My posting on the mystique of Raja Petra Kamarudin and his Malaysia Today SoPo portal apparently stirred a hornet's nest of sorts in the blogosphere. I find the varied reactions across the Malaysian political continuum rather enlightening and thought provoking.
(Note: Go to the Comments section of the Unraveling the RPK Mystique post below for the readers’ feedback).
The Malaysia Today zealots – I call them the MT Junkies -- were understandably distressed. Perhaps they were outraged by the "audacity" of the post, especially the “profiling” of their flock into five rambling cyber-tribes. They also condemn the sacrilegious act of debunking the many myths of RPK and MT, and view this as a desecration of the iridescent image of their infallible, sacrosanct cyber-deity.
This impertinence, indeed, this outrage, ruffled the MT flock. A big dosa had been committed. How dare of Demi Negara to insult their idol, their hope, their saviour, their shining light to the path of political enlightenment! Whoaa, whoaa, …. take it easy disciples. Sit!
I think these MT Junkies should sober up and read this before this dewa-nization mania gets out of hand. I’m a keen student of political history, and I know that personality cults invariably lead to troubling conclusions – for both dewa and congregation.
Let me just say that I have nothing against RPK. In fact, I acknowledge his early contribution to the struggle for justice and press freedom. His many exposé over the years made compelling reading and encouraged critical thinking among ordinary Malaysians. I was an early fan and revel in his epic David and Goliath skirmishes with the state. He was the quintessential hero of the common folk. But the flavour of RPK’s struggle changed through the years, from a popular movement for all Malaysians to a sick, anti-Malay, anti-Islam lair infested with anonymous racists, chauvinists, psychopaths and sickos. A core group of not more than 30 junkies began to dominate the postings and -- without the necessary Malay and Islamic counterpoints (these were moderated away wholesale as mentioned in my RPK Mystique post) -- terminally infected MT with racist hate, contempt and vengeance almost unrivaled in any of the world's major SoPo portals.
RPK’s rather noble intentions were hijacked and re-synthesized by these dark elements of our fragmented society. This was facilitated by RPK’s ongoing feud with his UMNO adversaries, where RPK gradually equate legitimate dissenting Malay points of view as “UMNO Cybertrooper propaganda” and hence not to be given the light of day on MT. Conversely, posts blatantly insulting to Malays and Islam – but under the guise of anti-UMNO, anti-UMNOputras, anti-NEP – were allowed and these snowballed into an orgiastic fiesta of one-sided Malay-bashing. The anti-Malay rhetoric puked time and again by these racists and bigots typically revolve around the penchant of the Malays (tagged as “UMNOputras” of course) to be corrupted, lazy, stupid, ignorant, weak, foolhardy, and totally dependent on canes and crutches provided by the “UMNO government,” lest they will shrivel and collapse under the weight of their own pathetic beings.
Wow …. betul ka? Lu olang pecaya suma ini ka?
Lu ingat gua olang tutuk lumah cakap ini macam ka:-
"Ibu, ibu … I feel sooooo weak and helpless. I’m a Malay you know. Where are my crutches? Gimme my tongkat. Has the gomen credited my free money into my ASB account? Aduuh, the dividen only 45% this year ka? I need the free money to put the RM100 booking fee on the rumah I'm getting at 30% discount paid by my 110% gomen loan. Oh ya, has the free baja, free diesel, free perahu and free kain pullicat arrived? I'm selling them to Ah Seng for this month's wang segera to pay the bunga of last month's hutang to Tamboopillay."
As P. Ramlee would say: "Pigidahh!" "Kepala hotak bejambol" (no, that's Ahmad Nisfu's line).
Anyway, in the world of the MT Junkies, anything achieved by the Malay is attributed to the NEP. The failure of a not-so-smart non-Malay (yes, actually stupid non-Malays do exist in large numbers) is also blamed on the NEP. Supersmart, hardworking and succesful Malays are brushed aside as the “children of the NEP.”
The NEP became the iconic three-letter catch-all to explain away Malay success and non-Malay failure.
