A BOOK THAT I HAVE NOT READ

COMMENTARIES ON SOME TOPICS IN 'AWAKENING'

1. I was in Mecca, during the last ten days of Ramadhan and subsequently a few more days in Medinah, when I heard that the book entitled 'Awakening' was coming into the market. My sources said that it was written by Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

2. Later on I read somewhere in the press that Tun Abdullah said that Tun Mahathir would not like anybody else to have a vision other than his. This could of course be the media's misunderstanding of Tun Abdullah's statement.

 

3. I have not read the book as I am still waiting for a friend who wants to give me a free copy of it. I was told by this friend that it is not written by Tun Abdullah but by others who are probably agreeable to him. Only 36 pages of the 606 pages were written by him. That sounds more like it because I cannot remember him either as a writer nor a lengthy speaker. He was known as a 'nice guy'.

4. You may wish to read what I wrote about Tun Abdullah before his succession as a Prime Minister in my welcoming speech when he launched the Mahathir Encyclopaedia published by an Egyptian printer in Cairo. My speech was posted in this blog on April, 21, 2010 entitled 'Menjadi Seorang Perdana Menteri' or 'Becoming a Prime Minister'.

5. I did however ask my friend further as to what he thought was the motive for bringing out such a book at that particular time.

6. I was informed that the book could be an attempt to blame Tun Abdullah's bad performance, in the 2008 General Election, on Tun Mahathir, instead of the 4th floor boys being blamed for it; especially when the UMNO election was near. The 4th floor boys need a lot of white-washing to improve their image, among those who know their follies, but was lucky that the UMNO election, this time around, was decided by the less knowledgeable multitude of 146,500 voters from all over the country in what an opposition thinker told me as a 'monetized, pyramidial network of wholesalers in votes for rental, guided and feudal pseudo-democratic process'. The results were as expected. I was informed by analysts the 'strategy of retaining all the incumbent office-holders was meant to rationalize the inclusion, in the list of victors, the most unpopular likely loser'.

7. When further asked whether there is any mention of 'Islam Hadhari' in the book the answer was positive.

PART 5 - TAOTC - NOTHING TO HIDE

BETTER WAYS OF LOOKING AT THINGS AND EVENTS

 

This is the 5th Part in a series of articles under TAOTC = The Art Of Thinking Correctly. The articles are selected from various books and are intended to enlighten readers with different, hopefully better, ways of looking at things and events.

 

While the following article is intended to exhibit the creativity of a citizen in the United Kingdom, we can also change the title to 'Nothing2Hide' as a slogan which had recently infiltrated our vocabulary.

PART 4 - TAOTC - THE HARD CHOICES

Dear readers, you will note that I have changed the title of this series from THE ART OF THINKING CLEARLY TO TAOTC. This is done in order to allow space for the title of the subject. The article is presented verbatim from the original source but the conclusion or summary at the bottom is totally mine. These selected collection of articles are extracted from my FILE OF IDEAS at the TOETI JUAIRIAH LIBRARY.

By Dave Trott

The philosopher Isaac Berlin said there are two kinds of liberties.
Positive liberty and negative liberty.
Positive liberty is the freedom to DO things.
Go where you want, with whom you want, when you want, etc..

Negative liberty is the freedom FROM things.
Freedom from fear, from hunger, from exploitation, etc..

Both these freedoms are undoubtedly good things.
But people refuse to face the truth about them.
The more you have of one, the less you have of the other.

On the other hand:

If you give everyone the freedom TO carry a gun.
You take away someone else's freedom FROM fear.

If you give everyone freedom TO make money however they want.
You take away someone's freedom FROM exploitation.

On the other hand:

If you give everyone freedom FROM homelessness, the state must pay for housing.
Which means higher taxes.
Which means someone else loses the freedom TO spend their money how they want.

No one wants to face these hard choices.
If you want more of one, you have to have less of the other.

Remember science class at school

The most basic rule: Nothing can be created or destroyed.
It can only change state.
We can heat a block of ice, and it turns into water.
We can heat the water, and it turns into steam.
A solid, to a liquid, to a gas.
But the same amount of matter remains in existence.
That's the essence of the zero-sum game.

Nothing new magically appears.
If you want it, it has to come from somewhere else.
How come we don't know that in our business?

If we want more sales, if we want to grow the market, if we want to increase brand share, it has to come from somewhere else.

When was the last time you saw a brief that identifies where we would be taking sales from?
When was the grubby subject of money mentioned?
Who would be putting their hand in their pocket and deciding not to spend the cash on that, but on this instead.

How about never.

We talk about branding and hope it will act like a magnet.
Magically attracting people from somewhere.
Like moths to a flame.
No one wants to identify exactly where they are coming from.

Because, like politicians, no one want to make the hard choices.

CONCLUSION

Malaysian too have a choice.
In order for the politicians TO have the freedom to do anything as they like, behind our back.
We have to sacrifice our thinking faculty and our capacity for reasoning.
And be satisfied with our subsidies in various forms.
They give the citizens the much publicized tit-bits, in order for them to keep the rest.
 

