The island is actually the largest island in Malaysia followed by Pulau Bruit (in Sarawak) and Pulau Langkawi. My hometown island, Penang, is fourth. With an area of 440.7 sq km, its unique location off the northern coast of Sabah in the district of Kudat makes it the furthest tip of Malaysia.

Banggi is home to the Bonggi people, an estimated 2,000 of them. Most of these self-sufficient fishermen and farmers are influenced by animistic beliefs and lead a lifestyle that many in the peninsula would not be able to imagine. It would not be wrong to assume that many of us do not even know the existence of this group of Malaysians who, like us, will be voting in the coming general election.

Welcome to Malaysia. Malaysia isn’t just Petaling Jaya, Kepong, Cheras, George Town, Ipoh, Lembah Pantai, Kota Baru and Johor Baru.

At Banggi Island, one needs to travel by boat for three hours from Kudat, the nearest town, to reach this isolated state constituency. By air, from the capital of Kota Kinabalu, it means flying through a seemingly endless mass of sea.

This state constituency is under the control of Barisan Nasional’s Datuk Abdul Mijul Unaini, who beat his opponent with a 2,074 vote majority and, at the parliamentary level, the elected representative is Datuk Abdul Rahim, who is also from the BN. He polled 17,634 votes against PKR’s 7,739 votes.

There are 222 parliamentary seats and 576 state seats. With the exception of the 71 seats in Sarawak, where state polls were held in 2011, the general election will see contests at both parliamentary and state levels.

While most peninsular folks are familiar with the infamous Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin, the MP for Kinabatangan, it won’t be wrong for me to suggest that many of us have no idea where to pinpoint his kawasan, which is slightly bigger than Pahang, on the map. He won with a 8,507 vote majority.

There are probably more animals than voters in Kinabatangan. The Kinabatangan river is the longest in Sabah, second only to the mighty Rajang river in Sarawak.

In both these constituencies I have highlighted, the kind of huge crowd ceramahs that one sees in urban areas would be impossible, and also useless and ineffective. Reaching these two areas itself is a massive challenge.

But there are plenty of such rural and isolated constituencies all over Malaysia and it is in these heartland seats, where Umno and its BN component parties, with their extensive network of support organisations and personnel, have the edge.

So when we discuss politics, and especially when we attempt to predict the outcome of the general election, we have to concede that our opinion can sometimes be distorted and most of the time it is often shaped by our personal sentiments and limited worldview.

Someone who sips coffee in Bangsar and has never stepped into a rural constituency, where one needs to wait for days, if not weeks, for a tin of kerosene, would sometimes erroneously assume that the same set of perspectives are to be used.

A political discourse over the death penalty would mean little to a farmer whose priority is to secure his fertiliser and a bag of rice from the cooperative in his village.

Even in the urban areas, we have to take note that there are only 45 seats that are predominantly Chinese while there is not even a single seat with an Indian majority. For the two communities, their numbers are declining fast, which would have serious implications on their political clout, or the lack of it, in the years to come. More than ever, the need to be politically strategic, rather than emotive, has never been so vital.

In the coming general election, almost certain to be held by March, it will be the Malay voters, in both urban and rural areas, who will determine the outcome.

The reality is that both Umno and PAS have to win the support of the majority Malay voters. Umno has emphasised that it is the protector and patron of the Malays while PAS plays up the Malay-Islamic card again to regain its lost votes among its hardcore supporters, after its disastrous flirting with DAP.

For the Chinese voters, many are still in anti-establishment mood, and the question arises whether it could lead to a Sarawak scenario. This was when Tan Sri Taib Mahmud’s party, the Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu, won all the 38 seats it contested while the DAP walloped the Chinese-based Sarawak United People’s Party to almost make a clean slate.

The harsh reality is seen in Kuching, where the city is divided by the majestic river, and its politics are even more divided. The Melanau-Malay voters in Kuching North backed the BN while in Kuching South, it remains a DAP stronghold. The final outcome of the 2011 state polls – the Chinese were left out of the state cabinet.

The test would now be put to the Chinese voters on the peninsula this time, where the MCA still has 15 parliamentary seats.

This year-end article may seem like an odd way to end 2012 but beginning from tomorrow, the countdown to the 13th general election would have started. For the next three months, there will be nothing else except politics, politics and politics.

Hang on to your seats, get ready for the roller coaster, because the ride is going to be rough in the toughest elections ever.

Certainly it shouldn’t be President Barack Obama, however popular he may be globally. Even if he has already got a Nobel Prize for merely delivering good speeches or has just been named Time’s Person of the Year.

For sure, it should not be Kim Jong-un. He’s too mysterious, needs a good haircut and we really ought to know his wife better first.

