COPY JEWS AND CHINESE, MALAYS TOLD

(Taken from The Star Online on Sunday April 27, 2008)

PENANG: The Malays should emulate the Jews and the Chinese who are far-sighted in developing a progressive society.

Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop said the Jews, for example, would make development plans that would ensure they would excel for another 1,000 years.

“That's unlike us (the Malays), who only make four- or five-year plans,” he said at a dinner held in conjunction with the Penang Malay Chamber of Commerce’s annual general meeting at a hotel here on Friday night.

He said the Chinese in China also took measures to ensure collective success of their race.

He said that over the last 50 years the standard of living among Malays had improved tremendously.

“The question now is: where we are heading?” he said.

On another matter, Nor Mohamed said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had appointed him as the chairman of the Penang Economic Action Council.

Editor's note:

The editor, John Manjaji, is a Kadazandusun -- a race that has its origin in the northern part of Borneo. This race used to be known as skillful jungle farmers and hunters but now are more happy-go-lucky people, seemingly oblivious to the progressive threats they face from other races. When it comes to festivities they party hard ignoring the long term consequences of hangovers. I would say that in the next 4-5 generations (80-100 years) if this pattern continues, there will be no more Kadazandusuns in this world. Already their womenfolks are marrying Muslim Malays and prefers to be called "Malays" henceforth. And their men, they slowly are killing their brain cells with the deadly "tapai"!

COMMUNITY LEADERS COMMEND STATE POLICE FOR SWIFT ACTION

(As published on Page 3 in the New Sabah Times on Monday April 21, 2008)

Chin (right) with Lam at the New Sabah Times office yesterday

By JOHN MANJAJI

KOTA KINABALU: Give credit where credit is due.

That’s the message from two local community leaders commending the state police in their swift action to solve a case involving the abduction and assault of a female student of the Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) here last week.

All this while we see and read how police are being hurled with criticisms from every level of society for purportedly not doing their duties well, said Pastor Lam Kee Hing and Pastor Chin
Chi Kiong of the Kota Kinabalu Pastors Fellowship.

“Three things I would like to highlight regarding last week’s kidnapping case,” Lam said during an interview with the New Sabah Times yesterday.

Firstly, it’s a wake up call for all of us. There had been frequent instances of unreported snatch thefts and houses being broken into especially at the Kingfisher Park residential area which is close to the UMS campus and where hundreds of university students live.

Not many of them were highlighted because those incidents were not as “dramatic” as last week’s kidnapping.

“With this latest incident it is hoped that university students as well as other residents at the Kingfisher area would now be provided with safer living conditions,” Lam said.

The assurance from Karambunai Assemblywoman Hjh Jainab Datuk Hj Ahmad Ayid on Saturday that a special task force has been set up to monitor the security situation in the area is very much welcomed. Jainab, who is Assistant Minister of Industrial Development, announced the formation of the special task force after chairing a meeting with City Police Chief ACP Ahmad Sofi Zakaria and other community leaders.

Secondly, the ability of the Sabah police to rescue the student and arrest the two abductors all within 48 hours is highly commendable.

Members of the public and in this case villagers and a bus driver cooperated with police to make their operation more efficient.

“We hope this will be a continuing trend in Sabah and plans to set up police beats or stations at crime-prone areas are very timely,” said both Lam and Chin.

On Thursday state deputy commissioner of police Datuk Abd Razak Ghani Abd Razak said that police would consider setting up a functional police station in Kingfisher Park.

Thirdly, everyone has a role to make Sabah a safer place.

“Don’t leave everything to the police. Rukun Tetangga, religious bodies, political parties among others can play their role to make this state a safer place. And it is for the long term benefit not only for Sabahans in general but for institutions like UMS, where many of its students are from
outside the state and the country,” Lam said.

Almost immediately after the incident befell the 22-year-old student from Sarawak, her church leaders established a network of SMSes that lead to instant alert among members of the public as well as the police.

“There’s no room for blame game because when we all work together, everyone wins. Even the media played a major role by publishing photos of the suspects,” Lam said.