PART 3. TAOTC - THE RIPPLE OF HOPE

THE RIPPLE OF HOPE

During this time and age when the media is controlled and manipulated by the powers that be, and the social media is also manifestly abused, the absorption of ideas greatly depend on repetitious presentation of pros and contras by those with the obsession to deliver the hidden and obvious messages.

 

False confidence is a disease which is often infected by those in the status quo who are evasive of criticisms, either out of ignorance or based on crafted feedbacks by agents whom they serve as unethical professionals or simply paid agents.

 

Such an example is when the 12 branches of UMNO in the Port Dickson division called for the resignation of the Prime Minister.

 

This call was brushed aside by the head of the UMNO division as being organized by a minority of trouble makers.

 

It was also belittled by an UMNO national leader as too few out of thousands of UMNO branches. 

 

However, it this such decisions as this which contributes to what is described by Robert Kennedy, in 1966, as 'a ripple of hope'.  

 

Robert Kennedy uttered the following words:

 

Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

PART 1: TAOTC - NO PAIN NO GAIN

MALAYSIA IS BEING ATTACKED BY THE HAZE

 

Our thoughts are therefore hazy

 

Politically, Economically and Socially.

 

Our politics is hay-wire, our economy is turbulent and we are racially divided.

 

Politics - BN has suffered in two previous elections; we lost the majority votes in the latter.

 

Economy - The 1MDB scandal, the falling value of the ringgit , higher cost of living and growing unemployment.

 

Social - We are racially more divided

 

To solve the problems we depend on the following:

 

1. Foreign consultants

 

2. Foreign bankers

 

3. Smart friends and relatives from USA, UK and the Middle East. 

4. Loyal, but not necessary honest and/or clever, comrades and employees.

 

In order to understand ourselves I have decided to submit in this blog, from time to time, expert views which will help us to assess our progress.

 

Here is a chapter by Rolf Dobelli in THE ART OF THINKING CLEARLY (CHAPTER 12)

PART 2.. TAOTC - THE SHIP OF THESEUS

THE SHIP OF THESEUS

Assalaamu'alaikum Warahmatullaahi Wabarakaatuh dan Good Morning to all.

Dear readers,

The following chapter is from another book by Dave Trott which is rediscovered in my 'FILE OF IDEAS' after having 'lost' the book itself, hopefully just mislaid, if not borrowed but not returned, by a trusted friend, from the TOETI JUAIRIAH LIBRARY.

 

This chapter appears satirically relevant to all Malaysians, particularly the Malays, in the present atmospheric and psychological haziness.

 

It could be a stimulus for further deliberations.

 

This blog entry is labeled as PART 2 in a series on THE ART OF THINKING CLEARLY and this entry relates to the earlier PART 1 entry of the same title.

 

Although PART 1 carried a title similar to the title of the book from which it is borrowed, subsequent chapters, as this entry, need not be from the same book.

THE RELEVANCIES OF OUR INSTITUTIONS

 

This series is introduced for sharing with all interested readers in the hope that we have an additional common input while looking at the relevancy of the various institutions in our country which appears to be exploited, misguided and non-functional on which we cannot rely to look after our future generations.

Your comments will be greatly appreciated.

MELAYU - DULU DAN SEKARANG

Assalaamu'alaikum Warahmatullaahi Wabarakaatuh.

Karangan di bawah ini, bertajuk Bangsa Melayu Baru, saya petik dari blog 'BEK TUWO BUDAYA' milik sahabat saya sejarawan T. A. Sakti dari Universiti Syiah Kuala, Aceh. Ianya ialah petikan dari karangan oleh Alfitra Salam yang tebit dalam suratkhabar Kompas di Indonesia sekitar 20 tahun yang lalu pada 21 November, 1994. Kandungannya memaparkan pemikiran 20 tahun yang lampau yang masih relevan, secara perbindangan, dengan keadaan di hari ini.

Apakah perubahan yang telah berlaku setelah lebih 20 tahun persoalan bangsa Melayu difikirkan.

 

Karangan berikutnya, yang saya beri tajuk MELAYU MASA KINI, saya pinjam dari satu masukan 19 Disember, 2014 yang di C&P oleh H. A. N. Azam dalam grup WhatsApp IMAM D'YAN, yang merupakan sindiran lucu yang perlu mendapat perhatian yang serius.

Antara 21 November, 1994 dan 19 Disember, 2014 terdapat dua kelohan dalam bentuk sajak yang didiklamasikan oleh seorang tokoh politik bertaraf antarabangsa Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, berjudul 'Perjuangan Yang Belum Selesai' dan seorang Sasterawan Negara Usman Awang, berjudul 'Melayu'.