Also ignore the super-rich footballers who have been taking us for a ride – those who kiss the club badge on their jerseys after scoring a goal and the next thing you know, they are kissing the money notes after they join a new club.

For me, the Man of The Year has to be South Korean hip hop star – Psy. Go ahead and laugh but that chubby man with the silly sunglasses has single-handedly brought the world together. His Gangnam Style video became the first to clock one billion hits on YouTube, and counting.

More importantly, he has brought hope to all middle-aged men with pot bellies and who aren’t very good looking, especially Asian men. He’s only 35 years old but seriously, he looks older than his age. To be more precise, unkind as it may sound, Psy looks like many Malaysian men who have passed the half century mark, including this writer.

He gets my vote over all those skinny South Korean teenyboppers with their saccharine good looks, some of whom looking like they have just stepped out of a plastic surgery clinic.

If many of us thought that the all-girl bands look and sound too girly, some of the boy bands are even worse.

But Park Jae-sang or Psy proved that the lack of good looks, lack of height and lack of a good voice need not stop anyone from becoming a superstar.

We all cheered for Susan Boyle. While she may not have the looks, at least she could sing. This Psy guy may not have that killer voice but definitely he has the energy to make those slick horse-dancing movements.

His fellow South Korean singers have been trying to break into the lucrative American market but they hardly made a dent until he appeared last year.

Now Psy has become a global obsession, not just a global sensation.

No singer has ever had video spoofs churned out at such a rate around the world, nor inspired flash mobs, like Psy.

We all love him because of his non-pretentious underdog image – he had to repeat military service, he was caught smoking weed in college and he screwed up most of the time.

He was the loser many of us could identify with and this was the dude who was looking for that one big chance and wow, he made it! What a feel-good story.

It has now been exposed that as a struggling singer he made a song that criticised Americans. The lyrics were simply distasteful, even for the liberal and fun-loving Americans, as he poked fun at the United States. The past caught up with him but he has quickly apologised. The lesson for everyone is never to mess around with the Americans and if you want to make your fortune, the US is still the place.

Without doubt, he’s my Man of The Year. We had better give him the distinction now because many of us may not even remember him next year.

I can still use the many Samsung products in my house but I am not sure I can finish the huge containers of kimchi that I have stocked up following this Gangnam craze. There is only so much Korean barbecue that I can eat at those Korean restaurants.

I am not sure whether he will get past the security officers at the United Nations this time and whether Hollywood TV hosts would do the four-step horse dance any more, as they tried to outdo each other to look silly horsing around.

As I write this column, I am at a coffee outlet in Capetown, South Africa. I am trying hard to imagine the iconic hit song, Africa, by Toto playing in my head but what the hell, some African kids are playing loudly Gangnam Style and asking me if I am Korean.

Hey! Do I look chubby and ridiculous with my sunglasses? Do I look like someone with a Kim surname just because I am using a Samsung? I am Malaysian lah!

Let’s just name Psy the Man of The Year, ok? Happy holidays!

I thought I was the only one with this problem as my wife is from Penang. It is almost legendary that the islanders, especially the women, hold onto their purse tightly.

Penangites may no longer bring eggs to the char koay teow man to save cost but, seriously, they are still really budget-conscious. I can vouch for that because I am Penang-born myself.

But men will be boys. No matter how old men are, there is a little kid in all of us. We like toys, no matter how grown-up we look.

If I had my way, like many men who are suffering from a mid-life crisis or have just passed through it, I would get a Harley-Davidson bike. I would don the black leather jacket, boots and the bull horn helmet. That would really make me look mean, especially with the sunglasses as well. Riding on that powerful machine with the wind blowing against my face, that’s life, man!

But the Home Minister has kept on rejecting my application. She wouldn’t even take a cursory look at the catalogue or pretend to have a semblance of interest in it. She just rejects outright without any sound or logical reason, such as the price.

And then she tells me the rejection is for my own good. Now, that’s how our Home Ministry officials usually sound. Every decision made is “for our own good”.

Apparently, middle-aged men, with their beer bellies and poor physique, are no longer very good at keeping their balance. That’s why they end up killing themselves on the road.

So, last week as I read about Datuk K, husband of singer Datuk Siti Nurhaliza, injuring himself in New Zealand while on a motorcycling trip, I quickly hid the newspaper from my wife.

Businessman Datuk Seri Khalid Mohamad Jiwa may look macho and think he’s still young but, seriously, after the accident, he had better look at himself in the mirror and accept the ageing process.

I know I sound like sour grapes. I would have loved to join those motorcycle convoys but I have given up. Getting even a Vespa may not become a reality.

