December 1, 2008
While the public was increasingly worried by the rise in crime, statistics however showed that the crime rate in Malaysia was far lower than Japan and Hong Kong, said Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak today.
“Based on the statistics given by the police, it indicates that the crime rate in Malaysia is lower than Japan and Hong Kong.
“It is also just slightly higher than Singapore to the basis of per hundred thousand of population… but the perception of the public is not the case,” said Najib at a press conference in Parliament after the economic council meeting.
– Malaysiakini
May I remind DPM Najib, our soon to be 6th Prime Minister of Malaysia that changing of perception does not change reality.
Imagine the increased number of snatch thefts if people started taking the security of their bags for granted, due to an altered perception that Malaysia is safe. Or the increase in the number of rapes and assault if women had the perception that the country was safe and did not arm themselves with some knowledge of self-defense.
Look into my eyes and believe me. Statistics do not lie.
Also, it is easy for the police to claim that officially, crime is higher in Hong Kong and Japan per 100,000 people. That’s because they are telling the truth.
# of crimes per 1000 people
#34 Japan: 19.177 per 1,000 people
#43 Hong Kong: 11.6817 per 1,000 people
#50 Malaysia: 6.97921 per 1,000 people
The untold story is of course, the rankings do not mention what crimes are tabulated into the statistics (crimes that do not affect a person’s personal safety like white collar crime are probably included, thus the higher rates in HK or Japan). We could also argue on the effectiveness of enforcement, but let’s just put that aside. So let’s be slightly more objective and look at some of the crimes that cause us to have a negative perception on crime in this country:
# of murders per 1000 people
#34 Malaysia: 0.0230034 per 1,000 people
#59 Hong Kong: 0.00550804 per 1,000 people
#60 Japan: 0.00499933 per 1,000 people
# of rapes per 1000 people
#38 Malaysia: 0.0505156 per 1,000 people
#54 Japan: 0.017737 per 1,000 people
#55 Hong Kong: 0.0150746 per 1,000 people
When compared that way, the statistics given by the police and comparisons given by the DPM don’t seem too credible anymore does it?
All I can say is, even if the public changes their perception, it does not mean that violent crime, which has been on the rise in this country the past few years will magically disappear. The public cannot just wink their eyes, nod, and wish away all the crime.
I would certainly advise my loved ones to ignore Najib, for he really says some of the darndest things!
November 30, 2008
Because of the recent fatwa against yoga, the chances of Malaysia producing a world warrior like Dhalsim has been significantly diminished. With crime in Malaysia being as it is at the moment, it is important for our country to produce superheroes that can save the citizens from potential crime as our local cops are more intent on charging anti-ISA gatherings.
Although the fatwa has not been endorsed by the state religious authorities yet, I get the feeling that we will be deprived of a Malaysian who can do the following:
(Image sources: Here, Here, and Here)
It is unclear if the religious authorities will start issuing fatwas against bomohs due to the supernatural nature of the practices. Maybe there will be a fatwa against susuk berlian as well.
(Sorry for the fluff posts. I am really busy at work, and I am not able to articulate my thoughts very well on the latest going ons)
November 7, 2008
From TheStar.com.my:
SHAH ALAM: Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Kamaruddin is to be freed Friday.
He succeeded Friday in his bid to obtain a release order from detention under the Internal Security Act (ISA) via his habeas corpus application.
The High Court here also allowed Raja Petra to be brought to court to be released today.
He was detained for a second time under the ISA on Sept 12.
October 26, 2008
Happy Deepavali to everyone! May you have an enjoyable holiday with friends and family and spare a quick thought to those that are not able to be with their family for certain reasons (work, foreign country, exile, ISA, etc).
Since I had tons of time on my hands, I decided to try making gulab jamun, which is my favorite Indian sweet dessert. So after some consultation with Togo’s mum, I went off to Giant to get the ingredients. I bought milk powder, self-raising flour, butter, and full-cream milk to make the dough.
