If not Anwar, then who?

FMT - Anwar never planned to unseat Mahathir, Azmin tells court (extracts):

KUALA LUMPUR: Anwar Ibrahim never had the intention of toppling Dr Mahathir Mohamad as Umno president some 20 years ago, the High Court was told today.

Anwar’s former private secretary Mohamed Azmin Ali said, instead, it was Anwar’s political enemies who hatched plans to remove his former boss from the party and government.

“Anwar’s political opponents were unhappy with his meteoric rise in politics and his quest to bring about change.

“They wanted to remove him to achieve their own agenda,” Azmin said when testifying for Anwar who has filed a RM100 million defamation suit against Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin.

Azmin, who is now Selangor Menter Besar, said Anwar never harboured the idea of challenging Mahathir for the top post during meetings with his (Anwar) political think-tanks.

He said Anwar had always regarded Mahathir as a fatherly figure and as the person who developed the country.

Do you believe Azmin, considering he is NOW allied to Mahathir and Pribumi (PPBM), and purportedly so NOW is Anwar too (ie. allied to Mahathir)?

Let's examine who would be the best person to tell us if Anwar had in 1998 wanted to topple Mahathir in order to become PM of Malaysia.

Nearly two decades ago, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was UMNO Youth Chief and the ally of (then DPM) Anwar Ibrahim.

He (Ahmad Zahid) was touted as the vanguard to oust Dr Mahathir out from the PM position well ahead of schedule (ie. Mahathir's planned and then-abandoned plan to retire), by voicing allegations of the PM Mahathir’s cronyism and nepotism. On June 1998, The New York Times ( NYT ) reported in its World Business page:

In what was seen as a jab at Mr Mahathir’s 17-year leadership, the head of Umno’s youth wing, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, had called for an end to cronyism and nepotism during a speech to delegates.

“Why were big loans to big businessmen approved so easily when small guys had to wait so long to get a loan of RM50,000?” (US$12,500) Mr Ahmad Zahid asked.

The NYT also reported that the PM (Mahathir then) responded to Zahid’s allegation the next day by posting hundreds of names of people who have won government projects in recent years, a list which included his accuser, Zahid.

Subsequently, Zahid’s superior survival skills [wakakaka] had him confessing that Anwar was the person who instructed him to attack Dr Mahathir with allegations of cronyism and nepotism.

'twas anwar, not innocent me
wakakaka 

The New Straits Times (June 19, 1999) informed us that Zahid finished his confessional by apologising to the then PM, and with a flamboyant flourish, acknowledged Dr Mahathir’s rebuke of him as a father-to-son advice.

Though many (at that time) wondered whether Mahathir was repulsed, revolted and repelled by Zahid’s smarmy volte-face, considering he was Anwar Ibrahim’s vanguard in that intra-party power manoeuvre, or was instead somewhat mollified by Zahid's bodek-speak, as Mahathir was known to appreciate 'due repentance', wakakaka, by UMNO blokes who attempted to rebel against him.

But doesn’t that make Zahid a far more credible (if even that adjective can be applied to him, wakakaka) witness than Azmin Ali as to whether Anwar Ibrahim had in 1998 wanted to depose Mahathir?

I have to admit I love the convoluted, complex and catawampus ‘treachery’ among Umno leadership aspirants. Niccolò Machiavelli would be enraptured with their intricate chicanery. Oh, that fabled Malay loyalty! Wakakaka.

But let's get back on track. Let's ask Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to confirm whether indeed it was Anwar who had in 1989 instructed him to attack Dr Mahathir with allegations of cronyism and nepotism. Wakakaka.

Police cannot touch North Korean diplomat

MM Online - Malaysia threatens N. Korean diplomat with arrest warrant over Jong-nam murder (extracts):

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 25 ― Malaysia said today it would issue an arrest warrant for a North Korean diplomat wanted for questioning over the murder of Kim Jong-nam if he doesn't voluntarily cooperate with the police.

