Tag Archives: Barisan Nasional

GE13: What Chinese Tsunami?

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fnutusan07e

(“Chinese Tsunami” – would it be Najib’s new “unity” motto for the next 5 years? Why call for national reconciliation when at the same whack one community for your failures at the polls? What else the Chinese want, you ask? How about an all out fight against corruption, fair treatment for all Malaysians and wastage of public funds & resources? Image source: http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com)

GE13 polling has officially ended but not the subsequent implications. It will take probably weeks and even months before things get settled down. Anwar have indicated that Pakatan will not accept the outcome of the elections until EC explains on some of the glaring irregularities – they just had a large public rally on this which in turned caused a massive traffic jam (Raja Petra however raised concern of something more sinister) and surely there will be legal suits flying around. And there are quite number of states and seats won on slim margin – so one needs to wonder if there will be another round of frogs jumping ships as what we saw back in 2008? And trouble is brewing in Selangor as to who will get the Menteri Besar seat – I just hope the PKR fellows do not screw things up big time – pro-BN bloggers already having a field day on this.

The Results

All in all, it is a good election for Pakatan Rakyat. Racial bigots of Ibrahim Ali and Zulkfli Noordin were promptly shown the exit by multi racial voters but rest assured they will be around to cause the usual trouble. Nurul Izzah won the closely contested Lembah Pantai seat and a big thanks to the extra vigilant supporters, had managed to ensure the fight was fair and square and won it accordingly. Dr M got a good slap when Lim Kit Siang won the Gelang Patah seat with a good majority of 14,000 plus votes – still remember this old-man asking people to bury Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah and then recklessly said that there will be racial confrontation if Lim wins? Thankfully the voters thought otherwise and handed Uncle Lim a good margin to win.

On a bigger scale, despite failing to capture Putrajaya (which many of us were hoping for), Pakatan improved their number of seats in both parliamentary and state level. They kept Penang and Selangor with a higher majority and came close to regaining Perak and Terengganu. The popular votes also went to Pakatan – with 51% of the votes going to them (BN got 47% of the votes). The Kedah was a different story altogether – the votes in Kedah shifted to BN in a big way not because BN was better than Pakatan but rather it was because PAS screwed things up after they won it in 2008. Still remember them going over the board with their extreme Islamic way of governance even on non Muslims? We would have been dumb to still think that PAS would be able to keep Kedah. Its fall was predicted from day 1 and it did. Terengganu was a 50-50 thing.

However the biggest disappointment that Perak did not go to Pakatan – especially after they were robbed of the state by 3 frogs that jumped to BN last time around. Was it because Perakians had forgotten about this incident? Or it was rigged in a way that BN were meant to win – after all it was a very close fight with BN’s 31 seats against Pakatan’s 28 seats. Some of the stories reported do raise some red flags:-

“At that point the results for the Perak state seats were 29 for BN and 28 for Pakatan. I insisted on the recount because the results from these two seats would be the deciding factor in the formation of the next Perak government. “When I insisted that these documents be produced before the announcement of the results, the returning officer instructed the police to push my polling agents and me out of the hall.”

At this juncture, Vasantha Kumar said, “Saravanan threw a chair at me while I was being pushed out.” “I was shocked when the police manhandled me, pushing me 50m out of the centre, while Saravanan and his assistant tried to attack me. However, the police stopped them.” Vasantha Kumar claimed that he and his counting agents were pushed out by the police all the way to the main road outside the hall.

(Source)

It was also disappointing to note that a number of spilt votes screwed up some of the seats for Pakatan. Independents (all whom been wiped out for good reasons) screwed up the chance for Pakatan in Cameron Highlands big time – MIC’s G Palanivel got more votes against him and yet he won with slim margin, no thanks to almost 1,200 votes going to independents. The Pakatan’s screw up in Kota Damansara and Semenyih however is not excusable. Two good state seats were lost because of the stupid in-fighting within Pakatan for the same seats. Thankfully Pakatan had garnered enough seats to form the State Government otherwise Pakatan fellows would have kicked themselves for the major screw-up.

