Bites From Obama vs Romney, Murphy vs McMahon

I always wanted and was certain from the beginning that Barack Obama would win the recently concluded elections simply because of a few main reasons: he fights for the middle-class Americans and even pushes for the healthcare reform bill. There's a certain understanding from the people that a Democrat party-originated president will have a hard time to reverse the policies undertaken by the Republican Bush administration. Secondly, with the narrow aversion of the Senate and House's deadlock over the national debt matter last year, many people would not want to have someone like Romney that would make people suffer while reducing the tax for the wealthy.

Some people, even Warren Buffett thinks that people amass too much wealth but yet don't contribute much back to the nation in the period where things are so tough economically is somewhat greedy - an opinion that Obama doesn't hide by pointing to the elite at Wall Street as "the fat cat bankers". Many don't take kindly to him because he signed the Dodd-Frank Act. Add in the Massachusetts' Elizabeth Warren (who pushed for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) - the rich end of the people layer will be very much angry, while those in the lower and middle would say at least it's better.

Many including overseas partners rather prefer Obama in dealing the foreign policy. In the final round of debate between Romney and him, Obama's way of addressing the matter was very much more careful -  even if there's rivalry with other nations compared to what Romney would do - more hawkish stance, given of his Mormon background. This of course is what Netahanyu would want - given of Israel itching to start a war with Iran over oil and nukes. The kind of thought by Romney nerved a lot of people. Any person would imagine how Romney would deal with the Chinese in a slam bang manner.

Facing the fiscal cliff due in January, there is a necessity of the U.S to cut expenditure on defense and the timetable of withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan needs to be accelerated, for a daily upkeep is around to the tune of $1 billion. Romney is not very keen on upscale cuts on that matter and this would put more trouble in addition to the $600 billion automatic cuts in January 2013. The contest is also seen as perceiving who is digging the bigger hole and sinking faster.

Wall Street on Wednesday took a big dip, and then it continued on Thursday only to parred its losses on Friday. The real pain is that Wall Street bet on the wrong horse - obviously as part of the extreme capitalist agenda and lost painfully - the Dow and S&P 500 drop between 300-400 points respectively.

The other interesting thing about that day was the Senate seat contest in Connecticut between Democrat's Chris Murphy against former WWE chairman Linda McMahon (Republic). Linda spent about $50 million of her fortune to campaign and win a ticket to the Senate - 5 times more than the amount of Murphy's expenditure. $100 million in two campaigns for McMahon but yet lost on both occasions. Arguably, the main reason why Murphy won against her was because of insights of those who worked under her describing her behavior in running the company. This senatorial seat contest was interesting because it points out that not even the amount of money can guarantee a politician a ticket to the Senate.

The closing speech by Murphy was also a turning point:

"I've spent my life running to people to help them and Linda McMahon has spent her life running over people to help herself, that's the contrast in this election. And so, whether it is the difference on taxes or Medicare or social security, whether it is the difference on fighting for manufacturers, standing up for women's health, whether it's the difference in terms of how Linda McMahon and I have prioritised the time we've spent on this Earth, we've got a story to tell over the next day.... We will prove over the course of the next thirty hours that Connecticut is not for sale."

Many have expressed contempt and disappointment over McMahon's answers and statements.

The re-election campaign would definitely provide some allegories to the Malaysian political context. Just like Obama's win, when Barisan lost more than they thought, the KLSE plunged 10% and trading got suspended on 9 March 2008. Quite similar of betting that the customary 2/3rds are there, but this time round, it didn't happen. Many are uncertain whether a change or government or a setback would affect the 5-year term policy making which they are used to.

As an allegory to the Murphy vs McMahon campaign, Barisan's war chest is estimated to amount to approximately RM 1.7 billion - no doubt from collective contributions by top national conglomerates and GLCs. If you visit a place where ceramahs by the non-Barisan parties, people would give donations with amounts more or less a fragment of the total money.

