Déjà vu 1999?

Malaysiakini - Pro-Najib blog whacks Dr M over rally rendezvous

Dr Mahathir Mohamad has been consistent in his opposition to street protests, and his administration had come down hard on supporters of his former deputy Anwar Ibrahim who vented their frustration on the streets.

But this evening, the former premier made a surprising visit to Bersih 4, with his wife Dr Siti Hasmah Ali heralding the protest as a display of people's power.

Taking Mahathir to task over this, MyKMU.net recounted the Reformasi era as well as Anwar's black-eye incident and questioned if the former premier has now become desperate.

"It appears that Mahathir who is called a prominent statement is now acknowledging street protests.

"What has happened? Is he so desperate to achieve his personal political agenda to topple Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak that he is willing to lower his statesman status?"

And also read Malaysiakini - This is people's power, says Siti Hasmah in her response to a query on what she thought of Bersih.

The elderly couple have been flabbergastingly bizarre, supporting the Bersih protest, which Mahathir had previously condemned and brutally repressed. We have witnessed the ultimate height of hypocrisy. Mahathir has taken a leaf out of Lim Kit Siang's book to (if but now necessary) make a pact with his own Devil.

I have to say there is plausibility in some pro UMNO blogs that the former PM is so mucho desperate to remove Najib for you-know-who, but ironically which indirectly tells us that Najib seems seated in his PM position rather securely if not comfortably despite the various daily poo flung against him, whether from Pakatan, Bersih, Mahathir his media mouthpieces like former NST group boss, Pak Kadir Jasin and former info minister Zam, UMNO and even a SB man (who we all know is in reality a M man).

Perhaps wily Ku Li senses this when he said I have no problem with Najib, even revealing he won't stand in GE-14.

Mind you, Mahathir's political agenda is not for your interests but for his own, which will be more of the same as per his 22-year draconian rule, including silly but humongous expenditure of public funds for his silly game of comeuppance from his humongous chip on the shoulder against Singapore. Do read my earlier post The 3rd 'Successor'.

We're surrounded every which way by UMNO and its frightful financial profligacy.

Now, why do I say that?

Because even if Azmin Ali's PKR's magic 30 again does eventuate and successfully overthrow Najib, there is no guarantee of a so-called 'Azmin Ali/Lim KS/Ambiga' "unity government" comprising 50/50 BN and Pakatan MPs.

I reckon that once Najib has been overthrown by an UMNO coterie making use of Pakatan's 88 MPs (does this include PAS MPs?), wakakaka, the 30 UMNO MPs will conveniently return to the Mothership and BN under new-old (wakakaka again) continues its rule, changing the PM but not its "PM" or "Pathetic Methods".

Malaysiakini's Racial imbalance at rally, Chinese dominate informs us that unlike previous Bersih rallies (and the missing PAS mob), the Chinese comprise 80% of Bersih's protesters. Can this be a déjà vu of 1999 when the Chinese came to Mahathir's rescue after the Malays abandoned him?

Oh those Chinese, siding with a man who dislikes them most and against a man who tried to develop kamcheng and be their Ah Gor - apa lagi Cina mahu, wakakaka.

PKR's magic 30 again

TMI - New government by year-end with help from BN MPs, says Azmin (extracts):

memories are made of this

PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali is confident a change of government can take place through a democratic process before the end of the year with the support of Barisan Nasional (BN) lawmakers.

Azmin, who is also the Selangor menteri besar, said BN lawmakers must have courage to make changes even as the economy faces an uncertain future.

"Pakatan Rakyat (PR) has 88 parliamentarians, we only need 30 more. God willing, by the end of the year, we will see a change and it will be allowed in the democratic system.

That's Azmin after personally benefiting from the PKR overburnt Kajang Satay. Now he wants another crack at the same old 916-ish coup d'etat with 30 UMNO MPs

Did he get word from Pak Cik M that at near year's end there'll be 30 UMNO MPs ready and willing to join his scheme? After all, he was brought up as a member by the M family, and he might just know, wakakaka.

Keep soldiers in their constitutional barracks - letter to Malaysiakini

My letter to Malaysiakini published today. It's a much expanded version of Wait a ding-dong minute, General Blimp published earlier this afternoon as a blog post. For your reading pleasure:

********

Hang on a ding-dong minute, my dear Gen Blimp

I read with extreme trepidation that Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) chief Zulkifeli Mohd Zin, in referring to the Bersih 4 rally, said the military will take over the role of the police in containing a situation which has been categorised as a threat to public order.

In a democracy governed by civilian rule and leadership like Malaysia, there is no such role for the army or for the matter, the air force or navy, to ‘take over’ the role of the police, even in a situation of civil commotion and disorder, to wit, riots a la May 13, which may represent threats to public order.

I want to remind the general of the role of the Malaysian Army as laid out in the Army’s Doctrine Handbook. It says the Malaysian Army is part of the Malaysian Armed Forces instituted by the federal constitution which primary roles are to safeguard all national frontiers and land boundaries from encroachment at all times.

