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How Pakatan Rakyat aspire to finance itself
Most people think that Pakatan Rakyat politicians are human beings with excellent moral values and integrity. They portray themselves as the people’s saviour against Barisan Nasional politicians which they accuse as the corrupt devils greedy for riches.
In actual truth, the politicians in Pakatan Rakyat are as greedy and as corrupt as the ones they are accusing. And since they always arrogate themselves as the epitome of goodness, this hypocrisy renders them even worse than their Barisan Nasional nemesis.
Take for instance Rafizi Ramli’s overzealousness in trying to create the perception that the LRT extension project, which had been awarded to George Kent – Lionpac consortium, was dubious and it should have been awarded to Balfour Beatty consortium instead.
And it was later discovered and exposed by this blog that Balfour Beatty’s main partner is Ingress Corporation Bhd whereby the main player in the latter is a close crony of Anwar Ibrahim. Luckily, the motive of Rafizi Ramli’s incessant accusations were uncovered and since then, he has been quiet about this issue.
Another example is how Tony Pua is belittling 1MDB and backed YTL over the tender of a power project. The blatant support for a corporation to win a multi billion was so unashamedly done, eyebrows were raised as to why a senior DAP politician would do that. Ironically, DAP which is very much known for its principles on socialism is now seem to be capitalist in nature. Are they shifting their raison d’etre when big money is involved?
Hypocrites rule the roost and Pakatan Rakyat’s lust for money and opulence can be seen openly. Otherwise, why would DAP politicians in Selangor who should be a socialist in nature, demand near 300% hike in their salaries?
The latest incident involve water crisis in Selangor will raise more eyebrows. For a start, this is the chronology of the whole fiasco:
PKR politics as we all know is very much a carbon copy of Umno’s but in one huge difference – they do everything much worse.
On Wednesday, the Federal and Selangor governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will facilitate the implementation of the Langat 2 water treatment plant project and the takeover of water assets in the state.
The MoU breaks a five-year impasse that has stalled the implementation of water projects in the country’s most industrialised state. - Source
However, PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli had claimed the party was in the dark about the MoU, and said the state executive councillors would be asked to explain.
PKR deputy president Azmin Ali said the Mentri Besar would be summoned to brief Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim once he returns from Japan.
“We want to hear Khalid’s side of the story as many are still in the dark about the details. We are concerned over whether there would be an increase in water tariff prices and whether there would still be free water for Selangor,” he said yesterday.
Anwar’s official Facebook page showed that the Permatang Pauh MP is currently in Japan.
It has been reported that several PKR leaders were not informed before the state signed the memorandum on the water restructuring exercise while it is unclear if Khalid has the backing of the top Pakatan Rakyat leaders over the deal. - Source
Zaid Ibrahim had a different take on why top PKR politicians was in the dark about the deal:
Kajang by-election contestant Datuk Zaid Ibrahim said that PKR adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim got “checkmated” by Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim on the water deal.
Zaid said it was too late for Anwar – who is apparently setting his sights on the office of mentri besar – to influence the deal that has just been struck between the Federal and state governments.
“It is too late. It is a checkmate for Anwar,” he told a packed press conference at his residence here yesterday.
However, PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli had claimed the party was in the dark about the MoU, and said the state executive councillors would be asked to explain.
But Zaid believed Anwar knew the MoU would be signed.
“I am sure Anwar knew about the deal …in the event a new mentri besar takes over from Khalid, he cannot do anything to ruin the deal.
“I think what Khalid did was right and I agree with him.
“At least the future of the Selangor people would be more secure with the end of the privatisation of water supplies,” he said. - Source
Zaid Ibrahim’s press conference can be seen as below. There are many sneak peaks on what Anwar Ibrahim intend to do once he will become Menteri Besar of Selangor inside the video.
And today Khalid Ibrahim told the public on why the water deal was made in such clandestine manner. Basically, he did not want the trio of vultures – Anwar Ibrahim, Rafizi Ramli and Azmin Ali to take over the water deal for their own benefit. This triad of political schemers had been working against Khalid Ibrahim since day one of the Kajang plot.
Some PKR top brass wanted to set price of water assets, says Khalid
SHAH ALAM: Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim disclosed that there were party leaders from PKR who were trying to influence the valuation of the water assets in the state.
He said some party leaders had introduced him to a few people who were trying to make their case as to why the pricing of the water assets should be higher.
“I have been an investment banker for so long that I look at the principle of valuation before determining the price (of the assets). I stood by my principle of valuation and set the price at RM9.65bil.
“These people wanted to set the price and wanted the valuation to justify their price,” he said in an interview with The Star yesterday.
Khalid also explained why the mechanics of the deal could not have been revealed to all and sundry in and outside of the party before the agreement with the Federal Government was signed on Wednesday.
He pointed out that the information, if revealed, would have an impact on the price of the stocks related to the water assets.
“I was also concerned about possible abuse of information and insider dealing. These are reasons why PKR leaders were not informed ahead of the signing on the water deal between the Selangor state government and the Federal government,” he said.
Khalid said he did not inform his party leaders due to those reasons to ensure that the implementation of the transaction was right and adhered to proper corporate governance.
Like George Orwell’s Animal Farm – the ones who think could be the saviour, will eventually become worse than the alleged oppressors once they have tasted power.
Apa lagi Cina mahu? Cina mahu terima rasuah!
The headline above summarises the article which Raja Petra had wrote a couple of weeks earlier.
Only Malays are racists
Raja Petra Kamarudin
So now the Indians are at it again, talking about Indian rights and Indian interests and whatnot. And with P. Waytha Moorthy’s resignation from the government I can anticipate a tug-of-war between MIC and Hindraf as to who is more Indian than the other. Hence MIC and the opposition will be out-bidding each other to convince the Indians that they have more to offer the Indians if the Indians vote for them in the Kajang by-election on 23rd March 2014.
And this is currently going on in the Kajang by-election campaign although campaigning should not start until Nomination Day. MCA and DAP are out-shouting each other as to who is more Chinese and who can better serve Chinese interests and fight for Chinese rights. And the United Chinese Schools Committee Association of Malaysia or Dong Zong is playing one against the other to see who is able to offer the Chinese a better deal.
