Spooky Muck

The Khairy Quandry

2009-04-02T01:02:00.002+08:00

When Khairy Jamaluddin won the Pemuda UMNO Youth Chief race, almost everyone not indebted to the young man predicted with reasonable certainty that his victory spelled doom for UMNO. Text messages went out in shocked tones expressing disgust with the UMNO Youth delegates for voting in a man found GUILTY of money politics, but let off without punishment because he was son in law of the Prime Minister and UMNO President. On the social networking website Facebook, hundreds if not thousands of politically inclined young Malaysians changed their “status” to reflect their disappointment at Khairy’s questionable win.

What was both depressing and disgusting to many interested observers was the fact that Khairy’s victory was clear evidence that Pemuda UMNO –or at least the delegates to the Youth assembly- were ready to ignore not just public sentiment against the boy, but also the earnest plea of the incoming UMNO President for the delegates to give him a line up of credible leaders. Deputy President Dato Sri Najib went so far as to shout out Dato Mukhriz Mahathir’s slogan “Berani Berubah” (Dare to change) in his speech opening the Youth Wanita and Puteri Assembly as a thinly veiled indication that he wants the likeable son of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad to lead the UMNO Youth Wing.

In the end greed prevailed. It is an open secret the kind of money that the KJ camp has spent in the run up to the party polls. Some pegged it at RM 15,000 per delegate. Others say it’s RM25,000. At 15 k, that’s a whopping RM12 million spent on the 800 odd delegates, and that’s without considering the amount spent to secure the required nominations to be eligible to contest the Youth Chief post. Was it money well spent? Yes, if your political life post the ouster of your father-in-law depends on it.

Khairy won with a 304 vote tally, defeating Mukhriz who won a little over 250 votes and Khir Toyo who won slightly more votes than Mukhriz.

It was telling that quite apart from the circle immediately fawning around Khairy, everyone else in and outside the hall where the results were announced were incredulous at Pemuda UMNO’s apparent death wish in voting for the most despised man in Malaysian politics to be their next leader at a time when UMNO is at its weakest; its credibility suspect, and its integrity dubious. It was humiliating for UMNO that its own members were chanting “KJ Rasuah! (Kj is corrupt!)” just outside the hall where the results were announced. This was not a crowd of opposition supporters. These were young members of UMNO and their anger and disappointment were obvious.

And it was not a one off thing that can be dismissed as an emotional reaction of the followers of Khir and Mukhriz immediately after their candidates were defeated. When the General Assembly of UMNO’s main body started the next day, Khairy’s unparalleled unpopularity was quite evident. Without fail he was booed and jeered every single time his name was mentioned, something that has never happened to any office bearer of UMNO in the party’s 63 year history. One delegate who tried to shower him with praises was heckled mercilessly by an unforgiving UMNO audience.It wasn’t long before people began wondering how Khairy would ever hope to strengthen Pemuda when he was so despised, indeed loathed.

But the bigger, and infinitely more interesting question is: what will Najib do with Khairy, now that it is abundantly clear that this new Youth Chief is hated not just by the public at large but even by UMNO itself? If Khairy is made a minister in his Cabinet, then Najib’s credibility will suffer and his intent to transform UMNO will be questioned. UMNO will be rejected by those outside the party, and it will be abandoned by disillusioned members within. To top it all off Najib will suffer the wrath of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, the linchpin of Malay politics whose words carry great influence. Najib’s coup de grace in bringing the Grand Old Man to the UMNO Assembly on Saturday March 28^th will have meant absolutely nothing. Instead, Najib may well find himself in the same sorry position in which stood Abdullah Badawi , after Tun Dr. Mahathir began attacking him in 2006. Against Mahathir’s extraordinary appeal with the young Malay electorate and their attachment to him as the only leader with whom they grew up, no UMNO leader can hope to win a contest of popularity.

If Najib leaves Khairy out in the cold, will he lose support of the all important Pemuda wing? Most pundits doubt it. In the first place, Khairy does not command the solid support of the Youth. He himself has admitted that he did not have the majority. If Khairy was sidelined, only factions aligned to him will fault Najib. That faction is small. Remember that in the nominations for the Youth contest, Mukhriz had the lion’s share , which reflected the true grassroots sentiments, unlike the actual contest which was decided by the delegates. In other words, the majority of UMNO Youth Grassroots will be happy if KJ slapped in the face by way of not being a government post. This would be reminiscent of the situation in the late 90s, when Dr.Mahathir declined to appoint Zahid Hamidi who was then Youth Chief and instead appointed his deputy Hishamuddin tTun Hussein as Deputy Minister. Zahid had made the grave mistake of openly supporting Anwar Ibrahim in his bid to topple Mahathir.

In fact Najib should go one step further if he is serious about making changes to improve UMNO. He should appoint Mukhriz as treasurer of the party. Indeed among Najib’s circle there is already a lot of talk about this. Appointing Mukhriz would signal two things: first, that Najib believes Mukhriz to be clean and therefore suitable to guard UMNO’s coffers and second that he wants to show Khairy who’s the boss, by saying, not in so many words, “Okay. you think you can win?, I put your nemesis in a higher position than you. Suck on THAT.”

If he dares to make this move, than Najib will definitely score points with the legions of young people who despise even the name of Khairy Jamaluddin. It would signal that he is serious about transforming UMNO, and it would be a clear sign that the Badawi disaster is truly and finally coming to an end. But as always been the case with Najib… the ultimate question is: Will he dare?

Permatang Pauh: Badawi Must Be Accountable

2008-08-27T16:32:00.002+08:00

As far as UMNO is concerned, August 26th, 2008 is a day that will live in infamy. It marks Anwar ibrahim’s return to Parliament. The sodomist will make life really difficult for UMNO from here on end.

But More importantly August 26t^th marks UMNO’s humiliating defeat in a Malay majority constituency barely four months after it suffered debilitating losses in the 12^th General Elections on March 8^th.

Of course UMNO’s defeat in Permatang Pauh is expected. After all UMNO acknowledged that it went into the by-election as the underdog. Permatang Pauh is the strong hold of Anwar and his wife for the past 26 years. But the thumping victory which the people of Permatang Pauh delivered to Anwar raises serious questions for UMNO.

The NST’s Zubaidah Abu Bakar wrote that UMNO and will have to go back to the drawing board and do a post-mortem on what went wrong. Was it strategy? Was it the Machinery?. Other analysts have said that the defeat of UMNO was caused by the overkill of the sodomy issue and the polemics of swearing by the Quran.

From all this chatter, one can draw a simple conclusion: UMNO IS STILL MISSING THE POINT.

This defeat is not about the sodomy allegation. It’s about UMNO being told to bugger off in the Malay heartland. It’s a fair bit about Anwar yes, but looking at the bigger picture, it is about the people’s outright rejection of UMNO. There must be a reason why even UMNO members voted against the party (The number of votes for UMNO were less than the number of UMNO members who are voters in Permatang Pauh).

Let’s look at the facts:

Permatang Pauh is a Malay majority constituency which has rejected the predominant Malay Party UMNO.

The UMNO state liaison chief of Penang is Abdullah Badawi. Hence the Malays have rejected the Abdullah Badawi led UMNO in Penang.

Penang is the home state of Abdullah Badawi, which he lost in a spectacular fashion on March 8^th, making him the first ever Prime Minister, ‘without’ a home state. Permatang Pauh is the first by-election after March 8^th and should serve as a barometer of whether the people think that the PM has got the message they tried to tell him at the 12^th GE. The answer is a resounding NO. His so-called reforms have failed and people still reject his leadership.

Pak Lah no longer has any credibility because with the loss of Permatang Pauh, he hasn’t lost Penang once, but twice in four months. He cannot even make headway in a Malay majority area, adjacent to Kepala Batas, where the demographics of the people are identical!

Even though Najib led the charge in Permatang Pauh, the fact remains that it is Bedawi’s home state. The battle was always between a Prime Minister in waiting and a sitting Prime Minister. The Prime Minister in waiting has beaten the crap out of the sitting lame duck Prime Minister.

By all accounts, the Prime Minister’s son in law did more harm than good by shooting his mouth off, claiming to want to bury Anwar and bringing a whole entourage of hooligans and tough guys with him down to Permatang Pauh. SIL made it so easy for people to decide that, yep, they still hate Abdullah and his family, and they still will vote the opposition, sodomist or not.

Pak Lah must take responsibility for the loss of Permatang Pauh and resign. What is he going to do? say that UMNO still got 10,000 votes and therefore “UMNO masih kuat??” Nobody bought that crap the first time (after the GE), and nobody will buy it now.

Even if the defeat is expected, the fact that it was by such a big majority really means that the people were quite decisive in not wanting UMNO. Do they not want UMNO because UMNO is a bad party? Or because UMNO is dominated by individuals who are perceived to be bad? I think Tengku Razaleigh said it well in his statement here that the people “have rejected our (UMNO’s) leadership”. (I only disagree that the Deputy should also be blamed.)

Several leaders of the Chinese and Indian community have said that while the Malay community may have voted on sentiment and on the Anwar factor, the non-malay community voted on the basis of practicality. They don’t necessarily like Anwar and the hooliganistic tendencies of the PKR, but they just hated Badawi and his family more. And to them UMNO is now the Party of Badawi and his family, so they will never vote BN as long as Bedawi remains at the helm of UMNO and BN. It's a simple as that.

As long as Abdullah Badawi remains the PM, The President of UMNo and the Barisan Nasional Chairman, the current government will grow weaker and weaker before imploding and collapsing altogether.

Abdullah Badawi must be accountable for the eroding fortunes of UMNO & BN. To use today’s parlance, UMNO’s got to “lose” Badawi, before Badawi causes UMNO to lose everything.

Whither UMNO?

2008-08-12T12:38:00.006+08:00

I was really hoping that DS Najib Tun Razak (NTR) would go head to head against Dolah Bedawi and get rid of that buffoon once and for all. Unfortunately NTR decided against a challenge and accepted a protracted transition deal for Dolah to hand over in 2010. So that's that.

I was angry and frustrated at first, but when I heard NTR's explanation as he told them to his loyalists and supporters, I realized that he really had no choice but to accept the deal because of the way things are in UMNO.

Who can blame him? It is a well known fact that Bedawi has resorted to meeting division leaders one-to-one and after such meetings those division chiefs take a complete u-turn and do the "Saya Sokong" dance. Consider, for instance, the alleged UMNO Maverick from Cheras, Syed Ali Al Habshee. The man was vitriolic in calling for a change in leadership after the March 8th General Elections. In April, he loudly said he wanted Dolah to go by December and not later. He wanted to change the quota system in UMNO so that UMNO members can force a leadership change, and he wanted to hold an Extraordinary General Meeting to affect those changes.

One month later, in May, this very same person who appeared almost daily in the newspapers calling for Dollah to go, suddenly says people should stop calling for the PM to resign.

Huh??... What happened? Sudah tukar ka? It couldn't have anything to do with his extension as (GLC) CTRM Chairman by the MOF could it? Or is it the result of a hush-hush meeting rumoured to have taken place between him and Dolah?

Well I don't want to dwell on Syed Ali , because this posting is not about him. But it's about the proliferation of people like him throughout UMNO. Syed Ali is just one example. There are many many more. In fact I think 99% of the delegation to the UMNO GA will be of the Syed Ali ilk or worse. From the lowest levels to the highest, UMNO is crawling with unprincipled politicians, ready to sell their souls to the highest bidder. Is it any surprise therefore that a seasoned UMNO man like NTR refuses to place his political fortunes on the flimsy pledge of support from UMNO ketua Bahagians? Honestly, how can he hope to win against Bedawi, the most corrupt UMNO President ever, when the old fart is not above doling out government money to shore up his own political position?

Remember 2006? That was when Tun Dr. Mahathir had launched his first round of attacks against Dolah Bedawi. At the UMNO General Assembly that year, the Ketua Bahagians who were hitherto still fond of Tun Mahathir were quite furious with the manner of disrespect with which the old lion had been treated by certain UMNO leaders (read: Nazri Rottweiler, Mat Taib and Tajol Rosli). They were determined to make a whole lot of noise about it during the 4 day convention. They simply will not allow anyone to treat Tun this way!! (kononnya...)

Then what happened? At the Taklimat Khas Presiden the day before the Assembly began, Dollah announced that every Bahagian will receive RM 3 Million to spend before the end of the year. Watching the tape of Bedolah announcing this abuse of public funds, you hear someone trying to correct him by saying "Setiap kawasan Parlimen". But the the genius that is Dollah would not accept this correction. "No" he said. "Setiap Bahagian". Applause applause. RM3 million from Treasury to each ketua bahagian to spend on his kawasan (yeah. right.) in a span of about two months! Damn it's like winning the lottery!

Surprise surprise, all the fire that was raging in anger at the abuse of their once revered former President went out like a light. No more. Not a peep from any of the Ketua bahagians ... their tune was now sokong sokong sokong....They could only manage a loud round of applause at the mention of Tun Mahathir's name. Nothing more than that.

So there you go... UMNO's middle management can be bought, and Bedollah bedawi has proven this point very very well. The President of UMNO himself became an icon of money politics on that fateful day in 2006. And from then on, for UMNO, it has been a steady slide to the pits of hell...

Today UMNO has no credibility at all. At the mere mention of UMNO, people feel disgusted. they are sickened by the dirty and manipulative ways of UMNO stalwarts. The promising ones like Mukhriz Mahathir will probably not get ahead. Mukhriz has said as much, pointing out that he may not even get enough nominations to contest the Ketua Pemuda post although at one point in April, he was by far the leading contender. Now, in August, many millions of dollars having been spread amongst the Ketua Pemuda bahagians by certain parties eyeing the post, Mukhriz's chance looks slim at best. It's likely he'll be forced to try his luck for a seat on the Majlis Tertinggi, although even that is a challenge for him because he refuses to play the pay-out game. Which proves my point again: in UMNO, no money, no talk. So how can you expect anyone to respect such a party? it's like when you are a card carrying member of UMNO, you are a person not averse to corruption! You may not outrightly indulge in it, but you know it happens and you let it happen and you just turn a blind eye, because, hell, you might just benefit from it!

