THE ANTI-SEMITIC

1. The Simon Weisenthal Centre (Jewish) has published a list of people who are classified as anti-Semitic in 2010.

2. This classification is based on the “slurs” uttered by these people against the Jews or Israel in that year.

3. I am listed among the top 10. I suppose what I had said in 2010 are regarded by the Jewish Centre as slurs but I was merely exercising my right to free speech to speak up against what I considered as injustice.

4. I condemned Israel for breaking international laws, carrying out an illegal siege of Gaza, attacking and seizing the Mavi Marmara and the Rachel Corrie in international waters, killing nine Turkish aid workers, and continuing to deprive the suffering people of Gaza of medical supplies, construction material and food.

5. Israel together with the US are the only countries to use depleted uranium in their bombs and shells which have resulted in all kinds of radiation diseases, among the Palestinians, especially the new-born babies.

6. If for any or all these I am considered to be anti-Semitic then so be it. But Jews clearly cannot be condemned for anything because 60 years ago the Nazis of Germany committed atrocities against them.

7. Apparently their sufferings of 60 years ago entitle them to inflicting sufferings on the Palestinians whose land they had stolen. No matter how cruel or unjust they may be no one may criticise them.

8. It is not being Semitic that is wrong. What is wrong and what draws condemnation is the arrogance, the lack of respect for the lives and rights of others, the blatant seizure of other people’s land, the arbitrary imprisonment of people, the misinformation spread by the media they control etc – which are the subject of condemnation. Whoever commits them must be condemned. And it is obvious that it is the Israelis who commit them most. Israeli oppression and injustice towards the Palestinians cannot be disputed even by those who back Israel.

9. Yes, there were acts by those deprived of their land by the Zionists, which are no less wrong and worthy of condemnation.

10. But these people have no other means to fight back against the military weapons of their attackers. If they have the tanks, the war planes, the missiles etc they would fight “legitimate” wars. But they don’t and there is a sanction on weapons being supplied to them. They have therefore to resort to whatever means they have to retaliate.

11. Admittedly the victims of their attacks include innocent civilians. But when bombs are dropped or missiles fired from afar the victims are also mostly innocent civilians, the old, the sick, the women and the children.

12. Are unexpected deaths and woundings by suicide bombers any different from the deaths and woundings by bombs, missiles, guns, tanks and bull-dozers used by the militarily well-equipped and powerful? I don’t think they are.

13. Are the people waiting to be killed by bombs and missiles free from feelings of fear and terror at the prospect of sudden violent deaths and having their bodies painfully torn apart, as are those killed by suicide bombers or primitive rockets.

14. There is no difference in terms of violence between the acts of a suicide bomber and the killings by bombs dropped from the sky or missiles fired from a distance. Both cause fear and terror. Both acts are therefore acts of terror. Both qualify to be called terrorists. State terrorists are no different from irregular terrorists.

15. Historically the Jews may have lived in the land that is Palestine. But historically the original people of America were the misnamed Red Indians, as were the Aborigines and Maoris of Australia and New Zealand. If all lands must be returned to the first people to live there, then return the United States, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand to the indigenous natives. But you won’t would you?

16. I am not anti-Semitic bcause I am not against the Arabs and other Semitic people, or for that matter those Jews who reject Zionism.

17. I am simply against injustice, against oppression and unmitigated and illegal violence.

18. If that makes me anti-Semitic then I am proud to be anti-Semitic, even though the term anti-Semitic is wrong.

THE UNITED STATES

blogtunm.blogspot.com Tun M 

1. There was a time when I thought that peace had come to the world. The Cold War had ended with the forces of the righteous triumphant.

2. But alas, for the small countries of the world, there is now more fear. The great democracies of the world, headed by the United States have decided on a crusade to democratise the whole world, through violence and war where necessary.

3. I am reading Robert Fisk, a British journalist, on the great war for civilisation i.e. the war in the Middle East. In all these wars the US plays a dominant role, not as a peace maker to stop the violent conflicts between the fractious Middle Eastern and Central Asian countries but to start wars against them so as to spread democracy.

4. In Palestine, United States’ backing for Israel is unstinted, without regard for how many times and how blatant are Israel’s disregard for the international law or morality or how violent and lethal are its methods.

5. Israel built “settlements” on Palestinian land with impunity, ravaged Palestinian villages, seize their land and expelled the inhabitants, openly shot and kill children, destroying houses with their occupants still inside, jailed and tortured more than a thousand Palestinians without charges or fair trial, illegally blockaded Gaza, attacked foreign ships on mercy mission while in international waters, killing foreign personnel on board, refuses to allow the Palestinians to call their land Palestine but instead to refer to themselves only as the Palestinian Authority.

6. Robert Fisk describes the torture methods of the Israelis and this is confirmed by Amnesty International. These include sleep deprivation, squatting for hours, violent shaking, imprisonment in a cupboard, beatings, pressure on the genitals and exposure to heat and cold.