What I am not too clear about is, what ‘rights’ are they are talking about? The right to vote? The right to citizenship? The right to converse in your mother-tongue? The Chinese and Indians talk as if they have been denied certain rights. But they never really clarify what rights they have been denied. Hence it sounds like mere rhetoric without substance.
At this point, some of you are probably going to say: what about the right of Christians to use Allah in the Malay Bible? Okay, that is one matter, although we can always argue that since it is the law that forbids this are you then saying that the Christians are being denied their right to break the law? Is this not a silly right to fight for, the right to break the law?
The solution to this is not to demand the right to break the law but instead demand that this ‘bad’ law be repealed. And Pakatan Rakyat, with 44 seats in the Selangor State Assembly, has the legal power to repeal this law. Then Christians can legally use Allah in the Malay Bible and they no longer need to demand the right to break the law.
So do that! Repeal that ‘offensive’ law! And this is the job of Pakatan Rakyat, not the job of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak since this is a Selangor law and not a Federal law.
The Indians are asking for the sky and the moon for their votes (Indians make up 10% of the Kajang electorate). The Chinese, who make up 40% of the voters, are doing the same.
In fact, they have already started. The Dong Zong chairman, Yap Sin Tian, said he hopes that “as the by-election is looming”, Anwar and the Selangor state government could help to resolve the issue involving the donation of a 100-acre campus land in Sepang to New Era University College which has been delayed for 14-years.
Yap also hopes that Anwar would allocate at least five acres of Selangor state land for the reinstatement of the Yu Hua Chinese secondary school, and ensure that higher education institutions under the Selangor state government would recognise the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) of Malaysian Independent Chinese secondary schools.
So it is going to be about how much you can give me. Pay me what I want and you get my vote. Don’t pay me what I want and I will vote for the other side — or if the other side can pay me more then they will get my vote.
If the Malays tell Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat the same thing, the non-Malays will say all sorts of nasty things about the Malays. The Malays are corrupted, the Malays are crooked, the Malays can be bought, and whatnot. But it is okay if the Chinese are Indians demand all sorts of goodies as gratuity to support those who are contesting the Kajang by-election.
The Chinese and Indians are not racists. The Chinese and Indians are just fighting for their rights and interests. Sure, and if the Malays also fight for their rights and interests, the Malays are racists. The Chinese and Indians can do this. The Malays cannot. I wonder if this has anything to do with the 10,000 years of Indian civilisation and the 5,000 years of Chinese civilisation?
In the effort to be truly Malaysian, the chinese must not resort in this kind of divisive and racist tactic as propagated by Dong Zong. Its intention to dangle their vote in return for the bribe Anwar Ibrahim should give them in Kajang is indeed unfortunate and devoid of any moral values. For a start, the 100 acre land they requested is not even in Kajang!
Can’t the average Malaysian see that this tactic of blackmailing politicians is just too atrocious and certainly, given that it is racist and divisive in nature, Dong Zong has certainly uncovered their wicked modus operandi.
Raja Petra is correct in reminding these racist chinese of what they have become. If Dong Zong has its way, Malaysia will be truly divided and very much impossible to stand united in harmony.
Although many of these group of chinese are shouting that they had been treated unfairly for the past 56 years, Raja Petra had put them in place and revealed their hypocrisy.
Playing the victim has always been the ammunition for DAP and Dong Zong and in recent years, this ammunition is sadly, being used by the chinese population at large. Perhaps as a perspective, we should ask these questions:
How many chinese got a place in public universities and received government scholarships since we achieved independence?
Zero? One hundred? Ten thousand? One million? Ten million? Where are they now? And why are they keeping quiet and not defending government’s policy?
A challenge to Rafizi Ramli to prove his sincerity
Apparently just now there was a live forum at Kelab Bangsar attended by Rafizi Ramli as one of it’s panellist.
What was said were telecasted via tweets by @R_Bangsar_Utama as shown below.
It is amazing that the tussle over state political power between Azmin Ali and Khalid Ibrahim was pathetically been diverted by Rafizi Ramli as a scheme to rein in the “racist” strategy propagated by Umno at national level..
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..and in his tears he asked people to punish PKR should they feel their Kajang Move was just a scheme to pacify the power struggle in PKR.
There is an easier way.
How about we challenge Rafizi Ramli and his group of PKR schemers and power hungry con men, not to put any PKR candidates in the coming Kajang by-election.
That way, people do not have to punish PKR and PKR if they are sincere, do not even have to take part, because they had triggered this fiasco and it is only befitting that they stay away from it.
This challenge will end till 12pm 31st January 2014 GMT +8.
If PKR do not announce their withdrawal from this by-election, then all sundry will know that Rafizi Ramli only shed crocodile tears and their pursuit for power is mainly individualistic and selfish. Centred only on one man and Rafizi Ramli as the loyal stooge.
It is sad that once long ago, Rafizi Ramli was thought of as a principled and honest man.
Open letter to Lim Kit Siang (and MCA)
Dear Lim Kit Siang and your heir apparent Lim Guan Eng,
Both of you had always shouted to Malaysian public that MCA is subservient to Umno in Barisan Nasional.
As the result, the chinese in Malaysia stopped supporting MCA in every general election since 2008.
But the latest fiasco pertaining the state assembly seat in Kajang proved one thing.
That your DAP and your partner in crime over hudud and ‘Allah’ issue – PAS, are very much subservient to PKR.
We would’ve guessed this will make your supporters very worried just because the fact that DAP and PAS seemed to have lost any semblance of political prowess although DAP and PAS have greater number of seats than PKR in the Selangor state assembly (now stood at 15, 15 and 13 respectively).
The usual vocal running dogs like Tony Pua, Hannah Yeoh, Teresa Kok and Ong Kian Ming are unusually quiet, in fact very timid in their reaction to this scheme concocted by an MP newbie Rafizi Ramli of PKR (or so he claimed).
Even Karpal ‘Anwar Ibrahim Mesti Bertaubat’ Singh is awfully quiet.
