IT’S a subject most Malaysians, and that includes prominent civil rights advocates, shy away from – the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) conundrum is regarded too controversial, taboo even.

So, many of us prefer not to talk about it, choosing to pretend that the LGBT community doesn’t exist. Or we simply don’t want to think about it. After all, why question seemingly conventional mindset?

Those who want to share their thoughts about it (often loudly) see it from a religious and even political viewpoint.

In their hyperbole, these people see the LGBT community as a threatening group with a deviant culture that “can destroy the moral fabric of society.”

Strangely, these moral police don’t even express anger and hatred towards terrorists and paedophiles.

At a time when Malaysians are dealing with more pressing concerns, like learning billions of ringgit have been stolen from us, consequently putting us under a mountain of debt, some of us are unbelievably having sleepless nights over photographs of LGBT activists at a Merdeka exhibition. Equally pertinent, apparently, is the community’s choice of washrooms – male or female. Go figure.

Over the past few weeks, the LGBT issue seems to have fired up many, with Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Mujahid Yusuf ordering the removal of two portraits of LGBT activists at an exhibition included in the George Town Festival.

Most Penangites likely never knew of the exhibition until the order to remove the photographs of Nisha Ayub and Pang Khee Teik was revealed.

Dr Mujahid was quoted as saying that he had no issues with people choosing to practise LGBT activities, so long as they abstained from openly promoting their lifestyle.

The angry exhibition sponsor, Datuk Vinod Sekhar, retorted that it was “incredible” that Dr Mujahid voiced his opinion, saying that discrimination against such people needed to stop.

“For the first time in Malaysia, a Minister has stood up and accepted that there is transgender victimisation. Prior to this, no Federal Minister in charge of religious affairs has come out and said this. This really changes the narrative of things in the new Malaysia,” Vinod was quoted.

The colourful businessman, a heart patient, got so upset and bothered that during an interview with a reporter fromThe Star, he collapsed when his defibrillator (implanted in his chest), failed.

A defibrillator is a device that releases a high energy electric shock to the heart through the wall of the chest of a person who goes into cardiac arrest.

Predictably, no one spoke up against Dr Mujahid’s directive after that, as far as I can recall. It can’t be denied that Dr Mujahid acted because it would have been politically suicidal of him to not have done so. The plain truth is that he wasn’t worried about LGBT activists – he was more concerned about the political fallout had he not acted.

Surely he is aware that there is still a political market for those who want to hear hate speeches on race and religion. The urban voters may want a New Malaysia, but at least 50% of the electorate, many in the rural constituencies, want the old ways to remain, evident from the popular votes tally in the recent general election.

Never mind that their own community stole from them, the appointment of key government posts to non-Malays is still abhorrent and a challenge to the position of Malays.

What more when issues relating to LGBT are impossible to defend in an increasingly religious Malaysia, and one involving a tiny fraction of Malaysians with no political clout or dividends to politicians.

So, when a transgender was beaten to a pulp by a group comprising eight men in Sungai Ujong, Negri Sembilan, it didn’t warrant national outcry.

In fact, most media didn’t even report it, and the indifference to this blatant and cowardly display of brutality and gangsterism seems to suggest that the cross-dresser deserved to be assaulted.

So goes the adage padan muka (serves you right), and surely this is expected when some of us berate and demonise this community.

It is one thing to tell your followers that such sexual orientations are against religious, and even cultural practices, but it is another thing all together to incite hatred against fellow human beings, where the line is crossed when a person is beaten up, and we look the other way, and worse, feel no remorse.

Apparently, CCTV images showed a group of men whacking the transgender in the middle of the street with a piece of wood and plastic pipe.

No one attempted to stop the assailants as the shocking violence played out, resulting in the victim suffering a ruptured spleen, several broken ribs as well as injuries to her back and head, which required 12 stitches.

It’s unequivocal – violence is wrong, and Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Hannah Yeoh and her party colleague, lawyer Syahredzan Johan, must be commended for speaking out when most politicians chose not to.

“The hate speeches directed at the transgender community reduced their humanity in the eyes of society and has made it easier for them to be targeted. We condemn in the strongest terms any hate speech directed at the community,” said the duo in a statement.

“The men surrounded her, and it is believed that she was attacked because of prejudice against her gender identity and the fact that she is a transgender woman.”

