MAGICK RIVER

A loving tribute to the incredibly, amazingly, absurdly talented Jo Kukathas

noreply@blogger.com (Antares) — Tue, 29 May 2012 16:12:00 +0000

I met Jo Kukathas 32 years ago when she was teaching literature at the Garden School. Apart from performing the occasional skit with her siblings or reciting poetry to entertain her ebullient and extremely eloquent father - the late K. Das, former bureau chief of the Far Eastern Economic Review, best-selling author, political commentator, and arguably the foremost authority on Mahathiritis (long before it acquired the status of a terminal, practically incurable disease) - Jo had never been on stage, except perhaps in a few school productions.

At our very first meeting, I noticed she had remarkable control of her voice, and asked if she had tried her hand at acting. "Not professionally," she replied, and I laughed and said Malaysia doesn't have any professional theatre yet, we're all amateurs, so she ought to give it a go.

And give it a go Jo did. In a matter of months I found myself applauding wildly after a theatrical performance in which Jo Kukathas featured - can't remember which play it was now. All I know is that Jo has never once disappointed - no matter what role she took on.

I don't want to make this a full-blown essay on the versatile, vivacious and vonderfully high-voltage Ms Kukathas - she deserves at least a 500-page official biography - and I can't possibly do the woman justice with a single blogpost.

Let it be known far and wide, nevertheless, that I absolutely adore and admire this feisty, brilliant peacock feather in the cap of Malaysian theatre. If she had chosen to be born in the UK or the USA, she would most certainly be vying for her share of the Oscars alongside actresses like Goldie Hawn, Whoopi Goldberg, Glenn Close, Nicole Kidman and Meryl Streep.

Jo, please take as many bows as you please.

Empire builders will weep as grandiose monuments to their own megalomania are reduced to rubble.

noreply@blogger.com (Antares) — Tue, 29 May 2012 13:09:00 +0000

An excerpt from...
Pirates & Parasites (Don't let them bring you down, folks!)

For millennia the warlords have ruled this planet and they will be resisting their own imminent extinction by attempting to drag millions of other lives with them as they go the way of the dinosaurs.

Those who have learnt to trust their heart wisdom will have little trouble accepting the incoming frequencies, thereby accelerating their own awakening on the cellular, molecular, atomic and nuclear levels. Within the next few months (that's right, I said months, not years, not decades), even as the 3D Matrix begins to get more and more unreal, the ones who can maintain their emotional equilibrium and trust completely in the Unknown will find life becoming simpler and more exquisite. They will consciously acknowledge their own integral roles in the evolutionary passion play that will take us from micro to macro perspectives, and gladly celebrate their initiation as galactic citizens.

Institutions that have enslaved the human imagination for untold generations will crumble like stale bread, even as their adherents become discombobulated and turn upon each other in desperation and panic. Armies will exhaust themselves and disintegrate through meaningless combat even as deserters begin to outnumber combatants.

Congenital liars, hypocrites and deceivers will end up their own victims. Those that persist in scapegoating others and assigning blame will find themselves devoid of a following.

Empire builders will weep as grandiose monuments to their own megalomania are reduced to rubble.

The status quo is static - and reality is dynamic. In a dynamic universe, status has no value or significance. However, humble virtues such as compassion, empathy, humility, and goodwill towards others will become the only accepted currency.

Creativity rather than destructivity will regain the upper hand. The planet has been ruled by criminal syndicates for countless millennia. This was only possible during the Kali yuga, which has just about run its course. Only inertia and long-ingrained habit are keeping oppressive social systems in apparent operation. Secret police, spy agencies, covert programs designed to keep power in the hands of a plutocratic elite will be exposed as more and more whistleblowers begin to break free from their indoctrination and implants. Evil cannot withstand the light of publicity and will evaporate under the burning sun of an enlightened humanity.

As the democratization of human communities begins to spread like wildfire, centralized government and ancient power cabals will weaken and die. The Anunnaki bloodlines that constitute all monarchies will either transmute themselves into a force for universal good - or be forever terminated.

Don't worry about Umno. Or the Rockefeller-Rothschilds. From a macro perspective they are merely small-time street gangs that will soon become fascinating exhibits in cosmoanthropological museums. So fear them not. Maitreya has spoken.

ETHOS ~ examining the mechanics of our current dystopia

noreply@blogger.com (Antares) — Mon, 28 May 2012 09:35:00 +0000

The focus of this documentary is on the USA - but the general issues apply everywhere else.

[Brought to my attention by Arun Paul]

Passing of a true prince among men ~ a tribute to Tunku Vic

noreply@blogger.com (Antares) — Sun, 27 May 2012 09:58:00 +0000

Y.M. Tunku Aamash bin Tunku Adnan (6 June 1954 ~ 27 May 2012)

Tunku Vic relaxing at his beach house in Port Dickson

The original Prince Charming, Vic ~ a good friend to all!

Today was another of those days I found it impossible to get out of bed. There were no visitors, so I was able to indulge myself. By the time I finally forced myself out of bed it was already 4PM - I broke my own record for sluggishness!

First word I heard about the sudden departure of my friend Tunku Vic was from Bernard Khoo's Zorro-Unmasked blog. I was stunned. Last time I saw Vic was on 28 December 2011 in Port Dickson, at a grand beachfront birthday party he kindly hosted for Mary Maguire. He was in top form, beaming good vibes and making all his guests feel relaxed and welcome. We didn't converse much on that occasion. We rarely have to. Tunku Vic of the Negri Sembilan royal house is a soul-brother - and one of the few royals who carries his lineage with dignity, intelligence, wit, wisdom and integrity.

I first got to know Vic through RPK, one of his childhood buddies. Vic really loved RPK and was extremely supportive throughout the trials and tribulations of the maverick Blogger King. When RPK was miraculously released from Kamunting on 7 November 2008, a maroon Rolls-Royce was waiting outside the Shah Alam Court to whisk RPK and his wife Marina directly to a big celebration hosted by Tunku Vic.

Subsequently I kept bumping into Tunku Vic and his exquisite consort Tengku Sharifah Mahiran (a princess from Perlis so friendly and unassuming she insists on being addressed by her nickname, Ms Mo) at various by-elections and every time there was an Abolish-the-ISA candlelight vigil or an event like the Bar Council's Walk for Liberty. These were true aristocrats who felt strongly about restoring civil liberties, human rights, and social justice to Malaysia. They were appalled by the corrupt practices and heavy-handed injustice of the Umno/BN regime - and were unafraid to show their support for the rakyat.

This is why the untimely demise of Tunku Vic is a deep personal loss to me, as well as a major loss to the entire nation. I didn't know that Vic had been diagnosed with leukemia some weeks ago. At some level Vic probably suspected his days were numbered but, stoically, he never once displayed the slightest signs of anxiety - at least not in public - and was irresistibly charming, good-humored and warm every time we had a chat.

Vic, I do wish I had been informed that you were ready to leave. I would have liked to hold your hand and bless your generous heart for showing us what being a true aristocrat is really all about.

May your ongoing adventures be endlessly joyful. Your friends and family, and all your descendants, will remember you with pride and profound love.

Eggs and stones may break your bones... but Umno/BN MUST be overthrown!

noreply@blogger.com (Antares) — Sat, 26 May 2012 17:11:00 +0000

"Even if our bodies are crushed and our lives lost, brothers and sisters, whatever happens, we must defend Putrajaya." ~ Najib Razak, Umno crime minister of Malaysia

Defend Putrajaya against whom? A few million Indonesian, Myanmarese and Bangladeshi workers? Or is Najib referring to opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and the Pakatan Rakyat coalition he leads?

What a pathetic poseur!
Who the fuck elected you?
Certainly not anyone I know.

Najib, listen up, fat boy! You're talking about me - and at least 10 million thinking voters who sincerely want to see you and Umno/BN OUT. We're ready to carry out a citizen's arrest on you for high treason. What you said about "crushed bodies and lost lives" is insanely incendiary - you are threatening us with blood on the streets, no less, if Umno/BN loses the 13th General Election. That is clearly a criminal offence - and anywhere else in the civilized world, any politician uttering such rabid and dangerous rhetoric would be considered clinically mad and put in a padded cell.

You've already had 55 years of uninterrupted power and you can no longer deny that Umno/BN has fucked up big time. Malaysia is undergoing a moral crisis of gargantuan proportions - and soon it will also be a financial and political nightmare.

I swear to you, Jibby, the only thing that's going to be crushed is you and your witchy wife's big fat egos. Down, down you go, boy - along with Umno/BN!

Bravo, Jo! ;-)

Words of Wisdom and Folly ~ a pictorial

noreply@blogger.com (Antares) — Sat, 26 May 2012 15:11:00 +0000

Then make them attend your workshop or subscribe to your e-bulletin.

Then you reach the end and discover it was a complete waste of time.

If nobody's looking, you're allowed to cheat.

Happiness is overrated anyhow... don't you think?

Yelling at people also helps, if you can afford it.

