Thursday, March 31, 2011

Hisahmmudin: Incompetent minister delivers insensitive accusations!

Once again, our right honourable minister has displayed his, and his cabinet portfolio's incompetencies. Without going into the specifics of what his department has or hasn't done, his statement calling for CFM “…to come to a solution that is fair and reasonable”, really shows that we have political amateurs walking the corridors of power, spending our hard earned tax.

I will admit that there’s a certain degree of spinning here… but if a low level no-body like myself can see and spin it this way, I’m sure individuals of higher calibre would be able to do worse/better, depending on which side of the wall you sit. The point here is, WE HAVE SUBSTANDARD PEOPLE, ACTING AS MINISTERS, SERVING THE RA'AYAT SUBSTANDARDLY!!!

1) 1) The non-chalant manner in which he delivered his ‘plea’, the right honourable minister could be easily and justifiably accused of seeing the CFM as a nuisance fringe-group, whose rights to practice their religion is a granted privilege rather than a universal right enshrined by the constitution. GOVERNMENT MINISTER ENFORCES RACIAL/RELIGIOUS SUPERIORITY COMPLEX (KETUANAN-ness), AND NEGLECTS THE CONSTITUTIONALLY ENSHRINED RIGHTS OF NON-MAJORITY RELIGIOUS GROUP! (best served with that picture of the right honourable waving his Keris at UMNO Congress a few years back)

2) 2)' ….to come to a solution that is FAIR and REASONABLE…… Immediately upon seeing those two capitalised words, whether it was a Freudian slip, or an orchestrated and rehearsed statement, it is clear to me that the right honourable minister is implying that CFM is being UN-REASONABLE and UNFAIR! It’s simply Politics and Communications 101 that by asking someone to be something, you’re also at the same accusing them of being not so. After a U-turn decision on the serial numbering and defaceing of the bibles, to accuse the victims as UNREASONABLE and UNFAIR, is careless at best, and STUPID at worst. I’ll even put it to folk, that by saying what he said, the Minster is inciting religious tensions amongst the non-muslim citizens, at the possible detriment of public peace…. GOVENRMENT MINISTER INCITING RELIGIOUS UNREST, BY INSULTING NON-MUSLIM GROUP!

3) 3)We know that in the past, that our right honourable minister has suggested before that the non-muslim vote bank is ’NEGLIGABLE’. The way in which his department has handled this debacle, simply enforces that suggestion. An electioneering 101, is never marginalise, or make accusatory allegations against a legal organisation, which represents a large bank of voters (Christians), on an issue that can be seen as a contravention of the rights of an even larger group of voters (non-Muslims). This is yet another instance, where the right honourable minster shows his disregard towards non-Muslims in the Malaysia.

4) 4) Just another small-teeny-tiny point to throw in the mix! Since Article 11 isn’t fully observed, as Malays, de-facto, have no freedom to religious choice…. What’s there to say, that the Minister simply is aware of his actions and was overtly demonstrating all 3 of my abovementioned ‘observations’….

So I guess it boils down to these points:

1) 1) Why and how is a minster so insensitive in his words and actions, especially when matters pertaining to the contravention of the national constitution, and more importantly, the universal freedom of all human being to free-choice, is at stake?

2) 2) How should we, as citizens, manage this situation whereby elected representatives are being at best non-chalant and careless about the power of the voters and voters’ sentiments, and at worst victimising, condescending, contemptuous towards voters…. And in this case, worse even, towards a specific minority group?

I know for a fact, that readers of this will know the answer to these questions.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

A call for HELP to the REAL MUSLIMS! from one Malaysian to another!

I am a Bhuddist who grew up in a Christian Priest's home, and have worked closely with Muslims from Britian, Pakistani, Bangladesh, Turkey, Lebanon and many other countries. I have read the qur'an in English, and the BIble. I am still a Bhuddist. Same with many of my Muslim friends who have also read religious texts of other religions. They have remained faithful to Allah and The Prophet Muhammed's teachings.

