Recycled offerings

You’d think that with all BN’s bragging about ‘Promises fulfilled’ and its so-called transformations of Malaysia under Najib Abdul Razak’s premiership that writing a column for the 55th Merdeka Day would be a fresh and exciting challenge.

But when I look back on my previous Merdeka Day offerings, I see that most are as relevant in 2012 as they were back then, so pitifully little has changed in the interim.

For example, I could re-use my 2007 effort, ‘Rid of Britain, now for BN’, without changing more than a word or two.

Here, for those who weren’t yet readers of Malaysiakini five years ago, was how it started:

‘I hate to be a party-pooper, but as this nation celebrates 50 years of independence, the point has to be made that, as far as genuine equality, democracy and justice are concerned, all that Merdeka really did for the Malaysian people was to rid them of one kind of merde and dump them in another.

'Relieved of the British yoke, the people found themselves the butt of a very bad joke: the imperial predators had replaced themselves with local parasites.’

And so on and on with the usual catalogue of BN crimes and incompetencies, all of which are as prevalent now, five years later, as they were five years ago, only more so.

As vividly revealed by a comparison of the present day with my 2009 Merdeka effort headed ‘Merdeka, Murdeka, Moodeka’, which kicked off with:

‘OK, OK, I surrender. Today, as I celebrate my personal liberation from the oppressive academic situation that kept me from writing a column last week, I find myself totally out-punned on this week’s top topic of Merdeka.

‘It seems as if every article, blog and comment I see lately presents a powerful, funny and/or punny case for choosing not to celebrate Malaysia’s independence from Britain in favour of 52 years of subjection to Barisan Nasional.

 

‘Murdeka, of course, is one of the most commonly-cited concepts, given BN’s reluctance to properly investigate a string of notoriously suspicious cases like the shooting and C4 disposal of the Mongolian ‘model’ Altantuya Shaariibuu (right) , the persistent killing of ‘suspects’ in ‘shoot-outs’ with the police, the latest of hundreds if not thousands of mysterious deaths in police custody and the recent alleged suicide of Teoh Beng Hock in the headquarters of the Malaysian Anti- Corruption Commission (MACC).'

Today, in 2012, the blue murder continues unabated and unpunished, with those who ordered the killing of Altantuya Shaariibuu still unidentified, and those responsible for the death of Teoh Beng Hock and many others still at large.

There have been countless more extrajudicial and custodial homicides, the latest victim being D Dinesh who died after being shot in dubious circumstances at a roadblock in Ampang on Aug 21.

Moo-ving on ... not!

As for Moodeka, things have gone even further downhill in the past three years. In 2009 I was referring to just one bad BN moooove, the notorious desecration of a cows’s head in protest by some Umno/BN-sponsored goons against the construction of a Hindu temple in Shah Alam.

This outrage, as some will recall, was permitted by the police, and subsequent criticism of the constabulary for its show of indifference and impotence was characterised by Home Minister ‘Hishammooodin’ Hussein as a cheap shot aimed at “discrediting the police force”.

But three years later, the police force is even more discredited, if possible, especially in light of the minister’s idiotic claim last week that crime-fighting was “not seen as a need” until recently.

So the Moodeka concept is even more vividly relevant in light of the still-ongoing ‘cow-gate’ scandal involving a RM250 million soft loan to the family of Umno Wanita chief and then women, family and community development minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, to fund their National Livestock Corporation.

That things keep going from downright bad to even worse, Merdeka after Murdeka after Moodeka makes a total mockery of former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s recent blog begging Malaysians to keep supporting BN on the ridiculous grounds that ‘Better the devil you know than the angel you don’t.’

And the ever-worsening regime corruption and criminality lays bare the hypocrisy and falsehood, if not outright blasphemy, of Prime Minister Najib Abdul’s lying declaration this week that the Umno/BN government has always stayed true to the objectives of Islam in administering the country.

He told his audience that the government’s adherence to Islamic principles and maqasid syariah “means caring for Islam in terms of its sanctity, position, in terms of faith, morals, administration, etc, so that Islam can be practised perfectly”.

But as perfectly as I have no doubt that many of the Malaysian ummah practise Islam, it seems to me an affront to Islam or indeed any other religion to be used for nefarious political purposes by a bunch of crooks and con-men like Najib and his confederates in Umno/BN.

Criminal arrogance

Just as it’s an affront to Malaysians of all races and faiths to have their Merdeka Day co-opted by Umno/BN for electioneering with a logo including the 1Merdeka symbol along with the lying slogan ‘Promises fulfilled’.

Then, as if enough Malaysian citizens haven’t been alienated by their exclusion from the spirit of the Merdeka event, it was announced by the Information, Culture and Communications Ministry secretary-general Kamaruddin Siaraf that members of the public and opposition politicians would not be welcome at the official celebration in Bukit Jalil Stadium on the night of Aug 31.

Only VIPs, BN component party members, civil servants, schoolchildren and other specially-selected groups would be allowed inside the venue, he reportedly told a press conference, and others could watch proceedings on video screens outside.

Following the predictable outcry against this exclusionist arrangement, however, information minister Rais Yatim back-pedalled with the ‘clarification’ via Twitter that “The allegation made by certain people that the Merdeka 55 gathering at Bukit Jalil will only be for invitees is not true’, and a subsequent message that ‘it is deplorable for certain opposition leaders to try to foil what is to be the rakyat’s right to commemorate the nation’s 55th birthday’.

Just who Rais imagines he is fooling by trying to blame opposition leaders for his own and Umno/BN’s criminal arrogance is anybody’s guess.

But as far as I’m concerned, the regime’s plan to hold its very own private Murdeka/Moodeka celebration at public expense is just one more sign that, far from partying in Bukit Jalil, these crooks and their cronies should be rotting in Bukit Jail.

---

DEAN JOHNS, after many years in Asia, currently lives with his Malaysian-born wife and daughter in Sydney, where he coaches and mentors writers and authors and practises as a writing therapist. Published books of his columns for Malaysiakini include ‘Mad about Malaysia’, ‘Even Madder about Malaysia’, ‘Missing Malaysia’ and ‘1Malaysia.con’.