Would Koro Victims Like To Speak Up?

A Kadir Jasin

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SEVERAL participants are unhappy that we discuss too much about politics in this blog. They think that we should be discussing other subjects as well. We do. But politics seems to attract people’s attention these days.

Maybe when nothing else works or when there’s nothing much to be done, people play politics or, in the case of golfers, they play more golf.

One angry participant who called himself “Tanjung Rambutan Mate” has this to say: “Dear Kadir, aku dah nak gila bila baca cerita Najib Pak Lah dan Mahathir.

“Can you write something beautiful and interesting. Like your frien Johan.He wrote about P Ramlee, about Sopia Sophian etc.etc.

”Apa kata you tulis cerita pasal penderitaan Batin Ku oleh Orang Orang Melayu,Pegawai Pegawai Kerajaan,Mak Chik di kampong.……………..”

Well if he (she) thinks I’ll be offended by his (her) comparing me to my friend Johan Jaaffar, I am not. I will be the first to acknowledge that Johan writes beautifully on arts, culture and language. In fact, I learn a lot from him on these subjects.

So there’s no point for me trying to write about P. Ramlee or Sophia Loren. But I do want to talk about a non-political subject in this posting even though the warning by Mohd Najib Abdul Razak that the “ekonomi tertekan” (economy under pressure) (Utusan Malaysia) is thought provoking.

But no matter how hard one tries, getting away from politics and politicians is next to impossible.

Therefore, from the outset may I state that any resemblance or connection this subject has with politics and politicians (departed or alive) is a coincidence.

The subject of this posting is koro. The latest to discuss this subject is the New York-based Harper’s Magazine.

In his gallant effort to keep the interest in koro alive and to warn us of the danger of being struck down by this dreadful malady, the magazine’s writer, Frank Bures, took us halfway around the world from Africa to China.

Like many researchers and writers before him, Bures, who frequently writes about Africa, suggested that koro is of Southeast Asian origin.

He said a certain Benjamin Matthes who was compiling a dictionary of Buginese came across the term lasa koro in 1874 on the island of Sulawesi, the year that koro was reported to have caused mass panic.

The effects of Koro are so dreadful that sufferers were known to have resorted to extreme measures, including murder. At the very least, to save themselves from embarrassment and humiliation, they accused others of causing them the koro.

There had been reports as recent as 2001 that mobs lynched witchdoctors and innocent bystanders accused of thefts that caused the victims to suffer the koro. At least 12 suspected thieves were lynched in Nigeria, according to the Harper’s Magazine report.

Yet investigations by the police and examination by doctors continuously found that nothing was lost to koro and the prized possession remained intact. But these do not stop the belief in koro to continue to spread among West African cultures.

A similar and more historic koro syndrome occurs specifically among populations of southern

China while the bio-medical cultures such as the United States maintain their own versions of koro.

My own reading on the subject did not find any report of the koro outbreak occurring in Malaysia although there were reports of it happening in Singapore in July 1967, Thailand in November 1976, and in India and China during the 1980s.

Could it be that the incidence of koro went unreported and unspoken in Malaysia because the victims were too ashamed to admit it or that koro is so common that it’s not worth talking about?

One published source noted that koro’s cultural location is Southeast Asia. The history of koro begins much earlier than the history of the African phenomena of the same nature.

Koro could have originated as early as 2,200 years ago and is first mentioned in the Huangdi Neiching, the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine.

There is a suggestion that koro comes from Malay language (Franzizi 1995: 156) and may come from the word keruk (kerut), meaning to shrink or wrinkle, or the words kura, kura-kura, or kuro, all meaning tortoise.

Whatever is the truth, koro continues to this day and is likely to remain for as long as there are human beings on this earth though I believe animals suffer from it too.

And if you must know, koro is generally defined as genital retraction syndrome (GRS) or commonly called penis theft in the Africa cultures.

