Listen Listen Listen Listen Listen Listen Listen

I love my country, Malaysia.
Do you know why I love my country?

Cause more often than not, you get stupid twits (not tweet, mind you) who say things and think they can get away with it, without being held accountable.

Or so they think.

Thank God for the internet :). Everything we say or do in public,( or private even sometimes), becomes the scrutiny of the eye of the public. Once your act is recorded, BAM! There you go. Hit after hit after hit on youtube. BAM! You're famous. or Infamous for some.

So, if you think teaching a puppy to stand by torturing it or hitting babies who cry is a good idea, I've got news for you friend. You're gonna be so famous, you're E-mail inbox will explode. And that's just the inbox. :)

Capitalizing on the hottest and most tweeted topic in Malaysia, I'm proud to announce the latest catchphrase.

"Listen, listen, listen, listen, listen...."

Now...what is this you wonder?

This my dear reader is how forums are done in Malaysia. :) And if you are the speaker of such a forum, you moderate the forum. You moderate the rules and procedures of the forum. You are impartial to the issues debated because you are simply moderating the debate / forum. You are the balance between the opposites of the two spectrums.

Ahaaaa, that's what you think. Not in Malaysia. They speakers rule and reign and might I see, lean towards a very very biased view.

This is a snippet of a forum in University Utara Malaysia (UUM) on December 8 2012, addressing the issues on whether "graduates and politics are aligned?" which touched on some issues, such as Ambiga Sreenevasan (the Chair for Bersih 2.0) and other more vocal activists like Samad Said as agents of chaos and whether rallies are harmful.

I capitalize on the remarks made by the speaker of the forum, one Miss Sharifah Zohra Jabeen (cool sci-fi name), president of an NGO (non-governmental organization) named Suara Wanita 1Malaysia, aptly abbreviated (or initialled) as SW1M. How she seems to have commited error after error in her endeavour to make her points clear. Here are my views on the errors that she has committed:-

(1) She erred by saying "Listen" too many times to get the attention of one Miss Bavani who bravely put forth her questions when the floor was opened for questioning.

(2) Now, as the speaker, I would hardly think that she should address the questions of this brave young Miss Bavani.

(3) Let the panelist address the issues and the questions put forth. That's what they are invited for. To give their two cents worth on issues. Plus, they are the pros.

(4) Please stick to the issues in the forum even if, as the speaker, you decide to break your peace and show your allegiance. Do not wander off into the woods by talking about irrelevant issues which are disjointed. Animals do have rights yes, but that is a point of another forum.

(5) Before embarking on an explanation about illegal gatherings, it would be nice to do some research. At the very least, know that there is this Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 (which itself is pretty fallacious, hastly enacted to counter Bersih 3.0 at that point in time). Thus Section 27 of the Police Act 1967, to which I'm sure Miss Sharifah was relying, when referring to an illegal assembly consisting of 3 people gathering (even her definitions were wrong), was already deleted by an amending act in 2012 (Act A1421). At least have the decency to back up what you quote.

(6) Whilst she maintains that it is her human right, to berate poor Bavani, I suppose it is Bavani's human right not to be berated by Miss Sharifah as well. Whilst you proclaim to exercise your basic rights, you should not encroach the rights of others as well. Herein lies the checks and balances.

I may think i have the right to call someone's mother a whore (freedom of expression, Article 10 of the Federal Constitution), we need to counter-exercise the need of calling one's mother a whore and what benefits or harm it would bring to oneself or to the other person. Beneficial therefore? Hardly. 

(7) Please, as a speaker, do not be rude to the panelist. Kesian. They come from far places I'm sure and the last thing they would want a speaker to do is to ask them to sit down and shut up. And lastly:-

(8) Understand that forums may be heated at points, but duality of points of view is needed so a common ground can be achieved (if any). That's what forums are about. To lay down issues and to address them from different perspective and points of view. The speaker here unfortunately has failed terribly in that.

Anyway, for some of the misc reports, click on this link to have a read. This is reported by Yahoo.

Anyway, I was joking when I mentioned that this was how forums are done in Malaysia.

On the contrary rather. This is the first and its pretty embarassing. Funny but embarassing. At least for poor Miss Sharifah. Clearly she has no idea what she has gotten herself into.

The bigger picture however depicts even grimmer. This is a sign of things to come. The future who will take over the reins of the country. And what a gloomy portrait is portrayed on the canvass.

Places of tertiary education should be places, where people explore idelogies and expand their minds. No. Not in Malaysia. We are fed propaganda after propaganda (And I'm speaking through experience in a local varsity I attended once) on how we should think and what we should believe and follow.

Students are often not encouraged to participate in political rallies or be involved in any political activities and YET, it is the very powers that force-feed their political agendas into , these young people, making them think that this mainstream view is the correct view. If this is not forcing them into politics, I don't kno what is, looking at politically charged points of view.

At best, if they want to play it that way, open up the stage for students to free their minds and to gather all information on all political things. Let them decide who to vote for and on what merit that vote is counted for. A level playing field at best is a fair one. And we know BN don't play fair. Oh well....anyway. I leave it for the readers to decide. Readers who I'm sure are matured enought to come to their own rational conclusions.

If I quoted any Act or Statute mistakenly, please correct me. I very much welcome the corrections. We all learn together. :)

I leave you here with two videos, one made by the brilliant troller, Namewee and another a remix of the current hit, Listen To Me.

Have a listen :) LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN!!

Lastly kudos to the people who turned up for Saturday's rally, 12  January 2013. The numbers for the rally were nothing short of amazing. And it was a peaceful one without any tear gas or watrer cannon retaliation. Let the detractors say what they want about demonizing Bersih 3 and Bersih 2 because of this example. The detractors will always say what they want to say and they will always report these events in a less aahn accurate fawshion . But the people know better. And the people have once again shown that their numbers matter collectively as one voice.

I sat this one out for fear of lack of dissemination of information with regard to the assembly. I was proven wrong once again. OK. I was actually having a rather good time in Genting Highlands, breathing the cool air and well, drinking some much needed free coffee. But my heart goes out to the people who gathered  and once again fought the good fight.

Thank You!! Goodnight!