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Monday 24 February 2014

The Kajang Move- Part 2 of 3



Warning from the Director General, Psychiatric Division. The feeble-minded, those who develop headaches when reading articles such as this, are advised to take in as much parasetemol as possible. Failing that, in order to eradicate all ailments, they are advised to take paraquat. .

When Anwar Ibrahim announces he wants to contest in Kajang, the whole country erupted into a fit. Most affected is the BN side. They don’t know what to do and say. So they shoot at each other.
Ahmad Maslan the 3.85 CGPA-man announced that UMNO will use Anwar’s sex issue as the main issue. I am sure at the very moment, Kajang inhabitants wake up in the mornings, to find packages containing various CDs on Anwar’s sexual encounters enclosed. That’s how UMNO educate Malays.
Even Dr Mahathir has entered into the fray; first by saying that Anwar is only fit to become MB. As usual his initial response developed into the typical Mahathir vitriol on his onetime protégé turned nemesis.
The whole political saga involving Anwar which sets the country into political turmoil was created in the first place by Mahathir. That is why Mahathir is attacking Anwar. Mahathir knows Anwar will eventually win. So he tries to delay the inevitable.
Despite his admission that he wanted to retire earlier then when he actually did, he was actually planning to stay as long as he is mentally alert. He has to look after his friends’ business interests. He has to take care of his sons’ businesses. He wants to ensure his legacy is intact. Most of all he needed a guarantee to make sure all the mess that he has created is not exposed. He was jolted from his own perceived invincibility and infallibility by the challenge Anwar marshalled against him.
To me and I hope to many more Malaysians, this is a case of a great injustice done to Anwar and his family. He has taken more punishment than he deserves.  This time it is the people of Kajang’s turn to show the world and Mahathir, this country is not owned by UMNO or Mahathir. The country has been ill for some time. Now it’s time to heal.
The Kajang by-election is an opportunity for the people of Kajang to do some correction. It’s true that the right to recall should be initiated by the rakyat. But it’s unrealistic to expect a group of satay sellers, hawkers, pasar malam traders to do a political version of a class-action like this. It must be initiated by a creative minority such as politicians. A right to recall should not be confined to applying a referendum on the ruling government but can also be extended to correct internal politics. This is what PKR is doing. It’s correcting internal politics within PKR.
As to the face-off between Mahathir and Anwar, Mahathir’s persistent interest on Anwar is another phase of a political struggle between an impatient Anwar and Mahathir. In the proper context, impatience is not a personal defect. Tolerating the excesses of Mahathir on the other hand, shows something is terribly wrong.
Dr Mahathir should not be deceiving people further by saying his continued fight with Anwar is spurred on by his desire to protect Malaysia from Anwar. That is a decision to be made by Malaysian citizens. Mahathir must stop patronizing Malaysians with his wisdom in deciding what’s best for our lives. 
Anyone with leadership material is sure to be impatient with Mahathir. Tengku Razaleigh, Musa Hitam and Anwar all are leadership material impatient at the way Mahathir runs the country. Those of lesser constitution like Najib are people who can be cowed into toeing the line. Mahathir loves that kind of pliant and submissive material.
 Mahathir wanted to remove a political threat. It’s all politics to decide who gets to keep power and who can’t.  And the excuses contrived by Mahathir were only just that- convenient excuses. Because if Anwar were to be destroyed because of his legally unproven sexual deviances or moral misconduct, almost all of Mahathir’s cabinet should have been asked to go. All it needed was Mahathir saying so. They were many drunkards and fornicators in his cabinet then.
