A quest for conflict

(1)

Yesterday the Information Ministry announced the decision to move Selangor FM out to Angkasapuri. Selangor MB had given one week ultimatum to Selangor FM to either allocate weekly air time a slot for new State Government leaders to address issues related to people of Selangor, or pack out from its current premise in the state owned building. The latter looks set to confront the state government directive, and opts to move out.

Then, what is Selangor FM for? If it chooses to parrot Nasional FM, it would be a clear redundant. If it wants to establish a Selangor identity, it should not place itself in such an awkward position against the state government.

When a radio station like Selangor FM moves out to new premise, big amount of public fund would also be spent, unnecessarily. The staffs would have to endure worse traffic condition because Angkasapuri is a lot worse for driving than Shah Alam is.

It was also informed yesterday that Selangor FM would operate temporarily in Angkasapuri as the station radio would eventually move to its own premise in Shah Alam when its building on an 8-acre-land in Shah Alam is completed. But, what if the state government decides to turn the table against Selangor FM by making approval for the building difficult for them, as in principle, no building could be erected without state’s local authority approval.

I am amazed and puzzled. What on earth has triggered Selangor FM to take all these troubles in place of just airing one-hour-a-week programme for its new states leaders? It defies logic at its worst, to say the least.

(2)

Idiocy, practically means doing things exactly in the same old ways while expecting different results. Ong Ka Chuan, the new Housing and Local Authority Minister, stated that the Federal Government has decided to appoint its people from state levels “federal officers” down to village affairs committee (JKKK) to manage federal funds in the states ruled by Pakatan.

The creation of parallel administrations to deal with people in these states would actually complicate matters, and generate a lot of waste. This is exactly the same old practices applied in Kelantan since 1990 when Angkatan wrested control of the state. It has worked for no one. Neither the federal government, nor the state has benefited from such policy for the past 18 years. BN had hoped this policy would help them capture Kelantan, but the reality on the ground showed otherwise. The money BN dumped in Kelantan had only widened the rift among its leaders.

Kelantan, for most of the period, was all alone in tolerating this assault from the federal government for the past 18 years. But now, with Pakatan take control of 4 other states, they could work collectively to make things equally painful for the federal government officers to operate in these states. State governments have full authority over lands and many aspects of construction works approval. Without state governments cooperation, federal officers could be reduced to merely handing out minor goodies without real development activities. State governments could even introduced high taxes on all premises owned by federal GLCs in the states.

It is not that I like to see conflicts being aggravated between the states and the federal government, but it seems some people need to learn simple lessons the hard ways. Let them taste their own medicines. This may make them much wiser in the future.

(3)

“Secularism cannot be made a new religion…You cannot impose secularism by force!” said Joseé Manuel Barroso, the President of the EU in his speech last Friday.

He made this speech in Turkey where the AK Party, the ruling party, is facing a looming legal proceeding for its closure due to allegation that the party has become hot bed for anti-secularism activities.

Ong Ka Ting should have been listening to the speech too, I hope. He was cited to say that PAS has ulterior motives for hoping that hudud laws could one day be implemented in this country. The fact is, not one thing could be imposed on people by force against people’s wills. As Mr. Barroso clearly stated, not even secularism could be imposed by force.

If Hudud is to be implemented, it must have become clear choice for the majority of the people. PAS simply holds dearly a belief that Islam, and all its components including Hudud, is erected firmly on the foundation of justice and truth, in tandem with universal natures of humanity. If it ever seems to produce injustice, then it must have been due to misunderstandings or abuses. Thus, reforms must then be carried out to correct these misunderstandings and abuses. But villifying Islam dan hudud, the way Ong Ka Ting does, would not hold water in improving intellectual discourses within our democratic spheres.

Let's ponder

(1)
Last week, Selangor MB office issued a communique defending the RM100 million Kuala Langat integrated and modernized pig farm project, near Sepang. It clarifies the project had been approved on Jan 2008 by the previous state administration. The new government agreed in the last EXCO meeting that the project is appropriate to be continued. The project, flamed by media reports, has irked many for being insensitive to Malays and Muslims in the state.

Now may we ask ourselves, what are we so sensitive about? The pigs have been here and there in Selangor all these while. In fact, the location of the said project is on the already one of the biggest pig farm in the state. This project is not created on a new virgin land. Nor does it close village to give way for pigs. The RM100 million money does not come from state coffer as it would be fully funded by private sectors.

plain languages, the project is merely moving all the pigs from all parts of Selangor to join their ‘bigger neighborhood’ in an existing farm in Sepang, which would be moderately enlarged, modernized and integrated, so it could be better managed, monitored, and enforced.

The best part of it is, there will be no more new pig farms to be approved in any part of Selangor in the future. Now ask ourselves again, are we being sensitive or being stupid for asking this project to be scrapped?

(2)
Our local government by-law stipulates that the local councils are to be appointed by means of contract, normally done through political appointments. When Selangor State Government changes hand, the local councils would also see new appointees. But, until today not a single local authority in Selangor has officiated the appointment of new local councils.

In the previous administration of local authorities, among the lucrative income generations decided by the local councils are the fee collections of various pasar malam. Often, the collections are monopolized by certain political sectors in the name of various local institutions and associations, though, the permits are issued by local authorities. This collections could reach tens of thousands ringgit a day throughout the state.

Where does this money go? This money should belong to local authorities because they bear the cost of cleaning up and providing facilities for pasar malam. May be, a small portion could be allocated to local institutions or associations for administering the pasar malam.
Ronnie Liu, the state exco incharged of local authorities, must quickly start to get his hands dirty in cleaning up this mess. He must set up a mechanism to ensure the money collected from pasar malam vendors are transparently managed. As for now, until Ronnie gets to his work, these money flow to political sectors, mostly affiliated with the previous state and local councils administration. They are laughing all the way to the banks!

(3)

The Merdeka Center recent survey finds that 70% of respondents do not mind voting candidates from other races in the election. This figure is higher among younger respondents. Apart from that, more than 80% of the respondents said they are satisfied with the recently concluded election result. In recent general election, the votes cut across racial lines.
The above figures are more than interesting. Are Malaysian less racially sensitive? At a personal level, what I have been observing around me does not really come to an agreement with the survey. If the survey truly reflects general Malaysians attitude towards racial politics, then our politicians would have tough time adjusting themselves to the new realities. This could be so because, what they see isn’t truly what it is.

There is also another dimension to this finding. If Malaysians are now racially less sensitive, are they also less sensitive towards religious issues. The survey did not explicitly suggest as such, but we all know the coherence of perception between race and religion is rather high especially among the Malays.

Would the next political battle be fought on religious platforms, instead of racial ones? I would rather leave this question for us all to ponder!