5/25/2010
Magic Najib , awesome!
No one would believe that Najib was able to pull the Malayan Railway relocation project off so easily and quickly. For him to reach an agreement with Hsien Loong is like David Copperfield performing his majic and his audience staring in disbelief. The Malayan Railway was Mahathir’s pet subject in how to skin Singapore. Mahathir knew how badly Singapore wanted that piece of land for redevelopment and irritatingly refused to come to any agreement no matter what. It was simply no go.
Najib has only been a PM for less than a year. And on the home front he has made many overtures and decisions that would give Mahathir a big nightmare. With Mahathir breathing down his neck and watching him like a hawk, and with a team of ultras in his cabinet waiting to pounce on him to prove that they are bluer than blue, any PM would be walking on trip wires.
The agreement with Singapore, no matter how attractive and beneficial, is bound to come under attack before the ink is dry. For Najib to be able to walk away with it and smilingly is a sign that he is in control, whether by persuasion or sheer leadership, he must have his cabinet behind him. The agreement can be the most attractive and favourable to Malaysia in many counts, but if the cabinet is not behind him, it will never be accepted. If the cabinet is still stuck with the baggages of Mahathir, no Najib magic will work.
I am still in a state of shock and disbelief that it is happening. And this bodes well for bilateral ties and economic cooperation between the two countries. It is a gigantic step forward and both sides can only benefit with more cooperations and joint ventures, bilateral or springing into the international arena. When both sides are willing to put aside the historical baggages and look ahead, there will be many more magical moments to come. There will be no need for any formal loose federation when the spirit of cooperation is there. Many of the unnecessary barriers could be lowered or remove to facilitate mutually beneficial activities.
In Najib there is a new vibrancy in Malaysia. His mind is set on moving ahead rationally, for economic growth and development instead of fighting the shadows of past animosities. The unfruitful and unproductive politicking of the past is history. He has many tasks ahead and is wasting no time to kick start Malaysia into another economic powerhouse. If he is successful, he will easily outdo what Mahathir had done in the last 30 years in a fraction of that time.
Now that the agreement has been signed, Najib is going home to face his doomsayers and the recalcitrants who would be pulling all the plugs under him. Would he be strong enough to stand on his feet and carry his dreams forward, intact?
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13 comments:
There should be many on both sides of the Causeway hoping to do away with passports when crossing it.
Can PM Najib make it happens?
Why are you celebrating an agreement that makes no sense and in a way impinges on our sovereignty?
The British Donks leased the land on which the KTM runs and have it's station in Tanjong Pagar for 999 years to Malaysia. When Singapore separated from Malaysia and achieved sovereignty all antecedent agreements including this donkey lease agreement should have been abrogated and declared null and void. If we did that, there would have been no issue with more than 10 years of haggling over what to do with the KTM station and the railway land.
Just look at how unkempt the station is at Keppel Road. When I point out to my foreign friends that this is a train station and that it belongs to another country, they just shaked their heads in utter disbelief. Some even commented that no sovereign country will allow this and may even make the issue a cause for war. Also take a train ride right up to Johore Bahru. Overgrown grass and weeds line the tracks all the way. You'll be forgiven if you think you're in some banana republic somewhere in Africa. Some people given access to the railway land are even planting vegetables next to the tracks! Where the fuck are our NEA inspectors? It is obvious that those buggers up country are doing this on purpose.
Can you stomache a gleaming metropolis, a "hub" for everything under the sun with a railway like this?
I can't.
The stinking Brits, during colonial times, would leave plenty of shit behind before they pack their asses off, like re-drawing national boundaries with the aim of causing friction and conflict later on eg. this railway thingy. But Najib has more brains than the senile old dick Mahatir to understand the commercial potential of the railway land. Anyway, the senile old dick Mahatir had always had an axe to grind with S'pore juz becoz he could never outdo S'pore and LKY. Every of his attempts to frustrate S'pore has in the end back-fired on him, eg. crooked bridge, railway land, water agreement...etc. He must be a very fuming senile old dick now. Or perhaps there's something more to what the eyes can see. There were rumours that the S'pore intelligence obtained some damning evidence linking Najib with the mongolian model murder case. Maybe that's why his sudden turn around to accede to S'pore's request.
