Chinese King Makers?

As GE-13 approaches, guess which UMNO person is the most worried man on earth, or at least has shown stress through all too frequent public statements?


No, it's not Najib, nor Zahid Hamidi, nor KJ, nor Muhyiddin, nor Hishamuddin, where perhaps the last two are far too thick to know their fate, thus may not worry at all wakakaka, though I heard Hisham has been advised to move from his current federal constituency of Sembrong where 40% of the voters are Chinese.

Politically accident-prone, the Home Minister has a natural talent in offending the Chinese and Indians, so even thick-skull him would have realized by now that the Chinese and Indians won't be too fond of him. And he has correctly assessed, no, more probably advised (as he is far too stupid to think for himself), that he'll be stuffed in Sembrong in the next general election - for more, read The Malaysian Insider’s (TMI)'s In Johor, Chinese set to snub BN in polls.

The most worried UMNO person is Dr Mahathir who has in the last few days become more and more strident, making TMI headlines in a fashion not unlike the repetitive shouting of a Star newspaper boy selling early morning editions in market places or road junctions (like kaytee did aeons ago in good olde Penang, wakakaka).

The following have been credited to him:



(1) Dr M: GE13 will be about race

And we should ask him why after 52 years of Independence, our every day lives, thoughts and especially politics have been about race, bearing in mind he was PM during a hefty half of those 52 years. We should also ask him what have been his contributions towards such a race-conscious Malaysian society.

(2) Chinese voters are kingmakers for GE13, says Dr M

As I posted in Ah Jib Gor and the Casuarina Tree 3 weeks ago, Chinese Malaysians have found themselves in an undesired political situation where they could possibly play the role of ‘king makers’ in the next general election.

'Undesired political position', that's right!

Most Chinese Malaysians (with exceptions of some younger ones) prefer to stay out of the spotlight, not so much to carma (cari makan – they leave that to MCA and Gerakan politicians wakakaka) but to seek an independent and unimpeded living with the minimum of government interference.

The Chinese would probably appeal:

“Leave us alone to conduct our business and seek high quality education for our children – just do not impose more and more barriers, impediments and unjust quotas to restrict our business practice and educational pursuit.”

But alas, every political party, especially PAS, UMNO and PKR are hopefully investing in the Chinese political blue chips because their voting power (despite the gerrymandering and their only 30-ish% presence in most mixed constituencies) will be quite significant and perhaps even crucial in 60 to 70 federal constituencies, making them into The Reluctant Ones, who will be deeply hated by the losing side wakakaka.

Probably the only party which doesn't give two sh*ts about Chinese support is HRP because they know they won't get it, wakakaka. These HRP guys dream of whacking Dr Jeya in Sungai Siput and Dr Rama in Batu Kawan, reminding me of the Indian story of the 3 baskets of crabs wakakaka. 

But poor Dr Mahathir is not only worried about the coming voting landscape but deeply resents it. If there is one thing that deeply offends and annoys Dr Mahathir, it's the thought of Chinese being in a superior position to Malays in any field or in a situation where they (the Chinese) can affect the political outcome for Malays, particularly UMNO.

After years of observation of him, his statements, actions, etc, I suspect he just can't stand the very picture of, say, more Chinese millionaires than Malay ones, more Chinese doctors, engineers, dentists, graduates, you-name-it than Malay equivalents, so on so forth.

I'm not so sure whether one could call him a racist, when we consider his feelings (if we step into his shoes) have been that Malays, being the majority in their own country called Persekutuan Tanah Melayu, should rightfully (in terms of numbers and heritage) be the majority in each and every Malaysian sectors of ownership or profession.

Thus if there are 3 Chinese millionaires (and he is not against them per se), then there must be 6 to 7 Malay millionaires, and with that attitude or belief carried as a grievance on his shoulders like two humongous chips, he had thus set his policies when he was PM. I believe he is still very emotionally governed by this belief.

Mind, he is not so concerned about the ethnic percentages in the civil service, police, armed forces and several hallowed departments.

Yet, king makers or not, Dr Mahathir had on a number of occasions admitted it was Chinese support which got him over the line in 1999, though he has now somehow twisted this admittance by asserting that the 1999 support, where Lim Kit Siang and Karpal Singh lost their seats, was because the Chinese, in not voting for their own people (like Karpal Singh, yes, Bhai's real name is Kar Pah Sing) had believed they would benefit in doing so, that was, abandoning their own people like dear old Bhai.

Bloody avaricious Chinese, unlike those who didn't vote UMNO in 1999 and 2008, wakakaka.

Mind you, all this while I had thought the 1999 Chinese abandonment of DAP was due to bloody stupid arrogant PAS who frightened the shit out of them, and which in turn resulted in DAP copping it sweet because of the latter's association with the blood-red Moon through the stupid Barisan Alternatif of 1999.



(3) Dr M: Privilege for non-Malays to keep race image

Today he decided to ratchet up the insult against the Chinese (and Indians) real kau kau, in his by-now standard statements of sheer denial where he put the blame for his faults on the Chinese and Indians, such as Chinese and Indians still talking about themselves, their rights and their privileges, and not just about Bumiputeras.

Then he preposterously claimed that the UMNO government has found that Malaysians are still segregated and that they tried to do something about it but there are objections, presumably from Chinese and Indians.

I'm just amazed by Dr Mahathir's 'creative' memories, his version of history (especially about the period of his 25 years as PM), and his twisted logic.

Chinese and Indians are still talking about their rights and privileges is because they have very few and certainly very much less than even some recent 'new' Malaysians who obtained citizenship just after a couple of weeks residency here.

