Alternate News

So the milk program has now been temporarily suspended.

Bravo.

As if it wasn't enough that the canteen foods were drowned in oil, over fried and brimming with fat, the government has finally discovered just how important that school milk program is.

Folks, I put a question to all of you. Is milk good or bad?

And if you can't answer that question, just have a glass of plain milk and gag and know that it's good.

Milk is good. And I'm talking about cow's milk. Not soy juice.

That's right. Soy juice! Soy's are beans. The closest thing I can think of to it is rice wine. That sounds much better, actually.

Anyway, back to the government. Giving kids (and teenagers, and some adults) milk is a good idea. It always has been. However, once again, our Malaysian way of lack of maintenance, or nonexistent, has destroyed another good thing about Malaysia.

There's no use crying over spoiled milk. I urge whoever's in charge to get this program back up and running, and if possible extend the program up to high school.

Just an observation, though.

Why doesn't the government just supply milk brands that are off the shelf, since maintenance is such an issue?

I mean, since they can raise enough cash for civil servants to get such an incredible pay rise, shouldn't they be able to fork out an even greater amount to make sure the children of this country get healthy?

Or is that part of what the civil servants should be spending on?

As much as I love our Alternative Front, bringing up personal issues from the opponent's leaders which have no connection whatsoever in the administration of the country, or even the district, is uncalled for.

In this case, the PKR's insistence of bringing up the case of bringing up the case of Altantuya Sharibuu.

Altantuya Sharibuu was a Mongolian model who was murdered in Malaysia. The reason her case is considered a conspiracy is based on the way she was killed, in which she was murdered, a C4 explosive pack was shoved into her, and she was blown up to bits in the middle of an oil palm plantation.

What's even more interesting is the fact that 2 policemen were charged with her murder, and a close friend of our Deputy Prime Minister, Razak Baginda, was also charged for the murder.

During the court room drama that ensued, Razak Baginda testified that Altantuya was blackmailing him. Furthermore, during a court session, Razak Baginda's wife went hysterical and shouted that "her husband is a good man, and has no intentions of becoming Prime Minister".

Now, this put a lot of heat on our DPM, Najib Tun Razak.

Then came a conspiracy theory that Altantuya was the translator for our DPM to negotiate the purchase of submarines in France, and that she was blackmailing to release the information of the transaction. This is an alleged conspiracy, in which nothing has been proven.

And yet, the exiled leader of the PKR, finds this as his main agenda in the by election of Ijok, which made no sense to me.

There were so many other issues to bring up:

• The government has yet to discuss the calculation of the Bumiputera equity percentage, which they said they would reveal to the public and have yet to do so.
• The amount of money going into the compensation of the companies involved in the Customs complex in Johor. Who's paying it?
• Look into health, education, social ills in Ijok. These are all issues to be dealt with.
• Samy Vellu signing the toll concessionaire agreements which allowed for increases in toll rates.
• The stabilization of the current oil and diesel prices which have not been brought down, even after the price of petrol has gone down since then.
• The amount of money saved from the petrol subsidy was supposedly used for the improvement of public transportation. Has Ijok seen such improvements?
• Of the education and welfare amount dedicated from the government, has Ijok been given it's fair share of such?

There are a million and one issues to be brought up. I can see no reason why PKR went on a witch hunt to go and attack our DPM. It's ridiculous.

I'm not sure what is happening, but as usual, I've probably been banned on commenting on Anwar Ibrahim's blog. Since I'm not going to let this stop me from commenting on any of the issues I find reprehensible on any one blog, I'm going to post my comment here instead. Besides, I was never one to shut up just because I had my mouth sewn up.

I am currently pissed off with this issue, and I condemn any PKR member who does not speak out on this.

The Mufti of Perak, the religious leader in question here, is basically a bigot. For a couple of responses on several issues:

• HIV+ people should be gathered and placed in a quarantined community

       I wouldn't mind putting this guy along with John Howard in a padded cell, just for suggesting such ridiculous and uneducated idiocy.

• Deepavali and Chinese New Year
  

      You heard right. Muslims are discouraged to even wish their brethren in the same country well for their holidays. Heck, even Muhammad greeted and stopped to witness other religion's celebrations.

