Masalah Kepala Lembu: Tau Nak Makan Sahaja Asal Hijau, Tapi Nilai Zat Tak Tau!

Saya rasa mual melihat tindak-tanduk kepimpinan politik kita tentang hal layanan buruk terhadap kepala lembu. Yang sibuk dilayan adalah tuduhan orang dan cepat dicari orang untuk dihukum-hakam. Tetapi masalah pokok tidak ditangani!Masalah pokok yang saya maksudkan bukanlah perpindahan kuil... itu sebenarnya tidak harus menjadi isu kecuali diperbesar-besarkan oleh juak-juak kerajaan Pakatan negeri Selangor juga! Yang saya maksudkan adalah masalah nilai!

Khususnya:

1. Di manakah nilai kita sebagai suatu masyarakat majmuk apabila kefahaman tentang agama jiran sewarganegara tiada, sehinggakan bukan sekadar kepala lembu dipijak, tetapi makanan Halal dimaksudkan 'tanpa babi' sahaja dan sesuatu kaum dianggap seagama semua!


2. Dimanakah terletaknya hormat rakyat terhadap pemimpin apabila kepala Menteri Besar boleh diproksikan kepala lembu dan disepak-sepak sewenang-wenangnya apabila tidak setuju dengan tindak-tanduk beliau? Kemarahan rakyat terhadap pemimpin tidak memberikan rakyat lesen terbuka untuk biadap tanpa had ke atas pemimpin.


3. 
   
   Dimanakah nilai sejarah, apabila para pembangkang, khususnya PKR, begitu ghairah menyepak kepala lembu sambil lupa itulah simbol Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) yang digabungkan dengan Parti KeAdilan Nasional untuk menjadi PKR sekarang! Kalau nilai sejarah parti yang dibanggakan pun orang PKR boleh lupa dalam emosi menyepak 'kepala sendiri', tak hairanlah melihat mereka lupakan sejarah perjuangan lama, mahupun janji-janji baru!


4. Dimanakah nilai kepimpinan kita apabila yang dipentingkan adalah memberi kepuasan emosi kepada rakyat, bukan menangani persisihan pendapat antara kaum dengan memperbetulkan hubungan serta pegangan nilai! Sibuk menuding jari ke arah lain atau berselindung disebalik dalih-dusta, sama saja pada mana-mana parti... BILA NAK DIPUPUK NILAI MURNI?

Inilah di sebalik porak-perandanya negara! Bilakah kita akan kembali kepada pegangan nilai sebagai panduan arah-tuju negara bangsa! Saya sudah mual...

Farewell Old Ben...

It is a rare occassion when both my father and I lose a friend to the hereafter on the same day, and it happened today. I am saddened by the passing of my old friend Adlan Benan Omar, better known as Ben Omar to many, but I was also relieved, having seen how he suffered in dignity when I last visited him almost 2 weeks ago.

The Germans have a tradition of saying very few words of mourning whilst reminiscing all the fine memories of friends and family that have passed on, often over drinks, as a celebration of a good life having come to a conclusion. In line with one of Ben's old tendencies to enjoy things German, I shall do this.

To have died at the age of 35 may have seem tragic to many, but as Ben had known of the likely shortness of his life since he was 18, he had driven himself to filling his life with purpose from the time I got to know him. It was evident to me as we were first introduced only months prior to the diagnosis of his illness.

Before we met, I was told by another old friend that,"You will like Ben, you'll see. He has this charisma, a way with words, articulate, very opinionated."

"He's an a**hole?",I asked.

"He's an a**hole. Like I said, you'll like him",was the response. To my relief, Ben was not a Gunners fan, which would have been intolerable, as he was exactly the type of a**hole to others that I was happy to call friend.

One could say that we were surprisingly close for potential rivals. We shared many ideals; patriotism, respect for history. He was a Minang traditionalist with intimations of nobility, which made him easy for me to read in terms of motive, if not method. He also easily appreciated my anarchic version of nationalism, which helped. (I think he felt me little better than a proper anarchist in use of words).

From Ben I better appreciated the value and joy of being different, in which he revelled. He was always the first to support an initiative, and was very good at picking winners as he judged initiatives not on the potential benefits alone, but on nobility of purpose and the values and merits of the people involved.

This sometimes gave rise to suspicion of ambition, yes the thing that got Gaius Julius Caeser killed, but like Caeser, his ambition was always with a sense of giving or ultimately noble intentions, though his methods are oft misconstrued.