“Reasonable” time will be given for the diplomat to come forward before police take further action, said Datuk Abdul Samah Mat, the police chief for Selangor state.

On Wednesday, Malaysia said 44-year-old Hyon Kwang Song, a second secretary at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, was wanted for questioning over the death of the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Samah said if the person concerned did not cooperate the police would issue a notice under Malaysian law, “compelling” them to appear before the investigation team.

Well, that's bullshit because the laws of Malaysia do NOT and canNOT apply to diplomats or foreigners with diplomatic immunity*.

* well, diplomats of and at a certain level of protocol - for example, diplomatic immunity does not apply to a lowly non-political-military staff like an embassy cook or driver unless they have been registered as an 'attache' of some sort, as the Russians are known to do, especially for their FSB (formerly KGB), wakakaka

Thus the police can't touch a single hair on North Korean Embassy 2nd Secretary Hyon Kwang Song's head nor any of his pubic hair, wakakaka.

For example, as reported by the Guardian: The murder of police officer Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984 resulted in the UK cutting all diplomatic ties with Tripoli.

Yvonne Fletcher 

No one was prosecuted over her death, and embassy staff claimed diplomatic immunity before being deported.

The young police officer was shot during a demonstration against the regime of Muammar Gaddafi, and the bullet was thought to have come from inside the building.

Last year, it was reported that prosecutors had named junior diplomat Abdulmagid Salah Ameri as a suspect. He would have to be stripped of any immunity if charges were to be brought.

It was subsequently learned that for some time around the period of 1984 the Libyan embassy was staffed by so-called 'revolutionary committees' who were in reality students loyal to Gaddafi - amateur and definitely NOT diplomats, so to speak.

Libyan Embassy London 1984 

Those clowns assumed control of the Embassy with the approval of the Libyan government.

One of them used a sterling machine gun to fire on an anti-Gaddafi demonstration (by Libyans) outside the Embassy (as if they were back at home) and in the same process killed Yvonne Fletcher.

The sad story did not end there but alas, you'll have to research the long affair yourself if you are interested.

And then there was:

... perhaps the most egregious use of diplomatic immunity goes to the former Burmese ambassador to Sri Lanka who reportedly murdered his wife before burning her body in his backyard – in full view of spectators and police.

The 1979 incident is recalled by Gerald Hensley, former vice dean of the diplomatic corps in Sri Lanka, who himself heard it secondhand from a Cuban counterpart.

"The story was she had started an affair with a band leader, and when she came back late one evening he shot her. The next morning he was out in Cinnamon Gardens, a suburb of Colombo, carrying logs for the fire," said Mr Hensley, who also served as New Zealand's high commissioner to Singapore as well as a posting in Washington, DC.

Neighbours recognised that the Burmese diplomat was making a funeral pyre and informed Sri Lankan police when he then dumped his wife's body on top.

"It caused quite a stink," Hensley said, adding: "The ambassador said it was Burmese territory and they couldn't enter. In the end he was removed by the Burmese government and nobody seems to know what happened to him."

Unless the North Korean Embassy waives diplomatic immunity for Hyon Kwang Song, there's nothing the police can do to him.

Hyon Kwang Song 

I suspect Abdul Samah Mat, the Selangor CPO, is (a) playing poker bluff with the North Korean Embassy, or (b) appealing to the good sense and honour of the North Korean Ambassador, or (c) totally clueless about diplomatic immunity, wakakaka.

An example of a country waiving diplomatic immunity for a member of its diplomatic staff would be the example as follows:

On February 1999 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Kazuko Shimokoji, wife of the Japanese Consul-General, showed up at the ER of a city hospital with two black eyes and a bruised neck. She told doctors that her husband had beaten her.

When local police questioned her husband, Mr. Shimokoji said, "Yes, I punched her out and she deserved it", and described the incident as "a cultural thing and not a big deal".