Setelah itu diturunkan pula sebuah lagu karangan seorang pemikir bangsa Tan Sri Dr. Nordin Kardi yang digubal pada tahun 1977 dan diperkenalkan dalam kursus-kursus anjuran Biro Tata Negara (BTN) pada tahun 1980. Lagu yang dinamakan 'Anak Kecil Main Api' adalah lagu yang mempunyai mesej yang relevan sehingga ke hari ini.

Sajak Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad dan lagu Tan Sri Dr. Nordin Kardi boleh didengar melalui U-Tube.

Untuk menghayati mesej yang disampaikan dalam sajak dan lagu di dalam masukan blog ini maka pembaca dinasihatkan supaya membacanya perlahan-lahan dengan perasaan yang bersemangat.

Selamat membaca.

THE TRIPLE PACKAGE - IS THE AUTHOR A RACIST?

http://time.com/2963/amy-chuas-new-book-might-make-you-uncomfortable-but-its-not-racist/

Vivia Chen @lawcareerist 


Why the Tiger Mom's New Book Makes You Nervous 

Jan. 31, 2014    

Amy Chua is an easy whipping post. After all, she’s the iconic Tiger Mom who blithely bragged about her extreme parenting methods in her book 2011 Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Overnight, she became the archetype of the nightmare Asian mom, hell bent on raising uber-achievers at all cost.

I thought Battle Hymn was a humorous, breezy read, but many people (who probably never read the book) were outraged. No wonder, then, that critics and pundits would be looking for signs of hubris and depravity in Chua’s latest work.

Chua’s most recent book, The Triple Package, written with her husband and fellow Yale Law School faculty member Jeb Rubenfeld, looks at success in America—specifically why certain groups (Jews, Indians, Chinese, Iranians, Lebanese, Nigerians, Cubans, and Mormons) succeed. In a recent New York Times article, they offer a synopsis of the book, citing what they regard as the three pillars of success: (1) “a superiority complex—a deep-seated belief in their exceptionality”; (2) “insecurity—a feeling that you or what you’ve done is not good enough”; and (3) “impulse control”—essentially self-discipline.

Already, the criticisms are reaching a crescendo. This time, though, Chua is condemned not just as an arrogant elitist and abusive mother but something else: racist.

Suketu Mehta writes in TIME that the book represents “the new racism—and I take it rather personally.” Mehta adds that “the language of racism in America has changed . . . It’s not about skin color anymore—it’s about ‘cultural traits.’”

In a follow-up to Mehta’s article, Anna Holmes argues that the “new racism” in The Triple Package is just a continuation of “the same old racism.” Her verdict on the book: “It’s the same old garbage, in a slightly different, Ivy League-endorsed disguise.”

The tenor of a lot of the criticism has been angry, hostile and extremely personal (Chua seems to get singled out much more so than her husband). And, I think, racist. The fact that some of the slings come from minority group members doesn’t make the criticisms less vicious.

What gives the attacks a distinct racist tinge is that Chua is reduced to a stereotype—a Dragon Lady, of sorts. This time, though, the Dragon Lady is not the evil seducer of old Fu Manchu movies, but the new evangelist of racial superiority. Maureen Callahan writes in the New York Post: “[Chua] used her heritage and all the worst stereotypes of Chinese women — cold, rigid Dragon Ladies.”

Chua is under attack because she and Rubenfeld are talking about ethnicity in a way that makes people uncomfortable. She’s writing about differences among divergent groups (ethnic or otherwise) and how those differences enter into the equation of success, as measured by education and socio-economic achievement (and yes, that definition of success has become a flash point too). The fear is that acknowledging those differences is to place cultures in a hierarchy, to be elitist. Jie-Song Zhang, for instance, writes in a rambling but somewhat poetic essay on The Huffington Post that Chua is adding “pollutants to our social eco-systems, strengthening the perception of difference, distance, and opposition between our communities.”

Of course, many children of immigrants no longer buy the narrative that their culture has been a primary driver of their success. Mehta, for one, writes that he is chagrined when relatives send him emails lauding the success of Indians. He says his family thrived in America not because of the “triple package” but because “my uncle in Detroit, an engineer, brought us over on the family reunification bill, not in shackles or in steerage.”

And that’s fine. We can all disagree about the origins of success and what success means.

But what’s outrageous about some of the criticism against Chua is that it essentially censors discussions that might touch a nerve. Labeling the speaker or the topic as exclusionary or racist is a quick way to undermine the legitimacy of the whole conversation.

All of this speaks volumes about how uncomfortable we are about talking about race, ethnicity, and success in America. And that this discussion is now being propelled by the Tiger Mom makes a lot of people nervous.


Perhatian: Ada lagi ulasan mengenai isi buku 'The Triple Package' di bahagian akhir masukan berikutnya dalam blog ini atas nama 'MELAYU ITU HEBAT BANGSANYA'. Selamat membaca.

Chen is the creator and chief blogger of the Careerist and a senior reporter at the American Lawyer. The views expressed are solely her own.