Let's say we use the maximum tune of RM 1.7 billion:

222 Parliament Seats X $200K campaign per seat = $44.4 million

505 State Seats X $100K campaign per seat = $50.5 million

The actual cost of campaigning for each coalition in total for any GE is actually close to $100 million. By spending $1.7 billion in total, even Barisan can't even stand and abide by their own election terms and regulations set by their unofficial component party, the Election Commission. So the remaining $1.6 billion is more or less used as "instant noodle" projects such as the road-tarring to Kuala Sepetang during the Bukit Gantang by-election (yes, I went ahead before the Special Bunch camped there in 2009.)

There is a different feeling when forking out the money vs big corporation contribution in donating to the election fund for a coalition to contest in an election. 

If we look at the map indicating states where Obama and Romney won, the parts that Romney win (in the early run of the count) would be those in the almost middle part of America including Alaska. When examining each of the state that are under the Romney count, you would notice that the pattern is somewhat similar to our rural area count (e.g Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma). However it is important to note that the voter mindset of the voter there is not the same as Malaysia and the voting system is not the same, so it can't be taken entirely to say what happens in America is the same as in Malaysia. The gist from the two things above is that

a) those who are savvy will not want to have a government that keeps spending bottomless.
b) if you are a tax payer person, you feel the real pinch compared to those who are excluded (i.e those earning under RM 2500, the elderly, the retirees)
c) no matter how much you splash out to people, it doesn't guarantee you to be a MP or an ADUN.

In spite of those things many say that the GE 13 is the proper contest atmosphere it would be - a very tense thing on the national scale that is equivalent to a final of a football contest. The exception is that one side will attempt to rig the game to the favor, while the other tries to show that they can do the job in a very proper manner - if they are given the mandate to do so.

What's Next for Rafizi After N.O.W?

Now that N.O.W, Rafizi Ramli's pet project is up, the next thing I can think of in regards of Rafizi Ramli is to rethink of contesting in Pandan and fall back to a safer spot.

I once managed to have a short time with Rafizi one night in Gombak - unfortunately the talk was cut short of his appointment elsewhere. Rafizi can be a nice chap, as what I hear what other people would say about him. Surely his reputation has shot up after a blitz of exposes involving the LRT extension project and the big talk of the town: the NFC cow scandal.

A few months ago, Rafizi spoke about contesting in Pandan against MCA's Ong Tee Keat. I, together with a few people have certainty to say that regardless of political affiliations, Superman OTK is a very popular figure in Pandan and the only way for OTK to lose is if there is sabotage from his own party, MCA. In 2008, former MTUC president Syed Shahir contested in that area but Ong won with a neither big nor small majority of 3000 votes.

The doubt I have is that Pandan may not be that feasible contrary to what Rafizi thinks.

The much more better alternatives is either in Kelana Jaya or in Petaling Jaya Selatan.

I've been overhearing some random people on the ground talking about how they are unhappy with the performance of either Hee Loy Sian or Gwo Burne which is in contrast with Tony Pua's performance. If what the people on the ground say the same thing as my first thought of both of those MPs, it would be a good idea to have them replaced with Rafizi and Syed Shahir. It's just not that both of them have a better chance of winning. It's the matter of problem solving most common issues that a Member of Parliament can do in those areas. 

MCA contests in both areas as the statistics speak for themselves.

Gwo Burne and Loy Sian won with a medium-range size majority of 3000-5000 votes.

It's likely Donald Lim in PJ Selatan and someone else if neither Lee Hwa Beng nor Loh Seng Kok would be up again in Kelana Jaya. In 2008, MCA was whacked almost kingdom come in the entire GE. People have seen that party, then run by the Ong brothers becoming more and more a mere stooge to United Malays National Organisation.

It looks like Rafizi and Syed Shahir stands a better chance in those areas. The population of voters there are a mix proportion of races. Ominous rumors of the incumbents in those areas being dropped over their performance is likely to be fact later on. Being a PKR candidate stands to have a good chance to contest in that area given of the good mix-proportion of people vs other areas.

I wonder how does it sound if Rafizi goes to contest there? Perhaps PKR doing some ground work there would be more appropriate rather than branding some unknown guy like me as talking something I am not appropriate to talk about? There's still time, at most up to 8 months left before reaching the full term where an election must be called.

