Amateur Day(s) At Casino UMNO

Before Bersih 3.0, I wrote a posting about Casino UMNO. I also had said that if the people turnover on that very day, April 28 was quite much compared to the first two, then like a Casino, then can make a big bucks or losing out a lot. Having read several accounts in the post-Bersih period, I can imagine how the present government acts now, including damage control measures, arresting people and deflecting accusation at others as a way of recuperating a sudden money blitz in one day.

It's like watching that critical blitz scene from Ocean's Thirteen where at the end of the day $500 million went out of the door, no doubt thanks to the shrewd manipulation of gambling inventory (rigged card shufflers, dice added with polymer material. and some internal sabotage from the people inside The Bank). There are still people out there who are unwilling to take the fact that about 250,000 people alone in Kuala Lumpur have come out to say that the election system is still inefficient and full of discrepancies.

Considering if every of the 250,000 in attendance are high rollers in a casino, then UMNO lost maybe around $750 million or more in one day itself. It can be considered as a "Amateur Day" event. The amount falls between the estimated amount of RM600 - RM1.2 billion of election war chest to be used for the next general election. Amusingly, there are people out there who scream things that point out on "capitulation" to the enemy. Even Najib himself declared that the whole thing was like the Arab Spring, which was never intended by the organizers.

Maybe Najib was misadvised by the intelligence reports of the Duduk Bantah plan or maybe not. However, if we are to put in comparison what is the same thing happening here with Ocean's Thirteen is not about faulty equipment, it's about accidental screwing up by those in charge. Two parties notable for this is the DBKL and of course the police. 

I keep wondering if Ahmad Fuad would have said yes instead, those around him would immediately point fingers at him as insubordination to political demands of the main party lynchpin (read UMNO). Indirectly, it has got people more and more angry and hostile towards the City Council. The other one, which I found it more amusing  and a reason to ridicule at is the IGP cop himself. It was surprising to read that instead of acting base on the situation, it was the "cry to mummy" case.

Here's an excerpt by Raja Petra about the IGP recently in his "The IGP must fall on his sword" piece:

When news broke that Bersih is, yet again, going to organise a rally in April, the IGP went running to the Prime Minister to ask him as to what to do. What the hell is going on? The IGP should be having his fingers on the pulse of the nation. He should be the one advising the Prime Minister as to what to do, not asking the Prime Minister what the police should do.

Yes, on Twitter, the rumors have been of a few police officer's death on that day that got the police being too emotional instead of being professional. The same brutality as in Bersih 2.0 happens again, but approach was different. The second one was considered like a witchhunt. This one was more of a hate yellow thing. That's why there are pictures of cops identified in assaulting people including journalists. More shocking was that IGP privately admitted that he had lost control of the force.

The IGP crawled back to Najib’s office with this tail between his legs and sheepishly told the Prime Minister that he had lost control of the police on that day. 

What happened? What made the police go berserk?

It was because of the rumour, the IGP replied. There was a rumour circulating amongst the police that three police personnel had died, killed by the Bersih protestors. Hence the police were outraged and were out for revenge. They no longer could control the police personnel on the ground.

It's true that the brutality exhibited in the second rally drew a lot of people that many wanted to come out and witness / participate in person for Round 3. It is also likely that if there is a Round 4 of the rally, the number would have been doubled, close to a million - as what Mat Sabu is talking lately on 1 million for Round 4.

 

Picture this in a film, both men might have played a roll of a pitboss. The cops can be considered as the security personnel of a casino. What about Hishamuddin? Where does he fit into that day itself? He was not consistent in his words. Hence his moniker as "Mat Lidah Kontot" called by a few people on him is accurate. One moment said that Bersiih was not a threat to security. Later, what he said seems to imply that it's a threat to security and pushing for Stadium Merdeka. Hold on: if previously Bersih was not given the right to sit at Stadium Merdeka then what the hell this time you said ok for?

If there is another Bersih that happens, first it means, that more people are starting to get awake from slumber, with the amount of the 3rd rally attracts them. Secondly, it's another amateur day to go to Casino UMNO. With the same type of players sabotaging by accident in the casino, it is likely that it will be another 1 -4 billion ringgit out of the door in one amateur day, if 1 million high rollers come in to that day itself. 