And then, did it help when DPM Muhyiddin talked about him being a Malay first and a Malaysian only second, a publicly affirmation supported by UMNO's mouthpieces including leading journalists-editors like Kadir Jasin who told us pointedly why he wish to remain a Malay.

Wakakaka, kaytee responded to Pak Kadir why unlike him I wish to remain a Malaysian. I don't suppose Dr Mahathir would want to mention this, a Chinese wishing to be recognized as a Malaysian rather than a Chinese, assuming for one second he was even aware of my letter in CPI to Pak Kadir.

And the greatest insult is that after umpteen generations here, with many Chinese and Indians serving in the Police and Armed Forces, where a number were awarded the SP and PGB, they and their children are still considered less patriotic than The Chosen Ones or even The 'New' Malaysians, and to Dr Mahathir, it's a PRIVILEGE for these non-Malays to retain their racial identities - and just who do think forced those non-Malays into their respective psychological ethnic ghetto?


He has of course conveniently failed to mention the regular insults against non-Malays by his BTN-ized civil servants and teachers who would constantly, with the help of specially written books, remind many of us we are children of dogs or prostitutes rather than Malaysians, and even perpetuations of violence by the UMNO police and UMNO MACC.


As I said, sadly Dr Mahathir has in recent times acquired an amazingly twisted and selective memory because he has obviously forgotten that it was his administration which forced Chinese and Indians to remind themselves that they are Chinese and Indians in their kad pengenalan, borang-borang kerajaan Malaysian, and in their limited quota into universities and non-admittance into UiTM, etc.


It was also Dr Mahathir who stated recently that it is still premature for Malaysians to assume a non-ethnic identity like Bangsa Malaysia.


And now he conveniently makes the victims of his socio-political-educational-economic divisions of Malaysians the culprits and perpetrators of his policies.


Memang Dr Mahathir adalah seorang Melayu yang mudah lupa. But on second thoughts, really, is he the mudah lupa type?

(4) Be careful of your actions, Dr M warns daughter

In the end he revealed his hands, why he has been so stressed and strident, when he publicly slapped the wrist of Marina Mahathir, albeit a very light tap only but nonetheless an amazing unprecedented chiding of his daughter in public.

He warns Marina to steer clear of Bersih because her associations with the NGO, especially its sweet leader, Ambiga Sreenevasan, who has been repetitively threatened, reviled, cursed, mooned and recently 'hung' by UMNO warriors, would hurt the political prospective of his son, Mukhriz - for more see also Dr M backs Mukhriz as next Kedah MB and my January post Next MB of Kedah.

So in the end, we discover that Dr Mahathir's relentless campaign particularly against the Chinese has been for dear Mukhriz, but in that, we have to read too that, despite our perception of him as an iconic force in UMNO, his powers have much waned, even in his once fortress of Kedah.







Where once he could, with a snap of his fingers, ensure Mukhriz's position as that State's next MB, he now realizes he has to work hard, very hard (and the best way would be the usual generous dosage of UMNO-style tongue lashing against the 'greedy arrogant and aggressive' Chinese), to give his son the image of a Heartland guardian and thus a fighting chance, not just against the political opposition but also against the internal opposition within UMNO.



Perhaps in this, the Chinese are indeed king makers, though a perverted surrogate form used by him for a wee bit of bashing as part of his campaign to make his son the next political king of Kedah.

Revenge of the effete snob

In July 2007, a PKR blogger by the name of Nathaniel Tan was hauled in by the police for investigations on a post in his blog, related to allegations against Johari Baharum.

I joined dozens of bloggers in registering our protests against Nat’s detention and appealed for his release – see To PM AAB - Please free Nathaniel Tan.

Nat Tan had once served as Anwar Ibrahim’s private secretary and thus, at that time, an anwarista wakakaka – not sure what he is today. Nat was the bloke who would ask me (via comments in my posts) why I ‘hated’ PKR or Anwar, when I blogged my usual, wakakaka.

Nat is also the same bloke recently described by Zaid Ibrahim as an effete snob for writing/talking cock, wakakaka, to wit, criticizing Zaid Ibrahim among others for changing political parties more than once. Zaid lambasted him as follows (extracts only):

In Nathaniel’s calculus, one has to be blindly loyal at the cost of one’s own principles to qualify as having integrity.

There must be many Nazis that Nathaniel is proud of, seeing as they stood by Hitler to the bitter end. On the other hand, Sir Winston S Churchill must be a spineless party-hopper since he crossed from the Conservatives to the Liberals then back again.

Churchill had many qualities - some good, others bad - but lacking principle or integrity is not one of them.

Who is this pompous writer to go around with his own constructed “integrity-barometer” castigating others for lack of principle? If he wants to test his mettle and is willing to let others measure the level of integrity in his system, then I bid him welcome to the world of politics.

Just in case you may wonder what Zaid had meant by ‘effete snob’, well, it means a range of things, but I will attribute to Nat the mildest one, namely, an ‘over-refined elite’, someone who is residing (intellectually if not physically) in an Ivory Tower – a dreamer disconnected with reality or the real world wakakaka.

Ivory Tower

Okay then, let's examine another piece by the effete snob wakakaka. On 02 September 2008, just 2 weeks before the infamous Malaysian bullsh*t of all times wakakaka, I posted September 16 - shall Malaysians 'rise above their goodness'? in which I said the following about Nat:

I have to confess I like Nathaniel Tan, who writes at periodic intervals for Malaysiakini. He is a nice earnest young man who is apparently sincere in the politics he believes in, and in the man he reckons will deliver (on 916) ..... incidentally I share with him some of his former beliefs BUT definitely, absolutely and irrevocably not his latter - wakakaka.

