Nepal to host education, book fair for people

According to a Xinhua news report, " The Nepal Education and Book Fair 2007 is being organized on June 1-9 in Kathmandu ". From afar, this friend of Nepal in Kuala Lumpur can only wish it well and success.

Nepal strives to enrol more kids into schools

Real, pressing agenda for building New Nepal

Nepal as a role model of peace, reconciliation

Cheers for Dr. Rajakumar's good health, spirit

Last night was a memorable night because I was invited to join the 75th birthday party of Dr. M.K. Rajakumar, an ex-leader and people's intellectual of the now defunct Labour Party of Malaya (LPM) who was also detained without trial in the 1960s under the Internal Security Act (ISA). I was also honoured enough to propose a toast for his good health and good spirit on behalf of his guests. An English-language biogragraphy of Dr. Rajakumar is now in the process of being written so that his idealism, intellectual ideas and spirit of sacrifice would continue to inspire, motivate and guide many generations to come.

The other day while I was having a game of chess with Beng Cheng in his jewellry shop, I saw to my pleasant surprise and with a sense of nostalgia that there was still an abacus on the top of the cashier counter. I still remember father taught me in the 1970s - when there was no calculator or computer yet - how to operate it. After learning the method for addition, I gave up for lack of patience but now it seems that the old-fashion abacus - or some modified version of it- is again used by some primary schools and private tuition classes to impart to children the traditional skills of mental arithmatics.

Classical Chinese-style physiotherapy in K.L.

Chinese culture-an Indonesian introspection

Moral progress in culture, arts in New China

Congratulation for 20th birthday of Harakah

Warmest takniah and selamat menerbit from James to Harakah on the auspicious occasion of the 20th anniversary of its founding. 1987 was also the first year of my own open participation in the public affairs of tanahair kita.

Harakah played a very critical role indeed during the dark periods of 1987-1989 and 1998-2004 in defending justice and dignity for the persecuted of all ethnic communities by providing a voice for the voiceless and empowering the people to stand up against oppression. Harakah now includes an English-language section while the party PAS has also published a Chinese-language newsletter Renmin Shishi (人民时事) or People's Current Affairs or Hal Ehwal Semasa Rakyat.

PAS: Umno's racial politics endangers nation

PAS: Umno GA declares war on M'sian nation

Re-examining Malaysia's " National Question "

SEA's largest Reclining Buddha is in Kelantan

PAS: Communist party helped secure Merdeka

Just went to downtown Kuala Lumpur and met shopkeeper friend Beng Cheng who insisted on having a game of chess with me. I lost.

Let's have a break for an enjoyable, happy and refreshing weekend.

Malay origin of 'May 13-as-coup-d'etat' thesis

Contrary to the popular impression of those who have not read May 13 - Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riots of 1969 and think that Dr. Kua Kia Soong is the first person who ' invented ' a new interpretation or perspective of the 1969 riots, the public origin of the thesis of 'May 13' as a coup d'etat can actually be traced to a well-known veteran Malay journalist Haji Subky Latiff who wrote in 1977 that:

" The May 13 Incident did not occur spontaneously. It was planned quickly and purposely. The identity of the planners of the incident cannot be stated with accuracy. But whatever it was that happened, the Malay 13 Incident was a form of coup d'etat directed against Tunku Abdul Rahman. The Tunku's power in fact ended from then onwards. Although he continued to be Prime Minister and President of Umno, he was no more than a figurehead ". ( p. 3 )

What Dr. Kua Kia Soong has uniquely done is the discovery of a set of newly declassified British dossiers in London that he thinks confirms what Subky had already observed in 1977. Haji Subky Latiff, whom I personally know as a sifu-class of friend now writes for Harakah. Don't tell me it was Haji Subky Latiff who actually wrote all those then confidential British diplomatic intelligence on the 'May 13' riots.