Okay, we have no problem with that.

Let's now shift our look from the Army's PRIMARY to its SECONDARY purpose. The Army’s secondary roles are to ASSIST the Royal Malaysian Police and other civil authorities in the maintenance of public order and providing assistance in time of national disaster, and NOT to ‘take over’ the police role.

In essence, the army is responsible for containing external threats while the police is responsible for internal threats.

In an internal strife, as had been the case of the Emergency or the insurgency by communist terrorists (CT) in yonder years, the police was responsible but because it then lacked the manpower and expertise at that time to deal effectively with the CT problems, it called upon the military to assist it in the war against the communist terrorists.

The military must not be under the mistaken belief that they were not in a supporting role to the police, even in that insurgency war where our entire armed forces participated.

Yes, I do worry when the military want to ‘take over’ this or that from civilian control, namely, the police. We are not Thais you know; indeed we’re Malaysians.

My fears deepen immensely when I think of the army handling the Bersih 4 protesters. In Bersih 3, no thanks to some trouble-makers, we had fairly nasty experience with the police, so just imagine how our Berish 4 participants will fare with the army?

The reality is the army is roled for war against external foes and trained in combat for that. The police is roled for security and law and order within our community. To put it in simplistic terms (which admittedly have their limitations) the soldier is trained to kill the enemy, while the police is trained to protect the community and maintain law and order by legal means.

So we don’t want soldiers trained to kill to be controlling or suppressing our civilian Malaysians who may be in the Bersih rally.

Just recall our past government’s very discerning handling of our civilian population in the rural areas, in particular Chinese villages, during the Emergency, and how we kept the army as much as possible away from those civilians.

Some CTs when in hot pursuit by the military during the Emergency had the naughty tactic of running into a Chinese village to escape by merging into the local population. The military much to their chagrin would not be permitted to continue the chase into the villages. They had to stop at a specific distance from the village and hand over the hunt to the paramilitary Police Field Force (PFF), which was essentially also our mata-mata.

Not trained to handle civilians

That was because our government knew that soldiers weren’t trained to handle civilians and I needn't provide graphic examples of what would have been the unfortunate results of allowing soldiers to deal with civilians as the American military have provided ample examples from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan.

That was the reason for having the PFF during the Emergency, men or mata-mata who had been trained to handle civilians in searches in their homes under combat situations.

I also recall Dr Kua Kia Siong, author of the book May 13, telling us the story of how Abdul Razak Hussein had wanted emergency rule for the country after May 13 and for the military to effect that rule, but Lt-Gen Hamid Bidin, then Chief of General Staff (title subsequently renamed Chief of Army) advised Razak against that, saying that the politicians (people’s representatives) would subsequently find it extremely difficult to pry the power out of the military’s hands.

Such was the hallmark of a military man of caliber who knew the necessity of civilian pre-eminence in a democracy and had advised his PM correctly and wisely.

Yes sir, we must be very alert to soldiers wandering out of their ‘constitutional barracks’. We have seen nasty examples up north. And haven’t I on Dec 13, 2013 predicted that Thai military coup d’etat in a letter titled Thailand’s unpleasant lesson for Malaysia to Malaysiakini ?

That has been why I was not impressed by Bersih’s Maria Chin Abdullah for calling an air force officer a hero when that military person deliberately violated Armed Forces Council Instructions to perform a song and dance about the Election Commission’s so-called indelible ink to the media. For him, it was not good enough to have made a police report. His antics were so lamentably political that I don’t have an iota of sympathy for his career end.

Unacceptable politicking

If one wants to participate in politics then one should leave the military and return to civilian life which would be the correct lifestyle for a political career. And that military officer’s unacceptable politicking was given undesirable encouragement by Madame Maria Chin Abdullah.

Keep those soldiers in their ‘constitutional barracks’.

Thus General Zulkifeli Mohd Zin has been very very very much remiss in NOT knowing his army supporting role and its limitations in a situation of public disorder. The military can participate in restoring law and order when the civilian authority calls upon it, and then only in assistance to the police. The army does NOT take over the role of the police.

It seems this general has a propensity to make rather outrageous statements. Last year, around the same time, he stated that the Malaysian Armed Forces considered any insinuations or insults against the royal institutions to be an attempt to weaken the military itself. So, was the Malaysian Armed Forces weakened in December 1992 when Umno Members of Parliament like Dr Affifuddin Omar said:

“How can we continue to uphold rulers who are known to be robbers, adulterers, drunkards and kaki pukul (thugs)?” [...]

“They (the rulers) must be made to realise that they do not own this country. They are not Superman but placed on their thrones by the people.”

