bits and pieces

As if there wasn’t reason enough to love the Ricecooker shop already, over the past two weeks I bought a couple of pretty damn impressive—and pretty damn noisy—CDs in the Al-Thawra / Winters in Osaka collaboration CD and Bastard Noise’s Descent to Mimas. Yeah, motherfuckers. Bastard-fucking-Noise. I admit that I’m not totally sold on the merits of the Bastard Noise machine, but that CD I bought is pretty fucking killer, I have to say. Worth the cash. And, unless someone beats me to it—highly unlikely, but you never know—I’m going to be getting Guilty Connector’s Cosmic Trigger / 2 A.M. Visit CD next. If this was the me of ’08 I’d be all over the Prurient CD they have (Shipwrecker’s Diary… yeah, it’s all Ground Fault stuff) but I’m thinking I’d rather spend my cash on other stuff first.

I also attended both of Goh Lee Kwang’s recent concerts at the Findars Space at the Annexe, yesterday and the previous Tuesday. Enjoyable experiences both, although two very different experiences. Last Tuesday’s performance was acoustic, while yesterday’s performance was pretty much pure laptop-based noise. I have to say that I preferred last night’s performance over his previous one, but it’s all good.

(Last week’s concert.)

I’ve been playing Baldur’s Gate 1 like a motherfucker recently. Great, great game. I just wish that the characters, y’know, walked faster. Or that you could, y’know, have them run. BG1 seems a bit old-fashioned and unrefined compared to later Infinity Engine games, but I guess that’s to be expected. It is, after all, the first IE game. I would’ve used BGTuTu or whatever so that I could play BG1 with the Baldur’s Gate 2 engine, but I seem to have lost my BG2 CDs and, well, the Internet’s being hugely sucky so I can’t download it.

And, if I may make a complete detour: this whole Perak business and the sudden emergence of boatloads of idiots who thump their chests and shout “Daulat Tuanku!!!” makes me sick. Utterly, utterly sick. What the fuck, people? No, seriously. I’m hardly a supporter of Nizar or whoever, but fuck you guys man, I want nothing to do with idiots that deify their—very nearly pointless, to these eyes—sultans and rajas and etc. It just makes me sick. And pisses me off. Some people are just so… stupid it beggars belief. I just don’t see the logic behind it at all. Not one bit. Respecting your leaders is all well and good, but this shit, this belief that they’re above everything and that they’re somehow special and that anyone speaking out against them deserves to be stoned to death and et cetera et cetera is just plain fucked. 21st century my ass.

Mari menderhaka, folks!

i dream of…

…a separation of church (ok, mosque) and state here in Malaysia, one day.

It’s never going to happen, of course. But if I was granted a wish, I would, right now at least, ask for that.

I do generally hate and dislike religious people, I won’t lie. I won’t make it a secret, even. I don’t hate everyone, but if you’re one of those people that: A) Blindly accepted that idiotic new fatwa on pengkids* and B) Went “hear, hear!” or, god forbid, “amen!” when Ahmad Zahid (fuck the “Datuk Seri” bit, who gives a shit?) said what he did, then you can rest safe in the knowledge that I not only detest your very existence, but that I would gladly spit in your face(s) if you give me the chance.

You know what they seem to be saying now? That Islam, that anything supposedly borne from the Quran or Hadith, is immutable, set in stone, unquestionable, and so supremely holy that they stand above even the universal truths of logic and common sense. That‘s what they’re saying. That Islam, that, sadly, “oft-misunderstood” religion, is actually a monolithic structure slowly purging any and all concepts of actual thinking from its makeup.

The same people complaining about how Islam is being “misunderstood” and whinging about Islamophobia are the same ones who give so many reasons for people to do so.

* So my friend wears shorts, has short hair and is occasionally fond of punching me on the shoulder sometimes, what, does that make her existance some sort of crime against religion or something? And you know what’s really frightening? It’s that they’re planning to get this stupid fatwa turned into some sort of law, whereby wearing shorts, having short hair and being “rough,” if you’re a woman, is grounds for imprisonment. You know what that is? That’s rape. Except instead of using their penises, they’re using the law.

