In less than a fortnight, it will be the Malaysian First New Year - a festive occasion going by the Malaysian First lunar calendar.
The Malaysian First custom of giving angpow and hanging red cloth across our front door will be observed. Red is an auspicious colour according to Malaysian First belief.
The merry Xin Nian Dao and Gongxi Gongxi tunes are Malaysian First songs loved by all. We'll be having our family reunion dinners and eating with chopsticks - such a Malaysian First utensil. Or are we festively decorating our homes with ketupat and eating lemang?
Tan Yi Min will be spending the first day of the lunar New Year with her father Tan Cheow Hong. The Penang High Court awarded custody of the seven-year-old girl to the mother, Fatimah Foong Abdullah. However the judge allowed Yi Min to celebrate New Year with her father.
In Yi Min's court appearances, she was seen dressed in Malaysian First baju kurung and wore tudung. Tan - following the time-honoured tradition of celebrating New Year - would probably be buying sets of new clothes for his daughter (now known as Elliyah Foong Abdullah). Since the child was dressed by Fatimah in white tudung (not a festive colour), perhaps get a new red tudung for her?
Teoh Er Jia is Teoh Beng Hock's son. Unlike Yi Min, Er Jia has no chance of meeting his father ever.
MACC's Malaysian First methods
When I'm on my death bed - as if - my biggest regret will be that I've not been Malaysian First enough, DAP-style that is. Drawing my last breath, I'll be beating my chest, tearing my hair whilst wailing: "Oh, how I wish I'd devoted more time and expended more effort at being Malaysian First (whatever that is, and however it differs from 1Malaysia)".
What were Teoh Beng Hock's thoughts in his last 24 hours of life, I wonder. He might have been thinking of his wedding reception scheduled for the very next day, and the red-tablecloth dinner already booked at a Chinese restaurant, and the 'Yamseng!' (Chinese toast) congratulatory rounds that he'd be obliged to do.
Then there is usually the Chinese 'tea ceremony' to solemnise a marriage as well.
But on the eve of his wedding, Teoh was detained at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) office in the Malaysian First-est township of Shah Alam (an accolade that Putrajaya is vying for).
On the same night that MACC interrogated Teoh, the government agency also investigated Kajang municipal councillor Tan Boon Hwa. Recounting his ordeal, the DAP councillor described how the MACC officers called him 'Cina bodoh' and asked him if he was a citizen of China.
I hope that Tan (left) had told the MACC interrogators he is a 'Malaysian First'.
The Malaysian First custom of giving angpow and hanging red cloth across our front door will be observed. Red is an auspicious colour according to Malaysian First belief.The merry Xin Nian Dao and Gongxi Gongxi tunes are Malaysian First songs loved by all. We'll be having our family reunion dinners and eating with chopsticks - such a Malaysian First utensil. Or are we festively decorating our homes with ketupat and eating lemang?
Tan Yi Min will be spending the first day of the lunar New Year with her father Tan Cheow Hong. The Penang High Court awarded custody of the seven-year-old girl to the mother, Fatimah Foong Abdullah. However the judge allowed Yi Min to celebrate New Year with her father.
In Yi Min's court appearances, she was seen dressed in Malaysian First baju kurung and wore tudung. Tan - following the time-honoured tradition of celebrating New Year - would probably be buying sets of new clothes for his daughter (now known as Elliyah Foong Abdullah). Since the child was dressed by Fatimah in white tudung (not a festive colour), perhaps get a new red tudung for her?
Teoh Er Jia is Teoh Beng Hock's son. Unlike Yi Min, Er Jia has no chance of meeting his father ever.
MACC's Malaysian First methods
When I'm on my death bed - as if - my biggest regret will be that I've not been Malaysian First enough, DAP-style that is. Drawing my last breath, I'll be beating my chest, tearing my hair whilst wailing: "Oh, how I wish I'd devoted more time and expended more effort at being Malaysian First (whatever that is, and however it differs from 1Malaysia)".
What were Teoh Beng Hock's thoughts in his last 24 hours of life, I wonder. He might have been thinking of his wedding reception scheduled for the very next day, and the red-tablecloth dinner already booked at a Chinese restaurant, and the 'Yamseng!' (Chinese toast) congratulatory rounds that he'd be obliged to do.
Then there is usually the Chinese 'tea ceremony' to solemnise a marriage as well.
