Yvonne Foong

Ok. Hafiz corrected me, and after consulting John Ling, this post is now an edited version. Must edit la. Don’t confuse our fellow Malaysians.

I am pleased to read that The Star newspaper has started educating readers about governance of the democratic state.

As you know, I’ve been studying U.S. Government this semester which began in January. Among the first questions I asked myself was whether Malaysia owns a unicameral or bicameral legislature.

Malaysia is in fact bicameral. With two government appointed senators from each state in the Dewan Negara as the upper house, and our Members of Parliament, such as Jeff Ooi, in the lower house called the Dewan Rakyat.

When I heard the lack of autonomy among our senators, my hopes for a better Malaysia plunged.

What initially confused me and many others is the fact that our elected representatives were either restricted or pure dysfunctional under the governance of Barisan Nasional.

Hence, we have Malaysians, uninformed about political systems, demanding state assemblymen to unclog drains and solve traffic woes, allowing the City Council to slack on their duties.

Assemblymen should focus on matters in the state legislature, by studying the law, efficiently address their constituents’ concernst\, and participate in forming public policies. While paying attention to the community, both MPS and Aduns must not allow matters that should be handled by the City Council, to interfere and disrupt their official legislative duties.

Because when our government takes the liberty to assume dictatorship, as Barisan Nasional had done in the past 50 years, the participation of elected representatives in law and legislative matters diminish, They become mere puppets that put on the occasional show, such as by distributing schoolbags to poor children, to win the people’s blind faith that keep them in office.

Many like to rest the burden of political reform in the hands of their representatives while assuming a passive role in society. And then blame politicians when things aren’t going well. But the people are partially to be blamed.

If you don’t want the blame, then start learning about politics and the law. Play an active part in society.

You do not need to join DAP, PKR, or any political party to make a difference. You may form interest groups, non-governmental organizations, charity organizations, or becoming members of the media, just to name a few. Play an active role in pressuring the government for change.

I cannot help but cringe when the Information Minister reportedly said he plans to meet up with bloggers to acknowledge their significance. It may be better for Datuk to leave us alone.

Why? Because we do not deserve special attention just because we call ourselves bloggers. It is the people speaking up who should be heard, while blogging is just a platform. If we claim center stage, we risk reducing the significance of other pressure groups. Acknowledge ALL members of society instead of focusing on bloggers alone. Otherwise it comes across as patronizing.

Imagine if the government mistake the importance of blogging with the significance of an individual. When the influential blogger suddenly stops blogging, does that reduces his significance? No, it shouldn’t. Hence, it is not “bloggers”, but the “people of Malaysia”.

In conclusion, there are a couple of things we must now do.

1. Become aware of the official duties of our elected representatives.

2. Join an interest group or political party.

3. Become vocal. Maintain a blog, join e-forums, or write to the newspaper.

Having said this, I hope you realize MCA had done all but putting on a monkey show. Their blind allegiance towards Barisan Nasional meant endorsing their act of denying Malaysians democracy.

Yvonne and Louis at his home in San Gabriel, C.A. - January 3rd 2008

I’m so tired and stressed even though there is little to worry about. Can you see how relaxed I was then?

One day, I hope to live in smaller towns with good infrastructure, so I can be independent with little stress.

Although the places I went in Southern California were better constructed and the people more helpful than ones in K.L. I still prefer a slower lifestyle than that. But it was good enough to relieve all the stress accumulated in Malaysia.

I hope to be part of slower communities of smaller states in the U.S. They are mostly higher up, colder and less activity.

I prefer visiting the library, reading a book in the park while sipping coffee. Southern California was all about shopping, lifestyle, and recreation. Sadly, many nice people I met there were unconscious victims of Anomie in a mass society. You can see it in their eyes, their temperament, their priorities.

Eddie often said something I found extremely irritating. “Time is money here in the U.S. Money is wasted by every hour lost.” or “I prefer to drive than taking the bus.” Not so much out of convenience, but bus rides take more time and hence, more money lost.

He took the meaning out of life.

Steven Toh leaves for work about 6:30-7am but work doesn’t start till 8am. It then ends at 6pm, but he’s not home until 7:30 and before you know it, it’s bed time and next, he’s gone before the break of dawn. Feels like work is but everything there is in life.

The U.S. being a self-determinant capitalist society says a lot about the people’s priorities in general. However, do not confuse them with the general capitalistic nature of Malaysians.

There is still hope in the rust belt states. I wish to stay there one day. But right now, I have to live here in order to become a Psychologist. Here in big cities where all the psychotics are.

