Sunday, February 07, 2016

Pakatan's misplaced snobbery

Ahmad Bashah, the new & 12th MB of Kedah and the bloke who dislodged (Boston-Uni and Sophia-Uni educated) Mukhriz Mahathir from his post as the political CEO of the rice-bowl state, is looked upon by some at best as a joke, an uneducated buffoon, and in other cases, as a nasty piece of treacherous shit, the last is putting it mildly, wakakaka.


The out-of-date joke on him was he allegedly snoozed during his swearing in ceremony at the Alor Setar Palace three days ago.

Malaysiakini reported (04 Feb 16): According to The Star, Bashah shut his eyes for several moments but may not have dozed off because his head was still upright.

Yesterday, he said he did not nap during a function at the palace earlier this year, dismissing the allegation made by Mukhriz when announcing his resignation.

“I was not asleep, just closed my eyes in order to appreciate (menghayati) the Tuanku’s speech at the palace.

"Sometimes, I feel I can concentrate more like that," Bashah had said.


That sleepy-head denigrating joke had also been applied to AAB by you-know-who (wakakaka - like father, like son? wakakaka again) until we subsequently learned poor AAB was suffering from a sleep disorder (sleep apnoea) which rendered him tired and sleepy during the day.

But the 'Sleepy' insult suddenly went out of fashion (at least among Pakatan crowd) when it was revealed that PKR, DAP and Amanah leaders had also "closed their eyes" during parliamentary sessions, wakakaka.




So the insulting against Ahmad Bashah switched to his lack of formal education.

I'm sad that Pakatan leaders couldn't find something more relevant than to find fault with Bashah's lack of formal education (or his dozing off during official functions) because it demonstrated a disgraceful and misplaced snobbery, especially for us Malaysians.

As a personal example of that misplaced and irrelevant act of snobbery, one of my senior uncles who didn't even complete the equivalent of Form II in secondary schooling, became through his several years of apprenticeship, sheer hard work and initiatives, a senior Shell official in charge of sales & marketing for Northern Malaya and Southern Thailand (okay, he spoke fluent Thai, wakakaka).

But my fave example is that of Paul Keating, the 24th PM of Australia and Mahathir's foreign archfoe (because he dismissed Mahathir as a 'recalcitrant' for refusing to attend the 1993 APEC summit, wakakaka).

According to Wikipedia: Keating grew up in Bankstown, a working-class suburb of Sydney. He was one of four children born to Matthew Keating, a boilermaker and trade union representative of Irish Catholic descent, and his wife Minnie. His siblings include Anne Keating, a company director and businesswoman. Leaving De La Salle College ... at the age of 15, Keating decided not to pursue higher education, and instead worked as a pay clerk at Sydney's electricity authority. He then worked as research assistant for a trade union, having joined the Labor Party as soon as he was eligible. In 1966, he became president of NSW Young Labor. In the 1960s, Keating also managed rock band "The Ramrods".

From working as a pay clerk & band manager, Paul Keating not only went on to be Australia's 24th PM but also to be considered in 1984 (by reputable Euromoney magazine) as the world's best treasurer (equivalent to Malaysia's finance minister).


Fellow Aussie (Labor Party) Wayne Swan was so named in 2011, while Tharman Shanmugaratnam of Singapore was similarly honoured with that title in 2013.

Paul Keating was also renowned, among many brilliant achievements, for the following (by Wikipedia): Keating was one of the major driving forces behind the various extensive macro and microeconomic reforms of the Hawke government. 

As Treasurer, Keating pursued economic policies such as floating the Australian dollar in 1983, reducing tariffs on imports, completely reforming the tax system, moving from centralised wage-fixing to enterprise bargaining, privatising publicly owned companies such as Qantas,CSL Limited and the Commonwealth Bank, and deregulating large parts of the banking system. Keating was also instrumental in the introduction of the Prices and Incomes Accord, an agreement between the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and the government to negotiate wages. 

His management of the Accord, and close working relationship with ACTU President Bill Kelty, became a source of tremendous political power for Keating. Through the power given to him, Keating was often able to bypass the Cabinet altogether, notably in exercising monetary policy, and he was regularly referred to as "the most powerful Treasurer in modern times".

Though renowned for his political and economic-financial visions as well as his acerbic sharp tongue, wakakaka, unfortunately Aussies in general (during his PM-ship) found it hard to like him, viewing him as far too arrogant.

