Irene Fernandez

Have you heard of the true story of a case in the US, where a burglar had broken entry into a home, got stuck in the garage and couldn’t get out for a few days because the house owners were away on vacation? He survived by eating dog food stored in the garage. When the home owners got home, he of course was caught good and proper and was bundled off by the police. However, when the court heard his case – believe it or not, it was the home owner who was made the offender and the burglar the victim, because the “poor thing” was caught in the garage had to survive on dog food!!

I laughed when I read about it thinking this kind of stupidity can only happen in US. But guess what – it’s happened right here in Malaysia; unfortunately, to a person I greatly admire. I don’t personally know Irene Fernandez (though I bumped into her a few months ago and wished her well) but this woman’s heart for the helpless and her strength and courage have amazed me.

In 1995, Irene Fernandez had exposed the poor conditions at immigration detention centres in a memorandum entitled ‘Abuse, Torture and Dehumanised Conditions of Migrant Workers in Detention Centres’. She was arrested and charged a year later under Section 8A(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act, 1984. This was a time when migrant workers were especially pouring into the country and many of them, illegally. Those caught were sent to detention centres which were probably ill-equipped to cater for the increasing numbers. The testimonies of these detainees on the atrocious treatment they received were pitiful. So when one woman had the audacity to reveal these conditions, she became the offender. She was sentenced to 12-month imprisonment in 2003 (after a 7-year trial) and was allowed bail pending appeal.

You see, in “those days,” we were not supposed to find fault with the almighty public servant, and we are all aware of how the judiciary was being manipulated at that time. After all – why make such a fuss over foreigners? That’s what troubles me. Instead of making a thorough investigation and checking out the statements recorded, the denials of the offenders was simply accepted as truth. A woman demanding that we treat humans as humans was found guilty “of maliciously publishing false news.” Yeah, I’m biased, because I am very aware of the kind of work this woman does. I mean why should she bother, especially to go to jail. It’s not her fight! It’s exactly that, that makes this woman admirable. We need more Irene Fernandez’s in this world.

There has been a whole lot of bungling that has lead to a delay in hearing her appeal. What with missing documents – statements of prosecution witnesses, computer viruses wiping out volumes of notes (haven’t they heard of back-ups?) It has been a 13-year court battle and she deserves a fair trial. Justice must be seen to done and the integrity of the courts is at stake here. More importantly – the accountability of those responsible for Detention Centres is the issue here and the trial has become a smoke screen to detract from the real issues of governance, responsibility and integrity of public servants.

Let’s get back on focus. Irene Fernandez needs to be commended for highlighting wrongs that need to be set right in our society. Go after the real rogues!

By George, He’s got it!!

Of course it caught my eye – the page 4 headlines in The Star newspaper of 3 November 2008. It was big and bold – “BN will get support if it is fair.” It was a quote by DPM Najib. By George, he’s got it!! Finally!

Oh … I’ve GOT to quote this. The paper quoted him as saying ” The people will continue to support and have confidence in Barisan Nasional if the Government addresses the legitimate needs and grievances of each community” (emphasis mine) …. “we realize that each race has its own unique problems. …. regardless of the policy introduced ….. what was important was not the name but the ensuring that the policy is fair and just to all races.”

I rolled my eyes. Wasn’t the obvious being stated? But I’m glad it IS being stated – that some are beginning to see the light. I am hopeful and trying hard not to be cynical. Of course it is a long road from a public speech to implementation. But perhaps now we can hold him to his word come March 2009.

By George, he’s got it!! I think he’s finally got it! (For the blur-blur – this quote is by Prof Higgins in “My Fair Lady.”)

Exploded Eggs

You’ve heard of fried, poached, hard-boiled, soft-boiled, half-boiled or scrambled eggs, but have you heard of exploded eggs? Probably not, but that’s what I had a couple of days ago. And it’s not something I want to have again.

Let me tell you my story. My intention was to hard-boil six eggs and I decided to do it rather late at night, so that I would have it handy the next morning. To avoid the eggs from cracking with the initial heat on the stove, I kept a really low flame to heat the water before letting it boil. The plan was all well and good – except that I forget about the eggs and went off to sleep.

When I woke the next morning and went to the kitchen, there was this really strange odour and I kept thinking, “Something smells like it is burning.” Well, what do you think I discovered when I wanted to boil water for my morning coffee? You guessed it – exploded eggs! The low stove flame was still burning, the pot was crisp black inside and I had exploded six eggs on to the floor, on the stove top and plastered on the walls next to the stove!! My first reaction was to switch off the flame and profusely thank God that the whole thing had not broken out in flames during the night. (Talk about God’s protection – how we take it for granted!)