HP CEO CARLY FIORINA'S - ON ISLAM

Former HP CEO, Carly Fiorina on the Islamic Civilization

---

Dalam keadaan dunia Islam kini  berada dalam keadaan kucar-kacir, disebabkan peranan musuh Islam, yang ditunggangi oleh kelompok Zionis, elok juga kita mengingati zaman silam Tamaddun Islam yang gilang gemilang yang dipaparkan oleh seorang tokoh bukan Islam yang terkemuka iaitu mantan CEO Hewlett-Packard, Carly Fiorina.

An excerpt from HP CEO Carly Fiorina's speech on September 26, 2001   There was once a civilization that was the greatest in the world.   It was able to create a continental super-state that stretched from ocean to ocean, and from northern climes to tropics and deserts. Within its dominion lived hundreds of millions of people, of different creeds and ethnic origins.   One of its languages became the universal language of much of the world, the bridge between the peoples of a hundred lands. Its armies were made up of people of many nationalities, and its military protection allowed a degree of peace and prosperity that had never been known.   The reach of this civilization’s commerce extended from Latin America to China, and everywhere in between.   And this civilization was driven more than anything, by invention. Its architects designed buildings that defied gravity. Its mathematicians created the algebra and algorithms that would enable the building of computers, and the creation of encryption. Its doctors examined the human body, and found new cures for disease. Its astronomers looked into the heavens, named the stars, and paved the way for space travel and exploration. Its writers created thousands of stories. Stories of courage, romance and magic. Its poets wrote of love, when others before them were too steeped in fear to think of such things.   When other nations were afraid of ideas, this civilization thrived on them, and kept them alive. When censors threatened to wipe out knowledge from past civilizations, this civilization kept the knowledge alive, and passed it on to others.   While modern Western civilization shares many of these traits, the civilization I’m talking about was the Islamic world from the year 800 to 1600, which included the Ottoman Empire and the courts of Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo, and enlightened rulers like Suleiman the Magnificent.   Although we are often unaware of our indebtedness to this other civilization, its gifts are very much a part of our heritage. The technology industry would not exist without the contributions of Arab mathematicians. Sufi poet-philosophers like Rumi challenged our notions of self and truth. Leaders like Suleiman contributed to our notions of tolerance and civic leadership.   And perhaps we can learn a lesson from his example: It was leadership based on meritocracy, not inheritance. It was leadership that harnessed the full capabilities of a very diverse population–that included Christianity, Islamic, and Jewish traditions.   This kind of enlightened leadership — leadership that nurtured culture, sustainability, diversity and courage — led to 800 years of invention and prosperity.   In dark and serious times like this, we must affirm our commitment to building societies and institutions that aspire to this kind of greatness. More than ever, we must focus on the importance of leadership– bold acts of leadership and decidedly personal acts of leadership.   .

COMMON SENSE IN THE INFORMATION AGE

Published on Oct 03, 2014, MYPAPER, OPINION.

Losing common sense in the information age

DAVID MASON

IS COMMON sense that common any more?

Common sense is a term that is bandied around in all walks of life. In business, it implies sound and prudent judgment and, indeed, this is the usual dictionary definition.

The term is ancient and the original definition is bound with the five senses: we see, touch, feel, hear and taste things and form an opinion on them accordingly.

In short, we experience something and learn from it. The commonality comes from other people experiencing the same thing and sharing their interpretation.

Sharing information is just communication - as humans, we do this in three ways. The most basic is body language and we all have an innate perception of what others' displays mean. It can be confused by culture - raising your middle finger means different things in different cultures. Body language also includes general conduct, such as timekeeping, dress and cleanliness.

Advanced forms of communication are speaking and listening, and writing and reading.

Verbal communication used to require physical proximity, but is now often remote via phone or screen.

Written communication is almost always remote, so we cannot see the writer and, therefore, cannot make a judgment on them with our five senses.

We do make judgments, of course, but they are based on pictures we put in our heads and tones that we apply to the language we are reading.

Writing started on paper (or parchment or stone, if you want to be pedantic), but is now most frequently accessed on screen.

It is dominated by the Internet and includes things like e-mail, messaging systems (such as SMS and Twitter) and, for business, databases of what the leaders think is relevant to their employees.

The written word allows us to learn about every idea had by anyone under the sun. I cannot remember who said it, but a good definition of our age is that there are no new ideas to be had, only the application of existing ones.

Fine. This all sounds good - we can access information on any subject, anywhere, and apply it to our own lives and to situations at work. But, hang on, does the information we receive lead to the application of common sense?

To have common sense means you have to have experienced the current situation or something similar to it, not just read about it, or been told about it.

If you don't have the personal experience, you are applying someone else's experience, which may not be relevant.

If you do not see the person who is telling you something, you cannot make a personal judgment on the quality of the information. You just take it "as gospel".

So what?

Modern systems of communication give us access to information that we would never have thought possible even 20 years ago. They stuff us with knowledge.

But do we learn from them and do they give us experience? Are we better at our jobs for it? Are we better people?

