Malaysian Political Blog Sampler

Blogging is a somewhat riskier activity in Malaysia than in the US, but it appears that need to get one's view of the truth out there is a very powerful force. ZDNetasia reported in September:

Malaysian blogger Raja Petra detained

By Lee Min Keong, ZDNet Asia
Friday, September 12, 2008 06:57 PM

KUALA LUMPUR--The Malaysian government Thursday lifted its controversial directive to block access to political portal Malaysia Today but on Friday, police detained the Web site's founder and editor Raja Petra Kamaruddin under the country's internal security laws.

Energy, Water and Communications Minister Shaziman Abu Mansor, confirmed Thursday the Cabinet made the decision on Wednesday to rescind the order. He told reporters at his office in Putrajaya that the move was aimed at encouraging the people to "continue using the Internet as a means to disseminate information".

Malaysia's infocomm technology (ICT) regulator Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) last week ordered all 19 of Malaysia's Internet service providers (ISPs) to block the Malaysia Today Web site.

The minister denied Thursday that the government had caved in under pressure from various groups including former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad who had slammed the government's move to block access to the highly popular Malaysia Today.

I'm not sure Petra's situation is today, but his blog Malaysia Today seems to be alive and well.

Sabahan.com a Borneo based blogger, came up with a list of the 50 Top Malaysian bloggers, using Technorati. He writes:

One of the topics that came across my mind last weekend was to compile 100 of the most influential blogs in Malaysia .

I'm not sure why he settled for just 50.


I'm leery of such mechanically generated lists, but Gaman, the blogger's approach is similar to mine: a long list of caveats before offering the content. In this case a long critique of Technorati and evaluation of the pluses and minuses of this approach.

His top 50 doesn't include Raja Petra's blog. Maybe Technorati doesn't consider it a blog technically. I'd prefer something that uses some human evaluation of the blogs, but I was only in Malaysia a couple of days and in no way am capable of that. In any case, if you follow the blogs linked in these blogs, you'll find a whole universe that I'm guessing most of my readers never knew existed.

He says only 16% of the top 50 were political blogs, but he labeled nine of the top 50 'political' which adds up to 18% on my calculator. Those nine blogs are listed and linked below with a taste from each. Naturally, they spend a lot of words on the political crisis in Perak that I mentioned briefly in a previous post where the Sultan replaced the menteri besam on his own, creating a flood of articles in the New Straits Times.



#4 Screenshots This blogger, Jeff Ooi, is now running for parliament. From one of today's posts:

Perak... Battle lost, bigger war to be won

I made a half-day visit to Ipoh yesterday to spend time and exchange opinion with the local folks, and to lend moral support to the people-elected MB Mohd Nizar Jamaludin and his colleagues at the exco.

At the coffee shops shaking legs with the local people, they shared with me some political jokes of the day.

"Do you know why Najib had to come to the Istana twice on February 5 before the new MB was announced?" a guy asked me. I shook my head, listening on in anxiety.

"Najib came in at 9.50am, left at 10.35am, and came back again at 11.21am and left in a hush by 11.34am. Why? Forgot to bring the cheque booklah!"

#10 Rockybru
His profile says he's 47 and a

Journalist, somewhere between veteran and retired. Adviser to the National Press Club. Columnist. Media Strategist. Protem President of the National Alliance of Bloggers (All-Blogs). Working on a first book.

From a Saturday post:

KESETIAAN KEPADA RAJA DAN NEGARA
- the second pillar of our Rukunegara

Is this the Ketuanan Rakyat that we've been promised?
The right to give the Sultan your middle finger and pelt his prince's official car when you don't agree with them. Is that your idea of Ketuanan Rakyat? The right to accuse the HRH of "failing in thinking as a Ruler of his subjects"? [Who the duck is K. Kabilan to pass that kind of judgment on a Sultan, anyway? Read here]. Does Ketuanan Rakyat mean that you leave it to the Sultan to decide but defy him if his decision goes against you? And profess "Daulat Tuanku" only if you think you can use the Sultan to fight for your political battles?

#11 Lim Kit Siang - his blog bio says,

First elected Member of Parliament for Kota Melaka in 1969, Lim Kit Siang is one of the most senior members of the august house.

He posts today:

Shocked and hurt by Karpal’s statement - let the party resolve any differences internally

February 9th, 2009 « 62 Comments »

I am shocked and hurt by DAP National Chairman Sdr. Karpal Singh’s statement yesterday.

Malaysians are scandalized that instead of uniting Malaysians to face the worst global economic crisis for eighty years, the Prime Minister-in-waiting Datuk Seri Najib Razak had done the opposite – frittering away further public confidence in engendering greater national discord by engineering the Perak political crisis in the illegal and unconstitutional grab for power, resulting in the constitutional crisis of two Mentris Besar in Perak.

