Spiritual homes?

When MIC experienced difficult internal party problems, especially on near irreconcilability among its leaders, those leaders were known or persuaded to go on a 'retreat' to Madras, now known as Chennai, to sort out their animosities, when at times resolving their family tiff had been allegedly moderated by some big timer in that Indian state.

Kakinang especially if the Aneh was an influential bigshot could undoubtedly help heal wounds and irreconcilability among the Malaysian tambees.

When MCA experienced difficult internal party problems, especially near irreconcilability among its leaders, those leaders were known or persuaded (by Dr M, wakakaka) to instead take a non-Chinese moderator, namely, Allahyarham Tun Ghafar baba, to become its Malay President of the Chinese party, albeit only temporarily.

wah pun see kakinang ma

Unlike the Anehs, the Ah Hneas either dared not contemplate 'retreating' to one of the China's or to be fair to them, didn't consider China (any one of them) as their spiritual home anymore or there wasn't a friendly or known big timer influential enough in one of the Chinese states to moderate their attempts to patch up.

Mind you, the origin of the MCA lies in the Kuomintang Party, where the (then) Malayan founders were Kuomintang officers.

For example, Leong Yew Koh was a Kuomintang major general who became MCA's party secretary general. After serving in Tunku's cabinet as Justice Minister (he was a London trained lawyer), he was appointed by the Agong to be governor of Malacca, the first and probably the last Chinese to become head of a Malayan state.

Another was Kuomintang colonel Henry HS Lee who became Malaya's 1st Finance Minister. And our well known the late Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu was a Kuomintang colonel in its medical service.

Perhaps they should have copied Aneh's example and gone to Taiwan lah, wakakaka, at least for a happy jolly.

DAP are known to be quite cheapskates so their retreat would usually be in the Cameron Highlands, where they would also have opportunities to buy cheap cabbages and radish, wakakaka, which should make their wives happy, I hope.

Besides, some of the buildings up in the Highlands are of British colonial designs and look like English mansions. Those DAP members could pretend they were in England, wakakaka again.

But when UMNO encounters internal party problems, their leaders prefer to go to London, the real one, not the DAP imitation version  - see Malaysia-Today's The 'crimes' that Hadi committed.

And the leaders included not only UMNO but wow and double wow, also PKR and PAS. Mind, both latter parties have been offsprings of UMNO.

Mungkin Malay leaders are closeted Anglophiles? Wakakaka.

Yalah, in my KTemoc Kongsamkok's post Foreign spices add flavour to Queen's English I wrote that for some Malaysian Anglophiles:

The occasional trips to London, his cultural Mecca, and even the Sussex and Cotswold countryside, would be obligatory, and events to joyfully share with his peers – “Oh my goodness, they have ruined the Oval. The green is utterly wretched. I am also mortified with the standards of English cricket today.”

Wakakaka.

Najib going Swedish?

Najib has been pummeled by both sides of politics, by the Pakatan federal opposition on one side, and by his former mentor Dr M on the other. He must be feeling like a badly squashed sandwich that schoolboys in Australia casually shaft into the pockets of their school blazers, wakakaka.

While the former adversary is to be expected as part of the Westminster system, the latter is political party insurrection by Dr M and his cohorts, who have been very dissatisfied and aggressive UMNO people, dissatisfied for reasons of their own as I'll explain shortly.

It's one thing to be attacked by Pakatan but another to be subjected to so-called 'friendly fire' which in reality is not in the least friendly at all, wakakaka.

Let's consider the latter. Dr M's berating Najib about 1MDB would have been praiseworthy if he Dr M had not himself allegedly frittered away taxpayers' money as described by Barry Wain's book.

And there's more.

Azizan Abdullah, a FMT reader, wrote in Free Malaysia Today's Never forget the billions lost under Mahathir:

Malaysians must never forget that under former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir there were monetary losses amounting to tens of billions of ringgit unaccounted for, and irretrievable.

These include:

• Forex scandal in early 90s : RM30 billion 
• The Perwaja Steel Scandal : RM10 billion 
• Bank Bumi scandal: RM10 billion 
• Maminco-Makuwasa Affair RM1.6 Billion 
• Mahathir used Petronas as a ‘bank’ to bail out many companies, banks etc. 