Hopefully this would be the last time Pakatan make a fool of themselves and have overlapping claim for the same seat. Every win counts (especially in situation like in Perak now) and the last thing they need to give away the seat on a platter with split votes. That would be really dumb.

najib_sweets

(Still remember the various promises before the election? Come on lah, Malaysians are not stupid – if the Government had wanted to, as a responsible government, they could have carried up the various promises way before the election. Instead it was back to the usual “you help me, I help you” nonsense from Najib’s administration. A clear breach of election laws but one that EC did nothing to curtail or punish the offenders. Image source: theSun)

Interestingly despite the claims of the success of NKRA especially in area of crime fighting, BRIM 1.0 & 2.0 give-outs, lavish dinners & live concerts (including one by Psy) and over the board “be grateful” propagandas, “you help me, I help you” rallies and advertisements in the media, Najib still fared worst than the sleepy Pak Lah by winning less parliamentary (and state) seats compared to 2008. Although some of these pre-election money, gifts and promises had influenced some of the voters to vote for BN especially in the rural areas and helped them to starve off the Pakatan onslaught for Putrajaya, a majority of them (especially in Penang and Selangor) did not buy them in exchange for their votes:-

No one asked you to give free dinners, RM500, lucky draw, etc. You syok sendiri. The Chinese did not cheat you. But I must congratulate the Penangites. They had two weeks of free food (no need to cook), a lot of free entertainment, money, and 2 weeks later, they get a good government in place! You have got the best of both world!

(Source)

He also failed to wrestle back Selangor despite leading the BN’s well oiled election machinery and with defeat of some of the BN Chairman in other states which included Malacca, Penang and Johore, the Fat Momma’s expensive overseas trip in coming months may be short lived. And the consequences would have been worse for him in the coming months if the allegations of phantom voters and other irregularities are proven to be true.

The Chinese Tsunami?

Najib after been declared as the winner as far as BN and the federal government is concerned started on the wrong footing by blaming the defeat wholly on the Chinese and then half sincerely turns around and calls for national reconciliation (it seems nothing changed for BN and nothing will in the future). It did not take long for UMNO-run Utusan Malaysia and Dr M to rub it in and provide the fuel to the fire:-

Mahathir repeated his stance that the DAP’s campaign was to make the Chinese community hate the Malay community. “I have said this several times in my campaign, even in Johor. Lim Kit Siang brought about the concept of Malaysian Malaysia, with the intention of making the Chinese hate the Malays,” he said. “As a result, many Chinese rejected the Malay hand of friendship.”

(Source)

At the end of the day, it has nothing to do with the Chinese, Malay or even the Indian tsunami. Yes the number of Chinese turning up and voting for Pakatan was higher than before. Are you going to blame them for that? Where it says that the Chinese (or any Malaysians for argument sake) have to vote for BN only? What a bunch of sore losers! It’s a fact that Pakatan could not have gained more votes using Chinese votes alone.

Meanwhile, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng lambasted the move to turn the Chinese as “scapegoats” and shape the election results as a “Chinese-versus-Malay” vote. “Many analysts have disputed this as a gross distortion of data, as this was more a urban-rural divide between Pakatan Rakyat and BN,” Lim said in a statement today. “How can this be a Chinese tsunami in states like Terengganu when PAS won 15 state seats as compared to Umno’s 17, when more than 95 percent of Terengganu voters are Malays?”

And the same was reflected by PAS:-

PAS has expressed gratitude to Chinese voters who backed Malay Pakatan Rakyat candidates in the recently concluded general election, even if it meant having to vote against a fellow Chinese. PAS information chief Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said the action of these voters proved the claim by Umno that the Chinese had rejected the Malays to be slander.

“There are tens of Parliament and state assembly seats that were contested by Malay candidates against candidates from the Tiong Hua (Chinese), in mixed constituencies, which were won by the Malays, proving that Chinese voters were willing to reject candidates of their own race,” Tuan Ibrahim said in a statement today.

(Source)

GE13numbers

(Pakatan had won the popular votes but was it due to an overwhelming swing by the Chinese Malaysians or was it due to Malaysians from all races in the country who just fed up on the blatant corruption, wastage and unfair treatment? Image source: Malaysiakini)

Well, to those who keeping harping on the Chinese tsunami and how the Malays will be left out in the country, it is not about the race, and here’s why.  It’s a fact that Najib did miserably when it comes to fighting corruption and national unity.

