Law & Order : Special Victims Unit

For the past few days I have been seeing quite a lot of Mariska Hargitay. If you remember, this word was used as a pseudo-holy greeting in Mike Myers' satire 'The Love Guru' - a comedy full of toilet humour. No, I am not into some kind of religious Renaissance of sorts. It is just that I now have the pleasure of watching Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni in 'Law & Order- Special Victims Unit' in the morning when I exercise and I tell you, it is darn entertaining! I  remember enjoy watching it many years ago in the night slot and it still holds its grip on the audience with its very excellent story line. Now, when I watch a movie/show, what I want is a good line. Period. The chemistry between actors, reality, close proximity, breath-taking scenery, drop dead gorgeous actresses or unnecessary exhibition of flesh etcetera is all not on the priority list. I am basically a sucker for a good story. And Law & Order has that.

1957: Sophia Loren's shocked and disapproving
gaze of Jayne Mansfield 40D cleavage during 
a dinner. After 5 kids, they were 46DD

A simple crime like a robbery will culminate into a bigger problem involving many parties and resulting in many answers and solutions that are neither black nor white but rather in various shades of grey.
If other shows depict masala between investigating officers and spiced up own dysfunctional social life (NCIS, White Collar, Burn Notice) or from a fragment of American Civil War bone, the technicians can sniff out DNA to identify and be cock-sure about the assailant just for him to admit (CSI, Bones), SVU has good old police investigative stories to brag.
Just for the record, Mariska Hargitay is the daughter of the 1950s sex kitten Jayne Mansfield and Hungarian-born Mr Universe, Mickey Hargitay.
Law & Order Special Victims Unit is into its 13th season.

Example of a story I watched recently: Cops move in during a robbery cum attempted rape in a restaurant. Assailant is tracked down but he was just an innocent bystander. It is revealed that the restaurant owner (victim) was actually involved in a domestic disharmony with soon to be separated hubby prior to incident. Then, we come to know that she is pregnant 11weeks and quarrel came about as she was consuming alcohol. Then, there was a tussle between couple about termination of pregnancy in court. The wife by then is found to have an alcohol problem. Through her teachers (police investigation), it is found that she had a teenage delivery whom she gave up for adoption. The child is discovered to have Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. The victim now has to incarcerated in an institution for therapy.  

Sentimental fool on the hill!

Back in the 80s, my cousin RR, sister and I all bought similar combs of the same colour and make and promised to keep in forever as a sign of our bond. At that naïve carefree age, we made a pledge that we would keep till end of time as common tool.

During about the same time, over the same holiday period, RR and I used to go crazy over the rock band ‘Cheap Trick’. Over and over again, we found intense joy in croaking in our untrained hoarse vocal cords to the song ‘If you want my love, you got it’ till it hurt and felt so good about it. The song used to be a regular feature on Radio RAAF Butterworth those days.

30 years after that eventful holiday, when I last met up with RR, I happened to mention about the comb and the song to him. And what do you know? RR had absolutely no recollection of the song that we used to sing. In fact, he asked; “Cheap who?” Do not even bother about the comb! And there I was keeping the blue plastic comb in pristine condition. Well, something mean more to some than others. Or maybe I am just a sentimental sensitive fool! Different things mean differently to different people.