Opposition politician Syed Husin Ali said, “Petronas has neither been fully transparent nor accountable with how it spends its money, especially in aiding and abetting Tun Mahathir to indulge in unproductive construction of mega projects, to bail out ailing crony companies and corporate figures, and to involve [itself] in excessive and wasteful spending on celebrations and conferences.”

• Mahathir used his position to bail out his children or to give them special benefits. 

Aisehman that's real chiah-laart lah (teruk sangat lah), but wait, another FMT reader, Rahman Mohd Irwan, has been far far more feral, writing in Free Malaysia Today's Dr M, are you ready to answer for your corrupt ways too?:

Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has declared war for all intents and purposes against the Malaysian Government in his blogsite Chedet, with multiple attacks against 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and current Prime Minister Najib Razak in a 29-point posting.

Since he feels it is alright for him to ask so many questions based on what others are claiming to be shady dealings by 1MDB and Najib, maybe it’s time for him to also answer so many claims of corruption made against him.

Dr M should start by replying to one of his most vocal critics – hedge fund manager George Soros – who outlined a very long list of the former PM’s wrongdoings in an article published in The Bangkok Post in 2012. Soros has made his opinion of Dr M clear. “Your 3 sons are worth US$8 billion. Where do they get this money? Of course, corruption.”

“You are known as the Marcos of Malaysia, having enriched yourself to the tune of billions.”

“You have more foolishness than most people would believe. Billions are used to build two high rise Petronas buildings that benefit nobody. They now stand tall, a symbol of stupidity and irresponsibility.

“What is this reclamation of 10 islands off Kedah? Totally absurd and stupid. Of course your benefit is 20%.”

“And the bridge from Malacca to Sumatra across international waters? Why not build a bridge to the moon? I am sure you still can get your 20%.”

“You called me a moron. How can a moron make so much money? By allowing short selling and borrowing millions of shares from your banks, we fund managers made millions out of your inexperience and poor regulations.”

“You lose all Malaysians’ money, therefore you are the moron.”

Before I comment on the two feral letters by FMT "readers" (wakakaka), we can see from such, while it's not that Dr M has been wrong in questioning Najib on 1MDB, it's his (Dr M's) real motive we question.

Look, if what Barry Wain, Azizan Abdullah and George Soros via Rahman Mohd Irwan alleged have been true, then it's a case of a big humongous sooty black kettle calling the Ah Jib Gor pot black or, if we want to be more correct, red (not commie-red but red as in being responsible for the debit columns going red in Malaysia's ledger, wakakaka).

And why is Dr M hell-bent on doing it, since by criticizing Najib's 1MDB those criticisms have been glaringly and embarrassingly pointing back at him for his projects during the time he was PM, as mentioned above by Azizan Abdullah and Rahman Mohd Irwan?

So could we argue that it's not really Malaysia's financial health per se Dr M is interested in, but rather, Najib's ouster he seeks, for whatever reasons he has. The 1MDB only provides for him an attacking point but one which has ricochet back at him. But does Dr M care?

If we review the period since Najib took over from Pak Lah, the 1MDB issue has only been the latest in a series of issues Dr M has been hitting on Najib's head because as we and everyone know, he's mad at Najib for not playing in accordance to his (Dr M's) tune, wakakaka.

Now, many believe the two letters to FMT criticizing Dr M could possibly be part of the pro-Najib fightback campaign. Mind, they could well be concerned Malaysians incensed by what Barry Wain has written in his book or George Soros had commented on in the Bangkok Post, though I personally doubt that, wakakaka.

In my recent post Hypothetically speaking ... I wrote:

Dr M is a very formidable 'retired' (wakakaka) politician but one who had in his 'retirement' (wakakaka again) brought down a PM. I still recall how he was then interdicted every which way by the 'authority' (prior to his blogging days), yet he still won in the end in having his appointed successor removed.

I'm sure Najib remembers what had happened and thus wants Dr M and his cohorts silenced.

Hypothetically speaking, what will happen if Ah Jib Gor as a 'cornered rat' decides to become real feral and ferociously retaliate against Dr M, say, by referring to or even investigating Dr M's prime ministerial "track record" (eg. as per allegations in Barry Wain's book)?

