Zaid Ibrahim ranted about Tun Dr Mahathir a couple of days ago while at the same time absolving Pak Lah from any mistakes the premier did since 2004. I think Zaid Ibrahim is so cute when trying very hard to criticise the grand old man while at the same time trying even harder to glorify the slightly younger but lethargic old man.
He is so cute, I am tempted to pinch that chubby cheeks of his. Maybe I’ll visit him at his new office in Merchant Square one day and do just that.
He said, as reported in The Star;
KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak will not be able to institute any crucial reform as Prime Minister as long as Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is around, claimed former de facto Law Minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim.
“The 2004 election manifesto is history,” said Zaid who had been appointed minister specifically to work on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s promise to reform in stitutions of government, improve accountability and transparency, and strengthen the Rule of Law and independence of the Judiciary.
“Najib is smart and articulate but to change the course of Umno, he has to be brave and why would he take such a risk.
“Second, even if he wanted to, he would not be able to do it with Dr Mahathir around,” he said.
Asked whether that was because he thought Dr Mahathir was powerful or had a strong influence on Najib, Zaid – who resigned from the Cabinet recently after journalist Tan Hoon Cheng, Member of Parliament Teresa Kok and news portal editor Raja Petra Kamarudin were arrested under the Internal Security Act – said:
“He (Dr Mahathir) has a large group of friends, otherwise the Prime Minister (Abdullah) would not have been ‘thrown out’ just like he wanted.”
“Mahathirism was all control, control, control. He has a strong influence on the top Umno leaders who had to choose between doing his bidding or facing his wrath.
“So many in Umno are bound to the old, making it difficult to abandon old values and principles.”
“Especially when if you allow for more democracy, you lose some control.”
Pray tell Datuk, who are Tun’s friends in Umno ever since Pak Lah took over? Is it Nazri Aziz who acted as a hatchet man everytime Tun criticised Pak Lah ? Is it Azalina Othman who can’t think beyond anything but to please Pak Lah? Is it Syed Hamid Albar who led the debacle in cancelling the scenic bridge? Or is it the spineless Datuk Seri Najib who had remained quiet when Tun was attacked left, right and centre by everyone in Umno?
Certainly it is not Johari Baharom, a one time strong apple polisher in Kubang Pasu who was alleged bribing the Umno members there not to vote for Tun as a delegate in 2006 Umno AGM. Is it even Shahberry Cheek, whom minutes after being a first time minister in March 2008, accused Tun of destroying Umno?
It is a FACT that Tun had no friends in Umno ever since Pak Lah took over. Or at most, Tun’s sympathisers in Umno were relegated to the grassroots level. Nobody in the Supreme Council and the cabinet was defending Tun. As we all know, everyone was castrated by the 4th floor boys and became half past six bunch of people in the end.
Zaid Ibrahim is shifting reality in order to justify Pak Lah’s downfall.
Pak Lah was thrown out not because of Tun Mahathir. Tun was only the messenger. Pak Lah was thrown out because he mismanaged this country for the past 5 years! He was thrown out because the country could not afford another day of his drowsy and flip flopping ways.
Most of Umno members do not want Pak Lah. Even a blind man knows how destructive this Prime Minister is. He had backstabbed this nation ever since the day Kalimullah became the boss of NSTP.
To up the ante, Pak Lah gave an interview which appeared on Saturday newspapers.
Saya tidak menyesal menyerahkan kuasa lebih awal – PM
PUTRAJAYA 11 Okt. — Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi berkata beliau tidak menyesal dengan keputusannya melaksanakan pelan peralihan lebih awal dengan menyerahkan kuasa kepada penggantinya, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
“Keputusan itu tidak mengganggu saya. Satu keputusan telah dilakukan dan saya telah menimbangkannya dengan amat teliti. Saya berasa selesa mengenainya dan itulah sebabnya saya berasa ceria,” katanya dalam satu wawancara eksklusif dengan Bernama sebagai mengulas soalan bagaimana beliau boleh berasa ceria semasa membuat pengumuman pada Rabu lepas kerana ia bermaksud hilang pegangan kuasa penting.
“Saya bersyukur kepada Tuhan kerana telah memudahkan saya membuat keputusan.
Saya rasa apa saya lakukan adalah demi kepentingan negara dan parti,” kata Abdullah, yang memakai Baju Melayu coklat dan kelihatan tenang di kediaman rasminya di Seri Perdana. – Bernama
To strike at a man when he is down is considered quite unbecoming for us civilised people. But I would just like to set the record straight here. If Kalimullah, as his parting shot would lay all blame to Tun Dr Mahathir concerning our current troubles, then I will not stand in silence.
Pak Lah did not step down due to his love for this country or for the party. He steps down because his attempt to stay longer till 2010 did not bear too well with the rest of Umno leaders. Wasn’t Pak Lah the one adamantly wished to stay on indefinitely even after the huge lost of support in the last general election?
Only after constant negotiations with his number 2 that the 2010 transition plan was set up. But that was still not enough. 5 years with him at the top had been really destructive. 2 years of waiting till 2010 is a long wait indeed. I applaud some Supreme Council members for finally finding their long lost balls and realised how this president has got to go soon.
This pitiful act of glorifying Pak Lah is just an attempt to make him look favourable within the history books in years to come. I would understand or even forgive these attempts by Pak Lah’s lackeys if they did not demonise Tun Dr Mahathir in the process. But what they are doing is wrong.
Pak Lah and his gang of misfits must understand that the responsibility and accountability of his leadership since 2004 lies squarely on his shoulder. His inability to control the greed of his son, his inability to control his arrogant son in law, his wrong decisions in taking the wrong advisors into his close circles of friends contribute to his gigantic failure in prospering Malaysia.
Tun Dr Mahathir handed over Malaysia to Pak Lah when Malaysia was stable, united and prosperous. Pak Lah on the other hand, is handing over Malaysia to his successor a disjointed, divided and lacklustre nation.
Pak Lah even had the cheek to tell Najib that the latter’s biggest challenge is national unity! A national unity destroyed because he failed to contain racist extremism in the opposition and BN.
Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon on the other hand even called Pak Lah Bapa Demokrasi. His argument was, criticisms and dissent are tolerated during Pak Lah’s tenureship as Prime Minister. Yeah right. My take is, criticisms and public uproars were prevalent during Pak Lah’s time because he was so corrupt and at the same time unable to cleverly defend his actions and decisions.
Coupled with half past six cabinet ministers who were equally inept to counter all the allegations, it was just a matter of time before everyone in Malaysia was talking about how malevolent the government had become. The government controlled media on the other hand, did not publish any negative views about the nation’s leadership. That was why, the blogosphere became the strong voice of dissent.
An example of how Pak Lah handle criticism of his leadership? Detain bloggers under the Sedition Act or the ISA. That’s democracy alright. When Sabah and Sarawak MPs began to criticise Pak Lah after they did not get enough representatives in the cabinet, Pak Lah gave extra RM1 billion for each state in the form of shady development drive. How to quell the anger of vindictive ex judges? Give them ex gratia money. How to contain a potential mutiny by the grass roots? Give them each a kain pelikat.
Pak Lah do not know anything else except throwing money here and there.
Unlike what Zaid Ibrahim said above, Pak Lah lost control not because he allowed democracy. He lost control because he was crushed under the weight of anti Pak Lah sentiments. His dictatorial style in controlling the media and the balls of his ministers was no longer tolerated.