Of course, another friend of mine former professor Dr. Syed Husin Ali, who launched and critically reviewed Dr. Kua Kia Soong's book last Sunday at the Kuala Lumpur-Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, reportedly does not fully agree with the central thesis of the book.

Progressive Malays against ' May 13' book ban

Interrogating Special Branch on 'May 13' riots

Assuming and just assuming, for the purpose of analysis to achieve moral clarity, the Malaysian police Special Branch (SB) has always been omniscient or all-knowing even in 1969, then why couldn't it help the authorities to prevent the outbreak of the 'May 13' riots in Kuala Lumpur ? So, claiming omniscience or to be all-knowing carries the legal duty and moral responsibility of doing the right thing at the right time.

Speaking at the launch of May 13 - Declassified Documents on Malaysian Riots of 1969, retired SB chief and ex-CPO of Sarawak and Perak Yuen Yuet Leng also said, however, that the police Special Branch did not know in advance ' May 13' would be occuring, which logically means that it is not always omniscient or all-knowing and that its archive may not be "more accurate" than the British dossiers. No one, not even the Special Branch, can have the pie and eat it too.

Blind faith vs scientific reasoning on dossiers

In my last observation on the 'May 13' book, I said that unless and until we have perused and studied BOTH sets of information by comparing and contrasting them emprically, we cannot know for sure and without an iota of doubt at this point of time that the Malaysian police Special Branch (SB) archive must necessarily be "more accurate" than the British dossiers. To claim or assert otherwise is not social-scientific at all.

Now, I further put it to you as a hypothesis that British dossiers on the 'May 13' riots are inherently impartial and disinterested because no Britons or any other Briton-like Mat Sallehs were involved in the physical fightings in the streets while British dossiers on the twelve-year 'Emergency' from 1948 to 1960 are inherently biased and self-serving because British and other Commonwealth troops physically fought with the anti-colonial insurgents on the ground.

Mindguards' changed view on British dossiers

John Esposito's Islam book back for sale in KL

Just came back from Kuala Lumpur after making some overseas travel arrangments and also window-shopping in Kinokuniya at KLCC where I happily found What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam penned by American Islamic scholar John Esposito is back on the shelves. The many titles authored by Bernard Lewis are also around but books written by Karen Armstrong are still no where to be found. I personally interviewed Esposito before in the mid-1990s when I was the Senior Staff Writer for the Chinese-language Sin Chew Jit Poh.

How do we know for sure and without an iota of doubt at this point of time that the Malaysian police Special Branch (SB) archive on 'May 13' riots must necessarily be "more accurate" than the British dossiers on the subject as published in May 13 - Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riots of 1969, unless and until we have perused and studied BOTH sets of information by comparing and contrasting them emprically ?

Mindguards' changed view on British dossiers

Why I dislike Prof. Khoo Kay Khim's posturing

Berita Harian discovers WMD in Merbok ... :)

My first reading of ' May 13 ' book completed

Just finished reading May 13 - Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riots of 1969 ( Petaling Jaya, Suaram, 2007 ) page-to-page for the first round. I am pleasantly surprised to see my friend Ian Ward's on-the-ground reports on the riots for the Daily Telegraph in London are also included but I am a bit disappointed by the fact that there is no subject/name index published at the end of the book for referencing.

However, credit must be given to author and UK-trained sociologist Dr. Kua Kia Soong for making no claim to the effect that it is the most complete, definative and authoritative account of the 1969 riots that has turun dari langit and therefore superceded all other books, archives, records, narratives or discourses on the subject.

Former Vietnam War correspondent Ian Ward (left) is, of course, the now well-known co-author of Chin Peng: My Side of History and also Faces of Courage as well as publisher of the late Patrick Keith's Ousted!. I am sure Ian is more handsome in 1969 than this vagabond-like image I took with my handphone camera last year in Kuala Lumpur after we met for dinner in a hotel.