One Christmas, I hinted to my wife that it would be nice to have an aquarium in our living room. I imagined watching fish swimming, with the aquarium lights on, while sipping wine and listening to romantic French music in the evening.

I was pretty sure I had sold the idea to her until she snapped me out from my dream. “Who’s going to change the water, ah? You think electricity very cheap, ah?”

I was just thinking of freshwater fish as I dared not even broach the idea of having sea fish and those lovely corals. Well, that thought did cross my mind but taking into account the odds, I tested the waters with the freshwater option, and even that led nowhere.

So this year, I toyed with the idea of getting a 60-inch TV set. Yes, the ultimate widescreen with a solid sound system, and I can watch Arsenal thrash Tottenham Hotspurs while drinking beer with my buddies.

The argument was sound, I thought. I would not go out to watch football at the pub and come home smelling like an ashtray but would instead invite the boys to the house. Surely that should be appealing to the other half.

Furthermore, even for the tight-fisted Penangite, it is obvious that prices of TV sets have plunged so much in Malaysia. If you are at KLIA, you will notice that every Bangladeshi worker there is going home with widescreen TV sets and Blu Ray players.

The price drop for electrical items is just unbelievable and they certainly make the best Christmas gifts.

We are talking about a 60-inch set that everyone in the family can watch together – when the boys are not watching football, of course – and in the afternoon while I am at work, even my mother-in-law can keep up with her silly Taiwanese Hokkien soap operas.

It’s just too good to be true and the realistic man in me was not even talking about investing in a 3D set, where you have to buy five extra pairs of glasses because the dealer would only give you two. No. I was just hoping for a 60-inch set.

The response was fast and furious. “You seow ah (crazy in Hokkien)? You think you are very rich ah? What’s wrong with the present set?”

End of story. Until two days ago, I thought I was the only man with this Christmas predicament. A lot of my male colleagues poured out their frustrations and thanked me for opening up on the subject of our Home Ministers. Talking about them in a group turned out to be like some kind of therapy.

A male editor lamented that he could not even get another smartphone because his wife said he already had one. Another wanted a good folding bike but was told to stick to brisk walking for exercise and still another who wanted a pet dog was told he would not be allowed to visit pet shops any more! Geez!

But the best Christmas gift is simply to be with the family. That is something money cannot buy.

To all my readers, let me wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Four non-Muslims – two men on a plane-spotting outing and a couple in a park – have been issued with summonses for khalwat.

The summonses were for “indecent behaviour” but the four have denied any wrongdoing, insisting that the municipal council enforcement officers were “merely abusing their position”.

The first case involved two men in their 30s who were in a car parked beside the Sultan Ismail Petra Airport. They claimed they were watching planes land in the night when they were issued with the summonses by these Taliban-style officers.

This writer can only deduce that Kota Baru must be so boring – the result of a ban on entertainment outlets – that the two young men have to watch planes landing at the airport for entertainment. How these officers can consider their action an offence is mind-boggling.

But we know that the PAS politicians have a great sense of imagination and can conjure up fantasies out of seemingly ordinary situations. They think that getting a haircut from a person of the opposite sex can lead to moral decay and watching concerts can lead to hedonism or excessive pleasure, whatever that means.

Malaysians know that these cranky politician-theologians also frown upon the mixed company of males and females, but two non-Muslim men being punished for being in a car together, that’s a new one. Are they telling us now that two men together can lead to immoral activities or that watching planes at the airport can be sexually arousing? Even if they had committed a “gay act”, does the council have any jurisdiction over non-Muslims?

The other case involved a 17-year-old boy and a girl aged 15. They were together at the Tengku Anis Park in the town centre, in broad daylight, when they were arrested. They were approached by the enforcement officers and issued summonses on the spot for purported indecent behaviour.

Nothing seems to be safe any more for non-Muslims in Kota Baru. You get fined for having a hair cut by a hairstylist of a different sex, you get fined for being in love and sharing private moments in a park in broad daylight, and you also get summoned for being in a wrong queue in a supermarket check-out.

Before anyone accuses this writer of filing another PAS-bashing piece, it is important to point out that the protest over the latest controversies was started by the National PAS Supporters Congress president Hu Pang Chaw, who is known for his apologist stand for the Islamist party.

Interestingly enough, Hu has also revealed that the male victims had complained to him that the officers had even sought RM500 “to settle the matter”, which means that these holier-than-thou officers were open to corruption.

Hu added that “as far as I know, the council has no right to issue summonses to non-Muslims for close contact with their girlfriends in the dark or out in the open”. But Hu shouldn’t plead ignorance now because the PAS rules have always infringed upon non-Muslims. This is not the first time and it won’t be the last.