Coincidentally, one day after I posted above, many pollies and media people are now discussing the coming Gunfight at OK Corral between the two, with one journalist at FMT even using the 'cornered rat' example, wakakaka, when he wrote:

When backed into a corner, even a mouse would try to attack a snake, and Najib has been driven so far back that his only options are to fight or to die. .

So Uncle Lim KS has asked (as reported by TMI) whether Najib will be sacking Dr M from UMNO? though I wonder, even if Najib sacks Dr M from UMNO, how will he be able to silence the Grand Olde Man? Wakakaka.

The only way I suppose is to become real feral and ferociously retaliate against Dr M, say, by referring to or even investigating Dr M's prime ministerial "track record" as mentioned in my post Hypothetically speaking ....

Do you think it'll come to that? Wakakaka.

Anyway, Najib going for Dr M will explain why I have titled this post as Najib going Swedish (or Nordic).

You see, I mentioned at the very top that Najib must be feeling like a squashed sandwich with assaults from both sides, so by removing Dr M, if he can wakakaka, he becomes an open sandwich, or a Swedish sandwich called smörgås. Wakakaka.

by the by, is that kangkung on top?

wakakaka

And indeed if Najib succeeds, as he has to if he wants to survive, will Muhyiddin be next to go?

God-given powers?

Extract from TMI - Forget hudud, look into economy, Kelantan folk tell PAS

TMI photo

As the Kelantan government prepares to debate amendments to its Shariah laws this Wednesday to again pave the way for the reintroduction of hudud, the spotlight has been cast again on this conservative Malay heartland. [...]

But against the backdrop of an increasingly uncertain national economic outlook and the fallout from one of Kelantan’s worst floods in modern history, more local Kelantan folk are calling for their leaders – and the rest of the country – to shift their focus from hudud to bread-and-butter issues. [...]

While life in sleepy Kota Baru appears to have returned to normal, there are still signs of December’s disastrous floods at every corner, from the muddy watermark stains on the walls of shophouses and homes, to the reduced supply of food items such as fish and certain vegetables.

“The suffering from the floods this time has affected everyone,” said Rosnita Nordin, a retired civil servant who was spending her weekend morning shopping at the local market in Kota Baru.

“Already the prices for fish have gone up because so many of our fishermen have lost their boats and their homes. There’s a bit of uncertainty on how things will be in the future,” she said.

Economic and infrastructure development, or the lack of it, has always been one of the fiercest points of contention against PAS rule.

Instead of focusing on the priorities of economics and livelihood of the rakyat, why is PAS still so bent on the issue of hudud?

Will that bring an immediate relief to economic and livelihood problems? If PAS believes it can, pray let us know how and by when?

Will that bring an immediate end to corruption and injustice? No need for PAS to answer, because we can see the opposite effect in hudud-ruled nations.

Or is the truth more about a fiercer (and thus more effective) form of control over the masses?

For answer, read extracts of Malay Mail Online's ‘Arrogant’ JAWI again renews pursuit of Borders manager

Aside from the continuing its years-long prosecution of her, Chief Sharie Prosecutor (KPS) Mohamad Adib Husain also took the unusual step of serving the notice of the appeal directly to Nik Raina at her place of work in the Mid Valley shopping mall.

"Last Friday, I received notice that the Ketua Pendakwa Syarie (KPS) has appealed to the Shariah Appeal Court against the order of discharge not amounting to acquittal (DNAA) granted by the Shariah High Court."The KPS served the notice of appeal at Borders Gardens ignoring the fact that my firm LHAG (Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill) are solicitors on record. The KPS breached the rule that they should not communicate with my clients directly," Nik Raina’s lawyer, Rosli Dahlan, told Malay Mail Online when contacted.

According to the lawyer, JAWI's actions showed "arrogance" in deliberately wanting to intimidate Nik Raina by serving the notice directly to the bookstore manager instead of the lawyers representing her in the case.

"To intimidate", that's why!

A couple of years back, I wrote the following lines:

Quite frankly, I have never heard of any theocratic state which has shown itself to be tolerant, balanced or compassionate, not even in medieval theocratic (Buddhist) Tibet.

Invariably, lowly educated or/and young clerics and religious enforcement officers, given almost unrestrained powers, would sense an uncontrollable compulsion to prohibit, persecute (not prosecute, though that'd come subsequently), and punish - if anything, just to show their powers, and to invoke fears (which they possibly mistake for respect).