Tee Keat is likely to have a few additional issues to deal including from within the party. We do not know whether there will be attempts to sabotage him or possible bickering by UMNO against MCA over the scenario of refusing to hand over the seat to their candidate. It's best to leave it untouched on Pandan for sometimes there's something that can be discovered while an infighting is happening.

A Pity For The Succumbed and The Indoctrinated

“In our style of writing, we have fact, spin and — one more — blatant lies. From the point of psychological warfare, let’s not follow ‘blatant lies’, let’s not write lies.

“Spin we can; no matter how we spin a certain fact to be biased in our favor, that’s okay."

-- Zaini Hassan

I had a feeling from the beginning of why Utusan Malaysia would come out with news that were colored with their own facts. The whole idea was meant to manufacture people's (since they claim to be the leading newspaper for the Malays), especially those in the civil service consent and opinion that the opposition especially the DAP will tend so spoil the country if they happened to take over Putrajaya someday or so. When this was reported in an online newsportal a few days ago, it confirmed not just my suspicions but others who may have the same thinking as I do.

If you notice carefully, among the parties co-organizing that event that day, one of them is the BTN (National Civics Bureau). For decades, the agency has been involved in brainwashing many people to believe of certain things that are in fact bogey man in nature. With that statement above, it seems not hate but a pity for many of those who read that paper (among the MSM-based papers) have been mislead and brainwashed indirectly by not just the party that claims to represent the Malays but an agency that is out to implant hate among other people.

In short, the thrall and the toxic indoctrination has extended its tentacles to its people especially those who are naive and those who are alive prior to the 1969 riots. 

Lately, the Najib administration had a multi-prong approach moves including attempts to recapture Selangor, enticing youth support and putting all those propaganda-oriented ads everywhere (billboards, trains, buildings, etc..). People at times may feel fed up and a well mature, knowledgeable person would know that this whole thing uses people's money (but they think it's their own money) for this big amount of publicity.

Yesterday at KLCC's park, there was the 1M4U event thing there. Spotted on the podium among them was Najib, his cousin Hishamuddin and Shabery Cheek. There's something that I felt irked by that event. It's not the turnover that I aimed to point out. There's a banner for example above. It's somewhat reminded me of Batu Caves or having seen that being pasted in every KTM Commuter caboose there. Looking at the phrase, "I M 4 U" sounds like a  man being worshiped as a god or something.

Looking at the crowd, I felt a tingle of uncertainty. The "One" thing that is the prefix of his 1Malaysia campaign thing often points me to the "One World Government", "One World Order", secret organizations that conspiracy theory buffs would often talked about. In fact whenever we do or trade, there are things that are indirectly, unknown to us point to that hidden things mentioned. When McCain and his partner came to visit Najib in Kuala Lumpur recently, some people like myself would think that visit is a secret message or a reminder sent by the cabalists to him.

It can be very dangerous at times to use that One prefix to everywhere in life.

I'm For You - would be better if it's I Am God.

I wondered for a fact whether these people and participants have been ordered to come here or whether if there are people among the congregation who support it but unaware that they are supporting things that they are really against of. Can you imagine dozens of buses and police security vehicles lining up within the vicinity of KLCC yesterday? I also wondered whether if these people could be either be brainwashed into believing non-existent things. In the last few posts, I have often brought out the phrase of "believing that elephants can fly" and related some example.

I guess the first guess was right. The Milo Suam blog has released a leak circular letter with an order to get 10000 people minimum to fill in the KLCC esplanade. (See entire post here)

Call it paranoia or insomnia, but having seen the crowd there by myself, I keep wondering whether they, being potential first time voters would make a first-time and only mistake that would condemn themselves, their future and their generations to come into more misery.

And when you realize that you've made a mistake, you lament that it's already too late to reverse it.

Call it a pity for those who succumbed to temptations and brainwashed to accepting falsehoods by people, politicians and parties who claimed to be omnipotent.

Not Exactly, Dr. M.

Yesterday, The Malaysian Insider has reported here that Dr. Mahathir commented that the Chinese voters are the kingmakers in the country and they would be the ones that who will decide who will form the next government after GE-13.

