The Omega and the Ring

Once there was a tale not so long ago of a ring, a most precious stone, of value out of all proportions, said to be gracing the finger of the land's foremost lady. A legendary ring whispered to have been bought from the West that would bind them all to bring disrepute to such a chic fashionable madam and slander the country's first family edging closer into political ruin. Being silent and keeping quiet about it did not help for the evil ones kept murmuring in the darkness of the web. Denying it only made the spiteful stories become more open spreading the telltale news throughout the lands. All of the ruler's media and all of the state's spin masters could not keep the saga of the ring away from the people's gossips and rumours still abound about this strange gem. The much fabled ring had a sinister life of its own and its yarn set to devour all that came into its path. Nasty foul mouthed invisible tongues lashed out like demented trolls through contraptions called blogs kept on haunting the premier family.

Then there was the tale of the time keeper, a clock given the name Omega. An evil trinity cast a spell on the time piece and accused a person of illicit immorality. The trinity of wicked old men conjured up a vision in an utter display of lurid content and smut in a grand mansion up on a hill. The staged apparition was flaunted to a host of mean spin masters who in turn paraded and assailed the mass public through their prints, their reverberations, their mantra and their spectre screens. The evil lewdness of the state's story tellers and irresponsible lawlessness of authority was much to the chagrin of religious and moral people. The chronograph called the Omega was said to have disappeared and has ever since been cynically and maliciously sought to prove the innocence of the one slandered. The trinity of old men of vice invoked the powers of the divine by swearing in a holy and sacred place, placing their oaths on the holy book, seeking to be damned if ever they lied, challenging those who reject or deny them to do the same. These depraved and perverted old men had their iniquitous way and were not stricken by flashes of lightning or blasted by bolts of thunder. They thought that they had their day and shall forever after be that way.

In Malaysia, you are guilty until you can prove your innocence. This is how the system works in Malaysia. This epithet comes from fugitive controversial blogger Raja Petra himself.

So keep away from fitnah and slander, it does not do anyone any good but harms all in its way. This public service announcement is brought to you for the sake of a wonderful Malaysia.

Vindictive "Toads"

My daughter overheard an interesting conversation while on a lift in First Avenue, a shopping mall in Penang. Three Malaysian Indians - 2 girls and a guy - were saying out loud, " What's this with all these sex videos". The guy said, " Pity the poor guy, Anwar Ibrahim". "They have been trying to get him all the time". One of the girls quipped, "Don't they know how his family feels? Don't they know how hurtful it is for them even though the whole thing is not true. All the Westerners are laughing at us now". The guy said, "We can't even do anything about it. There's one word for it - vindictive."

Malaysian mainstream news media are having a field day this time taunting Dr Wan Azizah. Even the questions fielded by reporters are getting rude and provocative but politely contained by Wan Azizah with calm but sharp ripostes. Editorials, opinion pieces and newspaper punchlines are trying to vilify and taint her reputation. Journalists have become lackeys and tools of a wicked and barmy political agenda. Cruel intentions and mala fide are obviously and lucidly portrayed in every title block, news item and even the choice of pictures used. Anything and everything is being unleashed to put down a truly good lady and a wonderful person for those who bother and care to know about the family.

Dr Wan Azizah was just a quiet doctor turned housewife to be with a husband who was once deputy prime minister. That was until her husband got sacked, dramatically arrested, beaten and pummelled in custody and then charged and harshly persecuted, imprisoned on dubious, slanderous and humiliating accusations. She had to stand in for her husband as the torch bearer of reform and that she did with excellence and beyond comprehension. At one of her earliest events in Kedah, she appeared meek and modest unable to speak impromptu even to a large and sympathetic public gathering. She has certainly improved much since then. She held the fledgling reformist political party in the worst of its moments. She stood tall although she was alone representing her party in Parliament after 2004 patiently parrying such abrasive behaviour from merciless fellow ruling party parliamentarians.

Whatever has Wan Azizah done to them?

The journalists may feel nothing wrong with all their persistent lying and deceit, twisting their tales, sensationalising circumstantial material and conjuring up any nook or cradle. Mainstream media has become heartless while seemingly forgetting that many Malaysians are not so. Their tactless and spineless editors have lost their habits of the heart. They are not listening and are not addressing to the conscience of the majority. They are not reporting real news and they are abdicating their moral responsibilities. They indulge in promoting mass ignorance and sheer foolishness. They shall leave their dirty marks on society, their writings are indelible, their TV shows are recorded and many shall curse them, in the end all of their work will be their bane.

They fit in like the toads in Parliament. First there are the political toads who jump party to party, clinging on to life and material support from the ruling party, of course. Then there the toads which are intellectuals with a grudge. These academicians sell themselves off as political hatchet men. All of them are held by a common trait as mentioned by the person in the First Avenue mall lift, "vindictiveness".