If Anwar were to be destroyed because of corruption as he was indeed convicted of, then the entire cabinet should have resigned a long time ago. So minus the sexual misconduct and corruption, it all boils down to a power struggle between Mahathir and Anwar and the former needed to remove a political threat. Anwar was a threat to him, to his friends and to the politicians hiding behind Mahathir.
Anwar is still a threat now. With a more powerful Anwar helming Selangor, life as UMNO and BN know as all this while, will come to an abrupt end. No more halcyon days. No more salad days.
The second-rate and half-past-six BN leaders reacted as dullards do when they don’t have the answers-issuing threats and the usual show of outdoing each other by uttering disparaging remarks. Nala says he will expose the dark side of Anwar. Why would anyone believe and place faith in someone who has benefited from his friendship with Anwar but now has turned against him?
 Zaid Ibrahim is a close friend of mine. But I find his rationale for contesting because he cannot agree to having Anwar replace Khalid as MB a bit patronising. Does Khalid Ibrahim need someone like Zaid to defend him? Accordingly I give Zaid two chances on wining Kajang- slim and none. But if he were to enter the fray with financing from UMNO boys, please share with me.
Some say it’s a waste of public funds. Some say it’s a betrayal of trust, even well-meaning NGO leaders appear to accept the BN stock-in-trade explanation of the motives of Anwar.
Anwar need not contest if two things remain. (1) If those having constitutional powers stick to their constitutional role and (b) Selangor has an MB strong and resilient enough to withstand the onslaught.
The two requirements are not there.
In order to understand the Kajang move, we have to widen our sights. In the 1980s when Mahathir held sway, the Malay rulers were held at bay. Mahathir even created a special court to try royal miscreants. The rulers were weak then and UMNO wasn’t that enamoured with them. UMNO did not need the Malay rulers then.
Nowadays, the reverse is true. UMNO is weak despite winning 88 parliamentary seats. BN won only 47% of the popular votes. No matter how they want to disguise it, UMNO knows it does not have the moral victory. The people have rejected them. And Najib knows UMNO won because the gerrymandering and lopsided voter representation. UMNO won in many areas with relatively smaller voter population. It lost in almost all urban areas.
On the other hand, the Malay rulers have become stronger. This isn’t happening only in Selangor but in almost all the states. They have begun to reassert themselves on a weakened UMNO. In Johor, Perak, Pahang, assertive constitutional rulers are making demands that UMNO is only too pleased to accommodate in exchange for political favours and also in exchange for a lifeline. Ask and you shall be given.
Selangor in particular is the crown jewel. It’s the richest state and control of the state confers on a seasoned politician strategic advantages. We already got some indications in this direction when Anwar announced that he will be bringing Tan Sri Muhammad bin Muhammad Taib to help him in Selangor. I was among the people who initially thought the plan to do so was so wrong. But when I look at it from a political angle, I find the plan to bring in Mat Tyson to be a brilliant move.
With Mat Tyson assigned an important and substantive role in an Anwar administration, UMNO’s influence in Selangor can be extinguished. The 5 parliamentary seats now held in coastal Selangor will be recaptured easily with Mat Tyson working his magic there. When he was MB of Selangor at one time, many of the local leaders owed him more than gratitude. The 12 DUN seats in Selangor held by BN can be easily converted by Mat Tyson. There will be complete annihilation of BN in Selangor.
The rakyat should cherish such an idea- a complete decimation of UMNO in Selangor.
Those vested with constitutional powers are asserting themselves on a weakened UMNO. UMNO is too pleased to accommodate them temporarily because UMNO needed the constitutional rulers to support them. 
Anwar on the other hand has the stature, resilience and bold enough to resist attempts from any quarters to launch a coup d’état or mount a Perak-like putsch. Selangor is the crown jewel of Malaysia. Controlling it means having a big say on capturing Putrajaya.

