Monday, October 31, 2016

RMP being misused

Malaysiakini - Ismail Sabri's boycott Chinese call still with DPP 20 months on



boy-cock macam ini saja

PARLIAMENT The police probe on Ismail Sabri Yaakob's call for Malays to boycott Chinese businesses is now with the deputy public prosecutor's (DPP) office, almost two years after the controversial remarks were made.

In a written parliamentary reply to a query from Lim Guan Eng (DAP-Bagan), Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the investigation papers had been submitted on March 23 this year.

Ismail had in early February last year, urged Malays to boycott Chinese businesses to force them to lower prices.

"The majority of consumers are Malays. The Chinese are the minority. If the Malays boycott their businesses, they will have no choice but to reduce prices," Ismail Sabri wrote on Facebook.

Ismail Sabri also accused Chinese businesses of having suspect halal certifications, yet Malays were still patronising such establishments.

The case was probed under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code for among other things, issuing a statement that could cause “fear or alarm to the public”.

Those convicted under this law can be jailed up to two years, or fined or both.

Meanwhile Zahid said controversial preacher Ridhuan Tee Abdullah is under investigation for issuing statements that are allegedly inflammatory.

This is in regards to Ridhuan’s remarks that Chinese athletes were unpatriotic, as they were only looking for monetary rewards.

The comments published in Sinar Harian, also claimed that Malay athletes were sidelined and deprived of the same attention given to non-Malays.

The case is still being probed under Section 505(c) of the Penal Code.

All because of a low level crook who has been charged for all sorts of felony.

Mind you, I don't agree with the police investigating Sabri for urging Malays to boycott Chinese businesses so long as he did NOT urge violence against the Cinapeks.

Nor do I agree with Ah Tee (RTA) being investigated for saying Chinese athletes were unpatriotic.

These investigations have been as time-wasting and stupid as RSN Rayer was investigated by police for uttering the word 'celaka' (since then, dismissed by the courts).

My late Bhai was fond of saying 'celaka' but was never investigated nor charged for using the word.

In recent times, the RMP has been investigating bullshit cases when the manpower could have been employed more fruitfully in crime solving, preventing, etc including watching out for seditious ashes sneaking into Malaysia from the North.

Stop misusing the RMP for political and trivial nonsense. And our IGP should also learn not to behave politically like the Director of the FBI, wakakaka.




Zaid proposes another mosquito party



KUALA LUMPUR: Former de facto Law Minister Zaid Ibrahim has urged the Hindraf brothers, Waythamoorthy and Uthayakumar, to patch up and start a political party. “There’s no one better than Hindraf to help dismantle the privileges of the rich and corrupt,” he stressed.

He recalled 2007 when Hindraf took to the streets on November 25 and shook the establishment. “They were resolute, unafraid, but it was all in vain.”

Hindraf can shake the establishment again and, this time, with success, he said in his latest blog posting. “Its leaders will not be able to represent the Indian poor unless they get elected.”

He cautioned the brothers against thinking they can get seats in the next election just by making announcements offering unconditional support for the Opposition.

I like Zaid Ibrahim but I cannot agree with him on his most recent suggestion. I wonder why he is making such an unsound advice to the Hindraf brothers. 

Apart from Hindraf becoming a religio-ethnic political party if the two brothers take up Zaid's advice, it will be just another mosquito party, which will do more harm to Pakatan than strive for democratic ideals.

I hope those two brothers will instead join Pakatan, as mosquito parties by splitting the Indian votes will only help BN stay in power..




Jais & JHeains talk cock

From the Malay Mail (extracts):


KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 31 — Islamic agencies do not have jurisdiction to act on companies such as the burger chain Ninja Joe which was recently probed over its now-scrapped “P. Ramly” product name, lawyers have said.

Civil liberties lawyer Fahri Azzat said it was “likely” that the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) and Negri Sembilan Islamic Religious Affairs Department (Jheains) had overstepped their jurisdiction or the legal limits of their powers when they recently investigated Ninja Joe outlets.

