Recent Loss Of Gerakan Leader Wasn't The First

This trend of losing BN leaders, key opinion makers and contributors is not new. Tun Dr M's views in the following link highlights a problem that BN has been facing for some 4 years.
http://bigdogdotcom.wordpress.com/2008/04/29/an-unhealthy-trend-developing/

Who have we lost you may ask? Even with the exception of those the parties cast off, such as Ibrahim Ali and Zaharin Yassin, BN and UMNO stalwarts both, there are too many to count. Let us just consider the previously solid pro-BN guys on the web:

Jeff Ooi lost from Gerakan to DAP
Rocky, lost from being a BN paper editor to 'rogue' blogger
The above 2 was even sued when still being quite loyal to BN!

Kickthefella was lost to PAS... many have forgotten he was a grassroots BN leader once!

We have lost far too many over the last 4 years, and due to a loss of direction and a crisis in leadership, not stemming from a leadership crisis like in previous times. In fact, I suspect we have had a higher net loss of significant individuals from BN in the last 4 years than we have over the previous 22!

Pathetic... I have some hope still... just a little more than barely... which will be tremedously boosted if a certain someone leaves...

Eh... I glamer la!

Terkejut kangkung rasanya apabila ada kawan yang bagi peluang tumpang glamer dengan blogger-blogger lain di kaca TV Astro Awani... perisian selepas foto...



Ini saya masih dalam keadaan terkejut kangkung... tapi nak cakap juga! Saya difahamkan siaran ulangan terakhir "Perspektif Kita" ialah pada 1 Mei (3.30 petang)... kalau ada yang sudi la...


Perisian sedikit tentang apa saya sendiri pelajari:

1. Kredibiliti blog akan lebih teransang sekiranya penulisnya 'berwajah'. Dalam masa terdekat ini mungkin perisian yang bagus sudah cukup, tapi wajah penuis akan semakin dituntut pembaca.


2. Ruangan komentar atau kebolehan link penting untuk memberi kepuasan kepada pembaca. Tentu lebih memuaskan dari auto-messaging.


3. Ada ahli politik sekarang yang menggunakan 'penulis hantu' untuk memblog. Yang luar-biasa ligat menjawab komen kot!


4. Blog ini sebahagian turutan evolusi media yang menggoncang sejarah... dan terus menggoncang.


5. Pengikut-pengikut setia DAP masih dok jual cerita kerajaan BN mengongkong kebebasan depa!


6. Ramai anak muda gemar blog kerana bahasanya yang bersahaja.

Buat perhatian semua, glamer saya insya'Allah belum putus lagi minggu ini. Sudilah datang ke acara tersebut:

Sekretariat Melayu Muda, satu gagasan yang dipeloporioleh
profesional Melayu muda, akan menganjurkan satuperbincangan bertajuk: "Malaysia Baru: Senario PolitikMasakini"

Ianya akan diadakan pada tarikh dan tempat
sepertiberikut:

Masa: Rabu, 30 April 2008, 7.45 pm (ada surau di tempat acara) Tempat: Aras 2, Anjung Wisma Sejarah, 230, Jalan Tun Razak,
50400, Kuala Lumpur

Tetamu jemputan adalah:

1. YB Datuk Mukhriz Tun Mahathir, Ahli Parlimen Jerlun, EXCO Pemuda UMNO Malaysia

2. Sdr Akhramsyah M. U. Sanusi, Pemimpin Pro-Tem Alumni Melayu UK & Eire (AMUKE), Blogger

Senario politik negara sudah berubah. samada kita suka ataupun tidak, samada kita sedar ataupun tidak, ianya akan mempengaruhi kehidupan kita. Bersamalah kita menentukan halatuju bangsa Melayu.

Datang. Dengar. Bersuara. hebahkan kepada rakan-rakan. tempat adalah terhad.sekiranya berminat, sila email nama dan pekerjaan andakepada: sekretariat.melayu.muda@ gmail.com Terima kasih. Semoga berjumpa pada 30 April 2008.

Cry Havoc! And Let Loose Some Half-Measures To Patch Our Food Supply Chain...

The Lah-ist government of Malaysia is in a state of sheer panic. Well masked behind a veil of Oxford woven civility for sure, but in panic they remain. Symptoms of this panic include laying bare a raft of half measures to patch up the holes in the country's food supply chain.

I suppose for them to panic is natural. I mean, as opposed to the 'shortages' of luxuries of the recent past such as salt, sugar and cooking oil in the local market, the government recently had to sort out the shortage of a staple - flour - and are now confronted with a 'worldwide supply crisis' of rice, THE staple.

Very much like English fooballers at a World Cup, the various cabinet members must be thoroughly sick of the complaints and worries being expressed by their Wives And Girlfriends (WAGs) on the rice shortage issue. For in the end, admit it, we Malaysians are a creative enough people to be able to live without salt (got soy sauce), sugar (got cinnamon and 'tebu') or (palm oil based) cooking oil (use less, more expensive brand like Mazola or just cook with Planta), but rice?

The last time we had a rice shortage in these parts was during the Japanese Occupation of the 1940's, and then our mummys and grandads had to survive on ubi kayu... UBI KAYU!

Enough already, I ramble too much, so what are my specific grouses about the government's current plans? Here we go again...

1. The plan entails massive growing of padi so the country will be able to self-reliant on rice. Huh? Hello Mr PM, it takes 4-6 MONTHS for Padi to grow to maturity, how is this going to help a rice problem that is happening NOW! Look, I know its hard, but just FOOOCUUUSSS...
2. There is talk of massive planting of padi and other key agricultural crops in Sarawak. Hah! So which tranche of rain-forest is the government planning to rape this time with this padi-planting scheme! The logging companies must be smacking their lips and starting up their padi-planting subsidiaries already...
3. The government is planning to build warehouses and other facilities to stockpile food. Stockpile food? You can't even get sufficient rice supplies and you're talking about stockpiling? And we're talking about food like rice here, that eventually spoils with time? And what about pest control? And keeping the food fresh? Isn't this going to take up a lot of resources? So...
4. Pak Lah announced that all this will take an RM 4 BILLION program to implement. RM 4 BILLION! Ala Pak Lah, please lah don't embarass UMNO members any more by using our mother's inability to buy rice as an excuse to make those close to you rich. It's your brother Ibrahim and son Kamal right that's in the food business?

Oops... sorry, but getting personal there... well we are talking about RICE here! When in truth, securing a good supply of rice for Malaysians, even in the current tight supply situation, is not THAT difficult. So, some ideas from my non-Oxford mind?

1. I presented some ideas at the end of this posting of mine on how tweaking the subsidies system a little may help in terms of the pricing mechanism: http://thoughtsintangents.blogspot.com/2008/04/forget-about-cooking-oil-rice-rice-my.html
2. Government could secure rice supplies from producing countries as a inter-government deal (G2G), perhaps as a swap with one of our exports, such as Palm Oil. The government can then channel the supply, or indeed perform the actual purchases via GLCs or government agencies and coops with retail businesses (such as Tescos, Pasaraya Peladang, etc). Hold one, I recall a former PM used this idea once before...
3. The government should run a campaign to shift consumption away from rice dependency. This will be hard as the pressure on food supply is affecting all types of foods, though at different times, so the shift will be for Malaysians consider a dynamic diet with no single staple, partly driven by economics and availablity of food supply. Not pleasant, but a potential future reality to prepare for.

It is a tough new world Malaysians are facing, so we need leadership that can make tough choices and convince us to support these measures. So please lah Pak Lah and co, give us real solutions to real problems, not half-measures from half-understood situations... else step aside so someone more competent may lead us.

Hah, Tun Salleh? Siapa Tu? Melayu Macam Mana?

Gebung-gebang dalam media baru-baru ini tentang Tun Salleh Abas lah, betapa Pak Lah nak bayar duit 'ampun' lah, nak betulkan salah-silap akhir dekad 80'an lah... apa ni? Anak-anak muda sekarang ramai tertanya-tanya, apalah penting sangat soal menyelesaikan perkelahian lebih 20 tahun lalu, sehingga masalah masyarakat kurun ke-21 ini tidak terlihat diutamakan dahulu?

