Wow! The UMNO System- Best in the World

Deepak is now a writer. He has come out with a book The Black Rose. Wow!  What a topic.  We look forward to reading that book.

He is also a businessman who will not hesitate to spend if there’s more money to be made. So Deepak through Astacanggih Sdn Bhd issued  a RM72.5 million land bond on behalf of Awan Megah (M) Sdn Bhd.in return RR must have promised Deepak she will transfer the titles to Deepak on 200 acres. RR will keep the 23 acres balance. RR assures Deepak he is safe. The owner of the 20% shares in Astacanggih Putra Nazrain bin Abdul Jalil is also a director in Awan Megah together with one Raja Rabiatun bt Raja Abdullah. Wow! All blue blood suckers.

So what did Deepak spend on? He has paid RM 13 million, RM8 million in political contributions, RM7million in legal costs and RM2 million in miscellaneous. Total RM 30 million. He will issue RM 72.5 million in land bond on behalf of awan Megah. He would have to pay another 10 million to Raja  Ropiaah.

So now all Deepak has to do is wait for RR to complete the transfer.  He looks forward to pay the balance RM10 million to RR personally, when titles over 200 acres of the land in Kelang are vested in his name. Raja Ropiaah will keep the balance 23 acres for herself to build a ranch or something to keep all the cows bought by Shahrizat. Or something like that.

But you know the cilaka wanita UMNO leader went to do another deal with someone else. She wants more money. She took RM2 million cash and RM16million OD facility from one Guppyunit Sdn Bhd. we don’t know what Raja Ropiaah agreed. But she sold one of the 3 lots to guppyunit sdn bhd.

Maybe RR sold her portion of the land- 20 acres and invites the plastic manufacturer to become her JV partner to build the RM100million Research Center. That would explain the RM2 million and RM16 million advance. A private company with OD giving facilities?

 Our Hindustani hero placed a caveat on the 3 lots jamming the whole project. Then all hell broke loose. Deepak ratted on everyone. He went after RR. He said he had paid her RM21 million (13 + 8) and paid RM9 million for legal fees and miscellaneous. I am sure he has signed some papers to the effect. When everything is transferred he will pay RM10 million cash to RR. He went public with details and blasted everyone.

He must have reported these things to Najib and had expected Najib to rein in RR. Apparently Najib did not do as expected. So broken hearted Deepak went on the offensive and revealed that Bala’s frst SD was in fact the true SD and that a second SD was fabricated in a drama-like setting. We know the rest of the story.

Suddenly LTAT which has nothing to do with this quarrel steps in. it was suddenly seized by a bout of temporary insanity and elects to spend millions.

The question now before us, is why must LTAT get into the fray? They are not privy to the contract between RR and Deepak. The object of the whole exercise seems to be to save Raja Ropiaah. And save people from MINDEF and even LTAT who may have their hands in the sting job. Since we do not have a RM100 million Research Center, the vesting of the 223 acres of land belonging to MINDEF must be a massive fraud. Why the need to save her unless she is fencing for UMNO leaders? Has Raja Ropiaah infected LTAT with a virulent strain of mad-cow disease that has gone undetected?

So LTAT asks its son- Boustead Holdings to buy off Deepak for RM30 million back. You know how GLC screws us. In order to deceive people, they build themselves a byzantine maze with sister companies, brother companies, son-companies, grandson-companies and great-great grandson- companies. It will take the financial sleuth sometime to trace the trail of deception and corruption. Example. LTAT is the parent company. Boustead Holdings is the son-company. Baktiwira is the grandson company. Jendela Hikmat is the great-great grandson company. UMNO has a system already. At every level, the UMNO GLC infuses the culture of deception and corruption. every level skims off the milk.

But the bugger Deepak latches on and on. The issue isn’t the money he spent says Deepak. He invested the money on the expectation that RR would deliver the 200 acres. He knows he can make more money with the 200 acres. And he claims, why should RR make all the money? Even if got back his RM30 million, what did RR do to get her RM21 million? LTAT is actually paying what RR took from Deepak by cheating him. Why is LTAT so friendly with RR?

Why is RR so special to MINDEF and its minister then? What has she done to get RM27million from MINDEF and keep 20 acres of land worth RM40million? RR also got RM18 million from Guppyunit. How can this lady make the money? Deepak is livid.