My rather pessimistic conclusion is "no". We are losing the art of talking to each other, debating with each other and forming personal conclusions.

SMS and e-mail mean we don't see each other as much as we should. We don't look into each other's eyes, we don't evaluate honesty - we take things for granted far too much.

Methodologies and templates are replacing original thought and expression. Granted, they mean that we should not forget to do something, but what use is that if we didn't understand the importance of it in the first place?

My first job as an "in charge" auditor was a simple manufacturing audit in North London. I forgot to request a stocktake at the year end. If you are not an auditor, this is a pretty basic error. Having to conduct one in arrears and reconcile back to the right date taught me everything I know about stock.

I had a business partner who banged on and on every year about the importance of the bank reconciliation in an audit. The staff used to hate it, but we encouraged it because if you want to steal money from a company, it has to show up in the bank reconciliation sooner or later. All the major Singapore frauds were caught that way.

The availability of information, no matter how good, is no substitute for finding out for yourself. Databases on an auditor's laptop are wonderful aids, but only when they are adapted to actual conditions, because they are designed to be generic, not specific.

Adaptation requires experience. Experience means personal experience. Personal experience means using the five senses and, for human communication, this is mainly seeing and hearing.

Modern communications cut us off from these natural tools. We are losing common sense.

THE BUSINESS TIMES

The writer, a business communications consultant in Britain, was a Price Waterhouse Singapore partner for 18 years in the 1980s and 1990s.

THE COLOUR OF INEQUALITY

The Colour of Inequality: Ethnicity, Class, Income and Wealth in Malaysia

Buku ini telah diperkenalkan oleh seorang tokoh bukan Melayu dan bukan Islam yang turut memainkan peranan yang terpenting dalam penggubalan DASAR EKONOMI BARU. Sedikit maklumat mengenai beliau adalah seperti berikut:

CUIT DI UTUSAN MALAYSIA - ULASAN BUKU

Di  bawah ini saya turunkan satu ulasan oleh Dato' Zaini Hassan di  ruang CUIT yang memperkenalkan buku karangan Dr. Muhammed Abdul Khalid  yang  pernah saya temui di waktu beliau sedang menyiapkan  tesisnya yang kini diterbitkan dengan tajuk THE COLOUR OF INEQUALITY.  Ulusan lanjut mengenai buku ini  akan saya turunkan dalam masukan blog berikutnya. Selamat membaca.




Dr.  Muhammed dan The Colour of Inequality

Oleh Zaini Hassan

Utusan Malaysia, Kolom Rencana, 8 Oktober 2014

SAYA mengenali Dr. Muhammed Abdul Khalid semasa beliau menjadi penyelidik di ISIS beberapa tahun lalu.

Beliau juga adalah pengikut setia kolum ini. Dan saya turut mendapat banyak input daripada beliau dalam hal-hal berkaitan sosial, ekonomi dan politik.

Baru-baru ini, beliau telah menerbitkan sebuah buku, yang antara rakan-rakannya ternanti-nantikan. Saya diminta beliau mengulas bukunya.

MOTIVATING THE DEMOTIVATED

NOT A RELIGIOUS TREATISE

IF LIFE is a GAME, THESE are the RULES
 

The following entry is not inspired by any religious teaching. It is just a simple presentation by Dr. Cherie Carter-Scott in a book with the above title first published for export in 1999 by Broadway Books, New York. I bought it from Times bookshop in Kuala Lumpur and happened to come across it as I roamed around the Toeti Juairiah Library looking for books on motivation which I can present to my readers who are currently bogged down with all sorts of issues which are demotivating.

This blog submission, however, is not a substitute, far from it, for reading the book itself.

 

I take this initiative to present selected extracts of the book in response to what the author had to say before her piece of acknowledgement to those who assisted and inspired her. The author wrote:

 

If you come across the Rules for Being Human sometime during the last twenty-five years (since 1974) and photocopied them and passed them on to others; if you used the Rules for a retreat, class curriculum, brochure or Web site;  if you framed the Rules and put them on your wall, or tucked them in your drawer, or put them on the refrigerator door; if you read the Rules and smiled with recognition, then I dedicate this book to you and all seekers who have treasured the Rules for Being Human for these last twenty-five years. This book is to support you and those you love in your journey through Life. Use it as a primer for higher consciousness.

Blessings to you on your path.

It is therefore in the spirit of the author's wishes that I quote extensively from her book.

 

The following praises were made on this book by prominent authors on motivation:

 

"How wonderful it would be if we were all given Cherie Carter-Scott's ten rules the day we were born. Cherie has been teaching these rules for over twenty years. In her seminars, these rules have resonated with thousands of people. IF LIFE IS A GAME, THESE ARE THE RULES are universal truths that all of us can learn to live happier lives that are full of self-acceptance, understanding, love, success, and the inner knowing that we're all in this game together, on the same team. The door to a satisfying life lies within each of us, and Cherie's eternal inspiring message provides the key." - Jack Canfield, coauthor of CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL.
 