Although an arrest warrant was issued, Mr. Shimokoji could not be arrested due to his diplomatic immunity. However, his statement to the police was widely reported in both the local and Japanese press.

The subsequent public uproar prompted the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to waive Mr. Shimokoji's immunity. Though he pleaded guilty in Canadian court, he was given an absolute discharge. Nonetheless, he was recalled to Japan where he was reassigned to office duty and had his pay cut.

[no, he did not subsequently commit seppuku, wakakaka]

Another case which salvaged some honour for Malaysia after much great dishonour was the case of the idiot who berak (defecated) in front of a woman's house in some moronic occult belief, as follows:

In June 2014, the New Zealand government confirmed that Mohammed Rizalman Bin Ismail from Malaysia, aged in his 30s and employed at Malaysia's High Commission in Wellington, had invoked diplomatic immunity when faced with charges of burglary and assault with intent to rape after allegedly following a 21-year-old woman to her home.

He returned to Malaysia in May 2014 with his family while the case was still in hearing. The New Zealand foreign ministry was criticized for allowing the defendant to leave the country, which was blamed on miscommunication between the foreign ministries of the two countries, as Prime Minister John Key expressed his view that "the man should have faced the charges in New Zealand".

Malaysia eventually agreed to send the diplomat back to assist in investigations and he was eventually tried and detained in New Zealand.

But there is one last resort for Malaysia. According to Article 9 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961), covering diplomatic immunity, Wisma Putra can declare Hyon Kwang Song to be persona non grata. Then we will force North Korea to repatriate him within a reasonable period of time, failing which Hyon then will lose his diplomatic immunity.

But neither the North Koreans nor Burmese, etc have been the worst serial offender of diplomatic immunity and at the same disrespectful of others'. That dubious (dis)honor belongs to the USA, wakakaka. Its list of diplomatic crimes, civil offences and disrespect for others' is far too long to detail here. And the arrogant Yanks wonder why people around the world dislike them.

Cleanliness is next to godliness

MM Online - Impromptu cleanup by Japanese reporters covering Kim killing stuns local journo:

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 24 — A local journalist expressed both admiration and embarrassment after witnessing Japanese counterparts tidying up outside Hospital Kuala Lumpur where media outlets had camped out to cover the killing of Kim Jong-nam.

Amirul Saji, a reporter with national news agency Bernama, said he witnessed the Japanese reporters picking up rubbish after 2am on February 15, when other journalists had dispersed when it became apparent that there were no more updates on the case.

“As I was packing up, I noticed only the Japanese group appeared to still be staying on… they seemed to be searching for something while holding plastic bags… I thought they were looking for a lost colleague, but it turned out they were picking up rubbish from where the media gathered,” he wrote on Facebook.

“I was so embarrassed. Outsiders helping to pick up rubbish… and what stunned me even more was that they then took the waste along with them when they left in their taxis. I have no idea where they brought it to. Their discipline is very incredible!”

Amirul stressed that he was not fawning over foreigners with his post, but simply saluting their culture and discipline while in another country.

He also clarified that he was not saying that local media had littered the area, and simply highlighting an attitude that should be emulated.

“Maybe we Malaysians can follow their practice, make it an example. Who knows, we might surpass the Japanese in terms of cleanliness.”

The Japanese people (not just journalists) are renowned for their cleanliness, but such habits did not start yesterday, last year or a decade ago. It's a lifetime practice culminating into a national habit.

The Taiwanese have been teaching their schoolkids the same good habits too. And unusually in China, I have, while touring, seen road sweepers by the dozens keeping roads in remote places very clean.

One of my mateys (Malaysian living in Australia, like me, wakakaka) informed me that when he walked around any city or town in Japan, the cleanliness was so remarkably admirable. And he felt a deep sense of security and safety moving among the very friendly and very polite & courteous Japanese society.

