POLITICAL DEBATE: A Positive Shift in Political Climate in Malaysia? Really?

Political debates have been the recent public interest especially in Malaysia. Some people assumed that political debates are just tools of selling propagandas and stands to the public as the 13^th General Election date will be announced in any time soon. Such opinion is neither right nor wrong. People have the right to speak out their opinions. But, the BIG QUESTION is, IS POLITICAL DEBATE BRINGS POSITIVE CHANGE TO THE POLITICAL ARENA?

Malaysia may not be the first to practice open debates, neither the last too. Open debates have been practice by many other country to fight for their stands. This mostly used by political leaders especially when the election is getting close to date.

It is getting to be a trend for political practitioners to hold debates with their opponents to fight against certain issues from the grassroots. Recently, on the 22^nd May 2012, two young men in the political arena had a debate on the issue of PTPTN. It is none than other; Debat Sinar Harian, between Pemuda UMNO Chief, Khairy Jamaluddin and PKR Strategic Director, Rafizi Ramli.

For those who haven't watch the debate, here is the link to the full version of the PTPTN debate:

DEBAT PTPTN: Khairy Jamaluddin VS Rafizi Ramli

Some might say it is pointless to have such debate.  From my personal opinion, it is a positive shift in the political paradigm. Reason being, both speakers were given EQUAL CHANCE to speak, EQUAL CHANCE to rebut and EQUAL access to the audience and the media for that particular time. In reference to that debate, some facts and figures were spoken out by both speakers. It is not about winning or losing BUT it is about delivering the right information to the audiences. Certain facts might have been spinned, intensified or even omitted but the audience will have the chance of evaluating both speakers.

Even before the PTPTN debates, there were other political debates such as Datuk Ambiga VS Khairy Jamaluddin, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim VS Datuk Seri Shabery Cheek and many other debates.

You may watch the full version of this debate here:

THE MALAY MAIL DEBATE: Khairy Jamaluddin VS Datuk S. Ambiga

You may watch this video in YOUTUBE. There are 8 parts in total :)

Political scenes in Malaysia should not be stagnant or stationary but it must move in line with the economical developments of Malaysia. One thing that is deeming true, the rakyat today is getting wiser and the need to be fed with information by respective parties is a must. Open debate is one of the ways to do so. It is just a harmless way to disseminate information to the public.

Debates should be taken as something positive towards the political developments in Malaysia. Political stage is never impaired but it revolves from time to time. Take this as an constructive advantage not a destructive downside. 

Peace Malaysia!

Banning Zizan and Kaka's "Bawaku Pergi"? Really?

Take time and understand one part of the lyric in this song, “Bawaku Pergi” by Zizan and Kaka;

“…tengah malam nanti
tolong jangan lupa
jangan mungkir janji
aku dah teruja
sudah cukup lama
aku tunggu saat ini
sejak kali terakhir kau hantar pulang
hidup sungguh sepi
tolong jangan bilang mama
tolong jangan bilang papa
malah jangan bilang teman karibmu
jangan bilang sesiapa

oh, buku merah jangan lupa bawa
moga-moga belum tamat tempoh
kali ini kita pergi lebih lama
pergi lebih jauh, ayuh…”

As far as we are concerned, this lyric do sounds a bit weird. It sounds as if asking the listener to actually run away from everything especially the teenagers. After being urged by the National Collaborative Council Parent Teacher Association (PIBGN) this song had been banned fully from being aired on radios in Malaysia.

The BIG QUESTION MARK

is it really this song that influencing teenagers to run away from home?

Albert Bandura in his Social Learning Theory stated that one learn from their surrounding, adapt and act. Simply put, we act as what we hear and see. Yes, in his theory, he proposed that our surrounding will shape us for what we are in the future. Song that we listened to is considered as our surrounding too. Some might disagree with this theory but this is one of the fact that we must put attention to.

We were hummed with songs before we go to sleep back when we were small, we were taught to recite the Holy Quran in rhythm, we were taught to memorize by singing and a lot of other things that were taught through songs. Why? Because we can remember and adapt more easily as we are doing something that is entertaining and catchy.

We can’t blame the song fully or blatantly but we have to remember that teenagers are vulnerable. Especially new generation nowadays, they have rebellious souls, different way of thinking, different challenges and most importantly, they are exposed to the media too broadly.

As much as songs are meant for entertainment, we must always remember, anything in excess is never good. The same thing applies to songs and entertainment. We are easily influenced by something that we love. 

Just one piece of advice, lyricists should be more careful in their selection of words especially when it comes to songs that are meant for teenagers. Write wisely. Or should I say, sing wisely? ;)


Peace Malaysia

Questioning credibility? Really?

 The credibility of a leader has always lingers around characteristics, leadership values, ideas, image, reputation, education and a lot more. For one to be lifted and accepted as a leader, he must be able to be one of the followers too. To be a good leader, one must be a good follower as well. This is deeming true, if one failed to follow, he definitely will fail to be at the peak of hierarchy.

One side of the leadership requires us to be brave and to be strong. We must be brave to stand up for what we believe in, stand up for the truth and stand up for our people. But often the concept of bravery is taken wrongly. Also, often used for the sake of taking one down.

As we all know, recently, it came out at the front page of one of the mainstream newspaper saying that one of our leaders is challenging the credibility of another leader on the left wing. Is this a proper thing to do? I mean, it is okay to differ in opinions and stand but does it really has to be announced out loud to the public? Is it necessary for us to tell to the people that there are tensions between our leaders? Well, it is something for us to ponder on.

Measuring credibility? 

Stepping on the credibility of someone should not be the ground of winning a political game. It is not wrong. Yes, no one ever said it is wrong. But to make it public is it ethically right? Some might say yes, but some might say no. There is wrong and right answer for this question.