Nathaniel used to work for Anwar Ibrahim – I don’t know what’s that political relationship now but you may bet he’s an Anwar Ibrahim supporter. He has just written for Malaysiakini an article titled Sept 16: What will 'cornered animal' BN do?

The title itself tells you where his political sympathies lie. To him, UMNO is the cornered animal just because Anwar has been boasting about katak-fication, whereas (again according to Nat) Anwar who fled to the Turkish Embassy had merely dropped in for coffee at the ‘invitation’ of the Ambassador - wakakaka.

Sometimes I feel sad that a bright young man like Nathaniel can be so easily bewitched by a renowned snake oil salesman who will promise anyone anything so long as it serves His Brahma-ic Majesty to ascend the political throne.

Mind you, notwithstanding his bias for Anwar Ibrahim, Nathaniel wrote a number of truths in his article. He reckons UMNO may be about to turn nasty towards Anwar Ibrahim, and enumerated the various possibilities.

But he overstretched himself when he alluded to the possibility of political assassination. He wrote: Assassination, in all honesty, is probably still a bargain as well. Yes, there will be a massive uproar, Anwar will be martyred, and discontent will reach unprecedented levels. Yet, at the end of the day, police investigations will be inconclusive, Anwar will be gone, and Pakatan becomes eminently vulnerable.

I don’t believe Malaysian politics would ever sink down to such a level ..... racial riots (chop up a few Chinamen or Indians), yes ..... but political assassination of an UMNO or former UMNO bloke, absolutely no ..... there is a line drawn in the sands of the heartland that won’t ever forgive the person responsible for that. The assassin might as well politically assassinate himself.

Incidentally, Nat is the scion of a well-to-do family where he was known to be picky about food, as once revealed by his ex girl friend, Soon Li Tsin. In July 2007 when he was confined by the police for a couple of days, his GF was allowed to visit him in the cell with some food (probably a local dish), but he asked her instead for gourmet sandwiches wakakaka.


Gourmet sandwiches ;-) hmmm, maybe he was living up to his 'effete snob' image, several years before Zaid dug into him.

However, Nat recorded a black mark in his Malaysiakini’s article for advocating and rationalizing Anwar’s frog-ology, where I wrote as follows:

... towards the end of his article, Nathaniel put in his bid for Anwar Ibrahim. He wrote appealingly: One controversial option to forestall any such drastic measures by the powers-that-be is for Malaysians to push for a change of government – either by crossovers, or calling for a snap general election (a potential last resort for BN, which is good for democracy, but unlikely to forestall the ruling coalition's demise).

In other words, Nathaniel was justifying and asking the public to support the insidious political frog-hunting which Anwar had successfully demonstrated as his specialty in Sabah in 1994, when he turned Pairin from democratically elected CM into opposition leader with just a few croaks, yes, that disgraceful deformasi subversion of the ballot box to seize power via the grubby back door.

He apologetically rationalized (attempting to fool his own conscience and values): While less than ideal, these remain some of the few ways we can avoid a descent into chaos and desperation within BN, and by extension within Malaysia.

And before I end, a word from Anwar Ibrahim’s favourite author who had, in Anwar’s own words, succoured him while he was in prison: 

... Hie thee hither, that I may pour my spirits in thine ear, and chastise with the valour of my tongue all that impedes thee from the golden round ... (Macbeth 1.5.25-28)
 

Macbeth & Lady MacBeth

We are told that the ambitious Lady Macbeth (who wants to be Queen) said the above to persuade her husband to ‘rise above his goodness and accept her evil ways’ if he wanted to succeed.

Sounds familiar? It’s certainly vintage anwarista-ism.

But today I must confess I am absolutely delighted that Zaid Ibrahim’s effete snob wakakaka, my dear Nat Tan, beat me to excoriating Terence Netto.

Well, effete snob or not, Nat came up with a letter to MKINI titled Netto berates Faekah - for doing the right thing? lambasting (not dear Nat’s style to lambaste wakakaka) chiding Netto for his article Selangor MB's pol sec Faekah at bay, and Netto certainly deserves it.

Once I posted that whenever Netto writes, you can be sure of two things: apart from requiring a dictionary, he’d be promoting Anwar Ibrahim, which led my dear Susan Loone to wakakaka in Facebook.

In fact, in an earlier post Evangelist or Charlatan of Democracy? I revealed how utterly flabbergasted I was by the extent to which Netto used his penmanship to support Mr Manmanlai.

In Netto's Malaysiakini article The link between Anwar and Dickens he unbelievably made a preposterous comparison between Charles Dickens as the supreme artist of democracy and our Defective Defacto Anwar Ibrahim.

There's nothing wrong in Netto’s promotion of Anwar per se as we all promote someone we like (like kaytee does for Karpal Singh wakakaka) or attack someone we dislike (like kaytee does on Anwar Ibrahim wakakaka).

But Terence Netto exceeded the bounds of rational belief in the above mentioned Malaysiakini article, where he wrote the following in praise of Anwar:

You only have to give him a pedestal and this evangelist for democracy will use it to espouse the themes of freedom and equality with an ardor that is comparable to the ferocity Dickens displayed in attacking their lack in English institutions of the 19th century …

Evangelist for democracy? And dear Terence, what democratic message did your Anwar Ibrahim send to us when he attempted to seize government with his shameless 916 tomfoolery?

Apart from a wrong choice of word in ‘evangelist’ (which those religious hounds might exploit to Anwar's disadvantage) I have only three words, all starting with ‘P’, to describe Netto’s adulation of Anwar Ibrahim as a paragon of democracy, namely:

Poppycock, preposterous & pordah.

Evangelist for democracy? Wakakaka!