But on the eve of his wedding, Teoh was detained at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) office in the Malaysian First-est township of Shah Alam (an accolade that Putrajaya is vying for).
On the same night that MACC interrogated Teoh, the government agency also investigated Kajang municipal councillor Tan Boon Hwa. Recounting his ordeal, the DAP councillor described how the MACC officers called him 'Cina bodoh' and asked him if he was a citizen of China.
I hope that Tan (left) had told the MACC interrogators he is a 'Malaysian First'. Repeating this over and over and over will somehow protect one from being denigrated as a 'stupid Chinese' and told to 'Balik Cina'.
Probably at the same time, Teoh Beng Hock was writing his last note in Hanzi, i.e. Chinese script. Because the MACC officers on duty use romanised Bahasa Malaysia and are unlikely to read Chinese characters, they couldn't make proper sense of what was penned by Teoh.
It is mistake to ascribe the simple phrase "Sorry, I'm so tired" to a suicidal frame of mind. I'm tired too after the continued harassment and smear campaign carried out by pro-DAP cybertroopers against me but I'm hardly suicidal.
In any case, Teoh signed off 'zaijian' which conveys a straightforward "See you again" and most certainly nothing sinister should be read into his 'bye'. After all, the young man was about to be happily married the next day and soon to become a father.
Why would someone who had everything to look forward to decide overnight to choke his own neck - an incredible feat of self-strangulation demonstrated by the MACC prosecutor at the inquest?
Given the track record of death-in-custody that occurs at the detention centres, anyone falling into the clutches of government enforcement officers would logically fear homicide rather than contemplate suicide.
MACC accountable for Teoh's death
Reading Teoh's note, one can infer other brutality inflicted by the MACC quite apart from his pre-fall injuries. Teoh wrote how the MACC "seized all the computers" and how he said one thing ("received approval from YB") but the officers in their report put different words into his mouth ("they insist on putting down, 'followed YB's orders'.").
Teoh's note implies that the MACC was going all out to implicate his boss, DAP Selangor exco Ean Yong. Written in Chinese, it said "It's relentless, the spears are pointed at you [Ean Yong]."
If readers watch kungfu movies, you'd have an idea of how a spear can pierce a man's guts. So now, what about many, many spears? Teoh uses the Chinese 'spear' metaphor to convey how determined the MACC seemed in wanting to nail Yong.
Probably at the same time, Teoh Beng Hock was writing his last note in Hanzi, i.e. Chinese script. Because the MACC officers on duty use romanised Bahasa Malaysia and are unlikely to read Chinese characters, they couldn't make proper sense of what was penned by Teoh.
It is mistake to ascribe the simple phrase "Sorry, I'm so tired" to a suicidal frame of mind. I'm tired too after the continued harassment and smear campaign carried out by pro-DAP cybertroopers against me but I'm hardly suicidal.
In any case, Teoh signed off 'zaijian' which conveys a straightforward "See you again" and most certainly nothing sinister should be read into his 'bye'. After all, the young man was about to be happily married the next day and soon to become a father.
Why would someone who had everything to look forward to decide overnight to choke his own neck - an incredible feat of self-strangulation demonstrated by the MACC prosecutor at the inquest?
Given the track record of death-in-custody that occurs at the detention centres, anyone falling into the clutches of government enforcement officers would logically fear homicide rather than contemplate suicide.
MACC accountable for Teoh's death
Reading Teoh's note, one can infer other brutality inflicted by the MACC quite apart from his pre-fall injuries. Teoh wrote how the MACC "seized all the computers" and how he said one thing ("received approval from YB") but the officers in their report put different words into his mouth ("they insist on putting down, 'followed YB's orders'.").
Teoh's note implies that the MACC was going all out to implicate his boss, DAP Selangor exco Ean Yong. Written in Chinese, it said "It's relentless, the spears are pointed at you [Ean Yong]."
If readers watch kungfu movies, you'd have an idea of how a spear can pierce a man's guts. So now, what about many, many spears? Teoh uses the Chinese 'spear' metaphor to convey how determined the MACC seemed in wanting to nail Yong.
Rather than any purported suicide message, the note is instead a damning indictment of the MACC's brutal methods.
Zainul Arifin Mohammed Isa, the NSTP group managing editor, in his Berita Harian article of July 19, 2009, took to task Khalid Ibrahim (right) for desiring a pathologist from the private sector to conduct the Teoh post-mortem.