In fact, you can have lots of fun just hanging around them till they go crazy.

Or just keep quiet and let the damned fool step right into the open manhole.

Well, just ask for directions, silly.

Shooting ourselves in the foot (over and over again)...

noreply@blogger.com (Antares) — Fri, 25 May 2012 16:34:00 +0000

Biro Tatanegara (or the National Indoctrination Bureau) was established in 1974 during Tun Razak's tenure. But it took around ten years to evolve into the sinister operation that has been getting a load of negative publicity in recent days.

The fact that BTN is an adjunct of the Prime Minister's Department makes it a convenient mechanism for the systematic dissemination of the official doctrine throughout the rank and file of the civil and diplomatic services. BTN also ensures that the academic bureaucracy adheres to Umno's official doctrine of Ketuanan Melayu and loyalty to the government.

Some who have been processed through the BTN experience and survived with their minds intact and independent report that the BTN's agenda is insidiously racist and deliberately divisive. Unthinking conformity is what the Biro Tatanegara is really all about.

The desire to imprint the rulers' ideology on all subjects is a hallmark of every patriarchal society. After all, the words "pattern" and "paternal" share the same etymology, namely, issuing from the Pater or Father.

And isn't it true that every Father wants his children to be, above all, obedient? The Old Testament - specifically, Genesis - portrays disobedience as the Original Sin.

Fast-forward to the Digital Era where being at the cutting edge requires thinking out of the box, an adventurous and innovative spirit, and a willingness to break the rules.

Where do our BTN graduates stand in the 21st century world of instant communications and nanotech? You can invest billions in an artificial city called Cyberjaya - but, unless you import all the talent, you're not going to find many innovators emerging from local institutes of learning.

In the first place, genuflecting before your social superiors is hardly conducive to nurturing creative genius. Don't forget Tuan is a contraction of Tuhan - and a culture that compels an individual to submit to God will always extend that compulsion to submitting before God's representatives on Earth, namely the Monarchs.

Talented and inspired brainiacs like Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple Computers), Larry Page and Sergey Brin (founders of Google), and Mark Zuckerberg (originator of Facebook) aren't the type who can handle too much protocol - unless you're referring to computer protocols.

Indeed, a distinguishing feature of cybernetic wizards is their disdain for red-tape and formality. Imagine the fun the pioneers of IT had naming everything from scratch. How did they come up with "mouse" for the device with which you navigate the screen? Or a name like Yahoo! for an all-purpose portal?

Let's say you're the Sultan of Selangor and you're accustomed to being addressed formally as Duli Yang Maha Mulia Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah Al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Al-Haj (best to leave out the interminable list of honorary titles).

So what happens when the Sultan becomes IT savvy and buys himself a Macbook? He's going to be using email and you can't possibly have such an unwieldy name in your email address. He could shorten it to sultan_idris@istana-selangor.my or perhaps even idris@istana-selangor.my - and in so doing he would be dispensing with cumbersome formality. In all probability, he would write in normal language when sending emails to his buddies, instead of adhering to traditional court language. Indeed, if he were to try his hand at internet chat, he'd probably want to conceal his royal status with a funky nick like "nicerichboy" or "hrh1."

This is what happens when human consciousness shifts from analog to digital mode. Traditionalists may scorn the way kids today have murdered language by coming up with SMS terms like :-) or LOL or 2moro or CU. But you have to admit there's a certain appeal in adopting newfangled computer symbols like @ or signing off with an ASCII heart, thus: <3 - and, as these new memes spread like some species of computer virus, the near-lightspeed movement of binary codes and pixels across the planet's fiber-optic highways swiftly creates a far more egalitarian social template than any theory of human evolution could ever have predicted. That's why I always ROTFLMAO whenever I hear potato-headed politicians like the education and communications ministers urging Malaysians to be "more innovative" and to prepare themselves for the rapid shift to "a knowledge-based economy."

You guys wouldn't recognize a creative genius even if one snuck up and poked you playfully in the butt. I bet you didn't realize a lot of creative geniuses look just like that troublemaker Namewee @ Wee Meng Chee whose citizenship you once wanted to revoke because he "insulted" the national anthem (as though a song could possibly be offended by some 23-year-old rapper doing an off-the-wall cover version of it).

Well, if that's what you really want, you're really gonna regret it when you finally get it, Messrs Muhyiddin and Rais. Do you know why? Because no creative genius will give a fuck how much you paid for your silk ties nor will they be too impressed by all the guff that issues from your political mouths. Keep the population dumb and conformist with your goddam BTN, if you wish to enjoy your VVIP status and your ridiculous robber baron perks. But don't you dare lament the fact that Malaysia has been left way behind every other country.

Up till now you've had it good siphoning off our collective wealth with all the natural resources the land has produced - and things got even sexier when oil was found off our coast. However, some say the oil reserves will be depleted within a few years - and then how are you going to maintain your extravagant lifestyle? Revert to piracy and slave-trading?

[First published 28 November 2009]

Mr Pink Lips Loses His Head... Again!

noreply@blogger.com (Antares) — Fri, 25 May 2012 04:12:00 +0000

Uploaded 22 May 2009

Now this is a lot more fun and much funkier than scaring Polis with lighted candles and threatening the Homo Minister with birthday cakes. Whoever carried out this courageous act of guerrilla warfare, bravo and tabik!

[First uploaded 24 May 2009 as a rehearsal. Now we're ready for the real thing.]

This song is for you, Nannan... wherever you are!

noreply@blogger.com (Antares) — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:01:00 +0000

HAPPY 71st SOLAR ORBIT, BOB!

Thanks for all the inspiration, bro.

If I were a secret policeman...

noreply@blogger.com (Antares) — Thu, 24 May 2012 09:25:00 +0000

After a few of my friends got thrown into Kamunting during Dr M's infamous Operation Lalang in October 1987, I became rather paranoid about the Malaysian police, especially the Special Branch or Malaysian secret police. Every time I heard a crackle or mysterious whir while talking on the phone I immediately suspected my line was tapped.

It wasn't a healthy state of mind, to be living under a dark cloud of Orwellian fear.

My clearest memory of the Mahathir era is how afraid people were to talk politics in public places. Every time the name "Mahathir" was mentioned, everyone would quickly look around to see if there were suspicious SB types in the vicinity. That was Dr M's greatest contribution to the nation - he turned it into a police state akin to East Germany during the Cold War period.

Talk to Dr Munawar Anees about this, if you think I exaggerate.

Don't point with cretinous pride at the KLCC Twin Towers or the colossal architecture of Putrajaya. Any tyrant with unlimited access to the public purse can build any number of monuments to their own pharaonic megalomania.

I love elephants - but not when they're painted white! Do we really need an "official residence" for our top civil servant that costs the public RM9 million a year to rent and maintain? What an atrocious scam that is!

Anyway, I decided it was stupid to live in constant anxiety about the secret police. It's true the army and police ultimately exist to protect the privileged few from the wrath of the exploited multitudes whose toil and drudgery support the system; and so long as the masses remain asleep, the status quo remains unthreatened. However, the situation dramatically changes when a few leaders become enlightened and realize the unsustainability and inherent instability of any top-heavy feudalistic social hierarchy.

One day I stumbled upon a small shop in the Chow Kit area selling trophies, medals, military insignia, and police paraphernalia. I bought a PVC wallet emblazoned with the PDRM logo and began pretending I was an undercover cop. It was astounding how swiftly that altered my perception of the police force. Each time I spotted a cop on the street or driving around in a patrol car, I experienced the pleasant buzz of bumping into someone from your hometown when you're traveling abroad. Soon, I began to harbor friendly feelings towards the police, rather than hostility.

This simple game had far-reaching consequences. I began to relive my childhood fantasies of being an undercover cop (I had been deeply impressed as a 9-year old by the Hollywood glamorization of the FBI in a movie called The FBI Story, starring James Stewart).

As a teenager I relished a long-running series of vivid dreams in which I featured as a top-ranking Bond-style secret agent and death-defying commando, narrowly escaping the most harrowing situations and invariably getting to kiss the leading lady.

Never underestimate the power of the imagination. I experienced a major shift in my attitude towards security personnel. Now, each time I was on the phone and heard some static, I'd simply assume my colleagues in Bukit Aman were on the job, recording my wit and wisdom for posterity.

It's been some years since I played this little game, but I can snap into this mode of consciousness anytime I want. It allows me some insight into the mind of the secret policeman and an empathetic glimpse of the policeman's intrinsic humanity.

In any case, as I grew older I began to see through the façade of the power structure and realized that there was no government on earth worth killing and dying for - they were all fronts for an invisible network of demented and bedeviled plutocrats. If I were a true-life James Bond, I'd opt to join the rebel forces or drop out completely.

Around that period, I had an unexpected encounter with a Special Branch officer planted in the middle-class audience at a British Council screening of Terry Gilliam's cult classic, Brazil. As the lights went on after the show, my companion expressed a bit of confusion about the whole point of the movie. I told her it illustrated the stupidity of governments. As we filed out of the British Council (which was then located near Bukit Aman), a mild-mannered Indian gentleman tapped me on the shoulder and asked if he could have a quick word with me.