Consider that as taking back the money you paid to the government of the day.

A/N: I know I have not been writing anything in the last few weeks but I admit that being in the period of work transition, it means a hard time to pass and adjust to the new environment so it will take more time than writing here, which I am trying to accommodate some time here.

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?

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.

Merlimau: Same Mistakes and Problems as In Tenang

Free Malaysia Today said that BN has a definite head start in the Merlimau campaign area. It is mentioned that the head start is attributed to no other parties except the candidates and on one aspect - problem solving. It is mentioned that Yuhaizad has some clout problem of solving on the fly or at least make some promises to look into the problem in there. And if there is not enough, mob-aligned bloggers have been attacking Yuhaizad on the personal side, saying that he had work attitude problems and career / income instability.

This means that PAS is not able to make the candidate appealing and saleable to the audience. Like in Tenang, bread and butter matters are more of the talking matter to the Malay majority. And it's a foregone conclusion result anyway. 

PAS has shot on its own foot again one month after the Tenang debacle. Their candidates, though local and willing to help are still not saleable to the audience. And being on the saying "the best defence is offence", PAS didn't hit back on the attacks from the BN cyber-community. Tracing from the Galas campaign, it has always been PAS, in the last 4 by-elections. The formula of letting the same party contesting again from the last campaign might not work anymore for Pakatan Rakyat, as they had burnt their bridge with MCLM.

However, judging from the coverage of today's campaign of Roslan, it seems that we're seeing a potential yes-man in the making. You can see a few paragraphs that hints of the making of a "bodek".

Read through this excerpt to judge as the hint:

During the meet and greet, the two ministers introduced Roslan to the voters and urged them to vote for him but whisked him away before he had a chance to speak to them.

At a later high tea hosted by a coffeeshop owner, Roslan was unceremoniously squeezed into the BN circle and positioned in front of Muhyiddin rather than beside him.

"Before he had a chance to speak" - does it mean that I speak on behalf of the people or the party, later on at State Assembly sessions?

"Roslan was unceremoniously squeezed..." - facing the whip hint. Potential yes-man in the making.

Their Version of History or The Real Version?

* This post is part 2 of my two cents on the UMNO assembly

HISTORY will be made a must-pass subject in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) beginning 2013, said Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Muhyiddin said that beginning 2014, History would be made a core subject in primary schools, too.

He said putting more emphasis on history would create a deeper appreciation of the concept of “negara bangsa”.

“In view of this, the content of the subject would be improved with more emphasis on understanding the Federal Constitution.

“Beginning 2013, History, like Bahasa Malaysia will be a must-pass subject to obtain the SPM certificate,” the Umno deputy president said in his winding-up speech.

The call to place more importance on the subject was raised by several delegates including delegates from Perak and Kedah. - (Excerpt from The Star 24 October)

**********

Talking about History subject is something to be interested with here. Of course, History was one of the subjects in the PMR exams as well as being one of the five core subjects in SPM exam The only difference until now is that to pass SPM you need just to pass Bahasa Melayu of course. Having gone through secondary school, I can remember portions of what was taught in history. And of course my favorite part of history is not about the Malacca sultanate period but instead period depicted during the English residency period. You talk about Swettenham, Maxwell, Hugh Low, etc... well that's the part. And then of course the pre-Merdeka period, if you take merely the face value, you only hear one side of the thing, which we will come back to that shortly.

Before KBSR (primary school curriculum) was introduced, history was taught in the old syllabus. And then it became a subject in the secondary level. For those of you who have kids in school, do have some time to ask them for their textbooks, just to skim through what are the historical subjects covered. There are a few points that can be found from going through the syllabus. The first one is obviously you would notice that the spread of historical subjects, particularly int he upper secondary school levels seems to be a little unfair and partisan.

As a multi-cultural society, the spread of history should be even. Besides covering the usual Malacca sultanate, the after Malacca sultanate, the English colonial times, there seems to be too much leanings towards Islamic history. Waking up to reality, I noticed that many of my schoolmates previously when we studied history had a distaste of this sub-level not because of religion bashing, but from first glance, it is too difficult to know who's doing this and that. In school exams or even SPM exams, most would avoid answering any question that is related to Islamic history due to its complexity. One whole sub-section solely for that is a little biased and is more for the Malay students, sad to speak. There wasn't much of coverage of the European history, particularly during the Renaissance and the French Revolution because events that happened in the Revolution, revealed new thinking methods, philosophy and advocation of Enlightenism.

