tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-340971602012-01-23T14:06:29.460+08:00VOX POPULI | VOICE OF THE PEOPLERustam Saninoreply@blogger.comBlogger1301100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-31455458985547159882007-12-18T11:20:00.000+08:002007-12-19T09:48:27.950+08:00

This experiment in government we like to call democracy – which has lasted for half a century now – depends upon, among other things, a certain level of trust, not only of the government and its elected officials, but maybe more importantly among the people themselves. After that many years trust has been under attack in our society, we can today confidently declare that it is definitely dead.

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-69851156974602244422007-12-08T10:59:00.000+08:002007-12-18T15:58:39.372+08:00

Saya berasa sungguh terhormat kerana catatan ringkas saya baru-baru ini di laman blog ini telah mendapat reaksi daripada pemimpin PAS, khususnya Sdr Herman Samsudeen seorang pemimpin Pemuda PAS Wilayah Persekutuan. Malah beliau telah menaikkan taraf catatan ringkas saya itu menjadi sebuah “teori”, meskipun sekadar teori “nakal”. Sayang sekali, terlalu banyak yang tidak difahami Sdr

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-31575065834587031772007-12-04T12:09:00.000+08:002007-12-07T09:21:28.419+08:00

Berita tentang berlakunya perundingan-perundingan belakang tabir antara PAS dan Umno sungguh menarik perhatian – dan cukup mengasyikkan. Dalam kerangka pemikiran politik perkauman (atau tawar menawar antara kaum) yang dominan di negara ini kini, saya kira tentulah banyak di kalangan mereka yang berfikir dalam kerangka gagasan “hegemoni Melayu” yang berasa sungguh senang dengan perkembangan

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-47032819993152745352007-12-03T15:36:00.000+08:002007-12-18T16:16:40.348+08:00

PM Abdullah is obviously very angry with Hindraf. “I rarely get angry,” he told the national news agency Bernama recently, “but this blatant lie cannot be tolerated at all.” He denounced the Indian Malaysian activists’ claims that they (the Indians) are being mistreated, and accused them of trying to stir up racial conflict. I am no fan of Hindraf myself – and in my own postings on the

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-89789464346491456262007-11-30T14:40:00.000+08:002007-12-04T23:14:00.716+08:00

Kita berterima kasih kepada laman-laman blog Squeak.Speak.Roar dan Rocky’s Bru kerana menarik perhatian kita terhadap sesuatu yang menarik (atau meloyakan) yang baru-baru ini terjadi di Pahang. Menteri Besar Pahang, Adnan Yaakob, baru-baru ini memberi amaran bahawa mana-mana Anggota Exco Kerajaan Negeri itu yang didapati membuat bidaan bagi nombor kereta dengan harga yang melebihi RM 10,000

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-77790407102318158112007-11-29T18:24:00.000+08:002007-12-02T06:42:50.790+08:00

Saya berasa agak hairan – tetapi agak gembira juga – bila Menteri Penerangan Zainuddin Maidin tidak kedengaran suara dan komennya selepas berakhirnya demonstrasi Hindraf di Kuala Lumpur baru-baru ini. Mungkinkah benar spekulasi Syed Imran dalam laman blognya baru-baru ini bahawa Zainuddin mungkin telah tiba di hujung kerjayanya, saya bertanya pada diri sendiri. Syed Imran melaporkan

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-46522355290930679202007-11-28T12:26:00.000+08:002007-11-28T15:15:55.254+08:00

Ketua Pengarah Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP), Dr Firdaus Abdullah, tampaknya benar-benar marah dan kecewa. Sebab kemarahannya: DBP didakwa di Parlimen sebagai sedang mengalami sindrom “kemandulan minda” kerana gagal membuat penyelidikan untuk mencari istilah baru dalam bahasa Melayu. Yang membuat dakwaan: Dr Wan Hashim Wan Teh, Ahli Parlimen Grik, Pengerusi Eksekutif Institut Terjemahan

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-69376159145820450592007-11-26T13:22:00.000+08:002007-12-18T16:05:01.112+08:00

I am very glad that the organisers of the Hindraf massive demonstrations in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, November 25, managed to get the number of people they wanted in order to put across their grievances to the government rather effectively. The crowd that they managed to garner, it appeared, was almost as large as that of the Bersih demonstrations on November 10. The fact that that

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-19444476473678266202007-11-21T09:05:00.000+08:002007-11-28T14:29:54.689+08:00

There is no doubt in my mind that Anwar Ibrahim’s expose of V K Lingam-initiated corruption within our Judiciary is a great success. The whole nation is now abuzz with the sound of “Correct, Correct, Correct!” An “independent panel” set up to investigate the tape has been virtually abandoned without really completing its task. But continued demands and pressures from the public – no less

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-4610182377491607092007-11-20T10:27:00.000+08:002007-12-18T18:49:21.027+08:00

The Umno Annual General Assembly (Perhimpunan Agung Tahunan) is normally considered the most important political event in Malaysia, especially in a year when there is a party leadership election. Analysts would usually use the event as a barometer to detect and measure the political pulse of the nation. The “perhimpunan” for this year was held in early November, but this is not

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-61219380236820889122007-11-10T17:23:00.000+08:002007-12-18T18:47:58.349+08:00

Letter from AliranWell, it looks that the information Minister will have to eat his own words. He will have to believe what he sees. His eyes are not playing tricks. It is indeed true that concerned Malaysians did turn up in their thousands to demand for clean and fair elections.They were not intimidated by the heavy presence of the police and the FRU; they were not discouraged by the water

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-55301002472860908742007-10-30T14:11:00.000+08:002007-10-31T17:19:06.244+08:00

The Melaka chief minister, Mohd Ali Rustam, may just be in political hot soup right now. It appears that he is being investigated by officials of the Prime Minister Department for the speech he made when officiating a convention of a BN component party, the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP), in Melaka recently. According to reports, the chief minister was being rather discourteous to his hosts

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-9411843347734750852007-10-24T11:17:00.000+08:002007-10-24T12:59:57.038+08:00