I would resist the temptation to define it in Bahasa Melayu/Malaysia for fear that it may accidentally bring this subject into the realm of politics.

Don't Allow Penile Rating To Bear Us Down

­­­A Kadir Jasin

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EARTHQUAKES and tsunamis may have spared us the misery. Our economy is doing reasonably well although inflation is rising and our people are up to the neck in debts.

Crime is still a cause for concern although Home Ministry and the police keep telling us that crime rates are falling.

So while Home Minister is being escorted by risen-wailing police outsiders through the City’s logjam, the scared residents barricade themselves behind barbwires and makeshift gates.

Putting my favourite teh si kosong and roti canai on the plus list, Malaysia is still a good place to be. Never mind that some sick-in-the-head people are trying hard to turn our political scene into a cesspool.

But please take note. I say Malaysia is still a good place to be still. It means that I may not be so in the future unless we take good governance seriously.

I have lived long enough to tolerate these discomforts, but when some smart Alec researchers and census takers slotted Malaysia at lowly 106 in the global ranking of the size of manhood, I am perturbed.

I would not dare speculate that the Malaysian womenfolk are disturbed by the findings.

According to media reports, which quoted various national medical, governmental, academic and sexology institutions, men from the Democratic Republic of Congo are the most endowed.

They claimed that Congolese men came out top with the manhood averaging 7.1 inches or 18cm in length. That’s more than half the length of the ruler that my “cruel” teachers used to knock my head and knuckles with.

Second came the Ecuadorian men with 6.9 inches (17.5cm), Ghanaian 6.8 inches (17.3cm), Colombian with 6.7 inches (17cm) and Venezuelan men with 6.7 inches or 17cm.

At number 7 is Lebanon, followed by Jamaica at number 12, Brazil at number 15, France at number 17, Czech Republic at number 22, the Netherlands at number 27, Italy at number 31.

Egypt was placed at number 33, Denmark at number 42, Mexico at number 49, Morocco at number 51, Sweden at number 58, Greece at number 61, Chile at number 64, Germany at number 68, Norway at number 72.

United Kingdom was at number 82, Spain at number 85, Australia at number 94, USA at number 98, Ireland at number 99, Romania at number 101.

It seems that the average length of the manhood of Malaysian men is pretty mediocre that no reports mentioned how long it is.

Then again what’s the point of having a massive manhood if we cannot apprehend a couple of acid throwers who are now terrorising school children and teachers in Bangsar and Little India?

But we can take some consolation in the fact that we beat the Japanese who were positioned 110, the Chinese (112), Indians (116), Thais (117) and South Koreans (119). The damnation is we lost to Indonesia who came out 104.

We never know how well we stand up to the Singaporeans. Despite their huge economic success and constantly high global rating in many areas, the standing of their manhood appears to have escaped attention. The reports make no mention of Singapore.

I hope our less than complimentary manhood ranking will not cause mass hysteria. But for those who are unhappy with the size and length of their manhood, I am indifferent if they resort to penile enlargement treatment. They can look it up in the Internet.

But for most, I suggest that they stick to Tongkat Ali and believe in the edict that while size may boost one’s ego, what counts is prestasi (performance).

Most of all, we should never ever allow this disappointing penile ranking to plunge us into mass hysteria that could lead to a more damaging consequence namely being afflicted with the “koro syndrome”.

In a simple non-medical term, koro is an affliction whereby the testicles shrank and disappeared from the scrota. When this happens, the sufferers are usually unable to engage in sexual activities.

I had written extensively about the “koro syndrome” in the posting dated June 17, 2008 entitled “Would Koro Victims Like To Speak Up?”

 So, do not allow our mediocre penile rating to bear us down. It may not even be authoritative. Let’s try to make every bit of it work. Have a pleasant weekend.