Don’t blame PAS either because they have consistently told Malaysians that their objective is to turn Malaysia into an Islamic State. Barisan Nasional tells us that we are already an Islamic State, but they still keep intact the secular laws and the British-style courts.

But for political expediency, and for selfish political ambitions, there is now a deafening silence from allies of PAS. The only exception seems to be DAP chairman Karpal Singh, who has also consistently spoken up against the hudud laws pushed by PAS. However, his party comrades have decided to keep silent and, worse, are encouraging us to elect more PAS leaders into Parliament and the state assemblies.

It is also pertinent to note that during The Star’s interview with the Sultan of Selangor, the Tuanku had revealed that there were politicians who tried to prevent the opening of cinemas in shopping malls in Shah Alam! This is in Selangor and not even in Kelantan. We can also assume that this must be the work of PAS elected representatives.

We know for a fact that the PAS state assemblyman for Bangi, Dr Shafie Abu Bakar, has prevented a cinema from being set up by a non-Muslim, and that the Kuala Selangor PAS wants to stop unmarried couples from watching movies in a cinema there.

We are merely kidding ourselves if we think the rules by PAS do not affect non-Muslims. Despite the promised intervention by PAS’ top leaders over the hair salon ruling, nothing has changed until today.

In an interview with The Malay Mail on Friday, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang was quoted as saying “even Chinese wives don’t agree with (unisex) salons”.

He seems out of touch with reality, or pretending to be.

Everything seems to have just zapped past our eyes and it’s frightening because I can still remember vividly the parties I attended during the festive seasons.

The only thing that has not happened is the general election. For many, lives seemed to have been put on hold because of it.

There have been so many wrong predictions, postponed vacations, cancelled meetings and false starts. Our plans have been disrupted in many ways.

The next popular date now is some time in March, which is based on the assumption that the Prime Minister would seek the dissolution of Parliament after the Chinese New Year celebration, which begins on Feb 10.

There isn’t much time left because the Barisan Nasional term ends on April 28, which means that by the next two months, the momentum for the elections should be peaking.

No one should complain about the campaigning period being limited because the reality is that since the 2008 general election, where Barisan lost its two-thirds majority in the Dewan Rakyat, both Barisan and Pakatan Rakyat have been busy campaigning.

Everything has been seen to be political since then and no one has been spared. Even badminton hero Datuk Lee Chong Wei found himself the target of a Tweeter attack from a mindless DAP politician who was apparently cheering for his Chinese opponent Lin Dan.

Lee also found himself being belittled by supporters of Pakatan Rakyat on Facebook because of his wedding plans. As it was his wedding, he had the right to decide who he wanted to invite and who he wanted to sit with. Even his big day was the target of incredulous political connotations.

Then there is the Automated Enforcement System (AES) speed trap plan. That has become a political bombshell too. Strangely, no one from either side of the political divide has demanded that the police stop putting up roadblocks along the highways.

These roadblocks are irritating and give rise to suspicions of corruption. Most of us, especially those who claim to despise corruption, would want to end any perception that conversations in the middle of the road revolve around the “macam mana selesai” (how to resolve this) question. So, if you are not speeding or breaking any speed limit, why would you complain about the AES?

Going to church or the mosque can turn political too in this over-extended silly political season. If Barisan supporters find it painful listening to imam or pastors who seem to be inclined towards Pakatan Rakyat, the same must surely be felt by supporters of the latter who have to listen to a pro-Barisan preacher.

I believe those who advocate loudly about purported political consciousness in places of worship wouldn’t be so enthusiastic if their preachers were inclined to Barisan in their sermons. But there shouldn’t be different sets of rules.

Going for a haircut in a unisex salon can become political too if you are in Kelantan because the PAS-controlled state wants to impose its brand of religious fervour on the people.

Going gay has taken a different meaning now. Older Malaysians like me were taught that “going gay” means “being happy” but now it means adopting a certain sexual preference. For PAS Youth chief Nasrudin Hassan, it can mean that you become “hedonistic and gay” after attending an Elton John concert.

And simply by questioning every concert coming to town with his political-­religious stance, Nasrudin has made it into the world news. Now, he is demanding that the Information, Communications and Culture Ministry consult him on any concert to be staged in Malaysia. Good luck to PAS supporters; he deserves your vote.

I wonder how he missed protesting against Jennifer Lopez who will be performing at Stadium Merdeka tonight. Maybe he does not find the Latino singer hot since he has already found the pencil-thin Avril Lavigne to be hot.

