The Other Casino in Kuala Lumpur

Popular Islamic preacher Azhar Idrus has come out in defence of Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, saying the PAS spiritual leader had not called BR1M recipients animals but blamed the Barisan Nasional (BN) government was treating them as such.

Harakahdaily reported Azhar as saying at a lecture here today that Nik Aziz’s analogy comparing BR1M handouts to animal feed had been misunderstood, adding advice to the public to be careful with what they read or hear in the media.

Azhar, who anchors his own TV lecture programme on Astro Oasis called “Kemah Keming Ustaz Azhar Idrus”, clarified that Nik Aziz had only meant that the administrators of BR1M, a government initiative where the poor are given RM500 cash handouts, were treating the people like animals by giving them money.

“In truth, what we heard from the video clip of Tok Guru that likens BR1M recipientst animals, was actually Tok Guru saying that those who are administering the BR1M handouts are trying trying to turn people into animals.

“It is like feeding them, and then slaughtering them.

“Meaning it is evil that these people are only offering aid when they feel they need to... when the elections are far away, they don’t even give help,” he was quoted as saying in Harakahdaily during a lecture at Masjid Pengadang Baru near Kuala Terengganu.

Malaysia Chronicle, 22 February

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The metaphor / analogy that Nik Aziz said of is very identical to what I've been saying in the last few months or so. Because of BR1M, I often viewed UMNO as the other billion dollar casino in town apart from the only one in Malaysia, Casino Genting. My analogy of UMNO as a Casino is that they will give you some money out of gratitude and then, a few months after the general election, there would more things that could be imposed on the people including GST, the continuation of poorly executed AES summonses and future taxes / price increments including the global carbon tax (due in 2016 onwards).

If you are someone who have visited casinos before, playing there with real money bets can be addictive. As to keep you, the player happy, the casino are happy to offer you incentives, including free stays - usually in the form of memberships. Since they are casino, they are likely to win more money compared to the money they are likely to lose.

The same metaphor also applies to UMNO. One of the traits of the lazy native is that they want to make quick buck without shaking much of a sweat. Even this involves charging a high amount but with a lousy quality of a service that would be given. One of the examples is of course the Internet broadband service here, still at a yet to be satisfactory level, but at a high monthly fee.

Anyway, back to BR1M, I am actually overqualified, hence I can't take that money. In the months after the 12th GE, Pak Lah announced of a RM625 fuel subsidy (one time) given to people, but collected from the post offices nationwide. If you divide it, the subsidy can help you for about one year, based on a medium size car and your way of managing monies.

Anyone who has some finance-related education would know that this BR1M is merely a short-term measure. It can maybe help between 1-3 months. Of course this was given to make people - especially those who react by emotionally to feel appreciated and giving support to the coalition. But the danger is that expect more money being milked out by the people back to them after six months or so. This is of course in contrast to the proper way of having extra disposable income and letting your money generate money.

You can sure understand the reason the casino in Kuala Lumpur called UMNO is doing so, because the intelligence reports from the Special Branch about losing badly compared to 2008 is far more grim for them. This would definitely being one of the biggest gambles Najib and co would do in order to recoup their investments later on. And breathing down on the necks of the board directors as well as the pit bosses is of course the casino owner, Mahathir Mohamad, (remember he registered the party after the original was de-registered in 1988 by court order). It's all of course of a destruction to his legacy and his plan of putting his three boys in key positions that forms the reason of why the boss would do various things including flipping his own statements made before.

The problem is that there are still many people who think emotionally. As RPK put literally in "Why are Malays so narrow minded":

The Malays have to learn to be like the non-Malay Malaysians and not rant and rave every time you do not like what someone says. And this was what Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad lamented about when he said that the Malays are too emotional and feudalistic and should be more pragmatic like the Chinese. And Dr Mahathir is right. The Malays are too emotional, unlike the Chinese and Indians.

In this age, disasters and events shaping the nation no longer recognizes race, as with the common sayings of "Death knows no bounds" and many more. And yet, many still take religion into factors, a zero sum result that doesn't really affect all people, except the naive ones.

The only main difference between a normal casino and Casino UMNO is that the games played doesn't involve luck and people can choose to take their monies back or in a rather sarcastic way, spilling more of their own money unwillingly in future to an organization that is found to commit white-collar crimes but above the law. 

 

I am sure you can figure out the solution if you are honest with yourselves and put in a situation where you have to choose between life and death of self-esteem with no option to back out, with abstinence means also death as well.