26 comments:

Anonymous,  24 February 2014 at 17:58  

As for Dr M’s panicky actions and
increasingly right-wing pronouncements:

All easily accounted for if you focus on his ultimate aims i.e.

1. prevent DSAI from becoming PM of Malaysia, at all costs

2. push his son to get on the UMNO Supreme Council and eventually become the PM

3. keep Najib the 1PM from bankrupting Malaysia by replacing him with a more pliable puppet (who will follow his economic and political advice).

4. preserve his “legacy” and its focus on reaching “developed nation” status by 2020

Not so easy, as DSAI is a formidable political operator himself;
the son does not match the father in skills;
the FLOM and the 1PM will try their very best to stay in power and enjoy the perks of power
(at all costs, including national bankruptcy),
and aim #4 is fading by the day


Phua Kai Lit

Anonymous,  24 February 2014 at 18:00  

Bila terdengar nama Anwar nak bertanding di Kajang tiba2 warga Umno -yg dah nak mampus , bersara , kroni2 menlatah ..... ha ha ha , kesian warga umno . Apa boleh buat recycle sahaja lah skandal jubur tu .Kami dah bosan dah ........

Unknown 24 February 2014 at 18:03  

You may or may not be aware, but your analysis goes a long way in countering the knee-jerk reaction by many quarters, particularly the urban NGOs, which tend to view Anwar's move as being purely self-serving. I too initially thought Mat Tyson was a bad choice considering his own baggage but it makes a lot of sense given his vast experience and his base with Malays. As for baggage, I believe Mat Tyson is a reformed man and we shouldn't punish a person more than it is due. My real worry however is that Dr M, being the devil that we know, will stop at nothing to bring down Anwar again. Just look at this vindictive old man and the venom and lies that he spews whenever he talks about Anwar. Meantime, I commend your incisive and frank write-up and look forward to reading more.

Anonymous,  24 February 2014 at 18:21  

absolute hatred for mahahater, azmin, the guy caught with hard cash of the raykat. Against a likeable bloke, an incredible MB of Selangor with competence and integrity. The kajang by - election is bull- shit by azmin's old zuraidah bull- shitting, rocking him in the sarong buaian !!!

nick 24 February 2014 at 18:32  

UMNO thought that they were clever when they asked SPR to delay the PRK. Instead it was a move that backfired because PR are in control of Selangor and no prolong campaign in their own backyard would drain PR of their reserves. Things became more dire for BN when no one wanted to be the candidate "for a trashing" and then somehow or someone convinced Zaid Ibrahim to join the contest, just to divert attention from BN plans to "chicken out" from the PRK without losing face and losing even more support from the people especially the Malays.

Then, a miracle happened! Why not fielding Ms Moral from MCA against Anwar? But the real question is this "since when is MCA a shining example of a moral and principled party?" MCA was nearly dead in the last GE and even now, they are still in the ICU ward and since it's a traditional MCA seat, Najib and Mahathir brilliant idea is let one of their "servant" to be sacrificed at the BN altar of 1Malaysiasapusemua? MCA is already in critical condition and fielding an MCA politician will have not much more effect on the condition of MCA, I guess would be the rational. Ms Moral Chow Mei fun, are you ready to be a martyred and then simply fade away from political relevancy since that would be the result of your candidacy? But then again most sacrificial lamb doesn't know that they are the main course at the dinner table , do they?

Anyway, as the PRK looms closer it is now apparent that "langkah kajang" was a brilliant move that reinvigorate the "politically fatigue" people of Selangor". Voter were rudely woken up from their victory nap after "kicking out BN yet again" and were forced to understand that the battle maybe won but the war is far from over. Selangor voter were made aware that UMNO has and are still using despicable methods to try and steal Selangor away from PR and using the royal institution is their forte. So PRK Kajang is wake up call for Selangorian to be on guard and be prepared to battle UMNO, BN yet again and this time the battlefield would intermittently be held in the Selangor palace grounds.

IF Anwar wins and the odds is not 50/50 like what mahatir wants us to believe, then UMNO would know that their effort to steal the Selangor state govt seat by treachery implicating the royal household will not be tolerated by the voters. And the Sultan too will be made aware that the rakyat have more trust in PR than the royal, so all plots and plans would have to be reexamined and most likely be shelved.

It is a brilliant pre emptive strike using a small constituency to avert a major offensive by UMNO and the palace. Sadly many PAS politician and especially their youth wing are too "kampung" to understand this kind of politics... No wonder PAS lost Kedah so easily when they were unwittingly made to dance to UMNO's tunes played by none other that Mahathir himself. My advise to the UMNO youth leadership...go read the Book of five ring by Miyamoto Musashi or the art of war by Sun Tzu! Otherwise you will be the weakest link in the PR assault on Putrajaya!

Nick.

Sabah Sifu 24 February 2014 at 19:49  

Dato'
Perhaps you would consider reading this http://suarasabah.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/the-kajang-gambit-a-view-from-sabah/
Thank you

the cuckoo guy who know's,  24 February 2014 at 20:00  

First of all I would like to ask if the people of Selangor knew that Khalid is more a bureaucat than a politician?Of course they do,and PR ADDED more seats in GE3 under a more bureaucat than politician dude.So how can Anwar do a better job than Khalid/I am really flaabergasted.