He did nothing on instances of sheer corruption just because those implicated were from his own political party and he needed them for his own political survival. It took two independent journalists to break the story on PKFZ, a young politician from Pakatan to prove the abuse of taxpayers money dubbed “The Cowgate” (Najib even did not have the balls to sack the Minister) and some foreigners going undercover to show that there indeed a shadow state in the country. Despite the urgency and the need for an independent and robust corruption busting agency, Najib did nothing to strengthen the MACC – it remained lame duck. He promised to do something about it but that promise came with a condition that BN must win the election. Now he had won, will Najib keep up his promise?

On the national unity, it seemed a joke for Najib to call for national reconciliation. By blaming the Chinese for his own losses, he had started his administration by pitting the Chinese against the Malays. The king-makers Indians who were the darling of politicians before the election are now nowhere to be seen. Tough luck for Hindraf and their MOU with Najib – let’s see how sincere Najib will be now that he blaming it on the Chinese. He started the notion of 1Malaysia which seemed to be a good thing as we head towards the year 2020 but did nothing to curtail racial statements from his own party controlled mainstream medias and the UMNO friendly Perkasa extremists who even at one point threatened to burn Bibles. Where was the tough action back then? Najib justify the remarks in Utusan by saying that the Chinese media does the same. Once again, where the tough action against the Chinese papers if they been doing the same?

Is this how a Prime Minister of a multi-racial country speaks when it comes to curtailing racial incitements?

So What’s Next?

At end of the day, there must be a proper closure – both to the acceptance on the outcome of the GE13 and incorrect blame of the losses on the fellow Malaysian Chinese.

Yes we must protest against unfair election process and bring forward any irregularities to be rectified but then again, we should go on with our life – after all, there is a government to be run here. It is almost sure every political party (in addition to the various blogs, political analyst, media, etc) out there would be making their own assessment on the outcome of the elections, see where they have made mistakes and how they can improve on it for the greater benefit of the people and country (not for themselves and the political party).

Pakatan must improve their standing in the next general elections if we want to see a real change at federal level and hence improvement in competency, accountability and transparency. Unlike some politicians from the other side, Pakatan politicians need to ensure that their service centre are still operating and still providing the best service especially in areas where they had lost. Losing does not mean doing nothing and blaming others. Losing means an opportunity to improve on their standard of service and engage the people on the real issues facing them. The sooner the politicians do this, the sooner the country can get back on its feet.

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GE13: GE Videos & EC Boo-Boos

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Johor-ceramah-crowds

(No doubt the number of crowd attending the ceramahs may not translate into confirmed votes but the sheer number of people attending the recent ceramahs In Johore should have given the BN fellows something to ponder on. Image source: Anilnetto)

Just 2 days to go before we will know whether we will see another 5 years of corruption, race based policies, double standards on enforcement & deployment, wastage of tax-payers money, “we are still better than Zimbabwe” nonsense, culture of fear & disunity, cronyism, MACC (still) have no power to catch the big fish and insult to fellow Malaysians OR dawn of a new era for Malaysia.

And already there are allegations of vote rigging and movements of phantom voters (mainly foreigners). If BN had denied outright and laughed at it, we could have labelled Anwar’s allegations as a serious spin and a desperate move. But instead they actually admitted that such flights are taking place but they claim that it is for the Malaysian voters and it is financed by a mysterious  “friends of BN”. Who are they really, this friends of BN? Perhaps they are the same jokers who took the expensive advertisement for the so-called First Lady of Malaysia. Anyway, since it seems Pakatan fellows are “doing the same” (unfortunately they can only afford buses instead of planes), let’s put this aside – on who is right or wrong will depend on whether you end up seeing strings of nervous Banglas & Indons at polling station on Sunday.

But probably the biggest news when it comes to EC and their blunders would be on the indelible ink which some have alleged can be cleaned off immediately. The blunder is not on the fact that the indelible ink were washable without trace – as EC had mentioned, the ink is an indelible ink and not permanent ink. Depending on washing agents used, it will remove the ink to some extent; I am pretty sure of it although the latest EC’s demo shows otherwise.

The blunder however is on the failure of the processes in dealing with the said indelible ink. Why it was not shaken as the process requires it to be? EC claims that their officers were “nervous” and thus failed to follow the right procedures. Such excuse is not acceptable especially when it is for the first time the indelible ink is being used, there are certain expectations on the deployment of the ink and the EC officers have been trained before and are professionals. Didn’t they do a dry run before this? Because of this blunder, now hangs a question of whether in the coming polling day, there will be more officers getting “nervous” and failed to shake the bottles right. If this happens, EC would have a serious issue of integrity and accountability.