For the syrup itself, I was looking for this particular spice called cardamom, and I had no freaking idea what it was and what it looked like. After searching high and low for cardamom and not finding any (also because I had no idea what the Malay name was), I drove to the wet market to and consulted the spice lady, and found out that cardamom in Malay is pelaga. So now you know what to look for if you want cardamom.
Happily, home I went with the ingredients, and making the syrup was awfully simple. Just 2 cups of sugar, plus 1 cup of water, crush the pelaga slightly, and boil until all sugar dissolved. I had a quick taste, and found the taste pretty similar to what I had outside. I was pretty happy that everything had started so well. Unfortunately, it was all downhill from then on.
I mixed 2 cups of milk powder (btw, milk powder is f-ing expensive! I had no idea! Poor parents!), 1 cup of self-raising flour, some butter, and slowly added the full cream milk while mixing it to make the dough. Unfortunately, I added too much milk and ended up with a liquidy paste instead of dough. I decided to throw that away and start again, this time, added milk tablespoon by tablespoon to make sure I didn’t overdo it again.
Once I had the dough and rolled it into balls, I dropped it into the oil for deep frying. After half an hour of experimenting the right temperature and right ball size (I burnt a few balls due to excessive temperature), I finally came up with a few nicely fried balls. Off it went from the wok into the syrup.
So anyway, here is what gulab jamun is supposed to look like:
Pic taken from Wikipedia
Here is the result of my experimentation:
Pic taken from my cellphone, so blur a bit
So how would I rate my creation? Appearance-wise, let’s just say if I get served this in a restaurant, I would throw it back to the waiter. Taste-wise, well, the sugar syrup was pretty overpowering. And I realize I should really keep my day job.
So anyway, I ate 4 biji, and now, I feel sick to the stomach because of the syrup (ugh). Ah well, cooking is fun. And if someone asks what I did during Deepavali, I could tell them I made gulab jamun, instead of telling them I did nothing.
Oh, and by the way, I’m looking forward to the Miss Universe 2008 broadcast on TV tonight, for this reason alone.
October 23, 2008
Why hello!
Long time no see! I have been busy with work and readjusting myself to traffic jams, early bedtimes, etc. So how has everyone been?
Anyway, just some amazing news today about the arrest of a 6 year old. Really couldn’t believe my eyes when I read the following piece of news from Malaysiakini:
Uthaya’s niece, 11 others held
The six-year-old niece of detained Hindraf leader P Uthayakumar was with 11 people arrested when they attempted to submit a letter at Prime Minister Department’s office in Putrajaya today.
P Vwaishhnnavi (right) is the daughter of Hindraf chairperson P Waythamoorthy who is currently in self-imposed exile in London. Her mother K Shanti was also among those arrested.
Police Watch Malaysia coordinator S Jayathas, who was also held, claimed that they had been told that they were part of an illegal assembly for having gathered near the entrance of the building.
“We were trying to obtain permission from the security guards for Vwaishhnnavi to submit her letter. They said that we were from Hindraf, but we insisted that we were concerned Indians who were accompanying Vwaishnnavi,” Jayathas when contacted.
Read more here.
6 years old, I wonder if they put her in lockup. Special Branch probably even has a file on her already. Ah well, Malaysia Boleh mah.
October 13, 2008
What’s your definition of press freedom? It’s actually quite a tricky question come to think of it.
I believe in the freedom of press. I define freedom of press as the freedom for a reporter or journalist to do their job without having to worry about interference from the government or any other parties interested in distorting the news.
But what is a journalist’s job? Simply put, I define the job of a journalist to be one who informs the public about what’s going on out there based on the facts, or based on eyewitnesses, or based on their own eyes. It’s as simple as that. Therefore, when a journalist or reporter writes a piece in the newspaper which is not based on facts, then that publication has to issue a public apology and retract the article in question. The best way is to do this as soon as possible, so that the damage can be limited.