7. Why is Israel free to do all these dastardly things? It is because the US backs it all the way.

8. Even when the Israelis ran over an American woman with a tractor, killing her, the US did not protest.

9. Netanyahu, the Israeli PM ignored President Obama when the latter demanded that no more Israeli settlements be built. The US President had to eat humble pie and did nothing.

10. That is Palestine and the Palestine/Israeli conflict. Then when the New York World Trade Centre was destroyed apparently by Saudi Arabs, the United States invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. These two countries have been bombed and rocketed over and over again, their towns and villages razed to the ground. Innocent people were killed by the thousands.

11. There is no respect for borders. Towns and villages in Pakistan also experience missile attacks, strafing by aircrafts and bombing, again killing civilians.

12. In Iraq, the excuse for invasion is that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. A “shock and awe” blitzkrieg has killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians. Iraq was occupied by US forces but no weapons of mass destruction were found. This excuse was a blatant lie and the US has belatedly admitted it. Now Wikileaks exposed that Israelis and pro-Israelis “fixed” the intelligence that induced the US to war with Iraq.

13. In Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan the killings and the destruction are still going on. But the US is not yet satisfied with the bloodbath it has initiated.

14. The next target is Iran. After their experience in Iraq there is seemingly less inclination by the US to invade Iran. Instead the method adopted is to starve the Iranians through a siege.

15. The United Nations Security Council has not approved the siege (sanctions) of Iran but the US has enough clout, influence over the countries of the world to get them to carry out its wishes.

16. Thus if the banks of any country has any dealings with Iran, the US will disallow the bank from doing business with the US. Many other arm twisting methods are used by the US to render its siege of Iran effective. The purpose of doing this is to impoverish and create difficulties for the people of Iran allegedly because of Iran’s nuclear programme but actually to punish the Iranians for the closure of the US Embassy and the detention of its staff during the civil war. Revenge is very much a part of US foreign policy.

17. Now it is the turn of North Korea. It is the US who planned and implemented military exercises in waters close to North Korea. The idea is to threaten that already poor country to submit to the US.

18. Provoked, the North Koreans fired at the South Korean island in the narrow strait between it and South Korea where the military exercise is being conducted. And then the Western media condemns North Korea for this when it was in fact America which provoked North Korea into firing their guns.

19. Presidents of countries are not safe from arrest by the US. President Noriega of Panama is now languishing in an American jail. Now President Omar Bashir is being sought by America after the International Criminal Court found him guilty in a trial in which he was not defended.

20. President Salvador Allende of Chile was assassinated through the machinations of the CIA because he was a Marxist, even though he was elected by the Chileans.

21. Nicaragua had its harbour mined by the US in 1984. The United States was found guilty by the International Court. The other countries of South America live in fear of the US.

22. In the Far East the US ensured the enmity between Japan and China is perpetuated and heightened. Rapprochement between Germany and France was possible but not between Japan and China. The US opposed the formation of the East Asia Economic Group.

23. A policy of containment of China is urged on all the countries of South East Asia. Lately the US wants to be involved in the dispute over the islands of the South China Sea. For the US the dispute provides an opportunity to involve South East Asian countries in the encirclement of China.

24. It is clear that the US is seeking to make war against the small nations of the world. The US is willing to kill hundreds of thousands of people in order to spread its influence and domination.

25. No country in the world dares to condemn the US for its bullying of small weak countries.

26. Everywhere in the world US Embassies have to be fenced and guarded. Everywhere there would be demonstrations against the US. The country is the most hated nation in the world.

27. The US should be the leading nation in the world, abiding by the decisions of the United Nations, helping the poor and the weak, enriching the world with its technology and generally creating a better world by upholding non-violent ways of settling disputes between nations.

28. It is sad that the US has chosen the ugly way just for the sake of Israel. It is sad that a country which preaches human rights, justice and freedom is the country which is most guilty of breaching all the high values that it preaches.

29. Obama, with all his promises of change has changed nothing about US warlike ways and disregard for international norms. Clearly changes of Presidents, of parties forming Governments of the US will change nothing concerning US creed and policies.

30. The capacity of the US to learn from its experiences is almost nil.

31. The world will have to be reconciled with having the most powerful country in the world remaining addicted to the gun which won it the West in the past. This great democracy is anything but democratic in its relationship with the world community.

RUBBISH

blogtunm.blogspot.com Tun M 

1. It is reported that Malaysia produces 94,000 tons of rubbish per day or 34,310,000 tons per year.

2. I suppose a substantial portion of this must be produced by Greater Kuala Lumpur (population of about 5.5 million).

3. Population wise Greater KL has about 20 per cent of Malaysia’s population. Therefore Greater KL’s production of rubbish is approximately seven million tons per year.