This preposterous showing of the authorities' lack of trust towards Malaysian Muslims need to be voiced out against, BY Malaysian Muslims!

All of you Malaysian brothers out there, who are Muslims, who feel that your right to read sacred texts of other religions is being infringed upon, VOICE OUT!

If you feel patroinised by the bigotted figureheads of so-called 'religious authorities', who are calling for this violent insult upon your faith towards Allah, and mistrust of your loyalty towards the Prophet's teachings, VOICE OUT!

If you feel like you're being urged by the authorites to marginalise fellow Malaysian who are also fellow 'People of the book', and to make a negative impingement upon their rights as enshrined in article 11 of the Federal Constitution, VOICE OUT NOW!!!!

The sensible, compassionate, REAL Muslim Malaysian brothers and sisters, PLEASE! WE, the Non-muslims Malaysian need your HELP!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Malaysia's nuclear power rationale: You've just lost 3, so I'm gonna build 2 of my own!

Being simply critical of decision made by governments and governing bodies because said decisions don’t sit side by with my own views, is not normally my style. However, to wake up to the BBC on one tab of my browser, showing pictures of the horrendous fallout of the Tsunami, and it’s implications on the nuclear plants and consequentially and most importantly the people of the region; and on the other tab of a Malaysian independent news portal, headlining the Malaysian government’s bad-tasting, badly-timed, badly constructed, badly- delivered, barely thought-through release of it’s nuclear energy ambitions, left me very little choice but to just RANT!

Let me be frank and clear, by clarifying my own personal stance on nuclear power.
I am on arguing for or against the building of nuclear plants.

I have minimal, though enough knowledge to understand the principals of how nuclear fission generates heat and drives engines. I also know a few arguments both for and against the sustainability of nuclear energy as a whole. However, I fully acknowledge that I am not in a position of any knowledge or authority to opine authoritatively over the validity of the plans.

What I do have a HUGE problem with, is everything else about the announcement. Here’s my break down if it:

Bad timing and Bad Taste:

A fellow Asian country has just suffered the worst natural disaster, which is culminating as we speak into the worlds worst ever multiple nuclear accident. Forget the fact that Malaysia doesn’t sit on a faultline, and rarely feel earthquakes etc etc. It’s simply BAD TASTE.
To metaphorise: you wouldn’t announce to the world that you’re buying a bigger and better industrial meat mincer, after your neighbour from a few doors down has just had his right arm chewed up by his older modelled meat mincer. And not only that, is it a little ‘insensitive’ to announce to the entire street that you’d learn from the poor man’s mistake by making sure there’s a system in place to ensure that nothing untoward will happen to you as a result of your new purchase, when your poor neighbour is still in intensive care?

Badly constructed and communicated

My initial choice of adjectives for the ones who crafted this message from the Malaysian government was going to be ‘seasoned and high level political operators’, and then set upon the easy task of pointing out how they’re selling themselves short. After all, we are talking about the deputy PM and the minister for green energy. Then, upon further thought and contemplation, they’re definitely veterans, and been around for a long time doing what they do. But so have the likes of Gadaffi and Mubarak….

Firstly, I remember reading somewhere that the validity of Nuclear energy for Malaysia will be based on a consensus of the People over the course a a few years. When I read about it, I thought,’ Great! The government’s got the sense to do this the sensible way. Sell the idea to the people and give them the opportunity to buy-in or rule-out!’. I see no where that the afore-mentioned consensus back in 2008-2009, commissioned to TNB’s nuclear energy exploratory arm back then, being referred to, nor do I see or hear of any attempts of a consensus being built. Certainly haven’t heard of a referendum being called or a national debate being had on nuclear power. I’ve had the fortune/misfortune of working in frontline politics both in Malaysia and the UK. Anyone with the slightest experience in politics can tell a mile away, when a message isn’t supported by figures, it’s either because there NO figures or the figures are bad! The fact that there’s been no quotation of any figures suggesting a consensus, or any form of public support, could only mean one or more of the following:

1) There is NO public consensus (as in the results of relevant surveys/studies shows that the public doesn’t want nuclear power)
2) It was a badly run consensus building campaign, and the people were neither given the opportunity to consider the options, nor were they consented. *(the fault of the person running the the exploratory arm of TNB)
3) The decision was a top-down one. The PM is using his position of power to create employment and development figures with a globally controversial energy programme, which his predecessor, from his side of the political divide, announced would be decided on a consensus building basis.

