The goodness coming from the GE

The Malaysians have two men to thank for the results of the GE and a new Malaysia. Credit must go to Anwar for bringing about two unlikely bedfellows together to share a common dream, a Malaysian Malaysia. And credit must also go to Abdullah for allowing this to happen. Today, Abdullah is talking about a Malaysia for all Malaysians, a fair and level playing field, uniting all Malaysians and prosperity for all. This is a stark contrast from the pre election days when he allowed UMNO to be more extremist than PAS. UMNO was then trying to be more Islamic and more Malay than whatever PAS stood for. UMNO was trying to outdo PAS! Now PAS has moderated its position, and this caught UMNO with its pants down. Now a new tune is being sung by all parties, in the govt and the alternative govt. Everyone is talking about a Malaysian Malaysia. The challenge to the future is whether Anwar is strong and dynamic enough to keep PAS under check and not going the extreme Islamic path. And on Abdullah's part, whether he can rein in the ultras in his party and return UMNO to be a party for all Malaysians. His problems are more difficult as there is also the big issue of corruption among his close aides and ministers. UMNO needs a thorough clean up and many of his corrupt gangs must go. To think that Samy Vello is still thinking of leading MIC as a component member of the BN speaks a lot about where UMNO is.

Of ethics, pride and shame

Singapore is the second least corrupt country in Asia after Hongkong. Not a bad medal to wear. But is this tooth or truth? A CEO running a huge organisation may be stripped of all his responsibilities and kicked upstair and given a grand title like Master CEO or Grand Master... and continue to receive his obscene pay. His new job description could be in charge of the welfare of the tea lady and the toilet cleaners. And he continues happily going to office looking after the tea lady and cleaners, and with great pride and a lot of pay. Is this corruption? A board director who does not do anything material, who may not even attend board meetings, and continues to collect his fat director's fee happily. Is this corruption? In the strict sense of the definition, these are not corruption. The things that border people are ethics, pride and shame. Do these people have any ethical values to talk about? Are they proud of what they are doing? Do they have any sense of guilt or shame? Are they the role models in our society?

No words from Mas Selamat's family

I have been trying to hear from Mas Selamat's family and see what they have to say on his escape. After two weeks, still nothing heard. Neither was there any report on them. I think they must have given up on Mas Selamat. Or the journalists have all given up on them too. They are not news worthy, falling in the same category like how Mas Selamat escape. There may be people who want to know. But no one thinks it is important to follow up and do a write up about them. Would the family want to know where Mas Selamat is, or is he dead or alive?

Call for govt to take over public transport

Ng E Jay wrote to the ST calling for the govt to take over public transport as privatisation does not lead to more competition and efficiency. Has Ng E Jay forgotten that only through privatisation can organisations become more efficient? Taking over by the govt, according to our conventional wisdom, is a step backward, and public transport will become less efficient. Only through privatisation can public transport become efficient. And that is the tooth. Are Singaporean gullible or unthinking?

Malaysia's rite of passage

Below is a comment by Shad Saleem Faruqi in the Mypaper which I find very relevant. New Politics 'The electorate is not, any more, swayed exclusively by racial and religious appeal. The old technique of appealing to people's fear and insecurities did not work. The feudal hold of party overlords seems to have weakened. The Malay electorate seems to have cast off traditional loyalties. A maturing electorate saw through all the political rhetoric, the issues of corruption, arrogance of power and price rises.... The voting population has demonstrated that there are limits to its gullibility.' Shad is a Professor of Law at Universiti Teknologi Mara.

A city for dogs

I wrote earlier about dogs competing for space with human beans. I just come a cross an article in the Today paper reminding readers that it is an offence to abandon dogs. And the fine is $10k. Not a small sum to commit such a crime. I am wondering whether there is a similar act for abandoning parents or children. Just wondering. While we are going all out to protect the dogs, spare a thought for the human beans that are abandoned.