Yes, those clerics love to invoke fears, either by using god's name or by using state sanctioned religious laws!



This was amply and notoriously demonstrated in the infamous raid of Zouk nightclub by JAWI officers some years back, where and when we witnessed how supposedly trained JAWI religious officers behaved like savage predators. 

Some people just cannot handle power, and as I have just mentioned, would feel an overriding compulsive and sometimes addictive need to exercise or rather, abuse that power.

And that’s exactly what occurred at the Zouk nightclub, where a religious departmental campaign to curb or stop un-Islamic, un-Malaysian behaviour, or that viewed as offensive to Asian values, degenerated into a disgraceful un-Islamic show of unfettered power and oppressive dominance by empowered officials.

Instead of counselling those young (and supposedly) social degenerates, the JAWI officials were the social degenerates themselves, who exploited their position of religious power to humiliate and terrorize the victims.





Those co-called moral police immorally forced the young sweeties caught in the nightclub to urinate right in the open in front of their hot, hungry, lustful and ogling eyes.

But I wonder whether we could still argue in the favour of those religious department officers by claiming they were diligently scrutinizing those young wayward women for any signs of deviant behaviour, for example, like peeing while standing up.

As one observer SI Azhar commented angrily to BBC:

"If the reports were true, the officers [who] committed those acts were no better than hypocrites, trying to uphold good values of Islam but themselves never follow[ing] it. You have ashamed us fellow Malays and Muslims. Just tell me, how can we encourage non-Muslims to embrace Islam with this kind of attitude?!"

The BBC report also informed us:

... allegations have surfaced about misconduct by Malaysia's religious police during a raid on a top Kuala Lumpur nightclub last month.

More than 100 plainclothes officers from the Federal Territories Islamic Department (JAWI) detained young Muslims at the Zouk nightclub.

Female detainees complained of sexual harassment by officers and the incident has led to a heated debate about the department's future.

Eyewitnesses have now told the BBC that officers assaulted and severely beat members of the club's staff.

The sources also said that non-Muslim patrons, including tourists, who were outside the officers' jurisdiction, also reported being threatened with violence.

"Up to 150 of them came in," one witness said. "They didn't identify themselves, they didn't show any ID cards. They just forced their way in and started pushing people around."

In the days after the raid it emerged that dozens of young women were held for up to 10 hours without access to a toilet, long after male detainees had been released.

A number of women said religious officers ordered them to pose in their nightclub outfits while others were asked lewd questions about their genitalia. [...]

Their barbaric bad behaviour is guaranteed to happen again because the system provides near unbridled power to officials but who lack knowledge in depth, intellectual capacity or good character to handle such authority.

Abuses are likely to occur when power is not moderated by knowledgeable and scrupulous responsibility.

Thus the problem lies in the unauthorized and abusive exercise of power by those in authority on their unfortunate victims, namely, the power to religiously-legally dominate the victims, to make them do what the authority so desires, sometimes to stretch the exercise of power as far as the oppressors' imagination permits.

Recall the Gombak case in 2006 - we read in NST about the lustful leery lascivious behaviour of a Jais officer who caught an unfortunate woman for khalwat.

The poor sweetie had gone to Jais office in Gombak the day after her embarrassing encounter with Jais, in a vain hope to 'settle' the case amicably. However, she claimed she got more than she bargained for.

She was molested and forced to perform oral sex on said Jais officer as an inducement to let her off the hook. She also alleged the officer used criminal force to outrage her modesty by caressing her breasts and kissing her on the lips.

So much for these 'warriors' of Islam who had on a number of occasions resorted to violence even on minor infringements such as khalwat - read this. Obviously those officers love to flex their muscles.

Hence it isn't too surprising after all that we see the current persistent harassment of Nik Raina of Borders.

In January 2009, when Lim Guan Eng was in Kuala Terengganu to campaign for PAS in a by-election, he was grilled by reporters on the hudud issue.





According to Malaysiakini’s Hadi, Guan Eng grilled over hudud, Lim Guan Eng firmly asserted:

"If any problems occur, we will resolve it through musyawarah, that is through discussions. All three parties must hold discussions and if a consensus is not reached, it must be discussed again.”

"This means, should PKR and PAS agree to implement hudud and DAP disagrees then it cannot be implemented. Everything must be discussed until all three parties agree.”