Isn’t life simple and dandy?
Q: “Ah Chong, why are you hustling all day and not earning an honest living?” A: NEP mahhh.
Q: “Muthu, why don’t you go to school and learn a marketable skill?” A: NEP lah dey.
Q: “Guys, I saw Ali in his new Honda Accord, nice ahh?” A: Haiya, he got it thru NEP lah. You donno ahh?”
Now, who is into slick propaganda? Is it UMNO or is it MT and their phantom benefactors? You tell me.
The shrills of ecstasy and noisy one-upmanship among the MT Junkies in their Malay- and Islam-bashing euphoria jump in your face as you chillingly forage down the Comment sections and wonder how on earth would a Malay like RPK allow these thrash-talk on his own race? To spite his UMNO enemies perhaps? Many of these same junkies spew comments on MT 18-20 hours a day, perhaps reflective of their wretched, maladjusted existence. I’m convinced many would kill themselves if MT pulls the plug as MT is their life, a reason to exist, a sole source of empowerment, their conduit of hate. Go check the comments and you’ll understand.
In a nutshell, RPK’s tolerance of these malcontents and misfits underpinned the gist of my critique. Again, RPK per se is not the issue – and my post is clear on that – but his inability to rein in these racist elements ruined the fundamentals of his struggles and aspirations in the eyes of the vast majority of Malays and by extension Malaysians.
***************************
I must, however, thank the Malaysia Today flock for their comments and feedbacks. The Rabid Racists and MT Junkies came out in full force with their racist and bigoted remarks and astonishing perversions of reality so indicative of psychopantic cultists through the annals of history. This confirmed my thesis on this group. These trolls challenged this blog not to moderate their hate messages. Well, Demi Negara will open the floodgates the moment MT and other racist, anti-Malay, anti-Islam sites remove comment moderation on THEIR sites as well. We Malaysians look forward to reading the 500-600 daily comments sent by Malays that gets “moderated away” by MT (in the words of RPK no less).
The antics of the MT junkies validated all the tenets of my quick and dirty profiling of their lot. Their rabid racist attitude and pathological hatred towards this country’s Malay majority and official Islamic faith were in full bloom in their energetic feedbacks.
Excellent.
My hypothesis expounded in the Unraveling the RPK Mystique post was correct. Again, their whole hearted participation is appreciated. Thanks again people. Kam Sia. Toh Cheh. Nandri.
***************************
I wrote a lengthy piece in the Comments section of the Unraveling the RPK Mystique post regarding the peculiar action of an MT Psychopant (this is a more advanced form of “Junkie”) named Din Merican.
This gentleman copied-and-pasted my post to his blog, complete with a cryptic Orwellian warning:-
“Fellow Malaysians, this is what we are up against, hired writers/apologists for a discredited regime.”
Bravo Deano!
This was promptly planted in MT, which then triggered a significant increase in traffic to this blog. Now, that's what I call a trickle down, double-scoop Friedmanian multiplier effect. Thanks Din. Couldn't do it without ya. You’re an excellent collaborator. Ha ha ha.
Anyway, my piece on Din Merican’s antics in the Comments section deserves a post by itself. So here goes (refined/enhanced for clarity):-
I would like to thank Din Merican for spreading my thoughts to netizens across the land and beyond. It’s not common to have your ENTIRE 3,700-word posting – warts and all -- copied and pasted lock-stock-and-barrel by an established blogging old hand like Din Merican. Thanks again buddy. You made my day.
But I must say that your exuberance to disseminate my piece should not be smothered by your emotional need to “belong” -- your desire to be part of the scene.
What am I talking about?
Well, Din Merican – apart from piggybacking on my post (yeah, I heard it’s a good tactic to divert traffic without investing your own grey matter) – cunningly INSERTED HIS NAME (and for some reason “Farish Noor”) into my paragraph on the “Idealists.” See here (I highlight Din’s insertion -- “Din Merican, Farish Noor” – in blue):-
“The thought leaders of this small but influential group include fellow bloggers Dr. Azly Rahman, Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, Din Merican, Farish Noor, Dr. Bakri Musa, Harris Ibrahim, as well as writers Karim Raslan, Wan Hamidi Hamid and politicians, Zaid Ibrahim and Tunku Aziz Ibrahim.”