Somehow, anything that Singapore Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew says about Malaysian politics or about Malaysia-Singapore relations never fails to excite public opinion both here and in Singapore – indeed the world over (because even the West seems to accept him as the true wise man of Asia). To some quarters Lee Kuan Yew is simply a larger than life reality that can never be wrong – and

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-38284404597651406752007-10-17T09:03:00.000+08:002007-10-17T09:05:28.795+08:00

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-66463021504830060442007-10-09T20:37:00.000+08:002007-12-18T18:46:02.934+08:00

A few months ago I had to suffer the inconvenience caused by interruption in the electricity supply to my area in Gombak. A few weeks ago I had to stop my blogging activities for about week, because telephone line connections in my area were interrupted. Both the electric and the telephone companies people told me that both interruptions were caused by thieves stealing copper cables belonging

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-85717024646545451912007-10-08T06:24:00.000+08:002007-10-08T22:15:51.076+08:00

Entah memang dirancang entah memang suatu kebetulan, minggu lalu merupakan minggu yang memilukan bagi politik bukan perkauman di negara ini. Pada 5 Oktober, Ketua Pemuda Parti Gerakan, Mah Siew Kong, telah mengemukakan suatu cadangan yang berani agar semua 14 parti gabungan dalam Barisan Nasional (BN) digabungkan menjadi satu parti bukan perkauman sahaja – “demi perpaduan kaum di negara ini.”

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-19638679763958517392007-10-05T14:11:00.000+08:002007-12-18T18:43:15.627+08:00

It was indeed an unusual, albeit courageous, move by the Gerakan Youth chief Mah Siew Kong to call for the merger of all 14 parties within the ruling BN coalition into a single party – in order “to achieve national unity”. There was clearly a tinge of hipocracy, however, in the call. There is no denial of the fact that the Gerakan itself has been a major player in promoting the BN brand of

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-32311412422015021642007-10-04T18:17:00.000+08:002007-10-04T18:21:34.174+08:00

A Solidarity vigil will be held this Friday night, in support of Burma’s people, who are unable to exercise their fundamental rights in their country, and to express our opposition towards the Burma military junta’s bloody crackdown on protestors. There are now reports filing in, that hundreds have been killed and some 6,000 people are being held at various detention facilities. Thousands of

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-59714359422906136132007-10-04T09:17:00.000+08:002007-10-04T09:22:45.657+08:00

I am delighted to hear that my friend Professor Jomo K. Sundaram, formerly of Universiti Malaya and currently of the United Nation, has been declared this year’s recipient of the Leontief Prize “for advancing the frontiers of economic thought”. It is a prestigious annual award of the Global Development and Environment Institute of Tufts University (USA). The award ceremony would be held at

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-16621825425380377102007-10-03T05:36:00.000+08:002007-12-04T23:28:37.367+08:00

Khairy Jamaluddin, the infamous son-in-law of the PM, seems to have perfected the art of hijacking highly visible political events for which he has no moral right to claim credits. Take, for example, the highly hyped 50th Merdeka celebration at the end of last August. After making some historically false claims of Umno being the sole “winner”of this nation’s independence (“Where were the

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-67913603023969425662007-10-02T10:07:00.000+08:002007-10-02T10:10:35.902+08:00

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-30141916218090788142007-09-28T21:28:00.000+08:002007-09-30T14:15:03.939+08:00

The basic difference between those who demanded that a Royal Commission be established and those who maintained that an Independent Panel is adequate enough to understand the alleged rot in the Judiciary of this country is this: the former see the rot as being profound and systemic in nature while the latter are too dense to see anything beyond its stark manifestations. While many analysts

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-64244614124888415392007-09-27T19:54:00.000+08:002007-11-19T12:06:07.362+08:00

I want to tell the regime: stand down the troops. The age of impunity is over Just before he died, I had the privilege to meet Michael Aris, the husband of Aung San Suu Kyi. With the support of the international community, he was desperately trying to see his wife for the last time. The Burmese authorities said no, and made clear that she could never return if she left Burma. I was struck

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-80080860663454814422007-09-26T18:35:00.000+08:002007-09-26T18:38:18.222+08:00

Di tengah-tengah kesuraman kita menghadapi kebobrokan dan kemusnahan institusi kehakiman dan pentadbiran keadilan di negara ini, pada 26 September 2007 kita sekurang-kurangnya telah melihat suatu sinar harapan dan keceriaan. Pada hari tersebut Majlis Peguam Malaysia telah berjaya mengatur sebuah perarakan tunjuk perasaan aman yang bermula di perkarangan gedung Istana Keadilan menuju ke

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-74562912519353514632007-09-26T11:09:00.000+08:002007-11-19T12:09:22.285+08:00

In a recent forum on “Democracy and Nation Building” organised by Suaram and Human Rights Committee of the Bar Council in which I was invited to be a panelist, I stressed on the importance of realising the fact that democracy is not an ever enlarging and unfolding characteristic of a society. For a long time, such was the commonly held assumption among the early students of democracy

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-28884645643397151652007-09-23T10:35:00.000+08:002007-09-24T07:58:21.466+08:00

When I was an entering graduate student at Yale University (New Haven, Connecticut, USA) in 1978 I remember clearly the welcoming address by the then President of the University, the late A. Bartlett Giamatti. He was an internationally renown scholar in the field of English Literature and had the reputation of being the youngest person ever to hold the position of the President (equivalent to

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-7158365075232952512007-09-22T07:47:00.000+08:002007-09-25T06:31:53.935+08:00

For an ordinary citizen not trained in law I was in shock from watching the video images of lawyer VK Lingam pacing up and down a room while talking to a senior judge, conspiring the fixture of appointments and promotions of judges in the nation’s judiciary. I was thankful for the most graphic evidence thus far from the Anwar’s expose, but somehow I was not surprised by it all. President

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-84713458331818629192007-09-17T13:44:00.000+08:002007-09-17T13:50:48.505+08:00