But Malaysiakini's journalist Andrew Ong pointed out, that as Lim GE talked for 5 minutes on the Pakatan agreement for consensus before implementation of hudud, Pak Haji Hadi Awang was noticeably uncomfortable.

[Was he squirming or rolling eyes or sneering? Wakakaka]

Andrew said the all too obvious body language forced Terengganu PAS chief Mustafa Ali to leap in to salvage the situation. Mustafa stated that hudud was not an issue in the Kuala Terengganu by-election as the results would not have any impact on the state or federal government.





That was then, but what about now?

As I had blogged in Anwar Ibrahim misleading on PAS hudud intention, Karpal Singh was less than impressed by Anwar's assurance to the non-Muslim voters in Kuala Terengganu that there was no need to reject the hudud proposal as it was only applicable to Muslims. He had also glibly dismissed Karpal’s remark that the PAS' proposed legislation was unconstitutional.

But we then read in Malaysiakini's Karpal: Anwar's statement on hudud misleading that Bhai shot down Anwar’s statement as a fallacy! In other words, it was Grade 1 bull!

I recall before the demise of Lim Kean Siew, the well-known Labour Party politician and subsequently MCA leader, he remarked with a cynical laugh about (perhaps even sneered at) MCA’s ignorance on the significance of Dr Mahathir proclaiming Malaysia as an Islamic nation, stating (words to the effect, that’s the best I can do) “they don’t know what an Islamic nation means, and just what they are getting into!”


Lim Kean Siew

So, MCA has been just as culpable and complicit in Dr Mahathir’s Islamic Malaysia, and thus in no f* position to point any finger at anyone, until it does so at itself, first!

But we should consider PAS' hudud intent as a blessing in disguise because it has revealed to us the intent and impulse of an increasingly arrogant PAS.

Perhaps like the scorpion, it has decided to sting its carriage across the river BUT before even the ferrying has begun, let alone reaching the other shore.

'Tis its 3-P nature, that of Prohibit, Persecute and Punish.

Hypothetically speaking ...

TMI - Dr M’s blog back sporadically after suspended for 3 hours reported:

I'm coming after you, boy

Dr Mahathir's popular blog is now accessible intermittently, three hours after it was suspended due to what was described as "high traffic volume".

His chedet.cc blog earlier carried a 403 code, which means denied access to the webserver. It was reported that the main page had displayed the message, “the account has been suspended”.

'Twas claimed that the crash had been due to extraordinary heavy traffic and not due to blocking by anyone including the MCMC, but it must have brought momentary relief for someone, wakakaka.

Dr M is a very formidable 'retired' (wakakaka) politician but one who had in his 'retirement' (wakakaka again) brought down a PM. I still recall how he was then interdicted every which way by the 'authority' (prior to his blogging days), yet he still won in the end in having his appointed successor removed.

I'm sure Najib remembers what had happened and thus wants Dr M and his cohorts silenced.

you're sweet Yingluck but I don't want to end up like you

Hypothetically speaking, what will happen if Ah Jib Gor as a 'cornered rat' decides to become real feral and ferociously retaliate against Dr M, say, by referring to or even investigating Dr M's prime ministerial "track record" (eg. as per allegations in Barry Wain's book)?

One wonders ........

Poloma?

No poli-talk in this post.

grade A 'poloma'

Just a quick query on a Malayan (sorry, not Malaysian) colloquialism, to wit, the word or term 'poloma'.

It could be 'polo-mah' too, but I hope you get the gist of how it sounds, first two syllables like the elite horseback-ball game of 'polo' followed by 'ma', rather than how it would be written - probably I'm the first to put the word into print.

It was a popular (oral) term with people of my father's generation, hmmm, perhaps those in the late 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's.

I am no sure whether it was derived from the Malay language or Indian? I'm sure it doesn't sound anywhere near Chinese, but I have to confess I don't know.

But I recall my late dad, uncles and their mates used that word 'poloma' to mean what we today would say 'bullshit', ie. bullshit as in 'chong', though chong carries a more ulterior meaning, ie. to lie or bullshit with the intention of cheating.

'Poloma' is more innocent where the bullshitting might not have an intention to deceive but more to just boast (show off; gain attention), or lie for the sake of lying, or in more polite terms 'let go' (the bullshit, that is - wakakaka).

