In Malaysia’s political landscape today, the man on the street like you and me only read what is reported in the main stream media and the alternative media to get an appreciation of what is currently going on in the political arena. What actually goes on behind the scene is not known to anyone. Even if it is, the info one gets even from reliable sources will be disjointed, very much like a jigsaw puzzle that has to be solved one by one.
Let us ponder over these questions relating to current political happenings. Some of these questions are already in our minds. Why is there a move to pass a vote of no confidence on Abdullah? Is the move really coming from the Opposition or from within UMNO itself. Where do Tun Mahathir and Tengku Razaleigh fit in the political jigsaw puzzle to remove Abdullah? And Najib has openly stated that he would not destroy UMNO which his father had built and he will remain loyal to UMNO and Pak Lah as his No 2. Where does he fit in as well? This is how I look at the entire scenario:
Anwar wants to become the Prime Minister. Before he can do that he has to “eliminate” Tun Mahathir, that is to say the Tun should not be a factor at all in his equation to become the next PM. Right now Tun Mahathir is THE stumbling block to Anwar and as long as Tun is around it is going to be hell for him. Why and how come? Don’t forget both were No.1 and No.2 at one time. Mahathir knows Anwar inside out and so is the reverse. In any case both are crooks of the highest order in the political sense. In fact by definition a politician is not a true politician if he is not a crook at the same time, so both of them fit in this bill very well. But what is most important, everyone should know is that, both of them had during their reign of power accumulated considerable FINANCIAL RESOURCES or simply stated huge sums of MONEY which is indispensable in to day’s political environment.
Look at Anwar, unless he has considerable financial resources, he cannot turn PKR to be as what it is today. No money means the party is just a dead duck. Where does such money come from? Or how was it obtained? This is not the place and time to discuss this. We shall reserve it for another posting. And the same for Mahathir. For 22 years as PM, his “SAVINGS” must be monumental, definitely more than enough may be to get every UMNO delegate to his side IF UMNO members still love or embrace MONEY POLITCS which they are now trying to disassociate! Don’t forget Tun Daim his sidekick as Minister of Finance. Daim owns banks all over the globe and had cash one billion stashed in one Bank in Singapore according to reliable private banking sources. Mahathir too is filthy rich and has to be RICHER than Daim unless Mahathir himself is too naïve to let Daim surpass him. But we don’t think so. The Tun too lives a life of luxury like sailing in the Mediterranean, in luxury yachts and staying in Ferragamo’s resort etc. His children too have houses in Vancouver and London just like his other cronies. Someone mentioned that Daim owns a castle in Europe where his boys used to meet. With their huge and almost unlimited FINANCIAL RESOURCES both can become real kingmakers!
Today, political power is synonymous with money power. This is political reality. Money will get you anything - POWER, POSITION, STATUS - you name it. So the man with the deepest pocket will call the shots. This FACTOR must be kept in mind all the time when analyzing to day’s political scenario. You can be scandalous, you can even be a murderer, but all these can be resolved in one way or the other in your favour through the power of MONEY. When you look at the basics, the political struggle for power be it by the BN, PKR or DAP and even PAS is to have Money and control over MONEY. Service to the Rakyat becomes secondary because if you don’t have money what services are we talking about.
For Anwar to realize his ambition, he needs help from Abdullah. Don’t forget Anwar was released from prison only after Abdullah became Prime Minister. So Abdullah has and can offer a lot to Anwar to REALISE his premiership dream. And since Abdullah has openly declared that he would pass on the baton to Najib at the right time, it is the more logical for Anwar to approach Pak Lah and really talk the terms with him. Pak Lah can make use of Anwar to silence Mahathir if he wants too, given Anwar’s precarious and vulnerable position vis a vis Mahathir. Anytime the Tun can spill the beans on Anwar, although Anwar too can do like wise on the Tun. After all both have in their possessions the necessary bullets to fire one another. The only question is who has the most number of bullets and who the sharper shooter is. You need to ponder on the answer. Remember when Anwar fled the political scene; he took with him “files” which according to the media reports then were stashed overseas only to be reopened when the time comes. The authenticity of this allegation of Anwar in possession of “vital secret” documents is a question mark. Anwar has to be careful to use it, lest he can be charged under the Official Secrets Act.
