Sunday, June 30, 2013

The Anwar-Najib contract

Today in my most lazy weekend, I read in 2 places very angry condemnations of former Indonesian VP Jusuf Kalla and his role as mediator in an Anwar Ibrahim-Najib Razak pre-election agreement or, as RPK puts it, 'contract'.

The first was in Malaysiakini in an article by S Thayaparan titled Jusuf Kalla's poisonous fairy tale while the second was in Malaysia-Today's Expressed and implied.

The second referred to Karpal Singh's criticisms of Kalla going beyond his role as mediator for the two principal protagonists in the recent Malaysian general election, and assuming a foreigner's interfering partisan stand for Najib and against Anwar. The former, by S Thayaparan, describes Kalla's pro-Najib partisanship in the same way as had Karpal, one which saw a series of alleged poisonous fabrications against Anwar Ibrahim.

Leaving aside Jusuf Kalla's alien intrusive interference in Malaysian politics (when his role was just as mediator and witness to an agreement for the loser of the Malaysian elections to accept the verdict of the voters in clean democratic fashion, and not an open cheque book for him to wander beyond that), there was indeed such an Anwar-Najib agreement, and most important of all, that Anwar was the initiator of the proposal.

On a matter of national pride, I have never supported Anwar Ibrahim's regular attempts to induct foreigners into roles within our election structure. On this silliness he was recently snubbed by Australia's foreign minister Bob Carr (who's incidentally married to a Malaysian). Bob Carr also gave a tick to the Malaysian election after its completion, perhaps as a second snub to Anwar's seeming impropriety to Malaysia's national sovereignty.

It's commonsense that no sovereign nation wants a foreigner to dictate terms or manage the nation's elections - Malaysia is no colony of Australia or any foreign nation. How shameful can that be. And conversely no foreign government wants to be involved, save those of its fringe elements like Australian Senator Nick Xenophon.

Incidentally, the more meaningful story of Malaysia's official acrimonious relationship with Nick Xenophon is not so much about his interference in Malaysian politics as was assumed when he was deported from Kuala Lumpur.

This man is anti palm oil, and thus is considered as a threat to one of Malaysia's most important primary produces. Florence Chong of Asia Today wrote in PALM OIL, NOT POLITICS – WHY MALAYSIA KICKED OUT AN AUSTRALIAN SENATOR (extracts):

Xenophon was briefly detained by Malaysian authorities and then deported last week because the Government considers him "an enemy of the State”.

Xenophon claims the only risk that he poses is an ability to embarrass the Malaysian Government because of his advocacy for clean elections in Malaysia.

The reality is that Malaysia probably started to regard Xenophon a persona non grata from 2009, when he started a vigorous campaign, with the support of the Australian Greens, to change the labelling of palm oil in processed food.

The South Australian Senator initiated "Truth in Labelling" legislation to require food manufacturers to stop classifying palm oil as a "vegetable oil", something which, under Australian law, is permitted.
Xenophon said then that, under existing legislation, Australian food manufacturers are allowed to put palm oil into 40% of food products sold in supermarkets.

Xenophon maintains that people have the right to know what goes into their food. Unlike vegetable oils, which have polyunsaturated fats, palm oil contains mostly saturated fat. Xenophon has argued that the average Australian consumes 10 kilograms of palm oil through processed food every year – and that these consumers deserve truth in labelling of the food they consume.

The proposed legislation was strongly opposed by the palm oil industry – not least by Malaysia - and by the Australian Food and Grocery Council. Xenophon failed to get the support of the Opposition to get the Bill passed, but it is not dead. He is looking at a way of resurrecting the legislation.

Xenophon shares the belief of environmentalists the world over that the rapid of expansion of the palm oil industry in Malaysia has eroded the natural habitat, especially that of the endangered primate, the orang utan. He says experts believe that, at the current rate, the orang utan population in the wild will be wiped out by 2013.

To the average Malaysian and particularly those involved in the palm oil sector, he is most unfriendly and a threat to Malaysian farming interests. So don't be too sympathetic with his deportation - in reality, he's no friend of Malaysia or Malaysians.

Anyway, back on track about alien intrusion in our politics.