Among some writer- and journalist-friends of mine, I have always been viewed with suspicion. I am considered to be biased, opinionated – and therefore, logically, I am not objective. And, it appears that to be lacking in objectivity is the greatest sin one can commit in the world of “professional” journalism and writing. Only the other day, a young fellow blogger complained that he finds

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-87311147202183504882007-09-14T12:33:00.000+08:002007-11-19T12:11:55.284+08:00

Suwandi Abdul Ghani dari peristiwa Batu Buruk: Melayu bacul atau berani berbeza pandangan? Pada 5 September 2007, sebuah badan NGO Melayu, General Professionals & Pewaris Bangsa (PROWARIS), telah menganjurkan sebuah majlis ceramah untuk Sanusi Junid (Presiden, Universiti Islam Antarabangsa; mantan Setiausaha Agung Umno, mantan Menteri Besar Kedah; mantan Menteri Pertanian Malaysia; dan

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-20527488603051836212007-09-05T16:49:00.000+08:002007-09-06T01:52:21.999+08:00

I had to be in Pulau Pinang, on a family business trip, during the Merdeka weekend. So, I could only participate in the joyous “national” occasion by courtesy of the Zainuddin Maidin's propaganda machines (RTM and other crony TV stations). Imperfect as was the mode of my participation in the grand pageantry, strangely enough I did not even feel a tinge of regret. Indeed I felt that I was

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-67551239427866845842007-09-05T11:06:00.000+08:002007-09-05T21:09:51.834+08:00

Berikut adalah “komentar” yang dikirim seorang pembaca laman blog ini dari Jakarta Indonesia. Penulis ini bukan kenalan saya. Namun pengalaman yang diceritakannya menarik untuk direnungkan sehubungan dengan keretakan hubungan antarabangsa negara kita dengan negara jiran yang hampir tercetus berikutan dengan perlakuan polis kita terhadap seorang wasit karate dari Indonesia baru-baru ini.

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-59442315187008296422007-08-30T19:12:00.000+08:002007-08-30T22:42:30.942+08:00

Sejak akhir-akhir ini banyak kes rasuah yang agak serius di kalangan para pegawai tinggi kerajaan maupun di kalangan para pemimpin politik pemerintah telah didedahkan di negara ini. Namun demikian, kerajaan tampaknya tidak begitu berhasil dalam usahanya untuk mendakwa, apatah lagi menghukum, pihak-pihak yang dituduh melakukan rasuah itu. Ada yang dihadapkan di mahkamah tetapi dibebaskan

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-83751542129672502862007-08-29T23:44:00.000+08:002007-08-30T21:06:15.735+08:00

Saya sebenarnya memang sudah menjangkakan bahawa pada suatu ketika nanti Prof. Dr. Mohd Safar Hashim, profesor kajian media di Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, akan mengeluarkan kenyataan yang memuji langkah Umno membentuk pasukan petugas bagi menangani kegiatan para bloggers di negara ini. [Baca pandangannya di sini]. Profesor tersebut menganggap langkah pasukan petugas tersebut sebagai “

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-36378682242203481332007-08-20T09:25:00.000+08:002007-08-25T05:49:26.869+08:00

Chinese calligraphy: Towards a just societyWith Raja Petra and Yahya IsmailI attended the 20th anniversary dinner of Harakah (PAS’ organ) at Hotel Grand Seasons last night, and was pleasantly surprised towards the end of the event when I was called on to the stage to receive an appreciation award for my contributions to the newspaper as a columnist and writer. Three other contributors also

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-44993899768680415952007-08-18T19:39:00.000+08:002007-08-18T20:05:12.847+08:00

I would like to congratulate my fellow bloggers in Malaysia All-Blog for the official launching of their own new premise, Blog House (66 Lorong Setiabudi, Damansara Heights, Kuala Lumpur), on 25 August 2007, at 8.30 pm. The event would also be dubbed “The Malaysia All-Blog Bangsa Malaysia Get Together” where bloggers would assemble to celebrate the nation’s fiftieth anniversary. More

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-13263191356458819172007-08-17T16:20:00.000+08:002007-08-17T16:31:55.541+08:00

The three-hour meeting that Dr. M had with bloggers and online web writers at the premises of the Perdana Leadership Institute in Putrajaya on August 15 was organised by (the ad-hoc committee of ) a newly minted organisation, Warga Prihatin Malaysia (Prima). The meeting had attracted no less than 200 guests, and the event was well-covered by the press as well as in the blogosphere – mainly

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-84415821536027617062007-08-15T23:07:00.000+08:002007-08-15T23:32:18.521+08:00

I’m no fan of Dr. M. In fact, I’ve published a book (Bercanda dengan Mahathir, 2006), a collection of op-ed articles, to vehemently criticize his period of rule which lasted more than two decades. I must, however, congratulate him for his pointed and courageous attack on the ongoing “rot” that is taking place under Abdullah Badawi’s rule. He made the attack at a meeting he had with some

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-23655126695691246082007-08-13T13:15:00.000+08:002007-08-13T13:25:11.650+08:00

Hari ini, sehari selepas saya bergembira kerana “merayakan” hari kelahiran saya yang ke-63, saya menerima berita yang amat menyedihkan tentang kembalinya ke Rahmatullah Taala seorang teman yang amat saya sanjungi lagi saya hormati: Abdul Razak Ahmad. Sewaktu menghembuskan nafasnya terakhir, Abdul Razak merupakan Pengerusi Parti Keadilan Rakyat, Negeri Johor. Namun jawatan itu hanyalah

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-23627989976421204812007-08-12T07:45:00.000+08:002007-08-12T08:17:11.652+08:00

Baru-baru ini saya berkesempatan membaca hasil temuramah ahli Majlis Tertinggi Umno, Norza Zakaria, dengan portal berita Malaysiakini.com – dan kemudiannya melihat rakaman video temuramah tersebut. Banyak perkara yang dapat saya persetujui dengan pandangan “pemimpin” muda Umno itu. Pertamanya pandangannya bahawa Umno perlu segera diremajakan melalui suatu proses penggantian dan pewarisan