Is it okay to say that we can appoint a convicted criminal to be the AG or IGP?

Why not ask Azmin to resign and let Anwar stand in his place?Afterall he is the main problem of the mess Selangor is in.What is the real problem in PR?Umno clones and frogs,truckloads of them.

bruno 24 February 2014 at 21:26  

Dato,I do not know what the voters of Kajang think of Anwar.But one thing I do know that even in Permatang Pauh,which is considered Anwar territory,in GE13 his majority dropped by a huge margin.Anwar has to get at least seventy five percent if not one hundred percent majority better than the last adun to show that he is still a political force to be reckon with.

walla 24 February 2014 at 22:30  

Pakatan must hold Selangor and Penang and take back Perak and Kedah. Beyond being the richest states, Selangor and Penang are emblematic of cultural modernization. They are the thrust to break the logjam of the politics of today. The people in Johor will similarly cultivate the same wish. With more interaction, they will want to modernize even faster materially and culturally.

This facet is what Umno fears the most. It fears the rural folks will want to modernize as well. Not just with materialism but also in critical thinking and cultural diversity which includes religious practices that balance past with present for future.

In the ongoing process to modernize the Malaysian rubric for this new 21st century, all things will fall into place for the rakyat as opposed to for the umno-elites only - more investments, more jobs, more wealth, more infrastructure and social services, more enlightened thinking, expansion of mind, and a healthier approach to life based on a more rational balancing of all factors towards cooperative living in a multi-N society that is part of the global community racing to make this century the most brilliant in all history.

That is what Umno fears. It fears the rural folks will want to get smarter and more critical. For when they do so, they will connect the dots to what they should be getting and all the endless possibilities they have been missing. They will then ask why haven't they up till now. The answers and causes will all fall out for them to see they have been cheated of more opportunities that would have come from cleaner politics and better government. Which are what Pakatan has been saying. Which are what Barisan has not been saying.

Simultaneously, Sabah and Sarawak must be articulated as independent equal partners. Their christian faith-followers must be respected and supported in their own right and the historical characteristics of both states enhanced and protected. In the process of doing that, Pas as an integral member of Pakatan will also be modernized.

Which in turn means all religious leaders in the country will modernize their own thinking powers so necessary to lend a new branding to faith that will make it easier to assimilate and be accepted by the new questioning generations of today and the future. This will in turn trigger a transformation of of our Royalty to usher a new era for Malaysia.

Follow the skein of thoughts and the line of reasoning in what i have just written.

There is a context to everything in life. In a new level of faith practice, triangulate the contexts to find back the essence. Just as one goes back to one's roots with age, we are all integrated one to others over all space and time. Fight off those who want to divide us for their own bad motives. Then, with combined strength we can overcome all hurdles.

Anonymous,  24 February 2014 at 23:10  

Mahathir,UMNO & MCA are good for nothings.

Sam,  25 February 2014 at 00:44  

Astute analysis, logical and the explanation was lucid. However, imho I think this part "But it’s unrealistic to expect a group of satay sellers, hawkers, pasar malam traders to do a political version of a class-action like this." is a bit dicey.

More and more pasar malam traders are better informed these days, at least the ones in KL and PJ. Never know if Kajang has caught up. And Kajang or not, it'd be highly unlikely even in an urban area such as PJ, would any group of persons institute a class action.

But it wasn't necessary to say it like that anyway. Just my 2 sen.

the mean machine,  25 February 2014 at 06:42  

Zaid's participation is just to join the overcrowded circus of clowns.An MB's job is to manage his state's business and finances to the best of his ability.Not to just play politics for politics sake.For this Khalid has done his part as a responsible public servant.Anwar,Azmin,Rafizi,Zaid can take Mei Fun and go fly kites.

Mr Bojangles 25 February 2014 at 08:15  

"On the other hand, the Malay rulers have become stronger...They have begun to reassert themselves on a weakened UMNO."

I only hope their reassertion is aimed at bringing some sanity to the country before it is destroyed by the UMNO types and the ruler's flaccid performance in their duties as the final arbiters of the nation's fate.

I hope they are not being resurgent just to ensure that their periok nasi's and contracts will continue to filled to the brim and that they can continue to have the people grovel at their feet while remaining oblivious to the fact that their complicity with UMNO has wreaked havoc on this country.

