There are only 11 million registered voters in Malaysia. (73%)
Last General Election (March 8, 2008), only 8 million voters exercised their votes. (73% of registered voters)
7 million voters, missing in action. (47% of eligible voters)
What the heck? The fate of this nation, the choice of who we want to run this country was decided by just a little more than 50% of all who have the duty to do so ? That is not even substantial or convincing majority!
Please, don’t be part of the 7 million apathetic, lazy, irresponsible citizen. Wait, if you don’t vote, please don’t consider yourself as a citizen of the country. You have no right to bitch or to complain when idiots like #yorais made it to the office, because of your (in)action.
To register as a voter, get your ass to the nearest Post Office, just bring your Identity Card. There is an initiative going on to register voters called EPIC for UNITY. So lend your support to do something EPIC!
The Flaccid Mind is proud to pimp this cool project by Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia (SABM) -- BANGKIT!
Dear fellow Malaysians,
Are you happy with the state of our country today? Is our country and her people truly living up to their potential? What do you think of Malaysian society today? Should “race” be a major factor in how Malaysian citizens relate to each other? What unites Malaysians? What divides Malaysians? Do you think Malaysia needs to change? Why or why not? What are your dreams/aspirations for yourself? Your country?
Do you love Malaysia?
These are questions that are rarely asked of our country’s youths. But we believe that all of them have a burning answer deep within their hearts. They may not feel at liberty to share it. Or they may feel like even if they did, who would listen? So many of these hushed voices go unheard. It’s the greatest loss to our nation…
Well, not anymore.
We believe that the youth of our nation have outstanding opinions about the issues facing Malaysia today. And we want our nation’s youths to know that they are NOT forgotten, forsaken or frivolous. Because it is their passion that will revive the hope in our nation -- to once again rise up and be a shining example to the world for our peace and prosperity. And this will happen when the youth of our country choose to stand up and speak out.
That’s where BANGKIT comes in.
BANGKIT is a nationwide search for songs written by youths, for youths and representing the aspirations of the youths in our country. We believe that they deserve…no, they NEED to be heard. And we’re going to provide the platform for them in the language that speaks to youths -- music!
And to prove the point that Malaysians DO care about their country, we will be taking a huge step of faith -- because we want to put this entire project together with NO MONEY AT ALL!
No money for salaries or allowances
No money spent on promotions/marketing.
No money spent on design.
No money spent on recording.
No money to hire talents.
No money spent on websites.
No money prizes
No money for prizes.
Tak ada, mei you, eelek, zip nada!
Impossible? Maybe…unless you and I decide to believe that it is NOT IMPOSSIBLE. We can both step out in faith that this project WILL succeed because there will be more than enough people stepping up to contribute their time, talents, facilities and resources FOR FREE, with no other motivation than their passion, creativity and love for country!
Have we got your attention yet?
If you feel inspired to join us, here are the details of BANGKIT:
MECHANISM
- A BANGKIT blog will be set up for this event
- Teasers will be spread throughout the internet (March 15 – 31)
- Selections begin, demo cuts of compositions to be submitted in mp3 format (April 1 – May 15)
- Songs will be featured on the BANGKIT blog for youths to vote on their favourites (April 1 – May 31)
- Professional judges will select 10 songs from the 20 most popular voted songs and results announced (June 7)
- A professionally recorded BANGKIT CD of the 10 selected songs will be released within 3 months of final selection (Target to be launched in September)
- A BANGKIT concert featuring local artistes will be held to showcase the selected songs (to be held either in November or December, in conjunction with SABM’s voter registration carnival)
- No prizes will be offered. Just recognition of participants’ talents and the chance for their song to be recorded.