*I will be exploring this further down the line in this posting

Any one of the above factors simply but loudly suggest that the decision and its ramifications have not been fully and properly considered. Worst still, the decision could’ve been made contrary to the expressed views of the public, at the public’s own expense. Down that chain of thought, the PM is essentially, embezzling the public’s taxes to build his portfolio of acheivements in jobs creation and joining the league of nuclear energy nations, possibly against the wishes of those paying for it! (Honestly… I’m not spinning….at all)

All in all, the message was badly constructed and could’ve been done with a great deal more political tact. If a political nobody can see such a fundamental flaw in the message, imagine the real political operators out there! And the message was crafted by the Deputy Prime Ministers staffers!?!?

I put it to you all that the Political operators at the very top of Politics in Malaysia, base on the way the message in question was crafted, are ABSOLUTE AMATEURS at best, and not fit for the wages they are paid at worst!

the Malaysia Nuclear Power Corporation had opened a tender to international consultants to conduct a study on the location, suitability and safety of the location, type of technology and public acceptance of the proposal.’ Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Peter Chin

According to this, the government has decided on building 2 nuclear plants, when it doesn’t know where, how and its suitability. Most importantly it’ just admitted that it is yet to even seek acceptance of public proposal! My point proven!

… and I digress.

Away from politics and back to the Bad decision and why.

The motive behind the decision

It’s an age old adage in Malaysia, that ‘every project announced by government, is another minister’s friend, family, or party member taken care of, financially for a few generations. I am not making accusations here of cronyism, but merely asking the questions that has come to the fore in my inquisitive mind. Neither am I questioning the correctness of certain appointments made by TNB, and the prime minister past and and present. But I’d like to present some facts for you to make up your own mind.
When the first noises about nuclear energy being explored as an alternative to what was the status quo, in light of fluctuating energy and fuel prices, The head of Nuclear Energy taskforce and it’s Nuclear Energy Unit for TNB was Dr Mohd Zamzam Jaafar. Through out 2008-2009, Dr ZamZam on many occasions announced TNB’s approach to nuclear energy as an alternative, is to seek public consensus of its validity and credibility. In Feb 2001, th PM announced the appointment of Dr Mohd Zamzam Jaafar as the chief executive officer of the newly formed Malaysia Nuclear Power Corporation as aforementioned to do what he was supposed to have been doing, when he was working for TNB.

Now, I’m sure we will all know the answer to my following questions. But I will make my point by asking those very questions.

• Who owns TNB?
• Doesn’t the aforementioned lacking of public consensus on nuclear energy as an alternative, the public’s lack of knowledge on the subject and furthermore, the non-existent of their engagement over the decision making process to spend Billions of Ringgit on building 2 nuclear plants, suggest that Dr ZamZam didn’t do a very good job?
• Moreover, doesn’t that mean the owner(s) of TNB has made a massive screw-up?
• And if Dr ZamZam didn’t do a very good job, then why has he been appointed CEO for the body overseeing the exploratory process, which he failed to deliver in his previous role?

Now I have a couple more questions which may not be public knowledge, but It would be VERY VERY inappropriate for me to ask. Just the way I would now ask you not to picture in your mind, ‘A big Black Cat’ and you would, simply not have that picture on your mind….. Questions like

• Is Dr ZamZam related to anyone in the cabinet?
• What is Dr ZamZam’s political affiliation?
• Does Dr ZamZam hold any stakes in construction companies which maybe now investing in expertise and infrastructure in building nuclear power plants?
To sum up the ramblings up to this point, I guess it’s down to the following few points.

