Pakatan's misplaced snobbery

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

The out-of-date joke on him was he allegedly snoozed during his swearing in ceremony at the Alor Setar Palace three days ago.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jaga standards lah even in your criticisms.