That’s what she said: Bersih 2.0

Being a house-officer isn’t an occupation which lends fertile ground towards the germination of blogposts of the political category.

For one thing, I’m usually too tired from work to blog, full-stop. For another, I’m usually too tired from work to read news articles, newspapers, etc.

(Granted, being informed isn’t a requirement for political commentary, as evidenced by a disheartening number of ill-informed Malaysian bloggers who insist on forwarding an ill-informed opinion on Malaysian politics; but I’d rather not number myself among the crowd.)

Work consumes me, so much so that when I get home, it’s all I can do to find time to find myself, without giving up what little free time I have to another demand outside of myself; in this case, the demand to respond to a seemingly unchangeable political environment rife with idiocy & injustice.

To digress, I suppose my political apathy stemmed from having flown back to Sarawak especially to cast my vote in the Sarawak elections, only to find that my fellow Sarawakians had chosen to give a certain gentleman – am comtemplating striking-through the word “man” as well – another 4 years to continue raping my state & consolidating his ill-gotten wealth in a LEGITIMATE manner, having been handed the mandate by the very people he’s pillaging.

One can see how that might disillusion one somewhat.

However, my sister did point out that when one’s legitimate method of voicing one’s opinion is already sabotaged to begin with, there is a need for other “illegal” means to voice one’s opinion, ergo, protests & rallies. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have a voice at all.

So, why am I blogging now?

‘cos this is my other way of voicing my opinion, since apparently my vote doesn’t count for jack & ‘cos I wasn’t at the recent Bersih rally. Could be that this could be the last opinion I could voice as a house-officer, but I suppose I ought to do the title of this blog justice.

And ‘cos people have died. Not just the one/the few reported of people being tear-gassed/having an acute myocardial infarction (heart attack). (Which some of the afore-mentioned idiot bloggers have had the gall to mock, too.)

And fortunately/unfortunately, it’s working as a house-officer that brings you face-to-face with that reality.

Since it’s in emergency department (ED) that you witness first-hand the hordes of people people being brought in after having been beaten/chased/injured by tear-gas or water-cannons. And where the father of a HO working in HKL was brought in dead to ED after having been trampled during what otherwise might have been a peaceful rally.

Not the government’s/police’s fault?

How about it was while I was working in the emergency department 2 weeks back, that I encountered a civil servant, coming in at about 9-10pm, complaining of abdominal pain?

When she said that she was on her way to work, last thing I thought she worked as was as a government clerk, but apparently, 3-4 weeks prior to the Bersih rally, the man at the top had frozen all leave, and that people in Putrajaya had to work around the clock to ensure that nothing was spared in their effort to combat the Bersih rally.

The plan for the night – before she’d taken ill – was that she & her colleagues on the same shift would be escorted by the police to Putrajaya. From there, they would then be sent to various locations which the police had identified as venues of Bersih planning sessions, presumably to spy. All the information would be collected, documented, and then…

While I was doing her abdominal ultrasound, I asked her, “So, how does the police know where all these meetings are taking place, anyway?”

“Doctor, jangan jadi macam katak di bawah tempurung. If you give me your handphone number, I can give it to the police and they can find out wherever you are, whatever time. Don’t think our police cannot do this. They are working for the government. They are very powerful.”

Things have come to a state if even a HO oblivious to anything outside of work, food & sleep is forced to recognise the heavy-handedness with which the government & the police have dealt with people rallying for free & fair elections.

Sarawak Barisan Nasional (BN) is so bloody immature!

Apparently, during a state assembly sitting today, BN assemblymen staged a walkout immediately after a DAP assemblyman tabled a motion, leaving only 7 state assemblymen left in the hall, and forcing an adjournment of the sitting.

Kudos to the 5 BN assemblymen (among the 7 left) who didn’t take part in the walk-out. Though, like as not, they probably didn’t walk out ‘cos they were sleeping.

So, why the reckless disruption of parliamentary proceedings?
Terikut-ikut dengan gaya “Barat”, ke?

Deputy Chief Minster Tan Sri Dr. George Chan, wanted to show the opposition “who is the boss” in the State Legislative Assembly.

“If BN want to be naughty, every time when the opposition want to talk (on an issue), we walk out and they can’t talk.”

Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president Datuk Seri Dr. James Masing said the staged walkout was to teach the opposition a lesson on parliamentary democracy – that the one who had got the majority would always be powerful.

NO, Dr. Masing, let me teach YOU a lesson on parliamentary democracy:
That a sitting is a place where you bloody debate motions – yeah, Dr. Chan, where you TALK as ADULTS, even with the opposition – and then decide in the best interests of the people. NOT a place to tunjuk lagak who’s more powerful.

Who voted these morons in, anyway??

Oh, yeah, that’s right: We did.