Raja Ropiaah becomes a rich lady of leisure. RR gets RM 27m from MINDEF + RM 13m from Deepak + RM8m in political contributions + RM2m cash from Guppyunit and RM16m in OD facility from Guppyunit. Finally she gets RM130m from LTAT through Baktiwira.  All in all- RM196m. not as much as RM250m.

See how UMNO people treat property belonging to the people as their private property. They conspire openly to steal from us. We now know, this is what UMNO leaders do. They get land on the cheap from the government or GLCs, then without even transferring the name of the title, sells it to a 3^rd party.

That was what the wanita UMNO leader tried to do. She got the land on the cheap from the government and entered into agreement to sell it to Deepak. She got some money from the carpet merchant. But she has also agreed to sell the same land to several other parties and if she behaves like a true blue UMNO person, she must have collected money from other people too. This is how UMNO steals from us while shouting Hidup Melayu here and there!

Wow! UMNO system- best in the world.

Posted by sakmongkol AK47

The Church & Allah

I'm not surprised by the adverse feedback I've received regarding my post Now, who are the Arab wannabes? here as well as at Malaysia-Today, because firstly, it’s an issue related to religions and secondly, I have the seeming effrontery to side with UMNO (and PAS).

I am again not surprised that many have missed the point, evidenced by remarks like:

(a) So, based on this simple etymological track, the used of ANY word/name to describe a Superbeing that the follower used was/is Highly localised. It should not be monopolised, just like some local Muslims like to dictate!

(b) Will you be happy if I forbid you from using certain words because I find it offensive? Who am I to impose this on you? If I forbid you to call your wife, your brother or sister with an alternative name because I find it offensive with their current names which you been calling them all these years. Will you be glad? Please think through.

None of above had been what I proposed in my previous post on subject matter.

wakakaka

Just to refresh your memories (and a bloody lack of reading skills, wakakaka) I wrote:

While I believe on principle there ought not to be a monopolistic use of any word or words, I can understand the Muslim community's worries about the Church’s obdurate intention to use this word, especially more so when I know it’s obligatory, nay, a sacred duty of the Church and Christians to be ‘missionary’ (evangelistic).

Yes, I'm afraid on a personal basis, kaytee isn't all that supportive of the Church’s insistence on using the Allah word to represent/indicate/describe their Christian God in the Malay language.

Given the experts’ etymological and historical clarifications on the Allah word, I am in no doubt that Father Lawrence Andrew is on strong legal grounds to use it ... and indeed we know that the court has supported his stand.

But I have always believed that religion is about faith and morality and not legality or for that matter, political approval. Thus I find it unfortunate that the Father Andrew and the Catholic Herald had taken the issue to the courts. Surely on a matter of religious faith and knowledge, there are numerous other names of God it could have use beside Allah. I view its arguments for the use of Allah as seemingly based on obduracy and legality rather than any plausible unavoidable reason.

The reason why I have not (still am not) been sympathetic with the Church, I had already expressed as follows:

let us also not forget that Christianity and indeed Islam as well are both evangelistic missionary religions with an obligation on the faithful to convert the so-called pagans, for altruistic reasons of course.

So, what is the meaning of ‘missionary’ and ‘evangelistic’?

In their adjectival forms, the dictionary has these to say, respectively:

Missionary = reflecting or prompted by the desire to persuade or convert others.

Evangelistic seeking to evangelize; striving to convert sinners (where sinners mean all not within the Faith).

Dictionary also defines the word evangelize as ‘to convert to Christianity’, and where we can also substitute the word Christianity with Islam.

Thus, both Christianity and Islam require their respective followers to evangelize.

In my post I had written:

I dare say those Dutch Christian missionaries were out to convert the Indonesian pagans (Muslim and others) into Christianity with whatever it took, and would have found the use of the word Allah as a convenient substitute for the Christian God in persuading the native Muslims that the conversion to Christianity would be nothing more than a seamless worship to the same Allah, albeit with some minor adjustments to the rituals.

Thus the argument that the 16th Century Dutch had been doing this or that during dictatorial colonial circumstances would today be just not good enough for the Church to persist along that line.

Dutch church in Indonesia

Leaving aside the legal aspect, where I had already accepted that Father Lawrence Andrew is on very strong grounds, my post points out the several areas and factors where I have found the stand of the local Catholic Church and Father Lawrence Andrew quite disturbing.

Thus I asked and continue to ask again:

Really, I have to ask again of Father Lawrence Andrew and the Church: “What is really your goal in obdurately pursuing the use of the word Allah to refer to the Christian God in a Malay-language newsletter and Bible when so many other names of your Christian God, with even better biblical pedigree, remain available?”