Pak Lah’s legacy will always be marred by constant examples of high level corruption, hypocrisy and policy flops.
If my words are not strong enough to illustrate and to clarify my contempt about this constant effort in glorifying him in the wrong way, then let me demonstrate this further with a quote from a great leader about Pak Lah;
“All this shows that the he is, in no wise, satisfied with his own positions. First he takes up one, and in attempting to argue us into it, he argues himself out of it; then seizes another, and goes through the same process; and then, confused at being able to think of nothing new, he snatches up the old one again, which he has some time before cast off. His mind, tasked beyond it’s power, is running hither and thither, like some tortured creature, on a burning surface, finding no position, on which it can settle down, and be at ease. As I have before said, he knows not where he is. He is a bewildered, confounded, and miserably perplexed man.” – Abraham Lincoln (January, 1848)
Sorry, apparently Abraham Lincoln was criticising the current President at that time, James K. Polk, not Pak Lah. My mistake. But this historic 160 year old speech can still be applied now.
We are also in the middle of history right now. Lets get the record straight.
jebatmustdie 
Salam JMD,
A good article, a way of countering Paklah’s attempt to cleanse his name. ( by using TDM as a scapegoat ) In a way, this is to be expected. Mana ada orang yang kalah mengaku pada public kelemahan sendiri, lebih2 lagi seorang poliTIKUS. Pernah dengar, bila seorang pemimpin yang kalah berkata, ‘saya mengaku saya lemah, tidak pandai buat kerja, pilih kasih, dan banyak terbabit dalam rasuah’ ?? !!
And yes, kita tidak boleh berdiam diri bila TDM pula yang dipersalahkan ! March 09 masih terlalu jauh, Paklah akan menggunakan setiap detik yang berbaki menyerang TDM habis2an, melepaskan geramnya pada orang yang yang sentiasa membayanginya. pada waktu sama mencari / mewujud lubuk2 emas untuk diberikan pada penyokong2nya, umpama peninggalan wasiat supaya beliau terus mendapat sokongan selepas meninggal ‘dunia PM’. Yang bahayanya, paklah kini segar seperti baru terjaga dari tidur. He will bow out with guns blazing.
Makanya kita tidak boleh diam, hanya mempertahankan diri (TDM) bila diserang. Jangan anggap segalanya tentang paklah telah selesai bila beliau mengumumkan niat tidak mau bertanding Presiden UMNO ( mungkin saya silap tapi paklah tidak pun menyebut mau bersara dari menjadi PM, dia masih belum menutup jalan sepenuhnya ) Saya masih belum percaya 100% sehingga ianya benar2 terjadi.
Jalan terbaik, ‘kita’ serang Paklah. (seperti yang pernah saya sarankan pada saudara). ‘serang’ dengan fakta2 dan tuduhan2 yang boleh disahkan. bukan seperti paklah atau AI yang hanya ‘bercerita’, mencipta bayang2 tanpa fizikal. Bukan tidak menghormati orang tua, saya bercakap tentang seorang PM yang bernama paklah bukan seorang tua bernama paklah.
-Maaf, 2 kali komen saya panjang 🙂 air dah masuk kepala !
-Niat2 suci MyFuture semuanya ada ‘manifesto’ PLKN. tak perlu yang baru ..
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sallam.
adekah saye owang pertama?heheh..pukul berape parlimen bersidang eh?
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From today’s star newspaper…..
PETALING JAYA: The Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) will only consider being a direct member of Barisan Nasional if its leaders are released from the Internal Security Act (ISA).
Hindraf national event coordinator Kannan Ramasamy said the movement also wanted to negotiate with the Government to ensure the safe return of its chairman P. Waythamoorthy from London.
He was responding to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s proposal to allow direct membership into the Barisan without the need to join any of the component parties.
“All this while, we have been calling for negotiations and even sent official letters to the Prime Minister. But until today, we haven’t had any opportunity to discuss issues of concern,” he said.
Kannan added that if Barisan were to accept direct members, the coalition must then view all as equals.
“Without a change of mindset from Umno and reformation of the Barisan strategy, the move to allow direct entries would not aid the current situation,” he said.
Meanwhile, All-Malaysia Indian Progressive Front (IPF) president Puan Sri Jayashree Gnanapandithan said the party has yet to decide whether to join Barisan.
Reason for the post is my burning question…do we give a rat’s a#@ if they decided to join BN? (pardon da colourful language)
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Bismillah,
Bravo jmd. I for one would be quite afraid to post such a brave piece at this moment in time. Maybe you are jumping the gun. Or maybe you are an aquarius with uranus in whatever setting. What you said is quite true. As for me to have aab to finally go is good enough, for the time being that is; eventhough one has to be careful for politics is the art of the possible.
All eyes will be watching najib; nazir has caused some consternation in some circles when he forced the consolidation of three major companies into one entity, under the pretext of efficiency.
As for me, for the time being, I am saving my ammo. When things really becomes unbearable then only I would be releasing my guided missiles or my pointed, barbed statements.
Ohh by the way the art to blogging finesse is in the timing. If the timing is not right the arrows might fall back on you, blown by the oncoming winds. :).
JMD : Thank you for the advice. Can’t wait to see the guided missiles when they’re unleashed 🙂
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JMD,
No one has actually FORCED Pak Lah to step down. He was asked to re-consider the succession plan and advised about the implications of him standing for UMNO election next year. As per UMNO constitution, he is free to seek a mandate for another term but then again all indications point to an embarrassing exit next year. The fact that KJ is way behind Mukhriz in UMNO Youth Chief race further strenghtens this believe that Pak Lah knew that almost everyone in UMNO are against him and the only way to avoid embarrassment is by not contesting in March.
Attacking TDM is a cowardly way to hide his own weakness and he should be called Bapak Hipokrasi instead of Bapak Demokrasi. He doesn’t have a clue on how to run the nation and in a bid to make himself popular, he tried to adopt Tunku’s liberal approach in the late 60’s and almost suffered the same consequences as Tunku in 1969. – http://malaysiannewsblog.whizz.net.in/?p=43. For me what Kali, Pak Lah and Zaid said to TDM is an insult to Malaysians. Can anyone tell me what Kali, Pak Lah and Zaid have done that make us proud to be Malaysians? Name one? Pak Lah should be grateful that TDM left him with a very stable government and let him take all the credit in 2004 election! JMD, your article BUDI – https://jebatmustdie.wordpress.com/2008/09/25/umno-dan-konsep-budi/ suddenly comes to my mind.
I can’t wait to hear the tune of Nazri’s, Johari’s, Azalina’s, etc. voices when Pak Lah has actually stepped down. Will they still be going Ga Ga over their former boss? I’m not sure. History seems to suggest the contrary.
P/S: I know TDM is backing Najib and Muhyiddin. Still I would like to see Ku Li becoming PM for at least one term. What’s your take JMD?
JMD : Only 20+ divisions had their meeting already. Ku Li’s chances of getting nominations are quite slim. Ku Li needs to be wary of what he is saying to the media. I think his recent statements made to the media killed whatever chances he may have to be nominated. His intention was noble – he wanted to create a unity government. Just like what Razak proposed when BN was set up. Then, strong opposition parties like Gerakan and PAS joined the newly set up BN and formed a formidable government. Only DAP remained as opposition. Ku Li aspires to have that again. But I think he forgot to take into account the sentiment of the ordinary people down below.