Five individuals have been charged, three of whom are expecting to sit for the SPM examination in November. It’s frightening that prejudice has rooted itself in our younger generation. What business do they have spreading hate and inflicting pain on those different from them?

No more talk, the time to nip it in the bud is now, so we must send a strong message that violence, in any shape or form, can never be tolerated.

We already live in a highly prejudiced society, so, do we really need this kind of blatant brutality and lack of acceptance? Absolutely not!

BY Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s admission, the Pakatan Harapan didn’t expect to win the general election. So, the new federal government is finding itself biting more than it can chew having made “too many promises”, and is now struggling to fulfil its election pledges.

“Actually, we did not expect to win, and we made a thick manifesto with all kinds of promises.

“We need to make sacrifices to fulfil our promises. If we can’t fulfil them, we will need a good reason that is acceptable to the people,” Dr Mahathir was quoted by a daily which cited several sources who attended a PH meeting last week.

Firstly, there’s no way to fulfil all promises made in 100 days because it’s just physically impossible – that’s just too short a duration.

It augurs well during campaigning but realistically, it can never be pulled off, even if the economy is strong and we have billions to spend.

The 100-day period is popularly used to evaluate the first three months of an American president’s term, but many democracies have their own yardstick to measure the success of a government or a leader.

The practice has long been adopted in Malaysian politics to observe the start of a new political administration. It’s sometimes regarded as the honeymoon period, where some tolerance is accorded to a new leadership, especially if it is inexperienced.

Secondly, the PH and Malaysians, presumably, failed to realise the financial mess we’re in. The empty coffers will make the government’s task of realising its promises that much more difficult. However, given the depth of our debt, most voters will probably find it in themselves to give the new government more time to settle into the job.

Without doubt, the new government has plenty of goodwill and support, and even after the 100-day period is over, it will retain the patience of the rakyat, but nothing should be taken for granted.

After all, PH leaders can only blame the failures and corrupt ways of the Barisan Nasional government for a time.

They were elected to fix the problems left behind by the Najib Administration, so the blame game can’t continue forever.

We can expect a rough ride ahead because the figures released by Bank Negara don’t bode well for the future.

Economic growth for Malaysia in the second quarter of this year came in at 4.5%, which was below consensus estimates of more than 5%.

According to Bank Negara Malaysia, supply disruptions in the second quarter resulted in the slower economic growth.

In comparison, GDP growth was 5.8% in the corresponding quarter of 2017 and 5.4% in 1Q2018.

In the breakdown of GDP by economic activity, the services, manufacturing and construction sectors showed growth in the second quarter while the agriculture and mining sectors slipped into a decline.

Last week, Malaysian equities took a hit while the ringgit slid to its lowest level since November as fears escalated over the currency crisis gripping Turkey. These are factors beyond our control, but the timing couldn’t have been worse.

The PH government has made good its election promise to abolish the unpopular Goods and Services Tax. Unfortunately, this populist move will have far-reaching consequences for Malaysians in the long run as it simply means the government earns less from taxes. This diminished revenue stream is bound to hamper development.

Basically, the losses will extend to the forgone projects that would have been financed by the higher earnings the GST would have generated. This affects essential projects such as schools, hospitals, roads, public services and subsidy programmes for the poor.

According to Singapore’s Straits Times associate editor, Vikram Khanna described the move to discard the 6% GST as driven more by “populist politics than by sound economics”.

Malaysia became the first country to introduce GST and then abolished it, although it has long been accepted by economists as the most comprehensive, transparent, fair and efficient form of consumption tax.

Vikram said that while today’s oil prices of about US$80 (RM278.60) per barrel can provide some fiscal cushion in the short term, oil-based revenues are fickle and volatile. Malaysia can’t depend on them for the long term.

“After the GST is abolished, the government will eventually need to come up with new taxes – either on income or capital gains, or higher user charges. The negative impact on the economy of these taxes should also be factored into the cost of abolishing the GST,” he cautioned.

He said one reason for the perception that GST raises living costs is it being an “optical illusion” – the GST is transparent and is clearly stated in invoices, but the SST is hidden to consumers.