"The Ten Rules for Being Human are entertaining and fun - but more than that, they're TRUE." - Marianne Williamson, author of THE HEALING OF AMERICA and  A RETURN TO LOVE.

 

"IF LIFE IS A GAME, THESE ARE THE RULES will free you to wake up to your no-limit life." - Mark Victor Hansen, coauthor of CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL.

HERE ARE THE RULES:

IN MEMORY OF ARIEL SHARON

FROM BEIRUT TO JERUSALEM

I reproduce herewith a letter from Dr. Ang Swee Chai, the author of the book From Beirut to Jerusalem which was sent to Mr. Michael Young, The Editor of the Daily Star Beirut on 12th January, 2014.

 

As most of my readers will not have access to the Daily Star Beirut, where the letter is supposed to be published, and in the spirit of the freedom of expression I provide the following title to the letter -
 

THE REINCARDINATION OF DER FUHRER

Mr. Michael Young,
The Editor,
Daily Star Beirut.

Dear Mr. Young.

The passing of Ariel Sharon brought back the memories of the horrors of the Sabra Shatilla massacre of September, '82. I arrived in August that year as a volunteer surgeon to help the war victims of Lebanon.

 

The people in Lebanon were wounded, made homeless and lost precious friends and families as a result of ten weeks of ruthless bombardment.

 

That was the operation Peace for Galilee launched by Sharon who was then the Defense Minister of Israel in June, 1982.

 

No one knew how many was killed as the result of that offensive - the London newspapers estimated at thirty thousand with many times more made homeless. When a ceasefire was agreed with the evacuation of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Sharon broke that ceasefire and drove tanks under air-cover launching a land invasion into Lebanon's capitol Beirut.

 

Part of the tanks sealed Sabra Shatilla and prevented the helpless civilian victims from escaping, while sending in Israel's allies into the camps to carry out the most brutal massacre of defenceless women, children and old people under Israel's watch.

 

The blame was quickly and deliberately shifted to the Lebanese as perpetrators of the massacres, so that today no one can mention that massacre without blaming the Lebanese Phalange, yet forgetting the Israeli organizers of that event.

 

I worked in Gaza hospital in Sabra Shatilla during the massacre trying to save the lives of a few dozen people, but outside the hospital hundreds were killed.

 

My patients and I knew that Sharon and his officers were in control, and without them the massacre would not be possible. The residents of Sabra Shatilla could at least have escaped.

 

Now, more than 30 years later, we know that the killers were brought in by Israel armoured cars and tanks, obeyed Israeli commands, their paths lit by Israeli military flares, and some of them also wore Israeli uniforms.

 

The mutilated bodies of the victims were thrown into mass graves by Israeli bulldozers.

 

This Sharon continued on to be Israeli Prime Minister, and built the Wall which imprisoned the Palestinians in the West Bank.

 

Sharon's Wall cut through their lands, separating people from their homes, children from their schools, farmers from their orchards, patients from hospitals, husbands from wives, and children from parents

 

He marched into the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem in 2000 with fully armed Israeli soldiers and tried to have the West believe that his intention was for peace.

 

He was responsible for other massacres such as in Jenin, Qibya and Khan Yunis just to name a few.

 

The older generation in Khan Yunis in Gaza remembers that he killed all the grown men in the massacres of 1956 and left only the women and children to bury the dead.

 

I thought these facts should be publicized. Those who eulogize Sharon in his role of building Israel should also remember that he built his nation over the dead bodies of the Palestinian people, and the continued dispossession of those who are still alive.
 

Dr. Ang Swee Chai
Author of From Beirut to Jeruselem
12 January, 2014.

Dear Readers,

I have only this to say. Hitler appears like a student when compared to Sharon the master.

AIDS - IN A FREE MARKET EKONOMI

Assalaamu'alaikum Warahmatullaahi Wabarakaatuh

In his book 'What Money Can't Buy' the author Michael Sandel gave a few examples of new transactions taking place since Ronald Reagan of the United States of America and Margaret Thatcher of Great Britain introduced the Market Economy as the best answer to each of their nation's respective economic growths.

 

"The years leading up to the financial crisis of 2008 were a heady time of market faith and deregulation - an era of market triumphalism. The era began in the early 1980s, when Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher proclaimed their convictions that markets, not government, held the key to prosperity and freedom. And it continued in the 1990s, with the market friendly liberalism of Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, who moderated but consolidated the faith that markets are the primary means for achieving the public good."

 

This is Michael Sandel's Introduction: Markets and Morals

 

There are some things money can't buy, but these days, not many. Today, almost everything is up for sale. Here are a few examples:

 

1. A prison cell upgrade: $82 per night. In Santa Ana, California, and some other cities, nonviolent offenders can pay for better accomoditiona - a clean, quiet jail cell, away from the cells for nonpaying prisoners.

