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Saturday, September 27, 2008

The 2008 Malaysian Political Oscars

This is a good one, with well-thought-of between-the-lines stuff. Enjoy!
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The Malaysian Political Oscars!
Our political situation is like something out of a movie – so here are the awards. The envelope, please…

The Wide Angle Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, headquartered for no particular reason in Skudai, presents this year’s Malaysian Political Oscars.

The most widely watched television event in Malaysia, the Political Oscar telecast reaches over 1 billion viewers, some of whom are dead, some of whom are 130 years old, and most of whom are registered at the same address.

How does it work? Members of the academy (all Malaysian taxi drivers who despite being allegedly the worst in the world at driving taxis are remarkably good at political analysis) vote on these awards, and the results are tabulated by the auditors of some large accounting firm who would rather do this sort of thing than real accounting work, which might explain the state of the economy.

Here are the nominees and winners.

Best Supporting Actor
It is a crowded field this year, with many stellar performances from both veterans and newcomers.

The nominees include private investigator P. Balasubramaniam in Missing; Pusrawi’s Dr. Mohd Osman in Rear Window; Zaid Ibrahim in Gone in Sixty Seconds; and Raja Petra Kamaruddin in An Inconvenient Truth.

But the Best Supporting Actor Oscar goes to Penang Umno leader Ahmad Ismail for his controversial performance in Pride and Prejudice.

Despite his recent success, which led to him being cast in Under Siege and Raging Bull, Ahmad has flatly refused roles in the films Anger Management and Atonement.

Best Supporting Actress
For her critically-acclaimed performance in Minority Report, this year’s Best Supporting Actress Oscar goes to Sinchew Daily reporter Tan Hoon Cheng.

Interestingly, immediately after that film completed principal photography, Tan was the unwitting star of Catch and Release, a film that may or may not have been directed by Syed Hamid Albar, depending on which version of the studio press kit you read.

Tan spent just 18 hours on location, before quitting, citing creative differences.

Best Cinematography
For his impactful camera work in the V.K. Lingam vehicle The Conversation, the Oscar for Cinematography goes to Gwo Loh Burne.

(Although The Conversation was shot some time ago, due to his refusal to be credited for many months, Gwo Loh Burne could not be given the award earlier. When he finally came forward, this legal thriller was re-released in some markets as The Burne Identity.)

The Conversation beat out Entrapment, starring Chua Soi Lek, which also features an anonymous cinematographer.

Best Foreign-Language Film
Agricultural Study Tour, a Taiwanese sleeper hit, was shot entirely by coincidence, supposedly with no director and no funding.

Nonetheless, a sequel, Exile on My Taiwanese Farm: Peeling my Taugeh might be filmed next year with some of the original cast.

Best Original Screenplay
Jumper, written by Anwar Ibrahim, wins this year’s award. Although the film suffers from a cast of unknowns, whose number seems to fluctuate from scene to scene (though always at least 31), the script is undeniably original and exciting. It also has the potential for numerous sequels, which will prove profitable for the actors.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Written by a team of in-house screenwriters from the Attorney-General’s Studios, The Accused, starring Anwar Ibrahim, is allegedly adapted from instructions given by political superiors. A remake of the 1998 flop, but with many of the same actors and production team.

Best Actress
Seputeh Member of Parliament Teresa Kok was competing against herself this year with sterling performances in a slew of releases: Election; Woman on Top; Supergirl; and, in cinemas until last Friday, the black comedy Enemy of the State.

She wins the Best Actress Oscar, however, for her most famous role, Miss Congeniality, which has earned her praise from audiences and critics alike.

Best Actor
The big stars of yesteryear dominated the Best Actor category this year.

Nominees include S. Samy Vellu in Gone With The Wind; Dr. Mahathir Mohamed in V for Vendetta; and both Najib Tun Razak and Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in the comedy Trading Places.

The winner, however, of the Malaysian Political Oscar for Best Actor is Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for his flawless, nuanced, masterful performance in Eyes Wide Shut.

Best Picture
The nominees for Best Picture in the Malaysian Political Oscars are all gripping epics.

They include the moving story of the many members of Parti Sosialis Malaysia, The Magnificent Seven; the Khairy Jamaluddin biopic Million Dollar Baby; the Hindraf saga, Out for Justice; and the tale of Gerakan in the Barisan Nasional, The End of the Affair.

The winner for Best Picture, however, is the story of the MCA’s struggle against the Internal Security Act, Look Who’s Talking Now.

Lifetime Achievement Award
For his astonishing film career spanning many decades, and including both commercial hits and small but critically-acclaimed art-house movies, Anwar Ibrahim wins the Lifetime Achievement Award.