Malaysians have shown the way

It is possible to bring down an over confident ruling party. The Malaysians have done it, though the ruling party was not brought down yet, but the writing is on the wall. The facade of infallibility has been breached. All it needs is a confluence of many factors, big and small. Together they will tip the scale. The situation and conditions in Malaysia are quite similar except appearing in different hues. Removing the distractions, they are the same kinds of problem facing the people. And they have a few foolish ministers and some good for nothing ministers to help the people made up their minds. In our past elections, our ministers were the pillars of strength to lift or carry an entire GRC based on their reputation and weight. Would this assumption still holds true? In my observation, some are becoming a liability to the GRCs. They will bring down the GRCs instead. That is how bad things have changed. The momentum and direction have been set by the Malaysians. There is a high probability that they will be emulated here, in the next GE.

Paradise contracts terminal illness

Not possible? Paradise is like a rich fat man, well fed, overdosed of too much goodness, and full of bad cholesterol and high blood pressure, and contracting a terminal illness like what some rich man could. Given proper treatment, its life can be extended for quite sometime, or at worst hooked onto some tubes. What kind of treatment is paradise receiving? In most instances what paradise is getting is morphine jab. Not enough workers, inject foreign workers. Roads jammed, erect ERPs. Rising cost of living, throw them some money. Lack of talent, throw them some money. Taxi problems, raised fare. Public transport problems, raised fares. Education standard not high enough, raised fees. Feed the service providers and all will be well. And if morphine does not work, which it often the case as the effect is temporary, try chemotherapy. Chemo will work. But if the illness does not kill the patient, chemo will, or the many side effects will. Paradise cannot survive on morphine and chemo alone. We need more brilliant solutions. If a couple of millions would not do, then go for 10 or 20 million solutions, or a hundred million dollar solutions if there is such a thing. Actually a 2 million or 10 million or hundred million solution may be the same solution. We may be paying for the hype.

A creepy silence

Two days have passed without any incidents. The silence of Khairy and Hishammuddin and their likes is quiet creepy. Let's hope they take the decision of the people in their stride and reflect on why UMNO lost. They have contributed a great part to this debacle. They got corrupted with power in their head. Mahathir is happily blaming Abdullah for his ineffectiveness. Actually the person that needs to be blamed, the one who seeded all the nonsense in Malaysian politics is Mahathir himself. He orchestrated everything and set the tone for what was Malaysian politics during his reign. He allowed all kinds of excesses to run wild, and this is the result of his bad management. The politicians have had a ball of a time lining their pockets. The judiciary was in his pocket and beholden to him. The whole govt machinery were run by UMNO for the interests of the politicians. Corruption was rampant but accepted as the way of things. The irony now is that the stone he cast away, will now be seen as the possible saviour of Malaysia. In Anwar Ibrahim there is hope that there will be a new Malaysia for all Malaysians. No, it was not Abdullah's fault. He inherited the mess and all the cronies. UMNO is doomed and need to be cut down to size, minus the opportunists of course. Are we going to see a run on UMNO, MIC, MCA and Gerakan? Will the defection becomes a runaway avalanche? The party is over for UMNO.

The Bigger Test

Mas Selamat is a good test of our security system and Total Defence. Every element of the govt machinery and people were put into action without a hitch. They forgot to test the island wide siren though. But that might not be necessary by the nature of things. The bigger test is the test of leadership, or absence of leadership. We were, to borrow the analogy of an orchestra, without a conductor, without the lead violinist and without the manager. The orchestra kept on playing for 12 days with perfect coordination. The same score was played over and over again in different venues to the approval of the spectators. After 12 gruelling days, the tune sounded a bit jaded. But it was a good score and approval was given for the orchestra to continue playing. And we passed the bigger test, that we can continue to function normally in the absence of leadership. We were on auto pilot for 12 crisis days and everything went on smoothly. That is what we called an effective system managed by an effective team. With or without leadership, the system keeps on grinding. We survive the test.

Why so many charities and help schemes?