UMNO has been so deeply embedded in Malaysian government rule (and thus power) because of its unchallenged position for more than half a century, that it had worried Pakatan prior to the election. The question was: would UMNO roll out the tanks if it lost the general election as it had on May 13, 1969, and then was just for the state of Selangor.

I suspect that was what motivated Anwar Ibrahim to cry out for help from Jusuf Kalla to negotiate an agreement with Najib for peaceful and democratic transfer of powers to Pakatan in general and to him in particular.

Anwar had wanted a powerful Malay Muslim who would be respected and believed when he spoke out, should Najib renege on a democratic handover of powers in the event Pakatan had won the general election. There was virtually no neutral and respected Malay Muslim in Malaysia so he must have turned towards his old friends in Indonesia, yes, old friends for whom he had Apcet II disrupted. Jusuf Kalla fitted the bill for him.

Alas, it all came to nought for Anwar because Najib's BN won the election.

Jusuf Kalla's sin was to go beyond his role as witness to the agreement but suffice to say, Anwar wasn't helpful by being cranky and a sore loser.

In the immortal words of Tian Chua BUT re-worded by kaytee more correctly: The people can wait another five years but Anwar Ibrahim just bloody can't.

17 comments:

  1. There's a lot of bullshit from the West about Palm Oil....read some of the comments here :

    "Red Virgin Palm Oil, or Palm Fruit Oil as you called it, is one of the healthiest oils in nature. It has an incredible amount of beta carotene and vitamin E (in obviously their most natural forms too) including other less known antioxidants such as squalene.

    I don't want to go on about how inane it is to state that you think saturated fat is bad for you, it's already been proven so many times over in the past 5 years that it's the only type of oil you should cook with (it doesn't change molecular shape when you heat it, thus not carcinogenic in the long run). In fact, this blog has published quite a few posts that indicate oil like coconut oil (nearly all saturated) are wonderful for people.

    The world would be a much healthier place if the manufacturers reverted back to Palm Fruit (or Kernel) oil.

    From the Weston Price foundation:
    http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/skinny.html#benefits

    (please also stop recommending canola, it's a man made oil. Just stick to Extra Virgin Olive Oil for the unsaturated oils)


    Another comment :

    Very well said, Chris.. Palm oil is indeed scientifically proven to be a very versatile and healthy oil. It has no cholesterol and contains extremely high antioxidants and almost 30times more carotene than carrots.

    Here's an article by Chef Rachel Matesz on the oils we should use and also a simple experiment we could try at home to see some vegetable oil turn into plastic...
    http://www.palmoilconsumer.com/Palm-Oil-And-Health/Good-Vegetable-Oils.aspx

    Another concern is of transfat... All vegetable oils will be considered to include transfat ONLY IF they'd gone through the process of hydrogenation to make the oil solid/semi-solid. The good thing about palm kernel oil is that it is naturally semi-solid at room temperature, so the hydrogenation process is simply unnecessary!

    And now the big issue is our environment! Here's something to consider: Corn yields only 172 litres of oil/hectare, Soy- 446 litres of oil/hectare, Rapeseed (also in the name of Canola)- 1190 litres of oil/hectare. While Palm oil produces 5950 litres of oil/hectare.

    By choosing corn oil (one of the lowest oil producing crop/hectare)for instance, we are encouraging more lands to be cleared for the crop. You find residents in South America living in fear as 10-foot Anacondas find their way to the city after their habitat’s been destroyed for corn, soy and cattle: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23580894/

    and recently, the news of a newly discovered Montauk Monster in Panama:
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/panama/6201333/New-Montauk-Monster-spotted-in-Panama.html

    Are we choosing to boycott palm oil because of the cute cuddly orang utans? What about creatures in the Amazon who go extinct even before we’ve discovered them? And Anacondas... are they too ugly and vicious to be cared for?

    I think as consumers, it’s important to know these facts, and for whatever oil you choose at the end, it's important to ensure it’s from a sustainable source.