For example, in blogging, I might be moved to say "looes74 pandai 'poloma'" or "for god's sake, your god that is, wakakaka, don't 'poloma' lah", wakakaka.

looes has that effect on people

wakakaka

After my dad passed away, I heard mention of the word in KL by one of my teachers, an elderly Chinese man who admonished one of my colleagues not to 'poloma' (bullshit).

Thus it was not a colloquialism confined to only Penang but more likely throughout Malaya and probably Singapore as well - I have no idea whether it was used in Sabah and Sarawak.

However, the word was not confined to use by Chinese only as it was (in my dad's days) used by his Malay and Mamak friends. And yes, it can be used in the English, Malay and Chinese languages, though I am clueless as to its employment in Tamil, wakakaka.

Can anyone throw some light on its etymology?

Are we past PAS?

Malaysiakini - 'Decrease in non-Muslim support for PAS worrying'

INTERVIEW PAS has admitted that the decrease in support of non-Muslims for the Islamist party was “worrying”.

PAS Youth chief Suhaizan Kaiat also admitted that something should be done to rectify this.

Suhaizan, in an interview with Malaysiakini, was responding to the decreased support by non-Muslims for the party since the last general election.

“Yes, we admit there is a slight decrease, and this has become a challenge for us.

“We received high support from the non-Muslims in the last general election. Maybe several misunderstandings have occurred since then.”

Huh? Maybe several misunderstandings have occurred ...?

Wow, where has this guy been?

The other big issue is that we must ask, nay, examine carefully is the compatibility of PAS with the democracy we desired.

In my previous post Party presidents I had written:

But far far more importantly for us, the subtext you should be looking at in Tuan Ibrahim's rejection of his nomination for PAS party presidential election is that PAS ulama don't like nor will countenance democratic process as we know it. Mind you, not that we aren't aware of such thoughts, having already witnessed what's happening in Saudi Arabia, Iran and Taliban-Afghanistan (the real or de facto mindset of Afghanistan).

Thus if you vote PAS, that's what you'll be voting for.

Party presidents

PAS Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man has rejected the nomination by PAS Kota Baru for him to contest Pak Haji Hadi Awang for the party presidential post. He has been reported by the Malay Mail Online as saying:

"My nomination to contest Hadi as president is a shock that does not help the party’s integrity. In PAS’ history, the post of president has never been contested, especially in the era of ‘ulama leadership’.”

“I worry we are giving a bad signal to the public outside. Although it was to fulfil the requirement under democracy, the position of syura is more noble than democracy.”

“If syura is the best way, then it is appropriate that the leadership of the party is solved through syura.”

The Malay Mail Online added: Literally meaning “consultation”, “syura” refers to the Islamic political concept of administration by consultation of a council of leaders, which PAS also practises through its advisory Syura Council.

South-East Asians in the Nusantara, especially among those untouched or uninfluenced by that newfangled idea called Westminster or even general Western-styled democracy, don't like open debates or policy challenges because of two factors, namely, 'face' (the horror and fear of losing same) and seeming insolence (biadap) from a 'younger' person.

Thus the Indons, an even far more class conscious people than Malaysians, with still a vivid recollection of their proud Srivijaya & Majapahit heritage, emphasize on permusyawaratan or deliberation, presumably and especially among community elders.

The Indons even include this social-cultural imperative in their national ideology, Pancasila (title borrowed from the Buddhist 5-Precepts, and which in turn our Rukunnegara was based on, that is, on the Indon and not Buddhist Pancasila, wakakaka) where in its 4th Sila (Rukun), they wrote:

Kerakyatan Yang Dipimpin oleh Hikmat Kebijaksanaan, Dalam Permusyawaratan dan Perwakilan

[Democracy guided by the inner wisdom in the unanimity arising out of deliberations amongst representatives]

Note in particular the word 'unanimity' which implies they (the Indons) don't like open face-losing biadap-ish debate with robust exchanges like the ones in the barbaric West wakakaka. And I presume their 'deliberations amongst representatives' would (in the minds of the pioneering conceptualizers) be behind closed doors, wakakaka.

Aisehman, been chooi mah (face, wakakaka)!