"Sure," I said, and told my companion to wait in the car for me. My suspicions were confirmed when the guy introduced himself as a Special Branch officer. Our conversation lasted no more than 15 minutes but what he essentially wanted to communicate to me was that I ought to be more careful what opinions I expressed in public.

"Walls have ears," the SB guy said, which elicited a sermon from me about the questionable morality of serving an immoral government. I could sense that this guy was actually a decent bloke, just a bit jaded from having been a copper almost his entire life. He was due for retirement in a couple of years. Finally, the guy confessed to me that he was utterly demoralized by the dirty politics he had seen in the line of duty. "Sometimes I wish somebody would just press the red button and blow up the whole world. It's already too rotten to save!"

"It's sad to see you've become such a nihilist," I said. "I can understand your viewpoint, but I believe change is the only constant, and that the status quo is really not quite as static as most people believe."

We parted with a friendly handshake but our little unscheduled chat left me with much food for thought. I could see myself in his predicament. A decent bloke stuck for years in an indecent job, carrying out stupid orders from superiors he had no real respect for. The only way he could deal with his disillusionment was to become a crusty old cynic.

Of course, he could have quit - like my friend Johnny Goh, a former SB officer who told me he was due for a promotion in 1998, but he felt so sickened by the manner in which the police were being used against Anwar Ibrahim, he decided to resign and start a stationery business. Not everyone has the wherewithal to begin anew after decades in a particular job.

And not too many have the balls to blow the whistle on the evils inherent in the system. Nevertheless, the few that do have the clarity of mind, the courage, and the strength of their conscience to do so may well be Malaysia's only hope at this point.

I know that for every crooked cop in the PDRM, there must be at least 500 who are still straight; who still believe that the police ought to be a force for the public good, not a bunch of uniformed thugs serving a handful of white-collar gangsters. Indeed, there would be absolutely no way out of our present mess if there weren't ultimately a lot more honest citizens than criminals in our country.

Call me a perpetual fool, if you will, but I remain convinced that there will always be an inner core of decency to be found in any institution - even one that has been corrupted and twisted by years of despotic misrule. Most times, the decent chaps choose to earn their wages and keep a low profile, convinced it's beyond their power to reform their workplace, safer to simply serve out their time and collect a comfortable pension.

So let me dedicate this blogpost to my friends and fellow warriors in the Special Branch, some of whom have been diligently monitoring what I say and occasionally leaving cryptic comments on my blog. I'm sure many of you love this country as much as I do. I'm sure many of you would like to see real change happen - especially regime change, even if you may be a bit uncertain as to what these changes mean in terms of special privileges for the Malays and whatnot.

May I suggest you pause for a moment and look at the situation from a purely HUMAN perspective - forget about bangsa dan agama for a minute. I bet most of you have enough intelligence to know that sort of talk is complete hogwash anyway. Your big bosses aren't particularly religious people - they only believe in the unholy power that money buys - the money stolen from all of us.

You guys (and gals) are merely pawns in their evil game. Same as anybody else. Think on that, please, and act on what your heart prompts you to do.

Remember how the Marcos regime finally ended in the Philippines? Ferdinand's downfall was triggered by a small group of women hired by the Election Commission to monitor the vote-counting process. Realizing someone had tampered with the computers, they decided to blow the whistle by fleeing the Election Commission headquarters and running across the street to seek sanctuary in a church - where they were greeted by the international media who were only too happy to broadcast abroad the news of gross electoral fraud. Within days, Marcos had to flee Manila with whatever he and his acquisitive wife Imelda could carry by hand.

[First published 15 April 2009 as part of an essay series titled "Where Malaysia Is Headed..."]

Don't worry, Ambiga. Don't worry, Anwar. Don't worry, Pakatan Rakyat. Don't worry, Good People of Malaysia....

noreply@blogger.com (Antares) — Wed, 23 May 2012 14:20:00 +0000

WON'T BE LONG NOW.

Hang in there, Jibby!

noreply@blogger.com (Antares) — Tue, 22 May 2012 17:00:00 +0000

It's a very long way to the bottom when you're at the very top....

Taib: "I hear she loves blow jobs!"

As I said: "Hang in there, Jibby!"

Do you really think you can get away with murder, Mr Pink Lips?

Slavery and the Eight Veils ~ by Don Harkins (revisited)

noreply@blogger.com (Antares) — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:34:00 +0000

Over the last several years I have evolved and discarded several theories in an attempt to explain why it is that most people cannot see truth - even when it smacks them in the face. Those of us who can see "the conspiracy" have participated in countless conversations amongst ourselves that address the frustration of most peoples' inability to comprehend the extremely well-documented arguments which we use to describe the process of our collective enslavement and exploitation. The most common explanation to be arrived at is that most people just "don't want to see" what is really going on.

Extremely evil men and women who make up the world's power-elite have cleverly cultivated a virtual pasture so grass green that few people seldom, if ever, bother to look up from where they are grazing long enough to notice the brightly colored tags stapled to their ears.

The same people who cannot see their enslavement for the pasture grass have a tendency to view as insane "conspiracy theorists" those of us who can see the past the farm and into the parlor of his feudal lordship's castle.

Finally, I understand why.

It's not that those who don't see that their freedom is vanishing under the leadership of the power-elite "don't want to see it" - they simply can't see what is happening to them because of the unpierced veils that block their view.

All human endeavors are a filtration process. Sports is one of the best examples. We play specific sports until we get kicked off the playground. The pro athletes we pay big bucks to watch just never got kicked off the playground. Where millions of kids play little league each spring, they are filtered out until there are about 50 guys who go to the World Series in October.

Behind the first veil: There are over seven billion people on the planet. Most of them live and die without having seriously contemplated anything other than what it takes to keep their lives together. Ninety percent of all humanity will live and die without having pierced the first veil.

The first veil: Ten percent of us will pierce the first veil and find the world of politics. We will vote, be active and have an opinion. Our opinions are shaped by the physical world around us; we have a tendency to accept that government officials, network media personalities and other "experts" are voices of authority. Ninety percent of the people in this group will live and die without having pierced the second veil.

The second veil: Ten percent of us will pierce the second veil to explore the world of history, the relationship between man and government and the meaning of self-government through constitutional and common law. Ninety percent of the people in this group will live and die without having pierced the third veil.

The third veil: Ten percent of us will pierce the third veil to find that the resources of the world, including people, are controlled by extremely wealthy and powerful families whose incorporated old world assets have, with modern extortion strategies, become the foundation upon which the world's economy is currently indebted. Ninety percent of the people in this group will live and die without having pierced the fourth veil.

The fourth veil: Ten percent of us will pierce the fourth veil to discover the Illuminati, Freemasonry and the other secret societies. These societies use symbols and perform ceremonies that perpetuate the generational transfers of arcane knowledge that is used to keep the ordinary people in political, economic and spiritual bondage to the oldest bloodlines on earth. Ninety percent of the people in this group will live and die without having pierced the fifth veil.

The fifth veil: Ten percent of us will pierce the fifth veil to learn that the secret societies are so far advanced technologically that time travel and interstellar communications have no boundaries and controlling the actions of people is what their members do as offhandedly as we tell our children when they must go to bed. Ninety percent of the people in this group will live and die without having pierced the sixth veil.

The sixth veil: Ten percent of us will pierce the sixth veil where the dragons and lizards and aliens we thought were the fictional monsters of childhood literature are real and are the controlling forces behind the secret societies. Ninety percent of the people in this group will live and die without piercing the seventh veil.

The seventh veil: I do not know what is behind the seventh veil. I think it is where your soul is evolved to the point you can exist on earth and be the man Gandhi was, or the woman Peace Pilgrim was - people so enlightened they brighten the world around them no matter what.

The eighth veil? Piercing the eighth veil probably reveals God and the pure energy that is the life force in all living things - which are, I think, one and the same.

If my math is accurate there are only about 70,000 people on the planet who have pierced the sixth veil. The irony here is too incredible: Those who are stuck behind veils one through five have little choice but to view the people who have pierced the veils beyond them as insane. With each veil pierced, exponentially shrinking numbers of increasingly enlightened people are deemed insane by exponentially increasing masses of decreasingly enlightened people.

Adding to the irony, the harder a "sixth or better veiler" tries to explain what he is able to see to those who can't, the more insane he appears to them.

Our enemy, the state

Behind the first two veils we find the great majority of people on the planet. They are tools of the state: Second veilers are the gullible voters whose ignorance justify the actions of politicians who send first veilers off to die in foreign lands as cannon fodder -- their combined stations in life are to believe that the self-serving machinations of the power-elite are matters of national security worth dying for.