Or what about Wan Hanafiah Wan Mat Saman, once the Umno MP for Pokok Sena, in a speech, also in Parliament in 1992, saying he preferred the Malay Rulers be treated the way the Indian Maharajas were treated. Wan Hanafiah said:

“After the struggle for India's independence in 1947, Deputy Prime Minister Sardar V Patel was given the task of negotiating with the Rulers to phase out them. Patel rounded up the Maharajas and put them in a hotel. On the first day of discussion, he could not get them to agree to the government’s proposal.”

“On the second day, he placed soldiers around the perimeter of the hotel. On the third day, he cut the electricity supply; on the fourth day, he stopped the water supply and on the fifth day, he stopped food from being brought in. On the sixth day, all the Rulers, who were confined to the building, agreed to the government proposals.”

“When Patel was asked why he did not obtain the consent of the Rulers in a normal fashion, Patel replied, ‘Do you ask the consent of the chicken before it is slaughtered?’”

Wan Hanafiah said that “a similar approach could have been taken to solve the present problem with the Rulers.”

The general has said something of constitutional significance, so frightening that I believe the defence minister and the attorney-general, the nation’s No 1 law officer, must take a very careful look at this general’s pomposity which has failed to recognise the constitutional roles and limitations of an army in a democracy of civilian rule.

His apparent lack of understanding of the constitutional limits for our Malaysian Army is verging on being dangerous.

I appeal to the defence minister and attorney-general to take note that a 'Malaysian stitch in time saves a Thai nine'.

---

Wait a ding-dong minute, General Blimp

Star Online - Bersih 4: Armed Forces to intervene if govt declares state of emergency

KUALA LUMPUR: The Armed Forces (ATM) will intervene in the planned Bersih 4.0 rally only if the government declares a state of emergency, said its chief Jen Tan Sri Zulkifeli Mohd Zin (pic).

Speaking to reporters at the Defence Ministry on Thursday, Zulkifeli said the ATM has thus far not been involved in preventing the rally from continuing because the situation has not called for it yet.

"ATM will only intervene in the rally if the government declares a state of emergency.

"If the situation is categorised as a threat to public order, we will take over the role of the police in containing the situation," he explained on Thursday.

Just wait a ding-dong minute General. How dare you say the "ATM will take over the role of the police in containing the situation."

Balderdash, General Blimp!

The role of the Malaysian Army is laid out in the Army's Doctrine Handbook. It says the Malaysian Army is part of the Malaysian Armed Forces instituted by the Federal Constitution which primary roles are to safeguard all national frontiers and land boundaries from encroachment at all time.

OK, we have no problem with that.

Let's now shift our look from the Army's PRIMARY to its SECONDARY purpose.

The Army's secondary roles are to ASSIST the Royal Malaysian Police and other civil authorities in the maintenance of public order and providing assistance in time of national disaster.

So, your Army ASSISTS the Police, not TAKEOVER from them.

You're very very very much remiss in NOT knowing your Army's supporting role and its limitations.

Let me advise you once again - the Army ASSISTS the police, not TAKEOVER from them in the event of civil disorder so to provide public order.

We're Malaysians, not Thais!

Nonetheless, the Defence Minister and AG must take a closer look at this General's pomposity which fails to recognize the constitutional roles and limitations of an army in a democracy of civilian rule.

His apparent lack of understanding of the constitutional limits for our Malaysian Army (not just his, a mere caretaker) is verging on being f* dangerous.

Just remember, in a civil commotion, you the Police are in charge of restoring and maintaining public order. ONLY if and when you require manpower beyond the capacity of the police force, do you need to call upon the army for ASSISTANCE, and you remain in charge  

KT spring cleaning

Spring is just around the corner, well ... at least spring in the southern hemisphere. So today I decide I'd do a bit of spring cleaning on my blogsite, specifically updating my blogroll.

Updating one's blogroll from time to time is a standard activity for most bloggers, but I've to say this particular one has been particularly a sad one for me as I had to remove a few of my closest blogger mateys, who unfortunately had stopped blogging for years.

So, much as I wish to retain the links with them on my blogroll, I have to be practical and replace them with new blogs, hopefully as interesting as theirs.

The first three struck off were sweeties I truly adore, namely, my blogging mateys Marina Mahathir (Rantings by MM), Susan Loone and Lulu of 'Whatalulu' blog.

My dear Marina has not disappeared from the Malaysian socio-political scene completely as you can still hear her views on Facebook and Twitter.

Sweetie Susan as we know is pretty occupied with her job at Malaysiakini and also in her artwork.

As for my sweet sweetest Lulu, it's been 4 years since she posted her last post but if you still want to follow her sweet cute charming and witty takes on politics she's on Twitter like Marina - @ohmywhatalulu.

Aisehlah, both Marina (she did encourage me to go Twitter) and Lulu are technologically way ahead of old fashioned kaytee (sob). 

I wish these 3 sweeties all the best and hope one day I can have the privilege to re-include their blogs on my blogroll (as if they would return to daggy blogging) - I guess I am stubbornly old-fashioned, wakakaka.

