THE MAHATHIR DILEMMA?

Fellow Malaysians,

All of us are 'PENDATANGS' in this world and owner and ruler of this universe is Allah swt/Almighty God. I have to be careful in using 'ALLAH' as it exclusively belongs to certain Malays in Malaysia. I am still waiting for a response to my question on this from OIC as I was informed that only in Malaysia there is a FATWA  on this exclusivity. I stand to be corrected. My apologies for the digression. Sdr Zaidee I agree with your views but a slight correction in that mamaks in UMNO were quite limited at one time but of course with my Pak Cik Mahathir and his gang from Kedah/Penang and Kongress India Muslim Malaysia(KIMMA) becoming an affiliate of UMNO the landscape is changing with all the crumbs and bones thrown to KIMMA. If you look at the constitution of KIMMA it is clear that members have to be Muslims of Indian origin. I am still trying to figure  that out but after all we are living in a BOLEH LAND where anything and everything is possible if you are either in the corridors of power or cash rich to throw money to SOME  hungry dogs in government including the police and GLC's. You can be aquitted after you plot and kill your mistress/girlfriend and AG will not appeal. But AG will appeal appeal when a poor cop is found NOT guilty for a paltry offence of RM1500/=.

The TRUE natives of Malaysia are the 'Orang Asal' and they are also 'pendatangs' going by the definition that this universe belongs to the creator. There are more than 15 ethnicities among the Malays but all clubbed as one race'MALAY'. I dont want to delve further as I might be then charged for sedition but Zulkiflee Nordin can insult Hindus/Hinduism and later admits and apologises publicly but AG's office says NFA to PDRM because there is insufficient evidence. Ibrahim Ali can call for burning the bible and some Morons substantiate that he only wanted to burn those bibles which were misprinted. My 12 year old granddaughter after reading that exclaimed that her toes were laughing. Oops why am I again straying away from the main issue. Yes yes I am in bolehland and the disease has also infiltrated into me.

Anyone who is born in this beloved land called Malaya/Malaysia is a 'NATIVE' and all of us are/have to be proud of our origins and that is the democratic right. The extremist and racial fanatic Malays (probably less than 30% and even an infant can smell that dirty lot who belong to a certain party/NGO's) think that ONLY Chinese and Indians are pendatangs. This is slowly changing among the well informed young Malays who have better exposure and not living under a controlled mindset and thanks to BIRO TATA NEGARA and my pakcik Mamak Mahathir.

Let us all unite and say 'MALAYSIA is for MALAYSIANS' and NO to RACIAL FANATICS. One generation has been destroyed and efforts to correct this is hampered by the Malay racial fanatic faction. Last but not least I have written to National Fatwa Council on many issues based on Al-Quran and Hadith. I will mention the following:

1) BN takeover of Perak Govt in 2009 is HARAM. They have not to date disputed my findings.

2) GE 13 is also HARAM. Not disputed to date.

3)National FatwaCouncils fatwa that 'BERSIH' is HARAM. I challenged them and declared that their FATWA is HARAM. Not disputed to date.

4)Certain actions of Election Commissions is HARAM. Not disputed.

5)Certain policies in Governenment are HARAM.

6)Promotions in civil service/Police/Armed Forces/GLC's are HARAM. Not disputed to date.

7)Single race domination and injustice to others HARAM. Not disputed.

All the above are backed up by verses from Al-Quran and Hadith. Probably that is why National Fatwa Council is unable to respond. Alternatively my continuous bombardment might have sent  it to Intensive Care Unit.I wonder why they can be so immune to such serious allagations. Allahuwallam/God Knows Best.

