Whatever it takes...

The Federal Bureau of Indoctrination

By Pak Bui

"We were told, in the Biro Tatanegara camp, over and over, the source of all the world's problems… the war in Iraq, the invasion of Afghanistan, the global financial crisis, even the results of last year's Malaysian elections," said Jo, a young friend working as a professional in the Malaysian civil service.

"Hmm," I said, looking up from my mound of rice and curry. "And what's the cause? Isn't money the root of all evil?"

"You may be surprised to learn," Jo explained, grinning, "that the Jews are responsible."

"All Jews? Or just American Jews?" I asked. "Zionists? Israelis? Aren't there African and Indian Jews too?"

"Don't be difficult," my friend replied.

"Look Jo," I said, with my mouth full, "How do you define a Jew in the first place? Is it a race or a religion?

"Jewishness is matrilineal. That is, if your mother is Jewish, you're automatically Jewish too. It doesn't work that way if only your father is Jewish.

"You can't join the Jewish religion, not like you can take up membership in some gym, or country club. And what if you're born to a Jewish mother, but you don't practice the religion – are you still Jewish?

"Besides, Jo, there are lots of different kinds of Jews – orthodox Jews, conservatives, lefties, you name it."

"I don't know what a Jew is," Jo sighed. "But I'm telling you, that's what we heard, day after day, from all the BTN facilitators. Jews are the cause of all the world's suffering. We were lectured on this. We were made to watch endless videos of Palestinian and Iraqi children in pain. They kept telling us it was the fault of the Jews.

"The speakers said the Jews had created SARS and H1N1, and spread these viruses around the world, to try to get rid of competitors in Islamic countries and China. They said America's top government and business people are all Jews."

"You mean Obama is Jewish, as well as black?" I shook my head.

"No, not Obama, but almost everybody else," Jo said, "the Secretary of Defence, the Vice-President, you know."

"Well, I guess there are lots of talented Jews," I said.

"We were told Jews control everything," Jo insisted. "They even told us Anwar Ibrahim was influenced by Jews. He spent a lot of time in the United States, and he had some links with these American Jews, when he was in the youth movement, so it seems."

"But Anwar was Umno's Number Two. Doesn't that mean Umno was influenced by Jews? You had to sit through this? Why couldn't you just run away?" I asked.

"No, we were locked away, they told us we couldn't leave for five days, for any reason. We woke up at half past five every morning. Talks and group work went on till midnight. We were stuck in this crowded place, fifteen to twenty of us to a dorm. We were in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by jungle, like the heart of darkness. It was like Khidmat Negara, National Service, boot camp, you know?

"Who are these BTN crowd, anyway?" I asked angrily.

"BTN is some division of the PM's department…it promotes nationalism, I think. The BTN course is compulsory for all of us government professionals: engineers, teachers, artists, doctors, academics, scientists, accountants, from different ministries and from Petronas.

"Some of the BTN courses are run for non-professionals, the lower ranking officials. The BTN confiscate their handphones in those camps, for the whole stay. At least we could keep our phones during our course."

"But surely you professional lot wouldn't swallow all this rubbish?" I asked, astonished.

"We had no choice. Some of the professionals have Masters or PhD degrees. But we all need the BTN course for our promotions. Some groups had to go for the BTN course before they were given scholarships to go abroad. The BTN are terrified that civil servants will be influenced by foreigners, like they say Anwar was."

"You mean they're scared they'll learn to think for themselves? They must be desperate," I said.

"The BTN seem to be worried about Malays listening to Anwar. They kept saying Anwar is a pawn of the Jews. They didn't seem to be too concerned about the handful of Chinese and Indian participants. They kept repeating that Chinese and Indians are pendatang asing, or foreign immigrants. Under the Constitution, this is Tanah Melayu, or land of the Malays, they said.

"So it was like listening to RTM and reading Utusan Malaysia for five days solid, plus sleep deprivation as well," I said, "poor sods."

"I was groggy all the time. The BTN had these high-ranking speakers from the different ministries, even the military, telling us how they have to defend the country, how they have to prevent racial tension. They showed us these graphic videos of racial violence in Indonesia, people being hacked to death," he frowned.

"But they're using race to try to brainwash you lot," I argued. "The PM's Department are making a mockery out of Najib's 1Malaysia slogan…as if he needs any help!"

"I don't know," Jo mused. "I was a little confused by the end. I kept thinking how hard it must be to be in charge of the government.

"The BTN gave us a little test near the end. They asked us to imagine we were all the Heads of our respective government departments, and we had to organise a course on professionalism and skills training for our staff.

"We were asked to choose one of three options.

"The first was a foreign training consultancy firm. The second was a local company linked to the ruling party, but the company had limited experience in training. The third was a local company that had great expertise, but supported the opposition party."

"No prizes for guessing the right answer," I said.

"You're right," Jo agreed, "the right answer was the second company. The foreign company would have compromised security, they said. The company that supported the opposition would have caused uncertainty and confusion among the junior officers beneath us, we were told."

"I can understand why they taught you this," I nodded, "but isn't it less clear cut when the ruling party is in opposition in some states? What gives any party the licence to rule for ever and ever anyway?"

"Yes," Jo answered hesitantly. "I'm still a little…confused. Those issues I saw clearly before…I'm not so certain about now. For all this confusion…I blame the Jews," he smiled.

Source: http://hornbillunleashed.wordpress.com/2009/08/14/3186/