We are doing very very well economically. Full employment, huge national reserves, money pasting everywhere, money throwing everywhere, our banks have so much money that they have problems lending them out. Then our favourite past time is charity, setting up charitable organisations, organising charity events to raise funds, begging on the streets, setting up public help shemes and schemes and organisations. And officially hundreds of millions are spent to help the poor, if there is any, and unofficially millions and millions were collected from the public, also to help the poor. Why should a super rich little island with only 3 million citizens so obsessed about helping the poor? It is a strange phenomenon indeed. Where are the poor, 3,000 of them I heard, or where are the money? Oops, better clarify on this point. Are the money reaching the poor? Or if there are so few poor, why the need for so much money? Really what is causing the hardship to those who are struggling?

Selamat fooled his captors?

Did Selamat fool his captors? Or are his captors so easily fooled? Under normal circumstances we can laugh it off as another kopitiam talk. If our people in authority are so easily fooled, my god, what else can happen? Come to think of it, this is nothing new in the little red dot. Are the people being fooled everyday, I mean look at the money they have been giving away to hot shot charities? A little gimmicks here and there, a little promotion, a few luminaries sit in the board of directors or acting as chairpersons, and all the guards becomes non existence. We are easily fooled, that is a fact.

A higher level of political maturity

A glance at the winners in yesterday's election quickly reminds one of the numerous political prisoners among them. Lim Kit Siang, Lim Eng Guan, Tian Chua, and the currently in prison M Manoharan who won while in captivity. Then the indestructible Anwar Ibrahim, so corruption and sodomy stuck on his face, stood triumphantly on the rostrum with his wife and daughter, both convincingly won their wards. And there were many other ex political detainees who were and are going into Parliament. What does all these say to the Malaysian political system or to the credibility of drum up charges of political detainees? The people were simply pissed off by such wild accusations, even if some are true, and chose to denounce the regime in power and their excesses to abuse power. Political criminals are no criminals. Fictitious political crimes are no crimes. The Malaysian political system is much more mature than ours. The Malaysian electorate are much more mature than ours. The Malaysian ruling party, on this occasion, is also more mature than ours. At least they did not say their electorate is stupid to vote for the opposition. I will retract this if they start to kiss the kris and threaten violence.

2008 GE in Malaysia

The results say it all. The Malaysians are not going to be dragged along by a corrupt coalition that is sinking deeper into cronyism and racism. In brief these are what the voters have said. 1. No more corruption 2. Down with race politics 3. Down with threats and violations of minority rights 4. Down with Barisan National 5. Return of Anwar Ibrahim 6. A new justice and a new Malaysia Losing 5 states to the opposition is a big defeat of the BN. The Malays, Chinese and Indians have started to abandon a sinking BN that is bankrupt of ideas. They have lost faith in what BN can bring to the people and to bring Malaysia forward to the next century. Would anyone be kissing his kris again? Would there be more war cries in UMNO convention? The toll of bullying the component parties of BN and threats of blood letting is for all to see. UMNO has not only discreditted their component parties but also lost credibility among the Malays. The BN coalition is habis. Gerakan, MCA, MIC and the east Malaysian parties may reflect on their role and value to the people and may find it best to leave the Barisan. It has long been a UMNO Barisan than a Barisan National. Staying on will further erode their support from the electorate. They have been totally ineffective, and humiliated by their inaction or fear of UMNO that they have been living in shame in recent years. Would we see a mass defection of these parties to a New Barisan led by Kedilan and DAP? What would happen if the MCA, Gerakan, MIC and other component candidates just defect to join the New Barisan, if that is possible? Or they could resign and stand for the opposition in by elections. If that be the case, the next by election, with Anwar standing, will be a mini general election. And the death nail in the UMNO/BN will be complete if more UMNO candidates also join the cause and defect to the opposition parties. Having said all these, the Malaysians should give a standing ovation to Pak Lah for allowing democracy to flourish and run its own course, for allowing the people the freedom to choose their national leaders. Abdullah has allowed a more freer Malaysia to take place, more breathing space for the opposition and has also laid the foundation of a new era for Malaysia and Malaysians. There is hope that Malaysia will become truly Malaysia under the current ethos and political climate. There is hope that the judiciary, the civil service and uniformed services will be allowed to act independently and professionally, to serve the people than the interests of a few individual politicians. Well done Malaysia! Well done Pak Lah. And good wishes to all the opposition parties.