“While they actually pay it (SST), many of them don’t realise they are doing so. Another reason is that some unscrupulous businesses raised prices when the GST was introduced by more than their additional tax liability, blaming the GST for the increase,” Vikram said.

He said the GST also became a scapegoat for other issues such as the financial scandals relating to, for example, Felda Global Ventures and 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

“In some voters’ minds, the issues came to be linked: the GST was viewed as a means to recoup revenues that were lost to Malaysia because of mismanagement and corruption. What was essentially an economically sound tax became tainted and politicised.

“Abolishing it is relatively easy. But now comes the hard part: The new government has the unenviable task of managing Malaysia’s finances without the GST – and without an alternative revenue measure that can match it,” Vikram said.

The bottom line is that the government will now be short of at least RM21 billion with the abolishment of GST, and it doesn’t help that despite the rise in global oil prices to an average of US$70 per barrel, the expected increase in oil-related revenue is estimated at only RM5.4 billion.

The easiest thing to do, in the immediate term, was to identify cuts worth RM10 billion, which meant downsizing, delaying and abolishing overlapping and non-urgent programmes and projects.

It will be painful post GE14, but fortunately, there are also bright sparks in the New Malaysia.

Malaysians knew corruption had a vice-like grip on the country, but they didn’t realise its grave impact until examples of it were exposed, one after another, by the new government.

Barisan leaders and supporters must have been just as shocked and horrified to witness this unbridled greed.

The immediate institutional reforms will win the PH government top marks, and truth be told, the new culture that has surfaced is a breath of fresh air. The shackles feel like they have come off – Malaysians now feel free with the old regime having been toppled, and the media has also benefited. The PH government will be closely watched, though.

Call it what you will but ending the tenure of Barisan political appointees and replacing them with their leaders as envoys smacks of hypocrisy.

At least the effort to pursue those who stole our money through 1MDB deserves an “A”.

All’s not rosy though – the disorganisation of some ministers also needs the attention of Dr Mahathir. Some are already fast earning reputations for ignoring the advice of their more experienced ministry officials, while others are even resorting to snubbing the media.

It’s a shame that some PH politicians continue to wear “racial glasses”. Surely the long-drawn issue of many senior Malaysians not getting citizenships because of document issues is not restricted to a single ethnic group.

And some PH leaders still view race and religious issues as if they are still in Umno, quickly forgetting where their votes came from and how they got elected into government.

We must surely commend Dr Mahathir for looking beyond race in the appointment of key posts, including Tommy Thomas as AG and Lim Guan Eng as Finance Minister.

Hopefully this will set a precedent for appointments from now on to be based on ability and merit.

The PH government clearly has its work cut out, but coming from a patient and accepting culture, we could do with giving the new administration more time to iron out the creases. But good grace is always under pressure from the weight of expectation, particularly for a nation fraught by disappointment and thirsting for change. Everything has its limit, and time will soon tell if the powers that be have met their KPI.

THE antics of Kinabatangan MP Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin at the Dewan Rakyat are familiar to most of us.

He’s a recalcitrant who thrives on earning attention from the media and Members of Parliament through his outlandish behaviour.

Members of the august House are supposed to address each other as Honourable or Yang Berhormat, being elected members, but it’ll be interesting to see how this fits the man of the hour.

After all, he is notoriously known for his crass, disparaging and insensitive remarks. They may be sticks and stones to many of us. However, last week he crossed the line when he shouted “F*** you” at a fellow MP.

He was about to question Khairy Jamaluddin (BN-Rembau) on the price of goods at the Selayang wet market when Willie Mongin (PH-Puncak Borneo) said: “Not casino, is it?”

This was in reference to widely circulated photographs of a man resembling Bung Moktar at a casino apparently in Macau.

A visibly upset Bung Moktar retorted: “What is this? You are rude. You don’t deserve to sit here. Gangster!

“You want to fight? F*** you.”

With the microphone still on, his words were clearly audible, and as expected, his expletive spread like a disease on social media.

Bung Moktar has set a new “low” for his endless string of controversial remarks in and out of Parliament.

Last year, when he debated the tudung issue, he was quoted saying: “What is the problem with wearing a tudung?

“If she is a beautiful woman, even if she wears a tudung, she would still be beautiful. If she is not pretty, even if she is naked, who would want her?”

