I have always thought Malaysians deserve a quality opposition. What happened during Pak Lah's regime further justified why, and it is without irony that I observe quality and effective opposition against it only emerged from the ranks of Barisan Nasional itself, not from the formal opposition parties in Malaysia. It is in fact ironic that whilst Pak Lah was eventually toppled, it was not by the formal opposition, who had pleaded for him to stay!
Some of the quality opposition against Pak Lah who rose among BN, such as Jeff Ooi, then joined the formal opposition. Whilst it was sad to see Jeff and others such as 'kickdefella' go, I had some hope that these would add much needed quality to the opposition ranks. My litmus test included how the opposition would respond to a BN National Budget, largely due to the pathetic responses of the past, including Lim Kit Siang's past insignificant ravings about 'TV licenses'.
Unfortunately, the quality of our opposition continues to be shallow into the new generation! At least Lim Guan Eng, now Chief Minister of Penang(!) no less, was talking about income taxes when commenting on the 2010 Budget right after its tabling. However, the commentary, fine perhaps in the ears of ignorant liberals, was still shallow, criticising the 15% rate for knowledge workers at Iskandar as being unfair and that it should apply to all knowledge workers nationwide!
This reminds me of Guan Eng's similarly shallow complaints before about how flying MAS from Singapore to another foreign city can be cheaper than flying MAS from KL to the same city. Again, fine criticism to the ignorant, but pretty pathetic as he fails to appreciate economic factors such as competitive forces. In the case of the Iskandar's discounted income taxes, is he failing to understand that it is specifically to build the area's competitiveness vis-a-vis Singapore? Does he even know that this is not new, with tax exemptions a favourite tool of Tun Dr M's?
Or maybe Guan Eng, having failed to improve the economic lot of the workers in Penang since he took over, is so desparate that he is hinting for DS Najib to cut income taxes for Penang's knowledge workers too? Maybe he is now facing the stark reality of his incompetence, despite loyal assistance from ex_BN man Jeff Ooi and other gerakan 'cross-overs', that he needs help from DS Najib's government? Ah... but he can't ask directly... malu beb!
Then again, one has to perhaps excuse Guan Eng. Considering the shallow economic basis passed on by his father, he must have been looking at the new opposition leader, DS Anwar Ibrahim for guidance... unfortunately, so called 'economic wizard' DS Anwar also FAILED! His press conference started well, with some interesting general commentary about the size of the deficit, until you realise:
- DS Anwar was reading from text, and the material must have been very unfamiliar as he seemed to stutter in presenting some technical stuff. he is a very practiced parrot though, so many probably would forgive him this.
- DS Anwar was more comfortable then speaking off the cuff, without aid of the text and all the technical economics material, speaking about 'transparency' and 'governance'. Same old story then, with no real criticism of the budget's salient points...
- DS Anwar also made mistakes ala-Lim Kit Siang, but on credit card taxes rather than TV licenses. He complains that some 2 Million rakyat now have to pay taxes on credit cards, stating this as being 'significant', as opposed to 'small' benefits elsewhere. Hmmm, I get a RM500 tax rebate for my broadband in 2010, the smallest of the benefits, and only have to pay ~RM200 of credit card taxes... and only the high income folk pay... Hmmm...
- Even as DS Anwar attempts to criticise by being 'global', he fails. E.g. he compares Malaysia's reduced ability to attract FDI to China and India's supposed recent strength. In the first place, what he is impliying is WRONG, all countries have suffered reduced cross-border investments over the course of the crisis, and China particularly weathered it the same way as Malaysia, by increased local activity. The there is size of economy, phasing, etc...
Don't believe me? Judge for yourself how shallow these two great opposition leaders are here, in their own words, with DS Anwar coming first followed by Guan Eng. What is scary now is that Guan Eng is running Penang state whilst DS Anwar is in power in Selangor, controlling Khalid Ibrahim by remote-control in the form of his former pegawai khas...
Meanwhile, I continue to lament that Malaysia does not have quality opposition, at least not of sufficient quality to make significant observations regarding this budget, and believe me, there are things worth questioning... things which I will question in private to those close to power that do appreciate quality opposition. In the meantime, here is a good precis of the budget offerings presented by StarTV. Worth more that any commentary from both sides of the floor...
These observations come a tad late as my back has been troubling me again of late. Ta!