But then Tuan Ibrahim spoiled all of his ('more noble than democracy') syura by concluding his declaration with a “I say thank you for the trust given. But I reject the nomination and urge all other divisions to continue supporting Hadi’s leadership as party president.”

So much for syura, when he has unreservedly deferred to Pak Haji, wakakaka.

But far far more importantly for us, the subtext you should be looking at in Tuan Ibrahim's rejection of his nomination for PAS party presidential election is that PAS ulama don't like nor will countenance democratic process as we know it. Mind you, not that we aren't aware of such thoughts, having already witnessed what's happening in Saudi Arabia, Iran and Taliban-Afghanistan (the real or de facto mindset of Afghanistan).

Thus if you vote PAS, that's what you'll be voting for.

UMNO
Let's take a peep (wakakaka) into UMNO party elections, from which had once led to near irreconcilable splits going the way King Solomon's United Monarchy of Israel finally went, splitting into two separate and mutually hostile nations, namely, the more robust and people's oriented northern kingdom of Israel (of 10 tribes) led by Jeroboam, and the ketuanan southern kingdom of Judah (of 2 tribes*) led by the draconian son of Solomon, Rehoboam.

* according to the bible, written of course by the descendants of the House of Judah, wakakaka, the tribe of Benjamin was with the tribe of Judah in the southern kingdom, a lop-sided union but which sounds so bloody implausible because no Israeli tribe hated the tribe of Judah more than the Benjaminites.

The latter were almost decimated by the Judeans (like Semangat 46 was, politically that was, wakakaka) in a vicious venomous vindictive genocide after David murdered the entire family of Saul following his seizure of the throne.

The near genocidal massacre of the tribe of Benjamin was a la the Chinese 斩草不除根，春风吹又生 (pinyin: zhǎn cǎo bù chú gēn, chūn fēng chuī yòu shēng) to ensure David won't be haunted by subsequent Benjaminite claim to the Israeli throne.

With such a poisonous and bitter relationship between the two tribes, it was more likely those Benjaminites were captives, slaves of or hostages to the tribe of Judah when Solomon's Kingdom split.

Well, there was that infamous coup d'état by Razak against his senior, mentor, partner, supposedly friend and party president Tunku, with all the attendant stories of May 13 being a contrived plot to bring about the forced changeover of power, but alas, that won't fall within our topic of open challenges in party elections in a non-nusantara-ish musyawarat manner wakakaka.

I heard from elders that during Hussein Onn's party president days he was regularly challenged for the party presidential post by an UMNO bloke by the name of Palestine (my uncle isn't too sure about the moniker), though all was done with much humour. It was reported that Palestine said he only did so because he didn't like uncontested elections - if true, kudos to him.

On UMNO party presidential contest, of course there was that humongous one in 1987 which brought about the split of the United Israel UMNO Kingdom where Semangat 46 was then formed by Ku Li, a political entity that was short-lived (and reneged on kau kau by PAS, wakakaka), and which tutup kedai eight years later.

Since then there has been no open challenge for the presidential post though there have been mucho guerrilla activities which even brought down a party president (effectively the PM of Malaysia), wakakaka.

But will we be seeing another 1987 soon? Probably, if the guerrilla boss has his ways wakakaka. Hah, that famed Malay loyalty.

MIC & MCA

In the meanwhile, the MIC and MCA have had their regular aerodynamically-inclined party contests which at times allowed us to witness a unique Malaysian exhibition of flying furniture, wakakaka. Hmmm, I wonder if that explains why the MCA boss has always been appointed to be minister of transport? wakakaka.

Dare I say no one cares a fig for MIC in its current death throes. Whatever one may have to say about Samy Vellu, at least in his time he was completely in charge of the party. But if MIC obeys the instructions of RoS, it might just have a chance of being resuscitated if Dr Subramaniam is elected, notwithstanding the party's silly values about caste and whatnot - ain't it just moronic to believe anyone, a human being, could be born as a member of a higher or lower caste? Pordah!

Once the MCA's aerodynamic version wakakaka was so acrimonious and feral that saw the PM (Dr M), worried about the king-making (wakakaka) Chinese votes, proposed an UMNO man to temporarily head (not helm please, wakakaka) the Malaysian CHINESE Association, wakakaka, so as to stabilize the party wrecked by warring factions a la the 3 Kingdoms.

my reward for you, wakakaka

Memang Malaysia Boleh lor, wakakaka, which incidentally with thanks to Gaafar Baba, for one brief instant made the MCA multiracial, wakakaka. But today it's in a worse state than MIC, virtually a political zombie where one day its ministers may possibly be all from the Senate.