The Lingam tape exposure was Anwar’s first real salvo towards Mahathir. Powerful bullet indeed; but to date it does not shake the Tun that much. Yes he was hit but not at the vital part and who knows the Tun will survive the “shot”. After all he had survived many shots before including his second bypass and still going strong. Will Anwar fire his second bullet? The Tun has not fired at Anwar at all. What would be his game plan- to let Anwar finished his bullets? But remember Ezam, the man who rejoined UMNO. He was purportedly having in his custody many of the so called “secret files” that were hijacked when he and Anwar left the Treasury Building. Ezam must have taken away some of these bullets or already given some to his new boss Pak Lah by now. And Pak Lah can either use it to shoot Anwar or give it to someone else to do it for him. Tun Mahathir knows what bullets Anwar has all this time in his possession. So the Tun’s next move is quite unpredictable. And this we must expect because the man IS a very unpredictable person, even in his twilight years.
Coming back to Tun Mahathir/Anwar dichotomy, what can Anwar tell of the Tun that would really put him in a defenseless state? Will it be Tun’s abuse of power on FINANCIAL SCANDALS? As Finance Minister Anwar should know what was going on in all the controversial issues where MONEY is involved, like Perwaja, the National Car, Putrajaya, bailing out of companies owned by his friends and cronies, including his own son’s shipping company by Petronas as alleged by some people and all the MEGA PROJECTS associated with Tun. Hey its coming like HIGH NOON! May be it is! And if it comes thru, they just “kill” each other “politically” that is. Or some one who is more powerful will kill each of them one by one just like the film “Enam Jahanam” but in this case “Dua Jahanam” only. As for Tengku Razaleigh, his role is one of a Court Jester to put it mildly in the current political happenings. No dispute over his past contributions to the country especially to the Malays, but for Tengku Razaleigh to make a political comeback is just not on. He has past his times. He was a man of YESTERDAY and today not many UMNO Divisional Heads who are the delegates to the forthcoming UMNO Assembly in December know him!
Who is the GODFATHER? And will he make his move. You have to wait for my next round of exposure.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
The Mahathir Record
I refer to P.C.A LEE’s letter to NST (17th June 2008)on Tun Dr. Mahathir’s record. To me the Petronas twin towers, the Sepang F1 Circuit, the KLIA and the tolled highways are not projects coming out of brilliant ideas or initiatives. These can only come from those who think and behave that the country’s resources are unlimited and “money is no problem” It was during his administration that another “brilliant” idea was mooted which fortunately did not materialize - to build a bridge linking Malaysia and Sumatra. Just imagine the consequence to the country’s financial resources and the ballooning budget deficits should the project proceeded? His penchant for mega projects was indeed insatiable especially when these become synonymous with his name He wanted to create his own history especially for the young generation. After all, those who were born at the time the Tun became Prime Minister are now grown adults when he retired in 2003. This generation only knows him as Prime Minister and this is what he wants to perpetuate even to the extent of dismantling any historical past.
Remember the Merdeka Stadium which was on the verge of being demolished to make way for a commercial project which must have received his blessing had it not been for the public outcry that insist on preserving this historical place where our first Prime Minister read the Proclamation of our Independence?
The availability of oil money and Petronas under his direct control has no doubt became the driving force behind his foray into these mega projects including the heavy industry as well as for bailing out public and private companies from the fallout of the 1996/1997 Asian financial crisis. The national car project was developed at very high social costs to the country and people, when it could have been done differently and at a much cheaper costs and still meet our national objectives and aspirations. Just look at what Thailand did to its automotive industry which is robust and competitive compared to ours. And we were far ahead of Thailand at one time.
Perwaja is another disaster that has to be salvaged. Is the Formula One circuit financially viable and self financing or still dependent upon the continuing injection of public money or Petronas money? What did the country get substantively out of the twin towers apart from having the tallest building in the world but not anymore now? Was the twin tower buildings’ space fully occupied upon completion? Did our construction industry and our major contractors gain any technological mileage in terms of construction expertise and new skills for our labour force when we engaged foreign contractors and foreign labor for their construction?
I tried to list down what are his positive contributions to the country especially to the ordinary citizens that could make them remember him in their hearts for a long time. We are not talking of the few hundred families or individuals that became direct beneficiaries of his 22 year administration through negotiated contracts, privatization deals, business monopolies, exclusive supplies and services, but the millions of ordinary low income and poor people in the rural and urban areas throughout the country.
