[ ALERT ] Cyberthugs on the Loose, Again.

[ UPDATE ] 071002 . 2240

Malaysia Today is online again.

[ ALERT ] 071002 . 2000

Suspicious activity in the Malaysian blogosphere last night is now confirmed to be Distributed Denial of Services (DDoS) ‘spam’ attacks on and attempted hacking of at least one and probably two civil society blogs.

• Jeff Ooi’s ‘Screenshots‘ blog was down and has just come back online. Jeff has confirmed that there was an abnormal surge in activity last night and also an attempted hacking of his server.
• Raja Petra Kamarudin’s Malaysia Today is still down at this time, and has been since last night; no word on MT yet but it looks overwhelmingly like a coordinated DDoS attack as well.
• Malaysiakini was exceptionally slow last night at around the same time; no word from them on that but it may also be indicative of an abnormal spike in web traffic.

Screenshots is still not at full capacity and access is difficult at the moment; notice from Jeff below:

So far we have a confirmed web attack on Screenshots, a ‘highly probable’ on MT and a ‘possible’ attack on Malaysiakini.

The common thread linking Screenshots, Malaysia Today and Malaysiakini is that all three specialise in exposing scandals and wrongdoing, particularly those committed by those in the BN government and their cronies.

Too much of a coincidence.

NEW! Naval-Grade Scandal-Whitening Toothpaste from PAC

[ Another Dodgy(TM) PACkaged* product, proudly brought to you by Ghostline Industries Tidak Berhad ]

(*thanks to reader ‘Xylogue’ for the term)

Fresh from whitewashing the RM4.6 bil Port Klang Free Zone scandal (previous post HERE), the energetic Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has moved on to its next job: removing the stubborn stains left by the RM 6.75 bil Navy OPV (offshore patrol boat) procurement scandal.

Again, after making a good show of ‘investigating’, PAC Chair Shahrir ‘Peroxide’ Abdul Samad has announced that a number of crucial financial records pertaining to the procurement of several offshore patrol vessels (OPV’s) for the Royal Malaysian Navy are not available because the records ‘have been destroyed’. No files = no case? ‘Case closed’ then, I presume?

How… convenient.

Procurement documents have been ‘destroyed’? No problem, Shahrir, follow the money — there is always a paper trail somewhere. Bank statements — records of transactions, accounts of the principals and wives/mistresses, unusual company/ministry expenditures; while you’re at it, go squeeze PSC Naval Dockyards’ (now Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd) Amin Shah Omar Shah’s balls till he squeals.

See Shahrir, your job really isn’t that hard. Unless, of course… you’ve been instructed not to find anything after all the sandiwara, which I rather suspect is the case.

Problem is, we ain’t buying it.

(Antares first alerted me to the defence procurements scandal embroiling DPM Najib Tun Razak – just before it broke in the media several days ago – but have been unable to post about it until now due to breaking events, particularly the violent crackdown in Burma.)

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Article on the OPV procurement scandal, and DAP’s pointed remarks to the PAC. Extracted from Malaysiakini, below: (highlights added by me)

There Is Something Terribly Wrong With This Country, Isn’t There?

As a Malaysiakini columnist wrote some weeks ago prior to the 50th anniversary of Malayan Independence, we have merely traded one set of colonisers and oppressors for another, home-grown one. One which in some respects is even more insidious than the colonials they eventually replaced. In the past several years especially we have seen increasingly fascist tendencies manifest in the UMNO-BN government, from the active suppression and persecution of dissenting voices and civil society (including the recent Batu Burok clashes and Paya Mengkuang standoff) to the constant race supremacist rhetoric spewing forth from the ranks of UMNO, rampant corruption and almost total hijacking of the mainstream media, to name just a few examples.

The bloody suppression of civil society and dissenting voices has come far sooner than even I expected, and in the aftermath of Batu Burok, I feel compelled to post — for the third time in one month — the text of the speech by ‘V‘ from the film ‘V for Vendetta‘, as a reminder of what we the people of Malaysia face if we do not make a stand now in the face of impending fascism, and also as a reminder of what we should be fighting for: freedom, equality and justice. But this time, there is a YouTube video clip of the speech from the film. The last few lines are unfortunately missing from the clip, but there is enough there to carry the meaning and passion of this singularly eloquent speech.