 Last but not least I was born in India and came to Malaya as a BRITISH subject in 1954 and obtained my Malaysia Minor Citizenship in 1962. I studied from school all the way to my college on my fathers scholarship (my late father borrowed from friends and relatives to educate me and my elder brother who is Speaclist Doctor) and had the honour of being the first Malaysian to graduate as Leather and Footwear Technologist. I was coaxed by my father and cousin (who was working in a legal firm and MARA was their client) to leave my Management Trainee position with Tata's International Management Institute in Jamshedpur,India (my contemporaries later became top 5 for the International operations of TATAs)  as Kulitkraft( then owned by MARA) had started a Leather and Footwear factory in P.Jaya and was managed by 2 expatriates. I came back reluctantly and when I walked into the interview I saw all  the Board members in a state of shock. They had apparently expected a Malay or at least a Malay looking guy but there I was a with a big handle bar misai!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I left the building in disbelief after I was told that by one of the board members and was in tears when I thought how I was going to settle all the loans my father had taken to send me to college and had 5 other siblings with a lot of expectation that their elder brother will take over from my unwell Dad)I started walking back to the bus stop and saw a sign board outside Colgate Palmolive for vacancies as a factory worker. I walked in and applied for the job and lied thru my teeth when they asked me what I did from 1968 to 1973. I got the job as a daily paid worker.

2nd  May 1974 is still fresh and evergreen as I started my career with JOHNSON PATERSON FOOTWEAR in Mak Mandin,Butterworth as Quality Controller and rose up to Factory Manager and in 1980 KULITKRAF head hunted me for their General managers post and I went for the interview but when they made the offer I politely turned down the offer that I am not a Malay and related my 1973 experience.

My career took me across to work in Japan/Korea/Taiwan/Indonesia/Hong Kong/UK/Ivory Coast/Cameroon and finally joined a British Public Listed Company's subsidiary in KL as their Business Development Director and rose up to Managing Director. In 2000 the Malaysian operations was bought out from the PLC and I became the major shareholder and then expanded to India/Sri Lanka/Dubai/Bahrain/Qatar.

I did not have any Political patronage in my business but CLEAN GOD FEARING civil servants helped me all the way, Alhamdhulillah/All praise to Almighty God. I humbly can claim credit of being the Project Management Consultancy organisation responsible for executing Bukit Jalil Sports Complex/UIA Gombak/Selayang Hospital(working for the Japanese contractor as their Construction Managers)/Upgrading of various sports facilities/MPSP builting in Butterworth/PKNP complex in Ipoh/Bertam Sports Complex, Kepala Batas/Masterplanning and feasibility study for SHELL Miri new HQ/Study and recommendation on Kulim Hi-Tech park which was not taking off the ground/AIMST University, Semeling, Kedah and various other multi-million dollar projects locally and overseas.

We were also employed by Perbadanan Stadium Nasional to supervise the maintenance contract which was privatised. The Maintenance contractor was very highly connected in UMNO. Had a tough time but I instructed my Engineers to carry out their duties professionally. I paid a very high price when my contract was NOT renewed for the next two years for reason I am not a BUMIPUTRA company. What a shock that from 1993 to 2003 they thought I was a Malay/Bumiputra but when I exposed ROGUE Malay thieves who were cheating with their political connections they suddenly had a revelation that I am an Indian Muslim as stated in my Registrar of Company documents. I wrote an appeal to Pak Lah who was PM and a good officer in Treasury told me to submit a fresh application and should declare my status as MALAY. I politely explained to her why I cannot do that and quoted Surah Al-Hujrah ayat 13 (Al-Quran 49:13). That was another sad day in my life and prayed to Allah swt to open up and give Hidyah to the Malay politicians/policy makers to be MUSLIMS/HUMANS first. The reason why the maintenance contactor wanted us out was because we reported that they had short-changed the Stadium corporation and those amounts will be deducted from future payments. Today the Government is going to spend millions of dollars to upgrade and we could easily save 30% on the announced estimates if the maintenance was done properly. We had a 5 star facilty with NO STAR maintenance after our contract was not renewed.