In 2011, he said “women drivers are slow and oblivious” and in 2007, he said women “bocor setiap bulan”, referring to their menstrual cycle.

He criticised then Batu Gajah MP Fong Po Kuan in Parliament when she complained to the Speaker about the dilapidated condition of the august House’s roof which leaked every time it rained.

“Mana ada bocor? Batu Gajah pun bocor tiap-tiap bulan juga.” (Where is the leak? Batu Gajah leaks every month, too).

In 2008, Bung Moktar was caught making an obscene hand gesture at some MPs during the 30-minute daily live telecast of Question Time in Parliament on RTM1, though it went unnoticed as the set cameras were off him then. He admitted to making the gesture but insisted that it was “not what it meant” and shouldn’t be construed as rude.

That year, he even insulted the disabled community by asking veteran politician (now late) Karpal Singh to stand up in a show of respect to the House, fully aware the DAP leader had been paralysed waist down following an accident.

When Germany won the World Cup in 2014, he tweeted: “WELL DONE…BRAVO…LONG LIVE HITLER”, upsetting many people.

Bung Moktar will surely continue with his ways because all he needs to do is retract his offensive remarks, apologise and move on. That’s the privilege accorded to MPs.

He’s in good company, though.

Joining him is Lipis MP Abdul Rahman Mohamad, who reportedly shouted “P****ak” in the Dewan.

In retracting the offending word, Abdul Rahman said he had wanted to “teach” DAP’s RSN Rayer (PH-Jelutong) a lesson for his slur during the previous week’s proceedings.

Rayer uttered “kepala bapak”, a phrase he also used in the Dewan Rakyat the previous week.

The DAP MP from Penang must surely be clued in to what Malaysians think of his debating skills at the Dewan Rakyat, despite being a practising lawyer.

He is in danger of edging towards a slippery slope if he continues displaying his brash manners and ignoring the voice of the people who feel he must improve on his delivery and exercise self-restraint. Theatrical responses are so passe in the New Malaysia. Keep that in your ceramah, please.

And what was Mongin thinking when posting on Twitter that he accepted Bung Moktar’s challenge to a one-on-one fight in the ring?

“Too many blunders from Kinabatangan in Parliament.

“If he insists on a fight, I accept his challenge to go one-on-one in the ring. Just let me know the time and date,” said Mongin in his entry last week.

Perhaps he was angry with Bung Moktar’s remarks: “I have seen Puncak Borneo (Mongin) having drinks with perempuan pelacur (hookers) as well.”

The truth is, Bung Moktar doesn’t even deserve a response.

Mongin can choose to sit down with whomever he wants. After all, purported tainted politicians still walk the corridors of Parliament as Yang Berhormats, passing themselves off as righteous and principled figures.

And let’s not even deliberate Pasir Salak MP Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman’s disgraceful tirade on race and religion, and his highly imaginative and provocative speeches on how Malaysia is in danger of being taken over by Christians.

His hate-filled speeches bordered on sedition and his remarks often targeted Teresa Kok (DAP-Seputeh):

“The only woman with a ‘Kok’ is in Seputeh.”

The nation might be crying out for a new political culture, where debates can be conducted in a more mature and civil manner.

Sadly, we haven’t seen enough of it. Instead, we are still violated by a spectacle of ill-mannered MPs unable to behave with dignity or debate intelligently (not even intellectually) and with decorum.

But MPs like Bung Moktar are doing as they please because there are no rules in Parliament which restraint lawmakers who continuously distract and disrupt proceedings, and in the process, dishonour the House.

So, if we’re asked to rate the performance of Bung Moktar and other renegade MPs, we can only give them an F for failing us miserably.

IT’S often said that ministers come and go, but civil servants stay forever. And the good old government machinery runs as before, a fact some of our new ministers will probably be clued into by now.

Ministers who have no experience at state government level may have pre-conceived notions of the privileges they enjoy, like unlimited authority and knowing what they decree would suffice to overrule the bureaucrats.

And that is the biggest mistake they could make as newcomers to Putrajaya, because nothing exemplifies shooting oneself in the foot more than putting down civil servants – they run the ministries, after all.

Making its rounds on the grapevine these days is how some ministers put down their secretaries-general at meetings, believing they know better, or quite possibly, that they can do a better job at improving the performance of their charges.