“They have no business over a restaurant that did not apply for halal certification,” he told Malay Mail Online yesterday when contacted, agreeing that the “correct” position is for their powers to be limited to outlets with halal certification or those claiming their products to be halal or permissible for Muslims’ use or consumption.

Referring specifically to Jheains’s assertion that it has powers under trade description laws to investigate Ninja Joe over an allegedly confusing name for the latter’s pork burger, Fahri disagreed.

“I think this is incorrect. Jheains has no jurisdiction over trademark or confusion about trade names or items. More so when the entity did not apply for halal certification for those items,” he said.




In addressing questions on the limits of the powers of Jais and Jheains as bodies created under state laws, civil liberties lawyer Nizam Bashir referred to the position under the Federal Constitution, citing specifically Item 1 of its Ninth Schedule’s List II which deals with matters under state jurisdiction.

“Constitutionally speaking, Jais or JHEAINS powers do not extend beyond persons professing the religion of Islam,” Nizam told Malay Mail Online when contacted yesterday, adding that Ninja Joe is a chain of restaurants owned by a company.

“It is trite that a company cannot profess the religion of Islam. Consequently, Jais or Jheains has no power over Ninja Joe Sdn Bhd,” the civil liberties lawyer added.

But as for the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism (KPDNKK), it can investigate Ninja Joe for any offences under the Trade Descriptions Act 2011 if it chooses to do so, Nizam said.


Wakakaka.

F**k Jais and JHeains - but morally Ninja Joe should not use what has been apparently a Malay-type name for its burger.

And f**k those so-easily confused people. Pork is pork, regardless of the burger's name.





Sunday, October 30, 2016

Danger of Chinese ghettorization

In Malaysiakini's The red shirts and the futility of Malay privilege, its author, Commander (retd) S Thayaparan (Aneh as I call him), wrote the following (extract of two paragraphs which aren't specifically on titled subject):


A couple of years ago, I wrote this: “What is really destroying the MCA is not the propaganda of the DAP but the acceptance by a large voting demographic of the Chinese community that no representation in the government is better than MCA representation.”

In other words, the “accursed” DAP is supported by the majority of the Chinese community, which means that Jamal’s main problem is with the majority of the Chinese community who support the DAP.

It seems the old saying that the Chinese are like the Jews is in a way coming true.

What do I mean by '... in a way coming true.'? Shouldn't it be just 'coming true'?

That old saying about Chinese being like Jews was related more to their common business acumen and cleverness in making money (and reputed obsession in saving it).

But there is another likeness between them that is far more troubling, that of 'social ghettorization'.

I must clarify what I mean by 'social ghettorization', because it's quite different from mere 'ghettorization'.

The dictionary defines ghetto as: a section of a city, especially a thickly populated slum area, inhabited predominantly by members of an ethnic or other minority group, often as a result of social or economic restrictions, pressures, or hardships.

The word is of Italian origin and refers to the original name of an island near Venice, where Jews in the 16th century were then forced to reside there.

Ghettos became particularly notorious after we learnt about the Nazis in Europe persecuting and confining the Jews in ghettos in German occupied Poland.

Wikipedia tells us:

Jewish ghettos in German-occupied Poland were established during World War II in hundreds of locations across occupied Poland. Most Jewish ghettos had been created by Nazi Germany between October 1939 and July 1942 in order to confine and segregate Poland's Jewish population of about 3.5 million for the purpose of persecution, terror, and exploitation. 

In smaller towns, ghettos often served as staging points for Jewish slave-labor and mass deportation actions, while in the urban centers they resembled walled-off prison-islands described by some historians as little more than instruments of "slow, passive murder," with dead bodies littering the streets.

In most cases, the larger ghettos did not correspond to traditional Jewish neighborhoods, and non-Jewish Poles and members of other ethnic groups were ordered to take up residence elsewhere. Smaller Jewish communities with populations under 500 were terminated through expulsion soon after the invasion.

I want you to read again, very thoughtfully, the 1st sentence of the 3rd paragraph above, which says: "... the larger ghettos did not correspond to traditional Jewish neighborhoods ...".