Yes Lim Kit Siang, Anwar, Nik Aziz are all Ku Li’s friends and their differences are only on their differing idealogies. Hence, it is easy for Ku Li to work together with them and sit at the same table. But for the average joe on the ground, those opposition leaders are not their friends. They are their political enemies whom they had fought since they joined BN political parties. What more, Umno members sees the DAP leaders, especially LKS as the epitome of anti Malay sentiments. No way they will let LKS join the government. This situation is unfortunate indeed but this is the reality. Even among the Pakatan Rakyat members, PAS and DAP grassroots members are wary of each other.
Hence, there were murmurs in the ground that Ku Li had sabotaged himself in the run up of the divisional meetings. I mentioned this earlier, that Ku Li needs to kow tow with the divisions first in order to get enough nominations and then win the presidency post. After that, he can suggest this idea of his in the Supreme Council of Umno and the BN working committee. But to jump the gun and promote something radical like this was not a smart thing to do.
He was doing well in his interview in the OffTheEdge magazine last July. I can see that he has clear plans in steering Malaysia to greater heights economically. But alas, he failed to gauge the grass root members perception of those so called friends of his. Probably Datuk Kamal (Ku Li, main strategist) might need to quikly re evaluate their position and come up with a better plan to win the divisional votes.
Muhyiddin made a turnaround to support Najib. His position was delicate like I wrote in The Real Umno Warlords article. He played his hand well. When he initially saw Najib will not budge, he gave his support to Ku Li. At the same time, he worked the ground, going to divisions asking for their commitment in supporting him for no 2 post. He knows that if Najib does not willing to oust Pak Lah, he will have to fight Najib.
But when Najib saw that he will be slaughtered as No 2, he pressured Pak Lah to expedite the transition plan. Muhyiddin is secured as no 2 and dumped Ku Li. As fas as he is concern he is safe as no 2 no matter who wins the presidency.
That is why when other candidates finally showed their interests for no 2 post, they could not get any votes from the divisions as most of them had gave their commitment to Muhyiddin more than 3 months ago!
I find it disturbing that Muhyiddin said he is loyal to the leadership in his interview today when we know for a fact that he had been gunning for the no 2 post since early May. To acquire divisional commitment from nearly all divisions need at least 4 months of travelling to every division. And, the fact that he had his eyes on no 2 post showed that he has no loyalty to Najib.
Najib will have to watch his ass all the time if Muhyiddin becomes his no 2. Because, as stated in that article I wrote sometime ago, Najib and Muhyiddin have always eyed each other warily. Watching each other’s moves.
Thank you.
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JMD,
Water face (air muka) maaa ….. they do not want the title ‘worst PM ever’ in the Malaysia history go to Pak Lah ….. ya la why not, they have been giving bad advice so they can ‘isi perut’, not for country sake ….
well, i hope that bro ANDIPOOL will take the effort to write down Pak Lah misdeeds full heartedly as he has done for TDM ….
can’t fathom why does Zaid hate TDM so much ….
maybe Zaid was pissed at TDM because he is not shortlisted to become TDM ‘Entrepreneur’ ship program … can’t imagine if he does, maybe he will be richer than Ananda ….
somebody have any inside story on this???
actually still can fathom why some people still have problem on the judiciary? I can only see people (high ends) are actually singing this tune. maybe these people cannot dig their hand in for the judiciary to favors them ….
i am at the low end … so what really bother me is the oil price USD 80++ ..so why in hell is the oil price still RM2.45? where is the promised to evaluate the oil price every month?
So Zaid, instead of going around about reforming judiciary, how about you reform your self to see what is really really important to ‘Rakyat’ and be a champion on that …
actually don’t bother … no want needs you Zaid …. you better go drink a bucket of staut and yapping like a mad man ….
sorry JMD, i was so mad of the guy. looks like he was fishing Najib can take note of him …
bleached_4ever
p/s: is there anybody have thought to ‘saman malu’ the BAR(K) council?? if we can get the monies, we should give away to charity and set-up another NGO to counter the BAR(K) council… maybe bloggers (NGO)… Any Malay lawyer out there dare enough?
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Thanks JMD for this great piece. We miss your writing when you went into a hiatus for a bit the other day! 🙂
Zaid Ibrahim – he’s a fallen man who still thinks he’s worthy of news. Kalimullah being there, he’s being given space in the media I suppose. With Pak Lah’s so-called ‘openness’, everyone’s doing a press conference nowadays, isn’t it? Hence why you see even ministers of the cabinets giving their own press statements which contradict the cabinet decisions or other cabinet minister’s statements.. later on, they end up being rectified in one way or another but simultaneously making the govt look like a fool!
You articulated the points so well – but to Pak Lah/Khairy supporters, or Anwar supporters even, it’s always convenient to use TDM as a scapegoat. And they will do so continuously to save Pak Lah from being disgraced. I think he should just shut up. His mistake was his attempts to undo TDM’s legacy and trying to make a name for himself. I mean, imagine cancelling all TDM’s mega projects on the pretext of saving the government’s funds, and then later on launching all the corridors which would essentially be using up the same funds anyway. I hear that the launching of these corridors themselves are costing millions and yet, the returns are not yet seen. The projects are small projects with smaller yields.
Anyway, about the general public – if only they saw the comments on chedet.com, people would know that the rakyat are desperate in seeing a change in the premiership. However, it is unfortunate that those who do not know of the blogosphere will only read the papers and will be influenced by the spins printed therein.
I’m rambling but i’m all worked up because i feel just as pi**ed as you are about this Zaid Ibrahim. Suffice to say, he should just look himself in the mirror and reflect – who is he anyway? A senator, who wasn’t chosen by the rakyat, who suddenly became a minister and who irked the rest of the cabinet by his comments. He sucks big time. Good riddance to him. And he should just shut up! Why don’t you do an open letter to him? hehe
Thanks and please do write regularly – we look forward to reading your pieces because you write what we all feel and think about the current political scenario.
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Salam JMd,
It’s a good sign that at least now he realised that TDM was so powerful and very influential? This’s the quality that rakyat’re expecting for their leader.
One thing for sure, we’ve TDM, while S’pore has LKY. Both of them were powerful and influential, but only different was that TDM refused to hold any ‘de facto’ post in the government. And again, this’s another spiritual quality that we’re hoping for our leader.
Leader is forever!!
Wassalam
Oct13’08 @13:09
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Well done JDM, i proud of u defending TM. U got my support
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Dear JMD,
Very interesting write-up with easy to stomach facts. Yes, with Pak Lah departure we wish to see more unity and understanding Malaysian or rather BN. If the IPF and HINDRAF ( well … are both registered body … HINDRAF is not legal entity ) wish to join BN just submit lah … no need to set so much conditions. And, it is infact no need to accept them. The other indian party in BN is good enough and already give so much headache.
Can we make sure that Mukhriz can win the UMNO youth leader ? btw, how’s KU LI? Why no one proposing his name as a candidate for president ??
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naper ku li tak dapek2 pencalonan lagik?najib dah 28..
