Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- The Ball Is Now In Their Court
- The General Election is in July, folks!
- Check, some news just isn’t right
- Anwar Ibrahim a Scoundrel?
- Reclaiming our truly Malaysian history
| The Ball Is Now In Their Court Posted: 19 May 2011 08:01 PM PDT This was to avoid being stopped along the way. 
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| The General Election is in July, folks! Posted: 19 May 2011 06:11 PM PDT Yes, despite whatever the prime minister has said, is saying, and will be saying, about the date of the 13th General Election (GE), I dare say that it's all meant to coax and delude us into believing that it's not going to be a snap poll. And for all the "excellent" track record of this government, it will be foolhardy to expect me for one to buy the assurances. All the more because this country oddly represents the remaining dinosaurs of a la Westminster electoral democracy, where only the premier (and his wife in the case of Malaysia) and God Almighty know exactly when a general election will be held! It does sound very weird, but very true indeed. Even the UK, the origin and birthplace of a la-Westminster democracy, is moving towards setting election dates well in advance. Come what may, Najib is hell bent on winning this GE. It is a do-or-die mission. As demonstrated by his now infamous quote, he will defend Putrajaya at all cost Р"Even if our bodies are crushed and our lives lost, brothers and sisters, whatever happens, we must defend Putrajaya!" Utmost in his political calculation is to win, plain and simple. This mandate is the be-all and end-all of his political struggle. Defeat is not an option. He is frantically desperate to secure victory. Going by the spectre of the unending tumultuous events post-12th GE, and quite unlike all his predecessors, Najib is very wary and fully conscious that the going is onerous and the outcome almost unpredictable. The million-dollar question that begs an immediate answer now is when would it be most strategic and correct for him to conduct this 13-GE. Despite dispelling speculation that the dissolution of the 12th parliament will be soon, this writer is far from convinced that Najib is honest at that. It's not meant to be pejorative but quite on the contrary it is to depict him as a smart strategist, if indeed he is one. The writer's arguments are as follows: Foremost in his consideration would be this strategic question: "what?" The "when" and "how" would follow suit. "What" is surely the most important question the master strategist has to answer for himself, and this cannot be delegated. Doing so would spell his doom. To be capable of executing it, it presupposes that he has gathered all the pertinent and critical information there are, from all "sources", overt and covert. Simply put, Najib would have to decide what it is he wants to achieve? He hasn't much to choose from. Defeat is not an option as emphatically said earlier. So, he is left with either (a) regain his lost two-thirds majority in parliament or (b) win by a simple majority. It is the belief of this writer that Najib has settled for the latter i.e. winning by a simple majority. He still harbours hopes that perchance, on a good outing, he can still wrestle back the two-thirds majority. But what's the fuss behind making the choice, you might want to ask. Well, it is simply this. If he chooses a simple majority, that is a lot easier to achieve. If he is passionate and insistent on regaining his two-thirds majority, he has to ensure that the strategic objective is achievable and he wouldn't have the "degree of freedom" and flexibility to call for a snap election, a quick kill of sorts. This snap option would allow him to ambush his political enemies, when they will be caught flat-footed and foolishly grinning still. This writer would like to believe that Najib is being very realistic and has settled for a simple win. The defining consideration for Najib is premised on the fact that delaying the GE is not going to do his party and the BN any favours. Najib requires 112 seats to win. His own party is already in control of 79 seats. Assuming he doesn't lose any, he only requires 33 