 

2. Access ti the car pool lane while driving solo: $8 during ruch hour. Minneapolis and other cities are trying to ease trffic congestion by letting solo drivers pay to drive in car pool lanes, at rates that vary according to traffic.

 

3. The services of an Indian surrogate mother to carry a pregnancy: $6,250. Western couples seeking surrogates increasingly out-source the job to India, where the practice is legal and the price is less than one-third the going rate in the United States.

 

ZIONISM AGAINST JUDAISM - EXPTRACTS OF WRITINGS AND SPEECHES ON WAR AND PROPAGANDA: ISSUES TO PONDER

INTRODUCTION:

Recently, we have been told of at least one ambitious Malaysian Muslim, who is said to be accepting the idea of religious pluralisme while at the same time championing the cause of Israel. Below are extracts of important statements by Jewish Rabbis on the State of Israel. It is important to remember that men, and women, can be blinded by ambition and propaganda as to forget the real mission of a Muslim's life which is the practice and preaching the teachings Islam in this temporary life. It should be an important revelation to all those who adhere to the religions of Abraham p.b.u.p.

April 25th 1939

In a Congressional speech in the United States Senate on April 25th 1939, recorded in the Congressional Record, 76th Congress, Vol. 84, No. 82, pages 6597-6604, Senator Gerald P. Nye, of North Dakota, stated:

"There has been published a series of works under the title 'The Next War.' One of the volumes in this series is entitled 'Propaganda in the Next War'. This particular volume was written by one Sidney Rogerson. I have been unable to obtain any trace of his background or of his connections; but the editor-in-chief of all these works, including the one entitled 'Propaganda in the Next War' is a man whose name is recognised the world over as an authority in Great Britain. He is non other than Capt. Liddell Hart, associated with the London Times, a writer and a military authority in Europe. The following are quotations from this authority'.

 

"To persuade her (the United States) to take our part the next time will be much more difficult, so difficult as to be unlikely to success It will need a definite threat to America, a threat, moreover, which will have to be brought home by propaganda to every citizen, before the republic will again take arms in an external quarrel... The position will naturally be considerably eased if Japan were involved, and this might and probably would bring America in without further ado. At any rate, it would be the natural and obvious object of our propagandists to achieve this, just as during the Great War they succeeded in embroiling  the United States with Germany.... For sometime the issue as to which side the United States would take hung in the balance, the final result was a credit to our propaganda.... There remain the Jews. It has been estimated that of the world Jew population of approximately 15,000,000, no fewer than 5,000,000 are in the United States; 25% of the inhabitants of New York are Jews. During the Great War we bought off this huge American Jewish Public by the promise of the Jewish national home in Palestine, held by (General) Ludendorf to be the master stroke of allied propaganda, as it enabled us not only to appeal to Jews in America but to Jews in Germany as well.'

November 25th 1941

THOU SHALL NOT KILL

LAIN CAKAP LAIN BIKIN

WALAU ATAS NAMA APA PUN PEMBUNUHAN BERAMAI-RAMAI TERUS DILAKUKAN DI MANA-MANA OLEH MEREKA YANG UGAMANYA MEMERINTAHKAN 'THOU SHALL NOT KILL'

IQRA'

1. Untuk menambah fahaman saya mengenai ugama Islam saya selalu membaca Al Quran dan tafsirannya. Oleh kerana perintah 'IQRA'' itu diturunkan sebagai perkataan awal di dalam al Quran dan bukan setelah seluruh al Quran sudah selesai diturunkan, maka perintah ini tidak membatasi saya kepada hanya membaca Al Quran, dan kitab-kitab ugama sahaja. Saya juga membaca buku-buku yang lain. Dalam masa sebulan yang lalu saya telah membaca empat buah buku seperti yang akan dihuraikan.

2. Isi buku-buku ini telah menimbulkan keinginan untuk saya  berkongsi dengan pembaca. Di bawah ini ialah sedikit petikan dari 4 buah buku yang pembaca dapat membeli jika ingin mengetahui lebih lanjut lagi. Berikut ialah senarai buku-bukunya:

BUKU-BUKU BACAAN DALAM SEBULAN INI

2.i. The confessions of an anti-Semite by an American Michael Collins Piper

2.ii. Where to Invade Next by Staff Writers Jason Roberts, Eric Martin, Andrew F. Altschul, Peter Rednour, Greg Larson, and Jesse Nathan - Edited by Stephen Elliot

2.iii. 'The Bloody History of Britain' (not the boring bit) by a British John Farman and

2.iv. UMNO dan Malayan Union oleh Lt. Gen. (B) Dato' Jaafar Onn anak kepada pengasas utama UMNO Dato' Onn Jaafar.

CONFESSIONS OF AN ANTI-SEMITE

INDIA MENUJU PERUBAHAN - GITA MEHTA

LAGI PETIKAN DARI BUKU 'SNAKES AND LADDERS' KARANGAN Gita Mehta.
 