Zainul Arifin Mohammed Isa, the NSTP group managing editor, in his Berita Harian article of July 19, 2009, took to task Khalid Ibrahim (right) for desiring a pathologist from the private sector to conduct the Teoh post-mortem. Insisting that Khalid would be better off engaging a pathologist from government hospital, Zainul wrote [my translation]: "Why does the Selangor Menteri Besar, who is Malay, doubt the ability of people his own race to act with honesty and fairness?"
Zainul chided, "Are not many of the officers from government institutions and agencies Malay (just like Khalid himself)? Are the Malay policemen, judges, teachers, investigators, doctors, lecturers all untrustworthy?"
According to Zainul, "these institutions which are mostly headed and staffed by Malays" are most capable, and Khalid cannot be allowed to cast aspersions on their capabilities.
It appears that DAP has been preaching the Malaysian First concept only to the converted, and the party has not successfully outreached to public opinion leaders such as Zainul.
What 'democratic action' party?
Recently on Monday, 'hindrafmakkalsakthi' uploaded a video titled 'We Have No Choice!' on YouTube. Hindraf is the Hindu Rights Action Force that the DAP likes to call 'racist' because the movement name points to a particular concern with the plight of those belonging to the Hindu faith rather than with Malaysians First and all. DAP is wrong.
As Hindraf has been saying all along, a disproportionate number of prisoners are Indians.
Zainul chided, "Are not many of the officers from government institutions and agencies Malay (just like Khalid himself)? Are the Malay policemen, judges, teachers, investigators, doctors, lecturers all untrustworthy?"
According to Zainul, "these institutions which are mostly headed and staffed by Malays" are most capable, and Khalid cannot be allowed to cast aspersions on their capabilities.
It appears that DAP has been preaching the Malaysian First concept only to the converted, and the party has not successfully outreached to public opinion leaders such as Zainul.
What 'democratic action' party?
Recently on Monday, 'hindrafmakkalsakthi' uploaded a video titled 'We Have No Choice!' on YouTube. Hindraf is the Hindu Rights Action Force that the DAP likes to call 'racist' because the movement name points to a particular concern with the plight of those belonging to the Hindu faith rather than with Malaysians First and all. DAP is wrong.
As Hindraf has been saying all along, a disproportionate number of prisoners are Indians. Data reveals that out of the almost 50,000 convicted criminals (all races), a whopping 95 percent of them drew a monthly income of less than RM1,000.
More than 17 percent of the criminals were unemployed when caught while 32.3 percent of them earned less than RM500 a month.
Doing a statistical analysis for the Journal of the Kuala Lumpur Royal Malaysia Police College (No. 4, 2005), ACP Amar Singh Sidhu wrote in his paper 'The Rise of Crime in Malaysia': "Up to date, the number of individuals detained under preventive laws for crime of violence at Simpang Renggam Rehabilitation Centre in Johor is 702 of which 316 are Indians compared to 111 Chinese and 111 Malays. Again comparatively, this only reflects the high incidence of criminality within the small Indian community."
If Malaysians had good jobs and opportunities, who would turn to crime? Indians had almost zero involvement in national and state economic development projects like Felda, Felcra, Perda, Keda, Kesedar, Kejora and Ketengah.
As an example, Hindraf advisor N Ganesan brings up the Malay-centric focus of the Tabung Ekonomi Kumpulan Usaha Niaga (Tekun), a government loans facility.
Ganesan said: "To give you an idea of the participation in the Tekun programme of Indians, see what Samy Vellu has to say in July 2009 and compare that with the statement from the Tekun managing director. Samy said 352 Indian entrepreneurs from Perak, Kedah (205), Penang (20) and other states (1,258) had received Tekun Nasional loans between 2008 and 2009. A total of 93 [Indian] entrepreneurs received loans amounting to RM761,000.
"Compare with the following statement from Abdul Rahman Hassan, the Tekun MD - 'Until 31 December 2007, Tekun Nasional had allocated RM772 million to 139,000 entrepreneurs throughout the country. For this year 2008, Tekun allocated RM182 million to 19,000 entrepreneurs.' - That is close to one billion ringgit. Have you ever heard of any loan disbursements to any Indian businessman friend or relative of yours?"
For that matter, how many Chinese have ever heard of Tekun?