I have also removed '1Malaysia' blog (no post for 11 months); besides Ah Jib Gor is already on the list, along with the other principal political leaders, namely, Uncle Lim KS, Guan Eng, Pak Haji Hadi Awang, Pak Lah and even Zaid Ibrahim, wakakaka.

I note that I need to include leadership pollies like PKR's Azmin Ali just to provide a more balanced list of reading - I'll do that a.s.a.p assuming he has a blog. I may include Mat Sabu of the new Amanah (GHB) and perhaps Mah, the president of Gerakan. Again I am assuming they have blogs.

I have also removed two MCA stalwarts, Ong Tee Keat (no post for 2 years) and Ti Lian Ker (also no post for 2 years), both of whom are rara avis in that they're MCA pollies I have respect and time for. I guess I have to include two other MCA leaders who have blogs - apart from the MCA party president, can someone recommend another?

One of my reluctant strikeouts has been the blog 'Mind No Evil' by a military officer Mohd Arshad Raji, a retired army Brigadier General I believe. He wrote some good posts but alas again, he hadn't posted anything for the last 3 years. I would love to include the blog of an independent (no political party) former (preferably retired) senior military bloke or lassie who posts historical-strategic military articles. Any recommendation?

I have also removed 'Renovatio' as the site seems now to be a restricted one, for members only.

Last but not least, I am very sad to say that 'The Nut Graph' which had set sterling benchmarks for Malaysian socio-political articles stopped operating since a year back, but I will still keep the link to it for another year, as there are useful stuff on its site for reading and useful referencing.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the kind person at 'The Nut Graph' who saw my blog as worthy of being included in its blogroll - Terimakasih for the lovely honour.

To my readers I am open to suggestions to new blogs as I did the last time you kind readers had suggested to me, blogs like Pak Kadir Jasin's 'The Scribe', 'OutSyed The Box', etc, which have been on my blogroll since your recommendations. But I cannot guarantee I'll include all your future recommendations as there is a technical limit to the numbers I want to have.

I may also include the Aliran and, as a Penangite, CAP websites on the list as well.

Cheers, though as mentioned I removed some of above blogs from my blogroll with much sadness and nostalgic melancholy.

The 3rd 'Successor'

A week ago TMI published Dr Mahathir apologises for choice of successors. TMI reported (relevant extracts):

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the country’s longest serving prime minister for 22 years, today apologised for the choice of his successors, saying that he didn't know any better then. "Manalah saya tahu waktu pilih, saya minta ampun, minta maaflah pada semua (How did I know when I made the choice, I am sorry and apologise to all)," he said. [...]

... Dr Mahathir also took a dig at his immediate successor, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, as well as current Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, without mentioning any names.

"We can only guess, when someone is known as 'Mr Clean', we choose lah, but once he entered the arena, he became dirty."

"So I tried to find a cleaner replacement, who knew, this new guy's idea (would be) 'cash is king' and if you give people money, they will like you.”

In a veiled attack at Najib, Dr Mahathir said: "But in giving money to people, we must have money. If don't have, can do business, but not if we are holding a position (in government), but stealing, can.”

His remarks drew laughter and applause from some 4,000 students, lecturers and the public.

Hadn't it been wonderful that even at 90 years old, Mahathir could still find the words to entertain 4000 students (a group who once hated him when he was PM) to such an extent that they laughed and applauded at his politically-titillating jabs at both AAB and Najib?

What he had said was he found to his surprise 'Mr Clean' (AAB) became 'dirty' once he entered the arena (became PM). OK then, so what did Mahathir do on discovering AAB wasn't the 'successor' he had wanted?

In his own words, "So I tried to find a cleaner replacement .....".

The 'replacement' he sought for the ousted AAB has of course been Najib who has, he subsequently found to his shock again, engaged in 'stealing'.

Thus Mahathir apologized (with his usual sarcasm of course) for his choice of 'successors'.

Wait, don't bother me by asking me why Mahathir did not apologize for his many acts which hurt us, horrified us and disgusted us, like the dismissal of Lord President Salleh Abas, Op Lalang, using Bank Negara money to gamble on the Forex and various other lamentable acts and events.

I don't want to go into those right now as they have been dealt with endlessly by so many other bloggers, reporters, journalists (including foreign ones) and a host of websites and news portals. Perhaps in the future ... wakakaka.

What I want to do now is to study the English language, or specifically one English word, to wit, 'successor', wakakaka.

The good olde dictionary says 'successor' is a noun, and may be defined as:

• a person or thing that succeeds or follows. 
• a person who succeeds another in an office, position, or the like.

Have you got it yet, I mean what a 'successor' is?

Okay then, let me provide you with examples of what a 'successor' to (in our discussion, specifically) a PM would be:

• Tunku Abdul Rahman's successor was Razak
• Razak's successor was Hussein Onn
• Hussein Onn's successor was Mahathir
• Mahathir's successor was .....?