What happened? Is there a party which is more equal than others in this triad called Pakatan Rakyat? And that PKR rules the nest with impunity and as it pleases?
Your son Lim Guan Eng also said said he was not consulted over this matter in Selangor.
A matter so huge as in the post of Menteri Besar of Selangor and DAP as the senior partner was not even consulted!
My oh my.
It’s high time that both of you should apologise to MCA for all the allegations and unfair criticisms you had hurled towards MCA all these years.
Otherwise, both of you should not use the word ‘consensus’, ‘tolerance’, ‘unity’ and ‘partnership’ in any of your vocabulary because clearly, they do not exist in Pakatan Rakyat.
Perhaps, the more familiar words such as ‘dictatorship’, ‘gag order’, ‘power crazy’ and ‘rule by fear’ would be more suitable for you.
Anwar Ibrahim will stop at nothing in his race for power
Have a great day everyone.
Anwar Ibrahim the habitual liar?
When Bernama broke the news that Khalid Ibrahim never paid RM15 million to Anwar Ibrahim as what had been bandied about in the blogs for the past couple of days, Anwar Ibrahim and Pakatan Rakyat’s supporters must have given a sigh of relief.
Khalid nafi bayar RM15 juta kepada Anwar
SHAH ALAM – Menteri Besar Selangor, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim hari ini menafikan dakwaan kerajaan negeri membayar tuntutan elaun dan sebagainya berjumlah RM15 juta kepada Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim selaku Penasihat Ekonomi negeri.
“Perkara itu tidak betul,” katanya ringkas ketika ditemui pemberita selepas persidangan Dewan Undangan Negeri di sini.
Dalam pada itu, Setiausaha Akhbar Menteri Besar, Arfaa’ Eza Abdul Aziz ketika dihubungi Bernama, turut menegaskan dakwaan tersebut palsu dan Abdul Khalid tidak pernah membuat sebarang kenyataan dan ulasan mengenai tuntutan berkenaan.
“Pejabat Menteri Besar sendiri tidak pernah keluarkan kenyataan mengenai tuntutan Anwar dan saya berasa hairan bagaimana isu itu boleh timbul malah mendakwa pula ia disiarkan di laman web rasmi kerajaan negeri sedangkan itu tidak benar.
“Saya telah membuat semakan dan tiada berita sedemikian disiarkan namun tidak menolak ini permainan pihak tidak bertanggungjawab untuk mengeruhkan keadaan sedia ada,” katanya.
Beberapa laman blog baru-baru ini melaporkan Anwar didakwa membuat tuntutan kira-kira RM15 juta tahun lalu membabitkan tuntutan elaun pejabat, perjalanan ke luar negara dan perbelanjaan makan serta minum. – Bernama
But perhaps the journalists did not ask the right question. So how much did Anwar Ibrahim receive from Selangor state government regardless in terms of salary, claims, allowances, expense account etc?
In this regard, The Mole made a good verification and had revealed something of which Anwar Ibrahim gleefully knew and accepted but remain unknown by even the strongest supporters of Pakatan Rakyat.
Selangor paid Economic Adviser RM150,000 a year
KUALA LUMPUR : The Selangor government paid RM150,000 a year for 2012 and 2013 to its Economic Adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, not RM15million as alleged by certain quarters.
Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim’s political secretary Faekah Husin clarified that the RM150,000 a year allocation was approved by the state treasury and not by the Mentri Besar’s office.
There has been allegations, following the exorbitant pay hike of Selangor state assembly members, that state economic adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had also received about RM15 million in office allowances, overseas travel expenses and subsistence.
“It is not true. The Selangor state did not pay RM 15 million to Anwar. If the15 million was approved the mentri besar and his officers would not be facing such pressure as we are experiencing now.
“A sum of RM150,000 was allocated by the treasury in 2013 and it was the same provision in 2012,” Faekah said in a text message to The Mole.
She reiterated that the RM150,000 a year for the state Economic Adviser was not paid by the menteri besar’s office but Faekah did not elaborate on the ‘pressure’ faced by Khalid and his officers.
Khalid has also denied reports that he had issued a statement on his Economic Adviser’s RM 15 million claims and allowances.
“The Menteri Besar’s Office never issued any statement on Anwar’s claims. I am surprised how the issue came about, even saying it was posted on the state government official website,” he was quoted as saying.
PKR Wanita chief, Zuraida Kamaruddin said she was not aware of the RM15 million allocation for Anwar. She said the allegations were libelous.
” As far as we are concerned, Anwar’s paycheck is only RM1″, she said when contacted.
Anwar, Azmin and several other PKR bigwigs had recently critised Khalid for being a stingy state leader who was more focused in increasing the state’s cash reserves than serving the people.
Anwar Ibrahim had always took pride in his arrogant piety that he is willing to work for the Selangor state government for just RM1 in return per month. And he told everyone about this. What a good man he is, willing to sacrifice monetary benefit just to serve the people. One day, he will be the greatest Prime Minister this country ever had. But in actual fact, he gets so much more as the report above stated.
Do you think a habitual liar and a non-transparent megalomaniac can become a good leader, more so a good Prime Minister? And all this concerns Khalid Ibrahim as well for not being forthcoming in how much does the state is really paying this God’s Gift to Mankind. In this regard, Khalid Ibrahim is a liar too.
You pay money to monkeys and you won’t get anything, not even peanuts.
We now have popular Umno leaders
“Perhaps the less we have, the more we are required to brag.”
- John Steinbeck from his book, East of Eden
The majority of the thinking society would feel that a political leader needs to be inherently intelligent enough to know that doing things right is paramount than doing things just to be popular.
Take for example the previous Prime Minister. He wanted to do things which will make him popular with a few factions of people which in the end, led him to become the shortest serving Prime Minister in the history of Malaysia (at 5 years and 5 months, less than Tun Hussein Onn’s at 5 years and 6 months).
Being popular is good for a career in politics but that must be complimented with genuine hardwork and results which people can really see and experienced.
If wanting to be popular for the sake of being popular then people can easily see through the leaders’ smokescreen and be exposed as fake, or a con-artist. Not so much a leader, but a buffoon trying too hard to be popular.