UMNO VP (and until very recently a Deputy President hopeful) Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin also knows this and feels that UMNO is fast sinking. One suspects it is also the reason why he has decided not to challenge any top position in UMNO and just defend his Veep post. He, like Najib, knows only too well that the expressions of support and loyalty in UMNO mean diddly-squat and that in the end, to the Division Chiefs and the power brokers in UMNO, it all comes to the question of dollars and cents. And as such you can never beat the power of the Incumbent President, especially a President well proven to be not above buying support directly and indirectly.

So whither UMNO? Is it really now just a party of pirates and thugs, of people caring only for themselves and their bank accounts? Is it a party that is still slavageable if indeed Dollah Bedawi hands the reigns over to NTR come mid 2010? Will it still be worth saving by then? UMNO members... no... the UMNO Perwakilan to the coming GA must ask themselves these questions about the Party they supposedly love. Will they try and save it or will they just make hay while the sun shines?

Maybe they should just think about this: Since March 8th 2007, UMNO has not moved forward one tiny bit. UMNO has not shown that it has learnt its lesson, and things are exactly the same as it was before March 8th, with the endless mistakes and stupid moves by Paklah, shamelessly supported by UMNO stalwarts even when they know it's not right. UMNO and BN lost 6 (SIX) states on March 8th 2008. If the elections were held again tomorrow, how manyof those states does UMNO think it can seriously hope to regain? Or perhaps, the more realistic question is how many more states is BN likely to lose?

Between a sitting PM and a PM in waiting

2008-08-07T14:17:00.004+08:00

And so it begins....

Anwar was today charged in court for sodomy and this marks the begining of what I'm sure will be another circus, because Anwar is Anwar and he's not about to let the law take it's ordinary course. No. Having shouted conspiracy here, there and everywhere; having subjected the nation to much grief and trauma after the Turkish Embassy debacle and the Balasundram fake Statutory Declarations in the name of trying to create a diversion; Having cast aspersions and doubt against the police and the Attorney General, Anwar is not about to let this be an ordinary court case. He WILL make it a circus and he WILL make the government side look like fools. If he could sway public opinion in 1998 with his neckbrace and wheelchair drama and all sorts of accusations agains the government then, just imagine the kind of things he can pull off with this government today: a government that can't tell it's ass from its mouth.

And so Anwar has trained his guns now on Dollah Bedawi. It started as soon as he was informed of an impending charge. In a press statement faxed to the media he immediately said that this was a move by a Prime Minister desperate to cling on to power. Here's an excerpt:

"Today the prime minister faces a crisis of confidence. His approval ratings have plummeted since the March elections and senior members of the Barisan Nasional have joined Pakatan Rakyat in droves. The economy under his abysmal management has reached its lowest ebb in decades and all signs point to further weakening.
And just yesterday prominent Umno members have initiated an investigation into his own involvement in corruption and money politics. This is a man under siege - and he sees no way out but to deflect the attention of the Malaysian people with a sham trial against me. He is now burning the forest to save his own tree! I have thus far constrained my criticism of the prime minister to his failed policies and general incompetence in leading the nation. But now it is clear that his vendetta against those who would seek his early dismissal from office knows no boundaries and will transgress all limits of the rule of law. I hold the prime minister personally responsible for the damage that is about to be done to the nation and to the integrity and dignity of the Malays. "

This statement is really quite interesting. First, typically Anwar-esque, it is bloody arrogant. This convicted criminal is saying that a case against Anwar is a case against the people. How is this so? This is not about some social issue. It is not about things we share like the environment or public property or even about anything of public relevance. And please don't say that this case is against the people because it undermines justice and the rule of law. The police have bent over backwards (no pun intended) to ensure that Anwar gets every leverage. Remember that sodomy is an arrestable offence. The suspect can be detained after a report is made against him and remanded pending investigation. But Anwar gets to roam around scot free although he is a suspected sodomite. So if justice and fairness is compromised in this case, it is done so in favour of Anwar.

The fact is this case is about Anwar and the unlawful thing he allegedly did. This case is PERSONAL full stop. It is like any other crime. Anwar's prosecution is not a prosecution of the people. Who the hell died and made him that important? Who made Anwar the representative of the people? Last I checked Permatang Pauh hasn't happened and he hasn't been elected.

But let me not dwell too much on that. He can say whatever he wants to say about how great he thinks he is.

The other interesting thing i find about the article is Anwar's admission that he has thus far laid off Bedawi. Could it be that there was some sort of deal? I think this confirms most political observers' suspicions that a deal was struck between Bedawi and Anwar: That Anwar lays off of Bedawi and his family and instead goes after Najib, and in exchange Bedawi ensures that Anwar gets to prance around freely basically saying anything he damn well pleases to smear Najib. Now that Bedawi has reneged on his promise and allowed the charge to take place, all bets are off, it seems. Why else would Anwar hold the Prime Minister 'personally responsible'? Why not Syed Hamid the Minister in charge of the Police? Why not Najib whom Anwar first lamely attempted to link to the case with just a photo of his accuser at the DPM's office with the Najib's officer? Yes Anwar's guns have certainly shifted. The question is, why?

Third interesting point: Anwar alluded to certain person(s) in the Prime Minister's Office having a direct hand in the decision to charge and prosecute him for sodomy. He said:

"We are also informed that some individuals within the prime minister's
close circles are adamant about pursuing this case. Their involvement further
undermines the credibility of the case and proves that the entire conspiracy
hatched against me is politically motivated. ...This travesty of justice will take place. It will happen with the active support and the criminal involvement of the highest echelons of the police and politicians - including the office of the prime minister."

He made special mention of the Prime Minister's close circle's and the Prime Minister's OFFICE. If this is true, who could those people be? Surely it isn't the person who went over to give him his passport back in 1998? Surely it's not the man who seems to have a direct hand in his release? What angle is Anwar playing at, or as they say in America, where is he going with this?

Whatever it is I'm sure that all will be unveiled as we race towards the great battle of Permatang Pauh. Well maybe the so-called battle is not that great lah. We know, after all, Anwar's odds of winning are huge. But it would be interesting to watch, because I believe for the first time the opposition, led by Anwar, seems to have decided that they are going after Abdullah.

And this is where for the first time ever, I find myself in agreement with Anwar's move. It is right that Permatang Pauh be about Pak Lah Vs. Anwar. It is right that Permatang Pauh should be a referendum of the people of Penang on Abdullah Badawi... for isn't this his home state? isn't Permatang Pauh just next to Kepala Batas? Isn't Pak Lah the UMNO Liaison chief of Penang? Shouldn't he lead the charge in Permatang Pauh to show that he still commands some respect in his home state which he shamefully lost on March 8th 2008? Isn't it only right that this battle is a battle between to giants of Malay poilitics from Penang? Blogger BigDog has a take on this here.

In all probability, the coward that is Bedawi will hide behind tradition and convention (like he did when asking for a peaceful transition of power when it is in fact a ruse to avoid a contest at the UMNO GA) and he will ask DPM Najib to lead the charge as Director of the By -Elections for BN. But even so, even if Najib leads, the issue must remain whether or not the people want Abdullah or they want a new Prime Minister. This is only right. For, indeed, going by what Anwar keeps saying, isn't this a battle between the sitting Prime Minister and and a Prime Minister In Waiting?

Spooky's Back!!!!

2008-08-06T19:36:00.003+08:00

Almost a year since my last posting. And boy what a year it has been. In that period Dolah Bedawi has made a mess of the country (not news), has brought UMNO to the brink of collapse, has sold his own government out by bowing to pressures from opposition and accepting populist (although potentially disastrous) policies, has appointed an idiotic drunkard money-politics-convict as a Minister and has tried to hoodwink the Malaysian public to accept a sham transition plan for the handing over of power to Najib. Meanwhile Anwar the Convict is back with a vengeance (literally) making life hell for the government, and then making life hell for all Malaysians with his shenanigans immediately after being accused of sodomy by his former aide Saiful Bukhari Azlan. At around the same time, DPM Najib and wife Rosmah also had their share of hellish days when lunatic blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin forgot to take his pills one day and decided to make a statutory declaration about something he was never witness nor party to. Then of course there was that Balasundram declaration nonsense and the even more nonsensical retraction. Adoi.... just rehashing it all is giving me a headache. So those are some of the things that's happened in the past year. Basically Malaysian politics seem to have gone completely barking mad.

On a more positive side, Tun Mahathir started his blog on May 1st 2008, and today, 3 months and two days after chedet.com was born, that blog has charted 4, 820, 202 (as at 6.44pm, 6th August). A world record I'm sure, as most blogs take years to even get close to 3 million, let alone five. What it means is that this Greatest Malaysian Alive still has a large following, is still respected and is much loved by millions of Malaysians. Tun's voice seems the only voice of reason left in malaysia, and surprise surprise, Dollah and his monkeys have tried and are still continuing to systematically shut down this voice. Madness and stupidity trying to shut out sanity and reason.

So that's that.

but where has Spooky Been?... why the hiatus? Well to be honest, it was just a general sense of "putus asa" with the Bedawi government, with the stupidity and ball-less-ness of UMNo and with the general state of things ["give up" doesn't quite translate the sentiment of "Putus Asa" so I have to use the malay phrase. i just wanted to travel far far away and forget that the country I once loved is now in ruins. Also, I harboured a secret hope against hopes that when i returned, malaysia will have changed for the better, that Dollah Gila would be just a black part of our history and we would be working towards undoing his legacy of destruction.

Didn't happen.

So after a while, i decided, ok lah. i will start to write again. Maybe not as often as before. maybe not exclusively on politics... who knows. see how it goes la. But one thing I know, I'm just gonna say what i feel lah. It may not make any difference to anyone, but at least i get to let it out. And hopefully by doing so, i can continue to keep sane, in a country gone mad.

Shut Up, Fool!!!

2007-09-24T12:10:00.000+08:00

Someone once said "better to keep your mouth shut and have people think you're a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." Somebody should explain this wisdom to a certain loud-mouthed, crap-for-brains Minister , although saving him from being pegged a fool maybe very much too late. (See the reason of my fury here.)

This is the same jumping-jack(ass) who barked mindlessly against TDM, challenging a revered old man -who was once his boss!- to prove who is more jantan. This is the same idiot who finds any reason to get press time because he is in effect a Minister that has no real job except jaga Dewan. This is the same fool who was arrogant enough to tell the world "saya orang kaya."

This Minister is, to me, a waste of space on earth. Heck he may even be a waste of space in hell.

What kind of a person threatens grieving parents who just buried their brutally murdered daughter, with legal action? Sakit jiwa ke apa? Let me ask Mr.Minister this: how sure are you that you were not negligent with your kids? I don't know them in person, but from what I hear, they're no angels. And one of them even allegedly got into a serious brush with the law. If that's the case, then Going by his argument that "the law is the law and no one should slip away" shouldn't he(Mr.Minister) be investigated as a negligent parent?

The insanity and the inhumanity of what he said aside, one has to wonder what the hell kind of political acumen this jerk has, and how he managed to stay afloat all these years. I mean look, there is a nationwide outpouring of grief for the dead girl and her family. And what does this brilliant politician do? He goes against the grain and succeeds to ruffle everyone's feathers. Fantastic near-election move, YB! More please! If we're lucky, you may find even better ways to stick you smelly foot in that big fat mouth of yours and hopefully this'll get you the boot!

I am tempted to wish everything horrible, painful and tragic to befall this Minister and his family, so that he can be on the receiving end for a change. But I will not. I will not bother to stoop so low to the level of human maggots just to get some empty satisfaction. Besides, I still believe that what goes around comes around. So fools will get their due. Of this i am certain. I dont have to wish it.

AL FATIHAH

2007-09-18T17:18:00.000+08:00

Farewell Little Angel...

UPDATE 21 September:

Nurin Jazlin was laid to rest today in a most tearful and heartbreaking funeral. She's in a better place now. and no monster can harm her ever again.

UPDATE 20th September:

According to The Star Police have confirmed that the body of a girl found in the sports bag two day ago was Nurin. Her parents still insist its not her. I think all of us wish its not her. I'm so shocked and sad it makes me numb.
Al Fatihah

Original Post (Have you seen this girl?):

28 Days after her fateful trip to the Pasar Malam near her house, 8-year old Nurin Jazlin is still missing. The search for her is still on-going after a nerve wracking day yesterday when a body of a young girl was found in a bag in PJ. Alhamdulillah its not Nurin, but my heart bleeds for the girl who was so senselessly and brutally murdered.

Meanwhile let's all focus on finding Nurin. Rocky has featured the search for Nurin on his blog here. And I'm putting it up on Spookymuck as well. I have a niece who is exactly Nurin's age and I can't bear the thought of anything bad happening to her. I just pray that Nurin is ok, wherever she may be.

Anyone with any information please contact 019-366 7607, 013-248 6651or IPD Sentul at 03-4042 2222.

More on this case can be found at a dedicated blog: http://www.nurinjazlin.blogspot.com/

May we find her soon InshaAllah.

Antara Dua Kegawatan

2007-09-15T02:05:00.000+08:00

Tahun 1998. Saya baru mula berkerja dan menikmati hidup sebagai dewasa yang berdikari. Pada masa itu kecoh di rata-rata tempat dibincangkan tentang kegawatan ekonomi Asia. Katanya Korea Selatan dah teruk dan hampir tumbang. Thailand pula mula goyah. Di dada-dada akhbar terpampang kisah tentang ahli korporat di Bangkok menjual sandwic di tepi jalan dan graduan menjual kacang rebus serta memandu teksi. Semua angkara kegawatan ekonomi. Di Malaysia juga, pada masa itu, disebut sebut tentang ekonomi yang gawat, tentang matawang yang sedang diserang hebat sehingga hampir tidak terdaya kerajaan kita bertarung menghalang kejatuhan nilainya.