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Good quick one. I was bothered by Zaid’scomments. Its like how old Indians say, “just because you got mouth, does it mean you can speak anything you want”. What’s wrong with Zaid? One moment, he is in Pak Lah’s camp. Then he walks out, reacting to Pak Lah’s use of ISA. Then, he’s back saying this like this:
““He (Dr Mahathir) has a large group of friends, otherwise the Prime Minister (Abdullah) would not have been ‘thrown out’ just like he wanted.”
Of course, if he means the “large group of friends” as people who are sick and tired of Pak Lah, then we all includedlah. We are TDM’s friend, what?
And my weekend was ruined by the mainstream media carrying Pak Lah’s interview, making him look like he made some kinda sacrifice or something. One columnist even asked us to admire him for “smiling” in the face of adversity. All I know behind the vacant smile is…err. vacancy.
I have covered few events involving both Pak Lah and TDM. I’ll never forgive Pak Lah when he made us wait, like more than two hours for press conference. This was when I was with the media, I covered the opening of Pavillion.KL. We waited and waited and then he appeared. Only the next day I got to know he was downstairs visiting Khairi’s boutique outlet. Then, he came, gave a quick pointless press conference and left. I could see frustration amongst the other journalist, but what to do?
Well, I am glad he is stepping down. Grr….
Another good one, JMD. Here’s me spurring you on for more quality blog postings.
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Hi JMD,
“new office in merchant square”. The guy is joining PKR?
I have a question (or two) regarding tengku razaleigh vis a vis umno elections.
1) Is Ku Li out of the the equation?
2) Wasn’t there earlier talk of TDM supporting his candidacy for the no 1 ticket? Read in msiakini just now that Tun is supporting the Najib-Muhyiddin ticket. What happened?
Can you share your thoughts on this?
Thank You
JMD : Please read my reply to Ismail N above. Thank you.
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Well said JMD. I must confess that I too felt so dissilusioned with the national leadership for the serious damages that were caused – to the economy, to racial unity, religious tolerance, international image. I am glad that there is a change which with the presence of wise leaders like TDM who are willing to speak up, the right course of nation building will materialise.
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JMD,
Ideally I wish that Ku Li will become the next PM and Muhyiddin his DPM. However as you mentioned earlier Pak lah’s decision not to contest put paid to his hopes/chances.
I’m a little bit wary now of whether DS Najib and Muhyiddin will be a strong team as it was his intention earlier to team up with Ku Li to challenge the PL/DSN team. However when Ku Li mentioned to the press that he was not about to team up with anybody, maybe Muhyiddin decided to go for the no.2 alone regardless whether PL was resigning or not. Now that PL has decided not to contest, the plan has fallen beautifully for Muhyiddin and you can see now that he is backing DS najib. Also, he has no other choice, knowing that Ku Li has little chance of securing the nominations .
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Dear JMD,
Can’t believe what Zaid said. Is he admiting that even given the powers of a Minister with the PM and Media behind him he can’t take on TDM who is not even a Government, UMNO or Opposition member?
This sounds like an admittance of Ultimate Koro Kedayusan.
Regards.
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Thank you JMD for putting the thoughts of the “silent majority” in writing.
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Zaid, he should join PAS-lah. Kee Kee.
Obviously Pak Lah couldn’t handle the no.1 job and KJ is no Hisham or Najib to be parachuted in just like that. It seems that in UMNO “pedigrees” still have an edge.
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Although Tun is no saint, he could handle the multi-racial community and everyone felt like they did well, were treated fairly…Then everything just went haywire with Pak Lah, Kali, etc…Sigh…But Najib, cannot-ler.
JMD : Pak Lah bucked the trend when his own son in law started to be powerful DURING his tenureship as prime minister. Najib, Hishamuddin and Mukhriz rose in politics after their respective parent no longer the PM.
That will surely depose any criticisms of nepotism. Thus, those sons of PMs are quite humble when they carry themselves in Umno. But in the case of KJ, what actually happened? He became arrogant and unbearable. The very mention of his name makes one loathe the whole leadership of Umno.
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JMD,
Zaid is a sore loser just like Pak Lah. He has the cheek to have his photo in the newsprint. He did not realised this was used in the toilet to clean up the bottom.
Goods article JMD and keep the momentum going.
Salam & selamat hari raya.
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Yes JMD, I agree that the talk with opposition did harmed Ku Li chances of becoming the President. It’s a pity though because I’m not sure who called the meeting? It might be a trap by one of Pak Lah, Najib or Muhyiddin team to foil Ku Li’s chances. I believe you have more inside info than me on this, JMD. If it is a mistake by Ku Li it will be a shame because as a seasoned politician, Ku Li should know it all along but then again he is only a human being.
When I was in Johore for Hari Raya, some of UMNO people there told me that Ku Li once said that his only intention is to see Pak Lah step down as PM and not so much to lead the nation. Obviously, that believe has great impact on Ku Li as he has not received a single nomination from Johore. Once again, I would like to hear your opinion on this, if you don’t mind.
For the record, Najib has not been appointed as PM yet. The prospect of becoming the next PM should make a person very excited. But for Najib, the next 5 months onwards will be a testing time for him. The ghost of Altantuya is already coming back from the death to hunt Najib with fresh allegations linking him to the Mongolian beauty’s murder, Najib also has to deal with attacks on personal matters such as his son’s social life. For that matter, I wish to see support for Ku Li or any other UMNO leaders as alternative choice for the President post. Najib should not be allowed to get all 100% nominations from UMNO divisions. There should be 30% of divisions in UMNO that are brave enough to forsee such above mentioned prospect and provide us with back-up plan if Najib fail us just like Pak Lah before him. – http://malaysiannewsblog.whizz.net.in/?p=48
JMD : I understand your sentiments regarding Ku Li and Najib. But firstly, I do not have an inside info regarding Ku Li. In recent times, I have only met him once. About a month ago for a buka puasa session at his house in Langgak Golf.
So, my analysis on the situation is as good as anybody else’s. But I can tell you that Ku Lu and the opposition leaders met a lot of times all through the years. As much time as him meeting with BN leaders.
Even Umno leaders have secret meetings with PAS from time to time. Therefore, it should not be a cause for alarm if Ku Li is suddenly be known to meet the opposition leaders. During that meet, I saw that Ku Li was pretty much adamant to contest for the no 1 post. He provided us with some of his thinking about what he plans to do should he becomes PM. So, when he announced about the Unity government recently, it was nothing new.
He saw that Unity government will greatly reduce racial politics of hatred among the two coalitions and will enhance national harmony through the integration of major opposition parties into the government.
That was his aim.
Nevertheless, I feel that he had prematurely announced his intentions in forming the Unity government. But it is not over yet. Many divisions have yet to hold their meetings. We shall see the outcome.
Thank you.
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hmm..politics and gameplan. never thought it will become a war between them strategist. feels like watch Sun Tzu battling other states in order to conquer them, live at present. but of course, i’m always enjoy my political incorrectness haha.. there goes several thoughts concerning UMNO leadership battle :
1) on DS Najib :
he only make announcement of contesting for the top post ONLY AFTER paklah decided not to defending the post. how convinient. had Pak Lah decided to say, i wonder what DS Najib would do. give undying support to the dying leadership of Pak Lah? or to contest anyway by strong feeling that begets him, the grassroot will support change in leadership anyway? still, his timing of annoucing his decision to contest for the top post can be viewed as cowardly, but some might argue that its strategically convenient. i do feel that DS Najib always prefer convenience over challenge. hmm.. for sure i dont really prefer it, but i’m willing to take chances of giving DS Najib to revitalize UMNO back. given his good track records, minus the Altantuya case, it would interesting time ahead if DS Najib win the post though. not to mention that, in Parliament, we will have the situation whereby, UMNO President for the first time is not Prime Minister of Malaysia!
