even though they were found together in the room,” Nik Amar said.
Mat Sabu’s friends in PAS are angry that these cerita lama or old stories are being dredged out to discredit him.
They said if the phone conversations were authentic, then they would have been used against Mat Sabu at the height of the scandal.
A lot of it has to do with the Internet and also the fact that Mat Sabu is a major star today.
All eyes are on him and everything he says or does has become newsworthy.
After all, if anything happens to Datuk Seri Hadi Awang, Mat Sabu will be the next PAS president.
But at the time of the khalwat scandal, he was just on the way up.
“He was then known as an ayam tambatan (a fighting cock) that PAS used to peck at the other side,” said Juhaidi.
“The ulama leadership in PAS was so sure that no one like him could ever go so high up.
“He was then just an orator, not a threat to anyone inside or outside the party.”
The stakes, said blogger Syed Azidi Syed Aziz, were much higher now and both sides were using whatever they have against each other.
Mat Sabu’s response to the latest issue has been “no comment,” which Syed Azidi, who used to work for a PAS politician in Kelantan, finds ironic.
“It’s really funny for someone who makes a living out of talking to have ‘no comment’.
“I’m not sure how people will take this, but it is certainly extra bullets for his enemies,” said Syed Azidi.
PAS members took a leap of faith when they elected Mat Sabu as their deputy president.
They were aware of his personal baggage but they thought that unlike the ulama leaders, he would be able to take the party to another level.
Instead, he has led the party from one controversy to another.
And, as Juhaidi pointed out: “Instead of explaining the Negara Kebajikan (welfare state) concept PAS is promoting in place of the Islamic state, the party is spending time defending their deputy president.”
The ostrich is a very peculiar creature. When faced with danger, it buries its head in the ground. The reasoning is that if the ostrich can no longer see the source of danger then the source of danger can no longer see the ostrich.
a more deadly and vicious threat to our society than all-pervasive corruption. But, as in the case of corruption, successive sarkars have done virtually nothing to protect the country from this dire menace. This failure indicates more than sheer bungling and gross inefficiency; it suggests a wilful blindness to a clear and present danger.
— have their own dedicated security personnel who in no circumstances can be posted elsewhere. Symbolically, however, the closure of Parliament was in perfect consonance with ostrich-like behaviour: the best way to deal with threat is to shut your eyes to it.
Neoliberalism’s audit culture is more of a threat to values than terrorism
Ever since the West was deprived of the Soviet Union, Western right wingers have been inventing dire threats to the future of the West: Islam, immigration, abortion, gays and lesbians, atheists, and even Hispanic Catholics, these last responsible for undermining Protestant values according to Samuel Huntington.
At least the Soviet Union actually had the capacity to destroy the West.
What the Soviets might have done from outside, with a barrage of nuclear missiles, self-licking ice cream cones do from within. Their work was far advanced in nearly every sector of professional life.
These insidious and destructive ice cream cones come in many flavours in private and public organisations. I am most familiar with those in military and academic life, but people who work in other professions may experience a glimmer of recognition.
Bombing Vietnam
As far as I am aware, the phrase came into usage among knowing observers of the Vietnam War. A self-licking ice cream cone is a programme or policy that costs money and resources, generating a great deal of activity; producing indicators of its own success, preferably quantitative, but does not actually achieve its announced goals. Indeed, a proper self-licking cone undermines the very purposes for which it was created, while at the same time sucking in ever more resources from worthy and effective activities.
In the early 1960s, the US Air Force (USAF) advisory mission was trying to expand its role in South Vietnam. For this it required targets that were helpfully supplied by South Vietnamese officers. The targets were labelled “VC arms factory” or “command and control facility”, but were in fact peasant huts or the most prominent building in a village. The fighter bombers would go out and blow up these “structures”. Damage assessments duly reported a high rate of “success” - blown up huts.
To really grow this cone and set the self-licking in motion, an ever expanding list of targets had to be invented.
"The corruption of development assistance is a recruiting sergeant for insurgency."
More targets meant more bombing, and more bombing meant a bigger role for the USAF. The result was more budget, more planes, and career advancement for all concerned.
The only problem was that the bombing was helping lose the war. Predictably, the peasants turned against Saigon, leading to the introduction of US ground forces in 1965. Like the “body count”, the number of “structures” destroyed had no relation to actually winning the war. It was an indicator of organisational “success” wholly divorced from reality, and from the values that the organisation was supposed to be serving. The USAF was killing the very peasants it was there to save from communism.