If the aim of the Church is to spread the word of God, why not use Tuhan or Elohim or a multitude of other Hebraic names available from its source, the Tanakh. Why insist on the Allah word when everyone in Malaysia, especially Peninsula Malaysia knows that Allah is familiarly (automatically) visualized and known as the God of Islam.

Thus I quoted Friedrich Nietzsche who reminded us: “Many are stubborn in pursuit of the path they have chosen, few in pursuit of the goal.”

Isn't the goal of the Church to spread the word of its Christian God, which can be done without using the word Allah because Elohim and Yahweh and Tuhan are available? 

Why has the Church represented by the person of Father Lawrence Andrew remain stubborn in pursuit of the path they have chosen, namely, to use the Allah word in their Catholic Newsletter, the Herald, and the Bahasa version of the Bible, al Kitab?

Without too much hubris I believe I have successfully challenged every position Father Andrew and the Church had presented as to why the Allah word is essential and cannot be substituted, but some comments here as well as at RPK’s Malaysia-Today have totally ignored my points, and continue to come up with comments equally as obdurate as Father Andrew’s or as if they haven’t read my post at all (which has been why I mentioned some readers’ ‘lack of reading skills’ wakakaka).

In other words, my post questions the sincerity of the Church’s insistence in using the Allah word, which I do not support because of the likelihood of confusion over whose (Islamic or Christian) god is Allah.

The ensuing confusion would not be unlike a dangerous sampan in a very turbulent evangelistic sea.

Now, my dear friend Ong Kian Ming wrote a piece in Malaysiakini titled Allah row - what's the name of the game?

Much as I (platonically, wakakaka) love Kian Ming (and I am not joking, he’s a great guy) I am not persuaded by his article.

He argued that as Yahwah is already translated into Tuhan, then Elohim (if also translated into Tuhan) following the Yahweh word would result in Tuhan … Tuhan, giving us a double or repetitive Tuhan which won’t make sense or provide cohesive reading for the mentioned passage.

MKINI photo

He provided the example of Exodus 29:46, which (KJV) states:

And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the LORD their God.

Kian Ming provided the NIV (1984) version which doesn't make much difference to KJV for his arguments and the point I intend to make. But let’s use his NIV 1984 version which states:

They will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God.

He argued that a Bahasa translation minus the use of the Allah word would give us:

“Mereka akan tahu bahawa Akulah TUHAN, Tuhan (rather than Allah) mereka yang telah membawa mereka kelaur dari Mesir, supaya Aku dapat tingal bersama-sama mereka. Akulah TUHAN Tuhan mereka.”

But in that translation, Kian Ming has become just like Father Lawrence - though as his matey, I believe Kian Ming has been sincere - in believing that both Yahweh and Elohim must both be translated into Tuhan.

Why, and what for? Unless you insist on making an disingenuous point?

Thus, according to his arguments, if we are to avoid the awkward Tuhan Tuhan translation, we require both the Tuhan and Allah words, so as to show each as a different word in that passage.

But my point is why must Elohim be translated from Hebrew into Arabic (Allah)? Why not retain the Elohim word as is in al Kitab instead of translating into Arabic and then daringly claim Allah is a Malay word. If one can claim the Arabic Allah is a Malay word, why not claim and use the Hebraic Yahweh and/or Elohim as also Malay words.

Thus the Bahasa translation of Exodus 29:46 should read as follows (two forms):

(a) “Mereka akan tahu bahawa Akulah TUHAN, Elohim mereka yang telah membawa mereka kelaur dari Mesir, supaya Aku dapat tinggal bersama-sama mereka. Akulah TUHAN Elohim mereka”

or

(b) “Mereka akan tahu bahawa Akulah Yahweh, Tuhan mereka yang telah membawa mereka kelaur dari Mesir, supaya Aku dapat tingal bersama-sama mereka. Akulah Yahweh Tuhan mereka”

I personally prefer the second. And don't forget, we also have Adonai, El Elyon, El Shddai, El Olam, etc.

Sorry, Kian Ming, as a matey I regret I can’t even say ‘good try’ because your arguments have been based on the totally incorrect premise that the Allah word is a Bahasa word when it’s patently not – it is as Middle-Eastern (Arabic) as much as are Yahweh and Elohim (Hebrew).

