OutSyed The Box |
- Car Prices An Election Issue At Last
- IKIM Cracks Another Joke
- Rude Again
- Satellite Signals Receiving Station
- The Rise Of The Salafi Chessboard
| Car Prices An Election Issue At Last Posted: 24 Jul 2012 03:05 AM PDT Someone sent a comment about Rafizi Ramli saying the Pakatan will make car prices an election issue. Well folks, if you have been reading my Blog for the past four years and if you have read any of my three books since 2005 you would have noted that I have been quite vociferous about the issue of high car prices. I have blogged numerous times that car prices must be lowered and I have posted the prices of similar cars in Malaysia versus other countries (and Langkawi). I have also said it on live TV that two ways for the Government to instantly increase the disposable income of Malaysians without incurring any expenditure will be to i. lower the prices of cars and ii. to "manage" the Malaysian Ringgit so that it appreciates slowly but steadily against other currencies. Both actions will put extra disposable income in Malaysian pockets without the Government incurring a single sen of expenditure. Just about two weeks ago some of the BN Bloggers had a session with the Malaysian Automotive Institute or MAI over the National Automotive Policy. This is one issue where almost all sensible Malaysians on both sides of the political divide can come to agreement. There is a definite consensus that car prices in Malaysia are extraordinarily high. The opinions differ about the exact mechanism that makes car prices so high. Well there is only one culprit - excessive protectionism and artificial barriers. 2015 Our discussions with the MAI were for their benefit : we gave plenty of input about what and where we thought the NAP should be - and true to Blogger style with good amounts of chili padi added.. They also gave us a briefing on what is happening to the car industry. By 2015 the "Open APs" will be discontinued so they say. Only franchise APs will be in existence. I expressed much scepticism about this. The Open APs were supposed to be abolished in 2010 remember? Well nothing has happened. So I will believe that the Open APs will be abolished in 2015 only when it really happens. Until then I will not believe that such a thing will happen. We also spoke among ourselves and someone asked why the Opposition fellows have not picked up this issue of high car prices. I said because the Opposition guys were idiots. The high prices of cars should have been made an election issue at every election since dont know when but somehow the dunggu Opposition has never really picked it up. Until now. Here is a report about this guy Rafizi Ramli of the PKR. Excuse the self promo but I think he reads my Blog as well :))
First of all here is some quick advice to my fellow UMNO and BN Bloggers - dont try to defend this issue secara membuta. It is very difficult to defend artificially high car prices. Plus it is already the aim of the NAP to lower car prices anyway. Only their time table may take too long. As I said the Open APs are to be abolished only in 2015!! This is what the MAI said. With the Opposition now making this an election issue and putting it in their manifesto, I hope the NAP's suggestions to lower car prices will be expedited. Maybe car prices will be lowered substantially by Hari Raya Puasa. That is what I suggested to the MAI. I have said it before that the high car prices are going to become an election issue. But the Gomen must think carefully. The loss in excise duties can be recouped. Most importantly the rakyat will enjoy immediate higher disposable incomes. And a higher standard of living. The AP Kings, including that guy with the helicopter landing pad in his house and that other AP king who flies in the Australian music band to entertain his dinner guests (I have met the Aussie band) will find their buta AP earnings slashed down quite substantially. For high end cars, the Open APs can add as much as RM50,000 to the final selling price of the car. The revamp of the NAP is also not too clear about the Franchise APs. There may still be another barrier - after 2015 imports of reconditioned cars from overseas will not be allowed. Franchise APs will only be allowed for new cars. I find this to be another artificial barrier. Let the car importers decide what they want to import - new cars, recond cars, used cars, antique cars, hybrid cars, electric cars - without the need for any APs. Let the market decide. Overall the Gomen's management of the car industry has fallen quite flat. It is time to abolish all the APs that artificially create bariers and also reduce drastically the taxes and duties on all cars. I will repeat what I told the Malaysian Automotive Institute (which helped finalise the NAP) : cars are not a luxury item at all anymore. Until we can levitate, cars are an absolute necessity, especially in our country where public transport is dismal and where the design of our towns and cities requires mobility to cover distance. We must make cars as cheap as possible. The Pakatan are going to put it in their manifesto. Lets take it out of their manifesto. Lets drop car prices drastically and do it asap.  |
| Posted: 23 Jul 2012 10:22 PM PDT Well here is IKIM's (Institut Kefahaman Islam Malaysia) weekly column in The Star : "Uniting religion and reason." Isnt that a hilarious thing to say?  Anyway I have truncated some of their main points here. For brevity my comments intervene in blue.
Well obviously the cuckoo who attacked Block B of the PM's Department (the PM himself is in Block A) did not get his motivation from Bill Gates or Planck's theories on quantum mechanics. He got it from religion. The cuckoo had successfully united religion with illogical beliefs. And he is definitely not alone. This is also why the Muslim civilisation, especially the Arab Muslim civilisation has been down in the dumps for almost a 1000 years now. They dont seem to have a chance of crawling out either.