OK lah, Pak Lah nak sangat kita bincang tentang perubahan kehakiman, kita bincang. Sekarang akan diadakan suruhanjaya untuk mencalonkan nama hakim. Tetapi calon-calon hakim tersebut masih harus dipertimbangkan untuk dicadangkan oleh PM bagi diperkenankan perlantikan oleh DYMM YDP Agong kan? Jadi perbezaan BESAR dalam proses ini apa sebenarnya?

Mungkin yang bezanya adalah siapa yang mencalonkan hakim? Tapi yang mencalonkan hakim sekarang adalah Ketua Hakim Negara. Itu pun pasti dengan dibincangkan dahulu bersama-sama para hakim tertinggi yang lain. Tak layak ke hakim-hakim yang sedia ada mencalonkan hakim-hakim baru? Yang dimasukkan sebagai orang-orang baru untuk mencalonkan hakim ini siapa?

Kawan saya membuat pemerhatian yang pada majlis bersama Tun Salleh Abas dan Dewan Peguam di mana pengumuman tentang suruhanjaya tersebut dilakukan, terlihat begitu ramai hadirin yang ada merupakan ahli Dewan Peguam, kebanyakannya berbangsa India dan Cina. Yang Melayunya beberapa kerat sahaja. Jadi kenapakah peguam-peguam bukan Melayu tersebut begitu bertepuk-sorak gembira apabila Pak Lah mengumumkan penubuhan suruhanjaya tersebut?

Oooh, cakap sahajalah Pak Lah... Pak Lah nak beri lebih banyak hak memilih calon hakim kepada peguam-peguam bukan Melayu. Nak kurangkan sedikit pengaruh para hakim Melayu yang beragama Islam dalam memilih hakim-hakim di masa akan datang. Sebab itulah Dewan Peguam begitu meraikan pengumuman Pak Lah. Dengan cara ini, boleh lah mereka mempengaruhi pemilihan calon yang sealiran dengan mereka, yakni sekular, anak buah firma besar, Hadhari...

Bukankah Dewan Peguam sama yang dengan begitu keras membantah cadangan bekas Ketua Hakim Negara, Tun Fairuz Sheikh Halim supaya diserapkan lebih banyak pendekatan syariah Islam ke dalam undang-undang negara sempena 50 tahun Merdeka? Dewan Peguam inilah yang menyokong sangat kes Lina Joy dulu dan macam-macam lagi lah.

Jadi di manakah generasi Muda Melayu dan umat Islam Malaysia dalam mempengaruhi perubahan dalam sektor guaman, kehakiman, perundangan dan menegakkan keadilan di Malaysia? Tergadai teruskah kuasa kita? Semata-mata kerana asyik memerhati atau terlalu melulu taksub bersorak di tepi gelanggang perkelahian tokoh-tokoh tua tentang hal-hal yang semakin tiada makna?

Di manakah suara kita yang seharusnya membantah hakisan kuasa dan pengaruh Islam pada badan kehakiman, yakni salah satu dari 3 tiang kekuasaan Melayu di Malaysia? Kini kita cuma tinggal kuasa yang akan menentukan bangsa...

Too Much Who, Too Little What, Why And How...

In our on-going quest to figure out causes and solutions to the Malay and Malaysian Malaise, a small group of us (one of many) have concluded that one problem is that Malaysians are still too fixated on the Who and hence ignoring or paying little attention to the more important questions of What, Why and How.

For example, whilst there is a perception amongst some that Pakatan Rakyat may be ahead of the game vs BN at the moment, the following letter (http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/81458) clearly showcases how Pakatan is also now very Anwar dependent... hence again rests too much on a Who.

So, lets shift the question back to the Whats, Whys and Hows and present the challenge of defining What are the things we the rakyat want and need, Why we want and need these things and How we wish to fulfil these Whats. Then the Whos will be less relevant as a choice and instead will be resultant.

As a result, those who wish to be a Who in Malaysia will then naturally be those whom can convince us they are able to deliver the Whats with reasonable Hows, and best of all if backed with a more reasuring Whys than self-interest.

Sorry if its a little confusing to some by this stage, but its time to up the ante. The approach looks difficult if not impossible to achieve for us Malaysians, especially Malays, at this stage, but if it was easy, it would not be worth doing... and impossible just takes a little longer...

Terima Kasih Karpal Singh...

Apakah antara iktibar dari peristiwa Adam dan Hawa dijerat oleh syaitan sehingga dihukum keluar dari syurga ke alam fana ini? Antara iktibar yang paling berkait dengan tindak-tanduk Karpal Singh baru-baru ini adalah... jangan diterima nasihat musuh, nescaya niatnya tidak ikhlas semata-mata untuk membawa padah.

Karpal Singh kelihatan begitu menyokong Pak Lah dengan membidas Tun Dr M baru-baru ini. Ini adalah perbuatan yang agak pelik. Bukan sahaja tindak-tanduknya tidak selari dengan nalurinya sebagai pembangkang yang seharusnya dengan agresif menyerang Pak Lah, kata-kata dan ungkapan sejarahnya pun berbelit-belit! Contohnya:

1. Dimintanya Dr M berhenti menyerang Pak Lah kerana beliau sudah bersara dan patut kekal dalam persaraan. Namun beliau memetik kata-kata arwah Tun Hussein yang membidas kepimpinan Tun Dr M dari persaraan.


2. Dimintanya Dr M menjauhkan diri dari kemelut dalaman parti UMNO, padahal Karpal bukan ahli UMNO, tidak layak pun untuk memohon keahlian UMNO, malah merupakan musuh ketat UMNO sepanjang riwayat politiknya!


3. Karpal menuding jari ke arah Tun Dr M kerana merestui Operasi Lalang, namun tidak mengakui tanggungjawab beliau mengapi-apikan suasana sehingga keharmonian antara kaum begitu terancam sekali pada masa itu.


4. Karpal menuduh Tun Dr M sebagai orang yang mengharamkan pendaftaran UMNO pada tahun 1988. Tetapi beliau sebagai seorang peguam mesti tahu yang para hakim pimpinan Tun Salleh Abas-lah yang mengharamkan UMNO atas dorongan Radzi Sheikh Ahmad. Tun Dr M menghidupkannya semula.


5. Beliau juga berbelit-belit mengatakan pihak pembangkang tidak memerlukan Tun Dr M untuk 'membantu' pemantauan tindak-tanduk Pak Lah. Alah, mengaku sahajalah Karpal, pembangkang mahu Pak Lah kekal sebagai PM!

Tetapi kenapakah pembangkang mahu Pak Lah kekal? Tak mungkin demi kesejahteraan negara dan rakyat. Jelas suasana negara semakin merudum dari pelbagai segi semenjak 8 Mac, baik dari segi ekonomi, keselamatan mahupun kestabilan politik.

Pembangkang mahu Pak Lah kekal sebagai PM kerana mereka percaya dengan itu, lebih cerah peluang mereka untuk merebut kuasa dari BN dan UMNO menjelang pilihanraya ke 13 kelak. Inilah iktibar di sebalik tindak-tanduk Karpal. Tak kiralah walaupun negara ini hancur sekalipun di bawah kepimpinan berterusan Pak Lah dan Khairy, yang penting, Pakatan Rakyat mahu merebut kuasa 4-5 tahun lagi.

Pakatan Rakyat konon. Akhirnya bukan bagi rakyat, tetapi semata-mata berpakat, berputar-belit kata dan sejarah untuk merebut kuasa. Dan untuk siapa kuasa itu? Anak-pinak juga dalam PKR dan DAP... kerana ini jugakah mungkin Karpal begitu sayangkan Pak Lah?

Is Anwar Ibrahim A Zionist Agent?

My piece Antara Dua KJ, http://thoughtsintangents.blogspot.com/2008/04/antara-dua-kj.html, seems to have engendered quite a lot of interest, but not of the sort I expected... ah the wonders of writing, especially a blog! Instead of reminding people of the existence of another dangerous KJ lurking in the corridors of PAS, I seem to have caused people to ask again whether Anwar is really a Zionist or a Zionist Agent.

Since Anwar is now claiming that he's going to be the next PM, I see it as my civic duty to present some observations:

1) Anwar's Very Close To The Poster Boy Of Zionist Interests In The Bush Era, Paul Wolfowitz:

• Wolfowitz, whilst building a love-nest as World Bank Chief, also appointed Anwar as an officer of the World Bank to channel development funds into the tsunami hit Acheh region.