PUBLICITY
- Primarily through the internet (facebook, youtube, twitter, blogs, websites, etc)
- Flyers and posters to be distributed to universities / colleges nationwide
- Exposure through the Mass Media
- Email, SMS & MMS
WHAT YOU CAN DO
- Attach the ‘BANGKIT’ posters/banners/videos to your blog or website and make sure to link it to our blog. We will be releasing a series so that it keeps fresh and exciting
- Tell everyone you know about BANGKIT through word-of-mouth, blogs, facebook, twitter, email, SMS, MMS, etc. We need everyone in Malaysia to know.
- Keep updated at our BANGKIT blog or the SABM website.
- Put us in touch with people who are willing to contribute to BANGKIT’s cause for free.
Please support BANGKIT in our effort to bring the voices of our youth to the nation and the world!
P.S. As BANGKIT is still the pre-launch stage, please don’t reveal too much about us yet. If you feel a need to explain a bit more about BANGKIT, just say something like “something big is brewing in Malaysian cyberspace and everyone under-30 should watch out for the announcement on April 1st”. We will be releasing more promos and information that you can post as the official launch date (April 1) approaches.
If you need more information, please email: jombangkit@gmail.com.
And please do feel free to pass this message to as many people as you know.
Let’s rock Malaysian together!
Regards,
Lai Chee Seng
Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia -- Youth Outreach Project Team Coordinator
ps: I wrote the post “Bangkitlah Rakyat Malaysia” back in April 2009, just a month after the March 8th General Election. Eerie, how things turned out to be. I’m feeling like a seer now. But in Malaysia, it is only too easy to be one. Everything is so predictable.
Who is Mohd. Faizi Bin Che Abu? He’s quite a celebrity judge I think.
1. He’s the Magistrate who sentenced Batu MP and PKR strategic director Chua Tian Chang, aka Tian Chua to six months’ jail and a fine of RM3,000 for biting a police constable’s arm like biting sugarcane.
KUALA LUMPUR: Batu MP Chua Tian Chang, aka Tian Chua, was convicted yesterday of causing hurt to a police constable and stopping him from discharging his duty two years ago.
Magistrate Mohd Faizi Che Abu sentenced Tian Chua to six months’ jail and a fine of RM3,000 but granted him a stay of execution pending his appeal to the High Court.
If the sentence is upheld, he could be disqualified as an MP.
2. He’s also the Magistrate who sentenced Actress Noniswara’s husband to RM700 fine for assault.
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 28 (Bernama) — Telecommunications company U Mobile chairman Datuk Rosman Ridzuan, who is the husband of actress Noniswara Baharudin, was fined RM700 by the Magistrate’s Court here Monday after he pleaded guilty to having assaulted his ex-wife, Azura Ibrahim, four years ago.
Magistrate Mohd Faizi Che Abu also ordered that Rosman be jailed a week if he failed to pay the fine.
See the consistency of judgement? Same crime – assault, but different sentences meted Well, I know don’t which one is more serious, hitting a woman or biting a cop for punching you. Oh? Cannot self defence eh?
3. He was the Coroner for Actress Sujatha’s ’suicide’ case too. He ruled that Actress Sujatha committed suicide and there was no foul play involved.
Coroner: “The reason for her suicidal act was cremated together with her.”
KUALA LUMPUR: Actress Sujatha committed suicide and there was no foul play, coroner Mohd Faizi Che Abu ruled Tuesday.
In his findings, coroner Mohd Faizi Che Abu held that “the reason for her suicidal act was cremated together with her.”
He said he had been deprived of obtaining medical certainty as to whether the deceased had taken paraquat because her urine samples were missing and no post-mortem was conducted on her.
He must be doing a damn good job as a judge for he was recently promoted. Good job My Lord
I would like to congratulate another judge, it is Judge Azhaniz Teh Azman Teh for getting a promotion as well. Who is he? Oh, he’s the judge for the case involving two ex-PKR assemblyman turned BN friendly independents – Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi (Behrang), Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu (Changkat Jering).
You want more examples? This is not something new, it has happened in the past.