Dyana A New Political Phenomena

A Kadir Jasin

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Even Tuan Guru is clearly smitten by her - Pic Malaysian Insider

ALTHOUGH I am 9989.2 km away from home on my annual extraterritorial grandfather duty and will be missing the Bukit Gelugor and Telok Intan parliamentary by-elections, it is hard for me to escape Dyana Sofya craze.

When I woke up this morning, I saw five messages from a former Umno divisional secretary on my cellular telephone.

One reads: “Dyana is said to be the latest state of the art Samsung 5s (sic) while Mah is Nokia. Sigh!”

My friend, the Nokia bit is an insult. I am a user of the pre-smart phone era Nokia E52. It’s good enough to roam the world and for you to send me SMS.

Nokia E52

 He was comparing the Barisan Nasional’s canditate for the Teluk Intan parliamentary by-election, Mah Siew Keong, and his DAP’s challenger, Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud.

Dyana Sofya A Phenomena

Mah Has Testicular Gumption

Mah is the Gerakan President and an incumbent BN candidate while Dyana Sofya is Lim Kit Siang’s Political Secretary.

Bravo Gerakan

After chickening out from a similar poll in Bukit Gelugor, thanks to the koro syndrome of the MCA, the BN is back in the running. For more on koro syndrome, read here.

Bravo Gerakan for not running away from responsibility and for not shaming the grand old coalition (GOC).

Encik Mah, I salute you for having testicular fortitude! Itulah anak jantan. Unlike the sulking MCA, you are not abandoning your supporters.

In the May 5, 2013 General Elections, Mah polled 20,086 votes against 27,399 by the late DAP’s rep, Seah Leong Peng, giving the latter a majority of 7,313.

By not contesting in the ongoing Bukit Gelugor by-election, the BN is given the impression that it is no longer a national coalition and from now on will contest only in places where it stands a fair chance of winning.

Or is the MCA, despite being rejected by the Chinese, is still mightily influential in the BN that its every wish is fulfilled by the leadership of the GOC?

In the Internet age where images can be a powerful tool, Dyana Sofya youthfulness and look, is advantage. Even an old timer Umno activist like my friend is fascinated by her.

In another SMS, he wrote: “But can we blame the papers & the people for their interest in Dyana? She’s young pretty thing. She’s news.”

More Than Just Look

But it has to be something deeper than her look. The fact that she is a young Malay woman representing a Chinese-dominated opposition party is, to me, the real fascination.

Just days ago, a former female deputy minister from Umno noted with alarm that the DAP’s internship programmes were attracting many young Malay participants, most of whom are well educated.

There be must something particularly strong by way of push and pull factors to encourage a young Malay like Dyana Sofya, who hailed from an Umno family, to join the DAP and be an active member.

While the BN campaigners and their cyber troopers are having a field day maligning her, they should perhaps spare some time to understand why this sort of things are happening. Why young educated Malays are joining the DAP?

Instead of blaming others for their woes, leaders of the GOC parties should look at themselves and not treat the rakyat with disdain.

As for by-elections, they are an early indicator of the things to come four years down the road. Wallahuaklam.

Balancing Testosterone and Grey Matter

A Kadir Jasin

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AFTER my “Not A Very Clever Gurindam” and the lengthy Mini Budget postings, I think you and I are entitled to a respite.

So while waiting to the Deputy Prime Minister cum Minister of Finance, Mohd Najib Abdul Razak, to spell out his RM10-billion Mini Budget this Tuesday, we shall not talk about our deep emotional traumas and even deeper holes in out pockets.

Political and economic turmoil is taking tolls on all of us. Hopefully, an efficient and cost effective implementation of the package will avert the recession and make our lives less miserable.

So for this posting we shall talk about testosterone, yes, tes-tos-terone.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am not getting all charged up and ready to roll. At my age, any rolling that I do is, inevitably, downhill.

The testosterone I am talking about, however, has something to do with the “koro” syndrome we talked about in the June 17, 2008 posting.