Third, fourth, fifth and sixth veilers are of increasing liability to the state because of their decreasing ability to be used as tools to consolidate power and wealth of the many into the hands of the power-elite. It is common for these people to sacrifice more of their relationships with friends and family, their professional careers and personal freedom with each veil they pierce.

Albert Jay Nock (1870-1945), author of Our Enemy, the State (1935), explained what happens to those who find the seventh and eighth veils: "What was the best that the state could find to do with an actual Socrates and an actual Jesus when it had them? Merely to poison one and crucify the other, for no reason but that they were too intolerably embarrassing to be allowed to live any longer."

Conclusions

And so now we know that it's not that our countrymen are so committed to their lives that, "they don't want to see," the mechanisms of their enslavement and exploitation. They simply "can't see" it as surely as I cannot see what's on the other side of a closed curtain.

The purpose of this essay is threefold:

1. To help the handful of people in the latter veils to understand why the masses have little choice but to interpret their clarity as insanity;

2. To help people behind the first two veils understand that living, breathing and thinking are just the beginning and;

3. Show people that the greatest adventure of our life is behind the next veil because that is just one less veil between ourselves and God.

© The Idaho Observer

[First published on this blog 4 May 2007]

An obituary for Mahathirism ~ by Josh Hong

noreply@blogger.com (Antares) — Sun, 20 May 2012 12:48:00 +0000

A deranged doctor in the house

Josh Hong | Malaysiakini
4:07PM May 18, 2012

Mahathir Mohamad may have been a dutiful and well-respected medical doctor back in the 1940s. But his decision to enter the political fray has - it’s safe to say - turned out to be a sheer nightmare for the country as a whole.

Mahathir could have maintained his good reputation as a doctor, but his name is now ruined, forever associated with the Twin Towers of corruption and cronyism, his only solace being perhaps the personal wealth that he and his sons managed to accumulate when he was at the zenith of his tyrannical rule.

And the most pathetic thing about this old man is that he had a choice to become either a statesman or a rascal, but he has clearly opted to be remembered as a deranged veteran who refuses to believe the world around him has changed.

By any standards, Mahathir was an intelligent man among his contemporaries. Even Lee Kuan Yew found him a tough nut to crack.

Lee is an elite member of the old anglophile school who could easily quote a famous British judge to justify his own autocratic governance, but was confronted with tremendous difficulties in articulating his thoughts with the masses in Singapore’s early days as an independent state. But Mahathir, himself from the top drawer of his time, was often able to return to the grassroots and arouse populist sentiment for his own cause when the going got tough.

Which makes it all the more tragic that the doctor has now become deranged in his own house. With Barisan Nasional appearing to lose power sooner or later, he is living in great fear of his own misdeeds and transgressions being laid bare under the Malaysian sun. Had Mahathir been a righteous and just-minded leader, he would not have to shudder constantly at the scenario of an alternative government, for his rectitude would remain intact, come what may.

But integrity is precisely what the doctor is short of. To pre-empt potential change of government, he is now working profusely to smear both the Bersih movement and the opposition by joining the government’s chorus of vilification.

In fact, he is almost a lead singer!

Admittedly, Mahathir, who is single-handedly responsible for the erosion of the Malaysian judiciary does not see eye to eye with the Bar Council. The bad blood, however, came only from the doctor himself as he tried to ‘fix’ the judges as he did his own patients in Alor Star. His caustic remarks that the Bar Council has become a political party therefore only reveal his ineptitude in understanding the role of the legal fraternity.

Hence, it was a blessing that the colonial administration allegedly denied him a scholarship to read law in London!

Instead of hurling hollow accusations at the Bar Council, Mahathir should have the decency to admit as many as 90 percent of the judges, high-ranking police officers and “mainstream” journalists - especially those from RTM, TV3, Utusan Malaysia, Berita Harian, The Star and the New Straits Times - actually joined Umno and became his underlings after 1988.

Speaking truth to power

No, the Bar Council is not partisan. It just so happens that the current government is more often than not found to be on the wrong side of the law, and our lawyers are duty-bound to correct it. A Singaporean lawyer once told me how much she wished her colleagues back home would have the guts to speak truth to power like many of her Malaysian counterparts. This time on the Bersih 3.0 rally, the Malaysian Bar Council has again proven her right, of which I am indeed proud.

And Mahathir consistently refuses to accept the simple fact that Malaysians have different political identifications as rightful citizens. As far as he sees it, anyone who votes for the opposition is a bad Malaysian and less worthy, yet he ought to be told that not all who vote for Pas are religious “fanatics” and those who opt for the DAP are Chinese “chauvinists”. They simply want a government that is less corrupt, more honest and knows its limits.

My parents, for one, voted first the Barisan Sosialis Rakyat Malaya and then PAS throughout their lives, and did that make them racists or religious bigots? And how would “racists” like my parents have chosen PAS over either the MCA or the Chinese-dominated Gerakan in the first place? Can the doctor see the abject lack of logic in his view?

Simply put, Mahathir is now so paranoid and caught up with profound angst that he has lost all his senses, bent only on poisoning the minds of the Malays - young and old alike - with his race-centric rhetoric. Instead of championing greater transparency, public accountability and political integrity, he is going on an immoral crusade against anyone who simply wants to make Malaysia a better country to live in.

Which, in retrospect, was perhaps a reason why he was rejected by the colonial administration, for Mahathir just beats the British at their own game: divide and rule that is.

JOSH HONG studied politics at London Metropolitan University and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. A keen watcher of domestic and international politics, he longs for a day when Malaysians will learn and master the art of self-mockery, and enjoy life to the full in spite of politicians.

Possibly the best cartoon of the decade...

noreply@blogger.com (Antares) — Sat, 19 May 2012 05:59:00 +0000

I personally would suggest government.

They never go to jail.

[forwarded by Vijayadas Menon]

Huzir Sulaiman tackles the thorny issue of Ketuanan Melayu

noreply@blogger.com (Antares) — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:12:00 +0000

The Malaysian Insider

A middle class Malay perspective
WIDE ANGLE WITH HUZIR SULAIMAN
Sunday Star, December 14, 2008

The children of the Establishment tackle some difficult issues.

IN the strident and unnecessarily unpleasant debate over the concept of ketuanan Melayu and the Malay community’s political future, the quiet voices of urban middle-class Malays have yet to make themselves heard.

As a partial corrective, I spoke to several members of a tribe that, while small in number, is intriguing from a social anthropology perspective.

The Malays of the anak Datuk class – the children of senior civil servants and technocrats whose parents’ careers in public service predated the Mahathir era – are interesting in that their values and ideas about Malaysia must have been formed at least in part by their families’ experiences of nation building.

As their parents made the country, it stands to reason that they would have a considerable emotional stake in how it develops in the future.

Even within this rarefied sub-caste of children of the Establishment who are not themselves involved in politics, however, their feelings about ketuanan Melayu show a marked diversity.

Fahmi Fadzil (The Nut Graph)

Fahmi Fadzil, 27, is a writer and performer. He is the son of Datuk Fadzil Yunus, the former director-general – and later general manager – of the Felda group of companies, and Datin Fauziah Ramly, a senior civil servant who was most recently a Commissioner with the Public Service Commission.

I asked him what he makes of the concept of ketuanan Melayu.

“I never grew up thinking about it very much. My parents never spoke to me about it. Even when I was in college the whole matter was never really present in how I saw things.

“I think because I live in KL – and especially because my parents came from that group of earlier middle class Malay civil servants – I don’t think I would subscribe to ideas of ketuanan Melayu.”

But does he subscribe in any way to the idea that the Malays are the natural leaders – or in some way the owners – of Malaysia?

“No. On my father’s side I’m the fourth generation born on this peninsula, on my mother’s side just the third generation, so I see myself as a pendatang too. I don’t subscribe to the idea of a natural leadership role for the Malays.

“More than that, as a Muslim, I don’t see the need for this. There is no such thing as one group being ethnically superior to another.

“The thing I remember most from school, from kelas agama, (is that) from the early days of Islam there was a clear message that you were all the same. Whether you were Arabs or not, you are all the same now.

“We should be talking about values and principles held by people rather than subscribing to simplistic ideas of certain ethnicities being the owners of the land. I don’t subscribe to that, and even if I did, I think the rightful owners would be the Orang Asal.”

Zahim Albakri (The Nut Graph)

Datuk Zahim Albakri, 45, the director and actor, is the son of Datuk Ikmal Hisham Albakri, the first Malay architect and the first President of Pertubuhan Akitek Malaysia, who designed the National Library, Putra World Trade Centre, and the Bank Bumiputera headquarters in KL.

Zahim’s grandfather, Datuk Seri Mustafa Albakri, of the Malayan Civil Service, was the first Commissioner of the Election Commission and the first Keeper of the Ruler’s Seal.

For Zahim, coming to grips with the concept of ketuanan Melayu means dispelling ambiguity: “There seems to be a confusion between the bumiputera policy (the New Economic Policy) and the idea of ketuanan Melayu. The bumiputera policy was a reaction to the riots of 1969, whereas ketuanan Melayu, in the Constitution, I don’t think is particularly giving special privileges or rights to the Malays, it’s to ensure that the Malay Rulers have a certain place, to ensure that those institutions continue.