We cannot even ponder a submission to a Creator who created the entire universe using science and mathematics (which only now the human scientists are "discovering" in bits and pieces) to be divorced from reason and science. The Creation is nothing but pure logic and pure reason. The entire Creation is Science.
I beg to differ. This observation only applies to man made religion. It does not apply to Islam.
Well I think it is a little too late for the present day 'warasatul religious priests' to suddenly claim the mantel of the Muslim scientists. "Lembu punya susu sapi punya nama". Here is a list of great "Muslim" scientists who were dismissed as deviants, heretics and apostates by the various "institut kefahaman" which existing during their times : Ibnu Sinna (Avicenna) (medicine), Ibnu Khaldun (historian), Al Khwarizmi (mathematician), Ibn Haytham (mathematician and father of the empirical method), Ahmad Celebi (flight), Omar Khayyam (mathematician and poet), Jabir Ibn Haiyan (chemistry) and many other Muslim scientists were hounded and persecuted by the religious people for their scientific methods and discoveries. It was the West who discovered the great contributions of these Muslim scientists and intellectuals and has kept their memories alive. Today folks like IKIM just 'tumpang toi' saja and claim these great Muslim scientists for themselves. The fact is when these Muslim scientists were alive, they were hounded by the State religious institutions not unlike IKIM. So please jangan jadi hipokrit.
This is a very strange train of thought processes. Why would anyone even begin to consider reason and thinking as bad and vile? I think this is a trait that could be unique to some religious thought processes - ie it is possible that people who use their intelligence are inherently evil and bad. That is why religion has become very sick today. They can harbour such confusion about logic and reason.
Ya habibie, the Quranic phrase is 'haatu burhanukum inkuntum sadiqeen' which means 'bring your evidence if you are truthful'. Anyway, here is some reason and logic for IKIM to ponder. IKIM says : "It is hardly possible for a civilisation to survive without being appreciative to rational inquiries and intellectual pursuits." (It should be 'being appreciative of..") OK so having said this, what is IKIM going to do about the fact that in this country we have the "enakmen agama" which can arrest, fine and jail people who may have a different view or understanding of Islam from the Ahlul Sunnah Wal Jamaah? If you dont like someone's understanding of Islam you can even make a fatwa declaring them sesat. Then you can prosecute them. This is completely irrational and illogical behaviour. The strange thing is this type of behaviour is not even common among other Muslim countries in the world. This is quite unique to Malaysia. It would appear that Islam in Malaysia carries a passport which must be stamped by the Jabatan Imigresen when you enter Malaysia. When you go to Mecca you pray together with Muslims from all over the world - Sunnis, Shiahs, Ibadis, Jaffaris, Ismailis etc. We even invite Shiahs from Iran for the Tilawah Al Quran competition in Malaysia. We say salam to them, eat their food which is halal and can even marry their women. But in Malaysia they can be arrested for practising or talking about their understanding of Islam. Where is the logic or reason for this type of behaviour? Where is your burhan or evidence for this? Where in the Quran can you find any justification for this? And by now the IKIM must come to realise that all their intellectual pursuits cannot come to much. Why? Because you are protected by the same "enakmen agama". If you write something and someone does not agree with you and they speak up - they too can be arrested, fined and jailed under the 'enakmen agama'. This makes all of your intellectual pursuits totally nonsensical. I repeat - this makes all your intellectual pursuits nonsensical. In the true Islamic method of intellectual discourse aka the scientific method when you publish something, you must open yourself to peer review. People have the right to challenge you by asking you "haatu burhanukum inkuntum sadiqeen" - 'show us your evidence if you are truthful'. But not in Malaysia. If IKIM says something about Islam and someone disagrees, they can be arrested and charged under the "enakmen agama". There can be no honest peer review. Only people who share the same illogical and unreasonable thought processes as yourself will be given license to provide you with peer reviews. This makes your "intellectual" publications instantly nonsensical.  |
| Posted: 23 Jul 2012 08:57 PM PDT  The Star has headlined a very relevant topic on its front page today - about being rude. Congratulations to The Star for highlighting this : Kuala Lumpur ranked way down in Reader's Digest latest appraisal Some things do not seem to change in Malaysia and foremost among them are rudeness and inconsiderate behaviour. . . Six years ago, Reader's Digest placed Malaysia's rudeness level at 33 out of the 35 countries ranked. . . . Kuala Lumpur almost at the bottom of a list of Least Courteous Cities at number 34 out of 36 major cities in the world. Other selfish acts