Why I work and stay overseas — A Bumi

Malaysian Insider

May 19, 2011

MAY 19 — I am a Malay working overseas. I find working in Malaysia unattractive due to the following reasons. I don’t want to belabour the points, so I list them down in point form:
Chinese chauvinism/racism
• Most private organisations including TMI are dominated by the Chinese and/or their political agenda.
• Chinese people have a tendency to assign negative stereotypes on other races (especially the Bumiputera races).
• They exhibit cliquish, insular, secretive and calculating behaviour.
• Chinese people favour fair-skinned people even though fair skin is disadvantageous in Malaysia’s sunny climate.
• They admire China’s achievements, despite China’s oppressive regime.
• Malaysian Chinese use the Chinese languages (Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien etc.) to isolate their discussion from others while in their presence.
• The Chinese are not honest about failures of ethnic Chinese leaderships in Philippines and Thailand.
• Tokenism is rife in Chinese companies.
• Chinese will use changing criteria to judge people of other ethnicities; one day it is academic merit, another day it may be “character.”
• The Chinese favour their own kind over others, even when other kinds are of equal stature.
• Malays fear to voice out against Chinese for fear of repercussions especially with respect to their employment prospects in the private sector.
• The Chinese still hold strongly to their ethnic heritage.
• They diminish the achievement of other races, especially the Malays.
• Harp on Bumiputera affirmative action even though Chinese people still continue to succeed at all levels of Malaysian life (even government).
• Any Malay who has strong academic background is denounced as attaining it due to “Bumiputera privilege”, even though he graduated overseas with his own money.
• Use their overseas Chinese connection to gain unfair advantage, but pretend the advantage is minimal.
• The Chinese always make unfair comparisons of Malaysia with other non-Muslim, post-industrial countries.
• Chinese people don’t recognise the special position Islam has in Malaysia.
• Enjoy talking bad about Malaysia (even when working/living overseas) as if Malaysia is on the same level as Zimbabwe even though Malaysia is far from it.
• Highly critical of institutions that are Bumiputera-dominated (ie. government), but non-critical of institutions that are Chinese dominant (like gambling).
• Show no desire to partake in patriotic activities (e.g. serve in army), but cry foul when other people point out their lack of patriotism.
• Show lack of understanding about Islamic religion, but enjoy taking Quranic verses out of context to further their argument.
• If pushed to think “outside the box”, the Chinese would favour Western ideals above Islamic ideals.
• The Chinese show lack of respect toward Malay leaders, but accord unnecessary respect to their Chinese community leaders, even though they hold no significant position in government.
• Always speak about “brain drain” but still keep Malaysian passports.
• Willing to spread disingenuous claim that Bumis have already achieved economic parity with the Chinese.
• Use Indians who have achieved to further their claim that Indian community is ahead of the Malay community.
• Comments in support of Chinese chauvinistic agenda are allowed to be posted in TMI, while others are censored.
• I can go on and on with more example, but I grow tired and annoyed.
PAS religionism
• Holds only their interpretation of Islam to be the truth.
• Willing to associate themselves with and be used by non-Muslims while creating enmity toward other Muslims.
• Use religion as a political tool to win arguments and foment discord.
• Ritualistic mentality.
• Have a simplistic idea/concept of the world and its affairs.
Umno nationalism
• Partake in bully politics.
• Enjoy seeing minor issues such as sexual improprieties take over the national discourse.
• Willing to give in to fervent Malay nationalism.
• Must “ampu” within Umno hierarchical structure to get to higher positions.
• Anti-intellectualism.
• Unwillingness to adapt and change to satisfy changing political climate.
Indian shiftiness
• Willing to change their allegiance due to changing political tide.
• Belief that Indian subcontinent will help them, like mainland China helps Malaysian Chinese.
• Dishonest about their caste and other internal problems.
 Malaysian culture as a whole
• No proper understanding of logic and reason.
• Has not understood to segregate religious thinking from secular reasoning.
• Lost sensitivities towards other religions/races.
• Still admire Western culture, without studying their obvious weaknesses.
• Always sidetracked by minor issues rather than seeing bigger picture.
• Media not mature to show all sides of the story, media is all very partisan.
• Partisanship is being promoted at all levels from the family microcosm to the national level.
 * A Bumi who chooses not to provide his identity, and who has worked in a China-man company as a token executive.
* We asked readers who have migrated to tell us in their own words why they left. This is one of the stories.

Another case of pliagiarism

Actually, I knew about the similarity between these two tunes even when I was young. At a naive and maybe stupid age, I thought it was a coincidence. Wow! Tamil songs are so modern. Of course, I hope I am wiser now. Please listen to these two songs and be wiser... The first one is by the Shadows.

This song Apache was written by Jerry Lordan and recorded originally by British group The Shadows in June 1960 at the famous EMI Abbey Road Studio in London and released on July 1960.