“I grew up in a family where we were brought up with the understanding that the Malay rulers are there, and this is our history, our culture.

“I grew up with my granddad being proudly Malay, and proudly Orang Perak. There was this sense of being proud of our culture. But never were we made to think that being Malay gave us a right to something beyond.

“I was brought up (to believe) that every citizen in Malaysia was equal. I was never brought up believing that Malays should have more than everyone else.”

How would he feel about a non-Malay Prime Minister?

“I have no problem with a non-Malay PM. It should be about their competence. It should be the best person for the job.”

Saidah Rastam

The composer Datin Saidah Rastam comes from a family steeped in public life. Her maternal grandfather was Perak’s 14th Datuk Panglima Kinta, who held 56 public service posts at the time of his death. Her father is Datuk Rastam Hadi, the former managing director of Petronas and former deputy governor of Bank Negara. Her husband is the urbane lawyer-turned-banker Datuk Charon Mokhzani (who, with exquisite politeness, declined to be interviewed for this article).

Says Saidah, “I think the races should be treated equally and the biggest thing that makes me uneasy about the concept of ketuanan Melayu is that it’s increasingly being used in fascist ways.”

She believes that the NEP “was a necessary thing at the time, given the racial tensions, but that’s different from the concept of Malay supremacy”.

She points to the historical record: “Tun Razak said that that was only for that time, and this NEP thing would end at some point, so that’s different from the notion that there’s an inherent Malay supremacy that can’t be questioned, which I’m very uneasy with.

“I’m somebody who benefited from the policies which favoured Malays – at the outset I’m happy to admit that. But looking at things today, my personal view is that we should give everybody equal opportunities because the policies favouring Malays haven’t been used properly.

“And given that the people who are supposed to safeguard the correct implementation of the policies are the same ones who benefit from them, I’m not optimistic that those policies will be correctly implemented.”

Dain Said

Dain-Iskandar Said is a writer and film director. His father was Datuk Mohamed Said Zain, a diplomat and intelligence officer.

He sees the concept of ketuanan Melayu as “outmoded, out of step with the times we live in, when the world is becoming more and more global. The world over, people are bringing down barriers of race, yet we are trying to instill and install those outmoded values.”

In his eyes, there are many aspects to the problem. “First, what is a Malay? Most Malays I know are some kind of mix, so who defines being Malay? Who are the guardians of the definition?

“The definition of ketuanan Melayu seems to be Umno; it always seems to lead back to Umno’s agenda.

“I’m not saying that outside of it it’s not valid; it may be valid to a lot of people. I can understand that. The main problem is the way it’s implemented. The tone of it is fascistic.”

Mahathir Mohamad: the ultimate Melayu?

For him, the promotion of the tenets of ketuanan Melayu “exposes deep insecurity, because if you really believe you are leading this country, what are you so scared of? I don’t think any of the other races want to take that away from you. They can’t, because in the Constitution are enshrined certain precepts.”

Dain argues that our debate is impoverished. “While many of us middle class Malays can be liberal and open, there’s never been any kind of infrastructure that supports ideas or traditions of openness.

“So on the one hand you have people who are willing to be open and liberal, but on the other hand it is so easy to destroy it, because there is no critical, intellectual or educational infrastructure to support those ideas.

“When you attack something that has no support, it is so easy to play to the rural Malay masses, to instill that kind of fear, and make people feel extremely powerless.

“There’s no tradition of talking critically about race and identity politics. You’re almost suspended in a vacuum.”

This is a vacuum that we need to fill with the plurality and diversity of our opinions. It has always been the position of Wide Angle that Malaysia’s many problems and tensions should not be ignored; they need to be addressed by continued, forthright yet respectful debate by citizens, and the issue of ketuanan Melayu is no exception.

-----
Huzir Sulaiman writes for theatre, film, television, and newspapers.

6 hours with David Icke as he explains every bloody thing under the sun...

noreply@blogger.com (Antares) — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:22:00 +0000

Well, you don't have to sit through both parts in one go....

Labies & genitalmen... how about some prehistoric rap?

noreply@blogger.com (Antares) — Wed, 16 May 2012 05:44:00 +0000

CHUCK THE DUCK

how now laotse maotse cowboy tung taodung
need ye grow olde if you never been jung
why sigh fakeye take a break snakeye
recall being born forget to die
bake a cake stay awake cry for joy
O! blakeye

shout aloud jump about fall on your rump
pigs roast slowest that are most plump
cook a plot write a book rob a crook run riot
keep quiet look tired don't sleep go on diet
smart tart twit her twat now what
don't fart

big ben beats crime pleasemen cheat time
peahen eats grime in the pigpen
bleed greed breed weed feed your mind
go blind grow grass quit the line feel fine
smoke a toke don't choke vat 69's no joke
ice floe nice shmoe g.i. joe gung ho
edgar poe deathrow

now bow say grace meow ratrace great place powwow flatface
tightroped pooped pope wallops trollops in the craptrap
rubin rude rapes bob hope & raps the cape of good dope
grunt grope chomp chow chew bread it's homemade
dull as lead get weighed your shell be shed
your soul be free so flee fly flow fled
go right ahead mister blister my sister
who can resist her she's such a sprightly maid
but don't sue me if you don't get laid

the mayor learned his trade well
the player played the part swell
they made their cellmates burn in hell

blue petulance expels true flatulence propels
your dad poohpoohs smells bad he's a cad
sells your mum to alan ladd
mum's glum dad's sad you're mad we're glad
platypus flatus & oedipus status are to blame
shame shame! captain ahab's bladder's inflamed
and jacob's ladder can't take the strain
it'll crack that's a fact you'll land smack whackthwack
on your backside & spill your brains
what a pain it's insane too much! you'll be crippled & lame
as such you'll need a crutch:

maurice suggests you change your game
horace requests a change of name
but boris professes you'll be the same

everything's done where's the fun? there's none
every song to sing's sung every pun to spin's spun
honkytonky monkspunk anybawdy anynun granny franny
jurisprufrock's earthquacker in hanniballoon crunch
sanny franny petticrockers crisco crackers
for cannibaboon brunch
think of gin sink in gum drink some rum dream of rintintin

all's fair balls square scream in fright uptight delight
in lassie's breath & aleph beth
henry stanley & livingstone's bones
huge rods huger cones buck jones &
being alone with death

flint splinter frog frigger
dread fred be bold don't enrol feel blue
see red lose your head regain control
prayers said so stay in bed
flip flop plip plop gyrotop wobbles
stops & drops down manhole &
polecats tapdance on tiptoe
with pipco tadpoles

click clock bloody cop with hickory cock
goebbels shit hot in the pit of the pot of
the ruddy rotten ruck
fuck ladyluck!
get sucked
get pluck come unstuck
let yourself be struck
dead
chuck the duck

Fourty-two years ago, in 1970 to be precise, I wrote this bit of doggerel - never suspecting that 20 years later, this sort of staccato rhyming by free association would explode into a global artform called rapping or hip-hop. The title was inspired by the late Charles E. Gaunt III, my drama teacher at West Essex High School, whom some of us nicknamed Chuck the Duck.

Of course, I can't lay claim to having invented the rap form. This is what Wikipedia says:

Rapping can be traced back to its African roots. Centuries before hip hop music existed, the griots of West Africa were delivering stories rhythmically, over drums and sparse instrumentation. Such connections have been acknowledged by many modern artists, modern day "griots", spoken word artists, mainstream news sources, and academics.

Anyway, Chuck the Duck was turned into a hip-hop number by the incredibly versatile and talented Rafique Rashid - back in the days when we used to hang out together a great deal. He still has the original 4-track cassette master. The cassette dub he made for me has yet to be digitized, so I can't upload it online.

A few years later, the prestigious Australian a capella Song Company, under the baton of Roland Peelman, actually premiered Chuck the Duck as a six-part polyphonic fugue in Kuala Lumpur. How on earth did this happen? Roland Peelman had commissioned Malaysian avant-garde composer Saidah Rastam to contribute an original work to the Song Company repertoire - and, of all things, Saidah decided to use Chuck the Duck as the libretto for her astonishingly witty masterpiece.

Thinking back on the strange history of Chuck the Duck, it strikes me as extremely intriguing that two wonderful musicians I have known and loved for years were inspired to set to music this wacky exercise in wordplay written by me as a 20-year-old - and both subsequently unbefriended me. Could it be some kind of mysterious curse? In view of the tragic outcome of both attempts to musicalize Chuck the Duck, I no longer encourage anyone to do so.

Passing Wind & The Paranormal Music Society ~ featuring Linsey Pollak @ Professor Squealy Deetbum!

noreply@blogger.com (Antares) — Sun, 13 May 2012 16:21:00 +0000

One of the most amazing artists I had the privilege of bumping into in 1991 on my first visit to Australia (sponsored by the Department of Cultural Affairs) was a muso named Linsey Pollak, who happened to be creating some music for Doppio Teatro (a trilingual touring theatre company founded by Teresa Crea) .