And you idiots wonder why I want to get the fuck out of this country for good.

leaving normal

What is “normal” anyway? And who is it that decides what is “normal” and what isn’t? Who is it that decides it’s okay to make people who don’t fit into the arbitrary, meaningless definiton of “normal” feel inferior?

Ok, so maybe the people that don’t fit into the common mold are the “odd” or “abnormal” ones but where does it say that they’re the ones that are “wrong” and, to use the lovable Bahasa expression, “terpesong”? Why is it that when someone even dares to step out from or speak against the things that are considered “proper” and “right” in our society, they’re instantly vilified and discriminated against? Why do we have to treat certain people differently just because they live differently than we do?

I genuinely wish I knew the answer (I don’t), but I’d wager that the fact that we, as humans, are mostly idiots has got something to do with it. And, if you couple that with the fact that Malaysians in general are close-minded and pretty fucking conservative (even amongst so-called “openminded” subcultures such as the punk subculture: OH HEY THESE GUYS AREN’T “CRUSTY!” FUCK THEM!), you’ll come up with a wonderful concoction of *phobic tendencies and vast amounts of disgusting idiocy.

(Note that I am mostly talking about being “abnormal” due to lifestyle choices and the like, not because of having Down Syndrome or any sort of physical/medical abnormalities/disabilities/defects.)

What’s so wrong with someone being different? What’s so wrong with someone deciding they don’t want to adhere to your moral and cultural standards? What’s so wrong with someone deciding they want to do something new, something outside of the norm, something treated as a taboo in our conservative culture? What’s so wrong with someone deciding to not buy into your hackneyed standards and deciding to embrace something that they believe in? And if they do, does that make them a bad person? Does that make them any less of a human being?

HELL NO.

Open your eyes, people. Open your minds. Try and see things from a different perspective. Experience, don’t just judge. The world’s not just about you. It’s not just about your standards. And you’re not always right. Just because it’s “normal” doesn’t mean it’s right. Accept people’s differences, don’t make them feel inferior because of those. Is that so hard to do? Accept diversity, people, in any way, shape or form. I really can’t help but notice that many, many Malaysians are quite bigoted, conservative and close-minded, regardless of where they stand. I’m on the inside right now, looking out, and that’s what I see.

And I don’t like what it is that I’m seeing.

31st august 2008

This year, it will be Malaysia’s 45th birthday.

Yes, I can count.

Do remember, people, that Sabah and Sarawak only joined with the Tanah Melayu to form something known as Malaysia on the 16th of September 1963. And do realize that while most of you fucks celebrate 31st August like it was the most important day in history, no-one seems to ever realize the fact that Malaysia’s first birthday was really on 16/09/63, not 31/08/57. I shudder how bad it would be if Sabah and Sarawak didn’t provide the amounts of natural resources that they do. Maybe people’d totally forget the date of 16th September. Of course, not that anyone really remembers the significance, anyway. To them it’s all 31st, 31st, 31st. Merdeka, merdeka, merdeka.

Know that you people look like huge cocks, however, with your sudden “pride” and misguided chest-beating and loud, annoying-as-fuck chants of “merdeka!”.

But, regardless: Happy birthday, Tanah Melayu! God knows I won’t be celebrating it.

so much truth

Yes, I know. Nearly a month late, but I’ve been slacking off on my Malaysia Today reading and only stumbled upon this today. And it is something I whole-heartedly, undeniably agree with:

Corruption, exploitation, abuse of power, political persecution, arrogance, racial discrimination, no respect for fundamental liberties and human rights, and much more, are not the problem. These are merely symptoms of another problem. These are just the end-result of the real problem. The problem that breeds all these symptoms of what ails this country is that Muslims do not know how to be Muslims.

Sure, I know, you are going to now scream, “Why target just the Muslims? There are also bad Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and whatnot. So why just target Muslims for criticism? Why not also whack the Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and whatnot?”

The Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and whatnot do not run this country. The majority of the 1.2 million leaders and civil servants are Muslims. The policies and direction of this country are charted and guided by the Muslims. It is the Muslims who practically have absolute say in how this country is run and in what happens in this country. At best, those not of the Muslim faith are merely running dogs of the Muslims. These running dogs lie to their people by claiming that they are looking after the interest of their community whereas they are really selling their community down the drain and subjecting their community to the whims and fancies of the Muslims who are running this country.

Listen to how Muslims talk. They foam at the mouth in defence of Islam. They slander and defile other religions. They declare all other religions as false and their holy books as fakes. They profess only Islam as the true religion, Muhammad as the final and legitimate Prophet, and the Quran as the only authentic book still in existence. Then they do everything that Islam is against without blinking an eyelid as if this is what God Himself prescribed.

No, the non-Muslims do not moralise like the Muslims do. The non-Muslims are not patronising like the Muslims are. The non-Muslims do not talk down to those of other religions like the Muslims do. The non-Muslims do not preach that those not of their religion are the enemies of God who should not be taken as friends the way the Muslims preach.

Yes, there are good Muslims and there are bad Muslims. There are also good people of the other religions and there are bad people of the other religions. But only Muslims pretend to be good when they are actually bad. Only Muslims talk about their religion non-stop while going against everything their religion stands for.

Anwar described at great length what ails our country. Anwar described in great detail what ills our society is suffering from. But all that could have been explained in just one sentence. Muslims do not know how to be Muslims. Muslims do everything Islam is against. Muslims are hypocrites. That is what ails Malaysia. That is the sickness of our society. And that is why Malaysia is a lost cause as long as we have the majority 1.2 million leaders and civil servants coming from just one faith, the Muslim faith.

Source

It’s true, and you know it. Don’t even try and deny it. I have a view from the inside out, being somewhat of a Muslim (key word being “somewhat”), and, you see, this is exactly why I have such a dislike for my “fellow” Muslims. I use that term loosely, as even if I was steady in my faith and didn’t doubt it all so much I still wouldn’t want to be associated with those idiots.

However, do note that I am not a staunch supporter of Anwar or the Pakatan. But, as they say, asalkan bukan UMNO.

good god

First, read this.

And then tell me, what the fuck is this shit? What. The. FUCK. Is. This. Shit.

Seriously. On a one to ten scale of bullshit, that BTN thing would be a solid one hundred.

If I ever meet anyone that agrees with any of that shit then, mark my words, I will spit in their faces. Maybe they’ll think it’s rain. After all, they’re idiots, right?

I seriously don’t have anything cohesive to say.

for the record

From Joe Kidd:

Friends all, kami semua OK (Alak ada benjol sikit kat dahi). kami perlu berterima kasih pada pemuda-pemuda AMK (Angkatan Pemuda Keadilan – t-shirt biru) yang rata-rata marah tapi masih cuba sedaya-upaya menyelamatkan kami dari segerombolan pemuda-pemuda berbaju merah yang memang ready to rip us apart. With the help of AMK, we all managed to sneak out of the stadium (separately) after about 20 minutes being under siege.

The problem here is our song “Mari Nyanyi Menjilat”. Macam biasa, Alak did his exposing his underwear thing and of course dalam situasi panas tentang “liwat-meliwat” sekarang, aku rasa that gesture was misunderstood by the people there.

Some reports I saw also misquoted the title as “Liwat” instead of “Jilat”, so if some bloggers made the mistake, I’m sure a lot of the people in the stadium misunderstood too. So many took umbrage lah, thinking that we were making fun of Anwar. Actually I even explained to the crowd the gist of the song before we played it.

The thing is aku rasa Alak was in his “auto-pilot” mode. We have been playing that song for a long time and to a lot of people for years already and Alak have always been doing that to heighten the “satire”. The kids in the scene would get the joke all the time but we can’t expect the same from the public. That’s our mistake.

