Urgent Political Transformation

Malaysia needs
URGENT political and social transformation.

This urgency is underscored by the opinion expressed 
in  the English daily, New Straits Times(NST) where I used to serve and report for many years, today.

In "Is Malaysia an Islamic or secular state?", a Malay political influencer asserted via flaws in man made law and names of states against historical and current facts that Malaysia is NOT a secular state but an "ISLAMIC STATE".

This conclusion flies in the face of current realities.

Malaysians of all races, religions and cultures and stations of life in all strata of society practice FREEDOM OF WORSHIP in a "SECULAR STATE".

We live in peaceful co-existence. 

We assemble and worship in thousands of religious places like temples, churches, mosques and shrines along the same streets or almost close by in various locations throughout Malaysia.

This has been going on for hundreds of years.

Under Articles 3 and 11 of Malaysia's Federal Constitution, all Malaysian citizens are blessed with the fundamental human and citizenship right to practice religious belief of their own choice.


This vital freedom of worship guarantee was agreed upon and written into the Federal Constitution by Malaysia's founding fathers and voiced by past Prime Ministers since Malaysia's independence in 1957.

So why the need to twist and turn Malaysia from a "SECULAR STATE" into an "ISLAMIC STATE" with the "I" in islamic in capital letter and the "S" in secular in "lower case" in apparent show of superiority?

The alarming headline opinion in NST column points to the urgency to invest and manage proactive and positive quality education reform to cultivate an open global mindset for rational thought, political discourse and debate and free effective social networking.

It highlights the imperative  for urgent political and social transformation in parallel with the current drive for economic transformation.

Surely Malaysia must show the political will and courage to act with maturity and wisdom via clear intellectual thinking, writing and doing to call a "spade a spade".

It must confront the challenge to take the bull by the horns and settle this fundamental state status.

This calls for urgent visionary leadership and bold action to steer new political transformation and direction inclusive of  right and just legislative overhaul and rational political and social reforms on top of the current economic transformation costing billions of ringgit in Malaysia.

Are entrenched pieces of obsolete legally flawed  baggage in state constitutions  like the unfair provisions for the top state government posts of Mentri Besar (Governor) and State Secretary to be held only by muslims NOT CONTRARY  to PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL JUSTICE, making a mockery of Malaysia's Federal Constitution and Universal Declaration of Human Rights?

In this advanced age of Google search, nanotechnology and space exploration, should muslims and non-muslims be separated under "DIVIDE AND RULE" NATIONAL POLICY like application of different laws - syariah and non-syariah - and muslims not being allowed to be christians rather laughable?

Should citizens be tagged in identity cards with religious connotation like "ISLAM"?

Could Malaysia, for God's sake, grow up in maturity after five decades of independence?

Would it not be in the public interest to uphold truth, righteousness and justice to strengthen its political and social justice foundation, structure and system of government, now almost dominated by Malay muslims, to keep abreast with global scenarios of equal opportunity and true meritocracy for all citizens irrespective of religion, race and culture?

Could intelligent writers apply rational analysis to build future great free open society in  modern and moderate Malaysia rather than use religion for political gain and self interest?

This urgency for openness, fearlessness and selflessness in the public interest must be recognized, valued and rewarded by enlightened good governance at the highest level.

This means giving freedom of worship, freedom of speech and the press, freedom of public assembly and freedom of association the room for constructive debate and rational improvement.

Could Malaysia's intelligentsia chart smart future course of the nation without diverting from pragmatic path of political moderation and modernization of thinking, culture and civilization, repeatedly stressed by top  great political leaders, past and present in line with Vision 2020, despite the push and pull of emotive demands
by narrow minded political players wanting to promote their own self or vested interests?

The future of a nation must depend not on whether to call it "SECULAR STATE OR  ISLAMIC STATE".

What matters most is the love of God as testifed by citizens in freedom of worship to practice the religious belief of their own choice and their love for one another in mutual respect, understanding and tolerance as fellow human beings.

Malaysia is at the crossroads in new era of rapid change.

Its economic transformation must be strongly rooted in good values and great culture of UNIVERSAL LOVE, GLOBAL HUMANITY and GREAT HUMBLE HARMONY, NOT ARROGANCE OF RELIGIOUS OR RACIAL DOMINANCE.  
 