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-51996408352466055662007-08-11T12:31:00.000+08:002007-09-24T08:18:20.757+08:00

Bersama blogger dan penulis, James Wong, dan Setiausaha Agung PAS, Datuk Kamaruddin Jaafar. Pada malam 9 Ogos lalu Suruhanjaya Tinggi Singapura telah melangsungkan majlis sambutan yang agak meriah di Hotel Shangri-La. Hari tersebut merupakan “Hari Kebangsaan Singapura”, yakni perayaan kelahiran negara itu hasil pemisahannya daripada Malaysia pada tahun 1965. Tahun ini, seperti biasanya

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-26572348896829480342007-08-06T11:48:00.000+08:002007-08-06T16:17:56.221+08:00

I cannot really call Amir Muhammad “a friend” as our age difference is so great. He should call me a “Pakcik” at least – although I knew him (even recognised his nascent talents) when he was still a school boy, a school-mate of my son, at our common alma mater – Victoria Institution, Kuala Lumpur. Now he has just lost his column in the New Straits Times (NST) – for the second time. The first

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-80774024181703188832007-08-03T09:59:00.000+08:002007-08-03T10:29:07.340+08:00

“Tulislah komentar yang biadab lagi penuh fitnah di laman web saya, dan saya mungkin akan ke penjara kerananya …” Demikianlah seruan Raja Petra Kamaruddin (RPK) kepada para pengunjung laman webnya, Malaysia Today, setelah dia menghadapi delapan jam soalsiasat di Ibu Pejabat Polis Wilayah Dang Wangi baru-baru ini. RPK tentulah berasa sedikit kecewa. Dia datang ke balai polis itu

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-79905934543036169742007-08-01T11:24:00.000+08:002007-08-01T13:09:18.299+08:00

In the grander scheme of things (in the mind of some fellow bloggers at least), it was not such a great move that the Malaysian blogger tokoh, Jeff Ooi, made – from Gerakan to DAP. It would have been more shocking to some had Jeff made the move from just being a politically unaffiliated socio-political blogger to being an active member of the DAP as well. That would really send a minor

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-38710896661028304382007-07-30T12:24:00.000+08:002007-07-30T12:33:05.210+08:00

Having been indisposed for a few weeks now, I hope I am not too late in saying “Welcome back, Nat” to my new, and young, friend Nathaniel Tan. He must have found out by now how sweet and precious freedom can be, even when it is imperfect and fake as in our society – especially when compared with the inhuman and humiliating condition he had to endure for five days in the police cell. I am

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-78530894527391740872007-07-22T11:06:00.000+08:002007-07-22T11:14:42.358+08:00

To friends who phoned and emailed me, I would like to apologise for not attending to this site for a few weeks now. As you can see, the last item was posted here on June 19, 2007. Since then I had been down with a rather bad virus flu – although, thankfully, “denggi” (for which my area Gombak is notorious) has been ruled out by the doctor. At my age, returning to normal after a few weeks of flu

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-16902667719358187302007-06-19T00:13:00.000+08:002007-06-19T08:28:21.964+08:00

I spent the whole of my Sunday morning yesterday (June 17, 2007) websites and blogsites crawling – and at the end of it all found myself to be quite shockingly enlightened on the issue of fake university qualifications being paraded as genuine ones, as means of getting social approval and recognition in our society. It all started with a posting in the blogsite klpos.com which reports a

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-19419596578706464332007-06-17T16:50:00.000+08:002007-06-17T17:07:58.787+08:00

[Rencana ini pada mulanya diterbitkan dalam majalah Massa (Isu Khas Hari Kebangsaan): 29 Ogos – 4 September 1998. Tulisan ini disiarkan semula di sini sebagai sambutan “Hari Bapa” yang dirayakan hari ini (17 Jun 2007) dan sambutan awal saya untuk hari kemerdekaan ke-50 negara yang akan dirayakan pada 31 Ogos 2007 nanti. Klik di sini untuk suatu koleksi gambar-gambar Allahyaraham].

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-13818064377515608052007-06-15T12:07:00.000+08:002007-06-15T12:11:52.093+08:00

Baik Menteri Pendidikan Tinggi, Mustapha Mohamed, maupun Naib Canselor Universiti Malaya (UM), Rafiah Salim, sudah menafikan bahawa UM akan dipindahkan ke sebuah tapak yang lebih luas di Sepang. Namun menurut Dr Syed Husin Ali (Timbalan Presiden, KeADILan) berita tentang kemungkinan itu telah menggemparkan “kerabat” besar UM yang terdiri daripada kakitangan awam dan akademik, para siswa dan

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-72213988866555489442007-06-14T09:19:00.000+08:002007-06-14T09:29:23.024+08:00

Sometimes in early 1998, a controversy was ignited by a Briton who was a former lecturer of Universiti Malaya. Passing by the newly opened Faculty of Law complex in the Universiti Malaya campus, he noticed that one strategic and prominent corner of the otherwise impressive complex was being turned into a “MacDonald’s Restaurant” facility. In a letter that was published by the New Straits

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-71173898277919864442007-06-06T09:00:00.000+08:002007-06-06T09:09:32.253+08:00

I do not find anything new or fresh in the arguments offered by Najib Razak, or Rais Yatim, or Zainuddin Maidin, or any of the other BN cabinet ministers, over the reversion to the use of the term “Bahasa Malaysia” to refer to Malay, the national language of the country. The claim is that the use of the term would make the language truly inclusive, belonging to all Malaysians – and therefore

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-38157799848782516542007-05-29T07:47:00.000+08:002007-05-29T07:57:04.336+08:00

Dalam sastera Melayu tradisional (khususnya dalam genre yang disebut “hikayat”) terdapat satu kebiasaan sastera (literary convention) yang menghuraikan sesuatu peristiwa itu dengan suatu gugusan perbilangan atau petitih. Untuk menghuraikan suasana waktu hari siang akan menjelang, umpamanya, akan digunakanlah baris-baris perbilangan seperti berikut: Ayam berkokok dua kali Orang tua