The current Prime Minister and his cabinet has this tendency to be popular with the masses while disregarding the concept of good leadership. We can see the apex of the attempts to gain popularity concocted up by his advisors during the run up of the recent general election.
Ranging from giving too much money to vernacular schools, running election campaigns much akin to the US Presidential election (personality-driven) rather than a cohesive, BN driven (coalition-centric) campaigns, repealing important laws just to pander towards opposition sponsored ‘human rights’, etc.
But all these bending over backwards just to become popular did not yield the returns that they had hoped for. In fact, just as we had foreseen, the majority of the people saw it through and were not impressed. Popularity is never about one-off announcements to wow the crowd. It has never been about shock-factor (just to borrow a few of consultants’ jargons), quick-wins or ‘picking the low hanging fruits’.
Having a crowd to pat you on the back after giving out goodies to people will not make you more popular.
Even Winston Churchill kept perspective on the crowds that gathered to hear him speak by conceding they would be twice as big if they gathered to see him hanged.
Popularity is a series of leadership by example, a series of doing the right things and not flip flopping on decisions that will make you be seen as less intelligent. Above all, popularity will come when you do not seek it.
It’s all about action and results.
Actively trying to be popular without any substance to begin with will only make you look pathetic. Just look at Anwar Ibrahim for example. Those with critical thinking knew him as a snake oil salesman, who would sell his principles just to be popular. Even a foreign publication had called him a chameleon.
Even in his hey days of popularity back in 90s, that couldn’t make him last long in politics. As history sees it, his popularity did not save him from falling in disgrace – exposed for his inefficient handling of the 1998 currency crisis and engaged in morally wrong conduct.
On the contrary and of course as a lesson to the current crop of leaders, going against the tide will often make you last longer in politics.
Take Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad for example. He did several unpopular things during his premiership which will bring dread even to the most courageous of politicians. He sacked Anwar Ibrahim at the height of his deputy’s popularity, he clashed against the monarchy and kept their behaviours in check when a few of the rulers were misbehaving and unruly towards the people. These were extremely unpopular decisions at that time and could spell an end to a political career if popularity is what a leader seek.
But it was the right thing to do and Tun Mahathir did it because it was good for the people.
He even agreed to accept all 600,000 members of Semangat 46 back into Umno’s fold in 1996 for the sake of malay unity – a decision which was highly unpopular among Umno members when the likes of Rais Yatim, Tengku Razaleigh and Shabery Cheek returned to Umno after nearly 8 years as an opposition in Semangat 46.
In 1984, after Musa Hitam defeated Tengku Razaleigh again for the post of deputy president in Umno General Election, Tun Mahathir still appointed the latter as a minister eventhough Musa Hitam, a powerful Deputy Prime Minister and a Home Minister at that time was so much against it.
But he still appointed Ku Li nevertheless as the minister in MITI (albeit downgraded him from the Finance Minister post) since Ku Li is a capable leader and as the malay proverb goes – “kalah sekali, bukanlah kalah semua.”
Tun Mahathir made many unpopular decisions – be it concerning the capital controls during the currency crisis, his unwavering stance in curbing racist and religious extremists as well as his decisions to chastise the west and the jews for their hypocrisy and terrorism.
All these led him to become the longest serving (at 22 years 3 months) Prime Minister in the history of Malaysia.
Can we imagine any of the Prime Ministers after him doing such unpopular things? Of course we can’t. What is lacking in the current crop of Umno leaders is gumption and the believe of doing things right. In its place is the mistaken belief that their careers will last longer if they are popular. Unfortunately, they had got it backwards.
And it’s also a fact that Tun Mahathir is arguably the most popular Prime Minister we ever had. He is a walking and living brand and is a successful one at that. And all that stemmed from the fact of doing things right and not wanting to be popular.
How many times have we hear him say that he is merely stating the truth and do not care what people think about him? Plenty of times. He lives by his principles and sticks to it like glue.
On the contrary, what we have now are Umno leaders desperately trying to be popular.
Take for instance, the Ketua Pemuda Umno who is also the Minister of Youths and Sports. Apparently the day the kalimah Allah judgment was read out in the Courts of Appeal, the youth wing leader of agama bangsa dan negara party was more busy tweeting and promoting himself for a popularity contest.
The winner of this popularity contest will be announced this Saturday
The Shout Awards is a popularity award show organised by Media Prima to honour popular artists in the field of music, tv, movies and radio.
But lo and behold, a minister crept in and found himself in the nominees list as well!
How more pitiful (deserving or arousing pity) can you be when you are already a minister but still want to vie in a popularity contest? A contest where you are not really in sync with any of the categories mentioned.
Truly this is a new low for Pemuda Umno and Umno as a whole. In the face of current issues facing the party and the malays such as the attacks on the kalimah ruling by the liberals, as well as on other fronts, did the Pemuda Umno made any statements to defend the position? The only notable but half hearted statement by Pemuda Umno was when they seek explanation over news of US spying from its KL embassy.
Apart from that, the now liberal Pemuda Umno Malaysia is more than happy to enter popularity contests or collect Pakatan Rakyat leaders as their fans. God forbid, even the incorrigible Lim Kit Siang is the number one fan of Ketua Pemuda Umno now.
Nobody pointed a gun to his head and made compulsory for him to join this fluffy event. Yet he is there, tweeting and soliciting votes from the masses to vote for him for this award.
The ridiculousness of this glam-craze escapade underlines a bizarre, yet comical attitude of the Ketua Pemuda in wanting to be popular at all cost. The less he have, the more he is required to brag.
But since this is an era of liberalism and where Umno leaders want to be popular regardless if they have any substance at all, we should not be surprised. The Prime Minister and his myriad of advisors themselves are also in the forefront and believer of populist movement.
Just sit back and enjoy the entertainment all these leaders are providing us. After all, Umno is now a play and some of their leaders are actors.
Thank you.
_____________________________
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The case of Khairy – won the social media, lost the votes
I want to applaud a blogger at the blogsite http://www.fatimahzuhri.blogspot.com for a really good article on history. As someone who is fascinated with the history subject, I can’t help but to agree with what the blogger Fatimah Zuhri had to say.