Frankly, not much can be documented for their direct well being and welfare, except the widening disparity of incomes between the major races and within a race and between urban and rural areas during his administration. The gaps between the rich and the poor were forever widening. I only see more and more negatives than positives, as enumerated by PCA Lee, like the thriving corruption, the erosion of public confidence on the judiciary, racial polarization, and wastage of public funds like substandard buildings, schools, roads implemented through direct negotiations and consequently abandoned but later salvaged by the new administration at tremendous costs to the nation. To add to the shopping list of negatives is the declining respect for our laws because you can do wrong things for the right reason. Or you can be spared of your wrong doings before the law if you can tell the judges what to do. Anything is possible at the right price
The explosion in the number of award for honorific titles amongst Malaysians happened during his premiership so much so that cynical remarks were made by every Dick, Tom and Harry that if someone throws a stone on the street or at any public gathering or function, the chances are that you will hit a Dato’, Dato' Seri or Tan Sri. The scramble for getting such titles became paramount as they provide tremendous mileage in terms of securing preferential treatment of sorts and access to the corridors of power all which add a new dimension to the Malaysian culture and way of life. Hence it is not what you know but who you know and what you have before your name that finally matters. It is not far fetched to say that the basic rationale and justification for conferring these honorific titles had been compromised or almost thrown overboard. It has become commercially driven to a large extent and the people know this fully well that many who were conferred with these titles do not deserve them. Many go for these honorific titles to redeem or camouflage their past misdeeds in the eyes of the public. But last and not least I have never come across or heard a former Prime Minister of this country being called a Firaun or Pharaoh. To the Muslims who read and understand the Koran this is a very degrading and unpalatable name to call anyone.
We must be fair to the Tun and let us hope as time goes on more and more of his good deeds and not his misdeeds will be unfolded so that as the saying goes, elephants leave behind its tasks, the tigers its stripes when they die. For the mortal human beings, they leave behind their names.
Remember the Merdeka Stadium which was on the verge of being demolished to make way for a commercial project which must have received his blessing had it not been for the public outcry that insist on preserving this historical place where our first Prime Minister read the Proclamation of our Independence? The availability of oil money and Petronas under his direct control has no doubt became the driving force behind his foray into these mega projects including the heavy industry as well as for bailing out public and private companies from the fallout of the 1996/1997 Asian financial crisis. The national car project was developed at very high social costs to the country and people, when it could have been done differently and at a much cheaper costs and still meet our national objectives and aspirations. Just look at what Thailand did to its automotive industry which is robust and competitive compared to ours. And we were far ahead of Thailand at one time.
Perwaja is another disaster that has to be salvaged. Is the Formula One circuit financially viable and self financing or still dependent upon the continuing injection of public money or Petronas money? What did the country get substantively out of the twin towers apart from having the tallest building in the world but not anymore now? Was the twin tower buildings’ space fully occupied upon completion? Did our construction industry and our major contractors gain any technological mileage in terms of construction expertise and new skills for our labour force when we engaged foreign contractors and foreign labor for their construction?
I tried to list down what are his positive contributions to the country especially to the ordinary citizens that could make them remember him in their hearts for a long time. We are not talking of the few hundred families or individuals that became direct beneficiaries of his 22 year administration through negotiated contracts, privatization deals, business monopolies, exclusive supplies and services, but the millions of ordinary low income and poor people in the rural and urban areas throughout the country.
Frankly, not much can be documented for their direct well being and welfare, except the widening disparity of incomes between the major races and within a race and between urban and rural areas during his administration. The gaps between the rich and the poor were forever widening. I only see more and more negatives than positives, as enumerated by PCA Lee, like the thriving corruption, the erosion of public confidence on the judiciary, racial polarization, and wastage of public funds like substandard buildings, schools, roads implemented through direct negotiations and consequently abandoned but later salvaged by the new administration at tremendous costs to the nation. To add to the shopping list of negatives is the declining respect for our laws because you can do wrong things for the right reason. Or you can be spared of your wrong doings before the law if you can tell the judges what to do. Anything is possible at the right price
The explosion in the number of award for honorific titles amongst Malaysians happened during his premiership so much so that cynical remarks were made by every Dick, Tom and Harry that if someone throws a stone on the street or at any public gathering or function, the chances are that you will hit a Dato’, Dato' Seri or Tan Sri. The scramble for getting such titles became paramount as they provide tremendous mileage in terms of securing preferential treatment of sorts and access to the corridors of power all which add a new dimension to the Malaysian culture and way of life. Hence it is not what you know but who you know and what you have before your name that finally matters. It is not far fetched to say that the basic rationale and justification for conferring these honorific titles had been compromised or almost thrown overboard. It has become commercially driven to a large extent and the people know this fully well that many who were conferred with these titles do not deserve them. Many go for these honorific titles to redeem or camouflage their past misdeeds in the eyes of the public. But last and not least I have never come across or heard a former Prime Minister of this country being called a Firaun or Pharaoh. To the Muslims who read and understand the Koran this is a very degrading and unpalatable name to call anyone.