MY CHRISTIAN TESTIMONY

My life before I met Jesus

From May 14, 1968 to March 21, 1988 I did not know Jesus. I knew there was a god but I didn't know who He was. From kindergarten to Form 5 I basically lived on my own strength and wisdom, believing God is there, Jesus is there, but not knowing much about who He really is and what I was supposed to do with Him. Children are wet cement. My formative years are almost entirely depended on my parents values and principles. I observed their lifestyle (what they did, what they said, how they react to circumstances around them). That was the world to me. Nothing else. No other role models. No other guidance. No other shoulders to cry to. No other place to seek refuge. An event in College Station, Texas, USA on a beautiful Spring day change the rest of my course of life.

My life after I met Jesus

Paul Kwan of HK, an engineer who just completed his bachelors degree in OK and pursued his masters degree at TAMU was instrumental. He let Jesus used him to witness to me. Paul was a Navigator guy. He was self-disciplined. He was persistent. He was patient. I am his fruit. I am grateful to Paul. He is somewhere in HK now. My job is to continue witnessing for Jesus and produce more fruits.

CHINESE ECONOMY

Without the Chinese, Malaysia won't be where it is now economically speaking. Everything would be backwards. Look at many parts of Kalimantan and Sulawesi in Indonesia where there are not many Chinese or none at all. Those regions are very much undeveloped and economically they are at the lower end of the Indonesian economic scale.

So, what makes the Chinese economically smart and successful? How and why are they different? They are like the Jews but the Jews are few in numbers. The Chinese are everywhere around the world, all the seven continents. And wherever they are they display their business acumen.

What's this business acumen all about?

I spent five hours with my Chinese businessman friend today and he gave me an excellent example.

He made the plunge into business when he was 21; it was a Western engineering firm and he and a friend decided to become partners to run the entity locally. As it went, the government of the day decided to "Look East" and thus my friend and his partner's enterprising venture in this firm was prematurely ended.

At age 23, they both started another enterprise -- and now it was pharmaceutical. With little capital and experience but with the Chinese business acumen, they made it until today... 25 years later they are very successful and "even if i sell my business, I can live comfortably," my friend told me.

Chinese are migratory people. It is in their blood. Historically China may be their motherland but after a certain time they would migrate to another land and live there for four or five generations, and then the migratory process would continue.

This migratory instinct gives them sharp survival skills and among others, economic acumen. They think of their future and what they need to do now. After that they work hard for it. They wait for the result patiently; their principle is delayed gratification. They would also think "whichever or whatever benefits me,I will give my full support and cooperation".

That is why, even though in Malaysia they may not be politically dominant, they control the economy and that is sufficient to keep the migratory cycle alive and kicking.

After four or five generation, they would leave this country and in the end when there's no more Chinese in Malaysia, the country would have to close shop.

CAN I WRITE?

This question keeps bugging me. Every year there will be an assessment at my workplace in order for the bosses to consider salary increase or job promotion. One section that bothers me is the part where it asks for if I have gone through any courses that would upgrade myself as a journalist.

In my line of work, being able to write is the most important thing. So, the question of whether I can write or not is of utmost importance.

I have this inkling that someone somewhere had told the bosses that I cannot write.

Now, I want to prove them wrong. In fact even my wife questions my ability to write; she says all I have on my blog is a copy and paste of someone's article. She may be right there but not absolutely correct. I have begun to write more based on my own ideas, perception and brain.

Now, one of my bosses also dropped a hint to me many months back. Not everyone can write, he toldme. And he went on to say, John if you have a better offer elsewhere just go and grab it. Look, some of your former colleagues grabbed every opportunities that were offered them. This company cannot offer you much.

So, what does that supposed to mean? Should I go or should I leave?

A TWO-PARTY SYSTEM FOR MALAYSIA?

Anwar Ibrahim, de facto leader of Malaysia’s new opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat

By Nazary Bahrawi,TODAY | Posted: 04 April 2008 0852 hrs

FOR HALF a century since independence, the Barisan Nasional (BN) — Malaysia’s ruling coalition of 14 political parties — has dominated parliament. Now, the days of a dominant-party system may be numbered.

In the recent March polls, BN suffered its worst electoral defeat since 1957. Not only was it denied the crucial two-thirds parliamentary majority it needed to make constitutional changes, BN also lost five out of 13 states to the opposition, which used to control only one.

Just how real then is the likelihood of a two-party state in Malaysia?

After the opposition’s sweep of much of Malaysia’s west coast, even sceptics would be wary of dismissing this scenario.

Here, the views of Tawfik Tun Dr Ismail, a former BN parliamentarian in Johor, are telling.