2) on TS Muhyiddin
ah, my favourite man for time being. as JMD put it, he’s the real UMNO warlord. he could cunningly sending the arrow to kill Pak Lah popularity and yet maintain a strong support from grassroots. only few have guts do it, and yet only competent strategist will survive. i do admire his capability to maneuver UMNO leadership battle, within the struggling UMNO and BN. to see him as opportunist is quite disparaging since it takes more to see beyond any given opportunity to evaluate the best strategy forward. his constant pressure of Pak Lah stepping down (after Permatang Pauh election), approaching TDM to join UMNO back(i do believe the reason for this action is to win the grassroots and UMNO veteran support), and a sense of perfect timing makes him quite politically superior than other candidates though. therefore, i stick to “competent strategist” for my take of TS Muhyiddin. and of course, just like JMD put it, DS Najib eventually have to watch his back even in his sleep!
3) on Ku Li
hmm.. good heart, good intention, but wrong strategy. personally, i think Ku Li could not get any nomination until today is might be contributed by his idea of Unity Umno and BN. i feel sad for him. i just wish, he could get enough nomination because if anyone in UMNO have the guts to tell Pak Lah to back off is Ku Li. the man of principles as he seems to be, he lacks a sense of sensitivities among levels of party member. i just wish, he could get all the nomination so that DS Najib won’t be so popular that he could easily wrestle the top post. more or less, provide a struggle field to DS Najib so that he will be in constant alert. we don’t want anymore of our leader to fall asleep do we?
4) on watak tambahan
Nazri Aziz, Shabery Chek, Azalina, Shahrir Ahmad and other cabinet minister are actually ‘lalang’. regardless of who win the top post, all they know they will throw support to the leader, evenso the leader itself is incapable of leading. if the leader attacking TDM, then they will join forces to attack TDM at all angle. if the leader lost the election due to his incapability, they still support him eventhough the evident suggests otherwise. seems like, they are all Hang Tuah who gave his undividing loyality to Sultan, and we, the JMD frequent visitors and TDM are actually Hang Jebat.
5) on Zaid Ibrahim
i’m no fan of this guy, but i have to disagree with JMD. He is not cute! and how come you be tempted to pinch his cheek??! hahahhaa…
Thanks JMD for giving me, us the concerned citizens to express our political afterthoughts. and may i suggest that, after Pak Lah steps down, maybe you can write about history though.
JMD : Thank you for the comments.
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Askm JMD,
Allow me to comment on 2 issues mentioned in your blog :
1) TDM ‘s one time loyal friends/disciples betrayed him.
This is a fact of life. Stories are abound where leaders are betrayed. Brutus betrayed and killed Caesar for the wrong reason : OUT OF LOVE FOR ROME. So Johari Baharom would say this : it is not that I do not love Che Det, but I love Pak Lah more because he is the current PM.
I am sure TDM can live with this fact of life. He is a very wise man.
2)Glorifying Pak Lah.
Pak Lak’s departure signals the demise of his political life. Just like a person who has died, we only talk good things about him. We do not talk bad about him .Islam forbids us to do this. But this does not mean the people forget the bad side of him.
So, let people like Kalimullah heap praises on Pak Lah. I thinkl such writing is counter productive. It manifests hipocracy, self denial, etc
Hang Kasturi
JMD : As for the case of Johari Baharum vis a vis Brutus, too bad the price of ‘ROME’ can only be bought by a mere RM200 each. As for Pak Lah, one of the bad side of him is his lies when he told the press that his son and SCOMI do not receive any government contracts. Many people do remember the rest of his shenanigans. One only have to look back and read Malaysia Today prior to the last general election. We see right after the election, even the Sultan of Terengganu and Perlis do not respect him. Why? Because he had overestimated his own weak authority. Being rude to the Sultan is clearly not ‘kosher’. What more letting his supporters calling His Majesty as ‘natang’. We are curious to see what happen to the police report made against those people. Apart from that, getting spin doctors to glorify him to this very end is an extremely desperate act to save one’s legacy (or lack of it). Thank you.
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It is easier to blame than to understand. Yes Pak lah made many grave mistakes and he is paying for his mistakes but that does not absolve TDM one bit. JMD as a person who is knowlegeble you must be aware under Tun we lost a bit of our freedom. We gain Economic freedom but civil liberties were trampled. Tun was responsible for creating a vibrant Malay middle class of which I pressume you belong too. But he left divided Malay too! Many Malays fail to appreciate what NEP has achieve. I believe you were born post NEP so you have first hand knowledge of NEP vis a vis the Malays. but it was Tun who hurried the process. In the end we lost some of our soul. We grapple with ourselves the meaning of what malay means, we hide ourself in religion sometime adopting cultures alien to us. Our own culture were discarded and some are regarded as blashphemous. I wonder why? Tun likewise came with the idea of Islamization a political coin word that create a chism among the Malays and the non Malays. Liberal Malays who fought for Malay were shun those who wear sheep clothing but are wolves like Anwar were praise. These were Tun’s dong. I wrote in his blog too, it was never publish. I am perhaps from the old school which believe that religion and politics don’t mix. I am of Tunku’s idea that we are a secular nation. Tun open the pandora box, Pak Lah try to put a lid on it by proposing Islam Hadhari or Civilasation Islam that means what is good of Islamic administration. Thus he tries to nulify the Islamisation process but to no avail. Like Tun he was laugh at, mock at by the islamic group even by Tun.
Tun is perhaps the most brilliant Prime Minister we ever had but surely not the wisest. Even his brilliance is overshadowed by Tun Razak. Whose doer face his son shares. Because of Tun he made the Malays having a superiority complex which sometimes make them unberable bigots. I am rascist like you. To say am not is blasphemy. I do not buy the idea rascism is wrong for a rascist to me is someone who love his race but it does not make me a bigot. Under Tun bigots in race and religion was let loose. But Tun was a strong leader, he brood no disent thus he will always be in control, Pak Lah is weak maybe because of that he thought he could control Pak Lah but he forgot that weakling of a man is besotted with his family thus his children always will be his bane. He made a mistake like he did with Anwar. So Tun do make mistake just like Perwaja and now Putrajaya.
Pak Lah fail because he did not surround himself with inteligent man so he seek his son in law who was an Oxford graduate to help him. He in turn rope in his boys who filled up the fourth floor. They are the one who decide for Pak Lah. Tun lead Pak Lah is lead that is the different. Pak Lah forgot his sahabat thus his mistake quaruple and none can save him but never say to me Tun is a saint he is as guilty Pak Lah for the state of the country.
JMD : Thank you for the comment. I just would like to know what were your civil liberties that was trampled and what was your freedom that was lost during those times? What did you plan to do during those times that was not allowed?
Vibrant but divided Malays. What a predicament ey?
If the Malays failed to appreciate what the NEP had done to them, then they are of course an ungrateful lot. Bear in mind, the NEP has a life span of 20 years. Of course in order to catch up with the other races which are far ahead from the Malays, they need to run twice as fast to catch up. The Malays can never catch up if they are having the same work rate with somebody ahead of them. What more if they were even slower than the people ahead of them.