Well, Gani Patail was a senior deputy public prosecutor when he was handling Anwar’s Sodomy I case. Now he is the Attorney General. Musa Hassan was a senior assistant commissioner and one of his glorious moment was when he carried the semen-stained mattress to court in Sodomy I and now he is the Inspector-General of Police.
Not forgetting Augustine Paul, a very ‘relevant’ judge. Augustine Paul was a lowly judicial commissioner in the Sessions Court before he was promoted to High Court judge a week before Anwar’s Sodomy I trial. He is a Federal Court judge now and surprise!! He was the judge who in his trademark of verbose and unintelligible judgement ruled that Perak Assembly Speaker V Sivakumar does not have the power to suspend Mentri Besar Datuk Zambry Abd Kadir and six state executive council members from attending the assembly – Perak state assembly fiasco.
Lesson of the the many ’stories’ above? Just do a good job you are tasked with and you’ll get rewarded handsomely. That’s meritocracy, what you think I am implying huh? I am happy for Malaysia, at least we do uphold meritocracy when it is necessary.
Every now and then we would have some morally uptight, religiously constipated pricks trying to act holy, high and mighty by preaching to the masses about good religious values, the importance and wonderful of following the teachings of God while condemning those who strayed and committed sins. They would also go on an imaginary crusade against people who they thought had said or done things deemed insulting to their religion.
And in the hastiness of trying to sound reasonable (and pious?) with all the justifications and explanations for their actions, they often forget one very important thing. HOW they say or do it. Yes, it’s not so much about WHAT they say or do, but how they say or do it. WHAT they say may be reasonable and of perfect sense but HOW the message is delivered would determine whether the recipients would understand the intended message, especially when the consistency of the actions by the messenger is highly doubtful.
It is not WHAT one says, but HOW one says it that makes the difference between fusion and confusion.
Now, the issue here is of one Dr. Ridhuan Tee suddenly out of nowhere playing the role a hero of his religion using Teoh Beng Hock family’s misfortune to highlight the social ills eg. illegitimate child, and went on to insinuate leaders from Pakatan Rakyat especially DAP Chinese leaders in Selangor as cunning opportunists, accusing the for manipulating the ‘weakness and disunity’ among Malays and showing disrespect to the Islam religion.
It is a shame for someone with a doctorate (Rais Yatim comes to mind) to come up with such disgustingly divisive, biased and slandering article. And he claimed to speak on behalf of his religion. You know his doctorate worth shit when he could come up with things like “Didn’t they (DAP) aware that Malaysia was declared as an Islamic country….”
I thought of writing a post in respond to the article when I read it, but a good friend of mine, which is also a regular commentator here has written a brillliant piece on this issue. I couldn’t articulate it better than him, so let me share his article here.
It is you who is kiasu Dr. Ridhuan Tee, not the Chinese community
You miss the point by a mile Ridhuan Tee, all above explanations are just a diatribe against those who take you to task for you insensitive comments. It is not what you say but how you say it. To then hit out at the Chinese community in general as “kiasu” that too with a broad brush is patently unfair.
You then go on to paint DAP specifically and the Chinese generally as decadent and hedonistic, did Islam or any other religion for that matter ever teach its followers to slander ?
You also paint YB Ronnie Liu as a crusader out on a vendetta against Muslims, when Ronnie Liu stressed so many times that his intent was not to belittle Islam but he is duty bound to see that laws are observed, and not arbitrary.
A distinction must be drawn between insulting Islam and insulting some Munafiqs who call themselves Muslim.
For example many “mat rempits” will declare that they are Muslims, so if I rebuke their actions, does that mean I am anti Islam ?
There seems to be nothing praiseworthy of your method nor intent. Are you hoping to win goodwill this way ? A true Muslim will never speak like this.
Using the Teoh family’s misfortune to highlight the social ills you mentioned is underhanded and opportunistic not to mention in bad taste.
It still does not explain your behavior, is your statement even relevant ? Both Teoh Beng Hock and his fiancee are not Muslims so why apply your standards of morality to them ? They had planned to register their marriage a day before Teoh died. Who are you to judge ?