He also noticed that there was no dustbin around in town for him to discard his ice cream wrapping, so like every Japanese, he had to take that wrapping (crushed into a teeny weeny ball) back to his hotel room to place same in the wastebasket.

I wonder whether the absence of dustbin in public places was to force the citizens into taking their daily garbage home or to enhance the pristine beauty (and odour) of their public domains.

And it's not just littering in public that the Japanese abhor but clean toilets are another items they fastidiously manage. And of course habits begin young and at home and at schools. I am proud to say I clean my toilets religiously too, wakakaka.

In this regard (toilets), our lil' neighbour does have a renowned reputation for very clean and innovative toilets, where now Singapore serves as adviser to India on developing and managing public toilets - perhaps a Himalayan task for the lil' red dot, given the sheer super size of Bhārat Mātā.

But again, I remind everyone that the 'toilet training' of Singaporeans did not happen yesterday, last year or a decade ago. It started sometime in the late 60's, 50 years ago, and likewise with its anti-litter fanaticism.

In the 1960s, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew introduced strict anti-litter laws, which are still in force today.

Anyone convicted of dropping litter can be fined up to S$1,000 for the first conviction. Repeat convictions cost up to $5,000, and may lead to a community service orders or anti-littering lectures (only given in Chinese), to curb repeat offenders. In the case of a third offence, law-breakers may be made to wear a sign reading “I am a litter lout”.

Singapore also fines people for putting spent chewing gum anywhere other than a bin ($100), for urinating in lifts ($500), and for failing to flush a public lavatory ($100).

Spot checks are regularly made by officers in public toilet cubicles – there is no point having a law if it’s not enforced.

And many were the amusing stories I heard at that time of non civic-minded Singaporeans forgetting to flush in a public toilet, and being startled by sirens placed in the public toilets (triggered off by excessive ammonia, wakakaka) wailing off like banshees to the offender's embarrassment and inevitable punishment.

But do not allow time per se to intimidate us. If we all collectively start today, before we can whisper 'Banzai' or 'KTM land', it'll suddenly be 50 years later when Helen and I with our individual dentures, wakakaka, will then be quietly ensconced in our small rooms at the Little Sisters of the Poor in Batu Lanchang, perhaps visited by former PM Tun Dr Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud, wakakaka again, ...

... and that's when we'll enjoy being members of a proud clean healthy Malaysian society, blessedly endowed with super-clean public toilets, roads, parks, cities and and also a safe, secure and friendly neighbourhood, and hopefully, with no more political bullshit, wakakaka for a 3rd time. 

Negara Gila

Kang Chol, North Korean Ambassador to Malaysia accused Malaysia of being in cahoots with South Korea in the murder of Kim Jong-nam, elder half-brother of Kim Jong-un, President of North Korea.

(left) President Kim Jong-un, (right) murdered victim Kim Jong-nam 

Najib believes the North Korean ambassador has been rude, and dear Hisham thinks the bloke from Pyongyang has crossed the line, wakakaka. Our ministers might not know what North Koreans, ambassadors or not, could be capable of, that is, if they (the North Korean embassy staff) value their own lives from their own country.

On 9 October 1983, North Korean agents bombed Rangoon (now Yangoon) in an attempt to murder visiting South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan, the 5th President of South Korea - read this for more details.

From Wikipedia: Chun was sentenced to death in 1996 for his role in the Gwangju Massacre, but later pardoned by President Kim Young-sam with the advice of then President-elect Kim Dae-jung, whom Chun's administration had sentenced to death some 20 years earlier.

In November 2009, Swedish police arrested two North Korean embassy staff for smuggling 230,000 Russian cigarettes into Sweden.