But I am not holding my breath. While enjoying all the trappings and pomp of their public-sponsored lifestyles, when it comes to the crunch I think they will turn into their favourite colour - yellow.

Anonymous,  25 February 2014 at 08:52  

Zaid is trying to break back into politics full time. Afford him that right.
Mei Fun is the willing and well paid scapegoat.
Kajang folk best take note that anwar is bringing in mat Tyson to appease the displeased PAS. PAS will exercise their rights to the MB post if Anwar attempts to gets past gatekeeper HRH.
MCA won't win but the wily tun is getting MCA Chinese tycoons to finance that sideshow whilst he tackles najib...the lesser of 2 evils.
One month to go to kajang polls and umno warlords see opportunity to ease najib out.
And there we thought fireworks season was over!

Anonymous,  25 February 2014 at 09:34  

You are spot on Sam. It was as dicey as the medical prescription on top of the article.

leave tthe class act to the minority called the politician who are the creative and the patronizing lot for the satay man, hawker and pasar malam man are just unsophisticated and unrealistic to mount or shape their political understanding. maybe Kajang folks should just focus on the politic of garbage collection and water woes?

Kajang folk shouldn't be voting just to show it to the world or Mahathir or for the creative and classy minority called the politician. Do it for unsophisticated
satay man, hawker and pasar malam man.

Tiger 25 February 2014 at 10:26  

1. BN is sick in the mind to think only character assasination can help them win elections.

2. AI is not going to be MB via Kajang. His ambition is to be PM and his move to Kajang was mainly to shut up the BN machinations about anti-Chinese and anti-Christian.

3. Selangor is fine, but only if you don't believe mainstream media's bullshit.

4. Kajang is suddenly beneficiary to a new hospital in the works. Hmm, BN is suddenly "forced" to do some work.

5. All democracies in the world is about policies against each other. Our democracy is about good versus evil.

Anonymous,  25 February 2014 at 11:25  

another RPK story.....what a waste of time

Anonymous,  25 February 2014 at 12:19  

Dato Sak, If Anwar indeed becomes the MB of Selangor he must show he is better than Khalid by wresting control of the water concessionaire from BN that Khalid is unable to do till to date. Secondly, since PKR/PR want to make Selangor a model state economically and politically Anwar should introduce a two-term MB policy. This should not be a problem since PR already have a 2/3 majority. The rakyat can see that he has class and not greedy for power. Can he?

Anonymous,  25 February 2014 at 18:17  

Agreed Phua Kai Lit, but Walla & Nick, watch it coming from the incoming Indian premier from Gujarat... another religious bigot like Mahahater who will then have more than enough bloody shit to comment about the incoming leader of India. What bull shit - a pot calling..

Regardless of the number of true brilliant brains of the youth, hopes and idealists in India or in any nations, when the elected leaders, the loya rulers of a nation are bloody corrupted, self - serving, the nation collapses along with all our new aspirations.

Mahahater' s ultimate plan is to merge indon and Malaya-sia - he and his sdn mamak empire.. the new iskandar zukarnain... playing full blast in the name of religion, but in actual fact, the Malay elites and rulers will inflict modern slavery on its own people.

Nelson Mandela does not come from the so called haram jadah bigots in Malaysia !! Mandela, Ghandhi, true muhibbah Malay brains like Walla, Nick alongside the few of us - the true civil conscious Malay youth here, are the exceptions - the endangered species in Malaysia !

Kaput Malaysia, Melayu tulin memang bodoh sanggup ditipu anaconda mamak sampai tergadai segala - galanya.

Anonymous,  26 February 2014 at 00:29  

I find it hard to be convinced about Muhammad Taib.

How much do we know about this man? The only thing I know about him was that he was highly placed in UMNO, and was caught bringing money illegally into Australia, where he pretended not to understand English in court. Wasn't this the UMNO information (PROPAGANDA) chief?

So if Anwar plans to bring him in on the basis of his ability as an electoral warlord, what will prevent him from swinging back to UMNO once he has reasserted the bonds of loyalty and patronage once again? How does Mat Taib prevent a hostile takeover considering that he is in PAS, and was from UMNO?