Yes, most of us tend to relate this noble, versatile hormone to sexuality, manliness and manhood. In short it’s about libido or “mojo” according to fictional British secret agent Austin Powers.

That’s not incorrect. Testosterone is a male sex hormone.

My doctor agrees fully with the literary description that testosterone is “the most important male sex hormone.”

One such literature I read says testosterone is responsible for a boy’s development into a man during puberty and is necessary throughout his life for maintaining health and quality of life.

As the name suggests, testosterone is produced in the testes (or by the testes). From there it gets into the blood system and reaches its target organs – yes, organs.

Testosterone not only stimulates men’s sexual desire. It also acts and affects a whole spectrum of organs and activities.

In fact, for an Afghan man to be a true Taliban, he has to have the correct amount of testosterone otherwise his facial hair will not grow normally. What is a Taliban without facial hair?

And to win a war, he has to be positive. Again he need testosterone as the hormone is important for mental balance and for prevention of negative moods.

And what good is Arnold Schwarzenegger without those gigantic muscles and growling voice? Without testosterone he won’t have those muscles and threatening voice.

According to pamphlet from Bayer, the giant German pharmaceutical company, the following are examples of testosterone’s functions:-

1. Voice – responsible for the voice breaking and for the man’s voice to be deep;

2. Skin and hair – responsible for the formation of the typical male hair over the whole body, and for maintaining it, and especially for the growth of the beard. (It’s here the Taliban comes in);

3. Bones – building and maintaining healthy bone structure;

4. Blood – assists the formation of the red blood cells and consequently for the transportation of oxygen in the blood;

5. Muscle – forming and maintaining strong muscles (Arnold Schwarzenegger comes in);

6. Mind – important for mental balance and for preventing negative moods. It is also responsible for memory, orientation, coordination and concentration;

7. Sexuality – regulates the desire for sex and for a large number of sexual functions; and

8. Physics – responsible for male physique.

But whether one is Taliban or Arnold Schwarzenegger, old age and illnesses reduce the production of testosterone resulting in diminished libido and, in the case of Austin Powers, “mojo”.

It also causes erectile dysfunction, muscle atrophy, increase in body fat, feelings of depression and ill temper, anemia and osteoporosis.

That explains why some older people are ill tempered and grumpy.

Don’t despair. Modern medicine and health care have the answers. It costs money of course. Personally, I believe that healthy lifestyle and a lot of ulam-ulam kampung are as good as pills and hormone injections.

What does all this teach us then? For me it is yet another example of the miracle of creation --- that two small inconspicuous organs the size of a large marble produce such an important hormone.

Yes, no hidden meaning and no hidden agenda here. There’s no need to read in between the line.

I am not alluding or accusing anybody of lacking testicular gumption or fortitude due to testosterone deficiency.

With our politicians challenging and taking each other to courts almost on the daily basis, I am sure none suffers from the infliction.

On the contrary, I think they are well on the top of things in as far as testosterone is concerned. All that they need is to balance it with the production of the grey matter.

N2H: Arul Kanda not Dr Mahathir who Spooks the PM

A Kadir Jasin

LATEST, June 12 - Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) has requested for a suspension in the trading of its shares on Bursa Malaysia with effect from 9am today, pending a material announcement, according to Bernama.

FGV was last traded at RM1.86 compared to its 2012 IPO price of RM4.55.

I am made to understand that the “material announcement” could be related to the purchase of plantation assets in Indonesia.

On May 28, Reuters reported that the Rajawali Group, one of Indonesia's biggest conglomerates, planned to divest part of its stake in oil palm plantation company, PT Eagle High Plantations Tbk, to a foreign investor.

Rajawali is controlled by billionaire Peter Sondakh, who is building the high-end St Regis Hotel and international convention centre in Langkawi. Sondakh is a close friend of the Prime Minister.