Below are some of the snippets of the said article – you can read the whole article (please do) by clicking the link I provided above. There are many more gems in the original article.
Open letter to Malaysian: Why do we need to learn history?
Dear Malaysians,
1. Today, the Prime Minister has appointed a controversial figure (let us name him Mr KJ) to become a Minister. Since we are living in a free and open democracy, please allow me to give my opinion on this appointment.
2. Firstly, I respect the Prime Minister prerogative in appointing his cabinet but that does not mean we should stay silent.
3. Exactly 30 years ago, a controversial bloke (let us called him Mr AI) was appointed as a full minister – Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports. He was appointed to this ministerial position after he defeated SK for the Youth Leader position the year before. He was also at that time a member of Parliament after winning the PP seat.
…..
5. AI was and still is considered the best in terms of oratory skill in Malaysian politics. Many of the world dictators are brilliant orator – Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini. Mao, etc . In Multi level marketing (MLM), you sell yourself and your product to get people attention. In Pasar Seni, fraudsters sells snake oil to get people attention and usually they will show documents and so called ‘evidence’ to get people attention.
Similarly, Mr KJ is also a good orator. He uses his academic credential as his testimonial. When someone try to criticize him, his supporters will throw the J-word. His products? When he first came to prominence, he was selling the Malay agenda as his product. He was so adamant of this agenda that one of his goons provoked the then Youth Leader to show ‘the keris’. However, lately, he has change his tune and try to re-brand his product similar to what Mr AI did.
…..
7. It will be most interesting to see in the next couple of years how Mr KJ will use his position to influence the youth. My bet is that he will exactly do what Mr AI did when he was KBS and then later on, Education Minister. Back then, Mr AI abused his position to make himself an idol for the youth. Instead of promoting UMNO as a brand, he was promoting himself as the brand. This self-branding was continued in a large scale effort when he was appointed Minister of Education.
For the past 5 years, Mr KJ has done nothing as Youth Leader to improve the perception amongst the youth towards his party. Instead, he was busy promoting KJ as the brand, as a result he is considerably well-known in the social media world. This is just a sample of things to come.
…..
9. There is no such thing as new politics. Politics is old. When Mr AI was DPM, he used his minions in the mainstream media to project an aura of ‘greatness’. Mr KJ uses social media to project his ‘greatness’. At the end of the day, the objective and the desired result is still the same. Mr Prime Minister, you were with Mr AI since the Youth days, are you too blind to see that Mr KJ is exactly like him? I do understand it is politically suicidal if Mr KJ was not given a position since he has branded himself well especially amongst the youth. So in GE14, please put him in a mixed or Chinese majority seat in Klang Valley.
A pretty good read I reckon.
Which is all true nevertheless. When Khairy Jamaluddin was not selected to be in the cabinet in 2009 and was given the amanah by the Prime Minister to concentrate on the youth and get them to vote for Barisan Nasional, he did none of that.
Instead, he cultivated idol worshipping among the easily impressed younglings. Instead of getting the young voters to vote for Barisan Nasional, he stressed on his own public image. He created the Barisan Nasional Youth Volunteer fan club just to help elevate his brand. The Khairy 2.0 is what his sycophants had chanted back in 2009.
But in stark contrast, this Umno Youth leader never did get any new votes from the newly registered young voters nor any votes from the fence sitters below 40. Did Barisan Nasional as a whole get the majority of votes from voters below 40 years old?
Hence, the illusion that was created, the hype that has been bandied around that Khairy is a ‘rising star’ is exactly just that – a hype. When the twitter army created through BNYV and other groupies specifically tasked to bomb the social media with his ‘endeavours’ and ‘effort’, it didn’t translate into what the PM had hoped for.
Moreover, the social media unit of Umno Youth is more disjointed than ever with wrong strategies being placed. If Khairy had given more focus onto the Umno Youth wing, perhaps this could be avoided. But individualistic tendencies kept him focussed on his personal vehicle – the social media and the BNYV.
Just like how Anwar Ibrahim did with NST and Utusan back in the 90s, Khairy is using the social media to further his political exploits. Up until Wednesday, that exploits went into viral when his minions pre-empted the PM himself by saying their leader may not be appointed as minister because a former premier is against it. As a result, out of the blue, the old man’s name was dragged into the social media ruckus.
If Tun Mahathir wants to weaken the PM, he wouldn’t have campaigned tirelessly for him. And is KJ really pro-Najib?
Nevertheless, if their ‘exalted’ leader couldn’t get into the cabinet, the minions’ own future and potential benefits will look dim. And yet these are the same people who said, this is not the time for divisive personal interest.
How pathetic for some silly people to even drag a statesman into their own psywar just because they themselves are afraid of their own future. The statesman had been a minister for nearly 30 years and Prime Minister for 22 years and still, some wet behind the ear politician and his lackeys felt the need to vilify him? Just because he is afraid he couldn’t get to be a minister?
Please bear in mind it was only in early April he offered not to contest in GE13. Perhaps the article – drama or greed, would be the best read for this kind of situation.
But the fact of the matter is this – we need to be wary when history is repeating itself. From just plain observation, we can see that Khairy is not sincere in helping the party nor the coalition. Yes he revel himself in debates with opposition figures. But that is just to promote himself among the savvy youths. But did Barisan Nasional win more votes from the youth?
No.
In fact, the urban youths voted for Pakatan Rakyat.
There is also this principle that one must always use in politics. When the enemy hates you, you are doing the right thing. But when your political enemy is loving you, then something is indeed wrong.
In the case of Khairy, who can ever forget the fact that Rafizi Ramli invited him to join Pakatan Rakyat no less than 3 times during their debate in London last year!
Rafizi was practically begging Khairy to join Pakatan Rakyat!
And the latest incident, to the chagrin of many Barisan Nasional members and to the befuddlement of fence sitters, Lim Kit Siang complimented Khairy as if Khairy was the next best thing that came down from the celestial heavens.
One criticism of the Cabinet announced by Najib yesterday is its distinct lack of “star” or “wow” quality.