The Tamil song is from the movie 'Sarasa B.A.' made in Chennai in 1965 and sang in the melodious voice of P.B. Sreenivas.
Click to listen. 
http://www.raaga.com/channels/tamil/searchresults.asp?q=TRACK:iravin%20madiyil

Why I left Malaysia — ES

Malaysian Insider

May 18, 2011

MAY 18 — I’ve left Malaysia for about nine years now, and lived and worked in several countries such as Singapore, China and, now, Hong Kong.
The past and recent news reports on brain drain have pretty much summarised
the reasons for leaving Malaysia except they were not accepted by our leaders. I’ll just echo some of the findings by relating my personal experience.

Social injustice
Unable to get into local universities even with good academic results. Mine was a working-class family and my dad had to work extremely hard to save (barely) enough money to put me through a private college (whose quality could be questioned).
It was a twinning program with an American university. A large portion of our class (100 per cent non-Bumiputera) didn’t end up going to the America for their final year to “twin” with the university because of financial difficulties. Those who did, like me, mostly have remained overseas.

Low income
I did return to work in Kuala Lumpur briefly. My salary was so pathetic I was constantly worried about having to work for 10-15 years before my dad’s investment in my education could be recovered.

Lack of meritocracy
My first job was with a government-linked corporation. We were educated, but quite explicitly some management positions were only given to the Malays. On the other hand, and to be fair, many private companies selectively avoid hiring Malays because of a general perception that they are less competent compared to the other races. Neither the GLCs nor private firms were actively promoting or hiring the best without an implied policy based on skin colour.

Barriers to returning
Today, after over a decade of working, I’ve established my finances, and started up a family in Hong Kong. Returning to Malaysia is not impossible but many barriers lie ahead.
My wife is Korean. We have heard of horror stories about the difficulty of foreign spouses not being able to get permanent residence/citizenship in Malaysia despite years of residency.
Our son was born in Korea. When we approached the Malaysian consulate to register him, we were told we would have to wait up to a year to get a reply. A year to register a child with an uncertain outcome? Something is very wrong.
At the same time, a friend’s construction company doesn’t seem to have any problem getting his Indonesian workers ICs with speedy approvals.

Education
If it’s so difficult to register our son, will he be able to get into a local school? What about quality of education? If I have to take a pay-cut (easily 60 per cent) to return to the country, I’d need to be reassured that quality education can be obtained cheaply (or at 60 per cent discount too).
It’s not very encouraging to learn from the news and ranking of Malaysian public universities that have been on the decline year after year. Will I want to return to the country and repeat the same history my dad went through to put his son to college?

Lack of economic focus
Years ago, this was manufacturing. What about now? What has happened to MSC and the various corridors? What’s our niche? What sectors can overseas Malaysian go back to? Banking? Biotech? Agriculture? Oil and gas? All I hear thousands of miles away in the past few years is some sexual allegations about Anwar Ibrahim.

Lack of positive publicity and encouragement
Every time when we return to Malaysia for holidays or when we meet Malaysians outside of the country (getting very often these days), we are asked not to return by friends, relatives and strangers.
Some even asked us how to get out of the country! Imagine having your foreign spouse hearing all these negative comments about your own country... not to mention, it’s getting easier to meet your friends and relatives outside of the country than in Malaysia.

* We asked readers who have migrated to tell us in their own words why they left. This is one of the stories.
* ES reads The Malaysian Insider

Brain drain: Understanding the root causes

Aliran

 11 May 2011

Unless the government and the private sector tackle the real issues, the brain drain will continue to haunt Malaysia, says Ronald Benjamin.

The ongoing brain drain has become a topic of intense debate since a World Bank official said that Malaysia would have had five times foreign direct investment if not for its pro-bumi policy. This comes at a time where there are about a million skilled Malaysian workers overseas who have no intention of coming back to the country.

Perkasa has claimed that even the Malays are leaving Malaysia due to the discrimination in the private sector, but fell short of providing detailed arguments on what it means by private sector discrimination.

