A letter to Y.B Dato' Ahmad Shabery Cheek, Minister of Information

Y.B. Dato’ Ahmad Shabery Cheek
Wisma TV, Angkasapuri,
50610 Kuala Lumpur.

30 March 2008


Y.B. Dato’,

Re: Media Blackout and failure to report important news on time versus BLOGS

Congratulations Y.B. Dato’ for your recent appointment as our Minister of Information. The post is very demanding. Nobody remembers when you are doing your job well and everyone remembers when you mess up.

I doubt any minister would envy your position, which brings a heavy historical burden of your predecessor. I as many other Malaysians blame the loss partly on his failure to keep abreast with the current technology, the failure to counter attack on some important issues in the media and aligning himself with pre-PRU12 common misconception among BN politicians (Azalina, Nazri, Rais even the PM) that bloggers are a bunch of misfits, liars and scums that feeds on peoples fear and hate.

Post-PRU12 cleared the last misconception at a heavy price to BN (one opposition blogger even won a Penang Parliamentary seat). The public/voters in general, refused to accept the candy-coated and one way reporting of our printed newspaper and relied heavily on cyber information (blogs, websites, newsgroups and You tube).

Blogs in particular proved to be one of the most effective methods of public information. Blogs are always faster in disseminating news (we knew Penang, Selangor, Shahrizat, Samy Vellu fate long before the confirmation news on TV), and most of all, IDENTIFIABLE people who works with almost no pay. We see concern citizens, retired civil servants, former reporters and even one grandmother blogging with ONLY the fervent hope of a fair, fast and non-candy coated news.

Recently, a few bloggers managed to PROVE the existence of a media blackout not at the time of your predecessor (that was easy) BUT during your watch as Minister of Information. The local dailies DID NOT report the outcome of the PM’s AFTERNOON visit to the Yang diPertuan Agong (on the 26th March) until the 28th March, a gap of more than 36 hours. Even the on-line news (Bernama and NST) failed to report on the outcome till night 27th March, a gap of more than 24 hours. Blogs however have been excellent in giving CORRECT information quickly to the masses. Rocky’s bru for example have been giving updates from 4.15pm on 26th March of the meeting and a CONFIRMED outcome by the 27th March in the afternoon. In an era of fast cars and even faster transfer of information, our print media have failed miserably in their job. I suspect (so do most bloggers and their readers) that the media reporters ARE NOT GIVEN THE PERMISSION TO PUBLISH THEIR STORY BY SOMEONE WITH AUTHORITY HIGH UP IN THE GOVERNMENT. This kind of lapse will give legitimacy to the masses suspicions of puppet masters, conspiracy theories, and the infamous 4th floor string pulling and spin doctoring. I have no reason to believe that an early release of the information is a threat to our country or cause riots; in fact the contrary is true. The suppression will cause uneasiness among the population.

Edmund Burke once said, ‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing’. I hope Y.B. Dato’ that you are doing SOMETHING. As a Muslim, I have the right to remind myself and others that Allah is on the side of right no matter how oppressed and Muslims must protect the innocents, including bloggers that fight tyranny in the face with a keyboard and an RM77 internet subscription. There are lies too concocted and spread by bad bloggers that makes the rest of us look bad, this is true also of politicians. There are politicians whom are convicted of corruption, womanizing and even murder BUT that does not make true of the others. I pray you do the right thing no matter what and do it quickly. There is an on-line movement currently initiated by bloggers to boycott our national papers for their inefficiency, biasness, lies and threats towards innocent bloggers (a few bloggers like Rocky, Jeff Ooi are currently being sued for defamation by NSTP).

Your colleague, Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob (Minister of Youth and Sports) said on 23rd March 2008 during a celebration in a Rakan Muda Complex, ‘…If we continue to rubbish the blogs, I am worried that it will one day take over the role of the mainstream newspapers...’

If you do not do something to arrest this problem, I fear that his prediction would one day come true right before your very eyes.





Your Sincerely,


Reza Zainal

http://rezazainalmeanderings.blogspot.com/

References : Rocky Bru’s at http://www.rockybru.blogspot.com/
Nuraina A. Samad at http://nursamad.blogspot.com/
Tok Mommy at http://mariasamad.blogspot.com/ and Marina Mahathir at http://rantingsbymm.blogspot.com/

Pak Lah…Malaysians are desperately looking for some leadership from you.

What is going on nowadays? Has Malaysia gone to the dogs? Can we have a bit of good ol’ leadership here from our PM?

Where was the PM's comment on Datuk Zaid Ibrahim proposal to apologise to Tun Salleh Abbas?

What happened when Dr. Mohd Isa was appointed MB of Perlis instead of the PM’s choice of Shahidan?

This precedence has now contributed to HRH of Trengganu appointing his choice of Ahmad Said over the PM’s choice of Idris Jusuh.
Why was the simple suggestion of meeting the Trengganu Regency Advisory Council by Muhyiddin Yassin not thought of earlier…way before the constitutional crisis became very real. Do you need rocket science post graduate degree to have thought about this earlier?

Where is your leadership ? Where are ALL OF YOUR ADVISERS? DO YOU EVEN CARE?