seats to win. Even if in the worst-case scenario of Pakatan winning 10 parliamentary seats in Sarawak and eight from Sabah, Najib is still secure with 40 seats from the 58 seats (25+31+1) from his so-called "fixed deposit" states of Borneo. Najib could still make it home with 119 seats to win the "first-past-the-post" electoral system. The actual dynamic is, of course, more complex and fluid. This piece avoids that discourse. Najib has also bought into the notion that his trajectory is almost at a plateau Рon that "diminishing return" part of the S-curve. The recently concluded Sarawak state election spoke volumes of the hypothesis. He doesn't want to be reminded of the marked swings of the various indigenous groupings of Sarawakians including the usually-docile-submissive Malay-Melanau grouping. An 8 per cent nationwide swing especially in West Malaysia, as observed in the Sarawak election, would be catastrophic, and would kick him out of Putrajaya. That is a very grim scenario for Najib. Worse still, he doesn't expect nor hope for this to reverse, even if given more time. In short, time is not the essence of winning back the trust that they have lost. MCA and MIC no longer provide the required additional support. If anything, they have become a liability to Najib. The rot has gotten too deeply seated, almost terminal as in a cancer patient. Foremost, he doesn't believe that the Chinese would make a comeback any time soon. No amount of cajoling the Chinese has been fruitful. Equally, if not more distressful for him, is that no amount of tough rhetoric has been productive either. If anything, it has got from bad to worse. The last round of DAP-Christian state and Perkasa-crusade fiasco was simply too tragic for Najib's approval rating, especially because he is seen as condoning Perkasa's condescending rhetoric, the fighter-dog of Umno. The premier has now to do the obvious. To borrow an investment clich̩, he has to "cut-loss". He has to swallow a lot of his ego and humble himself to the rakyat. Perchance they might want to forgive him but they, the rakyat and the electorates, shall not forget that it's the two-thirds majority that has resulted in the BN's decades of ruling with impunity. He has now only to settle for a win Рa simple majority. The next question that begs a prompt answer is a tactical one Рthe "when." This is the most intriguing, though. Given the earlier argument, the answer is equally evident. If possible, he wants it today. Why? Well, it is the writer's conviction that Najib is a coward. Nothing pejorative again though, please. But that is the plain naked truth. He is a very risk-averse personality. Incidentally, that doesn't augur well with our emerging nation. It is just his demeanour, and it has to do with one's personality. You can't hide it. Najib has never been known to be a risk-taker. He had it all so good so far, almost on a silver platter i.e. from his youthful days of becoming the Youth chief of Umno and all. Do you recall any challenging battles he waged to get to where he is now? Hardly, right? Right again. In the same vein, Najib is not willing to subject himself to the dynamic of his own party's check and balance. Given the growing undercurrent of dissent within the ranks of the warlords and the middle-upper leadership, Najib is going to use the coming GE as a convenient ploy to get the party's wannabe candidates to toe the line. Traditionally, it's the Umno president's prerogative to decide the candidacy for the GE. Holding the GE early is surely to his advantage. He dares not take them on a debate of his 1 Malaysia and "inclusiveness" rhetoric, which seems so diametrically opposed to Umno's ideology of Ketuanan Melayu. Holding the election early would quell and quash all dissenting voices. That's being crafty, but still in the mould of a "coward". Again, he must hold the GE soonest. Hence, Najib is now out to execute an elaborate decoy plan to delude his nemesis into believing that the election could very well be after Budget 2012, and could well fall on his magical feng shui date of 11-11-11. But that is on a Friday, mind you. Ludicrous, you might be thinking. He will be cursed for having it on an auspicious Friday.