Much earlier, in 1978, North Korean agents kidnapped a top actress from South Korea (Choi Eun-hee, Korea’s most famous actress) and subsequently, also kidnapped her husband, famed Korean film director Shin Sang-ok. The former (late) President Kim Jong-il wanted them to make propaganda films for him.

the kidnapped couple subsequently escaped in Vienna in 1986

North Koreans had also kidnapped others, mainly Japanese, to train North Koreans as spies and also to provide Japanese identities for North Korean spies.

Kaoru Hasuike and girlfriend Yukiko Okudo kidnapped in 1978 and forced to marry in North Korea (even though they had planned to marry prior to their kidnapping), had two kids who were brought up believing they were North Koreans.

They returned to Japan (initially without the kids) after 24 years, following an agreement between the two nations after their diplomatic establishment. Their children joined them subsequently when North Korea was satisfied tht parents did not bad-mouthed the kidnapping nation.

I hope North Korea is not looking for bloggers gulp gawd omigosh but I'll recommend to President Kim Jong-un one sweetie and one bloke (though not me, wakakaka).

wakakaka 

Mahathir weird preference

Everyone, well virtually everyone knows Mahathi's pet project has been the Proton car, just as his aspiration for Malaysia to produce steel saw the creation of Perwaja, and just his aspiration for Malaysia to control or dominate the world's tin market (considering at one time Malaysia was the world's biggest tin producing country) saw teh sorry saga of Maminco, etc etc etc ... and I haven't even come to FOREX yet.

At one time I dare say there was no doubt he loved Proton.

But now, after reading an article by Lim Sian See, I wonder whether we might have been mistaken, that was, in his supposed love for Proton.

According to (pro BN, wakakaka) blogger Lim Sian See, in a posting today, Mahathir’s remarks implied he was, in Lim's words, unwilling to give the national carmaker a chance to expand.

That would be like saying he loves Anwar Ibrahim, Najib and the Chinese, wakakaka.

But alas, unexpected as it has been, it seems startling true.

Lim continued: Dr Mahathir had previously been quoted as saying that should an FSP (foreign strategic partner) be brought in, it would cause vendors and component suppliers to cease operations, resulting in “lots of workers losing their jobs.”

Thus Lim accused Mahathir for being more concerned about the survival of vendors and suppliers to Proton rather than the survival of Proton per se.

Lim wondered why Mahathir had been so unwilling to give Proton a chance for survival but rather wanted to maintain the status quo where only vendors and suppliers to Proton seem to be the ones who will benefit.

Lim said: “It appears that the suppliers and vendors to Proton continues to be Mahathir’s main concern."

Lim had in a previous post in October mentioned about Mahathir complaining that his businessmen acquaintances were not given supplier contracts by Proton.

And Mahathir has also made calls for Malaysia to re-impose heavy protection to Proton.

Lim said: “It appears that more than three decades of forcing Malaysians to purchase over-priced and low specifications cars while driving up the loan burden of millions of Malaysians is not enough.”

Aiyoyo Mahathir, make up your mind lah - should Proton be saved or should your businessmen acquaintances be?

'Infallible' Hadi Awang love of punishments kau kau

Is PAS denying that man is fallible?

by Scott Ng

February 23, 2017

Those who attended Saturday's rally must have neglected to consider the implications of the party's move to change the law.
COMMENT

As thousands filled up Padang Merbok in response to PAS’ call for a show of support for its proposal to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 to give more punitive power to the syariah courts, perhaps the greater implications of such a move were lost on the massive audience.

PAS has made no bones about this move being the first step towards introducing hudud in its stronghold of Kelantan. And if the amendments are passed, the maximum penalties for shariah offences will be raised to a 30-year jail term, a RM100,000 fine and 100 strokes of the cane.

Prominent personalities such as Zaid Ibrahim have spoken out passionately against this revision of Act 355, citing a lack of faith in PAS’ ability to ensure that the proposed new powers won’t be abused. Other pundits have spoken of the possibility that the revised law will foster distrust and encourage busy bodies. Still others have raised the fear that the rights of non-Muslims will be affected. Indeed, the lives of Muslims and non-Muslims in this country are so intertwined that what affects one will ultimately affect the other.

