Hindraf supporters and 200 children will continue to gather in front of the Parliament gate tomorrow.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is quite disturbing:

“What for? Why should I attend any Hindraf event?” he said when asked by a reporter at a press conference held after chairing Umno’s Supreme Council meeting on election preparations yesterday.

Or do we have to listen better when Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi speaks.

• He did say when he was elected that he will go to the people to hear what’s on their minds.
• He didn’t say the people could go and see him to tell him what’s on their mind.

Ok, it’s not easy to understand and to be understood…

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Living in a country where you cannot say what you think, newspapers really need to fork out lots of imagination to :

• live up the trend of hot gossip news worldwide
• keeping in line with Malaysian governmental politics

Although there won’t be nudity, some newspapers do know how to attract visitors using the term nude…

Malaysia beach nude make-up

Well, sounds nude, but it isn’t…

This extract comes from the NST (New York Straight Times) Malaysia newspaper. Most likely the government has some stakes in this newspaper, as they are allowed to go a bit further than the other big Star Malaysia newspaper when it comes to celebrities, gossip and the kind. Mind you, no such thing as page 3 Malaysian girls…

Malaysia Nude extract

This season’s makeup trend for cosmetics label M.A.C is a study of extremes.

There is nude, barely-there makeup on the one hand, the kind that says polished and flawless. It “sculpts” your face, giving the soft illusion of a higher cheekbone and sharper jawline. Blending the shades takes effort to make the “sculpturing” seem natural.

There are also traffic-stopping colours on eyes and lips reminiscent of Gwen Stefani or Harajuku girls, delivering an explosion of colour on an otherwise pale canvas.

What didn’t get the news?

Why only just before new Malaysian elections Indian (Hindu) holy-day Thaipusam get’s suddenly declared as an almost national holiday for part of Malaysia (unless if you have a bloody angry boss who finds all this politics ridiculous when it hurts his payroll…).

Thaipusam is a major Hindu religious festival celebrated on large scale no where else in the world except in Malaysia and India.

Is this to compensate the 37 Indians who in November 25, 2007 were protesting in the streets (like what happens in any democracy) and got changed for attempted murder? (the so called Hindraf rally)

Our election sweet PM gave an open house… "Busloads of people were ferried to the stadium, entertained by singers, served with food and drinks." Unlike the Hindraf rally : no more police intimidation, tear gas, water canons, arrests and imprisonment…

Technorati Tags: attempted murder, big star, celebrities gossip, cheekbone, gossip news, governmental politics, Gwen Stefani, harajuku girls, holy day, hot gossip, indian hindu, jawline, malaysia beach, malaysia girls, malaysian elections, malaysian girls, national holiday, nst, religious festival, straight times

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Former Indonesian president Suharto, born 1921 dies in hospital after liquid entering the brain causing failure of lung, heart and kidneys.

President Suharto

President Suharto ruled Indonesia for 32 years from 1965 onwards.

This long timeframe reminds me on Malaysian former president Tun Mahathir, who ruled Malaysia for 22 years.

But apart from a long reign, the 2 men leave a very different political legacy.

General Suharto

Unlike Tun Mahathir who is a doctor, Suharto comes from the military: he mainly contributed in freeing Indonesia from Dutch colonial power. This makes General Suharto more comparable to so freedom fighters like Cuban Fidel Castro.

Indonesia declared its independence in 1945 at the end of World War 2. Suharto then joined the new Indonesian army and fought in a five-year war against the Dutch. In March 1949 troops under Suharto’s command attacked the Dutch in Yogyakarta. The Dutch agreed to leave almost all of Indonesia.

Suharto

Born on 8 June 1921 in the village of Kemusu Argamulja in Central Java, Indonesia from a family of simple peasants. Those days Java was under the rule of the Dutch, so there was need of a strong fist to get away from the Dutch rule… Suharto had found his mission and destiny.

After independence, Suharto keeps in the army, "minding his own business".

When in 1955 Indonesia holds its first democratic election, Sukarno’s Indonesian Nationalist Union (PNI) wins more votes than any other party but doesn’t get the majority of seats.