Wakakaka. It could have been Musa Hitam, or Ghafar Baba, or (wakakaka again) Anwar Ibrahim, ... but alas for everyone of them none succeeded Mahathir.

I have omitted Ku Li from the unsuccessful list even though I believe (from reading RPK's posts) that there was an agreement within the UMNO leadership for Ku Li to become deputy party president (and thus DPM) to Mahathir and thus his (wakakaka) 'successor'. Alas, that didn't materialise.

Well you know that eventually it was AAB. At least for AAB, he, unlike the aforementioned various illustrious UMNO leaders, did become Mahathir's successor ... well (wakakaka) ... for a short period.

And AAB in becoming Mahathir's successor would have met the definition of the meaning of 'successor' as defined by the dictionary, to wit, "a person who succeeds another in an office, position, or the like".

But, can you explain how Mahathir could come to view Najib as his 'successor'?

According to  Mahathir's own words, Najib was considered as a 'cleaner replacement' for a 'dirty' AAB.

It's something we can derive directly from Mahathir's declaration "So I tried to find a cleaner replacement .....".

But do you understand the import (implication, significance) of such an utterance by Mahathir?

Okay, to help clear up our confusion that's right now in severe turbulent vortex and giving us a humongous headache, in just thinking of what Mahathir had implied by a Freudian slip through his sarcastic pretend-apology for his 'successors', let's go back to the time when Mahathir decided to hand over his prime ministerial position to his (wakakaka) first 'successor', poor AAB.

His bete noire at that time (1998-1999) and the reason for his decision to 'retire' (note my quotation marks, wakakaka) was Anwar Ibrahim. Wikipedia said that in the 1999 general elections: UMNO lost 18 seats and two state governments as large numbers of Malay voters flocked to PAS and Keadilan, many in protest at the treatment of Anwar.

Mahathir has always been a very smart man, and I consider him as one of Malaysia's foremost intellectuals. He knew he had lost a huge chunk of Malay support because of Anwar Ibrahim, and had escaped losing the general election principally because the Chinese voters supported BN, thus coming to his rescue.

Ironically I suspect 'twas a support he didn't quite relish because he didn't want to be dependent on the Chinese, wakakaka. So in 2002 he announced dramatically at an UMNO assembly with much tears and lamentation that he wanted to quit, but only to be persuaded by some of his cabinet colleagues to withdraw his stated intention to retire.

Anyway, in October 2003 he 'handed over' the reins (and thus the PM-ship) to AAB.

You know, I suspect he didn't want to retire because a man like him must have felt he still had so much to do, for example, to achieve his Wawasan 2020, and of course (wakakaka) to fix up that f* annoying lil' red dot in the south, wakakaka.

I wonder whether he had felt at that time, with perhaps some regrets, that he had brought Mukhriz into heavy-metal politics at too late a stage in his prime ministerial career. Mukhriz began his political involvement seriously only in 2004 when he won election to the executive council of UMNO's youth wing, a year after daddy supposedly retired.

'... supposedly retired', wakakaka!

Thus I suspect Mahathir's retirement wasn't planned but brought into emergency activation when he assessed the likely impact of the 1999 GE on future elections for UMNO (and himself as PM). And thus too, was Mukhriz only brought into heavy-metal politics then.

Another of my suspicions (told you I've a very suspicious mind, wakakaka) would be that Mahathir hadn't really retired, at least unofficially, and that AAB to him was only a caretaker sort of PM, or at best still his 'deputy', whom he could continue to dictate to, perhaps not on everything in running the government, but certainly on his pet issues, for example, the crooked bridge.

We know that had been one cause of his very severe criticisms of AAB when our Pak Lah cancelled that project, one deemed by most to be his (Mahathir's) lateral comeuppance on the Singapore government.

But his hatred for AAB rose to a crescendo when KJ was seen not only as the 4th Floor Boys who were the real power behind AAB, but also an arrogant foe to his sons on some issues (I'm going to just leave it at that).

Perhaps he felt as the 'real' PM behind the political throne he had the right to get rid of a 'disobedient' (wakakaka) and uncooperative AAB and find a 'cleaner replacement'.

And that must have been how Najib became also his 'successor' rather than that of AAB.

And Najib as his 'successor' has failed to satisfy his 'expectations', though Najib tried to mollify him by making Mukhriz a deputy minister and at the same time did not appoint the UMNO Youth Chief as a minister. And the UMNO Youth Chief has been KJ, wakakaka. It's not rocket science to know the reason behind KJ's unprecedented non-appointment as a minister by the PM when all along every UMNO Youth Chief has always been appointed as one.

Then Najib thought he'd nominate Mukhriz as MB Kedah as another mollifying act, but I suspect the greater ire was ignited by the perception Najib didn't do enough to boost Mukhriz into one of UMNO VP positions, without which the UMNO leadership distance between Mukhriz and the PM position is way way way too far.

Aiyah, Ah Jib Gor, that's really unforgivable lah! You should have sacrificed your cousin Hisham for your own skin, wakakaka.