Anyways, apart from the guys in AMK, we also must thank Tom (Skitzofrenia) who shielded Alak from a lot blows, and in the process also got some benjol-benjol. Much thanks to Mad Yus (Apparatus), Poodien, Mirdza (Relationsheep), Black and many more who were there and helped out.

BTW; Mari Nyanyi Menjilat (not Mari Belajar Menjilat, as Malay Mail wrote) is about integrity or the lack of it; the mother of corruption…

I regret heading back at 6pm. I’d love to have been there, partly to sing along (Jubur! Korperat! Sedap! Hoyeah~) and to see, in person, those fucks get all angry. And maybe jump in and punch some people. I haven’t done that in a long, long time. Far too long. I miss it.

Also for the record, I’d like to say that I was there yesterday not because I actually support that whole Pakatan Rakyat thing, but because they’re fighting for things that I agree with. I am not at all a fan of the ruling parties and in all honesty I’d love to see them get reamed up the ass, regardless of who’s doing the reaming. I hated all the chants of “Turun! Turun!” and all but, well, I agree with their causes and I sympathise. “Asalkan bukan UMNO” indeed. I’d rather not have PAS either, though, but as long as they don’t decide to go all Islamic on our asses then I don’t really mind. I do not want to live in the Middle East, kthx.

It’s no surprise that the media are being idiots about this too. And, sadly, even some bloggers. I guess political affiliations, fundamentalism (one of the great diseases plaguing humankind right now, in my opinion . . . right up there with cancer) and generally being huge idiots rank above actually bothering to find out what the fuck a band is singing about. Sadly. It’s a shame that your average pakcik and makcik will ever only hear one side’s spin on things, and an inaccurate spin at that.

I’m not sure what point—if any—I’m trying to make here, to be honest.

On a slightly unrelated (but at the same time slightly related, go figure) note, I have to say that while I respect some people’s ability to have a real sense of belief in something, at the same time I pity them because such strong belief often leads to close-mindedness, a genuine lack of common sense and generally saying/doing stupid things. I’m not specifically talking about the issue at hand here, either. This can refer to many things, most of which I’m sure you readers can figure out.

Sometimes I wish I could really believe in something, or even someone. Like myself, for instance. But that’s for another entry.

more thoughts on "sepuluh tahun sebelum merdeka"

I still remember learning about the period of our country’s history as dealt with in the documentary back in school, and I still remember how the textbooks painted bodies such as API, PUTERA-AMCJA and other left-wing parties to be the “bad guys” and UMNO as the “good guys.” Back then I think I believed whatever the textbooks said, and still recall being bewildered by why the aforementioned left-wing parties acted the way they did.

You know, I guess now I wouldn’t call the people who wrote the textbooks writers, but rather propagandists serving the right-wing government, twisting events towards their own point of view in order to mislead the youths and plant false information into their minds before they even get a chance to open their eyes.

Of course, even back then I had my doubts about the accuracy of our history curriculum (I actually had to look up how to spell that word), but I just didn’t know where to look in order to find the real, unbiased truth. I half-believed, half-doubted, and in the end decided to try and not care about history just because I was so confused about what the truth actually was, and where to find it. Certainly not in the textbooks, for sure.

Last night, however, I finally knew the truth. Even if the movie only dealt with a specific part of the nation’s history, it was a very important part that Fahmi Reza decided to tackle and shed some light on. And, really, in a sense, the movie drove the final nail into the coffin as far as I’m concerned. History, as we learnt (and are still learning) during school, is bollocks, biased, inaccurate and plain misleading.

I feel cheated, in a sense. We should all feel cheated.

The kids think they know what’s what. Well, until they’ve watched this, they simply don’t:

I recommend you download the documentary, though (from, again, the website), as there are subtitles which might help a bit. I only downloaded the ones hosted on Rapidshare and Driveway (720×540 = oooh) but I believe all the downloadable versions have subtitles.

oct 4th.

Free Burma!

(i know, an hour past midnight is only just about october 4th, but it is the 4th nonetheless.)