For the case of Utusan Malaysia’s malicious article (yes, the tone is malicious) basically accusing Teresa Kok of being anti-Islam over the azan issue, it has been disproved and totally discredited. However no apology or retraction was offered. Instead, it has continued to demonize her to the point that she has been put under ISA for 7 days, have molotov cocktail attacks on her family home, and now SMSes propagating violence towards her are circulating around. In fact, the publication had the gall to challenge her to prove her innocence over the azan issue by asking her to take a lie-detector test, even when the mosque authorities had clarified that it had nothing to do with Kok.
In this case, I can hardly defend Utusan Malaysia in the name of press freedom, because the journalist in question was not doing his job of reporting the facts. Even if they were sincere in the mistake and got it wrong, they should still have issued an apology immediately, instead of challenging her to prove her innocence. But Utusan need not worry, for they have a defender of press freedom in Rocky of rocky’s bru fame:
Tabung Azan for Utusan Malaysia. We live in interesting times, where those who complain about the mainstream media being muzzled by the authorities are also the ones who sue these media at the slightest provocation.
DAP’s Teresa Kok has filed a RM30 million suit against Utusan Malaysia, the Bahasa Malaysia daily controlled by Umno, over the azan issue. Another DAP leader has also sued the same newspaper for RM10 million, despite the newspaper having published an apology for a mistake it did in a report affecting the politician.
I’m sorry Rocky, but I don’t deem this incidents as “the slightest provocation”. This is the same paper which has set out all along to paint opposition leaders as anti-Malay, and anti-Islam, and this is not the first time. Even though Karpal Singh got an apology, I doubt if this was the first time Utusan has painted him in a negative light. As for Teresa Kok, the damage has already been done by the article. RM30 million is excessive, but I doubt that the judge would offer her that amount even if she won. So Rocky, we defend what is right, and not what we know to be wrong.
Many would also argue, why so hypocritic? RPK of Malaysia Today how? He also defame leaders like Najib, etc. Well, he’s been sued for defamation already right? And if he thinks he writes the truth, then let him produce the evidence to clear his name in court. Same goes with Utusan Malaysia.
To say I am disappointed with Rocky is a gross understatement. Here’s how the article ends:
I hope politicians will not make it a habit to sue the media, old and new. I hope Theresa would find it fit to withdraw her suit against Utusan Malaysia.
I must applaud Syed Ali Alhabshee’s initiative over the weekend to come to the defence of Utusan Malaysia. Some will see it as a political gimmick, but I see the Umno Cheras’ inititiave for its simple message: if we believe in a freedom, we must defend that freedom at all times.
Here is what Rocky applauds:
Ketuanya, Senator Datuk Wira Syed Ali Alhabshee ketika mengumumkan penubuhan tabung berkenaan menegaskan, UMNO Bahagian Cheras berasa terpanggil dan amat prihatin dengan akhbar Utusan Malaysia yang sedang berjuang untuk menegakkan syiar Islam dan kepentingan orang Melayu.
“Apabila pemimpin DAP itu menyaman akhbar Utusan Malaysia hanya kerana isu laungan azan, maka tindakan Teresa itu seolah-olah mencabar dan menghiris seluruh perasaan umat Islam di negara ini,” jelasnya.
Beliau menjelaskan, akhbar Utusan Malaysia adalah milik orang Melayu dan sinonim dengan perjuangan UMNO, maka tindakan Teresa itu samalah seperti menggugat kepentingan seluruh umat Islam.
Yes, it’s the same old game of linking suing Utusan as an attack on Islam and Malays. And this is not a political gimmick, how?
So readers, what are your views on press freedom? Would you defend it unconditionally even though we know the article or journalist in question is wrong? If one day, Utusan Malaysia publishes an article that calls for violence against all non-Muslims in Malaysia, do you still defend their right to print unconditionally?
Perhaps that’s a question to ponder.