That is correct in one certain perspective but in overall he is partially right. There are reports running around both political fronts that the Chinese are leaning towards the opposition and have already determined to bury MCA six feet under. In other words, as what others have reported, UMNO has already in heart given up on MCA's efforts to get Chinese support and as what was written previously, they have already focused more on Malay support.

However, taking into the account of the number of parliamentary / state seats won by MCA alone in the previous GE, the party won no thanks to votes from postal and those who still blindly believe on the party that claims that elephants fly and money grows on trees after more than 2 score years.

If we take into account of Dr. Mahathir's statement, then Pakatan can improve its previous score of 82 to a good guess estimation of 105 seats. However, as what Raja Petra said yesterday here, "The next election is going to be a photo finish.". Chinese as kingmakers is not sufficient enough.

The total votes ratio (with postal included) will be a 3:4:3 thing meaning that as what Pete said in the same posting that a 5% swing from the 40% fence sitters can give a win to either one coalition.

Have we also forgotten about Sabah and Sarawak? The convention of both states being safety deposits has already been broken. They are also another kingmaker, and either front must get at least 20+ seats to form a government. 

We also have to remember that for those who are fence sitting they still are looking into who to choose. However, what they may not know is that because the next GE is a make or break for either one side, they may unaware choose to believe in continuing the believe of the party that indirectly claims elephants can fly.

So it's not exactly correct, doctor.

At What Real Cost?

The top brass of Barisan Nasional has been running around the country and giving all sorts of promises, splashing goodies around to the people in exchange for requesting them to give support in the next general elections. I was already certain that the general election would be somewhere around in November mainly because this takes into account of how the possible feel good hype that would be elicited from the people after the 2013 budget announcement, and the incentives that could be offered in conjunction with the Haji and Deepavali holidays. Analyzing on people sentiment, the ruling coalition is likely to count on the Malay votes (if you can understand their psyche, mindset as well) and the roller-coaster mindset of the Indians which can go up and down depending on the situation that arises that involves their society.

It is unlikely that they would wait until after Chinese New Year because the situation seems not well to them. It has already been established that most of Chinese are dead-set to vote for the opposition. The one thing that many in the top brass may find it hard to comprehend even including UMNO's partner, MCA is perhaps of the level of maturity, awareness and the mindset of the Chinese community in comparison with the other races of the Malaysian community. It is already noted that the level of support is very low that UMNO has already given up any big chance to regain support from the Chinese.

From the tone of what I am to present:

Sounds like I am talking race comparison.

Sounds like I am looking down at other people.

Sounds like I am talking race stuff. 

Sounds like I am screaming "I'm better than you." 

But out of here, there is a question that I wish to bring out especially at the naive and those who find it hard to believe in it. There's not much need for me to harp on the racial, royalty and religion thing as it is not my forte to talk about nor to those who are looking more bigger issues than those three that merely scratch the surface.

Recently there have been speeches from the big brass like (e.g Mahathir, Muhyiddin, Rais Yatim, Najib) calling for Malay unity, general unity, demands for gratitude to the ruling party, you help me I help you things in particular. They shout non-stop almost every day of "vote for us to keep the country stable." These leaders imply that the country would collapse if they do not hold on to their power on and on. And on prime time television, the party-owned private channels in particular are playing propaganda ads as to push for more support -no thanks to their infinite amount of resources, so as they perceived. But then again it's already almost 60 years they are in power, yet they are found to be caught with misconduct in almost every aspect of the country administration.

Some people have been asking why most of the Chinese community and the well-educated middle class have already no longer willing to stick to the convention and decide to go for something totally different and out of the box. The country's running old men have been calling and accusing some of them as creating a revolution and scream of instability if there's a change of guard in the country. Contrary to that, there's actually no such unusual effect happening since this scenario often happens in other countries. There's nothing to be excited about and to cheer about it. And as to allow me to answer that, it comes to one high probable reason: if you can understand the saying of "survival of the fittest" then perhaps it can answer that solution above. People have started to get past the "must feed me" thing and use other means to achieve success in live.