I really can’t wait for 2013 to start. Hold the general election, accept the results and we can all get back to some sanity, focus on keeping businesses healthy in a softening economy and not waste time on silly political antics.

As an aside, I wonder why my wife questioned me suspiciously when I came back to my Petaling Jaya home before midnight after the concert. It was too early for me to be home, it seemed. And I looked and felt happy after a great concert.

I must not use the word gay, though. But I must remember to show her the clipping of the front page of The Singapore Free Press dated Aug 31, 1957. “A So Gay Merdeka Day” was its headline, and the subheading read, “Not even a heavy downpour could dampen their enthusiasm.”

There are many Chinese voters, swayed by anti-establishment sentiments towards Barisan Nasional, who have been easily convinced that the Islamist party is perfectly acceptable and that hudud laws would not encroach into the lifestyle of non-Muslims.

So they take a light, if not cynical, response towards the call by the Chinese-based component parties in the Barisan and have dismissed the red flag raised by the MCA and Gerakan as no more than a scare tactic.

Last week’s report that a female Chinese hairstylist has been fined regularly by the Kota Baru Municipal Council for cutting the hair of male Chinese customers has revealed how the PAS agenda is affecting non-Muslims.

Salon operators have learnt the hard way that gender segregation regulations in the PAS-controlled state apply to non-Muslims as well. The KB municipal council by-laws forbid women from cutting men’s hair and vice-versa regardless of their religion.

E-Life Hair Salon manager Ong Lee Ting said she has been paying fines of between RM200 and RM350, adding that she was warned the licence for the salon would be revoked because of the many summonses issued to the operator.

While many of us may be used to the way the PAS state government has been running Kelantan with its strict religious regulations, including gender segregation at concerts and supermarket check-outs, some might not be aware that the party’s leaders in other states have been doing something similar.

In Bangi, Selangor, the PAS state assemblyman Dr Shafie Abu Bakar has stood firm against any proposal to set up a cinema in his constituency. A Chinese businessman reportedly tried to set up a cinema in Bangi but the PAS politician was the biggest stumbling block.

When the issue was reported in February, Dr Shafie questioned the need for a cinema in his constituency when one could watch movies on television and the Internet.

He claimed that his constituency was 97% Muslims who preferred to attend religious and educational classes.

In July, PAS in Kuala Selangor insisted on putting up notices in a cinema forbidding unmarried couples from sitting together. State PAS Commissioner Dr Rani Osman said the directive was made by the licensing department of the Kuala Selangor district council.

The state deputy commissioner Khalid Samad, who is purportedly a liberal, was reported as saying that the cinema was frequented by families and they had complained of couples making out there.

He also reportedly described it as a poor man’s nightclub!

In Kota Baru, the PAS state government at one time reportedly insisted that the lights in cinemas must be switched on during the movie to prevent patrons from conducting immoral activities.

In 1995, when PAS came to power in Terengganu, the first thing the state’s then Mentri Besar Hadi Awang did was to demolish the replica of a turtle at a roundabout in Kuala Terengganu, saying it was akin to idol worshipping. This is the same man who has indicated his interest to be Prime Minister of Malaysia.

But we must accept the fact that PAS politicians have always been very clear on what they want to achieve if they are in power. They have consistently and clearly made it known that implementation of hudud laws are on top of their agenda.

It is only the apologists outside PAS that have tried to reassure their non-Muslim supporters that this would not happen or that hudud laws, even if implemented, would not affect non-Muslims. Try telling that to a non-Muslim rape victim if the perpetrators are Muslims.

We should be on guard against politicians who try to pass themselves off as theologians, regardless of their religion. Those who challenged the authority of such politician­theologians have found themselves being reminded that dissent means challenging God’s laws.

They are also put down by such figures who dismiss their critics as unqualified and incapable of carrying out a debate because the challengers are not religiously qualified. Suddenly, religion has become the monopoly of these political-religious characters.

Malaysia is veering towards a dangerous situation where there are many non-Muslim voters who are prepared to vote in orthodox PAS leaders. They don’t realise that they would be turning the clock back with their political adventurism.

It could be a hair-raising experience!

With newer and smarter phones in the market, there are no other compelling reasons why I should hold on to the BB. It cannot download The Star’s e-paper, a digital replica of our print edition, and does not have the wide range of applications that help to make life on the move complete.

So, I am now in the midst of migrating entirely to my Samsung Galaxy Note. If the BB breaks down, it will not be repaired. It will just become a memory of the past, like my earlier Nokia mobile phones. We just have to move on.

Those of us who are older will remember the cassettes and cartridges that delivered music to us once upon a time.

Now, even the CD’s days may be numbered as it not only has to compete with smaller devices with higher storage capacity, but also WiFi processes that stream music direct to us.