The son of Malaysia’s former Deputy Prime Minister Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman told reporters on Tuesday at the sidelines of an Institute of South-east Asian Studies forum in Singapore that a two-party system is not untenable.

Recent developments lend credence to the two-party scenario, but the surest sign must be the birth of Malaysia’s new opposition coalition, Pakatan Rakyat or People’s Alliance.

Yes, it may have been formed on April Fools’ Day, but its coming into being is not something to be laughed at. Especially since this is the second attempt by Malaysia’s three opposition parties — Parti Keadilan Rakyat, Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) — to officially band together.

In 1999, the trio came together to form Barisan Alternatif, or Alternative Front, to break BN’s political hegemony, but disagreements then between PAS and DAP on the issue of the Islamic state led to BA unravelling some two years later.

Then came Mr Anwar Ibrahim, former Deputy Prime Minister, who managed to bridge the ideological rift between the two parties. Now, Mr Anwar — whom some analysts had dismissed as a “spent force” —has graduated from being the de facto leader of Keadilan to the de facto leader of Pakatan.

But will debates on the Islamic state — once a central political philosophy of PAS— resurface as a divisive force?

A confident Mr Anwar does not think so. He told reporters during the coalition’s launch: “It was not mentioned in the PAS(election) manifesto and has not been mentioned for a long time. It is no longer an issue.”

But his word can only carry so much weight; it is still the PAS leaders who hold the key to Pakatan’s shelf life.

In this light, it is perhaps noteworthy that while clerics such as Abdul Hadi Awang and Nik Aziz Nik Mat still occupy PAS’ top two positions, the party’s second-tier leadership is manned by progressives like vice-president Husam Musa, who holds an economics degree from Universiti Malaya, and youth chief Salahuddin Ayub, a former bank officer who was also trained secularly.

As long as PAS maintains this mix of clerics and progressives, the party will not dwell on its Islamic state rhetoric as the runup to the recent polls proved.

Many did not expect PAS to field a non- Muslim candidate in the form of Ms KumuthaRahman, a 29-year-old law graduate who is an ethnic Indian.

So Pakatan’s message to voters is resoundigly clear: We made a mistake, we learned, and now we’re back as a stronger force.

On the contrary, BN’s message to voters must read a tad dodgier: We lost, we bicker, and now we do not know who is boss.

The ruling coalition’s facade of a united stand in the face of its poor election performance — with heavyweight ministers like Hishamuddin Hussein and Najib Abdul Razak expressing full confidence in the premiership of Mr Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (Pak Lah) — is now withering by the day as factions emerge within the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), a key component of BN.

Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, or Ku Li, looks set to launch an offensive against Mr Abdullah in a much-anticipated Ku Li-Pak Lah clash for the party’s top position at the Umno general assembly in December.

Whether BN can regain the trust of voters is dependent on whether its members can agree on who will be boss.

Till then, a weakened BN — and a stronger Pakatan — could only signal that the winds of change in Malaysia could give rise to a two-party state. TODAY/sf

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/analysis/view/339246/1/.html

FAST & FURIOUS

It seems that nowadays Malaysian politics are moving fast and furiously.

The prime/loudest echo is on "Ketuanan Melayu" or "Malay Supremacy". Are Malays in Malaysia really feeling threatened as a result of the rise of Pakatan Rakyat? Or is it merely UMNO who feel being slowly marginalised and thus shouting "Malay rights are being undermined!"

Look at these recent statements in Malaysian media:

"Malay special rights and privileges; Article 153 merely states 'the special position of the Malays'."

(May I ask what about the special position of the Bumiputeras in Sabah and Sarawak?)

"The crown prince of Kelantan says the special position of Malays is a quid pro quo for citizenship rights of non-Malays in the country."

"Anwar Ibrahim said the ‘Ketuanan Melayu' card increasingly played up by Umno is to divert attention from the party's internal problems following its unprecedented electoral setback."

Really, changes are happening in Malaysia. And we in Malaysia better get used to it. Race and religion are big issues, and seemed to be inseparable in Malaysian politics despite repeated calls for separation of state and religion like they do in US.

WHAT ARE MY PEERS DOING?

What are the rest of the 40-year-olds around the world doing?