Namun sebagai orang muda yang masih agak mentah ketika itu, saya tidak begitu mengambil tahu secara terperinci tentang krisis yang sedang melanda negara kita. Yang saya ingat, Malaysia terus tenang terus aman. Walaupun akhbar dan berita tv kecoh bercerita tentang masalah-masalah ekonomi, saya tidak begitu merasai kesannya pada ketika itu. Bila lepak di Bangsar, samada di warong tepi jalan atau di tempat mewah seperti Coffee Bean (masa tu belum ada Starbucks), saya perhatikan di keliling saya meja meja lain tetap penuh. Begitu juga di kompleks membeli belah. Orang ramai terus ceria.. terus “oblivious” tentang keadaan sebenar yang sememangnya mencemaskan. Nyata warga korporat terasa bahang kegawatan itu, dan ada yang jatuh tersungkur, dari segi kewangan nya tinggal nyawa-nyawa ikan sebelum padam selama-lamanya. Tapi secara amnya, rakyat Malaysia tidak begitu tertampar dengan kegawatan ekonomi Asia yang sedang melakar sejarah hitam buat rantau ini pada ketika itu.

Kini barulah saya sedar bahawa persepsi ketenangan itu adalah sebenarnya hasil dari perancangan rapi oleh kepimpinan yang bijaksana yang berpandangan luas dan jauh. Itulah Dato Seri (kini Tun) Dr. Mahathir Mohamad Perdana Malaysia yang disanjungi ramai ketika itu. Saya masih ingat perbualan saya dan rakan-rakan pada suatu petang Ogos 1998… dengan penuh “konfiden” kami bersetuju bahawa tidak ada apa yang perlu dirisaukan. Dr. Mahathir pasti tahu menyelesaikan nya.

Aduhh…nostalgia sunguh bila mengenangkan kembali. Kata Mat Salleh “those were simpler times”. Rakyat Malaysia tak perlu risau. Semuanya pasti akan di “settle”kan oleh Perdana Menteri kebanggaan kita. And true enough. Dr.Mahathir tidak mengecewakan rakyat nya. Sepertimana yang dijangkakan, Dr.Mahathir menemui jalan keluar dari kemelut ekonomi itu dengan caranya yang unik dan tersendiri…. Tidak perlu saya huraikan disini. Semuanya telah menjadi sejarah yang “well-documneted”, yang mana kisah hebat penyelesaian ekonomi Dr.Mahathir itu dijadikan “case study” ilmiah di Harvard Business School hingga ke hari ini.

Demikian lah di zaman Tun Dr. Mahathir dahulu. Sehingga kegawatan ekonomi pun tidak terasa oleh rakyat kebanyakan, kerana dilindungi dengan cekap oleh pemimpin yang bijaksana. Dr. Mahathir menyangkal teori ekonomi semasa dan melakukan sebaliknya. Beliau menolak kenaikan faedah pada pinjaman supaya peniaga-peniaga tidak kelemasan membayar bunga yang melambung akibat susut nilai wang ringgit; dan Beliau memastikan rakyat mendapat imbuhan wang agar ada aliran tunai dalam ekonomi. Maka dengan itu rakyat tidak terasa bahang kegawatan ekonomi, dan perniagaan-perniagaan terus boleh menjalankan aktiviti mereka kerana tidak berlaku kekeringan dana dalam pasaran. Itulah antara lain kebiaksanaan Dr. Mahathir menangani kegawatan ekonomi, selain menutup seketika ekonomi kita agar tidak terus dibinasa oleh penyangak matawang.

Hebatnya pemimpin ketika itu sehingga Kegawatan Ekonomi serantau pun tidak dirasai oleh rakyat bawahan dengan terlalu ketara.

Fast forward ke tahun 2007. Tidak ada lagi keyakinan rakan-rakan saya terhadap pemimpin. Nak cakap pasal masa depan pun dah tak konfiden. PM ada dalam negara atau tak ada dalam negara ,sama saja. Bukan sahaja rasa bangga pada pemimpin sudah langsung lesap, rasa malu pulak semakin ketara. Apa tidaknya? Dok tengok dia asyik tidur aje. Kalau tak tidur pun dok melalut tak tentu hala. Ucapan tak pernah ada isi yang solid. Ucapan Merdeka 50 tahun pun terpekik-pekik macam orang hilang akai.

Sementara itu, ura-ura kata harga minyak nak naik lagi kerana harganya di pasaran dunia melonjak. Aduuuh…Yang kena penampar kenaikan harga tahun lepas tu belum pun hilang lagi perit nya, daaaah nak kena tampar lagi sekali. Aduuuh…..

Harga ayam pulak dah melantun melampau lampau. Petang tadi terkejut beruk diri ini bila mendapati harga ayam percik (untuk buka puasa) seketul dah mencecah RM5! LIMA RINGGIT SEKETUL AYAM!! MasyaAllah….! Ini kalau nak kira( in relative terms, dollar for dollar) dah lebih mahal dari harga makanan di kota London! No way I can afford this regularly. Nampaknya Malaysia akan jadi macam dulu la… ayam dengan daging jadi satu ‘luxury’, makanan golongan kaya dan elite sahaja. Orang bawahan makan ikan kembong, dengan sayur. cukup.

Ni tak masuk cerita kenaikan harga benda benda lain lagi… tol naik, teh tarik naik, beras naik…semua naik. (and of course everyone knows the joke about anu orang tu pun naik sebab kawin lagi sekali.. haha hmmmm…. Nak gelak pun tak daya.)

And yet ini semua berlaku dalam keadaan ekonomi cukup baik sekali menurut kata kerajaan. Tiada kegawatan. Tiada masalah. Unjuran pertumbuhan tahun ini pun turun sikit aje dari tahun lepas.

Funny kan? 1998 masa kegawatan ekonomi Asia, rakyat biasa tak rasa sangat perit pedih nya. Siap protected lagi… tiada gangguan cara hidup. Tapi 2007, tiada crisis, tiada downturn… tapi rakyat terseksa gila. Di semua peringkat rakyat terasa peningkatan kos sara hidup, dan kekurangan daya beli…

Apa dah jadi ni? Isn’t anyone doing something about this? Tidak kah pemimpin kita tahu bahawa nun jauh dibawah sana, beribu-ribu kaki di bawah mahligai bersayapnya yang bernama Airbus, rakyat sedang semakin tersempit? Tidak kah dia tahu bahawa walaupun saudara maranya sedang cemerlang mengaut keuntungan (sampai ada yang dah lyak dipanggil Billionaire, katanya… wallahu a’lam), rakyat biasa ramai yang terasa bahang kenaikan harga hampir semua barang-barang keperluan harian? Lupa kah dia bahawa bukan semua orang hidup senang seperti dia: dengan elaun keraian tiada batasan dan gaji hampir tidak disentuh kerana semuanya ditanggung kerajaan? If he doesn’t have a clue, then who exctly is running the show here?

Aduuh… sedihnya saya mengenangkan nasib negara… nasib saya… nasib rakyat biasa macam kita ni.

Saya teringat satu ayat dari filem Hollywood, yang disebut ketika menceritakan tentang seorang raja yang tidak langsung berupaya mentadbir negaranya, tetapi tetap berdegil mempertahankan kedudukannya. (Sementara itu orang disekelilingnya bermaharaja lela, merompak dan memporak porandakan negara itu). Ayatnya timbul bila salah seorang watak bertanya “what is the king doing? He’s there isnt he? He sees whats happening?”. Jawab seorang watak yang lain “ He’s there but he’s not there. The lights are on but nobody’s home.”

Begitulah agaknya Malaysia hari ini. Begitula, gamaknya, keadaan kantor pemimpin tertingi. The lights are on… but nobody’s home. Semoga Allah membantu kita semua dan meyelamatkan Malaysia.

Mongolian murder and The NST's agenda

2007-06-22T13:19:00.000+08:00

For seven (working) days now the whole nation has been captivated by the trial of once respected political analyst Razak Baginda in the murder case involving Mongolian model Altantuya Shaaribu. The reason why this case has captured such interest is well known to all: It involves the gruesome murder of a beautiful model from an exotic country, a love affair with a somewhat famous man, and of course certain quarters have made allegations of linkages to the political elite, consequently sparking notions of a conspiray of some kind. Stuff of good novels.

But I'm not writing about the case per se because enough people have commented and are commenting on it. What has spurred me to write this post is the way newspapers treat this case. Particularly the NST, which has shown a complete disregard for objectivity and fair reporting.

What does the NST have against Abdul Razak Baginda? Is it that the NST has something against Razak, or is it maliciously suggesting something else? Consider the following:

In the first place, leading up to the case, other papers seem quite composed about the whole affair. One or two did have some sort of blurb about the case begining on June 4th (Before the famous postponement to June 18th). But nothing compared to what the NST did. In black background with bold white letters, NST shouted out something to the effect of "2 days before Altanuya murder trial". On the front page. Like it was some kind of advertisement. (You can almost here the unspoken words "quick! get your tickets now for the greatest show on earth!") No other paper tried to create that much hype about the case. For the most part the excitement over it had pretty much simmered down... nowhere near the frenzy of when Razak was first arrested back in November last year. But NST wouldn't let the case be just another high profile case. NST wanted to make sure it was a real big time circus. Why?

Then in the days leading up to the case and as the case began The NST began it's crusade and vendetta against Razak Baginda, for reasons only HindugodMuslimpriest knows. Why do I call it crusade and vendetta? Just look at the folloing headlines from the NST. First, Check out this front page headline on June 4th: An emotive story sympathising with a grieving father...

ALTANTUYA MURDER CASE: Dad wants to know why his daughter died

DR SHAARIIBUU SETEV: I want to see the faces of the witnesses, to hear them speak. I want to hear their stories to satisfy my need to know what really happened.
KUALA LUMPUR: Over the past seven months, Dr Shaariibuu Setev has been plagued with a myriad of questions. He wants answers, starting today.
The 56-year-old former lecturer from Mongolia is in Malaysia as a witness in the trial of his daughter’s accused murderers.He seeks justice, yes. But above all, he seeks answers."I want to see the faces of the witnesses, to hear them speak, and most of all to make a judgment
myself."I want justice and transparency to be evident during the trial at the Shah Alam High Court," said Shaariibuu.
These were the words he used, as conveyed to Honorary Consul for Mongolia to Malaysia, Datuk Syed Abdul Rahman Alhabshi.

Note: NO other paper took this angle of the story.

Then, the NST is relentless in painting Razak Baginda in a bad light, and the mongolian woman a helpless victim. They even went so far as to paint the murdered model an exemplary mother and and daughter! (Note: NO other paper took this angle).

Consider the following headlines in the days after the trial began:

"She demanded US$500,000 - two days later, she was dead " (20th june) [Note: This indictment of Razak (and by the way, isn't this sub-judice??) was accompanied by the following picture, which anyone in the media knows is meant to play on the psychology of readers - she demanded money; twodays later she's dead; and look at her alleged murderer smiling]

And then there is of course today's headline (June 26th), a cryptic and damning "LEAVE OR DIE", accompanied with a thug-like picture of "Razak's new hairdo" which, again, is obviously designed to make Razak look like horrible villain.

And that's not taking into consideration other minor stories like "Razak Cheerful During Break" (22 June) and of course who can forget "Razak's wife assaulted me' - Altantuya's father tells court" (23 June). (Note: Other papers had this story too, but none -in my opinion- as blatantly lopsided in favour of shaaribu as NST's was. NST's even had this friendly picture of Altantuya's father accompanying the story.:

How adorable. Again, a psychological play, if you ask me, to make Shaaribu and the Mongolians look like a poor old man and his victimized family, against tyrant Razak, his mean wife and dysfunctional family. Then of course there is this sad story below. Just read the following piece from NST (23rd June) and tell me if it's not biased:

Shaariibuu breaks down over photo

SHAH ALAM: Initially, he sounded very confident. He spoke with pride when mentioning his daughter. There was even a weak attempt at humour. But Setev Shaariibuu’s resolve crumbled when he was asked to identify a photograph of his murdered daughter, Altantuya Shaariibuu.He removed his spectacles, buried his face in his hands and wept openly.There was an uncomfortable silence in the courtroom and after taking a moment, Shaariibuu said: "In Mongolia, we do not say the name of a deceased. But I will say it if you insist."DPP Manoj Kurup apologised to Shaariibuu but explained that they needed her name for the record.Shaariibuu: Yes, that is Altantuya. We call her Tuya, for short, while her friends call her ‘Amina’, which means light

Aww... Danielle Steele couldn't have written it better. (Note: No other paper reported this story in such moving language)

Anyway, lots more not-so-subtle hints that Razak is a meanie peppered across the NST from day to day. No other paper comes even close to painting Razak in a badlight like NST has been doing and continues to do. It will get worse. Just wait till other witnesses come forth. You'll see what I mean.

Now I don't know Razak Baginda from Adam. But reading the NST day in and day out along side other papers, I just have to ask the question: WHY? Why is the NST so doggedly intent in showing Razak in a bad light, almost predicting his guilt, if not outrightly suggesting it? Again, is it about the NST's hatred for Razak Baginda? or is it for people associated with Razak Baginda? Let's not beat around the bush. Lets ask outright: Is this NST's agenda to smearDPM Najib by his association with Baginda? It's the only explanation of NST's relentless determination to paint Razak GUILTY long before the trial is over.

But, if that is the case, what baffles me most of all... is that how come this mischievous act, is being done not by Harakah, not by Rocket,....by an UMNO OWNED NEWSPAPER? Anyone wants to take a guess?

A Sandiwara Of Embarassing Proportions

2007-06-11T20:12:00.000+08:00

As I saw the news at 8pm just now, I found myself exclaiming "oh my God... are you serious???"

I think the 4th floor spinmasters have really gone over board. Makes me think that "A Voice"'s contention that the YDP administration is desperate is quite true indeed. Coz what I saw was really really reeking of desperation.

The TV3 news story started something like this (not verbatim but close enough) "Walaupun masih bergelar pengantin baru, hati Perdana Menteri tetap bersama rakyatnya... Selepas menghadiri majlis bertaraf antarabangsa pagi tadi, Perdana Menteri terus membuat lawatan mengejut ke bilik gerakan banjir..."