In the meantime, enjoy these interesting videos that touch on the upcoming election and the need to pick the right Government (p.s. MIC’s one is in for the joke – now that Hindraf is the sleeping partner of BN and leads the “fight for the Indians”, MIC indeed had become one big joke):-

Undilah

PKFZ Scandal

MIC Song Parody

Hindraf & Nambekei

3 Questions for BN

Please also read also Rafizi Ramli’s Open Letter as well.

Have a good day on Sunday and vote wisely. Vote for the Government that plans for the future and politicians who see Malaysians as their boss and not the other way around. Don’t vote on what you have seen, paid and experienced in the last few months – judge the politicians on what they have done and said in the last 5 years. Reward them or punish them accordingly and don’t fall for the (overwhelming) overdose of “feel good” propagandas and vote-buying “gifts” – it does not guarantee a bright future.

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GE13: You Know, BN Talks Cock Too

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Read these first:-

zul

(A kiss on the cheek and all religion bad-mouth nonsense is quickly forgiven? Never mind it looks more like Zul is being strangled than being kissed but it’s irrelevant. Najib seems to think that all can be forgotten with a simple peek on the cheek. So can Salman Rushdie do the same? Image source: Malaysiakini)

Over the last few days as we get nearer to 5th May, the focus has shifted to Najib and how he has been the “best” PM to date and how the country will be better if “Najib led” BN continues to rule it. I am not sure about you but Najib is definitely better than the sleepy Pak Lah but is he the best PM to date? If you ask me, that honor should go to the first PM – Tuanku Abdul Rahman.

Anyway, in between the subtle messages in the media to remind Malaysians to be more “grateful” and how the oppositions have been (and will be) “screwing up” things up, some of the BN politicians have been putting their foot in the mouth. Are they talking cock or the truth or they are simply too dumb to run for office?

Let’s start with the obvious:-

BN chairperson Najib Abdul Razak today attempted to douse the anger over Perkasa vice-president Zulkifli Noordin‘s disparaging remarks about Hindus, claiming that Indians have now warmed up to him.

“There are Indians who have even kissed him already,” Najib said, adding that he endorsed Zulkifli’s (right) candidacy for the Shah Alam parliamentary seat.

“Forget about the remarks he has made. He has apologised. Let it be,” the caretaker prime minister said in Shah Alam as he stressed that the statements were made when Zulkifli was part of a “backward” party.

(Source)

Somehow after lacing the Indians with water cannon, tear-gas and imprisonment without trial under draconian ISA, it was a big surprise when Hindraf turned around, wipes the dried stain from their back and then worships the same old BN as their one and only savior. It does not take rocket science to know why Najib had become extra polite to the Indians this time around. Hindraf may have opened their champagne on the day Najib signed the MOU with them but seriously how they expect to enforce a MOU if it is not carried out. And speaking about the Indian votes, I am sure that would have been last on his mind when Najib set Zul loose to run in Shah Alam against the tolerant, well-liked Khalid Samad from PAS.

Yes, the Indians were not happy. MIC has been silent and so do the new ally of BN – Hindraf. Najib may have his own strategy with Zul in Shah Alam but I think he should not rub it in with the Indians by saying that the Indians are warming up to him and some of them (must have been highly paid morons) had even kissed him. Make no mistake about it – Zulkifli Noordin is not an angel. He lied about making the racial and insensitive statement about the Indians 10 years ago. He made fresh one last March. And we all know that his half forced apology is nothing but a ruse to gain some votes from the Indians. And of course, he took the opportunity that blame on his one sided view of the various races and religions in this country on PAS. You have to be a very dumb person to believe that. If it is indeed that it is due to PAS, then what about Khalid Samad – his opponent in Shah Alam who even gave a talk in a church and very moderate in his views on race and religion. What about the other PAS politicians who highly respect other Malaysians irrespective of race or religion? Even there is some sense of truth on his claims, doesn’t he has a brain and self-conviction to sense something is not right and resign from the political party?

Then we had this:

A newcomer representing BN in the Pasir Gudang parliamentary constituency has urged Indian voters to be patient with the government in solving the longstanding issue of stateless Indians as the government does not want to create another Sabah.

Linking the stateless Indian issue with the influx of illegal immigrants into Sabah, Normala Abdul Samad explained that the government should learn from the lesson in Sabah and be cautious in handing out citizenship to Indians.