I knew he was amazing within minutes of our meeting. How so? I showed him my Balinese flutes and he tried one out and instantly was able to coax the sweetest sounds out of it. At the time I didn't know Linsey could coax sweet sounds out of garden hoses and broomsticks. Linsey gave me a cassette his group - the Paranormal Music Society - had recently released, which featured Linsey playing, among other odd instruments, the kitchen sink and a rubber glove gaida (a miniature bagpipe made from a surgical glove - that's right, another Pollak invention).

Twenty-one years later, I chance upon Linsey Pollak yet again - this time on YouTube. Actually, I was looking for some inspiring music to feature on this blog and did a search for the Paranormals. The original band seems to have disappeared - but Linsey Pollak is just as amazing and musically alive as ever, perhaps even more so. Indeed, I regard this unassuming genius as one of the most masterful musicians I have ever been inspired by. Linsey Pollak certainly gives Didier Malherbe (wind instrumentalist with Gong) and Jan Garbarek a jolly good run for their money... and he's a damn lot funnier!

The Paranormal Music Society consisted of: Professor Crivici (Romano Crivici) on keys and violin; Frank Brutal (Blair Greenberg) on percussion and guitar; and Denis Bland (Linsey Pollak) on winds (of many persuasions). The Paranormals (as they were fondly called) had a cult following in Sydney and were known for channeling the works of dead composers (especially Hidegarde Spumoni, a lesser known Baroque composer) and playing music whose notes were determined by rolls of a giant dice. They improvised requests called out by the audience. Things like: the pinnacle guinea pig races, haddock, Bob Marley goes to Turkey, Rawhide and so on. They recorded two albums (but only released one, Moving On), They were a legend in their own time.

Devised by Linsey, Out of the Frying Pan was commissioned by The Out of The Box Festival in Brisbane, directed by Chris Willems and produced by Performing Lines. It created music from house and garden objects with a cast of musician/actors that included Ceri McCoy, Jorge Rico, Penny Glass, Kari and Linsey. It was a show for 3-8 year olds that created music from bottles, glasses, brooms, mops, chairs, a ladder, rubbish bins, a garden fork, an ironing board, a carrot, inflatable trousers, a hammer, a kettle, a pumpkin, etc, etc.

The Art of Food ~ solo show (1999-2002) directed by Mark Bromilow

Ivan is a home-styled kitchen-hand with a difference. He's eccentric, hilarious and totally irresistible. And he lives in a musical world where anything is possible. From the moment Ivan walks into the kitchen, everything becomes musical: carrots, potatoes, satay sticks, meat cleavers, and even an electric drill, with which he transforms a carrot into a clarinet before our very eyes. This musical world that Ivan creates is more than a series of clever tricks. It is an aural world of depth, energy and beauty. Although the materials are disconcertingly simple, the music itself is complex, rich and emotive, ranging from energetic and percussive cross-rhythms to haunting and lyrical woodwind (or should we say vegiewind) melodies. As with his previous solo show, Knocking on Kevin's Door, Linsey uses digital technology to record sounds instantaneously so that the audience is able to see each piece being constructed layer by layer, but in this show all the sounds come from the cooking utensils and the food. The Art of Food is an aural feast, an ode to the music of everyday life, which is there for everyone who cares to open their ears.

Linsey live loops voice percussion and melodica, soloing with Rubber Glove bagpipe, Chinese bamboo flute, and kaossilator. From his solo show, Live & Loopy.

Linsey loops balloon, kaossilator and vocals, using TC Helicon VoiceLive Touch.

This piece called "Ghosting 13" (in 13/8) is from Linsey's solo show, Live & Loopy. It features the saxillo and carrot clarinet. Linsey live loops vocal percussion, bubble wrap drum, melodica and kaossilator, with solos on saxillo (a wooden soprano sax-like instrument designed and made by Linsey) plus a carrot clarinet.

Linsey Pollak drills out a carrot and turns it into a clarinet and plays it, live looping with a Boss RC20 to record 3 layers. From his solo show, Making Jam.

How to make a carrot clarinet:
overall length of carrot is 187mm
bore: 12mm. (I use a spade bit)
6 fingerholes and thumbhole are all 7mm diameter
thumbhole is 22mm from top of carrot
fingerholes are: 39mm, 54mm, 74mm, 97mm, 123mm,140mm from top of carrot
I use an alto sax mouthpiece (Yamaha 4C used in this video)
The mouthpiece is connected to the carrot with a 12mm OD tube 35mm long. (Use electrical tape to increase diameter to suit mouthpiece). Bottom of mouthpiece is at top of carrot. This design is by Linsey Pollak and has been developed since 1995.

Linsey Pollak plays "Mr Curly" (a contra bass clarinet made from garden hose) - from his show, Passing Wind, as well as the feather duster clarinet.

Linsey Pollak live loops watering can clarinet - from his solo show, Live & Loopy.

Professor Squealy Deetbum (aka Linsey Pollak) plays the Harmonic Handlebar from his solo show CYCOLOGY.

Professor Squealy Deetbum (aka Linsey Pollak) plays the bicycle seat clarinet...

Professor Squealy Deetbum (aka Linsey Pollak) plays the spokes, frame and gear cable...

Professor Squealy Deetbum (aka Linsey Pollak) plays the bicycle and accessories in the Finale from his solo show, CYCOLOGY.

Two condoms are used (one inside the other) to create the bag for this bagpipe. The chanter and drone are aluminium tubes with a membrane reed at the top of each.

43 Years of Racial Politics ~ The End of Mahathirism!

noreply@blogger.com (Antares) — Sun, 13 May 2012 14:10:00 +0000

Umno is still trying to pin the blame for the bloody 13 May 1969 episode on the DAP (in other words, the Chinese). Notwithstanding widespread reports that machete-wielding, black-clad berserkers donning red headbands were brought in and out of Selangor in army and police field force lorries, there is no doubt that the authorities could have ended the violence within 48 hours - instead of allowing the carnage and tension to drag on for weeks - if they had had the political will to do so...

A few months ago a young friend shared with me his unease about the upcoming general election. "I have a gut feeling Pakatan Rakyat will win and Umno will stir up trouble," he said.

If he was hoping to get some reassurance from me that nothing so horrific could possibly happen, he would have been disappointed. My response was that the signs were clear - Umno knows it has reached the end of the line, but it refuses to get off the gravy train.

Fat man in a red suit not always Santa Claus!

Ever since Razak Hussein took over the reins from Tunku Abdul Rahman in the grim aftermath of May 13, Umno has been gorging itself off the fat of the land, riding on the NEP and an outrageous array of Ketuanan Melayu (Malay Supremacy) policies.

No need to go over soggy, rank-smelling ground. Umno's sins are legion, and an inordinate proportion were obviously perpetrated under Mahathir Mohamad's 22-year-tenure. Umno should have died and been buried in February 1988 - but Mahathir was way too ruthless and nipped in the bud an attempt by two former prime ministers to establish an "Umno Malaysia" without him.

It was all about the money then - and even more so now. When so much money is involved, the worst traits tend to emerge. Umno in general - and Najib Razak in particular - are in dire straits. They can see the bold graffiti on the wall: the younger, street-savvier generation of Malays are no longer inclined to be whipped into a mindless frenzy by issues of race, religion and royalty. They are far more interested in freedom and social justice.

Umno's support base has been reduced to just a small band of rowdies and bullies - many of them moonlighting as policemen and goons-for-hire. Even its rural voter base of FELDA settlers can no longer be taken for granted - their children are beginning to wake up to the fact that they have been systematically robbed by smooth-talking Umno warlords who claim to have the Malays' interests at heart.

Is the army behind Umno? It's safe to say that the top brass are behind Najib. As defence minister for two terms, Najib had ample opportunity to line the pockets of high-ranking officers and make sure their retirement benefits were well taken care of. However, if the army is called out in the event of a national emergency, the rank-and-file troops may be disinclined to open fire on multiracial crowds for fear of injuring their own friends and relatives.

Alice slays the Jabberwocky of race-based politics

The Bersih 2.0 Rally of 9 July 2011 for free and fair elections put to rest the specter of May 13. And to make doubly sure it was dead, Bersih 3.0 on 28 April 2012 attracted 5 times the numbers.

That was Bersih 2.0's greatest achievement. After that pivotal date, Malaysians are uniting against corruption, social injustice, and demanding their civil liberties. While Umno and its fascist offshoots Perkasa and Pekida remain mired in the ugly rhetoric of race, religion and royalty, everybody else has moved on.

So, even if Umno attempts to revive its May 13 scenario after it loses the next election, it can only send a few hundred rempit into the streets to create an atmosphere of tension. Nobody else will be provoked to join the fray. You can't start a full-scale "race riot" without participants. What can the rempit do except burn a few cars and overturn some trash cans?