Honestly I almost muntah. Why the need to prop him up like that?? Is this a PR campaign ke apa?... and then... what's so mengejut about the lawatan if all the press were ready and waiting to capture YDP's motorcade pulling into the compound of DBKL? Mengejut kejadah nya tu??

But wait... it gets worse....

There was our YDP, all firm and authoritative, demanding an explanation for the flood... ce waaaah.... But... malang sungguh... his questions were less than convincing in most parts. Ada la some bits where he looked quite impressive... but mostly it was just silly. Ada satu part tu, he asked for the tunnel project to be sped up. The person he was talking to replied "But its on schedule Datuk Seri", to which he said (*and this is the impressive bit la) " I know it's on schedule but can you speed it up? Talk to them." He commanded... ohhhh bangganya aku....

then he blows it by saying something inane and stupid like " You have to be prepared for the rain because you never know when the rain comes so you have to be prepared." .. Well d-uhhh? ya think so Einstein?.

But even that we can ignore. But what I cannot tahan is this: What the hell kind of a staged performance is this and why is it necessary?? It was soooooo orchesterated ok? The press were there to film the limo arrival, and then the entire meeting! Word for word! What the hell kind of surprise inspection is that? It was so obvious that they wanted to show how much YDP is working and barking orders here and there... alamaaaak...

Come on la.. If this wasn't staged, YDP would have shown up unannounced; attended a closed door meeting; demanded an explanation or scolded the bejeezus out of the officials(off camera); and later (by which time the press will have learned of the visit and rushed to the site), he would have a press conference to explain why he turned up unexpectedly.

Ini tidak... press dah siap tunggu, and then masuk sekali dalam meeting dengar YDP dok tanya itu ini... is that really how you should manage crisis? In the glare of the lights and camera?? Be serious la. There is a limit to spinning ok? This was a staged performance, pure and simple.

What a bunch of *bleep* *bleep* the people who thought up this plan must have been. How gullible do you think people are? Nak menipu pun biar la masuk akal sikit.

The Wedding And Other Stories....

2007-06-11T01:20:00.000+08:00

It's amazing how so many things can happen in just a few short days. I've been away from my beautiful motherland for all of six days, but whoaa nelly.... it's like I've been gone a month. So here are my commentary on a few things.. finally rounding up with a look at the (gag) wedding of the year. Here goes...

Using TAR To Attack TDM?

Update 13 June: Just learned that SIL has invited Dato Mukhriz Mahathir to moderate and participate in one of the sessions... I therefore have been unkind to question SIL's motives and suggest an evil design in this particular case, and for that I apologize. I am therefore removing a portion of the earlier posting.(this is of course subject to review if the outcome of the seminar proves my original contention right. Not that anybody cares la. Just for my own satisfaction.)

I only leave this portion below from the original posting:

"I don’t know… maybe my suspicions are far fetched. We’ll see. But the thing is, if this is a sincere effort to rightly glorify TAR, shouldn’t SIL have invited TDM? TDM is after all a living icon of the TAR era, having been a key personality in UMNO politics then, and a person whom TAR favoured to be brought back into UMNO after his sacking over the Malay Dilemma. Surely he would have much to contribute in any sincere discussion about TAR?"

Here Lies Proton... R.I.P

Maybe it's battle fatigue.. maybe it's just me becoming completely jaded... but when the news item appeared a few days back about the possibility that Proton will soon be 51% owned by a foreign company, I was numb. I didn't react. i didnt text anyone. Then again even Jong Il didnt text me.. which is so unlike that patriotic friend of mine. Maybe we're all just getting a little bit tired of the insanity that has been plaguing us for more than three years...But the story stayed with me in the back of my mind... my heart ached a little... but .. knowing that this too will be ignored by the Malaysian masses, by UMNO in particular, by so called 'pejuang bangsa' near and far.... who am I to be able to do anything??

I remember Tun M's lament not too long ago when he said " Yang benci sangat kepada Proton ni kenapa?, Bukankah ini syarikat milik kita? satu bukti kebolehan kita? Satu sumber pekerjaan untuk ratusan ribu orang?"Then I read Tun's latest outcry below... a cry that will no doubt be ignored by TETGOL (The Evil That Grips Our Land):

'Mereka berjaya bunuh Proton'
08-06-2007 05:02:20 PM Oleh
SA'ODAH ELIAS(MStar)
PUTRAJAYA: "Segala usaha mereka selama ini untuk
membunuhProton nampaknya telah berjaya," demikian keluh bekas Perdana Menteri Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad hari ini.

Katanya, segala tindakan yang telah diambil oleh pengurusan baru Proton akan berakhir dengan berkuburnya syarikat nasional itu.

"Dan hari ini, kita akan lihat pembunuhan satu industri nasional, inilah pandangan saya, tetapi mereka tidak perlu menerimanya," katanya kepada pemberita selepas meraikan kepulangan kumpulan pendaki Merdeka de Everest di pejabatnya di Yayasan Kepimpinan Perdana di sini.

Dr Mahathir berkata demikian sebagai mengulas perkembangan terakhir dalam syarikat automotif nasional dan beliau masih lagi dilantik sebagai penasihatnya.

Kenyataan ini kali pertama dikeluarkan Dr Mahathir dalam tempoh hampir sebulan setelah diarahkan berehat oleh doktor berikutan serangan jantung bulan lalu…

It really breaks my heart. I haven’t read the papers for days so I don’t know what’s the latest development on that. I know there have been initial denials, But the very fact that the idea is being mulled over is, to me, nothing less than a tragedy. Yet most Malaysians say nothing… all attention diverted to the wedding …and even Paris Hilton’s jail debacle!

“Not Janda, Not a maid” – Freedom of the press, TETGOL style

This is a second hand story which I got from rocky and from other blogs as well as from people well connected. TETGOL’s version of Alistair Campbell has told the media in no uncertain terms that the PM’s bride is to be described in certain ways. No specific reference to certain aspects of her past.. no crude descriptions of her, true though they may be.

You know it’s funny, during TDM’s time, you never had senior media editors being told by a thirty-something budak hingusan about what they can and cannot say. Certainly not when it comes to light stories like the new bride of the PM.

But in this era of new media freedom in this country, a budak hingusan is tasked to ensure that only the right things are said about the PM’s new wife.

Here Comes The Bride

Before anything else, let me congratulate YDP for his marriage. I echo TDM’s sentiment that a person who has lost his wife should re-marry, and I join TDM in wishing him well.

Now, having said that, I cannot help but feel that this wedding is a watershed moment in the YDP administration… at least in his inner circle.

Who is this woman? (Picture courtesy of New Straits Times) And what will her impact be to the “Royal Household” ?

Not much is known about this new queen, but opinions have been expressed that she is quite a strict house keeper (no pun intended). Word has it that she has been known to keep visitors and guests of her future husband at bay, even waiting at the gates, because she deemed that her then boss needed to rest. This is not to dispute the publicly gushed opinions that she is pleasant and kind… she may be all that… and she may be strict and controlling too.

Now her new husband is a man very much in love. The annoying ear-to-ear grin he’s been sporting for days says it all. As far as I know, a man in love behaves very strangely. (for the inexperienced, see lyrics to the classic song When A Man Loves A Woman) He would do everything he can to please his new love. This would of course include listening to whatever she says. Her views become scripture in his eyes, and her opinions are always the last words he considers…

This would be a non-issue if YDP is a person of strong character, who is able to separate his professional from his personal life. Unfortunately, we know that YDP is no such person. He is weak and clueless. We know he discusses important things with his family and we will be hard pressed to believe that his family is not involved in his decisions, directly or indirectly. Indeed if they are not, we wouldn’t have the trouble of SIL and Son.

And so the question is: what will happen now? Will SIL’s position as defacto PM be affected? Will we soon see the mark of a powerful queen as the primary force behind TETGOL? Will the queen taper off the influence of the fourth floor? Will she help the cause of those close to YDP like the murderer of the NST (The Fourth K), the plagiarist, and the Terengganu Chinese Monsoon Prince? Or will she alienate them. What about the all-powerful son? Will he still hold sway over YDP? Or will his influence too diminish in the face of the fading memory of the late wife?

Only time will tell, and I have a gut feeling that things are about to get interesting. I do of course hope that the new queen will be good for us all. Who knows, maybe she will get YDP to actually start working?

Okay okay. Bad joke. Stop laughing.

My Daddy and Mummy!!

2007-05-30T10:18:00.000+08:00

My good friend Che Siti (who' birthday was yesterday, btw. Happy Birthday!) sent me a text early this morning to say that there were some sweet pictures of the great YABhg Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia and YABhg. Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali, posted on KMU.

They were follow up pictures posted on KMU by Jinggo after the Kuwaiti PM's visit to TDM at his residence on May 28th. I was so moved to see TDM's photos... God I miss having him as PM. Those were the days.... I just pray Allah keeps him well for many years to come.

Anyway, the follow up pictures are as below. They are copyrighted by Jinggo and KMU I believe. I thank them for allowing me to post the pictures of my spiritual "Daddy & Mummy" here. (By the way, one of their kids has given me express permission to proclaim them spiritual mummy and daddy ;) so tak malu ler...)

(Left) Ahhh... the permanent first couple. The true king and queen of people's hearts. Seen here at the doorway of their home, Seri Cahaya.

And this (right) is my favourite photo of " Tun mummy and Tun daddy".. . Tun Siti, forever young at heart and the epitome of positive energy, clowns around her husband of more than 50 years. Couple of the year, couple of the decade, couple of five centuries.

May Allah always bless them both, keep them happy like this forever and ever, and reward them for everything they have sacrificed for all of us and for this country. May He keep them for us, may he give Tun Mahathir health and strength, and Tun Hasmah the same, so she can continue to be his rock and pillar of courage and fortitude. Amin.
We love you Daddy & Mum, and we miss Tun Daddy's golden days in office....
Thank you again Photographer Jinggo and MyKMU.net for photos

In Office But Not In Power

2007-05-29T01:25:00.000+08:00

Not too long ago, political commentator BigGuyDotCom (a.k.a blogger Biggum Dogmannsteinberg) coined the phrase “Celebritum De Mediocratis” over on political forum MYKMU. I’m not sure about the soundness of Biggie’s latin (coz mine is probably infinitely worse) but the phrase was meant to convey the unfortunate yet obvious national trend of adulating leaders who were mediocre at best. .(Maybe it's even a WORLD trend:see Bush, Howard, Abe...even Bambang!.. All mediocre, all quite diappointing to their voters.)

Anyway, back to Biggie and his coining of the phrase....This was back about a year ago, if my memory hasn't failed me, right about the time when the great TDM decided that enough was enough and that he had to speak his mind. As a direct consequence of TDM’s lashing out against the outrageous rape, pillage and plunder of the country, and against the complete absence of leadership within UMNO and government, the hypocrisy of a bunch of UMNO leaders bubbled to the surface. The “Budaya Mengampu” scaled new heights, with accolades and praise showered on certain individuals, where it was clear that none was due. In an effort to ‘defend’ their boss against the onslaught of factually-sound attacks coming from a veritable giant of Malaysian politics, the bunch of UMNO clowns just gushed and spewed adulation bordering on worship, just to prove to their boss -in whose hands their own fates lay- just how loyal they are. Facts be damned, reality be damned, TDM be damned, and country be damned…all that matters is that my periuk nasi is safe and full.. runneth over, perhaps.

And so the “Celebritum De Mediocratis” culture that Biggie talked about became a reality in this land of ours. A leader so inherently weak, so obviously incompetent, absent, and inept, was continuously propped up and pushed as a capable captain, even though his narcoleptic tendencies and disdain for reading and learning is known to all and sundry.

This is of course all well documented and much discussed over the months since the leadership crisis became apparent.

But I’m writing on it again because I was reminded of the situation we were –and still find ourselves- in, as I read a column (India Diary ) in The Star today (28th May). I'm not writing anything new. I'm just re-expressing old fears. The heading of the article I read today just leapt out at me: "In Office But Not In Power".

Boy does that sound familiar.

The article was of course talking about India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who after three years in office is widely seen as weak and woefully lacking in political management abilities (again, familiar, huh?). This is in spite of a robust economy and burgeoning markets. Manmohan Singh “fails to assert Prime Ministerial authority “ and is more regarded as a seat warmer until Rahul Ghandi is ready to ascend the Premiership. (Read the full article here.)

The article borrows it’s title phrase from the scathing description of former British PM John Major by his Iron Lady predecessor Margaret Thatcher. Major, in the end, proved to be all that a disenchanted Baroness Thatcher felt him to be: weak, too conciliatory and lacking in vision. And so his inability to effectively govern, because of his inherent weaknesses and because of the rebellion arising thereof, makes him fit the bill of being ‘in office but not in power’.

Over here in our great nation, a certain dozing leader can also be labeled in office but not in power. However, unlike Manmohan Singh who came into his powerlessness by 'taking over' what is essentially Sonia Gandhi's victory and popular support, and different from John Major who inherited a problematic party and a beleaguered office, our sleeping leader came into office very well positioned, very strong and solid. He was anointed by the Great TDM, for one thing, but more importantly when TDM left office, the party was strong and united, the economy stable and the government had money. YDP came into office at a time when the office was almost unassailable. TDM had ensured that an enormous amount of power rested with the man who wears the captain's hat. Unfortunately, the man he appointed just gave away that power without the slightest inclination of what he was actually doing.

Our guy is In Office But Not In Power not JUST because he’s weak, incompetent, unfocused, clueless and lacks knowledge and vision. No. over here there are other factors that make the phrase all the more apt. He's not in power because the power was summarily surrendered to family and aides. Then again, when you know nothing, refuse to read anything, sign every piece of paper shoved your way and delegate every single thing except your bodily functions to your family and your arrogant young upstart staff members, what do you expect?? Of course the power will lie elsewhere. It will lie with the people around you!