If Malays were divided and ungrateful, then it must be the work of other section of Malays which called Umno as infidels and everything that Umno did was not beneficial and should be treated with impunity.
If the Malays lost their soul along the way, then religion is the only way to regain some of that back. Wouldn’t you agree? At least there’s a balance between spiritual progress and physical progress. It was a good balance. And by the way, Tun did not advocate extreme taliban like islamisation process. Other people did. If you believe religion and politics do not mix, then I would say you are quite wrong in your views. Politics are the subset of Islam. Islam I think encompass all. And of course, Tunku never declared we are secular nation. Where did you get that idea from? The Constitution puts Islam as the federal/official religion while the rights of other religion are also taken care of. We are not a communist country where religion takes a back seat. If that is the case, then not only politics and religion are separated, religion itself will lose its place in the society. In no time, society without religion as its integral part of its being will downspiral itself into apathy and social degradation.
I could not actually comprehend the last two parts of your comments. I am lost at what you are trying to actually say there. I apologise. But I am sure you’re made some points through.
Addition : I would say your assertion that “Under Tun bigots in race and religion was let loose” was quite wrong. Remember May 13, 1969 where bigots went on riots? That was under Tunku. And years before that, even before independence, racial clashes occured sporadically under the British. Thus the usual admonition that Malaysia, eventhough is blessed with multi cultural and multi religious citizenry, is also can be a cauldron of ethnic strife and racial tension if the country is not governed correctly and without some form of discipline.
Thank you.
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This is what happens when people underestimate TDM.
Kallimulah’s and Zaid’s rantings doesn’t mean much, especially when they contradict themselves every now and then.
Zaid Ibrahim’s has no credibility as highlighted by TDM more than once in his blog.
JMD, Would you know how much did they pay ex-gratia to the judges? And why no mention was made that the judges still receives their pension, some more than one pension.
Despite being highllighted for numerous occasions, people (Including me) still do not understand what exactly happened during the 1988 crisis. I think recently a panel set up by Bar Council declared that the sacking of judges was wrong.
IF you have time and recollection of events, please enlighten us on this issue as well.
Regards,
http://balankumarpremakumaran.blogspot.com/
JMD : Balan, no I do not know how much exactly they are getting.
For the story on the recent kangaroo panel, please refer to this :
http://sakmongkol.blogspot.com/2008/08/kangaroo-panel-and-tun-mahathir.html
For the judiciary crisis, please read all 7 articles in the ‘judiciary’ category. There was an indepth analysis on what had happened then.
Thank you.
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Zaid adalah ‘faktor’ yang mempercepatkan Dolah dilihat lemah dan lembek dan mempercepatkannya berambus dari kerusi Presiden UMNO dan PM. Zaid ‘to please’ Dolah untuk menutup dosa dan dungunya.
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JMD,
“An example of how Pak Lah handle criticism of his leadership? Detain bloggers under the Sedition Act or the ISA. That’s democracy alright. When Sabah and Sarawak MPs began to criticise Pak Lah after they did not get enough representatives in the cabinet, Pak Lah gave extra RM1 billion for each state in the form of shady development drive. How to quell the anger of vindictive ex judges? Give them ex gratia money. How to contain a potential mutiny by the grass roots? Give them each a kain pelikat. ”
Please post this part of your article to Koh Tsu Koon, the democracy creator.
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well JMD…I get a feeling that your blood is at boiling point ( judging from your article). That’s politics for you and you should know it.Integrity and honesty ain’t the key words of the day. Backstabbing and manipulating the truth is the main qualifications required.
Agreed that to blame TDM is not right. Making Pak Lah into some heroic leader or self sacrificing lamb is also not right. What can we do about it? Its all in the hands of the spin Drs.
Would things change if there’s a new leader? Some say yes…
I would rather wait and see
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salam JMD,
kepada saudara wan zaharizan, sudahkah saudara baca artikel JMD ‘Malaysian Roadmap for the Malays’ dated 29/8? basically its an interview of TDM with Mingguan Malaysia before he retired. Its a MUST READ article to those who accuse TDM of any wrongdoings before he/she really understands TDM.
Saya sebagai rakyat biasa, bukan ahli mana2 parti politik, bukan juga ahli korporat, semasa zaman TDM, tidak pernah pun merasa my ‘civil liberties getting trampled’. kecuali lah saya punya kepentingan yang tidak tercapai … apa yang saya tahu , rata2 ramai yang lebih rela kembali ke zaman TDM di mana kehidupan lebih senang/mudah dibanding sekarang, setiap hari dimana2 saja kita dengar orang komplen susah cari makan, barang mahal, barang jualan susah nak jual dll.
Mereka yang berkepentinganlah yang bertanggungjawab memisahkan ugama dan politik kerana melayu rata2 merasa sensitif bila saja memperkatakan hal ugama, mereka takut di cop munafik sekiranya banyak bertanya/bangkang. Mereka menuduh TDM mengamalkan ugama suku, politik suku tapi waktu sama mereka lah yang mula2 memberikan sempadan itu.
Islam Hadhari ? Bagi saya semuanya itu umpama satu slogan. seperti ‘Bersih, Cekap dan Amanah’. Betul…. bagus…. paklah ke merata dunia mempromosikan slogan hadhari beliau. Tidak ada apa yang salah dengan slogan dan huraiannya. Tapi ia cuma tinggal slogan ! Tidak ada apa bezanya dengan slogan PAS ‘membangun bersama Islam’. semuanya hanya rhetorik. hanya cakap2 ceramah semata. Tapi dari praktiknya ? contoh ‘rumah’ paklah sendiri, apakah ada perbezaan dari segi mutu dan budaya kerja pegawai2 kerajaan sebelum dan selepas slogan hadhari? pada saya sama saja… masing2 kerja seperti biasa cuma ditampal slogan baru dibawah nama jabatan masing2. kenapa paklah sejak akhir2 ini (terutama masa PRU12) tidak lagi memperkatakan tentang hadhari?
‘Islamic administration’ ? Kenapa perlu diberi label islam? Bukankah segala ciri2 murni yang ada selama ini sudah islam? atau belum cukup islam? ‘Bersih Cekap dan Amanah’ belum cukup Islam? Makanya saya katakan hadhari paklah cuma satu slogan.. tidak ada apa yang barunya. Cuma nama labelnya saja yang baru dan belum pernah orang dengar. Dan sekiranya saudara percaya ianya sesuatu yang baru, dinamik… paklah kan punya 4 tahun untuk mempratikkannya dalam pentadbiran beliau, asimilasikan konsep hadhari kepada semua pekerja2 kerajaan dulu, dan jika terdapat perubahan positif pada budaya dan mutu kerja mereka, tak payah kehulu hilir mempromosikannya, dengan sendiri konsep hadhari itu akan dipuji ramai. Tapi kenyataannya…? ia hanya slogan !
TDM bukannya maksum, bukannya tidak melakukan kesalahan. but look at the greater picture. jangan kerana beberapa perkara yang kita lihat sebagai kesilapan TDM ( orang lain mungkin tidak melihatnya salah ), kita tutup mata pada sumbangan positifnya yang lain yang pasti lebih besar.