Everyone who isn't still in a cultural trance or living beneath a coconut shell knows what sort of dirty tricks Umno is capable of and is unlikely to fall for any race-based sandiwara it attempts to stage, post GE13. Even if Umno's armed thugs manage to inflict injury on a few hapless bystanders - the rest of the population will take cover and refrain from retaliating. How long can a bunch of mindless thugs roam the empty streets before they tire of their aimless rampage?

The SupremeTransformer, 1Nazjib

Sure, Najib can twist the Agong's arm and declare a national emergency... but such a desperate ploy can only backfire on his corrupt regime. No nation can maintain a state of emergency for more than a few weeks. And then what?

Without people going about their everyday business, everything grinds to a halt. This would be akin to a massive hartal (general strike) which some of us have been trying to organize - only this time the hartal would be thrust upon us by an evil and massively unpopular regime that has just lost an election. Well, if such a situation arises, it would only prove beyond any shadow of doubt that Umno/BN has lost its legitimacy - and even if it seizes this opportunity to arrest and imprison all Opposition leaders, activists and bloggers, it will only be signing its own death warrant.

So let's put it this way: should we continue voting Umno/BN just because we fear the dire consequences if we don't? Or should we pit our fearlessness against Umno/BN's fear? But what about the Election Commission? By now nobody doubts that the EC is prepared to go to any lengths to ensure a BN win. Should we bother voting on an uneven playing field? Or should we boycott all elections until Bersih 3.0's demands are met? Can we get 1,000,000 in the streets for Bersih 4.0? Will Hishammuddin send his brainless goons out to whack the voters yet again?

I'm willing to concede that we may have to embark on a national reconciliation exercise - the way it was done in South Africa during the tenure of F.W. de Klerk, when many police officers received formal pardons in exchange for their confessions and corrupt ministers were let off if they agreed to return a fair percentage of their ill-gotten gains to the national treasury.

[First published 25 December 2011]

Thank You, AnaMata RaMuAn! Muchas Gracias, Pachamama!

noreply@blogger.com (Antares) — Sat, 12 May 2012 19:03:00 +0000

IT'S MOTHER'S DAY!

Gaia the Earth Mother by Lauren Gary

INVOCATION FOR BLESSINGS, GUIDANCE & PROTECTION

noreply@blogger.com (Antares) — Fri, 11 May 2012 16:12:00 +0000

Calling All Crop Circle Decoders!

This crop circle represents the Star Gate in the Antares System. How we got this image is pretty strange. My friend has a protege who had a red thumb drive (USB Flash Drive) disappear from a locked drawer. He couldn't find it anywhere.

He was having lots of strange electrical activity in his home only to find out his airconditioner went out. Upon going outside to check on his air conditioner, his red thumb drive had reappeared hours later (teleported?), standing on the ground next to the air conditioner.

When he picked it up and took it inside, his air conditioner resumed operation. From prior experiences, he has learned to leave such things for a few hours so that these strange electrical energies have time to dissipate. Good way to fry a computer if one is not careful.

When he examined the thumb drive it had the original files along with three additional images. One was a picture of the Antares Star System, this crop circle image represents the Antares Stargate, there is another symbolic earth esoteric image (not yet released). The thumb drive has again disappeared and we are awaiting what new information will come.

There are some pretty good crop circle decoders out there on the internet, perhaps some read this blog? Anyway if you have any insights on the embedded math and encoding in this crop circle please leave a comment on this post for everyone.

P.S.: I think this has something to do with the Event coming up in May or June. Cobra has mentioned several times the "Antarion Conversion" (from Antares?) and the "AN Conversion" being a direct energy transfer from Source. I don't claim to know how this fits. This is an evolving story. You will recall about a month ago a triangle shaped star gate appeared on our Sun. So geometry plays a big role in all this.

[Borrowed from American Kabuki; brought to my attention by Shalamee Campbell]

INVOCATION FOR BLESSINGS,

GUIDANCE & PROTECTION

In the ineffable name of the One and the All,
the eternal and infinite “I AM” presence within,

Source of My Being, my Original and Ultimate Self;

In the name of the Beginningless and Endless,
the Mystery of Mysteries, the Master of Masters,

the Feminine and Masculine Principles
(Isis and Osiris, Sita and Rama, Shakti and Shiva,

Magdalena and Yeshu) Mother of Mothers and Father of Fathers;

We call upon the Archangelic and Angelic Realms,
Ascended and Descended Masters of the Numinous Order of Melchizedek,
the Silent Watchers, Gatekeepers of the Worlds Within Worlds;

Specifically we call upon Sananda the Cosmic Christ;
Sanat Kumara the Ancient of Days;

Metatron the Preserver of Forms;
Lady Kuanyin the Compassionate;
Lady Portia, embodiment of Cosmic Justice;

and Saint Germain of the Violet Flame:

Please clarify and edify, please cleanse and purify us
and absolve us from ignorance and karmic hindrances;
prepare us to be empty vessels ready to receive new wine.

Violet Flame from the heart of Saint Germain,
blessed and beloved Violet Flame of Transmutation,
enter our hearts and flow through our physical, mental and emotional bodies.

Violet Flame from the heart of Saint Germain,
blessed and beloved Violet Flame of Transmutation,
enter our hearts and flow through our physical, mental and emotional bodies…
NOW!

Thank you, thank you, blessed and beloved Violet Flame, we thank you.

Violet Flame of Transmutation, as you enter our hearts and
flow through our physical, mental and emotional bodies, burn away the debris
and the dross accumulated through all our embodiments

and restore us to pristine purity.

Violet Flame of Transmutation, as you flow and dance through our physical,
mental and emotional bodies, burn away all biochemical, hormonal and endocrinal imbalances and clear away all defunct and dysfunctional programs;
burn away all unnecessary, unwholesome addictions, beliefs,

prejudices and obsessions.

Violet Flame of Transmutation, as you flow and dance through our physical,
mental and emotional bodies, reignite the Divine Spark of All-Being,
All-Knowing and All-Sensing within the nucleus of every cell;
reactivate the memory banks and all data bequeathed us by our ancestors and predecessors; reintegrate all aspects, all fragments,
all components of our greater existence

and restore us to the fullness and wholeness of our present being.

Violet Flame of Transmutation, as you flow and dance through our physical,
mental and emotional bodies, fill us to overflowing with remembrance,
understanding and compassion.

May all injuries to our physical bodies, subconscious minds and our
emotional bodies be completely and finally healed;
and may that healing ripple outwards to our home sweet homes,

our beautiful countries, our beloved planet,
our magnificent galaxy and beyond.

We thank and honor all who have served the Sacred Flame of Intelligence,
Compassion, Love and Wisdom across the Aeons,
especially the Archangel Michael who has valiantly held and supported us
in all our battles, internal as well as external,
with shadow aspects of ourselves.
Let there be an end to cruelty, injustice, tyranny and violence
in all planes of existence.

We thank and honor Metatron and Melchizedek for protecting and
preserving the integrity and sovereignty of Universal Form and Spirit;
for serving as conduits of our physical and metaphysical expression.

We thank and honor Lady Portia and Saint Germain for blessing,
guiding and protecting us as we shift into the New Aeon,
the Age of Aquarius; and as we quantum jump from the 3rd to the 5th dimension
and consciously begin a new cycle of cosmic evolution.

We call upon the Chohans and Kumaras, luminaries and teachers
of the Seven Rays, to bless and guide and protect us
on our journey home to Oneness.

We call upon the Elohim and the Star Councils,
emissaries and embodiments of Prime Creator,

the Source of Life and Light and Love,
to grant us free access to all accumulated experience

and accompany us as we evolve beyond Duality
and reclaim our Wholeness and Integrity.

We call upon the Elements within us and around us,
the Devas of all Domains of Existence,

to share our joyful celebration of a
Unified and Coherent Field of Awareness.

We call upon thee, Keeper of the Genetic Keys and
Guardian of the Portals of Initiation,

to bless and guide and protect us –
and to help us know and love ourselves.

In the name of the Beginningless and Endless, the Mystery of Mysteries,
the Master of Masters, the Feminine and Masculine Principles
(Isis and Osiris, Sita and Rama, Shakti and Shiva,

Magdalena and Yeshu) Mother of Mothers and Father of Fathers;

In the ineffable name of the One and the All,
the eternal and infinite “I AM” presence within,

Source of My Being, my Original and Ultimate Self:

I am the One.

I am the All.

I AM.

WE ARE NOT ALONE.

WE ARE ALL ONE.

[Deep breath]

AUM [articulate on the outbreath till the sound gently fades away]

Courtesy of American Kabuki

Wisdom of the Ridiculous: 3 timeless lectures by Alan Watts

noreply@blogger.com (Antares) — Fri, 11 May 2012 07:13:00 +0000

Alan Wilson Watts (6 January 1915 – 16 November 1973) was a British philosopher, writer, and speaker, best known as an interpreter and populariser of Eastern philosophy for a Western audience.