• Before you say this is because Wolfowitz thought Anwar was 'competent', remember how Wolfowitz has a habit of appointing his chums into World Bank positions - one being a girl-chum, resulting in his sacking!


• Wolfowitz's close freindship with Anwar was captured on a photo of their meeting in Germany soon after Anwar's surgery circulated widely in the Middle-East. This made Pak-Pak Arab feel quite angry towards Anwar.


• And if I may quote wikipedia,"In an interview on the BBC Hardtalk program after his release from prison, Anwar admitted to his friendship with Paul Wolfowitz, the former US deputy Secretary of Defence and former World Bank President." Read for yourself:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_Ibrahim

2) Anwar is famously lauded for having been a visiting lecturer and speaker at Johns Hopkins University among other US and European universities that are also hotbeds of intellectual zionism. Of course, it could be because Anwar is such an expert in his field... not sure what it is exactly outside of politics... Or maybe he's not a zionist, but a friend of the Skull and Bones, you know, Bush's 'club', that also have such strong influence over these institutions.

Interestingly, over the course of the election campaign Anwar disappeared for a while to Singapore, supposedly due to a commitment to lecture there which he 'could not get out of'. Rubbish lah, have you ever heard of anyone saying campaigning for a national election is an unacceptable reason to be excused from an overseas commitment? So why did Anwar really have to visit a Zionist-inclined state's institution in the middle of an election? Money? Instructions?

3) For a person who was out of work for 9 years (being in prison and all), Anwar sure has a lot of money! Not only has his family been living quite well, he's even able to fund his own party, PKR! So where is all this money coming from? We know the guy is not earning from a regular high-paying job; he's even stopped lecturing at those prestigious universities mentioned at 2)! 3 possibilities:

1. He was corrupt before, so corrupt that he had enough money to sustain a political party for 10 years, on top of his family commitments and even flying all over the world! So, if he was corrupt and PKR's struggle is being funded by the fruits of his past corruption, does it make sense to think of him as a 'saviour' from corruption in our land? We thought we had a 'Mr Clean' once before, see what happened!
2. He's using money from Arab contributors. Arab contributors? Hahahahaha! This was what Anwar claimed in the past too! OK, lets take this theory at its word, so, Arabs are paying for his political struggle. Are you comfortable with a PM funded by Arabs Mr DAP and Mr Hindraf?
3. He's getting money from the Zionist West. Why the Zionist West, why not just the West? Because the cold war is over, and since then, the only westerners funding dissidents outside of China, especially in Muslim countries, are Zionist organisations pursuing the "New World Order", whether they by Israeli, American or British Zionists.

I am of course ignoring the possibility of a local fund-source for PKR as I tend to think no one but Daim could possibly have that much money, except for Anwar of course as per 1. above. So, do you prefer to believe Anwar was SO corrupt at the high risk of him still being so, or believe he is still a puppet of his old Arab masters, however unlikely, or that he's a Zionist?

4) By far the most damning observation of Anwar's Zionist tendencies is how he has always been a favoured Muslim leader of the Zionist press. This stretches to even before he was removed from UMNO and was a point of criticism by many of his current allies in PAS! In fact, there is sufficient distrust in PAS of Anwar for there to be hope I would say.

Surely Anwar's hero status among the Zionist press worldwide, in good times and bad, is indicative of the possibility that he is an agent of their interests? Else, why would they continue to bother with him after his fall? This also explains his non-committal stance on many things in the foreign press.

I have of course happily stayed away from the more fringe ideas to support the theory that Anwar is a Zionist, such as how PKR's 'black eye' symbol looks distrubingly like the 'eye of Zion'. I've also chosen not to highlight Anwar's willingness to succumb to the IMF during the Asian Crisis or on his past poor ministerial performance, e.g. the RM9 Billion forex loses during his time.

Nevertheless, we really should be asking these and other questions to re-discover who Anwar really is, especially if he continues to claim he is close to becoming our next PM! For the key question would then be, do we really want Anwar Ibrahim as our PM? Brrrrrr....

Antara Dua KJ

Dalam keghairahan kita mewar-warkan pengaruh seorang KJ, Khairy Jamaluddin, dalam mencatur jahanamnya pengaruh Melayu di tanah sendiri, kita harus waspada akan hadirnya seorang lagi insan 'seabjad' sebagai pendukung kehancuran negara-bangsa. Siapakah gerangan KJ yang lagi satu ini jika bukan Kamaruddin Jaafar, teman setia Anwar Ibrahim.

Kamaruddin Jaafar? Bukankah beliau Setiausaha Agung PAS sekarang? Kalau beliau benar-benar setia kepada Anwar Ibrahim, kenapakah beliau tidak menyertai PKR? Tidakkah tindakan menyertai PKR juga lebih sesuai dengan naluri KJ ini yang juga seorang 'intelek' dan pemacu Institut Kajian Dasar suatu masa dahulu? Ini profilnya: http://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamaruddin_Jaafar

Anwar Ibrahim mungkin ada pelbagai kepincangan, tetapi kalau tidak licik berpolitik, tidak mungkin beliau dapat menghinggapi sebentar kedudukan Timbalan Presiden UMNO dahulu. Masuknya Kamaruddin Jaafar ke dalam PAS sebenarnya sebahagian dari usaha Anwar untuk memastikan pengaruh beliau tetap tegar dalam PAS mahupun UMNO selepas kejatuhannya.

Lihat sahaja betapa ramai kuncu-kuncu Anwar yang tidak lari dari UMNO, malah mengisytihar 'taubat' sekuat-kuatnya semata-mata untuk kekal menghendap di PWTC. Malah, ramai juga penyokong kuat dan 'fan-club' Anwar dari zaman reformasi yang kemudiannya menyertai UMNO, seperti Khairy Jamaluddin bersama-sama puak-puak yang kini dikenali sebagai penghuni Tingkat 4.

Persamaan antara KJ tua (Kamaruddin) dan KJ muda (Khairy) ini ketara sekali. Mereka berdua-dua tetap taksub Anwar tetapi cukup handal bermuka-muka. Kedua-duanya kaya hasil usaha mengkroni (KJ tua) atau menepot (KJ muda). Katanya kedua-duanya pandai-pandai belaka, dengan IKD lah, dengan Oxford lah.

Kini mereka juga bersatu dalam suatu misi, iaitu pemusnahan UMNO demi menaikan Anwar Ibrahim sebagai Perdana Menteri boneka Zionis pertama Malaysia.

KJ tua melakukan ini secara langsung dan sengaja. Dengan kedudukan kuatnya sebagai Setiausaha Agung PAS serta antara penyumbang wang terbanyak kepada parti tersebut, beliau telah menolak usaha pembentukan kerajaan BN-PAS, bermajoriti Melayu serta Islam, di negeri-negeri Selangor dan Perak mahupun di Parlimen. Ini walaupun usaha tersebut direstui Tok Guru dan sekaligus membatalkan 2 kedudukan Menteri kabinet pusat serta MB Selangor untuk PAS.

KJ muda pula mendukung Anwar secara tidak langsung dan tak sengaja. Dengan kedudukan kuatnya sebagai menantu Pak Lah, beliau tak putus-putus mengesyorkan supaya bapa mertuanya kekal di tampuk kuasa, sekaligus menguatkan keupayaan Anwar bagi menarik ahli Parlimen UMNO untuk 'lompat pagar' ke dalam KeAdilan. Ini pula selepas calon-calon BN pilihan KJ muda untuk PRU-12 terlalu ramai kecundang di tangan calon PKR!

Menarik sekali, dalam sengaja dan tidak sengaja mereka, kedua-dua KJ kelihatan berganding tenaga dalam usaha merealisasikan cita-cita idola mereka, Anwar Ibrahim. Malang sekali bagi mereka, kerajaan PKR yang bakal dibentuk pasti lain sekali dari kerajaan BN berkepimpinan UMNO dahulu mahupun kerajaan PAS yang berlandaskan Islam.