I harbour no ill feelings against those Malays who nearly destroyed me and my company because Allah swt/God decides my rezeki and after all those Malays are also my Ummah and my brothers and sisters in Islam. I am proud to be a MUSLIM FIRST/Malaysian by Nationality and Tamil is my Mother tongue and so a Tamilian by language with a tradition of few thousand years. I do not need a constitution to back me up to identify my RACE. Of course I respect the constitution for what it is worth. Malaysia holds world record for amending the constitution. Here again thanks to my Mamak turned Malay pak cik Mahathir Mohamed a/l  Mohamed Iskandar Kutty. Oops sorry, Mahathir Bin Mohamed. I stand corrected.

As a Caring Corporate Citizen we allocated 20% of our profits for charity since 1974. We adopted Tamil Schools/Rumah Anak Yatim/Tahfiz Quran and host of other needy organisations and we channeled it thru an Independent Yayasan run by a friend of mine. We adopted 50 students(all Malays) from kampungs and helped them from Std 1 to 6. After that they all went on to MRSM and 42 of them are today Professionals (thanks to JPA/Bank Negara/Petronas/GLC's) who gave scholarships. We are also happy that 16 of them are Doctors and some pursuing specialaist programmes. I was the single largest donour to my Primary school (Cator Avenue when they bult their hall) and also the single lagest contributor to my secondary school Anderson School, Ipoh. I was the team Manager for the schools Hockey Team which won the National Championship for 10 years consecutively (a record still not broken) and financially supported the poor students in the team until they finished school. Well 90% were Malays.

I am now semi-retired and I am in the process of becoming a Full Time Activist in Malaysia and probably an educationist too, Insya Allah/God Willing. I am the Protem Chairperson of Global Tamil Muslim Federation based in Vienna, Austria started by 20 Tamil Muslim technocrats who are all billionaires(excluding me though in their terms I am a billionaire too in Ideas/Integrity/Courage/Guts who can take on anybody, even those in our corridors of power...hahahaha). A number of these members are Malaysians who left with a bitter heart 25 years ago when they were denied entry into UM despite better grades than their fellow malay friends with lesser grades who got into UM. They have not stepped foot in Malaysia after that episode but have made it very big in UK/USA) The first project by this group is to start a US300 million University and provide education to poor and needy children at heavily subsidised cost. If all goes well this University should take off in 2017 and now I am lobbying for the Uni to be built in Malaysia but there is a strong lobby for India. Let us pray for the best.

These 20 technocrats are now living in

Japan/USA/Canada/UK/Belgium/Netherlands/Denmark/Sweden/Germany/France. They did their undergraduate studies in a lot of hardship and some of them working part time every day. Their post-graduate/PhD was by scholarships and part time as Tutors. They competed and won on merit. They were not discriminated. To quote the late Moulana Sheikh Abdur Rahman ( he passed away in Madinah at the age of 102 after he performed his 60th Haj in 2010) “In Europe and USA I did not see Muslims but I saw Islam. In Malaysia I saw Muslims but did not see Islam.” He then elaborated the discriminatory aspects here and especially when Malaysians marry foreign spouses and the hassle they had to go thru to get yearly social visit pass.If foreign men married Malaysian women it was even more hassle (except my pak cik Mahathir's daughter who was first married to a French and later an Indonesian who got their Permanent Residency in a short period of time - Please correct me if I am wrong as I don’t want to be accused of Fitnah and sons and daughters of big shots/politicians had an easy passage) and over the years the rules were relaxed as more Malay men and women were marrying foreigners. Not complaining as in Islam a couple cannot be separated for more than 6 months unless on exceptional circumstances. This I can substantiate and I am sure that it will be even easier and maybe instant citizenship for Najib/Rosmahs to be daughter-in law from Kazakhstan. If the Home Minister does not take orders from Rosmah he better be ready for a SODOMY charge. We must be prepared for more killings at the rate it is going now as reported in the papers last few days. After all you don’t need a MOTIVE to kill anybody. And with C4 explosives available al you need is a connection and probably promise the guys whom you hire if they are Malaysians that their faces will NEVER be exposed at any time and gallows will receive the guy but actual culprit after COSMETIC surgery and new identuty will be living happily sfter i some place Indonesia. Oops I have again strayed. Happy reading and God Bless Malaysia and Malaysians.