• SMS message

      Last year, there was a case where a rogue instant message was sent out that stated that hundreds of Muslims were about to be baptised by a national hero at a local church in the state. He was one of those who sent out this idiotic message, after it was forwarded to him from some lady wearing her headscarf too tight, I guess.

    How else does one reason such gossipmongering nutcases?

    What is even more interesting is that he was not even held accountable for the mob which later attacked the church.

Personally, I can't see why Anwar Ibrahim, who insists he's trying to attain social justice, would actually criticize the parties which are demanding for this guys resignation as a religious leader. God knows how many he's misled already.

The shooting at Virginia Tech University is a bitter affair.

How does one justify turning amok and shooting 32 people dead before turning the gun on yourself?

You can't. You can't make any sense of it. The mind reels thinking about it. Was it because someone didn't treat him right? Did he fail a class? Was he being bullied?

It's all the questions that are being brought up time after time. Are video games to be blamed? Was it the music?

After watching "Bowling for Columbine" another question would be if the NRA would go and host a gathering at Virginia Tech university in about 2 weeks, just to show that guns are good.

32 people would probably disagree with them. But then, we'll never hear what these 32 have to say again.

I'm not for stricter gun control, especially since I support any country's citizens to use their own constitutional rights. However, I am for someone to take responsibility for putting the gun in this " about 19-years-old Asian looking teenager's" hands.

Putting the blame game aside, I offer my sincerest condolences to those in Virginia for this atrocity, and hope the students will not let this sick and horrible incident stop them from continuing their quest for a better future through education.

That's right, I've registered with the Election Comission (EC) here in Malaysia. And what's more interesting is the fact that I registered about 300 kilometers away from where I'll be voting.

So to those hypocritical nutcases who comment on the government without registering to vote, get off your ass and go register.

Malaysia finally made it into international news, but not exactly in a good way.

It is now known that certain administrative buildings and government offices in Malaysia have installed jamming devices to stop PDAs and mobile phones from working.

My only comment on this is Thank God!

I've seen such idiotic people who come into the Immigration office using their mobile phones to call their relatives about a document they left at home. What's more irritating is that they insist on doing this when it's their turn at the counter, thus holding up the line for about a few minutes to an hour.

I think it's necessary to jam signals not only in government offices, but in banks as well. And how about cinemas?

I am honestly sick of that Digi "who dare scold me, I taiko lor" commercial! Not that it works anyway!

If Malaysians are too dumb to obey the signs that tell them to turn off their mobile phones in these locations, then by all means, it's up to the government to enforce it.

The fact now is that the Pan Islamic Party (PAS) wants to turn green like it's flag is downright propaganda and hilarious.

It's like watching some crazy yuppie who's willing to break every principle he has just to get a promotion.

First, they allow concerts and segregate the audiences by gender, as if this was the Muslim thing to do. Orthodox Islam does not even allow concerts, so what the heck do you think you're doing?!

Next up, they re-introduced the traditional dances, the cultural performances in Kelantan, such as the mak yong and the dikir barat, which was disallowed before. But there's a catch.

These performances can only be seen by tourists. What kind of sick limitation is this?!

As if this wasn't ridiculous enough, there's more.

They state government recently announced that it wants to allow entertainment centers to open in Kelantan. The catch: it will be gender segregated entertainment centers. So if you don't mind getting your groove on in a guys only, or girls only disco and bar, then I guess you can go ahead.

Now, with another election coming up, they've just recently announced that they want to allow women and non-Muslim to be candidates.

Finally, they've decided to add environmental issues into their manifesto without admitting that they were actually part of the state government that allowed the deforestation of the Lojing Forest Reserve, just like the UMNO party.

PAS, you're a party of hypocrites who are still stuck in the 19th century. Until you get with the times, you're not going to ever have the same status you had in 1999.

"Cheney" wants to increase NS to 2 years to instill good values and build character.

Fine by me. Take them for two years.

But answer my concerns first.

Here are my concerns whenever anyone brings up the National Service program.

Firstly, are they instilling loyalty and dedication to the government, or to the country?

This is a sensitive issue that I will not elaborate, lest this post be banned, but I am sure some can see the differentiation in between the two. All I am saying is that these future citizens of our country should be taught to love the country, and leave politics bloody well aside.