Kerajaan Anwar Ibrahim bakal mirip kerajaan Bollywood di mana jalan kerja dihindari pertelagahan PAS-DAP, persengkataan PKR India Liberal-PKR Melayu 'lompat pagar' dari UMNO, kepincangan kemampuan pentadbiran Anwar sendiri, namun tetap syok sendiri akibat kelincahan penarik tali boneka Zionisnya.

Oh ya, pasti kerajaan Anwar juga akan ada 2 Menteri kabinet yang sering bersengketa, KJ tua dan KJ muda!

Forget About Cooking Oil... Rice, Rice, My Common Cents For Some Rice!

We return today to one of my favourite topics... the integrity of our nation's food supply chain, or lack thereof, on the back of a historic price control mechanism for selected food items that has lacked salt, been under cooked and was nigh close to being de-floured of late...

We begin our story with the arrival of the new Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Dato' Shahrir Samad, into office, suspicious that he's been sent to the ministry to ensure his political doom since his predecessor got moved to a more junior ministry, probably because of these events:
http://thoughtsintangents.blogspot.com/search/label/cooking%20oil

Being an ex-banker, having an MBA from IMD, experience as Welfare Minister in the 1980's, being linked by marriage to an influential JB business taukeh family and of course being a blogger (!) seems to have made Dato' Shahrir better prepared than his predecessor. The new minister quickly engaged businesses and the media on the need to look at the whole price control thing.

Unfortunately, just as he was starting to feel some warmth on his seat, the shortage of rice worldwide hit the headlines. This linked article is illustrative as to how the problem is complex, whilst again, not being quite real...

http://www.independent-bangladesh.com/200802212190/business/worldwide-shortage-of-rice-shoots-prices-soaring.html

In the meantime, our old man from the kampung, Pak Tam, is still wincing from the verbal barbs he's been getting from his wife up till last week. It was bad enough after they did the hoarding of cooking oil during the cooking oil 'shortage'...

Back in January, soon after they had secured some 60kg of Mazola from the local kedai runcit, topped up by 20kg of Minyak Cap Kerja which they 'luckily' found being sold 'at a bargain' when they decided to 'scout' for supplies in the next kampung at the height of the cooking oil 'crisis', Pak Tam was alerted of the coming shortage of flour, again from his kedai kopi circle.

Pak Tam rushed home to get his wife so they could secure flour supply. After a brief argument over the fact that they already had no space left in the pantry as it was full of cooking oil, and that they don't use much flour anyway outside of Hari Raya, they rushed directly to the Gigantic mall in town as Pak Tam was sure flour supply at the local kedai runcit must have completely run out.

Much to his horror, upon entering Gigantic, they were greeted with the view of piles and piles of cooking oil bottles of the cheap Palm Oil based Minyak Cap Kerja variety... Mak Tam's favourite brand as it was SO much CHEAPER than the non-Palm Oil brands, such as Mazola! They also saw witnessed an argument between the lady manager and the cooking oil delivery man about how MORE cooking oil was coming than the hypermart can store!

Mak Tam's restraint only lasted until Pak Tam started the car engine; they bought a modest 5kg of flour - Pak Tam couldn't take more as Mak Tam was giving him the silent treatment and glared lightning bolts whenever he reached for an extra packet. Thunder then came in a symphony of abuse, critique, sobbing, shrieking, historical baggage and genetic observation over the whole 20 minutes drive back home - a masterpiece of anger unsuitable for polite company!

Pak Tam continued to suffer for the remainder of the month, but thought all was over by February.

Unfortunately, his brother-in-law Pak Bakaq, the retired civil servant, came for a visit during election weekend and just had to show off how he had been quoted by a paper for correctly stating that the January cooking oil saga was not a 'crisis' but just a general panic based on no common sense. Of course the Bakaq family then had a good laugh at the Tam family's own undimished cooking oil stockpile! Mak Tam was angry for a good 3 weeks after that!

And now Pak Tam is hearing things about rice. Of course, he dare not say anything to Mak Tam now, despite his kedai kopi gang continuing to disbelieve the Pak Lah media assurances that the rice shortage will not hit Malaysia...

Back at his Ministry, Shahrir is still enjoying the relief from the 4th floor boys being too busy to 'advise' him on the price controls thing, what with the boys focusing on 'helping' Pak Lah fight for political survival. Nevertheless, to survive the on-going political storm, Shahrir has to be seen to be doing something now... well, this blogger would like him to consider the following.

How much do the cooking oil and sugar subsidies really cost Malaysians? The honest truth is, no one really knows. There are elements in the equation that are indirect and require further assessment, for instance:

1. How much does the reduced price from the subsidies result in increased consumption of these goods, hence an overall higher subsidy costs.
2. How much have the resulting increased consumption of dangerous subsidised 'luxuries' like oil and sugar aversely affected the health of Malaysians, resulting in increased medical costs per capita? The National Kidney Foundation will inform you that the majority of kidney failures in Malaysia is associated with diabetes (high sugar) or hyper-tension (from consumption of fats, including oils), statistically among the highest in the world!
3. How much is guaranteeing a profit to the resultant monopolies of controlled goods in Malaysia via the price control mechanism worth it to these firms. For instance, in the case of Sugar, Robert Kuok is not known as the 'Sugar King' for no reason. How much has a guaranteed profit from these subsidies helped the Kuoks establish their family empire spanning the globe?

These economic sums are not difficult to establish, but does need effort and application to assess. Once they are assessed, Shahrir, if he is indeed a worthy minister should be able to sell the following policy changes such as these:

1. Abolishing subsidies and price controls for food items that are really luxuries, such as sugar and cooking oil. These are bad for the health of Malaysians when consumed in excess, whilst not really adding that much more to taste - very important to us Malaysians. These subsidies are also making the rich tycoons richer by protecting the Malaysian market from competition whilst making the supply chain hard to sustain in periods of volatility.
2. With savings resulting from the above abolishing of subsidies, as well as longer term savings on health costs, etc, the government may be able to continue supporting subsidies for staple food items such as rice and flour. Rice especially is worthy of subsidies both for strategically ensuring supply security locally and to support farmers that remain on the poverty line.
3. With the abolition of price controls over luxury food items, there may be other savings also due to the government, such as in enforcement and monitoring of these subsidies specifically. Why not channel some of these and the less transparent medical savings to better agricultural approaches to our farmers and a better food supply chain for staple foods in Malaysia?

Such efforts would make much more common sense than the reactive behaviours of the government over the last 4 years, especially that of the last 6 months!

"Sayang Lah, Boleh Blah", "Takut Lah, Boleh Blah" atau Layak Digelar Majlis Tertinggi UMNO?

Pak Lah dalam bahaya. Terlalu banyak usahanya setakat ini untuk menetapkan kuasa dan kedudukan beliau sebagai Presiden UMNO merangkap PM telah gagal.

Dari kedudukan yang cukup kuat dahulunya, kini MB Johor kekal di tempatnya, mahupun usaha menggantikannya diatur Tingkat 4 sejak sebelum pilihanraya lagi. MB Terengganu kini terlepas ke pemimpin berhaluan lain. Malah usahanya 'membeli' kembali sokongan bekas MB Perlis juga mencapai kebuntuan.

Jika dicongak sekali dengan sejumlah Ketua Bahagian UMNO yang sudah pun sedia marah kepada Pak Lah akibat 'tak lekat' sebagai calon bersama dengan pemimpin bahagian yang menganggap beliau serta KJ sebab kekalahan besar UMNO di 5+1 negeri, KuLi pasti sudah ada lebih dari 57 bahagian yang diperlukan untuk mencalonkan diri sebagai Presiden UMNO!

Malah lebih memalukan lagi, ada kemungkinan sokongan Pak Lah begitu merudum hingga beliau sendiri tidak akan dapat cukup pencalonan untuk mempertahankan kedudukannya sebagai Presiden UMNO! Terlalu ramai Ketua Penerangan Negeri dan MB UMNO, seperti Tajol Rosli, Adnan Yaakob dan Ali Rustam yang mempunyai kekuatan serta kewibawaan untuk mengubah haluan menurut kepimpinan KuLi, atau mana-mana pemimpin lain selain Pak Lah.

Sampaikan MB yang dikatakan paling rapat dengan Pak Lah, Mohamad Hasan, sudah pun dengan cekal mengesyorkan yang pemilihan UMNO harus diadakan.