The PM, his wife and Sondakh at St Regis ground-breaking

In a separate development, the DAP is said to on the verge of announcing withdrawal from the Pakatan Rakyat but will remain in partnership with PKR in Selangor and Penang.

ORIGINAL POST


ALMOST all commentators attributed Mohd Najib Abdul Razak’s no show at the “Nothing2Hide” (N2H) city hall dialogue on June 5 to the presence of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

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They concluded that the Prime Minister feared being grilled by Dr Mahathir or, at the very least, the old fox received a more rousing welcome than himself.

As I have stated many times before, this is not about Mohd Najib vs Dr Mahathir. This is about seeking the truth about 1MDB, including the possibility of criminal act in the running of the company.

The following is my take on the event, which made news worldwide, and on 1MDB as a whole:-

1. The Prime Minister is not a debater. He is more like an orator. He loves to scream and shout, sometimes out of tangent, in front of large obedient audience.

2. Dr Mahathir, on the other hand is a debater and communicator. He has crossed sword with some of the region’s best debaters - the likes of Lee Kuan Yew and Devan Nair in the Malaysia Parliament as far back as 1964.

[These days parliamentary banters have become a rarity because few MPs are not genuine debaters and, in the case of government members, the Speaker regularly rescued them from embarrassing situation.]

3. Mohd Najib would have been clobbered not so much by Dr Mahathir but by members of the audience, reported to be some 1,000 of them. They were not the standard audience that Mohd Najib is used to in rural Pahang, Perlis, Sabah and Sarawak.

4. The real reason for Mohd Najib chickening out is Arul Kanda Kandasamy. His June 3 detailing of the 1MDB assets, liabilities and expenditures has made it impossible for Mohd Najib to wrangle his way out of the quagmire. Arul Kanda’s explanation gave the informed public the real basis to ask Mohd Najib at the dialogue, which he could not possibly answer without further incriminating himself.

Arul Kanda Spooks the PM

5. Take for instance buying ageing Independent Power Producers (IPPs) for RM12 billion and inheriting RM6 billion debts, making the total RM18 billion.

6. It is widely known that all or some of these purchases were over-priced despite the fact that the plants are old and their concessions running out. Only Jimah Power is a recent concession with its franchise ending 2033.

7. Arul Kanda, who became 1MDB’s President and Group Executive Director in January this year, told us that 1MDB inherited RM6 billion debts from the IPP purchase.

8. It is hard to believe that companies owned by two of Malaysia’s savviest tycoons – T. Ananda Krishnan and Lim Kok Thay (the scion of the Genting Empire) – would amassed so much debt when their power concessions were coming to an end.

9. The question is, could the RM6-billion debt had been “deliberate created” at the point of purchase in order to enable “excess” funds to be channeled out for political and other purposes?

10. The answer to this question can be extracted if the Public Account Committee of the Parliament (PAC) were to call people associated with the IPP vendors – the likes of Ananda, his right hand man Augustus Ralph Marshall (Tanjong Enery/Powertek) and Lim Kok Thay (Genting/Kuala Langat Power).

11. We all know that Ananda needs Mohd Najib’s “sovereign protection” in order to avoid from being sent to stand trial in India for alleged corruption.

[The Star newspaper reported on Aug. 30 last year that India’s federal police had filed charges against a former Indian minister, his media mogul brother, and a Malaysian tycoon over alleged corruption to help Malaysia’s Maxis group take control of an Indian mobile phone carrier eight years ago.

South Indian politician Dayanidhi Maran, who was India’s telecommunications minister between 2004 and 2007, his brother billionaire Kalanithi Maran, Malaysia’s second-richest man T. Ananda Krishnan and his aide Augustus Ralph Marshall, are among those named in the charge sheet filed in a New Delhi court, a police spokeswoman said.]

12. Mohd Najib may find it hard to justify selling prime government land cheaply to 1MDB – RM200 million for the 70-acre of Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) land in Jalan Tun Razak and RM400 million for 500-acre Bandar Malaysia i.e. the Sungai Besi RMAF base.