I reproduce the text of the speech below:

Walk With Audra; Walk With Rocky

Tomorrow (Wed 5 Sept), two blogger comrades and their partners will be in separate court proceedings:

[ 1] The first proceeding concerns Allied Martster a.k.a. Tony Yew’s better half Audra Denise Atkinson, a former Chief Stewardess with Malaysia Airlines who is fighting an unfair dismissal case against her former employer. Apparently, MAS’ grounds for dismissing her were because she became pregnant with her third child and thus violated a clause in her employment contract (apparently standard for air stewardesses) that she would be dismissed if she became pregnant. Audra’s case will be heard at the Industrial Court in KL.
As I mentioned in my earlier comment on Haris Ibrahim’s post: in the US, this clause alone would be sufficient grounds for a class-action gender-discrimination lawsuit against MAS, and I hope that other MAS cabin crew will also make a stand against this sexist employment policy.

Haris summarises Audra’s case in more detail here. Tony’s own (legally-limited) post is here.

[ 2 ] The second proceeding concerns Ahirudin Attan a.k.a. ‘Rocky‘. I have no information on the proceeding at this time but I assume it is in connection with the lawsuit filed by New Strait Times Press earlier this year against Rocky and Jeff Ooi for allegedly libellous comments (they were NOT). FYI, Jeff and Rocky’s legal defence team is led by Malik Imtiaz, with Haris Ibrahim assisting.

Rocky’s case will be heard at the High Court (if I’m not mistaken).

More info on the real story behind the lawsuit against Jeff and Rocky at Walk With Us. Click on the January archives.

IMPORTANT: For legal reasons (potential subjudice), please do not comment on the court proceedings on either Tony’s or Rocky’s blogs, but do feel free to send them expressions of your support or show up at court if you can spare the time.

Audra, Tony and Rocky, we walk with you (even if only in spirit).

When Smoke and Fire Don’t Coincide

It’s strange, smoke and fire don’t always coincide in Malaysia.

You may see a lot of smoke, but the fire is elsewhere.

First, referring to my previous blog post on the ‘Taliban wannabes’:

There is a difference between satire and issuing a physical threat. Anyone who cannot understand the difference has no business talking politics — or being in government. When Namewee made ‘Negarakuku’ he was satirising the sorry situation in Malaysia. While his satire may have offended some sensibilities, what he did was a form of civil protest and was not a threat. In contrast, the homemade Taliban/Islamic Jihad-style ‘terrorist’ video threatening Namewee with harm ‘for insulting Islam’ upon his return to Malaysia is nothing but an amateurish and thuggish attempt at criminal intimidation. Perhaps — as some people have suggested — it was nothing more than 4 stupid punks pulling a stunt, but to threaten religious violence is not only illegal, it is extremely irresponsible and sets a dangerous precedent.

If it is attention and a rush that these 4 retards are seeking, I suggest that they aspire to something higher: they could take a flying leap off the skybridge at KLCC to verify the height of the buildings for themselves. Or dive into the garbage compactor in Semenyih; once recycled and composted, they may be of use to society as fertiliser.

The real problem is that the inspiration and impetus behind these 4 retards came from high up in the UMNO-BN government, from the hypocritical UMNO-BN ministers and MP’s who deliberately hyped the issue with racist and religious rhetoric in order to distract the public’s attention from the far more insidious scandals below:

(poster by mob1900)

The Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) debacle: RM4.6 bil taxpayers’ money is to be used to bailout the project, which has blatant corruption dangling from every corner. Read the Malaysiakini article here:

msk-070810-blood-runs-deep-in-troubled-pkftz.pdf

Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy — caught in the public crosshairs — has conveniently fallen ill and fled overseas to recuperate on MC.

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M for Merdeka: What Are We Really Celebrating?

Well, it looks like I’m flying the flag after all, but with a difference.

Today is 31st August 2007, the 50th anniversary of Malayan Independence, and almost 44 years since the Federation of Malaysia was formed. Today should have been a meaningful day.

And it is, but not in the way it should be.

Today, millions of flags large and small are flying throughout the country this week, ostensibly to mark a great day in the history of Malaysia: the 50th anniversary of independence.But what are we really celebrating? What are all those flags flying for?

Institutionalised racism, rampant corruption, criminal incompetence, backdoor theocraticisation and emerging fascism?

Taliban-wannabes (follow up on MyAsylum’s post)

CALL FOR CITIZENS’ ACTION

[ Video DELETED ]

This video was spotted at myAsylum. Thanks for posting the alert.