In stead of doing like in any other democracy: making coalitions, Indonesia became politically instable. This led both to:

• self-serving actions of military officers in some regional areas and
• the growth of an Islamic separatist movement.

Sukarno’s answer was to proclaim martial law in 1957 with the help of the Communist Party PKI and the armed forces (ABRI) to assist with his plan for the introduction of a ‘Guided Democracy’ and getting rid of the Dutch.

Take back what is yours but it would have been ice if it was given back to the people…
Compare with Zimbabwe… history always repeats itself…

In the same year Dutch owned companies were nationalised:

• The Royal Packetship Company (which controls most of Indonesia’s shipping)
• Royal Dutch Shell
• 46,000 Dutch nationals are expelled from the country
• Officers from ABRI are given a role in managing the nationalised firms. In other words: the army has power over the most lucrative economical sources

Meanwhile Suharto is promoted to colonel and also begins to engage in business ventures.

In the middle of the cold war between the USA and Russia, the US supports rebels of military and muslim figures against Sukarno. Sukarno is pushed closer to the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China for help and gets the rebels under control.

Meanwhile Suharto’s extra-military business activities are implicated in sugar smuggling and other corrupt practices. Yet Suharto gets promoted to brigadier-general in January 1960.

Sukarno dissolves the House of Representatives and formally introduces ‘Guided Democracy’: a new parliament established in March 1960 containing:

• a majority of directly appointed representatives,
• including blocks from the military (later known as the Golkar party) and
• from the PKI.

The leader of the PKI heads a newly formed House of Assembly.

The PKI is getting so much power and popularity backed up with a Chinese foreign policy that in 1964 fears of a communist takeover of the country become widespread.

With the army and the communist party in power, and the fear of the communist party taking over all power, it is easy to understand that the military steps in: Suharto, who is now army chief-of-staff, steps in the political arena.

Not without hiccups, Suharto starts attacking the PKI, with the excuse that the PKI was pledging a coup d’etat.

Sukarno appoints Suharto as minister for and commander of the army to "clean up" the PKI.

PKI members and Chinese are targeted by the military, military-backed militias and violent mobs, with up to two million being murdered (most reports estimate the number at around 500,000). Being Chinese in Indonesia is not as easy partly due to this part of history.

Meanwhile also pro-Sukarno elements gets eliminated, allowing Suharto to rise to ultimate power:

• ban the PKI,
• ban the PKI powerful labour organisations
• control the press are tightened
• end a confrontation with Malaysia is ended
• re-establish relations with Western powers are reestablished, and
• suspend all ties with China
• increase overall spending on the military with some financial assistance coming from the US, (oh yes, the so called ultimate lovers of democracy now back up a military regime…: the government will directly appoint one third of its members. Suharto handpicks judges, the governor of the central bank, the board of directors of each state-owned company and the chairman of the Security and Exchange Commission.)
• armed forces are given a central and permanent role in civil governance and economic management
• diplomatic relations with China are broken and most Chinese-language newspapers are closed.

In 1968 Suharto is formally elected for a five-year term as president.

He will remain in the position until 1998, standing unopposed for successive five-year terms in 1973, 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993 and 1998.

How did General Suharto keep in control

More or less the same way as how General Suharto came in power in the first place: he kept in control using an iron fist.

Again having witnessed the history of Europe: the benefit of iron fists is that your country gets independence, the disadvantage of an iron fist is that there is not much room for decentralisation.

Protest Suharto

Protest against Suharto after he left office

Every 21th of May: protesters wearing Suharto masks demand the ailing former dictator Suharto to face trial. This day commemorates the anniversary of the massive pro-democracy demonstrations that ousted President Suharto in 1998.

Suharto never has been trailed due to "health reasons" (this history repeats itself in South America…). Suharto has been in hospital for colon surgery and several strokes.

Our condolences to all friends and family members of Suharto, as well to all friends and family members of the people who died under Suharto’s regime.

Technorati Tags: 22 years, brain, failure, former president, heart, indonesia, indonesian president, kidneys, president suharto, timeframe, tun mahathir, suharto, general suharto, protest suharto, suharto bio, suharto biography, how did general suharto keep in control, soeharto, politics, China, US, democracy

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