Hmm, what do you call this act? It’s not censorship because you “cut-away” or blank-out content when you censor. Is there a term for unauthorised, cheap shot add-ons?
In geology, there is a term called “accretion,” where terranes (small land masses) get sutured to larger continental blocks over time. Maybe this is a case of “blog post accretion” Din Merican style. This abomination of basic ethics must have something to do with Din Merican’s “need to belong,” perhaps his delusional perception of relevance in the blogosphere, hence, the act of inserting his own name in a perceived prestigious list for all to see. Apparently, Din’s a laughing stock at Rocky’s blog when this was highlighted by someone (no, not me. I was busy fishing) yesterday.
Anyway, if I do get the chance to meet Din, I would utter: Hey Din, apa dah jadi kat hangpa ni? Apasai dok ciplak post aku dan selit nama hang dalam cerita aku. Aku khabak kat ‘Nuar baru hang tau ….nanti sampai Pak Sheikh pusin kepala dok kata “ayoyo si Deano nih, betui kah?” Nampak gaya nya hang kena lah banyak ilék ilék kat Boss hang Ahad nih di Kg. Baru .... Aku pikiaq lebih baik hang pi cuti aja kat rumah hang di Phnom Penh tuh. Nanti tak sedap dengaq orang dok ngumpat pasai hang ni …
O.k., o.k., ... I do empathize with my old buddy Din’s inherent need to be perceived as a peer of a “select group” ….. on a list that I created while ... ahemm ... pontificating in the throne room, yeah the loo. Geeez, talk about being vain, Deano baby.
***************************
Anyway, beyond this mind boggling self-promotion, Din Merican somehow saw a hidden hand, in fact a PAYMASTER, behind my blog. To quote him (don’t worry, I won’t insert my name into his writing):-
“It reminds me of the heydays of the Cold War when the CIA used novelists, academics and journalists to spread the word. Stalin and Hitler too did the same thing when they temporarily held the reins of power.”
Wow! Holy whatchamacallit! I’m honoured. Danke Schoen. Большое Спасибо.
What is this guy thinkin’? Remember the adage, “an idle mind is the devil’s workshop”? I guess the iblis must be working overtime in Din’s case.
Din, please come for Raya at my Yalta dacha and my Berghof villa next week. Ketupat and borsch is good. Oh, check out Olga’s lemang sprinkled with beluga caviar. Certainly will give your Nasi Kandaaq a run for its money, yeah the Rubles and Reichsmarks and Renmimbis.
I’ll be quoting your gem of a preamble that you wrote in your blog on top of my posting (that you copied-added your name-and-pasted) in a future book entitled “Confessions of a SoPo Blogger.”
In one fell swoop of your keyboard, I’m now a suspected novelist, academic and journalist. Thank you sir. I guess I’m now in your Deepavali (oops, I mean Hari Raya) A-List now uhh? Wow, I’m now an “Elite”. An Orang Ternama. The multiple “Vs” in the IP.
But again, maybe I’m just a simple paddy farmer in Kelantan with a Darjah Enam education who somehow reads a lot and can write reasonably well in Bahasa Malaysia and English? You never know, do you?
Isn’t it interesting how one simple analysis of a sacred cyber-deity would result in being tagged a hired hand on par with the “novelists, academics and journalists” lapdogs of the CIA, Stalin and Hitler!
A simple blog posting pun sudah menggelabah ka? I cannot imagine how these guys would react to a real national crisis if they are ever in power. Is Din Merican a benchmark of the caliber of Pakatan Rakyat’s technocrats? Now we should all be worried. Lazy lanuns bearing rusty kerises on crutches on one end vs. jittery paranoiac vain conspiracy theorists on the other on a sewage-laden political battlefield of fools and village idiots!