Another significant point was brought up by Perlis mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin. He spoke of the fallibility of man’s interpretation of God’s law. He questioned whether amputation for theft was what made a law Islamic. He even said that PAS’ drive to adopt its interpretation of hudud reminded him of the mentality of the Daesh. “They think only of punishing.”

Reminding Muslims of their duty to debate and criticise the desire for such a law, Asri said it was clear that time and context would apply to the adoption of laws from centuries past.

Perhaps the greatest fear is that PAS’ version of hudud will turn us into a regressive society, constantly concerned with the sins of our neighbours and far too obsessed with punishment to truly change anything. The Prophet was clear in saying that the punishments prescribed under hudud are meant to be taken in the context of a village, a town, a community, where the first option was indeed not punishment but mitigation of the very behaviour that would lead to punishment.

The law is often too obsessed with little details to worry about having a caring kind of justice. Codifying hudud can only lead to a rigid, paranoid society that sees not the opportunity to change behaviour but instead to punish and deter. Such a society would use fear as a weapon against dissatisfied members of society. Hadi Awang’s authoritarian streak belies a nature some fear may be unkind and unforgiving.

The question should not be “How can we punish better?” but “What can we do to change things?” Without this fundamental paradigm shift, the conversation on hudud in Malaysia will remain one dominated by words like fear, repression, and unfairness. That’s the opposite of what a divine law should be seen as.

Perhaps the Perlis mufti said it best: “I fear that a person who steals a car will get his hand amputated but a nobleman who steals millions will not get his hand amputated.’’

If that doesn’t defeat the intention of hudud as implemented by our politicians, perhaps then we are too far gone.


Scott Ng is an FMT columnist.

PAS MPs absent from parliamentary policy debates?

MM Online - Has PAS become a single-issue party? Yes, for now (extracts):

bukan pengundi (rakyat) kah?

oh! kt lupa parti pas bukan parti demokratik

wakakaka 

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 21 ― After the clergy class drove the so-called progressives out of PAS in the 2015 party election, the Islamist party’s new leadership has since revived calls for Shariah rule in Malaysia.

For almost three years, Malaysia's oldest opposition party had seemingly made its ambition for the implementation of hudud laws in Kelantan ― which some believe is the reason behind its move to table a private member’s Bill in Parliament aiming at elevating the Shariah Courts' punitive powers ― as its sole preoccupation.

Such perception is strengthened by the leadership's seemingly lackadaisical attitude towards other crucial issues like rising costs of living and corruption.

In Parliament, PAS MPs are almost absent in all key policy debates. Apart from religious issues, observers say the new creed of PAS leaders has yet to make a mark intellectually or economically.

Political observers say these factors have given the view that PAS is a party with no capacity to tackle complex issues some truth.

If you vote for PAS, that's what you get - a party with no concern about important social issues such as rising cost of living, corruption, etc, and worse, with no capacity to tackle complex issues that matter for the socio-economic-security aspects of the rakyat.

Another bedevilment for those who voted for PAS has been the observation that In Parliament, PAS MPs are almost absent in all key policy debates. 

Raja Tuang eh? ('Tuang' is colloquial for 'playing truant'). Apa ini, makan gaji buta kah?

But more importantly, how are those who voted for PAS represented in parliament on policy debates that could affect their lives, children and livelihood?

Kaki makan gaji buta - No wonder PAS exco members in Selangor has shamelessly put on their thick skin to say they refuse to vacate their Pakatan-appointments.

Their argument has been that they were elected by the rakyat to do their duty, but they conveniently forget that their appointments and associated duties were as Pakatan appointed excos, and since they have disavowed their membership in Pakatan, then by the grace of Allah swt, they should be honourable and leave the Pakatan exco positions.

