Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng  calling someone a racist for political gain a racist act in itself?

The Penang BN’s Pulau Betong assemblyperson Muhammad Farid Saad o clarify the meaning of ‘racism’.the belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others. Discrimination or prejudice based on race.It has also been a major part of the political and ideological underpinning. If you are good at expressing yourself outwardly — either through a creative pursuit or by speaking your heart out — it will free your mind and connect you to the here and now Do you realise that almost everything we do is a form of creative.. Dr Deepak Raheja, psychiatrist and director, Hope Foundation, “When we talk of expressing ourselves, we are referring to our ability to sublimate the libidinal energy, which as Sigmund Freud says, is the basis of all biological fuels that drive us. For a long time, we have forgotten to sublimate this energy into creative expression. Today, we find more and more people able to do so. If the gap between the real and the fantasized self increases, it increases frustration in life. Self-expression helps us feel more complete and helps bridge the gap between the real and the imagined self. This brings us to a more philosophical and spiritual fulfillmen

This is  about Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng  ’s expanding girth.Manage Penang, but don’t try to play king

Racism is generally defined as actions, practices, or beliefs that consider the human species to be divided into races with shared traits, abilities, or qualities, such as personality, intellect, morality, or other cultural behavioral characteristics, and especially the belief that races can be ranked as inherently superior or inferior to others, or that members of different races should be treated differently.[1][2]
The exact definition of racism is controversial both because there is little scholarly agreement about the meaning of the concept “race”, and because there is also little agreement about what does and does not constitute discrimination. Critics argue that the term is applied differentially, with a focus on such prejudices by whites, and defining mere observations of racial differences as racism.[3] Some definitions would have it that any assumption that a person’s behavior would be influenced by their racial categorization is racist, regardless of whether the action is intentionally harmful or pejorative. Other definitions only include consciously malignant forms of discrimination.[4] Among the questions about how to define racism are the question of whether to include forms of discrimination that are unintentional, such as making assumptions about preferences or abilities of others based on racial stereotypes, whether to include symbolic or institutionalized forms of discrimination such as the circulation of ethnic stereotypes through the media, and whether to include the socio-political dynamics of social stratification that sometimes have a racial component. Some definitions of racism also include discriminatory behaviors and beliefs based on cultural, national, ethnic, race, or religious stereotypes

It’s about how archaic are our systems for “group think” on public affairs. It is not just about having to elect an MP, an   a Chinese CM’  to represent us.when viewed from one side and extremely illogical from another angle. Most people I know are oscillating between both the angles or are plainly indifferent. To be honest, I was indifferent too, but the more I think about the reasons why is a chinese Penang Chief Minister created, the more bizarre they seem to me. Through this blog post I would like to highlight some of those points.

Chinese and DAP have destroyed-suppressed the Malay and Islamic culture in Penang
The key things that define the culture of a place are clothes, food, music, literature, architecture and above all to be honest, it pains me a lot every time I see remnants of the bygone era vanish into thin air.Culture today as we know it is an assimilation of various influences, thanks to wide availability of choices right from choice of food to choice of TV channels, etc. It is unfair to say that one culture has suppressed another, if at all the blame has to be placed the guilty parties are many, why single out Andhra region, you would be better off blaming liberalisation. Also this isn’t an issue that is unique to we Malays.said the  state opposition leader Jahara Hamid

Penang opposition leader Jahara Hamid is upset and angry with Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, after he called her a “racist grandmother”It is the DAP targets with messages like this: We will remove poverty for you. We will save you from the majority religion, which you must be constantly scared of. We will sign papers that say ‘right to this and that’, but we will not have the resources to provide you this and that. So what if prices keep rising? We are there to ensure you won’t starve. Be happy now, OK? To the irritating educated middle class, these messages don’t work. They don’t believe the Congress. They want more. Fortunately, they have been in small numbers and so not enough to cause election upsets. Well, not for very long. The rising middle class means DAP support will dwindle every year, unless they make some radical changes to the way they look at common Indian and Chinese.

In particular, two major beliefs within the Congress party are seriously out of date. The first isDAP s’ feudal mindset. It believes in the mai-baap nature of the government, where citizens fold their hands and wait for the rulers to be benevolent. Their top leaders make statements like ‘we gave  PENANG computers’, ‘we brought in mobile phones’, ‘we passed this law’ or ‘we gave food’.