Najib must be removed ... and by the de facto PM or de facto Emperor of Malaysia!

But alas, as someone in Sungai Buloh would tell you, 'de facto' is one thing while 'de jure' is another, especially when the de jure person has direct and immediate access to party funds which he undoubtedly will use to his own betterment, wakakaka.
  

In the end, the 1MDB fiasco is just one of many excuses to remove Najib, while another one has been the Altantuyaa affair. Indeed, why weren't these raised before Mahathir's declaration "So I tried to find a cleaner replacement ....."?

If Mahathir succeeds, I wonder who would be his new 'cleaner placement' for Najib, to wit, his 3rd and penultimate 'successor', because I suppose we can make an intelligent guess as to who will be his final 'successor'.

Will UMNO walk into PKR's trap?

Mahathir wants Najib out as PM, but of course not UMNO-BN from being the government. Indeed, two weeks ago I posted Ambiga's proposed action plan in which I mentioned I had been amused by her plan, sincere as it might have been, because I can see the contents or requirements of her plan appealing only to the 'converted', to wit, the Pakatan side of politics who are currently on the 'outer'.

alamak, how long do we have to hold our smiles?

wakakaka

Her proposed plan required the following 3 core elements:

1. Najib takes a leave of absence
2. a "national government" be formed with MPs from both sides of the political divide
3. an election to be held within 18 months of the setting up of the new government.

I mentioned that it's not just Ambiga or Pakatan who wants Najib to go but also Mahathir, Muhyiddin, Mukhriz and the M faction of UMNO and its associates including some in the Special Branch of the Police, wakakaka. For further background on the SB, read RPK's The police decide who becomes prime minister.

But the 2nd core element of Ambiga's proposed action plan to save Malaysia, namely, to form a "national government" with MPs from both sides of the political divide, is unrealistic and something only the Pakatan side would canvass earnestly for, wakakaka.

Indeed, why would BN include Pakatan MPs in a government, meaning the cabinet, when it currently holds 132 parliamentary seats in a Dewan Rakyat of 222 and can continue to rule unimpeded?

And indeed, why would the BN (effectively UMNO) hold a fresh election within 18 months when it can legally hang on until 2018?

Ambiga might have been too demanding of BN though she must have sensed those in UMNO opposing Najib growing desperate and frenetic.

Don't you love the word 'frenetic'? It means 'frantic' or 'frenzied', which in turn mean 'desperately or violently agitated or wild with fear, obsession or passion'. An older meaning would be 'insane', wakakaka.

And 'frenetic' would be an apt word to also describe the bizarre desperate antics of some headless chooks in the DAP who despite being 'headless', could still cluck away to sound out past UMNO leaders for collaboration against Najib, when these very past UMNO leaders were whom they detested most.

Yes, another word to describe such songsang behaviour would be 'bizarre', wakakaka.

By the by, 'bizarre' means 'unusual style involving incongruous elements' wakakaka again.

And I could go on and on in this vein by further defining 'incongruous' as 'inappropriate' or 'unbecoming', eg. it's incongruous for a political party which claims to have a reformist ideology or character to promote party hopping through financial inducements, wakakaka, indeed an incongruous behaviour which the late Karpal Singh described sneeringly as 'unethical' and 'immoral'.

But to be fair, I must also criticize DAP's Lim Kit Siang for appealing to his archfoe Mahathir to, first, head a Royal Commission of Inquiry into 1MDB where our Uncle Lim had obviously ignored all considerations of 'conflict of interests', even if those would be for Najib.

Talking about 'conflict of interests', we are once again reminded of the classic case, that of Tun Salleh Abbas, the former Lord President of the Malaysian Supreme Court, who was terribly dismissed by a tribunal headed by Hamid Omar, his deputy who stood to gain from his (Abas) dismissal. That's what 'conflict of interests' means.

This is what Wikipedia has to tell us:

In 1988, Tun Salleh Abas was brought before a tribunal convened by the then Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohammad on the grounds of misconduct. The tribunal was chaired by Tun Hamid Omar. In response to the tribunal, Tun Salleh Abas filed a suit in the High Court in Kuala Lumpur to challenge the constitutionality of the tribunal. While proceeding with the suit, Tun Salleh Abas applied for an interim stay against the tribunal until 4 July 1988. The request was denied.

Later however, five judges of the Supreme Court convened and granted Tun Salleh Abas an interlocutory order against the tribunal. Upon receiving the order, Tun Salleh Abas' solicitors proceed to the Parliament to present the chairman of the tribunal the interlocutory order. The gate leading to the Parliament however was locked* and Tun Salleh Abas' representative had to call in the police to be guaranteed a passage into the Parliament. Eventually, the order was presented to the tribunal chairman.