In the book, Ian is quoted as observing, in a news report filed for the Daily Telegraph in London on 23 May, that:

" The initial stages of the government crackdown produced glaring discrimination against the Chinese. Two forms of curfew resulted. In the Chinese district the population cowered behind doors as trigger-happy Malay troops from the Royal Malay Regiment prowled the empty streets outside, periodically shooting into the homes. In kampungs, on the other hand, Malay soldiers chatted and joked with armed Malay thugs ... " ( p.56 )

However, Ian also borne witness to another scene in the almost exclusively Malay residential area at the heart of Kuala Lumpur:

" By the weekend, the steam had gone from the rioters, except perhaps for Kampung Baru where the 'Commandos al Allah', a movement for Malay extremists, had set up their headquarters. There the extremists threatened even fellow Malays, who by this time were openly hostile towords the hooligans ... " ( p.57 )

Finally, Ian's report published in the Daily Telegraph on 16 May on the pressures mounted within Umno for the Tunku's resignation resulted in a diplomatic protest lodged against him by the Tunku's office to the British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur. ( p.59 )

Progressive Malays against 'May 13' book ban

Mindguards' changed view on British dossiers

Communists played no part in ' May 13 ' riots

Progressive Malays against ' May 13' book ban

According to a malaysiakini report, ex-DPM and adviser to Parti KeADILan Rakyat (PKR) Anwar Ibrahim (pix above) has rejected any suggestion of banning May 13 - Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riots of 1969. The Malay-language version of the statement is also published in PAS' Harakah Daily which also reported a multiethnic gathering this morning held in support of the freedom of distribution of the book.

Meanwhile, veteran social scientist and son of prominent anti-colonial Malay nationalist Ahmad Boestamam, Rustam A. Sani (left) has also joined the progressive Malay opinions in rejecting any ban of the book while former Utusan Melayu editor-in-chief Said Zahari had already stated his opposition to any ban as the outset of the controversy. Both Said and Rustam call for rational and mature discussion.

Mindguards' changed view on British dossiers

Mindguards' changed view on British dossiers

Many 'academic ' dissertations and papers on various aspects and dimensions of the anti-communist 'Emergency' have been written with the use of only English-language British sources (as if there are no Chinese or Malay records written on the other side of the divide) which generally portray the communists as only 'radical Chinese' and these works have also been accepted as official accounts of the 12-year insurgency.

Now, the use of English-language British dossiers on the 'May 13' riots in 1969 by Dr. Kua Kia Soong is attacked by 'National' Mindguards as "biased", "racist" or not credible. See the drastic and sudden shift of the mindguards' attitude, view or position on British intelligence, sources and media reports as the subject-matter changes ?

Why I dislike Prof. Khoo Kay Khim's posturing

Communists played no part in ' May 13 ' riots

Why I dislike Prof. Khoo Kay Khim's posturing

According to a malaysiakini report, history professor Khoo Kay Khim (left) claimed that the police Special Branch archive contains "more accurate information" on the 'May 13' riot of 1969. Professor Khoo is the same person who asserted that “the British had never ruled Malaya” and also one of the first 'scholars' who jumped up almost immediately after the publication of Alias Chin Peng: My Side of History to defend the official version of the 'Emergency'.

Although the New Straits Times have been interviewing him many times on Chinese Malaysian issues, the newspaper still opined in its post-Ijok editorial that the Chinese Malaysians " is a community that traditionally keeps their thoughts and feelings on issues to themselves" and which "rarely opens up". I do not like his 'more-Malay-than-Malays' and 'more-Malaysian-than-thou' posturing at all.

Why can't we read declassified files of BOTH the Special Branch AND foreign diplomatic intelligence at the same time and compare and contrast them to get an even fuller and more accurate picture? Why must we always think in terms of 'this-OR-that', not 'this-AND-that' ( get a tuition on Edward de Bono's Lateral Thinking, Prof ! ) ? If the police Special Branch was so omniscient or knowledgeable at that time, why couldn't the authorities prevent the outbreak of the riots?