But today, in retirement, Keating is looked up by Aussies and world leaders with great respect and is much sought after for his opinions on politics, the economy and art. His public talks have been very popular.

Wikipedia also tells us: Keating is currently a Visiting Professor of Public Policy at the University of New South Wales. He has been awarded honorary doctorates in law from Keio University in Tokyo (1995), the National University of Singapore (1999), the University of New South Wales (2003) and Macquarie University (2012).

Not bad for a bloke who left school at 15 to become a pay clerk and a band manager, wakakaka.

So, don't be so arrogant with tertiary education and other such pieces of paper.

But do attack Ahmad Bashah for any bad policies, bad management of Kedah and bad divisive politicking.

Jaga standards lah even in your criticisms.

10 comments:

  1. Another Azmin Ali(brutus) in the making.Maybe he will also move whatever money the Kedah gomen has left into another company account.He will also lose Kedah,like Azmin Ali will lose Selangor in GE14.

    If Ahmad Bashah do lose Kedah in GE14,our matey tokio rain, will not be able to enjoy the spoils of war,for long.He will than go running back to Mahadey,screaming Pak,Pak please forgive me for saying bad things about you.

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  2. "But do attack Ahmad Bashah for any bad policies, bad management of Kedah and bad divisive politicking."

    and what his dad did.

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  3. there is no meritocracy in politics? mahfuz omar pun serupa dengan ahmad bashah. mat sabu pun tak ada degree. a friend of mine who once worked as a driver sat in parliament for two terms and now still an adun. is there a snobbish barrier in politics? tak kan lah only the malay collegians from oxford.. cambridge.. harvard or feudal lords or aristocrats can be polticians, prime minsters and menteri besars? some humans are late bloomers!

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    Replies
    1. if race, gender, n sexuality is a barrier, y not qualification?

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    2. Lack of education does not mean you cannot become a leader. My qualification can’t work for me. I need the wisdom and experience to do the work and to be a good worker. Tun Abdul Ghafar Baba has not had a tertiary education but he was a good deputy prime minister for so long until he was toppled down by a terrible leader. Being educated does not necessarily make a good leader! They may come up with better unnoticeable get rich quick schemes or other hidden schemes behind your back.

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    3. bro, i fully agree with u. my point is if a fraction of society cannot accept a certain race and gender, and some with uncommon sexuality as leader, y cant we accept the view of another segment of societu to reject low qualification? is that not sort of doublespeak, or double std?

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    4. HY my dear... it is not a crime to fail exams but it is a crime to sodomize someone. Is that double standard or double speak? It is unusual not to reject a criminal as a leader.

      For race and gender, they may have religious limitation or other considerations for certain reasons which some considered that as discrimination, but certainly not double standard or double speak, so to speak.

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  4. Happy New Year to you....

    "Paul Keating...considered in 1984 (by reputable Euromoney magazine) as the world's best treasurer...
    Fellow Aussie (Labor Party) Wayne Swan was so named in 2011....Tharman Shanmugaratnam of Singapore was similarly honoured with that title in 2013.....

    Australian, lah....Singaporean, lah...

    how come you missed out the fact that fellow Malaysian Anwar Ibrahim was Named by the same reputable Euromoney magazine as one of the World's top four Finance Ministers of the year in 1993 , and named Finance Minister of the Year by Asiamoney in 1996.

    (at that time Asiamoney was Euromoney's Asia-focused publication, now they just publish it as an Asia supplement to the main Euromoney magazine, to save cost I suppose ).

    We should be even more proud of the accolade being given to a fellow Malaysian....as I was, very much so

    Bravo , Brother Anwar Ibrahim!.......wakakakaka...

    I still wish you to be our future Prime Minister......light years better than the crooked bastard who currently holds the PM position.


    Citation - University of Hawaii Center for South-East Asian Studies
    https://archive.org/details/VRD_VC10


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    Replies
    1. I'm sorry to disappoint you in your belief in Anwar's credential as a Finance Minister. In 1993 Manmohan Singh of India was named Finance Minister of the year by BOTH Euromoney and Asiamoney

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  5. In 1996 brother. Dont harbour hatred towards AI or anybody else. One day sooner than later we will be gone. Leave a good name. Thats what we were taught in our younger days at Ayer Itam at the foot of Bukit Benderah.

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