Deceitful Durian of Discord

golden durian

Just read this extract from today's Malaysiakini news article titled Dr M warns of minority seeking 'power grab'.

Meanwhile, Sinar Harian today reported the former premier telling Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to complete his administration’s five-year mandate to boost public confidence.

He said it is a good thing that Najib wants to “respect the five years mandate given by the people”.

“But then again, if the government is dragging its feet on calling the GE, all sorts of nonsensical demands and requests will emerge, and they will threaten the government with that,” he was quoted saying.

Then read the Free Malaysia Today's (FMT) article titled The doctor decides …? which states:

Three days ago, a reporter friend forwarded a text message to this columnist which says that the doctor has taken over Umno and right now the grassroots reports are being forwarded to him.

But the big news is that the doctor is planning to have the polls held in September. This is because it seems that the doctor has got tired of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s feet-dragging and lack of confidence.

Therefore he now enters the fray in order to have things up and running according to his way.

Whether there is any truth or not in the text message is one thing but looking at it logically, it could be true.

Najib has been dragging on the polls date for far too long after initiating it as a guessing game about two years ago.

So we have Sinar Harian quoting Dr Mahathir complimenting Najib for going the full five year term until as late as the early part of March 2008 before advising HM the Agong to dissolve Federal Parliament and call for the 13th general election, as allowed by the Constitution, while sweetie claimed a 'reporter friend' told her Dr Mahathir has taken over UMNO and is planning to call for a September election.

September 2012 to very early March (or late February) 2013 is approximately 6 months or half a year! And we are told a week in politics can be a lifetime.

Incidentally, the FMT article was written by Sweetie Selena Tay, whose previous FMT article Pakatan’s ‘shadow cabinet’ list led me to post 'Whispered' shadow cabinet bloated like satiated leech?

In that previous post of mine, I raised some questions about the reliability of Sweetie's article, such as her claim to have had personal conversations with shadow ministers*, their friends or their acquaintances. I had then remarked that there was no shadow minister in Pakatan, other than Anwar Ibrahim as the PM-designate, because Pakatan has studiously avoided having a shadow cabinet for reasons known only to the coalition.

* 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

Of course I have my opinion as to why, but the far more important point was my amazement at Sweetie's claim of talking with non-existent shadow ministers ..... unless of course she had the conversation with the self-appointed wet-dreaming shadow Home Minister wakakaka.

wakakaka

Sweetie also claimed to have chitchatted with a ‘Pakatan’ MP who wished to remain anonymous but who I suspected and asserted in my post was probably from PKR. My suspicion led me to believe it was as likely as not a bloke who has the rather sneaky habit of making unilateral press conferences or media releases purportedly on behalf of Pakatan but without DAP or PAS knowing about them wakakaka.

In that post I had with disdain informed I don’t hold much store by the list that Sweetie has written because of the likely source.

We may yet again take it that Sweetie’s latest article of Dr Mahathir mounting a silent coup d’etat to launch a September poll was sourced from PKR, especially in the light of UMNO information that Dr Mahathir has affimed Najib should be complimented for not calling for early election (or if you like, ordering Najib to hang on for as late/long as possible).

I just wonder whether Hartal MSM has picked all this up. Just a side note – Hartal MSM was created in December 2007 by Brother Haris Ibrahim, a civil rights lawyer, who wanted the blog to play the role of a media-watch group so as to promote a free and fair media as an impetus to Malaysia’s stalled nation-building process. The group is supposed to keep a beady eye on any of MSM’s lies and propaganda.

Brother Haris then left it with a group of young enthusiasts to run the show, but alas, much as I respect and treasure Bro Haris, I’m afraid at one lamentable stage Hartal MSM went songsang (deviated from its aim) and instead was used to attack a political party, the DAP.

If Hartal MSM’s criticisms was directed at the DAP’s newsletter, The Rocket, though it's not a MSM I would still have accepted that as a justified media-watching activity, but for Malaysia’s media-watch group to attack DAP and in particular Lim Guan Eng ad hominem, the conduct smacks of narrow politicking instead of media-watching, suggesting the blog was hijacked. Shame on its operators!

Anyway, it should be interesting to learn whether Hartal MSM was sleeping or had indeed picked up the FMT-Selena Tay’s articles of our Sweetie having conversations with non-existent shadow ministers wakakaka. Methinks that would be a far more credible role for Hartal MSM than attacking a political party which is neither the group’s role nor raison d'être. 

Readers, why don’t you pop over to the blog to see whether the group is still keeping an eye on MSM’s lies, or just politicking wakakaka, and if necessary, let Haris Ibrahim know.