Has Dr. Kua Kia Soong made any claim that his book is the most authoritative, definative and final account of 'May 13' riots that has also completely superceded all other books, archives or records?

Prof. Khoo's comments highly impressionistic

Gong Xi to my friend Kannan for being a proud and excited father now with a baby boy who arrived at this world at 8.26 a.m just now.

To be able to extract the public statement that "communists would never start racial riots" from a retired SB chief and ex-CPO of Sarawak and Perak Yuen Yuet Leng last Sunday without resort to torture, threat, duress or other undue influences is not an insignificant achievement in my life. This achievement is dedicated to the fond memory of Pak Rashid (1917-2006) and Makcik Salamah (1929-2005).

Posthumous biography of Kamarulzaman Teh

History must also be fair to non-Umno Malays

I still remember very vividly when I asked Pak Rashid (1917-2006) face-to-face in early 2005 in southern Thailand whether the communists were behind the 'May 13' riots as alleged by the then PM Tunku Abdul Rahman and has since been repeated by some mindless people even though it had been subsequently played down, his reply was terus-terang and serious: " itu cerita hantu Tunku".

Now, both the declassified documents as well as the statement of a retired Special Branch chief and former Sarawak and Perak CPO Yuen Yuet Leng that "communists would never start racial riots" have shown Pak Rashid's reply to me was correct and truthful. You see, anti-communists like Tunku could sometimes be wrong or untruthful. Of course, Pak Rashid's own memoirs Daripada Perjuangan Bersenjata Kepada Pendamaian has more of his critical views, opinions and observations on the Tunku on other events and issues.

Indeed, as Pak Said has told me in response to the publication of May 13 - Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riots of 1969, “ The correct intention of writing or reading history books is not to re-open old wounds or take revenge but to learn fact-based lessons with the view of not repeating mistakes and errors ”. Pak Said has, of course, high regard for Dr. Kua Kia Soong whom he calls a 'progressive and rational intellectual'.

Pak Said also said: “ Those who have read the book and think that they have other facts and interpretations should present them rationally with the right intention to find out the truth and contribute to national reconciliation, but those who have not read the book should read it first before they give their opinions”.

May 13: A Sunday morning well-spent at the book launch

BBQ time again with mates from Down Under

Looking forward to joining my Australan friends in Kuala Lumpur for a B.B.Q. tonight. My first B.B.Q with Australians was in Melbourne when Mrs. Ceferin hosted one for freshies of her 1982 English class. At 45 now, I have to be more self-disciplined and cut down the intake of red meat like beef, mutton and pork to control cholestrolo level, although my love for Foster's Larger has not diminished since I worked part-time at one of its breweries during a summer vacation.

In memory of my Jewish teacher Herb Feith

Chin Peng case to come up again on 22 June

The homecoming case of Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) veteran Ong Boon Hua @ Chin Peng will come up again on 22 June at the Kuala Lumpur High Court. To date, the defandants named by Chin Peng, namely the Government of Malaysia, Home Affairs Minister, Inspector-General of Police and Chief of Defence Forces, have still not filed any affidavits of defence to the court in opposition to his application based on the 1989 Malaysia-CPM Peace Accords in letters

According to an editorial in the New Straits Times, the Chinese in Malaysia " is a community that traditionally keeps their thoughts and feelings on issues to themselves" and "they rarely open up" but I saw no New Straits Times reporter or writer present yesterday at the public launching - which was conducted mainly in Prince Andrew's mother tongue which the newspaper's reporters and writers understand anyway - of Dr. Kua Kia Soong's May 13 - Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Racial Riot of 1969 (Petaling Jaya, Suaram, 2007) held at the Kuala Lumpur-Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall. There is also no news report of the book launch or even the existence of such an important book in the New Strais Times today.