Wassalam/Best regards

Selamat Berpuasa and Ramadhan Mubarak

Dato Thasleem Mohamed Ibrahim Al-Haj

DPMP(Perak) PMP(Perak)
Chairperson

JIHAD for JUSTICE / NIAT

*****

MORE HERE

CAN IT BE SAID THAT WE WERE MALAYSIANS UNTIL TDM CAME ALONG?

On Wednesday, a journalist from The Malaysian Insider asked what my views were on the state of education today. My response saw print under SIDEVIEWS, 25 July.

How different is education today, I was asked, compared to education when I was an educator? If I lasted 19 years as a teacher, it must have been a tolerable profession. Key operative word is “tolerable” despite that fact that in mid 60’s we teachers throughout the country went on strike to seek better remuneration.

When I opted to come back from Singapore after her separation from Malaysia to  continue to make teaching my career my late meter-reader father warned me about the responsibility the job entailed. “I already got you a job at LLN (now Tenaga) through Raja Zainal” (then CEO.) As a teacher you are responsible for ALL students in your class. They spend more hours with you than with their parents. If one goes astray, you have failed as the teacher!” He sure threw a bucket of coldwater on my vocation. I stuck to teaching, emboldened by the challenge  that I had my former teachers to emulate, the men who nurtured me for  this noble profession. I spent 10 years in a Sentul school after which I was assigned to another  to stem the drug and indiscipline in that school. So why did I throw all this away, loss of pension and gratuity after 19 years?

After 1970, all schools were converted into government or government assisted schools and Bahasa Kebangsaan would be the medium of instruction. Three months of inservice course to learn Bahasa was deemed sufficient for one to be proficient in this new medium of instruction. I plodded on, even on occasions when I was just three pages ahead of my students. That was the policy and I tried to do my best. And then I witnessed the insidious role race and religion snaked into the profession. When handball was introduced in the sports curriculum I purchased the necessary. I was called into office to justify why I purchased handball made from pig skin. I produced the ball that had the offending word “pigment” imprinted on it.  When the omnipotent words race, religion and quota took precedence over merit that resulted in shameless polarization that divided  our studentbody  I wanted no part of this system and forfeited  one month’s salary in lieu of immediate resignation.  They say that once a teacher, always a teacher. I continued teaching as an internationally certified corporate trainer and coach where race, religion  could not find a foothold in multi-national corporations but lost a lucrative contract with a statutory body when it was revealed that I was an anti-establishment blogger. So what’s new with this latest episode of the dressing room canteen? The politicizing of race and religion will continue unabated so we former teachers just pray that one day this beautiful country and its people can live together (again!) in harmony and undivided by people who use race and religion to control and separate us.

Updates: I received this comment in my email box:

Thank you Mr Khoo!

To answer ur question,race and religion didn't matter when I was in school in the 80s.we ran and played together and went to each other's houses for the festivals and ate!I had the best teachers,all races,at my convent school in ipoh.but being a reporter for the last 13 yrs,I knew things were changing. So I went against all family members and sent my girls to a chinese school.it was tough for them initially studies wise,but at least there is no discrimination.now,both my brown skinned girls operate like chinese girls, they almost think they r one of them!I have no problems with that.most importantly,they are happy in school and all family members have come around and very proud that they speak mandarin so fluently.I also don't have any problems with teachers,no slackers,discipline is top notch and the best part is how organised the school is. best decision I've made so far.

They say that blessings come in showers…..how true.

Former Member of Parliament for Termeloh, and formerly Deputy Higher Education Minister Saifuddin said on 24 July at a forum:

 “the current political culture from politics of race and religion must also change.”