Perakians are outraged. Malaysians are outraged. The world looks on in disbelief at the political insensitivity and indifference of the Prime Minister-in-waiting on the imperative to restore public confidence at this critical stage of the nation by giving top priority to uniting Malaysians, by actively creating not only a Perak but national political crisis.

#23 Kickdefella
A post today:

Election in Perak, After All

9 02 2009

The Rakyat of Perak will have the chance to prove which MB do they actually want. Barisan National has been working hard and utilised all the dirty tricks they known but they can never go against God’s will.

In a change of event, Member of Parliament of Bukit Gantang passed away this morning paving way for a showdown between Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional.

And here's a January post that shows that Malaysian Muslims can take independent stands:

Gaza

10 01 2009

Dangling To The Truth

I still remember when I had a brief fight with UMNOPutras in front of Masjid Wilayah almost three years ago. They laid on the stairs the Israel flag and force every Muslim who went there to perform their Friday prayer to step on it.

When it came to my turn, I refused to step on it and asked them to remove the flag to make way for me to walk pass them. They were very upset and accused me for not having any sympathy towards my Muslim brothers and sisters.

I snapped and point my finger towards one of them and shouted, “My God does not teach me to hate his creations. What you are doing is politically incorrect and not what Muhammad wanted from his ummah!”

For me, the mother of all the problems in West Bank ( and Gaza) is not lies with the Israeli’s people or the American leadership. It lies deep beneath the heart of our Muslim Leaders. The problem in West Bank (and Gaza) is the reflection of how the Muslim Countries had failed to perform their part in this World. With God’s given blessing and flourished with Petrol Dollar, yet what had they achieved?

I am not amused with The United States of America failure to solve the problem in Palestine, neither am I amused with the Government of Israel’s orchestrated attacks on the Palestinian men, women and children. Indeed I understood their actions.

What amused me is how weak the Muslim World is despite controlling the world’s most valuable commodity. What ashamed me is how we go begging to the US to solve our problem.

I wish to see before this episode end, that we the Malaysian people would march to the embassy of Saudi Arabia, the Embassy of Egypt, Jordan and the Headquarters of OIC and slam them with tonnes of protest notes. They are the one who are responsible to protect their Muslim brothers and that duty does not lie on the hand of the Americans.

#30 The Scribe A Kadir Jasin
His bio:

I was born in 1947 in Kedah. I came from a rice farming family. I have been a journalist since 1969. I am the Editor-in-Chief of magazine publishing company, Berita Publishing Sdn Bhd. I was Group Editor NST Sdn Bhd and Group Editor-in-Chief of NSTP Bhd between 1988 and 2000. I write fortnightly column “Other Thots” in the Malaysian Business magazine.

From yesterday:

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Karpal Wants New Leader For Pakatan

A Kadir Jasin

[ANONYMOUS comments with not be entertained. When commenting, your real identity is preferred. But a suitable pseudonym is accepted. If you have to use anonymous, please print your name or pen name at the bottom of your message. Please avoid seditious, defamatory and libelous statements. Unrelated comments will not be given priority.]

[UPDATE, Feb. 9]

1. Malaysiakini reported that the DAP secretary-general, Lim Guan Eng, has backed Anwar Ibrahim as Parliamentary opposition leader as well as the leader of Pakatan Rakyat coalition.

2. The Pas Bukit Gantang Member of Parliament, Roslan Shaharum , died this morning at 50. In last March general elections, Roslan defeated the Barisan Nasional heavyweight, the Umno Treasurer Abdul Azim Zabidi, by a majority of 1,566 votes, polling 20,015 votes against Azim’s 18,449 votes.

3. Kedah Menteri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak today announced that Exco member V Arumugam of PKR has relinquished his Exco post but will continue as Bukit Selambau state assemblyman.

[Original Post]

THAT the DAP’s strongman, Karpal Singh, lashed out at the Barisan Nasional and blamed the BN for practising the game of defections is only to be expected. . .

A Friday post is in Malay:

Friday, February 06, 2009

Kurangkan Politik Pesatkan Rangsangan Ekonomi

A Kadir Jasin

BANYAK pembahas berasa gusar kerana kita nampaknya terlalu banyak menumpukan masa, tenaga dan sumber kewangan kepada politik. Mereka meminta saya mengulas mengenai ekonomi.

Sebelum itu, kita terpaksa terima hakikat, iaitu apabila kita menabur angin -- dengan tersilap membuat perkiraan politik, sama ada politik dalam parti atau antara parti --maka kita hendaklah bersedia menuai badai. . .

#34 Susan Loone

This seems to be the only female political blogger on the list. In a post called Why I Blog, Loone, curently Bangkok based, writes:

Why I blog, ah? — the answer is “saje-lah” - the Malay word for “simply”.