IF YOU HAVE ADVISERS...NOW IS THE TIME TO GET RID OF THEM.

And now the possibility of a postponement of UMNO Party elections to next year again announced by someone OTHER than the PM. Where is the PM response to all of this?

Am I suppose to be worried ….or scared?

Khairy not interested in Cabinet Post

"…If our democracy is to flourish, it must have criticism; if our government is to function it must have dissent " - Henry Commager

Quote KJ from Malay Mail :

"As long as he is the Prime Minister, I am not interested in a Cabinet post. I have told the Prime Minister this long before I was nominated to contest for the Rembau parliamentary seat and he had agreed to my stand. I told him not to feel pressured because I don’t want to be part of it."

Of course, I'm sure KJ have a few individuals with him at the time and ready to testify to this claim. If he has, he did not mention them during the press meet. So I guess, we have to trust him.

It would have a greater effect IF he had said it before the elections and not let the younger generations vote opposition just because some of them hate KJ and would not bear the thought of him becoming a menteri via being the PM son-in-law.

Wanna read more, it's here (have a barf bag ready..)

Have you tried to google 'Khairy Jamaluddin' nowadays..?? I won't recommend it if you have a weak heart.

To be fair, wanna get his take on some issues...go to his website, it's here . Leave your speakers on, there's a cool Blues Gang 'Apo nak Di Kato' intro. Just remember to switch it off right after...you'll see. I'm surprised that he did not leave us with a pdf copy of his undergraduate thesis in Oxford, to show us mortals that we need to be guided by an obviously higher being.

There's a link...Khairy and Anwar Ibrahim debate. Clicking it would give you a collage of ONE issue...Oil price. There is no live debate at all...what a waste of time. Khairy chose one issue that can call on Anwar's obvious bluff. (Kampung folks still thinks that the Malaysian government controls World crude prices).

Anwar told Malaysians that during his tenure as Minister...the price of oil was RM1.10 (that was the time the world prices for crude was hovering US14-20 dollars). Now it's RM1.92 (and world prices reached a record high of US100 dollars).

So...Khairy-1, Anwar-0.

Lets get a real live debate on...so maybe we would know more about the ECM Libra share issues debacle.

Ref : KJ picture was taken from his website.

All the PM's Men

I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government - Henry David Thoreau

-

Looks good...quite refreshing. Hope it works.

Like fruits on a tree..some are sweet..some are not. I had hope that the cabinet would be free from excess baggage..not caught with some money in the baggage...

The Good : Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, Datuk Shahrir

The Bad : Datuk Marshitah, Datuk Seri Shahrizat

The Ugly : Tan Sri Muhammad Muhd Taib

Sports Doping...for Billards..??

When Carl Lewis was winning everything, I never said a word against him. And when the next guy comes along and beats me, I won’t complain about that either - Ben Johnson (disgraced former Olympic 100 meters champion)

What extreme sports would be next for doping scandals, I wonder..?? DARTS..?

German billiards champ tests positive for EPO agent

Associated Press

DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) - Germany's first case of doping in billiards was announced Monday after national champion Axel Buescher tested positive for an EPO masking agent.

Buescher's positive test came at November's German championships, where he captured the carom billiards title, the German Billiard Union said.
Buescher said the masking agent was in prescription medicine he failed to have approved.
The Union suspended Buescher for one year and stripped him of his title after he passed on his right to have the "B" sample tested.
EPO is a blood booster most closely associated with endurance sports, such as cycling, where it has played a central role in several Tour de France scandals.

Words...(a true story)

Sometimes when I'm talking, my words can't keep up with my thoughts. I wonder why we think faster than we speak. Probably, so we can think twice - Bill Waterson, author of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes


This happened while I was watching the film Collateral(2004) with my wife, Liza.
In the scene, Max(the cab driver played by Jamie Foxx) was forced to get the hit-list (the list of people about to get killed by Vincent-the assassin played by Tom Cruise) he lost from Felix(played beautifully by Javier Bardem).
The dark big room was behind a hispanic bar and full of gangsters, all keen to see the weirdo Max get killed while talking to the head honcho Felix.

Reza : Hold on...I missed the whole thing about the Santa Claus...I never heard about Pedro before. I rewind it back a little....

Liza (bewildered) : C'mon..it's not important...let's just watch the movie..

Reza : It will take just a few secs...

Liza : Pleaseeee...those are just wordss.....rewind it back when Tom Cruise is in the scene...

Reza : Wordsss..?? Boy, cat and flower are words. Those are not words..it's an inspiration. Those writers probably wrote and rewrote the script 20 times before we see it in it's final form. The scene probably took 15 takes. Have I ever said your Furla bag was just a BAG..? I wanna see it again. See...you made me missed it AGAIN....we could do this all night, you know...

Liza : Wake me up when you're done..

Reza : I think about it...


That was 6 months ago. I know women can be harsh...but we have since reconciled ;-)

For those who are interested in the script in question however...this is it...