Have you read Nicholas’ Sparks At First Sight? I like that story very much despite the tragic ending. We barely drove by North Carolina on the interstate years ago so I’m curious about the place. It would be nice to become a librarian sometime. Jeremy Marsh’s life transition stirs the soul of people who long for a change.

NTV7 Producer Satira Diyana and a cameraman visited me in college last Tuesday. Besides interviewing my lecturers and friends, they shot some brief footages and together, we acted out some scenes. The video is to be aired before my scheduled 30-minute live talkshow on 31st March at 11am.

Thank you to my lecturers Dr. Steven, Ms. Padma, Jason, and Leighton for sacrificing your very valuable time. Thank you Elaine, Shaun, Sue Leen, Pei Wen, and the rest of my sporting collegemates. We had so much fun laughing. You all made my day

The funniest yet, was labelling Dr. Steven as pembelot . Being the head of American Degree Programme, behind him was an American flag and nothing else. If you remember watching The Simpsons movie last year, the scene is similar to Senator Schwarzeneger in his office. Provided that Dr. Steven with his suit and tie, is Malaysian backed by a U.S. flag appearing on Malaysian T.V.

So you will be seeing a bunch of pengkhianat, pembelot, pemberontak, and penderhaka on NTV7 come 31st March 2007 at 11am.

May I become an effective and charismatic NF spokesperson the way I’ve always wanted. For personal accomplishment and also as my contribution in society. My wish is to see Malaysians rise above their individual challenges. I am not here to promote the severity of NF and how trafic it seems, although they are often necessary before anyone takes me seriously..

By the way, there are so many Malay words for traitor. Ini semua pasal itu cerita Hang Tuah ka?

You might remember a forumer called the police when he (she?) spotted the all too familiar Perodua MYVi in SS14. Within five minutes, a patrol car passed by and stopped right behind it. The occupants appeared to have been taken away.

But as we learned, the mother pretended to feel nauseous and insisted going home. The officer let her off as he had no reason to detain her.

Most of us do not know the whole story. Only PCYeoh and others who traced her and tried helping her do. This seems like a pitiful family from what I gather. Nothing is said about the father, and the mother does not see any wrong in teaching and forcing her children to beg. You might think many street beggars we see everyday were coerced and abused by a third party in some ways. But from the little information PCYeoh shared in trying to protect her identity, this otherwise educated and independent woman almost certainly has a problem. When threatened that her children might be handed over to welfare, she got apprehensive because without the children, there will be no one to help her make a living. Note that her concern wasn’t for the children’s needs, but her needs. Now, before you think bad of the mother, understand that she can no longer be reasoned with common sense.

PCYeoh said:

The last time she was taken in (based on Rocky 19 report), she was given a very nice shelling from Insp Foo. The pastor was there too and we learned quite a lot about the woman and her antics from the pastor. Her case is quite complicating but sad and like what USJResident27 said, if she refused help, there was little we can do. She is currently seeking counselling from the lady pastor who also I understand is giving up on her.

By the way, she is hellava good drama queen. Last night was one of her acts. The children (she has 4 of them the youngest is still crawling) are all brainwashed by her. They will die for her and we know that she is using her kids to get what she wanted - anything for that matter.

I think last night there was little Foo could do. A month ago when she was summoned to the police station, she was given a stern warning that should the police receive any more complaint, she will be sent to a rehabilatation centre while her kids will be under the welfare dept. When this was mentioned to her, she went beserk as she needed the two elder kids to earn a ‘living by begging’ for her than the kids needed her. The two kids have not been going to school since Chinese New Year. Her excuse was she was without her car and thus unable to send them to school in SMK USJ 13 and SJK USJ20.

There are many thing I can’t share with you all without infringing her privacy. This is a pitiful case and the victims are the 4 children. A few of us are trying to find a better solution that split the family up. May be this time we have to get the husband involved.

Below was what I pointed out.

This is a dilemma indeed. We know it’s a pitiful case. Not giving money to the kids would mean they have less to survive with. But giving would encourage them to continue lying.

Can’t Inspector Foo personally track this woman and catch her in the act, rather than relying on others to inform the police?

This woman needs professional counseling, perhaps psychoanalysis too. I am a Christian who has sought the advice of pastors before. And my experiences with them came no where close to scientific psychological intervention.

If this woman has a problem, she cannot be reasoned with. Religious counselors often rely on the faculty of cognitive reasoning, which people like this woman may not be capable of.

She might have been so desperate for help, that she’s resorted to repressing that need, and the repression now manifested into her current belief system. So telling her that her actions are wrong, won’t mean a thing to her.