(Source)

I don’t know who Normala Abdul Samad character is but it is clear that this “newcomer” is certainly walking on the wrong side of the plank. The issue of citizenship in Sabah is a whole different than the issue of citizenship to Malaysian Indians in the country. The one who got the citizenship in Sabah were foreigners and some are newcomers. And if we follow the serious allegations in Dr M’s Project IC, it even borders on sense of treason. Stateless Indians on the other hand were born to parents who are Malaysians and had failed to get their national identity card due to missing documentary evidence, plain ignorance and procedural red-tape. If you trust the figures on the net, it is frightening too:-

The plight of some 300,000 stateless Indians is more than enough a reason for you to change the federal government. This problem should have been resolved long ago and therefore the Indian community in Malaysia cannot continue to trust the Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) federal government.

These stateless Indians have either lived here for decades or were born in this country. They can also communicate fluently in Bahasa Malaysia. Why must their application for citizenship be rejected or their files left in the cupboard to collect dust?

In contrast, why were 600,000 Muslims from Indonesia and the Philippines in Sabah given citizenship and bumiputra status to vote in Malaysia? The majority of the Filipinos cannot even speak Bahasa Malaysia.

(Source)

Thus to say that it is one and the same with the issue in Sabah itself and then asking the same Indians to be patience (when they have been very patience for some bloody years) is derogatory and insulting to Malaysian Indians. And the issue of Sabah although has been an issue for sometime now, hardly made any dent on the federal government list of critical issues until lately when the Government is somehow forced to set a RCI on the issue. One cannot use it as an excuse to hold back the granting of citizenship to the Malaysian Indians who should have gotten them a long time ago. So is Hindraf still comfortable with the BN being the one and only saviour for the community when simple things like stateless Indians are kept on hold with dumb excuses?

And finally here is the evidence why the Pakatan led state government are having hard time to get the necessary funding and assistance from the Federal Government:-

The Barisan Nasional (BN) wants to wrest Selangor in the May 5 general election to pursue the coalition’s transformation programme for the people in the state, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak said today. He said the support from Selangor voters was needed to return BN to power in the state.

“We want the state leadership in Selangor to return to BN’s fold. We’re tired of the Pakatan Rakyat-led state government (in Selangor). “If the state government is different from the federal government, it’s difficult,” he said when speaking to BN supporters at Taman Melawati in Hulu Kelang.

(Source)

Najib may have forgotten that it was the people of Selangor back in 2008 voted for Pakatan Rakyat. It was not like they woke up one fine morning and found that the government had magically changed hands to Pakatan. And if the only excuse that Najib is making his case for the state to be returned to BN is that it will be “difficult” if the state government is different from the federal government, then it is high time we go for a complete change of the federal government. What BN is expecting in a free democratic country? Are they expecting to have BN to be ruling every nook and cranny of Malaysia forever? It’s time they wake up and accept reality.

It is obvious that in the last 5 years, the one who have been making things “difficult” for the people in the state is not the State Government.

Think about it – when Pakatan took power, instead of channelling the necessary funding to the new State Government entitled to, the Federal Government went on and appointed BN friendly “representatives” at village level, duplicating the work of the official appointed headmen, usurping powers illegally and end up making things hard for the State to do its work. And the State failed to carry on with its project due to a lack of funding and necessary approvals from the federal government, it did not take long for BN fellows to jump in and accuse the State as not keeping their promises. That was back in 2008 when unexpected happened and BN lost the states of Selangor, Penang, Perak and Kedah to Pakatan.

Moving forward, what does Najib implies when he says “if the state government is different from the federal government, its difficult”? It is a warning to the voters not to vote for opposition? The federal government can make it difficult for the state government if only if they want to. The last general election in 2008 already showed that things are changing and its high time they change their stand too.

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GE13: Manifestos, Fantasies & Imaginations

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najib_sweets

(Santa Claus of a different nature – he seems to be promising a lot of things to many sector of the community but does that promise comes with a catch? Where the millions of ringgit is coming from and from who’s pockets?)

Malaysians will go to the polls on May 5 and it does not matter whether you will vote for BN or PR. What is important is that on May 5, you wake up on time and go to the polling station and vote someone. Remember it is your duty as the citizen of this country and it only comes once in 5 years.