Seorang pujangga Jerman bernama Johann Wolfgang von Goethe telah menulis dalam tahun 1787 seperti berikut:

( Buku ini diterbitkan pada tahun 1997 oleh Martin Secker & Warburg Limited )

I should be sorely tempted, if I were ten years younger, to make a journey to India - not for the purpose of discovering something new but in order to view in my way what has been discovered.

Gita Mehta menulis buku ini untuk Mark Twain yang menulis pada tahun 1897 seperti berikut:

'the sole country under the sun that is endowed with imperishable interest for alien prince and alien peasant, for lettered and ignorant, wise and fool, rich and poor, bond and free, the one land all men desire to see, and having seen once, by even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for the shows of all the rest of the globe combined'.

Oleh kerana negara kita mempunyai ramai rakyat, dan bukan rakyat, yang datang secara sah atau yang tinggal setelah visanya luput tempoh, yang berasal dari India, elok juga kita mengetahui sedikit sebanyak mengenai negara asal atau negara nenek moyang mereka untuk kita memahami orang-orang keturunan India yang memainkan peranan dalam berbagai kegiatan hidup, di samping kita, di Malaysia. Kita perlu mempelajari mengenai negara India dari penulis berketurunan India, yang kasih pada India dan masih menjadi rakyat negara India. Kita tidak boleh mempelajari mengenai India hanya dari pengarang Inggeris yang bangsanya pernah menjajah India walaupun ramai orang asing suka mempelajari mengenai bangsa Melayu dari pengarang dari bangsa yang pernah menjajah Malaysia.

A FUNCTIONING ANARCHY

Dalam para ketiga Gita Mehta menulis:

'Those who believe in the dialectics of materialism or the authority of history wander through the ruins of glorious empires and tell us India has learned nothing from her past. Others play statistical roulette and tell us India has no future. Professor John Kenneth Gilbraith, sent by President Kennedy as American Ambassador to India, came up with a catchy, even accurate phrase when he described India as a 'functioning anarchy.'

MENGENAI BAHASA

TEN ROLE MODELS IN WICKEDNESS - 2

TEN ROLE MODELS IN WICKEDNESS

In response to the many sms that I reveived from friends and one request from an avid reader of my blog I present below the whole article on the above topic.

Most modern finacial scams pale in comparison with those of earlier centuries. Morgen Witzel unveils his top ten of all-time villains.

Are we sinking into a moral abyss? In fact, it could be argued that the ethical and moral standards of our day are no worse than those of many past times. In the US in the late-nineteenthy century, for example, the era of the Robber Barons, greed was not only condoned but admired. If you made money in an underhanded manner, well, that just proved what a clever fellow you were.

And some of these people were very clever. Some othe their methods bordered on genius. They excelled in the arts of wickedness, in ways that out modern-day wrong-doers can only admire. Here, in ascending order, are the candidates for the 10 most unethical business people who ever lived and worked.

10. Anonymous.

In London in 1720, at the height of the South Sea Bubble, an individual operating under a false name printed and distributed a prospectus for a business to be capitalised at GBP500,000  and offered five thousand shares at a value of GBP100 each. To obtain shares, investors needed only to put down a deposit of GBP2 per share. The venture was described as 'a company for carrying out an undertaking of great advantage, but nobody to know what it is'. Despite this , within six hours, more than a thousand people had paid their deposits. The man closed his office and departed for the Continent the same evening, never to be heard of again. What takes the breath away is the sheer contempt in which he held those he fleeced. He knew he did not even need to tell them what they were investing in; they would hand over money anyway.

TEN ROLE MODELS IN WICKEDNESS - 1

Sub-heading: Most Modern financial scams pale in comparison with those of earlier centuries. Morgen Witzel unveils his top ten of all-time villains

Petikan karangan ini bukanlah dari buku, walaupun ianya saya klasifikasikan di bawah tajuk 'DARI BUKU'  di dalam blog ini. Ianya dipetik dari Majallaah IFS School of Finance yang diterbitkan setiap bulan untuk ahli-ahlinya. IFS School of Finance ialah badan yang menggantikan Institute of Bankers London yang saya menjadi ahli No. S 10851 sejak tahun 1965, iaitu selama lebih 45 tahun. Oleh kerana majallah ini tidak dijual di pasaran maka saya bercadang menerbitkan karangan artikel bertajuk seperti di atas jika ada sambutan. Sebagai pengenalan saya turunkan empat 'quotation' sedutan yang menjadi sebahagian dari karangan ini yang boleh menggambarkan semangat intipati karangan. Sedutannya ialah:

WORDS OF WISDOM

The virtuous man, by means of his wealth, makes his personality more distinguished. The vicious man accumulates wealth at the expense of his life.

By Confucius, The Golden Mean

Might is right, and justice there is none.

By Walther von der Vogelweide, 13th Century poet.

The goose that lays the golden eggs has been considered a most valuable possession. But even more profitable is taking the golden eggs laid by someone else's goose.