7 comments:
salam bro,
i think najib is classy,very english upbringing(public school),
mild and clever.jay razak's cimb
achievement and their dad shows
who they are.able!
tun mahathir is anti english,
a fighter and a master in politics.he screwed up when he
sacked and humiliate his ex deputy.
maybe he was overconfident and
thot his ex was selling the country
away.i dont trust imf either.tun
contribution is immense and so
what if some malays got rich.it is
great.wish all are real able.
najib saw paklah's carrier end
largely due to tun.now,najib
has to give 1bil to mokhzani(f1),
deputy minister job to mukhriz,
no case against vk lingam(it is
embarassing dont you think?)and
cleverly balance tun's suggestion
and what needs to be done for the day.
umno is practically malaysia if
not for the sacking of ex dpm..
humiliating him was not a good idea and still is not.this is simply because people believe him
and while his speech looks like off
the cuff(rite spelling?),he plans
everything.(why do you think he
feel comfortable with azmin?)
his advisors are likely in the class of ruben and jim rogers and
that 15percent iskandar tax,dr
zainal aznam agrees with the
opposition.
najib is a capable leader and
while budget will always sound
populist and good,it never really
mean anything to a lot of people.
the new malaysia is as if a
different group of people has entered your living room and are
here to stay.they were always just
at the garden.
these guys promise to clean
the house and do new things to it.
i suppose opposition are not
that organised and united yet but
they are determined and clever.
najib will do well not to repeat
tun's mistake by jailing him again
this november 4th.
i think.
rene descartes.
johan 5150. Thanks for your comment. I find your arguments somewhat needing a little more research. There is too much dogma and propaganda and little beyond. E.g. your comment on V K Lingam's tape case - by law, there is no case! No one was proven to have broken the law and the Royal Commission did not have legal mandate beyond inquiry.
If DS Anwar is guilty of sodomy, then the courts will punish him. DS Najib's preferences has little to do with it. It was the same court that released him before anyway, despite concluding he did sodomise. And in political terms, DS Anwar may like being jailed again... it'll give him an excuse for ultimately failing, as he has in challenging this budget...
And besides Johan 5150, don't you want a PM that doesn't have to worry about getting dragged to court for sodomy whilst in power? At least this case is in Malaysia... imagine if DS Anwar had been naughty and is sued overseas! Embarassing for the country no?
gd morning akram.just read your reply.m just thinking aloud.
in the matter of vk,its legal but is it proper?(is that all the tapes
they have?ha..)
on the sodomy matter,again,is it
going to win umno votes?
najib has altantuya's dad following
him everywhere outside malaysia.no?
what is the solution?crazy kan?
Actually, Anwar being accepted as a sodomite will help, as it will shatter the illusion that he was wronged all these years!
And on Altantuya... I doubt there is much credibility left with the accusers no? In fact, the Mongolians are themselves embarassed with this case. Altantuya is after all... a high paid whore! Are we really a society that holds such people with high regard?
Then again... we do have a bunch of people wanting a sodomite as PM!
gd evening akram.lets not get emotional.quantify this:
if anwar is a sodomite,isnt it better than francis yeoh taking your money through tnb(11 billion
cash in hand),pangkor island?
what about vincent tan getting bukit tinggi and lim goh tong getting genting highland?
what about ananda getting all the
licenses and arumugam getting all
the ge defense deal?
what about daim?60bil gone and
leaving renong with 28bil in debt?
what about perwaja?15bil gone and
what the heck is msc spending 40bil
on cyberjaya and not one 'yahoo'or
a 'killer app' in sight?
putrajaya cost 30bil and 8mil a
day to maintain.how?
submarine commision so much lor?
how?
lets assume anwar is a sodomist.
what do you think umno was doing
to the malays given the above?
akram,how?
johan5150. Cannot disagree with you that all this sounds terrible. SOUNDS terrible... but again, do some research man. You are harping on things long explained or otherwise understood; e.g. I don't like it that we have a massive gambling den in Genting Highlands, but those who gamble need to go somewhere, Muslims are banned and Lim Goh Tong is not Muslim...
Of course, I do dislike innuendo. Here I am trying to encourage a serious discussion on the shallow quality of arguments by Pakatan leaders when faced with real tough technical questions on the budget, and here you are spreading innuendos as if they were facts!
And Anwar? Not only is he a sodomite, HE WAS INVOLVED IN MANY OF THESE DECISIONS HE IS NOW COMPLAINING ABOUT! So, that makes him a sodomite, a hypocrite, A CONFESSED CORRUPT LEADER and again, really not very competent after all about economics! These are facts that make Anwar a no no to me bro!
And I'm not getting emotional I think... are you?
dude,
you are a sad little umno dude.
go get some legs man!
(you a chemical engineer??ha ha
ha ha..)..dude...ho ho ho...i m
outta here.
cheers and tcare.
northwestern
chicago.
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