Malu lah, 'ni ahli2 PAS; aisehman, mereka langsung ta'ada maruah.

Their shameless exhibitions have been exactly like what occurred in Penang when those PAS members, appointed to various state positions prior to the breakup between PAS and DAP occurred, had to be dragged away crying, wailing and screaming.

There was also Hadi Awang who threatened another May 13 if Penang were to hold local elections, and that was probably because he feared PAS members won't be elected whereas without state elections they would be appointed (via Pakatan sharing formula).

From FMT (extracts):

Abdul Hadi Awang ... claimed that there would be a repeat May 13 if the DAP kept pushing for local government elections. [...]

Hadi accused the DAP of unilaterally pushing for local elections to pander to its votebank in urban and semi-urban areas.

“We cannot be thinking of politics and economic domination in a mixed society,” said Hadi while taking a swipe at DAP, in vague and couched terms without explaining how not holding local elections will strengthen democracy in the country.and that's why kt has described PAS as an undemocratic party (see above)

Spartans no more?

FMT on DAP leaders getting smug (an article by TK Chua, abbreviated by kt):

Four DAP representatives – one MP and three assemblymen – quit the party recently. The episode has generated much discussion and doubts have arisen among supporters, adversaries and ordinary voters about the stability of the party. What has happened to the party? It is unprecedented to say the least. [...]

I don’t think these representatives were enticed to leave DAP by an external source. I don’t think Barisan Nasional or any other political party is interested in them right now. [...]

So why did they quit? I think it is more because of their personal frustration and disappointment rather than their intent to throw a spanner in the works for the DAP.

Whether we like it or not, some DAP leaders are more capable and dynamic than others, especially the younger and more educated ones. Some have formed the inner core, leaving many minor leaders at the periphery.

I think feelings of jealousy and being sidelined are real among older party comrades who struggled for many years earlier without much success. The more recent ones have benefited from being elected and appointed to positions in state governments very quickly. I could easily name many who were nominated by the party to stand in winnable seats even though they were still wet behind the ears. [...]

I think the elite core of DAP has become smug. They think the party’s idealism and struggle are sufficient to galvanise support among the rank and file in the party.

Well, in any party, there are grassroots leaders, organisers, motivators, and minor leaders who need recognition, support, rewards and nurturing. [...]

There must be humility in consultation with minor leaders even if their ideas are eventually rejected.

In earlier days when the DAP was still struggling to gain a more firm foothold in Malaysian politics, I suspect their leaders could be ultra paranoid about who could join the party, and went about vetting membership applications with perhaps a tight-ass mentality, wakakaka.

Perhaps they feared infiltration, with the party becoming embedded with sleepers. The old Malay saying, 'Musuh dalam selimut' was then much feared.

Members of the DAP especially its leadership lived like Spartans - politically disciplined, hardy, principled, courageous, self-sacrificing, and as a cohesive team, etc.

Apart from that besieged paranoia, there was the deniable reality of Malays in general ignoring the DAP, seeing it as a party dominated by mainly-nons who wanted to dismantle the NEP, the manna of the Heartland.

Still, some Malays became members, but other than Ahmad Nor, none were at that time successful as DAP election candidates. Nonetheless they plodded on as DAP Spartans, like my Penang lang Zulkifli Mohd Noor who was with the DAP for 26 years until he resigned on 24 Oct 2013.

Zulkifli Mohd Noor 

Zul stood as a federal candidate for DAP in my favourite federal constituency of Bukit Bendera (where my hometown of Ayer Itam is) in the 2004 general election.

Like BB (Bukit Bintang), Bukit Bendera (coincidentally also BB) was and is a Chinese-majority federal constituency, currently represented by DAP’s Liew Chin Tong.

But the DAP candidate in Bukit Bendera in 2004 was Zulkifli Mohd Noor.

B. Bendera then had the following breakdown of registered voters: 13.82% Malays, 73.97% Chinese and 11.07% Indians, with 1.14% others (presumably Eurasians and Thais?).