* doesn't this reminds us of Sabah in 1994 when such a 'locked gate' to the YDP Negeri's residence turned Pairin from CM-elected into the opposition leader? Hmmm, I wonder who was the BN director of election campaign then, wakakaka

Soon after, the five judges were suspended. The judges were Tan Sri Azmi Kamaruddin, Tan Sri Eusoffe Abdoolcader, Tan Sri Wan Hamzah Mohamed Salleh, Tan Sri Wan Suleiman Pawanteh and Datuk George Seah. This effectively suspended the Supreme Court. With the Supreme Court suspended, the challenge toward the legality of the tribunal could not be heard. The tribunal later removed Tun Salleh Abas from his office. Tan Sri Wan Sulaiman and Datuk George Seah were also removed from office. The other three judges were later reinstated.

The irregular dismissal of Tun Salleh Abas led the Bar Council of Malaysia refusing to recognise the new Lord President. Around the same time, the Federal Constitution was amended to divest the courts of the "judicial power of the Federation", granting them instead such judicial powers as Parliament might grant them.

As if forgetting that wasn't bizarre enough, wakakaka, Lim KS then proposed for Mahathir, Musa Hitam and Ku Li to form an UMNO leadership troika to take over from Najib.

Is Najib, notwithstanding outstanding questions on 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion 'donation' in his account, such an invincible anathema to Lim KS that the DAP leader has been more than willing to support his old archfoe to lead a leadership movement to oust the PM?

And apart from the sad dismissal and humiliation of Tun Salleh Abas, for which at least AAB has the decency to apologize on behalf of you-know-who, has Lim KS forgotten that in an earlier political period he had resoundingly condemned Mahathir's 22-year prime ministerial rule for the wastes and unaccountable profligacy in the use of public monies, eg. in the matters of Maminco, BMF, MAS, Forex trading, Perwaja, PKFZ, the total unaccountability of money from Petronas, cronyism in the devolvement and privatisation of services and multi-billion dollar projects, etc, and of course the use of the draconian Ops Lalang to stifle democratic dissent, and also regular amendments of the federal constitution at the government's whims and fancies.

Then there was the distortion of the federal constitution to unilaterally proclaim what Lim KS himself, none other, condemned as the 929 and 617 Declarations which turned secular Malaysia into some ambiguous fundamentalist Islamic nation.

So, has Lim KS forgotten all these?

Looks like he has! Bukan saja Melayu yang mudah lupa!

Surely it might have to be said that in his eyes Najib must have been a far greater evil PM, so much so as to convince him to forgive former PM Mahathir (not unlike medieval popes giving 'indulgences' to fat cats sinners which automatically by papal fiat cleansed those sinners of all sins) and to even eat humble pie to manja-sayang Mahathir into a proposed plan to take over rule from Najib.

Okay, back to Ambiga's proposed action plan - Haven't we learned from Ambiga's proposed action plan that UMNO is unlikely to accept it as it demands their utmost altruistic characteristics when none exists.

So, what do we have today when FMT reported in its PKR wants share of power to vote out Najib (extracts):

Parti Keadilan Rakyat has committed its 20 MPs to vote against Prime Minister Najib Razak, if the party is part of a transition government to take over with immediate effect media, electoral and economic reforms to be carried out.

PKR demanded that a transition government be formed until the next general election which must be held by 2018

The transition government must comprise members of both the Barisan Nasional and the opposition, and must carry out immediate reforms for free elections, free the media, strengthen parliamentary democracy, and take measures on the economy.

Apart from the economic angle, it's the same old same old as per Ambiga's proposed action plan. PKR has merely echoed Ambiga.

The Malay Mail Online put it as if PKR has been fantastically bipartisan and cooperative, as follows:

In a rare declaration of solidarity with their political foes in Barisan Nasional (BN), all 20 PKR federal lawmakers said today they are willing to support a bipartisan no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in the Dewan Rakyat.

Now, what's really so rare in its so-called 'declaration of solidarity' when all along it has been PKR's aim to sneak into federal government since 916? Or, perhaps even earlier when someone offered his incredible 'expertise' to help AAB out in the crooked bridge affair, wakakaka - for more, read my post Zaid Ibrahim's Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid.

And do you still remember how in the early evening (if my memory serves me well, around 1930 hours) on 05 May 2013, Anwar Ibrahim declared Pakatan had won the federal general election, wakakaka.

Yes, Anwar and PKR has never accepted that it lost the last general election, ignoring the Westminster (no doubt gerrymandered) electoral system by asserting Pakatan won 52% of the votes as if it was a presidential style election.

Since then, PKR has participated in various means and rallies to perpetuate what I see as a climate of political instability in Malaysia, not unlike a sulking petulant little spoilt brat who lost his junior badminton match at kindergarten, wakakaka.

Its current so-called 'declaration of solidarity' with the required minimum 25 BN MPs is nothing more than self-serving, to enable its own MPs to get into the federal government, meaning some of its MPs hope to get ministerial posts. And hasn't one of PKR's 'solidarity' (wakakaka) conditions been 'the formation of a transition government to be shared between members of both BN and the opposition once Najib is removed from office.'