The only person who stands head and shoulder over the rest of the Cabinet line-up in intellectual prowess is the Oxford graduate, UMNO Youth leader, Khairy Jamaluddin, but who had stepped on too many toes in his heyday as the son-in-law to Tun Abdullah in the brief period his father-in-law as the Prime Minister in Malaysia.
I had in fact had occasion to castigate Khairy in Parliament as the “richest unemployed youth in the world” when he was too big for his boots. I hope that in his many years in “wilderness” eating humble pie although he has UMNO Youth leader, conspicuously sidelined from government front-benches although his deputy was made Deputy Minister, have taught him the qualities of humility.
His final rehabilitation in being appointed to the Cabinet is however a great let-down, as his appointment to the comparatively minor Cabinet portfolio of Minister for Youth and Sports is a great injustice when he should be appointed to more substantive responsibilities.
In all our lives, have we ever heard Kit Siang gave such accolades to an Umno leader? Unless there is an ulterior motive to it, (such as his praise towards Tengku Razaleigh during the period where Ku Li was pandering towards Pakatan as well as the false magnanimity on Ghani Othman), Lim Kit Siang would rather lick sandpaper than to give such praises. And Kit Siang was not the only leader in Pakatan that had commended Khairy; there were many, many more. His perceived ‘value’ must be really, really high here in the political atmosphere.
And just like any other spineless and unprincipled politician of his ilk, Lim Kit Siang seemed to whitewash and forgotten all the accusations of corruption that he had levelled against Khairy pre-2008. We can see since last week, many foes from the opposition political parties that had once lambasted him had clearly forgiven him and commended his appointment. This is psychologically possible because they see him as someone who could not command the majority of youth to vote for Barisan Nasional. To vote for him, yes. But not Barisan Nasional. Obviously, this is beneficial for the opposition. Khairy and his supporters will call this – mature politics or politics of unity or politics of empathy or bipartisan politics or whatever justification his team want to sugarcoat his intimacy with the political opponents.
Newsflash, everytime the fence sitters or the easily swayed youths see a Barisan Nasional politician agreeing and pandering with Pakatan Rakyat’s politics, why would they vote for Barisan Nasional at all?
And just like how Anwar did it in the 90s, Khairy seems to appear more frequently in the mainstream media since his appointment than any other ministers more senior than him. It is on daily basis now.
But sadly, what he gave in return for the past 4 years upon being given the task by the party president was not satisfactory. Only hype. Only fluffy events. Only public relations stunts. The important thing – translating new voters and support into votes – were close to zero.
Umno Youth used to be the pressure group, the one that will act should there were any extremist groups bent on toppling the delicate balance of the social contract, were going overboard. But for the past few years, have we heard anything from Umno Youth? They seem to have lost their testicular fortitude. With regards to the current demand by Dong Zong, what is Umno Youth going to do about it? Just lay low and continue to let them rebuke those two highly respected academician and judge? Just because they were talking ACCORDING to the Constitution?
The Secretary General of DAP also wants an Umno vice president and the Home Minister to apologise over an innocuous statement. What will Umno Youth do? Issue warning through twitter bots and fake twitter accounts? If they are not sleeping, this would be the most manly thing they would do.
How about Ngeh Koo Ham’s tacit insolence towards the Sultan of Johor? Any idea when will Umno Youth let out a squeak?
All these signs are not good. The writing is on the wall. The Prime Minister is sleeping and being serenaded by dozens of advisers. If failure to perform is rewarded by ministership, then the least the Barisan Nasional supporters would demand is, to see a real change among the youths so that they will vote Barisan Nasional in the next general election. And that change certainly won’t be led by Khairy Jamaluddin. Judging by his past performance, it is beyond his selfish persona to actually work FOR the benefit of his party i.e., by getting the much needed votes. Umno Youth has become a lame duck.
Penetrate through the smokescreen and you’ll see only hype but no results.
But what can we expect from someone who got into his position not through merit? Do we honestly think he won the position of deputy Youth leader uncontested back in 2004 through pure merit? Back in 2009, although he was found guilty of corruption by the Umno disciplinary board but by virtue of being the son in law of the Prime Minister at that time he could continue to contest and eventually won the Umno YOuth chief post amidst allegations of bribery and money politics. All that is not merit. And we thought an Oxford graduate could win on his own two feet and save the world singlehandedly. Arguably, he could not even deliver Saluran 4 and 5.
Unless of course he can prove it once and for all in this new ministry whether more youth and new voters will vote for Barisan Nasional. But then again, I want to tell the ordinary Umno members, please do not get your hopes high.
The Minister in a TuneTalk T-shirt inadvertently promoting his close friend’s company.
Popular votes vs Parliamentary votes (a note to Nurul Izzah)
Today Nurul Izzah issued a tweet which beguiled us all. She has the belief that Barisan Nasional is effectively a minority government. Although her loose coalition of DAP, PKR and PAS had the majority of the votes, she felt shortchanged for the fact that her ambition to see her father installed as the Prime Minister is curtailed yet again. This also implies, in her own mind that the current government does not have the legality to govern this country.
With this blatant misconception of truth and apparent lack of knowledge on the current Malaysian voting system have raised a few unsavoury spectres most notably the Pakatan’s resident spaniel, Haris Ibrahim who told us that his group will topple Barisan Nasional government by end of this year.
As a background, in the just concluded general election, Barisan Nasional received 46.9% of votes while parties in Pakatan Rakyat received 50.9%. There was approximately 4% difference amounting to 361,000 votes. Basically, out of 13 million registered voters in Malaysia, BN managed to get 5.3 million votes while DAP, PAS and PKR managed to get 5.6 million votes. About 2 million voters did not vote in the recent general election.
Now this is where Nurul Izzah and the rest of the leaders in Pakatan Rakyat (including lawyers) got it wrong.
Our election system is not through popular voting. We vote via a parliamentary system.
Among the countries that use pure parliamentary system are Canada, Turkey, Austria, Germany, Italy, Israel, Australia, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, and India.
Even the United States uses electoral system, and not popular votes to choose its President.