What drew Nat Tan into his current criticism of Netto has been the latter's latest piece indirectly supporting Anwar – and what do I mean by ‘indirectly’?

Given the symbiotic relationship between Anwar and his darling boy where it's virtually impossible to separate their individualities, I opine that Netto’s article was in support of darling boy because it was a chastisement of forces on the opposite side to the blue-eye boy, and thus by kaytee's extrapolation, an indirect support of Anwar.

Netto's Malaysiakini article was Selangor MB's pol sec Faekah at bay in which he did the unbelievable again, writing about the MB, Khalid Ibrahim, as follows:

However, he has been slow to recognise as the PKR leader of a state regarded as a jewel in the federal crown that politics is also about providing opportunities, rewarding loyalties and managing expectations of the party faithful.

Oblivious of these aspects of his role as MB, he has courted trouble with sections of the party - mainly ex-Umno members - whose 10 years (1998-2008) in the political wilderness before the Selangor government was captured by a PKR-led opposition has had them ravening for whatever rewards were to be had.

“… politics is also about providing opportunities, rewarding loyalties ..... of the party faithful”?

“… he has courted trouble with sections of the party - mainly ex-Umno members - ..... ravening for whatever rewards were to be had …”?

My god, what are you saying, my dear Terence?

As if that was not bad enough, Netto then went on to criticise Khalid’s political secretary, Faekah Husin, the target of PKR’s inner coterie, for not cultivating those in the party who would be crucial to the fulfilment of her (alleged) political ambitions.

Now, would I be correct in saying that, according to Netto, Sweetie doesn’t given a rat ass f**k about, to use a Penang term, cheet hor ch’ooi (wiping the Tiger’s mouth with fat, meaning 'greasing people's palms').

If my assumption is correct, then kudos to this clean and incorruptible sweetheart.

I won’t steal Nat Tan’s thunder for his chiding of Terence Netto, so do peruse his letter to MKINI titled Netto berates Faekah - for doing the right thing?

On second thoughts, maybe just a wakakaka.

Denied and Defacto Denial

MKINI photo

On 02 April 2009, Malaysiakini published Prayers for Altantuya in which it reported that PKR politicians, specifically Perak PKR state representatives Tai Sing Ng (Kuala Sepetang) and Chang Lih Kang (Teja), held a mini Chinese 'Cheng Beng' ritual of commemorating Altantuyaa's departed soul.

MKINI photo

Very touching but was it really for Altantuyaa?


Malaysiakini reported:

Many would see this as a noble gesture on the part of the opposition politicians, who vehemently denied that it was a publicity stunt.

However, it would be difficult to deny that there was no political motives whatsoever given the fact that a by-election would take place in the neighbourhood next Tuesday.

Poor Altantuyaa, not even allowed to rest in peace.

A week and a half later, on 18 April 2008, Malaysiakini reported in its Activists may be charged over Altantuya 'hearse' that:

Eight PKR Youth members may be charged in court next Tuesday over the display a number of photographs and an effigy of slain Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu on their cars.

The eight - from Perak, Terengganu and Sarawak - were arrested on April 7, which was polling day, when their cars were making the rounds in the Bukit Gantang parliamentary constituency. One of the cars had a effigy of a mock coffin tied to the roof, plastered with pictures of Altantuya, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his wife, Rosmah Mansor.

MKINI photo

Then there was Tian Chua's creative and highly talented photo-shopped 'Paris dinner for three' photo.


Poor Altantuyaa, but I really marvel at PKR's relentless effort in its G.A.N [Gerakan Anti Najib] campaign which incidentally started when Najib was still the DPM and occupying someone's (rightful?) position wakakaka. G.A.N was to remove Najib from impeding someone.


In fact, if I recall correctly, that a certain someone even launched a court case to get back his old/previous DPM appointment.


But alas, the spoilsport Court ruled against his case, and thus denied him a victorious return to UMNO - tsk, tsk, sayang aje. I had posted this on 08 March 2010 in Federal Court ruling - black yesterday, white today.

In case you can't recall that court case, I wrote about the court declaring Anwar's dismissal as DPM is lawful because according to our marvellous judiciary, the king, as a constitutional monarch, was required to act in accordance with the advice of the prime minister, ...

… while a mere month prior to this (yes, just around 30 days), the very same three judges who were also on the appeals bench to hear Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin’s appeal against the unconstitutional sacking of him as the MB of Perak ..... by the Sultan of Perak, ruled that it was not necessary for a vote of confidence to be done in the state assembly as the Sultan can conduct his own inquiry to determine which party or coalition has the majority. [...]

Either they were of a most forgetful nature (and to f* with stare decisis) or we could quote George Orwell who wrote in Animal Farm (Chapter 2, pg 11), that “Squealer could turn black into white” wakakaka.


Anyway, apart from our most remarkable judiciary, Anwar did sue to get back into UMNO and specifically his old party appointment of him as the DPM. But alas, he failed and thus Najib was safe, at least for a while.


But lamentably, today G.A.N has suffered a most severe setback when we read (via Malaysia-Today) Free Malaysia Today's French probe: Altantuya never entered France.


But the fighting spirit of PKR and G.A.N supporters have not diminished an iota. I saw this in the comments section in Malaysia-Today which dismissed the findings of the French police investigation as per the following:

Itu Altantuya masuk malaysia- tada rekod.
Itu Altantuya masuk france pun tada rekod.
Jadi yang masuk france dan malaysia itu adalah Altantuya punya hantu kah, Najib?

and:

This involved French politicians too. I am not surprise that the French Immigration delete the records a ala Malaysian Immigration.

Hmmm, denials? wakakaka.