Okay, if you've read that carefully as well as given it much thought to its subtext or implied meaning, what elucidation could you get from it?

Well, it means that prior to the Nazi's oppressive ghettorization of European Jews in Poland, those Jews had already lived or chosen to live in 'social ghettos', meaning among their own ethnic communities, practising their own religion, culture and traditions as would be in "... traditional Jewish neighborhoods ...".

We also need to bear in mind that prior to the Jewish Holocaust, religiously-tolerant Poland had for eight long centuries been the biggest home and cultural centre for World Jewry, when by the 16th Century three-quarters of Jewish population throughout the world lived in Poland.

Prior to World War II, there were more than three million Jews in Poland alone. After the war, 90% or about three million Jews alongside 3 million non-Jews were found killed by the Nazis.

Anyway, prior to the horrors of WWII, Jews had already practised 'social ghettorization' by their intuitive inclination to live among their own ethnic communities for almost 800 years, mainly because of their unique-to-Jews religion or Judaism. Nazi-imposed physical ghettorization was to come only during German occupation of Poland.

The latter, Nazi-imposed ghettorization, would be ironically akin to what today's Israelis are imposing on Palestinians, especially those in Gaza and to a lesser extent in the West Bank by virtue of the latter's bigger space, much as the Israelis pretend to and arguing with the world they (Israelis) are not.

Yes, ironical, isn't it, that the so-called 'children' of European Jews are now inflicting on a race they considered as untermenschen (subhuman) what the German Nazis did to their forefathers whom the Nazis considered as untermenschen.

But let's leave the Jews, Nazis, Israelis and Palestinians for now, because today's post is about 'social ghettorization'.

'Social ghettorization' is an ethnicity's instinctive or intuitive inclination to stick to its own kind, more so in European Jews than Chinese because of the former's unique-to-Jews religion, which (and let's not deny it) discourages if not prohibits racial mingling.

The Chinese are a wee less predisposed in their visceral attraction towards their own ethnic grouping, but only because their religion(s) do not discourage nor prohibit mingling with other races.

European Jews of earlier years were mainly religiously circumcised, prayed to their Middle-Eastern god, attended their own ethnic gatherings in synagogues either for prayers or for cultural events, ate kosher food in accordance with Judaic dietary laws, their children attending their own Jewish schools, married within their own ethnic community where they very rarely married outside their own race, etc.

Traditional Chinese of earlier years would be almost the same as European Jews, except there was no such thing as kosher food unless they were RTA-type Muslims, wakakaka, their daughters were allowed to marry outside their race (but rarely their sons) and they were free to worship any god in Taoism including the King of Hell to nature-spirits in Shamanism, wakakaka.

[Note: no god in Confucianism, and Buddhism has only Buddha and some Bodhisattvas].

They can also worship all religions together at the same time, wakakaka.

Yes, in earlier years, Chinese were more concerned about the relationship within society, namely, between man and man, ordinary or stratified/social class, while the Jews were more concerned about man and god & god's laws.

After all, the Chinese greatest social teacher, Confucius, told Chinese 'to revere the gods but keep them at a distance', wakakaka.

And as for children attending vernacular schools, well, I have never been in favour of such segregation because it's bad for multi-culturalism, but alas, a series of UMNO Education Ministers have f**ked up our national type school system kau kau with consequential dropping of education standards to abysmal level so much so that most of the Chinese Malaysians were virtually driven into the only-too-welcoming arms of the Chinese educationists - I have already posted often on this.

And Helen Ang (in her 'previous life', wakakaka) had once written 'The Chinese vernacular boat had left the harbour and sailed too far to turn back.'

Eight years ago, in December 2008, when Mukhriz Mahathir made threats about closing down Chinese vernacular schools, Helen penned an article in Malaysiakini to discuss the hullaballoo following Mukhriz Mahathir’s alleged call for vernacular schools to be closed or absorbed into mainstream (national) schools so as to avoid polarization among school children and in that process, to strengthen Malaysian unity.

Oh, by the by, Mukhriz subsequently denied he mentioned that, and Hishamuddin who was then the Education Minister, asserted Mukhriz was misquoted – see Malaysiakini Mukhriz was misquoted: Hisham.