New heaven, new earth for Zainuddin Maidin

Post-Ijok intelligence report for BN Chairman

Berita Harian discovers WMD in Merbok ... :)

Communists played no part in ' May 13 ' riots

After attending the launching forum of May 13 - Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riots of 1969 (Petaling Jaya, Suaram, 2007) and flipping through the book, I have absolutely no doubt that it is indeed a very important publication for many years to come but editor Dr. Kua Kia Soong has also stated that it is not a definative account of the tragedy yet and other are welcome to contribute to the rational search for truth.

pp. 43-45 of the book also published for the first time previously classified records of even British intelligence disbelieving Tunku's blame on the "communists" for the riots which were, in the assessment of Kua, " a coup d’etat against the Tunku by the then emergent Malay state capitalists - backed by the police and army to seize control of the reign of power from the old aristocrats ... ".

Sociologist Kua has also pointed out that the 'May 13' riots were " by no means a spontaneous outburst of racial violence as it has been portrayed to the Malaysian public " for the last 38 years.

Responding a point put forward by this blogger, a retired Special Branch chief and former Sarawak and Perak CPO Yuen Yuet Leng (袁悦凌) who also attended the launching forum, publicly conceded that "communists would never start racial riots".

A middle-aged Kelantanese Chinese Mr. Ong testified that Chinese felt safe in PAS strongholds at that time while another speaker Dr. Syed Husin Ali, who is now the deputy president of Parti KeADILan Rakyat (PKR), observed that there were also no riots in other Malay-majority states like Perlis, Kedah, Trengganu and Pahang.

According to the chair of the forum Elizabeth Wong, May 13 - Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Racial Riot of 1969 will be translated into Malay, Chinese and Tamil for popular distribution.

Rashid Maidin's memoirs now out in Mandarin

Posthumous biography of Kamarulzaman Teh

History must also be fair to non-Umno Malays

Mother was certainly very happy when I called just now and wished her Happy Mother's Day but she also reminded me once again that her own birthday falls on the 9th day of the 9th month of the traditional Chinese calendar. Next year, the ex-village girl from Batu Gajah in Perak's Kinta Valley will proudly - and with a perfectly clear conscience - celebrate her 80th birthday with five of her six children as university graduates and all of them as independent, responsible and productive true adults without ever becoming members of the MCA.

Sun shines on dark spots of Malaysian history

malaysiakini today published two special reports Unveiling the ‘May 13’ riots and What actually happened? on Dr. Kua Kia Soong's new book May 13 - Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Racial Riot of 1969 ( Petaling Jaya, Suaram, 2007) which explores one of the darkest chapters of Malaysian history with the guidance of facts and figures found in a set of newly declassified documents in London. Ex-MP Kua is also a UK-trained sociologist.

Editor Kua (left) also reasons that the 'May 13' riot was " by no means a spontaneous outburst of racial violence, as it has been portrayed to the Malaysian public " but " a coup d’etat against the Tunku by the then emergent Malay state capitalists - backed by the police and army to seize control of the reign of power from the old aristocrats ... ".

May 13 - Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Racial Riot of 1969 is going to be launched on 13 May 2007 (Sunday) at the Kuala Lumpur-Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, at 10.00 a.m to 1.00 p.m, featuring speakers Dr. Syed Husin Ali, Dr. S. Nagarajan and, of course, Dr. Kua Kia Soong himself. It is open to the public.

Root cause of racial politics in M'sia analysed

Resistance to fascism remembered in Europe

Yesterday, Europe commemorated the 62nd anniversary of the military victory over Fascism. The ex-USSR served and acted as the principal and heroic opponent to Fascism on the continental.

The Soviet nation and people lost some 20 million lives, including those of the 8,860,400 troops of the Red Army, in the Great Patriotic War against the invasion and attempted occupation of Hitler's army.

Martyrs and heroes of Holocaust remembered

60th anniversary of victory of anti-fascist war

Salute anti-fascist martyrs, patriots of all races

'May 13' book to be launched in KL on Sunday

A new, very bold and certainly ground-breaking book that compiles some of the now declassified documents on the infamous 'racial riot' that broke out on 13 May 1969 in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur is going to be publicly launched on 13 May 2007 (Sunday) at the Selangor-Kuala Lumpur Chinese Assembly Hall. May 13 - Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Racial Riot of 1969 is edited by Dr. Kua Kia Soong (柯嘉逊博士).