The politicians who claims to be running the country, are simply amateurs who have gotten to where they are by luck, chance and cronyistic means. And in reality, can’t even craft a simple message and deliver it with the necessary requirements of a semi mature democratic power with a fairly intelligent citizenship/electorate.

The decision making process in government, and the way in which those processes are carried out, the engagement of the public/electorate in hish sensitivity issues concerning public health and welfare, and very longterm implications, like building nuclear energy plants, are at best un-transparent; and at worst a total farce, which is contrary to how a modern democratic country should be, where decisions ought to be made through consensus and not top down from politicians whose legitimacy is far from absolute.

The announcement by the government to build the 2 nuclear power plants shows the inadequacies of the current regime, in this current turbulent times, and most importantly, it's unsuitability to remain walking in the corridors of power. When a government can show such lack of international propriety by the insensitive timing of the announcement; and furthermore inwardly, show such disregard for its electorate, one wonders the validity of the motive behind the decisions. And from that its far too easy to question every motive of every decision made by the same government.

A time for change perhaps?

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Sarawak, Allah and the Bible.... the 3 wise men in the East (of England)

I was the regional sales manager for a take-away food ordering e-commerce company which is now a very successful multinational corporation. As I no longer believe in how they conduct their business, I won’t be mentioning their name.It wasn't all bad, however, as there was one overwhemingly good thing Bbout this role which, I enjoyed immensely: The people is met.

Why?

I spent nearly a year and a half working very closely with a large number of Chinese, Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Iranian and Turkish communities across the East of England. As many of you may have worked out, apart from the Chinese communities, the other nationalities I mentioned, are more than likely to be Muslims.

I don’t specifically take joy out of meeting muslims, the same way I don’t particularly take joy out of meeting bhuddists, or Jews, or atheists. I do however , get a great kick out of meeting lots of people, regardless of their class (whatever that means), creed, colour, and relevantly in the context of this piece, religion. Though there are people of a certain few religions who I don’t enjoy meeting…. But that’s another blog for another day.

What I DID get great joy out of, was meeting a large of amounts of muslims, most of whom enjoyed a good debate about their own religion, and all of whom encouraged me to ask questions about it! Not only did this empower me (as a non-muslim) to discredit a large amount of negative perceptions I worngfully had towards Islam as predicated by 'Malaysian Islam'(the way it's practiced, regulated and interpreted, I inspired me to learn more about it. One more very fundamental joy I get from meeting these fellow foreigners who happen to embrace Islam, was the smile I see on their faces when I greet them with ‘Assalamualaikum’. Not once, have I ever not been greeted back with ‘Walaikumusalam’!

Round about the time when there were debates going on with the Malaysian High Court’s revocation of the unconstitutional banning of the use of the word ‘Allah’ in Bahasa Malaysia Bibles, I had a once in a lifetime encounter. I had an Arabic speaking, Christian Lebanese chef friend ‘Louis’, who was looking at the opportunity of buying one of my client Jamshad's business , or Jimmy as he prefers, who is an Iranian Muslim. So I arranged a meeting between them, and I came along to act as an advocate.

Neither parties knew anything other than each other's names, about each other. It really was a ‘shotgun’ arrangement, as the offer, location and timing was right. An associate's associate suggested one phone call that led to another... you know the score. Before I knew it, a meeting was arranged for the evening of the following monday.

When we arrived at Jimmy’s, I did my customary shout out of Assalamualaikum round the back door, through his back yard, only to be greeted back with an even louder walaikumusallam and a VERY firm handshake and his trademark bear hug.