For heaven’s sake, they decide everything for you except the colour of your underwear. (But rumour has it, even THAT someone else decides for you…. “Pengurus kediaman”, was it?...something like that. Who knows…). So in the case of our country, the leader is indeed in office but not in power, because the de facto leader is someone else. Maybe the de facto leader is not even just one person, but a group. The Four Ks for example. Or Son and SIL. Or SIL and the Fourth K together with the Plagiarist and friends. Or SIL and his band of bandits whose office is above the third floor. Or really any combination of the above. The point is, the power is likely in the hands of some or all of those people, but it DOES NOT lie where it should be: In the hands of the person in office.

Meanwhile, the sycophants and ‘pengampus’ caring only about their periuk nasi, inadvertently keep the power-deficient leader in office. They know and resent in their heart that the de facto leader is someone else, but their conscience is stifled by their own desire to stay on top. So they keep up the charade, and keep the leader in office, although they know he is not in power. The real power-grabber will come into office someday in the future… before he turns 40, if popular gossip is to be believed.

So perhaps the sleeping leader is very similar to Manmohan in one sense more than any other: He is a seat warmer. At least SIL would like to see him that way. A seat warmer / puppet who can be manipulated and used to great effect, until SIL himself rises high enough to take over. To be in Office AND In power. Now that's something interesting to anticipate. Is it not...? (sigh...).

He's A Pretender!

2007-05-26T19:21:00.000+08:00

Not one hour ago, the international news agencies were abuzz that Aljubs has pulled out of the Keldaian party race. (As usual, we see that the international media always seems to be watching Aljubs; they seem to know more about him than the local press, and seem to be forever painting him in a positive light. Then again, it shouldn't come as a surprise. the foreign media is always favourable to stooges of Uncle Sam, and we know that Aljubs is definitely on the state department payroll)

Really, did anyone think that Aljubs was really going to go ahead with the race after the ROS said he cant get an exemption from the rules? Even he knew from the start that he couldn't go through with it or he would risk de-registeration of Keldaian. The whole defiant courage thing was just an act. Of course it paints such a romantic picture of heroism and Braveheart-like iron will in the face of 'oppressive' authority. This is vintage Aljubs. How many times are poor Keldaian folks going to fall for it?

At least Nalla learned his lesson. Actors like Aljubs are just that: Actors. He may give you the whole song and dance about 'cause' and 'reform' and 'equality' but in the end its just to serve his purpose. 30 years of 'procuring' favours and.. erm... good times...for Aljubs did little to enhance Nalla's position in the eyes of Aljubs. In the end his 'jambu' still matters most. (Boarding school fellas would know what i mean).

And so Nalla was left out in the cold. Darn. It looks like your switch into up-and-up politics isn't gonna work out, huh Nalls? Best you get back to your former day job... I believe there's a whole shipment of.. erm... merchandise ... just arrived from mainland china. And they've got passports and everything! ;)

Meanwhile, Nalla can take comfort that his 'good friend' of 30 years is not exactly in bliss and is in fact getting his share of restless nights. Yes, Aljubs is finding himself quite overwhelmed these days. First he is implicated in the Wolfowitz debacle. Actually, about that, it's important for us to remember that what the scandal unearths is not just that Aljubs is involved in giving Wolfowitz's girlfriend Shaha Riza a leg up (no pun intended) on her career path. More eye-opening for us, should be the very deep involvement of an aspiring leader of this country in a dubious and shady organization established and largely funded by the State Department of the government of the United States of America.

Aljubs has of course tried to obfuscate and evade the issue, but the story is simple and clear: Wolfowitz got his girl into the State Department; while there, she started work to establish a foundation funded by the Department and other governments of European nations and the middle east (although so far only USA has given the money); she recommends Aljubs to be lead consultant and when the foundation was set up, she recommends him to be chairman; (he then reciprocates the favour by writing personally to request for her transfer from the State Department to the fledgling Foundation with a huge pay rise.. but this doesn't really concern us for now...).

Simply put, Aljubs is made chairman of a foundation originally established under the auspices of the State Department and funded by it. Aljubs therefore -from my perspective- receives his salary from the funds of the State Department. Directly or indirectly (depending on how the paperwork is prepared), I would draw the conclusion that Aljubs is under the payroll of Uncle Sam. If this is so, then it makes clear what Aljubs's detractors have been saying for years. His loyalty compass is suspect. (Although frankly to me its not a matter of suspicion at all. Its clear Aljub's loyalty is only towards one party: himself)

You'd think that's bad enough for a politician to face. After all he was still reeling from a humiliating defeat for his party in Ijok just a week or two before the Wolfowitz story broke. Then came the party circus. The quarrels and the squabbles of the youth factions, and now the devastating walk-out of Nalla and his (surprising) band of supporters. But beyond what's visible on the surface, the problems that plague Keldaian shows a party that is coming towards the end of its shelf-life. And also, a politician, once on the rise, is now sinking fast, free falling in an ocean of problems with no bottom in sight.

Keldaian is about to implode because it has lost its reason for being. It was born to fight for Aljubs, but now that he is out, he is not even willing to become even an ordinary member of the party. I'll bet he's finding it really convenient that ROS has barred him from taking up the Keldaian top job. While he rants and blames the government for it, he's probably relieved that because the way things have unfolded he still has a shot at rejoining UMNO.

But still, he is in free fall. Still very much in political limbo.

Kesian Aljubs... Really. I do pity him, although that doesnt mean that I dont think he deserves it. Memang padan muka pun. Aljubs is now beleaguered. He's in deep muck and what he will do next will be interesting to watch.

If I can gauge correctly, I think he's going to push the spotlight away from his declining political career, yet still remain in the spotlight. He can't go into silent mode lest people will realise he's finished.

So? How?

I suspect he will leverage on the Altantuya and Lina Joy cases to divert attention from his declining political fortunes, to smear his nemesis DPM Najib and to keep his convict face in the news. He will use Lina Joy to appeal to non muslim voters, now that its obvious Malays have rejected him.He will try and become a champion of so-called equality and religious dialogue (although you know he doesn't believe any of it. If he did, he would have championed the same cause when he was DPM)... or something like that.

Oh well what else can you expect?Aljubs is a pretender of pretenders, giving performance after performance. To the non Malays he rejects the NEP, to the Malays he preaches in its favour...only with another name. To Newsweek he would say he spent time in prison reading the complete works of Shakespeare, to Tempo and Harakah he would say he was reading and memorizing the Quran. He tells the world he is against the war in Iraq, but draws a salary from the US Government. He claims to be an academician, even a professor, but we now know those jobs were not merit based but were arranged by powerful friends.

To me, (and this is just my personal opinion), he is nothing more than a duplicitous traitor,... a traitor to his followers, to the Malays and to his country. With all that has unfolded in recent times: Ijok, Wolfowitz, Keldaian, Aljubs can't hope to keep up his charade. It's obvious his whole persona is built on lies, untruths and false pretenses. How anyone can still support this joker is beyond me.

Tak Perlu Tanya Singa

2007-05-25T23:43:00.000+08:00

I didn't read the papers until very late today. Nor did did I watch the news. But my friend alerted me of Pak Lah's (welcomed) backtracking on Singapore's involvement with SJER. He attributed the whole fiasco to "silap sebut" on Singapore's part. The Utusan front page story is as follows:

Tidak libat Singapura -- PM: Malaysia tidak perlu rujuk republik itu mengenai WPI
Daripada Aznan Bakar
TOKYO 24 Mei – Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi berkata,Malaysia tidak perlu merujuk kepada Singapura dalam menjayakan pembangunan di Wilayah Pembangunan Iskandar (WPI) di Johor.Tegas Perdana Menteri, kerajaan Singapura juga tidak akan terlibat dalam apa juga bentuk perancangan di wilayah itu.Malah, tegas Perdana Menteri, status jawatankuasa peringkat menteri antara Malaysia dan Singapura untuk WPI bukan jawatankuasa perundingan.
‘‘Ia berlaku mungkin kerana silap sebut (di pihak Singapura),” katanya ketika menjawab satu soalan pada sesi bersama media Asia sempena Persidangan Antarabangsa Nikkei Ke Arah Masa Depan Asia di sini hari ini.Beliau berkata demikian ketika ditanya oleh seorang wartawan mengenai kebimbangan penduduk Johor berhubung pembabitan Singapura di WPI melalui jawatankuasa tersebut.Sebelum ini dilaporkan bahawa Malaysia dan Singapura bersetuju menubuhkan sebuah jawatankuasa khas peringkat menteri khusus untuk WPI di Johor selepas Abdullah mengadakan pertemuan dengan Perdana Menteri republik itu, Lee Hsien Loong di Pulau Langkawi baru-baru ini.
Antara lain jawatankuasa itu akan memperincikan penggunaan kad pintar bagi memudahkan keluar masuk pelabur ke WPI dari Singapura. Menurut Perdana Menteri, kebimbangan penduduk Johor itu berpunca daripada salah faham.“Orang berpendapat apa kita nak buat kena rujuk dengan Singapura. Itu tidak betul. Itu tidak akan berlaku,” tegasnya.

Rather unlikely it was a 'silap sebut' if you ask me. The lion is known never to say anything without first calculating the damage. But as long as Pak Lah stays put with THIS decision not to let Singapore have a say over Iskandar, I'm fine with whatever excuses he gives.

Meanwhile, the Star, although playing down the issue, had this take on the debacle:

PM: No meddling by Singapore
SAODAH ELIAS
TOKYO: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has brushed aside fears expressed by some quarters of Singapore meddling in the development of the Iskandar Development Region (IDR).
He said the fears arose after Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong inadvertently used the word consultative committee at a press conference in Langkawi last week.
Abdullah and Lee had agreed to set up a special ministerial committee to discuss areas of co-operation including the usage of smartcard for easier travel between IDR and Singapore and the promotion of tourism.
A minister will be appointed from each country to sit on the committee. “That (Lee’s announcement) was a mistake, a slip of the tongue. I have clarified the matter,” he said in reply to a question by a Singapore journalist who had asked him to comment on reports that Johoreans were fearful of Singapore’s involvement in the project during the 13th Nikkei Conference here yesterday.
After that announcement, Abdullah said, the people of Johor were worried that it would mean that any decision that needed to be made with regards to the IDR would have to be referred to Singapore for approval.
“But that is not correct. That will never happen,” he added.

Pak Lah says the Ministerial involvement of Singapore is just to sort out the smartcard issue for easy passage of lionites into Iskandar. I can live with that I suppose. Contrary to what was greatly misinterpreted about my last posting, I'm not against Singapore investing in Iskandar.

I am just completely against giving them any say at all on the policy and direction of Iskandar, beyond the ordinary fora available to them as investors . They must never have any role as direct policy makers.

I hope this decision stays and doesnt become a victim of flip flopping which is so common ever since October of 2003. Jangan pulak ada Langkawi getaway sekali lagi ada perubahan pula.

Right Idea In Wrong Hands

2007-05-22T21:59:00.000+08:00

Iskandar irritates the hell out of me.

I am referring to the Wilayah Pembangunan Singapura Utara of course, otherwise known as SJER.(Apparently, the Singaporeans have taken to calling SJER by the affectionate name Iskandar. Maklumlaaaah... it's their newest acquisition. Mesti la sayang)

Iskandar bugs me still, even though I have already ranted and raved about it in my previous posting. It bugs me because of the stupidity of the HP6 government in inviting a competitor to serve as our advisor. Do these people really believe that our competitor will advise in our best interest? Of course not! They are our competitors!

Now when has Singa-pura-pura ever been benevolent towards us? We asked for an increase in the price of water pun they make a big deal out of it. We want to build a bridge that would allow free flow of water in the Tebrau Straits, they don't agree.Why? Because it will affect their competitiveness! They are forever competing with us. It is no secret that Singapore is an insecure pygmy city state, always in survival mode, forever having the siege mentality. Even its Minister Mental...I mean Mentor... has alluded to as much on a number of occasions. Why as recently as a week before the famous Langkawi humiliation, LKY was shooting his mouth off again saying the damn red dot is "More special" than countries around it.

Now what on earth makes anyone think that a week later Singa pura-pura's world view has changed?; that it now sees Malaysia as an equal, a partner with whom it can share knowledge and expertise, sama-sama bahagia membina rumahtangga??

Please la. How can we be so gullible. I can almost hear the collective laughter of Kiasu Lion-ites across the causeway, as they salivate over their own piece of the Malaysian pie.

It really is quite a tragedy.

Iskandar was, I suppose, a good idea. It puts us head to head to compete against Singapura-pura, and damn it we had a good shot to win. For instance, if iskandar was designated a special zone with a special tax structure as well as additional incentives for capital investments with no restrictions on repatriation of funds, that could easily be a major draw for foreign businesses operating in the red dot to move to South Johore. They would want to take full advantage of a new 'tax haven' of sorts (even if exemption was for just the first ten year period) because it's a huge chunk of savings. And after ten years, we can offer other incentives to keep them here, although perhaps we don't need to, because it would be too expensive for them to move back to Singa pura-pura by then anyway. That's just one tiny, simple example.

My point is that Iskandar could have been fantastic for us. It was after all an idea hatched during TDM's time, although YDP said "ini idea saya" just coz he crystallized an already existing concept. Whatever. Let him have the credit. Takpa. Ambik lah.

but coming back to Iskandar, one fails to see the rationale of inviting a hungry competitive predator to play in our chicken coop. It's hardly likely the predator will teach us how to raise our chickens. even if it did, it'll just devour the chickens when they're fat and grown. This is what happens when a good idea is left in the bloody wrong hands of bumbling idiots.

As one of my friends eloquently put it: It's like a pretty young girl, accosted by a salivating, drooling, lustful (but polite) man who says "Excuse me miss. I live next door and I've been eyeing your delicious looking rear end for some time now. I was wondering, would you be so kind as to let me rape you?". Then, against all odds, the girl says "Why, how nice of you to ask, sir. Here." as she spreads her legs and bends over.

Now I wouldn't use such a crude analogy, but the lesson there is spot on. Why are we letting them eat us alive? (sigh...)

Many bloggers have commented already on this and I don't think I should ramble on, frustrated as hell though I may be. So I just want to make one last parting plea, before I leave this subject for good.