Election Santa Claus

As we move closer to this date, the level of insanity seems to be increasing as well – more sex videos exposures (which seems to be more important than corruption by millions of ringgit for some morons) and Najib continuing his Santa giveaways – plucking millions from thin air and promising to deliver them only if people are “grateful” when it comes to casting their votes.

Some even get some last minute “miracle” granted by BN politicians:-

After 20 years of struggle, prayers were finally answered when an 85-year-old Chinese temple in Minyak Beku was granted ownership for the piece of land it sits on. The land title for the 0.696ha plot, including a 280m access road to Persatuan Penganut-Penganut Agama Buddha Ching Boo Tian in Jalan Segenting here, was approved by the Johor Government recently. “We could not have done it without MCA and the Mentri Besar,” he said at the thanksgiving dinner organised by the temple, which was attended by more than a thousand people here on Sunday.

(Source)

Should temple be “grateful” (Najib’s buzz word of the day) for the recent approval of ownership or more rightfully be angry that it took the Government over 20 bloody years to approve the ownership and it only happened because of the upcoming general elections and not for other matters?

And speaking about being grateful, did you read about Hindraf’s 180’ degree turn on their relationship with BN? P Waythamoorthy now insists that the community’s welfare will only be cared for by the ruling coalition BN and not Pakatan Rakyat. This is same man who just before 2008 blamed UMNO and BN led Government for the dire state of the Indian community and caused many to take to the streets to protest. This is the same man when things got more tricky (when the rest of the key leaders were caught under ISA), fled to overseas. Now he turns around and says only BN can take care of the community? That’s interesting. I surely hope that he has forgotten the fact that Najib have been longing for the lost Indian votes and will be willing to promise the sky as long he gets the crucial votes in the coming election – nothing more, nothing less. After all, if BN had been serious in dealing with the community’s issues, it would have acted on it a long time ago – after the Hindraf rally and not at the eve of a general election. Why it have come to a point where Hindraf have to come out with a blueprint for the community and asks both BN & PR for endorsement? As the famed comedian Goundami would say – “arasiyalila ithellam saatharanam pa” (it is all normal in politics), uh Waytha?

And looking at the bigger picture, doesn’t the very promise of goodies in return for votes contravene the law?

Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) today chided the federal and state governments for enticing voters with cash handouts and other freebies in what the corruption watchdog said is a blatant breach of electoral laws. The local branch of Transparency International also criticised the election regulator and Malaysia’s graftbusters for failing to clamp down on politicians in Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) who have been giving cash and vouchers and promising perpetual aid such as bonuses, cheap homes and free water with their eye on the bottomline in the May 5 polls. “Caretaker governments and candidates are breaking the Election Offences Act 1954 Section 10 which states all these gifts, loans, offers, promises, pronouncements are to procure votes,” Josie Fernandez, TI-M secretary-general, said in a statement.

(Source)

Is someone sleeping on the job then? Or it is just business as usual in the Bolehland?

The Invisible Bogeyman

But in the midst of intensive campaigning, vote buying election promises and stiff fight for seats, it was not a surprise that we have this kind stupidity cropping up:-

A Lim Kit Siang win in Gelang Patah will result in racial confrontation, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today, arguing that Chinese-Malay economic partnership will be ruined. With weeks left to Election 2013, the former prime minister continued his doomsday prediction by hammering on the opposition leader with his warning that Lim’s victory in the southern state would trigger racial clashes that would replace the existing cooperation between the Malay majority and Chinese community. “Kit Siang is going to bring about conflict and antagonism between the races, to wage the Chinese to dislike and hate the Malays,” Dr Mahathir wrote in his chedet.cc blog.

(Source)

As usual, Dr M is not far from talking nonsense and jumping on his dumb cheap antics of blaming the invisible Chinese bogeyman and culture of fear. When we will ever come to a stage that a vote for Chinese Malaysian (or a Malay or a Indian for argument sake) at end of the day is a vote for a Malaysian? Hasn’t the ghost of May 13 and culture of fear put to rest a long time ago? Why there will be racial confrontation when Lim Kit Siang is just one man and it is not like he has not run for Parliament and won many times before?

