Can't get enough of coffee shop political discussions?
Well, my ex-journalist friend, Oon Yeoh and fellow co-blogger on Education in Malaysia, Ong Kian Ming (PhD student on political science at Duke University) have started the "RealPolitik" podcast series to discuss various issues in Malaysian politics.
The 3rd and latest instalment deals with the ascent of Royal activism in Malaysian politics.
The royalty has been asserting itself in four states - two controlled by the BN and two controlled by the Opposition. Why is this happening and is it a good thing?
Oon has a trans-pacific discussion with Kian Ming about this very intriguing topic - check it out here or Oon's blog here. ;-)
9 comments:
Tony, I'm a republican; my dream is one day to see a truly democratic, equal and just Malaysia. After all, just because someone is born with a gold, or is it silver, whatever, spoon, does not give him/her the right to impose their injustice and inequality on us. For too long the ordinary Malays have been brainwashed like cows with rusty rings around their nose; by their supreme Malay elite class, whether from the royals or Umnojsllo! I remembered as a child visiting my grandparents in the kampung, how I used to hate seeing that and thinking how the cows might have suffered being pulled through those rings through their nose! Many ordinary Malays don't think for themselves what's best and what's just. Those Malay leaders are not GOD; let's start with that kind of thinking. Only then the ordinary brainwashed Malays might move forward into a truly modern century! I did; and now feel completely liberated as a human being, inner-self especially. And it's never too late. One last thing, I admired the bravery, resistance spirit and rebelliousness of Hang Jebat!
Noor Aza Othman.
Did u read my suggestion?
On Traffic Jam:
1)Analyze which industry or company can have different office hours than the mainstream.
2)Have staggered/flexible working office hours.
Mundell to Tony
Bouquets to you, Noor Aza, for your feisty stance! It warms my heart to see the younger generation so wide awake. The Divine Right of Monarchs is a subject I have investigated for many decades. The tradition goes all the way back to ancient Mesopotamia (and beyond really) "when the gods walked the earth" - which is what "Enuma Elish" means. The Enuma Elish is the creation epic of Sumeria and every chapter begins with the phrase: "When the gods walked the earth..." Well, these ancient records deserve to be taken seriously as hitorical documents. I recommend reading a few books by Zecharia Sitchin, a maverick historian and paleoanthropologist who authored the controversial 'Earth Chronicles.' Then you'll understand better how royalty and religious doctrine are interlocked systems of mass control.
dear noor aza othman,
i think distinctions should be made between democracy, republic, absolute monarchy, and constitutional monarchy.
hang tuah and the malaccans of his time served an absolute monarch, which, was the norm in most of europe. at this age, where the crowned heads of europe are all but constitutional monarchies, their right to inherit the throne to be the head of state, is of profound importance in the check and balance mechanism of the fuctioning democracies there.
party elected presidents, are a horrifying thing. imagine spore and the check and balance role of her head of state, one can certainly doubt the need for such luxury. imagine BN nominating ppl such as khairy or muhammed taib as presidents, and as head of states, has reserve powers that our current impartial sultans and the DYMM agong has.
i can tell you a lot of examples in which republics and presidents rule, and have easily become failed states due to unchecked powers, military control and the like, dictatorships in the making, actually.
there can be democracy in a constitutional monarchical system, and there can also be NO democracy in a republic system. why trade a perfectly fine system away for some uncharted method of governance, especially for such a young and immature country as msia? the brits would nvr trade her majesty the queen for a tony blair or gordon brown nominated president of great britain.
Malaysia seriously needs a big change in momentum towards an improved education system. A majority of Malaysians still have a vague perception on what is right and what is wrong. The ability to distinguish between right and wrong can only improve with proper education. We cannot respect Royalties unless they gain our respect first. And remember how much of our country's income goes to them.
Member of the Royalties like Raja Nazrin will certainly gain my respect by doing away with luxurious wedding and preaching Malaysians for Malaysia concept.
But obviously, its still comes down to our Education System. I believe that is the most important thing to improve and that is why we put people like TP in parliament to fight for a more improved system.
Mundell, good suggestion but that is not the main focus towards improving the traffic in the city. Number one should be a more improved public transport. No hesitation at all on this. The BN rule have been to NOT IMPROVE public transport so we can buy Protons or imported cars hence contributing to the AP coffers and also of course, make toll operators rich rich rich. Malaysians depends too much on cars which is very very inefficiency way of using fuel.
Places like Puchong, Cheras, Subang, Klang with high density of population seriously needs MRT, not even LRTs!! Implement that and you will see a drastic change in our traffic. BN's short term solution all this while is to make roads and charge tolls. All this solutions only bring richness to them and their cronies while the Rakyat bleeds. We demand a more efficient Public Transport System and this in turn will reduce our dependency on petrol.
Another solution is better control of our traffic light system. Our traffic light systems needs better management. Many times we find ourselves stuck in front of a red light with no movement of traffic on other ends. A traffic light system with proper sensors and varying time control can solve this. Remember, and idle car means wastage of petrol and time, even wear and tear of engines. And when you reduce that wastage, you can potentially save millions.
Sorry, TP for the off topic, just hope we put you in Parliament to fight for better efficiency in the system. We seriously need a big improvement so that this country will start moving forward again.