    This site contains about all the things you need to know about Palm oil:
    http://www.palmoilconsumer.com/Blogs/Palm-Oil-Consumer-Blog.aspx"

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello Kaytee,
    Happy to continue reading your instalments.I too gave a lot of thoughts to the pre-GE13 Anwar-Najib contract.I was particularly intrigued by Anwar's motivation to come up with the proposed contract.Did he come up with the contract because he was sure of winning and hence the need for a smooth transition of power or did he come up with the contract because he was sure of losing and hence the fear of retribution.
    Kaytee,at least 5 times in my commentaries to various articles in Malaysiakini I made my forecast on the outcome of GE13.I consistently said that Pakatan will win 80-90 Parliament seats and BN will win 130-140 seats.I doubt Anwar had any other reading of the election outcome.
    Hence knowing that he would lost the election and not becoming the PM he tried to get the best of the outcome.The most important part of the contract is not the part that provides for loser to acknowledge the winner but is the part that provide for the losers be given a role in the new administration if possible.
    That is Anwar's objective in coming up with the agreement.That's why he talks to Yusuf Kalla about a possible cabinet position for
    Nurul Izzah in Najib's administration.Of course Anwar has to carry along PKR MPs and Pas.Azmin who did not make it to be MB of Selangor will want a cabinet post nothing less than Nurul Izzah.To get Pas support a number of cabinet positions has to be offered to Pas.
    The carrot that Anwar will dangle to DS Najib is at least 15 seats to give DS Najib the 2/3 majority in Parliament.Najib needs the 2/3 majority fot the new Parliamentary delineation.These 15 seats will have to come from PKR and Pas MPs who are supportive of Anwar-Najib national reconciliation.PKR is expected to split halfway and 80% of Pas MP will support.That should give Anwar the 15 seats.Anwar will talk DAP to be contented with Penang.
    During Pakatan convention on 23/6/13,one day before swearing-in in Parliament Anwar actually talked to Pakatan MPs about the need for transparency for any dialogue about national reconciliation with BN.He was of course alluding to previous talk about Unity Government between some elements in Pas and UMNO which was done secretly.Of course,his contract was done secretly too until The Wall Street JournAl exposed them!
    Bottomline,Anwar selling Pakatan!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. wah, you're like your "junior" Mr James Bond 007 wakakaka. This is most revealing - I'll blog on it - do you have any more info that you can send to my email address ktemockonsiders@gmail.com - will appreciate that

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    2. Pst...pst...would you be interested in buying the 2nd Penang Bridge ?

      I think you'll believe anything about Anwar...hehehhee

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    3. Kaytee,
      I am not sure of Abdul Rahman's logic. How would Anwar's deal gonna benefit him personally? But then again, anything bad anwar is good for kaytee.
      There days I felt quite oblisious about politics. Perhaps, BN would rule Malaysia forever

      Delete
  3. Anwar Ibrahim....Malaysia's chief troublemaker and mischief maker.
    Followed closely by Lim Guan Eng and Lim Kit Siang.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are being biased. If not that then you are being simply brain dead.

      Delete
  4. 1. Prior to GE13,Pakatan component parties had lost many many
    times. No trouble.
    2. One of the two parties didn't sign the contract.
    - indicates that he has no 'hood' or balls.
    - had not agreed to the contract contents. Might be up to
    some mischief if he lost. In April, Malaysia Insider reported
    that a cunning old doctor predicted that there would be
    racial confrontation if Uncle Kit won in Gelang Patah! Losing
    one seat, racial trouble! BN mindset?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kaytee,
    There are so many information around that comes with disinformation & misinformation. As a person who has engineering background, I would always use logic to apply on this matter.
    One simple question bugging me. Who benefits the most from this revelation? Najib or Anwar? You would have to agree that Anwar single mind is to be PM. Just like Kevin Rudd. How would such revelation benefit Anwar?
    Maybe Engineers are simple minded people. Plus, I wouldn't wanna waste in that pursuit. I am not marred by somebody who has a traumatic experience when his sister's cate was raped by Anwar Ibrahim.

    Kaytee,
    Why this fella trying so hard to discredit Anwae? Anyway, my boss also has the same theory as he's. Hence, I felt that BN will rule Malaysia forever when such people such as him & you exist.
    Read about RPK say you can even win the election even when UMNO gerrymandering further. Speechless

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  6. Agreed that as a rule, foreign comments on domestic elections are not really welcome.
    However, I would not by any stretch of the imagination call Malaysia's recently concluded 13th General Elections as free and fair. In fact very unfree and very unfair.
    Bob Carr calling Malaysia's elections credible probably had more to do with preserving Australia's important trading relationship with Malaysia.
    At most it was likely based on Australian diplomat's shallow observations of the purely mechanical aspects of casting votes on election day. The EC has always been good with that, giving a very superficial veneer of open elections.
    Most of the dirty tricks are not so obvious to parachute observers.

