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.