Hey, my uncle Ku Li may have a chance after all! But Ayah Li, do you really want to clear all this mess? I think sipping piña coladas and dozing off to the croonings of Frank Sinatra at your Palm Manor verandah is a better proposition.
***************************
I think it is intriguing that Din Merican and the MT junkies equate critical writing with paid literary servitude. Well, as the saying goes, it takes a whore to know one. We know who Din Merican's ultimate paymaster is, right? It's o.k. people. He needs to cari makan as well. That is his rezeki.
But with all due respect and humility, I don't think anyone can afford me, let alone dictate and direct yours truly without great risk to their spiritual and physical well-being. Being the closet UMNO man that he is, Din is giving too much credit to the UMNO people. RPK said (well, since his “word” is gospel, I will believe him here) that the “UMNO Cyber Troopers” under the tutelage of Azalina Othman Said and Norza Zakaria are each paid a princely sum of RM2,750 per month. Sorry sir, I can make many times that sum in a day in my line of business, and this is not “due to the NEP” crap that you MT rabid racists hurl at Malays all the time.
Do you honestly think Azalina and Norza have the intellect, patience and tenacity to search, screen, hire, brief, strategise, monitor and pay a “novelist, academic and journalist” (in Din’s words) to partake in a cyberwar with racist anti-Malay sites like MT? I don’t want to sound like a typical rabid MT anti-Malay racist here, but seriously I don’t think their IQs exceed their bodyweight … in kilos. Thanks for the thought all the same.
Many of the MT junkies theorised that this blog owner may not even be a Malay, perhaps because the "quality" of the analysis and writing would be beyond the mental faculties of the Malay. Well, I guess Malays have IQs of less than 50 (as posted by someone on MT yesterday) and couldn't walk and chew gum at the same time, right? See what I meant when I refer to these scums as Rabid Racists? So now Din Merican and gang will need to reconcile the enigma of a non-Malay (yes, one of YOU guys) on the PAYROLL of the dreaded ruling Oligarchs masquerading as a Malay to attack his fellow non-Malays. Now that’s one heck of a putar belit of a plot! More of the nasi kandaaq variety I would guess and beyond my simple straightforward Kelantanese mind. What literature have you people been reading? Something from the Pol Pot College of Deception where Din is purportedly (in his CV) a “Visiting Professor of Global Strategy”? Astonishing!
Anyway folks, I value reactions like Din Merican’s. It gives us an indication of the thought processes of the competing forces of Malaysian politics. Indeed, my future posts may also trigger perhaps even more rabid reactions from the BN/UMNO pahlawans, panglimas, laksamanas and perwiras, with keris and machetes in hand to silence this “paid writer from the Din Merican camp.”
Interesting …….. Din Merican may then have to do a sequel styled: “This is what we are up against: Double Agents.” And for your sequel, please feel free to copy-and-paste my other postings. Be sure to state your source (that’s me lah) clearly. BUT please lah, don’t lah add YOUR NAME in my writings. Bloggers must have ethics too.
***************************
See, beyond your constipated verbiage and giddy rhetoric, you are all the same – whether you’re UMNO, PKR, DAP, PAS, Gerakan, MCA, MIC, SAPP, Kimma, ……… Hindraf, ……… ABC, AEIOU, Yabadabadoo, …… lu orang semua sama la!
You all emerged from the same cesspool of hate and intolerance and delusional aspirations and are actually more alike than you think. The only difference is that you slithered up different slopes of the cesspool, inbred and evolved into mutually-hating organisms. Throw in a couple of self-appointed cyber messiahs and demigods, coupled with a lameduck sleepyhead and some lanuns and a chameleon of a Confidence Trickster and you have the current potpourri of Malaysian politics.
Din Merican went on: “… there are people who are willing to sell their integrity for money and promise of favors.”
Yeah, I agree Din. How much they pay you? C’mon tell us lah. Nak hidup right?