    I don't care about Anwar Ibrahim, and my views on the elections have nothing to do with Anwar Ibrahim.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They have as much rights as us to comment on our election affair but they should not directly involved in it just as what USA did to so many countries including Chile.

      Basically, that's the main point. The election is not conducted in free & fair manner but our kaytee does have affection to Anwar because what he did to his sister's cat in cheruk tok kun

      I am saying to brush aside what Jusuf Kala has said. Perhaps, why stop there? Why not included Al gore who explicitly supporting Anwar? What did LKY say about Anwar during the time he was sacked. Our dear kaytee loves to pick & choose

      So Gillard kenna stabbed by Rudd. But Rudd was stabbed by Gillard. It's normal. Benn challenged Healey on deputy leadership. Michael Foot fuck Tony Benn kaw kaw in public. Of course, who the fuck kaytee knows about UK Labour party. The mother of all british commonwealth labour party movement. Who the fuck kaytee knows about Michael Foot? What the fuck......Go ask RPK la

      Sorry, RPK is a libdem supporter. Ask RPK, who is Shirley William? Between, if Shirley were to be an australian & become PM, I will support 2 arms, 2 legs & my third leg

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMFEnAbJxnk

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntj1-j2IO0k





      Delete
  7. This so-called 'contract' or 'agreement' whatever you call it, reeks of some behind-the-peoples'-back kind of maneuvering.

    Why go to another country's politician for arbitration? Don't we have safeguards in our own country's system. Isn't the role of our Agung to act in this type of situation? or it does reflect the sad state of affairs in our very own country?

    Hypothetically speaking, if the losing incumbent does renege on the 'agreement' and roll out the tanks, what is expected of Jusuf Kalla, to admonish Najib?, or heaven forbid, send in troops?

    It is surprising for the two of them (especially one being PM) to engage foreign pollies for this GE. Instead they should affirm their respect and observance of the due process to the Malaysian people.

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  8. Looks like the arrogant 47% bunch is insistent on proceeding with the Bill for unilateral conversion of minors to Islam.

    http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/234459

    They don't represent the majority, but are determined to proceed with their Ketuanan agenda.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wouldn't be too sure about that because among the 51% on the opposite side there is also PAS and PKR's inner core

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    2. How true, KT. Amendment to Mufti and Fatwa (Kedah Darul Aman) Enactment 2008 was passed by the Kedah state Legislative Assembly with the support of the opposition law makers that is UMNO assemblymen.

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    3. You should give PAS and PKR's inner core some credit. PAS and PKR have handled past controversies such as the Allah-Bible issue, previous child conversion cases, the Shah Alam Church and Shah Alam Hindu temple in a far more level-headed manner than BN-UMNO.

      The fact is Every political party in Malaysia - EVERY - panders to their core Race and Religion constituencies, but there are not all the same.

      Kedah PAS leadership was a hard core case and their loss of control of the state will not be missed.

      Delete
  9. Kepada YB. Perdana Menteri Dato' Sri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak,

    Di sini saya ingin mengatakan bahawa BN kalah bukanlah koncern BN tak baik, khas nya MCA kerana kebanyakan Ahli MCA cabangan bawah, pemimpinnya sudah berjaya sombong dan tidak berkhimat dan ular, olih itu mengakibatkan ramai Malay, Cina dan India naik marah dan kalah PRU 13 teruk

    Contohnya yang saya tahu Pengerusi MCA GOMBAK YIP KUM FOOK dan Permuda MCA GOMBAK YIP JIUN HANN, mereka ular sampai wang Tokong pun berani telang dan halau Sami Buddha keluar dari tokong, orang ramai benci MCA.

    Apabila mereka tolong Donald Lim Siang Chai di Selayang, orang ramai salah sangka Donald Lim sama satu kaki……

    Sekira MCA cuba ingin memulit nama baik dan sokongan olih orang ramai semula, pemimpin seperti ini patut di kikis dengan bersih dalam parti, Kalau tidak sampai bila pun susah memulit semangat

    Sekian, Terima kasih

    ReplyDelete