So why does the mainstream media seem to glorify the government although they are clearly have committed some gross misconduct? One thing is for sure, they are now lagging in support and are trying to drum up support way to the finishing line sometime around next year at most.

I appreciate some of the writings written by some of my friends that when being conveyed their own people which describes of how people are being mislead over the promises made by the present government of the day only to see what was promised being denied claiming of no such claim. Note that the present opposition has not at once run as the government of the day so it is not right to compare their track record because we didn't give them the chance to demonstrate their capabilities.

I also appreciate that through their writings that their people have started to acknowledge their mistakes and have started to wake up. However my only question to them would be on what about those who are still unwilling to correct their mistakes and stand for the coalition that has committed many misdeeds and gross misconduct? And what about those who are going to be ultimately mislead?

Here's one example of a person being ultimately mislead: Recently the man who accused Mat Sabu on the Mat Indera case has already admitted to the court that he made a police report based on the Utusan newspaper report. It was already proven that Mat Sabu did not utter or say anything that is referred to Communism in his series of public speeches. The man has then admitted to this and has asked the Sessions court in Penang to drop the case. This means that the man was a victim of misleading by the spin by the media - the spin that the government of the day, the present ruling coalition wishes to show it to the mass people.

Sure, it is still their right to decide. You can't obstruct them from making their choice. At what cost in exchange for your vote for them?


Okay, you would accuse me as another person dead set on going against the coalition party. I have my own set of reasons behind it. Any well educated, matured person can think of it. And if people ask me whether I am taking the risk to go and do something unconventional, the answer is yes. It's like making an unusual bet of (e.g a Double 0 in roulette, Snake Eyes for dice craps, etc..). Let's face it that the fate and future of the country is not decided by the handful of people nor just the minority of the Malaysians but the majority of people that forms the big part of the Malaysian society - but the problem is of being too simple-minded.

And allow me to fill in the blanks for you, o'naive and unbeliever ones for the question above:

1. You are actually acknowledging that flocks of sheep fly in the sky and monies fall from the trees.
2. You are condemning your future generations and your country to remain mundane until the point we're all gone and after say another 100 years of independence.
3. You show yourself that you're chickening out with no guts to think out of the box and vs convention.
4. You are actually saying that up becomes down, black is white - what is illegal is legal and vice versa.
5. You are saying that you don't really believe the real warnings - not by those who claim to say it's okay for now -  until it is too late to go back because you got complacent subsequently. The Greece scenario is a case in point.

Bersih: Raising The Stakes

With slightly less than 24 hours to go before Saturday's Bersih 3.0 rally, Putrajaya has already flip-flopped. Hishamuddin Hussein, who previously said that Bersih is no threat to security has no declared that cops will be acting against Bersih with the first move being the police are trying to get the court injunction order to stop top Bersih people from reaching Merdeka Square.

This has come in addition to DBKL declaring a lockdown on Merdeka Square from 6 am Friday morning and threaten people under Section 65 Local Government Act 1976. If Hishamuddin acts like this, it means he's not acting alone, but instead acting in concert with other UMNO warlords who are unable to swallow or take pride of what is to come. This also subtly hints that Najib is also facing internal opposition from his people within UMNO itself rather than the public image of opposition coalition attacking him.

The real question is who among the UMNO hawks and warlords that are the ones calling the shots?

The argument by the mayor Ahmad Fuad Ismail that Merdeka Square is merely used for national events do not seem to make it quite sound. To make it worse, the Peaceful Assembly Act bill which comes into effect on Monday seems to not include the right to outright reject something by the authorities and is in violation of assembling in one pre-defined location. In other words, the cops and city council have a mockery of the bill already.

Today, both sides have raised their stakes. Imagine this as a poker game between two people where one tries to call bluff while one has clearly have a better hand in play with the help of the 5 cards on the table. Putrajaya and DBKL are upping the ante by getting court-order to restraing people from coming in tomorrow. The Bersih commitee has responded with a "we will go ahead regardless" response. Occupy Dataran movement has responed with crowding the square tonight at

Sometimes, it can be wonderful how reverse psychology can be. The more pressure applied by authoritarians, the more people will start coming in to the square later on. Therefore, it's not possible to see a ideal half million people gathering there. I can see a 60% probability that DBKL will start bleeding money on that day, as they had to bring in their own personnel in addition to calling

It's a strange thing to see that while other cities outside KL are allowed to hold an event for two hours, I can't see the logic behind a no thing. Anyone who talks about #TKLLogic will also have the same opinion like I do.