So, why need an invisible bogeyman to burn down the country when you can have the same with this kind of politicians going around promoting culture of fear and disunity? Najib has only kept mum on this which will not reflect well on his overused slogan “1Malaysia”. One thing is for sure – we will never achieve a developed nation status by 2020 – not when we still have this kind of people asking us to distrust fellow Malaysians. We must reject anyone who are willing to do anything just to win the elections and to remain in powers (even it means causing racial confrontations when there is none in the first). Dr M should look back into his dictionary and understand what the word retirement really means.

Election Manifesto

And of course, you have political manifestos flying around with some claiming each other as unachievable. Fine, manifestos may not be contract cast in stone and to some, it is nothing but a convenient way to let the voters to know on what the party intends to do – ideal intentions that may change over time due to political pressures, financial constraints and of course, dirty politics. So, it was not a big surprise when Najib claims BN’s recently launched manifesto as a serious matter but turns around and say that Pakatan’s manifesto as a mere fantasy and imagination:-

Najib said as the manifesto or pledge was an important document, it must be launched at a gathering and broadcast live so that the people throughout the country could appreciate the content of the manifesto. “They can study what is the commitment of the BN to the people,” he said. “Let the opposition say that the manifesto is not a pledge, if it’s not a pledge, why present a new manifesto, what’s the point of presenting a new manifesto. “To the BN, the manifesto is a serious matter,” he said. On the other hand, Najib criticised the opposition and described their manifesto as a ‘fantasy and imagination’ by making all kinds of promises as they liked.

(Source)

Before we precede even further, bear in mind that manifestos – whether it is from BN or Pakatan, is nothing but a mere intention of the various political parties on what they may do if they are voted into power. It is not formal contracts that one can sue when it is not carried out – otherwise BN would have been riddled with lawsuits for all these years they have been power. Strip away the icing, sugar-laced thumbs up and “wow” statements (especially from pro-BNs sites & BN politicians) in the media and re-read BN’s manifesto in a bigger picture and you may find BN’s manifesto itself suffering from the same problem of mere fantasy and imagination.

Let’s take some for analysis:-

  • Increasing BR1M up to RM1,200 for households and RM600 for singles while maintaining it on an annual basis

(BR1M – is it a sincere safety net for the poor or a sweetener for the people to vote for BN? You tell me. The main contention of BR1M is a. where does all the money is coming from? The final damage is not small – the first BR1M cost the taxpayers about RM1.92 billion, while BR1M2.0 cost around RM3 billion and now Najib is talking about an annual BR1M of RM1,200 per person which will cost the taxpayers almost RM5 billion annually. and b. it is clear that RM500 is not much for a family to use in the long run. So what is the long term solution for the lower income citizens? Simply throwing money without any long term plan is wasteful and is bad governance.)

  • Expanding the Rapid Bus System to every state capital, complete with facilities for the aged and disabled

(Well BN has been at this problem for x amount of years now, laying down the same old solutions for same old problems but nothing has been so simple and nothing has been so straight forward. Deployment of RAPID buses is nothing new but will the control of the route and some part of management be allowed to be delegated to the individual state governments for greater efficiency? Will there be a decentralization of the public transport management in the country which also includes the grant of license and permits?)

  • Solving the treated water supply problem in Selangor, the Federal Territory and Kelantan. Extending the supply of clean water to another 320,000 homes throughout the country

(Then there is always of dangling the issue of water and electricity – the basic needs of any voters and is an issue where one could not afford to take it so lightly. But the question that needs to be answered is this – do we really have an issue to contend with or it is an issue played out for political reasons? What about investing on alternate source for electricity and backup plans for potential blackout?)

And lastly, probably the dumbest of all (worth to be classified as the mother of all fantasy & imagination)…

  • Empowering MACC through the establishment of a Service Commission whereby the power of recruitment and service matters will lie entirely with the commission. Giving equal emphasis on investigations into, and action against, bribe givers and receivers

(Why the “wayang kulit” on MACC? After Taib’s show of the middle finger to MACC and no action whatsoever on the highly corrupt even after Global Witness’s video revelation, it would have been more proper and acceptable if Najib had instead proposed to shut down MACC permanently. MACC simply lacks the independence and prosecution powers to be effective against corruption. And to maintain MACC toothless is simply means an endorsement on the corruption and abuse of powers. If Najib wants to salvage his past promise of fighting corruption in this country should instead granted MACC wider powers which includes prosecution powers)

Winnable Candidates

It’s too bad that Samy Vellu was not named as a candidate for up-coming election despite naming himself as a winnable candidate (something that theSun columnist labelled as a Bollywood comedy) – it would have been interesting to see what would have been the outcome – whether MIC have indeed regained Indians’ support to the party. And speaking about winnable candidates, as you may be aware, Najib have dropped some from the list – the one we are happy to see to go would be Shahrizat Jalil and Ng Yen Yen but I won’t be so cheerful if I were you. Najib still carrying a substantial baggage of candidate with tainted history and as we have seen in the past, there is a good chance of those dropped from the list coming into the limelight through the “back-door”.