What a sight – dark brown egg-white and yolk spewed all over the place together with egg shells splintered into a million pieces. What a start to my day. The cleaning took quite a while and I couldn’t get rid of the “eggy” smell. I rang my sister to tell her the story and she recommended “Febreze” which I thankfully had at home (great for removing odours; it’s supposed to be for clothes, but it did a wonderful job on my stove, floor and walls).

I was thinking later – there HAS to be an object lesson in this experience, other than the obvious one, not to forget what you leave cooking on your stove. Well, thankfully the flame was really low, so it took all night for the water to disappear and for the eggs to start burning. But that is precisely where the object lesson was, I thought. It’s never wise to have anger or resentment quietly seething within us. The “heat” may seem harmless, but it eventually eats into us and there comes a point when everything burns up and, yes, explodes. You know what I mean. Hmmmm… must remember my exploded eggs the next time I have issues to settle …. Great story for counselors and communication gurus to use, don’t you think?

Supremacy

Perhaps it was just inaccurate translation. Or perhaps there was no really suitable word found in English. But it really irked me. “Supremacy” was a word that was continually bandied around at certain political meetings, with speakers screaming out for the recognition of their so-called supremacy status. It was supposed to be the translation for “ketuanan.” I decided to look up the thesaurus and the words associated with or explaining “supremacy” gave me no comfort either. It included ‘preeminence, primacy, superiority, domination, incomparability, hegemony and dominance.’ It also suggested words like – reign, rule, authority, power and control.’ To crown it all – the antonym was stated as “inferior!” So now, that begs a question – the rest of us are inferior?

No, it is not acceptable at all. Every man and woman is created in the image of God and there is a brotherhood of man that needs to be embraced. It’s a mindset and value that needs to be learned and taught to our children. Life on planet Earth requires a respect for one another that accepts the differences and celebrates the sameness. It’s our duty as fellow humans to see each other as God sees us. Sure, we may fail every now and then, but it’s a goal we need to work at. Together.

I may be reminded that our (Malaysian) Constitution provides for “special privileges,” but lets get this straight – that special privileges is just that, it is NOT supremacy. My feeling is that generally, the average man in the street has no great demands for supremacy and wants to just carry on his life in harmony with and respect for others. To be God-fearing would be to recognize that fact. Unfortunately, self-serving, ambitious politicians use any means to gain ground. The cry for supremacy creates a great divide and is that what we want? Let us be careful with the words we use. God’s call to us is to “love one another” as He has loved us. Who is supreme but He!

My Two Cents Worth – Malaysian Elections 2008

I’m no political analyst, but I do have some things to say about the Malaysian Election of 8 March 2008. The nation is still in shock, I think, at the results. Five states fallen to opposition hands! Including Selangor!!

If this isn’t God’s Almighty hand then I don’t know what is! Even the opposition parties are themselves staggered at the results. I guess even they did not realize the extent of the electorate’s frustrations. BN component parties speak of doing postmortems and I wonder if they would first take a good look at themselves instead of finger pointing. Let me say my piece to the parties concerned.

To MCA – I actually was quite impressed with the way the leadership and the party was evolving and moving on to new things – like lifelong learning, UTAR, commitment to Chinese schools and generally your efforts to reach the Chinese people to serve them. Your leadership was strong (despite the Chua Soi Lek saga). The only trouble was, you saw yourself as being subservient to UMNO, not as a partner in BN. You wanted to keep the peace I guess and felt that the best way to serve the Chinese was by not rocking the boat. But because the people were tired of putting up with of the arrogance of UMNO, the corruption and high handedness, you were identified with them at the elections. The electorate did not see the BN logo – they only saw UMNO.

To Gerakan, I guess the same applies to you. You had your share of problems trying to please the electorate in Penang, but you generally did a good job. But you too saw yourself as being subservient to UMNO. Appeasing them was an ongoing agenda it seemed. Again in the electorate’s mind, voting BN was tantamount to voting into government the same UMNO arrogance and corruption. I actually feel sorry for Gerakan.

To MIC – what is there to say to you? The BN logo only represented that clown Samy Velu, who saw himself as God’s gift to the Indians. Its common knowledge that he rules MIC with gangsters. Added to that was the government’s shameful treatment of HINDRAF. MIC candidates did not stand a chance. When Sothinathan tried to speak on behalf of the Indians in parliament, (concerning entrance into Medical Colleges overseas) he was punished for it and branded as a traitor to BN. Wasn’t it only because it did not suit UMNO? What is parliament about then? Is an MP’s loyalty to party above his loyalty to raise the people’s issues? When Sothinathan was “demoted” for 3 months, MIC just accepted it. You too see yourself as subservient to UMNO.