You obfuscate the issue by trying to draw parallels between religious and civil laws when the issue was your insensitivity more so against the backdrop of multiracial and multicultural sensitivities.
If you want to draw parallels there are areas which are not parallel, for example oral sex is permissible under Islam for legitimately married couples, however under the penal code it is technically an offence even for married couples, here Islamic law makes far more sense than its civil counterpart,
Will you write to the authorities to have this archaic civil legislation repealed ?
Many scholars have opined that the ISA (Internal Security Act) is un-Islamic , will you write to the government as a concerned Muslim to repeal it ?
Why don’t you castigate proven adulterers of influential public stature who call themselves Muslim, Rahim Thambi Chik, Abu Hassan Omar, Abdul Razak Baginda, etc. I dare you if your principles are as relevant as you purport.
Can you then blame those who accuse you of being an UMNO tool ? A person is judged by the consistency of their actions.
If you talk about opinion, then my question is will you accept a statement by a Hindu that you are an ignorant beef eater as just opinion ?
Of course you will not because you will not like someone who does not share your religious convictions rudely imposing their moral standards on you.
It is not about who is right or wrong but about understanding and compassion.
Understanding and compassion are important. Because the universe can be considered a symphony of compassion which provides for our survival. A human being must show compassion to all living beings, for this is a basic requirement of being human. The more people display compassion, the more exalted they become; the more they resort to wrongdoing, oppression, and cruelty, the more they are disgraced and humiliated. They become a shame to humanity.
We hear from Prophet Muhammad that a prostitute went to Paradise because her compassion compelled her to give water to a dog dying of thirst, while another woman went to Hell because she allowed a cat to starve to death. Dr. Ridhuan Tee please seek forgiveness from Teoh’s family, and to your fellow Muslims some of whom are angry with your statements too.
Even Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) asked for Islam to be propagated in ways that are most gracious, ie by winning over peoples hearts ,not by threats, there are many inspiring hadith for example Muhammad and the blind Jewish beggar,how the Prophet won the hearts of the people in the City of Taif, even though they shouted abusive words and threw stones at him, and many many more such stories.
He always repelled evil with the good of forgiveness and kind behavior in his view, an antidote was better than poison. He believed and practiced the precept that love could sooth hatred, and aggression could be won over by forgiveness.
He fought fire not with fire but with water, unlike those who thump their chest as self proclaimed defenders of Islam do not even understand this simple concept.
“Keep to forgiveness (O Muhammad), and enjoin kindness, and turn away from the ignorant.” (Quran 7:199)
The tragedy in Malaysia is some non-Muslims unfairly label Islam without a cursory understanding of its tenets , the bigger tragedy however is those who proclaim to be Muslims but are ignorant of their own religion.
Knowing any religion by being able to quote all its hadith, verses, quatrains and what not is useless if one does not have basic human compassion and use it only to advance ones own agenda.
I hope I don’t sound hypocritical when I pose these questions for us to ponder after reading the article written by Dr. Ridhuan Tee and Vijay Kumar Murugavell.
“I am mentally healthy, I have no injuriesand I will not commit suicide,” - Must let all friends, family know about this, to be safe :D 2 days ago
Namawee: “I am mentally healthy, I have no injuries and I will not commit suicide,” http://bit.ly/bSVUGD <-- hahaha! cheeky fella. 2 days ago
What say U? @NajibRazak RT @timmysay: Pn. Siti Insyak shud b given d same coverage as Namawee. A TASK FORCE shd b established to investigate 2 days ago
Jack Bauer! Huarghhh!! Chuck Norris is tough, but Jack Bauer is tougher. No one crosses Jack Bauer and lives.. 2 days ago
LadyBird: by looking at a glance on the road condition (based on the picture), it is much better as compared to miri-bakong road.... on The curse of the ’signboard’.