But seriously, I started to think of blogging when my editor(s) said something like this” “if you want to write as you like, and not get your stuff edited or censored, start your own website”.

Well, as more and more of my stories get censored even by so-called independent media under the guise of “clarity, brevity, balance and fairness, here i am.

The focus of this blog initially was to be on human rights or the “in-human” part of it, hence the tagline “in-human rights“.

Politicians in Asia often legitimise their disregard for human rights by saying “human rights is a Western concept”. How wrong could they be. Human rights are for all, the only language that transcends all human barriers - whether it is race, religion, ideology or simply social status. Beyond all, human rights? is a birth right. . .

From yesterday:

Kedah is next?

Posted in CORRUPTION, FILES: PERAK, MALAYSIAN MADNESS, OPPOSITION POLITICS on February 8, 2009 by sloone

That’s what I’ve been hearing. Rumours abound, what with BN looking for more ‘victims’ and willing cross overs.

Kedah is vulnerable, too. They say, Kedah is next to come crumbling down, just like Perak. And so is every Pakatan Rakyat state.

The PR lot better look closer at their people. But serve them right, too, for always being so boisterous whenever there is a cross over from BN - whether UMNO, Gerakan, or MCA.

People say ‘padan muka’. Because what do you expect? Once a frog, always a frog. Read more »

#41 RantingsbyMM

From a couple of his posts on Friday:

Friday, February 6, 2009

Let's Read the Quran: More Updates

For a slightly different view of the Quran, read Jordan McVay's post here.

Jordan is a Canadian who is a convert to Islam, married to a Malaysian girl and now lives in KL.

For those who might be wondering what the Quran says about Hudud, do read what Syed Akbar Ali has to say here.

And Nizam Bashir blogs about what the Quran says about modesty here.

Hypocrisy rules the world

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

When I heard this quote yesterday at the Forum for Palestine, it gave me reason to ponder. To me, this quote is also a call to end hypocrisy and selective justice, that is, deciding that only some cases call for justice and others don't. That discrimination can only be called hypocrisy and hypocrisy is in abundance right now.

What else could it be when both Britain and the US calls for an immediate ceasefire to the fighting in northern Sri Lanka in order to allow humanitarian aid for the more than 250,000 civilians trapped between Government forces and the LTTE? They had not done the same for Gaza, and when they finally did, laid down conditions only for one side, that is, the Palestinians. . .

#42 Harapan Maru Untuk Malaysia - This is long time politician Anwar Ibrahim's blog, mostly in Malay. From AnwarIbrahim.com:

Anwar Ibrahim is the former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia and is currently the de facto leader of Keadilan, the People’s Justice Party. After a distinguished career in public service he was unjustly removed from office and endured six years in solitary confinement on trumped-up charges. In 2004 those charges were dismissed and he resumed his campaign to build a prosperous, democratic and just Malaysia.

He's now running for Prime Minister according to his Facebook page. From today on the blog:

Selamat Menyambut Hari Thaipusam

By Anwar Ibrahim 56 Comments

Categories: Anwar, Catatan, Demokrasi, Hebahan and Isu Semasa

Thaipusam diraikan oleh penganut agama Hindu bersempena lahirnya Dewa Murugan, juga apabila ibunya Dewi Parvati memberikan lembing buat menghapus kejahatan yang dikenal sebagai Soorapadman.

Kejahatan dan kebejatan Soorapadman semakin hari semakin melampau kerana dia merupakan raksasa yang berkuasa. Ini membuatkan Siva mengarahkan Murugan; yang terkenal cekal, tabah dan bijak mengalahkan rakasasa tersebut. . .

#50 Aisehman.org

Umno Bapa Penderhakaan

9 February 2009 | 155 Views | View blog reactions

UMNO pembela kedaulatan Raja-Raja Melayu?

Please, lah.

Masihkah kau ingat? UMNO protesting the Terengganu Sultan’s decision last year to reject Idris Jusoh as the state’s Menteri Besar. Melayu UMNO memang mudah lupa.

Where was UMNO when the Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan kena saman by a bank the other day?

UMNO was nowhere.

Where was UMNO when the Sultan of Terengganu/Yang di-Pertuan Agong refused to accept Idris Jusoh as the Menteri Besar?

[From Wikipedia:

The United Malays National Organisation, or UMNO, (Malay: Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Bersatu), is a right-wing party and Malaysia's largest political party; a founding member of the Barisan Nasional coalition, which has been Malaysia's ruling political party since independence. It is known for being a major proponent of Malay nationalism, Islamism and capitalism, which holds that the Malay are the "definitive" people of Malaysia and, thus, deserve special privileges as their birthright than any other race in Malaysia.]