Unfortunately, I can think of any number of Sarawakians who would think that such a show of power was impressive, and the way forward, and vote accordingly;
as opposed to realising that this is immature behaviour that we would not tolerate in school-children, much less tolerate, or ought to be impressed by, in our elected leaders.
And definitely not the behaviour of a person, or persons, rather, who truly have the people’s interests at heart.

Please, my fellow statespeople, WE DESERVE BETTER THAN THIS!

The personality quiz Zambry seems to have taken.

Inspired by & borrowed heavily from Where’s My Noose?

Which famous historical figure are you most like?

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

In case you & your other “comrades from the Barisan Nasional” are having a little trouble, I’ve taken the liberty of uploading your answers & your results here:

And the next thing to do, of course, is:

Lite comments on Najib’s new cabinet. And a new hair-cut.

First off, to reiterate the words of Sivarasa Rasiah, the vice-president of Keadilan, 70 ministers and deputies to 68 ministers and deputies does not a significant reduction make. And if this is the definition of a “lean” cabinet, then I’d hate to see their definition of obese.

I saw a man in clinic recently, height around 5’6″ weighing 120kg. And he was glowing. Not the healthy kind. The proud kind. Apparently, the massive Hawaiian tent, which he was wearing during the consultation, had previously been tight on him 3 months ago, but since that time, he had lost 40kg after undergoing bariatric surgery, aka. gastric-bypass surgery, aka. stomach-banding.

This is a bariatric commode, ie. a specially-made commode to accommodate those of the larger persuasion. Since if they were to use a normal-sized commode, there would be a greater likelihood of accidents, shall we say.

And this is a bariatric chair. It is intended to accommodate ONE person. Note the size-discrepancy between the chair & my friend, as well as the extra padding & sturdy-make of the chair. All in the bariatric equipment storage area. I kid you not.

In medicine, there are sets of values determining whether or not you are underweight, within the healthy range, overweight, or obese; with corresponding likelihoods of disease-states and health-states.

I applaud his loss of weight, but unfortunately, obese is still obese; and likewise, the current reduction in cabinet-size still doesn’t make it a healthy one.

Then again, lean or obese, I’m not entirely convinced this was going to be a healthy cabinet, anyway. When you start off from a premise of awarding meaty portfolios assigning responsibility based on a reward-system/quota-system instead of a meritocracy… let’s just say it’s not a system that ensures the best & the brightest - yes, yes, of whatever pool you’ve got, is what I meant - are the ones entrusted with running the country.

And even if you are going to employ a reward-system, could you be a little bit more consistent in applying it? What, Sabah gets 4 ministers, and 5 deputy ministers, because of BN Sabah’s “solid performance” during the last GE? Didn’t Sarawak hand you 30 out of 31 blimmin’ seats in the last GE, and saved BN’s a** in terms of forming a majority govt.?

In fact, aren’t we so well-known for being the “BN” bastion that BN gerrymanders its head off when it comes to Sarawak? (How else can you explain how Hulu Rajang, Sarawak, has an electorate of 16 085, and sends 1 representative to the House, while Ampang Jaya has an electorate of 98 954 but also sends only 1 representative to the House?)

Not to mention Batang Ai just a few days ago?

Surely based on YOUR reward-system, Sarawak ought to have more than just 2 ministers in your cabinet?

“Sabah is the biggest winner and Sarawak the biggest loser – as Sabah has four ministers while Sarawak only two. Clearly, Najib does not appreciate the Batang Ai by-election victory of the Barisan Nasional on Tuesday,” Lim Kit Siang said.

OWWW!

And you know what’s worse?
It’s knowing that Sarawakians, despite getting the raw-end of the deal, both in terms of development as well as allocation of cabinet-ministers, probably WILL STILL VOTE BN. ‘cos that’s just what we do.

Sigh.

I mean, Datuk Anifah Aman, a Sabahan, throws a tantrum last year, and this year, he is in charge of the Foreign Ministry?

Oh, wait, that wasn’t because he’s Sabahan. That was because of his “good command of English.”

It’s good to know I’m not alone in thinking Najib is really scraping the bottom of the barrel when you’re NOT trying to distinguish between your candidates based on, I don’t know, qualifications, achievements, or leadership qualities best suited to a particular ministry, but rather based on, “Let’s see, of you lot, who can speak English?“

To get a job with a multi-national company, it’s a given that all candidates would be able to speak English, and the deciding factor would be something else entirely. Not when it comes to getting a job in a top govt. post, apparently.

I know I’m harping on about this; it’s just that I believe you get what you pick. Pick an unbrilliant hair-dresser – as I did today – and you get an unbrilliant hair-cut.

- Aha, bet you were wondering when I was going to fit that in! -

Likewise, picking ministers based on race, political allegiances, or even state-performance, rather than FIRST looking at their competence…

I’ll reserve judgment until they have had a chance to push forward those ambitious reforms for One Malaysia, etc. etc.