Now, what about my idol Karpal Singh’s comments in Malaysiakini’s that Karpal rises to Guan Eng's defence over 'Allah' row which reported:

DAP national chairperson Karpal Singh has risen to the defence of the party's secretary-general Lim Guan Eng's Christmas day call for Christians to be allowed to use the term 'Allah', stating that it was not intended to hurt Muslim sensitivities.

He explained that Lim's call was meant for Christians in Sabah and Sarawak where the word has been in use for generations.

I think that’s fair enough, though if we have already published a Malay edition of the al Kitab which uses Elohim instead of Allah, why not use it to acquaint Sabahan and Sarawakian Christians on the Elohim and/or Yahweh word(s). Why have a further division of Peninsula from the Eastern States even in al Kitab?

It is surprising, therefore, that Penang Umno secretary Azhar Ibrahim has publicly come out with a scathing attack on the Penang chief minister that what he had said in his Christmas message should not hurt the feelings of Muslims, he said in a statement yesterday.

Indeed, why should it ‘hurt’ Muslim feelings. The bloke is just talking cock in his attempt to arouse ethnic emotions.

But what Muslims are genuinely worried is the potential for proselytizing Muslims via al Kitab with the Allah word. That’s what the real danger for Muslims and Islam is.

But I see Azhar Ibrahim by his remarks as more interested in stirring the ethnic shit pot than protecting Islam..

Karpal added that in any event, the use of the word 'Allah' should not affect the sensitivities of Muslims in the country.

The word ‘Allah' appears 37 times in the Sikh holy book. No objection has ever been taken by Muslims for the use of that word by Sikhs when reciting their holy book.

Bhai, the Muslims aren't concerned about the use of the Allah word in the Guru Granth Sahib because Sikhism is NOT an evangelistic religion, as neither is Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism.

But Christianity is!

Yes, Christianity is an evangelistic missionary religion. I personally have experienced its evangelistic reach to me, and even though I have had 11 years of Methodist Christian schooling and several years of Bible classes after I left school, I'm not impressed by the Church’s missionary efforts directed at me.

Thus the only bhais the Muslims need to be worried about would be the Christian bhais wakakaka.

Yes, many do not know that apart from Punjabi Sikhs, there are also Punjabi Muslim, Christian, Hindu, etc, and possibly Punjabi atheists as well, wakakaka.

Now, why aren't the Muslim Arabs themselves bothered by Christian Arabs using the Allah word in the al Kitab?

Mateys, there are all Arabs and Arabic is their language. They know there are Muslim, Christian, Druze and Mandaean Arabs, and all use the Arabic language.

Mandaeans

But in Malaysia, we may say (leaving aside the minorities of Lina Joyce and a few other Malays who aren't Muslims) that virtually 99.999999999999% of Malays are Muslims and their God of Islam is Allah swt, and these are all off limits to any proselytizing (even in Bahasa), according to the laws of the country.

Would it be contributing to the stability of the nation when such a sensitive issue as the potential proselytizing of Muslims, and thus the potential violation of specific state laws, hang over our heads just because the Church obdurately, implausibly and selfishly demands to use an Arabic word Allah to mean the Christian God, by the nonsensical claim it’s a Bahasa word (it’s not!), and when other Middle-Eastern words with better biblical pedigree to indicate the Judeo-Christian God exist for use in the Bahasa al Kitab?

The Church and the Muslim clerics can go about proselytizing the non-Christian non-Muslim orang asli of Peninsula and orang asal of Sabah and Sarawak or for that matter, anyone including kaytee wakakaka, but I strongly urge the Church to stay out of the Islamic turf.

We non-Christians and non-Muslims don’t want to be unwittingly drag into the wake of your holy mission to your God.

And my dear Kian Ming, you needn't worry about the reference to Jesus as God and Saviour in the al Kitab so long as the Allah word is not mentioned, because then the Muslims' fear about the potential for the Church to proselytize Muslims will be much neutralized without the Allah word, which (sneers aside) can indeed confuse Muslims into believing the Allah mentioned in al Kitab is the same God of Islam.

To reiterate, apart from seeing what’s right and what’s wrong, we non-Christians non-Muslims aren't impressed by the potential to be unwittingly and unwillingly swept into the turbulent wake of the Church's selfish and indefensible insistence in using the Allah word which is as good as intruding into a sensitive area.

p/s And as another aside, my visitor Hua Yong succinctly captures the attitude of the Chinese in his story about:

Confucius

Elohim were translated into both ‘shen’ (神) and ‘shangdi’ (上帝）in Chinese, ‘shen’ is actually quite confusing because both Tao and Confucius use the term ‘shen’ but the amusing part is not many care. So the bible pusher would ask the Chinese do you prefer the ‘shen’ edition or ‘shangdi’ edition? As long as you make sure my kids pass exam, whatever edition would do, i guess this is most probably how Chinese would reply.