Gerakan

By the by, the Gerakan Party, born out of former MCA president Lim Chong Eu's collaboration with Prof Syed Hussein Alatas (head of Gerakan in its inception), Dr Tan Chee Khoon, Dr JBA Peter, V Veerappan and Prof Wang Gungwu was subsequently fortified by MCA's young Turks led by Dr Lim Keng Yaik who were all expelled by Tan Siew Sin in 1973 after Lim and his then-Erdogens (wakakaka) failed in their Reform Movement.

So, we can even argue that the political terms of Erdogens and refomasi wakakaka were respectively not PAS nor PKR originals, wakakaka. The MCA young Turks' versions were drastic (to Tan Siew Sin) and thus probably more genuine, resulting in them being expelled from their Mothership.

As a side note, the Gerakan Party in its inception just prior to the 1969 general elections was a party headed by intellectuals and socialists (workers), and was immensely popular with the rakyat.

I was informed that many middle and upper class Malays had then viewed the party very very favourably. It could have been the first non-UMNO party to form government but alas, Razak kow-tim-rized it effectively by luring the party into BN, where sadly the once-proud and powerful party degenerated into virtual bondage, like what the Benjaminites probably suffered under the Judeans, and the Judeans likewise in turn under the Babylonians.

I suppose an unflattering term for Gerakan in BN would be 'politically castrated kau kau', wakakaka, though to be fair to Lim KY, in his prime he was politically quite feisty.

Back to Gerakan, within a space of 7 years, the former MCA bloke, Lim KY, became the president of Gerakan. Many alleged that was when Gerakan, like the offspring of one of those long-fin swordtail fish wakakaka, reverted back to its original MCA characters.

Gerakan had quite a robust party election in 2005 when Kerk Choo Ting challenged Lim Keng Yaik for the party presidential post, losing by 963 to his 628 votes, a rough ration of a respectable 3:2.

Sadly, as with most Malaysian political parties, losers like Ku Li and Kerk didn't last long. In fact, on losing the party election, he was removed from his post as Deputy Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister. The loss for Gerakan was in a man who had very strong grassroot support.

DAP
DAP lost one of its most highly qualified and capable members in Richard Ho Ung Hun who had heroically won the Sitiawan seat in 1969 from Kam Woon Kah of MCA.

But when Razak's BN was formed in 1972 he hopped across to join MCA and became one of its rising stars. Not unlike Lim Keng Yaik, in 1982 a mere ten years after he joined MCA, he was elected as MCA's deputy president. Richard Ho had then teamed up with Michael Chen to contest the two top posts in MCA, but Michael lost to Lee San Choon.

It was said that Lee San Choon, the victorious party president, was suspicious and perhaps fearful of his new deputy, and probably on the instigation of his inner circle, dropped him from the MCA list of cabinet ministers. We witnessed this happening again in MCA in more recent times, didn't we?

In that following year, in 1983, Richard Ho, having seen the writing on the MCA wall, resigned from the party. His departure was said to have led to a long series of internecine warring in MCA which continues until today, wakakaka.

Now you may ask me why I have talked about Richard Ho under the DAP section of this post when he became a MCA stalwart?

We need to note Richard Ho was personally a highly qualified and very capable man and demonstrated these personal qualities and also his political ability by rising up like a meteor in MCA, I wonder what might have been if he didn't leave DAP?

Many have accused the DAP especially the DAP of today of its seeming dictatorship, but at the same time we are also witnessing the rise of a younger generational leadership, blokes like M Kulasegeran, Gobind Deo, Anthony Loke, Liew Chin Tong, Zairil Khir, and sweeties like Teo Nie Ching, and newcomers like Mohd Ariff Sabri (Sakmongkol AK47). Yes, there is of course Lim GE.

Karpal has left us suddenly and Lim KS isn't exactly a spring chook, so I wonder what or rather who's next?

You are welcome to add in more information about DAP leadership elections but please avoid bullshit propaganda or silly rants (or I won't publish those).