Sorry for the side note on Hartal MSM - I'm a wee bit like RPK, being chong hei, but I think as a Penangite I shouldn't be using that KL-Ipoh (Canto) word of chong hei, but instead its equivalent in Penang lingo, tng k'ooi ;-)

Okay, let's return to the differences in Dr Mahathir's alleged preferred polling date, (i) September according to Sweetie (or more probable, a PKR source) or (ii) at the end of the current ruling party's full five year term, sometime in late February 2013 or early March (has to be not beyond 08 March 2013).

Obviously, 'someone' is either impatient or trying to use reverse psychology to stampede UMNO warlords into forcing Najib to have a September elections.

Sweetie's article of Dr Mahathir seizing control of UMNO for an early poll in September would be like throwing an apple (or durian in our Malaysian context) of discord into the UMNO mob, to cause strife and dissent and hopefully a self-fulfilling wet dream, wakakaka, leading to the destruction of UMNO.

Eris, Goddess of Strife

In Greek mythology, the goddess Eris (also known as ‘Strife’ for reasons obvious) was pissed off for not been invited to the wedding of King Peleus and Thetis (parents of Achilles), so to stir sh*t in a fit of feminine petulance (sorry ladies wakakaka), she threw an apple inscribed with the word kallisti, which in Greek means ‘for or to the fairest’ right into the midst of the wedding party. And who was the fairest became a vanity-fueled dispute between the goddesses Hera, Athena and Aphrodite that eventually led to the Trojan War, and the total obliteration of a city and its civilisation.

Kallisti - For the Fairest

Thus, ‘apple (or in our case, durian) of discord’ means the core, cause or crux of an argument that could lead to a bigger dispute.

Now, Anwar Ibrahim has been notorious for his impatience, which I had previously posted in The torment and impatience of Anwar Ibrahim on 21 August 2008, just 26 days before 916.

It could that Anwar is again impatient or he and PKR see an early election as to their favour, perhaps for the following points:

(a) Najib is currently besieged by scandals such as Scorpene, NFC, Lynas, Ampang LRT, etc;

KD Tunku Abdul Rahman

(b) Ride on the tailcoat of the recent and very popular Bersih 3.0, notwithstanding his Kemo Sabe-Tonto pow-wow smoke-hand signalling with his blue-eye boy described in the alleged instigation of PKR supporters to breach the police cordon in Datarn Merdeka;

(c) before more mysterious voters are registered;

(d) before more of his alleged naughtiness are revealed;

(e) because party polls indicate PKR's stock is now riding high with voters, etc.

On the other side, Najib obviously wants more time (and Dr Mahathir is either supporting or instructing him on this), for exactly the opposite reasons to Anwar's above, namely:

(a) and (b) more time required to let the dust settle;

(c) more registrations required [perhaps even including movements of military or police units to 'new' cantonments to become postal voters];

wakakaka

(d) very yes to more revelations of Anwar's past!

(e) ditto.

Not to be outdone in the 'durian of discord' business, way down south in the deeply shaken (for UMNO-MCA) state of Johore, where PAS' Salahuddin Ayub may well be the next MB, Malaysiakini reported in its Umno assemblyperson wants hudud for all in Johor that:

Umno's Kemelah state assembly person Ayub Rahmat has proposed that hudud law be implemented in Johor for all races. [...] Ayub then threw down the apple or durian gauntlet to PAS to back this proposal if it was sincere about upholding Islam.

Obviously, naughty Ayub Rahmat has role-played Eris to cause internal dissent in Pakatan, especially between PAS and DAP. If either Pakatan ally moves to be the 'fairest' in Malaysia's lamentable but eternal game of religion, the hard core elements in each will go ballistic, which will be exactly what UMNO and MCA want.

Meanwhile, up north, Mukhriz Mahathir, as a potential future MB of Kedah stated the PAS-led state government has failed to control the growth of entertainment outlets (presumably naughty ones, wakakaka) in Kedah, especially in remote areas such as Sik, Padang Serai and Baling - see The Malaysian Insider's (TMI) PAS has failed to curb rise in entertainment outlets, says Mukhriz. 

However, Mukhriz has been discreet and far more inclusive than Ayub Rahmat, the Johor UMNO ADUN who wanted hudud for all including non-Muslims gulp.

Mukhriz said that both Muslims and non-Muslims alike were uncomfortable with the growth of unregulated entertainment outlets (no doubt meaning 'wild' clubs or shows). It’s not incorrect to say all of us (except some with hideous minds, wakakaka) don’t want a brothel or a gambling den in our own street. For non-Muslims, some other neighbourhood would be just fine wakakaka, a la the doctrine of NIMBY (not in my backyard).

But nonetheless, it may be another 'durian of discord', and not the first one to exist between the PAS-dominated state government and Chinese Kedahans.

We are told that in the Greek myth of the 'Golden Apple of Discord', that deliberate sowing of strife led to war and the eventual destruction of Troy as a civilisation. I just wonder where our 'Deceitful Durian of Discord' will lead our country and people to?

Trojan Horse inside Troy - beginning of end of  the City & its people