Then, in her article titled Di mana bumi ku pijak, Helen Ang lambasted Mukhriz for wrongly identifying the source of polarization among kids. She suggested that the then-MP for Jerlun visit national schools to see for himself the obvious ethnic segregation already existing there.

As further evidence of that, she told Mukhriz his own sister, sweetie Marina, had pulled her own children out of these schools for picking up some undesirable learnings (of an ethnocentric nature).

But having chided Mukhriz, Helen stated “Mukhriz may be guilty of posturing but he is nonetheless echoing a genuine sentiment and outlook of the Malay grassroots.”

Indeed.

Helen was also acutely aware of the feelings of Chinese Malaysians when she wrote:

“Chinese on the other hand will ‘riot’ if ever mother tongue instruction was to be withdrawn."

"An integrated system of education could have been implemented at an earlier point in time but this is water under the bridge; the boat has left the harbour and sailed too far to turn back now.”

I have to reiterate and re-emphasize this:

Thanks to a series of UMNO Education Ministers, including Mahathir, Anwar Ibrahim and Najib Razak, our national type school system has been f**ked up kau kau with consequential dropping of education standards to abysmal level, so much so that most of the Chinese Malaysians were virtually driven into the only-too-welcoming arms of the Chinese educationists.

Anyway, I want to return to what I have intended to write about, namely Aneh's succinct statement (at beginning of this post) which I will now repeat for your perusing convenience, as follows:

A couple of years ago, I wrote this: “What is really destroying the MCA is not the propaganda of the DAP but the acceptance by a large voting demographic of the Chinese community that no representation in the government is better than MCA representation.”

In other words, the “accursed” DAP is supported by the majority of the Chinese community, which means that Jamal’s main problem is with the majority of the Chinese community who support the DAP.

Please read again what Aneh had written, to wit "... but the acceptance by a large voting demographic of the Chinese community that no representation in the government is better than MCA representation." 

This means that Chinese Malaysians are quiet happy to enter not just into 'social ghettorization' once again, but also 'political ghettorization' because they are prepared to (reject MCA and Gerakan and) have no representation in the government.

Maybe most Chinese Malaysians believe they can survive by themselves in their own social and political ghettos (as the Jews once did in Poland), and f**k the Malay government?

What do you think of my assumption?

This is not healthy for a multi-ethnic Malaysia where we should and must believe in and consider ourselves as Malaysians rather than Chinese, Malays, Indians, etc, in the way citizens of the USA, no matter what ethnicity they belong to, consider themselves as Americans, and citizens of Australia consider themselves as Australians, and citizens in Thailand consider themselves as Thais, etc.

We cannot afford any ghettorization. It's far too dangerous for our society.

If you have time, please read what Clive Kessler has written in the Malay Mail Online about Umno’s two souls.

The Chinese Malaysians must avoid political and social ghettorization, and indeed all of us must strive to restore UMNO back to its pre-Mahathir days, as Kessler has written, as follows:

The heroic Umno of 1946: the Umno of Hidup Melayu and now Ketuanan Melayu; and the Umno of 1951, and especially 1955, to 1957: the Umno of constructive inter-ethnic conciliation and compromise, the Umno of modern, inclusive, progressive democratic nation-building.

The Umno that, with its political partners, looked forward to — and sought to create the foundations for — a Malaya and then Malaysia that would be the common, shared and equal inheritance of all its children, no matter by what different converging pathways their parents and forebears had come into membership as citizens of that modern new nation.

That is the Umno of the original Merdeka Constitution and its informing understandings — a charter of shared nationhood, not “Ketuanan Melayu”, which is this nation’s founding “social contract”: the only social contract that this nation has ever had.

This does NOT mean we should vote BN, wakakaka, but UMNO has an important role as Kessler said. Yes, maybe in the future, UMNO has a role in federal opposition?


Laws to stop food wastage?

Malay Mail Online - Laws needed to stop food wastage, say groups



PETALING JAYA, Oct 30 — Consumer groups and a soup kitchen are appalled by an event in Kuching where a giant bowl of Sarawak Laksa was cooked only to be thrown away after setting a Malaysian record.