So how exactly does Malaysia and the nations that use parliamentary system select their government? In layman terms, it is like this:
The country is divided into districts or, parliamentaries. All registered voters will select one candidate from a particular political party as winner in each parliamentary and this winner will represent them in the Parliament (the Dewan Rakyat).
A party with the majority of winners in the combined parliamentary seats (all 222 of them) will become the federal government. That is why, in our democracy, getting the majority of seats (as opposed to getting the majority of votes) is important. The reason for this is purely simple – it protects the rights of the people in the less populated states and is a cornerstone of our federal vs states relationship.
Didn’t opposition leaders tell us too many times that it is time to decrease federalism in this country?
Wouldn’t it be unfair if what Nurul Izzah is propagating is accepted as the basis to form a government, then the battle to become Federal Government is decided by the people in west coast Malaysia and not by the rest of Malaysia!
The recent statistics in our last general election are simple to read – DAP won bigger majorities in seats within urban areas while Barisan Nasional won bigger number of seats but with much, much smaller majorities. As a matter of fact, the combined majority of Teresa Kok and Kim Kit Siang is already 65,000 votes. Hence, the opposition garnered bigger number of votes but obtained smaller number of seats.
This is possible because we work in the current operating system called, the parliamentary system. Let’s put this into perspective – you have been using the iPhone and living under the iOS system all this while and yet when things didn’t go your way, you complain about the iPhone because it doesn’t use the Android system.
That argument is impractical and inconsequential.
The ultimate fact, which no matter how the opposition trying to spin is, Barisan Nasional won bigger number of seats and that fact is enough for it to form the Federal Government in the parliament.
So what is the correct definition of a popular voting? It is actually irrelevant in the context of Malaysian democracy system.
Another analogy on popular votes. Thank you @apik68
For whatever reason people lose, the delusion that they had won the general election is perhaps the most pathetic kind of excuse for a sore loser could come up with.
Even their lawyers got the term ‘minority government’ wrong. Minority government simply means, when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a hung parliament election result.
Simply put, Barisan Nasional is neither a minority government nor the fact that it doesn’t have the legality to form a government. It fulfils both criteria and what Nurul Izzah must understand is that ignorance of our electoral system is not a good sign of a leader with a sound mind, particularly since she is a parliamentarian herself.
Better yet, we seriously do not need a Pakatan gangster in the form of Haris Ibrahim who strongly claimed they will topple the government by this year because they are too impatient and too greedy to wait:
“We will take to the streets and take over Putrajaya. If we really want to overthrow them, there is no other way. Democracy does not work. The people cannot wait anymore. We don’t want to wait another five years. We will take the streets.”
Ironic that people who extol democracy and freedom to choose are the ones who refuse to believe in those things. Orwell’s Animal Farm comes to mind. I believe we have found another Napoleon, the pig.
All the Napoleons in the Animal Farm
Top 10 Little Uncircumspect, Uncircumcised Reasons for the Malay Vote Swings in PRU-13
I received this article from Apocryphalist for the benefit of all readers out there. His other articles on other matters can be read here and here.
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Top 10 Little Uncircumspect, Uncircumcised Reasons for the Malay Vote Swings in PRU-13
A total political tsunami, including a massive exodus of malay voters swinging over to the Pakatan, would have happened had it not been for some minor silly mistakes that the entire PR machinery had brought about. Remember: the kingmakers are the rakyat. And in particular, the Kampung folks and the deep suburban housewives and youngsters, and the oil palm plantation workers and the estate rubber tappers. The east coast fishermen and the west coast factory workers. These are the silent giants, the mute decision makers. You won’t want to cross them. And crossing them was what happened in the recent election. Let’s have a look at some of them here: some of them had been gelled for some time already, while some of them emerged just a few days before election day:-
1) Cute But Vulnerable Election Slogans. It’s good to have catchy little slogans that people can carry and shout around, not to mention to make stickers with which you can stick everywhere. But if you do that, can you please make sure that they are soooo invincible that it leaves no one, and I mean no one, able to find alternative, albeit equally catchy, phrases? So for example:-
a) Asalkan Bukan UMNO. Or ABU, as created by lawyer Harris Ibrahim. Almost overnight, its sensation and impact drizzles down when the pro-Umno guys came up with an alternative of what the acronym really stands for: Allah Bersama UMNO! Yes, that Allah that the DAP wants to share, remember? But frankly, among the kampong folks, which one do you think is more appealing: the Asalkan Bukan one or the Allah Bersama one?
b) Ini Kali Lah. I thought this one would be cute too, when lo and behold, the BN Dead Poets Society came up with their own version of what the PR reeeeaaaalllly means: Lain Kali Saja Lah …
2) Cute and Witty but Harmful Remarks. Irrespective of how much you hate Dr Mahathir, no one (apart from some die-hard Mahathir dissenters in Rocky Bru’s comment columns) would so much hate the former Prime Minister vehemently. So imagine your PR number one man saying something like “Kalau mahu mati, mati saja lah …” So the karma goes back to him. And what about that do’a by the brother of Nik Aziz: “KO UMNO! KO UMNO! KO UMNO!” So it got the common and ordinary folks into thinking … hey this is really unbecoming of a group of people who claims truth and righteousness side with them. And they voted …
3) Cute Little Multimedias. Well, we’ve seen them all. The mirip Anwar sommersaulting the China Doll. The mirip Anwar groping a guy’s scrotum in a hotel room. The mirip Anwar sweet-talking a boy in another hotel room, believed to be the rudimentary beginnings of foreplay. Then there’s the mirip Azmin Ali offering some Cornetto to a lady friend in a bathroom. The mirip Stopa Ali asking his … err… wife… to massage him for RM1400 after … err… performing his duty as a husband. Yes yes I know. People are tired and loathsome with all these raunchy videos, but then, they either go back to their homes believing that UMNO is such a GRRREEAAAT filmmaker to come up with movies so very much like the original people that even great Hollywood directors could not do, or … there MAY be something to it. There MAY be something to all these allegations and proofs after all. And they thought and they thought. And then they voted.