    

       

   

Please read and reflect on World Peace NOW! Symphony No. 1 (Composed to Mark the 30th Anniversary of International Peace Day( September 21, 1982) and the 11th Anniversary of 9/11 on September 11, 2001). Thanks!

Please read and reflect on World Peace NOW! Symphony No. 1 (Composed to Mark the 30th Anniversary of International Peace Day( September 21, 1982) and the 11th Anniversary of 9/11 on September 11, 2001). Thanks!

World Peace NOW! Symphony No. 1 (Composed to Mark the 30th Anniversary of International Day of Peace(World Peace Day) on September 21, 1982 and 11th Anniversary of 9/11 on September 11, 2001)

Scene 1 Act 1:
Curtain lifts...
Spotlight shines
On Ground Zero in New York.
World Peace NOW! Symphony No. 1 plays.

Images of 9/11;
Hiroshima and Nagasaki;
Two World Wars
And conflicts around the world
Reel on giant backdrop screen...

Ballet dancers circle
With bright lamps
As white doves fly high
Free in peace.

Multinational World Peace choir
Sings three level special effects tones
Beginning with soft sweet refrain.

Refrain:
I remember
The horror terror
Triggering 
Sympathy empathy
For families of 9/11 victims.

I recall
"America At Wall"
Across giant television screen
As eyewitness
To horrifying history
As it happened
Eleven years' ago
Today.

It shocked 
My three friends and I.
We shook 
Our heads in disbelief
Watching the twin World Trade Center towers
In flames,collapsing
 Before our eyes.

We saw Pentagon 
Building wing burning
As hijacked passenger planes
Commandeered
By Al Qaeda suicide bombers
Crashed into the targets
As missiles
With one plane where victims
Bravely battled the terrorists
~ Doomed to die ~
In misguided mission( to blow up The White House in Washington D.C.)
sending the aircraft crashing
Into a field.

We watched outraged
By the "Holy War"
Called by Al Qaeda's head
The late Osama Bin Laden.


We lived through
Horror movie
Of Post-modern Capitalist
Society War
That caused huge costs
In lost lives, opportunities and miseries
In Iraq and Afghanistan
And drained the US treasury
To its dire deficit status
For eleven long years.

May all think smarter
And learn faster
The vital valuable bitter lessons
To know how to build World Peace NOW!
From the Al Qaeda Wars;
The two World Wars;
The Hiroshima and Nagasaki Atom Bombs
And Conflicts around the world.

Amid the buzz threat
To attack and knock out
Iran's Nuclear Program,
Can there be better
Wiser PEACEFUL SOLUTION?

Scene Two Act Two:
Spotlight turns on symphony orchestra with piano and violins, cellos trumpets and other musical instruments resonating strong call as bells toll.
Two lead singers - male and female - ring out
urgent call "Hear This Call"...

Hear This Call

Hear this call
To all
To think smarter
And work wiser
For World Peace NOW!
And age with grace
Before the final curtain fall.

Delight draw
Enthrall all
To The Light
Shining the sword
Of The Lord
To cut the chains
That cause the pains,
Sorrow, fears and tears
Of the horror terror
Of War.

Whatever the carnival
Must end.
However good the friend
Must part.
Whoever great or humble
Grand or remarkable
Must depart ~
In Peace or War.

So sigh not
When
We must die.

Just try
To remember
The happy kisses
Sweet surprises
In clear eyes
To treasure the peaches
Of joy
We can in our short life
Enjoy.

Now that the sun 
Is setting
We must mind
How we must be getting
On in year
 One by one
Marking eventual departure
From life's stage and strife
As nature
Shows all living things
Must return to dust
On death.

Let us preserve
Conserve reserve
What must matter
Most when
Our lives are done
As legacies deserving
Remembrance
Of our time space
Face pace
On earth.

Let the head
Rule true
In mind 
Over matter.

Let the heart
Heal real
With WISDOM weal.

Free the spirit
From evil
To fly high
Beyond the sky
Above races, religions, nations,
Elections, factions and directions
To transcend
Time prime
Space grace,
And mortality 
Temporal reality

Please sow the seeds
Of World Peace NOW!