4. What can we do with 7 million tons of rubbish. Well, we can throw it on the road outside our houses, or in the drain and rivers. In no time all our drains and rivers will be clogged up and water will overflow and flood the land. The health of the people will be at risk.

5. We can collect the rubbish and bury in a designated area. With 7 million tons a year we will be needing more and more land, and land in Greater KL is expensive. To use the land again the rubbish has to be dug and removed to another place for burial.

6. Alternatively we can have a rubbish mountain and people can go there to scrounge for any useful item. Probably the mountain of rubbish will be burnt slowly and pollute the atmosphere.

7. We can if we like, burn the rubbish behind our houses. One house doing this would be okay. But when everyone does this in KL the smoke would not only cause a haze to hang over KL, but the smell would be quite unbearable.

8. Again we can collect the rubbish and burn it in an incinerator. But no community wants to have the incinerator located anywhere near them. We must find a place where no one is living there. Look around Greater KL and you cannot find a piece of land far enough from any community to site the incinerator.

9. If you do find it would be so far away that he cost of transporting the rubbish would be a drain on the finances of City Hall. Maybe the rubbish producers should pay a special fee for rubbish disposal. I don’t think anyone would agree to that. It’s not the Malaysian way to pay what we can get for free.

10. I am putting this dilemma of the authorities on my blog so that people can come up with solutions. Frankly I think the authorities are scared to apply any solution because we are a democracy and no one wants to lose votes.

11. For those who are interested, read about the rubbish collection problem in Italy here.

12. Your comments please.

MiG and SUKHOI

blogtunm.blogspot.com Tun M 

1. Flight International reports that India may upgrade the Sukhoi-30MKI.

2. The MiG-21 would be retired but the MiG-29 would be upgraded.

3. Malaysia has been working with India on the modification to the Russian -built aircraft. Maybe we should find out what the upgrading of the Sukhoi Su-30 and the MiG-29 is all about.

4. There was talk before of replacing the MiG-29 with other aircraft. I wonder whether there is a threat of war currently. If there is none, then if necessary only we should upgrade what we have.

MAHA

blogtunm.blogspot.com Tun M 

1. By the time I visited MAHA Show at Serdang Saturday morning, 1.8 million people had been ahead of me. The papers reported today that altogether 2.7 million people visited the show this year.

2. This year’s show is clearly bigger and better. The Ministry of Agriculture and its agencies like MARDI and FAMA must be congratulated.

3. I noted that the Ministry of Agriculture has made tremendous progress in upgrading Malaysian agriculture. The farmers and fishermen should not languish in poverty if they make use of the techniques developed by MARDI, FAMA and other ministry agencies and departments.

4. I was most impressed by the quality of the fruits and their packaging. They are world-class. The Government has also gone a long way in helping people in the rural areas to market even their casual products. To those keen on doing something for themselves a motorbike with a side-car is available at highly subsidised price to go into the villages to buy kampung produce and sell to the outlets set up by FAMA. I am told that this scheme can give an income of more than RM1000-00 a month.

5. All kinds of machines are exhibited which can help small businesses. Among them is a bread-making machine which makes bread from rice or wheat grains simply by putting in the necessary ingredients inside a rice cooker like apparatus, switching it on and in 3 hours fresh bread would be produced.

6. We love the labour of making dodol, a kind of social activity which brings friends and neighbours in the village together. Now you need only to switch on the huge pot or bowl and in four hours the dodol maker will deliver whatever amount of dodol you want for Raya. Literally no sweat.

7. I was particularly interested in the cattle. They are big and look like the huge European animals. I don’t think we can free ourselves from imported beef but really we can produce some of the beef ourselves. I had a lunch of steak produced by a Malaysian farmer and it was tender and delicious.

8. I read in the papers complaints on transportation. VIPs like my wife and I were well taken care off. But others had to walk or to queue for the special buses.

9. Yes, MAHA organisers should take note and improve transportation. But the show was free except for a RM3 parking fee for cars.

10. We are so used to getting things free and complaining about what we get as well. I know I will not be popular but I think paying something for a show like MAHA is not too great an imposition. Then maybe the transportation can be improved. I would suggest that transport be privatised. I am not thinking of more money for my cronies, but Government is notorious for not caring much especially when it gets a monopoly.

11. Of course children and OKU should be exempted from paying.

SOUNDBITES – HOUSING

blogtunm.blogspot.com Tun M 

1. There have been many comments on my blog on Housing.

2. As usual some are for and some against.

3. I don’t have to reply because the comments cancel each other.

4. Nevertheless I think an audit of the occupancy of the buildings completed in the last three years would be useful to validate or disprove the comments on the blog.

5. The Government may find it useful to require returns on the sale and occupancy as well as the length of time premises unsold or bought remain empty.

6. This audit should be updated every three or six months. Not only will it be useful to the Government but developers will also benefit from the information.