They are calling on the government to introduce laws to curb food wastage and urged the authorities to discourage record-setting attempts that involve food.

Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia president Datuk Nadzim Johan said the authorities must take strict action against people who deliberately wasted food.

“This is not a joke anymore. The government must implement laws in each state and strictly enforce it to ensure an incident like this does not repeat,” he said.

Shocked by the organiser’s decision, he said the habit of using food to set records and create a name for themselves should stop.

“The local authorities must stop record-breaking events that involve food. These type of events are extremely unnecessary and childish,” he said, adding food wastage was equivalent to damaging the environment.

He said organisers must be held responsible to be a lesson to others.

“This incident should not be taken lightly. It does not matter if they had wasted one or 1,000 bowls, it is still food wastage.”

Some 1,500 servings of Sarawak Laksa were thrown away after the event on Friday, prompting a public backlash.

Nearly 600kg of food, including prawns and chicken, went into the “Biggest Bowl of Sarawak Laksa”, organised by a mall, Plaza Merdeka.

Consumers’ Association of Subang and Shah Alam president Jacob George said yesterday the implementation of by-laws at state level would be the fastest and most effective method to curb food wastage.

I partially agree.

On wastage of food, this should, nay, must be criticized, condemned and counselled against.

However, I disagree with introducing a law to curb such profligacy.

How will one objectively decide 'wastage'? Subjective assessment is okay but it will still be opened to arguments; but to objectively determine 'wastage'? I think there will be problems to achieve this and the ensuing disputes on 'wastages' will become ideal scenes for lawyers to argue until kingdom comes.

Then, what if the culprit claims no one wants to eat it? Or, that the food thrown away has been 'accidentally' contaminated? Or, there can be hundreds of excuses or even plausible reasons.

It's a legal swamp full of quicksand pits. The best approach would be for society and the authorities to frown on any events. Shun such ostentatious showoffs. Social ostracization and government advice will be the best non-laws to put a halt to such senseless food profligacy.

Food involved in the making of the biggest, longest, heaviest whatever have been a worldwide phenomena, and in Malaysia, this has been particularly influenced by our proclivity for entry into the Malaysian Book of Records - recall Najib's attempt to cover a pyramid in Egypt with batik, until his silly suggestion was shot down by the Egyptian Minister of Antiquity.


And there was a claimed dropping by air of a Proton at the North Pole (or somewhere thereabout) which Mahathir found out to his dismay had been an incorrect claim. But even if that claim was indeed fulfilled, what would it have achieved, other than another entry into the Malaysian Book of Records and the organizers ingratiating themselves with Mahathir.

Let's stop all these silly gimmickries and get on to serious substantial stuff, like worldwide-recognized achievements in our academic, sports, technological, scientific, agricultural, etc, fields.

That's not to say we shouldn't have a wee fun from time to time but avoid wasting food, such as creating the biggest pretzel "cat" ever.

As for Dr Jacob George, the president of the Consumers’ Association of Subang and Shah Alam, I commented on his views once in 2006 when I felt he was being unfair about piggeries.

On 06 April 2006, in my post Pig & Prejudice (apologies to Miss Jane Austen, wakakaka) I wrote (extracts only):


dedicated to all women I had loved, love and will be loving, wakakaka
 

Of course most fair-minded non-Muslim Malaysians understand that it’d be only natural for Muslims to want the domestic variety of this animal and its farming rid off from Malaysia. Lately the complaints of pigs' excrement polluting rivers and other water sources have re-emerged. We recall that recently the Malacca government had threatened to close all pig farms in that state.

There is no doubt that pig farming had contributed to pollution though it's not the only cause - in fact there are worse. Unfortunately because of the religious-emotional implications the solution seems to be to ban pig rearing rather than enforced strict health and hygiene controls over pig farming activities.

Even Dr Jacob George, president of the Consumer Association of Subang and Shah Alam (Cassa) has called for pig farms to be shut down completely. He said that a comprehensive study would show that the pig farms in the country had been badly managed, resulting in the pollution of water catchment areas over the past four decades.