Dear, dear powers that be. Please wake up. It was bad enough when we had the enemy at the gates. You've gone one step farther and let them in. It's bad enough that you remove all restrictions on property/land ownership by foreigners for property worth more than RM200K. (This has resulted in skyrocketing property prices well beyond the means of average Malaysians, particularly Malays. It looks good on paper, but its bad news in the long run. What if Tema-sick bought chunks of property in prime land everywhere and we can never buy them back? We will have literally SOLD our country) Now you plan to let them have a say on how we build and develop a region that BELONGS TO US -Not disputed territory, Not that craggy outpost called pulau batu putih (come to think of it , even THAT pun Singapura-pura takmo kasi kat kita.. ceh.). This is our land, pure and simple, free from any encumbrances, so to speak. So why have you brought other people in to 'help' us decide how to develop it?

Please o mighty Khairrr... I mean Powers that Be... leave your love for your Master Lion aside and let Malaysians have a wee bit of dignity, as this poor nation of ours turns 50. It's not too late to put a stop to this. please abort. Don't let this golden jubilee be the tragic year that Malaysia ends and Semenanjung Temasek comes into being.

Wanted: A Hero

2007-05-19T03:09:00.000+08:00

To take after the style of fellow blogger "A Voice", I'm starting this post with a few lines from an old song:

I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light
He's gotta be sure
And it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life

- Bonnie Tyler

I need a hero. We need a Hero. Malaysia needs a hero.

This evening my friend Jong-Il sent me a text (he's obviously not mad at me anymore for being cavalier about the state of the country) asking me about what really is wrong with the great YABhg. Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. He'd heard it was really bad, really serious etc. etc.

At first I said it wasn't true... that it wasn't as serious as some people made it out to be. But that was before the press release from IJN. When I read it, I sent a text to Jong Il to say that I stood corrected. It was serious. As serious as a heart attack, as they say. Alhamdulillah Tun, our hero is doing very well, responding to treatment and recovering slowly but surely.

but you don't need to be a doctor to know that a second heart attack in the space of six months is never good news. His spirit may be young, his heart and spirit is definitely strong, but my beloved Tun's physical body is not. It is soon to be 82 years of age.

I remember watching a sitcom once where one of the characters said " A heart attack is one of nature's ways of warning you, telling you to take it easy." YABhg TDM has had two warnings... and stern warnings they are.

When my beloved Tun had the first scare back in November, I guess I was in denial, as many of us were -still are- because we want so much to believe that nothing could get our hero down. We prayed, we willed him to be well again... and Tun being Tun, he recovered remarkably. We wanted to believe that he's as good as new, that he could even become our Prime Minister again.. (god how I wish that were possible)... But even though Tun looks so healthy (alhamdulillah), and young and in the pink of health, the truth, as we now know, is that he was healthy yes, but at 82, he's not as resilient, not able to brush aside illness as he used to do for most of the 22 years he held Malaysia's hand and led her to glory.

My beloved Tun is bruised, after many years of battle. InshaAllah he will soon be back in the pink of health. I pray for this every day and I really believe it will be soon. But after this second attack, I don't want to be as blind as I was in November. I don't want to celebrate Tun's recovery just for my selfish reason of wanting to see him fight the evil that grips our land.

No. I want him well because I love him as a son loves his father. I want him to be well because I want him to be well and because I want him to be with me as long as is humanly possible.

And so I'm going to wish that Tun withdraws from public life. I really hope that his family will feel the same way and insist on his complete withdrawal. He must retreat into peace and tranquility, so that he can really be well and enjoy these golden years without any stress or angst.

It pains me that I'm asking my hero to abandon our cause. But between losing the war and losing my "father".. I'll prefer to retreat to fight another day, and let my 'father' spend his best years in joy and happiness, surrounded by his family and loved ones, and his legions of supporters.

I know not many people would agree with me. At least not as far as the soundness of my philosophy is concerned. but I don't care. I want Tun to rest.

Which was what I told Jong Il. To which he said: Then we will have lost our true leader, and The Evil That Grips Our Land (TETGOL) will thrive and prosper as our people suffer and our nation is cut up and sold.

Which led me to the actual reason that i wrote this piece, the reason I quoted the song above. We need a *#*& Hero, and we need one now.

Thing is, if you go around the country, there are thousands of people who hate TETGOL . From cab drivers to Ketua Bahagians to Members of Parliament, to powerful business tycoons...so many people are angry at YDP and his son and SIL. But the voices are in disarray and unorganized. And so every voice that should make up the force for change is reduced to mere whispers... almost silenced by fears that TETGOL might find out and retaliate. In actual fact the power of the force is great. but disunited and too spread out, the power becomes nothing.

This is where our Hero is needed. We need someone to come out in shining armour, with enough charisma and courage, to convince the masses that he is the real deal. Not a flash in the pan, not a tainted hasbeen sodomite with illusions of grandeur, not a relic of the past that is no match for TETGOL's SIL.Someone that the public can believe in, that they can rally behind without having to fear SIL or FIL.

Only when such a person emerges will the people unite and the spores of tiny voices will become one loud and powerful cataclysmic roar of power bellowing triumphantly to herald in a new dawn of hope. Only then will TETGOL be chased away and we can begin to rebuild our economy ravaged by one family's greed, and only then can we protect our land once again

For far too long we have relied on the Tongkat that is Tun Mahathir... tongkat for the economy, for developing the country, for protecting our shores, for protecting the Malays, and now, since 2003, a tongkat to beat some sense into FIL, the figurehead of TETGOL.

But Tun has more than earned his rest. He has more than done his duty to God, King and country. It's time someone else led the charge to regain justice and national pride.

So who will this hero be?

I have no one in mind and I cannot even begin to suggest a name that would have sufficient courage of conviction, charisma and character to take on the leadership to fight TETGOL, now that Tun MUST literally retire, in the name of his health and for the sake of all who love him.

I don't know where or who our new hero is and where he will come from. I just know that we need a hero.Badly. Any takers?

All Hail The King Of Beasts

2007-05-16T16:08:00.000+08:00

This is a follow up piece to what I wrote previously here.

I was really nauseated to see the spectacle in Langkawi yesterday.

There they were our bunch of so-called “leaders” ( Read: yellow-livered spineless, gutless morons), bowing and scraping and forsaking all dignity and pride to kow tow to the Lion.

There was the AP queen, her rouge covered lips stretched from ear to ear, in an eager beaver smile that revealed expensively shined teeth, glittering against the television floodlights. There was the father of all ingrates,the Northern MB, head bobbing up and down as though on a spring… desperately trying to be seen by the boss. This is after all, a typical Half Past Six affair… you must show eager support of your boss and you must be SEEN or you will be forgotten. And this is especially important when you have a sleeping FIL as a leader… dah lah he’s seldom awake… bila-bila dia sedar tu, baik you tunjuk muka…

And there was The Minister of Taxis, also sporting a grotesque smile, almost climaxing at YDP’s acknowledgement of him. And who was that young boy behind him…? Oh wait… my mistake… it’s Miss Sports…all happy happy smiley smiley… why not?The lion is in town!

And what were they (Half Past Sixers) all there for…? To give away yet another piece of our pride and dignity.

Dan disinilah begitu banyak persoalan dan kebimbangan menggangu perasaan kita. Apa perlunya perbincangan diadakan dengan Singa Pura-pura tentang pembangunan wilayah Iskandar (SJER)??... Siapa Singa pura-pura ni untuk melibatkan diri dalam hal ehwal pembangunan negara kita??... Mengapa perlu ditubuhkan jawatankuasa yang membabitkan singapura?? Mengapa perlu adanya jawatankuasa untuk kerjasama antara Malaysia dan Singapura dalam urusan membangunkan WILAYAH KITA SENDIRI?

Tanya lah kepada diri sendiri wahai kerajaan Half Past Six, apabila kita membuat rundingan dengan singa pura-pura, siapakah yang lebih lengkap bersedia dan berpengalaman memutarbelitkan fakta supaya rundingan berpihak kepada mereka? Siapakah yang lebih cekap dan memiliki sumber kewangan yang lebih besar untuk membantu menjayakan sebarang usaha halus mereka menguasai negara lain? Pihak manakah yang lebih berpengaruh dengan kuasa-kuasa yahudi barat untuk membantu menyokong hujah hujah mereka??? Tak pernah kah kita fakir tentang hal ini??

Sepatutnya, walaupun Singa pura-pura dijangka akan menjadi pelabur paling besar di SJER, mereka perlu datang dengan delegasi mereka untuk memujuk rayu dan meminta kebenaran daripada kita untuk mereka melabur… BUKAN MEREKA MENJADI SEBAHAGIAN DARI BADAN YANG MENENTUKAN DASAR DAN ARAH TUJU PEMBANGUNAN WILAYAH ITU!!!!

Duhai kerajaan pimpinan kaki tidur, tidakkah kamu khuatir akan tergadainya tanah dan wilayah negara kita melalui manipulasi klausa-klausa perjanjian yang bakal ditandatangani?? Sudah lah kamu menghapuskan SEGALA syarat-syarat bagi pemilikan hartanah negara oleh pihak asing, kini kamu mengalu-alukan mereka mencadangkan pelbagai lagi ‘insentif’ bagi menggalakkan kemasukan mereka. Sedangkan kalau tak ada insentif pun mereka dah lama berminat datang ke sini... untuk melapah bumi bertuah yang kaya dengan sumber alam dan tanah tanih yang subur....Kamu menambah lagi insentif untuk makhluk seperti ini menelan bumi kita?? Tak ke bodoh nama nya ni???

God… I get so angry, even as I write this. Mana tidak YABhg Tun Mahathir jatuh sakit… melihatkan segala gala yang diusahakannya selama ini tergadai dengan begitu mudah angkara kerajaan tiga beranak.

But I guess its too late… and we Malaysians do nothing. So much more I wish to say, but I better stop. My anger is getting the better of me...

All hail the mighty King of Beasts. The Lion has made another kill.

Tun Dr Mahathir in ICU: Condition stable

2007-05-14T23:00:00.000+08:00

I was quite shaken earlier to hear confirmation of this news. In the begining it seemed bleak... so little information, conflicting reports. The first sms I got was that Tun M in ICU. Critical.

I immediately made calls and sent texts... no reply from Tun's aide. Then a message from one of TDM's staff saying that yes he was in Intensive Care because of breathing difficulties.

More frantic calls... painstaking texts... slow because my vision was blurred by tears I couldnt control.

Then finally, word from inside. Tun is stable. Resting. Breathing difficulty probably because of exhausting activities amidst scorching heat in Bukit merah and Langkawi. Tun is expected to return to KL tomorrow, but for now he is being observed for 24 hrs. A few minutes ago, another text from an aide of tun's saying that the old warrior is off the respirator and is now breathing on his own. Alhamdulillah.

We ask all friendly Malaysians of whatever faith to pray for Tun Mahathir's speedy recovery.

Me... For now I still cannot contemplate a world without Ayahanda Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. (Ya Allah panjangkanlah umur Tun Dr. Mahathir dan umur Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali, dan berikanlah kudrat dan semangat kepada kedua-dua mereka untuk terus berbakti kepada negara, dan membantu rakyat Malaysia. Amin)

Lion On The Prowl

2007-05-03T01:04:00.000+08:00

I'm seriously worried about the future of my country. But like I told my friend Achul over dinner just now, the saddest thing is that I feel there is nothing I can do. It's all very well to say ... oh we have to keep on going, because the voice of the people will ultimately matter, we all can make a difference... so on and so forth... but I'm really beginning to doubt it. Can we really make a difference? in Malaysia?

The Great YABhg. Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, the man who kept Malaysia safe from greedy salivating economic invaders, lamented not too long ago that he was disappointed that Malaysians seem so jaded. Nothing shocks them into action. Nothing pushes them beyond cynicism and raised eyebrows. Not that he expected Malaysians to take to the streets.. But at least Malaysians should be angry enough to cause their elected representatives to spring into action and demand answers and explanations.

But we got nothing. Nada. zip. Not a whimper about the excesses of YDP and his family, about the ECM Libra Avenue debacle, about the slow and excruciating murder of MAS, about the control of one family over Khazanah Nasional, about the selling of Johore, about the rape of Terengganu

Articles like this one here written by YB Ron (Ok ex-YB) and posted on Malaysia Today make me feel more helpless. Its like its unfolding over our very eyes and we can do nothing!!

In the last few days, it's clear that the Lion is on the prowl again. This Lion is mighty indeed... mighty in causing destabilisation and enriching its coffers. This lion now counts as part of its domain the communications and banking & finance sectors of the most populous Muslim nation on earth, rendering that nation an economic hostage to the lion, should any situation arise that would put it head to head against the king of beasts.The lion caused the downfall of a government in the land of the white elephant.And now the lion eyes another weakened tiger of Asia... A tiger weakened by the departure of it's mighty leader of 22 years in 2003, replaced by a bumbling fool who cant tell s**t from breakfast. Probably coz he falls asleep between the toilet and the breakfast table. Ah but that's ok... He has a loving SIL to help him decide which is which.

Anyway back to the lion. in recent days, we heard that operatives of the lion are back in action after lying low following severe pressure from YABhg Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. The operatives, believing that the mighty Tun is now weakened by age and health concerns, have returned to claim the helm of a boutique investment bank.... which is, I believe a vehicle to forage for bigger chunks of the tiger's meat to be devoured by the ruthless lion.

The primary Singapore operative - the fourth K- this time reappeared at the apex of the investment bank with a friend in tow. TF. Now this TF is somewhat of a puzzle to me. For a long time I thought his master was a reclusive Malaysian communications billionaire. Turns out, he belongs to another billionaire, a certain powerful SIL.

Then it starts to make sense. Patutla his budget airline got into the Lion's den so easily, in spite of the lion being infamous for its protectionist stance over every single thing. Yet it allowed the budget airline in? Hmm...SIL must've been behind it.. SIL is after all not only beloved by YDP but also by the Lion. It was within the lion's den, after all, that SIL got his early education.