And there was also a comment on the journalist K. Kabilan who had the 'impertinence' to write the above article and upset PKR supporters:

Who is K Kabilan? How did he get the documents? I thot only Suaram has the documents. Is this article spin? Is this article believable? 

As I wrote in Murdering Altantuyaa Shaariibuu again:


As I journey through the darkness of cold oblivion
Borne on the back of Shava to meet his master
Assigned to Samsara by cruel nefarious forces
Which ended my karmic forces violently, abruptly

In my odyssey, wandering by the woeful Acheron
Was there a time when I had felt soothing voices
To comfort me amidst my lonely pains and fears
Yes I do, only from the One who is fragrant Pure

But the loudest noises are they calling for ‘justice’
Though, I smile cynically, ‘twas not meant for me
Their shrill proclamations & belated outrage (sigh)
Startled even great Gujir Tngri and the 77 siqar

Grandstanding acrobatics, their excuse to dispense
With all norms, purportedly all for me (wry smile)
I must confess I view with scepticism and distaste
As I would professional chest-pounding mourners

Gnashing Colgate mint-flavoured peroxide-d teeth
Wretchedly wringing manicured Ulan oiled hands
Shedding date-expired plastic bags of lo-salt tears
Proclaiming to be 11th hour paragons of ‘justice’

Even Ataya Tngri rolled his ancient eyes upwards
While Emegelji Eji cackled with caustic laughter
The ancient pair could see abacus shaped hearts
Clicking furiously and shaming Casio calculators

By sheer speed of their computation of advantage
What to extract, exploit, extricate from my name
Squeezing the very last speck of desiccated blood
From my hyper cold shattered fragments of bones

Eager hands raided the ossuary for me to be laid
As stepping stones for the progress of a demigod
On Ardha-Matanga, 4 tasks & seven white trunks
Saluting Brahma, walking to Amarawati by a lake

As the pseudo-pious pirouetting pachyderm crushes
What little good left of my name, what trust exists
In my family’s hope for requital of my cruel murder
I realize those raucous battle cries were not for me

Summoned by conjured justice to now serve Fenrir
To break asunder Gleipnir but only with my death
Re-evoked, for my soul to be murdered a 2nd time
To satiate the burning thirst of Angrboda’s 1st child


Poor Altantuyaa - no one* really cares about you.


* with the exceptions of Susan Loone and Lucia Lai


Poor PKR/G.A.N supporters - no one* really understands how you all feel, not about Altantuyaa of course, but about the setback for the G.A.N campaign. Denial is all left for you.

* with the exceptions of yourselves wakakaka

'Whispered' shadow cabinet bloated like satiated leech?

One of BN’s problems has been the appointment of ministers, not so much in key ministries but in ensuring at least a ministerial position for each and every component party in the alliance (I borrowed the word ‘alliance’ from BN’s predecessor Perikatan to distinguish it from the Pakatan ‘coalition).

This is the principal reason why the Malaysian government cabinet has been embarrassingly over bloated.

And as part of the PM’s ang pow-ish largesse, even deputy ministers are created, so as to convince those appointed to these positions that they are ministers but disguising the reality they are just parliamentary permanent secretaries and not part of the cabinet proper. Mostly, they are over glorified assistants to the real ministers and, I suspect wakakaka, spent most of their time idling in lounge rooms outside their respective bosses’ office, eating publicly funded kueh muehs, coffee and tea, and sometimes even heavy lunches of typical but expensively catered Malaysian fare.

When I read Selana Tay’s article Pakatan’s ‘shadow cabinet’ list in Free Malaysian Today, I thought it (the Pakatan shadow cabinet) was a Kafkaesque joke, with the potential for Pakatan to outdo BN in the numbers department. 15 ministries including shared deputy prime minister-ships were listed, with each having at least 3 if not more names, making a total of no less than 45 and probably exceeding 60. WTF!

Sweetie Selena admitted that her list has been compiled from a combination of:

(a) discussions with a Pakatan MP who wished to remain anonymous but who was probably from PKR, and as usual, by suggesting some key nominees in the secret list, was pre-empting their supposed allies from choice ministries wakakaka,

(b) observations from the performances and statements of Pakatan MPS and most strangely, ADUNs during their debates in the Parliament or State Legislative Assemblies. And how the f* would an ADUN be making federal level type policies?, and

(c) personal conversations with the shadow ministers*, their friends or their acquaintances, where in the first place the former (shadow ministers*, other than the PM-designate) don’t exist and the opinions of the last two would be more hopeful and interest-centred rather than credible or reliable.

* 14 Jan 2013 addendum - some months later, while re-reading the same FMT news article when penning another post Psychedelic psychic power?, I found mention of 'shadow ministers' strangely missing from it, wakakaka

No, I won’t hold much store by the list that Sweetie has written, perhaps more to mitigate against the BN sting that Pakatan is still incapable of coming up with a shadow cabinet than it be a genuine secret Pakatan plan.

That’s right, it’s not official at all, though we know a particular PKR leader (not Anwar) wakakaka has a habit of announcing policies unilaterally on behalf of Pakatan (minus any consultation with PAS or DAP) where one can see those unilateral policies had been his wet dreams, and no doubt this one (list of shadow cabinet nominees) would be just another.

Anyway, continuing with Sweetie’s article - for a start, according to Article 43 of the Malaysian Constitution, ADUNs who are also MP cannot have it both ways, that is, by continuing to be ADUNs (and even MBs or CMs or State Exco members) while becoming federal ministers or deputy ministers. They have to choose between being a federal minister (or deputy minister) or an ADUN.