Inilah sebabnya pemilihan UMNO mahu ditangguhkan. Pak Lah, setelah merasa kekalahan PRU-12, kini sudah semakin hilang keyakinan pada dirinya sendiri dan ingin berlindung dari pemilihan. Pemilihan tersebut bakal memberi suara kepada kebencian akar-umbi UMNO yang semakin meluap terhadap beliau dan kuncu-kuncunya.

Lihatlah sahaja siapa yang memberi keterangan tentang penangguhan pemilihan UMNO - Mat Taib, yang ternyata masih terhutang budi atas nyawa politik baru yang ditiupkan ke dalamnya oleh Pak Lah. Kenapa bukan Tengku Adnan, Setiausaha Agung UMNO yang membawa wadah ini? Kerana Tengku Adnan lebih sayangkan UMNO dari mana-mana pemimpinnya...

Ya lah, Ku Nan kan orang Tun Dr M, memang lazimnya begitu. Setiausaha Agung zaman Tun Dr M dulu semua fanatik UMNO, termasuklah Sabaruddin Chik, Mohamad Rahmat dan Sanusi Junid. Sudah tentu sebagai bekas Setiausaha Kerja UMNO zaman Tun Dr M, Tengku Adnan juga lebih berfanatikkan parti UMNO dari pemimpinnya, mahupun Tun Dr M sendiri! Inikan pula Pak Lah...

Mat Taib menggambarkan kalau ada pemilihan mungkin akan menimbulkan perpecahan dalam UMNO. Perpecahan apa ni? Kalau ada pemilihan, sudah tentu Pak Lah kalah! Bubuhlah siapa pun jadi pencabar Pak Lah, walau seputik bunga orkid sekalipun, pasti kalah punya Pak Lah! Jadi kalau nak berpecah pun UMNO, mesti kerana Pak Lah bakal merajuk meninggalkan UMNO.

Tapi ada ka cukup orang yang nak ikut Pak Lah keluar bila kalah sehingga timbul perpecahan? Silap-silap, anak menantu dia pun tak ikut dia keluar! Mengarutlah kata-kata Mat Taib yang pemilihan akan menyebabkan perpecahan UMNO.

Makanya, Pak Lah dan kuncu-kuncunya ingin menunda pemilihan UMNO. Pendek kata, nak sembunyi di tepi kain Majlis Tertinggi UMNO lah tu! Inilah peluang ahli-ahli Majlis Tertinggi untuk menunjukkan kewibawaan mereka. Adakah mereka akan membuktikan sayang mereka kepada Pak Lah, atau sayang mereka kepada UMNO, agama, bangsa dan negara?

Senang macam ni lah. Kalau ada spy-spy mana-mana dalam mesyuarat Majlis Tertinggi tu nanti, laporkanlah siapa yang mengundi menyokong penundaan pemilihan. Yang berbuat demikian ada sudah mula melabelkan "Sayang Lah, Boleh Blah". Yang ini bakal kalah pada pemilihan kemudian. Kalau diumumkan persetujuan sebulat suara pun menarik, semua nanti tertukar!

Janganlah ada nanti ahli Majlis Tertinggi yang kata mereka megundi menyokong penundaan tetapi sebenarnya menentang. Yang ini dayus namanya, dan seeloknya berundur sahaja dari Majlis Tertinggi, atau "Takut Lah, Boleh Blah".

Yang kita ingin adalah yang lantang menidakkan usaha kecut Pak Lah dan Mat Taib ini. Yang berani dan berwibawa macam ini lah silap-silap kita angkat jadi Naib Presiden atau lebih tinggi lagi!

Terpulanglah kepada ahli-ahli Majlis Tertinggi sekarang. Adakah mereka "Sayang Lah, Boleh Blah", "Takut Lah, Boleh Blah" atau calon kepimpinan tertinggi dihari muka? Yang penting UMNO... bukan Lah...

No DEB, No Vernacular Schools?

The topic chosen here is not to provoke, but rather to remind people what the so called 'social contract' was so many years ago. In the 'ashes' of 13 May 1969, three concerns were raised which resulted in separate outcomes:

1. The Malays were convinced that the racial riots were the result of economic activities, and affluence, of Malaysians in 1969 still being determined by the racial segregation of colonial times, at least for the majority; i.e. Malays were farmers, Chinese were businessmen and Indians were estate workers. Malays pushed for the DEB to address the issue so that "Malaysians are no longer racially segregated by economic activity or affluence".
2. In the meantime, the two major minorities, the Chinese and Indians, were fighting for the retention of their identities. Their leaders feared a Malay push for national unity at the expense of their racial and cultural identity, such as was happening in Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. They hence insisted on the protection and continued support of vernacular schools side-by-side with mainstream education.
3. The desires of East Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak) continued to be protection of their autonomy, with the Bumiputra hence augmenting this with themselves opting into the DEB. Their negotiating position was stronger though as they did not suffer racial riots.

The fight of the major components of BN on the material side have thus been, the advancement of DEB goals for UMNO, the growth of Chinese education for MCA, the protection of a Hindu-centric culture by the MIC (which ironically resulted in them not getting much from the deal from the outset, despite the fact that DEB, on paper, also had benefits where Indians qualify ahead of Malays!) and protection of autonomous rights for the East Malaysian parties.

Gerakan and PPP were funny BN partners in that they were the only parties shouting for a Malaysian Malaysia then and was happy to endorse this agreement for the long term aspiration. They continue to do so to this day whilst becoming increasingly mono-racial themselves.

Post PRU-12, people are running around saying DEB is no longer relevant. I disagree. In fact, I think most Malays still want the bulk of DEB and certainly at most they wish the implementation to be reformed, especially around contracts. Most Malays still want MRSMs and Boarding Schools, scholarships, low cost or discounted housing, etc to remain. I am convinced that DEB is being scape-goated by the Lah-ist regime for the election loss to keep Pak Lah in power.

However, no meaningful debate on the removal of DEB can take place before reverting back to the original social contract. So, will the Chinese and Indians be willing to sacrifice their right to have vernacular schools to get rid of DEB? There are also many reasons for abolishing them. They are, variously:

1. Racial in nature,
2. Mainly exclusive, with such clear advantage given to Chinese and Indians due to their mother-tongue (ya ya, some Malay kids go to, but we have some Chinese in MRSM and Indians with JPA scholarships too!)
3. Draws good resources away from the standard Malay-medium schools, hence contributes to the reduction in overall quality of Malaysian education through structurally unequal distribution of resources
4. Polarising the nation by segregating minority races away from a mixed environment, and also resulting in a Malay-centric environment being created in Malay-medium school
5. Disrupts efforts to foster national unity through use of a single national language, Bahasa Malaysia, and a unified education system

So, no DEB, no vernacular schools? Sorry if I've upset anyone, I didn't open this door... was it the opposition? Pak Lah?

By the way you guys in East Malaysia, you don't go scot free. You jump to PKR (who wishes to 'modify' DEB... abolish-lah tu...), you open the door to East Malaysia losing its autonomy as per the social contract...

But, to re-emphasise... no DEB, no vernacular schools?

Benarkah Sudah Berakhir Riwayat Politik Khairy?

Sudah pun dikemukakan petanda kekalnya pengaruh Khairy dari analisa Pak Lah akan sebab kekalahan BN. Pak Lah memberi gambaran ini kerana golongan muda Melayu menolak DEB/DPB, apabila sebenarnya Khairy dan pemesong DEB/DPB lain yang ditolak; lagi pun sudah lama disyaki Khairylah hipokrit pembenci serta musuh dalam selimut DEB/DPB. Di sini ingin diajukan sedikit 'bukti' kekalnya Khairy sebagai pengemudi pentadbiran Pak Lah berdasarkan susunan kabinet.

Melihat prestasi buruk BN pada PRU-12 dan berdasarkan desakan lantang menggesa perletakan jawatan beliau, Pak Lah beraksi dengan begitu licik sekali. Sudah kembali ahli politik yang berjaya hidup begitu lama dalam UMNO walaupun dikelilingi musuh yang berkuku-taring lebih tajam. Malang sekali yang kepintaran tersebut agak kurang dalam menangani pentadbiran negara, mahupun menguruskan pilihanraya umum, tetapi di dalam UMNO, Pak Lah tetap gagah.