Kindly show the deeds
To energize and realize
Universal Love Global Humanity
In true evergreen dream ~
World Harmony.

So do what is best.
Go give the best
For World Peace NOW!
To work together
For the benefit
Of present and future generations.

Please preach
Teach
To understand
To distinguish
To dare share care
For wisdom and virtue.

Pray know show:

1. What is glory and vainglory
2. What is right and wrong.
3. What is true and false.
4. What is good and bad.
5. What is beautiful and ugly.
6. What is just(fair) and unjust(unfair).
7.What is wise and unwise.
8.What is  worthy and unworthy.
9.What is humane and inhumane.
10.What is strong and weak.
11.What is light and darkness.
12.What is love and hate.
13.What is grace and disgrace.
14.What is peace and war.
15.What is ease and hardship.
16. What is happiness and sadness.
17. What is order and chaos.
18.What is tranquility and tumult.
19.What is birth and death.
and
20. What is joy and sorrow.

Hear this call
For World Peace NOW!

Scene Three Act Three:
Spotlight rotates on beautiful earth as sphere without borders seen from outer space...

Choir sings chorus "World Peace NOW! Is Possible"

World Peace Now! Is Possible.

World Peace NOW! Is Possible
When we can
BAN
WAR
To eliminate
The source of scourge
Of negative spiral
Of violence.

We can
BANISH
CRIMINALS
Who cause
The pain of parting
The sorrow of fighting
The horror terror
Of anguish and suffering.

Now can we think of how
to BAN WAR and BANISH CRIMINALS?

When we can
RISE
HIGHEST
To loftiest heights
Beyond
Selfish gain
We shall see
The marvel
Of true World Peace NOW!

Now can we think smarter and work wiser for World Peace NOW?

When we can
CEASE
TO KILL
Without ill-starred plight
We shall see the light
And be free
To enjoy
The fruits
Of Goodness,
Kindness,
Happiness
And Joy
In real peace
At ease.

Now why not stop the killing and start
sowing seeds of goodness, kindness, happiness and joy?

When we can
LOVE
AND BE LOVED
Worldwide
We shall share
World Peace NOW!
Full of mirth
On earth.

Now can we love and be loved in World Peace NOW?

When we can
WAVE
FAREWELL
To war grave
We shall live
And give
Humanity with humility
Causing change
In virtuous cycle
For good food
For global thought and action
To build Fantastic
Future World
Celebrating World Peace,
Happiness and Joy
In Harmony with humanity
On earth and space time
Forever and ever.

Now can we build together 
Fantastic Future World
Without War?

Hear this call
For all
To think smarter
And work wiser
For World Peace NOW!

Come delight draw
Enthrall all
To safeguard humanity
By acting together
In amity
To prevent destruction
Or extinction of mankind
From insane conflicts
Like nuclear war.

Hear this call
For all
To promote, strengthen and establish
World Peace NOW!
To live and give LOVE LIGHT LIFE
As global citizens
Of Higher Civilization of Light
In peaceful co-existence and non-violence.

Build World Peace NOW!

Mercy (Composed to mark World Humanitarian Day on August 19,2012)

Mercy
In charity
Ennobles Universal Love
Lifting the spirit
Stately high in Global Humanity
Elevated in Light
Grandeur and Dignity ~
Immortal exalted towering
Great.

So simply give goodness gracious
Inspiring gratitude
That can heal
All around the world in real
Felicity wondrous.

Just raise praise precious
Humble humanitarian ways
Caring and sharing
Reasonable warm kind empathy
To cause extraordinary beauty
Exemplary majesty
To blossom blooming
Like lotus round sound
Exulting Grace!

Chorus:

Go! Give goodness
Gracious wherever we are
Sowing seeds of happiness
With no bar.

Just praise raise
Precious Grace
Great Mercy
Charity brace
In humble humanitarian ways ~
Sharing caring
Benevolent face space embrace
Inspiring and instilling
Forgiveness
Forgetting
Past wrongs,
Errors and human failings
Like mistakes, flaws or faults ~
To shape and build
Kinder,better, greater
More merciful wonderful
Future World Now!