Laurence S
Dear YB
Maybe the history of Hang Jebat & Hang Tuah need to be studied in detail again. Perhaps the so called rebellion of Hang Jebat was for a more meaningful cause. You can tell I am a Hang Jebat fan...even in primary school I was in the Rumah Hang Jebat!
Anyway, not here to tell my history. Just want to voice out that there seems some disrespect to the Terengganu royal family on the apparent disagreement to the appointment of new MB by the palace...by none other than BN-UMNO.
Dear Tony,
Sorry off topic, I fully agree Laurence, especially on the viewpoint of having efficient public transport systems like.
If we have truly efficient public transport systems like MRT, this will be a great relief for millions of workers everyday financially, physically, and mentally. The benefits are tremendous - less air pollution, less jam, stress and accidents, better life quality, more money and time to spend, etc.
I really hope that the DAP-PKR-PAS state goverment can look and work on this seriously. We are too disappointed with the empty promises given by Pak Lah.
Thank you.
Puchong resident
(a victim of traffic jam everyday)
火箭杯葛不可，巫统杯葛却没事
登州务大臣委任事件确实像一班的猴子在作戏！
回想，霹雳委任州务大臣导致林吉祥发言的杯葛事件，巫统党员就有如一群还未文明的猴子点燃火种要将"森林"烧起！指责执政党（原有的反对党）没将王室放在眼里！誓言要林吉祥向苏丹道歉，还闹起风波，要推行小组"国阵"执政党来推翻霹雳州新政府。
现在，巫统重复同样的"杯葛"事件，更不将登州苏丹放在眼里！首相阿都拉已经放话表示，除了获得最多登州议员支持的原任州务大臣依德里斯（Idris Jusoh）之外，任何人出任登州大臣都属委反宪法。
当然，宪法是必须尊崇的！然而，苏丹的权限又是什么一回事呢？与其矛盾，倒不如像马哈迪上任时的政策，将苏丹的权限再次削减吧！
无论如何，再等登州务大臣委任事件完毕后，不论谁是人选，巫统的党员是否应该叫阿都拉出来向登苏丹道歉解释一切呢？！中央反对党是否应该向巫统施压，别让他们再有一党独大的所作所为呢？！
拭目以待！
联邦反对党、雪州执政党的支持者
全国大选过后，玻璃市、霹雳、雪兰莪及登嘉楼各州相继出现皇权抬头，介入州务大臣与行政议员委任等事务，而以登嘉楼州务大臣人选问题引发最大争议。
为此，隆雪华堂民权委员会与马来西亚人民之声联办两场中英文讲座，希望以此剖析新政局的发展，反思我国的宪政架构，丰富公众对民主政治的认识。详情如下：
（一）中文讲座
主办单位 ：隆雪华堂民权委员会、马来西亚人民之声
日期 ：2008年4月1日（星期二）
时间 ：傍晚七时三十分入场、晚上八时正开始
地点 ：隆雪华堂楼上讲堂
题目 ：皇室干政？——谈民主转型及其挑战
主讲人 ：邓章钦（雪州巴生双溪槟榔区州议员）
饶仁毅（董教总法律顾问、独立新闻在线行政总裁）
叶瑞生（马来西亚人民之声执行总监）
主持人 ：廖国华（民权委员会委员）
（二）英文讲座
Forum on Interventionist Monarchs - A Complement or a Challenge to Democracy ?
Date : 2nd, April , 2008 (Wednesday)
Time : 8 pm
Venue : MCPA, 2nt Floor, KLSCAH
Organizer : The Civil Rights Committee of the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (CRC-KLSCAH) and Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM)
Language : English
Speakers :
1. Dr Syed Hussin Ali (Deputy President, PKR)
2. Mr Gobind Singh Deo MP (DAP)
3. Dr. Dzulkifli Ahmad MP(PAS)
4. Mr Malik Imtiaz (President, HAKAM)
5. Datuk Zaid Ibrahim MP (de facto Law Minister, UMNO) (to be confirm)
Chairperson :
Mr Wong Chin Huat (vice chairman, CRC-KLSCAH)
法律界人士认为，大选后政治版图发生巨变，而主流政党实力消褪之余，发生皇权抬头，对民主转型之影响值得省思。有论者以为这是破坏宪政精神的先声，应该制止皇权扩张；而有论者则以为这些州统治者并未逾越州宪法的限制，并且理应维持族群社会稳定以及摒弃涉嫌贪腐之人选。
主办单位希望讨论以下三个问题：
一、宪政结构：分析联邦宪法以及州宪法有关君权的规定，并从历史的角度反思宪政架构的草创及其意涵，这样的架构是否可欲，值得延续至未来。而80年代起至今数次的宪政危机又意味什么？
二、政局形势发展：不同的政党对此连串事件反应不一，其影响与意涵是什么？
三、民主转型的挑战：反思民主进程，除了政党政治、民间议政，究竟皇权抬头对民主转型的意义是什么，希望就此探索民主国家的转型过程及其挑战。
任何问题，请联络隆雪华堂助理秘书曾先生，电话03-22746645 。谢谢！
民权委员会主席谢春荣
马来西亚人民之声执行总监叶瑞生 谨启
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