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-15606941617702837942007-05-25T12:04:00.000+08:002007-05-28T17:52:00.741+08:00

_____________________ Rencana ini akan diterbitkan dalam kolum “Pandangan Rustam” dalam akhbar mingguan Siasah (Bil 49: 30 Mei 2007). Rencana ini disiarkan di sini sebagai sambutan terhadap Kongres Tahunan Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) yang berlangsung selama tiga hari mulai 25 Mei 2007. Saya ingin mengambil kesempatan ini untuk mengucapkan “Selamat Berkongres” kepada semua para perwakilan

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-32118396294906578672007-05-18T20:00:00.000+08:002007-05-21T10:53:26.368+08:00

Buku terbaru Dr Kua Kia Soong telah menimbulkan banyak kontroversi, selain kemungkinan akan diharamkan oleh kerajaan daripada beredar. Namun demikian, sementara belum diharamkan ini, penjualannya dikatakan laris sekali – termasuklah pesanan besar yang datang dari Singapura. Namun, apa yang menyedihkan ialah kualiti perbincangan tentang buku itu, termasuklah tentang persoalan sosial dan

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-30662972736821362832007-05-14T15:20:00.000+08:002007-05-26T09:55:12.098+08:00

It was Mother’s Day – 13 May 2007. But as my mother has long departed for me to pay tribute to her personally, I had decided to focus my attention on the other historical significance of the date.Thirty eight years ago that day nasty race riots broke out in the Kuala Lumpur-Petaling Jaya area and in one or two other large towns in Peninsular Malaysia.The event was such a significant watershed in

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-57512582316474198942007-05-10T14:06:00.000+08:002007-05-10T15:13:23.632+08:00

I hope my young friend Ahmad Zaki Yamani is not in too much a trouble – politically that is. The man is quite ambitious politically. At the moment he is already a member of the central working committee of PKR Youth (AMPKR) besides being the Selangor Information Chief of the party. For the next PKR Annual Congress to be held later this month, Zaki would probably try to retain his seat in the

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-91237606516954014472007-05-08T23:10:00.000+08:002007-05-26T10:02:00.752+08:00

Jika di Amerika kebanyakan para pemimpin peringkat tertingginya berkelulusan Harvard atau Yale, maka di Britain pula kebanyakan pemimpin demikian berkelulusan Cambridge atau Oxford. Hakikat ini tergambar, misalnya, pada tokoh-tokoh yang menjadi calon presiden di AS atau pada ketua-ketua parti yang bakal menjadi perdana menteri di Britain. Di Singapura tradisi pendidikan para pemimpinnya

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-69707268155028779412007-05-08T22:13:00.000+08:002007-05-09T07:37:55.436+08:00

Dalam banyak hal kita telah berjaya dan kita dapat berbangga bahawa situasi politik negara kita adalah antara yang paling stabil di muka bumi ini. Tetapi kebangaan itu, seperti yang dapat dirasakan oleh pemimpin kita sendiri dan oleh kebanyakan peneliti masyarakat serta oleh kebanyakan rakyat yang cerdas, adalah semata-mata kebangaan kerana kita dapat hidup lebih aman berbanding banyak negara

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-25468172507782819162007-05-06T17:31:00.000+08:002007-05-09T10:06:21.388+08:00

This time my posting is rather unusual for this blogsite.Normally the postings are mine alone, but this time an old and dear friend of mine since our days as academicians, mine in UKM and UM and his in USM, has asked me to post some of his thoughts on the “Dawn Raid” – specifically in the form of two notes he has written on the subject. Dr Collin Abraham thinks that he is an “old man” and

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-48965302515563376402007-05-06T12:32:00.000+08:002007-05-06T12:51:19.689+08:00

PKR mengalami kekalahan yang mengecewakan di tangan BN dalam pilihanraya kecil di Ijok baru-baru ini. Analisis mendalam akan mendapati bahawa rasuah, penipuan dan penggunaan undi hantu yang berleluasa di Ijok menjadi faktor utama yang mendorong kemenangan BN itu. Namun demikian, pada masa yang sama PKR mendakwa telah meraih peningkatan sokongan yang besar, khususnya di kalangan

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-91667369220897535192007-05-05T13:31:00.000+08:002007-05-05T13:51:17.187+08:00

According to Ahiruddin Atan, protem President of National Alliance of Bloggers (All-Blog), if not for on-line news portal Malaysiakini and bloggers like Screenshots, Malaysia would have scored even worse than the 150th place (out of 195 countries) that it managed to attain this year. Yes, that’s Malaysia’s position this year in the Freedom House's latest World Press Freedom Index.

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-18006277849764277442007-05-05T13:16:00.000+08:002007-05-05T16:41:48.410+08:00

Norila Mohd Daud, President of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) Malaysia has urged the Government to recognise bloggers and netizen writers as legitimate part of the new media. The NUJ is an organisation whose members are unionised journalists from all media, including those owned and controlled by the government via the major political parties, directly or through proxies. Norila

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-55032417430573080612007-05-05T13:10:00.000+08:002007-05-05T13:15:09.773+08:00

A real economist starts not with a policy view but with a story about how the world works. That story almost always takes the form of a model – a simplified representation of the world, which helps you cut through the complexities. Once you have a model, you can ask how well it fits the facts; if it fits them reasonably well, you can ask what sorts of magnitudes, what sort of tradeoffs, it

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-90675254110995596752007-04-23T18:35:00.000+08:002007-05-29T02:00:27.884+08:00

It really does baffle me why people still wants to listen to the man. His latest rambling takes the form of a “keynote presentation” on press freedom organised by the Perdana Leadership Foundation in Puterajaya. I believe the foundation must have been founded (and funded) by himself, his cronies and his children. Otherwise, no one in their right frame of mind would want to invite the

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-38672194883122126362007-04-22T00:38:00.000+08:002007-04-22T00:50:27.077+08:00