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| Check, some news just isn’t right Posted: 19 May 2011 04:33 PM PDT HEY! Guess what? The other day I was wandering around Brickfields in Kuala Lumpur and I saw a group of Hindus discussing something in their temple compound. You know what? I think they want to make Malaysia a Hindu state! They are somehow going to get two-thirds of both the Dewan Rakyat and the Dewan Negara along with the Council of Rulers to change the Constitution and make us a Hindu state. No, don't laugh. I recognised a politician in there among them, so it must be true. How can you tell this story is true? Well, you are reading it in a newspaper aren't you? And to make sure this story is truly credible, I'm going to make the same assertions on my blog. Does this sound stupid to you? It does? Well, that is because it is. Now in the world we live in today, anyone with a computer can say any old thing, no matter how obtuse, and then get it out for the whole planet to see. For example, the "scoop" that a bunch of priests and politicians are going to turn this country into some sort of Christian state. It's a wild accusation – irresponsible, unfounded and silly. However, on the information super highway, you get a lot of silliness and this is to be expected. In my view, this freedom to be as dumb as you can be is a price worth paying for the freedom of expression the Net gives us. However, I find it is surprising that this "scoop" would be carried by a newspaper. Aren't newspapers supposed to work within this strange thing called "journalistic principles"? Shouldn't a newspaper check out a story first by doing a spot of investigating? I don't know, perhaps by calling the organisers of this "insidious" meeting of Christians and asking them. The conversation could sound something like this: "Hello Padre, are you going to convince Parliament and the Council of Rulers to make this a Christian state? You aren't? Are you sure, because a blogger said you are. "What's his name? I don't know because he uses a pseudonym. Perhaps there is some other way you want to do it, maybe by force? "What did you say? Oh, yes, Christians make up only 7% of the population and there is no Christian Army to call upon. "I see, so it's just a silly accusation then? Right, well, thanks for your time Padre." There you go, simple. No need to do a Woodward and Bernstein with midnight visits to underground car parks to meet informers named "Deep Throat".
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| Posted: 19 May 2011 12:23 PM PDT  "Even more insidious than religion being used as a tool to maintain power but integral to that phenomenon is the role of religious charlatans in politics. These are politicians who use religious platforms to get support. In the Malaysian context, unscrupulous politicians use Islam to gain support from Muslims who form the majority population in the country. The epitome of such politicians is Anwar Ibrahim". Syed Mohd Salim Syed Mohd Bakar Steadyaku47 comment: I have written enough recently on this issue but still feel compel to respond to what this Syed Mohd Salim has written recently in his letter to Malaysia Today. Basically what he has said in the first six paragraphs of his posting can be condensed into this one sentence I highlighted in my posting: Among Politicians the esteem of religion is profitable, the principles of it troublesome. Syed then goes on in the last six paragraphs of his letter to argue that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who he says is a scoundrel, uses religion as his refuge. I beg to differ.  In 1974 I did not see DSAI use religion as his refuge or sanctuary when he was arrested during student protests against rural poverty and hunger and imprisoned under the ISA for 20 months in the Amounting Detention Centre.  I have yet to see DSAI use religion as a refuge or sanctuary for himself against the viral personal vendetta of Mahathir. The same Mahathir who used PDRM, The Judiciary and all means at his disposal to pursue DSAI until he was incarcerated in Sugai Buloh. I did not see DSAI use religion to seek justice after he was bludgeoned by the Inspector Gseneral of Police while under Police custody. I did not see DSAI seek divine intervention through religion to prove his innocence from the sodomy 1 conviction that was ultimately overturned by the Federal Court!  And now this Carcosa Tape allegations against DSAI. Was it not Rahim Thamby Chik that thundered to us all that it was his duty to ensue that no Muslim of low morals should ever be Prime Minister of Malaysia. The same Rahim Thamby Chik that raped an underage Malay Schoolgirl while Chief Minister of Melaka? Or is it okay to rape an underage Malay schoolgirl when you are already a Chief Minister? This is a classic case situation where you are required to shoot the messenger rather then listen to the message he has to deliver.  Who seeks refuge in religion to swear his innocence in this sordid sex tape episode? Not DSAI. Eskay did his sumpah laknat – is this not seeking refuge in religion? DSAI's stand is clear. He has not and will not allow religion to be ridiculed and brought down to the tardy level where Muslims of questionable character calls upon the name of ALLAH in vain to protest their innocence. DSAI knows that for us mortals, it is the Judiciary that will ultimately decide on your innocence or guilt…sooner or later. As in his sodomy 1 case, it was later. Much, much later. |
| Reclaiming our truly Malaysian history Posted: 18 May 2011 11:53 AM PDT
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