Born in Chislehurst, he moved to the United States in 1938 and began Zen training in New York. Pursuing a career, he attended Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, where he received a master's degree in theology. Watts became an Episcopal priest but left the ministry in 1950 and moved to California, where he joined the faculty of the American Academy of Asian Studies.

Living on the West Coast, Watts gained a large following in the San Francisco Bay Area while working as a volunteer programmer at KPFA, a Pacifica Radio station in Berkeley. Watts wrote more than 25 books and articles on subjects important to Eastern and Western religion, introducing the then-burgeoning youth culture to The Way of Zen (1957), one of the first bestselling books on Buddhism.

In Psychotherapy East and West (1961), Watts proposed that Buddhism could be thought of as a form of psychotherapy and not just a religion. Like Aldous Huxley before him, he explored human consciousness in the essay, "The New Alchemy" (1958), and in the book, The Joyous Cosmology (1962).

Towards the end of his life, he divided his time between a houseboat in Sausalito and a cabin on Mount Tamalpais. His legacy has been kept alive by his son, Mark Watts, and by many of his recorded talks and lectures that have found new life on the Internet. According to the critic Erik Davis, his "writings and recorded talks still shimmer with a profound and galvanizing lucidity."

NOTE: These brilliant lectures were digitally rescued from analog audio recordings and made available to the present generation by Mark Watts, keeper of his father's wisdom archives. I suggest you bookmark this post and return to it from time to time - whenever you feel prompted to lean back and be reassured by a warm, human voice of crystalline intelligence, mental clarity, infinite compassion, spiritual depth, and supreme eloquence.

Alan Watts & The Skin-Encapsulated Ego

Several decades ago I stumbled upon the writings of a wry English theologian and philosopher named Alan Watts (1915-1973).

I owe Alan Wilson Watts a huge debt of gratitude for having provided me effortless access to the essence of Eastern mysticism as expressed in the Tao Te Ching and the basic tenets of Zen. Ironic, isn't it, that someone like me whose physical body can be categorized as "Asian" has to engage the timeless teachings of Eastern mystics through the medium of an Englishman's mind?

The most endearing - and enduring - quality of Alan Watts's writing is its elegant, poetic lucidity, and the tangible warmth of his exquisitely noble personality. Watts had the uncanny knack of drawing his readers gently into his private thought-streams and lofty musings minus the intellectual haughtiness of so many run-of-the-mill academics.

[Read the rest here.]

A timely message from the Intergalactic Systems Busters!

noreply@blogger.com (Antares) — Wed, 09 May 2012 14:10:00 +0000

“You are living in a time when opportunities for self-empowerment, expanded awareness, and spiritual growth appear to be unlimited.” ~ The Pleiadians.

"What the Pleiadians are saying is that we inherit all the abilities of our ancestors. We've all had ancestors who were traumatized and never processed their trauma because they didn't understand it. Now, today, with the energies increasing, we're cleaning the [human] gene pool by [replaying] all of the traumas our ancestors went through, as well as all their joys and victories... During the period from about 1987 through the end of 2012 is a time for humankind to build a frequency of healing so that we can make a new paradigm. As we bridge the gap from the Piscean to the Aquarian Age, everything [we think, say or do] is registered genetically to sum up the age and to carry a frequency or information into the next Age. They say it comes down to real simple choices - fear or love."

For more information: Barbara Marciniak ~ Bringers of the Dawn

[Brought to my attention by Arun Paul]

If you've ever suspected that this 3D Matrix was an Energy Farm, a Prison Planet, owned and operated by cold-blooded semi-human entities to harvest our vitality, check out this fascinating site!

Mariam Mokhtar on the Scorpene's Sting...

noreply@blogger.com (Antares) — Wed, 09 May 2012 10:17:00 +0000

[Reproduced from Malaysiakini in the public interest]

Can Najib survive Scorpene's sting?

Mariam Mokhtar

11:16AM May 7, 2012

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak sealed his own fate, 11 years ago at a meeting to discuss the Scorpene submarine purchase. The date was July 14, 2001.

As any history student will tell you, the storming of the Bastille in Paris, on the morning of July 14, 1789, signalled the beginning of the French revolution. Every year, the French celebrate their National or Bastille Day, on July 14.

From now on, Malaysians may also attach some significance to July 14. It might not be the start of a Malaysian revolution, but it was on July 14, 2001, that Najib held a meeting with DCNI, the subsidiary of the French shipmaker DCN.

Najib, who was the defence minister at the time, had allegedly demanded that the French pay US$1 billion (RM3 billion) to the Malaysian company Perimekar, as a condition for meeting him.

These details were divulged by the French investigators for Suaram, and form only the tip of the iceberg. Their list of witnesses includes Najib, Abdul Razak Baginda and the current Defence Minister Zahid Hamidi. All are required to testify in Paris.

It has not been a good week for the PM. The government's response to the Bersih sit-down protest has attracted international condemnation. In the week which coincided with World Press Freedom Day, his policemen have been accused of brutality and his administration has been villified for media censorship.

Independent foreign observers have criticised Najib for mishandling the peaceful protest, and denying the rakyat their fundamental right to freedom of assembly.

Two newspapers face legal action; the New Straits Times, by an Australian senator, Nicholas Xenophon, because the paper libeled him, and Utusan Malaysia, which ran a front-page story that the Opposition politician Azmin Ali was involved in a tryst.

Diminishing support

With the French court case looming, corruption scandals rocking his cabinet and further delays to GE13, Najib fears that support for him and his party will diminish further.

Is it any wonder that a few days ago, Najib tried to distract us, by claiming that Bersih's sit-down protest was a plot to topple his government?

Najib's opposition to Bersih 3.0 is a clear indication that Umno knows that it cannot win a clean election. He knows he cannot allow a free and fair election.
That explains the concerted effort by Umno and the Election Commission (EC) to cheat. In desperation, Najib has accused Bersih 3.0 of wanting to turn Dataran Merdeka into Tahrir Square.

In a press conference last week, Suaram confirmed that the French judicial probe had evolved from a "civil complaint" into a "criminal investigation."

The French lawyer acting for Suaram, Joseph Breham said: "Investigations so far have provided sufficient evidence to point our finger at Malaysian officials in this (court) hearing."

Suaram secretariat member and lawyer Fadiah Nadwa Fikri said, "....The parties involved in the scandal would soon be charged in the French criminal court. It's going to be bigger than it already is now".

Suaram secretary-general Cynthia Gabriel (left) called the Scorpene scandal, "the Great Malaysian Robbery" with several companies, including the pilgrimage fund (Lembaga Tabung Haji) and the military servicemen's pension fund (Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera) being used to obscure the money trail.

Gabriel said, "The Malaysian and French people have clearly been misled, cheated and robbed of their monies through blatant corruption and mismanagement of funds in the name of national safety and security."

The former finance director of DCN, Gerarde Philippe Maneyas, alleged that Malaysian officials in the deal had been bribed.

With the introduction of new laws in France and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Convention in 2002, bribes made to foreign officials are considered a criminal offence. Previously, these bribes were tax-deductible.

As a result of these laws and the OECD, all documentation relating to arms deals would replace reference to the payment of "commissions" with "payment to service providers."

Terasasi surfaces

The French inquiry also revealed the presence of a previously unknown company, Terasasi, which is owned by the PM's former aide, Abdul Razak Baginda.

Baginda (left) also owned Perimekar, and both these companies received several million euros in commissions and kickbacks. Baginda's wife and father are also linked to Perimekar and Terasasi.

Interestingly, French investigators found an invoice from Terasasi to a French company, Thint Asia International, dated Aug 28, 2004 for 359,450 euros (RM1.43 million) with a handwritten note saying: "Razak wants it in a hurry." Needless to say, the race is on to discover which "Razak" this refers to.

Despite the rapid pace of development by the French investigators, members of Najib's cabinet have remained eerily silent.

One thing is clear. Najib cannot be non-committal in future press conferences and abruptly terminate them when any reference is made to Scorpene. He cannot use that old trick of saying he will go the mosque and swear on the Quran. He cannot avoid the French subpoena without risking an international arrest warrant.

Despite the internal power struggles in the upper echelons of Umno, none of those who wish to be PM has appeared to lodge the first knife in his back. Perhaps, they all realise that despite Najib's unpopularity, they have to band together to save their skin.

Najib faces a dilemma. He needs the support of Umno members so he can remain as PM, because it is said that a head of state enjoys immunity while he is in office. Once he stands down, he becomes another ordinary person and will be prosecuted, for any crimes committed.

Najib probably rues the day he entertained the French on July 14, 2001. Even Swiss bank accounts and exile to a "friendly" country are no guarantees of freedom.

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a non-conformist traditionalist from Perak, a bucket chemist and an armchair eco-warrior. In ‘real-speak', this translates into that she comes from Ipoh, values change but respects culture, is a petroleum chemist and also an environmental pollution-control scientist.