His achievements in leadership are uncommon, if not unique, for someone so young. He was in turn:

1. Elected student MP at the English Public School he attended as a JPA/BTU scholar for his A-Levels, Abingdon School. This was impressive for a foreign student whom had joined the school as a 6th former only months before and had won under the ticket of his own 'party', None Of The Above (NOTA), against local Young Labour and Young Conservative candidates.


2. Founder and I believe first Secretary of the Cambridge University Malaysian Society (CUMaS).


3. Pro-tem Chairman and Founder, then Chairman, of the United Kingdom Executive Council for Malaysian Students, UKEC (now a UK and Eire council). We founded this together with Don Rahim, Omar Siddiq, Badlisyah Ghani, Flora Romeo, Eqhwan Mokhzanee, Lim Chong Han, Munir Aziz together with others friends...


4. Secretary General of Party KeAdilan Rakyat Youth.

I am sure I have missed many other achievements. Ben also had a student, then professional life in the midst of many quests in leadership, but it is to my regret that I am incapable of chronicling these as we grew apart from the final year of our studies abroad. I understand he chose to be a banker over becoming a lawyer or historian as he was schooled, yet again bucking a typical Malaysian trend.

We became 'occassional acquaintences' again over the last 5 years, when I first returned to Malaysia ~4+ years ago.

Over these last few years, Ben and I would arrange to meet at least once a year, as he strove to find a purpose that would best fill what would be the last years of his life. Whilst he had suffered disappointment in youth party politics, he never dropped his chin on our encounters. What we shared in motives and purpose seemed little changed. In meetings big and small, he made an impression.

Only months ago, I was sorry to hear that I had missed just one such event where Ben stood to give concise, precise, strong and credible opinions in a forum of political players young and old, hosted and presided by none other than Tan Sri Tunku Razaleigh Hamzah. Those few who did not know his name talked of an impressive young man standing with a stick and the dignity of an elder.

This should have come as no surprise, as during his time as a party youth leader, his sharp wit and tongue had impressed even at the prestigious forums hosted by the Johns Hopkins University in the US. There he well surpassed his Malaysian contemporaries present in open forum, frustrating the likes of Khairy Jamaluddin among others, with quality of argument.

There is a rumour, I would like to think well founded, that Ben was involved in the penning of an entire book on the machinations of KJ and his minions. That I mention it here shows that such an effort was yet again to Ben's credit.

I will miss this friend of mine, not because we were buddies or relied on each other in any way, but in just knowing a man I uniquely respected for his values, that held strong and suffered little changing over the years. Over the last year or so, Ben was busy fulfilling his Minang obligations as guardian to his niece, eventual heir to the property of his mother's line. Traditionalist to the end.

I was glad to have had the opportunity to say goodbye to Ben and hope he had understood and shared that final encounter to bind us. I write this as my second last gift in fond memory of him as a friend. My final gift will honour his memory as a leader and historian par excellence from our generation.

Adlan Benan Omar

1973 - 2008

ZAM And Johari, Please Consider Banning This Book

In support of the new committee recently mandated by the Malaysian Government Cabinet Minister's Meeting to monitor internet behaviour by us wee bloggers, may I welcome this new government initiative (which must be now immediately active seeing as the civil service has become so much more efficient under the Lah-ist regime) by proposing the following pro-Lah action.

Could the Lah-ist Minister ZAM and Lah-ist Deputy Minister Johari Baharum in their respective portfolios of Information and Internal Security please consider banning this book:

may be disguised as

This is because, this book will potentially cause Malaysians to evaluate Pak Lah and draw conclusions, based on the 9 C's of leadership. This would:

1. Tarnish Pak Lah's reputation as people evaluate the traits of leadership alleged by the author of this book. (I'm sure the 4th floor knows better what it takes to be a PM!)
2. Lead people to draw conclusions on how similar Pak Lah's leadership is to George W. Bush's!

I would also like to warn the committee monitoring naughty activities on the internet that there may be elements in the country that will try to smuggle these books in via internet orders from such insidious sites as http://www.amazon.com/ or http://www.amazon.co.uk/

In addition, some parties may also try to smuggle such titles in as audio-books. Such people should be treated with the contempt that ZAM and Johari's ministries typically reserve for PAS CD distributors or indeed bloggers!

As an ex-CEO famous for turning around Chrysler 2 decades ago, unfortunately Iacocca is probably too competent for Azlan Hashim to consider as a viable Proton CEO, so the best avenue for buying him off (if even possible) is self-closed.

It is unfortunate that this foreign national is not in Malaysia at the moment. Otherwise, I am sure the BSA Tahir treatment is the only suitable way of protecting Pak Lah's regime from further embarassment from such individuals. How long has BSA Tahir been in ISA by the way?

In jest...