My comments : These are the common examples of rude behaviour in our country. However I believe we have to include a few more points. I dont think we are all intentionally rude - I think often it is just poor social etiquette. It is just the way we were brought up. Our parents never taught us good social etiquette. And, please, please do not ignore the racial factor. Remember folks - in Malaysia everything is always racial, racial and racial. Talking loudly on the cell phone, inside the lift, almost yelling at someone who is right next to you seems to be particular to some racial groups among us. Eating with your mouth wide open (and talking as well), eating with food plastered all over your face (I am talking about adults ok), making horrible sounds while eating seems to be quite common across all races but more so among some racial groups than others. Belching loudly or expending other bodily gases loudly in public also seems to be the norm among some racial and religious groups more than others. Not washing hands after using the toilet or refusing to flush the toilet (for Allah knows what reason) also cuts across races but not washing hands after using the toilet is also quite prevalent among some religious groups. (I believe there is a reason for this). Once I was in a Rukun Tetangga base (in 1978 at Minden Heights 1 in Gelugor, Penang - I was 18 at that time). At nite one Pegawai Kementerian came to inspect the base. A nice fellow. He went around shaking hands with everyone. Along the way he stuck his right hand into his shirt and scratched his armpit. Then he continued shaking hands with people. No one said anything to him. After he left I ran home, jumped over our front gate, tore into the house and washed my hands with soap like nine times. Today come to Masjid India and I can show you worse. You will never imagine the number of people who scratch their @$$es in public. Folks one day maybe I will take pictures and post it here. And if I tell you what these people do for a living - half of you will get angry and the other half will throw up. How do we overcome this poor social etiquette? Why not make social etiquette a compulsory subject at school, especially in a multi racial, multi religious country like Malaysia? We have to teach our kids - dont scratch your @$$ in public, dont eat with your mouth open, dont belch loudly in public or expel bodily gases in public, wash your hands after using the toilet and such. Finally rude behaviour in our country is also racial. People tend to be rude at others if the other person is not from their own race. It is still almost a certainty that when someone sees someone of a different race, they immediately assume a more unfriendly manner. The only exception to this "rule" are the Indians - they seem to be more rude to their fellow Indians first. There is something called the Indian Crab story - it is not without basis. Wherever you meet anyone of a different race - across the counter, at the shops, in a queue, in a lift, as you walk on the street, at social gatherings, at dinner parties, at religious gatherings (even of the same religion) when people are of different races the heckles immediately go up. This seems to be the 'first reaction' for a very many Malaysians. We need to pay more attention to this type of poor attitudes. Here I believe the Singaporeans have done a much better job. But maybe that is for another day.  |
| Satellite Signals Receiving Station Posted: 23 Jul 2012 07:39 PM PDT 
A shrine is a satellite receiving station for signals from outer space which can tell the Bollywood actors if their films are going to be successful. Usually the people who pray at these shrines also put money inside the donation box. They certainly have to pay some money to the holy people based at the shrine to help say the prayers for them. Remember : No Money No Religion. Here is another satellite signals receiving station closer to home in Singapore. This is the Nagore Durgha Shrine at Telok Ayer Street in Singapore.   |
| The Rise Of The Salafi Chessboard Posted: 23 Jul 2012 09:52 AM PDT 
My comments : The equation keeps changing. In Egypt, their revolution was won by the Salafis. Gaza is now ruled by the same Salafis. So Salafis now rule three countries in the Middle East - Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Gaza. The Sunni majority in Syria which will most likely overthrow Bashar Assad and his minority Shia ruling class is also very strongly Salafi influenced. If Syria falls it will be another country that would have fallen to the Salafis. This means the dominant power among the Arab Muslim countries in the Middle East will soon be Salafi or strongly Salafi influenced. From this news report, the Salafi resurgence is now taking firm root in Iraq also, where today alone 103 people were killed in attacks by Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda in Iraq is connected to the Salafis. And of course they are funded by Salafis in Saudi Arabia. The "problem" for Iraq is that 60% of their population are Shiahs. Sunnis make up 35% of the population. Prevailing conditions dictate that it is not likely that the 35% minority Sunnis will be able to assert political dominance over the 60% majority Shiahs in Iraq for a long time (maybe never again). And the "problem" for Syria is that 70% of their population are Sunnis. The ruling Shiah Alawites make up a 12% minority of the population. Prevailing conditions indicate that it is not likely that the 12% minority Alawites will be able to assert political dominance over the 70% majority Sunnis in Syria for a long time (maybe never again). However the 35% Sunni minority in Iraq will be surrounded by Salafi dominated Saudi Arabia, Syria (?), Egypt, Gaza and maybe even more Salafi countries. There is going to be a continuous supply of guns, bombs and suicide bombers into Iraq. Hence the coordinated attacks in 13 cities across Iraq today that killed 103 people. It will be yet another unwinnable war. How long will it last? 3 years? 5 years? 10 years?  |
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