We are the centre of the Universe

We have for several years been meddling, or they called it innovating, with our education system. We introduced an Integrated Programme, a 6-year through train where students need not sit for the 'O' level examination. We also introduced the more intellectually challenged subject, Knowledge and Inquiry, to our A level students. After six years, the first batch of IP students are applying for university places overseas. Also the students taking KI in place of GP are also doing the same. And they came to a road block. The overseas universities are not ready to accept the changes. Probably some may not even heard of our IP programme. We are ahead of our time in education creativity. Those moribund universities in the US and UK have been sleeping and failed to keep up with us. They are still so backward that they are not going to admit our aced students without an O level result or without the GP. So far the msm has reported that Imperial College, King's College London, Cambridge and Oxford have affirmed their recognition of our advanced and higher standard of education. London School of Economics don't and so are many others. Our students are now in a bind. Their choice for overseas universities may now be very limited. To avoid such problems we should can our IP and KI options for now until we notify all the backward universities that they have to keep up with our changes or else. A good thing to ponder at is to look more than 2 steps ahead before making such innovative changes. It is difficult for the whole world to keep up with the pace of our change.

The most incredible story ever told

After more than a week of msm reporting, the official version of Mas Selamat Kastari's escape is still by walking through the toilet and presumably walking out of the detention centre free from any obtructions, checks or guards. It makes the detention centre looks like a shopping centre. Well we have to believe that this is the story, the most incredible story ever told in the City of Possibilities.

What kind of tooth?

It is a fact that msm have limited space and have to be very selective on what to print, including forum letters. They is also the editor's choice or agenda. Thus many issues seem to die off after a few days of reporting. This gives the impression that no one is interested in them any more. And some jokers conveniently may conclude that it is all over, issue accepted and even supported by the people. So if the msm stop printing criticisms about an issue, the issue is now acceptable or supported by the people. Is that truth or tooth? The good thing about cyberspace is that issues can be repeated and continued, postings over and over again to keep them alive.

Get rid of Samy Vellu

After getting rid of Anwar Ibrahim, after calling the people to get rid of Abdullah Badawi, now it is Samy Vellu's turn. Mathathir has spoken. Strange, all three were his choice ministers. Anwar supposely his successor until the sodomy charge. Abdullah, his choice as the current PM. And Samy was his right hand man, the man to lead MIC. Now all three are not worthy when left alone. Probably they are only worthy working under Mahathir and he could teach or lead them to do the right things.

Mean Testing: The human touch

This is the heading of Tan Hui Leng's article in the Today paper. Her position is that mean testing is necessary to make the rich pay more. What she hopes for is for the system or the administrator to show a little human touch. Can this happen? The idea or thought of mean testing has already lost that human touch. Like it or not, it is subjecting another human bean to testing his means, asking him/her how much he has in his pocket and whether to let him through. To test another human bean is to embarrass the bean. Only those who know that they would not be subject to such testings will come out with such an idea. The embarrassment is on the other party. They are safe. They even think that it is cute. Forget about being human or the human touch once one accepts the principle of mean testing. Oh, Hui Leng also mentioned that nowadays people no longer kpkb about meant testing. So perhaps some may even say that the idea is now acceptable.

Which is worst?

Corruption is a clear cut case of wrong doing. Those who benefitted from corruption, no matter who well off, still walk around with a sense of guilt or guilt hanging over their head. They is shame, immorality, fear that justice will catch up with them. What about those who are collect largesses legally through proper or legitimate appointments to high offices, and collecting millions? In such cases there is no guilt and no sense of wrong doings. There is even a false sense of pride and self serving logics. Some may even demand to be paid more even when they know that they are doing sweet nothing or doing things that rightfully should only be paid a fraction of what they are getting. And the people superficially accept the above two forms at face value. One despised and the other with dignity. Which is worst? The tooth or the truth?