As my Friday guest blogger read my dear friend Art Harun’s take on those different times in Patrick Teoh’s blog.

NOT URGENT....IT CAME FROM INDONESIA!

PARLIAMENT Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia has rejected motions from both BN and Pakatan Rakyat parliamentarians to debate the haze crisis urgently in the lower house.

“The speaker told me that we shouldn’t debate the haze issue in Malaysia because the problem comes from Indonesia,” Teo said during a press conference outside of the Dewan Rakyat today.

DAP’s Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching  and MCA's Ayer Hitam MP Wee Ka Siong both had similar motions rejected by the speaker.

Both the motions were raised under Standing Order 18 (1), which allows for an emergency debate motion if the matter is of urgency and public importance. HERE

WHAT IF A ROGUE MISSILE FROM INDONESIA LANDS ON THE PALACE GROUND?

NFA because it came from across the Straits? Over the last 4 years observing this piece of poop I  doubt he can understand the magnitude of the stupidity in his statement.  

“There are so many different kinds of stupidity, and cleverness is one of the worst.” With this answer to Teo and Wee, Pandikar thought he was being clever.

People, this Pandikar Amin is not evil. I know something is evil when I smell t. He isn’t evil, just incredibly STUPID! On second thought stupidity is the same as evil if you judge his antics in Parliament. Indeed beauty fades with age, but dumb stupidity is forever. We all have been given a gift at birth; if you have not sorted it out yet, yours is stupidity for sure!

Over the last 4 years observing this piece of poop has proved that stupidity is not a handicap, more a prerequisite if one is to be an effective BN running mongrel. He is fortunate that our laws do not allow that stupidity be punishable by death. If it was, there would be a hell of population drop in the BN coalition.

His audacious stand seems to be the sort of stand a  madman, on a hilltop in a raging thunderstorm, wearing wet copper armour, gesticulating and shouting defiantly, “all gods are useless!” Was the Penang Menara UMNO accident a gentle warning nudge by the gods?

I am reminded of a recent quote by Sachidanand Das:

“The stupid cannot know about his stupidity because he is stupid.”

Over brunch my Wednesday brunch mate Aljunid remarked: “If his brains were a pack of C4 there would not be enough to blow his head off…..maybe just a headache!”

In response Dharma added: “Sometimes a man wants to be stupid if it lets him do a thing his cleverness forbids. One more kopi-o kow kow Kit……on Bernard!”

“Humans beings always do the most intelligent thing…after they’ve tried every stupid alternative and none of them has worked,” said Richard Buckminster Fuller. That about sums up succinctly what the Speaker IS! Intelligence minus purpose equals stupidity. Could that be the collective purpose why BN appointed the Speaker?

But alas, you can't fix stupid, can you?  In politics, stupidity is not a handicap. It's the stupid that make all the trouble in the world, not the wicked. Iraq and Afganistan?

Expect Pandikar to retort: 'What do you think I am, stupid, or something?”

As such the Poop Chute Award is bestowed on him.

THE GIRTH IS NOT IMPORTANT AS LONG AS YOU HAVE BALLS!

 “FIE, FIE, YOU COUNTERFEIT. YOU PUPPET, YOU!” - Shakepeare

When I was a kid, I never saw a puppet show. I never played with puppets or had any interest in them. But of late, puppets are playing a detrimental role in our lives. I am beginning to see the roles of puppets gombie-ing around regardless. I am particularly interested in the Chinese puppets. Would I be unkind to tag these puppets as government drones….programed like the US drones spying on its own people?

The Election Commission was never for a democratic election process. It was and will be for setting up a PUPPET GOVERNMENT. Do bear in mind that the word kow-towing is of Chinese origin and who better to be puppets than the condescending chinamen in politics, judiciary and the STAR media. Haven’t these chinamen realized that the backdoor is always opened (grudgingly)? Are they that thick not to realize that some of them are where they are just to make the number….just to fill an ethic quota….no matter how dismal or pathetic the crumbs offered? When you wait too long at the foot of the table there will be a time when the crumbs too are not there. Najib was right. There was a Chinese tsunami…..the tide turned against the Chinese in government who begged for crumbs from the Chinese populace and were rejected!