The PM’s handling of the Indians in HINDRAF, I really think lead to his downfall. It was with arrogance rather than genuine advice that you told the Indians to show their discontent at the polls. Well sir – they did!! Now you want a postmortem? The Indians had taken enough from Mahatir. From places deprived in public universities, to job opportunities for migrant estate workers, or even jobs in the civil service, or nursing or teaching. Not forgetting of course Mahatir’s treatment of the first two Malaysians (Indians) to reach the summit of Mt Everest. But things did not get any better under Abdullah Badawi. I am proud of the brave HINDRAF leaders and demonstrators. They were peaceful mind you. They had no other way to be heard. But BN’s strong arm tactics were used – their offices were searched and the leaders thrown in under ISA. To think that Samy Velu actually believed he would be elected!

I wish Palanivel had won, so that at least some semblance of leadership would have remained in MIC. Having lost by 198 votes is agonizing, especially when there were about 1,400 spoilt votes. But then again, if he had just continued as a Samy Velu puppet, it would have served no purpose.

To PKR, congratulations. But you are yet to be tested. Anwar Ibrahim, many of the things you did as DPM, will follow you, so your credibility will be closely watched. You can’t deny your high-handedness and arrogance as DPM. The question in the people’s minds is – has he really changed? But I like the racial composition of the party. Your work has just begun, and you have to prove yourself.

To DAP, you have fought hard and long. Now you have the chance to prove yourself. Please do it, for the people’s sake. And I mean ALL people.

To UMNO, you have an uphill task to even gain the confidence of the Malays. The Sungei Petani BN candidate Zainuddin Maidin was quoted as saying “It’s not that they love PKR or PAS that they voted against me.” No, they just wanted you out. PKR, DAP and PAS will have to prove themselves, but the people are willing to take that chance. You had your chance. That people actually stood guard at State Secretariat buildings to prevent BN officials (UMNO actually) from removing or destroying files shows the extent of the people’s distrust of you. Yes, you need to do a postmortem. Look within and look honestly. Take stock of the likes of keris wielding Hishamuddin, Khairy (btw did he win through postal votes?), Ali Rustam (the man who told PPP “UMNO doesn’t need you”), Khir Toyo and other leaders whose arrogance and greed is becoming a byword. Do a postmortem.

Winds of change can be frightening, but sometimes they are necessary. This change was needed, and we need to pray for those now in leadership – that they would be wiser and men and women of integrity. Malaysia will come through. The dust is slowly settling.

Remember there is a God who is Sovereign and He still rules.

I love this country

I’m Malaysian. I’m Malaysian Indian. And I love this country. I was born here and my parents were born here. I used to love listening to my grandparent’s stories of how they they came to this land. My grandfather was a graduate in History and he came here to be a teacher. What a noble and honoured profession that was those days! He eventually retired as a headmaster in Segamat.

My father served the Malayan Railways, as KTM was then known. He took pride in his job and he was a no-nonsense person. I was always proud of his principles and integrity. I also loved hearing his stories about serving the army during World War 2. So this is the only country I have known. My family’s history is deeply rooted in this land and I am part of it.

Most Malaysians will talk about the many things that make this county endearing – the glorious food, the festivals, the distinct Malaysian ‘lah’, our cultural and cross-cultural costumes, friends of different races, etc. We are thankful for our great highways, our generally stable economy, we will talk with endearment of our first Prime Minister and with pride of Nicole David. Without a doubt we will also criticize to the hilt and bring up our grouses with great passion – traffic jams in the cities, environment plundering, corrupt civil servants and politicians, racial polarization, human and religious rights, our dismal national football team, the education system and even the implementation of the NEP.

Well, to be honest, things are not like they used to be when I was growing up. Times change of course, but more and more I have been feeling like I am not really accepted in my own country. I was in government service (and was well taught by my father about serving well), but was always aware of the fact that so-called “meritocracy” that was rather conveniently used in the civil service, by-passed many deserving colleagues of promotions and awards. And it was an insidious unspoken rule – you don’t really belong.

I still love this country. It is my home. I wish my children felt the same way, but theirs is the generation that has been exposed to too much polarization and made acutely aware that they don’t belong. At best they are second class. I cannot decide their future for them, but I can always talk of the good things about being Malaysian, warts and all. I have a dream to see things as they were – that we are one people although of different colour and creed and for all us who call this our home – we are Malaysians.

Just started

Everybody seems to be saying things on blogs and while I felt it was too time-consuming an exercise for me, here I am following the crowd!!!

Well, actually, 2 things prompted me to start. Firstly, being a retiree, I am so aware of the speed at which changes are taking place. If nothing else, I wanted to get into blogging just so I would know how the whole thing works and keep in touch with the way communication takes place these days! Secondly, I realized there are many things on my mind which I would like to voice. Well, I figured that since that’s what blogging is all about anyway – why not start.

So here I am on 6 February 2008. I’m a blogger. I’m part of this unique worldwide family of communicators. Whether there is any response to my blogs, or whether it gets read even, is beside the point. I’m going to be jotting my thoughts and feelings – and that feels good.