Patut la the budget airline is getting all sorts of perks and breaks from PM YDP's castrated government... rupanya SIL is in the background. Rupanya SIL and TF are cosmic twins... almost one and the same, evidently.And the Fourth K of course is happy to work with the cosmic twins, faithfully serving his lord The Lion, whilst laughing at idiot Malaysians and the hp6 puppet cabinet, all the way to the bank.

Aduuuh Sang Harimau... apa lah dosa ditimpa nasib sebegini?

When news of the Lion's agent and TF taking leadership of the investment bank broke, my friend (whom we call Jong-Il) sms-ed me frantically.He was quite livid. Enraged even, by the blatant audacity of SIL and the Fourth K. I said, "well what to do mate? It's the way the cookie crumbles". Jong Il replied "Takkan the rakyat are that hapless?? (sic)". I only said "yes they are. live with it." Silence from Jong-Il after that... obviously he's off somewhere fuming by himself. Jong Il is also probably pissed off at my cavalier attitude about the whole thing.

But I'm not cavalier about it because i dont care. I do care. I'm furious! hell that's why Spooky Muck came into being in the first place. But like YABhg. Tun Dr. Mahathir, I'm starting to feel a little disheartened. "Resistence" as the evil are fond of saying, "is futile."

To be honest, right now I feel like my country has come under the rule of the dark lord Sauron (read: Jembalang Hitam SIL). But like I said once before, my poor country aint middle earth, and we dont have a fellowship of the ring that would help destroy Sauron. Our white wizard Gandalf (TDM) is constrained by age and of course by invisible spells that thwart his considerable powers.

Meanwhile the rape, pilage and plunder of my poor motherland continues. The lion prowls for ever bigger game, to have lavish feasts with its entire pride.

We, my countrymen, watch in horror as our motherland is being devoured alive. We wince in pain, we cry silent tears... but at the end of the day.. we just watch. Hmmm... Should we then be angry with the lion for coming to our territory when we did nothing to stop it or chase it away?

Grand Old Lady Raped.

2007-04-30T18:26:00.000+08:00

This is a comment I posted at Rocky's although I'm not sure if he can or will publish it. I reproduce it below:

[Meanwhile] Kali continues to ruin the grand old lady of Malaysian newspapers, the NST. I was really quite sickened to read the NST yesterday when the front page story was -unbelievably- Kali's inane and uninspired piece on flying handkerchiefs. Yes, yes I know it's about Ijok and the lies and empty promises of the opposition. But shouldnt such op-eds or essays (or whatever you call such pieces)NOT be on the front page?? For heaven's sake the front page is supposed to be about the news. Not a place to showcase your (gag)"flair for writing".

And as if the front page story was not enough, we were also entertained by Kali's story on how generous he and his son are, and how they care about poor people in Malaysia and even in far off places like New York (gag again).Masquerading as a human interest piece on respect and humility Kali's article is, to me, pathetically lacking in depth and is another blatant attempt at self aggrandizement.(Will Kali sue me for this? Its just my personal opinion kan? Other people are free to think that he is the best writer God ever put on Malaysian soil.)

Not too long ago a writer, listening to me lament the fate of the NST under the able hands of Kali, asked me point blank: What do you miss about the NST? I said for one thing I miss the broadsheet. For another I miss the good writers. I miss A Kadir Jasin, Rose Ismail, Shamsul Akmar, Ahmad Talib, Ahiruddin Atan (although not technically NST, I know), Saleha Ali, Fatimah Abu Bakar... just to name my favourites... Above all, I miss the feeling of real reading pleasure and intellectual satisfaction after reading the NST, especially on Sundays.
I hate feeling disgusted with the NST nowadays, feeling angry that this grand old lady has been 'raped' senseless. I hate that the paper has almost become a personal advertisement vehicle for certain personalities.
Hate the person responsible for this.
Sorry Rocky if this is a lot off topic, i just HAD to vent.

BN trumps PKR. Whither Aljubs?

2007-04-28T22:13:00.000+08:00

By now everyone will have heard that the BN won in Ijok. The victory is not surprising. If you had gone there in the last two days of campaigning, you will have sensed that the swing for BN was all around. What is surprising is the spike in the majority which rose from 1649 to 1850.

Odly enough, it was YDP who was being interviewed for almost an hour over RTM, although he was in Ijok for all of 1 and a half hours. Hmm. I was under the impression that Najib led the BN team in Ijok....

Anyway... that's not important. BN is after all a united front and the main thing is that the party won.

Back to the numbers. A hike in the majority is surprising in that it destroys the notion that the people are unhappy with the current administration. It seems that the bridge issue, the oil-for-food scandal, the 200million jet plane, the turkish yacht, the ecm-libra scandal... all those things dont matter to the people.

Then again maybe they do matter. Its just that people forgot about them. Why did the people forget? Because the opposition curiously forgot to raise them. In a most fishy manner, the PKR and DAP forgot the very issues that they have been riding on over the past 3 years. Instead they banked on the flimsy rumours of the Altantuya case and the alleged misdeeds in the Scorpene and Sukhoi case. The strategy reeked the stench of Al Jubs. Why? because the attacks were so centrally focused on Najib. Aljubs had the most to gain with Najib out of the picture.

The gnawing question is: what deal was there between Aljubs and certain quarters. We lay off you, you dont defend Najib?? Who knows.

Meanwhile, the real good news out of Ijok today is that PKR is all but dead. This was their last chance at a comeback. They failed disastrously.

For Aljubs, the loss is doubly bitter. Not only has he inadvertently strengthened Najib by forcing PM YDP to re-enforce his ringing endorsement of the deputy premiere, he has also removed all doubt that PKR is fading, by making it clear that even with the great Anwar leading the charge, people still reject PKR -or affectionately known as Keldaian

What he will do next is fairly predictable. He will rant and rave. He will cry foul and allege vote rigging and phantom voters. he will plead a victim of the might of the BN Machinery, he will claim BN's victory as having been bought by $$$

Behind the scenes, he is probably less loud,probably silent and fidgety. Aljubs now knows that outside of UMNO he is on the road to nowhere and fast. Ijok may well be his death knell.His future seems bleak.

What will he do? I would wager that he will intensify secret negotiations with SIL for his re-entry into UMNO, somehow. At the same time he will send yet another emissary to mengadap YABhg Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, something a little bird told me he tried to do at least four times before, each time failing miserably with TDM all but slamming the door on the face of the envoy. (Not literally of course)

Aljubs will want to get into UMNO at all costs. he knows that PKR is toast. He's probably relieved he's not a member. Then again he already calculated that he wanted to be free to consider his options -options that include re-joining UMNO. What he miscalculated on was BN's strength, in particular Najib's strength in countering his personal attacks.

Tonight is a humid night. But Anwar is feeling cold, because he is locked on the outside in this dark and dreary night, looking through UMNO's window and seeing the warmth and comfort inside. He knows he has to get in or he will just fade away into the night. The desperation is increasing for him. As he listens to the joy and laughter inside the UMNO home, he realises on this side of the wall there is no celebration. By this time tomorrow, when the Ijok dust settles, Anwar will see that he is all alone.

Dewa Turun Kayangan

2007-04-27T12:25:00.000+08:00

Like the legendary dewa (mystical beings sometimes inaccurately described as demi-gods) of old Malay and Hindu folklore, PM YDP descended from his Kayangan (the heavens) to soil his holy feet amongst the mere mortals of ijok.

This sent the entire political community into a buzz. "Why did the PM have to 'turun'? Is it such a tough fight in Ijok?".

The popular notion here on earth, is that the PM does not come to campaign during by-elections. This has been practiced for many years, even in the era of the great TDM. It is unlikely that PM YDP didnt get the memo on this. He was not too long ago a DPM himself and I remember well him having to campaign in Anak Bukit and Pendang and before that in Bentong and Indera Kayangan. So he knows well that by convention the PM doesnt campaign in by-elections.

So why did he do it anyway? The possible reasons can only be:

1. He got the wrong info: that BN is on the losing side in Ijok and therefore his rescuing presence(insert laughter here) is badly needed

2. He has no confidence in the campaign led by his deputy

3.This is another subtle attempt by SIL to undermine Najib. He deploys the unsuspecting, half asleep FIL as a tool to convey his message. - This is quite brilliant if you think of it: You know Ijok is a winner now, so u better get FIL to come, so that credit can be robbed from Najib who slaved for 10 days there. So now you can start another whispering campaign that says "Nasib baik PM datang, sebab tu menang... kalau tak kalah dah..." As if Najib did nothing for 10 days. Either way, kalau BN kalah, Najib still gets all the blame, kalau menang none of the credit. Oxford trained SIL well.

In my view, Ijok aint as tough a battle as some might have you believe. It's a tougher fight than Machap and Batu Talam of course, but not anywhere near Lunas. BN has definitely gained a stronger foot hold since the campaign started. So to my suspicious mind, and relating to my theories of conspiracy and the hunt for a legacy PM YDP's descent is motivated by something more than the desire to see BN win. Whether it's his own motive or the motive of other sinister plotters, I dare not speculate.

Update 28 April 12:18 a.m :

The Sun had thi story, which I found on Malaysia Today:

Prime Minister Datuk Seri AbdullahAhmad Badawi said today he has confidence in Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak's capability as his deputy, especially in carrying out the tasks entrusted to him.

"I've confidence in Najib as the deputy prime minister for I'm satisfied with many of the tasks he has implemented," he told reporters after launching the National Intellectual Property Day 2007 here.

The prime minister was responding to queries surrounding the opposition's personal attacks on Najib in the run-up to the Ijok state by-election in Selangor tomorrow.Voters will cast their ballots to pick either Barisan Nasional (BN)'s K. Parthiban, 38, who is Tanjung Karang MIC secretary, or Parti KeadilanRakyat (Keadilan)'s Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, 61, who is former Guthrie Bhd chief executive officer.

Abdullah said Najib, in his capacity as BN deputy chairman, had on numerous occasions proven his ability to lead the BN by-election machinery."Although I'm the BN chairman (and it's my) responsibility to lead, he has been heading the by-election machinery all this while, proving his capability with successful outcomes," he said.The prime minister said the opposition should not have made personal attacks against his deputy as the accusations had nothing to do with Najib.

My hypothesis above must be entirely unfounded. I'm sorry. All is well then. I stand corrected.

A Question of Legacy

2007-04-25T00:37:00.000+08:00

It was a wet day in Ijok. The rain, had returned after a brief hiatus at midday and I found myself huddled in one of the quaint "kedai kopi" in the middle of this tiny town that is now the focus of the entire nation. A number of reporters also take shelter there and one of them, sitting at the next table looks our way, recognizes my friend and moves over to join us. Conversation starts about this and that, then he says... "kesian Najib.. betul-betul kena sekali ni"

Naturally my friend asks why. I listen with marked interest. This guy is a reporter from one of the TV stations. He must know what he's talking about. "Sorang-sorang dia kena balun dengan Pak Sheikh...Takdak sapa mai tolong." he says. Again my friend asks why. I am the uninvolved listener in this scene, but my interest is unmistakable. Happy that he has a keen audience, the reporter continues "Hang tak perasan ka? Sekarang ni, pembangkang pun dah dapat air-time. Dulu mana TV station kita benarkan... sekarang coverage calon pembakang hampir lebih air time dari calon BN."

"Awat lagu tu?" My friend asks, reverting to his native Kedah dialect.The reporter is only too happy to divulge his 'insider' stories. It seems that in actual fact, BN Big guns are down to help campaign in Ijok although looking at the news one would think its only Najib doing the rounds. But apparently there's been some... 'wahyu' if you will... a commandment from on-high that there should be less focus on BN's campaign and more 'flexibility' must be given in airing the opposition's campaign. Not so much that it would get noticed... just more than before.

"Tak kan lah" said my friend incredulously, although of course anyone following the events in Ijok on the news will tell you that for the first time ever, the opposition is being given ample exposure during prime time news. "Betul, Bang." said the reporter. "Kami diberitahu begitu... pasai katanya PM YDP [the term is used by me in this article.. not by the reporter] nak satukan Melayu.. perlahan-lahan."

The conversation went on for a bit longer, then the rain stopped again and we parted ways.

What the reporter said stayed with me long after we left the Kedai Kopi. Penyatuan Melayu by PM YDP? What could this mean? To my suspicious mind, this had a thousand and one implications. Naturally Penyatuan Melayu would mean bringing together the Malays of UMNO, PAS and Keldaian.... which - following through with the train of thought of my previous posting- means that it's another piece in the jigsaw that will form the picture of Al-Jubs' return to UMNO, which adds another token in favour of the conspiracy theory against Najib.

I called up a few of the learned, battle-scarred former generals of Malaysian politics and asked them what they thought was actually afoot. One interesting insight was this: Its about legacies. It seems that PM YDP is very much pre-occupied about his legacy when he high-tails it out of office. This Elder of the Party told me that from day one PM YDP has been obsessed about the mark he'll make. You see, said the Elder, PM YDP has a bit of an insecurity about stepping into the shoes of the great YABhg. Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, an icon of Malaysian politics, and a much respected global statesman. He thought, in the begining, that his endless sloganeering was good enough to win support of Malaysians. But after the so-called honeymoon period, he realized that Malaysians demand substance to back up the pretty slogans, something he had very little of.

He often lamented to his fourth floor boys about this and they set about carving a niche for PM YDP. Islam Hadhari, Biotechnology, Human capital, Towering Malays, Red Book, Green Book... all sorts of crap were dished out, in their pitiful attempt to make PM YDP look good. But nothing worked. Psycophants will forever polish your knob and say stuff to make you feel good, but deep down they realize the truth. They knew that even if you polish glass for a thousand years in a thousand different ways, a worthless piece of glass will never become a diamond. PM YDP will never even become even the toenail of TDM, much less a person of equal stature.

Of course they have some of the HP6 Ministers time and again coming out with assinine statements about not comparing leadership styles and that TDM's time is past, or that PM YDP is the dream leader and stuff like that. But nothing erases the fact that PM YDP is mediocre at best, and that should he no longer be leader tomorrow, his legacy would only be the empty slogans, oh and yes , the unabated ascendancy of SIL during his rule.