Misplaced accusation of 'racism'
Doing a statistical analysis for the Journal of the Kuala Lumpur Royal Malaysia Police College (No. 4, 2005), ACP Amar Singh Sidhu wrote in his paper 'The Rise of Crime in Malaysia': "Up to date, the number of individuals detained under preventive laws for crime of violence at Simpang Renggam Rehabilitation Centre in Johor is 702 of which 316 are Indians compared to 111 Chinese and 111 Malays. Again comparatively, this only reflects the high incidence of criminality within the small Indian community."
If Malaysians had good jobs and opportunities, who would turn to crime? Indians had almost zero involvement in national and state economic development projects like Felda, Felcra, Perda, Keda, Kesedar, Kejora and Ketengah.
As an example, Hindraf advisor N Ganesan brings up the Malay-centric focus of the Tabung Ekonomi Kumpulan Usaha Niaga (Tekun), a government loans facility.
Ganesan said: "To give you an idea of the participation in the Tekun programme of Indians, see what Samy Vellu has to say in July 2009 and compare that with the statement from the Tekun managing director. Samy said 352 Indian entrepreneurs from Perak, Kedah (205), Penang (20) and other states (1,258) had received Tekun Nasional loans between 2008 and 2009. A total of 93 [Indian] entrepreneurs received loans amounting to RM761,000.
"Compare with the following statement from Abdul Rahman Hassan, the Tekun MD - 'Until 31 December 2007, Tekun Nasional had allocated RM772 million to 139,000 entrepreneurs throughout the country. For this year 2008, Tekun allocated RM182 million to 19,000 entrepreneurs.' - That is close to one billion ringgit. Have you ever heard of any loan disbursements to any Indian businessman friend or relative of yours?"
For that matter, how many Chinese have ever heard of Tekun?
Misplaced accusation of 'racism'
The Human Rights Party (HRP) states they have no choice but to pursue their Indian-oriented empowerment strategy because of the "subtle, systematic and pervasive scheme of exclusion" that confronts the community.
HRP states that elements in the education system denigrate Indians (the 'pariah' word controversy with regard to 'Interlok' comes fresh to mind) and Tamil schools badly neglected by the government do nothing for the self-esteem of Indian students.)
Even as I'm typing this now, I'm informed that Hindraf activists at Batu Caves have been arrested by police after some fracas on the 'Interlok' issue.
M Moorthy, R Subashini, S Shamala, S Banggarma, Regina Mohd Zaini, Indira Gandhi, Rani, Anthony Rayappan, A Kugan, Francis Udayappan, R Gunasegaran, M Krishnan, S Kalaiselvan, S Tharmarajen, M Ragubathy, G Veerasamy - these names are but skimming the surface of the long list of victims. These are the custodial deaths and those oppressed by Islamic religious authorities and the conflicting court jurisdictions.
Teoh Beng Hock and Tan Yi Min are two names that similarly belong to the same category above. However there is little prospect of Chindraf or Chinese Rights Action Force.
How can there be Chindraf when political leaders claiming to represent all Malaysians are confused about their own ethnic identity?
HRP states that elements in the education system denigrate Indians (the 'pariah' word controversy with regard to 'Interlok' comes fresh to mind) and Tamil schools badly neglected by the government do nothing for the self-esteem of Indian students.)
Even as I'm typing this now, I'm informed that Hindraf activists at Batu Caves have been arrested by police after some fracas on the 'Interlok' issue.
M Moorthy, R Subashini, S Shamala, S Banggarma, Regina Mohd Zaini, Indira Gandhi, Rani, Anthony Rayappan, A Kugan, Francis Udayappan, R Gunasegaran, M Krishnan, S Kalaiselvan, S Tharmarajen, M Ragubathy, G Veerasamy - these names are but skimming the surface of the long list of victims. These are the custodial deaths and those oppressed by Islamic religious authorities and the conflicting court jurisdictions.
Teoh Beng Hock and Tan Yi Min are two names that similarly belong to the same category above. However there is little prospect of Chindraf or Chinese Rights Action Force.How can there be Chindraf when political leaders claiming to represent all Malaysians are confused about their own ethnic identity?
HELEN ANG used to be a journalist. In future, she would like to be a practising cartoonist. But for the present, she is in the NGO circles and settling down to more serious writing and reading of social issues.
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