If my English is not too dodgy, and do excuse me if it is, Dr George’s use of the verb ‘… would show …’ in his assertion, as reported by Malaysiakini, means that such a study had not yet been carried out. In other words, he has only made a guess-timate
to his asserted outcome of such a study.

While I do share his concerns and indeed respect his expert assessment (even the guess-timate as it might have been), I am extremely disappointed by his approach to the proposed solution. Why hasn't he demanded instead that the piggeries be made to comply with environmental rules that western countries have successfully enforced on their pig farms?

I have been tempted to liken his solution to President Bush's argument to attack Iraq for the incident of 9/11 because Saudis and Egyptians perpetrators were responsible for attacking America - OK, maybe it's not deserving of that analogy but I am still disappointed by his lack of alternative solutions, many of which could easily be adopted from the West!

Then Dr George's reason become clearer as I read on. Malaysiakini quoted him saying that the radical idea, namely banning pig rearing, almost like what was proposed by blogger Aisehman a couple of years ago, “must be pushed through to safeguard the interest of Malaysia’s multiracial population, resources and environment”.

If he didn’t use the term ‘multiracial’ his proposal would have been seen to be more scientific-based, but obviously Dr George has factored in the socio-politico-religious factor. 


If I may reiterate, the pig is both an abhorrent and popular creature, depending on which Malaysian sees it! I find it difficult to support his proposal to ban pig rearing because he has omitted examining all possible remedies.

The pig is reared successfully in many western countries, outstanding examples being Denmark and Australia, where piggeries are very well kept and maintained to the highest health and hygiene standards. Denmark has been doing so with the highest standard of hygiene for eons, making pig related products a multi-billion dollar export item. Many may not realise that the pig and its pork were once Malaysia’s multi-billion ringgit export item too.

As mentioned, because of the religious-emotional factor, these facts seem lost on some of our ban-the-pig advocates.

Meanwhile the far greater and prevailing danger of avian flu hasn’t merited the same degree of abhorrence or even fear to motivate demand for the total banning of fowls, including ridding Malaysia of chicken farms completely and indeed unhealthy hobbies like birds rearing or pet keeping, which under conditions of the current pandemic threats, should be considered as unnecessary and dangerous and an unmitigated health hazard.

Instead, in the face of such pandemic threats I hear but only deafening silence and a total absence of proposal to eliminate anything fowl-ish in Malaysia. The energy has been channelled towards eliminating pigs.

But alas, when emotions step in, logic and consistency of arguments must exit! It's a pity that a pair of pigs, and indeed birds, chickens, cows, rats, etc, were allowed on board Noah's (pbuh) Ark.


I regret to say, in my opinion, that his statement yesterday on introducing a law to prevent food wastage, to wit, his "... the implementation of by-laws at state level would be the fastest and most effective method to curb food wastage ..." has not been well thought out, for the legal reasons I made above.

By the way, Chinese are known NEVER to waste pork dishes, wakakaka.




Saturday, October 29, 2016

Happy Deepavali



I sure miss the Open House in Malaysia.

Enjoy my Hindu friends and visitors.

Minister: Halal recognition NOT compulsory

Bernama - Pretzel Dog fiasco reveals a worrying scenario (relevant extracts only):


Just days ago Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki in reacting to the arm-twisting methods by Jakim to force popular pretzel chain Auntie Anne’s to rename its Pretzel Dog to Pretzel Sausage said halal recognition was not compulsory.

So why then did Jakim force Auntie Anne’s to drop the word ‘dog’ and opt for ‘sausage’?

What was the politics behind Jakim’s latest bigotry, which at best has left the department licking its wounds after a botched attempt at bullying a food provider into falling prey to its hard line agenda. [...]

Is it ethical of Jakim, especially in the absence of a law that makes it mandatory for eateries to pursue the halal status, to forcibly issue an ultimatum or quid pro quo of sorts to Auntie Anne’s – rename Pretzel Dog and ‘earn’ the halal status?