All these debates only deal with positions that interest a particular political position without any serious attempt to resolve the issues through objective criteria that require politicians to accept truths about the real situation. Politicians need to have the courage to take the nation along the right part – especially in creating an environment and cultural mindset for work excellence and in reducing the chronic brain drain.

Some of the problems include ethnic and neo-liberal policies that favour big business, a low-cost labour pool, a poor work culture among the Malaysian workforce, the mismatch of supply from the education institutions and the needs of the market, and the gulf in power relations between the management and employees in the private sector. These clearly show that development in Malaysia is basically physical and material at the expense of human development resulting in a brain drain from the country.

The first thing that the government should do if its honest in tackling the brain drain is to conduct a serious survey of local perceptions of discriminatory policies in the public and private sector. It is vital to conduct this survey to understand the realities on the ground. Complaints of discrimination often centre on the ethnic Chinese and Malays, while there is hardly any comment of how other ethnic groups such as the Indians, Kadazans, and Dayaks perceive their situation in the public and private sectors.

Second, it is vital for the government to take a closer look at our education system and its content, which seems geared towards theories while failing to create all-round individuals capable of progress through intangible skills such as drive, desire, diplomacy, playfulness, humour, awareness and insight..There are a co-curriculum activities in schools that help in these skills, but are the teachers qualified and do they take interest in reigniting and explaining learning experiences to students after these activities?

Understanding behaviour that creates success is vital, and teachers should be role models in facilitating such behaviour in schools. Are our current teachers in schools meeting these criteria? Is this not one of the of the underlying reasons for the brain drain taking place? Many Malaysian parents are concerned about the type of education their children are receiving in this country. There is a preoccupation with ethnicity and religious ideology over meritocracy and excellence.

There is also the unresolved mismatch between the skills required by the private sector and the type of vocational training given in training institutes. For example, during my interview sessions for recruitment among college students, I found that students have gone though robotics studies, but the majority of SMEs are still dependent on manually operated machines. How can skilled workers remain in the country when there is limited avenue to use their skills?

Third, from my experience in the manufacturing sector, I find that Malaysian workers lack the necessary culture of excellence to succeed. This is made difficult through a hierarchy-based management structure that is ‘top down’ with wide power differentials and where there are no common goals between management and employees. Such a management structure creates a win-lose situation made worse by the policy of employment of foreign workers that keeps wages low. Such power differentials in the private sector have prompted highly educated individuals who prefer a ‘flat’ organisation with greater empowerment to leave the country. They leave behind disgruntled low-wage workers who do not feel a sense of belonging to their organisation and whose only concern centres around wages.

Finally, it is vital to look at supply and demand and the resulting productivity of workers within ethnic groups in Malaysia that keeps wages low. We need to examine how the private sector employers evaluate their employees in terms of productivity and recruitment – and how ethnic perceptions come into play – and how these employees are paid accordingly. This is where the missing link is when academics and government officials discuss increasing productivity, without elaborating on the mindset of employers on how they pay their workers. The ethnic Chinese community are no takers of low salary, and this is proven when they make up the least numbers in low-end operations jobs. This is the context of how the brain drain takes place; low wages are linked to low productivity and it is also linked to employers’ perceptions of the work culture of the various ethnic groups.

Therefore it is vital to understand not only the macro aspect of the brain drain issue but also the micro aspect of it. Unless the government and the private sector tackles these issues honestly, the brain drain will continue to haunt Malaysia. The Talent Corp that is formed by the government will not succeed unless critical issues are expounded in detail. Solutions must be found that encourage a human development perspective instead of regressive ethnic sentiments that do not do the nation a service.

Ronald Benjamin is an Aliran member based in Ipoh.

Why do Aussies’ dirty work?