Here's some I want to highlight:


1. FRANCIS CHAN
A pastor. 40 years old. Originally from HK now lives in southern California. Family migrated to US when he was very young. Married to a white beautiful Christian American lady who also sings well. They are blessed with three children. The church he leads is called Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley. I think it is closely affiliated to Reformed Baptist. He refers a lot to John Piper and John MacArthur. Earlier in his Christian ministry, he think he could sing but his wife told him that he's not cut out to be a singer; so he gave up on that and concentrated on being a teaching pastor. When he first started his present church in 1994, his salary was US$3,000. And he kept that same salary until 2004. Here's an excellent link about him http://www.shaungroves.com/shlog/comments/chan_and_change/


2. KARIM RASLAN
Karim Raslan is a forty-year-old Cambridge University-educated lawyer, columnist and author. He is a founding partner of Raslan Loong, one of Malaysia's leading corporate law firms. Read more about him in this link http://www.ytlcommunity.com/karimraslan/index.asp

WHAT AM I GOING TO DO ABOUT IT

I was just thinking... young men want to be seen as older and respectable; old men want to be seen as younger and hip!

Also, I was flashing back momentarily ago to my roots -- like they say: to move forward, we must look at our past. But don't look too far back and too long behind, otherwise you'll go nowhere!

I am the nephew of two Sabah political stars -- Peter Mojuntin and Joe Manjaji.

Peter Mojuntin was mom's older brother; he was a firebrand civil rights leader molded by the Catholic church. To illustrate, he is like Sabah's Martin Luther King or closer to home, Anwar Ibrahim of Sabah. The point is that: Peter Mojuntin was a very eloquent orator (bigger than life, far ahead of his peers) and superbly articulate at that. Boldness and perseverance, made him invincible. Alas, someone sabotaged his short and illustrious life -- he died in a plane crash in Kota Kinabalu in June 6, 1976 at age 33.

Joe Manjaji is dad's oldest brother. He had the head and heart of a steel. Temperament may get anyone's potential out of the way, and it did the same to Joe. Yet, he achieved much. Heard from the grapevine he was among many other things involved in writing of the USNO constitution. Isn't that cool? USNO was an incredibly dominant force in Sabah politics in the 1960s-70s. But like the saying goes: what comes up must come down (hey, look at UMNO now)!

Furthermore, two other uncles, Conrad Mojuntin and Michael Manjaji are also significant -- albeit contorversial -- political figures in Sabah.

Presently, two cousins Don Mojuntin and Jane Manjaji are respectable political figures in their own right. Don, now an assistant minister in the state cabinet, is set to follow his dad's footstep. Don I foresee will be the next Huguan Siou or Paramount Leader of the Kadazandusuns. Jane was the PBS women head in Penampang in the 1990s.

So, what am I going to do about all these?

Firstly and frankly let me say that my own father and mother were not near the achievements of their famous siblings. They would live -- or rather chose to live -- what I say a "mediocre" life, unfortunately. It's their choice. It's beyond my control.

But what I can control is my reaction or response to my roots.

So what am I going to do about my roots? Where am I heading? Is there any earthshaking goals? Am I aiming for a life that is above "mediocrity"?

Yeah, I have been thinking about this for a long, long time. The earliest conscious effort to move significantly forward was during my time in the US from 1988-93 doing my tertiary education.

No I didn't go to Stanford or MIT or Princeton or Harvard or even Yale. But I went to Texas A&M deep in the heart of the Lone Star State. Whoop!

There my perspectives of life changed forever. My heart and spirit were burning like never before. The desire to go far in life sparked just like when the space shuttle Endeavour (constructed in 1987 and first space mission in 1993) ignited ready for take off.

Am I boasting about myself? No, I don't think so. If I am not telling my story, who else would? And the reason I tell my story is so that God can be glorified. How? My story tells about my conversion to Christianity; how Jesus changed my life from rags to reformer. I am a reformer for Christ; and all the glory goes to HIM.

DAILY DEVOTIONS (DD)

I will be posting my daily devotions here using the A, B, C formula.

A -- A title for the passage

B -- Bible reading

C -- Contextualize what I just read


In a nutshell, "A title" would help me to remember what I just read. When I say "Bible reading" I need to set a specific time everyday to meet in the Lord by way of reading the Bible, meditate on His Word and pray. To contextualize is to apply what I just read in my present situation; the country I am in, the culture I am in, the type of people around me (what are their needs? spiritually? physical needs?)

In order to have a meaningful DD, it takes three S:
1. Self-discipline
2. Systematic progression
3. Sharing my thought with another Christian