The end of ISA ? ....

The big news today is when Najib announced that the Internal Security Act (ISA) has been abolished. He deliberately announced it on Malaysia day the 16th of September 2011. The ISA has been an instrument by which anyone can be detained without trial for an indefinite period.

Merdeka, Merdeka .....

In the aftermath of the Mat Sabu's rambling on who the heroes of Malaysia were during the period of time when the country was in a "state of emergency", there exist also some idiots, in a childish rebuttal to Mat Sapu, who claimed that Malaysia (or Malaya then) was never colonised by the British. According to this group of people, only Singapore, Melaka and Penang had been the real colonies of Britain while the other states in the peninsular were actually independent sultanates, each with its own government, or KeRajaan.

The British were fond of using euphemisms for countries or provinces under their rule. The countries or provinces that they colonised were named Crown colonies, such as Singapore, or Protectorates such as Melaka, Penang and Province Wellesley. Others are Federated States like Pahang, Selangor, Perak, and Negri Sembilan while still others are called the Unfederated Malay States like Kelantan, Trengganu, Kedah, Perlis, and Johore. But it does not alter the fact that these states or provinces, despite their names, were colonies of Britain. That's why our forefathers had to go to London to gain "Independence" for Malaya. Our forefathers bent backwards to accomodate the British to grant us independence. Why would they do it if Malaya was not a British colony. Not only that, the country was initially colonised by the Portuguese, followed by the Dutch and finally by the British [except during WW II when the Japanese kicked out the British and colonised us for a few years], altogether for some 500 years. Do we still maintain that we have never been colonised ?

Update 05/10/2011 Wednesday: Even the DPM of Malaysia has now admitted that Malaya was colonised by the British in spite of the fact that the 9 Sultans of the 9 provinces in Malaya retained their "sovereignity" under the 9 British Residents. The Residents' power over the Sultans was all encompassing except in matters relating to the Muslim religion and the Malay tradition. In short, the British had got us by the balls. There's no denying this fact.

In the aftermath of the Mat Sabu's rambling who the heroes of Malaysia were, there exist also some idiots who claimed that Malaysia (or Malaya then) was never colonised by the British. According to this group of people, only Singapore, Melaka and Penang had been the real colonies of Britain while the other states in the peninsular were actually independent sultanates, each with its government, or KeRajaan. The British were fond of using euphemisms for countries or provinces under their rule. The countries that they colonised were named Crown colonies, such as Singapore, or Protectorates such as Melaka, Penang and Province Wellesley. Others are Federated States like Pahang, Selangor, Perak, and Negri Sembilan while still others are called the Unfederated Malay States like Kelantan, Trengganu, Kedah, Perlis, and Johore. But it does not alter the fact that these states or provinces, despite their names, were colonies of Britain. That's why our forefathers had to go to London to gain "Independence" for Malaya. Our forefathers bent backwards to accomodate the British to grant us independence.

Malaysia's shopkeepers ....

If there's any threat to the Chinese shopkeepers in Malaysia, its the perceived threat coming from the Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia. Why today in MM, a Chinese businessman by the name of William Cheng, who heads the Lion Group Corporation, fears that some 30,000 shops run by Chinese shopkeepers all over the country will face uncertain future if the 1Malaysia-concept shops offer goods at 30 to 40 percent cheaper than the Chinese shops. Now, what's wrong with that if they benefit the consumers ! If these Chinese shops fear that that they will be out of business, well it's about time that they start being more competitive by selling their goods at prices to match what the so-called rakyat shops can offer.

For years, the Chinese have been having an almost absolute monopoly of sundry shops across the length and breadth of Malaysia, whether in the Peninsular or in Sabah or Sarawak, even indeed in Indonesia, Philipines and Thailand and for years and years, we the Malays have no option but to buy goods from shops run by Chinese shopkeepers who have been making 30 to 40 percent profits as William Cheng implies.

Most probably, the concept of the rakyat shops came from Najib himself, who, by encouraging Mydin Hypermarket to get Bumiputras or Malays to set up shops in every town or village in Malaysia with goods supplied by the hypermarket giant at Mydin's prices which are generally cheap (30 to 40 percent lower than at normal sundry shops), then rising prices in goods, especially, daily consumables, can at least be checked together with inflation which the country is facing right now.

Cheng complains that the government is unfair to the Chinese shopkeepers by aiding Mydin to get their goods at cheap prices but the government has never ever been in the trading business with Mydin or anybody else. The government has nothing to do with what Mydin is doing. What the government does is to encourage Mydin to assist Bumiputra or Malay shopkeepers to set up sundry shops with goods supplied by Mydin. Those rakyat shops, "licensed or franchised" by Mydin are required to follow Mydin's style of doing business. And what's wrong with that if, in the final analysis, consumers stand to greatly benefit from lower prices. Cheng is one of the many, many Chinese businessmen in this country that hate to see the Malays succeed in business, even if the business is merely a small sundry shop tucked among the many Chinese shops in a small town in Kedah say. To him, business is the prerogative of the Chinese - the Malays pergi mampus, balik kampung tanam pisang. I have met this kind of Chinese before who drives in Mercedez chauffered by a Malay driver and who thinks that that's the best occupation for a Malay. He's now beginning to think that KR1M shops, so far only 4 have been set up, pose a threat to the thousands upon thousands of Chinese shops in the country. This man is dangerous and the government of Malaysia, nay, the Malay and Bumi people of this country, should take cognizant of this fact.

Mydin's strategy is to buy goods in volumes at wholesale prices and sell them to the consumers at much lower profit margins while the Chinese shopkeepers buy the same goods wholesale at prices similar to Mydin's, yet, instead, they sell them at considerably high profit margins (the 30 to 40 percent that Cheng talks about). And now, they complain that their business is in danger of being wiped out by the rakyat shops.