I am also using a Samsung tablet and an iPad, but I must say that the Samsung Tablet 2 has better features and its slim size fits nicely inside my sling bag. I love my two Samsung devices, really, and it looks like Samsung is emerging as the big winner.

If there’s a lesson to be learnt here, it is about innovation. While Samsung comes out with a few different improved models each year, we used to have to wait for someone, dressed in his iconic black turtleneck and jeans, to unveil an Apple product once a year.

Phone users keep wanting new gadgets with better applications. They don’t have the patience to wait a year for a new iPhone.

Both Apple and Samsung are embroiled in legal battles over copyright infringement but seriously, look at the new iPad, which has shrunk in size. It is reminding many of us that Apple seems to be copying the Samsung tablet!

The Samsung-Apple case came up during my chat with Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak at the Chawan coffee shop in Bangsar on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister, who is using both the Apple and Samsung products, told our group that innovation has to be a part of the Malaysian vocabulary.

“We need to be focused, precise and innovative. The Germans, for example, are known for their precision, which makes them very good with machines. I can’t tolerate lebih kurang, that’s not good for Malaysia. It shouldn’t be in our vocabulary,” the PM said.

We, in turn, told the PM that Malaysia’s tolerance for mediocrity is well known and we seem prepared to settle for second best. With our “boleh terima lah” forgiving nature, we are definitely not helping Malaysians to excel.

But we have to keep changing and improving.

Apple, the world’s most valuable company in terms of market capitalisation, has reportedly slid 20% in its share value in less than two months. Its stock now is reportedly below the US$705.05 all-time high it hit the day before the iPhone5 was unveiled on Sept 21. It’s certainly far away from the US$1,000 valuation that some insane analysts had predicted.

It’s just over a year since Apple’s co-founder Steve Jobs passed away and his successor Tim Cook has found Samsung breathing down his neck.

Apple’s share of the tablet market has declined, reportedly falling from almost two-thirds to just above half between the second and third quarters. In fact, the media reported that Apple missed its last financial targets because of slow iPad sales.

The world is now crazy over anything and everything Korean and the sight of Psy trotting around the globe is likely to help Samsung products.

But China-made Huawei is also selling high-quality, cheap devices that’s giving Apple a fight in the Asian markets.

And what about the newspaper industry, where print is said to be on the decline? While many media companies whine and complain without doing anything significant, The Star stepped up to the challenge and introduced its e-paper in July.

In just four months, it gained close to 50,000 subscribers, which is an incredible figure and bucks the trend. Even the circulation of The Star’s print version has gone up, surpassing the 300,000 a day figure. Putting the newspaper on mobile devices like the Samsung or iPhone has certainly been innovative.

The point is that just like any business, innovation is the key factor for any entrepreneur to improve its products, boost sales and increase revenue.

Whining is the easiest part, and that seems to have become our national pastime when it comes to trying to make things better. But coming up with ideas and workable solutions and being able to execute them is the harder part.

If we are to stay competitive, innovation should not only be our buzz word, it should also be our way of life.

Last Saturday, the Oriental Hearts and Mind Study Institute (OHMSI) conducted a talk on “Islamic State: Which Version? Whose Responsibility?” with the keynote address by Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa, director of the Islamic Renaissance Front. The forum was held at a church in Subang.

But the person who captured the headlines was PKR deputy president Nurul Izzah Anwar who was one of the moderators. In response to a question from the floor, she found herself caught in a controversy over whether Malays have a right to choose their religion.

She was speaking to a largely urban non-Malay audience and, as seen in a video recording of the event that has now gone viral, she was greeted with loud applause.

The feisty politician has since denied making any statement suggesting that there should be no compulsion on Malays to be Muslims.

But she earned a royal rebuke from the Sultan of Selangor and she has quickly blamed Utusan Malaysia for allegedly distorting and twisting her reply to a member of the audience.

To make things more complicated, the person who posed the question to Nurul Izzah has now expressed her disappointment over the latter’s about turn on the issue.

Lawyer Siti Zabedah Kasim was quoted as saying by news portal Free Malaysia Today that “I believe Nurul Izzah was just trying to impress the people. She didn’t think of the consequences.”

For many non-Muslims, especially those living in urban areas, the issue was probably dismissed as a non-starter and seen as another political move to discredit Nurul Izzah.

But for conservative Muslims in the rural areas, it would be unthinkable and unacceptable.

Luckily for Nurul Izzah, the language used at the forum was English and the video that’s currently going around does not have Bahasa Malaysia subtitles, thus making the damage less severe – for now.