Thus, if Lim Guan Eng wants to continue being CM of Penang, and most Penangites want him to thus I am confident he will be re-elected in the next state election to be again, then he can’t be appointed as a federal minister (assuming Pakatan takes Putrajaya).

He can of course be CM of Penang as well as an ordinary federal MP in which case he can and will serve in both State and Federal Parliaments, but not as a federal minister. On the other hand, if he wants to be a federal minister, then he can kiss goodbye to his CM job and Ayer Putih ADUN position.

Likewise with potential MBs like Nizar Jamaluddin (of Perak), Pak Haji Nik Aziz (of Kelantan), Salahuddin Ayub (of Johor and wakakaka to Chua Jui Meng) and …

…. assuming he is not back/front/side-stabbed wakakaka, Khalid Ibrahim (of Selangor) who like Lim GE has to decide whether he wants to be a federal minister or MB of a state – maybe PKR has already planned for one of the inner coterie like the world-renowned Apcet II destroyer Saifuddin Nasution wakakaka to be MB of that important State ...

… and f* that Azizan Abdul Razak of Kedah who I doubt will be MB of Kedah again after the next rice-state election.

I also wonder why Sweetie has Pak Haji Hadi Awang as one of the DPMs? Didn’t Pak Haji say he was retiring? Shouldn't it be updated to Mat Sabu?

As I wrote at the very beginning, if indeed Sweetie’s list comes true, hypothetically of course (as it’s more of someone’s wet dream wakakaka), then Pakatan will have fallen into the same trap as BN which ‘rewards’ the alliance’s good boys with all sorts of ministerial positions hence its multitude of ministries, with the potential for a Pakatan government to have a staggering 50 to 60 ministers and deputy ministers.

This will be bloody f* gross, a manmanlai-ish betrayal of promises to the rakyat, and totally  unacceptable. It will be a ridiculous situation based on nothing more than Pakatan’s inability to truly ‘share’ out the ministries with reasonable faith and trust in its coalition partners and their competencies.

Additionally, I need to point out some equally ridiculous proposals, such as:

(a) Nizar Jamaluddin (PAS, Bukit Gantang MP) as one of the trio to the Finance Ministry, Since when has Nizar shown his financial-economic credentials at federal level?

This would be one of those undesired BN-style approach to appeasing each of the 3 coalition partners where the Finance ministry will be shared out among Tony Pua (DAP), Rafizi Ramli (PKR) and our dear Nizar Jamaluddin who would be better placed as the MB of a key state like Perak or, if he wants to be a federal minister, in some important ministry which can exploit his engineering background like, say, the Transport or Work Ministry.

(b) the Education Ministry was once one of UMNO’s key ministries because in earlier days, the Education Minister would enjoy powerful connections with the Malay grass roots through the village and town Malay teachers in each and every state (at least in peninsula Malaysia) and thus influence with the UMNO Divisional leaders. It was a ministerial position which was absolutely vital to every UMNO aspirant for the PM’s position, where we saw Education Ministers like Dr Mahathir, Musa Hitam, Anwar Ibrahim, Hishamuddin, etc, not that many of them succeeded in becoming PM wakakaka.

But in our new brave but bloody avaricious world, where everyone wants to be mucho rich el pronto, f* the Education Ministry and grass roots, and bring on the Finance one or any ministries which are likely to control and manage large projects and contracts like PKFZ, submarines, fighter or transport aeroplanes and BNM gambling and the potential for secret high financial 'ops', wakakaka.

So I wasn’t in the least surprised to read in Sweetie Selena’s article that the proposed people for the once-powerful but now perceived-as-ordinary and not-so-lucrative Education Ministry will, under a Pakatan government, be headed (not ‘helmed’ please wakakaka) by Dzulkefly Ahmad (PAS) or S Kulasegaran (DAP) or Chong Eng (DAP).

What? No PKR nominee? And two DAP members? Wakakaka, it’s so f* obvious that it stands out like the proverbial dog’s balls cow head - 'thunderous applause' please, wakakaka.

Of course by contrast, guess who will be in charge of the very powerful but dangerous deadly and draconian Minister of Home Affairs? Wakakaka

Mind you, notwithstanding the dirty manipulative Machiavellian manoeuvrings I believe the Education Ministry will have to be deemed as a very important ministry, not so much for the UMNO-style personal political interests of the minister, but for the major overhaul of an utter mess of our pitiful education system so as to ensure our Youths may have a decent and useful education that can contribute to our nation's intellectual, financial-economic, business-commercial, technological, environment and social future.

I personally believe there is not one current Pakatan MP who has the educational know-how to deal with insightful policy developments to mitigate against the mountain heap of sickening selfish shit accumulated by UMNO’s political football-ing for the last 40 years.

I would like to see a Pakatan government coopt Malaysians (or even former Malaysians) who are renowned international educational experts, and perhaps even for such a non-political expert to be appointed as the future Education Minister via the senatorial backdoor, at least for a term to start the excavation of the scatological mountain that is the Malaysian educational system today.

Next, look at the proposed Foreign Minister(s) - Kamarudin Jaffar (PAS) (by the way, who is he?), Lim Guan Eng (DAP) who isn’t exactly renowned as a foreign affairs expert or has shown any inclination towards that portfolio, and Elizabeth Wong (PKR).

I opine that apart from the Great One himself wakakaka the only other bloke who may serve as a credible Foreign Minister is Lim Kit Siang, thus the father rather than the son should have been nominated. Pakatan can still appoint him as one of the DPMs if the coalition so believes he is worthy, though I reckon the DPM position is far too overrated and an UMNO thing, and really not needed for Pakatan. Get rid of it and with that, remove a potential bone of contention between PAS and PKR/DAP.