We must be fair to the Tun and let us hope as time goes on more and more of his good deeds and not his misdeeds will be unfolded so that as the saying goes, elephants leave behind its tasks, the tigers its stripes when they die. For the mortal human beings, they leave behind their names.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Pakatan Rakyat 100 Days in Power
It is a fair question to ask any government that came into power what it had done for the people during the first 100 days of its rule. In our case it is most relevant to look at the Pakatan Rakyat governments that now rule five States. Not only the people in these five states but also people throughout the country would be interested to know.
Without detailing the various actions taken by each one of them in their respective States, a general perception of sort is beginning to be formed by the public during their first 100 days in office that has a lot in common. First, the PR leaders lead by examples as reflected in their social behavior and actions especially for the underprivileged. They also showed, total abhorrence towards public wastage in all its forms, like big mega projects, right down to official travels, entertainment and ceremonies.
Fighting corruption is their topmost agenda. To this end, they are very action oriented towards establishing transparency and good governance in their respective states. Of course, as many people alleged, they are new in power and as usual new brooms sweep well, at least for the time being. But whatever your take on the issue, it cannot be denied, at least up till now, PR leaders especially those in the government had an impeccable record in terms of their honesty and integrity. None had got entangled with any form of scandal or implicated in corruption, at least not the public is aware of. Of course this could be due to the fact that they have never been in power before, except for PAS in Kelantan. Hence they have not tasted blood yet as they say.
We will keep a close watch on them and only time will tell. But we believe that if they can keep up and sustain their integrity and clean image and most importantly, their commitment and sincerity to serve the rakyat, and not themselves they can last very long, barring any unforeseen blunders such as scandals or corruption.
Whether we like it or not and whether we want to accept it or not, our leaders on the other side of the spectrum are quite the reverse. Scandals and corruption have tainted many of them. This is the hard core problem especially in UMNO as the backbone of the BN coalition. It also plagues the other component parties too. The people, especially the young generation just cannot get rid of their minds the fact that most people in UMNO especially amongst their leaders are corrupt or have been corrupt and their priority is self service and not people. Until this stigma is removed, UMNO can never go back to it’s hey days of pre and post independence of the 60’s and 70’s. Until and unless these corrupt individuals are flushed out of the system, UMNO is going to be business as usual.
You can have countless seminars, brainstorming sessions, but as long as these corruptly tainted or pro corrupt individuals continue to be around and lead the party there can never be any rejuvenation, re-branding or whatever astounding or glamorous name you choose for UMNO.
By the same token the Pakatan Rakyat government will meet the same fate the moment their leaders become greedy and power crazy which history had shown will only lead to scandals, corruption and more corruption and eventually downfall.
Without detailing the various actions taken by each one of them in their respective States, a general perception of sort is beginning to be formed by the public during their first 100 days in office that has a lot in common. First, the PR leaders lead by examples as reflected in their social behavior and actions especially for the underprivileged. They also showed, total abhorrence towards public wastage in all its forms, like big mega projects, right down to official travels, entertainment and ceremonies.
Fighting corruption is their topmost agenda. To this end, they are very action oriented towards establishing transparency and good governance in their respective states. Of course, as many people alleged, they are new in power and as usual new brooms sweep well, at least for the time being. But whatever your take on the issue, it cannot be denied, at least up till now, PR leaders especially those in the government had an impeccable record in terms of their honesty and integrity. None had got entangled with any form of scandal or implicated in corruption, at least not the public is aware of. Of course this could be due to the fact that they have never been in power before, except for PAS in Kelantan. Hence they have not tasted blood yet as they say.
We will keep a close watch on them and only time will tell. But we believe that if they can keep up and sustain their integrity and clean image and most importantly, their commitment and sincerity to serve the rakyat, and not themselves they can last very long, barring any unforeseen blunders such as scandals or corruption.
Whether we like it or not and whether we want to accept it or not, our leaders on the other side of the spectrum are quite the reverse. Scandals and corruption have tainted many of them. This is the hard core problem especially in UMNO as the backbone of the BN coalition. It also plagues the other component parties too. The people, especially the young generation just cannot get rid of their minds the fact that most people in UMNO especially amongst their leaders are corrupt or have been corrupt and their priority is self service and not people. Until this stigma is removed, UMNO can never go back to it’s hey days of pre and post independence of the 60’s and 70’s. Until and unless these corrupt individuals are flushed out of the system, UMNO is going to be business as usual.
You can have countless seminars, brainstorming sessions, but as long as these corruptly tainted or pro corrupt individuals continue to be around and lead the party there can never be any rejuvenation, re-branding or whatever astounding or glamorous name you choose for UMNO.
By the same token the Pakatan Rakyat government will meet the same fate the moment their leaders become greedy and power crazy which history had shown will only lead to scandals, corruption and more corruption and eventually downfall.
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