Some of our ministers were probably not born when British sitcom Yes, Minister (which later became Yes, Prime Minister) aired on BBC Two, and on RTM, from 1980 to 1984.

Set principally in the private office of a British Cabinet Minister in the fictional Department of Administrative Affairs in Whitehall, it follows the ministerial career of the Right Honourable Jim Hacker.

In it, he attempts, or rather, struggles to formulate and enact laws or effect departmental changes and meets with resistance from the civil service, in particularly his Permanent Secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby.

The obstructions (sabotages, some would say) were often carried out so deftly that the minister would often rarely know what hit him or possess a trail of evidence to prove insubordination.

In fact, the delays (such as total rejection of policy) were cited to impress upon the minster that the shenanigans were for the benefit of his political mileage.

But of course, the sitcom was totally fictional and in real life, not all civil servants could get away like that.

Respected banker and commentator Tan Sri Dr Munir Majid wrote that Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had put together a Cabinet with a mix of races and genders, and a range of ages, which is unprecedented in the political governance of our country. However, except for a handful of ministers, the Cabinet falls short on experience.

Dr Munir urged Pakatan ministers to get out of “Opposition mode” so they can function and deliver with all the advice and support available.

“They would need to get the government machinery – the civil service – to implement their decisions effectively.

“Here, there is another problem. The largely Malay civil service is not used to having political masters committed to a multi-racial Malaysia and a no-nonsense regime,” he wrote.

That simply means our ministers, who have been used to merely delivering fiery speeches, now need to roll up their sleeves and get down to work and show the fruits of their labour. They can only blame the ills and corruption of the previous government to an extent.

A few ministers, and even the Attorney-General Tommy Thomas, must now grapple with all the documents being in Bahasa Malaysia, unlike in the private sector where the medium of communication is English.

Their staff would most likely be entirely Malay, except for their aides, who are political appointees. Directives would be issued in an entirely different way, obviously reflected by the work culture and style of communication.

That is just how the civil service works, so, they simply need get used to it. Of course, stories of all this being a culture shock for some have surfaced recently.

Dr Munir reminded that “there is still some way to go to arrive at a New Malaysia in terms of multi-racialism. After two generations of ‘Malay First’ and subsequently ‘Malay and Muslim First’ political ethic, there is a mountain to climb to make it New Malaysia.”

The reality is that about 75% of the Malay electorate in GE14 voted for Umno or PAS, in comparison to 95% of the Chinese voters who voted for Pakatan Harapan (an increase from the 85% who supported the now-defunct Pakatan Rakyat coalition in 2013). About 70% – 75% of Indians voted for PH, the figures show.

It has been reported that only 25% – 30% of Malays voted for PH, according to figures from Merdeka Centre. Apparently, 35% – 40% of Malays voted for Barisan Nasional while 30% – 33% supported PAS.

The findings displayed that although a higher percentage of Malays voted for Pakatan Harapan in Johor and in west coast states such as Melaka and Negri Sembilan, the coalition’s overall Malay support was diminished by its weak performance in Kelantan and Terengganu.

It’s no secret that as the new government reaches its 100-day mark, some ministers are still struggling to assemble their offices.

It’s just as well that some have yet to meet the press or make statements, because they are still learning to juggle the workload as others continue their scramble to find the ideal personnel.

The job has been so overwhelming that they have been unable to meet their key officers to solidify plans and directions.

With no appointments in sight, some staff are wondering if they are being snubbed, or simply that the ministers are too busy with other engagements. It doesn’t help that they don’t even reply messages.

But the civil service needs to accept that this is New Malaysia. There is no turning back. The culture of openness, accountability, engagement and success must take centre stage, with any form of prejudice left by the wayside.

The strategy of using race and religion to stir emotions seems hollow now.

Millions of ringgit were stolen from the people by those in power, and as the facts have revealed, they weren’t Chinese, Indians or Christians, contrary to what these politicians still want the Malays to believe.

And certainly, the civil servants who sniffed out the moral decay under their very noses knew exactly what was happening.

Clean, trustworthy and competent ministers, and a loyal, non-corrupt and efficient civil service will make Malaysia great.

After all, as the saying goes, it doesn’t matter what colour the cat is, as long it catches the mice.

In this context, what’s important is surely them being good Malaysians.