Setelah menerima maklumat jelas bahawa perlindungan dan kuasa tidak rasmi yang dikurniakan beliau kepada Khairy merupakan antara tunas kekalahan BN, Pak Lah mengambil kesempatan terdekat untuk:

1. Mengelak dari melantik Khairy ke jawatan kabinet.
2. Membenarkan propaganda menular yang nyawa politik Khairy sudah hampir hilang di media perdana serta halaman web pro-kerajaan seperti Malaysian Insider.
3. Membenarkan Pemuda UMNO memutuskan supaya Mukhriz Mahathir tidak dikenakan hukuman disiplin atas tindakan beliau menulis surat memohon perletakan jawatan Pak Lah sendiri.

Ini menunjukan seolah-olah Khairy bukan faktor dalam pentadbiran kerajaannya sekarang. Tambah pula:

1. Menteri yang kurang popular seperti Rafidah Aziz dan Radzi Sheikh Ahmad digugurkan.
2. General-general setia Pak Lah seperti Noh Omar diberi pangkat menteri sebagai persediaan perhimpunan agung UMNO.
3. Panglima-panglima pemimpin lain seperti Shabery Cheek diberikan kedudukan menteri dalam usaha menarik sokongan mereka.
4. Panglima-panglima yang sudah pasti tidak akan dapat ditarik kesetiaan kepada Pak Lah, seperti Tengku Adnan dan Jamaluddin Jarjis telah digugurkan, walaupun prestasi mereka yang lepas boleh tahan juga.
5. Pemimpin UMNO yang sering lantang mengkritik dari luar seperti Shahrir Samad dan Zaid Ibrahim pula cuba didiamkan dengan kedudukan baru.
6. Dibawa masuk juga sepahi upahan Muhamad Muhamad Taib sebagai menteri yang terjamin setia kerana kembalinya ke tampuk kuasa atas jasa Pak Lah.

Pemilihan kabinet Pak Lah tepat dengan tujuan mempertahankan kedudukan beliau dalam UMNO. Namun, Pak Lah mungkin terlalu sayangkan Khairy hingga tidak upaya beliau menidakkan pengaruh Khairy sama sekali. Contohnya:

1. Wan Ahmad Farid, teman setia Khairy yang melicinkan pengagihan projek di Terengganu suatu masa dahulu kini dilantik menjadi Timbalan Menteri.
2. Azalina, rakan sejawat Khairy semasa beliau menjadi pengacara TV dahulu, menonjol sebagai satu-satunya wakil Wanita UMNO di kabinet. Adakah ini petanda beliau bakal merampas kuasa kepimpinan wanita kelak? Khairy masih terhutang budi kepada Azalina yang lebih berhak menjadi wakil rakyat di Rembau, kampung asal-usul bapanya.

Perlantikan kabinet menunjukkan Pak Lah, dalam usaha mempertahankan hidup politiknya, sedia mengenepikan sedikit Khairy. Namun pengaruh Khairy terlihat kekal walaupun hanya ala-kadar. Mungkin perlantikan pada peringkat agensi-agensi kelak akan menonjolkan lagi tahap pengaruh Khairy pasca PRU-12; benarkah sudah dikekang, atau hanya sekadar wayang kulit sahaja beliau diketepikan dari kabinet.

Initial Feedback On The New Cabinet... Updated

At a glance one may be forgiven for being glad that this is a Khairy free cabinet. If you're thinking this... think again! Some hints of his influences are seen below. Nevertheless, it is clear that Pak lah has set up this cabinet for one purpose... to retain his power as PM via the UMNO Presidency. (Which is actually different from keeping UMNO and BN in power!)

Rocky asked some pertinent questions on why some people are on and are off the cabinet here rocky's bru: The new Cabinet.

Why was Rafidah droped? I update this with a thought that I picked up off a commentor. Could it be that Rafidah was dropped to make it easier for the US to conclude an FTA with us? We know that Muhyiddin, whilst an UMNO stalwart, doesn't really have the background and nous to as effectively lead Malaysia in the negotiations. Muhyiddin also demonstrated his willingness to compromise in the past with the land deal he agreed with Singapore when he was Johor MB. So, is the hidden reason to allow the USFTA to be ratified? Muhyiddin will need help here!

On the political side, Rafidah being dropped allows Azalina to more easily challenge her . As Azalina is increasingly seen as a Pak Lah and Khairy ally, what with her sacrificing her familial right to be the MP of Rembau to Khairy and her minions' activities on the web. Rafidah needs to make amends with Tun Dr M properly to stand a chance. Alternatively, Rafidah can choose to back another Wanita heavyweight, like say Noraesah (who is generally acceptable to all factions), to block Azalina. Azalina of course was Khairy's co-anchor on TV once.

A tangential view of why Rafidah was dropped would be that it is to appease Tun Dr M, who probably is still a little upset with Rafidah for her role in the AP scandal and the attack on Proton. Enough about Rafidah.

Why was JJ dropped? Because Pak Lah cannot risk 2 Najib allies in the Cabinet who are political warlords that can also deliver at their ministries. Zahid Hamidi, whilst tentatively also an Anwarista and publicly behind Pak Lah, was brought into the mainstream by Najib and was returned to public leadership following his conversion to Tun Dr M pre-1999 elections. Zahid is still the best candidate to grab MAYC from the clutches of Syed Hamid, currently a firm, though weak, Lah-ist ally.

Why Muhammad Taib? 2 reasons probably. Khairy in his snot-nosed political infancy is probably still enamoured by Muhammad Taib's skill at leading by-elections. This despite 'Mike Tyson's' clear weakness as UMNO Information Chief on the big stage of PRU-12. Pak Lah also needs a guaranteed ally (one he has revived from the political graveyard) to balance the cabinet that he has risked...

The cabinet is still potentially hostile. Shabery Cheek was raised by KuLi so may well be another enemy within, but he cannot be ignored what with the others Pak Lah have dropped. Liow Tiong Lai dan Ong Tee Keat's entry mark the pre-emminence of the Lim Ah Lek faction in MCA, a group that is more traditional and less amenable to shananigans vs Ong Ka Ting's faction, now represented by that less popular brother of his, Ong Ka Chuan.

Curious to see Wan Ahmad Farid as Deputy Home Affairs and Internal Security Minister. This is Khairy's close chum right? The one who used to be in Terengganu? Or have I got the wrong guy. He'll probably be puppet-mastering Syed Hamid Albar in the ministry... weak... weak!

I have a quick observation also to make about the MIC members of cabinet. So, Samy has put up his man S Subramaniam for Minister. Has to be Samy's man as he's Sec-Gen of MIC. This sets up the battle for the MIC Presidency nicely then against the young turk Devamany who has a Deputy Minister post! This assumes of course that Samy is no longer interested? Palanievel? The other Subra?

So, does this cabinet line-up change my opinion that Pak Lah has to go for the sake of the party and the nation? No. Does the cabinet line-up re-assure me that Khairy is no longer a hidden hand influencing Malaysian government policy? No. So, I guess you know where my vote will go during UMNO branch elections... if they'll let us have a proper contest that is!

Akhirnya Bermula Kesinambungan Semangat Melayu Tua Ke Muda

Pada zaman awal kebangkitan kuasa Khairy Jamaluddin, telah dikemukakan oleh para pendukungnya yang muda segenerasi dengannya bahawa ini melambangkan kebangkitan 'Golongan Muda' baru dalam UMNO. Kononnya golongan muda pimpinan Khairy ini membawa aspirasi baru yang lebih sesuai dengan zaman menjangkau 2020, dan dalam usaha membawa masyarakat Melayu ke era baru yang lebih makmur, nescaya akan berlaku pertembungan dengan 'Golongan Tua' dalam UMNO.