Setelah tiga hari kempen pilihanraya kecil DUN (N11) Ijok berlangsung, hari ini (22 April 2007) saya terasa seolah-olah para pemimpin BN mulai bertukar tempo – dan demikianlah juga nada media cetak dan elektronik arus perdana yang sememangnya merupakan para pelapor upahan para pemimpin BN tersebut. Mulai hari ini mereka tampaknya sudah mulai bernada lembut – baik di lapangan di Ijok maupun

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-63718004178916509732007-04-20T15:18:00.000+08:002007-04-21T10:04:04.496+08:00

Within a very short span of time, the issue of the connection between the Deputy Prime Minister, Najib Razak, and the murder case of the Mongolian model, Altantuya Shaariibuu has shifted from the realm of rumour mongering into the realm of a public political discourse. Even the public discourse has at the moment shed away its “cool and collected” nature – to be transformed to become a

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-43707284081050338462007-04-17T06:55:00.000+08:002007-04-17T07:12:48.583+08:00

Upaya Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) untuk terlibat aktif dalam politik piliharaya (electoral politics) negara ini tampaknya sering sahaja mengalami rintangan. Sebahagiannya, halangan ini disebabkan oleh faktor-faktor dalaman parti itu sendiri. Faktor utama ialah hakikat bahawa usaha PKR untuk menempatkan Anwar Ibrahim pada puncak hirarki pimpinannya masih terhalang oleh perintah mahkamah

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-51092622071142693972007-04-12T11:43:00.000+08:002007-04-18T01:56:50.132+08:00

Tentang perpindahan Rejimen Ke-10 ke Selatan Thailand ini pada mulanya para pemimpin [kelompok Melayu dalam PKM] tidak menyedari bahawa perpindahan itu adalah agak menyerupai apa yang dilakukan Datuk Bahaman dahulu … [yang] juga sebenarnya berpindah ke kawasan sempadan, iaitu ke Terengganu, sebelum beliau melakukan serangan lagi ke Pahang. Persamaan ini hanya disedari oleh mereka, khasnya oleh

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-45414112013750958692007-04-12T11:27:00.000+08:002007-04-18T10:11:42.028+08:00

Memang sejak akhir-akhir ini kelihatan beberapa tindakan pemerintah terhadap beberapa kes rasuah di negara ini. Misalnya, beberapa kes rasuah melibatkan pegawai-pegawai kerajaan dan separa kerajaan (di Langkawi dan di Kota Bahru misalnya) telah dihadapkan ke mahkamah – dan dalam proses. Keadaan ini terasa agak berbeza daripada keadaan biasa sejak Abdullah Badawi mengambil alih kuasa pada

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-73289851263683088342007-04-10T12:11:00.000+08:002007-04-18T10:14:53.539+08:00

For the last one year or so, especially since I took a keen interest in this “business” of blogging, I have been discussing a lot about our (especially our political leaders’) failure to be engaged in serious and penetrating discussions of some of our major national issues. In my 2004 book, Ke Mana Nasionalisme Melayu (Whither Malay Nationalism), I have forwarded the thesis that one of the

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-15352841573104486572007-04-06T14:53:00.000+08:002007-04-17T06:13:33.808+08:00

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate my fellow bloggers for their successful effort last night (April 5, 2007) to establish the National Alliance of Bloggers, especially Sdr Ahiruddin Attan, Sdr Jeff Ooi, and Sdr Nuraina A. Samad for being elected to be the founding President, Vice-President and Secretary, respectively, of the Alliance. A new technology has emerged, but so

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-87024596235967543642007-04-04T21:55:00.000+08:002007-04-05T21:09:29.758+08:00

Menurut hemat saya, terdapat semacam impian yang agak menebal di benak atau psyche orang Melayu tentang konsep sebuah “pasukan impian” (dream team) dalam kepimpinan politik Melayu. Perbalahan politik di kalangan para pemimpin Melayu tidak pernah bermula, dan tidak pernah juga berakhir, dengan perdebatan yang bersifat cendekia, yakni semata-mata merupakan pertembungan antara sudut-sudut

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-68593150892299898312007-04-04T21:46:00.000+08:002007-04-18T01:58:02.539+08:00

When one looks at the present scene, a further possibility emerges, one that is also rarely mentioned in our time. It is that in modern polity, continuing unemployment is preferred by many (and especially by those with political voice and influence) to more vigorous employment expansion and especially to the measures necessary to achieve it … [But] it is not possible in the world today to seem to

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-43397110389183735582007-04-04T09:48:00.000+08:002007-04-04T11:16:22.716+08:00

The Malaysia Book Village (Kampung Buku Malaysia) project in beautiful Langkawi is now officially a flop, so says the Chairman of the Kedah State Executive Committee for Tourism, Youth and Sports, Datuk Othman Aziz.And I am not the least surprised. Around the time the project was launched in December 1997, I wrote in my then weekly op-ed column in Utusan Malaysia that the project is destined

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-35635912496687778152007-04-02T11:28:00.000+08:002007-04-02T12:00:43.192+08:00

Saya bukanlah seorang pengikut Akademi Fantasia yang fanatik.Namun dalam masyarakat kita hari ini siapakah yang dapat melepaskan dirinya daripada kontroversi yang dicetuskan oleh dunia “industri” hiburan kita yang amat berpengaruh itu? Dalam masyarakat kita kini, seperti yang pernah saya catatkan dalam laman blog ini dulu, para penghibur dan para selebriti dari dunia hiburan lebih dihargai

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-44810789931401257642007-04-02T11:16:00.000+08:002007-04-18T01:59:12.742+08:00

All of us need moral commitments that stand above the petty concerns and squabbles of everyday life. We should be prepared to mount an active defence of these values wherever they are poorly developed, or threatened … None of us would have anything to live for if we don’t have anything worth dying for. Anthony Giddens, Runaway World (London: 1999) [Beliau berhujah bahawa pemodenan,

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-59209617731770690682007-03-31T11:53:00.000+08:002007-04-02T14:50:37.654+08:00