As I was to turn around to introduce my two associates, an almost surreal thing happened! Louis stuck his hand forward and greeted Jimmy with Assalamualaikum too… and the pair went off on some quick fire exchange of what sounded like Arabic chat, laughs, violently friendly hugs and handshakes, and what I can only describe as neighbourly niceities of familiarity and respect… as though they’ve know each other for years… I felt slightly out of place and even a little marginalised truth be told, but underliningly quite chuffed…

After a good 10 minutes of the aforementioned niceties, It had transpired that Lebanon’s official language is Arabic (which ignorant ol’ me had no idea), and Jimmy’s father had a business in Lebanon, only 40 miles from where Louis was born. Furthermore, Jimmy’s first wife who passed away 3 years before, went to the neighbouring church where Louis was christened. How’s that for chances!
Just to mae it even more bizarre, there they were in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire in the UK, introduced by a Malaysian Chinese Bhuddist working for a Danish Company based in London!

Anyways… small talk aside, business discussed, numbers for lawyers exchanged, initial offers confirmed, quite a of extremely strong black tea, served with sugar cubes later, I was very please with myself. Well, until the arrival of the ‘big-small-talk’, as we retired to the back room.

Imagine the setting. We: an Iranian Muslim, a lebanese Chirsitian, a Malaysian chinese Bhuddist, retiring to a sheltered backyard of the kebab shop where there was a park bench. On it was an overspilling ashtray, a shisha pipe on the table, a large metal teapot with a few glass highball glasses upside down on a wooden tray, during a lovely and warm summers dusk as the stars were just about visible, the smell of some sort of a casserole that's simply too sweet, exotic yet homely to be the conventional 'scent of the Kebabee'. Sounds bizarrely biblical and idyllic right? ....

This is how the conversation roughly went:

We all sit. Cigarettes were lit. One of Jimmy's staff was signalled to do something with the shisha, which he obediently and promptly toddled off to do.

Jimmy (at me): So I read in some internet articles that your country, only just recently allow the word Allah in the religion of my friend here’s sacred book? Is it true?

Me: Yes. (thinking… oh, lord! Find me whole right now so I can just hide… as I may stir an argument her and screw up the deal for them both!)

Louis: Yes. I too saw it on a report in Lebanese TV.. saying it was a secular court ruling on religious matters…. What are you opinions?

Me: Well… It’s hard for (just as my quivering lips was about to spout my views whilsts my brain was frantically constructing the most diplomatic, impartial deflective non-committal answer… Jimmy cuts in)

Jimmy: (with a slight snigger)Louis, my friend… don’t you think it’s a little unfair to ask our friend here who is not a ‘man of the book’ to comment on a matter that doesn’t affect his beliefs, before hearing ours?...

Louis: (With a facial expression of sincere regret and putting both of his hands on his chest and then transferring them onto my hand) I’m so sorry Howard. So sorry… well why not let Mr Jamshad here start this topic anew by him voicing his views on the topic he has raised.

Jimmy (at Louis): You are a man of … I forget the words…. (some Arabic words)..
Louis (He welcomes it with a thunderous laugh but showing appreciation, and simultaneously expressing humbleness and humility)…. I am honoured. The word I believe is Eloquence and decorum.

Jimmy: Yes, yes… eloquence and decorum… and also honour. I see I am in company of a true gentleman.

At this juncture, I was torn between being really relieved of getting away with voicing my views, and EXTREME fear of this niceties of what is now being said, being some chivalric precursor to a sword fight to death due to their potentially fatalistically opposing views (or so I thought). To my right, there hangs by a window a 3 foot long Kebab carving knife…. I was VERY VERY uncomfortable.

Jimmy: Well here are my views. I hope our friend Louis agrees. My wife was a Christian. We never shared our religion but we shared our lives. We will never know for sure whether our Allah is the same being, or not. But we both believed that there is one True Allah. So, what difference does it make? She was a good person, alhamdullillah. She gave me 4 children, all beautiful. Unfortunately 2 of them have NO religion! But I’m sure they will find Allah, or Allah will find them one day… We both called our God Allah, because God born us into families who spoke Arabic. What do you think Mr Louis?