Dr. Kua Kia Soong, a UK-trained sociologist, is also a former Opposition Member of Parliament from 1990 to 1995 and also an ISA detainee during the equally infamous Operation Lallang of 1987. He is also the editor of K. Das & The Tunku Tapes (Petaling Jaya, SIRD, 2002). The launching of May 13 - Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riot of 1969 is open to Malaysians of all races and friends of Malaysia of all nations who seek truth and reconciliation.

Launching of Dr. Abraham's new history book

Re-examining Malaysia's " National Question "

History must also be fair to non-Umno Malays

New heaven, new earth for Zainuddin Maidin

On the 'new earth' outside the solar system discovered recently by Western scientists and astronomers, there is no blog, no SMS, no Internet, no malaysiakini, no 'communist monument', no Chin Peng, no ' Eurasian faces ', no Anwar Ibrahim, no PAS or PKR, no Chinese 'chauvinism', no Lelaki Komunist 'Terakhir', no Apa Khabar Orang Kampung, no BBC ...

Pak Rashid's brother-in-law Cao Qi Tai passes

(Updated) Condolence to my friend Michael whose father Cao Qi Tai (曹启泰)passed away at 75 on May 4 in a hospital in Guangzhou City. Uncle Cao Qi Tai (1932-2007) was born in Perlis as a Malayan but banished to China by the colonial authorities in the early 1950s under the 'Emergency' regulations and there he started life afresh and married a fellow banishee from Kampar. Uncle Cao's sister Qi Zhu (1929-2005), a guerilla fighter during the 1948-1957 anti-colonial war and the 1957-1989 civil war, married Pak Rashid and adopted the Muslim name Salamah. May all the great souls rest in lasting peace.

Meanwhile, veteran communist Suriani Abdullah (left) said late last night that she has been informed of Uncle Cao's passing and also made a long-distance call to send her family's "deep condolence" to his wife and children. The Sitiawan-born Suriani a.k.a. Eng Ming Ching now lives with her husband Abdullah C.D. in Ban Chulabhorn 12 in Sukhirin, southern Thailand.

Condolences from Kamariah, Haji Yusof Maidin

According to Suriani Abdullah who called me again this morning, Pak Rashid's daughter Kamariah as well as his younger brother and a former Umno state assemblyman in Perak, Haji Yusof Maidin would also like to convey their "very deep condolence and sympathy" and "feel sorry" for being unable to travel to China to attend the funeral or the memorial service to be held in Guangzhou City on 12 May.

Launching of Dr. Abraham's new history book

A Merdeka salute to martyr S.A. Ganapathy !

Abdullah C.D., Suriani remember R.G. Balan

Condemn Jamaludin's views on Indian M'sians

Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Dr. Jamaludin Jarjis's racialist remarks made against Indian Malaysians is certainly to be condemned by Malaysians and the people of the world of all ethnic backgrounds. Dr. Jamaludin's view on Indian Malaysians is as anachronistic and Orientalistic as New Straits Times' editorial views on Chinese Malaysians.

Dr. Abraham's new book impresses Chin Peng

A Merdeka salute to martyr S.A. Ganapathy !

Root cause of racial politics in M'sia analysed

A very neighbourly Open House for Deepavali

My Indian neighbours in a hotel in Guangzhou

Meeting up friends to exchange ideas on USA

My dear friend Kannan ends his bachelorhood

Multi-faceted Chinese New Year in my family

NST's anachronistic views on Chinese M' sians

In its editorial titled Wooing back the Chinese (Thursday, May 3, 2007), the New Straits Times makes some rather anachronistic and Orientalist observations on the Chinese community in Malaysia: ". . . This is a community that traditionally keeps their thoughts and feelings on issues to themselves. They rarely open up, but when they do, it will be through the ballot box, by which time it could be too late for political parties vying for Chinese support."