And one that Najib promoted for this election is Zulkifli Noordin who will be running for Shah Alam. Yes the same fellow who insulted the fellow Malaysians who are Hindus. The same fellow who stormed the Bar Council inter religion discussion back in 2008. Is Najib truly serious about getting the Indians to vote for BN? If he can’t get a better character than Zulkifli Noordin for his winnable candidate list, then that says a lot of the quality of people running loose in BN. If this is the best he can do to show that BN have changed, it is clear that it does not deserves our votes. At end of the day, nothing but a complete change of the government is what this country needs to stop the high wastage, blatant corruption and more importantly to promote a greater unity and fair-play in this country. Make your vote count for the right reasons.

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GE13: Quote of the Day 2

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TaibNajib_1

(Well it was a big surprise to know that MACC had actually been “fingering” Taib on the allegations of corruption, at least not in the open and at least to a point where Taib is forced to make arrogant statement in the media but it was an even bigger surprise if the Government & MACC comes hard on Taib after this – after all, we have not see any “big fish” spending his / her last days in prison. Image source: http://fz.com)

When one is talking about “winnable candidates” and coming down clean for the voters to make the right decision, one cannot be far from dealing with the issue of corruption as well.

With the rather damaging revelations of broad-daylight corruption in Sarawak (now dubbed as the Shadow State) by the Global Witness and the growing call for MACC to make its investigations based on this revelation, we have this:-

Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud said that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) does not deserve his cooperation in regard to the exposé made by Global Witness.

“They [MACC] don’t deserve my cooperation because they have been naughty and dishonest with me. “Let them investigate if they want to victimise me,” Taib said after attending the Barisan Nasional presidential council meeting at the PWTC here today. Last month, foreign-based NGO Global Witness made a shocking exposé on the alleged corrupt practices involving those linked to Taib pertaining to the sale of native customary land in Sarawak.

Asked whether the video had tarnished his image in Sarawak, Taib replied in the negative, saying that the exposé was not in tune with what Sarawakians wanted.

(Source)

Is he really above the law as many have claimed it to be?

Can Taib afford not to cooperate with MACC at a time when Najib desperately need to show that BN are far from the taint of any corruption? Does he has a choice in the first place? Does this means enforcement agencies like MACC is under the thumb and rule of such arrogant politicians? If the expose of corruption, tax evasion and gross abuse of government assets is not what the “Sarawakians wanted”, what else is then? That few can continue to enrich themselves with tax-payers money and native land whilst leaving the rest to remain under the poverty line but when investigations starts, turn around and claim that they have been victimised?

If Najib and MACC do not come hard (without the end result of Teoh Beng Hock of course) on this kind arrogance by politicians with shady background, then it is clear that a change of Government is grossly needed. Despite the past misgiving of MACC that resulted in people turning up dead and the lack of bite to go after the big fish in corruption, unfortunately it is still the only corruption agency in the country that was entrusted of fighting corruption on all levels.

So with Taib telling MACC off, does this means we have closed MACC down? Some seems to think so:-

What is the MACC to do now? All eyes are on the MACC, again.

After all, two people have died in the course of their investigations since they were set up in 2009. Will it back down and keep quiet after this brazen response from Taib? Won’t this kind of snub embolden others to thumb their nose at the MACC and refuse to cooperate too?

If the MACC doesn’t do anything about this response from Taib, it might as well close shop. It is already working on a trust deficit basis and this snub from Taib has just shown how powerless the commission can be when it comes head-to-head with the powerful.

(Source)

Just because Taib had won the state seats for Najib, does it means Najib had to hold back any action on wrongdoings (some even borders high treason) in sheer gratitude? Otherwise corruption and mismanagement of funds will continue without any prosecutions and the nation bled to death and the same politicians will claim that they have done the best for the nation. Remember and vote wisely when the time comes even if you are not in Malaysia’s shadow state.

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