I am not a Malaysian Chinese.Therefore, I cannot possibly know how a Malaysian Chinese would react to the former PM’s sentiment about Malaysian Chinese moving back to China on account of the abundance of business opportunities in that country today.What follows, therefore, is just my own imagination of how my reaction might be to the ex-PM's statements on the matter -- if I were a Malaysian

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-86633404373251740742007-03-30T10:47:00.000+08:002007-03-31T08:15:43.982+08:00

Sewaktu Anwar Ibrahim ditemuramah Anand Naidu (mewakili Riz Khan) di saluran Al-Jazeera International baru-baru, suatu persoalan yang telah ditimbulkan ialah saranan Anwar sejak akhir-akhir ini supaya Dasar Ekonomi Baru (DEB) dimansuhkan. Ini menunjukkan bahawa isu pemansuhan DEB itu tidak saja menarik perhatian di dalam negara ini tetapi juga pada tahap antarabangsa. Saya berpendapat

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-34928023008319761482007-03-27T19:39:00.000+08:002007-04-18T02:01:33.230+08:00

Once we were outside the safety of the campus, a Black Maria started moving towards us. We continued walking and chanting until the police van drove close and turned so that its back doors faced us. Suddenly, these banged open and out stepped none other than Tun Dr Ismail himself, with pipe and all! We bolted back into the campus, all of us, except for Anwar, who was way in front. He probably did

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-67528573073014974172007-03-27T10:31:00.000+08:002007-03-28T15:02:24.169+08:00

To be mentioned or not to be mentioned … that’s the question for the opposition parties with regards to their relationship with the mainstream media. To be mentioned in the papers – i.e. to have publicity – must be very important to politicians that there is a debate about it going on among opposition politicians. On the one side there are those who are not concerned about publicity

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-24052233611472361462007-03-26T11:38:00.000+08:002007-03-30T21:34:14.362+08:00

Saya masih musykil. Kenapakah kerajaan begitu penasaran dengan fenomena baru dalam bidang teknologi komunikasi massa – yakni kegiatan blogging yang semakin hari semakin berkembang, baik di seluruh dunia maupun di negara ini. Apakah yang mencetuskan penasaran pihak kerajaan itu? Apakah fenomena blogging itu sendiri pada umumnya? Atau hanya beberapa laman blog – dan dengan itu hanya beberapa

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-47400970586885014952007-03-23T09:14:00.000+08:002007-04-18T02:03:11.659+08:00

Malaya embarked on the path of political independence under an Umno-led coalition of communal parties, governing through a system that has been characterized as consociational, a term that describes a multi-racial alliance of communally based parties in which multi-racial practice is confined to the political elites, everyone else being confined to a particular racial community. A half-century

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-15353757697386990432007-03-23T09:07:00.000+08:002007-03-23T22:27:31.546+08:00

Akhirnya Parti Tindakan Demokratik (DAP) akan bertanding dalam pilihanraya kecil DUN di Machap, Melaka pada 12 April nanti. Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) yang juga amat berminat untuk bertanding di kawasan itu telah bersetuju untuk tidak bertanding – dan dengan itu memberikan laluan kepada DAP. Namun untuk apakah sebenarnya tindakan PKR mengalah kepada DAP itu? Untuk memantapkan kesepaduan

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-72169960484804788162007-03-22T21:25:00.000+08:002007-03-22T21:38:36.192+08:00

Once again the Deputy Prime Minister, Najib Razak, has acted decisively and timely while the PM himself wallowed silently in the background – perhaps doing things “his own way” and in his typical “elegant silence”. This time Najib has instructed the leaders of PPP (specifically Kayveas) and the leaders of Gerakan to stop immediately their exchange of “niceties” and predictions as to when

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-87352228323209826352007-03-20T09:58:00.000+08:002007-04-18T02:06:28.999+08:00

History will be our judge, but what’s written is up to us. Who we are, who we have been, what we want to be remembered for. We can’t say our generation didn’t know how to do it. We can’t say our generation couldn’t afford to do it. And we can’t say our generation didn’t have reason to do it. It’s up to us. We can choose to shift the responsibility, or …we can choose to shift the paradigm.

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-53564934195988193402007-03-20T09:38:00.000+08:002007-03-20T21:23:35.361+08:00

While I truly believe that there is no media freedom in Malaysia, I would never accept the contention that there is “media censorship” in place in this country. Indeed, I am being technical here. To me media censorship exists when a representative of the State sits beside an editor to oversee his work, to decide for him what materials he can and cannot publish. And that does not happen in

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-42424750300068159822007-03-19T20:19:00.000+08:002007-03-22T05:07:42.535+08:00

There are a number of reasons why the opposition parties are all upbeat about the next general elections, irrespective of whether they would be held on an earlier date or as scheduled. The general state of malaise in the country since Abdullah Badawi took over the reign of power almost four years ago is certainly the most important reason of all. One of the indicators of this state of

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-25739823506275088072007-03-18T13:02:00.000+08:002007-03-25T22:44:47.134+08:00

Mungkin banyak yang tidak menyedarinya, namun saya melihat terdapat semacam dua jalur seiring antara nasib Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) dan nasib Umno. Kedua-duanya merupakan institusi sosial yag telah dilahirkan oleh sejarah nasionalisme Melayu. Sebagai salah satu institusi nasionalisme Melayu, maka tentulah tujuan Umno adalah untuk membela kedudukan bangsa Melayu yang bakal

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-48373926583596766072007-03-18T07:32:00.000+08:002007-04-18T02:09:20.856+08:00

A society that is in its higher circles and middle levels widely believed to be a network of smart rackets does not produce men with an inner moral sense; a society that is merely expedient does not produce men of conscience. A society that narrows the meaning of "success" to the big money and in its terms condemns failure as the chief vice, raising money to the plane of absolute value, will

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-32212325342445474812007-03-16T08:59:00.000+08:002007-03-16T10:22:50.450+08:00

Sejauh manakah parti-parti politik pembangkang di negara ini telah bersedia untuk menghadapi pilihanraya umum yang dikatakan mungkin akan disegerakan tarikhnya oleh pemerintahan Abdullah Badawi? Pada hemat saya, kemampuan parti-parti pembangkang itu dari segi organisasinya tidak perlu diragukan. Malah, dengan segala penindasan dan halangan yang dikenakan oleh pihak pemerintah dan dengan