Louis: I was fortunate enough to have nearly completed, in my years of studying, a degree in Law. (something else I never knew… I’ve know the guy for nearly 2 years…) I have always approached matters like this with questions. My questions are:
1) If I was to come to your country, how do I pray to my God, in my own words and language, If I don’t speak English?
2) Would I be praying illegally in your country, with it’s previous law, if I was to pray in Arabic, when I praise my God by the name of Allah?
3) What in the name of Allah, both Jimmy’s and mine, is a secular court deciding on religious matters like this anyways?

Me: (With a huge sigh of relief). Well… I will say to what you both have expressed. Alhamdulillah ad Masha’allah. I agree with you both!

We all Laughed and dinner was served.

The conversation continued till the wee hours in the morning, with more tea, cigarettes, shishas… and Kuresh Gohmeh Sabjee : an unctuous, really slow cooked leg of lamb, fresh herbs and beans and peas stew. The interplay of Fenugreek, parsley and coriander, that really dances well with the fresh zestiness of the dried limes seems to set a really beautiful background for the sweet and tender lamb… Especially in the setting that were we in.

For those few hours, I was convince that we were transported back in time to the days, when open debates were had between scholars from all faiths in some middle eastern country, on how the world can become a better place if only we listened to each other and learnt as much as there is to learn about everything. The days when the concept of faith wars for the sake of the ones who hungered power had not permeated the world; the days when having your own beliefs made you want to learn more about other beliefs; the days when people didn’t subjugate others based on their beliefs or even impose upon others their own, by restricting their rights, with no other reason than their possession of power and social standing.

Some might ask, did those days ever exist.

It’s my belief that they did.

It’s not my place to make anyone believe it, but i know for sure that I won’t stop believing it if anyone forbade me from believing, thinking or saying it.

I will take a leaf out of my friend Louis book and express my conclusive views through a question:

Will the Sarawakian Christians stop addressing their Allah any differently in their mind, soul and spirituality, simply because the authorities won’t allow it… despite the courts ruling…?

We all know the answer.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Service with a smile: The Sustainability of the Perakian Food and Agricultural Industry

Up to the age of 12, I had the privilege of growing up in Ipoh. Whether or not its nature or nurture, or whether it matters or not, I just cherish the fact that the extremely beautiful landscape of memories for those first few years of my life is still painted with extremely powerful food memories and adorned with scents and textures that are vivid as the papercut I just had 5 minutes ago .

But one resounding common denominator in all of those memories, is that the vendors and what I would now call Food and Beverage (F and B) operators, always had a beaming smile on their faces. One smile that sticks out more than any other, is of a lovely middle aged lady who gave me my first own packet of rojak, whose smile till this very day embodies the quintessence of what understand to be ‘service with a smile’

Perak has long been known to be the Haven for Malaysian food lovers and gourmands. Ipoh, its capital has long held the unofficial yet coveted title of ‘Malaysia’s Food Capital’. Love it or lump it, agree or disagree, it does have an amazingly awesome array of cuisines available for those who are partial to some gluttonous sensory overloads. This is especially important during this climate of global austerity, when these food lovers and gourmands are not willing to part with neither their insatiable appetite for quality, nor their increasingly harder-earnt cash. Ipoh has had the reputation of being able to offer amply on both accounts, unlike major tourist hubs ( KL, Penang, Melaka) who offers one or the other and in some case neither!

Short of doing a PhD on the Socio-Economic-Geo-Political-Gastronomic- Historic studies of the Perak State, it’s be hard to really pin-point on a reason (or even a set of multiple reasons) as to why this is. But, let’s assume it’s because of the following factors:

  • · Ipoh, the capital’s well-rounded metropolitan demography and its by-and-large cosmopolitan view and approach to external cultural influences
  • · Its suitably small geographical size, and good transport infrastructure, which means better proximity and accessibility to the freshest ingredients, therefore more cost effective for all concerned
  • · Perakian’s relative prosperity and slightly higher income and spend per capita
  • · And the fact that it has been all the above for a good century or so.

