Bersih 3.0: Sit With Me

Looks like Bersih 3.0 began earlier than expected. People had started to throng Dataran Merdeka a day ahead of the event. From the videos, it seems to be a large crowd and from the tweets of various people there, the estimate is about 4000 people and increasing. This is a good sign. People have awoken from their long slumber and have decided to fight against corruption, racism, cronyism, nepotism, mismanagement of funds and whatever that a government should not be. Bersih is about the demand for free and fair elections through the 8 points demand (available in the addendum below). Through a free and fair election, we would be able to make sure that there is no hanky-panky in the electoral process which at least guarantees the rakyat that the elected government is legit and did not win through means of gerrymandering, phantom votes, etc.

Today I will be there at Bersih 3.0 to “duduk and bantah”. I am sick and tired of complaining and I am going to do something about it. No matter how much BN says that the EC is doing a good job and elections are fair and clean, I refuse to believe it. Also, Why should BN be supporting the EC? The EC falls under the Prime Minister's Department and that should not mean it is a tool of BN. If experts have found flaws in the electoral process, then BN should join hands with the opposition and say, "yes, there is a problem and let's fix it" and not defend something that is flawed. 

Let us just take one of the 8 points of Bersih’s demand which is equal air time in the prime media for all political parties. Do you think that the opposition is getting equal air time? It is evident that the opposition only gets air time when something bad goes down such as infighting which also happens in BN but it is not shown on TV nor highlighted in the press. Why doesn’t RTM provide equal air time for PR to air their policies and also for them to share what’s in store for the people if they become the government? Let the people then decide which coalition is better? But no, all they do is glorify half baked policies of the current government and demonise the opposition.

That my friends is just one example of what Bersih is all about. It is to give you, the voter a right to choose, a right to make sure your vote is secured and not outnumbered by potentially fake ballot papers. Also be very clear that Bersih is not an opposition's doing. Bersih is an NGO. The opposition only supports Bersih’s cause. The opposition will not and should not organise a Bersih rally. Bersih’s 8 points apply to the opposition as well. So even if the opposition tries to play dirty in the elections if they form the government, you are rest assured that your vote is safe because we have a reliable Election Commission (should they agree to all the 8 points).

Going for the Bersih 3.0 rally is your right and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. You will be protecting the future of the nation; you will be protecting the rights of your children and their future. Let them live in a fair nation where there is equality. Do not make excuses anymore. We need change, we need to stand up for our rights and we need to show our lawmakers who is boss. If you think coming out for Bersih is a waste of time, then you have just wasted your country away and anymore complains about bad governance from you, will be your own doing.

I urge you to sit with me today, I urge you to take a stand, I urge you to make a difference and I finally I plead with you to help make my country a better place at least for my kids to live in.

Addendum:

http://bm.bersih.org/?page_id=2673 (Bersih's 8 Point Demand)






 

Maboks....

Seriously, What The F*** is Wrong with BN?

I just read this article here regarding the comics that have been shared with teachers during a briefing titled “Wacana Transformasi Minda” purportedly conducted by the state education department and find it absolutely disgusting that the ruling government has stooped so low to discredit the opposition.

I seriously question their method and wonder if they think that the people are downright stupid to actually be influenced by such comics. If people are actually influenced by such childish and cheap humour, then they deserve the corruption, mismanagement of funds and the other atrocities that are being dished out by BN. I just hope that the fence sitters can decide through this method of begging for votes, they see how and what kind of governance they will receive from BN.

I have been writing time and time again that we need real reforms. Our lawmakers need to start talking about real issues; about the well being of the people and not engage in gutter politics.

What I have just read here is the straw that broke the camels back. I know from here that I as a rakyat, will not benefit in any way another single day under the BN rule. I have lost all hope. I personally believed that the opposition will only be able to take over the government in the 14th general election but I believe it could be sooner now and I pray very hard that it should be sooner.

Just take a look at some of the pages of the comic in the article above, I am just lost for words, cheap.....CHEAP is all I can say. In fact I feel my lunch is about to be spewed across my wall from my gut.

Is this the best BN can do to discredit the opposition? Well, you know they have exhausted all avenues.

Right now, all these shenanigans only strengthens my support for ABU.

Happy Tamil New Year from vixstarr.blogspot.com

Happy Tamil New Year, folks. Hope you have a good year ahead; Live long and prosper :). Not also forgetting Happy Vaisakhi and Vishu celebrated by the Sikh and Malayalee community respectively from vixstarr.blogspot.com

Grades Don’t Matter

So my wife and I constantly have a debate on whether grades matter or not. I stand by my verdict that good grades do not prove that a person will be a better worker. This is something that I have seen through my experience. I have seen people without a fancy degree do much better than a person who has one.

A good example of grades do not matter are of course our very own Bill Gates and Steve Jobs who were both dropouts. I do not deny that education is useless. Education is a must and it serves as a catalyst to land us in jobs. But, if you do not do well, do not worry; it is not the end of the world. I strongly believe our education system is flawed as the focus is biased towards academics and there is not much emphasis on other types of intelligence be it music, arts, etc. A lot of our talents are going down the drain except a select few who managed to make it in fields such as music and arts. This is because they realized their talents and harnessed that capability. The others however, let that talent slide because no one was there to guide them and they’re most of time being called stupid because they do not do well in academics. This is absolutely wrong and we need to have a more robust education system that caters for individuals.

There needs to be a realization that everybody is an individual, we cannot be lumped up and assumed to be able to cope with just one area of education. I regret some of the people from my school before who got pushed to the last classes because they were perceived to be not smart enough which is far from true. Some of these guys when they get their hand on a guitar, can soothe you with the melodies they play and that is very well a talent that was wasted because believe me, the perception of being a musician to the average Malaysian parent is a big no no. Every parent wants their children to be a lawyer, doctor, engineer or some sort of “professional”. Very few will actually encourage their children to do what their good at and that is a sad reality.

A point I would like to make in this article is that grades do not determine intelligence nor does it make the individual better than the rest. I honestly believe that a person needs to be “street smart” and that means that they need to be exposed to the real world and deal with the environment out there where text books cannot teach you. And this is what I mean; Just swallowing all the information from a text book and vomiting it out on a piece of paper will not help an individual. There needs to be a more practical approach. This of course happens in most colleges and Universities but not in school. This needs to be introduced in schools because it determines whether an individual qualifies for tertiary education or not. Being oppressed since school by painting a picture that an individual is not good enough because they do not have good grades will only discourage the individual to gain further knowledge. More needs to be done at the primary and secondary school levels. Educationists need to recognize talent and develop it. 

I leave you with a pole below to see what you think about grades. Thanks.

Do grades determine intelligence
	Yes
	No
	I don't know
pollcode.com free polls