Self-licking ice cream cones can arise in any modern organisational environment. People dedicated to the values of their vocations have had to struggle against them, always - as did more than a few US officers in Vietnam.
Today, however, the problem is exponentially worse. Neoliberalism, with its audit culture and fetish for short term quantitative indicators, is a mass production facility for self-licking cones. Everywhere bottom line measures of “efficiency” shape the activities of organisations and determine career advancement, selecting the kind of people and personalities who prosper in the system.
In the British National Health Service, general practitioners are assessed in part by the number of completed patient visits. Consequently, one has to go to the doctor several times for simple ailments so that statistics can be massaged.
In Iraq and Afghanistan, much of the development aid provided by the US was outsourced to the private sector. In one electrical generation project outside Kabul, $40m of $300m were lost to contractor delays and other difficulties in order to build a plant that mostly sits idle. Without competitive bidding, the same contractor somehow has been given a new contract to the tune of $266m.
From the point of view of those living in Kabul, the reality is a melting cone that cannot be licked; for the contractors, it is like a bottomless tub of Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream, reward for inventing indicators of “progress” amid farce. As with the USAF’s bombing in Vietnam, the corruption of development assistance is a recruiting sergeant for insurgency.
The fall of the British academy
Over remarkably short periods of time, self-licking ice cream cones corrode professional integrity and set in train dynamics that undermine core values. For the last fifteen years, successive governments have sought to turn the British higher education system into 31 flavours of self-licking cones. Various forms of audit have been imposed on the sector concerning research output, rate and time for completion of PhDs, student satisfaction, grant income, and so on.
In common with the USAF in Vietnam or contractors in Afghanistan, the “indicators” used in these audits - applied as ham-fisted national-scale policies - have little direct connection to what they purported to measure, much less to the values the academy is supposed to serve.
Initially, the professoriate tried to game the system, and did so with some local success. Under good leadership, the necessary scores could be achieved while staff still acted according to traditional values. But with each audit, resources flowed to those who scored highest; to those who most fully adapted to the surreal indicators; to those who either came to believe in them or - effectively the same thing - acted as if they did.
A new class of manager-academic arose, whose careers prospered by “modernising” university departments and staff, making them perform in accordance with bottom line indicators. A university system that took decades to build was dismantled by its own hands in less than a generation. As for principled resistance, one was more likely to find it among the US officer corps in Vietnam than among British academics.
The fate of values in a world of organisations
The great danger in modern life is the detachment of ultimate values from the organisations and institutions that are supposed to serve them. Bureaucracies, despite their bad press, are enormously efficient forms of organisation in the public and private spheres - they get things done and make the trains run on time. The problem is deciding upon and directing them towards what they ought to be doing.
Seductive measures of efficiency, the kind of personalities who thrive upon them, and the army of neoliberal self-licking cones has been unleashed on all walks of life, threaten to overwhelm the West. We are so busy fulfilling our quotas that we have no energy to act on the values that should define us.
We are inviting applications from young and dynamic reporters who can write about sex, and also generate ideas pertaining to the subject. Salaries will be tailored according to professional experience and market conditions.
Imaginary ad of course. But, possible. And, necessary. For, my experience with Indian newspapers has taught me two things. Most newspapers carry articles on sex, and few can write about it. Mind you, I am not saying that newspaper articles ought to have the classiness of literary erotica. If they do, they will have very few dedicated readers. What I have experienced with time, however, is that articles on sex have repetitive ideas, stereotyped language, and, when they seem intelligently written, mostly originate from some relatively unexplored corner of cyberspace. But people read. They want more. Newspapers give more. Life goes on. Few complain. Those who do don’t matter.
Writing about sex isn’t easy. Many good writers of fiction are known to huff, puff and pant while trying to describe the progression of the act in its relatively simple avatar. Such writers have the required words in their arsenal; but, somehow, their pens tend to choke when they embark on the journey. What we have, as a result, ranges between the clichéd and the comical. Smarter writers who know their limitations play it smart. They announce the inevitability of intercourse, take a suggestive break, and return with a description after the act is over. So, the reader knows it has happened, although he doesn’t know what exactly has. He has the freedom to speculate, or not bother at all.
Writing for a newspaper is far more problematic. Although writing about sex allows some space for imagination – or, creativity with the language at least – newspaper articles aren’t descriptions of intercourse. They are based on ideas. But what we see is the recycling of a set of themes. Is she getting it? Is he getting it? Why isn’t either getting it? How do you know if your girl is going out and getting it? How would you know if your man is going out and getting it? How can you spice up your sex life, get rid of that seven-year itch, make things happen, find a way out when things aren’t happening? The same set of subjects. Time and again.