Most of the leaders are great rhetoricians but some are great dialectics. Aristotle, pioneer in art of rhetoric, in one of his texts said that for the public to be persuaded to actually believe it, they must be triggered in terms of their trust on one’s credibility, their emotions must me touched as well as their logical reasoning must be in parallel just to get the public to believe in them. In this case, Aristotle’s mentor, Plato has a different opinion. He said in his text, no emotions should be touched as the truth will be the point of believing anything. There should not be any emotional manipulation. But, the only thing that they both believed is that the CREDIBILTY will be one of the determinants of taking anything into beliefs.

 The point about the arguments between Aristotle and Plato is that both believe in credibility is the main point of the mass public to believe in any idea. Maybe, this is the reason why some politicians are so eager in using credibility of their opponent as a weapon of taking them down. Well, I would say, game well-played. There should not be any reason to say the other way. But the blame is not totally weighed on just one side.

I would consider we are lucky that we as Malaysian are still bound to the constitution which holds us together despite of all political differences. Maybe those at the upper lines should consider all their actions as people at the lower level are observing them. They should always remember that we are the people that determine who are our leaders. We are living in a parliamentary democracy country.


Peace Malaysia!

Consumerism? Diclaimers? Not Exchangable? Really?

“PARK AT YOUR OWN RISK”

“GOODS SOLD ARE NOT RETURNABLE”

“GOODS SOLD ARE NOT EXCHANGABLE” 

“GOODS SOLD ARE NOT REFUNDABLE”

UP THERE, are some lines of disclaimers that we often read after we entered a parking area, after we bought a t-shirt, after we made a transaction and after a lot of things that we did every day. We faced all these at the shopping complex, parking areas, restaurants and even at the retail shops.

We as consumers often overlooked about this. Many did not know that actually, there is a clause in Contract Law in Malaysia stated that there are three rules for such exemption of disclaimers to be valid. Most parties may seek to exclude or disclaim his liabilities under the law, thereby depriving the other party from exercising their rights.

Under this Exemption Clause as well known as Exclusion Clause of Contract Law, one must abide to three rules for this clause to be valid. First condition, one must give notice of the exclusion clause at or before the time of concluding the contract. This means that, you must be well-informed about the disclaimer before or at the transaction or better known as the contract being concluded. One simple example will be, if you are at the mall, shopping some stuff, and you entered a premise that did not put any disclaimer outside or anywhere at the shop telling you about the exclusion clause. After that, you purchased a pair of shoes. After buying that, you received a receipt stating that “GOODS SOLD ARE NOT EXCHANGABLE”. Only after that you realized that the shoes are defected. You asked the staff at the shop to change it for you but the stuff refused to do so as he mentioned that they already stated it in the receipt. The fact is,, you can actually brought this matter up to Small Claims Tribunal Court. The reason is that the exemption clause was not brought to attention before or at the transaction. You were only informed after you received the receipt. In such case, the contract is considered VOID.

Disclaimers printed on receipts often confusing -.-'

CONSUMERISM; a never ending issue

 Second condition for the clause to be valid is the terms must be contained or referred to in a document which was intended to have contractual effect. This refers to any printed documents. It may vary from signboards or fliers given before or at the transaction. Let’s take parking provider for instance. They seldom place any signboards or any notice board outside their parking area. They usually have it printed on the parking tickets. But, it is never fair for the consumers as they only know about the waive of liabilities on the provider after they entered and received the parking tickets at the auto machine. If and only of that ever happen, one can actually claim on the damage that happened at the premise. The parking provider has the obligation to put it into printed and noticeable documents and must be known by the consumer before the contact is concluded.

Last but not least, the condition for the exemption clause to be valid is reasonable steps must be taken to bring the terms to the attention of the other party. Yes, this mostly refers to signboards and the way it is brought to the attention of the customers. Or, the other way will be to inform to customers orally. Meaning, the customers can be reminded that no exchangeable or refundable etc. The tricky part about doing it verbally is that if the providers said things differently from the one in the printed documents, the verbal words will be the new disclaimers instead of the printed one. Thus, the providers must really try their best to inform to the customers about the disclaimers for the contract to be valid.

If and only if all three conditions are abide, only then all the liabilities on the provider can be exempted or excluded. Mostly, Malaysian are not well aware of this clause because there are mainly are not well informed about their rights as consumers. There was a seminar on Legal Issues on E-Commerce by A/P Catherine Tay, she mentioned that “As long as your goods are purchased for personal or home use and not for business, all exclusion disclaimers are VOID”. She said that because she felt that even the educated people are cowed by such unfair wordings because they were never informed about it. Most merchants chose to keep it low for their interest but it should change now.

 The most basic thing is that most of the time, the customers are being manipulated due to their ignorance. Yes, the merchants or providers will never actually reveal their clients right as a way to wash hands off their liabilities. It is an unhealthy conducts and it should change now. The consumers and customers are the determinants on the successfulness of a service or products. But often consumers are deceived. Issues on consumerisms happen every single day. So, consumer must know their rights and stand up for their rights. Any case of consumerisms can be directed and reported to Small Claims Tribunal Court :

 

For any issues related to the Tribunal for Consumer Claims, you can contact:

  

Tribunal Tuntutan Pengguna Malaysia,
Kementerian Perdagangan Dalam Negeri, Koperasi dan Kepenggunaan,
Aras 5, Podium 2,

No. 13, Persiaran Perdana,Presint 2,

Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan,
62623 Putrajaya.

Toll Free          : 1-800-88-9811 

Telephone No. :  03-8882 5822 

Fax No.             : 03-8882 5831

Website             : http://ttpm.kpdnkk.gov.my