"To be shared between ...". I suppose that means 50:50 ministerial positions, wakakaka. I really doubt any UMNO person will accept that, for the same reasons I mentioned in regards to Ambiga's proposed action plan.

But if some UMNO-BN MPs, preferably at least 25 wakakaka, give their nod to PKR's enticement plan to oust Najib, then of course it's marvellous news for Pakatan, for that will start the snowballing of steps to finish off UMNO-BN. But I suspect Mahathir may not want that in order to protect and preserve UMNO in power, at least for his "legacy", wakakaka if you know what I mean, and Mahathir has a lot of say in such matters.

But still, it remains to be seen whether Mahathir is desperate enough to want to get rid of Najib that he will be willing to allow UMNO to form a 'unity' government with PKR and Pakatan. Decision is a bitch, ain't it, wakakaka.

But you know, if UMNO collaborates with PKR and Pakatan to oust the PM via a vote of no confidence, that's the same as showing a vote of no confidence in the BN government. I believe there is no such parliamentary procedure where such a vote of no confidence can be confined to only the person of the PM yet exonerate his government.

The way to get rid of or depose of the person who is the PM should be done in the UMNO leadership council, where its deputy president, VP and Supreme Council members vote to remove Najib from being the party president. That will automatically remove him from the PM post, and without affecting the BN government.

I don't think Najib if so voted out by UMNO leadership echelon will play at being another 'Khalid Ibrahim', wakakaka. But the trick is to get UMNO to sack him. Can Mahathir do that?

Return of the Aerodynamicists

Malaysiakini - After brawl, Subra emerges as MIC president (extracts):

Palanivel (C): “I received 334 nominations which translate into more than 2,000 Branch Chairmen solidly supporting me as the valid and truthful President of MIC. Further, there was no other nomination received from any other candidate for the position of President of MIC. Thus, I have been declared as the President of MIC elected unopposed by more than 2,000 branch chairmen.”  - source astroawani

Subra (R): "Ditto, thus I'm the new party president."

Samy (L): "Err ... ditto. When I was president, no one challenged me too, and we then had only one nomination day."

Health Minister Dr S Subramaniam has won the MIC president post uncontested, according to a news report.[...]

... a brawl erupted during the MIC presidential nominations when supporters of former president G Palanivel were blocked from entering the venue.

It was reported that supporters of Subramaniam allegedly threw stones, plastic bottles and sticks at them.

This led to a shouting match and Palanivels's supporters retaliated by throwing the items back at those behind the MIC headquarters' gates, said NST.

This continued for about 15-minutes until MIC vice-president S Sothinathan managed to convince Palanivel’s supporters to leave.

MIC Youth member Vishnu Pradap was quoted as saying that "rocks as big as oranges" fell from above as they were walking".

"I was shocked and confused as to what was happening. The white rocks were as big as oranges," he said.

It was reported that Vishnu was seen after the incident with a bleeding cotton plaster between his eyebrows but he had no idea who attacked them.

Personally, okay lah me being a Chinese, I believe Subra is the better leader for MIC. He is quite dynamic, has shown a fairness in his statements and is reasonably well spoken. I reckon he's the better leader to restore some dignity and order back to MIC.

Sorry lah but my impression of Palanivel is that he has been too lethargic in his leadership, a wee self-centred and lacks the necessary vim to take MIC out of the rut the party is currently in, not unlike MCA, wakakaka.

However, I take note that "... supporters of former president G Palanivel were blocked from entering the venue".

Now I don't like that sort of unfairness. Would that be kosher, for only the supporters of one faction to be inside the MIC HQ whilst the other was prevented from entering?

OK, I am aware that the two different camps of MIC had held two different nomination days, with each respective nomination seeing only one candidate being named (wakakaka) because the other side had boycotted it, and with the respective candidate being returned unopposed as the party president. But nonetheless, excluding the 'other side' from entering the venue for nominating the president smacked of unilateralism and reminds me of:

(a) the remarkable EC conducting its delineation exercise recently in Sarawak where it (hardly surprising for its known nature and unofficial role) stymied public input, wakakaka, and

(b) another party wakakaka, which not only have blackouts in its polling station during party election (eat your heart out EC, wakakaka), total votes counted at a station exceeding the number of party members who voted there, wakakaka (eat your heart out, Raja Bomoh), but also flying chairs and tables during the counting process (eat your hearts out, Orville and Wilbur Wright, wakakaka).

But it would appear that some MIC members, notwithstanding having a now-better party president, have not given up their penchant and indeed tradition of sussing out potential pilots and aerodynamicists amongst their midst through ample demonstrations by those potential candidates of such skills, wakakaka.

It's been a while since MIC members threw flew chairs and tables at their party assemnlies, so well done MIC, and I mean for keeping to and hopefully maintaining traditions, wakakaka.

considerable skills are required to make chairs fly through the air

wakakaka