vox populi small thumbnail 'Most, if not all, professors and top intellectuals in our universities choose to keep mum for fear of jeopardising their rice bowl.'

National laureate urges intellectuals to take a stand

Ferdtan: An apt word coined by our brave national laureate A Samad Said - "carma" - an acronym of 'cari makan'. This is the disease suffered by most professionals - writers, journalists, doctors, lawyers, judges, academicians and intellectuals.

The question is, where have all the good people gone? For now, 'carma' has won the fight. It is not all despair when you have a frail but courageous 80-year-old poet leading the way. Pak Samad, you make Malaysians proud.

Kee Thuan Chye: Well, writers, are you going to heed Samad Said's call to stand up and be counted? What are you waiting for? Now is the time for writers to show that the pen is mightier than the sword.

Notice that so far, the police have been careful to arrest only people who are connected to opposition political parties. There's an agenda there. Umno-BN wants the fence-sitters to note that it's the opposition that is out to cause chaos. They want the message to get across that this is all the work of the opposition, even though Bersih is not opposition-led or initiated.

This might mean that ordinary people who are not members of political parties can carry on the campaign for electoral reform and not be harassed. A friend of mine has been wearing the Bersih T-shirt in public the last couple of days and nothing has happened to her. I think it could be because she's not a political party member.

Kingfisher: Samad Said's appeal to writers to be on the side of progress is a good reminder of a wisdom enunciated by the mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell, who stated:

"When injustice prevails, it is not wise to remain agnostic... Being agnostic (not having a strong opinion and judgement)... will enable the knaves and scoundrels to dominate society in all its aspects...

"When the agnostic fails to act and pronounce judgements on the wrongs and the wrongdoers, they, too, are guilty of the eventual decline and debasement in society."

Teoh Hock Aun: Pak Samad, I have the greatest respect and admiration for you for the principled stand you have taken and your fearlessness and love for the country as you know full well that you will probably or may well be arrested for speaking up.

Bender: Yes, there are so many so-called intellectuals in this country that belong to the ‘carma' species. Most, if not all, professors and top intellectuals in our universities choose to keep mum on such issues for fear of jeopardising their rice bowl.

But a distinction can be made between two different kinds of such intellectuals. First, there's the kedai kopi analysts who like to criticise the government but cannot find the suitable outlet; being too open with their criticisms is not really an option because given the circumstances, why bother to risk your neck for something that will definitely destroy you? The best outlet to channel their frustration is through kedai kopi .

Then there's the second type: the undisputed supporters of government agenda. These so-called lame intellectuals, the Prof Kangkungs, are self-professed experts on the righteousness of the government.

Everything the government does, they will nod and echo enthusiastically without shame or regret. Like the government they endorse, they care about nothing other than preserving their on ‘carma' agenda.

The worst of this kind are the ones who we can see most often appear on TV showing much enthusiasm in defending the government policies and actions as if there's nothing absolutely wrong about them. These are the culprits who brainwash the people into submission, discourage critical thinking and restrict freedom of thoughts and actions.

Kudos to Pak Samad for raising this issue.

1Malaysiakuku: Abang Samad, you are a rare Malay intellectual with a conscience for the people. I wish more will follow your shining example. Please make yourself and your views more conspicuous so that the ordinary folks will know and follow your example. Thank you and take care.

Zain: I am almost as old as you are, Pak Samad, but not as wise. I salute you, Pak, as a man of courage, a patriot, an intellectual and a conscience of the people.

In support of you, I would like to quote the great English philosopher, Edmund Burke, who once said, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

US professors stay mum on sex video

Quigonbond: Malaysians would be appreciative if the US professors could come out to explain their analysis. If they did not specify percentage of the match, then lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah has lied in court.

They should also clarify the photos of Anwar Ibrahim which they used for comparison. If these sources have been compromised by the Datuk T trio in the first place, then naturally the picture in the video will bear a remarkable resemblance to the samples supplied.

James Lim 1c69: How was the 99.99 percent arrived at? Does it mean out of one pair of photo matches, 99.99 match points were exactly the same?

I did a match of my own photo two years apart and could only have 80 percent match. 99.99 percent means identical with 0.01 percent accuracy and that could have come from identical photos.

Or out of 100 photos matches, all the main match points are identical (exact match) and 99 secondary match points out of 100 are identical. Where are the photos used in the match exercise by the two professors?

The credibility of the two professors is now at stake. It is only people who are 99.99 percent stupid who think by giving a 0.01 percent accuracy match, would give the impression of credibility, professionalism and impartiality.

A 90 percent match would have been far more credible than the stupid "99.99%" match, which is obviously a fabrication. Are 99.99% of the judiciary, law enforcement and government stupid?

Proarte: The professors at Dartmouth who gave their opinion on the sex video would not care a fig about a non-entity like Anwar Ibrahim. The fact that they have declined to comment on the sex video which have their names and reputations attached to it shows their professionalism.

It also corroborates what was revealed in the Malaysian courts. If they had nothing to do with the analysis and report, they would have immediately denied their involvement as they are representing not only themselves but a great educational institution in the United States.

Rubystar_4037: If these two professors are worth their salt, they should not go into hiding and let Umno gave whatever distorted statements from their findings.

Did they qualify their report? Yes, the video is authentic and there are no superimposition, but how can they come up with a verdict of 99.99% sure that the actor is Anwar as claimed by the Datuk T trio.

Pemerhati: Umno and a thousand of their paid or unpaid experts can say what they like but there is independent, verifiable and irrefutable photographic evidence which proves that the person in the video is not Anwar.

That evidence is in the public domain and it shows Anwar appearing in court the next day after the alleged incident with a beard, whereas the Anwar lookalike, who is alleged to have performed in the video the previous day, does not have a beard.

Since it is 100 percent certain that a sizeable beard cannot grow within a day, it means that the person in the video is definitely not Anwar.

Montie: The photo given to the two professors could also be the photo of the person who appeared in the video. This could be easily done as the two professors don't know Anwar personally. So what is the big deal with the 99.99% matching similarity?

Everyone is very doubtful on the way things happened. Why must there a blackout of the figures in the statement given out? Gutter politics is behind all this malice.

The rakyat are not so stupid as the mischievous Datuk T trio are trying to get themselves back in the good book of the Umno leaders.

 

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