Seriously, your observation is interesting. Can you please give us bloggers a feeler on these paymasters willing to buy our “integrity for money and promise of favors.” Are these “favors” in the form of “sedekah” of China hookers shuffled to my back seat at the Simpang Pulai rest area? Sorry lah, my Ferrari 430 Scuderia has no back seat and only a midget no bigger than Norza can fit into my gizmo-laden passenger seat. Or do you provide dwarf hookers as well? Nahh. But I'm partial to Snow White though. You can partake in Dopey and Grumpy if you want. But Sleepy's booked. I heard in Putrajaya until March 2009.
Pick your choice Deano. Snow White’s mine.
Sleepy’s assigned to Sri Perdana until March 2009. The rest available.
There are a lot of starving bloggers holed up in dingy cybercafés out there. Spread the rubles around lah Din. I’m sure the largesse has piled up now, with one paid hand already out-of-service and a few more getting their wings clipped. Geez, these Nazis and Stalinists and CIA bosses give me the creeps.
***************************
For purveyors of Free Speech and Freedom of Expression, please read Din Merican’s “warning” carefully. Tolerance for competing views are not his forté. Anyone that makes sense but goes against the grain of his thinking, he will call them “paid hands” and such. So what else is new in our country? Remember my cesspool story above. Yup, Din Merican himself is a living embodiment of the intolerant cesspool organism that he opposes so much.
Comments on my RPK Mystique post in other racist, anti-Malay blogs have been lively as well. Some are calling for this blog owner to be held under the ISA once the PR takes over. See people, my theory's right again. They are all from the same cesspool, irrespective of party. They want to abolish the ISA to get RPK and the Hindraf 5 out, but they still want the ISA to lock up people who have different opinions to theirs. Hypocrites!
The intolerance to dissenting views is much higher among these MT junkies than anywhere else in the real or cyber-world. They fight for Free Speech, Freedom to Demonstrate, Freedom of Assembly ... for themselves and their kind ... BUT they'll be the first to stifle dissent, to want to lock-up people, to insult, suppress and sabotage alternative voices. Well, try sending a pro-Malay, pro-Islamic piece on MT and see what happens. Nothing happens. Someone called "jebatmustdie" (it's that popular blogger I presumed) commented on Din Merican's blog no less that all of his "balance views" sent to MT never got posted, in effect moderated to the trash heap of intolerance and injustice.
Finally, Din Merican said: “There is so much gubberish (sic), like this one for example, out in cyberspace, print media and the air waves, that we need to be careful.”
I don’t quite understand this “need to be careful.” But many Malaysians are now just about had it with the malicious lies and bigotry that clutter our cyberspace. We won’t allow the rantings and racist attacks and utter bigotry go unchecked. Since these chauvinists and misguided souls deemed it fit to “moderate away” competing reactions to their rantings in their blogs, others have no choice but to create their own platform to express their thoughts.
This is just the beginning. You ain't seen nothin' yet. The silent majority had been exceedingly patient and tolerant these past few years. But not anymore. We will regain the sanity and recalibrate the social decorum of our blessed Tanah Air Tercinta. No more biadap, no more kurang ajar, no more naik kepala, no more tak mengenang budi, no more tak sedar diri ... none of these. The anarchy and socio-political decadence of the Sleepyhead Era is over. We will regain the maruah of our Negara, Nusa and Bangsa. Let there be no doubt.
In a way, Din Merican is right. The pengkhianat, the penyangak, the pembelot, the penderhaka, the pemusnah bangsa and the perosak negara do "need to be careful.” Mainstream Malaysiana -- of all races and creeds -- will reclaim our blessed land from these divisive forces of evil as epitomised by the wretched racist slimeballs and lowlifes oozing in the cesspool of Malaysia Today and other filthy anti-Malay, anti-Islam racist blogs and portals. There will be no more sheltered cocoon for the Rabid Racists on MT to spew their hatred and prejudices.
To the MT Junkies and other pengkhianats and penderhakas, that's life. You dish out your venom, you'll get more potent antidotes in return. You play with fire, you'll get burnt. That's life people.
What's this? "Revenge of the Nerds"?