What are we supposed to do? Thank them for allowing us to use a mobile phone or a computer which, incidentally, were invented in the West? Or are we to applaud them for spending our own money? This king doing the plebians favours is far removed from today’s needs. Today, the government is supposed to be a partner with the commoners, in aiding a citizen to reach his or her highest potential. Empowered people create wealth in a nation, not DAP party. As managers of the nation, they can help create a good environment for people to thrive. If they project themselves as kings, it will only jar with the youth.

and most dangerous – DAP belief is that Malays have a lot of differences (correct), these differences need to be respected (also correct), and there should be no attempts to find common ground or homogeneity in the population (absolutely wrong). According to the DAP, all  Chineseand Indians are equal, but separate. Well equal but separate is not equal at all. Ultimately, we have to blend as DAP. We have to agree to a common ground on who we are as people. Where are we similar and where we are not?  state opposition leader Jahara Hamid say Penang is a garden with different flowers. Nice metaphors aside, do note any beautiful garden is manicured, trimmed and arranged in a certain order and symmetry. If you do not do that, you will not have a garden but a wild jungle, like we are today. A leader of this country needs to blend us all well. This is not majoritarianism. We need to define what it means to be  Malaysian, and abide by it, and then keep our differences. Otherwise, we will never progress, but remain a wild shrub.

Outdated values have alienated DAP from the middle class and are making it less relevant to the modern voter with every passing day. The party would NOT do well to reflect on this. Else, well, sitting in the opposition was never fun, was it?

“Group think” systems are institutionalized at various levels. In business and industry we have the “federations and chambers” which presumably represent business and “trade unions” who represent labour; in politics we have political parties; in communities we have Civil Society Organisations who claim to represent specific interest groups and of course every religion has its own management hierarchy.

Most of us have neither the time nor the capacity to contribute full time to public affairs and hence the need for a set of intermediaries to manage interest groups in public affairs. The question really is do we have too many people doing too little for us? Are intermediaries distorting our messages? Are we victims of the “agency problem” where the representative becomes the boss of the owner?

Can direct democracy help? Yes it can. Direct democracy cuts out of the “noise” of middlemen by giving voice to citizens. Direct democracy can work, even in a continent sized, heterogeneous country like India, thanks to social media technology. In the world of IT the strategy for managing a social problem, like high crime rates, is developed by convening a “hackathon”. This is a gathering of concerned citizens, who define the problem; babus, who identify the administrative constraints and geeks, who create techie solutions like mapping crime spots on a street map to check if crime clusters around poorly lit streets or is time sensitive.

Here are some options to cut the democratic flab:

1. Why is it necessary for MPs to attend Parliament/Assembly by being physically present? Why don’t they participate via video conferencing from their constituencies? Technologically, this presents no problems since most districts and blocks are now connected to broad band. Consider how this could solve the “agency problem”. MPs could not play football, as they do today, if she they were on camera. Imagine the sense of citizen participation, as MPs debate from their homes, whilst surrounded by their adoring and watchful constituents. This can cut the flab from Parliament by saving on travel cost and eliminate the time wasted in trooping into the well. Parliament would become as dry and efficient as a modern stock exchange, where people come to transact business not engage in theatrics. Also consider the number of productive jobs created across the country to expand the enabling IT eco-system.

2. Many of the issues, which are debated in Parliament/Assemblies, can be better informed by mobile phone based surveys conducted by a third party. Currently, mobile ownership is at 70% of households (with rural HH lagging) but ownership is growing fast and should be encouraged for a variety of social purpose applications, including mobile money. What do Malaysianss think about the need for a specific rape law? Should political parties come under the RTI? Should there be minimum academic qualifications for MPs? These matters are far too important, to rely on  to intervene, on our behalf (as he did in the case of the criminal bachao ordinance) every time. In any case, we don’tLim Guan Eng  want to “rely” on anything except our “group common sense” to guide babu actions via legislation

3. Decisions are best taken closest to the people affected by them. This is the time tested management axiom of “subsidiarity”. This implies large scale decentralization of decision making powers and finance from the central and state government onwards to district and block level elected bodies, where 85% of the elected officials are located but who have less than 5% of the powers. Decisions become less complex and easier to implement as the extent of heterogeneity decreases. The options and trade-offs are easier to understand to take a rational decision. The level of citizen participation is always higher because the issues are more immediate and relevant. Decentralized decision making fosters “innovation” and creativity. All these are good reasons for pushing decentralization without any enhanced fiduciary risk, which a technology enabled Public Financial Management system can ensure.

The Right to Information Act was the first “breach in the Bastille” which improved “access to information”. The second barrier awaiting removal is the noise of flabby “agents/representatives”, via whom citizens are forced to voice their opinions in public debate. Technology can help us to reduce the transaction cost and enhance the prospects for direct participation. Come elections and  DAP’s existential dilemma gets more pronounced. The party, founded on t the mind of the One a element’ Chinese chauvinist  ideology, has failed to come to terms with the changing political narrative in recent years. Even veteran leaders like   Karpal Singh were not spared when they tried to do what was seen as … Read more