FELIX: Do you believe in Humpty Dumpty?
MAX: No.
FELIX: Do you believe in Santa Claus?
MAX: No.
FELIX: Neither do I. But my children do. They are still small. But do you know who they like even better than Santa Claus? His helper, Pedro Negro. Black Peter. There's an old Mexican tale that tells of how Santa Claus got so very busy looking out for the good children that he had to hire some help to look out for the bad children. So he hired Pedro. And Santa Claus gave him a list with all the names of all the bad children, and Pedro would come every night to check them out. And the people, the little kids that were misbehaving, that were not saying their prayers, Pedro would leave a little wooden donkey on their windows. And he would come back and if the children were still misbehaving, he would take them away and nobody would ever see them again. Now, if I am Santa Claus and you are Pedro, how do you think jolly old Santa Claus would feel if one day Pedro came into his office and said, 'I lost the list.'? How F***ING FURIOUS do you think Santa Claus would get?!

The Emperor's New Clothes

The Emperor marched in the procession under the beautiful canopy. and all who saw him in the street and out of the windows exclaimed, " Indeed, the Emperor's new suits is incomparable ! What long train he has ! How well it fits him !". Nobody wished to let others know he saw nothing, for then he would have been unfit for his office or too stupid. Never the Emperor's clothes were more admired.
- Hans Christian Anderson's tale of 'The Emperor's New Clothes'

How do we tell the PM of Malaysia in this time of media manipulation and kiss ass politics that he has no clothes on..? Why does the PM continue to deny the most basic message the recent 12th General Election gave, explicit and implicit ? It is narcissism, hubris, vanity,egotism, arrogance etc....all euphemism for Pride.

Pride is one of the original 7 deadly sins. Clerics calls it the most serious of the seven sins in reference to Lucifer, known better as Satan. In Christian tradition, Lucifer initially a prominent archangel was cast out from the heavens from a failed rebellion against God, motivated by pride. In Muslim tradition, Iblis was cursed by Allah to hell for refusing to prostrate to Adam citing his superiority to man as the cause, motivated by no less than pride and egotism (Quran 7:11-12).

In the movie Seven(1995), a disfigured model lay dead from an overdose of sleeping pills. The original killer had glued a bottle of sleeping pills in one of her hands and a phone on the other hand. The killer had purposely sliced the model's nose off and gave the still-alive but disfigured model a choice. Either call for help OR commit suicide, thus relieving her the torment of living in disfigurement, laughed at by her beautiful peers. The model opts the later. The killer left the scene with the words PRIDE written on the headboard of her bed...using her red lipstick.

The thematic lesson of Hans Christian Anderson's tale of the 'Emperor's New Clothes' (yes..it's the little school children fairy tale) explicitly faults pride as one of the greatest folly of all the people in the fabled land. Their unwillingness to recognize and admit their mistakes in light of the plain and obvious made them the victim of the greatest sin of all. The Emperor's need for adulation and praise made him blind to his senses and rationalization. His ministers's hypocrisy, insecurity and self-doubt made it easy for the swindlers to play with their self doubts thus succeeding in manipulating them, many of whom are intelligent. In their need to conform and align themselves with popular but wrong views, they only strengthen the Emperor's tenacity to devoid himself from errors thus resisting himself from accepting the all encompassing truth that he has no clothes on.

Some time this year, the PM himself officiated the opening of a boutique in Pavillion owned by his daughter Nori and her husband Khairy Jamaluddin, aptly named 'The Emperor's New Clothes'.

Fate it seems, is not without its sense of irony..

References : Picture of PM was taken from tonypua.blogspot.com

Or Nothing...

Balian de Ibelin : It is a kingdom of conscience or Nothing...
(Quote from the movie Kingdom of Heaven-2005)



My handphone rang just after midnight last Sunday..

Reza (sounds very sleepy) : Uhh..Hello..
Zahir : Reza..is that you..?
Reza : Yeah man..it's me..
Zahir : Are you watching tv right now..??
Reza (..lying) : Yeah...sure..what's up.?
Zahir : Where have you been..? Haven't you heard...Samy Vellu lost...Penang most likely is going to fall...and Guess what..? Shahrizat just lost Lembah Pantai...

I fumbled the remote....thank God the astro was left on when I dozed on my couch...my fingers pressed..1..0 then 3.
A strange melange of noises filled my living room. On the screen two TV3 personalities were interviewing somebody. The person spoke slowly, almost scholarly like. BN this...BN that...Government is good etc. Obviously a BN scholar/supporter.
My eyes darted across the screen as I tried to ignore his jibbe-jabber ...I noticed a rolling bar at the bottom of the screen. 'Pilihanraya Sabah.....'
There was nothing about Penang...or Samy Vellu or Lembah Pantai...nothing, ziltch, zero...nadda..

Reza : Can't see nothing....are you sure..? You're in DUBAI for God sakes...!!
Zahir: Yes..it's true...TRUST ME...


So that was the time that I knew SOMETHING was up. My heart started to race, a sign that my body is desperately trying to play catch-up with my mind.
Suddenly the realization hits home...my pulse slowed. Then it was clear, I understood it...accepted it.

The proverbial shit has finally hit the fan.....a tsunami is coming...