Future Clean Good Governance

Can there be elections

Free and fair

When government blocks out citizens

Who dare share care

For CLEAN movement

To promote Freedom Justice and Democracy

Out of nation's independence square?

 

Can police fire

Tear gas and water

At citizens of various races religions and cultures

Who assemble together

In PEACE development

To make a country

Better safer and greater

As an enlightened civilized nation and people?

 

Can Universal Human Rights

And Citizenship Constitutional Rights

Enshrined in a nation's constitution

For Freedom of Assembly

Freedom of Association and

Freedom of Expression

Be violated without condemnation worldwide

In ruling regime's manipulation

Of national laws via court order

Unconstitutional declaring

Nation's independence square "out-of-bounds"

As "restricted area" till Tuesday?

 

Can the government and police

Be held accountable

For what happened in Malaysia yesterday(April 28 2012)

When thousands of citizens 

Concerned over the Direction

And Future of  A Nation

Were almost shut out of Kuala Lumpur

With the public transport services

Reduced to skeleton mode

In apparent bid to cause public inconvenience

And prevent people who had to walk miles

To hold mass protest

For Future Clean Good Governance

Minus rampant corruption ( like National Feedlot Corporation(NFC) scandal) and

Life-threatening environment pollution and radiation hazard (Like Lynas Rare Earth scandal)?

 

Can intelligent legal action

Be taken against those responsible

For exercise of power against the public interest

Like wilful negligence 

and wrongful administration of peaceful demonstration

Probing the real root cause of the provocation for public assembly

to end in chaos in strong armed shutdown

Of the heart of Kuala Lumpur?

 

Can the culprits be charged 

For serious injuries and traumas suffered

By citizens including children women and

 Elderly disabled citizens

Who turned up in wheelchairs in defiance

Before the angry crowd went wild?

 

 Can there be wiser crowd control 

With right sense of balance

Without police four wheel drive and police car

Moving into furious protestors outraged

By choking tear gas - 

Unleashing violent attack on police drivers

Of both vehicles with the car crashing

Into protestors on walkway in front of Sogo at

 Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman -

The main road named after Malaysia's Founding Father and First Prime Minister - 

Ending in grief for Johor hospital maintenance worker Fadzil Salleh who had to be rushed 

To KL Hospital for treatment of broken right leg and forehead injuries?

 

Can a country be governed right

Better for the common good

Of present and future generations

Via far-sighted strategies and proper policies?

 

Can citizens be strongly organized

And prepared to prevent

Pain and suffering

Like fleeing almost in a stampede

From choking stinging tear gas

With proper protective gear

To enable all to stand up as One Malaysia

And uphold righteousness?

 

Can rulers block out

Shut out the Voice of the People

Today and in future?

 

On Thursday(May 3 2012) Chinese newspapers

Sin Chew Daily

Nanyang  Siang Pau

China Press

Guang Ming Daily

and Oriental Daily

Mark World Press Freedom Day

By printing Black and White Front Pages

To underscore the gravity of the situation

After reporters and photographers

Alleged they suffered beatings by police

In Bersih 3.0.

 

Malaysia's Home Minister  Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein - the son of Malaysia's highly esteemed third Prime Minister the late Tun Hussein Onn -

 Expressing regret over the unprecedented open bad treatment of the press

Announced an independent panel

To probe the alleged assault on journalists would be set up

To get "to the bottom of the allegations".

 

The Malaysian Cabinet has ordered the police and Attorney-General to probe and charge those responsible

For "turning the rally into a riot".

 

 

 

 

The Big One

The Big One
Hit Japan
One year ago
Today.


It is
The historic 9.0 magnitude
2011 Great Tohoku earthquake
Killing at least 15 854 people
Injuring 9 677 survivors
With another 3 274 victims
Reported missing
And sending more than 320 000 residents
Fleeing from the northeast coast
On Honshu island.


It shifted
Honshu 2.4m east
Tilting the earth between 10 cm and 25 cm
Wobbling it
On its axis
And shortening the earth's rotation
By 1.8 microseconds.


The World Bank has estimated
Extensive damage at US$235 billion -
The most costly natural disaster in world history.