His roles, in chronological order, include: Wild at Heart; The Young Guns; The Great Debaters; Sleeping With The Enemy; The Insider; The Sweet Smell of Success; Reversal of Fortune; Cast Away; The Accused; The Cell; Cry Freedom!; Into the Wild; Back to the Future; Mission: Impossible; The Perfect Storm; and, most recently, Eastern Promises.

Depending on the outcome of contract negotiations, Anwar’s next movies may include The King and I; Top Gun; and Great Expectations.

Alternatively, he may take roles in Crash; The Departed; and The Forgotten. That’s the thing about show business – you never know what the big stars will do next!

That’s all for this year’s edition of the Malaysian Political Oscars. See you on the red carpet next year!

Friday, September 19, 2008

Turmoil all round but excitement on the way!

The demise of a few financial institutions and the global credit crisis has made headlines all over the world this week. I have a friend who is (was) in Lehman Brothers and he's currently plotting his next move.

So for me as well, since my company has entered into its second redundancy period this year. Of course this isn't the best time to be "exploring options"!

In other headline news, we had the Chinese tainted milk formula, yet another example of greed above ethics. However, casting my mind back to the era of fake eggs (albeit not poisonous), I still cannot figure out how they could have made those fake eggs, and more importantly, manufactured them more cheaply than real eggs.

In Malaysia, Malaysia Day came and went on Sept 16, with 40 odd MPs gone on a hastily-arranged study trip to Taiwan (I wonder why, they had planned on China but as the issuance of visas would take time they decided not to - just why they had to rush off before Sept 16, Anwar's declared target day of turning the parliament?? Hehheh, again they think the rakyat are fools). However, Anwar is still adamant he has got the numbers to form a government (and rightly so has not revealed the names before securing any security for them).

Last week things descended to a new low when a reporter and an opposition MP was arrested under the auspices of the ISA, the reason in one case being that person was arrested for her own safety (shouldn't they be trusting the police for protection?)! If that was true, they would have succeeded in making even the ISA, itself a rather draconian law, look like a joke.

Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, the de facto Law Minister appointed in March by PM Abdullah Badawi to reform the judiciary, has made it to my list of respected politicians. He resigned from the government in protest at repeated failings in implementation and support of judicial reforms, the last straw being the government's overbearing use of the ISA (or rather, misuse, without fairness).
Read about it here:
Zaid sticking to his decision to resign (updated)
and
Zaid blames Cabinet, Umno members for opposing judiciary reforms
And I leave you with some quoted text, emphasis mine:

"You can have a race-based party but you don’t have to be racist bigots."
“You can still be a champion for your race and think of the country.”

He said he tried but had failed to convince those in power to effect changes related to equality as prescribed in the Federal Constitution, so the Government could move forward.
In his letter, he had listed his frustrations in trying to achieve the reforms he had been tasked with doing; the final being the recent arrest of three people under the Internal Security Act.

Real respect for real men. We seriously need more in third-world Putrajaya.
Even Mahathir seems to agree. Although he is a bit cheeky to say "Asked if he would agree for the ISA to be amended, he said there was no amendment during his time as the people who were enforcing it refused to amend it."
Dr M: No justification for arrest of bloggers

Sunday, September 07, 2008

Some sense?

I quote from The Star:

"Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad said instead of continuously arguing over who should apologise and who should not, one should solve the problem from the root, which is the issue of Malay supremacy.

He said the only way to solve the problem is to amend the Federal Constitution that touches on the essence of Malay supremacy because the Opposition was playing up racial issues."

Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad has consistently been a more honest and just politician (I had blogged about him last time). Maybe if more see the light....
But he was also wrong that the Opposition was playing up racial issues. Malaysia has been racially segregated since the Constitution so it is so ingrained in the fabric of politics that it would be highly unusual NOT to be playing racial politics. Until the National Front stops using racial-based parties Malaysian politics will never be race-impartial. Everyone should be aware of racial issues. Every Malaysian. Regardless of race.

Malaysia Today

I'm back!

But first, here's a bit of help to a website blocked by the Malaysian government.

Malaysia Today:

ALERT

Malaysia Today is being blocked by Malaysian government. To access use the address http://mt.m2day.org/2008/ You can check the site status at http://m2day.org/ or google for "Malaysia Today ".


Politics in malaysia are heading to a dramatic showdown, with Anwar's successful return to parliament, and the government taking increasingly hilarious steps to stop him, including planning a study trip out of the country for MPs so that Anwar's supposed 16th Sept date to grab control of government won't work.
Then there were loads of racist comments by MPs in Malaysia - I can't believe people like them can stay on and not get into big trouble with everyone else. What was surprising is that even the MCA didn't try too hard to demand that MP retract his comments and get a proper punishment. So much for the MCA trying to keep their precarious place in the government by not furthering the cause of the community they were set up to serve, and which they themselves belong to.

Shame on so many of you.

I want a Malaysian Malaysia, inclusive for all. And third world MPs should go and makan tahi....