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-28217148687744478022007-03-12T18:28:00.000+08:002007-03-12T18:50:28.673+08:00

Jika sekiranya Menteri Pelancongan Malaysia, “Tengku” Adnan Mansor belum juga sedar tentang betapa kuatnya tangan para penulis wanita kita boleh menamparnya, maka sekarang sedarlah dia. Akibat kenyataan celuparnya tentang “hakikat” bahawa kebanyakan para penulis blog kita (kononnya 8,000 daripada 10,000 pada keseluruhannya) terdiri daripada kaum wanita yag menganggur, dan tidak dapat

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-52424828496577843632007-03-09T10:16:00.000+08:002007-03-22T05:16:05.602+08:00

Baru-baru ini, sewaktu mengemas himpunan gambar-gambar lama keluarga, saya telah menemui sekeping gambar hitam-putih Allahyarham ayah saya, Ahmad Boestamam, yang diambil pada pertengahan tahun 1950an – sewaktu beliau baru keluar dari tahanan British selama tujuh tahun dan baru sahaja membentuk Parti Rakyat Malaya (PRM). Gambar tersebut menunjukkan Boestamam berdiri di depan mikrofon,

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-60905943286364064942007-03-07T11:08:00.000+08:002007-03-07T16:03:40.678+08:00

For one reason or another, during last week the issue of corruption in our society seems to have come together – to hit our conscience like a one-ton flying rock. Not only have allegations of corruption in high places surfaced (indeed one of them alleging corrupt practices committed by the very high official charged with the task of eradicating corruption in our society), but there was also

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-33456634463581704012007-03-06T13:38:00.000+08:002007-03-25T22:33:20.582+08:00

Setelah beberapa bulan tidak begitu terlibat dalam kegiatan politik negara ini (kerana keadaan kesihatan yang tidak mengizinkan), maka pada hujung minggu lalu (3–4 Mac 2007) saya sempat menyertai “retreat” Parti Keadilan Rakyat anjuran PKR Negeri Selangor dan PKR Wilayah Persekutuan yang berlangsung di Kelang, Selangor. Saya telah diminta membentangkan kertas-kerja dalam sesi perbincangan

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-35226192402017275552006-12-18T11:08:00.000+08:002006-12-18T11:26:55.267+08:00

Bila suria pagi 1 Januarti 2007 menyinsing kelak rakyat akan dibebankan dengan kenaikan kadar tol di beberapa lebuhraya yang akan meningkat pada kadar antara 20-60 peratus.Dalam keadaan kadar pendapatan yang tidak meningkat sedangkan harga barang-barang keperluan terus menerus meningkat, kenaikan kadar tol ini tentu sahaja sesuatu yang amat memeritkan.Kerajaan sendiri tampaknya amat sedar akan

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-37894486849200879982006-12-06T15:32:00.000+08:002006-12-06T15:39:12.809+08:00

Pada hemat saya pemerintah negara ini terlalu banyak membazirkan wang, waktu dan tenaga dalam bidang promosi dan kempen. Langkah itu memanglah akan menyenangkan hati para pengendali perusahaan iklan – tetapi adakah kesannya cukup memuaskan kita?Memanglah ada aspek-aspek tertentu dalam kehidupan kita bernegara yang boleh dipromosikan. Mendorongkan orang ramai supaya mengunjungi pameran dan pesta

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-79648200581536175312006-12-05T20:56:00.000+08:002006-12-05T21:10:47.676+08:00

Sekali ini saya benar-benar dapat mempercayai kenyataan PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.Menurutnya usaha penggabungan dua raksasa media di negara ini di bawah payung Media Prima merupakan suatu gagasan kewangan dan perniagaan semata-mata.Namun tampaknya upaya itu tidaklah berjalan dengan begitu lancar. Telah terjadi beberapa penangguhan yang kononya disebabkan oleh bantahan pelbagai pihak – termasuklah

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-79142613356704586132006-12-04T15:16:00.000+08:002007-03-25T20:00:12.922+08:00

I have been reading in the international press in the last few months opinion pieces concerning the active but silent bid by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (Ku Li) to mount a challenge to the leadership of the Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (Pak Lah).I normally do not pay much attention to such speculative opinion pieces about Malaysian politics in the international press, but in this instance I

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-1164686933115383672006-11-28T12:05:00.000+08:002006-11-29T10:53:36.426+08:00

Pengumuman Najib Razak bahawa siaran langsung oleh media elektronik negara ini terhadap ucapan-ucapan para perwakilan di Perhimpunan Agung Umno tidak akan diteruskan pada masa depan telah menimbulkan pelbagai reaksi. Oleh kerana pengumuman itu dibuat setelah perhimpunan agung itu berakhir, maka keputusan itu tentulah ada hubungannya dengan pandangan sesetengah pihak bahawa perhimpunan Umno

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-1164191073455636732006-11-22T18:17:00.000+08:002006-11-28T15:06:41.180+08:00

Di tengah-tengah hiruk-pikuk dan gembar-gembur promosi sebelum berlangsungnya Perhimpunan Agung Umno baru-baru ini, seorang penulis kolum di akhbar arus perdana berbahasa Inggeris telah menyifatkan perhimpunan itu sebagai “perhimpunan politik yang paling besar dan paling penting di negara ini.” Dilihat dalam kerangka politik perkauman di negara ini perhimupunan itu memanglah merupakan

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34097160.post-1161320676712649012006-10-20T12:59:00.000+08:002006-12-01T01:00:09.998+08:00

The time for a reconciliation could not have been more appropriate. Hari Raya is, after all, a time for forgiving, for forgetting past conflicts and for promoting good-will for the future – in short a time for being magnanimous. I will, therefore, hazard a prediction that the long awaited meeting between Abdullah and Mahathir would take place this time around, despite the failure of so many Umno

Rustam Saninoreply@blogger.com6