To cut the story short: how do you stop on 500,000 potential people swarming in the city tomorrow?

You Only Need Another 15 Or More

Political analyst Wong Chin Huat's summation that for every one rural vote, represents six urban votes is correct given that it is based on how the constituent areas were drawn. Some small, some are big, while some are separated from the previous deliniation exercise. It is no doubt that 33.8% votes for BN at least is enough for them to form a federal government with a minimum of 112 seats.

"Something is seriously wrong when you can win 50.4 per cent of Parliament with just 18.9 per cent of the votes." Chin Huat said.

I once lamented that the rural people do not know the cost and the price they will pay if they still vote for a government known to have bad conducts.

Penentration of rural voting is quite hard. This is not because people do not trust alternatives like BN.

It's simple because many are illiterate. Even if they talk, but yet they are not able to get to know the parties well. They are merely given cash goodies and told to vote for the "dacing" (read BN). Therefore, talk about corruption, cows, Felda, Scorpene submarines that the big three men Anwar, Lim Kit Siang and Hadi Awang don't really work 100% at all. It will take a long time to cure this syndrome because in the next 10-20 years, many would have already been dead. There's not really much things we can work on, unless you fight fire with fire. Here, the urban minorities have to do a little more work to reach out the rural areas.

In the States, people who are based in major cities like New York and Los Angeles are the ones that reached out to the people in the mid-west / center America to let them know of

Previously, Lim Guan Eng spoke of winning at least another 15-20 parliamentary seats in the next GE. I was pretty skeptical at the beginning because it assumes that PR is able to defend their previous winning successfully. Many fence-sitters (i.e those who did not register as voter previously) are not aware of the unexpected success that there could be higher chances of defending and winning a few more seats. With more legitimate (not the foreigner for citizenship) voters being registered in the EC, the forecast results based on the 2008 statistics is not really relevant already.

Guan Eng's estimation of at least 15 is quite modest in estimation and target. It's not that hard to win. They can take 5 more parliamentary seats out of each of the 3 states in the Southern Peninsular: Negeri Sembilan, Melaka and Johor. Pahang can also be a bonus, give or take 3 more due to the Lynas issue. Negeri Sembilan is in deep trouble, Johor and Melaka will start to see more penetration by PR. If some of the DAP veterans are moved back to Johor, then the chances are MCA is likely to be finished almost entirely.

Actually, winning big for PR is a dream big goal, but to go for that at this point of time is too unrealistic because they cannot match the BN's warchest of between RM 600 million to RM 1.7 billion. However, adding another 15-30 more to their PR parliamentary pocket can cause some ripples and unprofound effects to the East Malaysia partners. You have to remember that Sabah and Sarawak are actually kingmakers (with their local parties there), not fixed deposits, mind you. Sabah and Sarawak's way of thinking is not the same as people in Peninsular.

As for the profound effect of what might happen, I let figure it out.

Casino UMNO

Most of the people are aware that the next general elections coming around the corner will be the dirtiest ever. To the extent of winning at all costs (as what Najib has been shouting about) the BN-led government would bring in more foreginers for citizenship in exchange for votes (59000 spotted as announced today), making a blitz of electorial amendments last week that makes things more worse and opposite of clean and fair elections.

It is very clear that UMNO in particular is a entity whose fear of power capitulation. I have written this in an earlier article called "Fear of Capitulation". Like its Irish cousin, the Provisional IRA, BN is behaving like them as well.

Barisan Nasional has an election war chest of almost infinite amount. Some say it is within the tune of RM 600 million to RM 1.7 billion mostly from contributions by GLCs. This is of course goes against the basic rules of campaigning that the Election Commission doesn't even bother to care about. Even fraud cases won't do much if you decide to take it to the courts.