It caused unprecedented black out
Cutting electricity to 4.4 million households
Disrupting rail and road transport
And industrial supply chain and economic activities
As far as Tokyo - 373km away


The towering tsunamis
As high as 37.9m
At Taro in Iwate
and 38.9m
At Aneyoshi fishery port
At Miyako in Iwate
Unleashed by the mega quake force
of 9 320 gigatons of TNT
Or about 600 million times
The energy of Hiroshima atom bomb
Surged as far as 10km inland
Knocking out 
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.


The huge waves
Swept off
Most lighter matter
Around the path
From the quake seabed epicenter
About 130km from Sendai.


Fukushima Daiichi's nuclear reactors 1 2 3 spent fuel pools
Overheated when the cooling system
Shut down 
In flooded diesel generators.


The nuclear fuel rods
Melted in hydrogen explosions
Resulting in Japan's modern day
Nuclear crisis
On maximum Level 7
Emergency alert
As serious as Chernobyl.


Japan's then Prime Minister
Naoto Kan
Rapped Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO)
The plant owner
For hiding the truth
As radiation released
Mounted higher and higher
To at least 770 000 Terabecquerels (TBq)
In Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA)
Estimates with 15 000 TBq radioactive caesium leaked
Equal to 168 Hiroshima atom bombs.


France's nuclear safety institute
Estimates 27 000 TBq caesium 137 discharge
Into the Sea of Japan -
The biggest radioactive contamination
Of the ocean in history.


Today
All but two
Of Japan's 54 nuclear reactors
Are shut down
As Japan fears
The Next Big One
May hit Tokyo
Any time.


The March 11 (3/11) 9.0 Mega Quake and Tsunamis
Have roared
Off the boast -
The Lie -
That nuclear power
Is safe for you and I.


Before more people cry and die
Better to prevent more Fukushima and Cernobyl
Like Germany's Wise
Decision to phase out
Nuclear power program.


Fukushima and Chernobyl
Serve as vital warning signs
Of devastation
That can visit human civilization


So wiser
For all 
To act now
To prevent
Mass griefs
Global woes
That can flow
Greater than tsunamis!

Will True Right Rule?

Will true

Right rule?

Can we see

The Light Might

Right bright?

When must love

Remove doubts

In steadfast faith to prove

We can give sensible clouts

To serve real delight?

Can we rise

And prize move

Highest best digest

Seeing farthest

Brightest clearest

With kind loving eyes

To reign

Like legendary living lords

Sure secure surprise

Freshest in purest green serenest blue

Tranquil in imperturbable composure

Beyond temporal mortality

On earth, dust and night

Above base soil toil

To prevent being

Tired and worn by years of cares?

Will spring gush anew

Peace,Happiness and Joy

To renew and fill

The world in bold brush strokes surges

Of wonder,majesty and nobility ~

Hues new

Loftiest in charity and mercy ~

Dream stream

Singing Universal Love Global Humanity

Grace?

Can we radiate

Bravest red noblest yellow

To dignify and magnify gravitas

Shining glory

Greatest power strongest benevolence

Bold gold

Honor splendor

Eternal in worth?

Will clear conscience

Creative originality spin
Circles and ripples

Like countless raindrops

Falling impartial

On People Mountains People Seas

Boundless Space Endless Time

To ring new rhythms

Of Right rule true ~

Substance, scale, subject and shape

Wit fit writ;

Person, proportion, plot and pace proper and fair

And fantastic face fraternity

Productive progressive policy

Prudent, just and wise

In Thought wrought

Wonderful and beautiful

And iconic spirit

Inspiring immortality

Breathed  and wreathed?

First before we rest

Can we outlaw

The rules of fools

By promoting,strengthening and enhancing

Global strategy 

Open free stage for sage

To impart art,

To address express,
And to stress press dress redress

Vital issues and problems

Propagating and fostering 

Better wiser

Nature nurture

Culture rapture

Quality Content 
Reality relevance

Light delight

Unforgettable?

Next after the confusion,

Chaos and contagion,

Can we set

Right The Wrong

Now and Beyond 2012?

Will true

Right rule

Intelligible

Humble,simple and reasonable

As The Light Might

Right bright?