Now, my dearest Eli whom I adore very much would be better placed in the Environment Ministry as she has shown her admirable management of green issues in Selangor. I assume her nomination indicates her move towards federal politics, but alas, the lack of substantiated details in that ‘whispered’ list doesn’t tell us much.

Basically, I put that ‘whispered’ list as nothing more than the wet dream of a PKR person where he consigns (relegates rather than assigns) some undesired ‘allies’ like Lim GE to lesser ministries while he grabs for himself a powerful one.

If Karpal Singh is not, as I suspect, in his final political innings because of his age, I would see him as the most suitable candidate for the Home Ministry. Karpal is a man well versed with the law and of impeccable standing, and thus is unlikely to misuse the frontline apparatus of that ministry (police, SB) and the draconian ISA to abuse the rights of his opponents including those within Pakatan. But whoever, for such an important ministry we must require a man of impeccable legal standing and personal integrity, I repeat, a man of impeccable legal standing and personal integrity.

To cut short my ravings and ranting wakakaka, I believe the Pakatan shadow cabinet and if it turns out to be the de jure cabinet post GE-13 (and please, no more of the ‘de facto’ bullshit because ‘de facto’ implies the appointment is undemocratic and  dictatorial) should be seriously and severely pared down.

Also, to eliminate the embarrassment of a Pakatan government having too many ministers, not least by public perception, let’s get rid of those non-cabinet-member deputy ministers and restore what they used to be, namely, parliamentary permanent secretaries, and f* the personal aggrandizements of Pakatan leaders.

On this fundamental principle of having a ‘lean and mean’ cabinet, it behoves the Pakatan component parties to learn to have greater faith and trust in each other, in other words, let’s have none of those bullshitting 3 people (PKR, PAS and DAP or even PSM) in each ministry. Only one person may be appointed as a minister.

Pakatan shall of course share out the ministries equitably (which may militate against some still with UMNO ways, wakakaka). Also, the coalition needn’t have ministries in the way UMNO currently has them, where some (two or even three?) can be amalgamated into one.

The major ministries including the PM’s position shall be shared out, for example (only an example) as follows:

(a) PM - Anwar Ibrahim PKR – special to holder only, before ‘someone’ gets ideas wakakaka.

(b) Finance – PAS or DAP

(c) Home – DAP or PAS, depending on (b) above

(d) Foreign Affairs, Defence, International Trade, Education & Youth (as one ministry), Transports, Agriculture, Science & Technology & Environment (as one ministry), etc etc …

… where the sharing out shall be one to PKR, next to PAS and then DAP (or in any other sequential order). The ministers may be assisted by a parliamentary permanent secretary.

Some distinguished and respectable MPs who possess the correct skills could be appointed sideways as ambassadors and high commissioners to only important nations like UN, Indonesia, Russia, USA, Japan, India, China, Europe, leaving the professional civil servants to others.

Having 3 people, one from each Pakatan component party, in a ministry is not only exactly like BN but worse, a sad reflection of distrust and lack of faith in the coalition partners. And if that is the sad case, then let's not have a coalition. Additionally, it will lead to a Pakatan cabinet far more bloated (like a satiated leech) than the BN’s.

Then, the perceived consigning of more than one member from a component ally to a less powerful ministry (as indicated in that 'whispered' list) shows one’s dislike of that component party and a bloody nasty Machiavellian manipulative manoeuvring, not unlike the EC’s dirty strategy of sardine-zing Pakatan supporters into one humongous giant federal constituency of 120,000 like Kapar in disgraceful contrast to the only 6,000 strong pro UMNO federal constituency of Putrajaya

Let’s have none of those UMNO tactics please.

And finally but not least, Pakatan must publicly announce the shadow cabinet.

Sunday quickies (2)

TMI - Dr M supports Petronas-backed mega Islamic bank

Methinks Tun is (and has always been) attracted by the word 'mega' .. ooops .... 'MEGA'.

***

TMI - Penang Port’s good health raises more questions over privatisation

Last year PPSB earned RM15 million but MCA's CSL as PPC Chair said it was only RM180,000, about 1/100 of the actual profit, to justify the port's privatisation. Not a very nice man towards Penangites' interests.

Maybe he hasn't forgiven Penangites for the MCA's 1969 and 2008 drubbing but he has now presented himself as an enemy of Penang and Penangites..

***

MKINI - Dr M: Look East Policy still relevant for next 30 years

Mandarin-language activists needn't get excited as Tun has advocated having only Japanese & Korean, but definitely not Chinese, universities in Malaysia. Presumably the Japanese and Korean languages may also foster greater integration among Malaysians?

***

MKINI - RTM prerecorded broadcast open to manipulation

PAS secretary-general Mustafa Ali expressed concerns over RTM's limiting Pakatan air time to only pre-recorded party manifestos will render Pakatan's message to being edited and distorted, like for example:

Pakatan is for INequality, multiracialism and the people's politicians' interests.

***

MKINI - Azmin denies backstabbing Khalid, pledges support

Front? Side?

***

MKINI - MACC forever tarnished for freeing Teoh's persecutors

Tarnished, damned and cursed long ago, because we anticipated such an outcome.

***

FMT - Pertimbang semula lantik Mohd Sidek Pengerusi Petronas

Aiyah, jangan Melayu UMNO mudah lupa, perlu hutang budi ma

***

FMT - ‘The Bar Council is way above its S’pore counterpart’

Former Bar Council president K Ragunath said today that Malaysia should not emulate what Singapore has done to form its version of an ‘alternate Bar’—the Singapore Academy of Law.

... he said that Singapore should not be a benchmark for the Malaysian Bar as its conduct and achievements were “way above” its Singapore counterpart.