You can put anything you want on the NS website, but I would like to see the material and the alignment of the trainers. Make these camps a politically neutral area, or so help me, I will bring it down myself.

This is because I question whether the government encouraging free thinking individuals, or simply making recruits?

Then there's the issue recently brought up that the NS camps are still, after 4 years in implementation. This is intolerable and is not in good faith.

Parents are trusting you with their children's lives. The least you could do is make sure the equipment are all up to par, no matter the cost. The costs for good equipment is expensive, but the costs of a kid dying due to faulty equipment is unforgivable, and will tarnish the image of the entire program.

Thirdly, I agree with "Cheney" that it won't be easy to persuade parents to put off their kids years studying in university for 2 years. However, it is not impossible. Before you go about trying to convince parents, you should open the camp and the curriculum for public viewing. It is, after all, public money that goes into those M-16 shells you use for training rounds.

Finally, I question the medical examinations given to these students, even if our Health Minister sees it as "repetitive" and "a waste of public funds". Not all Malaysian parents know the ailments of their children, thus the need for complete physical checkups for the students not only before attending the program, but also at periodical periods within the proposed 2 year program.

We do not need any more trainees dying due to their unknown health symptoms.

If whosoever is in charge of the National Service program can accomplish these, then I see no objection from my side.

Malaysia Gemilang.

Jalur Gemilang.

Gemilang. Cemerlang. Terbilang.

Just what exactly is the meaning of this word which I personally find has been overused by our government?

Type the word in the Wikipedia search and you'll get Jaclyn Victor's album. If that's the real meaning of the word, then that's music to my ears.

But we all know that's not the real definition.

Apparently the translation of gemilang means "glorious".

They must mean the flag then, because glorious is not the words I would use to describe Malaysia or it's leaders right now.

Would a glorious nation have leaders who curse and swear at one another during parliamentary debates?

Sure they would. I mean, we're following the "Look East" mantra set by our government. They have yet to start fighting in Parliament, like they do in Taiwan, nor have they thrown the ballot box at the head of the Prime Minister, as done in Korea.

Compared to them, we're downright "glorious" to be calling the Opposition as monkeys, jeering them, putting down every motion because it was brought up by the Opposition instead of some lackey backbencher.

Would a glorious nation have bribery all around them?

Sure they would. Look at Indonesia and Philippines. Go talk to your Filipino maids. They can tell you how they've seen bags of cash being dumped in rich house compounds back home.

So I guess bribery is also another category of a "glorious" nation.

Do glorious nations control and limit the freedom of speech?

Well duh~!

We can't have nutcases everywhere telling everyone otherwise. Who would believe us then. In this case, once again our "glorious" nation looks to China, where they actually took a blogger off the street and kept him in lockdown until there was actually a petition to release him.

Although we don't have that in Malaysia, we have people who are suing bloggers, with the PM backing the act. This, of course, is the very man who goes around telling every nation he visits that Malaysia is practicing transparency.

Let's not forget the banning of The Last Communist because of it's "bad timing".

So let's see. Does Malaysia fit the guideline of a "Gemilang" nation?

Foul mouthed leaders who can't act civil, even in Parliament?
Check.

Widespread bribery?
Check.

No freedom of speech?
Check.Check.Check.Check.Check.Check.Check.Check.

Congratulations, Malaysia, you "gemilang" country, you!!

Here's what I don't get. The media is controlled strictly by our government and it's members.

So why even bother hosting talks for the media?

Just threaten to revoke their licenses, which have to be renewed yearly. I mean, isn't that what the government does anyway?

I find it really, really sarcastic that our government, which prides itself on it's "transparency", continually insists to shove every single piece of dirt under the OSA.

Case in point, the recent revealing of the toll concessionaire agreements by the Opposition which got them into trouble, even after it was realised that these agreements were made public years ago.

I just wish to ask this:

By having the control over the licensing of press and other media, and having the threat of having their license revoked, is this not, in fact, an act of terrorism against the very foundations of the press, which has the sole purpose to spread truth and knowledge without boundaries?

Therefore, is this talk about the media's role in fighting terror no more than a call to end biased media, or is it just another gathering to enforce the media to bow down to the will of the government?