But for Nurul Izzah to deny it vehemently now would suggest that she has woken up to the grave political consequences of what she has done. If there was no impact, she would have just shrugged it off. She now wants to get out of this tricky spot.

The easy part is to blame Utusan Malaysia, which is well known for its nationalist slant, but the pro-Pakatan Rakyat news portal Malaysiakini also carried the same story using the same angle on Nov 3.

Nurul Izzah has also put PAS in a corner. On Friday, PAS spiritual adviser Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat said that if Nurul Izzah had indeed made her controversial statement on religious freedom, “then something is not right” while PAS president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang wanted to hear from her.

Their only purported concerns, or a way out, seem to be that they have doubts over the accuracy of reporting by the media.

DAP strongman Ngeh Koo Ham tweeted last week in support of Nurul Izzah, quoting Article 11 of the Federal Constitution which states that every person has the right to profess and to practise his or her religion. But Ngeh, a lawyer, did not say it has to be read with other applicable laws.

There are laws restricting the propagation of other religions to Muslims. Article 160 of the Federal Constitution, for example, is clear that all ethnic Malays are Muslims. A Malay is defined as someone who professes to be a Muslim, habitually speaks the Malay language and adheres to Malay customs.

The fact remains that the majority of Malays want this to remain as law and as practice and convention.

Nurul Izzah’s slip has been seized on by Umno because the fight in the polls is essentially over the majority Malay votes, especially in the rural constituencies which are heavily in favour of the ruling party. Of the 222 parliamentary seats, only about 45 are Chinese-majority in urban areas and there is not a single seat with an Indian majority.

Nurul Izzah’s case will also have a deep impact in PAS where the divide between those regarded as sympathetic to Anwar and the more orthodox ulamas is concerned. Former deputy president Nasharuddin Mat Isa, for example, is solidly in the Islamist party despite his overtures to Umno. He has regularly spoken up against the DAP, a PAS ally, but remains untouched because he is said to be protected by the anti-Anwar forces in the party.

The church in Subang has found itself in the spotlight for hosting the forum. Recently, another church which hosted a forum on the elections found its speakers and the media squabbling over the accuracy of some negative remarks made on Pakatan Rakyat.

There’s a lesson here – keep religion out of politics. But as long as there are politicians masquerading as theologians of their respective faiths, no one will take this advice kindly.

It is more likely that they will use their booty to buy drugs or pay off loan sharks for their escalating gambling debts. There is obviously a correlation between gambling and crime.

Nobody commits crime for entertainment or to make a point. That may happen in the movies but the reality is that most criminals do it to enrich themselves or simply to pay off debts.

Malaysians rank as some of the biggest gamblers in the world. In 2008, it was reported that authorities made 2,156 arrests and seized more than RM15mil in gambling assets. It was estimated then that illegal gambling raked in an astounding RM3.2bil in profits. One can only imagine what the figures would be today.

The New Straits Times reported that during the 2008 general election, gambling syndicates pocketed more than RM500mil from bets placed on the candidates. And Malaysians are not just interested in our own elections. They bet up to RM500mil on the last US presidential election which Barack Obama won. For good measure, the 2008 Olympics generated even more, with the figure reported at RM1bil.

The newspaper derived the figures from their own sources but no one should be surprised. It is now almost the end of 2012 and Obama is seeking re-election this week. We can imagine the kind of money that would be placed to bet on the outcome again. And come the Malaysian general election, you can be sure that the bets will also flow.

The Malay Mail reported that in 2010, police seized RM11.9mil in cash from illegal gambling syndicates when they conducted 270 operations during the 2010 World Cup.

The question is, if gambling is a highly regulated business, why is there so much underground gambling going on? What’s worse is it’s blatantly visible.

Something isn’t quite right, obviously. The underground gambling business has thrived simply because the operators know the authorities would never allow for more legitimate outlets, be they outlets or clubs. The Genting Casino is likely to be the first and last casino ever to be sanctioned in Malaysia.

The result is that illegal gambling dens, whether in the form of cyber cafes or online casinos, have mushroomed. In times of economic slowdown, gambling outlets actually perform better because desperate customers are driven to gamble for a supposedly quick fix to their financial problems.

Last week, The Star reported that illegal e-casinos, where computer gaming programmes and live games broadcast from the Philippines are used, continued to multiply in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur despite constant exposé by the media.

Even the few that had been raided and supposedly closed down had re-opened, according to my colleague who went undercover to investigate these places.

Starprobe revisited those illegal e-casinos which the team exposed in a report on Aug 2 last year and found that nothing has changed – they were still operating.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission should start its own probe and not wait for a formal report. Checks around Selangor and Kuala Lumpur have revealed that there are easily more than 2,000 outlets operating and some districts reportedly have more than 500. That does not include the thousands of massage parlours which the local authorities in Selangor seem to be doing nothing about.