Malang bagi Khairy dan pendakyah-pendakyah beliau, generasi beliau, malah kebanyakan golongan di bawah 40 tahun yang menjadi sasaran telah menolak propaganda tersebut. Soalnya, agak susah untuk majoriti golongan muda Melayu untuk menerima dakyah yang:

1. Bertunggakkan tuduhan akan kelemahan 'Golongan Tua' yang tidak berdosa malah banyak menabur budi kepada generasi Melayu muda.
2. Didukung oleh golongan minoriti elitis yang berbuai emas, disusu madu ratu yang menunjuk-nunjukan kepandaian berbuktikan kelulusan institusi luar negara sambil berperisaikan surat nikah atau sijil kelahiran sebenarnya.
3. Melaga-lagakan tua serta muda, lama dan baru, budi dengan angan-angan masa hadapan.

Orang Melayu suatu masyarakat yang bersopan-santun. Dalam perbalahan bagaimana sekalipun, tikaman lidah tidak meluka hati, malah lebih rela rasa tidak puas hati disuratkan sahaja supaya boleh penegur mengalihkan bahasa kepada yang lebih pekerti demi menjaga silaturahim.

Dakyah Khairy mungkin tak termakan dek generasinya, tetapi malang sekali, beliau dan anasir-anasir di sekelilingnya telah berjaya mempengaruhi golongan kepimpinan Melayu teratas bahawa merekalah yang sah mewakili generasi muda. Malang sekali kepada pemimpin Melayu UMNO, kerana hasilnya adalah penolakan sebulat suara generasi muda terhadap intipati agenda Khairy yang dibawa oleh rejim Pak Lah sepanjang 4 tahun seperti dibuktikan oleh keputusan PRU-12.

Menarik sekali, hasil penolakan mendadak terhadap kerajaan Pak Lah/Khairy, kini suara-suara Muda yang lebih sah diterima-pakai sebagai wakil sudah mula berganding dengan suara Tua yang berbudi dan disegani. Prosa sopan Mukhriz dibayangi oleh surat yang lebih sulit dari pemimpin Tua sebuah Bahagian UMNO. Usul mengadakan Mesyuarat Agung Tergempar oleh Tungku Razaleigh Hamzah (KuLi) pula sudah dibayangi oleh kepimpinan Pemuda UMNO Johor.

Inilah gandingan Tua-Muda yang dinanti-nantikan, yang bakal membina bersama, yang bukan propaganda semata-mata. Gandingan beginilah yang merupakan tanda kesinambungan semangat perjuangan Melayu masih berbara sayup-sayup, menanti hembusan nafas baru dari kepimpinan generasi lama ke baru.

Gandingan ini kini wujud atas agenda menggesa mengunduran kepimpinan Pak Lah/Khairy sebelum binasa UMNO dan masa depan Melayu di bumi Malaysia.

Harapan penulis yang tidak seberapa ini adalah semoga gandingan sebegini juga bakal mengembalikan kegagahan dan kemakmuran masyarakat Melayu... Dulu, Kini dan Selamanya.

Desparate Acts Of Survival Of Lah-ist Regime

I've been receiving all sorts of info and coms nowadays, both in the form of sms, e-mails and of course there is continuous drivel from the mainstream press. All basically excuse Pak Lah from responsibility for the election results (despite the PRU12 being declared as being "Badawi's Election" by Tun Musa Hitam the week before polling).

Some go as far as saying it is the collective fault of all too many UMNO and BN leaders. A couple even blame Tun Dr Mahathir's previous practices when in power!

Then of course there are the conspiracy theories. That Anwar and Najib are in cahoots or that Najib will not be able to survive Anwar's assault (to scare the Mahathirites). That Najib can't oppose Pak Lah due to all sorts of crimes he allegedly has committed (to scare the Najibites). Of course with the rise of Mukhriz through his letter and the petition for support for it (below) all sorts of stuff are coming out about Mukhriz.

http://bigdogdotcom.wordpress.com/2008/03/14/mukhriz-hantar-surat-minta-pm-abdullah-letak-jawatan/

http://rockybru.blogspot.com/2008/03/petition-in-support-of-mukhriz-mahathir.html

Lets re-affirm a couple of things here:

1. BN and UMNO lost its 2/3 majority under Pak Lah's leadership. The only thing that has differed in terms of leadership of this country since the 2004 election landslide was the country experiencing 4 years of Lah-ist regime in its full glory of rising crime, reduced savings and spending power of the men and women on the street, increasing racial disharmony, Islamic deviation (Hadhari) and losing pace whilst selling-out to Singapore.
2. The reason the younger generation of Malays is against Pak Lah is not because we don't like the NEP (which is really now the NDP). What's not to like about cheaper housing, easier access and sometimes free education, government perks, business and contracts, et al? Actually, the younger generation of Malays hate Khairy Jamaluddin and how he and his cronies have perverted and hogged all the benefits of the NDP for themselves!

4 years is more than enough Lah... just withdraw into a sleepy retirement...

PAS And DAP Sharing Power? Creak, Crack...

Mr Lim Kit Siang has a problem. He wants power, but to keep power, he feels he still needs to remain a champion against Islam, with PAS as his bogey-party.

In Perak, he actually needs PAS to have some power, but the problem is... he doesn't want PAS to lead the state! The tough thing for him is, even if he was OK with PAS, he can't show he's OK, so... rocky's bru: Ah, Kit Siang!

Maybe he forgot that in Selangor, he needed PAS to keep BN out too. In fact, PAS would probably prefer BN as a partner in government instead of DAP. Thank god for PKR... or so you think...

Mr Lim should worry about keeping the inter-racial harmony in the state his son does control first... news of pork being openly sold at the Bayan Lepas open market for the first time in history on 9 March '08 is ruffling Malay and Muslim feathers already...

Not so easy being a leader in a coalition is it? Peace Mr Lim!

Forget About The Post-Mortem, What Is Left To Be Done?

There are too many post mortems around already on PRU12 that it isn't worth doing another one here. None are completely satisfying, but as a collective, the following combination ends up being quite comprehensive:

My friend Ong Kian Ming's: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/79604
Bridget Welsh's for Malaysiakini: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/79677
One that completes the picture with the Malay point of view, which also doubles as a petition, is MyKMU's: http://www.mykmu.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=6263

All agree that the blame for BN's election losses lie in large part on Pak Lah's leadership... or lack of. Collectively, the flaws of Pak Lah's leadership analysed are so all encompassing that even his one 'positive' behaviour, devotion to his family, end up being a significant negative to the voters!

There is one problem though... PAK LAH IS STILL AROUND! He's still PM! This is of course an extremely strange situation, but then, is it really? The Lah controlled press is trying to sell the story that it's not, but we all feel this is wierd!

In 1969, the then Alliance government under Tunku Abdul Rahman also lost its 2/3 majority. It didn't lose as badly as Pak Lah's government did, but it lose the 2/3. Now, Tunku didn't step down voluntarily either, even though he was severely criticised for his losses. It took more than a year until he was forced to resign from being PM in 1970, then he stayed on as UMNO President till 1971!

Based on this lesson of history, Pak Lah's future doesn't look too bright. I mean come on, who is Pak Lah compared to Tunku Abdul Rahman? The first PM of Malaysia also founded of ASEAN, formed Malaysia, as well as led us to victor over the communists as well as Sukarno's Indonesia during Konfrantasi! Pak Lah's only father of the K(J)-Economy, the Hadhari sect and 'plays golf' with Singapore!

As Pak Lah's losses were worse than Tunku's and his achievements naught, I'd say he probably won't last longer than Tunku. The problem though is that UMNO takes A VERY LONG TIME to get rid of any leader, the higher the leader's post, the longer! A PM can do a lot of damage in a year... we've seen 4 already!

You can say its inefficient, but actually its because UMNO is Malay, and Malays are polite! See how elders like Tun Dr M and KuLi have been the ones vocally asking for Pak Lah's resignation? Even BN is being polite, with Lim Keng Yaik's hint being by far the most pointed: http://rockybru.blogspot.com/2008/03/good-advice-on-bad-advisers.html#links

So, can the rakyat do more than it already has to speed Pak Lah's exit? A petition perhaps? Banners in front of houses? Maybe even private urgings when they bump into Pak Lah at a kenduri? The job is only half done... so what is left to be done?

Untuk Apa Perjuangan

Generasi Muda Melayu sekarang amnya merasakan kehilangan sesuatu. Apa 'sesuatu' itu mungkin dirasakan berbeza bagi setiap individu, tetapi perasaan ini sering timbul sebagai suatu kekurangan malah kekosongan pada hidup, terutama sekali dalam perbualan di kalangan pemuda segenerasi.