We are living the legacy of the colonial power whose only interest was their own. We made the best of what they left behind, lock, stock and barrel. The McMahon Lines, the 17th parallel, Malaysia, complicating the lives of Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak, Brunei and Singapore. And we have to sort out this mess. Then there are the Indian Pakistan and Bangladesh borders, the Israeli Arab borders, the African states borders etc etc.
The bit on the intelligence is unlikely to be true, and no country would ever think of blackmailing the leader of another country. Definitely not us against our neighbour. The US or some western powers, possible.
The Malaysian leaders have the choice of continuing with antagonistic policies that bogged both sides down and hurting both parties. Or they can choose to move forward together, cooperating and benefitting from joint ventures to take on the world market.
Both could gain when there is a willingness to work hand in hand as partners. I think the new thinking is that why waste time bickering on old wounds of early leaders when there is a better tomorrow to conquer and many things to achieve together.
Hopefully, no more reversals this time.
We still don't know the full details of the swap yet and there will obviously be conditions attached. Water was the main bargaining chip used by Malaysia in the past, but certainly they know we will depend less on them as time goes by. Same with sand, which we are now getting from Cambodia as I understand.
To Malaysia that piece of land in Tanjong Pagar is really insignificant compared to what they have up North, but provides tremendous leverage for bargaining over the years. That was so, with the Malaysian Government led by Mahathir, not seeing eye to eye with someone here. A less quarrelsome Malaysian Government may have seen the problem solved years ago.
Hopefully again, a step forward to better relations.
To me,the release of this KTM land news is indeed a good news and is many times better than any other issues.All these while in my mind,this land issue should be the first priority to look into and this is a good news to me.
PM Najib is magnanimous and I am confident that under his leadership,the country will be soon be another dragon .
It will also be a good news to me if one day,I can travel there without a passport.I love Malaysia.Saya cinta Kamu
Agree absolutely. There are so many ways to work together for the benefits of the people of both countries. Why fight and bicker when we can be friends and be prosperous together?
Just hope that this new direction is not a flash in the pan and there are many ultras waiting in line to rewind the clock. Even Anwar Ibrahim has started to take a knock at it without looking at the merits but attacking Najib as weak.
In this case Najib is showing his strength to defy all pressures from his doomsayers and people who want to pull him down, look at the benefits of the case, and decided this is the best way to go forward. He is showing his middle finger to Mahathir and all those who are waiting to jump on him. This is strength and courage in leadership. Not weakness.
A weak leader will just bow down to his opposition and play safe. Don't do anything, don't rock the boat.
Anwar has valid reason(s) to cast aspersion, he made it clear that he wished the Malaysian Chief not to gain personally(or for the his Political Party, if i may add) from the deal. It is justify for Anwar to be doing what he has done in calling for transparency to the DEAL.
Must say here that what transpires between Najib and Anwar is their domestic affair. Me only interested to be able to travel to Malaysia without the need for passport. And better if i can buy a small piece of land in the kampong in it.
patriot
My apology Folks,
'justify' in my comment should read 'justifiable'.
patriot
Well, Anwar is a political foe of Najib. Should he agree or disagree with Najib?
He too wants to look good in the eyes of Malaysians, so we must understand his position. Politicians are like that, and accumulating political mileage is their game.
Let's hope it is a done deal. The chances are good without a mongolian or jinx as middleman.
If only 2 old buggers focussed on reparing relations and building friendship between the next generation, Spore could have saved 10 Bil$ a year on defence and utilised it to generate jobs at both ends of the causeway.
note: I rather work and live in Malaysia than China.....
Hi satay fan, Welcome to the blog.
The two countries have wasted many years and opportunities to move ahead. And the relationship between the people of both countries have been adversely affected by the leaders politicising and provoking the people to be angry with each other.
We need to change and be nicer to each other, work together, joint ventures, as partners, to take on the world together. Behaving like two little frogs fighting in a well is pathetic.
There are so many things to do for the benefits of both countries and people.
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