Zul won nearly 18000 of the 47000 votes, just a mere 5500 short of becoming the 2nd ever DAP Malay MP.

Note: Ahmad Nor was the first DAP MP, He won the federal constituency of Bayan Baru in Penang in the 1990 general election.

Since 1969 to 2004, 6 DAP Malay politicians won in elections – as just mentioned, Ahmad Nor in the federal constituency of Bayan Baru, and 5 ADUNs (i) Ibrahim Singgeh; (ii) Haji Hassan bin Haji Ahmad; (iii) Daing Ibrahim Othman; (iv) Mohd Salleh Nakhoda Itam & (v) Fadzlan Yahya won state seats.

Regardless of Zul's loss, his achievement was no mean feat if we look at the above mentioned ethnic breakdown of 13.82% Malays, 73.97% Chinese and 11.07% Indians, with 1.14% others.

Even if all 14% Malays in that constituency had turned up to cast their ballots for Zulkifli in 2004 (which was as likely as war criminal Binjamin Netanyahu withdrawing Israeli military and settlers back behind the 1967 borders), he wouldn’t get more than 5,000 votes.

So, even with 5,000 Malays all voting for him, where did the other 13,000 plus votes came from?

Thus, despite being parachuted into B. Bendera at the eleventh hour, Zul did remarkably well. It's a pity and to kaytee's immense regret that he didn't stand again in the same constituency in 2008 as the political tsunami of that year would have carried him home to victory with a probable landslide majority.

But alas, in 2008 he was replaced by relatively newcomer Liew Chin Tong, and this was exactly what TK Chua wrote (as above):

Liew Chin Tong 

I think feelings of jealousy and being sidelined are real among older party comrades who struggled for many years earlier without much success. The more recent ones have benefited from being elected and appointed to positions in state governments very quickly. I could easily name many who were nominated by the party to stand in winnable seats even though they were still wet behind the ears.

Now, this is not an indictment on Liew Chin Tong who has been the party strategist who in recent years recruited many Malays into DAP. But it's a review of how the DAP had marginalised Zul from mainstream politics, replacing the old for the new.

Whether Zul was jealous or not of the party's johnnies-come-lately, he nonetheless left the DAP, a drastic move for a member who was in DAP for 26 years.

I presume he resigned out of wretched frustration, especially following the 2013 elections, where I studiously looked for him but alas, again he was NOT nominated by the DAP as a candidate - Zairil Khir was for B Bendera.

Zairil Khir 

Again, nothing against Zairil but if Zairil was nominated as the BB candidate, why not Zul?

On Zul's resignation, unlike those hard-up PAS Aduns in Selangor who clung on desperately to their appointed posts, he relinquished three party and government-link company (GLC) positions, saying he lost confidence in the party leadership, which he claimed (via FMT) as being too self-centred and seeking only selfish political goals.

He stated: “I believe the current DAP leaders have swayed far away from the party original struggle based on socialist-democrat ideals. This can be seen from their leadership style and policies in both party and state government.”

You must have heard of the Arabian Nights story of Aladdin (would you believe he was a Chinese?), in which the sly sorcerer (an Arab) cried out "New lamps for old lamps".

who would have thought Aladdin was orang Tionghua, wakakaka 

Well, the DAP in my sad opinion did just that, putting up new whiz kids like Tony Pua to replace (and sideline) old warriors like Zul.

Additionally, DAP's iron grip on Penang and the fact of it winning the most number of federal seats among the opposition made the DAP core leadership too f**king (in TK Chua's lovely choice of word) smug.

now, this is smug 

Also, with LKS now going about his questionable way with his old archfiend ... ooops I mean ... archfoe, who he had berated kau kau for more than 45 years, I wonder with much trepidation as to where the DAP, under the current corp of leadership, is heading?

I worry for the DAP.