Thursday May 12, 2011
Diplomatically Speaking
By Dennis Ignatius
duta.thestar@gmail.com


The problem of asylum seekers is a serious one and Malaysia is right to cooperate with other nations to curb human trafficking. However, any cooperation should not be to our disadvantage.
Malaysia and Australia an-nounced last week that both countries had reached an agreement in principle that would allow asylum seekers arriving Australia by boat to be transferred to Malaysia for “processing.”
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said that the deal would send a clear message to asylum seekers that they “can be sent directly to Malaysia where they will be at the back of the queue.”
Malaysia, for its part, believes that the agreement would send a strong signal that our country should not be used as a transit point and that human trafficking is something that we do not condone.
 The agreement is highly controversial in Australia which has been struggling to deal with an influx of boat people or “irregular maritime arrivals” (IMAs), as they are rather euphemistically labelled. In the past 16 months, some 150 boats carrying 7,426 IMAs mostly from Sri Lanka, Iraq and Afghanistan have reached Australia. Few would qualify as genuine refugees.
 Australian law, with its emphasis on human rights, makes it extremely difficult and costly for illegals to be summarily deported once they become subject to the Australian judicial system.
 Other western countries also face the same conundrum. Over the last two years, for example, several hundred boat people from Sri Lanka have managed to reach the west coast of Canada. Within months, all but a handful of them were released pending a review of their cases. No one is under any illusion that any of them will eventually be deported.
 The legal system in Canada is such that even murder suspects cannot be deported if there is a possibility that they might be subject to torture or other cruel and inhuman treatment, including the death penalty.
 One of the beneficiaries of this benevolence is a Malaysian murder suspect wanted by our police. Malaysia’s request for his extradition has been denied on the grounds that he might face the death penalty. He is presently pursuing the Canadian dream as a free man.
 Australia is therefore seeking to interdict illegals before they arrive in Australian waters and detain them in offshore detention centres well beyond the reach of Australian law. The objective is to literally let them rot in such centres as a warning to other would-be asylum seekers. Some might argue that this is the moral equivalent of extraordinary rendition.
 Australia has been desperately seeking to persuade a number of different countries, including Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste, to serve as regional detention centres for Australia bound asylum seekers. None, however, have agreed until now. The deal with Malaysia is, therefore, a breakthrough for Gillard’s policy of outsourcing Australia’s detention centres.
 While off-shore detention centres might make perfect sense for Australia, what is less clear is how it would benefit Malaysia.
 Malaysia already plays reluctant host to tens of thousands of illegal immigrants and refugees. It is a well-documented fact that they endure great hardship and abuse.
 The fundamental problem is that Malaysia has steadfastly refused to accede to the UN Refugee Convention. All refugees are treated as illegal immigrants and are subject to arrest, detention, punishment, and deportation. According to Amnesty International, more than 6,000 refugees are caned every year, while others have been trafficked to Thai gangs by corrupt local officials.
 Given this situation, there should be genuine concerns as to the fate of those who are now going to be transferred from Australia. In an attempt to assuage public concern in Australia, our High Commissioner in Canberra has stated that the transferees would not be detained in Malaysia but would be allowed to “mingle” with the population at large.
 What this “mingle” means is anybody’s guess, but one thing is certain: they will join the vast sea of suffering humanity that comprises Malaysia’s illegal population which is now estimated to number in excess of a million people.
 There might even be questions about the legality of this whole exercise under Malaysian law. Will their refugee status be recognized by the Government? Will they be allowed to seek employment to support themselves? Will they be guaranteed safety from RELA harassment? How long will they be allowed to stay in Malaysia? What would happen to them if they are not accepted for resettlement in third countries?
 Furthermore, there is a good possibility that rather than discouraging the use of Malaysia as a transit point it might well make us the principal holding area for would-be Australian asylum seekers. Do we want such a dubious distinction?
 Clearly, unless Malaysia is prepared to radically alter its approach to illegal immigrants and refugees, we are headed for a right royal mess.
 The problem of asylum seekers is indeed a serious one. Malaysia is right to cooperate with other countries to stymie the immoral work of people smugglers and human traffickers. As well, we certainly ought to take our obligations towards genuine refugees far more seriously than we now do.
 Becoming a dumping ground for unwanted illegals or doing Australia’s dirty work, however, neither serves our interests nor does justice to asylum seekers.
 The Government should seriously review this flawed initiative.