It's true that some political parties have complained that the Malaysian history is distorted. True. They students to learn from the UMNO version of history, not both sides. As like the saying, "History is written by the winner.",  which means, when the English gave a 1948 Constitution, it was considered a moral victory for UMNO because they were the ones who pressured against the Malayan Union concept. I can list down several pieces of history that actually existed but you can't see in text books:

1. The original date of independence was 17 August 1945, which the Japanese have promised to Malaya prior to their departure. Unfortunately the plan never took off because of the A-Bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

2.The term "Merdeka" was first uttered by KMM, a left-wing Malay group by. The Left-wing groups like KMM, API, SEDAR and etc.. were actually the first ones who would campaign for that. They even have submitted a "People's Declaration" to the English to be adopted (because it was people, on the ground oriented). But the English ignored it and when for the right-wing idea.

3. Hartal was first witnessed prior to the Persekutuan Tanah Melayu foundation. And then there was a witchhunt against all left-wing leaders including Ibrahim Yaacob.

4. We were told that the Singapore riots in 1964 occurred because of Indonesian and Communist provocateurs. But in truth, it was started from agitation by Syed Jaafar Albar and several ultra-nationalist factions of UMNO (as noted by Lee Kuan Yew and Australian High Commissioner W.B Pritchett)

5. The 1969 riots happened because UMNO is not happy over losing their customary 2/3rds in Parliament. In an interview with Tunku in his later years, he said that "if Razak really wanted my job, he could come straight away to me and ask me for it.", which means that Tun Razak and several people instigated the riots as a coup de tat against Tunku.

Note: These above are based on several witness testimonies and some papers covering the two periods of history.

MCA and DAP have been asking for a review and fix on the syllabus. A significant excerpt (full article here):

MCA deputy publicity chief Loh Seng Kok also noted that newspapers had reported the subject would soon be taught from the primary level onwards — at present it is a core subject only in secondary schools — and would incorporate Article 153 of the Federal Constitution, which touches on the “special position” of the Bumiputeras.

“There are also anxieties of the possibility of misinterpretation where ‘special position’ i.e. a ‘privilege’ maybe taken to read as an ‘automatic right’,” Loh said.

Again, to stress the statement above:

According to the original constitution Malay rights never existed. "Rights" as opposed to "privileges". 

If we say "Rights" it means you have the power and the ability to do whatever it is permitted.

If we say "Privileges" (keistimewaan is actually privileges), it means say if you are Malay, you stand to gain something additional as guaranteed by law.

Unfortunately, this has already deliberately been made an issue by UMNO themselves. Other parties didn't make a fuss out of it. Parent groups are starting to get angry over it, even the MCA and DAP have been asking for review. But the inferior motive is almost similar to BTN, instead of brainwashing people, it would be school children instead if neither opponents raised the issue of concern. But Muhyiddin is doing this because the UMNO grassroots have been asking for it, which PAGE has alleged of the reason behind the decision.

I think that English is more important than History because I have noticed that there are still people out working who don't even know English, in which in fact I noticed that some of my managers expressed frustration over their inability to understand a universal language. Bahasa Melayu is still not yet a universal language, unlike English. I mean, let's face it, we are seeing half-baked people outside who claimed to be very good in studies but could not convey in English properly since it's used prominently in business.

TO BE CONTINUED

Echoes of 13 May and Operasi Lalang

* This post is part 1 of my two cents on the UMNO assembly.

Before we go on, let's briefly go back to the past to establish the connection. 

In 1969, for the first time ever, the then Alliance party lost for the first time the customary 2/3rds majority of Parliament. And then, the riots instigated as a retaliation against the Chinese by the late Harun Idris in Kampung Baru, and subsequently many things happen like the NEP and so forth (for a run through of this refer to this Wikipedia entry here.) If you have read the book May 13 declassified, you would find that the riots was not instigated by the Chinese as what many claim but instead was planned by a select cell, with Tun Razak and Harun as head of it as a coup de'tat to topple Tunku.