Moreover, after campaigning for years, the best that PKR can do is bring in someone from the past instead of grooming and making more visible a new generation of leaders?

Rafizi is even talking more and more like a dealer who is high on his own product. A person of Rafizi's ability should stick with matters of policy, facts and hard thinking instead of "managing perception" which he is obviously doing now.

As time passes I find it extremely difficult to get excited over the Kajang move. There is a lot of hype but little substance behind it, like a heavily promoted Hollywood film that turns out to be a turkey.

سومڤيتن امس,  26 February 2014 at 10:24  

1/2
Walla -22:30 “ … In the ongoing process.. all things will fall into place for the rakyat as opposed to for the umno-elites only… It fears the rural folks will want to get smarter and more critical… in turn means all religious leaders in the country will modernize their own thinking powers so necessary to lend a new branding to faith that will make it easier to assimilate and be accepted by the new questioning generations of today and the future. This will in turn trigger a transformation of of our Royalty to usher a new era for Malaysia.”

An aside:
YEAR 1990: from the Foreword (1990) by Nobel laureate Prof Abdus Salam in “Islam and Science – Religious Orthodoxy and the Battle for Rationality “ – Zed Books Ltd, 1991:

“To summarise, I would say the following are the important considerations for building up science and technology in our Islamic countries:
(1) The number of scientists and technologists to be trained should be pitched at a fairly large figure so as to be ‘critical’ — and they should be encouraged by the state to make up communities for research and development with their own modalities of operation.
(2) We desperately need basic scientists, at least to teach and serve as reference points for the applied scientists and high technologists.
(3) It must be remembered that, in the conditions of today, applied sciences and high technology are the money spinners. Once this is demonstrated within our societies, there will be less temptation on the part on rulers as well as the ulema to tamper with the scientists’ and technologists’ work.
(4) Men of science, and women of science, must keep international contact with their peers abroad in order to have the same standards of science and technology as obtain outside the Muslim countries.
(5) Finally, there is hope yet. For example, after 25 years’ preaching, for the first time some funds have become available for science from the Gulf. The Trieste Centre this year received a quarter of a million dollars for Arabs from the Kuwait-based Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development. If we can obtain similar funds for Muslims in general, this may make a big difference to the prospects for physics in the Islamic countries. (Mohammed Abdus Salam 1990)”
S.E.

سومڤيتن امس,  26 February 2014 at 10:24  

1/2
Walla -22:30 “ … In the ongoing process.. all things will fall into place for the rakyat as opposed to for the umno-elites only… It fears the rural folks will want to get smarter and more critical… in turn means all religious leaders in the country will modernize their own thinking powers so necessary to lend a new branding to faith that will make it easier to assimilate and be accepted by the new questioning generations of today and the future. This will in turn trigger a transformation of of our Royalty to usher a new era for Malaysia.”

An aside:
YEAR 1990: from the Foreword (1990) by Nobel laureate Prof Abdus Salam in “Islam and Science – Religious Orthodoxy and the Battle for Rationality “ – Zed Books Ltd, 1991:

“To summarise, I would say the following are the important considerations for building up science and technology in our Islamic countries:
(1) The number of scientists and technologists to be trained should be pitched at a fairly large figure so as to be ‘critical’ — and they should be encouraged by the state to make up communities for research and development with their own modalities of operation.
(2) We desperately need basic scientists, at least to teach and serve as reference points for the applied scientists and high technologists.
(3) It must be remembered that, in the conditions of today, applied sciences and high technology are the money spinners. Once this is demonstrated within our societies, there will be less temptation on the part on rulers as well as the ulema to tamper with the scientists’ and technologists’ work.
(4) Men of science, and women of science, must keep international contact with their peers abroad in order to have the same standards of science and technology as obtain outside the Muslim countries.
(5) Finally, there is hope yet. For example, after 25 years’ preaching, for the first time some funds have become available for science from the Gulf. The Trieste Centre this year received a quarter of a million dollars for Arabs from the Kuwait-based Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development. If we can obtain similar funds for Muslims in general, this may make a big difference to the prospects for physics in the Islamic countries. (Mohammed Abdus Salam 1990)”
S.E.