Why does this happen? The answer is easy. Most sex writers make the mistake of thinking that writing about the performing art is child’s play. The copy is a lazy quickie: having a few paragraphs, the odd hot line that leaps out of somewhere and intends to surprise you with its boldness, and of course, a boring idea. There is very little effort to think beyond the obvious. Say, if you have spiced up your sex life, or so you think, and still it’s not happening, then what? A writer on sex need not be a master in the subject. In fact, he seldom is. What he needs to do is discuss the idea with somebody who is, quote the person, get a grip on the subject and write it stylishly.
Not that every idea needs a specialist’s touch or reference, there being many that can be developed on one’s own. For, if a writer is speaking from experience, he can be sure that many others will relate to what he might have written. Say, a piece on my ‘real wedding night, or the day I messed up and lost my virginity.’ That will get you readers, and also the satisfaction of knowing that some will connect with what you said.
Writing about sex is serious business. It requires flair, and a lot of hard work. That is why we need people who deal with the subject naturally instead of generalists who churn out copies to meet their targets. Since the subject has readers, isn’t it important that we do?
functional Fame Whores : Debra Chong the prostute with big pussy & Malaysian Insider Dysfunctional Fame Whores House The Kill Team GETTING READY TO TO SELL HER PUSSY
The sensationally titled “Urban renewal a time bomb for Selangor government” article by Debra Chong, The Malaysian Insider is littered with factual errors and allegations.
As coordinators of the Maju Jaya Pilot Urban Regeneration Project, Petaling Jaya, we are dismayed that Debra Chong, despite being given generous amount of information and time by the residents, architects and coordinators, chose to ignore almost everything discussed from the three hours of conversation in total spent with her during and after the launch of the project.
After reading her article, we requested for a meeting with Debra Chong, the writer. Below are our responses as well as questions to her and The Malaysian Insider.
#1. When asked where she got the information of this “RM10 billion plan” by the Selangor Government “for vote-buying”, she could not answer with certainty. Did The Malaysian Insider conjure it up or pluck this astronomical figure from thin air? Unless factual information can be provided this allegation is slanderous.
#2. Time bomb? If there were indeed a RM10 billion, or even just a RM10 million allocation to rehabilitate low-cost housing and communities, would this not be a good policy for the Selangor Government to have? To “bail out” the poor and needy rather than the rich? Shouldpublic money not be used for the benefit of the people who need it most? In what way is it a “time bomb”?
#3. The truth is that this urban regeneration pilot project does not even amount to RM500,000. It is a public-private initiative between MBPJ (local government) and Veritas Architects and Sususan Baru Sdn Bhd. MBPJ is only allocating a small amount whereas the private sectors are coming out with about three quarters of the total expenses through their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) allocations.
#4. This pilot project was initiated by as far back as July-August 2010. This can be verified by checking the minutes of MBPJ meetings. It has nothing to do with “vote-buying”. It was only launched in May 2011 because many legal and logistical issues had to be ironed out among all the stakeholders as well sourcing for more sponsorship.
#5. Debra Chong also claimed “physical work has yet to start”. During the launch of the project which she attended, she could see with her own eyes that the roads were newly paved and the broken public lights repaired. She was also briefed that seven loads of waste from the septic tank was pumped out. Why deny what is out there for all see?
#6. After the meeting with her, she sent an SMS asking: “Why pick a private housing development for the pilot project instead of public housing project?” in what she claims to be a “massive rejuvenation exercise”.
Again, the truth is often more prosaic. Block C Maju Jaya Flats was listed as one of 10 low-cost flats among the 300 plus – both private and public (i.e. PKNS) — in Petaling Jaya which needed urgent attention. It was also selected because it involved only a five–storey low-rise with 60 flats. As a pilot project with no precedent in Malaysia, we had wanted to start small and not make it a “massive exercise” as the writer claims.
Many private low-cost housing have been left in disrepair by developers. Some developers have gone bust, especially in the late 1990s. Others have sold off their companies. In the case of Block C Maju Jaya, the former developer is involved in this rehabilitation initiative and will be contributing both labour as well a new community hall. For all these reasons, Block C Maju Jaya flats was selected by MBPJ to begin a pilot private-public engagement.
It is indeed sad to see a journalist who chose to ignore practically all the information and facts provided to her. We hope that Debra Chong and The Malaysian Insider will print this response in full so the public can judge for themselves; right what is wrong and retract the unfounded allegations and factual errors. And instead, engage and challenge all local governments, architects and developers in Malaysia to develop better social housing policies and developments for the future
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