Even PM YDP realises this sad truth. He must have a more impressive legacy. Something that would cause history to place him in the same league as TDM and TAR, Malaysia's most illustrious Prime Ministers.

In the view of his advisers, the most impactful thing is to bring the warring Malay factions together. "Let's face it", they seemed to have said, "you cant beat Mahathir's industrialisation and modernisation, you cant beat what TAR did with FELDA and stabilising communal relations through economic restructuring". No way in hell, unless there is a nuclear war, everything is destroyed and PM YDP gets to start with a clean slate. Not gonna happen.

So what do you do? you deliver what TDM has himself proclaimed his own failure to accomplish: To unite the Malays. You will then finally get a worthy "Bapa something" to add to your name when you hit the road: Like Bapa Pembangunan or Bapa Pemodenan. You, instead of holding to the ridiculos, pre-mature, insane tag of Bapa K-Ekonomi bestowed on you by one of your Ministers, can rightfully claim to be Bapa Penyatuan Melayu. (Salivate salivate. clap clap)

Now to do this, what must you do first? Bring the most difficult protagonist into the fold, then others will soon follow. This prize catch is none other than Al Jubs, the actor of actors, the fake of fakes. He may be fake, but damn, he still has his followers. Hell he can talk the pants off of anyone! ( No pun intended.)

And so the game plan is set in motion. Start the mental conditioning of the malay public, especially the UMNO stalwarts. Give the opposition airtime. Allow Al Jubs to have a field day with the press... and... make no effort to save Al-Jubs favourite target: Najib. For indeed, how on earth will you bring back Al Jubs if his perceived primary stumbling block is in the way?

Perlahan-lahan, the reporter said.

It's still a blurry picture but its starting to make sense to me. Re-introduce the idea, condition the mind, kill the main obstacle, then roll out the red carpet.

My friend, the learned party Elder sums up: It's all about an unfound legacy. An all important legacy, a coveted immortality. Some men would pay a hefty price for it. One man and his SIL may consider offering a bigger sacrificial lamb: The illustrious son of a legendary Malay leader.

Unholy Alliance?

2007-04-22T16:47:00.000+08:00

Here's something I wrote a while back... I thot It should be posted here...

***
As far as Al-Jubs (DSAI) is concerned, the equation is simple: If the path to power is through UMNO, then that path must be (U minus N) to the power of K; U being UMNO, N being Najib, K being SIL.

Al-Jubs is well aware that what TDM said is too true: Any hopes of coming back to power on his part is nothing more than a pipe dream... unless... he is back in UMNO.

But then his return to UMNO is not that easy. He (being the egotistical megalomaniac that he is) will never return to UMNO as an ordinary member, and he has a deep rooted vengeance against Najib , because on some level Al-Jubs feels Najib has taken what is rightfuly his -The number two spot. In the begining Al-Jubs was hoping that his Golden Key to UMNO was through SIL.SIL after all was extremely involved in securing Al-Jubs' freedom. And Al-Jubs sensed that SIL was looking for a symbiotic relationship of sorts...

The symbiotic relationship SIL wanted, had to do with his own famous ambition. SIL knows that he will never be next in line for the number one spot because of his age. So he needed a black stallion (no reference to anything sexual here.) to run the course first- A stallion who would be indebted to him, and who would ensure his ascendancy, long after his current source of power- The Sleeping YDP- is gone.

After the famous passport episode, SIL and Al Jubs realised that people were getting suspicious. Rumours abound about a lengthy phone call between Al Jubs and YDP -arranged by SIL-while YDP was in Australia for his nose job.. er.. I mean sinus treatment. Then there was that Hari Raya open house call.

So to throw people off the scent of their unholy alliance, SIL went on the UMNO Youth platform and angrily condemned AlJubs as 'Pengkhianat', conveniently forgetting the whole passport incident.

SIL has at least twice more repeated that Al Jubs will never be accepted into UMNO. But we all know that promises made in politics mean diddly squat. All that is needed is for SIL to organize a 'popular voice' gimmick and then say "Kita terpaksa akur dengan kehendak akar umbi"... it's a trick done a million times before.

So anyway, the unholy alliance continues on the quiet. Fast forward to today, Little Birds here and there keep on singing about secret meetings and telephone calls between the two. Even letters to one another...like lovers in a forced separation. When YABhg Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad began his well-grounded offensive against YDP and SIL, AlJubs felt that he was getting closer to his goal. YDP and SIL needed to strengthen themselves by bringing AL Jubs as a trump card to thwart TDM.

They severely miscalculated. UMNO was still unwilling to accept ALJubs, and worse the party was deeply divided about their support for YDP, one huge faction clearly leaning on the side of TDM. The Al Jubs re-acceptance plan was put on hold. But make no mistake, Little Birds say, the relationship is still there. Only now they are playing the waiting game, hatefully banking on the fact that with TDM being 82, time cant possibly be on his side.

While they wait, they take on the other big obstacle, Najib. Wasnt it Al Jubs who started the Mongolian connection story? And the Scorpene link story? and the Sukhoi link story? It wasnt anyone else.

Al Jubs says nothing about the ECM Libra Avenue affair, nor about the oil for food scandal, nor about any of the 1001 nonsensical moves of the YDP administration... but he goes doggedly after Najib. Meanwhile, no one is coming to Najib's defence.

Where is the Pemuda Wing that he used to lead? Hisham of course says nothing without SIL's green light and SIL will not lift a finger to help Najib although technically the Youth Wing is duty bound to defend the deputy president.

What about the other ministers of the half past six cabinet? No one has said a word in defense of Najib. Why? We're talking about a bunch of sycophants and yesmen who would even say YDP's farts smell like roses! Yet they do nothing to defend Najib?

This is not to say whether Najib is innocent or not. That's a whole other debate altogether. What I'm getting at is: Isn't it a bit suspicious and uncharacteristic of UMNO that no one defends the number two? That they are lettling him drown all alone? Doesn't it smack of some kind of conspiracy somwhere?

(Consider this: When Razak Baginda was arrested, how come the Straits Times of Singapore broke the story before the local papers? [On a completely unrelated matter, Hindugod was in Singapore the day before that, or so says another Little Bird.]How come for the first time newspapers revealed the identity of a remanded suspect BEFORE he was even charged?)

If AlJubs is, as he claims, a valiant hero who fights for truth and justice, why hasnt he EVEN ONCE attacked SIL? Why hasnt he charged nepotism and crony-ism against YDP like he was quick to do with TDM? Why has he made no noise about the house in Perth, the Turkish Gullet, the RM200 mil jet, the inexplicable wealth of SIL and friends, the inanely stupid responses of YDP ("like I dont know, I'm not involved"..).

Put it this way... as the de facto leader of the opposition, shouldn't AlJub's sparring partner be YDP? Why should he go after Najib if his objective is to discredit UMNO? He should go after the party's supremo. Instead he attacks Najib and only Najib. Which can only mean that he sees Najib as an obstacle to his path forward, which means that he feels his path forward is still through UMNO, which necessarily means that the unholy alliance between him and SIL is very very much alive... and... given SIL's and AlJubs tendency to always favour the interest of their foreign friends over what's important to Malays and Malaysia, that's something about which UMNO members should be afraid. Very afraid.

If you're hot, you're hot, if you're not, you're not

2007-04-20T13:53:00.000+08:00

Shortly after The Apology I received an urgent SMS from my friend, whom we'll call Jong-Il (due to his uncanny likeness to the hermit dictator of North Korea), who said;

"Bro, what is numero uno rambling nonsense on RTM1?". Naturally I immediately switched to see the great YDP in action.

I don't quite know how to describe it to be honest. He was...mediocre at best. And I'm really trying to be objective here (...I can almost hear my friends scoff...). Cakap macam orang sembang kat kedai kopi, if you ask me. I was a little embarassed at first, seeing my undisputed leader speaking so poorly. He went on and on about how poverty is relative as are commodity prices bla bla bla. Then I thought, (being objective again... and I hear the same scoffing again) "maybe he is doing it deliberately... it is after all to the UMNO machinery he was speaking to".

Then he went on the personal tack and unabashedly defended his so-called record, citing bourse hikes, and the much touted 1 trillion trade volume yadda yadda yadda. Then I think he crossed a line. For me, anyway. He said something like "Depa kata saya nak berhenti bulan tujuh. Sapa kata?? " and then the much quoted "Depa kata saya one term Prime Minister... nanti tengok...", which was just before he added that he doesnt want to be a leader for keeps because "Kesian Najib dok tunggu nuuh...".

My immediate reaction was: Takkabur betul orang tua ni. (This old man is really Takabbur) [Takkabur means...erm... well it's when someone is so full of pride in himself that he discounts the will of God in determining things... something like that.]

Now I'm not typically religious or anything. But my point is that HE is! YDP bases his entire personality on the fact that he is the grandson of an renowned Ulama and that his tertiary education was in the field of islamic studies... he peppers his speeches with references to the Quran etc. So how can a person like that be so bongkak an angkuh? Where is the requisite "inshaAllah"...? where is the humility? I have never known anyone who has ever heard TDM say anything remotely like that.

Then again this is nothing new kan? Remember "Saya Perdana Menteri"... and "Anak Saya Kaya"?

So to me, this kind of makes me wonder whether YDP is all that he is made out to be. I remember a foreign friend of mine, who doesnt know much about Malaysian politics, who told me that when YDP was ponted out to her as the new PM, her first instict was that "This man wears a mask." (Should we now call him the Masked one?... entah lah...)

So anyway, of course the next day NST went overboard (as usual) in trying to put he pathetic speech in a good light. It had this on the front page, like it was some divine revelation from on-high:

The full NST perspective of the mediocre speech can be read here. Of curse once you read it, you will think that its not as bad as I'm making it out to be. Trust me it was. Thats just the NST black magic of HindugodMuslimpriest breaking your defences.

But however much NST tries, they cant really reverse the damage. Jong Il wasnt the only one who sent me a text that night. At least 13 more came in, all saying how disapppointed they are with YDP. One said he (YDP)spoke with all the flair and aplomb of a KL City Cab driver. Another said she was "malu nak mengaku pemimpin kita".

It's interesting that the NST was the only paper that made a big deal about that speech. NST and of course RTM la, who broadcast th speech in the first place. Other papers just treated it like any other speech. A must use story because its the holy words of YDP (even its mind bogglingly inane), but nothing spectacular.

Poor NST. Nak sangat orang pandang YDP tu hebat. But hey, if you're hot, you're hot... if you're not... buat lah macam mana pun, you are just NOT!!!

Tun Apologizes...or did he?

2007-04-18T20:38:00.000+08:00

Saw it in on the 8pm news. For the first time in yonks, TV3 was only too happy to show an extended footage of TDM's press conference. Tun said he made a statement relating to YDP (Yang Disalah Pilih)'s house in Perth based on strong and presistent rumours. It has since been proven that the house "belonged to the wife of a chinese businessman". (The portion in quotes came from TV3's script).

I wonder why TDM did that. It seems so out of character... and in the next portion of the PC footage, he apparently told bloggers not to embellish so as not to erode the credibility of their blogs....

Hmm... it all seems a little strange. I sent a bewildered text to TDM's aide, who responded by saying it's all part and parcel of spinning...

Wonder if my blogger idol Rocky has a take on this...

UPDATE

Now I get what TDM's aide meant in his reply to my sms ... get the full perspective of what TDM said here and for a take on Agence France-Presse's view, read here.

UPDATE 2

D-uhhh.... how could I have missed it??? It was a brilliant move by TDM to 'apologize'. Then again, my first reaction to this story was based on the spin on TV3. Now that I have the full context, I know that it was a master stroke from a master politician. TDM managed to:

1. Get extra airtime, more than he did in the last nine months

2. Get the story of the house onto the mainstream media, where before it was only on the blogs and the internet.

3. Get it out in the open that SIL was caught with his pants down, confessing to Kamaluddin's ownership of the house, when in actual fact it was Mrs. Patrick Badawi's

Now, TV3's claimed 3 million viewers of Bulletin Utama all over the country will be talking about the Perth House, finding out more things, when previously they knew nothing.

A masterstroke from a Master politician. What else can i say. The man's a genius. hidup Mahathir!

Spooky Muck shares birthday with Oldstarfish and Bud!

2007-04-18T00:33:00.000+08:00

Just got off the phone with my good friend Oldstarfish... told him about Spooky Muck and he pointed out that this blog shares his birthday!Which means it shares Bud's birthday as well... so yaay... happy birthday Spooky Muck, Oldstarfish and Bud.

And so it begins... again

2007-04-17T23:39:00.000+08:00

Yes.. 'again' in the title. Coz I tried to get this damned blog kicked off a couple of days ago... stupid office server wont allow submission to blogspot. Must be a firewall thingy.

Let me see if I remember bits of my supposed maiden posting on this blog. Think it went something like this:

The other day at the airport, my moronic friend Rusdi asked me if I had a blog. He knew me quite well, Rusdi did, and he sensed that a person who is quite prone to verbal hemorrhaging such as yours truly would probably need an outlet to express my pent up rage. He also knew that I followed keenly most of the major blogs, particularly KMU, Malaysia Today, Jeff Ooi and of course my favourite, Rocky's bru.

I did of course have a blog... but it's more likemy travel journal, which I created to keep friends informed of what i was up to some time ago when I was in the UK. I've never had a blog where I can really rant and rave... maybe because I dont want to risk people knowing who I am. Am I chicken shit? Hell No.

Well maybe. A little. Then again you would be too if you were me. I've got to earn a living you know... and we l;ive in times when having an opinion could cause you to lose the means to earn a living.

So I've decided to blog quietly... a small little corner in cyberspace where I can get really pissed off, explode, and not worry about losing my job because of it.

Why Spooky Muck for an address? Literally spooky muck means a scary-ass mess of crap. Figuratively of course it refers to crappy stuff that's unfolding all around me, here in this country that's teetering perilously close to being called "North Singapore".... but best of all... I chose it coz of the play on the pronounciation, when you pronounce it with a malay tone. I wouldn't say it out loud if I were you... ;)

So here I go... Welcome to this Spooky Muck.(Don't say THIS out loud either).