YOU ARE NOT A STICK KAYU, ARE YOU CHRISTOPHER WAN?

 Since 8 May, the people have gathered throughout the country to seek the resignation of the Election Commission. The 7 remain recalcitrant. Are they testing the patience of the Agong?  

Even if 6 refuse to resign I expect the sole chinaman CHRISTOPHER WAN in the EC to step down. You know very well that you have been programmed, been used. Haven’t you realized that you have served your time as a puppet and that to save face, it is time to pull out? You are not a stick, are you? When a puppeteer controls a souless stick person, would you consider your government as your master?

I know it is a tough decision like turning down a blow job ... mid-blowjob. We know how hard that is! But a MAN has got to do what a man has got to do unless he is a puppet. It's called blue balls. You must have had a desire during your tenure to prove to yourself that you were actually in control – that you were not a puppet. Well, Christopher, it is never too late. Straighten up. WALK TALL. No more crouching. STEP DOWN  …..be a real man and not a counterfeit souless stick man dangling from the decayed edifice.

A QUESTION FOR PARLIAMENT.

IT IS NEVER OVER UNTIL 7 HEADS ROLL

The Minority (47%) PM had nothing to say……he delegated the KL Police chief who claimed that organisers of the ‘Black 505' rally today have ordered its participants to "provoke" authorities who are stationed at Padang Merbok and the seven gathering points, with the purpose of "creating a riot". HERE

The Majority (51%) PM yesterday said:

Ignore these threats. It is your constitutional right to assemble peacefully. Your lives cannot be dictated by the police, or UMNO or the Prime Minister.

Tomorrow marks our 15th Black 505 rally. It is your right to demand that the Election Commission heads step down for the widespread fraud. The ink was not indelible and that itself is a crime but tomorrow’s rally will leave an indelible imprint in our history. Your children and my children and the future generations to come will remember it.

They will remember that in spite of the odds, the obstacles and the pitfalls along the way, we soldiered on. They will remember that hand in hand we walked through the storm – peace loving Malaysians from all races and backgrounds young and old united in seeking and demanding fairness, justice, and what is rightly due to us.

History has shown that leaders who hold on power through illegitimate means will sooner or later be brought to justice by the power of the people. This is a power drawn from the inalienable rights conferred by the Constitution. They cannot take these rights away from you because they are fundamental to a nation governed by the rule of law. The UMNO-BN government is not your master and cannot determine your future.

By the will of God, the future of this nation lies in your hands. So, when tomorrow comes, let us all be there to make our date with destiny.

WHAT MORE DOES UMNO WANT?

Ramachandran Muniandy: Let's all go as participants of the Olympic Day Run, then later change to black T-shirts.

When Mahatma Gandhi started the salt boycott in India, the British closed all the roads to stop the rallies. But the participants went ahead. Hundreds and thousands were arrested. When taken to court, all said that they were guilty.

The judge sentenced them to three months in prison or a fine of 20 rupees. They said they couldn't afford the fine but were willing to go jail. The prisons had no room for them and it would also be a costly affair.

All were eventually acquitted with a warning. That's what people do to fight for their rights!

YES, WHAT MORE here

A GENTLE TICKING OFF FROM ERIC....

Way back in 2007 I could not help noticing an unassuming mat salleh in our midst lending support to our various civil society activities. It became inevitable that Frenchman Eric and Malaysian Elaine would invariably be a member of the Special Bunch. Both took time off to enthusiastically campaign for PAS in Kuala Trengganu during its by-election. Eric was assigned back to Paris but both are back in Malaysia to celebrate Eric’s birthday today. Eric was generous in his comments in my blog and it is fortunate that I archived one of his postings. Typical of him he gave us Malaysians a gentle nudge when what we deserve was a good kick in the butt:   

Dear all,

As a foreign investor in this country, it puzzles me to no end that Malaysians would fight all-day-long about their ethnicity, religion or the colour of their belly-button.