After reading these lines, I feel I am further justified in always telling editorial or lead writers, including those in the mainstream Chinese-language media, not to sit in the air-conditioned office too often but should instead go out occasionally to sembang-sembang or yam-char or yam-seng with straight-talking people whose warm affection for you may be expressed in %#@!

After all, sitting in the same office day in and day out with the same group of like-minded kaki leads easily into groupthink and cause the development all sorts of excessively fertile imaginations that lose all senses of proportion in terms of self, time and space.

47.5% Malay voters in Ijok support KeADILan

Multiethnic exploration of national economy

M'sian economic malaise analysed by Khalid

PKR's forum on marginalisation jam-packed

PAS: Umno's racial politics endangers nation

PAS: Umno GA declares war on M'sian nation

2006 Wesak Day Message by Dr. Wan Azizah

Sharing Chinese New Year's joy multi-racially

1,009 former MCA members cross over to PKR

Social liberation from ignorance, superstition

47.5 % Malay voters in Ijok support KeADILan

Despite the playing field that is self-evidently not level and the overwhelming concentration of resources of the ruling coalition in the Ijok by-election, the fact that opposition Parti Keadilan Rakyat, which publicly calls for the abolition of the New Economic Policy (NEP), was still able to retain nearly 50% of the Malay support is as significant as the marked and drastic shift of Chinese votes against the National Front. My independent cells in the field has reported that nearly 60% of Chinese electorates in Ijok cast their votes for PKR.

Post-Ijok intelligence report for BN Chairman

My collection of observations on by-elections

Post-Ijok intelligence report for BN Chairman

" After the great Evil Dragon was slain in Ijok, the prince married the princess, and the principality and its people thereafter lived in happiness, prosperity, harmony, equanimity and peace forever ... "

My collection of observations on by-elections

" Progress in human affairs, whether in science or in history or in society, has come mainly through the bold readiness of human beings not to confine themselves to seeking piecemeal improvements in the way things are done, but to present fundamental challenges in the name of reason to the current way of doing things and to the avowed or hidden assumptions on which it rests." (British historian E.H. Carr., What is History ? London, Penguin, 1961, 1990)

So, for the Ijok by-election, I have written three analyses at different points of time, namely Ijok – not just another by-election, Ijok: More than meets the eye? and Is there life for the opposition after Ijok? In the earlier Batu Talam and Machap by-elections, I also recorded my observations in Dialectics of Batu Talam by-elections, DAP-PKR: The unspoken fear and Machap: DAP staring at defeat.

P/S : Mr. Parthiban certainly did the right thing by paying a visit to his father's graveyard to express his gratitute immediately after the declaration of victory. I am truly touched by that gesture and hope it would inspire our pemuda-pemudi and adik-adik of all races who come from poor families not to forget the sacrifices of our parents.

P/P/S : I am also glad to hear that my friend Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim has vowed to lawan tetap lawan for a noble cause for all Malaysians.

There are actually two versions of the Evita musical. In one version, Evita Duarte is played by Elena Roger and in the other, by Madonna. I keep the VCDs of both versions and have just finished enjoying them again. It is a very romantic story with a highly political backdrop.

Last night, I finally found the CD of Yellow River Cantata (黄河大合唱) which I bought at the pasar malam in Petaling Jaya's SEA Park in the early 1990s. It is a rare Chinese-language musical that I love so much that I keep it in the favourite section of CDs and VCDs.

Long March documentary to be shown in U.S.

Doing nothing today except enjoying the evergreen Lesmis on VCD. I also keep CDs and VCDs of The Phantom Of The Opera, Evita, Doctor Zhivago, A Tale Of Two Cities, Oliver Twist and Schindler's List, etc.

Reading Hugo's Lesmis in Kuala Lipis in 1930s