Maaf sekiranya ada kata2 saya yang mengguris perasaan saudara. Ini cuma pendapat saya melalui pengalaman hidup saya sebagai rakyat biasa.bukan komen ya, siapalah saya nak komen pendapat orang lain.
JMD : Terima kasih di atas komen saudara.
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Rosmah Bakal Perdana Menteri Malaysia? (Bahagian 3): Sanggup Bunuh Untuk Lepaskan Diri
http://pistolair78.blogspot.com/2008/10/rosmah-bakal-perdana-menteri-malaysia_14.html
JMD : Hello Asmadi, nice cerpen you have there! Thank you for reading this blog. I see that you just started blogging. Welcome to blogosphere!
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Askm JMD,
My thoughts are directed at Wan Zaharizan.
We must agree that comments to be published in blogs ought to be sober, no profanity and ethical even we take a stand to be critical on certain issues
Honestly. I found it difficult to comprehend what he is driving at.A bit muddled up, would you agree , though the issues he is addressing are valid?
So I am not surprised that his comment did not qualify to be printed in TDM’ s blog. Otherwise, we know that TDM is a “sport “. Comments against him also get printed.
You are a ” better sport ” than TDM by publishing his comments.
Hang Kasturi.
JMD : Thank you Kasturi. Was in a hurry at that time which probably had confused me. Will relook at that comment again. Perhaps also, he was in a hurry to type those comments. We shall never know. Anyhow, I just realise I have regular readers with names of nearly all Hang Tuah’s friends. Lekir is missing though. But he is always like that. After he lost his little finger in a skirmish years ago, he becomes loner. That’s why he never gets invited to the royal hunting expedition by Sultan Mansur Shah! Damn I miss poking fun at Lekir… Heheh 🙂
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JMD/Wan Zaharizan,
If one were to write a history paper evaluating Mahathir’s tenure as Prime Minister against a backdrop of democracy, it would not be difficult to support Wan Zaharizan’s premise of a semi-democratic state that curtails civil liberties.
I can say with much confidence that Mahathir is not a supporter of Montesquieu’s separation of power and I recall 20 years back where he argued against the judiciary for attempting to overpower the will of a government elected by the majority of the population.
Having said that, as Fareed Zakaria in his book, The Rise oF Illiberal Democracy persuasively argues that a Government should not be judged solely on a limited set of criteria and a failure of which would cause the Government of the day to be definied as tyrannical.
A country that provides a limited democracy but confers economic prosperity and a better environment for living should also be a criteria for describing a successful Government.
Philippines and Singapore for example are at polar opposites when it comes to what democracy means, but if one were given a choice of a place to live, the choice would be very easy and obvious, Singapore of course.
Mahathir had the unenviable task of managing a country that is not culturally and ethnically homogeneous, a potentially hostile environment. He had his priorities correct, he chose to ensure economic prosperity of the people and a strong economy ahead of expanding civil liberties.
At the time Mahathir took the reins of Government, Malaysia and Philippines weren’t that different economically. What Mahathir did was to choose a different path and went ahead with a single minded purpose of creating an economic powerhouse while the Republic of Phillipines, scoffing at our choice, proceeded to ensure civil liberties. Would anyone now have preferred Mahathir to take the route that the people of Phillipines took ?
China and India is another example, while India has had a proud tradition of western style democracy, it has failed to uplift that standrad of living for much of its people and it’s economy pale in comparison to China, despite China’s very new flirtation with free market economy.
Inasmuch as I would love to scream to the top of my lung that democracy is alive when I see people marching to the streets, protesting at every available opportunity against anything that they find objectionable, I know that in a country like Malaysia, ethnic and religious diversity is a lethal brew that could ignite the flames of passion and could easily flow into a tidal wave of internecine strife.
Which reminds of the happenings after the fall of Soviet Union and the rush by the small states to adopt western style democracy without ensuring economic dignity of the people caused and had resulted in terrible wave of violence and poverty.
But, some people like to read what the West tells them and ridicule what we have achieved and cry that freedom has vanished in this blessed land of ours.
The West can violate principles of soveriegnty and invade another state on some false pretense, kidnap someone from far away land on the basis of suspicion and lock them up for torture in a third country that practices such heinous crime, economically sabotage another country, attempt to colonise/recolonise a soveriegn state in the name of free market and if you have the patience to read Robert Fisk’s book, read in horror what the Coalition of the Willing is perpetrating in Iraq…. but we are told that the West must be listened to, we are all dumb Asians that must be taught the ways of the white man, failing which we are all “recalcitrants”.
Having said that viva Las Vegas and I miss you Los Angeles.
JMD : Thank you Lekiu for the informative comments. I added new thoughts in that comment of his also.
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once dah xde raced based politics in the next few years i wonder what JMD will write about? Liverpool FC ke? kah kah kah
JMD : Possibly, I will write about Gerard Houllier who had foolishly sold Robbie Fowler to Leeds. Basically, I will write about how he sold a few gems but bought a few flops like Igor Biscan and Salif Diao.
What I am trying to say here, Gerard does not know a good thing if he sees one. DO you get my drift? 🙂
Oh by the way, race based politics will still be alive unless Lim Kit Siang stops being anti Malay.
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Salam JMD
Selamat Hari Raye.maaf zahir batin….been travelling of late….
I guess u “almost” got your number 1 wish eh….or shud we wait till march..
In the past 4+years Malaysian politician n the kuncu kuncu was down with some serious chronic kiss ass/ampu bodek crap virus that i think is beyond “meluat”……they even named a new species of orchid after his late wife when she was still alive……an orchid…..i think so many other deserving rakyat who had serious contributed to the nation would do much better….what in the world did she ever did for our nation…..
The number of pictures n billboards r just too much to stomach…i was back in KL for raye…..they even had this visit malaysia “sipadan island” billboard with Dolah, (Najib n azalina in d background….kelakar gile siut……just bloody ridiculous)……showla nice places to visit…….I tot i was in North Korea…thank god we’re a muslim country..if not they would have erected statues of him everywhere…….So “dictatorial”
i guess this is what happens when positions are inherited…via the “top 2 successorship” program in UMNO…thats just plain crap (ur post on 10 criteria for UMNO leadership selection did not directly address the so called “transfer plan” )
Take care ..wassalam..keep up the good work…i see ur past the 200K mark bro
JMD : Thank you.
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To your awnser when did tunku assert his believe that this is a secular nation, than JMD pls refer to the Star in his coloumn As I See It as publish in the paper. One of the reason of the operation lalang 1987 and the closure of the paper Star and Watan was this column.
So if you talk about muzzling the press, who was the Home Minister then? was it not Tun. As for Islam, well what type of Islam are you proposing. To the Arabs what they consider islamic is different than the liberal westernised Muslim who resides in the US and western world. To a bosnian Muslim it is different and so to the turks. Their differences show in their perception of life tentang hukum dan hakam. I am not going to dwell in that to much but sad to say perception plays an important part in human mind. I am againts divisive policy because my faith in my religion is not about pandering to slogans but i believe we have enough fragmentation in our mind between us to futher divide us with religion. Let it be separate because moral guidance is subjective and i believe should remain private. If I am wrong than you cannot blame taliban and the rest us unislamic because this is an extention of their faith however misguided they are as your belief predates it. To the taliban and the fundamentalist they are right, to you they are wrong but what justified them to be label as such. Conservatism has envelop the human race from the west to the east, and mixing religion and politics is potent especially in Multi racial Malaysia. This is my belief but promoting faith in any religion is positive to the nation but not labeling it like what Tun has started. I rest my case.
