The Malaysian Insider

NOV 19 — India, apparently is a country which has made the "mistake of being too democratic". And, "democracy can be a hindrance to progress because you spend so much time politicking that you don’t have time to develop your country. In China, there’s not much politics. So, they can spend more time developing their country.”

Those are statements attributed to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in a IANS report as quoted by Malaysia Today on Tuesday.

NOV 10 — I want to ensure that justice is produced fast. Clear the backlog. If I can do this, then I would be very happy” – Tun Zaki, Chief Justice, Malaysia.

As far as mission statements go, the above sounds good. It signals an aim, namely, justice must be produced fast. Then it spells out the mechanics by which that aim is to be achieved, namely, by clearing the backlog. Lastly, but surely not the least, it states the overall impact of the mission, once achieved: The CJ will be happy.

With 900,000 cases pending in the Lower Courts and 91,000 cases in the High Courts (2008 figures), the concern about delays in the courts is understandable. After all, justice delayed is justice denied. The CJ, therefore, has taken it upon himself to clear the backlog of the cases.

OCT 26 — I read with absolute disbelief what the Bandar Baru Kulim MP Zulkifli Noordin had proposed in his private member Bills in Parliament. I am even more astounded — not to mention bitterly angry — that PKR has not seen it fit to read the riot act in full DTS 6.1 mode to Zul Noordin.

The antics of Zul Noordin are well documented. During one Federal Court hearing, in one of those conversion cases, this guy actually stood up in open court and questioned the "Muslimness" of Malik Imtiaz just because he disagreed with what Imtiaz was saying. Later, he and some thugs were involved in stopping a discourse on conversion to Islam which was going on at the Bar Council auditorium.

OCT 13 — If politics is the art of convincing people to follow one’s beliefs, ideologies and principles, than the Bagan Pinang by-election should teach PAS, and the Pakatan Rakyat, some basic things in politics.

Allow me to firstly tell what happened to me some 4 years ago in London.  I was walking along Old Bond Street, pushing a pram with my daughter inside. From about 10 meters away, a Malay man, followed by 3 other men, rushed towards me. He gave me a warm “hello, apa khabar” greeting and extended his hand to “bersalam” with me. He then introduced me to his 3 friends. We chatted for a while. He later pinched my daughter’s cheek before saying he had to move on as he could not really stand still for too long in the cold winter. He then said bye-bye with a smile and left.

The thing was, I did not even know who he was. We haven’t met before.

OCT 9 — I have always observed that to most of us, being religious is more important than embracing the spiritual aspect of our faith. Being religious, after all, entails ritualistic observance of whatever is decreed by our faith.

And so, the Muslims fast and we pray and we pay zakat. And the Christians would go to the church on Sundays and wear a necklace with a cross pendant. The Hindus would swim in the Ganges River and break coconuts in the morning before going to work. And so on and so forth.