She is likely projecting her need for help by asking her kids to solicit financial help. Please don’t give up on her. If my guess is right, then she is already crying out for help in her own way.

There are a number of psychotherapy techniques that uses the projection theory that might help this woman understand herself.

————

I tried closing my eyes and imagine if that was my mother. And this is how and what I feel. No matter what, she is still my mother. That explains why separating the children from the mother should be the last, and desperate measure to protect them. Taking the children away without due consideration might cause them to start hating the world. They might think, “We were doing fine begging. At least we had our mother. Now we have everything. but it feels like we have nothing.”

Let’s approach and help them with love, and not by force.

Read: Stockholm Syndrome., Identification

Mom said someone advised my dad to stock up on rice. They said there will be
‘clashes’ and ‘rationing’.

I said, “Oh…. might as well dig a tunnel too.”

I have the benefit of going online, but my parents knows to read the newspaper only. Apparently, Ong Ka Chuan put up a show five days ago here.

That is our politicians playing with racial cards for you. If you’re in college, try taking up a class in journalism and learn to spot the structure and intonation of “controlled news”. Our Malaysian papers are filled with such who-said-what reports that is not worth reading.

Don’t let the media undermine your intelligence.

Read this forum thread. at usj.com.my. A lady driving a silver MYVi had been fetching her children (two boys, a girl and a baby I think) and soliciting around Subang Jaya. The lady would stop her car before the kids alight, run across busy streets and approach people at petrol stations. The eldest boy spoke good English. They carried a UPSR report and a medical report claiming that the second boy had ‘yellow eyes’ and needed money for treatment.

This thread start in November 2007. They were repeatedly spotted by Subang jaya residents. Many spoke to the kids and gathered some information. The children goes to school in town. Someone spoke to the mother and warned her that if she continued doing this, she will be reported for child abuse.

But she did not back out. Her kids continued soliciting around. When someone they approached asked if the lady in the car was their mother, the girl glanced at the car fearfully before nodding. The mother was finally arrested today. A forumer spotted her car and called the police (they had filed a report earlier).

Now my concern is that, this lady might be mentally disturbed. When questioned, she did not see anything wrong in her actions. If this is the case, i am afraid she would not be treated properly by the PDRM.

I wonder if Subang Jaya residents can get involved now PDRM has taken action.

update: The mother pretended to feel nauseous so the police let her go. WHAT! So strange, why can’t they just arrest her? It’s not the first time they got her.

Take a look at this picture. I like to see these candid portraits that paint a thousand emotions. Do you think this uncle was happy, sad, or apathetic? Is he content or frusrated?

As a writer, my biggest wish is to reform the KDN or Home Ministry that control press licenses. There was a little misunderstanding over this article at SJEcho.

People were not happy with what Lee Hwa Beng was reported to have said. USJ.COM.MY is neither anti-government nor anti-lee hwa beng.

The way I see it, the fault belongs to the journalist. I mean, look at the report. It’s not an inverted pyramid writing technique. The event did not qualify as a hard news or soft news. But it’s not a feature story either. Sometimes reporters publish press release verbatim if they’re written well, but it’s not even that! More like a jigsaw puzzle forcibly pieced together.

So the journalist had to hand in the report. He must write something, anything. Oh, so Mr. Lee talked about usj.com.my… “I’ll just take that, and smack it right here, ok, over to the printer.”

Journalists are not bad people. I’ve met many, and they were all very nice and caring. So what’s the problem? I think the federal government’s tight grip on press license have denied journalism it’s creativity.

Obviously, when people read that article, they want to know what SJRA is. Who cares what the pro-tem chairman or Mr. Lee said? We want to read a story with valid information. Jigsaw puzzles and inverted pyramids might help you finish a last minute job, but it’s not going to score very well with readers.

John Ling pointed out that if another racial riot occurs, it would be sparked by UMNO putras, not the Malays.

Fair enough.

But it escaped me, because we are not UMNO, UMNO doesn’t represent the population. If more people know better than they do, and these same people hold on to their political opinions, the few extremists in UMNO cannot go very far.

Perhaps it is my overly optimistic belief that people today are better educated and socially exposed. Why don’t we start with ourselves. Let’s not wait until our fears come true, start educating people on how politics and government work.

The other day, I said B.N. now needs to let B.R. a vote on legislations before signing them into law. But Rajiv pointed out to me that B.N. can still make laws with a simple majority, but they cannot AMEND the constitution as they wish.

Har? Like that ar? We need special textbooks on Malaysian government.