A childhood hero of mine Peter Parker, AKA Spiderman once said,’ with great powers come great responsibility’. That’s my way of understanding the theory of supply and demand. Well, Ipoh’s reputation for good food, comes with a huge demand that is, thank the heavens, supplied by a huge amount of Perakians running food and beverage businesses to sustain the coveted reputation. My family is also lucky enough to have a major stake in a food and beverage business within the banqueting sector in Perak, which is one of the reasons for the penning of this article.

The responsibility shouldered by those ‘aunties and uncles’ or F & B operators are still there and the punters are still coming. The difference now, in comparison with the past, is that, they no longer have those beamingly bright smiles on their faces, and that there are now shouts of ‘Barang-Naik’ being used as political rhetoric. The punters are not willing to spend more, but still demanding the service from operators who are torn between the prospect of losing customers or losing on profit margins. It’s a LOSE LOSE situation.

This signals to me that commodity and food prices are really affecting the lives of Malaysian. Globally, we have seen ‘barang naik’ at unprecedented degrees due to some very high output export nations of meat and rice, suffer some horrendous natural disasters. When supply and demand doesn’t strike a positive skew or at least some form of equilibrium, import and export price hikes happen! It’s the nature of economics! We all know who suffers when that happens- the people of countries who don’t produce their own commodities… and more importantly, in the context of this article, F & B operators of those countries get really squeezed!

At the risk of being accused of spouting provocative rhetoric , scaremongering, and the attempting to incite civil unrest, I am going to opine openly here, that the recent and some still on-going unrests, seen in the middle eastern countries, were caused (among many other equally important issues) by the very issue I am talking about here- food price rises due to dependence on Import.

Of course, Malaysians are a little too comfortable to be venting our angers on the streets, and things ain’t quite as bad as it is in Tunisia and Egypt yet, but why let there be a possibility of it happening when we have enough arable land, the climate and people to stamp it out before it becomes an issue. Furthermore, why not take those steps to stamp it out when those very steps can not only act as a prevention of crisis, it can bring about a self sustainability that protect our people, and potentially provide the infrastructure to become a net exporter of those very commodities that our people are being economically blackmailed with.

I don’t unfortunately have the solution to this problem (I do have a few ideas though…), but I do believe it boils down to the following 4 questions:

  • 1) How can we Perakians, as individuals, contribute to food self-sustainability in the State of Perak, and ultimately build a better and brighter future for our future generations?
  • 2) What incentives, measures and initiatives are there available / being implemented (public, private or charitable sector) to encourage a stronger, more self-sufficient agricultural micro-economy within the state of Perak, by encouraging a higher standard and volume of production of currently import dependant commodities such as meat?

  • 3) What is currently being done to raise the Perakian people’s awareness of the importance of buying local, supporting local producers, and changing the incorrect perception of Local= substandard, and most importantly restore the former pride, glory and equally importantly coffers of the Perakian rural farming community?
  • 4) What targets are there in place, whether they be imposed by federal, state government or NGOs, in tracking the progress food-self sustainability, both in production and in consumption, to limit the carbon footprint of food commodities as well as to protect local businesses and consumers against global food price fluctuations/rises?

What I want to see on the back of asking these 4 questions are simple. I simply want to see food and beverage businesses operate with a smile on their faces. I also want to see them supporting their friends, relatives, neighbours who are members of the local farming community, who live locally to them. These are people who needs to being encouraged, supported and helped by government and those who have the power /passion , in these harsh economic climates when huge international multi-billion dollar conglomerates wage price wars with little small local farmers who struggle to make ends meet. I also want to see the next generation of those struggling local farmers to be thrown a lifeline and opportunity to progress in what they do along with the advancement of technology, and furthermore encourage their children to do the same.

If the government and those walking the corridors of power are fully committed in protecting the welfare, economy of the people they represent, and safeguarding the future of their children and their children’s children, act on the outcome of those questions and ACT NOW!

After all, is a smile too much to ask for when I take my child for his/her first packet of rojak?

Howard Lee can be reached on emwdine@gmail.com