But then that will stop our Malaysian drive from meritocracy to mediocrity to miserable-crity, as is happening in the medical field.


The Malaysian Insider - TMI
Malaysikini - MKINI
Free Malaysia Today - FMT

Malaysia's Papal 'Indulgences'

Prior to and up to the early 16^th Century, people in Western Europe were amazed, annoyed and angry with the Pope and his Catholic Church for selling ‘indulgences’. But what was such an ‘indulgence’?

Apparently, the Catholic Church's ‘indulgence’ at that time was a religious pardon for the purchaser from all his sins.

Thus, an ‘indulgence’ released a sinner from bearing the spiritual burden of all his or her naughty thoughts and misdeeds. The more money one paid, the more sins were pardoned, until there was a belief that sinners could buy their way into becoming a saint and thus allowed automatic entry into heaven

Indulgences - what a convenient and marvellous thing – absolutely far far superior to our Malaysian mandi bunga, a ritual of washing one’s head with a mixture of perfumed water containing seven types of flowers, kaffir lime leaves and lime, so as to cleanse oneself (of sins?) and remove one’s bad luck wakakaka.

photo from An Undomesticated Blogspot

Pity we can’t enjoy that nowadays or kaytee will be the first to purchase a huge allocation of ‘indulgences’, wakakaka.

But wait ….. maybe there is still hope, the existence of such ‘indulgences’ in Malaysia, though alas, not for poor kaytee.

Free Malaysia Today (FMT)’s Anwar’s courtship with danger tells us about former MIC president Samy Vellu and his alleged acts of corruption. FMT argues that if Samy Vellu were to be found guilty of those accusations, then all those who stood alongside him and benefited from his patronage, namely MIC leaders, should be too, as they shared collective responsibility.

FMT then went on:

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim is now purportedly in the midst of holding talks with several MIC national and division leaders, hoping to entice them to cross over.

With most, if not all, MIC leaders at various levels sagging under the weight of their baggage, is it wise for the PKR supremo to be courting them?

The opposition bloc’s main charge against BN is that the ruling coalition is corrupt to the core but does it mean that by joining PKR one is absolved of past sins?

Has it become the party of political absolution and redemption or a convenient option for those whose political fortunes have faded in their respective parties and are looking for a new lease of life?

Even MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek expressed puzzlement as to how the supposed sinners who leave BN and join the opposition can become overnight saints.

Overnight saints? Mucho ‘indulgences’ then, wakakaka.

I recall RPK once writing a piece that raised this same question about Chua Jui Meng, once one of MCA top leaders and now a PKR Vice President. In fact, Chua is PKR’s top bloke in Johor.

RPK has not only pointed out Chua’s ‘record’ as BN Health Minister  but also posted this.

But let’s ignore RPK lah. On the basis that Chua Jui Meng has been entrusted by none other than the Great One to spearhead PKR’s campaign in Johor, a state identified by Pakatan (not just PKR) as a vital election battle ground in GE-13, we have to accept that Chua JM, despite his not inconsiderable MCA background and what RPK has written about him, has no doubt been beatified and then canonized, and is now a saint, all thanks to the Great One who has already granted an ‘indulgence’ endorsement for lucky Chua, wakakaka.

On such political beatification or even canonization, wakakaka, I have read comments in my post The political assassination of Rafizi Ramli? at both my own blog and RPK’s Malaysia-Today, in which a certain party's supporters issued promise of overnight sainthood for Ong Tee Keat if he leaves MCA and joins Pakatan (presumably PKR) as per Chua Jui Meng’s example.

It’s wonderful that we have somehow inherited the legacy of ‘indulgences’ from Pope Leo X, the bloke who excommunicated Martin Luther because the latter condemned the Pope and his men for granting ‘indulgences’.

Pope Leo X

But as reported in FMT, some spoilt sports have the brazen nerve to doubt the wisdom of our own Pope, by questioning the questionable calibre of MIC leaders on a potential quest to PKR.

Naughtily or rather blasphemously they asked of MIC anehs and tambees:

… can they contribute the ingredients required for a better Malaysia?

This is doubtful since these leaders have been entrenched deep within the BN machine for years if not decades. […]

The opposition should be recruiting those who can raise the bar of the political standard in this nation and not those who are responsible for the benchmark being so low.

The logic is simple: one cannot improve the game when the same players are retained.

Aiyoyo, what do you know about the faultless Great One – please lah, read my previous post wakakaka.

Besides, didn't the Great One and his inner coterie also transmigrate from UMNO, bearing in mind of course that the Great One had luxuriated in UMNO for 16 years with nary a word on reforms or corruption or the evils of UMNO which he now broadcasts almost daily with great fervour.

But but but, those lesser mortals asked, what if there were to be a hung parliament after GE-13 and the former MIC but by then ‘beatified’ (wakakaka) PKR MPs do another leap, but back into BN in that amazing fashion of the Perak revolting revolving-door reprobate, Nasarudin Hashim, from UMNO to PKR and back to UMNO.

They also moaned that the Great One has not learned his lesson from the outrageous examples of those erstwhile PKR 2008 MPs. Naturally they cried out: "Shouldn't it be a case of once bitten, twice shy?"

Hmmm, I think not, not with an Immortal like manmanlai, who had shown us in more than one way that despite being bitten, he has never been shy, wakakaka.

Besides, I believe that if there were to be a hung parliament after GE-13, those former MIC by then beatified PKR MPs may be crushed in the frenzied stampede across to BN instead of being the first ones to jump, wakakaka.

Blessed be Papa Leo X and his ‘indulgences’ for inspiring our own Malaysian version.

Amen.