JMD : Actually, Tunku said this – ‘This country has a multi-racial population with various beliefs. Malaysia must continue as a secular State with Islam as the official religion’. He did not say, this country is a secular state fullstop. A lot of difference there.
Nevertheless, is Islam Hadhari in itself not a label? I am sometimes confused. At one hand you criticise the ‘labelling’ of islam, but in the comment before this, you applaud Pak Lah for creating Islam Hadhari.
Do you know why Operasi Lalang took place? Polcie did not want another May 13 to happen. Do you know when extremists ran free on the streets inciting hatred among the races, Tunku was too weak to do anything. Why? Because he championed democratic freedom too much. He did not do anything to ones who had pushed the envelope too far. In the end, May 13 occured. Did you know how many people were detained under the ISA at that time? Double the amount of people detained in Operasi Lalang.
Fortunately, no bloodshed occured back in 1987. As the police stamped out extremism before it gets way out of hand. 4 papers were banned at that time, among them was Watan – a malay newspaper with huge following. Like the Star and another chinese daily, it was banned because, naturally, they fought fire with fire. If these papers were not banned, the situation at that time will exacerbate into a nightmare for the country.
Actually, your line of thought contradicts your own conviction. What is it do you want? Separating Islam from governance? Then I think you abhor PAS’ idealogy. But at the same time, you seem to be defensive when concerning the Taliban.
When you say “Let it be separate because moral guidance is subjective and i believe should remain private”, Islam Hadhari says this in its 10 fundamental principles –
• faith and piety in the Almighty;
• a just and trustworthy Government;
• a free and independent people;
• the vigorous pursuit and mastery of knowledge;
• balanced and comprehensive economic development;
• a good quality of life for the people;
• protection of the rights of minority groups and women;
• cultural and moral integrity;
• safeguarding natural resources and the environment; and,
• strong defence capabilities.
Basically, islam and governance cannot be separated. It is infused in our day to day guidance. It is a good guide anyway. Ironically, to me, Islam Hadhari is actually nothing new. Pak Lah just rebranded the whole tenets of good governance in Islam into a package he calls Islam Hadhari.
By the way, when Tunku said ‘This country has a multi-racial population with various beliefs. Malaysia must continue as a secular State with Islam as the official religion, nation can still be functional as a secular state with Islam as the official religion.”
What does that mean? Was he just stating the obvious?
Read this too – http://www.mushahidhussain.com/articles/MalaysianModel.htm
Thank you.
p.s. – I like your writing on the origins of Negaraku. By the way, too bad I can’t comment in your blog as I do not have a google account! Will make one soon.
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sorry for the late reply my computer was down
JMD : You wrote in your blog that you are sad. Don’t be bro. We must always remain steadfast in our own conviction or beliefs. Stand for you believe in but always think rationally. Thanks!
http://kehidupanbozo.blogspot.com/2008/10/i-wrote-below-piece-as-part-of.html
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haha patut laa.. rasanya Wan Zaharizan ni org PKR ni.. Facebook friend dia si Tian Chua tu hahaha
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mini cooper, tien chuah share a common friend. I knew Nadia Bamahdaj and Halinah Todd whose son Kamal Bamahdaj were killed in East Timor 1991. I never met him hanya did correspond by email once or twice. I am not a member of PKR or any other parties. During APCET meeting in Kuala Luympur which was held close door under the order of Anwar with the consent of Tun this meeting were disrupted. Syed Hussein was there too, I do not compromise on my principle and never will. Tien Chua knows I disagree with Anwar and drop it please.
Who is right who is wrong in my disagreement with JMD. I will leave it to the readers to decide. As I said many a times I never deny Tun’s achievement. But for me let Pak Lah go with dignity. He made mistakes thus let him go, we need not go through the mudslinging. Enough is enough! JMD first statement contradict himself. I for once never go for labeling, Islam Hadhari or Islamization! As good Muslims we wear our faith in our action and ideas. We need not resort to labeling. When I was still in college I work for a circus as a handyman. It was tough work, so when the elephant trainer who was an American , complimented for my diligence and honesty, the word he uttered was it must be because of my faith. It make me proud as a Muslim, it was the greatest compliment. He was surprise I did not smoke or drink neither did I gamble, he remark it must be because of my faith, my religion. I say nay, I choose not to but I added my faith is my barometer and it help to strengthen my resolve. As I said we need not resort in labeling be it hadhari or otherwise. I leave it at that. Cukup disini saja JMD kita komen atas benda lain.
JMD : Thank you for the comment. Regarding Pak Lah, yes he must be given some form of respect as he is about to leave the scene. I wrote the article that criticised Pak Lah’s loyalists, whom in order to glorify Pak Lah, had belittled Tun Mahathir. I find that disturbing. That is why, I said in this article ‘This pitiful act of glorifying Pak Lah is just an attempt to make him look favourable within the history books in years to come. I would understand or even forgive these attempts by Pak Lah’s lackeys if they did not demonise Tun Dr Mahathir in the process. But what they are doing is wrong.’
If Kalimullah and Zaid Ibrahim want to glorify Pak Lah, please do it based on Pak Lah’s own achievements. There are a few things that Pak Lah can be proud of. They can even promote him as Bapa Kemasyarakatan or whatever. K-ekonomi or modal insan etc. If they want to present him in a favourable light, then do so honourably. Why the need to compare and belittle his predecessor?
Hence the reason for this article in the first place.
As for the labelling of Islam etc, here’s my take of the whole issue;
You said;
– Tun labelled Islam through islamisation process in Malaysia since the 80’s.
– Pak Lah put stop to all these rhetorical labelisation of islam through his Islam Hadhari concept
– You advocate separation of politics and religion
– You think religion is important but it is only the barometer of one’s resolve.
– Malaysia must be secular because mixing religion into politics will only produce bigots in society
As for the APCET meeting. What a brouhaha back then huh?
Thank you.
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what i do not understand is this..in order to feel superior..u say other people is inferior..keji innit?
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JMD,
I agree that you must be seething with anger by your tenor and one can’t hardly blame you.
Zaid must have had some kind of info or knew that the tide against AAB was irreversible hence his convenient resignation in a so called blaze of glory.
This is the same backdoor minister trying to reinstate the independence of the judiciary but was himself suspended by UMNO for unhealthy practices.
Interestingly thru TS Muhyddin initiatives, TUNMM had indicated his willingness to return to the UMNO fold and to me this was truly an excellent opportunity for AAB to offer an olive branch. And I believe this was TUNMM’s way to provide AAB a face saving way to invite TUNMM to return.
What transpired subsequently was wholely incredible in AAB’s statement in that TUNMM’s return required the Supreme Council sanction and was not discussed in its meeting.
Betul kurang ajar when a has been and traitor to UMNO like Ezam was accepted with open arms.
Why I say this is my anger at AAB for his statement that TUNMM should keep quiet as TUNMM is no more in UMNO.
I am sure TUNMM’s membership in UMNO is always in his love and spirit.
PS
The REDS keep on winning ugly. Can’t wait till they start winning beautifully
Regards
Freddie
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torres,
that’s how people with inferiority complex behave. 🙂
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