It is befuddling that despite the halal recognition not being compulsory, eateries that choose not to comply continue to face harassment and penalty by Jakim and other religious agencies. [...]

Auntie Anne’s quality assurance and halal executive Farhatul Kamilah Mohamed Sazali had in a Facebook posting shared her dilemma, saying the popular pretzel chain had submitted several options and was awaiting decision from Jakim’s panel.

“The ‘pretzel dog’ name has to be changed to a more appropriate name.

“Once we obtain the decision from Jakim’s panel, we will change our entire menu board before proceeding with a new application.”

Farhatul’s attempt to apply for the halal certification for all the 45 Auntie Anne’s outlets under one application was also rejected by Jakim which demanded that she make separate applications for each outlet.

Jakim’s hard line beliefs troubling

By flexing its religious muscles, a dogmatic Jakim continues to challenge the intelligence of Muslims, whom it unwittingly is portraying as “illiterate” when it comes to making the “right” food choices.

Why did Jakim create such hardships for Auntie Anne’s when in fact the halal certification is not even mandatory? Was the department pushing its luck by forcing the food chain to give in to its right wing beliefs?

Jakim it seems has become a victim of its own relentless show of authority. Its latest abuse of power vis-a-vis the Pretzel Dog incident leaves a troubling trail, of the department’s refusal to act by the book.

While the arm-twisting act by Jakim left Auntie Anne’s in a quandary, many Malaysians were simply aghast at the former’s audacity to use religion to score a point.

The furore finally bit the dust when Minister in Charge of Islamic Affairs Jamil Khir Baharom said that a food’s name was never the main issue as there is plenty of food with weird names in Malaysia.

“Pretzel Dog won’t be banned. I also eat that. I want to stress that it never occurred to Jakim to ban a food that is already popular with that particular name.

“What’s important is that the contents and ingredients of the dish, not the name.

But as the halal status is not obligatory, will Jakim continue to hound and have a bone to pick with eateries that choose not to apply for the halal or ‘permissible’ certification?


Now, Jais of Selangor has accused Ninja Joe for breaking halal laws in its P Ramly pork burger.


The Malay Mail Online reported (extracts only):

Fastfood chain company Ninja Joe violated a law on halal food when it named one of its pork burgers “P. Ramly”, the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais) has said.

The agency’s communications officer Nurhamizah Othman said Jais had the authority to conduct inspection on companies or any business premises deemed to have violated Section 4(1) of the Trade Descriptions (Certification and Marking of Halal) Order 2011 — even if they belonged to non-Muslims.

Section 4(1) of the Order states that no food or product shall be deemed halal or usable or consumable by followers of Islam unless they have been authorised by the relevant agencies; and if it has been marked with the halal logo.

“The premise owner was found guilty of violating Section 4(1) of the Act because they offered to supply food that can mislead, create misrepresentation or falsely give the impression that the food was halal or can be consumed by a Muslim,” she told Malay Mail Online.

Can Jais fine or charge Ninja Joe, considering the following facts:

(1) Ninja did NOT claim it serves halal food

(2) Legally speaking, is the name 'Ramly' trade registered for halal use only?

(3) Ninja Joe has clearly advises/advertises its burger as having pork


(4) Obviously Ninja Joe is NOT selling its food to Muslism so how can Jais says “The premise owner was found guilty of violating Section 4(1) of the Act because they offered to supply food that can mislead, create misrepresentation or falsely give the impression that the food was halal or can be consumed by a Muslim”

In fact we should be asking Muslims what are they doing in Ninja Joe?

(5) What authority has Jais or any other Islamic agency over a non Muslim eatery which does NOT claim to be halal?

(6) Is Jais ignoring the words of Deputy Minister Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki that halal recognition was not compulsory.

(6) Is Jais saying Muslims in Selangor are so stupid they can be easily confused into believing pork is halal?






Mainland Penang

Malay Mail Online - Massive projects in place to alleviate urbanisation in Penang (relevant extracts:


Penang
 

[...]

Highly aware of the rapid development and resulting urbanisation of the island, the Penang state government launched several projects to spread out the population and to resolve the traffic congestion that has become a major problem in recent years.