Setiap individu manusia dijadikan Allah S.W.T. penuh dengan keperluan dan kehendak. Yang kehendak sering berkait dengan nafsu hidup, keinginan yang melepasi apa yang perlu dalam kehidupan. Keperluan pula bukan sahaja merangkumi asas hidup yang fizikal seperti makan/minum, tempat tinggal, pakaian, kenderaan, dsb, tetapi termasuk juga keperluan jiwa atau rohani.

Keperluan rohani ini mungkin berunsur membetulkan diri supaya setiap individu dapat lebih mendekati Allah, namun Islam jelas juga mendorong ummahnya untuk mengejar Keperluan di dunia mahupun di akhirat. Keperluan rohani ini amnya adalah sejenis perjuangan, baik perjuangan dalaman mahupun perjuangan menjayakan ummah di alam dunia.

Ini berkait langsung dengan kekurangan serta kekosongan yang menghantui begitu ramai generasi Muda Melayu sekarang. Ini kerana terlalu ramai dari kita sekarang tertanya-tanya,"Untuk Apa Perjuangan".

UMNO Leadership Change A Solution To The Malay Malaise?

I received the note below as a response to my earlier posting and thought part of my response worth sharing, including also bringing in the Malaysian context.

Salam Mr Akhramsyah, I, too, have watched Tun's video clip a few nights ago and this is exactly the thing that has been dwelling in my mind the whole next day - even while in office!

As a loyal UMNO member, who still feel that UMNO is the only relevant party for Malays, I think we should try to find some ways to combat the real cause - money politics. Even Tun himself stated in his speech that he failed to combat this problem, when he himself knew that Malay voters will vote even if UMNO president chooses a tunggul kayu to represent them.

Some kind of "Perang Saraf" to change the mentality of Malay voters might be a little too ambitious, but I think, the best is to allow competition for the position of UMNO President once again (after Anwar suggested for "No Competition for the 2 top posts in 1997). Do you think anyone would dare to nominate Datuk Najib against Pak Lah in the next UMNO AGM?

Even though Najib himself is not a perfect leader (more of the lesser of 2 evils), but my naive thinking says that he'd have plans for Malays as opposed to the current PM. What say you?

On this matter, I'd rather not be too quick to prescribe and deliver a solution. Certainly what is said is a problem and certainly the revision in UMNO election laws proposed is one solution. Who challenges Pak Lah is irrelevant, but the system needs to be amended back to the nomination system that was available pre-1988, allowing a minimum 2 Bahagians to nominate leaders for any UMNO national post.

(Else, Pak Lah would have been challenged by KuLi in 2004, which KuLi would likely have lost then in my opinion).

However, there are other root cause problems with the Malays and UMNO that need to be addressed - once we have clarified and prioritised these problems, we should be able to do more than just address the more immediate problem of lack of leadership at the very top. We should try to get Malays to survive regardless of who is on top and in one go ensure the pool of people that can rise to the very top is of the highest quality.

This will also then allow Malays to clarify and re-assert its desired role as the majority race in Malaysia. This would in turn allow us to resume the road that was left post 1969, which Mahathir attempted to put us back onto with Vision 2020 and stalled under the Lah-ist regime, of making the Malaysian status of non-Malays more equitable relative to the Bumiputra.

Needless to say though, regime change has to occur in Malaysia after these elections in my mind. The current government is just too incompetent to remain as it is for all our sakes as Malaysians!

I remain, a loyal UMNO Member of Bendang Baru Branch, Langkawi.

Holier Than Thou? Prove It!

The recommendation by our former PM Tun Dr M that voters "vote for the candidate, not for the party" on this 8-3-8 election, has some interesting implications; besides the immediate memory trigger to some 'old' hacks like me on how it's an about turn from his old campaign that voters should "vote for the party, not for the candidate".

The old slogan (vote for the party) was to encourage voters not to vote for the opposition just because they are of the same race when the BN candidate is not. Anyway, that was the old story, but the reason why Tun Dr M is asking people not to vote the party but to carefully choose based on the quality of candidates these days are for some rather 'simple' reasons:

1. He didn't choose the candidates in this election, so I can't expect him to think Pak Lah's choices were perfect!
2. Tun Dr M may still be quite annoyed with a number of the BN candidates this year, including the AP dispensing lady, the current UMNO Sec-Gen who caused UMNO to be declared illegal 2 decades ago, a certain boy from Oxford that married well, some of his back-stabbing former assistants in Kubang Pasu, among others. All this is second guessing though, as as he is an old wise man, he may well be quite zen about all these people actually!
3. The third reason is a bit like the first two but with a twist. Tun Dr M thinks the BN candidates list is awful but he still wants BN to win. He thinks this can only be done by getting voters to see beyond the failings of some BN leaders and choosing the best of those available from BN; which, lets face it, is probably far superior to the bad blend of the ancient, quirky, strange and baby-faced offerings from the opposition!

However, in doing so, he has implicitly thrown down the gauntlet to Malaysians to prove that they are indeed Holier than Thou! He has great hopes that the indignant crescendo that led to the resignation of a certain philandering DVD-sex minister would be repeated across the broad section of the voting public on 8-3-8, leading to a cleansing of the nation's leadership by the electorate!

On the surface, Tun Dr M's urgings that voters choose the right candidates may appear to favour the opposition. Certainly if there were any corrupt leaders to be found, they would more likely be among BN candidates, as it is the party that is in almost total control of the country. Typically, it is such power and control that breeds corruption and poor morals to the extent that cannot be ignored.

There are any number of BN leaders that should be voted out for corruption - mostly suspected, but some rather blatantly evident to the electorate, what with large houses, cars, diamonds on wives' fingers or just plain sliminess. Some are disturbing in that they are addicted to skirts. Some must be found stupid (for instance from having MBA's from fake US universities) or are just plain rude.

Quite a number of incumbent MPs need to be taught a lesson as they may have ignored the electorate. Some, even veteran ones, may have shown themselves to be 'too good' or 'too busy' for the people, by doing silly things like not helping when voters were suffering from floods. The saddest types of candidates though appear to be proxy-candidates for their parents.

For instance, the DVD-sex minister has succeeded in getting his son to run in his place for MP. Another interesting case is the 'Klang Palace' MP, who managed to get his daughter-in-law to run in his place. Surely these candidates should feel the heat of the electorate if it is clear that they are not running for themselves but as proxies to parents that are too tainted for BN to consider running!

Of course, these proxy candidates are in good company, as there is this daughter of a glamarous ex-con opposition leader also running as a proxy in KL!

Now, Tun Dr M is not a stupid man. Surely when he said what he said, he didn't intend for the opposition to gain such a big advantage against BN. In his heart he probably realised that the opposition had hopeless candidates too. In fact, the opposition's weakness is most evident at the top, among its leaders!

1. The DAP's Lim Kit Siang likes to accuse BN of race-based politics, but does this whilst allowing his party to be disproportionately Chinese in agenda and leadership. In contrast, BN till now remains the party that fields the most candidates differing from the majority race in a constituency. Perhaps Kit Siang is still living down the legacy of his screaming for Malays to leave KL and pissing on the Malaysian flagpole at the Selangor MB's house in 1969?
2. PAS on the other hand is led by a Malay leader that on one hand declares the need for an Islamic state, but on the other condemned some Muslims as being deviant based on party affiliation. He thinks sins hence can be done against Muslims who are not PAS members! You'd think that he and Kit Siang would get along swimmingly as they both hate BN, but they don't!
3. Then of course there is the most celebrated ex-con politician in the world, Anwar Ibrahim. Here is a man famous for being against corruption despite being convicted of the criminal offence of corruption and abuse of power! His crime? Instructing the police to break the law and act against his enemies! Amazingly, some still believe he was a 'political prisoner'! And then of course there was the other thing... ooops... innocent by technicality!

So, on the one hand, Tun Dr M wants us to choose BN candidates, but only those that are of worth. At the same time, his request forces us to also look at the alternatives among the opposition with a more critical eye. This must leave voters with quite a problem in some constituencies I am sure. Then again, no one said being Holier than Thou was going to be easy...! Correct, correct correct...!