Again, something does not seem to tally here. These outlets are known to the public and yet the police and council authorities appear to be turning a blind eye to them. Can we be faulted if we suspect there are rogue and corrupt elements here?

While the politicians are fearful of allowing regulated gaming because it would be religiously and politically wrong, illegal gambling seems to be flourishing. The consequences are a massive loss in revenue from unpaid taxes, and criminal elements are allowed to work alongside corrupt officials to benefit from such underground operations.

So, while legitimate gaming is controlled and tightly regulated, we see more of these illegal operations flourishing.

Are we seeing more crimes being committed these days because of such gambling activities?

Well, many non-governmental organisation activists, including the Malaysian Crime Prevention Federation vice-chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye and MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong, share the suspicion.

There is just too much gambling going on now, legitimate or otherwise, and if we feel insecure after plenty of stories of being victims to crime, Malaysians must continue to speak up and demand answers for things that are not right.

Don’t gamble our safety away.

Talk of a famous fish head curry restaurant being robbed has sparked off a chain reaction with many eateries now taking a more cautious approach.

For good measure, there are enough video clips, recorded from CCTVs and posted on YouTube, to show the number of 24-hour mamak shops that have been hit by parang-wielding robbers.

In many parts of Petaling Jaya, many hair salons have long adopted the same security measures to prevent criminals from entering their premises.

Yes, we have come to that level of insecurity in our daily life. I am not sure whether our leaders are aware of the extent of the fears among our people. They need to listen hard to the ground and not just rely on crime statistics. There is no need to be defensive about how reliable the statistics are or whether perception has got the better of us.

For a start, they should listen to their own staff or even their relatives who do not go about their daily lives in the same security-enhanced environment as them. Ordinary workers who go shopping for daily provisions or withdraw money from the ATM have become more conscious of their personal safety.

Our leaders should stop worrying about bad news and its messengers, in this case the media, and instead work on making our homes safe again.

As a newspaper editor, I have found crime to be the biggest topic of conversation at any dinner function. People want the press to report crime, not downplay such incidents merely to make the leaders look good.

What the police and media would regard as minor crimes, such as snatch thefts, burglaries and home robberies, are in fact the biggest worries for the people.

Due to space constraint, the media tend to highlight the more serious crimes, or cases where important personalities are involved. As a result, there is a strong perception that we have forgotten or, worse, covered up the petty crime cases affecting ordinary people. That seems to be the sentiment in postings on Facebook, unfortunately.

The people are fed up of the daily political one-upmanship and mudslinging. If only these politicians could spend as much time focusing on the real issues of the day – crime, cost of living and transportation.

It is commendable that the Prime Minister has placed fighting crime as one of his main areas of transformation. As Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said, all the economic changes would be meaningless if people do not feel safe.

Fighting crime is one of the national key result areas (NKRA) and the Home Ministry has just announced the second wave of the strategy, where the “feel safe” factor would be propped up and more resources would be given to the police.

Recently, the police installed 19,000 CCTV cameras in southern Johor under its PDRM SafeCam programme. It’s a good start but the police must be aware that this is only a drop in the ocean. Millions of CCTV cameras should be put up in major cities such as Kuala Lumpur.

In an interview with The Star last week, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein Onn was asked whether the spate of violent crimes recently was the result of the abolition of preventive laws.

His reply was that since the abolition of the Internal Security Act and Emergency Ordinance in September last year, 1,476 detainees have been released. Additionally, 1,119 persons under the restricted residence order have been allowed to return to their respective home states.

This may be good news to human rights activists but ordinary Malaysians are wondering if these former detainees could be responsible for the spate of violent crimes.

The perception now, based on anecdotal evidence, is that most crimes are committed by locals rather than foreigners.

It is good to hear Hishammuddin acknowledging that the ministry recognised the possibility of these ex-detainees returning to their life of crime. Proactive measures have been put in place by the relevant agencies, including monitoring this group of ex-detainees.

Likewise, while there are calls to abolish the death penalty with many questioning the effectiveness of such punishment, there are also many who are wary of the government taking away what they consider to be another preventive measure.

The government, many of us hope, will not be too quick to remove these layers of deterrents merely to accommodate the demands of human rights activists. Reforms are good but not at the expense of the wider interest of the community.

The police deserve our total support in terms of human resources, equipment and financial backing to ensure they do their jobs effectively. But the reality is that the police cannot fight hardened criminals with kid gloves. Whose side are we on anyway?