Congratulations, UMNO, look what you’ve created. A bunch of (in myAsylum’s words) Taliban-wannabe-retards threatening Namewee with harm upon his return to Malaysia.
I have more acid words to describe them, but they are unprintable.

Feel good now, all you UMNO wankers, Nazi Aziz in particular? Go home and jerk off to this video.

This is Merdeka, UMNO-style.

This nauseating video post will be up for 48 hours only for public information purposes, following which this filth will be deleted.

M for Merdeka; V for Vendetta

One of the most memorable films I have seen in recent years is the noir political graphic-novel adaptation ‘V for Vendetta‘ (2005), directed by the Wachowski brothers and starring Hugo Weaving and Natalie Portman. For those who haven’t seen it, the story is set in the UK of the near future, where a fascist government has taken over the United Kingdom and controls every aspect of the lives of its citizens. Like the earlier black satire ‘Brazil‘ (1985) directed by Terry Gilliam (which I will write about in a future post), the arrogance of the government is such that it believes it can even control the thoughts of its citizens by controlling and ‘spinning’ the flow of information — literally writing and re-writing the flow of history — to suit its political purposes.

UMNO Fascism: A Checklist

Dear readers,

You all know the disturbing pictures above. For several years now I have been referring to UMNO-BN’s increasing tendency towards inciting racism and suppression of dissent as ‘fascism’ and ‘UMNO Nazism’, and the tendency has become even more pronounced with recent actions such as UMNO Youth’s continuous racist threats (abetted by the crony-collaborator-lapdogs in BN, particularly the MCA and MIC), government impunity from wrongdoing and media suppression over the Islamic State debate and the ‘Negarakuku’ controversy.

Gestapo cum Waffen SS Chief Nazri ‘The Nazi’ Aziz

What is fascism?

Several days ago, I came across the reader Frank&Honest’s post in Jeff Ooi’s ‘Screenshots’ blog here, which refers readers to an article written by Dr. Lawrence Britt. Dr. Britt’s article gives a clear, point-by-point definition of ‘fascism’, which gives us a checklist to measure how much UMNO-BN has moved towards fascism and totalitarianism. Dr. Britt’s article can be found here.

I reproduce Frank&Honest’s post (and his follow-up post) and the article by Dr.Lawrence Britt in full below, and will post my point-by-point response to this later:

Look What The Cat Dragged In…

… It’s one of KJ/Azalina’s cyberthugs a.k.a. mangy lapdogs a.k.a. pusbags! The ‘seditious’ comment below was posted on my previous blog entry ‘NEGARAKUKU! I Am NOT The Mainstream Media’. See here the offending comment in red complete with IP address and (non-existent) domains.

CinaAhPek | cina@cina.com | cina.com | IP: 60.53.48.146

They failed to realised if May 13th were to happen again it will be the Chinese who is gonna KILL the Malays!!

And my response:

[ GhL ] : ‘CinaAhPek’, like the fictitious ‘Dr. Ng Seng’, you are obviously one of Azalina’s (overpaid) UMNO cyberthugs trying to plant a ’seditious’ comment on my site. How’s it feel like being hung out to dry like a drowned rat found in the toilet?

What kind of dumb f**k would register himself as ‘CinaAhPek’ with an email like ‘cina@cina.com’ and a non-existent URL like http://cina.com
IP: 60.53.48.146

OMG, could it be? Are you… are you… Mat Tyson in person? I am so honoured that you would visit my humble blog! Please visit my Idiots du jour Gallery to see the place I have specially reserved for you.

For others out there, please listen carefully:

I understand your anger, but please DO NOT MAKE RACIST THREATS, on this site or anywhere else. It only makes things worse. By indulging in racist rhetoric, we are no better than Hishammuddin or Khairy or any of the UMNO rabble. I know it is difficult, but try to rise above the trap of racist politics, and try not to see things through the lens of race, religion or gender.

My fury and criticisms are directed purely at the corrupt and racist politicians who run this country, not at the Malay race or any race in particular. Many of my targets are in UMNO (gee I wonder why), but I have not spared MCA and I will not spare MIC or, for that matter, anyone including opposition politicians if they indulge in racist rhetoric. I have many good Malay friends who understand what is wrong in this country, and I am working with some of them to try and change things for the better.

To all readers (except UMNO-BN cyberthugs – the plague upon you) I wish you well, and I hope that you may find the strength to rise above the scourge of racism.