13. But it’s harder for him as Chairman of 1MDB’s advisory board, to justify purchasing 234 acres in Penang for RM1.1 billion just before the 2013 general elections, which according to Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng, was 95 per cent above valuation two years earlier.

14. Issues pertaining to cost of finance and working capital (RM4.5 billion), foreign exchange cost (RM900 million) and taxation (MR400 million) could be too technical for Mohd Najib to answer.

15. The hottest potatoes of all are 1MDB’s cash investments abroad. It is here that Jho Low features prominently and where the biggest “silap mata” (sleight of hand) could have taken place to enrich certain parties.

16. There are many more issues in Arul Kanda’s revelation that Mohd Najib would not possible answer like those massive investments in Brazen Sky Limited (RM6.1 billion), Aabar Deposit (RM4.2 billion) and 1MDB GIL Fund (RM5.1 billion).

[So the best way out for the self-proclaimed Bugis blueblood was to play AWOL and, as a faint attempt to hide koro syndrome (Readhere), asked the dutiful Inspector-General of Police to declare the civil assembly unsafe.]

The Zeti, Arul Kanda Posers

Many questions have been raised about who Arul Kanda really is and what are his motivations for taking over the hot seat at 1MBD.

People who know him, including those who attended the Royal Military College (RMC) with him, said he was a bright student and an orator. He hailed from a good Ceylonese family from Terengganu. (More here).

Why is he staking his reputation by accepting the 1MDB job puzzles these people. Some ventured to link him to Ananda who is also of Ceylonese descent. What is Arul Kanda’s game plan,  if any, can be determined by what question PAC members ask when he faces them.

Bank Negara Governor, Zeti Akhtar Aziz is in danger of losing public confidence and respect for extended silence on the 1MDB issue and her penchant for hiding behind banking secrecy and confidentiality.

Zeti's reputation is at stake

This is because Bank Negara had been openly dragged into the controversy by no less than Mohd Najib himself, when he said cash 1MDB was bringing back from Cayman Islands could not be remitted directly to Malaysia due to Bank Negara restrictions and had to be deposited in Singapore.

The cash, amounting to the US$1.103 billion (RM3.985 billion), had since metamorphosed into “asset certificates” and more recently, according to Finance Minister II, Ahmad Husni Hazadlah, had become “units”.

On May 26, Zeti confirmed that Bank Negara had received a report from its Singapore counterpart - Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) - on a complaint lodged by BSI about 1MDB’s account. BSI is the Swiss private bank where 1MDB deposited the Cayman Islands' proceeds.

Only after more than a week of receiving the MAS report that Bank Negara, on June 3, announced that it has commenced a formal enquiry to examine if there are any contravention of financial rules and regulations with respect to matters surrounding 1MDB. It does not help to raise our confidence when Bank Negara appears to be playing the game of catching up.

In the meantime the confidence in economy is waning, despite repeated assurance that our economic fundamentals are strong. The contagion effects of 1MDB are becoming more apparent.

On June 8, the ringgit fell to a nine-year low against the US dollar at RM3.772, which analysts blamed on sustained outflow of foreign funds from the equity and debt markets.

Zeti responded by saying that it is temporary and blame the “external environment”. She said emerging market currencies, including the ringgit, continue to be affected by external uncertainties, adding that ringgit is trading at levels that are not reflective of the fundamentals of the Malaysian economy.

It may all sound so clever. But in reality, the effects of the falling ringgit and the lost of confidence in Mohd Najib’s administration are already being felt by the rakyat. Strong economic fundamentals means nothing to them if they are not reflected by the stronger ringgit, net capital inflow, cheaper goods and services, rising income and ample jobs.

On the contrary the ringgit could fall to as low as RM3.90 or even RM4 to a dollar should the US decide to raise interest rates.

Wallahuaklam.