سومڤيتن امس,  26 February 2014 at 10:26  

2/2
YEAR 2013: from The Economist 26 Jan 2013 – “Islam and science – The road to renewal” – After centuries of stagnation science is making a comeback in the Islamic world.

“The sleep has been long and deep. In 2005 Harvard University produced more scientific papers than 17 Arabic-speaking countries combined. The world’s 1.6 billion of Muslims have produced only two Nobel laureates in chemistry and physics. Both moved to the West: the only living one, the chemist Ahmed Hassan Zewail, is at the California Institute of Technology. By contrast Jews, outnumbered 100 to one by Muslims, have won 79. The 57 countries of the Organisation of Islamic Conference spend a puny 0.81% of GDP on research and development, about a third of the world average. America which has the world’s biggest science budget spends 2.9%; Israel lavishes 4.4%.
Many blame Islam’s supposed innate hostility to science. Some universities seem keener on prayer than study. Quaid-i-Azam in Islamabad, for example, has three mosques on campus, with a fourth planned, but no bookshop.
… The caricature of Islam’s endemic backwardness is easily dispelled. Between the eighth and 13th centuries, while Europe stumbled through the dark ages, science thrived in Muslim lands. The Abbasid caliphs showered money on learning…Abu Raihan al-Biruni, a Persian, calculated the earth’s circumference to within 1%. And Muslim scholars did much to preserve the intellectual heritage of ancient Greece; centuries later it helped sparked Europe’s scientific revolution… Tens of thousands flocked to “1001 Inventions”, a touring exhibition about the golden age of Islamic science, in the Qatari capital, Doha, in the autumn. More importantly, however, rulers are realising the economic value of scientific research and have started to splurge accordingly. Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, which opened in2009, has a $20 billion endowment that even rich American universities would envy…The rulers of neighbouring Qatar are bumping up research spending from 0.8% to a planned 2.8% of GDP …that could reach $5 billion a year… The tide of money is bearing a fleet of results. In the 2000 to 2009 period Turkey’s output of scientific papers rose from barely 5,000 to 22,000; with less cash, Iran went from 1,300 to 15,000. Quantity does not imply quality, but the papers are getting better too. Scientific journals, and not just the few based in the Islamic world, are citing these papers more frequently. A study by Thomson Reuters, an information firm, shows that in the early 1990s other publishers cited scientific papers from Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey(the most prolific Muslim countries) four times less often than the global average. By 2009 it was only half as often. In the category of best-regarded Mathematics papers, Iran now performs well above average, with 1.7% of its papers among the most cited 1%, with Egypt and Saudi Arabia doing well. Turkey scores highly in engineering.”

Yes, the journey of renewal, reconstruction and rebirth has begun and rural folks will surely get smarter and more critical, whether UMNO likes it or not. At least one religious leaders is already asking: ‘Mana RM1 bilion duit zakat?’

The vote in Kajang should go to PKR.

S.E.

walla 26 February 2014 at 14:01  

سومڤيتن امس

Thank you, SE. Thousands turned up at a book fair in this small rural town where i am. In the curiosity reflected from their eyes, you could see how eager for knowledge the young were. Although not much educated, their parents were most supportive.

Yes, it is time for the poor and the unsophisticated to also rise above and beyond the mess made to keep them unenlightened for political objective of power retention.

Anonymous,  27 February 2014 at 09:21  

The Arabs practice skewed policies to one race, only Muslims in employing top academicians, scientists, engineers as in Malaysia? As in taking over the private businesses, employing all Malay staff in KL ? There will be massive failures in time to come and its natural demise of any so - called renewal or recycling tainted with injustice, prejudice, self- righteousness of halalisation of every thing beyond the few requirements in Islam !

The prototypes of many great ideas came from the Western, Chinese and Indian great minds. 1001 inventions ??

As an urbanite Muhibbah Malay, I will not cast my vote for PK again neither will the vote be given to BN in the coming elections.

Anonymous,  27 February 2014 at 16:21  

You are a real joker to amuse the the reader you have akin people who suffers headache reading this article to consume paracetamol inadvertently you insist them to take "paraquat" may be in the days of Emergency 1948 to 1989 "paraquat" is synonym to certain group.......thank you l use to level my head in reading your blog...hv a nice Dato.

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