But the voters look beyond these videos and multimedia. They observe silently, pool all the information they gather around them, and put two and two together. For example, this is what they have been thinking:
- Nasharuddin Isa takes a trip with Najib to meet some Mid East scholars and he’s expelled? (When he was shown flanking ranks with some DAP harbis he was considered a hero)
- Hassan Ali insisting that malay-filled Shah Alam should not be selling alcohol in public and raided a premise that did, and when he opposed Ronnie Lieuw to ask the government to “put them alcohol back”, he was expelled?
- When Stopa Ali’s mirip video was shown, the entire PAS machinery deem it Unislamic to expose a person’s keaiban? But much earlier Hadi Awang goes on record to say that it is okay to expose the wrongdoings of a leader, and he means his raunchy ones too, if it is for the reason of telling the voters what kind of man that that particular leader is. He was, of course, referring only to BN leaders.
- When PR leader championed LGBT, Pluralism, Israeli rights etc, none of the PAS leaders bat an eyelid?
4) A Little Over-the-Top Be Bop Flip Flop. Well how would you like to vote for leaders who, at one point says that there shall be no hudud and thereafter says that there shall. First the name of Allah can be used by those who don’t believe in His Oneness and then (for the sake of votes) say that they can’t. First you say Lynas will produce mutant babies and therafter say that it is safe. If you can flip before elections, say the voters, what makes you think that you cannot flop right after it?
5) The Lahad Datu Fiasco. Reports of Tian Chua and Sivarasa’s trip to Manila just before the intruders intruded, and Nur Misuari’s open support for PR as well as Anwar Ibrahim’s meeting before him prior to the fiasco, made people wonder just what the hell is going on. But when lives are lost, they decided they if they can’t defend their sovereignty using guns, they would do so using their voting rights. And they did.
6) The Open Zionist Israeli support for the PR. Oh Brother! Of all these 10 reasons, this one is perhaps the stupidest of all. I mean, what were they THINKING? And who was it that convinced those Israeli firsters to shoot a video of themselves and send it to Ziono-phobic Malaysia to gain votes? I mean, I would even to start believing that there are certain sections in DAP out to sabotage the party by convincing them to do this one up. Either that, or the DAP really should replace their strategists. This point is self-explanatory.
7) Increasingly glaring revelations by Anwar’s closest friends and aides. Yes. The ones who know Anwar rightly and deeply are not the Surendrans or the Sivarasas or the Rafizi Ramlis who just got to know Anwar only since last year or so. The people who were with Anwar for like more than 4 decades—the ones who created ABIM together with him, who supported him even before he was UMNO, the ones who were his schoolmates, the ones who defended him in court 15 years back, the ones who taught together with him in Yayasan Anda right during the days when Anwar still goes around in buses in rubber slippers. These are the ones who have left him, for good reasons. And the reasons, the gory details for their doing so, is scattered everywhere in the the net. And it’s not a pretty picture, I tell you!
8) Saiful’s Kaabah Sumpah Laknat. Folks, do not belittle the power of Sumpah Laknat. You know, the one that starts with Wallahi, WaTallahi, WaBillahi … A muslim can rob, a muslim can steal, a muslim can entertain his neighbour’s wife playing konda-kondi wearing expensive Calvin Klein socks and nothing else, but ask him to perform this sumpah, he wouldn’t dare. And in front of the Kaabah? Doubly wouldn’t dare. And isn’t this the very exact introductory sumpah that became the pivotal statement of Najib’s oath as a Prime Minister in front of the Agong yesterday? And let’s say, takdirwise, and nau’zubillah, that Anwar DID become prime minister. Wouldn’t he have to undergo the same sumpah in front of the Agong? That very sumpah that Anwar says is unislamic, unnecessary and above all, means nothing? And latest is, just a few days before the polls, came the exploding revelation of this former Anwar aide by the name of Rahimi. He was a close friend to Saiful, and man! Those who had any doubts in Saiful before, better be hearing this guy out. The details, the very clear picture of what happened at the heights of the Saiful allegations on Anwar, those few hours preceding it … there is absolutely no way at all that this guy could be lying. Who else would know that much detail? And equipped with all this, the silent voter goes to the polls.
9) Very dubious Characters of PR strongmen. And very strange ones too, not to mention horny. First they caught a PAS guy doing acrobatics with another man’s wife inside a train—caught red handed by the jilted husband himself! Brought him to the Tok Guru, and the latter, in the manner of a Catholic Pope, announced that said playboy had already been pardoned by Allah! Luckily no monetary indulgences were necessary. And then they trapped this PKR biggie talking to a mole in the internet, who was able to convince the guy to open up his pants and beat his meat in front of the camera. And then they sort of put two and two together, and lo and behold, suddenly Mat Sabu’s Room 121 case, Ustaz Badrul Amin’s tryst with another guy’s wife in hotel room etc etc seem all too real, too believable and too … humanly possible!
10) The sudden realization of what the WHOLE thing means. There is an overwhelming suspicion that says the Chinese are really not against corruption and fairness and transparency etc etc at all. For if applying the same standards, they would have equally complained about PR-led states like Selangor and Penang too. But of course when cornered they can always shift the blame to faulty Microsoft Excels or convenient typing errors, such errors sometimes potentially costing a billion ringgit or two. But apparently, the Object of Contention is the Malays! Yes, their slogan Malaysian Malaysia really means, Chinese Malaysia. I mean, that’s what are in the minds of these simple folk voters as to what it really means. And after the ordeal is over, especially in Gelang Patah, it is clear that chinese voters would prefer Mummy-Foo’ed Kit Siang who, in his 40 years of existence, had absolutely nothing to prove of his worth as a Malaysian politician, over squeaky-clean Ghani Othman, the architect of Modern Johore Development, just because Ghani is a malay and Kit Siang is a chinese. That, along with pictures like the ones shown below, are not helping voters to side not along racial lines at all:-
Suddenly, the voters awoke from their slumber. Suddenly, the kampong voters stop to ponder what it all means:-
- Here’s a vote to allow LGBT to take roots in Malaysia
- Here’s a vote to make me complicit in establishing pluralism as a national Ideology
- Here’s a vote to abolish, or reduce, article 153
- Here’s a vote to UBAH … for the worse !
Apocryphalist