In 1987, prior to Operasi Lalang, Najib (then UMNO Youth Chief) declared in Kampung Baru of "soaking the dagger with Chinese Blood". (Read supplement here and the government white paper here.)

Fast forward to this time, Najib said in the assembly that..."Are we willing to give our beloved Malaysia to this traitor of race and nation?" Does this mean that one party of 3.5 million members (being 1/8th of the country's population) is afraid of one man ex-UMNO turned opposition man? Does this mean that because of Anwar Ibrahim, things are not so rosy for the country? Does that mean that UMNO must look for many excuses to whack Anwar? One instance of Anwar called traitor was prominently seen in an article that former NSTP deputy editor Rose Ismail wrote (subsequently sued successfully for defamation)

It's a common cliche now to say to people that "if UMNO loses, Malay representation will be lost, country will not be stable...bla bla bla.". The cliche line is used to spook people out of nothing whereas in actual truth there is nothing to be seen from that line of utter bullshit.

Najib also said: "Even if our bodies are crushed and our lives lost, brothers and sisters, whatever happens, we must defend Putrajaya," bears similarity to his 1987 line "bath dagger with Chinese blood". It is just a ghost story to scare people out. There is nothing disastrous if they lose out, except what it shows that UMNO is behaving like a spoilt child.

Something not right, is it? A week before the UMNO general assembly, Najib was quoted saying: "We cannot assume the Chinese as pendatang. The Chinese are also people of this country and needs to be respected." At the UMNO assembly, he said: "If UMNO cannot rule the country, you can forget about everybody else." Strange. Was that speech in the MCA gathering was written by him personally or is it prepared in advanced by a copywriter? But wait, aren't the Chinese always being accused bythem as the hantu / the one that "jajah ekonomi" as to scare the Malay people out of nothing?

In fact the statements that Najib mentioned in the speech brings echoes from the past. In 1969, riots happen simply because UMNO cannot accept defeat by the opposition in the fair fight (elections) and deliberately planned out to start a fight against the other races as an excuse to retain power. All because the fear of loss of power. Same as in his claim that problem will happen to Malaysia if they lose. It also show shades of Operasi Lalang in 1987.

No doubt the conclusion is that the thinly veiled speech by those people in UMNO shows that anytime now another Operasi Lalang is looming over people's heads. Alternative media is considered a problem to them. They called it badmouthing the country (Rais Yatim would say that) Another May 13 can happen if they lose badly in the next General Elections, but RPK said that people are now aware of such threats and declared that UMNO will be fighting only other Malays protecting other races instead (read here) Excerpt:

The Indians and Chinese need not fear anything. Dr Hatta Ramli has already issued a challenge. PAS will form a human shield. The Malays from PAS will emerge in great numbers to face those Umno Malays who want Indian and Chinese blood. As Dr Hatta said, “Over our dead bodies.” The Umno Malays would first have to slaughter all the PAS Malays before they can reach the Indians and Chinese.

The message sent out by that thinly-veiled speech simply tells (we can intepret by ourselves since we're educated people):

1. The party doesn't care whether you elect us or not, UMNO will run Putrajaya forever and there's nothing you can do about it. Which of course is violating the democracy concept since it's the people that decide which party to rule as the government of the day. 

2. Anwar Ibrahim and Pakatan Rakyat cannot touch Putrajaya at all in which they are willing to use violence ("crushed bodies") and intimidation to stay in power. They want to have war vs people.

3. Like what George Bush said for the introduction of the Patriot Act 2002: "Either you're with us or against us."

The problem of getting people to wake up to this problem is that people, those in heartland in particular may not believe of the reality and still in the dream that nothing is happening. This is wrong and they need some shake up to wake up.

UMNO people claims themselves to be representing all Malays, pious to God and so forth. But their antics speak for themselves and otherwise. Most of them do the daylight robbing (take lands from the poor, corruption) but still claim themselves to be pious. But it commits one of the greatest sacrilege in God's law of nature: Nothing lasts forever. (The party motto seems to say the other way round) It is the party themselves that started to speak such delusions above, not others. In fact it's situation is like an elderly person that is having dementia (a common problem)

Can't understand? Have you seen Hishamuddin Rais' video on "Bonsification of Malay Mind?"

See also Zaid's video on this:

TO BE CONTINUED