According to Jagdeep, the state government launched its affordable housing projects in all five districts of the state ― northeast district and southwest district on the island, North Seberang Perai, South Seberang Perai and Central Seberang Perai.

[...]

Batu Kawan is one of the sites that the state is focusing on to develop and become a natural site for the population to spread out to.



Jagdeep Singh Deo
Chairman, Penang Town and Country Planning and Housing committee

“The first phase of Bandar Cassia will be ready in December this year, there are already existing industries there and commercial outlets like Ikea is also coming up, soon we will see Batu Kawan coming up much like what happened to Taman Tun Dr Ismail in Kuala Lumpur,” Jagdeep said.

He believes that it will be a natural phenomenon as once these commercial and residential aspects slowly take shape, many will start to set up and live there.

It's inevitable and commonsense to spread out to the greater sparse expanse of mainland, unless of course one is prepared to spread its urban areas to the western region of the island.


For years Chinese Penangites have considered only the island as Penang, with the mainland referred to as 'koay kang' (translated: 'diseberang sungai' or 'across the river').

Hmmm, I wonder why our elder Penangites considered the channel as a river, wakakaka.

The Western side of the island, from Teluk Bahang in the north to Gertak Sanggul in the south (where incidentally my family used to picnicked in umpteen years gone by, with the ladies korek-ing mucho siput on its beaches), is still rural with major parts of it being a forested region, well, at least in my time years ago. I wonder whether it has changed?

But unless one is so desperate as to develop that quite hilly region (at great expense), mainland Penang is a better solution to more space. But I have to say the view of the great Indian Ocean from the west coast road is magnificent.

If one looks at the vast expanse of water spiritually, I wonder whether one may see Bhāratmātā (smile).


Bhāratmātā
 

One of the major requirements for new urban areas is to have a good public transport system. Light rail may be far too expensive but I believe a well networked bus system will be good enough. But alas, our bureaucracy is likely to be the usual obstacle.

My uncles told me that in Penang years ago the Island was well served by three private bus companies, namely, Lim Seng Seng (Prangin Road - Ayer Itam), Yellow Bus (Prangin Road - Teluk Kumbar), Hin Bus Co (Prangin Road - Teluk Bahang) and the City Council Bus (Jetty - Ayer Itam). But today there is a set of new players in town.


City Council Bus
 


Lim Seng Seng Bus
 


Yellow Bus Co
 

Hin Bus Co
 


On the mainland there were more than a couple of bus companies (exactly how many, my uncles didn't say) providing transportation to areas north and south of Butterworth town.


Thus, if we allow private bus companies to serve the proposed new urban centres in the mainland, it's more likely to succeed, than to leave such expectations of transport service in the capricious over-controlling hands of our bureaucratic officials. But then, why should there be commonsense in our planning?

Mind you, before, many blame a certain PM for giving priority to Proton cars than public transportation. But he has long gone. So we hope for better things in public service.

As for Batu Kawan, the district was where my family (maternal side) used to live. In fact, my mum was born there. And they might probably have voted for Anwar, wakakaka. 



Food Restaurant in Tambun, Batu Kawan

I wonder whether the same stream flowed through
great granddad's plantation?

Wakakaka 
 

Great granddad had a small plot of land there which he developed right from blukar. Typical of a Cinapek, he changkol-ed his land for years from blukar into a cosy mini estate of vegetable garden, fruit plantation and even hundreds (alas, not thousands) of rubber trees.

My mum told me there was a reasonably big stream flowing through great granddad's mini estate, where fishes, turtles and otters lived and frolicked in the waters, but sadly for her, those otters ate her pet duck.


When she narrated that tragic story of her pet duck, which she claimed was a prolific egg-factory, her eyes grew red at her memories of her childhood days, or was it her duck?

But alas, my great granddad was tipu-ed of his own-hands-built-from-scratch estate, ironically by one of his cousins. Such was our family's misfortune or kaytee could have possibly grown up as the scion of landed gentry driving a Porsche, wakakaka.