Foreign investors are not coming here for cheap labour anymore, Vietnam, and further ashore China, are far cheaper and better (little labour department there). The local market is a laugh, small in number and means, Indonesia or even Thailand are way more enticing if you look at quantity. Don't try to bluff me about common law and judiciary, unwritten rules and unpredictable judiciary rule Malaysia far out compared to Singapore. Don't even speak about >infrastructure, try taking a Malaysian taxi from KLCC to Bukit Bintang wearing a tie and sporting a laptop and you'll understand why foreign investors do not need a second trip to Malaysia. Nope, >none of these count favourably.

The very reason Malaysia (still) ends up with large semi-conductor factories, regional shared services and other multinational service >centres is, precisely, the ethnic diversity. I recently had a tax issue in Indonesia. Some obscure rules I could not even start to fathom blocked the conclusion of the yearly audit. Who sorted it out? Our Malaysian accountant who speaks fluent bahasa flew down and got rid of the fuss in a couple of days. Had it been me, I might be in a Jakarta jail or even dead by now. I am now sourcing materials from China, needless to say I speak and write no Chinese, like most mat salleh, guess who helps me here? A Malaysian. I increasingly require Indian expertise in IT, law and finance. Needless to say, I can never hope to get through the thick accent and neither can my suppliers decipher anything I have to say. Guess who's doing the legwork? A Malaysian. Again. Surprised?

It does not stop there. I can consider myself lucky if my visiting clients from continental Europe can mutter 2 or 3 comprehensible sentences of English. Guess what they tell me once they get back

home? They love the way Malaysians speak English. It being a second language here, Malaysians go the extra mile to make themselves understood to Italian or French speakers who would have come back

from the UK or the US not having understood a thing!

Now rather than capitalise on this, Malaysians prefer to rant about ethnicity day in day out. Good for foreign devils, Malaysians seem bent on keeping us in business. Expensive (and sometimes useless)

expats are still needed in this country because Malaysians would rather have a costly foreigner on top than a plain co-national, due to wrong skin colour, religion or whatever. Thanks to the absurd

(and it pains me to stay polite) local university selection and incredible limitations, expats will be needed forever here. Contrast this with India or China. With their efficient if tough university systems. Chinese and Indian (current or former) nationals are actually taking over many Western companies' executive positions. Meanwhile Malaysian foreign graduates are happy taking up the jobs Westerners won't do at any price (e.g. dreary auditing jobs, low-pay F&B, etc.).

Proposals like DN knights' Satu Sekolah are a gunshot in Malaysia's foot. The day Malaysians shun their diversity under the guise of assimilation, Malaysia will have made sure it become Singapore's official dumping site. For Pete's sake, even the French, who used to champion assimilation all the way, are now teaching Arabic to second-generation French kids, because even they realise the potential loss.

What will make Malaysians feel like a common bangsa again? Shall we petition the British to come back so that Malaysians return to the united days of Hartal and AMCJA-PUTERA's people constitution?

Perhaps the Japanese would want to have a second shot? Or maybe the Dutch or the Portuguese?

If I were to be cynical, and I can tell you a number of my foreign clients are, I should tell you all to go on fighting one another for the crumbs. Please do tell each other "this ethnic community is lazy, that one is a bunch of avid crooks, that other one is just a bunch of miscreants", while foreigners can go on happily signing juicy deals with BN's cronies, hire the best talent for dirt cheap, rape nature (logging, gold mining anyone?), etc. but I won't. Why? I may be a silly idealist, but I still love this country, because I believe you guys can finally overcome your divisions and make this country a model for all to admire. Now, will you prove me right?

Eric

******

Joyeux anniversaire mon cher ami