Correct, correct, correct wakakaka, because the Chinese have had thousands of years of Confucian indoctrination where the old sage taught them to ‘revere the gods but keep them at a distance’ and may kaytee just add to this incredible piece of wisdom with ‘especially and particularly their priests’ wakakaka.

'Allah' belongs only to Muslims and Islam: Jakim

(Bernama) - The Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) today repeated its stand that the word 'Allah' is a holy word that belongs only to Muslims and Islam and cannot apply to non-Muslims and other religions.

Its director-general, Datuk Othman Mustapha, said the matter had been finalised at the 82nd meeting of the Fatwa Committee of the National Council for Islamic Affairs on May 5 to 7, 2008.

"Therefore, it is compulsory for all Muslims to protect it to the best of their ability. Any attempts to insult or abuse the word must be prevented according to the provisions stipulated under the Federal Constitution," he said in a statement here today.

He said statements made by certain quarters to create racial and religious disharmony just for the sake of gaining political mileage were very disappointing.

Hence, he said Jakim would like to urge all quarters to return to the rule of law to ensure that racial and religious harmony was well preserved and protected under the Federal Constitution.

In final leg before polls, Bersih to train Malaysians to spot GE13 fraud

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 1 — Fraudsters will have to tread carefully during the 13th general election as thousands of extra pairs of trained eyes will be helping the Election Commission (EC) and the police spot electoral fraud and political violence when polling day arrives.

Apart from the polling and counting agents appointed by each electoral candidate inside every polling station, a new breed of observers will be trolling the EC camps outside and in the nearby areas while voters decide who should rule Putrajaya next.

These are Bersih 2.0’s “citizen observers” — ordinary members of the public out to cast their own ballots on that crucial day, but armed with special training from local election experts on how to spot possible fraud and what to do with that information.

In an interview withThe Malaysian Insiderrecently, Bersih 2.0 co-chairman Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan(picture) said the “citizen observers” initiative, a campaign called “Jom Pantau” that will be re-launched along with “Jom 100” some time this month, was part of the group’s last-ditched attempt to make sure that the 13th general election is conducted fairly.

Ambiga, who has now gained international recognition for her work with the polls reform group, said the reason was simple — despite the raft of reforms and repeated assurances from the EC and the government, Bersih 2.0 still believes the coming polls will be the dirtiest in Malaysian history.

She said that this was because those in power now have too much at stake when polls are called, and with the heightened sense of public responsibility felt by voters today, those who intend to cheat would have to pull out all the stops to ensure their will is done.

“We have political violence going on even now. But the cops are not arresting anybody. It looks as if some people can behave with impunity.

“On polling day, political violence is when you frighten people away from stations, when there are threats and some people get emotional on that day... don’t forget, much of this comes from members of political parties because they have invested so much in the polls.

“But what people are alarmed about is how everyone gets away with it... Now the cops are partisan, they are getting orders telling them not to take action,” she said.

“I think only cowards do it. Those who are losers... who think they are gonna lose, who are losers anyway, also those who are scared of losing, are the ones who indulge in this. Otherwise, there should be no fear at all.”

Ambiga recounted Bersih’s many struggles over the past few years, from its first mass rally before the 2008 general election, to the July 9 gathering on 2011 and last year’s April 28 sit-in protest, and said that despite all its hard work, the government’s polls reforms have been pitiful, half-baked and insincere at best.

“There is nothing genuine about their intention to reform. Nothing,” she lamented.

But she said that Bersih 2.0, the polls watchdog group that became the catalyst to the burgeoning of Malaysia’s civil society movement, had decided not to accept defeat lying down.

The group may not have convinced the authorities that a total reform to current polls processes are needed, such as wiping out the thousands of irregularities spotted in current voter registries or putting an end to political violence, but Ambiga said that Bersih 2.0 has chalked up an even greater achievement.

“We have raised awareness,” she declared.

“So this is why this January, we are going to step up our two campaigns to get more and more Malaysians out on the streets during polling day — to vote, and to help us keep a lookout for fraud.”

Ambiga said Bersih 2.0, with the help of Pusat Komunikasi Masyarakat (Komas) and Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections (Mafrel), will be working the ground feverishly to attract more “citizen observers” into its fold by using social media tools and working the phone lines.