From my understanding that the maximum amount of campaign money a coalition can spend on MPs and assemblymen would be around RM 100 million. (44.4 million for 222 MPs, 50.5 million for 505 assemblymen minus Sarawak ADUNs). The war chest is 6 to 17 times more than what is supposed to be. As what someone told me, Najib is like Santa Claus, splashing money here and there, with the intention of buying people for votes. It sheds the light that Najib is more of a mere showman and splashing people's money like if it's "duit bapak".

But even if they splash out RM 500 as in BR1M, are we aware that they can take back the money in forms of taxes and other things that could be imposed after GE13? Not many know about it. There's a simpulan bahasa in related to this "buruk siku". You first give it out for charity but later you decided to take it back from the person whom you give it.

This reminds us of the Moggiville scandal (the 2006 Serie A match-fixing) where referees in the Italian Serie A were implicated in the intercepted phone conversations to give Juventus football club a clear favor in winning the league titles for year 2005 and 2006. The EC are like referees asked to tilt the voting favor for Barisan Nasional - in line with UMNO's "dulu, kini dan selamanya" slogan.

Since attempts to persuade EC to improve the system via roundtable discussions have failed, and the system is getting more from bad to worse, hence, Bersih. I have seen how the previous Bersih 2.0 have faced the negativity and vilification from the press and many naysayers, most from BN in particular. Many, whom I observed simply talk in pervert logic and behave as if they are being brainwashed to say something no outright without thinking straight. Some say that this means a loss of Malay power. This is absolutely rubbish and nonsensical because the numbers in population speak for itself.

Someone wrote to my blogger friend Haris in Facebook about Bersih:

"We M’sians are simply too docile.If only we are as steadfast + hell bent like the Egyptians + the other Arabs,hundreds of thousands of us would remain in Merdeka square for weeks + months until the Govt is brought down,period .The power of the Rakyat is unstoppable if we are courageous and determined as we have the numbers."

This is true as Raja Petra quoted from Howard Zinn - "You Can't Be Neutral on A Moving Train":

"Civil disobedience. . . is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that numbers of people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of the leaders of their government and have gone to war, and millions have been killed because of this obedience. . Our problem is that people are obedient all over the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity and war and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem."

It's high time for people to stop being docile. I find the Facebook comment above should be the starting point.

It's not just being hell-bent to stay there. It's being a dare of raising the stakes against them, fighting fire with fire.

If anyone has watched either Casino Royale or Ocean's Thirteen, these two movies share one thing in common.

Casino Royale, the first James Bond book has 007 pitting against the principle antagonist Le Chiffre for the high amount of money staked in the card game. If anyone has seen the last poker hand (poker is more played than baccarat) in the film, then it's about $115 million, the amount Le Chiffre could have recuperated had his hand is bigger than 007's.

On the other hand on Ocean's, the crew rigged Willie Bank's casino to make sure every customer wins on the opening night. The Ocean crew were there not for the cash but to settle the score against him who double-crossed their crew member Rueben.  How much The Bank lost one night at the end?

Half a billion.

So what does that mean? It means there are a few ways to make UMNO eat their own medicine and humble pie.

It's about the challenge and dare game of raising the stakes and taking the money back and out from Casino UMNO - making them lose with a bigger margin call.

Why not you people out there challenge the naysayers on Facebook and Twitter to bet for high amount of money if Bersih ends successfully in Malaysia and worldwide? 

Why not bet against UMNO to pay you the whole lot a total of $300 million if they lose in the election? Why not give the entire vote to the opposition in the spirit of "Anything But UMNO" and make BN losing their campaigning money for each seats they lose? 

You already know what's at stake, so that answers the question of what will you people are staking in particular, yes?

You think they will accept it? Unlikely. But at least it shows that they scream, having foam in their mouths and even making a lot of excuses including "gadai negara", whereas it's proven that their leaders are doing it right now. I have no problem in deciding who to vote. I have also prepared to take the risk of doing it different.

Maybe I might be talking trash here, but come to think of it, you should show the guts to do it, not to be docile! You are really supporting and endorsing evil acts even you choose to do nothing and stay out of it.