Another NGO, Tindak Malaysia, has already been training polling and counting agents or “PACABAs” — individuals appointed by every candidate to observe the polls proceedings inside the polling station itself.

Speaking to The Malaysian Insider recently, Komas programme officer Arul Prakash offered a brief preview of the group’s training session planned for the “Jom Pantau” programme.

He explained that among the most common offences that take place before and during an election are money politics and the abuse of government machinery, both state and federal, during the campaign period.

“There are big, lavish dinners, handing out of goodies by using a party’s name or government department.

“These are common things that we want people to observe,” he said.

“Also, we want to have people keeping watch on the ground. So that those who plan on committing fraud, they will think twice... you are being watched... you better be careful,” he said.

Arul said the key objective of “Jom Pantau” is to make sure that fraudsters are outnumbered by Bersih 2.0’s citizen observers and are frightened off from committing any offence during polling day.

He said Komas currently has some 300 observers already registered under the “Jom Pantau” campaign but Bersih 2.0 hopes to attract at least thousands more to ensure that every constituency would have a sizeable group keeping close watch over the polling process.

To register for training as a citizen observer, individuals are urged to visit Jom Pantau’s site at pru13.info.

“We will release our training details and other information when we re-launch the campaign in January. Right now, we are still ironing out our strategies,” he said.

Meanwhile, Tindak Malaysia has been training PACABAs for many months now. While its initiative is not a part of Bersih 2.0’s “Jom Pantau”, Ambiga said its work is central to the fight to keep the general election free from manipulation.

Speaking to The Malaysian Insider recently, Tindak Malaysia representative PY Wong said the PACABAs are considered “the last line of defence” in the battle for free and fair elections.

“You can have all the citizen observers in the world but without sufficient trained polling and counting agents, it would be pointless.

“It is like shutting the stable gates after the horse has bolted. This is why we feel that Tindak Malaysia’s work can contribute greatly to civil society,” he said.

Wong explained that there are many possible moments to commit fraud on polling day — throughout the entire “paper flow” process, from the inventory checks, to the election materials such as the ballot papers and the electoral rolls themselves, and finally, the counting of votes before a result is confirmed, accepted and announced.

For example, he said the validity of a ballot paper is two-pronged — its serial number and stamp must be endorsed and double-checked to ensure that there are no duplicate votes.

He added that during the polling process between 8am and 5pm, polling agents must make sure that only genuine voters are allowed to cast their ballots.

“And make sure they do not vote twice. But don’t forget... we have so many faces to remember so we must let the process guide us and keep vigilant to make sure there isn’t fraud,” he said.

Wong noted that the long-awaited indelible ink will be finally used to prevent double-voting in the coming polls but he warned that fraud was still possible despite the use of this preventive measure.

“Even though the indelible ink will be used this time... it is designed to fail,” he complained.

Explaining, Wong pointed out that there are insufficient rules governing the use of the indelible ink to ensure that the system is fool-proof.

He said an individual could walk into a polling station using clear glue on his or her fingers and therefore, once marked with the indelible ink, this individual could wash the glue off along with the ink and walk into the station to cast another vote.

In another example, Wong said the ink should only be marked on a voter’s finger after he or she votes, but in the present procedure under the EC’s system, this is done the other way around — a voter is marked before the ballot is cast.

He said this would be extremely time consuming and could eventually disrupt the polls process, denying rightful voters their opportunity to cast their ballots before polling ends at 5pm.

“We have the solution... take the finger-marking out of the polling process. So you can go back to the old way... only that once the vote is cast, there will be two ink bottles prepared for marking, instead of one... this would help comply with timing requirements,” he said.

Wong, however, much like many other Bersih 2.0 activists, complained that his ideas were shot down quickly by the local election regulators in the EC.

“That is why I say that all we can hope from citizen monitors is that they can be a deterrence factor... at the end of the day, it is for us all to have our hearts in the right place. Do we want our votes to count?” he said.

But Ambiga still believes that even if electoral fraud continues to persist in the coming polls, the participation of more people in the polls process as citizen observers should count for something.

The lawyer-cum-activist insisted that this would be Bersih’s greatest success thus far — that Malaysians are now more aware of the importance of a single vote could very well be the very reform that the group has been fighting for.

“Now that is powerful. If people can see that there is hope... if Bersih has given them hope, then that is what makes us formidable,” she said.